I was twelve years old, I was tired of my long hair and I wanted it cut. My mom would cut it, but only a tiny bit to where it doesn't look cut.

I was in my old room. I was looking in the mirror with a pair of scissors in my hand. I pulled on a large lock of my long hair and was about to cut it off, until my mom came in with my lunch.

"Stephanie!" She yelled.

"Mom! I'm sorry, I..."

She put her hands on my shoulders.

"Do not cut your hair! You can not cut your hair!" She yelled.

"Yes ma'am," I said.

Ever since then, she was always the one who cuts my hair.

I wake up from that memory as it was another dream. I checked my bed for Aikan or his dad inside, they weren't there. Now that I think about it, this is my fifth day in Menagerie. I got out of bed, got a bath, ate breakfast, and walked outside.

As I walked for little bit, I saw something in the air.

"Hey, Stephan,"

I then noticed Coal and Emily waving at me while they were holding hands.

"Oh, hey," I said.

I went back to looking at what was flying in the air.

"What are you looking at?" Emily asked.

"Wait a minute, is that Merek?" Coal asked.

"Huh, I think it is," Emily answered.

"Who's Merek?" I asked.

"He's a dragon!" Coal answered.

"A dragon!?" I asked.

"Yes," Emily answered.

"Come on, we gotta tell the others," Coal said.

"Alright," Emily said, "I'll tell Clover and Blue."

"Come on, Stephan," Coal said, "Let's get Aikan."

"Okay?" I said as he pulled on my wrist.

We went back to Aikan's house and found Aikan still sleeping in his own bed.

"Aikan, wake up!" Coal yelled.

Aikan then woke up with irritated look on his face.

"Wha... What?" Aikan said.

"It's Merek, he's back!" Coal answered.

"Merek's back!?" Aikan asked.

"Yes, let's go!" Coal answered.

"Oh, Stephan," Aikan said, "You've never seen a dragon before?"

"That's right," I answered.

"You'll love Merek," Aikan said, "I promise that."

We later met with Emily, Blue, and Clover. Blue brought Sandy with her. We then hiked to deep in the jungle til we found a large cave.

"Merek! It's us!" Clover yelled.

"We have someone we want you to meet!" Blue added.

Just then, a large orange lizard with yellow horns walked out of its cave on all fours. Standing up, it was as tall Aikan and me stacked. On its back were large wings.

"Merak, this is Stephan," Aikan said as he pulled me toward the huge reptile.

"Oh...Ugh... Hello," I said.

'Hello.'

I heard someone speak but I don't know who.

"Who said that?" I asked.

"I didn't say anything," Aikan said.

"Me neither," Clover said.

Coal, Blue, and Emily all shook their heads no.

'It was me who said that.'

I heard the voice speak again.

'It was me, Merek.'

I turned back to the dragon.

"That was you?" I asked.

'Yes.'

"But, I see your lips aren't moving," I said.

'Dragons can communicate telepathically'

"Then why not actually speak?" I asked.

'Dragons only have a few words in their vocabulary.'

"Grash itsh griah! Rwar arrr rawrrawrarar!"

"Okay!" I yelled, "I see your point!"

"Hey, Stephan, wanna ride on Merek?" Coal asked.

"What?" I asked.

"Merek lets one of us ride on his back as he flies around the island," Blue said.

'Yes, would you like to?' Merek thought.

"Oh, I... don't know," I answered.

"Merek, mind you let two on?" Aikan asked.

I didn't know what Merek answered, but he nodded his head meaning yes.

"Aikan, what are you doing?" I asked.

"I thought you be scared to be by yourself," Aikan answered, "So I thought that I would ride with you."

He wants to ride with me? I don't know what to say to that.

"Sure, that's fine," I said.

"Cool, and Merek said it was okay, so let's go," Aikan said.

Merek laid down on his stomach to let me and Aikan climb on. Aikan sat in front and held on to Merek's horns while I was behind him.

'Hold on tight' Merek thought.

"Here we go!" Aikan said as Merek jumped into the air.

I looked behind me and saw everyone shrink to a small size. Since I had nothing on Merek to hold on to, I wrapped my arms around Aikan's waist.

"What's wrong, scared?" Aikan asked, "It's okay, check out the island."

I looked to my right and saw the island far from us. The island looked small from high up in the air, but it was a beautiful sight.

"This is amazing!" I said.

"It is," Aikan said.

I also was enjoying being this close to Aikan, it was almost like a fairy tale.

'Hang on, Stephan,' Merek thought, 'We're going back to the others.'

He then dove downwards towards the island at high speed and slowly landed on his feet.

Aikan and I slid off as Emily was about to climb on.

"So, what do you think?" Aikan asked.

"That was amazing," I answered.

'I hope I wasn't making you nervous, Stephan,' Merek thought.

"Oh no, Merek," I said, "You were great."

So all day, everyone had their turn on Merek, as he was tired for the day.

"So, what now?" Coal asked.

"How about we camp out here tonight?" Clover suggested.

"Me and Sandy would love to," Blue said.

"Sure," Coal said.

"I'm up for it, Stephan?" Aikan asked.

"I've never been camping, at all," I answered.

"That's right," Aikan said.

"But, I'll still go for it," I said.

"Well Merek, we're spending the night here," Clover said.

"I'll be back with tents," Coal said.

"And I'll be back with some meat for dinner and breakfast," Clover added.

As Clover and Coal left to get supplies, the rest of us were left to gather wood for the fire.

It didn't take long than I expected, but we had enough wood as Clover and Coal came back with the food and supplies. Merek shot fire from his mouth for the campfire, I knew dragons can do it.

After we ate and set up the tents, we settled with who will share with who. There three tents: Clover and Blue, Coal and Emily, Me and Aikan.

I was tired, so I decided to go to sleep. Aikan went ahead joined. Seeing Aikan sleeping next to me, I noticed he looked kinda cute when he's asleep. As we slept, I felt something glowing in my face. I opened my eyes to see a blue pixie-like creature was looking at me with a sinister grin. It then zapped me and I fell back asleep.

The next morning, I heard everyone except Aikan screaming. Me and Aikan came out of our tents to see what happened.

"What are you doing in my body?!" Clover asked Coal.

It was odd, but Clover sounded like Coal.

"What are you doing in mine?!" He asked back.

Now Coal sounds like Clover, what's going on here?

"Okay, settle down," Aikan said, "What's going on?"

"Aikan, is that you?" Clover asked.

"Yeah, why?" Aikan answered.

"You're a human," Coal said.

It me a while to realize, but I now noticed that all of Aikan's fur is gone. Not just his fur was gone leaving hair on his head, but all of his animal features were gone as well.

Aikan then looked at his hands.

"I'm human!" Aikan yelled.

"You guys, I think I know what's happening," Emily said.

We then noticed something new to Emily, she's a keidran now. She was now a white tiger keidran with her purple hair still on.

"Emily, you're a keidran now," Coal said.

"I already know," Emily said.

"What about Blue?" I asked, "We to check her."

Blue then came out of her tent, but she was covering her mouth.

"Blue, what's wrong with you?" Aikan asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it," she answered in a very deep voice.

"So, here's what we know," Emily said, " Clover and Coal switched bodies, I'm a keidran, Aikan's a human, Blue's voice is very deep, and that's it."

"Wait, what about Stephan?" Blue asked.

"I don't feel anything wrong with..." I was about to say until I felt my chest.

I unbuttoned my shirt to see that I now have breasts. I wasn't gonna pull my pants down because my breasts prove enough that I'm now a woman.

"I'm a woman!" I panicked.

"What's causing these problems are Water Sprites," Emily said, "Also know as Prankster Pixies."

"Are we going to be stuck like this forever?" Aikan asked.

"Oh no, it wears off soon," Emily answered.

"What a relief," I said.

"Are you sure they didn't leave you alone?" Coal asked.

"I'm a man!" I answered.

Later after the magic wore off, we said our goodbyes to Merek for the day and headed home. I didn't like being a girl, and being mistaken for a girl is bad enough. Still, I had fun camping for the first time in my life.

We'll just have to watch out for them pixies next time.