Patreon reward for Zeelo and a sequel to a Botched Weremose. Zeelo discovers that his transformation has another unintended side effect, and now it becomes very urgent he find a wayw to reverse it.
A Smaller Weremouse
By CalexTheNeko
Zeelo let out a snort as he awoke. It wasn’t fair that it was morning already. His mouse-like ears twitched as he could hear a loud tapping coming from outside his ‘room.’ Well, drawer was a more accurate description. Ever since his weremouse potion had failed, Zeelo had found himself stuck at a mere two inches tall. The giant ears, claws, and long tail were a nice silver lining. But it had made it difficult to live in his own room as such a small size. Luckily, he had made a friend, Ryan, who had emptied out one of his desk drawers so Zeelo could convert it into a bedroom. The brown-haired mouse boy’s dwellings were humble to say the least. His bed consisted of pile of feathers stolen from quill pens, with a scrap of cloth folded over them to form a more consistent surface. Torn tissues made up for his blankets, and he used a cotton ball for a pillow.
“I’m awake! I’m awake!” Zeelo squeaked at the source of the tapping as he stood up and stretched. He walked near the back of the drawer where a hand mirror was propped up against the wall. He ran his claws through his messy hair trying to straighten it out slightly. It was of only moderate success. After studying his reflection for a bit his gaze passed to a pile of torn tissues and scraps of cloth sitting next to the mirror. Those had had been part of a failed experiment. At his current size, Zeelo’s old clothes didn’t exactly fit anymore, not when he could ride in a pocket. He had attempted to make a few loincloths and togas over the last couple weeks… But it was harder to make work than he thought. Getting them on was easy enough, but as he often had to whip his tail around a lot climbing, and routinely ran straight up surfaces covered in splinters… Well, most days where he had made the attempt at clothes, little more than tatters if even that remained by the end of the day. At this point it was just easier to stay naked. Besides, any sense of embarrassment from being seen like this had died out somewhere around week two of his transformation.
Content that he was ready, Zeelo walked to the front of the drawer and knocked against the side of it as loud as he could. A moment later, the drawer slid open filling the compartment with light. Towering above the dresser, Zeelo could see his roommate Ryan looking down at him.
“For someone who doesn’t actually need time to get dressed, you sure take your time getting up.” Ryan stuck his tongue out.
“I’m not a morning person.” Zeelo squeaked and thrashed his tail.
“Uh huh, well, I’m not going to be late to class because you can’t get out of bed.” Ryan slipped his hand into the drawer, gently wrapped his fingers around Zeelo and lifted him into the air. “Come on we don’t have a lot of time before we head off to breakfast.”
“Well I’m ready, so let’s just go.” Zeelo made no attempt to resist being picked up.
“Not quite.” Ryan lifted Zeelo up to above the dresser to where a paper cup filled with water was sitting. He held his hand over the cup then dropped Zeelo into it making a small splash.
“GAH!” Zeelo shouted. “That’s c-cold! What’s the idea!”
“You need a bath.” Ryan crossed his arms. “You think I’m going to let you ride in my pocket or on my head if you stink. Combing your hair with your claws doesn’t count as bathing.” Ryan then dropped a tiny slip of a white object into the water with him. “I carved you off a tiny piece of soap. Get cleaned up.”
“What with you watching?” Zeelo huffed as he retrieved the soap.
“You’re -ALWAYS- naked.” Ryan rolled his eyes, but nonetheless turned around to give the weremouse some privacy.
After finishing up, Zeelo climbed out of the cup and shook as much water from his body as possible. He then used a napkin to dry the rest of the way off. Unfortunately, his hair was no longer combed, but a mess of curls. No matter how he started the day, his hair always ended up like that.
“Alright can we get some breakfast now?” Zeelo asked.
“Of course.” Ryan picked Zeelo up and carefully sat him on his shoulder. This was their usual method of getting around now. Zeelo could climb up into the rafters when he needed to… But this tended to be a lot faster. “So…. Any plans for tonight?”
“Eh? Should I have plans?” Zeelo tilted his head.
“I dunno, just figured since it’s a full moon, and you are a weremouse.” Ryan started to shrug, but managed to stop himself to avoid dislodging Zeelo.
“Oh!” Zeelo hadn’t been keeping track of the phases of the moon. But, that was right. Tonight was going to be the first full moon since his initial transformation. “I guess that means I’ll turn into a normal mouse for the night…” He paused for a moment. “Maybe.”
“What do you mean maybe?” Ryan asked.
“Well I mean….” Zeelo gestured down at his body. “Last time I was supposed to go back to a normal sized human when the moon set but as you can see… I’m this. So… All bets are currently off. I might turn into a mouse again… Or I might not change at all. I’m really not sure.”
“I thought you did potions on a fifth-grade level.” Ryan teased. “You really can’t figure out which way it will be?”
“Never gonna let me live that one down huh?” Zeelo sighed. “But we really are in unexplored territory. Personally, I’m hoping to become a full mouse again. I can move around and climb a lot easier on all fours. Plus, whiskers are useful.”
“Here’s hoping then.” Ryan snickered.
Breakfast was uneventful. Ryan had a bowl of cereal, whereas Zeelo ate a few individual pieces of cereal that he stole from Ryan’s bowl. It was pretty much their routine by now. In fact, most of Zeelo’s shrunken life had become common routine to him by now.
Ryan and Zeelo had most of their classes together. So Zeelo was able to get a ride to those classes. There were a few classes that were separate. For those, Zeelo climbed up a nearby post and worked his way through the halls up on the rafters. Occasionally, he’d get lucky and fetch a ride with another student. The first couple weeks he had been the subject of a lot of stares and a lot of teasing. But, soon the school gossip cycle moved on to something else and Zeelo became considered a common sight. Apparently, right now there were rumors about someone in the later grades who had turned into a dragon or something. Zeelo’s condition was just seen as… Normal now.
Not that he objected. It was a lot easier to get through the day without constant stares.
Even the teachers had finally stopped giving Zeelo such a hard time. They still expected him to keep up on his work, but they had stopped assigning him additional work just to make things harder. Perhaps they had just accepted that Zeelo was never going to confess, and so decided leaving him stuck like that was punishment enough. Well… Joke was on them. Having had time to get used to it… Zeelo liked being a small little mouse boy.
He had even come up with some pretty clever ways to get throughout his daily routines. Daily sharpening of all four sets of claws made climbing his chairs and desk super easy. He had gotten really good at using his tail as a both a counterbalance and for extra grip. As for his work, he had managed to chew several of his pencils into much smaller pieces. He could actually hold the smaller pencils with one hand now! Though it might have been more accurate to call them slivers of lead. It did mean his handwriting was quite tiny… But hey that was the teacher’s problem not his.
As Zeelo finished his classes throughout the day, he realized life was pretty alright right now. Maybe it had been a little scary at first… But he was happy like this and-
“GAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Zeelo let out a shout as he suddenly found himself lifted up into the air. Someone had got him by the tail and now he was dangling upside down. As he slowly spun around he found the enormous face of Ryan coming into view. Seriously?” Zeelo crossed his arms. “I thought you promised you wouldn’t do this to me anymore!”
“I promised I would think twice before doing it again.” Ryan grinned. “Especially since last time you bit me.”
“You deserved it.” Zeelo grinned right back exposing his rodent-like teeth. “Maybe you’ll turn into a weremouse tonight during the full moon.”
“Based on the fact you got the potion wrong, I doubt it.” Ryan laughed. “But I figured before you changed I should get you somewhere safe. You know, since we don’t know exactly what will happen.”
“… And you picked me up by my tail like this because?” Zeelo tried to look up at him.
“This was just for funsies.” Ryan smirked as he left the classroom and walked off in the direction of the dorms. Once back to their room he quickly grabbed a shoebox from beneath the bed and set it atop his desk. Then he dropped Zeelo into the shoebox.
“Okay but why?” Zeelo landed on his stomach in a heap. He squeaked in protest as he quickly righted himself up so that he could sit down with his legs crossed.
“Oh this is just a safe spot for you to change. If you do. You know. I’m being considerate.” Ryan grinned.
“Really?” Zeelo looked up at him with a deadpan stare. “You just want to watch my transformation don’t you?”
“You can’t prove that.” Ryan avoided his own gaze.
“Well we’ve got at least an hour before sundown.” Zeelo groaned. “Can’t you at least fetch me some dinner before this? If you’re using me for entertainment it’s the least you can do.”
“Fiiiiiiiiine.” Ryann groaned. “What do you want?”
“Something with peanut butter!” Zeelo insisted. “Oh! And some cookies! Well…” He paused. “Actually maybe just a chocolate chip, a whole cookie is probably a bit more than I can handle.”
“Okay! Okay! I’ll be back in a bit.” With that Ryan turned and disappeared from the room.
“Great see you then.” Zeelo sat down in the shoebox and looked around. “Probably should have asked for some entertainment while he’s gone. Cardboard isn’t exactly stimulating.” He briefly considered trying to chew through the box. His teeth weren’t quite as strong as in full mouse form, but he did have a decently sized pair of buckteeth. And those could handle something like cardboard easily. Then again, what was he going to do on his own anyway? For now, Zeelo decided to just lay back on his back and get some rest. At least he could see the window from here. It gave him a good view of the sunset as it was starting to go down.
Actually… Zeelo remembered back to his first transformation. He had fallen asleep halfway into the night. He just couldn’t pull an all day and an all nighter. Maybe it was a good chance to take a nap so he could actually stay awake long enough to enjoy his mouse form tonight. Yeah… That was the best idea.
Zeelo let out a large yawn and moved his hands behind his head to be a pillow. He laid down with his tail curled around him and slowly drifted off to sleep. It was nice to get a pleasant nap in.
When Zeelo awoke later there was barely any light coming from the window. The sun was almost completely set. And yet there was no sign of Ryan being back. Or any sign of his snack. There much have been a huge line at the cafeteria. Well, that was unfortunate for Ryan. It meant he was going to miss the change, if it happened. Zeelo could see the moon stating to rise in the sky.
And he felt his body starting to change.
“Awesome!” Zeelo’s tail twitched in excitement. He was going to get to go full mouse again. He stared down at his body as the fur began to grow back in. He felt his face push out into a familiar snout. His whiskers grew back out, giving him far more awareness of his surroundings. And he began to shrink again.
Wait. Shrink again?
“SQUEAK!?” Zeelo let out a terrified squeak. His voice was already gone, which was to be expected. But why was he shrinking? He was already mouse sized! He shouldn’t be getting any smaller! Just growing fur and falling down onto all fours!
Then the falling down onto all fours occurred right as he had the thought. He was a normal mouse now… But he was still shrinking and getting way too small! Down and down in size he went. Instead of being the size of a mouse, he wound up the size of a tiny ant! If even that!
“Squeeeak squeeeeak!” Zeelo ran around in circles inside the box not sure what to do. Should he try to climb to the top of it, hope that Ryan would see him? What if Ryan picked up the box and he fell off and was lost somewhere in the carpet. He could try chewing through it… But being this small he doubted his teeth could do anything at all. There was literally nothing he could do but just wait. Zeelo just wound up running in circles until he wore himself out and fell onto his back.
He had no idea how much time had passed before the dorm opened again and he heard a booming voice.
“Zeelo?” It was Ryan’s voice, but far louder than it had any business being. Zeelo climbed back up onto all fours trying to squeak as loudly as he could. He jumped up and down inside the box hoping to get Ryan’s attention. At first his roommate didn’t notice. He walked towards the box, glanced over it, and seemed disappointed as he thought it empty.
“SQUEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!” Zeelo shouted as loud as he could as he continued to jump up and down. The movement seemed to finally catch Ryan’s eyes.
“Is that an ant?“ Ryan froze as his eyes traced the outline of the very tiny mouse. “ZEELO!?”
“Squeak!” Zeelo nodded, not that he was sure Ryan could make out the such motions.
“Uh, is… That normal?” Ryan asked. “I’m not 100% sure how these werebeast potions work and-“
“Squeak.” Zeelo did not need to be seen for the disapproving stare he was giving to be felt. Of course it wasn’t normal! But… What could he do! He was just… So small now. Hopefully, when the moon set he’d go back up to at least normal mouse sized. Unless… What if he became a tiny ant sized mouse boy.
And then got even smaller on the next moon after that? And even smaller the next moon after that. And the next moon after that. That… That gave Zeelo a true sense of dread.
“SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEAK!” Zeelo shouted, but he couldn’t communicate anything else. All he could do was sit there in his shoebox and wait for morning, hoping he would be back to a more reasonable size.
And when morning came… He wasn’t.
Zeelo woke up that morning finding himself human shaped again, except the tail, ears and claws. But just like last time he hadn’t gotten any bigger. He was mouse sized in comparison to a mouse.
“This… this is bad.” At least he could talk again. Small improvement. But what would happen next full moon? He began to pace back and forth inside the box trying to figure out what to do. After a few moments of this a shadow fell over him. He looked up to see Ryan’s face. If it had been big previously, now it was like a planet. Yet… Maybe he could use him. “Ryan! I’ve got an idea! I need your help?”
“What?” Ryan squinted. “I can’t make out a word you’re saying.” Zeelo was too small for his voice to carry. However, Ryan placed one finger down in the box which Zeelo quickly climbed atop. As Ryan lifted the finger up to his ear Zeelo could communicate.
“So… This may have backfired…” Zeelo muttered.
“You think?” Ryan asked in a gentle tone but it was booming too Zeelo.
“NOT SO LOUD!” Zeelo cried. “But! I can fix it! Just, need a new potion.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to tell a teacher now?” Ryan tried in a much quieter tone.
“No! It’s fine!” Zeelo insisted. “I looked up a reverse potion way in advance just in case anything went really bad.”
“And you didn’t make it when you woke up a tiny mouse boy?” Ryan raised an eyebrow.
“What? I enjoy it.” Zeelo shook his head. “But this is too small. Going to have to make the potion.”
“And how do you plan to make anything?” Ryan asked.
“I was sort of hoping if I gave you instructions that you’d do it?” Zeeelo tried to give a wide grin. It wasn’t very visible.
“You want me to risk expulsion for you?” Ryan stared at the tiny mouse in disbelief. But it wasn’t like he could leave him like that. “Fine… Tell me what to do.”
“Okay… It’s going to take a few weeks.” Zeelo swallowed nervously. “So we have to get started today or… I may get…”
“Even smaller yeah.” Ryan nodded.
“And uh… Going to need you to cover for me and why I’m not in class.” Zeelo muttered.
“Technically if I take you with me you will be in class.” Ryan retorted.
“Yeah but I’m pretty sure if the teachers find out I’m this small they’re going to take some action.” Zeelo quivered in fear. Facing the professors was far more terrifying than shrinking into insignificance. “Tell them… I’m sick with a flu or something.”
“This is a very bad idea. You know that?” Ryan hissed.
“It’ll be fine as soon as the potion is done.” Zeelo insisted. “Reversal potions are only fourth grade level!”
“I really hope you know what you’re doing.” Ryan sighed.
The next few weeks were harrowing to say the least. Zeelo pretty much wound up living inside of Ryan’s hair. It was the only way to stay close without getting lost, and all the different hairs gave him something to cling too. Ryan did his best to give excuses for why Zeelo was missing, but it was clear the teachers weren’t believing any of it. Many had thought the young mouse boy had run away, or might now be living somewhere inside the walls.
Meanwhile, in the evenings Ryan and Zeelo snuck into the potion lab, and under Zeelo’s careful instructions Ryan gathered ingredients and got to work on the potion. They hid it in cabinet from the potion’s teacher storage room to keep it out of sight. However, it had to stay chilled on ice meaning they had to make several trips to the lab a day to replace the ice. In addition, several ingredients such as spring dew, and unicorn tears could only be added at the exact right time of day. One nice thing about Zeelo’s size is he could easily move unseen when he had too, and he was so small a single droplet of dew could be hefted over his head. He managed to squeeze into the cabinet during class and threw the morning dew into the cauldron at exactly noon without ever being seen.
After a month of this harrowing experience, the potion was ready. Which was good, as the full moon was drawing close again. Ryan took Zeelo to the potion lab and they pulled the cauldron out of the hiding place. There was enough potion to serve three humans…. Zeelo really only needed a little drop.
“You’re absolutely certain this will work?” Ryan asked.
“It’s gotta!” Zeelo insisted. “We followed the instructions perfectly!”
Ryan was unconvinced. After all, Zeelo’s previous failure at potion making had resulted in this situation. Still, he took an eye dropper, sucked up one droplet of the potion and dropped it on the very tiny mouse boy. Zeelo coughed as he was completely soaked but as he recovered he blinked a few times, and his eyes snapped wide open.
“I feel… Great!” Zeelo shouted. “Full of energy! Better than I have in years! It must have worked!” Yet, as he spoke, he realized something odd. He was getting smaller again! Not in the same fashion as last time though. His limbs were becoming stubbier, his torso smaller in comparison to his body. His hair lighter. He was getting younger!
“Zeelo! That was an Age Reversal potion!” Ryan hissed. “That’s not going to reverse your curse at all!”
“But it said reversal in the book!” Zeelo whined as he shrunk in age, slowly going back to before grade school, and falling onto his bottom as hewound up a mere two years old. “Ok! We can fix this! There’s still time!” But there wasn’t.
The moon was rising. Once again, Zeelo was covered in fur, and the now toddler aged weremouse shrunk so small that Ryan could not even see him.
“Zeelo! Zeelo!” Ryan squinted trying to find him, but the mouse was gone. He realized he had no choice, he was going to have to tell the teachers and hope they could find some way to save him.
If they could, it wouldn’t be for awhile.
The next morning, Zeelo found himself a young mouse boy again, but now on the microscopic scale. He had to swim through a strange sea avoiding strange creatures. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. He was able to adapt, but by the time he had, another month had passed and he was once again changing into a mouse and shrinking.
Month after month, the toddler would shrink smaller. Each time, finally adapting to his new life before shrinking even tinier than before. It didn’t feel like it was too long before he was no bigger than a single atom.
One day, floating around the atoms in his mouse boy form he let out a squeak of frustration. Being this small wasn’t too bad by itself, he had gotten to seen some pretty fantastic sights, but it was the isolation that was maddening. However, something he did not expect occurred.
His squeak was answered by someone else there.
“Yo!”
Zeelo looked around in confusion. Who could possibly be down here as small as him to answer. He made swimming motions to move through sub space, and then he came to the source of the voice. It was another child as young as him.
This one looked mostly human too, but with orange hair somehow tied back in a ponytail, cat-like ears, a tail, and feline paws. The young catboy floated next to an atom with his paws resting behind his head as he looked at Zeelo with a grin.
“So… New here?”
“I’m not the only one!?” Zeelo’s jaw hung open. “Are you some kind of botched wereanimal too?”
“Nah.” The boy replied. “Normal werekitten. But… Was looking around the school grounds for something to eat. Some student promised me a cookie if I’d hold still for an experiment. Turns out he was working on a shrinking spell. It worked! It just… Never stops.” He giggled as if he enjoyed his own misfortune, and as Zeelo studied him he realized that the catboy was very gradually getting smaller. “So what happened to you?
“Weremouse potion.” Zeelo sighed. “Every full moon I get smaller now.”
“Makes sense.” The catboy seemed to have no cares about how small the two of them were. He floated over to Zeelo and placed a hand on his shoulder. “But I was getting pretty bored being the only one down here this small! So… Now that there’s two of us… Wanna be friends?”
“Friends?” Zeelo’s eyes lit up. The solitude was finally over… With someone else to share the experience… This was a strange world of wonder no one else had ever seen. No matter how small he got he’d continue to see sights others could only dream of… And he’d have someone to see them with. “Sure… Friends.” Zeelo held out a clawed hand and the catboy took it in his own furry paw. The two exchanged giggles, before the cat floated/pounced onto the mouse.
Their friendship was an odd one. The cat was stuck constantly shrinking forever. Meanwhile, Zeelo would only shrink on the full moon, but in a bigger burst. As a result, the two would constantly change which one was bigger. Zeelo would suddenly shrink to be no bigger than the cat’s toe one day, and then the cat would slowly shrink down and catch up with Zeelo in smallness. Eventually, the cat would be so tiny Zeelo would easily make the young feline balance on his finger tip. Then after a few days, when the moon cycle kicked in Zeelo would be the small one again.
It was an odd life. But… With a friend along the way, and one with such an interesting dynamic to their relationship, Zeelo couldn’t say that he hated it.
In fact… As he saw more and more of the basic blocks of the universe… He’d even go so far as to say he was happy.