A teenage boy faces his awakening as a Were. This story takes place in the same universe as my Were stories.

Since this story has a different main character than the first two, I am calling this story Be Were rather than Were 3.

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Be Were
By Morpheus

What do you say to a gorilla who's wearing an apron and offers you a mug of hot chocolate? In my case, it would be, "Thanks mom."

This gorilla in question...my mom is a Were, a creature that comes straight out of myths and legends. But instead of being a werewolf...she's a weregorilla. Like the legends, she does transform on the nights of the full moon, but unlike the legends, she can make herself transform at will on any other night, though the changes vanish with the morning sun and she turns back into an ordinary human.

My name is Trey Maxwell, and I was a fairly ordinary 16 year old, discounting the fact that my mom was a Were. I was average size and average build, with short brown hair, though I always wished that I were a bit taller and more muscular. It was always a little embarrassing to know that my mom was a lot stronger than I was, but then again, that was when she was in the form of a gorilla.

At the moment, I stood outside my back door, staring out over our large back yard, at the many trees that surrounded us and the lake that was at the back of our property. We had very few neighbors and none of them very close. I guessed that it made a lot of sense since it would be hard to explain to people why a big gorilla was doing wandering around our property, and mom liked to do that pretty often.

Then I slowly looked up at the sky, frowning slightly and feeling extremely nervous. That night was going to be the first full moon since my birthday a week before, and that meant it was my Changing Day. And for a Were, Changing Day was quite important. It was a coming of age thing...and the day that they would transform for the first time, discovering what animal that they would turn into.

"Changing Day," I whispered, knowing full well that it very well might not be mine. That I might not have a Changing Day.

Though my mom was a Were, my dad was not. He was a perfectly ordinary guy, at least as far as that went, though I didn't think most guys would be able to take their wives turning into gorillas quite as easily as he did. But since my mom was Were and my dad was normal...I didn't know what that made me. You couldn't be half Were and half normal...it didn't work that way. You were either one or the other. I had a 50 percent chance either way, and wouldn't know for sure until the sun set.

I was filled with mixed emotions as I thought about Changing Day...about what it would be like for me to actually turn into a Were. Of course, I guessed that it might be kind of interesting to turn into some kind of cool animal, and it would make me sort of special. I liked that idea...of being special.

However, there were a lot of things that made me uncomfortable as well. Did it mean that I would be less human? A look at my loving mom helped ease that concern, but not completely. And what if I turned into something gross or embarrassing...which I heard happened pretty often. I didn't like the thought of becoming something like a turkey or a skunk. I also wasn't sure that I liked the idea of being a Were...of being so different from everyone else. It was a scary thought.

And then of course, there was the fact that being a Were changed your perspective. It made you see the world in a different way. Like my cousin Darek. He'd changed for the first time several months back and he hadn't been the same since. He had turned sort of 'save the trees' on me, which I didn't understand.

Then again, I didn't even know what it was that Darek turned into, though my mom mentioned something about him being a mythic. But if he really was a mythic, I figured that he would have shown off about it rather than getting all embarrassed and going quiet. So, I figured that he was just a normal Were, and probably a stupid one too.

I let out a deep sigh as I turned around and went inside, trying not to think about what was going to happen in just a little while. I was nervous as hell, though I certainly wouldn't admit that to my mom and dad. I didn't know what I would do if I turned out to be a Were like my mom, though for the most part...I sort of hoped that I wouldn't. That I could just be a normal guy like everyone else at school.

"Ready for the big day?" my dad asked as I went inside, looking just a little uncomfortable with the whole thing but obviously trying to be supportive.

Mom was immediately next to me, putting her arm on my shoulder, "Don't get your hopes up too much," she warned me gently, though I could see the hope in her eyes, "You know that it's just as likely you won't change." She gave me a quick kiss on my cheek, making me pull away in embarrassment, "But I'll love you just as much either way."

"Mom," I protested as I pulled away, wiping my cheek off as though it was infected. Geez, I was way too big for her to be doing stuff like that to me. At least it wasn't somewhere in public where I'd really have been embarrassed by it.

A short while later, the sun was just beginning to set. Mom had come out dressed only in her robe, the really large one that she usually wore just before changing. She gave me a smile that was supposed to comfort me, but didn't do much. I was way too nervous, though still trying hard not to show it.

"You should put a robe on too," mom warned me, giving me a careful look. "If you do change, you have no idea what it might be into and it's always best to be prepared."

"I'm fine," I grumbled defiantly, deciding that I was perfectly fine in the jogging suit that I'd put on. After all, I was sort of hoping that I wouldn't change at all anyway and didn't want to help that along any more than I really had to.

Mom just rolled her eyes at that, muttering something that sounded like, "Teenagers...," under her breath. Then she looked up at the clock and said, "We should get outside now." She gave me another speculative look, "Just in case."

I grumbled at that but did as she asked, realizing that if I did turn into something like an elephant, being inside the house might not be such a good idea. However, the thought about it kind of brought a smile to my face.

Then mom turned to dad, giving him a steady look. "You should probably stay inside for awhile." She gave him another look that suggested that he had better do as she said.

Dad nodded, then turned to me, "Good luck Trey." And with that, he went back inside, leaving just me and mom out there on the porch.

After a few seconds, mom stepped off of the porch and into the grass, taking a few more steps before stopping and looking up at the sky. I hesitated, then glanced down at the porch and remembered the whole elephant thing again. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to stay on the porch either...just in case.

I stood on the ground, though made sure to keep a good distance from my mom. This whole situation was weird enough and reminded myself that whatever happened, Changing Day would soon be over...or never even have happened.

A minute later, I noticed it. The changes in my mom's face. I'd seen her changing often enough to recognize the changes at the first sign. And at the same time, I suddenly aware of a strange tingling through my own body. I let out a faint gasp at that, knowing exactly what it meant. I really was a Were...and this was my awakening as such.

"Mom..." I gasped out, unsure of what to say as I could feel the changes occurring within my body.

Everything inside of me seemed to be moving around. All of my bones and muscles were altering...changing. But into what, I didn't know. Even my skin was beginning to feel strange, though I couldn't quite explain how, even to myself. All I knew was that soon, I would no longer be human...and that I was scared.

Suddenly, my legs seemed to turn to jelly and dropped out from under me. I collapsed to the ground rather hard, feeling the tingling especially hard on my legs. There was a strange sensation from my crotch, then a strong discomfort from my jogging suit pants. I suddenly wished that I'd listened to my mom's advice about wearing a robe instead.

With a grunt, I pulled at my pants, noticing that my hands looked different. My fingers looked sort of longer and more slender. However, I didn't spare time to examine them as I finished pulling off the jogging suit pants, then got a look at my legs, letting a loud gasp as I did so. My legs were sort of fused at my crotch...and quickly fusing more and more all the way down. It was like a single piece of flesh all the way down to my knees...until they too fused into one.

The changes that ran through my body seemed to take forever, yet at the same time they were occurring with incredible speed. They were happening so fast that I couldn't take note of all of the changes or keep track of what was still changing.

Another look at my legs revealed that they had fused completely...that they were now being covered with blue scales. My legs...now looked like a tail, similar to a fish tail. But that was impossible... Mom had told me that there weren't any Were fish...or Were insects. That it just didn't happen that way.

Just then, the changes finally stopped, though I remained where I was on the ground, feeling extremely strange and confused. I sat myself up, fully aware that I still had arms so couldn't be a fish, but that only made me even more confused.

I took a long look at my legs...or the blue scaled tail which had taken their place. The moonlight seemed to shimmer off the scales in a strange...and even beautiful way. However, that effect ended at the waist...where my skin became normal human skin...or at least something of the kind since it was smooth pale and creamy.

"What the?" I gasped, suddenly noticing the weight on my chest.

My hands grasped at the large mounds that were now present on my chest, and there was absolutely no denying the fact that they were breasts. I had a pair of boobs...though a part of my mind quickly filled in that they were very nice boobs at that. Big, round and firm. Yes, very nice. With nipples that were a lot bigger than my old ones were too.

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed, only barely stunned at the fact that I could still talk.

A quick look revealed that even though I had that blue tail, from the waist up I seemed to be completely human. Except of course for the fact that I happened to be a GIRL human. And quite a shapely one from the little I could see. Then I caught sight of my hair which now spilled down around my shoulders. It was blue. Dark blue.

"Holy Shit," I repeated again, feeling completely confused.

Finally, I looked over at my mom, who was now entirely a gorilla. And she was staring back at me with as much of a look of surprise that a gorilla's face was capable of showing. But there was even more surprise in her eyes.

"What am I?" I demanded in fear and anger, though I already knew the answer to that. After a single glance, I would have had to be completely stupid not to.

Still, mom went up to the porch and came back with the blackboard and chalk which she used to communicate when she was in gorilla form. She quickly wrote, "MERMAID" on the board, confirming what my own eyes had already told me. Then she wiped the chalk away and wrote something else, hesitating a moment before showing me the boards words. "YOU ARE MYTHIC."

For a long moment, I just stared at my mom as if she was crazy. I wasn't a mythic. I couldn't be a mythic. They were the rarest kind of Weres...the strange even among the strange. But then again, being a mermaid...that's exactly what I was...like it or not.

I grunted and shifted position, frustrated that I couldn't get to my feet. Then again, at the moment I didn't even have any feet. I could only drag myself around, which wasn't a very pleasant idea. Fortunately, the grass that I was on was pretty soft.

Just then, my mom held up a hand for me to wait, then went off into the house. She came back several minutes later, holding the mirror off of the living room wall. Then she held it up so that I could get a good look at myself.

My eyes went wide at the sight, seeing that I had a very pretty face, framed by all of my long, dark blue hair. And then there were the eyes. They were a little larger than normal and almost entirely blue within. Definitely not the normal eyes of a human.

For several minutes, I just stared at myself, first in the mirror then directly. Then I looked up at my mom, feeling completely stunned by what had happened. "What am I going to do?" Tears went running down my cheeks...coming unbelievably easy.

Mom just stared at me, then looked off across our yard for a moment. Finally, she wrote something on the board and showed it to me. "SWIM." Then she pointed across the yard to the lake before writing something else. "MERMAIDS LIKE WATER."

"But...," I started, thinking that now was not the time to go swimming. I was a freak... I couldn't even stand up on my own like that.

However, without wasting time to write any more, mom picked me up and used her gorilla's strength to carry me towards the lake...in spite of my protests. Then at the end of our small dock, she unceremoniously dropped me straight into the water.

I tried to yell at her, but was completely surrounded by water. I quickly came to the surface and splashed my mom as hard as I could, but she'd stepped back and avoided most of the water. Then she just stuck her tongue out at me, making me angrier...until I burst out laughing. A gorilla sticking it's tongue out at you is an odd sight.

Suddenly, I realized something strange. The water should have been extremely cold...but I felt perfectly comfortable. I didn't feel chilled in the least. Obviously it was something to do with my being a mermaid at the moment. And as I floated there, I was rather amazed to notice just how comfortable I felt in the water. At just how good it actually felt against my skin.

"Weird," I whispered.

And unable to help myself, I dove under the water, submerging myself completely. It felt so incredible, and to my amazement, my eyes remained open when my normal instinctive reaction is to close them when I'm under water. And even more amazing was the fact that I could actually see...and quite well at that. Far more than I would have been able to wearing goggles during the day.

Then with a nervous grin, I decided to try out my new tail. With just a couple swishes, I was propelling myself through the water with unbelievable speed and grace. And it was easy. So easy to move around in the water. My altered body was certainly built for just that environment.

As I shot through the water, after several minutes, it dawned on me that I hadn't gone up for air yet. Nor had I felt any need to. It took me another few seconds before I became aware of the fact that I had been breathing the whole time...though certainly not the normal way. It had just been so instinctive to breathe through what I assumed were gills of some sort, that I hadn't even noticed it until then.

I shook my head, grinning faintly in spite of myself. Then I decided to check out the bottom of the lake so headed down. It was quite a disappointment, making me frown at all of the mud, gravel and stuff. There were even a few tires and cans, but very few. But for the most part the lake bottom seemed to be pretty free of that kind of junk.

For the next...I don't know how long, I swam around, trying to get used to my new body and the unbelievable freedom that it gave me under the water. I never would have imagined it possible before then. I could even out race some of the fish...proving that by catching one of them in my hands before letting it go. My disgust at turning into what I had was quickly evaporating under the thrill of exploration.

Eventually, I surfaced again, finding that I was almost all the way on the other side of the lake. But somehow, I had already known that, sensing exactly which direction I would have to go to return home, even though I had been all over the place and in every direction under the water. It appeared that I had some sort of ability to sense where I was as well.

"Cool," I gasped into the night air, suddenly thinking about the fortune that I could make searching for sunken ships and lost treasure. I would be better than any normal diver ever could.

After waiting a few more seconds, I started back towards the shore. I quickly arrived at the dock and started pulling myself up onto it, finding that it was quite a bit more difficult to do without legs. Fortunately, my mom saw me and helped me back up, then much to my embarrassment, she picked me up again, this time carrying me towards the house.

"Put me down," I protested, though she didn't do so until we were inside.

She set me down on the couch, though I couldn't help noticing that she'd already spread out some thick blankets over it before we'd gone in. Obviously she didn't want me to get it all soaked, which I was already doing to some degree.

"Man this is weird," I muttered, looking down at myself, then at my hands. And for the first time, I noticed that not only were my hands very feminine...but that I had a little bit of webbing between my fingers. "Double weird..."

It was only then that I noticed my dad standing off to the side, staring at me with both his mouth and eyes wide open. I almost laughed at the expression on his face, though he quickly tried to recover and act as though everything was normal. That just made it harder for me to contain the laugher.

"Um...," my dad started, gesturing towards me and then turning his eyes away.

"Huh?" I asked, looking down and realizing what he meant. I had a nice big pair of boobs...and I was completely topless. But that was normal...at least the topless part. Still, I flushed in embarrassment and used one of the blankets on the couch to cover myself up with.

"I can't believe I'm a fish," I snorted, flicking my tail a bit and drawing my dad's attention to it. Better that than my boobs I guessed.

After a minute, mom came back in the room, this time wearing the apron that she often wore while in her gorilla form. And she was carrying a tray with several cups on it, handing one of them to me. I smiled as I picked up the mug of hot chocolate, thanking her before taking a sip. It even had the marshmallows in it that I liked.

None of us said a word as we sipped at our chocolate and watched TV, or at least pretended that we were watching TV. There was no doubt that not only my attention was on my altered body, but so were my parents. It was definitely strange, not just the way I felt but the way they were looking at me and trying to pretend that they weren't. Dad was especially bad about it.

Finally, mom glared at dad and used the board to tell him to go to bed. After all, he did have to get up early for work in the morning. Dad didn't even argue with her, even though it was obvious that he wanted to stay a bit longer. But then again, dad never really argued with mom when she was a gorilla. Maybe that was the reason that she liked spending so much time as one.

"Um...good night," dad told me as he got up to leave. Then he paused to give me a gentle smile and rubbed my hair, just like he did normally. And even though I normally didn't particularly like that habit of his, at the moment it felt comforting. It made things seem just a little more normal. "See you in the morning son."

"G'night," I told him, turning my attention back down to myself and giving a wry smile as I thought that the word 'son' might not be the most accurate at the moment. Fortunately though, I knew that all Were transformations would end with sunrise and I would be back to my normal self. At least until the next full moon...or unless I decided to change again on my own.

I remained where I was for a few more minutes, then began scratching at my skin. I pulled back the blanket, feeling just a little dry and itchy. Mom noticed that and stared at me thoughtfully before going into the kitchen and coming back with a wet sponge. Without wasting the time to write on the chalk board, she handed the sponge to me and stood back.

"What's this?" I asked, giving her a curious look. She took it back, then wiped the sponge over my shoulder, making the itching stop there. "Oh," I responded in understanding. Apparently my mermaid skin preferred being kept damp and mom had figured it out. "Joy."

With that, I gave myself a careful sponge bath on the couch, feeling much better once I had done so. Unfortunately, I realized that it could provide a small problem when it came time to go to bed. I mean, I might have had the body of a mermaid but I sure as hell didn't have any intention of spending the night in the lake.

For the next several hours, I stayed up late and examined my body. My mom had excused herself from the room with a real flimsy excuse just to give me that opportunity. I was kind of thankful for that since I was definitely curious about my altered body and needed a bit of privacy to look it over.

Eventually though, I was pretty tired and ready for bed, though somehow I didn't think that I'd actually be able to get to sleep. However, there was still the problem of my skin drying out while I slept since I'd had to sponge myself about every hour or so it seemed. Of course, once I thought about it, the solution was pretty obvious, though not extremely comfortable. I ended up going to bed in the bath tub...with it filled about half way.

"Damn skin," I complained as I tried going to sleep, feeling cramped but at least moist. Somehow, I really didn't think that I'd be able to handle sleeping in the tub every full moon.

As I lay there in the tub, my hands slowly roved over my body, amazed by the smooth skin of my human half...and the strangeness of my new tail. And of course, they rested for a very long period on my new breasts and nipples, finding that it felt rather nice. It was in that position that I eventually drifted off to sleep.

When I awoke in the morning, I was stiff and uncomfortable, especially as I was laying in 4 inches of water. But it hadn't been just that which had awoken me, but the sensations of my body changing back to normal. I climbed out of the tub, emptying it as I did so. And though I briefly thought that I might as well take my morning shower while I was already in there...I decided that I'd already had my share of water and the tub for the moment.

"Just great," I complained as I grabbed a towel to cover myself and then made my way to my nice soft comfortable bed for a few extra hours of real sleep.

After several more hours, I was finally ready to get up for real. I sat on the edge of my bed, staring down at my familiar body. I gulped as I thought about the night before, knowing that it hadn't been a dream. It had been my awakening.

"I'll never think of the Little Mermaid the same way again," I grumbled as I got dressed and made my way to the kitchen for breakfast.

Mom was already sitting in the kitchen when I got there, sipping at her coffee and reading the newspaper. She glanced up at me but didn't say a word as I went about pouring myself some cereal.

Finally, mom asked, "Are you all right?"

"Just peachy," I muttered.

She gave me a steady look at that, setting her coffee down and saying, "I know that it will take a bit to get used to, but your Were form is just as much a part of you now as this one."

I grunted at that and took a bite of my cereal rather than answer. Mom just sighed, shaking her head faintly.

"Well," she told me with a faint smile, "I suppose that with your...unique Were form, we should get what we need to help make things a little easier."

"Things?" I asked blankly.

"For one," she stated matter of factly, staring me straight in the eyes, "I think that a bikini top might be in order for when you change." Then she gave me a look as if daring me to argue with her. I might not like it, but I wasn't dumb enough to do that at the moment, even if she wasn't currently a gorilla. "We can get a large wading pool too," she continued thoughtfully once she saw that I wasn't going to argue, "For you to sleep it."

"I'd prefer a bed," I grumbled, though seeing that a wading pool would be a hell of a lot more comfortable and roomy than the bath tub.

"Well maybe we can put a tarp on your mattress and let you use soaking wet blankets," she muttered, almost more to herself than to me. "That might work too. But we'll still need the pool..."

At this, mom drifted into her own thoughts and I stopped really listening to her. Instead, I was thinking about how my being a Were was going to change my life. It was definitely going to make having any dates on a full moon night out of the question. Unless maybe she was into skinny dipping...

Then I suddenly thought about my cousin Darek, wondering what he would think about my being a mythic. And about being a mermaid. It was definitely strange, especially the part about turning into a girl when I went Were. No, I decided that I wasn't going to tell Darek. It was WAY too embarrassing, and somehow I just didn't think that he would understand.

For a long time, I just remained where I was, thinking about what this meant for my future. Of course things were going to change. Of that there was no doubt. I'd always known that there was a good likelihood of being Were like my mom, but not like this. At least some things were still going to be the same, even if that included some of the ones I wasn't thrilled with. Things like school and acne. Now, I would just not only have to deal with being a teenager and all that came with it, but I would also have to deal with what it meant...to be Were.

THE END