It's a quiet night in Wellspring, not long after midnight. A new moon hangs invisible in the sky, leaving nothing but starlight to reveal the slow-moving stormcloud sweeping towards the little town. Occasionally, a flicker of greenish lightning would arc through the cloud's interior, though no thunder would be heard by the handful of Wellspring's residents that were still awake.

One such inhabitant was Jonathan Rivers. His wakefulness wasn't for lack of trying, however; he'd been lying in bed trying to coax out any dregs of slumber for the better part of an hour. Most people his age would laugh at the thought of trying to get to sleep so early on a Friday night, but Jonathan wasn't most people.

However, even he had to acknowledge that sleep probably wasn't coming any time soon. So, reasoning that he might as well do something with his unusual bout of wakefulness, he got out of bed and pulled on the clothes he lad left discarded on the floor of his room from earlier that day.

As Jonathan softly opened his door and began to tiptoe down the stairs to the foyer, he did his best to make as little noise as possible. His mother's labored snores boomed heavily throughout the house, and though they would probably drown out anything short of a helicopter flying headfirst into their kitchen, he didn't want to take any chances; she needed all the sleep she could get. Having made it to the front door, he grabbed the worn pair of sneakers he'd been wearing daily for the better part of 8 months and crept out onto the porch. The air was crisp and unusually cool for a summer night like this one, and Jonathan briefly entertained the idea of ducking back inside and grabbing a sweatshirt. Ultimately, however, he decided to keep moving forward.

Jonathan's house was located on the outskirts of Wellspring. With the dark, starless night above him, the only light he had to guide himself by was the lantern hanging in his front yard and the occasional streetlight stretching out along the dirt road towards a cluster of buildings about two miles off: Wellspring proper.

After performing a brief series of stretches, Jonathan set off at a brisk pace towards the town's heart, his old sneakers grating on the road's gravel. Fields of corn stretched out on either side of the road, their tall stalks making the area seem much more closed-in than it truly was. A visitor to the town might have found it unnerving, but Jonathan had been living here his entire life. The regiments of plants around him felt more like old friends than anything else.

As he continued with his walk, however, Jonathan found that there was something off about the night around him. Not only was it unseasonably cold, but the air around him felt still, almost tense, as if the night sky was coiling back in preparation to strike him down. He glanced up at the darkness hanging over him, and had a moment of slight surprise when he saw a wall of clouds being illuminated by brief flashes of light.

Then, with an otherworldly roar, the sky split open, and everything went green.

Jonathan woke up with a splitting headache. As he swung his hazy vision around, all he was really able to decide for sure was that it was still night. Beyond that, he had no idea how long he'd been out. Groggily pushing himself to his feet, he brought his head up above the corn stalks and took a look around. As far as he could tell, he hadn't moved. His house was still right where it should be, a few hundred yards behind him, and the faint streetlights of Wellspring were still visible a short ways off. The strange chill was even gone from the air. Everything seemed normal.

Wait. Above the corn?

Jonathan's mind finally caught up to what his senses were telling him. And what he was sensinging didn't make any sense. The corn in front of him, the corn that had been planted and grown outside his home for as long as he could remember, was suddenly a few feet shorter than it had been just moments ago. Jonathan stared at it for a long moment, almost waiting for it to shoot back up to its proper height. When it didn't, he reached out to grab hold of a stalk, hoping to get a better look.

And that's when things got really weird. Jonathan almost yelped in surprise when he saw his hand. It was bigger than it should've been, its proportions entirely off, there was a small hole at its center…

And it was green.

Jonathan looked at his left hand in horror, and brought his other one up to compare. His right hand told the same story. Jonathan began frantically glancing all over himself, only to find the same thing. His entire body was covered in green, leaflike skin, save for a few smaller areas of black and a couple of red spikes on his new shoulders. His feet were worse than his hands; he no longer had toes. Instead his legs terminated in wide, almost rootlike stumps, with no digits to speak of.

It was about this time that Jonathan realized he had miscalculated earlier. The corn around him hadn't grown shorter; he'd grown taller. He towered over the fields around him, being at least three feet taller than normal by his best estimate. At this point, Jonathan was probably the most terrified he'd ever been in his life. Finding that he could move very well despite inhabiting an entirely alien body, he took a few long, powerful strides back towards his house before freezing in his tracks. He imagined himself barging in looking like a monster from some ancient horror movie, tearing the whole place up, and then having to try and explain the situation to his mother before she grabbed the shotgun and blew his head off.

Jonathan had a brief moment of indecision. But with going home out of the question, he reasoned there was only one other option. So he turned around and started marching towards Wellspring.

What normally would have taken Jonathan a half hour now took him less than ten minutes. Not only were his strides substantially longer, but he found that his new body didn't seem to tire, and he got up to a run without even feeling like he needed to breath. He supposed some of his speed could also be attributed to the panic-induced adrenaline currently blasting through his system. Then again, he wasn't even sure he had adrenaline anymore.

Jonathan ground to a halt just at the edge of the town, where the gravel road beneath his feet gave way to pavement. He realized that sprinting into the middle of town probably wasn't the best idea given his current condition, and decided to take a breather and decide what to do next.

The decision was made for him, however, when he heard the banging of a trash can being knocked over some twenty feet from him. Jonathan practically dove into the shadow of a nearby tree, pressing his tall but lean form against the trunk and hoping against hope he'd go unnoticed in the darkness.

His fear turned to confusion, however, when he saw what emerged from the alley. He almost called it human, but the word didn't fit. It had two arms and two legs, sure, but that's where the similarities seemed to end. Its head was large, bulbous, and flat. Its eyes didn't have whites or pupils, but instead seemed to be holes filled with a faint glow. Its short, stout body was covered in what looked like a strange hybrid of a set of hazmat gear and an ugly white tracksuit. The creature glanced around furtively, apparently not wanting to be seen.

Jonathan decided this thing probably wasn't going to be able to help him, so he took a slow step backwards. And flinched as a stick cracked loudly under his large foot.

The creature's eyes shot towards him and widened with what he approximated as sheer horror. The creature's face was mostly alien to Jonathan, but he knew an oncoming scream when he saw one.

Wanting as little attention drawn to himself as possible, Jonathan rushed forward, closing the distance between him and the creature and clamping one of his new hands firmly over the thing's mouth.

"I'm not going to hurt you!" Jonathan whispered out in a frantic breath. The creature seemed unconvinced. "Look, I don't want to be seen right now. And from the way you were moving, I don't think you want to either. So how about we calm down and keep this on the down low, ok?"

The creature's expression seemed to relax somewhat.

"I'm going to take my hand off your face now, ok?" Jonathan whispered, trying to sound more reassuring than he felt. He slowly pulled his hand away. The creature sucked in a deep breath, and Jonathan flinched in anticipation. But the thing in front of him simply let the breath back out in a heavy sigh.

"Sorry, you just scared the hell out of me"

Jonathan pulled back in surprise. The voice sounded male, but there was a strange edge to it. It sounded almost digitized, like it was passing through a vocal synthesizer before actually coming out of the creature's mouth.

"You can talk?" he asked incredulously. The creature glared at him.

"Why are you so surprised? You're the talking tree!"

"I wasn't like this until, like, ten minutes ago!"

"Wait wait wait". Understanding dawned in the creature's eyes. "Storm clouds in the sky, big flash of light, whole world goes green?"

Jonathan was taken aback. "Yeah, exactly". Then he understood. "Wait, so you used to be human too?"

"Yeah!" the creature responded emphatically. "My name's Maxwell, but I go by Max"

"I'm Jonathan" Jonathan replied, extending a hand. It wasn't until after his hand closed around Max's that he realized how awkward it was, given his was about three times larger.

"Pleased to meet ya" Max replied. "Only wish it wasn't under such crazy circumstances"

"You and me both" Jonathan replied with a mixture of exhaustion and relief. At least he wasn't alone in this. "So what do we do now? We can't let anyone see us like this"

Max opened his mouth to respond. But he was interrupted as a shadow blurred by at blinding speed, followed by a whooshing of air. Jonathan and Max both froze, the slightly relieved tension they had both felt returning in a heartbeat.

"What was that?" Max whispered.

"I don't know!" Jonathan replied, just as quietly. After a brief moment, he made a decision. He stood up straight and started marching in the direction he had seen the shadow travel.

"Where are you going?!" Max hissed. Jonathan didn't reply. Max glanced around, hesitant, then started trotting after Jonathan. "Hey, wait up! I'm not as tall as I used to be!". Jonathan paused for a moment, letting Max catch up. He hesitated, then offered a hand to Max. The smaller person cautiously grabbed hold, and Jonathan hoisted him up onto his shoulders. Once he felt Max had a good grip, he took off again, following the speeding shadow.

Jonathan stayed to the backstreets and alleyways as best he could, avoiding any and all light sources like the plague. It was slow going at first, but he quickly found a rhythm. Fortunately, it didn't seem like anyone was out and about at this time of night. Unfortunately, it was hard to keep track of where he was going while stumbling through the dark, so he had to keep reorienting himself. After about fifteen minutes, he and Max emerged on the far side of the town center. All that lay before them now was Wellspring High, the place he had spent most of the past four years of his life. He'd said goodbye to the place without much emotion only a few weeks ago. However, seeing it in the dead of night successfully eroded any sense of familiarity the building would have otherwise given him. He thought he saw a flicker of motion over by the baseball field, and decided to move that way.

The place had certainly seen better days. The chain-link fence surrounding it was rusted in many places, and the bleachers behind home plate were dented and even bent in some spots. Wellspring High's baseball program wasn't exactly known for its rousing success, so Jonathan guessed the school must've shifted funding to other, more lucrative venues, namely the nearby football field.

Jonathan's reverie was shattered as something zoomed by him and Max. He pulled his arms up into a loose approximation of a defensive stance, and he felt Max tense and hop off his shoulder. The shadow zoomed past again, and again. He tried to make out what it was, but the poor lighting kept that from happening. It kept zooming by them, faster and more frequently. A fine cloud of dust and dirt began to swarm around them. Jonathan could hear Max coughing, and though he didn't feel any effect on his breathing himself, the particles still tore across his eyes, making them sting. After a few moments of being battered, he'd had enough.

"STOP!" he shouted, thrusting his hand forward in frustration.

As his hand extended, something strange happened. All around him, thick green vines suddenly burst from the ground, covering the field and dirt around him in a tangle of undergrowth. Apparently the shadow hadn't been expecting that. It seemed to get caught on the roots, and went tumbling down into the dirt.

Jonathan walked over as best he could, though navigating through the vines he had created was more difficult than he expected. What he found once he made it through surprised him, though he quickly chided himself for the reaction. With all that had happened tonight, surprise of any kind felt stupid.

Lying on the ground in front of him was another almost-human. This one was more in line with normal human size than him or Max, but that wasn't its most noticeable feature. The creature was covered entirely in what looked to be fur. Most of the fur was black, but there were patches of blue on the forearms, shins, chest, and face. A long tuft of fur extended to either side of the thing's face. And when the creature sat up and opened two bright, almost feline eyes, those two tufts almost made it look as if the thing was wearing a mask.

The creature glared at him with apparent irritation.

"What was that for?" the creature asked, indignant.

"Sorry" Jonathan replied. "I didn't even know I could do that"

The creature's eyes narrowed, irritation giving way to suspicion.

"What are you?"

"Lemme guess,". Max's voice cut through the tension with practiced precision, ignoring the creature's question and stifling the answer Jonathan had prepared. "You used to be human, got hit by a big flash of green lightning, and you woke up in a brand-new, state-of-the-art freakshow body. Am I right?"

The creature- person, Jonathan corrected himself- paused, then gave a curt nod. "Welcome to the club, sister" Max replied, a smug grin spreading across his wide face.

Jonathan hadn't noticed until Max commented on it, but the person's voice did sound distinctly feminine. "I'm Jonathan, and this is Max" he hurriedly added. "It seems like we're all going through the same thing right about now"

"Hardly" the person spat. "You're a talking plant and your friend's a cyberpunk midget. I'm stuck in a body that can't decide whether it wants to live in real time or slow mo; I wasn't exactly tearing up the place by choice, you know"

"Well, maybe, but at least we can help each other figure out what the hell is-"

At that moment, a primal roar split the air around them, causing Jonathan's attempt at reason to die in his throat.

"It never lets up, does it?" Max muttered before turning to look in the direction of the sound. When he did, his eyes widened in shock. Jonathan was starting to turn and see for himself when something large, bulky, and hairy tackled him from behind, forcing his face into the dirt.

"LEMME TELL YOU SUMTHIN YOU FREAKY ALIEN COMPOST HEAP!" a voice bellowed from on top of Jonathan's crushed body. "ROSE DOES NOT APPRECIATE BEING TURNED INTO AN ORANGE WEREWOLF!"

"You actually look more like a tiger" Jonathan heard Max say in an aggravatingly matter-of-fact tone of voice. Jonathan managed to turn his body around so that he was facing up. And he immediately wished he hadn't.

Not inches from his face was a bestial, tooth-filled face, that looked to be seconds away from biting his head off. Begrudgingly, Jonathan had to give Max credit; the thing did look a lot like a tiger. Although he didn't think tigers had fingers. Or massive, knife-like claws emerging from their knuckles. He couldn't be sure though; he hadn't seen a tiger in a long time.

"Hey, take it easy!" Jonathan cried through clenched teeth. "I'm not an alien! I'm human! I just got turned into this thing somehow". The creature pressing him into the ground hesitated, though the look of pure rage never left its face. "Did you say your name was Rose?" Jonathan asked, trying to keep it talking.

The creature's expression briefly turned to one of confusion. Then the rage came back in full force.

"OF COURSE ROSE'S NAME IS ROSE! WHAT ARE YOU, STUPID?!" Rose, as she appeared to be named, yanked Jonathan's torso up and slammed it back into the ground, as if to ensure he was paying attention.

"I got it, I got it!" Jonathan gasped out through the pain. "Look, I'm not gonna hurt you. No one here is. We're all just lost and trying to figure out what's happening. I think we can help you, ok?"

Rose paused, apparently weighing her options. After a moment she let go of Jonathan and stood up. "Rose is confused. Rose hates being confused! CONFUSION MAKES ROSE MAD! GAHHH!" Rose promptly stormed over to the bleachers and kicked at them, tearing one of the benches from its supports and sending it flying across the field.

"Is there anything that doesn't make Rose mad?" the speedster quipped under her breath. Apparently Rose managed to hear her over all of her grumbles and growls, and shot the blue being a look which Jonathan could only describe as murderous. He felt a flicker of satisfaction when the speedster shrunk back with regret.

"We're all confused," Max said, trying to keep things calm. "How about we start by getting to know each other. My name's Jonathan"

"I'm Max" Max chimed in, waving to Rose seemingly without a care in the world.

"Rose's name is Rose" Rose said with the confidence of a very intelligent toddler.

Jonathan looked expectantly at their last acquaintance. After a bit of hesitation and a brief glance in Rose's direction, she muttered a rather flat "Kenna".

"Good. Now that we've all been introduced-"

"Uh, Jon?" Max cut it, sounding more than a bit apprehensive. Jonathan glanced at him, confused. "I hate to interrupt your team-building exercise, but…"

Jonathan's gaze flitted to where Max was pointing. Hanging up in the sky in the distance was a bright pinprick of green light. And it was getting larger.

Jonathan turned to face the incoming object, as did the rest of his companions. As it grew closer, the dot resolved itself into the shape of an aircraft of some kind. It was mostly black, but a number of glowing green lines criss-crossed its surface in patterns that reminded him of circuit boards. The ship flew down low directly at them, but came to a sudden stop maybe a hundred yards away out in the field. It then slowly rotated around to face away from them, and set itself down, extending a landing ramp as it did so.

Jonathan and the others slowly approached it, arriving at the base of the ramp just as a door at the top of it slid open with a metallic hiss. He watched as a man stepped out. Not some vaguely humanoid figure like most of the people he'd met tonight, but an actual human being. He was tall, and though his body was encased in a rounded, white suit with black accents and a number of red dots, Jonathan got the sense he was pretty muscular. The man's hair was brown with streaks of grey, and two sharp, emerald green eyes started down at them with a strange mixture of severity and curiosity. The man crossed his arms, and Jonathan spotted what he thought to be some kind of watch on his left wrist, emblazoned with a symbol that reminded him of a green hourglass.

The man looked them each up and down in turn, though Jonathan could've sworn the man's eyes lingered on him for a moment longer than the others. Finally, after many moments of silence, the man spoke. His voice was gruff but commanding, the kind that brooked no argument.

"I think you'd all better come with me"