~ Anthro ~
Created by Dark Phoenix
Edited by Michael-Leonard
Feedback appreciated: thedarkphoenix2008@yahoo.com
With time running out, Zephram must face his destiny head on

~ WARNING ~
This story is geared towards adults. If you are not into female muscle growth, muscular anthropomorphic animals, superhuman strength, intense sexual themes, and violence, then this story is not for you. Otherwise, enjoy the story!

~ INTRO ~
Now this is better! I did my best to get this completed as fast as I could. It answers a few questions from the previous chapter and opens up new ones. Not much else can be said, other than the end is near. Only one chapter left. I'm personally happy with how this story has turned out. At least for me, I see it as a vaguely possible way that anthros (or furries perhaps) could come into being. Of course, being me, I like the idea is biggest and stronger muscles in anthros, both male and female. Though you'll soon see which gender tends to benefit more in that department. So kick back and enjoy because like they say: It's not over until it's over.


Chapter V: The Cure or Bust

It was now or never. Zephram realized then and there: In order to be the anthro he has become, he must learn how to control his panther side. And if pheromones are what's causing Silvia's uncontrollable sexual urges...

Zephram grabbed Silvia, used all his strength to catch her off guard and pin her down, and let out a very loud and even threatening roar right in her face. Silvia looked at him with shock and even fear. It never even occured to her to fight back.

Zephram lowered his roar to a low growl and spoke through clenched teeth, "Now listen very carefully. We have to save those shamans. They are important to saving the rest of mankind. As much as we love each other, we have no choice but to mate after this is all over."

Silvia's eyes filled with tears, "Oh Zeph! I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me!"

Zephram's expression softened as he let her go, "No Silvia, I'm the one who's sorry. It was my pheromones. Now that I am a panther, a wild feline as it were; compared to a house cat, a male panther's pheromones are much more potent than another male house cat's. Though we both represent a new race, we are still our original animals down at the core. I had to consciously turn off my sex drive and force myself into an aggressive and threatening stance to bring you back to your sense. To be honest, I wasn't sure if you would attack me or not. But I was pretty certain that even though you could easily have done so; the fact that we are indeed mates stayed your hand as deep down, neither of us would ever really physically hurt each other. As for roaring in your face, it was necessary to quite literally snap you out of it even though my pheromones weren't being put out anymore."

Silvia's tears finally stopped, "Well, um...can you repeat all that?"

Zephram's jaw dropped and his head lowered, "Oh nevermind. My point is that I can't let myself get horny around you until this is over. Otherwise, you'll only succumb to my pheromones. It's not to say that you're weak or anything. It's just that you were never human and you don't have the same restraints as I do. Believe me, I wanted to take you then and there as well. But time is precious and we have to hurry back. The virus could strike them at any time now."

Silvia got to her feet and wiped her eyes and grinned, "It's ok Zeph, I understand now. Though it sounds like this will be harder for you than it will be for me, what with all of these big bulging muscles and this incredible strength."

Zephram frowned a bit as one of his eyes twitched, "Damn tease."

* * *

After replicating several batches of the cure, Zephram and Silvia ran out of the house and made haste for the shamans' place. To Zephram's delight, he could run faster than he ever imagined. And this was with Silvia running fairly close to her maximum speed. It no longer mattered who saw them at this point. And sure enough, the sight of two powerfully built animal/human hybrids blazing by at breakneck speeds was enough to turn every head that saw them. It wasn't long until they were already at the shamans' building. But before they could even enter, Fugara came running out with tears in her eyes.

"Oh Zephram! Silvia! You got to come quick! They're dying, all of them! Only one of them is left and I fear I'm last! Please save him!" Fugara pleaded, being only able to silently acknowledge that Zephram succeeded with a glance at him and his new form.

The two rushed inside after Fugara and saw one other shaman man laying on a makeshift bed made from blankets. He seemed to be struggling to stay conscious. Zephram took out one of his vials containing the cure and wasted no time in wiping an alcohol swab on the man's arm and injecting it. Almost immediately after, he fell unconscious. Fugara took the man's hand and silently chanted a silent prayer in a different language.

Zephram didn't know how long he himself was out when the cure was doing its work, so he whispered at Silvia, "How long did it take for me?"

Silvia kept her gaze on the man, "About twenty seconds or so before your transformation began."

Zephram said nothing else as he looked on, hoping to see the man's changes happen at any moment now. But to his horror, nothing was happening. Could it be the cure wasn't circulating through his system fast enough?

Suddenly, the man's eyes opened the tiniest bit as he said only one word while looking into her eyes, "Fugara..."

His eyes closed again as his body became lifeless. Fugara closed hers and bowed her head down.

"Fugara...I'm..." Zephram began to say.

"No, I don't blame you. You did everything you could." Fugara interrupted.

But Zephram was guilt stricken; Silvia even more so. Their little sexual encounter in light of his new panther form wasted valuable time. If they had immediately left the moment he regained consciousness...

Silvia opened her mouth to speak, but Zephram instantly knew what she was going to say and put up his hand to silently stop her. Though it would've been noble to tell her the truth, there was simply no time for any dissent. And even if she didn't blame them still, he needed to save her before the virus got to her. And given her proximity to the other shamans who all died, he had to act now before she collapsed.

"Come on Fugara, I need to treat you now. I'll explain everything afterwards." Zephram said as he pulled out another prepared vial.

Fugara wiped her eyes and stood in front of him. Zephram wiped her arm with another swab and injected the cure into her arm.

After he pulled it out, he put a hand on her shoulder, "This is going to feel painful at first. But once your muscles begin to increase in size and strength, it will actually feel pleasurable. And then the rest of your animal characteristics should manifest without any serious pain."

Fugara allowed herself to chuckle a little, "Pleasure and pain eh. Sounds int...ugh!"

Fugara clutched her midsection and doubled over. It felt like the inside of her body was restructuring itself. Zephram wasn't kidding when he said it would feel painful at first. The pain spiked momentarily, forcing her to her knees, her teeth clenched. She looked up and found herself looking at the painting of her great-great-grandfather. She could almost feel him smiling at her from beyond, knowing she would reclaim their legacy.

Her brief moment of clarity was interrupted by a change in her transformation. Sure enough, she could feel every muscle in her body begin to grow and strengthen. Her arms widened, her veins became thicker, and her biceps and triceps bulged to amazing proportions. In fact, they were reaching sizes even greater than Zephram's own! The same happened to her traps as they gave her the look of a fully padded quarterback. Her chest also grew as her pecs broadened into thicker slabs of rockhard muscle. Her abs bunched together as they pressed outward from her belly, forming a six-pack that many would envy. Those abs quickly became complimented by a series of obliques that surrounded both sides of them. Her waist actually shrunk a bit, as if to compress all of the muscles in between them into an even tighter and harder version of themselves. Her glutes became solid and tight as her thighs became as thick as redwood tree trunks.

It amazed Zephram that she was experiencing this muscle muscle growth without the extra enhancements that he gave to Silvia. He would be foolish to assume that his cure was absolute. Perhaps it had a greater muscle strengthening effect on females. Or perhaps it was the type of animal she was about to turn into. Either way, he would see in a matter of moments.

Fugara's muscle growth concluded as her calves bulged powerfully from her lower legs, giving them a rough football shape and especially amazing definition. In fact, her entire legs seemed especially powerful compared to even her upper body. But the disproportions were barely noticable. At last, the growth stopped as Fugara collapsed to the floor in exhaustion. Zephram and Silvia hurried over to her to make sure she was alright, but she put her hand up.

"It's alright, I'm ok. I just...wow, I feel incredibly strong now!" she said with a growing excitement.

But that excitement was halted by the second wave of her transformation as a new and even greater pain struck her. She cried out and reached behind her back. Zephram wished he could do something to ease her pain. He figured her animal transformation would be painful, but this was worse than he expected. Fugara doubled over into the fetal position as she remained upright, still trying to clutch at her back. To Zephram's shock, he could see what he thought at first to be fur. But no, it was feathers creeping out over the surface of her skin. Then suddenly, the area on her back that Fugara was trying so hard to reach at showed a solid growth coming out of it. Her scapula bones grew outward from her body as they formed into feathered wings. The growth was so painful to her as she cried out even more, moving into an upright position on her knees. It was amazing such large wings could grow from her body like that, but sure enough it was happening. Mercifully for her, the growth of her wings occured rapidly as they reached a total and wide wingspan of 12 feet. Almost immediately, they folded up behind her back as the rest of her body became covered with feathers.

The change in her face was even more amazing a sight. It was like the entire bone structure in her head was changing. What used to be her nose became a pointed beak similar in appearance to a hawk's, though her human mouth remains mostly the same and remains directly beneath the beak. The beak itself has larger solid nostrils on it hinting at a heightened sense of smell. Her now heavily muscled legs took on the appearance of a hawk's complete with rather powerful and sharp talons on her feet. Her hands, like the rest of her, was now feathered, though more lightly. That and her fingers had small talons on the fingertips.

At last, the transformation was complete. Zephram and Silvia agreed that Fugara's new form was the most impressive yet. They stood silently and let Fugara regain her composure, now that the pain had finally passed. She slowly pushed herself to her feet. It was then that the two saw that she gained a little extra height as well, roughly a foot or so. Once she was at full height, she looked up at Zephram. He saw that the pupils of her eyes became so large that they almost completely filled out her irises. She held up her arms in front of her and gave them both a hefty flex, watching as her biceps rose to bowling ball size. It was such an euphoric feeling for her.

"Wow! Unreal! My gosh, this is amazing! I feel incredible! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I feel great! I feel strong! Oh god, the muscles feel so incredible!" she cried out in pure satisfaction and elation.

Her excitement became even more apparent as she spread out her legs a bit and went into a full double bicep flex causing her already large peaks to become so huge that they weren't very far off from Silvia's own biceps. She quickly figured out how to move her wings, and spread them all the way out, her back turned to Zephram and Silvia, who couldn't help but be infected by her excitement. She flexed her entire body as she became truly magnificent looking.

"Yes! I'm home! I'm truly alive now! I'm awake! I'm wide awake! This is all a miracle!" Fugara shouted.

She turned around to face her friends and with a surprisingly humble look in her eyes, considering her most recent burst of gratification, she bowed admirably towards them, "Zephram and Silvia, thank you. And while it saddens me that I'm the only shaman left from my group who has attained what we have long since strived to regain, I am forever in your debt for making it possible once again. Now I can rejoin the legacy of my ancestors and return this world to the rich and natural paradise it used to be."

Silvia smiled serenely as Zephram walked over and put a hand on Fugara's powerful shoulder. It was incredible how amazingly muscular it felt.

"It means a lot that you put your faith in my plan. Right now though, we have a world to save. And pardon me for saying this, but the fact that your animal guide appears to be a hawk; with your powerful wings, we'll be able to cover a much greater distance. I still have to return to my home one last time and convert the cure into an airborne variety that'll rapidly permeate through the body of every human it comes into contact with. In short, I must make it "infect" faster than the virus. It's a race against time and the human population is dropping fast. The last I heard, the worldwide total is down to under just a couple million or so and falling fast. By my estimates, we have only a week at the most before we become the only ones left." Zephram explained.

Fugara nodded, "I understand. I'll help in any way I can."

Zephram motioned for them to follow, "Alright then, let's head back to my place then."

Before he could take off running, Fugara called out to him, "Hey Zephram!"

"Yes, what is it?" Zephram answered in slight puzzlement.

Fugara grinned, "I wanted to say before we got busy, but your new form suits you. White panthers are uncommon you know. And one other thing, you're a lot stronger than you realize Zephram. I know that you can succeed."

Zephram nodded in thanks as he took off like the wind with Silvia running at his side and Fugara taking up the rear. She quickly found out that as strong as her legs were, she couldn't run as fast as she had hoped. So she decided to put her wings to the test and to everyone's surprise, she rapidly blew past Zephram and Silvia at tremendous speed! She was amazed at how easily flying came to her and was able to control it well. She slowed down to let the other two get ahead of her so she could properly follow them.

As before, it wasn't long until they arrived back at Zephram's house. Zephram had no time to waste and hurried into his lab. With Silvia and Fugara standing nearby, Zephram realized that he would need to be alone. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Hey girls, nothing personal but could you go hang out outside for now? If you wish to eat, just help yourself to the fridge. We may not get another chance to eat for a while. Just leave some for me, ok?" Zephram requested.

Both of them understood.

"It's ok Zephram. This new body of mine feels like it came fully energized. I don't feel hungry at all, as if I had just eaten a full course meal." Fugara said.

Zephram looked at Silvia, who on the other hand, had used her body a few times now, "I think I'll grab something to eat myself. You know I was thinking Fugara. Perhaps you should take this time to try out your new abilities."

Fugara shook her head, "Nah, Zephram's right. I'll need to conserve all of my energy for this huge undertaking. I think instead I'll go meditate and see if I can contact the nature spirits. I'm going to try to see if I can solicit their help in aiding us. Something tells me that we're going to need all the help we can get."

With everyone in agreement, Silvia went into the kitchen to grab something to eat while Fugara went outside to a nice shady area and sat down in a meditative position.

After getting into a slow breathing pattern, she began her chant, "Spirits of nature, I pray on this day to speak to my great-great-grandfather. I seek out his wisdom, his guidance, and his assistance. Please Fujin. If you can hear me, I beseech you."

Silvia was eating some chicken as she walked back into the lab where Zephram was working feverishly. Normally, he wouldn't have even noticed anyone was standing there once he was so focused on his work. But his senses had become heightened and his ears promptly twitched at her appearance.

Without turning around, he spoke up, "Silvia, I love you very much. But I must concentrate."

She merely smiled, "And I love you my dearest mate."

Had he been human still, the use of the term mate to define their relationship might have seemed awkward to him. But now that he has awakened the spirit of the panther within him, it felt right to him now.

He remained silent sensing that Silvia came in to tell him something that couldn't wait, "Zephram I just wanted to let you know that no matter what happens, this world will recover. Please don't take this the wrong way but..."

It's funny how well Zephram seemed to know what she was going to say, and promptly finished it for her, "...but you feel that the extinction of the human race, be it as anthros or complete extinction, will be beneficial to this world, allowing it to recover from the things we've done to it over the centuries. Am I right?"

Silvia slowly nodded, "Yeah."

Zephram wanted to take offense to such a remark, but he couldn't. She was right. The human race has indeed grown in population like a cancer. And while they have created technologies to allow for a comfortable lifestyle for many, it came at a terrible price; one that few were aware of. Now that he thought about it, perhaps those people who engineered that dreadful virus might have been steered by the hand of fate. Perhaps this was mankind's final punishment for all the damage we've caused to the only known fully habitable planet in this galaxy.

Zephram shook it off, "I understand what you're saying Silvia. Regardless of the past, this is my chance to create a new future for everyone. It coincides with the shamans' teachings and I think that be uniting humans with their animal guides by awakening the beast genes within, we can usher in a new future for everyone where technology will no longer matter. I honestly can't say how everyone else will handle this change. But right now, it's either this or extinction. I won't allow the latter to happen! I must complete my work! For once I do, I plan to retire from the profession."

Silvia could see why. She just couldn't see a panther or any other species of anthro doing scientific work or any work once held by humans. Knowing that his word was final, she quietly walked over to him, kissed him on the cheek, and left the room to go outside. Upon walking outside, she saw Fugara sitting motionless on the ground near the only tree left in Zephram's yard. She suppressed a giggle, knowing full well what she did to the other tree. She wasn't familiar with what Fugara was doing, considering her previously sheltered life. But after Zephram, she felt that she'd best not disturb her. But as she turned to walk away, a voice called out from behind her.

"Silvia, wait." Fugara said.

Silvia turned to face her again, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to disturb you."

But Fugara got back to her feet, "It's alright, I'm done. Is Zephram finished yet?"

"No, not yet." Silvia answered.

Fugara thought a moment gestured for Silvia to come closer, "Come here. There's something I need to tell you."

Silvia did as she was told and walked back over to her.

"It's very important that I tell both you and Zephram this, as it will make it possible for him to spread the cure around the world within a day!" Fugara said.


~ TO BE CONCLUDED ~

The next and final chapter of Anthro is now at hand. The fate of all rests in the hands of one. To save a dying race, Zephram aims to create a new one by awakening the beast gene that resides in all humans. But to get the catalyst out in time, he must work together with the feline anthro he loves and the last of the known shamans. Will her revelation mean the difference between change and extinction? Find out in the final chapter of Anthro: New World