In This Class, You Get Transformed
The witchy professor Darwin has taken over the classroom and another bundle of students are given new animalistic forms. The boundaries of sanity are tested and one student even manages to escape into the halls. Is redemption outside the classroom?
This is good of a time as any to say that this story is a remake of an old story called Classroom Zoo that I wrote two chapters for in 2013. Without going to far into it, that project didn't last long because I was unsatisfied with the result. So far, this new version has been great! It's nice to finally tackle this story idea I've had for years!
The clock had fallen off the wall and vanished so nobody was sure what time it was. Except professor Darwin who, among other supernatural abilities, knew time it was psychically.
The room had turned into a piece of nature with its earthen floors and walls fallen away to reveal a bush of trees. Up above there was brambled, seemingly going on forever.
Before walking into that classroom that morning, Estelle knew the rules of the universe. She knew how science and physics worked. But her time in the classroom with an apparent sorcerer had betrayed her knowledge.
She was so confounded by it that it drove her mind in on itself. The outside world grew further and further away while she focused on how such events could be possible.
Estelle collapsed her head into her hands, fumbling her glasses and her medium-length brown hair.
Was it some new kind of quantum technology? Was it space-time related? Was it a hallucination? The latter seemed the most likely.
But it all felt so real. If it wasn't, wouldn't she have some idea? What were the signs of something being a hallucination? Aside from her vision being dizzy, everything was consistent. She looked over at the sloth. Sloth felt her looking at him and looked back, flashing a big dumb smile with his teeth exposed, his tongue hanging out, and drool hanging from his maw.
How could such a creature exist, Estelle thought. Were all those dumb motherfuckers chasing cryptids in the woods right? Were weird creatures among us? Were all those religious zealots right all along about the presence of evil demons and terrible magic?
She looked around with paranoid eyes, her thoughts cycling in on themselves.
Professor Darwin was still lecturing a class of almost completely disinterested students. Earlier there was a loud panic with students screaming and shouting, but many of them had gotten used to the shock of magic and reserved for uncertain dread.
As Darwin walked around the classroom, students flinched as she approached. They worried she'd turn them into something, or worse. She passed by Patrice, who seated at the front. Darwin had turned Patrice into a milk snake but if someone could turn you into a snake-person they could do other things too, many figured. Patrice still worried her safety was at harm.
Martin was seated one row back from the front, on the same side of the room with the door out of there. He was a smaller boy with a black and white longsleeve and a pair of gray striped pants. Martin stared at the door. It couldn't be that easy, could it? To just up and head out the door. Did the witch lock it?
Darwin walked past him, going down the isle to the back of the room. Her back was turned on the door. Now was Martin's chance!
He got up and dashed towards the door. Darwin knew exactly what was going on as soon as she heard Martin's shoe hit the dirt.
She turned around and pointed at him, "Not so fast!"
Her finger shot out a bolt of magic light and hit Martin. His myuman form vanished and was replaced with a turtle's. He had the beaky reptilian face with a shag of brown hair on top. His green hands and feet were without any kind of claw, just green flesh. No shell on this myumanoid turtle. Underneath his close was scaly reptile flesh.
Martin looked at himself and gulped. He was worried that this would happen but he had prepped himself. He told himself to deal with it later and tried to ignore it. He still had hands for turning a knob and he still had feet for run his ass out.
He opened the door and ran outside, having the courtesy of closing it behind him.
Darwin growled, "That little urchin!" Darwin addressed the class, "No one else try to leave or I'll turn you to stone!"
There was Frank. He was a shorter boy but with a bit of muscle. He wore a white t-shirt for a tropical resort and green cargo pants. Short brown hair on his head.
Frank knew Martin to be a wimp but surprisingly Martin had the courage to escape even after being morphed into a turtle. Frank dreaded how transformation could feel. Maybe it hurt, he thought. He sat still, wondering if the teacher would exempt him.
Darwin would admit that her lecture got off on a tangent when she started talking about music, specificially the chamber music of the donkeys tribes of Braybeard. She couldn't help herself though.
She walked along the back of the room and then turned upwards on the aisle. Students peered over their shoulders watching Darwin come their way. Who was next? Who was next to receive her transformative wrath?
Lita sat near the front. Ever since she saw Adrienne and Wally behind her get transformed, the worry flared up. Was she to be next? What was she going to be turned into a disgusting creature? Would her mind fall away like some others in the classroom?
Darwin's steps came closer and Lita hunched over in her seat, sweating in anxiety, and breathing hard. She clenched her fist and gritted her teeth.
Finally, she got up, standing in the aisle. She was facing Darwin with her arms out posing herself as a target.
"Do me next!" said Lita, "Transform me."
Darwin was surprised but she was ok with it. She reached out her hand, "Very well."
Lita's eyes were full of fury as a light bolt came her way. The impact made her clothes flutter like a breeze had passed her by. The transformation made her flicker with light but that light dimmed and everyone could see what she had become.
She looked at her hands. Grey fur with black spots. They were on her hands and feet. She felt behind herself for a tail but then remembered that the transformation didn't give tails. She felt her waist and she felt wider. In fact, she was also taller. She took her hands up to her face. She saw something shooting out in front of her and she touched it. It was a snout. She felt a nose and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Round ears on her head.
"Am I a... cat?" she asked.
"A snow leopard," said Darwin. "Take a seat."
Lita couldn't remember what she was so terrified of. She had been an animal for five seconds and she was already getting used to it. As she took her seat, she felt the soft fur on her hands. It had a firm texture. The dirt beneath her feet was warm and she wiggled her toes. Her tongue played with her sharp fangs.
There was a sketchy looking boy with bugged eyes and a crooked smile. He stood up and raised his hand, "N... now... me!"
Darwin answered his wish and gave him a metamorphic bolt. The boy could see a big orange and black beak in front of him. His hands were black and covered in a sleek down. His feet were orange with tiny claws. He was a bird, he knew. Those around him, judging by his white and black head, knew he was a puffin.
The puffin boy had a nervous spasm. He took his seat, his hands stuck to his beak. He pushed it and knocked it around. It felt so weird to have that thing stuck to his face! This was his new mouth, but he wasn't going to get used to it anytime soon.
Debra was a larger girl seated towards the back. For all of the excitement in the classroom that morning, she was outwardly nonchalant. She didn't look interested. Maybe her mind had accepted the fact that magical things were happening and had already gone bored of the concept.
Darwin was moving around the room, circling around to the front and going down the middle again, advertising herself like a hot dog vendor. Who wanted to be next?
With eyes half closed like she was in a spell of disinterest, she raised her hand, "Hey, teach. Could I be next?"
Darwin fired a bolt over at Debra and Debra was transformed. Green scales all over her body. Claws on her hands and feet. A large snout with lots of teeth. She had been turned into a crocodile. The hair on her head had disappeared leaving an appropriately bald scalp covered in scales. Her body mass rounded out a bit. Her torso had rows of fat leading into a large waist but had sexier curves. Her chest was larger too, with her two breasts being large and firing outward.
She sighed and didn't seem too shocked.
While passing by the front of the class, Darwin noted the girl seated in the front row; the one that had a fancy hat that Darwin transfigured earlier. With a quick zap, the fashionable girl was a fashionable red panda. The girl gasped, struggling to catch her breath as she looked at the dark fur on her hands and checked out her feet. She touched her fuzzy face of red and white.
Looking up at Darwin with eyes wetting with tears, she said, "I... I didn't volunteer, though!"
"Some people should be pressured into things," said Darwin.
Frank was growing impatient. He accepted that he was going to be turned into an animal sooner or later. He dreaded the thought of being turned into a mouse or a quail. Small, weak animals, he thought.
Darwin was coming his way. He stood up, "I want to be a lion!"
Darwin stopped, looked at him, and then fired a bolt. Frank blinked. He first noticed that he was taller, by about half a foot. He then noticed his golden fur. His big meaty hands. His feet had gotten wider and had claws at the end of the toes. He took his hands to his chin and felt a thick mane. He took his fingers to his face and felt a rock solid snout with a broad nose. Round ears on his head amongst a bush of hair- he was a lion!
He let out a mighty laugh! He looked under his shirt and saw a broad chest with fur over his body. He flexed sizable muscles. He arched back and let out a deep roar, shocking students around him.
Darwin chuckled, "Yes yes yes. I am glad you're enjoying it but now sit down."
Frank took his seat, reaching down to examine his toes and to rub his ankles.
There was a punk girl a few rows back from Frank. She had her hair died, wore mesh on her torso and arms, and wore black leather pants. She stood up, "Can I be a komodo dragon?"
Darwin fired a bolt at her and the answer was no she could not. Smooth scaled skin of an olive green pigment and black spots. Claw-less fingers and toes. A head that jutted out with a wide mouth with two nostrils on the top. The girl had been turned into a trout.
"I'm not taking any more requests!" said Darwin.
The trout girl looked at herself, felt her face, and knew she was a fish of some kind. In the brief time from the moment she saw Frank get turned into a lion to her becoming a fish, she had dreams of being a strong powerful komodo dragon but those dreams had been crushed.
She looked underneath her t-shirt to her chubby torso, "Oh man..."
Aron looked over at his friend Scott who had been transformed into a dog earlier, panicked like a child, had a tantrum, and had to have his mind zapped to calm him down.
Aron hyped himself up. He didn't want to freak out like his friend. He told himself, This is a new era for you. An animal era. It's going to be weird but you can do it man!
Aron raised his hand, "I'll go next."
The bolt of magic energy was already on its way to him, it seemed. He flinched and flailed when the bolt hit him and checked himself, "What did I turn into!?"
Blue white and black feathers across a body except for the small black beak and black scaled feet. Aron's hair was consumed by a blue tuft of feathers on his head. The students around Aron looked at him and replied in unison, "Blue jay."
Aron looked over at his friend Scott. Scott looked backed with all the sharpness of a bowling ball and all the amazement of a clod of dirt. Aron figured it could be much worse. He still had his smarts and he calmed himself down to keep it that way.
Darwin looked at Aron. He had become a handsome blue jay.
"Anyone else?" asked Darwin.
None answered. The time for spirited myumans embracing their animalhood was over. No one else was ready to be transformed.
Darwin went up the rows again. Frank was happy as a lion, feeling around his mouth for his teeth, giggling uncontrollably. Darwin passed by Lita, the girl who started this small session of volunteer metamorphism. Darwin looked over the snow leopard closely. Lita looked back with radiant eyes- eyes that had fear in them, but also self-confidence. With Lita's form being larger than most, Darwin had taken a risk of transforming Lita when the fresh snow cat could blart a stinky load into her pants and cause discomfort for the students around her.
Darwin left Lita's side. Lita's heart was pounding, but she had to admit to herself that becoming a snow leopard wasn't the end of the world. She wiggled her fingers and let the claws tap against the desk's surface. She wiggled her toes and let them dance on the dirt below. She was all still there.
She began examining her body and immediately her attention was drawn to her chest. It was booming! There was so much surface area on her cleavage that she could have folded out a table cloth and had herself lunch!
She took her hands up to her breasts. They were so firm and strong. She wanted to feel them all day. She felt so sexy with those big missiles! A chuckle escaped her. Snow leopards weren't supposed to be hot but Lita was very hot!
Outside in the halls, things were different.
When Martin left the classroom, he noticed the halls were strange right away. While the floors were still ceramic tiles, the pattern and colors were altered. Same went for the lockers on the side. Not only that, but the vegetation of Darwin's classroom had escaped. While not the jungle that the classroom was, there were vines poking out of the roof tiles and crawling down the walls.
Something was wrong with the lights too. The halls were dimmer with beacons of light shining from above that were so directed that every around them seemed so dark.
Martin tried to remember the way to the doors, but the shape of the halls seemed to have change as well. That's when Martin noticed other people in the halls. In a way, he was scared they were myumans because he knew they would be scared of his turtly self. But on the other hand he wanted them to be myumans to prove that the outside world hadn't changed.
He saw a group of people standing outside a classroom door and when he noticed their head had beaks, snouts, and tall pointy ears, his heart sank. Whatever was inside his classroom transforming the students had encroached outside.
"Nonononononono" said Martin to himself, running through the halls on bare reptilian feet.
He passed by a hall and saw a few more animal people. One, a buck wearing a suit and tie, waved him down, "Hey you! Stop!"
Martin's speed picked up. He saw an empty hall in front of him and kept his course. Then, a large figure stepped out from behind a door frame, blocking his escape.
The figure was nearly 8 feet wearing a security officer's uniform. It had massive muscles and a whiplike tail behind it. It leaned down to bring its face to Martin's. Martin stopped in his tracks.
Martin was being stared down by Sonny, a large lion man with golden blonde hair, eyes like volcanoes, and a huge snout. He gave Martin a staunch glare.
"No." said the lion.
That's all it took. Martin stood there, petrified. His tearful eyes were drawn into the lion's. Sonny chuffed.
The lion stood up and waited for Sonny's vision to get back some of its lucidity. Sonny took Martin's hand, "Come on, student. Back to class."
Martin felt imprisoned by Sonny's giant hand. He had to keep up, and he walked briskly beside the large security officer.
Darwin walked by Sloth, the student she had transformed like a dozen others in that classroom, but his transformation also took his intelligence. His mind was reduced to an animal's, if his primitive mannerisms were any indication. When Darwin walked by, Sloth looked back with a comfortable smile, a strand of drool hanging out of his mouth.
Darwin walked to the front, "I am capable of destroying minds. Brain damage. Destruction is easy." She walked over to the desk and picked up a golden ring, as large as a bracelet. It had turquoise swirls on it and a big red ruby! It caught the eyes of the some students as Darwin brought it back to the center of the class. "Creation is difficult, but worth it."
Darwin looked up, with some students looking up with her to see what she was looking at. She whistled, although she wasn't great at whistling with myuman lips. A brown squirrel came hopping down from the vines. Darwin let out her hand and the squirrel found its place.
Holding the squirrel up for everyone to see, Darwin announced to the class, "And I will make this feral everyday squirrel into one of you."
The squirrel stayed perfectly still as Darwin took the golden bracelet and placed it over its body. It didn't move as the halo descending around its form. Those up close to the front of the classroom could see a green aura forming in the ring, connecting with the squirrel's body. The squirrel glowed and began to expand in size!
Darwin took her hand away and the figure of the squirrel grew in the air as it spread out to the size of any of student. When the light faded, there was a squirrel boy, myumanoid like the other animal students in the classroom except with a big tail. Brown fur covered his body. The transformation came with some clothing as the squirrel boy was in a red t-shirt and a pair of green shorts.
It wasn't dissimilar from other transformations that had occurred that morning but many students were bewildered that the teacher had made an animal-person out of an animal. The squirrel looked around, blinking his eyes.
"How are you doing today, squirrel?" asked Darwin, "What's your name?"
"My name," the squirrel replied in his boyish voice, "It's Longfellow."
Darwin laughed, "Longfellow! Delightful! What's your favorite field of study, Longfellow?"
Longfellow smiled with a big tooth out front, "Arboriculture."
"How long have you been intelligent, Longfellow?" asked Darwin.
"Intelligent?" said Longfellow, "About twelve seconds."
The class was stunned. It was another trick of hers but creating an intelligent person out of a random tree rodent was a shock. They could tell by Longfellow's movements, voice, and other mannerisms that he was a mature individual with the mindset of anyone their age.
Completely out of nothing, too. Nothing, aside from that bracelet Darwin used.
She looked around and saw a couple seats empty near the door. One belonged to that turtle but she didn't think the one behind it was occupied. She pointed at it, "Go take a seat over there. The empty desk in the third row."
Swaying his big tail behind him, Longfellow took his seat in front of Irma. Longfellow sat down and stuffed his tail behind him, its tall appendage shading over Irma's desk behind him. This was not the time for anyone to be annoyed with what felt like the beginnings of descending into hell, Irma believed. Still, it was annoying that the squirrel's tail was in her desk space.
There was a knock on the door. "Come in!" called Darwin.
The door opened and, having to duck under the door frame, in stepped Sonny the lion security guard with Martin under his meaty hand, the turtle with his head sunk low and tears in his eyes. The lion spoke, "Caught this guy trying to escape."
Darwin nodded, "Yes. Unfortunately the skittish guy got away from me." Darwin smirked, noticing his whimpering, "Did you make him do that?"
The lion chuffed, "Yeah. He got one look at me and got in touch with his inner toddler."
Martin blushed.
Sonny the lion guard was tall and thus intimidating. Many students stared at him in terror. There was even a gasp among the class. Kimi was seated closest to the door so she got the closest look. She looked at his massive frame. The hand alone that covered Martin's shoulder was as big as one of their heads! Her eyes followed his frame up his forearm and by the time she had gotten to the sleeve of his security uniform, she squealed. Sonny noticed it but it was business as usual for him.
Darwin directed Martin to his seat, "Go on. Sit down."
Martin was embarrassed to be so scared but he couldn't make an effort to hide what he his terror to his fellow students. Everyone could see his fear, everyone up close and across the classroom. He whimpered quietly and took his seat.
"I'll be seeing you, Darwin," said the lion man.
"See ya, Sonny." said Darwin.
Sonny lowered himself out the doorframe and closed the door behind him, gentle as a spring breeze.
Irma couldn't take it anymore. She looked around for some kind of escape. The bramble towards the back of the classroom looked deep enough for her to get lost in. Did it lead her out of the school? She was willing to risk it.
While Darwin was walking forward on the other side of the classroom, Irma got up and lowly walked towards the back of the classroom. She put her finger up to her lips to suggest the other students keep quiet.
There were a few counters at the back of the classroom: work tables. Irma took cover behind one and moved around the sides. On the back of the counter facing the forest, there were shelves with beakers and other equipment.
With her back pressed up against the wall, she bumped into a beaker and it knocked into another, creating a loud cling. Irma grimaced!
Darwin heard the noise and looked back. She saw a number of students looking back towards the trees and knew something was up. She walked back there, "What's going on?"
Turning around the corner to see what was on the other side of the table, Darwin saw Irma looking back at her. Irma smiled nervously and giggled, "Uh... hi professor!"
Darwin scoffed. Out came the hand and out came the bolt and Irma's form was absorbed in its transcendent light. When the light faded, Irma was no longer a myuman. Her body was covered in green scales. Her hands and feet had tiny claws on their fingers and toes. Her head was triangular with a casque on the top and her hair had vanished completely.
When she had seen what she had become, she squirmed and kicked up against the shelf to get away from herself. More glassware clanged together as her shoulder bumped into the shelf space. Her fear sent her scales white, literally. A chameleon's pigment changes with emotion, it seemed. Fear turned her white as a ghost!
"Trying to hide away from us?" asked Darwin. She pointed back to the class, "To your seat."
Irma got up and touched her arms to make sure they were real. It broke her heart to realize they were real. Her legs could barely stand with the shock she had gotten but she took herself back up into the classroom.
The class continued.
Few students could pay attention to Darwin's words, especially with the wonders that the classroom itself had to offer. It seemed like the class was going to stop growing; the floor was dirt, the walls were either trees or vast open forest to check out, and the roof was bramble.
Students noticed more critters around. There was a choir of bird tweets and squeaks coming from the flora as birds flew around and creatures like squirrels hopped from branch to branch. Surprisingly, the forest behind the classroom was rather quiet. There was the occasional flutey call, like from a loon, but that was it.
Lita got a good look into the forest to the side of the classroom. She could see small creatures running around like rabbits and weasels. It was worrying but on the other hand Lita was a snow leopard, a creature of intimidating demeanor. Could she scare them off if they attacked her?
A rabbit approached the class, twitchy nose sniffing at the air. Lita and other students by the edge of the class watched as the rabbit hopped up to Lita's seat. It gave her a blank stare. Lita was careful to be still; she didn't want to scare it off!
The rabbit began digging underneath Lita's chair. Lita took a peek underneath, moving her legs as little as possible. The rabbit was quietly digging. Lita grinned.
Martin was shivering up a storm in his seat. The other students were concerned for him as he look positively spooked, although some found his shakiness to be worthy of a point and a giggle.
After remaining silent for the entirety of his return to the class, he spoke, "Guys... it's different out there."
It got the others' attention. His words cut through the silence like a bullet.
"The halls have changed and there are animals out there too!" he said.
This got some panicked words out of the students around him. Kimi leaned back and whispered to Martin, "You mean it's been transformed too?"
"Yeah..." said Martin, crestfallen, "I don't think we can escape here."
Irma was a couple rows back from Martin. She batted a squirrel's tail out of the way and whispered up past Longfellow. "Do you know what's going on?"
Martin whispered back, "No, I didn't get a good look before that lion caught me."
Irma groaned. She tapped Longfellow on the shoulder in front of her, "Hey, squirrel! What's going on here?" She figured a guy created by the switch would be knowledgeable on their goings-on.
Longfellow looked back, "I don't know. I've only been intelligent for ten minutes!"
Irma collapsed her head in her hands, disappointed. That's when she noticed Frank ahead of her acting weird. He had removed his shirt. She saw it on the ground beside him. No, he had torn off the shirt like a wrestler. It laid on the ground in tatters.
Frank looked around with eyes full of wonder and a drool mouthy unable to stop giggling. This got the attention of others. His movements were erratic. He even stood up and toppled his chair over.
"What's wrong with him?" asked Martin, "Did the teacher make him... animal-minded?"
No one had an answer. He walked around with his tongue hanging out. He walked up the aisle, directionless but looking for something. He saw Tanya with her witch's hat. He walked up and grabbed it, taking it off to feel its textures with his curious fingers.
Tanya turned around, scowling, "Hey!"
Frank didn't respond. Tanya snatched the hat back which got a chuckle out of Frank. Tanya had her eyes up on her hat as she put it back on so there was an opening for Frank to reach down and grab one of her hefty boobs.
"Heeey!" Tanya slapped Frank's arm.
Darwin saw what was going on and came over, "What's the idea?" She saw topless Frank and how stupefied he looked. He had gone atavistic, like others before him. She walked up and took his head, "Come on, lion. Let's sit you down."
Frank obeyed his professor. She brought him back over to his desk, picked up his chair, and sat him down.
"He'll be ok," said Darwin, "He's just so excited to be a lion!" Darwin looked down and rode her fingers through Frank's mane, "Aren't ya, bud?" Frank grunted. Not a roar, disappointing Darwin.
Estelle was on the other side of the class. Her mind was collapsing thinking about how her experience that morning could betray the physics she knew so well. Her precious conservation of mass. Space-time. Were they just jokes to reality?
She grunted in outrage. That grunt was returned by the badger behind her: Wally, a student that was transformed and like Frank went atavistic because of overexcited emotions.
Estelle turned around. Wally had a big snout on the front of his badger face. Was it all a hallucination? A hologram? She reached out and patted his nose. It felt real. The teeth on the inside of his mouth felt real.
Adrienne, a girl that got turned into a rabbit and a friend of Wally's, watched Estelle confusingly. Estelle giggled lowly as she reached down Wally's chin and felt the fur on his body. She climbed on top of Wally's desk to look at him.
"What are you?" Adrienne reached out gesturing at Estelle, "What are you doing?"
"This can't be real!" said Estelle. She laughed some more. Wally found the laughter contagious and started giggling himself but that might have also been because Estelle was crawling into his lap and pulling up his shirt.
Every poke and prod was proof that it was real and every proof was an assault of Estelle's sanity.
"Camtd be re-uullll!" she said, her ability to pronounce words breaking down.
Adrienne got up and grabbed Estelle, shoving her off of Wally. In retaliation, Estelle grunted and hissed at Adrienne. The rabbit back off and Estelle squatted down and began howling and ooking into the air.
Darwin had seen the commotion. She marched over to the other side of the room to take care of another incident. She pushed Adrienne out of the way and faced down the wilding girl.
"What's going on here?" asked Darwin.
Estelle had a wide stance. With arms hanging in front of her and nearly dragging on the ground, she looked up at Darwin. She ooked her way. The bespectacled myuman girl had lost it, grunting like a brute, scratching her butt, and drool on her face.
"You're practically asking for it!" said Darwin. She reached out her hand and fired a bolt of light at Estelle. Hopefully Estelle would have appreciated her keeping her medium length hair in her transformation, but she was a chimp. Her hands and feet had turned into a dark color and her primate mouth extended out in front of her.
Estelle howled and barked into the air.
"Stop." said Darwin. Estelle stopped. Darwin motioned Estelle back to her seat and Estelle stood up straight and walked back.
Darwin shoved Adrienne a bit and pointed at the chimp, "Keep an eye on that one. She might try to jump up into the vines and climb away."
Adrienne wasn't sure if the teacher was joking.