You Gotta be

You Gotta Be
By Chisato Sakuraba

Carla was sitting at her favorite café, downtown near the park. The waitress, a Bengal tigress wearing a pink and white maid uniform, came out with a new cup of coffee and a smile. Setting it to the right of the vixen, she just smiled. “The owner sends this to you with his regards.” She smiled and turned back into the café. The dragon behind the counter giving her a gentle smile and a small movement of his hand back to her. Carla just smiled back and took a sip of the coffee. It was one of the best blends she ever had. And it was prepared just like she liked them. It was rare to find a coffee café that would brew a single cup so meticulously as this one did. Plus the baked goods were some of the best, even if she felt one day she would eat enough to make her feel inflated.

The dragon, Rift, smiled to the Tigress, Yuriko, as she came back to the counter. Her tail swishing behind her. “Why did you give our favorite customer your new brew? That was supposed to be used for those slacker kids who take sodas for free.” The tigress was definitely a little upset as she watched the vixen out the corner of her eye.

Rift just smiled. “Carla is a great scientist and I’ve seen her reformed multiple times. She’s even better then you and your watch. You can say this is a true test. If one like her can succumb to it the potion in the brew then it will definitely work on those blasted kids.” All the time, the dragon’s lips kept the smile.

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Later in the day Carla was walking through the mall. A new store was opening up with latex items and she wasn’t missing this. As she turned the corner in the mall, she bumped into someone sending both of them back. It was Tina. “Oh. Carla. You really gotta be more careful. You didn’t bump into people when you were a poodle.”

The memory came rushing back into her head as the minx spoke. As she opened her mouth to chew the minx out. All that came out was a bark. Her hands immediately shot up to her muzzle holding it down. Did she just bark? The minx was smiling on the other hand. Stepping forward she ran a hand through Carla’s hair. “So you do remember. Down girl.” Despite Carla’s resistance, she was soon down on her hands and knees, lowering her body to the ground like a dog. Her tail wagging behind her. As she laid there with the smug minx looking down at her she could feel her fur pushing at points against her clothing. Her shirt burst followed by her pants. Her fur was back as the poodle she was before, even the disgustingly bright pink coloration.

Tina pulled a leash from her purse, wrapped it around the pet’s neck and walked her around the mall. Smiling to the guys who waved to her and the occasional by passer who came over to pet the dog. After about an hour of walking Tina decided to stop for lunch. The food court  was outside and no one would complain about her keeping a dog under the table. She secured Carla underneath and motioned with her hand to lay down.

After a few minutes Melissa was walking back from the latex store and spotted Carla under the table. She stormed over and placed her hands on her hips, two big bags hanging from her hips. “How could you do that to Carla again? Didn’t you get enough last time. You had her sleep in a dog house!” Remembering that the vixen looked up to the Minx through the table and moved her muzzle to bite her ankle. However for some reason it turned into a gentle nuzzle against the top of the foot. Who ever did this to her was going to pay BIG time.

Melissa blushed slightly seeing Carla nuzzle Tina’s foot. “What do you want with her?”

The minx simply leaned back and smiled. “Not with her. How about for her.” She noticed the two bags and grinned. She didn’t have enough really to buy any latex from the store but this opportunity presented her with an interesting bargaining chip. “I will trade you this dog for one of those bags.” Without even worrying about how much she bought, she handed over the left beg and held her right hand out for the leash.

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“Oi you are really a pain Carla.” The bunny walked down the street with Carla on the leash. “You know Carla you gotta be stronger against her and Claire. Be a Mustang against their tricks.” Carla looked up to her friend with a small blush. She went to whine and show she felt a little bad about costing her all that latex, instead she varoomed. Both of the girls stopped quickly and looked at each other. The car sound really struck them as odd. That was until Carla felt a twinge happen through her entire body. She was stretching out to 478 centimeters from head to rear and 187.7 centimeters wide. The rectangular shape started to take a more car like appearance as the vixen’s head lowered and stretched out into a grill. Her back went up and started to take on the orange shine. Her arms and legs were turning black, rubbery and round, becoming performance tires for the Mustang. Her tail laid across the trunk that was her butt and slowly shifted into a spoiler. At least she was back to her natural color.

The interior was a black in color. A seamless, soft-touch fabric wrapped tightly around the one-piece instrument panel, a classic-styled conical gauges on a dynamic instrument cluster There was also a center-stacked instrument panel and a center floor console with lockable storage. No doubt about it, Carla had turned into a 2010 Mustang. Melissa looked around and then back to Carla with a smile. She then took a walk around running her bunny fingers off the newest car on the street. The license plate was up to date and read CARLA-1. The front grill had a chromed vixen instead of the pony emblem.  As the hare came back to the driver side door, she opened the door and took a seat. The keys were already in the ignition. She took a few moments to adjust the seat and get comfortable. With a turn of the keys, the engine roared to life.

The radio turned on and Carla’s voice came out of it. “What the hell do you think you are doing Melissa?! Turn me back now!” It was obvious at this point that our heroine had had enough. Melissa shrunk in her seat and continued to make adjustments to the mirrors.

“Well you are a car. I can’t exactly walk you home. I don’t know how to change you back here so hopefully we can figure it out at your lab.” With that she clicked the radio over to a music channel. “Sorry But I can’t drive with someone screaming into my ears.” She clicked a button on the steering console and the roof folded back into the trunk. Stepping down on the gas, she burned out the tires and blasted down the street.

Pulling up to Carla’s house, Hazel came out and saw Melissa step out from the new convertible. She ran over to check it out. “Wow how did you get this?”

Melissa sat on the hood looking like one of those models on a car magazine. “Carla was changed into this Car…la….” Her face went serious for a moment before the two girls started laughing.  Carla just mentally strummed her fingers on an imaginary table as the two girls laughed at her expense.

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Later that night, Carla was parked in front of her house. Melissa was asleep in the lab. Hazel walked out and laid her head on Carla’s hood. “You know Carla. I missed cuddling with you at night. I haven’t been able to sleep through the entire night without a stuffed pal with me.” Her hand rested on the side mirror. “You gotta cuddle with me more.”

No sooner that she said that, the hard car skin turned into soft plush and fabric. Her body was shifting down to normal. But soon it hand shrunk down even more. She had returned to her normal form but was a plush toy. Plastic green eyes looking up at Hazel as she lifted her up. “Yeah. We know how to change you back from a plushy, but tonight you are sleeping with me.

This wasn’t as bad as being driven or being a pet for the minx. But she just wanted to stop being what everyone else wanted. But at the moment she was just going to go back to sleep as her sister’s toy.

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The next day Carla was walking around the house, redressed  but this time in a shirt made of Melissa, a skirt made of Tina and Hazel as her purse. One day and this would be over for them. Every time someone said You gotta and she did. Frustration went over as she corned her prey and made a new outfit. As she walked out the door, Cliff walked up to her counting change. “Hey Carla, You got a” Without letting him finish, Carla screamed in fear and started to run as fast as she could down the street. Cliff looked a little puzzled. “I was just going to ask if she had a quarter. Buses require exact change.” He grumped and walked back to his place.