The car ride was thankfully uneventful for Ringo and Skeebe. The soft blow from the air conditioning made the car a comfortable contrast to the scorching sun outside. At this time of day, the hot summer weather could lead to some unfortunate car accidents. For Ringo, this had become a recent worry whenever he drove in the middle of the day. He had been in an accident not too long ago and ended up in a small debt for a few months, leading to a lot of stress with his studies and work. For Skeebe, however, the comfy ride was simply part of the long-awaited adventure he had wanted to share with his big brother. “Hey bwo?”, Skeebe asked as he perked up in his seat. “Whewe are we goin’ anyway?” Ringo looked back at his little brother. Skeebe was wide-eyed and excitedly awaiting the response from the Dragingo. Ringo grinned, knowing that what he had planned for the day would make his brother’s padding crinkle for the rest of the trip from his wagging tail. Ringo knew that even if it was a simple trip down the road, Skeebe would be just as happy anyway. “Well, I heard that there’s this new shopping mall in the city. I thought maybe we could go check it out.” Ringo replied, wagging a little himself as he awaited an adorable reaction from Skeebe. Skeebe’s mouth opened a moment before letting out a happy yip and bouncing a little in his booster seat. Just as expected, his tiny tail wagged as fast as it possibly could, making his diaper crinkle loudly. Ringo blushed a little and smiled from ear-to-ear as his heart melted a little. Skeebe was always a cheerful little cub, but for Ringo; it was the first time in ages he had seen the fox so happy with something Ringo had done. As a result, the happy mood in the car made the vehicle erupt with laughter at the slightest things, from people outside to little faces Ringo pulled at Skeebe. Before either of them knew it, the ride was cut short by the sight of the big new city mall. The sight made Ringo sink a little into his seat, sad he had to stop having fun once they reached their destination. Being an observant little fox, Skeebe noticed the quick look of sadness on his brother’s face. What Ringo didn’t realise was that Skeebe had managed to notice just how sad his big brother had been lately. The main reason why Skeebe was so happy during the trip wasn’t what Ringo had planned for the pair, but rather just how much Ringo’s mood had changed in the short hours he was away from his grown up duties. The little fox wished he could be the big brother for a change and let the Dragingo be happy for more than a day like he was. Skeebe’s thoughts were soon interrupted when he felt Ringo pick him up from out of the car and hold him against his chest. “Wanna walk or want me to carry you little bro?” Ringo asked the little cub. “I can wawk bwo!” chirped the fox as he tried to squirm out of the embrace of the Dragingo’s big strong arms. Ringo chuckled and set the fox down on the ground, holding his paw tight before grabbing a bag from the car. Inside the bag were the main essentials Ringo needed for a day with his little brother; Fresh diapers, powder, his wallet and his phone among a few other electronics. He looked back down at Skeebe as he strapped the bag over a shoulder. “Don’t let go of my paw now little bro? There might be a lot of people in there and I don’t want to lose you. Okay?” “Okie Wingo” Skeebe replied, squeezing his big brother’s paw as tight as he could. “Pwomise I nuh gonna wet go of ya paw!” Ringo smiled and led the fox away from the hot sun and into the cooled interior of the shopping mall. Oddly, the mall was much less crowded than Ringo expected, with only small handfuls of people walking around. Ringo assumed that maybe the mall hadn’t been properly advertised yet, so people were yet to really notice it. A tug on his arm made the Dragingo loses his train of thought as he looked down to see Skeebe trying to pull him towards the bright, flashing lights of the amusement arcade. “Bwwwwo! Come on! Wet’s go seeee! It wooks so pwetty!” Skeebe whined as he seemed to try and take over the job of leading. Ringo laughed a little and let his little brother lead him. “Alright, alright, I’m coming. Keep your crinkles on silly.” As the pair entered, sounds of laughter from happy patrons filled their ears along with the electronic sounds of guns, guitars and stomps emitted from the machines. Skeebe looked around and noticed a machine he had never seen before in the back of the room. The sensation of sensory overload distracted Ringo, not even noticing that Skeebe was still leading him around. The little fox seemed on a mission to discover what the mystery machine was doing so far away from the others. As they reached the back of the arcade, the sounds began to die a little as they got further away from the commotion. Ringo came back to earth and wondered what was going on, looking in front of him to see an old Fortune Teller machine from last century. Skeebe looked up at the strange machine towering over him in wonder, his little maw slack and his eyes growing wide. The machine looked like a massive booth with wood panels on the all sides up to the half-way point. From there on, a mechanical-looking wolf, dressed in a cloak was encased behind glass. The wolf held a crystal ball and looked straight ahead with cold, glaring eyes. At the front of the machine was a small coin slot and just below the glass case was a curious small, horizontal slot. “Wha’ is it?” Skeebe asked, looking up at his confused brother. “Well...” Ringo pondered a moment. He looked the machine over once more and smiled, deciding on giving his brother a story. “It’s a fortune teller box! You give the wolf a coin and he’ll grant any wish you ask.” Ringo then pulled a gold dollar coin from his pocket and offered it to the fox. “Want to try?” Skeebe’s ears perked as he took the coin, inserting it into coin slot. Suddenly the machine let out a thunder clap as the seemingly mechanical wolf broke his dead gaze and looked down, directly at Skeebe. Ringo was surprised at just how life-like the old machine was. “YOUR OFFERING PLEASES ME. WHAT IS YOUR WISH YOUNG MASTER?” the machine bellowed at Skeebe. The fox stepped back a little, clinging to his brother’s leg as he thought of a wish. He thought back to earlier and immediately knew what to wish for. He softly muttered so that Ringo could not hear him; “I wish dat I could be da older bruddar whenever I wanted so big bwo isn’t so sad anymore...” Ringo looked down at his brother as he tried to pick out the words he muttered, smiling a little as he wondered what silly cub wish the fox wanted. The machine emitted another thunder clap as the wolf returned from looking at the fox to his dead gaze from before. Suddenly, Ringo winced a little in pain, feeling the discomfort of needing to use the bathroom really badly. He picked up his little brother and held him up, hearing a soft squish of wet padding. He guessed that Skeebe got a little scared from the machine and went without realising. “Guess it’s bathroom time for the both of us, eh?” Ringo joked in discomfort as he carried the little fox out of the arcade as fast as he could, searching for a nearby restroom. The little fox a little surprised at how sudden his brother escorted him out, wondering if something was wrong. “Bwo...? You otay?” Skeebe asked, looking a little worried at the Dragingo “Yeah, I’m fine hun. Just gotta go to the bathroom like a big kid little bro. Nothin’ a little crinkle butt needs to worry about.” Ringo responded as he looked around, wriggling a little as he tried to fight off his bladder. Skeebe giggled a little at his big brother and his silly shifting and wondered why he never had to do that. After all, when he went, he just went. He guessed it was something that only big kids did, but it looked like a lot of fun. As his brother finally found a bathroom sign, Skeebe found himself thinking “I wish I was bigger so I could do dat funny dance too.” Ringo rushed into the bathroom corridor, going quickly into the changing rooms and plopping Skeebe down on the changing table. The fox’s padding squished gently as he was set down. Ringo quickly removed his bag and set it down next to Skeebe. “I’ll be right back to change you! I just gotta go potty first okay?” Ringo hastily said to his little brother, blushing for a moment as he noticed how childish that last statement sounded. Before Skeebe could respond, Ringo closed the door and ran to the men’s room, only to find the urinals all taken up by other mall patrons. “Damn it!” Ringo muttered as he barged into an open stall. As he locked the stall door, he realised he was about to go. He didn’t have time to fumble with his zip and move his underwear around in time. Instead, he quickly undid the button to his pants and yanked both his jeans and boxers down, sitting on the seat just in time as he began to relieve himself. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” he sighed happily as he heard the loud trickling of the toilet water. He never had to go so badly since he was little, but he felt a slight victory that at least now, he had been able to actually make it to the bathroom before an accident. As the uncomfortable feeling left him, his entire body began to tingle, making him shudder a little with relief before he finished up. He got up and quickly pulled his pants and boxers back up, doing up the pants and button, expecting them to cling to his waist and snug under his belly like always. But as he let go of them, he felt them suddenly slip down off his waist and to his hips. “What the hell?” Ringo thought. He looked down and tried tugging his pants back up, but the same thing happened. Just as he was about to write it off as losing some weight from running into the bathroom; he began to feel the same tingling sensation from moments ago as his pants and boxers dropped off his thighs and caught themselves on his thighs. He yelped in surprise as he looked down, noticing that his t-shirt and shirt were much longer than before. The clothing originally stopped before his waist, but now it was halfway down his thighs, covering his manhood. He looked at the sleeves and saw that the once tight black shirt was now incredibly loose, the sleeves reaching to his elbows. “What the...I’m shrinking! What FUck is HApenNING to me!” he exclaimed, his eyes going wide as his voice cracked for the first time in years. He quickly grabbed his jeans again and pulled them up to cover his front, the seat sagging so far that he could feel it on the back of his knees. The legs of his jeans pooled at his foot paws as he grabbed the front of them, hoping to at least save some embarrassment when he got out of the stall. “I gotta find Skeebe and get outta here before I get seen!” he thought as he reached for the door handle. Just as he was about to touch it, the tingle hit him once more. Suddenly the handle that was barely taller than him, was now getting further and further away. “NOOOO!” he yelped as he tried to reach up. He saw where his paw was before; his shirt sleeves now covered them completely, flapping around frantically with each movement he made. He tried standing on his tip-toes, straining for the handle, but even then he couldn’t even touch it. Ringo looked down at himself as the tingle faded from his body. His clothes fitted to his body like a tent now. He pulled back a sleeve and saw a tiny, chubby paw of a cub’s instead of his big masculine one. He looked down and saw a gap under the stall door. “Well...if I can’t open the door...” he thought to himself, “...I guess I gotta go under it.” He grabbed his pants and bunched them up as tight as he could, doing the same for his shirts as he peeked his head out from under the door. Nobody was in sight, the coast was clear. He crawled out from under the stall door and began to walk, realising that his now huge pant legs were dragging behind him. He was just about to walk out the men’s room when he noticed a full-body mirror. He turned to see exactly what had happened to him. But instead of seeing a shrunken version of himself, a small Dragingo cub, barely two years old starred back at him. “Wait! I’m didn’ get shwunk...I got widdle!” He screamed as he looked at the reflection. He went bright red under his fur as soon as he heard himself. In the mirror, the little cub was blushing at how he now had a lisp to add to his squeaky voice. Ringo sounded exactly like the cub in his reflection. “I gotsta find Skeebe an’ git outta hewe!” he yelped, toddling as fast as his little legs could carry him back to the changing room. He knocked on the door frantically, wincing at what his little brother would think. Would he believe it was him? Would they be stuck in the mall with no way of driving home? Questions began to fill Ringo’s mind as he waited for a response, trying to come up with answers for each one. His thoughts were soon stopped short as the door opened. Ringo looked ahead, expecting to see his little brother now eye-level to himself. But as the door fully opened, he instead saw the foot paw of an adult. He looked up and in front of the now cub-sized Dragingo was an adult fox, completely naked and looking down at Ringo. Ringo squinted a moment, then his eyes grew wide, yelping out in surprise. “Skeebe?!” The fox looked down; going wide eyed and responded in a deep voice “Big bro?!” The two then chimed in at the same time, asking the other; “WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO YOU?!”