So...This is a story I've had in mind for a while but it didn't fit anywhere in the big arcs so I put it in the 'Adventures the Fellowship Herd had in June' before the Rescue of the Mizzerans, however writing A Disturbing Report taught me that not every story has to be a giant novel it's OK to have stories where the amount of chapters you can count on your hands, I don't think this story will be that short but will probably be like 'It's Not Easy Being Giant' and also while this fic's primary purpose is the establish two characters who will play a pretty important purpose in the upcoming arc, now that I've established some of the Mutants of Leo's Martial Arts School this is a chance to flesh them out a bit more again, before the upcoming big arc and finally the beginning chapters of The Gryphons Come Home to Roost have been pretty dark and grim delving into some pretty heavy subjects, this is just something a bit more fun and goofy to take a break from writing those chapters as kind of a palette cleanse
It was June, the weather was sublime in the Northern Hemisphere and so a dance contest had been announced for couples who were comprised of one human and one Humanimal, the ones behind this contest were a human/Humanimal couple themselves specifically the human was Miranda Devine, a powerful psychic and scientist and her husband, a Dinosaur-Man of the breed named Copernicus they seemed to have pioneered a new kind of interspecies dancing, the posters showed Miranda balancing on foot on Copernicus' nose!
Two couples in particular, a human boy with a Humanimal girl and Humanimal boy with a human girl were both vying to win...Ichabod Crane and his Cat-Girl Marzipan and Bill Brandy, a Bull-Boy with his human girl Samantha Star…
The two teenage boys took great pride in their skill in dancing, and while the two were good friends they both assured each other they wouldn't hold back and they'd give it their all for the contest!
As Bill was shopping for new clothes to make the perfect dancing costume, the Bovine-Boy took a moment to look at some human dancing shoes and compare them to his own hooves, Humanimals almost never where shoes, almost always they only where shoes when their entire body has to be covered like a space suit or a Hazmat suit, when their feet have to be covered their feel incredibly unsure of themselves like their head is about to float off their neck into Outer Space!
Bill sighed, finding nothing in these shops that seemed to suit him, he decided to take a break from shopping and go for a stroll in the woods…
However...Bill discovered Ichabod was practicing his dancing in the woods! Quickly hiding behind a tree, Bill quietly peeked at his friend...The scrawny bean pole human despite how lanky his limbs were really making him look like a Scarecrow like his infamous Rogue Father! However what Bill saw he was also pulling from his Mother Poison Ivy for as he danced, flowers bloomed all around him! Flowers even sprouted from the spots where his bare feet touched! In that moment Ichabod really did seem like a 'Prince of Nature' as it seemed all the forest seemed to dance with him as he was practicing his florakinesis along with his dancing...It really did seem like the perfect Ballet scene! When Ichabod finished with the perfect ballet leap, he then bowed to all the flowers and said "Thank you!" And the flowers seemed to bow back!
Thoroughly impressed, Bill made a discreet retreat muttering to himself "How the heck am I gonna beat that?"
Meanwhile, at the Farmer's Market Ichabod's girlfriend Marzipan was enjoying the sweet smell of flowers and the songs of ordinary, Non-Humanimal birds as she did her shopping, while she was looking forward to dancing with Ichabod in the contest dancing wasn't her passion and she often became quite shy at social events, Ichabod always made her feel more at ease during these times...She knew she was much better at cooking than dancing, so she knew her part was to mostly be a good partner and let Ichabod take the lead.
But just then a strange voice rang out "New spices! Exotic spices from far-off planets! New taste sensations from beyond the stars!"
Marzipan approached the stall, the lady running the stall seemed to have green skin, was she actually an alien, or just a human who body modified herself for fashion? The alien just being a green skinned human did seem a bit on the nose since Marzipan had met actual aliens, but she approached nonetheless
"Try these new spices…" The Green Lady said holding up a jar containing some glowing green flakes, "Made from alien plants, they'll put a new zest in your cooking! Guaranteed to make any meal you make for your man, romantic!"
"Hmmm…" Marzipan rubbed her chin "...OK I'll try the spice…"
The woman sprinkled a few flakes onto Marzipan's hand, Marzipan took one flake and ate it, it just tasted like red pepper flake to her...And she liked red pepper flake but she wouldn't say it was out of this world...But then she noticed her clothes were getting baggier...Was she shrinking?!
DUN DUN DUN! So this an idea I've wanted to play with for a long time, playing with the 'age regression' idea not like going as young as a baby or toddler, but in this case a teen going back to an elementary student