Transformation 111.

That was the name of the class, and it was one that had intrigued Stacy’s best friend Lana. Which, of course, meant that the brunette had to drag the blonde into it. Said blonde trailed a hand through her hair, looking to the room and sighing.

Stacy had transformed herself before. It was when she was a child, after visiting Lara’s house. Lara had a pet cat at the time, and Stacy had found herself a little envious. She’d taken one of the cat’s hairballs and had held it in her hands when she’d gotten home, alone. She had prayed, wished to have a cat just like that, and… She’d become one.

Even though it had only lasted until her parents had come home, it still was something she’d decided not to try again… Or to tell her friends, lest they think she was crazy. Speaking of her friends…

“Hey, Lana. I know you want this really badly, but are you sure this class is a good fit?”

“Of course!” The brunette answered without a moment’s hesitation-but Stacy had expected that. “After all, it’s supposed to be an easy A! I don’t get what the whole appeal is, or even if transformation is real, but… I mean, it’s got to be worth a look at least for the grade padding, right?”

“Right…” Stacy sighed unsurely, but she headed into the room, taking a seat near the back. Lana followed her, poking the girl’s arm.

“You know, not all of us are undecided as to what we want to do. Some of us have hard majors, and we could use good grades.” Lana said loudly, a little too loudly.

“Oh, I’m quite certain of that.” A male voice called. The girls turned to the front of the room, watching a man with graying hair write a name upon the board. “I am Professor David Marcus, and this is Transformation 111. But I’m sure you can infer that much. What you might not know is the science of transformation, the history of it.

“This is what I hope to teach you all. I intend to teach you the art of transformation to the point that by the end of this year, every one of you will be able to transform via potion-should you so choose.” His voice was confident, and he lifted a finger to the room. “Of course, should you transform another without consent, you’ll find yourself immediately expelled from this university.”

“Then we should be fine!” A footballer named Brad called from the front of the room. The young man laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back in his seat with a chuckle. “I mean, it’s all fake anyways. Transformation, I mean.”

To the class’s surprise, the professor only smiled. “And what better a chance to prove my point than to disprove yours? Today is a day to prove the reality of change, and to demonstrate that consent is by far, the most important aspect of change. Brad, would you mind being our first volunteer?”

The jock agreed with a laugh, heading to the front of the room. The professor handed him a small vial full of blue liquid, and he uncorked it. “Sure, whatever. Here’s that consent you’re looking for: I agree that you can try to change me into whatever you want.”

With that, he drank it and immediately fell to all fours. There was a moment of confusion in his dark eyes before he began to pant dumbly, his gaze glazing. “Arf!” He barked.

With that, his face began to change. His nose flattened out, his ears lengthened and flopped over, and his hair fell from his head, replaced by fur. Most telling of all was his tongue, which stretched and grew long and flat. His head became that of a bulldog’s, and the rest of his body began to change to match.

“That’s a good dog.” The professor chuckled, opening a drawer and pulling a collar from it. He attached it to Brad’s growing neck, looking up to the rest of the class. “And this is why transformation is something that should be feared. It can be sudden, total, and can even be irreversible. This is why we ask for consent, because there can be total and complete life-altering consequences. Much like sex, only instead of creating life, you’re changing it.”

He chuckled, nodding towards a girl with her hand raised. “Yes, Patty?”

The girl adjusted her glasses, a small smile on her face. “Um… Could I… Could I change at all? Like, is that an option?”

“Only if you’d like to become something slimy.” Professor Marcus grinned, fishing another potion from his pockets. He gave it to her, waiting for her to drink before turning to the class again. “Potions, as we call them, happen to be one of the most controllable methods of transformation. For example, we can affect the body of someone who changes, we can affect their minds, and we can even affect what makes them change: the very triggers to transformation.”

He reached into his desk again, this time pulling a jar from it. There was a fat fly contained within the glass, and he uncapped the lid. The insect made it about a foot in the air before a long, pink tongue snatched it from the air, reeling it into Patty’s mouth.

Her eyes were wide with shock, and she cupped her hands over her lips, blushing as she chewed on the bug. It wasn’t that it tasted bad, her already changed taste buds finding it delicious, it was more that it was embarrassing.

Her cheeks bulged as she croaked, and she looked to her hands in time to see them begin to grow a thick webbing. The girl marveled at them, staring at her darkening skin, feeling it grow rubbery. She’d always dreamed of change, but to see it happen like this… It was…

“Freaky… I mean, it’s kinda cool too, right?” Lara muttered under her breath, sending a sidelong glance to Stacy. She’d been talking this entire time, making plenty of comments about how the ‘eye candy’ was busy drooling a small puddle on the ground.

Stacy wasn’t really listening. Instead, she was beginning to realize that there was something appealing about these changes. Transformation… She’d always focused on the fear she’d had back when she’d turned into a cat. Btu now that she was watching it happen, she was beginning to remember how fun it had been.

Maybe transformation could be something she could get into. Hell, maybe she could even learn to major in it. If the professor had a job teaching it, then surely she could find some good way to work with it. She watched as the two continued changing for a few moments, finding her interest building and building.

Brad had grown a tail and now looked much like a dog in human clothing. His hands were the last parts of him to change, at least the last parts she could see. Stacy watched as his fingers pulled back into his palms, which swelled with pads. His nails curled into small claws, and he padded at the ground, a complete animal in body and mind.

Patty, on the other hand, had nearly full control of hers. She stripped herself of her clothing with a smile, looking at her body and yelping as she fell. Her hands wetly slapped against the tile, and her legs grew longer and stronger. She wiggled her stretching toes, her head reforming into that of an amphibian’s, and she let out a loud, contented croak.

That was enough to bring Stacy some courage, and she looked to the professor. “Sir… I’d like to change too. I’ve done it before once, without a potion, so I think that it shouldn’t be too much to ask.”

His eyes lit up at that, and he beckoned her down. “Now this… This is unexpected. You happen to be a rare breed of people, the basis for transformative technology. Genetically speaking, you are… Well, fluid. You probably didn’t know it at the time when you changed, but you should be able to become whatever animal you’re in some form of contact with. I’d never expected to meet someone like you in person; however. Tell me… What was it you became? Something larger? Smaller? Or… Actually… Have you ever flown?”

Stacy shook her head no, looking to the man curiously. She watched as he pulled another vial from his coat, one that she took eagerly. “I mean, I’m not really all that special. I’m just… Me, you know?”

She downed the potion, frowning slightly at the taste. It wasn’t bad, just… Curious. She’d never had a beverage that had vague hints of meat before.

“Sorry about the flavor, it’s not one I’d intended to use today.” Professor Marcus spoke with a smile, looking to the blonde. “But I’d imagine it’ll be something of a treat. Something new, I’d imagine.”

“Fingers crossed. Though I suppose I might not have those for long.” Stacy laughed nervously, looking to her hands and yelping a she saw that they had already deformed. Her fingers had melded together nearly instantly, and the sharp quills of feathers poked from her skin.

That was something of a relief, for a little bit she’d been worried that she’d become a bat. Relief soon turned to a giddy eagerness, the kind of feeling she’d had when waiting for Christmas as a child. Her arms felt so much lighter, her bones beginning to hollow themselves out.

Then her head changed, a strange cramping around her skull making her scrunch up her nose a second before she lost the ability to. From the top of her nose to the bottom of her chin went numb, and she could see them stretch away from the rest of her head.

They had become a beak, one that she worked in amazement. She could feel it, but at the same time she couldn’t. It was like how she could feel her nails but that she couldn’t at the same time. To have that happen to such a large portion of her skin was distracting, distracting enough that she almost missed how small she was becoming.

A squawk erupted from her beak as she found her clothes billowing around herself, the ground racing up to meet her form. Everything else seemed so giant around her!

“Ah, yes. I’d forgotten to warn you about that. Your brain’s not really going to change at all for this, so you might find the changes a little more overwhelming than usual.” Professor Marcus said, looking down to the girl. “But I’d imagine that becoming a bald eagle is something that you can handle. People with your condition tend to adapt faster to being animals.”

Yeah, faster. Stacy thought ruefully, rolling her eyes an instant before she lost the ability to. Her toes stretched out into claws, and a thick tail of feathers sprouted from her backside. And, with a cramping all along her body, as though it was being compressed into its new form, she finished her changes.

The new bald eagle lifted her taloned feet, beating her wings and clearing the clothes from her body. Then she spread her wings experimentally, before beating them at the air. It took her a few inches off the floor, and her next wingbeat took her a little higher into the air.

Soon she was soaring around the classroom, angling the feathers along her wings and using her changed body to fly. It did come naturally to her, far simpler than anything else in her life had before this point. She was talented at this, really talented.

Maybe… Maybe she did have a future in this. Transformative Sciences… If it wasn’t a discipline, she’d make it one. The professor said there were others like her too, didn’t he? There had to be some outlet for her here, a career. And if there wasn’t one, she’d make it.

The girl flew to the top of the class’s American flag, perching on it and rustling her wings. This was a hell of a first class, and she was sure that she had a future in

“I’ll change too.”

Stacy blinked, looking to Lara in surprise. That was her friend’s voice, but… Had the girl really said that? She watched as Lara spoke again, repeating herself. “I’d like to try it again, but this time… I’d like to try that bigger option you mentioned to Stacy.”

“Well, a full day of volunteers. I can’t lie, I think this is going to be my most successful year.” Professor Marcus looked Lara up and down, waving her to the front. “So go on, drink up-though I’d recommend you remove any clothes that you don’t want to lose.”

The girl chuckled, a pulling off her hoodie and slipping out of her skirt. “I’ve been meaning to go shopping anyways.” She said, drinking the potion. Her nose crinkled, then it flared out. Her skin began to darken to a rubbery gray, and she groaned as she started to get fatter.

“I suppose that’s something you’ll find changing about yourself: shopping. That’s the only downside to transformation, it’s that your usual interests might become less and less interesting. I think you’ll find that you’re going to be more interested in shopping for collars and terrariums soon enough.”

He chuckled, beckoning the rest of the class forward. “As you all can see, this is an amazing world that we live in, and it’s one that I’m glad to welcome all of you into. You’ll all learn so much here, about the world and everything in it. So please, allow yourselves a firsthand view. Start thinking about what animals you’d like to become, even. Anything is possible.”

Stacy beat her wings, watching as Lara’s face pushed out into the distinctive clumsy snout of a hippo. The girl pawed at it in disbelief, looking up to her feathered friend as she perched atop the brunette’s shoulder. Stacy nodded, and Lara gave a hippo’s best impression of a smile. This was going to be a hell of a semester.