Judy often enjoyed her work with regard to Project Phoenix, often because of the sense of rebirth that the project had. People with genetic ailments and otherwise incurable diseases getting a new start at life. In many ways it reflected her own uplifting from a mundane Mountain Cottontail to the Mountain Cottontail Animalian who'd essentially picked up enough by overhearing various Horizon Scientists that she was on par with what they knew, and why Horizon ultimately hired her to help with Project Phoenix. It was something that she enjoyed and respected, and with some online classes, she was actually well on her way to at least getting a certificate that would make what she'd learned on one way or another "official."
However, her work with Project Phoenix had often kept her separate from some of the de-extinction projects simply for the fact that those applying for either Mesozoic or Cenozoic through Project Phoenix were often sent straight to the labs that were directly dealing with those de-extinction projects while Project Phoenix remained focused solely on those wishing to become "normal" Animalians... based on modern animals... and to have what ailed them cured. It then came as a bit of a surprise when Dory talked with her at Horizon in the Project Phoenix area of the facility.
"You said..." Judy said slowly, trying to go over what Dory had said to her.
"Doedicurus clavicaudatus," Dory said slowly, "it's the largest known species of Glyptodont and is essentially an ancient relative of the modern Armadillo. I filled out the order that that was the species that I wanted to be."
Judy looked over the forms in front of her, and did find Dory's name on the application form and the relevant education forms as well. While there were plenty in Animalia that weren't fond of the regulations that had been passed after Heather's attack on Sophie and Roland, Judy did have to admit that they did provide a lot more control for Horizon that was probably necessary. She knew that Jessica wouldn't cause any trouble, given how openly friendly she'd been with Sarah and Abby after the initial outbreak, and Judy herself was smart enough and careful enough to avoid letting herself be tricked into giving her strain of the Animalia Virus who might use it for ill, but the more she learned about human society and how conflicting it could be at times, the more she came to agree that they couldn't just leave Animalians infectious and leave the conversion to individual Animalians. As, if someone truly nefarious did try it... they could render Animalia a lot of harm, which in a sense, Heather in her attack had.
The great downside of greater control, however, meant that paperwork became the biggest difficulty Horizon had with these projects. They had to make sure requests were filled out correctly and properly cleared with both Horizon and the government to make sure everything was in compliance with the law. It was bureaucratic and could slow down the rate of conversions Horizon performed, but it wasn't something that couldn't be overcome, and that was what Judy found herself checking with Dory's form.
The name entry was correct, though Judy soon found where the error had occurred. In the box for "Project Request" Dory had written "Project Phoenix" and in the "Species" box she'd written, "Doedicurus clavicaudatus" for the specific animal. The naming was correct for the animal, but Dory had missed a part of the fine print that was presently in place for the de-extinction projects that if they were seeking to get into those projects through Project Phoenix, which was especially necessary as general applications for Project Mesozoic wouldn't be applicable until the summer, and thus candidates getting into that program at the present time needed the "sign off" from Project Phoenix first. This meant that Dory had really needed to write out "Project Phoenix/Project Cenozoic" in the Project Request box. It would confirm the specific method before those projects became open to the public and would allow Horizon to point to Dory to the labs handling the de-extinction projects rather than the main Project Phoenix offices.
"I think I found your problem," Judy said slowly and explained the error to Dory, "... so as you see, MY offices here handle the normal Project Phoenix cases. Your case, going to Cenozoic should have been marked and allowing you to go straight to Doctor Stein's offices and lab."
"Oh... I'm..." Dory began slowly.
"It's no problem," Judy assured her, "Just a little paperwork error... and one that does happen on occasion."
Judy then stood up and came around the desk and offered Dory her hand.
"Here, I'll lead you where you need to go," Judy continued.
They then made their way through Horizon's interior hallways until they came up to the lab area where Doctor Stein handled a lot of the de-extinction projects. In fact they actually found him checking on a couple of the virus strains as they entered at one of the refrigerators where the Animalia Virus was kept. He ultimately looked up as both Dory and Judy entered.
"Another mistake?" Doctor Stein quipped as he turned to face both of them as they entered.
"Yes," Judy nodded, "Dory here is suffering from a mild form of Scheuermann's disease and hoped that Project Cenozoic would provide a full cure..."
"And I'd like to be a Doedicurus," Dory added, "It's like an Armadillo but cooler!"
Doctor Stein looked Dory over as he approached. He noted her slow breathing and noted an obvious hump in her spine, though it wasn't quite to a point where Dory was completely immobilized by it. Though, her slow breathing could well mean it was giving her at least a little trouble. He then paused to try and think over what Doedicurus was. The de-extinction projects had included so many different animals that there were simply some that he wasn't fully aware of.
"It's the largest Glyptodont," Dory explained, "an armored mammal, like an Armadillo, but close to five feet tall and thirteen feet long. And it had an armored tail club that ended in a spiked mace-like club. As I said... like an Armadillo but cooler."
"I see," Doctor Stein spoke, "I trust all the paperwork is in order... apart from whatever clerical error there was?"
"Everything else appeared to be in order," Judy nodded.
"Well then..." Doctor Stein said slowly, "Let me check with the samples... to see if we have it. If so, Judy, can you handle the injection?"
"Yes, sir," Judy nodded as she paused to let Doctor Stein turn back to the refrigerator.
"That's good," Doctor Stein nodded, "as I've got a couple of other projects to catch up on... particularly while Jeremy and Heather are out."
"Sure..." Judy spoke, "Is something wrong?"
"No," Doctor Stein answered, "They're just at a birthday party for Countess Irena."
Judy shrugged and nodded as Doctor Stein then approached handed Judy two syringes with a paper name tag on the sides of the syringes. Each read: Doedicurus clavicaudatus. Judy then motioned for Dory to follow her and they were soon moving back through the hallways inside the main Horizon building. They eventually came to one of the changing rooms and Dory did notice how it resembled a bedroom in many ways, but was fully enclosed.
"You may actually be more comfortable in the course of your transformation with your clothes off," Judy spoke in warning, "as you'll likely grow a bit in size and if the Doedicurus has a spiked tail... it will definitely be too big for your underwear. I can help... if you need it."
"I can manage it... though it'd take a little while by myself," Judy spoke.
"I can wait, if you don't want the help," Judy answered.
"Well... I suppose we're both women," Dory said slowly, "Just... don't draw too much attention..."
"I understand," Judy cut her off.
Judy then set the syringes and the unopened alcohol swab down on the bed and moved to help Dory undress. It didn't take too long and wasn't too difficult, though Judy did notice a long surgical scar going down Dory's back, which indicated that corrective measures had already been taken in the past and meant that her condition that lead to hear hunched back was likely far worse. Judy remained calm as she went about the process of giving Dory her shots. Dory looked a bit nervous at first, but she did calm down a bit after a few moments and allowed Judy to provide her with both injections.
"Welcome to Animalia," Judy said to Dory as she stepped back.
Dory slowly nodded, though she was rapidly beginning to feel several sensations. The first thing was that inside her, she could actually feel her spine straightening. It pulled her posture more erect than it was, and while it hurt a little, it was actually less that what she'd felt throughout her life with the condition. And as she stood up, she found her breaths grew stronger and less labored, which Dory actually felt pleased with. The next sensations she felt was two fold. First was that her whole body began to grow warmer and she looked down to see greyish brown fur begin to grow out on her chest and belly. In a way it was somewhat wiry and actually mirrored the fur of Armadillos. It was something that she expected as Glyptodonts were related to Armadillos.
The other thing that she sensed was actually a loss of feeling behind her. She managed to twist and look over her shoulder and could soon see why. The skin in her back and going to her shoulders and to some degree even over them was hardening into hard and tightly banded scutes. And that seemed to progress up her body. As greyish brown fur began to grow out on her neck and onto her lower jaw, Dory soon noticed that her own hair was falling out and falling out in clumps. It startled her a bit, as she hadn't expected that to happen and she brought her hands up, with heaving digging claws beginning to grow from her fingertips. She soon found that the growing scutes on her back and shoulders limited her upward motion a bit, but she could lower her head and that allowed her to get a feel for the top of her head. And running from the spot just above her eyes toward the back of her skull, with it narrowing at a point in the upper back of her head, she could feel the same banded scutes forming on her head.
"It's like armor everywhere," Dory said to herself as she felt a few mild cracking noises as her feet grew slightly longer. She slowly rose up onto digitigrade feet, but unlike many Animalians, her feet weren't that much longer. In fact as she looked down to them with their pointed digging claws growing out from her toes as well, she figured it was more that her feet were adapting to stand on her toes while retaining the same length as before.
For the moment the main source of amazement was at her growing natural armor. On her back it was growing out and puffing into a distinctive and large dome, which at first unnerved her a little bit, and she backpedaled, fearing that the animal she'd chosen had only resulted in her Scheuermann's disease coming back with a vengeance. However, when she went into the wall, with a distinctive and loud "thud," Dory felt another sensation. While her sense of touch through those scutes was greatly reduced, it wasn't completely dead and when her shell hit the wall, what Dory felt was more like it was resting on more fatty tissue rather than being directly on her spine. She guessed that was part of Doedicurus's means to protect themselves. In fact she remembered reading that the theories behind its club tail was that it was intraspecies combat between Doedicurus males. That fatty tissue would thus help cushion any and all blows and prevent the concussive force of their clubbed tails hitting their shields going straight into their internal organs and doing real damage.
Dory also found that the armor was surprisingly flexible. And as her muscles began to grow and swell with power she felt she could get that shell to bend and move a little bit at the edges, or at least with regard to her shoulders. That was not the case at her hips where the shell wrapped around her hips with just enough width to allow for the natural arch that Dory could now feel her tail growing out through. It was wide enough that Dory knew she could have a decent range of motion with her legs, but she wouldn't be able to set any records at yoga as a Doedicurus. She was just testing this when the door opened to reveal a nervous looking Judy as she came in.
"I'm sorry," Judy spoke quickly as Dory turned to the Mountain Cottontail Animalian, "but I heard a loud thud and I was afraid you'd fallen over."
Judy's entrance and nervous report made Dory perk her ears, which were now on the top of her head. Dory was about to answer when the pressure and pain as her tail continued growing reached its apex as stretched out behind her. The tail was covered in the same scutes that protected the top of her head and back and tipped with small spikes. They were smaller than Dory had expected, but then what she'd read on Doedicurus seemed to indicate that the spikes on the club were more noticeable on males than female. And as Dory felt a rush of pleasure actually go through her as her hips widened out a little and breasts began to swell larger, it was pretty clear that she was female. Dory wanted to say something, but at that same moment her face began to push forward into short but squared off muzzle with large and strong molars. It left her giving a series of grunts as her face pushed forward.
"It's okay," Dory managed, "My human hair started falling out when the shell on the top of my head started to grow in and I panicked a little. I think I backed into the wall by accident."
Judy accepted that and looked over to a side and soon could see some evidence of that panic in that the plaster of the wall had a large dent in it that fit the dome of Dory's armored shell. That'd take some work to repair but it wasn't that big
"Well, there always are certain... surprises that could happen, and it's seemed that Humans that become Animalians tend to keep their hair, with Dinotopians being the main exception," Judy assured her, "In the meantime, we'll look into finding some way to get clothing for you and get you vaccinated."
The clothing Dory ended up wearing was specially designed, particularly as unlike the various Turtle Animalians, Dory couldn't remove her shell. Like the real life Doedicurus, her shell was held to her spine at her pelvis, just above her tail. The material was nice and didn't itch her new fur, but Dory found that all her clothing would have to be fitted to hang over her front and held on by either a something that hung from her neck or that she fit her arms through first. There would then be string that functioned sort of like a belt that ran around the outside of her hips underneath her shell and was fastened above her tail where there was a natural opening in her shell. Dory found that as an Animalian she had the strength and flexibility to manage it, her shell was strong enough that she had to put a bit of muscle power into it given how little her new shell could move and bend.
Dory also agreed to pay for the damage she'd done to the wall, but that wasn't the biggest thing that Dory ended up coming about. That came after she made her way out of Horizon to get a new look on life now that her spine was straight and she was well protected by a tough natural armor that few could penetrate. That was something that was great, and she then had another great surprise as she made her way to a sidewalk only to run into a Dinotopian. He was a bit bigger than her, but with his additional blackish-gray scales and his own club tail, it was clear that he was also an armored dinosaur. He was dressed in a pair of wind pants, a large sweatshirt, and even a long scarf.
"Hello," Dory said to him as he stopped to jog in place.
"Hello," Walter answered, "It's a might cold for a dress like that, don't you think?"
"I suppose," Dory answered, "but for the moment it's the only thing that will fit with my shell and all. The lady that mad the alterations on site said she could have some alterations made for leggings and such... but that will take a bit of time. Until then... I'm like this. Though the worst of the cold snap has passed for the moment."
"It's still winter," Walter chuckled. He was big enough to stay warm, but that didn't mean he was impervious to the cold, and he could tell that despite her fur, Dory looked a bit chilly too. "My name is Walter. What's yours?"
"Dory," Dory answered, "and don't worry, my memory is perfect. Your... and Ankylosaurus, right?"
"Right," Walter nodded, "though... I've never seen a dinosaur with fur..."
"And you still haven't," Dory said with pride, "I'm a Doedicurus. It's an armored mammal. Think a huge Armadillo with a spiked club tail."
"Interesting," Walter said with some curiosity, "So there were even armored mammals."
"Yep," Dory smiled to him, "So what are you out jogging for?"
"Training," Walter answered, "To be part of the Mesozoic Fight club... an MMA league they'll be starting for Dinotopians. Put all this armor to good use... though they'll probably have a rule that won't allow me to use my tail. This is to help with my endurance."
Walter pounded it down into a snow bank beside them, raising it up in a cloud around them. Dory laughed and did the same, making Walter laugh a bit... and regardless of the cold January weather, a warm friendship was born.