Sarge made his way to Splash Manor. That was the last known whereabouts of several people. The wolf ran through a mental list of the people who had gone missing there. He sniffed around for any clues. Sarge rumped his nose when he got a huge whiff of chlorine and vinyl - ugh. It was QUITE strong, especially by the door.


The fat wolf checked at the lock. He poked at it a few more times, then simply jiggled the doorknob. A grin spread over his muzzle as he got an idea. Were this a push door he would have just thrown himself against it - instead he simply grabbed onto the doorknob and leaned. The back door resisted just enough to let him know that he was making progress.


After several minutes of pulling, the fat wolf managed to pull it open. He squeezed himself in, propping the door open until he found something to put in the way. Sarge flexed his muscles a few times, before simply going about his way into Splash Manor.


As soon as he left the back entrance he rumpled his nose even more.


“WOOO WEE! Dang this place REEKS!” the fat wolf thought to himself, fanning his nose with his hand.


It wasn’t the smell of garbage or anything. It was the smell of chlorine and PVC. Like that of inflatables. Brand new ones that were just taken out of the box even. He coughed a few times, letting his nose acclimate to the smell.


“At least they cleaned this place a little better,” Sarge mumbled to himself as he made his way through. He spotted something unusual.


His ear twitched, and he walked towards the shape. Hm… That couldn’t have been the source of that smell. It seemed to be some kind of an inflatable giraffe of some kind. Someone just inflated it and left it standing there, gazing forward with a grin on its face. The fat wolf pondered to himself. Who would leave a pool toy like this here….


“If it weren’t for the fact I’d pop you, I’d probably relax on you,” The fat wolf said to the pooltoy.


It didn’t respond.


“Heh… look at me… talking to a pool toy giraffe.”


Sarge took a few more whiffs in the air. Hm? Was that… Snickers? Ooooh. The smell of edibles made the fat wolf momentarily forget all about the disappearances. Hey, he couldn’t investigate these disappearances here on an empty stomach now could he?


He padded his way over to the source of that smell. Maybe someone was storing food here - or perhaps they forgot to empty the vending machines during the off-season. Well, it was only going to be expired - maybe the glutton of a wolf would help himself to some.


So distracted by the prospect of filling his tummy, he did not even hear the squeak behind him. Right beside the giraffe, another figure approached… a birdlike figure with a serpentine tail in place of a tailfeather. It padded up to the giraffe toy, flicking its vinyl tongue out.


“Oh my, you seem to have found a guest,” The cockatrice said to the giraffe, “Did you see where he went?”


The giraffe did not answer, but its head nodded slowly with a few squeaks. The cockatrice pulled its tail away from the giraffe, flicking its tongue out once again.


“He went thataway, towards the vending machines,” the cockatrice spoke with a fake voice, one that he had assigned to the giraffe.


“Oh, thank you, giraffy,” The cockatrice hissed back in its natural ‘voice’. “You’re a great friend.” The cockatrice spoke again, this time in the falsetto voice of ‘Giraffy’. “Of course I am! I’m glad you made me this way.”


The cockatrice smiled, pretending to give its ‘friend’ a pat with its wings. Who knew what was really going on inside the giraffe’s air-filled head… not that the cockatrice cared. They enjoyed treating some pool toys like the actual people they had once been, assigning ‘names’, ‘roles’ and ‘personalities’ to them.


~ ~ ~


Sarge plodded all the way over to the vending machine now. His own tongue practically rolled out of his mouth, panting like a mutt. He could smell these delicious treats now! There they were, right there in front of him! All he had to do was…


...shoot…


It was turned off.


Now what kind of dunderhead would keep the pools filled, the power on, the climate control on, the chlorine on, but turn off the vending machines?


Sarge wanted to rant to himself about the atrocity of it all, he even had money inside his pocket… but then he spotted something in the glass of the vending machine. Something like a reflection of some kind. He found himself staring, looking at what could have been a reflection, wait, was it his own? For a brief moment, Sarge felt an itch around his navel, idly scratching it.


No, that wasn’t right… Hm… was he staring at his own reflection…?


The wolf turned around, perhaps the thought of having been denied tasty Snickers or Peanut Butter Crackers had made him a bit delirious. His ears then twitched as they picked up a squeaking noise, followed by somewhat of a… scratching noise from beneath him. Sarge glanced down at his large belly.


And stared.


His fur had turned rather shiny. He couldn’t even see individual hairs anymore. When Sarge felt over his gut, he didn’t feel warm flesh but… warm… rubber… of some kind.. And it was backed by body heat. His own body heat. Sarge raised an eyebrow even more when he saw his navel. In place of his belly button was a large, clear valve. Sarge poked at the valve, and to his surprise, he felt his fingers against it. But that couldn’t be possible… it was just like he had nerves in it.


“Did I put on a rubber suit…?” Sarge asked, as he rubbed his hands across his shiny, smooth gut. This caused several more squeaks to echo through the empty park.


That was the cockatrice’s time to strike!


Like a bird of prey, it hopped out at Sarge from his right. Unfortunately, it went a bit slowly - being that it was only powered by air pressure. The cockatrice placed his eyes right in front of Sarge. They already partially changed Sarge from his reflection, now it was time for the real deal. What to make this person.


Sarge’s eyes locked with the cockatrice’s. They widened, as the fat wolf tried to back away, trying to escape the creature’s gaze. But with every second, he felt less of a will to move… he didn’t WANT to move. The muscles controlling his eyes soon started to dissolve, as the creature’s magic worked its malignant magic.


“Feels nice, doesn’t it?” The cockatrice spoke to him.


Sarge rubbed his hands over his belly, wanting to nod more and more. He felt lighter and lighter, as if he had taken a big whiff of nitrous oxide. The wolf had never felt so light in his life - and that was including before he gained so much weight! Such a pleasant feeling… and the squeaks…


The cockatrice already knew what to make this one. He continued to gaze into the wolf’s eyes, as the fat wolf’s breathing turned into a faint hissing noise from within him. Sarge’s belly grew larger and larger, wider and wider. Rounder and rounder. Yet the rest of Sarge’s body dwindled in height. Soon, Sarge felt his suspenders and shorts falling off, but he didn’t care. He no longer had shoulders with which to support them, and his legs weren’t going to be of much use anymore.


Sarge let loose a few pleasant squeaks, along with a few ‘huff’ing noises.


“A rather noisy toy,” the cockatrice giggled, wrapping his tail around the much smaller wolf.


By now, Sarge’s rear was on the ground… even though it did not have as much definition. His own back had started to inflate and round, much like his belly. His body was practically one giant sphere now… a beach ball. Still containing the fur patterns of Sarge’s body. Sarge’s arms and legs dwindled more and more.


But he didn’t care…


Sarge for a brief moment forgot just what he was, just as his legs finally vanished. What was he…? Was he… He tried to wiggle his hands… but he found he had no hands. Just a small extension with the shape of paw pads. No. What was he. Sarge tried to ponder more and more as his head sank into his body. Sarge’s eyes closed, and then his ears folded down.


For one moment, Sarge was in darkness, and felt a brief panic.


Then, his body fully grew feather light, and stiff.


Just a small dot on the top of the ball indicated the old site of his nose, as well as a few more small extensions was where his ears were. The cockatrice smiled, giving the new beach ball a bat with his tail. The former wolf rolled towards one of the cockatrice’s ‘friends’.


Rolling.


Flying.


The feeling of vinyl and skin.


Squeaking.


That’s all the ball was now.


A ball.


With a squeak, it gently came to a stop against the giraffe. The cockatrice was not far behind.


“What a nice ball he is,” the Giraffe ‘spoke’.


“Of course, this one make a fine addition to the collection,” The cockatrice spoke back, “Hm… what do you think, ball?” The cockatrice turned his attention towards the ball.


He received no answer. Aside from the noise of a door opening.


“Oh my, Giraffy, it seems we have some friends, I wonder if the gryphon would like to play with them… you and the ball greet him, alright?” The cockatrice said with a small squeak.


Of course, they did not respond.


“I know you’d be delighted too,” the cockatrice said to the giraffe.

~~~~~

Turns out, to start the year out right, Sarge ended up getting turned into a beachball by a cockatrice!

Oh no!

This is a sequel of sorts created by  digitalpotato to this piece: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/9040471/

~~~~~

Cockatrice/ Story ©  digitalpotato

Sergeant Wolf/Art ©  pikminpedia Me