“So, I saw that you couldn’t get it off.” The sudden question snaps Ethan back to reality, the orange and white furred fox lost in thought to the adventure he had with his best friend and housemate Scott, the owner of the voice that spoke. He looks up at the black and brown husky with a nod, remembering the gemstone-buckle belt attached to his trunks by some unnatural means.

“Yeah...it just won’t unstrap.” Ethan nods, attaching his baldric onto his torso, adjusting it and the quarterstaff it was holding. “Still, it’s very surprising to have found something like it down in that temple. I mean, I know it probably was important and very old, but I don’t get why this belt strapped to that one pair of trunks. I had to wear something else”

“Eh, we’ll figure that out later.” The husky shrugs a bit, finishing getting into his own combat attire. “But still, can you imagine that we ended up stumbling across an ancient temple ruin that nobody else knows about? It was quite the rush getting to explore the place, it's so huge and mysterious!”

“It is, yeah.” Ethan nods, sighing softly. “I was a bit scared at first when I fell on the ramp that leads into it, but your push me helped us find it.”

“Hey, that was a nudge!” Scott protests. “Besides, it was dark, and how was I supposed to know there was going to be a hidden entrance at that exact moment? You can’t know that kind of stuff beforehand! And it’s not like there was any traps around, odd as that might be.”

“That’s true, and yes, that is very odd for such an old place. Though there was plenty of puzzles. All leading up to that gemstone belt, and I’m surprised we managed to figure them out...” Ethan stretches with another nod. “Still, what do you think it does? There’s no doubt some kind of magic to it, or else it wouldn’t have latched onto it.”

Scott shrugs in response, not sure what to really say. He puts more faith in his skills with a stave than in the arcane and ancient mysteries. Ethan rubs the back of his head in slight embarrassment at getting no response.

“Maybe it gives some magical powers…” Ethan begins, only to be cut off by his friend.

“As I said, let’s figure it all out later, okay? We’ll have all the time after we get home to research it, you know.” Scott asks with a bit of a huff. “We’re going to be late for our sparring sessions, let’s not keep teach waiting, okay?”

“Yeah...yeah, you’re right.” Ethan nods, smiling softly at the mention of their mentor and the day’s training. “Let’s go.” He puts his normal clothing into his locker, closing it and following Scott out of the locker room to the gym in the arena, eager to meet up with their mentor.

As the door closes, a black furred wolf in a plain shirt, shorts, and cap combo steps out from around the corner leading into a different section of the locker room. “Hmm...I do wonder what you have stumbled into, my dear students…” He mutters to himself before proceeding to depart the locker room as well.

•••

“Whew! Teach was as fierce as ever, though he seemed to be in thought a lot during the entire thing, especially during the sparring session!” Scott muses as he closes the door to the house he and Ethan are sharing.

“Yes, I noticed that too. He’s usually not like that, training gets his focus in any situation regardless. I wonder if it's something important or secretive…”

“Maybe he found something like we did? Speaking of which, let’s try that belt out, see if we can’t figure anything else out now! Go put it on, it did choose you for whatever reason!” Scott eggs Ethan with a small nudge, winking at the fox.

“Wait here, goofball.” Ethan chuckles, grabbing the posing trunks and heading into the bathroom in order to change into them, the gemstone belt still firmly attached to them. Shrugging off all his clothing and slipping the trunks, the fox did feel a subtle difference to the piece of clothing. They were much comfier somehow, and snugly fit his body as if they were brand new. This confuses him greatly, as they were his most used pair, especially in situations that made them worn out from constant use and training sessions. He exits the bathroom and moves into the living room where Scott is waiting on the couch for him.

“Looking good there, bud.” The husky chuckles softly, then blinks. “Umm...Ethan?”

“Yes? What is it?” The fox asks as he rubs the back of his head and looks to the side, blushing in embarrassment, before noticing his tail flick in the edge of his view...only it wasn’t his tail. He looks at it with a raised brow, before realizing his fox tail had been replaced with that of a panther’s. He moves to grip and look at it, noticing his orange fur had become black and his claws were much sharper, retracting as he looks at them with a surprised growl. That’s odd, Ethan thinks, I’ve never growled before. In fact... I sound like a cat!

“Ethan? Are you okay?! You’ve turned into a panther!” Scott’s voice stirs him out of his thoughts. Ethan looks up at the husky, then notices Scott had brought up the mirror from the hall. His reflection was indeed that of a panther with his build and other features. Ethan lets out a startled mewl as he stumbles back, falling over onto his rear.

“Ooof!” He grunts before shaking his head, then looks at himself from his prone position through the mirror. “How…” The belt’s gemstone was pulsating with a magical light, something he notices in his reflection. “Did it do that?” He asks in a muted mutter, looking down at the glowing gemstone. “Then...it’s magic! I knew it!” He gets up, looking over himself more. “So I can transform with it...I wonder what else it can do!” He ponders that question for a moment, then attempts to will it to turn him back, looking at the mirror. Slowly but surely, his form does shift back to his original fox self, fur changing color back to orange. “Wow…” He quietly gasps, thinking of all the possibilities.

“So... that was real?” Scott asks incredulously. “You seriously just turned into a black cat and then back? That was seriously awesome! Do something else!”

“Not until I’m certain of what else this can do, Scott, and if I should be careful or anything. I’m a bit nervous that I could mess it up. We’ll look more into it once we can, first we have to find anything about this at the library…”

“But why wait?” The husky asks with an impatient huff.

“Neither of us has used magic before, that’s why. Let me get dressed and we’ll go to read up on this. And that’s final, Scott, thank you.”

“Alright, alright.” He sits back down as Ethan goes back to get change back. “Shame, that would have been fun to learn on our own instead of reading dusty books…”

---

It took me a while, but here it finally is! A story request that I received a long while before I opened them as commissions, and finally managed to finish it. Hope you enjoy!

And for those wondering, count this as an example of my Wing It story commissions.

The characters in the story belong to