After a very quick evaluation, Steven the Squirrel Girl… was given some kind of ‘ranking card’ provided by officials to determine her risk to society… a card with her… paw print, picture, gender and other characteristics uploaded to a database. She stared a bit at the ‘female’ part… innocuous enough but… as far as ‘all’ the other changes that happened, this hit her the most in its implications.
“Keep this, it will get you out of Kublacon tomorrow,” The man in the dark black suit explained. “We’re still working out the rules… but you’re a low risk… we’ll get you back to your life soon. Make your way to the hotel for now, please. Next!”
“Thanks…” Steven limply walked out of the office, glancing up as another changed came in for processing. A cute looking very anthro fox-woman, not unlike herself though five feet tall. The two shared a brief glance, feeling a little surprise at the eerie similarity and taking a moment to take on their differences… before passing each-other. (Though not before their two tails brushed past the other.)
Steven gulped as she quickly ran through the door and made her way to the hotel.
Officers lined every corner of the street… everything was locked down. Quarantines were established. She flashed her card and was allowed to pass to the next section…
The hotel.
While walking she looked at her card. The rank was written at the top of the card in bold letters with some kind of holographic underlay, not unlike a passport complete with her picture. She looked at the strange picture… not quite believing that was her own face. How was all this being organised? It was so last minute and haphazard. Perhaps she was being put in a hotel with all the other D ranked changed people? What about the others?
“I’m sure there are more A-class ranks than anything else…” Most had to be dressed as superheroes, right? Though… she wasn’t entirely sure. The costumes didn’t mean they would get ‘all’ the powers or even the wisdom to use such abilities. “I should have gone as Harry Potter.”
She did a quick analysis of all the changed people from memory, evaluating as best she could how each person might approach their transformations. Dragons, Batmen, Mario… hm… What else was there? Whatever happened to the higher ranked people was a mystery to the squirrel girl, but she doubted they could be controlled… they might be able to control anyone less then C-Rank, such as herself, as much as any other human though. Strange how that worked...
“Hey watch it!” A voice shouted.
Steven stared down and gasped. It was a little… fairy? She had green hair, and was carrying her card. Her… full sized card that was as large as herself, dragging it on the floor in an acute state of distress.
“Uh- are you okay?” Steven asked.
“No! Do I look okay?! They processed me and gave me this stupid card and told me I had to carry it. How the heck am I supposed to carry this stupid thing! I should just fly off and leave but I don’t want to get in trouble.”
Steven offered her paw. “Well- let me help you. You’re going to the hotel yeah?”
The fairy looked reluctant … but nodded. “I- guess. I’m Abbigail.”
Steven nodded and let the fairy stay on her shoulder. “I’m… Steven.”
“So, Squirrel boy huh?” Abby asked.
“Heh… yeah.” Steven didn’t want to get into it more. “What rank did you get?”
“They put me as a B-rank. Apparently I’ve got powers to make flowers grow. They think I could be like poison Ivy or something.” Abby groaned. “How about you?”
“Uh…D plus.”
“This system is broken.” The fairy muttered folding her arms. “I give it a month before they just throw it away.”
Steven hoped so. She stared at the card not even sure how to feel about all this. C was considered an average human, apparently… so a D-rank implied she was weaker than even that. Given her child-like body, it made sense though she couldn’t help but feel dismay at being given a rank in society purely based on her body. The ‘plus’ added on was due to her small claws- which ‘could’ be considered a weapon but given her lack of reach and their true purpose to climb trees, they were considered less dangerous that that of a cat (of which there were quite a few.)
“Here’s the hotel.” Steven offered her paw once more to Abbey and set her on the counter.
The woman at the desk nodded. “Hello! Let me scan your card…” She took a moment and processed the information then presented a key card. “Here you… go?” She placed the card on the counter, realising how big it was for the fairy.
Abby stared at it and groaned again, trying to sandwich it together with her Identity card.
“Um… I’ll escort you.” The woman decided. Finally, Abby was getting a bit of assistance. “Fifth floor… Layla can you take over?”
A woman from the back started to approach. “Next please.”
Steven approached the lobby with her tail lightly brushing across the cold glassy surface. She almost tiptoed on her bare feet, still getting used to her paws there. At the check-in counter now appeared to be a normal looking woman with dark black hair. “Hello! Welcome.” Then Steven got the shock of her life as the woman slid out of the side of the desk, showing she was actually a snake-woman. Dark black scales with some Egyptian gold bands across her thighs- well- what could be ‘considered’ thighs but were the starting point of her long fifteen-foot-long tail. There appeared to be a Staff of Ra resting on the side of the desk. She saw her staring. “Yes, it’s weird, but no weirder than your change, little one.” She gave an easy-going smile and adjusted her glasses. “Let me see your card…”
Steven stared at her. Were these… instincts? Against a snake… “Uh... here you are.” She slid it slowly as the woman looked it over and scanned it on her computer.
“Lovely. Room 306. Enjoy your stay!” The snake woman smiled again and slithered back to her chair, wrapping her snake body somehow around it.
“Thanks…” Steven made her way towards the elevator. She had to stand on her tip toes to reach the button and jumped back as she felt her tail brush against the closing doors almost catching it.
“I’m in a freakin’ monster hotel…” She realised.
As the lift rose up the squirrel felt slightly claustrophobic… she always hated lifts but the instinct felt all the more keen. “Stupid instincts- what am I doing to do?” She took a breath and calmed herself down. Being angry at this body wasn’t going to do anything…a cure would be found soon. Right?
At least she was fit to enter human society. She wondered what they would do with the others… but could they honestly stop the super powered meta-humans? The world had utterly changed today… and she was at ground zero of that change.
There was a lot of fear by normal people on just how the changed could ‘take over’ the world. It wasn’t a completely unfounded fear… Steven felt it too. She was a dreamer who imagined often how magic could change the world, were it discovered tomorrow. Well, tomorrow had come… there were mutants, mages, supernaturally skilled people running around and a distinct fear that some people’s minds had been taken over by their changes.
Fortunately, Steven saw no evidence of anyone’s ‘morality’ changing… but there were some obvious personality changes, given what she saw so far. A good person wasn’t necessarily going to become a bad person… but there were now good people with the potential to do great evil… but also great things. There might be a few bad people too… but she honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from them.
The lift stopped on the second floor as a woman came inside. She appeared to be heavily pregnant and had an angry scowl on her face. “What are you lookin’ at!” She said annoyed. “Stupid lift…” she pushed the button for the ground floor, her heaving body making the lift slightly shake.
“Uh… I’m going up…” Steven cautiously explained. She tried to tap the button again to make it go up faster if that were possible to complete its pre-programmed journey and get her out of this situation. The door almost closed but something slid in at the very last second, when the door was only an inch wide.
“Boya!” A sliding strange almost flat rather cartoonish caricature of a squid, as it suddenly bounced on the ground and became… a kid? With yellow tentacles for hair. “Hey! It’s the Mammal!” The inkling giggled. “We didn’t even get to swap numbers homie! I see you met Jenny.”
“I’m not Jenny!” The woman muttered. “Why do you insist that name!”
“Heh don’t mind her. She’s a little upset about her change.”
“What do you expect! We turned into girls!” she put her hands on her hips annoyed.
The inkling shook her head. “What? No. You’re a girl. I’m B. Body type B.” The inkling explained politely.
“ARGH!” The woman screamed almost looking like she was going to tear her hair off. “You- I- GAH!” The lift continued its journey during the argument.
Steven gave an awkward look but was curious. “So… um… Were you… a guy too?” Steven quickly asked. “How… um… How did you…” She stared at the woman’s stomach. She honestly wore… a pregnancy costume?! That was crazy!
“It’s not quite what you think.” Sea3form the inkling explained. “So, we were in our hotel rooms. I had my inkling hat on. Jenny- or Johnny here didn’t have a costume. He was joking with a pillow in his belly about being a pregnant woman to win the weird contest- and…”
“You don’t have to tell my life story to everyone…” The woman growled.
“Mammal here is cool,” She giggled again. “Ain’t ya? We’re the same size. Us shorties have to stick together! Let’s swap contact details. Play some games together!” She suddenly brought out a zapper filled with ink. “We could go on a rampage! Everyone else is doing it. I’ll paint the town red!” Her inkling colours suddenly changed into a crimson red. “Neat! Didn’t know I could do that!”
Steven stared in wonder at the two. “Uh… I rather not go out.” It was a warzone out there. She wanted to … survive. Survive the night as cosmic beings ran around testing their powers. “I guess you can have my number, sure.” It might be nice to stay in touch with ‘someone’ who was reasonably friendly.
“Woomie!” The Inkling responded happily.
Steven looked to Jenny. “So… you’re really … um… pregnant?” That couldn’t happen… could it? She tried to think of the rules… Rules of Magic… it was like she sort of … knew them? Instinctually. Life couldn’t be destroyed… or created… not with magic in this manner anyway… but… it could be transferred? So maybe? If someone else lost their female status perhaps…
The woman gave an awkward look. “(un-)Fortunately…” She half whispered. “No. The costume just made me ‘look’ this way. I uh- I even have all the… symptoms…” She grimaced.
‘she must have imagined what it would be like,’ thought Steven. It was a strange guy to do that… ‘well… I am the one who imagined myself into… this body…’ who was she to judge?
Jenny clutched her swollen belly. “The doctors call it a phantom pregnancy… I um…” she trailed off, slightly uncomfortable by… a sensation.
“Yep!” The inkling giggled. “She’ll be fine. Some in the adult sections got waaay worse. They put them all on the very top floor. It’s probably an orgy going on up there!”
Steven bit her lip slightly on her large teeth. “I- uh- I see. Are you… stuck like that?”
“…Maybe” Jenny sighed. “There is an option but... yeah. It’s um… a big deal sort of situation so I need to think on it. If I- If I want to fix it…”
There was an awkward silence. Nobody said anything until the lift finally made another ding. The third floor. Steven felt a pang of relief. “This is my floor… good luck you two…”
“Stay in touch Steven!” The Inkling girl waved with two arms very animatedly. “Booya!”
“Uh.. Booya…” Steven waved the girl- er- inkling thing back leaving the elevator. “Poor lady…” Steven thought. Not even the worst… what else could be out there? She was curious as curious could be… but it was best to take things slowly.
She found her room and used the keycard to enter it. A warm, nice room… basic, but with a bed and bathroom. “One more night in Kublacon…” She looked out the window of the hotel room. It was crazy out there. “It must be a warzone out the-“
“Explosion!” A girl’s voice cried out in street.
Steven ducked seeing yet another Megumin-caused-explosion, sending a massive fireball in the sky before it ignited as a bomb. This was followed by the sounds of sirens… the police quickly picking up the unconscious girl with the big wide smile on her face. “Great another one!” The police shouted. “Put her with the others!”
Steven watched unimpressed. “Well, at least she’s easily caught…” The squirrel girl shook her head closing the curtains. People were having the night of their lives, testing out their abilities while she was as terrified as all the other unchanged humans despite being a changed herself. “I hope nobody gets hurt…”
With the roadblocks in place and lockdown though, a proper system to leave wasn’t going to be set up until tomorrow. Apparently though, people had started coming ‘into’ the area, trying to swipe anything that might be considered magical… they were being sold on E-bay for an insane price (With a lot of fake stuff being hiked up too.)
On the Kublacon side, various changed people just flew, teleported out, used super speed, dimensionally shifted… maybe even left with basic invisibility spells. There was a wide report of a kyrptonian woman flying right into the path of an airplane as she left Xanadu on her own.
Curious, Steven laid down in bed briefly sitting on her tail. She gasped and rolled to her belly, checking on news reports with her phone.
The report on the super-girl was playing. “Like- for sure I saw that plane three seconds before impact, so I used the first second to like- step away, and another second to wave at them… whole second to spare!”
Steven closed her eyes. “An airhead with the power of super girl… we’re dead.” She clicked on another report. “Hm…” The DC universe… Dr Doom. “Well, this can’ be good.” She listened to his interview.
“Why yes, I have the powers and abilities of Dr Doom… however you need not be concerned. My character’s nature has always been for the benefit of humankind, and no doubt I will be able to assist in the capture and control of these strange beings should that be… required. You can rest assured, the Power of Doom is on your side.”
“Oh Jeez…” Steven clicked for another interview It appeared to be a normal human woman looking terrified.
“I’m so scared of them. They- they turned into monsters. One of them looked in my direction and it looked like they knew they could hurt me and I couldn’t do anything about it. They need to be controlled. We need to think of the children! The government needs to organise a system to protect us from them!”
“I think you’re over blowing this,” A dragon-man explained. He didn’t look human at all, much like Steven… fully changed into something else. Pure red reptilian scales on a vaguely humanoid body but clearly draconic. It was eerie to see such a body next to a human. He stood confidently, with red scales and leather jeans, as well as a dark black vest. There was little doubt his form exuded power. “We’re just as confused by all this but we’re still the same people… we have families and friends, school and jobs… we’re all going to have to adapt to this situation.”
Steven smiled a little, thankful of the words of the Dragon. She was briefly startled by her phone suddenly receiving a call. “Mom?”
“Oh no…” She gulped as she clicked to answer it.
“Oh Steven! I’m so glad I got through to you. Are you okay? I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t wear a costume!” She sighed in relief. “When are you getting out of there?”
“Uh… well… I- I’m sorry mom I- I-“ The squirrel girl shivered. She couldn’t tell her.
“Steven? Are you okay?”
“… No mom… sorry…”
“You sound… so weird. Let me see you on video.”
“I don’t think that’s a good… idea. Just um-“
There was a slight pause “It’s okay I can handle it. Show me.”
Steven sighed and, in the end, complied. “Just… don’t freak out.”
She switched the phone to video phone mode- and saw her mother suddenly scream. “AH! You’re- a rat!”
Steven’s ears flattened. “I’m a squirrel mom…”
“Oh… well… that’s a little better… can you fix it?”
Fix it? Her brief hope that a wizard would change her back was met with no success. “No… not yet anyway. I’ll be home tomorrow… though.”
“I see… this is… going to be an adjustment.” Her mother sighed. “Well, when you get home we’ll see how it is.”
“Yes mom…”
The normal world… was out there waiting for her. She wanted to get out of here too,
