"Avril, are you sure this is what Dr. Peats meant?" asked Nora.

Nora looked around at the leafless trees, their rigid dark brown bodies standing above them, menacingly reaching over them with their branches. The Tieran clung to the sleeve of a trench coat - the one being worn by the intimidating red Lysiran walking along side her.

"Dr. Peats was pretty clear in his instructions," said Avril. "This was the best time to encounter the gnomes, and help them get you attuned to the earth element.

Nora sighed. "It just had to be on one of the spookiest nights of the year."

"Don't worry. We'll be fine," Avril said, nudging Nora with her elbow.

It was late in the evening when they entered into the Idallen Forest. Nora didn't expect it to be so cold though, having only worn her vest and a pair of shorts. She would have loved to be wearing the large trench coat her bodyguard was wearing, and those tall boots looked pretty comfortable too. If they had to take shelter for the night, she hoped Avril wouldn't mind using her coat as a blanket for the two of them. But right now, that wasn't her main concern.

The two of them continued to walk between many more trees barren of their leaves, walking in one general straight direction. Nora kept an eye on the compass she had opened up on her cellphone; she tried using the map, but there was no reception out here in the wilderness. Her heart was beating steadily. They had no idea where they were supposed to be heading. All they knew, is they had to wander around, until they encountered a gnome. Or more.

"Avril...are we sure the gnomes won't attack us or anything?"

Avril pulled out one of her Kolbion Vz 62 submachine guns. "I'll pop them dead before they lay a finger on us."

Nora nodded. "Well, just make sure you aren't waving those things around when we first meet them. They might get scared."

"THEY, get scared? They're the ones with the pure magic and stuff. But fine, I'll keep them in my pockets." Avril slowly put the gun back into her right pocket, but didn't bring her hand back out. Her left one had been residing in it's respective pocket this whole time.

A rustle in the bush caused Nora to stop in her tracks, and held on to Avril's sleeve to make her stop. "What was that?"

Avril raised an eyebrow, looking around, hands gripping the guns in her pockets.

Nora looked at Avril, still a bit shaky, then looked back at the bush she heard the sound from. Then another rustle came from behind them. Avril swirled around and glared at the bush, but couldn't see anything.

"We don't mean any harm," Nora said. "We just...want to..." Nora looked back at Avril, who cranked her head and nodded firmly. "I, just want...to have fun?"

Suddenly, from those respective areas they heard the rustling in, two small figures jumped out into the clear, startling both women, causing them to bump into each other, which in turn caused them to jump in mild fright. But their focus remained fixed on the two, three foot tall figures that stood in front of them. Their faces were obscured in darkness, hidden by the large hoods they were wearing. Only their glowing yellow eyes could be seen. Their arms were covered as well, save for their dark brown hands, stained with dirt. Around the navel area of their small brown robe was an ovoid design, that appeared to be red in colour. Grey-brown pants covered most of their short legs, revealing more dirt stained skin, while their feet were covered in a simple pair of shoes only the poorest could afford to wear. They bobbed up and down in an almost playful manner, and their eyes seemed awfully amiable.

They looked up at Nora, seemingly recognizing the one who addressed them, and slowly hopped toward her. Avril stepped off to the side, her hands remaining fixed on her hidden guns. Nora just stood there, frozen. This was her first time encountering an Elemental Guardian. And even though gnomes were among the nicest and most playful of the four types, she still didn't want to do anything that might upset them.

They took a hold of Nora's hands and inspected them, their glowing amiable eyes rounded into ones of curiosity. Bits of dirt that remained on their hands rubbed off onto Nora's. Then they knelt down and looked at her feet, studying each of her four toes, and patted the tops of them, getting a bit of dirt on them as well. They stood back up, and looked at her exposed belly. They raised their arms up high in order to reach it, gently patting and rubbing. Nora wanted to admit it felt kinda nice, but she had no idea as to what this was all about. Why were doing this? And why did she have to ask for "fun" in order to meet with them?

After rubbing her belly, the gnomes took a few steps back, and their eyes returned to being very friendly in appearance. They emitted strange giggling sounds, and waved for Nora to come closer. Not wanting to upset them, Nora took a step forward...but found herself unable to do so. She looked down, and what she saw made her heart beat harder and faster than it had been this whole evening.

Where her four large toes used to be were now long green tendrils digging into the ground, pumping something up into her feet and legs, which had also started to take on a green hue. The tendrils seemed to grow up those areas, absorbing more and more until everything from her lower leg down was a mass of green tendrils twisting down into the ground. She cried out as she tried to free herself from the ground, but her "toes" would not let her. Getting more and more worried, she looked up to Avril in need. But she only nodded at Nora, her face remaining completely emotionless.

"Avril!?" Nora cried, confused as to why her bodyguard wasn't doing anything, but turned her attention to her fingers, which had started to tingle. Soon, they started to elongate, nerves constantly spiking with numbness, as they grew out into green tendrils, similar to her feet, growing small leaves here and there. Then her hands and lower arms ballooned out, expanding and being almost absorbed into one another, until there was no more distinction between hand and arm, all the while turning orange. Her upper legs had started to do the same. As she grew more worried, her belly started to expand and turn orange. Of all her changes, this one felt the oddest. It was as though her insides were shifting about, warming up, and then having no feeling at all. And as her belly expanded, all six of her breasts did as well, pressing against and spreading out her vest, her nipples feeling hard and stiff against the fabric. As more of her body turned orange, indentations manifested vertically across her body.

Nora touched her expanding belly with both of her strange hands, and found her orange skin to be rather stiff, yet still soft. She looked at the gnomes in front of her, who seemed to be trying hard not to laugh. Just before she was about to cry out at them, a sudden shift in her belly forced her eyes closed, her hands gripping her belly even more. Underneath her fingers, she felt her thick skin open up. Her heart stopped for a second. She was afraid that her insides were going to spill out! But nothing came out. Nothing, but something large and slimy which touched the back of her hands. She quickly moved them away, and saw a large pink tongue dangling out of her belly. Anxiety gripped her insides...at least whatever was left of them...as she looked down at her changing body.

"What's happening to me?!" she finally called out.

The gnomes exploded with laughter and fell to the ground, their laughs strangely similar to that young teenage boys, and yet still very inhumane. Nora stared at them, and then looked at Avril, who was still just standing there.

"AVRIL?! Why are you still just standing there? Look at what they're doing to me!"

"That's kinda the point, ya know," Avril replied. "They're making you part plant, pumpkin, whatever, so you can be more one with the earth."

Avril's eyes trailed down to the cutout face on Nora's belly, and the huge tongue sticking out, and broke into a short chuckle. "But it seems they're having quite a bit of fun with you!"

Nora grunted in mild annoyance and looked down back at her body. From what she could see, her fingers were vines, as was her lower legs and feet. All over her body except for her head was orange and indented like a pumpkin, while her belly area had expanded out into a large jack-o-lantern, complete with a cutout face, with a very fleshy tongue stuck out from it, shiny with saliva. What she couldn't see, is that her eyes were black now, and her irises were orange instead of dark brown.

Avril walked up to her, and rested a hand on her shoulder, and rubbed Nora's pumpkin belly, while the gnomes continued to laugh all over the ground. "Those things sure do enjoy their tricks."

Nora gave Avril a look. "Tricks?!"

"Oh yeah! What, did you think THIS was how you'll get attuned to the earth element?"

Nora's expression melted into one of complete annoyance. "You...you knew about this. Helped me get here in hopes that I can start find the power to stand up against people like Velirai and the Public Health Organization." Her arms were vibrating now, and very tense. "And all I get is being turned into some strange pumpkin creature?"

"Relax, would ya? It only lasts the rest of the night." Avril wrapped her arm over Nora's shoulder. "I'll make sure no one sees you like this."

"Not like I can really go-" Nora tried lifting her foot, and found that her "toes" no longer went into the ground, allowing her to move again. "Oh."

"We won't be going anywhere." Avril opened up her trench coat, and pulled out an inflatable tent. "It's too late for us to head back. I came prepared just in case."

Nora raised an eyebrow. "That still doesn't help the fact that I'm stuck like this. Do you know how WEIRD it feels to have a hollow belly?"

"Pretty weird, huh?"

"VERY! Next time, YOU'RE going to be the one getting turned into something strange!"

Avril laughed, and went to inflate their tent. Nora looked around for the gnomes, hoping she could politely ask one of them to turn her back to normal, but they were nowhere to be seen. It was very awkward for her to walk around with her huge pumpkin belly and thick vine feet. The tongue coming out of the pumpkin's mouth kept hitting her legs or flipping up and licking the pumpkin itself. She waddled over to Avril, who had finished blowing up the tent.

"I never knew you were one for strange stuff like this," Nora said. "And you say this will end once the night is up?"

Avril, who was laying inside, had taken off her trench coat, and had it laying on her, as well as down beside her. "Why don't you lay down and we'll find out?"

For one of the first times during the evening, Nora smiled. She walked over, and clumsily tried to lay down beside Avril, but her thick skinned belly prevented that from happening. Avril then shifted what few pillows they had around so they were slightly propped up.

"This is better," said Nora. "How did you fit all this into your trench coat by the way?"

Avril shrugged. "Pockets, of course. Lots of em."

Nora rolled her eyes. "Well...ummm...this certainly was quite strange, but exciting...I guess. But next time we do something serious...I expect it to be actually serious, okay?" Nora elbowed Avril in the side.

"Yeah, yeah."

Nora sighed, fluttering her eyes, slowly closing. "Night Avril. You better be right...about this." Nora drifted off. Tired and drained from the transformation, Nora fell fast asleep.

Avril smiled at her strange Tieran/pumpkin hybrid friend. She grabbed her trench coat and covered up Nora with most of it, leaving only a small edge to cover herself with. She rested her head against Nora's stiff shoulder, and closed her eyes.

Outside the tent, the two gnomes looked at the tent the two women were staying in and giggled quietly, before disappearing into the night.

---

Gosh, this one took a while. Where do I begin.

It started out in SAI. I was trying a new method of lineart, where the outside has thicker lines than the inner ones. I just continued on as I usually do, and was working on the shades. That was when I became disillusioned with my work. I just wasn't fond with how the lines turned out at all, and the shading felt clunky. I just lost all hope and interest in finishing the picture that night for Halloween.

Then I decided to reline the whole thing, flats, and shades, in Manga Studio, as my first crack and attempt to use that program. And I have to say, it went very well! It was really slow going, getting used the brushes and tools, as well as figuring out the hotkeys for things. But I got used to them, and accustomed to sensitivities and the way shading worked. Goodness, Paint and Apply. That works VERY well for the sort of shading I do! Highlights are a bit trickier though. Still, the fact that I can do everything now in a single program, instead of switching from Sketch and Lines in SAI, to Flats and Shading in Photoshop, is really handy.

I decided not to include any backlighting/edge highlights with this one. No light behind her, as well as just seeing how it looks overall. If people are willing, let me know what you think of the pic in regards to the way it was constructed. ^_^

As for the story. Well! My first attempt at trying to establish some legit canon with Nora and her yet-to-be-illustrated bodyguard, Avril. Have to draw her eventually, as she's rather important in Nora's journey. Not to mention she's pretty darn badass. ^3^

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!