I groan as a bright light is shined into my eyes, I blink a few times and the blur disappears. Two scientists are standing over me, checking my hearing and eye movement, I start to remember what's happening as I reach up and rub my eyes a bit, my smile appearing as my blue five fingered hands come into view, I hold them both up and wiggle my fingers a bit before sitting up quickly, getting a bit of a head rush as the scientists try to talk to me, ignoring them I look down at my long legs.

I move my legs down and onto the floor carefully, my heart racing as I slowly stand, realizing now just how tall I am, smiling more as the scientists try to get me to sit back down. I jump a little as a loud crash sounds behind me, looking behind me I see Jake standing, he had knocked over a tray and small table with his tail, all of the scientists try to get him to sit back down but he just shoves past them and moves for the door, Norm starts yelling at him to sit back down or he'd be knocked out, Jake of course doesn't listen and I laugh a bit as he stumbles out the door, Norm curses and stops the doctors from leaving, saying he'd get Jake.

I follow after Norm as he stumbles after Jake, my heart leaping as I step outside and into the bright sunlight, I breath in deeply before laughing again as Norm yells after Jake that we weren't supposed to run, I take off running after Jake excitedly, Norm yelling after me as well now, Jake nearly runs into a mech and I laugh more, waving to the mech driver as he watches a bit confused, catching up with Jake I slide to a stop next to him "Jake! This is amazing!" I yell happily, running my hands along the leaves and plants around us.

Someone yells from behind us "Hey Marine! Assistant!" We look up curiously "Grace?" Jake asks "well who'd you expect numbnuts? Think fast!" She throws a strange looking fruit to him before picking another and throwing it to me, I barely catch it before taking a bite curiously, I nearly gasp at the sweet and sour taste, Jake bites into his and laughs, I eat the rest of it happily as grace smirks, Norm soon catches up with us and grace takes us back to get some real clothes on. I take a bit of time out in the yard by myself, exploring what this new body can do, I go through the obstacle course a bit clumsily, i had never been very sporty or athletic but it was a lot of fun to be able to jump over such high walls and be able to move so comfortably in a different body. After I finish playing around in the yard, I head inside so the doctors could perform a few more tests.

Grace takes us out to a bungalow, huge open walls and windows with bug nets covering them, I smile as I sit down on a bed, looking out the windows to the forest outside, enjoying the sounds of the forest at night, all of the insects and creatures, I jump a little as my tail whips up and wraps around my shoulder, I shiver a little and gently pick up my braid, looking at the odd little tendrils at the end, I shrug a little and set it behind my back again, Grace walking past and nodding to me, I nod back softly before laying down tiredly, Grace walks to the door, shooing the doctors out and closing up the gates, turning the lights off "bedtime" she calls before heading to a bed herself.

I wake up in the pod, pushing it open and getting out, going with Norm and Jake to get dinner. After we eat I head to my bunk exhausted, as I'm grabbing my pajamas I see a small paper packet in the bottom of my bag, I smile and pull it out, on the packet it says 'rose bush starters' i pull on my shoes again and go to find Max, knowing he was going to still be awake, when I get to the lab and find him, smiling widely I say "Max, do you know where i can get some soil and fertilizer?" He looks up from his computer "dirt?' He asks and I nod "I want to grow my rose bush, I've kept these seeds for a long time" I say softly, he nods and stands "then lets go find you some dirt" he smiles.

After about an hour of searching we had found a bag of earth soil and I was able to bargain for a small handful of fertilizer, thanking Max I head back to my bunk, glad I had a small bedside table to keep the small pot on, I pour a small bit of water into the pot before heading to bed exhausted.

Im back, running through the forest, over plants and tree roots. However this time there is someone near me now, I can't see or hear them, but I can sense them, like when you can feel someone watching you, I glance around but see no one, looking forward again I take a few more steps before reaching the edge of the cliff, stepping right to the edge before launching myself off the cliff, diving downward, hitting the water hard. I smile as the large coral reef under me comes into view, many different creatures swimming around the foreign area...

I sigh softly as I wake up, rubbing my eyes a little, I get up and dressed, watering my little flower pot before heading down to grab some breakfast before I was to join Grace, Norm and Jake for an outing into the forest to collect samples. After eating I head to the link room excitedly, meeting Norm at the door, I fist bump him before walking to my pod, climbing in I smile at Jake "remember to keep your stupid guns safety on" he rolls his eyes but smirks "only if you keep your attitudes safety on" I stick my tongue out at him before laying down as it turns on, closing my eyes and letting the device take my mind to another world.

Waking up in the bungalow I sit up excitedly, stretching my arms and tail out before standing, looking out the netted window into the forest before hurrying to get my things from Grace, meeting everyone on the landing field, I make sure everything I need is in my pack before climbing into our ship with everyone, I buckle in nervously as we take off, I've never been one for flying.

My eyes widen as we fly up over the huge trees, then down over a large waterfall, I grip onto the hand hold next to my chair, my heart racing in fear and wonder as I look out over the amazing scene below, creatures I had never seen flying over the water, others swimming through the water or drinking from it on the shore.

After another fifteen minutes or so we land in a small clearing between the huge trees around us, I unbuckle and nervously climb out of the ship, looking around us as Jake raises his gun, scanning as if he was waiting to be attacked, I sigh softly and step up next to him, gently making him lower his gun as Grace tells the pilot to shut down the ship as we'd be here for a while "Jake, calm down, its not as dangerous here as the general says" I say softly, he raises his eyebrow a bit but keeps his gun a little lower, I go and grab my bag before following Grace into the forest, looking around us in wonder.

My mind starts to wander as they talk and start to take samples, seeing Jake starting to wander off I follow after him, smiling widely when I see him messing with the plants as they disappear down into their stem. I sneak up behind him and jab him in the side gently, he jumps, his tail flailing about and it hits a few more of the plants, causing the rest of the plants to disappear as well, he looks back and both of our faces fall as huge creatures are unveiled from behind the plants, I stiffen and move behind him quickly as he raises his gun, the huge rhino like creature stomps forward a little, huffing and snorting.

Grace hears and runs closer, staying hidden behind a tree with Norm "don't shoot! You'll piss it off" she says quickly, I whimper as it lowers its huge head "its already pissed off!" Snaps Jake "Jake, that armors too thick! Trust me" she says quickly, I grip onto Jakes shirt shakily, afraid of moving in case it charged, the huge creature stomps its foot again and lets out a loud bellow "its a territorial threat display! Do not run, or he will charge" Grace says through the necklace mic "what do i do?" Jake asks quickly "hold your ground" she replies.

I start to panic as it bellows again, lowering its head and slamming it sideways into a small tree, splintering it completely before it charges, Jake rushes forward, raising his arms and screaming his lungs out, I shrink back worriedly but it somehow works, the creature stopping quickly and backing up before running back to the even bigger creatures, what must have been its parents, I stiffen as i hear something behind us, slowly turning my stomach sinks seeing a huge black panther lizard like creature, a Thanator, I remember reading about them in one of Graces books, Jakes still celebrating his win until he hears the snarl of the huge creature, he turns just in time to see it before it jumps over us, roaring towards the other creatures before turning to us "what about this one? Run? Don't run? What?" Jake asks Grace, raising his gun toward the Thanator "Run. Definitely run!" She yells and he turns, sprinting toward me, grabbing my arm and pulling me with him as we begin to run as fast as we can away, the huge creature leaping after us, i scream as it gets closer, I follow Jake as best I can, jumping between two trees we manage to get just out of its reach but not for very long, as it quickly scrambles around the trunks, slashing at us, exploding bark off of one of the trunks. Jake pulls us to move faster before basically throwing me down under a huge root system before he follows me quickly, the creature starts snarling and trying to claw at us through the roots, Jake starts shooting at it, only scaring it away for a moment before it continues to bite and claw at the roots, Jake shoves me a little and I quickly crawl away, him following me after the Thanator ripped the gun away from him and broke it, it smashes through the roots to try and follow us but we manage to crawl out of the roots and make a run for it again. My heart races as Jake trail blazes in front of me as we run, my eyes widen and I scream as I'm suddenly pulled back, the Thanator had caught up and grabbed me by my backpack, Jake turns around and takes his backpack off, throwing it hard at the creature which distracts it enough that I'm able to unclimbed my bag and drop, Jake grabs my hand and we begin to run again, the creature close behind us again after it realizes my bag wasn't edible, Jake quickly stops us at the edge of a cliff next to a waterfall, I whimper as it roars behind us again, Jake grabs my hand "we gotta jump!" He yells and I scream as we both jump off the cliff and plunge down into the water, the Thanator skidding to a stop on the ledge, snarling after us.


Hey guys! Thank you for reading this far!

What do you think of the story so far? I'm really enjoying how its going

If you see any mistakes please leave a comment! Or even if you just enjoyed it, I'd love to know! Also I'll most likely be writing the next chapter soon, maybe even tonight!

Again I hope you liked it!

~ Rose ~