Building Character

“Do you want fries with that?” Hugh asked through the drive-thru loudspeaker.

He had taken a summer job before his plans to head off to an elite college in the fall. He didn’t need the money; his family was loaded. His dad just forced him to do it in order to “build character.” The wealthy Hugh struggled at the fast food joint, regularly screwing up orders and goofing around on the job. His co-worker, Destiny, was often furious with him. Unlike Hugh, her family was poor and she needed the money from this job. There was no fancy college waiting for her in the fall, just more hours stuck in this dead end job.

They were both assigned to close on stormy night when they got into a big argument. Just as they were shouting, the lightning struck the building, and Destiny and Hugh ended up swapping bodies.

Adjusting to Hugh’s life was pretty easy for Destiny. She was able to take the job seriously for the next month and half until she went off the fancy college in Hugh’s place.

Meanwhile, Hugh was having a tough time in Destiny’s body. He was miserable living in a small apartment with Destiny’s mom and having to come to work at this fast food joint every day. Worse still was that there was no escape in sight. Having grown up rich, he had never truly appreciated his advantages; he never studied hard to applied himself. Without his families money supporting him, he’d amount to nothing.

Pretty (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Pretty.

Jason had no idea what he was going to do. He had no idea who he even was! He couldn’t find any identification amongst this woman’s belongings, and he also couldn’t imagine wearing much of the clothes in her luggage. It was filled with trendy designer brands that were quite feminine in style.

He sat down on the bed and thought about what he was going to do. Maybe if he found her phone, he could call someone. But he couldn’t find her phone, and hadn’t memorized any of his friends’ numbers in years.

He felt trapped. And it wasnt just about being in this body, it was also about this room. It was like this woman was kept in a state of control. And just as he came to that conclusion, there was a knock on the door. He was quite hesistant to open it.

Unknowing

“Let’s try this again. What’s your name?” Jackson asked.

“Akiko Takahashi,” The woman with a strange helmet on her head replied.

Jackson made a few adjustments to the wires attached to the helmet and asked again, “How about now?”

“Still Akiko. Have you considered the possibility that I really AM Akiko That your body swap device here is a failure? I think it’s pretty obvious I am who I say I am.”

“But she left here in your body saying she was Akiko.”

“Come on. Brian loves to mess with you. He was probably just pretending to be me.”

“Well, what do you remember?”

“I’m a Japanese student who came to this country to study at the university. You, I, and Brian have all been friends these past few years going to school together. I’m not sure what you want to know?”

“Do you remember being my girlfriend?”

“What? No! No way! Ew! Gross!”

“See. The real Akiko would remember. We’ve been keeping it a secret from Brian -- from you -- as to not hurt his feelings or make him feel like a third wheel.”

“Or maybe your device just fried that section of my brain! I mean, there’s no way it could’ve actually worked...and that I’m actually...”

Expectation

“Ew.” Alice said as she approached her own body.

“I thought you got all that out on the phone when we discussing how grossed out you were to be stuck in my body,” Matt said while putting a hand on one hip.

“On the phone earlier I was grossed out by being in your body, but now I’m grossed out about seeing how you’ve dressed up my body.”

“What did you expect? Honestly! I’m not exactly an expert on makeup and women’s fashion here!”

“Ugh, but it’s still super embarrassing that anyone might see me looking like...ugh...that!”

“I don’t think anyone is going to notice. Plenty of women probably dress in a t-shirt and sweatpants.”

“But I don’t! You’re ruining me! The sooner we can get back to our bodies, the better!”

“And do you have any idea how to do that?”

“No...”

The Joys of Science (Part 5)

View Part 1 of The Joys of Science.
View Part 2 of The Joys of Science.
View Part 3 of The Joys of Science.
View Part 4 of The Joys of Science.

When Monday morning rolled around, it seemed almost the entire Senior class had called out sick. Mrs. Graves looked at her first period classroom to see only a single student waiting for the lesson, and she didn’t recognize her.

“Excuse me, Miss,” Mrs. Graves asked, “Who are you?”

“Julia,” The student said, “I used to be Julian, but...uh...something happened. I don’t mind, but I will as that you abide by school policy and not deadname me...ever.”

“Right...uh...Julia...” Mrs. Graves said, fully aware of the school DEI policy.

It wasn’t quite what Julian had planned, but it should work out. With everyone out, he’d spend the day ensuring none of the teachers would reveal his true identity while cementing the idea he belonged in these classes. He’d slip back into the fabric of the school quietly while the chaos ensued when the other students returned over the next few days. He’d still get to revel in his revenge, but it would be in a sort of slow motion compared to what he expected.

Surge

When Leonard saw the wall outlet where his lamp was plugged in was sparking, he thought the smartest thing to do to prevent a fire was to unplug it. Apparently, the woman in the neighboring apartment thought the same thing.

There was a surge and a flash, and as the sparks began to slowly dissipate, the reality of what had just happened began to sink in. The circuit must have linked their brains in some way, transferring electrical signals and essentially swapping his brain into the body of his neighbor.

It felt strange to be Hayley. She was a young blonde woman who tended to wear short skirts. But he was more focused on the science of the situation than his body. It was technically more like this brain got rewired to think it was Leonard as opposed to any sort of actual ‘swap,’ he supposed. It was certainly unheard of, but theoretically possible.

As he contemplated the situation, there was a knock on the door. He had an obvious assumption as to who would on the other side.

Swapping Storm

No one was quite sure when the swapping storms first started. I think we all assume that when they first started, there was such chaos that recorded history got messed up for a time. In fact, the legend of the first swapping storm was that it was so large that it caused nearly everyone in the world to switch bodies with everyone else. People would say the electrical energy in the swapping storms was residual from that event, but no one really knows. You’d think there would still be some percentage of people alive from the earlier events -- you know, like someone who is lucky enough to swap into a younger body every time -- but apparently your brain starts turning to mush after too long, no matter how young your new body is.

The latest storm wasn’t my first -- I’d been in two three before -- but it was my first time swapping into a woman’s body. She was one of those women that wore all sorts of eccentric clothes; I wasn’t sure if I should be going to a party or a circus. And it also seemed I was the middle of Chinatown, or so I thought. As it turned out, this latest swapping storm was truly a rare one that struck two different parts of the globe at the same time. As a result, it was like the entire community swapped bodies. I could still speak English with everyone within a few block radius, but outside of that I couldn’t understand anyone. That being said, it’s not like these things surprised anyone anymore. We all knew what was going on. Everyone has passwords to sort of who they really were, and everyone had adapted to picking up a new body when these things happened. It was only weird for people like me, who now had to figure out the logistics of a new gender for the first time.

Waiting Is the Hardest Part

Waiting was difficult. Evan shifting ackwardly in his seat at the mall food court. The leather pants he was wearing were sticking to the seat. He was nervous and sweating, which didn’t exactly work well with what he was wearing -- though it’s not like he had chosen this outfit. He had just ended up in it, along with this entire body when he randomly swapped bodies with this woman.

They had immediately called each other in a panic and agreed to meet. It had felt like so long ago now, at least over an hour. But then he checked his watch -- well, technically her watch. It had only been fifteen minutes. Still, it meant she was now late. Every minutes being in the wrong body felt...well...wrong!

But even when she showed up...what then? They didn’t know how they swapped; they certainly didn’t have a way to swap back. He’d still be stuck like this. Nothing would be solved.

How Long?

Being a teaching assistant in college for the legendary Dr. Marvin Hamlin was an honor for Julie. As a bonus, she also got to visit his lab to see some of his experiments. There was one device that caught her eye. The lights were on, but it didn’t seem to be plugged in or powered by anything. She asked Dr. Hamlin how it could possibly be functioning.

He seemed genuinely surprised and said that it shouldn’t be. Yet when he walked over to look at it, it was undeniable that Julie was correct. A worried expression fell onto his face before stating flatly, “We should leave.”

But it was too late. The device whirred to life and blinded them both in a flash. It wasn’t a shock to Marvin (though it certainly was to Julie) that they were now in each other’s bodies.

Realizing immediately what had happened and what had caused it, Julie looked at the device through Dr. Hamlin’s glasses, “This needs to be destroyed! It’s dangerous!”

“No, it worked exactly as it was supposed to. It was simply that my calculations assumed the amount needed to power this device could never be achieved, and yet it seemed to simply collect it from the residual energy in this room.”

“But it swapped out bodies! It made me old!”

“And it made me young. Imagining cloning yourself and transferring your consciousness into that youthful body. It could cure disease! It could achieve immortality! And don’t worry! I have no interest in staying your body; I will return it as soon as the device allows.”

“How soon is that?”

“There’s no way to be completely sure. We have no idea how many times the device triggered with no one around. It could recharge in a matter of days...or it could be years.”

The Truth

It was probably the last thing Erika expected to see upon coming home. The middle aged Asian woman was pointing a gun straight at her.

“Where’s your husband?” The Asian woman asked.

“He should be here in just a minute.” A terrified Erika replied.

And sure enough, a man walked in a moment later, and the Asian woman reaimed the gun at him. The man just scoffed, “Are you really going to shoot yourself? I doubt it.”

“No,” The Asian woman sighed before once again pointing the gun at Erika, “But I can shoot her unless you switch us back.”

“What’s she talking about Kyle!?” Erika screamed.

“This is Mrs. Wong. I used to live downstairs from her before we met.”

Erika screamed as she felt the breeze of a warning shot from the Asian woman’s gun zoom passed her head. “Stop the crap,” The Asian woman warned.

“Okay, fine. Fine.” Erika’s husband confessed to Erika, “I’m Mrs. Wong, and that’s Kyle. I stole his body years ago. I never thought he’d track me down.” Then he turned to his former body, “But you have to believe me when I tell you I don’t have a way to swap us back to normal. I lost the medallion years ago.”

“The medallion? That old thing?” Erika asked.

Perceived (Part 1)

Adam was still trying to wrap his head around his first day back to the office after switching bodies with his wife. When the swap first happened over the weekend, they spoke with one of their neighbors -- who still acknowledged Adam as Adam and Grace as Grace, despite the swapped bodies. And it was the same at work...sort of. Everyone still called him Adam; he still had his usual job; it all seemed normal.

However, he did notice that he wasn’t listened to in meetings; people often talked over him. People asked him why he wasn’t wearing a dress or makeup. They told him to smile more. It seemed that even though everyone still knew him as “Adam,” he was also now seen as a woman. Adam did use this on the way home to his advantage, as he was able to flirt his way out of a ticket when a cop pulled him over for speeding.

He wondered how Grace was holding up. She had probably gone to the supermarket today, and she likely wore one of her dresses. He can’t imagine that had gone well for her, and they both had to discuss what their plans were next...

No Hope (Part 1)

Michael and I had been researching the virus extensively for the past year. It didn’t have any affect on women, but it would cause any infected male to change genders. We had both recently tested positive a few weeks ago, and we were both nervously anticiating when the transformation would begin.

Michael was the first to show. It was obviously when he showed up one morning with his chest inflated outward, explaining that he had to borrow one of his girlfriend’s bras before coming into the lab. Then he confess something else.

“We’re trying for a kid,” He said. It seemed to come out of nowhere but he felt like explaining further, “Once I was diagnosed, we started trying. We figured it would be our one and only shot at it. There’s no way humanity suvives this.”

“We could find a cure...or a vaccine!” I tried to offer hope.

“You’ve seen how fast this thing speads and mutates. It’s like six months before every guy is infected. Even if we discovered a vaccine today, we couldn’t manufacture enough in time. As for a cure? Once it’s done, it’s like there’s nothing wrong with your body -- so what’s it even curing? I’m telling you, Man, there’s no hope.”

Why Didn't You Tell Me?

Matt hadn’t been looking where he was going when he ran into the woman on the street. It seemed like something out of a poorly written television show when bumping heads with her caused them to swap bodies. It certainly didn’t make any sense, and yet here they both were, stuck in each other’s bodies.

Matt suggested talking about it over lunch and suggested a Mexican fast food place. The woman in his body shrugged and agreed. Her name was apparently Lara, and she attended classes at the local college. As she described her life, Matt felt like it was all stuff he could easily handle.Though he realized he might have to get used to Lara’s smaller stomach. He had ordered a lot, and there was still so much in front of him. Yet he didn’t feel like eating more and clutched his stomach. From Matt’s body, Lara laughed.

“What?” He asked, “I’m full!”

“No you’re not. I always get explosive diarrhea when I eat Mexican food.” She said while still chuckling.

Matt could still his stomach churning. There were certainly aspects about having someone else’s body that were going to be very unexpected. And now he was going to have to rush to the bathroom, but he wanted answers, “Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“I realized it wasn’t my problem anymore. Besides, this place IS great if you can enjoy it. And it still isn’t going to be as bad as the cramps you should start getting next week...”

Bulba!

It was the first big comic book convention since the Great Shift, and honestly Gene was pretty excited. He did the math, after all. While these sorts of things were fairly male dominated, the Shift should logically produce at least a 35% increase in the number of women in attendance. He could only imagine some of the cosplay he’d see this year. He was espectially excited to see what his friend Oscar would wear. Oscar had shifted into an extremely hot Asan woman.

They agreed to meet up by a particular booth, and Gene was looking all around before calling Oscar directly. He certainly didn’t expect a person wearing a furry Bulbasaur to turn around -- Oscar’s new hot face hiding under the hood.

Oscar could see the disappointment in Gene’s face.

“What did you expect me to come dressed up in a skimpy Chun Li outfit?” Oscar asked, “Or Tifa Lockhart? Or Ada Wong or something? Just because I became a woman as a result of the Shift doesn’t mean I automatically become anyone’s eye candy, you know? Even yours!”

The Old Woman

“Gwiyeomddungi,” The old lady said, “There’s been something off about you these past few months.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Grammy,” Marshall replied from inside the woman’s body. In truth, he was sure he knew exactly what she was talking about. The Great Shift had happened months ago, which is how he had found himself in this woman’s body in the first place. The old woman was with her at the time, and she seemed to have dementia. He wasn’t sure if they were actually related or if the woman had been swapped as well. And -- if she was swapped like he was -- he wasn’t sure if the problems with her memory were due to the body of the old woman or the mind she had before. However, she did seem sure that Marshall was her granddaughter. Whether or not this was actually the old woman’s granddaughter was also in question, but Marshall decided he’d be kind and play along anyway.

In the weeks that followed, he’d visit her at the nursing home several times a week. He’d take her out to do things; today, they were enjoying lunch together when the topic finally came up.

“No, no,” The old woman continued, “There is something different about you. I can’t recall you ever being this kind to me before.”

“Maybe I’m just finally coming to appreciate the time we have left together,” Marshall replied, realizing the statement came from a unknown place of sincerity before adding, “I love you, Grammy.”

“I love you too, Gwiyeomddungi. I just --” She paused.

Marshall realized the old woman lost her thought. It was common with her condition. Instead, the two just exchanged smiles as they continued to eat.

Model Ambition

“Ronaldo? Earth to Ronaldo?” Zarina was trying to get the man’s attention, “You’re going to have to stop staring at yourself in the mirror soon enough to face the world. People are expecting me to go out there.”

“But I’m not staring at myself,” He said flatly. “I’m staring at YOU. I’m moving, yet your body is the one making the movements. It’s so weird.”

“Yeah, I get it. I’ve used the Medallion of Zulu with tons of other people at tons of other times. You’re acting like a n00b. Well, I guess that’s because you are.”

“Has anyone else ever had to do a fashion runway as you?”

“I usually time it better. I didn’t mean for us to swap. I was just out, and we both touched it...”

“And we became each other...But I’m not sure I can be you out there on the runway. You’re always walk with such poise and perfection.”

“It’s a benefit of the medallion. You’ll find my body knows what to do. But you seriously need to get out there.”

Not Recommended

“You’ve been seeing me since the Great Shift,” Dr. Lee explained to Graham, “And I get why. It’s been hard to adjust to suddenly changing genders. You’re not alone here. As a psychologist, I’ve recommended may for gender reassignment surgery to deal with the dysphoria they experienced.”

“Are you recommending surgery?” Graham asked nervously.

“Well, no, let me finish. You are certainly upset about the fact that you are now a woman. However, you are also fully accepting of the fact that you are a woman. You don’t talk about how you feel like a man on the inside, or --”

“But I WAS a man! Less than a year ago!”

“Did you notice how you use the word in the past tense? What do you feel like now? On the inside.”

Graham sighed, “A woman.” He hated that Dr. Lee was right. He may have hated the idea of being a woman, but the idea of going back to being a man just didn’t feel right. For a while, he told himself he was just afraid of the surgery, but he knew it wasn’t that either. He may have hated being a woman because of the Shift, but somehow he still knew he was a woman.

Coma (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Coma.

The months passed, and the physical therapy was painful. My words were clearer. I could grip things and feed myself. I was able to stand and walk. I probably wasn’t at 100% -- I mean, even though I was able to stand and walk, I couldn’t do it for more than a few minutes, and running was still out of the question.

However, I was well enough to be released from the hospital. I sat on the bed waiting for my sister to arrive and pick me up. I wanted to lie down. Even sitting this long was sometimes painful, but I wanted to prove I could do it.

“Are you ready?” She asked.

“I could use some help getting dressed,” I replied, “But otherwise I’m good to go.”

“I’m sorry you couldn’t go to your own home.”

“Sarah visited once. I don’t think she likes seeing me like this.”

Sarah was (and still technically is, I suppose) my wife. Her signature was on the paperwork right beside mine. I don’t think she expected them to transplant my brain into a woman’s body, and it was hard for her to see me like this. She had apparently been around quite frequently initially, and then less so after the transplant. And only once after I woke up. She was nearly in tears the entire time. So when it was time for release, I had called up my sister. As she helped me hook the bra in the back, I found myself thankful for her support. It had been difficult since the accident, and with Sarah not even wanting to talk to me, it was good to have someone...

Nymph

Of all the legends in the world that could’ve turned out to be real, Carl was very surprised to stumble upon a forest nymph. He’d also soon learn that nymphs have three rules.

The first rule is that they should never been by a human. They can take any nature form to prevent this from happening -- trees, water, grass, whatever.

The second rule is that if they are seen by a human, that human must be turned into a nymph. This prevents the secret of their existence from being revealed to the world.

The final rule is that all nymphs are female.

Carl was surprised how much he didn’t miss once after becoming a nymph. Perhaps it was the magic of nature now running through his veins, but being cut off from things like technology didn’t bother him. His missed his family from time-to-time, but even that seemed fleeting. And then, of course, was his manhood. It was upsetting at first, but the realization soon dawned on him that it was replaced by something so much better.

Interned (Part 3)

View Part 1 of Interned.
View Part 2 of Interned.

While filing away some things in a cabinet at the office one day, James overheard a conference call from a nearby office. They were discussing the missing CEO and how the stock was in free fall. Profits were down and layoffs seemed almost inevitable.

James suddenly felt guilty about not coming forward when the swaps happened. He assumed those under him were capable enough to keep things going well enough but apparently not. Was it too late to tell everyone who he really was now?

And there were more questions like if anyone would anyone even believe him after staying quiet for so long? Or even if they did, would anything he said be taken seriously coming out of the mouth of a 21 year old college senior? Perception still mattered in the world of business. However, perhaps he could use the latter as a reason for why he waited so long to come forward. He began to apply his persuasive business skills to this situation. He was sure he could make it work, and he hoped he wasn’t too late to save many people’s jobs...

Aliens!

Chuck screamed as the alien spaceship teleported him down to the center of a remote field before flying off. He had been aboard that ship for the past few hours, being subjected to all sorts of weird experiments. He was among several human participants, and he watched them remove organs like heart and lungs -- and often just as quickly putting them back. When they arrived at Chuck, they looked him up and down and eventually settled on removing him brain.

While the aliens did place all the organs back in people’s bodies, they weren’t exactly knowledgeable as to which parts were interchangeable and which weren’t. When he realized his brain was now in the wrong body, he tried explaining that he wasn’t supposed to be in this body; he wasn’t supposed to be a woman! He could rationalize why they would screw up, but he still wanted his body back! Of course, the aliens had no way to understand any human languages, and so Chuck got more and more angry. The only consequence of this was that the aliens agreed to bring him back to earth first.

He kept screaming even after they were long gone, even though he knew it wouldn’t matter. But in some ways, it just felt good to let his frustration out.

Tunnel (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Tunnel.

Daisy walked away from the pink light in a daze. She had experienced the magical source first hand, and it was overwhelming. It was hard enough to conceive, and it seemed to be harder to remember what the experience was even like. A lot her memories seemed disjointed and fragmented. She vaguely remembered her name being Brian or Brandon or Benjamin or something.

She quickly shrugged it off. Those were guy names; she most certainly wasn’t a guy! She then checked just to make sure she wasn’t. This body wasn’t the type a guy would have, was it? No, it certainly wasn’t; he could remember that at least...No, wait, SHE could remember that. He was a she...or she was a she! Why did she keep wanting to think of herself as a he?

As she worked further, she saw a man. “What was it like, Ben?” The man asked.

Daisy looked behind her. There was no one else here. The man must be talking to her. She looked confused as she responded,”What was what like? Who’s Ben?”

50 More Years

Charles remembered the days before the Great Shift when he used to have to lean over to kiss his wife Linda. Now he had to stand on his tiptoes to reach her lips. Not that he had any complaints about the Shift at all!

When the Shift happened, he and Linda were both in their 70s; they had been married for 50 years. Neither weren’t exactly how sure their new bodies were, but Charles often estimated they would now probably have another 50 years together.

Of course, one of the effects of the Shift was that they were both women now. One day, Linda asked Charles if it bothered him that they were both women now.

“Love is love,” Charles said with a shrug, “Never had a problem with gay people before; not gonna start now that I am one; never voted for the bigots against them either.”

Linda smiled. Her husband rarely talked politics; he just wasn’t the type. She had always thought he was somewhat conservative, so it surprised her -- but that was just Charles being Charles, even after 50 years, he still surprised her. It was one of the many things she had always loved about it -- finding new things to love about him.

Pretty (Part 1)

Jason awoke in ther sterile hotel room to a shock. He immediately rushed to a mirror to see his reflection, and his fears were confirmed.

This wasn’t his own face staring back at him. It was now...someone else. He wasn’t sure who she was. She seemed to be Asian and quite pretty even without makeup. But how was this even possible? How was his suddenly a woman?

For about half an hour, all he could do was keep staring at the reflection in the mirror. It was weird to see someone else’s body mimic his movements perfectly. He wonderd if he was dreaming. If so, it was going on for a long time with not much happening. No, this seemed too mundane for a dream and far too real.

Slime

The puddle was green with a thick, slimy consistency. It wasn’t exactly the grossest thing Rich and Maria encountered on their hike in the wilderness, but it was probably close. Maria had suggested looking for a way around, but Rich was determined to go straight through.

It was like walking through wet glue, but they were both tired and absolutely covered in gunk by the time they got to the other side. As they sat to rest on a fallen log, the slime on their bodies began to feel like it was burning. They tried to use their water to wash it off, but it was too thick and they didn’t have nearly enough water. But despite the pain, they weren’t being hurt...not really.

Within minutes, the burning sensation had stopped, but Rich and Maria’s lives were forever changed. The sludge was some sort of magic that transformed them both -- somehow changing their bodes from one to the other (complete with clothes). Rich now looked like Maria, and Maria now looked like Rich. Rich suggested they could walk back through on their return trip; Maria wasn’t having any of it. Another pass through that stuff might make things even worse...

Great Escape

Harold had gotten into some deep debt with a lot of bad people. For the sake of his research, he knew it was worth it. If his experiment was a success, he’d be able to cheat death -- and given he wasn’t going to be able to repay many of those loans, this was something that was sure to come in handy.

He always knew it was possible that they’d come after him, but he still never saw it coming. Fortunately, his tech was rather passive; it just needed a warm body nearby, and it would automatically trigger by slipping his consciousness into that other body.

As his brain started to take hold in his new form, Harold guessed he’d end up in the body of the coroner or maybe a police officer. And while he was certainly in a coroner’s office, there was no way he was in the body of the coroner! Sure, it was possible this hot woman had that job, but she just wasn’t dressed for the part. They wore medical scrubs, and this woman wearing high heels and tight leather pants. He guessed she wasn’t an officer either.

But just what was she doing in here? He also wondered why his device hadn’t activated earlier. One thing was for sure, he was glad to escape from his debt...

Confrontation

“You’re totally ruining my image, ya know?” Gene recognized the voice behind him. It was his voice -- or at least it used to be.

He tried to ignore it and just keep walking, but the voice continued, “You could try a skirt once and a while. Or maybe some heels? At least ditch the glasses and use my contacts! Your know you have absolutely ruined my reputation!”

Gene finally stopped and turned to see Anh standing there with his former body. She was wearing a pink croptop and plaid pants. It had been about a month since the studious Gene had swapped with the once popular Anh.

“You ruined mine too!” He snapped back.

“What reputation? You were a dork who no one cared about; at least people notice your body now!”

“You’ve made all my former friend think I’m gay!”

“If they’re so concerned with your sexuality, then maybe it’s better you’re no longer friends with those homophobes.”

He supposed she did have a point. If she had just left it at that, he probably would’ve felt completely ashamed, but she kept going.

“Do you think my old friends even want to come within 100 feet of your dorky body?” She added, “But I’m sure they’d think you turned me into a nerdy lesbian or something too!”

And with that, Anh lost her moral high ground, and Gene started to walk away again as she just kept shouting more at him.

Forgot Your Robe

“Jim! Jim!” It was his wife’s voice, or rather, what his wife’s voice will be for the next two weeks. He turned to look, hunched over with a lack of confidence, not quite befitting the gorgeous body he’d be stuck in for the same amount of time.

“You forgot your robe,” She said trying to hand him the white terricloth just as he stepped into the pool.

“I’m not wearing that in the pool. It’ll be too heavy to swim.” Jim reasoned.

“Yes, well, um,” His wife was clearly hesitating before she finally spit out, “You know I don’t like you looking at other women’s bodies.”

Jim sighed, “Whether I like it or not, I’m going to be stuck in this woman’s body for the next two weeks. Looking at it is going to be unavoidable. I’m going to use the bathroom, and shower, and even just getting ready.”

His wife knew he was right. She still wasn’t comfortable with this.

Duets

Katie always had a crush on her friend Jason. So when he brought a girlfriend that he introduced as Audrey to their friend group’s karaoke night, she was devastated. But she told herself the relationship was new, and maybe it could fall apart on its own in quick order. Or maybe she could drive a wedge between them.

Duets weren’t uncommon on karaoke night, and she kept asking Jason to do ones with her. He agreed without questioning or thinking about her motivations. It was probably about their fifth song together when the flash of light happened. At first they thought it was the television, but everyone soon started discovering they had swapped bodies.

Katie was among the first when she brushed some blonde hair out her face as she realized she was now in Audrey’s body. Not realizing she wasn’t the only one, she took the opportunity to give what she thought was Jason a big kiss on the lips.

Jason still had a microphone in his hand, but he screamed at the sight of his own body kissing his girlfriend and realizing he was now in Katie’s body. The now high pitch voice amplified by the microphone caused everyone to cover their ears, “What the hell!? That’s my body!”

It took Katie a moment to realize her former body wasn’t referring to herself. “Jason?” She asked her own body.

“Sorry, dude, your girlfriend is hot. I’m not gonna say no.” Both Jason and Katie realized it was their friend Ethan inside of Jason’s body.

“I’m his girlfriend,” The muscular bartender holding two beers in his hands said.

“Then who are you?” Jason asked Katie.

“Katie,” She quietly confessed from inside Audrey’s body.

“But why...” Jason thought about his own question, the way she had been acting all night, and even about hints in the past. He suddenly realized Katie’s crush on him. He realized they all had bigger problems right now, so he added, “We can talk about it later...”

The Curse of Misogyny

Marissa always hated when he husband went out drinking after work, and she hated it even more when he didn’t come home until the AM hours. She had intended to give him a lecture about it the next morning, but once he came downstairs, she realized she had a lot of different questions to ask him.

For starters, she usually would have to look up when lecturing him, but now they were eye-to-eye. He had somehow lost a significant amount of height. Then there was the outline of breasts clearly now on his chest. And, if she was not mistaken, his body was even developing distinctive feminine curves as well.

Instead of a lecture, the only thing Marissa could ask was, “What the hell happened to you?”

Her husband sighed. He knew he had to confess. “There was this witch. She cursed us all. And any time we are inappropriate or misogynistic with women, we become more and more feminine, slowly transforming into women. Dimitri had completely transformed by the end of the night.” He left out the part where he was the one who hit on the witch that caused them all too get cursed.

Marissa, of course, knew her husband well enough. She knew what he was like. Given the nature of the curse, she was actually surprised he wasn’t further along. Instead of being mad, she just looked at him and said, “I’m sure you will be caught up to Dimitri by the end of the day.”

Digital Love

Kaya was a leading young mind in the field of robotics. No one doubted she was a genius, and she saw being called a “dork” or a “nerd” with a sense of pride. While many of her friends had boyfriends in high school or college, Kaya didn’t date for the first time until she was 25. He was a boy from the states named Neal. Things went well for a time -- until he cheated on her. Kaya didn’t get visibly upset when finding out; she didn’t even tell him she knew. Instead, she invited Neal to her lab to “show him something.”

Removing every last thought from his head and placing them inside a robot body was probably punishment enough, but Kaya didn’t stop there. The robot body was certainly feminine -- at least as feminine as a robot body could be -- and she could program it to change him in any way she wanted. She boosted up his love for her and his feminine side. It felt like she created the perfect mate. And for a while, their relationship certainly felt like that. If only the story ended there.

But inside Neal’s new robotic brain, there were things happening. The AI that Kaya had created for the robots in the first place were enhancing his own thoughts; he was quickly becoming as smart as Kaya, if not smarter. His boosted feminine urges weren’t satisfied by his robotic body. He wanted to be a real woman, and he could only think of one woman he loved enough to become.

It wasn’t hard to get Kaya alone. Neal was often alone with her; they went everywhere together. He just needed a late night at the lab. He knew the equipment as well as she did these days. He could remove her thoughts in the same way she had removed his, and that’s just what he did -- essentially storing Kaya’s mind on a hard drive. Then he did the same process to download himself into her body. Now in Kaya’s body, he watched his former robot form power down. He then took out the hard drive with Kaya’s mind and gave it a kiss. He’d always keep the drive close to him. After all, he loved Kaya so much that he wouldn’t want harm to come to her, yet he couldn’t risk placing her in a robot body as she had done with him. And he could love her even better now that he was in her body too!

The Painting

Ethan stared at the face in the abstract painting, and he couldn’t help but notice that it looked remarkably similar to his current face -- the woman he had somehow transformed into. Yet he also remembered the last time he came to this museum; it had been different; it had been male.

However, searching through brochures at the museum, the face in the painting had always looked as it currently has. In most normal situations, he’d assume his memory was simply wrong, but this was not a normal situation. Transforming into a woman had been too strange, too memorable, and too magical for this memory to be misaligned. Much like the painting, everyone had thought he always had been a woman after the transformation. It had to be related somehow. But how? Nothing was revealed by merely observing the painting, and his research turned up nothing as well. But it had to have answers; there had to be some way to reveal its secrets. And maybe, just maybe, he’d also find a way to get back to normal.

Dumber

Ever since he swapped bodies with Misty, Dexter knew he was getting dumber. It had been two days since the swap, and the chalkboard that was once filled with equations that allowed his body swapping device to function was now showing a single, simple equation. As Dexter wrote an answer, he was not sure what was more frustrating: the fact that he got it wrong or the fact that he knew he got it wrong and just couldn’t seem to do anything about it.

He was also still smart enough to know that the only hope of swapping back was if Misty (in his body) was becoming just as smart as he was becoming dumb. So far, he wasn’t so sure. Of course, he also was quickly realizing he was no longer in a place to be able to judge her abilities. But even if she did become smart enough, did he really WANT to go back to his former body? He’d be giving up things like flirting with boys and cute clothes and watching Kardashian marathons on the television!

Dexter caught himself. He knew the longer he spent in Misty’s body, the more he’d think thoughts like that, and the more he’d want to not swap back. He just hoped Misty would figure out how to use the device before he would simply refuse to use it with her...

How I Do It

Every once and a while someone will ask me how I do it. How do I update www.greatshiftcaptions.com every day? How do I update my DeviartArt page every day? And how I update the archive site every day?

Simply put: I don’t have a choice. When I skip a day, I have found that I transform back into a man. I much prefer being a woman; I much prefer staying as a woman. I’m not sure how it happens; I’m not sure why it happens. But I very much enjoy that it does happen.

Maybe there is something magic in these sites that make it work. I don’t know if it affects the readers in the same way it affects me as the creator. I certainly hope so!

---

This your semi-regular reminder to support all my captions sites by being a monthly subscriber at DeviantArt, where I do post some exclusive captions.

Sewer Dive

Trevor was originally disgusted about going down into the sewer to look for the lost medallion responsible for swapping him into his sister’s body. But once he found that magical trinket, he’d not only be back in his own body, but it would be his sister who would have to deal with things like the lingering stink that would be on her body after going down there. In fact, he almost started to enjoy the idea of her being completely grossed out by all the things that happened to her body while searching. To make it worse, he’d describe it all in every gross detail; maybe he’d even make stuff to make it sound worse. Of course, after several hours of searching with no results, he was a little less excited about everything, realizing he was going to be the one stuck with the lingering stench for weeks and trapped in his sister’s body for likely the rest of his life...

Next Day Curse (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Next Day Curse.

By 3PM, it had gotten worse. Reed was now completely transformed into a woman. The only saving grace seemed to be that people in the office seemed to think that he had always been a woman. At least he didn’t need to make up some strange back story about who he was and why he was there. He also could get some help trying to retrieve the message from his phone.

It brought it down to the IT department and explained how, despite it being his personal phone, would really appreciate them helping him out to get the deleted messages back. The IT guy smiled and said, “Just leave it with me for a few hours, Sweet Cheeks.”

As he walked back up to his own floor, he was both thankful he might finally be able to get back in touch with the woman who curesed him and also in complete shock after being called “Sweet Cheeks.”

A Bad Movie Cliche

It was like a bad movie cliche. My car had broken down in a remote area with no cell phone service and the only house for miles was a creepy castle on a hill. The warning signs were all there, and I probably should’ve turned around the other way, but who would’ve thought any of those cliches were real? The omens got worse when it started to rain. All of this should’ve caused red alerts in my brain -- which it sort of did. But then I noticed another car that had gotten into a small fender bender just a little up the road; I figured this driver had also come up to the castle on the hill. I told myself it would be safer with someone else; I was wrong.

I was somewhat relieved that the man answering the door was young and not some creepy old man. Yet he did seem unnaturally pleased by the fact that he now had a second visitor. He brought me to a room he told me was for gaming with two odd-looking chairs. He introduced me to the woman named Linzi sitting in one of the chairs, and told me he’d bring his cordless phone to call a tow truck.

I sat down in the chair next to her. She wore red heels on her feet and a short silver dress with a good figure and legs I found it hard not to stare at. As a bit of a dork, I rarely talked to women s beautiful as Linzi. I asked her if she had been driving the car that had driven into the tree. She nodded. It seemed beautiful women like Linzi weren’t all that used to talking to dorks like me either.

We sat in silence for a moment, waiting for the man to return, but before he did, the chairs began to electrocute us with painful shocks. Neither Linzi nor I could seemingly move. The voltage became visible and started zapping between the two chairs. The man returned to the room wearing a lab coat; he mumbled something about how fortunate he was to have two guests and not have to postpone his experiment. The voice had a weird echo and I briefly had blurry double vision.

The first thing I was able to move was my fingers, but they weren’t MY fingers. They were thinner and manicured. There were red heels on my feet and I was wearing a short silver dress. Those legs I had couldn’t take my eyes off earlier were now MY legs. Linzi and I had swapped bodies! In my body, Linzi was understandably shouting and freaking out. The man in the background just laughed, with clearly no intention of swapping us back. I should’ve seen it all coming. The red flags were obvious, and I just walked right passed then. And, as a result, I was going to be stuck as Linzi for the rest of my life...

Allure

Julio couldn’t believe his eyes. His friend Tito took one step into the tropical pond and instantly transformed into a woman. Even his clothing changed! Julio was freaking out.

“What’s wrong, Dude?” Tito asked in a voice that sounded sultry and alluring.

“You turned into a chick, Bruh!” Julio exclaimed.

“It must just be a refraction of the light.”

“A refraction of that -- look down at yourself for Christ’s sake!”

Tito looked down. “Everything looks normal to me. Now, come on, get over here and get in the water! It’s fine! Nothing’s going to happen. Trust me...”