Today is my birthday, and as an author, it is my duty to provide a reverse Birthday gift to you. So here's a chapter of one of the favorite stories I'm writing right now!

Tobias took a deep breath as the scents of the forest filled his nostrils. He let the air out with a content sigh. Birds were singing, critters were scurrying in the undergrowth, the sun hung high overhead, and a gentle breeze rustled the tree branches that provided shade overhead. It was the image of ideal tranquility for the former hermit.

Following Tobias's escape the previous night, he had directed Siesta to come outside and had met her in the forest. The maid had been curious—and reasonably frightened—but Tobias was insistent that she ask no questions or tell anyone of his appearance. The eagerness she displayed with his command made Tobias suspicious, but he trusted that at least she would keep quiet.

Sneaking back into Louise's room had been an easy enough, since the window were normally left unlocked. The only problem was that Tobias had forgotten how draining morphing could be when used repeatedly, especially when combat and blood loss were involved. With that on top off the several-hour long walk in the middle of the night, he had practically passed out once he reached the room. He couldn't clearly remember what Louise had said to him the night before, but whatever it was, she had a scrutinizing gaze trained on him first thing in the morning. She said nothing though, so he didn't ask.

Classes had been suspended for the day to a "unforeseen security issue". There were rumors of a monster being loose in the forest, but from what Tobias could tell, no one had any details. If the teachers knew anything, they were being tight lipped about it.

Louise was taking advantage of the free day to get some studying done. She didn't necessarily give permission for him to leave. But she hadn't said anything when he left the room, so that was permission by omission in Tobias's book. There was something he'd been dying to test for a while, and he figured that it was best to do it sooner than later.

In the forest, Tobias closed his eyes and focused. His ears elongated and grew sharp at the tip. Suddenly, he could hear the sounds of ants crawling over dead leaves and birds flying high above the treetops. Then he shrunk, rapidly. Within seconds he was the size of a baby, still roughly human aside from his pointed ears. Tobias supposed he looked like a misshapen Christmas elf.

Finally, his skeleton began to warp. Bones crunched and rearranged themselves. His skin sprouted splotchy white fur. His tailbone shot out and quickly became layered in muscle. It took almost another minute, but eventually found himself in the form of a dappled white cat.

{It feels like a cat,} he thought to himself. {But something's different.} He couldn't tell exactly what was unusual, but he supposed it was probably a genetic difference that he wasn't experienced enough to identify. After all, it made sense that a creature from another world or planet would have some genetic differences from the almost identical counterpart he was familiar with.

Tobias tried a few other mundane animals: a dog, an owl, and a parrot. All of them shared the same weird feeling as the cat, but aside from the parrot's surprising fluidity of speech, they didn't have any noticeable differences from their Earth counterparts.

Next came the exotic familiars.

The floating eyeball gave him a very strange sensation. At first, he was stuck on the ground, helpless because he had no limbs! Then, he had the instinct to move himself. There was no rational logic behind the intention. After all, he had no means to do so, but Tobias let the creature's instincts take over. Somehow, he ended up rising from the forest floor. After several faulty tries to manually control his movement, Tobias managed to get himself to float around trees.

Flight, or rather, float test successful, Tobias moved onto the next form: Flame, Kirche's fiery red salamander. Immediately, Tobias noticed that the salamander's first instincts were to bask in the sun. Then it wanted to eat something. Aside from those basic needs, it was quite calm. For something that looked so dangerous, its instincts were surprisingly docile.

Tobias forced himself away from a comfortable patch of sunlight to see the creature's mobility. Like a typically lizard, it could dash quite quickly when it wanted to, even if its stamina wasn't the best. Its tail packed a meaty slap as well. All in all, this "salamander" was pretty similar to an alligator, aside from the fact that his body always felt toasty warm, which was supposed to be deadly for the average cold-blooded reptile, and it had a torch of flame on the end of its tail. Tobias put a scaled foot in front of his mouth and blew on it to see if he could feel a temperature difference.

Glands he didn't even realize that he had suddenly kicked into gear. A plume of fire shot from his mouth, washing over his foot with comfortable warmth before scorching the bark of a nearby tree. Tobias jumped in surprise, which resulted in him losing his balance, toppling onto his side, and finally rolling onto his back. Tobias let out a hiss of frustration as he struggled to right himself. However, instead of only sound and air, another stream of fire erupted from his throat and streaked into the forest. Panicking as he flailed, flames continued to spew from his mouth, until he finally managed to use his tail to prop himself onto his feet.

{Why me?} he asked as he observed his surroundings.

Fire was everywhere. Tobias knew that forest fires were usually caused by dried undergrowth catching onto embers from a leftover campfire. However, the flames he had been spitting managed to light up almost everything it hit that wasn't leafy greens or thick bark. The unintentional frantic swings of his tail hadn't helped matter either. Tobias tried smothering the nearest flame with his salamander body to see if he could absorb it, but aside from the pleasant sensation of heat running from his legs to his underbelly, nothing was happening.

Tobias demorphed as fast as he could. Escaping via hawk morph was easy, but that would still leave the forest on fire, and he needed the forest intact. Not only was it necessary for emergency hunting, but it was the only place he could go to truly unwind.

Also, it would be bad for the Academy residents. That was important too. Sort of.

There was one last thing Tobias could try. He shifted into the form of a sky blue dragon. Branches creaked and snapped as they were pushed away from his growing body. Tobias beat the flames with his wings, trying to smoother them enough so he could safely stomp them out. Unfortunately, he lacked the space to make any strong currents. Every beat of his wings brought the flames higher, and knocked down more debris to free them.

{Stupid fire. Stupid creatures. Stupid useless wings!} Tobias grumbled mentally as he tried stomping out the flames with his large body. He quickly learned that this form did not have the same heat resistance of a salamander. Prickling pain shot from his leathery feet when he tried to stomp on the fire. It wasn't as painful as it would have been for a more fleshy creature, like a human, but it still hurt.

{How is a fire-breathing dragon not immune to flames when the fire-breathing lizard is?} Tobias hissed. Granted, he had never seen the dragon breath fire, but it was a dragon after all. Flaring his wings in anger, Tobias slammed them down, intent on creating as much wing space as possible so he could put out the flames properly.

The result was not what he expected. A force of wind as strong as a hurricane ripped through the forest, sending branches, debris, and lighted embers everywhere. While the nearest fires were now low enough for him to stomp out, Tobias knew that there would be plenty of smaller fires growing all over the forest after that stunt. To make matters worse, people would soon coming running to find out what had caused the smoky windstorm.

Tobias decided to cut his losses, switch to hawk morph, and fly away to the safety of the academy.

After safely demorphing in Louise's room, Tobias crept down to the common area, where the students were abuzz with rumors of a sudden fire in the forest. Tobias listened in to see if there were any leads, but the students were merely throwing around theories while they waited for some teachers to come back from investigating

Tobias mentally pat himself on the back for leaving when he did. If had stayed a minute longer, he might have been caught. And if he had left a minute sooner… he would have created a much smaller mess. Now he was stuck inside the academy until the heat—literal and figurative—died down.

Perfection was an art, and Tobias was not an artist.

A flash of black hair brought Tobias's attention to Siesta, who was serving tea to a pair of noble girls. Why nobles insisted on having tea and snacks in practically every part of the Academy, Tobias would never understand. As the maid turned around to leave, she caught on to Tobias's stare. She gave a small smile and nod before resuming her departure. This made Tobias relieved; Siesta wasn't drawing any unnecessary attention to herself.

"It's rude to stare, you know."

Tobias resisted the urge to jump, and instead turned to the speaker with a scowl on his face. He blinked, expression slacking as he recognized the maid who had informed him about Siesta's plight. But her brown hair, while in its usual bun, had a reddish hue. "Anne?" he asked.

The maid shook her head, a patient smile on her face. "I'm Mary Anne, her cousin," she explained. "We get mixed up a lot."

Cousin? Try sister, or better yet, twin! Tobias knew his human eyes paled compared to a hawk's, but at a glance the only difference he could notice was the slight difference in hair color. And why were their names almost the same?

"You really should work on that, a lady might feel embarrassed being looked at so intently."

Judging by the impish smile on her face, Mary Anne was not one of those ladies. "What do you want?" Tobias asked.

"Is it wrong to thank the person who helped one of your friends?" Mary Anne asked.

Tobias mentally facepalmed. He had forgotten to ask Anne to keep quiet about his involvement. Big oversight on his part. "I don't need thanks, and I'd like you to not talk about it," he said.

She gave him a curious, sly look. "Who would think that you'd be the modest type? From what Anne described, I'd expect you to be more on the prickly, temperamental side." Her smile widened as Tobias scowled. "There! Exactly like that!"

"Are you always this annoying?" Tobias growled.

"Only to normal people, like me and you!"

Normal? As if. Tobias was finding a clear distinction between Mary Anne and her similarly named cousin. Her personality was out of place for a fully grown adult. If it wasn't for her face—which looked like someone in their twenties—and her body—which looked too developed to be a teenager, excluding Kirche—Tobias would place her to around Louise's age. How was she able to keep a job around the entitled snobs that occupied the academy?

One of the students snapped their fingers. As if a switch was flipped, Mary Anne's mischievous expression shifted into a polite smile as she made her way to the noble who had signaled her. As she left, she turned her head slightly and gave Tobias a wink.

Well, that answered that question.

"I hate people…" Tobias grumbled as he left the room. Social interaction was too nuanced for him. He needed to find Anne—and not her childish doppelganger—so she wouldn't spread the word any more than she already had. Hopefully, he'd even be able to do damage control. It was unlikely that they would suspect him of being responsible for the monster attack, but the less gossip that went around, the safer he would be.

Out of the six original Animorphs, only Tobias and his uncle/best friend Ax had not needed to keep up civilian identities. Tobias knew how to lie and deceive—living with a hawk beak did wonders to improve his poker face—but he was unused to keeping a façade up for long periods of time. It was tiring work, especially with Louise watching over his every move.

"Tobias!"

Speak of the nuisance, and she shall appear.

"Yes, Louise?" Tobias asked as the pink-haired midget stomped up to him, her face flushed and breathing labored. The other students in the hallway looked at the two with curiosity, hoping to see something interesting to fuel the school gossip grapevine.

"Where have you been?" Louise demanded to know. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Out causing forest fires with my uncontrollable morphs," is what Tobias would say if he could afford to be honest. However, now was not a good time to reveal he had alien morphing powers.

Instead, he replied with, "I was getting some fresh air and came back to look for you. Need something?"

"I need you!"

A few of nearby students snickered. Louise's face grew even redder as she quickly insisted, "No! That's not what I meant!"

"So, you don't need me?" Tobias asked.

"I do, but not like that!" Louise shook her head. "Ugh! Stop aggravating me! Stupid familiar!"

Tobias blinked owlishly. "How am I aggravating you?" he asked in honest confusion. Sure, he messed with her from time to time, but he was being serious right now. Did she need him or not? It was a simple yes or no question.

Louise settled for none of the above, instead grabbing his arm and dragging him away. "Are you determined to annoy me?" she asked as she pulled him along.

"Usually, yes, but I'm being serious right now," Tobias replied candidly. The girl's grip was tight, but he felt confident he could break out from it. However, he realized that letting her have a bit of control would make her feel more at ease, and thus easier for him to deal with. That much, at least, he had managed to learn about social interaction.

Louise suddenly stopped, nearly causing Tobias to trip as he was jerked to a halt as well. "Are you serious?" she asked gravely.

"I just said I was," Tobias replied flatly. "Are you going to explain, or do I have to throw guesses around?"

Louise looked away, making Tobias realize he was glaring too intensely at her. "It's nothing," she said.

Women. Truly, they were life's greatest mystery.

Louise cleared her throat. "Anyway," she said, regaining her authoritative tone. "I have just heard that the princess would be coming for the Void Day celebration." She looked at Tobias expectantly, but his face didn't so much as twitch. She frowned. "You could at least be excited about it," she said accusingly.

"I feel like I'm missing some context for your excitement."

"Have you seriously not heard of Void Day?" Louise asked incredulously. "Everyone's been talking about it!"

"I thought Void Day was a day of the week," Tobias replied. "Like a weekend. Is it a holiday?"

Louise sighed, and grabbed him by the arm again. Dragging him along, she lectured as they walked. "Void Day is the day of the year we celebrate the Founder's lost element, the Void. Normally, it's celebrated by festivals and food. Here at the academy, we have a familiar talent show. It's normally just a way to show off familiars, but with Princess in attendance, it's going to be very important."

"How?"

"Because everyone will be performing in front of the princess!" Louise stretched the word like it was the most important thing in the world. "To achieve favor by the princess herself is the dream for any noble!"

"Ah… I see."

Louise turned to look at him accusingly. "Why do you still sound so disinterested?" she asked.

"I'm not from around here," Tobias reminded her. "Also, I really don't care for titles of people I've never met. There's a difference between a person being born in power and them doing something to earn their position." And from his experience, even people who earned positions of power weren't always the nicest or easiest to deal with.

Once again, Tobias found himself yanked to a stop as Louise glared into his eyes. "You better not say any of that to the princess's face," she growled in a generously low tone.

Tobias rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to antagonize the princess of an entire country," he assured her. "I'm blunt, not stupid."

"Hmph! I'll hold you to it," said Louise, proceeding to drag him along once again.

"Where are we going?" Tobias couldn't help but ask.

"Here!" Louise pulled him out a set of doors, bringing them to a courtyard pockmarked with patches of dirt.

"And why are we here?"

Before answering, Louise pulled Tobias to one of the open patches of dirt and released his arm. "We need to find a routine that will impress the Princess and win us first place in the competition."

Tobias had trouble believing his ears. He knew Louise considered him to be a pet, but participating in an animal talent show was not what he expected. "Any skill I have is not intended for a stage performance," he informed her.

"I figured as much," Louise grumbled. "So, any ideas?"

Tobias stared back at her blankly.

The noble girl sighed. "What I wouldn't give for a dragon right now," she lamented.

Tobias refrained from informing her that her wish would take only two minutes to grant.

In the office of a particularly white-haired headmaster, a storm was brewing.

"Count Mott has been found murdered in his home!"

"Sightings of a monster ties an unknown creature to his death!"

"The territory is in disarray!"

"The royal family has sent personal investigators to discover the culprit!"

"Rumors of elf sightings may in fact be true!"

"The fire in the forest appeared to be deliberate!"

"Huge amounts of damage!"

"It was as if a fire and wind mage were intent on sending a message!"

"Footprints at the scene of the crime indicate dragon activity!"

"Enough!" Osmond shouted, slamming his hands against his desk and bringing the shouts to a close. "I asked you to come here to give me your reports, not make me deaf! If I wanted to hear the shouts of gossiping schoolchildren I'd go downstairs and join the students for lunch!" He took a deep breath to compose himself. "Now, let us try this again with the proper decorum of dignified nobles. What is the report from the Royal Investigators?"

"They have not issued an official statement," one teacher responded. "The case is still under investigation."

"Of course," Osmond snorted. "Thank you, Mr. Fredrick. Next, how about testimonies from the guards?"

"The rabble were incorrectly babbling about some kind of lizard-bird monster," another teacher added. "Honestly, I'm inclined to believe that they made the story up to save face."

"A dozen guards decided to pretend that they saw an unheard-of monster to try to save face in the murder of the lord they were supposed to protect?" Osmond asked skeptically. "Pray tell, Mr. Kaita, how much sense does that make?"

The professor glared from beneath his long flow of raven hair. "Can you believe that the thing they describe would appear out of nowhere and attack a noble this close to the academy and disappear without a trace?" he challenged the headmaster.

"I heard it was a small dragon that walked on two legs," one professor chimed in.

"Dragon? No, it had no wings. It was a spiny lizard."

"Its head was like a vulture, except with rows of sharp pointy teeth!"

"It had the body of a man and the head of snake!"

"I hear they found the remains of a bird leg!"

"Ladies! Gentlemen! Calm yourself!" Osmond raised his voice. "While we may not know what the creature is, can we identify where it came from or where it went?"

"Some of the servants say that they saw it run off into the forest, away from the capital and the academy."

"Others say it never left the mansion."

"It's first confirmed sighting was in the Count's living room."

"But there are no footprints to show how it got into the manor, only a bloody trail that shows how it left."

"It was said to jump the entire wall with one leg. Some say that with both it could jump from the wall to the manor in a single bound."

Osmond sighed. He was getting too old for this. "Since all that has been presented so far are hearsay and rumors, I'm assuming we have no solid leads on this aberrant monstrosity?"

The room fell silent as the faculty shuffled their feet, too scared to admit the truth.

The wizened headmaster let out another long sigh. "What about the fire that recently occurred in the forest?" he asked. "Surely we must have found something of note there."

"There's evidence of a dragon, probably even two being in the area," said Colbert. "The fire and wind produced suggests a fire dragon and wind dragon."

"Doesn't one of the student's wind dragon live in the forest?" one professor asked.

"Yes, but the familiar has been within the academy walls since breakfast," said Colbert. "And since no one has stepped forward to claim responsibility, it's currently unknown if they were wild dragons or tamed ones that were irresponsibly handled."

"Of course," Osmond grumbled. "It would be too much to make our lives just a little bit easier. The princess was supposed to be on her way to our academy, but with these incidents, it is very likely that she will remain in the capital instead."

"But what about our preparations?" a professor lamented.

"Are you prepared to handle rogue dragons and lizard monsters?" Osmond asked. The silence that followed the question was its own answer. "If I was in my heyday, I could assure the Princess's safety personally. But we can't afford to take that risk now, can we?"

"We're already in a bad enough spot without risking our crown princess for a holiday celebration," Colbert agreed. "The students will be disappointed, but Princess Henrietta's safety comes first."

"And the safety of our students come right after that," said Osmond. "I want two teachers on guard every night. One will patrol the outer walls, and the other will guard the Vault, as per usual." Osmond noticed that the gazes of his faculty glanced away guiltily. "What is it now? Don't tell me that our Vault has been left unwatched as well?"

"W-well, the country has been at peace so far…"

"It's exhausting to stay up late after grading papers…"

"Who would even try to break into the Vault?"

Osmond rested his face in his hands. "Go," he said forlornly. "Just go. Do your duties."

The sight of seeing the headmaster so defeated made the teachers scurry away faster than before. Colbert looked towards the old man one last time, before lowering his head and shame and also leaving the room. Then, it was just Osmond and his secretary, Miss Longueville.

"It's hard taking care of everything, isn't it?" Longueville asked sympathetically.

"Sometimes I have trouble remembering which of them are the children," Osmond lamented. "I wonder if I should retire. Maybe I've held the torch for so long that everyone else has gotten complacent."

"Don't blame yourself for this," Longueville said. She rested a comforting hand on Osmond's shoulder, causing the old man to perk up. "You're doing the best you can, but you're only one man." She leaned towards him and whispered in his ear. "How about you focus on keeping the school running and dealing with the political side of things? I can set up a schedule for guard shifts and have it ready for you in the morning."

"Really?" Osmond asked. "Oh, Miss Longueville, you're the best secretary a weary old man could ask for." He embraced her as he wept.

"I'm only doing my job," Longueville replied humbly. She strained to keep her voice pleasant as the headmaster's hands reached down to her backside. She remined herself that it would all be worth it soon.

Very soon.

Soon couldn't come soon enough.

This is a slower "fill" chapter in between events, but the next few chapters will be hitting plot events, so I had to get these scenes in. In my original plans the princess was going to show up here, but as you can see, it's unlikely that Henrietta would be allowed to visit the Academy under these circumstances.

Also, never test morphing into magical species without a someone to "spot" for you. There's a reason Animorphs rarely tested their morphs solo.

And before I forget, there's a poll on my profile right now to see what stories people want me to focus on. This includes the 5 ongoing stories I'm writing for the Louise Summons series (wow, that's a juggling act) and 3 potential stories, one of which will get their first chapter at the end of October.

I also have a Ko-Fi under the name "RainEStar". In October I'll be having a Ko-Fi exclusive poll for my next one-shot. You don't have to throw money at me, but I would appreciate it.

That's all for now. Please, tell me your thoughts! Post a review here or chat with me on SpaceBattles. Remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!