Teresa and Alex made their way through the plains toward the forest in the distance. While they made their way there, they also took care to avoid the other animals that inhabited the plains. While there was no bother in being friendly, it was already going to be a long journey and they had no way to find out if the other party was...irritable or not.
"How can you turn into a human, Mama Rhino?"
"Beastial arts dear. Any animal who achieves a higher level can transform into a human"
"Can humans transform into animals?"
"If they have Beastial arts, yes"
"Then, can you teach me?"
"I can't teach you Beastial arts since you already practice an art. It's not possible to switch arts"
"Aww man!"
"I might not have been compatible anyway dear"
"Haaa...Fine..."
"Come this way"
Teresa pulled Alex into a crouch and crawled further right. Alex followed her and they barely missed a passing tiger.
"We are lucky it did not know Beastial arts. It's senses were much worse than mine. My concealment was also to strong"
"Concealment?"
"Another part of my Arts dear, come now, you can ask questions later"
After they had reached a sufficient distance from the tiger, they stood up again and continued their journey. Alex shuddered.
"That was...unpleasant"
Teresa looked at him through the corner of her eyes. "Have you never seen any wild animals?"
"No"
"Really? Even during horde attacks?"
"I hid in an underground bunker with my buds"
"Yes, they wouldn't allow a child to witness those. That makes sense"
They had reached the forest. Teresa parted the long vines that created a cover that spanned the entire border between the plains and the forest for...necessary purposes. Teresa parted the heavy vines with relative ease, letting Alex through, before going in herself.
"Woah..."
Alex stood stunned as he took in the beautiful forest, golden beams cascading through the trees due to the setting sun. You could just make out the plants that were starting to glow with their own bioluminescent lights of different colors.
Teresa smiled. "I will never get tired of this sight"
"So this is my new home then. It's beautiful"
"Yes it is"
They took some time surveying the forest, mainly Alex, who was slowly letting his new reality sink in. After a few minutes Teresa shook him slightly.
"Ready to continue?"
"Huh? Oh y..yeah"
"Come on then!"
Teresa started to enlarge, her skin turning grey, her hair receding and her nose growing into a horn. Alex jumped back, a bit shocked, before realizing that this was already established. The woman he had taken as his master was not human.
"W..what? Wh-oh right...."
After a giant rhino had appeared in front of him, he saw the rhino gesture with her head. "Hop on"
"Hmm?"
"Don't dilly-dally and hop on my back"
"I dare not ride on my master's back!"
"I am allowing it, so stop wasting time"
Alex slowly stepped forward, and hesitatingly climbed on Teresa's back. As soon as he was comfortably on, Teresa took off running.
"W..w..wait a S..s..seCoNd Gahuhahhh"
Animals big and small turned to look at a weird scene in the peaceful forest. A giant rhino passing boy with a bouncing boy screaming helplessly as he was tossed like an egg, clutching the rhino's horn for dear life
This continued for a while. Teresa grinned, satisfied with her prank. Her eyes darted left and right, making sure that she didn't crash into anything or hurt someone. Something caught her eye and she abruptly stopped, the grin gone from her face.
The quick stop caused Alex to fly forward, bashing his face against the horn he was holding.
"Arrrrghhhhhh!"
Teresa did not react to the boy squirming and rubbing his face. In fact, she did not react to anything, she just continued to stare at something. Alex grunted into a seated position and looked around in confusion.
"Whhbbyyy dieed be staap?"(Why did we stop?)
Teresa did not answer. Instead she took off running again, prompting Alex to grab hold of her horn again.
"Youch!"
He pulled his hand back quickly, his hands red. He looked at Teresa's horn which had grown larger, a whopping 8 metres long, sparkling white. He knew what this was, he had seen this before, but before he could continue to think, he was blown off of Teresa's back and landed, skidding on the forest floor.
"ARGHH!"
He spat as his burnt hands scraped the floor. He had thrown his hands in front of him when he had fallen as a reflex. causing more damage to his already injured hands.
Teresa continued to run toward the....chicken?
Teresa continued to charge toward the unassuming poultry, madness in her eyes as she got tunnel vision, oblivious to everything else.
The chicken continued to peck into the ground, a small tuft on blue hair on it's head drooping, almost touching the ground, covering one of it's eyes.
When the giant horn was inches from piercing the emo-chicken, it suddenly stopped. A giant claw held onto the horn from above, stopping it from moving any further. Emo-chicken finally noticed the danger. It gazed at the horn for a bit, before completely ignoring it and continuing to peck at the ground.
Teresa continued to madly charge, not noticing that she was no longer moving.
"Stop!"
Teresa finally stopped running, her eyes clearing up. At first she looked around confused, then spotted the looming form in front of her and the emo-chicken in front of her. Her eyes turned cold.
"Let me go"
The claw let go of the horn. Teresa slowly retracted her horn.
"Why did you stop me?"
"I'm sorry, White Rhino, but I cannot allow you to kill this one"
"I asked WHY!"
"This one saved my life"
Teresa glanced up. "Saved your life? Do you not know what this sh*tty farm animal did?"
The figure glanced down, a tiny glimmer of doubt appeared in it's eye, before it vanished.
"No matter what it has done in the past, I must repay a debt. It would go against my honour and my morals to let this one die."
"Tch, to think that the famous Red Dragon would side with a murderer. You are unworthy of the title Titan of Justice"