The Glitch tg.

(Disclaimer: This story features male-to-female transformation. This is a short story for the TG/TF Contest)

The year 20XX.

Geoff had just entered his apartment after a long day at work. Even after several months at the job, he still hadn't adjusted to the demands that would drain his body. Fortunately, he had a little more energy today as it was Friday, the gateway to two days of relaxation.

He entered the lounge room, where a specialised visor and gloves was already sitting at his coffee table. This was the latest in virtual reality technology known as the “Avatar”. Ever since they had come out over a year ago, it had become the highest selling console of all time. Unlike other virtual reality devices however, this one was different: as long as you wore the visor, it allowed you to literally enter the games you played from your loungeroom.

Geoff switched on his television, and then a button that was on the visor. Immediately the Avatar logo emerged on the screen, instructing him to put on the visor to continue. Geoff sat in his chair and put the headgear, along with the gloves that were the device's only controls. As the television screen entered the main menu, Geoff pressed a button on the gloves to pick 'games' and started scrolling through the options with a wave of his hand.

Whilst some big games from other consoles were unavailable due to some licensing snafus, it still had quite an expansive catalogue. There were lots of games that ranged the gamut of genres: action, sport, mystery, platformers, shoot-em-ups, fighting tournaments, rpg's, multiplayer games, and so on.

However, Geoff was always one to find new opportunities, and made a beeline for 'new demos'. Using his gloves, he swiped across the screen, allowing the options to fly by his eyes. Eventually, his eyes settled on a demo known as “Fight-em-up High”. Carefully, he read the description:

'Sakura High School is like any other school, except for one difference: YOU MUST FIGHT TO SURVIVE! Fight loads of wacky students as you fight to be the coolest student in the school!'

His eyes sparkled at the game's anime-esque aesthetic. He had grown out of that phase sometime before, but he figured revisiting his youth would be a fun experience. So he chose the demo, hoping he might get a kick out of it.

A peppy J-Pop number announced itself as the title drew itself onto a large chalkboard in big, colourful letters. He clicked on the start menu and chose 'single player' mode. Being a demo, there wasn't a lot of characters available, but all were exaggerated archetypes you'd see in a high school anime. You had the main protagonist, Haru, who looked a lot like a typical shounen protagonist. His black hair spiked up like a super-saiyans and his tall, athletic physique could barely fit his strained black high school outfit.

Next to him was Michiko, who was described as Haru's “Childhood friend”. Her bubblegum-pink hair was done up in long pigtails, and she wore an expression of absolute joy as she raised her fist in the air. Her figure was also way too mature looking to be that of any teenager Geoff knew from high school. With her long, toned legs and noticeable bust poking out of her too-small sailor fuku top, Geoff could imagine many fanboys making her their 'waifu'.

The rest were just as weird. There was a delinquent character with a pompadour, carrying a baseball bat, a chubby otaku in thick glasses who's main weapon was a robot figurine, a 'Chunnibyou' youth wearing an eyepatch who supposedly held blue fire in his gloves, an adorable little girl with tiny pigtails described as 'Haru's sister', an effeminate crossdressing boy who had his long blue hair tied in a plaited ponytail and gave a coy wink at the audience, a creepy goth girl in a witches hat holding a spell book, and a voluptuous teacher, who's watermelon-sized boobs were busting out of her blouse and vest.

After some consideration, Geoff went with Haru, who he figured must be the strongest character and could be fun to play as. In deciding an opponent, he picked the delinquent character, known as Kazu. He then pressed 'start' to activate the fight.

“Sending player to the game room”. An instruction read.

And now came the most impressive part of the game itself. The moment he pressed start, he could feel his body crackle. In reality, it was actually flickering in an out of existence. And then-

WOOSH!

Geoff's body felt as if it was flying through space, hurtling like a comet with no plans of stopping. When he did stop, he wound up in a small blank room, which was referred to as the game room. All gamers would be teleported here, where they interacted with a hologram world and characters around them. To add to the immersion, the visor, filled with nanomachines, would create an avatar body around the player. It was perhaps unnecessary, but it did allow Geoff to live through many of his fantasies whether it was an adventurer or a fighter.

“Activating characters.” A voice started.

Geoff felt great excitement, as a hologram skeleton of his opponent appeared before him. At first it was a simplified model, but soon it gained a shape. Pixels filled in the gaps, from Kazu's long black coat, to the exaggerated pompadour on his head. It was going to be fun to test Haru's strength with this guy, as the nanomachines from Geoff's visor crawled along his skin and tingled along his scalp.

FLOOF.

Suddenly, he felt two alien appendages flop onto his chest.

“Huh?” Geoff looked down, wondering what was going on, only to find a pair of pink pigtails were  dangling from his head. He grabbed one, feeling the realistic hairs along his gloves as a creeping sense of wrongness came over him.

POP, CRACK, “GAH!” His nanomachines swept over his face, shifting the bones and muscles before seeping into his skin, revealing a girlish face with wide pink eyes.

He felt his face, feeling smoothness as the nanomachines picked up their pace. He could feel a tingling along his arms as he caught his sleeves retreating towards his shoulders, the hairs on his arms flying away. Soon afterwards the arms reduced to half their width, as if plasticine moulded by an invisible giant hand.

“NO!” A girlish voice screamed out of his mouth as the rest of his shirt became a clean white, his frame underneath being squeezed. His loosened tie tangled itself into a bright red bow, as a sailor scarf completed the look of a sailor fuku outfit. He grasped at the shirt, knowing with dread of what was to come.

BOING!

Almost instantly a heavy pair of breasts sprung from his chest, almost sending him forward. He was able to catch himself, only to find his arms were now cradling a soft pair of melons. Abjectly, he let go, but that didn't stop the feeling of their weight sway under his shirt, the lack of bra evident.

It was becoming clear to him now that this was a glitch.

“Wait!” He called out. “I-I picked Haru! Hello?”

Of course, there was no point calling out to anyone. As soon as you entered the game room, you couldn't leave until you finished the game. He turned to the delinquent opponent, who was leering at him, as if nothing was going on. It only made Geoff feel more vulnerable.

LURCH!

Soon his waist caved in, erasing the harsh effects of alcohol and fast food from his system as he developed a taut stomach that was barely poking through the shirt.

CRACK!

An intense pop to his pelvis forced him to look down. His own hips were now digging into his slacks, showing off their fertile girth. However, those slacks weren't to last as cool air gradually wafted by his shins. His pants were being eaten up, revealing fuzzy pink leg warmers that bunched up his calves, and toned, smooth legs. They were a little on the thick side, but definitely were made to kick ass. Just as his pants were reduced to shorts they fanned open to become a pleated mini-skirt.

“Oh shit!” He gulped, already feeling something tightening around his member, before-

FFFFFFFT!

A feeling of an egg being shot into his abdomen sent a shockwave through his body. His hands scrambled underneath, only to find nothing was present underneath his new silk panties. Automatically the reality of her situation dawned upon the transformed player.

“I-I'm Michiko?” A sweet, girlish voice cried out as she processed the walking wet dream she'd become. Even if this was just the avatar form, the games were usually thorough with their designs. He'd known of fellow gamers who tried out female forms for curiosities sake, which he thought was perverted.

“Shit,” She realised, “Now I'm one of those perverts!”

“ENVIRONMENT ACTIVATED!” The announcer declared, as the white void was replaced by a pixelated, but vibrant school courtyard. A large multi-storeyed building loomed over Geoff's left as dirt and dust painted itself on the ground, complete with racetrack lanes to give off the effect of an athletics track.  Finally, multiple students appeared around them, holding up banners and cheering for the fighters. And then Geoff realised a new problem: this was her first time playing this game. How was she supposed to fight Kazu?

But there was no time to figure it out.

“FIGHTERS, READY!” The announcer proclaimed, as a giant chalkboard hovered over the battleground. In pink chalk the number 3 was written, followed by a 2 in orange chalk. The moment a '1' drew itself in green chalk, Geoff looked ahead to her opponent, and then to her delicate, gloved hands. A glowing yellow health bar was present on the back of her right hand.

“This better be worth it!” She muttered as a school bell rang, signalling the chalkboard to reveal a 3 minute timer, and start counting down the seconds. Without wasting any time, Kazu made his first offensive, jumping and swinging his fist at Geoff.

Geoff jumped back. Whilst she knew the hologram couldn't hurt her, she knew a swing like that would be massive damage to her avatar.

KREK!

Geoff's whole body glowed red, indicating the punch did hit her, but a quick check found that the damage was minimum. As Kazu was finishing his follow-through, Geoff decided to counter-attack. She decided to go for her fist and took a swipe at his head.

“GAH!” Kazu grunted, sliding back a foot. A quick check at his power bar (hovering over his head) confirmed that the punch did indeed force damage. His other glove glowed green, showing a power-up bar for a special combo attack. From experience, he knew such games like this required special attacks that could be verbally commanded.

Kazu then struck back with a fist. This time, Geoff was able to dodge, and tried a kick. Kazu grunted, only for his holographic fist to go through Geoff's head.

PSSSH! A sound effect went off as Geoff's body glowed red again. Now her health bar was at about 60% health.

Geoff frantically took a step back and put herself in a fighting stance. Even if it was a hologram, the lanky figure before her was still intimidating to watch. She waited for him to make his next move, which turned out to be a flying kick. This time she ducked, managing to give an uppercutto Kazu's jaw that cut the man's health to Geoff's level. For good measure, she gave a roundhouse kick sending the man's visage across the screen.

The fight continued for a little bit as the two exchanged blows. She did think it strange that Kazu wasn't going for the bat around his waist, she figured it was part of his special move. All the while she kept eyes on her health bar, as it dropped below 50%, and her special-attack bar, which was steadily increasing. Every opening she got, she would try hitting him twice.

She was already adapting to her body well despite the top-heavyness of her design. It seemed that despite being pretty busty, Michiko was also very athletic and deceptively strong.

Eventually the fight was nearing its end. With less than a minute left, she had a slight lead in health. However, Kazu's attacks were getting more aggressive. A small 'knock' sound indicated that she'd been hit, and was now behind Kazu in terms of health.

She looked at the clock. 20 seconds left. She was close to unleashing her special attack, and needed to find an opening.

“HI-YAH!” She gave a spinning kick to his head, only to miss-time it. Fortunately, it instead hit Kazu's stomach. The attack bar on her left first glowed brighter, along with the letters A and B: the secret code.

Without hesitation, she shouted “AB!” prompting the game to stop. Suddenly, her body started moving on its own. Geoff was helpless as her own body reached for something under her skirt. Just as Kazu was reaching for his bat, Geoff got out a paper fan and declared “BAKA!”

WHACK!

Kazu's visage flew across the yard, just as the school bell rang, indicating the end of the fight.

“WINNER! MICHIKO!” The announcer cried from the yard's megaphones, followed by the roar of the crowd's cheers. Confetti streamed down around Geoff's body as her avatar form did its default celebration pose, punching one hand in the air.

However, a relief ran through her. Now she could get out of this body and forget this ever happened.

“Player, continue?” The announcer asked the high school girl.

“No thanks.” Geoff shook her head, the command causing the visuals around her to fade. Soon her body started to flicker, indicating Geoff was about to go home.

“Well, thanks for everything.” She congratulated her avatar's body. “Though I won't miss you.”

FOOSH!

A rushing feeling later and Geoff was teleported back to his apartment. He gave a sigh, glad to see the familiar menu of his screen blaring back at him. He slumped back in his chair, taking a moment to process what had happened. He wondered if other players were experiencing the same glitch as well and were also playing as the wrong avatar. Regardless, he decided that until it was fixed, he wouldn't try to play the game again.

Swiping through the game list again, he mused. “Now, lets see-huh?”

Geoff froze. Those had been his words, but that had not been his voice. It was bubbly and very girlish.

“Huh?” He looked down, only to find a massive pair of breasts tenting a sailor fuku outfit, and two thick thighs that were massively exposed by a mini-skirt.

Geoff froze, her breathing becoming heavy. This shouldn't be possible. As soon as one left the gaming room, the nanomachines would turn the player's body back to normal. With a trembling hand, he put a hand to one of the large breasts, hoping it was some after-image.

SQUEEZE. Soft, pillowy flesh sunk into her grip.

Hurriedly, she took the visor off, only for two pigtails to slap against her shoulders. She ran to the bathroom, the heavy bouncing of her breasts not lost on her. When she arrived at the mirror, she found a young girl with an innocent expression, her bubblegum pink twin-tails swaying on her head. She cupped her face, and then her arms, and breasts, and then her legs, before looking down at her skirt. She gulped, dreading what she was about to find-

Tap.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

*

“What do you mean you can't fix it?” The twin-tailed girl screamed into her phone, pacing as her frustration spiked.

“We can. You're not the first to experience this glitch.” The heavy accent of a man from customer service explained. “But it will require some days before we can deactivate the nanomachines that the glitch has locked.”

“You expect me to go out like this?” She screamed. “What if I'm needed at work?”

“I'm sure you do.” The voice said. “But you need to be patient. We are working out the problem.”

“You better be!” Geoff growled, hanging up in frustration, and then chucking her phone onto the nearby sofa. She then slumped afterwards, absorbing the information she'd found out.

As it turned out, the demo was notoriously buggy, which thousands of other people were already experiencing the effects of. It seemed that no matter which avatar you picked, you would not only end up as Michiko, but the nanomachines would remain locked in that form. Theoretically she would still play other games as other avatars, but because of the glitch, Michiko had become Geoff's default form outside of the game.

The girl groaned, her mind spinning as she tried figuring out what to do. She glared at the visor, too hesitant to put it back on.

As much as she liked new experiences, this was not what she had in mind.

(The End)