Contrary to all the girls’ expectations, Kyle slowly began to smile. His whole face gradually contorted into an inane grin, despite their obviously menacing intentions. When he finally did speak, his tone was sarcastic and mocking, showing no hint of surprise or fear.
"Oh no! Woe is me! I am undone!" Extravagant, over exaggerated hand gestures accompanied these remarks, as Kyle seemingly joked about his predicament. "I never thought that the power would be turned against me! I... I..gnk..." he began laughing outright, doubling over as he shook with mirth. After a brief bizarre interlude, he straightened back up and shook his head. "Sorry, I just can't keep a straight face..." His voice disappeared into soft chuckles once more.
Jennifer had had enough. After all this she wasn't going to put up with being mocked when she was trying to make him pay. She decided to assert her authority. She glared at him fiercely and spat, "You’d better choose soon, or you'll get both. And I WILL make that very unpleasant."
Kyle matched her stare effortlessly, despite the differences in their heights. All traces of amusement drained rapidly from his face. When he spoke again, his tone was cold and hard; faintly unsettling the girls despite the power the curse gave them.
"Oh, I have to choose do I? Well, let me see... I believe I shall choose... secret option c)..."
Jennifer never saw the blow coming. In an instant Kyle's fist swung out from his side and hit her solidly across the face.
"...No."
The brutal force of the punch lifted Jennifer up and spun her around, throwing her down onto the lawn beside the door. She hit the ground hard, her heavy landing almost comically offset by the sight of her fluffy tail slowly draping across her still body. She didn't get up.
“Just you try and curse me while you’re fucking unconscious!” Kyle yelled after her. The rest of the girls were too stunned by this sudden turn of events to react. For a few seconds all they could do was watch Kyle as he stood panting and furious in his doorway. Slowly his head turned, and his anger was brought to bear against the rest of them. "You think you can just come in here and do that to me?! You think I'm not prepared for your pathetic little schemes?! Do you honestly believe I'm so goddamn stupid that I wouldn't expect you to use the curse against me?! God, you cheerleaders are all so fucking brainless!"
He stepped forward, shrugging off his dressing gown as we went, revealing the fact that he was wearing nothing but boxers. As the gown fell away the girls were further astounded by his change. Rather than the weakling they were expecting, Kyle somehow had the body of a professional athlete. In fact, given his stance and actions, the first phrase that came to Liz’s mind was ‘professional boxer’ (well, after ‘Holy Shit’ anyway). It wasn't just his muscles that were surprising; simply by straightening up he had seemingly grown several inches. He appeared now to be looming dangerously over them, when just a few moments ago they were each taller than his hunched form. But easily the most terrible thing about him was his anger. An impossible wealth of pent-up rage and aggression was spilling out uncontrollably, locking his face in an expression of intense, maniacal fury.
"You bitches want to have another fucking go?! Well bring it the FUCK on!"
A brief lull followed this last outburst as Kyle glowered at each of the girls in turn. Then, quietly and unexpectedly, an unusual sound started. It began just on the edge of hearing, but it gained rapidly in volume. Jill was growling.
Kyle reacted to this with typical confidence. He turned to Jill and attempted to face her down. "What, you think you can take me? I admit those claws look pretty sharp; but do you have even the slightest idea how to actually fucking USE them? When you were wishing up your outrageously large rack, did you even consider adding in the knowledge of how to fight with your new form? 'Cos let me tell you, if you don't have a clue how to fight with claws, or hell, how to fight at all, I can put you down just as easily as I did her." He jerked his thumb in the direction of Jennifer’s still-recumbent form.
To her credit, Jill didn't back down, even with Kyle’s face leering just inches away from her own. She stood stock still, clenching her hands in frustration as she reflected angrily on the truth in Kyle’s words. Kyle on the other hand had turned back to the group and was still raving triumphantly.
"The same thing goes for all of you! You might have a mighty sharp set of teeth now Liz, but I'll wager you’ve got no idea how to bite with them. As for you two," he looked scornfully at Claire and Daisy, "you look like the worst thing you could do in a fight was be somebody's punching bag. Hell, the only one out of all of you that has me the least bit concerned is skunk-girl over there. I'm thinking I really don't want to be sprayed with whatever you got loaded under that tail of yours."
Diana flinched slightly as Kyle’s attention focused on her, but she was determined not to back down. She defiantly stood her ground as he shouldered his way towards her.
"Now I know what you're thinking," Kyle continued menacingly. "Could I turn around and spray him before he lays me out. Well, to be honest with you, in the heat of the moment and everything, I'm not quite sure myself.”
Kyle was running purely on adrenaline now. Diana could see the muscles on his arms bulge and his fists twitch involuntarily as his system writhed in rage-fuelled overdrive.
"So I guess you gotta ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky?”
Kyle’s eyes were losing their focus. It was as if he was reading a script written inside his own skull.
“Well, do ya? Skunk!"