New ongoing story - New Life

[El_Roy_1999]

Jaden found his voice first.
“What’s going on? I feel as if I had a weird lucid dream.”
He turned to Milla, who was just as confused as he was.
“Where are we? Jaden, what did you do?”
“I have no idea.”
Marla coughed:
“Is it over? No more punching?”
The huge pale mushroom woman shrugged:
“I guess. You don’t seem like Jaden’s usual fare.”
The bodybuilder women exchanged glances, then Tara asked:
“Usual fare? I thought you were with Captain Truffle here?”
Milla chuckled, then burst out laughing. It was really obvious that this was a way of her dealing with the stress and the confusion, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“Captain Truffle! This would have been it, Jaden! Captain Truffle to the rescue!”
She guffawed as Jaden rolled his eyes. Marla explained:
“I think she meant that we don’t look like criminals waiting to be punched.”
The audience shrugged. Around them, the strange building was transforming quicker. It was also quite obviously getting unstable. Tobie cleared his throat and said loudly:
“We should get out of here and talk. But first, let’s run!”
They did as he said. As they raced through the corridors and halls of the bizarre construction, they saw dozens of humanoid figures emerge, garbled constructs that were barely finished before melting back into the structure itself. They recognized some of them, vaguely familiar afterthoughts and barely remembered faces in the crowds. The further they ran, the stranger and less complete those creatures seemed. Some even staggered around for a few steps before sinking back into the floor or drifting into the walls.
They just ran, hoping to get all this out of their minds eventually.

[El_Roy_1999]

Once they were all safe, a kind of exhaustion set in. Behind them, the giant construction collapsed on itself, producing more and more half-finished mushroom people that escaped into the city. Finally, just one large blob-like structure remained, crisscrossed by thick orange veins that pulsated.
Ava looked around. Their group was a sight to behold. First of all, there was Pauline’s huge shape. She was sitting on the tarmac, every breath raising her giant muscles. Next to her were Tara and Marla, just as massive and powerful. They were relaxing, with Marla lounging against Tara’s huge thigh. Kemal and Tobie were still watching the huge blob in the distance. Tobie was leaning against Kemal’s enormous muscles, obviously feeling happy and safe. Milla and Jaden were slowly reverting to their regular human shapes, still extremely buff, but no longer outrageously mutated. Their tentacles had disappeared back into their bodies. They were holding hands, somehow relieved to be themselves again.
Angela was there too, completely exhausted. Her body had returned to her shape all those months ago, back when her husband had died. She looked sad, but there was a sense of relief in the air. She walked over to Ava and said:
“Let’s try this again. Maybe we can find a less terrifying way of dealing with Dad’s death …”
“Please. That sounds like a very good idea.”
They embraced. For the first time in months, Ava felt safe and calm. That feeling was instantly interrupted by the realization that her mother was still a kind of mutant mushroom creature and that she was … naked.

[El_Roy_1999]

“Mom!”
Angela sighed:
“Just let it be. It’s been a long day.”
Ava hesitated, then stayed in the embrace.
“You’re right. This was too much …”
It took them a while, but eventually, they separated again. Ava sighed and looked at her friends. She smiled and said:
“I just wanted to say thank you. You saved us both and you came to look for me when things got bad. You’re the best friends anyone could ask for.”
There were dismissive noises, but Angela added:
“She’s right, you know? You guys are still young and you definitely went way over the top with your stuff, but you’re amazing people and you saved us. Thank you!”
The others blushed, grinned and shrugged. There wasn’t much to say. Only Tara grinned:
“Don’t mention it. The next time anybody feels like becoming a mushroom creature, just tell us!”
After a moment, Tobie asked:
“That’s all fine, I guess, but what do we do now? I mean, there’s this big blob, there are still plenty of mushroom people and most of us have been turned into weird metahumans. This is not just something we can ignore, can’t we?”
Ava and her mother exchanged glances. They were all out of options on this. In the end, Angela suggested:
“I’ll try to send the blob back underground. The mushroom guys … I don’t know. As long as they act normal, it’s not as if this place couldn’t need more people … Let’s just hope nothing more goes wrong. This all feels so strange and beyond anything I know.”

[El_Roy_1999]

Angela stood there for a moment, focusing. It was a strange sight, the muscular young people surrounding an older naked woman. The whole scene wouldn’t have ben out of place in some artsy movie. In the background, weird, disoriented mushroom people wandered around, having lost their bearings completely. At last, she stopped.
“I don’t think that worked.”
Tara was annoyed:
“What do you mean, you don’t know? Weren’t you just in control of it? Didn’t you just create your own crazy mushroom death tower?”
“I know, I know. But somehow, I don’t feel it anymore. It just feels pointless now.”
The young musclewoman was getting angry now:
“You couldn’t have had your epiphany a little earlier? This was all terrifying and painful as hell!”
For a moment, Ava expected her mother to revert to her previous, angry and frustrated version, but the old woman just sighed:
“Look, it is as it is. I have no control anymore, so I can’t do anything. I wish I could, but I’m afraid it’s over.”
“So that’s it? You’re going to leave that thing like that?”
Angela shrugged:
“Maybe I’ll figure something out … Right now, though, I just want to be with my daughter and rest. It’s been a hard time for the both of us.”
Tara screamed:
“I can’t believe this! Ava, is this serious?”
Ava looked at her mother, who suddenly looked frail and tired. She gave Tara a long, unhappy look. Tobie walked up to the fuming musclewoman and said:
“Don’t worry. We’ll find a solution. Now, we all should get moving.”
Tara glowered at him, then set off towards Lucius’ apartment. Stomping off, she shouted:
“Pauline, Marla, we’re leaving. I’ve had it with those assholes!”
Her friends followed her. Pauline stayed back for a moment and said quietly:
“Don’t worry. She’ll calm down, and then, we can talk.”

[El_Roy_1999]

Angela, Ava and the two young men stayed behind. Milla and Jaden were still recovering. It was clear that Angela’s mind control had shocked them deeply.
Eventually, Kemal asked:
“So, what’s next?”
The older woman said:
“I just want to go home for now. Ava, could you accompany the boys to the bus station? They probably don’t want to stay here.”
Jaden mumbled:
“I would like to accompany you. I need some space right now.”
Milla walked up to them and said to Ava:
“Maybe it’s better if you stay with your mom. We can figure this out on our own.”
Ava nodded, took her mother by the hand and left for their place.
As Kemal and Tobie walked towards the bus station with their semi-superhero companions, Milla asked:
“What do we do now?”
Jaden was hesitating too:
“Maybe we should stay in the superheroics business, but do it differently next time. Less monstrous, more nice.”
“I’m not sure this is really a thing I still want.”
Kemal grinned:
“I’d love to. This would be amazing. We could form a team!”
Tobie sighed:
“But the drug didn’t work on me! I wouldn’t be able to help.”
“Tobie, you might not be a mushroom-powered monster or a transforming mutant like I am, but you’re still a big muscleguy. I think you’d qualify. Plus, you’re the most empathetic and respectful roidhead I know. That’s definitely worth something.”
“That was a weird compliment.”
“It’s true, though.”
“I’ll think about it.”

[El_Roy_1999]

Ava and Angela walked along in silence. The wind blew softly and there was a tension in the air, as if a thunderstorm was approaching. They passed the playground that they had visited every day back when Ava was still little. There was a pause. Then, Ava walked in, got on the swing and said:
“So we’re back here.”
Angela stood there, still unsure of what to say. Ava continued:
“We’ll have to figure out how to deal with all this. I can’t say I’ve got much of an idea.”
Her mother got on the other swing. She pushed off, then swung back and forth for a moment. She felt both a certain giddiness and that strange, rather bad feeling in her stomach which swings produced beyond childhood.
She stopped again:
“I’m getting too old for this.”
They sat together in silence. At last, Angela said:
“I don’t want it to be the way it was. I’ve still got a lot of life in me, even more than before and I don’t want to be the grieving widow. I don’t want to be alone and I don’t want to intrude in your life. But I want to be with you and to be sure we can still talk.”
Ava nodded:
“That sounds great. I’d love to do this together with you. And maybe, we could find a hobby we can share.”
Angela rolled her eyes.
“Okay, fine. But you know what’s going to happen.”
Ava sighed.
“Let’s just try to spend the time together and fix our lives, shall we?”

[El_Roy_1999]

And here's the end of the story.



“Ladies and gentlemen! Please put your hands together for our guest posers! The two women who changed the face of the sport forever!”
There was thunderous applause and Ava and Angela stepped on stage. The light was incredibly bright, illuminating every inch, every tiny grove sculpted into their brutally shredded muscles. The audience gasped as they strode to the center, meeting with a smile. It was as incredible as always.
Ava looked at her mother who was a goddess now. Angela’s body was perfectly carved, massive and powerful. Her waist was slim and tightly coiled, her ten-pack-abs brutally shaped into tight beauty. A tremendous v-taper spread to her wide, spherical shoulders and a pair of pecs bigger than any stripper’s tits. Her bull neck threatened to engulf the lower half of her head.
The older woman smiled and turned to face the spectators. She shot them a wicked, sexy grin, then hit a mighty double biceps pose, her arms exploding into a firework of veins and cuts. She twisted her wrists and gave her muscles that sweet extra pop.
Her daughter caught the mock provocation in stride and hit a crab pose, detonating her shoulders and her back into a striated mass that brought tears to the fans’ eyes. She winked at her mother, then extended her arms, showing off the extruding shape of her triceps. A little dance move, a wiggle of her hips and bam! another blast of muscle to wow the audience.
Angela replied in kind, locking her huge arms behind her head and vacuuming her stomach into oblivion, before leaning back and turning it into the washboard to end all washboards.

People in the audience were now screaming in admiration. The convention center was about to boil over. The two musclewomen on stage turned around, spreading their gigantic backs. Deep valleys dug through the masses of muscle. Since they stuck what little fabric they used as posing suits directly to their skins, there were no strings or strips to cover up their beautiful, ultra-sculpted muscles.
Ava and Angela continued their presentations, their brutal muscles stunning the observers. They now stood back to back, the mazes of striations rising up along their long, powerful limbs. The two women smiled again, their pearl-white teeth flashing, then they cheekily pushed their rock-hard butts against each other.
Ava suppressed a frown when she noticed that Angela was doing it again. She whispered:
“Mom, stop it. You can’t go growing right on stage.”
“Bah.”
“No, seriously. I don’t want trouble.”
“You’re no fun.”
They separated, Angela reducing her slightly augmented glutes back to their normal, superhuman size. It was time for the grand finale!
The two hulking women took up position and went down deep, their legs swelling and swelling until they surpassed any human limits. Their thighs threatened to engulf their knees completely, their calves appeared to grow so much they would collide with either the ground or the rest of the leg.
With perfect ease, they cartwheeled towards each other, stopping in the mid-movement, standing on their thick, ripped arms. A few steps and they stood, their ultra-ripped butts towards the audience. Slowly, they went into splits, their heavy, muscle-laden legs becoming perfectly horizontal. The spectators howled in admiration.
At last, they each lifted their inner arms, now standing on a single hand, and locked them.
They went down and started doing overhead pushups.
As they finished their set, they went down once more and pushed their pumped bodies up, flying through the air and landing side by side on their feet.
And smile, curtain, applause.
The audience was howling for more, but Ava and Angela smiled, waved and returned backstage.

“Wow! I love it when they start screaming.”
Angela wiped the sweat from her brow. Ava was busy looking for her soap.
“Yeah, it’s cool, but sometimes, the frequency is really bad.”
“That’s that sound only teenagers can hear, isn’t it?”
Ava chuckled. Over the last ten years, they had spent a lot of time training and perfecting their physiques. They had worked hard on their posing and their style. The actual building of their muscles had been as easy as ever, but the true skill was the presentation. They were now literally able to flex almost any muscle in their body individually, which could lead to some really bizarre shows. Not for big events like these, but there were people with special interests who would hire them for more intricate performances.
Angela had kept the fungus inside her and it kept her as muscular and powerful as ever, while also keeping her healthy and in control. Ava, on the other hand, still had that serum that had deeply changed her physiology. In a way, they were both superhuman. That they used their power mostly for doing bodybuilding shows and circus performances was probably a bit of a waste, but those were their lives. Sometimes, they appeared on action, fantasy or sci-fi movies. But that was it.
Ava found the soap and said:
“Let’s get cleaned up, there’ll be fans who need autographs!”
Angela nodded. They had made their mark on the scene with their absurd combination of huge mass, absolute definition and amazing good looks. Since they were not forced to use drugs to build and maintain their bodies and actually had control of their physiques, they combined the athleticism with their style and could be both gorgeous and uber-athletic. The fact that their muscles were bigger than any male competitor’s meant that they ended up outside of the competitive circuit almost immediately. But honestly, bodybuilding wasn’t a sport where victories brought much money.
Their show was its own reward.

After the pair ran the gauntlet of admirers, they found themselves in the parking lot of the convention center. The place was quite deserted now. There, they shrank down to a more manageable size. When they were so huge, they wouldn’t even fit in the car. Of course, they still stayed beyond regular female heavyweights. It just felt too good. They also dropped the looks a little. Overdoing it with the model-like sexiness had turned out to make things too hard.
As they walked towards their car, they heard someone call them:
“Hey, Ava, Angela, wait a minute! It’s you, isn’t it?”
Ava turned around and saw a slim woman run towards them. She was vaguely familiar. Then it dawned to her.
“Tara? You look different.”
“You too. You even changed your names.”
“Eva isn’t too different. And neither is Angelica.”
Angela laughed:
“It’s enough to be left alone. So, what happened to you? What brings you here?”
“Could we talk about this in a warm place? There’s a café over there we can try.”
“Sure. Let’s just put our stuff in the car.”
Soon enough, they were in the café and unwrapped themselves a bit. It was cold outside now, and although neither of them needed the clothes to stay warm, it was better than to answer questions. Angela tried to straighten her long black hair after taking off her big wool cap, then ordered a cup of cocoa. Ava picked some tea, as did Tara. Then she asked:
“So, what have you been up to all those years?”

“I work for a medical research group now. We’re developing drugs to solve health issues based on the same problems I had. It took me a lot of time to learn all this from scratch, but we’re making great progress on isolating the actual elements of that serum to solve the problem.” She chuckled: “I never would have believed I’d end up as a scientist!”
Ava grinned:
“That would have been my thing. Instead, here we are, being media personalities and sportspeople. Me, the nerd girl? I still can’t believe it!”
Angela chimed in:
“I prefer it this way. And we’re really getting ahead.”
Tara nodded:
“It took me a while to understand it was you. But once I got it, I had to see you.”
“Do you still have contact with any of the others?”
“Not really, but occasionally, I get some life-signs: Pauline has gone full amazon and works as a bodyguard for super-wealthy women. You should see her. She’s huge as always, but she always wears tailored suits and dresses now. Wait, I can show you a picture!”
She got her phone out, fumbled along for a moment, then showed them a photo of Pauline, all 6’8” of her, bulging with muscles, yet wearing a rather comfortable and stretchy looking tuxedo. Angela nodded admiringly.
“She looks cool. Like a secret agent.”
“Definitely. On the other hand, Marla has turned into a soccer mom, and the worst kind, too. She had three kids now and they all take after their mom. The girls play football and the boy is going to be a wrestler when he’s a bit bigger. She’s adamant about this.”
Angela chuckled:
“Here’s to trying to have a normal, stress-free relationship with your kids!”
She raised her cup and they clinked it.

Tara asked:
“So, any news about Jaden and Milla? We only talked very little, but …”
Ava groaned:
“They really found each other, you know? They’re both artists now, doing performance art and body modification and I suspect that they’re still superheroes by night. Or by day, I have no idea how this works for them.”
Angela added:
“There are a bunch of ‘sightings’ on the media. I follow them, because I still feel kinda guilty about what I did to them. We’re not talking or anything. The only people we still have any real contact are Kemal and Tobie. They’re happily married and lead normal lives. Little house, two kids, the works. Jobs downtown.”
Photos were shown.
“Two kids? Did they adopt?”
“Nah. It turns out that Kemal’s body can do that too.”
“Whoa. Okay.”
“Yeah, we get invited to all the big occasions. It’s nice. They are so relaxed and friendly … Makes you wanna settle down again.”
Ava rolled her eyes:
“Don’t listen to her. She’s going to wax on about married life and tiny houses in the suburbs. And then she’s going to suggest I do that. Get her some grandkids, yadda yadda.”
“Hey! A woman’s got needs.”
Tara shrugged:
“I wouldn’t stress myself with that. We all got plenty of time.”
They nodded and ordered another round. At last, Ava asked:
“Have you heard anything about Professor Lang? She must be around in your line of business.”
Tara hesitated.
“I don’t know. I’ve been keeping an eye on the whole fungus thing, but it’s like a black hole. Nothing. No studies, no data, no publications. It’s as if someone is keeping a lid on it.”
Angela stretched and said:
“Maybe she’s taken over Lucius’ job.” She took a sip. “Maybe it’s best we don’t ask around too much. I think we’ve all handled this as discreetly as possible. Well, maybe not us, but at least, we’re not talking about where those muscles came from.”
Ava groaned and stirred her cup.

They left the café eventually, the cold seeping into their clothes. Ava and Angela said goodbye to Tara, promising vaguely to organize a meet-up soon enough. Then they walked to their car. As they climbed in, Ava asked:
“That went well, don’t you think?”
“She’s nice. Intelligent, too. I’d love to have her on our side when the time comes.”
Angela started the car.
“Did you think about replacing the feeding liquid?”
“Mom, of course I did.”
“I know, I was just checking. Wouldn’t want our fungus legions to go hungry.”
“I assure you, they’re fine. The behemoths are coming along fine too. You’ll see, we can start the supplement line next year, and then, it’s really just a small step left.”
“This is going to be great. A perfect world …”
They nodded, Ava kissed Angela’s cheek and they drove off, towards their hometown. 

[El_Roy_1999]

It is done.
At last.
I gotta admit, I am very, very happy that the story has reached an end and I really hope you all enjoyed it. It grew and grew, got longer and more complex, acquired characters as if it were a GRRM novel and went on and on and on ...

It's the longest single thing I have yet written and I'm not sure I should be doing this again. However, I still hope it's good and might even turn on those who read it.
So, what's left to say?

I want to thank you readers for your patience and I hope you're happy with the end.
Also, thank you, bigeasy, for suggesting the storyline, even if I went off the cliff on that after a while. I just hope that my recovery is okay for you.
All the best!

[mrmr]

This has been my favorite story on this site.

[havok1209]

"...Ava nodded: “That sounds great. I’d love to do this together with you. And maybe, we could find a hobby we can share.” Angela rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. But you know what’s going to happen.” Ava sighed. “Let’s just try to spend the time together and fix our lives, shall we?”...

[havok1209]

Sorry for the double post.

..."Ava nodded:
“That sounds great. I’d love to do this together with you. And maybe, we could find a hobby we can share.”
Angela rolled her eyes.
“Okay, fine. But you know what’s going to happen.”
Ava sighed.
“Let’s just try to spend the time together and fix our lives, shall we?”...

So wait, did Ava know Angela was going to try to take over the world again? Was Angela faking not being able to control the fungus?

I dunno, I enjoyed the story up until Angela didn't get what she deserved and Ava ends up joining her. Personally it would have been more satisfying if Ava drained off Angela's fungus and became a super huge muscle girl for good, no more fungus at all.

[El_Roy_1999]

Sorry for the double post.

..."Ava nodded:
“That sounds great. I’d love to do this together with you. And maybe, we could find a hobby we can share.”
Angela rolled her eyes.
“Okay, fine. But you know what’s going to happen.”
Ava sighed.
“Let’s just try to spend the time together and fix our lives, shall we?”...

So wait, did Ava know Angela was going to try to take over the world again? Was Angela faking not being able to control the fungus?

I dunno, I enjoyed the story up until Angela didn't get what she deserved and Ava ends up joining her. Personally it would have been more satisfying if Ava drained off Angela's fungus and became a super huge muscle girl for good, no more fungus at all.

That would be an alternative ending. Maybe I'll write that next year!
Also, the whole fungus thing seeped into their lives again. It connects to those fungi that control ants. Those things exist for real.

[El_Roy_1999]

This has been my favorite story on this site.

Thanks for that story 

Thank you both very much.

[toro]

. Another classic story

[El_Roy_1999]

Thank you!