Mikey was feeling a bit better after her talk with Jon. She wasn’t really sure what being a harpy from now on would mean for her future.. but… it was like something just clicked in her mind. Suddenly she could feel a bit more relaxed. It was a good feeling and reminded her more of being ‘herself’ then when she had stressed out on ‘trying’ to be herself. She had never really understood what being herself meant and while it was a common phrase as a sort of ‘pep’ talk she only now understood it.
She wanted to be normal- for Jon, her parents, her friends… but she couldn’t be a human. She could be a normal.. Mikey the Harpy? Was she really supposed to change her name now? She wasn’t sure quite what to do but.. even that felt somehow better then doing something that wasn’t working. Being unsure was fine… Jon seemed unsure too and for some reason her big brother acted like he was guilty of it. Mikey had assured him that he didn’t have anything to be blamed for it but.. Jon had become distant at that.
He then went of to see Biff with that weird guilty look.
Mikey was with her parents at home and doing her homework. She had been relegated to practising her handwriting. Clutching her pen in her talons had taken her almost thirty minutes of experimenting. It was a bit shaky and it felt awkward as she sat on the sofa. A foot stool had been placed for her where a piece of paper was on. She had tried to hold the paper earlier, but all she did was tear it up in her talons. It was weird to know just how strong these things were and she guessed the claws at the end would only get stronger. Still.. she would much rather have her hands back.
“I hope Jon’s okay,” she quietly thought as she dropped her pen on the floor. “Urgh…” she hopped up from the sofa. She really needed to stretch her feet- er- talons. They might be her hands now but she still needed to use them to walk.
There was a knock on the door. Mrs Madison opened the door to find what appeared to be a young girl with rabbit ears. “Oh? Yes?”
The rabbit-girl gave a smile. “Hi- my name’s Alice. Can Michelle play today?”
Mrs Madison blinked. She had not seen the changed folk that often before… and well given her son was now a changed she guessed she would see them more. “I don’t see why not. Just don’t go too far.” she called out to the harpy. “Mikey, you have a friend here to see you!”
Mikey looked surprised. “Huh? Oh.. you’re that girl-” she looked a bit weird that a girl would come to see her. It just wasn’t really.. normal. “Alice?”
Miss Madison inwardly giggled. ‘The Mist must have a sense of humour’ she quietly thought. It was nice for her new daughter to make friends though. “Why don’t you go and play?”
“Thanks,” Mikey said with a smile.”
Alice walked with Mikey down the street and towards the park very excited. The rabbit-girl was looking at her new friend with a lot of curiosity too. “You okay?” She asked realising she had not said a word.
“I guess,” Mikey sighed. “I talked with my brother and stuff- he said things are gonna be different but he thinks it could be even better?” She frowned at that a bit. It was like Jon was saying being her brother wasn’t as good.
Alice seemed to pick up on this though, “I’m sure he just wants to cheer you up,” she said placing a hand on the harpy’s shoulder. “It’s not that bad though. I guess being a girl now is weird. Most of us didn’t change that way,” She looked a bit sadly to her. “I can only imagine what if I turned into a boy… kind of glad I didn’t. You must be really special.”
Mikey grimaced at that. “But- being a boy isn’t bad!” she tried to defend it.
“Neither is being a girl,” Alice said with a bit of a giggle.
Mikey felt herself blush. It was like she had walked right into that. She smiled a bit despite feeling so weird and out of place.
Together they wondered through the park. Mikey had been here before often to play football or play on the monkey bars. There were slides most of which was in an enclosure. However there were also a lot of fields and grass to run or do whatever someone wanted. It was quite a nice place. They seemed to be going towards the trees with Alice getting more and more excited.
“I wanted to show you something,” Alice quickly confessed. “Some of us can do these weird tricks… so.. please come see mine? I just have to show someone.”
Mikey looked at Alice oddly but nodded. They continued to walk into the park where Alice gestured to a bush. She seemed to size it up for a bit and put her hand in it.
“Yeah… this one should do.” She then jumped inside it- as in a complete nose dive with her hands as if she was jumping into a pool of water.
Mikey blinked. “A-Alice?!” did she hurt herself? The harpy quickly looked inside the bush. “Alice!” She called out. There was nobody there! Where did she go?
“Over here!” A voice called out behind her.
Mikey turned around. It seemed like somehow Alice ‘teleported’ to another bush just behind and to the side? The harpy looked stunned. Absolutely stunned. “H-how?” She fluttered her wings outward in confusion.
The rabbit girl giggled. “I dunno. I just go into a bush and somehow end up in another bush. What do you think?” The rabbit girl smiled her rabbit ears waving with glee. “Speed seems to be the trick. The faster I go, the further I go.”
“It’s really neat!” Mikey admitted. “You could do all kinds of stuff. How far can you go?”
Alice shrugged. “Well- I can’t seem to go too far. I havn’t been able to go further then this park. I dunno how it works. That’s why I wanted you here though. I was thinking… you want to try jumping with me? I never took anyone before, and I really wanted to try with you.”
Mikey felt herself gulp. “Uh… yeah I’d to see it,” She nodded.
“Great!” The rabbit girl took mikey by the wing. “Okay, I think if you just hold onto me, we should end up back in the other side of the park.”
The harpy held onto the rabbit-girl. She wanted to watch this…
Alice started to run towards the bush with Mikey running along side her. However for some reason it didn’t work and they both ended up hit by the leaves and twigs. “Ow!” the rabbit girl winced.
Mikey blinked and rubbed her sore body with her wings. “Ow...” She groaned. “It didn’t work...” the harpy girl was very disappointed now.
The Rabbit-girl didn’t want to give up. “It didn’t work because we were not fast enough,” She admitted. She glanced to the harpy in thought. “Mikey… you can fly right?” Once again that excited look and twitches of her animated ears was starting to appear.
“Uh… I dunno...” She said looking at her wings.
“Well- here’s my idea. “Take me in your talons, and we fly into the bush!” She pointed up to the sky dramatically. “We’ll easily get enough speed that way.” Alice looked very excited.
“I don’t think I’m strong enough to carry you.” Mikey frowned.
“Well just give it a go, please?”
Mikey looked at her wings and the bush. “Fine- I dunno though. My talons can hurt you.” she looked worried at them. She could hold a pencil right but.. a person? She started to flap her wings, feeling the need to get a running start.
The sudden sensation of the grass leaving her talons filled her with shock and surprise. “Ahhh!” she yelped- or chirped or- whatever it was a harpy did. She turned slightly and stumbled back on the ground. “I- I flew- I flew!” She was weak in the knees. The flight only lasted a few seconds but it was such an incredible feeling.
Alice ran after the harpy grinning. “See? You can fly! You just need the practice.. maybe once you have it, you can grab me?”
Mikey was still not sure about Alice’s plan. Sure flying solo seemed possible but taking another with her was just asking for trouble. The rabbit-girl seemed insistent and.. maybe Mikey -should- try to use her wings more right? If she was stuck with them..
What followed were a mix of test flights. Mikey wasn’t very good at long distance yet and sustaining flight seemed beyond her. Still she could just about work out how to glide downward in a control fall. She had the idea of trying to hold Alice in her talons by standing on a tree branch while the rabbit girl held onto her legs. Mikey nearly fell at the sudden weight and grabbed her with her talons. At that point she felt.. secure. More then secure. Mikey looked down and seemed very surprised at something. “You don’t feel like you weigh much at all,” she admitted.
“Really?” Alice looked up smiling.
“Yeah..” Mikey flew downward- just a few feet from the ground with Alice holding onto her. It was a fairly control flight.. a lot better then the young harpy girl imagined it would be. “That’s really weird… it’s like you stopped weighing anything when I grabbed you with my talons...”
Alice didn’t know what to make of that. “Maybe that’s your trick?” She asked. “That’s even better! This is totally going to work! Look- don’t worry about the flight. All we have to do is fall into a bush with you holding me. My trick should work then.”
Mikey looked quite scared at that. “Uh- isn’t that really really dangerous? If your trick doesn’t work then… we’re gonna get hurt.”
“It will be fine I promise. We just- huh?”
Another person was behind a tree. It looked like a human boy. Rather tall and blonde haired though cut short. He was wearing a black T-shirt and jeans. There seemed to be a rather elaborate belt tied around his waist with metal prongs on the side. He was probably a few years older then Mikey and he looked at them very annoyed. “What are two freaks doing here?” He said folding his arms. “Shouldn’t you be in the zoo birdy?” He snickered.
Alice frowned. “Hey- leave her alone Damien!” She stood protectively between them.
“Oh right. The rabbit that’s always late.” He shook his head. “They don’t allow freaks like you in the park. This is our park.”
Alice didn’t look like she was going to take that. “You know what they say Damien, if you keep saying stuff about the Mist, the Mist will get you!”
Damien smirked at that. “Yeah, that’s what they keep saying but it ain’t true. Lots of people say stuff. I bet you never said anything and it happened to you anyway. So what if I call you out as just freaks!”
Mikey fluttered her wings. “Who the heck are you!”
“Me birdy? I’m Damien and my gang’s taking over this place,” Said Damien. “So I’ll give you to the count of ten to just get out of here.”
Alice frowned and stood her ground. “We got every right to be here. You and what army gonna make us leave?”
Damien snapped his fingers. At once, a boy came out hidden from a tree.. and another.. and another.. and another.. and another. Each looked to be holding a water pistol. “This army should do,” he grinned. “your move..”
Alice’s ears drooped. Mikey looked quite petrified in return to her glance. “Run.” both said.
“What did you to to upset him!” Mikey gasped as they ran across the park.
“Uh, I don’t really remember,” Alice gasped as she replied. “We were in a club together and-” she dodged another stream of liquid. “At least they are using water,” she thought sniffing the air. “Come on let’s use that trick!”
Mikey wasn’t sure she could just ‘do it’ like she suggested. However she tried and flew. She managed to get several feet in the air. As she did, Alice grabbed hold of the harpy’s talons. “I- I don’t know-”
“I’m on you just concentrate on flying!”
Mikey did so. She flew much to the bewilderment of the water-pistol gang as they tried to fire water at her. A stream hit her wing though and she suddenly found herself loosing some altitude. “Oh no-” she had not realised how high up they had gone! She started to spiral downward not quite sure how to compensate with these wet feathers. “I’m gonna crash!” she cried out.
“Alice looked down somehow not feeling that fearful. “There.. aim for those bushes...” She said.
“You idiots! I didn’t want to hurt them!” Damien growled. “Crap- they are falling!” If they got hurt he was so dead! They seemed to be going into a bush? He had to save them. He ran forward to try and break their fall. “You guys spread out and try and catch them!” However the group had already dispersed.. and were not taking any more orders. This had gone way beyond anything they expected.
Damien looked terrified as the two girls seemed to fall out of the sky. He ran into the bush to try and catch them… though all that happened was a sudden burst of light..
Alice groaned as she woke up. “Huh? Mikey?” She called out.
The harpy was next to her. They were on a grassy field. “Yeah I’m here...” She said. “Looks like someone else is here too..” she gestured to Damien.
The rabbit girl studied the unconscious boy. “That idiot. He ran into the bush as we fell in.” She glanced around. “Hold on a second.. this isn’t the park...” The field of green grass extended for what looked to be miles. There was nobody around.. just a single tree and a bush atop a hill.
Damien finally woke up. “Urgh… ow my head..” he winced. “Huh? Where am I?”
“We’re… not exactly sure,” Alice frowned.
Mikey glanced up. “Look..”
There was a flock.. a flock of.. harpies? They seemed to be ignoring the trio though as they went off into the horizon and towards the sun. Or at least ‘one’ of the suns. There were two suns in the sky! One looked normal and Earth-like while the other seemed to radiate a curious green in colour.
“No way...” Damien frowned. “I knew it.. you two really are aliens!”
Mikey whacked her wing against Damien’s face. “We\re not aliens! We’re on an alien world though!” Mikey felt scared as she realised that. “A-Alice.. did your trick bring us here.. you could bring us back right?” those harpies.. what else could be here? What if.. monsters were here- or- were -those- the monsters?!
“Uh.. yeah.. of course...” She rubbed her hands a bit. “I.. um.. I just need to find the right bush and..we do the same thing as before… and that should do it.” she guessed it would be that simple.
“What about the one we came in?”
“What the heck are you talking about tricks for!” Damien cried out. “We’re on an alien world about to be eaten by alien parasites!” he screamed.
“Shut up!” Alice shouted as she examined the bush. “We should do exactly what we did before. Damien you jump in just as before... but remember the bush has to cover all of us completely.”
“So.. it’s like a Back to the Future thing?” Damien asked wildly. “You need to go fast enough to generate a wormhole to bring us back home?”
“Sure. Let’s go with that,” Alice nodded. “Ready Mikey?.”
Mikey nodded. This was.. going to be difficult...
Damien tried to hide in the bush as the two freaky girls spoke of their magic when .. an odd tingle came over him. “What the...”
