The Curious Mermaid

Summary: Mako is a young Mermaid who just loves to collect curious items humans have dropped into the sea. But this time, her curiousity is about to have an 'uplifting' effect on her...

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The very bottom of the sea, at the deepest ressesses of the ocean, is something very few people ever see. Those who are able withstand the depth and pressure would be able to see the vast expanse of the seabed, the large schools of fish and sealife which gather there, and it's sandy surface littered with coral, plantlife, and sadly, an increasing amout of litter and junk, discarded by careless people from the surface.

And in this particular part of the ocean, one could even see a young woman swimming along, a dolphin-like tail where her legs would be propelling her through the water.

Mako traversed the seabed, her tail lazily moving back and forth as she swam at a relaxed pace, her long dark hair trailing behind her. She hummed a little song to herself as she gazed down at the seabed, scanning the floor for signs of anything interesting to add to the collection she had built up in her little underwater cave.

Unlike most other merfolk, Mako had a great interest in the human world, mainly the things they dropped into the ocean. While everyone else declared the humans to be annoying bastards who kept ruining our home, as her father would put it, Mako thought that humans, despite their bad points, were incredibly ingenious and inventive. She had found many odd items from the surface in her time, mostly made of the hard metal material they made their 'boats' out off, but sometimes they were made of other stuff. She had found a tiny white box which produced music, a strange metal whisk thingy which spun when she turned a handle, and so many coloured metal cylinders, with words like 'Coke' and 'Budweiser' on them. She wasn't sure what the names meant, but the cans were so pretty.

Right now though, she was not on the hunt for cans, but seashells to make a top out of. She glanced down at her modest bust, and at the makeshift  top made out of two seshells and tied together with strong stands of seaweed. Most merfolf never bothered with clothes, but after finding pictures from an old human book depicting human women in something called a 'bikini', she and many of her friends had fashioned their own. Mako quite liked how pretty her top made her feel, she just wished her chest was a bit bigger to make it stand out more..

As she swam over a coral reef, she spotted something in the distance, a large bulky object resting in the sand. Moving closer, she could make out the shape...
It was a human ship. The small white yacht had an obvious jagged hole in its hull, indicating that it had hit one of the many large rock formations which littered this part of the ocean.

Mako clasped her hands with glee. Sunken ships always contained the most fantastic items. Her father always warned her to stay away from them, claiming them and their cargo to be dangerous. But she'd been searching them for years and never found anything threatening.

She moved toward the boat, noting the words on the ship's hull, 'Valasco Inc Scientific Supplies'. Humans always gave these crafts such strange names. She hoped that whoever was steering this boat  got to safety before it sunk.
Reaching the boat, she manuvered herself through the hole and into the ships hold.
The inside of the boat was a tight fit, due to the human furnishings and debris floating around, taking up most of the space, and she had to bend her tail behind her in order to move. She recognised a small sink and a large white box, indicating that this was where the human's prepared their food.

She licked her lips. Many times she had found cases of the human's food packed in boxes or cans. She had to swim up to the surface in order to eat it, since a lot of it tended to melt or fall apart once water touched it, but it was worth it since it was all so delicious.
She pulled the door of the box open and scouted around for food. There were several glass jars inside, but nothing which looked like food.
She then spotted a plastic container on the bottom shelf. She eagerly yanked it out and pried off the lid, letting it float behind her as she studied the contents.
The container was full of a lumpy yellow substance, which looked similar to the same substance the 'hostess cakes' she had found in one ship was made of. Oddly, the water didn't seem to be affecting it like it had the cakes. And cakes were nice so maybe this stuff was too..

Tentetively, she took a small glob of the stuff in her fingers and raised it to her mouth.
Her eyes shot open wide as she swallowed it. WHatever this stuff was, it was unlike anything she had tasted! It was sweet and buttery on her tongue, and delightfully chewy.
The taste was addictive, and she wanted to have more. But first, she needed to get out of here. Holding her cargo tightly, she swam out of the hole again, her tail batting the floating container lid aside.
Mako could only read a few words of the human language, and even then she didn't understand what they meant. But if she could, and had taken the time to read the label on the lid, she would have read this:

                              WARNING:  Experimental Synthetic Yeast.
                        Due to unstable nature, may expand when warmed.
                                        Keep under cool temprature.
                                         NOT FIT FOR CONSUMPION!!

Mako took a seat on the prow of the boat and placed the container on her lap. She took a full handful of the yeast and ate it in just a few gulps. She couldn't believe how tasty this stuff was, as she took another handfull.
The flavour called to her, and before she knew it, she was rapidly shovelling the yeast into her mouth. A voice in her head told her to stop, but it was easily quashed by the desire to keep that taste in her mouth.
In just a few scant minutes, she had eaten the entire contents. Letting the container float away, she leaned back and rested on the boat's deck, one hand rubbing her slightly distended stomach.
She groaned in both discomfort and delight. She'd never stuffed herself like that before, not even when she'd found those tasty brown blocks called 'chocolate' which had fallen off a container ship once. But this substance.. it had been unlike anything she had ever tasted. She now wished she'd saved some for later..
Ah well, maybe she'd get lucky and find more somewhere.

She closed her eyes and let herself relax. Her massive binge had left her quite drowsy, and she felt content to just lay here all day and enjoy the quiet. The water was fairly warm around these parts, and she felt quite cozy as she stretched the length of her tail out.
She was about to drift off to sleep when suddenly she felt a strange sensation in her tummy. A strong, churning feeling within her. She thought it was just a stomach ache, but she'd never felt one this strongly before. A dull ache surrounded her tummy, and she groaned as she gently rubbed it, hoping to soothe the pain. As she rubbed her stomach, she couldn't help but notice that it felt a bit more rounded than before...

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain against her breasts, distacting her from the stomach ache. The seashells which made up her top felt like they were pinching her skin. She sat up and looked down at her chest... and gasped in utter shock.
Her breasts were bigger. Her once modest mounds had swollen in size, reaching almost a full handfull. They were now too big for her top, and she could see the soft flesh bulging over the shells. The thin seaweed strands were also beginning to cut into her skin.

She thought it was some odd reaction to the warm water. But she had never heard of anything like this happening to a mermaid.
But as she stared at her breasts, she then realised they were still getting bigger. She could actually see them swell before her eyes, rapidly overflowing the shells.
And that wasn't all. Feeling a tightening sensation of the skin of her tail, she looked further down. She could now no longer see past her breasts, so she had to look down her side.

Her hips, at the point where her human body ended and her dolphin tail began, were also growing. She placed her hands on them, pressing gently into her grey skin. She could actually feel her skin stretching, and her hands being pushed further away by her expanding hips. Feeling behind her, she could feel her bottom growing rounder and softer too.

Suddenly there was a muted SNAP! Startled, she looked down to see her seashell top drifting away from her. The seaweed straps had finally succumbed to the force of her swelling chest, leaving her utterly naked. Instinctively, she crossed her arms over her chest, but realized that they were now too big for her to ever cover completely. She stared at them nervously, watching them slowly inch bigger and wonder if they would ever stop.

She was so occupied with her chest, she didn't notice that she was slowly floating upwards, with no movement from her tail propelling her. When she realized the deck of the boat was now further below her, she swam back down. But as soon as she sat down, she was floating up again. She pushed down with her arms, but again she rose without moving at all. And this time, she was rising even faster.
Panicing, she grabbed the nearest thing she could to hold her down, which was the metal railing fixed along the boat deck's edge. As she held on tightly, her breasts seemed to float upwards, bobbing gently against her chin. Freeing one arm, she wrapped it around her chest as best she could and held her breasts down. It was then she felt another strange sensation.

It was as if her body was being... pulled upwards. Of more specifically, her breasts and bottom were being pulled. It was as if the very water around her was pressing against her, forcing her upward. This feeling felt familiar to her, but she couldn't quite place it...
With her bottom beginning to rise, she forced her body down, and managed to wrap her tail around one of the railing supports. This forced her to twist her body so that she was facing the boat's cockpit. She could see her reflection in the cockpit's windows, and she gasped at what she saw.
The first thing which came to mind was an odd human pbject she had found once. It was a glass jar filled with sand, but with an extremely narrow middle which allowed the sand to trickle from one side to the other. Looking at her body, Mako realized she was now resembling that jar.

The base of her tail and her hips, once trim and slender, now flared out massively to her sides, almost wider than the width of her shoulders. They curved outwards in a large arc before sharply curving back to join her still tiny waist. Turning her body slightly, Mako could also see her bottom, now much larger and rounder and sticking out like a sore thumb. She couldn't imagine how she would be able to swim with a bottom like that slowing her down.

And then there was her breasts. Where once she had a decent sized pair which could have filled her hands, each breast was now larger than the biggest pufferfish she had ever seen, and slowly becoming the size of her own head. Normally they would have obscured most of her torso, but because of the strange buoyancy thay had attained, they kept moving upwards towards her chin. It was nearly impossible to keep her free arm wrapped around them to hold them down so she could see herself. Feeling her breasts push against her arm, Mako was frightenly certain that they were still slowly getting bigger.

As she witnessed how huge and round her breasts had become, it suddenly hit her, where she had felt this pulling sensation before.
It was when she was younger, and had started collecting human treasures. She would sometimes swim up to the surface and poke her head out to see if any passing boats would toss anything out. One time, she had seen a round object fly from a boat and land in front of her. It was a round white thing with black spots all over it, and she had eagerly grabbed it to add to her collection.
But when she had swam back down to her home, the ball had resisted her, constantly pulling free from her grip. In the end, she had just let it go, watching it float back up to the surface.
That pulling force against the ball.. that was what she felt in her body. Her breasts were somehow becoming like the ball.
Her nervousness increased as questions began to flood her mind. Was it that strange food she had eaten which was doing this? How big would she become? And if she floated up, how would she get back down?
Her grip tightened around the railing, and her free arm pressed against her breasts harder, willing them to shrink back down.

Suddenly, there was a loud gurgling sound, and a jolt of pain in her gut. The strange indigestion in her stomach, which had become a mild dscomfort while her breasts were growing, was now back in force.
She moved her free hand to her belly, letting her breasts float and bob around her face. She rubbed her churning gut, trying to ease the discomfort.
But as she rubbed, she felt her belly push out against her palm. And as her hand circled around, she could swear her tummy felt more rounded...
She felt her belly push out again, and a feeling of dread hit her. With her arm, she pushed her breasts down as far as she could, allowing her to see past them. Immediately, she was met with the sight of the crest of her belly, rising like the sun against the mountains of her breasts.

"That's growing too...?" She moaned in disbelief. When would this nightmare end?
She tried to hold her burgeoning belly in with her arm, but the force expanding her from within was just too great. She could feel her belly grow larger, until it was easily visible from below her massive breasts. She estimated she was about the same size some of her friends had been when they were about to give birth to their children. But now she was beginning to surpass even those sizes.
As she grew rounder, she could feel that pulling, floating sensation again, but this time it surrounded her entire belly. It added to the pull exerted from her breasts and bottom, and as she got larger, it only began to increase.
She tightened her grip and wrapped her tail tighter around the railing, to the point where it was beginning to hurt. The upward pull was getting stronger, and she was now using every reserve of strength she had to stay anchored.
But it wasn't enough. Her sore tail lost its grip on the railing, and as it unfurled her belly shot upwards, pulling her up with it. As she rose, her grip with her hands caused her to 'swing' until she was upside down.

Mako looked down (or was it up now?)at herself. Her massive belly was still growing, almost taking up her entire view of the vast sea above her. If she let go, she would float up there, and then what would happen? Gritting her teeth, she pulled as hard as she could, hoping she lower herself just enough to gain some leverage on the railing.
Her arm muscles burned with the strain of holding on, and as her size increased, the strain only became greater. She could feel her grip beginning to falter. She drew on her last reserves of strength, praying to Neptune and anyone who would listen for this to stop.
And then, before she even realised it, she lost her grip.

The effect was instantanous. Her body shot upwards like a rocket, her belly leading the charge and dragging her along with it. Bubbles rushed past her as watched the seabed get farther and farther away from her. She flapped her arms to try and slow herself down, but it was hopeless.  Soon the seabad had vanished from sight, and she was shooting through the emtpy blue space of the ocean. Schools of fish scattered and fled as she barrelled right through their ranks.
Nothing could stop her. She could see the shimmering light reflected off the sea's surface getting closer. What would happen if she hit it that this speed? Would she even survive? She covered her face with her arms, bracing herself for whatever would happen when she hit the surface. Closer and closer she got..

In a gigantic explosion of water and spray, she burst out from under the surface, the speed of her  ascent actually sending her flying through the air for a few seconds. She felt a bizarre sense of weightlessness, and then fell back into the water with a loud splash.
Her eyes were closed, but she could feel she was floating on the water's surface. Seconds passed before she felt brave enought to open her eyes.
To her left and right, she could see the waves of the ocean and the cloudy sky above her. And right in front of her, nearly taking up all of her line of sight, was her belly.

Again, she was in awe of her size. Her belly was gigantic, stretching out far and wide from her body. In human estimates, it could be described as being four feet wide all around. But despite its size, it floated on the water easily, her belly button  rising above the waterline and pointing forward like the prow of a ship.  
She placed her arms on the firm flesh to try and reach around, but it was just too big.
Her movements made her pay notice to her breasts, which sat upon the shelf created by her belly. Each breast was a massive, pale orb larger than her own head, which wobbled slightly as she was buffeted around by the waves against her.

Once the shock of seeing her massive girth had passed, she tenetively prodded and rubber her belly. She couldn't feel anything pushing outwards, and that awful groaning in her stomach was gone.
She laughed in relief. Whatever had caused this strange reaction had finally stopped.
There were still questions in her mind about what had happened, and how she could reverse this. But for now, she had to go back under water before any human's spotted her. She leaned forward to dive under..
Only to end up planting her face inside her vast cleavage.
Puzzled, she tried to dive again, but her belly refused to move with the rest of her. She grabbed as much of her belly as she could and tried to push it under, shoving herself against her bulk again and again. But it was to no avail.
An idea hit her, maybe she needed more weight on top.
Rearing back her body as much as she could, she curled her tail behind her (noticing that her bottom felt a lot plusher) and braced herself.Then with as much force as she could muster, she gave a mighty kick of her tail, enough to send her body flying upwards out of the water.
Her belly rolled beneath her as she twisted her body in mid air to fully land on her great gut. She fell onto the massive belly and waited for herself to sink.
But she didn't. Her belly continued to float, rocking back and forth as she tried to push it down.

After many futile attempts, Mako gave up and let herself fall flat against her belly, her head resting on her breasts. It was a strange and uncomfortable feeling to be floating above the water like this. The wind felt cold on her damp skin, and the constant bobbing against the waves made her stomach queasy. But as least her view wasn't blocked by her massive tummy. Here, she had a perfect, elevated view of the ocean around her.
She spotted something in the distance. A round red object with a small spire and a flag sticking out of it, one of many she had seen in this area whenever she surfaced. She recalled overhearing  a human once calling it a 'buoy' when she had seen him tossing it over the side.
"So this is what a buoy feels like.." She sighed unhappily as she drifted past the buoy. Looking ahead, she could see she was getting closer to a landmass.
Father was not going to be happy when she told him about this.
If she ever saw him again.

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As the sun began to set and cast a golden glow over the beach, a young lifeguard unhappily walked across the sand, waiting for his shift to end.
Danny scowled as his feet kicked through the sand. He'd been a lifeguard for a week now, and so far it was not turning out like he had imagined. On TV, being a lifeguard involved action and adventure, hanging out with sexy girls in tiny swimsuits, and staring death in the face and laughing. So far, the most action he'd seen was finding a few lost kids and reminding sunbathing old guys to put on some sun cream. And the girls all seemed the same. Skinny, toned, like they had just been dieting for the summer. He'd hardly seen anyone with a  nice set of curves.
Sighing, he started moving towards his watch tower. There was virtually no one on the beach, maybe he could leave for home a little early...

As he crossed a dune, he spotted a strange object near his tower. The shadows cast by the setting sun prevented him from seeing it clearly, but it was big, and round. Maybe it was a beached whale, or a capsized boat which had drifted ashore.
Whatever it was, it least it was something interesting to deal with. He jogged toward it.
His jog slowed to a walk, and then a dazed staggering as he got closer and the object became clearer to him. But he couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing.

It was a gigantic skin coloured orb, almost the same size as his mother's conpact car. And  attached to it, laying on top and rocking it back and forth, was a young woman with long dark hair, who seemed completely naked. It seemed she had a grey skirt on, but a closer look revealed it to be a long, fish like tail which flailed about as she moved.

Mako had been so focused on trying to somehow move back towards the water, she hadn't noticed Danny run up. But as she cursed the tides for the fifth time that day, she turned and noticed the young man stading by her, his jaw slack and his eyes wide with surprise.
Swallowing nervously, Mako put on her sweetest smile, and hoped the few words of human language she had remembered would make sense to him.
"Umm... I'm sorry to bother you, but could you give me a push towards the sea?" She asked. "I'm kind of... beached here..."

END