“Eww, I can’t believe she did that!” Kristen exclaimed, staring at the monstrosity that had become of her friend. Or, rather at the black speck that now comprised her body. It was bad enough that they had to watch the change, itself a Cronenberg-like nightmare. But the urge to squash their friend was almost maddening! Especially as she just stood there on the floor, as though taunting them…

Kristen and Susy were visiting their friend Ellen for the weekend, as they often did between college breaks. Ellen’s family were frequent connoisseurs of nanite transformation technology, and it was fun to try such forms on occasion while spending time with the family. Spending a relaxing afternoon as a horse, or a cow, hunting as a wolf or tiger, there was certainly appeal in trying a variety of animal forms for a brief duration.

Yet, Ellen had much darker proclivities, ones that her friends simply could not comprehend. She had told them on the occasion that she quickly bored of changing into what she considered ‘mundane’ animals like those the rest of the family relished. So, often, she went behind their back, ordering a variety of nanite programs that allowed her to change into the most bizarre disgusting creatures she could conceive of. Most of which even her best friends could hardly stand to watch her transform into!

Ellen’s insistence usually paid off in the long run, as was the case today. Though neither of her friends was inclined to watch her turn into a cockroach, they were still here and present when she began the process, shrinking only a little at first so as not to hide the more disgusting anatomical alterations to her form. It wasn’t too terrifying to see the antenna bursting from the top of her head, as unexpected as it was. However,  they were not expecting the extra legs to burst from her abdomen, reaching out with two claws to grasp at them. Ellen thought the looks on their faces were priceless, though her friends, not so much!

Still, Susy and Kristen stayed strong and continued to watch the changes, not wanting to be made fun of by their more outgoing friend. It was disgusting, seeing her eyes ballooning out and segmenting, her ass popping down into a twitching abdomen, or her hands cracking into two clawed joints like the additional ones that waved back and forth from her now-thorax. It took forever for her to shrink, though the pair were sure that Ellen planned it that way if she was able to program the nanites in such a fashion. God forbid she shrank first to prevent them from seeing all the disgusting changes up close on her way to becoming a literal bug!

Eventually, she did shrink, the Kafka-like nightmare of being a giant insect gone as she diminished into a more natural, more reasonable size. Still, there was something primally fearful about being in the presence of a bug, especially one smart enough to scare the hell out of them on a whim!

Looking down at the still roach, the pair of girls waited with bated breath to see what Ellen would do. There was every chance she would use the opportunity to run around, exploring the abilities of her new body. And that was what she did, racing forward with an impossible speed for her much-reduced size. 

<Now this is fun!> Ellen called out, likely eager to show off her form. It was something she delighted in, and the pair of friends did see some appeal in that. Though the change and form were disgusting, insects carried a wide array of abilities humans could only dream of. Flight, for one. The sense of smell through their antenna and the differently tinted world to a cockroach eye. Kristen and Susy were about to hear all about it, knowing that Ellen loved to describe the experience in great detail. 

<This is such a rush! It’s like I’m driving a car down here!> Ellen called out in their minds, the nanites’ neural link through computer speakers allowing her to express her thoughts. It was true; she seemed to be moving around the floor at an impossible speed, rather impressive given her stature and her insistence as a bug to control her motions with very human determination. 

Fascinated by watching her friend, Kirsten was not expecting the roach’s carapace to suddenly pop open, or for two wings to rapidly unfurl in the blink of an eye. Before she really understood what was happening, the cockroach had launched itself into the air, landing on Kirsten’s lap. “Aaahhhhh!” She screamed, reaching down reflexively to swat her friend. It was more than she could bear, instinctively forgetting it was her friend with the primal panic of having a massive bug on her. She missed, Ellen too fast for her, almost thankfully.

“Sorry, sorry!” She said, getting up as the roach fell to the floor on its back before righting itself. She hated the forms that Ellen took on, but, of course, she had no inclination to kill her friend, after all!

<For what? You know you can’t kill me, right? Well, it’s really hard to kill me. Like, swatting won’t do it!> Ellen declared cockily. Kirsten knew that on a fundamental level, though at no inclination to try finding that out for real, after all.

No sooner than she calmed down for the ‘near miss’ than Susie was made the next target of Ellen’s tirade of terror. Susie hardly realized it, but Ellen had lifted back into the air, landing on her friend’s chest, and started to climb upward with those gripping claws. Eliciting her own scream, Susie pawed at her chest, trying to get the bug off. It was a little annoying for Ellen, flying through the air as she was, though the cockroach body felt no pain from the impact, easily able to right herself. 

It was at that moment Linda, Ellen’s mother, came through the door, saying hello to the two girls. Yet, it took her no time for her gaze to settle where the two girls were looking towards the massive cockroach on the floor. With a scream, she raised her heel, stomping down on it hard and killing Ellen in an instant. 

Both Kirsten and Susy screamed then, seeing their friend being squashed before them. They hadn’t had any time to call out, to tell Linda that it was her daughter down there, exploring a new form. Though Linda used the nanite transformation technology as well, it wasn’t expected for her daughter to be a cockroach on the floor, and thus Linda was prompted to end her life without a single thought.

Linda, meanwhile, was busy scrapping the insect’s still-twitching remains from her shoe. There was an obvious grimace of disgust as she did so, her disdain for the insect clear as day. For a moment, both girls thought the nanites night reconstitute her body and that her friend might recover. Though it was quickly evident that nothing was happening and that Ellen was clearly dead, any movement a neural reflex.

“That was Ellen…you just killed your daughter!” Susy said, weeping slightly as she did so. Though the nanites provided amazing regeneration powers, surely they couldn’t fix this!

“What? Ellen? What did you…why was she…how could I have known?!” Linda said in a panic, trying to defend herself. It was truly impossible for her to know, to evade that primal instinct to kill a bug encroaching on one’s home. But in a world where such a big cockroach could be her daughter in disguise, it was almost more than she could bear, having to think that every bug might be her daughter’s newest hobby. And now…

“I hate when she does that! It’s the first time I’ve actually squished her but I keep telling her it was going to happen sooner or later. I swear the girl wanted to get squished just to try it once for kicks! She didn’t get it from me, that’s for sure!” Linda explained, matter of factly. 

“Wait…but she’s…” Kiersten muttered, not believing Linda’s reaction. It was bad enough that she likely killed her daughter but she was being so nonchalant about it that it was unnerving, to say the least!

<Alive and well? Of course! I didn’t get burned to a crisp or anything, though that would be exciting to try someday!> Came a robotic drone from the laptop, making both girls’ hearts leap.  

“I am not setting you on fire for kicks!” Linda scolded, though there was likely little point, given her daughter’s proclivities. Still, there was a note of guilt in the defiance. Linda didn’t want to hurt her daughter, after all, and there was every chance that the process of being squished was rather painful. Surely, Ellen had regrets and would be angry at her for killing what she thought was a simple bug!

The reversion to a human form took some time, longer than the initial change due to the nanites needing to reconstitute her body. <It’s totally fine, mom, I’m fine! It was wild! The cockroach instincts went nuts before they shut off!> Ellen declared, as though it was the most normal thing in the world to want to experience being so close to death before coming back from the brink. Thankfully, her body started to revert to its proper insect form so that the girls did not have to watch a Kafkian nightmare as a broken body turned back into a human. In some ways, the change back was more disgusting, with human lips and nose forming on a mostly cockroach face as she was more than halfway back to her normal size. Though the changes thankfully did not last too long, it was a sight that would be burned into both girls’ brains far longer than they would have preferred. 

After she had been turned back, Ellen was bombarded with apologies from her mother, who evidently felt awful about the whole affair. Though she wasn’t worried that she’d killed her daughter, not really, it was more for the pain aspect that had her sorry for what she had done. No matter how much Ellen reassured her it was fine, it seemed Linda would not quite relent from her need to repent. 

That insistence gave Ellen an idea, one to get unneeded revenge and at the same time meet her particular proclivities. “Are you really sorry, mom? Enough to make it up to me?” Ellen said, her sly tone not lost as she posed the question. 

“What are you getting at? I’m not paying you!” Linda said, affronted by the notion that she do anything of the sort for her daughter. She was guilty, certainly, but not that guilty!

“Well, mom, it’s like this. I want to do to you what you did to me. Don’t worry, I won’t squish you,” Ellen said, her mother giving a look of abject horror. Though Linda liked to use the nanite transformation process on many an occasion, she wasn’t the type to try to change into the gross creatures that her daughter seemed to enjoy!

“I’m not going to turn myself into a bug, even if you aren’t going to squish me!” Linda said, affronted by the very notion. It was not something she had ever imagined doing, not even with the nanite technology so readily available!

“Why not? You did step on me, you know! It’s the least you could do to make up for it!” Ellen retorted, stubbornly sticking to her guns. “Besides, I think it would be good for you to get turned into a bug. It’s not such a big deal, you know?” Ellen pushed, hands on her hips in a sign of defiance. 

In the end, Linda decided to relent. She didn’t really want to be a bug, not even to make things up to her daughter. Linda was quick to understand that Ellen didn’t really feel offended that she had been squished and simply wanted to watch her mother suffer for her own gain. But, the fact of the matter was that Ellen wasn’t going to let it go, and she wouldn’t hear the end of it until she relented. And the more that she thought about it, the more the idea interested her if only a little. After all, what was the appeal for Linda to become various bugs all the time? There was no way that she could explain it without Linda going through it herself, Linda reasoned. 

The worst thing about Ellen’s request, to Linda’s chagrin, was that Ellen would not give Linda the exact specifications of the nanite program that she would be injected with. It was left to her imagination as to what she would be turned into, and each possibility was worse than the last. Loving the bigger, powerful animals like mares, lionesses, and the like, Linda didn’t even like shrinking, let alone into a bug like Ellen intended for her! Worse was that Ellen had it in mind to happen the next day, as though to let her mother stew in the idea for a while. She had agreed to go through with it for whatever silly reason. And the distaste against going back on her word was more than she could bear. So she was stuck in that headspace, wanting to get it over with but wished he had not agreed to it in the first place. 

The next day, Kirsten and Susy again present for the event, Ellen handed her mother the injector, and she took it to her skin before she even had thought to hesitate. The familiar tingling started through her system, and she braced herself for the sensation of shrinking, diminishing in size towards what would be her eventual fate. She did feel as though dizzied, the world around her rushing by rapidly as she decreased in mass into whatever form Ellen would have her take on.

Though part of her was expecting to turn into a cockroach, to be squished in a similar manner to how she had accidentally squished Ellen, Linda felt a little disconcerted as her arms went limp, as though the bones within were turning mushy and losing their ability to move. They were soon sucked inside of her, as though not needed on her form. Linda moaned from the phantom sensation of losing her limbs and struggled a little, hoping that her cockroach limbs would grow from the spot soon. To her surprise and shock, it did not happen, the process leaving her torso bare as though she had never even had arms to begin with. 

The same thing seemed to be happening to her legs, and while she still could, Linda got down on her ass, watching her legs shrink within the hips, which themselves were dissolving down until there was nothing left. For a moment, Linda was still hopeful that insectoid legs would pop out of her truck and she would still have the same three sets of legs that would mark her as a bug, cockroach or not. After all, any sort of insect would be better than some of the other options she could possibly be turned into. Surely, Ellen wouldn’t torture her in such a way as to make her into something worse than a bug, right?

It was indeed soon to be far worse, as Linda was to find out about it. Her entire torso was pulsating, the skin wrinkling into separate segments as the color lightened to a dull, translucent white. As she expected, her internal bones were dissolving within her body, the form she was undertaking clearly an invertebrate. It would have to be, Ellen likely wanting to squish her in much the same way Linda had done to her. Internal structures like her heart, stomach, and lungs, were all dissolved into nothing, though the nanites kept her alive before the circular circulatory systems of an insect took hold over her body. 

Yet, unlike the cockroach form her daughter had been caught in before Linda had accidentally ‘killed’ her, Linda’s skin was not hardening into a semblance of an exoskeleton. Rather, it was still soft, as though she was not becoming an insect or at least not an adult one. She was scared at that, even as her body continued to wrinkle into dozens of segments, and her anus rotated towards the back of receding ass checks. She slowly allowed herself to move forward, wanting to crawl as her body dictated. Linda was currently two-thirds of her former size and shrinking a little bit slower so as to showcase the changes to her body. 

“Ewww…” Kirsten muttered, just then starting to realize what form her friend’s mother was becoming. Though the scale was much larger than anything she could have imagined, it was disgusting to see a human body bloating up and turning into what had to be some sort of larva. She was fat, body ballooning in relation to her former human proportions before shrinking down towards the size of the bug she would be. A fate much worse than being a cockroach, Kirsten was certain!

Linda, too, was disgusted by the form she was to take but could not back out until the process was completed. Unlike most of the forms she so much loved to take on, this body was uniform, her belly, her breasts, all of her features receding into the wiggling mass of her torso. It was relatively fat, though hard to tell given the inability to move her neck to see it. It was stuck in its current configuration, her hair falling out and her neck wrinkling to match the segments in her body. The change was almost done, and, at half her former size, it was easy for the trio to watch all of the anatomic intricacies that her body developed. 

“Gross! Why are you turning her into a m-” Linda heard Susy start to say, but the words were suddenly shut off to her as though her ear canals were dissolving. That seemed the case, though she no longer had arms to feel them. She tried to roll her head up to read Susy’s lips, though could not do so with her neck in its current configuration. 

It was soon to become much worse as her eyes were clouded over as though her eyelids closed over them. The world went blurry for a few moments before her sight was taken from her, and Linda tried to gasp from the horror. Though she could not hear her own voice, she was sure she did not make a sound, her vocal cords robbed from her. Without her eyes and ears, Linda had only the weakest perceptions of her mouth opening up, a permanent ‘o’ shape as her nose dissolved, her hair fell out, and her face became pointed, the same size and shape as her anus. It was disgusting, and Linda was thankful that she didn’t have the ability to see, though was still scared of her surroundings. 

It took some time for her to understand what she had become, her vermiform body consistent with literally hundreds of different species. Though, the phantom tingles of missing arms and legs correlated with the movements of tiny nubs that allowed her to crawl forward, ever slightly. Yet, given the size of her body, it did feel that she was moving faster in relation to her surroundings, the scale being largely disproportionate. She wasn’t sure where she was going but didn’t like the idea of just sitting there and waiting for Ellen to do what she wanted with her. 

Still, at the realization of what she was, a fit of rage ran through her, pissed off that Ellen would take advantage of her like this. She was sure she was some sort of larva, the minute lumps of limbs proving her form. And it was not something that she wanted to be for a second longer!

<What did you turn me into? Some kind of maggot! Turn me back! I didn’t agree to this!> Linda fumed, clearly not pleased with the results of her least nanite escapades. 

Ellen, who had her own nanite telepathy device set up to talk to her mom, couldn’t help but use the opportunity to taut her a little. <What, you don’t like being a helpless little grub? Why not? It’s a clarity of purpose, for sure. I’ve tried the form before, and it’s great! All you do is eat, and grow, and eat, and get ready to pupate. More fulfilling than anything you could imagine!>

<What are you on about Ellen!? Turn your mother back this instant!> Linda declared, obviously not a fan of the form. Though she knew it would end badly, she just wanted the situation over with as soon as possible. Linda hated being so helpless, unable to move more than a few inches at a time. That, and the hunger in her body was getting insistent, and she had nothing to feed on where she was. Surely, she didn’t want to eat decaying flesh as maggots were prone to do. But in her current state of being, Linda would take anything!

<Though, don’t worry, you don’t have to stay in the form long enough to eat! I did but waiting till you like being a maggot isn’t what I had in mind. Well, maaaaaybe that would be fun, but I have a better idea. Wait there! Oh, well, it’s not like you have a choice!> Ellen said a little manically as she walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs towards her bedroom. 

Meanwhile, Kirsten and Susy looked at each other with trepidation. They knew their friend had an adventurous side and loved to tease, but turning her mother into a maggot? That was almost sadistic! Sure, there was no harm in the process, no risk of damage or danger. But, still…

Ellen came back quickly, carrying with her a jar with something in the bottom. It was hard to say exactly until she was set down by the maggot that had become of her mother. It seemed to contain some flies within, and, at the bottom, wriggling maggots, larger even than the one that had become of Linda. It was a little gross, especially when they thought of what Ellen might do with such bugs. Would she turn into an animal and eat them? Turn into one herself? A fly? There really was nothing off the table with what they had seen her friend do already. 

Without missing a beat, Ellen opened the jar and gingerly picked up the wriggling maggot on the table before tossing it in with the other bugs. <Wait-what are you doing? Stop. Don’t drop me!!!> Linda panicked, apparently aware of the sensation of being picked up. Tightness around half her body made her panic, though her maggot senses had nothing for it. She was a helpless being, her species determined through numbers, not defenses, to survive and propagate. Thus, the instincts hardly had a modicum of self-preservation beyond the need to feed and grow. 

With that in mind, the sensation of something moist and delectable under her pseudo-feet made her maggot instincts elated, or, at least as much as the maggot could feel, moving with intent and opening its mouth to spit and suck up the nutrients underneath it. It was a disgusting sensation, but Linda had to admit, there was a sense of fulfillment in the action, as much as her body doing all it could to act within its instincts. 

Though her senses were limited, there was the presence of other beings her size that she was able to discern through the vibrations of their feeding. With them came a sense of calm, of peace, knowing that they were her brethren and that she was feeding with them. Linda was starting to understand she had been placed in a container of maggots, perhaps on some meat or garbage. Yet, despite the grossness of her location, her instincts, limited as they were, couldn’t help but feel at peace and comfort. What more did she need to do but feed, excrete, and grow?

<Well, mom, welcome home! Not sure if you’ve seen the closet lately, but I’ve got lots of bugs in there! Enough to give Croaky variety, he likes it!> Ellen said, and the other two girls looked at each other, puzzled. They did know that Ellen had a variety of ‘pets’ in her room, but they didn’t recall one named ‘Croaky’. A frog? They couldn’t help but wonder if it was one that she joined the terrarium every now and then. 

“Wait, how do you know which one is your mother? I can’t tell!” Susy said, confused as to the point of it. Sure, Linda would change back after a while, but it would certainly be uncomfortable to change back in a jar, and figured Linda would likely appreciate not being in there when it was time. 

<It doesn’t really matter, not when I empty the jar into croaky’s terrarium, now, does it?> Ellen said with an evil grin, and both of the girls looked at her, horrified at the implication. 

<Wait, WHAT! Turn me back immediately! Don’t put me in a tank with that thing! You can’t feed me to a frog! I’ll get you for this!> Linda screamed in their minds, though no one present had any ability to stop it. 

Susy and Kirsten tore after their friend as Ellen ran up the stairs, grinning. They figured they should stop her, but there was really little point, was there? They couldn’t exactly rescue all the maggots and Ellen wasn’t planning on ‘killing’ her mom, right? Could the nanites even reconstitute someone who was ‘eaten’? They didn’t want to find out. 

Still, the girls were in time to see Ellen opening the lid of the tank and dumping the contents into the habitat, near where the frog was resting. <STOP! No, don’t AHHHHH!> Linda screamed in their minds, obviously aware that she was falling and not wanting to be eaten by a frog as a helpless larva. She didn’t seem scared for her life, thinking that she would be reconstituted if eaten. But it was certainly not an experience she wanted to undergo nonetheless!

Though Linda was panicked, there was little she could do to get away. It was entirely her human inclinations that had thought to run, maggot instincts content where she was in a moist damp environment to prevent desiccation. She would be content in this environment, to feed and grow and pupate and-

It was only the massive vibrations, far more expansive than anything she could have expected, that made her desperately wriggle away from the being. She was sure it was extending its tongue, lapping up the fellow maggots like popcorn as it satiated its hunger. Her only hope was that the frog would eat its fill before getting to her, that she would be spared such a horrific fate. Though given the minute size of the maggots there was little chance of a being that respective size filling up of just a few of them and her being devoured as Ellen had intended!

<Turn me back this instant! I don’t want to be frog food! You can’t do this to me!> Linda screamed, though knew it was futile. Save for accessing the nanite program and tuning her back, something Ellen was not likely inclined to do, there was no way that Linda could be singled out to return to the jar and spared her fate. Though the nanites would sense danger to her physical form and back up her mind before she would die, it was a terrifying thought to be digested, killed, and left to wait for the backup program to initiate the reversion. 

Both Kirsten and Susy wished they should try to do something, anything to aid their friend’s mother. Though they could only watch as one by one, the frog lapped up the maggots, barely taking time to swallow before going after the next. It was a mental task of sorts to try and figure out which one was Linda, though an impossible one, with no way to really know without the mental screams coming from Linda. 

It was soon to happen, the number of maggots dwindling rapidly without having any real ability to escape. <Fuck, it’s got me! Help! HEL-> came the mental cry, soon cut off as all three girls watched the frog scoop up the maggot that was Linda. It happened in a literal blur, Linda gone before any could react. Not that Susy, in particular, wanted to. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more the notion of what was to happen to Linda was…

<I’m being swallowed! I can feel it! I’m…already dead?> Linda said, confused. In truth, she had been killed by the force of the backlash from the frog’s tongue, her larval body frail and unable to take much punishment. Though she was still aware of her form, for a few moments, even that was soon taken from her, small body no longer able to receive those sensorial inputs. Though she was already used to sensory deprivation, having limited awareness as a maggot, this was almost too much, like drowning in darkness. 

<Damn, I couldn’t resist having some fun with her. If only she knew what I had in mind, then she wouldn’t have agreed! It was the only way to trick her, I guess. Oh well, it’s done now, and she’ll be fine!> Ellen said, and both girls, though fascinated, wondered how she was being so callous about the whole thing. It was not the sign of a sane person to want to kill their mother in such a fashion, after all, even it if was ‘safe’. 

Linda, for her part, found the whole experience deplorable, though only on a fundamental level. There was something to be said for the way she was floating there, preverbal as that was. There was no longer any ability to sense the world around her, body dissolved to nothing by the frog’s digestive systems. But, there had been no pain, and the whole ordeal had been over so quickly. In fact, now that it was, there was a sense of peace that she couldn’t have been prepared for. It was almost better than being the maggot, having nothing to worry about, and being in a state of total relaxing contentment. 

Still, despite the comfort that she felt, Linda was determined to complain. It was the principal of the thing that was the true topic at hand. <Why on earth did you do this to me? Do you have any idea what this feels like? This is nothing like being squished, let me tell you->

With that, Ellen muted her mother, not wanting her ramblings to ring in their ears until later that day when she was turned back. “Yeah, she’ll be pretty pissed about that, no doubt. Sigh, she’ll probably want me to get tuned into something and get eaten, probably something a lioness can eat-she loves that form-and now that she has an excuse I’m sure she’ll use it. Thankfully she can’t hear me, don’t want to give her any ideas!” Ellen said with a laugh. 

Both girls stood there, not really sure what to make of the whole scenario. It should have been horrifying to realize what was happening to Linda and how Ellen had done so with such callous disregard. Yet, at the revelation of the entire scene, both girls felt a certain curiosity rather than being frightened. Even though they really only saw a frog eating a maggot, they knew deep down that it was their friend’s mother and that she was undergoing the sensation of having her body dissolve and digested before the nanites could reconstitute her. It was a horrifying prospect, something that they could not believe had happened before them in real time. And, yet…

A tingling in Kirsten’s crotch made her instantly embarrassed, and she instinctively put her hand down over it, ashamed at the notion but not realizing that the reflexive action was giving her away. She didn’t wish to be turned on by the notion of vore, of being eaten or eating a friend. But, it was something that she had explored before, in fiction, of course. And now that it was possible, that she had seen it happen before her eyes…there was no denying her interest. She couldn’t get the thought out of her mind!

Susy, too, found something intriguing about the whole scenario, now that it was over and the panic about witnessing a death was gone. What was it about the notion of being eaten that did it for her? It was impossible to really understand it, not a kink that could be explored under normal circumstances. Though, given the nanite’s capabilities, it was certainly within the realm of possibilities now. Yet, how could she dare ask? Not that the arousal would have an outlet while she was ‘dead’. But reflecting on the experience would lead to several fun nights of material to reflect on, indeed!

This was not lost on Ellen, who looked at her friends with a sly, knowing grin. They didn’t want to ask her outright, that might be a little too far. But then again, this was Ellen they were talking about, after all. Who was kinkier to ask to try anything borderline psychotic using nanite technology than her? And, if Susy was into the idea, as Kirsten was sure she was, then she could enact a fantasy that Kirsten hadn’t known she’d had until now!

“Well, what’s on your mind? Don’t be shy, anything’s on the table! Hell, even if you want to get eaten, that’s something we can arrange. That’s going to be me in a few hours, as soon as mom gets back and has the nerve to change me. Well, I do owe her that much,” Ellen said as if the notion of being turned into an animal to be hunted and eaten was the most normal thing in the world. 

“Well, I mean, being hunted might be fun…Not as a maggot, though, they can’t really do anything about it, but maybe like, I don’t know, I’m open to ideas?” Susy offered, regretting the words as soon as they were out there. 

Kirsten, for her part, was shocked at the sudden confession and request. She had been thinking about it herself, but the notion of being hunted and possibly eaten…it was insane! Yet, after all they had seen, were privy to, was it really that much of a stretch? Kirsten felt she wanted to meditate on it for a bit. 

Ellen had no such compunctions about waiting and was already brainstorming ideas with Susy. “Well, we could do something a little more mundane, like cat and mouse, but that’s no fun…” she started, pulling out a pad with the available nanite programs. “We can do better than that, I’m sure. Though mouse is a really good one, they are basically little balls of terror, you’ll get a kick out of being hunted!” Ellen exclaimed, much to Kirsten’s chagrin. How were the two of them even entertaining this!?

Susy, for her part, was equal parts frightened and aroused at the idea of turning into almost anything and being hunted. Though in the end, the two girls decided that a mouse was the perfect pitch, and Susy, to her embarrassment, agreed to be changed then and there. She was sure that Ellen was going to hunt her, the pair having nothing else planned that evening. But, as to the form, Ellen was a little unsure. It took her almost half an hour of browsing the catalog, but finally, she settled on something. With a sly grin, she turned the pad back to her friends, who stared in shock at the sight of an Amazonian Giant Centipede. 

Kirsten, for her part, thought the pair were truly out of their minds to even be considering this. Still, a morbid fascination had her stay and watch as Susy was given the program to allow herself to turn into a mouse. Susy, having only used transformation technology to change into a handful of different bodies, was unused to the sensation of shrinking that came with such a small form. The ache in her spine of a naked tail popping out prompted her to reach back and rub it as she shrank and it grew. She was thankful she retained relatively human hands, even if her thumbs were erased, still allowing her to tease over her growing brown fur and naked tail. Belly growing chubby, hips thickening, and spine hunching forward forced her down on all fours. The world continued to tower above her shrinking form, face stretching into a muzzle and bugged-out eyes losing color and sharpness. Though her twitching nose and rotating ears more than made up for the lack of eyesight as she scanned her world with all the attentiveness of a common prey animal. 

The mouse looked up at the pair, sniffing and trying to quell the fear rising in her mind. Susy was not only afraid from her minute size but the myriad of other aspects that her mind told her that should earn her trepidation. Even the towering humans above her were a source of potential harm, though she forced herself to stay where she was. The instincts were ever-present though not overwhelming to her human self, a precaution she was glad the nanite programs provided. 

<OK, so, can we use a safe word before you transform, not like stop, but like, I don’t know? Lemon? Yeah, let’s go with lemon. Also, can you turn off the speaker for the first little while? I don’t want to be able to back out just for getting…well, you know…> Susy asked, the implication being that she might ask to back out in case the fear was too much. It might be enough that the mouse would have a heart attack, though that was not a fear with the nanite technology. 

Ellen responded. <Sure, but don’t ask me! You’re going to be chased by Kirsten, here> before Kirsten turned around with a “wait, what?!”

Speaking aloud, Ellen responded. “You’re the only one that hasn’t changed this weekend, so you’re up! Besides, you wanted to try it as much as I did, right? I could see it in your eyes! The thrill of the hunt, the chase. Besides, it’s totally safe for both you and Susy, so you can have all the fun with it you want! No stress!”

Kirsten wasn’t sure what to make of it as Ellen ignored her panicked expression, programming the injector and preparing to hand it to her. Though Kirsten was powerfully afraid to take on any form, especially such a disgusting one, Ellen had a point. She had liked the idea, to a degree. It wasn’t something she would have entertained before, but now she was out there…what was the harm, right?

Soon, the injector was in her hands, and Kirsten was pawing it over as though unsure how to proceed. Eventually, she decided to bite the bullet and put the injector in. She didn’t think that she would entertain the idea if she hesitated. And, Susy was already in the form of a mouse, right…?

Yet, to her disgust, no sooner than she felt the nanites move through her system than she felt two pairs of appendages burst from her mouth, lips dissolving and preventing her from screaming. Though she was able to scream through the laptop speaker, enough that Ellen had to turn it off. Kirsten would have panicked further from the predator-like visage she now possessed. Though the process would hardly give her enough time to reflect on facial changes. To her disgust, Kirsten could feel her body segmenting, though was far too terrified to look down. She didn’t have to worry about it for too much longer, her face flattened and popping, eyes bulging and segmented so that she could no longer see in the way she was used to. Kirsten was thankful for that, not wanting to view the disgusting changes firsthand. Though she could certainly feel them, as bizarre and alien enough to want to make her vomit. 

The shrinking sensation was limited by her lack of eyes, though she could tell she was falling to the ground. Worse was the popping of new limbs from each segment, wriggling as the dozens of legs they were. Her own fingers and toes fused, limbs snapping and popping into multiple segments to match the other limbs, indistinguishable from the rest. Her truck was massive in relation to her head, thinning and hardening as her internal organs shut down and simplified. She was far longer than a human could ever be, flattened to allow her contours to crawl into almost any crevice. 

Soon, the change was done, and Kirsten, though much smaller than her humanity could allow, felt somewhat more powerful and vital in her new form. Crawling forward on so many legs was effortless, leaving her crawling over the floor in a way far more rapid than even the cockroach Ellen had been. The speed and power which she felt for her scale were phenomenal, and Kirsten actually found herself enjoying the experience, trying not to think about things too much. She didn’t even mind when Ellen came up and picked her up, crawling up the skin and arm and even over Ellen’s back, exploring the range of motion. 

“Here, let me take some photos for posterity!” Ellen exclaimed, pulling out her phone and zooming in on the centipede whose body Kirsten now inhabited. Excited to show off, she posed, opening her mandibles and exposing her fangs, crawling up Ellen’s arm and over the camera, and generally looking all the terrifying predator she was. Though the idea would have disgusted her before today, now that she was in the body, Kirsten wanted to see the pictures afterward, firm in the knowledge that it was her being photographed! 

A little surprised at the motion, Kirsten could feel her form being lifted and dropped onto what she perceived was a rather large box or at least one by her standards. She found she could move within it rather rapidly, the vibrations of her legs resonating in her antenna and leaving her excited. Maybe Ellen had a point in changing forms and taking on shapes more ‘creepy crawly’.

Susy, for her part, kept watching the massive crawling thing with abject terror. It could kill her a dozen times over before she could really get away, impaling her with its injectors and pumping her full of a paralyzing agent. It would then take its time digesting her, eating away at her new body slowly until…damn, why was the thought of that doing it for her?!

Before she had time to reflect on it, Ellen had walked over, going to pick her up. Reflexively, Susy felt the need to run, though forced her body to stay still, not overwhelmed by instincts but certainly aware of them. Ellen, for her part, was gentle, even though she was about to drop the woman-turned mouse into a cage and certain death. Well, assuming that Kirsten didn’t listen to the safe word when the time came…

The moment the mouse was placed into the box with her, Kirsten felt her instincts going into overdrive. It was powerfully exciting to be chasing this woman-turned mouse, faking a strike and just barely missing the goal. The exhilaration of how easily she could kill the mouse if she wanted was more than she was prepared for. Kirsten delighted in her power over the tiny mouse, running circles around Susy with her long body, or just clicking her fangs together as she prepared to pounce. 

Susy, in the face of what was unmistakable death, began to get cold feet. It was almost too much from the get-go. The terror she felt in the presence of a predator was all-consuming, to the point where she felt she would pass of a heart attack from the fear. Though that was technically impossible, there was no denying she could no longer stand it here and Susy needed to get out and fast!

Yet, without the aid of the speaker, Susy could not use the safeword and have Ellen get her out or ask Kirsten to stop her advance. So, Susy was left to try to escape, squeaking and trying to jump out of the box in panic. Such was more than she’d reacted so far, and Susy figured it was a sure sign that she would be allowed to be freed. To her dismay, the expression on Ellen’s face was not one of compassion or understanding. Rather, she was grinning down at the mouse evilly as though she had something else in mind for her fate. Still, she did ask the question in a rather booming voice, though not one with a tone that Susy found reassuring. 

“Did you want out, little mouse?” Ellen taunted, and despite the trepidation Susy felt from hearing the tone, Susy couldn’t help but nod frantically. At this, Kirsten hesitated, as though not sure how to proceed. 

“Well then, if you do, you should just say the safe word,” Ellen said, that evil grin still plastered on her features. Susy tried desperately to call out with her mind but was made all too aware that the speaker had not been turned back on. And so was Ellen, much to her dismay. It seemed as though her cruel streak knew no bounds and she was prepared to go to the point of torturing her friends for some sort of twisted event. 

Worse was that Ellen was speaking aloud, the vibrations something that the centipede could not interpret. Even her panicked squeaks were not enough for Kirsten to really understand that Susy was asking to be let out. Though, it only took a moment for Ellen to turn back her own speaker and cheer her on. <Go for it, Kirsten! Susy’s just as excited to try it as you are!>

The preconceived consent was all Kirsten needed to do as she struck with all the speed of an apex predator. Even if Susy hadn’t been trying to frantically get Ellen’s attention, she would be unlikely to get out of the way in time for the centipede to impale her with venomous fangs, making her squeak out in pair. Except…there wasn’t any pain, not really. At least nothing that Susy could detect. She knew her body was shutting down, and there was some panic over that, trying to get away and being unable. But even the mouse brain seemed to know its fate and allowed itself to shut down, a last-ditch effort to escape lost as she was pumped full of fluids so that her dissolving flesh could be sucked dry by the predatory insect. 

Though instead of the terror Susy was sure she would experience at being eaten, there was a peace that came with it, as though all of her worries for her life and future were unfounded. Now that it had happened, being eaten, killed…wasn’t so bad, if that was the right term for it. Though such should have been impossible, there was no denying the peace that came with the end, even though her rational mind told her it wouldn’t really be the end and that it was only a form of high-tech play. 

Kirsten, meanwhile, was experiencing a very different euphoria, one that came from satisfying such primal instincts within the insect that she was, but also her experience to hunt and kill something that would ultimately be spared. Even killing a real mouse was a daunting prospect, though, with Susy, she could indulge in the thrill of the kill with no guilt or remorse, only living to revel in the exhilaration of the hunt and eating her prize with peace and reverence. 

Susie, for her part, was lost in the sense of peace as she was eaten and digested. There were no sensations from her body now, as though she was floating above it. There was no awareness of what was going on, her senses gone. Yet, instead of being deprived of her contact with the world, it was almost peaceful, rather like being in a sensory deprivation tank, only far more visceral than anything she could have imagined. Part of Susy felt that she should be terrified without any ability to perceive the outside world. Though, it was, on some fundamental level, the most relaxing thing she had ever experienced. The certainty that she was to reconstitute without any concerns was its own sort of bliss. 

Watching what should have been a terrifying display, Ellen could only grin, knowing that her friends were fine and could truly experience something that few other people could ever imagine. Greeting death with a warm smile, only to be taken back from the precipice, was something that she delighted in almost as much as the changes themselves. It was a way to accept mortality, to erase her fear of what was one day inevitable. And something that Ellen was hardly finished experiencing. She could only hope her friends felt the same way and they were now more amicable to future experiments…