Paws For Thought, Chapter 1
Yagami Hikari led on her back looking up at the stars that shone brightly above
her on this clear summer night in the Digiworld. Her Digimon partner Gatomon
lay beside her, idly playing with her tail-ring. They were on a camping trip
with the eldest two female digidestined, Sora and Mimi, and their partners.
“What does it feel like,” Hikari asked, “to change forms so often? To evolve
from a feline to a humanoid shape and then back again with little time to truly
enjoy the effects of the change?”
“It does seem weird sometimes.” Replied Gatomon, “But it would really be
impossible to describe the feeling. You would have to experience it to fully
understand how the change affects you.”
“I sometimes wish I could experience it, if only for a short while.” Said
Hikari, wishfully.
“Well… there is a way,” Gatomon said hesitantly, “but I’m really not supposed
to let you try it or even talk about it really.”
“Really?” gasped Hikari, “How? Please, I must know how it feels to evolve and
de-evolve.”
Gatomon removed her clawed gloves and handed them to Hikari. “Okay then. This
goes against my better judgement, but you’re my friend, and I really do find it
hard to deny you anything. If you put on my gloves, then a strange force that
not even Gennai understands will temporarily change you into a Gatomon. When
you take off the gloves, you will return to normal. You might also want to
remove all your clothes before you put the gloves on, because the change in
your dimensions may damage them.”
Hikari quickly removed the clothes she had been wearing to keep the chill off
and, shivering slightly, slipped on the gloves. For the first few seconds
nothing seemed to happen, but then a strange itchy feeling started in her
cheeks. Reaching up to her face Hikari felt whiskers growing from either side
of her mouth. This was strange not only because of the whiskers’ sudden
presence on her face, but also because she could feel them through the gloves,
almost as if they had become a part of her.
A few seconds later Hikari felt her hair being pushed aside as her ears grew
outwards from the side of her head, assuming a shape much more like that of
Gatomon’s, with little tufts of purple hair growing at the end of each one.
They soon stood out several inches more than her ears had previously done.
Hikari gave her head a little shake as the sounds around her suddenly became
louder and clearer, her senses changing to match the new form she was taking.
With a wriggle, her nose changed ever so slightly, allowing her to locate
Gatomon, even with her eyes closed, merely by breathing through her nose and
following the distinctive scent that, scant seconds before, she would not even
have been able to smell, let alone recognise and pin-point its source.
She gave a little yelp and stood up quickly as something moved beneath her. Her
tail, for that is what it was, snaked out from the bottom of her spine to a
length of almost three feet. She felt something changing within her mouth and
ran her now surprisingly supple tongue across her teeth to investigate. She
found that all her teeth were now sharper than before and that her canines, in
particular, were a good deal longer than she was used to.
“Wow!” exclaimed Hikari as the changes drew to a close. “That was amazing. How
do I look?” Hikari noticed a worried look pass across Gatomon’s face.
“Wh-what’s wrong Gatomon?”
“The changes didn’t go as they were supposed to.” Gatomon replied. “You were
supposed to change completely into a Gatomon, but you seem to have changed into
a human with Gatomon features. I think you had better change back quickly. Take
the gloves off.”
Hikari glanced down at the gloves she was wearing and, with a small sigh,
started to tug on them. After a second she began to pull harder and then harder
still. After a few seconds she looked up with a terrified expression on her
face. “Gatomon, they’re stuck!”
