At first, Rinoa wasn't exactly thrilled to learn she was now a Sorceress. It had given her much to fear, but now, a couple of years after the defeat of Ultimecia, she'd adjusted. She'd found that having the power was quite useful, to her and to her friends. As a sorceress, she could do much more than para-magic drawn from draw points or monsters could ever do. Magic came in handy outside of battle. Fire at your fingertips had obvious uses, and so did ice. Some magics weren't quite so handy though -when she tried to recharge a phone battery with a thunder spell, things didn't work out so well. Fortunately, she had the ability to control and extinguish the resulting fire.
Of course, she was still learning her powers, though she was keeping them away from anything that might overload. Part of this involved reading up on anything related to sorceresses in the library, though she didn't do it very often. The reasons for it were simple - not all of it was true, not all of it was easy to understand. Not all of it was legible, not all of it was on one shelf.
"I think to read them all would take you a year straight," Selphie had noted when she'd tried to help Rinoa make sense of the large collection of books.
Even the library workers were stumped by the large collection at times, with most of them only knowing what the computers told them which usually was just a title, an author, a number and sometimes a summary of what was in it. So Selphie had offered to help when she could, seeing if there was anything for Rinoa to use to understand and control her power better. Most of it was useless, an obvious fairy tale. The factual books mainly only covered things Rinoa already knew.
"I think I found something," Selphie said, looking up from one book. Rinoa looked at it.
"Magic that a sorceress used three hundred years ago? It's talking about a sorceress turning people into animals. I don"T think that's possible."
"Maybe it is, it's meant to be a diary."
Rinoa looked at the claims. The apparent Sorceress from centuries before claimed that transformation magic was simple. She just had to will the change. Back and forth was easy, the sorceress transformed herself into a swan and back in one entry.
"She makes it sound fun to be a swan, but what use would it really be?" Rinoa asked
Selphie grinned at this.
"Well, speaking as a SeeD, you could help us hide in plain sight. We could go undercover as animals. Plus it could be useful in other ways. Like if Irvine is getting annoying with always flirting with other women I could have you turn him into a frog or something."
"...You're more interested in the last idea aren't you?"
"Maybe."
Rinoa sighed
"Alright, even if it's real, how do we prove it?"
"Will the change. Find someone to test it on," Selphie said.
"Who?"
"Well... I could do it. Or we can go find Irvine right now..."
"We'll need to run it past Squall first," Rinoa said.
An enthusiastic Selphie and a somewhat reluctant Rinoa stood in Squall's office. Selphie had taken the lead, storming through a hundred different scenarios where the ability to turn someone into an animal could be useful. Rinoa's contribution had been to say it could help her understand the powers of a Sorceress better, right before Selphie had begun to argue that if you had three SeeD, turned one into a chocobo and one into a mouse, the one not transformed could carry the mouse on chocoboback and save money on renting a car.
"I'm not convinced on the undercover animal thing, but I suppose if it's in a controlled environment, and it helps you control your powers better, then it can't do any real harm," Squall said.
He had his own doubts, but there wasn't anything to lose. Esuna and remedy undid every effect of magic except injuries, and there were potions for those.
"Okay! Let's go!" Selphie said.
Squall halted her with a raised hand.
"We'll need to do this with an expert on hand I think. I'll get Matron."
"Edea? I hadn't thought of that. Maybe she might know if this could work or not," Rinoa realised.
Another part of understanding her powers had been occasional talks with Edea about them, but generally, Rinoa's questions were limited to knowledge of spells already used as para-magic. She hadn't wanted to ask about the more fanciful legends until now.
"It could save time I suppose. No point dragging her here if she already knows it won't work," Squall said, lifting his phone and dialling.
Since their return from facing Ultimecia, Garden had been able to contact Cid and Edea Kramer through the use of satellite phones, something that had been impossible when Adel's prison had been causing interference with every kind of signal used for television, radio, or communication.
"Hello?" Cid replied.
Squall explained the situation to the former headmaster, and Edea then came on the line. Rinoa took the handset when it was offered.
"Rinoa, what exactly was the diary this was in?"
"Um, it says it's the diary of Sara Callisto."
Edea paused.
"Then it might be true. She was a real sorceress centuries ago. Much of what is known about magic today comes from her writing. I'll be at garden as soon as possible to help."
Rinoa thanked Edea, handed the phone back, and after Squall spoke for a few more minutes to finish up, the call was over.
"Okay, Edea will be helping, but we need a test subject."
"I already said I'd do it, Squall. I said I'd be the guinea pig," Selphie said. She had in fact said it five times so far, but Squall had been largely ignoring it amongst the rest of the rambling ideas Selphie had been putting forward.
"Alright then, Selphie it is."
Three days later, Rinoa, Doctor Kadowaki, Edea, and Selphie were in the infirmary. Selphie was sitting on a bed wearing a green hospital gown, in case transformation had any nasty effects on her clothing. She wasn't happy at it.
"Look, I don't mind if maybe what I wear gets torn up, I volunteered to be the guinea pig. But I might as well be naked with this. It's got no back and it's freezing!" Selphie moaned.
"We want to keep any complications out of the way right now. We're thinking safety first," Kadowaki said.
"Now, Rinoa. To transform Selphie, the diary claims you just need to envision it. See her changing, and then cast it like a normal spell. When you cast fire as a sorceress, you imagine what you want to hit being hit by fire. It's the same."
Rinoa nodded, and tried to think. What could she actually transform Selphie into?
"Uh... What do I try to turn her into?"
"Something the same size or smaller I think," Kadowaki said.
Rinoa had her idea. She cast the spell. A faint glow covered Selphie, and she began shrinking down out of the gown. Her skin began turning browner as small hairs began emerging everywhere during her shrinking, as she got smaller and smaller. The brown became clearer as fur, as the fine hair began to properly emerge. Selphie's face began to change noticeably, her lower face beginning to jut out. Her ears had began moving up the side of her head towards the top, and her limbs grew shorter even as the rest of her body shrank down. Still she shrank down, her neck shrinking away As her head and torso became more connected until she disappeared below the green gown. A few seconds after it had begun, she emerged. A small brown creature. A guinea pig. She shook the gown off herself.
"It worked..." Rinoa stated the obvious. Selphie-turned-rodent began trying to look at herself. Rinoa moved towards her, but Kadowaki halted her.
"Wait. We need to make sure there's no mental transformation. Selphie, can you hear and understand me? if you can walk to the left."
the brown former human walked to the left. Rinoa moved in, and picked her up.
"Do you want to see what you look like?" Rinoa asked. Selphie gave a sound like an enthusiastic whistling squeak. Rinoa held her in front of the mirror.
"Okay. Now try to revert her the same way, but in reverse. Picture the guinea pig turning back to Selphie."
Selphie was placed back on the bed, and Rinoa stood back. She cast the spell again, and the rodent glowed. It began to grow, and the changes from before reverted. The legs grew longer, the front two becoming arms. The fur began to vanish to be replaced with pale skin. The ears slid back down, the face became flatter. A few seconds later, Selphie sat on the bed, covering herself up with her hands for now. She turned to face the mirror, looking at her human self again, then turned to the others in the room
"That was cool! I was so cute!" Selphie said.
"Did the change hurt?" Kadowaki asked. Selphie shook her head.
"Nah. Just felt a little funny. I could feel my body rearranging itself, but it didn't hurt. It felt kind of tickly."
"So there's no pain and it can be reverted. Did you still think like a person?" Edea asked.
"Yeah. I was trying to speak, but all that happened were squeaks at best. I was thinking normally."
"Hmm. Well, there are a few other tests we can run. Like effects of other spells. Rinoa, stick with the guinea pig for now, since we know it's safe," Kadowaki said.
These tests included using esuna on post-transformation Selphie to revert her, remedies, and even trying other status effects. Casting stop resulted in a time-frozen rodent, slow a sluggish one, sleep knocked her out for longer than usual making Kadowaki very reluctant to try poison or other dangerous effects in case they cause serious harm. They found the statuses were cured by themselves if the correct healing item was used, or along with the transformation if remedy or esuna was the cure.
"Well, it seems it works. We can try other experiments later, but for now we can tell Squall," Kadowaki said.
A few days later, there had been more tests. Selphie had enthusiastically been turned into a cat, a dog, and even a chocobo. As part of that test, she had eventually convinced them to let Rinoa ride her, but upon turning back, they learned that the chocobo's larger reserves of stamina all but exhausted Selphie's. The normally energetic test subject had grinned upon being turned back and then collapsed, causing a brief scare until the snoring began.
But Rinoa's mind wandered to the idea of the swan. Callisto had claimed to have turned herself into one. So far, only Selphie had been tested on, and was apparently quite enjoying it all. But tomorrow, Kadowaki was needed for a meeting. Rinoa sat in her room, Angelo by her side. Then she had an idea. Each room in garden had a small first aid kit, which for simplicity had a remedy inside instead of antidotes and the various cures for negative statuses. Keeping it handy, Rinoa tested her idea. She envisioned herself changing, and cast the spell. She watched herself in a mirror. She began shrinking down, feeling the ticklish sensation Selphie had described as her limbs began to grow thinner, and slightly shorter. Her face bulged slightly as it began rearranging into a dog's snout. Her ears moved up her head as they elongated into thinner, drooping dog ears. Her own head hair had shrank, while fur was now growing across her skin, the pattern identical to Angelo so far. Eventually, it was done.
while a puzzled Angelo stared at her, she looked at herself in the mirror. Staring back, was another Angelo, but wearing a blue cardigan, black top, and black shorts. Rinoa had forgotten about the clothing issue. Angelo sat there, wondering where her mistress had gone and why another dog the same as her had appeared, but Rinoa was quick to use the remedy before Angelo could ponder the issue. She reverted, finding herself growing right back into her clothes. A few things needed adjustment, but the test had worked. And she had an idea. She tried again, and then, discovered she could still use magic even transformed. She reverted herself.
"Angelo, you're going to have so much fun tomorrow. Pity you won't be there," Rinoa grinned. Her dog simply stared at her, still confused over what she had witnessed.
Garden had once had a rule on no pets. This rule had allowed goldfish, hamsters, and other small pets that could stay in dorms, but there was one exception. The garden mascot was free to roam. Of course, that mascot happened to be a certain dog. Some areas were off-limits, but Angelo was a fast learner about where was trouble to go and where wasn't. She was normally quiet, and didn't cause any problems. Rinoa's whole plan exploited that. Kadowaki's meeting involved Squall until the middle of the afternoon, which was why all the tests with the new spell were on hold. At least, the official ones. Rinoa had to make sure Angelo stayed in the room, so she planned it carefully. She made sure to find loose clothes that when she was transformed into a copy of Angelo that were easy enough to shake off, rather than have to lock and open the door naked or be caught as a dog fumbling to shake off clothes. She changed in a small closet that seemed to be disused, transforming into Angelo and hiding her clothes inside the closet before walking out.
where should I go first... I'm kinda hungry, so the cafeteria seems a good bet. Rinoa thought.
She padded along to the cafeteria, pausing once when a pair of cadets petted her. The cafeteria was nearly empty, since breakfast was over and lunch was a few hours away. However, Zell was there, having learned that to get hot dogs, showing up early and being polite to the staff was the easiest way. Even if it did mean being there hours early and having them for breakfast instead. But he was somewhat complacent. Rinoa managed to sneak up on him, and before he knew it, he was down one hot dog.
"What the... Angelo! not again..." Zell moaned. Rinoa heard the 'not again' portion and would have grinned were she not carrying the stolen hot dog in her mouth.
After finishing the stolen snack, Rinoa wondered where to go next. Angelo wandered around all day if left to her own devices, so Rinoa decided to go see what everyone else was up to. Trying to walk up the little-known stairs into the meeting on the third floor failed as a SeeD in uniform blocked off every attempt for her to enter that floor entirely, Squall apparently having predicted or already had the real Angelo wander into a meeting. Even whining and trying puppy dog eyes simply resulted in a smirk and a shaken head from the SeeD who she was already nicknaming Roadblock. Rinoa grew bored and wandered back down to the second floor, heading for the classrooms. She walked into Quistis's room.
"Ah, our esteemed and now-silent mascot doing the rounds again. And not making any squeaky noises," Quistis said with a smirk that reminded Rinoa of the roadblock on the stairs.
Rinoa puzzled the meaning of this as the class reacted with amusement. She wandered over to a girl at one of the desks.
"Sorry Angelo. I don't have it," She shrugged. The boy beside her grinned.
"Angelo's a smart dog. She'll crack this mystery," he said.
"Alright, that's enough. We're here to work, not assist amatuer dog detectives find lost property," Quistis said.
Rinoa wandered the room getting grins and the occasional petting from a student before padding back out.
Downstairs, she found Irvine. The cowboy sniper from galbadia was as usual, flirting with the ladies in spite of the risks. Selphie half-tolerated it since every woman in the garden generally ignored him, but she would still injure him if she caught him doing it. Rinoa decided to help her friend out a little as Irvine tried a lame chat up line on a blonde. It seemed that for all their training SeeD were no good at hearing a dog sneak up on them. When Rinoa barked and growled, Irvine nearly jumped out of his skin.
This act seemed to cause Selphie to appear as if by magic.
"Oho, caught again, Irvy?"
"Ah, Selphie. Angelo was just barking at, uh... A bee."
Selphie didn't buy it. Irvine cringed as the energetic brunette in the yellow dress grinned a sinister little smile. He knew it meant impending pain later on.
"Not likely. I'll see you later. And Angelo, I'll be stealing you another hotdog from Zell."
'Ah, so that's it. Selphie steals them too.'
The time for the meeting to end had come, and Rinoa was happy to find roadblock absent. She dashed past, into Squall's office, and found it empty. She jumped up into his chair and sat down. A few minutes later, Squall entered, barely acknowledging 'Angelo' until he picked her up and put her on the ground. Rinoa simply sat and watched him. Squall ignored her mostly, writing some paperwork and giving her the odd glance.
After ten minutes, Squall sighed.
"You know where it is, don't you?" he said with resignation.
He then opened a drawer and produced a blue rubber bone. Rinoa recognised it. It was one of Angelo's favourite toys, but she hadn't seen it for a week or so. Squall tossed it at her, and Rinoa caught it, making the toy squeak.
Rinoa realised this was what the events in the classroom had been about. Quistis had convinced Squall to hide the squeaky bone! well, she'd see about that. Rinoa planned to get revenge for this criminal act committed against her dog...
Even with a whole class of cadets and an instructor, no one saw her until it was too late. Like a ghost, she snuck up on Quistis, and prepared to strike. She tensed the muscles in her jaw, and then...
*Squeak*
it wasn't very loud, but it was sudden. Quistis let out a far louder scream. The laugher from the class was louder as Rinoa ran off, Quistis too stunned to respond.
Rinoa turned herself back and got dressed, before taking the liberated bone back to Angelo. The real Angelo barked happily to see it.
"That was fun. And I got you your rewards for staying in all day," Rinoa told her dog, who was happily playing with her recovered toy and was unaware of the hotdog she had earned earlier on.
There was a knock at the door. It was Selphie.
"I've been looking all over for you. Where have you been?"
"Oh, just wandering around," Rinoa said truthfully. Selphie noticed the squeaky bone.
"Oh hey, she found it. She's doing well today."
"Really?" Rinoa asked. Selphie explained the flirting incident, unaware that Rinoa had actually been there when it had went down.
"Good girl. Except it wasn't Angelo," Rinoa decided to confess.
"Huh?" Selphie asked in confusion, before she realised.
"You used that new spell to change yourself, didn't you?"
Rinoa nodded. Selphie grinned.
"It's fun, isn't it? but you really got to play I bet. "
Rinoa explained what she had done, including the rescue of the bone. She convinced Selphie to steal the hotdog anyway, even if it hadn't been the real Angelo.
"Actually, I have something I want to try." Rinoa said.
"What is it? got an idea?"
"Yeah. Wait a second."
Rinoa then transformed herself once more into a copy of Angelo. Selphie watched, seeing it from the other side for the first time.
"You look identical except for your clothes. But what's the idea?"
Rinoa barked.
...I didn't think this through. she realised. She changed back to explain it.
"Okay, I can cast it when I'm transformed, plus other spells. I want to see if I can change us both. But I'm gonna have to put Angelo outside for it. She gets confused."
"I'm on it," Selphie said, picking up a bewildered dog and putting it out of the door. She locked it. Rinoa had already changed back.
"So, what are you changing me into?" Selphie asked as she glowed. A second later, Selphie oinked her confusion. She had become a pig, albeit one with a yellow dress loosely over it.
Rinoa changed Selphie back, expecting Selphie to be displeased. She was wrong.
"That works. Try a sheep! I wanna be a sheep!" Selphie said as she fixed her dress.
I have a better plan Rinoa thought.
Selphie shrank down, and a few seconds later, hopped out of the piled-up dress the frog she had become seemed if anything to be even more energetic, but not at all displeased. Rinoa changed her back. Then came a clawing sound at the door. Rinoa turned herself back as Angelo padded back in.
"Hey, can you turn me into Angelo? Just to see your handiwork yourself?" Selphie said.
"I looked in a mirror."
"Yeah, but those were dog eyes. You need human eyes to see it I bet."
Rinoa obliged, to Angelo's confusion. The second Angelo began bounding about, confusing the poor original further. It had a twin that was completely loopy.
The confused Angelo and the energetic Angelo were enough to provoke a shocked Quistis when she walked in. Quistis was even more shocked when she saw Selphie's dress.
"Uh... Hi Quistis," Rinoa said, as Selphie stopped bounding about to stare at their friend.
The awkward silence was broken as Selphie then mentally shrugged, and began leaping about again, to the dismay of all involved...
Quistis understood it all quickly as Rinoa explained the magic testing.
"I think I get what happened now. Angelo didn't get her bone back all by herself, did she?"
"Well, you shouldn't have had Squall hide it, you meanie!" Rinoa said, sticking out her tongue. Quistis sighed.
"Rinoa, all she ever does with it is sit in my classroom and make it squeak. You're right. I should probably have mentioned it to you. Just try and have her keep it in here?"
"Well, all right. But anyway, now you know about all this I have an idea. It'll really annoy Squall and probably Doctor Kadowaki too, but I thik it'd be too hilarious to pass it up," Rinoa said.
"Uh oh. This does not sound good," Quistis said, putting her forehead in her hands in preparation.
Rinoa announced the plan. Even Selphie was a little reluctant. She glanced at Angelo.
"Uh, isn't that a little risky? Angelo might freak out at that one. "
"Nah, watch. Angelo doesn't get bothered by them."
to prove the point, she transformed herself. As promised, Angelo ignored the transformed Rinoa except to stare at her in confusion.
"Okay, I'm in," Quistis said.
"Well, if even Quisty's in, I'm there."
Rinoa turned back.
"Awesome. Now, wait here while I go see Squall," she said, and transformed them. She helped them shake off the clothes draped over them, and hid the garments out of sight.
Squall was still in his office. Rinoa knocked as hesitantly as she could act, and walked in acting the same. Squall read it as she had hoped.
"This isn't good news, is it?"
"Well, maybe. I was wondering if me getting another dog was okay..."
As she hoped, Squall took that well. He froze for a second then replied in a resigned monotone.
"...Why?"
"Um, because I kind of already have. But it was an accident!"
He froze again. His response was a little more incredulous.
"How can you get another dog by accident?!"
"Well... Because it's the same dog. I was trying to see if I could turn myself into Angelo for fun and uh... I accidentally turned Angelo into two Angelos."
Squalls eyes looked ready to jump out of his head. He slowly and carefully said his next words
"Didn't you try to undo it?"
"Yeah. That uh... That doesn't work so well. The remedy caused, um... Well, you should see it."
Squall sighed.
"Okay, fine. Let's see these three Angelos and figure out what to do..."
They went to Rinoa's room. There, sat a puzzled Angelo. And another puzzled Angelo. The second one had no collar, but the two were identical. And sitting on top of a dresser, surprisingly ignored by the dog and her clone, was a cat.
A cat that had the exact same pattern of fur as Angelo, no less, but a cat.
"...A cat? the remedy cloned the clone as a cat?" He said. At this, Rinoa lost her act and burst out laughing.
"Okay, okay, just wait outside for a minute, I'll explain this," Rinoa said.
Squall was bundled outside, and had begun guessing before the door was opened again, by Selphie. He then noticed Quistis had also appeared and facepalmed with a groan as the three women grinned.
"I really hope this doesn't become a habit. Things could get weird if you start transforming people for fun."
"But they volunteered to help!" Rinoa said sweetly as they let him back in.
"Yes, but I have a feeling you might decide it's a good prank to turn someone into something else," Squall said. Rinoa nodded thoughtfully.
"Good point. And good guess."
A few seconds later, Squall regretted giving her the idea.
"...See, this is exactly what I'm worried about, Kupo," he said as he tried to shake his leather jacket off his head.