Yawnnnn.
Joey rubbed its eyes, trying to will the sleepiness away. It wasn’t even late!
It was sprawled out in bed, paws kicking idly as it browsed the internet on its little phone, riolu icon staring back from every site it visited. An oddly quiet night online, it seemed – only a few messages had come through, mostly friends making plans for the upcoming weekend or the occasional tease, but, really, between music and the setting sun outside, Joey had a relaxing time ahead!
…Until, with a ding, the front doorbell rang.
Huh. A little late for guests, but it was summer…
Joey swung its paws out of the bed, padding through the house to the front door and grabbing the little stool to get the extra inch or so it needed to reach the handle. The door swung open, the sound of crickets and distant lawn sprinklers reaching its ears, and… a toy otter stood there.
Joey knew of Drift – a friend of Arlie’s, it recalled – but had never met them in person. Sure, it had thought about Drift here and there, even made a joke-y post online once or twice about how nice it would be to be like Drift… maybe even one earlier today…
…Oh.
“U-Uh, good evening!” Joey offered to the otter, their little smirk giving away quite a bit. “Won’t you come in?”
The toy otter nodded, stepping inside – and without Joey asking, pulling the door closed.
“Um.”
The riolu looked around, wondering if setting out snacks was even proper. Did Drift eat? Should they sit out, like, a bike pump…?
Drift, without saying a word, placed a paw on Joey’s shoulder.
“Huh?” The riolu started to say, turning to face the toy – only to be met by a squeaky otter snout pressing itself against its own, toy otter paws wrapping around the riolu to hold it against them, and the sound of a very hissy puffkiss tickling at their big ears.
Instantly, Joey felt it – a growing pressure in its tummy, soft blue fur smoothing into cream and orange plastic. It reminded it of a buizel, almost, as it swept across it. The flow of air from Drift was ceaseless; they simply didn’t need to stop to take a breath, blowing into the riolu much like you’d blow up a balloon, the little pokemon’s tail swelling outwards steadily into a toy otter tail, lower half reshaping to grow more toyish, more haunchy.
Drift, paws drifting down the riolu’s increasingly toy otter body, grabbed hold of Joey’s new tummy valve and squeezed. The redistribution of air inside made its head go fuzzy, dangly riolu ears dwindling away into rounded orange inflatable otter versions… as, against Drift’s snout, Joey’s began to fill.
It started slowly at first, nose a little bigger, slightly the wrong shade, but as it watched its nose began to grow toyishly blue, swelling outwards as black and blue riolu fur gave way to orange and white vinyl, multicolored eyes settling into a simple blue as its features flattened out, simplifying.
Joey was also growing taller, frame stretching into more lutrine proportions as the air simply kept coming; something it couldn’t stop smiling at.
It couldn’t stop smiling at all.
With a big SQUEEZE, Drift gave it a hug around the midsection, the changes wrapping up with one solid SQRK – and, like a painter taking a step back to admire a masterpiece, Drift looked itself over.
One sqrky chin-rubbing later, they nodded.
Joey wobbled in place, grinning ear to ear as the pressure pushed its thoughts apart, just in time for the other toy otter to step closer, paws nimbly opening its tummy valve and squeezing – and, as a welcome to the new identity, Joey’s last time as anything other than a permagrinning Drift toy was to watch its own air squeeze out beneath identical, vinyl-scented pooltoy otter paws…
…All night long!