The first few days with Epesi were truly hard for Nala, what with the cheetah cub constantly reminding her of her weight. She wasn't idle though, thinking of a way to get the cheetah back for his teasing. Unfortunately, every plan she came up with required overwhelming him first, and there was no way to do that in her current state, so she had to lose some weight.

The days that followed were in a sense even harder, Nala had to both lose weight and keep her plan secret from Epesi. She was helped by the fact that the cheetah cub never gave up his teasing, hardening her resolve.

Progress was slow, but it was there, oh so slowly Nala's belly went from dragging along the ground to not even touching it. Finally, with her belly merely down to her shins she decided to implement her plan.

At the next meal, Nala said, "Epesi."

"Yes fa-!" Epesi began before Nala barged into him, knocking him down. "-aaii," he continued as he felt his ankle twist, "what was that for?"

"You were going to call me 'fatty' again weren't you," Nala asked.

"Well, yes," Epesi said, now, can you please get up, I think I twisted something."

"Gladly," Nala replied, rising. Epesi tried to copy her but had real trouble because one ankle was twisted, useless.

"What did you do that for anyway," Epesi asked.

"You were always calling me fatty," Nala replied, "so I thought I'd give you an idea of what it's like."

"By twisting my ankle," Epesi asked nastily.

"It'll come right," Nala replied, "you just won't be doing any exercise for a while, now eat up."

"No way," Epesi replied, "if I'm going to be lame I don't need to..."

"Oh but you do," Nala replied, knocking Epesi over almost gently before lying on top of him, "now eat."

Epesi wasn't hungry, but he could feel the weight of Nala's belly pressing down on him, so he ate as much as he could, then she stuffed even more in till he was moaning. After this, he found as comfortable a position as he could, and as his digestion made him torpid, fell asleep.