There was an interesting bit of backstory for the September issue's cover image. The editors wanted to expose as much of their muscular upper bodies as possible and the obvious solution would have them wearing swimsuits. This wasn't that much of a problem as it was unseasonably hot for September. The three of them didn't really mind wearing swimsuits for the cover of a magazine either. The main problem was that two of them couldn't resist teasing the third.
"This young bull is getting bold, wouldn't you say?" asked Angie.
"Uh, what do you mean?" asked Dan.
"Oh like you weren't trying to cop a feel during the pose," said Angie.
"What? No I wasn't," protested Dan.
"You did have your hands pretty close to our chests," said Ochekka.
"Hey, there's not a lot of room to put my lower hands," said Dan.
"You could have held our shoulders or our waists," said Ochekka.
"But your arms were getting in the way," protested Dan.
"And I thought he had more experience with four arms than we did," said Ochekka.
"Oh, he's had experience alright," said Angie in a coy tone.
"Ladies, ladies, leave the steer alone," said the photographer, "We got other pictures to shoot."
"Right," said Dan before pausing, "Wait, doesn't 'steer' mean something specific?"
"Sure, it means the same thing as 'ox'," said Angie.
"An 'ox' is just a bull, right?" asked Dan.
"Well, minus a few features," said Angie.
"People, can we please focus on-" started the photographer before yelping and running away as Dan ran after him.
Angie and Ochekka chuckled as Dan attempted to grab the photographer. "You think we're being a little too hard on him?" asked Ochekka.
"Oh, he knows it's in good fun," said Angie, "He isn't even going to harm that guy. At least he didn't call him a heifer."
"Still, it might not be easy for him since we're older," said Ochekka.
"That's a matter of relevance," said Angie, "I'm not flaunting my adulthood...that much."
Ochekko didn't comment on it. In truth, she was the only true adult among the three of them. While Dan was still a single dose and Angie was double-dosed, Ochekka was a fully-grown frog before her uplifting. She wasn't quite sure how frog Animalians matured, or even if they went through a tadpole phase. But she knew the difference enough to know she was already in her prime when she was brought into the lab...
==========
The Pacific tree frog wasn't that remarkable compared to other tree frogs. Yes, they had the ability to change their skin between green and brown, but such adaptations aren't unusual in the animal kingdom. The Pacific tree frog did take longer compared to an anole though. Really, they were only notable feature that was of interest to Horizon Labs was their vulnerability to the Ribeiroia parasite. These parasitic worms had a tendency to infect tadpoles, particularly in or around the developing limb buds. This caused the tadpoles to develop either an excess of limbs or not grow all they need. Such things often hampered the frog and made them easier targets for predators.
The tree frog that would become Ochekka was one of the luckier ones. She had developed a pair of vestigial legs on her back which didn't impede her ability to crawl or hop. She was also lucky enough to be found by the right scientific team who didn't want to dissect her to see how her mutated body works. Instead, the tree frog was taken to the lab for an experiment relating to her extra limbs.
"The virus won't do anything to the parasites inside it, right?" asked one scientist.
"Of course not," said the other, "The Animalia virus has no effects on invertebrates. If anything, the virus will wipe them out since they will be seen as a threat to the host."
"We probably ought to give it a few antiparasitic drugs afterwards, just in case," said the first scientist.
"What drugs would work on trematodes?" asked the second.
"Well, they're essentially worms, so I may prescribe antihelmintics at first," said the first.
But first, the tree frog had to be uplifted. That was a simple matter in itself. As frogs drank through their skin, all they had to do was drip a water solution containing the Animalia virus onto the frog's back, between the vestigial legs. Before long, the changes started. Though since a frog's form was already so close to a human's in shape, the changes mainly consisted of the frog growing larger at first. Though a notable change was occurring with the vestigial legs starting to get bigger and stronger. Eventually, the limbs started sliding down its sides until they came to rest under the new arms, which they began copying.
As the frog became bigger, it became clear of what sex it was. The waist was collapsing inwards to a pleasing shape while the hips and rear became rounder in an appealing way. To erase any doubt, a pair of lumps appeared on the chest, low enough to not be mistake for the vocal sac, which was smaller in the female anyways. The lumps expanded into fuller orbs as nipples appeared on them. A pair of new hands began examining the new breasts while the other pair of hands pressed against the table as she sat up in a new way for her body.
When the transformation stopped, the tree frog examined her new body. "I don't know why, but I feel cleansed," she said. She flexed her four arms and said, "Stronger too."
"Well, the parasites in your body may have been flushed out by the virus," said one scientist.
"What virus?" asked the tree frog.
"The Animalia virus that made you into what you are now," said the other scientist, "There are other animals that have been uplifted and people converted. There's a big global community now."
"But not many like me?" asked the tree frog, "I know that not all the other frogs like me lasted long."
"No, four-armed Animalians are a recent thing," said one scientist.
"But we can show you how to use your new arms," said the other.
"I think I will need to learn," said the tree frog, crossing her arms.