Logan nervously knocked on the door, taking a step back and waiting for someone to answer. It was Gabriel that opened it, the raven smiling as he saw who it was. "Logan, come on in! We've been waiting for you."
"And I've been dreading this," Logan sighed, stepping inside the building. He looked around to see a room colored in purples and blues, an entire wall covered by a bookshelf and the rest of them having emo and punk band posters plastered onto them. "Woah, I did not expect your house to look like this, Gabriel."
"That's because this is my room," Lena said, the duck currently holding a spell book as she sat next to a cauldron on the floor.
"I thought you lived with Violet and her dads," Logan questioned.
"She does, but I have rooms for all of Team Dream Keeper in here," Gabriel explained. He pulled out a golden key from his pocket. "Each of us have a unique key that when used on a hotel door transforms the room inside into our respective room."
"Wait, so you don't have a permanent house then?" Logan said in shock.
"Well, as Dream Keeper I'm always moving between the different worlds, so this is just easier to have an instant pop-up room than one fixed location," Gabriel shrugged. "Either way, let's get to making some magic!"
"Yeah Logan, take a seat," Lena smirked.
"I still can't believe I've been blackmailed by you twice," Logan mumbled. "But whatever, just get to casting whatever curse you want on me so we can get this over with."
"Woah, woah, woah. Who said anything about curses?" Lena questioned. "I may know my way around dark magic, but I'm not about to turn into an old crone that puts princesses to sleep with a cursed apple. I just wanted someone that was physically strong enough to withstand any wayward magic."
"You think I'm strong?" Logan said, surprised.
"Yeah, you're like, super muscley!" Kessie said, appearing on Gabriel's head.
"I'm pretty sure you also have the most physical feats out of all of us Dream Defenders, besides maybe Rachel," Gabriel mused.
"Aw geez, you're making me blush," Logan said bashfully. "Okay then, I'll take whatever you can dish out, Lena. Then we'll be square!"
Lena nodded. "Good, then you can start by holding this for me." She tossed the spell book to Logan, who quickly caught it. "We'll be brewing a special elixir today, and I need three ingredients to get it right."
Logan looked down at the open page. "Potion of Transmutation: when ingested and paired with a transformation spell, it allows the user to acquire a secondary form that they can freely switch between." He looked to Gabriel. "Isn't this just a transformation spell with extra steps? What do you need the potion for?"
"Read a bit further down the page," the raven replied.
Logan held the book up again, continuing to read, "If the user already has a secondary form they can assume, this potion can instead create a fusion between the user's two forms, giving them all the strengths of both sides."
Lena snapped her fingers, recalling the book to her hands. "You see Logan, I noticed that you're always getting flustered around Destiny, especially whenever she's in her human or anthro form."
"What can I say? She's beautiful," Logan blushed.
"But you also tend to get so tongue-tied and flustered by most beautiful woman as well," Gabriel pointed out.
"So I thought it would be a good idea for you to get some payback for all the times Destiny's beauty has distracted you at inopportune times," Lena said.
"What? She doesn't do that," Logan said.
Gabriel and Lena shared a look. "What about the time she sent you the video of her in a swimsuit, and you got so flustered you turned into a giant snowy owl?" Gabriel said.
"Or how you almost fainted from blood loss the first time you saw her anthro form," Lena said. "Seriously dude, you were almost as a bad as those guys in anime. Webby had to break out the heavy-duty tissues. And you can't forget the-"
Logan's face turned completely red as he shouted, "You promised to never mention that incident ever again!"
"Gabriel, what are you guys talking about?" Kessie asked.
"Something your cute little bird ears don't need to hear," Lena said with a wink.
"Destiny and I had a long talk about human customs when it comes to bathrooms after that…" Logan groaned, hiding his face in his hat.
"Anyway!" Gabriel said loudly, steering the conversation back on track. "With this elixir we can even the odds for you, Logan. So, let's go find these ingredients!" He looked at the list in the spell book. "We need the song of a raven, the fur of a werewolf, the knowledge of an owl, and the DNA of whoever will be drinking the potion."
"Three of those will be easy," Lena said. "We have a raven and a werewolf here, plus Logan will add his DNA in last. It's getting the knowledge of an owl that will be tricky…"
"Wait, there's a werewolf here?" Logan questioned. "I know Gabriel dressed as a werewolf for Halloween one time, but does that count?"
"It's me, you dork," Lena said. Her eyes glowed with magic that spread to her body, transforming it from a duck into a large wolf big enough for Gabriel to ride on. She still kept her purple hair streak. "I learned a werewolf transformation spell from Poe. Got the idea from a dream I had one time."
"You're so cute, Lena!" Kessie giggled, landing on the wolf's head.
Lena chuckled. "Thanks kid. Webby and Violet had fun with this form as well, running through the forests outside Scrooge's mansion."
"I thought werewolves were part man, part wolf," Logan said.
"Werewolf is a word that combines "vir", Latin for "man", and wolf, thus literally meaning "man-wolf"," Gabriel explained. "In traditional werewolf lore, the name only refers to people that can take on the shape of a wolf. It wasn't until the Universal "Wolf Man" movie that the idea of werewolves being humanoid wolf monsters became popular. Most historical accounts of werewolves say that the person simply turned into a wolf."
"Wow, I did not expect you to be so knowledgeable on the subject of werewolves," Logan said.
Gabriel grinned. "Hey, the idea of transforming into another form is awesome. I did choose to be a raven instead of a human here in the Magical World for a reason, you know."
"Either way, we can get the hair of a werewolf crossed off the list," Lena said. Kessie plucked a few hairs off of Lena's head, adding them to the cauldron before the sorceress transformed back into her normal form. "Gabriel, a song please."
"With pleasure," the Dream Keeper replied. Gabriel hummed a tune, letting Fantasia flow and float into the cauldron, adding its magic to the brew. "Well then, that just leaves the knowledge of an owl."
"I can give you that!" Logan said, turning into his owl form.
Lena shook her head. "No, we can't use you, Logan. We'll be using your DNA, and each ingredient has to come from a difference source, or else the potion won't turn out properly. It could do any sort of random effect instead of what it's intended to do."
Logan transformed back into his human form and sighed. "Okay, then I guess we'll have to go out and find an owl. I'm sure Merlin isn't busy this time of day."
Kessie scratched her head and hummed with thought. "I feel like I knew an owl, but I can't remember. Aw man, forgetting all my friends is no fun at all."
"Wait, Kessie does have an owl friend!" Gabriel said, pulling out the Hundred Acre Wood book. He opened the book and turned to a page that depicted a treehouse on it. "Kessie, does this house ring any bells to you?"
"I'm pretty sure whoever lives there was smart, and had a lot of books," the bluebird said.
"Oh yeah, you guys are looking for all the lost pages of the book," Lena said. She closed her eyes and whispered a spell, opening them as her eyes glowed blue. "Let me see beyond what is seen. Show me Kessie's missing friend!" The duck held out a hand, making all the books on her shelf fly off it and swirl around like a tornado. Soon they fell into neat stacks around Lena, with one book landing in her lap. She held it up and quirked an eyebrow. "A history of adventurers? This must be one of the books Huey got me for Christmas."
Opening the book, Lena was surprised when a loose page floated out of it. Gabriel caught the page, its magic sparking as a brown owl appeared from the page, landing with a hoot and looking around. "Why I say, that was a most riveting show, my dear girl," the owl said.
"Owl!" Kessie gasped, flying into the larger bird's chest. "I've had a serious case of brain drain and forgot who you were! How could I forget my favorite teacher?"
"Oh Kessie, it's good to see you again as well," Owl chuckled, patting the bird on the head. "Though I remember you being a bit bigger the last time we met. Must be these old eyes playing tricks on me."
"Nice to have you back, Owl," Gabriel said, placing the page into the Hundred Acre Wood book. "These pages can just turn up anywhere, huh?"
"That they can," Lena said, letting out a yawn. "Wow, that tracking spell really did a number on me. Big spells tend to leave me drained, so don't expect me to be able to do that again for awhile."
"Hey, at least we can get the knowledge of an owl now," Logan said.
"Oh, right!" Kessie remembered. "Owl, can you tell us one of your stories?"
"Why of course, my dear!" Owl exclaimed. "All this talk of books and knowledge reminds me of my time at Cambridge with a cousin. She was a smart, one I tell you…" As Owl rambled on, Lena used some of her magic to add his words into the cauldron, the old bird's words appearing as a cartoonish speech bubbles.
"That should be the last of it. All we need now is Logan's DNA to finish the brew," Lena said, wiping her brow.
"Got it," Logan said, taking off his hat and pulling out a stray hair from it.
Once the hair was added, the potion turned white, with Lena mixing it a bit before pulling out a vial and corking it. She shook the elixir, the liquid turning gold before he gave a satisfied nod. "Alight, this should be good to go now. Drink up, Logan."
"And what is this supposed to do again?" Logan asked, looking at the vial.
"It will unlock an in-between form, a mix of your human self and your owl spirit," Gabriel explained. "Kinda like what I am."
"Is your spirit a raven?" Logan questioned.
Gabriel shrugged. "I dunno, I just like ravens. That's why I picked this form."
"Less talking, more magic," Lena said, clapping her hands.
Logan gulped, carefully uncorking the vial before drinking it in one go. He gagged a bit afterwards. "Cheese that tastes awful! Why do magic potions have to be so vile?"
"Feel anything, Logan?" Kessie asked.
He shook his head, rubbing a hand on his stomach. "Not really, besides the need to wash out my mouth with something that tastes better."
The gang sat around for a few minutes, waiting for something to happen, with Lena cracking open the spell book to make sure they did it right. "We got all the ingredients, and it turned the right color, what did I… Oh, that's the problem! You have to say the magic words!" She cleared her throat before holding out a hand to Logan, eyes aglow with magic. "In Bobo Corpore Transmuto!"
Logan's stomach gave a growl, the young man clutching it. "Okay, now I feel something…" He let out a shout of surprise as he was lifted into the air, an icy wind swirling around his body like a blizzard as a spectacular transformation took place. His feet turned into talons, white feathers covered his entire body, his arms and hands grew larger, turning into wings, and his face pulled forward into a beak. When the storm faded, Logan shook off the snow. "Okay, that was cold… Hey, why are you guys looking at me that way?"
"I believe you should look at yourself, my boy," Owl chuckled.
Logan looked at his hand, gasping as he saw that it was now a wing. "Mirror, I need a mirror!" he shouted.
Lena pointed to one in her room, Logan rushing over to look at his new form. He had become an anthropomorphic snowy owl, with mostly white feathers that had flecks of black on his back and wings, though he kept his eye color from when he was human. Flexing a wing, Logan was surprised to see that he kept his musculature from before, maybe even more so as he checked himself out. "Wow, I look great!" he said. The newly turned owl did various poses, before frowning as he felt extra weight in his gut. "Although it seems like I put on a few pounds in the stomach area."
Gabriel went over to Logan, giving him a light hit to the gut that the owl barely felt. "Seems like your cute owl form carried over all the fluff and gut, but mixing it with your toned human body gave you more strength as well. So this new gut of yours is mostly muscle underneath the feathers."
"That's a relief. I did not want to be the butt of a fat joke," Logan said. His face then went red as he realized something. "Wait, where did my clothes go!"
Lena laughed as she watched the owl cover himself. "You're all feathered up, Logan, so there's no need for that. Just call on your clothes and they should reappear on your body."
Logan calmed down, imagining his clothes and giving a satisfied hum as his outfit reappeared. "Okay, this is pretty cool."
"The elixir will keep you in that form for about twelve hours, and after that you can switch between it and your human form at will," Gabriel explained. "You can also use your normal owl form as well if you like."
"Good to know," Logan nodded. He then got a thought in his head, summoning his Keyblade to his hand and holding it out. "I wonder… What if I…" His Keyblade suddenly glowed blue, his outfit gaining a blue snowflake pattern over it as a cool breeze surrounded him. "Cool, this new form has its own unique Drive Form! It feels like I'm in better tune with ice magic, so I'll call this Blizzard Form!" Logan deactivated the drive form and smiled, pulling Gabriel and Lena into a hug, giving both of them a face full of owl floof. "I was nervous at first, but thanks, guys! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a certain whale shark I need to impress with my new form. You'll be the one flustered this time, Destiny!"
As Logan left the room, Lena got to cleaning up her cauldron, with Owl and Kessie sitting down on her bed to read a book together. "So Lena, did you add anything else to the potion?" Gabriel asked.
The duck gave a mischievous grin. "Well, I might have added in an extra spell so that anytime Logan comes to Duckburg he'll be stuck in his new anthro form. As a Keyblade Wielder, I'm sure he's used to worlds changing the form of the user to match wherever they are."
"Never change, Lena," Gabriel said, shaking his head. He looked at the Hundred Acre Wood book and smiled. "That's another member saved. There's still Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, Gopher, and Lumpy to find, but I'm sure I'll save them all in time."
Author's Note
And Logan gets a new form! Ever since he got the owl curse back in "Magical World Grand Prix" I've wanted to give him an anthro form, and now he has one. Hopefully this'll help Logan not be so flustered around Destiny now, and his new Blizzard Form will surely help his Keyblade training as well.
The spell Lena uses to finish the potion is a reference to the inscription on the ring in "The Shaggy Dog" (the original, not the Tim Allen one) that transforms the main character into a dog, just with the worlds changed to "Bubo" which is Latin for "Owl."
Speaking of owls, Kessie got a friend back in the form of the smartest animal in the Hundred Acre Wood, Owl! He's one of my favorites, and I love that he takes on a mentor role of Kessie, seeing as they both are birds.
Next Time: Gabriel celebrates Thanksgiving with the trickiest and slyest of animals in the Magical World!