Claire's enhancements bar her from professional athletic competitions, yet people still flock to her gym. People like Agrius, whose aggression matches his strength.

Original artwork by:
 AgonWolfe

Original story by:
 CS_Bernard

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Downtown Seattle
Seattle, Washington
United States of America
Monday, 12:19 UTC – 07:00, Daylight Saving Time

TIGERS ARE STARTLING, by their very nature. Muscular, powerful, with distinctive patterns that allow them to stalk in the shadows and terrify in the light. A rugged species, they always turn heads with a glance. Claire Thompson, however, was in a league of her own.

Claire was a female tiger of such hyper-developed musculature that words such as “burly,” “brawny,” and “broad” could describe her thighs, but fail to capture her full size and power. She was a woman with supernatural muscular definition, every crease in her skin was reflected in her lustrous coat. One of her biceps rivaled most skulls for sheer volume. No matter what surface she walked on, her footfalls thudded on impact. Her arms and legs were so overfull with muscle tissue that she had a distinctive swagger in her step as she swayed side to side.

The tiger had sacrificed a lot to achieve her ideal body. As a tiger, she was no longer as stealthy, but made up for it with nearly unmatched power. Her fur was devoid of the distinctive stripes that tigers are known for. She had to have a stylist treat her fur with dye to give it custom patterns. But Claire took pride in this unique feature. Just like she took pride in mighty pectorals, devoid of fatty breast tissue. She defined her femininity through her empowerment not her endowment.

Her only lament was that her achievement had rendered her ineligible for almost every bodybuilding competition. While not like other weightlifters, disgraced by the use and abuse of anabolic steroids, her body had been enhanced in other, irregular, ways. Most official governing boards of the sport would be forced to disqualify her immediately. The knowledge that she was set apart from others was her bittersweet consolation. While trophies and medals would have given her validation, she felt honored to be considered a peerless athlete.

Fortunately, while she could not participate in competitions, Claire had all the know-how to help others achieve their ideal body. Perhaps they would not reach her level, but her appearance alone gave hope to everyone who ed her gym that they could still learn from a master. Her encyclopedic knowledge of weightlifting, posing, and aerobics both impressed and educated her clients. Her body was all the evidence they needed to sign up, while her techniques kept them coming back. Though not a successful competitor, she was wildly successful as a trainer.

“Watch your stance!” Claire nearly roared at a male horse when she caught sight of how he held a barbell. “Keep that up and you’ll pull your calf!”

“Right, Coach!” the stallion grunted as he shifted his feet and adjusted his posture.

“Looking good, Beth!” the tiger flashed her pearly fangs in a brilliant smile. Her eyes sparkled with pride at how far the middle-aged agama lizard had come in just a month at the gym.

“Thanks, Claire!”

The big feline’s tail swayed with satisfaction as she rounded a corner. It was a good day and her mood was high.

“Hey, beautiful.”

Claire froze in mid-step and her tail went rigid. She was not irritated, but she was alert to the catcall and where it came from. “Yeah, de Silva? What do you want now?”

The albino bat hybrid paused his curling exercises with the pair of dumbbells in his hands, “Oh, now, hey… I’ve told you, feel free to call me Agrius.” He smiled with roguish charm.

“And I’ve told you that my name is Claire, ‘Ms. Thompson’ if you’re a troublemaker.” Claire only acknowledged his roguishness.

Agrius chuckled as he bowed his head slightly. With the dumbbells at his side, he became more conciliatory, “I’m sorry, Claire. But it’s difficult not to ire your physical… accomplishments.”

The tiger smirked. She was considerably shorter, 167 centimeters to the bat’s 188. However, her shoulders were far broader than his. And while it was an understatement to say that the bat was presumptuous, he was friendly and she was very susceptible to compliments – when done correctly. “Yeah, yeah,” she waved him off as she pivoted on one heel and plodded away. “If you put the same kind of effort into your arms that you put into your jaw, you’d probably give me a run for my money.”

The albino smirked at her back, “Oh! And you accuse me of misbehaving…”

Claire only rolled her eyes and scoffed, despite the smile she kept to herself. The bat was definitely a playboy. He lived in Chicago, but maintained a hip at her gym. He stopped in periodically, but had gone out of his way to make himself stand out. There was a part of Claire that liked him. Her arrogant side, of course. She recognized part of herself in him, namely his self-aggrandizing style and his bold demeanor. But that also made her leery of him. She liked a worthy rival or opponent, but Agrius’s efforts to beguile her only aroused her suspicion rather than any romantic feelings.

Agrius, meanwhile, softened his smirk into a smile as his vivid red eyes idly studied the way that Claire’s body moved. It was ungainly in a way, hindered by her height versus her width. But, for him, that was the appeal. He truly did ire her impressive physique. It was the entire reason he had ed the gym. It was a personal pleasure he indulged in during his business trips to Seattle. Ever since he had discovered that the notorious Claire Thompson was in the same part of the Pacific Northwest as the reclusive Aranda, he was determined to take full advantage of the convenience.

“Ha. A pup like you shouldn’t bother a tigress like her.”

The bat blinked. His supernatural hearing easily detected where the words came from and he casually flipped his head toward the speaker. It was a large steer. He was heavyset in the gut, but his arms bulged with muscles as he curled a barbell. “Come again?” Agrius innocently queried.

The bull sneered as he chortled, “You might be taller than her, friend, but you’re not going to impress somebody like Claire with that flirty act. And those scrawny arms.” He was comfortably over two meters tall and well above Agrius in other metrics.

“Funny,” Agrius mused, “I didn’t really ask for an opinion. Friend.”

“Yeah,” the steer grunted, “and I don’t wanting a floor show featuring some out-of-towner coming in here every blue moon to flash his cash and hit on the owner. Yet here we are.”

“I don’t see how that’s your business,” Agrius casually answered.

“Probably not, but it’s none of your business, either.”

Agrius scoffed and laughed, “You must be pretty insecure if you’re moaning this much about it.”

“Insecure? Hardly, you’re not impressing anyone with those lightweights.”

The bat tilted his head. His ear twitched and he sat the dumbbells back on their rack. “Yet, at the same time, I don’t think anyone’s impressed with your desperate need to show off.”

“Ha-ha-ha…” The steer coldly laughed as he lurched forward with the barbell held at waist height. “Funny guy. Let’s see if those arms can keep up with that mouth…”

Before he could react, Agrius was overwhelmed by the sudden shove of the barbell against his body. Reflexively, he grasped for it and was pushed backward. He was very nearly knocked off his feet. With considerable effort, he kept himself upright and the barbell level. He grunted with the sudden strain.

“Now, wise-ass, it’s not showing off if you can do it.” The steer chuckled menacingly as he folded his arms at the bat.

Agrius’s lips parted and he bared his large fangs in a broad grin, “You know, you might be onto something. Friend.” He tightened his grip on the barbell and shifted his feet.

The bull sneered as he watched the bat attempt to demonstrate his own strength. He observed how Agrius’s arms strained and his muscles bulged as much as they could. A flicker of confusion flashed across his eyes when he saw the bat’s biceps swell up and then swell further and further. What he took for a trick of the imagination was proven to be reality as his rival of the moment’s arms swelled and elongated, pale arms became thicker and more developed. Agrius’s shoulders broadened and his chest bulged outward. A lithe swimmer’s build quickly mushroomed into a sturdy weightlifter’s physique.

Agrius reveled in the rush of mystical energy as it surged through him. His height grew with his musculature, so that the bigger he got, the taller he got and the taller he got, the bigger he got. The bull was left speechless as he flipped his head back and rolled his shoulders. The barbell, which had been so cumbersome, rapidly dwindled in resistance. Agrius shifted and moved about to maintain his grip, his stance, and his posture. However, his muscle shirt could not adjust itself like he could. Splits and tears quickly opened along the weakest seams and s, before long the shoulders burst apart and a thin band of fabric was stretched taut over his powerful abdominal muscles. Within seconds, Agrius had grown to a formidable 274 centimeters with dozens, if not hundreds, of kilograms of hypertrophic muscle mass.

It was now the bull’s turn. Agrius shoved the barbell into his chest and forced the bovine to quickly walk backwards until he audibly thudded into the wall behind him. He panicked and clutched at the steel bar and tried to push back. It felt like he
was pinned by a hydraulic press. Painfully, the bar compressed his chest and strained his ribcage. He rasped, “Wait… wait--!”

“Ah-ah-shush…” Agrius idly remarked with a malevolent grin. With just one hand on the barbell, he pinned the bull against the wall. With his other hand, he reached up and effortlessly clamped the steer’s muzzle shut like a vice.

Panicked bellows were trapped shut in the bull’s mouth, while his labored breathing flared his nostrils. He was utterly powerless before the bat.

“Enough!” The two males spun their heads to see Claire as she lumbered toward them, “Let him go!”

Agrius at once complied. He released the bull’s muzzle and pulled the barbell off his chest. With a placid smile, he bobbed his head and briefly bent at the waist. “Of course.”

“The hell is wrong with you two!?” the gym owner growled. “I should ban the both of you for this kind of schoolyard brawling.”

“He-he tried to kill me!” the bull rasped as he clutched his chest with one hand.

“Zip it, Mark!” Claire nearly roared. “This isn’t your first time starting something. So, you’re already on thin ice.”

Agrius said nothing as he idly clutched the barbell in one hand and put his other hand on his hip. He only smirked over to the steer.

“And you,” Claire hissed. “I didn’t know you can do… this… But you did know. And you let someone bait you in like that. This is your first strike, but I’m putting you both on probation.” She pointed at Mark, “One more stunt like this and you’re out of here.” Then she glowered back at Agrius, “And you should be ashamed of yourself.”

The bat only shrugged, “Well, if I was vulnerable to shame, I wouldn’t have any fun.”

Claire’s ears flipped back as her eyes and pupils narrowed. A deep growl rumbled in her broad chest.

“But, yes, I’ll concede to the house rules.” Agrius was all smiles as he effortlessly twirled the barbell at his side like a baton and then extended it to Claire.

For her part, Claire silently snatched the piece of weightlifting equipment. Like Agrius, she easily clutched it in one hand. Which made a self-conscious Mark glance away out of embarrassment. He needed both hands for the barbell. It was then Claire turned to the bull and snapped, “Go home, Mark. I think you’ve had enough for today.” She then stormed off with the barbell over her shoulder.

End