All of the hermits are enjoying exploring the nether, they make sure to bring all the new blocks and items back for Zedaph and Beef to see. As their instincts are still a bit too afraid of the new nether to go exploring. The others make sure to send a lot of pictures to them of all the new places and animals.

At some point, Xisuma decided to change his yellow armor red. Exy was mildly offended that Xisuma was copying his armor. Once Xisuma shows him the strider bits he calms down and stops questioning his brother after he extracts a promise that he'll go back to his green armor.

A couple of days have passed since they went to go and explore the nether. So far the meteor hasn't done anything else but it has yet to fall dormant. That is until one morning when Beef sends out a message to everyone asking if someone can come over to his base and help him. Almost instantly Xisuma, Keralis, and Etho rush over to help Beef.

When they arrive they are met with an odd sight. Beef legs have been replaced with the body of a steer. It appears to be too small to stand with his human torso. Beef himself appears to be in shock and is slumped over his bed half on the floor.

"Oh, no. Shiswamy what do we do?" Keralis buzzes as he sits on the bed next to Beef talking to him quietly.

Xisuma flicks his tail, before turning to Beef and asking him something. There's no response, "We should move him."

Etho speaks up, "He was talking about how Heights kind of messed with him so maybe he could go to Bdubs?"

"That's a good call," Xisuma mutters as he calls Bdubs; apologizing for calling at such an early hour. Keralis is still talking to Beef and he has gained some coherence. Not enough to answer questions or anything but enough to look around to be aware of somethings, like Keralis's voice.

Xisuma kneels down next to Beef and grabs his arms. Being mindful of where his claws are he teleports him near Bdubs' home. Quickly grabbing Etho he teleports him as well. Keralis staying behind to feed Beef's pets.

Bdubs rushes out of a house and stops short-covering his mouth with his hands, "Oh, gosh. Let's get him inside."

It takes a few minutes but they get him inside and situated on a bed. He's starting to come out of shock and he thumps his tail on the bed. This draws Xisuma's attention and he walks over and gives him some water.

"How are you doing?" He asks quietly, crouching down so he can be at eye level with Beef.

"Nothing hurts, but everything feels horrible."

Bdubs walks over with a few blankets, "Hey, do you want a blanket?"

Beef looks at him for a moment then nods excepting the blankets that are draped across his body. He shudders as they touch the cow body not liking the foreign sensation.

Xisuma hums softly as he considers what to do, Beef is unable to move for the time being. They would probably need to get X-rays done to check his organs and how they're doing. As he sits, Etho comes up behind and taps his shoulder.

"Uh, X, Doc wants you to switch off with him so he can come and help Beef," Etho explains, looking at Beef nervously.

Xisuma nods bids farewell and tells them to call him when they need him. He disappears with a vwoop and Doc sends A message stating that he would be there in about 30 minutes.

Beef groans in pain as his steer half starts growing again. He manages to roll onto his side and curls into himself as the transformation continues. It stops about five minutes after and he's gained a few inches in height. He's still quite a bit shorter than usual and is unable to stand but he's a bit bigger.

As Beef attempts to sit back up Etho realizes something, "Have you eaten today?"

He shakes his head, flicking his ears, and stretches one of his front legs out.

Bdubs frowns and leaves to go grab some food. A few minutes later he returns with some mushroom stew and bread. Beef picks at the food clearly distracted by something.

"You ok?" Bdubs asks, sitting down next to him.

"I don't know," Beef confides as Etho walks over, "This happened last night and I can't do anything."

Bdubs nods and hugs Beef tightly, motioning for Etho to join in. That's how Doc found them, all three wrapped up in blankets. Beef had fallen asleep at some point and is now using Etho as a pillow.

"Do I want to know what happened?" Doc deadpans, announcing his arrival. Etho and Bdubs snap their heads over startled. The creeper grins and walks over, "How is he doing?"

"Not sure, physically he's not in pain, his legs and body just aren't big enough to hold his weight. He's not doing too well mentally, it's screwing with him," Etho explains.

Doc looks over and carefully inspects what's happened to Beef. Ignoring the bits that had already been changed, Doc moves on to take a look at the new addition. His human torso is fine and seamlessly flows into the body of the steer body; it's not comically small but it's too disproportionate for him to be able to stand. His fur is a pale creamy color on his stomach and a light grayish brown on his back and legs. Moving down his legs his hooves are cloven; they look a lot like Zedaph's, just bigger.

Doc gently pats Beef's side, shaking him awake. As he awakes Doc starts asking him questions and has him try to do a number of different things. From flicking his tail and hitting Bdubs with it; he was not pleased when he learned this bit was intentional. To moving each of his legs separately.

After a while, they figure that Beef's body is about two-thirds of the size it needs to be at. Over the course of about a week, he slowly grows to the proper size.

.........

Bdubs is startled awake by a crash sounding in the other room. Then he hears Etho laughing his head off and decides to roll out of his bed to see what happened.

Etho had crept up on Beef and had broken the beds he was sleeping on, shrinking them down small enough to fit in his pockets. As per usual when a bed is broken with someone on it they are teleported a few feet away standing. This is no different for Beef he is deposited standing up in the center of the room with no walls around him. Within a few seconds he falls to his knees, back legs splayed out. He looks over at Bdubs eyes wide.

"I can't help you," He shrugs, "Your way too heavy."

Etho cuts in, " You should try to walk."

Beef nods and shakily tries to stand up. He forgets to move his back legs so he ends up sitting awkwardly on the floor. Frowning he moves his Front legs back to the ground and attempts to stand up this time starting with his back legs. He makes it up then promptly loses his balance and falls back to the ground.

Etho starts laughing and Bdubs nods solemnly, grabbing his arm and shoves him outside, "You almost had it!"

Nodding Beef tries again, this time leaning heavily on Bdubs for support. He stands for a few seconds before he falls pushing Bdubs out of the way, as not to crush him. He frowns and sits on the floor hard rubbing his face. His front legs still standing, "I can't do this."

"That's ok, you don't need to get it right away," Bdubs mutters as he walks over to the door to let Etho back in; he had sent him a message asking to come back.

As Beef continues to try and stand, Etho wanders into the kitchen to grab an apple. Before he can grab one he remembers something and rushes over to Beef, "Food!"

"What?"

"Calf's walk so soon after they're born because they need to get milk from their mothers," He shouts as he grins; not that the others can tell with his mask on.

Bdubs grins and nods, whispering something to Etho who nods and disappears back into the kitchen. When he reemerges he's holding a bunch of food. He puts it on the other side of the room from Beef and hands him a strawberry.

Beef takes the strawberry, looks at the others confused, and eats it, "Okay? Now I'm hungry, I don't see how this is going to help."

"We're not going to give you more, your going to have to walk over," Bdubs explains.

Etho cuts in, "Also I'll give you a free lifetime subscription to the garden service if you can't do it."

Beef frowns as he stands up, he wobbles unsteadily for a moment but is able to catch his balance. When he tries to take a step he falls. He tries again to the same result. After almost twenty minutes he is able to take a few steps at a time without having to stop and regain his balance. He makes it to the food basket and they eat.

As they finish up Bdubs decides to take them on a tour of his base. It's slow going but picks up speed as Beef gets better at walking. By the end of the tour, he's walking pretty much normally and isn't having many problems. At one point he falls into a hole and gets all muddy.

Bdubs grins and pulls him over to the barn, where he pulls out some brushes. They spend almost an hour washing Beef's fur and brushing it out. By the time they finish Beef's fur is super fluffy.

Doc walks in and grins, "Hey, your up! That's awesome."

Beef grins then seems to remember something, "My animals, someone's been feeding them right!"

"I've been feeding them with Keralis," Etho replies, fluffing his hair up.

Beef visibly relaxed and sits down on the grass tucking his legs underneath himself, "Can I go home?"

Doc considers for a moment then nods, "Yeah, you can. We have your nether portal done."

"Oh, we're going through the nether?" Beef asks a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"We have tunnels set up," Doc explains as he helps him stand.

The four set off into the nether and after a while, they arrive at Beef's base.

Notes:

And that's a rap folks.

I hope y'all have enjoyed reading this.

Cub is next up.

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