Ring Fat Adventure (Patreon)

Thanks again for another month of support, everyone! Everyone's favorite fitness nut dragon, Dragaux, is here to teach you that you can be healthy at any size, while he himself learns the true meaning of the phrase "video game expansion."

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“...ninety-six! Ninety-seven! Ninety eight! Ninety-nine! One hundred!” 

The ground shook as Dragaux dropped from a pull-up bar, and he grinned toothily as he pounded his beefy chest. The dragon’s back surged as his pumped lats flared out like a second pair of wings, casting a wide shadow. 

“Not bad,” he muttered, giving himself an approving nod. He began to towel himself off, surveying his stadium. The dragon felt a mix of pride and humility; it wasn’t too long ago that the pristine gym he ran was corrupted by a magical dark influence, and he himself had fallen for it, as well. But, thanks to a slightly insistent friend, the musclebound dragon had seen the light. He had done his best to make up for the destruction and chaos he had spread, and things in his life finally seemed to be where they should be; he was a respected, even beloved, trainer and bodybuilder. He had friends, fans, and all the time he wanted to work out. What more could he want?

Then, as if on cue, Ring suddenly appeared, giving Dragaux the faintest sense of unease. The magical, ring-shaped artifact had sealed him away when he had first been corrupted, and even though the two were on friendly terms now, the dragon always had a vague sense of suspicion he was in trouble whenever Ring popped in unannounced.

“Hi, Dragaux! Just finishing a workout?” Ring said chipperly.

“Uh, yeah, just beat my personal best for pull-ups. Check it!” Dragaux flexed his arm, his tensed, swollen bicep bulging impressively. 

“Good work! I actually wanted to stop by because we have a great opportunity ahead of us.”

Dragaux arched a brow. “Oh? What kind of opportunity?”

“Our users and trainers are from all over the world, and they’ve all got unique and special ways of staying in shape,” Ring explained, and Dragaux had the faintest notion he was being given a sales pitch.

“Yeah?” He nodded cautiously, folding his titanic arms.

“And some of those ways of staying healthy don’t necessarily fit the stereotype of a lean, toned build,” Ring continued. 

Dragaux narrowed his eyes slightly; Ring was dancing around the issue. “Look, I know I was a jerk a while back, but I haven’t been bodyshaming anyone! It’s been nothing but positive vibes and healthy gains from me.”

“Oh, no, no! I’m not here to reprimand you,” the enchanted ring continued, floating up closer to see the dragon eye to eye. “Just, we’ve got a lot of interest lately out of Japan. A very prestigious sports league over there wants us to help train their athletes, and I thought who better to help than the great Dragaux?”

“What kind of sports league is this?” the dragon demanded.

“Oh, well, you know… wrestling. Er. Sumo wrestling, that is.”

Dragaux’s arms fell away limp as he stared blankly at Ring. “What.”

“Oh, Dragaux, please! Abdonis nearly had a nervous breakdown when I asked him if he would consider it.” Ring weaved dexterously in the air as Dragaux tried swatting him away, then rushing to keep up with the dragon as he stomped away with indignation. “Armando is still preoccupied with finding a girlfriend, Allegra is training for a marathon, and Guru Andma doesn’t want to lose any flexibility!”

“And you think I do?” Dragaux shot back. He turned to face Ring, thumping his solid, brick-like abs. “Do you have any idea how hard I worked for this body? And you want me to throw it away for… what, some niche workout routines?”

“Dragaux, please! Think of the prestige, think of the improvements to the gyms and stadiums you could build! Think of…” Ring would snap his fingers, if he had any, at his sudden stroke of inspiration. “Think of the challenge.” 

Dragaux snorted. “Challenge? In Sumo wrestling? There ain’t much of a challenge in eating all day and squatting.”

“Well, if you’re not up for it, I guess I’ll need to find someone a little more daring…” Ring let his statement hang, slowly drifting out of the stadium.

The black and purple dragon snarled, leaping over Ring, his wings flaring out as he blocked the sentient artifact’s exit. “Hey! No one is more daring than me, okay? I can do sumo wrestling! It’ll be as easy as a bulking phase. But when it’s done, you’re going to help me get back to my cut form. Deal?” He held out his hand expectantly.

Ring slowly looked from the dragon’s hand to Dragaux. “...What exactly do you expect me to do, here?”

Dragaux rolled his eyes, grabbed the ring in one clawed hand, and shook him vigorously. “Do we have a deal?”

“Y-y-yes! A-a-absolutely!” Ring gasped as he was waved around. As Dragaux let him go, Ring sighed in relief. “So… you’ll start sumo training tomorrow?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Dragaux grumbled. “But you’re also footing the bill for the food!”

“Ah, I was afraid you’d say that…” Ring said defeatedly.

The following morning, Dragaux leapt from his bed, ready for his usual twenty mile run to start the day. Throwing on a singlet, the bodybuilder drake was halfway out the door when he spotted a huge, Japanese banquet sprawling across his kitchen table. “Oh…” he groaned. “Right.”

Closing his door with resignation, Dragaux dragged himself over to his kitchen. Packed neatly in wooden boxes and woven baskets were loads of traditional Japanese foods; sushi, teriyaki, rice buns, noodles, and a vast array of prepared meats and protein. Also, in a neatly stacked pile, were a collection of his personal favorite protein powders alongside weight gain supplements.

Dragaux picked his way through it all, then snatched up a handwritten note left on the table. He recognized the handwriting as Ring’s; though how Ring had handwriting period was a mystery Dragaux couldn’t quite wrap his head around. 

“Dear Dragaux-

Here’s plenty of food to get you started! It’s all traditional, healthy, and tasty! I’ve also included an itinerary for you to follow. Have fun, and stay active!

-Ring”

Snorting, Dragaux looked over the attached diet and exercise itinerary, his eyes bulging. “Woah.” 

Between several meals, meditation, and surprisingly strenuous workouts filled with strength-building exercises, martial arts and calisthenics, it looked like he was going to have a busy few weeks. Resigning himself, he began filling up his plate with a few tantalizing rice buns, still steaming and filling his nostrils with a delectable aroma.

“Well,” he mumbled between bites. “At least the food will be good…”

Dragaux snarled, throwing all his strength into one final push, but it wasn’t enough; the dragon let out a heavy groan as he felt his foot slide across the wrestling ring line, throwing up his arms in defeat.

Across from him his much smaller, but still exceptionally strong, opponent Armando blinked in disbelief. “Did… Did I just win?”

“Yeah, congratulations,” Dragaux muttered, mopping sweat from his brow as he reached for another chocolate protein shake- his fourth so far. It had been several weeks into his training, and the only part of it he had taken to well was the eating- constant meals large enough to feed whole families, all delectable food, but Dragaux had taken to his new diet with the same discipline as he had his old workouts, refusing to leave a single crumb. He stuffed himself every waking moment, to the point of making his stomach ache and groan from the sheer amount the dragon forced down his own throat. The results were obvious; his singlet was stretched taut over a billowing middle that weighed heavy on his torso, a thickly packed butterball belly that bounced with each step. His thighs had exploded in size, and it had taken Dragaux some time to get used to them always wobbling and slapping against one another.

The damage done to his once pristine body was not as bad as Dragaux felt; besides thicker thighs and his new bloated gut, he still looked immensely powerful, but everything felt off balance. He felt slow and lethargic, but there was still so much left to do in the day, and so much food to eat.

“Just, you know, I’m very beefy…” Armando paused to flex his massive arms for emphasis, “but I don’t think I’ve ever beaten you at something, Dragaux! Not on my own, anyways.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sure your girlfriend will love to hear about it- oh wait, you still don’t have one,” Dragaux snapped. The dragon glared back at the red-garbed athlete, and then hung his head, regretting he ever said anything. “Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. This is just… not my week.”

Armando composed himself. “Well, we all kind of noticed…” he tried not to stare at Dragaux’s gut- or the tears in his singlet that was letting more of it spill out. “But, you know, we all appreciate you, uh, taking one for the team. I mean, I certainly couldn’t do it, I’m top heavy.”

So was I, Dragaux thought bitterly. “Yeah, well, guess I owe everyone, still.” He threw his head back, chugging the last half of his protein shake. “Alright. I’ve got more exercises to get through. See you around. Oh- bring in that duffel bag from the lockers, would you? It’s heavy, I don’t think anyone besides you and me can lift it.”

“Ah!” Armando nodded approvingly. “Weights to help with the workout?”

“Nope. Snack cakes. Gotta keep up my calorie intake,” Dragaux grunted as he spread his legs out wide and began doing squats, scales shifting over compressed bulk with each movement. “One…” he groaned, his legs still aching from his practice bout. “Ugh. C’mon, Dragaux, c’mon. Two… three…”

“...S-seven… e-eight… ni… nine… te… Guh!” Dragaux collapsed out of exhaustion. He fell belly-first, the immense weight piled onto his frame sloshing as he made impact with the ground, finally tearing his singlet down the seams as thick, scaly blubber spilled out at his sides.

It had been over a month into Dragaux’s intensive sumo training, and all he had to show for it was a swollen, sloshing belly the size of a small car and layers of fat smothering all his hard-won muscle, if any of it was still there after being suffocated for so long. The now thoroughly rotund dragon groaned, his clawed hand blindly reaching for a snack bar.

“Well, that was certainly a good effort. Shall we try again with some plank positions?” Guru Andma, the resident yoga master, smiled encouragingly at Dragaux as he pulled himself up.

“You want me to do planks?” Dragaux snapped. He hefted up his gut, taking fistfuls of fat in his hands. “With this in the way?” He let it all drop, his belly slapping against his bloated thunder thighs. “I give up! I can’t do planks or push-ups, my pull-up bar snapped in two last night, I can’t run a lap without winding myself, I’ve ruined my body and now the only thing I’m good at is eating!” He slumped down to the ground, his belly filling his lap as he sat, reaching for another consolation snack.

“What? I can’t believe what I’m hearing!” Andma, balancing on an exercise ball, rolled towards the dragon. “Dragaux giving up?”

“Andma, look at me!” Dragaux held up one arm and wobbled the jiggling fat clinging to his tricep. He then smacked his gut, sending ripples across his doughy build. “If I ever get my hands on Ring, I’m gonna sit on him for talking me into this…”

“You know what your problem is, Dragaux?” the old Guru began prodding Dragaux’s blubber, starting with his trunk-sized legs. “You think your strength is in here,” she then poked his soft, pillowy chest, “or here,” then, his thick, flabby arm. “Or here. But in truth, Dragaux, your real strength lies-”

The dragon held up a hand still stained with chocolate and peanut butter from his snack to cut the old guru off. “Andma, with all due respect, if you say my true strength is in my heart I’m going to sit on you first.”

The yoga master rolled her eyes. “No! It’s here, you big oaf.” She slapped his belly. “Sumo wrestling is all about core strength, building your torso into a tank. Here, allow me to demonstrate…” Before Dragaux could protest or shift his prodigious bulk out of the way, Andma delivered her hardest hitting crane kick, right into the dragon’s gut.

Dragaux blinked as realization dawned on him. “I didn’t feel a thing!”

“Precisely! You’re more powerful than you’ve ever been, Dragaux- stronger, too, from carrying around all this weight. You just need to know how to use it, and out of all of us, you have the most drive and willpower to find it. So, are you ready for another set?”

The dragon, confidence swelling back into his chest, grinned wide. “Alright, old timer. What do you got?”

“Forty eight… forty nine… fifty!” Dragaux stood straight after warming up with some squats. Today was the day- the first sumo trainees would be coming with Ring any minute now, and Dragaux was ready. He tugged on his new mawashi- made of all the cloth left over from his old singlets- and glanced at his immense profile in his newly widened mirror. It had taken a long time to get used to, but Dragaux smiled; he was starting to like what he saw. He didn’t have long to think on it, however, as he heard Ring’s signal- the new trainee was here.

From the unsuspecting player’s perspective, the cavernous arena was wreathed in purple flame, casting even the sky above in a colorful glow. It was eerily quiet, until the ground began to shake in steady rhythm with deep, resonating thuds. A long shadow was cast, and the screen drew back to reveal Dragaux in all his glory; smirking, the immense dragon loomed over the player like a mountain. His titanic, grey boulder of a gut was pressed against the ground as he squatted, filling the entire field of view with his gargantuan body. His legs, solid as oak trees, held up his vast, sprawling torso, his shoulders still wide and powerful. He steadied himself further with an arm thick as a column, more muscle than he had ever built up before tensing just beneath a thick layer of blubber. The dragon’s head served as the peak of this walking mountain as he slowly lowered his horns, challenging the player.

“Your move, skinny.”