"Where IS that damned thing, dood!?"

I got more than a few odd looks as I ran down the city streets. After all, not a whole love of humans had ever seen a prinny in their lives! I myself thought how odd it was being used to it. But hey, the actual transformation was only the first step in a new life. That was a lesson I'd learned awhile ago and a lesson someone else was about to!

Andrew had been walking down the street when the device I was searching for began to hover over his head. Suddenly, the rather dull-looking crystal began to shine brightly. Andrew looked up in alarm before the crystal shattered into infinitesimal fragments and suddenly he was swallowed whole in a brilliant light.

I skidded to a halt upon seeing this. Apparently the Species Correction experiment had been a rousing success.

Seeing the brilliant light and knowing the mental and physical shifts its... well... victim (for lack of a better word) was doubtlessly going through, I let out a little sigh and walked over to the clothes he'd been wearing, now pooled on the sidewalk.

A few minutes late, the light vanished in an instant, dropping a large, green dragon onto his newly-tailed rear end.

"Wh... what happened...?" the new dragon said, looking around as his eyes seemed to refocus. His gaze turned toward me and his expression changed from numb confusion to near shock.

"S-sorry about that, dood! I can explain!" I said a little hesitantly. He tried to get up, but had not accounted for his new body size and musculature.

Andrew flipped his new tail around to the front of him grabbing it in his hands and seeming surprised at the new appendage's cooperation. "Explain..." he began, his total astonishment writ plain on his newly draconic face. He traced a hand on it and seemed to take note that the hair and beard he'd had as a human carried over to his new form. "Explain what, that I appear to be in a dream where I am a dragon talking to a squeaky-voiced penguin...?"

I sighed, dejected. Did people really think I looked like a penguin? Well, at least the Netherworld's cover might not have QUITE been blown yet if that was a case. "I'm... uh... I'm a prinny, dood. The name's Kat. I was helping on an experiment with life essence reassignment result in... uh..." I trailed off. "Look, it's not a dream, okay dood? That's all you need to know. That and maybe we should get outta her. I think I see a couple of people staring."

The newly-formed dragon made his way to his feet, this time much more effectively, as his brain and muscles had already made a great deal of progress recalibrating. He looked over at his hands, then his outstretched wings, experimentally folding and unfolding them. "This... feels so NATURAL. Like I'd been this way my whole life."

"That's because that crystal detects the species you should have been and fixes errors, dood. I didn't think there'd be a human nearby like that but the second I got here, the friggin' thing flew out of my flippers and right after you. Had I not let go it would have dragged me along with it!"

I wiped the sweat off of my brow from that near-catastrophe and he looked over to his left and saw a black trechcoat, white shirt, and jeans neatly folded and placed next to a pair of recently-polished black boots. "What happened to my clothes? Shouldn't they be lying in tatters where I got changed?"

"Nah, don't worry about that, dood. When you change species, you become pure energy for just a little bit. Your clothes just dropped off of you."

"And folded themselves on landing?"

I rubbed the back of my head shyly. "Th-that was me, dood. I had to do SOMETHING while I was waiting for you to change, and that only seemed natural!" I walked over to the clothes and placed them in my satchel.

Andrew seemed startled by this. "Hey, what are you doing with my clothes?" he asked, holding his scaly hand out.

"Well, you're kinda not gonna be a human again anytime soon, dood..." I began to do a prinny ballet twirl. "So I figure... 'Waste not, want not!' Just because they're too small for a dragon doesn't mean someone else can't use them, dood!"

He raised an eyeridge skeptically. He seemed about to say something, but suddenly we both heard some anxious shouts in the distance.

"Aw, CRAP, dood! We've gotta get outta here!" With that, I climbed up onto his back in a hurry.

"Hey, what are you-"

"-Get to flying, dood! You've got a lot of things to learn about your new life, and I think we're gonna have to start right now."

"But...!"

"Dood, relax! You're a natural! Literally! You might not realize this, but transforming is only the first step. It's time to learn what your new form can do!"

He gritted his teeth, but nodded. He clearly knew that this wasn't the place for a prinny and dragon to just be standing around either. "Okay. I think I can do it. But I just have one more question before we go."

I glanced back nervously. The voices were getting louder. "Okay, but hurry, dood! We've gotta get outta here!"

Andrew spread his powerful wings and with his muscular legs he bounded into the air. "...Why do you keep saying the word 'dood,'?"

---

Oh hey! Ryu drew a dragon again! How about that!

This one was for  just-a-username . I had a lot of fun drawing this commission and writing the story. It was definitely a challenge, but I'm happy with how it turned out, anatomically. I also like the shine on the boots. <3