Single post in Pen and Paper - A Writers Clan

A beat up RV rumbled down the dirt road with signs to the "Panthera Conservatory" inside were 8 people of varying nationalities, all fast asleep, and a young man--probably no older than 29--driving, almost as soon as the RV passes through the gate, the 8 people are up and quickly running out of the RV, disappearing into the grasslands-like environment of the conservatory. "What's up with them?" A scientist asked, coming out of the building they pulled up to. "We've been gone for over a month, they haven't been able to be themselves and run. It's either been a demo, a conference, or a talk. They're tired of being humans. Leo wanted to ride back in cat form, but I didn't fancy the possibility of getting pulled over and asked why I have 8 big cats stuffed into my RV." Felix said, rolling his eyes slightly. As he spoke, a large Jaguar climbed into a tree and laid on a branch, basking in the sun. A few roars were heard in the distance, and Felix and the scientist narrowly avoided getting trampled by a trio of Cougars. "Sorry to hear about James. He was a good man." The scientist said, as Felix nodded. "He was. Without him, hundreds of big cats would've ended up in zoos." James Baker was a world renown animal conservationist and scientist, looking to create a method to help prevent extinction of many big cats, his life's passion. Shortly after he founded the Conservatory and lab, he had his breakthrough--sort of. What he discovered was a way to merge the DNA of animals and humans--without hybridization. The chemicals involved would give a person the ability to completely control this process. He needed to test it, but he knew that he couldn't trust just anyone with this--one slipped word and the government would be on top of his research--so he set out to find the best test subjects. He adopted 8 orphans from around the world to test his serum on. If it failed, and the kids died, no one would miss them. If it did nothing, well James could raise 8 kids. But if it succeeded, James would have an amazing scientific breathrough, and would let the children embrace their abilities as they desired. It worked. The children became known as the Panthera Squad. They were involved in conservationist work from an early age, and by the time they were adults, they were attending conferences and conventions the world over talking about protecting big cats and similar work. Suddenly a long roar from Leo sounded, followed by a pained sound from somewhere else in the conservatory. "Tigra!" The Jaguar guy shouted, having changed back to human form. Suddenly he was back in cat form, jumping down from the tree and running across the grounds. Felix growled. "Let's go!" He said, running over to the side of the building and jumping on an ATV. "Grab the other one, it's got a specialized stretcher that can carry one of them in cat form!" He shouted over his shoulder as he sped off after Kiama. He was soon overtaken by a cheetah--unsurprisingly-- and he knew that the trio of leopards was following him without even needing to look. He looked to his right, and saw Leo on a pursuit course--with a man he's never seen. "Leo! Get down!" He shouted, revving the ATV and pushing it far beyond it's limits to speed at the guy. Before he could react, the man pulled a gun and shot at him, causing Felix to fall to the ground as Leo returned to human form. "Felix!" Leo shouted, running over to the younger man, who was writhing on the ground in pain. "Are you okay?" He asked, and all Felix could do was nod slightly, causing Leo to growl a deep, guttural growl. He turned around to face the man that had attacked Felx. "What did you do to him?" "What? So you can hit me? I'm not scared of you!" The man said, and Leo smirked briefly before roaring--a roar that was like that of a lion. Before the other man could react, Leoo leaned forward and took off at a sprint, transforming as he did so. Within moments Leo was gone, replaced by a large lion, bounding towards the man. He screamed, and turned to run, only to be confronted with a growling tigress. He noticed immediately the human-lik blue eyes staring back at him and took off at a run in a random direction away from the cats--or so he though. After 10 minutes of running, he stopped, clutching his side, he had no real clue where in the sanctuary he was, but what he did know is he felt a feeling of dread. He soon figured out why as a snow leopard, clouded leopard, and regular leopard, all approached him from three different directions, all with human-like eyes. "What are you?!" He shouted with unsupported confidence, hoping to possibly scare them off. "Larus, Mich, Tar. Stand down." A voice said from above him, and the man looked up, seeing another shirtless man standing in the tree he had been backed into. The man jumped down, as a cheetah, the tiger, and Leo joined them, as well as an 8th man. "I highly recommend you leave, before I actually let my companions have at you this time." The man blinked and in moments the cats were gone, replaced with a total of 8 people of various nationalities. Before he could think of anything else, he took off away from the group. "How's Felix?" Kiama asked, and James responded, "He'll be fine, the bullet only grazed him, but he's in a lot of pain." Mich growled, "I saw that man follow us in, but I thought he was coming to ask what we do." Larus and Tar both nodded, the three leopards had always been close, and formed their own mini-pride. "I felt him before I knew he was there, so I was prepared." Tigra said, smirking.