The darkened skies over the desert city were cut into by a set of searchlights which danced across the blackened blanket of clouds and open air. Tonight, the city's stadium was hosting a promising title fight for the national boxing league; the allure of a close and contentious fight sold out the stadium a couple weeks before the event. The ravenous fans poured in through the entranceways, crowding the concession stands and packing into the seats. The ring was in place and the whole interior of the stadium was decked out with cameras, advertisements, and light rigs. Most of the fanfare was focused around the fighter’s entrances on either side of the ring, the first match hadn’t started yet so the anticipation was palpable nearest the walkways. Behind the security guards and the swinging doors were the back hallways which the boxers would tread before going toe-to-toe; the nearest door led to the warm-up room where one could hear a number of thuds, slaps, and grunts of exertion. Further down the hall was the women’s locker room; inside the damp and dingy space was a single fighter, pacing back and forth and only pausing occasionally to hop slightly from side to side and throw a few jabs.

Ani was a bundle of nerves, she’d excused herself from the last of her warmups to go use the bathroom but she didn’t need to go; her mind was simply racing too much to be around the rest of the fighters. The tall, well-toned boxer was past her rookie year but only had a few fights under her belt at the state level; this was her first opportunity at a national level fight, her first big chance to make an impression on sponsors and matchmakers. She certainly wasn’t on any of the promotional material or the impressive stadium billboards; she knew that the opening fights were mostly ignored by the majority of the audience but just knowing that she’d be in front of a bunch of cameras in a stadium packed with people at her most career-vital moment was gut-wrenching. She paused her restless warmups to take a moment in front of the mirror; despite the nerves, she looked well-enough. Her orange hair was tied back tightly apart from a loose strand which she combed back, her emerald green eyes wore a look of determination. Her red boxing trunks and athletic top remained in good shape; her matching boots were laced up and hugging her feet and ankles to prevent a sprain. In the corner of the mirror she caught sight of the door opening a crack before she heard a sharp, quick rap on the wood. 
“You alright Ani? 15 minutes ‘till the bell” they called, the voice of Gus - her coach - was hoarse and quick; it sounded like he’d been panic-smoking again.
“Yeah, I’ll be good in a few minutes, Gus, just let me finish up and wrap my hands” she replied evenly; keeping her cool around Gus was something she’d gotten used to in the past couple years, the old guy was passionate about the sport and saw a lot of potential in the young athlete. That passion translated into a general state of frantic worrying before she got in the ring; thankfully, he was a great coach in every other regard so his presence still helped, even if he was a little bit of a mess before the starting bell. 
“Alright alright! Finish it up, I’ll be back in a few minutes” he called back; she could hear him fumbling with his jacket to grab another smoke as he continued off down the hall. She sighed heavily as she glanced back at her reflection once more, it was now or never. She swung open her locker and reached into her duffel bag, pushing past her clothes and spare sweat towels until she grabbed a partially-hidden bottle and pulled it out. She looked over the bottle for the second time since she had bought it and hidden it away in her bag; a flashy label advertised the drink as ‘Agilincrease!’ The sports drink was stocked among the standard fare of fruity electrolyte beverages at her gym’s canteen but the drink made some incredibly bold claims in regards to its ability to noticeably boost one’s speed and maneuverability. She had skimmed the active ingredients and found very little different from her regular sports drink apart from an additive referred to as rufusilium. She had searched for any info about the ingredient but the only links lead to the Agilincrease website where the only information they give about rufusillium is that it’s an all-natural additive from Australia. She’d read through the list of banned substances and was certain that this stuff wasn’t prohibited by any leagues, the only reason for her discretion and apprehension was her coach. He’d always instilled a healthy and simple routine when it came to nutrition; very few supplements or unnatural pills but plenty of good food and water. Much like her coach; she’d come to view products that make claims such as this as either a fool’s placebo if they didn’t work or a dishonorable shortcut. Despite that, a part of her still couldn’t shake the feeling that she should try it, what if - by some miracle - it could be the thing that tips the scales of this make-or-break bout? 
Although, she sighed again and then shook her head, all the overthinking in the past week over a stupid sports drink, surely the whole claim was just a sales pitch. She rolled her eyes, figuring she might as well drink it since she hadn’t drank anything after her pre-warmup. She unscrewed the cap and tossed it on the bench before tilting back the bottle and swallowing a sizable amount. It tasted surprisingly good, a refreshing mix of pineapple and melon that pushed her to down the whole thing rather quickly. She gave the bottle a look of approval before laying it back in her locker and slamming the door shut. Ani quickly returned to her warmups afterwards, her mind focusing in on the fight. She continued with her jabs, hooks, hops, and weaves with her regular fervor although she felt a surge of energy almost immediately after she began; a wave of warmth and energy pulsed through her muscles, especially so along her thighs and the rest of her legs. 
“Damn… is this thing really...?” she muttered to herself tentatively as she paused for a moment. She tensed her legs and performed a few quick side to side jumps, her expression changing to disbelief at the noticeable change in her speed. The young fighter smirked as she continued to spar with an uncanny new vigor; the slight tightness in her boots and shorts going unnoticed for a short time. It wasn’t until she pivoted forward and swung a particularly vicious uppercut did she wince slightly at the feeling of her toes wedging up tightly against the tip of her boots. Soon enough an elevating discomfort could be felt in her legs and a strange sensation that her ears were feeling the air entirely too far up her head. She shook it off and continued to practice, the strange sensations leading to a growing anxiety in her mind which only grew as the bizarre feelings refused to stop. With each jab the discomfort in her legs increased, her thighs began to be squeezed by the legs of her shorts as though they were a size too small. She suddenly paused her drill, the feeling of disorientation only emphasized as she felt the tips of her ears gently flop against the side of her head as she whipped into an upright position.
“O-okay, what the hell is…” she started to question until she cut herself off, mouth hanging agape slightly and her eyes crossed; there was a lot more of her nose visible in her periphery than there should be. Her brief stunned silence was broken only by the sound of shredding fabric from below, the tip of her left foot had erupted straight through the front of her boot! The relief from the pressure on her foot understandably did nothing to quell her panic as she yelped at the sudden tear and instinctively backpedaled. She stumbled as she stepped, tripping over herself as the new size of her feet thwarted any effort towards steadying herself. Luckily, she was standing directly in front of the benches so her fall seated her right on the bench; unluckily, the swelling in her lower body resulted in another chorus of tearing fabric. This time, her shorts had torn along the legs; the size of her thighs baffled her as she got her first look at them close up. They were unevenly growing as well, her left leg was larger than the right and her foot had lengthened considerably. An errant twitch from the tip of her ear alerted her to the swelling there again, her hand whipped up to feel for anything astray only to be taken aback as her hand felt the bottom of her ear entirely too high up. The change in position was enough to worry about, it was made only worse when she realized her ear was almost completely unfamiliar; the soft flesh of her earlobe was gone and the edges of her ears had stretched above the top of her head! She grabbed her ear and pulled it down into her vision, something she thought that she would never have been capable of doing until now. As she ogled at her new ear, the situation in front of her eyes was brought back to her attention; she quickly realized that it wasn’t just her nose that was pushing up and away from her face, it was her mouth too! As she crossed her eyes, shifting her focus to try and see the changes to her face she caught sight of the edge of her still-growing thighs. Her attention whipped down to her legs again, the flurry of shifting and swelling was happening so swiftly that she missed many changes as soon as she focused too hard on a specific limb. She found her right thigh had thickened like the other had, the right boot too had lost it’s fight against her expanding toes. She was shocked when she saw her left leg was almost entirely unrecognizable, she could feel the heft of her thigh as she lifted it with her free hand; her foot looked completely alien with her toes sporting long, blunted claws, the only recognizable aspect was her fair skin. She panicked as her mind raced to think of a reason for all this; the only thing that she could logically consider was that her body must be having some sort of overwhelming side effect that’s causing the swelling or making her believe all this due to a hallucination. She hoped it was the latter, if these changes were real then she feared what it would take to get her back to normal. Her internal panic lasted only a moment as another rip interrupted her thoughts, both the front and back of the waistband on her shorts tore apart as she felt something she’d never felt before, a swaying at the bottom of her spine that was independent from her back. She whipped around to look, her lengthened ear sprung back up as she released it and her right foot made a solid thump as she dropped it to the floor again. She almost refused to believe what she was seeing, after her body had already changed so much she couldn’t fathom that she would also sprout a stout, muscular tail from the base of her spine. The sudden shock of growing an additional limb thrust Ani off the bench and onto her two massive stompers which thudded loudly as she clumsily stood. She was breathing as though she had just ran a 10k; the rapidly progressing transformation pushed her to seek the mirror so she could track what the hell was going on with her body clearly. That task had already become much more difficult for her, the shifting anatomy of her legs caused her to hunch forward slightly while her new feet made her look as though she was waddling around in swimming flippers. As she came into view of the mirror she could see her pupils retract at the state of her body and face. The bestial qualities of her changes could no longer be ignored, it wasn’t just weird swelling; she was actually turning into some kind of animal! Her ears twitched and quivered of their own accord, lengthened to comedic extent and perched high above her head; this shift adjusted her hairline somewhat but her hair had remained intact and unchanged apart from that. Her mouth and nose had formed an undeniable muzzle on her face, her nose was still recognizable as being previously human although it had grown immensely and shifted so her nostrils pointed forward slightly. She couldn’t place it but her face reminded her of some bizarre combination of rabbit and deer. Unnoticed until now, the muscle definition in the boxer’s arms had been reduced considerably, her forearms had lengthened out somewhat and her nails had formed into claws. Before she could take this in, her eyes shot down to her belly where she spotted an odd-looking crease that seemed to be forming below her navel. She tentatively reached her hand down towards this seam on her belly, putting her hand in and then immediately retracting it as though burned by a hot stove once she realized what it was. It was a pouch. She was turning into a kangaroo. As if to punctuate her realization, the pressure that was forcing her to hunch somewhat suddenly intensified as she felt a sharp thrusting feeling from her new tail. In plain view of the mirror she witnessed her tail shoot out and lengthen to nearly twice it’s length, slapping the ground behind her as it struck the ground. She let out an odd, hoarse grunt in discomfort 
“Daamn it… daaamn hit…” she muttered, not noticing the subtle strain on her vocal chords and the clumsiness of her tongue. All that crossed her mind after witnessing and confirming her state was finding somebody soon before it was too late! She started towards the door, hoping that she would find Gus waiting outside for her but was quickly confounded by her own body. Attempting to walk simply wasn’t working as she felt off-balance every time she lifted a foot; out of desperation she hunched forward and put her hands on the ground to conduct a sort of half-hop, half-crawl towards the door. She clasped the handle and pulled it open a crack, she peered through the slit and saw nothing so she tentatively pushed it open a little further. She poked her muzzle out through the door and glanced both ways sharply; there was nobody in the hallway in either direction; her ears began to pivot independently, picking up only the sounds of the other fighters warming up and the dull rumble of the attendees in the stadium. She bit her lip and grunted softly in frustration as she saw no sign of her coach; the partial roo popped back into the locker room and pivoted around. She turned her newly-lengthened neck to see that her tail had grown yet again both in length and thickness only fortifying the pressing feeling that she needed to get help quietly and safely. Wait…. Quietly and safely? She almost slapped herself on the head for not getting her phone as soon as the whole mess started, she maneuvered over to her locker, making small, steady hops as she tried to use her new limbs to the best of her ability. As she flung open the locker door she couldn’t help but notice her hands had changed again in the short time since she looked in the mirror. Her thumb felt like it was less maneuverable, like it was further down her hand. She struggled to grasp the zipper on her bag, barely managing to zip open one half of the top. She rummaged around in her bag again, pushing her belongings around until she felt the smooth plastic of her phone case. She snatched her lifeline out of the bag, pulling out and scattering a few towels in the process. She held the phone up to her face in one hand but the phone simply informed her that it couldn’t identify a face. She shook her head, of course it couldn’t unlock using her face; it couldn’t even identify a kangaroo face, let alone discern that the face used to be human. She bypassed trying to unlock it, her panic-addled state had made her forget about the emergency call button on the main screen. Unfortunately for the new kangaroo her hands shifted irreversibly at the very moment she tapped on the screen, the phone hadn’t even registered her touching the emergency call icon. 
“oohhh!” she yelped as the phone clattered to the floor, she desperately grasped for it but her hands had fully shifted into paws; her tiny palms and oddly-positioned fingers simply weren’t designed to function with human technology. As she desperately grabbed at her last figurative connection to her humanity she failed to notice that the changes had halted; she was almost entirely a red kangaroo apart from her hair, eyes, and the fact that she never sprouted a single fur. Her fair skin had been stretched and shaped along the new structure of her muscles although no sign of stretch marks or painful redness appeared, her skin flexed and compressed with her movements as naturally as if it were always that shape. As she struggled fruitlessly with her phone she heard a set of footsteps approaching which caused her to freeze and her ears to shift backwards. The footsteps were followed by a quick, short rap on the door. 
“Ani! Come on, we got to get you to the entrance, they're gonna be waiting on us!”
“Cu..cu..” she tried to say his name, finding that the “G” sound was beyond her.
“Ani? You okay? What the hell’s going on?!” he asked, the strained grunts sounding like coughs to him.
She tried to say “no” but the formation of the “N” was troubling too and all she could muster was a few grunts which resembled the end of no. 
“Are you sick? Oh no…” Gus questioned, his voice growing more hoarse “no no no noAAAAAAAHHHH!” Gus swung the door open only to be greeted by the smooth rump and tail of a fully-grown kangaroo. 
His outburst caused Ani to jolt around and smack her tail off a locker. She shifted stances from the defensive hunch forward that she had found herself in to a partially upright alert stance with her radar-like ears pointing straight up.
“Hhhe...het’s muhee! A...AH….AHNI!” she managed to cough out, thankful that her vocal chords and lips were capable of basic human-like sounds; even if she could barely even say her own name and it was interjected and overlaid with very kangaroo-like grunts and clucks. Gus took a step back, his head thunking lightly against the door as he backed into it. 
“Je-Jesus Ani… what happened? How… HOW did this happen!?” he managed to sputter out, his eyes were wide and his chest heaving. She raised a lengthened forearm to point at her bag hanging out of the locker slightly and hopped to the side, out of the way. She tried to say “sports drink” but found that much too difficult so it mostly came out as a variety of grunts and odd coughs. She shook her head and tried again
“Bo--le bo-le!” she tried to say, as she mimed drinking from a bottle. Gus approached slowly, his eyes fixated on Ani as he reached towards the locker blindly, his hand feeling around until he grabbed the bag.
“What the hell did you drink to do this to yourself, Ani...?” he muttered as he pulled the bottle out and surveyed it. He didn’t feel the need to berate her for taking a performance enhancer, the poor girl had been dealt a harsh enough punishment. Ani shifted in place nervously as he read the bottle until she couldn’t stand still and hopped alongside to read with him. 
“It says not to drink the whole bottle or else ‘side effects’ may occur” he read, realizing that the side effects were not listed; even if they were, he doubted that they would include a reference to suddenly transforming into a furless kangaroo. 
The shock and panic of the transformation began to melt away, replaced only by an overwhelming embarrassment at being a naked animal in front of her coach and a creeping dread as to how the hell she was going to get her body back to normal… or if she even could…
“...so you’ll be missing your fight tonight” he said, stating the obvious as he tried to come to grips with this bizarre new reality “...just trying to figure out if we should call a doctor or a vet… genuinely wondering” 
Ani tried to say “both” but only managed another abrupt cough-grunt. 
“I’ll start with 911” he offered as he pulled out his phone and tapped on the emergency call. Ani, meanwhile, stared at her ripped boots and her gloves before slowly looking down at her ridiculous body… how long would it be until she had another opportunity to fight at a venue like this? Would she even fight again? Or get her body back at all? Her dread creeped deeper as the sounds of Gus awkwardly trying to explain their situation into the phone faded into the background.