Trade: A Giga-Sized Glow-Up (Part 3)

Summary: Celes the slime woman encounters Feza, a giant-sized slime woman from the briny deep; she hopes to quell the inadvertent destruction of her hometown by appealing to her kinder nature. Strangely, they rub off on each other, and strange things happen.

A trade with MRGIllusion45, who provided the illustrations and the character of Feza; story is written by me.

Ed. Note: This trade was initially written as a one-off trade but we got more ideas so it'll be the start of a series of illustrated stories; I redid the ending for this part to better lead into later parts, but the original ending is still here as an alt ending

[Story Listing]

[First Part]

[Previous Part]

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Part 3

It had taken less than an hour for a rapidly-multitasking Celes to apply the finishing touches to Feza's new digs; the purple slime woman excitedly pittered about Feza... the green slime woman staring blankly as her head rotated as if on a swivel, following Celes.

"Normally I'd charge extra for a rush job, but... what the heck!" Celes giggled. "If it saves the city... not to mention how pretty you look now!"

Feza looked over her outfit with a smile. Celes had certainly worked some magic; she had tied together the exotic seaweed material from the ocean into an elegant woven dress. The understated huge of the tough fabric was accentuated by the pretty seashells sewn along the hem, in curving lines up towards the torso. She even found a use for the pink coral, a bright accessory to complement the dark, moody colours of the outfit itself.

Feza was certainly pleased with Celes' handiwork, she was bouncing and jiggling with excitement.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Celes beamed. "And it's water resistant!~"

Feza did one more dainty twirl. She turned towards the door and paused. Celes clasped her arms together, understanding this feeling well... the excitement of going out there and showing the world how stunning you looked!

Feza scootched along, unabated as the top of her head bumped against the doorframe. The wet thunk gave Celes a brief moment of pause. When she was shrunken down to size, she was pretty small...

...Celes froze up as a familiar green glare washed in through the windows, the sound of wet, slick popping sounds loudly playing outside.

"Shoot-" Celes immediately scrambled out the door, raising her head. Feza was rapidly swelling back up again, her stature already looming over the city blocks below. She was already twenty feet tall, and still growing...

Celes gawked at how Feza's body seemed to produce gobfulls upon gobfulls of goo out of nowhere, bubbling out from her skin, her hair, sliding down her slime pillar body. It was like watching a balloon inflate.

Riiiiiiiiip...!

"!"

Celes covered her mouth, watching as Feza's hand-crafted outfit; once a perfect fit, it looked woefully inadequate to match the sheer scale of the woman! And it was already tearing in places, elegant weaves coming undone, coral breaking into pieces.

Feza's growth paused for a spell as she glanced down, a sad grimace crossing her face. Her expression drifted to the distant form of Celes. Her entire body seemed to sag... perhaps out of guilt, or not wanting to disappoint her new friend.

Celes was once terrified of this colossal woman, but... looking up at her now, a different emotion swelled within Celes. Her blue eyes hyperfocused on the rapidly unravelling dress. Gripped with emotion, the purple slime woman could feel her body tremble, bubbling with energy.

I have to fix this. I have to help her.

She hurried to Feza's side, reaching for the tattered strands of dress slipping free of Feza's form. Celes didn't realize at the time, how the twenty-five foot gap ebbed away within a few steps, how her body flared up, how purple ooze began to flow from her core in bubbling waves... how she began to grow in size, to step up to the challenge.

With Celes so engrossed in the goal of setting this project right, everything else became a blur. She grew and swelled in all directions, her frantic mind puzzling together the pieces. As purple ooze flowed over her old curves, her clothes lost under thick layers of ooze, tendrils slithered into her boutique, wresting the remainder of the sea-borne artefacts Feza had picked up.

Feza gawked as Celes grew rapidly, her body twisting around her, her torso swelling and travelling along a tail of ooze that rapidly filled out beneath her. As Celes coiled around her, Feza found her arms raised above her head, Celes' hair tendrils splitting into a thousand limbs to get a better look at her dress. The two slime women, coiled together in a strange dance, ascended towards the city skyline above.

A thousand hands set to work around Feza (it kinda tickled; Feza let out a burbling chuckle), Celes' eyes focused on Feza's dress. A giant-scaled display of the assembly process in the shop played out before Feza, taking whatever scraps there were and integrating them into a bigger, better dress.

As Celes' hands dipped into Feza's form, they buzzed with a curious energy, some part of Feza slipping into Celes. This had been happening all day, with every touch they made... but somehow, Celes' entranced, hyper focused mind stumbled on a curious reaction. Her purple slime, somehow mulching up the material of the strange, otherworldly seaweed, producing a strange, iridescent, bioluminescent glow.

The fibres mixed with Celes' slimy biomass, and with Feza as a canvas, combined into something more. In the heat of the moment, gripped by inspiration, working as if possessed, Celes had stumbled upon a miracle fabric, a slime composite that was soft, pliable... and, perhaps, would grow and shrink with the user. Yet, the more Celes pressed more of herself into Feza, the more Feza's form seemed to flow back to caress Celes in turn, melting with the seaweed-like fabric that twisted and wove around the both of them.

As the two women coiled upwards, towering over all else, it seemed the slick, glossy form that Feza's new outfit took on swelled with her, hugging her curves. Celes, ever the multitasker, seemed oblivious as her hyperactive, myriad arms pressed more seaweed into a mulch, stretching and exercising it, and draping over her own colossal form as well... a mirroring dress to Feza's, with perhaps some stylistic accentuations.

As their growth finally slowed, both slime women towered hundreds of feet tall... but as Celes put on the finishing touches to version two of Feza's adorable little number (now flashier than ever!), Celes seemed like she was just fitting the outfit again... business as usual, her intense fervour blinding her to the world around her.

"And... done." Celes oozed backwards, her feet long ago lost under layers and layers of purple slime. "This... should fit you better."

Celes admired her handiwork for a spell. The previous tears in Feza's tightly-fitting dress were mended with slivers of purple ooze... Celes' ooze. There was a charming little word to describe the way the patterns curved together, as if to hold the dress together, to make it something prettier, more eye-catching than it was before... Celes, still in a bit of a spellbound daze, couldn't recall. She rather marvelled at the accessories dotting Feza's outfit, the pieces of vibrant pink coral bound by purple slime, and the pearl necklace adorning her (which, at this scale, were certainly from some colossal-sized clams, and definitely worth a fortune—a fact Celes would only come to realize much, much later).

Feza was dumbstruck by the miracle Celes had pulled off. One moment, she was rapidly outgrowing her dress, and only a couple moments later, Celes had conjured up a new one, one that practically glittered!

"I guess it's true what they say, that you can't help but put a bit of yourself into your work." Celes smiled bashfully. "...Maybe literally, in this case..."

Feza turned to Celes, astounded how this tiny purple slime woman had grown so astoundingly colossal. Feza was shaking, an emotional smile taking her over.

She immediately leaned over for a big hug, green arms wrapping around Celes, sinking into her purple hair. Celes staggered back, arms raising to hold her back...

...When Celes was struck by a strange vision. Her body froze up, her eyes closing as she was gripped by a terrible chill...

---

There was darkness everywhere. Thick, impenetrable. A heavy, crushing weight. A struggle to survive, grow and flourish. The tingling of a flowing body that constantly folded over itself, struggling to escape thousands upon thousands of pounds of pressure.

Her essence was escaping her constantly, almost slithering away. It was an exhausting struggle to grow enough to outpace the erosion, the sensation of the space around her stealing her very essence. She trudged through a black, inky desert, blind and deaf.

...The shapes of creatures big and small were too indistinct to make out, but as schools of fish floated about, and as the woman was taken aback by the sight of a blue whale (which, strangely, looked to her the size of a beach ball), Celes realized that she had been transported to the ocean. Inside the body of another as it moved independent of her own thoughts.

But as light from above cleared the inky blackness, Celes felt herself rising upwards, reaching towards a toy boat drifting on the surface... or, that wasn't a toy... that was a...

...It eluded her grasp. Celes felt herself rising more, surging upwards until...

FOOOOOOOSH! Cresting the surface, the sensation of sunlight warming her skin enveloped her. The smell of an ocean breeze, the clear blue skies... though the entity extended deeper into the ocean, beyond sight, well into darkness, a sense of relief washed over Celes... the feeling of escaping a great prison.

Off to the horizon, she spotted a shoreline far to the distance, curious structures popping up from the ground. It was the last thing Celes saw before she slipped back under water again...

---

Celes snapped back into reality, flinching as she reached out to grab Feza's shoulders. Her eyes were wide, panicked, her breath quick but steadying quickly.

"W-what was... that was..." Celes brushed back her slimy hair... only to be interrupted by Feza reaching forward, to take Celes' hands in her own. She was smiling.

Celes was jostled by the familiar sensation of their slimy bodies mixing and interacting, centering around their hands. Celes looked towards Feza.

"...Did I just see... was I in your... your memories?" Celes blinked.

Feza nodded, and squeezed tighter; Celes could feel more of Feza's essence flowing towards her core... and part of her flowing into Feza.

Celes felt feelings and thoughts drift into the front of her mind. A warm, fuzzy feeling. That she wasn't the only one of her kind. That there were others like her, that could touch the sky like her...

Celes internalized these feelings of Feza, and squeezed back. Feza and Celes hardly exchanged a word as they silently consoled each other, their thoughts flowing through their mixed essences.

You don't have to be alone. You can come by any time.

...A pang of longing struck Celes, a thought that wasn't her own. The image of a stranger materializing in her head... yet one that, perhaps because of Feza, she recalled like a long lost friend. Celes picked up the vibe and released her grip, strands of green and purple ooze breaking apart.

"I guess you need to go find your sister now... I won't keep you." Celes clasped her hands together. "Just follow the coastline, okay? You don't want to cause a city panic..."

Celes wasn't sure how she knew Feza had a sister. It just felt right. Feza nodded anyway, wearing a big dumb smile. She wrapped Celes in one last hug, before performing another one of the curtsies she learned from Celes, and began to slither off.

...It would be a while until Feza was truly out of sight. She was as tall as a skyscraper, after all. Still, Celes had a remarkable view where she was standing...

"...?"

...She was standing outside her boutique, right? She blinked, and glanced around... and below her... and froze up.

"Wh-what the heck...!?" Celes looked over herself. She was so wrapped up in Feza's glow up, the strange memories, the wordless conversation, the bittersweet farewells, that she was ONLY REALIZING NOW that she had grown to the size of a skyscraper herself! And herself wearing a getup remarkably similar to Feza's! Her seaweed-silk dress speckled with glossy currents of lime green slime, accessorized with the same coral...

"Ah... what..." Celes uttered, trembling. Feeling herself growing light-headed, she tried to press her hand against a nearby building to keep herself upright... only for her palm, each finger the size of a transport truck, to smash a dozen windows with just the lightest pressure. She gasped, retreating her hand, seeing shards of glass sinking into her digits.

Sirens and alarms rang faintly below her. She glanced down, gasping as the puddle around her feet slowly flooded the streets, enveloping cars, flowing into storefronts. She saw people below scurrying like ants, their panicked terror ringing quietly as she towered so far above them.

"MONSTER!!" She made out among the chorus of terror, a word that struck her to her core. She turned in the direction of where Feza went, but she had already disappeared again! Had she disappeared under the ocean waves?? As emergency vehicles funneled through the streets and cut off the streets, surrounding her like little toy cars, Celes quivered in fear.

"I'm... I'm not... not a..." Celes hugged herself, her body sagging as she began to lose strength. Her emotions were overcoming her... she felt herself slipping backwards, her hand groping for a building, but she only succeeded in ripping off a section of it, solid concrete crushed in her hand like it was a clump of dirt.

Her eyelids fluttered as her emotions overflowed, and a fainting spell came upon her. Slowly, agonizingly, she teetered and flopped backwards. If she had collapsed in the city, the property damage would've been astounding...

FWOOOOOOOOOSH!

...Though landing in the pier wasn't much better, as the tsunami-sized waves from her collapse washed over the water-side businesses, smashing stalls and launching people up and over buildings, through window stalls. The din of screaming fell on deaf ears to Celes as her slimy form receded into the deep waters, purple slime flowing from land to sea as she sank deeper and deeper into the abyss...

---

ALTERNATE ENDING

Celes wasn't sure how she knew Feza had a sister. It just felt right. Feza nodded anyway, wearing a big dumb smile. She wrapped Celes in one last hug, before performing another one of the curtsies she learned from Celes, and began to slither off.

...It would be a while until Feza was truly out of sight. She was as tall as a skyscraper, after all. Still, Celes had a remarkable view where she was standing...

"...?"

...She was standing outside her boutique, right? She blinked, and glanced around... and below her... and froze up.

"Wh-what the heck...!?" Celes looked over herself. She was so wrapped up in Feza's glow up, the strange memories, the wordless conversation, the bittersweet farewells, that she was ONLY REALIZING NOW that she had grown to the size of a skyscraper herself! And herself wearing a getup remarkably similar to Feza's! Her seaweed-silk dress speckled with glossy currents of lime green slime, accessorized with the same coral...

Nearly fainting with the shock, Celes caught herself on a large-sized billboard, which effortlessly crumpled under her weight; she squeaked and quickly tried to fix it, before gingerly setting it down on the roof. She blushed furiously, fidgeting as she raised her hand to her neck.

"Okay, okay, you're the size of a building..." Celes squeaked nervously. "J-Just... do what Feza did... think of shrinking... just shriiiiiink..."

Celes closed her eyes shut. Then peeked through one.

"Why isn't it workinggg??" Celes fidgeted, trying not to move too much. What if she stepped on someone?? She glanced down, grimacing as torrents of purple ooze collected around the green-slime hem of her dress, flooding the streets below.

Vrvrvrvrvrvrvrvr... Celes yelped as a helicopter zoomed in front of her face, before swivelling to face her.

"H-hey, I don't wanna be on the news!!" Celes wailed, gesturing towards Feza. "Go photograph her or something!!"

"Ain't the news, babe!" A haughty male voice roared. "Madias Fashion Magazine! You wanna model as an ultra plus sized model!?"

"...A fashion magazine, for... ultra..." Celes was star-struck. She fidgeted.

"...Well, better to make lemons out of lemonade." She shrugged, and struck a pose, brushing back her hair. She decided to take the shot, and put her name out there a bit more, then figure out how to reverse this whole city-sized look she tried on.

THE END