(A/N: Geeze, I hope I didn't tick you off with my previous episode. When I saw Loony
starting to add episodes I was left kinda stunned... mostly cause his character was totally
out of the blue and I felt their introduction was totally illogical (and seemed to be buddy
buddy with a character from just about every faction!) and felt like a character born to be a
plot device to fix everything. And the idea of a new set of antagonists completely ruins the
sense of conclusion the story was reaching before. However, as they saying goes, 'I have
stood all I can stand and I shall stand no more and get back to writing my own episodes.)
Trevor knew he was dreaming this time, his mind not hand waving the logic of him being
in a bus station with the kittens playing with a ball of yarn larger than Paul while perfectly
normal humans with animal heads went about their daily business going this way and that
politely stepping around the cats.
"This is one weird dream." Trevor said.
"Forgive me for saying so dear," Said Queen some space away from him, "But you aren't
fairly messed up in the head."
"I can't deny that coming from you." Trevor said turning to look at the queen tabby, she
had a red collar around her neck connected by a red chain to a red grip that Trevor had his
left paw over.
"Queen?"
"I'm sorry Trevor, you keep waking me up. And that shouldn't be possible for a cat... I
think I've become like that black cat Judas, I'm 'tainted', but it doesn't -feel- like a taint, it
feels like the universe is bigger somehow, that I can ... that I can... I don't know. But I feel
-larger- somehow."
Trevor thought of everything he had done with Madam Serenity, "... join the club...
Queen... what is that thing around your neck?"
Queen looked at the bus waiting outside the station then back at Trevor, "Your unresolved
feelings for me hold me prisoner here Trevor."
"...What?"
"I can't be free until you let me and yourself be free."
"Queen, stop talking in riddles I'm a fellow cat aren't I? What do you mean?"
Queen pleaded with tears in her eyes, "Trevor... you need to let me go!"
"I, I can't!" A another chain appeared this one was black connected from her collar to a
shackle around his left front paw.
"Trevor, animals or people, I was just becoming aware of life's possibilities when the
monster killed me, but I do know this much. Death isn't something to be loved or
admired, but it's not something to be ignored or trivialized either! Animals don't come
back from the dead Trevor not ever."
"NO!" Trevor snarled, another red chain, this one a lot thicker and heavier, this one nearly
caused Queen's head to hit the floor, and this one ended up being connected right around
Trevor's own neck, "This game can do anything right-?! It can make anything happen
right-?! Then I can make it so you come back to life! If Jesus can resurrected Lazarus then
I can bring you back!!"
"Trevor," Queen shuddered her ears on flattening on the top of her head, "Please stop,
you're not a god, you don't have the right to make that call."
"Cats were worshiped as sacred by the Egyptians weren't they?!" Another chain, this one
twisted and warped.
"And were called agents of evil in other places... Trevor, stop, please stop. ... I'm not
coming back.. but unless you free us both I can never leave! Our kittens were a possibility
Trevor, one that can no longer be. Just stop. Please. Don't you think I'd beg scream whine
and plead to everything and everyone if I thought it could bring us back together? Do you
think I WANT our kittens never to be born?... But they're never going to be born Trevor... "
Queen moved, the chains binding her to Trevor making the task not an easy one, she
came close and nuzzled him, "You are a most unusual tom, you caused me to become
quite the unusual queen. Because I want something that has nothing to do with continuing
the species as I've produced with many other toms, and thus goes against the rules. I want
you to be -happy-. And you can only find happiness again, is if you let me go... I want
you to move on Trevor, so please, let ME move on! SHOW ME YOU'RE BRAVE ENOUGH!!"
Trevor was thunder struck. He opened and closed his mouth several times. He looked at
the litter he would never have.
"... Trevor... you're not a coward."
".... go on, you don't wanna miss your bus."
The chains shattered into nothing as the collars and grips fell apart, the kittens vanished,
Queen licked his face once and leapt across the court and onto the bus. The bus driver
gave Trevor a pleasant wave, Trevor gave the dark robed skeleton the single most defiant
look he could. The bus then drove away Queen giving Trevor one last wave.
+++++++++
"Sorry about that," Brian apologized to Serenity for his attitude, "Felicity and I were playing
bad cop/good cop with Ashley before the police came trying to get anything out of her but
she was as fanatic as a cultist. And to be frank, the way you've described Jensen so far is
as something that's inhuman, the way those wolves acted was certainly inhuman enough."
Serenity nodded calmly and cooly, "Then I'm glade we got it settled between us then
before I stereotyped you as blind blood thirsty zealot killers just looking for excuses to
murder someone."
Brian and Felicity just nodded, "That would hardly be civilized."
On the irony of being civilized, there was a strangely liberating feeling the lions felt at
going around in the fur.
'Maybe civilized has more to do with how you treat your fellow person?' Felicity thought,
'No one had given us anymore of a look than you would any extra unique person, and
we're in the middle of a police station and no one has once offered us a towel or
threatened to arrest us for public nudity! And I think... I think I LIKE it... ' Felicity looked
down at her own maternal material, finally having a breather to do so, they were fairly
correct given her new size, but still decidedly smaller then she thought they'd be given her
new height 'Then again, it's the lioness that does the hunting, it not biologically logical for
me to carrying around a lot of dead weight if I'm doing that.'
"DID SHE SAY Jennifer Smith?!" Said a tabby as it burst into the office being carried by a
orangoutang.
-Everyone- turned to look at them.
"Did the wolf say Jennifer Smith? Was that the name they gave as 'The Master?' "
Everyone nodded.
"I don't believe it..." Trevor whispered, "I just don't."
"Trevor what is it?" Mary asked her fellow feline.
"Jennifer Smith was a hot girl I was on the list for being to date along with a bunch of
other guys... rich family, treated anyone she didn't like as if they were dirt and treated her
friends like they were going to be her commanding officers for her army after she
conquered the world. Or that's how I saw her."
"And you wanted to still date her?" the cub Mary asked.
"She was rich, she was pretty, she knew how to please a guy, she knew how to take
command of a situation, she knew what she wanted and how to take it, those were traits I
admired at the time."
"And now?"
"Ask me again when I figured how what part is my own choices and what part is my brain
chemistry."
"Would someone mind tell me who just burst into MY office?" Gill asked not amused by
this in the least.
"Gill," Serenity said, "This is Trevor, a high school student perma-cursed into a cat, and
this is Paul, brother of the priest I mentioned before who gave me the formula for the
cure."
"Heel-low." The great ape said.
"Yo."
"And why are they here?" Gill asked agitated.
"Trevor is my work partner now, and Paul has insisted on being my body guard until the
pack is no longer a threat."
"Surprised you'd let anyone get permanently involved in your work."
"Trevor is like me, and so is Paul, and pretty much every changed in this room, the curse
can't restore us, so we aren't in danger."
Felicity said, "Ashley I think proved that there is no such thing as the 'truly locked' form."
Felicity looked at Chief Gill, "So are you a cursed too sir?"
"What would make you say that?"
"You're the only police officer we've met so far whose recognized us being lion people as
being a result of the curse."
"YOU'RE KIDDING!" Bobbi declared. Looking at the lion people in the room, "But I
REMEMBER seeing you people around town."
"Also odd that Bobbi in spite of being a changed by the curse didn't recognize them as
being altered." Serenity said.
Mary held her head, "This curse makes my head hurt!"
"Join the club sissy cat!" Trevor snapped.
"Is that how you speak to your friends brat?" Gill said to the cat.
"What friends?"
"Don't you have any friends?"
"If I make friends, anything I say or try to communicate with them becomes meaningless
babble, the jerkass who cursed me was a sadistic maniac in my humble opinion."
Paul was luckier in that regard, his speaking was clumsy, but he could still write well
enough, and his sign language (for those who understood it) was flawless.
"I don't recall seeing a missing person report for a 'Trevor' ever... " Gill said, his secret
shame at not facing the curse left him memorizing missing person reports knowing they
were likely a octopus in someone's basement somewhere or someone's new solid gold
figurine.
Trevor shivered, "My Dare was to fake my suicide...."
"Did you contact your family?"
"It all becomes meows to them, weather it's written, typed, or spoke, doesn't matter."
Gill himself shivered, most people weren't this thorough in this sadistic descriptions when
they cursed someone. Most gave the victim a lope-sided fighting chance for their own
amusement, sounded like whoever had cursed Trevor had made sure there was no way to
win."
Now that Gill had gotten Trevor started he had to say the lot, "And to top it off that I'd die
-within twenty years-... It's a giant russian roulette!"
"Isn't it 'die at the end of twenty years?" Mary asked.
"No, it's WITHIN twenty years, it doesn't matter if it's been two years or nineteen, twenty is
simply when I loose automatically, like a game with a timer, doesn't matter if I have eight
lives left at the end, I suffer a fatal heart attack at a wild card value or get hit by a random
car. This guy made sure that this curse would do me NO FAVORS. He left the ability for me
to speak but never to friends or family to MOCK ME!"
++++++
Ashley sat in her cell docile, across on the other side of the bars (the mirror removed at
her own request) she was giving in-depth details of the pack's other victims. The one's
acting the question were two of the cops from the group of twelve who didn't look the
other way from the game. One was a round man with glasses, the other was a fairly well
built man scars around his neck and hands.
"Shadows?" The round one (Berry) asked curiously.
"They're basically empty shells now that act as Jess and Bart's arms and legs outside of the
estate. They were actually changed by a Dare rather than a Transform."
The scarred one (Ben) asked, "Are they sealed like you?"
"No sir."
"So just the wolves have forms that are sealed?"
"Yes, but the deer can't speak to anyone but other deer."
"Hey guys." Said another of the twelve officers, this one an African named Gary sticking his
head down the hallway. "How's it going?"
"She's singing like a bird almost. It seems that transform Bobbi said Mrs. Hardy used on
her really undid nearly any brainwashing she had."
Ashley hugged herself at the discussion, 'I, I'm glade I can think clearly again but... I'm
also glade I didn't stop loving Master or stop loving the pack... ' Ashley thought of being
stripped of those emotions and the feeling at the conception was absolutely horrid. Ashley
didn't care if it was part of the brainwashing or not, she didn't care if she used to be
human and male or not. They were her -pack-, she couldn't just leave them. And she
didn't want to lose the emotions she felt for them either. "Please don't talk like I'm not
here sir."
The cops looked at each other, knowing the girl was ultimately just a victim of the curse
and from the sound of it, so was her Master. People doing each other in by the curse
wasn't really that uncommon, but having the two then WORK TOGETHER was completely
unheard of, most just figured out a way to get the victim to give the curse harmlessly back
to them, having a -partner- someone who the turn holder TRUSTED was completely
unheard of.
"Sorry." Berry said rather unsure of how to deal with this, the girl had been under the
influence of the curse from all accounts, so what she did she didn't do of her own choices,
but of course the police didn't officially 'recognize' the curse's existence... leaving a lot of
people effectively getting away with murder (as the special wing in the Glendale art gallery
would bear witness to).
"Bobbi says that the Hardys who wanted to speak with us in private this evening are here
at the station with her. Apparently when... their house was attacked... " Gary shifted eyes
at Ashley for a second, who was feeling the feel weight of her own actions, curse or not.
And that of her pack of course, they were pack, what one of them did reflected onto all of
them. She was just glade they hadn't succeeded in killing any of the lions. "They all
decided it was best if we meet here at the station, the rest of our 'club of superstitious
deviants who are freaks of nature immune to Sunnydale Syndrome' are here too."
"You.. going to be alright?" Asked Berry to Ashley.
Ashley looked around, no mirror or reflective surface in sight. "Yes."
"Don't worry she's not going anywhere." Ben said calmly.
The twelve cops including Bobbi were in one of the rooms set aside for visitors or
meetings. Including the one Frank and Daryl were supposed to attend regarding how to
deal with encounters with the curse.
Mary sat in a corner with Lance her furry rear on a fold out chair her tail swishing behind
her.
Brian and Felicity stood naked and furry in front of the cops with straight faces with
looked back at them with equally straight faces. Of course Bobbi did the talking.
"Okay, as ya all know, da curse of Glendale is very real. And we've a good deal of us have
lost some good friends because of it. I have two partners that were very good friends
permanent residence of the Glendale Art Gallery that I all visit every Saturday.... so far it's
always been some petty teen or old man using the curse to make someone they didn't like
miserable or some horny punk trying to be king of his neighborhood surrounded by living
sex dolls."
Everyone nodded.
"However, the game is no longer just a game anymore. We've got a couple of idiots who
turned themselves into the Big Bad Wolf from the fairy tales or werewolves from the horror
movies take your pick which. Who have turned themselves and everyone at the Smith
estate and FRANK and DARYL into wolf women along with Frank's family! Apparently
they've become a cultish commune with a rather unpleasant way of collecting members.
Some of them were given -super-powers- when they were cursed. They're all also blindly
loyal to their new 'master.' However, old Uncle Scotts apparently finally stumbled on a way
to ERASE the turn in someone rather than it just being wasted when someone tried to use
it outside of Glendale like the police department tried to do a week before Black Tuesday
back in the twenties to try and end the curse that way!"
There were actually a few cheers at this news, some were less optimistic about the cure
actually working. There had been snake oil salesmen who claimed their absurd
concoctions worked before as protection.
"And everyone says Alchemy is a bunch of baloney!" Said a lanky officer triumphantly with
black hair named Pen.
Bobbi said nothing on that subject and moved on, "Sadly, since Chief Gill-head's -official-
stance on the curse is that it -doesn't exist- as handed down by the city hall tourist
bureau, the only thing we can get on any of them is unlawful breaking and entering,
assault and attempted battery, and attempted kidnapping."
"Only?" Berry asked confused.
"This is the Smiths we're talking about, weather they're furry or not. They're not likely to
come quietly. And BEING wolves, they'll fight to the death. However, they're still all just
innocent people enslaved by the curse. Even their ring leader. Human beings simply can't
stand up to them without using lethal force, we don't even know how much tranquilizer
we'd need to subdue one, and if they'd still be able to rip off someone's head while they're
getting drowsy, it's not like in the video games where it's instantaneous after all. And
that's if we DON'T accidently kill them with an overdoes."
"So what are we to do?" Gary asked simply.
Bobbi said, "You, me, everyone here, if you want you can leave right now, seriously I
would if I wasn't in the position I'm all in, are gonna have to have their DNA screwed over
to become something that can stand up and non-leathally subdue the wolf monsters so
we can use the game to reverse their brainwashing... the buggers used the game to make
themselves permanent wolf people by the way, and gave some of their members the power
to change people instantly WITHOUT the game."
All the police in the room shuddered.
Bobbi said, "Now believe it or not, the Hardys weren't always lion people, apparently part
of the game they chose to make themselves on the fly able to defend themselves from the
wolves included their pasts changing so they wouldn't have to resize their house or get
their photo IDs redone.... And Mr. Hardy still has his turn."
The police present were all surprised to learn that Glendale's family of cats were in fact
victims of the curse. It was rather chilling to remember how much power over reality the
curse -really- had.
Gary sighed, "Let's do this, to protect and serve and all that."
"Don't so TOO hasty." Felicity said, "You haven't heard the 'best part.' Lions function in
groups of six females to one male. And with Brian that means there's room for only one
more male ... If not, your new brain chemistry is going to be too busy trying to figure out
way to out pose each other."
Berry asked raising his hand, "Weren't you the people in the chief's office talking about
killing someone?"
"Don't be silly!" Felicity said laughing, "That was all just for show! We tried to play 'good
cop/bad cop' with Ashley when we first captured here, I guess someone people would
forget about it being a performance and just assume it wasn't a performance. Our
Transform and Dare said for us to be -civilized- we can't be civilized if we murder
someone in cold blood."
One of the cops shouted from the back of the group, "The Romans and Greeks were
civilized! Don't forget that."
Instead of being shocked, worried, or angry at the reminder Felicity only nodded, "Don't
worry, we won't."
Brian didn't mind Felicity doing most of the talking while he stood over her in her shadow:
the lioness did the leg work while the male protected her and their pride with his life after
all.
"So you can all guess what happens next," Bobbi says, "If you want to leave right now,
please go ahead, otherwise, get ready for a sex and species change followed by a mission
to subdue a bunch of brainwashed commune cultists with no way of going back to your
old lives once it's over and afterward the game dies, poof, gone, no more, nada, bye-bye,
NO MORE! EVER! The misery ends. What do you all say?"
Ten of the cops stood up, Gary kicked Berry who then stood up as well. Then they all
stepped foreword.
Gary repeated, "To protect and serve, do it quick before the herd mentality wears off and
we all realize how utterly and completely INSANE we're all being turning ourselves into
freaks, uh, sorry kiddo, didn't mean it, I swear." Said Gary quickly looking at Mary.
Bobbi said, "Okay then, we do this in group of five since that's the max number of victims
at once. You're all free to chicken out after you see your buddies get warped and what not
before it's your turn. You'll all wait one minute so you'll be effected by both sides of the
curse."
The cops all just nodded.
Bobbi looked at Brian, "Do it and burn your bridge behind you big guy."
Brian nodded, and not feeling proud or excited about the size of his pride about to be
increase in the least, he glanced at Mary which steeled him considerably and said to the
first five police men, "Transform or Dare?"
A minute of silence and then, "Your Transform and Dare thus: you shall become civilized
humanoid lions with the gender ratio being what will enable everyone in this room to and
will act as a pride and as a team. You will be able to stand up against Big Bad Wolves in
combat and be able to non-leathal disable them. You will not use the game on unwilling
people unless it's to transform them back from a previous effect of the game or to undo
their brainwashing. You are civilized humanoid, were always humanoid lions, shall always
be humanoid lions, no transformation may change this. Your pasts will change so to
reflect your new forms so you won't have to readjust your lives from scratch and the law
and the people will treat you fairly. Any person who -truly- loves you for -you- and who
you -truly- love for themselves, who meets these two conditions will become a civilized
lion person similar but NOT alike to you with their existences adjusting for this, this
chance will occur once you've interacted with them. Basically someone who'd love you
anyway and who'd you'd love anyway but not either/or, it has to be both."
The cops never flinched. But then their clothes vanished. In their place was their badge on
a -very- well base piece of cord around their necks and their 'utility belt' hanging around
their waists. This didn't last as blackish gold, yellowish beige, beige/brown, dark gold, and
white with gold highlights fur covered their bodies. Of course all their hair fell out and
vanished. Their toe and finger nails became claws that retracted into their fingers. Their
manhood for a moment became covered in a sheath, then it vanished and inverted
become that of a lioness. Their furry chests expanded. Then the muscles came, and lots of
it as they grew in height, become limber and agile.
Their heads warped into anything but human, only the look of reason and intellect
separated them from mundane beasts. The round ears and muzzles relocated themselves
as their teeth filled with fangs and their senses jumped several times in sensitivity.
'Dang.' One lioness thought who had been a straight male a second ago, 'Mr. Hardy's
mane sure is sexy.'
The tails grew of their spines, becoming just another limb. Their muscles rearranged
themselves as did their legs as the leather padding as good as any shoe grew on their
paws and hands.
The new lionesses shook their heads and stood at attention.
"Welcome to the club girls." Bobbi said simply, "So what do you do that you do?"
They said together boldly, "We chose to protect the innocent, to serve the public trust, to
uphold the law. As is our duty and choice. We look out for our fellow officers, our friends
and family and our pride mates."
Berry asked, "Why are you all naked?"
One put her hand on her hip and turned around on one paw and said simply, "Cause you
try walking around with a built in fur suit in this kinda weather, duh."
"Oh. Right Penny."
"Anyone chickening out?" Bobbi asked.
No one vacated. "Then let's continue. Penny, you're up next."
The process continued, until there was one cub, twelve lionesses, and two male lions in
the room.
Bobbie smiled and looked down at herself, "Well, what do you know."
Bernie did a quadruple back flip and grabbed into a handle bar behind her with one hand
standing up straight upside down flexing her body. Her body moved with reflexes and
agility that would have made any Olympian envious.
"I don't know about you sisters! But I don't mind I'm gonna -keep- this body! It's new and
improved over the original and I can't say I'm all that bad looking either!"
"If you're looking for a furry or a hot night at the zoo you mean!" Penny taunted playfully.
"Don't be so melodramatic sis', you weren't paying attention much to the wording of the
Transform and Dare and you wanna talk to me about not thinking about things? Pst. If I
find a guy whose in love with me and I love him he get upgraded to family! Well," She
grinned, "Maybe not -actual- family mind you."
"You make it sound as if humans were inferior...."
"NAW! It's not like that, not really. It's not very civilized to be prejudice."
"Then why did you say 'upgrade?'"
"You seen the size on our 'Lion King' Brian? Ha ha!" She said 'Lion King' in a over the top
manner stressing she was just having fun.
++++++++++
There was a knock on the office door.
Gill sighed, "Come in."
Mary came in with Lance at her side, "Mommy and daddy wants to know how, when this
is all over, when they can apply to join the police academy and eventually become police
like their pride mates."
"What about you Mary?" Serenity asked.
"Still wanna be a vet when I grow up!"
Serenity said changing the subject, "I'll get some of the cure whipped up that kills the
game within the hosts. Yes we found one Gill, we really did. We should hand it off to the
pride members in case worst comes to worst and use it on the wolves they end up facing -
before- removing their brainwashing. Otherwise we could end up with a bunch of lion
people lawn jockeys."
Mary meanwhile with her parents thinking about their new future Mary wondered about
hers. She had to find out if her friends had been changed with her, or weather she had -
new- friends at her school.... SCHOOL! "Uh-ho... I think mommy forgot to call and say I
wasn't gonna be there today..."
++++++++++
Wolves were organizing everything for their departure and as some were seeing, -retreat-
. True, predator retreated all the time in nature, but Big Bad Wolves in the fairytales never
gave up till the end, and this reflected in the smoldering attitude of members of the pack
in particular Nicole.
Megan had something else on her mind though that had her blood boiling. With Master
out of sight and out of sound she got the attention of some of the nearby she-wolves who
were going through their personal effects that hadn't been sold for the greater good of
the pack.
"Pack-sisters! I have something important we need to do, and I'd like you all to help me do
it."
Jasmine wondered, "What do you want to do Megan?" The former male movie buff asked
confused.
"Before we leave Glendale and start our new lives," Megan said calmly and focused,,
"Before we leave the estate and all it's comforts behind. Before we relocate to the island to
preserves our species..." Megan then spoke in a much less pleasant and even tone, "I'm
going to see that mangy cat joins it's partner in kitty heaven and I'm going to rip apart it's
broken body and eat it's still warm body piece by piece!"
'Little brother, I should have been there, I'll make it all up to you right now.'
Megan then saw Abbey come into the room holding some blankets that hadn't been sold
off yet. "Abbey... " Megan said sweetly, "There's something very important that we're going
to need your help with doing... it's very special and a surprise for Master... it's gonna
rescue Ashley and stop the bad guys from hurting our family. Think you can help us?"
Abbey confused and befuddled by the smiling she wolf down at her meekly nodded, "Good
dear." Megan rubbed her head.
"Jasmine, Margot, Anne, Beatrice, Zack, Terri, Sandi, are you with me? Oh and Zack, that's
a rhetorical question for you, you're to obey all female commands remembers? Good.
We're getting Ashley back -now.-"