Gabrielle was fuming. The journey hadn't even been supposed to take that long, but it had been just her luck for the limousine to have inched along, stuck in traffic.
"Finally," she muttered as the vehicle stopped outside the venue, its fluorescent sign glowing against the night sky.
She climbed out, striding towards the entrance as fast as her high heels would allow, her caramel-coloured dress swishing around her legs.
"Well this is going to look just great," she moaned to the bodyguard accompanying her. Her answer to her father's earlier phone call - just another ten minutes - had been wishful thinking. Now she was going to let him down as he tried to celebrate his company's expansion.
"Please, madam," came a voice. Gabrielle turned, looking round to see a withered old woman sitting on the ground, huddled in a raggedy cloak that may once have been purple but now looked almost grey.
"Can you spare any change?" The hag stared up, hope in her eyes.
For just a second, despite her ever-growing irritation, the poignancy of the woman's expression made Gabrielle hesitate. No, there was no point, she told herself, remembering what her dad said about people like that. The hag would just spend it on drink, and besides, there wasn't exactly time to spare.
As the bodyguard reminded her they needed to make a move, Gabrielle scowled down at the crone.
"If you don't mind," she huffed,
"I have somewhere to be right now." With that, she turned up her nose and continued along her way.
Angry mumbling from behind her brought on a pang of guilt, but she tried to ignore it. What was the hag even saying anyway? Was that some kind of chanting? Was the crone already drunk? As the young starlet stepped through the doors, thrumming music drowned out the mutters.
Her attention instantly fell on the person at the centre of the gathering, a man in a cream-coloured suit, frown lines emphasised by chandelier lights as he looked her way.
"Ah, so you decided to turn up after all," he commented as he stepped forward, radiating eminence.
"That's a rather odd definition of ten minutes you have."Gabrielle put on her best fake smile, even though she knew her father would see right through it.
"Well, I made it here, despite a few... annoyances." Two heavily made-up faces sneered at her from the crowd, and she tried not to visibly cringe. Of course her explanation wouldn't be good enough for her father or sisters.
"Annoyances?" said a voice in her head. An all too familiar one. Gabrielle gasped and flinched as the speaker continued.
"So that's what I am? Just an inconvenience? Tell me, is that how you view everyone who isn't part of your little elite circle?"With a little shake of her head, Gabrielle edged back from the many pairs of eyes that turned her way.
"Ehh... Excuse me..." As she glanced around for somewhere private she could head to, the voice continued.
"What's the matter? I thought you wanted people to stare? That's all you care about. Style. Attention. Fame. Well, you're in luck. You're about to get what you want. After tonight, you'll be the talk of the entire region."Both her sisters muttered to each other, the amusement on Barbara's face turning to concern. She advanced as if to check on Gabrielle, only for Suzanne to step in front, arms folded as she smirked.
"There's a strange one in every family," the older sister mumbled, leading Barbara back into the crowd.
Gabrielle tried to straighten her back, tell her family she was fine, but for some reason she couldn't move or speak. All her muscles clenched as if she'd overdone a workout. Then, as her entire body squeezed in on itself, the only sound she could let out was a strangled scream.
"What in the name of Arceus...?" she heard her father gasp. He seemed to grow taller and taller before her eyes, as did everyone gathering round. Her skin tingled all over, and what felt like fur brushed against the inside of her dress, the fabric pooling on the floor as it swamped her shrunken form. Pain flared through her ears, which felt as if they were being stretched, wrenched down by weights. Pale fluff filled the corners of her vision. Forcing her limbs to move, she grabbed a cottony mass and gaped in shock as she took a closer look. A rabbit ear, gripped in a pair of paws, more puffy fur sprouting from the wrists like stuffing spilling out of a broken toy.
As the pain subsided, she wriggled out of the dress, staring down at her new body. She shook her head, ears swinging from side to side.
"No... no, no..." she tried to say, but all she could utter was
"Lopunny..."The deathly quiet in the room erupted into chaos. With her suddenly sensitive hearing, the cacophony of shouts went right through her. Cameras flashed. Turning and dashing through the crowd, Gabrielle fled outside. She ran across concrete that grazed her paws, past buildings that looked much too big. Her centre of gravity thrown off, she found herself falling, yelping as she thudded to the ground in a heap of dirt-stained fluff.
At the sound of storming footsteps, she propped herself up. Her father towered over her, face contorted with anger he only unleashed when out of the public eye, yet she'd never seen him quite this furious.
He grabbed her by the ears, earning a squeal as he yanked her to her feet.
"Oh, shut up. You've caused enough of a scene," he growled, bending down, spit flying in her face.
"I invested everything I could into you, and... and now I've got this scrap of fur for an heiress? Just when I'd almost stopped doubting your usefulness? I don't know who you are now, but you're not my daughter. Not any more."The words struck like a blow. As her father skulked into the distance, Gabrielle tried to plead with him, but even if she could have made herself understood, he wouldn't have listened. Curling up in a corner, she wrapped her arms around her knees, the damp and muddy fur bringing little warmth.
Hearing a cackling noise, she raised her head to see another figure she recognised, a grin spread over that wrinkled face.
"Happy now?" the old hag taunted.
"What...?" Gabrielle shuffled back, wincing as her tail pressed against the wall.
"What did you do to me...?"The crone's eyes glimmered with mirth, indicating that she'd understood every word.
"A favour. You're pretty, you're stylish, and you were the centre of attention just now. Too bad fame can't last." She gave a raspy chuckle.
"Plus it was rather fun. You have to amuse yourself in any way you can, when you've been dead as long as I have."With that, she rose into the air, cloak trailing. Gabrielle watched, open-mouthed, as the woman's image rippled and changed. In her place, a purple spectre floated, red gems glinting on her cloak, matching the malicious eyes that peered from under what looked like a witch's hat.
"You..." Gabrielle's bewilderment gave way to rage.
"You thief! You cheat! You try to con me out of my money, then you go and do this to me? Give me my body back! Give me my life back!"The Mismagius shook her head.
"And why should I do that? I never really wanted your money. I just expected what I get from most people. Indifference. But that little comment of yours, that was a whole other level of condescending." She loomed closer.
"Want to know how I died? Because of people like you. People who had plenty to spare, but preferred to flaunt it instead of give it to someone starving right in front of them. So, consider your request denied. Unless you give me a good reason to grant it."She vanished into the shadows, leaving the human turned Lopunny quite alone.
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