metamorphosism

Tara let Sam down, and he just clung to her leg, responding to Maela with a little shake of his head. "Well at least he's not hurt." Tara said.

"Listen, we should get him back to his mom. She's probably worried sick about him. I'm going to go back at least, even if it is a suicide mission, I know I might not make it out of here. Don't think that his mom probably abandoned him when the riot started; it was probably an accident. I know how sad she would be if her child was lost...Anyone who wants to come with me back in there can come if they want. Just know that we might not make it back out." Tara finished, picking up the clinging Sam in to her arms once again. She turned to leave.

"ill go to," she stated, knowing that tara would need all the help she could get,"it also gives me time to find my old clothes.."... and the knives that she couldnt live without. "we'll meet back here if we can, unless you guys want to come to?" she asked. kita wished they would come with her, but at the same time, she didnt want to see them captured or hurt. "well? are you coming or staying?"

Uh-oh. Problematic. Maela just escaped, and she still had the bronze bracelet on, and she didn't want to risk getting caught. But Kita was a great friend, and she would trust her with her life. Maela's eyebrows furrowed, and Kita's eyes became clouded with questioning.

Will I stay or will I go? she thought.

"Yes...yes of course I will come," she said decidedly.

"alright," she felt bad that she was forcing them to choose like this, but there was nothing else she could really do,"Kaaya? what about you?" Tara was getting impatient waiting, and Kita couldnt blame her. the crowd were a lot less frantic now, and the guards were getting repositioned at their posts. it really was a suicide mission.

"don't leave without me!" Kaaya suddenly chirped, surprising herself. "Um-m, i mean, the guards probably won't notice me to much if i change clothes. And not a single soul around has seen me without my hair up, and without my +anima form. There are a lot of red haired people around, so ill blend in well" She explained, then added "The man (as she always called her owner) will probably think im crawling around the streets with my wings about crying. He thinks because i was obedient all this time i don't have any brains or willpower. I bet even now, he believes i was convinced to come along in the escape and that i want to come back." Her mind made, she inwardly grinned. After all, everyone had decided to come.

((lol someone really needs to post XP i have writers block right now though so i can ))

"Everyone is coming?" Tara said, maybe a little surprised. Some of the faces she saw were quite young, but they really had compassion. Especially for the child of their captors. "We have to hurry up, or else things will be too secure again. Lets go." Tara said, pulling Sam up in her arms. They started to walk, then run back towards the excitement. They couldn't miss their chance. Sam bumped up and down as Tara ran.

Suddenly, they turned the corner, and were back in the main hall. A voice shot out of the crowd: "YOU THERE!! FREEZE!!" Tara recognized the badge of the imperial palace, and hoisted Sam on to her shoulders. "We're looking for Sam's mom!"

Maela quickly tucked her hand with the bronze brace behind her back - she wouldn't want to get caught by this guy. Stealing a glance at Sam, she memorized his face. Then she leaped forward and barelled into a past the guard. She caught him off guard, and she was able to run speedily past. She ran through the crowd staring into the faces of young women, hoping to find a match quickly so she could get out of there.

This girl has a death wish. Tara thought, as she saw the plum-haired girl dart off in to the crowd. The whole point of her declarative comment was to get everyone's attention, but remain in a defensive stance. Now she was running off in to the crowd, and was probably going to get herself caught. Tara couldn't protect everyone this way, all split up. Seriously. Hopefully, since she had already been caught, the girl would be a bit more cautious the second time around.

"Listen up!" Tara yelled loudly. "We found this kid Sam in the back of the museum! Can anyone recognize him and come get him? We mean no harm!! We just want to return the kid!" She said, hoping that the guards would not treat this as a hostage situation. If this kid's mom didn't come soon, it might end up that way. Tara looked to the to the others for support.

"The King will decide what is best for you, don't you worry. And if it is threatening in anyway, I'll talk it over with him. I'll make sure it is only the best for my little Natsumi!" A tall, tan man with blonde hair and blue eyes hidden by glasses exclaims.
"Cut the father act, Jason. We both know that's a load of crap." I say shortly and coldly.
He decidedly ignores my comment and says, "The sooner we get those funds from him, the better. We'll be able to start your information gathering!"
"Information gathering? Is that what your calling it?" I ask, sarcasm dripping from my every word.
"The official name, yes. I've got a little surprise on our way there, though." He says. I look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"We are going to pass through an +anima museum. It's a glorious place where they put different types of +anima on display for the curious minds. You'll love it!" He exclaims.
"You've got to be freaking kidding me." I say as I glare at him.
"No! I tell the truth!" He exclaims, again, pretending to not get the point of my tone.
"And maybe, once we finish our research, you'll be in that exibit, too! And then I can come visit you even after our research is done!" He says cheerfully.
"Bite me." I say coldly as we continue walking through the town. I attempt to pull my hands apart, experimentally. It was no use, these metal cuffs were just too strong. Not to mention he would probably just activate my shock collar if I tried to run. With all of the tests the army had been doing to me already, I don't know why they were being so cautious. I could barely stand up this morning, but they refused to take any chances.

For a few months, at least that's how long they told me it's been, the labs that the army of Sailand posses having been doing experimentation on me, a mystical type of +anima. I used to be living in the savannahs of south western Sailand, but, one after another, troops had attacked me and my pack, non-stop. I was so exhausted after days of fighting that I collapsed and they captured me. Now, to continue with further research, they have to request permission from the King. As sign of peace and respect, they brought me with them to see the King. So here I am. Whoop-de-doo.

All of the sudden, we here shouts ahead. I see people running away from the direction we were heading in panic. I catch Jason's eyes widening, and then he begins to run towards the direction, yanking my by the chain that was connected to my shock collar. We stop in front of the museum, me trying to catch my breath from being dragged by the neck to this place and Jason standing still in a state of shock. I look at the chaos before me and smile for the first time in months.

People were shouting and running away in panic, +anima were going nuts and attacking guard after guard. The place was in pieces, and things were looking great for me. That is, until a few minutes later when things began to get organized. The guards began recapturing the escaped +anima, and people slowly calmed down. My attention shifts to a group of girls who were calling something out to the crowd, one of them holding up a small boy.

And then I did something more stupid than anything I've ever done. I ran towards the girls and the crowd, almost sufficating myself until a still suprised Jason had the chain to my collar yanked out of his hand. I dash into the crowd, and decide I should see what was going on.

"-mean no harm!! We just want to return the kid!" The blonde girl holding the boy on her shoulders shouts to the crowd. She looked nervously to her right, where I saw angry, impatient guards wondering what they should do. She looks to her left, and I follow her sight to the rest of the girls. I always did have this sort of feeling when I looked at other +anima. Right now, my 'radar' was going off to every single one of them except for the boy.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I turn and see a purple haired girl running through the crowd, and by her dashing pattern, she was looking for something or someone. Now, here, I was stuck with a very complicated dilemma. Should I help them? Or should I escape? If I left now, I'd definitly be able to run away for good. But these were fellow +anima and possible future traveling partners we are talking about. The true question: Is it worth it?

When the apparent leader of the guards raises his hand, a sign I knew from experience with the army that meant to attack, my body decided for me. I slam into the head guard, knocking several other guards into wall behind them. Had I not been so tired, I might have been able to turn into my +anima form. But because I was completely drained, I settled for beating them with the only weapon I had: my handcuffs.

I would knock one away every time they tried to get too close, and when I have two free seconds before another guard gets back up, I look over at the girls. The leader is staring in surprise at me. I glare at her impatiently and shout, "Well?!"

She had to admit, the handcuffed girl had guts. After all, she was beating guards over the head with her handcuffs. Kaaya had to wonder though, why she was helping. Oh well, that had to be thought about later. Looking through the crowd, she saw Maela had found someone. She was pulling a woman along who was urgently calling for her son. Kaaya quickly snatched the young boy from Tara, and rushed through the crowd. Quickly placing him in his mothers hands, she nodded to maela. "Let's go. Now!" Running back to the others, they were about to leave. Kaaya turned back to the one who had helped them. She seemed to be swarmed by guards, and flailing her handcuffs threateningly. There was no way she would leave her behind, but There were to many guards for her to fight off. Even if Tara, Kita , and Maela helped, they would probably get overwhelmed. So Kaya used her last option. Running at the girl, she jumped, pulling out her +anima in the air, and flapping hard, rising over the heads of the many soldiers. Kaaya leaned down and grabbed onto the girl. Heaving her wings, she managed to lift off the ground with the handcuffed girl in tow. While Kaaya had expected a few screams from the girl by being lifted into the air, she had only uttered a small yelp from the sudden tug, and seemed fully comfortable in the air. As Kaaya circled up and away from the mob of guards, following her travel companions, she thought, maybe this girl is a +anima, if she's used to being in the sky like this. Kaaya gasped at the heaviness of carrying another person in the air. At least her four wings were so much larger than most flying +anima, who generally have two wings that are smaller.This made it easier to carry things when flying. The second they were out of sight of the town, she landed on the ground with a thud, releasing her load. Pulling back her +anima powers so she could speak, she turned to the girl, as her friends circled around the girl as well. "Well... my names kaaya... and this is maela, kita, and Tara. We're all +anima. What's your name?"

One second I was surronded by guards and quickly loosing energy, and the next I was up in the air; suspended by the thin arms of one of the +anima girls in the group from before. She had butterfly wings that were amazing to look at, even though I barely even glanced at them. My body loosened up in the nostalgic land of the air. I would fly with my wings whenever I was around inclines. In fact, my wings and balance were what had gotten me through the mountains that seperate Sailand and Astaria. We fly for a while as I begin to calm down and observe where we are going. We finally land, more like crash, when we are outside the sight of the horrid city. As it would be disgraceful for me, being part feline, to land on my face, I land gracefully on my feet and stand up as soon as she lets me go. The rest of the girls from the group circle around me as I stare at the butterfly girl, who looked like she was trying to catch her breath. She finally turns around and looks at me. I see her speak, but it sounds like ringing in my ears. My vision blurs and then comes back on and my entire body feels off balance. Apparently, my exhaustion from the journey, experiments, and fighting had caught up to me. Just as the girl finishes talking, my vision goes black and I feel myself hitting the ground before I completely slip under.

Kaaya looked at her, the girl was acting strangely. Then when she toppled over, Kaaya gasped. "uh.. she must have been exhausted. She was probably hurt when she was captured." Thinking a bit, she continued." First we need to get her handcuffs and that metal thing on her neck off." Kaaya turned to the others for support. Tara smiled politely, held up her arm, changing herself to her +anima form, then swung down, badger claws clanging against the metal on her hand restraints. It didn't even dent the metal. "Try hitting the thinner metal, and use the back of your claw so you don't scratch her." The red haired girl said, knowing that the thin part was on the far sides of the girls hands, not the middle part that they had targeted first, for it was reinforced there. So Tara repositioned her hand so the blunt side faced down, and she threw herself into the movement, mustering more strength. It cracked, right through the middle. Tara did the same to the other side, and Kaaya used her delicate thin fingers to ease the cracked metal open."Okay that's done. But how are we going to get the thing on her neck off?" The butterfly +anima heard Maela say. Kaaya thought about that for a while, then sat the unconcious girl up, and looked at the back of her neck, spotting a hole, presumably meant for a key. "Tara, I think we need your help again." Tara walked up and peered at the keyhole, glad to help the girl who had assisted them.Kaaya wondered though, how they could free this girl without her, with her wonderful claws. Maela had claws too, but they were more stubby, while Tara's were big and sharp. But then again, Tara didn't have near the swimming capabilities as Maela. Just goes to show, she thought, how we all have such different abilities, yet none is better than the other. " try sticking your claw in there and twisting or hooking your claw in one of the grooves and pulling. It's weakest at the keyhole, because everything connects there." Tara nodded, thrusting her paw into the hole, and, making sure she didn't injure the girl too much, hooked her claw in the hole and twisted, pulling as hard as she could. Luckily the girl was unconcious as this would have been at least somewhat painful.As Tara was pulling and straining the metal, Kaaya lifted her arm. Then she brought her elbow, full force, down on the keyhole area, snapping the already far weakened metal, with her extra little blow to finish the job."Yes! it's off!"She shouted."Now we need to get some shelter. She may not wake for a little while and it's getting dark." Looking around, she spotted some caves. Attempting to lift the girl up, she gasped. Looks like she was a little bit more drained than she thought she had been when she broke free of the museum, ran a long time, then carried the girls weight in the air. So Kita came up this time, lifting the girl carefully. They walked, somewhat quickly, towards the cave,Sighing in relief as they entered it. Kaaya plopped onto the cold, hard, ground. Just as kita set the other girl down, she moaned and started to flutter her eyes open.Looking around her, Kaaya could tell she was wondering where she was. "We brought you to a cave. You're safe now." Then, wondering if she had heard the first introduction, she heard Maela speak up. " I'm Maela, The one with the red hair is Kaaya, long blonde hair is Kita and that's Tara, with the spiky blonde hair. What's your name?

((blah, i suck at paragraphs. Thats why my entried are usually one long continuous paragraph.))

My first thought upon waking up was where the heck I was. Apparently, the girl who had flown me here picked this up and said, ""We brought you to a cave. You're safe now." Safe? We were never safe! Not while they had me in their company, at least. The army gets what the army wants; that is why they have all the guns! Just as I was about to retort on this comment, the purple haired girl I had spotted dashing through the crowd speaks up. "I'm Maela. The one with the red hair is Kaaya, long blonde hair is Kita and that's Tara, with the spiky blonde hair. What's your name?" Now this is where the problem I overlooked before begins. If I told them my name, it would snow-ball into becoming friends, I was sure. I was selfish in hoping to have them as travel companions, because if they did become my companions, they'd sure have a lot more enemies. And mercy isn't one thing the army is known to show. Despite me thinking it was a bad idea, I say, "My name is Natsumi." Wait! My eyes widen as my now free hands shoot up to my bare neck; no collar! "H-how?"

Kaaya giggled. "You have Tara to thank for that. She did most of the work, being the only one with claws big enough to break you out. How come you had all those restraints?" Kaaya asked, already thinking she was probably a +anima, maybe a really strong one, if some one was putting handcuffs, and a metal collar attached to a chain on her. "Well, i guess you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I would like to know more about you." Then she thought it would be rude to not give information herself, so she added, "I became a +anima when i was really young so I don't remember much, but I do know that it helped me survive in the jungle. I think my parents and I were attacked by something, and I escaped, but we were in the middle of the jungle, so i needed to use my +anima powers to survive. The funny thing is, I HAD to become a butterfly because I needed a proboscis to get food from flowers since I was to young to know how to forage and I needed antennae to hear vibrations so I could escape predators before they got close enough to hear or smell me. And after I lived a long time there, I was found by Maela and a few other people. Then we got seperated a year ago, and I was captured by slave traders, and got sold to the +anima museum. After almost a year there, I met Kita and Tara and escaped. And we met up with Maela. That brings us up to now." Kaaya finished her somewhat long explanation, hoping this would make Natsumi calmer, now that some one elses past was out in the open. Kaaya was the one to do it, since she was probably the most willing to share her story out of everyone. Like she had said, She had become a +anima when she was young, too young for her to remember what it was like without her powers. Making her a lot more comfortable in her +anima form than most. Growing up in the jungle, having to have her +anima out all day and night lest something sneak up and attack her helped a lot too. Kaaya looked at Natsumi hopefully. It's not as if she was expecting all her secrets, just why she had been in cuffs and a collar, and what +anima she was (Kaaya being almost certain of this by now, because she didn't seem surprised at all by all the +anima around her and the fact that she was so accustomed to the air, and flying)

The girl who had flown me here, apparently named Kaaya, looks at me hopefully as she finishes the story of how she got her +anima, how she survived, where she was from, and how she had gotten here. She was asking me why I had restraints, and I believe it was implied that she also wanted to know what type of +anima I was. This ... was going to be problematic. For now, I could answer the easier question, "I am ... an experiment the army has captured. My +anima ... interests them. I was in that town, in fact, because they had to request permission from the King to continue their research. As twisted as Sailand is, they do have laws about +anima."

Kaaya's face fell. She imagined how terrible it would be to be a research subject. She guessed it wouldn't be THAT far fetched from her place in the +anima museum. Except, it was many people who looked and studied you, and you didn't get hurt by things. In fact, there were huge consequences for hurting a +anima from there, as it would create a mark on the +anima, or hinder its ability to perform. Kaaya had remembered the days when she was first put there, the days of banging uselessly against the thick glass wall. She shuddered slightly, and replied to Natsumi. "That must have been terrible. But at least you got away now. We should all get some sleep. She then noticed some murmurs of agreement from the rest of the group. Kaaya nodded to Natsumi and said, "well, good night." And with that, Kaaya coaxed out her +anima form, so she could curl into a ball, covering herself with her large wings. She fell asleep almost as soon as she had cocooned herself in her gigantic blanket-like wings.

I pretended to fall asleep until, finally, the girl named Tara fell asleep. I get up, completely soundlessly, and walk out of the mouth of the cave. I walk outside the cave, jump down to the flat ground and look off, towards the direction of the evil city. The direction it was in was perfectly reflected by the brightly lit up town. Did I dare? If I went back to Jason now, my new "friends" would have no chance of being caught. Plus, I can cause enough trouble in town for the entire security force to focus on me, and temporarily forget about the escaped +anima until they are safely away from the town. I shake my head to dispel this thought; they would probably come after my anyways, considering how much of a risk Kaaya took to rescue me when they didn't even know each other. I gather up the little strength I had gathered from sitting for so long and activate my +anima form. In the blink of an eye, I'm dashing towards the forest on all fours with the rush of the predator running through my veins. Prey was good; prey was food. We needed food, so game would be the best thing for us right now.

By the time I finally deactivate my +anima and my rush fades away slowly, I was sneaking back into the cave with two dead rabbits, some fish from a pond inside the forest, flowers that smelt like nectar, and a few oysters. Normally, oysters would be the last thing I would hunt for, but upon activating my +anima form, I smelled fresh and salt water on two of the girls. If they only ate things like oysters and/or fish, I wanted to make sure they would not feel obligated to eat meat. I hung the fish up, along with the cloth that held that dripping oyster, so they could dry. I set a fire going with a few dry sticks and special types of rocks I found in the forest that make a spark when you slide them together. Just as I set the rabbits and cloth that held the flowers down beside me, and begin tending to the fire, I hear a groan coming from the sleeping girls and turn to see Maela waking up.

First word out of Maela's mouth: "Oysters?"

In Peldon, Maela always ate oysters. When she got her +anima, her craving for them went up. When her +anima was out, that was all she could eat. Maela shuffled over to Natsumi and sat down. She grabbed an oyster before they were dry, and took one of the rocks that was lying beside the other girl.

Leaning her back against the wall of the cave, she began to pound at the oyster's shell. When it was open, she slurped up the meat inside. Ahh, fresh oysters. Dry, not so good. Cooked, even worse. But raw and fresh from a body of water perfect.

She eyed the pile of the oysters, and then looked at Kita. As far as she knew, only Kita was a water-based +anima, so she wouldn't have to share so many. She grabbed another.

"So," she said, looking at Natsumi, "tell me about yourself."

Looks like I had scored one. The second Maela woke up, she grabbed the oysters and began eating them like a squirrel with a pile of walnuts. While eating the first one after she opened it, she glances towards the sleeping Kita. I choked down a smile at the thought of how accurate my nose was. I hear her voice and look up, finding her looking at me and saying, "So, tell me about yourself."

I take a sharp, pointed rock from the ground and place one of the rabbits in my lap. I skin it with great care and concentration, "What's there to know? I'm twelve, I'm an +anima, I've escaped from the army, and I'm traveling with a bunch of other +anima, running from society. What more is there?"

Maela gave the younger girl "the eye."

"What more it there?" she repeated, "Well, let me think..." she said sarcastically. "Where are you from? What animal is your +anima? How did you become one? Let's make a deal. I'll tell you my story if you tell me yours."

Natsumi narrowed her eyes, but refused to look up from her work on the rabbit. This was not good, she was getting in too deep too soon. She didn't have to hear the story, as Natsumi hardly ever found herself curious about anything. But she didn't want to completely shut everyone out. "Fine, you go first." She finally concludes with a tired sigh.

Maela raised her eyebrows and was about to say "Nuh-uh! you go first!" when she decided against it.

"I was born very far north of here in Peldon," she said, taking another oyster. "I became a +anima when i tried to save my friend in a swift river, but I nearly drowned. That's where I got this." she lifted the bangs that was covering her right eye, and revealed it to the younger girl. There was nothing in the eye socket, and underneath the half-closed eyelid you could see everything. "I ran away, I made a new life. Your turn."

She tossed an empty shell at Natsumi, like a runner would pass the stick to their partner.

Natsumi catches the shell and closes her fist around it. Black wings and a scaley tail sprout from her back elegantly, her nails and canines grow and sharpen, ram horns curl out from the sides of her head as orange streaks line themselves through her cherry-red hair. As if her strength was slowly increasing every second, she squeezes the shell harder and harder as this transformation takes place until it breaks into pieces and falls to the ground.

She sets the rabbit down and curls her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and staring at the fire with piercing, red, cat-like eyes. "Things have never seemed to ... go my way. I originally lived at a church near the mountains that seperate Astaria and Sailand. I have no idea who my biological parents are, but Mr. Rosem, the priest, was like a father to me. He loved to do archeology in his free time, and was always finding or buying 'pieces of past'. One day the church caught on fire, and I was stuck in the building. I was stuck under a beam in Mr. Rosem's office. I spotted one of the pots with a picture of the Chimera on it, and next thing I know ... I'm this ... freak." Natsumi gestures to her odd appearance.

She continues, "When I got out of the building, Mr. Rosem found me, but my transformation was still on. I guess in the darkness of the night, I kind of looked like a devil to him, because that is what he called me. He ran off, and then apparently told the members of the church, because they came after me. I into the mountains, and would have died if not for my wings and the goat part of me. I crossed the mountains, ran into the savannah, became part of a lion pack, and then eventually got captured by the army. I already told you what's happened recently, so are you happy now?" She asks sarcastically.

Claws burst from her fingers and toes, a tail sprouted, and Maela's ears became circular and furry. In a flash, the short teenager was up. She pulled Natsumi up to and spat "I don't care if you get a world record for saddest past, do not ever mope about it. Live for the now. You're free, you're young, and you have, like, five freaking +animas! Cheer up."

And with that, Maela ran out of the mouth of the cave, leaving her shoes behind.

A few minutes later, Maela was relaxing in a small pond, clearing her head.