Daniel had things going rather well for him. He was a respected member of the Animalian community, his memoir was coming a long rather nicely, and he'll be marrying Mandy in July. He was a little surprised that this relationship had lasted as it had, considering they first met when Mandy kidnapped him for sexual purposes. But after talking her down in that particular situation, he and Mandy had been dating for a good while ever since. She was the one who inspired Daniel to make his memoir into a book to sell, which already had a publishing company interested. All in all, Daniel was pretty well-set in life.
After the success with converting Olivia (nymphomania tendencies asides), Daniel wanted to share his good fortune with some of his other old friends that had served with him in WW2. There weren't very many of them left. It wasn't just some never came home, but there were plenty who had died of old age by now. But one person who was still alive was Dr. Joshua Komorowski, who had been his squad's field medic. He was very good at his job, considering he was still in medical school when he was drafted. He probably could have made field surgeon, but he preferred to stay with his squad. Daniel that he had incredibly steely nerves, which he kept after the war where most men would have them rattled loose. His experiences made him a very capable doctor and he was able to retire a well-off man. His good health also allowed him to live past his hundredth birthday.
Joshua was interested when Daniel sent him an invitation to join Animalia. He wasn't really sure if the Animalian virus was the panacea that had been sought for hundreds of years, but he did want to live to see what future developments with the virus would be made. Besides, the idea of having a young, strong body was a little too much to pass up.
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Joshua arrived at the hospital. He wasn't really doing anything experimental or groundbreaking, so there wasn't much of a reason to go to Horizon Labs. Joshua was pleased that this hospital was being kept very up-to-date. Keeping up with the latest medical developments had not been easy. Some doctors found themselves forcing to retire when they couldn't adapt to the new procedures and treatments. But Joshua had been careful to pay attention. He might have gotten a bit rusty during his retirement, but he intended to fix that.
Eventually, the other doctor met with him. "Are you ready for your conversion?" he asked.
"As ready as any man can be," said Joshua.
"And you want to become a Komodo dragon," said the other doctor, "Is it because of your last name or because Komodo dragons are awesome creatures?"
"Both," said Joshua, "If I'm going to be a different species for the rest of my life, I might as well make the most of it."
"Ok, but you are aware that you'll need to be careful," said the other doctor, "Komodo dragons have a lot of bacteria in their mouths and you wouldn't want to infect anyone else."
"I've ready plenty about the Komodo dragon, enough to know that particular theory has been disputed," said Joshua, "The Komodo dragon's bite is dangerous because of venom, not bacteria. Its saliva contains toxic proteins that act as an anticoagulant and causes muscle paralysis. If its prey dies of infection, it is because it runs into contaminated water than from the bite itself."
"Oh, I wasn't aware there were any other venomous lizards besides the Gila monster and the Mexican beaded lizard," said the other doctor.
"The Komodo dragon has yet to be confirmed as venomous officially," said Joshua, "But I should be cautious not to contaminate others."
"Also, there's this mandatory sign-up," said the other doctor, handing Joshua a form.
"For what?" asked Joshua, studying the form.
"For a study on regressive hypersexuality. We've noticed that when more geriatric patients are restored to youth, they tend to exhibit more...sexual urges and higher libido afterwards," said the doctor. Joshua raised an eyebrow at that. "So far, it's only been noticed with women, but there's still a chance it could affect men."
"Well, if I'm feeling friskier than normal, I'll be sure to let you know," said Joshua as he signed the form.
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The conversion afterwards was pretty straightforward. Joshua could have administered the shots to himself if he wanted. He was aware that he'd outgrow his clothes, but he kept the pants on, mostly to see how extensive his changes would be.
Joshua watched in fascination as his body changed. He hadn't gained too much weight in old age, but he wasn't terribly fit. His withered arms were quickly building up muscles as green scales covered them. His chest, which was divided between visible ribs and paunchy belly rapidly expanded and hardened into a full set of muscles. His feet didn't alter a lot as Komodo dragons had plantigrade feet, but his toes did become longer with claws. But plenty of length had been added to his legs to make his pants tear up. Though what really caused damage was when his tail grew out.
Joshua examined his reflection afterwards. He had to admit, he looked very impressive. "Now I know how Curt Conners felt," he said, "But at least I didn't have to regrow my arm." The one drawback was that his bald head didn't regrow its hair. But then, he had heard that it wasn't uncommon for reptilian conversions to lose their hair. Dinotopians apparently had a 100% loss rate, but other reptiles had a better chance of keeping their hair. But Joshua wasn't upset about losing his hair, it had been gone for 20 years by now.
"So, do you feel any different?" asked the other doctor.
"I feel the urge to work out," said Joshua, "I understand you have a bodybuilding club of some kind."
"Yes, there's also the fight club for competitive brawls that will be opening soon for the Mesozoic members of our community," said the doctor.
"Hmm...you think there's room for a physician as well as a competitor?" asked Joshua.