Cretaceous Campus by Watermelon the Gecko Edited by Pheagle Adler
Cretaceous Campus. The soon-to-be biggest scientific marvel of the world, eagerly awaited for years; the first place on Earth to provide guests a look at real-life dinosaurs, just as they lived and breathed sixty-five million years ago, albeit without the hostility. The campus would soon boast the unique ability to safely interact, up close, with some of the most fascinating creatures that had ever walked the Earth.
“…Y’know, Max, now that I think about it, I feel like I saw a movie about this kind of place once. It didn’t end well.”
“No clue what you’re talking about. C’mon, we’re almost there!”
Naturally, the excitement surrounding such an incredible place meant that some people, like Phil and Max, wouldn’t exactly be capable of waiting for very long. Sneaking their way through the dense foliage that surrounded the park, the two exchanged a bit of idle chit-chat, albeit at a low whisper, to avoid catching the attention of any potential security guards who might be skulking around.
“Aha…!” Max exclaimed, as the duo finally made it out of the brush and came face-to-chain with a large, chain-link fence that towered over the two. It was easily twenty or so feet tall. “Hmm… Now, how are we going to get over this thing…?”
Phil glanced up towards the top of the fence, expecting to see a large arrangement of barbed wire…yet, to his surprise, there was none. He assumed that the fence must have been electrified instead, but could hear no hum of electricity, nor see any wires.
Still, there was no way that sneaking in was going to be that easy!
Phil… look!” Max reached forward, tapping him on the shoulder, and pointed off to the duo’s left, revealing their ticket inside - a large, unfinished section of fence.
Phil chuckled. It wasn’t going to be that easy. In fact, it was going to be much easier…something that gave Max a bit of pause. “This feels a bit too easy to me,” he said, as he anxiously fidgeted with his hoodie strings.
“Oh, relax,” Phil said, as he motioned for Max to follow, and with that, the two clambered through the unfinished fence.
After one last journey through more jungle foliage, this time within the boundaries of the fence, the two found themselves deep inside the large park. Almost instantaneously, it felt like the two had entered a whole new time period! A large volcano spewed smoke into the air at a steady pace off in the distance, cliff edges formed a sort of artificial canyon, meant to funnel guests from exhibit to exhibit, and tropical jungle foliage was liberally peppered all throughout the expansive open space.
Of course, none of that mattered, not when compared to the real eye-catching attractions that took the duo’s breaths away…dinosaurs!
Living, breathing dinosaurs, most of which were wandering around, within simple, large enclosures. Giant, long-necked Alamosaurus munched on leaves from trees, Velociraptors sprinted across large stretches of ground at impressive speeds, an Ankylosaurus lazily lumbered its way towards a bush, to munch on its leaves, and so on and so forth. It felt like no matter where the two looked, they saw another incredible formerly-extinct organism.
However, at this point, the two were hesitant to go any further, as they realized that almost none of the dinosaurs were effectively contained! Each of their enclosures was wide open, only a low rope separating them from the future parkgoers. Even the smallest of dinosaurs could easily climb over these barriers, allowing them to come and go as they pleased. One would expect nothing less than complete and utter chaos from such a large array of dinosaurs freely walking about…and yet, it was rather calm. Carnivorous beasts usually paid the herbivorous ones no mind, sometimes even approaching them calmly, neither party treating it as if it were out of the ordinary. In fact, the way the beasts moved their bodies made it seem like they were mingling with one another.
“Woah…” Phil exclaimed, as he slowly started walking into the park proper, taking in the natural beauty of the dinosaurs. Max followed close behind, but was a bit offput by the way just about every one of the dinosaurs stared at them as they walked past.
“Max, c’mon, man!” Phil called out, snapping Max back to reality. He had lagged behind while locking eyes with a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and he swore he heard a deep, ominous chuckle!
Still, Max turned and caught up with Phil, who was eagerly following the signs directing him to a specific exhibit: The Triceratops! The Triceratops had been his most favorite dinosaur species for as long as he could remember, stemming back well into his childhood.
Before long, the two finally arrived at the exhibit, only to find the enclosure completely empty. “Aw, man, you gotta be kidding me…!” Phil groaned. “All that trekking through the jungle, and they don’t even have the Triceratops ready!”
“Well, I mean, we are here well before the place is supposed to open,” Max said, shrugging. “Besides, I honestly feel as though we’ve already overstayed our welcome. We should probably get the hell out of here…”
“Yeah, you might be- ACK!” Phil was suddenly cut off when he felt a sharp sting in his neck.
“What? What’s wrong- OW!” Immediately afterward, Max felt a similar sting in his own neck. The two reached up to their injured necks, pulling out and discarding a pair of large, ominous-looking purple darts.
“Uh-oh…” Phil muttered, as Max whimpered nervously. And for a few seconds, the two merely stared at one another, unsure of what to do.
“Hey, my clothes are feeling rather tight all of a sudden…how are yours faring? Max inquired, breaking the silence, while tugging at his shirt.
Indeed, Phil felt his green-and-white varsity jacket growing smaller and smaller upon him, where mere moments before, it was a rather loose-fitting outfit. The wrinkles and folds in his jersey were vanishing at a rapid pace, as the fabrics pulled taut. Similarly, Max’s own clothing was becoming uncomfortably snug around his own body, particularly around his waist, including his belt.
“Holy-! Max, look! Your hands!” Max looked down, gasping in shock at the sight of his hands, which were developing a thick layer of green scales. Meanwhile, Phil diverted his attention back to his own body, his eyes widening when he noticed a layer of red scales crawling across the backs of his hands, his palms taking on a yellow hue. On both their bodies, the areas surrounding where the two were hit by the darts were also being overtaken by a similar set of scales, which spread across their necks, travelled down their bodies and crept up to their heads.
“W-what’s happen-IIING?!” Max tried to cry out, suddenly gritting his teeth as an incredible pressure built up in his face. Putting a clawed hand to it, he could feel that his face was starting to push outward, with subtle pops as his bones were reshaped.
Meanwhile, Phil’s body continued to bulk up all around. His stomach grew thicker and thicker, causing his jacket to stretch tighter and tighter, until it finally burst open, button by button, with a series of loud snaps. Meanwhile, his chest kept increasing in size, causing his jersey to rise up to his midsection, exposing his now bulging belly, which was being steadily overtaken by yellow scales, similar to the ones upon his palms. Next, as his gait widened to support his larger upper body, his legs swelled into thick, increasingly scaly pillars that pulled the fabric of his pants tight.
To keep the pace with his growing legs, his feet grew rounder and rounder, straining the fabric of his sneakers, which lasted for mere moments, before his feet burst from them, and his socks, in a violent eruption of cotton and canvas. His toenails took on a black shine, pushing out into a set of dull claws on each foot. His legs swelled out further and further, straining his pant legs to their limit, before splitting them apart at the seams, his pants now barely hanging on around his expanding waistline.
As Phil tried to look down at his new, elephant-like feet, albeit with difficulty, because of his now hefty frame, Max’s face continued pushing out, as his body grew larger in a different way. But rather than growing thicker like Phil, Max was instead growing taller, though he was definitely gaining bulk alongside his height. His shirt rose up like Phil’s had, revealing red scales rather than green, as his neck began to stretch out, growing a bit thicker to support his larger head. Max’s legs popped and cracked as his feet elongated, destroying his shoes in the same way that Phil’s feet had done to his sneakers. The green scales overtook his feet as his socks ruptured, revealing his toenails becoming sharp white claws, and he found himself walking upon the balls of his feet, a properly digitigrade set of legs left behind. His thighs rapidly bulked up, destroying his jeans in a similar display to Phil’s.
The duo’s transformations were accompanied by a cacophony of bones popping, clothes shredding, and grunts and whimpers that were steadily becoming deeper with each passing moment. “Wait…” said Phil, as he finally realized what was happening, wincing at the sound of his voice getting deeper. “Max, I think we’re-… Urrrrrgh-…!”
He was quickly cut off by a sudden sense of immense pressure building in the seat of what remained of his pants, which were already strained from his massive growth spurt. This time, however, an unfamiliar appendage was straining the seat of his pants and underwear. With a loud RRRRRIP, Phil’s pants lost the fight, and a large red tail erupted from the resulting scraps, unfurling and growing in length, leaving his lower half fully bare, aside from the occasional scrap hanging on by a thread. Phil’s new tail forcefully adjusted his posture, and he soon found himself leaning forward more and more, until he was on all fours, his arms thickening up like his legs and bulging his sleeves out. At this point, Phil’s head had finally begun to succumb to his changes as well. He grunted and groaned as a large, round ridge steadily pushed itself outward from all around his face, and his mouth pushed forward, a strange sensation flowing through his teeth.
With a loud crack, Max’s head finished changing in structure, his teeth sharpening into an array of intimidating canines. Finally getting a relief from the pressure in his face, he ran his new, much larger tongue across his new fangs, stunned. He didn’t have long to think about it though, because, much like Phil, pressure built up within his tailbone, as a new appendage stretched out past his rear, becoming a proper tail that kept growing and growing, straining his already-strained jeans. “U-uuurhhh…! C-c’moooon, rip already….!” Max practically pleaded, the pressure becoming almost unbearable, as he, too, began leaning forward. His posture was forcefully adjusted into a hunched over stance, though he remained on two legs, as opposed to Phil’s now fully-quadrupedal form. Finally, after what felt like forever, his new tail obliterated his pants, as it exploded out of them. He let out a beastly roar of relief as it happened, though he immediately clasped his hands over his mouth, in shock at having made such an alien noise.
Meanwhile, Phil kept grunting, as his face was reshaped even further. His teeth began to fuse together and push outward past his lips, taking on a similar black shade as his claws and forming a beak of sorts. His arms continued to bulk up, until they were just another set of legs, bursting free of his jacket’s sleeves and revealing brilliant red scales, leaving only his torso covered by what remained of his jacket, which wasn’t going to last much longer. The rest of his head continued to change, the crest growing larger and larger, whilst his hair began to vanish. His ears shrank until they entirely disappeared, and atop his head, two small black horns pushed their way out of his skull, while a third popped out of his newly formed muzzle; all three of the new horns steadily grew longer and longer, a series of crackling sounds accompanying the changes.
The few remaining human features atop Max’s head vanished as well, leaving him with a ferocious reptilian face that was steadily overtaken by spreading green scales. Even now, however, his transformation still wasn’t finished, as he now felt a strange sensation running down almost the entire length of his spine. A prominent ridge slowly pushed its way out from his back, as he hunched over even more than his new posture already had him at. He groaned while the ridge grew longer and longer, forming a single prominent spine atop his back that pulled his hoodie and shirt as tight as possible. They didn’t last long, and before Max knew it, his hoodie and shirt were torn to shreds, as his new spine burst free.
Phil’s bulking body had yet to finish growing bigger, rounder, and heavier. The remaining bits of clothing he wore, the now sleeveless varsity jacket and the jersey beneath it, were finally giving in and tearing to scraps. A large tear formed in the back of each garment, as a smaller, yet still prominent ridge pushed out along the length of his spine, allowing his jacket and jersey to fall to the ground and join the rest of his outfit’s remains. With that, the pair were now totally nude.
Amidst the scraps of their destroyed outfits, the two continued to grow, becoming larger, bulkier, and more ferocious in appearance. Finally, some gentle creaking signaled to the pair that their transformations were nearly complete. They both clenched their jaws, groaning in their guttural new voices, as the pressure within their bodies continued to mount. Finally, the tension within the duo’s bodies discharged, as Phil’s horns and Max’s dorsal spine both finished growing,
“GRRROOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!” The two new dinosaurs let out a simultaneous roar of relief that reverberated around the park. Taking some quick, heavy breaths, they looked each other over, unsure of what to say.
“You’re…” Phil began. “A…”
Max continued. “Spinosaurus!”
“Triceratops!” The two cried out in unison.
“We’re…dinosaurs?! How?!” Max cried, as he looked down at himself and took in his new body, feeling his red, scaly belly in curiosity.
“Well, well, well… Got a couple more for opening day, don’t we?” A deep, booming voice, even deeper than their own, spoke up from behind them.
Max and Phil’s attentions were brought back to their surroundings, distracting them from inspecting their strange, new bodies. Only now had the two realized that they were surrounded by a crowd of dinosaurs of just about every shape, size and color, all of which were staring at the duo in awe. They could hear them all muttering amongst themselves, and they understood every word.
“Spinosaurus, eh? Wasn’t expecting him to be that color!”
“I was kind of hoping for a Pteranodon…”
“I thought Mr. Triceratops there was gonna be a Styracosaurus!”
The booming voice spoke again. “Welcome to Cretaceous Campus, you two!”
Turning around, the two new dinos were taken aback by the sight of a large Tyrannosaurus Rex, the booming voice from before, standing before them. The two stumbled backward and cried out in terror, which came out as a pair of roars.
“Easy, you two, we’re not gonna hurt ya!” The Tyrannosaurus motioned his tiny little arms, gesturing for the two to calm down. He chuckled to himself as he realized how silly he looked, then let out a sigh. “I miss having long arms…”
“Wait…” Phil started, tilting his head.
“You, too?!” Max asked, horrified.
“Me, too,” the Tyrannosaurus said, while nodding. “Same with everyone else you see here. We all got a bit too curious, and… well, you see what happened.” Max and Phil were dumbfounded.
“If it helps at all,” came the nasally voice of a nearby Velociraptor, “this isn’t supposed to be permanent! Just until they can figure out the whole ‘cloning dinosaurs’ thing!”
“Wha-?! You mean they don’t even have the whole reason this place exists nailed down yet?!” Max was aghast. Phil was stunned silent.
“Yeeeeaaaaahhhh…turns out that turning an already-existing organism into a new one is a lot easier than creating one from scratch…” The Tyrannosaurus shrugged as best he could. “Don’t sweat it too much. While they work on fine-tuning that part, you get to take it easy and be a dinosaur with the rest of us! The only requirement is for you stay in your enclosure when the guests arrive.”
“…And how long are we gonna be stuck like this?” Phil asked.
“Last time they approached us, we were told… about a year, I think?”
Max and Phil shared a look of annoyance. They had lives outside of this park that were going to have to be put on hold. While they were at least grateful that the changes wouldn’t be permanent, it was no doubt going to be a long, long year ahead…
Too anxious to wait for it to open, Pheagle and Watermelon snuck inside a new dinosaur-themed park that promised visitors an immersive experience! But perhaps it was bit too immersive, as they soon found themselves transforming into a life-sized Triceratops and Spinosaurus!
WatermelontheGecko!
