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As Zac ascended the stairs leading up to his room, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Another school day, over and done with. Another day of mediocre grades, lectures, boring class assignments, and and getting yelled at for not paying attention... gone and lost, into the void of the past. Just a few more weeks and he'd be able to graduate, and then he'd be out of high school for good. No more long school days, no more boring lectures, no more bad relationships with teachers... all he needed to do was spend the summer relaxing and preparing for college. The only downside was that he probably wasn't going to be able to see his best friend, Anthony, for a while after school was over. The two of them had met in elementary school and been practically inseparable since then, since their interests and personalities were so similar to each other. They were always willing to support each other with problems, too, whether it was related to school or drama involving other friends. For Zac, Anthony was one of the few things that actually made school bearable for him. But with Anthony going away for the summer, and the two of them going to college in different states, Zac knew that it was going to be difficult for them to keep in touch after high school was over.

Well, it didn't matter. They still had a few more weeks to spend together, and Zac was going to make sure that he made them count! Shaking his head, he grabbed onto the doorknob to his room, opening the door and letting himself inside. He didn't want to think about this school stuff right now. All he wanted to do was relax and hang out in his room, maybe call up Anthony if he was feeling bored. But the moment he opened the door, he was greeted with an unexpected sight.

It was a box. A brown package, like the ones he would often see delivered to his doorstep. Only he wasn't expecting a package today. He hadn't ordered anything, and it wasn't anywhere near his birthday, so the chances of someone randomly sending him something were slim, too. So where had the package come from? He didn't see any shipping information on it, either; only a small note, written on a piece of paper about the size of an index card. "Dear Zac..." read Zac, picking up the note. "Sorry if this is a little sudden, but I've been in the mood for a little bit of experimentation lately. I've been working on this suit for a few solid months now, and I think I've finally got it where I want it. Your house happened to be one of the first places I looked, and it seemed like a pretty good place to leave it, so here you go. If you don't want it, leave it on your doorstep, and I'll happily take it off your hands. Have fun, and I'll check on you later to see the results. Sincerely, Martin."

Martin? Now this was really weird. He didn't know anyone by the name of Martin, so maybe the package was sent to him by mistake? But his name was on the note, too... did this Martin person intend to send this to some other Zac? And how could the package have even shipped without any shipping info on it, anyway? The more Zac looked, the more curious he became. The note had said something about a suit, right? Assuming that's what was in the box, Zac had to wonder what exactly this suit looked like. Especially since the sender hand mentioned doing some "experimentation" with it, implying that the suit was at least somewhat out of the ordinary. Finally, his curiosity getting the better of him, Zac grabbed a pair of scissors from his desk and used them to cut the tape off the box. Surly it wasn't that big a deal - after all, he was only going to look at it. He just needed to tape the box back up and put it on his doorstep when he was done, and it would hopefully be taken back by whoever sent it afterwards.

But upon opening the box, Zac was greeted by yet another surprise. When he'd read the word "suit" on the note, he'd assumed that it was referring to a formal dress suit, like the kind men would wear to fancy events and such. But no - this suit was something more akin to a halloween costume. Some kind of lizard costume, to be exact: with green scales covering it from head to toe, long sharp claws jutting out from its fingers and toes, a long scaly tail extending from the back, and golden reptilian eyes almost seeming to stare at him as he looked. He also noticed a large, golden zipper on the front, presumably where the costume was supposed to be opened from. Curious, he slowly unzipped the costume, looking back up at its head as he did so. It was a well-made costume to be sure... the way those eyes stared at him, it was almost like they were alive and hungry. Like they were daring him to try on the costume himself, so that its purpose would be fulfilled.

Wait, what was he thinking? He shook his head quickly, breaking himself out of his trance. For a moment, that costume had seemed so lifelike that it'd almost seemed like it was actually alive! He chuckled for a moment, before looking back at the opening of the costume, staring into the gaping hole left by the zipper. Just a costume... just an ordinary lizard suit. That's what this thing was, right? But the way its scales glimmered, the way its claws gleamed, the way its eyes looked at him with that hungry look... it made him feel confused, frightened, and unnerved without even knowing why. Like it was begging him to wear it. Like it desired nothing less than to wrap itself around his body, feel him inside of it, make it feel whole and complete.

Again, he shook his head, trying to get those strange thoughts out of his mind. What was wrong with him? This costume... was it doing something to his mind? Every time he looked at the costume, he felt like it was staring at him, trying to coerce him into wearing it. He couldn't get the thought out of his mind. Wanting so desperately to be worn... there it was again! He closed his eyes, slowly taking a deep breath. This thing, this costume... it wasn't going to let him go. Not until it got what it wanted. He sighed. There was only one way to solve this problem. He was just going to have to oblige the costume's demands.

Opening up the hole in the front, he reached across and stuck his right arm into the lizard's armhole. It fit rather well. He chuckled, feeling how mobile his fingers were within the suit, then reached across himself to help his left arm into the costume's left armhole. Once both arms were in, he lifted his leg, fitting it into the costume's leg hole. Then he did the same with the other leg. Finally, he lifted the costume's head up, placing it over his own head. It was big and spacey, and he could barely even see through the eye holes in the front. This was ridiculous... why was he even wearing this thing, anyway? Just because he felt like it was telling him to, even though that's clearly impossible? Shaking his head, he looked back down at the still open zipper on the costume's front. Well, he'd already come this far... might as well complete the look. Taking a breath, he grabbed the zipper and pulled upward, closing the costume.

Everything went black. The next thing he knew, Zac was on his knees, a searing, burning pain ripping through his head. Spasms were running through his body, and a sense of claustrophobia overwhelmed his mind, as it the costume was closing in around him. No... it almost felt like his body was expanding, growing larger to fit the costume better. Muscles grew thicker, toes felt like they were dissolving and merging, and new sensations began appearing in places where he'd never felt them before. Even his face felt like it was stretching out, growing longer and longer and longer... until everything stopped. Everything. The pain subsided, his body stopped spasming, and the costume no longer felt restrictive around him. In fact, it didn't even feel like anything anymore. Almost like it wasn't even there.

Slowly opening his eyes, he looked down at himself. Well, he was definitely still wearing the costume; even the zipper was still in place, keeping the costume closed around his body. So why didn't it feel like it was on him anymore? He groggily shook his head, trying to get back to his feet. Something wasn't right. His body felt wrong, like its proportions were completely different from what he remembered. His room seemed smaller than he remembered, too. Looking down at his feet, he suddenly realized that he couldn't feel any kind of fabric between them and the carpet; it felt like he was walking barefoot, albeit with a slightly tougher skin than normal. Curiously, he lifted one of his feet up, rubbing his hand against it. Again, he couldn't feel any fabric at all, only rough, scaly skin. Skin on both his hand and foot, that he could feel through as if it were a part of him. What was going on? What was this costume doing to him?

A sudden sensation caused him to gasp, dropping his foot back to the ground. Something was touching his... his... wait, what? He quickly spun his head around, eyes widening at the sight he saw. The costume's long tail was rubbing up against his dresser, perched just above one of the doors. And... he could feel it. He could feel the sensation of the tail touching the dresser, as if it were a part of his body. Tentatively, he stepped forward, letting the tail fall from the dresser onto the carpet. Again, he felt the sensation of it hitting the ground, the soft felt of the carpet brushing against its scaly skin. In complete disbelief, he reached out and grabbed the tail, running his hands along its length. Again, he could feel the hands through the tail's scaly skin, just as easily as he could feel the tail through his hands. As if the tail had become a natural part of his body.

Without even thinking, Zac immediately rushed out of his room and into the bathroom down the hall. Upon arriving, he planted himself in front of a mirror, staring in shock at his reflection. Staring back at him was a far more realistic version of the costume he had just put on, with the only even remotely fake-looking think on it being the zipper that was still attached to the front. Everything else looked entirely real and organic, especially the costume's head. The way its mouth opened and closed, the way its eyes blinked, the way it imitated Zac's every movement: it all went far beyond the realm of what a normal costume should have been capable of. With a trembling hand, Zac reached up and touched his head, running his hand along its smooth, hard scales. Slowly, he began moving it down his face, even running it across the snout that now protruded out where his nose and mouth were... and of course, feeling every touch along its length, just as he had with his tail. There was no longer any doubt in his mind. He wasn't just wearing a costume: he WAS the costume. Somehow, the costume had transformed him into a giant humanoid lizard, exactly like the one that the it had depicted. Only this was real flesh and blood.

Immediately, Zac's mind began reeling, spinning out of control at this sudden revelation. He began to feel dizzy, and he quickly grabbed onto the bathroom door to keep himself upright, digging his claws into the wood for further support. Wait, claws? Shaking his head, he looked over at his hand, letting go of the door to examine it more closely. Of course... if everything else was real now, it only made sense that the claws would be real too, right? But the moment Zac got a closer look at the holes his claws made in the door, he gasped. Each hole looked to be at least an inch deep, which, considering that he hadn't even been trying to make them, shouldn't have been possible. Tentatively, he reached out with his finger and pressed it into the wall that was next to the door. Sure enough, the claw went into the wall as if it were butter, leaving behind yet another inch-deep hole. His curiosity growing even further, Zac grabbed onto the bathroom door yet again, and gave it a light tug. That tug was all it took for the door to completely detach from its hinges, completely coming off in Zac's scaled hands.

Zac nearly dropped the door in disbelief. Had he... had he just ripped that door off its hinges with almost no effort? Given how much he'd grown, it probably shouldn't have been a shock that he was stronger than before, but this... this was unreal. Leaving the door leaning against the wall, he quickly ran back into his bedroom, his clawed feet stomping loudly against the carpeted floor as he went. The moment he entered the room, he began looking around for something else to test his newfound strength on. Immediately, his eyes fell on his bed, resting in the corner of his room. He'd always had trouble just pushing it as a human, but something told him that that wasn't going to be an issue for much longer. Flexing his muscles in preparation, he walked over to the bed, bent down to put his hands under it... and lifted it up. Just lifted it up above his head, with next to zero effort.

For a moment, Zac just stood there, trying to get what he had just done to register in his mind. Then, slowly, a grin began creeping across his face. This was incredible! His bed had to have weighed hundreds of pounds, yet here he was, lifting it like it was nothing more than an empty cardboard box! He shifted the positions of his hands, removing his left hand so that only his right hand was holding the bed up, and it still felt like it weighed almost nothing to him! He was unstoppable! Chuckling to himself, Zac slowly lowered his bed back to the ground, making sure there was a fair amount of space between the bed and the wall. Walking into the space, he then lifted his leg, placing his foot on the side of the bed and giving it a light kick. Sure enough, the force from the kick was enough to cause the bed to slide across the room, crashing into the wall on the opposite side.

Zac laughed. Yes! This was amazing! He lifted his arms into the air, flexing them and feeling the massive strength of his new body course through them. With this kind of power, he could do whatever he wanted! Nothing could stop him! And what better way to start really experimenting with this strength than to show it off to someone? He knew just the person, too! He immediately tried to retrieve his phone from his pocket - only to remember that he no longer had pockets. He'd put the costume on over his pants, which meant that they'd effectively disappeared, along with everything that had been in his pockets at the time. Did that mean that his phone was gone forever now? He groaned, turning his head back towards the box that the costume had come in... and suddenly noticing his phone on the ground, along with everything else that had been in his pockets. He frowned. How the hell had that happened? Well, it didn't matter now. Probably just another one of the costumes tricks, he guessed.

He bent down and picked the phone up, unlocking it and punching in the number while being careful not to destroy it with his larger hands and claws. As soon as he was finished dialing, he took a deep breath, practically shaking with anticipation as he waited for the recipient to pick up. "Hay, Anthony? It's me, Zac," he said when the person on the other end finally answered. "Listen. I need you to come to my house right away. There's something I need to show you."

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Frowning, Anthony stood in front of his friend's house, waiting for him to answer. Zac had been pretty vague when he'd asked him to come over, and Anthony couldn't possibly imagine what had been so important that he'd had to call him over so suddenly. He'd seemed pretty excited over the phone, though, so it couldn't be something bad, right? Maybe his parents had bought something really cool that he wanted to show off, or-

"Hey, Anthony!" The door suddenly swung open, revealing a sight that made Anthony's jaw drop in shock. Standing there was someone in an incredibly real-looking lizard suit, beaming down at him. The massive frame of the muscles, the way the scales seemed to glisten, the pointy-looking claws, the incredibly detailed facial features... if it weren't for the zipper running down the front of the costume, Anthony would have almost sworn that he was looking at a real live gigantic humanoid lizard. "Check this out!" said the person, flexing the costume's muscles. "Isn't this cool looking?"

"...Zac?" said Anthony, frowning. "Is that you? Where did you get that costume?"

The person beamed again. "It's not a costume, dude," he said. "It's the real deal. This is my body now. My real body!" Still grinning, he held out one of his arms to Anthony. "Here, feel this. Feel these muscles and tell me that you still think it's just a costume!"

"Um... okay." Slowly, Anthony reached forward and touched Zac's arm, his eyes widening as soon as he made contact. "...Wow." Smooth scales, massive muscles, and nothing artificial or inorganic that he could feel at all. "That... that's really impressive." he said, running his hand all the way across Zac's reptilian arm. He frowned. "But I know it's still just a costume, okay? I can see the zipper right there on the front."

"Zipper?" Zac looked down. "Oh... right. That. Yeah, I have no clue what the deal with that is." He shook his head. "But this is still real, I swear! And I can prove it, too! Come on, I'll show you!" Quickly, he turned and took off down the front hall, each step making a loud thud as his foot hit the floor. Anthony followed after him, feeling slightly confused. He was used to Zac fooling around with him like this, but it felt like he was putting extra effort into drawing this particular charade out as long as he possibly could. Normally, he would have given up after Anthony had pointed out the zipper to him. Also, was it just him, or did Zac seem way larger than normal? But after a moment of thought, he shook his head. It was probably just a feature of the costume to make him appear larger than normal, like there was a muscle suit hidden underneath or something like that. And Zac was probably just feeling particularly playful today, which was why he was dragging this out so much. Yeah, that had to be it.

"Come on, let's go!" Dashing into his family room, Zac began looking around for something else he could test his new strength on. His eyes fell upon the couch, and he grinned. Perfect. "Alright, you want proof that this body is real? Then allow me to show you!" Gleefully rubbing his hands together, he bent down at the side of the couch and firmly grasped the sides, feeling his claws dig into the sides. Then he lifted it up, hoisting it into the air as if it were a mere toy. "Ha! How do you like that?" he said, putting it on his shoulder and balancing it there with one arm. "This is the power that I have now! Do you believe me now?"

"Um..." Anthony could only stare, wide-eyed. Now he was incredibly confused. No matter how good or realistic that costume was, there was no way it should have been able to increase his strength to the point that he could pick up a couch like it was nothing! Yet he had just done it, right in front of him. "Er... well..." he stammered, trying to think of a logical explanation. What he was seeing shouldn't have been possible, but-

"Still not convinced? Because I'm not done yet!" Laughing, Zac took a few steps backwards, than maneuvered his tail around the handle of the sliding glass door to his deck and pulled it open. Next, he lowered the couch from his shoulder, holding it level with him and carefully maneuvering it through the door out onto the deck. "Okay, now watch this! This is going to be awesome, trust me!" Walking over to the edge of the deck, Zac lifted the couch above his head, as high as he could... and dropped it. Before Anthony could blink, Zac's foot suddenly shot out, slamming into the couch and knocking it into the air, before it crashed into the ground on the opposite side of the field that the deck overlooked. "And that's that!" said Zac gleefully. Grinning, he tilted his foot back and began scraping it against the deck, his claws leaving deep gorges in the wood. "What do you think? Want to see more, or have I proven my point enough by now?"

By this point, Anthony was completely dumbfounded. He'd just watched his friend pick up a couch, punt said couch across a field, open a door with his TAIL, and leave claw makes on a wooden deck with his foot. None of that should have been possible, unless Zac had been telling the truth after all. But that couldn't have been right, either! Not only was it physically impossible for a human to just turn into a lizard, but again, he still had a zipper running down his front! That alone was enough to prove that it was just a costume, right? But then how had he done all of that other stuff? How had his physical strength increased so much? It made no sense!

"Can't even speak, huh? Well, that's to be expected." Zac flexed once again, showing off the giant muscles covering his arms and chest. "But I think I've done enough to prove myself to you, right? Or are you still going to insist that this is just a regular costume?"

"Okay, fine! If that's not a costume, then what's the zipper for?" Anthony's eyes narrowed as they stared Zac right in his face. He was getting sick of Zac's arrogant attitude, and he was just about ready to shut him up. "You want to know why I'm so sure that's a costume? It's because that zipper right there is a dead giveaway! That, and people don't just randomly turn into giant lizards! I don't know how you managed to do all that stuff with that couch, but I do know that what you're claiming isn't possible! So why don't you drop this charade and take off that costume already? Or do you want me to do it for you?"

For a moment, Zac simply stared. Then, he suddenly burst into laughter. "Oh, I see where you're getting confused!" he said. "You think that I'm claiming to have just turned into a giant lizard out of the blue, don't you?" He chuckled, taking a breath. "Well, you'll be happy to hear that that's not what happened at all. See, you're technically right. This is a costume. At least, it was."

"Okay," said Anthony. "And what's that supposed to mean?" He frowned. "Don't tell me you put it on and it turned you into an actual lizard."

"Oh. Well..." Zac looked down at himself, then back up at Anthony. "That's... actually exactly what happened. I found it in my room, had no idea how it got there, I decided to put it on because..." He frowned, thinking back to how the costume had invaded his mind when he'd first opened it, trying to get him to wear it. "... well, just because I felt like it. And the next thing I knew, I was... this." He grinned and flexed once again. "Not that I mind, of course! I mean, it's still really cool."

"Right. Okay." Anthony sighed, shaking his head. "And I suppose that zipper is still there to allow you to change back into a human? Like, you're going to unzip it and it's going to turn back into a costume? Then you can just take it off and resume your normal life as a human, and return to being this big muscular lizard thing whenever you put it back on? Is that what's going on here?"

"Um... hmm." Zac looked back down, grabbing the zipper in his claws. "You know, I'm not actually sure. I never really bothered to find out what this zipper does, to be honest. But hey, I suppose now's as good a time as ever to find out, right?" Without another word, Zac pulled the zipper down, fully unzipping the costume. In an instant, his body started to loose form; the scales began turning back into fabric, the claws became dull and soft, and the muscles slowly began fading away. Within seconds, the costume was back to looking like it originally had, before Zac had put it on. "Huh... well, what do you know?" said Zac. "Looks like you were right after all! Now I just gotta get out of this thing and-"

But that thought died the second it was uttered, as Zac quickly realized that something still wasn't right about this costume. For one thing, it still didn't feel like he was wearing anything; he could still clearly feel the fuzz of the carpet under his feet, and touching the front of his costume still yielded the sensation of touching bare skin, even stronger than before. But there was one more, even stronger indication that something had gone horribly wrong this time around. When he opened up the costume to take it off, he noticed that there was something important missing from the inside: namely, his body. The costume was completely empty, with only air on the inside. But that was impossible! He was still there, he could still feel! So how could his body have just simply vanished? Unless...

Cautiously, Zac reached inside the emptiness of the costume with his hand, and poked the inner wall. "Gah!" Immediately, he recoiled, pulling his hand back. He'd... felt it. He'd felt his claw poking the inside of his costume, as if it was a part of his body. "Oh no..." He slowly opened his hand, before grabbing where the costume's opening was. Again, he could feel his hand close around the costume, on both the outside and the inside. He was feeling through the costume, as if... as if he was the costume. And that's when it finally struck him. He wasn't wearing the costume. He was the costume itself.

"Um, Zac?" Anthony was staring at him, confused as ever. "You're acting really weird right now. Are you okay?"

"Um... Well..." If Zac still had a heart, it would have been beating out of his chest at that moment. He raised his hand up to his left arm, closing it tightly around the fabric. Sure enough, the fabric collapsed in on itself, compressing tightly in his fist. It didn't hurt at all, but it certainly felt strange; like his arm was being crumpled and flattened. He let go and shook his arm out, returning it to its normal uncompressed state. Next, he lifted both his hands up and quickly slammed them into the sides of his head. His vision suddenly went blurry as he felt his head compress just as his arms had, the sides pressing together between his hands. Just as he thought: every single part of his new body was completely hollow.

"Aaaahhhh!" Zac recoiled, hearing the cry of shock coming from Anthony. Not that he was surprised; after all, watching him suddenly flatten his own head couldn't have been terribly pleasant to watch. "How... how did you just do that? Are you okay? What the hell happened to you?"

Zac tried to respond, but found that he couldn't. Probably because his head was still squished, preventing his mouth from moving. He quickly grabbed the sides of his head and pulled them back out, stretching out his head back to normal proportions. "Sorry about that," he said. "So... it looks like I somehow... actually became the costume itself. Like, I'm an actual living costume right now." He pulled back on the sides of the zipper opening, showing off his insides. "See? Completely empty. I'm totally hollow inside right now."

"What? Let me see." Anthony quickly approached Zac, staring at the hole in the center of the costume. As soon as he was right in front of Zac, he immediately stuck his hand in the hole, feeling around until he touched the inside of the costume's back. "Wait... what the hell?" Frowning, he continued moving his hand around inside of Zac, even sticking his hand up one of his armholes. "That doesn't make sense at all! How is this-"

"Will you cut that out!" Zac jerked his body away from Anthony, causing him to fall to the ground. "Whoa! Sorry about that!" He looked down at his body, shaking his head. "I guess my insides are kinda sensitive..."

"Yeah, no kidding. How the hell is this even possible?" Anthony struggled to his feet, staring at Zac again. "I mean, you're a costume, so you shouldn't even be alive. But you're still moving and talking! It doesn't make any sense! Are you going to be stuck like this forever?"

"Um... I don't know." Zac looked down at himself again, this time focusing on his zipper. "Let's see..." He grabbed the zipper and pulled it up again, zipping himself up completely. Immediately, the feeling of compression that he'd felt when he first put on the costume spread throughout his body again: muscles expanding, claws sharpening and hardening, soft fabric turning to hard scales and so on. By the time it was done, Zac was once again again standing tall as a giant, full flesh-and-blood lizard man. "Huh... interesting," he said, pulling the zipper down again. As he did, the muscles and scales shrank and softened yet again, and he once again reverted into the costume form he had taken just moments ago. "So... it looks like I can shift between being a full lizard and being a lizard costume at will," he said, looking down at his empty body.

"But not back to human, huh?" said Anthony. As he looked over Zac, a peculiar expression crossed his face. "Hmmm... I wonder..."

"Huh? Wonder what?" The look on Anthony's face was starting to make Zac feel slightly uncomfortable. "Um, what are you thinking? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well, you're a costume, right?" asked Anthony. "And that means that you can be worn, right? So right now, I'm just really curious about what exactly happens if someone tries to wear you." He grinned. "So... what do you say? You want to try testing it out?"

Zac frowned, unsure if he was understanding his friend correctly. "Wait. So, what you're saying is... you want to try wearing me?"

"Just for fun!" said Anthony. "And... I'm kinda curious to see what happens. I mean, we've already seen that you turn back into a full lizardman when your zipper is up. But if someone is wearing you when that happens... well, what happens to them? Do they just disappear? Do they gain control of your body as well? Or maybe you just don't turn back at all? Come on, aren't you curious about this? Don't you want to find out more about your new body?"

"Um..." Zac stared at Anthony tentatively. Did he really want to let someone wear him? The thought of someone stepping inside his new body was certainly unnerving to him, but... there was something appealing about it, too. As he thought about it, he began feeling something stirring inside of him - like some kind of emptiness. Like a longing to be filled with something. Was it a desire to be worn, perhaps? Was this simply a side effect of being a costume? Well, there was only one way to find out, he supposed. "Okay," he said, looking squarely at Anthony. "Go ahead. Wear me."

"Alright!" laughed Anthony. "Let's do it!" Once again, Anthony reached inside of the hole in Zac's front, sticking his right arm inside Zac's. Then, he did the same with his left arm. The feeling of something filling out his hollow body was incredibly odd to Zac, but there was something strangely comforting about it as well. It made him feel relaxed, knowing that he was being used the way he was meant to be; that there was someone inside of him, keeping him safe. He felt Anthony's legs step inside his own, and then felt his head being stretched as it was placed over Anthony's. "Alright, you ready?" said Anthony. His arm moved towards the zipper, and Zac realized that he no longer had control over his body: the one in control was now Anthony. "All right, let's see what happens!" With a chuckle, Anthony grabbed the zipper, pulled it up, and-

Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened. Zac didn't feel a single change washing over his body, nor did he feel anything happening to the person inside of him. "So.. um... did anything happen?" asked Anthony, a hint of confusion in his voice. "Anything at all?"

"Not that I can tell," replied Zac. It appeared that he could still talk, but that was where his limit was reached in terms of movement. "I'm not feeling anythi- wait, what's this? Hold on..." As he spoke, he suddenly began feeling a strange tingling feeling moving throughout his entire body. It didn't feel like any part of him was changing, though: rather, it felt like a strange energy was coursing through his body, reaching out to and touching every part of him. He lifted his arm- wait, he could move again? It appeared that way, with the energy putting control of his body back in his hands, allowing him to move once again. Something about the energy was strange, though: it was building up so much that it was starting to feel like it was trying to escape. Escape into something more... organic.

"Um, Zac? What's going on? Why can't I move?" Anthony's questions went almost completely unnoticed by Zac, who was still trying to figure out what to do with the energy building up in his body. Cautiously, he moved his right hand over to touch his left arm again, and that's when it happened. The moment they made contact, Zac suddenly felt the limb within his arm grow larger and thicker, muscles growing more and more massive and pressing against the costume's fabric. Through the fabric, Zac could also feel the skin on the arm changing, replaced with rough, hard scales. Up where his hand was, Zac realize that the hand within his was growing too, scales and claws sprouting to match his own. And that's when he realized what was happening. That's when he realized what all of the energy building up in his body was for, and what he needed to do with it.

"ZAC! What are you doing to me?" Anthony's voice was much louder and more persistent now. "Did... did you just do something to my arm? Why does it feel so much bigger?"

"It's okay, Anthony!" said Zack, moving his left hand over to his right arm in hopes of triggering more changes. "I'm just... I'm doing what the costume wants me to do, okay?" Sure enough, even more muscles and scales began sprouting underneath the costume, the right arm growing in an identical fashion to the left. "You're going to be fine, don't worry!"

"Fine? FINE?" Anthony's voice was angry now. "How the hell can you say that? You're turning me into a... a..."

"A lizard, yes! And I know that's not what you want right now, but it's what I need to do! I'm sorry!" As he said it, Zac slammed his hands into the front of his torso, causing Anthony's torso to bulk up to match his arms. Scales began growing across it as well, and a vertical zipper suddenly formed across the front to match Zac's. "I mean, it's not all bad! Trust me, it feels pretty cool to have so much upper body strength!"

"NO! I don't want this!" Anthony yelled. "I don't want to be a lizard person! Why are you still doing this to me?"

"I told you, I don't have a choice!" said Zac, pressing his hands down against his legs. "And anyway, you're the one who decided that you wanted to wear me! So don't act like this is my fault!" Again, he felt Anthony's legs bulking up within his own, muscles spreading and growing across them as skin was replaced with scales. He suddenly squeezed on them, prompting the changes to spread even further down his legs and to his feet. Zac watched as Anthony's feet stretched and grew, toes merging and toenails growing into claws to complete their reptilian appearance.

"Whoa!" cried Anthony, clearly thrown off balance by this sudden change. "Okay, but I didn't think this would happen! I thought it would be something temporary! I didn't think I would get turned into another one of... whatever you are!"

"Well, maybe you should have thought harder about this, then!" yelled Zac, closing his hands around his tail. As he squeezed, Anthony suddenly felt his tailbone lengthen, growing out of his backside through the costume's tail. The more Zac squeezed, the more Anthony's tail was coaxed out, until it filled the tail of the costume entirely. "Maybe you should have anticipated the risks a bit more before you just jumped right into this!"

"W-ell..." stammered Anthony, stilling trying to adjust to the feeling of the new appendage. "Um..." Slowly, he closed his eyes. "...Dammit. Why do you have to be right about this?"

"See? Now hold still, I'm almost done!" Slowly, Zac brought his hands up to his face, pressing into it and releasing the last of his energy. As he did, Anthony's face began to expand out, pushing out into a reptilian snout to fill up the costume's head. He felt his eyes begin to grow larger as well, as scales began covering spreading to his face, covering every last bit of skin. As Anthony's hair fell away, completing the last few bits of his change, Zac felt the energy fade away from his body, replaced by a heavy fatigue. As this drowsy feeling set in, he felt his hands fall away from his face, resting limply by his sides before his consciousness slowly began to fade away. The last thing he felt before fully blacking out was his arms moving once again, now back under Anthony's control. With that, his thoughts left him fully and he felt himself succumbing to a deep, heavy sleep.

"Is... is it over?" Realizing that he could move his arms again, Anthony quickly unzipped Zac and removed him, looking down at his own body as soon as that costume was off. Sure enough, it looked identical to the way Zac's body had looked when he was in his full lizardman guise. Scales, muscles, claws, even the zipper running down his front: all were completely identical to Zac's. "This is... so weird," he muttered, running his hands across his scales and muscles. "But I guess it isn't so bad." He sighed, turning around to face his friend. "So... what's going to happen to us now, Zac?" He looked down. "Um, Zac? What are you doing?" Zac was lying on the ground, completely motionless. Not a single part of him moved, to the point where Anthony would have mistaken him for a regular costume had he not known the truth. "Zac? Zac!" Quickly, Anthony bent down, picking the empty costume up and trying to get him to respond. "Zac, are you okay? Can you hear me?"

"Don't worry, he's fine. He just needs a little time to recover."

"What? Who said that?" Anthony quickly spun around, his jaw suddenly dropping at what he saw. Standing there was what looked like some kind of crow, but one with a far more humanoid shape. Both his feet and hands were bird talons, with large black wings stretching out from his back. His entire body was covered in black feathers, and a black hat rested on his head, while a pair of square sunglasses rested on his beak in front of his eyes. "Is... that another costume?" asked Anthony, examining the newcomer. "But I don't see a zipper anywhere..."

The crow simply laughed. "Don't worry, it isn't a costume. This is how I truly look." He gazed at Anthony's face, noticing the frown that had just formed. "You're sceptical, I see. That's completely understandable. Perhaps you'll understand if I start from the beginning." He chuckled to himself. "My name is Martin Fortsona, and... well, I'll just come right out and say it. I'm the one who gave that costume to that friend of yours."

"You... what?" Anthony looked behind him at his crumpled friend on the floor, then back at Martin. "Wait! So you're the one responsible for all of this?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. I'm terribly sorry," said Martin, not sounding sorry at all. "You see, I've just been in the mood for a little... experimentation lately, and your friend seemed like the perfect test subject! I've been working on that costume for months now, and when I finally had it ready... well, I just couldn't want to find someone to test it on!" He chuckled once again. "It really is a great piece of technology, if I do say so myself. See, as soon as someone opens it up, it sort of... gets inside their head. It starts trying to get them to wear it, so that it can fulfil its purpose, you see. Then, once they put it on, it starts fusing with them, changing them into a full, flesh-and-blood version of whatever it was of. In your case, a lizardman. But, as you saw, earlier, the zipper remains on their body, allowing them to switch between being a flesh-and-blood version of the costume and the costume themselves. Just a neat little gimmick that I thought I'd add to spice things up a little bit."

Anthony swallowed. "But.. but what about what happened with me? I didn't put on one of those costumes!"

"Ah, but you technically did! And that's where things get really interesting!" laughed Martin. "See, there's another special feature built into these costumes. Basically, at certain points, the wearer will feel a kind of empty feeling building up inside of them, almost like a hunger of sorts. And, as you can probably tell, the only way to satisfy this hunger is to be worn. Like a costume. Of course, as soon as they're worn, the costume's transformative energy begins to rub off onto the person wearing them, and... well, you know the rest. It's exactly what happened to you, after all. It does take a lot out of the one being worn, though, which is why your friend collapsed as soon as you took him off. But don't worry, he'll be up again in a few minutes."

Anthony frowned. "Isn't there any way to get back to normal?" He asked. "I mean, I don't want to spend the rest of my life like this! There must be some way I can go back to being a human, right?"

"Unfortunately, there is no way for you to return to normal without outside help," replied Martin. "But don't worry, I'm perfectly willing to provide that to you. Once I gather enough data on how others react to the suit. Shouldn't be more than about a week or so."

"A WEEK? I can't wait that long! I have a family to go back to!" Anthony's eyes narrowed, his fists clenching in anger. "What are we supposed to do until we return to normal? Just stay here as your unwitting test subjects?"

"Hey, calm down, okay?" said Martin. "And don't worry, your life isn't going be ruined. I've already taken precautions to make sure that doesn't happen. I've enclosed this area in a special field, slowing down time outside to a crawl. By the time the week is up, it'll be like no time has passed outside at all. Of course, I'll still be able to bring a few people in if either of you end up getting hungry again." He laughed. "Maybe we could even do a little stealth horror thing, you know? I bring them in, let them wander about... then you sneak up on them and trap them in your bodies! And I'll try to get some more things for you to test your strength on too, for when you're in your flesh-and-blood forms. How does that sound? You in?"

Anthony just stared. "Do I have a say in this?" he asked.

"Well, at this point... no, not really," replied Martin. "So I guess there really wasn't any point in me even asking, was there? Oh well!" He turned around, spreading his wings. "I'll be outside if you need me for anything else, okay?" Before Anthony could react, Martin suddenly ran at the window on the other side of the room, jumping out of it and taking off into the sky.

"Ugh..." Startled by the sudden groaning noise, Anthony suddenly turned around to find the costume that had been lying on the ground struggling to its feet. "That was... weird," said Zac, rubbing his head. He looked up, seeing Anthony staring back at him. "Oh... hey, Anthony. Um... I'm really sorry about the whole costume thing. If I had known that it was going to do that, I never would have let you..." He trailed off, noticing the worried look on Anthony's face. "Um, what's the matter? Did something happen while I was out?"

Anthony groaned. Now he had to explain all of this to Zach, too? "You... may want to sit down for this," he said with a sigh. This was going to be a very long week.