My gift for  Firr following Firr day a few months ago.

I am working at my lab but the new guy that moved in next to me keeps making noise, and I am gonna find its source. Soon enough, reality itself might hang in the balance.
Guest appearances from  kitsuneKit  Kuma and  shadow2 of course.

Source picture from each of their galleries.

The Unstable Lab Partner
Frost was okay with the monkey screeches, he even put up with the bird chatter, but the elephant trumpets were bringing him to his limits. The wolf set down his lunch and rubbed his temples, ran his paws through freshly cut hair, then took a deep breath. This mysterious neighbor had moved in at the start of the week, and the two had yet to exchange pleasantries. Now it was looking like things were not going to be all that pleasant. Brushing the crumbs off his lab coat, and shaking his blue painted tail, Frost headed towards the exit of his lab, and one room down the hall.
Even though the walk was rather short, the size tech in the building allowed for the labs to be deceptively big on the inside. The wolf’s first question was going to be why they needed a zoo in this room, and what on earth the lab head was doing to the poor creatures. Only 10 steps later Frost was standing before a lab door, covered in a large amount of warning signs. Many do not enter stickers, and even police tape stuck across it. He refused to take any of those warnings seriously however, as it looked what a teenager might put up to try and keep their parents out. The scientist’s seniority allowed him to override the door lock, the forbidden doors opening and allowing him entry.
The room’s layout was a bit different than the blue painted wolf had expected. There were no cages, no feeding areas, just an odd layout of tables each covered with circuit boards, soldering tools and magnifying glasses. The tables themselves were laid out in a circular fashion, the center of the circles was at the very center of the room, yet whenever Frost looked that direction his eyes got a little bit blurry. After the third attempt of letting his eyes adjust, rubbing his face, and brushing his long flowing hair out of his view, Frost realized someone else was in the room.
There was a large black and white skunk sitting on a lab stool wearing nothing but a big green jacket instead of the traditional lab coat, though he was at least wearing proper eye protection. He was working on a circular device with exposed circuitry, and it looked like someone had recently damaged the thing. The skunk kept stopping every couple second to check his diagrams, and look at his watch, as if there was some deadline.
For a moment Frost thought about leaving the skunk to his work, but then the blue fennec remembered the noise, and still needed answers, walking closer to the skunk and to the odd center of the room.
“Yip! Excuse me” He cleared his throat, the voice escaping his throat sounding a little higher than he expected, “I am Frost, your neighbor, I am guessing you are the new lab tech?”
The black and white rabbit looked up from his work, ears perked and looking over to his visitor, “Yes I am Firr but…you shouldn’t be here” The bunny jumped off the lab stool and adjusted his jacket, hopping around his visitor as he looked him up and down, “Have you noticed anything strange since you came in here?
The blue badger crossed his arms, “Well I expected this lab to be full of animals but all I see is you. Who was making all those sounds just a few minutes ago, the monkey screech, the bird chatter, the elephant trumpet to be sure?”
Firr pushed his plush bunny paws together, “That was all me, um, I can explain everything, but lets head to the edge of the room, things are a little more stable there.”
Frost followed the black and white cow to the edge of the room, careful to avoid any puddles of milk left behind, temping as they were to the feline. Once they reached the edge of the room, Frost meowed up to the bovine, “Can I get a lift?”
Firr helped the little cat up to the table, looking down at his tiny blue neighbor, and started his explanation. “So, when this lab was built, there was a problem with the size tech, that lead to quantum instability. It’s that spectral…that blurry thing in the middle of the room. The closer you get to it, the more your reality will shift, usually without you noticing it too strongly.”
The blue feline nodded, evening giving a little purrip of understanding. This sort of science was not too far out of Frost’s expertise, and he was rather perceptive of odd changes, and allowed the talking motorbike with its green paint job to continue trucking through his story without interruption.
“While most would have the room demolished, I volunteered to head it, so I could test out some of my new analysis tech. Really wanted to show my boss that a custom-made board is better than anything you could buy from the second hand market.” The engine revving kicked up a minute in excitement before slowing down to a slow embarrassed purr.
“The problem is that I need to put the device right in the middle of the room and any time I have been trying to get close to it, I…become something that doesn’t have hands, and I drop it to the floor and damage it. I have been so unlucky this has happened many times now.” The car suddenly had its windshield fluid activate though it was quickly wiped off by its cleaning blades.
The blue mouse spoke up, “And that loop of trying, damaging and getting frustrated is what lead to those animal outbursts huh? You were making quite a racket, but its understandable” Frost rubbed his face, delicately moving around his large ears to think of a plan. Luckily it did not take long, the mouse was as sharp as the cheese he enjoyed.
“Wait, all we need is some luck, and you could get things in place, right?” Frost squeaked up to the large robotic skunk, as it responded with a mechanical nod.
“Affirmative, device restorations as 84%”
“Well then you get those done and I will be right back.” The blue chipmunk gave out the battle plan and jumped off the edge of the table, grabbing onto its leg and spiraling down it like a fireman’s pole.
The lab doors proved little problem, as the swinging doors of a saloon were not a very well designed obstacle. However, once the blue rodent was out in the hall, the extent of his changes were a little clearer.
“I…am smaller than normal” He said to no one, starting his long walk down the hall. Luckily, he did not have far to travel, though that luck almost seemed by design.
While his neighbor down the hall provided interesting tech and animal sounds, his neighbor up it had a more esoteric specialty. He tested the effects luck has on reality, able to raise and lower it at will. Once he met with him, provided he would lend a hand, things should be easy going. While doors and the distance had not proven to be an obstacle, he had his first real adversary, a pair of familiar fox paws stomping down the hallway in a huff.
Frost recognized the foot paws of his boss, having seen them far more often in this reality due to his height. Kit was looking at a clipboard, grumbling over some recent test results, probably wanting to give a firm talking to everyone on the floor. While he could survive a strong worded meeting, Frost was hoping not to be noticed as he moved swiftly around the paws and to his neighbors’ lab door.
Getting there was easy but there is no way the boss would miss the sound of the door opening. The tiny chipmunk tried to think of a plan, but nothing seemed in his power right now. That was when he got the idea to use another’s power and placed his hand on the door containing so much luck inside.
Before he could even wonder if this plan worked, Kit was suddenly scooped off the ground by a big pair of bear paws, a deep voice whispering to him.
“Hey grumbly pants, I just got the feeling you needed your bear to take you to lunch today” said Kuma the bear, the Boss’ boyfriend. The fox’s negative expression melted away, and quickly turned to hug his big bear. It was incredibly lucky that he thought to come here, and even more lucky that he was stealing him away right now, the fox soon tugged out of the hall with a smile on his face.
“That…cannot have been coincidence could it?” The chipmunk pondered, not seeing the white tail snaking around him until it was too late. “Huh?”
Like a cobra, the little rodent was scooped up very a very dexterous tail and tugged inside the lab. He would have been more worried if not for knowing the owner of this tail very personally. Soon he was face to massive face with a massive white luck dragon named Pohners, one smirking down at his little visitor, speaking out in a very regal voice.
“I wondered why one of my D20s landed on a 19 instead of a twenty, and I knew I simply had to have a little needy visitor.” Said Poh, a smirk never quite leaving his face.
Frost gulped, the outstanding luck he just experienced outside was only one number difference for the dragon, nodding allowing him to continue
“What do I owe the pleasure to one so small?”
The rodent hoped he would be set down, but Pohners still held him firmly, clearly liking to make a show of their size difference.
“Well there are some tests I am going to lend a hand with, but I need some luck to set things up.” Frost tried to hide a nervousness; afraid the dragon would just think he wanted some luck to get instant results. “I know luck can normally ruin objective science but, there is always a little luck in finding the right research that helps confirm your hypothesis, right?”
The dragon huffed, he did have requests like this often, but they normally came from the interns hoping for the luck to keep their job or be a part of a cool experiment. The dragon toyed with the extra tiny badge on the rodent’s coat with a single claw, “Well if it’s a request from a colleague, and a mighty cute little one at that, how can I say no. Just let me know the details later, over dinner perhaps?”
The blue rodent’s cheeks got flustered and turned even bluer when a massive set of lips rested upon his head, feeling an energy, a boon placed upon him.
“You are now the luckiest thing in this building for the next 10 minutes, better make em’ count.” Poh ruffled his friend’s hair, before lining up his tail like a slide, and placing the chipmunk at the top, “Just let the luck lead the way” was his last instruction, shoving his little friend down the slide, watching him roll down the tail, and right out of the lab.
Frost’s vision was blurred, feeling himself bump into walls, perfectly placed carts, even a foot here or there, hearing a door malfunction and open on its own. When he opened his eyes, he was back in Firr’s lab, standing up and brushing down his family Equine body, the hoof stomps getting the black and white Rhino’s attention.
“Did you get what you need? The sensor is ready, just needs the two parts to be placed above and below the instability.” The dragon handed over the two disks, magnetized so that one floats over the other. “I know you don’t want to hear the odds, but getting that close and staying a being with both dexterity and mental awareness is one in ten mil…”
Frost placed his elephant trunk to the dragon’s lips, and brushed his large belly reassuringly, “Don’t worry, luck is on my side this time.”
The large pachyderm put a ring through each arm and up to his shoulders, and started the walk, as things started getting blurry. He kept his eyes away from his destination, using the edges to judge how close he was getting, going one step, and one reality at a time. One moment he was a camel in a desert, the next he was a pig in a pigsty, then he was a squid swimming to the center of a typhon. He knew he was almost close enough, the rings were intact, but he needed to take one more step.
The last bit of luck pulled through, and his form shifted into a demi-god…well more a demi-dog. With countless limbs, and endless wagging tails, he retrieved the rings and put them in their desired position. With his third eye he made sure they were in perfect alignment, and with a spiritual awareness he ensured the data was being sent back to his friend many realities away. With a final nod, he took his first step away, but the pressure of no longer facing the changing reality head on knocked him off his feet, and momentarily lost consciousness.
When Frost’s eyes opened he saw nothing but darkness, for a moment he feared the worst, but then heard a familiar voice and light calling out for him above him. It took a moment to twist his unfamiliar body around, but he managed to pull himself out, and stick his head out of the strange pocket he was in.
“Hey there, just barely managed to catch you.” Said the large black and white kangaroo looming over the little joey, realizing he was in the pouch of his friend. The little guy leaned out further to show he was okay.
“Thanks for the help” The blue painted kid spoke up, “I lost my footing right at the end there.”
Firr helped him out of the pouch and back on the lab floor, “No, thank you, I am finally getting the data I need, and can finally understand this thing a little better. I can even predict what animal I am going be next, though I still cannot stop it just yet…Though I cannot say I mind”
The pair of hyenas laughed together, Firr showing his data, “Looks like in 20 seconds we should be back at your normal reality, should probably head out then, but feel free to stop by any time, if you don’t mind some more chaos.”
“Hee hee, alright, next time I need some wild inspiration, I will be sure to stop by, good luck with your work!”
Frost walked to the door, counting down the last numbers from 10 down to 5. Right as it was almost there, he turned around for one last goodbye, “See you arou…” However, all he saw was a statue of his new friend, though it was holding up a clipboard that said:
“GO NOW!”
The wolf jumped through the door, and the security field activated quickly behind him. He was sure that Firr would be fine, but maybe he would check in on him later in the week.
Frost returned to his lab, happy to have some peace. He made sure his long snake tail did not get caught in the door, though it seemed to have a mind of its own today, “I’ll give you a good waxing once I finish this paper okay?” He smiled and rubbed down the length, especially that green area that seemed the most sensitive, it even turning a little red at the tip. The tail happily charmed by his new friend…
THE END