Las Vegas still remained an active city with many of the bright lights and flashing icons that helped make it one of Nevada's biggest tourist attractions as people came in to gamble. Some might also go to a local pawn shop in the hopes of getting on television, but much of this was still aimed at having fun. For Daniel and Mandy, however, they were more there to see a publisher. Daniel had recently managed to get his thoughts to paper on his war experiences from World War II and was there talk with the publisher and check with the assigned editors that would check things over for grammatical mistakes in the manuscript. It was something different from what most people went to Las Vegas for, but it worked and Daniel was happy to have Mandy come with him.
"Hopefully things go well," Daniel commented as he and Mandy walked along.
"Things have gone fairly well with regard to their looking over the chapters you've finished," Mandy assured him, "and many of them seem to be rather interested in your story."
"Some of that right now is likely the seventy-fifth anniversary of D-Day and the fact that Animalia Ambassadoria gave me a great deal of coverage when I first converted," Daniel answered, "particularly when it's seemed that Las Vegas has had a great deal of interest in supporting Animalia as well. A good many of the businesses here have offered connections and contracts that have developed some of the smaller casinos in Animalia."
Mandy shrugged at that as they then came around a corner when she noted something out of the corner of her eye. She stopped and turned her head, drawing Daniel's attention to it too. On the other side of the street an elderly man was slowly walking out of a local pharmacy in the area and was undoing the paper bag that contained the pill bottle and pulling the receipt and prescription information from the bag. He stuffed the bottle and the information into his pants pocket and then dropped the bag into a nearby trash bit before walking on. However he was followed by a younger man that looked to have a gun stuffed into the waistband of his pants, and after a few steps the second man pulled out the gun and moved after the first.
"Call the cops, Mandy," Daniel said with shock and surprise and being fully prepared to duck down in case things got wild, and at the same time there were some startled screams that arose from others that were on the other side of the street.
Daniel watched as the mugger closed with the elderly man and grabbed him by the shoulder, spinning the man around so that he was looking directly into the barrel of the mugger's gun. The man gave a short gasp of surprise, which the mugger smirked at and was about to speak his threat when his target did something that was completely unexpected. The man raised his hand up quickly and caught the mugger's hand at the wrist and the arm and the gun were sent upward. The mugger lost control of the gun when the elderly man's other hand then delivered a hard punch to his abdomen. The gun clattered away and landed behind the elderly man, and it was at this point that Daniel doubled back to the corner to cross the street. There were other observers, but they'd all backed away when they saw the gun and even he wasn't about to try something foolish against a man who was armed.
However, the gun was now on the ground and if the mugger decided to try again or get to his gun, he would be able to power through the man in front of him. Daniel felt that the elderly man looked fairly fit for a man of his years, but given that he looked like he was in his seventies, it was unlikely that he could win a fistfight with someone much younger than him. However, he noted that mugger's attack was ultimately sloppy as he over stretched and threw a punch that went high and the elderly man ducked under it. The elderly man then managed a kick at the mugger's shin, which made the mugger pause and lose balance. However, the loss of balance only served to help the mugger as he ended up hopping forward and grabbing the elderly man by his shoulders. Daniel just got across the street with Mandy following as the elderly man was pulled to the ground while the mugger sat on the elderly man's chest and trying to reach for the gun, taking a knee to the back and a punch into side in the process.
The mugger was about to spring off and grab his gun when Danial arrived and grabbed the mugger by his wrist and lifted him off of the elderly man who wanted to fight to free himself but ended up catching a kick to the groin from the elderly man as a final bit of punishment. The mugger whimpered a bit while Mandy moved to help the elderly man up.
"Don't worry, sir, I called the cops, they'll be here shortly," Mandy said as she offered the man her hand to help him up. He looked at her for a moment before she added, "Don't worry, I've had my vaccinations for the year."
"More in shock and surprise that some nitwit would try to mug me and so sloppily too," the man grunted as Mandy helped him up, "his grip was lose and made no effort to restrain me. If you're going to go into close quarters combat DON'T give the opponent a chance to respond."
"You certainly gave him a lot more of a fight than he expected," Daniel commented, "though..."
"Once a Marine, ALWAYS a Marine," the man huffed, "Never backed down in my life. Served well in 'Nam... despite all the ungrateful liberals that protested me keeping THEM safe from Commies. And drilled every Marine to be as tough and skilled. I ain't about to back down before some nitwit that don't know how to take on anyone."
"And suppose he shot you, or reached his gun before Mandy and I arrived?" Daniel spoke, "I can respect toughness... and you gave him a much tougher fight that the guy expected... but if left alone... He is younger and stronger than you are. He would have eventually won. Battered and bruised maybe, but still victorious."
The mugger struggled a bit against Daniel, though he found that the Golden Retriever Animalian had the mugger securely by both arms and a strong enough grip that the mugger wasn't about to break free or get away. The mugger did remain silent, though and looked down when he realized that he wasn't going to get away.
"And it had to be on the day when I come in for my heart pills," the elderly man grumbled.
"Project Phoenix could help with that... if you're willing to be an Animalian," Daniel offered.
"And join a bunch of hippies fornicating in the desert?" the elderly man asked with narrowed eyes.
"Well not just fornicating," Daniel answered, "Right now there is the IAC. A good many will be enjoying some sport..."
"And you would be healthy... and free to help others be healthy, Mister..." Mandy commented slowly.
"Grail. Roger Grail," the elderly man commented as the sound of police sirens began to get closer, "and I'm listening... so long as no one mentions me being beaten..."
"Okay," Daniel answered, getting the sense that Roger Grail had a great deal of pride in him and didn't want to feel like he'd lost it.
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Roger Grail ultimately learned enough that he was willing to give it a bit of a try. He wasn't exactly the biggest supporter of humanoid animals and a lot of the pacifist statements that Animalians made rubbed him the wrong way. He was born after World War II and grew up through the height of the Cold War, and at a time when the world stood in fear of the world going up in a series of nuclear explosions and all the related conflict that went along with it. He'd seen the complaints at the advance of the Soviet Union in Europe and China in Asia, and that had been why he'd joined the Marines and went to Vietnam and continued to serve even after that war ended, and he'd recognized that some threats could grow in strength over time if not opposed.
In this, learning that Daniel was actually older than he was and had served IN World War II was a surprise to him. It also provided some measure of understanding for Roger Grail that Animalia's position on "war" was not what it was often made out to be. Grail had grumbled heavily over the actions of the anti-war movement in the Vietnam era and that had ultimately lead him into following more Conservative news sources that defended the military's right to do anything it wanted, which had then meant that when Animalia made pretty clear statements on pacifism, Grail had seen it reported as "Animalians hate the country and what made it great" and thus as a continuation of the same sorts of thinking that never understood why he served in Vietnam. Daniel's explanation that Animalians would volunteer if the country were invaded or there was just cause for an actual threat, and that their general stances on pacifism were more that they weren't going to just volunteer to go and attack someone for no reason other than that the government wanted to attack. Grail didn't fully agree with the reasoning, but it did manage to put things in a better light for him.
And that was what lead him to eventually make the drive up to Lyre a few days after the attempted mugging. He found things busy and bustling, which he guessed was related to what Daniel and Mandy had said about the IAC going on. He eventually made it Daniel's home in Lyre, and he found it to be rather like many other towns he'd seen. The lawn was well kept and the home relatively modest and he quietly made his way up to the front door and range the doorbell. The door ultimately opened to reveal Daniel at the door.
"Well... Sergeant Grail, good to see you again," Daniel gave a small smile, "I take it you're here to take up the offer on Project Phoenix."
"Just Roger will be fine," Grail answered, not knowing that there was already an Animalian named Roger that most of Lyre and Animalia knew of, "and yeah... If it'll ease some of my costs with regard to heart disease, I'll be fine with it... and maybe provide something tough for Animalia to take some pride in..."
"Oh?" Danial lifted one ear slightly. Grail noted that the ear largely did flop down in the way the Golden Retriever's ears normally did but the muscles at the base of the ear did raise it. "Anything in particular?"
"The Pitbull," Grail answered, "strong and healthy and more misunderstood than anything. Properly bred and trained, the dogs are just big softies. Still strong and powerful... perfect for defense, but they aren't the hyper-aggressive mean spirited dogs they're often made out to be."
"Okay... give me a moment and I can take you down to Horizon," Daniel said to him.
Grail didn't have to wait too long before Daniel came back out and they returned to Grail's car. Daniel sat down in the passenger seat and gave the turn by turn directions to Grail as they drove along. Daniel fought hard to keep from smirking as he was rather impressed with Grail's reasoning for becoming a Pitbull. The breed had a reputation for being fierce and aggressive, which would fit with Grail's references to "being tough," but he didn't describe his choice for that reason. He described the breed as being "big softies."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
They made it to Horizon safely and privately Grail was both puzzled and impressed by things. While it was on the southern edge of Lyre, much of it appeared to be laid out like a small level clinic and not like a genetics lab that had been working on a sort of supplement for livestock that would increase meat production without the perceived negatives in hormone supplements and so on. However, in the end he really couldn't complain too much. He filled out the last bits of paperwork and eventually ended up being lead by a pair of rather chatty scientists or technicians. Grail really couldn't tell which, though he did find them annoying, even if he had to put up with them to complete the process with the conversion. Thankfully Daniel had let the most flattering version of the story from Las Vegas be told. Grail liked that.
They handled the shots and then left Grail to go through the process of transforming from Human to Animalian. Even as the door shut, he could feel some of it starting. There was some increased warmth that radiated all through his body and seemed to even pulse from his core. He wasn't quite sure as to the full reason, but he moved to address some things to get ready. A fair number of Animalians stood in a digitigrade stance which showed longer feet, which meant that his shoes probably wouldn't fit and he'd noted that both Daniel and Mandy had stood taller than him when they'd met in Las Vegas. As such he bent over to untie his shoes and slip them off. As he did so he noticed his fingernails were pushing forward into short and stubby claws at the end of his fingers. At the same time, he also noticed glossy black fur beginning to grow out from his pores and covering his hand.
He mentally noted the changes and set about undoing the laces. The newly grown stubby claws helped a little and he was able to get his shoes off with little real problem. That proved to also be a good thing as just as he got his second shoe off, he could hear the bones in his feet begin to crackle and snap. At first he might have thought they were breaking, but he felt now pain and could only watch as his feet began to grow longer. He couldn't understand how that worked, but with no pain he wasn't going to complain about that either. As he slid one finger in underneath his sock, he could also feel the short fur growing there and as he pulled them off, he also found the fur to the same shade of glossy black as on his arms. Grail shrugged and stood up onto his now digitigrade paws and began to look himself over.
He was changing rapidly and the changes were accelerating. He actually felt a fair bit of tightness all through his pants and shirt, especially as he felt his muscles begin to swell. He'd generally tried to keep himself in good shape and had managed it even with some of his issues with heart disease, though he did have to privately admit that old age had been catching up with him. He gave the mugger all that he had and while he might have ultimately succeeded in forcing the mugger to flee the scene because of the witnesses, he also had to admit that even with his efforts to stay in shape and his Marine Corps training that at seventy two, he was in no condition to win an all out fight against someone in his twenties.
But now a lot of that was changing and changing quickly as he changed. It became even more clear when the first couple of buttons on his shirt actually popped out and flew through the air. Grail actually barked as he saw the small white pieces of plastic fly through the air in front of him, and that startled him even more. Not that he barked, as he knew he was becoming a Dog Animalian, but at how clearly he could hear the bark. He hadn't been losing his hearing, but things still sounded louder and sharper. Then he got the sensation that his ears were touching a lot more of his hair. That lead him to a slow walk toward a mirror that hung on a far wall that was in a corner away from the bed that was in the room. Some things pinched a bit, but it wasn't too bad, though the biggest pressure was just above his backside.
He made it to the mirror to see that many things had changed. He could feel his ears touching more of his hair because they had migrated up to the top of his head and had grown into larger triangular ears. They weren't quite like Daniel's, but they did hang down and it was the underside of Grail's triangular ears that was hitting his hair. Like the rest of his fur that he could see it was a glossy black color and Grail could see that the black fur covered his face and his skin was pulled a bit tighter and without having wrinkles or anything else. At the same time, his hair was shifting back to its normal blond color that it had been years ago before it went grey. At the same time there was a patch of white fur running from the underside of jaw and down to his chest.
"Arrrf… arrrrf… arrrrf," Grail found himself giving a series of barks as the final part of his transformation began to kick in. That came in as his face began to push forward in a series of crackling series noises as the bones in his face pushed forward to form the wide box-like muzzle that the Pitbull as a breed was known for. As it finished, Grail was able to look at himself and actually felt quite pleased. He'd need a new shirt as the top few buttons were popped off completely while his pants were just as tight. Thankfully he'd managed to get the back of his pans pulled down enough to let his tail grow out without too much difficulty. He could tell he'd gotten a lot buffer since before his transformation and feeling young, Grail was pleased.
"Looking good," Grail said slowly and feeling rather pleased and then flexed the new and reinvigorated muscle that he now had, "very good indeed."