Chapter 2: Brave New World

Moisture heavily coated the air. The shower of rain made itself known as it poured relentlessly against solid ground. A pair of eyes slowly opened, as their owner was brought out of her slumber by the rumbling chorus of thunder echoing from the heavens. Allie stirred and opened her eyes slightly further, finding herself staring up at the sky that was gray and cloudy.

"Ai..ko...?" She called out softly, only to receive no reply. Groggily, Allie sat up, immediately finding the task nearly difficult. Once she lifted the top half of her body and climbed to her feet, the girl wearily glanced about. Through her blurry vision, she noticed that she was in the middle of a dark forest area. Where... am I...? She thought faintly. It was no longer cold, but rather warm and extremely humid. There were no traces of white snow anywhere.

Still disoriented, she stumbled forward, but quickly caught herself by grabbing at the trunk of a large tree to keep herself from falling. Allie panted softly, rubbing her head to let the cobwebs clear away. The rain showered her relentlessly, disorienting her vision even further as raindrops leaked into her eyes. Her irises glanced over to the tree, and when she saw a blue paw with white claws instead of her hand, Allie thought she was dreaming. Maybe she was...

Suddenly, she sensed a presence approaching her from behind. Feeling a little relieved, Allie turned to whoever approached her. "Aiko...? WAAH!" She gasped sharply with wide eyes, having come face-to-face with a blue, googly-eyed creature. Allie quickly stepped back, but stumbled onto the ground when she performed the deed. Floating before was a blue, ghost-like creature with its tongue sticking out that seemingly looked at the girl innocently, "Plowmm...!" It squealed softly.

At first upon seeing how non-threatening this creature looked, Allie slightly eased her fear with a few sighs of relief. "U-Um...hi...?" She tried to greet the creature, smiling nervously as she did.

In response, the blue creature at first tilted its head cutely at Allie. Suddenly that cute demeanor melted away in an instant as the creature's innocent smile formed into a large toothy grin, and its eyes narrowed into blood red slits, hissing deeply with a menacing snarl, "PLOWMM!"

Allie only managed to widen her eyes and utter a shriek of alarm. This gave the ghost-like creature a chance to open its jaws at a fantastic size that threatened to consume the girl whole, and immediately moved its rows of fangs towards her. Allie stumbled back frantically just in time to see the large set of sharp teeth snap down inches from her face, narrowly missing the girl. Her choice of action however, caused her to slip back and fall into a ditch that laid behind her. She tumbled against the soft, muddy slope and landed in the thick murky water puddles that rested below.

Sitting up, Allie shook her head to relieve herself of her disoriented vision, but caught a glimpse of a pair of orange feet that seemed like her own. She wearily glanced up to where she fell, partly dizzy from the tumble. Her eyes widened in terror when she saw the Plowm floating down towards her with malicious intent as it let out a snarling cackle. The creature's appearance soon mutated into a more monstrous version of its former self, and that transformation prompted a terrified Allie to scurry along the trench to escape her pursuer. The Plowm issued a gargling bellow as it soared after the fleeing girl, its lolling tongue trailing behind it like a ribbon.

Allie darted frantically through the rain and mud, but was struggling to keep herself balanced for some odd reason. Suddenly she felt something slimey wrap around her body and lift her up into the moisty air. She was swung about, catching sight of the Plowm having constricted her with its long tongue and was now swinging her around, even drawing her close to its gaping, toothy jaws to intensify her fear as Allie screamed.

Unknown to Allie, the Plowm was merely toying with her, like a cat playing with its prey before eating it. Its saliva, combined with the rain, fortunately caused the Plowm to lose its grip on Allie, and she was sent flying through the air towards the other side of the ditch. As she neared the slope, she flailed her arms frantically to gain any of kind of footing to avoid falling back into the ditch where the Plowm was waiting for her below. Her claws managed to catch hold onto the plank of an old ladder that rested against the muddy wall of the slope.

"Dad...! Aiko...! Wake me up!" Allie cried loudly in pure terror as she desperately tried to claw her up the broken ladder, but the surface of the slippery planks made by the rain made it impossible. Down below, the Plowm simply floated to the side of the ditch while looking up at the girl, snarling with anticipation as it once again parted its jaws wide.

Allie glanced her frantic eyes down back in growing horror as the Plowm's mouth was about to consume her. "Get away...!" She cried out desperately. As the Plowm drew closer, a burst of green light emitted from the girl. The Plowm screeched in pain as it was repelled by the strange blast of light and reeled downwards towards the muddy depths of the ditch below. Confused by what had just happened, Allie quickly managed to gain a hold on the ladder she was holding onto, and with the help of the adrenaline currently pumping through her veins, she was able to climb out of the ditch.

As the Plowm painfully plunged into the dirt in a spray of mud and water, Allie had crawled out of the trench and looked back over her shoulder to where the creature was, but caught sound of something crumbling above her. She looked up in time to see a large, old tree, that was uprooted by the severity of the rainstorm, leaning off the end of a rocky ledge before her, crashing against the slope and barreling its way down towards her. With a shriek, Allie made a frantic leap for the side just as the tree, and some loose rocks, came crashing down heavily...

00000

For a brief moment, every sense had failed Aiko; she could neither move nor breathe. It felt as though her body had simply faded away, and only her mind remained. She was just beginning to wonder if this was death when a gentle breeze surrounded her. She rested atop of a cool, cushiony surface like moss, and the gentle warmth of sunlight carrassed her. Somewhere, a bird was singing nearby, and the rushing air of the wind blew around her. However, to her, it was odd. Back home, it was freezing cold, but where she is... it was unusually warm...

Suddenly, something sharp was poking at Aiko's head, followed shortly by a small, cowlike squeal. Aiko groaned, feeling the piercing headache shoot directly into her skull as she regained consciousness. She placed her hand on her forehead, and she struggled to sit up from her sprawled, lying position on her stomach. For some reason, she found this task difficult as she felt herself being unusually rounder than normal. Unsteadily, Aiko opened her eyes... only to realize that she was staring directly into the eyes and face of a round, red creature.

"Moo?" The red creature mewled, its big, blue eyes staring into the Aiko's.

"Aaaaaahh!" screamed Aiko loudly as she frantically backed away from the strange creature, still in her sprawled position in alarm and fright, her heart pounding. The red, round creature also cried loudly in alarm before running away from the startled girl until it disappeared into the bushes. The creature was completely round like a ball, its blue paws ending with three, white claws and its feet were flat and orange. Its ears were long like a rabbit's with the addition feature of a yellow ring of fur on each one, and a pair of round, blue paws were connected to its side. Despite its appearance, the rabbit-like creature was kind of cute.

Aiko panted heavily, startled by the encounter, but quickly calmed herself down with a few deep breaths before looking at her surroundings. She was laying in a bed of moss in the midst of a pine forest, the gigantic evergreens reaching up so hight that Aiko could hardly could see the tops. Where was she? Aiko wasn't at home, that's for sure. But how did she get way out here in the middle of a forest? As Aiko sat herself up, she slowly recalled Allie being grabbed by a large monster, and then she and Aiko were separated in some sort of tunnel...

Wait... Allie!

"Allie? Allie!" She called out, but received nothing but the faint calls of the wild.

Another splitting headache suddenly struck Aiko's head, forcing her to close her eyes as she placed her hand to her head to help soothe the pain. She forcefully opened one of her eyes when Aiko felt something strange about her fingers. They felt almost like... claws. Aiko moved her hand away to get a good look at it, and to her horror, she saw that instead of hands, she was looking at a cobalt blue, round paw with three, white claws that replaced her fingers. She looked at her other hand and saw that it was a blue paw as well!

"W-What...!" Aiko gawked, her eyes widening. She placed her hands (paws) to her head and felt that she now had long ears.

Deeply frightened by her animalistic features, Aiko gave out a small yell of fright. She frantically rolled to her feet, immediately discovering that they were now flat and orange. Terrified by her new appeared, she started stumbling around, "Wh-Wah!" Aiko fell forward, tripping on her own two feet.

In spite of her shock, Aiko's newfound ears perked up upon detecting the gurgling rush of running water nearby. Scrambling to her feet, she followed her ears and slowly came upon a river. While the wind was blowing gently, the trees on the river bank were lush and healthy as the water bubbled and churned over and around the rocks, shining crystal clear in the patches of the sun that shimmered through the canopy.

Aiko hurriedly ambled to the edge of the brook and looked down at her reflection in the water, shrieking loudly with alarm. The ten year old now saw herself as a blue and round, rabbit-like creature; a blue version to the red one she saw but slightly smaller. Her long ears each had a ring of yellow fur and her once brown eyes had turned into blank, green ones. Aiko raised a paw, brushing it against the spot where her nose should be. She felt nothing there, and the girl discovered that she had no longer had a nose.

"..." Aiko slowly collasped to the grass out of shock and disbelief. She laid there for quite a while as her eyes glimmered along with the sun's reflection on the water's surface. What had happened? But most importantly, where is she? Where was Allie...? I must be having a really really weird dream... She thought, closing her eyes as she brought her paws over to her head and brushed against her forehead to scratch away an itch.

A gunshot rang out nearby, startling Aiko as she turned towards the direction where the gunfire emitted from.

Gunshots come from guns. And when there are guns, especially in a forest area filled with animals...

"A hunter?" Aiko muttered, her eyes lit up with hope and her ears flicked up, "Maybe he can help me.." Without hesitation, she began making her way towards the source of the gunfire, all the while stumbling and tripping along the way. More gunshots rang out as she neared the source. Although quietly grumbling at her new form for making her fall numerous times as she ran, Aiko managed to reach the edge of the forest she was in and found herself staring at an amazing sight.

Before her was a large, lushful field littered with dandelions and buttercups while the wind blew westwards against them. A large windmill stood in the meadow, its mighty fans turning counter clockwise along with the wind. Aiko could see some sort a town nearby filled with hut-like houses, large and small, amongst the windy plains.

Another gunshot pierced the air, this time slightly louder than the last. Aiko flinched, startled by the sound, and immediately turned her head to where the gunshot emitted from. She sighted a couple of red creatures in the open field, the very same kind she had encountered minutes ago, wandering about aimlessly through the meadow. Suddenly, shots were fired and one of the creatures exploded into clouds of stars and dust, greatly startling Aiko as she emitted a small shriek. Soon, the same fate befell the other red creatures nearby, causing the girl to jump slightly with each gunshot that was fired. Someone was definitely shooting them.

Aiko glanced around until she spotted a figure walking through the plains. She figured that it was the hunter. But to her complete surprise, the hunter looked completely different than she had expected. The hunter was actually a humanoid, black and yellow wolf. A black ponytail whipped about behind the wolf's head, being blown around by the breeze. Cold, blue eyes scanned the meadow before him, spotting another pair of red, round creatures walking around. The wolf pointed a red gun marked with a yellow star and fired shots at the round creatures until they exploded into clouds of smoke and stars. Aiko once again jumped at the sight, shocked. She was now the same kind of species those creatures were, at least a younger and smaller version of them. And that hunter was killing them where they stood. If he saw her, then...

Suddenly, the wolf's ears twitched and he came to a stop. He turned his head, locking his sapphire eyes to Aiko. The girl immediately froze up and knew that the hunter had spotted her. Fear gripped Aiko as she kept eye contact with the wolf hunter, finding herself whimpering softly and trembling, her heart was even pounding in a fast rate. Her mind was racing on what she should do now that the hunter had seen her, dreading that he would most likely kill her on the spot like he did with the other creatures she had taken the form of.

When the wolf turned to fully face Aiko with his red gun in hand, the girl finally snapped out of fear's grip and scurried back into the cover of the woods, scared for her life. She bolted quickly, nearly stumbling on her newly orange, flat feet during her sprint. Her green eyes took several glances back, looking to see if the hunter was following her while she ran through bushes and other foliage that stood in her way.

This is bad, this is bad! Aiko thought, her mind being in a state of panic. As she looked back again to see if her pursuer was trailing her, the girl suddenly ran into something she failed to see and bounced back onto the grass with a moan. Aiko rolled herself to sit up straight, using her right paw to rub the aching spot on her forehead. She glanced up to what she had hit, only to widen her eyes in bewilderment.

Standing before her was a boy. Though what really shocked Aiko was when the boy turned his head to face her in response to the girl bumping into him.

The boy was another human-like animal, though this one possessed a face that resembled that of a feline's. Aiko couldn't tell if he was truly a cat or another kind of animal due to his long ears ending with five, white edges. He wore normal clothes that you'd expect a normal person would wear; a blue shirt and slightly darker blue shorts. Gripped in its yellow gloved, right hand was a large yellow ring with a green gem that gleamed vividly in the sunlight. Aiko continued staring up at the boy. At her current height, she was only around the size of his knees, and it was a little intimidating that he was much taller than her.

"A blue Moo...?" The boy wondered, eyeing Aiko curiously, vaguely seeing her blue fur coat. His voice sounded young, but slightly older.

Aiko only blinked, still staring up at the animal-like boy; her eyes widening even further when she heard him speak plain english. A talking animal boy? Was she still dreaming...? She has to be.

Her ears then flicked up in alarm when the boy turned around fully and pointed his yellow ring at her, its emerald jewel shimmering by the sunlight. As Aiko stiffened with dread, the boy smiled somewhat apologetically, "Sorry, but we gotta clear this place up."