A Dragon King's Ransom- Part 2 (Patreon)

The Dragon King is ready to make his move against his captors and break free, belly first. Enjoy, and thanks for the support!

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The Dragon King was beginning to feel restless. It was lovely indeed to have his every need and want catered to once more, but he was still, at the end of the day, a prisoner— and now that he knew why his captors were holding him and stuffing him silly, the prospect had lost some of its luster. Not all of it, as the food was still divine, but some. It was time to plan his escape.

The already corpulent sea monster was getting ready to test his and his captors' limits— if he could find out their limits, then he could start planning how to overcome them. For that, he would need to conduct a test— a rather delicious test at that.

He leaned back on one of the many overstuffed cushions, idly rubbing his plush, round middle. "I think I desire a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast. Right now!" He smacked his gut, sending ripples across his overly thick body. "Come now! Three hundred dishes, all of the finest ingredients! If they are good enough for the Emperor, they are good enough for the Dragon King of the East!"

There was a pregnant pause, and the Dragon King narrowed his eyes. Did he reach their limit that quickly? "Hello? I demand the Manchu-Han Feast, immediately!" He tried to hide his smirk; the legendarily decadent feast was a good litmus test, both for his captors and for his own limits. Finally, he spotted the first of  many dishes to come, appearing on a silver platter— a stack of half a dozen decadent egg tarts.

There was a sparkle in the dragon's eye as he eagerly grabbed the first delectable treat. The tarts were delicious, and so rich he could practically feel himself get fatter off of every bite. The tarts were followed by every other dish the Dragon King knew to belong to the great imperial feast; Peking duck, Dezhou braised chicken, shark fin soup, dried sea cucumbers, bird's nest soup, fried sturgeon, and boiled snow crab, all stacked high on silver platters and served with rice wine and dumplings.

The Dragon King could feel his belly filling up until it ached, but he was going to finish this feast. If anything, he couldn't let his captors think he had a limit. Even as his stomach bulged, tearing his silk robes, his face puffed up as his cheeks bulged with every forced down bite, he didn't let it show, not until he swallowed every last bite, and every last dish was eaten.

The dragon was bloated and stuffed to the point of bursting, or so it felt. His belly had grown large as a boulder, spreading past his lap and spilling over the sides. He huffed, breathing shallow as the gorging had exhausted him. It was all he could do to stay awake as he waited to see if his captors would again show.

Thankfully, he didn't have long to wait. The Dragon King heard them enter the room, a rush of magic as they formed.

"By every heaven and every hell, I can't keep this up much more. He never stops eating!" one of them spoke.

"Patience, brother. Think of the gold the Jade Emperor will give us if he's just a little bit larger. We've already sent our ransom note— his weight in gold."

"I'm being tapped dry! My banks are cracked, my streams shriveling up!"

The Dragon King inhaled sharply. His captors were river demons!

"One more day, and the emissary from heaven will be here. Give him whatever he wants— every ounce will be one more precious piece of gold."

The river demons slipped away, and the Dragon King sat up— or tried to. His own round body was weighing him down considerably. He had one day left. If he was just given back to heaven, he could say goodbye to living like this; he still had several centuries left on his sentence from the Jade Emperor. What he needed was water, enough to rekindle his own powers, and then drain the demons dry.

The following morning, the Dragon King rose up, hefting his gigantic gut to stand to his full height. "I have been here many days without a bath— I need to be clean! I can't stand to be stinking like a peasant any longer!"

There was another pause; the river demons had to be hesitating, but then a large, polished stone tub filled with steaming water appeared. They must have weighed that a bath alone was not enough to rekindle his power, which was true. But he wouldn't be alone for long.

The Dragon King sighed, lifting his heavy haunches into the hot water and then getting comfortable. "Ah… you know what would be lovely? A bowl of iced fruit— no, no, several bowls!" His request was granted, and soon an entire orchard's worth of peaches, apples, and pears surrounded him served in ice-lined bowls.

"Perhaps some wine, as well? And some more of that delicious, restorative broth from the feast last night."

The Dragon King glanced around at the bowls and offerings laid out before him, smiling toothily as he picked up a plump peach and sucked its juices dry, a little spark of magic running along his fingertips.

"Mmph… this will do nicely." He drank a goblet of wine, and then another. He took an entire bowl of soup and drank it dry, absorbing every drop, and then moving on to the ice and fruit. Anything his greedy hands could grasp, he devoured every bit of water in them. His body began to inflate, his belly bloating until it pushed against the sides of the tub, water beginning to spill over or absorbed into the Dragon King like a sponge. The stone cracked and split from the sheer mass filling it, a tidal wave of flabby, scaled blubber spilling out in all directions as the Dragon King swelled in size, magic and electric power arcing across the folds of fat.

His captors finally revealed themselves, two armored warriors made of water. "That's it! You've had enough!" one of them declared, raising his spear to the Dragon King's face.

The Dragon King's toothy smile widened as he hauled his oceanic gut and slammed it into the river demons, bowling them over. "Oh, I have not begun to fill up!"

He lumbered over to where they fell, his trunk-sized thighs and enormous, gelatinous rear bouncing with each step as he rolled over his captors. "I appreciate the hospitality, gentlemen, but I have an ocean to reconquer." His greedy, chubby fingers reached down, claws digging into the river demons. "And you two are just the tonic for me."

The Dragon King drank deep of the magical water that made up his captors, his belly flooding the floor in thick reams. His doughy limbs grew thick as kegs, while his flabby chest were as plush as pillows bobbing atop his wobbly middle. Even as he grew fatter and wider, his power surged all around him.

"Ahhh… yes." He slapped his belly, sending waves across his huge, girthy frame. "This is much more like it. I dare anyone to try and imprison all of this."