Two Kindred Souls

Story by Hisashi Hinata on SoFurry

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This story took me almost half a year to write and is probably my longest story that I've managed to write. I hope you enjoy, and if you have any critique, I'll be open to it as best as I can.

Thumbnail and cover art drawn by my good friend over here! Give her the love she deserves: https://aryion.com/g4/user/NikkoKaiCutie


In Diamond Hill High, football is considered to be one of the school's trademark sports. For years, it's been regarded as the place-to-be for all those hoping to make it big in the sport. Only the toughest and most ruthless can survive being on the Diamond Skinned Sharks, a team name that was earned when the team went through an entire season without wearing proper body armor, and still won the championship seemingly with ease.

The captain of such a team is a dreaded hulk of a bear with a rumored taste for blood similar to that of the team's namesake. The beast stands 8 feet tall and is covered in rippling muscles that stand as a testament to his power. His fur is said to be as strong and sharp as knives themselves, though no one would dare test such a hypothesis. His real name was unknown to most, a nickname befitting his nature replacing it on the lips of those who were not close to him; Deathclaw.

However, Diamond Hill High is not a sports-centric school. It boasts a very special and exceedingly rare course, taught by only a handful of universities. That course is Alchemy, which involves some of the brightest minds coming together to learn how to create, wield, and sometimes, itemize magic. One such mind belongs to a light brown furred mouse named Chelsea Watson, an intelligent student who was accepted on a scholarship, as she was an orphan who worked and lived in her late parents' general store. A stark contrast from Deathclaw's physique, Chelsea was very thin and only 4 and a half feet tall, almost to the point of being anorexic. Instead of being mostly naked like the hulking bear, the mouse dressed modestly, her usual attire consisting of a plain shirt that sometimes had a game or movie's logo and a knee-length skirt. Despite being thin, she was curvy from behind, while her chest was mostly flat. This led to numerous instances of the mouse being cat-called, leaving her red-faced and sent her skittering away in embarrassment.

Despite the school being diverse however, that did not mean that the students themselves were amiable towards each other, especially when dealing with predators. An unspoken rule when a predator is devouring prey is that no one should intervene. Those who do will be held back. When a predator sets their sights on prey, it is a battle between them and no one else. As such, when Deathclaw grew hungry, he would easily devour other students, nearby friends unable to help as they looked on in horror.

Soon however, these two will meet. Both will find the other to be their polar opposite, yet find that they are much closer than they would initially think.

Two different people. Two kindred souls.

...

Chelsea sighed, staring at the formula in her notes. Glancing back at the front of the laboratory, she noted that everyone else seems to be doing their projects easily enough. She gulped, sweat appearing on her brow as she attempted to figure out the mess of numbers and symbols before her. Her eyes darted to and fro as her mind smooshed the pieces together in an attempt to-

"Hey, Chelsea?" The deer boy sitting next to the mouse piped up as she squeaked, jumping in her seat. "Are you okay?"

"A-Ah, Aiden, I... Ugh, sorry." Chelsea groaned as she rubbed her face. "I'm just s-struggling a little w-with u-um... uh..." She looked around nervously, her paws starting to jitter and tremble. "I-It's just not m-making s-s-s-sense! IT'S NOT-"

"Breathe in. Count to three." The deer placed a hand on her shoulder, a reassuring smile on his face as he continued. "Breathe out. Count to three."

The shivering rodent slowly turned to the soothing cervine's voice, following his instructions until her tremors calmed down and her breathing slowed.

"Calm your mind. You've got this." He encouraged her, rubbing her back in soft, circular motions as she continued to steady her breathing. "I believe in you."

After a minute or so, her anxiety was quelled and her hyperventilating and tremors were gone. As the mouse caught her breath, the deer peered into her notes and raised an eyebrow, "Oh, um... the 1 is supposed to be here, by the way." He pointed out the mistake, Chelsea's ears' perking up as she turned to where he was pointing.

"Huh? O-Oh! I get it now!" Chelsea huffed as she corrected her notes. Once she did, she gave the deer a hug, nuzzling up to him with a smile, "Thank you so much. I would honestly be lost without you, Aiden." The buck chuckled as he continued to mix together certain ingredients. After fixing the equation in her notebook, she began her project and quickly threw together her own potion, her paws quickly snatching all the necessary ingredients on the table as she phased into her own world, the rest of the room fading away as she quickly and diligently created the required potion. In just a few minutes, she threw in the last ingredient and left her beaker to heat up above a burner, sighing as she finished.

Aiden stared at her incredulously as he finished his own potion, smiling, "Wow! That was pretty quick!"

Chelsea remembered that she was seated next to someone and blushed, looking away, "A-Ah... yeah... I can do things pretty easily when like... I understand it."

"I get that." The deer chuckled as the bell rang. The class got up and presented their potions to the professor in front, who graded them before instructing them to leave the potions back on their tables to continue to brew.

"Once again, you all remind me why I love teaching!" The elderly, but jolly cat beamed brightly to his class as he shuffled some papers. "Enjoy the weekend, class!" After the professor's goodbye, the class left their potions back on their assigned tables and exited the room. Aiden and Chelsea walked out together, chatting about the project on their way through the school's hallway.

"A stretchy potion... imagine what would happen if we used it on something like a block of concrete!" The deer wondered aloud as the mouse by his side giggled.

"There would definitely be a few heart attacks if someone threw the rubber block at some poor soul." Chelsea said through her giggling. The two continued to think about uses for the strange potion they created as they walked out of the campus' Building of Magic. In front of it was a road, and on the opposite side was the school's football field. On adjacent sides of the Building of Magic were the school's dorms, with Chelsea living on the one to the left, while Aiden lived to the right. The two said their goodbyes as they went their separate ways, leaving the mouse to sigh happily as she looked back on her notes, reading up on course material in case of a pop quiz. However, she froze as an uproar began to form behind her, prompting her to turn around to see a crowd forming around Aiden and... Deathclaw.

Chelsea's eyes grew wide as she dropped her things, running towards the crowd and pushing her way through until she was in the inner ring, where she found the deer dangling by his foot as the bear held him up high, maw open and waiting.

"NO! AIDEN!!!" She screamed out and tried to intervene, only for anthros around her to hold her back. She stared at the scene, remembering that nothing could interrupt a fight between predator and prey. Nothing except...

"I challenge Deathclaw in PvP!" The mouse suddenly blurted out, the whole crowd going silent as everyone turned to stare at her, even the bear himself.

Challenging someone to PvP, or Predator versus Prey, was the only way to intervene in a fight that was not challenged. However, if the one intervening lost, both lives were subject to be prey for the initial predator. So no one would ever dare, until Chelsea screamed it out as if she were calling out an order.

The crowd around her gave her space and let her go, leaving her to stare at the bear in fear as he let Aiden go, the deer scurrying off. "Excuse me?" The bear's gravelly voice shook the mouse to her core. Despite that, her shaking voice replied.

"T-Tomorrow m-morning! At the football field!" She said without thinking, her body moving on its own as she turned around and started walking away. "D-Don't back out!" As Chelsea walked away, she picked up her stuff as she left the incredulous crowd to begin another uproar, this time crowding around the bear as he raised an eyebrow, watching the jittery rodent scramble away as she helped Aiden out of the area.

...

"What in the hell were you thinking?!" Aiden grasped his hair as the mouse rocked herself on her dorm bed.

"I d-don't know! I-I just wanted to save you!" The mouse squeaked as she buried her head between her legs, curled up into a ball. The deer sighed as he looked around, sitting on the foot of the mouse's bed. Her room was quite small, fitted for one, single occupant, but still had necessities such as a bed, chair and desk, a drawer and a personal bathroom. The rest of the room was empty, save for the numerous notes about alchemy on the rodent's desk.

"Well... it's not like I can get mad at you for that..." Aiden shook his head as he crawled onto her bed, stroking her back, "But... now we're both doomed. If anything... I would've preferred that you lived while I just..." He couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence. Instead, the mouse uncurled herself to reveal her tears accompanying an angry snarl.

"That's...! Nngh... the problem is that stupid bear!" She growled, "He's the one eating students all the time! And the school lets him because he's the star!" She sighed, some of her anger fading away as she laid back onto her bed, staring at the ceiling, "And no one else would do anything because they're scared for their own lives... it's all just... just..."

"Fucked?" Aiden finished for her, prompting a sad chuckle from the mouse. "Yeah, it sucks. But to be honest, I was honestly expecting it. Not that I was okay with it, of course."

"Yeah..." Chelsea huffed, "What do I do now...? At this point, I either have to somehow eat that furry mountain, or die!" The mouse shoved a pillow into her face, her groaning muffled as she suddenly went silent. "Wait. AH! I'VE GOT IT!" The mouse suddenly shot up, getting out of her bed and shuffling through the numerous formulas and notes on her desk. The deer followed, looking over her shoulder as she pulled a handful of the formulas out of the piles.

"I never thought wasting so much time researching about random formulas would actually work!" She shuffled through them, showing them off to Aiden, "Look!"

He studied the formulas and made out a good chunk of them. Transformation, explosives, and other forms of weaponized magic. "Um... you're not thinking of using any of these, are you? I don't think the school will allow any... explosions." He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A-And yet they let that abomination eat other s-students?!" The mouse shrieked, stumbling over her words. She fell onto her seat, dejectedly sighing. "I just... If it stops that monster... I-I'll do anything."

"Well, sorry to be a downer but... have you seen these ingredients?" The deer asked as Chelsea sat up, taking the formulas and examining them. "Half of these are like... illegal. And the other half aren't exactly easy to come by."

"I-I... no..." The more the mouse read through her notes, the more she felt like she needed to stop skimming through them so often without actually reading the important bits. As if she would have the chance to come tomorrow.

"If you actually go through with this... you'll probably end up in jail for the rest of your life." The buck hammered the final nail in her coffin, frowning as he looked away.

"N-Nngh... NGAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" She grunted through gritted teeth before throwing the paper sheets into the air with a pained yell, holding back tears as she got into bed and curled up under the blanket, soft sniffling coming from within. "So... fucking... useless."

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Chelsea... I'll just... go." Aiden sighed, a touch of anger in his tone directed to himself as he got up and left for the door.

"Wait."

The buck paused, looking back and seeing that Chelsea was poking her head out of the covers, a pleading look on her face.

"Run. J-Just run, and don't come back." She begged. "I-I can stall him long enough for you to get on a plane and hopefully out of this country."

"Wh-wha... what?" Aiden was dumbfounded as he tried to respond, "N-No, why would I do that?"

Chelsea drew in a deep breath as a strange feeling of tranquility washed over her, "Aiden, I'm not going to live to see the day after tomorrow... so before you leave, I need to tell you something."

The buck didn't object to the mouse's comment about leaving, staying silent as he heard her out.

"I'm... I-I'm... I've been l-lying to y-you..." Chelsea's composure suddenly cracked as she hugged herself tightly, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. "I'm not... who I am."

"Who you... are?" Aiden was confused. What did she mean?

The mouse paused for what seemed like an eternity. All of the sudden, the words flew out of his lips.

"I'm a boy, not a girl."

The stunned deer's eyes nearly grew to the size of plates as he stared at the mouse before him. Without waiting for a response however, she, or rather, he, continued.

"My real name is Chester. Not Chelsea. If I'm going to die tomorrow... then I might as well tell you the truth one last time." When Aiden didn't respond, the mouse grew worried, so he continued to speak. "I grew up as a reserved kid, who just so happened to be more interested in what was cute than what was cool. It eventually led to me being bullied, as you could probably assume..."

As Chester spoke, he tried to chuckle along, but his voice seemed defeated. Despite the memories he recalled being painful, he sounded like he was simply stating facts in a casual presentation. "At some point, I remember refusing to be a boy if a boy can't be allowed to like the things I liked. Of course, my parents tried to help me, supporting me and trying to get me to stand up for myself... but then one day, I was almost eaten. Because I was a wimpy boy."

Chester paused, holding back a few tears before continuing with a deep breath, "So my parents helped me become a girl and Chelsea was born."

As the mouse finished, he couldn't help but choke out a sob, covering his mouth as he suddenly broke down.

"I-I d-don't know why... I-I feel so bad." He coughed out through his tears, huddling within his blanket. "I m-mean... it's n-not like I'm... t-ten years old anymore..."

"Chel- I mean... Chester." Aiden's soft voice drew his attention once more, looking up at him in the same manner he would whenever he had a breakdown in class, "I... I mean, this is definitely big news but..."

The mouse frowned. Here it comes.

"I fell in love with you. Chelsea or Chester, you're still the same kind, caring, and adorable mouse I met all those years ago." Chester's eyes grew wide as he snapped towards the buck, in utter shock at his sudden confession. He stood up slowly, staring straight at Aiden before frowning.

"Just go."

"What?" Aiden was surprised at the cold response, tilting his head, "Chester, what do you-"

"Go!" The mouse yelled, tears overflowing in his eyes as he gritted his teeth. "It doesn't matter what you think. I'm dead tomorrow regardless." He turned away, eyes shut tight as he suppressed a slight sniffle. "There's no future for me to feel happy about whatever you have to say..."

Silence. Cold silence filled the air as Chester's words stuck in place. When he didn't hear the sound of someone leaving, he turned back around to tell Aiden off, only to be met with a tight hug, the buck latching onto the mouse, tears in his eyes.

"I'm not leaving! You can't make me! I'm not losing you too, goddamnit, this was my fault in the first place!" Aiden whispered angrily, unable to raise his voice. Chester was caught off guard and simply stood there for a few moments before hugging the buck back, rubbing his back for a change. "P-Please... don't..."

"Aiden?" Chester said, his voice suddenly cool and composed as he moved back and lifted Aiden's chin upwards, making eye contact with the boy he loved.

"H-Huh?" The buck's eyes glistened as tear stains lined the fur below his eyes. Chester knew that look all too well; he wore it a fair amount of times. Aiden had always been his rock ever since they became friends at the beginning of his stay in Diamond Hills. But now, he knew he had to return the favor.

With the touch of a feather, Chester gently planted his lips onto Aiden's, his arms supporting his partner's weight. He was shocked, but eventually gave into the kiss as the two shared an intimate moment. Aiden's hands shook as they rested on his partner, his breath trembling as Chester brought his paw up to his face and wiped away the buck's tears. After a few moments, they separated, the heat between them still lingering. The two were still for a few seconds before Chester backed off, Aiden reaching out as he did.

"Live your life. For me." He simply said as he let go of him, staring straight at him. "Please."

Aiden stared at Chester before nodding, wiping away his tears as he did, "B-But..." He tried to protest, only for reality to push him back down on his seat. With a heavy sigh, he nodded, "O-Okay. I'll do it for you. I promise." He turned and exited the room, closing the door behind him as Chester choked out a sob.

"Thank you."

...

Picking himself back up, the mouse decided to clean up his room one last time. He figured that he could do that much for whoever the next tenant was. Wiping away a few tears, he started by grabbing each of the formulas he had thrown and thought of what could've happened with each of them. Blowing Deathclaw up. Turning Deathclaw into a bug and squishing it. Teleporting Deathclaw into a volcano.

Nope, nope, and nope. All illegal.

He sighed, shuffling them together and throwing them onto his desk as he sat down and stared at his messy workspace before resuming his task. He grabbed all the notes and papers on his desk and began arranging them in groups. "These are the transformation formulas. The lethal formulas. The useful... formulas..."

Chester paused while he was leafing through the section of formulas he labeled as 'useful'. They included pain relievers, fat burners and the like that would usually be used by those having trouble with certain tasks or are afflicted with certain ailments. His eyes stopped at one in particular, widening in realization.

'Instant Sleep Powder - Sandman's Stash - For insomniacs'

He couldn't believe his eyes. He shuffled through more of his 'useful' notes and found two more in particular.

'Instant Digestion Potion - Chyme Canceller - Relief for stomach aches, etc'

'Stretchy Potion - Rubber Maker - Coated substance becomes rubber like and nearly impossible to break or burst, used for transporting fragile objects'

The gears in Chester's head twisted and turned as he stared at the three formulas in his paws and the rest of the useful formulas on his desk.

He made his decision.

He left for the Building of Magic.

...

The next morning came sooner than everyone thought. The football field's benches were packed with students who had heard about the fight, and despite the time of day, everyone seemed on edge and excited, speaking in hushed whispers concerning the upcoming event.

"I know that girl! She's in Alchemy!"

"What? So she thinks she's smart enough to take Deathclaw on?!"

"Nah, did you see her yesterday? She totally said that just to save that deer guy."

"Looks like we're losing another two then..."

Suddenly, silence swept over the crowd as the massive bear himself walked onto the field, stretching his immense body as he let out a yawn, exposing the dark cavernous expanse of his throat to anyone able to see.

"Alright... where is she? Classes start in thirty." The bear mumbled to himself as he watched over the field.

"R-Right here!" The mouse squeaked as loud as he could from the other side of the football field. He wore his normal attire of a plain shirt and knee-length skirt to keep the facade of his true gender, the only difference being the belt around his waist that held numerous vials and containers.

"Hmph. So you came. Prepared too, I might add." Deathclaw simply said, observing the shivering mouse across the field.

"W-why wouldn't I? I-I made a promise, after all." Chester stuttered, swallowing back his nervousness as best as he could, "A-And, i-it's not like I'll beat you with my f-fists o-or anything..."

"Interesting." The bear raised an eyebrow, tilting his head. "Well, I admire your bravery. Let us see if you can translate it into action, friend." He bent down into a charging stance, reminiscent of a play from one of his games.

Summoning as much strength as he could, he stood up straight, taking a deep breath as he nodded, "I will."

The entire field went silent once more, any lingering words in the crowd dying in their respective throats as the two duelists stared intently at each other. The wind blew past gently, ruffling the fighters' furs as everyone waited with bated breath for the first move to be made.

Suddenly, Deathclaw sprang forward, charging towards the mouse at breakneck speeds. Chester let out a scream as he dove to the side, barely ducking out of the bear's way. He stumbled onto his feet as he started running to the other side of the field, in shock at how fast Deathclaw was able to cover the ground he did.

'No wonder why he's the star of the football team!' he thought to himself as he fumbled with his belt of potions for a circular potion and threw it on the ground as hard as he could, smashing it and spilling its contents all over the ground behind him. As he did, Deathclaw was hot on his tail, chasing him down until he suddenly tripped over. The resulting puddle of his smashed potion had solidified and trapped the bear in a glue-like substance. He roared out as his fur and body were pulled back by the special mixture.

Chester paused, turning around and smiling as he let out a cheer, "Yes! I knew industrial strength adhesive would be useful!" With his confidence on the rise, he continued to search through his potions for the next part of his plan. "Alright... first, Sandman's Stash... then, Adhesive Dissolv-"

The mouse's thoughts were cut off as Deathclaw let out a bellowing yell as the sound of fur being savagely ripped off filled the air. He turned to the source and watched in horror as the huge bear freed himself of his prison by ripping off nearly all of his affected fur through his strength alone.

Chester screamed as he fumbled with his potion belt and threw the first thing he grabbed at the raging bear, the glass shattering as it crashed into his face. Deathclaw paused as he tried to rub the concoction off of his face with a growl. While he was busy, Chester started looking through his belt to see what he just threw. After a quick inventory check, he deduced that he threw the Adhesive Dissolver. "Oh shit... that's not good..."

" GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

The sound of hissing filled the air as Deathclaw clawed at his face in vain in an attempt to rid his face of the acidic solution burning his face. Though the mouse felt horrible, he decided to take advantage of the situation by ruffling through his remaining potions.

"O-Okay, the plan's fucked... Wh-what now..." he tried to think of what to do next, when another roar burst from the bear as he began blindly charging towards the mouse in rage. "WAAAH!"

"Aha! There you are!" The bear roared as he followed the sound of Chester's panicked scream. The mouse realized his mistake as he dropped to the ground, the grass muffling his fall as Deathclaw nearly trampled him, unaware that he fell. The bear continued to charge ahead, still blind as Chester stared at him from his spot on the ground, eyes wide and in shock.

Suddenly, he paused, face pointing at the air as his nose twitched and huffed. "No escape now. You fought well, but it's time to end this." He growled as he turned to face the mouse, getting ready to charge. "Class starts in a few minutes."

The mouse took a moment to process his words as he slowly stumbled onto his feet. 'He's still kicking?!' he checked his watch. He was right. It was only 15 minutes until the first classes began. Turning back to the bear, he couldn't help but wince at the sight of him. Both his face and belly were devoid from fur due to the potions he had thrown at him, and the only thing they've served to do was to make his opponent even angrier. His plan had fallen apart at the seams, and nothing he did seemed to stop the beast who couldn't even give him a shred of recognition as an animal.

Not even as the bear prepared to charge was he able to formulate even the makings of a simple plan. Except for... one thing.

'But... it's practically suicide. I might as well just... g-give up...' he thought to himself as he felt his body start to tremble. 'I-It's too much... th-this is too much! Wh-why am I-I... I-I'm just...'

His thoughts suddenly screeched to a halt as a familiar voice rang through his head.

'Breathe in. Count to three. Breathe out. Count to three.'

Time seemed to slow down as the bear pounced. He seemed to fly as he charged forward at the mouse. He felt like he was about to explode, his body shivering with fear as if he were caught in the middle of a blizzard. He wanted to run away. Run away and tune out the world until everything was back to normal.

'Calm your mind. You've got this.'

But no, that wouldn't do. Failure here means condemning more people to their deaths. Maybe not Aiden, unless the bear really was that dedicated to hunting him down. But one thing was guaranteed: he would be far from the last if he couldn't stop this so.

He couldn't fail, and as he pulled out one of the vials from his pocket, he decided that he wouldn't.

'I believe in you.'

In a blur of motion, the mouse ducked to the side, leaving a cloud of powder where he was standing as the bear charged right into it and crashed into the wall. He huffed and snorted, inhaling the silvery mist and coughed, growling angrily.

"What the...?" Deathclaw hacked and coughed as he waved the powder away from his face and turned to the mouse, baring his teeth at Chester, his back turned. He peeked at the bear behind him, gulping as he went silent for a few seconds, his heart pounding in his throat.

"I-I'm sorry b-but... I'm not dying today," he stuttered as the beast behind him began twitching for a solid minute before falling to the ground face first, unconscious.

Chester looked down at the fallen beast before him.

That was that.

He won.

Even the crowd surrounding the field couldn't bare to say something. They were just as dumbfounded. However, the mouse was far from finished. With a new sense of confidence welling up within him, he pulled out the stretchy potion that he had made yesterday and started stripping. He kept his panties on however, still hiding his real gender from the crowd around him. Speaking of, they started going crazy as he did. They knew what happened to those who dropped during a PvP match.

It meant they were prey.

First, Chester coated his cheeks and entire lower jaw with the potion, following it up with his entire neck. Next, he doused his chest and back, making sure they were both soaked as best as he could manage it. Afterwards, he rubbed his entire stomach with the mixture, paying special attention to what was meant to be Deathclaw's final resting place. Finally, he drank the last of the potion, making sure to swish the liquid inside of his mouth for it to be stretchy enough to actually swallow the massive bear before gulping the potion down. As the mixture slid through his esophagus and landed in his stomach, it growled out in response as it absorbed the magical liquid.

As his body became acclimated with its new ability, Chester felt something rising in his throat before letting out a rumbling ' Bwoourrrrrap~!' He gulped, feeling the air around him swirl with the magical energy from his gas. His body was now ready to accommodate an entire bear.

The crowd eagerly watched the mouse as he grabbed the bear's feet and started shoving them into his mouth! They roared out in surprise as Chester began to swallow his massive meal with surprising speed, his body stretching over Deathclaw as if he were actually made of rubber. The size difference between the two was almost completely negligible as the mouse practically slid over the gigantic bear until he was nothing but a huge belly bulge for the petite mouse.

The crowd went completely silent as they stared at Chester with shock, awe, amazement, and everything in between. Suddenly, the mouse's cheeks bloated before he let out a very loud, and very crude belch that nearly shook the ground below.

BWWWWWOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUURRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAP!

As Chester coughed lightly, the mass exodus of his prey's remaining air having scratched his throat, the crowd started cheering as if they had just watched their team win a football game. The mouse gulped, slightly embarrassed as he was cheered on, the crowd shouting his name as stomping their feet on the bleachers. Before it could escalate any further, the school bell rang, and everyone's cheers weakened, but continued as they began filtering out of the field and back towards the school, soon leaving Chester alone with his gigantic stomach.

"You... ate me." The mouse jumped a bit before realizing the voice came from inside of his stomach, the bear squirming from how tight his new home was. "I can't... believe it. You... a tiny mouse."

"I-I'm sorry... I... I didn't want to die... and the only way-"

"The only way to win PvP is to be the predator." Deathclaw repeated as he pushed on the stomach walls around him, not exactly struggling to escape.

"...yeah." Chester simply said as he laid there on his stomach, panting slightly from the effort he made in eating the bear. "So... I guess this is goodbye then. I'm going to have to use my digestion-enhancer to digest you in time for class and..."

"I understand." The bear simply said as Chester was caught off guard. "I accept my fate for being the weaker predator."

"I-I... see. I'm sorry. You... don't really seem like a bad guy, for what it's worth." Chester tried to comfort the bear that tried to eat him moments prior, only for Deathclaw to speak up once more.

"Before you do... drink your weird potion, I have to get something off of my chest." He began. "If I'm to die, I need to tell the truth."

Chester paused, processing the bear's words and realizing that he had said something very similar the night before to Aiden. He stared at his stomach just as the bear spoke.

"I am not a guy. I'm... a girl." Deathclaw admitted, Chester gasping out in surprise. "I... didn't want to be one but... I didn't want to be seen as a weakling either."

Chester listened intently, the similarity of the two's situations not lost on him.

"In my family, strength is prized above all else... and the boys are always the leaders. Ever since I was born, I kept hearing things like, 'If only she were a boy' and 'I wish I had a son' from my parents... it made me ashamed of living. So I changed myself and I became Deathclaw."

The mouse began to piece together her story and his, and how they came from a similar background, with a different approach in facing their issues.

She continued, "I hid any proof that I was a girl to the people around me and began devouring others as a show of strength. Soon, everyone knew my name and everyone knew who was the boss. Even my parents grew scared of me... it was a liberating feeling."

"Did... you have a real name then...?" Chester piped up, silence filling the air as Deathclaw stopped talking.

"Chloe. My name is Chloe." She admitted.

"Chloe... that's a beautiful name." The mouse couldn't help but say.

"Which meant it was weak." The bear pessimistically said.

"Oh... I'm sorry." The mouse frowned as he looked down at the tight bulge of the bear below him.

"It's okay... I'm sorry for threatening to eat you and your boyfriend... had to keep up appearances, you know?"

"I do... I really do." Chester began to tell her his own story of his weakness, and his own method of coping.

"So, wait, you mean you're a...!"

"I'm a boy, yes. My real name is Chester. Not Chelsea." He admitted.

"Holy shit..." the bear swore as she drank in the reality of their relationship. "We're literally like... the same. Except with, how we handled it..."

"Not completely the same but... yeah. Kindred souls..." Chester whispered as he rubbed his taut stomach. "I'm sorry, Chloe..."

"It's okay. I'm okay. At least now, I don't ever have to worry about being weak or strong... nor will you have to worry about being bullied and weak." She chuckled, "In a way, both our problems just got solved!"

"That's just a bit too morbid for my tastes... but yeah." Chester chuckled a bit as well, his stomach starting to rumble. "I uh... need to digest you now."

"Yeah, I know." Chloe pressed out on the walls around her one last time, "Just one last thing."

"Hmm? What is it?" The mouse asked just as he held the instant digestion potion to his lips.

"Find my family. They live right across the school, in the Diamond Hills Suburbs, number 2124. They'll invite you because they'll respect how you defeated me here today."

"O-Okay? Why?" Chester asked, getting slightly worried.

"Eat them. Fucking eat them and turn them into your mouse fat. And don't give them any mercy." The bear growled as she spoke, shaking with rage. "I wanted to be the one to off them both... but I can go happy if I knew it was you who's gonna do it."

The mouse gulped, concerned with the nature of her request, before shaking his head. "You know what? I'll do it. I'll make them pay."

"Yes... thank fuck." The bear sighed in relief. "You'd better make good on that promise, or I swear, I'll haunt you!"

Chester chuckled at that, Chloe following with her own laugh as he looked at the instant digestion potion in his paw and sighed, "I promise." Then, he drank the mixture. Almost immediately, his stomach began growling and gurgling loudly, a strange warmth spreading throughout his body as gas started billowing up his throat like an active chimney.

UuuraAaAAAP!

BwwoOOUUrrRP!

HwoooRRRRaaaAAAAP!

While Chester panted, the gas finally stopped but his stomach continued to growl aggressively as his stomach acids were infused with the potion he drank. All of the sudden, his belly bed rapidly shrank, disappearing in the blink of an eye until the mouse was left lying on the grassy friend below with a pudgy and squishy stomach about the size of a beach ball.

The mouse slowly stood up, blushing as he poked his pudgy gut, when it let out a loud growl that nearly vibrated his entire body, another wave of warmth coursing through him as he suddenly started getting heavier and heavier. He gasped, looking down and seeing his thighs start to expand and grow, the same happening to his butt, eliciting a squeaky moan from the mouse twink. He contained to grow and fatten until his ass cheeks settled, leaving the formerly stick-thin mouse looking as if he had stuffed tires into his pants and painted them to be the same color as his light brown fur, while his hips had grown wider than most of his classrooms' door frame widths. In between the two mountainous cheeks, his tail had grown fatter as well, growing to the width of one of his fat thighs, reminiscent of a snake . Further below, his small cock, whose size contributed to the mouse's feelings of femininity, turned into a 2 foot long and half-foot wide monster that could easily poke through any of the short skirts he had in his closet. Even worse, his balls followed suit and ended up as big and heavy as a pair of basketballs, filled with potent seed and void of any hope of hiding them.

At the end of his transformation, Chester was left panting heavily, blushing to the point of looking like a tomato, looking at what his body had become. Squeezing his potbelly, he gulped, internally panicking at having to go back to class. However, he didn't really care about the fact that he might have to attend the rest of his classes naked until he could find a tailor to make bigger clothes. Student predators did that all the time if they were too big for their clothes, and after defeating the biggest of the bunch would certainly skyrocket the meek mouse into on-campus fame. But instead of thinking of the possibilities his new status would afford him, the first thing he thought of was about how he was going to hide his new body. With his assets on full display, he would be hard-pressed to hide the secret of his true gender.

As he contemplated, his thoughts turned to Aiden, the partner he drove away for his own safety so that the mouse could die alone. Now, he was left alone, with no one left to live with. Chester coughed, tears starting to form as he knelt down, holding a paw to his throat as he felt it start to close up. Memories of last night flew through his mind as he thought about how he had revealed his secret to the buck and reflected on it.

"...no." He whispered, standing back up and growling. "N-No... I won't hide anymore. I owe it to him... " The mouse shook his head as he looked at the school in the distance and sighed. "I'll face whatever lies ahead."

"For Aiden... and for Chloe."

Chester took a deep breath before walking towards the Building of Magic for his first class of the day. Once he finished them, he had a promise to keep and a dinner date to attend.