Blockbuster

[GLKnight]

Despite all the advancements of the 28th century, the one thing that Med-Engineering can't do is properly speed up the onset healing process. After I was released, I spent the next two weeks dealing with slight tremors from my nerves having been reconfigured, dizzy spells as my brain dealt with the concussion and more. Not gonna dust ya, it sorta sucked badly. Imagine trying to get a cup of hydro, next thing you're dropping the microplast onto the floor from your hand choosing to vibrate like a Shay16 about to phase into a parallel reality cause you set it on Alert vibration.

Thankfully, I Brandy had given me her number and we kept in contact while I was downed. She's honestly cool, far more down to Earth than you expect of some Mega Celeb's kid. About two days before I was given the okay, she told me over scribe that she was considering giving up on training because of how bad she hurt me.

Brandy: I always knew I was strong

Brandy: But I nearly killed you

Brandy: If I was in a real match, I... I don't know

She was at a crossroads all fighters had to come to. Whether to push and understand the depths of violence, or back away and accept the freedom of sport. As my fingers slightly twitched and trembled, I typed out the one thing that was on my mind since the hospital visit.

Me: Infighter

She quickly began typing

Brandy: I'm sorry...?

Me: You're an infighter

Brandy: What does that have to do with anything?

Me: Remember when I asked what type of fighting you do?

Brandy: Yeah...?

Me: When you broke the Meat Grinder and later sent me flying, you were moving like an infighter

Me: Your dad's an outfighter

Me: But despite having a longer reach, you like to get up close and personal. So you go for a more intimate fighting style

Me: How one fights reflects their personality. And you're a kindhearted person who is all about intimacy

Me: Thus... infighter

I waited a minute to let Brandy consider what I was saying. Letting my fingers ride out the last little bit of tremoring as I waited for her response

Brandy: Even after what I did, you still remembered?

Me: Well, yeah

Me: Honest, I haven't stopped thinking about it

Brandy: There's a lot of ways to take that, you know

Fuck, I knew what she was implying. But reality, I haven't stopped thinking about it.

No, that's not quite right.

I haven't stopped thinking about HER.

Me: Yeah, you're right about that

Me: But... not dusting ya?

Me: I think you have something worth pursuing

After I hit send, I realized I was letting script do a lot of work for me. Hinting, hiding, conveying and potentially more. All that really mattered was whether or not Brandy was getting what I put out there. After a full five minutes, Brandy replied back to me.

Brandy: I'll give it some thought

After that, she immediately went inactive. I put my phone down and put my head in my hands. There were butterflies in my gut and my heart was pounding like a pulsar drive. Soon, I was giggling at the sheer audacity of it all. Did I REALLY just do some high school kinda flirting shit with the daughter of Blockbuster Bustamante, one of the BIGGEST celebs that lived on this world?!

[ArkhamAsylum]

Another great part. Awesome work so far.

[GLKnight]

"Marco! Marco! How long have you and Bustmante's daughter been dating?"

When I was finally given the okay to go back to training, I walked into the gym with a full flurry of popper's blinding me with the full light of a thousand nebulae going off in my face with their damn recorders. I literally had to block my eyes through my visor as I ran inside. I was peppered with questions as I bolted in. When you live with any sort of celebrity, there will always be people wanting to dig to find whatever they can. Except for a few good ones, the lot were opportunistic sentient scum looking to make a cred or two on the names and misfortunes of others.

"You parasites better fuck off," Coach growled as he charged out of the front doors. "I may be older, but I can still knock you on yer ass like I did Melovar in '74! Now LEAVE MERCURY ALONE!"

I had never seen a crowd of people scatter from the threats of an old man before. But considering that man was my Coach, 17 time Galactic Heavyweight Champion Jorge "Neutron" Fuentes, one of the greatest Nat Heavy Hitters of all time? I'd be scared, too! Hell, he's HIT me before, when I was acting like a snot nosed punk my first day boxing. I was being a little shit, and he pulled me into the ring. Threw some gear at me and told me to get ready. When I asked why, he said we're sparring as he put his own stuff on. I laughed, called him a crazy old man and got ready. The bell rung and the next thing I knew, I was on my knees gasping for air as Coach took off his gear. You should have seen the freaking bruise on my stomach! Dark and mottled for two weeks! I knew I found the right place to train at on that day.

As I walked inside, I was greeted with a bunch of fighters of all stripes as they welcomed me back. But as I thanked everyone for their concern, I scanned the entire place for Brandy. But no matter where I looked, I couldn't see her. When I got a moment, I hurried down into the Dungeon, but it was completely empty. As I went back upstairs, my spirit was deflated.

"I haven't seen her since," Coach told me as I got back to the main floor. "I thought about reaching out to her, but I realized it might be better if I gave her and her old man some space. This was just as hard on her as it was on you."

"I don't know," I told him. "She was trained to fight, you know."

Coach scratched the back of his head as he grimaced.

"Yeah, but unlike you, she actually hurt someone bad enough to put them in the med facility. That kind of trauma's a next level reckoning shit. It might have scared her off for good."

I suddenly realized what Coach's words meant.

"You were TRYING to scare her off," I accused, staring him in the eye. "Weren't you?"

Coach's look sunk, as he turned back towards the main gym.

"Braden asked me to do it," he said. "Her dad didn't want her in the ring, so I put her with you because she liked you and we hoped the power difference might show what this kind of life involves."

With that, he left me to my thoughts as he had other fighters to train. As I slumped against the wall in the stairwell, I realized that it might have been for the best, really. Brandy is clearly not like other fighters, even other Geners. She was taller, stronger, excelled at things like I did. She was kind to a fault, sweet, fun. Her laugh was lyrical, she had an amazing physique. She was cute and funny. She-

"Don't go there," I said to myself. But as I said it, those words seemed hollow. I wanted to pull out my Shay, send her a scribe. But I fought the urge, choosing to throw myself into training once more. But every day I walked into the gym, my heart wasn't fully in it. For a full three weeks, I ran, lifted weights, worked on the bags, shadowboxed and more. But Brandy just became a bigger missing piece of the puzzle. She wasn't answering any messages, she never seemed to be online.

One night, as I stared at the phone, hoping she was going to reply, I realized it. I didn't just like Brandy. I LIKE liked her. Hell, it was beyond just liking her.

I think I love her, and I don't know how to deal with never seeing her again.

[wowser1016]

WOW! Nicely done. I hope we see Brandy again. She would be a lot of fun outside the ring. K+!

[GLKnight]

For the next five months, all I did was train. Before, I loved to party. I went out at least 3 nights a week and had a good time. It wasn't uncommon for me to get with at least one girl each time, so I'm no slouch when it comes to that department. But before I met Brandy, I don't think I could say I ever developed, ya know... FEELINGS for anyone. I don't know what it exactly was, but even after being put in the Med Facility, I still yearned for her. I just... Looking back on it, whenever I was around her, it felt right. Completely natural.

God, look at me. Talking like a lovesick kid! I would've tore myself a new one, just listening to the way I'm talking now. But it still hurt, being separated from her. She hadn't answered any of the Scribes I sent her, nor any of the calls. By month two, I stopped altogether. But that didn't mean I didn't keep tabs. I checked every feed I could, and... nothing. It was like she faded into another plane of reality entirely. In the era of Overlight portal tech, where anything or anyone can get to one side of the galaxy to the other in nan-seconds, it's not like she wasn't able to keep in tabs.

I had to accept the fact that she just disappeared.

Thus, all the training.

Almost six months to the day where Brandy stopped communicating with me, the sky was super dark as Coach practically ran up to me with an excited look in his eye.

"Marco," he said. "Yer not gonna BELIEVE it!"

"What is it?", I asked, my heart still not into it all.

"I got ya a fight, and yer not gonna guess against who?"

"I don't know," I said, closing my eyes and rubbing my forehead. "Xelly the Zeno?"

Coach shot me a weird look, not realizing it was a joke.

"The fuck you on, kid? Anyway, Farlan's team reached out, and they want to give YOU a title shot!"

I looked over at him, my eyes burrowing a new hole in his skull in disbelief.

"NO FUCKING WAY," I nearly shouted. "They want to give me a shot?!"

I practically screamed for joy as I hugged Coach, feeling a fire newly rekindled inside of me. Finally! FINALLY! Your boy Marco Mercado was gonna do good on his promise to his mom, getting his shot at the Galactic Middleweight Championship against Cyrus "Sirius" Farlan!

"The fight's in one month," Coach told me. "So we need to get serious about this! To help out, I got someone downstairs in the Dungeon that volunteered to help train you."

"I could kiss you right now," I told Coach, jokingly going in for the kiss.

"Hey," he shouted, pushing me away with a smile. "The only man who kisses me is my partner, got it?"

I gave the Coach a quick hug and rushed downstairs, a new spring in my step. Me! Getting a fucking TITLE SHOT! Could this day get any better?

As I stepped into the Dungeon, I could hear something in the deep gloom. The sound of impacts and effort, covered hands taking shots at inanimate things. The telltale sounds of padded leather on canvas, the rattle of chains and the creaking of metal as something heavy swung back and forth. An inanimate training body being pummeled, eternally ready for more punishment.

"I'm gonna turn the lights on," I shouted out, letting whoever was there know I had come in.

"Lights are out," shouted a man from somewhere in the darkness. As I heard him speak, I could swear I had heard this man's voice before. But I couldn't exactly remember where or when.

"Are you hear to help train me?", I asked, warily taking steps inside the scarily dark room.

"Yeah," the man said again. "We're at the heavy bags."

"We're at the heavy bags?", I asked myself. There was more than one person here in the Dungeon?

As I followed the sounds of someone's fists tenderizing the training equipment, the clouds began to part and light filtered through the rooms. And off in the corner, I could see two figures wearing hoodies and sweats. One was holding the heavy bag while the other worked their magic on it. As the storm broke and more light came in, I could see that these two figures were not regular people. If anything, these two were Geners.

"I think there must be a mistake," I said. "I'm... supposed to meet whoever's supposed to be training me?"

The one holding the bag chuckled as he let go.

"I'm training you, kid."

The figure turned, pulling down his hood.

"NO FUCKING WAY," I said.

There before my eyes was the man himself, "Blockbuster" Bustamante, one of the BIGGEST stars in the galaxy, both literally and figuratively.

"Yes fucking way," he said, smirking. "For the next month, we'll be training you."

"Wait," I said, holding my hands up. "Coach convinced you to train me?"

"Actually," Blockbuster said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. "SHE convinced me to train you."

My eyes lit up just as the clouds parted and filled the room as the other figure pulled down their hood as well.

"Hey, Marco."

I was on the verge of happy crying at the sight of Brandy as she stood next to her dad, towering over him with a kind smile on her face.

[jcboyd]

It's the greatest love story ever. 

In all seriousness - the oblique world-building and actual character development wher ethe strength and size are just part of the story make this an excellent read and work of quality fiction.

Well done GLK.   

[GLKnight]

I couldn't help myself, running forward to wrap my arms around her incredibly thick waist, barely able to touch her back as I felt her lean forward and hold me tight.

"Why didn't you answer any of my scribes?", I asked her, tears running down my face as I couldn't keep'em back anymore.

"She was... offworld," her dad rumbled. "After what happened, she-"

"Dad," she cut in. "I got this."

As I let go of Brandy, she kneeled down, getting eye to eye with me. Her curly auburn hair framing her cute face as she grew serious.

"As dad said, I was offworld. When I hurt you, it... it looped me. I was thinking about giving up entirely. But your last scribe, it just lit something in me."

I smiled as I thought about it. The very last scribe I sent her before she went dark for six months.

"You have something worth pursuing," I uttered.

"And I do," she continued. "So I asked dad to hook me up somewhere iso'd. Someplace where I could train every single day. Someplace where I could only improve, work past my blocks like you showed me."

As she stood, I noticed that she seemed... different. More confident, more natural. But against the light, I could see she also seemed... BIGGER. As her hands went to the zipper of hoodie, I saw how tight it was on her. Tighter than it had previously been. When she slipped it off, I was rendered completely speechless.

"If I'm gonna be The Sequel, then I gotta go bigger and bolder than before."

Her frame was absolutely MASSIVE. Whereas before she looked like she worked out, now she looked like she LIVED in the gym. Her build was mindblowing in size, easily bigger and more defined than her dad's in his best condition. She was jacked like a star tapper collecting the ambient energy and materials from nebulae, her body a machine built for strength and endurance. The cabling and networking of her striated mass coupled with the crisscross of hose sized veins feeding her body with heavily O2 saturated blood only gave more to the imagery of her being bigger and better than before. A veritable gentle goddess of mass and might with the power to seemingly crush armies with barely a sweat, looking down upon me with a placid, caring look on her face.

Yes, I got hard. Seal it, pervs.

"Holy..."

At my flustering attempts to speak, Brandy smiled at me once more.

"Marco," she said, keeling down once more. "Because of you, I'm going to pursue what I want."

"I'm... I'm proud of you," I told her. "You deserve to be in the spotlight in the ring, kiddo."

Her dad snort as he tried to hold in a laugh, but failed.

"Kiddo?", he asked, not believing I had just said that. Brandy shot him a look of disbelief.

"Did I say something wrong?", I asked.

"No," she said, sighing. "Dad uses words like 'kid' and 'kiddo' with me, too..."

"KIDDO?!", he said joyously before laughing. We both waited for him to calm down before she continued.

"As I was about to say," Brandy said, quickly shooting a look at her dad. "I'm not doing this for the attention or the fame."

With that, Brandy put both hands on my shoulders.

"Then what are you doing this for?", I asked her.

"Do you remember our promise? Before I accidentally put you in the Med Facility?"

"Yeah," I said, thinking back on it. "Winner's gotta do something the other... says..."

I realized what she was implying.

"Marco," Brandy said, shuffling closer to me on her knee. "I think we both agree I won that bet. And I just wanted to know if you... If you would..."

She awkwardly stammered, clearly having never done this before. So instead of letting her finished, I instead wrapped my arms around her neck, holding her close as she wrapped her arms around me.

"I've been waiting for you to ask me this for six months," I told her. "And the answer's yes, I would love to go on a date with you."

[GLKnight]

The next day, Brandy and her dad took me off world to train for the next month on an unmarked terraformed world that took four gate jumps to get to. As we were making our way into re-entry, Brandy's dad gently slapped my chest with the back of his hand.

"Just a fair bit of warning," he said, smiling. "This planet's gravity is a little more intense than what you're used to."

"You're gonna feel a bit sluggish," Brandy added. "But it's a very hospitable world. So give it a couple days, and your body should start building up a tolerance for it."

I looked out the window as we neared the atmosphere.

"I don't think that's gonna be a-"

As soon as we broke through into the planet's exosphere, I could immediately feel it in my chest as the planet's gravity started weighing me down. Looking up at the console above my head, I noticed that the Artificial Gravity regulator had been turned off, causing me to groan out a little bit. It was the first time in my life where my entire body felt constipated from how much pressure was holding on to me. Soon enough, we made landfall and we all unbuckled ourselves, although I started a little earlier and was still lagging behind. But Brandy and her dad? They looked absolutely unaffected, walking at a pace so that I didn't feel like I was being left in the dust by them.

"This... is... a LITTLE more intense?", I slurred somewhat, giving the two of them a look of disbelief as I was stooped over and tromped along like a fully grown toddler.

"Just shy of 1 g's difference," Brandy said, smiling. "It's where I've been training for the past 6 months!"

"Holy shit," I muttered, trying to pick up the pace. "Could we at least... get a lift or... something? I'm not... used to this... yet!"

"Already got one," Blockbuster told us, pointing to a nearby vehicle. "And don't worry, artificial gravity's inside all vehicles and buildings. So unless it's turned off, you won't have to deal with greater g's everywhere."

"THANK YOU," I said, practically willing to kiss Blockbuster for that bit of good news as I basically went as I fast I could to climb in the Excursion class vehicle that was here to pick us up.

As I struggled to climb inside the vehicle, I suddenly felt someone grabbing the back of my pants and gently lifting me the rest of the way up.

"Gotta hurry," Blockbuster told you. "Only got a month here, so we need to build you up with every second we've got."

As I scrambled into my seat, I felt the vehicle shifting as Brandy and her dad climbed in. Then, as she closed the door, I could feel the gravitation lessen as I was left tired and sweaty.

"Let's go," she said, shouting me a knowing smile. With that, we took off into the wilds, down dirt roads and up the hills through an incredibly lush forest filled with purple Xerathi Pines and Derazi hardwood groves. There were many animals I had never seen before, like something that was a mix between an elk and those little armored bugs that roll up into balls. And birds like this thing that was a mix between an Eltozo eagle, a Shuvana heron and an Earth Toad. And far more that I just don't have the words for. But I can certainly tell you it was awesome seeing so many different animals. Hell, it was awesome to just be in some fucking Wilderness! I've never been outside of a city before then, and it neutron'd my mind to see this shit for the first time! Just incredible!

Within an hour, we were pulling up to a giant facility surrounded by a great fence. Probably to keep the wildlife out. We're talking HUGE, huge. Like, the structure alone was a mile across! THAT huge! Even the GATE was huge, watching it swing open as we pulled in, heading directly into a massive nearby hangar as we parked. Stepping outside after the door was closed, I noticed the very clean garage was at regular gravity, as well.

"You weren't kidding about the gravity," I said, stretching a bit in the cool garage.

"If you think it's nice in here," Brandy said, opening a nearby door. "Wait till you see the rest of the place!"

As I hustled through, I marveled at just how MASSIVE the place really was. Screens upon screens, incredibly tall ceilings, a huge home hearth on one of the walls, a fully decked out vid room with almost EVERY film available, SEVEN spot gyms dedicated to different types of exercises with link washes, a kitchen with every bit of eat tech you'd need. This place had to have cost AT LEAST four trillion! And I had yet to get to the bedrooms!

"This place is fucking NEB!"

"It sure is," Blockbuster said, amused at my reaction. "Proper gym's offsite, so that means a bit of driving."

"And the bedroom's upstairs," Brandy added, pointing at a nearby lift.

"I gotta check out where I'm staying," I said, running inside it. As soon as I did, I noticed the console was... Well, it was built for a Gener. Big buttons, kind of high up. Though there were only four to press: Floors 1 through 3 and Basement.

"Which floor?", I asked.

"Second floor," Blockbuster said, smiling.

With the biggest grin I ever had on my face, I pressed the second floor button and went upstairs.

[ArkhamAsylum]

Great work.

[GLKnight]

As the doors of the elevator opened onto the second floor, my eyes couldn't help but take in everything. Everything was built for a Gener, perfectly built for their incredible height, broad shoulders and more. And here I was 5'10, narrower that a fucking pen by comparison, wandering around the place like I was a child who didn't know where the bathroom was. I was absolutely halluced while looking for my room, is what I was.

Coming across the first closed door, I waved at the sensor, trying to get it open as it blinked at me. I kept waving and moving my hand closer and closer, trying to trigger it until I was damn near rubbing the fucking thing. But it caught on that I was trying to gain entry and opened the door. Stepping inside, my jaw dropped as I got a look at The Man himself, Blockbuster Bustamante's room. His room was covered in trophies, mementoes, posters and more. And there, within reach of me, were his original gloves from his days as a fighter. I grabbed one of them, noting how light it seemed despite its size as I slipped my hand in. Almost immediately, my meat hook slipped in and disappeared into the cavernous space within. I was neutron'd by how much of a size difference there was between me and him, and my mind slipped to Brandy. I needed to see how much of a difference there was between us, as well.

Gently putting the glove back to where it was, I stepped back outside and closed the door, then I moved to the next logical door. Taking a deep breath, I swiped at the sensor like how I got into Blockbuster's room. I watched as the door opened, hope welling up in me... only to be met with a spare room that was completely empty. Nonplussed, I closed the door, and moved to the next door on that side of the hall. I swiped at the sensor and saw... an ordinary room. With a somewhat large bed meant for a normal person, and laying on top of it were my bags.

Fuck, I found my room by accident. Don't get me wrong. Beautiful view of the forest outside my window, nice bed, clean sheets, enough room so it felt like I was sleeping in a hall or something. But it wasn't Brandy's room, y'know? I was hoping to see how she lived.

As I walked to the door across the hall from mine, I was kind of vacc'd. Swiping at the sensor, I was starting to think that maybe she lived on the third floor, "up in the attic" and all that. Her dad giving her space to live how she wanted, letting her plaster her walls with posters of some innocuous pretty boy ba-

"HOLY SHIT," I muttered, looking in as the door revealed Brandy's room.

Did I say room? I meant gym.

Brandy's GYM.

All across the room were grav tech free weights, various bits of exercise equipment, Sevalite Metal heavy bags with nanite repair parameters and more. It was like Brandy's actually lived in a gym, the walls were plastered with printed posters, fighter pictures, diagrams on techniques and more. And off in the corner was a bed that seemed barely big enough for her to sleep on, and a dresser with a slew of pictures on it. As I carefully walked across the room, I realized they weren't any old pictures.

Except for a couple with her and her dad, or what I could only assume was her mom and a couple of her when she was younger, she had almost set a mini-shrine dedicated to me. My first fight, some promo pics I had took when I started getting attention, some popper pics from some scum feed that claimed I impregnated Tezzala Mendoza when we dated for a week that went nowhere before she admitted she was Non-Coit which had me in that really nice pair of streamers from that trip to the Vyadlen Coast on Polvarix-526.

Don't lie, you know the one. I looked GOOD in that pic.

Anyway, she had a slew of pics of me on her dresser. But I noticed that, next to one of me smiling, there was a pic of her looking shy. It had to be an earlier pic, because she had almost no muscles to speak off. I mean, she was obviously still tall, duh. But she looked... NORMAL. I took it off the dresser, looking at it in this ancient style wooden frame. Then, as now, she still looked cute. But there was a night and day difference between Brandy then and her now.

"You were really young," I said to myself. "Weren't you?"

"That was taken four years ago."

I saw Brandy's hand coast over my shoulder, pointing at herself.

"Four years ago?", I asked, looking up at her smiling wistfully and nodding.

"I was a bit of a late bloomer," she said, some sadness in her eyes. "I was still the daughter of Blockbuster Bustamante, but I clearly took after my mom. Then mom was involved in an accident."

"I'm... I'm sorry," I stammered, not knowing what to say.

"It's alright," she said, grabbing the picture and putting it back on the dresser. "When she died in a hull breach from a piece of meteorite piercing the vessel she was on, I felt a bit lost. Seeking a distraction, dad offered me a chance to join him in the gym. I stayed away from serious exercise most of my life, but joining him? It felt... right. It felt like I was MEANT to be strong."

I smiled and took her hand in a show of sympathy.

"And you were already really tall-"

"I wasn't," Brandy said, looking serious. "When I joined dad in the gym is when my Gener genes kicked in."

"How tall were you before then?", I asked.

"About 5'2," she replied, glancing down at herself with a look of remorse. "That's the lost photo where I was that height and build. It was taken a few weeks before mom died. Then I grew six feet and gained hundreds of pounds in the course of a year."

"Shit," I said, realizing how excruciating the pain of growing that much must have been. "That must have been harrowing."

"It was," she said, sitting down on her bed. "But in that time, I discovered an up and coming fighter who took on all comers. Lining up fights back to back for exhibitions, putting himself out there no matter what. Meanwhile, the entire time I grew, I was off world. Hiding away from everything as I kept getting taller and stronger. Doctors say I still am, which has dad a bit worried. But I saw that fighter and realized I couldn't hide from reality. So I took it head on. I learned how to fight. And when I reached my limit, my body stabilizing enough for me to not be an issue, dad arranged for me to train with the one person I most wanted to meet."

Brandy wrapped her arms around me, taking me in a tight but loving hug. I did the same, though my arms... were obviously not as long.

"Thank you, Marco. I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you."

"I'd say the training's good enough for now," I told her. "Also, I still owe you that date."

"I want to go on the date after your fight," she whispered in my ear. "For now, let's just spend this moment like this."

"Okay," I said, holding on to her.

Unnoticed by either of us, Brandy's dad was outside her door, looking in and smiling at his daughter. Proud that she had found someone who seemed to care for her as much as he did, pulling her out of her loneliness for the first time since her mother died.

[GLKnight]

For the next few days, training was absolute Hell. We started every day with a "light run" outside the complex, under near 2 g's of gravity pulling us down. Brandy, for her part, was a machine. She would go fast, go hard and never look back, speeding through the forest like it were a leisurely stroll.

Me? Yeah, no. I'm a Nat. How the hell do you think I fared in that sort of environment? I was lucky to get a mile on my second day! Thank God the air was hospitable, otherwise I would have been in some serious trouble! But watching Brandy zoom by again and again, running at full speed like it was nothing? I was so awed by how effortless it was for her, I'd have quit if I were a lesser man. So I kept at it, running as far as I could, taking a break then going some more. After about two hours of that, we were brought back inside, told to soak in a nano vat under the watchful eye of some private Med Techs, ate and then got ready for transport to the gym.

When I first laid eyes on it, I nearly shit my pants with how frightening it looked. It looked far more like a penal facility than an actual gym, frighteningly ancient inspired in its aesthetic. We're talking the kind of facility that looms large, looms frighteningly and looks completely unnatural. True Xeno overlord kind of aesthetic, "straddling 16 separate dimensions in one space", here. And the design extended inside, as well. There were some terrifying machines all over the place, glowing with uncharacteristic hues and humming with an intensity befitting places like that experimental dimensional bridging lab I visited when I was a kid, once. Multi-tonal and disjointed harmonics that just causes that one part of your brain that reacts to fearful stimuli to go haywire the longer you're near whatever's causing it to hum. Tech Assistants were running here and there, tinkering with every machine as we walked around.

"What are all these?", I asked Blockbuster, causing him to smile.

"Not for you," he said, putting his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "These are for Brandy, because normal weights aren't necessarily working for her anymore. You'll be doing this the old fashioned way."

And when we got to training, he wasn't fucking kidding. As he guided me through every exercise, Brandy was given to the Tech Assistants for her training. Almost every machine she stepped up to, she was bathed in a weird light as she went rep for rep with me at each station. But just like me, she seemed to struggle a bit with each bit of exercise. Every weight a bit more than I was used to, Blockbuster took great delight in pushing me to my max. And he was not an easy Coach by any margin.

"Get that weight all the fucking way up," he screamed at me. "You call yourself a fighter when you can't beat your best?!"

It was the fifth day of training and I was feeling it. My body was like gelled cream, my bones felt like crisp bix and all of that was on fire in another grueling workout.

"I'm... TRYING," I growled, lifting the 275 lbs. bar. "I normally do... LOW REPS!"

As I threw the bar up for the last of a 10 set of 15's, Blockbuster helped guide it back on the rack and smiled at me as I huffed and practically melted over the station.

"Great job," he cheered. "Now get up, it's time to go."

I rolled onto my knees as I groaned, picking myself up with some effort as I looked around the room. That's when I noticed Brandy wasn't there.

"Where's... Brandy?", I stammered, stumbling slightly as I toweled off.

"Med Techs wanted to see her," her dad said, running a Sani-Flash over the bench. "Said they needed to go over some results with her. Now, hit the showers."

I just muttered an "Okay" as I wandered into the locker room, quickly stripping off my clothes before I noticed that they were being used. Grabbing some cleanse gear, I shuffled into the open space.

"I don't know what you're doing, but-"

I stopped cold as I saw Brandy standing underneath one of the taller showerhead, naked to the world as the shower poured its hardest setting down over her. My eyes practically devoured her form as the water cascaded across her body like a waterfall. The way her muscles seemed to defy her flesh, contouring every ounce of her magnificent physique as an open dare for her skin to listen to the whims of her prodigious mass. The broadness of her shoulders that created a mighty cliffside for the steaming stream to mist in the open air. The way her massive hands pressed against the wall, and then move to her... face as she...

That's when I noticed that Brandy was crying.

"Is everything okay?", I asked over the pounding hiss of the showerhead. Causing Brandy to jump slightly as she came out of some thoughts that were deeply troubling her.

"Y-yeah," she said, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm... I'm okay."

"What's wrong?", I asked her as I approached.

"Nothing," she said, trying to put on a brave face.

"You don't have to hide anything from me," I told her. "Please?"

Her head dipped as she closed her eyes.

"Shower: off."

The shower immediately ceased flowing, allowing me an unimpeded view of her body as she turned towards me. I tried to keep a straight face, but my face began to turn red as Brandy turned to look directly at me.

"I just finished with the tests for the Med Techs," she said. "Specifically, the Gen Specialists."

I could tell this was heading somewhere, but I didn't know where. All I knew was that it was upsetting her badly.

"And what did they tell you?"

Brandy plopped down on her ass as her face screwed up into one that bordered on anguish and confusion. It was the same look I gave when I learned my dad sacrificed his life sealing the engine of the Calico before the Gamma Pulse drive leak could vent out into the rest of the ship when I was 9 years old. I decided it was best I was sitting down too, to make it less awkward.

"They... found an anomaly," she said, shaking. "My body's... not done."

"Not done?", I asked, before quickly realizing what she meant. My eyes went wide as we looked at each other.

"They promised that I was stable enough, but I grew another 3 inches since we arrived..."

With that acknowledgement, she began to tremble. The shock settling in as another cruel twist of fate was laid at her feet. I scrambled on my hands and knees across the wet floor as she slowly rocked back and forth. Her hands resting on her knees as they shook uncontrollably as she fought a losing battle to hold back her tears. Knowing I had to do something, I wrapped both of my hands with her right, rubbing it as I just sat there with her.

"I don't wanna grow any more, Marco. I'm not... I'm not gonna be HUMAN anymore if I do!"

"It's gonna be alright," I told her, doing my best to sound as soothing as possible. "Just listen to me, okay? You're gonna be alright."

Suddenly, we heard the locker room doors slam open.

"Brandy," Blockbuster called out, panic in his voice as he rushed in. "I just talked with the Med Techs! Did they really say-"

He found us sitting next to each other in the shower, Brandy still in deep grief as I held her hand, trying to figure out how best to help her process all this.

[ArkhamAsylum]

It seems Brandy isn't done growing yet. But I'm sure everything will be okay. Another fantastic part. Well done.

[GLKnight]

It seems Brandy isn't done growing yet. But I'm sure everything will be okay. Another fantastic part. Well done.

It's a little more than that, actually...

[jcboyd]

It seems Brandy isn't done growing yet. But I'm sure everything will be okay. Another fantastic part. Well done.

It's a little more than that, actually...

Well.. that's ominous yet intriguing.....

In all seriousness - this is exceptional work GLK.  It's a story.  It's world-building I(hallmark of great Sci-Fi) and the fact that it includes FMG, etc. is just bonus because the quality of teh work transcends most of what we se ein this forum.   

[Sok]

Jc nailed it. This is really fantastic work. Top notch world building and consistency. I can't wait to see what you have planned next!