User blog:MrTyeDye/Fanfiction: A Load of Bulk (Epilogue)

[Part 1]

[Part 2]

[Part 3]

[Part 4]

[Part 5]

There were two items on Lana's agenda for the following day. The first? Reconcile with Hops. Lana took her amphibious friend out of his terrarium and apologized for her behavior, assuring him that he wouldn't have to be afraid of her anymore. Hops, while apprehensive at first, heard her out; once she was done, he gave her a lick on the nose, signifying that all was forgiven.

The second? Go downstairs to the basement and start working out.

As sorry as she was for stealing from Lisa and bullying her family, Lana did like being big and strong, and she wanted to maintain at least some of that. Granted, as Lisa explained the previous day, a physique like hers would be nigh-impossible to sustain without the help of performance-enhancing drugs. Her required protein intake alone would far outstrip the Loud family's food budget. Thus, by the time school started up again a month later, her size had dwindled considerably, but she was still incredibly muscular for her age, and she was still the strongest person in the family by a noticeable margin.

Her physique, as expected, earned her quite a bit of attention from her First Grade class. For the school year's first Show and Tell, she brought herself in, striking a series of bodybuilding poses (most of which she learned from Lynn) while her classmates and teacher watched in total awe. She even got the attention of the media; one of her classmates happened to be the daughter of a features writer for Royal Woods Monthly, and Lana ended up as the subject of an article, dubbed the "Six-Year-Old Dynamo".

But the attention she valued the most came from her crush and fellow grease monkey, Skippy. The boy was completely entranced by her transformation. He peppered every playdate with requests for her to flex, perform feats of strength and let him feel her arms and shoulders. One evening, as they were relaxing by the pond watching the sunset, he planted a kiss right on her bicep, causing her to blush up a storm.

That said, being huge did have its downsides. Leni had to make her new shirts and overalls to accommodate her hulking form, and the outfits she made did nothing to hide her musculature. This meant that she was constantly getting stares from passersby whenever they were out in public, which made her a little uncomfortable. That, and she had to be careful when hugging her loved ones, lest she accidentally fracture a bone or two. For the same reason, she couldn't roughhouse with Lola anymore, and that was something she sorely missed.

But in spite of the drawbacks, Lana was happy with the new life she was living. She liked having Skippy gush over her. She liked being the go-to girl in the house whenever someone needed to move some furniture. And though it could get overbearing at times, she liked the attention.

And yet... there was a tiny little part of her that longed for more. A part of her that wanted to be as huge as she was when she first ingested the formula. A part of her that missed being not just uncommonly strong, but freakishly strong. Frighteningly strong. There were nights when she would sneak into Lisa and Lily's room late at night just so she could stare at the test tube rack that was still sitting on her desk. She could never bring herself to touch it, but she couldn't deny that the temptation was there.

It wasn't until mid-October that she was forced to confront that feeling head-on. It was a Saturday evening, around 9:45, and Lana was down in the basement struggling to complete a set of bicep curls. At that point, she'd been pumping iron for over an hour, and fatigue was overtaking her. With a layer of sweat coating her brow and her arms throbbing, she gritted her teeth and barely managed to eke out three more reps, finishing the set. Lana dropped the barbell, which landed with a clang, and let her arms fall slack at her sides, as she panted from the effort.

But just as she was about to bend down and re-rack it, she heard a voice coming from behind her.

"Ha! Wimp!"

Lana spun around, shocked that anyone in the family would have the audacity to provoke her like that. But just as she was about to reprimand her unidentified detractor, she was met with a sight that sent a shiver down her spine and made the sweat coating her skin feel like ice water. The person standing before her was monstrous, sporting a body big enough to dwarf her own. She wore nothing but a pair of overalls that struggled to contain her hulking form. After spending what seemed like a half-hour gawking at the stranger's body, Lana worked her way up to her face - and saw two blonde pigtails, a button nose and a gap-toothed smile.

It was herself.

"You've been getting real puny," sneered her doppelgänger.

Lana, overcome with shock, could only croak out, "W-who...w-ho are you..."

"What, you don't recognize me? I'm you. The girl you used to be."

The other Lana flexed up an enormous bicep in front of Lana's face. "Betcha miss having these, don't ya? Looks like you could use another shot of that juice."

Lana shook her head back and forth, snapping herself back to her senses. "No. No way."

"What's the harm? Just drink a little to get huge again, and then drink the antidote so you don't get sick. Simple as that."

"That's not the point," said Lana. "The point is that I promised I wouldn't take it without permission."

"Yeah? So what?"

Hulk-Lana planted her feet and struck a mind-bending crab flex that threatened to burst her suspenders. "Big, strong girls don't need to keep promises. Big, strong girls can take whatever they want, whenever they want."

"Then maybe I don't want to be a big, strong girl!" snapped Lana. "At least not one like you."

Hulk-Lana laughed. "Awww, what's wrong with me?" she asked, batting her eyes and pouting while clasping her hands behind her back. "Don't you like my muscles?"

Lana snarled as she stomped up to her massive doppelgänger, undeterred by her imposing size.

"I don't like you," she said. "You're a big, mean jerk who doesn't care about anyone but yourself. I'd rather eat rusty nails than be you."

Hulk-Lana just snorted and kicked back her head, making her pigtails flip. "Come on, Lana. Look at what you've been missing."

She put her hands on her hips, puffed out her enormous chest and bounced her pecs, in a display that left Lana in speechless awe for a few seconds. What could she say in response to such a sight? She was starting to fear that this whole exchange would end with her counterpart leading her up the stairs to Lisa's room and feeding the formula to her by hand.

"Oh, you thought that was impressive? Check this out."

The behemoth strutted over to the weight set and grabbed the barbell that Lana was working out with before. She scooped it up with one hand and twirled it around as if it were made of foam.

"I can't believe you're working out with these baby toys," she taunted. "You're even weaker than I thought."

Lana could do little but stand back and stare at Hulk-Lana's intimidating display. There was no getting around it; she had lost a lot of strength in the months after she was given the reversal agent. She opened her mouth for a retort, but nothing came out.

"What'sa matter? Got nothing to say?"

Lana sighed, slumped her shoulders forward and shook her head. She... she was waving it around like it was nothing. How do I argue with that?

After re-racking the weight with only her finger, Hulk-Lana took slow, measured steps back towards her more diminutive self. "Admit it, Lana. You miss being this yoked. Those four days were the best days of your life."

That last remark gave Lana pause. Were they?

Up until that point, Lana had been stymied by her counterpart's arguments. Yes, she had become much, much smaller and weaker in the past few months, and yes, she reached a peak that she could never hope to reach again without the help of Lisa's formula. But were those really some of the best days of her life?

As Hulk-Lana drew closer and closer, making the ground shake a little with each step, Lana shut her eyes and tried to recount those four tumultuous days of her metamorphosis - her startling transformation, her growing paranoia, her ruthless mean streak...

...no. No, they weren't. Not even close.

Lana snapped out of her stupor, popped her head back up and shot an icy glower at her past self, just as the giant was beginning to cast a shadow over her. "You're wrong," she said.

Hulk-Lana gave off an incredulous laugh. "What are you talking about? You were great. You were huge. You were unstoppable."

Lana just turned away, folding her arms across her chest. "But I wasn't happy."

For the first time since she appeared in the basement, Hulk-Lana dropped her smile. "W...what? What do you mean? You're not making any sense."

Lana sighed and gave her head another shake - now out of pity instead of resignation. "I was scared and angry. I thought the world was out to get me. My whole family was afraid of me. They thought I was a monster. And you know what?"

She looked back over her shoulder, giving Hulk-Lana a contemptuous look. "They were right."

And just like that, the tables had turned; Hulk-Lana's mouth was left gaping open as a tinge of red started to spread across her cheeks. All she could do was garble out half-formed words and syllables as she tried to conceive a counterpoint. Lana kept her gaze affixed on her adversary as she walked across the room and started up the stairs. "But I'm not afraid of you. I just feel sorry for you. You're just a sad, lonely little girl who wants attention."

Hulk-Lana snarled, her cheeks now engorged with blood. "You... you... get back here! I'm not finished with you!"

She lunged forward and tried to grab Lana's ankle, to no avail. Lana, unfazed, just continued up the stairs.

"You come back here right now, or I'll... I'll wreck all your weights! I'll tie 'em into knots! I'll smash 'em to pieces! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!"

Lana forced herself to ignore the bellowing as she reached the top of the stairs. With every step, her doppelgänger's cries grew fainter and fainter, until they finally disappeared altogether.

As she tucked herself into bed, Lana vowed to never even think about taking Lisa's formula ever again. She drifted off to sleep with a content smile on her face, secure in the knowledge that the brutish bully who accosted her in the basement was gone for good.