Todd’s parents told him that five years old was too young to have a Pokémon yet, but he didn’t want to wait. A few of his friends said they already had their Pokémon, inherited from their parents, and he didn’t want to wait until he was eleven to get his first Pokémon. And luckily, he had a plan! His parents had deliberately withheld knowledge of how to catch a Pokémon so he didn’t get any ideas, but he did happen to overhear it involved a “Poké-ball”. Some would say that’s not enough info, but Todd just knew he had solved the puzzle! Now, he was ready to go out and get his first Pokémon!

And so, he snuck out from his bedroom window - not a difficult feat, since it his bedroom was on the first floor - and headed to the nearby forest right next to his backyard, armed with all he’d need to catch his very own Pokémon. He looked around carefully. He didn’t want to be caught by surprise, after all, and he also didn’t want just any old Pokémon. He wanted something that would be amazing! Of course, he didn’t particularly know anything about how rare each species was, but at the very least he could try to get something cool-looking.

Then, by sheer chance, he found such a Pokémon. It resembled a young, pale yellow-colored horse, standing taller than the child at a height of 4’7”, much larger than the other Pokémon Todd had seen in the area. And indeed, he immediately knew that this Pokémon was the one he wanted to catch.

One of the first things Todd noticed about this Pokémon was the hair. He’d seen Pokémon with fur before, but none with what might be likened to a human’s hair like this one had. And in fact, it was by far the most unusual “hairstyle” he had ever seen. On top of its head was thick orange hair, taller even than the rest of its head. At the back of the hair it became much thinner, coming to a point behind its head almost like a natural ponytail. On either side of its hair was a thick line of dark blue hair, complementing the orange nicely.

The next thing he noticed was something in front of hair hair: On this Pokémon’s forehead was a large, curved horn, ending in a sharp-looking point. Then, the cyan fur on its neck caught his attention. The cyan color extended up to the back of its head, as well as down to its chest and upper back, where it became particularly thick. In the same color was the Pokémon’s tail. Then, there were its hooves, colored the same dark blue as the sides of its hair.

Overall, Todd knew one thing for certain about this Pokémon: He simply had to catch it!

The Pokémon looked at the child, seeming perplexed as he pulled out an air pump. So, this Pokémon didn’t know what the pump was for? Perfect, that would make this even easier. And so, he dashed forward and tossed the nozzle right into the Pokémon’s mouth, causing its eyes to open wide with surprise.

“Yes!” Todd shouted, before turning on the pump. It was an automatic mini pump he borrowed from his parents’ garage without asking. Yes, they probably wouldn’t like that part, but he figured bringing back an awesome Pokémon like this would totally make up for it. After all, such a cool-looking Pokémon had to be special, right?

He could see that his plan was working. At first, the Pokémon was clearly confused, but then confusion gave way to alarm as its belly started to bloat. Despite the size of the pump, its belly was growing quite quickly, becoming rounder and rounder. The Pokémon blushed brightly, eyes still wide, as it took a step back, the first of several steps it would take. Had it been thinking clearly, it might have turned tail to do a more proper run. But it was so surprised by the proceedings that it couldn’t help but stare at the human child and the automatic pump that was being dragged along as it retreated.

At first, its steps were unimpeded. It wasn’t weighed down by its growing belly, after all, given that it was being filled with lightweight air. But a few steps, its belly has grown enough that it was pushing a bit against its legs, making its steps more awkward. Its steps then became more like a waddle as the belly touched the grass below, barely at first as the grass tickled his belly. But then his belly began pressing against the grass below, making each step more difficult until finally its belly had grown large enough to push its hooves off the ground, preventing it from taking a single step more.

At that point, Todd knew he was victorious. There was no way this special Pokémon would be getting away now! But nonetheless, it certainly made an effort. Todd actually found it quite cute how it wiggled its legs in vain, trying to touch the ground that was getting further and further out of its reach. As its belly grew, its legs were pushed out farther and farther, going from nearly vertical to nearly horizontal as they rested on its belly. By this point, its belly had grown so much that the Pokémon’s uninflated self could have easily and comfortably fit inside.

The Pokémon began blushing again, this time for two reasons. First was the fact that it had now fully sunk in that it had been quite thoroughly defeated. Not by a powerful foe, but by a small child with a strange device. And not only that, but it could easily tell that it looked quite silly like this, rendered so thoroughly helpless by its own expanding belly. It was a good thing that no other Pokémon were watching. At least, none that it could spot.

The other reason he was blushing, though, was because of a surprising realization it had come to. It hadn’t given it proper attention before, being too busy with trying to escape this strange predicament, but now it was impossible to ignore. Embarrassing though it was to admit to itself, this was one of the most wonderful feelings the Pokémon had ever felt. The feeling of fullness yet lightness, the feeling of its skin being pulled tight by the ever-increasing air within, and even the comfort of resting on its own belly combined into a truly wonderful experience. A thoroughly embarrassing one, certainly, but also a wonderful one.

Just as the Pokémon felt its belly starting to reach its limit, Todd turned off the pump, then hugged his new Poké-ball’s giant belly, prompting another blush from the Pokémon. With its belly having been inflated so large, the Pokémon now towered over him, easily over twice as tall as he was. It was large enough that for Todd, bringing his new Pokémon home might be an issue. But fortunately this part of the forest was pretty sparse in places. If he maneuvered his new Pokémon carefully, he’d be able to bring it home. And so, Todd stored the mini-pump away and began rolling his new Poké-ball home, careful to avoid any sharp branches along the way.

Meanwhile, his parents had just noticed that something was amiss. They’d called him for dinner, but no answer came. They searched every room in the house, but found no sign of him. Then finally, they decided to open the back door and look outside, to see if he’d gone against their instructions and went outside without their permission.

And indeed, there they saw Todd, who was approaching the backyard from the forest while rolling the largest ball either parent had ever seen. Except... it didn’t look like an ordinary ball. Even aside from its size, it definitely wasn’t a perfectly round ball. Rather, It looked like someone had taken a Pokémon and inflated it to a giant size. In fact, it looked specifically like... Keldeo?

It was! The two stood wide-eyed as they watched their son bring home the highly inflated Keldeo. They had no idea what the story was behind it, but whatever had happened the Keldeo seemed quite embarrassed about the situation, especially when it looked over and saw that it now had an audience in the form of the child’s parents, prompting a blush from the helplessly inflated Pokémon.