Wanda was very eager to get her conversion over with. She had one of those nightmares again last night. The falling rubble, the screams of trapped people, the flame, oh, the scorching flames. Once again, it woke her up and left her shuddering for an hour until she could manage to fall back asleep. At least the nightmares never came more than once a night. She's known that from living with them for years.
Wanda had been rather proud of her job as a firefighter back when her career was starting. A firefighter's job was very important in New York, even if there were several stations to cover the large city. There were cats to get out of trees, people to rescue from car accidents, and fires to put out. She braved every conflagration she came up with, but nothing could have prepared her for that day in September.
The day the towers fell was the worst day of her life. She was one of many firefighters who had gone to help the people who were caught in the disaster. She was lucky to be able to make it out alive. There were too many who didn't, both people who were trapped inside the wreckage and firemen who tried to help them. Wanda herself became trapped when a room partially collapsed on her. If that hadn't been bad enough, she also got badly scorched by some of the flames.
That experience would have traumatized anyone and Wanda was no exception. The burn scars she received from the disaster were nothing compared to the psychological scars. She could hear the screams in her dreams and sometimes a bad shock made her hear them when she was awake. Worst of all, she had developed a crippling pyrophobia. Even a stove top flame made her back away in terror. As such, it limited her ability to work as a firefighter considerably. Eventually, she quit so she could try to heal her shattered psyche. But unfortunately, it was taking a very long time, especially with the limited amount of money she could pay for therapy sessions.
When Animalia came about, Wanda worked to amass enough money so she could move over there and become part of it. She doubted her physical or emotional scars would be counted for Project Phoenix, but surely something over there could help. By the time she arrived, Project Pleistocene was starting up. Which actually worked well for Wanda. She wanted to be an animal whose dense fur wouldn't require a lot of heat to keep warm in the winter.
Wanda was more than a little surprised to be greeted by a large ape man with shaggy orange hair. "Uh, are you a Gigantopithicus?" she asked.
"No, I'm just an uplifted orangutan. If I were a Gigantopithicus, I'd be much larger," said the ape man, extending a hand, "Dr. Banjo, at your service."
Wanda shook his hand and said, "Wanda, nice to meet you."
"So, according to your form, you're volunteering to become a woolly rhinoceros," said Dr. Banjo, looking a clipboard.
"That's right," said Wanda.
"May I ask why?" asked Dr. Banjo.
"Because I want something with dense fur and I was thinking of joining the Rhino Guard," said Wanda. While she couldn't face fire, she could at least do her duty.
"Not all rhinos are required to join the Rhino Guard," said Dr. Banjo.
"I still want to," said Wanda.
"Well, we'll see what they'll say after your conversion. Follow me, please," said the orangutan as he lead Wanda to one of the changing rooms. As he got the syringes ready, Dr. Banjo asked, "What do you know of the woolly rhinoceros?"
"That it's the same size or a bit bigger than the white rhino, it's closest living relative's the Sumatran rhino, and it shared much of its territory with the woolly mammoth," said Wanda.
"That's about the size of it," said Dr. Banjo, "Hopefully your conversion will enlighten us more about it."
"I guess you don't mind that I'm not wanting to be a Gigantopithicus," said Wanda.
"Don't worry, someone is bound to volunteer for that. Most likely a Bigfoot fanatic," said Dr. Banjo. After injecting Wanda with the serum, he said, "Welcome to Animalia," before leaving.
==========
Sudan examined Wanda's profile as she stood in front of him. The profile of her career, not her physical profile. Sudan was far more interested in Najin's profile. Wanda was around the same size as Sudan now. Her main horn was just as large as his, but her secondary horn was a bit longer and sharper. That was when the similarities started to end. Her body was now mostly covered in dense fur that was the same red as her hair. The main way to tell her hair was still there was because it was still in a ponytail. Her fur was dense to hide her private parts rather easily. The parts that weren't covered were her hands, the soles of her feet, and most of her face. She probably would have looked like a larger version of a Sumatran Rhino Animalian if there were any in Animalia.
Eventually, Sudan said, "Well, as impressive as your firefighting career has been, I'm still concerned about your psychological profile."
"I'm not as scared as fire as I was before," said Wanda.
"I wish I could believe that, but emotional scars are not that easy to heal," said Sudan, "I'm going to require to go to regular psychotherapy before we can have you in active service."
"I understand, sir," said Wanda.
"And you'll have to go through extensive training besides that. I know as a firefighter, you've had training, but this isn't a firefighting job. The Rhino Squad answers to different emergencies," said Sudan.
"I understand, sir," said Wanda.
"Don't be so formal. I'm not your commander yet," said Sudan, "Besides, you won't be doing your training alone. Your new partner is going through her training as the same time as you."
"And who would that be?" asked Wanda.
Sudan pressed a button on the intercom and said, "Send her in." A few seconds later, the door opened and a rather large figure entered. It was pretty easy to see what she was. The three horns and frill were unmistakably that of a Triceratops. Her scales were a dusty orange color and she stood even taller than Sudan and Sherry. But she also had an impressive Amazonian physique. "Wanda, meet Sherry. She's just been converted as well," said Sudan.
Sherry looked at Wanda with slight surprise. "You're partnering me with a Sumatran rhino?" she asked, "I didn't know there were Sumatran rhinos here."
"There aren't. I'm a woolly rhino," said Wanda. Then she turned to Sudan and said, "Dino & Rhino, sounds like a buddy cop movie."
Sudan shrugged and said, "Once someone heard that you two were wanting to join the Rhino Squad, the idea of you being prehistoric police partners caught like wildfire."
"Did you had to say 'wildfire'?" asked Wanda with annoyance.
"Sorry," said Sudan, "But I'd be watching out for TV or movie agents if I were you. You two are bound to attract a lot of publicity."
"Like I wouldn't have before," muttered Sherry as she rubbed her head.