Bibo was always a small little guy. For a hippo, this was an odd thing indeed. Even though he was in his mid teen years, he was only 2 ft tall, and barely weighed a hundred pounds. This was a hippo that was skinny as a rail. His parents were always worried about his progress, and he just couldn't seem to eat enough to bulk up properly. His mother tried to encourage a rapid gorging diet, but the little guys stomach just wasn't big enough to stuff himself. While his father tried ordering him to eat till Bibo thought he was going to burst. Both aproaches failed miserably. They always tried again and again, and it never seemed to work. They feared for Bibo's life in the wild, as any small predator could make an easy meal out of their son. One day a certain type of predator did arive, wielding a net, and the keys to a Humvee. While his parents were out trying to find more food to attempt stuffing their sun with, bibo was insnared, tied up, and placed in the back of the truck. His wails did not catch up with his family in time, and they never heard from him again.

His screams of fear fell on deaf human ears, and the driver only increased the volume of the rock tunes playing over the large vehicles intricate sound system. The mans name was Jack, and he was a trapper for the local animal preserve. He was very happy with himself today, as he saw the aparently newborn calf of a hippo as a personal challange. He'd always wanted to raise an animal from the start to the end, so he decided to inform the zoo manager of his intents to take care of the hippo himself. Meanwhile Bibo had calmed down enough to realise that within the confines of the metal and plastic box that he was so rudely thrust into, he was safe from his greatest fear: Lions. His parents had always warned him to beware of lions, unless he was a full grown hippo. As he knew that he was runty, he had a moral fear of dieing in the jaws of one o' the feline hunters.

Eventually Bibo saw that it was relatively easy to get out of the net, and thus trotted up to plant his broad muzzle against the cage seperating him from the driver. The noise coming from all around him was odd and mildly disturbing, as any non pearl jam fan could honestly attest to. Jack heard some movement from behind him, and pulled the truck over to take a peek. Large grey eyes met his own gaze, and he smiled.

"So you're awake are yah? I wonder how old you are, you look fresh into the world."

Bibo didn't understand one word that came out of the strange creatures mouth, but in reality he was over a decade old. Flicking his ears in an attempt to comprehend, he continued staring into the eyes of the other creature.

"I guess you can't exactly tell me, if only you animals could speak..."

Jack geared the humvee back up, and sped off into the suburban areas which held the zoo and preserve. bibo meanwhile was examining the rear of the truck a little more, and had came upon a plastic bag. Digging through it, he found some colorful sticks of some sort. Turning his nose up at them, he attempted to smoosh at it with a forehoof. The plastic wrapping to the Eat-More bar split under the stress of his sharp hoof, and imediately filled the air with the spor of dark chocolate and fudge. His interest peaked, bibo snatched at one of the exposed corners of the treat, and gulped it down. What could only be called a smile crossed his face at the taste. He sat down to enjoy the aftertaste of chocolate and peanuts in his mouth, then tried to open another one.

About half an hour later, Jack was backing his ride up into one of the keeper pens on the side of the zoo. He opened up the back, only to find a sated looking Bibo resting, with chocolate stains on his muzzle, and empty wrappers stuck to his hide.

"Well ain't this a pretty site."

Jack picked up the happy looking hippo, and sat him down in his new home. It was a concrete pen, with fences 5 feet high. There was a small bathing pool, some hay to sleep on, and a wodden shelter for when the weather turned bad. Bibo imediately snuffed around, lapping up some water from the pool. It tasted funny, but he figured it must be ok. Again turning around to stare curiously at his unknown benefactor, the hippo sat down to concider the strange creature that just stared back. He made a few noises at Jack, which the human just thought as random grunts and chirps, instead of intelegent conversation. Somewhat annoyed that his query wen't unawnsered, Bibo trotted off to the wooden shelter, and poked around inside.

Jack meanwhile closed the gate to the pen, and drove away to talk to the zoo manager. After a brief conversation, it was agreed to that he could look after the new hippo, untill he was fully grown. Jack set to work immediately on getting food scheduals organized, and other such things in order to fully care for the hopefully growing youngster. Jack drove the humvee back to the pen, parking a small mobile home alongside. This was something he had heard many caretakers did, and it enabled him to be closer to the animal, and on hand faster should he be needed. Unless otherwise ordered to do so, nobody would enter the compound, or interfere with Jacks raising of the hippo. This suited Jack just fine, as he wanted to raise the hippo his own way.

Bibo soon found he was sleepy, and ajourned to the pile of hay outside. Yawning softly, he drifed off to sleep. Jack also retired to his trailer, making a meal for himself before bed. During the night, something that bibo and family thought would never happen occoured. Bibo actually put on some weight. Eating the dozen or so bars of chocolate yielded a few pounds, which were noticable on his lanky frame. Jack awoke in the middle of the night to a strange deep mewing sound, and poked his head outside to see Bibo crying and poking his head at the gate. Thinking something wrong, he went up to his new charge, and bent down to his level.

"Whats wrong little guy? Do you miss your old home?"

More chirps and grunts were the only awnser he got, followed by more wailing. A thought occoured to Jack, that he had not fed the little guy at all the previous day. Slapping himself on the forehead, he grabbed the first thing he could think of. The other half of his nights supper. placing the half full skillet of fried eggs, and saussage atop the fence, he jumped over and brought the midnight treat to the hungry hippo. He was pleased when Bibo came over, and sniffed at the offered food. Taking a little taste, he found it to his liking, and soon was munching away happyly at the cold meal. Sighing softly to himself, Jack sat down against the wall, and watched Bibo eat. He must have drifted off during the night, as when he next blinked, the sun was rising. He attempted to stand, only to find he could not move his legs. A certain small hippo was laying across them, barring his egress from the pen. Smiling to himself, he glanced over at the skillet, seeing it licked clean. He laid a hand on Bibo's back, seeing that he did not look as skrawny anymore.

Bibo felt the touch, and awoke with a start. He calmed down soon however, as he noticed that he was still atop his chosen bed for the night. Standing up with a stretch, he gave Jack a nuzzle, and wen't to take a drink out of the pool. Jack smiled as wide as one could, that the small one was so very friendly to him. He made a note to try feeding him people food more often, to see what kind of results it yielded.

Weeks passed, and the proposed meals of grain, feed, and other normal things were replaced with chocolate, beef, other assorted meats, and even dog-food. Bibo was taking a liking to the new foods, and was forcing himself to eat. Remembing his parents words and attempts to make him grow, he took it upon himself to make their wishes reality. Over the 3 weeks that Jack kept Bibo, the hippo had bulked up to what apeared a proper weight for his species. The 2 ft tall animal was over 250 pounds now, instead of a lanky 100. Happy to be plump, the hippo usualy thanked his human with nuzzles, and unawnsered grunts. Jack was begining to wonder just what Bibo was attempting to convey with all his mutterings, and began to consult various documents about animal speach. It was all theoretical, but some people thought that the sounds that came from some animals were not random noise at all, but a language of some sort. This was the case for Bibo, and he was down right confused that his human seemed to be totaly deaf to his words.

"What a wierd creature that one is. Tall, but so skinny. He must not be anything like me."
"What an odd hippo you are. You're the first one I've ever heard of that prefers mars bars to feed. But if if helps you grow, then I see no harm in it."

Indeed the strange feedings did help Bibo grow. Over the rest of the year he continued to get fatter and fatter, and even start to increase in size. by the time winter hit, Bibo was 4' tall, and weighed 700 pounds. Laying on Jack was a hard thing to do now, as he was much bulkyer than the lanky human. Jack had started to spend more and more time in the pen with his charge, and finally moved into the wodden shelter all together. Bibo happyly laid beside him at night, his warm flabby bulk better than any blanket, even though Jack did not need one in this terrain. Each night was more friendly than the last, Bibo snuggling up against Jack more frequently, and waking him up the next day to play. Bibo loved to kick around a socker ball, and was rather fast for one so very fat. His rolls wobbled and bounced as he ran, and kicked the ball Jacks way. Jack had to run to keep up with the hippo most days, and was noticing something had to be done. Bibo was only a foot away from being able to see right over his pen. So one day Jack opened the big metal gate, and coaxed the hippo out into the unknown. Looking around with wide eyed awe, the hippo convinced Jack once more that there must be some intelegence behind those big flabby cheeks.

Jack led Bibo further up the road, then down a hill. They arived at another large metal gate, and Jack led Bibo through. Inside was a larger pen, and it had all the same things as his previous one. Just everything was better proportioned for a creature of his possible size. Bibo understood that he had been given a bigger place, and did not mind. Chirping a thanks to his human, he wen't and waded into the deeper pool. Jack spent the day re-locating his stuff into the larger wooden shelter, and on his final trip found Bibo investigating an automatic feeder on the far wall. Animals inside were trained to step on the pad when they were hungry, and it dispenced feed into a trof. Bibo stomped the pad, and lept back when a cascade of grain, some sweet smelling stuff, and a mixture of chopped greens poured into the metal bin. Dipping his muzzle into the vat, he quickly inhaled everything there was, and licked his broad muzzle. Hitting the pad again, he began a steady gorging process.

"Wow, he must be hungry or something."

Jack paid the hippo's overeating no mind, as he had gotten used to the increased appitite of the nolonger little guy. Bloated and stated, Bibo waddled his fat behind into the wodden shelter, and took up the floor beside Jack as per usual. They both drifted off to sleep, and thought of a new day. During the night, something strange started to happen to the small hippo. His body digested the food rapidly, and began converting it into more fat, and more size. He swelled up to 5' in height in the period of only 8 hours, and gained 500 pounds. Waking up the next day, Bibo almost yelped to find himself taking up more room than he had the night before. Jack awoke at the startled grunt, and whistled at his charge.

"Damn... what did they put in that feed I wonder?"

He shrugged it off, and wen't to fetch the socker ball. As he returned, he found bibo face first in the troff once more. Gobbling away greedyly. He seemed determined to keep himself stuffed to his max, and the glow in his eyes spoke of a hidden motive. Jack tossed the ball around for a while, trying to get the animals attention, but failed. He started to get concerned when he noticed Bibo's middle was getting rather bloated, moreso than he had ever seen. Only when his stomach touched the ground did the hippo stop his feeding. Smiling to himself, he waddled almost drunkenly over to jack, and grabbed the ball in his jaws. Giving it a fling, it bounced off the far wall, and rolled to a stop near the hippos feet again. Jack laughed, and gave bibo a scratch on his muzzle. Then with a kick, sent the ball off the wall again, and back to bibo. Bibo caught on to the pattern, and repeated what Jack had done. This wen't on for a good hour, both happy that the other had understood for once. That night Jack was reading another book about animal communication, when Bibo squeezed his fat bulk through the door, and laid up against his human. Jack oofed as he was knocked over, but soon laid up against the chubby sides of his animal friend. The particular passage he was looking over now, had information about reaching higher means of communication between keeper and animal. One of the tips was trying to get the creature to recognise a name, or certain other verbal commands. Shrugging to himself, he waved his hand in Bibo's face to get his attention, then pointed to himself.

"Jack."

Bibo looked confused, and tilted his head to the side. More of that silly things noises. The hippo thought himself funny, and lifted up a forehoof to point at himself. He grunted something that sounded more like 'Flak', but it was good enough for his keeper. Jack smiled to himself, thinking there was at least some form of rudementary understanding inside that thick skull. Laughing to himself, he turned off the light. Bibo stayed up for a while, grumbling to himself in the language only animals understand.

"I wonder what he wanted. Hmm... he pointed to himself, and said 'Jack'... I wonder if thats what his name is? Could be... wierd creature that one."

Morning dawned again, and Jack awoke first. What greeted him was a shock. Bibo had grown again during the night, and was over 8' tall. Also his fatty sides were gigantic, and must have weighed 2 tons or more. Whistling once more in amazement, bibo awoke with the same responce. The two looked at eachother, and even Bibo seemed to shrug. Squeezing outside once more, the hippo flung around the now smaller ball for a time, then wen't for a float in his makeshift lake. Jack planned a trip to the school to ask some of the animal experts what they thought about animal communication. He waved goodbye for at time to Bibo, trusting that the animal could keep himself fed. Bibo was confused when Jack drove away, but settled his addled mind by heading for the feeding trof again. Looking down at the meager thing, he examined the spout that the food fell from. He found he could place it in his mouth entirely, thus not having to even bend down to feed. Stepping on the pad, his cheeks started to swell with food...

Jack arived at the school shortly thereafter, parking his oversized truck across two stalls. Heading upstairs to speek with somebody, he was greeted by three teachers. Two scruffy looking men, and one fairly plain looking woman. they led them to their lab area, where they had many photos of "Intelegent" Animals lined up for example. They talked about their reasearch for a time, and even gave Jack various tapes and videos about breaking the human/animal communication barrier. It was rumored that some people had figured out the language of whales and dolphins, but that was being kept secret. They told him to keep his mouth shut about all of this, as it was technicaly clasified. Nodding his understanding, Jack wen't back to his truck, and drove home.

Bibo realised that he had a problem. He had allowed his middle to get so big this time around, that it had spread out between his legs, and now was preventing him from stepping backwards away from the feeding tube. Food continued to pour down his throat, and he was forced to swallow it all or face choking. Bigger and bigger he swelled, his middle forcing his legs out to the side. He started to enjoy the force feeding, and relaxed to allow his belly to grow bigger. A tingle greeted him after a time, and he felt something strange happening in his body. He was growing again, getting bigger and bigger, while gaining more and more weight. Eventualy his mouth popped free of the tube, as his head rose above the level of the whole feeding station. He grew up to be almost 20 feet tall, and so very fat that his rump alone needed its own zip code. Weighing in at 25 tons, he thought he must put some of the Elephants to shame.

Jack wandered back in shortly thereafter, only to be bowled over by a high speed hippo train. Squashed against the massive beasts fatty side, he lauged and attempted to call Bibo off. Only when the large animal backed off did Jack realise that he was a giant.

"Holy crow! were you eating this whole time I was gone?"

Jack pointed to the troff and then to bibo while he was talking, and the hippo caught on. With a grunt and a nod, the massive creatue sat down to concider the truely smaller animal beneath him. That night they slept under the stars, as Bibo could not get into the shelter. Pressed in between two rolls of the hippo's side, Jack was as warm as he wanted. The following morning a few people in the zoo noticed the large hippo head poking several feet above the rim of the pen, and were shocked to say the least. inside was the largest hippo they had ever seen, and aparently the friendlyest too. Jack was sitting with the large beast, reading aloud in some hope to make vocal connections with things. Bibo was catching on when jack pointed to things and spoke, and was attempting to build his vocabularty. Dispite the different almost english sounding growls and grunts that escaped Bibo's throat, Jack did not realise what was happening.

He did notice the onlookers, and waved up to them. They waved back, and walked off to talk to the zoo manager about Jacks obvious good work with such a large creature.

"I'm serious boss! That hippo Jack brought in last year must be 20 feet tall! And talk about FAT!"
"Allright boys allright, I'll go talk to the man about your idea."

They two had proposed that the "Worlds largest hippo" Be put on display in the main showpen, and Jack be allowed to move in with him. Jack thought the idea over when it arived his way, and eventually agreed to give a try. He attempted to say what he wanted to Bibo, and was again rewarded with nods and grunts. One sounded a little too much like "Okay", but Jack shrugged the obvious hearing mistake off. Bibo knew damn fine that he was reaching the human far below him, just that he had to try harder. Repeating various things that Jack had said to him when nobody was listening, the hippo came closer and closer to being the first animal to speak english. Other than a parrot of cource.

Jack led bibo the next day to the main show pen. The giant hippo was pleased with the large pen, and thanked Jack with another friendly nuzzle that knocked the lanky human over. And as the beast walked off to the large lake pit in the center of it all, Jack swore he heard a deep rumbling "Thank you." His supisions proved true later on as various keepers entered the paddock to clear it up for public viewing from above. Bibo lowered his head to Jacks, and openly spoke for the first time.

"Who... Them?"

Jack was taken aback. He hadn't expected the notes and other things he had to work this fine. But being a man that takes things at face value, he shrugged it all off as per usual. Thinking also it might be another one of the factors of Bibo's odd size, he grinned to himself.

"So you can speak after all eh?"
"No.. much. Jack."

The two laughed, bibo's a loud rumbling laugh that sounded like rocks grinding together. It was the next day when the pair of them got a rude surprise. The exibit had opened sooner than they expected, and they were awoken to screaming children, and gawking adults. Bibo put his ears down to block out the noise, and grimmaced.

"Loud..."
"Aye, that it is. Say... what am I to call you?"

Bibo thought this query over somewhat, and attempted to sound out his name in the letters he'd heard Jack use so very often.

"Bee... Bow."
"Bibo?"
"Yesss.."

Jack nodded his understanding, and then looked over to an opening gate. Something potentialy tragic was about to unfold, and neither of the friends knew what. Some animal mover was offloading some other creatures, and had put them into the wrong pen. Before he realised what he did, three hungry looking lions lept out of the truck, and started slowly advancing towards the giant meal, and the small one. Licking their chops as they walked, Jack took up a defencive stance around his large charge. The audience above shreaked with terror, calling for Jack to exit the place. He would not leave bibo however, as he thought the large creature his responsibility. Before anyone could do anything, the lead Lion lunged, and clamped down on Jacks right arm. He wailed in pain as the Lion thrashed and tried to tear the limb off. Jack was only thrown to the side however, as the lion thought the plump hippo a better prize. Tamers entered the pen, and carried the bleeding Jack off to the medical bay. Bibo wailed his fright, seeing his greatest fear in a trio. The lions continued to advance, jaws dripping with saliva. Jack was above it all on a stretcher when it happened. Bibo realised something very important, and potentialy dangerous to everyone he did not like. He realised that he was bigger than the lions. Much bigger. He had reached what his parents wanted, being big enough to defend himself. With a quick turn about, he smiled up to Jack. Then sat down. With a crunch and a squishing sound, the lions were half burried in thick hippo rump. Grinning to himself, Bibo laughed, and called up to his human friend.

"I.. bigger!"

Da end. ^^