Lizarding

By Ace Dreamer

"Randall?", he looked up, from his video game, that tone of voice from Kevin usually meant trouble, "I think I may have created a monster".

Randall paused the game by reflex, and looked over at his friend. He looked OK, no obvious bits missing, clothes intact, and he had some of that disgusting soda. The one they'd agreed to never keep in the workshop, for fear of accidents.

"You've got a can of that drink. That means you wanted to celebrate something."

He sighed, and put down the controller. "OK, tell me what happened, and what we need to do to fix things".

The sometimes called 'Leet' sipped at his can, Randall shuddered.

"Well..."

"Give me your wallet, and your phone."

Leet was a bit surprised, muggings had gone down a lot lately. And, he was masked-up. Yes, the shaking man was holding a gun, but who was stupid enough to attack people in alleyways any more? People who might be capes?

"Be reasonable", he'd got a hand near his pocket, where his latest creation was. The one he was so pleased about. He'd be fair. If the man didn't run away... "I'm Leet. I'm a cape. I'm a friend of the Family, and I don't want any trouble."

It was dark in the alleyway, but his improved eyesight let him see the man go paler.

"Give... me your wallet and phone, or I'll shoot you."

So Leet shot him.

"OK, enough of the suspense. What did you shoot him with?"

"I'd been talking with... Ianthe. About the Family arts." Randall nodded in approval. They thought their workshop was secure, but there was no point in taking risks.

"You were off getting your ass kicked by Saurial. I was talking to her about how someone, a normal human, might become... more lizard-y. We kicked a load of ideas around and I jokingly said that a lot of people would be improved by being turned into Yoshi."

"When I got back I looked at some of my old notes, the 'Boy/Girl Gun', a few others. Stuff we'd never seen a good enough reason for, that was maybe a bit too close to other stuff. But, I realised I'd never built a 'gene gun', did you know they really exist, and can be used on onions?"

"No... But before you tell me all about them, why don't you tell me what you built?"

"Well... I thought it was a 'Yoshi Ray', but I think it was a 'Grendel Gun'. You know, like in the poem about the troll?"

Kevin swallowed.

"I don't think we can fix this. I think we're going to have to tell the Family."

He'd fallen over after he'd been shot, by the green ray. Then staggered to his feet, not understanding why the man in front of him looked smaller, why his feet had hurt momentarily, then he was bare foot. He roared, in pain. Then his muzzle finished growing, his new teeth settled into place.

The man ran off, but he ignored him, looking at his hand, which was now scaled and green, though it was so dark he couldn't see any colours, earlier.

He'd staggered into his squat, roaring at the drunk who questioned him, then fainted. Now he was curled up, trying to think things through.

The shakes were gone, and he'd a clearer head than he'd had for years. Really, he felt... pretty good. Hopkirk. He remembered his name, now. Much better than being called 'Hoppy'.

It was just...

Why did he want to go into a shop, buy then swallow raw eggs, whole. Then, go out and troll people?