"So... how's life been for you?" asked Mark, sitting down on the bench next to Phil. Football practice was in full swing, and all of the members of the Philadelphia Eagles were working hard, trying to make sure that their next game would be the best one of the season! After running around with the ball for what felt like hours, Phil had decided to take a break by sitting on the bench, and his friend Mark was stopping by for some friendly conversation. "Have any... interesting stories to share?"
Phil chuckled to himself. He knew what Mark was really asking: had he transformed into anything cool lately? For whatever reason, Phil seemed to be a magnet for transformations; hardly a week went by where he didn't find himself taking on some kind of alternate form. Whether it was a dragon due to gold, a cow due to a mysterious cowbell, or his personal favorite, a large anthropomorphic eagle, he could never seem to retain his human form for long before his body was changed by some outside force that he couldn't control. It was actually kind of annoying... but it could be kinda cool sometimes, too. "Well..." he said. "I decided to go out scuba diving the other day, and-"
"Wait. Don't tell me." Mark simply grinned. "You turned into an orca again, didn't you?"
"Actually, no. Not this time." Phil sighed, remembering exactly what had happened that day... how he had so carelessly fallen into that trap. "I actually ended up finding this really cool figure of a character from this old 90s cartoon that I sometimes watch. The only problem is that as soon as I picked it up... well, I kinda began transforming into him."
"Of course," said Mark, shaking his head. "If it's not one thing, it's another, isn't it? Could you still swim, at least?
"Well, the show in question was Street Sharks, so... yeah, that wasn't a problem," said Phil. "I did still end up destroying my scuba gear, though." He frowned. "But that wasn't the really weird part. See, it turns out that I didn't find that figure by accident. Someone placed it there, just so that I would get transformed by it."
"Really?" Mark nodded, showing clear interest. "Well, that makes things much more interesting. Who was it this time?"
"Well, he calls himself Martin Fortsona," explained Phil. "He's an anthropomorphic crow, so that's kinda cool, I guess. This isn't even the first time he's done something to me, though. Remember our last game, when I got bitten by a wolf and turned into that wolf-eagle hybrid? Turns out he's the one who sent that wolf after me, just so I would transform in the middle of the game."
"Wow," said Mark. "So he really has it out for you, doesn't he? Do you know why he's doing this?"
"Well... I think he mentioned that he was actually working for someone," said Phil. "And apparently, whoever he's working for is the one who's behind all these crazy transformation that have been happening to me. I tried to ask him some more about it, but he was pretty quiet about the whole thing. It was really weird, to be honest."
"Ah, so the plot thickens!" Said Mark, grinning. "So someone else is behind it all... pretty intriguing!" He chuckled to himself. "Anyway, we should probably get back onto the field. We don't want to be sitting around for too long."
"Yeah..." said Phil, standing up. "Hopefully this time, I can make it through the entire game without turning into something weird and- GAH!" As he stood up, his foot caught on a large yellow container, causing it to fall and spill its contents all over the grass. At the same time, it caused Phil to trip and fall, landing face-first into the light-green liquid spilling out of the container. "Ugh!" he yelled, pulling himself up. "What is this, Gatorade? It sure looks like it."
"Um... are you sure?" asked Mark. "I mean, I don't think Gatorade typically glows like that..."
"It's probably just a trick of the light," grumbled Phil, trying to shake the green liquid off of his body. "Seriously, though, who just leaves an open container of Gatorade next to the bench? It's like they wanted someone to spill it all over the place!"
