The polar bear cub was alone when he woke up. It was still dark out, as it had been for many days on end; it was a rare sight when the sunlight actually fell upon the frozen wasteland that he called home. He had known the land for over a year now, and in that short year his mother had seldom left him alone. She was a large bear, strong and fierce, one who could take down prey with ease. She had begun teaching him how to hunt and survive early on in his life; her lessons comprised some of the first memories that he still carried with him. There were only two other bears whom he still could recall, their scent still existing in a deep segment of his mind. The first and most easily identifiable was that of his sister’s. The second, his father’s. He had only known the two for a very short time.

When he was young, so fresh that neither he nor his sister could see the world, he could always feel another force competing with him for the milk of their mother. He was quick to discover, once he could finally observe what happened around him, that she was different from him; it had taken him quite some time, however, to realize that it was a difference in gender and nothing more. They were nearly identical. At least, that’s what his mother had said every time she mixed the two up. She didn’t last long after they had left the safety of the den. It was a tough couple of weeks after they emerged, and while later in life he would finally get to witness the true hunting prowess of his mother, his sister did not survive that long. Food was short, and only through pure will and determination did the cub survive. He didn’t remember his sister well. All that was left was a hazy image. She looked like all the rest of them, and her scent only lingered in his mind in the slightest amount.

What was most strange was the remembrance of his father. From a distance, he looked like any other male, large and powerful, and mating to his pleasure. He was thriving in the barren land. It was this sense for his ability to survive that sparked the revelation in the cub, and when he, at the side of his mother, grew closer to the male, he could sense his power; From that moment on, he knew that this great bear was his father. As the two approached, his mother was cautious, holding her cub back to ensure his security if the male were to attack; it wouldn’t be uncalled for, food was always a tad short. As they marched around him, careful to avoid moving into his personal space, he regarded them with an expressionless face, one that didn’t know of them, nor did it care to know of them. As they continued on their way, the male went back to his hunting, and the mother and son did not look back. The polar bear cub remembered his scent strongly now. He wanted to grow up to possess such power, to dominate such space. He reassured himself that the male was his father, whether it was the truth or not.

The cub was filled with a strange mixture of fear and excitement as he called upon such deep memories. He knew that what had happened to his sister could easily happen to him as well. He knew that without his mother to protect him, he could easily fall prey to wandering polar bears much like his father. So, he waited. The cub dug into the snow as well as he could, as though he was now over a year old, he was still fairly small for a male, and he waited. He sat in the small hole for hours, his stomach growling for sustenance. When a full day had gone by without his mother, one that he spent in fear and boredom in a small hole in the snowy ground, he had decided to go off and try to hunt himself.

The cub’s mother had taught him where all of the best hunting grounds were, where the seals would surface the most often, where the fish were most plentiful, and where he could, with patience, find a decent meal already taken down, waiting for him. He made his way to these grounds with great haste, secretly hoping to find his mother by the side of the water with his next meal in her maw. But at each location he found nothing but ice. The cub finally made his way to the last hunting spot his mother had shown him. It was far, hours away from his small den and then some, but the cub pushed on in hunger and fear.

He lay flat on the ground when he found nothing but more ice in the last place he knew his mother could be. That was what was all around him: ice. It was his birthplace, his hunting grounds, his home. He didn’t rise as he heard the crunching of ice behind him, nor when the scent of another polar bear, one he did not know, enter his nose. There was a loud cracking noise that permeated the noiseless ecosystem, and then a ground shaking thump as the polar bear behind him fell to the floor. The cub clenched his eyes shut, seeing nothing, just like when he was a newborn. There was a sharp stinging sensation in the back of his neck, and then it all faded away.

The cub awoke with a soft, high pitched yawn and some stretching; he felt as though he had been asleep for days. The first thing he noticed was the warmth. It was hot, not unbearably so, but hot enough to make his paws start to sweat. He opened his eyes and looked around the room in awe. There was so much color! The walls were a forest green, a color that he had never set his eyes on until today. The furniture, composed of just a small couch against the far side of the wall, was a bright red, and medical flyers were hung up all around the office. The polar bear cub did not know what these strange objects were of course, but their vibrancy caught his eye like nothing had before. The young bear was quick to leap off of the hard, black examination table and onto the white tiled floor so that he could get a closer look at the marvels around the room. The shine of the tiles and their slippery nature reminded him of home, but his excitement pushed his growing fear back so that he might explore. The cub hopped on to the soft couch, which his transparent fur quickly clung to, and laid down. He had never felt such comfort except when he was around his mother. He pressed his muzzle into a pillow that rested on the couch; he missed her now more than ever.

The veterinarian walked in and saw this display of excitement. “Cute,” he exclaimed, “you’ll be very happy here if all it takes is soft things to keep you comforted.” The vet laughed and the cub looked up at him. The cub had never seen a creature like this before. His hair was dark, and it covered his head in a youthful yet professional spiked fashion. It popped up once again on his cheeks, chin, and above his lips in a light, well groomed beard before disappearing again, appearing for one last time on his arms, which were only visible slightly above the cut of the sleeves of his white lab coat. The cub clung to the pillow in fear and confusion as the veterinarian reached out to pet him. As the vet’s hand made contact with the cub’s fur, the polar bear calmed down and closed his eyes. “Yes,” the vet said, “you’ll do well here.”

The veterinarian moved his hand across the young bear’s body, examining for any harm or damage to the cub. After his check, the veterinarian quickly retreated to the counter on the far side of the room to grab his clip board. Besides a few bruises on the cub’s belly, likely due to transportation, the polar bear was perfect. The vet pulled a syringe from a counter drawer, and approached the cub, holding it behind his back.

Once again the cub felt a stinging sensation in the back of his neck, and growled softly at the feeling. The vet pat his head gently, and the feeling transformed from a dull pain into a pleasurable petting; the cub’s growls turned into soft murrs of contentedness. The veterinarian grinned, his smile wide and perfect. “I know it’s scary,” the vet whispered into the round ear of the cub, “but you’ll grow up to love this place soon.” The vet moved for the door as the cub could feel himself drifting off to sleep once more. “Very soon.”

The first thing the cub saw when he woke up in his enclosure was a short description about the lives of polar bears and the name “Sam” besides a picture of a fully grown adult bear. Then, before he could even take his first steps in his new home, a powerful warmth spread through his body. It started at his nose, which itched from the heat, and slowly moved down his muzzle, coating his face, and spreading to his paws and chest. The heat made him sweat once more, forcing the polar bear to stick out his tongue and pant like a dog as it spread through his body. It reached through his claws and the bear moaned loudly as it passed over his groin. His stump of a tail wiggled as it was filled the heat, and once it had stopped its spread, the cub stood up to figure out what was happening.

It started with his length. He could feel his body elongating, stretching and stretching and pulling his small reserves of fat and muscle along with it, leaving his stomach barren like the arctic wasteland in which he grew up. The cub murred softly at the feeling of being stretched, what had seemed like it was going to be painful quickly revealed itself to hold pleasure in its place instead of harm.

As the cub grew in length, he could feel the same pull start to grow in his legs too, which grew and grew until he was over four foot tall from his shoulders to the ground. He looked at the picture of the male that presented itself inside his enclosure. The cub felt awkward, he was bigger now, in length and height, but that was the extent of it. The cub felt ill as he contemplated the idea of being stuck in this odd form forever, but his worries were quickly answered as he felt the tugging feeling reinvigorate in his chest and stomach.

It started with his chest, which barreled out to fill the room that was once left by his growth in height. He could feel his insides growing with it, and murred loudly in pleasure; it felt good to grow, to be on his way to being big like his father was. The cub’s newly expanded chest only served to exacerbate the malnourishment that seemed to become evident in his small stomach, but this problem was quickly remedied. In hot pursuit of his chest, his stomach barreled out as well, filling with muscle and fat to keep him both strong and warm, like every polar bear should be. The polar bear fell as this new weight quickly grew on him; he had become eight hundred pounds of pure fat and muscle, and he loved it.

The cub stared in awe as his legs began to fill in with muscle as well, though he knew that he was in no condition to get up until he knew that his changes were over. The polar bear’s paws swelled, and as he brought one of his forepaws up to his muzzle to lick and inspect, his face joined in on the expansion as well. The bear’s muzzle grew wider, like a proper adult male’s, and his teeth grew sharper, his jaw more powerful, able to snap prey in half with ease.

The polar bear murred in pleasure as the changes started finishing up. He was quick to notice that his voice had grown much deeper, and his body rumbled as he expressed his pleasure towards the situation. His gentle, yet deep murring quickly turned into loud moans as his male aspects enlarged as well; the polar bear, who was once just a young cub, blushed deeply at the feeling.

The polar bear got up once more and inspected his new body. He sniffed his paws, and licked them, and moved towards the water to get a better view of his changes. He looked like his father, big and strong. The residual from the heat still lingered in his new, large, adult body, and so he stepped into the cool water. He thought about what he had seen on the sign in his enclosure. Sam, he pondered, short and simple, I’ll stick with it. The fresh water soothed his body, and Sam closed his eyes. He had forgotten about his mother, and his sister, and his father. Why would he need them if he could protect himself now? He could do whatever he needed to do to survive.

He had been reborn as an adult, and he loved it. Now, all he thought about was finding a mate. He thought about other polar bears; he liked them big, he decided, powerful, like he was now. Male. The thoughts excited his new, adult body.

The veterinarian watched from outside of Sam’s enclosure. He had seen it all, and he loved it. The vet wrote down a reminder to give Sam extra attention, he was the only polar bear in the enclosure, and of course he would need to be trained to use his new body properly.

It had taken a few months for Sam to get used to his new, adult body. The transition was rough, but he loved his new strength, and the keepers played with him almost every day. What Sam wasn’t prepared for was waking up in a strange, cozy room with a lion wandering around the floor. The polar bear looked up in fright and saw only one thing: “The Petting Zoo”.