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(My Hero Academia/Commission/Image used solely for reference)

Ryuko Tatsuma was her name, but she was actually more well known to the general public as the Dragoon Hero "Ryukyu". She had been serving her country as a professional super-heroine for quite some time now. It seemed inevitable that this would become her profession in adulthood, as she had been born with the incredible quirk of transforming her entire body into a winged, scaled being that greatly resembled the beasts of fantasy known as dragons. With such an impressive power at her disposal, it was no wonder that she managed to achieve a public position as grand as being ranked among the top ten pro heroes in Japan. Yet it was never about the fame and glory for her, however. Instead she only wished to put forth her best efforts to help the people and protect them from villains, criminals and disasters of all kinds. She was actually rather humble that way, perhaps even to a fault one might say. She took her job so seriously, her obligation to protect so seriously, that she could actually be her own harshest critic. When it came time to announce the new ranks in the Hero Billboard Chart JP, Ryuko was informed that she had actually been DROPPED a rank. Previously at 9th place, she had been moved down one notch to 10th place, putting her at the very cusp of being removed from the top ten altogether. With the official retirement of All Might, there were many shifts of position among the most popular pro heroes, including Endeavor and Hawks both being moved up one spot. Ryuko was one of the only two to be moved DOWN instead. Yet what Ryuko feared most was not losing her position of popularity, but rather that she even had any position among the top ten to begin with.
"I don't think I even deserve this spot, really. I am the only one responsible for my drop in the first place, but I would have refused this spot altogether if I could have done so. If I cannot even save a person as I intend to do, then how good am I really as a pro hero?"
Her concerns fell on deaf ears when expressed to those in charge, but Ryuko herself would never quite forget how she personally felt about her own recent failures and the results of them. She could have been at the very bottom ring of the charts, literally the worst of the worst, and perhaps that was the only place where she would have felt it was justified. She had been a pro hero for this long, even allowed merchandise to be made with her face on it, but she had never developed any sort of strong and unyielding ego. She was just a young woman in her mid-20s who wanted to be helpful to the people of Japan. If only it was so easy for her to switch her attention from her failures to her successes yet to come. But she just couldn't do it. Her mind was still reeling with how she had failed to protect those she was sworn to serve. Ryuko couldn't forgive herself, even if everyone else already had.
To that end, Ryukyu the Dragoon Hero decided to leave the public eye for a little while. She needed time to clear her head and regain her confidence. There were so many powerful pro heroes for Japan to depend on, they likely wouldn't notice if one of them disappeared from the scene. Ryuko had little idea of what she would actually do with her enforced sabbatical, however. Her work had kept her busy for so long, she'd barely had time for breaks. Ryuko had to come up with something to help her soothe these stresses that plagued her. It took some time for her to come up with an idea, but eventually she found a potential solution. It was by eating fast food, unexpectedly.
"Mmm...these fries...they're actually pretty good...and these bacon cheeseburgers too..." Ryuko was actually quite impressed by the quality of the beef and potatoes at the local McDonald's when she visited it for the first time. Due to her position as a hero, she had never actually eaten anything outside of a very strict plant-based diet to help keep herself as fit and healthy as possible. But at this very moment, she was anything BUT a pro hero. That part of her life was currently on hold. Thus, she could afford to snack on fast food, and she was enamored right from the start. The whole meal, a small combo meal for a cheap 5 bucks, disappeared inside of her within seconds. Though she was then left wanting more. A lot more. She couldn't have been satisfied with one combo meal.
Ryuko looked back at the fast food restaurant as she stepped away from it. Perhaps if she helped herself to a little more, that wouldn't have been so bad. After all, she was not going to be a hero for a while. It would give her time to relax and actually enjoy some peace and quiet. It might help her regain some of her lost confidence too. That was more important, of course...though Ryuko couldn't stop thinking about all of the food she could try now that she wasn't so busy anymore.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt, right?"
Ryuko ended up buying another combo meal with a chicken sandwich, something that she intended to eat for dinner. Yet the bag's contents did not end up lasting until dinner. Instead, she ate it all in the following hour and half, not giving it much thought. Perhaps she could have been more cautious with how carelessly she ate, but her mind was on other things. She needed this food to help her find comfort, and comfort it did bring her. She just didn't consider how dangerously easy it was to overdo it with relying on this sort of 'comfort'.
The Dragoon Hero went to bed that first night with a rather packed stomach. It was filled to the brim with french fries, a bacon cheeseburger, a chicken sandwich, two apple tarts and more than one container's worth of extra spicy dipping sauce. Not only that, but the grilled chicken and rice she had heated up for dinner too. Ryuko even had to go so far as to leave the bottom button of her pajamas undone so that her stomach could be allowed the proper amount of room to be comfortable. She'd never eaten that much at any point in her entire life, never, and she had no idea how she had managed to down both of those combo meals and still have dinner a few hours afterward. Ryuko didn't know why she ate dinner, but she had just felt so empty for some reason. For as good as those fast food meals had been, they didn't leave her feeling full despite the bloat left behind. That was because it was essentially how fast food was designed on purpose, to always make you hungry for more. Ryuko did not know this, but she had already fallen into its trap before she'd ever considered something to be wrong.
When Ryuko awoke the next morning, her stomach deflated back to normal again. She touched her abdomen over and over, just to make sure that it was really supposed to be her stomach. After seeing that nothing was really wrong, the Dragoon Hero proceeded to go on with this new day. She didn't even think about breakfast until the time came for it. She actually started to get a little curious about the breakfast menu at the McDonald's. When she had originally gone there to order yesterday, she had almost ordered off of the breakfast menu by accident. That menu had some pretty good-looking stuff on it, though.
"Just one or two times shouldn't hurt, right? If I only try a little bit, it should be fine!" Ryuko reasoned to herself, and out the door she went. She didn't think about it at the time, but getting to eat that kind of food made her feel good. It was another reason, a subconscious reason, that pushed her to go and consume even more of it, in spite of how ultimately bad it was for her and her health.
What had likely intended to only be a few weeks for Ryukyu's sabbatical quickly turned into a few months. She didn't do a whole lot except surf the web, answer fan mail on her website when she could find the time, and eat. She ate a fair deal as it turned out. Not only did she appreciate the sort of 'quality' that meals from McDonald's were pumping out, but she tried out several other fast food establishments in her general area as well. That included a pizza parlor and a place that made Mexican food too. Ryuko had developed a strong taste for foreign food. She heard that the fast food served in America was not quite as good as what was served here, which made Ryuko all the more appreciative of living in Japan. At times she cooked on her own as well, trying to practice various recipes from a book that her lovely Hokkaido-born grandmother had given her, but soon enough that became a hassle for Ryuko. She continued to tell herself in the back of her head that she would try a new recipe, but it always became easier to simply rely on more fast food instead. She ate salads now and then...but even that slowed down as her interest in burgers and fries grew ever more steadily.
Needless to say, Ryuko didn't exactly eat like a pro hero should while she was on break.
A former intern of Ryuko's, a young woman named Shizuku, grew concerned and decided to visit the pro hero at her apartment. The two of them had kept in contact even after Shizuku's internship had ended, but Ryuko didn't speak much about her personal experiences with her job. Seeing how Ryuko's correspondence had slowed a short time since making her infamous statement regarding her failure on live television, Shizuku became worried, and what she found at the apartment was something that she had feared. The Dragoon Hero...she had completely lost her edge.
"Oh, hey, Shizuku. What're you -HIC- doing here? Er, e-excuse me."
Ryuko Tatsuma did not look good. Shizuku had to resist the urge to cringe as she looked her former mentor up and down. Ryuko often wore baggy clothes and sweatshirts when she wasn't in her hero gear, but she had always wore them for the sake of comfort and ease of movement rather than necessity. Now, though? She had to wear them BECAUSE nothing else would have fit her nearly as well. Ryuko reached down and lightly scratched at the surface of the new paunch she sported on her abdomen's lower half. Shizuku shook her head.
"I came here to check in on you. Do you mind if I come in?"
"Huh? Check in on me? I mean, that's nice and all, but..." Ryuko paused. "Well, okay, you can come in. It's been a while since I've had any visitors, though."
When Shizuku entered the apartment, she saw that it wasn't a total pigsty, but there were still some boxes of leftover fast food on the table and a few pieces of clothes left lying nearby. Ryuko didn't always keep things extremely tidy, but she usually did better than this. Ryuko, standing behind Shizuku, tried to force an oncoming belch back down into her throat. All of that fast food and other junky treats she'd gotten into over the last couple of months, they had started to really soften her up both mentally and physically. She had gotten plenty lazier for one thing, a bit slobby with keeping her place clean too. Her body had lost a great deal of visible muscle definition, having it instead replaced with soft, pulpy fat that constantly jiggled whenever she breathed. Her arms were weak and squishy, her legs just as well, and they had begun to touch on the inside as well. She could still walk and run, but she did so with a whole lot more wobbling and bouncing than there used to be. Her butt had begun to grow flabby and there were two developing back-fat rolls residing above her flanks too. Her belly, and it was definitely a belly now, stuck out enough that it could partially obscure the view of the ground for her eyes. The full extent of Ryuko's new fat was concealed underneath stretchy sweatpants and a sweatshirt, but it was clear she'd become out of shape with only a single look. Ryuko noticed how Shizuku kept looking back at her and she started to feel a tad self-conscious.
"Is everything okay? What did you want to talk about, Shizuku?"
Shizuku saw how Ryuko's chin would temporarily double when she opened her mouth wide enough. She wanted to say something. She REALLY wanted to say something...but she just couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to hurt Ryuko's feelings. She still looked up to the Dragoon Hero and believed that she would likely come back to protect the city once again.
With the intern's eyes glued to her like this, Ryuko had to really fight back the urge to scratch her gut AND her butt this time.
Shizuku heaved a heavy sigh, giving up entirely. "I...I wanted to see if you wanted to catch up again, that's all. It's been a while. Do you, um, have any tea or anything?"
When Ryuko and Shizuku spoke, the latter addressed the former in regards to almost every topic except the former's weight. Ryuko didn't bring up her own weight either. Perhaps it was a topic she steadily wanted to avoid, which was something that could not be blamed, or maybe she was actually unaware of the full extent of her weight gain as it currently was. That was also a possibility, because Ryuko seemed content to continue eating the fast food meals she loved so much as if nothing was wrong at all. She even snacked on some extra fries from a bag while listening to Shizuku talk about her current work as a hero for hire in the downtown district. Shizuku herself wished she could ask Ryuko when she intended to get back into the pro hero business, when she intended to start working out again, when she intended to finally begin putting her whole life back on track. Ryuko seemed happy to speak with Shizuku, even laughing rather hard when she heard a particular case involving a clown, a dog and an exploding fire hydrant. It appeared as if she was not completely lost in her own feelings of self-loathing and disappointment. That was a fortunate thing. A very fortunate thing. Shizuku wanted nothing more than to help keep her dear friend and mentor happy. She deserved a lot more than she got for all of her hard work.
By the time that Shizuku had to leave, she was sure that she had seen a few genuine smiles on Ryuko's face that might not have been there before. The two women shook hands, but not before Ryuko made sure to wipe off any grease or salt left over from her meal. Shizuku thought it was a little funny, so she couldn't help but laugh about it. Ryuko, on the other hand, didn't quite get what was so amusing. Yet before Shizuku left the apartment and went on her way, there was still one last thing she knew she had to say before she missed her chance. She'd avoided bringing it up the whole visit thus far, but if she walked off and left Ryuko like this, then she would be doing a major disservice to the woman who had given her hope so many times in the past.
"Are you looking to get back into your pro hero work soon, Ryuko?"
"Huh?"
"Y-Your hero work, you intend to get back into the game, don't you?"
Ryuko suddenly felt like she was being put on the spot, but she knew that it wasn't being done with any sort of malicious intent. Truthfully, she DID need to get back into the game sooner rather than later. It would be wholly for her own benefit to put herself back into the shoes of a working woman and pick up where she left off. She might have felt like she had let some people down, but she was still considered the tenth greatest hero in all of Japan. Even if she had fallen down a rank, she still had a lot of people who looked up to her and depended on her. Ryuko looked down at her own two hands. She had not transformed into her dragon form in a long time at this point. She sure hoped that she was still capable of actually doing it.
"I...I really should get back into the groove of things, shouldn't I?"
"I think you should," Shizuku nodded her head, "A lot of people miss you, after all."
Ryuko took a long, deep breath. This made her belly jiggle from inside her tightly packed sweatshirt. "I'll see what I can do, Shizuku. Thank you for bringing it to my attention."
It was a few days later that Ryuko Tatsuma finally decided to dig out her uniform from deep inside her closet. She kept it sealed in a special case to protect it from wear and tear as well as wrinkles. It should have still been in as good of a shape as ever. Yet when Ryuko took out her suit, she found herself suddenly becoming a little...afraid. She wasn't so sure if it would fit her as well as it used to. She turned it around in front of herself several times, giving it a cautious look up and down. She hoped that she could get away wearing it properly, but a lump in her throat wasn't something to ignore. She sighed heavily. After eating another one of those nice little fast food burgers to calm her nerves, one of the ones you had to heat up first, Ryuko decided she would go out and give this 'pro hero' thing another go. She needed to work at it one step at a time to get herself back into the right crime-fighting mindset.
"Here we go!" Ryuko pulled the mask over her face, and just like that, she had become someone else entirely. She was Ryukyu the pro hero once again.
Ryukyu turned and looked at herself in her mirror's reflection first thing after getting her uniform on.
"Oh."
Her heart dipped in an instant. What she saw wasn't good, not by a long shot, but looking good had nothing to do with upholding justice and the law.
"...I hope I can still do this..."
Ryukyu didn't have to search very long to find a group of heroes in the midst of a battle. A villain with a powerful bullet-launching quirk had holed himself up inside a bank with several hostages. There were already two heroes present on the scene and hiding behind a cop car, but neither of them were ones that Ryukyu recognized. She approached them both, more than a little out of breath from running such a distance. At first the heroes were relieved to have help, but then they actually SAW how their apparent backup actually looked.
"N-Never fear," Ryukyu paused to inhale, "I will help you with dealing with this criminal!"
Ryukyu might have been able to get her outfit on, but that didn't automatically mean she was back in shape again...nor did it mean the outfit looked particularly good on her anymore. She was still fat, so her gut bulged rather far. With the way her costume was designed, it was supposed to fit securely to her body so that nothing hung loose and she was allowed the most freedom of movement possible. This meant that the uniform was practically skin-tight by intention. It left every roll, fold and contour of her bloated sack of a gut totally visible. Even her belly-button was able to be seen through the costume's stretched material. Her hips flared out from her sides and the dimples of her own chunky butt could be seen if peered at closely enough too. Nothing about Ryukyu looked dependable or threatening as a pro hero would want to appear. She took another few seconds to catch her breath, dabbing at sweat on her brow. One of the heroes, a man with curved horns on his head, was the first to actually recognize Ryukyu for who she really was.
"Hey, wait a minute, you're actually Ryukyu, aren't you? The Dragoon Hero! The tenth greatest pro hero in the rankings!"
"Y-Yes! That's right! That's me! Though that kind of ranking really doesn't mean all that much when you get down to it," Ryukyu started to go on another tangent, only to quickly stop herself. She put her hands on her soft hips, causing her entire body to jiggle for just a moment. "S-So, um, what's going on here?"
"This crook just took over the bank and is planning to get away with as much money as he can scour! He actually messed up and showed his face, and now he's too stubborn to just turn himself in! He's been playing the long game! We want to get closer, but his quirk lets him shoot projectiles that are almost as deadly as bullets!"
"I think I'll be able to help with that," Ryukyu nodded her head. She began to stand up to walk out from behind their cover.
"Um, I mean, we would always appreciate the aid of a pro hero like yourself, Ma'am, but..."
"What is it?"
The young man hesitated. He knew that he shouldn't, but he really, really wanted to say something about Ryukyu's weight. The Ryukyu that he remembered from on TV was a far slender and fitter woman than the one standing in front of him. This pro hero had really let herself go in the past few months after she'd stepped out of the limelight. She was genuinely fat, more than a little chubby. She was still breathing heavily too, as much as she tried to hide it. How could someone like that be depended on for a high-risk situation such as this? The top ten pro heroes were the best of the best, the greatest force for justice ever known in Japan, but Ryukyu was clearly in poor shape. She could actually get hurt if she went out there.
"What is it?" Ryukyu repeated. She didn't have time to stand around and listen to conjecture when there were people to save.
"I...uh...do you know what you're doing? Ms. Ryukyu, I don't wish to be rude, but-"
"I can take care of this," Ryukyu assured, and she proceeded to transform with her quirk right then and there.
To be honest with herself about this, Ryukyu had to admit that she was unsure. She had acted so confident in front of the other heroes, but it might as well have been nothing more than a front. She didn't know if she could actually do this. She hadn't tried to transform into her dragon form before coming here. She hadn't the time and she needed a proper place to do it first. It was doubtful that her quirk would simply stop working because she didn't use it for a set period of time, but whether she could bring out its full power was in question. Ryukyu didn't know. She just didn't know. She had seen how she looked in the mirror before leaving her apartment. She was fat. All of that fast food had softened her up to the point where she barely resembled the woman she had once been now. But that was okay. Really, it was okay. As long as she could still help people and stop evil, then it didn't matter how she looked. It didn't matter what her rank was, either. She needed to keep that thought solidified inside of her mind so that she would not waver.
Massive wings sprouted from Ryukyu's back. Her hands stretched and hardened with scales, her fingers turning into jet-black claws capable of tearing apart even steel. Her face elongated and her neck stretched. Even though her belly was so soft and flabby as a human, it grew firm and tight as the scales spread all across her body. The other heroes were left speechless as they watched Ryukyu become the Dragoon Hero before their very eyes. As soon as she had finished transforming, Ryukyu launched herself into the air, curled into a ball, and then dive-bombed through the bank's front door. The resulting shock-wave nearly shattered every window throughout the entire building at once. The other heroes followed after the pro's lead.
The battle itself did not last very long. Ryukyu was able to use her extreme durability to withstand the projectiles of the villain, which meant that she could approach with no danger to her livelihood. When the villain attempted to attack the hostages out of spite, Ryukyu used her own wings as a shield to protect the helpless bank workers. After that, it was a simple task of grabbing the foe, slamming him into the ground, and making sure that he was rendered unconscious. She let the work of apprehending him properly be handled by the other heroes. Ryukyu didn't turn back into her human form right away. She wanted to wait until the hostages had been taken away to somewhere safe. Not only so that she could immediately fight back if danger were to occur again, but she was not so sure she wanted the public to know about her weight gain just yet. It was probably her most vain moment in quite a while. Yet to keep their belief in her steady, she had to do what was necessary.
"That was amazing!"
The hero with the horns approached Ryukyu again, clearly more assured in Ryukyu's capabilities than ever before. The smile on his face stretched so wide, it almost looked like it could tear his cheeks apart. Ryukyu liked to see a smile like that. It was the smile of someone that she had been able to help, someone who could live safely for another day thanks to her efforts. That was all she ever really wanted. To make sure that people could live happily and safely because it was a innate right that everyone deserved. The fact that she could still achieve something like this despite having let herself go over the past few months...it was such an IMMENSE relief. Like a literal ton of concrete had been hoisted off of her chest.
"You really are one of the pro heroes after all!"
"You did great, Ryukyu! I'll definitely put a vote in for you the next time the poll comes around!" cheered another hero a few dozen feet away.
Several others even began to clap for the Dragoon Hero. Ryukyu blushed so hard that it showed up on her facial scales. She did her work to help people and not to receive praise, but admittedly a little praise could be nice now and then too.
"Do you want to go out to eat anywhere? I think we should celebrate for a job well done! In fact, we would be honored to treat you for your efforts!"
"Huh? Somewhere to eat?" With how poor Ryukyu's eating habits had been lately, she would have probably chosen a cheap fast food joint over anywhere fancy, but she didn't even believe she was all that hungry to begin with. In fact she started to open her mouth to say just as much. Yet at that exact moment, her belly released a gurgling growl, completely exposing her before a single excuse could be made. Ryukyu sighed. She undid her transformation and reverted back to her chubby, out-of-shape human self. Her belly sagged right over the front of her waist, and it was still continuing to make noise.
"W-Well, perhaps we can see if there is time to visit a ramen bar two streets from here, but we must remain vigilant! If we come across any wrongdoing, it's our duty to stop it!"
"Yes, ma'am!" The horned hero saluted Ryukyu. Even if she was clearly overweight, perhaps she was one of the few heroes who could actually get away with that kind of look. He wasn't going to say it to her face, as it might seem offensive, but the longer he looked at her, the more he found that Ryukyu could wear the figure of a plus-sized hero pretty well.
Ryuko Tatsuma had never thought she would go through these ups and downs to begin with, but she was glad to say that she finally had some of her old confidence back. It had been a long time coming.