Anthony could not comprehend what just happened.
An accident… involving him? Preposterous! Inconceivable! Didn’t they know who he was?
People had been around him looking confused as he was brought into an ambulance, his clothing- what remained on him still wet with that strange stuff. Memories trickled in showing what could only be a nightmare…
‘I touched it… I touched the water…’ The photonic water! it splashed on him like a cloud of rainbows. He was drenched in it! It couldn’t be… no… no… what did that mean? Maybe he would be okay… maybe…
Anthony woke up staring at cold white ceilings and a sterile bed… a slight twitch- something moved on his head at the sound of a scribbling pen…
There was a man looking over him, taking some notes on a clipboard. For some reason his presence didn’t feel very comforting as it should have been. In fact, his body gave a slightly unusual instinctual feeling of… shame? He guessed it was because of being… here.
He blinked a bit. Looking around everything seemed huge! The bed was much larger than normal. Perhaps they had such beds to accommodate very large changed folk? Something tickled under the sheets… along his back and front. At first Anthony thought he had been given a warm ‘jump suit’ or something but feeling around it… it was actually fur…
...fur on his body.
He looked around again in confusion, feeling and touching the soft velvet layer of hairs which felt rather… pleasant to be touched, much to his annoyance.
“Ah you’re awake?” The man in the lab coat asked noticing him stirring. “I guess the shock made you faint… totally understandable.” He started to shine a torch into his eyes making him wince. “Good responses, all is well,” He nodded making another note.
Anthony was about to answer but something suddenly caused him pain. “Ow- Ow-“ He grimaced at a sharp pain as some part of him was… caught in the pillow? A.. a tail?! A large bushy one. Straw light brown fur covered him, except for some odd patterns on the tail which was distinctly ‘heart’ shaped at the end, a bold white colour that was incredibly eye catching. “Oh no…” The tail flicked behind him before he could look at it more closely, hough the feeling of it was still there… a tail… a tail… a freaking tail!
The doctor smiled looming over him. “How are you feeling? No dizziness, I hope. Any nausea?”
“FF-eeel... I H-How… am…” The furry-looking creature felt ears move awkwardly above. Panic... distress.. anger… someone to blame? ‘Th-eling… fethling…’ Anthony started to breathe heavily, taking deeper and deeper breaths. “AAAAAAH!” The voice… that voice sounded so high pitched it surprised him. Nothing felt right. He felt kind of numb in his head. “Help! Oh God!” He touched his face… it was slightly elongated and.. his teeth felt weird.
“Calm down, it’s all fine” The man said. “I’m Dr Grey… I specialise in such ‘unexpected transformations’... he explained looking at a clipboard again. He stroked his slightly white beard mulling over the situation. “Photonic water accidents are surprisingly more common these days despite all the safeguards; too many people experimenting with it- or taking intentionally would you believe,” He had a lab jacket on and some odd instruments in each pocket. God only knew what they were all for.
An accident? To him?! Him?! Accidents happened to those lower down the chain. He ‘delt’ with accidents not become subject to them! He wasn’t stupid! “Ath’idents don’t happen to me!” Anthony screamed as he jumped out of the bed stumbling on new paws that were now his feet… suddenly staring ‘up’ at Dr Grey. He barely reached up to his upper leg!
“Yes…well… it has today.” The doctor explained picking up Anthony- and setting the new transformed person down on the bed again. “Let’s take this one step at a time, shall we?”
The way Dr Grey nonchalantly picked him up like he weighed ‘nothing’, stunned Anthony. He looked down at the fur… he was a small ‘thing’ now… just… just… “You- you can t’hx this right?!” Anthony stared down again. He couldn’t have been more than three feet tall... maybe even shorter! A very small body that looked akin to a five-year-old. He had a tail… a huge tail... it seemed to be about the same size, perhaps even a bit larger than his own body. It flicked awkwardly behind him every now and then… A hospital gown had been placed over him, barely fitting him as it covered everything much like a dress and was threatening to slip off past the slim sloping shoulders. “I- I’m- I’m small!”
“Yes,” Dr Grey confirmed. “Quite small, though not the smallest change I’ve seen.” The man nodded. “Now let’s check what you remember. Can you tell me your full name?”
“…An’fony Douglas…” The creature replied placing what felt like ‘paw like’ hands examining the face.. a muzzle of some sort? Why was his words coming out.. wrong? It was so wrong! He needed to see himself… much as he dreaded.
“Good… Age?” The doctor continued.
“F-irty eight…”
“Hm?”
“I mean- F-T-Thirty- eight-“ He struggled with the way his tongue touched his teeth.
“Ah, you have a slight lisp there. Hopefully should fix itself in time and your… Gender?”
“I’m a guy!” Anthony suddenly exploded in quiet rage. He was not used to things not ‘happening’ as he wanted them. Why was nobody listening to him?
“Hmm…” Grey made some more notes. “Well, there’s no easy way to tell you this-“
“I want… a mirror...” Anthony tried to sound stronger then he actually did but in truth he was very frightened.
“All in good time, let’s just prepare you-“
“Give me a mirror!” Anthony shrieked. He had to see how bad this was straight away.
Dr Grey rolled his eyes inwardly though gave no outward impression. Transformed people can be so.. difficult. “Well… as you wish, but try to remain calm. It’s not as bad as it might look.” He gestured the changed person up. “Come to the scales there’s a mirror here, we’ll weigh you too.” He pointed to the corner of the room. He had enough experience to know that giving someone a ‘task’ tended to distract them.
Anthony looked down at his dangling furry legs and gently climbed down off the bed with a slight hop- the tail again bouncing behind him which caught him a little off guard again. He couldn’t help but notice the fur extended down his legs… small and… furry. He had ended up some kind of ‘fluff ball’? He stumbled on his first step, unused to the way his toes seem to.. flex outward? The weighted feeling behind him didn’t help either. The tail swished a little, swaying on its own… large and bushy. The appendage got caught in the hospital gown, making him feel a little awkwardly exposed.
The doctor took Anthony’s paw-like hand into his much larger human hand noticing the difficulty the patient had in waking. “Balancing will take some time to get used to. Here, step on the scales please.” The doctor instructed. He calmly waited to note Anthony’s response to his reflection.
Anthony saw the shiny surface of the mirror… he dreaded what he looked like but he had to confront it. He stepped onto the scales… and stared.
The ‘creature’ stared back at him… soft light brown eyes that were almost almond shaped but still distinctly… intelligent. Ears at the top of his head and some kind of soft ‘muzzle’ though relatively flat with a dark black nose. Hair on his head was a little surprising and gave a welcoming humanised look… a chestnut brown colour. He looked ‘scrawny’ with very little muscle… but it was obvious what his form was based on.
“I- I’m a squirrel?!” he looked aghast at the strange looking fairly animal-like creature in the mirror. He was one of those ‘cute animal types’ that wouldn’t be out of place in a Disney movie. On the small body, he could see some strange patterns. At first, he thought it was the hospital gown… but then he realised that the contrasting pattern was actually underneath on his… fur?
“Height two feet nine inches… weight… 14 Kilograms.. about thirty pounds. Hey, you lost quite a lot of weight, eh?” The doctor said with a soft smile. “I’ll update your records on that.”
Anthony was in no mood for this. The doctor was making light of a very serious situation. He stared at his paw-like hands, the thumbs a little on the short side making grasping a little more difficult. “So… how is this… treated.” It was not a question … simply the first step to a new plan … right? He could plan this through…
I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way… Anthony.” He said delicately. “Most changes are permanent. Some do change partly back in some ways but... it’s best not to hope for that. Besides they rarely go all the way back even in such cases.”
Anthony started to pull up on the hospital gown. The pattern on the fur was very ‘eye catching’… as much as the heart-shape on the tail. He could see some lines and stripes angled around the hiplines giving a rather… ‘focused’ gaze in that area… it almost looked like tan-lines. A few specks of white around his shoulders and chest flowing along his neck. He reached a little lower and- “What… the-“
“You are… female now.” Doctor grey explained. "I've seen enough animal folk to know just by your general appearence don't worry."
There was silence.
Then, more stunned silence.
Anthony gave a look… as if the doctor just ‘insulted’ him in the worst way possible. “…what… did… you say?”
“Female… a woman.” The doctor repeated. “As for what that ‘means’, I suppose you’ll have to work that part out. I can’t really say more.”
“Fe-Female?!” Anthony looked down again. This… this body was… female?! No! What the hell! It didn’t even ‘look’ like a woman- well- unless one considered the ‘heart’ pattern on the fur of the tail.. but the most obvious tell… a human would look for… breasts? She didn’t see any cleavage at all there.
Reaching deeper she could feel her nipples underneath the fur with her paw-like hands but they were quite small, gentle curves that were well hidden. It was fair to say she was rather flat. “Oh no no- I’m not a girl- I’m not a kid am I?” She looked horrified.
“Oh no no,” the doctor chuckled. “I mean that ‘can’ happen. We’ve had a few age-regressed people every now and then, though it’s not the most common change. You have become a little younger, I’d say you are probably in your twenties…”
Anthony looked at the mirror… there was no getting around what she saw. An animal… child like to humans… but an adult? “But.. but.. I look like a kid!”
“Animal age doesn’t easily translate to humans,” The doctor explained. “You are a mature adult female of your species and that’s about as far as I can go without getting too philosophical about it. Your teeth are those of a mature adult and your hormone levels confirm it too. I dare say people might need some… ‘convincing’…” he handed out a few pamphlets digging them out of what looked like an infinite number of papers from different pockets in his lab jacket. “Perhaps these will help.”
Anthony took them with a shaking paw and large wide eyes. “What is…” He started to read the titles.
‘Gender-animal change do’s and don’t’
‘Don’t do what Jenny Doe does.’,
‘Living in the Big World’,’
‘Personal grooming doesn’t have to be a chore.’
…and perhaps the worst one of all, ‘Help I’m an adult!’
Anthony stared at the pamphlets and threw them on the ground angrily. “ARGH!” She screamed. “No No No! This is a nightmare! Do you know who I am! I’m An’fony Douglas! I am about to complete a big merger! I’ve got… money to fix any’fin!” The squirrel girl fell down on the ground sobbing, her tail limp behind her well past her feet.
“Yes… well… surprisingly not the worst reaction I’ve seen either,” Doctor Grey shrugged. “So, we’ll sort out a therapist for you... in the meantime perhaps you should talk to your family or friends? That tends to help. Adults tend to struggle a bit with such changes compared to teenagers but… you are younger now so I think that will help you adjust. You’ll be fine.”
“…V’amily… V’riends?” Anthony blinked. “…but I… don’t haf any…” The squirrel-girl stared in a daze… her tail flicking behind her in her confusion. She looked around at the world as if ‘nothing’ made any sense. Every plan… every deal… what did it matter if it came to this? Her company… her wealth.. her money… her employees…
… Anthony.. the man she was… was gone.
She suddenly fell on the ground, as if reality itself just broke for her. She sobbed… and cried. As if to comfort her, her tail began to wrap around her head like a pillow. She hated it… she hated this! She didn’t want to be comforted not by this body or anyone.
Dr Grey placed his large hand on the squirrel-girl’s shoulder. “I can sort out some group therapy, don’t worry. You’ll make some friends in no time.” He said as he tried to help her up. “No need for this drama… you are young and healthy. Those are good points are they not?”
“Leave me alone!” Anthony hated feeling so weak and miserable. This wasn’t her… when something knocked her down she got back up fighting… yes… she needed a plan. A way to ‘fix’ this. Feeling that old instinct kick in gave her some extra strength. She slowly got up. “Ge’f me Alex Haywood.” She decided. “If anyone can come up wif a plan it’h him.”
The doctor chuckled and picked up Anthony from the ground once more, setting the squirrel back on the bed. “I’m not your secretary… but I’ll get your phone for you. Sit tight.”
Anthony gave a beady eyed look. “I’m going to th’ue th’omeone…”
