Rhydo Cronin and the Amphithere Crisis

Chapter 1 Qibli

Qibli sighed, frustrated. She had just woken up, and her alarm clock had broken her from a wonderful dream. Ax, she said to herself. The blonde haired sixth grader went to the same school as Qibli and her friends. She loved Rhydo and Rip as friends, but Ax kept a special place in her heart. When he was around, Qibli felt her insides churn. The feeling left after a little bit, but starting conversations was still hard. Qibli had found a way to tell Ax how she felt, but sometimes it made matters worse. Ax always seemed to prefer staying around his buddies, often leaving Qibli alone and sad.
     Recently, Ax had been showing up in many of Qibli's dreams, all of which she cherished. In all of them, Ax showed that he actually cared about her. There had been one dream where there was a hug, and this time Qibli had her head leaning on his shoulder. Both dreams had very odd backstories, but to her, those didn't matter. It was the interactions with Ax that Qibli enjoyed most.
     She stored this dream in her mind, and dragged herself from bed. She stepped heavily down the stairs, blinking the sleep from her eyes. Qibli's mom was already in in the kitchen, emptying the dishwasher. "Good morning, Qibli! Sleep well?" Said Ala. Qibli sighed, thinking of her dream. She nodded. Her mom wasn't very intrusive, so she didn't say anything about the sigh. "What do you want for breakfast, honey?" Asked her mother. Qibli thought for a moment, then decided to make herself some eggs.
     After breakfast, Qibli went up to her room and relaxed a bit. Then, casting a glance at the clock, she jumped to attention, and began her daily routine to get ready. Once she was ready, Qibli retrieved her backpack and with a goodbye to her mother, started walking to school. About halfway into the walk, Ax came out of his house and joined Qibli on the sidewalk. Her insides churned, but Qibli kept a straight face, though with a friendly smile. "H-hello, Sir Ax of Moir." She said, stumbling over her words a bit. Ax smiled back, "Greetings, Lady Qibli. How has your morning been?" This was their usual greeting, which had been suggested by Rip. Qibli took a deep breath to calm herself, and then replied. "I guess it was fine. Not very different from the others. Gosh, it's hot today." Though it was only 7:30 in the morning, the mid-June sun was already beating down on their heads. The rest of the walk proceeded in an awkward silence.
     Once Qibli and Ax reached their school, they split up. Ax ran off to meet his friends, and Qibli searched the crowd for Rhydo. He was pretty easy to find, being taller than most of the others in the sixth grade. Right away, Qibli noticed that Rhydo was nervously playing with his fingers. She grinned, and started sneaking behind Rhydo, taking advantage of the chattering sixth graders. As she jumped up and slammed her hands on Rhydo's shoulders, Qibli raised her voice in a happy "Morning!". Rhydo jumped, turned towards Qibli, and poked her in the ribs. Qibli, being extremely ticklish, tucked her arms in close and jumped away. "Hey!" she shouted, and taking advantage of her light weight, pulled herself onto Rhydo's back. She put her arms around his neck and clasped her hands on his chest. "Why so nervous, mister?" she taunted into his ear. "If you get off my back, I might be able to tell you without having everyone hear me," Rhydo muttered. Qibli lowered her feet, choking her friend in the process. Rhydo protested, but Qibli let go and dropped an inch onto the cement. As he turned around, Qibli asked, "So, what's gotten you worked up?"
     Once Rhydo had explained a dream of his and the consequence, he added that it was already the second time. The first being two days ago, on Wednesday. Qibli zoned out for a moment, thinking. What could have caused that? Why didn't Rhydo say anything the first time? "Qibli? What are you thinking about?" Rhydo knew that glazed look all too well. "Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry." Qibli said, almost to herself. Then, Rhydo's expression melted from curiosity to horror and disbelief. "Qibli. Look what he's done this time." Qibli followed his gaze and groaned. A dark shape was rapidly approaching. Soon enough, the shape had distinct wings and legs. "No no no!" Qibli's voice was laced with an anger that was rarely there. Having someone find out about them being "Shifters," as they called themselves, was her worst fear. Not spiders, or heights, or tight spaces. Even joking about getting found out would make Qibli nearly have a panic attack. Rip knew this, but here he was. A gryphon, gliding towards the school at an increasing speed. "No, please be a hallucination, please be a hallucination!" Now, Qibli was starting to sound panicked. She was pacing back and forth, staring at Rip. Rhydo tried to calm her down, but he knew it was no use. Suddenly, Qibli stopped in her tracks. "Oh man, you've got an idea, haven't you?" asked Rhydo. She didn't answer. Instead, Qibli sprinted around a corner of the school and quickly shifted into a pegasus.
     Taking advantage of the speed of her pegasus form, she flew up in front of Rip and slammed into his body. Knowing that he would begin to fall now, she quickly shifted into an African Wyvern and caught Rip by his torso. Flapping away at top speed, Qibli deposited Rip on the roof of the school, ignoring the thought-speak filling her mind. The gryphon cowered under Qibli's massive shadow, sending What did I do? over and over again using thought-speak. Qibli growled, and shifted back to human form. Rip followed suit, and his shift seemed slow, but Qibli was too mad to notice. She stomped over to him, and though she was several inches shorter, Rip seemed terrified of what she would do to him. "Kindly tell me, WHAT on EARTH were you THINKING?" she shouted with a newfound rage. Rip mumbled something inaudible, looking at his feet. He looked up expectantly, but Qibli's glare intensified. "I was running really late, and I wanted to be on time for once" he said again. Qibli groaned. "Then have your dad drive you to school! Wake up earlier! You don't just saunter up to school as a freaking gryphon!" she said, gritting her teeth. "Well maybe, just maybe, my dad can't drive me. Maybe he doesn't care if I'm on time or not. Maybe my alarm clock barely works and doesn't go off half the time. Maybe there's an actual reason for my limp and bruises. Maybe there's a reason for how happy and cheerful I am. Maybe I don't want everyone knowing about my problems at home!" shouted Rip, eyes glistening with tears, quivering with an anger of his own. Qibli was appalled at the ferocity of Rip's words, but she wouldn't show it. She turned, jumped off of the roof, and shifted into a pixie.
     Rhydo was looking for her, but Qibli landed in human form in front of him just as the doors to the school were opened. Seething, she stomped up the stairs, not answering to any of Rhydo's questions. The rest of her day was spent avoiding Rip at all costs. When at last the bell rang, signaling the end of the day, she was still fuming. As she crossed the doorway of her home, she slammed the door behind her and tossed her backpack onto the couch. In her room, Qibli threw herself on her bed and screamed into her pillow. Was Rip joking? Is he getting abused at home? Would that explain why he always wears long clothes? Are his smiles fake? What's his limp from? Qibli's mind was reeling. She tried to read, listen to music, and even think about Ax, all to get her mind off of Rip. But her thoughts kept wandering back to the encounter on the roof. And Rip is usually so hard to anger... but now... Qibli even tried banging her her head against the wall of her room repeatedly, trying to drive all thoughts of Rip from her mind.
     Suddenly, Qibli heard the jingle of her mom's keys as she walked in. "Qibli! I'm home!" shouted Ala in a cheerful voice. Doing her best to look the least troubled possible, Qibli wiped her eyes scampered down a flight of stairs and into her mother's arms. "How was school, honey?" her mom asked, running her hand through Qibli's hair. She took a moment to think, but decided not to mention anything. "It was fine. Nothing out of the ordinary. What about you? How was work?" Qibli finally asked, trying to stay away from the topic of her day. "Oh, you know. Chaotic. Tiring. Like you said, nothing out of the ordinary." sighed Ala. Qibli giggled, but then gave a small groan. "Listen, I have some homework to get done. I'll come back down when I'm done." she said. Her mom nodded. "All right. We don't want any late assignments, do we?" Qibli shook her head, smiled, and ran up the stairs by twos.
     Then, she got an idea to keep her mind off of Rip. Qibli's mom was very superstitious, so it was easy to scare her. Closing her eyes, Qibli imagined herself glowing and shifting into a small, humanoid figure with wings. A faerie would do the trick, as they were very strong in comparison to their size and could turn invisible. Smiling, Qibli flew down to the kitchen. She picked up one of Ala's pans, sinking a little under the weight. Struggling to stay in flight, Qibli made her way down one flight of stairs to her mother's study. Trying to suppress her laughter, Qibli let out a ghost-like moan and turned invisible just as her mom turned around. At seeing Ala's eyes widen and her jaw drop, Qibli almost burst out laughing, but clamped her teeth together and took a deep breath. Because the faerie was so humanoid, Qibli's vocal cords stayed the same, so she sounded the same as when she was in human form. If she laughed, she would have given herself away. But watching her mom's expression change from surprise to confusion to terror was too much for Qibli. She flew out of the room as her wings could carry her. Dropping the pan on a counter with a crash, Qibli sped upstairs to her room. As soon as she closed the door and shifted back to her human form, Qibli burst out laughing for the first time today. Oh my god, that was so much fun, I should do this kind of thing more often! she thought, doubling over on the ground. Qibli laughed until her stomach hurt, and even then she lay on the ground giggling.
     That's how her mother found her, curled up in a giggling fit. "Uhh... you okay?" Qibli took a few seconds, but then gasped, "Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine, just that Rhydo sent me a hilarious picture. What about you? You okay?" She asked. Ala hesitated, but then answered "I'm... not sure. I think I'm having hallucinations. I saw a pan. Floating. In my office." Qibli fought a smile, and replied, starting to laugh again "You saw a pan, just floating, in your office? Doesn't that sound a little weird?" She asked, a thread of disbelief in her voice. "Maybe you are hallucinating, because that's just plain weird," Qibli giggled. Her mother sighed, "I'm serious! And then, I found it just lying on the kitchen counter. Explain that, genius," Qibli's mind scrambled for an answer, and she replied, "Oh yeah, that's my fault. I took it out because I was hearing some strange noises, and I thought that someone else in the house and I wanted a weapon, but forgot to put it away. Sorry about that." Ala sighed again, rubbing her eyes. "Huh. I guess I was just tired. Anyway, tell me if you see anything weird. You know that I don't like the whole idea of ghosts and such," added her mom with a wince. Qibli nodded, and her mom left the room, closing the door behind her. As soon as she was out, Qibli started laughing again, this time not so loud. Her mom was generally pretty good at spotting lies, but she must have been pretty riled up to not notice that Qibli was behind what would eventually be referred to as the "floating pan incident."
     The rest of Qibli's afternoon proceeded slowly and with homework. She FaceTimed Rhydo to tell him about her stunt, but she still refused to talk to or about Rip, no matter how many times he asked her. Soon enough, Qibli's mom called her down to dinner. They ate in silence, the only noises being their forks against their plates. To break the silence, Qibli asked, "So when is dad getting home again? I keep forgetting." Collin was on a business trip to Mexico and had been gone for a little over a week. Qibli's mom barely looked up, but answered, "Next Thursday, honey. I've told you several times." Her voice sounded strained, but Qibli just assumed that her little trick had really scared her mother.
     After dinner, Qibli went up to her room to work on a new drawing. She was having an intense art block though, so after a few pencil strokes on her paper, she gave up. Qibli sighed, walked out of her room and to the stairs, and called "Hey mom?" Ala's voice came up from the kitchen, replying "Yes? Everything okay?" rolling her eyes at her mom's constant worry, Qibli replied by saying that she was going to bed a bit earlier tonight. Ala responded with a simple "Okay," so Qibli closed the door of her room and began brushing her teeth. Only when she glanced back at her reflection in the mirror did
she notice the one silent tear slowly dragging itself down her cheek. Qibli liked the tickling feeling of it, so she didn't bother to wipe it off. Once she had finished brushing her teeth, Qibli's hand traveled to the shark tooth she always wore around her neck. Like she often did if she was stressed, Qibli started fiddling with the tooth, gently running her fingers along the flat sides and the edges. Then, without thinking, Qibli's other hand grasped the tooth and helped drag it heavily across her thumb.
     Once.
     Twice.
     Three times.
     Repeated with her right index.
     One cut.
     Two cuts.
     Three. 
     A quick prick of pain in the middle of each mark. Suddenly, Qibli froze. Wait. What am I doing? She cast a glance over each mark on her fingers, but she couldn't see any blood. Qibli growled. At herself, at the cuts on her fingers, at the world, at Rip. The rumbling from her throat increased in volume, and before she knew it, she had shifted into a still growling... something. A blinding flash of white light and a barely audible pop marked her transformation. Qibli stumbled backwards in surprise, or rather, tried to stumble backwards. Though Qibli's small stature also applied to her creature forms, the shift was still so large that it took up her entire bathroom. Instead of trying to reverse her involuntary shift, she moved around into a slightly more comfortable position. A burning hatred for the world started expanding in her chest, making it hard for Qibli to think straight. Twisting her head around with slight difficulty, Qibli regarded herself in the mirror. Another surprise greeted her, as the shift was terrifying.
     A slightly humanoid face, thick mane with bony spikes sprouting from it that extended down to her back, large batlike wings that she kept folded, body of a big cat, which Qibli assumed was a lion judging by the amber yellow color, and a segmented scorpion-like tail. She opened her mouth, revealing three rows of sharklike teeth. Consulting her mental list of possible shifts, Qibli assumed that she was currently a Greater Manticore. Very similar but also very different from its less violent relative, the Lesser Manticore. Lessers had two rows of teeth, no spikes on their necks and backs and also didn't feel so much hate and anger. From what she had learned over the years, Lesser Manticore venom was also less painful when injected into another animal. Qibli realized that the pent-up anger from today had caused her involuntary shift.
     Greater Manticores were like Daleks from Doctor Who. They were made to fight and take orders from their leader, would often attack anything for no reason, and usually only knew negative emotions such as hate, anger, and frustration. They were very hard to kill, with thick skin and fur, both of which were nearly impenetrable. To add to the Manticore's danger, they were armed with a very powerful, hemotoxic venom. It slowly and very painfully killed whoever was stung and affected, attacking separate parts of the body one at a time, destroying them.
     Qibli didn't try to shift back just yet. Involuntary shifts caused by positive emotions were hard to reverse right away, and Qibli assumed that negative emotion involuntary shifts would be even harder to reverse. She also decided not to tell her friends. This was an isolated case, her first involuntary shift caused by negative emotions. It was unlikely to happen again in the near future, so Qibli wasn't that worried about it.
     After a few minutes, her anger had diminished, so Qibli tried to shift back into her normal self. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on her human body. She felt herself fit much more neatly in the cramped bathroom, but upon opening her eyes, Qibli saw a Lesser Manticore instead. No spikes, more humanoid face, and less automatic hatred. Ugh, she thought, frustrated. Qibli closes her eyes and tried again, concentrating harder on the little details of her body. Unusually intense cobalt-blue eyes, some spread-out freckles, and short stature. She felt herself shrink again, her bones rearranging themselves into a human skeleton. Qibli opened her eyes again and sighed. She was back into her usual body.
     Wanting to get her day over with, Qibli quickly changed into her pajamas and went to bed. "Lights out," she whispered to herself.