"Hey watch where you're going Bigfoot!" the roo said to Alkali as he passed.  Alkali was rather surprised at the comment considering who it was coming from. Who was he, a kangaroo, to say something like that? Pot calling the kettle black... but he had to admit, he did have rather huge paws. It wasn't even that he was tall enough to have paws that large, they were just disproportionately big. He stopped at a street corner, looking down to the sidewalk and his paws.

They almost looked a bit comical, cartoonish even, having his paws in the open air, with only the pads underneath getting any cover from the flip flops. There were plenty of reasons for him to wear flip flops, no matter what any kangaroo said. He had the largest paws of any of his friends by far, and on a warm summer day like today it made sense to wear some flip flops. It was pretty difficult to get shoes that would fit his paws at this point, and they always cost extra for the increased size. Flip flops were the easiest to find in larger sizes though, and anything that could help ease the strain on his wallet was a plus. And secretly, Alkali enjoyed the size of his paws. After all, why not show off paws this large? If you've got it, flaunt it, right?

The saying probably wasn't supposed to refer to oversized otter paws, but that's the way Alkali liked to think of it. He was a silly otter, prone to forgetfulness and doing ridiculous things just for the sake of being ridiculous. Misusing phrases just for his own devices was exactly in his personality. Wiggling his toes, the grey furred otter took a deep breath in, adjusted his hat on his head, and mentally prepared himself for what he was going to do today: be a scientific test subject.

A ten story building stood in front of Alkali, right across the street. A sign above the double doors  proclaimed in big, bold letters "Laboratory". Just Laboratory, huh? How strangely vague. The ad in the paper said they were looking for test subjects with a foot size of 18 or above. Alkali easily qualified, and needed some spare cash to even up his debt with the local sushi place under threat of a banning. So he headed down to their facility. He walked across the street toward the doors and stepped inside. He was rather surprised at the large amount of people who saw the ad as well. It was a veritable large paw convention! As expected, lots of roos and rabbits in the room, but that certainly wasn't all. There was even another otter there! He had the standard brown fur and was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with khakis, standing toward the back to look at some of the decorative art.

With a happy squeak, Alkali walked up and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, is this where we go to get paid for having large paws?"

Turning around, the other otter nodded. "Yeah, this is the testing area. We're supposed to wait for the researchers to come and get us," he said, looking down instinctively. Smirking, he poked his shoe against Alkali's paw. "Nice. You always showing them off like that?"

"Ohh, yeah, uhh... it's just hard to get shoes that fit, you know?" The grey otter blushed and put his hands in his pockets.

"Nah it's fine, I've been there before. Not that many otters with large paws, right?"

"Yeah, it's so great to finally meet someone else with plus sized paws! I'm Alkali, but Alki works too."

"I'm Chinook, nice to meet you."

"Wait, Chinook? Like the-"

"Yes, like the salmon. My parents love it," he said, cutting Alki off as he sighs. Clearly this wasn't the first time he had been asked.

Passing the time was easy with a friend to talk to, and in no time a group of three furs in lab coats walked into the room. A tiger used his fingers to whistle and get everyone's attention, before yelling, "OKAY, IF WE COULD HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! We're handing out the Non-Disclosure Agreements and physical information sheets. Please fill them out and we will begin taking you back for testing, two at a time."

Alkali didn't waste any time filling it out, skipping over the legal mumbo jumbo just to get the important facts out of the way. Name... age... species... paw size... informed consent... address... multiple lotions being tested... blah blah blah... signature, and done. As he returned the clipboard, he noticed that he was the first one done! Except for Chinook that was, who was waiting for someone else to finish so he could go back, 'two at a time.' The two otters walked back into a white hallway, led by two of the researchers. The husky holding the clipboards glared at them as they left, probably jealous as they would not actually be doing the testing.

It was a good thing they were being led, the building had a ton of doors all over the place. Alki couldn't believe how big this place was. Maybe these were all testing rooms? How much testing did this lab do anyway? The small group stopped at the very far end of the hall, with two doors placed on opposite sides of the hallway. The tiger researcher turned around again to address the two large pawed otters.

"OKAY YOU TWO!" he started off yelling, before stopping himself and sheepishly grinning. "Oops, sorry. I've been yelling too often I guess. Well, here we are, the testing chambers. If you'd both please split up, we will be testing you separately. You'll either be receiving a placebo, or our test treatment lotion. At the end of the treatment, you'll be asked a series of questions, and if you could please answer them accurately, honestly, and quickly, you will then be able to pick up your check at the front desk and leave. Any questions? No? Good, please follow me Mr. Alkaline?"

"It's just Alkali," he said, tail swishing happily as he walked into the room. He waved at his otter buddy just before the door was closed behind him. The room was simple and plain, one light blue color on all the walls, and a single chair in the middle of the room. Nothing out of place, nothing extra to get in the way of the tests. Just a chair and what looked like a hose coming out of the wall.

The tiger scientist motioned to the chair and Alkali took the motion to mean he should sit down. He wiggled uncomfortably in the seat, positioning his tail and getting himself ready for whatever test would come. He watched the tiger intently as he pulled the hose out and stretched it over to where he was sitting. With the push of a button, a dollop of white lotion came out onto his hand.

"Please take your shoes off and let me see your paws, Mr. Alkaline?" he said, adjusting his glasses with the empty hand. With a big grin, he unceremoniously kicked off his flip flops, and shoved his paws toward the scientist. Without batting an eye at the silly sized otter paws, or the wiggling webbed toes, the tiger spread the lotion out between his two hands and began massaging it into Alki's paw pads.

Alki laughed and giggled as the scientist applied the lotion. "Mr. Alkaline!  We are testing important work!  Do you think this is the appropriate time for laughing?"

Alki wiped tears from his eyes, fighting off the giggles as he said, "I'm sorry Doc, I'm a bit ticklish is a...allllll!" A warming rush sensation rushed through the otters paws, dulling the tickles and replacing it instead with a pleasurable, tingling feeling. "Wow doc!  That stuff feels great!" Neither noticed the slight creeping in size on those huge paws.

"Well it should feel good; if you got the test treatment then it's a rejuvenating formula, meant for tired, overworked paws, best used in conjunction with a massage." The tiger continued rambling, clearly not paying attention to his work. Alkali lay back in his chair and closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth on his paws. For about a minute his paws continued growing in size, neither aware of the changes. One foot size... then two sizes... then four sizes... and still his paws continued growing, seeming to speed up even as the massage continued.

With a sigh, the scientist got up and approached the hose once more. "That's assuming you got the test treatment at all that is. One more bit of lotion should be enough, and then you can fill out the questionnaire and get going," he said, getting another bit of lotion ready. This time as he applied it though, he stopped short. Alkali looked up to see what was going on, since the rubbing had stopped, and his eyes got wide. He knew those paws better than anyone... and that was DEFINITELY not the size he normally had! At least half as large as it had been just a few moments ago!

"Huh... that's strange, I thought they were smaller before," He said, slowly rubbing the paw pads to try to confirm his suspicions. Alki blinked once, realizing exactly what was going on. This was a make or break chance. He could either do something now, or wait and see what happened. The changes might continue without any help, but what if they didn't? What if the scientist stopped them somehow? He made a split second decision, and without thinking over the consequences, he kicked his grown paws up in the air, hitting the tiger right under his chin!

Instantly KO'ed, the tiger slumped against the floor. Okay... now what, genius? You knocked out the scientist on just a hunch that the lotion was making your paws larger. Alkali looked over the paws once more and noticed that the second dose had made their growth more visible. Twice as large as originally, and they had already been pretty big. He estimated they were growing past two feet long now. Curious, he wiggled his toes to make sure they were real... and they definitely were. The warm sensation of growth continued along his paws, eliciting a happy squeak from the otter.

Ready to try out the lotion himself, he walked over to the hose, tripping once on the way. Alki mimicked the motion the scientist had done to get his own bit of lotion on a paw. As he applied the white liquid, a fresh wave of the tingling sensation hit him, and he sighed happily. His paws responded just as happily to the lotion, as a fresh wave a growth began, reaching around two and a half feet in length each now. Alkali liked the feeling of growth, and an otter who likes something will always seek more of it.

It was all downhill from there.

The hose stretched long enough easily to reach his foot paws, as Alkali started dousing them with the lotion. He continued the spray, even as he felt the warm tingling spread through his whole body now. In fact, the ceiling seemed to be getting closer and closer to him.

"Oh boy... I guess it's not just for paws after all..." he thought aloud. His paws were still growing slightly faster, but the rest of his body was making a valiant effort to catch up, as the room started to feel uncomfortably restrictive. Once his head hit the ceiling, still sitting down, and his paws did the same, he realized it was time to move to bigger spaces. But he still wanted more of that lotion!

Looking at the now small hose head, Alki pinched it between two fingers and gave an experimental tug. After enough pulling, the hose became taut, and the otter realized it had to be connected to something. Where was all this lotion coming from anyway? With a light kick, he used his massive paw to knock down the wall with the hose. But he wasn't used to this new size, and kicked a little too hard... his paw continued forward after the wall, feeling something metallic behind that gave way easily to his force.

And behind that metallic feeling... was something wet. Leaning barely forward, he used his hands to pull the wall out of the way, revealing a large vat. Fractures appeared in the shiny surface of the holding tank, and small streams of the lotion spurted out and sprayed the otter's paw. He felt a rumbling in the tank, and simultaneously a stronger tingling feeling spread through his whole body. It felt warm, so very warm...

Alkali only had enough time for a surprised meep before the tank collapsed and gallons upon gallons of the lotion spilled out all over his body. He vaguely felt the ceiling collapse as he spurted out in size suddenly... then another floor... and another... his paws following suit as his legs lengthened to push through wall after wall while his toes destroyed layers of ceiling.

Back in the lobby, the flood of lotion streamed out and started covering the floor, only thin as a puddle but still, no one wanted to be anywhere near the stuff. Someone pulled the fire alarm, and the sprinklers attempted to wash the substance away. No one was sure of what it was, but the diluted formula still made contact with a number of candidates as they walked across the floor. Most of them had already taken off their shoes in preparation for the testing... it was like the perfect storm of coincidences. They didn't notice the changes right away though... it was a slow creeping, warming sensation. One by one they each started to notice the changes though, right around when they were twice as big as normal and the furs started tripping on them. Some were horrified by the changes, trying to get out of the water to avoid any more exposure. Others, well, enjoyed the changes and made no attempt to leave, letting the inches pile on slowly.

But no one could have expected the mass of otter paw that exploded through the back wall. Alki's whole body grew outward with frightening speed as he felt the full effects of the flood of lotion. He had his eyes closed, relishing the tingling, pleasurable feeling of growth throughout his body... until he finally felt the sun shining against his head and paws.

When he opened his eyes, he couldn't help but gasp. He had grown straight out of the roof of the building! Ten storys tall, and still sitting down! In front of him, the building lay in ruins as well. His legs and enormous paws had punched a hole right through the lab, resting snugly against other buildings across the street. Well, they were resting snugly for now... the growth still wasn't slowing, and pretty soon those buildings found themselves dwarfed by the grey otter paws, destroyed and completely covered.

He decided that staying here wasn't going to be safe for much longer, not to mention he was feeling claustrophobic with this buildings holding him back. The ground shuddered underneath him as Alki slowly raised himself up on both those oversized paws. The 250 foot tall otter looked around, getting used to the perspective change and trying to fight vertigo. He could hear sirens in the distance, probably responding to his presence. He wasn't here to do any harm though. The little furs couldn't know that though, they probably thought he was a monster! Just as a show of good nature, the macro otter gave a big smile to the furs crowding around him, and waved pleasantly.

Then he felt his stomach rumble. It was sushi time. Growing otters needed lots of fish, and the growth sure wasn't stopping!

With a single step, he started making his way out of the city and toward the coast. At first he tried stepping between buildings to avoid destroying anything, but as he kept growing it started becoming less and less of an option. Around 400 feet tall, his paws were about 200 feet long; he realized it just couldn't be done. All he could do was try to escape the city now with minimum damage and get some fresh fish for himself at the end. Alki imagined that it might be easier to just sit still and wait for the growth to stop, to keep the damage only centered in one area. But who knew how long he would be growing for? The warm lotion feeling still hadn't gone away at all, still just as strong as before. The otter gulped and started moving again; for better or worse, he was in it for the long haul now!

Buildings shuddered as he passed, and the roads he stepped on were completely cracked and covered with soft otter paw pads. It was getting easier and easier for Alkali to see through the city, as the skyscrapers were only a bit taller than him by this point. Eventually, he finally crested them in height, able to look all the way over even the tallest one in the city. As he ran, he thought back to school... how tall was that biggest skyscraper? 1000 ft. tall or so?

"Geez, I better hurry up!" he said absent mindedly, not realizing that he was finally at the coast. His increased size came with the perk of speedy travel, much to his surprise as he stepped in the water and created huge waves.

"Oops! Sorry down there!" He said, blushing as the waves crashed on the coast and washed up far past the beach, flooding some of the nearby streets and buildings. He needed to be more careful from now on. With great height comes great responsibility, after all! He giggled at the misuse of the phrase, and started looking around for some fish to eat in the water.

As he dipped his paws into the waters, he pulled out the treat he was looking for.  The killer whale protested quite a bit as Alki raised him up to his muzzle and dropped him in his open mouth.  "Now that's fresh sushi!" he boasted with an excited squeak. He'd like to see that old sushi restaurant try competing with that!

As he tried to turn around and head off for some more food though, he tripped over his extra huge paws and landed face first in the water, causing yet another wave to crash against the shore. The depth of the water wasn't enough to come all the way up his body anymore, but it was enough to wash off whatever was left of the lotion on him. To Alkali, it felt like the water was washing all the warmth off him. But not before he felt a rush of tingling, much stronger than the low background sensations he felt before. This time it was quick and strong, like a waterfall pounding down on his senses, and then nothing.

Flipping over onto his back and carefully standing up, the otter realized just what he had felt... and how much trouble he was probably in. He could see the city still, just barely though. The formerly tallest skyscraper only could come part way up his paw!

Alki waved away a cloud as it passed across his chest, eyes wide and blushing. "Oh boy. Maybe I should sit back down, carefully..." he whispered aloud, though everyone on the ground and for miles around could hear him. He situated himself so that his paws were on either side of the city, stretching far up into the sky like soft, fuzzy pillars devoted to giant webbed paws.

They were absolutely massive now, and as much as he was concerned about his new found power, Alki couldn't help but grin at them. It was going to be a while before anyone could help him, that was for sure... why not enjoy himself in the mean time? The otter leaned forward and started rubbing up and down them, sighing as he gave them a light squeeze. The proportion of paws to the rest of otter body was completely messed up, with the paws nearly as tall as Alkali would normally be standing. It was no effort now for him to take care of himself as he brought his muzzle close to them for a tender lick and nuzzle.

Sure, everyone around him could totally see what he was doing, but who was going to stop him? It wasn't every day you became a giant, and Alkali intended to enjoy himself while he could! So he sat and waited, gently massaging and taking care of his paws, hoping that someone would contact him soon to get this all sorted out

---

It took an entire day for someone to get a message, via plane smoke trails, to the mega otter. Scientists were already working on a cure for whatever had happened, so there was no need to fear. So long as he didn't move anywhere, eventually he'd be shrunk back to normal.

It also seemed that he wasn't the only one dealing with troubles down there in the city! The corporation behind the lotion was facing public outcry, led by all the victims of the lotion flood. They had all grown to various states of height and ridiculous paw sizes, and it was clear the company was going to have hell to pay.

Later the same day after being contacted by airplane, Alkali was surprised by a visitor, even at his massive height! Chinook, the formerly tiny otter, had been caught in the same flood as Alkali, and was closest to the epicenter. He hadn't grown quite as much as Alkali, but 500 feet was nothing to scoff at. Ecstatic to have someone to talk to, Alkali picked up Chinook and gave him a big hug as soon as he realized who it was. And once the mega otter greeting was out of the way, Chinook started to relay the story to him.

The scientists had already made good progress, and they hoped to be done within the week with a cure. They couldn't promise that everyone affected would return to regular paw proportions, but they were relatively certain everyone would have around the same size as before the accident. But that wasn't enough for everyone, not nearly. They were out for blood, and wanted the company that had caused so much damage to pay for the repairs and give money to those affected.

Luckily for those who were fighting for compensation from the company, Chinook was a lawyer! He sounded confident that he would be able to get whatever he wanted from the company; the evidence was irrefutable that they were at fault, and hadn't done nearly enough testing before letting furs be allowed to use it. Not to mention their legal clauses were completely full of holes. And with a wink, Chinook grinned and let Alkali know that he was the only one who hadn't signed the legal clause for "informed consent," which was a big no-no; he was likely to get a niiiiice kickback after the court procedures were finished.

Grinning up at the massive wall of grey otter, Chinook said, "Well, I just wanted to come here and ask if there was anything you'd want me to try and get you from this company. It's pretty much a free pass for you, I really can't think of anything they wouldn't give you in return for your cooperation and getting you to forgive them."

It only took a moment of thought for Alkali to decide, and he grinned down at Chinook. "Yeah I know what I want. See if you can get me some of that lotion, I wasn't finished with it!"
