Out of the frying pan

Chapter 9:

Over the next week at I.H.O.S, Marik and Malik started to notice something peculiar about their regular customers. It seems that everyday when they came in, they'd look a bit bigger. And when I say bigger, I mean fatter. It was as if something was enlarging their body every time they came in to order.

Malik wasn't sure what to think about the sudden change. He had a hunch that it had something to do with that potion they had put on all their ingredients, but still wasn't entirely sure what it all meant…

Marik, on the other hand, wasn't going to stand by and watch his faithful customers become giant cows. They were his ticket to world domination, after all. As much as Marik didn't want to… he decided to call the one place he knew had the answer. McDonalds.

"Hello?" It was Curt's voice on the other end of the line.

"Curt. What is up with that potion I took from you? It's making people… I dunno, they're getting-"

"Fat, I know. That's why I told you to give it back to me! Now that they have it in their bloodstream, it's going to continue."

"Continue? What do you mean?"

"It'll be like an epidemic. People can catch it from others just like catching AIDS or HIV."

"Ah! You mean, getting fat is now contagious?!"

"Not exactly… only from the people that have eaten the infected food." He glared at the phone, "And since you've been getting so many customers lately, that's a lot of people!"

"…Why the hell am I just now finding out?! Shouldn't you have written this on the box?! I mean, how was I supposed to know what this would do when all it said was Extra Strength? This is ridiculous. Where'd you get such a thing? Make it yourself?"

"No. I got it from the Blackmarket website. It was on sale for ten dollars. But, I didn't know about all this until they sent it to me. It was in fine print on the instructions for crying out loud! I was preparing to send it back when you stole it!"

"Like I said… you should have written all that on the box. Well, what are we going to do?"

"We? No, no, no… you are the one who started this. And you'll be the one to finish it." With that, Curt hung up the phone.

"…" Marik put the phone back on the hook and sighed, 'What the hell am I gonna do now? I've just started a epidemic. Curt is right… I have given it to a lot of people and if this is like transferring AIDS… then people can pass this on to their kids! Oh no! Soon, we'll have a world of fat people!'

"Marik?" Jim touched Marik's shoulder, "Marik, hello..?"

"…Huh?"

"I've been calling you for two minutes. Malik needs to talk to you," he pointed to the door, "He's in the kitchen."

"Okay." Marik nodded and walked through the door. He saw Malik sitting on a crate in the corner of the room. "Hi, Malik."

Malik stood up, "Marik, did you call Curt? What did he say?"

"…" Marik took a deep breath, then explained everything to Malik just as Curt had explained it. It took about twenty minutes for Malik to fully understand what Marik was trying to tell him.

"…Wow." Malik sat back down on the crate, "That's unbelievable."

"Tell me about it. But it makes sense."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"Me? Why does it always have to be me? I didn't do this by myself!"

"It was your idea, Mr. Let's Go Steal A Magic Potion From McDonalds!"

"Ugh, okay… I'll think of something. But in the meanwhile, we have to throw all this food away and order everything new. We should get started."

"What about Jim? Shouldn't he know about all this?"

"Nah. Let's keep him clueless for now… we don't want to scare him into thinking he's going to get fat, too."

Malik nodded and proceeded to pile up boxes of sandwich fixings into the corner. Marik started to help until another line of chunky customers came to the register and he had to take their orders.

As Malik was packing up the contaminated ingredients, Jim came in sweeping the kitchen floor. At first Jim and Malik said nothing to each other, but after about ten minutes, Jim started sweeping backwards and bumped into Malik.

"Hey, watch it!"

Jim backed away, "Sorry."

"Ugh! You know, this is all your fault!"

"What'd I do?"

Malik shook his head, "No. Never mind. It's not like you'd understand." He continued to drag boxes until Jim stopped him.

"Tell me why it is that you're always mean to me!" he said.

"…Well, for starters-"

Just as Malik was starting to tell Jim off, Marik busted in through the door, screaming, "Malik, I've done it! I've done it!"

"Done what?" Malik looked away from Jim and towards his yami.

"I've figured out what to do about the whole fatness epidemic! It came to me while taking an order. Picture this… I was asking a chubby lady what she wanted when all of a sudden a skinny man in a business suit cut in front of her and started to quickly order. He looked like he had a lot of money, so I made no objection. But the lady was furious. She took him by the bowtie and swung him across the floor. Then continued her order."

"…" Malik starred, "Not to rain on your parade, Marik… but that doesn't sound like it could solve anything."

"Oh, but it can! See, I realized something just then." He paused, "This fat thing could be just what I needed all along!"

"You need to be fat?"

"No! I need the fat people to serve as my army! With them, I can rule the world! Their mighty girth will bring me victory!"

"…" Malik shook his head in disbelief, "Let me get this straight… you plan to harness the power of obese people in order to obtain world domination?"

"That's right, Malik! Now you're catching on! So, are ya with me?"

"I am most certainly not with you! Marik, that has got to be the most insane thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth!"

"Aw, come on! Where's your vision? Can't you see this is my most inspired idea yet? I mean, think about it. How could we fail?"

"For one, how do you expect to control the fat people? I doubt there's a potion for that on the blackmarket website."

"I'm not going to use a website." He pulled his millennium rod out from his belt loop, "I'm going to use this! And you are too."

"I will not."

"Yes, you will."

"No, I won't."

"Hey, hey!" Jim interrupted, "Fat people? What's all this about?"

Malik groaned, "It's a long story, Jim. But Marik now wants to rule the world, with a bunch of fat people by his side. What a wacko."

"…" Jim thought for a moment, "…Well, that's a g-great idea, Marik."

"Thanks, Jim. See, Malik? Jim is supportive of me."

Malik stuck his finger at Jim, "You little suck up!"

"Chill, Malik." Marik pointed towards the door, "Jim, I want you to clear all the skinny people out of the restaurant and round all the fat people in the middle of the room. Me and Malik will be there shortly."

Jim nodded happily and skipped out through the door.

"Get your rod ready, Malik." Marik grinned, "It's going to be a long night."

Malik took his millennium rod from his belt loop as well, "I still don't agree with this, you know."

"What's your point? This is going to be fun."

He rolled his eyes, "I'm so sure."

In less than a minute, Malik and Marik were out in the front room blasting chubby minds with their powerful rods. It took a lot more time than Marik expected because Malik kept getting scared and trying to run away. Jim was little help as well; he tried hard to block the exit door but some people trampled over him. In the end, Marik got them all under his control and about forty plump people stood in the middle of the room with blank expressions on their faces.

Marik walked around each person with a smirk on his face, "Ah. A job well done, eh Malik?"

"I dunno." He said, "I'm tired. Can we go home?"

Jim nodded, "Me too. I'm ready to hit the garbage."

"You didn't do anything!" Malik directed his attention back at Marik, "…. Uh, Marik? Now that I think about it, I think it's going to take more than forty fat people to rule the world. We're going to need more."

"Yup. I think you're right. And lucky for us… I know exactly how to get them."