I thrashed around, desperately holding my breath as I searched for the surface. All I could see was endless sea, ocean spread in every direction. My lungs burned as I held my breath, panic surged in my chest, my mind going haywire with fear.

I swam as fast as I could, searching, looking, hoping for anything to save me from this hell. I could feel the pressure building in my lungs, but my search for the surface proved fruitless. Finally, my body forced me to take in a breath.

I had expected to feel the familiar sense of drowning, for my lungs to fill with water, for my life to end. All that I felt, however, was a normal breath. I breathed in and out, as if the water wasn’t there. I calmed down somewhat, still confused, but surveyed my surroundings once again now that the imminent threat of drowning was apparently no longer an issue.

What the fuck is going on?

I could see no surface to the endless expanse of water, no ocean floor. The water darkened past my range of vision, and I felt a shiver with the thought that anything could be out there. It was then that I felt the rumbling. There was a vibration, as if the very water itself spoke in a bassy tone. It was entirely alien, and completely familiar at the same time. I turned my body around, surprised with the ease I could move in the water, and looked towards the darkest part of the surrounding expanse. I knew, somehow, that the rumbling was coming from that direction. I should have been terrified, but it was comforting.

I felt something shift from that direction, the water shifting with it. My body bobbed to and fro, carried by the movement of it. I saw a figure shift, and an involuntary gasp left my mouth as Iwitnessed something completely impossible.

Just out of sight in the dim water something moved, swimming closer. An impossibly huge body, the size of a skyscraper, swam towards me. With each movement, the world itself shifted. Two building sized eyes, the color of glaciers, looked at me with purpose. It swiftly moved towards me, and I knew that there was no escape from this creature.

The last thing I saw was its maw opening, showing house sized teeth, before its jaw closed around me and I was enveloped in darkness.

I woke up drenched in sweat, remembering the vivid dream. My head throbbed, but thankfully the burning pain from the bracelet had disappeared. Still laying down, I raised my hand to look at the bracelet.

Huh? What’s wrong with my hand?

My hand, which had grown somewhat rough from handling items from the store, now looked… effeminate, almost dainty. Around my wrist was the bracelet, which now hung loosely whereas before it had been a somewhat snug fit.

I sat up, and felt an unfamiliar weight shift from my head and torso. Pale blue hair, the color of a glacier, fell in front of my face. I looked down and saw two alien protrusions lifting from my chest.

I stared in shock for a moment before I climbed to my feet. My center of gravity had changed, and I nearly stumbled before catching myself on my bedside table. In a daze, I trudged towards the bathroom, my mind moving a million miles an hour.

I flicked the light on and looked in the mirror. Reflecting back to me was the visage of a beautiful young woman, perhaps mid twenties, with delicate features, long, pale blue hair, with irises of the same color, so pale they almost seemed to glow. I realized my perspective was shorter than I was used to, though only by an inch or two. Disbelief filled me as I stared at the woman in the mirror.

I reached my hands towards my face and watched the woman in the mirror do the same. I should have been freaking out, felt disturbed, yelled, but the only thing I could feel was a sense of elation. I tried to unravel the feelings in my chest, when a knock sounded at my door.

“Sammy!” I heard a woman shouting through the door. I looked at my reflection in a panic, before walking towards the door to open it on reflex. I stopped, realizing I didn’t look like myself. My mind raced, trying to think of a solution, when the woman outside once again called, “Sammy, dude, I can hear you shuffling around. Open the door already so I can tell our boss you’re not dead.”

Fuck, why is Asha here? What job actually sends people to check up on their workers?

I approached the door while trying to think of some excuse as to why a woman she didn’t know would be greeting her. I turned the knob, and pulled the door open.

Asha’s visage transformed from one of mild annoyance to one of surprise. Her eyes flicked up and down my body, lingering on my legs. Confused, I looked down and realized that in my panic, I had left my pants behind, leaving only my shirt to cover up the lower half of my body. My thighs showed under the shirt, and I had to admit they didn’t disappoint.

“Wow…” Asha said, stunned, before she lightly shook her head to collect herself. “Are you Sam’s— is Sam home?” She asked, lightly stumbling over her words. I could see a light flush rise in her cheeks, before she forcibly moved them back to meet my gaze.

I blinked slowly, not knowing what to say, before she blushed harder and said, “Er— don’t worry about it, I’ll just tell them he was sick.”

“Oh… uh, sure,” I said, intelligently, “I’ll make sure to let him know you were here.”

“Yeah, thank you,” Asha replied, before her face scrunched trying to repress the questions she obviously was holding back.

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“I didn’t catch your name! I’m Asha.”

I blinked slowly again, blushing as I tried to make something up. I tried to think of every woman I’d ever met in my life not named Asha and came up short. Why did my brain abandon me when I needed it most?

“My name is… Elizabeth.” I lied, “But you can call me Liz.” I added with a flourish. Great job me. She’ll never notice the worst introduction anyone in history has ever made.

“Nice to meet you,” She replied quickly, eyes flickering over my form again, “I’ll, uh, get out of your hair.” She said, awkwardly. I nodded in response and closed the door as she turned around, but not before I heard her mutter, “Lucky bastard…”

My cheeks flushed lightly, and I felt a comfortable tug in my chest. I wasn’t sure why, but I was happy. It felt... nice to be complimented like that. I had never felt anything when I was complimented for being handsome. I pushed the strange thoughts to the back of my head and locked my door.

I didn’t have time to think about that, I needed to figure out what to do. Was I stuck like this? Would I change back? How could I explain this situation to the cops, much less my family?

I promise officer, Sammy’s totally not dead I’m him! Just ignore the blue hair and tits.

Yeah right, I’d be in the slammer by the end of the day. I walked back into my room and looked at the pants that had fallen off earlier. Those weren’t fitting anytime soon. I guess the best thing to do would be to get some clothes? I had to go out into public at some point, I couldn’t stay cooped up in here forever. For some reason the idea put me in a good mood, and I booted up my PC to order some things online.

Before the monitor fully powered on, I saw my reflection in it. She was beautiful. I was beautiful. I didn’t know why that made me so happy. Did guys get happy about being pretty? I didn’t think so, but the world was a big place.

I took roughly an hour of deliberating what to buy before I settled on some gender neutral t-shirts and sweat pants in what I roughly guessed my size would be. After I ordered my clothes, I pulled out my phone to order food. For some reason, sushi sounded sublime.

I pressed order, then smelled a whiff of the previous day’s body odor come from the shirt I had slept in. I grimaced, and decided to take a shower. I browsed my phone while I waited for the water to get hot enough, before realizing just exactly what that entailed. Slowly, I raised my shirt from my body, and pulled it over my head. My breath caught in my chest as I looked down. It was a view I had never expected to see in my life, yet I had an exhilarating feeling of happiness coursing through my head as I stared down.

I pulled my attention away, trying to ignore that strange sensation, and stepped into the shower. Showers had always been a comfort to me, but for some reason the water felt electrifying as it touched me. My attention focused as if I had drank three cups of coffee, and I could feel my body grow… stronger?

My muscles relaxed and I closed my eyes, basking in the foreign sensation. My thoughts faded away as the water ran over me, when I felt a tug on the sides of my head, and the small of my back. I raised my hand to scratch at my ear, when my fingers brushed across something completely foreign. I lifted my head and turned, and felt a similar foreign sensation on my tailbone. An appendage that certainly shouldn’t be there whipped against the shower curtain. In a panic, I felt behind me, grabbing it.

A tail.

Oh.

What!?

I pulled it in front of me, and saw a long fish-like tail with beautiful dark blue scales that glittered under the light, two fins of a lighter color extending from the end. I turned the shower off and looked in the mirror, my mouth falling agape. Two fins were protruding from the side of my head, replacing where my ears had been.

Ok, so I was a fish girl. Sure. Why not. But why had it only appeared just now? Was it the water?

A drop of water rolled into my eye, but rather than irritating it like usual, I felt a second pair of see-through eyelids close to keep my eyes covered. I dried my body off, once again becoming aware that I was not freaking out like I should have been. Was it something that changed my mind along with my body? What kind of person turns into a fish girl and doesn’t even care?

I pushed the thoughts away and returned to dressing myself. My old body, apparently, decided to dress primarily in circus tents, if the size was anything to go by. Was I really that much smaller?

I jumped as my doorbell rang.

Food here already?

Without much thought, I opened the door wearing only a shirt for the second time in one day. I realized my mistake just about the same time I flashed the delivery guy— hopefully not an activity I’d be making a habit of.

His eyes bulged as he looked at me, lingering on the side of my face. I was confused for a moment before I realized that I was, in fact, still sporting a giant fucking tail and fish fins. Whoops.

“Here’s your… uh— order?” He phrased it as a question, the result of his professionalism fighting with his curiosity.

“Nice cosplay…” He said, eyes flickering between my tail and my chest.

I smiled awkwardly as we both stood there for a moment.

“My food…?” I questioned.

“OH,” He sputtered, hurriedly handing the order over to me. He blushed furiously, and looked me up and down again. It was kind of uncomfortable, to be honest.

“Oh, the tip should have been paid out already…” I said, confused as to why he was still standing there.

I didn’t think it would be possible, but his blush deepened.

“Y-yeah, um, right… Are you, like, free later?”

My brain short circuited as it tried to play catch up with what he had asked me.

My response, which surely would have been well-constructed and thought out, was thankfully interrupted when a bright streak of light flashed from the sky into the ocean by the town’s southern side. My eyes barely tracked it, trying to make out what had occurred, when a sound like a thousand trains crashed into each other assaulted my ears.

The streak, as it collided with the surface of the ocean, caused the entire sky to flash a bright, piercing light, before erupting into a titanic explosion of displaced water and steam. The both of us looked that direction in shock, and watched as the titanic eruption of water spouted into the sky.

“”What the fuck,”” Both of us said at the same time. A few heartbeats later the resulting sonic boom pushed both of us off of our feet, and I heard the shattering of glass from a thousand different windows. I scrambled back into my apartment, hoping to close the door, and pulled the delivery guy with me.

We looked at each other in horror as absolute pandemonium erupted outside the door.

Shakily, I stood to my feet, and helped Delivery Guy to his feet.

I slowly brushed the shards of glass off of my shirt, as Delivery Guy whipped his phone out and began making a call, stricken with panic.

I walked to my now-broken window, and looked outside. To my horror, I could see the town below in abject chaos. Movement caught in the side of my vision, and I looked toward the ocean where the Streak had landed… er, oceaned. I blinked a few times before rubbing my eyes.

“Uhh…” I said, before turning towards Delivery Guy. “I hate to interrupt but… do you see that…?” I asked, pointing towards the ocean.

Delivery Guy’s brows furrowed, and said, “Give me one sec, Ma," as he lowered the phone he was speaking through.

His eyes opened wider than I had thought possible.

“What the fuck?” He said, much to my chagrin. Not dreaming then? Fuck.

Out in the middle of the bay, where the Streak had oceaned, something was rising from a whirlpool that had formed from the crash. As I watched massive tentacles rise from the depths, the bracelet on my wrist began to burn.

Distracted as I was, it took me a moment to recognize that my bracelet had begun to rapidly pulse a light, pale blue. I could feel something like an instinct pervade my consciousness. An instinct to fight, to resist whatever that… thing was. Oh, fantastic. First I turn into fish girl, then I get to fight a tentacle monster. This was shaping up to be the best weekend I’d had since I started working at Jerry’s.

“Hey, uh, Delivery Guy—”

“Mike,” Delivery Guy interrupted.

“Uh, Mike,” I amended, before I continued, “I don’t mean to kick you out in the the middle of a city-wide disaster but you should probably…” I trailed off, hoping he would take the hint without me having to be rude.

He nodded a couple of times, seemingly still in shock. He hesitantly approached the door, and gave me a one last look.

I waved awkwardly at him, and he finally walked out, and let the door close behind him.

I felt the pressure from the bracelet again, stirring a need in me to fight. I raised my arm and looked at it closely. Its light was pulsing faster than ever. Following a hunch, I lightly touched my finger to it, and jumped in surprise when a blue energy rushed from the bracelet and surrounded me. Moments later it receded, leaving me very confused and, apparently, dressed completely differently than I had been.

In place of a baggy shirt, I was wrapped in a light and dark blue dress, white tights, and for some reason a pair of overly-designed blue and white heels.

You’ve gotta be kidding me. What am I, a magical girl?

I shook my head in frustration, before the rumbling in the distance reminded me of the creature’s existence.

I opened my door and walked out.