( Transformation, human, lizard, dragon, SFW, plot )

The coffee shop door opened smoothly, pushed by a ladylike, bright red, sharp clawed hand. The monster slinked in, ducking her head so that her curved horns didn't bump the doorway.

The eyes of several customers glanced over, fixed on her and widened with shock. Within seconds everyone was looking. All casual conversation stopped, replaced by hushed exchanges.

“Do you think that's _really_ a…"

“What should we do?"

“No… please God, no…"

“Maybe it's just a lizard woman? Or a kobold?"

“No, no way would either look like that!"

The monster grinned toothily and walked over to the people who said the last two sentences, which was a group of three women nestled in bean bags around a table, who were trying not to obviously stare at her.

“Only a dragon would dare look like a dragon," she answered, gently flapping her scarlet wings and swishing her spade-tipped tail. She was otherwise shaped as a human female, and naked, though without any visibly… intimate features.

The women knew a little bit about the sapients, or monsters. The cockier lizard folk who happened to look draconic might keep several of their traits. Never as many as many as she had. They'd get the pointy tail or the horns or the bat wings shapeshifted away.

But this was a creature who was perfectly confident with her draconic appearance. Because she was a dragon.

One of the women woman spilled her coffee, slid off of her bean bag and fell backwards to the floor.

“Please don't… I… don't want to be…" she begged.

The dragon raised her eyes skywards, exasperation on her snout. “Then don't. You may leave."

The woman scooted away, got to her feet and backed out of the door gratefully. The monster prodded the now vacant bean bag curiously with her tail tip, flumped down in it and looked at the remaining ladies at the table. They appeared pale, but did not move. Behind her the customers filed out of the coffee shop, as fast and silently as they could.

“Hello," said one of the remaining two women with a polite, if brittle, voice to the dragon. The creature rested her elbows on the table and leaned over, stretching her neck and flicking her long forked tongue, almost flitting it against the woman's face.

“So, who won?" asked the creature.

“I… what?"

“I only see humans here," answered the dragon. “Suggesting you won. But there are still lizard folk and kobolds? Are they your slaves?"

“Errr…"

“The lizard folk are fine. A few go to our university," said another, older, white-blonde haired lady on a high stool by the window. She picked up her coffee and walked over, joining the two women and the dragon. The man she was with followed her, more reluctantly.

“You're talking about the First Cold War?" asked the third lady, who was fiddling with her phone. “Nobody won, nobody lost, it's still going. Kind-of."

The dragon chuckled. “I've been asleep for seventy years. You're telling me that it's _still_ holding?"

The blonde haired woman perked up. “You were around for the start of the Cold Wars? Fascinating! Could I ask a few questions?"

The dragon laughed harshly, her shark-like teeth on full display. “I'm not going to reveal secrets to the _enemy_!"

Flames flickered out from the sides of the creature's mouth. The younger women shrank back quickly, the older one less so. She assumed that if the dragon wanted to cook them, or perhaps the whole city for that matter, she'd have done so by now.

A man wearing the coffee shop barista uniform sidled into view, his hands stretched out in a way he hoped looked unthreatening.

“Uhhh… would you all like something to drink? On the house?"

===

The six people still remaining in the coffee shop introduced themselves and the humans cautiously got some information from Melis the dragon, though little more than they already knew from their school history classes. After the second atomic bomb had exploded over Nagasaki, every monster across the whole world abruptly ended their conflicts with the humans, retreated into their vast territories and somehow covered them with some weird effect that destroyed all advanced technology.

Monsters never left their lands, and any humans that entered lost their weapons and vehicles to the effect and vanished forever. There was never any diplomacy with the monster lands, or really any communications at all. Eventually the Cold War truly began between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the halted battles with the monsters were declared to be a Cold War too. Two worldwide frozen conflicts, that would get uncomfortably hot again from time to time over the coming decades. During which, Melis slept. Until an hour ago.

“This is the best. What is it?" asked Melis, holding one of the twenty three cups of part-drunk coffee around her.

“Just mocha with a gingerbread shot," replied Carlos the barista.

“I shall learn what that means later. So who is going to fight me?"

“Pardon?" asked Melissa, the young brown haired woman.

“I'm in enemy lands. I'm going to fight your best champion and claim their territory."

“Uhhh…"

“Don't worry, I am merciful," said the dragon. “I'll only cause whatever death and destruction is needed to win, nothing more."

Jan, the lady with the phone, continued to tap discretely at the screen.

[Please come over now she says she wants to fight a champion!!]—>

===

Two miles away Emma, the recipient of her message, sat down at her table in the university lab and wondered what the hell she was going to do. She was an ordinary human, and the human authority for sapient business in the city. The police wisely stayed out of sapient trouble for fear of escalating the situation. In this case they secured a perimeter around the coffee shop and asked Emma to find a monster to sort things out.

“Sapients are supposed to take care of sapient problems," murmured the lab supervisor to herself. “But who the hell can deal with a dragon?"

Nervous, concerned hisses and growls came from the cages around the lab.

Her strongest asset, Lilac, was also a dragon. A very inexperienced one who just wanted to teach math and would most likely get flattened by Melis. Even worse would be if Lilac _was_ a match for her. The fight would devastate the city.

The beast noises around Emma lilted and fluctuated like conversation, which was indeed what it was. 

Emma jabbed at the screen of her phone.

[Keep her busy, I'll come over]—>

The lab supervisor got up, grabbed her keys, walked to the door and found that a winged serpent had coiled about the handles.

“Uhhh, Styx, if you don't mind?"

The coatl normally liked being handled. Yet when Emma tried to lift him away he hissed and bared his fangs.

===

“I… I'll challenge you."

Melis watched curiously as Lucas, the man who had followed his wife Esme over, unfolded a board onto the table and started to arrange little figurines onto it.

“No need for death and destruction. I challenge you to a game of chess. I… don't have much territory, but if you win I guess you can have it."

“That's…" Melis began. There was a pause and Lucas felt a curious tingle at the back of his mind, something he had experienced a few times previously in the dragon's presence.

“…intriguing," the dragon continued. “I've never played chess before, but I accept."

Lucas sat down next to Esme, who clutched her husband's hand. Lucas smiled softly to her, looked back at the dragon and picked up a piece.

“So, how to play. We take turns. This is a king, and the purpose is…"

Lucas winced as he felt the tingle return, but stronger. It felt… intricate.

“…to trap the king with your pack, so he can't escape," said Melis, with a toothy, predatory smile. “No need to explain, just make your first move."

Is she reading my mind? thought Lucas. Is that how she knew what to do?

Melis' smile widened a bit more, creeping along the sides of her face in a rather unsettling way, making her mouth seem less human and more crocodilian.

You do! You searched my mind before to find the right word to say… and I felt this before. Are you reading all our minds?

“Make your attack, human."

Everybody in the coffee house crowded around the board and watched Lucas lift a pawn and advance it over the checkerboard battlefield. The human was not surprised to feel the tingle returning. Melis picked up a pawn of her own colour and set it down correctly as per the rules.

I bet you're figuring out the right counter by taking it from my own head, Lucas thought. That means I'm playing myself.

Maybe I can block my thoughts? Or fool her somehow?

He advanced another pawn.

The dragon suddenly looked up at Lucas.

“This is very slow. I want to trap the enemy leader immediately."

“No, that's against the rules," replied Lucas.

“I disagree," retorted the dragon.

“Well, you can't jusshhhtthhh," began Lucas, as his tongue spooled out and knocked over one of his knights.

“And the king isn't the enemy leader," added the dragon, as her opponent frantically grabbed at his tongue with his fingers, and watched two of them fusing together on each hand.

“You are," continued Melis. The whole world grew around her challenger as he shrank. His wife shrieked in horror as his hand let go of hers and vanished into the sleeve of his shirt.

Lucas screamed, though it came out as a squeal. His head dropped down into his shirt collar and his sight filled with white, warm fabric. Then a bright red hand appeared, closed around his body and lifted him out into the air.

The changing human grunted and squirmed in the dragon's grasp. All around him were massive, aghast human faces. The hand dropped him onto the delicately scaled left shoulder of its owner and Melis turned her head to smile at him approvingly.

“Turn him back!" shouted Esme frantically, getting to her feet and looming over the dragon.

“The queen wants to defend her king?" asked Melis sweetly, showing her teeth.

Lucas looked down at his little naked body. Green scales were breaking out over his pink flesh. His hair dropped off his head in clumps and he could feel a mass of flesh squirming free of his rump and growing down the back of the monster who was transforming him.

How do I stop this? he thought. Punch her ear?

All he could do was turn his head on his lengthening neck and watch the two nubs he felt growing from his back sprout into bright green and yellow wings. The giant Esme fumed impotently, hands curled into fists, and she allowed Carlos to pull her backwards gently but firmly onto her bean bag.

Lucas felt his toes lengthening into claws. He curled them experimentally and used them to grip onto the dragon woman's flesh, rather tighter than he needed to, the nails pressing into her scaly hide. Melis just grinned and brought up a frighteningly vast hand, and slid her fingers over his changing head and back, between his wings, over his rump and down his new tail. The increasingly reptilian man, overwhelmed with the sensation, rose to press against her touch and wished it didn't feel as pleasant as it did.

“I win," said Melis smugly.

“Eeeaaahhrrr" squealed the little creature on her shoulder, through his lengthening snout. He flapped his wings, lashed his tail, looked out at the huge frightened human faces surrounding him. The tingling in his mind returned but now it left him with weird new instincts, the ability to balance his new body, the knowledge of flight.

 “Now, what territory do I get?" wondered Melis out loud as she turned away from her opponent's changing body and back to the remaining humans.

“We.. just rent a place downtown," replied Esme, close to tears. “We can't afford to buy anywhere."

Esme shuddered and fluttered her eyes as she felt the tingling sensation in her head. It was like something searching around her brain.

“Well, I…" began Melis. She learned what renting meant, and how anxious Esme was about it. And about how she and her husband rowed about it from time to time, then made up and resolved to give up a few luxuries, again.

“That won't do. That's not really befitting a dragon," said Melis, primly. She was going to magnanimously return the territory to the couple, but realised too late her insult when she saw Esme's face fill with fury.

“You…" began Esme, as the humans around her shook their heads frantically. “You scaly little bit-“

She stopped to see the little lizard hopping off the monster's shoulder and alight on all fours on the table. Everyone stared down at him. He crept hesitantly towards the chess board. Then lifted himself up onto his hind legs, raised his tail as a counterbalance, grasped a pawn with both claws and smoothly slid it one space along the board.

“Lucas?" asked Esme hesitantly. The little reptile crept to her and wrapped a claw around her finger.

“No, you lost," said Melis firmly. “I captured you. Your loyalty is to me now."

Lucas pointed his free claw at the chess board.

“You're being very disobedient, Mihs," said Melis, primly. 

Mihs? thought Lucas. Why did that sound like a name?

The humans looked down at the creature, impressed. To Melis he seemed like their plucky hero taking on, well, the dragon. Her tail lashed and her temper frayed.

Lucas drew himself up to his full six inches of height and crossed his forearms. His slit pupilled eyes stared defiantly up at her.

“Then death and destruction it is," snapped Melis, angrily.

The humans as one stepped backwards and cowered against each other as the monster breathed in deeply. The temperature in the room rose and the air around the dragon writhed as it baked.

Melis exhaled, in a gentle huff towards the chess board. Lucas' half of it, along with all his pieces, disintegrated in a tiny inferno and fine ash flickered away and settled upon the customers. They stood stock still, arms wrapped around each other as the dragon laughed haughtily, then smugly reached forwards and closed her hand around the little former human.

Lucas squealed furiously and bit into the cherry red flesh. Melis flinched backwards and looked at him with abject shock. Lucas felt like he had sank his sharp new teeth into soft but stout leather. He galloped away from the beast on all fours, jumped from the table's edge onto Esme's jumper and climbed up onto her shoulder.

The dragon's eyes widened with anger and betrayal. She raised her hand and pointed a finger at Esme and the little beast that was her husband. The two looked with ashen terror at the monster's feminine hand as it twisted into a sinuous claw with long hooked nails.

“…" started Melis, her mouth hung open. Then she snapped her jaws together again, turned around and marched towards the entrance. She smashed through the door without breaking her stride, glass fragments tumbling harmlessly off her deceptively soft and feminine looking form.

The dragon unfurled her wings and squatted, ready to pounce into the air.

“Armaan Melis! Terruk surnak a?"

Melis stopped and stared down at two lizardy people looking up at her, a few paces from where she stood.

To be continued…