Act 2

Chapter 3

"We're animals!" Sora exclaimed.

"But how did this happen?" Yuna shrieked.

"We were probably transformed by kadaji's goon," Cloud said.

"Now what?" Squall asked

There was a moment of silence as they examined each other and themselves. Yuna had become a cheetah; her coat was mustard yellow with dark brown polka dots. Sora was a white wolf, though he was rather scrawny and his teeth small. Cloud was now an elegant black panther and Squall was a lion with a large mane. Sora took a few steps forward, but tripped over his own four feet.

"This'll be harder than I thought," he said lying on the ground.

"I'm sure we'll get used to it, "Yuna said helping him up.

"Well, don't get too used to it," Squall grunted. "Let's just hurry and get out of here—on two human legs."

"Aww, you don't like being a lion, Squall?" Yuna plotted herself next to him. "If you ask me, I think you look like a real king."

"Sigh…"

All the while, Cloud had already gotten use to his animal senses and was sniffing the area. He couldn't hear anything unusual, nor was there anything out of the ordinary. Squall (who had escaped Yuna and Sora's clutches) approached him and asked, "Did you find anything?"

"No," Cloud answered. "I can't even get a scent on that's masked man. He must have escaped through the trees. Either way, it'll be impossible to find him like this."

He gestures his paw at squall, and Squall nodded. "We're pretty useless in this form, nut at least we'll still be able to protect ourselves."

"How do you suppose we change back?"

"I don't know."

"Well, there is a way," They heard Yuna say, and turned towards her.

"I've read about this spell once—about transforming humans into animals. There should be an herb that allows us to return to our true forms. It's a very bright red, so it's not hard to spot," Yuna explained. "But the herb only grows in areas where the weather is warm and where there is sun."

"The forest is warm," Sora said excitedly, his tail wagging.

"Yes, but there's no sunlight here," Squall pointed out. Sora's tail dropped.

"Then it must mean that the herb is growing on the outer part of the forest where there is sunlight,' Cloud concluded. Yuna nodded, pleased with herself. "Pretty much."

"Wow, how do you know so much, Yuna?" Sora asked, in awe. She giggled.

"I used to read quite a bit when I was studying to become a summoner."

"A summoner?" Sora's ears perked in interest, but Squall interrupted.

"Forget it. How are we going to find this herb?"

"We should split up," Cloud suggested

Squall agreed. "Yeah, it'll be faster that way. We can always meet up later."

"W-what if we get lost?" Sora looked worried, but Yuna laughed.

"Animal instincts, remember?"

"O-oh yeah…"

"I'll be going with Cloud then," Yuna said, sprinting to his side.

"Then Sora and I will go together." Squall said. "If either of us find anything, we should return here."

Cloud nodded. "But come back anyway even if you find nothing. It's not safe for us to be separated in such a dense forest."

They each agreed to their terms and separated. It seemed liked the forest was swallowing them up as they walked farther and farther apart. Their footsteps were muffled by the moss and grass beneath their feet that they nearly made no noise at all. Only the sounds of the forest animals were heard as they searched for the herb.

"It's been a while since it's just been the two of us," Yuna said to Cloud.

"Yeah, it has."

"The forest is a little lonesome without Sora and Squall. I wonder how they're doing? I bet they're already starting to argue about which way to go."

Cloud said nothing and only walked on, but Yuna was use to it. She knew he was really listening to her, and so she kept talking.

"How did those two meet, I wonder? One would think they were brothers. Same colored hair, same colored eyes… it's almost too much of a coincident."

They stopped in a clearing. A group of butterflies flew past them. If Yuna were human, she would have reached out to touch them. But in her cheetah body, if she were to reach for them the butterflies would have flown away in fear. So she only watched as they flew higher and higher until she no longer saw them. Cloud observed her quietly. Even in her animal form, she still had the same human blue and green eyes. He let her watch the butterflies for a few more moments before urging them onward.

Meanwhile, Sora and Squall had made no further progress

"This is going to take ages!" Sora whined. "I hope we get this over with soon!"

"Quit your yapping and help out," Squall snapped. "Neither of us wants to stay in this sort of form forever."

"You're right…" Sora said, his shoulders dropping. "I wonder if a miracle herb like that really even exists… but Yuna seemed pretty sure about herself."

"I for one haven't heard of it, but I'll take any chances," Squall said

"Hmm," Sora thought, "Yuna also mentioned something about being… a sommoner, was it?" I wonder what that is."

"It is what it is."

"I know that! But I meant, why was she studying to become a summoner?"

"…Who knows. She's from a different world from either of us."

"Yuna's smiling all the time… but I feel like she's been through a lot."

"Probably."

"And Cloud too. I wonder how they both met. They don't seem really close, but they seem to trust each other."

Sora went on and on about both Yuna and Cloud as he left Squall to search for the herb. Before they knew it, they found nothing and were returning back to their meeting point. Yuna and Cloud were already waiting for them, and Yuna greeted them happily.

"Hey! We're back."

"W-we're back…" Sora fell to the ground, exhausted. Squall looked equally tired, but managed to retain as his composure. "We weren't able to find anything useful—what about you guys?"

"We found a way out of the forest," Cloud told them. "It's a little ways from here. The herb should be nearby as well."

"Great!" Sora jumped. "Now we can finally get out of here!"

Squall lay down and yawned. "Mind if we spend one more night here?"

"It's fine. We were thinking the same thing too." Cloud said, gesturing to Yuna who nodded.

"Ugh…one more night? Aww…" Sora groaned

"Weren't you complaining about how tired you were?" Squall rolled his eyes.

"O-okay… just one more night. I'll think of this as training." Sora rolled himself up as Yuna lay down beside him. She felt pleasantly warm, and it lulled him straight to sleep.

"Kid sleeps like a log," Squall mumbled.

Yuna laughed. "He's adorable."

"He's got a bright future ahead of him," Cloud said. "He'll be ready for it."

Squall closed his eyes and agreed. Before long, they were all asleep.