Mom, I miss you. When I transformed, I didn't have a chance to say goodbye or let you know I was alright. As I finished changing, I felt awash with new emotions. Many of them felt like that time I was coming home after serving in Afghanistan. It was these feelings that caused me to fly to the Rockies
However while I enjoy my life as it is now, I deeply miss you. I don't want to forget you or the rest of the family. Nor do I want to leave my old life behind me. While I may never become the next great guitarist, I will always dream of what my life could have been.
Most of my days are spent hunting for food, playing Dragon Ball, and conversing with friends. When this small outpost was created with computers and such, I quickly flew here so I could write this email to you. I just had to get in touch with you.
While I can't fly home as I'm bound to the area, I would still like to see you. Some of my friends have been able to see their families, including one friend whose mother helped set up this very computer system. So I was thinking if it would be possible for you to come here?
Either way, I look forward to your reply. I'll come back every couple days to check my mail. Please pass this on to the others in the family. Let them know how I am and that they can contact me as well.
Love,
Your Son Jake
P.S. A friend told me that there are some guitars here! Maybe I'll be able to play something again!
The gold and red dragon's human torso sent his email and searched for the latest baseball scores. Before he transformed, Jake had been a Yankees fan. Despite never being able to visit a ballpark again, he still yearned to watch a game.
Seeing the Yankees so-so season, Jake decided to move away from the computer so another dragon could use it. Pulling out of the tent, the dragon paused to figure out what he wanted to do? Did he want to hunt, bask in the sun, or try and gossip with some of the humans hanging around the camp? He noticed how there was always someone who wanted to gossip and learn more about dragons. That normally gave him something to do most days. Yet he decided just to wander around a bit.
Standing up on his six legs, Jake pulled his torso back into his mouth. Briefly he felt the familiar sensation of his consciousness shifting from his torso back to his dragon head. Instead of jumping up into the air, Jake chose to slowly wander around the outside of the camp.
Stretching his six legs felt good. While he enjoyed flying and all that it entailed, just simply walking felt as liberating to him. While he walked he peered at all sorts of things with his three eyed gaze. He came across a few dragons who looked like they were huddling with their own families. Each was hugging a human with their torsos. Finally, he came across what looked like an unofficial parking lot.
Jake peered at the off road trucks, he noticed a new one he hadn't seen before. Coming close to the truck, he peered at it with his dragon gaze. As crisp as his vision was, he still needed to get closer to see the inside. Thus he extended his human torso back out of his mouth. Now with his human sized head and arms, he was able to get a good look at the machine. He marveled at its interior and thick off road tires. Though he did try to wipe off some of his saliva that got on the vehicle from his wet torso.
Jake wasn't able to peer at the truck unnoticed. A man saw his huge golden red body and walked over.
"Nice isn't it," the man pleasantly called out.
"Oh, sorry but I've not seen this model before," apologized Jake pulling his torso away from the vehicle.
"It just came out. It's got the latest automatic four wheel drive and a superior traction control then the last model."
"So this is your truck? Oh and I'm Jake."
"I'm Bill, nice to meet you." Bill casually shook the dragon's extended hand. "I just bought it recently."
Jake gestured to the truck's back seat, "that must be quite handy!"
"It has been!"
Just as Jake and Bill were gossiping, the dragon felt a strange feeling. It felt like a small flame being lit near him. Yet, it was completely mentally. It seemed like a small fire waiting to erupt.
Briefly, Jake looked around with his human head trying to figure out where that feeling was coming from. He was about to excuse himself and find it. Yet he noticed it was coming towards him.
Walking in their direction was Regan. Bill related how Jake was interested in his truck. She appreciated that, but she mentioned she had really come to let Bill know that a few people were ready to leave.
Jake noticed that strange feeling emanated from Regan. Just as he was about to say something, Regan let out a loud sneeze. Peering closer to her face, he realized she was coming down with a cold.
"Are you ok," Jake asked worriedly. He chose not to mention what he felt.
"I've just got a summer cold," Regan muttered around some snuffles.
"Oh I hate those," Bill responded sympathetically. "I'll help them move their stuff."
"Thanks Bill," Regan responded before heading towards the film crew.
"Um, Regan can I ask you something," Jake hesitantly asked.
"Sure?"
"How long have you had that cold?"
"Um, it came on just recently. Why?"
Jake didn't know how to say what he was feeling, "well um, I felt something when you came near me just now. Something I've never felt before? It seems like a weak flame. One that is growing larger. I guess, um, I feel it coming from you?"
"Have you ever felt this before?" Regan had never heard this before from any other dragon.
"No?"
Regan thought it over for a moment. She had caught a cold and now she heard the dragon say he felt some sort of strange feeling from her. Then a connection came to her mind. She grasped that no other dragon had been around someone who was transforming into a dragon. Could Jake be detecting a transformation? That the person who was going to change, was her?
"Um could my having a cold and you feeling that flame, mean I might be transforming into a dragon?"
Jake pondered that for a moment, "could be. I mean this is a first for me. We could go and see a few other dragons. See if they feel it too?"
"Sure," Regan vaguely replied. The thought that she may be transforming caused her to feel a bit detached. That it hadn't sunk in that she wasn't going to be human anymore. Then she realized she was going to be just like them. Regan had been researching these dragons from the point of view of a human. But transforming would make it even more real for her. To allow her to continue her research from the other side. To be able do things she hadn't been able to go before.
The thought of the possibility of being on the other side seemed to perk her up a bit. It didn't help that she felt even more rotten. Her joints were aching and she had a rather massive headache.
As they passed the other dragons each paused to look up. They felt the same thing Jake did. Finally they approached a golden dragon who looked the same as Jake, but with different scale colors. Regan knew her as Oni.
Like Jake, Oni felt the small flame approaching and turned to see what it was. When she saw that Regan had a cold, Oni dropped what she had been doing and hurried over to her small friend.
A worried look crossed Oni's human Asian face, "Regan are you alright?"
"I think I might be transforming," Regan uttered around her sniffles. She was getting sicker by the minute.
"You can feel it," Jake whispered to Oni.
"Yea," Oni quietly uttered to Jake.
"Want to stay and help?"
"I think so, at least so we can keep her from killing anyone," Oni agreed. Then a little louder to Regan, "I think you should go to bed. Where's your bed?"
Regan pointed to a tent set up on the opposite side of the camp away from the make shift parking lot. The two dragons made sure she had gone to bed.
Afterward Oni pulled her torso out of Regan's tent, "Jake I think it'll be a while before she begins to transform. It's best we alert the others."
"Like who?".
"Well I know that Edward and Julie need to know." Edward was the other major researcher alongside Regan. Julie was part of the team running the technical side of the camp.
"What about Bill?"
"Him too, but he's out driving that group home."
"Should we tell the other dragons?"
"I think they felt the same thing we did."
"How so, this is the first person I've been next to who was going to transform," Jake replied a little unsure.
"Same here, but I think they're curious enough to come and investigate." Oni spoke gesturing to a few other dragons carefully wandering over. As soon as the two informed them of Regan's status, they became excited. To see someone else transforming had been what many wanted to see.
Oni asked those newcomers to keep an eye on Regan while she slept. Afterword, Oni and Jake went through the camp looking for Edward or Julie. Once the two people had been located, they hurried over to Regan's tent.
Inside the two found Regan tossing and turning in her feverish state. "Do you think the dragons are right," Edward quietly asked.
"Yea."
"Think what this could mean, one of us will be able to experience what it is like to be a dragon. Someone with the type of training she has."
"True, but shouldn't we notify her family?"
"She's never mentioned anyone else. Besides, with what you've done to the camp, if she wants to reach out afterword she can." Edward spoke as he led Julie out of Regan's tent. Once outside he met a gaggle of dragons crowding around. He held his hands up for them to be quiet, "yes, we think she's going to transform, but she's sleeping at the moment. So let's let her get as much sleep as she can. I think you all can appreciate that."
A thought hit Julie, "do you want to get her transformation on video?"
"That's a good idea. Also why not get a few other sensors too. I think we've got an electromagnetic field sensor and a Geiger counter back in the research tent." Edward added as the two hurried off to grab as much gear as they could.
A short time later, they came back to see that even more dragons were huddling near the tent. Most had to wait out in a open field trying to get any word of what was going on. Some were discussing how they could feel her transform. Others were guessing which subspecies she might transform into. Finally, a bet began to circulate between all the dragons over what Regan might turn into.
A fair amount guessed that she was going to become a six legged subspecies. Though Edward had to shake his head as he saw most who guessed that were of the six legged subspecies themselves. Even he wondered what she would turn into.
****
Regan had never felt as bad as she did right at the moment. As she lay on top of her hard cot, she ran through her mind how this might have happened to her. Briefly she considered the idea that because she had been around so many dragons, that she caught it from them. Yet her logical mind discarded that because where did they catch it from in the first place? On top of that, there have been other people constantly around the dragons and haven't changed.
Her current hypothesis was that it was completely random. A sort of out of the blue spontaneous event. About the only thing she knew with some certainty was that the change only occurred to people between the ages of fifteen to thirty. No one younger or older had changed. Then it dawned on Regan that her age lay within that range.
Feverish thoughts aside, Regan soon passed out. Between the pain, fever, and stuffed up head, she couldn't stay awake any further.
When she next awoke, she could hear a crowd outside of her tent. It sounded as if they were attempting to stay quiet but failing. Glancing at her alarm clock told her it was early morning. That she slept throughout the night. Also as she began to move she noticed her cold had cleared up.
Swinging her feet out of bed, Regan sat and idly scratched an itch on her side. Then putting on a t-shirt, shorts, and shoes she decided to go to the bathroom.
Stepping outside, Regan suddenly stopped in her tracks as she glimpsed a large amount of dragons. Most were camped out in the open ground off to the side. Each was peering at her tent.
Yet, they weren't the only ones waiting for her to emerge. Edward, Julie, and a few of the other researchers had set up all sorts of equipment around her tent. She spied everything from a video camera to various electromagnetic sensors.
While on the one hand Regan was glad they were recording everything, she was still too tired to really pay attention. All she wanted to do was relieve herself and go back to bed. Mumbling a greeting, she hurriedly made her way to the bathroom. She ignored the trail of scientists following her.
Coming back out, Regan felt a little more awake. Though that itching still burned on her side. It was then that she noticed the same sensation erupt from her arms. Peering down caused her to stop dead in her tracks. For she saw that her skin was rapidly being covered by what looked like dark purple scales.
Ignoring everyone's stares, she pulled off her shirt to see those scales were growing all over her belly and sides. The ones on her belly seemed to be a light shade of bluish purple while the ones along her back seemed to be far darker.
Edward and the scientists quickly tried to video her transformation while the others poked their sensors close. The dragons, on the other hand, avidly watched her change. They were buoyed by the fact that she was going through the same thing they all had. That they could now witness it themselves.
Not that Regan cared as she was entirely focused on her transforming body. Within thirty minutes her hair had completely fallen out, her breasts had been subsumed, and her skin was fully covered by scales. Abruptly sharp black talons painfully erupted out of her finger and toe tips.
Then just as quickly a deep never ending hunger hit her. Regan was really hungry. As if she had not eaten for a long time. "Anyone got something to eat," she called out in a horse voice.
Quickly a few people rushed over to plop down a large amount of food ranging from sub sandwiches to stew. Not that she cared as she wolfed it all down. She had never pigged out like this in her life.
Now with a full belly, Regan's changes began to speed up. Abruptly a pair of limbs erupted out of her shoulders. Those two limbs on her back formed into a pair of large purple wings. While a new long tail blasted out of her rear end. On top of that, her head and neck began to change. Her face pushed out into a reptilian head including sharp fangs and burning golden eyes. While her neck pushed out a couple feet. Along with those changes, her feet and arms reformed into animal like limbs that forced her to stand in a four legged stance.
Within a short time, Regan looked like a human sized purple dragon. To her it seemed as if her transformation slowed down. Yet, her hunger came back stronger as ever.
Regan tried to tell everyone she wanted more to eat. Yet all she could make were simple mewling sounds. Not being able to speak caused her to feel a bit scared, especially as she was really hungry.
A dragon near her saw how Regan peered around and spoke up, "she needs to eat!"
Quickly everyone began to look for something for her. One dragon had been waiting for this moment. They came in and dropped a freshly killed deer in front of her.
Regan wanted to thank them, but her hunger took over and she ravenously dug into the beast. She dove her small dragon head deeply into the beast's belly. Before long all that was left was a pile of bloody bones.
Sleep began to pull at her and she wanted to go back into her tent to curl up. Yet a bunch of researchers suggested she stay outside. At first, an instinct suggested she snap at them. Yet the researcher in her barely mastered those feelings and reluctantly curled up in front of her tent.
She had no idea how long she had slept, but when she awoke later it was deep afternoon. The sun was just beginning to set in the west. As she stood up, Regan noticed that everything around her was a bit smaller. She could easily see over her tent and the researchers.
It was then that her stomach began to rumble again. Peering at the humans caused her mouth to water. Something in Regan suggested that they did look tasty.
"Regan can you hear me," called Oni off to her side.
Regan hesitantly nodded her head in understanding to Oni.
"Good, I know you're hungry right now. We all do." Oni gestured to the dragons watching her. "But you don't need to eat those humans. Let's fly and hunt something together."
The suggestion caused Regan to stretch out her large wings. Feeling them made her realize she did want to go flying. Barking an agreement, Regan jumped up into the air and pumped her wings to gain height. The feeling of the warm air blowing past her scaly body was exhilarating!
Rapidly she noticed another large shape next to her. Looking over Regan saw that Oni was flying next beside her. They banked away from the camp and across the wide open land.
Within a short bit, Regan spotted some type of hoofed animal sprinting across the open ground. Her instincts kicked in and Regan dove towards the fleeing animal. At the last minute, she grasped the animal in her claws and began to flap back up into the air.
Next she began to hunt for a place where she could eat her meal in peace. Oni flew close and gestured with her head for Regan to follow her. The two went back to the camp where Regan found an nice open spot for her to land. Flying low, Oni dropped a few more dead beasts she had caught beside Regan before landing nearby. Regan wanted to thank Oni, but her hunger spiked and she ravenously ate. Soon everything the two had hunted was devoured.
After another night of sleep, Regan had grown far larger. Upon another round of hunting, Regan had reached the same size as the other dragons. This time her body began to transform again.
The first things to change were her hind legs. The toes on those legs seemed to reform into a sort of bird like arrangement with three toes forward and one toe facing backward. This arrangement forced her to sit up when she was on the ground, again like a bird. Her arms also began to change. All the bones in them reformed into what felt like vertebra. Her scaly dragon hands rapidly reshaped into heads which looked exactly like her main head.
When the eyes on those heads opened up, Regan briefly became a bit disoriented. Soon she found she was looking out at three separate pictures all at once. Regan had always wondered what it was like to have multiple heads and now she knew. It was strange and fascinating. She could see, taste, smell, and even breathe out all three of her mouths.
Finally she began to notice something growing in her center head right under her dragon tongue. Within moments she felt the urge to stick whatever it was out like a tongue. When she did that, Regan felt her consciousness shift from her dragon head to that new growth. It quickly dawned on her that she had just grown her human torso just like all the other dragons.
A smile graced her new but still same human face. Regan now knew exactly how the other dragons felt when they stuck out their human torsos. She had become a dragon like the others!
Upon seeing her human torso, all the dragons cheered as a new member joined their ranks. They all crowded around to congratulate her for becoming a dragon. That this was where she wanted to be and with the people she wanted to hang out with the most.
Plus, with this new body, new view points and sensations, she now better understood the dragons. That this would elevate her research to the next level. In the end Oni wasn't horrified but thrilled that she was now a dragon. With that she launched herself up into the sky with Oni and a few other dragons. Each was having fun with the other as they swooped around.
