This choice: "I wish I had a hundred more dollars!" • Go Back...Chapter #3First, then Second Chances by: citywalker   David closed his eyes, waiting for the wish to take effect. Then again, he wasn't sure exactly what to expect. "Did it work?" he asked as he opened his eyes, looking around.
"Beats me," Paul shrugged. "Check your wallet."
Doing as Paul suggested, David pulled out his wallet and opened it up. Sure enough, five twenty dollar bills were there that weren't there before. "Woohoo!" he cried out half-heartedly. "I'm rich!"
"Yeah, you now can go down to McDonalds and buy a hundred cheeseburgers," Paul deadpanned as he rolled his eyes. "You know, you could've gotten more money if you just rooted through your mom's purse or something."
"Yeah," David sighed, "I guess it wasn't a very good wish, was it?"
"That's okay," Sam smiled as he patted David on the shoulder. "It's not like there's anything written on the pendant that says you can't use it as many times as you want. And besides, better to start small and make sure it works than go for something big and have it blow up in your face, right?"
"Yeah!" David's eyes lit up, and he stuck out his tongue at Paul. "Stupid Paul making me doubt myself."
"Hey, watch it, you!" Paul grinned mischievously as he swiped out his hand at David, missing his face by inches. This caused David to laugh and then tackle Paul, bringing the two of them crashing to the ground. They rolled around on the floor for a bit, playfully wrestling, each one trying to get to a position of dominance. Sam, for his part, started cheering on whichever boy was losing, switching sides when they got the upper hand. He secretly enjoyed seeing his two best friends (and crushes) scramble around on top of each other, but made sure to conceal his growing excitement..
"OW!" Paul cried as David's fingernails scratched the back of his neck. "That hurt!... kinda." He pushed David off of him and brought his hand to the back of his neck, tenderly testing the skin.
"Oooh," Sam whistled as he leaned over and examined Paul's neck. "That looks like it hurt. You'll have a mark there for a while."
"Is it bleeding?" Paul asked, wincing with the slight pain.
Sam shook his head. "Nah, it's dry. Close though; just another millimeter or so and David might've gotten to a vein or something."
Rising to his feet, David stuck out his hand and helped Paul up too. "Gee, I'm sorry," he said, looking a little embarrassed. "I didn't mean to hurt ya. I guess I just got a little carried away."
"That's okay," Paul said, and he shook David's hand in acceptance of the apology. "Still, it might be time to trim those claws there, tiger."
David's eyes lit up wide. "That's it! That's what I should wish for! Thanks, Paul!" He started pacing back and forth, excited, his mind racing for how exactly he should word his wish.
"Uhhh..." Paul ran his fingers through his hair, unsure of what David was getting at. "What's it? What'd I say?"
"You guys know that I've always loved tigers and big cats, right?" David asked, an eager expression on his face.
Sam and Paul looked at each other blankly. "You have?" Sam asked, tilting his head slightly. "I... I don't remember you every saying anything like that."
David groaned, rolling his eyes and smacking his palm against his forehead. "YES! I have! Why do you think I have this poster?" He walked over to the back wall and gestured up to a large poster he had hanging above his bed of a tiger crouched and hidden in tall reeds of grass, ready to pounce at the right moment. "In fact, I've always wanted to BE a tiger. Not a real one living out in India or China or whatever, but a human-like one, one that walks around and talks and stuff. Kinda like Hobbes, Calvin's tiger in the comics."
"Oooookay..." Paul said, thinking in the back of his mind about a couple of certain web sites that he had come across accidentally and wondering now if David had visited those sites too.
"So that's what my wish should be!" David continued. The other two boys watched apprehensively as David took the pendant in hand. Holding it up, he said in a loud voice, "I wish I was a tall, anthropomorphic tiger!"
He held his breath as he waited for the changes to start occurring. Within seconds, he felt his skin begin to bristle, the thin layer of hair on his arms and legs standing on end. The hairs all started to lengthen and multiply in number, growing thicker and thicker, pretty soon coating the entire surface of his skin with a thin base layer of orange fur. At the same time, his eyes started to grow wider and more cat-like, while his nose and mouth began to protrude, forming a muzzle, his ears sticking out and moving upwards on his scalp.
Sam and Paul's mouths both dropped open. "It's actually happening!" Sam cried out. "I've never seen anything like it!"
Paul barely nodded in agreement, unable to bring himself to comment on what was happening to his friend. Both boys continued to watch as David kept changing, the toothy smile on his face becoming wider and wider. At the moment, he felt a very strange sensation going on in his backside, like his spinal cord was getting longer and pressing against his skin. Turning his head and looking behind him, he saw that a tail was sprouting from the back of his waist. "That's SOOO cool!" he cried out. He tried clenching the muscles in that area slightly, giving the tail a little flick.
As David's fur grew thicker, black stripes started to form in a pattern on top of the orange base. But besides everything else, what may have been considered perhaps the most impressive was how big he was getting. At first, he had only started to inch upward, but his shoulders and chest muscles had also started to get wider, with both his arms and legs growing thicker and more powerful. His feet burst out of his shoes, having morphed into large, more oval-shaped white paws with the soles growing soft, fleshy pads. Now that he was looking more and more like an actual tiger, though, his body suddenly started to go through several quick growth spurts, passing six and a half feet, then seven, with a few lurches upward in height and within a few seconds. His clothes stretched out and grew tight on his body, and the button on his shorts popped open as the seams began to tear.
By the time he had reached seven and a half feet, his transformation had completed, and he stood before his friends. He opened his eyes, now yellow, and bared his teeth, which had grown sharper and more fierce-looking. Looking down on his hands-turned-paws, he moved his fingers in and out, starting to retract and un-retract his claws as he did so. Walking over to the full-length mirror, he looked into it only to see a handsome orange, black, and white muzzle looking back at him. He was now a strong-looking, muscular anthro tiger nearly two feet taller than he had been with an athletic build.
"I... I can't believe it!" he said, taken aback with how amazing he looked and felt. "This is better than I ever dreamed!" He spun back around to look at his two friends, who stared back at him in wonder. "What do you think?"
Neither of them could answer, but the look on both of their faces told him all he needed to know. He was unlike anything they -- or anyone -- had ever seen before.
"Well," he finally said, "since you guys are so impressed, what do you think about me using this thing to make both of you into anthros?" He held up the pendant, pointing at it with his other hand.
Slowly turning their heads to look at each other, Sam and Paul let the next few moments pass without saying anything, trying to come to grips with what had just happened in front of their very eyes.
Finally, after a minute or so of blank stares, Sam opened his mouth. "Wellllll..."
"Uhhhh....." Paul answered, equally as clueless.
"Gee," Sam finally said, considering David's offer, "What should we do?"  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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