The white haze was slowly fading from Rubani's vision. Even then, the blurry world around her was still coming in to focus. The agonizing pain from before had rendered her unconscious; it almost gelt like the third time in one day that she had been to pick herself up off of the ground. This time around, though, her body felt... different. She felt a lot heavier than before, but the weight didn't feel the same either. In fact, she felt better than ever! She looked down to admire her surprisingly sturdy body, but her admiration was cut short when she realized what had happened.

When she looked down, she expected to find her normal body, a little worse for wear, but functional nonetheless. What she hadn't expected to find was a bright coat of orange and white fur all over her body.

She screamed. "Wha- what happened to me!?" she asked herself, "What is this!?" Not even her voice seemed all that normal. It almost sounded like she was growling, like some sort of animal! Wait, maybe that's what happened! The monster must have turned her in to whatever creature this was! This must be [i]his[/i] doing!

As if she was thinking of the devil himself, a loud crack sounded out, and a huge shadow fell around the group. The monster wasn't finished with them yet.

"Well, guys-" Its grin was practically audible. "Just try to stop this if you can!" He flung his hands forward and warped away as the tree toppled down in their direction. It was too wide to run to the side, too much pain and noise to focus on a plan-

And then everything stopped.

The wind suddenly grew still, the forest grew silent, and even the falling tree had stopped in mid air just above them. Of everything around them, only the four newly transformed humans were moving. That was, until a nearby bush began rustling, and another strange creature emerged from within.


"Oh my stars." It - no, she - also sounded like a young child as she stared at the four. "I - I know there's a lot going on right now and I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but you four - please, this way." She pointed behind her with the mallet, lurching forward and catching herself on the shrub. "I can't keep this up for much longer, and that tree's going to hurt if it lands on you."

Rubani wasted no time in figuring out the motives of this new creature, seeing as there want much of a choice. A blanket of relief was shining across her face. "Thank you!" she exclaimed as she started towards where the creature in the hood had pointed. "Thank you so muuooooaaah- oof!"

Unfortunately, she wasn't used to her body's new larger feet, and she wasn't able to keep from tripping over them. Her face crashed in to the ground with a heavy thud. Embarrassed, she quickly picked herself off of the ground and decided to sheepishly walk a little more carefully for the time being. This was going to take some getting used to.