Chapter 1
A large whirlpool of mud rose from the sea. It swallowed up the billowing white clouds that hovered in the white-gray sky.
When the whirlpool descended and disappeared, a mud-brown otter leapt from the water and landed on a rocky ledge. As soon as her feet touched the ground, the otter transformed into a 24-year-old, fair-skinned girl with frizzy, bushy hair-- though her hair was too wet to notice how frizzy and bushy it normally was.
"There!" She shouted triumphantly. "I told you your snowclouds wouldn't stand a chance. Especially since I'm the Genomorph in my Birth Colony who can make the fastest-spinning whirlpools!"
A white ferret emerged from the cracks of the rocky ledges and transformed into a lean, white-blonde man with very pale skin. He was the same age as the girl.
"Yeah?" The white-blonde man gave her smirk. "Think again, mudface." He instantly transformed back into a white ferret, standing on his hind legs and spinning around in a blur. Snow splattered out of his fur, and within seconds, snow was spiraling around him, rising high and causing more billowing clouds to form.
The brown-haired girl gasped and instantly morphed back into her otter form. She, too, spun around, though while crouching on all fours. Water spiraled around her, splashing horizontally and sending waves toward the ferret.
But the ferret was spinning too fast-- the rapidly spiraling snow around it instantly send the otter's incoming waves splashing back.
The otter was easily washed back in her own waves. She tumbled off the ledge and fell into the water.
The billowing clouds then showered a bunch of snow and icicles, and as they hit the water, they froze the water.
Soon, the otter was frozen in an iceberg atop the water.
The ferret instantly transformed back into the form of the young man, and he faced down at the otter in the iceberg with a sneer.
"Better luck next time, Hermione!" He drawled. "You may be the strongest Genomorph in your Birth Colony, but you're no stronger than me!" He turned to walk toward the pile of shiny-green seaweed that was washed ashore. "Looks like I've won the prize again-- the Snowfur Ferrets always win!"
As he turned to walk away, the iceberg cracked and the otter leapt out. It landed behind him and transformed back into the brown-haired girl.
She stood behind the man and glared at him. "Draco, you won't be taking any more resources from me or any of my fellow Whirlpool Otters….once I bond with the Five Elites and become an Elite Genomorph myself!"
The man stopped in his tracks and then turned to face the girl. He walked up to her with his teasing smirk and then poked her nose with his slender finger.
"You're funny when you set your ambitions so high," he snickered.
Hermione fumed. "My ambitions are always high. Especially when it comes to beating the likes of you and your thieving Birth Colony."
"Thieving?" Draco looked rather amused. "Please, mudface. We Snowfur Ferrets aren't thieves. We just take what we gain access to. And if weakling Genomorphs like you Whirlpool Otters leave any prized possessions out for us, we'll take it!" He flashed a grimace at the shiny seaweed down the shore. "That seaweed will make our ice castles look stunning once we give it a silver color and add them to our curtains."
"You're not taking anything from my territory again!" Hermione snapped, clenching her fists and looking ready to transform again.
"Why not? It's not like I'm taking it without a fight!" He winked at her. "And I won the fight fair and square-- again! You know you lost the match when I've succumbed your entire body in snow or ice, before you've succumbed me in water."
Hermione clenched her fists. "I swear, Draco. You're gonna pay for all the resources you've taken from my colony."
Draco shot her another sneer. "I'm from the richest colony on the planet! I can pay for anything I want." He crossed his arms and sniggered. "And I'll be even richer once I become an Elite Genomorph."
Hermione flinched. "Oh please! Don’t tell me you're going to try and bond with the Five Elites too?!"
"Hey, that's what you're setting out to do this season, right? So I'll do the same-- just to prove to you that you can't be stronger than me no matter how hard you try," he poked her nose again.
Hermione whacked his arm away from her face. She fixed him with a seething glare.
Draco gave a drawling laugh. "As of now, you and I are able to transform into every animal species on the planet. Which means we can access all environments on this planet, and thus access all sorts of resources across the planet. The only difference between us is that I'm the one who actually acquired more resources than you, thanks to my superior powers as a Snowfur Ferret." He winked at her again. "I'm always whooping your soggy ass whenever we're fighting for the resources we encounter across various territories."
Hermione was about to punch him in the nose, but Draco grabbed her wrist and faced down at her with a smirk. Within a split of a second, the two of them transformed into their respective ferret and otter forms, and tumbled around, a rapidly-rolling tussle of white and brown.
Then Hermione transformed into human form for a split second and became a fire-blazing tiger. She let out a great roar.
Draco transformed into human form for a split second and became a fiery-maned lion, who let out an even greater roar.
They fought against, splitting fire at each other.
Then Draco transformed into human form, then became an eagle with talons that were buzzing with electricity. He shot several bolts of lightning at the tiger-formed Hermione, but she jumped aside, transformed back in human form, then morphed into a green-furred gazelle with long, sharpened branches as horns growing from her head. The branches grew sharp leaves, which she sent spiraling into the air and zooming toward the eagle-formed Draco. Draco's eagle form transformed into a black bear with lava leaking from various parts of his fur. The leaves easily burned as they contacted his lava-ridden body. He pounced toward Hermione's leafy-green gazelle form, but she transformed into a blue wolf that purged a bunch of water at him. He barely managed to dodge as he leapt up and became a bronze dingo with red rocks purging from his mouth.
They tussled again, in their canine forms, then finally transformed back in their human forms. Draco had Hermione pinned against the rocky cliff. He was staring down at her with a smirk again.
"Face it, mudface," he sneered. "You may be the strongest Genomorph in your Birth Colony of Whirlpool Otter Genomorphs, since you're the only Whirlpool Otter Genomorph who can transform into all animal species….but I'm the strongest Genomorph in my Birth Colony of Snowfur Ferret Genomorphs. I, too, can transform into all animal species on this planet. And I'm stronger than you, since I've clearly beaten you at every attempt to gain resources from other parts of the planet, including your own Birth Colony's territory!"
"Well, you will NOT beat me at becoming Elite Genomorph!" Spat Hermione. "There are still five animals that neither of us have emotionally bonded with-- therefore, there are still five species that we still cannot transform into. They are the five animal species that are the hardest for any human species to emotionally bond with, and therefore the hardest to gain the ability to morph into-- hence why they are called the Five Elites." She clenched her fists and added, "A snobbish, self-indulgent prick like yourself cannot truly learn to emotionally bond with such creatures, so if you think you can beat me at gaining the ability to morph into them, you're just showing how pathetically blind you are to your chances of ever becoming an Elite Genomorph!"
Draco's smirk remained. "Look at the mudface, getting riled up because she doesn't want to admit that there's another human out there whom she can't outcompete."
"Oh we'll see who outcompetes who," Hermione challenged, glaring at him. "Starting tomorrow, I'm going to seek those Five Elites. And I'll have emotionally bonded with all of them, gaining the ability to transform into them and proving that you aren't as strong as you think."
"Please, mudface," said Draco. "My undeniable charm makes it a breeze to emotionally bond with any creature. Including the Five Elites." He grimaced and then spoke in a quieter, more challenging tone. "I can beat you at anything."