Sudden changes between hot, dry, outside air and slightly moist, cool, air-conditioned indoor air was never pleasant, even if you had a coat of fur, like Catherine did. The red fox anthro quickly shut the door behind herself, seeing that one other band member was already in the old warehouse, that being the guitarist, the tabby Kaze. “Afternoon!” the cat called out, just finishing with tuning his bass guitar. Catherine noticed that Kaze, who usually brought only his bass guitar for use in the band, brought his Spanish guitar this time as well, even though it was still in its case.

“Hey, Kaze,” Catherine responded as she reached him. She knelt down and set her own instrument case on the floor, opening it, and extracting her trumpet and the mouthpiece, which had to be removed from the instrument to alloy it to fit into its case. “So, the others must’ve gotten stuck in traffic again,” she commented as she secured the mouthpiece in place. She added, “I’ve also noticed that you brought the Spanish guitar with you this time. New song?”

“Yes,” he answered, putting the bass guitar down. They both turned to look as they heard the door open, and their trombonist, the arctic fox Aileas, entered the building, and she looked more than a little frightened.

“Are you alright?” Catherine asked.

“Someone was driving on the wrong side of the road and almost hit me,” she said, shuddering. “I’ll be fine.” She came over to the other two, took her own instrument out of its case, and started assembling it. “I caught a glimpse of Lehua coming this way on foot,” she remarked as she finished putting her trombone together. A minute after that, Lehua, another red fox, stepped in, the case for his alto saxophone held on his shoulder.

“Hello,” he said, just before he had a very painful-sounding double sneeze.

“Gesundheit,” Chester said, “and hi.”

“Now we wait for Karina,” Kaze said as he started to take out his Spanish guitar. Chester started on a tuning exercise as Lehua began putting his saxophone together.

* * * * * *

As she approached the warehouse, an ebony-furred wolf anthro was vibrating, a clear sign that she had had too much coffee again. She pulled into the parking lot, popped the trunk, and hopped out. She went to load her drum kit onto a cargo carrier, and headed inside. The looks she got from the rest of the band turned from relief to oh no, not again in an instant. “Howdy!” she called out in that drawl of hers, speeding across the room and immediately getting to set up her stuff. When she said what was on her mind, there was scarcely a gap between each word, each syllable: “So, I got this idea for all of us today! Wanna hear it? I’m sure y’all will like it!”

“Karina?” Kaze asked worriedly. “How much coffee have you had before coming here?”

“I only had three cups and I feel great!” Catherine only became more concerned by that, considering the mayhem Karina caused the last time she had that much at Fonce. “Can I please demonstrate my idea?”

Lehua sighed. “Just get on with it, please. There’s a new song that Kaze and I-” He shuddered as Karina held her hands out towards him, splaying her fingers. Everyone realized what was going on just before all of Lehua’s fur turned black, and his eyes yellow. Karina closed her hands, pointing her knuckles at herself and then back at Lehua, whose body gained a fair bit of height, followed by a sharp cough as his waist narrowed. Karina started patting the air in front of her, causing Lehua’s hips, rear, and thighs to grow as his shins thinned and the fur on his tail, which shortened slightly, became a little thinner. Next, his - or now her, as indicated by a small wince - chest suddenly bore a bust identical to Karina’s, while her arms and hands altered to the same proportions. That was followed by her ears becoming slightly rounder as her cheeks became less pronounced, and her muzzle shorter and broader, and, finally, her dark green tank top and dark blue cargo shorts changed to a white, short-sleeved shirt and knee-length denim skirt, leaving Lehua as a perfect physical copy of Karina. She blinked, looking down at herself in disbelief, and then around the room, taking a moment to appreciate the literal change in perspective from her increased height.

“And there’s more!” Karina said, grinning widely as she turned to Aileas. The arctic fox’s eyes went wise as Karina started gesturing at her, causing her body to become significantly taller and a little bulkier with her bust becoming slightly but noticeably larger, her fur thinning slightly and turning black. Her ears enlarged as her muzzle lengthened with her cranial features changing from vulpine to lupine, and then her eyes and outfit changed, like Lehua’s, to match Karina’s.

“That,” Aileas got caught on her own tongue, unsure of what to say. She looked her new form over, completely at a loss for words.

“Okay, okay!” Kaze said, putting his hands up defensively. “You’ve demonstrated your idea. Now, could we please just get on with-” a shudder ran up his spine as Karina cast her twinning spell yet again, this time at him. His own changes were by far the most drastic, what with him being a cat. His own snout lengthened a great deal as his fur now, too, changed to match Karina’s ebony coloration and became slightly thicker, and his - suddenly her - frame became slightly bulkier and much sturdier-looking. Her fur thickened as her tail enlarged, waist and shoulders pushed in slightly while hips and thighs swelled. Kaze blinked a few times as her eyes, which were already yellow, became ever so slightly darker and a bit more reflective. And now, Catherine was the only one who hadn’t been turned into Karina.

“Isn’t this enough of you?” the vixen asked as Kaze felt her larger, fluffier snout. Catherine’s ears drooped as the original turned to face her.

“Nope!” Karina chirped, and, once again, the spell was cast. Catherine was no stranger to being twinned, having been turned into copies of her friends and, on occasion, her wife, quite a few times. She sighed as that familiar feeling washed over herself, signalling her that she had begun to turn into Karina once again, and the changes started with her overall frame. It gained that signature lupine bulk, quickly followed by her muzzle becoming shorter and thicker. Her eyes went from hazel to piercing yellow, and then her triangular ears became rounded and smaller while her tail became a bit shorter, just before the color was drained from her fur, turning it a shiny black while her clothes, like everyone else’s, changed to match the wolf’s. The original Karina, now even giddier, then triggered the spell embedded within the one that turned everyone in the room into her: a fog crept into everyone else’s minds that, while leaving their memories intact, overwrote their personalities to match that of what was now their master copy; Lehua became Karina Two; Aileas, Karina Three; Kaze, Four; and Catherine, Five. “And there we have it - all me!” the original chirped. The other four nodded in agreement. “Now that that’s taken care of, now we can all get on with band practice!”
Karina Five immediately got back to her warmup exercise as Karina Two brought up the new song that she and Karina Four had just finished writing - which everyone was more than happy to start learning.

A few minutes later, a familiar sight made itself known as a small cut in space appeared right beside the band, which then opened in either direction like a curtain. Through this opening, a tigress anthro with long, white hair poked her torso into the warehouse. “Hey, honey.” It was Ning, the wife of Catherine - or, rather, Karina Five. “How’s band prac-” she looked around, sure that the wolf with the trumpet was her wife, and she also saw the original Karina standing to greet her, still vibrating. “Uh, I’ll catch you later.” She pulled herself back through the portal, all the way into her living room, and slammed it shut.

“Aw, I wanted to make her another of us!” Karina Prime drawled. The others laughed.

* * * * * *

“So!” Karina Prime said, clapping her hands together as she took her seat and set down a tray, with five mugs of coffee. “How’re y’all hangin’ in there, bein’ me?”

“It’s great!” all the other Karinas said in unison. Just after the original pushed the tray to the middle of the table, each wolf took the mug that was closest to them.

“Enjoy!” Karina Prime chirped, lifting her mug to her face.
Mere minutes later, five highly caffeinated wolves ran through the streets, transforming everything and everyone they came across. Some got off light, receiving only a gender or species change, while others were fused with others and/or turned into objects. Newly made and remade anthros looked over themselves and each other in shock as random objects that had been other people fell to the ground left and right, transformation magic flying everywhere, to the sounds of caffeine-induced laughter and excited chatter.

From the safety of her hilltop mansion, Ning watched the mayhem play out, as she could see directly down the road that the pack was currently rampaging across. She shook her head and took a sip from her glass of apple juice as the pack rounded a corner and went out of sight for a moment, and then suddenly came back around and into view again, stopped for a moment. And then they came barreling towards the mansion. “Uh, nope,” Ning said, pulling the blinds shut and then teleporting somewhere very far away.