It wasn’t often that Connor headed out at night, at least not recently. The nights had been getting colder, after all, and he also had plenty more to do indoors with his various online activities as of late. But even so, he still wanted to spend some time outside today and, while much of the day had been taken up, tonight would be fairly warm. And so, he headed out, taking a few gumballs with him to chew as he walked.

He headed toward the forest. When he was younger, he might have been intimidated at the idea of wandering the forest at night, but nowadays he felt quite at home in the forest at any time of day. During better weather, it had been a more frequent place for him to visit and it certainly felt good being back there. Sure, there were wild animals there, but he knew how to avoid the more hostile ones. Not that many at all in this forest would dare attack humans anyway, at least without provocation.

As Connor walked, he chewed. It had been too long since he’d had some gum and tonight he quite intended to enjoy it, blowing bubbles with the gum as he walked. And in his mind, this wouldn’t do anything to attract any animals. Technically, he was correct, but only because what it attracted was not an animal at all.

Instead, something colored a bright, vibrant pink flew into view, looking right at Connor. It took him some time, at first, to figure out exactly what this being was, partially because human eyes were not especially well-adjusted to darkness and partially because this was not a being he’d ever seen in person before. When he did figure out what it was, he took a step back in surprise. It looked somewhat like an imp of some sort...

An Enyo?

It seemed quite improbable, but now that he thought of it, the form of what he beheld was unmistakable. It had a long, smooth tail, wide at the base and coming to a point at the tip. It’s feet ended in two thick, clawed digits, white its hands had three: two fingers and a thumb. On its back were bat-like wings with a dark blue membrane, the only part of it not pink other than its eyes, which were currently colored a gleeful cyan. On top of its head were two tiny horns, as well as a pair of larger, cute ears hanging down behind its head. Indeed, this was definitely an Enyo.

Connor had heard that Enyos were a highly dangerous sort, to be avoided at all costs. But coming face-to-face with one, he found that quite difficult to believe. After all, it looked so cute and playful, not a bit of malice in its eyes at all!

The Enyo perched on a nearby log, looking up cutely at Connor. Connor, in turn, sat down next to the little Enyo, giving it a pet. Connor hadn’t heard anything about what an Enyo felt like, presumably because nobody had been brave enough to try touching one before, but this one seemed improbably soft, as well as quite smooth. It felt like there weren’t even any bones under the enyo’s skin. That is, if what Connor was touching could be considered traditional skin. In fact. the enyo had a strong smell of...

“Bubblegum? Are you made of gum?” Connor asked. The Enyo nodded happily, wagging its tail. Then, it opened its mouth and blew a bubble, which quickly expanded to about 1’ in diameter, large enough that the little Enyo could easily fit inside it.

Connor responded by blowing a bubble in return, though unfortunately it popped before it could get as large as the Enyo’s bubble. “I wish I could blow bubbles that big. You’re really lucky,” Connor said, before petting the Enyo again.

The enyo leaned into the pettings, eyes closed as it relaxed with its new friend. It blew another bubble, this one just as large, and let it float free. Connor then caught it in his other hand and held it close to his head. “Man, I wish I could do stuff like this...”

The little gum Enyo opened its eyes again and looked back up at Connor, its eyes now green. It flew up and around Connor a few times, before suddenly flying into him, giving him a hug.

“Aww...” Connor said, petting the little Enyo again... or at least trying to. This time, however, once he placed his hand on the Enyo, he found his hand to be stuck in place. “Huh?” He tried lifting his hand up from the Enyo’s head, but although the gum of its head stretched, the sticky bond was too strong, keeping his hand stuck. He tried grabbing the Enyo with his other hand to pull it off, but to no avail, not only failing to unstick himself but now getting his other hand stuck as well.

He felt like he should be frightened, perhaps even panicking, as a result of this development. But when he gazed into the Enyo’s green eyes, with its soft and caring expression, he couldn’t bring himself to think that the Enyo meant any harm. This was just the Enyo playing with him. Perhaps it would let him go soon, after a bit of sticky-cuddling? But what happened next instead was something he most certainly did not expect.

The Enyo glowed with a bright pink light. Then, the world around him faded. No... it felt more like the world around him had never existed to begin with. There was only him and this Enyo, who was now hovering in front of him.

The Enyo did not utter a word, but even despite that Connor knew exactly what it was trying to communicate, as if by instinct. The Enyo wanted to become one with him, to form a new being. Already, he felt closer to this Enyo than he had before, as if they were already partially one. He knew that, if he wanted to, he could force the little Enyo back out. And those who warned him of Enyos would no doubt have begged him to do just that. Yet he could tell that this Enyo wasn’t like his friends and family had described. This Enyo and he were kindred spirits, he could feel it. And so, without hesitation, he accepted.

To an outside observer, the changes would have been highly rapid, not quite instant but not too far from it. Yet for Connor, it felt far slower, as if time itself had slowed down. It began at his heart. The changes began between heartbeats, and between one and when the next would have been, there was no longer a heart there. Nor lungs, nor any internal organs in his chest. What need did a gum being have for such things, after all?

The change spread throughout his torso. Somehow, he felt stronger and more muscular in that area, despite the fact that he technically had no muscles at all there. Then, he felt his arms change, feeling more toned and muscular as well. With this new “muscle” mass, his shirt strained to hold together. His hands were next to transform from there, four fingers merging into two, the remaining digits on his hands becoming thicker. At the end of each of those digits was a thick claw, which came to a sharp-looking point that may perhaps have been threatening if they were not made of soft, squishy gum.

Next to change were his legs. Like his arms and torso, this too now felt much stronger. His lower legs shrunk down, but his feet grew enormous, easily as long as his upper legs, perhaps even longer. Rather than toes, at the end of his now-digitigrade feet were thick hooves. Despite how sturdily they were made, his shoes were destroyed from this change.

His ears grew longer at the top, reshaping themselves until they were quite long, hanging down cutely over the sides of his head. Above his ears grew horns, which grew just as long as his ears, coming to points behind his head. His nose and mouth stretched out into a thick muzzle, with a prominent gum “fang” hanging down on each side of the front of his muzzle, actually separate from his genuine teeth.

Next to grow were his wings. They practically bursted out from his back, shredding his shirt in the process, before unfolding, revealing a new pair of bat-like wings to the world. His shorts were next to be destroyed, as a thick tail grow from his back, ending in a spade-shaped tip.

At this point, Connor opened his eyes, the transformation now complete, and beheld his arms, now made of the same pink bubblegum the Enyo had been made of. He swished his tail, then gave his wings a couple of test flaps. It was hard to describe, but this form felt... powerful! Incredibly so!

Before the change, he would have worried that adapting to a new form would be a lengthy and tricky process. But by the contrary, it felt completely natural, as if he’d had this body all his life. He walked over to a nearby lake and peered into it, his eyes now much better suited for darkness, and beheld his new form reflected in the water. Indeed, his new body was made entirely of gum. Most of it was pink, except for his blue wing membrane and his glee-filled cyan eyes.

But what could he do with this new form? Well, he knew one thing for certain! And so, he blew a bubble. He didn’t need any training on how to conjure up the gum in his mouth to use or anything of that. He knew intuitively how to make this magic work. But... perhaps he overdid it, as before he knew it he was pinned against a tree by a pink gum bubble the size of a house. Blushing brightly, he squeezed his way out from between the bubble and the tree, before thinking on how to work around this. Not that he minded huge bubbles, of course, but he wanted to at least be able to choose to blow smaller bubbles if he wanted, perhaps to create a bubble ball pit or the like.

Hm... Well, perhaps he could use a necklace from home to contain this excess energy. He wasn’t sure why he was having trouble containing the energy normally, mind, but he did have an idea. Perhaps it was his own sweet nature causing a sugar rush, which manifested as excess magical energy. He certainly felt like he was having a sugar rush! Though, part of may have been simply all the excitement from his new form. But whatever the case, maybe that necklace back home might help. He didn’t know how he knew it might help, but perhaps that was something else inherent to this form.

And so, augmenting his flight ability with magical power, he started heading back toward his home. He knew that waiting for there was his necklace, not to mention a silver circlet. The latter didn’t have any practical application for him, mind, but it would match the necklace nicely. And after all, he wanted to enjoy this form as much as he could... so why not try to look good while puffing up gum bubbles to his metaphorical heart’s content? And so, he blew another huge bubble, letting it descend down to the trees as he flew away from the forest, toward his home.