Walking into a deep alleyway within the city, I stepped past a couple puddles in high heels. My balance, even after months of wearing these tight clothes, was still unsteady. Still, I don’t believe I could ever get used to this path. 


Under these wooden stilted roofs where no sunlight could shine, it was a steep descent. One wrong step and one might just fall all the way to its base. Surrounding houses had seen better days - former human tenants, replaced with countless patches of black mold and the occasional wandering roaches and rodents. Not to mention a certain stench that plagued the entire region, equal parts sour and bitter, the scent lingered even after crossing it; I wouldn’t be surprised if it came from human corpses. 


I would know. I killed them after all. 


Finally, I arrived. The odd building out of this deserted place with its sleek architecture. Grey walls that tried too hard to camouflage with its surroundings. Opaque glass doors that held secrets behind them. Tapping my staff ID by the card reader, the doors split open, the chilly air brushing against me. 


Noise quickly caught up then the bright lights across counters. From deafening spins of the slot machine, people’s triumphant cheers by the poker table to the soft cries of the defeated. A few loitered around the entrance, phoning friends or sprinting towards the exit. They never got far of course; security guards caught them immediately. 


As one of them bumped into me, his scowl morphed into a filthy grin. Immediately, his bigger hands cupped against my breast, jolting me out of this trance, “Nice tits, Ryan- I mean Riley.” 


“Shut it, Jerrod,” I said, feeling my face blushing redder, “Let go, I have to work now.” 


“Ok slut,” The other security guard called out, “Maybe some of these fuckers should pay you a visit down there.” 


I twisted my body to the left, escaping out of his grip. Immediately, I boarded onto the lift; with my last view of the two jack asses smiling as they dragged the gambliers. Finally, I could take a breath. Away from them. 


Glancing at my reflection, a bitter taste sprung underneath my tongue. I slid down against the wall. I wasn’t supposed to be here. I was a guy for crying out loud. Not some hostess gambling against delusional idiots. 


I could feel my tears welling up. Yes, yes, this was all my fault. I should’ve never come here. I shouldn’t have gambled my entire life savings for some chance of a miracle. My bank account had been wailing as debt breathed down my throat. What was I supposed to do? Give up? 


As the lift door opened, I wiped away my futile tears, grabbing on the railings to stand up. Stupid shirt. Stupid bra. Stupid heels. Once my balance was restored, I strutted towards my room. The folks called it a ‘higher stakes room’ while it was where I lost it. Lost everything that I could call my own. 


It wasn’t special in the slightest. Two metal chairs and a table in between them. I sat down, my hands barely holding my head up. Mistakes stirred to life. Even after months since the incident, I still couldn’t shake it off me. How could I? 


No. There’s no use thinking about it. I stood up, readjusted the cameras in the corners, behind one of the seats. It was quicksand - the very moment I stepped into it, the sand would quickly pile up, dragging my feet deeper into this cage. 


Isolated from people. Trapped within a foreign body. Confined to this job where I watched dreamers gamble their lives in this rigged game. The only relief I did have was retaining my humanity and identity. 


I pressed a button to the side where a cabinet shot to life, two vials filled up with nanomachines. Same ones that altered my body to this pathetic state. Gah, stop thinking about it. Eventually, I’ll be out of here. Free. 


Stretching my body, I reaffirmed these ideas. Yeah, I wasn’t like these people. Not some dopamine junkie, waiting for his next big heat. I acted on clear logic that guided me. Statistical advantages that gave me the edge against my opponents. Optimally, I dare say. 


Yes, yes, I was merely unlucky. Unlucky to be dealt a worse hand. If I was given a second chance, I’ll surely come out victorious. Definitely. Why did I even agree to take his offer? His devil’s deal, cursing me to this fate. 


Fuck. My hands gripped against the chair. It was supposed to be the same process and results. Walk into the casino, search for an empty black jack table and start raking in the money from them - card counting does wonders for my bank account. And as soon as the guards received a call, I slipped out the exit. 


But this time was different. A man towered over me, wearing a full white suit and stared down against my cards. The dealer averted our eyes as the man spoke out, “Seems like Lady Luck is smiling on you, good sir. Would you like to play a better game than this?” 


“This?” Sweat dripped down my neck. This wasn’t supposed to happen. 


“I call it Black Poker. A fusion of Black Jack and Poker. Betting. Folding. Raising. Everything goes here. So are you interested?” 


And those sweet words lured me down to the basement. He explained the rules to me in that smooth deep voice, after injecting me with nanomachines. 


“What the hell was that for?” My hand covered the wound.


“Nothing much, just company policy,” He shrugged, grabbing a deck of cards from his pockets, “You can choose to leave now if you’re scared.”


“Cut the bullshit and explain the rules.”


He nodded as the doors locked behind him, “Very well then.”  


Essentially, he will be the dealer while I’ll play as the player. I would have to bet the ante of one grand while he bets double of that before the round started. There, I will shuffle the cards and pass it to him to deal the cards out. While my cards are hidden, one of his cards will be dealt face up just like in regular black jack. 

And the betting phase will begin with me either calling or folding at the start. Once all action had been resolved, it was classical blackjack before doing one final betting phase. Finally, we’ll proceed to showdown if none of us fold. There’s a catch of course. If any one of us wins with a special hand (black-jack) in the showdown, the opponent has to pay twice the pot. 

Of course I kept my guard up but the ability to fold on a blackjack hand was incredible, especially with one of his cards being shown to me. I had twice the amount of information that he does. Plus, I always have the option to fold my hand whenever things go bad for me. If I get a 15, I’ll immediately fold when he has a 10 on his side.


But the blinds ate my buy in completely. Every damn time the Ace will appear staring at me and every time I fold. The hands I did play all netted me little profit with him folding instantly. Was he just lucky? I was the one shuffling these cards all the time so how does he always have that damn fucking Ace? 


And so I bought in again. And again. Hoping for some revival. But nothing ever came. The sickening feeling plagued my mind. It was nauseating to sit through this many hands with nothing to come out. 


“Ah looks like you’re down three buy-ins. Would you like to continue, good sir?” 


I blinked against the cards, feeling my stomach twist inside itself. Looking back at his eager eyes, primal fear shot down my spine, “N…no thanks.” 


“Such a shame. Well since each buy in was 15K, that will bring your debt total to be 45K. Are you paying this by credit?” 


45K. 45 000 dollars. How did I lose so much money in the past thirty minutes? How was this fair to me? But fuck, I didn’t have 450 hundreds lying around in my bank. And the interest rates would kill me over the next few months. 


“Oh dear, could it be that you can’t pay? Well we do have alternative payment options. Seeing how much of a coward you are, I think you’re better suited to be our hostess,” His grin widened, a snap echoed through the room as my body heated up, “So your monthly salary will be 1K while the other thousand will be used to repay your debt…” 


As he continued to blabber, my hair stretched longer and wider. My jaw line rounded out, my bones seemingly melted away, causing my height to drop by inches. As my nipples rubbed against the rough texture of my shirt, they ballooned into breasts. Breasts that I never fucking asked for. 


The changes weren’t painful but the embarrassment was sinking into my mind. It came in waves, first my pants became looser before my hips widened even larger; my ass curved inwards with my nutsack shivered into my body. After the little bump to these feminine traits, my little rod was the last to go - couldn’t even cum, folding immediately to form my very own cunt. 


Shock and rage blended together, stirring deep within my thoughts. With my eyes glaring against his smug look, he grabbed my wallet from the back, “Welcome to Sadelo, Riley. ” 


And the rest was history. Shoved me down here to host these “gambits” for penniless fools. Where they gamble their own body, mind and time instead of cash. My role? I was their opponent, trying to squeeze every drop of value from them. On the flip side, I was at risk of losing myself to these fools. 


But that will never happen. Not while I’m working here. 


A knock brought me back to reality, “Hello? Is there anyone here?” 


“Yes. This room is available,” Opening the door, I glanced up to see a man - a common occurrence nowadays. Just a couple inches taller than me, clean-shaved and built like a twig, he was wearing a plain T-shirt and shorts. Within his left palm he had a paper bag. 


“Ummm, so I’m just checking but is this… Ah, this is going to sound stupid but I heard that I could gamble without any money… Is this one of those places?” He asked, getting flustered with his words. 


I nodded, “Yes, this is one of those places. But the wager will be something else of course.” 


“Ah!” His eyes lit up, raising that paper bag, “Is the wager like some jewelry? Or some building deed? I don’t think I have either of those though…” 


Upon hearing it, I let out a chuckle. Honestly, how did this idiot even wander down here? With how meek he was, he was going to be devoured alive in regular gambles, let alone these gambits. It almost made me feel bad for what I was going to do to him. Almost. 


“Why don’t you come in, sir? I’ll explain the rules more in detail.” 


“Call me Kaiser,” As he left the paper bag outside, he gingerfully grabbed a seat, almost so as to not disturb the dust surrounding it, “So is it the ones that I guessed?” 


I shook my head, quickly pulling out the cabinet and tossed him a syringe, “You won’t be gambling anything of inherent value but rather yourself. Your own body, mind and even your time. That is if you’re fine of course.” 


“And what about these things?” 


“They will change you according to what our company wants…” My eyes glanced back at my phone, guilt pinched my conscience. Maybe, I should scare him a little and let him leave scot-free. I clicked on the gallery, swiping to show him the wide variety of ‘workers’ in various settings - all brainwashed into being personal ‘escorts’ for our clients, “As you can see here, we take the losers and sell them to the highest bidder. Used as maids, slaves and even prostitutes to suit their needs.” 


“They need not be human, mind you,” I zoomed in on one of the losers, an anthropomorphic cat sucking some man’s cock. Her eyes glued to her owner’s sausage, refusing to look away. Kaiser’s face flushed red. Bet he was going to run now, “That man lost against me by the way. Sold as a ‘kitten’ for one of our clients.”


Brushing against his brown hair, he fiddled with his fingers. Poor dude. He probably thought these gambits were an easy way to make money and wandered down here, “Ermmm, I really need this money though… Fuck it, sign me up.” 


I tried. But if an idiot wants to die, who was I to deny? I snapped my fingers, “Alright so let me quickly run through the game with you. I call it Selective War,” I opened a fresh deck from my pocket and laid out the Spades and Hearts on the table, “We will play the game five times, first to three wins the entire gambit. Total price of 45 grand for winning this entire gambit.” 


“Alright so I’m assuming I’ll gamble a part of myself each round?” 


I nodded, “Since you have nothing else to offer, you’ll gamble your gender then humanity before finally your m-” 


“What about you? What are you gambling, miss?” He shot a smirk, “I can’t be the only one gambling, can I?” 


Something pissed me off with his tone. Does he not know fear? I had shown him pictures of my victims and yet he was still fantasizing on winning me? I calmed myself down. No point getting pissed off at some fool, “You will decide after each round, choosing between 10 grand instant payment or ending the game early.” 


“What about your gender, miss? Are you not gambling those as well?” 


“Yes, I will be like you and risk what I had mentioned before,” I raised my voice unintentionally, “Pardon my language. Was a bit shocked that you asked that.” 


“No worries, no harm done after all. So what about the game itself?” 


I passed him the collection of hearts while I grabbed the collection of spades, “Objective of the game is very simply to get more points than your opponents through combat. Each round, we’ll place one card face down,” I placed the King of Spades face down, gesturing to him to do the same. He followed before I continued, “And flip it to fight with your opponent’s.” 


Both of us subsequently flipped over; I flipped my King while he flipped an Ace, “We will then compare the number to each other. Aces are low in this game so my King will defeat your Ace, granting me a point,” I then pushed both cards to the side, “Both cards won’t be used in future rounds. And we’ll continue till all cards are used. Any questions?” 


Kaiser heaved a sigh of relief. He relaxed his shoulders, “Oh thank god, I thought it was going to be some complicated game like Poker with their needly complicated rules… I do want to ask what happens when a tie occurs?” 


“The Spades will win since he is meant to be the attacker. Don’t worry, we’ll take turns being Attackers and Defenders after every game.” 


He nodded, stretching his arms upwards. I averted his eyes for a brief moment. Did he realize what he was getting himself into? He was like a child, wandering into the lion’s den. And I was the one who was ripping him into shreds. Fuck…


“I do have one more rule to add,” I continued, feeling my mouth going dry, “For every point I win, you will lose a bit of what you had wagered. Is there any problem with that?” 


Kaiser leaned against his arm. He widened his grin, “Then could you do me one small request? Just turn me into a fox, that’s all I’m asking.” 


“Ok?” I raised my eyebrow. Really? Of all the things you’ll ask, you wanted to choose what sort of fuck animal you wanted to be? Was he trolling me or something, what was wrong with this man? “Fox girls are still very popular nowadays but I’ll take note of that fact.” 


He clapped his hands. The sound echoed through this tightly sealed room, “Alright then! Let’s get this ‘gambit’ going!” 


“Just inject yourself with the syringe and take a seat,” I stretched over to grab the two used cards while he injected himself with it. The legs of the chair chained his actual legs to his seat, “You will be unable to leave until you manage to win one game by the way.” 


“Doesn’t matter to me,” He said with a smug look, fanning the cards in front of him, “Is there a time limit or order to play?” 


“You will get first move advantage here seeing as I’m the dealer,” My heartbeat started its surge; my eyes glanced to the ceiling where the cameras were. Although I said they were cameras, they acted more like mirrors. Mirrors that reflect his entire hand, “And there’s no formal time limit but I’ll advise you to keep it under a minute.” 


“Gotcha, guess I’ll play this,” He grabbed the 8 of hearts and played it face down. 


Typical. Every opponent I faced so far had gunned for the middle. Not a bad strategy but strategy didn’t matter when I could see all of their cards. I matched against his 8 and as we flipped, he went silent. 


Immediately, his hair started to grow longer and messier, reaching to his shoulders. He brushed them aside, grabbed some rubber band from his pockets and tied it up, “Tch, didn’t expect this to lose so fast.” 


Tossing the eights to the side, I glanced at him. His expression morphed from carefree to tensed in an instant. My role here was so easy, just matching whatever card he was playing. 


Honestly, I was scared stiffless, hearing that I’ll be playing here permanently. They only gave me 15 grand of “precautionary losses” while they advertised my gambit to give out 45 grand. But ever since I found this trick, all my worries melted away. 


The rest of the rounds were the same. We would both flip the same cards and every single round his descent to becoming a woman continued. 


Firstly, his face shape rounded out, removing any jaw line that he had. His skin softened a little but his bitter scowl remained. If looks could kill, this one would have grazed past me. Slowly, he lost height, dropping by inches at a time. His mild demeanour soured into a fierce and desperate attitude. 


“What the fuck? How did you,” He paused to gulp, causing his Adam’s Apple to merge with his throat, “Match me this time?” His voice raised by an octave, now sounding more feminine than before. Didn’t take long for his lashes to stretch out, his eyes rounding out a little. 


“Well it's a skill of mine, you see. To read people,” I squinted at him, smiling a little. 


The changes escalated as sweat dripped down his rosy cheeks. From his broad shoulders, they were crammed into a narrower frame. Embarrassment and shame soon surfaced as a pair of hump rose from his chest. What little muscle he had redistributed through his newer assets, causing them to grow and balloon out. 


By the 6th round, he had lost about two feet in height, seeing me at eye level. His pace hastened as anger turned into bargaining, trying to beg me to turn him back. Of course, I wasn’t going to duh. Could imagine all the heat within him, swirling inside his body as his body hair dropped to the ground. Was all too familiar with the discomfort in those changes. 


While his baggier shirt rubbed against his nipples, his own cock was getting hard, bumping out as a bulge through his pants. Eyes shifted to the side as his breasts grew - most of these lecherous tycoons wanted the perfect bimbo after all. He eventually had to strip his shirt off, claiming that it was too hot to wear it, letting me see those juicy peaches. 


His ass quickly caught up, curving and ripping through his tight shorts. Belly fat quickly melted itself as his body frame tightened to the ideal hourglass shape. His skin brightened up and softened like snow, shaving away his body hair. 


All this time, the guilt kept gnawing at me. Perhaps it was because he was nicer towards me or that he was an idiot. But I couldn’t shake off this lingering guilt. 


Finally, by the last remaining rounds, his rod didn’t last long. Like a black hole, his body sucked it and his nutsack inside, merging them with the rest of his body. During the 12th round, he clutched against his stomach on one hand while the other covered his mouth. Organs shifting against his bones as he played the 2nd last card.  


The changes were swift; her cunt soon opened up, soaking wet while she panted, leaning against the chair. 


“So Kaiser…” 


“Call me Kae now. Kaiser doesn’t fit this body…” She said, her eyes closed as she panted. Catching her breath, she looked at me, “When I win, is it possible to change back to my original gender?” 


“Certainly yes,” I nodded, collecting and rearranging the cards. Damn, the changes must have taken a toll on her, especially with how many markings there were on the cards now, “Now let’s begin the second game, shall we?” 


She slammed against the chair, glaring at me, “I’m the Attacker now, right?” 


I nodded with a small grin, “Ready whenever you are.”


She sat upright. As she flipped through her cards, her gaze was affixed to them. Eyes tearing up as her new dainty fingers ruffled through them. Her hands trembled. Fear clouded her thoughts. Just like the others, she was overthinking about her first step. 


The nature of the game does entail such gameplay - the later the round, the simpler the game becomes. It’s akin to chess with how after simplifying positions, one would end up with simplistic end games that have been solved. And thus, decision paralysis would take its place where lurking doubts start to lead one astray. 


“Fuck it!” She tossed all the cards face down, washing her own 13 cards on the table. What the fuck is she doing now? Is she crazy? I blinked multiple times, “Wait, are you sure you want to do this?” 


“Why? I don’t think it's against the rules, is it?” 


“No but isn’t this a little risky?” I said, my voice trembling a little. When in times of stress, whose fallback plan is luck? Luck that nobody can control. 


“Fine, I suppose you have a point,” She reassembled the cards back into her hand, “Here’s my first card then.” 


She tossed out a Ace of Spades where I immediately responded with the 2 of Hearts. A simple win, causing orange fur to sprout around her neck. She scratched against her new fur, immediately clicking against her tongue. Her card was an interesting choice? 


With both of our hands being displayed as the following: 


Kae: K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
Me: K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, A


Her 2 of Spades was rendered useless now. And she couldn’t play that card unless it was meant to waste my larger cards (same situation for my Ace). But it was weird. Why? Why play that as the first card? 


Wait. She didn’t know that I was watching her. So her attempts of using low cards was to bait out any higher cards for later on. But was she not scared of losing? Playing the Ace only had one option of winning and she deliberately did so? 


“First time I’ve seen you think so hard, miss,” She played the 2 of Spades as her tongue flicked around her mouth, “Could it be that you’re having a hard time reading me now?” 


I slammed the 3 of Hearts onto the table, “We’ll see about that then.” 


After flipping, another point was awarded to me as the changes stacked for her. Her nails sharpened into claws with more fur sprouting from her cleanly shaved skin. She shook her head, brushing aside her longer hair, “Fucking damn it! Are you cheating or something?” 


I shrugged. There, she settled down before asking, “Could we play multiple rounds at once?” 


“Like 2 rounds simultaneously?” 


“The remaining 11 rounds, I want to play all of it right now,” She said, her eyes now stronger and firmer, “Cause I’m sick of playing this round by round with all of these decisions to make.” 


“Fine by me. Just lay out your cards on the table starting from here,” I tapped to my left, “We take that as the 3rd round and play till the end, alright?” She was handing me the perfect gift, ending the round on the 3rd one without any more hesitation involved. 


Slowly but surely, she arranged it in order. From her 3 of Spades on her right to the King of Spades by the left, my job was simply too easy here. This was my victory once again, leaving her with one last round. Kaiser, like the rest of them, would be crushed here and now. 


After matching my cards with hers, a smile was rising on my face. This was it. Good ol victory. Same thing as always. 


“Alright so let’s flip it through. But I do have to warn you that the changes would be more intense than the others since it’s all at once,” I gazed up at her. Her defiant eyes glared down at me, like I was some bug. How was she still this confident? 


“Whatever. Just get on with it.” 


Flipping through the cards, it was just as I expected. All the cards (except the very last) were victorious. The changes took place even faster for her as heat emitted from her body. Fur quickly enveloped the girl, with her wincing a little with how they conquered her entire body. 


Her tongue stretched out, her drool dripping onto the ground like a dog as her hand clutched against her head. Bones shifted around her skull as the angles sharpened around her. She covered her mouth, almost embarrassed at how I was looking at her. There, her very own muzzle shot out, merging her lips to her mouth. 


Whimpers escaped through her now feral maw, her teeth sharpened into fangs. Her own ears soon blended between her longer brown hair, retracting inwards. She tried to grab against it but it was gone, merging smoothly back into her skull. From there, she rubbed against her smooth head, her eyes widened out, glancing at her new features. 


Soon after, her hands shifted to the top of her skull. Kae glanced over at me, hoping to garner some sympathy. I tried, alright? Don’t give me that look. With bones protruding through her head, a pair of sharp ears soon settled on the tip of her head. She opened her mouth but no noise escaped from them. 


But beyond her face shifting, her body bulked a little in muscle, giving more flesh to her skinny body. Her breasts multiplied downwards, giving two more pairs underneath her bigger ones. They quickly swelled to around my own size, their nipples appearing more sensitive than mine. 


Her own shoes were ripped apart - her new claws tore right through them while her hand had paw pads popping up. Her hind paws stretched out further, allowing only the front of her feet to touch the ground while the rest tilted upwards. She did gain a couple inches of height. So that’s the silver lining I guess? 


She gagged on her spit before saying, “Do you not feel anything, you sick fucking freak?” 


“I feel bad but you asked for this, you know? You’re the one that wanted to gamble, idiot,” I rebutted back, clearing up my conscience a little. 


Her new paws slid to the back, just above her ass, “Fucking hell. I didn’t expect everything to feel this uncomfortable for crying out loud! All of this fur, these breasts, this new mouth of mine, everything just doesn’t feel like me!” 


I shrugged, “Well, you’re still missing your tail, Kae.” 


Just as I said it, her tailbone shot through her flesh, causing her to flinch in pain. Within seconds, flesh surrounded the tail before sprouting out fur. She wiped her tears that streamed down her cheeks, trying to catch her breath after the changes. 


I swapped the cards around like before, passing her the Hearts now. A little blush came up from me - she was hot in the conventional sense, just covered in all of that orange fur, “Well once you’re ready, we’ll start the third round.” 


Her tail arose, wagging it ever so slightly, swishing to the side. The tempo, much slower than I had ever expected. Uneasiness seeped through my thoughts. What was going on here? She was supposedly riding on emotions but now her gaze was icy cold. 


“You know miss,” She said, grabbing her cards to her chest, “I didn’t ask for your name before.” 


“It’s Riley now. Why do you ask?” 


“It’s nothing much. Just wanted to know,” She pinched her cards with her longer nails and slid the Ace of Hearts to the centre, “Wanted to know to whom I should give my thanks to.” 


I cocked my head to the side. What was she saying now? I shook my head, why should I care what she said? I played the Ace of Spades almost on reflex, “No need to thank me. I’m just doing my job.” 


As we flipped over however, she flashed the widest grin. My stomach started to twist. Why was she smiling? She was losing. She IS losing. Why was she smiling like that? 


But the cards betrayed me as she played the Two of Hearts against my Ace of Spades, granting her a point. I blinked. How? What? No, this couldn’t be happening. There has to be a mistake. 


“Well Riley,” She licked against her muzzle, “I’ll have to thank you for my upcoming victory.”