Tag

By

Caitsith #29




“Tag!”

Erin never got a chance to defend herself from the pair of hands slamming into her from behind. The first grader could only cry out as she slammed face first into the sand castle she had been previously working on. A good amount of sand had gotten into her mouth from the impact, causing her to gag and spit while rising up on hands and knees. Twisting back around, she gave the boy grinning down at her a venomous glare.

“Woof!” She started to say and froze at the animal barking that came out. A tingle spread from where the boy had made contact to through her body. Every inch of skin became overcome with a firey itch. She looked down at her hands with a very canine whimper. The thickening patches of red fur growing on them a confirmation to her fears.

“Your it!” The body cheered smugly before breaking into a mad dash into the playground. 

That snapped Erin out of her stupor, but still had trouble reacting. The sandbox gave her a disadvantage just getting back up to give chase. All the shouting had alerting nearby kids to what was going on and they wisely decided to follower her taggers example of fleeing for safety. By the time she had stumbled out onto solid ground, most were well on their way into the safety of the school buildings.

Those who were unfortunate enough to end up caught between her and safety were desperately seeking refuge onto top of other play structures. Erin quickly spotted the jungle jim as the closest and dashed for it. A small group of students clambering up it spotted her approach, causing a redouble of their efforts. She lept at the last second, but still missed touching the bottom most boys heel on the way back to the ground.

Undaunted, she leapt up to climb the bars after them. But the kids huddled up top had no reason to worry. Erin did not get far before her hands refused to function, causing her to fall back down with a yelp. Whimpering, she watched helplessly as fingers shrunk into little stubs and lost any flexibility. Nails grew out and curved into blunt brown claws while her thumbs traveled up into barely noticable digits at her wrists. Both palms and fingertips flushed a bright pink and swelled out into soft pads, giving her a complete set of forepaws.

Ignoring taunts from above, Erin whipped around to spot someone. Anyone! Fur was spreading rapidly now up her arms to the rest of her. The itching this caused under her clothes was nearing unbearable but she was not about to give up yet. With a soft pop, her ears flipped out into sharp triangle points near the top of her head. Usually curled blond hair began to shrink, gaining a red tint to match her growing new fur.

Fortunitly a heightened sense of hearing allowed Erin to pick up on a gasp off to her left. Whirling to face the culprit, she spotted another pair of girls huddled under a slide. Their faces turned white soon as she spotted them. A momentary frightful daze all Erin could ask for to close precious distance between them. They recovered a bit soon then she would have liked, scrambling wildly out the opposite side towards the main playhouse. Upon reaching a swing set one tried to veer left and double back, but Erin ignored her and plowed on after the remaining target. Go through the chain links only worked in slowing her down more, allowing Erin to reach out a paw less than an inch from making contact.

And then her legs seized up in a numbing cramp that sent her crying out onto all fours. Her target never even slowed down, dashing up the plastic stairs into the safety of the playhouse. Erin gritted her teeth and looked down at the changes befalling her legs. Both shoes went from snug to excruciatingly tight in moments. The feet they fought desperately to contain were swelling way beyond normal size, round toes creating their own individual bulges in the leather. A dull ache in her heels caused them to slowly rise up on the ground, forcing her to stand on toes.

It was a short fight as claws burst through the front, the rest falling off in a wave leaving her new back paws bare. Using the swing set as a brace, Erin managed to get back on her feet. But she could only hobble on tiptoe a few paces as the fur traveled up her thighs under her pants. With a sickening crunch her hips gave out, forcing a landing back onto her forepaws. Erin gritted her teeth and yipped, stretching her reforming hind end up as things grinded into a more quadruped configuration. Pants and panties both slipped off into a pile, unable to hold onto her diminishing size and animal shape. The shirt now drapped over her like a tent. Although after a sudden jerk in her spine that got a startled yelp, the back raised up slightly to let a newly grown red tail with a white tip emerge.

The girl she had been chasing stopped a short distance away to taunt Erin further. But all she could do was whine and struggle against the increasingly net like shirt as her size and humanity dwindled away. Another series of crunches followed the reversal of her shoulders and back, followed by a thickening in the neck that forced her to look straight head. Once more she tried desperately to lung at the girl, and only got more entangled in her former clothes as a result.

Feeling her nose turn damp, but unable to see it turn a rough black texture, Erin whimpered at the hopelessness of her situation. She pulled back in a sorrowful howl that increased in shrill pitched as her face stretched out in a thin vulpine muzzle. After waiting a little more to be sure things had finished, the new fox curled up best she could inside the confines of her useless tent shirt and whimpered softly.

With that spectacle over the other kids soon forgot about that short lived game and resumed their previous affairs. Not that they had much longer until the bell rang. Erin was not sure how long she was left alone on the playground, but a series of heavier footsteps suddenly made her perk up in renewed hope.

“Lost tag again I see,” chided her classroom teacher. He chuckled softly as he lifted Erin up by the scuff of her neck. She offered no resistance but did whimper occasionally as he helped her out of the shirt. “Hey, don’t pout at me. I’M the one who has to explain to your parents this won’t ware off until class tomorrow.”

Tucking the small kit in his arms, they made their way back towards the classrooms. Once inside, he gently deposited Erin into a small area of the class blocked off by a ring of metal bars. Immediately she made her way over to the small stack of pillows and plopped down to continue her pathetic lamenting.

“I’ll never understand how this method of encouraging exercise got approved,’ the teacher mused on his way to the front of the class for the days lessons. “Parents should just put more attention to their own kids diet…”