AN: was meant to release this in halloween before it got delayed due to technical issues on FFN.

after a while, decided to bring it here after waiting too long

enjoy ;)

Zen - Weretiger

The foreboding feeling remained in Zen's systems as he sat on his couch uselessly. Even though it was only a few hours, he was restless. His eyes were glued to the inactive television, alone in his apartment. He made sure that all furniture was cleared in case something wrong occurred.

The last thing he must do is open the curtains and step onto the balcony.

On a typical day, he was rational in what he often picked. Confident in the decisions he made. He always succeeded in a paper or at least got by in university. He even had been practising on life-changing decisions. He wasn't going to be any younger soon. Life will always pull its ugly cards on you and twist your life in the wrong direction.

Despite moments of dread, he held it within and never lost his cool, finding ways to be lucky. Even when there were jerks or clueless people around, he kept cool with only a few eye rolls. Trai was a bit of a jerk, though he could handle him. Maybe it was from some small feelings he was developing of? Well, that part he wasn't really confident with.

However, he was confident in the animal that he picked. He always had a thing for tigers. Hell, when he was a child, he kept begging his parents to visit the zoo to see a few. Maybe it was because of what they resembled in his culture. Maybe it was the stripes. Or those beautiful eyes. Or maybe wondering what it might be like to be a tiger.

That day was today. Or should it be night. Whatever the case, the clock was down to the last few minutes.

After the vaccination shot, he was told to get himself ready. The science team was surprisingly literate in the many horror films of werewolves losing any sense of humanity at night. Thankfully, it wasn't infectious, so it couldn't spread around by biting others. Besides, everyone in this city was told about the experiment, so they could expect a few test subjects to try out the serum. However, the knowledge of being something else was…scary.

He gulped, feeling his heartbeat increasing. A great power was already growing inside his belly, the butterfly hatching from its cacoon. He would never know whether it was the change starting or his anxiety. He was told to not be afraid, but he didn't want to lose his mind. Not if it remained for a few nights like this. He should practice controlling the new changes to his body and mind, but he wasn't sure if it would work.

Stroking his gelled hair, he prayed that Trai would be alright. The two had to retreat to their own homes to ensure their first transformations were not disastrous. Something about social pressure could lead to higher side effects. He will be a werewolf, so expect a lot of howls in the apathetic night. He'll adjust to this better for sure, Zen thought in envy.

He could hear him now. Oh, Zen, don't be a scaredy cat. You won't die from this! You'll have healing powers! You'll still be sane!

Zen was sure that Trai would be scared, but there was no telling from all of his boasting.

He closed his eyes, feeling his stomach twisting and turning. It felt like he was going to vomit. Maybe he should just trust Trai's confidence in this transformation. Sitting there passively wouldn't really gain anything. This experience was something worth learning as a weretiger. This might be his new life later, but he looked forward to this.

If a painful transformation is what is needed, then let it be.

Resigned and ready, Zen stood up and headed towards the balcony.

Unwrapping the curtains, he was greeted by the moon's bright light. A sensation covered him like a blanket. He could feel it. It provoked an unreleased tension in his body. The first trigger would always be the full moon. Once done, he would be able to control his transformations.

He stepped outside, feeling the soft concrete that would hold his weight. He shivered, feeling the cold breeze. He wished it would be more humid, wanting an excuse not to remove the jacket covering his body. Against all wishes, he had to save one piece of clothing from being ripped apart. He was informed that his pants would survive (because the scientists think so according to cartoons).

Sighing again, Zen slipped off his jacket. He flinched, feeling the sharp, cold air hitting his bare chest. But he had to hold the temptation to put on a coat. He would have one forming on his body soon.

Briefly looking down, he admired his human body. A last reminder of his human self for the night. His biceps were big, squeezed against his sides to feel their hardness. His breastplates were nicely toned but not bulky. Six abs on his stomach, though he wondered if an additional two would grow. He knew it wouldn't be possible, but it might be cool.

He cracked a slight smirk before it disappeared. He was secretly vain of his body. Hopefully, it wouldn't get destroyed.

"Here it comes," he said.

He waited underneath the moonlight, expecting a change. All he could tell was his increasing heartbeat. The energy was already rushing through his head like crazy. But in the midst of things, he was oddly calm. Maybe it was due to him knowing how to repress things for too long.

He wondered what he would look like as he waited for a change. Maybe he might be on all fours? He would likely look savage, messy. The fur of werewolves was often messy, so it wouldn't be different for weretigers.

He wasn't a furry, but he wished to appear handsome. He didn't want to look ugly. One thing he liked about tigers was the smooth fur seemingly combed down and the nicely shaped stripes. How could he enjoy his weretiger form if he-

A crack.

He twitched forwards. A grunt passed through his lips. Then, another crack. It came from his back, his spine being the first to rearrange itself. It was trying to push upwards. And then, he could feel many bones in his back cracking, twisting into a different form. The growing power slowly spread up to his head, but it brought in a throbbing pain to his back and head.

Zen kept his eyes closed, trying to keep himself calm. He feared that if he moved too much, he might spiral into a panic and the transformation would become a mess. But he was slowly freaking out; it was happening for real. As cliche as it sounded, he wasn't really ready for the huge changes.

His heartbeat was thumping in his eardrums. The energy flowing into his head offered both fear and wilderness. Well, the wild part felt new. It felt like…he was caged too long. He slowly felt like he wanted to be free. The same feeling of wanting to throw a tantrum. He couldn't deny it.

Eventually, he felt a sick sensation in his stomach and he lurched forward. Zen grunted from the developing pain, clenching his teeth. As he bent down, his body began to bulge in a sickening display. Noticeably, the back muscles grew larger, appearing as two, abominable blobs that appeared bloated. Yep, this must be the visualization of the spine readjusting to the new form.

But it wasn't just his back he focused on. It was nearly everything. He could feel bits and pieces of him forcibly repositioning themselves into shapes he wouldn't recognize. Not wanting to miss out on the whole thing, he slowly tried to open his eyes. They watered from the painful transformation.

Much like his back muscles, Zen's front torso was bloating horribly. He watched in slight admiration and anxiousness as his front breasts pushed forward like puffing air into balloons. He could feel his ribs expanding, swelling up all of his muscles. It looked way more than just a bodybuilder size. As his breasts slowly puffed up, Zen opened his mouth to breathe, his lungs struggling to adjust.

Zen briefly looked at his left arm, only able to lift it up while the other shuddered from the crackling bones vibrating. He thought his fingers would bend but they didn't dare to snap in inhumane shapes. He could feel his biceps growing, becoming fatter and harder. Zen couldn't describe how this felt, but it was equivalent to stuffing too many toys in a bag.

Flexing the fingers of his left hand, he watched them grow in size and length. He gritted his teeth again, hissing at the pain. His other hand also grew, burning. As his fingers grew larger and fatter, his fingernails began to burn. Zen closed his eyes, gnashing his teeth to emit a small growl.

He opened his eyes again and watched his fingernails expand into sharp white claws, enough to scratch through metal.

A chill ran down his spine and the bottom half of his body. Zen gently clutched his bubbling stomach, mindful of his newly-grown claws. He didn't want to scratch himself by accident. Through the confusing pain, he could only say how agitated he was feeling through growling.

He opened one eye.

This growl didn't sound like his normal voice.

It was an animalistic growling. He could feel it rumbling in his chest, scratching at his throat. It was akin to a dog growling with an added raspiness to it.

This was a sign that his tiger instincts were bursting in from the broken floodgates. For some reason, Zen felt as if he held those floodgates up for too long.

He thought deeper. He felt…angry. REALLY angry. The kettle steaming with the lid on that was trying to keep it shut.

The more he kept it in, the more angrier he became. The angrier he became, the more he desired to jump off the balcony like a lunatic.

Something was screaming at him that he caged himself for too long. He shouldn't be like this. He deserved to go out in the outside world.

He wanted to be free.

Through his confusion about his state of mind, he barely noticed that his legs were adjusting to the new changes.

Looking down, he was surprised that they only changed in length and size. He felt his thighs hardening, ripping through the bottom halves of his tight black pants. But they weren't as painful as how his arms changed drastically.

He looked down at his growing feet, first spotting the claws popping out from his toes. His feet were growing longer, slowly appearing more rectangular than before. Taking the look of an abominable animal. However, as they grew, he was surprised that his heels were still touching the ground.

At least this reassured him that he wouldn't be forced to stand on his forefeet. That would not be to his comfort and liking.

Aside from his body convulsing, he was surprised that a small cosmetic was added to his still-smooth skin. His mind was nearly a blur, but he kept his eyes open to spot them.

On his arm, there were small stripes.

Small black stripes.

And they were spreading across his skin.

He could feel tiny pieces of hair growing out of his skin. It was as if there were a couple of hands pulling the minuscule hairlines out. It made him feel itchy. From what he could feel, it was all over his arms, legs and back. Stripes were already travelling from his back to the sides of his body.

Zen's eyes widened briefly.

The expanding blob underneath his pants threatened to flip upwards, but it thankfully stayed there. He didn't need an uncanny hole forming in the middle of his pants.

That couldn't say the same for the back of his back.

Zen growled louder, uncomfortable with his spine growing. His back muscles bubbling didn't help. He could feel something slowly wiggling at the back of his pants. And then, something pulled from there, right above his bottom. He opened his mouth and let out a loud grunt, feeling it grow in size. He tried darting his eyes behind him, feeling this…thing grow. It ripped through a forced hole in his pants, flinging around freely

And once it was done, he watched it sway around in wonder. He could feel it whipping around in agitation like a serpent's tail. It was a thick yet thin…tail. Already coated in orange fur and black stripes. The tail tip was also fluffy, similar to a lion's tail. At the moment, it wasn't in his control, but it felt…nice.

The transformation was going well. Painfully, but at least not interrupted, thought Zen.

His mind returned to the pain from his bones crackling, his muscles swelling and the anger building up in his chest. He closed his eyes, feeling scared again of what would come next. But one thing he could make out from his mind was that it was not quick enough. Not quick enough to…relieve him.

The muscles in his back continued bubbling up and down, slowly growing fluffier from the stripes forming on his back.

He couldn't take it anymore.

CRRRRKKK!

The cracking reached up to his neck.

His feral instincts overcame him, prompting him to hang his head upwards and let the establishing scream in his throat shoot out from his mouth.

"NYAAAAARRGGHH!"

Never before had he ever screamed in high pitch, let alone able to stretch his mouth this wide.

The pain continued, but it peaked when his neck popped again. His tail flipped upwards as he felt inclined to scream again.

"GRAAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!"

The second scream was guttural. A close roar. Zen noticed this change in his voice even with his eyes shut and crying to the sky above him. The new adrenaline rush ran through his head and picked at his instincts to go wild. But that alone made him nervous, scared of the painful changes to his body. He didn't want the inevitable to happen at this point. But he couldn't help it. He wanted to give in to whatever rage and insanity he possessed.

In this state of delirium, Zen's eyes remained shut, not witnessing the look of his body. His mouth was still wide open despite his roar dying out. His canines were the first to grow from his teeth, becoming longer and sharper.

He was in a rather awkward pose, looking like he was silently screaming for no reason. His bulky back and chest twitched around, still swelling. Zen was even trying to accommodate the new muscular shape of his. The stripes on his massive shoulders and arms grew longer and became jagged.

Fur was already growing longer on his back and left shoulder.

Zen remained in this pose, still feeling his bones and muscles shifting into foreign places. The pain wasn't too intense.

That was until he tried closing his mouth and his body reacted.

FWOOSH!

The change was too quick for him to progress what happened to him.

But he could feel at least.

In this quick change, he suddenly felt fur poofing all over his body, leaving his breasts and stomach hairless. A thousand miniscule hairlines felt like they were ripped out from his skin and smothered his entire body. A weird way to put it, but it felt like the case for him. Excessive fur grew on his back and invisible chesthair, giving him a brand new coat to wear for the night.

The second thing was feeling much bigger than before. His height shot up a few more inches, possibly reaching a giant's height. All parts of his body and muscles grew through this quick change, even his spine shifting to become more flexible. The most drastic was his neck, growing thicker and longer with his face pushed forward.

His head changed significantly as well. Fur coated all over his face, masking his previous humanity. Black curly stripes decorated the top of his head and the sides of his cheeks, looking like war paint in a dark magic style. His ears were forcefully pulled to the near top of his head, twisted into triangles. His sense of hearing was sharpened, making the bone cracking more painful to listen to. Inside, his skull struggled to fuse into a tiger-shaped form, giving Zen a feeling that his face might explode.

His opened mouth stretched forward, becoming a slightly long muzzle. The sides of the muzzle's top part remained hairless, completed with a few stripes coating the top. His nose grew larger, painted in black. This brought him a stronger scent of his new, fresh fur. Additionally, the bottom of his defined chin grew in excessive fur, resembling a bushy beard.

Really, it was his newly grown muzzle that he struggled to go through. His back arched as he lifted his furry hands upwards in the temptation to hold onto it. Alongside his mouth growing wider, his teeth became longer, sharp fangs. Clenching them, they looked crueller and murderous. The rumble through the beast's teeth continued the growing growl inside him.

The bones in his body were still crackling; his body still growing to finish his new body. Eyes closed and hands clenched into fists, he growled deeply as one hell of a fire ride flooded through every part of his furry body. Saliva was building up inside his mouth, but it didn't dare to leak out.

It was inescapable. He was already becoming an animal. He could even feel it in his head.

It was a mess of screaming to let it all out and trying to hold it back. He wanted all of this to stop, but begging did nothing. His usual way of remaining calm wasn't helping, adding to his constant shaking. A dominant side of animal fury was fighting to be brought to the surface for once. He wanted to be free, but he hesitated once again. The beast was already growing crazy that he might…

But then, he focused on how he felt. The snarl he emitted through his gritted teeth. His biceps popping up from the way he bent his arms. His sharp claws poked into his palms, enough to make his hands bleed. His tail curled downwards, a new satisfaction flooding him. His senses were at their highest, telling him everything about his cool, breezy surroundings. And most importantly, the fur all over him.

He was becoming what he wanted to be. The very animal he wanted to be close to.

He couldn't get rid of this chance.

He needed to let it out if he wanted to control it for the next few months.

Finally, the beast unclenched his fists, opened his mouth and let out a roar. By his own will. By his own agony in this transformation. And the roar that escaped allowed the last few bones to snap into its right positions.

"RAAAAAAAAHHH!"

It echoed through the air, sounding more like a real tiger. Nearly like a lion. Deep and growly, in his own words. And it suddenly felt natural.

He slumped downwards in an awkward position. Panting heavily. His own breathing was loud and with an added growl. Nearly all of his energy was spent on the transformation. His original small body was not used to his new tiger form. He felt like he wanted to fall down, but a new part of him relented him from doing so, keeping him more or less awake.

The wind brushed against the new fur on his back and the tip of his tail pointed upwards. Feeling these things, he wanted him to run out into the world. It felt like an addiction. It was making him feel a little crazy.

Still feeling heavy in his chest, he straightened his body and hung his head upwards.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAARRGGHHH!"

Finally standing tall and proud, the beast snapped his teeth together in a murderous snarl. His eyes snapped open, already changed into golden silts. The pain had faded away, only leaving fatigue and adrenaline. It was a weird mix. But Zen didn't care. He couldn't care about feeling tired. He only cared about letting the built-up rage out to let the world know.

One last time, the weretiger angrily hung his head upwards, faced the bright moon, clenched his fists and let out a mighty roar.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!"

With the transformation truly complete and the roar already out of his systems, he felt faint.

He nearly collapsed but managed to press his large hands against the ground. Now, he was on all fours but still possessed a humanoid shape. Panting heavily, he only focused on trying to calm himself down. Clear his mind a little from the rush. Ignore the new features on his body and focus on his mind. He needed to ensure that his vital systems were restored before he could start moving.

But through his panting, there was still a noticeable growl in it. The weretiger briefly clenched his teeth, growling. For some reason, he felt angry. A vicious desire to lash out at something. Or it was just not being used to new animal instincts and, thus, getting mad by them. There was power radiating from his new body. Zen never felt this aggressive before.

"One…two…three," he muttered.

The weretiger sighed in relief. At least he could still talk. Aside from a slight growl, his voice was mostly the same.

"One…two…three," he repeated. "Argh…grr…it…it worked."

Zen blinked a few times. Once sure he wasn't dreaming, he looked down at his giant hands. The orange fur. The sharp claws. The black stripes.

Through his slow breathing, the weretiger huffed with a big smile. He no longer felt too angry. This time, excited.

"It worked," he said. "It worked!"

To him, his growing voice was loud. But that was just his ears. The rest of the world was silent, uninterested in the transformation on an apartment balcony.

Zen slowly placed one knee on the ground and lifted his body up. Once again, he didn't need to stand on his forefeet. At least he could still walk around. Aimlessly, his hand touched his chest. The fur acting as his new chest hair brushed against his clawed fingers. He expected to feel the fur as spiky, but it was surprisingly soft.

"...I'm…I'm literally now a big, fluffy, muscular car," said Zen to no one, exhilarated. "Inside and outside. Wait, that sounds weird."

The weretiger looked down at his body. His new body until he could change back to human after the moon disappear. He flexed both arms, admiring the thick muscles. Oh, Trai was going to be jealous of this. The excessive fur didn't stop him from noticing his biceps' sharp and alluring outline.

He briefly licked his teeth before retracting it. They could cut through his tongue immediately if he wasn't careful.

Zen brushed his new beard briefly. He chuckled lightly. He could get used to the fur covering nearly his entire body. His bare-skinned chest might be a downside, but he wasn't complaining. At least he could see his abs. He was already feeling warm anyway. The cold breeze only brushed on his back, unable to sink into his skin.

Remembering that he grew a tail, he looked behind to see it swaying idly. He smirked, moving it a little. While it had a mind of its own, he could still control it. He curled it upwards and stroked it. A pleasant sensation ran through him, feeling a pur rumble in his chest. With enough training, this tail could be his third hand.

As Zen stood there wondering 'what now', a million questions came to mind. What would his parents think of him when they come by to visit? What would Trai think, and is he, well, still alive? Would he need to worry about coming through public in weretiger form? What would happen if he smelled blood?

Zen's mind instantly flickered through the bloodiest scenes he could remember from those cheesy horror movies Trai kept in his closet. Though, looking through them and the gore splattered on the screen, it felt more trivial. He sniffed, trying to see if anything tempted him.

However, a serenity came over him. There was a mashup of scents. The smell of humans sleeping nearby, the quiet breeze, the trash from below, the night birds flying by…even at the scent of rusting iron, there was no bloodlust. He was still content.

Hopefully, this confirmed that he wouldn't go bloodthirsty or easily susceptible to hunting.

The weretiger briefly growled in annoyance, wondering what he got to be afraid. Trai was kind of right about this. It wouldn't change who he was. Zen was still himself. Only feeling a little more feral and hot-tempered.

A howl broke through the silence. It was smooth and harmonious. It sounded close to Trai's singing whenever doing karaoke. That must be him, howling away in his werewolf form.

Zen chuckled, turning around to head back inside to depart out of his apartment. He wondered what the two of them would do next together.

AN: Surprise! Bet that you didn't see this one coming, did you?

While this one-shot story was delayed, at least I managed to get this one out since I haven't updated for this month and I'll be going into my internship literally tomorrow! So, I have to get this one out now that the email notifications are fixed (sucks that view count isn't fixed yet).

You see, long ago, I grew obsessed with this video called Werewolf and Weretiger Transformations by Apuleius when I was really young (probably when in high school). It's actually from a 2013 Thai film called 'Loh Lak Sai' (Tiger & Wolf) that has a twilight feel alongside action-packed scenes of wereanimals duking it out with each other. I have too many fantasies of being a werewolf or a weretiger and feeling the transformations… :p

My obsession didn't die out and so, I decided to make two fun little comics that traced the scenes from the clip. But they're NOT my creative pieces. And they're already available to see on DeviantArt and my Twitter/X account. In addition, I wrote this story for fun as well. I kind of feel like it's a bit of a parody/original work, something? I'm not sure who's the exact audience, but this story is basically my fetish for wereanimal transformations; the muscular and bone-crackling kind.

For this chapter, we have Zen as the weretiger. He's actually a character from the aforementioned Thai film. But since this takes place in a different AU, how he is a weretiger is portrayed much differently alongside his personality. This is a free-form piece, allowing me to make space for emotions and some weird details. I want to make Zen this kind of wise guy trying to get by; taking a risky move with becoming a weretiger, but that has been an aspiration for a long time.

Let me know your personal thoughts on this weretiger transformation and I highly suggest checking out the original sources I mentioned. Seriously, they're…something. The short YouTube transformation video is just pure spectacle. There's one more chapter and that will be the werewolf transformation! It'll come out shortly this coming week!