Since the Animalian Virus originated from a project that was trying to cure muscle dysthropy syndrome, it was not uncommon for people who suffer from that type of disease to come to Animalia to be cured. Luke was one such case. One wouldn't have guessed that he had been a chubby kid. But that was before the muscle dysthropy set in. Now he was rail thin and had braces on his legs. He had been a bit indecisive of what kind of animal he wanted to be beforehand, but with Project Dinotopia starting, he definitely knew what he wanted.
"So, Diplodicus, eh?" asked Jeremy, looking at Luke's form.
"It was my favorite dinosaur when I was a kid," said Luke.
"You realize Diplodicus is not a small dinosaur, right?" asked Jeremy.
"Well, I'm not going to be eighty feet long, right?" asked Luke.
"No, but you'll still be on the high end of the size scale for Animalians," said Jeremy, "There aren't as many accommodations for sauropods yet."
"I know there will be and I'm fine with biding my time," said Luke.
"Well, we'll get you set up in a little bit," said Jeremy, "First, you'll need plenty of elbow room for when you change."
A short while later, Luke was taken to the testing area, which was twice the size of the other rooms. By the looks of it, it used to be two rooms until the ceiling/floor between them was removed. "We have this room for those about to become giants," explained Jeremy, "Fortunately, we've already had Diplodicus in here so we know what to expect with you. But before we start, you might want to drink this." At that, the nurse handed Luke a large glass filled with a brown liquid.
Luke took one sniff and asked, "Protein shake?" He had drank several to try and fight the muscle dysthropy, but they never worked.
"You're going to be putting on a lot of mass," said Jeremy, "You'll be very hungry by the time it's finished, but this will take the edge off."
"Did you already put the stuff in the shake?" asked Luke.
"No, we have the syringes ready," said the nurse, holding up the capped needles.
Luke shrugged and said, "Let's get it over with then." After downing the shake, he removed as much as his clothing as he was comfortable with, leaving him in just his briefs. His legs were already feeling sore from having the braces off, but not for much longer. After the nurse injected him with the two shots, all that was left was to let the changes take their course.
==========
Luke found his new body a bit to get used to. After all, he was a lot taller now and more muscular than he's ever been in his life. In fact, he was more muscular than anyone he's seen in his life so far. That wasn't to say his Diplodocus was the upper limit of Animalians. There were even larger sauropods and even smaller sauropods like Andrew were more densely built than him. But still, there were a couple of things to adjust to. Not only his his great height, but his very long tail made it hard not to accidentally knock some things over. As such, Luke was going to acclimation classes to learn how to control his new body better.
It was at his first class that he spotted a very attractive female. Of course, given she was a female Diplodocus, it was hard to miss her. It was also pretty hard to miss her muscular, curvy body with one of the largest sets of breasts he had seen in Animalia so far. Though they weren't tremendous compared to her body, they would certainly be so on a human woman. He could also see that she was also checking him out. He made to sit next to her as the class started.
After it was over, they quickly introduced themselves. "My name is Marjorie," she said, "I heard there was a new Diplodocus joining Animalia."
"That'd be me. The name's Luke," said Luke.
"So, what did you have before you converted?" asked Marjorie.
"Muscular dysthropy syndrome. Not as fatal as some, but I wanted to build up muscle tone and lose my leg braces," said Luke, "What about you?"
"Let's just say it was a thyroid problem and leave it at that," said Marjorie, "I was one of those people who couldn't lose weight no matter what. It was getting to the point where I couldn't walk for very long and had to use a motorized scooter."
"Bet you're glad to be out of that," said Luke.
"You bet. I even threw that scooter into the dumpster after i changed. From fifty feet away," said Marjorie.
"Really? I'd like to have seen that," said Luke.
"I had someone record it for me," said Marjorie as she pulled out her tablet from between her breasts. It practically the size of a PDA in her hand. She very carefully worked the touch screen using her pinky finger, her index finger having a larger claw on it.
"It's interesting how we've got these claws, isn't it?" asked Luke, looking at his own hands.
"Yeah, most people thing that sauropods have elephant-like feet on all fours. But they had one claw on their front feet," said Marjorie.
"I wonder what they were for," said Luke.
"Who knows? I know they had other toe bones, but they were inside the foot with one claw sticking out," said Marjorie, "Ok, here it is."
Luke looked down at the video. It showed Marjorie wearing a sports bra and shorts holding a scooter in her hands. It wasn't a puny thing, but it looked small with her holding up. She waited for someone offscreen to give the signal. Then she heaved the scooter through the air. The scooter went in a neat arc before landing in a dumpster a considerable distance away. There was plenty of cheering before the scene rewound to show the throw again, only this time it show the arc and distance in the form of lines to show that it was 50 feet.
"Nice shot," said Luke.
"Yeah, I could be a basketball player if they allowed Animalians in professional games," said Marjorie.
"You like basketball too?" asked Luke.
"Yeah, never really got much of a chance to play because of my weight. But I could at least practice my throwing," said Marjorie, "Too bad we'd have too much of an advantage to be on an NBA team."
"I'm sure there's something in Animalia for giants like us," said Luke.
The two of them quickly developed a friendship that showed promising signs of blossoming into romance. However, they were relationship classes together before they committed to anything. One minor but irritating obstacle was that there were very few pieces of furniture large and strong enough for them to make love on. Even beds designed for elephants were groaning a lot by them just laying on one. Not to mention how even places designed for giraffes were forcing them to stoop a lot. If there was anything the couple proved, it was that Dinotopians would be needing buildings and furniture specifically scaled to their size. That spoke a lot for establishing a separate colony for Dinotopians to have enough elbow room. But at least Luke and Marjorie were comfortable with each other at their current level.