Panting hard, Cassandra glared around her. The train had been passing through a forest, but something big and angry had set it all alight. Fire blazed in the distance, a huge wall of flames rushing across treetops and through underbrush. The wind carried its smoke away from her, but even when her lungs had been packed with soot and embers she hadn't had a problem breathing—in fact, the burning and burned carbon had filled her with excitement.

The forest burned, but the immediate area around her was a different kind of destruction. Trees were ripped in half, rocks were slagged, and there was the unique scent of ozone still clinging to the air. Turning from her destruction, Cassandra started walking back toward the tracks. It might be dark, but she didn't care, not with the quality of her night vision. By the time she found the rails, of course, the train was long gone.

Electricity still crackled around her, not that Cassandra cared, as she started marching off down the tracks. Behind her, with each step, small arcs of lightning lashed at the rails, slagging them, warping them, or shooting off along them as they pleased.

----------------------------------------

Waking up at the crack of dawn, the moment before the sun actually crested the horizon where only the sky was lit, was the norm for Stanton. For Angel, though, it wasn't. She lifted her head and squinted at Stanton as he got out of the bed. It was her chance, of course, to find a warmer spot under the covers. Edging along the bed like a fuzzy shark, she squirmed, did a one-eighty, and inserted herself into Stanton's residual heat. "Mmmm…"

"Should I summon my closet? I think I'm fine without it. Besides, the immaculate look isn't what I'm going for today." Hating the idea of rewearing clothes, Stanton nonetheless picked up the simple woolen dress from the previous night, but when he got to his underwear he drew the line—and cheated. "But underwear? I am not reusing that."

Reality warped and a pair of pink painted doors appeared on the wall where no room should have any right existing. Walking up to them with confidence, Stanton threw the doors open and stepped into his wardrobe.

"Sorry, but I can't take a dress or a suit today. They expect me to be wearing the same things I had on last night." The world around Stanton (that being the pocket dimension of the closet) shook as if the closet itself found that abhorrent. "I know, but sometimes we have to make sacrifices to keep up appearances. I would adore some comfortable, female underwear. Something to show me off despite wearing an old woolen dress."

A hint of a breeze seemed to brush Stanton's cheek, as if the wardrobe was trying to comfort him. "Thanks. I knew you'd understand. Fashion, style, and making them work in this strange series of situations my life has become—is your superpower." His hand felt guided to a small rack at the back of the closet. When he reached it, brushed aside the first few things, he grasped the hanger of what seemed right and lifted it out. "I—"

"A push-up bra?" Angel snorted. "Looks supportive, too. I guess it will have to do—since you asked for it. Don't expect Lorissa to take her eyes off your chest all day, though."

"I've never seen such a thing before." Carrying it and the slim panties back to the room, Stanton examined the things and shook his head. "Well, no time like the present. Turn around, Angel."

"We're both girls, Stanton."

"No. You're a girl. I'm self-conscious. Turn around—please?"

Glaring at Stanton for a moment longer, Angel finally groaned and turned around midair. "You're really this self-conscious?"

"It was easier to do this when it wasn't the body I'm used to. Now—Now this is my body." Figuring out how to pull the device on only due to previous lessons from Angel, Stanton felt a little silly making her turn around—but that's how he felt. Once newly attired in the most minimal sense of the word, he said, "Okay."

When Angel turned, and Stanton saw the look of surprise on her face melt into a huge grin, he frantically reached out to silence her—to no avail.

"Lorissa is going to be putty in your paws with this! Might I suggest something that shows off a little leg, too?" Angel only barely kept out of Stanton's reach with the power of comedy propelling her. "Oooh! Why don't you see if there are any other cute girls around town? You could start a hare—Ack!"

With Angel held tightly under one arm, Stanton used his free hand to mess up the fur on her head beyond all mortal ability to smooth out. "Whatever you were saying, whatever you were planning, is off the table. I don't care if you were telling me I should breathe." Setting Angel down on the bed, Stanton patted the top of her head. "Okay?"

Sticking her tongue out and blowing a raspberry, Angel said, "Meanie."

"Mean would be—would be dying all your fur blue, putting a collar on you, and calling you Wonder Dog." Picking the dress back up, Stanton began putting it on.

Angel was quiet, and so too was Stanton, for the remainder of his morning preparations. Walking downstairs, he was acutely aware that there hadn't even been a lock on his door.

"There ya are. Didn't figure a noble would be up for at least another hour. Help me with this." Gran was hauling, with both arms, a big pot of water for the stove. When Stanton came over and took it from her with one hand, she said nothing but made note of it. "On the stove with it. The fire's starting up."

Working on automatic, Stanton followed Gran's directions and started a pot of porridge cooking, kneaded some proving dough and put it in the oven, and then finally sat on a seat while the old woman served him a bowl of the porridge, a thick slice of toasted bread, and a big mug of water. "Thank you."

"Where's that no-good granddaughter of mine?" Leaving her own breakfast still in the pot, Gran stalked upstairs to find Lorissa.

Stanton was only barely started on his breakfast by the time Gran dragged Lorissa down the stairs by one ear. "Morning," he said.

Narrowing her eyes for a moment, Lorissa glared at Stanton. "Yes, but don't you dare say it's—" Stopped in her tracks, she spotted something—two somethings—that short-circuited her thoughts for a few moments. "Ugh. It's too early, Gran. I said I'd be up before noon. Isn't that enough?"

Looking between Stanton and Lorissa, Gran started to chuckle and, finally, asked Stanton, "Would your family notice if I returned Lorissa and kept you here?"

"Mom would. Dad… How good are you with magic?" he asked Lorissa, who grunted at him. "Okay. They'd both notice."

"Drat. Lorissa, pay attention to Lupin, you may learn some good habits."

It took Stanton a moment to remember his name was meant to be Lupin here, but since Gran had been talking to Lorissa he hoped that their attention was on each other rather than his clueless expression. "Gran, don't be so hard on her. She was quite dashing at the train robbery."

Taking careful note of how much Lorissa perked up at the compliment, Gran closed her eyes and said a prayer to the goddess of love to please mind her own business. "We'll be going out to the little field I have my herb garden in to test your ideas—once you're both finished."

The porridge had more water in it than Stanton was used to, lacked any of the usual flavorings except a little pepper, but it was honest food from a town that didn't have enough for the mouths it already fed. He didn't dare try to uphold his facade of a noble girl and decry it. When they were done, he stood up and carried his bowl and cup to the cleaning area and put them with the small pile of things that'd held their dinner the previous night.

"I figured something out last night, Lupin. You're exceptionally clever. No"—Lorissa had to cut in before Stanton could reply—"don't try to argue with me. I know you'll win if we do that and I also know I can't tell when you're lying. My ability isn't common, I know, but it has its limits and you know them. Mixing careful amounts of truth into your words can hide a lot.

"But—if you help the farms here, if you can make this place live again, you can lie as much as you want. I'll even walk back to whatever hellish place made a young woman as canny as you and give myself up."

Stanton could feel the conviction in Lorissa without any need for magic tricks or mind games. She was willing to put everything in her life on the line to help the town. His right palm began itching for some reason he couldn't fathom and as he stuffed it under the table to hide the way his fingers seemed to curl around thin air, Stanton opened his mouth to tell her he'd do his best—but different words came out. Feeling like he was being guided by something, he felt his wand appear in his hand. "I'll help the town, but there's something I'd like you to do."

The intensity in Stanton's words shocked Lorissa. She felt herself nodding and needed to hear what he would say.

"Once we're done here, come with me back to Conjur and"—in his mind, Stanton was trying desperately to figure out why he couldn't stop talking and what was controlling him—"take this." Lifting his right hand up from under the table, he revealed the wand in it. It wasn't his wand, though.

Lorissa stared at the gold shaft of the wand. The word wand scarcely matched the item, though that's exactly what she knew it was. It called to her, it begged her to take it up and— "… save the world from evil?"

The wand shot from Stanton's palm, through the air, and was caught by Lorissa. She stared at it—at the little love heart on the end that had a pair of triangular ears that seemed familiar. Dark light started to flow from the wand. Deep blue—almost navy. It swirled around Lorissa and in a heartbeat stripped her of the shift she'd slept in and replaced it with two barely concealing ribbons of light that coiled around and around her.

Another flash of light and Lorissa felt different. Powerful. Flicking a long, slender tail, she stared down at the wand in her paw. "Paw? Tail?" Looking up, she stared at the werewolf girl standing across the kitchen from her. In her heart she could feel exactly who it was—could see through the pretty pink dress and ribbons. "Lupin?"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Super Lupine Girl, actually." It was hard not to look at Lorissa. She wore a skin-tight top that looked like it was painted on, and had a split dress that ran all the way down to her ankles. On her feet (which were definitely delicate little paws) was a pair of shoes that would make anyone's legs wobble if they tried to walk with heels as long as they possessed. It all just fit the cat-woman standing across from him, though. "Ugh, I didn't mean for—"

Dodging a blue beam of light that shot from Lorissa's wand, Stanton held up both his paws to fend off a second attack. "Please don't destroy your grandmother's home!"

Eyes widening, Lorissa carefully loosened her grip on the wand and held her hands up, too, palms forward. "I didn't mean to but—why do I have paws? What did you do to me? Nya!"

Stanton and Lorissa stared at each other in surprise at that.

"Did you just say—?"

"N-N-Nya? What's happening?"

"You"—Angel flew into the room and spun around Lorissa, her energy and vigor restored a thousandfold from her anger at Stanton for not fighting the dragon again—"are now a hero for good!"

"What did you do, Angel?" Stanton made a grab for his familiar. "Angel!"

"I didn't do it, the universe did it." When this explanation gained about as much traction as a professional runner on an ice rink, she tried another line. "It was your power. For a moment your motives and desires to do good aligned and a tiny fraction of your power sparked into her. Turns out"—Angel turned and faced Lorissa—"you're fertile soil for the power of virtuous kitty magic. Try saying nya again."

"I am not saying it. Nya." Lorissa covered her mouth with her free paw and stared in shock. Carefully, she peeled back her bean-tipped fingers, opened her short snout, and said, "Nya?"

Taking Lorissa's paw in his own, Stanton looked her in her slit, feline eyes. "Lorissa, look at me carefully."

"I'm—"

"No. Don't talk to me, talk to your wand. It's not just a wand. It can make you yourself again if you ask it to." He kept his voice even and steady, not wanting to spook Lorissa. "Can you do that? Even if you say—"

"Nya?" Shaking her head to clear the cat-thoughts that seemed to hover around the edge of her mind like a feather-toy dangling to get her attention, Lorissa held up her wand and felt stupid. "Nya. Can you please make me back how I was?"

The blinding light told Stanton that her wand, like his, seemed to listen to her. Shrugging his fuzzy shoulders, he looked at his own wand. "Can you put me back how I was too? This would get super awkward to explain—it'd be worse if she knew everything."

So a new light welled up around Stanton and, from the fancy, frilly dress he wore when he was Super Lupine Girl he was stripped, de-ribboned, and left standing back once more in the simple woolen dress with what felt like a strong pair of hands pushing his chest skyward. He longed for trousers and a shirt. "So…"

Surprised to find herself back dressed as she was—and no longer fuzzy, Lorissa pointed a finger to where she'd blasted a hole in the wall with her wand. "There's a hole in my—"

Stanton turned to examine the hole. Thankfully, at least for his concentration, it was only in the solid wood and not a window. He had several choices, but the best way to fix something as good as new was a little chronological magic, and for a hole so small it was simplicity itself. Channeling his magic, it spilled up and out of him like a font of water. So soon after being Super Lupine Girl, he had almost unlimited power. "Good as new."

The hole, now gone, shocked Lorissa. "What?!"

"Good as new. It's a spell. Chronological magic, so it only works on items and not living things, but it's super easy to fix—"

"I mean, what—what was all that? All of it! Why couldn't I stop saying nya? Why was I a cat? Why do I have a wand that can blast holes in walls? Why do I feel like there's a cat in my bedroom and it's upset because it wants to go outside?"

"You have a familiar too, then? Okay, this is getting way out of hand. Do you want a little truth, a lot of truth, or practically all of the truth?" Stanton started walking toward the stairs, hoping that Lorissa would get the hint and follow him. She did. "And now you want to ask for the whole truth. That's a lot of truth. Are you sure you can handle it?"

Opening her mouth to say yes, Lorissa took the demonstration of magic to heart and realized Stanton absolutely wasn't the cute noble girl he'd let her imagine up to now. "Let's go with as much as you're comfortable sharing, and I'll see if I want more."

Sitting on his bed, Stanton made a start. He described summoning a familiar, winding up with Angel, and becoming Super Lupine Girl. "What's different with you is I was already a wizard. I could already use magic and was already a werewolf. All I got was more magic and—"

"More cute!" Angel said.

Slumping a little, Lorissa ran over this new information. She looked up at Stanton, tilted her head to the side a little, then smiled. "She was pretty cute."

"See!" Angle stuck out her tongue at Stanton. "Tell her about the dragon."

Stanton, about then, wanted to throttle Angel. "Right, the dragon. Do you know what dragons are?"

"Hold on a second." Standing, Lorissa walked out of the room and to her own bedroom and returned a moment later holding a cat in her arms. She had, in her whole life, never owned a cat, never petted a cat, and certainly hadn't picked one up. "Okay, dragons. I've heard stories about them. Big, nasty, don't go near them unless you like dying, worse, or both. The usual stuff."

"Well, they haven't been around for a long time. They were defeated, killed, and the world freed from them." Stanton explained what was for him common knowledge. He now regretted that not everyone in the world seemed to have his taste for history. "I found one."

"A dragon? But—"

"Yeah. It's only young, but I don't think we want to give it the chance to grow up. The last dragon that was killed destroyed cities and killed hundreds of thousands of people personally, and with its armies." It was refreshing to see someone actually believe him and recoil in horror at the idea of there being another dragon. "Can your familiar talk?"

"Yes," the cat said.

Stanton, used to Angel, waited for more. More was not forthcoming. "Okay, well, I guess Angel can talk enough for two. So, that's basically what has happened. Now you have a wand, can transform, and I think your cat will probably want you to fight evil too, right?"

"Yes," the cat said.

With a rapport established, at least so long as he didn't ask questions that needed an explanation, Stanton asked Lorissa, "So, any questions?"

Lorissa had been tracking everything Stanton had said, and even what Angel said, as being truthful. Not just mildly truthful, she realized, but the absolute truth. It was like her ability that, in the past, could only detect yes or no, was now giving her a spectrum. "You said you found a dragon, you let it go?"

"No. Well, kinda yes. It was trying to kill someone—another werewolf noble—and I got all fluffy and took it on. I wouldn't suggest fighting it alone. At least so far, it was just a scrappy fighter. All claws and no brains. The last I saw of it was I punched it so hard it flew into the air and out of the city." As he said it, Stanton realized how much of a mistake it was to let it go at that. "I should have finished it off."

"You should have!" Angel flew up in front of Stanton and pointed a digit at his nose. "And then I felt it again yesterday!"

"What?" the cat asked.

Angel smacked her forehead with her paw. "When Stanton made everyone sleep so he could work out what was going on. I tried to tell him the dragon was doing something nearby, but he—"

"What would be the result of a dragon doing magic out in a forest?" Lorissa asked, staring out the window of Stanton's room.

"Probably blowing a lot of stuff up. Maybe trying to corrupt the animals into monsters." Angel shrugged.

"What about a fire?" Holding up her arm, Lorissa pointed out the window at smoke in the far distance.

"That's not good," Stanton said, examining the plume, "but it's not the worst? Did it come out here to test its powers where we wouldn't be able to find it?"

Angel nodded, making an agreeable noise.

"That's good and bad, I'd wager." Lorissa was feeling left out, but seeing how much (or little) Stanton and Angel seemed to know about the dragon, she felt fairly confident making her own judgment call. "It sees you as a threat. It left the city to become stronger to overcome you and fight using its magic."

Stanton gulped. "Yeah, that's the bad bit?" He almost whined when Lorissa nodded. "Well, there's not much we can do. It could be anywhere in that forest by now. Let's go see how much good I can do for the town's crops. Does this town even have a name?"

"Not really. Most of us call it nowhere, but home is just as good. You said you were from Conjur? That has a wizard school, right?" Carrying her new companion, Lorissa found her hand naturally wanting to pet the cat's head as she walked out the door.

"Yeah, that's where I've been studying. Uh, where are we going?"

"Work. Specifically, you have some to do." Lorissa stood to the side of the door and ushered Stanton out.

"What will you be doing?"

"Watching you work," Lorissa said, delivering a smack to Stanton's rump as he walked past.

----------------------------------------

"This soil is pretty bad." Stanton didn't know enough about soil to say what caused it or how a farmer might fix it without magic, though. "You only have an inch of topsoil and then it's clay for miles down there. Okay, not actual miles. Still, that's a lot of clay."

Clucking her tongue, Gran narrowed her eyes. "We know what clay is. We know crops don't do well in it. Can you fix it?"

"Fixing this kind of thing is large-scale transmutation." Straightening up and brushing down his dress, Stanton smirked. "Which I can do, but I need a little privacy."

"If you're planning to dance naked on the field—?" Gran asked.

"Ugh. Alright. No, I don't need to do that. I just need to do this." Clearing his throat, Stanton drew his wand out of the little pocket on the front of the dress and held the source of power up high. "By the shining light of goodness, and with the power of virtue! By the purity of my feminine charms, I call on my wand of power to protect the world!"

Watching the effect close-up and without her own body changing, Lorissa was afforded quite the view—though she quickly realized nothing more than skin got revealed. Now, with Stanton wearing a far frillier dress and holding his wand, she took a moment to appreciate how adorable he looked in ribbons and bows. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I can use a lot more magic this way. Turning into Super Lupine Girl makes me probably twenty times stronger. And, for this kind of work, once you have the basic transmutation pattern built, all you need to do is throw power behind it. So—"

"Wait one second." Gran had finally recovered her senses and was glaring between Lorissa and Stanton. "What's going on here and why aren't you as shocked by it as I am?" The last part of her question, along with her gaze, was aimed at her granddaughter.

"Gran, you know I have my way with the truth. I picked up on it and asked her the moment I figured out she wasn't giving me the whole picture." Gesturing vaguely to Stanton, Lorissa hoped that the mostly-truth would work on her grandmother. "Can we just get this done?"

Giving his best I am a nice werewolf smile, Stanton waited for Gran to huff out a breath before he continued. Building a wide-scale transmutation spell was not difficult since turning things into dirt was one of the easiest spells there was—doubly so since the target had no magical defenses. He needed to get the balance of nutrients right, and could remember those from a class he took on it, which left powering the spell as the only hurdle.

That wasn't a hurdle at all for Super Lupine Girl. Stanton braced his legs and pushed power into the spell. At first, it was sluggish. The spell spread out to find its maximum area that he'd defined, then it ratcheted up when the actual transmutation started.

The big spell fragmented into sections, each vying for its own fuel from Stanton. It was a common setup for such spells, since it meant that any caster could fuel them so long as they could power one of the individual fragments. Stanton, however, opened the floodgates.

When Super Lupine Girl needed magic to undertake something intrinsically good, the universe took notice and lent a figurative hand. Breaking the limits on the spells was the first thing that happened—causing the fragments to cascade out and around the town until Stanton eventually managed to halt their spread. Then matter itself bowed its head and acknowledged that it was time for a change. All at once. In the blink of an eye.

For nearly ten seconds Stanton stood there, wavering, wobbling back and forth on his feet as he felt drained. When he started to fall, he had a brief moment of looking up past the excellent bust of a cute catgirl and seeing her face before darkness took him.

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This story is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. If you are paying money to see this or the original creator, Damaged, is not credited, you are viewing a plagiarized copy of the story.