Brandon tapped his keyboard in a flash to exit his screen when he heard his doorbell ring. With his heart pounding in his chest from surprise, he opened the door and smiled, trying to look natural and calm. “Hey Karen.”
“Hi,” Karen smiled back, waddling inside, letting out a little groan as she bent down to put her purse by the door. “I’m glad you only live on the third floor. Your elevator’s broken again.”
“Again?” Brandon said. “It was working this morning. You should have texted me! I could have helped you up.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m not an invalid,” Karen laughed softly, placing one hand on her pregnant belly. It was on course to be closer to “huge” than “big” on the hypothetical spectrum of size, currently sticking out a few inches farther than a foot and a half from the rest of Karen’s body. Karen had on fairly typical “pregnant woman” attire: a white shirt with black stripes that only covered half of her belly, a baggy grey sweatshirt that was currently (thankfully) unzipped, and a pair of jean shorts with an elastic waistband sown in. “I need the exercise anyway.”
“I know you’re tough, don’t worry,” Brandon laughed. “Even now, you could probably still beat me in a swim race, or out-lift me, or…”
“I think you’d have the advantage in push-ups or sit-ups for now,” Karen said, rolling her eyes as she grinned. Her hand remained on her belly, rubbing in small, barely observable circles. Brandon noticed them, as his eyes wandered down there in quick bursts. Brandon and Karen’s laughter petered off after a few seconds and Karen looked down at her own swollen middle. “But you really are the only person who’s treated me the same through all of this,” she smiled, looking back up. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” Brandon smiled back. “Glad I can help.”
“I appreciate it all, trust me,” Karen sighed, waddling to the kitchen area of the apartment to peek into the fridge. “I feel so weird asking anyone else for a ride. They gush and fret and ask weird questions that I don’t want to get into.” Karen closed the door and poured herself a glass of juice, making her way back to Brandon by the couch. She cupped her other arm under her belly as she sunk down onto her seat, moving a few inches a second.
“It’s no trouble,” Brandon said, feeling his ears getting a little red. “Like I said, glad I can help.”
Karen turned to Brandon and smiled, adjusting her heavy, maternal body when she knocked over a controller lying on the couch. It fell onto the floor, some of its buttons depressing, and the TV came on, displaying a few open windows with various files.
“Whoops,” Karen said, sticking her tongue out before she looked more closely at the screen. “What is this?... ‘mechanics A,’ ‘mechanics B,’ ‘battle map.’”
“It’s nothing,” Brandon said, hurrying over to his laptop, synched up with his television.
“Oh! Kal said you were working on designing your own original game! Is this it?”
Brandon hesitated, deciding to answer honestly, but tread with caution. “Yyyyyyeah, I’ve picked up a lot of skills at work and I thought I’d try making a game of my own. Just a little indie game, no big deal.”
“Is it done?” Karen said, her voice getting more excited.
“Kinda. I have a basic playthrough in there but it’s short and I’m still beta-testing it and-”
“Then let’s play!” Karen smiled, picking up the controller and cycling through the open windows, trying to find the game itself.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Brandon said, his cheeks getting redder. “It’s not finished and besides, didn’t you need me to drive you to do your shopping?”
“I can do that anytime,” Karen scoffed. “And you said it yourself: this is short. I’ll go through it and then we can go. You probably need outside beta testers, don’t you?”
“Well yeah, but…” Brandon’s voice trailed off as he searched his head for another excuse. Karen crossed her arms and glared at Brandon.
“We used to play video games together all the time, dude. Now that I’m pregnant, we can’t anymore?” Karen tightened her eyes on Brandon. He sighed, seeing no good way out of this.
“Fine,” he said quietly, walking over to the couch as Karen squealed with glee, sliding onto the floor and leaning against the couch.
“Your first video game. I can’t wait,” she beamed. “Is this the file?” Brandon nodded, fearing what would come next as Karen opened the game.
<b>~~~~~~ Gravid Quest ~~~~~~</b>
<b>Create Your Character</b>
“Is this?” Karen began, hitting “start” and seeing her generic character appear on screen. “Oh…Brandon? She’s pregnant.”
“That’s who you play as,” Brandon said quietly. On screen was a digital rendering of a gorgeous pregnant woman with a vacant expression. “I-it’s different, you know? I wanted to make something unique.”
“Well that’s definitely different,” Karen laughed, cycling through the character attributes. “You’ve added a lot of detail. I can pick hair style, hair color and tone, eye color, skin color and tone, accessories…belly size?”
Brandon gulped and watched as Karen assembled her character.
“Looks like the minimum belly size is still…quite big,” Karen said. The blank-faced character on screen looked eight-months pregnant with one baby, but as Karen discovered when she played around with the sliding scale, it could go all the way up to looking practically overdue with octuplets. “I guess I’ll make her about my size.” Karen brought the scale down, creating an avatar with a gigantic, round belly.
“I wouldn’t say you’re that big,” Brandon said quietly.
“Well, that’s how big I feel,” Karen sighed. “And in another month or so, that’s what I’ll probably look like, although I doubt my skin or my boobs are going to look as good as hers.” Brandon felt himself getting redder as Karen set the rest of her characteristics and picked her character’s “class.” Each class resulted in a different outfit for her character. As a warrior, her avatar had on metal bikini and a long red cape, her belly totally exposed. As a mage, she had on a tiara and flowing robe that wrapped around her like smoke, but left her belly totally exposed. As an archer, Karen’s character had belts wrapped around her hips and chest, a light green hood, and leather clothes that left her belly totally…well, you get it.
“Okay, I’m a pregnant warrior with blue hair and red eyes,” Karen smiled, turning to Brandon as she put “Karine” in as her character’s name. “Fun so far. So is this an RPG?”
Brandon nodded again as the official “game” loaded.
<hr>
Karine entered the smoldering village, looking around at the damage. Peasants and villagers were sitting together, tending to one another’s wounds, a few looking at her in fear.
“Here to finish the job?” one man, a nasty gash across his face, spat.
“I am Karine, hero from a faraway kingdom, ravaged by the same evil that attacked you here,” Karine said, hands on her generous hips. “Now, what direction is the capital?”
“The capital?” a woman said in dismay as she applied a wet rag to another woman’s wounds. “You can’t be serious. Even if you can fight off the kingdom’s soldiers, that’s where the demonic sorceress herself lives. No one can stand against her.”
“I have to at least try,” Karine said, turning her head toward the sky. “Now, which direction to the capital?”
“What do we have here?” The sound of weeping villagers picked up as a small band of soldiers walked down the street toward Karine, their bright red armor covered in the sorceress’s sigil. “You aren’t from around here, are you?”
“My name is Karine and I’m here to destroy the evil kingdom and free these good people,” Karine said, drawing her sword.
“First time a pregnant woman’s ever challenged me to a fight,” the lead soldier grinned, getting out his own sword. “This shouldn’t take long.”
As the two ran toward each other and locked blades, Karine turned to one of the villagers. “Wait, how do I fight?”
“Do you need me to show you a tutorial?” a villager with his arm in a sling said. “You can skip anytime.”
“Yes, show tutorial,” Karine said.
“Alright, just select what attack you want to do, then select who you want to attack, then attack,” the villager said as the soldier stood still, still grinning and grimacing at Karine.
“Easy enough,” Karine said, swinging her sword down on the soldier, a big red “16” appearing above them.
“Good, now even though we’ve never met, let me explain how to use your special powers,” the villager said. “You should have a special energy because of your pregnancy. Let’s just call it ‘pregnancy points,’ to be easy about it. Use your ‘pregnancy points’ to know how many special attacks you can do.”
“Alright, let’s try that,” Karine said, taking a deep breath from her belly instead of her chest and focusing on a larger attack. With one heavy swing, she struck the soldier, a “44” appearing above them as the soldier fell to the ground.
“Great, you’ve got it,” the villager said. “Do you need me to repeat the tutorial?”
“Yes,” Karine said, as the soldier’s body hopped back up.
“Crap, I meant to hit ‘No,’” Karen said, playing through the tutorial again. “But…her pregnancy gives her special powers?”
“It’s explained later in the story,” Brandon blushed, getting worried every time Karen asked “details” about the game and its plot. Especially because it only got worse from here on out.
“Well it’s nice to have a strong pregnant protagonist in a video game,” Karen said, giving Brandon a sympathetic smile. “Makes me feel a little better about myself.”
“Y-yeah?” Brandon asked.
“Yeah,” Karen laughed back at Brandon, furrowing her eyebrows. “Alright, finished with these goons. The mechanics aren’t hard to figure out at all.”
<hr>
“You did it,” the villager with a face gash said in disbelief. “And you’re…”
“Pregnant? I know,” Karine chuckled, patting her belly. “Now then: which way to the capital?”
“Take this road and go straight,” another villager said. “But it’s dangerous to go alone. At least take this.” The villager gave Karine a satchel, filled with herbs, potions, smoke bombs, and the like.”
“Thank you,” Karine smiled, before pausing. “I’d like to sell all these smoke bombs, actually. I have a feeling they won’t be useful.”
“Of course,” another villager said. The whole town was already back to its regular working order, with an inn, a temple, and store clerks. With her new gold in hand, Karine headed off toward the dark capital.
Along the way, Karine continued to run into trouble. Wild animals, malevolent spirits, bandits, random soldiers. All would randomly appear in her path, leaving Karine to fight them off. None of the fights were particularly difficult, but Karine found herself running low on pregnancy power, or PP. As she made her way through the expansive woods in the mountains between her starting point and the capital, Karine spotted a small but clearly existent path leading slightly off from her planned course.
Curious, Karine walked down the path, finding her way into a cave. There were no monsters or bandits inside and as she got farther inside, it started to get brighter and brighter. Soon, Karine could see stone steps cuts masterfully into the cave floor, leading down to an enormous, shimmering pool.
Karine hurried down, her belly jiggling with each step. Once she made it to the water’s edge, she dipped her hands into the water and took a hesitant sip. It tasted fresh and she could feel her pain and fatigue lessen. It was as if her “health points,” if you will, were replenished.
“Hello there,” a ghostly voice said. Karine looked up and saw a figure appear on the other end of the pool. It took on form and a woman draped in white cloth appeared, hovering above the ground. Her legs were crossed, letting her large, bare belly lay in her lap. “I’ve had lots of visitors, but never someone like you.”
“I am Karine, a hero on a quest to defeat the sorceress in control of this kingdom,” Karine said proudly, hands on her hips, puffing her chest out.
“Hmm, that’s not it,” the mysterious woman said. “Lots of heroes come through here and they never grab my attention.” The woman smiled sweetly and undid her legs, walking across the pool. “You’re pregnant.”
“Same to you,” Karine said, putting her hand on her own heaving belly. “But you can probably tell that this isn’t a normal pregnancy, huh?”
“Yes, you’re…you’re like me, aren’t you?” the woman smiled, wrapping her hands around her own belly. “You’re part fairy?”
“No, I’m all human,” Karine said. “But I heard about the source of the sorceress’s strength and tried to get it for myself.” She looked down at her belly. “And this is what came of it.”
“Well, you’ve got something like us fairies,” the woman said, getting closer. “You’ve got the ‘pregnancy power’ alright. The only other non-fairy who can do that is the sorceress Talara herself. And when she knew what a threat we were to her, she sealed us all in caves and caverns around the kingdom.”
“You’re trapped in here?” Karine said, concerned.
“Unless someone can defeat Talara,” the fairy smiled. “And it looks like you’re our only hope. I’ll give you all the help I can while you’re here.”
“I’ll take it,” Karine said. “Can I use this recovery pool?”
“Yes, we all made our own pools to help any passersby, but it can’t replenish your pregnancy power,” the fairy said. “I, on the other hand, can do that. First, let’s get you into the pool and relax you.”
Karine removed her cape and breastplate, easing her heavy pregnant body into the water, sinking with ease as soon as she got in. “Oh, that feels amazing,” Karine purred. “Training to fight the kingdom has meant depriving myself of a lot of luxuries, but this pool feels like it’s all melting away.”
“Glad to hear it,” the fairy smiled, cozying next to Karine in the pool, their bellies’ enormous sizes making them stick out of the water. “Now, let me replenish your PP. Any fairy you run into on your quest should be able to do the same thing.” The fairy leaned over and began running her wet hands over Karine’s silky smooth belly, taking care to cover every inch of her swollen womb, getting a few errant coos from Karine.
<hr>
“This is…the most detailed healing scene I’ve ever played,” Karen said, eyes fixed on the screen.
Brandon didn’t say anything, hanging his head, face bright red.
“Guess it’s sort of ironic that I’m the first one to play this, huh?” Karen said, turning to Brandon, her playful smile fading when she saw Brandon’s own uncomfortable expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just don’t want these scenes to make you feel…weird,” Brandon said, looking over at Karen.
Karen sighed and smiled, scooting a little closer to Brandon, giving him an elbow to the side. “Don’t worry about it. I’m having fun!” Brandon’s expression wasn’t changing. “Honest!”
“Thanks, Karen,” Brandon smiled weakly, looking up a little. “Alright, the cut scene’s over. You can head back on your quest.”
“Gotcha,” Karen said, directing Karine to head back toward the capital.
<hr>
By the time Karine entered the kingdom’s chief capital, she was even stronger than when she started. She was dealing more damage with each hit, her PP was higher, and she had bought better and better equipment.
Her ordinary long sword was now a glimmering, ornate blade; its design totally inconsistent with the period and location the rest of the world appeared to be set in. Her armor was now golden and, despite offering much more defense, exposed even more of her breasts than it had before. Her belly was still out in the open, but with each trip to the fairies’ springs, its gleam and glow appeared just a few pixels warmer.
The capital city was a stark contrast to the villages Karine had visited in her journey. They were all quite small and many of them resource-poor. Still, the people were happy, especially after she kicked out soldiers or monsters or found the proper plants for an antidote in a nearby field.
The city, on the other hand, was enormous and had markets overflowing with fancy potions, weapons and armor fit for a grand knight, and infrastructure any of the villages would have given up half their farms’ yield for. But, all of the villagers looked sullen and upset, some walking around in misery, others bursting out in anger as they ran into one another. They all looked particularly agitated whenever soldiers and guards walked through.
Karine made her way straight to the main spire: a stone building jutting straight into the sky for hundreds of feet. Dark clouds were permanently circling the top and although the structure was carved from bright white stone, it had an intimidating, evil feel about it.
Karine approached the main gates around the perimeter of the spire as two guards brought their spears across the doors.
“Sign of access?” one of the guards said.
“What do you mean?” Karine asked, hand cautiously reaching for her sword’s hilt.
“No one gets inside without a sign of access,” the other guard growled. “Now go to the local inn and get off your feet. We need strong babies born into this kingdom to serve the mistress.”
Now Karine had fought and defeated dozens of soldiers by this point and these two didn’t come off as particularly strong. She’d also learned spells she could use in conjunction with her PP to do incredible things. It would have been an easy feet to fell these two guards, blow down the door, and march into the spire. But for some reason, she felt innately that she had to get this sign of access. Go figure.
Turning back to the town, Karine decided to take the guards’ advice and visit the inn. It was more expensive than the fairy’s pools, but she didn’t think one of those would be in Talara’s own city. And her belly did weigh her down quite a lot.
Entering the inn, she was surprised how quiet it was, despite how packed the place was. Karine walked around the tables, seeing people stare into their mugs. She stopped at one table, where a woman in a thick, black hood sat, facing out.
“Looking for someone to join your party? I’ll do it for the right price,” the woman grumbled.
“Sorry, I don’t have a party,” Karine said.
“Maybe on the next update then,” the woman replied, turning back to her drink. As Karine got a table, the only sunny person in the room came up to her: a barmaid, wearing typical “wench” attire, her pregnant belly sticking out underneath.
“Hello there,” she smiled. “I’m Olga. Can I get anything for you?”
“Hi Olga,” Karine smiled back. “I’m just tired from traveling.”
“I know how you must feel,” Olga giggled, resting one hand on her belly. “I get exhausted just walking around the inn. How much long do you figure you’ve got?”
“Not sure,” Karine chuckled. “It hasn’t been a…typical pregnancy, let’s just say. Do you have a room I can use for the night?”
“Sure, let me take you,” Olga said, waddling to the staircase, making her way cautiously. Karine wasn’t waddling much, thanks to her trained warrior’s body, so seeing Olga bounce and struggle around was a little funny to her.
“Need any help?” Karine said, putting one hand on Olga’s back.
“Almost there!” Olga replied in her sweet, sing-song voice. Well, it wasn’t exactly sing-song, but the tone was there in the words for gamers to pick up on. Olga led Karine into a tiny room with a bed on an unsteady cot. “I know it’s small, especially for someone…well, our size, but it’s all we have for now, unfortunately.”
“Thank you,” Karine smiled, sitting down and patting the seat next to her. “Actually, if you’re not too busy, would you mind sitting with me and talking? I’m not from around here and I have a few questions about the city.”
“Sure,” Olga said, sitting next to Karine. “I don’t have any other people in town to talk to. Ever since…” Olga’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Ever since the sorceress started ruling, everyone’s very callous. I try to keep my spirits up, but it’s not easy.”
“You do an excellent job,” Karine smiled.
Olga grinned back. “And it’s nice to see someone who isn’t ashamed to let their pregnancy show…mind if I feel?”
“Of course not,” Karine said, undoing her cape and loosening her breastplate. “Go right ahead.”
Olga placed her hand on Karine’s enormous belly, running her hands all over it. “Oh, it’s so soft and squishy,” Olga giggled. “I mean, mine’s like that too, but it’s nice to feel another woman’s pregnant belly for once.”
<hr>
“That’s not what they feel like,” Karen said, turning to Brandon. Brandon looked back at her, already uncomfortable with how closely they were sitting now.
“W-what?”
“Have you never felt a pregnant belly before?” Karen asked. “You’ve never felt mine, I know that. You’re the only person who never asked to feel.”
“I didn’t want to be rude,” Brandon said. “I didn’t even know the rest of our friends asked to touch your belly.”
“It’s kind of invasive sometimes, but I don’t mind it,” Karen said, looking back at the screen. “But if you don’t want to, I get it. It’s not exactly glamorous.”
“N-no! I…” Brandon held back as Karen turned back to him. “I’d love to feel…if you’d let me.”
Karen chuckled and took Brandon’s hand, holding it against her belly. “See? Doesn’t that feel different?”
“Yeah, it’s firm,” Brandon said, looking at Karen’s swollen tummy as she moved his hand around. “A-and warm.”
“It sure feels tight,” Karen smiled. “But having it rubbed makes the discomfort go away.” Brandon’s hand jumped a little and Karen let out a laugh. “That was a kick, wasn’t it?” Brandon nodded wordlessly. “Well here, I’ll let you rub and calm them down while I finish the game up. It’ll give you a chance to catch up on all the belly rubbing you missed.”
“Thanks,” Brandon said, catching a look at Karen’s eyes when he was convinced her attention was back on the game.
<hr>
Karine woke up and got dressed, taking a note off of the floor of her inn room — no small feat given her belly size.
“Karine: sorry I couldn’t answer your question last night. Spies everywhere. To get sign of access, I recommend going to outpost #3 on West side of city”
Karine let out a long sigh, feeling refreshing, knowing her quest’s completion was getting even closer. Outpost #3 was a standard side-quest: a few elite guards from outside kingdoms would only give Karine a sign of access if she could beat them all in a fight, which of course, she was able to do. The final guard was the most difficult, but once Karine figured out his pattern of attacking, charging, and healing, he was easy to beat. She questioned why if she just had to fight these guards to get an official government pass, why she couldn’t have just fought the guards at the gate, but didn’t question such things. Karine always had the strange feeling that some outside force controlled her actions and decisions.
Once past the gate, Karine made her way to the top of the spire, encountering demonic forces and undead soldiers at every floor. The last room of the great tower was an extravagant throne room, with a large canopy bed instead of a throne.
“Hello hero,” a voice said from behind the canopy’s veil. “Or should I call you Karine, of the Rodathe Kingdom?”
“Show yourself, Talara,” Karine said, holding her sword out. “I’ve come to stop your terrible rule.”
“Have you?” the voice chuckled. “Or have you come for revenge for your kingdom? You know I laid waste to Rodathe to prove my strength…and that’s not all.”
“Where is Prince Branion?” Karine said, pointing her sword at the bed.
“He’s here,” Talara said, throwing back the veil. She walked toward Karine gracefully, her long black dress clutching tightly to her hips, legs, and arms. Her skin was a bright, devilish red and her hair was ink black. The rest of her dress clung to her heaving breasts, which were just as exposed as Karine’s, as was her own huge pregnant belly.
Talara motioned to the bed, where a knight staggered down. His skin was grey and his eyes bright white. With the snap of her finger, he dashed at Karine, his sword drawn. Karine was quickly engaged in battle with the knight, triple-digit numbers flashing above them with each blow. It wasn’t long before Karine could get a good look at her opponent’s face, gasping.
“Branion?” she said as the knight attacked her again.
“He can no longer hear you,” Talara smiled. “He’s under my control. The last remnant of the Rodathe royal family. Either kill him or let him kill you!”
“I wanted to wait until I faced you to use any more PP, but it looks like I can’t help it,” Karine said, charging up one last attack and slamming her blade against Branion’s armor. It shattered upon impact and Branion fell to the ground, his body too exhausted and damaged to put up any fight.
“He’ll recover soon,” Talara said. “Better kill him while you have the chance.”
“No, he can still hear me,” Karine said, putting down her sword and grabbing the prince’s head. “Branion, I know you’re in there somewhere…don’t you remember the time we spent together? Don’t you remember how I…loved you?”
The body of the prince continued to moan and growl. Karine cried out and pressed Branion’s face against her belly.
“Remember how much we loved each other!” she said, rubbing her maternal body against Branion. Slowly, his growls turned to mumurs, and those murmurs turned to “…Karine?”
<hr>
“Brandon?” Karen said slowly, eyes fixed on the screen.
“Yes?” Brandon gulped, fearing what was coming next.
“You…you’re interested in pregnant women, aren’t you?”
There it was. Brandon couldn’t avoid answering this question. Lying now would look too bad and too obvious. “A-always have.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Karen said.
“How could I tell you? It never really came up before and how would you have reacted when you told me you were carrying your cousin’s twins that I was attracted to pregnancy?”
“Good point,” Karen sighed. “I guess I’m just a little surprised. I didn’t know anyone could find this…me…attractive.”
“If it makes you feel better,” Brandon began. “I thought you were attractive before you got pregnant too.”
Karen chuckled and turned to her friend. “Yeah? But I’m better looking like this, huh?”
Brandon blushed, a nervous smile forming. “N-not the way I would word it, but…yeah. All that really matters is that you’re the same Karen though.”
Karen began to blush now. “Well, let’s see how this boss fight plays, shall we?”
<hr>
“This changes nothing!” Talara said, lifting her hands into the air, the dark clouds surrounding the tower starting to thunder. “I’ll just kill you both now.”
Blasts of energy flew between Talara and Karine, as magic and swords clashed. Talara levitated chunks of destroyed stone and threw them at Karine while our hero performed impressive combos, slashing through rock with ease and landing blows on Talara, the numbers above them surging as the battle raged on.
“There’s barely any time to drink a potion,” Karine wheezed, the weight of her belly and the strength of Talara’s power weighing on her. The two were almost evenly matched.
“Surrender and I might make you my apprentice,” Talara laughed. “I could conquer twice as much of the world with you by my side.”
“I doubt that,” Karine said, darting back into the fray, thrusting her sword at Talara’s chest, only to be rebuffed by a powerful summoned squall.
“Try as you might, I’m always going to be more powerful,” Talara laughed. “And while your pregnancy power is running low, mine is limitless!”
As lightning from outside began to accumulate above Talara’s hands, Branion crawled over to her bed, taking out his sword, and smashing a stone pillar beside her. At once, Karine felt her belly tighten as the room began to glow.
“What did you do?” Talara screamed as ghostly entities began to flow out of Karine’s belly. They transformed in the various fairies Karine had met over her journey, all hovering in the air, hands on their own immense bellies, smiling pleasantly.
“Well, well,” one of the fairies smiled. “We meet again, Talara. Or should we say, Lilith?”
“We do indeed. But I’ve stopped you before and I’ll stop you again,” Talara sneered, preparing to fling her gigantic lightning bolt at them. But, Karine leaped into the way, knocking it away with a swing of her sword.
“Not today. We have a hero on our side who exceeds our strength. And we’re giving her all the pregnancy power we have. You’re no match for her anymore, Lilith.”
“Impossible!” Talara cried out as Karine charged up one more attack, swinging a blade of light down onto Talara. A mighty “999” flashed above Talara, who cried out and collapsed.
“It’s not over yet,” one of the fairies said, pointing to Talara, who began to moan and convulse on the ground. Spreading her legs, Talara let out a loud groan as a red ghostly figure exited her, making her belly deflate and her skin lose its red pigment.
“That was the true enemy: Lilith,” another fairy said. “A demon who can possess others and give them her power. Talara was this kingdom’s head magician, but it looks like she dabbled in the dark arts too much and became a host for Lilith.”
“So it’s all over?” Branion said, breathing heavily.
“Not yet,” Karine smiled, holding Branion close and giving him a powerful kiss.
Karen wasn’t watching the screen’s cut scene, her attention turned squarely on Brandon.
“S-so, what did you think?” Brandon asked.
“Well…it needs to be longer, obviously. And the enemy designs aren’t all that original. And your dialogue doesn’t…feel like what a pregnant woman would say,” Karen smiled.
“All good suggestions. I’ll work on the dialogue later,” Brandon said. Karen put her controller down and placed one hand over Brandon’s which was still on her belly.
“We can talk about it tonight, if you’d like,” Karen said, leaning closer to Brandon.
“But didn’t you want to go shopping today?” Brandon said as Karen put one finger against his lips.
“Well, it’s a little too late for that. But there’s always tomorrow…and I’ll be here in the morning.”
Brandon gulped. “Karen, I…didn’t think you ever thought about me like that.”
“I never thought you thought about me like this either,” Karen said. “But we can discuss that over dinner. For right now…how about a kiss?”
“Hi,” Karen smiled back, waddling inside, letting out a little groan as she bent down to put her purse by the door. “I’m glad you only live on the third floor. Your elevator’s broken again.”
“Again?” Brandon said. “It was working this morning. You should have texted me! I could have helped you up.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m not an invalid,” Karen laughed softly, placing one hand on her pregnant belly. It was on course to be closer to “huge” than “big” on the hypothetical spectrum of size, currently sticking out a few inches farther than a foot and a half from the rest of Karen’s body. Karen had on fairly typical “pregnant woman” attire: a white shirt with black stripes that only covered half of her belly, a baggy grey sweatshirt that was currently (thankfully) unzipped, and a pair of jean shorts with an elastic waistband sown in. “I need the exercise anyway.”
“I know you’re tough, don’t worry,” Brandon laughed. “Even now, you could probably still beat me in a swim race, or out-lift me, or…”
“I think you’d have the advantage in push-ups or sit-ups for now,” Karen said, rolling her eyes as she grinned. Her hand remained on her belly, rubbing in small, barely observable circles. Brandon noticed them, as his eyes wandered down there in quick bursts. Brandon and Karen’s laughter petered off after a few seconds and Karen looked down at her own swollen middle. “But you really are the only person who’s treated me the same through all of this,” she smiled, looking back up. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” Brandon smiled back. “Glad I can help.”
“I appreciate it all, trust me,” Karen sighed, waddling to the kitchen area of the apartment to peek into the fridge. “I feel so weird asking anyone else for a ride. They gush and fret and ask weird questions that I don’t want to get into.” Karen closed the door and poured herself a glass of juice, making her way back to Brandon by the couch. She cupped her other arm under her belly as she sunk down onto her seat, moving a few inches a second.
“It’s no trouble,” Brandon said, feeling his ears getting a little red. “Like I said, glad I can help.”
Karen turned to Brandon and smiled, adjusting her heavy, maternal body when she knocked over a controller lying on the couch. It fell onto the floor, some of its buttons depressing, and the TV came on, displaying a few open windows with various files.
“Whoops,” Karen said, sticking her tongue out before she looked more closely at the screen. “What is this?... ‘mechanics A,’ ‘mechanics B,’ ‘battle map.’”
“It’s nothing,” Brandon said, hurrying over to his laptop, synched up with his television.
“Oh! Kal said you were working on designing your own original game! Is this it?”
Brandon hesitated, deciding to answer honestly, but tread with caution. “Yyyyyyeah, I’ve picked up a lot of skills at work and I thought I’d try making a game of my own. Just a little indie game, no big deal.”
“Is it done?” Karen said, her voice getting more excited.
“Kinda. I have a basic playthrough in there but it’s short and I’m still beta-testing it and-”
“Then let’s play!” Karen smiled, picking up the controller and cycling through the open windows, trying to find the game itself.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Brandon said, his cheeks getting redder. “It’s not finished and besides, didn’t you need me to drive you to do your shopping?”
“I can do that anytime,” Karen scoffed. “And you said it yourself: this is short. I’ll go through it and then we can go. You probably need outside beta testers, don’t you?”
“Well yeah, but…” Brandon’s voice trailed off as he searched his head for another excuse. Karen crossed her arms and glared at Brandon.
“We used to play video games together all the time, dude. Now that I’m pregnant, we can’t anymore?” Karen tightened her eyes on Brandon. He sighed, seeing no good way out of this.
“Fine,” he said quietly, walking over to the couch as Karen squealed with glee, sliding onto the floor and leaning against the couch.
“Your first video game. I can’t wait,” she beamed. “Is this the file?” Brandon nodded, fearing what would come next as Karen opened the game.
<b>~~~~~~ Gravid Quest ~~~~~~</b>
<b>Create Your Character</b>
“Is this?” Karen began, hitting “start” and seeing her generic character appear on screen. “Oh…Brandon? She’s pregnant.”
“That’s who you play as,” Brandon said quietly. On screen was a digital rendering of a gorgeous pregnant woman with a vacant expression. “I-it’s different, you know? I wanted to make something unique.”
“Well that’s definitely different,” Karen laughed, cycling through the character attributes. “You’ve added a lot of detail. I can pick hair style, hair color and tone, eye color, skin color and tone, accessories…belly size?”
Brandon gulped and watched as Karen assembled her character.
“Looks like the minimum belly size is still…quite big,” Karen said. The blank-faced character on screen looked eight-months pregnant with one baby, but as Karen discovered when she played around with the sliding scale, it could go all the way up to looking practically overdue with octuplets. “I guess I’ll make her about my size.” Karen brought the scale down, creating an avatar with a gigantic, round belly.
“I wouldn’t say you’re that big,” Brandon said quietly.
“Well, that’s how big I feel,” Karen sighed. “And in another month or so, that’s what I’ll probably look like, although I doubt my skin or my boobs are going to look as good as hers.” Brandon felt himself getting redder as Karen set the rest of her characteristics and picked her character’s “class.” Each class resulted in a different outfit for her character. As a warrior, her avatar had on metal bikini and a long red cape, her belly totally exposed. As a mage, she had on a tiara and flowing robe that wrapped around her like smoke, but left her belly totally exposed. As an archer, Karen’s character had belts wrapped around her hips and chest, a light green hood, and leather clothes that left her belly totally…well, you get it.
“Okay, I’m a pregnant warrior with blue hair and red eyes,” Karen smiled, turning to Brandon as she put “Karine” in as her character’s name. “Fun so far. So is this an RPG?”
Brandon nodded again as the official “game” loaded.
<hr>
Karine entered the smoldering village, looking around at the damage. Peasants and villagers were sitting together, tending to one another’s wounds, a few looking at her in fear.
“Here to finish the job?” one man, a nasty gash across his face, spat.
“I am Karine, hero from a faraway kingdom, ravaged by the same evil that attacked you here,” Karine said, hands on her generous hips. “Now, what direction is the capital?”
“The capital?” a woman said in dismay as she applied a wet rag to another woman’s wounds. “You can’t be serious. Even if you can fight off the kingdom’s soldiers, that’s where the demonic sorceress herself lives. No one can stand against her.”
“I have to at least try,” Karine said, turning her head toward the sky. “Now, which direction to the capital?”
“What do we have here?” The sound of weeping villagers picked up as a small band of soldiers walked down the street toward Karine, their bright red armor covered in the sorceress’s sigil. “You aren’t from around here, are you?”
“My name is Karine and I’m here to destroy the evil kingdom and free these good people,” Karine said, drawing her sword.
“First time a pregnant woman’s ever challenged me to a fight,” the lead soldier grinned, getting out his own sword. “This shouldn’t take long.”
As the two ran toward each other and locked blades, Karine turned to one of the villagers. “Wait, how do I fight?”
“Do you need me to show you a tutorial?” a villager with his arm in a sling said. “You can skip anytime.”
“Yes, show tutorial,” Karine said.
“Alright, just select what attack you want to do, then select who you want to attack, then attack,” the villager said as the soldier stood still, still grinning and grimacing at Karine.
“Easy enough,” Karine said, swinging her sword down on the soldier, a big red “16” appearing above them.
“Good, now even though we’ve never met, let me explain how to use your special powers,” the villager said. “You should have a special energy because of your pregnancy. Let’s just call it ‘pregnancy points,’ to be easy about it. Use your ‘pregnancy points’ to know how many special attacks you can do.”
“Alright, let’s try that,” Karine said, taking a deep breath from her belly instead of her chest and focusing on a larger attack. With one heavy swing, she struck the soldier, a “44” appearing above them as the soldier fell to the ground.
“Great, you’ve got it,” the villager said. “Do you need me to repeat the tutorial?”
“Yes,” Karine said, as the soldier’s body hopped back up.
“Crap, I meant to hit ‘No,’” Karen said, playing through the tutorial again. “But…her pregnancy gives her special powers?”
“It’s explained later in the story,” Brandon blushed, getting worried every time Karen asked “details” about the game and its plot. Especially because it only got worse from here on out.
“Well it’s nice to have a strong pregnant protagonist in a video game,” Karen said, giving Brandon a sympathetic smile. “Makes me feel a little better about myself.”
“Y-yeah?” Brandon asked.
“Yeah,” Karen laughed back at Brandon, furrowing her eyebrows. “Alright, finished with these goons. The mechanics aren’t hard to figure out at all.”
<hr>
“You did it,” the villager with a face gash said in disbelief. “And you’re…”
“Pregnant? I know,” Karine chuckled, patting her belly. “Now then: which way to the capital?”
“Take this road and go straight,” another villager said. “But it’s dangerous to go alone. At least take this.” The villager gave Karine a satchel, filled with herbs, potions, smoke bombs, and the like.”
“Thank you,” Karine smiled, before pausing. “I’d like to sell all these smoke bombs, actually. I have a feeling they won’t be useful.”
“Of course,” another villager said. The whole town was already back to its regular working order, with an inn, a temple, and store clerks. With her new gold in hand, Karine headed off toward the dark capital.
Along the way, Karine continued to run into trouble. Wild animals, malevolent spirits, bandits, random soldiers. All would randomly appear in her path, leaving Karine to fight them off. None of the fights were particularly difficult, but Karine found herself running low on pregnancy power, or PP. As she made her way through the expansive woods in the mountains between her starting point and the capital, Karine spotted a small but clearly existent path leading slightly off from her planned course.
Curious, Karine walked down the path, finding her way into a cave. There were no monsters or bandits inside and as she got farther inside, it started to get brighter and brighter. Soon, Karine could see stone steps cuts masterfully into the cave floor, leading down to an enormous, shimmering pool.
Karine hurried down, her belly jiggling with each step. Once she made it to the water’s edge, she dipped her hands into the water and took a hesitant sip. It tasted fresh and she could feel her pain and fatigue lessen. It was as if her “health points,” if you will, were replenished.
“Hello there,” a ghostly voice said. Karine looked up and saw a figure appear on the other end of the pool. It took on form and a woman draped in white cloth appeared, hovering above the ground. Her legs were crossed, letting her large, bare belly lay in her lap. “I’ve had lots of visitors, but never someone like you.”
“I am Karine, a hero on a quest to defeat the sorceress in control of this kingdom,” Karine said proudly, hands on her hips, puffing her chest out.
“Hmm, that’s not it,” the mysterious woman said. “Lots of heroes come through here and they never grab my attention.” The woman smiled sweetly and undid her legs, walking across the pool. “You’re pregnant.”
“Same to you,” Karine said, putting her hand on her own heaving belly. “But you can probably tell that this isn’t a normal pregnancy, huh?”
“Yes, you’re…you’re like me, aren’t you?” the woman smiled, wrapping her hands around her own belly. “You’re part fairy?”
“No, I’m all human,” Karine said. “But I heard about the source of the sorceress’s strength and tried to get it for myself.” She looked down at her belly. “And this is what came of it.”
“Well, you’ve got something like us fairies,” the woman said, getting closer. “You’ve got the ‘pregnancy power’ alright. The only other non-fairy who can do that is the sorceress Talara herself. And when she knew what a threat we were to her, she sealed us all in caves and caverns around the kingdom.”
“You’re trapped in here?” Karine said, concerned.
“Unless someone can defeat Talara,” the fairy smiled. “And it looks like you’re our only hope. I’ll give you all the help I can while you’re here.”
“I’ll take it,” Karine said. “Can I use this recovery pool?”
“Yes, we all made our own pools to help any passersby, but it can’t replenish your pregnancy power,” the fairy said. “I, on the other hand, can do that. First, let’s get you into the pool and relax you.”
Karine removed her cape and breastplate, easing her heavy pregnant body into the water, sinking with ease as soon as she got in. “Oh, that feels amazing,” Karine purred. “Training to fight the kingdom has meant depriving myself of a lot of luxuries, but this pool feels like it’s all melting away.”
“Glad to hear it,” the fairy smiled, cozying next to Karine in the pool, their bellies’ enormous sizes making them stick out of the water. “Now, let me replenish your PP. Any fairy you run into on your quest should be able to do the same thing.” The fairy leaned over and began running her wet hands over Karine’s silky smooth belly, taking care to cover every inch of her swollen womb, getting a few errant coos from Karine.
<hr>
“This is…the most detailed healing scene I’ve ever played,” Karen said, eyes fixed on the screen.
Brandon didn’t say anything, hanging his head, face bright red.
“Guess it’s sort of ironic that I’m the first one to play this, huh?” Karen said, turning to Brandon, her playful smile fading when she saw Brandon’s own uncomfortable expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just don’t want these scenes to make you feel…weird,” Brandon said, looking over at Karen.
Karen sighed and smiled, scooting a little closer to Brandon, giving him an elbow to the side. “Don’t worry about it. I’m having fun!” Brandon’s expression wasn’t changing. “Honest!”
“Thanks, Karen,” Brandon smiled weakly, looking up a little. “Alright, the cut scene’s over. You can head back on your quest.”
“Gotcha,” Karen said, directing Karine to head back toward the capital.
<hr>
By the time Karine entered the kingdom’s chief capital, she was even stronger than when she started. She was dealing more damage with each hit, her PP was higher, and she had bought better and better equipment.
Her ordinary long sword was now a glimmering, ornate blade; its design totally inconsistent with the period and location the rest of the world appeared to be set in. Her armor was now golden and, despite offering much more defense, exposed even more of her breasts than it had before. Her belly was still out in the open, but with each trip to the fairies’ springs, its gleam and glow appeared just a few pixels warmer.
The capital city was a stark contrast to the villages Karine had visited in her journey. They were all quite small and many of them resource-poor. Still, the people were happy, especially after she kicked out soldiers or monsters or found the proper plants for an antidote in a nearby field.
The city, on the other hand, was enormous and had markets overflowing with fancy potions, weapons and armor fit for a grand knight, and infrastructure any of the villages would have given up half their farms’ yield for. But, all of the villagers looked sullen and upset, some walking around in misery, others bursting out in anger as they ran into one another. They all looked particularly agitated whenever soldiers and guards walked through.
Karine made her way straight to the main spire: a stone building jutting straight into the sky for hundreds of feet. Dark clouds were permanently circling the top and although the structure was carved from bright white stone, it had an intimidating, evil feel about it.
Karine approached the main gates around the perimeter of the spire as two guards brought their spears across the doors.
“Sign of access?” one of the guards said.
“What do you mean?” Karine asked, hand cautiously reaching for her sword’s hilt.
“No one gets inside without a sign of access,” the other guard growled. “Now go to the local inn and get off your feet. We need strong babies born into this kingdom to serve the mistress.”
Now Karine had fought and defeated dozens of soldiers by this point and these two didn’t come off as particularly strong. She’d also learned spells she could use in conjunction with her PP to do incredible things. It would have been an easy feet to fell these two guards, blow down the door, and march into the spire. But for some reason, she felt innately that she had to get this sign of access. Go figure.
Turning back to the town, Karine decided to take the guards’ advice and visit the inn. It was more expensive than the fairy’s pools, but she didn’t think one of those would be in Talara’s own city. And her belly did weigh her down quite a lot.
Entering the inn, she was surprised how quiet it was, despite how packed the place was. Karine walked around the tables, seeing people stare into their mugs. She stopped at one table, where a woman in a thick, black hood sat, facing out.
“Looking for someone to join your party? I’ll do it for the right price,” the woman grumbled.
“Sorry, I don’t have a party,” Karine said.
“Maybe on the next update then,” the woman replied, turning back to her drink. As Karine got a table, the only sunny person in the room came up to her: a barmaid, wearing typical “wench” attire, her pregnant belly sticking out underneath.
“Hello there,” she smiled. “I’m Olga. Can I get anything for you?”
“Hi Olga,” Karine smiled back. “I’m just tired from traveling.”
“I know how you must feel,” Olga giggled, resting one hand on her belly. “I get exhausted just walking around the inn. How much long do you figure you’ve got?”
“Not sure,” Karine chuckled. “It hasn’t been a…typical pregnancy, let’s just say. Do you have a room I can use for the night?”
“Sure, let me take you,” Olga said, waddling to the staircase, making her way cautiously. Karine wasn’t waddling much, thanks to her trained warrior’s body, so seeing Olga bounce and struggle around was a little funny to her.
“Need any help?” Karine said, putting one hand on Olga’s back.
“Almost there!” Olga replied in her sweet, sing-song voice. Well, it wasn’t exactly sing-song, but the tone was there in the words for gamers to pick up on. Olga led Karine into a tiny room with a bed on an unsteady cot. “I know it’s small, especially for someone…well, our size, but it’s all we have for now, unfortunately.”
“Thank you,” Karine smiled, sitting down and patting the seat next to her. “Actually, if you’re not too busy, would you mind sitting with me and talking? I’m not from around here and I have a few questions about the city.”
“Sure,” Olga said, sitting next to Karine. “I don’t have any other people in town to talk to. Ever since…” Olga’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Ever since the sorceress started ruling, everyone’s very callous. I try to keep my spirits up, but it’s not easy.”
“You do an excellent job,” Karine smiled.
Olga grinned back. “And it’s nice to see someone who isn’t ashamed to let their pregnancy show…mind if I feel?”
“Of course not,” Karine said, undoing her cape and loosening her breastplate. “Go right ahead.”
Olga placed her hand on Karine’s enormous belly, running her hands all over it. “Oh, it’s so soft and squishy,” Olga giggled. “I mean, mine’s like that too, but it’s nice to feel another woman’s pregnant belly for once.”
<hr>
“That’s not what they feel like,” Karen said, turning to Brandon. Brandon looked back at her, already uncomfortable with how closely they were sitting now.
“W-what?”
“Have you never felt a pregnant belly before?” Karen asked. “You’ve never felt mine, I know that. You’re the only person who never asked to feel.”
“I didn’t want to be rude,” Brandon said. “I didn’t even know the rest of our friends asked to touch your belly.”
“It’s kind of invasive sometimes, but I don’t mind it,” Karen said, looking back at the screen. “But if you don’t want to, I get it. It’s not exactly glamorous.”
“N-no! I…” Brandon held back as Karen turned back to him. “I’d love to feel…if you’d let me.”
Karen chuckled and took Brandon’s hand, holding it against her belly. “See? Doesn’t that feel different?”
“Yeah, it’s firm,” Brandon said, looking at Karen’s swollen tummy as she moved his hand around. “A-and warm.”
“It sure feels tight,” Karen smiled. “But having it rubbed makes the discomfort go away.” Brandon’s hand jumped a little and Karen let out a laugh. “That was a kick, wasn’t it?” Brandon nodded wordlessly. “Well here, I’ll let you rub and calm them down while I finish the game up. It’ll give you a chance to catch up on all the belly rubbing you missed.”
“Thanks,” Brandon said, catching a look at Karen’s eyes when he was convinced her attention was back on the game.
<hr>
Karine woke up and got dressed, taking a note off of the floor of her inn room — no small feat given her belly size.
“Karine: sorry I couldn’t answer your question last night. Spies everywhere. To get sign of access, I recommend going to outpost #3 on West side of city”
Karine let out a long sigh, feeling refreshing, knowing her quest’s completion was getting even closer. Outpost #3 was a standard side-quest: a few elite guards from outside kingdoms would only give Karine a sign of access if she could beat them all in a fight, which of course, she was able to do. The final guard was the most difficult, but once Karine figured out his pattern of attacking, charging, and healing, he was easy to beat. She questioned why if she just had to fight these guards to get an official government pass, why she couldn’t have just fought the guards at the gate, but didn’t question such things. Karine always had the strange feeling that some outside force controlled her actions and decisions.
Once past the gate, Karine made her way to the top of the spire, encountering demonic forces and undead soldiers at every floor. The last room of the great tower was an extravagant throne room, with a large canopy bed instead of a throne.
“Hello hero,” a voice said from behind the canopy’s veil. “Or should I call you Karine, of the Rodathe Kingdom?”
“Show yourself, Talara,” Karine said, holding her sword out. “I’ve come to stop your terrible rule.”
“Have you?” the voice chuckled. “Or have you come for revenge for your kingdom? You know I laid waste to Rodathe to prove my strength…and that’s not all.”
“Where is Prince Branion?” Karine said, pointing her sword at the bed.
“He’s here,” Talara said, throwing back the veil. She walked toward Karine gracefully, her long black dress clutching tightly to her hips, legs, and arms. Her skin was a bright, devilish red and her hair was ink black. The rest of her dress clung to her heaving breasts, which were just as exposed as Karine’s, as was her own huge pregnant belly.
Talara motioned to the bed, where a knight staggered down. His skin was grey and his eyes bright white. With the snap of her finger, he dashed at Karine, his sword drawn. Karine was quickly engaged in battle with the knight, triple-digit numbers flashing above them with each blow. It wasn’t long before Karine could get a good look at her opponent’s face, gasping.
“Branion?” she said as the knight attacked her again.
“He can no longer hear you,” Talara smiled. “He’s under my control. The last remnant of the Rodathe royal family. Either kill him or let him kill you!”
“I wanted to wait until I faced you to use any more PP, but it looks like I can’t help it,” Karine said, charging up one last attack and slamming her blade against Branion’s armor. It shattered upon impact and Branion fell to the ground, his body too exhausted and damaged to put up any fight.
“He’ll recover soon,” Talara said. “Better kill him while you have the chance.”
“No, he can still hear me,” Karine said, putting down her sword and grabbing the prince’s head. “Branion, I know you’re in there somewhere…don’t you remember the time we spent together? Don’t you remember how I…loved you?”
The body of the prince continued to moan and growl. Karine cried out and pressed Branion’s face against her belly.
“Remember how much we loved each other!” she said, rubbing her maternal body against Branion. Slowly, his growls turned to mumurs, and those murmurs turned to “…Karine?”
<hr>
“Brandon?” Karen said slowly, eyes fixed on the screen.
“Yes?” Brandon gulped, fearing what was coming next.
“You…you’re interested in pregnant women, aren’t you?”
There it was. Brandon couldn’t avoid answering this question. Lying now would look too bad and too obvious. “A-always have.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Karen said.
“How could I tell you? It never really came up before and how would you have reacted when you told me you were carrying your cousin’s twins that I was attracted to pregnancy?”
“Good point,” Karen sighed. “I guess I’m just a little surprised. I didn’t know anyone could find this…me…attractive.”
“If it makes you feel better,” Brandon began. “I thought you were attractive before you got pregnant too.”
Karen chuckled and turned to her friend. “Yeah? But I’m better looking like this, huh?”
Brandon blushed, a nervous smile forming. “N-not the way I would word it, but…yeah. All that really matters is that you’re the same Karen though.”
Karen began to blush now. “Well, let’s see how this boss fight plays, shall we?”
<hr>
“This changes nothing!” Talara said, lifting her hands into the air, the dark clouds surrounding the tower starting to thunder. “I’ll just kill you both now.”
Blasts of energy flew between Talara and Karine, as magic and swords clashed. Talara levitated chunks of destroyed stone and threw them at Karine while our hero performed impressive combos, slashing through rock with ease and landing blows on Talara, the numbers above them surging as the battle raged on.
“There’s barely any time to drink a potion,” Karine wheezed, the weight of her belly and the strength of Talara’s power weighing on her. The two were almost evenly matched.
“Surrender and I might make you my apprentice,” Talara laughed. “I could conquer twice as much of the world with you by my side.”
“I doubt that,” Karine said, darting back into the fray, thrusting her sword at Talara’s chest, only to be rebuffed by a powerful summoned squall.
“Try as you might, I’m always going to be more powerful,” Talara laughed. “And while your pregnancy power is running low, mine is limitless!”
As lightning from outside began to accumulate above Talara’s hands, Branion crawled over to her bed, taking out his sword, and smashing a stone pillar beside her. At once, Karine felt her belly tighten as the room began to glow.
“What did you do?” Talara screamed as ghostly entities began to flow out of Karine’s belly. They transformed in the various fairies Karine had met over her journey, all hovering in the air, hands on their own immense bellies, smiling pleasantly.
“Well, well,” one of the fairies smiled. “We meet again, Talara. Or should we say, Lilith?”
“We do indeed. But I’ve stopped you before and I’ll stop you again,” Talara sneered, preparing to fling her gigantic lightning bolt at them. But, Karine leaped into the way, knocking it away with a swing of her sword.
“Not today. We have a hero on our side who exceeds our strength. And we’re giving her all the pregnancy power we have. You’re no match for her anymore, Lilith.”
“Impossible!” Talara cried out as Karine charged up one more attack, swinging a blade of light down onto Talara. A mighty “999” flashed above Talara, who cried out and collapsed.
“It’s not over yet,” one of the fairies said, pointing to Talara, who began to moan and convulse on the ground. Spreading her legs, Talara let out a loud groan as a red ghostly figure exited her, making her belly deflate and her skin lose its red pigment.
“That was the true enemy: Lilith,” another fairy said. “A demon who can possess others and give them her power. Talara was this kingdom’s head magician, but it looks like she dabbled in the dark arts too much and became a host for Lilith.”
“So it’s all over?” Branion said, breathing heavily.
“Not yet,” Karine smiled, holding Branion close and giving him a powerful kiss.
Karen wasn’t watching the screen’s cut scene, her attention turned squarely on Brandon.
“S-so, what did you think?” Brandon asked.
“Well…it needs to be longer, obviously. And the enemy designs aren’t all that original. And your dialogue doesn’t…feel like what a pregnant woman would say,” Karen smiled.
“All good suggestions. I’ll work on the dialogue later,” Brandon said. Karen put her controller down and placed one hand over Brandon’s which was still on her belly.
“We can talk about it tonight, if you’d like,” Karen said, leaning closer to Brandon.
“But didn’t you want to go shopping today?” Brandon said as Karen put one finger against his lips.
“Well, it’s a little too late for that. But there’s always tomorrow…and I’ll be here in the morning.”
Brandon gulped. “Karen, I…didn’t think you ever thought about me like that.”
“I never thought you thought about me like this either,” Karen said. “But we can discuss that over dinner. For right now…how about a kiss?”
