Coonier

Kyle had come up with the perfect project for his biology class. He had kept it a secret, even from his parents because he didn’t want to get anybody’s ‘hopes up’. He had been working on it in secret for months, and finally it was nearing completion. His parents were going away for 2 weeks, and he would have the house to himself, this would give him the perfect opportunity. He could finally do some field tests of his project, and if it worked not only would it guarantee him an excellent grade in his class, but more importantly it would make a perfect 'welcome home' present for his parents when they got back. His invention was a device he hopped could one day be a fountain of youth. He had constructed a device that shot out a beam, that when it struck a life form would regenerate it cells and restore them to an earlier state. In effect, it would make them younger, the longer the exposure the younger they would get. While his parents were not what anyone would consider old, and they by no means felt old, he though it would be great to be able to allow them to become physically his age again, while still retaining their memories and intelligence. Like with most 20 year olds, it was sometimes hard for Kyle’s parents to understand him, he didn’t blame them for that, as he knew most of what they would was based on lessons they had learned in their lives, and they just wanted the best for him. But to be able to allow them to opportunity to be physically 20 again and to see the worlds though the eyes of a 20-year-old was a very interesting concept. Not only could they have a better understanding of each other, but also it would add literally decades onto their lives and they could relive their youth, without having to suffer the pain of learning lessons (in life) again. That was the beauty of this invention, it allowed a person to retain their memories and their intelligence. Imagine being able to young again, but to have the experience to avoid life’s ‘pitfalls’ and to be able to experience simpler times without all the additional worries that come with getting older. That was of course assuming his invention worked. He didn’t want to test it on a person or animal yet, so he decided to test it on a fully gown plant. He would expose it to the beam for 5 seconds then run tests on it to see if it worked.

As anyone who was testing a new invention that would literally change the very nature of humanities existence, Kyle was nervous. A lot of 'what ifs' were running though his mind, but he pushed forward to do the test, as there was only one way to find out if this was going to work or not. In his backyard, he set up the device and put a plant several meters in front of it, with a backboard to absorb any energy that made it past the plant. Putting on goggles and gloves as precautions, he powered up the device and set the countdown to activate it. Just then, a raccoon climbed into the backyard apparently fascinated by what was going on. Seconds before the device activate it jumped onto the table, knocking the plant onto the ground, and standing on the table sniffing where the plant was.

“NO!” Kyle said as the device activated. In a panic he ran towards the coon to try to scare it off, but it was too late, the device activated, it’s beam of light encompassing both Kyle and the raccoon. Startled by this, the raccoon jumped off of the table and ran away, after a few seconds Kyle was standing there still shocked by what had happened. Cursing at him self for allowing such a thing to happen, he was suddenly overcome by a wave of dizziness and passed out.

He awoke 20 minutes later feeling a warm tingling and slightly itchy feeling all over his body, looking at his watch, he saw that he had been

“out” for about 20 minutes. By some stroke of luck, no one had seen any one this, like his parents, his neighbours were mostly on vacation. It was hard for him to check himself over outside in the dark like this, so Kyle collected his equipment and went inside. He was quick to store everything in the basement, and to collect the various readings he had taken for study the next day. He was still feeling strange and he remembered that he had been exposed to the beam along with that raccoon for several seconds. The device was never meant to have 2 life forms in it at once, especially ones of different species. He had no idea how he could be affected by it, he has hoped it wouldn’t affect him, but considering how he felt at the time it was clear this wasn’t the case.

Walking into the bathroom, he removed his medical coat, goggles and gloves and looked on the mirror to examine himself. He had no idea what effect the beam would have on someone his age; this wasn’t exactly the way he wanted to find out. Removing his medical coat, (so he was wearing shorts, a tee shirt and socks) he quickly noticed that there were changes taking place. First of all, he seemed to be a bit shorter, and he did look a bit younger, about what he had looked like about a year or so ago. He knew that the process would take at least 3-4 hours to complete, but he was not sure just how young he was going to get. It was then that he noticed that there were other changes that didn’t involve him looking younger. As he was getting younger, he assumed that his body hair and facial hair would decrease, but instead they both appeared to be slightly increasing. The texture and colour of his existing hair had actually been changed from normal human and red to almost like fur and a grey with some brown mixed in. Touching it, it felt soft and was actually very pleasant to the touch. Removing his pants and shirt, he could see that the fur was coming in all over his body. A very close look showed that new fur was growing in slowly. Feeling an odd lump over his rear end he removed his underwear and saw a small bulge protruding from his tailbone, it looked like an extension of his spine, it too was sprouting fur. Kyle didn’t know what to think at this point, he knew why he was getting younger, but furrier and growing what appeared to be a tail? Remembering the raccoon being exposed to the beam at the same time he was he realised that somehow, its DNA must have been combined with his.

“So I’m not just getting younger, I’m also becoming an animal.” He said to no one in particular. His attitude was a mix of fascination, curiosity and a little anticipation. He was very curious to see what the final product of this was going to be, and seeing fur growing on his body was certainly an interesting, if not slightly disturbing sight to behold. Setting up a camera, he decided to record his transformation as it happened. He had no way of knowing if he was going to be able to communicate or not after it was done, so he needed to be able to show everyone what had happened to him. He put his underwear back on so he could still see the changes occur to his body, but without having to be ‘naked in front of the camera’.

After the first hour.

The changes were much further along now. Before he looked more or less like 'himself' but know, he looked quite a bit different. His fur was much thicker, at least as thick as the hair on his head had been before the change. The colour was grey with some brown highlights. Around his eyes, a definite mask was in the process of forming, around his mask was white fur, which extended down his muzzle. His muzzle, while still fairly short was definitely a muzzle, his nose had shrunken down to the size and shape of a coon, but it’s colour and it’s nostrils sill looked human. His teeth looked human for the most part but were perhaps a bit pointers then before. What was before just a stub was now a furry tail a few inches long, it already has a ring around it. Feeling it was very strange experience, it felt warm to his hands, but the feelings it gave his body were almost alien, they were pleasant but at the same time, so different then anything he had felt before. His hands were looking a bit more like paws, small claws had formed from his fingernails, fur was growing on top of his hands, but it was much shorter then the fur on the rest of his body. The colour of the skin on his hands had darkened slightly, and its texture had increased along with it. He noticed that his sense of touch seemed to be a bit better. His ears, while still having a basic human look, were now at the top of his head and were furry, he seemed to be able to hear a bit better as well. It was hard to tell his physical age, but he appeared to be about 16 or 17 and was a few inches shorter, his voice sounded a little higher pitched. He could still see his fur very slowly getting longer.

“If I looked like this after only an hour, whose knows how I’m going to look after 3 or 4”.

An hour later, 2 hours after the accident

Kyle’s changes continued, he was much shorter now, his voice much higher pitched, judging by his height and the sound of his voice , he seemed to be about 13 or 14 years old physically. While his knowledge and intelligence seemed unaffected, he was finding himself starting to have the mentality he did when he was that age, it felt like so long ago, he found himself wanting to play , but his experience convinced him to ‘stay put’ at least until the changes were done. His fur was now a full pelt , he had to admit it was very handsome, and soft as anything he had even felt. He spent several minutes simply petting the fur on his arms.

“No wonder cats like being petted so much, this is like an incredible massage”. His tail was almost fully grown, having since burst though his underwear. When standing, it was still a fair bit off the ground. It had 2 rings around it now. His muzzle near fully developed, his nose now had nostrils like a raccoon’s. The texture of it was still mostly human, but it was starting to darken. His hands looked like paws and his fingers had the shape of a raccoons. There was little sign they had even been human hands, his feet were very similar. Looking at his claws, he wondered how well he’d be able to climb know, it took a fair bit of willpower to fight the urge not to try climbing curtains. His ears were furry now and their shape was almost fully raccoon, although there was still a hint of human in them. His teeth were much pointer and sharper. Via the monitor attached to the camera he was using the record his transformation he had to admit, he was starting to look cute.

An hour later, 3 hours since the accident.

All of Kyle's raccoon features were now fully developed, his muzzle, his ears, teeth, paws, and nose all showed no signs they had ever been human. His tail had fully grown, it has 4 rings on it, and it was a good length, nearly touching the ground if he stood up. His height had continued to decrease, he was now the same height he had been when he was ten years old. His voice sounded much more like a kids. The feeling he had inside of him, seemed to indicate that the changes were near done, but not quite. He was finding it harder and harder to resist acting like a kid and running around playing, he wanted to see what his new body could do. It had seemed like a long time since he was this young and he wanted to take advantage of it. He still had all of his memories and knowledge intact but things that interested him before now seemed boring.

“Not only am I becoming a kid, but it seemed my mentality is changing to fit my body” he said to himself. This time his tone was not of annoyance but of anticipation, he felt much more energetic now and a lot of his worries and realisations of the world were much less bothersome.

An hour later , 4 hours after the accident, his transformation complete

The changes had stopped and the strange feelings had subsided. Kyle was now physically about 8 years old, height wise he was no taller then your average 8 year old. He was finding that while he retained his memories and intelligence his mentality was much more like a kids. He knew that while he should do some research and try to reverse this, he wasn't interested. All he wanted to do was run and play. His body felt great. Looking at himself in the mirror, he saw how cute he was. Changing back suddenly seemed very undesirable. He liked being this way and wanted to stay. Looking at the clock, he saw it was late, and this change had left him tried. Going upstairs, and curling up into a little ball on this bed (something that felt very comfortable , and warm) he fell asleep.

The next day Kyle awoke feeling refreshed and great overall. Getting up and looking in the mirror, he realised that what had happened was not a dream.

“Cool , it wasn't a dream” he said in his new voice as he hugged himself. Looking though his clothes drawer, he decided to get dressed. He realised that none of his clothes were going to fit now. Hoping his parents still had some clothes in the basement closet from his childhood , he went downstairs. He was in luck , his parents had kept several of his shirts and pants from when he was a kid. They felt so nice and familiar. Putting on a shirt that ironically had a picture of a raccoon kid on it and a pair of shorts, he found himself feeling very hungry. But what does a raccoon kid eat? Looking in the mirror at his sharp raccoon teeth, he guessed that he probably would eat meat. But he felt a craving for something else, something sweet. Like all kids, Kyle now had a ‘sweetooth’. He had read that racoons liked sweet’s as well. Being the clever sort that he was, he managed to find some candy in the kitchen. Eating quite a bit of it until he felt full he grinned mischievously, reminded of the days of innocence before having to worry about eating properly and being perfectly happy eating candy and junk food all day.

His hearing was much better now and he could hear kids on the street playing. Climbing up onto the kitchen counter, he peered opened the window and looked outside. His sight wasn't quite as good as it used to be, but he was not physically challenged by means, he could probably get by fine without having to need glasses. His hearing more then made up for his sight not being quite as good. He could hear the conversations of each kid and could hear cars in the distance. The feeling was incredible, his sense of awareness of his surroundings were incredible. Wondering how good his sense of smell now was, he took a deep breath through his nose. The smells he could smell were incredible, he could tell that squirrels had been eating by the garden, he could smell each flower, he could even smell that other raccoons had been there during the night, perhaps drawn by his scent. His scent was a combination of human and raccoon. As a human he could never have detected it though. He could even smell meals he had eaten days ago, as if they had just been cooked a few hours ago. Never before had he felt more alive and ‘there’. As a kid he could experience the world though the innocence of a child again. But this time with his new senses he could experience it much more in-depth.

Hearing a couple of girls playing hopscotch outside , he had a mistevous thought. Boys and girls his age rarely got along and would often try to find ways too annoy and even scare each other. He imaged how they’d react to a humanoid raccoon running towards them. Hearing other boys, he found he wanted to play games with them.

Locking the house up, he ran outside into the warm sun. It felt incredible on his fur. He was still amazed by the sounds and smells his enhanced hearing and smelling allowed him to experience. Without even thinking, he had started purring, almost like a kitten. Climbing up a tree to observe the other children , he found climbing much easier then he had ever remembered it as being.

After an hour or so of observing, he finally climbed down the tree, and walked over to the girls who were playing. All but one of them one looked at him and screamed and ran away. The one that stayed commented on how cute he was and petted him on the head, which made him purr even more. Wanting to know what was going on, several of the boys ran towards them. The boys were everything from fascinated to confused by the humanoid raccoon standing in front of them. When he talked they all jumped back surprised he could talk.

“That’s a very cool costume, where'd you get it” one of them finally asked, with the others equally interested. Kyle wanted to tell them the truth, but didn’t know what would happen, so he played along with them and pretended he was just a normal kid in a costume.

“I made it myself, my dad sells fake fur coats and got me a bunch of fake fur”. They all felt it agreeing that he was definitely going to win whatever costume competition he was in.

“So can I play with you guys? I want to see how this thing feels in action” he asked. Still fascinated by the ‘costume’ they agreed to let him play with them.

More hours later then Kyle could count it was getting dark. He had been playing all day and had totally lost track of time. Despite this, he still had energy, which brought back fond memories of his childhood and how we used to do this all of the time.

“Those were simpler times and now I can live them all over again” he thought as he skipped home happily, warbling the whole way.

For the next week Kyle did much the same thing. Eventually, the day that his parents were coming home arrived, and he found himself wondering how he was going to explain this to them.

All curled up in a little ball, Kyle was awoken by the sounds of the front door opening, his parents were home, he had slept in! They called his name to see where he was. Not sure what else to do he quickly got up and ran downstairs, sliding down the balcony along the way. And coming to a rest on his feet , a few meters in front of his parents.

Their initial reaction was almost panic, thinking there was a wild animal in the house they tried to shoo him away. Realising their fear, Kyle quickly said

“Mom, Dad it’s me!” , still unconvinced they both explained

“it can talk?”. Again trying to convince them,

“it really is me, how many raccoon’s do you know that can talk, wear clothes and walk on two legs? I can prove it really is me, I have a video that shows what happened”. Not knowing what to think at this point they still were sceptical. But 2 minutes ago the suggestion they’d encounter a humanoid, talking raccoon kid that wore clothes would have been impossible.

After showing them the video that showed him go from himself to a raccoon kid in a matter of hours , they were all but convinced. Afterall, why would anyone fake such a thing.

“My God, it really is you under all that fur isn’t it? I do have to admit , you look awfully cute. But why are you a kid?” his mother asked.

He asked them to go downstairs and showed them his invention and explained how it was supposed to be a welcome home present and his project, and how his test of it went horribly wrong.

Finally convinced that the raccoon kid standing in front of her really was her son, she found herself starting to fall for the

“cute effect” (as he really was very cute). Bending down, she started to rub him behind the ears, she could tell he really loved this as he closed his eyes and started purring.

“raccoons purr?” she said to his father

“Just like kittens do , I remember reading that once”. She continued to ‘pet’ him , amazed by the softness of the fur on his head and finally picked him up and gave him a great big hug , with him returning the favour. It didn’t take her long to notice that he didn’t exactly smell like a rose , and that his clothes weren't exactly clean.

“Um , Kyle , when was the last you took at bath and changed your clothes?”. As if someone had said a terrible curse word he covered his little ears and said

“Bath? Ewww I hate baths their gross! And I like these clothes, their fun!” he said with a great big smile on his face. That certainly brought back memories, as a kid Kyle was always difficult about taking baths, if it were up to him he may never had taken one or changed his clothes. Despite how cute he looked protesting , he really needed a bath. Smiling at his father, his mother looked at him and said ‘you know the drill.” And winked at him. Realising what that he headed upstairs to ‘draw’ the bath.

Kyle knew what that meant too, his mentality may have been that of a child, but his memories and intelligence were still fully intact. He quickly took off towards the stairs as fast as his little legs could carry him, his fur blowing in the breeze he created and his little tail bouncing up and down. The chase went on for a several minutes until his mother cornered him, realising she had him beat, he decided to let her pick him up, he was afterall curious as to how water would feel against his fur. But he wasn't about to let on and in classical kid fashion, said

“Awe, mom!” in that annoyed voice that all parents were familiar with. As she got him into the bathroom, his dad already had the bath drawn, much to Kyle’s perturbation.

“Common now , wont it be nice to feel all clean and to smell nice?” she said in a coaxing voice. Well it probably would, but being dirty and stinky was kind of fun it made him feel more animal like and being half animal only increased the peculiar thrill of it. His mother had a way with words, so finally, for the first time in a week he removed his clothes. When he was still an adult human, his parents seeing him naked like this would have bothered him to no end, now it didn’t bother him at all. Finally he stepped into the water, the feeling of it was somewhat strange against his fur, and it felt nothing like it would for a human. Laying back and relaxing, he listened to his parents talking.

“So what exactly am I supposed to clean him with? Regular soap wont work with that fur, and shampoo may sting his eyes.”

“There is always that cat shampoo we have downstairs, it should be close enough”. In time, they had the shampoo and had him fully shampooed, he looked pretty silly all covered in suds like that, silly enough that his mother couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures of him. Washing his feet was pretty fun as he was very ticklish, it seemed his mother spent just as much time tickling him while he laughed as she did actually cleaning him. Finally, he was clean and he got out of the bath and they dried him off.

“See, that wasn’t so bad was it?” his mother asked,

“guess not” Kyle responded and asked if he could go play outside, apparently forgetting he wasn’t wearing anything.

“maybe later sweetie , I think we need to have a talk”, Kyle could only respond with

“oh oh”.

All three of them sat downstairs on the living room. His parents finally laid down the ‘boom’

“now sweetie, I can tell you really like being this way, but can’t be like this, you have to find a way to use your invention to reverse this.

“Invention boring! Kyle like being like this, don’t want to go back!” Kyle protested,

“but honey..” his mom said, Looking at her with his raccoon eyes, Kyle was able to do a perfect puppy dog face look.

“I guess we can think about it” she finally said. Because it was getting late, she and his dad decided to

“sleep on it” . Putting Kyle to bed , they watched him curl up in a little ball and go to sleep.

They talked in bed for hours, they shifted between letting him stay a raccoon kid and convincing him to restore his human self. Finally they came to their final decision, even though he was a kid and clearly had the mentality of a kid, it would be wrong to force him to change himself back, assuming that was even possible. He really was cute like this, and he really was enjoying it. Maybe it was fate, he would certainly have an interesting life as a humanoid raccoon. They’d save lot of money on clothing as all that fur would certainly be useful in the cold. Maybe some day they could figure out how Kyle’s invention worked and could recreate his accident and become raccoon people, except maybe not quite so young, or maybe they could simply become younger and re-experience being 20 years old again.

The next morning came and they awoke to see Kyle standing on their bed, near the foot of it saying

“well, can I stay? Hun?” all while jumping up and down.

“Yes honey you can stay” his mother said , he responded by giving her a great big hug. Hopping of the bed he ran downstairs joyfully.

Smiling at each other, his parents got up and walked downstairs after him, smiling at the interesting turn their life had taken, and happy that their son was truly 'himself.'