There were a number of reasons as to why Ender hadn’t been to a convention in a while. 
Of course, the biggest reason was the pandemic. Sure, most of them hadn’t been held in-person for the last year or so, but now things were actually starting to open up. Still, conventions were hardly the bastions of hygiene on a good day- why would she try her luck going to one when there was a serious illness going around? She might be not be smart, but she sure as hell wasn’t dumb. But now, at least, things were dying down, and with a convention happening nearby over the upcoming weekend she’d decided to bite the convention bullet.
The second and third reasons were far less complicated. The second was that she didn’t have a whole lot of money. Convention tickets were overpriced as hell, and given their lack of… well, existence the last couple of years, they’d need to recoup costs with slightly higher prices. And that wasn’t even counting the cost of merchandise she could buy, or the food she’d need to eat so she didn’t collapse from walking long laps around the convention hall gawking at nerdy paraphernalia.
The third reason, and perhaps the saddest one of all, was that she didn’t have a costume to wear. Of course, costumes weren’t mandatory, and in fact many people went without them and had just as much fun, but that didn’t mean she wanted to go in her normal clothes. It was important to get into the spirit of these things, and her usual casual purple ensemble just didn’t feel like enough. 
Alas, just like her second problem, a good-looking cosplay- and especially a good-looking cosplay that fit her frame- wasn’t going to be cheap, and in the end, she elected to go without. And so, with her pre-printed ticket in hand, she strode through the front doors of the convention center and slowly made her way into the main hall.
As she walked into the gigantic exhibition hall, she spotted the intermittent sandwich boards placed around, each conveying another rule for convention goers or trying to direct traffic. HappyCon, each of them was labeled, along with its motto: “come spread the joy”. Ender had never heard of such a convention before, but judging by the advertising, it seemed to be new. She was a little shocked- there were so many people here, both attendees and booth owners both, and it was still the first day of the con. Maybe people were just really excited to get back into the convention scene, and ‘HappyCon’ just happened to be available? She supposed she was the same in that regard. It was close, convenient, and most of all, cheap.
She spent the next several hours walking aimlessly through the exhibition hall. None of the panels she wanted to go to were happening today, and she wasn’t interested in any fan group meetups. That was okay, though. There was no shortage of merchandise and artwork to keep her entertained- and to tempt her into giving up her meager con funds.
Having exhausted another row of booths, Ender turned the corner to venture into the adjacent aisle. Once she did, though, she stopped short, eyes landing on a display.
Weapons.
Whole rows of them, sprawled out across the series of covered tables that made up the massive booth. Even without a close look, she could make out several iconic ones- Maka’s scythe, the Buster Sword, maybe three or four keyblades. 
Some were visibly fake, made of resin, or wood with a very good paint job. Others, however, the ones hanging from the display walls and out of reach of any curious children, looked real. Their well-crafted, though probably purposefully dulled blades shone in the overbearing fluorescent lights from the high ceilings, and Ender’s eyes gleamed with excitement.
Even if she didn’t buy anything, she had to at least look. 
She fought through the crowd and approached the booth, eyes swarming the available merchandise. The Master Sword, Soul Edge, Ebony and Ivory, the diamond sword from Minecraft, each immaculately remade. Excalibur, Monado, a sword that looked like-
Ender gasped, darting over to the section of the table her latest find resided. It was all she could do not to snatch it up immediately and run off with her prize.
It was a perfect replica of Ghirahim’s weapon from Skyward Sword- a long, black blade with a curved loop guard and a red diamond embossed in the hilt. Even though it was probably just very convincing resin, she could have sword she saw the faux-metal flash.
She reached out to touch it, hoping to find a price tag. Before she could do that, however-
“Did you find something?” 
Ender nearly jumped out of her skin. Her head shot up, eyes landing on the speaker. It was the owner of the booth, no doubt, seated on a shitty metal folding chair. He was dressed up like the Happy Mask Salesman, and looked every bit the part. His clothes were just as accurate as his weapon-y wares, and his hair was that same shade of rich chestnut. His face looked all-too accurate as well; he had the same strained, yet somehow still warm smile, as well as the eyes that appeared always closed as if in response to some feeling of great mirth. 
“Oh, uh, yeah!” she said. She poked a finger at the sword. “How much is this?”
The man peered over to the indicated object, and replied without opening his eyes. “Oh, that? That’s fifty!” he chirped.
Fifty?! Ender fought the urge to look surprised. That was insanely cheap for a replica weapon- especially one being sold at a con! Sure, fifty bucks wasn’t nothing, but she’d been assuming something in the triple digits at least!
“…. Are you interested?” the cosplaying booth owner asked.
Ender’s face burned. How long had she been standing there like an idiot? “Yes!” she said with little in the way of hesitation. Fuck it, it was only Friday, but this was a great deal! She fished out her wallet and pulled out the money needed, laying it down on the booth for the other to pick up.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” the man said, already slightly unnerving smile going straight into creepy territory. 
“Yeah, thanks,” Ender said. The sooner she left the method actor over here, the better.
She reached out to grab the hilt of her new possession, only for it to come apart in her hand. She gasped, watching the hilt dissolve, melting into the air in a spray of glowing black and yellow diamond shapes. After the hilt was the blade itself, vanishing from base to tip until the entire sword had been replaced by the levitating polygons.
“W-what the fuck is-” Ender started to ask, the rest of the sentence drying up in her throat. 
The floating diamonds seemed to leap from the display table, diving down to swirl about her feet. As they did, her feet began to feel warm in her shoes, like she’s dunked them in hot water and hadn’t yet acclimated to the temperature. Before she can think too long about that, however, she’s greeted by another sensation- a tightening one. Her feet grew, lengthening and widening against her simple flats, pushing up against the fabric as they increased in size until Ender feared they might burst through. 
That never came, though, as as soon as she felt her flats reach a breaking point, the material expanded and softened, socks merging with the increasingly pale fabric that had once been her shoes until they were each a single, white stocking-like garment with a slight point at the toes- one that readily hooked onto the bottom of each pant leg as the levitating diamonds traveled upwards. 
Her leggings, like her shoes, felt tighter against her frame as the shapes ascended, swirling and shimmering as she stared wide-eyed. The fabric of her leggings lightened, turning a soft white as they clung more intensely to her lower limbs. Just like her feet before them, her legs heated up, skin prickling as the weight began to shed from the appendages. Pound by pound Ender watched in awe as her legs slimmed, shifting leggings quick to shrink to fit her now much leaner and graceful-looking lower half. She chuckled nervously at the sight of it- she’d always been so self-conscious about her weight, but she hadn’t expected something like this was going to fix the problem!
More diamonds appeared- this time opening up in a line of shaped patterns along the front of her adjusted leggings. As the shapes appeared in the holes of the fabric, Ender gasped. The skin beneath it had turned a strange, unearthly, almost corpselike gray. A familiar gray. But just as quickly as it came, the feeling of recognition vanished, replaced instead with a sharp, tugging pain. Her legs wobbled, bones and flesh suddenly shuddering and creaking longer. The growth pushed her upward, a few inches added to her height.
Speaking of pushing, the airborne diamonds twisted higher, this time wrapping the circumference of her hips and slimmed-down thighs. Another squeezing, tight sensation filled her- her hips trembling before knocking inward, frame narrowed and increasingly thinned. A floating diamond prodded her dress, urging it to tuck itself into the fabric of her shifted leggings. As it did, the two garments connected, the soft white color soon taking over her now single piece of clothing. A yellow sash sprouted around her slimmed waist, pulling taut against her flattening, graying stomach as a red, diamond-shaped gemstone settling into the fabric. The fabric split again, this time just above her waist to reveal her now lightly muscled abs.
Ender’s face turned bright red. This outfit, the skin, the sword- was she turning into Ghirahim?!
By now a crowd had formed, but if they were saying anything, Ender couldn’t hear them. All she could perceive was the hammering of her heart in her ears and her panicked breathing.  
Her whitened, altered attire tightened against her chest, pushing her breasts back until they melted away like the rest of her fat thus far. The diamonds spread to either side of her, drawing her shoulders broader and spine taller as they did so. They spun around the circumference of her upper arms, the rapid motion splitting the sleeves just beneath her widened shoulders and forcing the remaining fabric down her extending and thinning upper limbs, stitching them back together over her smoothing, graying hands as a pair of white gloves that only reached her elbows.
Finally, the diamonds shot back up toward her slimming, discoloring neck, and Ender shut her eyes to steel herself against what was coming next. 
The gray skin conquered her features, her expression warping under the magic’s hands. The excess weight of her face melted away, roundness slimming to angular sharpness. Her nose pulled to a short point, her thinning lips lightening until they were white against the gray sea of her face. She blinked a few times, already dark irises intensifying in hue as a deep purple mascara applied itself about her narrowing eyes. Her ears twitched, then lengthened, pulling into short points while a diamond latched upon the right, settling as a dangling blue gemstone earring. Her hair retreated closer to her scalp, black locks bleaching until they were pearly white, a thick set of bangs flopping over her left eye.
At long last, the diamonds settled, falling over her shoulders as an ostentatious, high-collared red cape with yellow-marked insides. Ender spun around on shaking legs like a newborn foal, watching the mantle move with her, flapping away. Was this real? He could scarcely believe it. It felt real, but-
Eyes pleading for answers, Ender glanced to the vendor whose booth he’d just visited.
His smile never wavering, the Happy Mask Salesman merely lifted a hand to give a thumb’s up.
Ghirahim sighed, hanging his head. Well, he could at least look on one bright side, if nothing else.
He got to wear a cosplay to the con after all!