Targets
01 Feb 2024Kasumi Goto
Listening Post B-512 Operations Log
Location: Unknown [data not found]
Timestamp: [removed from system by unknown directive]
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Signal detected.
Analyzing... transmission of unknown origin. Matching identifier found.
Instruction packet located. Opening...
Attempting to trace signal...
Error. Trace failed. Unable to determine origin.
[Cause: Transmission source scrambled.]
Activating encryption...
Routing protocols engaged...
Transmission destination: Unavailable
"So, she's back with Aegis now? For good?"
"Yes. In their headquarters. And it looks like she's... well, at least free of their influence. I'm told she still has their voices in her head."
"Better than being a dead, brainless husk, or in the hands of the Thargoids. At least this way, she can still have a use."
"I'm surprised the plan worked as well as it did. Setting the station up to crash, then making her and the bait believe it was because of the Thargoids attacking, without either of the three sniffing out the ruse ..."
"It was a long shot, but it worked, and that's what matters. As for [signal interrupted]... you'd better keep track of her from now on."
"I've got it all covered, don't worry. I won't lose track of her again."
"Yeah, you'd better not. She was your project after all, and it's going to be your responsibility if she gets out of control again."
"I'm assured that she won't. Her apartment is under constant surveillance, and as you know, she's effectively docile at this time."
"She might not forever be. And it would be in your interests that she doesn't find out the deeper connections of the project. If there's one enemy you really don't want to have, it's her, and it shouldn't be traced back to us."
"Even if she finds out, the chances of her actually getting anywhere with it are slim. As for how I'll keep her visible after she leaves Duamta - I can be reasonably certain she won't bother making up aliases to operate under, even if she keeps her current one. And that rebel who attempted to contact her has... disappeared."
"'Disappeared.'... right. You still shouldn't drop your guard - you know what she's capable of, and if she gets nice with the Thargoids ..." [Interference detected, compensating ...] "... are the security measures functional this time?"
"It seems so. I'm not getting any breach alerts, and the encryption layers are active. Whatever caused that last beacon to act up isn't affecting this one."
"Keep checking the network, [static]. We can't allow slip-ups like that to occur again."
"I already have operatives on that. They're triple-checking every link in it, and should be at the last few right now."
"Good. One more thing - how are you going to handle Azimuth?"
"If they still want her, they can get creative, and handle it on their own. They'll know where she is well enough, but they shouldn't expect any help with it after their last few failures - they're lucky enough that half of the galaxy didn't come down on them like vultures. And I think they know brute force won't cut it again."
"So... what? You just want them to hope she gets careless?"
"No, but I expect them to realize they won't just catch her by throwing their incompetent mercs at her repeatedly. It hasn't worked with Seo, and not with her. She's also better off with Aegis - but ignoring that, they know how to be crafty."
"Which is to say?"
"I'm letting them do the work, and deal with its consequences. Torben is good with words - if it goes wrong, he'll sell the idea that it was a rogue group well enough."
"Right. Are we done here?"
"I'd say. Unless you want to chat about - "
"No, no. That's enough. Cut the link and wipe the logs."
End of transmission.
Receiving new instruction packet.
Purging operation logs of [Data corrupted].
Erasure successful. Resuming regular operations.
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Elsewhere, on Duamta 4...
January 17, 3310
I was walking through an empty void. A single, thin figure stood ahead, in the distance, facing directly away from me.
It seemed to be a woman. I began to walk closer... and started to feel strange, as if my body was getting heavier, my pants and shirt tighter, the closer I got. And... she began to look off too, her figure becoming... larger, but only... in the lower reaches.
It became harder and harder to move my legs forward the closer I got, already beginning to clash with each other when I was halfway there. And it only became worse, yet I didn't seem to notice anything was off, despite feeling so much heavier.
The closer I got... the more evident it became that the other woman was... growing bigger... features. I couldn't keep my eyes of her lower half as it enlarged more and more, faster as I went closer and closer. I tried to be faster, but kept becoming slower and slower thanks to my body's increasing weight.
When I got there... the woman's hips had gone well past her shoulders. And they were accompanied by appropriately sized thighs and backside. Her pants were really tight, and the shirt was pulled up quite high on the body, too. Then, I realized, it was... her.
I looked down at my own body.
My eyes slowly fluttered open as I returned to consciousness, feeling... oddly excited. And I quickly found the reason for it as fragments of the dream found their way into my brain's active memory... which then made me feel a little embarrassed at dreaming of Seo in such a way, even if the idea quite appealed to me.
I remained lazy under the bed covers for a little longer, kind of wishing that I could still roll around without putting myself into an uncomfortable position, or shifting the pillows out from underneath my waist... as I did quite like to do so. But it was a necessary sacrifice to have a body I was so perfectly happy with, both despite and because of its unordinary, socially inappropriate nature. Kira approved of those sentiments, too, and since she was basically me - or maybe I was her, rather - I was... even more convinced.
Maybe it was too big of a body, but I was less interested in the practical concerns than... just feeling good for myself, and this body definitely achieved that. It felt like... I deserved it, too, after all that the world had put me through already, in less than thirty years of life.
When my legs - or, more specifically, the calves - began to feel a little sore, I stretched generously, with an accompanying pleased sound forcing itself past my lips, then threw off the bed covers and got up. Maybe some pillows under the calves were needed. My feet carried me... toward the shower, a little subconsciously, since I was still quite sleepy. But that desire to feel clean was definitely present, somewhere within my mind, as I hadn't showered in... at least two days, the time that it took for my hair to become greasy and not very nice. Which seemed to be a reason why I kept it short, too, according to a memory that came up.
That simply added more enjoyment to the experience, which now included the feature and privilege of having to outright squeeze into the cabin, to still have little room for movement available... something that the weird parts of my mind even quite enjoyed. Whichever parts of it weren't weird. Squeezing out of it while still wet from the water was easier, thanks to the reduced friction, and... disappointingly so, because any notion of 'normality' had flown right out of the window and been dumped into a star, when I "grew" this body... not even a month ago, it was. Yet it felt like it'd been longer.
I slipped into a bathrobe to not feel cold, but it... kind of stopped a little short of my knees, and clung to the curves of my body quite neatly. Evidently, this one... was made for the size of my body before the implant had put so much fat into my breasts, hips and thighs. And it, that idea, or thought, made me love it even more. It had made my body so perfect, and nobody could change it now.
I returned to the bedroom, carrying the sleepwear back into it, and put on my usual underwear. A typical bra - all of the ones I wore now fitting perfectly, as I'd returned the one that didn't - and underwear shorts, both black. Then... I caught myself in the mirror as I stood sideways, and admired the view. It was just so curvy, all of the added mass jutting out so far from the center of my form, especially around the back...
I poked my breast - or, what I qualified as "bags of fun", sometimes - with a finger, observing the reaction. Then I pushed them inward with both hands, from the sides, watching how that made them deform, stretching forward, pushing out of the bra. After that, I posed slightly by leaning to the right, placing the hand on the hip there, as it was the one visible in the mirror.
I repeated those first two movements after turning to face the mirror, awfully pleased by how it felt, not just looked, to do that, and struck the same pose as well... quite fond of how the underwear kept everything decent, yet still allowing some shape to show without being tight, and the way my cleavage was highlighted in the bra. I really did look best in my underwear.
My hands decided to follow the curvature of my hips along the side, and kind of around the back, until they found their way to where it all jutted out to form a very big 'bulge', and became very soft. A strong temptation to grab found its way into my brain, and... I did. Fondling the giant, soft mass that was my backside, only a small part of me wondering how I could have let it get so big and still feel perfectly accepting of it, when previously, even my original, well-formed but still somewhat modest, shape, felt like it got in the way.
I turned to the side again, and repeated that grabbing motion, watching how the soft fat deformed under my fingers, and the hand... then I pushed inward too, trying to squeeze it in as much as was possible, watching how it pushed its way out further from my body's center, stretching the underwear in that direction too. It was all so very nice.
My feet carried me over to the bed. I lay down on it slowly, taking in the moment, down to how it creaked when my weight shifted on to it. And I continued to just run my hands over my body, slowly and methodically, of course, focusing those big, enlarged areas. But the weight of those "funbags" on my chest eventually pulled my mind out of it, before things spiralled out of control. I'd need an extra pillow there too, if not two.
I decided that, since I felt quite nice only being half-dressed... that I'd spend some more time without the rest of my clothes., only adding some socks. And I went into the living room, sitting down on one of the spacious sofas - the one facing the wall TV, directly away from the apartment entrance. Then... I didn't really know what to do, other than sit back, relax, turn on the TV and either use one of the arm rests, or turn one of my very big thighs into an improvised one. They certainly were big enough to where I could to that, without too much trouble... though the dedicated arm rests were still more comfy.
I had a little while of chilling in the sofa half-dressed, occasionally flicking through programs if they didn't look interesting, or it was some annoying war update when I didn't feel like I wanted to know anything about it, right now. Especially when I'd caught wind of some plans to develop an anti-Titan weapon, on some internal Aegis channels, which was to be announced tomorrow, on the 18th. But it quickly left my mind again, as I felt... an odd sense of calm, happiness, and... like this could be a home, for me.
Then the apartment door began to slide open, when I was sure I had it locked, completely. That left only one culprit, and I definitely didn't want to be seen in my underwear by her. Especially not now, when I was so much bigger, and there was a lot more to be seen thanks to that. I slipped off the sofa, which looked more like a controlled fall off, and went on my knees behind it, trying to keep everything sensitive covered. Mostly, though, the upper half.
"Bad- bad moment, Seo!", I threw at her, only my head currently poking over.
"What? Why?", she replied, looking rather confused.
"No clothes!"
"Wait. You're not wearing anything?"
"No!" The TV was still running in the background. I snatched the remote and muted it to remove that distraction. "Underwear!"
"Oh." She didn't seem impressed, or... too concerned. "And you don't want me to see that?"
I shook my head and, instinctively, ducked a little lower. "Turn around, please. I want to get dressed."
"Okay. Fine."
I only poked out a little bit more when I was sure that Seo had turned around. And... she had, facing a wall. I quickly, or as quickly as I could with me still learning the intricacies of faster movement with such offset thighs to the rest of my leg structure, slipped into the bedroom and closed it behind me.
I came back out a few minutes later, wearing my usual pants and shirt, and returned to my previous spot on the sofa - noting the rather noticeable imprint my peculiar shape had left behind on it. And, now, I realized that it would've been quite an odd sight to see me there, like that, a human with completely white skin, and such... oddly sized features, chilling out in her underwear. And I liked that it was now 'normal' to me. I sat back down, and Seo joined me on that sofa... keeping some distance to my hips to avoid accidental bumping.
Currently, what was running on the TV appeared to be... a nature documentary on the local wildlife and flora. One that I found oddly captivating, especially the parts that were focused on the creatures and plant that somehow managed to thrive in the hot desert spanning all of the equator's landmasses, and most of the bordering regions, as it was much hotter than anything that could be found on Earth.
"Do you like nature?", Seo inquired.
I nodded. "Animals are interesting. And I like them."
"Cats, by any chance?"
"Maybe. They are... funny, sometimes. When they get a lot of energy, and run everywhere. Or go crazy, on a toy."
"Did you have one, once?"
I looked off in a random direction, trying to recall. "Maybe. I... can't remember."
Seo looked off in the direction of the bathroom. There were still some small traces of my latest shower visit left.
"I'm just curious... how do you get into the shower now?", she asked, perhaps out of a strange desire to know.
"I... squeeze. No other way to get in.", I answered. "And there is still not... a lot of space."
"Can't imagine differently. You're quite big."
I blushed a little at that... was it a compliment? I couldn't tell. Maybe it was just a statement. Then my mind drifted off... to that really weird dream I had of Seo getting quite a nice, round and big body herself, possibly motivated by those same urges that led to me playing with myself just a little earlier, and which were kind of still there, at the back of my mind. Even though I had 'dealt' with them in the shower prior, already. My happiness inside my big form was really making me... stimulated, a little too easily.
"What are you thinking about?", Seo asked, hardly able to miss my absence.
"N-nothing.", I replied, stuttering. I really didn't want this to get out.
"Oh? You're oddly absent for someone who's not thinking about anything." And I felt her poking around in my mind.
"I-it... isn't important."
That did little to dissuade Seo, who soon ran into some quite defensive mental barriers.
"If it isn't important, you wouldn't need to hide it so much, would you, hm?" She paused for a second. "It's something to do with me, isn't it?"
"N-no!"
The blush became even more apparent... I was doing a really terrible job of hiding this embarrassing secret. And Seo chuckled in amusement.
"Come on, Kira. I know you like me. Let me guess, you saw me with curves like yours in a dream? Because you sure like your own a lot, now that you've gotten so big. And I know what you're like."
That previously intense blush - if it hadn't already - now transitioned to looking like my cheeks were on fire... or about to be. And Seo poked me on the tip of the nose lightly, for a good second or two, leaning over while trying to not bump into those big hips by accident.
"You're so easy to tease, Kira, you know that?"
I didn't reply. Too much of my brain was focused on spending its energy on being hopelessly embarrassed, and a little ashamed at getting flagrantly caught like that. What I had was... such a weird desire, one that I didn't feel like pushing on other people.
"Oh, don't worry. I don't mind as long as it's something you keep to yourself. Or, at least, only in your imagination."
"You... you just... like to tease."
That... seemed to be as much of a sentence as I was currently capable of forming. At least my cheeks were beginning to feel less hot already. But just a little.
"I think, I will go train more now.", I 'announced', partly because the interesting thing on the TV had ended, replaced with a more standard entertainment program. "In the... VR... thing."
Is it a world?, I thought to myself, but 'Kira' remained quiet. Yet, I would now have appreciated an answer, rather than be left to sit in my big, round, completely oversized form. She always seemed to 'pull back' into the implant, at certain times, with no visible reason. Maybe it was to... repair, undo damage to the brain, but I had no way to tell. Though it did seem to start working a little better, at a faster rate, now. Yet her retreating always made the brain work less well, and I had no way of chasing that second half of me in there. "Walls" blocked the way, only allowing certain impulses in, or out.
"I didn't... want to scare you off.", Seo said, sounding... like something I couldn't quite qualify. Cautious, maybe.
I shook my head in response, and stood up. It was not about her. "I planned to... before, already. It is fine."
"Okay. Sure. And by the way, the docs want to see you again soon."
I nodded. "I know. In a few days. I want to prepare for it."
It was certainly another reason why I wanted to train more. I'd slacked a little for the last two... maybe three days, instead being a big, lazy thing that called herself Kasumi - even if the VR training didn't involve actual physical exhaustion and only served to build muscle memory. Also big only in certain parts, of course, but it was enough to make me quite a bit more lazy because it was significantly heavier, and some of the weight-bearing parts of me remained exactly the same as prior, with no indication of changing.
But I had something else that I wanted to do, and needed to be alone for, prompting me to retreat back to my bedroom, now. Seo waited until I was in there before she left... not quite resisting the temptation of observing the generous movement of my expanded lower half while she could, with a better excuse to do so than usual. And it was especially visible now, with me being comfortable enough in the adjusted walk cycle to keep it at a standard pace for an average human body.
I picked up some of the stray, unused pillows either on the ground or bed itself, and placed a few under the position where I wanted my calves to be, then lay down. It was... definitely noticeable how it seemed more comfortable, at least, for when I was stretched out and flat on it while awake. Maybe I wouldn't need them to sleep, but the difference in size between them and thighs made the angle quite uncomfortable when I tried to just rest, or lie there, without sleeping.
Another pillow went under my chest as an experiment, to see if it helped with the angle that the heavy weights on it rested, without requiring adjustment of the tower of them that was underneath my waist. And... it seemed to be better, though still not perfect. Yet... adding a third pillow to that spot was a little much, so I had to leave it be. And... I turned to the side, laying both big thighs on top of each other, angling the knees, while supporting my head with the right arm, elbow on the bed.
It was a quite nice, showing pose, amplifying the round shape of all my good parts... even if no one was there to observe it. And I needed to shift my waist until it was on pillows again. Once settled in that correct position... I simply allowed myself to feel. Mostly, how this made my thighs rest quite nicely against and on top of each other in their nice 'big-ness', with absolutely no hope of there ever being a gap between them again. And... I suddenly got another idea.
I heaved my mass off the bed again and began to think of a proper setup for... pictures. I had a datapad in here, with a 'snapshot' feature to take pictures - not as advanced as a proper camera, but good enough for improvisation. And the chairs were just about at the right height to really catch me well, so I set things up. Chair roughly at the level where my hips were, such that the shot was centered nicely, the datapad leaned against and held up by the back of the chair. Luckily... I could line it up with those quite noticeable imprints my lower body left behind on any soft surface it sat on, so I hopefully only needed to take one shot, as it was quite a lot of effort to get this set up.
Mostly, it was down to me getting into the correct pose, because I was still rather weighty and moved a good bit more slowly, at least, now, when there was no urgency. And for that reason, I'd given myself a generous timer to get back into the pose. I looked directly at the camera as it went off.
I then set up another two shots, one from the side, another for the 'rear view'. They all three looked really good, though the latter two were mostly hip, thigh and backside, especially the one where the body part closest to the camera was my feet, since I was so big that... my upper body wasn't too visible. It even looked a little silly, but that was... really a part of why I wanted it.
I'd entirely forgotten what I'd actually wanted to do, aside from VR training. And... I found Jana's contact information saved in my contacts list, now... whenever I'd done that. So, of course, I went ahead and sent her the first two shots. It took little time to get two responses, reading 'Damn, that's hot' and 'Sending me sexy pictures now?'. I replied by... providing her with my big rear view too. While I got no answer to that, I had no doubts she quite enjoyed seeing it. Not that I quite understood why I'd sent those posing shots to her in the first place - at least, the message link appeared thoroughly secured, so those were unlikely to end up in the wrong hands, or place.
I went flat onto my back after that, and put on the VR headset. I'd had a bit of fun time, so now I could train more, and not get bored quickly.
- - - - - -- -- - - - - - -
The following week …
January 22, 3310
Aegis HQ Medical
“Hello, Kasumi. Good to see you again. Made any progress lately?”
The doctor - the same one that had run the initial physical test on me, some weeks ago - clearly wanted to keep greetings brief. So I didn’t sit down, and answered.
“I have. My brain is getting better at… handling speech. Beyond the simple sentences I speak in, most of the time.”
“Hm. That’s… good. But I would like to evaluate your physical prowess more, today.”
“I know. Seo told me I’d have to come… I already knew, but she reminded me. And I tried to prepare more.”
“I’m sure you did. But I’d like to see your performance first hand, hence why I asked you bring the VR device. Come.”
He gestured for me to follow him to the examination room. And I did, holding the VR headset. It was… more implicit of a thing, that it was simpler to check things with it by monitoring its feedback, where I had the space to exercise in more varied ways than in the small room. And that was exactly what was planned.
“Please, lie down on the examination table, and put on the headset. I’ll monitor its output to see how you do.”
I did as instructed, not seeing much of a reason to respond vocally here. A few moments later, I was immersed in a virtual world, and chose to start out with the combat training simulation. Because it was certainly the one thing I yet struggled with the most… at least, if an exception was made for running. I was not yet very good with that either.
Easy opponents - simple, as was to be expected, since they barely challenged me even with the state of lesser mobility ‘offered’ by my oversized features.
Medium difficulty - it was… already quite a challenge, but I’d learned how to deal with their attack and movement patterns decently well after… some significant amount of repetition, and learning exactly which movements I could track, and perform myself to dodge attacks without sending those big bags of fun all over the place, while generally learning how to handle my body, and especially the legs, better, where rapid, sudden movements were required.
Hard opponents - now, here, I always struggled, no matter what. They were simply too quick or required too heavy of a defense for me to be able to respond or withstand their attacks, while dodging the latter always left me exposed to followup by the more nimble opponents, which I couldn’t ignore, yet keeping up with them required too much focus, and… there was also a strong chance of me quite simply losing my balance because of the weight on the chest shifting around too much, too rapidly. And that same scenario was unfolding now.
Suddenly, an idea occurred to me… partly inspired by me really being mostly aware of my quite heavy weight. So I thought… what if I used it against them, instead of trying to fight as I used to?
I backed off, slowly. Keeping an eye on the nimbler opponent moving to the side while the other, 'heavier' one tried to keep me distracted, while also waiting for a window of opportunity to strike. But I had learned it was relatively easy to trick them.
So I pretended to focus too much on the opponent slipping around to the side, and then reacted when the other tried to land a heavy blow, by stepping to the side quickly, causing it to miss. And when the more nimble enemy tried to hit me, instead of trying to dodge that in turn, I braced myself and blocked it, feeling... almost no force at all, because I was just so much heavier. The 'bot' staggered backward, and I used that to 'eliminate' it with a few quick, precise hits - my arms, at least, still worked as well as they did before, at relentlessly hitting opponents.
Another of the smaller opponents tried its luck, but I... decided that, instead of fighting it, I'd embrace the momentum of rapidly 'swinging' around, and temporarily center the balance around that - leaving me in just good enough of a spot to deflect another, otherwise possibly dangerous hit, then retaliate by slamming my knee into the sensitive regions - which I could, just barely, still reach with the restricted mobility factor, then swept their feet out from under them. I followed it up by bringing the foot of the same leg which had performed those actions down on one of the virtual opponent's - an 'attack' which was rendered significantly more dangerous now, not just due to the added muscle strengthening those rapid movements, but also gravity assisting quite significantly due to all the added mass. I could hear quite a nasty crack, and the simulation considered that opponent as 'neutralized' too.
That, at least for now, only left the 'larger' opponent, represented as a fit, muscular male of similar height to mine. And he was charging, while I knew I had little chance in a 'fair' fight with someone like that, despite modifications and added weight on my part.
I dodged again, but this time, instead of attempting to wear that particular opponent down through many small hits, I decided to try a new approach. I made my best attempt at rushing forward and slammed into him with all of my weight, making him stumble. That then provided me with the window of opportunity to start unleashing a flurry of unforgiving attacks, as I expected to stagger from the impact and recovered faster, being the cause of it, exploiting every weakness that I could find in the defense, trying to leave as little room for counterattack as possible, hitting pain spots on the stomach, spine, the wrists with high precision... I was still hindered by my big breast, in some ways, but it was not nearly as bad in its interference when I was relatively stationary. Then, the timer ended and... I actually had a satisfactory score for this difficulty stage, if a little worse than it could have been due to the rough start.
And I actually felt satisfied by my performance. I disconnected the VR headset temporarily, so that I could look at the doctor and get his impressions, sitting upright.
"Not bad.", he remarked. "You've definitely learned rather well. Using your weight to your advantage rather than it being a pure downside is good thinking, too."
"That's why... I have been training.", I replied. "But... I only thought of it now. To use my weight. It helps, a lot."
"I can see that. Go ahead and start up the other training simulation, to continue the evaluation."
I lay back down. But I heard the doctor make a hesitant thinking sound, making me not put the device back on just yet.
"Do you lie there without support under your waist?", he asked me.
"No. I put pillows under it.", I answered. "Without it... I couldn't sleep. Would not be... able to."
"Of course. One second." He moved off to pull some kind of rounded... thing, that I didn't know the name of, and slipped it under my waist, carefully avoiding direct contact with the body. It was... somewhere between soft and rigid, but definitely provided a certain amount of comfort by supporting the spine. "There. You always have the pillows there when you're in that position, yes?"
I nodded. "It would hurt, without them. And I have some under my chest. So I can... breathe. Properly... at least."
"That's good. And always keep it that way. You'd get severe back problems and pain without providing some support there when you're laid down, thanks to the shape of your body. I'm glad that occurred to you."
"It seemed... natural. Maybe not because of the... health consequences. But it was very uncomfortable."
The doctor nodded. "I understand. I only wanted to be certain you know what the consequences will be if you don't." He paused for a moment. "Go on ahead and start the simulation again, then."
I placed the headset back on my head and loaded up the other, more general simulation. The simpler stuff, I was able to do as simply as one would have expected even from someone who was not too physically active or fit, needing little further comment or attention. I looked at the hurdle jumping and mantling for a moment, deciding to just outright ignore the treadmill. My experience with it during the first doctor's visit had left something of a bad impression about those things in my mind.
So... I went off to a jumping and climbing-focused 'challenge', and had a go at it again, still running the simulation at 1.3 Gs. As expected, the starter segments were simple enough to just step up on, until I reached about thigh height for the 'walls'. There, I began to feel the mobility limit of my physical size start to interfere with getting up, starting to require small jumps to not just get on, but also avoid losing balance and falling backward. I'd had enough of smacking on my backside hard from one time... at least, one time while other people were watching.
Once I got to hip and waist height, I had to both help it with jumping and pulling up using my arms, straining quite badly due to all the weight that needed to be pushed up to that next level. At chest height, my virtual avatar was already feeling hot and sweaty, and I managed to go for another level or two until they were at about the height of my head, and what little height I could achieve from jumping was not enough to really let me pull myself up, even with a slight running start, and reducing simulated gravity to 1G. So I gave up there, and turned my attention to the spot where I could practice jumping over hurdles, or mantling over roughly hip-height, slightly wider objects, which could support holding on and pushing off of them with an arm. Given that jumping was clearly not one of my strengths now, I gave the thin hurdles a skip, going for the other obstacles.
The results of that were... unsatisfactory, to say the least. I had a rough idea of the general movements required to do so, but actually doing it in practice was a very different story. On one hand, I needed a certain amount of momentum to really carry me over, and providing it from a standstill while trying to either crouch or 'sit' behind the obstacle on one knee was... difficult, since I had a lot of extra mass on the thighs to make it harder to take those poses, but not so on the calves or arms. It felt like I struggled to really get anything high enough to even get one foot on and keep the movement going, meaning I'd have to muscle up more. But I really didn't want to.
So I needed to do it from a running start, a little faster than just jogging, at the very least... something I was not yet very good at, and even felt little enthusiasm about learning. And the other primary issue was... my extra mass, particularly all the stuff behind. So my one semi-successful attempt at it resulted in me looking silly on a waist-high 'block', with my large backside sprawled out over it, because it was so big that it caused me to get stuck on it from generating friction, and creating an additional obstacle in itself. Things that would not have been nearly as much of an issue if I was normally sized, but this was my fate now. Self-inflicted, on top of that.
I sighed, and partly heaved, partly slid myself off the block, giving up. There was no point to this yet, evidently. If I would even be able to do this again at all. A short and uninterested look toward the treadmill later, I disconnected again, and sat upright once more, holding my hands and the VR device on top of my thick thighs. The view I had of them while sat like this, would likely never get old.
"Now is the time where I need you to take off your shirt and pants.", the doctor instructed me. "I'll let you know my evaluation after these other tests."
Since there was no getting around this part, I took off the relevant pieces of clothing and remained sat on the edge of the examination table, hands besides hips. And I gave the treadmill an unenviable look.
"That one's up for last.", the doctor said. "And while I'm thinking along that track, the other tests first."
He ran me through the same trials as I had performed last time, then I was on the treadmill, rather reluctantly. I didn't like this thing after it nearly made me fall flat on my face.
Now... I could, well, handle it better, if that term even applied to 'Not tripping on your face as soon as it goes faster than super slow walking'. I held up reasonably well to it making me stick to a 'trying to walk faster to catch the transport without jogging or running' pace, but even a light jog was quite difficult, and I could really still only keep to actual running for... maybe two seconds, at best, without mentioning the excessive bouncing that occurred on my chest. The doctor gestured me back to the examination table, where I sat in the same way again.
"Alright, so... heart rate and blood pressure still look normal, nothing to be concerned about there. As for your mobility... well, there's been some definite improvements. You're up to about sixty-five percent, but it looks like you'll be getting to the point of significant diminishing returns soon, if you're not already there, so I suggest focusing on conditioning your brain on how to run from now, and otherwise keep at your current level of fitness."
"But I don't like to run. It's so difficult.", I lamented.
"I know that it is, but if you find yourself in a dangerous situation, it would be best for you to. And I think you realize that your body getting altered in such a drastic way was always going to require a significant readjustment."
"I know. But ..." I sighed, and just remained quiet.
"Don't despair. You've done great progress already, and I'm sure you'll get there too. For now, I just need to verify one more thing."
I was invited to stand up, and guided to the weighing device, for which I'd forgotten the name. It now displayed... '121' and '157.3' next to each other.
"Well, it looks like you've gained another kilogram in weight. Your latest bio scan appears to mirror that.", the doctor stated.
"Muscle?", I inquired.
He shook his head. "Fat."
"... oh."
"... well, mostly fat. How much have you been active the last few weeks?"
"Not... very. I liked being lazy in... places." I blushed at admitting that.
"Right... are you snacking between meals?"
"Not a lot. I think. I mostly just lie. Or sit. It is... very tiring, to move around."
"That's only natural, given that your weight has almost doubled in the space of a few weeks, while the muscle mass in your unaffected sections remains mostly the same. If it's any consolation, this weight looks more likely to be the cause of leftover hormones as your system naturally stabilized itself again. And it's not enough to be visible, since it was concentrated... a little lower on your body. But you should still pay attention to if you're eating anything between meals as you watch or play something. It isn't healthy, and makes you lose track of what you eat."
"Can I... go now? I want to go back to the apartment."
"Of course. I'm done with the examination. Feel free to return if you feel the need for a further checkup until the next mandatory date, but until then, remember to keep training, and focus on running more than flexibility."
I nodded, dressed up again fully, then packed up the VR headset and left. Originally, I had plans to go to Alba's office for something I felt was important to me, personally, but didn't know how to put together for myself. Yet, now, I was... at least mentally exhausted, and wanted to do nothing more than be a lazy piece of human on a bed, sofa or couch. Preferably the first of those three, while feeling happy about the progress I had achieved toward those... 'targets', of learning to handle my body. And there was nobody to stop me from it - and maybe opening a pack of crisps - anyway.
A weird part of my mind was also occupied with that thought of 'What would I look like if I still took more weight and it all went to those big parts', even up to the moment that I fell asleep - partly, because I knew I didn't actually want to physically be bigger at this point, but it was quite enjoyable to let it run through my imagination.
At least I had a better outlet than it and my dreams to fulfil those odd desires now.