Welcome to the Island! Ch. 3 up

[ellysketchit]

This is a ZI fanfic containing my original character and a few others, as well as one from an anime you may recognize.

Characters

Spoiler

Elly - a lavender nekomata, age unknown (ancient). A nekomata is a Japanese demon cat. Elly has the ability to control "inanimate" objects (anything not living). She has multiple forms: human with ears and a tail, feline, or feline anthro.

Note: Elly in this form is my fursona of many years and a cartoon character on my site.

Tracey - a human boy, age 19. He's a wildlife enthusiast.

Chapters
1 - The Island (below)
2 - I Must Be Dreaming
3 - The Swimming Cat

not up yet but available for posting~
4 - A New Friend

1


"Ughhh. What happened... where am I?" The pale young woman with flared-out lavender hair sat up groggily. She looked down... and her eyes widened, shocked. A catlike shriek pierced the night as she leaped up and seemed to fold in on herself in a peculiar fashion.

A split-tailed lavender feline now stood where the human had been. Her hair was rising on end, fangs bared, tail flared as she stared down at the emptiness underneath her. Skimming along high in the air with nothing but a faint mist clinging to her legs, she instantly thought this might be a prank of the monkey king. She discarded that notion quickly, though. He was out in the farther reaches of the world on a quest and had been gone for a few weeks now.

But what was this?

The mist formed up again, speeding down towards what looked like a great expanse of water. As she got closer she could see playful wavelets dashing lightly against the shore of a lush tropical island. Apparently that was where she was headed.

The vapor set her rather gently down on a sandy beach and then swirled away into nothingness.

"Weird," she muttered to herself. She stretched sinuously, hooking her forked tail into a question mark that matched her present mood. She didn't seem to be in any danger and there was a tasty-looking bird hovering just out of reach of her claws. Besides, like most members of her species she was curious. She took a step closer to the bird, which had beautiful purple feathers, vibrant and colored almost like her own fur. It blinked at her with beady little eyes, cocked its head and let out a musical trill before winging off so suddenly she didn't have time to pounce.

Her ears laid back in irritation.

"There goes dinner."

The full moon overhead was enough to light up the beach she had been left on, and she surveyed the are somewhat more seriously now that her mind was off her stomach. The foliage was thicker inland, lush green stalks winding up to colorful flowers and curling vines around the rough bark of coconut trees. It was really quite pretty.

"What a creature!" A gentle male voice caused her to perk up her ears. Someone had managed to sneak up on her! Astounded - very few people could do this -- she sat on her haunches and regarded him. He was a young man, scarcely more than a boy. Her eyes narrowed as he slowly dropped the arm containing a large book of some kind and set it aside.

"How did you know I was here? I stayed downwind. It's all right," he added softly. "I won't hurt you." He went on, speaking calmly and in a low voice. She realized he was good with animals and knew what he was doing. She nodded with approval.

He wasn't dealing with a normal animal, though. Time to show him that.

"My name is Elly," she purred. "What's yours?"

[Phoenixwildfire]

LOL

so THAT'S where Tracey came from

moar

[ellysketchit]

Spoiler

Yeah, I've had an obsession with the guy for years now and wrote him into that story xDD I heart him so much, just like Zoro. lol

2

His jaw dropped comically open. "You - you talk! A talking cat... wow."

"So do you." She calmly brought her paw about, catching her tail and beginning to wash it. "And I'm not a 'regular' cat. I used to be, but that's a very long story for another time."

"Uh, okay." He had been kneeling behind some dune grass and now he crawled forward on his knees to speak with her. She noticed in passing that he was wearing vibrant red shorts and his knees were dimpled. A corner of her mouth twitched in a grin.

"You haven't told me your name yet," she pointed out.

"Oh. Sorry. It's Tracey."

Elly raised an eyebrow. Tracey blinked, astonished that he could see the small maneuver. "You seem like a nice young human. But isn't Tracey ..."

"It's not a girl's name," he cut her off, a faint flash of irritation tinging his speech. Evidently he'd heard that before. "And I'm nineteen. That's more than legal adult age."

"Is it?" She leaned forward to sniff him.

"Well... yeah. Eighteen is considered adult."

"How strange."

"Strange? You're a talking cat!" He took off his headband and ran a hand through his unruly greenish-black hair.

"Oh." Elly glanced down at herself. "Sorry about that." She changed back to human form. "Better?"

Tracey fell backwards onto the sand, clutching his sketchpad in one hand and the strip of cloth in the other. He hadn't thought he could be more amazed but that was wrong. His dark eyes were unnaturally wide as he stared at the woman smiling down at him. She seemed almost perfectly human if you didn't see that her ears were furry and feline, poking out of her darker purple tresses. You had to ignore the tail, too, because she still had that. He saw how she got around that in a moment, however, as she wrapped it about her midsection like a fuzzy sash.

"I have to be dreaming!"

Elly grinned widely at him. "I thought that a minute ago." Her teeth were fine, straight, and white - the canines pointed so that two fangs flashed at him when she laughed. "But you're awake. And so am I."

"Where do your clothes come from?" He blushed, fumbled for words. "What I mean is..."

"I should be nude when I change over?" Elly's ears flicked in the light ocean breeze. She was not, of course. Her outfit was simple: silk pants and a blouse in varying shades of - what else -- purple. "Nope. The fur has to convert to something. Matter needs to be redistributed in every form somehow. That's why my feline form is a bit larger than most cats."

"Uh, well, it's night and you have nowhere to stay. You're welcome to come with me." His outfit was as simple as hers: a green cotton shirt over red shorts and the red headband he was just now sliding back onto his forehead. He turned and walked over to a copse of trees along the far bank.

"Do you live around here?" Elly saw where he must be taking her, a small wattled hut made of dry and fresh reeds lifted off the ground with bamboo poles.

"Not really."

"Can you tell me where I am?" She ducked to get into the short doorway and glanced around, letting her eyes adjust to the dim light inside. "I was brought here for some reason."

"So was I." Tracey lit an oil lamp and held it aloft. The hut was considerably larger than the outside suggested. It was a tidy sort of place, with cooking utensils stacked in one corner and a bedroll in the other.

"You didn't answer me before," she reminded him. "You don't live here in this little place, do you."

"No," he admitted with a shrug. "This is just where I stay to draw the local wildlife. There's a huge settlement where everyone stays if they have creatures called the Shelter in the middle of the island. There's also smaller towns and stuff set up along the beaches. I came from the southern beach."

"And before that?"

He laughed softly. "I lived on another, different island. So this isn't too much of a change for me except for the local flora and fauna." He took a blanket out from his sleeping bag and spread it on the ground for her. "What about you?"

"I've almost always stayed in the country I was born in," she murmured, sitting down cross-legged on the blanket.

"Well, welcome to the Island."

[Phoenixwildfire]

Ah, but Tracey is SO different from Zoro It's good to have contrasting personalities

lol 'ZOMG TALKING CAT!'

[ellysketchit]

Spoiler

That's why I like them both - it's nice to have one gentle, soft-spoken guy and then the big, bold GRAGH type xD ...roflmao

3

Tracey's tiny hut was comfortable, though small by necessity. He explained to her that he watched for new species of life and then sketched them in his book, writing down any pertinent information he might come across along the way.

He told her the bird she had seen was a keiyo, a legendary bird that was rumored to have created the island itself. It was said to be extraordinary good luck to see one as well.

"I suppose this isn't too bad," Elly agreed mildly. She was sitting on her blanket watching Tracey stretch some kinks out of his arms and legs. "I don't really have anywhere pressing to be and I rather like you."

Tracey blushed.

"I've never seen a purple nekomata before."

Elly's ears snapped upright. "You've seen others?!"

"Yeah. They're on the island. All kinds." He reached out a hand to steady her as she wobbled alarmingly to one side. "Hey - are you all right?"

"There aren't many from where I come from," she explained weakly. "I'm one of the only ones."

"Maybe they're not the same type here. They can't change shape, for one."

"Or talk?"

"Nope."

Elly let this sink in for awhile. Tracey took out a bowl, poured some water from a canteen and washed his face and neck.

"Can I see your sketchpad?" She asked suddenly.

"Yeah, it's over there." He gestured vaguely while drying himself off.

Elly picked it up. The book was filled with fantastic creatures of all shapes and sizes: dragons and giant fish with razor-sharp teeth as well as smaller felines and furry, huge-eyed fluff balls.

"This place is weird," she muttered to herself.

"Says the talking cat."

She waved her hand about airily. "I'm supposed to be weird. So many creatures like this," she held open the book to a page titled samurhino, "in one place is definitely not normal."

He shrugged. "At least it's not boring," he said. "Would you like me to show you where I live?"

"That sounds great," she smiled. "But I'm going for a swim first." A simple wash was good enough for him, but she wanted something where the water was all around her.

"Speaking of unusual," he teased, "isn't it kind of odd to find a cat that likes water?"

"I always did."

"Just don't go farther out than the pole I poked into the sand." He pointed. "Some nasty guys live in deeper waters past that point and you don't want to come up against one of them."

"I'll be careful," she promised.

"Hey!" He jerked around, face flaming, as she calmly began removing her clothing.

"I'm not getting this wet. Silk spots terribly." She folded the garments up and pressed them into his arms from behind. "Oh, come on. I'm completely covered."

"How?" But his curiosity got the better of him as it always did. He turned cautiously about, hands held up to his face and peeking out from between spread fingers. He wanted to be able to cover his eyes quickly if he needed to.

He didn't need to.

Tracey dropped his hands in relief as he watched her scramble up a small outcropping of rock jutting out before the bright blue waters. She looked like a large feline that stood on two legs now, completely covered in that lavender fur.

She grinned hugely and waved at him before disappearing in one long, smooth dive.

[Phoenixwildfire]

lol and at this point he's thinking 'God what have I gotten myself into?'