It was a cool autumn afternoon, as a purple-furred anthro husky named Dominique calmly strolled down a forest path. The cool breeze pushed a lock of her gold-colored hair in front of her face, but she casually brushed it out of the way. It had been a busy week so far, but finally she was able to get a day to herself. It was relatively quiet today. The Pokémon of the forest could be heard from time to time, but overall it seemed that now was a relaxed time even for them.

However, this quiet did not last, as she heard the cry of a nearby Popplio. It was rather loud and was soon followed by a couple more, sounding as if in a panic. And though she knew it was dangerous to stray from the path without any Pokémon, she couldn’t help but to go and see what was the matter.

Quickly but cautiously, she rushed into the thick greenery of the forest. The Popplio was easily to find - not only was it continuing to call out, but its blue coloration stood out quite well against the browns and greens of the forest around them. Right away, she could immediately tell that her hunch was correct. This Popplio was quite clearly scared. But about what? She looked around, but did not see anything that might have frightened the poor thing.

The Popplio looked toward Dominique. It stared, then wiped away a tear, before approaching, then calling out to her with a cheerful “Popplio!”

Common advice said not to interact with wild Pokémon if you don’t have a Pokémon of your own. It was very risky, after all. But even so, she couldn’t simply turn her back on this Popplio. And so, without a second thought, she kneeled down and petted the Popplio. Then abruptly, it leapt into her arms, catching her by surprise and nearly causing her to lose her balance. But instead, she stood back up, carrying the Popplio in her arm. “Well, hello there!”

The Popplio nuzzled her with its big pink nose, then it spoke again. But somehow, this time, she could intuitively tell what it was saying: “Mommy!”

She was quite taken aback. First, of course, was the surprise of suddenly being able to understand what the little Popplio was saying. But second, of course, was what it had said. “...Um, I’m sorry, but I’m not...” she began, but then abruptly stopped, as she saw something highly unusual. Her canine nose was becoming strangely rounded, turning from black to pink. But before she could dwell on that, the point on her muzzle right before her nose was becoming thinner, the fur turning from light gray to white. Still holding the Popplio with one arm, she reached up with a forepaw, feeling that her muzzle had now reshaped itself to be much more like a cone in shape, akin to Popplio’s, though in her case her muzzle was curved up somewhat.

“Mommy, you’re coming!” the Popplio declared happily. Though she could not see it, the rest of Dominique’s head was also turning white. Her vision went blurry for a bit as her eyes changed, turning a solid blue color, decorated with pretty white eyelashes. She reached up and felt the side of her head, feeling the hard, pink star-shaped thing that had grown onto either side of her head. She then felt her forehead, discovering that a line of what felt like large pearls had formed there between the two stars.

“What’s going on?” she thought aloud. Then, she felt her hair reaching lower and lower, quickly reaching below her hips. She gently grabbed onto her hair and pulled it into view, discovering that it had turned a light, aquatic blue, becoming much longer. It was decorated with what looked and felt like two circles of large pearls.

The Popplio hopped down, starting to gleefully hop around Dominique. “Momma! Momma!” When she looked down at the Popplio, she discovered the transformation had reached further down, turning her chest the same bright white that her head had become. She quickly took off her jacket, her shirt, and even her now-unnecessary bra, revealing that much of her torso had changed. She was much thinner now, with a frilly icy-blue structure, which appeared as if made out of cloth but was attached to her, covering her shoulders and going down to meet in front of and behind her heart.

Next, the transformation was spreading down to her waist and hands. It reached her hands first, turning them white as well and making them much flatter. Her fingers lost their claws and soon became rather useless as fingers, but flat as they were, they would certainly be good for swimming. Then, she saw an icy-blue frill, just like the one on her shoulders and chest, form around her lower waist. At that point, it was clear what she was becoming: a Primarina.

She looked down at the little Popplio, who stared cutely back up at her. Has this little Pokémon somehow triggered this change in her? It certainly seemed so, but even despite that, she couldn’t bring herself to be made at it. How could one possibly get mad at a child with a face like that? Besides, it was clear to see that the little Popplio meant no harm by it at all. In fact, it clearly had nothing but affection for its new mother.

The transformation continued, traveling down below her waist, then to her hips. She took off her skirt, revealing the dark blue fur below, the tops of her legs already starting to fuse together. Her tail, too, was lowered down, starting to fuse in as well. It was no surprise at this point. After all, no Primarina had legs. But oddly, she didn’t feel distressed by this. Instead, she felt almost... eager for it, for some reason. After all, a big fish-like tail would be perfect for swimming around in the water. And indeed, as her legs and husky tail fused together, that tail became more and more fully-formed. Near the top of her new tail was a circle of flat, pink fins, though there was none in front. After all, a fin in front would have made it harder to travel on land.

Finally, the transformation reached her feet. She kicked off her shoes just in time, as her feet formed into a white, fish-like tail-tip. At the border between that tip and the rest of her tail, the tail fanned out, forming that light blue frill around it. And with that, her transformation was complete.

She opened up her arms, the little Popplio quickly and joyously taking that as a cue to jump right into a hug with its new mommy. Then, still holding the Popplio, Dominique used her new tail and one arm to head toward a nearby lake, the two of them slipping into the water together.