Fur and Feathers

Chapter 4

Lewis sprinted towards Sips.Co compound, Duncan stumbling not far behind. "Lewis... it hurts..." He panted. Lewis sighed "Look Duncan we're nearly there. I'm sure Sips and Sjin will have some kind of healing potion they could lend you.". The scientist looked over at the large, yet squat, industrial factories and out of place sky scraper. "Lewis, you know how much they HATE magic or anything related, and even if they did have some kind of first aid, do you think they would lend it to me?" The spaceman didn't reply. He knew Duncan had a point. But he also knew that Duncan had a tendency to over react. He remembered when Rythian sent Duncan a letter telling him that he would come to talk too him. Duncan was on edge for days, then came up with a crazy plan to trap Rythian in a force field and keep him there like a goldfish bowl... except with a mage in it. Unfortunately Duncan severely underestimated Rythian's knowledge of science and his lawn ornament escaped.

When they arrived at Sips.Co it was mid morning, but there was no Sips or Sjin to be found. They checked the sorting facility, the power tower, the Hydro-Power facility, inside the quarries and even in the empty main factory. They finally decided to check the sky scraper. They climbed higher and higher up the tower until on the penultimate floor Duncan noticed some grey feathers on the ground. He went up to it and sniffed it. His pupils narrowed into thin black slits in his green eyes. A strange look came over his face. He slowly crept up the stairs, Lewis following him, confused as to why Duncan was acting so.... cat like. The blond cat crept onto the top floor, not making a sound and spied his target. Two chickens were staring at each other, confused. Slowly, he sneaked up behind the smaller of the two. He waited for a few seconds, making sure he wasn't noticed and pounced, grabbing the bird's neck in his mouth. It shouted "NO! NO! STOP! I'M NOT ACTUALLY A CHICKEN!" In Sjin's voice. Duncan paused. The other grey chicken was laughing at him "Jeez Duncan! I know you're a chicken murderer but do you really need to be so brutal?" 

"DUNCAN! That's Sjin you've got in your mouth! Let go! You're going to strangle him!" Lewis ordered. Duncan looked in horror down at the chicken which was struggling, but gradually growing weaker. He spat him out in a look of self disgust. "I-I'm s-sorry," He shuddered "I-I don't know what c-came over me... " He backed away from the three of them, towards the corner, looking slightly terrified. "I don't know why Simon and Lewis work with this guy," The grey chicken, who was Sips, said loudly to Sjin, looking over at Duncan to make sure he heard them. "What happened to you?"  Lewis asked , ignoring the Canadian's remark. Sips opened his beak, but Sjin interrupted him. "Sips asked me to come into his office, and when I got here he shouted at me a bit, then he gassed me or something and we woke up as chickens, so it's all his fault!"

"God Sjin why've you gotta be so aggressive?" Sips muttered sarcastically "Besides, this is magic we're dealing with. Science couldn't do something like this, and you know what I think of filthy magic. However, Goggles-boy here knows a few things about it..." Duncan shrunk further into the corner "W-well... this looks like it may have been d-done with a Philosopher's Stone... but I'm more the "Techno" side of a Techno-mage... I'm not sure how to do this, or reverse it for that matter..."

"Well, we all know a very powerful mage who may have a thing or two to do with this," Lewis concluded "Rythian." Sips looked confused, while Sjin and Duncan tried to look as innocent as possible. "Well, I know he's against science and is slightly annoyed that Duncan and Sjin destroyed the world, but he wouldn't go out of his way to do something as ridiculous as turning everyone into an animal!" Sips said, although the cat and chicken behind him were starting to look shifty "It's not like we did anything to REALLY piss him off THAT much!" Duncan was about to say that Sjin had captured the mage's dinosaur and how when Zoey tried to save him she ran away, but then realised that Sjin would tell them about the nukes. "If you keep quiet, I'll keep quiet," He whispered to the space chicken, who nodded vigorously.

Martyn opened his eyes groggily. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he felt like he'd just dropped off a thousand-foot cliff. He looked up and saw a shocked and worried Toby staring down at him. "M-Martyn?" The boy gasped. The blonde stretched and stood up, but when he tried to balance on his two legs, he flopped down onto the grass. "What's the matter with me?" He said to himself, then noticed his reflection on Derek, Toby's sword which was lying on the grass. A confused blonde Terrier looked back at him. "Toby... Toby! Whats happening? Toby? Toby!" But his blue-hoodied friend just stared down at him, concerned, showing no sign of understanding what Martyn was saying. "Wait a second..." Toby picked up Martyn's headband which was lying on the floor, and tied it around his head. "Well I'm glad you've got your priorities straight," Martyn grumbled, although he knew Toby had no idea what he was saying, and that he was a small dog, and that someone had cursed him. His memory was kind of blurry, but he remembered the familiar, cool, calm accent of a Swedish man.