"So how do you like being able to shift so far?" Nancy asked as Lisa put her clothes away.
"I don't like it that much," Lisa said truthfully. "I mean I went to bed one night a grown man and I wake up an eight year old girl. I don't know how to shift back either."
"I can see your point," Nancy said. "You'll learn how to shift. Though you should get use to that body."
"Why is that?" Lisa asked stuffing her clothes in the dresser roughly.
"Well usually when someone first shifts it's into the form they're natural form," Nancy said. "Take me for example. I was a human girl before I first transformed. When I did it was into a Naga. My mom screamed as she was applying sunscreen to me before we went out. My dad nearly shot me out of panic but my mom was able to stop him. They called the hospital thinking there was something wrong with me and to be frank I thought that too. My transformation had scared me so badly and I didn't want people calling me a freak so I ran out of the house. There were some woods nearby and I went and hid in them. I escaped the notice of the search parties that had been formed to find me. After my initial shock I was afraid what would happen to me if I was found. I had seen some movies where a creature was captured and they were subjected to some horrible experiments."
"How did you survive out there?" Lisa asked.
"I ate some animals I was able to catch when I got hungry enough," Nancy said. "It wasn't as bad as you might think. My body was different and I could eat raw meat. After a few days I became accustomed to my new body and I began to prefer it to my human body. I was lonely though so after a couple of weeks I went back to my parents. Once they saw me they immediately hugged me and told me how worried they had been and how they didn't care what I looked like. Then they introduced me to Professor Doom."
"Professor Doom?" you asked raising your eyebrows in surprise.
"He can only shift into fictional characters he sees," Nancy said. "Doom is one of his favorites so that's what everyone calls him. His last name is really Boone."
"Does everyone get a nickname?" Lisa asked.
"Not everyone," Nancy said. "There's a boy in Shadows that people call Dragona since he turns into a pink female anthro dragon."
"That should be interesting to see," Lisa said thoughtfully. "I bet he gets embarrassed by it."
"Oh he started the nickname himself," Nancy said. "There's a boy in Ghosts who calls himself Weaselboy. You'll see why when you meet him. In fact I do believe he's coming here now."
"How do you know?" Lisa asked as Nancy went to the door.
"I can feel the vibrations of one of his friends and they're getting closer," Nancy said over her shoulder. "I think you'll be interested in meeting them."
You followed Nancy out to the common room and then out into the hall. Presently three forms came into view. The hippo was the easiest to spot then a wolf and finally a weasel. "I take it that the weasel is Weaselboy," Lisa said.
"That's him," Nancy nodded. "His friends are Himoinie and Hairy Petter. All three of them are fans of the Harry Potter books."
"Well so am I," Lisa said as the three transformed back to human. They were naked though. Lisa lowered her eyes to the ground and asked, "Do you know that you're naked?"
"Of course we're naked," Himoinie said. "Clothes don't change with you."
"You'll see plenty of naked people around school," Nancy said. "It's mostly the new ones like yourself that haven't learned how to fully control their shifts."
"You must be Lisa," Hairy said extending a hand. "Welcome to Shapeshifter Academy."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Ozma," Weaselboy said.
"Wesley!" Himionie said hitting him pretty hard in the back of his head.
"What did I do?" Weaselboy asked rubbing the back of his head.
"You just called her Ozma," Himionie said.
Lisa giggled and said, "You must have a hard time distinguishing between fantasy and reality. I'm not Ozma."
"We heard Professors Danton and McWigglesworth say you were," Weaselboy said earning him another smack from Himionie.
"Alright I'll bite," Lisa said. "How can I be Ozma?"
"Glinda gave you a drink that transformed you," Weaselboy said.
Himionie sighed and said, "Evidently you wouldn't play nice with her so she changed you."
"Oh come on," Lisa said giggling. "Oz isn't real."
"Actually it's very real," Nancy said. "I've been there though they tend to call it the O.Z. or Outer Zone now."
"You must have watched Tin Man then," Lisa said looking at Nancy.
"I haven't seen it," Nancy said looking very serious.
Lisa looked around and saw that they were all serious. She felt weak in the knees and would have collapsed onto the floor if Nancy hadn't caught her. Looking up she said, "But I can't be Ozma. If Oz is real then Dorothy’s descendents rule it and Ozma is long dead as is Dorothy."
"Well you'll have to ask Professor Danton about that," Hairy said. "We just overheard him."
"Professor Danton is the headmistress and female," Lisa said trying to find something solid her mind could grab hold of.
"There's two Professor Dantons," Himionie said. "They both run the school as headmaster and headmistress."
"This is getting to be too much," Lisa said putting her head in a hand.
"Well it's about to become worse," Weaselboy said.
Lisa looked up to see what he meant.