Survivors

And a blast it was! They found out how to change whenever they wanted to, and even more importantly change back as well. They could do it but it took huge amounts of concentration. Lots of things became very apparent very quickly. First changing took huge amounts of energy. They upped their calorie intake from about 1500 a day to over 6000. Chocolate and pasta were consumed in vast quantities and not one of them put on an ounce of fat. In fact they found it hard not to lose weight.

It was also very very tiring, more tiring than anything else they had ever done. They slept on average for ten hours a night. When the massive use of energy and exhausting nature of the changes were put together it was, on the whole, pretty knackering. More than once one or other of them would simply collapse through sheer exhaustion while transformed. When they did Bretnel would go rushing across to them, in whatever guise he was in at the time, and give them an injection of adrenalin, glucose and loads of, as he put it, “other secret Bretnel stuff”. It was really odd to see a giant beetle trying to administer an injection to a equally abnormally large and apparently unconscious badger. The beetle would have huge difficulties in manhandling (beetlehandling!?) the syringe and would swear loudly and consistently in a strange nasally beetle sort of voice until the injection was finally given. Whatever was in the injection it did the trick, and did it pretty quick, because they’d suddenly spring back to life as if someone had passed an electric current through their bums.

After a week or so they’d mastered changing into single animals, doing the hybrids proved a bit more difficult. For example Joe was obsessed with changing into a hybrid animal that had the speed and flexibility of a cheetah with the strength and armour of an ant. He did change but it took him ages to get the balance just right, sometimes he was too much cheetah and collapsed under the weight of his ant carapace. Sometimes he was too much ant and could only move at the speed of a rusty tank. Eventually though they all learnt to get the balance just right. Holly was the best and could merge three or four animals into one transformation. The boys were a little miffed they couldn’t quite get it.

“How do you do it?” whined Joe one day.

“I don’t know really” said Holly “I think I just concentrate on what I want to be able to do rather than what I what I want to be, and it just sort of happens”

“Thanks” said Joe “That really helps”.

But actually it did. In no time at all they were blending all sorts of animals. In these early days Bretnel was absolutely adamant that none of them were allowed to change into any flying creatures.

“For a start” he’d explained “There’s not enough room in here. You’d probably just crash into the ceiling. Second, flying is even more taxing upon the body. If you think being a mammal, a crawling insect or a reptile takes a lot of energy you’ve encountered nothing until you’ve flown. It would be an extremely negative scenario if one of you were to black out a thousand feet up. I wouldn’t be able to get to you with an injection before you plummeted to the ground and terrible and potentially fatal consequences were to ensue”.

After a few more weeks of practice they could all change back and forth whenever they wanted into whatever they wanted practically at will. In those early weeks they did have a few accidents when they would change without really meaning to. For some reason Joe often changed into a sort of otter thing whenever he had a shower. The others always knew when he’s done it because of all the extra hair stuck to the soap when he’d finished. However, as Joe didn’t shower that often it wasn’t too much of a problem.

Another problem that Joe had and even he couldn’t explain why, would often end up with a pair of snail eye stalks sticking out the top of his head when he changed back to human form even if he hadn’t had them as an animal.

Luke usually grinned and shouted “Oi slug boy, put em away”.

After a few weeks Bretnel said “Okay my intrepid explorers, since none of you have blacked out for a few days I think you are ready to reach for the heavens. It is something man has always dreamed of achieving as far back as Icarus and the ancient Greeks. You my young protégés are going to fly!”

This announcement was greeted with much squealing and even more excitement.

Bretnel took them outside for the first time in about three months. It was a bitterly cold morning but they were too excited to feel it. Snow lay on the ground, it was silent and the air was crisp and still. Bretnel gave them a long safety speech which none of them really listened to, and then they were off. This time Luke was the star, in no time at all he was soaring and swooping above the trees whooping and hollering.

“This is fantastic” he bellowed into the wind. He closed his wings and dived feeling the air rush past his face “yeeeahhhh”. It was the most alive he had ever felt in his life.

Holly was competent but careful, Joe was incompetent and reckless. He crashed more than a couple of times in a completely spectacular fashion. What made it even more spectacular was the fact that Joe had mastered turning into a woodlice in a fraction of a second. As he felt himself losing control he would transform into a woodlouse and roll tightly into a ball. The effect was like a eight stone bowling ball moving at about eighty miles an hour crashing into the ground. Small trees were smashed to matchwood as he bounced crazily through the trees. Each time they all dashed towards the point of impact, hugely concerned about what they would find, only to be met by a grinning Joe.

“Wooo weee” he’d shout “That’s my best one yet” Then he’d leap into the air and be off, thrashing around on uncertain wings until he’s lose control in a tight turn, or an uncontrolled dive or for no readily apparent reason at all and go crashing to the ground again.

Apart from Joe’s dreadful flying, the almost overwhelming tiredness, the constant hunger and the absolute sheer fun of it all the main thing they had needed to get used to was the costumes.

“The less clothing you have on when you change the better” Bretnel had told them right at the start of their training. “As you transform you will probably get bigger and have limbs sticking out in places where you don’t normally have them. Any fabric that is in the way is going to make you feel pretty uncomfortable until it tears to make way for your metamorphosing physical form. Of course if it does tear, once you return to your human shape you will be in the state that you were originally created by god”

“Eh?” Said Joe

“He means you’d be naked” sniggered Luke

“Exactly” smiled Bretnel. “I have therefore created these for you” he went on delving into a bag under the table. He reappeared from under the table holding three latex, lycra style costumes. They were on the whole pretty tiny.

“Bloody hell” said Joe “They’re a bit small aren’t they. Won’t we get cold if that’s all we’re wearing?”

“Of course not numb nuts” said Luke “If we’re a bird we’ll have feathers, if we’re a tiger we’d have fur and so on. The animals don’t need clothes so neither will we”.

“Correct again master Luke” beamed Bretnel “An exemplary piece of deduction. And the garments are small master Joe so as not to interfere with the normal warming and cooling properties of the animals epidermis, hide, carapace etcetera. This is a material I have created myself of which I am very proud. The costumes are also of my own design. They are full of slits that will allow the your extra appendages to emerge through and when they are stretched tight they will be practically invisible”.

“They’re pretty invisible now” said Holly picking up her costume and looking at it quizzically.

“I suggest you try them on now” said Bretnel “Thus eliminating the hilarity and embarrassment that is bound to ensue”.

They all went off and got changed into their “costumes”. When they got back together Luke looked really uncomfortable and embarrassed.

Joe on the other hand strutted around posing and shouting “Oh yeah, I look so good”.

Holly took an age and a lot of persuading to come back into the room, and even more time and more persuading to take off her bathrobe. When she eventually did, even Joe was sensitive enough not to make any comment other than “Yeah it looks fine” then he added pointing at Bretnel “Let’s face it, nobody can look as bad as the scarecrow over there can they”.

That eased the tension and everyone relaxed a little bit. Pretty soon they were so used to seeing each other in their costumes they didn’t even bat an eyelid when they were wearing them. It became as normal as seeing each other fully clothed and as normal as seeing each other turn into gigantic animals.