When Nancy woke up in the morning, she had momentarily forgotten that she slept on the brand-new bed instead of the pulled-out one. “It is fortunate that your room is big enough to fit the entire bed,” she murmured in her pillow. After a beat or two of silence, Nancy moved her head up to see what had become of her bed buddy.
There was a bunch of tossed sheets and blankets that showed that someone was sleeping in it but was absent. Wondering what happened to Charlotte, Nancy sat up in her bed and tried to reflect on what happened to her friend. Then she heard some noises coming down the hall.
Thinking that it might be Charlotte, Nancy got out of the comfortable bed and quietly made her way to the rest of the house. As she tip-toed her way through the house, Nancy could tell that the sounds were coming from the kitchen. “She must be making breakfast for the both of us,” Nancy mused to herself. Not wanting to ruin the surprise, Nancy made her way back to the bedroom with a spring in her step.
Once she got to her destination, Nancy got back in bed and settled inside. She left the door open to make it easier for her friend to come in with the food. “I wonder what she is making for breakfast?” Nancy softly said in the empty room. “Eggs and toast, pancakes and sausage, or maybe waffles with some fresh berries on top.” As she pondered about what Charlotte would be bringing in, Nancy could hear that the rustling in the kitchen had ended.
With bated breath, Nancy tosses the sheets back on her and pretends to still be asleep. She could hear Charlotte making her way back to the bedroom, all the while cursing under her breath. “Damn it! Why is this tail so thick and fluffy? That’s the eighth time that I knocked stuff down because of this tail.”
With her eyes still closed, Nancy could hear Charlotte approaching the mammoth bed that she was lying in. “Wake up sleepyhead,” Charlotte said once she got to Nancy's side of the bed. “I made breakfast for the both of us, if you don’t mind that is.” Nancy opened her eyes to see Charlotte, finally seeing her newest form for the first time of the day.
With her stature and figure back to their nominal sizes, Charlotte was wearing a spaghetti-strap tank top and a pair of hot pants that she had just thrown on while she worked on breakfast. But Charlotte’s changing figures were old hat by now, so that wasn’t what surprised Nancy. No, what was slightly surprising to Nancy was Charlotte's extra features that sprouted out of her.
The first thing that Nancy saw was Charlotte’s skin was covered with short fur and taken a reddish-orange coloration. There was another major palette swap that happened to Charlotte but it only affected the hair on her head, changing from being a dark brunette to a blonde yellow. As a matter of fact, Charlotte’s hair not only changed color but it had grown out too. Enough so that there it was wrapped around her neck to look like a mane.
Momentarily distracted by the change in hue, Nancy was silent as Charlotte placed the tray down near the foot of the bed. In doing so, Nancy could see some more that the nanomachines had done to Charlotte. Poking out above her covered butt was a tail, most likely to be the same tail that Charlotte was condemning earlier. But unlike the previous transformations, where their tails were thin with little to no amount of fur, this one had gone in the opposite direction and had become very bushy.
Looking up to see her thoughtful friend’s face, Nancy was taken aback at what else had made her into a furry again. She still has her eyes and mouth as a human but everything else has developed an animalistic look to it. The nose that graced Charlotte’s face has grown out and gained a small black point to it, almost like a dog’s nose. And on top of her head that is sticking out of her tied-up hair are long, fuzzy ears with a dark interior.
“Well now,” Nancy said when she finished gawking at her friend, “Look like you have turned back into a furry for what the second time?” Charlotte sat on the foot of the bed, leaving the tray full of food between the two of them before answering her friend’s question. “If we count the two times I had more than two legs, fourth.” Hearing the word “legs” has sent Nancy’s wandering eyes to gaze downward at Charlotte’s.
While they were also covered in the same reddish-orange fur as the rest of her body, Charlotte’s feet had undergone a feature that animal lovers desire. There, right where her feet should be, are three little toes that (when Charlotte raised them) had yellow paw pads on them. Charlotte smiled when she followed where her friend was looking at. “I know, right? I have little toe beans!”
“Hold on now,” Nancy said as she went to grab her laptop that was charging nearby. “I know that you are a furry (“Understatement of the century,” mumbled Charlotte as she flicked her ear at the thought) but I don’t recognize the breed.” Charlotte looked down at herself and said, “I think I’m a dog. Maybe I’m a mixed breed and I am a combination of a bunch of dogs.” Nancy was silent as she typed away on her laptop. Silent until she had found what she was looking for.
“Ah. So that is what you had turned into.” Now curious about what breed she has, Charlotte pleads to Nancy with her fluffy tail swinging around behind her like crazy. “Please tell me I have some husky in me! Husky or even a malamute will do!” Nancy smiled behind the screen, a certain smile that spelled out bad tiding for Charlotte. “Tell me, Charlotte. How much do you know about Pokemon?”
“How much do I know about Pokemon,” Charlotte repeated after being taken aback at the sudden subject change. “I played the app game when it came out years ago but I stopped playing because it was draining my phone battery too fast, why?” Nancy’s grin grew wider because she too had played the game for a short while. “Because what you had turned into is a Pokemon called Flareon but anthropomorphic instead of what it looked like in the games.”
Nancy turned her computer screen around to show Charlotte what she should’ve looked like. On the screen is a dog-like animal that has the same features that she has, from her lengthy ears on her head to the paws where her feet used to be with a fluffy tail that she despised. “Flareon. Flareon!” Charlotte said then once more with so much emotion that she got off her bed, “That explains everything!”
Feeling like she was left out of something important, Nancy asked her excited friend, “That explains what exactly?” Charlotte stopped her frantic explosion and said, “Well, ever since I woke up this morning, I feel very warm for some reason like I was sick. And then, when I was making breakfast, a breath of fire came out of my mouth.”
At the sound of the word “breakfast”, both girls' stomachs growled. When the announcement for food had ended, everyone broke out laughing. “Let’s eat this delightful meal that you made for the two of us. And afterward, I will do the dishes,” Nancy said as she grabbed a fork to eat the plateful of eggs and sausage. If Charlotte’s fur wasn’t already red, it grew redder at the mention of doing the dishes.
“Um, Nancy,” Charlotte said sheepishly. “Yes, Charlotte.” “When I said I breathe fire while making breakfast, what I meant was that I breathe fire on the breakfast.” Nancy put down the fork that had another bite full of eggs. “So you meant to say that there are more dishes for me to do after this.” Charlotte shook her head and said smiling, “No, no, no. There are no extra dishes for you to do. It's just that I burned the first foods to a crisp and melted the plates with it.”
Nancy resumed eating after a solid moment at how much damage Charlotte had done with one breath. “Well, then after salvaging what we can save from the damage that you had done, I’m going to see how I am going to “train” you to be a better Flareon.” The furry Flareon just sat there, eating a sausage and wondering what type of “training” Nancy had in mind.