The Rock of Truth . . .

     When Maila woke up, she felt the warm sunlight, pressing against her fur. She smiled, it felt so nice. It had almost made her forget that she was lost in the forbidden forest, how delightful. Wait, the FORBIDDEN FOREST! Maila scrambled around in a tired panic, tying a knot of vines around her neck and back leg. She let out a yelp of terror, and used her huge arms to break herself out. She was lucky that she was so very strong.

Maila took in a deep breath, crawled out of the tangle of vines, and stepped onto the soft, feathery, forest floor. She glanced around, and found herself quite unfamiliar with her surroundings. . . again!

"Uh, Hello?" she tried, hoping for the goodness of the world, that she was just near the camp. There was no response. Maila decided to roam around until she found some food, reminding herself of that animal who took the berry! She punched the ground in frustration again, noticing that it didn't light up. Oh, it must only work at night. Maila realized.

The air was very moist, and damp, and the feathers growing from the ground had small drops of dew upon them. Maila noticed how dehydrated she felt, and licked the ground. Whoa! It was nothing like she'd ever tasted before! It was so fresh and sweet! Maila let the little lick continue for a while, it was just for survival she reminded herself! Not just for the complete enjoyme- her thoughts trailed off as her gaze shifted up. Her gaze had shifted up to see a massive, towering, black, rock pillar, standing before her. The innocent lick tuned into a full on jaw drop. What is that thing! She wondered. Maila realized that she was actually behind the rock tower, the front was on the other side!

Maila ran up the hill in front of her and abruptly slid to a halt at the top. A pebble or two fell underneath her as her claws dug firmly into the moss. Maila was now standing on the edge of a cliff. Maila peered down to see that the cliff carried on in a circle, forming a secret canyon in the ground. In it, there was a crystal blue waterfall leading into a winding river, that found it's way around the whole canyon. Behind it, was a cave that seemed to be glowing with a strange, white light.

She grabbed a thick, heavy vine from a nearby tree, and tied it around her waist. She tossed the other end around the tree's biggest branch, and lowered herself into the canyon. The 'pebbles' that fell underneath her were actually clay. She pick up a small clump if the clay to examine it. It had a soft, mushy, rough texture on the surface. Maila dropped it and turned around, as she detached herself from the vine. The canyon seemed much larger, now that she was inside of it.

Maila cautiously walked over to the flowing steam, and bent down to have a drink. The water was cold, and sweet. Similar to the dew on the feathers, she had enjoyed earlier. Something brushed Maila's tongue and darted away! She glanced up quickly to find, that the stream had multiple eels swimming in it. She spat the water back at them, and backed away as electric zaps flew up, out the ripples.

Maila walked over to the black, rocky pillar, which was the reason she came. It's towering presence loomed over her, without casting a single shadow. She gazed up at it, and reached her arm out to touch it. An odd drowsiness fell over her, as her eyes instinctively closed. The warm breath from her slit like nostrils slowed as her palm pressed against the cold, black stone. A tingling feeling shot through her arm, up her chest, and past her back legs to the ground.

Maila scalp began to feel slightly sore, as she squinted her eyes open. As the blackness provided by her eyelids faded away, she saw an alarming visual appearing all over her arm! Streaks of yellow shot through her shaggy blue fur. What the heck is this stuff!? Maila panicked, she had never seen yellow anything before! Her whole life, everything had always been either blue of some sort, or turquoise. She slammed her eyes shut, and attempted to pull her arm away, but it was stuck! Her eyes opened again to see if anything else had happened. And that it did, Maila's hair was now black and wavy. It stretched down her neck and passed her shoulders. She pulled her gaze away to find that, the scrawny muscles on her arms, were now massive! I bet I can lift anything now! She thought to herself with a hint of glee. But, then that faded as she lashed her tail back and forth. Maila spun her head around to see that, her tail was now a good three feet longer, and fluffy like a moon cat's tail. She swished it back and forth a few more times to test it out. She actually kind of liked it!

Her gaze swung back to her forearms to see that, now they were totally yellow. And so was the rest of her! She felt a cloud of worry sweep her across the ground. Maila's heart skipped a beat, as she backed away from her palms, which she couldn't stop looking at. She noticed-that on the bright side of things-her hand wasn't stuck to the wall anymore, she almost felt tempted to smile. She tore her gaze away from her palms, panting furiously. She looked around frantically, perhaps for a solution. But, nothing she could see would help her in anyway. Her mind was racing, making her exhausted. She mournfully looked back at her arm, touching the fur softly. Maila laid down slowly, knowing that she was about to faint. Darkness closing around her, and clouding her vision. Her breaths slowed, and her jaw relaxed. Maila was now laying on the ground, in a canyon, in the middle of the forbidden forest, and unconscious.

When Maila woke up, she rubbed her eyes and slowly stood up. Maila quickly checked to see that, yes. It really happened, it wasn't a dream. Maila looked slowly around the canyon, her eyes still a bit droopy. Maybe I can get back to normal! She thought desperately, hoping for someone to walk up and tell her exactly how to accomplish that. Nobody came. Maila stood up one arm at a time, soon she straightened her legs, and was fully standing. Maybe, She thought, turning to face the black pillar. If I could break the rock open... Maila nodded her head agreeing with her self and peered around once more. She spotted a branch, maybe thirteen feet up, on the wall. It was calling her.

"Slingshot." she said to herself, a smile creeping into the corners of her mouth.

She looked around again. A Kacchinka web was hanging between two giant boulders, that were resting near the base of the waterfall. She pranced over and examined the web. Maila did not want to get caught by the Kacchinka who built it. Kacchinka's were huge eight legged creatures, with a deadly, venomous bite. But, their webs were like an elastic band, tougher than steel, if you soak them in water. She didn't see one at all, so she carefully gathered the sticky blue web, and tossed it in the river. An electric eel decided to swim up and zap it, only to find that his shock had just been absorbed by the web. Maila decided that, while she was waiting for the web to soak, she'd test out the strength of her chosen branch she planned to slingshot off of.

She walked over to the wall it was hanging on, and looked straight up at it. The wall looked pretty easy to climb, so she dug her new, yellow claws into a crack, that had formed in the wall, and hoisted herself up. She did this a few more times, until she was level with the branch. She jumped up, onto it, and gave a little bounce. It need to be nice and strong for her. It seemed to be holding up well, so Maila propped her back feet up against the wall-her hands firmly around the branch- and pushed to test it some more.

This, however, was a terrible idea! The branch curved dramatically far down, causing Maila to slid completely onto the branch, until her feet met her hands. The sliding stopped, and Maila went to let out a breath of relief, as the branch swung violently back up, flipping her over, and flinging her into the black pillar.

She luckily, however, had fast enough reflexes to stick her feet out in front of her, to absorb the impact. After this, she managed to gracefully slid down the the ground, unharmed. The only problem now, was that she had to test that she didn't harm the branch while doing this. She hopped back up and eventually proceed to repeat her previous process.

"I wish someone saw that, because I was just amazing." She said looking around to check, just incase there was a witness. But, there wasn't. Maila so often expected it though, because growing up with six sibling like friends meant that she was never alone. That was another reason she need to change back, what would they think of her now? New was bad when you were close to the forbidden forest. Who knew what Oouger would think, he had to protect them!

Maila pulled the web out of the river and gave it a good stretch. It was rubbery, stretchy, and strong. Exactly what she needed. She went back up to the branch, hoping not to get flung again. She tied the web around to two tips of the branch, which was luckily shaped like a perfect sling shot. She fastened the web, and gave it a strong twang, it seemed to hole up fine, but that was the same with the branch earlier. . .

Maila sat down slowly onto the web, with one arm wrapped around a boulder, that was sticking out from the wall close to her, or at least in arms reach. She tightened her grip, and pulled in, towards the rock. Maila drew a deep breath.

"I hope this works," she whispered under her breath. Maila scrunched up her face, and let go of the boulder. She felt herself soaring through the air, about ten times faster than before. She braced for impact, and slammed into the black pillar. She heard a crack, and sunk her claws into the rough, magical stone. Maila leaned back to look for cracks, suspended above the canyon by her claws. Even though the pillar was black, she could still see the two dark cracks that had formed in it. Maila yelped with joy.

"I did it! I- I... I'm not blue." Maila called, looking at her fur to see if it had worked. But, her shaggy, silk soft, yellow fur, remained. Maila huffed, peering into the cracks. She was about to stick her head in, but was stopped. The cracks were healing over! Maila jumped back in surprise, flinging her claws out, only to plummet to the floor. She squinted up at the tiny cracks above her, as they slipped away. Maila sighed. That. Was. All. For, Absolutely nothing! She shook her head slowly, and walked away. She ripped the rope like vine that she had hung from the canyon wall down angrily. I don't need you any more, She spat at it in her mind.

Maila climbed up the wall as fast as she could, and landed roughly on the soft, feathery ground of the forbidden forest.