Breaking the Rules
Prologue
A large, four legged creature stepped out from the bush. Behind it emerged two others, one on either side.
"You best keep a close eye on him Duke. We can't let this plan fall through," the first one said. The other dog, Duke, nodded in respect.
"My lady, don't you think the girl may ruin our plans?" the third one dog asked. This one was also a girl, obviously still in her teens. "I mean, the prophecy says-"
"Shut it Marissa," the leader snapped, "don't you think I haven't figured it all out? You are to raise him, so she is seen as the enemy."
Marissa looked taken aback as the three approached what looked to be a clearing full of other dogs. They all looked up as the three approached, moving out of the way as they leader approached a small cave. She seemed to be very excited about something going on inside.
"M-me my lady?" Marissa asked, looking into the cave cautiously, obviously unsure of what to do "Are you sure?" She glanced over at her leader, a black lab, the fur on her Border collie snout.
"Yes you, unless you prefer I ask Simone to do it." Marissa seemed shocked now, obviously not liking the idea of this other girl doing the job for her.
"No, I-I'll do it," She stuttered. Defending her position or not, this border collie was obviously nervous, though an evil grin spread across her muzzle.
The lead dog moved out of the way and let Marissa into the cave, her tail wagging, but a frown on her face. "Then get in there and do it,"
Marissa stepped into a dark, dank and seemingly empty hole. The Collie wandered farther into the dark. There was a distinct scratching sound coming from farther in, and the inside got cooler, and the dark, lighter.
Marissa emerged into a small underground clearing with a hole in the roof, where you could see the tall pine trees rising out into the sky. There was a golden lab puppy in the center, tussling around with a few black ones.
At the sight of the female dog, the puppies stopped playing and hustled over to her. Marissa backed away, looking unsure.
Chapter One
Welcome to my story. I am Ashley, a cat-former, a plain, simple girl. Or, so I thought before I met Trevor, the dog-former-leader-to-be. I'm not quite sure how we cat and dog formers came to exist. But I know how we will go extinct. But lets go back to the very start of the story. When there was no peace between us, and cat and dog formers were constantly in battle.
I was wondering through the back forest, the dark, pine tree area of the wild where our two packs lived. I was in my human form, gazing up into the trees when I heard a semi-growling noise. I knew from experience that it was closer then if I'd heard it in cat-form.
Although, if I had been transformed, it would probably have attacked me by now. Seeing as I was always in Dog-territory, I knew better then to change now. It would only get me into more trouble. But not changing could mean the difference between getting out fast enough or not.
I stood frozen, looking around for the best escape route. I knew climbing a tree would be helpless, the dog-former would just wait for me to come down. I knew it had already smelt me, I'd have to work quickly to get out of here unscathed. But that was half the thrill of coming here, getting back out again.
I crossed into the grasses and slowed down to catch my breath. They were training him better now that he was older. Around fourteen, same as me, I guessed. I knew my challenger had been the dog-former pack's Trainee, or future leader. If anything, I could tell that much about the golden lab shape.
I only knew the difference because one of my closest friends, Sahara, is our Trainee. A Trainee is whoever the leader chooses to follow in their steps. The Trainee's Trainer tends to be the leader themselves, or the second in command. No one knows exactly who the dog-former Trainee was, only that they were defiantly special compared to their last couple Trainees.
As I came upon our camp in the light section of the forest I could see Heidi and Sahara training in the center clearing. We cat-formers live in the maples and oaks closer to the humans. Seeing as we spend most of our time in human form, whereas dog-formers usually are in dog form.
I'd known Heidi from kit-hood, she's a small, brown Scottish fold, and I'm a calico-tortoiseshell mix. We met Sahara when we were five or so human years old. She's a ginger striped cat, and as a girl she has flowing red-gold hair.