When Pimento awoke that morning, the morning after the spirits had drawn him in, he found himself in a very difficult position. Difficult, as in he was squished into a den that was much too small for him. He struggled against the thick dirt, roots grasping at his mane as he clawed himself free with savage swordlike talons. Soon, he was free, tumbling loose of the warren. He rose to his legs and lashed his tail, snarling at the roots and thorns - before he realized something was very wrong.

One: The location was vastly different than anything he remembered. There was water, a flowing river of some sort going out into an ocean inlet, with a fallen log and a waterfall. He had seen waterfalls and rivers before, but none were these.

Two: The bushes and trees were significantly shorter than he remembered the average bush being. That could be discounted by being in an unfamiliar area.

Three: His paws were no longer paws but rather thick mounds of fuzzy flesh, with curving talons reaching from where his toes would have been. He gazed at them in awe for a long moment, not understanding. His tail curled around his hind legs and he jerked away from it.

Four: His tail was short. This tail was very much not. It was long and thick, though it tapered some near the end, finishing with a thick collection of long fur. He stumbled away, towards the water, and gazed disbelievingly down at his reflection. Those eyes were the same red as he remembered, but the face around them were much different. Instead of a soft, padded nose, he had flaring nostrils on either side of his snout. His ears were huge, fluffy things. He hesitantly opened his jaws and noted the terrifyingly different tooth structure - he still had canines, but instead of a smattering of smaller sharp teeth, he had thick teeth fused in front, with thick grinding teeth where his molars would have been. His tongue was long and he almost feared it wouldn't fit in his mouth when he stretched it out to flick at the water. He turned his gaze from the water to survey his own body, which was now long and -

Five. Recognizable parts had been replaced with a pouch. While he had been examining himself without fear, stunned in confusion, this is what freaked him out. He let out a loud yell, which sounded at first like it came from someone else. It took a few moments to realize that in fact, there was someone else. His longtime friend, Apowai, had burst from the bushes and was yelling in astonishment him. Pimento noticed, then, that while Apowai usually stood not much shorter than himself, there was a massively marked difference between their sizes now. Pimento was massive.

"Apowai... What the hell am I?" he finally managed to say, ears pinning back and head lowering, tail still lashing behind him.

"You're..." Apo said when he had caught his breath, taking Pimento's new visage in fully. "You're one of us - a belemoid. But how?"

Pimento had no idea, but they had to figure out how to reverse it.

Apowai and Pimento left the shore, heading inland. The fallen log across the river they used was greying, old, and moss-covered, but Pimento found that his new claws made it ever so much easier to cross. There was no slipping of paws, no falling into the water, though he was sure Apo was tempted to toss him in, for the sake of it.

Long story short: They never figured out how to reverse it and by now, they didn't really want to. It was a fresh start.