It's 2048, and besides all the normal stresses, teens are now faced with the possibility of many strange changes induced by the MORFS virus. Sanura has fallen into the trap that was set for her. Her captors have discovered what happens when you try to cage a hybrid and now Sanura will come face to face with the man who has been after her.

 

Note: The MORFS universe is now open for submissions. Please send any stories or questions to Britney at [email protected] for approval. Universe rules are posted at http://morfs.nowhere2go.org

 

 

MORFS: Sanura's Tale, Part 10

~ Extended Version ~
By Britney McMaster

 

As I stood up, I felt dizzy for a moment. I felt extremely drained, almost as if I was about to pass out. "Shine, can you help charge me up a bit? My energy is on empty."

 

"Sure thing. Tell me when you want to stop." Shine quickly lit up and started beaming light, forming it into a large ball right in front of me. I felt my body reaching for the energy, my pores opening as I absorbed the light.

 

My skin tingled all over as it absorbed the light and soon I felt a familiar fullness in my chest return. Satisfied that I was all charged up, I told Shine that she could stop.

 

"Now, let’s get out of here." Amy led us back over to the eagox. They smelled safe enough, so I hopped on the one assigned to carry me. We were just starting to launch into the air when we heard the rumbling of a jet engine coming from behind the peak of the mountain. "Hide!" she cried

 

We dashed for what cover we could find among the sparse trees. The sound of the jet got louder and soon we saw a large airship come to stop, hovering right above us. There was nowhere to go to get away. *Trance, unless that's a rescue team, we're going to have to fight.*

 

*Nura, there's more than three hundred of them in that ship. Even with Brok and his pack helping, we're seriously outnumbered.* He put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes, drawing my attention away from the ship. "We need to find a way out of here," he whispered.

 

*There's nowhere to go. Can you or Brok send out a call for backup?*

 

*I'll see if he can. He's got more range than I do.* As he looked away while he talked with Brok, I looked up at the menacing ship above us, which had yet to land. *He's sending out a call. I hope that someone gets it. Nura, are you sure you can fight? You were nearly half dead a few minutes ago.*

 

*I'm fine, Trance. Since Shine charged me up, I feel better than ever.*

 

*Yeah, but over three hundred, against the twenty or so of us? Those are stupid odds.*

 

*How many of those three hundred are Morfs, and how many are just normals with a gun?*

 

*About sixty Morfs. One of them is ridiculously strong, though.*

 

*Still, sixty is better odds. I'm ready to fight! I'm sick of being chased.*

 

~~~

 

"Sir, we've located over twenty five life forms using the thermal scanners."

 

"Good. Listen up, soldiers! Your mission is simple, exterminate anything that moves. Originally I had wanted the girl alive, but our information greatly underestimated her powers. I was the only one who got out of the facility alive. This girl has killed many of your comrades, so this is a revenge mission, a time to hurt, no, KILL her and her friends. You all know I enjoy watching a good fight and prefer to watch from afar. This girl is no challenge to me. As much as I would like to break her myself, she is not a worthy opponent for me. Morfs soldiers, the cat girl is your primary target. Infantry, you are assigned to dispose of the rest. Do not fail me this time. I should not need to dirty my hands fighting the weak."

 

"Take the ship down"

 

~~~

 

When the ship descended, Trance told us, *Everyone get ready for a fight.*

The sides of the airship opened quickly, and several hundred armed men filed off and got into formation. The front of the ship opened to reveal the Morfs. They were without firearms, but would be the toughest challenge of all.

 

Standing behind them was the man in white. He stepped of the airship and rose into the air, going high above us, where he stopped. He yelled something I couldn't make out and the soldiers started to move forward.

 

Seeing no sense in hiding, I stepped out into the open, doing my best to look intimidating. For some reason, it seemed to be working. I strained my voice to make my voice go lower, and let out a deep roar, the first time I had done that voluntarily. Then I concentrated my energy, forming a black blade on each hand.

 

I let out another roar and the eagox followed suit, as they all let out a loud growl.

 

One of the infantry guys seemed startled, and fired the first shot. Instinctively, my shield came up and stopped the bullet. My return blast of energy just milliseconds later took him out. As he fell to the ground, all hell broke loose.

 

The men with the guns moved in and began to fire. Trance and Brok stepped forward and slammed the normals with their telekinesis. The eagox lent aid with several elemental attacks.

 

The Morfs, however, all seemed to be after me. ’Why are they always after me?’

 

I readied my energy as they ran towards me. my energy blades were extended, about two feet long, and I brought up a shield over the surface of my skin and hair, causing me to look like a walking shadow. Letting one more ferocious roar, I charged in to battle.

 

The first guy I reached was thin, and not much taller than I am. His skin was green, and looked wet. I got close and took a swing at him, my energy blade slipping deep into his arm. He seemed unaffected by the attack and shot a glob of liquid at me. It was aimed at the side of the face. My shield repelled most of it, but some of it burned through. It felt like the skin on my cheek was boiling. I glanced at the ground where the rest of the fluid had fallen and saw the hole it had eaten into the ground was surrounded by green foam.

 

 He spat at me again while I was distracted and again it ate through the shield, rotting my skin at its sudden contact. I screamed in intense pain as my flesh rotted away, but did not stop fighting. I turned the energy blade in his arm, and in one quick motion pulled it through the rest of his arm, through his chest and finally through his other arm. As the arms dropped to the ground, it burned and dissolved. I spun around, bring both blades back across his chest and neck, and a moment later he dropped to the ground in several pieces.

 

Only then did I take time to look down at the wound on my left shoulder. The bone was visible and the flesh was continuing to burn away slowly. I glanced at the Morfs, and none were attacking.

 

Whether they thought I was going to die, or were shocked at the way I had handled the green guy, I'll never know. Bringing my right hand up to my left shoulder, I formed a short blade of energy and cut into my shoulder, cutting away, just outside of the infected area, right across to the other end.

 

As I dropped to my knees from the pain, I tried to concentrate on my energy. The pressure in my chest was back. I concentrated on it and willed it to my shoulder, feeling the pressure release and surge through my body. It was the same feeling I’d had in the facility before I blacked out. It felt s if my veins were on fire.

 

Looking up through tear filled eyes, I saw that Trance and Brok were using their TK to keep the Morfs away from me. I looked back down at my shoulder, a large part of it now missing, from my own actions. The blood flow seemed to be slowing down. The feeling in my body seemed to be centering on my shoulder, and I looked down just in time to see a dark tar-like substance start to ooze out of my wound in place of my blood.

 

I watched in shock as it covered the outside of the wound. The ooze began to radiate the same energy I used, and bonded to the surrounding flesh and bones. At first, I couldn't understand what I was seeing, as the black ooze seemingly fused with the wound. The ooze covering my severed bone hardened quickly and changed colour to match the bone. The ooze surrounding the flesh changed colour and shape and grew into new muscle tissue. Lastly, the remaining black fluid covered the wound completely, then faded into a layer of pale skin.

 

I moved my arm around. Everything seemed to be working properly again. I brought my hand up to my face and found that wound was also now gone.

 

~~~

 

Shine was busy doing what she could to help, mostly blinding their opponents temporarily, when she saw Sanura get hurt. She couldn't believe what she was seeing when Sanura cut off a chunk of her own shoulder. She was even more amazed by the speedy regeneration. She moved at her full speed until she was at Sanura’s side as she stood back up. "Hey, need an energy boost after healing?"

 

"That would be great," Sanura replied. Shine again acted as a conduit for Sanura's powers as she gave her a heavy dose of light energy. When she was done, Sanura stepped back and resumed her full body shield. "Thanks," was all she said before charging back into the melee

 

Shine looked at the diced remains of the slimy green man on the ground, shuddered at the sight, then dashed away in a blur.

 

~~~

 

"Sir, we've picked up a telepathic distress call. It's coming from our target. They're seriously out numbered."

 

"Can't we get there any faster?"

 

"Our ETA is still twenty minutes, sir."

 

"They may not have that much time. Do whatever we can."

 

~~~

 

I burst forward, passing through the TK shield they had up, and lunged at the first person I saw. That was a mistake. The young man with the silvery hair just stood his ground while I bounced off and hit the ground. As I got to my feet, I fired off two energy spikes, but they only made him take one step back as they bounced off him. Luckily for me, the spikes deflected into two of the other Morfs, dropping them to the ground.

 

I tried to attack him again, and bounced off him again, but this time he grabbed me by the wrists and lifted me. "When you gonna learn this ain't working for ya?" he asked as he leaned in close to my face.

 

As I tried to expand my shield in an attempt to open his grip. He just grinned at me as a silvery gas built up around him. It blew my shield from around me. "Your fancy little energy tricks aren't going to work on me, Pretty Kitty."

 

"Oh? Well what about these?" I extended my claws as far as I could and dug them into to his face. ‘That got his attention.’ He let go of my wrists, screaming in pain. I held on tight as he tried to get my paws off of him, spinning him around by the head and tossed him as far away from me as I could.

 

The next Morf shot a fireball at my head. I raised my hand to block and it converted into my energy, then returned the favour by throwing the energy back at him. The next one went down just as easily.

 

My full body shield was very useful deflecting most of their elemental attacks, but I felt myself beginning to tire from keeping myself constantly moving. My actions started to slow down and become clumsy. I began to take hits that I should have been able to avoid.

 

The Morfs circled around me and started attacking all at once. I concentrated solely on keeping my shield up. I was in the midst of the Morfs when I felt a throbbing inside me. I recognized the feeling and worked to control it as the burning sensation coursed through my veins again. I could feel  pulling feeling all over my body as a layer of fur grew into place. I felt my muscles bulge as they set new a breaking point. And struggled to stay in control. I channeled all the new energy surging through my body into my shield and pushed it outwards.

 

The shield shot out a as ring of energy and then faded. It knocked down some of the Morfs, but there were plenty coming at me again. This time I felt a link between my physical strength and my energy. With each blow I landed, my dark energy would form freely, to compliment my actions. This energy use was subconscious, requiring no strain or concentration on my part. The burning in my veins soon reduced to a comfortable surging warmth. I was truly in my element.

 

~~~

 

Trance watched as Sanura broke free from the mob with a quick radial blast of energy. She had changed again. Dark gray fur covered her body once again. However, this time she wasn’t the hulking beast that had survived on instinct the previous time. This time Trance could tell that Nura was in control.

 

The first sign of this was the use of her powers. She had relied on the brute force of her powers, now she used them with grace. She seemed to dance around her opponents, with ease. Her displays of acrobatics were accompanied by quick and precise hits. She quickly reduced a battle between high powered individuals into a game. The Morfs were soon simply trying to hit her before she eventually hit them. It  only took her one or two blows to permanently remove them from the fight.

 

With the infantry teams disarmed, and laying scattered on the ground, the other two teens gathered with Trance and the eagox to watch in amazement as Sanura quickly defeated each foe,  letting her shield protect her from the ones she was not concentrating on.

 

~~~

 

“Nothing but useless fools,” the man in white muttered as he looked down on the battle. His anger was growing hotter and his intense red eyes started to glow.

 

Finally, as his trained forces, were incapacitated one by one by Sanura’s attacks, he’d had enough. “I’ll have to finish this myself,” he growled.  He had just begun to lower himself to the ground when the sound of an aircraft caught his attention. He turned in the air to watch as the vehicle move towards him.

 

Raising his arms in front of himself, he pointed his open palms at the ship. Fire suddenly engulfing his hands. A moment later, strong bolts of electricity started coursing through the fireballs. The wind in the area started to pick up speed and localize in a vortex around his fists.

 

The captain of the ship tried to evade as the large ball of energy grew in front of the ship. The colours assembled themselves at the exit doors, in case the might have to jump. The colour leading the group, wrapped her arm around a younger member of the group. As the ship attempted a swift turning dive to avoid the energy blast, the man in white moved in the blink of an eye, right into its path.

 

The man released the energy and a tornado of fire and lightening slammed into the ship. As the swirling winds brought the attack upon all sides of the ship, its engines were disabled and it dropped from the sky.

 

~~~

 

When I attacked the last of the Morfs, it proved harder to take down. Multiple attacks did little more than faze him. I sent a dozen or so quick blasts right at his head, and almost knocked him down. While he was reeling from that, I pumped a huge amount of energy into a sphere about twice his size. When I fired that one at him, it moved slower than the other, but he wasn’t exactly a fast mover. As it approached him, I condensed its size, which increased its pressure and speed. It took off like a bullet. As it impacted against his chest, there was a large black explosion. The Morf went flying and I stopped to catch my breath.

 

I didn’t get much of a break. As second or so later there was a series of loud explosions in the air. I snapped around to see that white skinned guy attacking an airship. The fact that he was wielding several elements at once made my blood run cold.

 

The ship was starting to smoke from the attack, and started dropping fast.

 

*Nura, that was our help. Brok and I are going to try slowing it down. Can you distract the white guy?*

 

*Oh sure, no problem. I seem to be good at pissing him off lately,* I replied as calmly as I could

 

*Shine is coming to charge you up.” Trance and Brok went soaring past me, barely off the ground. Trance gave me a thumbs up. *Good luck. If you need help, just scream.*

 

‘Way to go girl. Now you’ve got to attack the most powerful Morf you’ve ever seen.’ A blast of light hit me from behind and I sucked in the energy. ‘How do I get myself into situations like this,’ I thought as I took off running.

 

I ran about fifty yards before reaching my top speed, then I jumped up as far as I could. As I reached the peak of my jump, I turned and shot a pillar-shaped force field at the ground. The impact of that rocketed me up into the air. The man in white was still busy attacking the falling airship. I was still moving fast as I approached him. I formed an energy blade and ran it up his back at high velocity.

 

‘That’ got his attention.

 

~~~

 

Brok whisked through the air at full speed with Trance holding on tightly using his TK. The ship was falling quickly from the sky. Suddenly the attacks on the airship stopped as they got close. Trance glanced back over his shoulder to see Sanura attacking the man high in the air.

 

‘How did she get up there?’ he wondered to himself, a grin on his face. Turning his attention back to the ship, Trance concentrated on the bottom of the ship and pushed upwards with his TK as hard as he could. The weight of the ship pushed down on his TK and he grasped his head with his hands as the strain sent pain though his entire body.

 

Brok brought them to a landing and added the strength of his TK to that of his rider. The ship slowed almost to a halt but still continued to fall. Trance pushed as hard as he could, his head throbbing with the pain. Blood began to leak from his eyes and nose as the airship came to rest in the tops of the trees.

 

Trance released his mental hold, gasping as the pain was replaced by a mild headache. He wiped the blood off his face as best he could as Brok flew them to the door of the Ship. A quick blast of TK pulled the door off. The occupants were quick to escape the burning vehicle.

 

~~~

 

The white guy turned towards me, his eyes giving off an intense red light. “YOU!” he screamed forcefully. He charged at me, and I barely got a shield up before he slammed into me. He tried to physically break through the shield as we plummeted to the ground. The impact threw him off, towards his own ship.

 

My shield cut through the earth, burying me a few feet underground. I dropped my shield and walked out of the crater, failing to get it back up in time, as he shot a fire ball at me.

 

I absorbed it.

 

He shot a lightening bolt at me, and I absorbed it, too.

 

He shot a burst of ice shards at me.

 

I can’t absorb those. I dropped to my knees, gasping gasped at the pain. Four or five large jagged pieces of ice were stuck in my arms, legs and chest. Luckily, none had hit me in the head. I pulled them out and focused on the wounds. Again, the black liquid filled my wounds and changed into new flesh.

 

The white guy was on me again in a second. When I got a shield up in time to block his elemental attacks, I could tell he was becoming frustrated.

 

“I should not need to fight an animal like you.”

 

“I’m more human than you’ll ever be,” I screamed back at him.

 

“That may be true, as I’m beyond being a mere human. I’ve made myself something better. I’ve made myself a GOD! Once you’re dead, I’ll infuse myself with your powers and then I will rule over this pathetic planet”

 

“So that’s how you got so many powers? You killed for them? You had to steal them?”

 

“I’ve stolen nothing. The powers always belonged to me. I created them in the beginning. I’m merely taking back what belongs to me. Soon I’ll take my ultimate gift back from you, and after going through MORFS one last time, my powers will be complete. I will be the god of all the elements, and all without sullying myself with the blood of beasts.”

 

“And here I thought the Pures were self-righteous. I’m going to enjoy taking you down.”

 

“We’re not going to fight yet, girl. I’ve one last Morf for you to fight. I’m especially proud of this creature. More intelligent than a human, faster than a bird. Stronger and larger than any other land animal, I’ve brought back to life a beast that held humans in constant fear for centuries. I’ve made legend into reality. You will now fight my creation. The king of the reptilian family has returned with its fiery vengeance.”

 

“Enough with your damned speeches. Bring out your little pet so I can break it in front you.”

 

“I wouldn’t be so cocky. You’re the first to fight a dragon in several hundred years.” He put his hand on a sensor on the side of his ship and the front cargo bay opened. Out of the dark emerged a mammoth-sized lizard. As it unfolded its large wings, it belched a burst of white flame into the air.

 

It moved into the open, between me and the ship, looked at me, leaned forward, placing its hands on the ground and let out a menacing roar. I could feel the heat of it’s breath on my face. When I leaned towards it and let out a roar of my own, it pulled back, looking a bit confused.

 

Knowing I couldn’t match the strength of this beast, I prepared for a massive energy strike. The dragon started moving towards me. I converted to using all fours and took into a run at my top speed. I seemed to be moving faster in my changed state.

 

I got behind the dragon and pounced on it’s back. Trying to dig my claws into it’s almost metallic scaled hide was a useless effort. I charged a blast and fired it into the back of it’s neck. It let out a roar and then took to the skies.

 

I struggled to stay on it’s back as it flew through the air with amazing speed. After a barrel roll I was thrown off and started falling back down to the ground. I only fell for a few seconds before I was grabbed around the waist by the dragon’s large hand. He came to an abrupt landing near my friends and slammed me hard into the ground. It roared in my face, causing my skin to tighten from the intense heat.

 

I struggled to free myself but I was trapped and was close enough for the dragon to use its fire breath on me.

 

The dragon opened it’s mouth and I could see the intense fire generating in the back of it’s throat. Suddenly the dragon stopped and sniffed at the air.

 

I saw my opportunity and readied my energy.

 

“Nura! Stop!” I turned to see Amy walking towards us. I wanted to tell her to go back to where she had been, to stay somewhere safe, but I could only comply with her demands as he walked past me and right up to the dragon.

 

She put her hand up towards it and we were all amazed as it affectionately rubbed it’s snout against her hand. She beckoned for the dragon to follow her. It released me from its grasp and Amy led it away and out of the battle zone. They appeared to be talking as they moved away from us, although I couldn’t overhear what they were saying.

 

Turning my attention back to the white man. I could smell his anger. “If you think you can just control my dragon and that will be the end if it, you’re mistaken. I’ve bred a whole army of them. And once I have your powers, they’re going to help me keep everyone in check.”

 

“You really don’t get it, do you? One, nobody cares for your little speeches and two, you’re not going to be around after today to rule the world.” I let out another roar and rushed at him, claws out.

 

I felt the energy inside myself flow through me and bulk up my muscles even more as we fought hand to hand, seeming to be evenly matched. He caught me with a solid hit to the chest and I felt a rib break and then a searing pain and it pierced through the skin. I felt to the my knees and grabbed at the broken bone sticking out of me. I felt the burning sensation localize around he break and start to work forward.

 

The man stared down at me with a sadistic grin on his chalk white face. I yanked the broken bone from my chest as a new one was formed inside me. The man grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up. “Pity I broke you so quickly. Seems I over estimated you.” I moved my hand up quickly, slashing his wrist with the broken bone. Blood sprayed everywhere as he dropped me. I stood and readied my claws.

 

“Don’t count me out already. Regeneration is a nice power to have. Too bad you didn’t steal that from someone.” The white man stood, now covered in dirt and blood and stared me coldly in the eyes.

 

He raised his hand, with the wrist facing me, still oozing blood. “How’s to say I haven’t taken that power?” The blood on his wrist quickly lightened an turn white like his skin, leaving nothing but a scar of my attack. The scar faded away a moment later.

 

He moved his other hand up quickly and I was assaulted with a barrage of  rocks as the earth broke up between us and was propelled at me. I brought my shield back up and healed the wounds from the stone before charging back into hand to hand combat with him. Physical attacks didn’t seem to be getting me anywhere so I turned back to an elemental approach.

 

When I formed an energy blast in front of me and pushed it forward at him, he blocked it with his bare hands. But I kept pushing it towards him, feeling the pressure of the energy increasing to its limit as we exerted our strength against it.

 

Then, without warning, the pressure of the energy change somehow, sending a pulse of force that knocked us both backwards. Then it pulled in on itself, and in less than a second, shrank to become merely a black dot floating in the air. I could sense that it hadn’t lost any of its energy or weight, but it did seemed to have become inverted in a way, and was now taking in energy instead of repelling it.

 

The air started pulling towards the singularity point, creating a very strong vortex of wind. Even part of the ground below it was being pulled up, changing to a black colour before disappearing. Soon, the black dot was surrounded by a ring of black energy and debris, imploding on its center.

 

*Leave it to you to make a black hole by accident.* said Trance. *we’re on our way with back up, but you’d better close that thing if you can.*

 

*I’ll do what I can* I looked over at the black hole I had made. I could sense its strength. I could also sense that it was very unstable. The matter it had absorbed wasn’t going anywhere, it was condensed down, converted to dark matter and trapped inside of it … somewhere. ‘How do I close it? That’s the question.’

 

I tried to control it, but as much as I had linked with it, it wouldn’t respond to me. It just kept getting bigger. I figured I needed more strength and started absorbing the light around me. The pressure in my chest grew in turn. As I released a small amount of the pressure into my blood, I saw the hole grow smaller.

 

*I think I figured it out.* I thought to Trance but before I could try and close it completely, I was again  attacked by the white skinned man. I hadn’t seen the attack coming and his blow sent me flying through the air.

 

When I hit the ground hard, I just lay there for a moment, soaking in the sunlight. The pressure increased. As I got to my feet and extended my claws, the man took to the air once again. I growled, letting the energy flow through me, feeling it infusing my whole body.

 

I created a spherical shield around myself and lifted the energy of the shield into the air. I was so geared up to fight, I didn’t even register the fact that I was flying towards the man. As I got closer, the shield changed shape, into a disc that I could stand on while I fought.

 

“You’re a very resourceful girl.”

 

“Shut the hell up!” I caught him in the face with a solid punch, raking my claws across his head as I passed him. I was able to block his attacks for the most part, and when he did manage to hurt me, I would heal quickly enough.

 

He pulled out all the tricks. He really did seem to have every elemental power I’ve ever heard of, except for my own. I repeated various attacks, but he was also doing a very good job of blocking those attacks.

 

Finally I was able to get past his defenses. I sunk my claws deeply into his side, hooking my claws firmly around his ribs, then discarded my platform and fell with him. I continued to hit him as we fell. As we hit the ground hard, I used him to cushion my fall, but still managed to break my left arm.

 

I crawled away from him and once I was far enough away, sat myself up. I used my right hand to twist my left arm in back into its proper place with a crunch. I held my arm and waited. I could feel the burning sensation localize around the break and then the pain was gone. When I lifted my arm and tried flexing it and bending it, it appeared to be working properly. I sat there, catching my breath and watched as four very military looking people rushed in towards the white man. They seemed to be taking orders from a woman standing beside Trance. The woman seemed to be restraining the girl beside her, with a firm hold on her arm. The girl couldn’t be much older than me, yet here she was dressed the same as the other five, her face covered so only her eyes could be seen.

 

My attention was ripped back to the white guy as he threw one of the military guys over my head. I couldn’t believe the guy was back on his feet. I got back to my feet and brought up a shield one more time, sick and tired of this fight. I was ready to end it this time.

 

The man landed a very strong blow of concentrated electricity against one of the military guys, the one covered in black fur.. The girl cried out, “DAD!” as the man was thrown back and hit a tree

 

I glanced over at her, seeing that the woman loosen her grip on the girl’s arm. There was a look of hatred and anger in the girl’s eyes before she suddenly vanished. I spun back towards the melee to see the white man being attacked by a blur of motion. Seeing my opening I ran back into the fray. It disappeared as I got closer, and a second later reappeared near the man who had been attacked. It slowed down, to reveal the girl in black. She checked on the man and then picked him up. Again she disappeared and then she and the man were behind me, with that woman.

 

The girl disappeared again, and then I heard a voice beside me  “Hi.”

 

I turned around and came face to face with the girl. "Stay out of this. You're not trained for it." said the girl with a strong English accent as her hand grabbed me and pulled me towards the woman near trance.

 

"Neither are you, Grey."

 

"Mother!" she said, with a look in her eyes that could kill.

 

"Grey. Follow orders." the woman looked up at the white guy. "Team 2 and 3, GO."

 

“… And you,” the woman turned to look at me, “this situation is under control. Don’t get involved.”

 

Just then, another of the military guys got thrown past us. “That … is under control?” I said, motioning with my head to the fight. “Look lady, thanks for coming to help and all, but I’m not under your jurisdiction. I don’t have to take orders from you.”

 

I turned back to the fight trying to think of a plan. I glanced over at the hole and reduced its size a bit to keep in under control.

 

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on my dark energy. Ever since I’d figured out my powers, I’ve been able to feel them inside me and when I make a shield, I can sense the energy outside of me too. With my eyes closed, I concentrated those senses on the black hole. I could see it in my mind. I could register the amount of energy it had, how big it was and where it was. I tried to block out everything else around me and just focus on that mental picture. Slowly it became clearer. I could clearly see the pinpoint that was absorbing whatever it could. I could also see the matter around that point as it was drawn in and became dark matter. As more detail came into the mental image, I could see a conduit of some type running from the black hole to the pressurized area in my chest.

 

I concentrated on using the light energy I had absorbed, and saw another hole open inside myself. This hole poured the converted dark matter into the receptacle and the pressure in me grew exponentially. I held that open until the black hole closed in on itself and all of its matter was transferred to my being. The conduit suddenly got longer and went straight up in the sky, beyond my view. I felt it find a source, and once again, dark matter poured through it into my body.

 

The pressure built up until it burst its way out of the storage in my chest and once again ran through my body. I metabolized most of it from my body, sending its energy outwards as a myriad of projectile blasts.

 

I ran at the man, the energy blasts following, then surging ahead of me, striking the man from all angles a moment before I attacked with my claws. I swiped at him in fury, intent on inflicting as much damage as possible. By the time I began to tire, he was a bloody mess on the lightly snow covered ground.

 

I let my defenses fall and returned to my normal form, the excess fur falling out and my muscles softening, turning and basking in the light as I moved back to my friends.

 

My ears twitched at some faint sounds behind me. Doubt clouded my mind, ‘No way can he still be alive.’ I thought. I just wanted to go home.

 

*SANURA! Behind you!* Trance yelled to me. I had already heard him coming. His heartbeat was very irregular, and his foots steps were not in rhythm like they should be.

 

I heard him plant both feet not far behind me and push off in a lunging dive, and  spun around on the spot. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. He was airborne, with both hands transmuted into sharp metal blades, coursing with electricity.

 

I brought my hands up quickly, formed an energy ball, then forced it to occupy no space. It closed in on itself and opened another black hole as I had anticipated. I jumped back and repeated the same thing, creating another black hole right on the conduit that I could now see as plain as day. In my mind’s eyes I could see the second hole interrupt the flow of the conduit to my body.

 

The man’s eyes flashed with fear when he saw the hole I had formed just in front of him. He tried to use his ability to fly to slow him down. For a moment I thought he would succeed, but he was too close, and a moment later he was pulled in. His body became dark black, pinching to the pinpoint of the hole and vanishing. As his entire body was pulled through, particles of dark matter spewed forth from the other hole on the opposite side of the conduit. I took control of that loose matter and forced it to release its energy. The two holes closed, and the matter in the air burned its energy off in a display of tiny black lights and then vanished from site.

 

I was just glad that the hole had emptied out in the open and not taken the conduit to my internal system. The last thing I needed was that guy inside of me, even if he had been converted to dark matter.

 

~~~

 

"I could have had that bastard, could have dealt with him without a second thought. But no, am I allowed to, am I ..." The girl returned to normal time as she came out of the facility. "Grey to White. Compound clear." she said clearly after thumbing her radio's transmit button. "I'm going to be old before I am allowed to do anything."

"Grey,  you're still transmitting."

"Shit."

 

~~~

 

“Sanura Miller?” I turned around to face the woman who had called my name. She had tiger-like features “You can call me White. Come with me?”

 

“Who are you?” I asked.

 

“That will all be answered shortly, now come along.” I followed her. We walked for some time until we came within view of the airship they had arrived in. I was directed towards a metal structure that appeared to be some sort of portable room. Inside were a few others from this military team. I was directed to take a seat.

 

“Sanura, we have been watching you ever since you were first attacked. We tried making contact with you once before, but you perceived us as hostile.”

 

“That time in the park?”

 

“Yes, we were merely there to explain who was pursuing you, and to offer our protection.”

 

“Who are you then? Are you with the government?”

 

“No, we’re part of a International Co-operative known as the ASA or the Alliance Security Agency. We’re Black, so I will assume you haven’t heard of us. When we got word of your abduction, we assembled and got here as soon as possible.”

 

“What is it you want from me?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.

 

“We would like to offer you Employment at the agency. With our operative training, you can learn more about your newfound abilities in a safe environment. The power within you is great. I would advise that you to keep their full extent a secret, or others around you will fear you. At the agency, you won’t have to hide, you can master your gifts and help others like you. You can also help protect the world from people like that man.”

 

“Can I think about this for a little while?”

 

~~~

 

“Do you know where the others are being kept?” asked Amy.

 

Zheth, the dragon nodded. “They are kept at the lab.”

 

“Can you take us there?”

 

“Yes, I can. It is not far from here.”

 

~~~

 

Trance walked up to Shine, who was sitting on quietly on a rock, and put his hand on her shoulder. “Crazy day, huh?”

 

“Yeah, no kidding! I can’t believe all of this happened. Our parents must be freaking out by now.”

 

“Yeah, especially Nura’s parents. I’m glad you came. We wouldn’t have won this without you,” Trance assured her.

 

“Ye-ah … right! All I did was act as a battery.”

 

“Hey, you need to give yourself more credit than that. You risked your life to help a friend. That’s something to be proud of.”

 

~~~

 

“So, are you gonna join?” the girl asked her.

 

Sanura looked down for a moment before answering. “Maybe. Maybe not, I don’t really know.” She let out a sigh and continued, “I feel like I should use my powers to help, but at the moment, I’m still not even sure what my powers are. You saw what I did to that guy. I could be dangerous.”

 

“The ASA can help you learn to control it and figure out what your powers actually are. Plus, it would be interesting to have someone else my age there. There aren’t many of us.”

 

“I told them I’d think about it, and I have a contact number if I decide to join. I need to go check on my friends, though.”

 

“Okay, sure. It was nice to meet you. I hope you give joining a shot.”

 

“It was good to meet you, too, Grey.”

 

 

~~~

 

The clean up crews were busy clearing out the facility while others worked on fixing the ship. The colors were busy with their debriefing. Grey had found a lot of information in one of the labs. Information about Sanura ...

 

There were multiple test results, x-rays, energy readings, but nothing clearly defined what she could do.

 

“Surveillance will continue to watch her, but she is not a threat. She’ll come to us when she’s ready.”

 

Their discussion changed to the man in white. They had limited information on him. One of the techs had salvaged a server hard drive from the facility, and one of the agents was working to decipher the data it contained. After nearly an hour, they had extracted information on the location of the white man’s main lab. It wasn’t far, being situated at the base of the mountain range. They agreed to move on that lab as soon as their airship was functional.

 

~~~

 

The four friends, mounted on their respective animals, left the small valley as night swept over them. Shine acted as a guiding light for them. They headed over the peak of the closest mountain, and started to descend, down the side of the mountain, away from their home in Sun City.

 

Amy was riding on the back of Zheth, who was leading them to the main lab of the white skinned man. They traveled quickly though the darkening sky and soon were instructed by the large dragon to enter a grove of trees. Landing, they approached the large mouth of a rocky cave. “They are kept down here,” growled Zheth. “They may be guarded.”

 

Sanura sniffed at the stall air coming from the cave. “There are at least six different guards. Let’s go.” She led the way, her eyes perfectly attuned to see in the pitch-black cave entrance. Zheth moved behind Sanura with surprising stealth. The others followed. Shine began to give off a very faint pale light, just enough to see.”

 

They rounded several corners before coming to the entrance of a spacious room. Sanura crept into the room, keeping herself veiled in shadows. She located all the guards around the room. There were six of them and she formed a small energy blast next to each of them.

 

When she released the energy a moment later, each guard dropped unconscious to the ground.

 

Zheth entered the room and let out a burst of flame. The hundreds of caged dragons responded in kind. Together, the four friends and the dragons opened all of the cages and one by one the dragons exited the cave. Many of the dragons carried their eggs or young ones in their mouths as they rushed out of the cave towards freedom. The four friends followed.

 

Sanura was the last to leave. Before she left, she ran to the far end of the room. There was various lab equipment scattered everywhere. In one corner, were skeletal remains, both animal and human. Most likely, the victims of the white skinned man’s experiments. The human remains were most likely the Morfs the man had stolen his elemental powers from.

 

Sanura guessed that the animals had most likely been used to create the dragons, which were apparently, part dinosaur hybrids, judging from the dinosaur fossils in the pile of bones.

 

What this man had done enraged her once again, and helped to ease the guilt of what she had done to him. ‘That man was pure evil.’ she decided.

 

Standing in the middle of the lab, she created a ball of energy nearly five times her own size. She had to drain all of her power to create it. She left it there in the air, turned around and ran out of the cave.

 

Emerging from the cave, she hopped on Zheth with Amy and they took to the air. Zheth held them not far off the ground while Sanura concentrated on the large mass of energy and destabilized it.

 

Deep underground, the energy wavered and then pulled into itself. Its pull was strong and started pulling in everything around it. Parts of the cave wall broke off and flew towards the hole, winking out of existence. The lab equipment was sucked in and the hole continued to grow. The cave began cracking and after a few seconds the cave collapsed in on the hole. As the ground over the cave began to pull into the hole, Sanura opened the conduit and let the mass of dark energy flow into her chest, replacing her spent energy.  She had to metabolize much of it into a shield around herself in order to make room for the influx of matter. Zheth struggled under her increased weight as the dark matter filled her dark organ to capacity.

 

When he hole closed, she continued to burn off the dark matter until she returned to her normal weight and the pressure in her chest subsided to a normal level. Okay, let’s go home.”

 

~~~

 

The ASA repaired their ship and made the short trip to the man’s lab. What the found was nothing more than a crater where the lab was supposed to be. They took a scan of the ground, finding several other rooms below the rubble that seemed to be intact. “I want a clean up crew in here. I want anything they can find that hasn’t been destroyed.”

 

~~~

 

The dragons wanted to go looking for a home where they would e safe. Being intelligent creatures, they were aware that they would have to live in the rarely visited parts of the mountains and forests. They set us down on the outskirts of town before departing into the night sky along with the eagox as guides.

 

The four of us hurried home to our families. Trance had already sent a message to our parents relaying our safety. Mom and Dad were waiting for me on the porch as I arrived home. It felt like I hadn’t been there in ages, but in reality it had only been less than a day.

 

Mom and Dad wrapped me in a warm hug and we just stood there in silence. They respected my wish that I didn’t want to talk about what had happened. Over time, I related some of my ordeal to them, but I don’t think I ever told them the whole story. But right then, I was just happy to be home.

 

I slept well that night, and the next morning woke up to the sounds of someone throwing up in the bathroom. I cursed having the bathroom right beside my room, but went to see who it was.

 

I knocked on the door. “Are you ok?”

 

“Yeah …” came Crystal’s reply, then after a moment, “Well, no, not really.”

 

“I’ll go get Mom.” I caught a trail of mom’s scent that was fresh and followed it downstairs.

 

She was in the kitchen making breakfast. “Yes, you do have to go to school today,” she said as I walked in the  room.

 

“Aww man, … fine! By the way,” I told her as I sat down at the table. “Crystal’s still pretty sick. I just heard her throwing up.”

 

Mom rolled her eyes, “I’ll call Dr. Perry and get her in for an appointment today.”

 

~~~

 

“Guys, Amy and I have something to tell you.” It was about a week since the big fight, and things had started to fall back into a normal routine. Amy and I had talked a lot about ‘us’ and where we wanted our relationship to go. Today was another nice day and all of our friends had gathered outside under one of the big trees at the mention of an important announcement.

 

“As you all know,” I started, “when I first morfed, I was really confused about who and what I was. I was having a tough time, what with looking like a girl and didn’t even want to contemplate how that was going to affect me. It’s been worse, with me being intersexed. I dated Colin a bit before deciding that was a mistake. I just kinda went with that because it’s the ‘normal’ thing for a girl to do. I’ve decided to screw being normal, whatever that is anyway, and just be true to myself.”

 

Amy gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “When Sanura first morfed, I had my own feelings to deal with. I’d had a crush on Jase for a long time, and now the boy I thought I loved was someone completely different. I’ve also decided to just be true to myself, no matter what other people think of me. Sanura and I are a couple, and I don’t care who knows or what they think of us.” Amy smiled at me and I stood on my tip toes and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

 

“We wanted all of you to know and to hear it from us first.”

 

“And Trance, thank you, for not telling anyone.”

 

“Not a problem,” he replied. “I overhear a lot of things that I need to keep my mouth shut about. Like how Mike totally had a crush on Sanura when she first came to school,” he said with a grin.

 

“That’s not true, he’s making it up!” complained Mike.

 

“He is not making that up, and you know it,” laughed Dani as her brother blushed bright red.

 

“I didn’t know who you were at the time. I just thought you were hot before I found out you used to be Jase.”

 

Trance stated. “He still thinks you’re hot.” . Mike blushed even harder as we all burst into laughter.

 

~~~

 

The last few months of school absolutely flew by. I had a small party for my ‘sweet sixteen’ so I finally had a reason to wear the party dress Mom had bought me right after I morfed. Remember? The one I said I would never wear again, after Trance and Amy made me try it on? Anyway, we had lots of fun, and Amy gave me a beautiful necklace.

 

About a week before school ended, Dad came home from work with a big announcement. He had just been promoted to the board of trustees. He would still have responsibility for the ski resorts, but he would spend most of his time in his new executive office on the 25^th floor of the Sunlight Hotel, directly downtown.

 

This, however, necessitated one very big change. We would be moving to the lakeshore shortly after school ended. I wasn’t too happy at this announcement. Sure, I would still be attending the same school, and it wouldn’t be any further away from my friends than I already was, in fact, I’d be practically neighbors with Jade. The new house would also be quite a bit bigger. The problem I had though, was that I had grown up in that house and moving from there would be like giving up the last thing that reminded me of who I used to be.

 

On the flip side, Crystal couldn’t be more excited about the move. Apparently, hybrids did run in our family as my little sister picked up quite a few animal characteristics during her bout with MORFS. Her skin tone had changed to a very pale almost translucent skin. It also has a texture similar to that of a frog, though most people assume she has scales like a fish due to her appearance. She now has gills starting just behind her jaw bone and running about halfway down her neck. The gills don’t cause her any problems breathing out of the water; just now she can do both. The most obvious change though, is her fins.

 

She has large webbed fins on both her forearms. Normally they lay flat against her arm but when she’s in the water the fins open up and she uses those to steer herself around in the water. She’s also got a dorsal fin that runs from her neck to her lower back and a pelvic fin on the outside of each thigh.

 

She’s taken to not wearing shoes, as her feet are large and could more appropriately be called flippers. She can use those to move very fast through the water. Of course, she moves her feet up and down like a dolphin, not back and forth like a fish. Needless to say she’s ecstatic to be moving to the lake.

 

Packing was a chore I could have done without during exam week, but eventually I was finished, and moving day was upon us. I got rid of a lot of my old stuff, but I kept one box of stuff that had a lot of sentimental value, things which reminded me of the good times I’d had as Jason. I didn’t want to forget those times, because he will always be a part of who I am inside.

 

If you only need one reason for knowing a Telekinetic, here it is. They’re really handy when you’re moving. I think we filled every square inch of that moving van. The move went smoothly and soon I was sitting in my new bedroom, just staring out the sliding door that leads to my new balcony.

 

Things have a way of working out by themselves. Things certainly haven’t been perfect and I’ve gone through things others couldn’t even fathom, but they all served to make me who I am and I won’t trade that. I was, and am, happy.

 

~~~~~     EPILOGUE 1      ~~~~~

 

A year has past since I morfed. I’ve spent the last year taking every MORFS science class I can. Sun City High ran out of courses for me to take, so I’ve been walking the few blocks to the local college during my lunch, and taking some of the classes there in the afternoons. I’ve read countless books, reports and papers on the fundamentals of elemental powers, but I’m still clueless as to what element I control. As I promised that woman, Grey’s mom, I’ve kept the extent of my powers a closely guarded secret. Not that I would walk around opening black holes, but to most people at the college, I’m just a hybrid girl with a strong interest in elemental studies.

 

I’ve just finished my latest class and I’m making the short walk to meet Amy. Then we’re heading over to her place. Apparently I need to help her get her homework done so we’ll be on time to meet Trance and Shine for our double date.

 

Lately, being with Amy is really the only time I view myself as a boy anymore, and even though I clearly played the male role in our relationship, I’m always referred to as her girlfriend. As I walk to her house I keep thinking back to the class I just finished. I have come to see myself as a woman and am proud to be one. I am also proud to be a hybrid. But am I even an elemental? The fact that I don’t have that answer still bothers me.

 

‘I’ve made up my mind. Purse! … Here’s my eCom, where is that card? Ah, there it is. A black business card. The only thing on it is a note and a number. It’s a good thing I memorized the number long ago. The card is dirty and falling apart.

 

‘This time I’m calling. I need to know.’ The phone  rang only twice before being answered. “Sanura, I’ve been waiting for you to call for a while now,” said a calm voice.

 

“I need to know what it is and how it works. I’ve researched it everywhere else. I need to know. Can you help me?”

 

 

~~~~~     EPILOGUE 2      ~~~~~

 

The light in the base of the chamber is the only light in the room. Over the last fourteen months since the system automatically activated, the child has grown into adolescence and is nearing adulthood. Soon the accelerated growth will stop, and the boy will awaken. The system has already forced his body to morf numerous times, as it was designed to.

 

The youth floats there in stasis, his pale white skin contrasting with the light blue nutrient rich fluid of the chamber. The only sound in the lab is the beeping of his heart rate monitor and the bubbling of his respirator tube. Every now and then his eyes lids will part and his red eyes shine in the dark.

 

 

 

The entire MORFS  Universe can be found at http://morfs.nowhere2go.org/