Stripes

Story by iplank on SoFurry

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A man breaks the rules to get an up-close view of a unique event and ends up getting an up-close view of a mugger. The thief is going to get more than he was counting on though when they play a little game of cat and mouse.


(M tf Tiger/Sabretooth)

To be fair, Greg wasn't supposed to be wandering around this area in the first place. Everyone had their heads out of their windows tonight, but the police ordered people off the streets and had many officers set up around a wide parameter in several areas. Not too long ago an organization called Against Wayward Extinction or AWE for short was doing research on bringing back extinct species that had been unjustly wiped out by meteor-inflicted climate change rather than natural selection. While that sounds great on paper- they were kidnapping humans to use as a base to turn into these species. After AWE was brought down, there was no one to maintain their satellite network. That is why the city is partially shut down tonight, and everyone has their eyes on the sky. The AWE satellites are falling from the sky.

The way Greg figured- if the police could be that close to the crash site and know exactly where the satellite will touch down, why couldn't anyone else also be that close? And so, he snuck out against the police order to get closer to one of the crash sites to see the action. He was not aware these satellites were also loaded with DNA and neocell samples from AWE's mad scientist. The police had bio-hazard protection on- Greg does not. Greg was not the only one breaking the law tonight though. A man snuck up behind him and shoved a gun barrel into his back, telling Greg to hand over his wallet. Greg was so afraid for his life and taking his wallet out that he missed the incoming fireball in the sky. The man chuckled, calling Greg a sucker as he grabbed the wallet. Greg turned around in time to see the man drop an empty beer bottle to the ground! The 'gun barrel' he felt in his back was just the neck of the bottle- the man had no weapons on him in the first place! The man bolted with his wallet and Greg chased after him, but they were both knocked to the ground as the satellite hit and shook the ground so violently that it felt like it had vanished from under their feet! The satellite hit down exactly were it was calculated to, allowing the police blockade to contain almost the entire explosion, with only a few shards of debris flying off high enough to land outside. One such chunk was the upper half of a containment cell- drops of its contents flicked into the air as it spun. The shard of satellite landed at the front of the lane way the two men were in, while they were closer to the end. Little drops of liquid from inside of it rained down across most of the lane however- several dropping on Greg.

The two of them slowly got up, looking at the flames and sparks from the glowing hot metal ruin that was the satellite. Greg's hand twitched with small muscle spasms. Before he had the chance to figure that out- he heard the man behind him turn and bolt again, and turned to chase after him! The night air was cool, but when running it became biting. The man dashed across the street, not having to worry about traffic thanks to the police order, but when he went to dash into the next alley two cats bolted out from the dark and almost tripped him! By the time he got his balance, Greg caught up. The man tried to punch him but Greg caught his fist. The man went to use his other hand and Greg caught that one too. Something strange was happening to his hands though- the muscle activity was stimulating growth. The nerves in the end of his fingers started to go partially numb, and the tendons pulled in directions they aren't supposed to! The bone segment at the very end of each finger dislocated from the segment before it and pulled up- making Greg glad they were mostly numb. The segment flipped up, basically folding itself onto the end of the segment below it! The man pulled his own hands away from him and they both watched his deforming hands in awe.

His fingernails seemed to draw up slightly with the shifting of the skin around the moved bone, and then with a bit of an itchy feeling, his nails rapidly started to grow out! They became thick but narrow and quickly grew into large arc-like talons! The nail on his thumb followed his fingers- though the thumb has one less segment than the fingers, so none of the bones restructured in the thumb. As confused and worried as Greg was by these changes, he quickly returned his gaze back to the thief and made a swipe for him! The man jumped back, but the talons still sliced four cuts in the front of his shirt! When Greg tensed his hands to attack, the folded back final bone in the fingers (the distal phalanx) was pushed forward again, straightening it, which caused the claws to hook forward and extend further! The mechanism behind a feline paw.

The man spun in fear and ran again, but Greg stumbled a bit and quickly had to get his shoes off from pain in his feet. His feet were changing the same way, and the claws of his toes could not fit. His socks did not fit either obviously, but he did not want to lose the man, so he gave chase without removing his socks. The talons just cut their own way out of the ends. When folded back, the arch of each claw kept it off the ground, so it did not dull.

A cloaked figure watches their chase intently from the rooftops over them, jumping the gap between buildings casually like it was nothing to keep up with them. "The elastic tendon that controls the distal phalanx connects to the joint over the proximal and middle phalanx- a brilliant biological mechanism really. The base of each claw is organic tissue that collects and hardens into a higher keratin compound toward the tip which is entirely solid keratin. When the claw grows it creates a cast-off layer of the dulled outermost layer, revealing the newer, sharper layer below. And this kids, is why you don't have your cat de-clawed. The process removes the entire distal phalanx. If you think chopping the ends off all your pets fingers sounds like a good idea- you aren't someone I want to talk to."

The man got some distance on Greg and the two ran at the same speed, making him lose faith that he would be able to catch up. His limbs did not stop changing though, and his feet changing forced him to put more weight on the front of them, and soon all of his weight, not even touching his heel to the ground. His hands and feet were growing longs- leaving his thumb and big toe behind the rest. Greg was unable to see, but his hair was changing color as well. It was turning from dark brown to bright orange! Except for a single strip across the middle of his head which instead darkened further to totally black. Even his eyebrows turned orange. His fingers and toes started to grow orange fuz on their backs and the bottoms swelled with dense flesh. This numbed the sensation again on the bottoms of his feet, making him less worried about cutting them on a rock or something without his shoes. The end of each digit swelled into a large pad, but also the base of each digit to protect the body of the hands and feet. By the time the fur spread across half his hands and feet his wrist and ankles clicked and re-sorted themselves as they expanded to be able to fit all this extra size. His feet extending lifted his ankles a good distance off the ground, but this only made Greg considerably faster. It gave each step more of a spring to it, and the smaller surface area created less drag on the ground between each step.

Greg was now gaining on the man thanks to his changed feet, making the man nervous. He grabbed and knocked over trash bags and boxes by the back doors to try and block his path and even knocked a chained up bike into the way at the end of the alley. Because Greg's ears were a bit numb from the cold air beating against them as he ran, he failed to notice them change as well. They became larger and rounder, while the cartilage thinned and new muscle tissue gathered into the base to give them minor mobility. As soon as they could pivot, his ears moved reflexively backwards so the wind did not catch in them. Greg's face twitched a bit at a prickling feeling as whiskers started to slid out over his upper lip. He became more confident in his movements though, and was able to leap around the obstructing objects the man tossed his way.

The cloaked figure nodded with a smile. "Whiskers extend the perception and allow minor sensation beyond the physical body through vibrations in the air around the creature. They can feel movement."

Greg ran out into the street where the man abruptly turned and paused a moment. The man was nowhere to be seen. The street was covered in parked vehicles. The man could not have run far enough for Greg to completely lose sight of him in that brief time when line of sight was broken... which means he is still here- hiding behind one of the vehicles. Greg let out an unusually deep sounding growl as he slowly plodded forward, his whiskers twitching in irritation as he looked back and forth at the vehicles trying to spot the man. His tail bone swelled and started to push his pants down slightly in the back. The fur advanced up his arms and legs very slowly- but was mirrored with growth. His hands and feet devolving into paws made them considerably larger overall, then his wrists, and now the rest of his limbs are equalizing from the bottom up. With a dull thunk the bridge of his nose shifted to be wider and lower to his face. The skin around his nostrils started to turn cool and clammy as the coloration darkened. His upper canines grew long into fangs as he grit his teeth in anger at the hiding thief.

Greg sniffed several times, trying to taste the night air. The man was running, which means he was probably sweaty. He will smell like fear. After a few moments of silence, Greg dropped onto his hands and feet. This flicked his now developing tail completely free from his pants and it danced back and forth, flexing its muscles as they grew in and extended it. On his hands and feet, Greg lowered his head to look under the vehicles. It took only a few glances back and forth to spot the pair of human feet on the opposite side of a car! The man heard Greg charge at him and went to bolt away, but rather than go around the vehicle, Greg jumped ONTO the vehicle- his sharp claws making a screeching sound as they cut thin lines in the car's paint as he slid across the hood and pounced directly onto the man. Greg slammed the man to the ground and the first thing the man seen looking up at Greg is his bulging arms as the bone and muscle structure continued to grow upward to his shoulders. He felt the razor sharp points of the claws on his shoulders.

"Grrve me brrk mr warrit..." His face scrunched up into a snarling look. "My mrrny, GIVE!" His voice had a gravelly tone to it, giving it a low rumble that made it hard to talk.

Muffled clicks under his skin sounded the changes as his face slowly started to push out and Greg had to move his lower lips out of the way as his fangs were now too large to fit in his mouth at all. The man was too afraid to say anything. He was transfixed on Greg's angry eyes as his pupils stretched taller and thinner. Lines of golden coloration appeared in his brown iris and multiplied rapidly, turning their color completely to metallic yellow. Reflective feline iris- they refract any available light to make use of what little exists; allowing them to see perfectly fine in the darkness of night.

Greg noticed the man nervously motioning his head to the side and seen the wallet on the ground beside him. He then realized the man couldn't actually hand it back because Greg was pinning his arms to the ground, and he was too afraid to speak. The moment Greg stepped off to grab his wallet the man scrambled to his feet and ran for his life. There was plenty of police around, but telling the cops was never really an option for Greg because doing so would have outed himself for breaking the law being out on the streets right now. He paused now that his money was returned, and looked himself over. He should be more... concerned with his condition. But for some reason it felt normal. The change was mildly pleasurable and this body felt natural even though it was wildly different from what it should be. He felt an odd tightness in his chest and flopped back, propped up against the car and just took a deep breath. The cool night air was always fresher than the air during the day- no one outside to pollute it. His pant legs and his shirt were very tight. The expansion of his limbs made his clothes barely fit. His hips and body had grown a bit too, but there was also more give in his clothing in those places so the effect wasn't as drastic.

He looked at his tail and seen it had stopped growing. It did not look as long as it should be- he was pretty sure tiger tails are longer than that. The fur had grown in on it and stopped for the moment on his lower back. Having his clothing so tight against his body was probably making it hard for the fur to grow in any further. He took another deep breath to try and fight the odd pressure he felt in his chest and then his ribs popped! His instinctual reaction was to draw in breath again but his lungs were already full! His lungs grew in size forcing his rib cage to pop in rapid fire and extend further forward- staying the same size in width. This caused his rib cage to partially obstruct his arms. His shirt almost immediately tore when his ribs grew in size, splitting down the back from his collar to the halfway point. His rib cage actually had a slight hinge to it at the mid point of each rib now- though not actually meant to be bent, it did give the bones more flexibility before being able to break from impacts. His torso then got slightly longer, granting it more flexibility as his hip bone compressed back a bit. This gave him a long midriff. He seen soft fur starting to grow up past his pants- his pubic hair had turned to white fur and was spreading! Now exposed to the night air, he could feel the fur growing on his upper back as well- the growth made almost no feeling on its own but he could feel the warmth as it canceled out the cool air.

He straightened up his posture to try and reach for his shirt since it was barely hanging in there, but his neck let off dull pops and started to get longer! His shoulder blades cracked rather loudly and shifted their position, extending out further from the spine! His shoulder blades were now much further forward, causing them to overlap the sides of his rib cage, putting the joint of his arms further forward. This made the reach of his arms actually slightly further than his legs when standing on all fours! The shift of his shoulder blades yanked the entire back of his shirt torn in half all the way down and also popped the seams on the arms of his shirt. Because his shoulder blades now also extended a bit higher than his back, the ridges on the vertebrae in his upper back extended to even it out. With a groan that came out more like a growl, Greg reached up and hooked a claw on the fabric and just tore the remnants away. As soon as he tossed the shirt off though, his arms locked up! His elbows started to extend a bit further out. This prevented him from holding his arms completely straight out but also braced them better for impacts- allowing him to walk on them without wearing out the joint. He also noticed he could not hold his arms straight out to the side either now. He could still move them up and down perfectly fine.

Greg roared as his face started to click and snap again and extend even further. His upper lip was pushed further up as his fangs grew even larger! They were so long that they extended past his chin at this point! His facial hair started to grow in rapidly, connecting to the hair on his head, and then his hair line very slowly started to advance in on the rest of his face as fur. He bent forward a bit and reached for his too-tight pants. The moment the point of his claw touched the taught fabric it exploded open from pressure! His thighs ruptured his pant legs, and then he hooked a claw on the end of either leg and started to move them up. His claws sliced through the tight fabric like a knife as he cut himself out of his useless pants and underpants. It did not even occur to him he should be embarrassed about being fully nude in public. Like his changes, it just felt normal and he did not give it a second thought. His penis was hidden for a moment, which was odd because it felt tight and he felt aroused so he was expecting it to be standing in attention. The thrill of the hunt and sending that man scurrying away like a little baby turned Greg on, and this new body felt powerful and so... right! His foreskin had thickened and drawn his cock down into it as the fur climbed it to become a short sheath. His scrotum became tighter and covered in fur as well. The fur on his underside was snow white, while everywhere else it grew in neon orange with thin black stripes. His cock then emerged again and he went to grab it but then realized he could not really grab it like he used to with paws- and he would be nervous about cutting himself with his claws besides. Taking advantage of the plush, bulbous flesh; Greg used both paws together and gripped his cock between the two pads!

Every second or third stroke he groaned as Greg felt the pressure surge at the base. It was getting thicker inside of the sheath. This caused his penis to become progressively more and more cone-shaped as the growth was only in the base and stretched the rest less the further out it went. The tiny subtle bumps on the corona of his glans started to stiffen and become more pronounced. As he continued they started to multiply and grow a bit longer into tiny points, turning into very tiny barbs! Their size and number created an itchy pressure in the glans of his penis because there wasn't enough room for them all on the thin ridge that is the corona! Greg gripped the shaft tightly between his paws and yanked down, stretching the surface skin down tight and the growth surged up the shaft at that same moment! He was holding the skin in place while the inside grew a bit longer, causing the glans to stretch, the corona was pulled smooth against the rest of the shaft! His entire penis was now shaped like a long cone with a tapered end, but the barbs remained as they were. So the very end of his cock was smooth, then a forest of barbs, and then smooth shaft again after that.

The barbs were engorged with blood pressure like the rest of the shaft, so they were not actually solid enough to do any harm to anything. They were the most sensitive part, so he would thrust forward quickly but then grip himself tighter and slowly pull back. The pleasure caused the pressure to pulse, tightening the barbs so they gripped even more, and bending them caused even more pleasure. Felines do not go into heat, so in order to get a female to ovulate to make impregnating them possible, you have to rile them up first. The barbs grab the insides of their vaginal walls and drag gently like a million tiny fingers to make sure she is as stimulated as possible to increase the odds of pregnancy. When Greg finally climaxed, he reared back and roared, which caused him to slide fully onto his back. His face extended a tiny bit more into a proper short but broad feline muzzle and his fangs grew even larger! His lower two canine teeth were now regular sized fangs, and his upper were giant tusk like chompers. They are longer than they are wide, so they can slide over the lower jaw, since they are so large that they grow beyond the entire head. The fur around what had formerly been his sideburns grew longer and bushier, as well as the fur at the top base of his tail.

Greg rolled to his feet still breathing heavily and looked around a bit confused. What was he doing before? Where was he? Strange shiny cliffs all around him and rough rock ground? This is a bad place for a den, too many openings. He plodded off to find a more secure place to make a den out of and maybe hunt some prey for a late night snack before heading to sleep. He completely forgot what humans even are. Being lower to the ground made it seem like he was moving even faster than he actually was. Greg spent a good amount of time just running in random directions, just to feel his powerful new body and the thrill of being so fast and deadly! He has transformed into a Smilodon Fatalis! Apex predators of a mere 10,000 years ago, the only thing that could wipe them out was a lack of Megafauna as prey. They competed with Dire Wolves and to a lesser extent Lions for food, but nothing ever preyed on them.

The figure that had been watching from above nodded. "Though everyone knows them as Sabretooth Tigers, they actually aren't tigers at all. Smilodon share a common ancestor with Tigers- which would be the Pseudaelurus- they themselves are a different branch of the evolutionary tree. They therefor did not have stripes- at all. Tigers are the only one of their current closest relatives to have stripes so it would make no sense for anything even earlier than that- and less closely related- to have them. AWE however also could not find an entirely complete string of Smilodon DNA, either. Technically speaking, he just turned into a hybrid of smilodon and then tigers of the Panthera family tree. A smilodon tail would also be shorter- the fur at the base is bushier on his tail because that is where the two tail lengths overlap in his patchwork genetic coding." He held up an intact containment cell from the ruin of the satellite and smiled to himself. "In any case, I recovered what I could from this wreck before those police vultures moved in. I better hurry to the next."