Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

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The Legal Stuff: Emerald Princess © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Chapter 25: Sparring

‘SOMEHOW, I THINK Hannah will be getting me as soon as we return to the dorm too.’ I thought as I looked at Hannah’s serious face.

Caireen seemed to nod, ‘I’m sorry, Sofia, I should have helped you remain a little calmer… but the truth is that little witch deserved it.’

I forced myself to not show the smile I thought at that.

“Sora, do you have anything to add?”

“Well, in all honesty, Captain, this was a harmless prank by Bechtel’s standards, and you know Streaked was egging her on. It was also a no-visitor day…?”

Captain Tilling glared at each of us in turn before saying, “Here’s the deal. My first instinct is to punish both Emerald and Streaked for their actions. I think, though, that Sora is right.” he paused and glared. “You will stay away from them,” he said to Streaked, “if I hear of any contact, I will give you two weeks of detention cleaning the worst rooms in the containment labs,” I watched Streaked shrink down in her chair. “And you, Emerald, will leave Streaked alone. Of course, if she directly attacks you, then by all means, you may defend yourself. Still, any more magical changes of clothes, appearance, or other tricks on her by you will result in the alternative forms of punishment that were suggested.”

I nodded, feeling my diaper warm. “Yes, sir,” I said. I heard other voices join mine before he said, “Okay, you all, get out of my office, and I’d better not see you back here!”

With that, we all split from the building as quickly as we could. Streaked ran off as fast as she could move, which was pretty fast, leaving just Camille with Hannah and me. “I need to get to class,” Camille sighed, “I’ll see you two tonight after class!”

I watched her run away, and Hannah checked her watch before hurriedly walking us towards our appointment with the health services doctor.

Hannah was still angry as she opened the clinic door with a crash, which startled me a bit. Unintentionally I let out a whimper. She looked down at me and sighed, “Sofia, I’m sorry, it’s going to take me time to get used to all of this. Since you changed Streaked’s clothes, my instinct has been to take your diaper off and give you a spanking.”

I whimpered again.

“I won’t do it this time,” she told me.

“This time?”

“That’s one of those alternate punishments Sofia.” She gave me a hug as she said it and rubbed my back.

“But…”

“Yes, your cute little butt can and will get spanked if that happens again.” She pushed me a bit farther back from her face to look into my eyes, “Caireen, that’s your tush too. Don’t you dare do something like that again!”

I felt Caireen stir and take over; she was angry. “Silly little girl, you think I will let you just abuse Sofia? Yes, maybe it was impulsive, and I took on a bit of Sofia’s immaturity. Still, at the same time, that was a calculated attack by me. I guarantee Streaked would cause more trouble if we didn’t respond.”

“What do you mean?” Hannah asked as she started to move again after looking at a clock.

“I mean, she planned to use a spell right then to do to you what we did to her.”

I went ‘huh’ at the same time as Hannah said it.

“Alright then… Caireen, you must know there will be a time or two as a mother I may need to spank Sofia.”

“If she deserves it, I’ll let you do it.”

I grumbled in my head as she let me take over. Hannah tightened her hold on me and kissed my head. “Sorry for doubting you.”

I plopped my pacifier back in my mouth and leaned against her shoulder as she walked into the office. She walked up to the receptionist’s desk and said, “Hi, I’m Hannah, and this is Sofia. We’re here for our medical checkups?”

A plump lady looked up from her computer and said, “Oh my land, aren’t you just the most precious thing?” Her accent was the most stereotypical Georgia peach accent I had ever heard. I felt my body blush from my toes to my red hair.

“Sofia…” Hannah prompted.

I sighed, “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Well, don’t you have great manners, young lady?” She gave Hannah the look of someone judging her for being a teen mother.

“Thank you,” I said, “My mom back home tried her best to teach me.”

I saw her eyes open. She looked down at her list and said, “I’m so sorry, sweetheart!”

“It’s okay, Ma’am,” Hannah said for us, “it’s been a weird couple of weeks for us, and we don’t expect strangers to figure out the facts on sight.”

The lady nodded, “Well…” she seemed to try and think, “okay…” she looked down at her desk, “we have all of your information from your registration and yesterday. So, you’ll just need to wait for Doctor Cori, and we can get you both all sorted.”

“Thank you,” I said wearily.

Hannah carried me back to a chair in the lounge, and I sucked contentedly on my pacifier. “You thirsty?” She asked me.

I looked at her as if ‘not again,’ and she laughed. She produced a bottle of apple juice that she exchanged with me for my pacifier. Just to be safe, she clipped my pacifier onto my blouse. “So that’s getting old…” she said aloud.

I whispered, “well, you could nurse me in front of her… that’d convince her I’m yours for certain.”

Hannah giggled and muttered, “behave, Sofia!”

Thankfully we were late and didn’t have to wait too long for the Doctor to come out. “Hannah? Sofia?” He asked.

“Right here,” Hannah said and stood up.

“We can either take you one at a time or do both at once?” He suggested. He seemed to linger with his look more at me.

“Might as well both go back. It’s not like there’s an inch of my body to hide from Hannah,” I told him with a shrug.

“Same here,” Hannah added.

Doctor Cori led us through a typical doctor’s office corridor before opening the examination room door. I thought it was unusual that a nurse hadn’t done that for him. He seemed to sense my thoughts, “My normal main nurse is busy taking care of an emergency case down the hallway, so you just get me today. Really there’s not a lot of tests that a nurse would do that wasn’t already done yesterday during your initial workup.”

“Oh, okay,” I said aloud.

Indeed, he had two massive folders in his hands that must have contained our medical records and everything they had done to us yesterday. “Sofia, why don’t we start with you,” he said gently. “Hannah, would you set her down on the table here?”

Hannah gently set me down where he directed. He approached us. “Okay, I know you were just given a full physical Sofia, but with everything we see here, it’s best to do everything again here.”

“Everything?!?” I asked nervously.

He shrugged, “Everything.”

“This sucks…”

“Sofia…” Hannah scolded me.

“Hannah, Sofia, could you strip her down to her diaper?” He said, “Here is a gown for her and you if you’ll change into them.”

“This is a… full physical?” I noticed Hannah finally getting it.

“Yes.”

“This sucks…” She repeated.

“Hannah, language…” I mock-scolded her and received a glare that would have burnt me to a crisp if I was still a boy. Luckily my new girl shield protected me from it!

Doctor Cori left, and we followed his instructions. “Your diaper is wet, Sofia, but I have a feeling he’s going to want in there anyway…?” Hannah told me.

“I know…”

The next hour was embarrassing for both of us. Doctor Cori did a complete physical on me before he had Hannah dress me, and she had her own. He had her pump a bit more milk out for additional testing, as well as performed a physical that was even more thorough than mine. I tactfully sat in a chair away from them, drinking a bottle while hers was done.

“Okay,” Doctor Cori said, “You both seem healthy. But, Hannah, you are lactating far more than a normal mother. We did take the sample you provided yesterday and tested it. It obviously isn’t showing any harmful effects on Sofia. Still, our lab would like to experiment with it before we say it’s okay to feed any other babies… or others. We believe it probably is safe and might even have some healing properties, but until we’re sure, it’s best to play it safe.”

“Okay,” Hannah nodded, unsurprised. “Anything else that we need to be aware of?”

“I think your body will probably be filling out and maturing the rest of the way into your early twenties fairly quickly. This is based on your hormone levels from yesterday’s blood samples. I want to see you again for a checkup in six weeks.”

“And me?” I asked

“Sofia, there is no doubt that you are the healthiest baby in the world. I don’t see anything wrong with you at all. However, you can probably skip a routine visit for another six months unless something comes up.”

“What about her incontinence issues?” Hannah asked, and I blushed.

“Unless she grows or changes in some other way, I don’t believe there will be any real progress there. Everything about her is normal for a twenty-month-old.”

“Twenty months?”

“You should get a full report later. The test you took last night looked at your dental structures, bone structure, and everything developmentally. The conclusions were that your body is right on target for an eighteen to twenty-month-old.”

“So, I could be really an eighteen-month-old? I’m not even two years old?!?” I whined.

“Well, we’re not necessarily putting it in the system like that,” he smiled.

Hannah hugged me and then asked, “Okay, so what else do we need to do here?”

He shook his head, “You’re all finished. We’ll finish analyzing blood work and such, but I think you’re both cleared from a medical standpoint.”

“Could we have a few minutes of privacy before we head off to Sofia’s martial arts testing?”

He looked at her and said, “Of course, if you need to nurse here, there’s no problem. I’m also noting in your file that considerations for nursing or pumping must be accommodated discreetly for you.”

“Thanks,” Hannah blushed.

He closed the door, and she said, “Please?”

I couldn’t tell he had taken another sample from her… she seemed to be full again already! Half an hour later, she changed my messy diaper, and we headed to the building, where I was told to meet with Sensei Kwon. In the locker room, I asked Caireen, ‘May I please have my Gi?’

She seemed to smile, ‘Sure,’ she said.

I had a replica of my Gi from back home in a flash but in a smaller size. She’d even added my black belt with the second stripe. The only thing that didn’t make sense is it didn’t quite feel right. So I moved the fabric back at my waist and saw that she had somehow made a onesie attachment. ‘Why?’

‘It works better with your blouses and will probably help your diaper not fall off during your training,’ she told me.

‘Oh.’

“You look so adorable!” Hannah cooed at me.

I sighed and walked with her to the main room, where a few other students in groups were practicing. An older gentleman who seemed to exude experience saw us and came over. I bowed respectfully to him. “Sensei, I was told I needed to see you for martial arts placement.”

He also bowed to me and replied, “You are Sofia?”

“Yes, Sensei.”

“And that makes you Hannah?”

She seemed awkward in her regular uniform and responded, “Yes, Sensei.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you both; I am known to most of the students as Sensei Kwon. I see Sofia, you wear a belt with a second degree. Which style?”

“Tae Kwon Do,” I responded and spent a few minutes having a respectful conversation where he asked my thoughts on my strengths and weaknesses.

“You have just tested for that belt, though?” He asked after a while.

“Yes, Sensei.”

He led us to a mat. “Then let me see your katas,” he started off. Over the next two hours, he put me through my paces completely.

“Not bad,” Sensei Kwon said, “I can tell you’re still getting used to a new center of gravity, but you’re not off by much. Would you mind sparring with some of the advanced students now?”

I nodded enthusiastically, “Sure!” It would be the most adult thing I had done since I changed!

“Efferous, would you please come over here,” he called to a girl on the other side of the room.

As she came over, I could see that she was probably close to my old height… which meant she might as well be a giant now! Her eyes were an odd amber color with a Mergent glow. “Hi,” she waved at me like I was a real baby, “what’s your name?”

“Sofia,” I said.

“Came dressed up with your mommy today for testing?” she asked. Apparently, she hadn’t paid attention to my forms at all.

“Something like that,” I said.

Her eyes shifted a little, but before she could say anything else, Sensei Kwon said, “Efferous, I would like you to spar with Emerald here.”

She looked up at Hannah and asked, “Is she going to change first?”

I laughed, and Hannah looked worried. “I’m Emerald, not her,” I told her.

“You want me to spar with a baby?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, Sensei,” she said respectfully. However, you could see she had her doubts.

“Take your places,” Sensei ordered.

I stood opposite her and bowed.

“Shee-jawk!” He ordered, and I watched her try to decide what to do.

Ultimately, she wasn’t willing to do anything other than circle me, so I decided to attack first. First, I jumped into the air with a kick to her stomach. That seemed to surprise her entirely with how much it hurt! Next, she went to grapple with me, but I managed to wriggle free. She nearly made me cry with a loud animal-like howl at one point, but I kept moving. I continued to leap and kick at her for several minutes, with her only managing to land one blow on me when Sensei Kwon concluded the match.

“You’re stronger than you look!” Efferous said woozily.

I shook the hand, and she leaned down and said, “Thanks.”

“Remember Efferous to never underestimate your opponent by their appearance!” Sensei reminded her.

“Yes, Sensei.” She said and smiled at me.

Sensei Kwon had me spar with two other individuals, and I collected quite a crowd on the sides. However, it took several shocked opponents before I had one get the best of me.

A girl codenamed Celer was a speedster. I figured out quickly Celer was like in ‘accelerate.’ I tried doing the same kicks and punches I had been doing, but she was so fast that she would dodge in and out. She finally went around and around me like some cartoon, and I got caught off balance trying to follow her. She jokingly spanked my bottom at the time and said, “Bad baby!”

I was embarrassed but forced myself to laugh to save face. Celer hugged me after we bowed and said, “I so want to hang out with you sometime! You’re too cute!”

Sensei Kwon led us to an office and said, “Okay, Sofia, it is clear you will do very well in my advanced martial arts class. We will work to round out your education with other styles, though. As accomplished as you are at Taekwondo, you should be able to learn and advance in several other styles very quickly.”

“Yes, Sensei.”

“Hannah, I would recommend you join the entry class. I think it will be invaluable for you to study and train. Sofia here can help tutor you, and you should be able to learn quickly.”

“Yes, sir,” she said.

He dismissed us, saying, “Thank you for stopping by. I’ll pass along my recommendation for placements to Mrs. Hensley. I believe she’s handling you two personally?”

We nodded, and Hannah said, “We’re supposed to meet with her after lunch.”

“Then you probably should get a move on if you want to change Sofia and eat before that meeting!”

I frowned. Sure enough, we went to the locker room, and I had a dirty diaper to have changed. I did my best to act calm as the next girls’ class came in to get changed for their class. “She’s sooo adorable!” One girl said with a smile right when Hannah had a wipe on my butt.

I was mortified.

Once Hannah had a new diaper on me, Caireen changed us back into my uniform with magic. Hannah washed her hands, and we exited with about half of the girls still cooing over me. I pulled my pacifier from my put-away purse and pouted while I sucked on it.

Hannah patted me on the back and said, “Once we get some lunch in your tummy, you’ll feel better.”

I sighed, “I really want a shower.”

“I didn’t even think of that… I don’t think we really have time, though.”

“How about you? How are you doing?” I asked, thinking it had been a few hours.

“I snuck away and pumped while you were testing,” she told me.

She carried me to the Friar Hall, and we quickly made our way through the food line and to our usual table. We arrived as Camille was telling Esmie about Ewe apparently trying to pick on another student that morning. The kid apparently transformed into a spider and sent Ewe screaming away just by his appearance. “I’d be scared by a ten-foot-tall spider too, though,” Lizi admitted.

I nodded. I hated spiders, so I would have been crying and running before the change. Now I think I would just send one of my spells at it...

Hannah had placed a bottle of her milk on the table in front of me, and I found myself nursing it and ignoring the plate of food. I only had made it about halfway through my plate of food, and now I was skipping it altogether. For some reason, I was craving that taste more than the fettuccine alfredo. Hannah gave me a sideways glance and a concerned look but didn’t say anything. I think she and I both knew I was getting nervous leading up to our meeting with Mrs. Hensley. ‘What’s my schedule going to be like?’ I thought.

‘It’ll be fine, Sofia,’ Caireen cooed at me.

‘But… Also, what will I do with getting to classes on my own? I haven’t even walked across the campus by myself once yet.’

‘You were fine an hour ago sparring; you’ll be fine getting across campus.’ But, she reminded me, ‘besides, all you have to do is make one cute look at a girl, put your arms up, and I guarantee you they’ll happily carry you across this planet.’

I nodded to her mentally and realized my bottle was empty. Hannah picked me up right then, and I felt her discreetly check my diaper. I looked at her, and she shook her head, “Dry,” she mouthed.

I was surprised; maybe that’s why I was craving the bottle? ‘You might be dehydrated from sparring,’ Caireen said.

‘You’re probably right.’ I acknowledged.

“Come on, Sofia,” Hannah said to me. She grabbed my diaper bag, and we sat off to walk to Mrs. Hensley’s office with a chorus of ‘good lucks’ from our new friends. “It’ll be okay, Sofia, I promise!”

Hannah’s hug helped me believe that as we made our way out of the Friar Hall.

 
 

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