(Balancer to Cow Plushie)

“You know, that’s not a bad look on you, Prinzy.” One monster spoke to another, a creature with a massive tentacled body chiding its compatriot: a young girl with a cow’s head.

“Stuff yourself.” Prinzy hissed. “That human got off a lucky shot; that’s all.”

“I’m sure she did.” The floating creature spoke again, a delightful feminine tone filling the air. “I told you not to be so overt in your disappearances. Opening your lair as a daycare was… Unwise.”

“Gee, you think?” Prinzy snapped an ear back, its eyes burning with demonic fire. “I’m gonna change every single one of those TransSec stooges.”

“Of course you will.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Prinzy hissed. “Need I remind you you’re a guest here?”

“Need I remind you that Balancers’ powers don’t affect one another?” The floating monster chuckled balefully. “You really haven’t a clue as to what you’ve brought upon yourself. Poor Princess Prinzy.”

“Care to explain before I kick you out?” Prinzy glared daggers.

“That last group you transformed were monitored. And I believe they’re sending in reinforcements.”

Prinzy flinched. “What was that?” The cow-headed creature’s glare intensified. “You know that I’m the strongest of us, right?”

“Most successful doesn’t mean strongest, my dear.” The tentacle monster seemed to shimmer as it returned to their realm.

“Yeah. Right.” Prinzy scoffed, turning to face the doorway to its household. It sent a sidelong glare to the stuffed chair in the corner of her entry room. Maybe if it was exceptionally lucky, the panda would be destroyed in the ensuing fight. As much as it hated seeing its possessions destroyed, this was own it truly despised.

The creature turned to the door to its room, hissing apprehensively as it felt a magical force approach. For a moment, everything was still. Then the magic surged, and Prinzy braced itself.

The door exploded inwards and Prinzy immediately fired off a seed of transformation. It struck the first person through the door on the spot, a man in a suit who immediately squeaked as he became a plush husky.

The toy fell to the ground with a soft thump. Prinzy beamed, her cowy nostrils flaring with pride. No doubt the next human through would come running up, clutching its fallen compatriot and unknowingly infecting itself. The demon melted into the shadows, watching with amusement.

But the next man through simply paid the transformed husky no heed. He was a slim Greek man, with olive skin and a dagger-like jaw. More to the point, he didn’t know the man who’d just been transformed. This man was a TransSec operative who’d simply tossed a random bystander into the building to be changed first.

“Knock knock, anyone home?” He called out, his rich voice filling the room. Unlike the other TransSec team, this man wore a simple suit. He slipped off his jacket, placing it on a nearby coat rack. “Come on, you call that treating a guest?” He laughed loudly, sending his challenge echoing through the halls.

Prinzy watched him with apprehension, some animal part of its instincts flaring up. It was like every bit of its body wanted to flee from this strange man, keeping it from harm. But the monster fought these instincts back, remembering its superiority.

Little did it know that the man was having similar thoughts of his own. He rolled back his sleeves, revealing toned bronze arms. “I am Dominic Sebastian! Come and challenge me if you dare to fight!” He issued the challenge boldly, prepared to make good on it. But when no response came, he settled for exploring the toy-filled mansion.

Prinzy let him stalk around the house, hoping he’d infect himself on one of her previous changes. But it was like no matter what he did, none of her magic stuck to him. The creature cursed mentally, shifting its position from within the wall irritably.

Impossibly, Dominic saw his quarry.

He spun on his heel, punching towards the hidden creature. A massive shockwave of energy escaped his hand, blasting apart its hiding place. “Got you!” He cried, a note of superiority entering his voice. The creature was a fool for not running as soon as it could.

Prinzy fell to the floor with a clop, glaring angrily. Its eyes widened as it recognized the sound, and it looked down to find that the man had changed its feet to hooves. “You monster!” It hissed.

“Says the thing with a cow’s head and hooves.” Dominic rocked back on his heels, settling into a fighting position. He rolled his neck, his unique brand of magic in full force.

Prinzy hissed, flaring with magical power. “I’m going to enjoy changing the rest of your little friends one at a time. Then I’ll transform you slowest of all, into a big and dopey stuffed puppy pillow.” These TransSec people worked in teams. Even if he was hard to infect, the creature doubted that he could hold back when the rest of his comrades began to change.

Dominic’s response was to fire another massive blast of transformative energy, a cocksure smile on his face. It still had no idea of his capabilities, and would pay for underestimating him. More to the point, it didn’t even seem to know that he’d been informed of its every trick.

The magic struck Prinzy in its gut, and the creature screeched in hatred as it grew an udder. It began to lose control of the illusion that held its form, reveling plated layers of chitin. It clenched its fists, screaming in anger. “Just pick up that damned husky and let me change you!”

Dominic paused. “Oh? You mean this one?” He looked down to the doll, picking it up and tossing it up and down in the air. The operative arched an eyebrow, sending Prinzy an irresistible taunt.

Prinzy smiled with victory, sending out a massive wave of black magic. But instead of crashing against and reshaping the man, it sank into him, filling him with power. Prinzy’s eyes widened as the TransSec operative began to ooze dark energy.

“So, this is how you change people. Interesting.” Dominic muttered, balling his hand into a fist as he slammed another wave of change into Prinzy. The magic felt unclean around him, and he breathed a little easier as it flowed from him.

The creature’s ensuing cry degenerated into a long moo as its torso expanded. Its plate gave way to pound upon pound of flabby skin, and the creature fell to its forehooves. “How?” It yelled angrily. “How are you doing this?”

“Trade secret.” Dominic smiled and winked. He was TransSec’s only solo operative for a reason: he drained others’ magical strength and made it his own. Against these magical creatures, it was like they were giving him a specially-tailored poison.

Feeling the fight drain from his opponent, Dominic increased the strength of his aura to its maximum level. He walked closer to his fallen foe, chuckling. “My, you are ugly. Even without the cow’s bits.”

The creature spasmed at his approach, feeling itself change more, its defenses weakening. “You should be a toy by now! This shouldn’t be happening to me!” Prinzy hissed, slamming a pam into the ground. The ensuing shockwave simply passed by the man and he laughed.

“A common mistake, believing in your own superiority.” Dominic looked down to the creature. “Tell me, what are your kind called? I am a game hunter in my part time, and I enjoy knowing the names of what I kill.”

The closer he drew to Prinzy, the weaker it felt. Prinzy fell to its knees, then to its side as its essence was drained. Too late, it began to realize the threat that was at hand—or rather, at hoof. “You… You leech magic.” It hissed weakly.

Against most magicians, Dominic’s aura left them drained and disoriented. Against a magical entity like Prinzy, he was very nearly literally devouring it.

“I won’t deny that much.” Dominic looked down to his quarry. “But this means I’ve answered one of your questions. Now, it comes time for you to answer one of my own.” He left out the part where this was something Hastur had ordered him to ask.

“Balancers.” It spat. “We’re called Balancers. And you can’t kill us, only delay our conquest. We will—”

Dominic interjected. “Kill? Who said I would kill you? I’m going to transform you into a special little doll.” Dominic intended it to be a taunt, but his foe shrieked in terror.

For the first time in its existence, Prinzy felt fear. “You mustn’t! Don’t you dare to do such a thing to me; I won’t stand for it.”

“You’re right.” Dominic grinned evilly. “You’ll be such a fat stuffed cow, all you’ll be able to do is lie around on some shelf.”

Prinzy screamed again, the sound changing into a long moo as Dominic worked his magic across it. The damned human had somehow guessed the weakness of its kind, and now he was going to exact retribution on the Balancer.

It wanted to offer some sort of challenge, a threat. But fear was overriding every other emotion that Prinzy had, and it began to shudder in terror as it felt its skin fill with cotton. The tables had turned, and it was finally feeling what it was like to become a stuffed animal.

Its skin changed to soft fabric, and the Balancer padded its stuffed hooves on the ground in distress. Already it could feel its muscles withering away to nothing, its mind ebbing away. The cow began to shrink, and it let out a silent moo as its eyes began to glass over.

Dominic watched as the Balancer’s intelligence left its eyes, getting sealed forever within the monster’s stuffed head. Its face spread into a silly smile and its tongue hung from its mouth just like the panda chair in the room. He figured it was only fitting, especially since he could guess the panda’s identity.

“Now that that’s done.” Dominic stood, turning to said panda. “Dani, I don’t suppose you can speak.”

The panda remained immobile, but a faint questioning pulse of magic flowed into the room.

“Yes, I’d recognize the flavor of your aura anywhere. Come, help me find your team. Then we’ll work on getting them changed back.” He hesitated. “And maybe this ‘Balancer’s’ other victims, if I find the time.”