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Derek fingered the crocodile tooth hanging around his neck; he had received the tooth along with an invitation to the opening of a swamp village. Most ordinary people would think that this sounds extremely odd but to Derek it was an exciting event as he had lived near this swamp as a kid. He had always been a bit odd as a kid as he had always loved to hang out in the swamp. Derek was known to have walked off into the swamp for days before coming out half starved to death but looking completely happy. His parents had been concerned so after five cases of Derek going missing in the swamp they decided to move away, Derek had been extremely depressed during the following months of their move. He missed swimming in the water of the swamp and the multiple species of bugs in the water, but what he had missed the most was the crocodiles.

As a kid he had an obsession with the reptiles, their scales had a certain appeal to him. Even after he had moved away he researched the large lizards, he actually had made a crocodile fan club which sadly he had been the only member of. But even though he had been the only member he was perfectly fine, when he was in the club he would research everything about the scaled creatures. After he had graduated from high school he had gone to get a degree in zoology, of course the first job he took on was on crocodiles. He had taken every possible moment to spend time with the crocodiles, soon he was working so many hours that his work would have to tell him to take vacations.

When he received the package after work he disregarded it at first as he usually did, after a few hours he finally realized that the package was on his doorstep. He had slid a knife through the tape of the box and looked inside, the first thing he had noticed was the small crocodile tooth necklace. He slowly pulled it out of the box and rubbed his finger over it, he could immediately tell that it was the real thing because of the slight plaque buildup on it.

After admiring the tooth Derek noticed the pair of papers in the box, one was a ticket for a flight to his old hometown and the other paper was an invitation for a swamp village. At first Derek thought it was too good to be true but after running a quick online search on it he realized that it was real. Derek had immediately packed up and left the very next day for the airport. Derek had spent the night at a local hotel, as he went through his old hometown he didn't recognize any faces. It seemed like most of the people he had known as a kid had moved away, slightly saddened by this fact he realized how long it had been since he had last been there. After a few moments of sadness he grinned in growing excitement as he remembered the initial reason he had come. Derek walked towards the indicated address on his invitation, as he drove through his old neighborhood he smiled sadly as he looked at his old haunts. He slowed as he looked upon a new road leading into the swamp. He drove down the road slowly looking from side to side at all of the swamp life around him, he grinned as he noticed real life crocodiles sitting in between the swamp trees. As he drove further up the road he didn't notice road behind him becoming covered in swamp foliage as if there had never been a road at all. Derek slowed his car to a stop as he pulled up to the village; it was a simple looking park. He climbed out of his car and walked up to the village and smiled as he noticed the inhabitants of the village seemed to be dressed in crocodile outfits, "Well they're definitely into the swamp setting." He said as he walked into the village, as he looked around for an information desk he didn't notice the odd glances of the costumed people. "Excuse me; are you Derek Mapod by any chance?" Derek turned to find himself face to fa... snout with one of the costumed inhabitants. "Yes I'm him; I'm assuming you're the one who sent the box." The man nodded, "My name is Gorond, I made this village and I wanted to start inviting some people to come visit." He held his hand out; Derek took the hand and shook it. As his hand clamped over the costumed man's he shivered at how damp and cold the hand was, "Man your costumes are extremely realistic, you should seriously commend the maker of your suits." "Suits?" Gorond looked confused, "Oh Mr. Mapod I think you're under the wrong impression." But Derek wasn't listening, "It feels so great to be back in the swamp, I remember coming here as a kid." Derek walked over to a tree and delicately touched the tree as if it were to break if he were to push against it too hard, "So how long did it take for you to make this village?" He questioned his costumed guide, "It took us about four years to make it." The man commented, he slowly stroked a house fondly. "It looks wonderful." Derek said looking over the village, as he looked around he noticed kids dressed in crocodile outfits. "Wow I can say you guys are extremely dedicated if you get kids in these costumes." He grinned broadly as he looked closer at some of the kids, "If I didn't know better than I would say these are real scales." He noticed Gorond had a odd look on his face, "Is something wrong?" He asked, Gorond contemplated saying something for a minute before he gave it up and sighed. "It's nothing, I was just wondering if you might want to spend the night here." Derek grinned in delight, "Here? If you have enough room then sure!" As he visited each hut he noticed the small houses were extremely well built, Derek realized that the houses were actually built out of the swamp trees. "Wow that's some ingenuity." He said with a big grin plastered on his face. As he walked around he unconsciously was rubbing the crocodile tooth around his neck. He met some of the villagers and admired their costumes, whenever he commented on their costumes they shot him odd glances. Gorond approached Derek as the sun started to set, "Ah there you are Derek I wanted to tell you that I've gotten your hut all set up for the night." Derek smiled, "Thanks a lot Gorond for letting me stay, you have no idea how many old memories this place brings back." Gorond smiled, "I'm sure it does Derek." After Derek was led to his hut and was left in peace he got undressed as he prepared for bed, he reached up to take off the crocodile tooth necklace but felt oddly compelled to continue to wear it. As Derek started to snore lightly he didn't notice the scales appearing on his hand and chest. Gorond slipped away from the door to the hut when he heard Derek sleeping, "Perhaps I should've told him everything..." He muttered guilty to himself.

The next morning Derek awoke to the bright sun shining in through the window of the hut, he blinked a few times before standing up. As he pulled on his clothes he didn't notice the scales on his chest, but as he glanced at his hand he noticed the scales there. "Huh... some scales from the crocodiles must've stuck to my hand..." He quickly wiped his hand on his pants expecting for that to get rid of the scales, he went out the door without checking a second time.

Gorond waved to Derek as the visitor stretched, "Good morning Derek, have a good night of sleep?" Derek scratched his head and yawned, "Yeah, but I think a crocodile got in there because I found a whole bunch of scales on my hand." Gorond scratched his head, "Yeah, about that Derek." Derek smiled, "Don't worry, I'm just pulling your leg. I honestly don't care about a few scales on my hand." Gorond snorted in irritation but before he could say anything further Derek was once again off. Derek smiled as he looked into the swamp water, "I know some people would be disgusted by this stuff but I can't get enough of it." He muttered, Gorond walked up next to him and nodded. "Derek if I didn't know any better I would think that you were a crocodile in human's skin." He commented, Derek laughed. "I'd honestly agree with you there Gorond, I think I was born in the wrong skin." Gorond opened his mouth to start to explain things to Derek but for the umpteenth time he was gone, Gorond was starting to think that the man was a ghost with how much he disappeared. Derek wandered through the center of town and looked around to see what was going on in the village; every person in the village was already active. "I'm surprised everyone is up so early..." He said as he looked around, even the kids were awake. Derek suddenly felt the need to scratch at the back of his neck, he vigorously scratched at the back of his neck. He suddenly winced as he felt his skin being pierced by his own nail; he brought his hand in front of his face and gaped. In place of his normal hand was a scaled hand with claws, "Wha... how... I don't even..." He was speechless, as he felt a dribble of blood leak down the back of his neck he ran to the rim of the water and looked in to see scales going up his neck. "G... Gorond!" He screamed in panic, Gorond ran out and saw the terror on Derek's face. "Derek are you ok?!" He ran over to Derek, "What's going on Gorond, why am I growing scales and claws?!" He asked in a frightened voice, Gorond rubbed Derek's back to calm the man down. "Now don't worry Derek you'll be fine. Now the truth is that all of us are real crocodiles... well not normal crocodiles like you know. We were transformed by some magic spell which turned us into these human like forms." Derek shook his head distraughtly, "I don't understand, I understand that you got transformed but am I getting transformed?" Gorond smiled sadly, "You see after I met a person and accidentally biting them they slowly became of us and I realized that I could change people into crocopeople like me. Then I remembered a particular human who used to come into the swamp years ago who loved the swamp as much as us crocodiles so I decided to look for this human." Derek gaped, "You remembered me from all the way back then?" Gorond smiled and nodded, "You see I thought that you might like becoming a crocoperson so I gave you one of my teeth and brought you here." Derek itched at his head as he felt the scales move up, as he pulled his and away he found himself holding clumps of his hair. He also felt a sudden popping feeling from his back, he looked back to see a bulge popping out of the back his pants. He suddenly felt a huge push and the back of his pants ripped to give way to a crocodile's tail. "A... a tail..." He was flummoxed by the new appendage; Gorond looked at the tail and smiled. "Well this at least means that you're almost done changing." He said trying to make light of the situation, Derek felt a sudden stinging sensation in his eyes and blinked for a moment. When he opened them again he glanced in the swamp water to see that not only did he now have a snout but he also had crocodile's eyes. Derek watched as the last of his hair fell out, he noticed something falling out of his mouth. He crouched to the ground feeling his new tail touch the ground and picked up a small white object, he realized that it was his teeth. He then felt a pushing sensation in his mouth and reached into his mouth to feel far sharper teeth growing in. "It looks like your new teeth are growing in." Gorond commented, Derek shot him a dirty glare as he heard a ripping sound and he looked down to see his shoes ripping at the seams. He watched as a pair of clawed feet poked out of his shoes, "Well then there goes my nice shoes..." He muttered. As Derek finished up changing he looked into the water to see that he had grown much fitter, most of his clothes looked like they were about to pop right off of him. "Well I think I'm going to need some new clothes..." He said in irritation, as he said that he suddenly had a pair of shorts shoved into his face. "Here you go." Gorond smiled at Derek, Derek looked at the shorts that he had noticed all of the other male crocs were wearing. "I guess this will do..." He muttered. As he quickly changed into the shorts he glanced back into the water, he looked himself over and found his anger slowly dying away. Why should he be angry, all Gorond had done was help him out to do what he had always deep in his mind wanted. "Hey Gorond..." Gorond rose his hand to stop Derek, "Don't worry about it, I understand." Derek smiled and looked back into the water to admire his new form, "Well now that I'm a crocoperson I guess that means I can swim like a crocodile." Gorond smiled a big croc grin, "Yup." Derek looked back at Gorond with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Well I used to be on the swimming team at school, let's see how good I can swim with this new form." Gorond smiled, "Go for it." Derek dived into the water and swam as if his life depended on it, as he swam his tail sliced through the water behind him. He also found that he could see perfectly underwater with his new eyes, as he sliced through the water he realized something. What Gorond had said earlier was true; he truly had been born into the wrong body at first. But now he was in his true body at last.