Powershifters
Chapter 1.
It was such a sight that everyone in the town had stopped to look. After all, it was not every day that a panther stopped for a drink in the middle of a town. The sleek black panther’s head slowly rose and she shook it back and forth to fling little water droplets everywhere. She opened her mouth and yawned, showing off large, gleaming teeth. The town’s people backed away in fear of the beast. The panther flicked her head around and her eyes locked in on her target: the meat stand. With a giant leap, the panther had carried herself straight to the stand. She bent her head and stared the man at the stand straight in the eyes. Grabbing a great big chicken in her mouth, she turned and left in a couple of bounds.
Almost five minutes later, the panther reached the forest. She skidded to a halt and dropped the chicken on the forest floor. Turning herself in a circle, the panther checked for people all around her, before she made her move. With that done, the panther’s form began to change, and within seconds a black haired, blue-eyed girl stood where the panther had moments before been.
“You should be more careful when you do that.” A woman said as she stepped out of the forest, “You’re lucky it was only me out there.”
The young panther girl spun around to see her adversary, before relaxing and saying, “Hello, mom, stop acting so sinister.”
The woman chuckled and said, “I’m not acting sinister, I’m acting like a mom, that’s a difference.” I was beginning to worry about you, Lillianna.”
Lillianna opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a large black dog jumping on her. “Ebony!” Lillianna screamed, “Get off.”
After shoving the dog off her, she bent to stroke a white cat who had come up to her. Turning to her mom, she said, “Come on, if we keep going west we’ll reach Dove’s Clearing by nightfall.”
***
The grass swayed in the setting sun as if disturbed, but not a thing was seen. About ten seconds later, a baby coyote pounced right where the grass had been disturbed. With a yip of frustration, the coyote scrambled off in the direction the wind had blown. This charade lasted almost five minutes, before the odd wind was revealed. A cremello horse stood where the breeze had last blown.
With a snort and a tilt of her head, the horse was transformed to a young teen. Flicking her head around, she noted that the coyote was now a scruffy-haired little boy. With a smile, the girl said, “Come, Grey, grab Wookie and let’s be going. Dove’s Clearing should be right over this hill.”
Grey hopped up and scooped up a little chimpanzee, he said, “But Anya, I’m tired.”
With a small roll of her eyes, Anya nudged Grey in front and began to climb.
Anya stood nervously outside the bushes that bordered Dove’s Clearing. With a small sigh, she and Grey stepped through. Wow, Anya thought, this is more people than I thought.
The pair of siblings took in all the people quickly. Across the clearing from them was a tall boy with glasses standing next to a slim girl with dirty blonde hair. Toward the left of the duo was a pale girl with black hair, and on the pair’s far right was a tall fair-skinned boy. Close to the left of Grey and Anya was a tanned girl with black hair and a brown haired woman.
With a loud bark, a boxer dog broke the silence, and everyone began laughing.
***
In the forest, not far away from Dove’s Clearing, stood a very unlikely trio. A pale girl in designer clothes leaned against a tree, studying her new nail polish Perched on her shoulder was a big spider. In front of her, a jaguar and a dire wolf faced off, growling deeply at each other.
“Boys, come on,” The girl yelled. “Arro, Ka, I’m talking to you!” The girl rolled her eyes as the jaguar roughly growled ‘Not now Sunny’ and continued to stalk around the wolf. Great, Sunny thought, at this rate, we’ll never make it to Dove’s Clearing in time to see their little meeting.
