The Animadol

Once, there was a boy named Tim. He was 11 years old. Tim's parents had died mountain climbing the year before. He didn’t really know his parents. They were always out adventuring. But it still felt bad, knowing that now, they don’t even EXIST. Tim basically lived with his grandma. He called her Granny Ruth, so I'm gonna call her Granny Ruth, too. One day, while Granny Ruth was taking a nap, Tim decided to go to the backyard and collect the fruits which he grew on his side of the garden. Just when he was about to take a mango, a weird creature came out of a bush behind his side of the garden. It had three snakes as a head, a lion's body, a rat's tail, a dog's paws and the whiskers of a cat. All in all, it looked pretty scary. Suddenly, a hunter shot the creature from afar. The green blood of the creature spread everywhere. "Good thing I killed it, ain't it?" said the satisfied hunter, coming nearer. 'It was a DEFENCELESS ANIMAL!!" yelled Tim. He was angry and he didn’t know why. He never really cared about animals before. He thought maybe it was because right before the hunter killed him, and the creature came out of the bush, it stopped. It didn’t try to kill him. It might have looked scary but it was also scared itself. "It had FANGS!" screamed the hunter. "Dogs have fangs, do you go around killing dogs?" Tim asked. "Dogs don't have fangs, dummy!" the hunter screeched. Then he paused. "Do they?" he asked Tim. Tim was utterly baffled at this man's stupidity. "Oh, I'm Doug, by the way," he said, nicely. Tim sighed. This man made the word "dumb" look like a genius. After Doug left, Tim took the fruits to the kitchen to wash the green blood off. Then he served lunch: fresh mangoes and a salad. Granny Ruth was still sleeping, so he decided to eat his lunch and go to his bedroom to read a book. But, Tim didn't notice that the orangish mango somehow turned green. The mango had absorbed the green blood. Weird, isn't it? It was soon bedtime. Granny Ruth still hadn’t woken up. Tim decided to throw her now stale food in the garbage can. Due to the creature's blood, the mango had actually melted in the garbage can. Of course, Tim didn’t notice it. That night, Tim dreamt about the creature. In his dream, there were metal gates with symbols of the creature on it. The gates opened and out came the creature, looking sad. "You must continue my legacy," it said. "Be a hero, Tim" it whispered before vanishing away. Tim woke up. He couldn't get the sad face of the creature out of his brain. He was going to grab his book and read it before he fell asleep, until he saw himself in the mirror next to his bookshelf. He had turned into a snake! (Explains why he couldn't itch his butt). He thought about the creature's face. He was concentrating on the snake part of it. Then he slithered underneath his door, and went to the kitchen garbage can. He wriggled inside it. He saw the mango and the green blood leaking out of it. Then he realised maybe it was a good thing that Granny Ruth didn’t eat her lunch. He thought about the whiskers of the creature. His body transformed into a cat's. He jumped out of the garbage can. Boy, did he smell. He thought of himself as a human. He had his human body back. By then, it was dawn. Tim took a shower (thank god) and thought about what just happened. "Okay, so apparently I can transform into animals," he said, trying to console himself. "Big deal. Now, can I only transform into the animals that were part of the creature, or can I transform into any animal I think of?" he asked himself. "Well, I transformed into a human and that wasn't a part of the creature. But can I transform into extinct animals?" he questioned himself again. He thought about a dodo bird. And soon, he turned into one. "Guess so," he said. He heard a girl screaming outside his window. He ran outside. He saw Doug trying to take away the girl's cat, saying it was a stray. Tim knew what to do. He used to have two dogs. He took their old collars and changed into some green jeans and a worn-out red t-shirt. He took his father's old brown beanie, cut some holes into it and put it on his face. He wore both his dogs' collars on his neck and thought of a cat. Soon, he was walking down the street to the girl's house feline determined. (See, what I did there?) He went up the hedge next to her. "Pretend I'm another one of your cats and that I stole the other cat's collar," he whispered in her ear. "Wait-" she said. But Tim had already plopped his kitty butt on the floor beside her. "Another stray?" Doug exclaimed. "Nope," the girl said confidently, trusting Tim. Doug saw the two collars on Tim. "Why's he got two collars?" Doug asked. "He stole his one," she said, pointing to the one in her arms. "And put in on himself?" asked Doug, suspiciously. "Indeed. Cats are strange creatures, don't you think? Goodbye!" she said pushing Dough out of her driveway. Tim transformed back into human form. The girl opened her mouth. "No time to thank me, bye!" he said, running away. He came home. He felt happy, thinking he helped someone keep their pet today. "Now, to think of a VERY cool superhero name," he thought. He ran back to his bedroom. He kept on bouncing on his bed trying to think of catchy superhero name. And suddenly, it came to him. "Animadol!" he shrieked, waking Granny Ruth up. Guess what? This is just the beginning of Animadol.