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Guest Starring  Khren

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The Hopping Mad King had the biggest dastardly grin you could imagine. It’s as if he knew he had already won before this whole gamble had started. Basil fanned himself with his cards, eyeing his opponent, watching them nervously fidget their cards around. Basil had seen this nervous habit all too often. People shuffling their hand hoping as if by some miracle it’ll magically get better. Basil leaned back in his pink cushioned throne, savoring the moment. No one could beat the king in his own castle. Khren the caribou, who was normally pretty confident at his card skills was wiping his brow. It was just now catching up with him how much he had accidently bet on the line. All the decorations that used to be heroes that dared to challenge the King but lost didn’t help his confidence either. From statues to banners each object hinted at that having once been a hero. Whose to say the chair that Khren was sitting on hadn’t been some hero reduced to a zero.

“I should have never come here.” Khren thought to himself. He knew the danger, but the chance at Basil’s horde was all too tempting. Especially when the King had summoned him here for a wager. Making a bet with Basil is never a good idea. Though a simple bet of being a temporary servant didn’t seem all that bad at first. Although the ambiguousness of it only being temporary and lacking any detail of what kind of servant was now the forefront of his worries. Khren tapped his hooves on the ground and bit his lower lip.

“Don’t suppose a three of a kind wins?” The caribou gulped nervously. Basil could see the small hope of glint in their eyes; that there was some small incredibly tiny chance of winning.
“Hmmm, lets see” Basil taunted, dragging out the moment to relish. Basil laid his cards out on the table, revealing a royal flush. Khren watched as the cards of Basil’s winning hand began changing. Slowly spelling out the word “L . . . O . . . S . . . E . . . R”. The word flashing on the cards.
“No. Go fish!” the king taunted pointing his finger at his opponent. A jolt of energy flew from the king’s finger, zapping Khren with magical energy. Khren immediately felt a strong tingling sensation in his hands, making him drop his cards on the ground.

“W-wrong game?” Khren stuttered as he felt his hands throbbing.
Khren reached down to pick them up but stopped and watched as the villainous king’s magic spreading throughout his hands. He stared in shock seeing his once orange caribou fur was quickly falling out, starting from his hands and slowly working its way up. The skin underneath looked soft and squishy, turning a blackish-grey. Black skin starting to form between his fingers. He hesitantly reached up and felt at the forming webbing. It felt a lot like a strange mixture of tough pliable leather, but also squishy like rubber. He squished his webbing between two fingers, giving it a small tug, feeling that it was very much attached. Fur continued to dissipate, replaced with the soft grey hide. The villainous king’s magic continued to course throughout his body, feeling its corruptive power reworking his body. His caribou snout already felt rather slimy as his bottom lip began puffing out. His snout began feeling more sensitive as tiny pairs of bumps began forming on the sides of his snout and on his chin. Khren rubbed at his changing snout, shuttering at how sensitive the growing bumps were. Although the biggest change was his nostrils were sealing up.

“Guess I made you look like quite the mouth breather having lost to me so bad!” Basil chuckled, flipping his ear like you would long hair. He stood up from his cushioned throne, strutting around his victim in his heels to admire his handiwork. The bumps began forming into long slender whiskers giving Khren quite the fish snout. The smooth slimy skin had spread up along his arms and across his snout and was spreading across his face.

“You know, If I hadn’t need of you elsewhere in my castle, you’d be just the greatest moat monster!” Basil taunted, grabbing Khren’s freshly formed barbel whiskers and twirling it around his fingers. Khren squirmed as he felt his fishy whiskers being played with and tugged. had already developed a strong sense of touch in them.

“And urr, what sort of use is that?” Khren said apprehensively.
Basil stretched out the fishy whiskers, letting them go as they snapped back like rubber.

“To use you as a bait fish of course. I’m sure a certain hyena would love to see my catch of the day!” Basil laughed. Khren gulped, knowing full well who the king was referring too. This had been planned all along, and he was just a pawn in the king’s game.

“you don’t mean Rip, do you?” Khren apprehensively asked, hoping his boyfriend could be sparred. Though there was no doubt. He knew there was only one hyena he could mean. Basil could see the defeat in Khren’s eyes. He had already internally answered his own question. Not only had he foolishly come to bet against the king and lost, he was going to end up dragging someone else in to share his fate. Worst of all, It was going to be his very own boyfriend. He knew all too well Rip was going to foolishly risk themselves to save him.

“Oh don’t worry, I only plan on making him quite the fool when he comes for my bait here.” Basil taunted, pinching Khren’s fishy cheek. The rabbit then gripped the Caribou’s antlers and with a small tug, they popped off. He jokingly placed the antlers up to his own head, taunting the changing caribou.

“Don’t think I can pull off the jackalope look, but I’m sure these will make for a great hat rack display!” The king jested, tossing the antler’s behind him as if tossing away dirty laundry. Khren held his webbed hand out for his antlers, his head feeling naked without them. Khren’s skin began to feel rather slimy as his pores began secreting a fishy goo which only began to escalate the changes to his once soft caribou fur. The fur began dissipating into a tough but smooth fishy leather along his chest. Khren ran his webbed hands over his chest, feeling his fishy goo spread along his body. Pulling his webbed hand away from the chest, he could see slime trailing from his chest to his hand. He was looking more like a fish monster that crawled out of a swamp than the fluffy caribou buck he had walked into the castle as. His green eyes were starting to yellow as his entire face was looking more fishlike. His soft fur becoming smooth and slick. His muzzle stretching wider but flatter. Khren gasped, feeling his face stretching and smooshing. The insides of his mouth started to take a dark blue hue as his teeth softened disappearing into his large now fishlike maw.

Khren was now more fish than deer. Most of his fur had fallen out showing off his gooey rubbery scaleless fish skin. His skin felt slimy as it felt like he was secreting a fishy oil. He could even smell an odor of fish coming from his body. Khren felt the back of his hat pushing upward as boney spines began forming along the back of his neck. The dorsal fin began growing bigger, forming thin webbing between each spine. He shivered as a draft of wind blew across his fresh dorsal fin and across his whiskers. Despite the wet ooze secreting from him, he felt dry. A small prickling sensation began to irritate his neck. Gills. The fish’s eyes got wide as he knew deep down, gills were starting to form. He panicked, looking around the castle, hoping to find a fountain or some fishbowl to submerge himself in.

“What’s wrong? Feeling like a fish out of water?” Basil jeered, sitting back on his cushioned throne. The king took a wine glass from the card table and swirled around the deep red wine, allowing the situation to sink further into Khren. Basil took a sip out of his wine, eyeing the changing fish.

“I suppose you have been a good sport tonight!” With that Basil tossed his wine glass up in the air before it came crashing down in front of Khren, shattering the glass across the stone floor. The sound echoed though the throne room. The red wine spilled across the floor began quivering as glass shards began to melt and spread around moving as if it was a slime. The red wine turned gold, jetting upwards and changing from a liquid into a solid, forming a golden frame around the fish. The glass crept up the frame, slowly solidifying towards the bottom become a study solid glass. Khren pressed against the glass with his webbed hands, unable to budge the forming glass cage. At the bottom, a golden plaque reading the words “Khren Aquarium” formed. Water began pooling at the bottom the aquarium by magic. The spectacle was quite the relieving sight for the worried fish. The water felt cool and refreshing against his dry skin as it pooled around his ankles. Though as much as the aquarium was a boon, it also served as a quite a cage; one that would not be escaped from in a fish form. The water kept filling the tank from the bottom. The water level rising up. Khren’s clothing getting heavy as the water level rose to his chest. Khren looked upward, seeing the solid ceiling above him. There was no escape coming from that way. He pounded at the glass, it being very solid and giving a deep thud with each pound. The water level was high enough, forcing Khren to have to wade in the water just to keep his head afloat. He felt water flowing against and around his webbed hands as he moved them back and forth. The prickling sensation on the sides of his neck subsided as he felt small slits opening across his neck. He breathed in the air from the tank, but it felt thin. Khren coughed, nervous about the dwindling amount of air in the tank. There wasn’t much room left, only a small pocket of air remained, and it wasn’t going to sustain him for long. Khren pressed up against the ceiling, it refusing to budge. Splashes of water flowed into his gills along his neck. Revitalizing him for a bit. It was hard to fight the instinctive nature of breathing air. In his mind he knew his gills would breath the water, but his surface mind wanted to refuse that. With one last deep breath of air, Khren dunked his head underwater. He opened his mouth but nothing. He was fine. The water flowing inside the gills felt like taking in fresh mountain air for the first time. It felt as if he was breathing through his neck, as water flowed in and out filling his body with rich oxygen. Water filled the aquarium, leaving Khren completely submerged in water. Khren glubbed in relief. His fishy fingers pressed against the glass, looking outside. His vision was crystal clear in the water and could see everything around his tank. Khren moved around the tank, viewing the outside from his aquarium. The glass case around him felt like it doubled as a display case for the King’s catch. The fishman was quite visible from almost all angles and there wasn’t a single place to hide himself. He was very exposed in there. Though despite his circumstances, it wasn’t as bad as the panic began to wear off. Despite his monstrous changes Khren couldn’t help his fascination with his changing body. It felt so foreign and strange but that’s what was driving his fascination. His once sturdy hooves began feeling soft. His cloven hoof splitting into toes as webbing formed between his growing toes. Khren flexed his three large distinct toes, spreading them apart causing his webbing to stretch.

“W-webbies!” Khren mumbled almost inaudibly, trying to hide his joy as he looked down at his changed feet. It was hard for Khren to hide his excitement. As much as he wanted to deny it, his love for fish couldn’t be hid. His deer tail wiggled in excitement. Each sway in the water only made it bigger. A small split began to form towards the tip of the tail. Webbing began growing from the top and bottom, forming a crescent shape. Khren’s body began feeling much more hydrodynamic as his one fluffy deer tail was now a tail fin. Khren couldn’t help doing a small spin in the water, letting him test out his enhanced swimming. Although a tap on the glass woke him to his senses. Basil was leaning against the aquarium with a big grin, seeming to be quite enjoying watching the fish in its glass prison. A sinking feeling returned to him. He was still in Basil’s castle. He was still captured.

“Glad to see you take to the tank like a fish in water! Although no aquarium is complete without a castle, and you deserve a consolation prize for best bait!” Basil said, snapping his finger and making a miniature figurine of his castle appear in the palm of his hand. Basil reached up and dunked replica into the tank. Khren watched as the castle gently floated down to the bottom. It was no bigger than the size of his head, but it put a little flair to the aquarium. It certainly served as a reminder of where he was stuck at. Khren swam down and prodded at the figurine, some air bubbling out of the towers. At least he hadn’t been totally degraded by having a diver placed in the tank. Although at least Khren could pass time pretending being a sea monster. His stomach rumbled. The change must have taken a lot out of him, or he was finally calmed down enough to realize his hunger. Maybe Basil would sprinkle in some fish food soon. He rubbed at his fishy belly thinking about it. Khren shook his head. He was already thinking fishy thoughts. He was bait, bait to be used to lure Rip in. Khren pressed up against the glass, seeing Basil watching him.

“H-hey! You already have me captured. Are you sure you need Rip here? I mean, there’s no shortage of heros!” Khren glubbed. He watched Basil, hopeful his pleas would be enough. Basil pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill from his leotard. He leaned against the aquarium, leaving a print in the glass for Khren to enjoy later. Basil licked the end of his quill and put it to paper. Khren swam up behind Basil, reading what was being written.

“Dear Ripply Kackle,
A Caribou seems to have wandered into my castle. If you don’t want to see him sleeping with some other fish in my moat, please come to my castle before tomorrow’s midnight for a fun little wager. I know how much you love to gamble! Do try not to not make too much a fool out of yourself playing hero. I know how much you hyena’s love to be the jokers.
Menacing yours,
Basil”

Khren’s eyes got wide reading the note. Rip would never turn down a challenge like that. He pounded his fist against the glass, but it refused to budge. He wished he could reach through and grab the note away. It was so close, but impossibly far. He was quite trapped in his aquatic prison and unable to stop the kings plot. He couldn’t save Rip from getting in trouble, let alone himself right now. Khren glubbed pushed against the glass but to no avail. He was going to be trapped inside unless by some miracle he was rescued.

“I just love it when a catfish scam works out perfectly!” Basil chuckled as he signed his name with a flourish. He reached into his pocket and sprinkled in some fishfood, just enough to tide the fresh fish over.

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