One second Bobby was talking with his childhood brother from another mother, and the next he felt as if the most beautiful rainbow descended upon him and delivered the biggest damn uppercut to his brain he’d ever felt.

  “…Ugh, felt like I just had a five-round match with Johnny Speed,” Bobby groaned, vision swimming. Something sounded off with the rock music too, but that might be his ears ringing. “Zack, buddy, you okay? Shit I still taste rainbows; the heck just happened? Buddy, answer me? You alive?” Shit, what the heck had just happened?

  “I—” Zack began, but his voice was weird, and way more feminine. Hell, that sounded outright sultry. “I may have become something that my… mother would be rather… enthusiastic about, potentially.”

  Shit, that was baaaaad. Bobby was about to say something, but he was taken completely aback when he realized his arms were red. Like, vibrant cherry red levels. He briefly looked himself over, and saw it was everywhere, his legs too, and the gym mirror showed it went to his head too. Were those horns!?

  “What? You too? My skin’s all red now and I think I got horns…” Bobby said, but looking around he heard groans from his other gym bros and trainees and cursed silently. He didn’t want to leave Zack, but people here needed his help now. “Listen, I need to check around here as I think half the gym fell over convulsing when, whatever happened hit, but like, if you can, get to town so we can figure this out together?”

  “Okay,” Zack said, and followed up with, “I’ll see you soon,” and hung up.

  Bobby pocketed his phone and rushed over to Ray. His boy had fallen in the midst of some weights and was looking… green?

  “Ray, buddy, you okay man?” he asked, checking over his friend. Ray was always big, fat even, but Bobby had never let that fool him as Ray was strong as Hell and could act as a one man tow service on foot.

  “He. Hehe,” Ray chuckled, sitting up with a smile, his voice deeper, yet somehow twice as jolly as before. “I feel light.”

  “Hey now, take it easy and—” Bobby stopped. Ray wasn’t fat anymore. He was fucking giant, muscles built on muscles, and more. “Holy shit, you look like a ripped Orc, bro.”

  Ray stood up, nearly bonking his head on the ceiling, before flexing. “Yeah buddy,” he chuckled. “I feel like I could lift a bus with one arm.”

  Bobby patted Ray’s bicep. “Hell yeah you could but stay focused! I need you to check the back half of the gym, make sure everyone’s okay, I’ll take the front half, and then figure out what the fuck happened,” Bobby said.

  “Right!” Ray said, making his way down to the back half of the gym to do as he was asked.

  Bobby ran around the gym, and found most people were okay. They’d been stunned, but most were the same, but more than a few, in fact nearly half the gym, had something new. Bobby and Ray were extreme, but a lot of people had something new: antlers, slitted eyes, occasional scales on their face, but nothing too major. With one exception.

  One treadmill was still occupied and going strong. Jaq was a bit new to the gym, a small guy with a cute smile, but he’d been here to strengthen his heart by running and training after a bad accident, so of course Bobby helped integrate him into the gym. The thing was, now he was changed and as much as Bobby and Ray were. He looked like an anime puppy boy, almost like a Shiba Inu given humanoid form in the cutest, femboyest way possible. He was also still running, near dead sprinting with his headphones still in his ears but somehow rotated up to the top of his head. How he hadn’t noticed Bobby had no idea.

  “Uh…” Bobby said, staring. One of the local gym bunnies, a girl named Bridget who now had literal bunny ears, was staring at Jaq. Or more specifically, staring at his rear.

  Bobby tapped Jaq’s shoulder.

  “Hallo?” he asked, taking his headphones off as he paused the treadmill, his Phillip accent coloring his words as he spoke. “Ah! Bobby! You’re red now.”

  “And you’re a furry! Did you not notice, like, everything?” Bobby said, gesturing at the gym and its changed occupants.

  “Ah, no. Was to busy jamming to Idol Blast while running like crazy,” Jaq chuckled, bouncing off the treadmill like an excited puppy. “I guess it is time to close up today?”

  Bobby snorted. “No shit,” he said.

  Everyone seemed to be okay. Some were changed, but no one was hurt and that was good in Bobby’s books. Next step, then. With that, he clapped his hands loudly. “Okay people! Group up front! I don’t know what the heck happened, but I doubt it was localized to my damn gym. Want volunteers now, we’re going to fan out on campus and just check on people, make sure those around us are okay, and maybe figure out what even happened, okay?”

  “Sounds good Buddy,” Ray grinned. “I’ll make my way down to the lower levels, and work my way up. Never know what happened down at the car park after all, and I can probably lift anything down there off of anyone who got caught beneath them.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Bobby fist bumped Ray. He turned as Bridget stepped up. “I’ll go check on the sorority girls. Those drama queens are probably screaming if half the stuff we see here happened there too. Jaq, wanna come with?” she asked.

  “And get a chance to see a bunch of cute girls freaking out?” Jaq chuckled. “Let me grab my camera first. This will make great news for the school papers.”

  Bridget laughed and walked off with Jaq.

  Just like that, other hands from the gym’s core members started coming up. Some volunteered to check out the dorms, others to check out the Student Union, the cafeteria, and more. A few people just wanted to get home, or wanted to check on loved ones, and Bobby found no fault with them for that, but he was damn proud of his gym people all handling this well and not freaking out.

  Just like that, they set off to make sure the Academy was safe and sound.

  ~~~~

  The city was like a beehive some idiot tossed a firecracker in. Sirens were everywhere, there were at least three pillars of smoke in the city suggesting a fire, and while there wasn’t outright screams like it was the zombie apocalypse and the gun nuts finally got to go to town, there was a lot of panic Bobby could see on campus just in his first half hour outside the gym. This wasn’t even to account for the red crack in the sky.

  For example, there was Nicole. Nicole was a nice, bookish girl who’d helped Bobby with a few projects in a shared chemistry class. Now? Now she was seven foot tall, had bat wings, skin as red as Bobby’s, yellow eyes, and proportions that made porn actresses look tame while also rocking a six pack. She was staring at her reflection in a glass door. Drooling.

  “Nicole?” Bobby tried, but she just kept up her self inflicted staring contest. Gently, he shook her shoulder, but still got no response. Finally, he stepped in front of her and noticed her irises were swirling, but breaking sight with her reflection made her jump.

  “Ah!” she gasped, before her eyes trailed over him with a lewd smile. “Well hello there, handsome~”

  Bobby felt as if something had landed on him and slipped off. That was weird. Did a grasshopper land on him somewhere? “Time and place Nicole. That is you, right?”

  “Y-yeah,” she eventually managed to stutter as she looked away.

  Bobby frowned. “Listen, you’re about as changed as I am by, well, whatever happened. Hell, maybe more. Maybe try going to your dorm for a lie down? I’ll walk you there, need to check on the dorms anyway and make sure people are okay.”

  “Okay,” she murmured, following along after him, her long, flowery tail waving behind her as she walked.

  Bobby nodded and walked with her through campus.

  The trip there was… weird.

  For one, he stopped to make sure a few other people were alright. One dude had bunny ears and kept poking at them. Turned out he was kinda high, and thought he was on a trip, but Bobby was able to redirect him back to a dorm that was probably fine?

  For another, he kept seeing… something, out of the corner of his eyes. Looked like little balls of light, but every time he tried to turn they’d fade out. Bobby would have dismissed them entirely any other day, but the crack in the sky was a bit ominous. Yeah.

  News websites had no idea what to make of it, or any of the day’s transformation and weirdness beyond noting fatalities were surprisingly low. It looked mildly apocalyptic until Bobby looked at a nearby tree and saw a bird chirping and feeding its babies in a nest. They didn’t look too concerned about the red rip in the sky.

  Finally, it was the catgirls. That one was pretty fucking weird.

  “Huh,” Nicole giggled as the catgirls Meowed at each other, playing and pawing at one another until they approached. “They’re kinda cute, actually.”

  Bobby was a bit more concerned. “Is it just me, or is every single last one in their birthday suit?” So far, while about 1 in 3 or more people had some change even if it wasn’t as pronounced as his, they’d still been wearing clothes. Another thought came to him. “Are… are they even talking? I don’t think I’ve heard a single word out of the whole bunch so far.”

  “There is not a single thought in any of their heads,” Nicole said, shaking her head. “At least, not one we’d recognize as intelligent.”

  Bobby shook his head. Nicole’s remarks were a bit weird, but the catgirls took priority. He could probably get them some clothes from the academy Career Closet. Sure, it’d be mostly formal stuff, but he was worried about a bunch of girls just being naked in all this.

  “Ladies? I—” whatever he was going to say froze in his throat as every single catgirl looked at him simultaneously. Their eyes dilated, and communal screech erupted from them.

  “Rweaorwr!” they screamed, before running off, jumping and climbing over buildings in an attempt to get away from him.

  Except for one, who just looked up at him and asked, “Mreowr?”

  Bobby’s hands fell to his sides. “This day is so weird,” he muttered. “Um. Miss. Are you okay?” he tried, tentatively holding out his hand.

  The catgirl sniffed his hand, then rubbed her head against it and began to purr.

  “I—” Bobby’s words briefly failed him as the catgirl rubbed her head against his hand, like, well, a cat. “Nicole, tell me if I’m thinking crazy, but… you know how a lot of people got some extra features, changes, all that? What if, and hear me out, this catgirl, hell these catgirls we just saw, were the reverse? Instead of humans getting animal ears or tails or whatever, these were cats getting all human like?”

  “I mean… I did warn you,” Nicole grumbled. “They have no thoughts, their heads are empty.”

  “I thought that was an observation! Like, that shit feels wild even for today and I’m cherry red and have horns now. Also, how the heck did you know? Something else going on with you?” Bobby asked, a little frustrated.

  “…Kay, later Bobby,” Nicole said, walking away as he began to be frustrated. “Not dealing with that.”

  Bobby stared after her a moment and swore at himself. “Lost your cool, Bobby, gotta keep a handle on that, and, shit, did I get angry way easy there?”

  Bobby shook his head. Nicole was fine, but he’d have to do something nice for her later. He’d have to make her some gourmet hot chocolate later, even break out the marshmallows and blow torch.

  Grumbling, he continued his way around campus to help out anyone who was in trouble.

  ~~~~

  What felt like years but was a bit under two hours later, Bobby trudged up to Zack’s dorm. He was tired and more than a bit weary, but he’d done some good today helping around. Hell, the entire Gym had done good, with Ray helping several people out of cars who’d gotten trapped, Jaq and Bridget calming down the sororities, and more. But Bobby had one last checkup before he clocked out for the day.

  “This should be the place,” he said wearily, eyeing dorm #999. Zack had texted him the dorm number and said he’d arrived earlier, so Bobby was going to see his friend before the day was over.

  He sniffed the air, smelling beef, grease, and cheese? Well, that was coming from this apartment, so Zack had to be doing okay to make his favorite food. It was something Zack’s mom had always made for the two of them growing up when Bobby came over to play games.

  With that, he knocked.

  “Coming!” a melodious voice called out from inside, opening the door and standing there before him.

  A woman with long red hair, a heart shaped face, ruby red eyes, tall red fox ears and a long, fluffy red tail looked at him with a very Zack expression. “…I made beef and mac, with extra cheese,” she said, her voice silky smooth as she led him inside, her tail wagging playfully as she adjusted her workout hoodie and sweats to cover herself a little better. “Sorry if I look like a mess right now, it’s a bit rough getting used to suddenly having an entire new center of balance that makes me want to lean forwards a lot more.”

  Bobby stared. Zack saying her center of gravity was a bit off now might be an understatement, given she was just a bit top heavy now. In fact, there were a lot of changes to remark on, and honestly, Bobby probably would, another time. For now, though?

  Bobby stepped forward to give Zack a bear hug. “Good to have you here and okay, buddy.”

  Zack hugged him back immediately, a light sniffle as she seemed to slightly decompress rather than just bottle it up like she usually did. “It’s good to see you too…” she claimed, before leaning back with a chuckle.

  “It seems we’ll match now if we go to the gym together, Bobby,” Zack told him, getting a good look at him. “We both look red as cherries, though in a completely different way.”

  Bobby first snorted, then the laughter bubbled up. The world was changed in ways he couldn’t begin to know just yet, but his best friend was still here to see it through with him.

  AN:

  Kitsu: The Oni is very stronk, but very confused. As is normal for Oni. But this Oni is a real bro.

  HiddenMaster: Indeed. We’ve been thinking on a name for a bit now, but nothing has quite stuck. I mean, Zacharina is the female version of the name, but uh… not so sure on that one.

  soon.

  Kitsu: Fun fact, this isn’t actually a standard fantasy setting, nor is it strictly a modern portal fantasy. It’s actually closer to Stargate than anything, with just a hint of actual magic and supernatural stuff being a thing, to start. Just keep that thought in mind for this first book, because it gets more magical in later books, but it’s actually not just straight magical shenanigans.

  HiddenMaster: Indeed, gonna be fun.

  https://hiddenmasterarchive.carrd.co/ for the ninja.

  https://aikoakiyoshi.carrd.co/ for the floof.