On a foggy morning, along the edge of a cobblestone bridge sat a fat green frog. It croaked occasionally, blinking even less frequently, basking in the morning dew. The fog a short distance away began to part, and out from it came a small group of women. They were dressed in different outfits, two were in dresses, one in a skirt and another just wearing tight jeans with a tank top.
They all stopped in place once they saw the frog, gently hiding some shopping bags they had with them behind their legs. The redhead in the skirt took the initiative, walking up to the frog with a stern face. She stopped just at its feet, with her hands firmly on her hips.
"Alright alright we're back. Open it up." She commanded.
The frog remained seated, not reacting to her presence.
"Look I know it's been a an extra day, but we were exhausted, and reality had changed so we got some Starbucks and relaxed that night. And yesterday we made our way over here slowly, and sure we stopped a bit for some shopping but we, like, didn't have anything to wear other then some sweaty jogging outfits! So yeah, we're here now. I'll take the chief's fury." She explained rapidly.
The frog just croaked.
"Ugh, my god why are you so difficult you enchanted lawn decoration... Gamma Alpha Idaho, Dash Tango Delta Sussex." She muttered.
"Welcome back captain." The frog croaked, smirking slightly. "I like the new look. *CROAK*, You gonna keep it?"
"As if toad." She sneered.
"Ooo, ouch, you're not normally that snappy." The frog responded sarcastically. "Let me guess. *CROAK* Reality change?"
"Yeah, you guessed it hun." The blonde spoke up, twirling her ponytail sadly. "We couldn't even say our own names, and could barely focus on gettin back. That shop did a numbah on us." She sighed.
"Alright, come on in. Head to the debrief room, I'm sure the Chief will wanna hear about any leads you got." The frog added, swiveling slightly as a doorframe appeared out of the mist.
"Ay, sí... leads." The Latina chuckled, stuffing her empty Starbucks cup into her bag.
The four women walked through the door frame, and as soon as the last high heel was through the entryway vanished. The empty bridge returned to its quiet, fog covered appearance, with only the occasional croak of a frog to be heard alongside the small creak below.
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The women entered and smiled, looking around the Magic Protection Department. They had entered into the main foyer of the establishment. It was a large brick and metal room, but one that was larger than an indoor amusement park with a glass dome of a ceiling. Tubes were etching in and out of the wall as several people zoomed through them. Many people walked around, mostly officers and other workers.
It was established decades ago. In a world where magical items are everywhere, there needs to be those who are ready to defend the people who know nothing of this world. There are reality altering computer programs, mind altering common shop items, and even odd stuff like sex changing flashlights. With this kind of danger, they needed to have something to defend them. They looked out across the building to see if they recognized anyone.
There was a Latina officer, blowing bubblegum as she eyed the women who entered. Nearby was a panicked dog, being pulled along by two male officers towards decontamination. A pregnant woman was crying at a desk across from an office worker, both having an intense conversation. A group of babies were being pushed in strollers by office workers, all crying as they waved around what were likely their formerly fitting police hats.
There were even more changed people and workers, but the women's attention were drawn to an Alpaca with a tailored M.P.D. SWAT uniform walk up to them. The alpaca let out a deep, manly sigh through a necklace around its neck.
"Let me guess McNeil, You team didn't have any better luck?" It asked.
"Hey Charlie... and no, I can't even say my real name. We got hit with a bad reality-type formula... what about you?" She asked.
"Yeah, mine was just a transmogrification standard type. It's just a minor curse, so no reality change and I keep my mind intact, but logistics said I'd be stuck as a female Alpaca for at least a week." He sighed. "You have no idea how hard it was to sneak back here without some animal control wrangling me up."
"Damn sweetie, I'm so sorry." The blonde former officer spoke up. "That sucks major horse manure."
"It's not so bad. They're gonna tell my family I went on a stakeout case for a few days. Until then I'll hang tight in the Transformation Accident Farm hospital division till I turn back. Could've been worse too. Dale's stuck as a Horse for a few weeks, and Helen's a poodle for at least a month." He added with a sigh.
"Come on Captain, let's get you going." An employee said, tying a lead to his mouth.
"Is it really necessary to remove my uniform?" He asked as the two walked off.
"Sorry Captain, standard procedure, we can't have the public asking too many questions. You'll keep the thought-to-speak necklace so just stay silent and try act like a normal Alpaca when around citizens." The employee responded sadly as they turned a corner.
"Goodness me." The brunette chimed in. "We certainly ended up with a better deal, right Monica?" She asked.
"Yeah Della, we did." She sighed. "At least there's didn't have any reality change. I'd love to call ourselves by our normal names and stop acting so... girly." She sneered, tugging her breasts.
"Come on girls." The blonde chimed in. "Who cares about names! I'm a southern lady named Claire, captain's A redhead named Monica, Della's a British brunette, and Stella's a busty-" She began before Stella cut her off.
"Watch it chica." She growled, finding herself embarrassed as she began to recognize coworkers who were staring here and there.
"What I'm sayin hon, is that it don't matter what happened to us, we got a perp on the loose! They're goin around changin people who don't know no better. Imagine if a child got a hold a dat reality change juice? We gotta focus." She explained.
"Claire is right." Monica sighed. "And our first task, is to change back... and to do that, we got to debrief... with the chief." She gulped, looking up at a large dragon statue in the middle of the centre. The dragon of the M.P.D. is who they had to talk with.