Tournament of Change Prelude P5:

Author's Note: Yeah, I know said the recruitment would start with this chapter, but I wanted to develop Jam a bit more first before focusing on Meerina and Axel for the next few chapters. Don't worry, next one will have tons of awesome guest stars!

Chapter 5: Throwing Down With Friday~

Jam panted and heaved, his scrawny donkey body being forced to carry the fattened Monkey King up Flower and Fruit Mountain. His legs buckled under the weight of his fattened father, but he did his best to carry him. After a few hours, Jam collapsed next to a small clearing. Once the donkey had fallen flat on his stomach, Sun Wukong got off his back and stood on his own flabby simian feed. He scratched his hairless bloated backside and laughed, "You make a great packmule, Jam!"

Jam sighed as his body uncontrollably changed into his regular monkey form, "Whatever,"

"Jam, listen, I know it may seem like I'm torturing you, but you're really torturing yourself! No one died because of what you did, even though that threat was there. What you need to realize is that your adventures were never going to be carefree forever, there were gonna be stakes sooner or later,"

Jam pressed his hands against his simian face as he began to sob, "I never wanted stakes though! I just wanted to have fun with friends forever, or get my body stolen by fat dudes and hot chicks,"

Wukong waved his flabby finger at Jam as he turned to walk away, "Well, there are stakes now! Anyway, I'm going to scrounge up some food. Making myself fat has given me an increased hunger!"

"Then just make yourself skinny! I need you right now,"

Wukong walked off as he waved his finger, "Nope, you need to be alone! I can see that now. So if you want to run away, go ahead!"

Once Jam was alone, he grumbled and looked at his reflection in the pond, "I hate this face and I hate myself! I wish I was anyone else right now!" As soon as Jam said that, his form began to shift again. His unsteady powers were about to grant his wish, albeit in an unexpected way!

His legs start to withdraw into his body, making his already stubby legs even stubbier! His legs disappeared from sight, leaving the monkey with a pair of hand-feet strapped directly to the bottom of his torso! Without legs to support him, the monkey toppled backwards and landed on his backside. "Oof!" The monkey cried out in pain as he impacted the ground, right before his hand-feet disappeared as well!

His hands and arms vanished next, sliding into his body and out of sight. His lab-coat fell to the ground, no longer having the arms to support it. His fur-coat started to change shape as well, smoothing out and becoming more rubbery in the process. It turned into a giant yellow banana peel, which covered his entire body! The monkey thrashed about inside the peel, but was unable to do much without limbs. The peel reshaped his body into a sausage-like shape, while his skin turned into banana pulp.

A thin black line and pair of dots appeared at the top of the banana's peel, functioning as a makeshift "face" for the former monkey. Jam panicked, due to being a giant immobile banana, "Eep, I can't believe this! I've gone from a monkey to a monkey's favorite food. Can this day get any weirder?!"

As if on queue, Jam's "chest" began to tingle. Too large fleshy potassium-enriched orbs started to emerge from his chest, slowly pushing open the mid-section of his peel in the process! These orbs formed into massive breasts, with the bottom of the peel becoming "her" new "top". With her new massive breasts hidden underneath her peel, Jam couldn't help but blush, "Damn, big fat tiddies all the way out here?! And no hands to grope them with..."

Jam couldn't help but sigh as she looked down at her new reflection in the water's surface, which was undeniably that of a "Boobnana"! She loved the big titties, but couldn't enjoy it due to its semi-inanimate nature. Jam struggled to move from her vantage point, but lacked the limbs or dexterity to do so. All she could do was wiggle her floppy breasts about a bit, which she had to be careful with as she didn't want to fall into the water and get soggy!

As Jam wallowed in her new nutritional misery, she heard a familiar voice cackle and speak to her: "You are what they eat, as they say!"

Jam gasped, "Dammit, Friday, is that you?!"

The Card-Knight descended from the sky and landed in front of the Boobnana, touching down on the water's surface in the process, "It is indeed I, though I can tell you are quite different now! You are easy prey for my blade now that you can't fight back!" The knight cackled as he held his sword against the Boobnana's plentiful chest.

Jam gulped as her peel began to quiver, "N-No, don't!"

The knight pulled his blade away, "Ah, cowardly now, aren't you? You were so angry yesterday, so bitter and strong. You nearly tore the universe asunder with your grand power, and now you're nothing but a quivering banana! I guess it's time to make you into a split..."

"A split?!"

"Yes, a banana split with whipped cream and sprinkles! I'll be back to finish you off, once I can find something to use as a bowl!" Shouted the knight, before flying off to leave the monkey alone.

As Jam panicked at the prospect of being made into a banana split, she heard the sound of Wukong laughing, "Having trouble there, sport?"

Jam breathed a sigh of relief, "Wukong, it's me, Jam! You've gotta change me back!"

The fat monkey waved his finger at Jam and then patted his big belly, "The only thing I'm going to help myself is a piece of you! You look delicious!"

"This is serious! That knight is going to eat me if you don't change me back into a monkey,"

"Change yourself back! You were shapeshifting at random earlier! Your powers probably heard your wish to be 'someone else' and granted it!"

"Wait, were you secretly watching me this whole time?! Regardless, if I could shapeshift right now I would. Once I figure out how to regrow my legs, I'm running away as fast as I can!"

The fat Monkey King took a deep breath, "Listen, Jam, you can't run away from every problem! There will always be stakes and knowing how to deal with them is how you grow,"

"So what am I supposed to do?!"

"Take a deep breath in and out! And focus on what you need to do, let it guide you back to your proper form!"

Jam took a deep breath in and out, "That's right, and what I need to do right now is come to terms with how easily I've gotten through things up until now. I've been so hung up on dwelling on the consequences of my earlier actions, that I've never stopped to realize that any of my body-swap or TF adventures could've gone just as a poorly. There have always been stakes and right now..."

Jam's busty banana body began to glow, as it decreased in size and returned to its proper simian form, "I'm going to even them!"

Wukong clapped his flabby monkey paws, "Perfect, Jam! You've mastered shapeshifting by surpassing one of your flaws, just like how I did it,"

"Did your powers go out of control and turn you into a busty banana as well?"

"No, mine just involved training with a bunch of boring monks and dealing with prejudice against the fact that I'm simian... Y'know what, nevermind all that! You're well on your way to mastering your powers!"

Just then, the knight returned and was surprised to find the monkey back to normal, "You're you again?! No matter, I couldn't find a big enough bowl anyways. Prepare yourself for battle once again, simian! Bring out that ferocious dragon I fought before!"

Jam shook his head and stuck his tongue, "No dragon for you, pal! You may have gotten my emotions out of whack to the point where I nearly destroyed everything, but I won't let you harm me or the only real blood relative I have!"

The fat monkey cried tears of joy, "He really does care!"

Jam then cracked his knuckles and lowered himself onto all fours, "Here comes the fun part!" Jam's arms and legs then began to elongate. His muzzle pushed out into a long equine snout as his hands and feet turned into hooves. His tail grew longer and hairier, becoming a thick horse's tail in the process. Now fully transformed into a four-legged horse, Jam stomped his hooves on the ground, "This is NEIGH-some! Time to teach you a lesson!"

The horse then charged at the knight only for him to leap into the air and onto the horse's back, "Ah, a valiant steed for a grand knight such as myself! What a thoughtful gift!"

"A gift, eh? Well then..." Jam's body then thinned out, his limbs disappearing as his body became long and tube-like. His tongue became forked, slurring his speech in the process. He then curled his new snake body around the knight, making it impossible for him to escape, "...How about I wrap it up then, ssssir?"

The knight turned into playing cards and flew out of the snake's grasp, right before forming back into his knightly self, "Is that all you got? Where's the ferocious dragon that fought me before?! Bring out the power moves, or I'll crush you!"

"I don't know about turning back into that sssscary thing, but here'ssss a power move for you!" Said the snake, before transforming once again. His skin turned grey and hard, his hands and feet became massive stompers, while his nose stretched out into a long elephant's trunk. He grew a pair of ivory tusks, completing his transformation. "How's this for a power move?!" Shouted the elephant, before grabbing the knight with his trunk and slamming him into the ground.

The knight lied on the ground, battered and bruised, "Ha, nice fight, Lord Jam!"

Jam transformed back into his monkey form as he began to gloat as he stood over the defeated knight, "Ha, take that, you evil- Wait... 'Lord Jam'?! Don't tell me you're-"

Before he could finish, Sun Wukong stepped forward and cut him off, "Yep, he's on our side!"

The injured knight nodded and stood up, "That is indeed true. Wukong and I had planned for you and Meerina to come to the 'Card Dimension' all along. Capturing Axel was bait in order to lure you there, he was never in any threat of being executed,"

Jam crossed his arms as he thought deeply on it, "Ah, so that's why Wukong was in the cell! If that were the case though, then why did you threaten me like that and cause me to explode?"

Wukong sighed, "Well, Friday was SUPPOSED to simply capture you in his special 'Card Zone' and keep you trapped in there for a bit. I was going to whisk away Meerina and Axel, then come back to 'rescue' you later and bring you here for training. Things didn't work out as planned when Friday ended up pushing you too far while you were still struggling to learn how to use your powers,"

The knight hung his head in shame, "My apologies, Lord Wukong. I needed to make it look convincing as the king can see almost anything within that dimension, he has eyes everywhere. However, things went too far and I apologize to both of you,"

Jam snickered, "Hey, it's no problem! I'm the one who lost control there. I feel I should've clued in sooner. I just had no idea the Card-Knights hated Saturday too,"

"We always have, ever since he gained his title. He subjugated the Equinians and forced them to be the building blocks of his empire. And even now, he has some plan we don't know much on involving this tournament. That's why we're having you and a team that Meerina and Axel select to fight for us, so I can figure out what the king is up to and put a stop to it,"

"So, we're entering the tournament as a distraction?"

Wukong gave him the thumbs up, "Yes indeed, my son! Once we're done you're training you'll be unstoppable and able to fight through the tournament with ease, along with having enough power to beat the king!"

"Oh good! Wait, my training's not done yet?! But I feel better than ever and I've already gotten over my fear of stakes!"

The fat monkey patted his son on the back, "True, but there are STILL 2 more weaknesses you must overcome. We've only removed 1 'black spot of corruption' from your fur-coat, now we just have to remove the last couple!"

Jam sighed, "This is going to be a loooooooong training arc! I just hope Meerina's doing better than me..."

--

Back in Jam's hometown, Meerina and Axel had approached their first two potential entrants to the tournament: Horseradish the donkey and Science Saddles the pony! Of course, their meeting with the two equines would prove tricky as a witch was watching them in secret! She was planning to play a prank on the three anthropomorphic animals and their human friend, meaning things were about to get a LOT more confusing...