No characters (both humans and non-humans) are below the age of consent.
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Zara's head was still spinning from last week's training session and because of her new Neon Neko powers. She crouched on the fountain's edge and splashed some water on her face to shake her up before the course started.
"Are you Zara?" a bubbly voice sang from behind.
Zara turned and immediately had to squint because of the sight.
The girl standing before her looked like a Unicorn had sneezed her into existence. The long, rainbow-colored waves that was her hair bounced with each step she took. Her sparkling light violet eyes, flecked with gold, were wide open with unfiltered cheer. Her outfit was a jean shorts with a tight white shirt with a bucket of glitter and some rainbow pins on it, likely added by her. Like a one-person pride parade, Zara thought.
"Ugh...Yeah, that's me," Zara blinked.
"Hiya! I'm Pixie Joyner! I'm your partner this week!" The girl beamed. She threw out a peace sign with fingernails painted in every color of the visible spectrum...and maybe some colors that weren't.
"Nice to meet ya," Zara said, shaking her hand slowly. She still tried to regain composure.
Pixie leaned in, hands behind her back like a cartoon character about to spill a secret.
"Aritimi said she'll be a few minutes late, but she told me to get to know you while waiting! Soooo...what's your favorite color? Do you like boba tea? Have you ever been in a cuddle pile? I think they should be legally required once a week."
"You're...very enthusiastic," Zara blinked again.
"I get that a lot!" Pixie chirped, "It's kind of a thing. It's also why my augmentation almost never works!"
"What is your augmentation?"
"Upset Unicorn powers," Pixie revealed, "That's why my hair is so colorful now," she tugged a lock of her hair, "But the power only activates when I'm deeply sad or angry."
"I heard they are quite tough when get agitated. So it's a negative emotion-based power?"
"Yup! And I'm really, really not good at being negative. One time, I thought about how my goldfish died when I was six and managed to use my powers for like three seconds. Then I sneezed and it was gone!"
"So if something goes wrong, you'll just smile it into submission?"
"That's the plan!" Pixie gave her a finger-gun with a wink.
"This one is going to be a long day I guess," Zara murmured. Then, a familiar voice greeted them.
"Good morning, pupils," Aritimi said as she stepped out of the portal.
"Hi, Miss Portal Lady!" Pixie waved enthusiastically.
Zara just nodded and said, "Morning."
"Follow me," Aritimi gestured, and the portal behind her expanded again.
They stepped through it and found themselves in a forest, surrounded by towering evergreens and other plant life.
"Ah! Some fresh air," Zara took a deep breath.
"This place is like a fairy tale! I love it already," Pixie turned in a slow circle.
Aritimi led them to a small clearing where a huge boulder sat beside a thick bush that swayed slightly in the breeze.
"My friend will be here soon. Until then, feel free to enjoy the peace. Won't last long."
She hopped up onto the rock, legs swinging gently as she sat.
Suddenly, the bush behind her shifted. From the foliage, an arm emerged, silent and deliberate, holding a knife made of what looked like twisted, gnarled wood, its jagged edge mere milimeters from Aritimi's neck.
Pixie gasped. Zara tensed, turning one hand into a wolf-head. But Aritimi just chuckled.
"I've seen through your disguise, Odina."
The bush gave a low grunt of amusement and began to shake. With a series of cracking sounds, the greenery retracted, pulling back into the figure of a woman crouched in the undergrowth, as if she had grown out of it.
She stood and dusted her hands off with the same slow, deliberate calm she used to aim a knife.
"This is Odina Blackwillow," Aritimi said, sliding off the rock and gesturing toward her, "Chief of the Botanical Unit."
Odina was a middle-aged Native American woman with warm copper-brown skin and long, thick black hair streaked with silver. Her braids were adorned with beads and small monster bird feathers.
She wore a dark green cloak, though on closer inspection, the texture looked more like overlapping layers of leaves stitched together rather than fabric.
"How did you notice it, Timi?" Odina asked curiously.
"Your bush disguise looked too good. There's no way the local herbivore monsters would let such a feast untouched for long," Aritimi explained.
"You got an eye for the details, Timi," Odina smirked. Zara was also surprised. Because of her perverted shenanigans, she often forgets that Aritimi has her rank for a reason.
"That was so cool! You were the bush! How did you do that? What's your power?" Pixie's eyes sparkled.
"My augmentation came from a Terror Tree. I can grow plants from my body: leaves, roots, wood, bark. The usual forest toolkit," Odina explained.
"Wait, does that mean your clothes, are those...?" Pixie gasped.
"Yes. I grew them myself," Odina nodded.
"No way. Really? Like, actually?" Pixie tilted her head.
"Watch."
She held out her arms slightly. The cloak of leaves shimmered, the edges folding inward. The layers of foliage began to retract like vines unwinding, slipping back into her skin as if being swallowed. Within seconds, she stood completely naked.
Her naked body, despite her age, was eyecatching. She was fit which made her look younger than what she actually was. Her breasts, which were just a little bit smaller than Aritimi's well-endowed meat mountains, had a noticeable slope, with areolae and nipples that were as dark as the night sky. Her pubic hair was also thick and black.
Pixie clapped both hands over her mouth in pure shock.
"Oh my gosh! You're really...!!"
Before she could finish, Odina's calm expression remained unchanged as she rolled her shoulders. A new wave of vines, and leaves grew outward, forming once again into her cloak and garments. Fully clothed in under five seconds.
"There," Odina said with a slight smirk, "Satisfied?"
"That was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my entire life,' Pixie exclaimed.
"So...," Zara finally asked, as they followed Odina deeper into the forest, "Are we supposed to fight plants or something?"
"No fighting. Not unless something fights you first," Odina answered, she didn't even look back, "This duty is more than just fighting."
Pixie practically skipped next to Zara, arms outstretched.
