Party Balloons
A Clowntopia Tale
by Hugo Prosperio

(the following story contains odd transformation, including inanimate stuff. If this is weird to you, please move on to the other fine art here at dA. If not, please read on)

Frank and Jill were having a party. They decided to see if they could find some fun party favors or decorations at a new story they had noticed. "Think they'll have anything?" Jill asked.

"Worth a shot" Frank said with a smile as he walked over to the store that said Chuckles Joke Shop. Opening the door, him and Jill both jumped at the loud honk of the horn that was wedged above the door.

"Hello there!" came a cheerful voice. Behind the counter was a man dressed as a clown. "Welcome to my store. Come in!" The two let the door shut behind them as the clown waved them over to the counter.

"What can I do you for today, folks?" He asked.

"Um. Well, we are hosting a party." Jill said.

The Clown perked up. "Oh, do tell?" he  laughed.  

"Oh a little party for my birthday." Jill explained. "Just some friends and us."

"Well, tell Chuckles what he can get for you, and we'll get you done up right." The clown.

"Your name is actually Chuckles?" Frank said with with a snort.

"Yep. It's not a bad name. Frank, is that your real name or are you just trying to sound like the all star quarterback from high school."

"Point taken."

"Well, we were looking for some decorations, favors, that sort of thing." Jill added.

"Like Balloons, perhaps?" Chuckles asked.

"Yeah, balloons would be nice." She said with a wistful smile.

The clown's eyes opened wide and a childish grin came on his face. "I have just the thing. These just came in and I've been wanting to see them in action." He said as he hoisted a huge glass jar full of little balloon shaped candies onto the counter.

"Balloonies." He said. "From one of the finest candymakers in all of…ehem, where I come from."

"Candy?" Jill asked with a slight cock of her head. "We already have snacks."

"Oh, no, you have to see what the candies really are. Try one!" he said, unscrewing the cap.  She reached in and grabbed one of the candies and popped it in her mouth and chewed it up.

"Well, it's tasty. We could probably put a bowl of these out for the…" she started to say before she got cut off. She then noticed that Chuckles and Frank were seemingly getting lower than her. "Huh?"

Frank looked up and gasped when he saw what was happening. His girlfriend was starting to float in the air, lifting off the ground.

"What the hell?!" she gasped as she watched her flip flops fall tangle from her toes as she hung in mid-air.

"Each candy has a different effect, but they all give you the properties of balloons. That one lets you float in the air like one.

"Wait, I'm a balloon?!" she said with a stunned voice.

"Well, no. You are a girl, but you are floating like a balloon. It should wear off in a moment.
  
"Can I try one?" Frank asked, looking at the jar of candies.

"Sure thing!" Chuckles said. "She had yellow, so try something different, just for fun."

Frank reached into the jar and grabbed a green one, and popped it into his mouth. He nodded his head in approval at the flavor and then waited to float up like is girlfriend had, but instead he felt intense pressure all over his body.

"Ugh." He moaned as his body began to expand, like a balloon. His whole torso puffed up as did his stomach and butt. His legs got wider and his arms thickened, or so it appeared. His face began to bulge as it filled with what seemed like air.

"What…happening." he groaned as he clothes began to split. He then lifted off the ground, but not nearly as much as his girlfriend.

"Ah, like Jill, it's making you float, however, it's actually inflating you like it would a balloon. Your body is being morphed into a shape that will allow this, Magic is a wonderful thing.

"Feels. Good. Weird. So. Confused." He said as his head swam. Frank thought of himself as a human, but now thoughts entered his head of being a balloon, how good it felt, how it felt to be inflated. His body swelled again, getting more round, his arms and legs starting to stick out to the sides as he floated a bit higher. He then realized that he had to keep his mouth shut, or all the lovely air filling him would escape. He closed his mouth, which caused his head to double in sizes, looking like a cartoonish form of growth.

"Holy crap." Jill laughed. "Look at him. He looks like a plush version of himself. Why is he tight lipped like that?"

"I think he thinks all the air will leak out. Watch this." Chuckles said as he stood on the counter and pulled out a feather. He placed it under the armpit of Frank and began to rub it back and forth.

Frank felt intense tickles going up and down his armpit, and it was painful not to laugh. He didn't want to open his mouth, but he had to. He had to.

"HAH!" he laughed as his mouth opened, and suddenly a gush of air burst out of it, knocking Jill back a bit. As the air escape, something even odder happened. Frank began to deflate, first back to normal, but then even less so. His whole body was flattening as the air released.

"Oh no!" he muttered as his face flattened down into his shoulders and then that into his torso. In a final whoosh, his whole body collapsed onto the floor in a pile of thin flesh and clothes. Chuckles walked over and picked what was left of Frank out of the clothes and set him on the counter.

"Haha, I thought that might happen."

Jill let out a meek sounding "Oh no."

"Oh don't worry. He'll be back to normal in a moment. It just takes a moment for the candy to work it's way out of the system. Most of it was in the air he expelled.

She felt heavier all of a sudden and drifted down to the floor. She was now the way she had always been, and she walked over. She looked down at the flattened boyfriend on the counter.

"This feels kind of cool." Frank said, a bit muffled.

"Magic. I mean, who knew?" she said.

"Well, I did. I've been selling magical things for many years. Of course most don't believe they are magic until they wind up experiencing them first hand. Like that. " he said pointing to Flat Frank. He took Frank and put a hose in his mouth.

"Let's get you back to normal now that the flattening has worn off." He said.  He then attached the hose to a pump and began to pump air into the flat folds of flesh. Soon, the man began to emerge from the puddle, and moments later he was able to stretch his arms above his head.

"Oh god, this feels so good, like the best massage."  He said with glee as his body stretched higher out of it's flattened state. Soon he was normal again, but rather naked.

"Oh, whoops!" Chuckles said as he snapped his fingers and the man's clothes flew up and rejoined their owner.

"What a rush!" he said. "I wouldn't have believed this to be possible, but now…I believe."

"Well that's good." Chuckles said. "I do love to make people aware of the magic in the world."

"This is so much fun." Jill said as she reached into the jar of candies and grabbed another one. "Let's do it together!" she said. Frank nodded and grabbed a candy of his own and together they popped the sweets into their mouths and chewed and swallowed.
"Oooh, mine was Strawberry flavored" Jill said.

"Mine was Banana!" Frank added.

Jill giggled and then felt an odd feeling hit her head. It felt a bit like when her whole body felt lighter, but this time it was concentrated simply on her head.

"I feel light-headed…literally." She stated as she felt her head with her hands, and noted it was expanding. She turned and looked in a near by mirror and saw that only her head was expanding, and it was turning red like the candy she had eaten.
"Cool!" she said as her head began to take on a different shape, more of the traditional oval shape of a balloon than one of a head. She giggled as it swelled with air.

Frank on the other hand was giggling as his skin turned a bright shade of yellow and began to turn translucent. He was see through. He looked down and saw that his insides were not there, it seemed, as he felt lighter than he had even felt before. "Rad!"
"Rad?" Chuckles joked as he watched the two enjoy their changes.

Jill began to lift off the ground again, simply due to her head this time. She smiled as she felt her head expand under her fingers, the skin feeling rubbery, squeaking as her fingers rubbed against it. She then felt an odd tingle in her scalp, and turned to the mirror just in time to see all her hair simply fall off her head, leaving it smooth, red and rubbery.
"What the hell was that about?" She gasped.

"I believe it's turning your head into a real balloon. That's funny." Chuckles said.

"Haha, funny!" Frank laughed as his whole body began to wobble. His neck stretched upwards, getting wider to match his overall body as his chin began to meld into it. He giggled as he kicked off his pants to watch as his legs fused together. His arms began to pull in at a fast rate sucking in right up to the fingers, which remained for now. His feet began to pull up into the now fused legs, slipping out of shoes and socks as the toes melted into the rubbery yellow form. His body then began to compress getting thinner, more tublar, and as this happened, his shirt slid to the ground joining the rest of his clothes. His face turned upwards, being at the end of the tube. His mouth opened for a second, words escaping. "Twist me. Please."

His lips twisted into a knot, sealing it shut and the air inside in. His tube body then began to shrink, becoming a normal size for a balloon used for balloon animals. He then began to float down to the pile of clothes he left behind, the air in him not helium but normal air.
Meanwhile, Jill had also begun to shrink, but not her head. Her body was getting smaller and smaller while her head stayed the same. Her voice was now high pitched and squeaky as she let out a laugh. "All tickely. Body so tiny." She said, almost distant, as if thinking was becoming hard from so much air in her balloon head. Like her boyfriend before her, her clothes dropped to the ground, and Jill, who normally would have been shocked to be so naked, simply giggled as the cool air brushed along her doll sized body as her head floated up in the air. She waved her arms and kicked her legs as she continued to shrink, her body starting to pull up into the balloon head. Soon all that was left were her legs, now each an inch long, kicking. They swiftly started to turn red and began to twist together, creating a seal on the balloon. Jill was nothing more than a red Balloon now.

"Could you tie a string to me so I don't fly off." She said calmly as her mouth vanished from the front of the balloon, as did the rest of her facial features. Soon she was quiet, simply floating on air.  Chuckles grabbed the balloon by it's seal and tied a string around it, which he then fastened to his register

"Okay, there is that, and now for you." He said as he walked over and picked up the yellow tube that was Frank. He quickly started twisting and turning the balloon at lightning speeds, and soon had a balloon animal dog that he set on the counter. The balloon sighed and then stopped, as if all sounds from it ceased, besides it's squeaky rubber.

"There we are, that was fun. Now we wait for it to wear off. "

and he waited.

and waited.

and waited.

Soon after an hour, he looked at the jar of candies. "Oh…oh dear." He said as he read the back out loud.

"Please enjoy these transformative treats, but do not endulge in more than one per hour, or the transformation will be permanent."

"Ooops." He laughed as he patted the doggie on the hea.d "Well, you two sure make wonderful balloons. If someone comes in looking for some, you will just make their day." He said. He collected their empty clothes and tossed them in the trash, smiling at the two rubber forms on the counter. He then sat down and crossed his arms behind his head.

"Just another day at the office."