The Seal Substitution

a

transformation story

by

clancy688

Mark sighed. He was feeling... lonely. He'd never have admitted the fact to Mira, but he was missing the constant presence of his cheeky apprentice. Sure, they were still doing all the shows together, but in her free time, she was more and more preoccupied with this crazy business proposal she'd recently had. Today she'd excused herself at the last minute again, having to meet with a potential investor.

He snorted amused. Mira's startup was basically swimming in money, although he wasn't sure if that was due to the fact that her idea was really so appealing to the investors or that she'd only turn them back into humans after her 'demonstration' when they'd raise some money.

Well, the girl has learned only from the best... the magician thought amused while letting his gaze wander over the large enclosure and the relaxed, water-glistering bodies snoring inside. Damn, he'd looked forward to visit Marine Ocean Park with Mira! Stroll through the exhibition, laugh at the shows, and at the end maybe a bit of chill-out time in the sea-lion compound... yeah, that had been the plan. 

Mark grinned at the thought. Sea lions had always been some of his most favorite animals, they combined cuteness and dignity like no other species, not to mention the noises they made. He'd spent more then one afternoon lying among them and enjoying the sun baking his leathery skin, whiskers blowing in the wind, and he'd secretly wondered how Mira would've reacted to his proposal of spending some time as a seal.

Sadly, this wish had evaporated and now he had to spend the day on his own. I think I'll do another round through the park... he thought morosely, And then spend the rest of the afternoon on this warm rock over there. Actually-

His train of thoughts was cut off abruptly as a clank sounded, followed by a pained honk. Marks head flew around and he stared at a large seal which was rubbing its snout with its flippers, the shards of a broken glass bottle glittering evilly at its feet. Mark was still trying to combine this into one whole picture as the next bottle came sailing in, this time scoring a direct hit on a dainty female.

"Hey you stupid lazy animals!" an arrogant voice called and Mark turned to spot an imposing looking man already wielding the next discarded bottle. "Don't just lie around! Do something!" The brute was a real giant, towering over six feet, with a blonde mane and muscles to rival Thor. He wound up and then the next glass missile came flying. 

*CLING* This time, the seals had seen the danger coming and the shocked flock scrambled into the water to avoid further attacks, but they still got showered with broken glass. "Hihihihi!" a dirty-blonde girl hanging at the hunk's shoulder squealed in an annoying voice. She was as petite as the man was big, but what she lacked in height her impressive rack more than made up for. "Look Bruce, now they are doing something. The lazy bastards!"

The man chuckled. "Told you so, Angie. Then let's see what else we can make them do..." he looked around for further projectiles, but there were already a couple of keepers running towards them.

"HEY!" a woman Mark recognized as the chief warden shouted in an enraged voice. "What the hell do you think you're doing???" The other keeper jumped into the enclosure at a run to look for his injured protégé.

"Making them do something!" the assailant retorted with an arrogant, confident grin. "I'm a paying customer, so I want to see your attractions amuse me. Isn't that right, Baby?" His girlfriend or whatever she was simply giggled and then planted a wet kiss on his mouth.

"These seals are not 'attractions to please you'!" The warden snarled in barely restrained fury. "They are animals who can feel pain just as you can! How dare you throwing things at them out of spite! I'll have you removed from the park for assault!"

"Oh?" 'Bruce' righted himself, gaining a few inches in the process. The warden didn't seem to be intimidated by this, but it was painfully clear that he'd not yield peacefully. And if it became physical, neither of the two keepers would be able to constrain him. "I'd like to see you squirts try!" The hunk uttered a rumbling laugh, then looked down on the woman again. "And don't compare me to animals." he said in a disgusted voice, as if she'd just compared him with a piece of dung.

"Yeah!" 'Angie' piped up in a high, squeaky voice. "We're humans, we're better than... those." she pointed at the cowering seals with a manicured finger.

The warden looked like a volcano close to eruption now. Oh no, that's escalating quickly... Mark thought while already stepping closer to the turmoil. He knew that the warden had a temper, but if she'd unleash it now, the brute would probably put her into the hospital... but luckily her coworker came back from the enclosure before she popped like an exploding pressure-cooker. He put his hand restraining on the warden's shoulder. Immediately, her fury disappeared, making place for concern.

"And? How are they, Tom? Are they hurt?" she asked anxiously, ignoring Bruce and Angie for the moment.

"Not seriously, Julie..." Tom shook his head. "Cassidy is developing a bump the size of a grapefruit and Butch's nose is looking like Rudolph the Reindeer's, but other than that, they are okay. But I think the chances of them doing a show today are... slim. They are totally shaken, especially Cassidy. She's always been a sensible seal..."

Julie sighed, obviously relieved by the news. "Thank God, nothing serious..." Then she swirled around and her fury was back at once. "Do you see what you have done? We'll lose our seal show today! I have half a dozen school classes in the park right now, all of them have been looking forward to the show! And now because of you they'll be disappointed!"

"So?" disinterested, Bruce picked his ears. "I don't see the problem. You have other seals. Make them work, the lazy bunch."

"Make them-!" For a moment, Julie looked like a balloon which had been picked by a needle. "MAKE THEM?" she basically screamed. "These are trained animals, it takes time training them, and there's no replacement. There can never be a replacement for living beings!" The warden looked like she was ready to claw away at the hulking man any moment now, and the man looked like he was actually waiting for it! This was definitely not going to settle down peacefully, so...

Uh... let's see if I can... defuse the situation a bit. Mark thought inwardly and stepped closer, then cleared his throat. "Excuse me, gentlemen, ladies?" At least one opportunity to do something fun today...

Annoyed, Bruce turned and glowered down on him. "What do you want, pipsqueak? Wanna make some trouble, too?!"

Unfazed by the man's threatening demeanor, Mark continued, trying to hide the smirk which Julie's facial expression instilled in him. Her countenance had gone from seriously irked to joyful anticipatory the moment she'd recognized him. Mark had done several jobs and requests for the park in the past, and the warden knew what he was capable of. By now, her sneer, which Bruce and Angie couldn't see because they were turning their backs on her right now, could be described as positively evil.

Which was fine with Mark. These two clowns definitely had it coming. The seals in this enclosure were almost like friends to him, after all he'd shared a lot sunny afternoons on the warm stones with them, and he was looking forward to avenging them as well. Especially Cassidy. The girl seal really was sensible, but also a bubbly, fun-loving type. And he really, really, really didn't like the thought of her being desolate. 

"I have a proposal which should satisfy all parties involved." he therefore declared jovially. "You two are gonna substitute for the hurt seals. I think that's just fair, don't you think so?"

"WHAT?" the big man ogled him. "You want us to make silly tricks in front of an audience?" Bruce let loose a bellowing, mocking laugh and shook his fist at Mark threateningly. "Forget it, we're not some stupid animals!"

"You are not?" the magician asked with a sly smile. "Funny. Because you don't look exactly human either..."

"Are you shithead insulting-" Bruce thundered enraged, but was cut short by a shrill cry of his girlfriend.

"Honey! Your face! You... you have whiskers!" she stammered shocked and perplexed Tom reached for his nose where indeed long whiskers hung down. Whiskers he definitely hadn't had only moments ago. 

"What the...?" then he looked at his girlfriend. "Oh my God, you too!"

Angie let loose a horrified cry when she noticed the same hairs in her face. For a few moments, both seemed to shocked to say something. Then, though, fury crept on Bruce's face and with foam on his lips he turned towards Mark again. "What have you asshole done to us?" he cried, throwing his arms forward to choke his opponent.

Mark didn't even try to evade. It would need a superhuman to strangle someone without fingers, and he chuckled as Bruce gaped at his hands where all fingers had fused together with some kind of webbing. Before the bully had the chance to say anything else, his limbs fully turned into a pair of black flippers. Now the horror even reached him and he whirled around using one flipper to push his girlfriend forward who was flourishing with a similarly looking pair of flippers. 

The two barely even made a couple of feet before Angie cried and went down, Bruce following directly on her heels. "Noooo, my legs!" the blonde cried and stared at her legs. Her growing feet had ripped apart the sandals she'd worn and were already way larger than any female's lower appendages had any right to be. And they were still gaining size, forming flippers not that different from her upper limbs. 

Bruce, who was experiencing similar changes, tried keeping his legs from growing together by sticking his hand between his loins, but it was futile and he howled in frustration, his girlfriend sobbing hysterically as more and more of her rapidly darkening skin took a leathery, oily composition.

"I think you two must be realizing what's happening by now." Mark said cheerfully, ignoring his victims' whining. "You don't seem to have that much brains, but what God has concede you should be sufficient to figure this out. You hurt a pair of seals, making them miss an important performance, so you'll take their place. Of course humans can't step in for seals, but I'm not a magician for nothing..."

Shocked, both former humans stared at him, already far more seal than man. "A magician?" Bruce managed to press out. "That's bullshit!" 

Mark chuckled. "Well, what else explains the nice seal tail you're sporting then?" 

Bruce gulped, then looked back down at his feet. Indeed he now possessed a perfect seal's tail. Angie did the same, staring at the unfamiliar limb and shaking it a bit. By now, both were nearly complete seals from the neck down and their transformation reached its final stage. 

"You can't do this-" Angie managed to press out, then her mouth started bulging out into a muzzle and cut her squeaky voice away. Dainty teeth made place for large canines and Bruce stared in horror at his girlfriend, her animalistic barks having nothing in common with her former voice anymore. Even her blonde hair receded now, leaving her with a black, shining skull. 

"Oh, you're wrong. I can and I already have." Mark retorted and watched in satisfaction as the final wave of changes swept over his victims. Pleadingly, Angie stared at him, her blue eyes being the last remaining feature of her humanity. And then even that was gone as they turned black and grew into a seal's large eyes. Her boyfriend's change finished only moments later, and gone was the unruly couple, replaced by two distraught looking sea lions.

"Magnificently done!" Julie applauded with a broad grin while the pair of seals between them, one an impressive male and one a smallish female, honked in distress. "I think they'll fit in just perfectly. Do they still have their human minds...?"

Mark chuckled. "Oh, of course. They need to, otherwise they wouldn't be able to learn the tricks swiftly enough- HEY! Bruce! STOP THAT!" The bigger seal had snapped for Tom's hand as the warden had went forward to pat the new animal. Now it showed them their teeth and roared threateningly.

"Bruce," Mark said in dangerously low voice. "I'm not sure if it's clear to you what situation you're in. You have just been turned into seals, and only if you behave I'll turn you back into humans... eventually. And if you inflict only the slightest scratch on poor Tom here, I swear I'll turn him into a Great White Shark and put you three into the same enclosure! Do you know what a Great White's favorite dish is? I give you a hint - it has flippers, it honks and you're it!"

Immediately, Bruce stopped his threatening roars but his male stubbornness didn't let him step down. Instead he still regarded the humans with a doggish determination until his mate crawled close by, nuzzling his cheek and urging him with soft honks to let it go. It took a few moments, then he declined his head and barked sullenly in defeat.

Funny, you'd have thought that his girlfriend was a brainless bimbo... it seems, as if she had some wits hidden away under all the dye and make-up... Mark pondered with an inward smirk. 

"Good boy!" Tom beamed and patted the pouting seal's head. "I think we'll become good friends. At least as long as your cute mate is around." Angie honked a feeble protest, but other than that, she seemed to have resigned to her situation. The warden chuckled. "Well then, you two... the show's in three hours. And we need to practice. So... follow me!"

Whistling, he withdrew, the two new seals crawling after him clumsily.

Julie chuckled as she watched the ill-mated trio leave. Then she turned towards the magician. "Thanks for the help, Mark, I appreciate it. It doesn't happen often, but from time to time we get such idiot-visitors, and it had always itched me to get back at them."

Mark smiled. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Well, the two of them got what they deserved. And they even got off fairly lightly."

"Lightly!" Julia laughed. "Then I don't want to experience you when you're angry. Were you serious, by the way?"

"Serious with what?" the magician asked puzzled.

"Well... the shark thingy. About turning Tom into a shark and putting them into the same pool. You turned me into a mako last summer to test the new shark aquarium, and given my experiences of being a shark, I'm not that sure if Tom in the shape of a Great White would be able to resist a pair of juicy looking seals..."

"Oh, that." Mark seemed thoughtful for a moment. "Hm... maybe?" he smiled conspicuously. "But whatever I'd been prepared to do or not to do, it would have been shit compared to what Mother Nature would have in store for them."

The chief warden raised an eyebrow. "Mother Nature? A colleague of yours?"

Mark nearly chocked. "Um, yeah... somehow... let's say she's an old acquaintance of me..." Yeah, 'acquaintance', the one who told me the hard way that chasing ants with a magnifier isn't a cool thing to do... He quickly suppressed the thought. That were memories he wasn't fond of, although Mother Nature's payback had proven to be very educational.

"Um, let's change the topic." he therefore said swiftly. "I'd like to watch how the two perform at the show, but it's only in three hours. What do you say, wanna share a sunbath with me...? On... that rock?" He pointed at particularly sunny spot in the seal enclosure.

Julie followed his outstretched finger, then chuckled. "Sure, why not? It's been ages since I've had some seal time..."