Courtney was not like most women. Most women were only interested in health and fitness just to keep the pounds off of them. But Courtney was more interesting in putting pounds on, pounds of muscles that is. Ever since high school, she was interested in bulking up and tried to work out as much as she could. Part of the reason of her fascination with working out was her unladylike interest in football. She often wished she could play pro, but football was still mostly a man's sport. Not to mention women lacked the mass necessary to play such a rough-and-tumble game without getting crushed.
So Courtney just focused on her workout sessions instead. It eventually led to her getting a college degree in sports medicine, so she could be an effective trainer if she chose. Her own body was proof of how well her training worked. Every muscles was nicely toned, allowing only a little fat to not make her unhealthy-looking. However, she wasn't as bulked up as she would like to be. Her genetics put a limit on her body's ability to grow.
Another source of frustration for her was how hard it was to get a date. Given how much time Courtney spent in the gym and how short she kept her hair, a lot of people presumed she was butch. She just keeping that length so it wouldn't get in the way of exercise. Courtney had a healthy interest in men, particularly strong, confident men. However, that seemed to be in short supply around here. Apparently, having a girlfriend who could punch you out is a major deterrent to confidence. And those who were confident enough were usually so for all the wrong reasons. Either they spend more time looking at the mirrored wall than at her, wanted her to drop her pants in the shower room and not ask for more than that, or were more interested in watching the men work out than the women.
As Animalia's fame spread, Courtney began to take interest. Not only were there plenty of strong men there who would bound to be very confident, but the women were able to gain muscles that Courtney has been dreaming off. She held off on going because she felt some reservations. Was she really just going to give up her humanity just for the sake of having a better body and finding a man? That seemed rather shallow to her. But as she watched the news, it became clear that Animalia was more than just a place filled with sexy animal people. They were a growing community with a very strong connection with each other and looking for ways to improve their future and the world's.
Courtney filed an application for an Animalian conversion online. She had no existing health problems, so she couldn't in good conscience sign up for Project Phoenix. It meant she would be getting a longer wait and it would a bit more expensive, but that was fine for her. The biggest problem she had was thinking of what animal she'd want to be spliced with. Most women would say their favorite animals were cats, dogs, horses, those kinds of things. Courtney's favorite animals were actually squids, as they were such majestic, mysterious creatures. But the Animalia Virus strictly does not work on invertebrates. Which was probably for the best as Courtney doubted she'd look good as an anthro squid. After a big of pondering, she decided lizards were the closest animal she could pick, but she just couldn't think of what kind of lizard she'd want to be. After much research and considerable pondering, she just decided to put just 'lizard' on her form. Perhaps she'd be inspired when she got to Animalia.
It took a while for Courtney to get ready to move here. But finally, she was at Horizon Labs. More specifically, she was in the waiting room there. There was still a pretty big queue to go through. Which was just as well as Courtney was still having trouble figuring what kind of lizard she wanted to be. There was no reversing this and she needed to decide what kind of lizard she wanted to be for the rest of her life. She had brought a magazine of reptiles and was flipping through it, though the decision was not making itself any easier.
Just then, a scientist with grey hair walked over to her and said, "Excuse me, are you Courtney Patterson?"
Courtney grimaced at that. She always hated her last name. It just felt so...outdated. "For the time being, I am," said Courtney.
"I'm Dr. Stein and I wanted to talk with you about your conversion," said Dr. Stein.
"There's not a problem with my paperwork, is there?" asked Courtney. She had been so careful with it, especially since there was a lot to go through.
"Well, not precisely. We've noticed you've applied to be a 'lizard' but you haven't specified what kind of lizard you want to be," said Dr. Stein.
"Well...the embarrassing thing is, I don't know either," said Courtney, "I've been trying to narrow it down for the last few weeks, but nothing in particular grabs me."
"Ah, then allow me to make an offer," said Dr. Stein, "You wish to be a lizard, then have you considered possibly becoming a dinosaur?"
"A dinosaur?" asked Courtney, thinking it over. Well, she knew that dinosaurs were a possibility. In fact, they were part of the reason that the paperwork that needed to be filled out before conversion was so extensive. But then, dinosaurs were really impressive creatures. "Yeah, I think I could live with being a dinosaur," said Courtney.
"Then if you consider signing into Project Mesozoic, we can have you converted into a dinosaur Animalian, with a small reimbursement from what you would have been paying with the standard conversion," said Dr. Stein.
It didn't take Courtney long to consider this. She had been trying to select an appropriate animal and dinosaurs were definitely a step up. Not to mention she'd be getting some of her money back. "Ok, I'll do it," she said.
"Splendid. Just follow me and we can work on your form. This won't take nearly as long," said Dr. Stein.
A short while later, Courtney was finishing up most of the forms. But her species space was still blank. "I suppose I'll need to think what kind of dinosaur I want to be," said Courtney.
"Well, if you'll accept a large reimbursement, there is one dinosaur we'd like to collect data on if you're willing to convert to it," said Dr. Stein.
"Which one?" asked Courtney.
"Pachycephalosaurus," said Dr. Stein.
Courtney thought about it for a second before asking, "That's the headbutting dinosaur, right?"
"Not the way you might be thinking," said Dr. Stein, "Yes, Pachycephalosaurus did most likely use its head as a weapon, but not like a battering ram. Competing males would more likely be trying to whack each other's flanks rather than colliding head-on. Not that they didn't go head-to-head at times."
Courtney thought it over and rapidly found herself liking the idea. Pachycephalosaurus might not be a living battering ram, but it was definitely a strong charger. Maybe she could finally live out her football dream. "Ok, let's do it," she said.
"Wonderful," said Dr. Stein, "Now if you'll just follow me to the changing room." He stopped briefly at a refrigerator to grab a vial that was labeled "Pachycephalosaurus". "Since you're in such good shape and still young, I expect you'll only want a single dose, right?" he asked.
"Would it make any difference?" asked Courtney.
"Not really, but you can save your second dose for when you want to be young again in the future," said Dr. Stein.
"I guess that would make sense," said Courtney.
"Good, now follow me," said Dr. Stein. He lead into the changing room, which seemed like a simple hotel room to Courtney. As Dr. Stein prepped the syringe, he said, "You might want to remove your clothes for comfort."
"How big is Pachycephalosaurus anyways?" asked Courtney.
"It's not one of the largest dinosaurs," said Dr. Stein, "I wouldn't expect much of a size change."
Courtney glanced down at herself. She was wearing her sports bra and stretch pants. "I think I'll be alright," she said before bending over to remove her shoes.
"Suit yourself," said Dr. Stein, "Some people like growing out of their clothes anyways." With that, he dabbed Courtney's arm with some disinfectant before injecting the serum. "You'll be feeling the effects shortly," he said before walking out.
Eventually, Courtney felt an itching sensation on her arm. A brief look showed that she was growing scales there. As they spread, she could see they were a blue-grey color. The scales spread to her hands, which didn't really change in appearance much asides from her fingernails turning grey. It was when her feet started to change when she felt the most discomfort. Her ankles were forced higher as her five toes merged into three larger saurian toes. Compared to many Animalians, Courtney was still pretty flat-footed, even if her ankles were higher.
But that mattered little to Courtney as she felt a strong tingling through out her body. She left of a soft groan as the muscles she had worked hard to build up started growing even larger. What were simply well-defined were now becoming chiseled. The grooves on her stomach became a set of rock-hard abs. Her arms weren't dainty before, but now they were becoming thicker with muscle. Compared to that feeling, it was only a minor discomfort when her tail started growing out of her spine, barely pushing down her stretch pants. It was a different story when her sports bra started feeling the pressure. Devoting so much effort to muscle building had left Courtney few fat reserves to really round her breasts. But now they were filling up her sports bra at an alarming rate. Pretty soon, the bottom halves of them started peaking out from under her top. A blush appeared on her increasingly-scaly face as her nipples were rubbing against her too-small bra.
Courtney's hair had already fallen out by this point. Which didn't matter much to Courtney as it it got in her way anyways. But the way her head was pulsing was a bit unpleasant. She grasped her head in her hands and could feel it swelling. Her head wasn't becoming enormous, but it was very plain to see the dome of her skull growing larger, even if the brain inside wasn't changing size. Courtney felt a prickling against her palms as small spikes and bumps started pushing out of her skull, lining around her enlarged cranium and continuing down her face. She grit her teeth as her face started pushing out into a short muzzle, her canines losing their edge as she became more suited for eating coarse vegetation and fruits.
It took a while for the sensations to ease. Courtney didn't feel particularly dizzy and her new feet weren't hard to stand on, but the growth of her skull left her with a bit of a headache but it soon passed. Curious, she walked towards the mirror, already using her new tail to instinctively balance herself. Staring back at her in the mirror was a rather comely anthropomorphic Pachycephalosaurus. She hadn't changed much in height, but her clothes were still stretched out by her enhanced body. While not particularly taller, Courtney now had the curves and muscles of an Amazon. Her stretch pants were being force down by both her tail and her larger ass. Her sports bra only covered enough of her breasts to keep her nipples concealed. Her scales were mostly blue-grey, but they shifted to straight grey. And her face didn't look so bad despite her larger dome. In fact, she would say that her short muzzle made her look cute.
When Dr. Stein came back in, he said, "Oh, you turned out very well."
"Well, I didn't rip through my clothes," said Courtney, "But I might need a bigger top."
"Perfectly natural," said Dr. Stein, "Come, we'll have you set up with a new wardrobe."
Courtney followed after the scientist, already feeling more confident with her new form.
==========
As it turned out, Courtney wasn't the only one who became a Pachycephalosaurus. Mario had been a boxing instructor in Italy for years before retiring. But after getting his youth restored, he was back in business. He has started training fighters at the Octagon. And it wasn't just teaching them how to punch, but insulting them just enough to motivate their punches. Courtney and Mario got along rather well, tough they did tend to butt heads a bit.
"Not bad," said Courtney as she was unstrapping her helmet. While her skull was thicker than before, it would be rather reckless to just smack it against anything hard without protection. The customized football helmet was not only the right size, but it had small holes so that her spikes and bumps could poke through. "Pretty soon, you'll be ready for some real football," she said as she took it off.
"In my country, we do not use our heads that much with football," said Mario as he removed his helmet. There was some noticeable sexual dimorphism between the two. The spikes on his head were bigger and the dome of his head was a bright orange. Evidently, that was how males impressed females before they started butting heads with rivals.
"Here, what you call 'football' is what we call 'soccer'," said Courtney.
"We still use our heads in football," said Mario.
"Not compared to what you'll see in American football," said Courtney, "We're a lot tougher than you think, Sigore... Say, I never did learn what your last name is."
Mario frowned in annoyance and said, "It's Calamari."
Courtney giggled and said, "Like squid?"
"For your information, it's derived from calamarius, as Latin for 'scribe'. But you cannot imagine how annoying it was growing up with," said Mario.
"Let me guess, you took out your frustrations through boxing," said Courtney.
"How did you know?" asked Mario.
"Lucky guess. I don't really like my one last name. 'Patterson' sounds too boring. I should have thought of something to change it to when I joined," said Courtney.
"Perhaps we'll think of a better name together," said Mario.
It seemed like a whirlwind romance, but Courtney and Mario really felt drawn together. It didn't hurt that they were both pretty gifted in bed. Before long, Mario had proposed and they would be set to change their family name to 'Domini' after their wedding.