It was an ordinary building, theoretically not worth his attention. Simply an ordinary candy factory, aged and abandoned. Except... it was very aged. Nobody had been spotted going into or out of the building for many years. It had been shut down decades ago and theoretically should have been torn down to make way for a newer factory by now. Yet here it stood.

Not only that, but despite the excuses businesses and local government alike have been making for keeping it up, the real reason nobody tore it down was for one simple reason: Fear. People were afraid of that place. Afraid to approach it, afraid to mess with it, and afraid to destroy it. There had been rumors of sounds coming from the factory. But what reason would anyone have to be making those noises in there? After all, any merchandise should have been gone or spoiled long ago, while the machinery would be inoperable due to all utilities having been cut. Yet, reports of noises remained. Not only that, but it was said that a few people disappeared near that building. No evidence was found in the factory during the police investigation - one of the few times anyone voluntarily entered that place - but everyone in town “knew” that something supernatural was wrong with that factory.

For the first time in years, someone would step foot in that old factory. Specifically, it was a young man by the name of Leroy. At first glance, one might call him quite ill-prepared. He had a flashlight, of course, but he had no protective clothing, no gun, or anything that most people might consider essential when walking into an area potentially inhabited by hostile forces. What he had was a katana, which was stored in a sheath on his belt. An archaic weapon, most would say, but it was no ordinary katana and Leroy was no ordinary swordsman. And even if his blade would not suffice, he had quite a few other surprises in store for any who would attack him.

He did not feel it likely, though, that anyone would actually attack him. He was one of the few who were skeptical of the “haunted” factory. He prepared just in case, but he wasn’t taking the rumors so seriously as to let himself be worked up. But unfortunately, that resulted in him neglecting one thing that he really should have had in this situation: a team. He only had one set of eyes and ears. He had nobody to cover his blind spots or to help him if he were to be singled out and ambushed. And indeed, an ambush was coming slowly from above.

It began with the sensation of something pressing down from above. It felt gooey and highly viscous, but he didn’t have time to process any more about the sensation before something else far more alarming revealed itself. Whatever it was, it was heavy. It was very heavy. Before he could react, he found himself forced onto the floor, laying on his front. The gooey substance, whatever it was, quickly spread over him, covering him thoroughly. He could no longer see or hear anything, but he could feel the thick, viscous goo all around him.

He tried pushing against the floor with his arms to get himself back up on his feet, but he found himself unable. Not because it was too heavy, as now not so much of the goo was directly on top of him. Rather, it was because his body simply would not respond anymore. Whatever this was, it had him paralyzed in some way. And while he could slightly feel the goo on his body, he mostly felt numb. He couldn’t even use his magic now. Whatever was happening, all he could do was wait it out.

One thing he noticed, however, was that it didn’t feel at all like he was suffocating. He wasn’t able to breathe, that was for sure, but it also didn’t feel like he needed to. About five minutes passed, but even then he wasn’t even feeling light-headed, let alone like he was at risk of passing out or dying. Not that he was complaining, but what was going on?

Soon, though, something happened. The go slipped off his nose and it was exposed to open air once more. It no longer felt numb, but it did feel odd. Through that nose, he could smell something very sweet. As well, he could twitch his nose a bit. Though the rest of his body, still covered, couldn’t move, at the very least it seemed that any part of his body that was uncovered would be able to move once more.

A bit more of the goo slipped off. Now, his mouth was free as well. As a test, he opened his mouth, but as he did so, it felt very strange. It opened just fine, but it felt like his lips stuck together a bit before they parted. And it felt like his mouth was longer, too. In fact, his mouth and nose didn’t seem to separate now. It seemed less like a separate nose and mouth and more like a... muzzle?

Then, the rest of his face was clear. He opened his eyes, beholding a smooth, pink muzzle on the front of his face, confirming his suspicion. He couldn’t move his head, but he saw a fair bit of pink goo on either side of his head, extending a fair bit out. His arms were amidst all that slime, no doubt.

Except, it looked like those arms must have been massive. Probably a result of an especially thick coating of slime, he reasoned. Except, whatever was under the surface seemed to be shrinking down. Actually, come to think of it, it wasn’t just his arms that seemed large for whatever reason. The factory as a whole seemed a lot larger... at which point he realized that it was actually his head that had become much smaller. The reason his arms seemed to be shrinking down was no doubt a result of them shrinking down to match. Whatever he was becoming, it was apparently far smaller than a human.

He found himself able to hear again as the top of his head was uncovered, including his ears. Right away, that was strange. After all, his ears weren’t at the top of his head previously. Then again, given the fact that he now had a muzzle, it wasn’t especially surprising. Still, it was a fairly unusual feeling. But more importantly, he could hear noises coming from above. Unfortunately, though, he still could not move his head yet.

However, as the rest of his head was starting to be uncovered, the need to move his head to find out what the noise was vanished, as suddenly something small and pink - though it looked decently large to him at his new size - landed in front of him. It was a quadrupedal creature with a muzzle that, at first glance, looked a lot like his own. It had a long whisker on either side of its face. It had short legs which compressed a bit on landing, though the compression was temporary and it seemed no worse for the wear, despite how high it had apparently fallen from. Its paws seemed to deform a bit upon landing, as well, though regaining their shape quickly, albeit still looking like they were sticking to the floor. It had large ears, three clawed toes on each of its feet, a tail with a notable curl at the end, a familiar sweet scent... He knew exactly what the creature was, but had a hard time accepting the conclusion he was coming to.

It was a Rattata, a creature that by all logic should have been completely fictional. And it was made entirely out of bubblegum.

Not only that, but it seemed to be the exact same creature that he was becoming. None of this should have been possible, but it was all happening nonetheless.

Then, something else that seemed quite odd happened, though admittedly perhaps the least odd aspect of what was happening. The Rattata spoke. “Well, that sure worked great!”

At this point, Leroy’s arms had shrunken down to proportional size. The goo was beginning to part from what was once his hands, revealing his new gum forepaws, each with a cute little squishy claw at the end. “And what is ‘that’, exactly?” He knew there was no point in trying to sound grumpy or intimidating in this particular instance, but it was hard to avoid it when, despite his general laid-back nature, being ambushed and transformed against his will had not exactly put him in the most jolly mood, especially since he had no idea what this Rattata had in store for him next.

“ ‘That’, my friend, is a defense measure! Good luck going all stabby-stabby with that big sword now!” the Rattata said, clearly quite proud of having subdued a potential threat so thoroughly. Perhaps even to the point of arrogance, though given how thoroughly Leroy had been disabled, he could not call said arrogance entirely unwarranted.

Leroy’s arms, or perhaps more accurately forelegs, were now uncovered as well. He could move them now, but found himself unable to do much to push himself up. Whatever this goo was, it seemed to be sticking the still-covered parts of him down to the floor. “And what, exactly, made you think I was going to try to stab you with it?”

The Rattata facepawed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I forgot that big katanas in scary-looking sheathes are absolutely great for spreading butter.” He shook his head. “Tell me. What, if not for rat-stabbery, did you bring that thing for?”

Leroy could feel his upper torso now. He was half-transformed at this point. He rubbed his muzzle experimentally with a forepaw, discovering that it was just as squishy as he would expect bubblegum to be, not to mention his forepaw attempted to stick to his muzzle along the way, making it a bit more difficult to move it along his muzzle, as well as pull the paw off the muzzle once done. “Well, I didn’t know what was in here, to be honest. I came in here to investigate, not to kill anything. The sword would only have come out if I had been attacked.”

The Rattata paused. “...So, what you’re saying is, if I’d just introduced myself, everything would’ve been fine.”

Leroy was finally able to push much of his torso up, as his torso was uncovered, though his body attempted to keep sticking to the floor as he pushed himself up. “Yeah, that’s right. But I guess I can’t blame you for worrying.”

“Well, sorry to say this, but the transformation is irreversible. Or if it can be reversed, I sure don’t know how,” the Rattata said.

“Well, I guess I’d better get used to this new body, then,” Leroy said, the goo starting to slide off his hind legs. “My name is Leroy, by the way.” He held out a forepaw to shake.

The gum Rattata shook forepaws with Leroy. “My name is, uh... Y’know, it never really came up, so I never decided on one. I guess Genesis, given I’m the first gum Rattata and all.” The paw-shake ended, but it took some effort to part their sticky gum paws from each-other.

“This stickiness is definitely gonna take some getting used to,” Leroy said, now standing up properly, his hindpaws now uncovered as a tail slowly began to grow from his hind. “Though, there’s a lot about this that’s gonna take some getting used to.”

“Don’t worry, you will get used to it, trust me,” Genesis said. “And the learning process is about to start, since your new body is almost complete!”

Leroy looked back, watching his tail grow, finishing up with the signature curl of a Rattata’s tail. He gave the tail an experimental wiggle, experiencing the odd sensation of having a tail for the first time. He also saw the goo part from his sword, revealing that it had remained unchanged. However, at this point, he would have a difficult time wielding it.

“Wow, that sword musta been special if it survived that untouched,” Genesis said. He then playfully cuddled up to the new Rattata’s side. “Don’t worry too much about it. I’m sure we can find somewhere safe to put it, as a momento of your past life. But for now, let’s get going. You have a whole new life ahead of you, after all!” With that, Genesis pulled away from Leroy, then led the way deeper into the factory. Leroy grabbed his sheathed blade with his muzzle, then followed after Genesis.