We leave the bug and head in a random direction. Ran is humming a soft tune and I smile at his happiness.

A loud noise startles me back into reality. Ran looks at me for a moment and I nod. We run togther through the trees. We come across a battle with two players and what looks like a giant snake boss.

The players are losing. Ran and I don't hesitate, we just leap in. Ran takes out two knives and attacks first. They don't penetrate the snakes skin very far and the skatches seem to make the large serpent even more mad.

I try to think of an animal that would be bigger than the snake and still be able to defeat it. I come up with an idea but the logical part of my brain is screaming that a mythological creature won't work.

I shake the feeling and sit on the ground so that I can concentrate. I picture the creature in my mind and wait. I can hear the battle around me as Ran and the players buy me time. Nothing happens and I begin to panic. I hear an unfamiliar grunt of pain as one of the players is thrown to the unforgiving ground by the snake.

I force down the feeling and redouble my efforts. After a handful of seconds of waiting and uncomfortable prickling feeling covers my body. I keep my eyes shut and the feeling intesifies. A new stretching feeling joins the prickling.

When both feelings stop I open my eyes. The once huge snake now looks much smaller copared to before. I bare my fangs at the snake and it hisses while eyeing me warily.

I hear the sound of skin meeting skin and I glance down to see Ran with his hand in his forehead. "Of all the thinks to turn into you choose to befome a giant nine tailed fox?"

I grin. It wasn't my fault that Naruto was the first thing that had come to my mind when I saw a giant snake.

The snake lunges at me. I use one of my paws to swipe at it and manage to catch it's nose with my razor sharp claws. It hisses in rage and coils itself so that it can spring again. A strange grating feeling rippls its way through my throat. When I hear the growl I know it must be mine. I briefly wonder if that means I can purr too before I drag my mind back the the fight.

The snake springs again but this time I jump instead of trying to take another swipe at it. My now heavy body lands in it's back and head, effectivly pinning it to the ground. I turn and sink my teeth into the flesh behind the sakes skull.

It goes limp and so I release it. It disinigrates and in it's place are four glass vials. I sniff them at sneeze as a sharp and almst painful smell hits my sensitive nose. The two players sit heavily on the ground and start drinking healing potions. Ran looks up at me. "At least I know you've been keeping up on your reading."

I smirk and release the hold I have of my power. The feelings from earlier happen in reverse. I squeeze my eyes shut and begin praying that I wouldn't have to worry abut a lack of clothing due to my transformation.

I open my eyes and quickly scan my body. I release a breath of relief when I still have proper clothing on. "So." Says one of the players eyeing the vials with open curiosity. "What do you think is in these?"

I remember the strange smell and answer with certainty. "It's got to be poison. It burned when I smelled it earlier." I finally get a good look at the two. They look exactly the same. I feel my eyebrows draw togther in confusion. "I thought no two players could look exatly the same?"

The one on my left grins. "We were the first two to log on at exatly the same time so we demanded to bee able to make identical characters." The one on the right matches the first ones grin. "We also may have used a tiny threat to get them to comply. Nothing big though. We only... sugested that we could hack into the system and create our own characters."

Ran frowns and A large smile stretches my cheeks. "Do you want to join us?" Ran sighs and rubs his forehead. "How did I know THAT was coming?" The three of us turn to him and smile innocently. He rolls his eyes. "I don't trust any of you as far as I can throw you."

Fake tears come to my eyes. "I just wanted to make some new friends. These guys are awesome!" I see them nod out of the corner on my eyes and I see a single tear droplet fall from each of their chins. I keep the smile off of my face. I hug them as they hug me. We weep together. Rans lip quivers. "Fine!" He says, highly annoyed. "Let the random people join without asking questions!"

We high five. "Thanks Ran!" I yell. I throw my arms around him in a hug. Someone clears their throat. I look up and see my dad and mom standing in the woods. Dad glares at Rans back and I feel him shiver. I let go of him and he turns around. "Uhm... Hi?"

"Hi." says dad pleasantly. "What's going on?" I see Ran gulp. "N-nothing. We were just g-gathering a team." Mom smacks dad on the back of his head. "Don't scare the boy, you idiot. I can still beat you." Dad cringes. "Y-yes dear."

The twins and I laugh and Ran cringes. This makes us laugh harder.

Mom looks up after scolding dad. "Hi boys!" She says pleasantly. "Hi Aunt Lan!" They chorus. I grow confused. "Did Aunt Loli have an affair and not tell Uncle Ming?" Mom laughs and dad grumbles something that sounds a lot like 'probably'.

"Of course not! These two are Wolf and Yu Lians children! You haven't seen them in a while because the last time the three of you were together Neo and Laica convinced you to flush your fathers mid-term exams down the toilet. He had to make his students color some of your coloring pages for a grade. I wish we had that exam." She says sending a pout in dads direction.

He rolls his eyes. "That was a one time thing only. Don't forget that the time they almost burned down Dolls castle. Yu Lian was furious! She went on a three-hour long rant about how much money it was going to cost her to get it repaired."

Dad turns his attention to the boys. "So what have you two been up to?" Both boys smile. "We're into computers." I hear Ran snort. "That's an understatement." I glance back and forth between my cousins. "So who is who?" "I'm Laica, and he is Neo. I think." They share a look. "Yup, we definitely have it right."

"How do you not know which one you are?" The boys seem to deflate a little bit. "Since we're identical, people call us by both names. We're going by the one that we're called more than half the time." "Why not change something then?" I ask. "'Cause that would defile our evil plan." They smile. I see Ran shudder and I hear him murmur quietly. "What have I gotten myself into?"

I smirk at him. "A whole heap of fun." He shudders again. Dad looks at mom. Loli just PMed me. She said to meet them in the city to catch up before we have to get back to work." "Ok." Says mom. She looks at the four of us and smiles. "Have fun kids! Oh that reminds me!" She takes something out of her pouch and flips it to me. "This is for you. Enjoy!" A man on a carpet with long hair comes down from the sky. My parents leap onto the carpet and take off.

I look down at the thing in my arms. "What is it?" Asks one of the twins. "It's an egg. Says Ran. "But why would my mom give me an egg?" I ask. All three boys turn to look at me like I'm crazy. "What?" I ask defensively. "It's probably a pet egg. Your parents do have famous married pets and the game rules say that the can have children. I'm willing to bet that this is the child of Meatbun and Firepheonix." Explains Ran.

I turn up my chin. "I knew that." I lie. "Yeah, okay, whatever." He responds in a disbelieving tone. "How long does it take to hatch?" I ask peering at the egg. "We've got this one." Say the twins. One of them grabs me and the other hands the egg to Ran. He one that handed off the egg pulls out a small knife and pricks my thumb. "What the heck was that for?" I scream at them. None of them answer.

Ran puts the egg under my bleeding thumb and catches some of the blood. The twin releases me and Ran places the egg in my hand. The egg is visibly warmer. Suddenly it bursts open revealing a soft white shape. It slowly unfurl itself in my arms and then opens its cobalt eyes. "Call me crazy." I say quietly. "But I don't think the child of Meatbun and Firepheonix is an albino tiger."

Ran facepalms. "If you keep doing that you are going to slowly lose all of your existing brain cells." I tease him. "Unlike you I have a few to spare!" He fires back at me. "Hey! I'll have you know that my IQ is as great as my dads!" It yell angrily. "Says the girl that throws a stick in the air to find west!" He shouts back. Angry tears prick at my eyes. "Well I'm sorry if I can't be perfect!" I hold my new tiger cub close to me and morph into a larger kind of it's species. Then I hold my kit safely in my jaws and run.

I keep running. My tears block my vision and I barley manage to dodge trees, but I refuse to stop or let them fall. I know I've overreacted but I don't stop. What I said earlier about having an IQ as high as my dads is true. The only reason I'm not already going to a University is because I don't know what I want to do yet.

I finally stop and lay down on some grass. I pant heavily to pull oxygen into my lungs. The cub walks over to me and lays between my front paws. It then yawns and closes its eyes. 'I need to give you a name.' I think sleepily. 'Nala. I'll call you Nala." Feeling content I slip into a fitful sleep.

~Rans POV~

I watch as Jade runs away. I knew she was teasing me but I exploded anyway. I had been held back for two years and school is a bit of a touchy subject. Then she has said something about having a high IQ but she doesn't ever show an intelligent side. Just a fun loving and easy going side.

"Dude." Says one twin. "That was harsh." Finishes the other. "Well It's not my fault." I defend. "She's the one that acts foolishly and then claims to be smart." They both frown. "Our cousin is smart. Haven't you ever noticed that the only classes you share with her are the advanced ones you are taking?" My own frown deepens. "Well yes, but how did you know that?" They shrug. "We grew up with our dear cousin and decided to keep an eye on her after we moved." "And naturally we were curious about her academics as well so we made sure to keep an eye on her grades as well." They explain. "She is currently involved in all advanced classes and has very good grades in all of them."

I start to feel horrible. "Then why hasn't she already graduated?" I ask. "She can't seem to decide on what she wants to do yet. We think she should just join a band. Her voice is as good or better than aunt Lans is." I knead my forehead with my fingers. "I just messed up big time didn't I?" "Oh yeah." Says one. "Definitely." Agrees the other. I groan. "Can't you two at least put on nametags so I can tell you apart?" The boys grin. "Nope!"

~Jades POV~

I yawn and open my eyes. Nala looks up at me with an adorable look on her face. I stretch and stand. "Well look what we have here." I turn my head and glare at the owner of the voice. Laughter draws my eyes to his companion and a growl ripples up my throat. I stand protectively over Nala and send a quick PM to Ran.

Please find me quick! Your father and brother are here!

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

Sorry for the delay! Recently I have had another story on my mind and wanted to get it written before I forgot about it. It also doesn't help that I keep reading fanfics instead of writing my own...