'Cancer' is probably the word dreaded by anyone receiving their physical exam. And that was certainly the case for Sherry. "But I can't have cancer," she said to her doctor, "I never smoked or got near nuclear waste or anything!"
"Well, as I said, it is only a bone tumor for the moment and it seems to be benign," said her doctor, "But I am concerned it shows signs that it could become malignant."
"But how could I have gotten it?" asked Sherry.
The doctor shrugged and said, "Sometimes these things happen. As the body creates cells, some cells get the wrong message and start building up the wrong way until they become cancerous. There isn't a lot of ways to predict it could happen unless it runs in your family."
"Not that I know of," said Sherry with a sigh, "So what are my options?"
"Well, we can start on chemotherapy immediately," said her doctor.
"I'm going to be able to afford it," said Sherry. She had only just made the detective rank at her police station. She was still pretty fresh from college, just slightly above what other officer would call a rookie. But she did show a lot of promise in investigative work, right up until now.
"Well, there is the possibility of amputation," said the doctor grimly.
"No!" yelped Sherry, pulling her leg away.
"Well, I'm hesitant to do more extreme versions of treatment, but you have heard of Animalia, right?" asked her doctor.
==========
Sherry had known about Animalia, who hadn't these days? But she never really considered that she'd actually join it. Sure, she occasionally fantasized about what animal she'd become if she did, but she never thought she'd actually go through with it. Of course, the cancer changed everything. It took Sherry a while to get there as she had a lot of business to take care of before that, namely informing her family, friends, and coworkers. Her family and friends were sympathetic to her plight and her fellow policemen wished her the best of luck.
On the trip to Lyre, she had a lot of time to consider her options. She wanted to continue her police career, but Animalia presented some new opportunities. Particularly the new Project Mesozoic that was creating Dinotopians. Unlike plenty of girls, Sherry was more interested in dinosaurs than ponies when she was growing up. Actually, she was still a comic nerd, though not a stereotypical introverted and overweight one. One comic she particularly enjoyed was 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'. She read the comics and watched the different cartoons. And there was one race in particular that caught Sherry's interest.
The Triceratons were a race of anthropomorphic triceratops, though they were unrelated to Earth's dinosaurs as they were aliens. (With the exception of one continuity where they were created from mutated triceratops). Sherry was a little disappointed that Tricertatons were portrayed more often as villains than heroes, though some continuities show they have a deep sense of honor. She also wished that they'd show more female Triceratons, though female characters in general were not common in TMNT fiction. But considering the triceratops was her favorite dinosaur, it was easy for Sherry to make a choice.
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"You know, the only thing that surprises me is that there haven't been more people wanting to become a triceratops," said Jeremy as he was collecting the serum from the fridge.
"Well, Dinotopia hasn't been officially revealed, right?" asked Sherry, feeling a little intimidated to be next to a huge dinosaur.
"Well, our colony is supposed to be revealed at the start of summer, though they've been keeping very quiet about it," said Jeremy, "But I'm sure we'll learn more in the next few months."
"Of course," said Sherry, "So, do I need to drink that stuff?"
Jeremy chuckled and said, "No, that's not necessary. I mean, I suppose it would work, but I imagine it wouldn't taste good and injections are much more efficient." Sherry gave an uncomfortable look at Jeremy's claws. "Don't worry, I'll have a nurse being doing the injections," said Jeremy.
"Ok," said Sherry with some relief.
After that, they went to the changing room. It was a lot more comfortable than Sherry would have expected, looking more like a hotel room. "There are a lot of people who feel...frisky after their change," explained Valerie, "Especially those who are changing as a couple."
"I can imagine," said Sherry before looking up at the ceiling, noticing a bar had been installed that was 10 feet in the air. "What's that for?" she asked.
"People who convert into large species tend to get a bit of vertigo from the height increase," said Jeremy, "They can grab that bar to help them get used to their new height. It's been reinforced so that they won't end up tearing it out."
As Valerie was getting the syringe ready, she said, "You might want to remove your clothes now."
Sherry blushed a bit and said, "Actually, I kinda want to grow out of them."
"You'd be surprised how many people want to do that," said Jeremy.
After cleaning up a portion of Sherry's arm, Valerie injected the spot with the serum. "Welcome to Dinotopia," she said before she and Jeremy left the room.
Sherry wasn't quite sure what to expect. How long was this transformation supposed to take? When was the serum supposed to kick in? She soon got her answer as she started to feel a little hot. The injected spot on her arm was turning a dusty orange color as the texture of it became more scaly. She flexed her other arm as the scaly sensation was also affecting it. It took a while for Sherry to notice that her clothes were getting tighter against her body. As her body was growing, rips started to appear, revealing more scaly skin.
Her shoes got more cramped as her feet got bigger. Sherry sat down on the bed and reached to her feet, an act that caused several severe tears in her pants. Her shoes were getting too tight to take off, but it wasn't that hard for her to rip them apart, her socks already in tatters. She flexed her toes as she noticed that they were swelling, the toenails becoming blunt claws. Her littlest toe was swallowed up by her neighbor as her foot adjusted to having four toes. Similarly, she felt a discomfort in her hands as she looked at them. Her pinky fingers had nearly been completely assimilated into her ring fingers. She was just in time to watch them finish their merging as her remaining four became thicker with blunted claws of their own.
It was at that time that the heat Sherry was feeling was becoming a more concentrated form, particularly between her legs. Sherry groaned with increasing horniness as she felt the heat build up. Eventually, she couldn't wait any longer and started helping her body get out of these clothes. Her pants and panties didn't last long, especially with the tail that was rapidly forming. Her breasts had been expanding, pushing her shirt to the limits. Eventually, it gave out, ripping down the front, revealing that her underbelly was yellow. Sherry grabbed her too-small bra and ripped it off. She gave a gasp of relief as her large breasts bounced out. Her larger hands massaged her boobs, moaning loudly as she felt her nipples get bigger.
Sherry's head had been progressing through all these changes. After the scales reached it, the first thing to change were her ears, which were reduced to small holes. Her hair didn't fall out as with many reptiles, but it was shrinking back into her head while a bony frill started to cover her scalp. Her forehead bunched before a pair of horns started to emerge, becoming longer and bending in the middle. Her face pushed out into a bit of a snout as her lips hardened to a more beaklike shape. Her nose flattened into two nostrils as a third horn started pushing out.
But by that point, Sherry's eyes weren't watching the horn on her face. They were closed as she tended to the burning need she was feeling. One hand was groping one breast, teasing her nipples. The other was plunging deep into her vagina to relieving the fire inside. Sherry's moans and groans were sounding a bit more like grunts as her transformation was completing, but she was too intent on servicing herself. Finally, her pleasure reached its peak. Sherry let out a bellow as her vagina gushed against her hand. To her surprise, her nipples were also squirting milk. She had heard that Animalian females were almost constantly lactating, but she didn't knew it applied to Dinotopians as well.
As Sherry sat up, she was a bit surprised by how much taller she was now. As she stood up, she did feel a little vertigo, but her balance wasn't too bad. It helped that her feet remained mostly human-shaped, asides from less toes. Still, she grabbed onto the bar overhead, which she could reach easily. Then she looked in the mirror at her new self. She turned out a lot better than she expected. She was pretty sexy for an anthro triceratops. Her skin was mostly a dusty orange with a yellow underbelly. She had a thick tail that she found she could move pretty easily. Her three-horned face was a lot cuter than she expected. It helped that her beaked snout and nose horn were shorter. Her forehead horns weren't quite as long as she was expecting, but perhaps this was a case of sexual dimorphism. Her bony frill made up for the loss of her hair. Her now-yellow eyes made her look more exotic.
Gripping the bar with one hand, Sherry used her other hand to grab her elbow and posed. She was able to thrust her chest out a lot more than she could before since her breasts had gone up several sizes. She also had a lot more muscle tone, her stomach carved into strong abdomens as her arm and legs muscles were nicely defined. Amusingly, the only piece of clothing to survive was what was left of her shirt, but with the sleeves and front torn apart, it now looked more like a vest. Judging by how much space was between her horns and frill and the bar, she was now 9 feet tall. Sherry grinned to herself and said, "I think I'm gonna like being a dinosaur." Of course, she'll need new clothes now. And after that, she knew just where to apply for a new job.
==========
Considering the triceratops had a resemblance to the rhinoceros, it only made sense that Sherry applied to the Rhino Guard. Of course, she'll need to go through proper training. A SWAT-like team like the Rhino Squad required a bit more physical training than a simple detective. Sherry wasn't surprised she'd be partnered with another rhino, but she wasn't expecting an ice age rhino.
As Sherry and Wanda got ready in the locker room for their first day of training, Sherry asked, "So, with our characters, would you put me as an eager, idealistic rookie fresh out of the academy while you're the gruff, experienced cop who's seen too much on the street?"
Wanda snorted and said, "You can't seriously be considering that Dino & Rhino buddy cop thing, are you?"
Sherry shrugged and said, "It's too irresistible. I mean, I want us to do our job, but it would make an interesting TV show or movie. Maybe we could have a reality cop show."
"Problem with that is that there's no crime around here," said Wanda, "The worse Animalia has is speeders."
"Well, Animalia does need a police force. If we didn't feel that way, we wouldn't have volunteered for the Rhino Squad," said Sherry.
"That is true," said Wanda.
"Besides, it's not like we're cops 24/7," said Sherry, "We can do stuff during our off-time. Like that Green Glacier Adventure Clan's gaming club, that sounds like a lot of fun."
"You're not going to force me to go LARPing, are you?" asked Wanda with annoyance.
"I'm not gonna make you, but you do need to have fun," said Sherry.
"Let's just see if we can get on the Rhino Squad first," said Wanda before she and her partner headed out to start training.