TFOS: Freddy On The Loose

by

Rodford Edmiston

Note: This story uses background and concepts from the Teenagers From Outer Space role-playing game, Copyright 2001 R. Talsorian Games, Inc. The characters and story are Copyright 2001 Rodford Edmiston Smith.

"Another two months and I'll have enough for a car!" Karen enthused, as she pulled her bike up even with his.

"Now what do you want with a car when you have a bike?" asked Freddy, grinning.

"Two words: Bad weather!"

"You don't even have a license, yet," Freddy pointed out.

"I'm taking Driver's Ed," said Karen. "I'll have it in a couple more months."

"Either that's an interesting coincidence, or you've been planning this for a while."

"Think what you want," said Karen, smirking a bit. "So, when are you gonna start working there?"

"I'm thinkin' 'bout it," drawled Freddy.

* * *

The day went uneventfully, for a change. For the most part Freddy breezed through his classes, mostly paying attention, but he was always thinking of gym class in the back of his mind. Eventually, it actually arrived.

As usual, the class started with the boys sitting in the bleachers on one side of the gym being addressed by Coach, and the girls on the other being addressed by Miz Klupper, and the others being addressed in smaller groups off in the corners. Freddy noted that Coach looked uncomfortable, and wondered if this was going to be another "hygiene" class.

"We're having a new, one-time special program for gym, Friday," said Coach, obviously unhappy at the prospect, "inspired by what happened yesterday. All the boys will be girls and taught by Miz Klupper. All the girls will be boys and taught by me."

"Huh?" said Freddy, whose reaction was quite mild compared to those of most of the other boys.

"Sorry, it's mandatory," said Coach, after waving down the noise. "If you're at school, you get changed for the class."

"Argh!" was the consensus.

"Appropriate wear will be provided by the school."

"How come you and Miz Klupper aren't changing?" came the shout from someone obviously hoping to remain anonymous.

"Because I'm not certified to teach girls and she isn't certified to teach boys," said Coach, reasonably. "Besides, this is for you students, not us. Remember, your parents or legal guardians, as a prerequisite for you being admitted to this experimental school, signed waivers which allow - uhm - educational experiences not found in other schools. Oh, and the neuters and herms are, of course, exempt from this."

All during class the students were talking about Friday's planned exchange program. Some kids - mostly girls - were looking forward to it. Even after the bell rang, it was still the major topic of discussion.

"Great," muttered Jim, as they headed for the locker rooms. "We finally get a way to stop someone from changing us, and now we have to change!"

"Only a few people have the pendants so far," Freddy pointed out.

"It's all a plot, I tell you!" said Jim, in mock paranoia. "They're trying to weaken the moral fiber of America by teaching non-traditional gender roles!"

That brought some snickers. As well as some glares from a few who thought for a moment he was voicing their own, fully legitimate concerns.

"My dad's gonna go apeshit!" one boy exclaimed.

"Just tell him you've been a girl and it's not so bad," said Freddy, grinning.

"I didn't get changed! The door was blocked before I got inside!"

"Then just tell him it's required emergency training," said another boy. "I mean, if we do get sniped again, we'll know how to handle it after this."

"You just want to be a girl, you pervert!"

The consensus shifted back and forth for a while, and finally settled on the majority stating that anyone who couldn't stand being a girl for one hour of gym was a sissy. Freddy thought that was probably more a matter of sour grapes than people being reasonable, but kept quiet.

* * *

"I'm so glad you decided to start working here," said Karen, hugging Freddy as he walked with her into the back of the store. "Even just one night a week. It gets creepy here, sometimes, with all these strangers staring at me."

"Not a problem," said Freddy. "Not only am I keeping you happy, I get access to all these weird alien gadgets!"

"Yeah, well, please don't buy a Boy/Girl Gun with your pay," said Karen, making it clear this was not a request. "With all that's happened lately, and that special gym class coming up Friday, I figure we'll have enough gender swapping by the time that's over to last a good long while."

"Oh. Okay. I still want one, but guess I can put it off." Freddy grinned. "Besides, if I need to, I can always get you to charge my Gender Guard."

"Oh, that reminds me: Sooltong says the contract negotiations are finished, and the Gender Guard factory units should start arriving by next Monday."

"Wow," said Freddy. "That's great. Hub is gonna be rich, though."

"Yeah," grinned Karen. "I hope it doesn't go to his head."

"So, what are we demonstrating today?"

"Pretty tame. Just some alien clothes."

* * *

"'Pretty tame,' she said," muttered Freddy, during lunch the next day, discreetly reaching under the table to rub the bandage on his crotch through his clothes. "Thing nearly ate my thing..."

Ramet snickered unsympathetically.

"How are you peeing?" Hub, ever the engineer, asked.

"With great difficulty," growled Freddy. "They put in a tube until the stitches come out."

"Doesn't seem to have affected your appetite," Ramet judged.

"Yeah, but everything tastes like medicine," muttered Freddy. "Bleah."

"It does taste a little Whoop!"

Ramet disappeared with a pop, reappeared instantly just under the ceiling and dropped to the floor. He bounced, almost to the ceiling again. From what Freddy could see, he'd was also losing control of his shape. Noises from around the cafeteria revealed that other aliens were having similar problems. Freddy stood to look around, confused.

"It's Tsoob!" exclaimed Hub, with alarm.

"Huh?" said Freddy, ducking as Bl'fff flew overhead, spinning, with fire shooting out of his mouth, accompanied by a tiny, tinny ringing.

"It boosts powers! Boy, am I glad I hadn't eaten anything, yet!"

"I didn't think you had any powers," yelped Freddy, as an alien at a nearby table was suddenly encased in a large lump of ice.

"I don't. This is minor, compared to what happens when someone without powers takes the stuff."

There was a two-beat pause as they stared at each other. Then Hub began rapidly backing away.

Carefully - very carefully - Freddy sat down, unconsciously pushing his plate back.

"Hey, don't worry," said Hub, quickly. "The effects are temporary, and after the initial reaction they're controllable."

"Yeah," said Freddy, faintly, "don't worry."

He jumped as Karen screamed. He looked around quickly at her as the sound died in a burble. Freddy jumped frantically for her, seeing her form go limp and fall backwards. He caught her by the waist, the head and the rump... and, confused by the crowd, looked up to see there were now three of him. Then he (They?) looked back down as Karen flowed out of his (Their?) hands. And her clothes.

She was now a tan puddle on the floor! The Freddies watched helplessly, clutching at the empty clothes. With a surge of relief, they saw the puddle shift, and form itself back into Karen. A naked Karen.

She looked up, saw three hemorrhaging-from-the-nose Freddies, and fainted, melting back into a puddle.

"C'mon, Karen," the Freddies plead in chorus. "Wake up! I don't think you can breath like that!"

The Freddies watched for a reaction, but before that could happen experienced a flash of dizziness and were suddenly one, again. Freddy felt a moment of relief, then returned to worrying about Karen. He put his hands tentatively on the tan puddle; it felt like warm, soft Silly Putty.

"Eewww," said Freddy, unable to help himself.

Still, he tried to push her slowly flowing substance together, to keep her from running all over the floor, or getting stepped on. He was caught by surprise when the puddle suddenly gathered itself and returned to Karen's shape, with Freddy's hands on her bare thigh and hip.

"Wow," was all he could think of, staring at his naked girlfriend.

"You pervert!" she screamed, grabbing for her clothes.

"It's not my fault," said Freddy in chorus, suddenly triplets again.

The three Freddies were so startled they looked at each other, instead of the frantically dressing Karen.

"What's happening?" she demanded, looking in confusion back and forth between the three copies of her boyfriend.

The Freddies sighed, and gave her the digest version.

"I bet this is some of the alien stuff that was stolen!" Karen declared.
Any further speculation was derailed, as a barely humanoid, dark brown blob shambled up, burbling at them. Karen screamed and threw herself at the middle Freddie, going liquid again.

Great, thought the Freddies, I'm gonna one-third drown inside my girlfriend...

Fortunately, Karen seemed to have some control, now. Her semi-fluid mass began crawling under the table. Since middle Freddy wasn't liquid, he bumped to a painful stop, while Karen continued. Freddie, now able to breathe with all his bodies, suddenly re-united. He looked up at the brown blob, thinking vaguely that at least he only had one-third the headache middle Freddy had had.

Something about the blob looked familiar. Sure enough, as Freddy stared it resolved itself into Ramet.

"I hate when that happens!" the angry youth yelled. "I'm gonna p'taghl whoever did this to me!"

"Us, Ramet, us. In case you hadn't noticed there's a lot of other people affected. Also if you're gonna be naked, could you at least turn into a girl?"

Ramet looked down, glared, and shifted to a non-anatomically-correct form of himself.

"Okay, that'll do," Freddy nodded. "Y'know, the Ken look suits you."

"This isn't a joking matter! As you so recently pointed out, nearly everyone in here is affected! Just look!"

Most of those in the cafeteria had already eaten at least some food, and all of it must have been dosed. There a pretty cheerleader was Monstering Out. (Though, oddly, the sight of her naked, 50-foot, obviously female body - or at least the part of it not rammed through the ceiling - did nothing to stimulate nasal bleeding in the males watching. Perhaps because of the leathery green skin.) There a boy ricocheted wildly around the room, emitting screams which were occasionally punctuated by meaty thuds and oofs as he collided with someone. To the left one of the teachers was floating upside-down, frantically trying to hold her skirt in place with one hand and her breasts with the other. To the right a guy was cowering in a corner, while a small, floating demon asked what he wanted this time.

People were breathing fire, shooting electric bolts from their fingertips and spraying webbing from places Freddy didn't want to think about. And the noise! The air was full of screams, yells, bangs, clangs, crashes, chirps, bops, urps, flops, pinging, ringing and singing. Freddy even thought he heard the trumpeting of an elephant.

Any further inspection was curtailed, however, as something slammed into Freddy from behind, sending him spinning into the table. He dropped to the floor, dazed. Karen, once again human, and still naked, crawled over to him and lifted his head.

* * *

"Oh, Freddy! Are you all right."

"Oooooh, yeah," said Freddy, a small trickle of blood coming from his nose as he stared at Karen's bare chest.

"You pervert!" sobbed Karen, too upset to clobber him.

"You seem to have temporarily gained the power to shapeshift," said Ramet. "Try changing into something less revealing."

Karen frowned... then smiled. She looked down at Freddy... and shifted into his shape.

"All right," chortled Karen. "This is payback for all the times you've looked at me naked! I'm gonna show everything you've got to the whole school!"

He stood, letting the weakly protesting Freddy's head clunk to the floor. Karen barely had time to stand and grin, when half a dozen girls screamed "You pervert!" and clobbered him with a table, three chairs, four trays and the Thursday Special.

Ramet lost his Cool, and fell to the floor in a fit of giggles, going rather soft around the edges in the process as he lost his concentration.

"Karen?" said Freddy, crawling over to the pile of debris.

He started to lift it, then noticed the familiar tan goo oozing out from under it. Freddy gently began pulling it from under the pile, alarmed at the way it stretched. Karen was completely limp, apparently unconscious. Freddy dragged/pushed her back under the table, and this time piled her clothes on top of her.

The chaos was dying down a little as people slowly gained control of their powers, new or improved. Freddy noticed Karen pulling herself back into her normal shape, but slowly. Deciding not to spy, Freddy began helping with the closest of the mess, putting tables and chairs back upright, performing first aide, and so forth. Until Ramet - now male again, and wearing makeshift clothes - called Freddy's attention to the table where he'd left Karen. Looking under there, he saw that she was back in human form, and wearing her underwear, but it was much to big for her. Or rather, she was too small for it.

"I shrunk!" Karen piped.

"Actually, I think Freddy left some of you under the pile of debris," said Ramet.

"Ewwww..." said Karen.

Freddy looked back and forth between them for a confused moment, then realized what they were talking about and turned to the pile. Frantic to uncover the rest of Karen, he suddenly multiplied again. Just accepting the help, the Freddies quickly unpiled the stuff (being very careful with the Thursday Special; it was already trying to escape). There, under the tabletop, was a small, tan puddle. The Freddies sighed with relief, and pulled themselves back together.

"I'd help," said Ramet, concerned, watching from beside Freddy, "but it's a bad idea for two shapeshifters with malfunctioning powers to touch. They might not be able to untouch."

Meanwhile, the puddle shifted into Karen's shape, at a much reduced size. The Mini-Karen looked up at Freddy, screamed shrilly and tried to cover herself with her hands.

"You pervert! And how'd I shrink?" she cried, in a voice so small and high-pitched Freddy could barely hear it.

"Uh, you didn't" said Freddy, staring. "Most of you's over there."

Mini-Karen winced, covered her ears from his (to her) thunderous voice, and turned to look in the direction indicated. She stared at Most-of-Karen, who was peering wide-eyed out from under the table. Mini-Karen quickly grabbed a napkin, wrapped it around her small self and ran to her larger portion. Once she neared, however, Mini-Karen stopped, staring in confusion at her larger self. Most-of-Karen hesitantly reached out to touch her smaller self, who shied back a bit, then nerved herself and reached out a tiny hand to the larger one. For a moment they just touched. Then they flowed together, Mini-Karen making a tiny shriek, and Mostly-Karen a strange sound of wonder.

"You mean that could have happened between you and...?" asked Freddy, nauseous.

"It sure could have," Ramet confirmed, nodding.

"That was so weird," Karen said, shaking her head. "Are you sure that's all of me? I'd hate for any to be left out when this quits."

"You seem to be filling out your bra okay," said Freddy, admiringly.

"Hey!" snapped All-Karen, grabbing her dress. "You turn your back! In fact, scoot over here to block everyone's view!"

By the time Karen was ready to crawl out from under the table the chaos had settled down considerably. People who hadn't been affected and those who were getting their powers under control were helping the rest; the injured and the still out of control.

"What a party!" gurgled Hrpblple, rolling drunkenly by.

* * *

"Well, that sure ruined my appetite," sighed Karen, staring at her hand as she shifted it.

First she simply made it larger; then she made it small, slim, three-fingered and elfin; then big and hairy-knuckled; then a claw.

"That's really freaking me out," said Freddy. "Hub, how much longer did you say this would last?"

"It varies with the individual and the amount eaten, and the specific effect," the big alien replied. "Some people are already back to normal."

Karen, tired of playing with just her hand, turned her skin green and her hair chartreuse. She stuck her purple tongue out at Freddy when he snickered at her. Then she doubled her chest size. Then quickly changed back when several guys, including Freddy, suddenly started gushering blood from their noses.

"This could be fun, actually," she announced, turning herself blond and very tan. "What happens if I'm in another shape when it quits? Would I be stuck that way?"

"Probably not," said Hub. "Also, you can feel it wearing off, too. The direct effects of the drug are pretty safe."

Karen turned her entire right arm into a tentacle, complete with suckers.

"Yeah, but the indirect effects..." said Freddy, glancing at the gym floor. Then, as Karen slid her tentacle up the back of his shirt, "Hoo-wooop!"

Following the event the whole school had been assembled here. The non or slightly injured students were put in the bleachers. The seriously injured were lying on the gym floor, being tended.

The Alien Control Office had been called, and large numbers of their operatives - investigators and enforcement people - sent to Contact High via the emergency teleporter in the basement. Under their supervision the drugging of the food was already being investigated. Meanwhile, medical people with appropriate experience were on their way. Freddy shook his head over the investigation people arriving before the medical ones. Apparently, whoever took the call had a strange sense of priorities.

Karen changed into a werewolf girl, threw her head back and howled. Freddy slid cautiously away from her.

"Y'know, this is different from the gender sniping," mused Freddy, trying not to stare at Karen, which would only encourage her. "That was pretty harmless. This, well, it might have been meant as a prank, but it didn't turn out that way."

Karen turned into a bald, spindly, big-eyed alien, and made squeaking noises while posing. The effect was lessened by Karen's dress.

"If whoever is doing this meant it as a prank, without anyone being hurt, maybe this result will make them stop," said Hub. "Uh, Karen, don't let them catch you making fun of them like that."

The alien shrugged, and changed into ET.

"Don't count on it," snapped Ramet, who had been ominously quiet until then. "Besides, I still must exact my revenge!"

Karen turned into a Klingon. A *male* Klingon, who, wearing Karen's dress, was in drag.

"I shall help you avenge this insult to your honor."

"Oh, boy..." sighed Freddy.

End Part Six

The stuff was originally named Boost, but since this was first written a certain energy drink has become popular. Therefore, it is now Tsoob.