Jim nervously glanced between the two creatures that stood above him. On one side was Abby, who had become a hydra to try and save him and at least part of her didn't want to stay that way, but had accepted the decision of the other heads that made up her consciousness. One one head had actually said anything that might agree with the head that Jim saw as truly "Abby," her central head, but that head had also spoke on a rational reason to remain a hydra, if only to control Sandra. The dragon that had taken him prisoner and had flirted with him and sent Abby out for the box of vials at his feet.
There was something about her that struck him as lonely and he could easily understand her not wanting to be alone and wanting to have a mate. Having someone to love was nice, and on some level, before Abby came back and showed just how far she would go to protect him, a part of him was honestly curious, given that Sandra seemed more open to the some of his drive for adventure and interest in geology. But at the same time, there was some suspicion that Sandra might have only been flirting to get what she wanted, which might simply amount to a sex slave. He didn't really want that, and after seeing Abby go through so much to save him, if he was to be anyone's love slave, he'd prefer to be Abby's.
"We're waiting, dear," Sandra spoke from above him.
"I'm thinking," Jim answered, "don't rush me. You want a deal for a perfect male lover... and Abby wants me safe from you. It's not like I have an easy decision to make."
And it wasn't. He supposed he could try and trick Sandra and slip Abby the human vial, but that would leave them both human while Sandra would likely gain greater size and strength and could very well come to kill them for betraying her. It made him think over some of the things he and Abby had heard in town before they began their hike that that the forests and mountains outside the town were cursed or enchanted. Stories of two fairies flying among the trees looking for fruits and berries or playing pranks, though having strong and friendly relations with children, two griffons that had been seen flying about hunting deer and fish, though they did occasionally take livestock, but the most frightened or awe inspiring stories were of the great dragon from the mountains which hunted anything that it seemed to wish, deer, sheep, cattle, and even people. Some of the stories on the dragon even said that it paid close attention to the land that a woman named Sandra had had a farm and that it periodically burned the entire area to make sure no one developed it. Though the stories never mentioned how this periodic burning never lead to a massive forest fire that would threaten the town as a whole.
At first, Jim and thought they were all just stories, but Sandra's presence AS the dragon more than proved that. The vials had to have been the reason. Something or someone made her take the dragon vial, just as Abby had taken the hydra vial to save him. That meant that the fairies and the griffons might be real too, and maybe the fairies and their magic was what kept Sandra's attacks on her former farm from threatening to burn the entire region... either that or the local fire department was just that good. However, if the stories were true, that meant that Sandra had engaged in plenty of actions that weren't nice to the town and reinforced his own personal fear that if he managed to get Abby back to human form, that the two of them would be killed in anger. He didn't want to be a dragon/hydra sex slave, but he didn't want to die either.
And Sandra's own commentary made dealing with her difficult. She'd stated she'd had engagements with the US Air Force, likely while hunting or moving from the mountains to where her farm had once been, and that the cannon mounted in the airplanes had did her no harm and that she could destroy the missiles before they hit her. That seemed to reinforce what Jim had heard Abby's intelligent head say, that she would stay a hydra to keep an eye on Sandra. It rather struck him as a sort of Godzilla movie where the only thing that could take on one giant destructive monster was another giant destructive monster.
"Well," Jim thought privately, "maybe once I change... Abby and I can restrain Sandra and talk some sense into her and we can then find someone to make us all human again... or if need be... put her down if she can't see reason... and then Abby and I can find someone to make us human again... and if not... at least I'd be with Abby. She made her sacrifice for me... I can make a sacrifice for her."
He bent over and looked at the box and opened the lid. Inside were all the vials with a small paper label on the roof of the box. It read: "These vials contain the power to become anything, real or mythical. Beware, ingestion of each vial will result in complete transformation, but once the transformation is completed, the being transformed must be given the vial containing the essence of its former species. Simply taking a different vial would only lead to a partial transformation and gaining parts of the creature's essence from that vial. Returning empty vial to this box and closing the lid will refill the vial." That gave Jim the definition of the first option,and made him wonder as to whether or not it was the vials that were magic or science... or if the BOX was magic. Both Abby and Sandra would grow in size, as hydras and dragons were large creatures, while Abby would gain wings and the ability to breathe fire and Sandra would likely grow additional heads, and the ability to regrow them if lost somehow.
That made Jim think a bit more, as Abby had seemed to have at least some difficulty with the various parts of her personality gaining control over each head and to some degree control over her body. She'd seemed to come with a democratic agreement among her seven heads, but it was one that was a bit debate that went between them. Sandra presently didn't have to deal with that, so maybe with the introduction of the Hydra vial to her, Sandra would have some difficulty with herself as she wouldn't be used to suddenly having to debate herself with regards to a course of action, giving Abby an advantage in any resulting tussle. He then carefully picked up the dragon vial and the hydra vial. Both of which were full and looked up to them.
Jim watched as Sandra and Abby looked down. Abby's central head looked a bit depressed and reluctantly accepting. As if she didn't want to be there and didn't want to be stuck as a hydra, but had accepted that she didn't have any choice. Her intelligent head looked calm and quiet, but certainly more concerned on how to protect herself and likely Jim from Sandra. Her lustful head seemed to be more interested in what was in his pants than anything else. Her angry and feral heads eyed him quietly and carefully, more as if in judgement over him or eyeing a potential meal. Her surly head wasn't focused so much on him as on the box and the vials it contained. The last head was also more focused on the box and licking its lips, which made Jim wonder if that last head was envious of the power and strength that Sandra showed when she captured him and sent Abby for the vials. It would make that head interested in growing more powers or ability.
"I believe I've made my choice," Jim said slowly, figuring that the first option might give Abby an edge, at least at first and that he could join her before Sandra got control of herself. It'd allow them to get control over Sandra and get her to realize that she'd been wrong or at least find a way to kill her.
"And?" Sandra asked, looking more eager than Jim felt comfortable with.
Abby glared at Sandra and then looked down to Jim. She felt some tears drop from her eyes. A part of her hoped that now that Sandra wasn't holding Jim down that he simply fled and she'd fight the dragon, as he would be leaving the deal and she had agreed with her other heads to remain a hydra. He slowly produced the dragon and hydra vials, and popped the corks out with his thumbs. He held out the dragon vial to Abby and the hydra vial to Sandra.
"We'll go with the first one," Jim said slowly.
"Ohh... I can't wait," Abby's seventh, and ambitious, head spoke, "I can't wait to see and feel even more powerful."
"It will be something," Sandra assured her and lowered her head to let Jim pour the hydra vial into her mouth.
Unable to back out of the deal, Abby sighed and lowered her head to drink the dragon vial. As she came closer to to Jim she said softly, "I'm sorry about all this Jim... I..."
"It'll be okay," Jim assured her in a whisper, "if things work out, we'll still be together, no matter what."
Abby blinked and opened her mouth, and she could soon feel a liquid touching her tongue. She swallowed and sighed getting ready for what was sure to come and her body growing ever more monstrous. As she raised her head she looked back to Sandra who was licking her black scaled muzzle after downing the Hydra vial.
"This will be fun," Sandra said with a fanged smile. She was eager to grow more powerful, especially based on some of Abby's abilities as a hydra, and while she didn't entirely want to share Jim with Abby, she was willing for the moment to enjoy growing bigger and stronger.
Neither had that long to wait. Both Abby and Sandra soon felt their bodies begin to swell larger. Muscles grew and swelled, and Abby could feel her claws dig deeper into the ground as she had to take a few steps forward, as her rear legs and tail were beginning to brush against the wall of the openning to Sandra's cave. This time though, it wasn't in fits and starts as in her transformation into a hydra. This time everything began growing at a very steady pace, and her body responded to it.
"Oh... this feels good," her ambitious head smiled, "I can feel our power growing!"
"Stronger and no need to be a doormat," her angry head agreed, "I like it!"
"Oh... oh... it's... it's better than good!" her lustful head actually moaned and Abby felt herself growing wet, "It's great! I hope we move onto the fun quick!"
Abby frowned as her other heads were liking this way too much. She was doing this because she didn't have another way out and someone had to keep control of Sandra, keep her from needlessly threatening people. It didn't matter that it did feel good grow stronger, as growing stronger wasn't the goal. She looked back over her shoulders to see that her shoulders were now equal with the ceiling of the cave opening and she was still growing larger, and she also noted two growths beginning to form between her shoulder blades. They started as little nubs on her massive back, but they soon spread out and looked like the wings of a bat... or rather a dragon. Her scales were still a sort of dull slate gray in color and the "skin" between her various wing bones looked more like leather.
"Now we have wings!" her ambitious head smiled as they grew larger and larger and larger, until they were big enough to carry her enlarging body into the air. "We can fly now!"
"Only..." her intelligent head began and then stopped.
Abby turned her head to her intelligent head, who looked like she was trying to hold something in. On the ground, Jim looked and soon figured what was going to happen, and rushed around Abby with the box knowing what was about to come next.
"Are you sick?" Sandra taunted, "Ha! Shows me as the perfect mate! I forgot how good this feels!"
"There's something... in..." Abby's intelligent head spoke before suddenly breathing out a torrent of ice that wrapped around Sandra where she was in the air, where she'd gone to when Abby stepped forward.
Sandra had risen into the air to enjoy her growing size and strength, especially as she grew larger and larger in size. Sure, Abby was growing larger two, and was clearly enjoying her growth in size, but she felt she would surely be the stronger hybrid. Especially as the intelligent head began to look as though she was "sick" or something. It came as a total surprise for Sandra when Abby's intelligent head spewed out ice that wrapped around Sandra to a point where her growing body didn't instantly shatter it. It wrapped around her and stopped her wings from flapping. She didn't think that Abby would gain the abilities attributed to dragons beyond flight, and she roared in surprise as she dropped like a stone into the woods below the mountain. Her roar, though came more from a splitting headache that she was developing.
"You breathed ice!" Abby said to her intelligent head in awe.
"Yeah... I did," her intelligent head spoke.
"It's... it's..." her ambitious head spoke, "I'm next..." Abby and her other heads watched as her ambitious head shot out a stream of acid. It didn't go very far, and some of it landed on her forefoot. The acid ate into the ground quickly and firmly, but to Abby's greater surprise, the worst she felt from it was a mild stinging sensation before the acid wore off of her. Abby made a mental note that that was good to know.
The rest of it then progressed as her other heads began to gain the abilities similar to a dragon's. Her feral and angry heads could breathe fire. Her surly head also breathe acid. Abby found that her central head could breathe ice like her intelligent head. The last to gain that dragon's ability was her lustful head, which lowered down and breathed out a cloud of pink gas onto Jim. He coughed and when it cleared, Abby noticed that the box was on the ground and he was desperately trying to hide a massive erection in his pants.
"It figures you'd gain the ability turn people on," Abby said to her lustful head.
"Hey... it's non lethal and it's fun," her lustful head answered, "win, win."
"What of Sandra?" her intelligent head wondered, "we'll need to let her know that I..."
"Who cares about her?" her surly head answered.
"Yeah," her ambitious head agreed, "I saw we let Jim take the dragon and hydra vials and then we leave together. We can be king and queen in our own right."
"Because we had a deal with," Abby spoke, "as much as I don't like having to have made it... we did have a deal and can't go back on our word."
Her intelligent head agreed, "She may think we betrayed her, as we thought we'd only gain the wings to fly... not the special breath ability that dragons have. I didn't know I was about to breathe out ice."
"Do you think she is hurt?" Jim asked from the ground.
"I wouldn't think so," her intelligent head spoke to him and looked down, noting how much smaller he was now than he was before, "but it is possible that she could have broken a wing when she landed... however, if she's gained the same size that we just have... as well as a hydra's multiple heads... she may not be seriously hurt. Though... even if only slightly wounded, she could be angry. It would be wise to apologize and assure her that what happened was an accident."
"What if she attacks us?" her angry had asked, "I'm just letting her wail on us because of something you didn't see coming!"
"If she attacks us," Abby answered we fight, "before she hurts Jim... or hurts anyone else. We can agree on that?"
"Show her who's boss if she can't accept it?" her angry head nodded, "Count me in."
"Me too," her ambitious head changed her vote, "show her WE are queen here now!"
"If need be... that's what we may have to do," her intelligent head nodded.
Her feral head snarled, as if accepting the challenge.
"So... we're agreed," Abby spoke and then looked over to Jim, "we're going to get Sandra. It'd be best to take the Hydra and Dragon doses at the same time...
She then noticed how smaller the cave entrance was. She might be able to squeeze her head in a little ways, but not much more.
"It would be best that you go through with YOUR end of the deal," Abby said slowly, "I'm sorry it has to be this way... but I don't know how "controllable" Sandra will be... we still have a deal to carry out... and if he comes to a fight... I may actually need help..."
"Hey!" her ambitious head snarled.
"And even if we don't need help in subduing Sandra," Abby answered, "better to hedge our bets and make sure that WE win and SHE loses."
Her other heads agreed to that.
"It also might be best to start your transformation inside the cave and come out as you grow larger," Abby advised, "just in case Sandra tries something."
It was then that a great bellow was heard from the woods below. It was powerful, multi-headed, and Abby figured it sounded like Sandra was now just as powerful as she was, if the sound of that roar meant anything.