(F to Lickitung, F to Miltank, Various M and F to Pokemon)

“Pikachu!”

Had it been any other day, Mary might have had her headphones in, and she might have missed that fateful sound. It wasn’t the first cry of what would be known as one of the most infectious diseases in a fading human history; but it was the first she’d heard.

Nobody knew at the time, but that was all it took. Just hearing a victim say the name of their own species was enough to bring about a similar change to everyone nearby. As a result, by the time Mary turned to the source, an unnatural sweat had already begun to dew at her skin.

“Chu, Pikachu!” Another girl was sprinting onto the campus’s quad, a stagger in her every step as one of her legs shrank faster than the other. Her body dwindled in size with each step, stretching feet falling out of their shoes, shirt hanging over a yellow-furred chest.

Mary watched in stunned disbelief as a heart-tipped tail burst from behind her waistband, snared securely to the changing blonde’s tailbone by a zigzag that mimicked a lightning bolt. A shiver passed down her spine, aided by the clammy sweat on her back.

A man that Mary recognized from one of her electives jogged up to the Pikachu-girl. As he moved, his clean-shaved face grew a thick, jowl-like moustache. His eyebrows grew so coarse that even at this distance, Mary could clearly make them out. He looked like he wanted to help her, but…

“Pikapika!” She wailed loudly in his face, so close that his body appeared to burst to the form of a massive, doglike animal.

“Mabosstiff!?” He seemed more confused than anything, barking out from a muzzle that was bigger than the other girl’s mousy head—and barking loudly enough that whatever was left of her humanity was twisted away, jolts of electricity from her cheeks shredding her clothes.

It was like a dam breaking. Everyone who’d heard began to panic, painfully unaware that it was already too late for them. Scores of students screamed, human cries soon mingling with those of Pokemon as they dashed in every direction. Mary tried not to look, but she couldn’t help but pick scenes from the chaos.

Some ran for the gym.

“Henry, stop, don’t leave muh-mahhuh, MACHAMP!” A delicate girl’s arms bulged, two new muscled limbs swelling from her sides. She clutched onto a boyfriend who’d once been on the football team, dragging his jersey down past an arm that now resembled a dwindling fin.

His voice came back as a squeak. “Piplup!” His stature diminished in time with her growth, soon leaving him flapping pitifully on the ground as she squeezed him tightly to herself in a panicked embrace.

Some ran for the lecture halls.

“Professor, you’ve got to help us!” One of the physics aides carried a flopping, wriggling orange fishlike Pokemon in his arms. It still had lipstick on its swollen pink lips, though those seemed to be incapable of babbling anything other than its own name.

“Karp, Magikarp, Magikarp…” Ironically, for the time being this girl still sported her ample bosom, which jiggled uncontrollably with her every failed flop.

The professor recoiled as her sputtering voice warped his aide, whose legs sealed together in a delicate, mermaidlike tail. The aide’s nose grew rounder, his eyes brighter and doe-like. Instead of a plea, the next word out of his mouth was a singsong “Primarina!”

It sent the professor stumbling to the ground, insectlike legs twitching at the sides of his body.

Some ran for the dorms.

One of Mary’s classmates, Adam, liked to peoplewatch. It was why he so often half-draped out of his window, seeing the stir and bustle of campus life. Unfortunately, he could also hear it.

A large, furred tail pulled out from past the waistband of his jeans, up towards the back of his head. It had enough force to it that it unbalanced him, tipping him past the edge of the window. His cheeks swelled as air whipped past his face, and he bleated out a pathetic “Skuntank!” as the ground loomed closer.

His fall was broken by a… Boy? Girl? Even a professor wouldn’t be able to tell the difference at this point, as whatever person they had been was now utterly consumed by a Snorlax’s swollen gut. They’d fallen just near the entrance and were stupidly rumbling out their new species’s name, tripping other fleeing students and already beginning to change the half-dozen or so who’d been too close to the doors to escape.

Caught bouncing against his changed classmate’s gut, Adam could do little more than wither away, arms and legs shortening and chest bulging until he was indistinguishable from a Skuntank.

Mary was alone in running for her apartment.

It was a rare place off-campus, typically reserved for faculty. This year had an abnormal number of students, and she’d been allowed a small place to herself. This, coupled with her own instincts, had bought her a modicum of time.

She couldn’t bear to hear the sounds of panic, of so many others losing their humanity. So she’d clapped her hands over her ears, trying to ignore how clammy they felt, or how her tailbone ached against the weight of her backpack.

Some of the cries had gotten through, muffled at they were. Her freshman fifteen now looked like a freshman forty, as her shirt rose above a pink stomach marked with a creamy crescent moon.

She forced the shirt down with a blush, staggering into the safety of her apartment and nearly bowling over her roommate, Ameera. The cereal Ameera had been carrying fared much worse, clattering noisily against their wooden floor.

“Whoa! Damn, you okay?” Concern was written over her chocolate features, and any other day, Mary would have loved to talk about it.

But right now, Mary was too afraid she’d start babbling like a Pokemon. Tongue-tied, she nodded, shivering quietly and rubbing at her arms.

“You sure? You look super flushed… But if you say you’re normal, who am I to judge?” Ameera shrugged, looking to the ground at her half-spilled snack. “I’ll clean that up later. You check yourself out in the bathroom, okay? And if you’re feeling better, get us some more milk. We’re out again.”

Mary nodded meekly, running past her friend and unslinging her backpack. It bounced off her growing tailbone, and she let out a consequential yelp. Her tongue had been much more than tied—it had grown, bulging into a thick, pink, fleshy mass that now hung well past her chin.

Mary gawped at her own reflection, at the sight and the feeling alike. Her tongue wasn’t just long, it was flexible. She could lift it as easily as she could her own arm, coiling and curling it. She was reminded a little of seeing a snake charmer, and wiggled her changed tongue to match.

The pounding of her own heart slowly stilled, and Mary became keenly aware of the sounds from a newscast from the other room—and the irritating crunch of dry cereal.

“-according to eyewitnesses who’ve texted our channel,” finished Jessica Vasquela, the afternoon newscaster. “Remember, you too can be a part of local news, just text the number on the screen or use the QR code to save our information to your phone. We’ll have more from Dave, at the scene. Dave?”

Mary poked her head out the bathroom door, looking over Ameera’s shoulder. The camera cut from a shot of the studio to a sideways view of the world, as though the reporter’s camera had fallen on its side.

Still, even with the angle slanted like this, it was easy to see a distraught fox-girl pawing at her face. Her ears were nearly as large as her head, and thick orange fur poofed out from them like cotton. “Braixen, Braix!” She wailed, tugging at a rather masculine suit that clearly no longer fit her form.

The camera cut again, back to the studio. Jessica had a hand up to one of her ears, trying to make sense of the sounds from the other end of the line. “What? Dave, could you repeat that? Why are you,”

Mary gawped as Jessica’s face started to twitch. It started with the ear she’d been holding, which grew long and pointed. Dark fur raced across it, spreading across her face like spilled ink. “are… Zeb… Zebstrika?”

Jessica’s eyes glazed, and she fell forward against her desk, revealing a rear that was bulging like some kind of animal’s. “Zuhhhzebstrikuuhh..” Her nose twitched, and her eyes crossed stupidly as it stretched out and away into a muzzle.

“Turn it off.” Mary shuddered, backing up and bumping her swollen tailbone against the doorframe. No. Not her swollen tailbone. Her swelling tailbone. It kept growing, more and more, dragging her body down with its weight, pulling her close to the floor.

Ameera’s reply was a faint splash of milk in her cereal, followed by a much less abrasive crunch than the sounds of her previous snacking. Did she have her earbuds in? Mary didn’t know. She didn’t want to get closer to the TV, but she had to.

“Zeb, Zebstrika!” Jessica, meanwhile, had continued to change, her earbud still secure in her ear, feeding her whatever infectious cries the Braixen once named Dave was feeding to her. Her slender hands balled into thick hooves, which hit the polished newsdesk hard enough to crack it.

A spark-tipped tail, nightmarishly reminiscent of the first tail Mary had seen today, now stretched proudly into the air behind Jessica’s body. It flitted to and fro with curiosity, and she continued to yip at the camera.

Or… Was it at the studio? Did they even film live? Mary tried not to focus on what might have been the cries of other Pokemon from the broadcast. Instead, she reached the remote and clicked the TV off with a gasp of effort.

She turned to her roommate with a scowl, fully planning on chewing her out. She froze. She blinked.

Ameera blinked back at her, still chewing on cereal, a bit of milk dribbling past her lip. Her shirt was strained against her generous chest, revealing four pink nipples that each dripped with cream. Her ears had swollen, and her hair matched the color of the fur that patterned her head like a bonnet.

“Miltank?” Ameera forgot to swallow as she chewed, and a bit of milk, her own milk, splashed onto her belly.

It tasted good. It was creamy and thick in just the right kind of way. It felt so nice to bathe her tongue against the dumb Miltank’s udder that Mary wanted more of it. She wanted… No. How did she-when did?

One second, Mary had been frozen, stunned at the sight of her roommate and best friend turning into a cowlike Pokemon. Ameera had been sitting on the couch, and Mary had been standing.

So then how did they get on the floor? Why was Mary rubbing her swelling pink stomach against her friend’s fattening thighs? Why was Mary currently dragging her tongue against Ameera’s dripping teats?

“Muh! Miltannnkuuh!” Ameera bleated happily, wriggling from side to side as though she had a chance of standing when both her udder and Mary’s own weight pinned her down.

‘Stay here, I’ll get help,’ was what Mary had planned to say.

“Lickitung,” burst from her mouth, accompanied by a torrent of drool. Her heavy tongue grew heavier still, tripling in size, large enough to wrap around Ameera’s head and pull it closer to her pink mouth. “Lickitung, Lickitungtunggg!”

The words were said straight into Ameera’s ears, and Mary could actually see the poor girl’s skull shrink around her brain, squishing it into a bovine simplicity. Mary could see it, but could do nothing about it. It was like she was a passenger in her own body, trying to struggle against the new Pokemon instincts that commanded her every motion.

Worst of all though, she could feel everything too.

“Luhhhuhkitunghhuh!”

The Miltank’s body was so warm and furry, and Mary’s new skin was so soft and slick. She could feel every inch of the Miltank’s fur against her own, and it all was so wonderfully perfect. Her eyes rolled in pleasure, and she stuffed the Miltank’s dumb cow mouth full of her own tongue.

“Muuwwlhhhtuhnk.”

The Miltank moaned loud enough into her mouth to make her head swirl. Wait, the Miltank? That wasn’t right, she was Lickitung’s roommate, right? She had a human name. It wasn’t Miltank. It was…

The Lickitung pulled back for just a moment, eyes growing beadier by the second as she struggled to focus on-

“Lickitung!”

The sound of Lickitung’s own voice shocked her, which was silly because it was her own voice.

“Miltank?”

Miltank’s voice was much sweeter. Of course it was, it was part of why her milk was so deliciously sweet too. Lickitung could drink it for hours, even though her pudgy body wasn’t quite suited for nursing.

Still, while her tongue got in the way of suckling at Miltank’s teats, she was certainly able to shove her twitching pink snout against Miltank’s udder and drag her tongue in a long, drooly streak up past the curve of her soft belly.

A human tablet, belonging to someone named Ameera according to a fading memory, blinked. A green icon with a phone on it started to flash, and Lickitung accidentally spattered it with a bit of drool, changing the tablet’s screen.

A human, for some reason familiar to Lickitung, appeared on the screen. Miltank softly mooed in her ears, and Lickitung blushed at how silly she was. Of course she didn’t recognize this human, where would she ever have met him?

“Hey I saw what was happening to your school are you-“

“Tuhhuhuhank!” Miltank squirmed, hooflike hands trying desperately to squeeze against Lickitung’s body, even as Lickitung sucked on her lover’s ear.

“Lickitung,” was her own reply, nestled up against her faintly sloshing mate.

She forgot all about the human tablet, which now showed a clear view of the sky. “-oundoom!” faintly crackled from its microphone, and the afternoon’s scene began to repeat itself once more…