Kyle was loving his time in the Fox Scouts. He'd lived in the big city all his life, so it was pretty rare that he'd ever seen more than two or three trees in his line of sight at once, or a stretch of grass bigger than someone's back yard that wasn't a sports field or school yard, much less one that was wild and uncultivated. When it was time for the annual camping trip upstate, he'd barely been able to hold in his excitement, chattering to anyone who would listen about how great it was going to be. Three days in the woods away from everything, including his parents!

Despite his excitement, even he had to admit (to himself at least) that the dark woods were a little scary when he finally saw them. The campsite itself was a medium sized field that had clearly seen use before, but it was surrounded on all sides by trees, with only a narrow path to allow the vehicles to pass. From the campsite, Kyle could barely see beyond the treeline, the thick canopy of trees shrouding the area beyond. His imagination ran wild with ideas of what might be beyond.

Once the camp was set up, the adults let the kids run and play for a while, with the admonition that they stay within sight of the camp, and return by dark. For a while, Kyle did just that, running about playing and exploring the open area. After a while though, his curiosity got the better of him, and he snuck off into the densely wooded forest.

It was not quite as dark under the trees as Kyle had feared, and he was easily able to navigate the thick undergrowth at first. It was slowly getting dark though, a fact that Kyle did not immediately notice as his eyes acclimated to the dim light. Hoping he wasn't too lost, the boy searched around for a light source, figuring that it would probably be the camp. Something glowed in the distance, so he sighed in relief and headed toward it.

While his scout manual had a lot of good information about forests, it had very little about the supernatural beings that occasionally inhabit them. This would have been useful information to have.

Ignoring a growing feeling of dread that nagged at him as he approached, Kyle crossed the unseen border into the lair of one of these creatures. The impish fox demon didn't hate humans; in fact, it found them useful. But the little stylized fox insignia that adorned the boy's uniform irked it, and triggered just a bit of resentment toward the intruder, and piqued the imp's twisted sense of humor.

Sneaking up behind the boy, the fox began to glow as it exerted its spectral influence, the same source of the light the boy was following. Kyle stopped in his tracks as the light around him suddenly flared up! A ghostly green aura began to surround him as he looked around in vain for the source of the light. Was it a flashlight? Someone looking for him? He couldn't actually see the small demon nearby.

His hand cramped, and he took ahold of it. He was surprised to feel soft fur growing along the back of it! He raised it to his hand and watched as the dark fur covered it over, lit by the green glow, the cramping continuing as it became a thick-fingered paw, nails flowing into little claws. The fur followed down his arm and up to his shoulder, dark brown giving way to coppery orange as it neared his elbow.

His foot started to cramp too, and he could see dark fur peeking up over his sock. As it flowed up, shifting to orange, his foot felt tight in his show. Too late, it occurred to him to try and take it off, as his new claws tore through his sock, bursting the seam of his shoe. He could thick, fur covered toes sticking out the end of the destroyed sneaker.

The cramping sensation pushed into his face, and his vision was split by his own darkening nose, green-lit orange and white fur emerging into view. As the shape of his face changed, his ears extended outward through his blond hair, knocking his cap off his head and into the underbrush.

As he ran his tongue over his new, pointier teeth, he could feel a pressure at his spine, pushing out as his tail tried to emerge. It tore through the back of his shorts almost fully formed in an instant, causing him to lunge forward, barely catching himself from falling.

He watched as the fur grew across his body, flowing down his other arm and leg. As his hand and foot began to cramp, this time he hurriedly yanked the other shoe off of himself, getting rid of the remains of the first one in the process. Once his feet were free and fully changed, Kyle felt himself rocking forward, his center of gravity shifted, and he stumbled forward onto all fours. The sudden shift ripped his already damaged pants off him, leaving him in now ill-fitting briefs and his scout belt.

He was surprised at how natural the position felt, unaware that his body had changed shape in subtle ways beyond the paws and tail and such. He'd have no trouble standing on two legs, but he'd feel much more natural on four from now on. As the green glow faded, he found he could see much better than before, his once green eyes- now foxish yellow -possessing superior night vision, though the small imp remained invisible to him

Looking himself over, he could see his uniform shirt bulging in places uncomfortably, strained by his new fur and small changes to his anatomy, but he was reluctant to try and remove it. He guessed he would have to claw it off, and he didn't want to lose all those hard-won badges.

Kyle's new, more sensitive ear twitched as he heard someone in the distance call his name. He wondered if he should head toward it. As Kyle picked up his fallen hat to leave, in his teeth rather than his clumsy paws, the little forest imp grinned in satisfaction. As he curled up on a log to sleep, his devious mind could only imagine the fun as the boy spread his little curse to anyone else in that irksome little uniform...

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Drawn in SAI, colored in Photoshop. Thanks to Xids for the idea seed and encouragement, and Kitcoon for story feedback. Couldn't have done it without you!

Background grabbed from a stock image site and played around with a bit.