The gap in the rocks was small, so only Rikku could fit. Yuna and Kimahri waited as the sound of her making her way back neared, the scrape of something pushed ahead of her.

"Almost got it... Hey!" The Al-Bhed yelped as first the small chest was pulled out by a blue furry hand, and then her.

"I had it, Kimahri!" She pouted and dusted herself off.

"Taking too long. Need to meet others soon," he said.

"He has a point, Rikku, you did take a little longer than we said..." Yuna added.

"Okay yeah, so it wasn't five minutes, but I found this chest! Anything that well hidden has to be valuable, right?"

Yuna shrugged.

"I guess?"

Kimahri, on the other hand, shook his head. Rikku ignored him and popped the chest open.

"Aha, see, masks! Like, snake masks... that don't really seem all that useful or valuable... Ah, poopy," She pouted.

Yuna looked at the two decorative masks, and gestured towards one.

"Can I see?"

"Sure. Not sure what the point in these is, maybe your super summoner skills can figure it out?"

As Rikku handed it over, Yuna noted it did seem to have some magical energy in it.

"I'm not sure what it does, but it feels a little... strange?"

Rikku held hers up to her eyes.

"Look, Yunie, I'm a snake! Hiss hiss and stuff!" She laughed.

Yuna looked through the eyeholes of her own mask, just as something glowed around Rikku... and then she glowed herself.

"Uh, what...." She said, as white light covered her.

Kimahri and Yuna covered their eyes during the glow, hearing a humming noise and a sound like slithering and ripping combined, before the light faded.

And then Yuna realised she'd held the mask to her own eyes in the process.

"Uh oh."

Another glow filled the cave, and Kimahri, just blinking away the spots, growled as he was blinded again. Rikku also yelped as her eyes were filled with light and some more slithering-ripping noises.

As visions cleared, Yuna and Rikku felt a little taller... and a little colder. Then they stared at each other.

"...Yuna, do you know you seem to have a snake tail instead of legs?" Rikku said, looking at the summoner who now had a scaly grey-white  serpent lower half poking from her blue skirt, and a few scales up the sides of her arms and face.

"S-so do you!" Yuna gawked, looking at Rikku's nagafied form, the same scales. Her scales were green, though, and her shorts had turned into a short skirt, the Al-Bhed thankful her single 'leg' hadn't ripped them, but baffled as to why they too had changed.

Kimahri stared, wide-eyed.

"Maybe we... should return to others," the Ronso eventually said.

***

"...So that's the story," Rikku said.

"So you both put on mysterious masks with no idea what curse might have been on them," Auron sighed.

"Foolish, to say the least," Lulu chimed in.

"I have to agree it does seem kinda silly, but hey, it's easy to cure!" Tidus said.

"Uh, remedies and esuna didn't work?" Wakka noted.

"Well, yeah, but this was kind of a fad in Zanarkand! Little masks that gave you animal features. They sold cures but you could make it just boiling three plants together. Dragon Grass, Gysahl Greens, and Krakka Greens!"

"Phew! So, we just get those three, boil 'em, and we're not half-snake!" Rikku said with a grin.

"That may be difficult. Krakka Greens are extinct," Lulu said.

"Th-they're not the ones that look like tiny pumpkins?" Yuna said, wide-eyed (and in the better lit main cave, it was clear her eyes had a more lizardlike look, slits instead of pupils).

"They're the ones that looked like tiny turnips, and unfortunately, they were wiped out by the Ronso, for reasons they never seemed willing to share with the rest of Spira," Auron said.

"So unless there's something else we're stuck like this?" Rikku groaned.

"But why would the Ronso wanna wipe out a tiny little turnip plant?" Wakka wondered.

Kimahri looked a little embarrassed as Tidus realised something.

"...Krakka greens had a similar effect to catnip," The Blitzballer said, only for the large blue feline to speak over him.

"ANYWAY, uh, Kimahri think we should... find alternative cure, maybe similar plant or other recipe exists," he said.

"Yes, probably a good plan," Lulu said.

"Agreed," Auron nodded.

"I'm fine with that too! Plus I think I'm slightly cold-blooded now, it's really chilly in here," Yuna said.

The group began moving off, but Tidus and Wakka held back a little.

"So... I'm thinking maybe we try find some catnip first, ya?"

"Maybe. And if it doesn't work on Yuna and Rikku, well, maybe it might work on Kimahri..." The blond smirked.