If it weren't for how far into the tunnels they had gone, and for how anyone outside in the city itself was probably busier with other problems, one would hear the unusual sound of two voices growling and arguing at each other inside the labyrinth of train, maintenance, and sewers of the upper plates.

"Bitch..."

"Lioness!"

"That's not an insult, it's a description!"

"So was yours, we might be canines! I don't know, I'm not some kind of hippy animal loving ecoterrorist!"

"I'm not a hippy!"

"Aha, but you ARE an ecoterrorist!"

"Freedom fighter!"

The voices coming from two talking red lion-like creatures, one also somehow with blonde hair, and the other with a ponytail about the same shade as the rest of her fur, was also something that should have been unusual but for one other fact. Pretty much every woman in Midgar was now similar to them.

The pair were of course oblivious to the fact they were merely the first two changed, but had at least stopped fighting to try and find a way out of the mess they'd literally battled their way into. Not that either liked it, especially the rookie turk, Elena. Fighting the terrorist had proven a waste of time, and she cursed herself for having gone in so deep. She was lost...

"...You're lost aren't you?" The other lion-woman said.

"No! I know precisely where I'm going, it's not my fault you terrorists don't even know the city you're destroying...."

Jessie was pretty sure this Turk was new. The rest of the idiots in suits knew the inner plates well enough, and this one was heading in completely the wrong direction for an exit. She knew the way out herself actually, but didn't really want to try explain herself in the upper city. Rather, she knew a way back down that was long, and could maybe let her reach Seventh Heaven, and let the others think up some fix... if there was one.

But for now following the rookie Turk was amusing. She'd split off and leave her lost when they were closer to her exit... Maybe let the little corporate lapdog hunt rats or whatever down here... Ooh, that was a good one.

"Whatever, corporate lapdog..."

The Turk laughed.

"You spent all that time thinking that up? I thought you'd lost your voice..."

Jessie growled, and tried not to resume the fight. It would just be another stalemate...

***

President Shinra sighed at his board, including one blonde-haired but still red-furred lioness/dog/whatever glaring angrily at his head of Science who had just explained what he believed was happening.

"So that's the likely scenario. Tseng and his other agents are investigating the area, but I expect his rookie agent was ambushed on her courier role and someone released the prototype serum."

"That explains it, Professor, but... why?" Reeve asked Hojo.

"Why what?"

"Why transform women into animals?"

Hojo seemed puzzled.

"I really don't understand the question."

"...Are you high?" Scarlet growled

"We're in the tallest building in the city, so, yes. About 340 metres above sea level."

"No, on drugs you... ooh, you're trolling me aren't you?"

"Yes. Perhaps the change improved your intellect?" Hojo said with as innocent a look as he could muster.

" Gya haa haa haa!" Heidegger issued his trademark laugh.

"Shut up you fat sack of..." Scarlet growled and was only stopped from leaping over the table by Reeve's Cait Sith robot automatically holding her back.

As the President had ordered him to at the start of the meeting since he had correctly guessed she would at some point try to rip someone's throat out.

"If you children are quite done, we have a problem. About five hundred thousand of them, in fact,"  The President said.

"Ah, quite, sir... Though as head of Public Safety I have taken some  measures to try and calm the city on my own initiative," Heidegger then said.

"Oh god..." The President sobbed.

"Pardon?"

"I said oh good. Let's hear it."

"Well, I've sent out emergency messages, asking affected women to report to security or doctors, and that we will have further details and the company is investigating. The usual things"

"That... might not be a disaster. For a moment I thought maybe you did something like get the news to have two of their announcers go on as lioness things and tell everyone it's fine. But to get back to the problem. Hojo - can this be reversed by some other means since Remedy potions apparently do not work?"

"Say yes," Scarlet growled.

"Of course it can. However, the serum's role was intended for a long term experiment, and was in early stages. Work on the reversal was..."

A growl made him change course

"...later on the schedule but should be relatively quick to bring forward."

"So... you can make a cure, but I still need to ask... why even make some kind of transforming virus or whatever, and why has it only affected females?" Reeve wondered.

"Ah, now I understand. You see, there are many concurrent projects. We need to study the creatures this serum was based on, we need to study the Ancient as soon as we bother recovering her, we need to find the promised land, we need to..."

"Get to the point," The President cut in.

"...Fine. The goal here was to allow for the quick creation of mature specimens. Volunteers or criminals, of course. There was a proposal to breed these Cosmo Canyon Lifeforms with the Ancient but, ahem, that was filed by someone under the influence of medicinal substances..."

"Ah, you WERE high," Scarlet nodded her canine/feline/whateverine head.

"So it should only be affecting actual women and not girls?" Palmer said.

"In theory. It targets certain developmental cues in the genome and human development is rather inconsistent, but the female version was first as we already have a male specimen of the actual species. Though I do wonder... These lifeforms live long, centuries according to myth..."

"Plan later, Hojo. Get things fixed."

"Hi, I'm things," Scarlet muttered.

"Of course, Mr President. But, ah, I will need to study some affected individuals... "

"There's plenty in the building and thousands outside," Palmer noted.

Eyes turned to one of their number.

"Not me, get some female security soldiers or secretaries or whatever. I'm not a guinea pig," Scarlet said.

"No, you're a Cosmo Canyon Lifeform," Hojo spoke.

The Cait Sith robot held her back again.

"Just get to work. And someone get Rufus here, I don't want to suffer this alone. He's meant to be vice president..."

***

Zack, for all his mako enhancements, barely kept up with the sprinting four-legged Cetra-Turned-Lion(?), her long brown braided hair whipping behind her like a second tail, pink ribbon and white materia nestled amongst it. Cloud just about kept up with him.

"Aerith, wait, you've got more legs than us now!" He shouted.

She halted, looked back, and frowned.

"There's two of you, two legs each. Keep up, boys..." She then began running again.

"A time materia could be handy right now, cast haste..." Cloud added.

The three reached Sector Five's town again. Aerith, for the first time since the morning, Cloud, since about ten minutes ago, and Zack.. for the first time in years. The route into town currently had an irate looking girl standing there. A still-human girl in a pink dress and jean shorts.

"Aerith? You changed too?" The girl asked.

"Um, yeah, I have, Sarah... Have others in the town turned into animals too?"

"Yup. But only older girls and women." Sarah seemed to be annoyed at this.

"So... everyone over a certain age? My mom too?" Aerith asked, and the girl nodded.

"Yeah, she's changed like you, and kinda... taken charge. Or would have, if Kyrie would listen..."

Aerith groaned.

"Oh great... Zack, I might need a hand, my mother's probably gonna kill someone if Mireille hasn't got her granddaughter under control," Aerith said and ran off.

"Uh, Cloud...This could be messy so wait here a minute, I'll come get you if we survive," Zack said and chased after his transformed... friend?

Cloud wasn't sure what Zack and Aerith were exactly, and there were kind of other things going on.

The two ran off, as another lioness came the other way, sprinting. Cloud frowned as he saw her eyes but... she seemed odd. Her form seemed to be wearing a white top, tied in a knot at her back to fit better, and slightly torn bike shorts on her hindquarters. She also had long black hair that felt familiar.

"Hey, hi, uh, are you Sarah? Some people in town said you might have seen a red-haired woman a day or two ago, uh, before all this..." The lioness said, and Cloud swore he recognised the voice.

The transformed woman then noticed him, and almost jumped.

"Don't be scared, he's Aerith's friend's friend so he's probably okay!" Sarah reassured the unknown female.

"I don't know who they are but okay, if you say so. But, um, I can go look for my friend somewhere else actually..."

The currently four legged woman began backing away, and she stared at him nervously. And he was certain now.

"...Tifa?"

Those familiar eyes kept staring.

"Cloud?!"

And then she leapt at him, so Cloud did the only rational thing when faced with a fairly large predatory animal leaping at you. He screamed. But in a manly way, no matter what Sarah and Tifa would report later.

(And a small part of him also noted she seemed to have breasts on her upper chest, still like a human but not common for canines and felines. Another part of him called himself a pervert .The rest of him was too busy with incoming fur missile to notice she was merely leaping to hug him, not maul him.)

***

Aerith ran into the 'square' of the sector, under a large TV screen. Two lion-creatures were growling at each other below it, one wearing a teal Newsboy cap over black hair with bangs and what seemed to be bike shorts on her lower half under jean shorts. The other had a dirty-blonde ponytail, and was in the fur completely. Zack noted a few women had decided to do that too, but others had shorts. Some others also seemed to have t-shirts or other tops...

 A crowd of men, children, and transformed women were around the scene. Aerith dashed over to try and stop the argument, and did not seem to be having luck even a few seconds in.

"Oh, you going to try get us to listen to your mom coming in barking orders too instead of letting us all decide for ourselves?!" The one probably called Kyrie turned on the Cetra right away.

"She just got here, Kyrie!" Elmyra defended her daughter.

Zack blinked in confusion at two things. A very girly distant scream that he decided wasn't an immediate problem, and one woman on her hind legs trying to use a broom to sweep up some shredded clothes someone had presumably torn themselves out of.

"Um, Ms. Folia, maybe I should do that, kupo..." A boy dressed as a Moogle said.

"No, it's okay, Moggie, I've almost... Whoa!" She lost balance, and noticed Zack.

"Hey, wait... Aren't you..."

She was cut off by a very loud shout/roar.

"KYRIE CANAAN! STOP ARGUING WITH ELMYRA AND GET YOUR FURRY BEHIND DOWN FROM THERE!"

Another lioness neared, black haired, wearing a yellow scarf, plus a hat with goggles. Kyrie yelped in terror.

"Uh, Grandma! I'm just... trying to, uh, make sure we don't let people take advantage of all this... OW OW OW WHY ARE YOU BITING MY EAR!"

Her grandmother, Mireille Dudley, grabbed the arguing younger lioness and dragged her off, by said ear.

"...Hey, hang on, did your hair turn un-grey, grandma?"

"Kupo... All this because Elmyra wanted the TV remote,.." Moggie sighed.

"Yes... So, um, you're Zack, right? Aerith kinda thought you were dead..." Ms. Folia said.

"...Zack?! Oh, well, today is getting better and better(!)" Elmyra groaned from below the large TV.

"Um, yeah, so... turns out he's alive and he's back so uh... Please don't bite him, mom," Aerith slunk down, whimpering a little.

"No promises! Now, uh... can you hold this remote and I'll try press the buttons..."

"Or I could do it, Mrs Gainsborough?" A man suggested.

He recanted the offer at a growl.

"Some of us are a little... antsy, and maybe not thinking 100% straight," Ms. Folia told Zack, who recalled her mishap with the broom.

"I can tell... Uh, so, aren't you that girl Aerith knew that wanted to be a teacher? Didn't you wear glasses?" Zack said as the TV blinked on.

"Yep, but, well... I guess these dog things we turned into have better eyesight because they're not needed!"

"Shh, they got it working," A man said.

"We'd have got it working sooner if Kyrie hadn't grabbed it off Elmyra and made it personal," another noted.

"None of you cowards tried to get it off her," a random lioness snarked.

"Kyrie's crazy enough without teeth and claws, Rin!" One of the men whimpered.

  Aerith growled as the screen showed a certain scientist. Zack bit back his own curse seeing Hojo's face.

"...reassure the city that this does not have any long term health implications and a full reversal will be ready within a... reasonable timeframe. To reiterate previous advice, we believe so far only women are affected, and those so afflicted should report to a medical or security official as soon as possible. Younger females below the onset of puberty at least seem to be unaffected as do males of all ages, and we are already studying volunteers who were affected inside Shinra Headquarters to determine precisely what happened. We know this is a stressful time, but we ask that calm prevails..."

"He knows exactly what happened, he probably did it! God, I wanna go up there and strangle him even more!" Aerith practically roared.

"Uh, Aerith, maybe don't plan to kill Shinra guys with a soldier right there?" A non-affected girl said.

"Oh, that's just Zack," A man said.

"No, that guy that Sarah and that lady are laughing at."

Zack turned to see Cloud, the girl from the entrance to town, and an unfamiliar lioness.

"Hi, Zack, so... remember Tifa?" Cloud began, doing his best to keep his face hidden by his borrowed helmet.

"From Nibelheim? Huh..."

"And you were the SOLDIER that day with... Uh, forget that for now, Cloud says you're okay and we've got a lot going on right now..." Tifa said, her amusement fading as bad memories resurfaced.

"So what's that bastard been saying?" Cloud pointed at the screen.

"Oh, excuses and BS," Zack replied as Hojo kept talking.

"...note some variation amongst those affected. For instance,so far all seem to retain their human head hair, even thought some have otherwise fully changed into animal forms, with their breasts relocating to lower down the torso above the stomach area, but others appear to have retained their original breasts, albeit generally smaller, in roughly the same place on the chest. We are currently unsure as to why and cannot confirm if those not fully animal may continue altering later... but reassure the city that the process will not cause any harm beyond the changes..."

"Changes like a shortage of doggie bowls in the near future," Kyrie sighed.

"I'm pretty sure we're cats," A woman wearing an apron on her back like a cloak said, ironically the apron depicted the Shinra mascot, the dog named Stamp...

"...If you are not yet affected and fear there may be changes coming, look out for these symptoms. Dry throat and urge to drink more. Tingling sensations such as pins and needles. For older women, the possible reverting of grey hair to previous colours, fading of wrinkles, or reducing symptoms of joint pain..."

"That explains my hair," Mirielle noted.

"And why my back doesn't hurt," Elmyra added.

"Oh, I was so thirsty before I changed, I nearly drained the tap... What if the problem's in the water?!" Ms. Folia realised.

Tifa blinked.

"...I only had contact with water showering and brushing my teeth. When I got thirsty I was drinking a sports drink!" She realised.

"Oh, you still like that berry isotonic stuff?" Cloud said, and then turned a little red at his casual comment to the friend he just met again

"Hey, if she had a little dose of whatever it is, maybe that's why she's got tits in the regular spot! OW, GRANDMA!" Kyrie whined as she was cuffed around the head by a paw.

"Don't be so crass, there's kids present."

"...Aren't they goats, Kupo? You're all lion-dog things not goats..."

The town sighed at Moggie's observation.

"...another way you can help resolve this crisis is to report anything unusual you may have seen. Investigations are underway of course, but Public Security cannot rule out that this was the work of a terrorist group such as AVALANCHE..."

"What?! It was probably one of their own weird experiments gone wrong!" Tifa protested.

"Yeah, she gets it! Air five! Wait, uh, one, two... yeah, we still have five finger things!" Aerith shouted, trying to stand on hind legs but wobbling and falling with a yelp.

"...Thank you for your understanding and stay classy, Midgar. Wait, who put that onto the teleprompter?" Hojo finished, and it cut to... two lionesses at a desk, who paused as a man very audibly screamed the name of Heidegger, head of public security.

"So... Obviously that was a mushroom moment on TV, keeping us in the dark and feeding us manure," Elmyra spoke.

"Yeah, that dude's sketchy," Kyrie agreed, ear still held by her grandmother.

"But what do we do?" Someone asked.

"We don't speak to security or Shinra medics, of course. You bet they'll probably yank slum folks up there to run tests on us instead," Aerith said.

"She's probably right... Uh, why was I even arguing with you guys again?" Kyrie spoke up.

"Because you're an idiot," far too much of the town said at once for Kyrie's liking.

"That was creepy," Tifa and Cloud said in unison.

"...So was that," Zack said, unaware if another Gongagan had been present they'd have echoed his sentiment.

 "Wait, status remedies. Might they work?" Cloud realised.

"Shinra would have tried," Tifa noted.

"It was a good idea though. Hi, I'm Aerith," the former Cetra said, coming over to meet Zack's newer friends properly.

***

Reno sighed as he inspected the burst case and torn clothing.

"Yep, rookie got ambushed. By another chick?" He motioned to the steel breastplate that had been taken quite literally based on the chest shape.

"Damn, missed a catfight," Rude mused.

"Plenty of cats to go around now. Or dogs, whatever."

"Including Elena," Tesng said as he neared.

"Seems so, Boss. But no sign of her yet."

The senior turk sighed.

"And Cissnei's on thin ice with management... and also a woman so bringing her back from Junon probably results in another lion. So it's just us three investigating this and trying to find her,"

"The VP could maybe try let us call in..." Rude began, but Reno cut him off.

"VP already has us by the balls for a lot of things, Rude. I don't think the boss needs to add more."

Tesng groaned as his phone rang.

"And speaking of balls, Don Cornero is on the line."

Reluctantly, he answered, cruising the fact he was technically the handler for the slumlord/informant.

"Tseng. Yes... Yes, that's correct... No, I have no idea... Why would you want those laws repealed right no- oh. Try petitioning directly to Public Safety, Cornero. Hojo will probably support you... A thick duck? Oh. Yes, the reception is terrible and frankly yes, Hojo is what you say and he actually takes it as a compliment. I wish I was joking. Goodbye."

The head of the Turks groaned.

"...Cornero asked if it's legal to bang ladies turned into lions didn't he?" Reno said.

"Yep. He can phone Hojo or Heidegger because I am not dealing with that."

***

Three lionesses and two (mostly) human males sat in a house in Sector Five a short time later, with bottle water and fruit juice. One of them was trying to balance on her hind legs to reach the radio.

"I'll get it, watch and see!" Aerith said as she wobbled again.

Her mother sighed in bemusement as the third lioness answered a question from the black haired former SOLDIER, namely 'how'd you get here?'

"...And I was looking for Jessie when halfway between here and Sector Six I was turning into a lioness," Tifa explained her presence in Sector Five.

"I kinda meant how you got to Midgar as a whole, but I suppose that explains some things," Zack said.

"Oh. Uh, I'd rather not get into that now, Zack, sorry," Tifa's ears drooped, as the radio crackled to life.

"Ha! Got it."

"...breaking news, officials confirm tap water is the likely source of the crisis. They urge all citizens to disconnect their taps from the mains and drain all residual water in pipes and cisterns, as they will begin efforts to flush the system this evening. If water must be used boil it first. All drinking fountains and other drinking sources should be sealed off and marked unfit for use until later inspected..."

"So if I'd had coffee this morning not orange squash I wouldn't have six tiny boobs on my crotch?" Aerith sighed.

"You also used a lot of water in your flower garden and drink from a water bottle all day, so that probably didn't help," Elmyra reminded her.

"...So, you have a bar in Sector Seven?" Cloud asked Tifa.

"Yeah, uh, Seventh Heaven, I took over from..."

"Huh, small world. I think I gave the guy who built it the idea for the name..." Zack cut in.

"Zack, please stop interrupting," Elmyra sighed.

"Oh, sorry."

"...Yeah, it's mostly mine, but I have friends who help."

"Well, I think the four of us should help you get back there. I don't think your friend is around here, I'm afraid. And besides, I can't be the only one needing a stronger drink.. and Fifth Cafe probably won't serve this one," Elmyra said, pointing at an innocent looking Zack.

"And Wall Market's beer is all overpriced goat's piss. Uh, so I'm told," Aerith said.

"Sure! I can give a discount..." Tifa said brightly, but Elmyra placed a paw on her shoulder.

"Miss... Do not give discounts to Zack Fair, especially on drinks."

"Come on, Elmyra, it was one time..."

"Wait, hold up, you would have been about sixteen, seventeen at the time, Zack. Isn't drinking age eighteen?"

"Nope, in Midgar it's fourteen!" Aerith said, then quickly added.

"But not for me, nope, I only ever had a little beer once or twice since I was eighteen and definitely in Fifth Cafe only since bars can set higher limits themselves, not in Wall Market or any upper plate places!"

Cloud, from Nibelheim where the age was eighteen, both blinked in astonishment.

"...Fourteen?!" Cloud eventually said.

"It explains a lot about this city, doesn't it?" Tifa sighed.

***

At the edge of the slums of Sector Seven, a young woman dropped down from a rubble pile, wearing a moogle-cloak.

Yuffie Kisaragi looked over the city of the hated enemy, and smirked.

"Awful security... and awful smell," She said smugly, and coughed.

"Ooh, and awfully dry throat... Oh, hey, a drinking fountain in a scrapyard? And it works? Huh, not even rusty water. Guess being a decadent corporate slave town has some perks."

(Some distance away in the town of the sector, a conversation was held simultaneously to her musings, as the sector watch did a rare thing: obeyed advice from the Shinra.

"Wymer, we got all the drinking fountains closed off?" A lioness asked.

"Except the one in the far end of the scrapyard, but who's gonna drink from that anytime soon? And why's it even there?"

"People working the tally board get thirsty, so I had it installed, remember?"

"Oh. Right. Hey, why are you drinking from the tap?!"

"What's it gonna do, turn me into a lioness again?")