Still doing Twitter polls to come up with scene ideas, and Transformation was selected. I decided to mix quite a few things in this one, from pool toy TF to inflation to weight-gain!

August is accidentally transformed while mishandling a potion, experiencing a variety of changes...

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Potions, Puffs, and Pounds
By: Indi

The room was cluttered, to say the least. Shelves were crammed with books, ranging from cheap manuals to hardcover tomes with fancy writing on their spines. Tables were covered in beakers and bottles, many full, a few without stoppers. Tiles covered the floor, cracked and stained from abuse.

August knew quite a few alchemists, and his friend Indi was by far the least tidy. The gray snake walked over to a table and picked up one of the bottles. It lacked labeling of any sort and contained a red liquid. “Do you even remember what half these things have in them?” he asked.

On the opposite side of the room, a plump, blue zebra stopped mixing ingredients and looked over his shoulder. “Of course I do!” he said. “Usually.” His addition was much quieter.

August put down the red potion and picked up another that was a faded shade of blue. “Sure you do. If you keep everything sitting around like this it’s gonna cause an accident one day. And considering all the weird things you like to concoct, it’s bound to be a doozy.”

The snake gave the bottle in his claw a light shake. Instead of swirling, the blue liquid immediately bubbled and rose, a puff of smoke shooting out of the bottle and pouring over August’s face. He held the bottle away and coughed, waving the smoke off with his free claw. The smell of rubber overwhelmed his nostrils, his face scrunching up.

“Be careful!” Indi shouted.

“I was!” August insisted. “This stuff just went off without warning. Ugh, what was even in that thing?” He put the bottle back on the table and stepped away, suddenly worried the rest of the potions would erupt on their own.

“What color was the potion?” Indi asked, heading over.

“Light blue,” August said. The rubber smell hadn’t gone away. It’d actually grown stronger.

“Round bottle or square bottle?”

“Round.” August wrinkled his snout and swore he heard a faint creak, but shrugged it off as his imagination.

“Was it a mist or more of a...oh, never mind, I think I know what it was.” Indi stared at his friend’s snout, which had gained a noticeable sheen and was turning blue.

“Well? What was—” August stopped speaking when he heard the creaks again. Opening his mouth made more. The snake felt his face with both claws, feeling smooth vinyl instead of scales. He pulled his claws away in shock, only to realize they were starting to transform as well. “Am I...turning into a pool toy?”

Indi let out a nervous chuckle. “It was a summer project I kind of forgot about. Thought it might be a good way to beat the heat, but I didn’t quite figure out all the kinks. It’s a complicated brew.”

“Congrats on the successful pool toy potion,” August grumbled and creaked. He watched as the sheen of vinyl spread up his arms and down his chest. As it did he felt himself growing lighter. The experience wasn’t all that bad; at least he hadn’t gotten hit by any of Indi’s many weight-gain potions. “Uh, why is it turning me blue and white, though?”

“Well, that’s because it’s a shark pool toy potion, to be specific,” Indi said.

August’s snout suddenly stretched forwards and curved gently upward. He twitched as something pushed out of his back; a fin. His tail was shrinking, the tip splitting.

Then came the hissing. August’s flat middle swiftly ballooned out. He felt like he was hooked up to an air pump, but no hose was connected to him. “Really, Indi? It’s inflating me now, too!” He squeaked.

It was one of my later experiments, so I was mixing a lot of things for fun!” Indi said. “Thought it’d save time if the pool toy didn’t need to be inflated after transforming.” He took a few steps back from his friend. “Just don’t be mad when the next stage kicks in.”

“There’s more?” August asked. That’s when he realized his claws had fused, forming fins. And had he grown shorter? There was a stiffness to his body he hadn’t felt before, making any movement difficult. He wasn’t turning into a living pool toy—he was turning into a regular, inanimate one. “D-Damn it...Indi…” August barely managed to speak, his jaw clenched shut.

August toppled over, landing on the curve of his blimping middle. His limbs were getting pulled into his body, shrinking and shifting to become the fins of a shark. His legs vanished entirely, his tail growing thick and stubby. Creaks echoed out as the pool toy continued to expand and transform, vinyl stretching non-stop. His scowl twisted into a toothy grin, while his eyes enlarged, locking into place after a while. August pressed down on his massive middle with his fins, rocking back-and-forth as he struggled to retain even the slightest sense of mobility. Every puff made the task more and more difficult, until he ceased moving altogether.

The swelling shark pool toy wobbled as it filled with air, practically becoming spherical. August couldn’t move or speak, but he was still completely aware of what was going on and feared he was bound to pop. Indi was in his field of view, the zebra watching with curiosity rather than concern. Not that he was at all surprised.

Fortunately August eventually stopped inflating, though by then he was more beach ball than pool toy.

Indi finally felt safe enough to approach his transformed friend. He gave the taut pool toy’s side a prod, causing it to bob. “Hmm, I can’t remember if this potion was supposed to leave you conscious or blank you completely for the duration. You do make for a cute pool toy. And you’d be fun for pool parties. Wouldn’t be easy to store, but I could always find room…”

August didn’t like what he was hearing. He wished he could tell if Indi were joking or not. Just because they were friends didn’t mean Indi would pass up a chance to have a free toy. And with how complete the transformation was, the rest of their friends might not even suspect the over-inflated shark was actually August.

“But I wouldn’t be able to use you for a few more months. Guess it’s better to just turn you back,” Indi said with obvious disappointment. August let out a silent sigh of relief and realized he’d have to be more cautious around the zebra in the future.

Indi walked up to a cabinet and opened it. It was full of antidotes, all with hastily scribbled labels. “Pinata, plushie, blueberry, statue, kigu...there’s the pool toy one!” He retrieved the bottle of clear liquid and returned to August. After pulling out the stopper he poured the antidote onto the pool toy.

Feeling returned to August in the form of a tingling sensation that spread through his entire body. A fin twitched. Then the other. He found himself able to wobble on his own again, mobility returning. His fins slowly split until he regained fingers and he started to feel his legs.

“You’d also make a cute pool toy,” August grumbled as soon as he could speak again.

“I was joking!” Indi said.

“Like Hell you were. If the sun was out I’d probably be strapped to the roof of a car and on my way to the pool right now!” August said. He wagged his tail, delighted to hear barely any creaking. It still felt heavier than usual, though. Was it just stiff from the transformation?

“That’s not true; I would’ve had to deflate you to take you anywhere,” Indi said, as if it’d make the situation any better.

August rolled his eyes, then grunted. Stiffness was being replaced by sluggishness, and he wasn’t sure why. He rocked on his middle, gaining enough momentum to get back on his feet, but nearly fell right over again. Something was weighing him down. When he looked down again he realized why. While the sheen of vinyl had gone, his middle hadn’t shrunk at all. He was changing from an over-inflated pool toy to an overweight shark. He squeezed his gut with his fins, feeling nothing but soft pudge. He was going to end up huge—well over triple his original weight.

The transformation was too swift for August to do anything aside from watch. He carefully stood up as he reverted from pool toy shark to regular shark. His tail-fin had become a club, far harder to move than his old, whip-like snake tail. His arms and legs were thick. His belly was massive, a ball of dough that jiggled at the slightest hint of movement. Being blubbery made him blush.

Indi stifled a snicker. “You, uh, plump up real well as a shark,” he said. “You look like you ate an aquarium.”

August glared at his friend. “I hear zebras plump up even better. I wonder how many potions it’d take to get you fat enough to fill this whole room?” He grabbed a couple he knew for certain were weight-gain potions and lumbered towards the zebra.

“W-Wait a minute, I was just joking! I’m sure I can brew up a weight-loss potion for ya.” Indi backed up against a table, cornered by his hefty, vengeful friend.

“Trust me, I’ll feel good and lean once I’m standing next to a blob zebra.” August grinned.

Indi’s ears flattened. He guessed there were worse things than becoming a blob.