OK time to stop dilly-dallying and really get to the meat of this story and the chapter title is a joke on what I imagine the designs for Ichabod and Edward's transformations as being a mix of the typical 'Kemonomimi' (Their ears remain on the sides of their heads instead of migrating to the top of the head as some Kemonomimi do) and the 'Werewolf of London' meaning they look slightly more 'monstrous' or 'beastly' than the typical cute Anime cat girl or cat boy but still pretty cute in a scruffy kind of way also I was thinking about Pinocchio's partial transformation in the Disney movie where he just gets donkey ears and tail and how this is a source of shame but given what I've set up in the previous transformation...What if the transformation brought joy instead of distress?
Marzipan looked at Ichabod looking forlornly out the window and was quietly fuming at her rotten luck! She had just gotten him to smile for the first time in weeks! And now this thing of humans Mutating into Anthro Animal creatures had triggered him back into his sulking about his lack of animal powers!
On the opposite side of the hallway...Edward Green was also looking at Ichabod...Having come to see Ichabod as like a little brother, Edward felt a great amount of guilt that he hadn't done enough for him!
He felt Minsk touch his hand, he looked at his beloved Humanimal wife, they seemed to have one of those moments of silent communication with just their emotions. Then Edward said "I'll talk to him…"
But just then...Ichabod from his postion in the window saw something that in the heat of the moment he didn't connect to the little girl's story he had just heard!
He saw a strange truck, painted ugly neon green and pink colors racing through the streets! In addition to that in the sides of the trucks were gun turrets and they were spitting out pink goo haphazardly splashing everything, only sometimes hitting people who were obviously trying to get out of the way of the strange glowing pink goo!
Hearing the screams of the people outside obviously in pain! Ichabod's urge to help was triggered again and he began to race for the stairwell...He felt Marzipan grab his hand
"Wait!" She yowled "You have no idea what that stuff is!"
"Marzi!" Ichabod snapped "There are people who need my help! I'm immune to toxins remember?!"
And he pulled away and went downstairs, Edward also followed suit perhaps more to look out for Ichabod.
For the poor Gotham citizens who had been splashed by the mutagen, they were either transforming into whatever pet or domestic animal they had last touched, mostly cats and dogs in the unluckier cases they were transforming into vermin insects like fleas and particularly flies as it was the dead of summer the season for flies!
And as soon as they got outside both Ichabod and Edward stepped in a puddle of the ooze just outside the hospital doors...And as the ooze soaked past the pants cuffs touching their ankles...And since the last animals they had touched had been their beloved Humanimal partners...The transformations were not painless...The pain was so great both the humans doubled over!
Marzipan of course realizing what was happening ran over to tell everyone else what had just happened.
As the rest of the crew and Jonathan Crane raced to the entrance and Jonathan gasped in horror seeing his son transforming painfully before his eyes...Somehow out of instinct he turned to Matoaka and pleaded "Captain! Do something!"
And at that pleading, Matoaka acted on instinct and the Unicorn-Woman leaped forward and gave each of them an injection of the Unicorn Blood Elixir that a Unicorn's horn is actually an ancient syringe for…
And this was wear Unicorn Magic came to a very interesting limitation. Mutation is not disease nor poisoning, while unicorn horn can also work against certain magics Mutation is not magic either...So the two things, unicorn magic and mutagen ooze confused each other as they met in the two men's bodies so they came to an impasse...The unicorn blood couldn't reverse the mutation but it did halt it from progressing further...So Ichabod and Edward were left with long furry tails sprouting from their rears, their ears were now the furry animal ears of a cat and a mink respectively, and it seemed as they had been beginning to get furrier the two men now had very busy sideburns going down their faces.
Donatello seeing the mutation was halted by the touch of unicorn horn turned to Matoaka and asked "How did you do that?"
"I don't know…" Matoaka said genuinely surprised that actually worked to an extent "...I just...Did the first thing I could think of…"
However for Ichabod the pain was already beginning to subside...He looked at his hand, and saw his fingernails were now claws...And as he extended them and retracted them he broke into joyful laughter!
So who the heck is behind all these Mutations? Maybe we'll find out in the next chapter Also one thing I want to point out...Jonathan specifically called Matoaka 'Captain' I think as the astute psychologist he is he's already picked up that Matoaka preferred the 'relatively simple' role of being a Spaceship Captain to being a Princess and later Queen something that will become very important later in this arc