AN: Yoo, I didn't expect this story to get so popular! 6 favorites/follows for a single chapter? It's nice to know I've interested at least a few people with my ideas. Remember, comments are always welcome (especially constructive ones, whether they're positive or negative).

Also, I named the goth girl "Megan". Gotta call her something.

EDIT (21/05/2022): revised minor details and added another scene with Tyler.

Chapter 2: A Rude Awakening

Miriam started her day off like she would any other day. Namely, mumbling a quiet "Five more minutes…" to her uncaring alarm clock, before slamming her hand down to quiet the infernal ringing.

Unfortunately, since she was currently in the body of a giant beast, her giant paw smashed both the alarm and the drawers it rested on to pieces. The resounding crunch hastily jolted her out of her sleepy haze, and she realised, with increasing shock, that her bedroom looked a bit smaller now than it did when she went to bed last night.

And she was pretty sure her arm wasn't all furry with claws, either!

Hastily jumping to her feet, Miriam winced when the ground shook beneath her. With a vague sense of dread, she hurriedly stomped over to the bathroom to verify her increasing confusion.

Once she arrived, she quickly fumbled to lock the door with her paws and cautiously turned to look in the cabinet mirror. To her shock, Miriam saw, in lieu of the 13-year-old girl she knew she was, a giant green panda.

"W-what the heck…?" She muttered, putting a paw to her furry cheek. She knew she should probably be scared or nervous or panicking or something, but the past month had taught her that waking up as a giant panda was totally something that could happen one day. Aside from that, Miriam recognised that panicking wouldn't solve anything; it was her natural chill that let her comfort her bestie Mei that fateful day and convince her to accept the panda as a part of herself.

As she stared over her new body, she noted that she looked a lot like Mei; the only major differences were - aside from the obvious fur color – that she looked slightly lankier and still had her braces.

Wait, why do I have my braces when- wait, off-topic!

She decided not to question the logic of why she kept her braces despite Mei not keeping her glasses and instead focused on the why she was a giant green panda; Miriam recognised that it was supposed to be Mei's family thing, but why did she get the panda? She wasn't blood-related to Mei or anyone from the Lee family - as far as she knew – and nor did anyone in her own family appear to have any ties to mystical panda spirits.

Ultimately, Miriam came up blank, and she was forced to admit she had no idea what was going on.

"Dang. Guess I'll just have to ask Mei next time I see her. She'll defo know way more about this weird panda stuff than I do…" She smiled. After everything that happened, she knew her friend would do everything she could to help with whatever's happening.

However, a shred of dread gripped her heart; she knew Mei would accept her new form just fine, but her mom would freak! Miriam knew Mei's mom didn't really like her for whatever reason, and she could only imagine what her reaction would be. Probably a rant about how she's "leeching off her previous little Mei-Mei's gift" or something,

No, Mir. She mentally scolded herself. Stop it. Mei's mom's not like that anymore. Hopefully she'll be a bit cooler about this whole panda thing now.

"Miriam! BREAKFAST!" Miriam jumped at her dad's voice.

"Crap. I forgot about breakfast. I can't go out like this; dad's gonna freak!" Miriam raced to recall how Mei turned back when she was a panda. She mentioned something about "zen", so maybe she just had to calm down more?

Grabbing her hairbrush off the counter, Miriam brushed her cheeks slowly while carefully regulating her breathing. She had tons of "zen", she could get through this…

POOF!

A burst of green smoke enveloped the green panda, and when it dissipated, a pyjama-clad, human Miriam remained. She sighed in relief, only to then raise an eyebrow upon seeing herself in the mirror, for her chestnut-brown hair had turned the same lime color she had as a panda. Hastily grabbing a toque from the bedroom, she tucked her hair under it.

With a newfound resolve, Miriam knew she could handle this. If she could help Mei through her own panda problems, she could get through this too!

A panda tail then spouted from her butt, knocking some nearby bottles of conditioner and shampoo to the ground. She hastily willed it away again with another poof.

Maybe.

Abby's day started off contrary to her usual demeanour; the usually energetic Korean girl moved with the grace of a sleep-depraved sloth. While still in her bed (which was now looking a bit uneven), she reached for the cup of boba sitting on her dresser…

…only to clumsily knock it over with a giant panda paw.

"[Crap]!" Abby angrily yelled in Korean, before leaping out of bed to clean the offending drink out of her carpet. The moment her feet hit the ground and the floor bent beneath her, Abby turned to get a towel from the bathroom, but immediately stopped when she saw a giant pink panda in her bedroom mirror.

She gasped; the sheer cuteness of the creature overwhelming her rational thought. "Oh. Em. GEE!" Spillage forgotten, Abby immediately raced to hug the strange animal, only to haphazardly bonk off her mirror and fall to the ground. Immediately jumping back to her feet, Abby raised her arms and jumped into an impromptu combat stance.

The moment she saw the panda doing the same stance, however, she stopped and slowly looked down to her fur-covered body. A gleeful smile of realization crept onto her face upon the realization that somehow, she had become a giant panda like Mei!

"I'm…" She vibrated out of sheer excitement.

"So…" Still vibrating, she rubbed her fuzzy belly and shuddered at how good it felt, like a giant plush toy.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and flopped onto the ground, wrapping her tail around her for extra comfort. "FLUFFYYYYY!"

"ABIGAIL! Stop stomping and come to breakfast!" A stern female voice yelled, jolting the transformed girl out of her reverie.

"Yes mom!" At her mom's command, Abby leapt up again and raced out the door. She was totally gonna show Mei her new gift after breakfast; her hugs were already so soft, so imagine what a double panda hug would feel like! They would both die from sheer fluffiness!

As her parents screamed in terror at the strange, giant furry creature that suddenly burst into their kitchen, Abby hastily remembered that she probably should have changed back first.

"[DAMMIT!]"

Priya silently stared, wide-eyed, at the giant yellow creature in her bathroom mirror. After tiredly stomping over to her bathroom, she only just realised then that her form was a lot larger and heftier than usual. She knew about puberty – she had the talk and the pads and everything – but somehow, she didn't think transforming into a giant panda was part of the package.

Leave it to Mei to prove her wrong again.

Priya knew she should totally be freaking out right now, but honestly, she'd had so many dreams about turning into a werewolf that this wasn't that much different.

That said, while a giant red (yellow?) panda admittedly wasn't as cool or hot as a werewolf, it was cute and fluffy regardless. She was like a real live romance novel protagonist, only now she could be the hot monster instead of the normal love interest.

Plus, Priya silently noted, swinging her new furry appendage appreciatively, I always did want a tail.

Though that brought the question of why she became a panda. Red pandas were always Mei's thing, Lee family bloodline and all. Did she secretly bite me and transmit her panda? Priya thought, but quickly dismissed the idea. Mei wasn't a biter, even as a panda, and there was probably no way she'd have snuck in without alerting her vampire-tuned senses.

"Priya! Breakfast!" A female voice shouted.

Crap. Mom... Priya calmly turned to the door, but quickly realized she couldn't exactly greet her parents like this. Mei was already in hot water with them after Pandapocalypse 2002, and another giant panda might complicate things further.

Right as she was thinking of how to get it to go away, her form immediately poofed away in a cloud of yellow smoke. When it dissipated, a human Priya remained, her formerly black hair now a distinctive yellow.

Well, that answers that. Hastily grabbing a towel to hide her new hair, Priya put her hand to her chin in contemplation. After breakfast, she and her besties would have a lot to talk about.

Tyler stumbled out of bed ungracefully. During his sleepy trek to the bathroom (inadvertently stomping a basketball flat in the process), he failed to comprehend his new body until it stared him right in the face.

Now very much wide awake, the boy screamed, and the blue panda… thing screamed back. WHAT THE HECK WAS THIS?

He shook his large belly while whimpering in despair, before a horrible stench emanated from his body, forcing him to gag in disgust. This could not be happening.

A knock on the door startled Tyler, making him raise his arms in the air. "Son? Are you okay in there?" Tyler's dad spoke, much to Tyler's increasing panic. He couldn't be seen like this; he'd never hear the end of it!

Still, he managed to suppress his nervousness enough to speak somewhat normally. "Y-yes, dad! I'm totally fine and cool, nothing strange here!"

A moment of awkward silence, before Tyler's dad spoke again. "Alright, then. Holler if you need anything."

As his dad's footsteps faded out, Tyler turned to the mirror again, still heavily breathing. That was WAY too close. Now that things were quieter, he could really take in his new body.

Unlike Mei, his panda form was a distinctive purplish-blue shade resembling his basketball uniform. He seemed to be just as chubby around the midsection, and his hair manifested itself as a large tuft on the top of his head. Somehow, he still had his braces even as a panda.

How the heck did this even happen?! He knew Mei came from a freaky magic family, that much was totally obvious, but why the heck was he a panda now? Sure, it was kind of… cute, but why him? Did Mei just decide to curse him with this gross form 'cause of all those times he was a jerk to her?

And anyways, he wasn't supposed to be 'cute', he was supposed to be a man, dang it! What would his team think if they saw him like this?! Tyler imagined his basketball team laughing at him until he had to resign out of shame.

From there, he remembered that his parents weren't exactly thrilled with Mei after that… incident at the party (Tyler unconsciously rubbed his cheek where her claws got him) and realised that he had to get out of here before they saw him and assumed the worst. Even if she had cursed him, he didn't want to stop hanging with her when she accepted him as a 4*Townie, and she knew all about this weirdo panda stuff so she could fix this!

Hastily stumbling back into his bedroom, he hoisted up the window (knocking a shelf over, leaving claw marks on the floor and walls and snapping his bed in the process) before leaping out into the back garden with as much grace as a giant blue panda could muster.

That is, he immediately, humiliatingly face-planted into the dirt. Figures.

Thankfully, it was a Saturday, so none of the girls (or Tyler) had to worry about school. Henceforth, their main, shared goal was to reach the Lee temple and figure out just what the heck was going on!

Miriam raced through the streets on her skateboard, dodging pedestrians and grinding on rails. She was completely and utterly "in the zone" as each building passed by in a blur. Eventually, she came to a stairwell and leapt into the air to do a sick kickflip down…

Only to, through her adrenaline-infused emotions, transform into a panda and shoot high into the air, leaving her skateboard behind.

Miriam's joy abruptly turned to terror once she opened her eyes to see how high she was, and, once gravity caught up with her, she bounced off a building and abruptly returned to Earth with a thump. Fortunately, all magical red panda forms were inherently durable (one of the perks of fighting armies of bandits and soldiers), and so Miriam easily shrugged it off.

Still, she laid on the ground, breathlessly unable to comprehend what just happened. Only one thought came to mind: wow.

As she staggered to her (now very furry) feet, Miriam found that she landed right outside the Daisy Mart.

And Devon (that hottie!) was manning the counter again. Thankfully, he was nodding off again, so maybe she could get away without being seen…

"HUBBA HUBBA!"

The sleep-depraved but now very-much-awake cashier turned to face her, and Miriam just barely dodged out of sight in time.

Did I just say that out loud?! And where's my board?

Priya slinked through the shadows of a back alley, still in her human form. She could get through this; she was naturally cool and wouldn't let a little thing like uncontrollable panda transformations stop her.

Well, until she came out and immediately bumped into someone. As she got her bearings, Priya felt a rare stab of dread in her heart as she recognised the one person that dyed purple/black hairstyle could belong to: Megan, that goth girl she clicked with at Tyler's birthday party.

Her heart raced, and she could feel the panda struggling to escape. Priya contemplated if she could bust out some more of that panda mojo to get away, but her heart sunk when she realized Megan was staring right at her.

Still, she had to play it cool. "Oh, sup, Meg…"

"Sup, Priya. Interesting twist of fate, meeting you here…" Megan raised an eyebrow, looking her friend's new yellow hair over. "So, your parents finally let you dye your hair or something?"

Priya nodded with a smile, happy she wouldn't have to explain that to her. "Uh… yeah. You know it, girlfriend."

"Nice. Since it's likely our paths have crossed for a reason, feel like hanging with me and my posse for a while? Me, Carter and Justine were planning on going to the park to recite some dark poetry about the inane banality of existence."

Megan looked away and gestured to her fellow goths – one of whom Priya recognised as Carter Murphy-Mayhew, the boy Mei crushed on that one time – who both waved indifferently. As Megan looked off, Priya felt a tinge of excitement at the idea of hanging with her again, at which point the panda's tail chose then to poof from her rear.

Priya quickly hid the offending appendage while slowly backing off. "Sorry, I can't. Already got plans elsewhere. Another time?"

Megan turned back to her, looking disappointed with her answer. "Sure, I guess. Another time, then…"

Priya raced behind a building, now in full panda mode again, before Megan could see her.

Well, this whole panda thing just got awkward.

Glancing back around the corner, she saw Megan walking away with Carter and Justine. Priya knew she couldn't let Megan see her like this; she seemed like the kind of person who'd be above dating giant, cute, cuddly pandas.

Abby, for her part, was having the time of her life. Sure, the ensuing breakfast with her parents was pretty awkward (what with her being a giant panda and all), but as she raced through the streets of Toronto in her panda form, uncaring of the obstacles in her path, she only had one thought.

"THIS IS SO AWESOME!" She couldn't wait to see what Mei thought of her now!

An idea came to her, which she glorified with a sneaky smile. Using her new panda claws, she grabbed onto a pipe and hoisted herself to the top of a building. Taking in the sights, she leapt from rooftop to rooftop in a fast but ungraceful fashion.

Unfortunately, one building was just too far for her to reach, which she only realized after she plummeted into the alley below.

Fortunately, a conveniently parked car broke her fall. Unbothered by the now-blaring car alarm, Abby simply mumbled "Wicked…" before continuing her journey.

Tyler quickly stumbled through the streets, trying to ignore the stares his new form garnered him.

This is so humiliating… He thought, unhappy. Still, no one had connected the dots yet and figured out who he was, so he could totally get through this!

"I'm never gon' let you cry, oh, cry, don't cry…" A very familiar song blared from the televisions in the store behind him, which Tyler immediately recognised as 4*Town's most recent hit single, "Nobody Like U".

Oh, crud. Before he knew it, Tyler found himself uncontrollably singing along.

"I'll never not be your ride, or die, ALRIGHT!" He struck a pose. Once the moment passed, he became very aware of the crowd he drew, and yelled at them "What are you looking at?!" before bounding off, now even more embarrassed.

Eventually, Miriam made it to the Lee household, still in her panda form. With the adrenaline still coursing through her, she probably wouldn't be able to turn back for a while.

Bracing herself for some awkward questions, she took a breath and prepared to knock on the door.

Before Miriam could, however, her sensitive panda hearing picked up two sets of footsteps behind her. Craning her head behind her, Miriam saw… more red pandas?! Were Mei's aunts back in town or something?!

Wait, scratch that. One of the pandas was yellow and had its ears down, the other was pink and chubbier than its companion. The yellow panda had its arms crossed and a very familiar half-lidded frown, while the pink panda was visibly shaking with excitement.

Miriam harboured a guess. "Priya? Abby?"

"Mir?" Priya spoke first, looking her friend down. "You too, huh."

"Yup. I'm hoping Mei knows what the heck's going on right now, 'cause I have no idea." Miriam and Priya turned to Abby. The Korean girl was still vibrating out of excitement. "Abby? You okay, girl?"

"So… fluffy…" She merely mumbled, the sheer cuteness of the situation having finally caught up to her.

Miriam chuckled in response, still coming off her adrenaline high. "Yeah, we're all pretty cute."

A high-pitched scream jolted all of them from their thoughts, but none of them had time to think before another panda – this one blue – crashed to the ground beside them. Though Miriam wasn't entirely sure, those braces and that tell-tale hair tuft were a sure giveaway to the panda currently lying beside her.

She raised an eyebrow. "Tyler?"

The boy-turned-panda leapt to his feet and tried to cover himself up out of embarrassment. "Don't look at me! I'm so fat and… cute now!"

Miriam laid a reassuring paw on Tyler's shoulder. "Dude, chill. We're all pandas now."

"Wha…?" Tyler stopped quaking and took a deep breath. "Why are we all pandas? What's even happening anymore?!"

"Beats me. I was just gonna ask if Mei or her mom had any idea why we're all fluffy now." With grace unbefitting of a giant panda, Miriam carefully rang the doorbell with her transformed paw.

The door opened to reveal Ming, who immediately became wide-eyed upon seeing the red pandas clumped outside her door.

"Uh… hey, Mrs. Lee. Fancy meeting you here." Miriam started, only to be driven to silence by the rather unnerving stare Ming delivered as the latter took in just what she was looking at.

"M-Miriam?! Priya? Abby?" Ming turned to the boy on the left, unable to believe her eyes. "T-T-T-TYLER?!"

"S-sup, Mrs. Lee."

"WHY ARE YOU ALL PANDAS?!" Ming ranted as the four backed up slightly, trying to comprehend the bizarre situation. As Ming knew, Sun Yee's blessing was supposed to be exclusive to female descendants of the Lee family; Mei's friends clearly weren't descendants of Sun Yee, thus they shouldn't logically have pandas of their own. As if that wasn't enough, Tyler was male and so he definitely shouldn't have the blessing!

As Ming ran these questions through in her mind, she began to sway dangerously, still staring in disbelief. The four teens recoiled further as they noticed the Tamagotchi around her neck begin to glow an ominous red.

Then, with no better course of action for the situation she just witnessed, Ming's eyes rolled into her head, and she fell to the floor unconscious, at which point the Tamagotchi's glow dissipated. Behind her, Mei stared in disbelief, her mouth wide open and her panda ears and tail out on display.

Her wish came true.