It was a rather bright afternoon as a young Cheetah wandered along the African savannah that made up part of the central area inside the Sub-Saharan Animalian Colony of Maelewano. The region was new and odd to her. She'd remembered seeing villages before, but as she'd wandered into Maelewano, she'd found many small villages joined by a circular road that surrounded an open space that wider than any road she'd come across earlier in her short life. The most puzzling thing though that the young Cheetah couldn't figure out at first were some of the two legged beings she saw.
Some were Humans with dark colored skin, but others looked like they had features of animals that the young Cheetah had seen before. The ones that made her the most nervous were large muscular felines, particularly the ones with tan fur and thick dark manes around their head and neck. It reminded the cheetah of a large male beast that had caught and killed her mother and two siblings a few days before she'd entered the Animalian colony. It was the only thing that went through her mind as she came onto the colony, though hunger soon got the better of her and she'd killed a goat or two, and had managed to get the smaller goat into the long grass near one of the villages.
As she filled her belly, a lone human had come out to the edge of one of the villages with a pair of uniformed rangers following behind him. The rangers had the features of various brown and black wild dogs and seemed to respond to the Human's statements and gestured. The young Cheetah couldn't be bothered as she ate, though it left her unaware the rangers readied a dart gun slowly and carefully moved to a flanking position. She only became truly aware when a dart hit her in the side. The young Cheetah jumped up and ran, but as she ran she felt rather weird and stumbled after a few steps toward the center of Maelewano and away from the two rangers that had shot her.
The stumble surprised her, as she didn't feel sleepy. She lay on her belly for a moment as her forepaws began to broaden a bit and stretch out. It didn't hurt, but she heard a few crackling sounds and felt a bit odd. Her digits grew out longer and soon flexed up and down, like a Human opening or closing his/her hand. The young Cheetah seemed captivated by this, even as her hips widened out to better allow her to balance on two digitigrade legs rather than on four legs and as her shoulders rearranged to allow her forelegs to function as arms. Beneath her, two mounds of soft flesh began to push out underneath her chest until they became a pair of modest fur covered breasts and finished the young Cheetah's transformation into an Animalian.
"This is weird," the young Cheetah spoke with some awe as she really didn't know what to make of it all.
"Yeah... that happens a lot with those of us that have been freshly uplifted," came a male voice from behind her.
She rolled over to find to African Wild Dog Animalians looking down on her. Both were male and were in uniforms. One moved to help her up onto her feet, which she did nervously accept and the other soon wrapped her in the blanket so that her breasts and other pieces of anatomy were covered up for the moment.
"What are you... what am I?" the young Cheetah asked.
"All three of us are Animalians," the first of the two African Wild Dog Animalians spoke, "my brother and I are African Wild Dog Animalians, and were uplifted to save our lives after we were hit by a car crossing a road in a park in a country called Tanzania. We then accepted training for work here at Maelewano... help people who have been made refugees by wars, government corruption, gang activities, famines, and most other things that trouble human society. And we just uplifted you into a Cheetah Animalian..."
"Why?" the young Cheetah wondered.
"Apparently, you've been killing some of the people's livestock here," the second African Wild Dog Animalian answered, "and while eco-tourism to see the savannah is a big part of Maelewano's local economy, many of the residents also live as herders and farmers along the colony's outer edge... which requires a great deal of effort to provide balance between nature and their lives... as the colony needs open lands for herbivorous animals to move through and then of course be balanced by predators and at the same time the safety of the people and residents is also important."
"Thus our job as rangers to make sure predatory animals don't become a major threat to people and livestock and that large herbivorous animals don't get angry at people or property," the first ranger added, "and uplifting you to an Animalian is better than the alternative."
The young Cheetah watched as the second ranger nodded in agreement. Though for the moment, she was very curious about the concept of things that related to Animalia and what she had become...
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And the young Cheetah did learn a lot about Animalia and Maelewano from the rangers and some of the other administrative officials on staff for Horizon and even the UN, who had officials there to help with the colony's policy to protect and house refugees. In turn, the young Cheetah shared elements of her memories and experiences before the two rangers had darted her with a single dose of the Animalia Virus. She told them about her mother and siblings being killed by a lion before she'd come into Maelewano, and they also soon noted that despite her uplifting, she was still a bit uneasy around Lion Animalians, even when they tried to be friendly and assured her that Animalia's Edicts, which Horizon had agreed to help bring to every Animalian Colony as at least a loose basis, would forbid Animalians harming each other.
The biggest issue, though, was more that many of the Humans were a bit uneasy with her there after killing their some of their livestock. With her young age, with it being guessed that she was about the same age as a fifteen to sixteen year old based on her physical development and the fact that she wasn't lactating yet, which Horizon Scientists in Animalia had determined with following single dosed female Animalians as they matured wouldn't begin lactating until they were around seventeen years of age, it was offered that that they young Cheetah Animalian be put up for adaption with one of the uplifted Cheetahs from the Lyre Zoo or from a converted Cheetah Animalian who moved to Lyre or Animalia after their conversion. She agreed to that...
The process took a few days, particularly as Maelewano had to file and procure nearly all the paperwork that related to adoption laws in the US on their own and filling out similar documents, but in the end it did work out and things were ultimately allowed. And the young Cheetah, who took the name Kiya was soon on a plane for Lyre/Animalia and was accompanied by one of the Horizon officials for their Maelewano office.
"And the Lion Animalians won't start anything?" Kiya asked she and the Horizon official walked toward the Lyre airport after their plane landed and their luggage was hastily taken into the baggage claim by the workers that were there. Some of them were Animalians, and of types that were very different from the ones Kiya had met in Maelewano.
"Animalia's Edicts are pretty much universal for all Animalians, and will be the only laws that are consistent with EVERY Animalian colony," the Horizon official spoke, "You'll have no problem... and you'll get a new start with other Cheetah Animalians and you'll have no problem."
"And the farmers here won't have issue with me?" Kiya wondered.
"To my knowledge... they've had no problem with Mountain Lions and transient Grey Wolves... and have worked with them after they became Animalians," the Horizon official assured Kiya, patting her shoulder, "I'm sure things will be fine."
"That's good..." Kiya commented as they made it to the doors, "is it always this cold here?"
The Horizon official chuckled, "Only in winter."
He calmly walked her in, collected their baggage at the claim and made their way to waiting area on the other side of the baggage claim, where a pair of Cheetah Animalians were waiting with a small placard that read, "Welcome to Animalia, Kiya." He smiled further as the two groups met, shook hands, and soon shared hugs. It gave him some confidence that Kiya would be fine.