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“Man… it’s so nice to get out of the house for a change,” said Rob, walking along the trail with his hands in his pockets. He turned to his friend Victor, who was walking alongside him. “It’s great that we finally get to hang out together, too.”


        “Yeah, it really is,” replied Victor, grinning. “It’s cool that the weather has finally gotten warmer too, since we can go outside without bundling up now.” He put his hands in his pockets, turning his head back to Rob. “Makes it a lot easier to go on walks like this, not to mention more comfortable.”


        “Yeah, it’s especially good for me since I work outside,” said Rob. “Other than that, though, I’ve mostly just been up to the usual stuff. Writing, composing, gaming, all that fun stuff. How about you?”


        “Drawing, mostly,” replied Victor. “And fantasizing about what I’m drawing, of course.” He chuckled. “But I think pretty much all TF artists do that.”


        “Writers, too,” said Rob with a laugh. “But hey, who can blame us? It’s a really fun thing to think about, isn’t it?”


        “Yeah, it is,” said Victor. “Shedding your human form and being able to experience something completely different, even if it’s only for a little bit… it sure would be interesting if we could experience that in real life, wouldn’t it?”


        “Yeah… but then it wouldn’t be nearly as fun to think about, would it?” said Rob. “It would just be another mundane part of life. Now come on, let’s keep moving. We’re still not even halfway through this trail yet!”


        “Yeah, yeah, I know,” said Victor. “Sometimes you just gotta take your time though, you know? Just gotta enjoy life and…” He stopped frowning. “Do you hear that?”


        “Hear what?” asked Rob, confused. “I don’t hear anything.”


        “You don’t hear that?” asked Victor, turning towards the edge of the trail. “There’s like… this weird humming noise. It’s coming from this direction.”


        “Victor, I don’t hear anything like that,” said Rob, putting his hand on Victor’s shoulder. “Are you feeling okay? Maybe your ears are just ringing or something.”


        “No, I definitely hear it!” said Victor, brushing Rob’s hand off his shoulder. “Hold on…” He turned towards the edge of the trail, walking over to a narrow path through the foliage. “It’s coming from over here!” he cried, taking off down the path.


        “Hey, wait! Come back!” Rob quickly chased after him, running down the path until he reached a clearing. In front of him was a wide river, quickly flowing next to a rocky shore. Standing in front of the river was Victor, bending down as if in search of something. “Victor, what are you doing?” asked Rob, approaching him. “Come on, we need to get back to the trail! I don’t want to be out here forever!”


        “Hold on, I’ve almost… there!” Standing upright, Victor turned to Rob and held out his hand. “Here they are!”


        “Um…” Rob frowned, examining what Victor was holding. They appeared to be two diamond-shaped gemstones, one being aqua blue and the other being jet black. “What… what exactly are those?”


        “I don’t know,” said Victor. “But that sound I heard… it was coming from these. I’m sure of it!” He looked down at them, staring quizzically. “I don’t know how to describe it, but… it’s almost like they were calling to me. Like they wanted me to pick them up.”


        “...That sounds really weird,” said Rob, frowning. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? Maybe we should just cut this walk short and-” He stopped short, staring down at the gems. They appeared to be shaking, moving on their own before slowly lifting up out of Victor’s hand into the air. “Um, Victor?” said Rob, taking a step back. “This is… are you messing with me or something? I mean, this is cool and all, but its kinda starting to freak me out.”


        “What? No, I swear I’m not!” cried Victor. “I don’t know why this is happening either!” He began backing away from the gems as well, watching as they seemed to levitate higher and higher into the air… before suddenly separating from each other and speeding straight towards the two of them! The black gem slammed into Rob’s forehead, knocking him off his feet and onto the ground, while the blue gem did the same to Victor and almost knocked him backwards into the river. “Gah!” cried Victor, managing to right himself before toppling over. “Are… are you okay, Rob?”


        “Ugh… Yeah, I think so,” responded Rob, reaching up to feel where the gem hit. As soon as he reached the middle of his forehead, though, he stopped short. In that area, he no longer felt smooth skin - instead, he only felt what seemed like hard, smooth rock jutting out from there. With a shock, he realized that it was the crystal - somehow, it had embedded itself inside his forehead, and now it was stuck there. “This… how is this possible?” he said, his fingers running back and forth between the crystal and the skin surrounding it. “This doesn’t make sense!”


        “It’s certainly strange…” said Victor, running his hand across his forehead as well. “It’s almost like…” He stopped short, moving his hand further away from his face to get a better look at it. “Um… Rob? Do… do your hands look any different at all?”


        “My hands?” asked Rob, pulling his hand away from his face. “Why would my hands…” His voice quickly gave out, his eyes widening as he stared at his hands. Rough black scales seemed to be appearing on them, similar to the ones on a bird’s talons, and they were spreading out to coat his fingers and arms as well. “What…” He stood up, turning over his hands as the black scales spread out across them, his fingernails growing out into long, sharp claws. “WHAT?”


        “Yeah…” said Victor, looking over his own hands. His fingernails seemed to be growing out as well, and his hands were covered in scales too - only his were a pale shade of blue instead of black. “I wonder if…” He looked over at his right arm, where the scales had spread to just underneath his elbow. Past there, though, there was an entirely different change going on: gray fur was starting to sprout there, spreading all the way up to his shoulder. “...Whoa.” he said, running his scaled fingers through the fur. “That’s… unreal.”


        “What the hell is happening!” cried Rob, looking down at his own body in a panic. Where the black scales on his own arms ended, black fur was starting to form, spreading up to his shoulders just as it had for Victor. “How is this possible! This… this is…”


        “Cool, isn’t it?” said Victor, looking down at his torso as the gray fur spread across it as well. He lifted up his shirt to see more lightly-covered fur spreading up his belly to his chest, while the fur around it remained the same dark gray it had been on his arms. “I… I think I know what it is we’re turning into, too!”


        “What?” yelled Rob, watching as the pitch black fur spread across his own torso as well. “What are you talking about? How the hell are you so calm about this?”


        “Well, I-” Victor felt himself stop, a tingle running through his body as he looked back down at himself, noticing his chest seemingly growing… bigger. Namely, it was starting to push out in two separate areas, growing into what appeared to be a pair of breasts. “Oh my…” said Victor, cupping his hands underneath them and lifting them up. “This feels… different.” He chuckled. “But in a good way!”


        “Oh my god…” Swallowing, Rob lowered his head to look down at his own torso, eyes widening in horror when he saw the exact same thing happening to his own chest. He looked over at Victor, noticing his figure sliming out and his hips widening as his changes continued. “You… are you…”


        “A girl? Yep!” said Victor with a grin. As the changes to Rob’s sex continued, Victor felt a pushing in the back of her shorts. She reached behind her and lowered them, gasping with delight as a long feline tail snaked its way down to the ground, thin and gray with a blue tuft of fur at the end. “Wow…” she said, watching as more gray fur made its way down her legs. “I… I’m starting to look exactly like my character!”


        “Your… character?” said Rob, looking down and noticing the same pitch black fur spreading down her own legs. The same tugging against her pants occurred, and she pushed them down to reveal a tail of her own, covered in black fur and slightly thicker than Victor’s. “Is that what we’re turning into? Characters of ours?”


        “Well, I don’t know about you, but that seems to be the case for me!” said Victor. She quickly stepped out of her shoes just in time for her feet to change, elongating as her toes plumped up and merged into three. She immediately rose up onto the balls of her feet as her toenails grew out into sharp claws, balancing easily on her new paws. “See, a while ago I came up with these creatures that I liked to call catbirds - they’re like griffins, but without wings. I kinda thought that would make them easier to draw, so…”


        “And… that’s what we’re turning into?” asked Rob, stepping out of her own shoes as her feet went through the same changes as Victor’s. “These… catbird things you came up with?”


        “Seems that way!” said Victor. “Ooh, hold on…” She turned and walked over to the river, leaning over to peer at her reflection. She ran her hand-talons across her face as gray fur continued to cover it, her ears seeming to fold in on themselves as they rose up her head and became distinctly more feline. Her brown hair seemed to be growing out as well, turning an aqua-blue color and breaking off into multiple feathers, almost giving the appearance of quills. Her hand quickly went to her nose as it slowly began to harden and curve downward, moving down to her mouth and seeming to fuse into it. Within seconds, her nose and mouth had completely transformed into a short yellow beak, the one avian bit on her otherwise completely feline face. “Wow…” she said, admiring her reflection. “It’s… I’m… beautiful!”


        Next to her, Rob leaned over to get a look at her reflection, watching her own facial features change. Black fur was spreading across it as her ears went from human to feline as well, her nose and mouth fusing together and forming into a short black beak. Unlike Victor, though, Rob’s hair didn’t grow out at all - it simply shrank down into her head before vanishing, more black fur growing over to replace it. “This… this is so weird…” she said, rubbing her cheek with one of his hand-talons.


        “But awesome, right?” said Victor, standing up. “Come on, isn’t this cool? We’ve dreamed about experiencing this our whole lives, and now we finally get to!”


        “I… guess so…” said Rob hesitantly, standing up and crossing her arms. “It’s just… kinda overwhelming for me is all.” She swallowed, reaching her hand beneath her breasts and pushing them up. “Not only am I this weird cat bird thing, but I’m a girl now, too?” She crossed her legs, reaching down to pat the empty area between them. “It’s just… it feels so weird!”


“Come on, it can’t be that bad!” said Victor with a grin. “I know I’m certainly enjoying myself!”


“Yeah, but you’ve always been into gender change stuff,” said Rob. “I mean, not that I particularly mind them, but still!” She looked down at herself, crossing her arms again. “And even if I was super into it, it’s still a really jarring thing to go through. Even the species change I’m still struggling to wrap my head around. I mean, the fur, the tail, the claws, the beak, the paws…” He continued staring down at himself for a moment before shaking his head, looking back up at Victor. “Anyway, isn’t this at all worrying for you? What’s going to happen when someone sees us like this?”


        Victor shrugged. “Pretend they’re costumes, maybe? Or fursuits? It doesn’t really matter to me, honestly.” She grinned, curling her hands and placing them on her hips. “Come on, Rob, aren’t you excited about this? Don’t you want to explore everything these forms have to offer?”


        “I mean… yeah, I guess so,” said Rob. “But-”


        “Great!” said Victor, grabbing Rob’s arm. “Come on, let’s get back to the trail! I want to see how fast we can move with these bodies!”


        “Hey, wait!” cried Rob as Victor yanked her arm, forcing her back on the path to the trail. As she followed Victor up, though, she realized that she had a point - they’d have to figure out how to turn back eventually, but for now, why not enjoy themselves? Rob had spent her whole life wondering about this, after all, so why squander the opportunity to figure out what it was really like?


        “Alright, you ready?” said Victor as they made it back to the trail. She bent down, seemingly ready to sprint. “First one to tire out loses. You ready?”


        “Fine,” siad Rob, bending down as well. “But at some point, we need to figure out how to turn back, okay?”


        “Fine by me!” said Victor with a grin, turning her head forwards again. “Alright… on your marks, get set, go!” With that, the two of them raced off, ready to push their bodies to the limit - and maybe figure out how to revert their changes later too.