Hi Saradas,
I've had an ongoing story series called "Growth Drive: Meta High", where the readers are able to influence the growth via voting. It went on a short hiatus, but it's back. Here are the three micro chapters that occurred over the past month, collected for reading convenience. If you have no idea what I'm babbling about, you can see all of GD: Meta High here: You are not allowed to view links.
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Growth Drive: Meta High – Micro Chapter 6 – Harriet the Heroby MagnusMagneto
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LoginGuy Guy was on another 'date' with Harriet. That was what they called their hangout sessions. The young man was secretly thrilled to be around someone like Harriet. She was so intelligent, kind, courteous, gorgeous, and… buff; tremendously, stupendously buff. Guy could barely believe that a human being could be so muscular while still retaining their basic functions – and in Harriet's case, her beauty.
Despite her overwhelming greatness, Guy managed to keep his cool: the same eerie chill that pervaded everything he did. Of course, being a hot-blooded male with the tastes that he had, Guy couldn't help but cop feels of Harriet's brawny limbs at every chance he got.
Harriet loved indulging Guy, and to both of their delight, she just kept growing. The spurts happened at seemingly random intervals, as well as in response to various things. Sometimes the young woman would gain pounds of muscle from the simple act of eating a cheeseburger; a truly impossible occurrence. Others, the strength piled on from what appeared to be thin air.
Both Guy and Harriet were fully aware of how absurd Harriet's growth was, but had elected to not worry about it.
“My telepathy is getting pretty powerful.” Harriet said. Or, perhaps, I should communicate with you like this? Her voice filled his mind – the ability to make a mental projection was a recent improvement.
Guy's nerve broke for a short moment and he gulped. “Let's... let's just stick with talking for now, alright?”
Harriet giggled. She loved that she could momentarily startle Guy from his trance-like cool with her prowess.
During their idle chitchat, Harriet's cell phone rang with a peculiar tone. “That's an emergency!” she announced.
“Oh?”
She retrieved it from her pocket, quickly tapping the screen a few times. “I calibrated my phone to make that noise whenever a local crisis happens. Looks like a mineshaft just outside of town has collapsed, over a dozen of worker are trapped!”
“Wait, why did you rig your phone to do that? Are you just looking for an opportunity to show off?”
“Guy! There's no time for that. I have to help them.” Harriet stated, her voice both firm and calm.
“Right, of course… but how?” Guy asked.
“You kidding me?” she replied with a grin, “Just look at this thing!” she brought her right arm up and tensed it, forcing a bicep resembling a bowling ball to pop up. “Why, I bet it'll grow again any minute now...” right on cue, a surge of power flooded into Harriet's body, and the prodigious limb expanded even further. “Want the honors of first squeeze on this latest power up?”
Guy reached up and dug his fingers into the completely indomitable limb. It was difficult to believe that a muscle with such high quality existed.
Harriet continued: “Come on Guy, you're a smart guy. I'm sure you can think of some ways I could assist them.”
Guy nodded. “Alright, alright. Fair enough. Need a ride there?”
Harriet shook her head. “I appreciate the offer, but I think it'd be faster if I run. I'm not sure if my actual max run-speed is greater than what your car can do, but on foot I can traverse over terrain in any direction. Say, how about I give YOU a ride?”
Guy shrugged. “Sure.”
Harriet effortlessly scooped him up into her thick arms before running with glazing speed toward her destination. The sight was a strange one to be sure: a practically grown adult man cradled in the arms of a behemoth amazon, who was moving with speeds comparable to a vehicle.
Before long, they arrived at their destination. Harriet was quick to spring into action, her powerful mind soaking in the situation at hand. A few moments of assessment, both from visibly sweeping the area, and reading the minds of those nearby revealed the following: Something had caused the entrance to the mine to cave in. A team was assembled to destroy the debris blocking the entry, but they were unsure how to go about it. High grade explosives would be used to dislodge the rocks, but there was a risk of creating more damage with their use.
While the team ran numerous simulations to try and determine the best way to position their explosives, the workers within were in unknown danger. How many were injured, and to what degree was unknown.
Guy spoke up, “How does this even happen? Like... this is a modern mine. How was there a collapse caused by rocks and debris?”
Harriet shrugged her shoulders. “You're right that this makes little sense, but it doesn't matter. I have to do something!” Harriet gathered herself and yelled: “Stand aside everyone! I'll handle this!” her voice filled the entire area.
Typically, a lone person claiming they were going to solve a crisis like this would be cause for scrutiny. Harriet, however, was such a sight to behold that nobody dared to object. If anything, almost everyone in the vicinity was bewildered by what they saw: a towering block of muscle in the shape of a beautiful woman. She was the largest person any of them had ever witnessed before, yet she retained a distinctly feminine figure.
Without delay, Harriet sprang over to the large rocks of debris and began digging in. After removing some initial rocks, she came across a tremendous boulder, close to herself in size. This must be the cause of the incident! This rock must have fallen into the shaft. How was this even possible? Doesn't matter... need to fix it! she thought to herself. She grabbed hold of the boulder and began to pull on it.
To Harriet's surprise, she wasn't able to simply lift the boulder into the air. Instead, she struggled. She continued to pull with all of her might, but the rock budged only slightly. Come on Harriet! You haven't had a problem until now. Just outgrow this thing! she internally yelled. Right on command, her body did exactly that.
Harriet's tremendous limbs rippled and bulged as new life entered them, expanding to ever-greater dimensions. Pound upon pound of flesh erupted from thin air to help Harriet meet the challenge at hand, and she even grew taller in the process. Her already stretched clothing was brought to its seams from this sudden transformation.
The power-up sufficed, and Harriet managed to lift the boulder overhead. Next she had to decide what to do with it. She could put it down anywhere, but then machines would have to be brought in to move it later. That seemed like a hassle for the workers who were already going to be in for a haul in fixing the mess of the cave-in. Eager to further test her new strength, with a desire to also make things more convenient for everyone, Harriet began to push inward towards the boulder in her hands. At first this did little, but her upper half sprouted even more muscle, and soon myriad cracks formed around the rocky sphere. A few moments later, and a loud crumbling sound was heard while the boulder was reduced to dust.
Emboldened by her feat, Harriet quickly finished clearing the entrance to the shaft. Harriet knew that there were workers inside, so she quickly entered. It was dark inside of the mine, so she channeled her ability to create light and illuminated the area. Harriet focused in on finding any minds to read, as that would allow her to easily locate anyone alive.
The teen quickly found some startled and confused thoughts. She moved over to them, and found a group of workers huddled together. They looked up at her with sheer bewilderment, unsure if Harriet was their savior, or some kind of monster.
She greeted them, and assured them she was friendly (fortunately none questioned how she knew they were thinking that), and explained the entrance was clear once more. Everything seemed to have been wrapped up neatly until... Harriet found what they were huddled around: a small boy.
Harriet continued scanning their minds, and quickly understood the situation: one of the workers brought his son to the mine that day. It was against a lot of regulations to do so, but he had anyways. When the cave-in happened, the boy was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and was now badly wounded.
She delicately scooped him up into her arms. With her enhanced vision, she peered directly towards the wounds. She continued to focus, and was able to examine the boy's condition at a nearly microscopic level. Her powerful mind quickly made some inferences: based off of the medical textbooks she had read, he displayed all symptoms of “Internal rupture...” she quietly concluded. This was bad. Really bad.
Harriet was unsure if she could safely get the boy out of the mine shaft, and even if she did, there was no guarantee he could get to a hospital in time.
“Come on...” Harriet said to herself, “There HAS to be something I can do NOW!”
Then it clicked within her: another ability. Harriet had gone through this process enough times to instinctively feel when it happened. She looked at the boy in her arms and focused on him. Harriet imagined a stream of energy entering the child, healing his wounds. Just as she wished, it happened; the bleeding came to a halt as the open cuts and gashes began to close. Harriet continued to dwell on this, to hone in on and channel this healing force directly into the boy. More of his injuries vanished, and his condition was stabilized, heading towards healthy.
After another few minutes of intense concentration, Harriet had restored the youth to perfect vitality.
Harriet gently put the boy down, and patted him on the head.
“I'm going to make sure the way out is safe. Everyone, stay here until you get my signal. I'll be back soon, promise.” Harriet explained.
All of the workers and the boy nodded, wordlessly giving their consent. Nobody dared speak in the presence of the amazon. They weren't sure if she was some kind of super hero, or an alien, or what. Almost all of them agreed that she was obscenely attractive though.
Harriet stifled a giggle as she listened to their bewildered thoughts, and prepared to get them back to safety.
-
The ability to heal. While it didn't necessarily grant Harriet more power, she was thankful to have this new skill. It wouldn't help fight Cindy and Nikki in their desire to control and cause carnage respectively, but it did give her the capability of picking up the pieces more easily. If they ever harmed someone, Harriet would be there, ready to heal.
That's when it hit her – what had been going on with Cindy and Nikki? Things had been quiet... too quiet when two other individuals with roughly her prowess were around!
--
Growth Drive: Meta High – Micro Chapter 7 – Nikki's Power Level
By MagnusMagneto (You are not allowed to view links.
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“Yo. Seth. The frig just happened for the past… like… four months?” Nikki asked.
“Wh-what on earth are you talking about Nikki!?” the comparatively tiny teenager sputtered in response.
Nikki reflected on this for a few moments before responding, “Never mind. Forget I said anything. What matters is we're back.”
“Right...”
Nikki had become such an overwhelmingly impressive specimen that it was downright freighting to Seth when she had one of these strange flashes of madness. It was as if she was occasionally speaking to and referencing some other universe. For someone to possess that much power – power that was growing – to act momentarily insane was quite scary for those in her presence.
Still, Nikki was so muscular, busty, beautiful, and to Seth at least – cool – that he couldn't help but cling to her presence as frequently as possible. Secretly, Seth had always been infatuated with Nikki, and truthfully, Nikki had always known; he was simply too meek to act on it, and she didn't want to give him any ideas. Back then, while Nikki enjoyed the attention and friendship she got from Seth, she didn't have any interest in being with him in any romantic capacity.
After her transformation however, Nikki had come to appreciate Seth's near worship. With more power than anyone on the planet – barring Harriet and Cindy – Nikki found it far easier to simply do whatever she wanted. Indulging Seth here and there still resulted in some fun for herself, and it absolved her of feeling guilt by taking other lovers as well; not that guilt was something Nikki was afraid of.
“I don't get it Seth.” Nikki started thinking out loud.
“Hmm?”
“I'm SUPPOSED to be a genius right now, but I'm still, like, talking like this. Plus, I can't figure out how to make a quick buck. Should be easy for someone with over 180 intelligence points, plus more funneling in all the time!”
“Intelligence points? Nikki, life isn't a game...” There she went again, with the insane stuff.
Nikki let out a sigh. Sometimes she wanted to simply reveal the truth of where she came up with things like those numbers, but she feared that nobody would believe her, or such knowledge could drive others insane, like revealing the eldritch truth of their existence.
“Like… just work with me here Seth. You've seen my muscles. My powers. Obviously some seriously epic shit is going on, right?”
“Right.”
“Well, let's just say that one of my abilities is like… the ability to see power levels, like a saiyan scouter.”
Seth cocked a brow. “Really? What's mine?”
“Uhh… I don't think you want to know.”
“Nah, come on. I'm not expecting much anyways.”
Nikki shrugged her tremendously brawny shoulders. She focused for a bit, thinking about this story, thinking about its rules, and the arbitrary levels assigned to determine a character's strength and other attributes. With this in mind, she thought about Seth in particular, trying to figure out where he fit into this. Suddenly, the numbers came to her.
“Two.”
“Two? Two what?”
“Your, uh, strength level is two.” Nikki explained matter-of-factually.
“Compared to… what's yours!?”
“Over 620. It keeps changing, growing, hard to pinpoint.” Just then another growth spurt kicked in, and every muscle on Nikki's already engorged frame burst even further. She gained yet another inch of height, and pounds of powerful flesh. “YEAH! EVEN MORE!” she declared before entering a double-bicep pose.
“Does…. Does that mean you're more than three-hundred and ten times stronger than me?” Seth asked, his voice quaking with a combination of fear and arousal.
Nikki shook her head. “These power levels… they're whack man. Like, sure, I'm definitely dozens, maybe even a hundred times stronger than you at this point, but not that much. I mean, my starting power level was like, one. You weren't twice as strong as me then. Cindy's was four, and she definitely wasn't four times as strong as me. I'm pretty sure the numbers are just, you know, nearly random benchmarks. Still, that bitch Harriet has like 20 more levels than me, and she's definitely a bit stronger, so they're real.”
Seth was having difficulty following along; these were concepts that would make sense in a video game, but were outlandish for reality.
Nikki continued musing on the subject: “Plus, consider how whenever I drain someone like you, or your brother, I gain way more strength than what those one or two extra levels would give me. Clearly, when draining normal people, I get a larger boost than what I take.”
“So... how do you get more levels?” Seth asked, “Do you uhh, train or something? I remember you got pretty yolked after working out once in my garage...”
Nikki shook her head again. “It's... kind of spontaneous. Like, sometimes the power flows into me in response to a challenge or a workout, but other times it just... happens. As a result, I figure there's no point in worrying about training or whatever. How much power I have comes down to the readers really.”
“R-readers?” And again with the crazy talk.
“Don't worry about it. Anyways, the real question is why someone with so many intelligence points still can't figure out how to make some money!”
Seth pondered on the problem for a few moments. “Maybe your intelligence comes in other forms? Like how you suddenly got so kick-ass at video games?”
“Hey! I was always kick-ass at games!”
Seth stifled a comment. Truth was, he had no problem beating her in the past.
Nikki continued, “I guess I can see where you're coming from though.”
Seth spoke up again: “Well, you could always do something drastic... maybe rob a bank. Not like anyone could stop you, you know?”
The amazon stroked her chin, causing the tremendous mound of muscle that was her bicep to jump up from the motion. “That idea is so great that I could just kiss you Seth!”
Seth gulped, “Well... if you want to...”
Nikki effortlessly scooped him up into her arms. “Remember to hold onto my guns if you want to feel your contribution first hand!”
“Wait.” Seth interrupted.
“Oh?”
“Can... can you, uh, do a, adrenaline rush thing, during this?” his face turned red just from giving such a request.
A smirk met Nikki's mouth. “You want to REALLY feel my power, huh?”
Seth nodded.
She shrugged. “Guess I should indulge my number one fan, right?”
Nikki leaned in, bringing her lips to Seth's, all while thinking about powering up with an adrenaline rush. In the past, a catalyst was required for Nikki to 'hulk out' as she occasionally referred to the ability, but recently her control over it had become so great that she no longer required something like that.
All at once, a torrent of power flooded Nikki's tremendous form. Between the energy she was temporarily stealing, and the adrenaline rush, her body began expanding rapidly. A fleshy tearing sound could be heard as the hard, powerful, muscle-packed limbs squirmed to find new room to grow into. As suggested, Seth grabbed onto her right bicep, and felt a level of arousal previously thought impossible as he experienced firsthand the simultaneous widening and hardening of the already unfathomable arm.
A few moments passed, and soon Nikki had taken all she could from Seth. She dropped him, sending him to the ground, allowing him to look up at the ever-more impressive goddess. Nikki had become power incarnate. Between the draining kiss and adrenaline rush, her arms were easily at least 40 inches in circumference, all of it impeccably well-defined muscle. Her sex appeal had become similarly exaggerated, as the combination of a body-builder's X taper, and her natural hourglass fused together to create a being of otherworldly proportions. Not an ounce of fat rested on Nikki's body, aside from her tremendous breasts, and a thin layer of feminine fluff that prevented her from looking dried out.
“God damn Seth. I just LOVE having so much power coursing through my body!” she exclaimed.
“M-me too.” Seth meekly agreed.
“I'm so close to being a real life anime or video game character. I just need something like...” Nikki cupped her hands, and concentrated for a moment, “HADOKEN!” Nikki yelled, and cue, a large blue ball of energy formed from her palms before firing outward.
She let out a shrill laugh of joy. “Holy shit! Did I really just...?” Nikki gathered her hands again, “HADOKEN!” she repeated the motion, and yet another ball of energy fired off.
“YES!” she exclaimed. “I can do friggan energy attacks! About time that third EX ability kicked in! Now for Magnus to get on his butt and write me a second bonus ability...”
A chill ran down Seth's spine. Nikki had just become even more captivating and terrifying at the same time.
Holding her thick arms outward, and her hands upward, Nikki effortlessly summoning two globes of power, levitating them in mid air. “Nice. Looks like my third EX power is Energy Manipulation. Guess we should explore the extent of my powers... then maybe rob that bank! Hope the readers like this, because I'm going to need all the strength I can get to beat Harriet and Cindy!”
Seth simply looked on, bedazzled, nodding his head.
Growth Drive Micro Chapter 8 – The Queen
by MagnusMagneto ( You are not allowed to view links.
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“We're here at the home of the girl who has reportedly cracked the stock market. Sources indicate that dozens of millions of dollars of funds have been funneled into this account over the past few days. The wealth continues to accumulate at an alarming rate. A federal investigation has already been launched, but in a mere few moments, this 'Cindy' will allegedly come out and offer a press conference.”
The frantic man speaking to the camera was joined by at least a dozen other stations, all doing the same. Myriad vans and equipment had been set up outside of Cindy's sprawling mansion. One may interject that the residence technically belonged to Cindy's parents, but lately she had become the de facto leader of the place.
The news coverage continued: “We're going to turn it over to our finance expert to better explain what's going on.”
Perspective is shifted to the news studio, where a balding man in a suit starts to speak: “We don't quite know the specifics, but a securities account belonging to someone named Cindy at this address has been making waves. Whoever 'Cindy' is, male or female, they've managed to accrue over 80 million dollars in a mere few days. Normally 80 million isn't enough to raise alarm or concern in a market this tremendously large, but he or she has created it with relatively very little seed money, entirely earning it by aggressively pushing risky short-term speculative options. Cindy's predictions border on supernatural, and in a sense, she's 'eating wall-street's lunch'; though, considering the numbers involved, it's more like a snack than a meal.
Like I mentioned, this sort of thing happens somewhat frequently, a random no-name gets extremely lucky with some penny stocks, but what's raising alarm is the rate at which she's obtaining new capital. It's too fast. Nobody should be able to push things this hard. There's very real concern that she could start eating wall-street's dinner as well.
Of course, the real reason why all of this is going on is because whoever Cindy is, they've made all of this information public, and are holding a press conference. Plus, it's been a slow newsweek in the tri-county area, so it gives us something to cover.”
Perspective shifts back. “Thanks for that.” Under his breath he wished that this 'expert' had something more substantial to say, and left out the last part about the slow newsweek. It was true, though, the local stations likely would've covered this story anyways. It's pretty bizarre for someone from this small city to suddenly amass 80 million dollars out of thin air.
-
Finally, the door opens. A figure emerges. Gasps are heard, and cameras flash in a frenzy as reporters practically trip over themselves to capture the sight in front of them. And what a sight it is: A woman -no, a goddess- stands before them. She towers at a statuesque 7', which is accentuated further by thick, custom-made high-heels. Long, perfect blonde hair flows down to her waist, styled in the most flattering manner possible, the very ends 'dyed' blazing red through her own transformation abilities.
Her magnificent body is nearly entirely revealed, as she's wearing an ancient Greek inspired dress, a short toga-dress of the highest caliber with a huge swath of midriff cut off. Long, bulging muscles cascade in every direction from her wide, tapered frame. A pair of otherworldly mammaries and inhumanly wide hips remind the onlookers that despite her apparent power, this Cindy is an icon of divine feminine beauty.
The reporters begin to shout, pushing one another aside to move closer to this woman. Who is she? Why is she so tall? So muscular? So beautiful? So... mesmerizing...
“Silence.” The woman shouts in a voice so loud that a distinct ringing noise is left in the ears of those around her. She raises her slender hands and thick arms toward the sky; her wide lats flaring out, a line of muscle erupts from her underarms; within her grasp she is intangibly summoning the collective willpower of those around her, bending it to her desires.
The crowd instantly halts to a hush, some of them against their will.
“I am the one named Cindy.” The woman continues, she has them in her intangible grasp; not a single one poses even the slightest chance of breaking free from her mental domination. “All you need to know is that...” Unnecessarily, but out of a desire to show off in front of the camera, and to indulge her own narcissism, she flexes her tremendous arms into a classic double-bicep position, two watermelon sized muscles emerge, valleys and splits of definition adorning them at every turn, “and you all now serve ME.” she untenses her arms, and the crowd relaxes in unison; relaxed, but still under her utter domination.
And that was that. They stared, transfixed like zombies at Cindy, their new queen. She was all their minds could think about, and so long as Cindy maintained her willpower over them, they would do almost anything she asked of them. A public declaration had been made to the world.
End transmission.
