Leape

In which Penn discovers herbivores eat plants

5

The air whistled by Penn's ears as he felt he was falling. A shriek was heard beside him.

"I HATE THIS SO MUCHHHHHHH–" with that Lethia disappeared within a layer of clouds.

I am SO dying, TERRIBLE LIZARDS, I'm so DEAD, Penn thought, not questioning the "terrible lizards" part, because he fully trusted the Narrator.

ARGH, thought Penn with a grunt of annoyance glaring at the pinkish-orange clouds as they passed him, or rather, he passed them. I have GOT to get rid of you, weird space alien!

He paused. ... Space alien?

With that, he slammed into the ground at full force. But it was... soft? A strange sound echoed through the air, not unlike the roar of a chainsaw. But... it sounded more animal-like.

Dragons!? Penn wondered, eyes clamped shut, the scent of pine wafting up his still-touching-the-ground nose. With a groan, he raised himself up onto his knees, brushing pine needles and debris off his face, noticing a very still Lethia standing beside him out of the corner of his eye- in changed clothes, once again.

"Lethia, what is this pla–" he was cut off by a strong grip on his shoulder, and looked up to see Lethia, feet planted firmly on the ground, safari-like boots coming up to about mid-shin, a khaki boy scout-looking uniform replacing the black ninja suit she had worn earlier.

"Shh," she hissed to him, eyes watching the trembling bushes and ferns just a few yards from the two. They shivered, a sure sign something would come out of them, and Penn felt a chill of fear.

It was stifled quickly by warm, moist, air being breathed down his neck. Lethia's eyes were locked on the bushes, and it seemed like she wasn't paying any attention to anything else– including their surroundings.

"L-Lethia?" Penn croaked, voice shaking, waves of fear replacing any calmness that may have resided in him.

"Shh, Joe! I'm working on making sure we don't get eaten," she growled back, still at Penn's side.

"Too late," Penn whispered, slowly turning around, the warm air coming down his throat still. It tousled his hair, warming, and then chilling, him to the roots. He was already sweating— a side-effect of wearing heavy winter garb in an otherwise humid environment— but it was a cold sweat now, as if he had just woken up from a nightmare.

His gaze caught on scales. They were a muted sea-green color, the chest of the thing slightly paler, a shade lighter than the overall color of the creature. As his eyes went up the thing, he realized it had no wings; it wasn't a dragon. An overgrown lizard? He wondered, staring at the thing in awe. The creature's head was elongated, a crest at the back, sort of like a horn, but much less sharp, and more curved, arching towards its back. Penn's breath caught in his throat as he looked up at it, and as it looked down at him, its large, dark, eyes blinked slowly, as if trying to register him.

"HI," the voice came from on top of the lizard thing. Lethia screeched, whirling around in a panic. Penn jumped backwards. "Oh, c'MON, I'm not THAT scary," the voice said, wich Penn registered as the first time he had ever heard someone roll their eyes via their voice. A clicking of the tongue came from the voice, and the creature squatted, almost, and off got a small human.

She was wearing khaki clothes, not unlike Lethia, with boots that were a bit big for her and were tied tightly, coming up over the half-way mark on her shin. "I'm Maizie! I'm eight years old," said the girl, giving a toothy grin, pulling her baseball cap off and giving a bow, as if she were in the middle ages.