Art by  transformationanonymous

So cause I wrote a story for it (blame  Analternateguy234 for giving me the idea) I decided to submit it.

It's kinda funny that Mao hasn't been a cat before, so yeah, I giggled when he turned into a Bakeneko after visiting an otter's store.

~ ~ ~

The human walked into the mysterious store that wasn’t there the previous day. (Unless he wasn’t paying attention and it was always there.) Perhaps to his surprise, there was an otter standing on the counter. He smiled once the human walked in.

“Hello there, welcome to Hooked on Potions.”

“Eh?” Mao asked, looking at the… somewhat small otter, “Is that like Hooked on Phonics?”

“It works for everyone, I guarantee.” The otter said, “I like your taste in clothing there.” He must have been talking about Mao’s blue coat.

“Uh… thanks.” Mao responded.

“You know, I think I got a good suggestion for you. Hold on one second.” The otter said, walking over to one of the shelves.

Mao followed the otter with his eyes, seeing the mustelid scurry over to a shelf that was full of glass jars and flasks. The otter seemed to beeline right for one particular potion - one that looked like it was full of gravel or pencil shavings, or maybe something licorice flavoured.

The otter picked up the bottle and walked right back. It was now that Mao could see that it had a pattern to it - a paw pad. It wasn’t even labeled as such, that was a custom made bottle, the paw pad looking like it was pushed out into the glass. He held it out to Mao with a smile.

“So how much for this?” Mao asked.

“For you? Nothing.” The otter said.

“...So how do you even make money if you give away these potions for free?” Mao asked.

“You’re far from my first customer, actually.” The otter said, “Besides… this one was going to be thrown out anyway.”

Red flag. Mao glanced at it, taking the potion and then uncorking it. He gave the bottle a sniff. Strange… it didn’t smell bad, it smelled a little like… cola of some kind? It wasn’t the type of smell of an expired cola drink. He glanced at the otter, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

“You sure this isn’t expired?”

“These don’t have an expiration date. Besides, if you don’t want it, just turn around and leave.”

Mao glanced at the door behind him. The screen door - nice design. As if he thought to test it, he reached out to try and pull open the door.

“Ah ah ah ah ah.”

Mao turned around, looking at the otter shopkeep again.

“You can’t take that out. Either drink it or leave. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. That’s the rule.”

“....Right.” Mao said. Against all common sense, he started drinking the potion. The otter smiled, another customer!

As Mao took it down, he simply looked at the otter. That tasted… weird. Somewhat like Cola, but now all of a sudden, Mao could smell something different. Something… fishy? And… delicious smelling? But Mao wasn’t fond of fish.

Then, all of a sudden, Mao felt his left hand shaking. The one holding the potion bottle. It started to itch like mad. Mao took a glance at it, and reeled back. His fingers had started to thicken, becoming stockier and… hairier. It wasn’t like his normal body hair at all. It looked orange.

He screamed and dropped the potion on the floor, backing up. At that moment, he felt a twitch at his ears. The tips of his ears started to rise, almost as if someone was unfolding his helixes. New muscles were forming, as they seemed to move up his head… wait, what?! Uh oh.

“I-I changed my mind!” The now neko-looking Mao said, “I’m outta here!”

He turned around and quickly bolted to the door, placing his hand against it to open. The very first thing he noticed was that he felt the floor on his feet. Something… soft. Uh oh. He knew he had shoes on. The other thing he felt was that he was walking on his… toes?! The balls of his feet? Uh oh. There was also something pointing out of his rear.

The door seemed to grow in front of him. Mao stared at it in horror, looking over his shoulder. Right over his shoulder, he could see that his pants had fallen off, his body no longer able to support them. His legs were covered in an orange fur, broken up by the occasional light-orange and black stripe. That something protruding from his rear was… a tail! It started moving around subconsciously. He simply gasped.

“What’d you do to me?!” He shouted, except it came out as, “MEOOOOOW!”

Mao stepped back, bringing his still human hand and his paw to his mouth. Why did he say that?! His little outburst was interrupted when he then realised that his left hand - no, his paw - was poking a… sensitive nose. With whiskers poking out. And that his nose protruded out further than it did before. And that his mouth was right below it, too. Mao poked it with his hand, just in time to feel rather… soft fur across it. Uh oh. He wished he had a mirror.

“Meow-Am I turning into a tiger?!” He asked out loud. Wait, he spoke.

“Oh no, but you’re close.” The otter said.

Mao turned around. The otter stood much much higher up than before looking from the counter. Mao gulped, his tail twitching rapidly. Mao then glanced at his right hand, the last shred of humanity that he had left, just in time for his palm to swell into a black pawpad, the malignant fur overtook the rest of it. All of a sudden, Mao heard a sudden ‘click’ in his head.

“Meow,” Mao meowed, as he then stretched, “I do like the stripes.”

The otter stared at the former human, who now licked his right hand idly. That was strange, the others didn’t… adjust quite this well. Then again, on one hand, he did like how he didn’t have to avoid getting cold fire sent at him this time.

“Say, I never got your name.” The otter said to the cat in front of him.

“Mao.” Mao meowed.

Silence. The otter stifled a laugh. “Sorry,” He finally said, “Was that a noise?”

“Oh no,” Mao said, taking a seat down like a non-anthro cat, “My name is Mao. It was that way since I walked in.”

The otter then had an idea, hopping down to the cat, still wearing the blue jacket and the scarf that the human had worn.

“I don’t suppose you can answer some questions for me?”

“Oh, of course.” Mao said.

~ ~ ~

August 9th, 2017

Potion number four: Bakeneko

Observations:
Unlike the last few potions, this subject seemed to instantly take to his new form. He was also still able to speak - but that could have been because of his species. Bakeneko do speak after all.

I actually asked him details about his past, and he seemed to have become a Bakeneko in both mind and body. I have heard of mental takeovers before - this was ONE thorough takeover. I lured the cat over to a sunbeam and as he lazed in it, he told me all about being a cat, and how he would pose as a human.

He seemed to almost instantly start picking up on the mannerisms. As a test, I took out a feather that had fallen off of one of the past subjects and waved it around, and Mao pounced it. Some part of me wonders if the randomly chosen subject might actually have been a bakeneko all along, and all the potion did was make him revert to his form.

This isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

Apparently no memories of being human, except as a disguise.

I am not sure on what exactly happened on this one that made it different than the other potions. It could have been the species, or maybe it was the subject. Maybe it was the ingredients. His jacket and scarf could have been enchanted in a way, they always seemed to remain on him. Either way, when the next batch comes up, I will continue to write these notes.

In the meanwhile, I’m sure Mao will enjoy having his namesake become more literal and, well, being a cat. Though I had to remind him to turn human before leaving the store… and to take his pants with him.