PAGE FOUR |

It took a mild amount of hopping across in low gravity to arrive at the next bubble over, a creamy yellow one a fair bit smaller than the bubble they'd arrived from. Kevin took a running leap at the island, though he misjudged the height slightly and simply glided in air with his limbs outstretched until he collided with the side of the island and less than graciously pulled himself to the top. Despite his advanced age, Theo still had quite powerful legs and was able to traverse the gap more vertically than horizontally, landing it gently without issue.

Although it looked like mere smoke and atmosphere, Kevin found he could latch onto the aura of the bubble as if it were fabric, pulling himself up and digging his claws in for a better foothold. "Squishy!"

Theo's brow furrowed in worry. "Oh, I don't have the upper body strength to scale these anymore..."

"Just climb on my back!"

Though getting a face full of the aardwolf's unwashed jacket was suboptimal, it was the best means of transport Theo had. With a deep breath, he latched onto Kevin's waist and used the low gravity to hoist himself up to his shoulders. Kevin continued ascending to about halfway up the bubble's circumference before using a hulking, chunky handpaw to tear a hole in its surface, climbing into Caerpinwyd through it.

The only issue was that the portal didn't lead into Caerpinwyd. The hole spawned in a desert, right where a large blue oak tree split the border between the scrubby grass of somebody's backyard and the thick clay and rocky red mesas in the distance from town. The only other vegetation for miles were sprouts of cactus and the occasional bone-dry scrub.

Theo dismounted from Kevin's back, his old joints a little achy on the hop off. Before he could even note their surroundings, however, Theo noticed himself jarringly different than he was on the other side of the portal. For one thing, he'd manifested a pair of dress shoes, but his proportions had also changed--with longer limbs, he was merely old man stubby as opposed to rabbit stubby.

"Whoa!" Kevin exclaimed. "Theo, you look different!"

"Oh my--Kevin, I can say much the same for you! You've changed species!"

With shrunken ears and a tail solid tan as opposed to mottled brown, Kevin had turned from an aardwolf to a German Shepherd. He'd also morphed in his proportions and clothing, gaining a pair of brown sneakers to match.

"Oh gosh, what am I now?" Kevin asked, looking over his body and arms.

"Er...I don't know, some kind of dog?"

"Cool! What was I before?"

A newly-transmogrified Kevin and Theo are joined by an unsuspecting host

Theo felt eyes falling on him from inside the house. He looked up at the kitchen window to meet them. A cat with eyes glowing a supernatural green in the dark watched with intent from inside, and when their eyes met, she made a move away from the view into the window.

"Oh no, this is very bad."

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