The origin of this character started from a simple stream Cylnx was hosting and after finishing a sketch commission, his wallpaper had an incredible hot pic done by him of Candice S. Parker. A powerful looking bongo antelope babe who is also a cold, skilled assassin. Her details are unknown in full, but from what Cylnx told us, the "Taigun Assassins" are an elite group made up of various species belonging to the species order Artiodactyla.

I was curious and looked it up in all those oh-so-wonderful places: The Internet and found a Wikipedia article that goes under the name Even-toed ungulate. Which includes Giraffes, Bison, Antelope like what Miss Parker and even camels and some whales. But guess what's also in that order, Hippos.

Looking at that character and thinking to myself of that possibility. FA and DA has a long list of anthro hippos, a majority of which are:

-Fat or Ridiculously Fat
-Slender with various degrees of pudginess
-Muscular w/ either a big beer/musclegut or husky frame by default

Finding one that fits the hunky muscular type are VERY few and far between. So what came to my mind is why not have a real muscle hippo woman and through the magic of yours truly, I know... no boobs right? But I'm okay with that considering what inspired this. Her name is Zahara Baylie Zabineaux (pronounced like Za-bin-nox) and her tale is of one that goes from flab to fit to unbelievably ripped and pumped.

Art (c)

\

The Zabineaux family are known to be big eaters, and by big eaters, I mean like enormous eaters, never a day goes by that they haven't had a good meal that can feed a family for each member of the family. Big Daddy Derek Zabineaux, his wife and mother of four kids Hanna and the kids, Older brother Jackson, little brother Thomas and the two middle sisters, only two years apart Jean and the usually named Zahara, like "Sahara", but with a "Z".

Jackson is known to be a well-known successor to Big Daddy's place as a competitive eater, never stopping for rest and disciplines his stomach to take on the biggest of loads and never once had been defeated and to go up against either Big Daddy or his son and lost was an honor. Jean and Thomas looks up to Jackson like he is their hero. Not Zahara though who often she sees as just a regular brother and occasional pest.

Zahara does eat like the rest of her family even at the time, gained and carried the family bulk till she reached the age of 20 when something changed her life forever. She went out on family night at the local wrestling show and Zahara watches her favorite wrestler "The Golden Ravager" a big lion who is a hero and sometimes heel in the local circuit and what makes him so great is his encouraging speeches that move people. On that night, she hears a speech from the Ravager about going "against the grain" make something of yourself that goes against the will of the crowd and be your own man in your own way.

After the show, the family goes home and have a huge feast consisting of 50 pounds of chicken, 28 pounds of meatloaf topped with 20 fried eggs, a big bowl of seasoned mashed potatoes, lasagna, and enough roast beef to make an army of sandwiches. There has never been a night where are leftovers and as the rest pig out, Zahara looks at herself and remember the words of the Ravager about standing out, doing something that goes against the grain.

Often in society people like to make fun of fat people but never against those who historically always been that way and that's normal. Looking at her big belly, Zahara thinks to herself if she always has to be fat. What if she wants to do something different to herself. That's when she decides to do something about it, however, in her journey to get what she wants, it will be met with ridicule, confusion, and an unlikely ally.

Zahara starts off small by becoming more active in her gym activities often really working up a sweat and even taking a chance to join the school soccer team, it didn't work out. But she moved on and took her energy into the random activities every gym class. She even does the unthinkable and decides to take portion control meals. Instead of that extra helping, she goes for a single serving like everyone else. Fighting urges along the way.

Her big moment came at age 23, when she got a job and uses her pay to join a gym. Now comes the ridicule part of her story, hippos and other "fat" species wouldn't much feel welcome at gyms because they often more than not hilariously fail before they can lose a pound. Zahara has gotten it a lot from the other ladies who slip an insult here and there even go so far to place bets on how long the hippo girl will take before she gives up. It's always less than a week.

Zahara nearly feels the pressure of the others telling her to go back and eat again, all her work is going to fail and will run out crying to her twinkies. She nearly did give in to the pressure and that's where she met The Ravager or that's what his stage name says, his real name is Carl and he meets the Hippo nearly reaching the breaking point and he steps in to get her out of this mess. Zahara didn't know him at first but thanks him for getting her out of there and have a good heart to heart talk.

Carl is surprised the Zahara wants to do this and she herself too. She honestly does not know what will happen to her if she succeeds but knows she wants to try, try and break what a hippo is mostly known for: being fat. Carl laughs a bit but not at her, but how she's going about it. But he loves her spunk and offers to train her if she wants to, but she has to show a real commitment, it will be long, harsh and painful but it has gotten him to be the best wrestler in the ring and if Zahara wants it so badly all she has to do is say yes. She makes her decision.

That was seven months ago and it didn't take too long for Big Daddy and Hanna to notice something about their daughter. Her clothes were very loose, and looking like she's wasting away for the worse. Hanna urges her to eat more but Zahara refuses only just going for a normal-size meal. Years ago she would eat five plates and having her eat just one was not good. Eventually, the pushing makes her leave the dinner table in a fluster for them just not getting it. After she calms herself down she gets her smartphone and adds another pic to her "progress" And so far, she's been loving her results as she can see for he first time a six pack under the remaining layer of flab.

Free from the nest of family and into a college dorm, Zahara takes time for her studies and puts more into her workouts. Carl's training was that of an army drill instructor breaking a young recruit and molding her into a tough soldier. In this case, giving the hippo what she wants. Age 28 and Zahara looks at herself in the mirror and she couldn't believe her eyes. Save for the loss of her breasts (like she has any use for them anyway) her body has reached a level no one in the species has ever achieved before. Zahara knows she is a hippo but 8 years of hard work has blessed her with the body of a goddess!

Even the girls at he gym, the same ones who made fun of her, suddenly had their jaws drop the moment they saw her. Broad, strong shoulders, thick muscular legs, killer 6-pack abs, huge biceps and a hot pair of buns ever to be in a pair of spandex short-shorts. Eight years ago she burns out after lifting 10-pound weights, now she can bench press over 400! Makes a mean bicep curl look hot for 100 pounds and the way she runs on the treadmill makes the predators want a piece of her even the girl's boyfriends are checking her out. "That's a hippo?!" became the question running around the gym, but she isn't bothered by it, instead she wears it like a fine dress. She couldn't imagine what her family will think of her now.

Well her imagination will come true when the annual eating contest come to her town and her brother Jackson is going to compete against the other undefeated champion. Big Peete Ustinov, a huge elephant that has several competitors sent to the hospital ranging from sickness to burst stomachs for daring to take on the king of gluttony. And now her brother is about to take on the big beast of eating for the title, it was time to see her brother and let him be the first to see the new Zahira.

At the competition, it was a three dish plan, hot dogs, pickled eggs, whole chickens and finally pies. Ustinov sees this as little more than an appetizer and demands the real food and Jackson just eggs him on. After the settlement, the judge fires the shot and the two eat like they are living vacuums. Zahira cheers her brother on as he downs each dog like it was nothing Ustinov, however, wraps his tusk and downs all of them without much trouble and moves on to the pickled eggs, Jackson following five minutes later. But half way in, something goes wrong and Jackson reaches for the bin to throws up and collapses. Zahira pushes many of the onlookers aside and reaches for Jackson.

He is really sick and can't continue, Ustinov just smiles and feels that he bagged another trophy to collect until Zahira smells something funny, something that isn't right with the eggs Jackson ate and just like that, she points out that the eggs are spoiled. Masked with heavy spices to mask how bad they are. Ustinov doesn't believe it and wants his prize but Zahara stops him and offers to challenge him for the prize. Ustinov laughs but then realizes that she is that hippo with muscles the town has been talking about. He eventually accepts and the cooks have to re-prepare for this new turn of events.

The following day, while Jackson is in the hospital recovering from his sudden poisoning, Zahara becomes the challenger against the reigning champion. As the cooks make the new meals and prep everything, their meals are presented, rules are read out and the gun goes off. The two devour their meals and once again the big elephant eats down the hot dogs and goes to the eggs with Zahara following behind. But the difference is making Ustinov worry, she eats the eggs and not once got sick. The moment they got to the chickens, Zahara shined and went through the whole chickens like a tornado, Ustinov puts his stomach into high gear even removing his belt for extra room. But it was too late and Zahara finishes her pies and makes herself the champion! An angered Ustinov claims Zahara has cheated but the officials who watched the whole thing from beginning to end don't see it that way.

That is when in his anger, that Ustinov should have used real rotten eggs. This sparks anger in the crowd to hear such a thing. The officials begin to suspect if all the other contestants were really victims of Ustinov's dirty tricks. Angry again, he decides to charge at Zahara and like a bolt of lightning, punches the elephant in the gut and with her great strength lifts him over her head and like her favorite wrestler, spins him fast and drops him hard on his back. The dizziness and vomit fountain are punishment enough from the inevitable stripping of his titles later.

In the hospital, Zahara sees Jackson recovering well after having his stomach pumped and, at first, doesn't recognize her even thinking why a man has a woman's voice. Later surprised to learn that it's actually his sister, ripped and with a slight pudge from eating the food that was meant for him. Things got more... complicated when she has to explain to her parents who barely could squeeze through the door of what has become of their daughter. She stood firm and decides it is what she wanted to be and there's nothing that they can do to make her change. And she wants to concentrate more in getting her brother back on his feet and back to the game.

Derek and Hanna understand her decision and come to accept that. Moreso after learning that she defeated who used to be Derek's rival. The bright moment ever to come out of Big Daddy's mouth is that while she may not have the body of a Zabineaux, she always have the fierce appetite of one. Today, at age 30, Zahara works at the gym as an instructor. The same gym that made her into the muscle goddess she is today and loves every minute of it since. With a bigger, stronger body, loving her body to wear skimpier clothes and loves to tout around the fact that she's a hippo that goes against the grain.

And the ripped hippo woman's transformation did not go unnoticed and is a matter of time before the offers and shots for interviews came pouring in. She posed for a few magazines more notably, some using full barbells for bicep curls and a frontal shot of her flexing out of a too-small shirt that reads:

"Call me fat, I dare ya!"

She gives the most interesting interviews, which includes how Carl changed her life and how she been fighting against normal "conventions" of being a traditionally fat species. It certainly gave her employers more notoriety, some to sign for her classes and sneak a few autographs along the way. Zahara, after all that, still takes time away from all that to come home for family dinner and things haven't changed except Hanna make sure she gets her huge helping of meats and veggies to keep her big girl well-fed. Something the former fat girl of a family of big eaters knows, will never change.