INTRO.

[ultrapenumbramods]

You wake up feeling like you’ve had a rough night’s sleep… maybe a bit jet-lagged, if you’re familiar with the feeling, or perhaps like you, uh, had a little too much to drink last night. Either way, you’re probably not expecting to wake up in a forest clearing, so that might be even more disorienting. It’s not an unpleasant place to wake up, mind. It’s sunny, and there’s a pleasantly cool breeze blowing through. The grass isn’t tall enough that you could get lost in it or that someone could be hiding in it… or something.

There are, in fact, a lot of somethings surrounding you--a veritable menagerie of creatures, some of them adorable, and some of them intimidating… but they seem to be as disoriented as you are. And then, well… you realize something’s a little off about yourself. There’s no pond to look at your new appearance, but… maybe the ground’s a little closer. Maybe you don’t actually have arms and legs at the moment. Maybe you don’t have eyes anymore?

Regardless, something’s definitely up. Fortunately, there’s a path leading out of the clearing, so once you get your bearings and speak with some of the other weird critters you’ve woken up with, you can find… somewhere you can get answers. Well, hopefully, anyway.

Comments

[whatsmytalentagain]

[Waking up with an aching head... Kind of expected. Waking up in the middle of a forest when you were pretty sure you were trapped in a school-like facility... Not so much.

Urgh... He pulls himself up a little, mindlessly rubbing at his temples with his hoof-]

-- WHAT THE?! [Well, THAT woke him up! He's sitting up, staring at his hooves in disbelief. NO FINGERS. ONLY HOOVES CAKED IN MUD.] How did I-?! [Yeah, he also noticed the horse tail when he glanced behind himself, and after pawing at his ears he noticed how long they were.

Did he just turn into a MULE?!?

No, wait. He's getting another look at his surroundings, and it turns out some of the similarly disoriented creatures around him look like the kind of Pokemon you see all over the internet and in merch outlets...]

Okay, Rantaro. Think. You told Mamota-san you were going to the bathroom, you went into the library, you pulled open the door... [He trails off, muttering to himself about cameras and metal balls falling from above. As much as he tries to rationalize the situation, he just can't explain how he got here. Great.]

[onetwoboom]

[Gaige catches eye of the adorable ponything, and tries real hard not to stare. She's too old for liking ponies, and way too hardcore. She's a wanted criminal with an impressive body count, she did not have any desire to flop that thing's ears and pet its snout...

And then she notices the rows of piercings. Screw all that crap, this was a punk horse - and that's TOTALLY hardcore.]

Hey! [She approaches, and then hears the muttering.] What're you on about?

[moonfang]

What in the hell are ya talkin' about, ya dumb horse? [he points with one of his shorter blade] AND WHY'S A HORSE TALKIN' IN THE FIRST PLACE! Explain yerself!!

[betheman]

[Fortunately for Gongenzaka, he is in possession of all of his limbs. He also still has eyes. And...

...A tail? Everything is closer, larger, and more importantly fluffier, and Gongenzaka shakes his head as he tries to get up and sort things out. At which point of course he finds out he can't properly stand.

And then he finds out he has paws.

That's about when the yelping and backing into things starts.] H-HAAUUUHH-!! W-What on earth-!!

[Sorry to anyone he deafens, or simply bumps into.]

[becauseyou]

UWAH--!

[ And now somebody's yelling right into Natsuki's ears right as he bumps into her, causing her to lose balance and roll backwards, leaving her lying on her round, round back. ]

Stop that! Are you trying to deafen me or something?! A-And watch where you're going!

[grantmeamiracle]

A-ah!

[Hello, sir, you're certainly loud-- to her credit, MOMO at least managed to not jump upon the being bumped into and the shouting.]

A-are you alright?!

[telephoning]

[Truth be told?

Waking up feeling exhausted and heavy is far from an uncommon experience for Zoe, when she can get to sleep at all. Nor is waking up to streaming sun or swaying grass and branches. Typically, though, those are... you know. Through the window.

Then again, well -- nothing's impossible in her life these days. Feeling grass and dirt under her as she starts to roll and turn and give one little gasp awake, a cold pools behind her face and a dry wind blows and turns in her chest - what, is the infection getting worse, did she just -- lose control and blank out and find herself stranded, did she try an escape in some fit of panic...

-- God, why is her head so fucking heavy...!

In front of you, a little dark creature emits a soft-warm "mmmmhhhh..." as it rolls onto a pair of short nubby arms. Pushes its head up off the ground in a heavy loll. Two little points of light starting to light up in the sockets of its mask...

Before flicking bright and round right onto you in a snap.

A disoriented half-shout of:]

-- Ahh -- ?!

[Before it tips backward on itself, one of those arms coming up again in a token "shield yourself" gesture as it starts to wriggle back like an upturned snake her legs aren't working she can't feel her legs what's going on --

A slight wobble and bob and ending break to:]

-- Get back -- ...

[It's not really meant for you to hear; it's more of a "no no no come on come on leave me alone this is not the time for me to be zoomed in on by a fucking monster..."]

[whatsmytalentagain]

[Lady. Lady. You are overreacting to the presence of a donkey. That talks.]

Hey! Calm down! I'm not gonna hurt you, honest!

[If anything, he's more intimidated by her!]

[wegotone]

Whoa- hold on a sec, I'm not gonna hurt ya!

[Janine floats back a few inches, giving Zoe some space.]

Are you okay?

[becauseyou]

[ ...This is not how Natsuki was expecting to wake up today.

Why is she in a forest?? Why does the ground seem so close? And...

What's wrong with her hands? In fact, what's wrong with the rest of her body?? ]

...WHAT?!

[ Why does she feel so round and plump and spherical?! What happened to her body?! What's going on here?! ]

W-Where am I?! What happened to me?!

[ And dear god, it's hard to walk like this. She's waddling around in circles, trying to figure out how to use her stubby feet. And then she loses her balance and falls on her back. Or rather, accidently rolls onto her back. ]

Agh--!

[ Well, at least she still has her hourglass-shaped hair clip! ...Somehow. Although it's size has been adjusted so that it could fit on that big curl on her head. ]

[telephoning]

[WELL, now that Zoe's had... a little time to breathe and start coming to terms with her own body a little more, she's started... kind of paying the 'Puff some mind! With half-"I feel that" thanks to her own... you know, limb alterations and half-distant and achy tickled schadenfreude, albeit, and mostly out of the corners of her eyes (mask-holes?), but still.

When she rolls over, though, the red lights marking said eyes... round, with something flashing in her head. Snaggin' a sound out of her.]

A -- ...!

[ -- ...A couple of darting glances side to side, pff, do something, do something, go ahead, Zoe, do something...!

And she floats over in one glide - ]

... -- here...!

[...And... holds out a stumpy little shadow hand.

I'd say "here, what", but it... may or may not be better that she isn't being more proactive considering she's a possessed piece of wood who's just. Kind of suddenly glided up into someone else's space.

It's gonna take a bit of time to come to terms with this degree of new appearance.]

[onetwoboom]

Uuugghh...oh man, I feel like the HOTTEST garbage right now...

[Mumbling to herself, Gaige tries to get to her feet. She hadn't drunk some weirdo wasteland moonshine, so there's really no good reason for her to be feeling like this. It's in the briefest second after processing that thought she realizes the bigger issue here. She doesn't have feet. Or arms, for that matter. In fact, her whole body feels...lighter. Floatier. Less tangible.

With no neck to look down, she tries to raise her hands to her face. But there's no metal, no flesh, only electricity.]

OH my god! [She shrieks, a little involuntarily. Crackling with energy, she reaches for the goggles on her head, nudging them slightly.]

Hohohooooooly crap! Tangible electrical appendages! [She waves them around, experimenting with form and shape.] SO Badass!

[In the midst of all her excitement, the entirety of the situation dawns on her. The grass, the trees, the surrounding little animals.

There was no doubt about it. She wasn't in her body, or on Pandora anymore.

With some deep breaths, she tries to reach some kind of calm.]

Okay, okay - this could be one of two things. Either A, super vivid fever dream that I'm gonna be so disappointed to wake up from, or B, some kind of weird alternate dimension thing that I may or may not ever come back from and never see anyone I ever loved ever again.

[Sounds great.

To eliminate one of the two, she tries to wave at one of the others in the clearing. And hopefully not accidentally shock them.]

Hey, you! Are you, like, real - or just a product of my subconscious?

[fuhuhuhuhu]

[Undyne frowns, turning her puny hands over and curling them into fists when she overhears someone yelling at her. She turns to look at Gaige, grimacing.]

What? Of course I'm real. If I wasn't real, I wouldn't be able to do this!

[She punches a nearby tree, causing it to tremble slightly. Seemingly unsatisfied with this result, she waves her stubby arms around and lets out a frustrated growl.]

Ughhhh, I could've knocked over the whole tree if I was in my regular body! This is so stupid!

[bornfromanger]

[A forest clearing is definitely not where Hakai expected to wake up, especially since he'd been hiding out in the city. A pleasant breeze is simply too pleasant for the likes of kaima. Of course, as he slowly begins to come to and find himself surrounded by what he can only assume is some sort of band of yokai, pieces start getting put together. Pieces that don't match and you start to force them together by pounding them against the table. Yes, it all makes sense now, it's an ambush.

...Neat.

Or, well, maybe it was an ambush? He was clearly unconscious, the ambush must've been successful. Yes, of course, and then they dragged him into a forest... Clever, but the fools forgot to tie him up. That's fine, kidnapping is an excellent excuse for destruction, and he can't just have people thinking they can get away with a sneak attack like that. So Hakai does the first thing that comes natural to him: He starts shouting.]

I am Hakai, the very incarnation of destruction itself--!! Eh...?

[It's only now when he gets onto his feet that he realizes destruction is now an adorable puppy, one whose face is mostly wrapped up in a milky pink scarf. Well that won't do. Quickly looking around, he searches for something -- like a big rock -- and jumps on top of it, sitting on his hind legs and trying to fold the front like arms. This is weird, even for him, never once in his life as he ever been so...short.

No time to show weakness, he has to finish what he started.]

Now I am Hakai, destruction etc, WHICH ONE OF YOU considers themselves the leader? We need to have a discussion, one that mainly involves our fists.

[...And then, his demeanor suddenly changes. With a much more calm and leveled voice, he continues.]

On an unrelated note, do any of you know how to make a fist without hands?

[fuhuhuhuhu]

[Undyne is pissed. Not only is she in a tinier body than usual, she can't summon any of her cool spears! Ridiculous! At least this body has extremely sharp teeth and she still has her eyepatch--almost makes her look as tough as she used to be.

The shouting calls her attention--leader? Incarnation of destruction? Now, this is interesting. She narrows her eye, gnashing her teeth. She jabs a stubby arm towards the puppy standing up on the rock and shouts right back--]

I AM UNDYNE, LEADER OF THE ROYAL GUARD! [Which is technically disbanded now but WHATEVER] WE WILL HAVE A DISCUSSION WITH OUR FISTS RIGHT NOW!

[The Totodile hops up onto the rock next to Hakai, puffing her chest out.] AND IF YOU DON'T HAVE FISTS, USE YOUR HEAD!

[grantmeamiracle]

[A forest is not where MOMO is expecting to wake up. Don't tell her she's somehow back in Old Miltia in Shion's subconscious--

The fact that the ground's a bit closer when she pushes herself to her feet is a little concerning, but so is the fact that she's... much, much pinker than usual. What is this?!

Still, what's more important at the moment is figuring out what happened--there's so many odd... critters here, a lot of them look like in they're the same general state she is. Maybe talking to someone will help her figure out what exactly happened...

... It'll take her a bit to make sure she can move properly, but once she can, it won't take her long to start approaching others.]

Are you okay...?

[whatsmytalentagain]

[Nothing, absolutely no explanation no matter how hard he tries he can't figure out how he turned into a donkey or-

He was so lost in thought that he actually jumped when the... Hey, has he seen that thing approaching him as a stuffed animal at some point?]

Ah- Yeah, I'm fine... [He smiles, looking a little flustered himself.] I mean, as fine as I can be right now. You have any idea how this happened?

[onlyexplainit]

[Meanwhile, in all this panic, there is also a strange beast watching them all from a distance. It's hard to read his emotion, but he seems almost amused by all of this. From an outsider's perspective, it was almost as if he wasn't bothered by this situation at all, and maybe is a native here.

Deep down, The Narrator was concerned about all of this. Not being in control was something he was not used to, nor can he think of any particular reason why any being in the universe would want to transform him into a strange monster. And, while he wasn't opposed to the idea of becoming a literal monster, he was a little unused to taking a non-humanoid form and he didn't want to look like a fool attempting to move around in this new body.

Still, nothing that silently judging random strangers couldn't fix.

Try not to get too creeped out by this he's going to do this all day.]

[onetwoboom]

[When the abyss stares at you...you stare back.

She can do this for ages, she doesn't even blink. She's just noticing that now. Neat!]

[fuhuhuhuhu]

NGAAAAAAAAH!

[The shout echoes throughout the forest as an eyepatched Totodile barrels through the trees, snarling and snapping. Unbelievable! Who in the hell would turn her into this tiny creature? The sight of other monsters isn't really anything unusual for her, but this? She can't even summon her spears or do anything that she would normally be able to do!

The one saving grace of this body is that she still can bite things, but that's hardly the same as being able to punch or stab things. She skids to a stop, running up to the nearest monster she can find and yelling at them:]

You, there! You will tell me what monster is in possession of my body so I can tear them apart! [A pause.] And you will tell me if you've seen any lizard monsters around named Alphys immediately!

[...Later on, once she's calmed down a little, Undyne is busy trying out how much she can do with her body, exactly. This includes gnawing on rocks, scratching up tree bark, throwing stones, gnawing on more rocks...you get the idea. She's in the middle of her "training" when she catches sight of another monster watching her. She snorts, getting up on her feet and cracking her knuckles.]

What's the matter? Afraid of fighting the great Undyne?

[wegotone]

[Janine just kind of floats nearby, watching this whole display go down. It kind of reminds her of some of Dr. V's temper tantrums, only she's never seen him try to bite rocks. When Undyne turns to her, she tilts her head in mild surprise.]

"Undyne", huh? You one of Necksa's kids?

[moonfang]

[A forest? Well, he had been begging Ichigo for some more nature in his Inner World. Maybe the stubborn idiot had finally obliged?

Wait, no. Something is definitely wrong here. Gravity isn't right, and the Old Man is nowhere to be seen.

Zangetsu grumbles and goes to run a hand through his hair, only to find that he has no hair. And no real hand, for that matter! What the hell kind of thing is he?! The blade on his right "hand" is significantly bigger than that on his left, giving him a sort of fiddler crab-esque look. It also has a weird sort of hole in it, clearly mimicking his sword form.

He looks at his reflection in the bigger blade, slowly getting more and more panicked]

ICHIGO!! OSSAN!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS.

[betheman]

Ggghhhhaaaauuhhh.... [Everything hurts. Walking is hard. And also, now someone is...yelling...] To yell will not answer those questions, you should know...

[Please...no more yell...his ears are soft, and sensitive...]

[promiselisting]

[ She really, really doesn't want to get up. Never does, but, y'know. But boy is she feeling weird and then again she's never really fallen asleep in the back of a moving van before? So that's probably it. But the sounds around her are weird too and so she finally gives up on sleep for now, opens her eyes and-

Um.

Well. She screams. Immediately. And then looks down at herself and screams again because that is not what hands are supposed to look like. And then she rockets towards the edge of the clearing. There's not enough there to hide in but she still tries her best, ducking low to the ground behind a tree. ]

Wh-what is this? Who are all you? This better not be some kind of trick!

[ Angry as her voice sounds, it'd work a lot better if it weren't obviously shaking. God please let one of the others be able to hear her? ]

[moonfang]

Trick? [there's a weird metal creature sitting against one of the trees near the edge of the clearing, both bladed arms behind its head.] Nope. Just a really weird dream! I'm waitin' to wake up!

[wegotone]

[You see a lot of weird stuff when you work with the Ghostbusters, even as "just" a secretary. And a lotta weird stuff happens to you, in turn.

The whole "waking up somewhere unexpected" bit isn't a huge surprise- Janine's been kidnapped before, though usually the kidnapper doesn't just leave you in the middle of a field and buzz off. And, hell, waking up as a ghost... sure, it's never happened to Janine personally, but Egon went through it. But this- this doesn't seem the same- Egon was still human, and she doesn't even have arms anymore. Plus, Egon was dealing with the whole "disintegrating and disappearing into the netherworld" thing.

This is different. This is more like Slimer's type of ghost. And, oh God, does this mean she's just a less gross version of Slimer. This is the worst outcome.]

Guys? Egon? Doctor Venkman? Winston, Ray? ... If this is some sorta experiment that went wrong, I'm gonna be real mad at you guys.

[Janine spends her first few minutes awake in her new body floating around and calling for the boys, before resigning herself to the fact that none of her fellow creatures- ghosts, she assumes- are people she recognizes. That's... well, it's not great, but it's not like she hasn't saved the day on her own a few times before. She puts her brave face on and approaches some of her fellow Pokemon with a barrage of questions, like:]

Hey, d'ya know where we are or what's goin' on here?

[Or, most concerningly:]

Is this some sorta afterlife situation? Are we all dead?

[makehistoria]

[Stocke's never heard anyone preach that the afterlife would turn you into anything other than human. But, well. Nobody talked about randomly turning into little buggy-legged things in general either. Clearly they don't know shit.]

Is the last thing you remember something that'd make your death likely?

[It's as good a theory as any.]

[salvationcode]

[The last thing 'Jack' remembers is fire. A sense of fear, of impossibility, and then his vision dissolved from a burst of light into darkness. His insides had been burning, and then he couldn't feel them at all. And suddenly he is... here.

He knows what grass is, of course, and he knows what trees are, but he has never been in a place where such things are abundant and full of life. A tragedy of the spread of industry, though that in particular is hardly something he's thinking about now. There is life here, and last he recalls, there should be nothing. Where is he?

He... doesn't quite stand up. In fact, he doesn't quite seem to have limbs at all. His vision is narrow but there nonetheless, though he finds himself rolling around inside of something whenever he attempts to move. He's lying on the grass. This is strange and frustrating.

'Jack' feels like he should have arms. Can he have arms? He'd really like to have some fucking arms, thanks! Fix this!!!

...

Come watch this weird deflated cloth scream and wiggle mysteriously.]

[makehistoria]

[Oh - it looks like there's someone in the clearing still struggling with their new form. And they're stuck under a bit of cloth?]

[Stocke scuttles over to help them out, albeit with eyes narrowed. He reaches out one pointy leg to lift the fabric -]

[Stocke, you are making a Large Mistake.]

[revolutionhawk]

There seems to be quite an abundance of people freaking the freak out in this strange place and this... well he guesses he's an actual bird thing now and he'd rather not add to the number that's simply running around like headless chickens.

Which leaves just dealing with it.

Is this his life now? Because he doesn't see the situation as an improvement. After staring incredulously at his cape-like flight feathers on limbs that thankfully still function like arms and hands- this Hawlucha starts scaling the nearest tree.

He's probably about to give flying a whirl. Or at least get a higher look at their surroundings since it's beyond weird to be not even half the height he's used to standing.

[betheman]

Hey.

Check that out down below, Shay.

There's some kind of pink stuffed toy...wearing a sash? A very familiarly patterned sash actually.

Weird...

[swiftasacoursingkawa]

[Hey. Hey. Look out below. No seriously, careful - there's something skittering around at a speed that's almost way too fast to catch with one's bare eyes. It's making little squealing buglike sounds, and running around in erratic circles and zigzags, stopping seemingly at random before turning around.

Weaving in and out of everyone's legs (or...hooves, or paws, or whatever-) it takes until the thing bumps into the tall grass and finds some foilage to hide under before anyone can get a good look at it.]

Hiiehaah...what's happening here...

[Hey, guys. Meet Sena. He's fine. Really.]

[makehistoria]

[Roomba #1 meet Roomba #2]

[More specifically, while Sena's doing his rapid weaving, he will find himself confronted with one (1) other tiny carapaced creature! Which probably won't stop him from skidding around it, but will get Stocke scuttering after him into the foliage.]

...are you alright?

[Stocke knows the answer is no because his answer is no, he would much rather still be human, thanks. But also that panicked dashing about is a bit more not-alright than most of the other unexpected monsters around here.]

[meteorman]

[Some of the new arrivals are freaking out. Really, that's more than understandable. Being transported somewhere totally foreign and shoved into a body that's totally alien is a difficult thing to process... unless you're Stanford Pines, who has been kicked from universe to universe for the past thirty years and is, by now, not impressed. If anything he's most annoyed that it seems as though his brother didn't come with him, though considering his new alien form it's not impossible that Stanley is here and simply unrecognizable.

Okay. No legs, not really, which is strange. The little nubby things protruding from the sides of his new round body don't count. Wings -- that's neat, though his instinct is to use them as hands even if they're not really built for it. He tries to push himself upright and just kind of rolls sideways, which means he flails one of the limbs to brace himself and winds up flapping it directly in someone else's face. Or face-equivalent.]

Sorry -- sorry. [You're all lucky this is post-canon grandpa and he has something approaching basic social awareness.] I've never had wings before.

[Even once he's got the hang of moving with a little more grace there's still a pronounced learning curve to flying. Booo. This sucks. He didn't spend literal decades honing his body into a survival machine for this. But, well. We make the best of what we have.]

Have you seen something that looks like me, but in noticeably worse shape?

[Why would his twin not be the same... whatever he is.]

[makehistoria]

[Stocke looks up. And up some more. He has to take a few scuttling steps back to really get the full view of this... round individual. (This not-having-a-neck thing is getting to be a pain.)]

[He can pretty definitely say he hasn't seen anyone else like this, though.] No.

Were you expecting someone?

[itsjustrats]

[As paranoid as he can be, Garrett is surprisingly familiar with passing out drunk, but when he wakes up, he's still aware that there's something incredibly wrong here. First off all, he doesn't have a hangover, and second of all, it's bright and sunny and he's never active during the day if he can avoid it.

Squinting, he raises a hand to shield his eyes from the sun, and that's when he sees that his hand is now two large, metal claws.]

What the-

[He quickly gets up and tries to assess the situation. Suddenly, waking up outside in the middle of the day is the least weird part of all of this, as he looks down to see he's become some kind of small... furry... thing??

What happened last night?

Before he can start figuring any of this out, he hears voices nearby, so Garrett ducks into a slightly taller patch of grass that's under the shade of a tree, thinking to blend in with his surroundings before anyone notices him.

...Of course, he doesn't account for the one bright, neon-pink ear sticking straight up off of his head, which is very plainly visible to anyone with eyes. Oops.]

[bornfromanger]

[Yeah, it's pretty hard to miss. Maybe someone a little more gentle would go over and tell him he's sticking out like that, be nice about it, but instead he gets spotted by Hakai.

Who chooses to shout from where he is.]

EVERYONE CAN SEE YOU.

[castlethrasher]

[Everything's fine. It's good. Susie's calm. No panicking here. She's calm, she's collected, and she still can't fucking see anything.

What went wrong..? Last time all she had to do was keep walking through that creepy closet 'til she just. Fell down. It wasn't a very complicated process.

So what went wrong?? It should've worked again!! Did it matter what time she went in or something? Was it because she snuck into the school after-hours like a fucking nerd??

Well, there's no use lying around fuming. She can fume once she's standing up.

She attempts to pick herself up and stand on her feet. All... fffoooouuurr of them...

Yeah, alright. Pretenses are officially dropped. She's pissed off and flat-out panicking now. She's small, her limbs are short and stumpy, and she's fairly certain she doesn't even have eyes any more. How is she supposed to kick asses like this??

aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--

[If anyone is brave enough to help this poor soul, please feel free to try. Just. Be careful. She's visibly tense, and already biting at anything that's even considering moving.]

[meteorman]

[Oof. Even without visible ears (how is he hearing, anyway?) that's a lot of Yell. Ford flaps his way over, still a little ungainly with wings he isn't used to yet, and hovers well clear of those big chompy teeth.]

Hey. Hey! Panicking isn't going to make this easier to adjust to. Take deep breath and count backward from ten.

[After having known Dipper he's a little better handling at panicking youths, but not by too much.]

[pidgeypidge]

[Waking up in a bright, sunny clearing wasn't something she was expecting to do today, considering she'd gone to sleep in Green.

But really, she's not complaining, because the clearing seems like a nice enough place. It's only after quietly watching the others freak out for a couple minutes that she begins to notice that something isn't quite right.

She's always been small, and self-aware to be familiar with her own abilities and limitations. Now, though, Pidge just feels like something's incredibly off.

Which is no surprise, considering she's somehow turned into some type of small bird?]

Whoa!

[betheman]

[A small bird...that is only slightly smaller than the pink 'red' panda sorting himself out.

By this point of course, he's talked to enough people to be realizing that no one knows what's going on, and no one knows what they are other than....things.

Of sort.

He's practicing actually walking on all four legs when the formerly quiet pidgey finally says Something.] Auh-! ....Did...something else happen..?

[Other than the chaos??? They could use new things.]