Wild Life: The Man Turned Animal Vol. 2

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Zoo Study

         It was another boring day in my zoology college course, nothing too exciting was happening. My teacher was giving her usual boring speech, and I was jotting down her usual boring lessons. My fellow classmates seemed to share my enthusiasm, after all there wasn't much more you could do in a zoology class. Luckily, teachers always have something exciting to get the students more focused and more interested in the subject. "Alright class! We have a very special class today, very special indeed! Thanks to some donations from Brundletech, you'll be able to experience the animal kingdom like never before!" She exclaimed excitedly, which raised a number of confused sounds from the students. What could possibly make zoology that exciting? "It's better I show you all, rather then explain it. As it's much more fun that way. Now, I have a hat hear with a name of a zoo animal inside it, you will then bring that name back to your desk. You see those high tech visors next to your computer drive?" Asked the teach, who picked up a similar visor to the ones by our desk.

         "All you have to do is put the visor in, enter in the name of the animal. Then, I will see you all tomorrow!" Those last few magic words got everything excited, heck I was even excited at the prospect of being able to go home early. "Teacher, are we really going to home early?" Asked a red-haired student, who has just raised his hand. "Yes Nick, you will get to go home early. However, some of you may find that you're homes may look a bit different today!" Exclaimed the teacher, in a rather odd manner. How exactly would our homes be any different, then they normally would be? "So, Nick?" Asked the teacher, "Since you were the first to raise your hand, would you like to be the first to go home early?" Asked the teacher as she motioned for Nick to come up. "Sure, why not? See you tomorrow, guys!" Nick walked up to the hat sitting on top of a chair at the front. Nick pulls out the name of an animal from the hat. "Huh, cool. A Zebra, I was thinking of writing my final papers on those." Said Nick, in a less than enthusiastic manner. Nick walked back to his chair, placed his visor on and entered the animal's name into the computer. Immediately, steel manacles erupted from his metal chair and kept him in restrained position.

         "Nick, what did she do?!" Screamed Andy, a friend of Nick who is often seen backing him up. However, Nick didn't respond to Andy at all. Instead, all Nick did was make numerous incomprehensible animal sounds. "What did you do to him?!" Screamed Andy, "What did you do?!" The entire class went into an uproar, as the teacher tried to assure everyone nothing was wrong. "Calm down." Stated the teacher calmly, "He just swapped bodies with a Zebra, he'll be back to normal by tomorrow." However, that statement just get everyone more riled up. You could cut the anger in the room with a knife, as nobody believed in such things as body swap technology. "You're insane!" Said Michael, the guy with the highest grades in the class, "You used that visor to drive him mad!"

         All the screaming and yelling was getting on my nerves, I was the only one trying to keep a calm head. After all, I'm sure the school board wouldn't let a psych brainwasher teach a college course. "Everybody shut up!" I exclaimed, which somehow got the class to calm down slightly. "If she was insane, wouldn't we have known by now? This visors can't be dangerous, because if it was, she wouldn't have been allowed to bring it anywhere near campus!"

         The class calmed down and regained composure. "Yeah, last year's zoology class had the same reaction. Thanks for bringing some levity, James!" Stated the teacher proudly. "It's no problem Mrs. Williams. I just hate it when people angrily lose their cool in class." The teacher looked at me and smirked "You know, in the animal kingdom, animals who keep their cool are always the ones who survive. I think you'd make a great zebra yourself!" She exclaimed proudly.

         I blushed somewhat that statement, before she took a deep breath and continued. "Yes, Nick did indeed swap bodies with a zebra. However, he will be returned to normal at the end of the day. As will the rest of you, no will be trapped in an animal's body. This visor has been guaranteed safe, heck some of us teachers use it at home during our spare time. And with you're body suspended by manacles, there are no way the animals in your body could do damage to you, you're friends or you're surroundings. How it works, is that every animal in the zoo is chipped with a special cerebral exchange chip. This visor, will exchange your mind with one of the animals, once you enter a species name. Now..." She said while pointing to me.

         "Since you were kind enough to stick up for me, would you like to be the next zoo animal?" Asked the teacher, who picked up the hat and held it in her hand. "Uh.. Sure..." I said nervously, I was a little weird out by the whole scenario. However, I trust Mrs. Williams and believe in her. So hopefully, this won't turn me into a vegetable for the rest of my days. I pick up the hat and pull out a name, quickly reading it aloud on the spot. "Chimpanzee, huh? That'll be interesting." I say, as I walk back to my desk. I put on the visor sheepishly, and entered in "Chimpanzee." I felt the manacles of the chair fasten around me, as my mind vacated my body.

         Within an instant, I found myself elsewhere and in a different location. I could feel and experience everything, as new smells entered my nostrils. I couldn't move however, my body just wouldn't respond. However, after a few minutes I regained control and looked at my hand. It was a dirty and filthy monkey's paw, with copious amounts of fur lining the wrists. I stood up on two legs, however I couldn't do it very long. I decided to knuckle-walk, as that would be far more natural to my new form. I can't believe, but it actually worked! I was in a chimpanzee's body, in a zoo environment!

To my luck, I noticed the zebra cage was not far off from right next to the chimpanzee enclosure. I knuckle-walk over to the corner of the cage, and begin waving to see if I could spot Nick the Zebra. Finally, a zebra walks over to the corner of the cage and stares straight into my eyes. He then sticks his tongue out at me, something Nick would definitely do. In order to taunt him, I sit down on the face grass of the cage and begin jokingly wiggling my fingers at him. He angrily snorts at the fact that I still have fingers and he doesn't.

The irked zebra goes back to the middle of the enclosure and begins interacting with the other zebras. I decided that I should do the same and interact with the other chimps. As I knuckle-walk over to the middle of the cage, my fur begins itching to an insane degree. How could I forget that chimpanzees have fleas? I sat down in the middle of the cage and began scratching angrily at the miniature interlopers.

Luckily, another chimpanzee walked behind me and sat down. Digging his little monkey paws into my fur, he began digging around for fleas and bugs. Grabbing the insects, he shoved them into his gullet without a second thought. I was a bit grossed out at first, and then eventually got used to it. The itch faded a fair amount, and I felt very grateful towards the little chimp. After a while the chimpanzee finished and gave me a playful slap on the back of the head. Grunting, I turn towards him and see him turning his back for me to groom him.

As he helped me out of a bind, I oblige and begin pulling fleas out of his fur coat. At first, I was reluctant to devour the insects out of embarrassment and yet... No one was around to see me and Nick was busy interacting with the other zebras. I decided to gulp down the insects, as the chimpanzee makes playful grunting noises. I do this for a while, until eventually the chimpanzee gets up and turns towards me.

I finally take notice of something that I somehow ignored, the chimpanzee I had been conversing with was female! The female chimp walked up to me and I began quivering. What if this female thought I was a potential mate? Even if nobody saw that, it would still be weird being forced to mate with a chimpanzee. Luckily, the chimpanzee just made a goofy grin at me and shoved her finger inside my left nostril.

"Was this some kind of handshake for chimps?" I thought to myself, as I copied the female. I jammed the index finger of my monkey paw into her right nostril and dug about. The female chimp made goofy sounding grunts and eventually pulled her finger away. I likewise did the same, as she began to walk off. She began to motion with her head and make pleading grunts, obviously wanting me to follow her.

I followed the chimp to the front part of the cage, where the female chimpanzee was preparing to do something. She ecstatically grabbed the bars of the cage, as if she was an imprisoned convict and began looking around for something. Finally, she spotted a couple sitting in front of a bench near the cage. She stuck out her tongue and began flailing it around, while she annoying smacked her stomach with her left hand.

It looked fun, so I decided to join in. I walked up to the cage bars next to the couple and stuck my tongue out, while smacking my hairy stomach at the same time. The couple laughed to themselves, as they looked at the two goofy chimps bothering them. "Those two are probably mates!" Said the boyfriend, which sent chills down my spine. I don't even want to think about mating with an animal at this point.

The female chimp got bored after an hour or so of bugging the couple, and turned around to go back to the middle of the cage. I was about to follow her, when suddenly my vision blurred. The zoo and the cage faded from sight, as I find myself back in the classroom. The manacles released me, as I looked down at my shirt to find it covered in spit. My throat also felt hoarse and dry, probably due to all that screeching and drooling the monkey did while in my body.

I looked around at the class to see the other students making numerous animal sounds. I guess they were all still in the middle of their swaps. I look over at Nick's desk to see him just getting up, he turned to me and waved. As he left the room, I followed him and asked him what he thought of the body swap. "Dude, that was awesome! So much freedom and I learned so much! Way more then I could have from a book!" He said, as he walked away to his car.

"How did you enjoy monkeying around, James?" Asked the unmistakable voice of Mrs. Williams. I turned to face her and noticed there was drool all over her shirt, just like mine. "Uh... It was fun, Mrs. Williams. Say, did you swap too?" I asked, which caused her to break down laughing. "Of course! How could you forget me after we jammed fingers in each other noses!" She exclaimed excitedly, while chuckling in-between each word. "No way! That was you?!" I asked in a very surprised manner/

"You wouldn't believe how many times I've swapped bodies with that chimp. It's really liberating! The best part is that every time you swapped minds with the animal, it gains part of your mind and mannerisms. You also gain some of their instincts and personality traits. I wasn't going to tell anyone about, but this is the first time I've taught you all weak! Cocoa was in my body all week, having copied all my memories!" She stated happily.

"Woah, seriously? So we've been taught this whole week by a chimp with all your memories and intellect?!" She looked at me with a smirk, "Yep! It's a very fun experience, especially since you aren't really breaking any rules. Since the animal has all your memories and personality traits, it is technically you and it is technically doing your job by soaking up all your memories and experiences. All of that gets transferred back into your mind, when you return to your body!"

"So, why are you telling me all this?" I asked, which caused her to smirk with a Cheshire cat-like grin. "Want to go on vacation with me? I'm taking a couple of other students from other classes on this vacation too. We'll have our minds inserted inside chimpanzees, who we'll pretend to be us while we're gone. If you're interested, I suggest you stay after class and use your visor a few times. After all, that's only way the chimp will get all your memories!" I thought for a moment and said, "A vacation where I can be free to scratch myself, eat bananas and chillax for free in a zoo cage? Sign me up!"

"I knew you'd be up for it James, or should I say Sammy? Yep, that's the name of the chimp you swapped bodies with. I'm sure he'll also be pleased to get out of that smelly cage every once in a while!" Exclaimed Mrs. Williams, as she went back to the room. However before she left, I turned to her and asked her to wait. "You know..." I began, "It's after school, right now isn't it?" She laughed at me and said, "Oh, you cheeky monkey! Fine, two in one day has never hurt anyone! Come, the zoo is just about to serve dinner. A couple bowls o' bugs!" I followed her back into the classroom, laughing all the way in.


Lab Rat

         Samantha was preparing for her big day, her biggest experiment yet. She was a well accomplished scientist, making leaps in the scientific community of mind transference. In fact, she was the first person to ever swap minds with a chimpanzee. It was a big leap forward for her, and she was undoubtedly proud. However, today was going to be a lot different. She was planning on swapping minds with her pet lab mouse, Athena. She got into work early that day to begin setting up, taking cameras and placing them in front of the cage. She grabbed Athena and carried to the back of the room, ready to make sure she the rodent was in healthy condition.

         After all, Samantha didn't want any complications while performing her experiment. As she ran some tests on the little rodent, Samantha's associate Kevin walked in. With his usual brown curly hair and happy disposition, he was prepared for the day of weirdness. "Doc, are you sure about this?" Asked the eager lab assistant, "It sounds like something could go wrong with a delicate experiment like this." However, Samantha just turned to him and gave him a goofy grin. "Don't worry, Kevin!" She said in a reassuring manner, "After all we've both swapped bodies with animals before!"

         "Well yeah, that is true. However, we've swapped bodies with fully grown chimpanzees and hippos! Never with an animal so tiny like a mouse! What if something happens and this experiment costs one of the greatest minds we've ever had?" Kevin was obviously panicking at the prospect of something happening to the young doctor, however she gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we've had multiple scientists look this over and it'll be fine. Besides, this'll be the first time in history where we can see who can beat a maze in faster time. Will it be a mouse with a human's mind? Or will it be an intelligent well-trailed mouse that has the best time?"

         However, Kevin didn't look convinced at all. "Look, this is dangerous and I just hope you know what you're doing. I won't stop you, but I'm not 100% behind this." Samantha frowned at Kevin, and said "Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, Kevin. However, it'll be alright trust me!" Samantha and Kevin continued preparations for the experiment. Kevin placed a small metallic silver band around Athena's waist. The tiny mouse twitched the steel belt was fastened around the tiny mouse.

         Meanwhile, Samantha sat in padded chair, which immediately placed manacles around her arms and legs. She was completely shackled to the chair, so Athena wouldn't harm her body at all. "Alright, Samantha." Said Kevin, "We're ready to start." Kevin flicked on the video cameras and walked over to the computer console. Hesitant at first, Kevin took a deep breath and flicked the switch.

         Samantha suddenly found herself on the table Athena was sitting at before, now wearing the tiny mouse's body. Samantha took a few steps on her tiny mouse legs and let out a satisfied squeak. Samantha could hear numerous sounds with her much larger ears and with her new nose she picked up all kinds of different smells. Samantha's human form was now squeaking and sniffing the air to an insane degree, common for a lab mouse. Athena seemed to be rather confused by her new form, however Samantha knew it was only temporary and that Athena wouldn't have to deal with it for long.

         "Alright Samantha, if it worked, nod your head in place three times." The mouse did just that and Kevin breathed a sigh of relief. He proceeded to unfasten the metallic body-swap band from Samantha's waist. "Well, the swap was a success." Said Kevin, as he picked up the tiny mouse. "Let's move on to the maze portion." Kevin picked up the tiny mouse, who began to quiver at the harrowing heights she had to endure. It was a very different sensation for her to be so small, that she could be carried around with ease.

         Kevin placed Samantha at the starting point, as she prepped herself for test. "We'll begin in three seconds, Samantha. Also, the best time is two minutes and 45 seconds! Alright cameras are on and..." Began Kevin, as Samantha turned her tiny body to face the starting line, "Go!" With that, Samantha took off running. She was used to maneuvering in a four-legged body, as she had previously swapped bodies with numerous farm animals. During those situations, she actually spent days in their bodies, living out their lives.

         Samantha's tiny paws clacked against the floor of the maze, as her tiny legs sped her across the unending labyrinth. Using her keen sense of smell, she was able to detect where the piece of cheese was located. The tiny mouse squeaked a little tune, as she began to near her prize. The scent grew stronger, as Samantha's four legged dash grew more desperate.

         Finally the little rodent turns a corner and dead-set in the middle was her prize. A piece of cheese, yet it looked much different to her new eyes. It was massive due to her smaller stature and on top of that, it was a different color. This was mainly due to Samantha's rodent eyesight, however that wouldn't be a problem in a moment. Before the camera stopped rolling, Samantha began chewing on the piece of cheese until nothing was left. With her new taste buds, the cheese tasted a foreign delicacy to her! Never before had something as simple as cheese been so delicious to the senses! Samantha's tail twitched in excitement, as she finished scarfing down the cheese.

         "Congratulations, Samantha!" Exclaimed Kevin's loud booming voice, "You beat it in one minute and thirty seconds! That's some astounding record-breaking right there!" Kevin gripped the tiny mouse and gave her a little pat on the head with his index finger. Placing Samantha back on the table, Kevin fastened the belt around her waist. "We'll have you back to normal in no time!" Exclaimed Kevin, as he went back to the console.

         "Can't wait to get back to normal!" Samantha thought to herself, "Even though that cheese was pretty good!" Kevin flicked the switch and the machine began to hum. However... Samantha was still inside Athena's body, nothing had happened! Unfortunately for Samantha, she began gaining Athena's memories! Numerous flashes of being bred by two other lab mice, other memories of being forced to run mazes all her life and other strange memories flooded her mind.

         "What's going on?!" Samantha thought to herself in a panic, however she was in for more of a surprise when she saw Athena in her body acting completely like how she would! "Well Samantha, how does it feel to be back to normal?" Asked Kevin to the mousey imposter. "I feel great, and unsurprisingly there was no hitch! The machine works fantastic!" Exclaimed Athena, who was proud of her accidental body theft.

         "Oh no!" Samantha thought, "Kevin thinks Athena is me!" Kevin continued to congratulate who he thought was Samantha. "Hey, Kevin?" Asked Samantha, "Would you like to give swapping bodies with a mouse, a try? I'm sure Athena's mate wouldn't mind if you borrowed his body!" Kevin thought about it and after a while said, "Sure, you've proven to me that it could wok without any hiccups!"

         "This can't be happening!" Thought Samantha, "She's going to use the machine to have other mice steal people's bodies! And there's nothing I can do about it!" Athena walked over to Samantha and picked up the quivering mouse, "You know what, Kevin?" Asked Samantha, who began to pet the fearful rodent with her index finger. Samantha twitched her tiny tail back and forth, as the body thief turned towards Kevin.

         "What, Samantha?" Asked the curious Kevin. "I think it's about time we have Athena bred. After all, we could always use more mice around here." Samantha began to shiver at the thought, not only was she trapped in a rodent's body, but she was going to be bred! Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse Samantha said, "For now however, I think I'll just have her beat my time. As many times as it takes." Said the foreboding body thief, as she placed the rodent back at the start of the maze. Samantha was now trapped, forever in her own experiment.

Waking Up Walrus

         I woke up in a strange place, definitely not my bedroom. It was some kind of arctic wasteland, I thought it nothing but a dream. However, the snow looked real and yet... My body felt strangely warm. Not only that, but my body felt extremely fat. My legs were dragging behind me and they felt as if someone had duct-taped them together. I couldn't stand up my legs, no matter how hard I try. I was forced to crawl, in order to move. Two of my teeth felt much larger, extremely large in fact. These two teeth felt as though they didn't belong to a human...

         If this was a dream, it's way more realistic then I've ever had. I looked down at the icy surface and began to heave my fat hefty across it. It took me a while, but I managed to build up enough speed to make up for my strangely altered appendages. As I continued to skim across the ice, I took notice of my body. It looked like it was a completely different color, as if someone has splash grey paint all over my body. The fat of my new body continued to bounce off the ice, as I tried to figure out what's going.

         I eventually stopped at a clear patch of ice, I decide to look at it to see my reflection. I had to figure out what's going, so I decided to drag myself over there. I inched closer and closer, making sure my large body didn't plummet through the ice. I wandered up to the clear part of the ice and gaze inside, my mouth dropping in surprise. What stood in front of me wasn't my reflection, it was a walrus! Somehow, I had become a tubby and goofy looking sea mammal! I stared in awe at the walrus that now comprised my being, almost all of my body features made me want to cry! I had two massive tusks erupting from, I had grey skin that was looking very coarse and tough. The upper part of my muzzle was covered with whiskers, giving a strange animalistic moustache.

         Not to mention I was now full of blubber, ripe for any would-be hunter to kill and sell. Not to mention the two large chunks of ivory hanging from my face! I decided to turn around and to my horror, I began hearing cracking sounds. "Oh no!" I screamed aloud in my head, "This can't be happening!" I tried to scream out for help, but all that came out was the majestic call of a male walrus. I panicked too much, causing the ice to give way. I fell into the cold arctic sea, flailing around helplessly in the water. I was deftly afraid of water in real life, as I couldn't swim!

          I clasped my mouth open, before I fell into the great blue deep.The last place I wanted to meet my end in, would be in my least natural environment. However, as I fell into the cold deep, I found that I wasn't drowning, that I was still alive! Not only that, but the amount of air that I was holding in, was still in large supply! I guess I didn't know before hand, how long a walrus could hold his breath underwater. I began waving my fins around, but I got nowhere fast. I decided to focus, I knew I couldn't hold my breath forever.

         As I focused, I began to gain the mindset of a walrus. Suddenly, like files being saved onto a jump drive, I gained knowledge of how to swim underwater! I kicked my flippers and fins at the same time, I used this motion to propel myself out of the water. I motioned my fins faster and faster, until reaching the glimmering surface of water. As soon as my head erupted from the water, I opened my large gaping maw to allow all the excess air out of my system. I was confounded by today, what had happened and why was I a walrus? I don't remember doing anything bad to deserve this, I committed no sins against man.

         It was all so sudden and weird and yet... I was strangely enjoying myself! I'd never had this much energy in my life, on top of completely conquering one of my greatest fears. I was no longer afraid of water, I had conquered the ocean. As I continued to just float in the water, I saw a huge funnel of steam in the distance. Out of the mighty waves, emerged a large whale! The massive beast erupted from the surface of the water, I felt so lucky to see such a magnificent sight! As quickly as it happened, the massive beast dived back into the gaping maw of the ocean.

         The awe of seeing a real whale in it's natural environment, blinded me from my startling transformation. I wanted to change back, yet I found myself strangely enjoy this new environment and life. I had no idea how I transformed and I have less of an idea on how to change back. There was no other options open to me, I had to grin and bare it. I still had my human mind, it was perfectly intact. Suddenly, a feeling of insane hunger pulsated through me. I'd have to find a cure later, right now I'm in the serious need of some fish. I take a deep breath and dive back into the ocean depths. It's a good thing that I'm no longer afraid of water, or else I'd starve!

The Canada Day Conundrum

         I woke up feeling like crap, I definitely had too much to drink last night. My head was pounding, to the point where it felt downright massive! I knew that this was going to be a very long Canada Day, so I got up immediately. I found it difficult to move my head off my pillow at first, my head was just too bloated. What was going on, even when I'm drunk I'm not like this! I moved my hand up to my face and touched the scruff of my cheek. It was covered in... Fur! This can't be, I had completely forgotten about the Canada Day curse! The question is, how? I had my alarm clock set last night, there must have been some kind of power outage! My lips felt incredibly massive, as I continued to move my hand across massive. I reached my face, as I could see it had already pushed into the muzzle of a common bull moose!

         I hopped out of bed and ran to the washroom. I gaze into my reflection in the mirror, luckily the transformation has only reached my head so far! I still had time before I turned into a full moose! Allow me to explain a bit about what's going on, you see long ago people slept in on Canada Day, when they should've been productive. It was dark era, known only as the nineties. In order to squelch the laziness brought on by having a free day off, the Prime Minister of Canada took it upon himself to punish the layabouts. The PM knew that Canadians shouldn't squander their time sleeping on such a precious holiday and created a punishment for those who are too lazy to get up. Any Canadian, whether they be local or visiting, would turn into a moose if they slept in past 11:00 AM.

         Unfortunately for me, I had slept in until twelve! Luckily, the transformation reverses after two whole days. However... No one really wants to be stuck as a moose for that long, especially when they should be working or being productive in some kind of manner! I continued to stare at my reflection, it was the first time I had ever incurred the wrath of the Canadian gods and I was in utter shock! I knew I had to get out of this building and to a local nature reserve. I didn't want to get tossed into a zoo cage and be forced to stay there for two days.

         I run down the stairs and grab a backpack that was laying on my couch, I take it and run quickly into the kitchen. I pack the essentials: Hot Rods, Sun Chips and a flashlight. Naturally, I wouldn't need these after I had fully transformed, but I'll definitely need them afterwards! I grabbed my car keys and a fresh can of Moose Musk, tossing them both into the backpack. Because, if I was going to turn into a moose, I was going to need to smell like one! I sprayed a bit of it out to make sure it's still good, as I flared my large moose nostrils at just the scent of it. I packed the Moose Musk away, as I made my toward the closet.

         Taking out a large red scarf, I decided to drape it over my massive moose muzzle. I didn't want people to see that I had the Canada Day Curse, after all! After draping the scarf around most of my face, I put on an "Edmonton Oilers" cap and ran out the door. I dashed towards my car with the my bag in tow, and quickly unlocked the car door. Jumping inside the Chevrolet, I quickly shut the door and turn on the ignition. I began cruising down the street, making my way out of the city and towards my destination. I was going to a nearby nature park, an open park far outside the town. It was about a fifty mile drive, and I was hoping to get there before I turned into a big ugly moose.

         I made it outside the town, and quickly turned on the radio. This proved to be a horrible idea, as my now much larger ears were sensitive to the music. Even when I had it turned to the lowest tempo, my new moose-ears ached to an insanely unbearable degree. I quickly shut off the stereo and continued onward, eventually. I drove past the numerous pieces of the forest, making my way past it's outskirts towards the park. It was a good thing it was only a thirty minute drive, I didn't want to waste too much gas on this endeavor! I spotted the park and was about to drive in, until... The transformation commenced. I could feel my toes twisting and merging. They combined together, decreased in size and became hard as stone. I pulled out what was left of my feet from my shoes, which happened to be a pair of blackened hooves. It was hard to move my hooves at first, but I managed to maneuver them over the gad pedal.

         Pressing my left hoof down, I continued driving, as I entered the park. Driving through the fresh greenery, I eventually reach the toll station. Pulling my car up to the station, I saw a man with kind smirk poke his head out. "Well howdy-sir! Is it just one for you today?" He asked, to which I responded by nodding my head. "Alright, I'm just going to let you in for free, because... It's a bit of a strange day." The man proved his point by walking out from the station. As soon as I saw him exit, I saw one of the most bizarre things I had ever scene. The man was a moose from the neck down, clad in brown and white fur and clacking his hooves against the dirty ground. "I'm going to assume the same thing happened to you, with that haphazard disguise." Damn, I had been found out! I took the scarf shamefully off my head, showing my large moose noggin for the man to see.

         "Don't have to be ashamed! Happens all the time, eh! People forget to set their alarm clocks, or the power goes out. It's okay, here I'll go open the gate for you!" The man-headed moose traipsed back into his station and smacked his still human head across a blue button. The gate to the park immediately opened, and I drove right in. As I passed the moose, I gave him a friendly wave and he returned the favor with a kind-hearted smile. I drove into the park and parked my car, immediately throwing the door open. I knew I wouldn't' be able to walk on two legs at this point, especially with these tiny hooved feet. I grabbed the bag, and holstered it over my shoulder. I jumped out of the car and landed on my hooves and hands. As I did so, I felt my spine crack in a very painful way. I was now trapped in a four-legged stance for the next two days.

         I was going to definitely need this bag, I had packed a spare change of clean clothes and some clean drinking water. I wouldn't need them right now, just after I spend two days as a moose. As I walked, I could feel my body bulking and becoming more muscular. I was hating myself right now, for forgetting to take my clothes before the transformation. It didn't really matter though, the outfit I was wearing I got at a salvation army in Saskatoon. As I continued to strut along on four legs, I stopped as my hands began to convulse. They took on the same shape as my feet, merging together into hooves and becoming a solid black color. As I walked along on my hooves, I cam across a rock with a large bush situation next to it. I shuffled the bag off of my hooves, and pushed it with muzzle into the bush. When it was perfectly obscured, I decided to find a nice place to relax and wait for the transformation to complete itself.

         I reached a clearing with no humans around, and walked around until I found a nice grassy patch right next to a shimmering lake located in the middle of the clearing. As I reached this location, the transformation quickly overtook me. My arms and legs became thinner and at the same time more muscular. My arms and legs lost of their articulation, as I could no longer bend them in certain places. With a full set of four legs, the transformation worked it's way up to my torso. I began to flinch in pain, as the muscles located on my began to convulse. I could feel my body bulking up, larger muscles forming, as my torso took on a more animalistic shape. The growth of this body width, forced my clothes to split at the massive amount of changing I went through. Pieces of fabric were torn asunder by my increase in body mass. These shredder bits of humanity fell to the ground like falling snowflakes I felt two tiny nubs begin to form on my head, as these nubs began to painfully push out. These nubs grew into large tree-like antlers, these antlers being extremely wide in length. Suddenly, my body was overtaken with a strange warm feeling. Like grass quickly sprouting up, fur began to materialize from every pore.

         Sprouting out quickly, the fur became thick and blanketed my body. Within an instant, my body was covered with brown and white fur. The final part of my transformation was a mental one, my human mind was now being pushed way. Well I could think like a human, I had another mind forming taking control of my actions. The mind of a moose now controlled my actions, as my human mind could do nothing but watch through my eyelids. The moose mind took control of my body and began to walk me forward. Walking through the grass, numerous ticks and insects began to cling to my thick fur. I let out a majestic cry, as my body ambled forward through the stick and trees. My body found a grassy enclosure, full of delicious greens that excited the moose part of me. My body found nice spot of grass and deftly dug it's hooves into the dirt. I munched on the grass, as it somehow delighted both my human mind and moose mind. Soon enough the line between my two minds began to blur, as we thought in unison about things that concern my new form.

         Grazing and walking on all fours became second nature to me, as I continued to trot through the woods. Skunks, squirrels and other critters would run fleeing of my massive form. Larger animals tended to steered clear of me, I felt like I was the king of the Canadian wilds! Two days trapped in this body was going to be a synch, especially being such a massive mammal! I began to sniff around, flaring my large nostrils in the air, in order to find more vegetarian delicacies that would entice my moose taste buds into action. I strode through the underbrush, my hooves caressing the dirt and grass. I felt the ticks bite into my hide, as I ventured forth. For some reason I was enjoying this, then again simple things come to simple creatures.

Flipbook of the apes

Author's Note: This is one of the five winning pole entries. I decided to do this one early, I hope you enjoy it!

         I absolutely hate it when people schedule Halloween parties at the last minute! It was the night of the party when I received the invitation, which conveniently got lost in the mail. I had absolutely no costumes to wear, so I decided to dig through my old attic to find something. I journeyed into the dusty filth of the attic, looking around for any costume I had worn years previous. Sadly, any costume I could find was way too short on me. Looking through the attic, I glanced upon a dusty book that was conveniently stowed away in the corner. I walked towards the book and snatched it up, blowing the dust off of it. The book appeared to be a kid's book, a flipbook to be exact. I used to love these books, especially the way I could mix and match pieces of different pages, and come up with something totally goofy.

         I thought since I couldn't find a costume and it would take me way too long to go out and buy one, I would glimpse through the flipbook for a minutes. Afterwards, I would call up my friend and tell him I was extremely tied up. It was a bad thing to do, but I didn't want to just come out and say that I had no time to buy and wear a costume there. I carried the dusty flipbook with me down to my living room, and sat down on the ground with it. The title read "Man or Ape? You choose!", the goofiness of the title made laugh a little. When I opened the book I was surprised to learn that there was only two different pages to part of the flipbook. "Odd." I thought to myself, "My parents must have been totally ripped off when they bought that for me."

         The thing that seemed most odd about the book, was that the guy on the front page looked exactly like... Me. It definitely struck me as odd, I was undeniably curious about the book at this point. I flipped the bottom part of the page first, now the picture of me had a pair of gorilla legs. Suddenly, my legs felt extremely and uncontrollably itchy. I looked down, and saw my pants were completely missing. In there place, was a large amount of black fur. My legs felt extremely hefty too, and I could see that they were massive from where I was sitting. I put the book down and looked at my feet, which seemed to have a bit of blue coloring. "No way!" I said aloud, "I have gorilla legs!"

         This flipbook must be some kind of magic book, I was extremely excited at this prospect! I could use this book to turn my body into that of a gorilla's and wear it as a Halloween costume! I quickly grabbed the book and flipped both of the other two flaps at the same time. I looked down, and now saw I had the chest and massive arms of a gorilla! The black fur now covered my entire body, and my weight had increased dramatically. My head was larger and much more massive, with the exposed nostrils of a gorilla and fangs to boot! I tried speaking a few words, but all that came out were nonsensical grunts. I took some time to practice knuckle walking, it was new challenge for me. Walking on all fours became second nature, after a few minutes of practicing. My mangy fur itched to an insane degree, and it was very hot inside this fur-coat! Though, I was sure it would be just as hot inside a real costume.

         I walked over to a full-body mirror, that would only show me a portion of my now massive form. I took a large finger and pulled back my large lips, to get a look at my ape-like molars. "Should I brush this coat of fur?" I thought to myself, "Maybe try to make it look more like a costume?" I guess didn't really matter anyway, people go for realize nowadays mostly! I was surprised I was able to my new massive body so easily, maybe I received some mannerisms from the spell that the book cast. I decided to take a closer look at the book, picking it up with massive gorilla paws I opened it back up.

         I tried turning the pages, but they were stuck! I almost panicked, until I looked at the back. In red lettering that was clear as it, it red, "Reader will automatically return to normal, at 3 AM in the morning. Warning: We are not responsible for you getting locked in the zoo's local ape enclosure." That kind of raised a good question though, what if everyone knew I was a real gorilla? I really didn't want to meet my end in a gorilla cage, then again... Doesn't everybody say live dangerously? I can't change back until 3, and people are bound to stumble upon me anyway, especially trick-or-treaters! I knew that I was going to have to chance it...

         In the midst of the excitement of my strange transformation, I suddenly heard the doorbell ring! Now, I was a bit nervous! What if people found out I was a real gorilla? What if people knew it wasn't a costume? I gulped and knuckle-walked towards the door. Heaving my big gorilla-paw I turned the nob and opened it. My friend, Ian was standing in the doorway. He was dressed up like Godzilla in a plastic costume that looked amazing. "Woah!" He exclaimed as he pointed at me, "Dude, that gorilla costume is tight! It's so realistic! Did you ship away for that?"

         I let out a happy grunt as inspected my "costume" from head to toe. "Way to keep in character, man! It looks just like a real gorilla! You even shipped away for one of those four-legged suits!" After a few minutes, he got over his excitement. "Man, that's a great costume! Come on, let's go! It'd be a shame for you not to show this to everyone!" He gave me a smack on the behind and urged me out the door. I knuckle walked behind, excited that I had this new costume and form to try out! Wait until those party-goers get a look at me!

         When we got to the party, is when the real fun began. Ian and I arrived at the front, where another guy was waiting. "Wow, you guys look amazing! Especially you, Craig!" He exclaimed, as he pointed to me, "Try not to kidnap any hot dames tonight!" Ian and I, proudly entered the costume party and everyone mouths dropped to the floor when they saw my costume! "Dude, you sure that guy didn't escape from a zoo?" Asked another party-goer named Joel. "If he did escape from a zoo, we would all be dead by now! Trust me guys, it just looks realistic! It's all totally fake!" Everyone seemed convinced by Ian's statements and continued partying. I knew this was going to be a fun night, I didn't even feel bad about going ape!