'Damnit all, where do I even start?'

Leo hugged tightly to the tip of the giant tree, trying to discern where he should go and how he should carry out his next actions, the cool wind blowing on his face not exactly helping his decision making either.

'Ok, I have three options here. One, I could stay within the jungle and take my chances with the wilderness, but that brings a whole potluck of problems as places such as these are very biodiverse and tend to have lots of unique life, many of which are either venomous, poisonous, or just down right vicious. And judging from the humidity, there is a possibility of many diseases and unpleasant things like parasites and insects, judging by earth rules, and they tend to be not very nice. I haven't seen anything yet aside from bug chatter and the occasional bird call but I might as well stick with what I know instead of relearning everything, at least until I have the time to.'

Leo took a glance to his right, towards the mountains.

'That could actually be a very viable option, as long as I stay roughly around the base of the mountains oxygen should be plentiful, and judging by the colors there seems to be plenty of food. Depending of how I optimize myself I could find myself a nice nook and keep myself safe, both from predators and the weather. Or perhaps I could even MAKE myself a spot if the dirt and stone allows me to. Not that I know anything about stone though, the rock looks oddly dark but that could just be the light from the sun playing with me.'

He shuffled at a moderate pace to face where his back was, his claws and arms trying their best not to let him fall and die within his first hour of arrival on this planet.

'The fields could actually be a good idea as well. With the space and resources I could easily become some kind of large wildebeest, spending my days grazing in the sun, not a care in the world. Well, aside from the occasional predator trying to get a bite out of me. Or perhaps I could be some kind of ambush predator and feed on anything that passes by? The lack of cover in the fields really doesn't help though, the grass looks short and thin. Not exactly optimal hiding conditions. The grass is green though, so at least its somewhat familiar.'

Leo sighed.

"If only there was more time."

Brainstorming for a moment, Leo came up with two more ideas but quickly scrapped them.

'Can't go live in the water, too competitive and far too risky. Aquatic life on earth is horrifying and deadly enough, who knows what kind of horrors could be lurking here. The 'Note' that I was left with also stated there was intelligent life, perhaps I could live amongst them? No that's stupid, even if I found them in time to become one of them I wouldn't know how to speak like them or know anything about their culture or any specifics in their biology or behavior.'

With that, Leo weighed his options.

'Ok, Jungle. Pros, full of resources, easy enough to maneuver, option for arboreal movement.

Cons, big chance for plenty of dangerous bugs, parasites, and diseases. A bit too thick to fly as anything large enough for my liking.

Next, mountains. Pros, lots of potential for safe places to hunker down in, chance to be caught by anything too dangerous is not very likely as long as I'm not stupid, looks to be filled with plant life in some places so plenty of food, if anything really pisses me off I could just push it off a cliff if I have to.

Cons, Steep, if I go too high I could faint from lack of oxygen depending on what I become, birds could be a real nuisance, if anything does even fly around here, so as long as I'm not lollygagging next to a massive drop I should be able to keep myself from being kicked off by some particularly angry goat or eagle-like-thing.

Finally, the fields. Pros, lots of space, a good place to hunt and graze. Not much else.

Cons, could easily be spotted by something, not a lot of places to hide or settle unless I burrow.'

In those moments of judgement and thought, Leo was tempted to say "Damnit all!" and just live his life out as a parasite in some fish's ass but he kept himself composed and made his decision.

"Mountains it is I guess."

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Whether it be the safety from predators, places to hide, or some inherent bias, Leo wasn't sure, but in his eyes the safety of the mountains was preferable to the thick jungles or rolling grasslands. If he regretted his decision later then so be it, if he really wanted to he could just go somewhere else he could just do so, albeit without his current advantages of limitless shapeshifting. He knew that he should probably take longer to straighten his thoughts out but the time limit of 24 hours hung over his head like an umbrella of burden, making feel like he needed to be quick with his decisions and damn the consequences.

"Alright, so, how exactly do I get to somewhere quickly? be fast obviously but how should I carry that out? Wings could work, yeah I don't see a problem with that. Lets just hope there aren't any dragons around who would like me for a quick snack."

With that, Leo lowered himself to a thick, open branch that faced the dark mountains ahead; directly away from the sun.

In a moment his thick, clawed arms turned into brown feather laden wings, not to different from an owl's. His chest grew out, giving room to muscle and larger lungs that allowed for him to actually fly. Leo decided to shrink himself to the size of a child so weight would not get in the way. But that came with the problem of his clothes being much too big for him.

With a shimmy and kick he managed to get his thick business wear off, letting them fall to the forest floor, but that once again just led to another problem.

He was naked.

'Ugh, fack.'

Not wanting to be cold and vulnerable, Leo grew thick, heat retaining feathers all across his body, the feeling being similar to having goosebumps on all of your skin, except with the added bonus of keeping oneself warm and cozy.

"Much better." He mumbled to himself.

Growing out his wings more just incase, Leo prepped himself, trying to keep himself looking down.

One minute passed by, then two, then five until Leo decided to finally stop hesitating and made his move.

With a running start, just as he reached the end of the massive branch he leapt, and pushed his wings into a flapping motion as hard as he could.

But while Leo had the knowledge and skills for flight, he didn't exactly have the experience.

"Oh god holy shit holy shit fuck fuckfuckFUCK-"

While Leo wasn't exactly plummeting, he certainly wasn't flying either, not effectively anyway.

'Ok ok steady beats Leo, steady beats, let the air carry you. No need to do all the work.'

In what felt like forever Leo got into a steady rhythm of flapping his wings and letting the wind carry him. The movements, while somewhat foreign, were easy to memorize and quickly became muscle memory.

"Oh my god, I-I'm flying!" Leo exclaimed, the excitement quickly turning into a laughter of joy.

The wind blowing against Leo face felt amazing, and the sights added onto it; the small mountains in the distance growing ever so slowly and the puffy white clouds rolling overhead.

By his estimates Leo decided he should be there in roughly two hours.

"Wow, I never expected flying to feel so go- OH GOD I looked down, why did I do that!?"

Leo almost faltered in his flight but keeping his breathing steady he was able to calm himself down, keeping his thoughts away from the ground far below.

"Ok, alright, airline Leo is back up and running, no need for panic. I have wings and I am in the air, there is no reason to be scared. This is exactly where I belong."

After about thirty minutes of flight and staring at the scenery, Leo grew bored. Aside from seeing the occasional blob down below in the trees or on the ground, nothing has happened so far; there wasn't exactly much one could do while flying. Yes, flight was amazing, but it quickly lost its novelty, not exactly requiring much brain power when all one needed was to do was go from point A to point B.

So Leo used this soon to be rare moment of reprieve to collect his thoughts.

'I really wonder what the intelligent life of this planet is like. Will they be humanoid? Would they even be mammalian? What if they're reptilian, that would mean they could only live in primarily warm parts of the world, maybe they have found some way to let them expand into colder regions without freezing such as clothing. Even if they aren't reptilian or whatever, would they even HAVE clothing? Yeah having something to cover yourself with is useful but if they just stayed where they originally evolved from they wouldn't exactly NEED it. God how awkward would that be, seeing a bunch of naked people walking around like it's nothing.

'Also, the 'Note' as I'm going to call it said something about biological limits being extended, whatever that means. Does that mean I'm going to see birds the size of houses or dinosaurs shooting lasers from their eyes? It would be very nice for the size cap on fauna be raised, that would no doubt give way to some amazing beasts, and would also give me some more room to work with.

'One thing I'm pretty confused about though what the hell it means by "You are not alone.". Like what does that even mean? Does that mean that there are more shapeshifters out there? That would be nice, if I ever find one somehow they could probably give me some advice, maybe we could even team up. Heh, maybe aunt Laura's around here somewhere, she'd definitely give me crap on how I ended up here, getting killed by a train instead of earning my death by wrestling some bear out in the sticks. Oh how she was the adrenalin junkie, always chasing the next dangerous thing that came into her sights. Too bad that rattlesnake got her out in Mexico, but that's what you get for not carrying a phone with you.'

Leo stayed like this for some time, lost in thought and gliding lazily in the sky, and as the mountains grew closer in the distance, he had one thought that rose above the rest.

'What does my future hold for me?'