Experimental Growth- Part 2 (Patreon)

Dragaux has to chase down the Dark Energy and defeat it once and for all, but he can only do so with the biggest of gains! Enjoy, everyone, and see you next month!

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Dragaux had gone through a full day of working out, getting pumped, and showing off for anyone who glanced at the hulking dragon. His experiment with the vestiges of Dark Energy he had captured made him feel on top of the world again- and this time, without turning into a villain hellbent on corrupting everything he touched. So long as the cage he built to trap the Dark Energy held, he could use it to pump himself bigger and stronger whenever he pleased- that was the plan, anyways.

It was the dead of night when Dragaux awoke with a violent start. Every part of his large body was tensed, pulsing and twitching. The dragon gasped, his chest swelling, claws digging into the hard muscle. His entire rippling body spasmed, as all at once, every muscle bulged, exploding in size. Dragaux's pained grunts became a low, rumbling growl of pleasure, the dragon huffing as he ran his claws over the curve of his massive arms, the flexed tendons and strained scales tender to the touch, his breathing ragged. Leaping out of bed, Dragaux tore the muscle shirt clinging to his titanic torso, the cloth so strained it came apart in his hands. He smiled wide as he caught a glimpse of his mammoth profile in the mirror, jutting shoulders and soaring buttress-like lats pushing out so wide, they were like a second pair of wings and couldn't fit in the floor-length mirror bolted to his door. He barely held his bearing until a second sharp wave hit him, his muscles tightening hard as metal as they bulged out again, thick veins snaking down his arms. The fitness-obsessed dragon clenched his fist, watching his burly forearm tense and his bicep swell as large as his head when he flexed.

"Ho-holy shit…" he rumbled, patting the sheer globe of muscle. His legs, thick and sturdy as fluted columns, rippled, the snap of elastic alerting Dragaux to his jockstrap giving up the ghost- his full, round glutes flexing as he grabbed for another throbbing part of his body that was continuing to grow. His breath was hot, fogging up his mirror as he ogled his sculpted, titanic form, doing the only thing he could think of to release some of his pent up energy…

No sooner had he reached that release, when Dragaux's head snapped up to the sound of breaking glass. Realization sunk in as he realized- if he had grown, so suddenly and so fast, so had the source of his growth. Bursting out of his room, the dragon rushed to the device he had made to drain power off the dark energy, only to wince at shards of broken glass on the floor, and a malignant, black cloud with surges of purple lightning chasing across the sky.

"...Fuck."

Dragaux had to tear through his closet to find anything that fit. Just by eyeballing the sheer mass packed onto his frame, he had gained twice the amount of muscle in one night that he had put on in two weeks; practically since he started tapping into the Dark Energy. He glowered as he looked out the window; it was morning, but it was gloomy and overcast, with a distinct, dark purple hue rumbling through the dark clouds. This was his fault, his mess- and he wasn't going to wait around this time for some greenhorn athlete and Ring to clean it up for him.

The dragon squeezed into a singlet that he had gotten when he needed to up the size of his entire wardrobe, grunting as it hugged his sculpted glutes and clung to his beefy torso, the straps digging into his beefy pecs. It was slightly constraining, but he didn't exactly have time to pop into Honey's for a new outfit. He grabbed a few power smoothies just in case, and rushed out the door. His wings flared out, casting the rest of him in shadow, and he began to beat his wings. The tendons of his wings bristled, the muscles holding them together as sturdy and girthy as the rest of him- but perhaps he underestimated how top heavy he was.

"This is ridiculous," he grumbled, huffing as he beat his chest, making his canyon-like pecs bounce. "C'mon, Dragaux, c'mon- if you can benchlift jet planes, you can get yourself back into the air!"

He focused and tightened his quadriceps, his legs like rods of iron as his thigh muscles coiled like springs and sculpted calves tensed. The ground cracked from the sheer force as he pushed off, leaping into the air and unfurling his wings, beating the hard. He was in the air- more of a rattling, clunky air freighter than a graceful bird- but he was in the air, and able to close the distance between him and the angry clouds of Dark Energy. He followed the storm until he came to one of his own stadiums, where the eye of the storm was beginning to form.

"Yeah, figures," he grumbled. "Where else would this prick set up shop?"

Dragaux dropped down with a heavy thud, scanning the area. Besides the stormy weather, it seemed almost normal. Already, people were lining up and starting to stretch, ready to start their workouts.

"Hey. Hey! Gym's closed today guys, clear out!" Dragaux shouted to the crowd.

"What? Uncool, dude!" a man dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants shouted, taking a swig of a protein shake. "Today's leg day, bruh. No excuses!"

The dragon snarled, pointing up to the sky. "Do you not see this storm? Go home and hunker down until it passes! No one is working out today!"

"Hey, you can't keep us from chasing those gains! What, you afraid someone's going to outpace you? That's it, isn't it? Scared of losing your King of the Gym title, big guy?"

"What? No!" Dragaux shook his head, watching for a tell-tale spark of purple in the guy's eyes. The Dark Energy was already getting into people's heads, here. "Alright, dude, why don't you just… go home and squat your car or something. Anyone really dedicated to leg day can do that."

"Yeah? I'll go squat my whole house!" he replied, jogging away from the gym.

Dragaux rolled his eyes, pushing through the crowd. He couldn't remember much of what he was like possessed by Dark Energy, but that was probably a very brief taste of it- and it was bitter enough to make him cringe. The dragon lumbered into the arena, and grimaced as he saw the sheer size of the Dark Energy.

A gigantic storm was pulsing over the sky, and as Dragaux lumbered to the center of the stadium, purple lightning crackled angrily overhead. The clouds began to coalesce, forming a billowing copy of Dragaux, a shadowy, musclebound hulk of a dragon.

"Cute." Dragaux snarled, as the Dark Energy simulacrum of himself flexed his arms, biceps swelling to the size of boulders. "Alright, pal- we know how this goes. I'm gonna kick your butt and you're gonna run off with you tail between your legs- I'm not gonna let you corrupt people all over again!"

His dark copy chuckled deeply, and the two charged at one another. The superstrong dragons clashed, engorged muscles grinding against each other as their immense chests smashed together, overgrown arms locked with bulging biceps squeezing the other, and Dragaux wrapping his barrel-thick thighs around the dark copy's waist, dragging him to the ground.

"Hah, you went down like a bitch!" Dragaux chuckled. "If I knew it was going to be this easy-" The dragon grunted, cut off as the energy monster wearing his face beat his wings, forcing Dragaux arms loose and throwing him off. The monster swerved around and beat his chest. With a primal roar, he flexed his titanic body, and the dragon's mouth fell open as he saw his opponent grow stronger and larger. The Dark Energy monster pulled more of itself into its new form, sculpting a sprawling back made up of tectonic plates of muscle, stretching out further than wings, immense, bloated pecs pressing against its jaw, and burgeoning mountains of shoulder muscles swallowing up its neck. The monster's arms grew thicker than Dragaux's chest, triceps like tank engines pulsing as the dark energy beast pumped its arms, biceps inflating to dizzying heights of their split peaks. The ground cracked as it stomped its earth-shaking legs, leaving Dragaux shaken at the overwhelming strength. With a flex of its fingers, the energy monster summoned a gigantic barbell- it looked like it weighed as much as an oil tanker- and flung it at Dragaux.

The dragon couldn't dodge, and so raised his hands to catch the barbell and race for the impact. He was hurtled backwards, slamming into the wall and shattering through the stone like it was paper. Dragaux groaned in pain from the impact, but the Dark Energy wasted no time, clamping its claws on the barbell, pushing it deeper against Dragaux, pinning him. As it gazed at Dragaux with its baleful eyes, old visions began creeping into Dragaux's mind.

He would never be strong enough- this Energy would always be stronger. But it could give him that strength again…

Dragaux snarled, trying to push the dark thoughts away, but his will was beginning to falter. The Dark Energy was only growing bigger… and then, the metal of the barbell groaned and whined. He looked over, tearing his face away from the monster's gaze. Lifting his finger, he saw that he had bent the metal in his grip. Breathing in deeply, his inflated pecs mashed against his chest- he was still getting bigger. He was getting stronger, too. The dragon had tied himself to this Dark Energy and turned the tables- it wasn't feeding off of him, he was feeding off of it. The Dark Energy could only win if Dragaux let it.

The dragon roared defiantly in the monster's face, pushing back. Adrenaline coursed and pumped through his veins. His rippling quads tensed as his feet scrambled to find purchase, legs that had performed thousands, if not millions, of squats and deadlifts remembering their burgeoning strength. His chest pushed forward like an advancing army, his pecs brushing against his jaw and reaching far out to push the bar alongside his arms, even as his inflated biceps were jostled. His wall of a back spread and rippled, and Dragaux pushed back against the monster wearing his face. With one mighty heave, he threw the monster back.

"You're just smoke and noise," Dragaux snarled, letting the barbell drop hard enough to shake the ground. "I am the real deal- and you forgot how this works. I'm never gonna listen to you again, and I'll make sure no one else does, either."

The Dark Energy tried invading his mind with doubt and insecurity- but Dragaux only had to flex his arms, tense his beefy thighs, or bounce his monstrous pecs to feel that rush of power and strength to bolster his ego. Any toxic influence the monster had on him melted away like snow, but those huge muscles, those weren't going away any time soon.

He curled his arms and hunched forward, his chest pressing against his biceps, his shoulders and lats tensed and surging, the dragon a literal mountain of muscle. With one dominating roar and a swipe of an arm strong enough to level buildings, the Dark Energy weakened and quavered, Dragaux absorbing its power until he could breathe in no more. The storm clouds began to break, and with a single, rumbling laugh, Dragaux grabbed the barbell and hefty the gargantuan weight into the air, posing in victory. He had never felt so strong, his enormous arms as hard as concrete as he held the weight aloft, pillar-sized legs firmly rooted and unshakeable. His chest was like a ship under full sail, and his back spread as far as his wings. Smiling wide, Dragaux breathed deeply, then cast an appraising eye to his swollen lats and triceps. "Yeah… I could probably pack on a few more inches onto these pythons. Ain't nothing wrong with a healthy sense of self-improvement. Already got a few new ideas for a workout regime…"