On the way home, Timothy spotted a cute tabby cat, and without thinking, bent down to stroke it. It brushed its head against his legs and purred, and walked off quickly. Thinking nothing of it, he continued walking.
Moments later, the Medallion momentarily felt intensely hot in his hand, and he winced and dropped it on the grass. To his surprise, when he looked at his hand there wasn't even a hint of a burn. But he did notice something weird on his hand- tiny pinpricks of hair were spreading across it, even on his palm. He saw that the same thing was happening to the other hand. His skin was tingling all over, and he felt a sudden ache in his bones and joints like they were moving in unnatural directions. Wondering what the hell was going on, he found a secluded spot under a tree and pulled off his shoes and socks. His feet had totally changed shape, being long and slim so that he could pretty much only stand on the front half, and his toes had shrunken to small paws.
Despite his shock, a combination of instinct, recognition of what was happening to him and the itchiness of his top half compelled him to pull off his T-shirt, and he realized fur had pretty much covered his body. Pretty soon, his arms shortened and changed into front legs, leaving him on all fours. He tried to cry for help, but his face had reconfigured to be wholly catlike too, and he was only able to make a few confused mewls.
He wiggled out of his oversized jeans and pants, his furry body now totally naked. Suddenly another weird feeling came to him: he groaned as a pressure built up at his back, and a long protrusion pushed from above his butt. Semi-consciously, it started wiggling around, and when he looked behind him, he realized he had a tail now.
Despite the rapid and dramatic changes to his body, Timothy was still the same person in terms of his intelligence. Understandably, he was confused and scared by what had happened to his body, but even so, he noticed something: the patterns on his front legs and belly were exactly the same as the cat he'd been stroking just now. So, he inferred, the medallion must allow him to change into animals he touched! Possibly people too!
First things first, he thought, he'd go find that cat, try and touch it again, and see if that could turn him back to normal. But before he could focus on this task, more changes suddenly affected his body.