Chapter One: A Tail of Transformation

Sometimes very simple events can have extremely far-reaching consequences. Such is the case for when my dog ran out. Little Bosco, our family beagle, was confined indoors most of the time, but the puppy so desperately longed for the great outdoors he jumped at any chance he could to jump out the back door and bolt into the trees.

Such was the case for tonight. "Bosco!" I exclaimed as the puppy wriggled his way out of the back door and into the backyard. I could just make him out in the glow of the few lightbulbs just by the back door. He bowed to me, his hindquarters high in the air as a sign of wanting to play.

Except I didn't want to play- I wanted to get my dog back inside before he runs off for good. I raised my hands in a calming gesture and walked slowly towards the floppy-eared pup. "Alright, Bosco, c'mere! Don't you want to go back inside? I have a Milkbone with your name on it…!"

There seemed to be an invisible circle around Bosco. Once I had crossed the line, he immediately turned and fled into the forest beyond our lawn.

I swore and ran back inside, grabbing a flashlight from the closet before running off after the little scamp. I wasn't worried about getting lost in the woods; I lived in the suburbs and this was simply the few acres they spared to appear environmentally friendly.

Frantic rustling echoed through the dark trees, evidence of the pup's movements. I decided to switch off the flashlight so he wouldn't dart off at my presence. As quietly as I could I tracked the sound of paws kicking up the leaves until by chance he ran right in front of me. "Bosco?" I called, causing him to stop dead in his tracks.

I wasted no time in throwing myself at the dog… or so I thought. Instead of the pet I was tracking, I fell atop a huge, furry tail, causing the owner to yelp and dash off. I tried switching on my flashlight after the animal, but it had already left.

Disappointed and a little itchy from where I brushed against the fur, I looked around a little longer to find tiny Bosco curled up by a tree, sleeping without a care. "Huh," I muttered, picking up the puppy, "I didn't think you'd come all the way out here just to nap…"

I later learned what happened to the owner of the tail.

Surprised and enraged, she pulled one of her many tails back only to find the curse had curiously already taken hold in the boy. She relished the thought of his pain for the crime of touching her tails… only to snap back to reality. She had cursed a human stranger! She wasn't about to retract her curse, but she could help him once it had ran its course. With her powerful nose she tracked the unfortunate human…

The walk back was more exhausting than I could have ever imagine. I felt like I had taken a break to run a marathon before heading back home. Slumped over and in a daze, I pulled open the back door, dropping Bosco to the floor before hobbling to my room.

"Lotus?" my mother called after me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I replied even as I began to feel feverish. "Just tired, I guess. Must have been out there longer than I thought. I'm just going to go to bed…" I didn't hear her reply as I shut my door and sighed. Extricating myself from most of my clothes and turning off the light, I dragged myself into bed to sleep, pulling my covers over my head, shivering despite the fever.

But sleep would not come. Instead, the fever rose until I was painfully hot inside ands my whole body began to itch. Unable to resist any longer, I frantically scratched my arms only to encounter an unexpected softness.

What the…? I thought. My breathing, as ragged as it was, sped up. Is this… fur? What's happening to me?!

The pain intensified as fur coated my hands and spread down my arms, simultaneously relieving the itching and whipping my mind into a greater panic. Powerless to stop the change and frightened out of my mind, I could only watch helpless as an energy suddenly seized my body, doing… something… to it. All I could figure out was that the change to my body was accompanied by a steadily rising body temperature far beyond any fever I'd ever had, but it simply continued to climb at a terrifying rate.

Every bone in my head cracked. I tried to scream, but couldn't, the changes to my body taking precedence over my desire to be heard.

"Lotus?" I heard my mother knock through a mental haze of pain and heat. "You don't sound too good; can I come in?" Somehow I very clearly heard her collapse to the carpet as another set of gentle footsteps entered my room, shutting the door behind it.

I returned my attention to my body to find my face elongating into a vulpine muzzle, my ears having migrated atop my head and grown into triangular fox ears. I felt my eyes burn, though what happened to them was beyond me. My now silver hair grew extremely fast, falling past my shoulder blades in a matter of seconds while the fur on my chest and shoulders grew out into a sort of mane on my torso. A pinch at the base of my spine quickly revealed itself to be my spine lengthening and splitting into not one tail, not two or four or six, but nine tails sprouting like weeds and growing to at least five feet long as a luxurious coating of silver fur tipped with blue enswathed each one. I was suddenly struck with the feeling that these tails were like precious, sacred jewels, never to be touched by unclean hands.

My feet elongated into three-toed canine paws, complete with a digitigrade stance and rough pawpads while small, black claws sprouted to replace my human nails. My breathing slowed as I realized the transformation had ended. I noticed that while my body was seethingly hot, almost scalding, I felt no pain. In fact, it felt more relaxing than anything else, as if I was in a sauna. I took a moment to collect myself, a process mitigated from the enjoyable warmth I now exuded. Clearly I had become one of those hybrids I've heard about on the news and my Social Studies textbooks, humans born with the appearance of an animal and with it a set of elemental powers. Apparently their population exploded about a century ago or so, and bringing along heavy persecution that had only strengthened in recent years. While I never personally minded them, my heart sank as I considered what would happen to me now that I was one of them. I sighed and opened my eyes, only to lock with the eyes of a fox.

I yelped in a surprisingly animalistic way and jolted off my bed, landing on my thankfully carpeted floor with a unceremonious thud. I turned back, still on my tails, to see not a wild canine, but a fox-like hybrid. Her deep red eyes continued to stare at me with an unmistakable look of concern as her own nine tails waved slowly behind her, and a quick whiff revealed a perfume of what seemed to be pine smoke and some sort of herb… rosemary? Despite, or perhaps because of, her furry appearance, I couldn't help but think she was quite beautiful. Her cream-furred hands were clasped together against the pink tee she wore, and they wrung one another uncomfortably as she spoke in a soft, quavering voice. "Are you okay? Are you hurt at all?"

It was strange to see her muzzle move in such a way to form human words, but the thought was swallowed up in my own attempts to reply. "I'm… fine…" I replied, blessedly unimpaired by my changed mouth. But then I frowned. "What did you do to my mom?"

"Oh, hehe," she looked away with an arm behind her furry head. "I put both your dog and your mom to sleep with my hypnosis. They'll both be just fine, I promise! If anything they'll just be more rested than normal."

"Okay," I nodded, still wary.

She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I transformed you." Noticing my look of confusion, she elaborated. "Remember when you landed on a tail in the forest earlier today? That was... my tail. Um, see, when somebody touches my tails I get upset, and I mean really upset. In my anger I cursed you to turn into a hybrid." She tilted her head to one side as she contemplated my appearance. "Although, I didn't try to make you a Ninetales like me…"

I growled and tilted my ears back, a response that would have been totally foreign to me were it not for her. "So let me get this straight," I replied in a low growl. " Just because I touched your tail, you put me through… that? And now I'm condemned to be an outcast from society like you?!"

She put her hands up in a calming gesture, a look of fear evident in her eyes. "Woah, hey, calm down!" she shouted. "You might burn your house down; you're a Fire-type!"

That stopped me. I remembered the awesome and often terrifying powers the hybrids possessed, the least of which easily setting a building ablaze.

"Thank you," the fox-girl spoke slowly. "Now, I think I can show you what I mean. Do you mind if I feel your tails for a second."

Somehow I was stunned by her audacity. She wanted to touch my tails? "No!" I shouted. "I won't let you anywhere near my… precious… oh." I suddenly felt very embarrassed, but still could bring myself to offer a tail.

"See?" she grinned haphazardly. "It's really an instinct more than anything else. We hybrids are quirky like that. And don't worry; I can reverse the curse. I just need you to not panic and hold still, okay?"

I exhaled deeply in relief. "Oh my gosh, really? Thank goodness! So what do I do?"

"Just hold still," she replied. "I can't guarantee it'll feel any better than your initial transformation, but at least you won't be… 'condemned' to this hybrid state. Actually, about that!" This time her ears fell back. "I'm tired of people seeing hybrids as a mistake or a fate worse than death. I happen to enjoy being a Ninetales, thank you very much!" A Ninetales, eh? Hybrid species had the strangest names. "I'll still change you back, but I'd appreciate it if you were a little friendlier towards our kind, okay?"

"Okay, okay," I replied, somewhat impatient. "I'll treat you guys as equals, alright?"

She nodded. "Thank you. And… sorry I cursed you." She winced, but with one swift movement her tails surrounded me as she closed her eyes to concentrate.

A tense moment passed. My canine hearing picked on her frantic heartbeat. "Everything okay?" I asked, my own heart quickening in response.

"Uhh," her voice was shaky. "It's, uh, it's not working."

"What?!" I shouted, standing only to stumble on unfamiliar paws and fall out of her tails. "What do you mean it's not working?!"

"I mean I can't retract the curse!" she cried in response, her tails flaring up behind her. "That's never happened before; normally I can undo them with hardly a thought, but yours…"

My ears fell back, which began to feel increasingly natural. "You mean I'm stuck like this…?"

"N-not necessarily!" she stammered hopefully, although her breathing patterns and heartbeat begged to differ, not to mention a distinct smell of anxiety. I shook my head. Her what? I can't believe I noticed all that… "Even if I refuse to lift the curse, it wears off on its own in just a few hours. But… just in case, I'll check on you tomorrow, okay?"

"You don't sound too sure," I eyed her suspiciously.

"Look, I don't know what happened," she replied in an exasperated tone. "I don't know what happened to you to make me unable to reverse it, so either you learn to live with it now or hope things go back to normal for you tomorrow. What's your decision?"

I thought for a moment about her explanation. It seemed like I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. "Let's… see what happens tomorrow," I spoke carefully.

She bowed her head for a moment and exhaled before looking back to me. "I'll say this much: being a hybrid isn't a bad thing! You may not be the most liked of people, but between the magic and the enhanced senses and our tight-knit community, I think it's well worth the persecution. Think about that tonight, will you?"

I looked away for a moment. "You don't think I'll change back, will you?" I muttered instead.

She shook her head with a sad smile. "But… you never know, right?"

I could only sigh. "Well, see you tomorrow, I guess."

"I'll be there first thing in the morning!" she promised with her best attempt at a smile. Taking a moment to scratch me behind my ears, she silently slipped out of my room and closed the door, somehow avoiding smashing her tails in the process. I blushed lightly as I felt where her gentle claws had pet me.

A moan and a stirring outside my room reminded me of my mother. My heart thudded in anticipation on how to explain my appearance to her.

To my relief, she opened the door only to faint again.