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Description
  It was a new day, and the sun was rising over a small-ish forest nearby a fairly large town. Beams of light were shining through the trees, bathing the forest in a golden glow that mimicked the golden color of the rising sun. Some animals were just waking up to begin their daily activities of hunting and feeding, while other more nocturnal animals were just settling in, to be awakened only when night fell once again. For the animals, it was just another ordinary day, another time to live, feed, and survive.

  But for one occupant of the forest, today was a bit… different. A young girl sleeping on a tree branch suddenly opened her eyes, looking down at the forest floor below her. She sighed and dropped down to the ground, her bare feet landing in the dirt as her long green hair fell behind her. Every single day, this forest was looking more and more sparse to her. Trees were becoming fewer and fewer, animals were disappearing, and even the air seemed thicker and more difficult to breath. It certainly was a far cry from how the forest looked when she first came here, around a thousand or so years ago. Compared to the lush beauty she had found upon first being assigned to protect it, the forest seemed weak, sickly… almost upon its last legs. And she knew exactly why, too.

  Humans. The only sapient beings on the entire planet. Which was a shame, simply because they were so… flawed. They seemed to mean well, for the most part at least, but no matter what they did, they never seemed to be able to truly care about anyone other than themselves. This was something that the girl could tell firsthand by they way they treated everything around them, including the forest that she called home. Trees were chopped down for wood, and removed to make more room for roads, living areas, and other human amenities. The animals that didn’t die out from not having enough places to live were often run over by transportation vehicles, or hunted and killed by the humans for food or even sport. The once clear air was tainted with chemicals from said vehicles, as well as the homes that laid nearby. The girl was sure that the humans weren’t intending to cause such harm to the forest, but she knew that she couldn’t continue to let their unchecked selfishness prevent them from seeing the harm they were doing. She had to protect her forest somehow.

  That’s why she was going to take action today. She’s already presented a plan to the BGD, or the Board of Guardian Deities, and she’d been lucky enough to catch them on a good day and get their approval. The plan was a little… extreme, yes, and it might take a while before they saw its effects, but it was still the best plan they had. It wouldn’t hurt anyone, it wouldn’t majorly interfere with anyone’s lives, and it would be enough to convince at least some of the humans that their ways were flawed and needed to be changed. She was the forest’s guardian deity, after all, and it was her job to protect it in any way she could. And so, she set off through the forest, ready to execute her plan.

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  Elsewhere in the forest, a young female wolf was taking a drink from a stream, reflecting on how she’d ended up at this point. Until recently, she’d been a strong member of her pack, helping to hunt for food and keep the other members organized to ensure their survival. But that had all changed on their most recent hunt. Everything started off well; their target had been a deer that was drinking from a different part of the stream, completely unaware of the group of predators that was surrounding it. But just as the pack was about to close in for the kill, a loud BANG shot through the air, and the deer suddenly fell over, dead. The resulting panic caused the pack to flee, leading to the young female getting separated from the others. And now here she was, all alone, waiting to be found by another member and brought back into the pack.

  She wasn’t terribly worried, though. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, and she was confident that she’d be able to find the other members and be back with them before long. Of course, she’d still need to keep her guard up against any threats… especially the ones that had managed to kill the deer the pack had been targeting. She would see those creatures in the forest from time to time, yet all she really knew about them was that they walked on two legs and were incredibly dangerous. Not only could a single one of them fell a deer that the entire pack would often have difficulty taking down, but they could apparently do it from a distance, without even getting close to their target. And if they could do it to a healthy full-grown deer, she didn’t even want to think about what they could do to a member of the pack. That’s why the pack always avoided them as well as they could, and why she made sure she never got close to one of them.

  But she didn’t have time to think about those creatures. Right now, she had to focus on reuniting herself with the rest of her pack. She lowered her head to sniff the ground, hoping to at least catch a scent of them. But sadly, there was no such luck; they must have been pretty far away if she was having this much trouble finding them. But the moment she lifted her head, she immediately recoiled, taking a step back. Standing in front of her was… one of those creatures, the ones that stood on two legs. This one looked a bit different from the other ones she had seen though; it looked significantly younger, with long green head-fur that reached all the way down to the ground. Yet… even though she knew how dangerous these creatures were, something told the wolf that this one wasn’t going to harm her. Somehow, she knew that she was safe with this creature.

  Smiling, the young girl held out her hand to the wolf in front of her. “Peace, friend,” she said. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Just be calm.”

  The wolf’s eyes widened in shock. The creature’s sounds were familiar to her, since she had heard others of those creatures use similar sounds to communicate with each other. Yet… she somehow understood the sounds this time. Somehow, she knew exactly what the creature was saying to her, despite never having understood the sounds before. “How… how is this possible?” she asked. Immediately, her eyes widened even further. Now she was making those sounds too? What was going on?

  The girl continued to smile. “I see that you’re confused,” she said. “Don’t worry. My name is Lesha, and I’ve come because I need you to help me with something. Would you be interested in hearing me out?”

  “Um… o-okay…” said the wolf, still not used to speaking like this. “W-what do you need?”

  “Well, I’m sure that you’ve seen those… creatures around. The ones that look like me.” Lesha turned her head towards the edge of the forest, near where the town was. “Those creatures are called humans, and… well, I’m sure you’ve seen at least some of the damage that they’ve done to this forest.” She shook her head sadly. “It’s not that they’re evil, for the most part. They’re just so… self-centered. And by the time they truly realize what they’re doing… well, it might be too late. And that’s why I need your help.”

  “Okay…” The wolf frowned. “What is it you want me to do?”

  “Well, I’ve thought long and hard about what do do about this,” replied Lesha. “The problem I kept running into was that most of them have already incorporated so many of these harmful behaviors into their lifestyle, to the point that getting them to change would be nearly impossible. But after a bit of thought, I decided that there was still one way to get through to their species, to keep this cycle from continuing for too much longer.” She grinned. “And that’s through their children.”

  The wolf frowned, slightly confused. “Child...ren?” she asked.

  Lesha nodded. “Yes. The human equivalent of your pups. The grown humans may be unwilling to change their lifestyles, but the young ones… they can still be influenced. If we can get to them, and convince them to see our side of things, then we may be able to prevent them from keeping up the destructive ways of their parents. And that’s what I need you for.”

  “Okay… I think I understand.” replied the wolf. “But I still don’t know exactly what you want me to do. How am I supposed to convince these children of anything when I never even see them?”

  “Well, here’s the plan,” said Lesha. “I’m going to open up something called a camp right outside the the forest, which is a place that human children often go to have fun and learn about being out here. However, this camp is going to be taught by you, as well as a few other animals. What I want you to do is educate the children, show them the harm that their parents are causing though their actions, and teach them that there are other, better ways to live their lives. If we can plant this idea in their heads, then it just might be enough to keep them from destroying everything around them like their parents have. I’ve already talked with a couple of the other animals in the forest, and they’ve both agreed to help me out with this plan. I only need one more before I feel confident in opening up this camp, so if you say yes, then we’ll be able to start up right away. So what do you say?”

  The wolf thought for a moment, lowering her head to the ground. If she agreed to this, it would mean completely abandoning her pack, which meant she may not see them again for a while… if ever. Did she really want to do that? But she’d also be protecting her pack from a major threat, which would be more beneficial to them in the long run. So… was it worth it? To her, the answer was obvious. She looked back up at Lesha, a determined glint in her lupine eyes. “I’m in. Let’s do it,” she said.

  “Excellent!” cried Lesha. “Oh, but one more thing. The children might find it strange that an animal is teaching at their camp, so I’m going to make a few adjustments to your body before you start. You’ll be able to walk on two legs, as well as being able to talk and think like a human, but you’ll still keep most of the physical features that you currently have. I have some other preparations that I need to tend to real quick, but as soon as I leave, the changes should start up. If there’s anything else you want to ask me, just shout my name, and I’ll be over there as soon as I can!” With that, the girl turned and took off running through the forest, leaving the wolf by herself.

  The wolf just stood there, blinking in surprise. A few adjustments to her body? Was Lesha really going to make her more human like? How would that even work? But the moment the thought crossed her mind, she suddenly felt something shift within her limbs. Her four legs appeared to be shaking, almost as if something was happening to them… like something within them was was being rearranged. Suddenly, she felt a jolt from her back legs, and what felt like her bottom being lifted slightly higher into the air. Were her legs… growing? It appeared that that was the case; another jolt from them, and suddenly she felt herself leaning back, her front paws barely even touching the ground anymore.

  It dawned on her that standing on all fours no longer felt… natural to her. Slowly, she lifted her front paws off the ground, using only her hind paws and her tail to support her balance. Her legs shook as she tried to maintain balance, but staying upright was becoming easier and easier as her legs continued to grow longer. Her paws were also becoming much shorter, to the point that she could actually lower her heels to the ground, helping her balance even more. “Geez…” she muttered, trying to remain steady on her new, human-shaped legs. It felt perfectly natural, yes, but it was still far from what she was used to, and she knew that it might be a while before she could fully adjust to it.

  Suddenly, she felt a jolt in what used to be her front legs, and she quickly moved them in front of her face to get a good look at them. Wait… how was she even moving them like that? They seemed far more flexible than they ever had before, and she now realized that she was capable of moving them in ways she had never even thought possible. Because they weren’t her legs anymore, she realized: they were her arms. As she experimented with their range of motion, she suddenly noticed another change occuring to the paws at the ends of her new arms. The digits appeared to be separating and stretching out, becoming longer and thinner. Quickly, the wolf realized that she could manipulate these digits much more easily now, to the point that she could use them to pick up and hold things! Hands and fingers, she thought. That’s what they’re called. The words were coming to her far more quickly now, her changing brain allowing her to think at a much higher level than before. Words that she had never known were filling her mind, as well as a sudden awareness of the world around her in a much wider perspective. It was like her eyes had been truly opened for the first time… and she was loving every second of it.

  She looked down at her body once again, watching as the final changes settled in. Her torso seemed thin out slightly, while at the same time elongating and adding to her height. Her fur became slightly thinner and her muzzle seemed to shorten, making both features slightly more humanlike. Feeling a tingling in the back of her head, the wolf reached up to feel the very last change: the fur on her head becoming longer, growing out into what felt like a ponytail. Yes… that’s what it was called. A style of hair that humans often used, wasn’t it? Ah yes, that’s what the head-fur on humans was called: hair! Upon thinking this, the now human-like wolf broke into a fit of laughter. She was enjoying this too much!

  “Well… I’m glad somebody’s happy about all of this.”

  “Huh?” A smooth masculine voice broke the newly anthropomorphized wolf out of her laughing fit, causing her to turn towards the source. Standing behind her was a deer… only it looked like it was going through the exact same process the she had just gone though. Slowly, its front legs were being lifted off the ground, the hooves at the ends splitting into three fingers with dark hoof-like nubs at the ends. Its body slimmed and its upper legs legs grew longer just as the wolf’s had, its lower legs shortening to look like plantigrade feet with hooves at the end. “Oh…” Said the wolf, watching as the changes progressed. “...I guess you must be another one of the animals involved in this plan, huh?”

  The deer nodded, his muzzle shortening slightly to give it a more human-like appearance. “I must say, when that Lesha girl told me about this plan of her’s, I was a bit… apprehensive of the thought of working alongside a wolf,” he said. “The same animal that’s killed multiple members of my family and has been actively terrorizing our kind for as long as we can remember. But for the sake of protecting our home and our kind from a much larger threat, I suppose I can stand it.” He held out his hand. “My name’s Ventus, by the way.”

  The wolf held out her own hand. “Great to meet you! My name is… um…” She stopped suddenly, lowering her hand. She’d been so caught up in the excitement of changing that she hadn’t even come up with a name for herself! “Um… how about… Luna?” She grinned. “Yes, that’s it! My name’s Luna, and I look forward to working with you.”

  Ventus sighed. “Can’t say the feeling is mutual, but I’ll do my best to cooperate with you.” He looked around. “That’s weird… I’m pretty sure there was supposed to be another one of us, but I don’t know where he-”

  “HEEEEEEYYYYYY!!!!” The ridiculously loud shout startled both Luna and Ventus into jumping back. Suddenly, a large shape came crashing through the bushes, almost colliding right into the two anthros. “Hey, great to meet you both!”

  Regaining her composure, Luna stared up at the creature that was positioned in front of her. It was a bear that was, once again, in the middle of its transition from regular to anthropomorphic. It stood up on its hind paws, the digits on its front paws currently forming themselves to make them more flexible. Its body mass also began decreasing, though it still looked significantly larger than the average human when it was done. “The name’s Mike!” it said, holding out a hand-paw as its muzzle shrank, its face becoming more human like. “I can’t wait to protect the forest with you two!”

  “Um… nice to meet you too, Mike,” said Luna, holding out her own paw. “I’m Luna, and this is Ventus. I’m guessing that Lesha already told you about everything that we’re doing?”

  “Yep!” said Mike. “I love this forest! I want to protect it however I can, and if that means teaching those human kids how to teach it with respect, then I’m all for it!”

  “Well, I’m glad to see you’re so enthusiastic about this,” said Luna with a grin. “We do have some preparations to make before we actually open up, though. We’ll need to come up with some specific activities, make sure the kids have a place to sleep, and figure out the best way to convince them to deviate from their parents’ behaviors. Lesha should be able to help us with some of that stuff, but we’ll need to think of some stuff by ourselves too. Think you’re up to the task?”

  “Hell yeah!” cried Mike. “I was born ready!”

  “I don’t mind assisting either,” replied Ventus. “I already have quite a few ideas for getting those kids to listen to us.”

  “Great! Then let’s get started!” With that, Luna turned to the forest’s edge and headed towards the open field outside, with Mike and Ventus following close behind.

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  A few weeks later, a lone car was seen driving down a road just outside the forest. The woman driving had just recently learned of a new camp that had opened up just outside the forest, and felt that it would be a good way for her young son to get out of the house for the summer, as well as learn a bit more about the outside world. Known as Camp Naturia, the brochure for it advertised it as “A way for your kids to get to know the outdoors and learn about nature firsthand!” Upon reading this, the mother had been excited: her son spent most of his time indoors, watching TV and whatnot, so she figured that this would be the perfect way for him to expand his boundaries and get him to enjoy the outdoors a bit more.

  However, the son, Garrett, was far less enthralled. He had never liked spending much time outside, as he found it boring and uncomfortable. It seemed like he’d seen everything the outdoors had to offer over a million times already, and it was often to hot, cold, wet, or humid outside for it to be enjoyable. At least the temperature was almost always comfortable inside his house, and could almost always find something interesting to watch on TV. Needless to say, he wasn't particularly looking forward to spending most of the summer at an outdoor camp. But as the car finally pulled up to where the campground was, he happened to glance out the window… and his jaw immediately dropped.

  Walking towards the car was an anthropomorphic female wolf, wearing both shorts and a t-shirt with the camp logo and name on it. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, sticking out the back of the cap she was wearing, and her feet-paws were covered by a pair of sandals, her claws just barely poking over the edge. “Welcome to Camp Naturia!” She said, extending a hand-paw out towards the boy. “My name’s Luna, and I’m one of the counselors here!”

  Garrett grinned. “Wow!” He said, amazed. “That’s so cool!” He looked over at his mom, who had just parked the car on the side of the road. “Look, mom! Doesn’t she look awesome?”

  Garrett’s mother looked up at Luna, slightly confused about her son’s reaction to seeing her. To her, Luna just appeared to be an ordinary camp counselor, completely human with nothing wolf-like about her at all. “My son is a bit excited to be here, that’s all,” she said. “He doesn’t get to go outside a lot, so this should be a much-needed change of pace for him.”

  “Well then, he’s just the kind of person we like to see here!” Replied Luna, taking the boy’s hand. “You ready to see what else this camp has to offer, Garrett?”

  “Yeah!” Said Garrett, still marveling at Luna’s appearance. “Lead the way!”

  As the two of them began walking away, other cars began driving up to the camp, and Ventus and Mike promptly went up to handle them. As they did, Lesha watched from a distance, pleased at how well the glamor she had put on the three counselors was working. To the parents, they appeared as normal camp counselors; only the children could see their true anthropomorphic animal forms. And if all of the kids were getting this excited over just seeing the counselors… well, Lesha could only imagine how they would react to everything else they saw at camp. If everything went as planned, she knew that the impact would be enough to convince them to be far more considerate of the forest than their parents had been.

  As more cars filled with children came, Lesha chuckled to herself. If the plan was successful enough, she might even be able to convince other members of the BGD to use it as well. And then the whole world would be filled with children ready to live better lives, ready to care for the earth like their ancestors never had. And if that happened… well, Lesha could take pride in knowing that she was the one who made the earth a better place with this idea. Now that was a legacy that she wouldn’t mind having at all.

Description
  It was a new day, and the sun was rising over a small-ish forest nearby a fairly large town. Beams of light were shining through the trees, bathing the forest in a golden glow that mimicked the golden color of the rising sun. Some animals were just waking up to begin their daily activities of hunting and feeding, while other more nocturnal animals were just settling in, to be awakened only when night fell once again. For the animals, it was just another ordinary day, another time to live, feed, and survive.

  But for one occupant of the forest, today was a bit… different. A young girl sleeping on a tree branch suddenly opened her eyes, looking down at the forest floor below her. She sighed and dropped down to the ground, her bare feet landing in the dirt as her long green hair fell behind her. Every single day, this forest was looking more and more sparse to her. Trees were becoming fewer and fewer, animals were disappearing, and even the air seemed thicker and more difficult to breath. It certainly was a far cry from how the forest looked when she first came here, around a thousand or so years ago. Compared to the lush beauty she had found upon first being assigned to protect it, the forest seemed weak, sickly… almost upon its last legs. And she knew exactly why, too.

  Humans. The only sapient beings on the entire planet. Which was a shame, simply because they were so… flawed. They seemed to mean well, for the most part at least, but no matter what they did, they never seemed to be able to truly care about anyone other than themselves. This was something that the girl could tell firsthand by they way they treated everything around them, including the forest that she called home. Trees were chopped down for wood, and removed to make more room for roads, living areas, and other human amenities. The animals that didn’t die out from not having enough places to live were often run over by transportation vehicles, or hunted and killed by the humans for food or even sport. The once clear air was tainted with chemicals from said vehicles, as well as the homes that laid nearby. The girl was sure that the humans weren’t intending to cause such harm to the forest, but she knew that she couldn’t continue to let their unchecked selfishness prevent them from seeing the harm they were doing. She had to protect her forest somehow.

  That’s why she was going to take action today. She’s already presented a plan to the BGD, or the Board of Guardian Deities, and she’d been lucky enough to catch them on a good day and get their approval. The plan was a little… extreme, yes, and it might take a while before they saw its effects, but it was still the best plan they had. It wouldn’t hurt anyone, it wouldn’t majorly interfere with anyone’s lives, and it would be enough to convince at least some of the humans that their ways were flawed and needed to be changed. She was the forest’s guardian deity, after all, and it was her job to protect it in any way she could. And so, she set off through the forest, ready to execute her plan.

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  Elsewhere in the forest, a young female wolf was taking a drink from a stream, reflecting on how she’d ended up at this point. Until recently, she’d been a strong member of her pack, helping to hunt for food and keep the other members organized to ensure their survival. But that had all changed on their most recent hunt. Everything started off well; their target had been a deer that was drinking from a different part of the stream, completely unaware of the group of predators that was surrounding it. But just as the pack was about to close in for the kill, a loud BANG shot through the air, and the deer suddenly fell over, dead. The resulting panic caused the pack to flee, leading to the young female getting separated from the others. And now here she was, all alone, waiting to be found by another member and brought back into the pack.

  She wasn’t terribly worried, though. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, and she was confident that she’d be able to find the other members and be back with them before long. Of course, she’d still need to keep her guard up against any threats… especially the ones that had managed to kill the deer the pack had been targeting. She would see those creatures in the forest from time to time, yet all she really knew about them was that they walked on two legs and were incredibly dangerous. Not only could a single one of them fell a deer that the entire pack would often have difficulty taking down, but they could apparently do it from a distance, without even getting close to their target. And if they could do it to a healthy full-grown deer, she didn’t even want to think about what they could do to a member of the pack. That’s why the pack always avoided them as well as they could, and why she made sure she never got close to one of them.

  But she didn’t have time to think about those creatures. Right now, she had to focus on reuniting herself with the rest of her pack. She lowered her head to sniff the ground, hoping to at least catch a scent of them. But sadly, there was no such luck; they must have been pretty far away if she was having this much trouble finding them. But the moment she lifted her head, she immediately recoiled, taking a step back. Standing in front of her was… one of those creatures, the ones that stood on two legs. This one looked a bit different from the other ones she had seen though; it looked significantly younger, with long green head-fur that reached all the way down to the ground. Yet… even though she knew how dangerous these creatures were, something told the wolf that this one wasn’t going to harm her. Somehow, she knew that she was safe with this creature.

  Smiling, the young girl held out her hand to the wolf in front of her. “Peace, friend,” she said. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Just be calm.”

  The wolf’s eyes widened in shock. The creature’s sounds were familiar to her, since she had heard others of those creatures use similar sounds to communicate with each other. Yet… she somehow understood the sounds this time. Somehow, she knew exactly what the creature was saying to her, despite never having understood the sounds before. “How… how is this possible?” she asked. Immediately, her eyes widened even further. Now she was making those sounds too? What was going on?

  The girl continued to smile. “I see that you’re confused,” she said. “Don’t worry. My name is Lesha, and I’ve come because I need you to help me with something. Would you be interested in hearing me out?”

  “Um… o-okay…” said the wolf, still not used to speaking like this. “W-what do you need?”

  “Well, I’m sure that you’ve seen those… creatures around. The ones that look like me.” Lesha turned her head towards the edge of the forest, near where the town was. “Those creatures are called humans, and… well, I’m sure you’ve seen at least some of the damage that they’ve done to this forest.” She shook her head sadly. “It’s not that they’re evil, for the most part. They’re just so… self-centered. And by the time they truly realize what they’re doing… well, it might be too late. And that’s why I need your help.”

  “Okay…” The wolf frowned. “What is it you want me to do?”

  “Well, I’ve thought long and hard about what do do about this,” replied Lesha. “The problem I kept running into was that most of them have already incorporated so many of these harmful behaviors into their lifestyle, to the point that getting them to change would be nearly impossible. But after a bit of thought, I decided that there was still one way to get through to their species, to keep this cycle from continuing for too much longer.” She grinned. “And that’s through their children.”

  The wolf frowned, slightly confused. “Child...ren?” she asked.

  Lesha nodded. “Yes. The human equivalent of your pups. The grown humans may be unwilling to change their lifestyles, but the young ones… they can still be influenced. If we can get to them, and convince them to see our side of things, then we may be able to prevent them from keeping up the destructive ways of their parents. And that’s what I need you for.”

  “Okay… I think I understand.” replied the wolf. “But I still don’t know exactly what you want me to do. How am I supposed to convince these children of anything when I never even see them?”

  “Well, here’s the plan,” said Lesha. “I’m going to open up something called a camp right outside the the forest, which is a place that human children often go to have fun and learn about being out here. However, this camp is going to be taught by you, as well as a few other animals. What I want you to do is educate the children, show them the harm that their parents are causing though their actions, and teach them that there are other, better ways to live their lives. If we can plant this idea in their heads, then it just might be enough to keep them from destroying everything around them like their parents have. I’ve already talked with a couple of the other animals in the forest, and they’ve both agreed to help me out with this plan. I only need one more before I feel confident in opening up this camp, so if you say yes, then we’ll be able to start up right away. So what do you say?”

  The wolf thought for a moment, lowering her head to the ground. If she agreed to this, it would mean completely abandoning her pack, which meant she may not see them again for a while… if ever. Did she really want to do that? But she’d also be protecting her pack from a major threat, which would be more beneficial to them in the long run. So… was it worth it? To her, the answer was obvious. She looked back up at Lesha, a determined glint in her lupine eyes. “I’m in. Let’s do it,” she said.

  “Excellent!” cried Lesha. “Oh, but one more thing. The children might find it strange that an animal is teaching at their camp, so I’m going to make a few adjustments to your body before you start. You’ll be able to walk on two legs, as well as being able to talk and think like a human, but you’ll still keep most of the physical features that you currently have. I have some other preparations that I need to tend to real quick, but as soon as I leave, the changes should start up. If there’s anything else you want to ask me, just shout my name, and I’ll be over there as soon as I can!” With that, the girl turned and took off running through the forest, leaving the wolf by herself.

  The wolf just stood there, blinking in surprise. A few adjustments to her body? Was Lesha really going to make her more human like? How would that even work? But the moment the thought crossed her mind, she suddenly felt something shift within her limbs. Her four legs appeared to be shaking, almost as if something was happening to them… like something within them was was being rearranged. Suddenly, she felt a jolt from her back legs, and what felt like her bottom being lifted slightly higher into the air. Were her legs… growing? It appeared that that was the case; another jolt from them, and suddenly she felt herself leaning back, her front paws barely even touching the ground anymore.

  It dawned on her that standing on all fours no longer felt… natural to her. Slowly, she lifted her front paws off the ground, using only her hind paws and her tail to support her balance. Her legs shook as she tried to maintain balance, but staying upright was becoming easier and easier as her legs continued to grow longer. Her paws were also becoming much shorter, to the point that she could actually lower her heels to the ground, helping her balance even more. “Geez…” she muttered, trying to remain steady on her new, human-shaped legs. It felt perfectly natural, yes, but it was still far from what she was used to, and she knew that it might be a while before she could fully adjust to it.

  Suddenly, she felt a jolt in what used to be her front legs, and she quickly moved them in front of her face to get a good look at them. Wait… how was she even moving them like that? They seemed far more flexible than they ever had before, and she now realized that she was capable of moving them in ways she had never even thought possible. Because they weren’t her legs anymore, she realized: they were her arms. As she experimented with their range of motion, she suddenly noticed another change occuring to the paws at the ends of her new arms. The digits appeared to be separating and stretching out, becoming longer and thinner. Quickly, the wolf realized that she could manipulate these digits much more easily now, to the point that she could use them to pick up and hold things! Hands and fingers, she thought. That’s what they’re called. The words were coming to her far more quickly now, her changing brain allowing her to think at a much higher level than before. Words that she had never known were filling her mind, as well as a sudden awareness of the world around her in a much wider perspective. It was like her eyes had been truly opened for the first time… and she was loving every second of it.

  She looked down at her body once again, watching as the final changes settled in. Her torso seemed thin out slightly, while at the same time elongating and adding to her height. Her fur became slightly thinner and her muzzle seemed to shorten, making both features slightly more humanlike. Feeling a tingling in the back of her head, the wolf reached up to feel the very last change: the fur on her head becoming longer, growing out into what felt like a ponytail. Yes… that’s what it was called. A style of hair that humans often used, wasn’t it? Ah yes, that’s what the head-fur on humans was called: hair! Upon thinking this, the now human-like wolf broke into a fit of laughter. She was enjoying this too much!

  “Well… I’m glad somebody’s happy about all of this.”

  “Huh?” A smooth masculine voice broke the newly anthropomorphized wolf out of her laughing fit, causing her to turn towards the source. Standing behind her was a deer… only it looked like it was going through the exact same process the she had just gone though. Slowly, its front legs were being lifted off the ground, the hooves at the ends splitting into three fingers with dark hoof-like nubs at the ends. Its body slimmed and its upper legs legs grew longer just as the wolf’s had, its lower legs shortening to look like plantigrade feet with hooves at the end. “Oh…” Said the wolf, watching as the changes progressed. “...I guess you must be another one of the animals involved in this plan, huh?”

  The deer nodded, his muzzle shortening slightly to give it a more human-like appearance. “I must say, when that Lesha girl told me about this plan of her’s, I was a bit… apprehensive of the thought of working alongside a wolf,” he said. “The same animal that’s killed multiple members of my family and has been actively terrorizing our kind for as long as we can remember. But for the sake of protecting our home and our kind from a much larger threat, I suppose I can stand it.” He held out his hand. “My name’s Ventus, by the way.”

  The wolf held out her own hand. “Great to meet you! My name is… um…” She stopped suddenly, lowering her hand. She’d been so caught up in the excitement of changing that she hadn’t even come up with a name for herself! “Um… how about… Luna?” She grinned. “Yes, that’s it! My name’s Luna, and I look forward to working with you.”

  Ventus sighed. “Can’t say the feeling is mutual, but I’ll do my best to cooperate with you.” He looked around. “That’s weird… I’m pretty sure there was supposed to be another one of us, but I don’t know where he-”

  “HEEEEEEYYYYYY!!!!” The ridiculously loud shout startled both Luna and Ventus into jumping back. Suddenly, a large shape came crashing through the bushes, almost colliding right into the two anthros. “Hey, great to meet you both!”

  Regaining her composure, Luna stared up at the creature that was positioned in front of her. It was a bear that was, once again, in the middle of its transition from regular to anthropomorphic. It stood up on its hind paws, the digits on its front paws currently forming themselves to make them more flexible. Its body mass also began decreasing, though it still looked significantly larger than the average human when it was done. “The name’s Mike!” it said, holding out a hand-paw as its muzzle shrank, its face becoming more human like. “I can’t wait to protect the forest with you two!”

  “Um… nice to meet you too, Mike,” said Luna, holding out her own paw. “I’m Luna, and this is Ventus. I’m guessing that Lesha already told you about everything that we’re doing?”

  “Yep!” said Mike. “I love this forest! I want to protect it however I can, and if that means teaching those human kids how to teach it with respect, then I’m all for it!”

  “Well, I’m glad to see you’re so enthusiastic about this,” said Luna with a grin. “We do have some preparations to make before we actually open up, though. We’ll need to come up with some specific activities, make sure the kids have a place to sleep, and figure out the best way to convince them to deviate from their parents’ behaviors. Lesha should be able to help us with some of that stuff, but we’ll need to think of some stuff by ourselves too. Think you’re up to the task?”

  “Hell yeah!” cried Mike. “I was born ready!”

  “I don’t mind assisting either,” replied Ventus. “I already have quite a few ideas for getting those kids to listen to us.”

  “Great! Then let’s get started!” With that, Luna turned to the forest’s edge and headed towards the open field outside, with Mike and Ventus following close behind.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  A few weeks later, a lone car was seen driving down a road just outside the forest. The woman driving had just recently learned of a new camp that had opened up just outside the forest, and felt that it would be a good way for her young son to get out of the house for the summer, as well as learn a bit more about the outside world. Known as Camp Naturia, the brochure for it advertised it as “A way for your kids to get to know the outdoors and learn about nature firsthand!” Upon reading this, the mother had been excited: her son spent most of his time indoors, watching TV and whatnot, so she figured that this would be the perfect way for him to expand his boundaries and get him to enjoy the outdoors a bit more.

  However, the son, Garrett, was far less enthralled. He had never liked spending much time outside, as he found it boring and uncomfortable. It seemed like he’d seen everything the outdoors had to offer over a million times already, and it was often to hot, cold, wet, or humid outside for it to be enjoyable. At least the temperature was almost always comfortable inside his house, and could almost always find something interesting to watch on TV. Needless to say, he wasn't particularly looking forward to spending most of the summer at an outdoor camp. But as the car finally pulled up to where the campground was, he happened to glance out the window… and his jaw immediately dropped.

  Walking towards the car was an anthropomorphic female wolf, wearing both shorts and a t-shirt with the camp logo and name on it. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, sticking out the back of the cap she was wearing, and her feet-paws were covered by a pair of sandals, her claws just barely poking over the edge. “Welcome to Camp Naturia!” She said, extending a hand-paw out towards the boy. “My name’s Luna, and I’m one of the counselors here!”

  Garrett grinned. “Wow!” He said, amazed. “That’s so cool!” He looked over at his mom, who had just parked the car on the side of the road. “Look, mom! Doesn’t she look awesome?”

  Garrett’s mother looked up at Luna, slightly confused about her son’s reaction to seeing her. To her, Luna just appeared to be an ordinary camp counselor, completely human with nothing wolf-like about her at all. “My son is a bit excited to be here, that’s all,” she said. “He doesn’t get to go outside a lot, so this should be a much-needed change of pace for him.”

  “Well then, he’s just the kind of person we like to see here!” Replied Luna, taking the boy’s hand. “You ready to see what else this camp has to offer, Garrett?”

  “Yeah!” Said Garrett, still marveling at Luna’s appearance. “Lead the way!”

  As the two of them began walking away, other cars began driving up to the camp, and Ventus and Mike promptly went up to handle them. As they did, Lesha watched from a distance, pleased at how well the glamor she had put on the three counselors was working. To the parents, they appeared as normal camp counselors; only the children could see their true anthropomorphic animal forms. And if all of the kids were getting this excited over just seeing the counselors… well, Lesha could only imagine how they would react to everything else they saw at camp. If everything went as planned, she knew that the impact would be enough to convince them to be far more considerate of the forest than their parents had been.

  As more cars filled with children came, Lesha chuckled to herself. If the plan was successful enough, she might even be able to convince other members of the BGD to use it as well. And then the whole world would be filled with children ready to live better lives, ready to care for the earth like their ancestors never had. And if that happened… well, Lesha could take pride in knowing that she was the one who made the earth a better place with this idea. Now that was a legacy that she wouldn’t mind having at all.