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"Common, please?" I begged for the umpteenth time.
"Know what," My mom said, giving a surrendering sigh. "If you pay for it, feel free to go."
I jumped up, giving a silent cheer.
I ran into our computer room, bought some plane tickets and reserved a hotel.

I suppose I should give a slight explanation.
My name is Ryan.
For the past month, I've been hearing that a ruin in South America that my friend went to recently.
He said it was amazing, so I just had to go.
I've been begging my parents to let me go.
And I've finally just worn them down.

The next day I was in the airport.
Some people were giving me strange glances.
I could tell they weren't from here, though.
The people that were from my state could care less.
It was normal for a kid my age to go on trips alone.

I was getting frustrated as the flight schedule still had the "Delayed "sign on them.
I almost jumped up when it finally flashed "Arrived".
When I was allowed to board, I ran right to my seat.
When I had all my carryon put away, I just sat anxiously, waiting for the plane to take off.
After the flight attendant ran through the safety instructions, where we would make refueling and boarding stops, and when food would be provided, the plane ascended into the air after a dash down the runway.

My ride was pretty standard.
I just watched a movie on my iPod then took a short nap.
When I woke up, I learned we had just landed in Texas for a quick boarding stop.
I decided to get out and buy from one of the restaurants there.
Because those package pretzels really fill you up.
I settled on a pizza place.

While I was eating, I thought about the dream I had on the flight.
In it, I saw sixteen people, all of them different ages, and all of them unrecognizable.
I then saw a bright flash of light.
When it cleared, all of the people were different, but I wasn't asleep long enough to see what changed.

When I finished eating, I sat in the airport lobby and just played "Angry Birds" for an hour.
Since I stunk at the game, I only passed on level.
When I was finally allowed back on the plane, I just plopped down and ordered a pair of headphones.
I watched around five movies before I lost track.
I got extremely hyper again when I heard we would be landing in five minutes.

After gathering my luggage, I stepped out of the airport and hailed a taxi.
I gave him the directions to my hotel.
After checking in, I went to my room.
I plopped my luggage down on the bed.
I wasn't reserved for the museum until tomorrow, so I turned on the T.V.
After flipping through the channels, I gave up, as they were all in different languages.
I just decided to turn in for the night.

When I got up, the first thing I did was call home.
"Oh, honey! We were wondering when you'd call." My mom said, slightly irritated.
"Yeah, sorry." I replied. "It was too late when I landed to call you."
"Well, at least you're ok." My mom sighed in relief. "Just remember to bring that survival pack I gave you."
"Fine mom. " I said, groaning. "Bye."

The "Survival Bag" was just a small backpack full of a few snacks, water, a first aid kit, and a flashlight.
I have no clue why she thought I would need this, but to make her happy I used it anyway.
Looking at the clock, I saw that I had an hour to get to the museum.
I showered, changed clothes, grabbed my backpack, and ran out the door, all in thirty minutes.

I stared in awe at the museum.
It was a large stone building, with a large amount of steps in front of it.
I gave my ticket to the person at the entrance, and she told me where the tour was.
Walking inside, I was met with a large lobby.
It was almost filled to the brim with people.

I went into the room set aside for the tour.
I was given the special audio device as I entered.
I selected "English" on the device, and began the tour.

"Welcome." The recording started. "Thank you for joining us on this tour of relics from the recently discovered ruins. Our scientists found these ruins around forty years ago"
I looked at a faded painting of a man and what looked like him turning into a bird.
"It is believed that the ancient people of this civilization had the power to shape shift. This is one of the many drawings that were found in some of the smaller temples."
The next painting was what looked very similar to a Pikachu.
"As the ancient people progressed with their power, they were able to create their own beings. The creator of Pokémon actually used some of those creatures as inspiration."

'Isn't that a neat little fact?' I thought to myself.
The last thing in that section of the room was a map of the area the ruins were discovered.
It was full of little temples and trees.
The strange thing was, there was a circle of trees surrounding a very large area in the center.
Instead of the little details, there was just a question mark.
"This is a map of the area the ruins were discovered. As you can see, there is a large question mark in the center. That is because our researchers have not been able to research the area. The trees are literally side-by-side, so it is impossible to enter without the risk of damaging anything. We also cannot use helicopters, as the tree branches cover the view."

After exploring the rest of the exhibit, I decided to get something to eat at the food court.
While I was eating, I noticed something strange.
A bunch of burly men in security outfits were making a bunch of people follow them.
My curiosity got the best of me, and I followed them, trying to remain unnoticed.
The guards made the people go into a discreet room, only noticeable if you really took the time to look.
When they were all in there, I tried opening the door.
"Locked." I muttered to myself.

Now, most people would give up now.
But not me.
When I wanted to find something out, it took a lot more than a locked door to stop me.
Looking around, I noticed an air duct.
Better yet, the grate was removed, probably for renovations.
I crawled into it, having more than enough room to crouch comfortably.

After a bit of crawling, I made my way to the vent leading into the room on the other side of the locked door.
This one still had the grate on, but I was able to see out of it.
The people that were dragged away were all sitting at a large meting table.
Most of them had worried expressions, but a few just looked bored.

Just then, a man in a suit walked in.
"Welcome." He said happily, but with a hint of mischief in his voice.
"Why are we here?" One of the people asked.
"Well, before I say, who would like some food?" The man asked, obviously avoiding the question.

A few of the guards walked in, holding silver platters.
They placed one in front of each of the people.
However, only one of them ate the food.
A few seconds after he was done, he grasped his hand in pain.

I gasped, as did the other people in the room, when the boy began to grow green scales on his hand.
His ring and middle finger merged together, causing him to have only four fingers on that hand.
The scales covered his arm and spread to his other arm, where similar changes occurred.
The scales turned white as they spread up and down his chest and abdomen.
His belly swelled out a great amount.
A large red lump formed on his back, becoming something like a saddle.
His back extended into a tail, growing green scales on the top, and white scales on the bottom.

Though I couldn't see it, his legs moved to the sides of his body.
They bulked up with muscles so they could now support him.
His shoes became brown and merged with his feet and legs.

The changes finally reached his head.
The white scales covered his lower mouth and cheeks, but the green scales covered the rest of his head.
His nose disappeared, just leaving two holes on his face.
Then, where his nose was, it grew out and rounded, becoming a large snout.
His ears disappeared.
His eyes became bigger and moved to the top of his head, poking out.
Three large red scales grew out of the back of his head.
He now resembled the Nintendo character, Yoshi.

"Well, how did you like the food?" The man asked, laughing evilly.
The now Yoshi tried to say something, but all that came out was Yoshi speech.
"You'll all go through similar changes, just for my enjoyment." The man said, still laughing. " Ta-ta for now."

After the man and his guards left, I began banging on the vent grate.
The people in the room all rushed over to see what was making the noise.
"Help me get this thing open." I ordered. "I'm going to help get you guys out of here."
They complied, and together we managed to break open the grate.
"Follow me." I ordered again.

We all crawled through the ducts until I found one that led outside.

"Common, hurry!" I yelled, running towards the dense forest.
Everyone followed, although the now Yoshi kid ran slightly faster than everyone else, and had to stop every now and then to let us catch up.
We finally made it to the forest, but continued running when we heard people chasing after us.
We ran through a gap in a line of trees, hoping they wouldn't look there.

But as soon as we ran through, two large trees quickly grew up from the ground, making it so no one could enter, or leave.
"Alright… I think… we're ok…" I panted.
We all stopped and almost simultaneously collapsed on the ground and against trees.
"So," I started, catching my breath. "Guess we're stuck here."
"You think?" One of the people, a fifteen year old boy, said sarcastically.
"Since we're stuck together," I said, ignoring the boy. "We should at least learn each other's names."

After a bit of talking (and writing, for the Yoshi), I learned everyone's name.
There was Thomas, Quinn, Brad, John, Tony, Reece, Nico, Tyler, Marcus, Brianna, Alex, Isabelle, Ryan, Jamie, and Elliot (the Yoshi).
Finally having the time to see what the people look liked, I made a silent gasp.
They looked just like the people I saw in my dream.
Well, except for Elliot, since he didn't look like himself anymore.
I just assumed he was one of them, since there were sixteen people in my dream.
That was the strange part though.
There were sixteen people.
Then who was the missing person?
I had more pressing matters, however.
It was getting dark, and we were trapped here.
"Ok." I spoke up. "It's getting dark. We should look for firewood. Anyone have matches?"
"I do." Tony spoke up, handing me the small box full of the little sticks.
"Alright, let's go find some firewood."

After a few minutes, we all met back up at the camp.
I made a small circle out of rocks and we put some of the sticks we found in it, and then lit it with the matches.
"Just in time." I said to myself.
The sun was just setting over the horizon, causing the temperature to drop a great amount.

"Ok, we should probably take watch, just in case. I'll go first, then last." I said, trying to take command again.
"Who made you leader?" Quinn asked, obviously annoyed.
"I think it's a good idea." Brie spoke up.
"Fine." Quinn grumbled.

The night went on uneventful.
That was, until, it was my last shift.
I was just sitting against a tree, nearly asleep.
I then heard someone get up.
I saw it was Ryan.

"Ryan, what are you doing?" I asked, standing up.
He just ignored me and started to walk away.
I started to follow him.
However, unknown to me, I accidentally shoved Tony into the fire a little bit.

When Ryan finally stopped, he just stood there.
I ducked down into a bush, trying to remain hidden.
I then gave a silent gasp as an entity slowly materialized in front of him.
It formed into a young woman in a long, flowing gown.
The strangest thing, though, was that she was glowing and see-through.

"Ryan…you have been selected." The entity said in a gentle voice. "Your friends will need help on this journey."
She put her hand on his shoulder, and it glowed brightly for a brief second.
When the light subsided, Ryan seemed to have gained control of himself again.
"W-what happened?" He mumbled to himself.

We both gasped in horror as a grey fur covered tail grew out of his back.
"What's going on?!" Ryan asked in disbelief.
The fur from the tail quickly spread up to his legs, which then became digitigrade, causing him to fall onto all fours.
His feet popped out of his shoes as they twisted and changed into paws.
The fur covered his abdomen and spread up to his arms.
After his arms were covered in the fur, his hands also changed into paws.

Lastly, his head was covered in the fur.
His nose flattened and turned black as his face pushed out into a muzzle.
His ears became pointed and moved to the top of his head.
He had become a grey wolf.

"Very nice." The woman said. "I must be going now. Look out for your friends."
And just like that, she was gone.
Ryan just stood there, in complete shock.
I slowly came out of the bushes.
"Ryan?" I asked cautiously. "Are you ok?"
I stayed back a few feet, just in case he was vicious.
He simply nodded and looked at the ground, ashamed.
"Don't feel bad." I comforted. "Common, let's go back to camp."

When we returned, I became scared.
Tony's arm was lying in the fire, him still sound asleep.
After pulling him out, I was surprised to see that part of his shirt was burnt off, but his arm wasn't burnt in the slightest.
"Tony. Tony, wake up." I whispered.
Well, I thought I whispered.
Everyone else woke up too.
They all gasped at the sight of a wolf, but after a brief explanation they calmed down.

That was when I saw Tony's arm.
It was growing light yellow fur.
"Tony, look at your arm." I said, horrified.
"What's wrong with- ah!" He yelled, just noticing.
His middle and ring finger merged together, giving him four fingers on that hand.

The fur spread across his chest and onto his other arm.
It went through similar changes as the other one.
As the fur reached his back, it became thicker and turned bluish-green.
On his back, a few holes appeared, and at the pain of them forming Tony caused some blue flames to rise out of them.
At sight of them, everyone jumped back a foot.

When the fur moved to his legs, they were almost completely sucked into his body, leaving only his feet and two small stubs as legs.
In order for him to stay on two feet, his "legs" bulked up with muscle.
The rest of his body also bulked up with muscle.
As his back gained strength, it caused him to have a slight hunch.

When the changes finally made it to his neck, it grew out slightly.
The bluish-green fur grew over to his forehead, causing his hair to fall out.
The rest of his face was covered in the light yellow fur.
His nose became two holes as his face pushed outwards into a muzzle.
His teeth fell out, being replaced with much sharper ones.
Lastly, he closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, his irises were red.
He now looked just like a Typhlosion from Pokémon!

After a long period of silence, Tom spoke up.
"Are you ok Tony?" He asked timidly.
"I…think so." Tony said gasping.
"You can still talk?!" Isabelle gasped.
"Yeah, I didn't go crazy or anything." Tony replied, sounding slightly irritated.

"Hey, look at that." I said, noticing a bit of light peaking through the trees. "It's already morning."
"So, what should we do now?" Nico asked. "We're trapped, we have a psychotic man chasing us, and three of us aren't even human!"
"Maybe we should try and find a way to fix them." Brie suggested.
"I'm fine with that." Tony responded.

We decided to just continue walking, since we didn't have many other choices.
Elliot still had to slow down every now and then to let us catch up.
After a few hours of walking, Reece noticed something.
"Hey guys, what's that?" He asked.
We all walked over to it.
It turned out to be a large stone tablet with strange writing on it.
"Anyone know what is says?" Brad asked.
"I think I can figure it out." I offered. "I bought a translation book from the museum."

After a few minutes of trying to figure it out, I finally found out what it said.
"You have been lucky enough to get into this part of the forest. Ahead of you await many trials. Many of them will cause you to change form. However, if you can make it to the end, a great prize awaits you. Power beyond belief."
"What could that mean?" Tyler asked.
"I think that Tony's transformation was one of the "trials" it mentioned." Mark commented.
"Maybe…" I muttered. "I'm definitely curious about this 'Power Beyond Belief.' I say we keep moving."

"Just give me a minute." Nico said, leaning against a tree. "I want a rest."
"Yeah, I could use a sit too." Tony commented, sitting on a rock. "Takes a lot walking this far without legs."
"Alright, fine." I surrendered. "Let's rest for a little."
"I'm hungry." Brie complained. "Anyone have anything to eat?"
"Here," I answered. "I've got some granola bars."

I began to pass them out, but Nico objected.
"I hate those things. I'll just eat this." She said, picking a fruit off of the tree he was leaning on.
"You sure that's safe?" Brad questioned.
"Don't nag me!" Nico snapped back, taking a big bite out of the fruit.

A few seconds after she did that, something began to happen.
She was growing light green scales on her legs!
"Umm, guys? What's happening?!" Nico yelled in horror.
The scales quickly covered her legs.
After they were completely covered, they began to merge together!
After her legs became one, darker green scales grew on the back of them, and it extended greatly.
Leaves then grew on the end of it.

When the scales reached her arms, they stopped.
Instead of being covered, her arms and hands shrunk into small little leaves.
"Oh, very funny." She said sarcastically, looking at them.
Two longer leaves grew out of her chest and over her shoulders.

The scales became white in-between where the two large leaves diverged.
The white scales began to cover her face as it pushed outwards into a snout.
The light green scales, however, grew up the back of her head and went all the way to her forehead, causing her hair to fall out.
Her ears grew longer and pointed, moving to the very back of her head.
Lastly, she closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, they were red and reptilian.

"Ugh." Nico groaned.
Finally taking stock of her new body, she began to panic.
"Why me?!!" She yelled, flailing her…leaves?
Everyone recovered quicker than for the last few changes, which I think was a bad thing.
"It's ok." Brie comforted. "I think you look pretty."
"Really?" Nico asked, calming down.
"Yeah!" Brie replied. "Why don't you try moving?"

It took a while, but Nico finally got used to moving on her tail.
Just then, I saw Tony nibbling on the same fruit Nico ate, completely oblivious to what happened.
'Weird.' I thought. 'Maybe these things don't affect people who were already changed?'

We then continued on our way.
As we were walking, I noticed that John and Tom seemed to be becoming friends.
They seemed to enjoy talking to each other, despite the age gap.
The sun was just starting to set, so I suggested we set up camp here.
We broke off into groups to get firewood.
I was with John, Tom, Ryan, and Brie.

As we were looking, we stumbled upon a large lake at the bottom of a small cliff we were on.
"Wow…" John said in amazement.
I understood his amazement.
The lake was crystal clear, looking as if it was untouched for centuries.
It was so clear; I was able to see the bottom, which was at least twelve feet down.

Suddenly, we heard a loud scream in the distance.
Brie gave out a yelp, and stumbled backwards, right into John.
He stumbled, trying to catch his balance, but failed, and fell right into the lake.
"John!" Tom yelled, trying in vain to grab his arm.
He hit his head on the rock, almost instantly knocking him out.
He then fell right into the water, still visible beneath the splash.

I gasped, not only because of what just happened, but because two shells started to hover up from the depth, flying up and latching themselves onto his legs.
He almost immediately began shrinking.
I wasn't able to tell how much, though, as he was almost at the bottom of the lake now.
Before he was buried by his shirt, I noticed that he was growing black fur on his hands.

Ryan then did something unthinkable.
He jumped right into the water, and swam down to its depths.
He grabbed John's shirt, which now contained his shrinking body, in his mouth and then swam to the nearby beach.
We all ran down to meet them.

When we uncovered John from the shirt, we noticed that he had stopped shrinking; now being around 3'09".
The fur also had progressed on his body.
It turned light blue on his arms.
His fingers also had merged together, leaving him with only three on each hand.

The fur continued to grow across his chest.
When it reached his legs, it turned dark blue and became a lot thicker.
When it continued to his legs, it became thinner and light blue again.
As soon as the fur covered his legs, they shrunk, causing him to lose another 1'02".
His feet grew black fur, similar to his hands.
His toes began to merge, leaving him with only three on each foot.

The changes finally made it to his head.
The light brown fur covered his face and the rest of his head, causing his hair to fall out.
His nose became oval shaped and turned pink.
He grew two white whiskers on each of his cheeks.
His ears became shorter and pointed, moving to the top of his head.
A thin tuff of fur grew on the back of his head.
Lastly, his spine extended into a flat, black fur covered tail.

"Another one changes…" I muttered.
John was still knocked out by the time we made it back to camp.
A few moments later, the rest of the group returned.
It was then I learned what the origin of the scream was.

Quinn's head looked very similar to Tony's, only a little cuter looking.
"What the hell happened?!" Brie exclaimed.
"Alex thought it would be a good idea to jump out and scare Tony." Quinn explained. "I was right behind him, so when he got scared, his flames shot out and hit me in the face. I'm already pretty far into the changes."
He held out his hands, which were now light yellow fur covered paws.
"I said I was sorry!" Alex back lashed. "Tony did too!"

It was obviously noticeable that Quinn was losing height.
I also noticed that the green fur continued down his back, as the light yellow fur covered the front.
When the fur progressed to his legs, they were sucked into his body, leaving only his feet showing, and also forcing him to become quadruped, but still partially biped.
A few holes formed on his backside and head, a jet of flames burst out of them for a second.
Lastly, he closed his eyes, reopening them to reveal that his irises had turned red.

"Great, look at me!" Quinn yelled, gesturing himself.
"Aw, common. I think you look adorable." Tony commented, picking him up.
"Put me down." Quinn demanded, annoyed.
Tony obliged, and then lit the fire for us.

As we were sitting around the fire, I did some thinking.
As I was doing so, Tom was looking concerned at John, who was still out cold.
Quinn had finally surrendered to being pet by Isabelle.
"Ok guys, I think I've figured it out." I said, standing up.
"What do you mean?" Tyler asked.
"I believe that I've learned what causes these transformations." I answered. "I think that the cause is the forest it's self. When Tony and Quinn touched fire, they became what they are now. When John fell into the lake, he changed. When Nico at the fruit from the tree, she changed. However, when Tony ate the same fruit, he didn't change. I think that after we change, we are not able to change again. Also, the causes of the changes are elements inside the forest, like fire and water, or anything that isn't necessary for us to touch. However, it doesn't seem to be able to harm you badly. I've decided to call it, 'The Forest's Curse.'"
"Sounds right to me." Reece commented.
"Same here." Jamie added.

Tom then suddenly stood up and walked over to Brie.
His saddened face had changed into anger.
"It's all your fault!" He yelled at her.
I understood why he was mad.
It was obvious that over the time we've all been together, he had grown to like John.
"If you hadn't pushed him, this wouldn't have happened!" Tom continued to yell.
"I didn't push him! I fell into him!" Brie defended, almost in tears.
"It doesn't matter! You still caused this!" Tom retorted, still furious.

"Just leave me alone!" Brie screamed, pushing him.
Tom fell backwards into the fire.
Me and Jamie both jumped up and pulled him up out of the flames.
But it was too late.
The Forest's Curse had already taken effect.

His shirt was burnt off, but instead of burnt skin, we saw orange scales spreading up his body.
"Look what you did!" Tom shouted at Brie. "I'm going to turn into one of those monsters!"
Suddenly, a large, scale covered tail grew out from his back, a flame lighting on the end of it.
A pair of wings with blue membranes formed quickly afterwards.
As the scales covered his now expanding belly, they turned pale.
His legs were covered by the orange scales as they bulked up with muscle, but shrunk.
His feet popped out of his shoes, covered in the scales.
His toes merged and hardened into three sharp claws.

As the scales covered his arms, they thinned greatly.
His fingers merged together and grew sharp white claws at the ends of them, leaving him with three clawed fingers on each hand.
As the scales covered his neck, it grew out a great amount, giving him back a foot and few inches back, leaving him at around 5'07".

Lastly, his head began to change.
His nose melted into his face, leaving only two holes.
His face pushed out into a snout as his teeth fell out, being replaced with much sharper ones.
All of his hair fell out as the scales covered the rest of his head.
Lastly, two orange horns grew out of his head.

"Look at what you did to me!" He roared at Brie. "I'm a monster thanks to you!"
We tried to pull tom away from her, but he fought us off and pounced Brie.
"I'm gonna kill you!" Tom yelled, pure anger in his voice.
Brie became so scared, she fainted.
It wasn't until then Tom realized what he was doing.
"Oh my god…" He gasped, getting up. "What have I done…?"

After calming everyone down, we finally went to sleep.
As soon as we woke up, we began walking again.
John was still out cold, so we put him onto Elliot's back.
Brie seemed to be really afraid of Tom, staying a good distance away from him.
After a few hours of walking, I heard a rumble in the distance.
Looking at the sky, I was met with the sight of clouds through the leaves of the trees.
Every now and then, a streak of lightning would streak across the sky.

"Is it going to rain?" Isabelle asked nervously.
"No." Jamie replied. "It's not humid enough for rain. This is heat lightning."
However, as we continued walking, it got considerable more humid.
It then started to rain.

"Oh come on! Really?!" Brie yelled at the sky.
"Wait, look over there." I shouted, pointing at a large tree.
We all rushed over there, and luckily, the tree was able to protect us from the rain.
"Thank god." Tyler said, relieved. "We're safe."
A moment later, lightning struck, and directly hit Jamie!

After our ears stopped ringing, we all rushed over to Jamie.
He was surprisingly ok.
But when I saw that he was growing black fur up his arm, I remembered The forest's Curse
"Jamie." I said as he was waking up. "Don't panic, but you're changing."
"Oh God…" He muttered.

The black fur covered the front of his arms, as blue fur with yellow stripes grew on the back of them.
His hands had also morphed into paws.
He grew a large tuff of black fur on his chest, but the blue fur on his abdomen.
The black fur also formed a pants-like pattern on his upper legs, before becoming blue again and making its way down the rest of his leg.
After his leg was covered, his feet then also became paws, and he was then forced onto all fours.
A long, thin tail then grew out of his back.
It was then tipped with a four point star.

The changes finally progressed to his head.
Blue fur covered his face as it pushed outwards into a small muzzle.
His nose became smaller and turned red.
His teeth grew much sharper.
His hair turned black and grew a great amount before becoming spiked.
The black fur covered the rest of his head.
His ears grew bigger and became rounded, moving to the tops of his head.
Lastly, his eyes became red with yellow irises.

After recovering, the first thing Jamie said was "Whoa…this is amazing!"
Looking at the sky, I was surprised to see that the storm already passed.
'Could that have been one of the trials?' I asked myself.
"Ok," Quinn said, irritated. "Can we keep going now? I wanna change back as soon as possible."
We decided it was a good idea, so we moved on.

"Hey, what's that?" Alex asked, pointing to the distance.
It was what appeared to be a purple balloon, just floating aimlessly.
"I'll check it out." Isabelle said, running over to it.
"Wait!" I called out.
But it was too late.
She touched the balloon.

It popped, and she walked back over to us.
"Guys," She said, leaning against a tree. "I feel lightheaded."
She then collapsed on the ground.
We were about to pick her up, but she began hovering!
However, her eyes were closed, and I wasn't even sure she was noticing!

He skin began to turn a light purple on her arms and legs.
It turned yellow on her hands.
He limbs started to flatten out and shrink into her body.
Her fingers and toes just became ridges on the flaps.
I also noticed that her head was swelling.

Her mouth was replaced with a yellow "X" made of what appeared to be tape.
Above her chin, the skin became a darker purple.
However, her chin, nose, and every other feature of her head disappeared.
Her eyes turned small and red.
Her hair became white and resembled a cloud.
Her legs moved to the backs of her body while her arms moved to the front.
Her body just shrunk and shrunk until it was a little red stub with a hole in the bottom.
Her head finally stopped inflating.

"Isabelle, are you ok?" Brad asked.
"I think so." She replied, no emotion in her voice whatsoever.
"And another one is down." Alex commented.
"Great, just great." I sighed.
"Shall we continue?" Isabelle suggested, still in that monotone voice.

As we were walking, I noticed something about Brad.
He seemed to prefer staying in the sunlight that fell through the trees instead of staying in the shade.
"Ow." Brad muttered, looking at his arm.
Somehow, despite there being barley any sunlight actually reaching us, Brad had gotten a sunburn.

All of a sudden, lavender fur began to sprout out of the burn!
"What in the?" Brad gasped.
The fur quickly covered his arms and hands, turning them into paws.
He also began to shrink.

As the fur spread to his legs, they became digitigrade, causing him to fall onto the ground.
A long, slender tail grew out of his spin, splitting into two near the end.
He finally stopped shrinking at around 2'11″.

The changes finally reached his head.
The fur covered it, causing his hair to fall out.
His nose became small and black as his face pushed out into a small muzzle.
His teeth were replaced with slightly sharper ones.

His ears became longer and pointed.
They then moved to the top of his head.
Two tuffs of fur grew below each of his ears.
His eyes became purple with white pupils.
Lastly, a red gem formed on his forehead.

'That was interesting.' I thought.
'Hey, I heard that!' A voice in my head yelled.
"Who said that?!" I exclaimed, jumping back a little.
'I did, dummy.' The voice giggled.
"Brad?" I asked.
'Yep.' He replied psychically. 'This is actually kinda cool.'

We decided take a break and eat.
Having a limited amount of granola bars left, I told everyone who transformed already to eat the fruit.
They obliged, and we began to eat.
Suddenly, John began to move!
We all ran over to him.
"Ngh…w-what happened." He muttered, opening his eyes.
He looked at his new body and went silent for a moment.
"What the hell happened to me?!" He yelled, jumping to his feet.

After a bit of explaining and freaking out, John finally got used to it.
It was then I noticed that it was getting dark again.
"Time to get firewood again…" I sighed.

As we were getting firewood, Brie seemed to notice something.
"Guys, what's that?" She asked.
On the ground was what appeared to simply be a line.
Brie suddenly started to run straight down it.
I was about to chase after her, but an invisible force pushed her onto the ground.
She walked back over, rubbing her head.
"Ugh, what was that?" She asked no one in particular.

It was then I noticed the tan fur growing up her shortening arm.
Brie also seemed to notice it.
"Ah! Not me too!" She yelled.
Her arm finished shortening, being around a quarter of the size it once was.
Her fingers merged and hardened, becoming two sharp, white claws.
Her hands also disappeared into her arms.

Brie's other arm followed similar changes.
It was then that I noticed she was shrinking.
Even though she was shrinking, her abdomen lengthened greatly.
Her legs then shortened too, causing her to fall onto all fours.
Her toes also merged and hardened into two claws for each foot.
Speaking of her feet, they almost completely disappeared into her legs.
A short, fluffy tail grew out of her back.
She finally stopped shrinking at around 1'08".

Brie's head finally started to change.
The fur covered her entire head, causing her hair to fall out.
Her face pushed out into her muzzle as her nose became smaller and black.
Her eyes turned blue, but her pupils still retained their black color.
Her ears became smaller and moved to the top of her head.
Lastly, her fur grew brown in a few places.
One of the most notable brown fur patterns was what looked like an arrow going from the bottom of her back to her forehead.

"Why me?!" Brie yelled.
"Well, guess we should just get back to camp." I sighed.
When we got back, we lit a new fire and told everyone what happened.
"So, who's next?" Tony joked.
"Not funny."Quinn said, curling up to go to sleep.

It was then that I noticed we were missing someone.
Mark was gone.
I went deeper into the forest and found him.
He was staring into the sky.
"Mark, what are you doing out here?" I asked.
"Isn't it beautiful?" He asked.
I realized that was the first time he's spoken this whole journey.
"What's beautiful?" I asked.
"The moon…" He said, turning his gaze back on it.

It was then that I noticed black fur growing up his arm.
He seemed completely oblivious, though.
As the fur covered his hands, the morphed into paws.
The same happened to his other arm.
He also began to shrink.
As the fur covered his legs, they became digitigrade, making him fall onto all fours.
A large fluffy tail grew out of his spine.
He finally stopped shrinking at 3'03".
He still seemed oblivious to the changes.

His head finally began to change.
His entire head was covered by the black fur, making his hair fall out.
His face pushed out into a small muzzle as his nose became small and black.
His ears changed to look like smaller versions of his tail.
They then moved to the top of his head.
His eyes changed into a yellow color with black pupils.
Lastly, multiple blue rings formed on his body.
One formed on each of his ears, tail and sides of his legs.
The most notable was the one on his forehead.

I tried talking to him, but he just stared at the moon.
I gave up and went back to camp.
I leaned against a tree, and fell asleep.
I'm not sure how long I was asleep, but I woke up in the morning because of a scream.
I saw Alex jump up, causing Mark, who must've fallen asleep on him, to fall to the ground.
I tried to catch Alex, but he fell into the fire, which was still somehow burning.
He climbed out of it, a look of fear on his face, as he knew what was going to happen.

It was then that I saw orange fur growing on his arm.
Around the middle of his arm the fur made a black stripe before becoming orange again.
His hand morphed into a paw.
A tuff of tan fur grew on the back of his arm.
The same quickly happened to his other arm.

The orange fur grew across the rest of his body, making a black stripe every now and then.
As he legs were covered in the fur, they became digitigrade, making him fall onto the ground.
A tuff of tan fur grew on his ankles.
A large, tan, fluffy tail grew out of his back
A large tuff of the tan fur grew on his chest.
He also grew a lot, making him 6'03" on all fours.

It was then that the changes finally reached his head.
Most of his head was covered by the tan fur; the only orange parts were his eyes and ears.
His face pushed out into a muzzle and his nose became smaller black.
His ears became pointier and moved to the top of his head.
His teeth sharpened, finishing his changes.

"This is kinda cool." Alex said, trying out his new body
"Hey, guys, I just noticed that." Reece said, pointing to something in the distance.
Looking, I gasped.
It looked like a large temple.
"Common! Let's go!" Tyler yelled, already rushing towards it.

As we finally got to it, we were met with an amazing sight.
I was right, it was a giant temple.
Not only that, but it appeared to be made of solid gold!
We climbed up a long set of stairs, and arrived at the entrance.
"Maybe this is where the "Ultimate Power" is?" Tony suggested.
"And hopefully a way to change us back." Quinn added.

As we entered, we were met with a seemingly empty room with what appeared to be a door.
The door, however, had a strange substance blocking it.
It was a large mixture of swirling blue, pink, purple, and white.
"What's that?" Reece asked, about to touch it.
I quickly pulled his arm away from it.
"It could be another trap!" I reminded him.

As we investigated the room, we found a small spot on the wall with writing on it.
After a few minutes, I had the translation.
"The only way to pass through is for one of the remaining to give up their humanity. Your pick."
"That's evil!" Brie commented.
"But it's the only way to move on…" Brad reminded us.
"I'll do it." Reece said, steeping towards the strange substance.
"No, Reece!" Nico protested. "You don't have to!"
But it was too late.
Reece had just made contact with the strange substance.

Almost instantly, the substance flew into his mouth.
As soon as the door was clear, Reece began to grow blue fur on his arms.
He simply stared at it in silence.
A large white bump appeared on his hand, which had also turned into a paw.
The same happened to his other arm.

He began to quickly shrink as the changes progressed.
Black fur grew on his chest, but became blue again on his abdomen.
The muscles above his legs bulked up slightly with muscle.
His legs began to grow black fur.
He was then forced onto the balls of his feet as his feet also became paws.
A small blue tail forced its way out of his spine.
A yellow collar like tuff of fur grew around his neck.
He finally stopped shrinking at 2'04".

It was then that the changes made it to his head.
The blue fur covered almost all of his head except for around his eyes.
There, it was made to look like a bandit mask.
His face was pushed out into a small muzzle as his nose became smaller and black.
His ears became pointed and moved to the top of his head.
A pair of…something grew at the ends of the mask pattern.
His teeth seemed to be replaced with smaller, but sharper ones.
Lastly, he shut his eyes, only to reopen them with red irises.

"Oww…" Reece groaned. "I don't feel so good."
Tyler picked him up.
"Thought you would've become something worse than a cute little puppy." He chuckled.
"Shut up, and put me down." Reece demanded.

We continued through the door way, nothing happening to me or Tyler.
We were met with a really small room with nothing but a staircase.
Having not many more choices, we went down them.
They seemed much longer than the ones outside.
After around ten minutes, we finally made it to the bottom.

There was a door blocking our way into the next room.
Using the flashlight I had, I saw that it had more words on them.
"Beware the greed you may feel. As soon as you fill your pockets, trouble will be yours.
As soon as I finished reading, the door swung open.
Inside the room were giant piles of gold coins and jewels.
"Whoa…" I gasped.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tyler pick something up.
I was about to warn him about it, but it was too late.
He shoved the coin into his pocket.

Almost as soon as he did that, orange scales began to grow up his arm.
"Wh-what the?!" He exclaimed.
His arm began to swell up slightly.
His fingers merged and hardened into three small, white claws as his hand merged with his arm.
The same happened to his other arm.
It was then that I noticed he was growing tremendously.
Not only that, but as tan scales grew vertically up and down the front of his body, his stomach was swelling.

His legs bulked up with muscle and moved to the sides of his body.
His toes also merged and hardened into three claws, slightly large then the ones on his arms.
A large scale covered tail grew out of his spine.
At the same time, an extra, smaller pair of arms grew out of his back.
They became a pair of small wings.
His stomach stopped swelling around the same time he finished growing, making him about 7'03".

His head was the only part of him left human.
That soon changed, however, as the orange scales covered his entire head, making his hair fall out.
His face pushed out into a snout as his nose melted into two small holes.
His eyes moved slightly farther apart.
Lastly, two tan antennas grew out of his head, along with a small orange horn.

"Should've taken that warning to heart." Isabelle commented in the familiar monotone voice.
"Shut up." Tyler said irritated, poking his now large gut.
"Let's just get to the end of the temple." I said, trying to get everyone back to order.
At the end of the treasure filled room was a very large door.

On the other side of the door was something of pure beauty.
On one side was a large wall covered with magnificent paintings.
On the other side was an opening that lead to an amazing ocean view.
In the center of the room was another large staircase that lead to a pedestal with a strange glowing orb on it.

It was then that I noticed something strange.
"Guys, why aren't you coming in?" I asked.
"We can't for some reason." Reece replied. "Something's not letting us."
"Just get whatever's up there and let's get out of here." Quinn rushed.

I turned around and began to rush up the stairs.
I finally made it to the top, and I heard everyone yelling for some reason.
Turning around, I saw the man from the museum…holding a gun.
"Hold it right there!" He yelled.
I froze in place, not wanting him to shoot me.
"I don't know how you got wrapped into this equation, but it's good enough for me." He snickered. "That ultimate power is mine."

So that's what the orb was.
I couldn't let him have it.
I made a dash for the orb.
"Don't say I didn't warn you." The man said.
I heard a loud bang as he fired a shot.
Luckily, it just missed me.

I was just about to grab the orb, but then I heard another bang.
I felt a large amount of pain in my back another pain in my front a split second later.
I put my hand on it to feel warm blood leaking out of it.
The room started to spin…everything became cold…
I felt something hard contact with my hand as I was falling…
Or, was I being lifted…?
I couldn't tell…as my face landed on something hard…or was it soft…?

Just as the world was about to go black, it started to come into focus again!
I gradually regained my strength until I was able to stand up again.
I felt where the bullet had priced, and it was gone!
I shot a look at the man, causing him to fall backwards in fear.

It was then that I noticed the white fur steadily making its way up my arm.
I gasped in horror, but that feeling soon faded.
It felt…right, for some reason.
The fur covered my entire arm.
My hand the hardened into on giant gold claw.
The same quickly happened to my other arm.
I also noticed that I seemed to be growing at an increasingly fast rate.

On my chest, the fur became black.
The black fur went all the way to the end of the bottom of my…tail?!
That's right; I had grown a fluffy, white tail.
My legs grew the white fur too.
They morphed and shifted, making me digitigrade.
My feet changed to resemble my hands.
I had stopped growing at an astounding height of 10'06".

My neck elongated, making it so my head was still upright.
My hair turned white and pushed back a great amount, growing the black fur on the bottom of it.
My ears became longer and pointed, moving to the side of my head.
The black fur covered my face, but the rest of my head was covered with the white fur.
My mouth seemed to vanish from my face.
Unknown to me, my cheeks grew a small green circle as my eyes became green with red pupils.
Lastly, a ring of gold grew out of my back.
It tipped off in multiple areas, emeralds near each of the tips.

However, that was only the end of my physical changes.
My mind was expanding with knowledge.
I was the ultimate being known as Arceus.
I had power beyond any mortal's dreams.
I knew what had happened, and what is happening.
But not what was going to happen.
That was up to me.

I cast my gaze upon the man, who I now knew to be Leonardo Smith.
"Smith…" I growl.
A bright flash of light surrounds the now panicking Smith.
After the light clears, all that remains of Smith was an orange fish.
"Enjoy the sharks." I laughed, pushing him into the ocean.
He was the sixteenth person.

Just then, the wall with the paintings opens up like a door.
Emerging from it was a large blue dog like being, who I knew a Dialga, and a pink dinosaur like being, who I knew as Palkia.
"Lord Arceus, we've found you at last." Dialga said.
"Is there anything we may assist with?" Palkia asked.
"Actually, yes there is." I replied. "Help me erase the knowledge of these humans ever existing."
"Yes sir." Dialga responded.

I hovered over to the people I've come to know on this journey.
Instead of being scared of me, they seemed to be calmed by my presence.
"All of you, thanks for helping me get this far." I started. "I cannot change you back, sadly, so you will live in the forest for the rest of your life. I will provide adequate mates and entertainment for each of you. So long."
Giving a bow, I followed Dialga and Palkia into the doors, leading into the heavens.

Description
"Common, please?" I begged for the umpteenth time.
"Know what," My mom said, giving a surrendering sigh. "If you pay for it, feel free to go."
I jumped up, giving a silent cheer.
I ran into our computer room, bought some plane tickets and reserved a hotel.

I suppose I should give a slight explanation.
My name is Ryan.
For the past month, I've been hearing that a ruin in South America that my friend went to recently.
He said it was amazing, so I just had to go.
I've been begging my parents to let me go.
And I've finally just worn them down.

The next day I was in the airport.
Some people were giving me strange glances.
I could tell they weren't from here, though.
The people that were from my state could care less.
It was normal for a kid my age to go on trips alone.

I was getting frustrated as the flight schedule still had the "Delayed "sign on them.
I almost jumped up when it finally flashed "Arrived".
When I was allowed to board, I ran right to my seat.
When I had all my carryon put away, I just sat anxiously, waiting for the plane to take off.
After the flight attendant ran through the safety instructions, where we would make refueling and boarding stops, and when food would be provided, the plane ascended into the air after a dash down the runway.

My ride was pretty standard.
I just watched a movie on my iPod then took a short nap.
When I woke up, I learned we had just landed in Texas for a quick boarding stop.
I decided to get out and buy from one of the restaurants there.
Because those package pretzels really fill you up.
I settled on a pizza place.

While I was eating, I thought about the dream I had on the flight.
In it, I saw sixteen people, all of them different ages, and all of them unrecognizable.
I then saw a bright flash of light.
When it cleared, all of the people were different, but I wasn't asleep long enough to see what changed.

When I finished eating, I sat in the airport lobby and just played "Angry Birds" for an hour.
Since I stunk at the game, I only passed on level.
When I was finally allowed back on the plane, I just plopped down and ordered a pair of headphones.
I watched around five movies before I lost track.
I got extremely hyper again when I heard we would be landing in five minutes.

After gathering my luggage, I stepped out of the airport and hailed a taxi.
I gave him the directions to my hotel.
After checking in, I went to my room.
I plopped my luggage down on the bed.
I wasn't reserved for the museum until tomorrow, so I turned on the T.V.
After flipping through the channels, I gave up, as they were all in different languages.
I just decided to turn in for the night.

When I got up, the first thing I did was call home.
"Oh, honey! We were wondering when you'd call." My mom said, slightly irritated.
"Yeah, sorry." I replied. "It was too late when I landed to call you."
"Well, at least you're ok." My mom sighed in relief. "Just remember to bring that survival pack I gave you."
"Fine mom. " I said, groaning. "Bye."

The "Survival Bag" was just a small backpack full of a few snacks, water, a first aid kit, and a flashlight.
I have no clue why she thought I would need this, but to make her happy I used it anyway.
Looking at the clock, I saw that I had an hour to get to the museum.
I showered, changed clothes, grabbed my backpack, and ran out the door, all in thirty minutes.

I stared in awe at the museum.
It was a large stone building, with a large amount of steps in front of it.
I gave my ticket to the person at the entrance, and she told me where the tour was.
Walking inside, I was met with a large lobby.
It was almost filled to the brim with people.

I went into the room set aside for the tour.
I was given the special audio device as I entered.
I selected "English" on the device, and began the tour.

"Welcome." The recording started. "Thank you for joining us on this tour of relics from the recently discovered ruins. Our scientists found these ruins around forty years ago"
I looked at a faded painting of a man and what looked like him turning into a bird.
"It is believed that the ancient people of this civilization had the power to shape shift. This is one of the many drawings that were found in some of the smaller temples."
The next painting was what looked very similar to a Pikachu.
"As the ancient people progressed with their power, they were able to create their own beings. The creator of Pokémon actually used some of those creatures as inspiration."

'Isn't that a neat little fact?' I thought to myself.
The last thing in that section of the room was a map of the area the ruins were discovered.
It was full of little temples and trees.
The strange thing was, there was a circle of trees surrounding a very large area in the center.
Instead of the little details, there was just a question mark.
"This is a map of the area the ruins were discovered. As you can see, there is a large question mark in the center. That is because our researchers have not been able to research the area. The trees are literally side-by-side, so it is impossible to enter without the risk of damaging anything. We also cannot use helicopters, as the tree branches cover the view."

After exploring the rest of the exhibit, I decided to get something to eat at the food court.
While I was eating, I noticed something strange.
A bunch of burly men in security outfits were making a bunch of people follow them.
My curiosity got the best of me, and I followed them, trying to remain unnoticed.
The guards made the people go into a discreet room, only noticeable if you really took the time to look.
When they were all in there, I tried opening the door.
"Locked." I muttered to myself.

Now, most people would give up now.
But not me.
When I wanted to find something out, it took a lot more than a locked door to stop me.
Looking around, I noticed an air duct.
Better yet, the grate was removed, probably for renovations.
I crawled into it, having more than enough room to crouch comfortably.

After a bit of crawling, I made my way to the vent leading into the room on the other side of the locked door.
This one still had the grate on, but I was able to see out of it.
The people that were dragged away were all sitting at a large meting table.
Most of them had worried expressions, but a few just looked bored.

Just then, a man in a suit walked in.
"Welcome." He said happily, but with a hint of mischief in his voice.
"Why are we here?" One of the people asked.
"Well, before I say, who would like some food?" The man asked, obviously avoiding the question.

A few of the guards walked in, holding silver platters.
They placed one in front of each of the people.
However, only one of them ate the food.
A few seconds after he was done, he grasped his hand in pain.

I gasped, as did the other people in the room, when the boy began to grow green scales on his hand.
His ring and middle finger merged together, causing him to have only four fingers on that hand.
The scales covered his arm and spread to his other arm, where similar changes occurred.
The scales turned white as they spread up and down his chest and abdomen.
His belly swelled out a great amount.
A large red lump formed on his back, becoming something like a saddle.
His back extended into a tail, growing green scales on the top, and white scales on the bottom.

Though I couldn't see it, his legs moved to the sides of his body.
They bulked up with muscles so they could now support him.
His shoes became brown and merged with his feet and legs.

The changes finally reached his head.
The white scales covered his lower mouth and cheeks, but the green scales covered the rest of his head.
His nose disappeared, just leaving two holes on his face.
Then, where his nose was, it grew out and rounded, becoming a large snout.
His ears disappeared.
His eyes became bigger and moved to the top of his head, poking out.
Three large red scales grew out of the back of his head.
He now resembled the Nintendo character, Yoshi.

"Well, how did you like the food?" The man asked, laughing evilly.
The now Yoshi tried to say something, but all that came out was Yoshi speech.
"You'll all go through similar changes, just for my enjoyment." The man said, still laughing. " Ta-ta for now."

After the man and his guards left, I began banging on the vent grate.
The people in the room all rushed over to see what was making the noise.
"Help me get this thing open." I ordered. "I'm going to help get you guys out of here."
They complied, and together we managed to break open the grate.
"Follow me." I ordered again.

We all crawled through the ducts until I found one that led outside.

"Common, hurry!" I yelled, running towards the dense forest.
Everyone followed, although the now Yoshi kid ran slightly faster than everyone else, and had to stop every now and then to let us catch up.
We finally made it to the forest, but continued running when we heard people chasing after us.
We ran through a gap in a line of trees, hoping they wouldn't look there.

But as soon as we ran through, two large trees quickly grew up from the ground, making it so no one could enter, or leave.
"Alright… I think… we're ok…" I panted.
We all stopped and almost simultaneously collapsed on the ground and against trees.
"So," I started, catching my breath. "Guess we're stuck here."
"You think?" One of the people, a fifteen year old boy, said sarcastically.
"Since we're stuck together," I said, ignoring the boy. "We should at least learn each other's names."

After a bit of talking (and writing, for the Yoshi), I learned everyone's name.
There was Thomas, Quinn, Brad, John, Tony, Reece, Nico, Tyler, Marcus, Brianna, Alex, Isabelle, Ryan, Jamie, and Elliot (the Yoshi).
Finally having the time to see what the people look liked, I made a silent gasp.
They looked just like the people I saw in my dream.
Well, except for Elliot, since he didn't look like himself anymore.
I just assumed he was one of them, since there were sixteen people in my dream.
That was the strange part though.
There were sixteen people.
Then who was the missing person?
I had more pressing matters, however.
It was getting dark, and we were trapped here.
"Ok." I spoke up. "It's getting dark. We should look for firewood. Anyone have matches?"
"I do." Tony spoke up, handing me the small box full of the little sticks.
"Alright, let's go find some firewood."

After a few minutes, we all met back up at the camp.
I made a small circle out of rocks and we put some of the sticks we found in it, and then lit it with the matches.
"Just in time." I said to myself.
The sun was just setting over the horizon, causing the temperature to drop a great amount.

"Ok, we should probably take watch, just in case. I'll go first, then last." I said, trying to take command again.
"Who made you leader?" Quinn asked, obviously annoyed.
"I think it's a good idea." Brie spoke up.
"Fine." Quinn grumbled.

The night went on uneventful.
That was, until, it was my last shift.
I was just sitting against a tree, nearly asleep.
I then heard someone get up.
I saw it was Ryan.

"Ryan, what are you doing?" I asked, standing up.
He just ignored me and started to walk away.
I started to follow him.
However, unknown to me, I accidentally shoved Tony into the fire a little bit.

When Ryan finally stopped, he just stood there.
I ducked down into a bush, trying to remain hidden.
I then gave a silent gasp as an entity slowly materialized in front of him.
It formed into a young woman in a long, flowing gown.
The strangest thing, though, was that she was glowing and see-through.

"Ryan…you have been selected." The entity said in a gentle voice. "Your friends will need help on this journey."
She put her hand on his shoulder, and it glowed brightly for a brief second.
When the light subsided, Ryan seemed to have gained control of himself again.
"W-what happened?" He mumbled to himself.

We both gasped in horror as a grey fur covered tail grew out of his back.
"What's going on?!" Ryan asked in disbelief.
The fur from the tail quickly spread up to his legs, which then became digitigrade, causing him to fall onto all fours.
His feet popped out of his shoes as they twisted and changed into paws.
The fur covered his abdomen and spread up to his arms.
After his arms were covered in the fur, his hands also changed into paws.

Lastly, his head was covered in the fur.
His nose flattened and turned black as his face pushed out into a muzzle.
His ears became pointed and moved to the top of his head.
He had become a grey wolf.

"Very nice." The woman said. "I must be going now. Look out for your friends."
And just like that, she was gone.
Ryan just stood there, in complete shock.
I slowly came out of the bushes.
"Ryan?" I asked cautiously. "Are you ok?"
I stayed back a few feet, just in case he was vicious.
He simply nodded and looked at the ground, ashamed.
"Don't feel bad." I comforted. "Common, let's go back to camp."

When we returned, I became scared.
Tony's arm was lying in the fire, him still sound asleep.
After pulling him out, I was surprised to see that part of his shirt was burnt off, but his arm wasn't burnt in the slightest.
"Tony. Tony, wake up." I whispered.
Well, I thought I whispered.
Everyone else woke up too.
They all gasped at the sight of a wolf, but after a brief explanation they calmed down.

That was when I saw Tony's arm.
It was growing light yellow fur.
"Tony, look at your arm." I said, horrified.
"What's wrong with- ah!" He yelled, just noticing.
His middle and ring finger merged together, giving him four fingers on that hand.

The fur spread across his chest and onto his other arm.
It went through similar changes as the other one.
As the fur reached his back, it became thicker and turned bluish-green.
On his back, a few holes appeared, and at the pain of them forming Tony caused some blue flames to rise out of them.
At sight of them, everyone jumped back a foot.

When the fur moved to his legs, they were almost completely sucked into his body, leaving only his feet and two small stubs as legs.
In order for him to stay on two feet, his "legs" bulked up with muscle.
The rest of his body also bulked up with muscle.
As his back gained strength, it caused him to have a slight hunch.

When the changes finally made it to his neck, it grew out slightly.
The bluish-green fur grew over to his forehead, causing his hair to fall out.
The rest of his face was covered in the light yellow fur.
His nose became two holes as his face pushed outwards into a muzzle.
His teeth fell out, being replaced with much sharper ones.
Lastly, he closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, his irises were red.
He now looked just like a Typhlosion from Pokémon!

After a long period of silence, Tom spoke up.
"Are you ok Tony?" He asked timidly.
"I…think so." Tony said gasping.
"You can still talk?!" Isabelle gasped.
"Yeah, I didn't go crazy or anything." Tony replied, sounding slightly irritated.

"Hey, look at that." I said, noticing a bit of light peaking through the trees. "It's already morning."
"So, what should we do now?" Nico asked. "We're trapped, we have a psychotic man chasing us, and three of us aren't even human!"
"Maybe we should try and find a way to fix them." Brie suggested.
"I'm fine with that." Tony responded.

We decided to just continue walking, since we didn't have many other choices.
Elliot still had to slow down every now and then to let us catch up.
After a few hours of walking, Reece noticed something.
"Hey guys, what's that?" He asked.
We all walked over to it.
It turned out to be a large stone tablet with strange writing on it.
"Anyone know what is says?" Brad asked.
"I think I can figure it out." I offered. "I bought a translation book from the museum."

After a few minutes of trying to figure it out, I finally found out what it said.
"You have been lucky enough to get into this part of the forest. Ahead of you await many trials. Many of them will cause you to change form. However, if you can make it to the end, a great prize awaits you. Power beyond belief."
"What could that mean?" Tyler asked.
"I think that Tony's transformation was one of the "trials" it mentioned." Mark commented.
"Maybe…" I muttered. "I'm definitely curious about this 'Power Beyond Belief.' I say we keep moving."

"Just give me a minute." Nico said, leaning against a tree. "I want a rest."
"Yeah, I could use a sit too." Tony commented, sitting on a rock. "Takes a lot walking this far without legs."
"Alright, fine." I surrendered. "Let's rest for a little."
"I'm hungry." Brie complained. "Anyone have anything to eat?"
"Here," I answered. "I've got some granola bars."

I began to pass them out, but Nico objected.
"I hate those things. I'll just eat this." She said, picking a fruit off of the tree he was leaning on.
"You sure that's safe?" Brad questioned.
"Don't nag me!" Nico snapped back, taking a big bite out of the fruit.

A few seconds after she did that, something began to happen.
She was growing light green scales on her legs!
"Umm, guys? What's happening?!" Nico yelled in horror.
The scales quickly covered her legs.
After they were completely covered, they began to merge together!
After her legs became one, darker green scales grew on the back of them, and it extended greatly.
Leaves then grew on the end of it.

When the scales reached her arms, they stopped.
Instead of being covered, her arms and hands shrunk into small little leaves.
"Oh, very funny." She said sarcastically, looking at them.
Two longer leaves grew out of her chest and over her shoulders.

The scales became white in-between where the two large leaves diverged.
The white scales began to cover her face as it pushed outwards into a snout.
The light green scales, however, grew up the back of her head and went all the way to her forehead, causing her hair to fall out.
Her ears grew longer and pointed, moving to the very back of her head.
Lastly, she closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, they were red and reptilian.

"Ugh." Nico groaned.
Finally taking stock of her new body, she began to panic.
"Why me?!!" She yelled, flailing her…leaves?
Everyone recovered quicker than for the last few changes, which I think was a bad thing.
"It's ok." Brie comforted. "I think you look pretty."
"Really?" Nico asked, calming down.
"Yeah!" Brie replied. "Why don't you try moving?"

It took a while, but Nico finally got used to moving on her tail.
Just then, I saw Tony nibbling on the same fruit Nico ate, completely oblivious to what happened.
'Weird.' I thought. 'Maybe these things don't affect people who were already changed?'

We then continued on our way.
As we were walking, I noticed that John and Tom seemed to be becoming friends.
They seemed to enjoy talking to each other, despite the age gap.
The sun was just starting to set, so I suggested we set up camp here.
We broke off into groups to get firewood.
I was with John, Tom, Ryan, and Brie.

As we were looking, we stumbled upon a large lake at the bottom of a small cliff we were on.
"Wow…" John said in amazement.
I understood his amazement.
The lake was crystal clear, looking as if it was untouched for centuries.
It was so clear; I was able to see the bottom, which was at least twelve feet down.

Suddenly, we heard a loud scream in the distance.
Brie gave out a yelp, and stumbled backwards, right into John.
He stumbled, trying to catch his balance, but failed, and fell right into the lake.
"John!" Tom yelled, trying in vain to grab his arm.
He hit his head on the rock, almost instantly knocking him out.
He then fell right into the water, still visible beneath the splash.

I gasped, not only because of what just happened, but because two shells started to hover up from the depth, flying up and latching themselves onto his legs.
He almost immediately began shrinking.
I wasn't able to tell how much, though, as he was almost at the bottom of the lake now.
Before he was buried by his shirt, I noticed that he was growing black fur on his hands.

Ryan then did something unthinkable.
He jumped right into the water, and swam down to its depths.
He grabbed John's shirt, which now contained his shrinking body, in his mouth and then swam to the nearby beach.
We all ran down to meet them.

When we uncovered John from the shirt, we noticed that he had stopped shrinking; now being around 3'09".
The fur also had progressed on his body.
It turned light blue on his arms.
His fingers also had merged together, leaving him with only three on each hand.

The fur continued to grow across his chest.
When it reached his legs, it turned dark blue and became a lot thicker.
When it continued to his legs, it became thinner and light blue again.
As soon as the fur covered his legs, they shrunk, causing him to lose another 1'02".
His feet grew black fur, similar to his hands.
His toes began to merge, leaving him with only three on each foot.

The changes finally made it to his head.
The light brown fur covered his face and the rest of his head, causing his hair to fall out.
His nose became oval shaped and turned pink.
He grew two white whiskers on each of his cheeks.
His ears became shorter and pointed, moving to the top of his head.
A thin tuff of fur grew on the back of his head.
Lastly, his spine extended into a flat, black fur covered tail.

"Another one changes…" I muttered.
John was still knocked out by the time we made it back to camp.
A few moments later, the rest of the group returned.
It was then I learned what the origin of the scream was.

Quinn's head looked very similar to Tony's, only a little cuter looking.
"What the hell happened?!" Brie exclaimed.
"Alex thought it would be a good idea to jump out and scare Tony." Quinn explained. "I was right behind him, so when he got scared, his flames shot out and hit me in the face. I'm already pretty far into the changes."
He held out his hands, which were now light yellow fur covered paws.
"I said I was sorry!" Alex back lashed. "Tony did too!"

It was obviously noticeable that Quinn was losing height.
I also noticed that the green fur continued down his back, as the light yellow fur covered the front.
When the fur progressed to his legs, they were sucked into his body, leaving only his feet showing, and also forcing him to become quadruped, but still partially biped.
A few holes formed on his backside and head, a jet of flames burst out of them for a second.
Lastly, he closed his eyes, reopening them to reveal that his irises had turned red.

"Great, look at me!" Quinn yelled, gesturing himself.
"Aw, common. I think you look adorable." Tony commented, picking him up.
"Put me down." Quinn demanded, annoyed.
Tony obliged, and then lit the fire for us.

As we were sitting around the fire, I did some thinking.
As I was doing so, Tom was looking concerned at John, who was still out cold.
Quinn had finally surrendered to being pet by Isabelle.
"Ok guys, I think I've figured it out." I said, standing up.
"What do you mean?" Tyler asked.
"I believe that I've learned what causes these transformations." I answered. "I think that the cause is the forest it's self. When Tony and Quinn touched fire, they became what they are now. When John fell into the lake, he changed. When Nico at the fruit from the tree, she changed. However, when Tony ate the same fruit, he didn't change. I think that after we change, we are not able to change again. Also, the causes of the changes are elements inside the forest, like fire and water, or anything that isn't necessary for us to touch. However, it doesn't seem to be able to harm you badly. I've decided to call it, 'The Forest's Curse.'"
"Sounds right to me." Reece commented.
"Same here." Jamie added.

Tom then suddenly stood up and walked over to Brie.
His saddened face had changed into anger.
"It's all your fault!" He yelled at her.
I understood why he was mad.
It was obvious that over the time we've all been together, he had grown to like John.
"If you hadn't pushed him, this wouldn't have happened!" Tom continued to yell.
"I didn't push him! I fell into him!" Brie defended, almost in tears.
"It doesn't matter! You still caused this!" Tom retorted, still furious.

"Just leave me alone!" Brie screamed, pushing him.
Tom fell backwards into the fire.
Me and Jamie both jumped up and pulled him up out of the flames.
But it was too late.
The Forest's Curse had already taken effect.

His shirt was burnt off, but instead of burnt skin, we saw orange scales spreading up his body.
"Look what you did!" Tom shouted at Brie. "I'm going to turn into one of those monsters!"
Suddenly, a large, scale covered tail grew out from his back, a flame lighting on the end of it.
A pair of wings with blue membranes formed quickly afterwards.
As the scales covered his now expanding belly, they turned pale.
His legs were covered by the orange scales as they bulked up with muscle, but shrunk.
His feet popped out of his shoes, covered in the scales.
His toes merged and hardened into three sharp claws.

As the scales covered his arms, they thinned greatly.
His fingers merged together and grew sharp white claws at the ends of them, leaving him with three clawed fingers on each hand.
As the scales covered his neck, it grew out a great amount, giving him back a foot and few inches back, leaving him at around 5'07".

Lastly, his head began to change.
His nose melted into his face, leaving only two holes.
His face pushed out into a snout as his teeth fell out, being replaced with much sharper ones.
All of his hair fell out as the scales covered the rest of his head.
Lastly, two orange horns grew out of his head.

"Look at what you did to me!" He roared at Brie. "I'm a monster thanks to you!"
We tried to pull tom away from her, but he fought us off and pounced Brie.
"I'm gonna kill you!" Tom yelled, pure anger in his voice.
Brie became so scared, she fainted.
It wasn't until then Tom realized what he was doing.
"Oh my god…" He gasped, getting up. "What have I done…?"

After calming everyone down, we finally went to sleep.
As soon as we woke up, we began walking again.
John was still out cold, so we put him onto Elliot's back.
Brie seemed to be really afraid of Tom, staying a good distance away from him.
After a few hours of walking, I heard a rumble in the distance.
Looking at the sky, I was met with the sight of clouds through the leaves of the trees.
Every now and then, a streak of lightning would streak across the sky.

"Is it going to rain?" Isabelle asked nervously.
"No." Jamie replied. "It's not humid enough for rain. This is heat lightning."
However, as we continued walking, it got considerable more humid.
It then started to rain.

"Oh come on! Really?!" Brie yelled at the sky.
"Wait, look over there." I shouted, pointing at a large tree.
We all rushed over there, and luckily, the tree was able to protect us from the rain.
"Thank god." Tyler said, relieved. "We're safe."
A moment later, lightning struck, and directly hit Jamie!

After our ears stopped ringing, we all rushed over to Jamie.
He was surprisingly ok.
But when I saw that he was growing black fur up his arm, I remembered The forest's Curse
"Jamie." I said as he was waking up. "Don't panic, but you're changing."
"Oh God…" He muttered.

The black fur covered the front of his arms, as blue fur with yellow stripes grew on the back of them.
His hands had also morphed into paws.
He grew a large tuff of black fur on his chest, but the blue fur on his abdomen.
The black fur also formed a pants-like pattern on his upper legs, before becoming blue again and making its way down the rest of his leg.
After his leg was covered, his feet then also became paws, and he was then forced onto all fours.
A long, thin tail then grew out of his back.
It was then tipped with a four point star.

The changes finally progressed to his head.
Blue fur covered his face as it pushed outwards into a small muzzle.
His nose became smaller and turned red.
His teeth grew much sharper.
His hair turned black and grew a great amount before becoming spiked.
The black fur covered the rest of his head.
His ears grew bigger and became rounded, moving to the tops of his head.
Lastly, his eyes became red with yellow irises.

After recovering, the first thing Jamie said was "Whoa…this is amazing!"
Looking at the sky, I was surprised to see that the storm already passed.
'Could that have been one of the trials?' I asked myself.
"Ok," Quinn said, irritated. "Can we keep going now? I wanna change back as soon as possible."
We decided it was a good idea, so we moved on.

"Hey, what's that?" Alex asked, pointing to the distance.
It was what appeared to be a purple balloon, just floating aimlessly.
"I'll check it out." Isabelle said, running over to it.
"Wait!" I called out.
But it was too late.
She touched the balloon.

It popped, and she walked back over to us.
"Guys," She said, leaning against a tree. "I feel lightheaded."
She then collapsed on the ground.
We were about to pick her up, but she began hovering!
However, her eyes were closed, and I wasn't even sure she was noticing!

He skin began to turn a light purple on her arms and legs.
It turned yellow on her hands.
He limbs started to flatten out and shrink into her body.
Her fingers and toes just became ridges on the flaps.
I also noticed that her head was swelling.

Her mouth was replaced with a yellow "X" made of what appeared to be tape.
Above her chin, the skin became a darker purple.
However, her chin, nose, and every other feature of her head disappeared.
Her eyes turned small and red.
Her hair became white and resembled a cloud.
Her legs moved to the backs of her body while her arms moved to the front.
Her body just shrunk and shrunk until it was a little red stub with a hole in the bottom.
Her head finally stopped inflating.

"Isabelle, are you ok?" Brad asked.
"I think so." She replied, no emotion in her voice whatsoever.
"And another one is down." Alex commented.
"Great, just great." I sighed.
"Shall we continue?" Isabelle suggested, still in that monotone voice.

As we were walking, I noticed something about Brad.
He seemed to prefer staying in the sunlight that fell through the trees instead of staying in the shade.
"Ow." Brad muttered, looking at his arm.
Somehow, despite there being barley any sunlight actually reaching us, Brad had gotten a sunburn.

All of a sudden, lavender fur began to sprout out of the burn!
"What in the?" Brad gasped.
The fur quickly covered his arms and hands, turning them into paws.
He also began to shrink.

As the fur spread to his legs, they became digitigrade, causing him to fall onto the ground.
A long, slender tail grew out of his spin, splitting into two near the end.
He finally stopped shrinking at around 2'11″.

The changes finally reached his head.
The fur covered it, causing his hair to fall out.
His nose became small and black as his face pushed out into a small muzzle.
His teeth were replaced with slightly sharper ones.

His ears became longer and pointed.
They then moved to the top of his head.
Two tuffs of fur grew below each of his ears.
His eyes became purple with white pupils.
Lastly, a red gem formed on his forehead.

'That was interesting.' I thought.
'Hey, I heard that!' A voice in my head yelled.
"Who said that?!" I exclaimed, jumping back a little.
'I did, dummy.' The voice giggled.
"Brad?" I asked.
'Yep.' He replied psychically. 'This is actually kinda cool.'

We decided take a break and eat.
Having a limited amount of granola bars left, I told everyone who transformed already to eat the fruit.
They obliged, and we began to eat.
Suddenly, John began to move!
We all ran over to him.
"Ngh…w-what happened." He muttered, opening his eyes.
He looked at his new body and went silent for a moment.
"What the hell happened to me?!" He yelled, jumping to his feet.

After a bit of explaining and freaking out, John finally got used to it.
It was then I noticed that it was getting dark again.
"Time to get firewood again…" I sighed.

As we were getting firewood, Brie seemed to notice something.
"Guys, what's that?" She asked.
On the ground was what appeared to simply be a line.
Brie suddenly started to run straight down it.
I was about to chase after her, but an invisible force pushed her onto the ground.
She walked back over, rubbing her head.
"Ugh, what was that?" She asked no one in particular.

It was then I noticed the tan fur growing up her shortening arm.
Brie also seemed to notice it.
"Ah! Not me too!" She yelled.
Her arm finished shortening, being around a quarter of the size it once was.
Her fingers merged and hardened, becoming two sharp, white claws.
Her hands also disappeared into her arms.

Brie's other arm followed similar changes.
It was then that I noticed she was shrinking.
Even though she was shrinking, her abdomen lengthened greatly.
Her legs then shortened too, causing her to fall onto all fours.
Her toes also merged and hardened into two claws for each foot.
Speaking of her feet, they almost completely disappeared into her legs.
A short, fluffy tail grew out of her back.
She finally stopped shrinking at around 1'08".

Brie's head finally started to change.
The fur covered her entire head, causing her hair to fall out.
Her face pushed out into her muzzle as her nose became smaller and black.
Her eyes turned blue, but her pupils still retained their black color.
Her ears became smaller and moved to the top of her head.
Lastly, her fur grew brown in a few places.
One of the most notable brown fur patterns was what looked like an arrow going from the bottom of her back to her forehead.

"Why me?!" Brie yelled.
"Well, guess we should just get back to camp." I sighed.
When we got back, we lit a new fire and told everyone what happened.
"So, who's next?" Tony joked.
"Not funny."Quinn said, curling up to go to sleep.

It was then that I noticed we were missing someone.
Mark was gone.
I went deeper into the forest and found him.
He was staring into the sky.
"Mark, what are you doing out here?" I asked.
"Isn't it beautiful?" He asked.
I realized that was the first time he's spoken this whole journey.
"What's beautiful?" I asked.
"The moon…" He said, turning his gaze back on it.

It was then that I noticed black fur growing up his arm.
He seemed completely oblivious, though.
As the fur covered his hands, the morphed into paws.
The same happened to his other arm.
He also began to shrink.
As the fur covered his legs, they became digitigrade, making him fall onto all fours.
A large fluffy tail grew out of his spine.
He finally stopped shrinking at 3'03".
He still seemed oblivious to the changes.

His head finally began to change.
His entire head was covered by the black fur, making his hair fall out.
His face pushed out into a small muzzle as his nose became small and black.
His ears changed to look like smaller versions of his tail.
They then moved to the top of his head.
His eyes changed into a yellow color with black pupils.
Lastly, multiple blue rings formed on his body.
One formed on each of his ears, tail and sides of his legs.
The most notable was the one on his forehead.

I tried talking to him, but he just stared at the moon.
I gave up and went back to camp.
I leaned against a tree, and fell asleep.
I'm not sure how long I was asleep, but I woke up in the morning because of a scream.
I saw Alex jump up, causing Mark, who must've fallen asleep on him, to fall to the ground.
I tried to catch Alex, but he fell into the fire, which was still somehow burning.
He climbed out of it, a look of fear on his face, as he knew what was going to happen.

It was then that I saw orange fur growing on his arm.
Around the middle of his arm the fur made a black stripe before becoming orange again.
His hand morphed into a paw.
A tuff of tan fur grew on the back of his arm.
The same quickly happened to his other arm.

The orange fur grew across the rest of his body, making a black stripe every now and then.
As he legs were covered in the fur, they became digitigrade, making him fall onto the ground.
A tuff of tan fur grew on his ankles.
A large, tan, fluffy tail grew out of his back
A large tuff of the tan fur grew on his chest.
He also grew a lot, making him 6'03" on all fours.

It was then that the changes finally reached his head.
Most of his head was covered by the tan fur; the only orange parts were his eyes and ears.
His face pushed out into a muzzle and his nose became smaller black.
His ears became pointier and moved to the top of his head.
His teeth sharpened, finishing his changes.

"This is kinda cool." Alex said, trying out his new body
"Hey, guys, I just noticed that." Reece said, pointing to something in the distance.
Looking, I gasped.
It looked like a large temple.
"Common! Let's go!" Tyler yelled, already rushing towards it.

As we finally got to it, we were met with an amazing sight.
I was right, it was a giant temple.
Not only that, but it appeared to be made of solid gold!
We climbed up a long set of stairs, and arrived at the entrance.
"Maybe this is where the "Ultimate Power" is?" Tony suggested.
"And hopefully a way to change us back." Quinn added.

As we entered, we were met with a seemingly empty room with what appeared to be a door.
The door, however, had a strange substance blocking it.
It was a large mixture of swirling blue, pink, purple, and white.
"What's that?" Reece asked, about to touch it.
I quickly pulled his arm away from it.
"It could be another trap!" I reminded him.

As we investigated the room, we found a small spot on the wall with writing on it.
After a few minutes, I had the translation.
"The only way to pass through is for one of the remaining to give up their humanity. Your pick."
"That's evil!" Brie commented.
"But it's the only way to move on…" Brad reminded us.
"I'll do it." Reece said, steeping towards the strange substance.
"No, Reece!" Nico protested. "You don't have to!"
But it was too late.
Reece had just made contact with the strange substance.

Almost instantly, the substance flew into his mouth.
As soon as the door was clear, Reece began to grow blue fur on his arms.
He simply stared at it in silence.
A large white bump appeared on his hand, which had also turned into a paw.
The same happened to his other arm.

He began to quickly shrink as the changes progressed.
Black fur grew on his chest, but became blue again on his abdomen.
The muscles above his legs bulked up slightly with muscle.
His legs began to grow black fur.
He was then forced onto the balls of his feet as his feet also became paws.
A small blue tail forced its way out of his spine.
A yellow collar like tuff of fur grew around his neck.
He finally stopped shrinking at 2'04".

It was then that the changes made it to his head.
The blue fur covered almost all of his head except for around his eyes.
There, it was made to look like a bandit mask.
His face was pushed out into a small muzzle as his nose became smaller and black.
His ears became pointed and moved to the top of his head.
A pair of…something grew at the ends of the mask pattern.
His teeth seemed to be replaced with smaller, but sharper ones.
Lastly, he shut his eyes, only to reopen them with red irises.

"Oww…" Reece groaned. "I don't feel so good."
Tyler picked him up.
"Thought you would've become something worse than a cute little puppy." He chuckled.
"Shut up, and put me down." Reece demanded.

We continued through the door way, nothing happening to me or Tyler.
We were met with a really small room with nothing but a staircase.
Having not many more choices, we went down them.
They seemed much longer than the ones outside.
After around ten minutes, we finally made it to the bottom.

There was a door blocking our way into the next room.
Using the flashlight I had, I saw that it had more words on them.
"Beware the greed you may feel. As soon as you fill your pockets, trouble will be yours.
As soon as I finished reading, the door swung open.
Inside the room were giant piles of gold coins and jewels.
"Whoa…" I gasped.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tyler pick something up.
I was about to warn him about it, but it was too late.
He shoved the coin into his pocket.

Almost as soon as he did that, orange scales began to grow up his arm.
"Wh-what the?!" He exclaimed.
His arm began to swell up slightly.
His fingers merged and hardened into three small, white claws as his hand merged with his arm.
The same happened to his other arm.
It was then that I noticed he was growing tremendously.
Not only that, but as tan scales grew vertically up and down the front of his body, his stomach was swelling.

His legs bulked up with muscle and moved to the sides of his body.
His toes also merged and hardened into three claws, slightly large then the ones on his arms.
A large scale covered tail grew out of his spine.
At the same time, an extra, smaller pair of arms grew out of his back.
They became a pair of small wings.
His stomach stopped swelling around the same time he finished growing, making him about 7'03".

His head was the only part of him left human.
That soon changed, however, as the orange scales covered his entire head, making his hair fall out.
His face pushed out into a snout as his nose melted into two small holes.
His eyes moved slightly farther apart.
Lastly, two tan antennas grew out of his head, along with a small orange horn.

"Should've taken that warning to heart." Isabelle commented in the familiar monotone voice.
"Shut up." Tyler said irritated, poking his now large gut.
"Let's just get to the end of the temple." I said, trying to get everyone back to order.
At the end of the treasure filled room was a very large door.

On the other side of the door was something of pure beauty.
On one side was a large wall covered with magnificent paintings.
On the other side was an opening that lead to an amazing ocean view.
In the center of the room was another large staircase that lead to a pedestal with a strange glowing orb on it.

It was then that I noticed something strange.
"Guys, why aren't you coming in?" I asked.
"We can't for some reason." Reece replied. "Something's not letting us."
"Just get whatever's up there and let's get out of here." Quinn rushed.

I turned around and began to rush up the stairs.
I finally made it to the top, and I heard everyone yelling for some reason.
Turning around, I saw the man from the museum…holding a gun.
"Hold it right there!" He yelled.
I froze in place, not wanting him to shoot me.
"I don't know how you got wrapped into this equation, but it's good enough for me." He snickered. "That ultimate power is mine."

So that's what the orb was.
I couldn't let him have it.
I made a dash for the orb.
"Don't say I didn't warn you." The man said.
I heard a loud bang as he fired a shot.
Luckily, it just missed me.

I was just about to grab the orb, but then I heard another bang.
I felt a large amount of pain in my back another pain in my front a split second later.
I put my hand on it to feel warm blood leaking out of it.
The room started to spin…everything became cold…
I felt something hard contact with my hand as I was falling…
Or, was I being lifted…?
I couldn't tell…as my face landed on something hard…or was it soft…?

Just as the world was about to go black, it started to come into focus again!
I gradually regained my strength until I was able to stand up again.
I felt where the bullet had priced, and it was gone!
I shot a look at the man, causing him to fall backwards in fear.

It was then that I noticed the white fur steadily making its way up my arm.
I gasped in horror, but that feeling soon faded.
It felt…right, for some reason.
The fur covered my entire arm.
My hand the hardened into on giant gold claw.
The same quickly happened to my other arm.
I also noticed that I seemed to be growing at an increasingly fast rate.

On my chest, the fur became black.
The black fur went all the way to the end of the bottom of my…tail?!
That's right; I had grown a fluffy, white tail.
My legs grew the white fur too.
They morphed and shifted, making me digitigrade.
My feet changed to resemble my hands.
I had stopped growing at an astounding height of 10'06".

My neck elongated, making it so my head was still upright.
My hair turned white and pushed back a great amount, growing the black fur on the bottom of it.
My ears became longer and pointed, moving to the side of my head.
The black fur covered my face, but the rest of my head was covered with the white fur.
My mouth seemed to vanish from my face.
Unknown to me, my cheeks grew a small green circle as my eyes became green with red pupils.
Lastly, a ring of gold grew out of my back.
It tipped off in multiple areas, emeralds near each of the tips.

However, that was only the end of my physical changes.
My mind was expanding with knowledge.
I was the ultimate being known as Arceus.
I had power beyond any mortal's dreams.
I knew what had happened, and what is happening.
But not what was going to happen.
That was up to me.

I cast my gaze upon the man, who I now knew to be Leonardo Smith.
"Smith…" I growl.
A bright flash of light surrounds the now panicking Smith.
After the light clears, all that remains of Smith was an orange fish.
"Enjoy the sharks." I laughed, pushing him into the ocean.
He was the sixteenth person.

Just then, the wall with the paintings opens up like a door.
Emerging from it was a large blue dog like being, who I knew a Dialga, and a pink dinosaur like being, who I knew as Palkia.
"Lord Arceus, we've found you at last." Dialga said.
"Is there anything we may assist with?" Palkia asked.
"Actually, yes there is." I replied. "Help me erase the knowledge of these humans ever existing."
"Yes sir." Dialga responded.

I hovered over to the people I've come to know on this journey.
Instead of being scared of me, they seemed to be calmed by my presence.
"All of you, thanks for helping me get this far." I started. "I cannot change you back, sadly, so you will live in the forest for the rest of your life. I will provide adequate mates and entertainment for each of you. So long."
Giving a bow, I followed Dialga and Palkia into the doors, leading into the heavens.