The Academy, Part 3

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The Academy

Part 3: A Challenge

"Well—here we are!" Halley leaned against the door to hold it open, gesturing inside. "It's not much, but to me, it's home." The redhead walked inside with her suitcase, taking the space in. It looked less like a dorm room and more like an apartment. There was only one bedroom, but it was fairly large, and it adjoined a mid-size bathroom, a kitchen, and a small office with two desks in it (one of which was occupied by a desktop computer, and the other of which was empty).

"This is..larger than I expected," Emily said.

"Hahah, I hear that a lot."

"And, you said this building always has an open room?"
"Right, right—seems like it 'grows' when more students are on campus. I was here when the fourth floor appeared," said the wolf-girl.
"You saw it happen?"
"Nah. It must've been in the middle of the night, when most everyone was asleep and nobody awake was looking."

"Of course...excuse me a moment."

Emily found that one of the...less immediately noticeable alterations to her mind was an almost-instinctive-feeling knowledge of how to properly use the restroom as a girl. This was convenient, if slightly disturbing. After taking care of that, she returned the bedroom. Both beds were made up with pillows, covers, and sheets, but the one with several stuffed animals decorating it, and a full nightstand next to it, was obviously Halley's. So she put her suitcase up on the unclaimed bed and unzipped it, having realized that she'd never actually checked if or how its contents had changed.

Her laptop, for one thing, was still in the same place, and appeared to be fully intact—both the computer itself, and the charging cord and USB peripherals it usually traveled with. There was little else unchanged, however: The contents of her suitcase were organized in basically the same way, but with feminine replacements for all of the wear and toiletries. In place of men's underwear were bras and panties like those she currently had on; casual wear was mostly replaced by additional uniforms in a few different colors and styles, plus a couple of casual outfits that nonetheless featured skirts; formal wear was now a couple of fancy dresses; and even her toiletries had shifted somewhat, to include a pink toothbrush and more heavy-duty shampoo...plus the addition of some other less-mentionable items. At least, she reasoned, it would all fit her.

Halley watched her rifle through her belongings quietly and patiently. Emily felt this was evidence that her claim of having had a large number of short-term roommates was truthful, since she was seemingly used to newbies acquainting themselves with their transformed things like this. After confirming the suitcase's contents, she shut it again and stood upright, turning to the wolf-girl. "Sorry, we should get going."
"No problem~! Oh, here's your key to the room," she said, holding it out. She'd probably retrieved it while Emily's focus was elsewhere.

"Thanks," she said, accepting it and, after briefly attempting to put it in the pocket her skirt didn't have, stuck it in her purse. Halley giggled softly watching this, but didn't otherwise comment.

According to the wolf-girl, Astra was a relative newcomer, having arrived shortly after the dropping of the veil and largely stuck around since then. However, she wasn't someone surprised by the presence of magic; rather, she was a Kitsune. She'd always claimed to "really" have five tails, but The Academy had restricted her to just one, which apparently also meant her powers were significantly weakened. That didn't keep her from living up to the stereotype of her race and swiftly becoming known as the campus's biggest prankster. Halley had gotten to know her after enduring a few of her pranks (although she seemed quite cheerful when talking about this part, like she'd actually enjoyed them), but didn't know her roommate nearly as well despite how long she'd been living on campus.

Emily followed Halley across the campus lawn, watching the other students around them go about their business. Some were running around or playing sports, others sitting reading books or tablets, and still more were walking between the campus buildings, alone or in groups. They passed five girls sitting cross-legged on the grass talking about...well, maybe she misheard, but Emily could swear they were discussing the finer points of quantum physics.

"Nobody really has a set schedule here, I suppose," she mused aloud.
"Nope. A lot of us settle into routines, though. And I happen to know where Astra likes to take a break and people-watch for opportunities."

"Opportunities?"
"You know, for folks to mess with."
"Oh."

"So I'll take you by there at the end of our little tour, then?"

"That works."

---

"If you're content with five, then live your life happily." That's what the young Kitsune's great-grandfather had said after awarding him his latest tail. "It's not often anyone earns four before living a century, after all—you're an early bloomer like I was."

"And—what if I'm not content?" He actually was pretty happy with this latest burst of power; he could wait a century or three to get another if needed. But he was curious, eager to hear his ancestor's wisdom anyway.

"Well, in that case, you ought to seek a challenge. The Ruler notices hard-working, ambitious foxes, you know."

A challenge, huh?" He wasn't hungry for power or impatient for another tail, but..that sounded like fun all the same. He would just need to find one.

For some years, the young Kitsune sought to use his power with subtlety. He mixed in with the mundane human society, pretending to be one of them even to other beings on his side of the veil. It was a convincing act, and provided him with plenty of opportunities to secretly use his power to pull interesting tricks on both the magic and the mundane sides of society. This was perhaps less of a challenge than was needed to earn a sixth tail anytime soon; he was fairly sure there were a lot of fellow foxes with very similar habits, so it wasn't likely that he even stood out from the crowd like this. Yet he was happy enough in this life until everything suddenly changed.

If the fox felt frustration from the lifting of the veil, it was a feeble emotion at most, swiftly buried under eager anticipation. Suddenly humans knew that beings like him were real, and might be on the lookout for them—including being a little bit wiser to their pranks. That, at least, was a little bit more of a challenge. But, he thought, the people he'd been living near for a while now were sure to figure him out based on his prior history of tricks alone, and that wouldn't be much fun. So he decided to move away and get a fresh start somewhere else.

The midst of that move was when he found something very interesting—an intense power, yet incredibly subtle; beings with less sensitivity than himself were sure to miss it altogether. And it existed right in the middle of what appeared to be a normal, human-run town, of all things! While he wasn't entirely sure whether this power belonged to a person or some ancient artifact, the Kitsune thought: Wouldn't it be fun, challenging certainly, to try to fool something that strong? And so he made his way into the forest that served as the outermost border of this immense power's domain.

The Kitsune could feel the strange power exerting its control on the trees, the very nature around him itself. It was just barely perceptible even to him, so he couldn't quite make out what it was doing besides just keeping the plants healthy. This might be, he thought, one of the rumored Fae; perhaps he was approaching the garden of a nature-oriented one. But if that were so, the owner would be obliged to appear soon and warn him if he was trespassing, or welcome him if he wasn't—and no being of any kind was forthcoming as he continued his walk inward.

Once he was deep enough into the forest, the fox could feel the power reaching in toward him: Up from the grass and the roots, in from the trees beside, before, and behind. It wasn't hostile; he would even describe the mood behind this power as welcoming. And yet it was noticeably assertive, exerting an increasingly strong pressure against his own magic. He stopped walking, sniffing the air and reaching outward ever so slightly, trying to read or even perhaps ask that power: What did it want?

The scent of the forest was pleasant and sweet. Beastfolk were as a rule more attuned to nature than your average human, and Kitsune were no exception. This patch of trees and grass was not as wild as real nature might be, a certain artificiality being imposed on it by the very power that kept it so strong, but it was close enough to natural to be comforting to him. The Kitsune could feel the power spreading into him through his contact, feeling like an extension of the calm from the scent of the peaceful forest. It felt like...this was a peaceful, safe place. He shouldn't really need so much power of his own to protect himself here.

At this point, he could feel one of his tails...shrinking. Even though it was hidden from view—as he was most comfortable just having one or none of them out most of the time—the Kitsune could distinctly feel it getting smaller and smaller, retracting away into his back. Most importantly, it was taking with it the portion of power that he'd gained when he earned it. At the same time, he could feel the immense power starting to press in on his body, causing it, too, to shrink. His eye level sank very slowly, and his clothes began to loosen around him.

"Ah..I see..." he mumbled quietly. He should feel more panicked about his power waning—especially as he felt his fourth tail beginning to vanish away just like the fifth had—but there was the distinct sense that this was temporary. If he wanted it all back, he needed only to leave. But, while he was here, there was no need for such power. The hair of his head burst outward then, all at once growing long enough to frame his face and tickle the back of his neck. As his fourth tail—and its accompanying power—left him, the Kitsune found himself shrinking a little bit faster. Even if he'd been pushing against the immense power of the forest with all his might, he'd be unable to resist it successfully; it was simply too much. But that was all right; he'd let it do it what it wanted for now.

The fox unhid the three tails he had left, pulling one forward to brush his hand across it as he felt the immense power channeling through the forest touch it. Before his eyes, the fluffy fur shrank, slipping across his hand as it pulled its way behind him to disappear into his back. He could also see his hand shrinking, its fingers turning small, slim, and delicate. His hair burst out longer again, falling across his shoulders and partway down his back, and he shrank a little bit faster still. "Aa~ah, mm~mmh.." He observed that his voice was changing now, lilting into a less masculine tone, and felt reasonably sure he knew where the changes (other than the loss of his tails) were going.

Indeed, he stopped getting shorter at this point, yet his frame continued to narrow down. He felt a distinct tingling between his legs, which spread out from there to all across the rest of his skin—softening and smoothing it, vanishing away body hair. It was a curiously refreshing feeling that made him shudder slightly, letting out a soft, rather cute "Aa~ah". While this tingling faded from the rest of his body, it only grew stronger between his legs, soon progressing into a tugging, slipping sensation as the manhood he'd spent all of his life with began to go the way of those last few tails...

"Mmn~nh..aah, aa~aah.." He found his heart beating faster, his face warming with a blush. His legs squirmed back and forth, his ears hung low, and his two remaining tails began to wag a little faster—even as one of them started to shrink away. "Ooh..rr~RRrrfh...mmh, mmm~mmrrrRRRR~RRHHH..!" With a few more tugs, the fox felt his manhood melting away. It was an indescribable feeling, yet unbelievably pleasant—more than enough to crowd out the vanishing away of that tail and the further waning of his former powers down to what he'd had as a young teenager. Finally, a soft "Aah—" came out as the fox became fully female, followed by a helpless "Ooo~ooooh...!" in a deep, sultry alto tone as she felt a wave of girlish pleasure coursing through her.

"Mnnh, aah!" The pleasure only grew stronger as the new vixen felt her hips and thighs spreading themselves out wider and thicker, her chest tingling sharply in anticipation of some breasts befitting her new, sexy voice. She found..she really wanted that! If she was going to be a woman, let her be the curviest girl around! "Aah, aa~ah..mmn—Rrrfh!" A high bark came out as she felt the first push from her chest, two small bumps appearing around her nipples. And then, "W-waa~aah..!" She squirmed around a little more as she felt them steadily pushing outward and forward, expanding out bigger and bigger.

"Oo~ooh mmyyy~yh...!" The wonderful feeling between her legs grew ever stronger as the sensitive skin of the growing bosom slid out across the cloth of her shirt. She could feel her clothes shifting around on her, the top pulling tight around her torso, only for the breasts to burst themselves out even bigger, popping it apart at the top. "Aah, mm~rrh...aa~aahnn...!" Then they gave one final push, growing into an enormous pair of globes to match the rest of her incredible figure.

"Mmh...rr~rfh.." The fox-girl blinked her eyes open after a moment, turning her head down and twisting around to examine herself. Her clothes had become...what appeared to be a blue schoolgirl's uniform, including a short skirt and some black stockings reaching up to her thighs—leaving a couple of inches of soft, bare skin exposed between the two of them. Her top had indeed been unable to completely hold in her chest, so much so that an upper button of both the shirt and vest were undone to show some generous cleavage.

"H-heheh...it's just as well these are blue," she said. "Matches my fur quite well~." The Kitsune resumed her walk through the trees, thinking: Such a specific enchantment couldn't be responding to only her. There must be something inside that people go to—perhaps a large group of people? And, pulling off pranks when she was so weak that even just hiding her ears and tail for a while could make her tired? Now, that would be a challenge!

Foxes—at least those who enjoy playing tricks—tend to gravitate toward two, polar opposite, sorts of people. One group is those who behave a bit like fellow Kitsune—taking their pranks in stride, laughing when they're fooled, and sometimes giving as good as they got. Halley the wolf-girl was one such person, so naturally she'd hit it off with Astra ever since their first mutual prank-off. And now she was walking up with a very confused-looking redhead in tow. That bespectacled girl looked like an excellent mark! So she couldn't help but grin as she saw them approach, her tail slowly swishing back and forth across the back of the bench.

"Hello there, Halley!" she greeted, waving to them as they approached. "Out on a date~?"

"Wh—no!" Judging from the way the wolf-girl's face flushed, maybe Astra's teasing had hit the wrong target; the redhead, for her part, just looked confused. Well, one was just as good as the other in the fox-girl's book. "Uh, th-this is Emily, a mathematician!" she said, excitedly waving in the taller girl's direction. "And, new to the Academy! Just walked in this afternoon. I was showing her around, i-i-is all."

"Oh, I see~. Well, pleased to meet you!" she hopped up onto her feet, offering the redhead a hand. "I go by Astra in these parts." She'd been lucky enough to wind up pretty tall for a girl, and always enjoyed the flustered looks that girls of more average heights invariably gave her chest when she stood right in front of them. Emily suffered some of the same fate, but did her best to keep her composure, taking the offered hand.

"Uh, nice to meet you."

"Likewise, heheh! Now, allow me to guess.."

The Kitsune leaned forward slightly, just enough for the front of her nose to probably be in what Emily considered her personal space. The redhead's face featured a faint blush that looked like it hadn't faded since she first arrived on campus. "Male, right? Before you arrived?"

"Uh—yes."

"I thought so," she said, standing up straight again. "Halley was a boy too!"

"Oh, r-really?" Emily glanced at the wolf-girl for a second.

"A lot can change about a person in seven-odd to eight years," Halley said, grinning and seeming to take this in stride.

"Anyhow, we came looking for you 'cause Emily was curious about something. You know where your roommate is right now? Or, could you text her or somethin'?"
"I'm certain I can track her down~," Astra said, her tone of voice not hiding her anticipation of that girl's reaction to an ambush. "If you don't mind telling me what you're planning to ask her about?"

"I was trying to work out—who's responsible for this place. Or, what, if it isn't a person," Emily said. "An effect this...drastic, with such a clear line of intent—it just worries me that someone hasn't publicly claimed credit. Halley said that your roommate has been here longer than her, and might have some clues?"
"Oooh, maybe! She's one of the few who actually 'works' for the Academy, after all!" Astra said. "I'll join you two, then—this sounds like fun! Anyway, now that you've mentioned it...I'm curious too."

---

One of the advantages of generating images for a story is that it's possible to actually arrange for the backgrounds of said images to actually be as the story describes. With drawn images, one's best bet is for the background to be blank, or else to arrange the story to fit the background depicted, which can sometimes be very clunky and awkward to do. But this does come with challenges of its own, since image generators don't really "understand", for example, how a tail and a bench should physically interact. It took a while to get an image for Astra that had neither a hand melting into the wood, nor a tail phasing through the back of her seat.