Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 24: Shapeshifting

"Wake up, sleepy slug! The early hunter catches the mouse!"

Sleepily Lloyd stirred in his bed of flattened grass. He sat up to see a pair of big, robin's-egg-blue eyes staring back at him.

He responded with a mouse-like sneeze. "Ah-CHIEE!"

Little Leaf's fur bristled as she jumped back, but then an amused purr broke from her throat. "I will never get used to you making that noise."

Lloyd stared at the calico cat. "And I'll never get used do how you can'b change into a cat-c'eature."

"Bakeneko," she corrected.

"Ah-CHIEE!" He sniffed. "Either wayb, could you change'b back into a human? By allerdies are b'eally annoying."

"Fine." Little Leaf stepped back as her shape grew and shifted into the lithe form of a teenage girl. She adjusted her messy ginger ponytail. "Happy?"

"D'anks." Lloyd crawled out from under the bush and surveyed his surroundings. The forest had thinned out since they had passed the gorge, though the hills were growing steeper as they traveled north. He and Little Leaf had spent the night in a grassy clearing by a freshwater stream.

"I already caught myself some breakfast." Cheerfully Little Leaf nudged something on the ground with her foot, and Lloyd cringed inside to see a little sparrow lying limp at her feet.

"You sure you don't want to try it?" she asked. "You may not find any apples or berries up here."

"I'm sure." He turned away from the sparrow. "You can have it."

* * *

Dark clouds began to drift across the sun. Lloyd found but a few raspberries to feed on, barely sufficient to satisfy his hunger. His stomach was growling by midday, but still he refused Little Leaf's offers to catch him something eat. He pretended not to be bothered by hunger.

It was probably around noon when the two of them were crossing a field and Little Leaf caught scent of a rabbit. She stiffened and cocked her head to sniff the cool breeze. "Stay here and keep quiet. I smell my lunch." Without a second glance at him she transformed into her bakeneko form and disappeared among the tall grass.

Lloyd stared at the twitching weeds where the little cat vanished and waited for her to return. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his gi and idly scanned the field stretching out in all directions, dotted by a few skinny saplings here and there. The breeze toyed gently with his hair, and he brushed his bangs out of his face. Around him the grasses and weeds waved and rippled like the ocean. A crow cawed from the thick of a nearby forest, the only sign of life in the pasture.

He shifted on his feet and was tempted to sputter his lips or something, but Little Leaf probably wouldn't take too kindly to losing her meal because he had been loud and scared off her prey, and Lloyd—while he did like the girl and thought her a very fun, chipper creature—was wary of the werecat switching from her bakeneko form to her nekomata form in anger. So the green ninja kept his quiet and settled to wait.

He wasn't sure how long it was he waited—probably only a little less than ten minutes or so, but time crawled by slowly—until the sound of rustling weeds reached his ears. He scanned the grasses, but saw nothing. Still the sound persisted, and he could have sworn the sound was drawing closer.

His hands instinctively rolled into fists. He stared harder into the field. At last he caught sight of grasses trembling and swaying. To his increasing consternation, whatever was making the grass shake was heading right in his direction.

"Little Leaf?" he rasped.

"Raauugh!" A lithe figure burst forth from the dense weeds and leapt at him. Before he could react, the assailant smashed into him and the two of them toppled to the ground. Hands grabbed at his wrists, but he wrenched them away and shoved at his attacker.

With a powerful heave, he pushed himself up and rolled on the person, pinning them down. He was startled to stare into the face of Little Leaf in her human form.

"Little Leaf!?" he cried.

A laughing purr broke from the girl's throat. "Surprise!"

Indignant, he demanded, "What in Ninjago do you think you're doing?!"

"I wondered if I would be able to surprise you and see if I could pin down a human," she replied with a broad grin. "But I see you somehow got the best of me."

Lloyd's annoyed surprise turned to a more lighthearted attitude. "That's because you're so small," he teased. "You'd have to grow a little more before you're able to take down Lloyd Garmadon!"

Little Leaf's eyes danced mischievously. "Is that so?"

Lloyd recoiled when the form of the teenage girl suddenly transformed to one of a young man a couple years older than himself. With a delighted snarl the man tackled Lloyd and sent the two tumbling and wrestling wildly.

Lloyd fought back, but he was so taken by surprise by Little Leaf's unearthly retaliation that the figure of the muscular man had a great advantage over him. Before he knew it, the male form had pinned down the ninja to the ground, and Lloyd found himself eating dirt.

"You're just lucky I didn't use my claws." The man released his hold on Lloyd's shoulders and rolled away, allowing him to sit up with a grunt and to spit dirt out of his mouth.

His eyes widened when the man transformed into Little Leaf's teenage girl form again. The young werecat cocked her head and smiled innocently.

"How— how'd you do that?" Lloyd sputtered.

"I switched to Eagle Talon's form for a second," she explained. Little Leaf seemed delighted and entertained by Lloyd's reactions to her abilities. "I can also switch into the forms of my half-sister, my mother, and my father. Nekomata can change into the forms of their kin, and because Silver Mist—my mother—was a bakeneko-nekomata mix, I inherited that ability."

Lloyd stared at her. "Can I just say; as I learn more about werecats, I feel such an odd mixture of fascination and mortal terror."

This seemed to amuse Little Leaf, and she purred more. "You've only scratched the surface of what we can do, Lloyd."

"I figured," he said. "Like, how is it, that you can transform from a cat to a human and not be— uh, you know... not wearing any clothes?"

"Oh, that? That's just a trick the sorcerers can do to the things we wear in our human forms. They kinda morph with the fur or something... I don't really know how it works, but I think it's magic."

"Magic?" he repeated. "Werecats use magic?"

"Only the Seven Sorcerers," she replied casually.

"And who are they?"

"They're kind of like Black Blood's second-in-command, except they never join in on patrols or work with the other warriors." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "They have their own secret caves and stuff, and everyone is sort of scared of them. I used to be terrified of Raven Frost and Broken Fang when I was a kit."

"What else do they do?" Lloyd found himself quite curious. Perhaps Little Leaf could give him valuable information about the inside workings of her tribe.

However, she gave him a sharp glance and she responded carefully. "I'm not really sure. They're very secretive about what they do, and only the most experienced warriors get to work with them. Anyway," she continued, ignoring Lloyd's next question forming on his lips. "We should probably get moving now and find some shelter. It looks like it's about to rain."

She gestured to the sky, and Lloyd glanced up the see the dark clouds looming closer than ever. The breeze already blowing gently was now growing colder and tossed both the teens' hair into the wind.

"I did catch that rabbit," she added. "There's enough for both of us. Are you sure you don't want even just a little bit?"

Lloyd's stomach growled painfully. He grimaced.

Yet he said, "No thanks."