"Among some other things, yeah, Lampy, but...You...You couldn't believe me...", Pinocchio replied, and Lampwick replied, "Try me...I mean, you called me your best friend... I never had one before, honest.".
Pinocchio sighed before going for the truth, "I feel somehow happier when I dream of being a girl...I saw my reflection in this shop window in town before arriving at the stagecoach and was standing in this pretty dress reflecting in the window...Stupid, huh?", feeling better at least, but still scared, thinking that Lampwick would leave him, like Jiminy.
Lampwick chuckled as he was trying to stifle himself and not upset or make Pinocchio sad, "Sorry, sorry, just... never really heard a boy ever want to become a dame.".
"I know... I can't really explain it myself...", Pinocchio said. "I mean, I thought I was feeling happy before, with everything we've done today, but... I don't know...".
Lampwick hummed, "Huh, that's really a lot for a kid like you...Maybe you could talk to this Blue Fairy, eh, I mean if this makes you happier...Can I still call you Slats, through?", with a smile.
Pinocchio smiled, "Of course you can! And yeah, maybe you're right. The Blue Fairy is real nice and good. And don't get me wrong, Lampy, spending today with you is still swell and all, but well, maybe I just need to figure it out later...I mean, we're on Pleasure Island, ain't we? And it's still my turn!", with a grin as he grabbed his pool cue again.
"That's the spirit, Slats! And oh, are you thirsty? Your drink is looking a bit empty as mine.", Lampwick replied, and Pinocchio nodded, "Yeah, sure, fill them up, Lampy.", as he focused on playing while Lampwick went to refill his and Pinocchio's mugs.
Meanwhile, Jiminy finally made his way towards the dock area with the ship; or at least where he felt sure it was. He had come across a door before he started tapping it with his umbrella, "Hey! Open up the door! I'm taking the next boat out of here!".
Unfortunately, nobody heard him as he's still a cricket with a loud voice, but it's even louder on the other side of the door, and he heard feminine voices. Confused and curious, he crept along the door before finding a hole just his size, and he crawled into the hole, into the other side of the door.
He widened his eyes as he saw hooded men loading up log-chained barely decent young women into a different kind of ship, along with crate-like cages full of young women here and there.
"By the stars, what in heaven's name? Where did those women come from?", Jiminy wondered with shock and confusion.
Nearby on a farther part of the docks, the Coachman shouted out, "Next!", and one of the hooded men grabbed one of the cuffs of a young woman, barely covered in blue pieces along with a cop's hat, throwing her into the ground as he closed the door on a funneling tunnel of more and more women, moaning in lust and all.
The Coachman asked, "Are you a boy, and how old are you?". The young woman shook her head, "I'm a woman! And I'm 15!", stubborn and blind to the greed in the Coachman's eyes as she is in the cloud of lust.
The Coachman grabbed the cuffs, "Perfect!", throwing her roughly into a cage-crate that said brothel on a sign. Other cage-crates has signs that says concubine, slavery, breeding and such. "Next!", the Coachman shouted.
Another girl was brought up by some shadowy figure and thrown to the ground in front of the Coachman; this poor one had what appeared to be torn rags of a sailor suit that didn't really cover her anymore. "And you? Are you a boy, and how old are you?", The Coachman asked.
"Alexander… I'm 8.", the woman whimpered, clearly terrified beyond wits. "Hmmm, so you can remember.", The Coachman growled as she nodded.
"Y-Yes, sir. Why did this happen!? What did you do to me?! I wanna go home to my mama!", the girl cried as the Coachman grabbed her by the cuffs and started to drag her away. "NO! PLEASE STOP! LET ME GO!", she now started to scream.
"Take her back! She can still remember!", The Coachman roared as Jiminy's eyes widened when he caught a glimpse of where this 'Alexander' girl was being taken.
Jiminy saw the Coachman dragging the screaming 'Alexander' girl and throwing her into a small room with 8 other half boys, half women, or such like the 'Alexander' girl.
Alexander the transformed boy cried out, "PLEASE LET US OUT! Please, I don't wanna be a woman! I don't want to forget my mama! I want Mama!", as the other 8 joined in, protesting.
"QUIET!", The Coachman yelled even louder than them there, quickly silencing the group, "You boys have had your fun. Now, pay for it.". He laughed maniacally, "Just a few moments alone with your new selves will erase any trace of what you once were... especially when the lust overwhelms your minds!".
Jiminy widened his eyes in horror and shock, "Boys?! Lust?! Oh, no! Pinocchio!", before turning in a flash, running in a cloud of tiny dust behind him, going straight for the billiard hall.
It suddenly all clicked for Jiminy, what was going on the island when he had suspicions earlier that there was something fake about the place: it was this. The Coachman was turning naughty boys into mindwiped young women for all sorts of end goals; all making more than likely a huge profit from it. And as for the girls locked up with each other, eventually the lust and the hormonal feelings coursing through their newly changed bodies would drive them wild and act upon their urges, thus sealing their fates and making them easy to sell. And Jiminy now knew that Pinocchio might be a victim too if he didn't hurry!
Meanwhile, in the basement of the billiard hall, Lampwick and Pinocchio kept playing as they drank their beer and smoked their cigars, and Lampwick, after a swig of his beer, replied as he leaned back against the pool table, "Well, looks like we're finishing up the game, Slats. What do you say that we grab some food if the other boys hadn't already headed around to sleep wherever they are?", barely noticing a buzz, though he put it to the beer, not realizing that he's slowly gaining curves through his body already.
"Yeah, maybe I could use some more food.", Pinocchio said as Lampwick looked back to the table. "Hold up a sec, Pinoky, let me just sink that 8-ball and we'll go.", Lampwick grabbed the pool cue and got himself in position as Pinocchio watched.
"Been thinking… about what that beetle of yours was saying… acting like something bad was going to happen.", Lampwick chuckled, unaware of what was happening to him. Pinocchio suddenly noticed something off when he was sure that the seat of Lampwick's pants was getting bigger. Pinocchio looked at his drink and cigar for a moment before putting them down, especially when a ripping sound was heard.
"I mean, that's always the problem with parents and guardians, they're all a bunch of worry warts!", Lampwick argued. "He practically was sounding like my mother there.". His legs were starting to slowly elongate but thanks to much of his drinks, he wasn't even noticing. "You know, if you really listen to him, instead of me, you'll end up being a mother!", he joked as Lampwick shot up in height by a few inches, with his shoes now looking extremely tight on his feet.
Pinocchio replied, "But I would want to be like Cornelia, nice and sweet, not a worrywart like Jiminy, and besides, he ain't a mother...Right?", confused and trying to think...Isn't crickets guys, not mothers? And for a moment, he wondered if he's going to be a mother...Is he going to be like Cornelia, losing a baby?
Lampwick took another puff of his cigar as he smirked, "Sort of a figure of speech, you're not actually going to be a mother..." Lampwick's hips practically exploded outward, almost completely destroying his pants and revealing long, curvy legs that perfectly fit that of a young woman. His shoes followed suit and ripped open like a clam, revealing much larger and daintier feet. At this point, now there was no more confusion to Pinocchio as something was seriously wrong.
"Lampy!", Pinocchio leapt out of his chair and pointed at Lampwick, "Look at yourself, you're taller!". Lampwick suddenly looked down before his eyes widened as he saw his arms stretching out with his coat and vest quickly riding up his arms and torso.
Lampy gasped, "Blimey! I'm growing up! But I would have sworn that my legs ain't curvy...", and Pinocchio frowned, "They ain't supposed to be curvy?".
"No way! Mama says that I take after my Pop a lot, and he was buff and strong!", Lampwick shook his head, and Pinocchio nodded before noticing that Lampwick's upper body was lengthening and curving along, "Lampy, I think you're getting taller again!".
"What?", Lampwick said as the sound of more of his clothes ripping echoed through the hall as his vest and coat just ran out of room on his growing frame and was coming undone. His hair was changing as well as it was lengthened out before Lampwick looked to his hands and then things started to click for him when he saw them changing into familiar looking ones... ones like his mother's...
Lampwick widened his eyes, "I'm turning into my mama! I'm becoming a dame!", as Pinocchio gasped in shock and amazed horror before he started to feel cold for the first time and looked down at his arms, widening as his nails in his elbows are gone, and skin is growing over the spots, "Lampy, I'm turning human! But how?", feeling shocked, realizing that he's turning into a real boy, but since he confessed to Lampy and he has more conflicting feelings, he's upset and scared, as he doesn't feel right about turning into a real boy.
"How should I know!? Look at me!", Lampwick shouted as he ran to a nearby mirror that was in the room to where he could see his changing self. More and more of his body was still growing and filling out as Lampwick suddenly began feeling a tightness in his chest; the back of his mind very much dreading what was likely coming as his face began to shift and slowly resemble more and more unrecognizable to him. "Pinoky! You gotta call that beetle, call anybody!", Lampwick shouted with worry in his tone as his voice started to change with each word he said.
Pinocchio widened his eyes in shock and horrified fear for his best friend and tried to whistle, but it was like he couldn't, with his neck changing shape and size for a human head to support, feeling aches everywhere as he is starting to have a spine, muscles, blood vessels, everything for a human being to have.
Lampwick also felt a tight pain in his groin, and looked through the rags, and saw that his little boyhood is starting to be changing, with the tip and balls absorbing into his body, realizing that he's becoming a dame on the inside too, no, not a little dame, but an older dame, the ones who had finished normal school, and stuck inside houses with preparing for stuff with a governess or something.
For Lampwick, similar to pretty much all the other turned boys, it was one of a horrific situation as he was essentially becoming not him. He stared at his reflection as his face continued to mature, change, gain more femininity to it and less resemble that he was ever a boy. He then felt a tight pop down below his waist as he now was a woman from the waist down... and it didn't last long until he or rather she felt that pain in her chest finally release when her new breasts popped out of her vest.
The newly changed Lampwick stared at her new breasts, in rags and yet somehow having his green bowtie and bowler hat intact, and she now spoke in a slightly rough, feminine voice, "No...Impossible!", before hearing a scream of pain.
She looked over to see Pinocchio half transforming into a human, yet growing up taller, and his wide, innocent blue eyes looked at her, "Lampy, I'm scared!".
If it was the Blue Fairy's magic, Pinocchio would have never been in pain or fear, but as it's the Coachman's dark magic, it's like the first time he ever, ever had experienced terror and pain, and not even Stromboli was close to this...
Lampwick was paralyzed with fear, shock and indecision. She had no idea what she could even do for the transforming puppet; much less for herself as Pinocchio continued to change like her. Wood and nails slowly shifting out of existence, replaced with flesh and bone as Pinocchio's body was truly coming to life.
Pinocchio soon was able to have tears as he was eventually crying, sobbing and waiting for the moment it'd stop when he's a real boy, yet he painfully kept growing and growing, with his features becoming flesh and hair, and then he felt something beating in his chest, realizing that it's a real heart, and he was able to breath like a human, choking on tears and panting heavily.
His clothes snapped in several places, with his shorts almost gone, his suspenders snapping as a pain started to appear in his chest, and he thought he was having heartbreak. "Lampy, it hurts! I don't wanna die like Mother! I want Father! Papa!".
Lampwick was snapped out of his horrified paralyzed state, and got closer, "Pinoky, look at me, look at me, I'm here! I'm right here!", realizing that Pinocchio is so young mentally in a way that she knew that she needed to reassure Pinocchio, "You ain't dying!".
Pinocchio sobbed, "I know I shouldn't be upset that I'm becoming a real boy, but I want to be a girl!", as he kept changing, pain everywhere. Lampwick took his hand gently and tugged him over to the mirror, "You ain't a real boy, you're becoming into a real dame!", hoping that Pinocchio would calm down when he sees his reflection, like how he did at the clothes shop, and she knew she'd accept Pinocchio as who she is as they are best friends.
Sure, they spent a day together, but somehow, they felt like they like they knew each other better than they had.
Pinocchio looked into the mirror when he, or rather she, heard that. She slowly saw herself finishing her changes as she practically stared; her new breasts were forming and expanding. Almost as if on a strange cue, Pinocchio finally managed to calm down at around the same time much of the pain of turning from wood to flesh was going away.
"I...", Pinocchio whispered, a much softer voice coming from her lips. "Is that me...?", she asked as she slowly reached forward to touch the mirror.
"Yeah... it is...", Lampwick quietly told her. "You'll... you'll be alright...", she tried to assure her. She obviously had no idea, her mind was still racing a million miles a minute with their drastic changes as she looked to the mirror herself.
What once was a young boy and a wooden puppet brought to life was two young women who could only barely be older than 16; standing barefoot and wearing nothing but shredded rags that no longer covered any of their new special areas. The only true remains of who they once were their bowties around their necks and their hats.
"You alright now?", Lampwick asked as Pinocchio nodded. "Yes... I think I am now...", she said as Lampwick took a small sigh of relief.
"What do you suppose happened to us?", Pinocchio asked as Lampwick crossed her arms. "Slats... I haven't gotten a clue, but all I know is whoever did this to me is gonna get a punch in the nose.", the redhead huffed.
Pinocchio whispered softly, "Do you think it's the Coachman?...He been the only grownup since we saw the boys from the ship, and there only were a few teenager boys at the stalls and rides, but no grownups...".
"Probably...", Lampwick nodded. "Now that you say it... something just seemed off about him... and those other boys you mentioned; something about them felt... like not even human almost?".
"Jiminy!", Pinocchio's mind clicked. "Where is Jiminy?", she asked. "He'll know what to do! I've got to find him!", Pinocchio started to rush for the exit... only for her wrist to be grabbed by Lampwick, "Hey, hold on there, Pinocchio!".
"Let me go, Lampy! He'll be gone if I don't hurry and find him!", Pinocchio argued as Lampwick tightened her grip. "Ow!".
"Sorry...", Lampwick loosened it by a bit. "But look, let's you and me wait until the sun comes up again, alright?". Pinocchio waited for a moment before nodding; it might be a better idea to wait until the sun rises once more. Pinocchio took a step back as Lampwick finally let her go before her hands went to her chest. "What are you doing?", Lampwick asked.
"Why did we get so much taller? And what are these puffy things? They're not coming off...", Pinocchio said as Lampwick rolled her eyes and chuckled.
"Hey, Pinoky, stop that, you're going to hurt yourself doing that. And I know you've not been around that long, but did it never cross your mind to think about what those are or to sneak in somewhere to see the girls?", Lampwick asked.