It was a really hot Summer's day as a young man,named Ralph Thomason,was walking home from the skatepark while sweat was pouring from his brow like rain.The hot arid air was making him thirsty,so he stopped at his local convenience store for a cool refreshing drink.The store clerk saw Ralph walking inside while looking away from his newspaper then looked at it again.The clerk was always grouchy with his customers.He always wore a scowl on his face whenever someone either paid money or asked for anything of which he replied,"May I help you?" or "either pay for your items or get out because I don't deal with riff-raff!"

Anyway,Ralph was skulking through the beverage aisle looking for something to cool his throat when suddenly,he saw a blue can with the words DragonFire energy drink.Ralph was a bit weary of why there was an energy drink by that name,but he decided not to question it and headed towards the grumpy old clerk.After putting the ice cold can on the counter,the clerk looked away from his newspaper and asked,"Is that all you want?"Ralph nodded.The man looked at him with his greyish-brown eyes,put his newspaper to the side,stood up from his post and rung up the energy drink to $1.45.

Ralph fished in his pockets and pulled out a 5 dollar bill.He gave it to the clerk who gave Ralph his change back then bagged it and passed it back to him.Ralph grabbed the bag rushing towards the door and opened it causing the little bell to ring.The clerk just went back to his paper nonchalantly reading again until he noticed something that caught his eye;it was an article that called for a recall of DragonFire energy drinks.It said that the drink causes untold mutations in humans and shouldn't be consumed at all!

Finally,Ralph got home dropping the bag onto the couch as his shaggy dog,Comet,came and pounced on him covering Ralph's face with warm,wet dog drool.Ralph laughed as he tried to get his pet off of him so he grabbed one of Comet's toys then as he put it in the dog's view,his attention was set on it.After getting up,he threw it halfway across the room causing Comet to run after the toy giving Ralph ample opportunity to get away.

He picked up the energy drink then opened up the poptop and drank some of the contents feeling the liquid slide down his dry throat.It was cool like peppermint,but as it went down his throat,he felt a warm feeling going through his body.Ralph thought it was nothing,so he drank the entire drink until it was completely empty then headed to the kitchen and threw it in the recycling bin.Suddenly,Ralph felt like he was about to throw up as he felt like his insides were on fire.

Ralph's hands were shaking severely as he put them up to his face as the fingers started to fuse together from five to three.His fingernails grew outwards as sharp talons from Ralph's nailbed causing the teen to scream out in horror.As Comet was coming in the kitchen,he saw his owner and walked towards him,unaware of what the boy was going through.When Comet barked at Ralph,he turned around,but his light blue eyes were replaced with yellow and the irises were nothing but thin slits like those for a cat's.Comet cowered and then ran off leaving Ralph all alone.

The mysterious change kept on continuing as golden yellow scales grew over Ralph's peach colored skin and crept up towards his shoulder.Ralph felt his muscles getting bigger ripping his red skater park shirt to ribbons and his denim shorts as the muscles in his legs getting bigger also.In Ralph's mind he wondered,"What's going on?Why is this happening to me?"Then it clicked!He crawled over to the recycling bin ignoring the pain he was going through,and fished for the can.Finally,Ralph found it and read the ingredients then something caught his eye;it was a warning that said,"This drink is not fit for human consumption please do not drink."

Ralph felt a stinging pain in his throat causing him to yell out in pain but it turned into a horrifying roar that shook the house to its foundation.He wished that the pain would stop,but it would get even worse from there as the bones inside of Ralph's legs reformed into haunches.The balls of his legs stretching outwards causing Ralph to lose his balance temporarily.Tears fell from the young boy's eyes as he felt his face push out as a snout,his nose sinking into his face leaving only a couple of holes flaring wildly.Ralph screamed out as his neck started to stretch out as well as his vertabrae like taffy being pulled out but it got even worse when the base of his tail bone bulged out and burst out as a golden yellow tail.

Ralph's body was almost covered with the scales while the changes continued.His eyes became blurry as they shifted to the side of Ralph's face then he could see a lot better than anyone else.His ears stretched out into points then split apart in the middle into fins as black membranes weaved through the webbings.Ralph muttered,"Please,just let this end.I can't take this pain!"Suddenly,he felt a stinging pain from his mouth and opened it.His teeth were beginning to become more sharper,more carnivorous as the grew out from Ralph's gums.Ralph's tongue became more thinner and split down the middle as it was more serpent like in appearance making him flicker it into the air tasting it.

As the pain started to subside,Ralph felt something trying to push its way out of his back making tears fall out of his eyes.Suddenly,two huge fingerlike appendages burst out through his shoulder blades then the same black membranes weaved through the fingers.As a test,Ralph flapped his wings and saw that they actually moved.Then a severe pain ran through Ralph's head as two horns grew out of his scalp and grew out into a curliedcued shape while white spikes erupted from his head down to his back and near Ralph's tail.

Lastly,black scutes formed from his throat towards his underbelly covering his chest completely.Ralph looked at his new body then looked at the can and wondered,"Did this energy drink cause this?Well,the name of the drink was called DragonFire so I should take advantage of this while the gettings good."With great speed,Ralph rushed out of the door and tested his new wings,eventually gaining flight.He was delighted that a drink turned him from a regular kid to a hulking dragon and made Ralph's day all the more interesting.

                                                                 The End.