It's really really hot in the toon desert. Who would have ever thought that a desert that was in a land of cartoons would actually be like this?! For all John knew, this could have been the real thing.
But despite how hot he was, John still kept on his shirt at least. Thank goodness for him it was off-white, but his jacket that he had worn was getting hot. Knowing that he probably had to keep it (especially since he didn't keep his cell phone in his pants pocket) he wrapped it around his waist. Dorky, yes, but in this weather? you had to do that.
John finally was on the verge of collapsing when he finally sighted water. FINALLY! at least he could cool himself off. If this was a desert, it would have been a mirage but definitely not, this was just a really hot Grassland. (John and Carrie had been from a rather cool region, and coastal.)
While the water was somewhat cloudy, it was actually freshwater. And fortunately for him in Toonland, he didn't have to worry at all about something like parasites and bacterial infection. Especially when one was burning hot. John just walked towards there but then realized that his cell phone was likely not waterproof. Even if this was Toonland, it was still human-made, so he quickly took his jacket off and put it on a nearby tree. Just as a safety precaution, he also set his wallet in there as well. Due to some terrorists coming from the anime section, it never hurt to have identification, especially if you happened to be made into a toon or flattened in some way.
John immediately flopped right onto the lake and sucked water in through his mouth. It was a little cooler than the air, but water nonetheless. The man was so thirsty, he drank until he felt his stomach expand.
"Okay," He said, pulling his soaked face out and shaking it from side to side, not knowing that his skin seemed to be a little brown from the dirt. He laid down on his back in the sweltering sun, not caring about his dirty face or how much his stomach was hurting. Before he had to make ANY progress, he had to lay down and allow his body to absorb some of that water. How on earth he wasn't already vomiting it all out was easily a violation of a law of physics.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn't exactly familiar with how Toon World worked. See, in Toon World, one can actually BECOME a cartoon in many ways. There is of course getting painted, putting on a costume, or doing something else. And of course, he did something else that would in fact result in the gradual toonification. Breaking the laws of physics was one of the guaranteed ways to become a toon.
What John was unaware of, was that he had broken the laws of physics, even if he wondered just ever so slightly why he wasn't already doing something. What he didn't think of was when he drank so much water it literally expanded his stomach, he should have stopped and thrown up due to drinking so fast. Except he didn't, meaning the laws of physics were broken like glass windows and ear drums in Anime land, and thus he was going to be toonified.
Being inside this specific locality of Toon World of course wouldn't have helped. John actually dozed off, and while he did, his skin had thickened to Toon Skin, more like the hide of a...dare I say, hippopotamus?
Finally he woke up, and he was HOT.
"UGH DAMMIT," John moaned as he stood up and stripped off ALL his clothing. As John removed his boxers, a small tail emerged from his tailbone, out of sight, out of mind. The bulging human, slowly becoming a cartoonic life form fell into the water, creating a huge splash. It felt so much cooler to him right now, and in fact, he seemed to be floating a little. Unknowing to him, fat floated. Hippoes floated....and he started to float on his back, eyes closed.
"This is actually getting weird," he said in a deepening voice, but to him, this actually sounded normal. Surprisingly, he noticed his hands.
"ACK! WHAT HAPPENED?!" he yelled as he noticed that he now had only three-fingered hands reminiscent of a cartoon. Specifically, a hippo.
"N-No!" he said, splashing in the water as his belly increased even more, more fat built around as his body mass nearly doubled, "I don't wanna be a hippo! Not now!"
All of a sudden, a current swept him off his balance and he fell back, fat body floating. He tried to kick against the current, but he was swept into the river. AS he did, he banged his face against a rock, and it felt like it was swelling.
In fact it was, as it slowly protruded and then inflated, forming a hippopotamus's nose. He was an anthropomorphic hippo right now, a cartoon hippo. And still one being swept away, away from his worldy possessions and clothes he wouldn't fit into.
"STOP NOOO!" He yelled, finally catching himself on a rock, that barely even hurt.
"Shitfuck," he swore, "I didn't intend that to happen!
And of course, having broken the laws of physics he was now a toon, who was thus immune to them, or actually followed their own. Finally climbing out of the water, he ambled over to his clothes, that were now way too small for him.
"Great, just great," he moaned, "How'm I gonna save Carrie right now?"