The Marvelous Adventures of Tippit - Chapter 2

Lights blinked on and off. I gained consciousness back from Pinnip, my cat, licking my face. "Ugh! What the... Oh... It's you. Good morning. Why are you licking my... Oh my word." As I opened my eyes, a strange spectacle met my eyes. I was surrounded by rolling hills covered with trees and bushes. The sky was a gorgeous shade of pink with a couple blue, puffy clouds floating by. The strangest thing was that the trees were purple and the ground was covered in black and white checked grass. I looked around, closed and rubbed my eyes, then opened again. It was still the same.
"Pinnip? Where are we? This is the strangest place I've ever been..." Then, I heard a trumpet call. "What's that?" I grabbed my cat and scrambled behind the nearest blue bush.
A woman riding a horse bareback came into my view. But, it wasn't a woman, and it wasn't a horse. It was a half-man half-leopard creature. It had the stature of a human, but was covered in brown leopard spots and yellow fur. She was wearing a short brown tunic which fell to just below her knees. She wore tan colored pants and black leather boots that came up to her knees. Around her waist was a thick belt made of leather darker than her tunic, but lighter than her boots. On the belt were several pouches, all the same color as the belt. The horse was red, but not like a chestnut color. It was scarlet and had golden hooves. She must have heard my gasp, because she suddenly stopped.
Her head turned from side to side. She sniffed and jumped of her horse with such agility, that I thought she must be a leopard. Slowly, she walked towards the bush I was hiding behind. She reached into one of the pouches on her belt and pulled out a small dagger. "Come out of there, stranger," she said in a low mysterious voice. I held tight onto Pinnip and slowly came out from behind the bush. "Name, business, species, occupation."
"I... I... My name is T-t-tippit. I-I-I don't know w-w-what I'm doing here. I'm a... girl. I don't work." My stuttered was slightly lessened by the end of my sentence.
"Of course you're a girl, child! What race are you? Leo, tigress, or panther?"
"Race? I'm a human! Do I look like an animal"
A low growl emanated from her throat. "I am not an animal. I am a panther. And how can you be a human? They have been extinct for years. I saw you just now come out of a flash so I hurried over here. What are you, girl?"
"I... I don't know. There was a ball and..."
"A ball? What did it look like? Do you still have it? Hand it over, girl, and be quick."
"First of all, my name isn't girl. It's Tippit. What is yours?"
"My name isn't important right now, but I will call you Tippit if you want. Now, Tippit, be a dear and show me the ball you found."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small golden sphere. "Here. I found it earlier by my house. I pushed the little black thing and it... blew up?"
"Blew up? What do you mean. Explain the situation in detail."
I explained what happened, and said "Um... what happened? I want to go back home. Can you help me, please?" No response. "Miss? Could you please help me? I'm really scared."
"Oh! Sorry, dear. Here. Hop up on the horse. I'll take you to my village." She lifted me up onto her scarlet horse and jumped on behind me. "Hold on to his mane. It won't hurt him and you won't fall off." Then, the horse leapt forward and we were off.
Purple trees rushed past. The sky, as pink as ever, seemed to stretch to infinity. The checkered grass made me dizzy if I looked down, so I kept looking up. A bird flew by with a cry. It sounded like an eagle, but I could tell that it was green with yellow wings.
Looking forward again, I spotted a small clearing in the trees. There were several houses made of blue thatched straw and white rocks. A group of the same kind of creature as the panther woman came forward to great us. "Who do you bring, Miss Lorma?"