To Be a Tree (A Fox Serum Story)

by grapehyacinth

After accidentally ingesting transformation serum and becoming a puppy, then having a harrowing experience as a lion, Tonya Grant had decided her next encounter with Fox Serum would be a safe, calming one. She'd wanted to be a houseplant for a week, but Lisa, her mother, encouraged her to try the tree-for-a-day serum. In case she didn't enjoy it, she wouldn't be forced to remain in a flowerpot for a week, and the tree serum was also twenty-percent off for the next few days.

So there Tonya stood, auburn hair blazing in the Friday morning sun. Her mother was filling up a watering can with the hose, while her father dug a hole right in the middle of his prized lawn.

“Hurry up before the neighbors see,” uttered Lisa, walking over and plunking the watering can down by the hole.

Tonya's younger brother Charlie came running from the house. “Yeah, we don't want crazy Mrs. Markle freaking out as you turn into a tree-monster.”

“Dad, get him out of here!” Tonya yelled. For whatever reason, she was uncomfortable with her brother seeing her change. Her mother was the only one she wanted around. Lisa had used Fox Serum countless times, so she wouldn't make fun of her when she was in the intermediate stages between human and tree.

“Look what I've done to my grass for you, Tonya! You better enjoy this!” Her father, Blake, shook his head while pushing the sod to the side in hopes that it was savable. “Keep her watered, Lisa. It's going to be a hot day today.” He tossed aside his shovel. “Come on, Charlie, let's get you to Grandma's. I'm late for work.”

“Aww! I wanted to see how ugly she gets!” Charlie whined, but Blake pulled him inside, yelling, “Don't forget your pillow and clothes for tomorrow. Grandma can't wait to have you sleep over!”

When they heard the garage door close and the car speed off, Lisa pulled the serum vial from a brown paper bag and handed it to her daughter. “You ready?”

Tonya faltered for just a moment. As lovely as these newer plant serums were supposed to be, it still worried her slightly that she would be completely immobile. Her mother had just recently changed back from being a chrysanthemum (with the Flower-for-a-Weekend Fox Serum) and had not stopped talking about how restful it had been. But the idea of not being able to see or hear did render Tonya somewhat anxious.

Nonetheless, she swallowed her fear along with the bottle of serum, and drew closer to the hole she would inhabit for the next twenty-four hours. She wore only a very large button-down shirt and baggy shorts – just in case Mrs. Markle happened to be witnessing the first phases of her metamorphosis...

The effects started almost immediately, and Tonya froze, inches away from the hole. In addition to the wonderful pleasure that the Fox Serum was famous for, another odder sensation accompanied it. Her body was stiffening, yet something was forcing her arms up in the air.

“It's okay, Tonya. Your arms become branches.” Lisa pulled a chaise lounge from the patio onto the lawn near her daughter, then went back to grab a book and a bottle of water. “I'll tell you, I swear I still have some chloroplasts. I cannot get enough of the sun!” she commented as she set up a side table next to the chaise.

“God, it feels good,” Tonya purred. As her arms reached skyward, she could feel her body aching to do the same. Slowly she could feel herself stretching. Slowly she began to take on inches in height, which made her cry out with joy. “Look, Mom! Look at me! I'm getting tall!”

“Yup. It's starting,” Lisa adjusted her sunhat and settled down in the chaise. “You're also losing your hair.”

As hard as it was, Tonya forced her stiffening arm down and ran it over her head. Indeed, her hair was falling off in clumps, and she could just make out the baby-fine hair dropping from her arm as her limb forced itself back up into the air.

Wordlessly, Tonya watched as her fingers began to lengthen, as did her toes. Soon she would have roots! Soon she'd be one with the earth! “I'm growing!” she gasped. The shirt and shorts began to stretch as she began to take on girth as well. “Nice...nice...so nice...”

Lisa smirked, looking up. “Oh, Tonya!” In dismay, she ran from her seat and pushed at her statue-like daughter. “You're not in your hole! Get in your hole! They tell you it's easier for your roots to grow when the soil's broken up a bit! Get in!” As awkward as it was pushing a nearly-seven foot girl around, Lisa shoved her daughter into the hole, nearly knocking her down like a board. She filled in the hole, packing the dirt tight around her daughter's changing legs. “This won't feel weird much longer. Soon it'll all be just...right.”

But it already was just 'right'. The serum served to calm Tonya's worries, and she allowed herself to fully enjoy her metamorphosis. She wiggled her bare feet in the dirt. The sand felt deliciously cool, and she could feel her toes actually expanding, thinning and branching. She pushed them deeper into the ground, relishing the tingly way it felt as her very flesh became plant matter, and soon her feet were now masses of roots that would serve to anchor her tree-body well. With a sharp breath, she realized that her legs were molding together into one thick trunk, and Lisa quickly jumped back up and tore off her daughter's shorts. Tonya was about to protest, but when she looked down, there was nothing to protest about. Her crotch was no longer there. Everything was was melting together, and her hips were sinking into her sides, simply becoming part of her thickening trunk...

“Stand up straight, Tonya, or you'll be growing crooked!”

It was all Tonya could do to straighten up now. Her body was hardening so swiftly, it was almost impossible to bend it at all. And while she had been studying her lower half, she had almost missed the fact that her fingers were all at least a foot long and growing fast. Soon smaller branches grew from them, and twigs grew from the branches. “Promise you'll stay with me a bit, Mom,” Tonya murmured, her lips becoming nearly impossible to move. Her skin was taking on a brown appearance, and, forcing one finger to bend slightly to touch its neighbor, her nail scraped up against her ridgy skin. My bark is forming! She giggled through a mouth that was now stationary, but her figure trembled slightly.

“Like it?” Lisa questioned, flipping a page.

“Love....it....” Tonya managed to force out. “OO!” she made a violent shake as, all at once, other branches began to pop from her sides, and she was now stretching much faster into the sky. For whatever reason, the changes had sped up, perhaps due to the sun? Taller and taller she grew, now her bottom half completely hardened and solidified into wood and bark.

“Oh, you did pick a nice tree to be. Sweet gum has lovely bark,” Lisa commented.

“Mmm....” was all Tonya could emit. But she did not have any wish to say more. Her attention was now focused inward her on her growth; she had to get closer and closer to the sun! She needed it! She felt her very being stretching, being pulled to the brightness...

Meanwhile, the bark was swiftly encasing her. It had quietly crept up and flowed across her chest, swallowing everything female about her. It had made her arms indistinguishable from the other branches that had emerged from her sides, and her face was being buried under the creeping ridges of bark...

“Mm..” she muttered once more before her face was reduced to nothing but several divots in a sea of bark.

Stretching, stretching...Oh, I love the feeling of getting so tall! Tonya thought with glee. The tree gave one more joyous lurch as its leaves popped out from every branch, then it grew still, taking on its new, incredible-feeling existence.

“You turned out so beautiful! Grow! Grow! I love you, Tonya!” Lisa cried out in joy, jumping up. She removed a girl's tattered, ripped shirt from where it dangled lazily from the new tree's branch.

Why didn't I do this before? Tonya wondered to herself in shock. This was more amazing than being an animal! The transformation itself was simply unbelievable! Her body changing into living wood was indescribable, and the blissful feelings of the transformation continued to travel up and down her new form without subsiding in the least. It flowed into her branch-fingers, her many thousands of twigs and leaves, then flowed down to every little root... Had she been human, she would be squirming in pleasure. Here, she was simply immobile, forced to endure every bit of ecstasy without being able to respond to it...

The infinitely small shudder she was able to muster resulted in the shedding of several of her leaves. She felt the loss of each one, but there was no pain. It was as if she had lost several hairs, nothing more.

The loss of her vision and hearing meant nothing to her now, for a plant did not do these things, and she did not miss them in the least. She could, however, feel the light summer breeze as it tickled and played with her leaves. Too bad this was only one day, she thought with regret. I could easily stay like this for a month. No, a year!

She drank in the morning sun, savoring the warm feeling in her leaves as it set her chloroplasts to work. She could feel the energy they created for her, and it invigorated her, forcing her to push open more leaves.

The work of opening her leaves and making food must have been hard, or perhaps the heat of the sun was making her thirsty, but as she sat and enjoyed her form, she felt a need for water creeping over her. She spread her roots out further and deeper. As she searched for the most infinitesimal bits of moisture, she could feel the sun intensifying on her leaves, and she instinctively knew it was the afternoon. How long have I been like this? Are hours really going by? I feel like I just transformed only seconds ago!

Her roots penetrated further and further, but she was becoming frustrated. Where was the damned water table when you needed it?

As the time continued to tick by, her parched roots continued to search the dry sand futilely, and she sighed to herself. Where was her mom? The watering can was so close by – she remembered her mother placing it down right by her hole...

Her leaves seemed to curl slightly. She was wilting.

“Lisa, how in the world did a tree grow in your yard overnight?” cried an ancient voice over the fence.

Lisa looked up from her book to see old Mrs. Markle squinting at the perfect sweet gum specimen in their yard.

“Oh, that's just my daughter,” she tossed back over her shoulder.

“No!”

Grudgingly, Lisa rose and walked over to the fence. “Yes, she transformed with the Fox Serum.”

“They do plants now? What will those scientists think of next?”

“Yes, they do plants now. They're lovely to be, too.”

“Lovely?” the woman exclaimed in dismay. “You allowed your daughter to turn herself into a tree? That's horrible of you!”

Taken aback, Lisa took a moment to respond. “Horrible? I didn't force her! And it's wonderful! Have you ever been one?”

The woman snorted. “The only thing I've ever been is human, and that's all I'll ever be. I'm not using any of these newfangled transformation liquids on my body! Probably gives you cancer later on! I'm shocked that you'd use it on a little girl like that! This whole world's going crazy!”

Mrs. Markle stomped off, and Lisa remained, grinning stupidly at her daughter's standing sentry over their yard. It was so hot, she must be photosynthesizing like mad...

But she looked a little peaked...

“The water! I forgot to water her! Damn it, I'm so clueless!”

The sensation of wonderful coolness removed Tonya from her torpor. The heat had placed her in an odd half-daze, and she was only partly aware of where and what she was. But when her roots tasted the water, she slurped it up hungrily. The water felt wonderful, flowing all through her, rejuvenating and refreshing her, and she had never felt better. Not as a person, not as a puppy, and definitely not as a lion!

She pushed her leaves to unfurl and she swallowed the sun, curling her roots slightly as if they were still toes.

It had helped that the sun was now subsiding as night crept on, and as the rays left her leaves, she felt a delightful twilight breeze. It stroked at her, jostling her branches and lulling her with its caress. Then something swept lovingly down her bark, and she knew it was okay to go to sleep.

“Good night, Tonya,” said Lisa, sweeping her hand down the tree's bumpy trunk once more. She turned around and walked inside. It was tough to leave her daughter out in the elements, but she knew that tonight her daughter would slumber more peacefully than she ever had.

Tonya was only half-aware of the night around her. Her sleep was deep and was only interrupted around midnight by claws grabbing at her and something perching on her strong upper branch. Probably an owl, she thought to herself with a sleepy inner giggle, and she allowed the breeze to lull her back to sleep. It wasn't until she felt her leaves begin to tingle with the first light that she woke fully.

She knew she would change back in only hours, and she dreaded it. She could not bear to give up this wonderful strong form to go back to weak flesh and blood...The idea of being a houseplant for a week sounded better than it ever had before.

Something scurried up her trunk and launched itself off of her branch.

Damned squirrel. Pulled off a bunch of leaves. I'll have to grow them back.  

And she set to it.

“She turned out so nicely, I hate to loose such a perfect tree,” commented Blake as they rested in their daughter's shade.

“I waited too long to water her. I hope she didn't get too thirsty,” Lisa wailed.

A shower of leaves fell onto them, and they jumped up to watch their daughter's impending return. Lisa stroked reassuringly at Tonya's bark, which was getting smoother and lighter. The tree began descending from the sky rather sadly, pulling in its branches and dropping its leaves until it was reduced to a short, denuded shrub. Their daughter's face began to reappear from the four bark-divots it had frozen into, and as the eyes grew human, a look of sorrow was soon permeating them.

Tonya could not move yet, for she was still more tree than human. Her whole bottom half was solidly anchored into the ground, completely tree, but her branches were starting to lower and re-form arms, and her head and shoulders were becoming evident. When she could finally move her head and lips, she looked down at her trunk. “Oh, I'm so nice like this...Half-woman, half-tree...” she smiled sadly. “I just want to sip a last bit of water with my roots...” But even as she spoke, she could feel all the millions of root-hairs retracting back up to form her feet and toes. Her legs were separating from what had been her mighty trunk, and, now possessing hands, she rubbed furiously at her dying bark, trying to enjoy every last bit of the sensation. “Oh, no...please...don't leave me...” But her body insisted on resuming its human shape, and soon she had to accept that she was merely a person standing barefooted in a hole. Yes, she was still oddly tall and her fingers and toes were much too long for her hands, but she was still woefully human.

Lisa had sprung up to cover her daughter with a towel the moment her body was identifiably female once more. “Your hair came back really cute!” she exclaimed, pointing at Tonya's head. She had made sure to point out to Tonya to expect that usually with a plant serum, one's hair returned shorter and thinner for a time after the transformation. Lisa herself had a headful of short waves, which she had happily embraced.

“It is cute,” uttered Blake. After viewing a tree become his daughter, he seemed to be at a loss for anything better to say.

Still stiff, Tonya bent down, running her hands through the piles of verdant leaves around her. “Oh my leaves...my beautiful leaves...” She held a handful for a moment, thinking of how nice it had felt when she could actually feel the sun through them...

But now they were dead to her, and she let them flutter to the ground.

“I want to be a flower for my birthday,” Tonya murmured as she followed her mother inside. Blake had remained outside to bring the yard back to rights.

Lisa chuckled. “Oh, that's silly, Tonya. On your birthday we always have a nice party, and cake, and– ”

“And then I'm turning into a tulip. For a week.”

Lisa did not try to argue. Tonya's mind was made up, and when she saw that Tonya had picked up one of her leaves and tucked it into her pocket, Lisa knew she'd be living with a tulip pretty soon.

Well, at least Tonya would brighten up the house. She'd always meant to get some houseplants.