by Britney McMaster
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. Follow Sanura Miller as she copes with her new life and learns about some strange new powers.
NEW!
[Sanura's Tale: Part 6] - 06-05-10
[Sanura's Tale: Part 5] - 06-05-10
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. Follow Jason Miller as he goes through his MORFS, tries to adapt, and learns about some strange new powers. This is the first story in the MORFS Universe.
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. Follow Jason Miller as he goes through his MORFS, tries to adapt, and learns about some strange new powers. This is the first story in the MORFS Universe.
(A MORFS Universe Story)
By Britney McMaster
Introduction
As I sat in the passenger seat of Mom's car, I felt sick to my stomach. I had felt that way for the past two days. Afraid that it was more than just stomach flu, Mom had taken me to the family doctor. I now had even more to worry about than just not feeling well.
Dr. Perry's words continued to repeat over and over again in my head. "According to your test results, your body has entered the first stage of the MORF syndrome. Jason, are you familiar with what MORFS is?" I simply nodded my head in response as the news sunk in.
As we drove in silence, I was deep in thought. I knew a lot about MORFS, but no one knew enough, and maybe they never will. MORFS was originally launched on the world's population by means of a genetically engineered virus. It had been started as an attempt at a chemical weapon by a group of terrorists back in the early 2000s. The virus they engineered was a common bug that caused nausea, vomiting, and sometimes diarrhea. It wasn't serious, everyone recovered in a few days, and so no one had tried to make a vaccine to prevent it right away.
At the time of the original release of the infection, there seemed to be no immediate effect from the agent, other than the usual nausea symptoms, so again no anti-virus was made. Over the next six months, the virus passed over the whole globe unnoticed. The virus spread everywhere. All vertebrate animals that experienced some form of puberty contracted the virus, including all mammals and even reptiles and birds.
Several months after that, some researchers who noted some strange changes in adolescent lab mice discovered that the virus was altering one section of their DNA. The DNA strand in particular was one that happened to be activated during the process of puberty. It somehow caused a varying degree of scrambling of genes across all chromosomes as cells reproduced. Since the scrambling varied from individual to individual, each adolescent mouse experienced different changes. It didn't take long after that for them to discover that all vertebrate species, including humans, had been similarly affected, even though the effects had not started showing up yet in all species.
More recent research has revealed that the particular portion of DNA that was affected by the virus is one that is supposed to protect and regulate the integrity of an individual's genome. The mutated portion essentially disables all or part of that activity, thus allowing many other mutations and gene swaps to appear and survive.
At first, the scientists had been puzzled as to why only some individuals of any species were affected. It took them a couple years to discover that, although the changes only happened during puberty, they were only brought about when an individual became infected with any of the viruses in the family of the original engineered virus. Some individuals of some species apparently were naturally resistant to such infections, so they never experienced any changes.
Of course, there was a crash research effort to try to find a vaccine for that whole family of viruses, but it was soon discovered that that family mutated rapidly and always seemed to outpace the development of an effective vaccine. It’s like they say; there's no cure for the common cold.
Meanwhile, the first effects in adolescent humans began to appear. It seemed as though only about 50% of kids had any detectable changes due to the altered strand. About 15% of that 50% developed extraordinary abilities and/or body changes. And about 1% of that 15% developed what would be called supernatural abilities. Another fair percentage seemed to show signs of hybridization with other species, with highly variable results.
This had all started about forty years ago. However, with everyone carrying this altered DNA strand, it was passed down to all the children of that and subsequent generations. Sometimes changed forms and/or abilities of parents were passed down as well.
The scientists had named this phenomenon "Massive Ontogenetic Regulation Failure Syndrome," commonly known as MORFS.
The older generations had nothing to worry about, but kids my age were suddenly faced with the possibility of dramatic life changes as they entered puberty. Ever since then, every kid has had to anticipate the likelihood of MORFing, as well as all the other adolescent changes.
That brings us to the present, with me sitting in Mom's car feeling like death warmed over.
Chapter 1: My Changes
My name is Jason Miller, I'm 15 years old, and I'm 6'2". I'm in grade 10, and I'm on the boys' basketball team. That day my life changed completely, whether for the better or the worse it's sometimes hard to tell, I'll never forget that day, the 11th of April 2048.
Being 15, I had been hoping that I had avoided MORFing. However, the changes could be triggered as late as 17. Now you're probably wondering why I wasn't excited about the prospect of possibly getting super powers. The thing is that MORFS could really leave you physically messed up. The chances of getting super powers without any side effects were pretty slim. It seemed as though there was no limit to the extent of what MORFS could do to you.
So, not only did I get to deal with the extreme nausea that accompanied MORFS, I got to deal with my imagination thinking of all the possible changes that might happen. I guess I didn't have it really bad. The first generation affected by the change had to endure a slow change that lasted for months. Luckily for me, the medical field has come up with ways to make the change faster and less uncomfortable. That was why we had just made a stop at the pharmacy.
The plan was that for the next few days I would be spending a lot of time asleep in bed. Taking the pills I was prescribed would leave me unconscious for almost 18 hours at a time. In between sleeping, I would be taking what was called an "energy pack" to supply my change with the required nutrients. The energy packs are the wonderful invention that caused the duration of the change to go from lasting several months to just a few days.
The ride home was somber. Mom and I were both aware that my life could drastically change in the next week. Shortly after arriving at home, l stripped down to my boxers and got in bed. I sat there and drank an energy pack before taking one of the pills and drifting off to sleep. As I slept my changes began.
I felt like crap when I woke up the first time. I also had to pee really badly. I rolled out of my bed and stumbled out of my room and across the hall into the bathroom. It was about then that I realized that I had made my dash to the toilet completely naked. I must have kicked off my boxers while I was asleep. Still feeling somewhat dizzy, I sat down to relieve myself and then slowly made my way back to bed.
I was in for a surprise when I put my boxers back on. I slipped them on and pulled them up to my waist, only to have them promptly fall back down. Somehow I had shrunk. I was tempted to go and look at myself in the mirror. Instead, I decided to ride out the changes before looking at my reflection. Hopping back into bed after taking another energy pack, I took another pill and soon drifted off to sleep.
Damn virus. So, after two days I broke my resolve and looked in the mirror. I looked way different. Apparently the virus was making me shorter. I was now what looked like a little under five feet tall and looked like I belonged in grade school. The sweatshirt I was wearing was practically hanging off of me. My hair had changed from its normal short, dark brown to a really shiny, thick black that reached my shoulders. My eyes looked bigger than normal and seemed to be a darker shade of blue. My ears looked odd as well, but I couldn't quite place what was wrong with them.
I started to get angry as I realized how I already looked like a damn preteen kid, and I still wasn't finished with the changes. I stared into the mirror with disgust for several more minutes while my imagination once again addressed all of the possible results of my change. After going through the energy pack and pill ritual, I slipped into bed and passed out.
I'd now been asleep for the better part of four days. This change was taking way too long. I should have been through the change by now; normally it only lasts about three days. Judging by my reflection, the virus was trying its best to make me a freak.
My ears were now very different. They had somehow migrated higher up on my head and were kind of pointed. They were now surrounded by my thick mane of hair. They were also kind of pointed and looked much larger than normal. My eyes were now a very deep vibrant blue and were surrounded by thick black lashes. The rest of my face wasn't much better. My eyebrows looked way too thin. My lips were even worse. They had become full and made me look like I was pouting all the time. The damn virus had left me looking like an effeminate ten-year-old boy.
Despite my willing myself not to, I started to cry. I'm not sure how long I stood there crying, but it seemed like forever. Feeling tired all of a sudden, I went back to my room and got back in bed. I continued crying until the medication helped me to drift into a dreamless slumber.
Day five brought some really unwanted changes – I was aware of them the moment I awoke. In a strange way, my ears looked somewhat normal. Normal for a cat, that is. They now looked just like a pair of large cat ears, covered in a sort of charcoal gray coloured fur. I now even had a tail to match my ears. It was also covered in the same gray fur and was long enough that it brushed my ankles as it gently swayed back and forth, seemingly with a mind of it own. My hands and forearms were lightly covered in the same fur and looked bigger than usual. My nails had also changed and now resembled claws. They were even retractable.
What was worse was that I now looked even more like a girl. My hair was longer and thicker than it had been the day before. My waist had become thinner, while my hips had become wider. My butt looked 'cute.' It was nice and round like a girl's butt. I also appeared to be sporting a small pair of tits. To make matters even worse, my dick had somehow pulled itself up inside me. Sure, it came back down when I had to pee, but the rest of the time I was left looking like a girl.
There was no way I was going to go back to school looking like this. I'd be lynched!
After seven days of feeling like I was going to die, I woke up without any pain or discomfort. The change was finally over! Now I had to deal with the final results. Dreading what I would discover, I quickly ran to the bathroom in nothing but my now overly large sweatshirt.
As I inspected myself in the mirror, I noticed that there had been very few visible changes since last time I checked, but they were noticeable. I now definitely looked like a girl. My boobs were much bigger, and my face was prettier, but I definitely looked to be a girl between my legs. I stood there just looking down at my new anatomy. I might have still been a virgin, but I wasn't stupid. I now had a vagina. I was afraid to touch it and just continued to stare at it for several more minutes, but after a quick check I discovered that I still had a penis as well, although it was playing marsupial, as it remained tucked up inside my abdomen.
My eyes were among the few other new changes I noticed. The pupils were now a pair of catlike slits. My hands now looked more like paws than hands. They were now covered in a thick gray fur up to my elbows and had very menacing looking claws at the end of each finger. My hands were much bigger than normal and, in a frightening way, didn't look out of place on my new body. After looking at my hands, I glanced down at my feet. At least they still looked human, well, except for the claws and looking like girls' feet, they were normal, no fur anywhere down there. One other change I noticed was that I now had more feline-like teeth. I had fangs. I turned this way and that in front of the mirror looking at the new me. My new tail seemed to repeatedly attract my gaze. How the hell was I going to wear my underwear?
Chapter 2: Early Days
As I was staring at the new me, there was a knock on the bathroom door.
"Yeah?" Oh man! Even my voice had changed, I sounded like a girl.
"Jase? Are you feeling OK? You've been in there for awhile."
"I'm actually feeling alright. I think I'm done with my change... It seems like I got the works... I look a lot different, Mom."
"I know, Jase. I've been checking in on you while you've been sleeping. Why don't you go get dressed? I've put out some new clothes for you that should fit. They're on your bed."
"OK, thanks, Mom."
I stuck my head out the door to make sure Mom had left before running across the hall to my room. After all, I was practically naked. Lying on my bed was a set of girls' clothes. They looked so small. But then again, I was that small now. Ugh. I walked over to the bed and picked up the panties. They seemed to be plain enough in a simple white brief style and it appeared that Mom had modified them in the back using a little elastic and some strategic cuts and stitching. Also on the bed was a plain white bra. Reluctantly, I slid the panties on and was surprised at how comfortable they were. They were snug but fit really well, although fishing my tail through the hole in back was like trying to move a semi-numb third leg that I wasn't used to at all. As I said before, it seemed to have a mind of its own. Next I got to struggle with the bra. At least it was a sports bra, so I didn't have to try to hook it behind my back.
The clothes weren't too girlie either, just a pair of red sweats and a white tee shirt. Mom had also gone to work on the pants as they fit perfectly around my tail and tied in back above the tail using the modified drawstring waist of the pants. The shirt was a little tight in the chest, and the pants were clinging to my butt as if they were painted on, but they fit and they were comfortable.
Mom greeted me with a much-needed hug when I came into the living room. "How do the clothes fit, sweetie?"
I told her that they were a good fit, except that they would take some getting used to. Mom and I talked for a few hours about how I was feeling, and I was given the homework assignment of picking a new girl's name for myself before I went back to school on Monday (only three days till I had to face THAT).
Once again, I sat in Mom's car, staring out the window, as we headed to see the doctor. Shortly after we arrived, I was ushered into an empty room and told to strip down.
For the next few hours, I ran the gauntlet of post-MORFS tests. I was now officially 4' 10" and 92lbs, according to Dr. Perry. I was poked and prodded and gave the doctors samples of almost everything. The breast exam was so embarrassing; I didn't think I would get so aroused and even that feeling was different thanks to my new equipment. And they were so sensitive. I think the good doc got a little startled when my erection emerged from its hiding spot.
I had thought I couldn't be more embarrassed than when the doctor gave me the breast exam, until he had me bend over while I received a prostate exam. It felt like someone put an umbrella in there and then opened it. I felt I couldn't be more degraded than having my anus invaded, and again I was wrong as the doctor had me place my legs up in the stirrups. That was an experience all in itself, and one I'd like to forget. It was cold and uncomfortable, and I just wanted to cry. With my eyes tightly closed, I clenched my teeth and tried to endure it.
Finally the tests were over, and I was given several forms to give to the school and some other paperwork for our lawyer. Then, with a clear bill of health, Mom and I headed for the mall to do some shopping. I had a lot to think about on the way there. Not only was I now a cat person, but I was also a fully functioning hermaphrodite. Life was definitely not fair!
We ran into one main problem while trying to find me some clothes. That was that pants don't accommodate for a tail. What I ended up with was several pairs of pants that mom would have to alter later. We eventually ended up at a different mall that had a store that catered to the clothing needs of stranger MORFs like me. Over the next hour I tried on dozens of different pants and skirts that were marked by the salesgirl and were sent off to be tailored for me.
Mom insisted on getting me a dozen of the skirts that I tried on, even though I refused to wear them. They did, however, sell a range of underwear for those with tails. The problem was that most of the panties were in a thong style. All the panties either had an elasticized hole in back or had a sort of keyhole cut out that went around the tail and then tied or clasped together above it. Wearing a thong wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. It had felt really weird at first, but after a little while, I could barely even feel it back there.
After a quick lunch in the food court, I was begging Mom to leave. I was not used to spending so much time shopping and was really getting tired, especially right after my change. I was also getting a lot of lustful looks from the guys at the mall and, with myself still not used to my new appearance, I was really not comfortable with being in public. Make-up was another unneeded item that Mom purchased before we left. Finally, we finished shopping and I was able to go home and rest.
It had been a really long day already, and it was only four o'clock. I spent the next hour packing up all my old clothes and putting away my new ones. I was in the kitchen getting a drink of milk when the garage door opened and in walked my dad. He looked over at me and then came over and gave me a hug. It annoyed me that he had to almost kneel down to do so, but it felt good to get a hug from him.
The hug lasted for several minutes, and then he stood back up to his full height of eight feet. I felt like an ant standing next to him. You see, Dad is a hybrid (that's what they call people who develop animal characteristics from MORFS) like me; he's part polar bear and is mostly covered in a pure white fur. Maybe animal morphs run in our family; we'll see what happens to my sister when she gets MORFS.
Dad and I talked for a little while in the living room. He was being so supportive that it was hard for me to feel sorry for myself. We were still talking when my 13-year-old sister, Crystal, came home and, walking into the room, shouted, "Jason, you look cute as a little cat girl. It suits you." She then burst into a fit of laughter. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes as my face burned with anger and shame. Dad was not impressed at her outburst and promptly grounded her for a week. As for myself, I ran to my room trying to hide my tears.
I had a sleepless night. How could I sleep when my entire body felt foreign to me? I tossed and turned for hours. I frequently got out of bed to look at myself in the mirror.
The girl in the mirror was actually quite pretty. She had a nice figure. She had an athletic build that enhanced her womanly curves in a very attractive way. Her face was beautiful and was framed by her long shiny black hair - hair so black that it gave a faint dark blue shine as the moonlight through the window hit it. Her large blue catlike eyes were so appealing in an exotic way, and they sparkled beautifully in the dim light. They were eyes you could get lost in. Her full lips looked so kissable and had a natural pale pink shine to them that gave the illusion that she was wearing make-up.
The girl in the mirror looked beautiful as she stared back at me. Her light blue nightgown made her look even more beautiful as its hem swayed gently around her upper thighs as she moved one way and another in front of the mirror, striking various poses. She was my dream girl... she was so beautiful. But she was me!
I spent most of the night either trying to sleep or looking at myself in the mirror. Eventually, I decided that Mom was right. I needed a new name, I certainly don't look like a Jason anymore. But what should my new name be? I thought about it for quite some time before giving up and getting on the Internet for an answer.
Typing with my new paw-like hands was difficult as my fingers hit more than one key at a time. I quickly adapted by using my claws to hit each key. After searching for nearly two hours, I came across a site of Egyptian names and out of curiosity did a search for the word cat. Nothing. I tried another search for feline. Nothing. I was about to leave the site when I decided to do one last search, and that's when I found it – Sanura, my new name!
I instantly liked it. And its meaning was rather appropriate; it means "kitten" in Egyptian. I bookmarked the site and then, logging off, got into bed.
"Sanura..." I whispered the name to myself again one last time before drifting off.
"Morning, honey. How'd you sleep?" asked Mom as I sat down to eat some breakfast.
"Okay, I didn't fall asleep until around three in the morning."
"That would explain why you slept in so late this morning," quipped Mom. "I heard you get up several times, are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, I was just using the mirror in the bathroom to look at myself – morbid curiosity, I guess."
"Well, we'll have to get you a mirror for your room, every girl needs a mirror in her room. And make sure you get to bed at a decent time tonight, you'll need your beauty sleep if you want to keep those looks of yours."
"MOM!"
"Sorry, sweetheart, but you are very pretty now; you're going to have to get used to people making comments like that."
"I know."
Silence prevailed for the next 20 minutes as I ate my breakfast. I was famished and dug, with vigour, into the eggs Mom had made. Somehow I ended up with ketchup in the fur on my right paw and, without thinking about what I was doing, I began to lick it off. I continued to lick my paw well after the ketchup was gone and would have probably continued if I hadn't seen Mom staring at me with a silly grin on her face and realized what I was doing.
Looking away from Mom, I concentrated on finishing my eggs. As I was putting my dishes in the dishwasher, that name popped into my head, *...Sanura...*
"Mom, I came up with a new name..."
"Oh?" She still had that grin on her face.
"What do you think of Sanura? Nura for short."
"Well, that's different. Where did you come up with that?"
"Internet. It's Egyptian for 'Kitten'. Do you like it?"
"I do. It's a pretty name. I'll get in touch with Tom (our lawyer) about arranging a name change for you."
"Thanks, I'm going to go get showered and dressed. Thanks for the eggs!"
"I thought you’d already cleaned yourself" Mom was barely containing her laughter.
"Mom!" I whined.
Taking a shower was a whole new experience for me. I was still a little freaked out about my new body, so having to take a shower was still pretty weird. Just soaping up sent all kinds of unusual feelings through my body. For example, furry hands felt really good against my breasts, but as soon as I started to get aroused I was immediately embarrassed. I also had to be careful with my claws. I accidentally scratched myself a few times. When I got to the point of washing my tail, I wasn't sure whether to use normal soap or shampoo. I ended up using shampoo to wash my tail, my paws, and my hair. After rinsing off and stepping out of the shower, I was presented with another problem – drying off.
If you've ever tried to dry off while your hands are retaining like a gallon of water in their fur, then you know that it's not exactly easy. Think about how long a dog stays wet after it’s been in a lake. I rubbed my hands with the towel repeatedly, until I felt they were dry enough to hold the hair dryer without electrocuting myself. I then spent the next hour trying to dry off my tail and hair. I was so happy when I was finally done, so I could go and get dressed. I ended up in a pair of rather tight low-rise jeans and a green spaghetti strap tank top.
I wanted to spend the rest of the day in front of the television, but Mom had other ideas. She wanted to do more shopping. The day before, we had neglected to get me more than one pair of shoes. She said that it was unacceptable for a girl to only have one pair of shoes. Shoe shopping with Mom was interesting. I picked out sneakers while she picked out heels. Heels weren't as bad as I had imagined, once she had talked me into trying on a pair. And, as much as I didn't want to admit it, I liked that fact that the heels gave me back a bit of my lost height.
We ended up with about 6 pairs of new shoes for me, and then somehow we ended up looking at skirts again. I ended up with about ten more of those to add to my collection and was even talked into wearing one home. The next two hours after that, I was forced to model almost all my new clothes and Mom marked the ones without tail holes in the back so that she could add one. When I was finally left to my own devices, I was so tired that I ended up falling asleep on the couch.
*giggle* "...She's purring... It's so cute..."
"Unh?" I rubbed my eyes and looked up to see my sister looking down at me. "What do you want?"
"Nothing, I was just watching you sleep. You were really cute; you were purring."
"I was not purring!"
"Yes, you were. It was cute."
"Whatever..."
That night I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, but sleep wasn't coming. The nightie Mom had made me wear again was the least of my worries. Tomorrow I had to go back to school. Well, I had to go register for school, but it was still bad. I must have laid there for several hours, my mind racing, before I finally drifted off.
Chapter 3: Back to School
The next morning, I slept in as usual and was, as always, running late. After struggling with getting my bra on, I quickly pulled on the most androgynous clothes I could find. What I ended up with was a pair of white sweat pants that were a little too tight and a blue hoody over a white T-shirt.
Once dressed, I headed down to the kitchen for some food. I was met with my sister's giggling, which always seemed to accompany my appearance lately, and admonishment from my mother that I needed to brush my hair. I was going to have to get used to having long hair as fast as I could. I ended up having to get Mom's help in removing several tangles in my thick mane. She also had to use a ton of hairspray on my long bangs, as I didn't have ears on the side of my head to tuck them behind like most girls do, and they kept falling into my eyes.
After I grabbed a bite to eat, Mom drove us to the school. First on the agenda was to give my doctor’s notes and legal documents to the office staff and try to change my name on the school files to Sanura.
"There is no way I'm going to go back to that damn school!"
"Jason! Watch your language!"
"My name is Sanura now, Mom. And I'm still not going back to that school."
"What is so bad about that school?"
"They want me to wear a skirt to school EVERY DAY!"
"Well, that is the girls' dress code."
"I don't care what I look like! I'M NOT A GIRL!"
"I did take you to the doctor, remember. Need I remind you that you're just as much a girl as you are a boy? Whether you like it or not, you look like a girl and have to wear girls' clothes as a result. Because of that, the school has enrolled you as a girl, and therefore, you WILL go to school tomorrow dressed appropriately."
"FINE!"
I spent the rest of the morning sitting in my room. I was totally livid after reading the girls' dress code. I mean, I was still a boy; I shouldn't have to follow the girls' dress code!
Let me explain. About five years ago, all of the schools in the country were given a mandatory dress code by the government. I heard it was set up to help redefine gender roles in our society or something like that. They wanted girls to start acting more like girls and boys to act more like boys, in the traditional sense.
I was only ten when it happened, but I remember that it was a big deal and everyone was talking about it. A lot of people were opposed to the idea; they said it took away the children's freedom. However, the government had tested this in several schools, and the test results showed better behaviour, less teenage pregnancy, higher test scores, etc., and so, without a vote, it was put into effect across the nation. Since then, I've heard that a few other countries have adopted similar guidelines for their students.
It could have been worse, I guess. Instead of a school uniform like most private schools have, we were given strict 'guidelines' to follow in our dress and grooming. Those guidelines have been harshly enforced ever since. Except for Fridays. Fridays are called 'Alternative Dress Day', where students are allowed to wear whatever they want, within reason, to school. All I know is that as a guy the dress code wasn't a big change, but, as I was now going to have the requirements a girl would have, I was totally pissed.
~All female students are to follow this outline strictly in their appearance while attending regular class schedules.
~Blouses/Tops: Blouses and tops are to be modest and conservative. Casual tops such as T-shirts are not allowed.
~Skirts: Skirts are to be worn to all regular classes. Pants and shorts are not permitted. Skirts are to be no longer than ankle length. Floor length skirts are not allowed. Skirts are to be no shorter than 16 inches in length.
~ Hosiery: Students are to wear appropriate hosiery at all times. Appropriate hosiery includes stockings, pantyhose, tights, knee-highs and knee socks. Hosiery is to be in tasteful colours.
~Coats/Jackets: Heavy winter coats are not to be worn to class. Lighter fashionable jackets are permitted to be worn during class and should be tasteful and feminine.
~Footwear: Casual footwear such as sneakers and beach sandals are not allowed. Shoes are to be in an appropriate business-casual style. Platform shoes are not allowed.
~Cosmetics: Cosmetics are mandatory. Students should wear modest amounts of cosmetics that enhance their beauty. Heavy use of cosmetics is not permitted. Nails are to be properly manicured at all times. Nail polish should not be in overly bright shades.
~Hair: Female students are not permitted to have short or 'boyish' hairstyles. Hair is to be well kept in a feminine style. Hair may be dyed or highlighted in natural colours only.
~Hygiene: Students are to be properly bathed and groomed while on school property. Legs, arms and underarms are to be kept hairless at all times. Students are to use proper feminine hygiene during their menstrual cycle.
That's the crap I was going to have to deal with, every day, until I graduated.
As a result of my new dress code requirements, I was again sitting in the car, staring out of the window, as we traveled to our destination. Our first stop was at the salon my mom and sister regularly go to. I guessed I would probably be there on a regular basis from now on as well.
My mom introduced me to her stylist as her daughter, Sanura. Since Maggie, the stylist, knew Mom only had one daughter, the story of my change soon followed. After the introductions were done and the sympathetic comments made, Maggie went to work at "making me beautiful." Her words, not mine.
Other than some basic styling, not much was done to my hair, but when she was done, I looked even more beautiful than before. My eyebrows were painfully plucked into even more of an arch. I also had the unwanted pleasure of having my legs, arms, underarms and bikini line waxed. Luckily for me, the school had made an exception for the fur on my arms, so I was only waxed from my elbows up.
After receiving a crash course on how to apply make-up, and being forced to apply my own make-up several times until I got it right, I thought we were done. Wrong again.
I was then brought over and sat in a chair while an Asian lady wheeled over a small table covered with assorted nail care products. This is where things got interesting. The lady was surprised that I didn't have normal nails. I then explained to her that I could extend and retract my nails and demonstrated doing so. That surprised her even more. My nails at that point were more like claws and had very pointed tips and the lady decided that they would have to be filed down. She destroyed four nail files in the process and didn't even scuff my nails.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that my nails are indestructible. They're just really hard. So, due to not being able to file my nails, she went straight to polishing them. That was difficult with my fur getting in the way. I ended up with my nails pushed through a plastic bag to keep my fur out of the polish until it was dry. After several coats had been applied, I was left with ten long pink claws, and the lady got to work on my toenails. After the polish was dry on my hands and feet, I removed the plastic from my hands, retracted my nails, and after slipping on my shoes, headed to the front of the salon to wait for Mom.
I looked in the mirror the next morning and let out a sigh. Not only did I look like a girl, I looked hot. I was wearing a light blue top with three-quarter sleeves and a white knee length skirt. I didn't have much of a choice on which skirt to choose, as Mom was working on putting holes in the back of my skirts and this one was the first and only one that she'd finished. This skirt fit really tight around my butt before flaring out about halfway down my thighs. It had been difficult to squeeze into while trying to fish my tail through the small hole in back, but I'd eventually managed.
I was also wearing a pair of nude thigh-high stockings with the outfit and would be wearing them every day until Mom could find a way to alter pantyhose to accommodate my tail. We had tried just cutting a hole in the back, but that had just destroyed the pantyhose. The stockings felt really nice on my smooth legs and, although I wouldn't admit it to anyone, I liked how they felt. They were the kind that hold themselves up, and the rubbery band around my thighs was weird at first, but I soon got used to that as well. The shoes I had on had a one-inch heel and were actually pretty comfortable. After grabbing some cereal I was off to school.
School actually went well, and there were only a few mild problems. The school had given me a new schedule, and all my new teachers treated me as if I was just a new student. Everything was going just fine until my friend Amy walked up to me while I was at my locker.
"Hi, I'm Amy. Your name is Sanura, right?"
"Uh... Yeah." I was getting nervous quickly.
"Cool. We're in the same homeroom. Is that your locker?"
"Yeah. This is the one I was assigned," I said, playing the new student act.
Amy reached past me, pulled the locker door wide open, and pointed at all the junk I had inside. "Really? Then why is your locker full of my friend's stuff? Are you trying to steal his things?"
I shook my head.
"How'd you get in Jase's locker anyway?"
"Amy, what I'm going to say is going to sound crazy, but I'm being totally serious. OK?"
"OK. I'm listening. This better be good."
"I'm Jase."
"WHAT? No way!"
"I'm not joking. I just had MORFS."
"For real?"
I just nodded my head. "Why don't you come by my place after school, and we can talk about this more. In fact, bring the whole gang, if you can. That way I'll only have to explain all this once."
"I'll see you around three then." And, after giving me a hug, she was gone.
Chapter 4: Learning More About The New Me
After lunch, I finally got the chance to change out of the stupid skirt. However, the other choice of clothing wasn't any better. I slipped into the red and white leotard and struggled for a few minutes with getting my tail in before pulling it on all the way. It fit like a second skin and left very little to the imagination. The snug fit seemed to make my boobs and hips look even bigger, while my waist appeared smaller. As I checked my reflection in the mirror, the material of the leotard shimmered slightly in the dim light of the locker room. I had to admit that I looked really good in that outfit. Thoroughly embarrassed that others were going to see me dressed like that, I plucked up all the confidence I could and headed into the gym for class.
Class was interesting to say the least. I had been put in the "Post MORFS" class and was given a battery of tests to determine my abilities. There were things like the jump tests, time trials, obstacle courses, hand-to-hand combat, acrobatics, etc. I'd be going through these tests for the next six weeks before I would be either sent back to the regular phys-ed class or advanced to the "MORFS II" class. I did really well at all the tests I did, and I guess I should go into some more detail about my results.
First was the jump test. There are actually three kinds of jump tests There's a standing jump, a running jump and a distance jump. I did excellently on all three. The standing jump is where you stand beside a metal wall that uses some type of radar device and jump as high as you can, and at the highest point of the jump the radar marks the spot on the wall by lighting up your jump height and then all the other stats get recorded and printed off. The running jump is about the same thing except you get a running start. The distance jump is the same as the running jump, except you try to jump as far forward as you can. On the standing jump, I had a vertical jump of 32 feet, and on the running jump I made it to 40 feet. My distance jump score was 48 feet.
Next were the time trials; I was given different distances to run on the track. The first one was a 60-meter dash. I felt really weird while I was running. Something just felt wrong, like I knew I could go faster than I was going and I just felt awkward while trying to reach that speed. It wasn't until I was running a 200-meter around the school track that it happened. I was running, and it just felt wrong. I couldn't really place what was wrong and was struggling again with the urge to go faster, when suddenly there was a loud crack and I felt my hips come loose. I immediately started to fall forward, but as I was falling my hips locked into a new position. The result I can only attribute to instinct -- I immediately started running on all fours, and my speed must have at least doubled. I know this all sounds kind of weird, but as soon as I finished running, I simply stood up, my hips once again painlessly changing positions, and I was able to walk again like I normally do. I was being clocked with a radar gun as I ran, and I'm now officially the fastest member of the class at 104 km/h.
The tests all went really well, and by the time class was over I was exhausted and wanted to go home. That is exactly what I did. Since I was going home, I changed into a pair of shorts and a tee shirt and made my way out the gym exit and started to walk home. I had been walking for about ten minutes when I remembered that Amy was going to get the whole gang together at my place right after school. I was late; I needed to get home, so I started running. Just as before, I felt the snap as my hips repositioned themselves, and I was soon racing home on all fours.
Chapter 5: Friends
"What should I wear?" I know it's a totally girly comment, but I didn't want to be wearing anything really girly when my friends came over. All my jeans were low rise because of my tail, not to mention that most of them were still at the tailors, and I was definitely not going to wear a skirt. I started looking for the sweat pants we had bought on our first shopping trip. My search came up with nothing.
"Mom? Where are those sweats we bought?"
"I've got them down here. I'm working on putting tail holes in all your pants and skirts, remember?"
"Well, have you done any of them yet?"
I walked into the room and saw Mom surrounded by piles of clothes, sitting at her sewing machine.
"I'm just finishing up your pink pair now."
I hated those pink ones. Mom had picked those out.
"Mom, haven't you done any other ones?"
"Not yet. I've been working on your skirts all day because you need those for school." She handed the pink sweats to me and said, "Finished."
I was going to complain, but before I could, the doorbell rang. My friends had arrived. I then realized I was standing there in just my panties, so I quickly pulled on the pink pants. They would have to do. The pants went with the white tee shirt I had on and, after a glance at the mirror, I went to answer the door.
I opened the door to see every one of my close friends standing on the front porch. As soon as they saw me standing in the doorway, there was an audible gasp from everyone except Amy. I suspected she had told them what I now looked like, and I had been in classes with several of them throughout the day, but I suppose that knowing who I really was was a bit of a shock.
We just stood there in a weird kind of standoff, until my Mom came up behind me and told everyone to go around the back. Without a word, I led all of my friends around the house and onto the deck. We all took seats and then resumed staring at each other. Finally, Amy broke the silence.
"You look cute."
"What?"
"Well, you do. And I doubt I'm the only one here who thinks that."
Everyone made some sort of agreeable remark, and soon we were sitting in silence once again.
"You mind if we call you Nura... for short?" That was Trance --his real name is Zack; we've been best friends since we were little, our parents are good friends as well.
"Sure. I'd like that." I really wish he wouldn't read my mind like that.
The ice was finally broken, and we started to talk freely like we normally do. I had to play twenty questions with them before we could talk about anything else. The question of whether I was completely female was one of the first questions asked. As that's a bit of a touchy subject with me, I tried to avoid giving a straight answer. That was followed by questions about my tail. The list of questions continued until my friends finally ran out of things to say.
Eventually, people started to leave for various reasons. Cody was first to leave. His parents have kept a close leash on him ever since he MORFed. Both of his parents had avoided getting MORFS when they were kids and with Cody being an only child, they are very freaked out by their son's changes. Cody had some very unique changes; his parents aren't the only ones who get freaked out by his appearance. Cody looks considerably different than other teenagers, 50 years ago he would have been locked away and labeled as a monster. Cody is around five feet tall (at least I'm not the only short one in the group) and walks in a sort of hunched position. His skin is black and scaly and several of his joints have spikes on them that protrude through his skin. His most distinguishing feature would be the pair of ragged looking dragon type wings protruding from his upper back. He can fly short distances, but that's about the only special ability that he has. It had even taken us several months to get used to his appearance. Needless to say most people run away from him and because of that, his parents don't like him out after dark.
Next to leave was Rakira, A.K.A Shine. She's a light elemental who has absolutely no control of her powers yet, even though she's had them for about a year now. If her power doesn't accidentally get triggered, you'd just assume that she was a normal 16-year-old. Mike and Danielle were next to leave and then Jade, Damian, Todd and Megan were the last. Soon it was just Trance, Amy and I.
First, let me tell you a bit about Trance. As I said, we've been friends since we were little kids. He's 15 and around 6 feet tall, with spiky white hair that really makes him stick out in a crowd. We had always been really close, sometimes inseparable. We get along better than most siblings do and can practically read each other's minds.
Well, actually, Trance can read anyone's mind if they let him. He picked up that little ability during his stint with MORFS about two years ago. He can read or control a person's mind if they allow him to, unless they're among the very weak minded (stupid) of the population, in which case he can just take over if he wants. He doesn't do that though, at least not very often. He can also communicate telepathically, and since he can read thoughts, you can communicate back, it's really cool.
However, as I said earlier, most cases of MORFS don't come without side effects, and he wasn't an exception. Trance doesn't have eyes. Well technically he does, but without pupils they don't exactly work. It's kind of creepy seeing someone with eyes that are completely white, but over time you get used to it.
He can still see though. Right after his change, he was completely blind and couldn't see a thing until he learned how to harness his psychic talents. Now he can see better than any normal human can. He has a hard time sensing colour, but other than that he can see even little details. He tried explaining it to me several times and, when I couldn't grasp the concept, he used his powers to project what he was seeing into my mind. It was amazing. He could even see the wind as it moved around us. His mind was able to pick up on everything and make it visible. He can even read using his "mind sight," as he calls it, although I don't know how that works. Ever since he was able to control his powers, he's gone by the name Trance.
Amy and I have been friends almost as long as I've known Trance. She's normal but could get MORFS at any time. Amy's a very pretty girl; she's 5'5" and very slim. She has wavy red hair and beautiful bright green eyes. She and Trance were my best friends. At times they knew me better than I knew myself. I was so glad that they had stuck by me, even through all that's changed over the last few days.
We ended up going up to my room to talk. It was just like old times at first, until my changes became the topic of conversation again. Amy awkwardly asked if she could touch my ears, so I sat there as she inspected them and tried to ignore her while I talked to Trance, which was hard to do because it tickled. As we were talking she moved over to my bed and picked up the skirt I had worn at school.
"You looked really good in this today. Where did you get it?"
"Err. Thanks, I guess. We got it at the mall when Mom and I went shopping."
"Can I take a look at your other clothes?"
"Sure. They're in the closet."
Amy went over to the closet and started rummaging through my clothes while I resumed talking to Trance. We had been talking about my gym class and what powers I seemed to have.
"You know, I could tell you what powers you have if you let me take a look inside that twisted mind if yours."
"Really? Sure, go ahead."
"Okay, you know the drill. Just sit still, close your eyes, and try not to think of anything."
I did as I was told and waited as he looked around. It took several minutes for him to locate the source of my powers and then even longer to try to figure out exactly what they were.
"You can open your eyes now."
"So what did you find?"
"Well, I found out that you like the way your underwear feels."
"WHAT?"
"I did tell you not to think of anything remember? Besides, am I lying?"
"...no...." It was barely a whisper. I could feel my face burning as I blushed harder than I ever have before. That's when Amy decided to join our conversation, without leaving my closet.
"Trance, stop teasing her. Every girl likes the way her underwear feels. And for someone who's not used to wearing stuff like that it going to feel even better."
"Amy, can you please stop talking about my underwear. I like the way the panties feel and the bra feels really nice against my boobs. Now can we please talk about something else?"
"Yeah, we can. I couldn't tell exactly what the extent of your powers is. I've never felt anything like it. You're probably an elemental, but not the typical caliber. Whatever element you control, I've never felt it before. You've also got some sort of dormant power that I couldn't identify, it seems to be tied to your feline abilities. From all the other MORFs that I've met, your powers are unbelievable compared to theirs."
"Too bad I have no idea how to use them."
I sat there while Trance slipped into, well, a trance. I watched him as he tried to decipher the information he had extracted from me. The room was completely silent except for Amy dissecting my closet. We sat in near silence until Amy rushed into the room carrying a white wardrobe bag on a hanger and wearing a huge grin on her face.
"Ja... Sanura! Is this yours?" she was waving the bag at me. I nodded. Trance was now looking over at us. I was trying to figure out a way to keep that bag closed and buried in the back of my closet again. "So why did you have this in the back of your closet? You've got to model this for us."
"Mom bought it, but I'm not wearing that... EVER!"
"It's really pretty."
I looked over at Trance. How did he know it was pretty? Its in a bag. He started laughing as I stared at him.
"Nura, I see things with my mind remember? I can see through that bag. As I said, it's really pretty. You should wear it. I think it would look good on you."
"You can't be serious."
"I am. Go on, we're not going to laugh at you. We're your friends remember?"
"But I don't want to..."
"Promise you won't laugh? " I had to yell to be heard through the door.
"We promise. Just come out so we can see you." They had to yell too.
Nervously I stepped forward and tightly gripped the doorknob. I stood that way for several more minutes before finally opening the door and heading into the room. My eyes were downcast as I waited for the laughter to come. My face was burning as I stared down at my small feet encased in the cute pink heels I was wearing. I can't believe I let them talk me into this.
"You look great, Nura."
I looked up into Trance's blank white eyes and then glanced at Amy. They were both staring at me. For some strange reason, I liked the way I felt when Trance said I looked great. Blushing, I looked away from my friends and into my new mirror. I did look pretty good.
The dress was really pretty. It was what Mom called a semi-formal and was made of a silky pink fabric. It had spaghetti straps and a low neckline that showed off my chest a little to much for my tastes. Other than that, it wasn't that bad. The top was tight fitting and made my figure look even more feminine. The skirt part came down to a few inches above my knees and had these built in layers of fabric underneath that made it flare out a bit. I really did look pretty in that dress.
But as much as I liked how I looked, I was even more embarrassed. I mean, underneath this dress, I was still a guy. Well I was a girl too, but first and foremost I was a guy! I shouldn't be standing in front of my best friends wearing a fancy dress.
"Can I change now?"
"I guess so. But you have to promise to wear that dress to the next school dance."
"I am NOT going to a dance dressed like this." And with that I stormed out of the room to go and change clothes.
Chapter 6: Into The Dark
When I came back into my room, Trance and Amy were both gone. *Damn, where'd they go? Wait, they're still here. I can... smell them?*
I sniffed around a little more and followed their scent out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen, where I found them on the phone. *It’s weird, how come I hadn't noticed this smell thing before?* Amy was apparently talking to her parents on the phone, but that's all I could make out of the conversation. I turned to Trance and gave him a questioning look.
"Your Mom asked if we'd like to stay for dinner. My mom said I could, but Amy is still asking because she had to use the phone."
"Yeah, well most people can't call home telepathically."
Just then Amy hung up the phone said, "I can stay!"
"Cool! Where are my parents anyway?"
"Your parents and your sister already left."
"Left for where?"
"Didn't Trance tell you? You parents are taking us out to dinner. I'm driving us there to meet them. Oh, and your mom said to wear a skirt."
"What! Why?"
"Duh, 'cus we're going to a nice restaurant, that's why. Trance and I are still wearing our school clothes, which are nice enough for where we're going. But you need to put on something nicer than those sweats you're wearing. Come on, I'll help you pick an outfit."
Amy practically dragged me up the stairs as Trance simply looked on.
"Can I wear something less... pink?"
"You look good in that. Pink is totally your colour. Besides, we're going to your aunt's restaurant; she'll want to see how pretty you can be."
What I ended up wearing was a pink sleeveless top and a very short white and pink skirt. That was matched with a pair of opaque white over-the-knee socks and a pair of pink and white platform sneakers. I re-did my make-up with a little help from Amy.
I thought we were done but Amy insisted on doing my hair. I ended up with a pink hair ribbon tied in a bow behind my ears and the rest of my hair was done up in curls that bounced around with each move I made. At least the ribbon held my hair back so it wouldn't get in the way while I ate. A second ribbon was crisscrossed down and tied in a bow at the end of my tail.
"Come on. Lets go. I'm starving."
We drove in silence and soon arrived at my aunt's restaurant a few blocks away. I was a little nervous as we walked from the car to the front door. Not only did being in public in such a girly outfit embarrass me, but I was also kind of scared about my aunt seeing the new me. It wasn't fair; my whole life had been totally screwed up. There's no way it could get any worse.
As Trance opened the doors for Amy and me, my nose was bombarded by the strong and rich smells of my Aunt's Italian cuisine. It was so strong that I had to cover my nose as we made our way to the table. My parents and sister were already working on a plate of appetizers as we took our seats. My nose seemed to have adjusted to the strong smells around me and while they were still very strong, they were at least bearable.
"This cute little thing must be my new niece!"
I turned around and saw my Aunt Mika standing right behind my chair holding a tray with several plates. She started passing out the plates to my mom and dad and then one to Crystal. The next plate was put in front of me, and I noticed it was my usual favorite. Now that Aunt Mika was no longer burdened with our orders, she turned to me and told me to stand up so she could see me better. I had to turn this way and that as she inspected me from head to toe before she told me I could sit down. I sat down quickly as I was eager to dig into my food and succeeded in making my skirt rise up around my waist and crushing my tail underneath me all at once. After fixing my skirt and sitting my tail in my lap, I was able to dig into my food. The food was great as always, and I was glad that some things stay the same.
We were eating and talking and just having a good time together when a waiter came over and offered us some pepper for our food. That's when things got weird. I asked for some on my pasta, and he came over next to me to use the pepper grinder. I hadn't thought my more sensitive nose would be a problem until I inhaled some of the pepper. I tried to stop it, but failing, I let out a violent sneeze and everything went black. I heard a few screams and the sound of things crashing around me. I felt like I was imploding, and then in an instant it was over. I felt like I had run a marathon. I was so tired that I slipped from consciousness and dropped to the floor.
Note: The MORFS story universe will be open to contributions from other authors. Guidelines will be posted after the first few parts of Sanura's Tale are online.
Notes:
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. Follow Sanura Miller as she copes with her new life and learns about some strange new powers.
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. Follow Sanura Miller as she copes with her new life and learns about some strange new powers.
Chapter 7: Discoveries
My head was throbbing as I regained consciousness. As I looked around at the rubble surrounding me, everything that had happened came rushing back to me in a torrent of confusing memories. *What the hell happened?* Looking around, I surveyed the damage. I seemed to be in the center of the damage. Lying in front of me was the splintered remains of our table. *Where is everyone?* I started frantically looking around for my family, but there was so much debris that it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. As I was searching I noticed that once again, I could smell them. Getting down on all fours, like I had when I was running, I started pawing my way through pieces of the collapsed ceiling as their scent got stronger. After moving a large piece of the ceiling, I saw a patch of dirty while fur sticking out of the debris. *Dad!* I cleared away the rubble as fast as I could and found Dad huddled unconscious over my mom and my sister. I tried to wake them, but getting no response I simply dropped to the ground and began to cry.
I sat on the curb wrapped in a warm blanket, and cried on Amy's shoulder until I felt better. Well, a little better. I looked back at the remains of my aunt's restaurant and that set off as second onslaught of tears. At least no one had been hurt other than a few minor scrapes and bruises. I don't think I could have lived with that on my conscience. Trance had sheilded Amy and himself using his telekinesis. Through watery eyes I took in the scene around me. Dad was huddled together with Crystal, while Mom was consoling Aunt Mika. The firemen were still checking out the building for any further hazards. The restaurant was still fairly intact except for the front left corner, which was no longer there. In its place were the splintered remains of what was once the private dining room. This was entirely my fault, but the worst part was that I didn't even know what I'd done or how I'd done it.
What a long day. I had started school as a girl, exposed my real identify to my close friends, learned how to run like a cat, modeled a fancy dress for my two best friends, and blown up my aunt's place using some mysterious power, all within ten hours. After several hours, we finally went home, and I was asleep as soon as I hit the bed.
After all that had happened the day before, today seemed normal by comparison. Showering didn't take nearly as long this time, and I only scratched myself once with my claws during the process. Putting on my bra and panties almost seemed normal, even though I'd only been wearing them for a few days now. Picking out an outfit for school was quite a hassle. Mom sent me back to change clothes three times before she was satisfied. Apparently I don't know how to coordinate colours. What I ended up with was a long tan skirt and a pale yellow blouse over a white camisole, with my hair up in a ponytail. I was still upset at having to wear a skirt.
The school day started just as boring as usual and the class seemed to drag on forever. The fact that everyone was staring at me didn't help calm my nerves either. I guess I still held some fascination as the new girl, or maybe it was my morf that was attracting so much attention. Needless to say, I was eager to escape their stares and was the first one out of the door as soon as class was over.
"Um... Excuse me..."
I turned around from my locker and came face to face with Colin, captain of the basketball team and total chick magnet. I had been friends with Colin before all this.
"Err... Can I help you?"
"Uh... yeah, I just wanted to invite you to come hang out with some of us over at JB's after school. It's a little cafe about a block or so from school. I just figured that since you're new, you might want to get to know everybody."
The offer seemed sincere enough, but I could tell he wanted to be more than just friends. The fact that he kept stealing glances down at my breasts was a big hint. I decided to let him down gently.
"Well. I'd really like to, but...."
"That's great! I'll meet you here after school and we can walk over together."
And with that he turned and headed off to class before I could say another word.
I was sitting in my class trying to figure out a way to avoid meeting Colin after school when Trance decided to contact me.
*Nura!*
*What do you want, Trance? I'm in class.*
*What's this I hear about you going on a date with Colin after school?*
*WHAT?! I am not going on a date with Colin.*
*That's not what he's saying*
*All he did was invite me to JB's; it's not a date. I don't date boys.*
*Okay. If you say so. I'll see you at lunch.*
*Whatever....*
I couldn't believe that Trance would just assume that Colin would be telling the truth. Just because I'm part girl doesn't mean I'd suddenly start liking boys.
I angrily made my way to the change room and donned the dreaded leotard. Today I'd be doing the combat simulation, along with several others in my class. The simulator was a mobile unit that comes to the school once a semester. Just another ploy by the government to persuade the more powerful morfs to enlist for the army; personally, I had better plans for my future.
I still felt pretty self-conscious in that leotard and spent several minutes at the door before building up my resolve and walking into the gym. I had taken about two steps into the room when I felt two hands grab firmly on my tail.
"Gotcha!"
"Ahhh!" I screamed out in surprise and tried to run. My tail only allowed me to make it about two feet before it brought me to an abrupt halt. That caused me to fall forward, but before i hit the ground I was lifted painfully into the air by my tail.
"Oww! Put me down!"
"Sorry. I was just trying to keep you from falling." Whoever it was gently placed me down, and I rolled over to see who it was while rubbing the base of my tail.
"Ashley, you dick, that hurt!" He just grinned back at me as he hovered above me in the air, his wings nothing more than a blur as they moved rapidly to keep him aloft.
"It couldn't have hurt that much. I've picked up my cat by its tail before."
"You're even dumber than I thought. One. I'm a lot heavier than a cat. And two, my tail is part of my spine, you asshole!"
"Oh...." He drifted down to the ground and his wings came to a stop. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking."
"That's OK, just don't do it again, Pixie." He'd had that nickname since he morfed into an insect hybrid. The fact that he was slim with long platinum blond hair and a pair of iridescent pink dragonfly-like wings had earned him the nickname Pixie. Calling him that was a sure-fire way to piss him off.
"That's NOT my name," he said as he glared at me.
I stuck my tongue out at him and ran off to join the class. He took to the air and followed close behind.
I stood there in the dark in my leotard and waited patiently for the door to open. As I waited, my mind began to wander. What was I going to do with Colin? Or any boy? I could handle the whole new body thing, but having to deal with other guys being attracted to me wasn't something I had even thought about. I was completely sure that I liked girls, but where was I going to find one who would want to be with me. I guess I'd just end up spending my whole life alone. That thought was depressing.
I was quickly snapped out of my thoughts as the door slid open and the green light flicked on. "That means go." And go I did!
As I ran down the dimly lit hallway, my eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. The hallway descended one level and turned sharply to the left. I noticed the pit of water shortly before I would have fallen in and grabbed the hand-holds on the ceiling. Swinging myself from hand-hold to hand-hold, I managed the twenty-foot gap and dropped back to the ground. Rounding the corner, I came across another stretch of water about fifteen feet down the corridor. Running as fast as I could, I took a leap at the edge and easily cleared the distance. The maze continued with me jumping through hoops and scaling walls until I arrived in the final room.
I could see the exit on the other side of the room; however, between me and the door were about ten drones. I took one step into the room and all the drones honed in on me. *damn* I had been hoping to sneak past them, but it was now looking like I was going to have to fight them.
As I advanced on the nearest drone, my mind was called back to when Trance had taken this test. He'd told me that they were the same drones that the football team used for tackling practice. The drones, while equipped to attack what ever target they were programmed for, did not have AI and were easy to outsmart.
The first drone was eliminated easily as I tossed it across the room and into the wall. Each drone was programmed to shut off after receiving a certain level of abuse, and the next two were quickly deactivated.
*This is too easy.*
THWACK! My whole body shook violently from the impact as the robotic arm collided with my head. I was brought to the ground from the pain and was quickly surrounded by the rest of the drones. I was nearly overcome by the pain when the rest of the drones commenced their attack. I struggled back to my feet several times, only to be knocked back down again.
I was on the verge of passing out when I felt it. It was a very faint feeling, deep inside me, but it was definitely there. I concentrated on that feeling as hard as I could, and it started getting stronger. Soon I could feel it as a tingling sensation over my entire body. The tingling turned to pressure as the lights in the room began to flicker erratically. The drones continued their attack as the pressure built. Just as I felt as though l was going to be crushed by the tremendous pressure, it released itself in a devastating blast.
I didn't pass out this time, although the same fatigue was there. When the pressure that had built up released, I was suddenly in the middle of a large blast of energy. The energy field was the blackest of black and seemed to be absorbing the light. The only thing I can think of to describe it would be that it looked like a photo negative of a bright light.
As the blast pulled at me, it seemed to be repelling everything else. The drones were crushed badly as the blast pushed them forcefully against the walls. It began and was over in a matter of seconds. Gathering my strength, I dragged myself to my feet. As soon as I made it through the door, I was quickly rushed to the nurse's office.
The lights continued to flicker wherever they took me, and I could feel myself drawing in energy again. It was a very unique feeling. I could feel each pore of my skin open up to absorb the light energy, and as it did the pain from my injuries faded away. When I arrived at the nurse's office I was a bloody mess, but after cleaning off the blood she found that all my wounds had closed up. Even though I felt great, I was told to rest.
"Ah! That's cold."
The nurse ignored me and put the bag of ice back on my face. "Now keep it on there until I get back, or you'll get a nasty bruise. "I nodded and she left the room to get my clothes from the locker room, so I could change out of my bloodstained leotard. As I sat there holding the ice pack in place, I kept replaying what had happened over and over in my head.
I felt great, and I could feel the energy coursing through my body. I could also feel the light energy in the air around me. I sat back and let out a relaxing sigh. I felt my skin tingling as I absorbed more energy, and again the lights flickered around me. It was an extremely soothing feeling.
The nurse finally returned with my clothes, and I hurriedly got changed and rushed to meet up with my friends for lunch.
Chapter 8: Showoffs
I ran to the cafeteria as fast as my long skirt would let me and rushed over to my friends after spotting them at a table on the far side of the room.
"Well, if it isn't our favourite little cat girl," said Amy. She moved over a bit so I could sit down and gave me a hug once I had. "What's with the big grin? Excited about your date?"
I scowled at Amy before answering. "IT IS NOT A DATE!" I had to try very hard not to scream. My friends just laughed. "It's not funny! Colin so much as touches me, and I'll blast him."
"Blast him with what?" asked Cody.
"I think I figured out how to use my powers." I grinned even larger.
"You did it by accident again, didn't you?"
"Shut up, Trance! OK, so it was an accident, but I think I've figured it out."
"Nura, I wouldn't run around blasting things until you really know how your powers work. You need to go somewhere isolated to practice, somewhere away from others."
A flood of guilt came rushing back to me as I thought about what had happened last night and my eyes started to tear up again. Trance was right. He always was.
"You think I want to hurt people, Trance? I thought I had killed my own family last night. To be honest, my powers scare me. I don't want to use them if I don't have to."
"Damn it! I've had my powers for over a year now and can't control them. You morf, figure out how to use your powers within a week and then don't want to use them." Shine sounded really pissed off.
"I do a lot more than just light up a room, Rakira." She glared back at me coldly.
"OK. Why don't we have a little competition," stated Cody. "Shine and err... Nura will both try to form a ball of their respective energy in their hands, and the first one who can form it and hold it for thirty seconds, wins."
"I don't know. I don't want to hurt anyone..." My voice wavered, but I managed to hold back my tears.
"We'll be fine. Just be careful," coaxed Damian.
"Let's do it." Shine looked determined as she placed her hands in front of us on the table. I reluctanty did the same and closed my eyes.
"Go"
With my eyes closed, I tried to concentrate on the feeling I had had before. I could feel it deep inside myself, and it started to grow stronger and flow over my whole body. As it grew, I started to concentrate only on the feeling on my hands and the rest seemed to fade away. The feeling was concentrated on my hands and was growing increasingly strong.
Opening my eyes, I saw that my hands were shrouded in the same black energy as before. Stealing a glance over at Shine, I could see that she had no problem forming the ball of light, she just couldn't keep it from going out.
Gradually, I was able to move the energy from my hands into an energy ball just between them. As I concentrated, it grew larger, and the frustration became even more evident on Shine's face. I was now controlling an amazing black energy ball the size of a grapefruit.
"Damn it! I am not about to lose to little Miss Kitty over there!"
Shine's outburst caused me to look up just in time to see her form a very large sphere of light between her hands. The light was so bright that I had to close my eyes. Even with my eyes closed, I could still see spots of light, as if I had been staring at the sun. I could also feel the energy from the light and noticed that my own energy was starting to pulsate.
Once again, I could feel myself absorbing the light as my skin tingled all over. I opened my eyes and saw that the light was starting to arc out towards my energy. After a few seconds the two met, and in an instant the light energy was absorbed by my own. Shine, not ready to admit defeat, continued to replace the absorbed energy, effectively fueling mine.
"Shine! Stop! It's too much." I was barely able to control the power I now held in my hands as the growing force was now pushing even me away. I tried shutting it off, but it just kept growing no matter what I did. My arms were starting to ache from the strain of controlling the energy.
FOOM! I felt as though I was on fire, as most of the energy rushed back into me, starting through my hands and quickly surging throughout my whole body.
The rest of the energy dissipated in an instant, sending out a shadowy wave of force that sent everything on the table into the air before fading, and that included our lunches.
We were lucky that none of us were hit by any airborne food, but the kids at the near by tables weren't as lucky. I winced as I saw my salad collide with another kid's head.
"Food fight!" someone yelled, but it was too late. Before I could duck and cover, I felt the squish of someone's sandwich hitting me in the side of the head.
Chapter 9: And They Called it Kitty Love
I won't bore you with the details of my afternoon at school. We all managed to get our lunches out of our hair and off of our clothes and faces. The next two hours were spent in boring classes pretending to pay attention. The bell finally rang, and I rushed to my locker to get my homework from my morning classes.
I was hoping to avoid Colin, but as I rounded the corner I saw him leaning up against my locker waiting for me. I wasn't sure what to do and was about to turn and leave when he spotted me through a gap in the crowd and waved me over. I couldn't run away now that he'd seen me, and so I headed over to meet him.
We exchanged hellos and then both fell silent as I retrieved what I needed from my locker. We headed quietly out of the school and started down the street. I had no idea what I should say; the last thing I wanted was to let him think I was flirting with him. I glanced over at my former teammate and was amazed how much taller he was than me. He looked down at me and smiled. He asked me how my day went and how I liked the school. We made sporadic small talk while we walked the block and a half to JB's. So far things hadn't gone too far and I was starting to relax.
"Well, here we are." We walked in and the first thing I noticed was that we were the only kids there. As if reading my mind, Colin said, "Everyone else should be here soon. Come on, and let's grab a seat."
I timidly followed him over to a booth in the corner and took a seat. I was startled when he slid in next to me in the booth.
"So Sanura, can I ask you a question?"
"Oh, sure, I guess." I couldn't even imagine what he was going to ask.
"You just morfed recently didn't you?" It wasn't so much of a question as it was a statement.
"Ummm... Yeah. I just morfed a little over a week ago. Why?" Where was he going with this?
"Well, I just noticed that you seem a little shy around other people. I figured it was because you had just morfed. I was the same way right after my morf; I couldn't imagine having to start a new school on top of it all."
The last thing I wanted right then was sympathy. I had been getting plenty of that over the past few days, and all it did was make me depressed. So I decided to change the subject.
"So when did you morf, Colin?" Of course I already knew this, but if he was talking about himself then he couldn't talk about me.
"I morfed about three years ago, when I was thirteen. I was one of the first ones in our year to morf."
"So, what'd you get stuck with?"
"Well I got stuck with this turning blue," he said as he tugged at his hair, "and I was gifted with this..." He reached out his hand towards the table next to us and slowly raised it up. The table followed suit as it raised into the air. I tried to pretend being impressed.
"Wow! You have telekinesis?" I knew he hated that question and had to force myself not to laugh.
"I'm actually not telekinetic." He looked annoyed as he thought of what to say next. "I'm what's known as a disrupter. Most people haven't heard of them, but they're similar to elementals. Basically, a disrupter can cause interference with external forces by generating an opposing, yet similar force. Does that make sense?"
"Oh... Sort of. So what forces can you disrupt?" I turned towards him as I asked the question and slid myself a few inches away from him without him noticing.
"I can only interfere with the earth's gravitational pull."
"So can you fly?"
"Not really. If I remove the gravity, it's more like falling up than flying." Colin laughed at his lame little joke. I just smiled.
We continued to chat while a few other kids from school drifted in and found tables of their own to sit at. Despite myself, I was starting to find Colin very fun to be with, even if he was flirting with me. In a way, it was just nice to be treated as if I was important. It was also pretty cool having someone else buy me a milkshake. I guess being a girl isn't all bad.
As I sat there pretending to listen to Colin talk about the school basketball teams, my mind was filled with conflicting thoughts. On one hand, it was nice just being accepted as a girl and being treated like a normal person. I even found myself attracted to Colin a little bit. On the other hand, I was still very much a boy and was growing more and more depressed as that side of me seemed to slip further and further away. It seemed that everyone I knew wanted me to be a girl. Since the day I morfed, even my own parents seemed to act as if Jason had never existed.
"Sanura? Are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh... Yeah. I'm fine. I was just lost in thought. Sorry."
"Are you sure you're alright? You're crying."
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said as I dabbed at my eyes with my paws. "I think I should head home. Thanks for the shake and for letting me hang out with you."
'No problem. It was really nice to get to know you. Can I at least walk you home?"
He had a pleading look in his eyes that made him look incredibly cute, and so I relented. He stood and put out his hand to help me up, and I took it gratefully. It wasn't until we were passing the school that I realized that we were still holding hands. My mind started whirring as I realized that I was holding hands with another boy... and I liked it. I kind of tensed up for a minute as I considered letting go of his hand. If Colin noticed then he didn't say anything. A part of me was screaming *he's a guy!* as I squeezed his hand and leaned against him. That part of me was screaming just loud enough to be heard, but even louder was a calm reassuring voice saying, *It's ok, you're a girl now.* And it was right, I was a girl. There's no reason for me to fight my feelings.
We continued to walk hand in hand all the way to my house. I had agreed to go to the movies with Colin on Friday night and promised to be at the basketball game the next day to cheer him on. Everything was going great and for the first time since I morfed I felt comfortable in my new female body. That's when everything went completely wrong. We had just turned onto my street and were approaching my house when we turned towards each other and both started to say something. We both stammered a bit and then Colin told me to go first.
"I was just going to say that this is where I live. Thanks for walking me home. What were you going to say?"
"I was going to say that a friend of mine lives... here...."
My heart started racing as he said that. *How could I be so stupid as to bring him to my house?* I'd actually started to like Colin as a possible boyfriend, and now he was about to find out that I used to be Jason. My mind was running through scenarios of all his possible reactions as I tried to come up with a way out of this.
"I guess he moved...." It sounded lame, even to me.
"No. He would have let us know if he was moving. Last I heard he was off of school with morfs...." His mouth opened and closed a few times, but he didn't say anything. I could tell he was trying to figure everything out. "You said you just morfed a week or so ago, right?"
"Yeah...." Damn it. He's going to figure it out.
"Sanura... What's you're last name?" Yup. He's figured it out. I could feel the tears starting to sting the back of my eyes again.
"It's Miller. Colin, I think we need to talk. Why don't you come inside?”
We had just come into the house as Mom came down the stairs, and damn it if I wasn't still holding his hand. The act wasn't missed by my mother as she raised her eyebrows questioningly at me. I blushed and looked at my feet.
"Hi, Mom. We're just going to go up to my room to talk."
"I'd rather you not have boys in your room, young lady." Mom cut off my protest and continued, "Why don't you two talk out back on the porch?"
"Fine, we'll go out back." I grabbed us some sodas and then we went out on the deck and made ourselves comfortable. Silence prevailed.
"So do you want to tell me about it?" Colin actually looked concerned.
"Well, as you've figured out. I used to be Jason Miller. I just had morfs and I got worked over pretty good. I should have told you who l was, but you were being so nice to me that I didn't want to ruin things. You even didn't seem to care that I'm a hybrid." I had to stop to catch my breath.
"First, why would your being a hybrid matter?"
"We're sorta treated like... Well, like animals by some people. A lot of people see us as second class citizens."
"Oh... I never really noticed that... So are you a girl now, like all the way?" Now it was Colin's turn to blush.
"Sorta...."
"What do you mean sort of?"
"I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh at me or tell anyone else. The only reason I'm telling you this is because I know you like me and so I think you deserve to know this if you want to pursue a relationship. So, do you promise?" I was starting to cry again, and so I hugged myself and looked down at my feet.
"I promise not to tell, and I'd never laugh at you."
I could tell he was sincere and was a little startled as he moved to sit next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. I took a few minutes to compose myself and enjoy his embrace before continuing.
"The whole issue of my physical sex is a bit complicated. To answer your question, yes, I am a girl, all the way. This is where it gets complicated. I'm still a guy too. I've got both sets of equipment, and they're both functional."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was waiting for him to remove his arm and totally freak out, but that never happened. He just continued to hold me. I looked up to see him smiling down at me, and I just broke down. My body shook as I was racked with the flood of tears. Colin just pulled me closer and gently rocked us a back and forth.
"It... it doesn't bother you that I'm both?"
"Sanura, I'll admit that it's a shock to find all of this out, but I knew from the moment that I saw you that you were the girl for me, and none of this changes how I feel about you. If you feel the same way, then I'd really like to be your boyfriend..." I still couldn't believe how awesome he'd been so far.
"Really?" He nodded. "Then I'd love to be your girlfriend!"
His smile grew even bigger as I said that and I couldn't help smiling back. He started to lean in closer and I knew exactly what he wanted. That little voice started acting up again. *YOU'RE A BOY!* it yelled. *No! I'm a girl!* I yelled and then closed my eyes and accepted his kiss.
I gave him another quick kiss before closing the front door. I turned around and found Mom leaning against the wall with a bemused smile on her face.
"How much did you see?" I asked nervously.
"I saw enough to know that my daughter has her first boyfriend. I think we should have a little talk. Why don't we go up to your room?"
And with that I followed her up the stairs.
We went into my room and I sat on the bed while Mom sat at my desk. Mom looked around my room, and I did the same. My closet full of girls' stuff didn't look right when compared with the rest of my room.
As if reading my mind, Mom said, "This room really needs a new look, something more feminine."
I nodded and thought about what I could do to change the atmosphere in my room without it being too girly.
"OK, Nura, we need to talk about this business with Colin."
"Mom, if you're going to talk to me about the birds and the bees, there's really no point as I had that talk with Dad a long time ago ."
"Honey, it's a lot different now that you're a girl."
"Not that different. The only difference is that now I'd be the one who gets pregnant. Besides, I don't plan on having sex any time soon, and there's the fact that I'm still a guy too."
"Nura, when you were kissing Colin, did you feel like a boy or a girl?"
"A... a girl..."
"And that's why we're having this talk. Your being a boy too doesn't apply to your relationship with Colin. There's also more to it than you getting pregnant. And you need to know this so that when you feel you are ready, you'll be ready."
Mom talked to me for the next hour, while I nodded from time to time to let her know that I was still listening. She talked about everything from birth control to STD's and from my period to masturbation. I don't think I've ever blushed that much before in my life.
"Mom, do we have to talk about this? I'm still not even comfortable touching myself down there when I shower, let alone playing with myself."
"Nura, you're fifteen years old; you're bound to get curious. I know this conversation must seem a bit odd, especially coming from me, but I do remember being your age. If... you want me to, I'll buy you... umm... something that you can use... on yourself...." Now Mom was blushing.
"Are you offering to buy me a vibrator?" I was shocked Mom would even suggest something like that.
"Yes, that's what I'm offering. But only if you want me to. Whenever you feel you're ready, just let me know. OK?"
"Okay, you might as well get one, but I doubt I'll use it anytime soon." The idea of having something inside of me was kinda disturbing, but I was hoping that by agreeing to her offer our conversation would come to an end.
"I have to run some errands tomorrow, so I'll pick one up for you then. I'm also going to pick up some tampons and pads for you. For now, you should borrow some from Crystal as your period could start at anytime."
I made a face. "That's the last thing I need right now."
I was a long way from mastering my powers, but I was definitely on my way. I had spent nearly two hours that night simply practicing my powers, after finishing my homework of course.
Then I had spent the last hour and a half on the phone with Colin. I still couldn't believe that I had a boyfriend! It still seemed odd, but just thinking of him made me feel all tingly inside. Dad got all quiet when Mom brought up the subject at dinner. Crystal laughed at first, and then started complaining that it wasn't fair that I was allowed to date and she wasn't. Fortunately, that shifted the spotlight off of me. It's not that I'm ashamed of having a boyfriend, but I didn't want that to be the center of attention. However, talking on the phone with him made me feel safe and secure and... wanted. It was a nice way to end the night and so, hanging up the phone, I went to get ready for bed.
The auto-focus took a moment to adjust itself as the lights came on in the bedroom and the short black-haired girl walked in wearing a set of shiny black pajamas. She made her way over to the mirror on the wall and simply stared at herself for several minutes.
"Is there a reason we're still watching her? We know she's the one. She was playing with that energy field for hours tonight."
"We were sent here to take surveillance video and then report. We are not authorized to take further action. What we do with her will be up to the decision of the council."
To be continued...
Note: The MORFS story universe will be open to contributions from other authors. Guidelines will be posted after the first few parts of Sanura's Tale are online.
Notes:
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 continues to cope with her new life and her new powers.
By Britney McMaster
Chapter 10: Running Late
"NURA!" yelled Mom, "Get out of bed you're going to be late!" I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock. *7:36? Crap!*
I rushed through my shower, cutting myself badly on the arm in the process. *Damn claws.* I dried off as quickly as possible, wrapped my arm with some gauze and dashed into my room. My tail was still fairly wet so I was stuck with having a pair of damp panties for the foreseeable future. Next came my contortionist act as I put on my bra. I was running out of time as I picked out what to wear. I picked out something a little girlier than I normally would have but I thought that Colin would like it. I barely had to do more to my hair than a quick brushing, as it had dried pretty much in place. Then I quickly applied some lip gloss and eye shadow in my vanity mirror. I went over to the full length mirror on my wall and checked to make sure I looked all right. My hair and make-up were fine and I thought I looked pretty cute. I had picked out a really flirty looking skirt made of a really thin gauzy material which flared out and floated about with every move I made. I hoped it wasn't too short. My top was sleeveless, made of a similar fabric as the skirt, but was white as opposed to the skirt's peach colour.
I was about to head downstairs when I remembered that I had promised to go to the basketball game after school. That meant I could change into something more casual. So I hurried back to my closet, grabbed my only pair of jeans and shoved them into my pack. Mom had some toast waiting for me when I reached the kitchen and I scarfed it down in a very unladylike way.
"Mom, what shoes should I wear with this skirt?"
She came out of her bedroom and looked at the skirt in question. "First, I think that skirt is a bit too short for school, but if that's what you want to wear, then I would suggest the white sandals we bought you. They're in the front closet." She eyed me one more time before she went back in her room.
I scrounged around in the closet for a few minutes before I found the sandals. They were strappy with about three inch heels. There's no way I'd be able to walk to school in these and make it in time. I hadn't even worn heels this high yet, but I slipped them on anyway and stuffed my sneakers in my bag before asking Mom for a ride. To my surprise the heels weren't hard to walk in at all and I made it out to the car as fast as I normally would have. Soon we were at school and after giving Mom a kiss I headed inside.
"Hey there, beautiful," Colin said as he wrapped his arms around me. I had heard and smelt him coming up behind me but waited until he was there before turning around.
"Hey yourself." Despite the added height from the heels I still had to pull him down towards me as I gave him a kiss. There were a few whistles and comments from some of the other kids in the hallway but I ignored them, just content to be there with my boyfriend. *Wow, that still sounds strange.*
"What happened to your arm? Are you okay?" He kept glancing from my face to my arm.
I had almost forgotten about the cut until Colin pointed it out and I was surprised I hadn't noticed that it stopped hurting. "I cut myself in the shower this morning. I'm still not used to having claws, I kinda forget that they're there sometimes. I'm fine." He still looked worried so I leaned against him and gave him a hug.
"Can I see it?" I decided to humor him, so I unwrapped my arm. There was still a bit of blood on the skin but the cut itself was completely healed. In its place was a small red scatch that was quickly fading.
"Well there was a cut here. I heal fast though, so you don't have to worry about me."
"I know I don't, but I want to... So, you still coming to the game tonight? If you don't, it will break my heart." He put on his pouty face again.
"Of course I am. Although I wish I could still play, too." I really did miss the team, now that I thought about it. Basketball has always been a passion for me.
"Maybe you could get on the girl's team? But anyway, I do think you should talk with Coach Williams so that he doesn't expect Jason to show up eventually." He was right. It's only fair that coach should know. "Or maybe you could join the cheerleading squad. Then you could come cheer me on at all the games."
"Do you really think that little of me?" I teased.
"What are you talking about?" The sarcasm in my question must have missed him.
"Well I'm not exactly the cheerleader type Colin. For one, I know how to think," I said before sticking my tongue out at him. He responded by kissing me during which he stuck his tongue out. We made out for a while until the first buzzer went signaling that we had five minutes to get to class.
"I'll see you at lunch, okay?" He kissed the top of my head
"Okay, I'll be looking forward to it." I gave him a quick peck on the lips and then headed off to my homeroom.
"Hey Sanura," said Amy before she gave me a strange look and motioned for me to lean over closer. I complied and she whispered, "So who's the lucky boy? Or is it a girl?"
"What are you talking about?"
"The one you were kissing. It was Colin, wasn't it?"
I slowly nodded. I could feel my cheeks burning as I blushed furiously. "How... how did you know?"
"Nura, you're new at being a girl so I understand why you might be embarrassed or ashamed at being with a guy, but it’s okay, so stop blushing. The reason I know you were kissing someone is that your lipstick is all screwed up. You need to fix that after you eat something or when you kiss someone." She reached over and gave me a reassuring hug.
"Thanks for understanding Amy, it means a lot." I pulled out my lip gloss and a small mirror and quickly fixed my makeup.
"So tell me about him."
"What do you want to know? You've known him as long as I have."
"I know that, but I've never dated him, so tell me about him. What’s he like as a boyfriend."
"Well, he's been extremely cool. He found out about me and he's totally cool with it."
"You mean he doesn't mind that you're still part male?" Amy whispered
"Nope. It's so cool that he accepts me for who, and not what, I am. And he's so nice to be with. I expected him to be a bit more aggressive, but he's really gentle when we're together or when we kiss. When I explained everything to him I started to cry and I was expecting him to freak out, but he stayed there and held me until I felt better." I felt all warm inside just thinking about him.
"I'm glad you're happy Nura. All of us have really been worried about you, and it’s good to see you taking everything in stride. I mean, we all expect to get morfs, and its pretty much commonplace but not many people change as much as you. Most kids would have just got the hybridization or the gender change, but you got both of them and an elemental power on top of that. I'm glad that you're able to handle all of this." Amy began to cry a little bit, herself, "I couldn't imagine losing you."
"Amy, you were afraid I'd try killing myself?" She slowly nodded. "Oh Amy, I would never do anything like that. I don't think I could, even if I wanted to." I leaned over to her again and we hugged each other until we both felt better.
"That's a cute outfit. Did you wear it for Colin?"
"Actually, yes, I did." I was still blushing when we talked about Colin.
"Good, I'm glad to see that I don't have to force you into your more feminine clothes. I love those heels, too. Have you been practicing how to walk in those?"
"Nope. I guess I'm just a natural. I attribute it to my feline grace," I said with a laugh.
"Well, you look like you've been wearing heels for years. You've even got that sexy swaying hips walk down perfectly." She stuck her tongue out at me.
"Well, I promise you I never wore them before I morfed." I laughed, "Trance is going to give me grief about this whole boyfriend issue, isn't he?" I let out a sigh as I realized that not all of my friends might be as accepting as Amy.
"I can't say for sure, Nura. He's been pretty cool with everything else, and he is pretty mature for someone our age. But then, this is an emotional decision, and he tends to only look at things logically."
"I hope you're right, Amy. I wouldn't want to lose him as a friend. Hopefully, Colin won't be one of those guys who gets all possessive and doesn't want their girlfriends hanging out with other guys. That would just add other problems that I don't need."
Chapter 11: Revelations
"We don't want your kind in here!"
I just stared at the girls over by the sinks in shock. They had been idly chatting and doing their makeup until I walked into the bathroom. As soon as they saw me they moved over to block my way to the stalls. "Wha… what do you mean my kind?"
"This is the girls' washroom. That means human girls! So why don't you go find a litter box to piss in, cat bitch."
"I may be part cat but you're the bitches. I don't have to take this crap from you; I have just as much right to be in here as you do. So let me past so I can do what I came in here for or I'll go get the principle and have you expelled for discrimination." My dad had always taught me not to take any crap about having a hybrid for a father and had talked to me since my change about it even more. I had always thought it was an irrational concern, but here I was experiencing hybridist discrimination first hand.
One of the girls walked over until she was inches from me. "So the cat has some fight in her. Your kind disgust me, you're all a bunch of freaks."
I tried to move around her but the other girls quickly surrounded me. I recognized a few of the girls, but they were all younger than me and in another grade. The few I did recognize were known in school as 'bad girls' and I knew a few had powers. "I don't want to fight. Just leave me alone."
"We think you need to learn a lesson on who your superiors are, bitch. Your kind only contaminate the human race, a real morf like me, is what improves it."
She stepped forward and raised her fist as she readied for a punch. Her fist rapidly turned a metallic green colour and I quickly put my hands up to try and block the impact. She started to swing and I closed my eyes. This was going to hurt. That same feeling returned in a rush and surged towards my hands. I opened my eyes to see her punch coming within inches from my hands when a thin shield of my black energy formed between the two. I saw the impact but I never felt it. Her fist stayed in contact with the energy shield for only a moment before she was thrown back a few feet, where she landed on her butt. She returned to her feet and put her fist through a partition in the wall in frustration. One of the other girls tried to kick me from behind, but was also blocked, as the energy shield surrounded me completely.
With a wall of energy safely protecting me, I was able to walk over to the stall and go to the bathroom. When I had finished, I came out of the stall to see them still trying to break through the shield. A grin spread across my face and I couldn't help but laugh. I washed my hands, walked to the door, put my hand on the shield, retracted the energy and left.
"Uh, excuse me sir. Could I talk to you for a minute in private?" Coach looked me over quickly before replying.
"Sure. My office is right over here," he said, and I followed him to his office. "So, what can I help you with young lady?"
"Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about Jason Miller."
"Haven't seen Jase for nearly two weeks now. Heard he had morfs. You a friend of his?"
"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I guess I'll just get straight to the point. My name is Sanura Miller, and before I had morfs two weeks ago, I was Jason Miller. So I wanted to let you know that I won't be back to play for the team. Sorry coach." Feeling embarrassed, I looked down at my feet.
"Jase... Sanura, there's no need to be sorry. You don't have control over what morfs did to you. No one does. I appreciate you coming to me and being up front about this. That takes a lot of guts. No doubt we're all going to miss having you on the team. You were a great asset to the team and a good friend to your teammates. Hell, if you were still a boy, I'd put you out on the court no matter what you looked like."
"I... I am still a boy, sir." My statement was no more than a whisper. Coach looked at me intently as I stood there in my gym leotard. I knew he didn't believe me.
"You are, are you? I know this must be hard for you, but you are going to have to accept that you're no longer a boy. Stranger things have happened with morfs than a sex change. Even if you are still a boy as you say, I can tell by that uniform you've got on that the school has you registered as a female student, which means I can't have you on the team. I can speak with Coach Harding about getting you on the girls' team if you really want to play. I know she could use a talented player like you. Would you like me to talk to her for you?"
"That would be great, coach. Thank you."
"Not a problem and if you ever need anything, even just to talk, my door is always open."
"Not much. How was your date yesterday, Nura?" Apparently Trance was going to keep teasing me about that.
"It was great, Trance. Thanks for asking. We're going out again tomorrow." I sat there watching the different emotions play across Trance's face, something that doesn't happen often and just tried to smile and look cute.
*Nura, are you serious?* I guess Trance wanted to talk in private.
*Yeah, I am. What's wrong with that?*
*It's just that, well, you were a guy for nearly sixteen years. You've been a girl for like a week and you've already got yourself a boyfriend. It just seems odd. Even for you.*
*You don't think this is hard for me to handle? I have conflicting thoughts about everything that I do. All I know is that like it or not I am a girl, and I do like Colin. I would hope you'd accept my decision and try your best not to make it harder on me with your constant teasing.*
*Sanura, I just think it's a bit sudden, that's all. Just because you're a girl now doesn't automatically mean you have to like boys. I'm sorry for teasing you about it. I just don't want you rushing into this because it’s what you think you, as a girl, should do. I'm just worried about you, that's all.*
*Okay, I just want you to understand. Maybe I am rushing in to this. But when I'm with Colin, I feel right, like I belong. If it isn't the right thing to do, then I'll find out, and if I get hurt, I hope that you'll be there for me. Now let’s eat our lunch, okay? I'm hungry*
"So what were you two talking about?" asked Jade. "Trance isn't jealous that you have a boyfriend, is he Nura?"
"No. Trance isn't really my type anyway." That got him to laugh, which made me smile.
"Nura?" asked Danielle. "How did you manage to get Colin as a boyfriend? Practically every girl in school has tried to get with him and here you come along and get a date with him your second day at school as a girl. It's not fair."
"Just ignore my boy crazy sister, Sanura," Mike interrupted. "She's just upset that she can't get a date with the captain of the basketball team. Or anyone else for that matter." He had barely finished that sentence when Dani slugged him in the arm. "Ouch! That's why you can't get a boyfriend, you're too violent."
"I am not, Mike. You jerk." Dani huffed. “And I have no problem getting a boyfriend, I just don't happen to be dating anyone right now. There's nothing wrong with that." We all laughed at that.
"Well, if it isn't the man of the hour," whispered Damian. I looked over my shoulder to see Colin walking up to our table, so I scooted over closer to Amy to make room for him to sit down.
"Hi Colin. You've met all my friends before, right?" I asked, as I put my arm around his waist and rested my head on his arm.
"Yup, I have. So I assume you've been talking about me?" Colin eyed everyone at the table.
"We were just congratulating Nura here about having such a wonderful boyfriend." Amy just smiled sweetly at Colin and me.
"Amy, you're such a suck up!" I laughed.
"So, where you going on your date tomorrow?" asked Megan.
"We were just going to do dinner and a movie, right?" Colin looked down at me for approval, and so I nodded back at him.
Colin continued to talk with my friends but I was content to just lean against him and enjoy his presence. I closed my eyes and everything else just seemed to melt away. Colin was definitely the right choice.
"Hi, Nura!" I turned and saw Jade walking towards me with a towel wrapped around her. Her wet green hair looked almost black, and it took me a few seconds to recognize her. She‘d had her green hair since birth. Both she and her younger brother had gotten if from their grandmother on her mom's side, who got it from morfs.
"Uh... hi, Jade. You wanna get dressed first?" So far I hadn't had to dress and undress around other girls.
"I'm fine. Besides, we're all girls here, right?" She looked down at my exposed panties as she said that. I covered myself a bit too late. Jade leaned in and whispered in my ear, "I thought you said you were still a boy, too. Those panties don't hide much, you know."
I blushed. "I wasn't lying. I am still a boy, but it pulls up inside me when I'm not using it," I whispered back.
"Well then don't go getting a boner when you're in the shower after gym." Jade walked away laughing.
"Jade!" I whined
Chapter 12: Shopping... A Girl's Best Friend
With my jeans and sneakers on I made my way out into the gym and saw Amy, Shine and Todd up in the stands. Amy waved me over. I made my way around the court and up the bleachers to sit with my friends. The guys were warming up and Coach Williams smiled at me when our eyes met.
"Hey, guys." My friends returned my greeting as I sat down beside Amy and watched Colin run through some drills with the other guys.
"Earth to Nura!” Amy sounded amused.
"Sorry. What's up?"
"I just wanted to ask you what you were doing tonight."
"Nothing that I know of. You have any ideas?"
"Well," said Jade, who had just joined us. "We were thinking we could have a little girl’s night out. Wanna go shopping?"
"What is it with girls and shopping? Is that all that you ever do?" asked Todd
"I'm with him on this one." I glanced over at Todd. "Shopping isn't really my thing."
"Come Ooooonnnn, Nura. It will be fun. Besides, you're basing your opinion of shopping on the trips you took with your mom. You need to learn how much fun it can be to go shopping with the girls. And this way, you can get some clothes that you like, and not what your mom picked for you.” Amy did have a point.
"Okay, so who all is going, just us four?" I asked.
"Us four and we're going to call Dani and Megan, too. So are you going to come?"
"Yeah, I'll come. But I have to call home first. My parents are kinda protective of me since I changed."
"What are you getting tailored?"
"Most of the clothes we bought are being tailored so that I can wear them with a tail. Mom put tail holes in a lot of the skirts we bought so that I would have something to wear to school, but the rest of my clothes needed to be done professionally."
"What about those jeans you have on? Who did those?"
"These are my only pair of jeans. Mom did these, but she said it was really hard to stitch through the denim."
"Well, you look great in them. I just have no idea how you got in them." Said Jade.
"They're not hard to get on. You can't see them 'cus I have a belt on, but there are a few hook and eye closures above the tail hole. It just takes me longer to put my pants on than it used to. But anyway, let’s go shopping." With that said, we all got into Shine's car and headed for the mall.
"But what's the point of trying stuff on if we're not going to buy anything?" I was still very confused.
"Because it's fun! You'll see," laughed Danielle. "Now stop asking so many questions and let’s do some shopping."
The video stopped and the agent displayed several surveillance pictures of a young black haired girl with gray cat ears and bright blue eyes. In one of the pictures she was sitting on what appeared to be a bed, with a ball of black energy hovering between her hands.
"Agents, this is a stealth mission. This girl is your target. She is believed to be dangerous and all precautions are to be implemented."
"What do you think of these?" asked Megan as she held up a pretty pair of silver earrings.
A frown came over my face as I looked at them. "They're pretty, but I don't think that they'd look right on me. I don't have normal ears, and they're not pierced, anyway." I went back to looking at some bracelets they had on display.
"You could always pierce something else," said Jade.
"I'm not getting my nipples pierced, Jade." That got us all laughing.
"That's not what I was talking about. I meant something like this," she said, as she lifted up her shirt a bit to show off her bellybutton piercing. It did look cute on her, but I had a feeling that my parents would skin me alive if I got one.
"My mom would freak if I got one of those," I stated my fears.
"That's the whole reason I got mine done," laughed Jade. "Besides, your parents will understand. Just tell them you would've done your ears, but since you couldn't, you got this instead. Also, I think that Colin would like it, too."
I smiled dreamily as I imagined what Colin's reaction would be. "Who else thinks I should do this?" All the other girls raised his hands.
"I'll get mine done, too, if you do it Nura," said Amy. "Come on, let’s go pick out some different navel rings before we get it done."
"Oh! That one's pretty! I might get the green one," said Amy. She picked up the green one and held it against herself. It really looked good on her with her green eyes and red hair. "You know," said Amy as she look closer at the other navel rings. "This really proves that you're a girl at heart. You went right to that pink one and you know as well as I do that no guy, not even a gay one, would get their bellybutton pierced."
I thought about that for a few minutes. Amy was right. I had just slipped right into being 'one of the girls.' Part of me still wouldn't give up that fact that I was a boy. But how could I? I was reminded of it every time l go to the bathroom. *Why couldn't morfs have just made me a normal girl? Why do I have to be in between?*
"Come on, Amy. Let’s go pay for this and have it done before I change my mind." Amy smiled at me as we took the rings and studs we had picked out over to checkout.
We had to wait a few minutes before a girl with bright purple hair led us over to a little booth in a corner of the store. I volunteered to go first and was instructed to lay back in the reclined chair and lift my top. I handed her the ring with the pink jewel and she removed the tags from it, cleaned it with what smelled like alcohol and then placed it next to what I assumed was the piercing gun. She cleaned in and around my bellybutton with the alcohol and then picked up the gun.
*I can't believe I'm doing this,* I thought as I closed my eyes and waited. Amy took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. I could fee the cold metal clamp pressing down on me. It seemed like this was taking forever and I was about to say something when I felt something tug at my stomach and the girl said, "Okay, you're all done." I opened my eyes and looked down to see the little pink stone glimmering back at me.
"That didn't hurt at all," I said in surprise.
The girl laughed out loud at my comment. "The alcohol we use has a mild anesthetic in it to numb any pain."
I traded places with Amy and she was done just as quickly. "What we need now is a couple skimpy tops to show these off," said Amy.
I had already thrown myself into this being a girl thing with reckless abandon. A skimpy top couldn't be much worse. "Okay, then let's go find some."
"We need to talk," said Trance in an eerily calm voice.
"Uh... Okay, come on in." Trance walked in and followed Colin into the living room. "So what do we need to talk about?"
Trance looked up and fixed the other boy with a hard cold stare. "Nura. We need to talk about Nura."
We followed her into the pet store and I patiently waited near the entrance while the girls cooed at the different little animals. The puppies in the window display were barking and growling at me and I didn't want to set off any more by venturing any deeper into the store.
"Nara, why are you waiting up here?" When I didn't respond right away, she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the store. We were followed by a stream of loud barking as we went past the dogs in their cages, and I winced as the loud noise hurt my sensitive ears. Once we were out of the dog’s sight, they quieted down to the point where I could hear myself think.
"You know, you should get a job here. You'd be the perfect employee. You could even endorse some of the cat products," Amy laughed maniacally as I glared at her.
"I don't use any cat products, Amy."
"Nura, don't be so uptight. I was just kidding around with you. Besides, maybe they do sell some stuff here that you might like. So just look around and try to have some fun."
"Fine. I'll try." I still didn't want to be in there, but forced myself to try and ignore all the noise and have some fun. I started to walk towards Megan and Jade who were looking through a rack of pet supplies. They noticed me coming and walked over to me. Megan was hiding something behind her back and I noticed that they were trying to block my view of the rack that they had been looking through. Before I could say anything and figure out what they were up to, Dani yelled for me to come over to where she was.
As I headed towards Danielle, Jade and Megan grabbed something from the rack and ran to the register. *Whatever...*
I made it over to Dani who was standing to next one of the store employees who was opening up one of the pet cages. Danielle reached into the cage and then placed a small ball of fur in my paws. I looked down at the tiny gray kitten sleeping in my hands and my heart just melted. I've never really been big on pets, but that cat had an impact on me. Maybe it was because I'm now a hybrid, or maybe it was my new female hormones, but as I looked down at the kitten I was filled with awe at the miracle of the new life of this little creature.
*I can't wait until I have kittens... err... kids. What the hell am I thinking, I'm only fifteen!* I knew I was blushing as I felt my cheeks burning. The kitten was starting to stir and then started mewing. My retarded brain picked that moment to flash a mental picture of an older version of myself, nursing a litter of kittens. I shook my head to erase that image and then handed the cat back to the shop attendant. "She's hungry," I said, although I'm not sure why I felt so positive about that. "Dani, I'll be outside. I need a few minutes to clear any head." I made my way out of the store and plopped down on the first bench I could find.
"Nura? Are you okay?" I kept my eyes closed as Amy sat down next to me.
"What’s happening to me Amy?" Once again, I was fighting back tears.
"What are you talking about Sanura?"
"I just feel like I'm losing myself. Amy, I know my body has changed, but I'm still the same person... or at least I thought I was... and I still want to be. It's just that now it seems that even the way I think has changed. I'm trying my best to accept my change, but mentally I want to be the same."
"Nura, I wish there was something I could do help somehow, but it's normal that your way of thinking is going to change a bit. Take Colin for example. We all know you weren't lusting after him before you morfed, but now you're got those female hormones working away at your system and its normal for you to find him attractive. I assume you still like girls too?"
I nodded. "I'm not sure which I like better, but I've gotten lucky with Colin not minding that I'm both a boy and a girl. I still thinking that I'm going crazy, though."
"And why do you think that?"
"When I was in there holding that baby cat, I thought to myself that I couldn't wait until I had kittens myself and then I imagined myself nursing a litter of them... See? I'm going crazy." I opened my eyes and glanced at Amy before closing them again.
"Umm... It's not that odd... I've thought about it'd be like to have a baby and be a mom and all that..."
"Yeah, but you thought of having human kids."
"Maybe you're just embracing your inner cat," Amy laughed by herself. "Sorry, Nura, I shouldn't have said that." She reached her arm around me and pulled me into a warm hug.
We were still hugging when the other four came out of the store. They asked why I had left and I used the excuse of it being too loud for me.
"I'm starving. Who's up for hitting the food court?" We all agreed with Shine that food was a good idea. My stomach rumbled at the thought of food, and the girls all got a good laugh at that.
"If I’m such a womanizer and everyone knows it, then why would Sanura want to go out with me? She’s known me as long as you have. If I’m so horrible, then she wouldn’t be with me," stated Colin, feeling defensive at the conversation about his new relationship.
Trance leaned forward in his seat and glared at Colin, his white eyes piercing deeply. "He isn’t thinking, this is an emotional issue for him."
"She! Nura is a girl!"
"And she’s still a boy."
"What’s your problem with us dating?"
"I just don’t want to see her get hurt." A look of concern crossed Trance’s face.
"I’m not going to hurt her. I really like her …”
"That better be true," said Trance as he stood to leave. "Because if you hurt her, I will make your life hell."
Colin jumped to his feet and stepped within inches of the other boy. "Is that a threat?"
"Yeah, that’s a threat. So be good to her."
When I turned around to let Jade place her order, all of the girls were looking at me as if I were a ghost.
"What’s wrong?"
"You’re going to eat all that?"
"Uh huh. I’m hungry." After a few minutes the guy taking our order put my tray of food on the counter and my stomach grumbled again.
"That is so gross." Dani pulled a face at me as I picked up my tray full of food. I grabbed a table for us and we were soon chowing down. Even though I had by far, the largest order, I was still the first one to finish my food. I sipped at my milkshake as I waited for the others.
"We got you a little present, Sanura." Jade searched through the various shopping bags she had and pulled out a small package from the pet store we had just been at.
When she handed me the bag, I just stared at it. "You got me a gift at a pet store?" I didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, I was upset because it seemed they were making fun of me because I was a hybrid. On the other, I knew they were my friends, and they wouldn’t try to hurt me.
"Go ahead and open it!" Jade and Megan were both grinning like idiots.
They had tied the bag closed, and so I used my claws to slice it open. I reached in and pulled out a pink … collar? Yup, that’s what it was. It was pink, and looked as if it was made of leather. A heart-shaped silver I.D. tag with my name etched into the surface hung from it. It was one of the strangest gifts I’ve ever received, but it was kind of cute … for a collar. I smiled, and then slipped it around my neck. The buckle was a little difficult to do up with furry hands and long claws, but I got it done up after a bit of a struggle.
"Thanks, you guys, this is so cool!" I leaned over the table and gave Meg a hug, then turned to Jade, who was sitting right next to me. There was still a lump in the bag, so I reached in and pulled out a small toy mouse. "Very funny. What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Smell It!"
I gave Jade a look before lifting the mouse to my nose and taking a sniff. "That smells really good. What is it?" I took another sniff, and then another one. I felt like I was floating, and began to feel a little drowsy. I was only vaguely aware that the girls were laughing at me.
Megan grabbed the mouse away from me, and without thinking, I swiped at it, pinning down the mouse and Meg’s hand. My claws had sunk into the table top and I had to pull pretty hard for quite awhile to get loose.
I had a few minutes to clear my head while I tried to get my hand out of the table. I felt really weird, but the drowsiness was starting to fade. I felt something on my chin and wiped at it with my free hand, only to find that I had been drooling. "What did you do to me?" I slurred and then started giggling uncontrollably.
The girls just laughed at me again. "The mouse had catnip in it," Jade giggled.
No wonder I felt drugged.
Underneath I was wearing the new pink push up bra that made my breasts look even larger. I still had a hard time with bumping into stuff with them. The bra was clearly visible through the sheer microfiber material. *Mom and Dad are going to freak when they see me,* I thought to myself.
Getting out of the car, I went around to the trunk to get my stuff. I had ten large bags of newly tailored skirts, pants, and shorts, two bags of stuff I had bought today, and my backpack. I managed to pick them all up at once, and carefully made my way to the front door.
I had just stepped through the door and put down the bags when Dad walked in from the kitchen. He stopped as soon as he saw me and I stood there frozen to the spot as he looked me over from head to toe, several times. He finally broke the silence, "Kaitlyn! Could you come here, please?"
Mom walked in and smiled at me, "Sanura, that outfit is pretty on you, but you might want a bit more under that top than just your bra."
"Kaitlyn, I don’t think she should be wearing clothes like that!"
Mom looked over at me, "Hon, why don’t you head up to your room while your father and I have a little talk?"
I headed up to my room and put my bags on the bed. As I was starting to put away the things I’d purchased I realized I could hear my parents talking even though they were downstairs and on the other side of the house. I sat at my desk, perked up my ears and was amazed how clearly I could hear their conversation. I knew I shouldn’t eavesdrop, but they were talking about me.
"...don’t want her going around town dressed like that!"
"Hon, this is a good sign, even if you don’t like it. It means that she’s accepted that she’s a girl now, or is at least trying to. I know you feel you’re losing your son, but Sanura is the same person, and your daughter needs your support."
"I just think he may be taking all this a bit too fast. You know he always used to get himself in over his head. I’m just concerned that this might all be too much for her.... She’s already got a boyfriend, Kaitlyn! Don’t you think that was a bit quick? I just don’t want her to get hurt."
"Neither do I, but we shouldn’t discourage her from exploring her feminine side. I agree that this must be a lot for her to deal with, and that’s why I’m taking her to that morfs counselor on Monday.
*I don’t need to see a counselor,* I thought. *No doctor is going to know how I feel.*
I decided not to listen to the rest of their conversation, content that they were just concerned for me. I was amazed at how well I could hear them. I played around with it, and found that I could focus my hearing on certain areas by moving my ears, something I had surprisingly great control over.
Sanura walked into her room and passed her window.
"I have a clean shot at the target."
I put away the last of them and stood in front of my dresser enjoying the cool breeze from my open window. It felt nice against the silky fabric, and my exposed skins started to get goose bumps. I was snapped back to reality by a very quiet whistling sound, and my ears stood up to detect what it was. I could tell something was coming towards me quickly, as it was rapidly getting louder. All of this was being processed in my head at double speed. As if I was acting on autopilot, I pushed myself off the dresser towards the left, dropped to my knees and rolled to the left just as a dart struck the wall right where my neck would have been. "What the hell?" I was so mad, that without thinking, I ran across the room and lunged out the window
"What do you want? Who sent you?" The distinct sound of guns being cocked all around the girl interrupted her questioning. Sanura knew she was surrounded.
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 and Colin have their first date.
By Britney McMaster
Chapter 13: Power & Love
The men stepped out of the darkness, their smart camo making them difficult to see. Sanura dug her claws deeper into the arms of the man underneath her, causing him to grunt in pain. "If you value your life, you'll call them off," she spat.
"Release him and stand with your hands behind your head!"
"I'll release him when you put your guns away."
The men reluctantly put their weapons back in their holsters. Sanura was about to get up when her ears twitched and she barely overheard a message on the earpiece lying on the ground next to the man's head, "... snipers are in position..."
The girl picked up one of the darts from the agent's belt and concealed it in her paw Before the snipers on the roof realized what was happening, a shadowy mist started to form in the air around the young teen. . As she stood up, the girl could no longer be seen.
The area of darkness continued to grow all around her as Sanura absorbed even the faint light of the moon from the area around them all. For the agents, the night was now pitch black. The men could not even get their night vision goggles to work. Sanura, however, could see everything as if it was the middle of the day. She could see the men stumbling around trying to find her.
She decided her first targets were the snipers. Not wanting to hurt anyone, she decided using the darts was her best bet. She jumped straight up as hard as she could, and emerged from the blackness. As she'd predicted, that made her a visible target and she blocked the shots using her energy shield again. The direction from which the shots came was easy to determine, and she was able to spot the snipers before dropping back into the darkness.
She put her hands together with the dart facing forward between them. The dart burst from her hands, propelled by the blast of black and purple light emitted from between them. Almost instantly, the dart hit the sniper in the arm and he jerked, then slowly fell over and rolled over and off the roof. While the other sniper was watching him tumble, Sanura was able to snatch another dart from one of the confused agents. The second sniper soon followed the first.
The chopper was the first to spot them, and the cleanup team was quickly on the site doing their job. All the agents had been laid side by side. Each of them had been hit with their own tranquilizer darts. One agent had severe cuts on each of his arms, which had been wrapped tightly with cloth strips to reduce the bleeding. Scratched into the hill below them were the words, "LEAVE ME ALONE! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" The words appeared to have been made by claws that had dug into the ground.
"Come on boys. Let's get this cleaned up before sunrise."
I got little if any sleep that night. I was jumping at every sound. But they never came back.
All too soon, it was time to go to school. At least today was Friday and I didn't have to wear a skirt. As I hadn't really slept, I had lots of time to get ready for school. I had spent nearly an hour earlier washing blood out of the fur on my hands. I noticed now that a lot of the pink polish on my claws had chipped off, and decided to fix it so I went into the bathroom and pulled out the box of nail stuff my sister kept under the counter.
I found some pink polish, and after digging through the cleaning supplies found a pair of latex gloves. I pulled on the gloves and poked my claws through the end of the fingers. My first few attempts were pretty sloppy, but by the time I was finished, they all looked as they had before.
I took my time in the shower and let myself relax as the hot water poured over me. The water beat rhythmically against my back and I felt like I could spend all day in there. I turned and instinctively shielded my breasts with my arms. I let out a sigh as I realized how quickly I was adapting to being a girl. *Life was so simple before.*
I looked down at myself and let out another sigh. Tentatively I reached down, and for the first time since I'd morphed, touched myself, other than going to the bathroom, of course.
My finger brushed against the head of my penis as it slid between my legs and I shivered from the familiar pleasure.
Just below that was an opening which I assumed was my vagina; I shuddered again as my finger touched the spot right below my vagina. That area was super sensitive and the feelings I got there were so much more intense than the ones I got from my dick. I continued rubbing myself down there, first with my hand, and then, fearing a cut from my claws, I started using the end of my tail. A warm tingly feeling started to spread from my groin over my whole body.
My nipples and my dick were both now standing at attention and I brought my left hand up to my chest and started to massage my breasts, I felt as if I was floating as my brain was trying to take in this new sensory overload. The intensity of the feelings kept building and I thought I was going to pass out when I was snapped back to reality as the shower quickly became ice cold. Startled, I let out a shrill high pitched squeal before slamming the tap to the off position.
The pleasure I had felt was gone now and I just felt awkward and dirty. My tail was partially inside me and I removed it with disgust. The tingly warm feeling had been replaced with a clammy, damp feeling that was anything but comfortable. I got out of the shower and rinsed the end of my tail in the sink and got to work drying myself off.
Wrapping a towel around myself I walked back to my room and flopped down on my bed. My clock said 6:49. I had been in the shower for over an hour, *No wonder I ran out of hot water.*
After lying down on my bed for awhile, I decided to get dressed. When I removed my towel and walked over to my dresser and opened my top drawer to get some underwear, I was surprised to see a pink vibrator sitting on top of my panties. At least it wasn't one of the ones that look like a penis.
There was a note on it from Mom, telling me to keep it hidden and try to be quiet when using it. *Gross!*
I moved it so it was hidden under my panties, then grabbed a set of white undies and started to get dressed.
It was Friday, so I wanted to wear something comfy, but I also had a date right after school, so I wanted to wear something pretty.
I settled for a pair of white flared cords and a sheer white tunic over a light blue spaghetti strap top. The tank left my midriff bare, and you could easily see my new belly button piercing though the other top.
I decided on a high ponytail with my long bangs framing my face, while hanging down to my shoulders at the sides. Lip gloss, some light eye shadow and mascara was the extent of my makeup for the day. I smiled at my reflection and then went down to the kitchen to make myself some breakfast.
School was its usual routine. I didn't pay much attention during my classes as a lot of more of important things were on my mind.
The buzzer signaling the beginning of lunch finally went off and I rushed down the hall to meet Trance at his locker. He was just closing it when I got there. "Trance...," I huffed to catch my breath. "I need to talk to you... in private."
"This is about Colin, isn't it?"
"Why would I need to talk to you about Colin? I thought you were cool with that? Never mind that! I need your help. Someone is after me and I need to talk..."
*What do you mean, someone is after you? For what? Why?*
*That's what I'd like to know. I was attacked by about a dozen guys last night. They looked military. They were wearing those nanotech smart camo suits. I could barely see them.*
*Are you all right? How did you get away?*
"I had to fight them. It's all just a blur. When they shot at me, I just kinda snapped and it was like I was on autopilot. Some sort of killer instinct just took over...* I could feel myself tearing up as I replayed that had happened. *I... I hurt one of them pretty bad, Trance.*
*It's okay, Nura. You were just protecting yourself.* A tear made its way down my cheek, and he wiped it away. *Don't cry. Its okay, you're safe now.*
I wrapped my arms around him and let myself cry it all out. I felt him tense up at my embrace, but I ignored it. I just needed him to be there. Eventually I was all cried out but continued to hold onto Trance for dear life for a few more minutes before letting go. *Thanks, Trance, I really needed that. I'm so grateful you were here.*
*I'll always be here if you need me. Though I never thought I'd have you crying on my shoulder.* He chuckled, and it brought a smile to my face.
*Your shoulder? Hell, I barely reach your chest. I feel like a little kid next to you.*
*Well, maybe you'll be taller when you grow up*
I stuck my tongue out at him. *And you need to fix your makeup.*
"Damn it! It's really screwed up, isn't it?"
"Yup, now go fix it. The girl's room is right there," he said as he pointed past me down the hall.
"OK, I'll be right back. You gonna wait, or should I meet you in the cafeteria?"
"I'll wait." He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes as I pushed open the door of the bathroom. Were a few girls inside, but luckily none of them wanted to fight me this time. I found a spot over at the mirror and started repairing the damage to my makeup. With a lot of concentrating I was able to get my eyeliner on properly on my first attempt.
*Hey, you're getting pretty good at that.*
*Trance! What the hell? Why are you watching me while I'm in the girls' room? You perv!*
*Why am I a perv? It's not like I was watching you take a leak... *
*'Cus you're a boy, and I'm in the girls room.*
*But you're a b...*
*I'm a girl in this instance, Trance. Now stop watching, perv.*
"I thought cats don't like water." I looked up to see Ashley walking towards me in his little speedo. His goggles were acting as a headband for his long hair. Between his pretty face, small frame, and long hair, he really did look like a girl.
"Hi, Ash. It's not the water I don't like. It's the drying my fur afterwards. By the way, nice suit, but girls are supposed to wear a top, too."
Ash gave me a very annoyed look, and I laughed even harder. While I was laughing, Ash tried to push me into the pool, so I grabbed his leg and pulled him in with me.
We both came back up sputtering, to find Ms. Walker, our teacher looking down at us. "Just what do you two think you're doing? Get out of the pool and go get in the lineup with your team. We'll start the relay in five minutes."
"…hey check out Sanura…"My ears perked up at the mention of my name, and turned in the direction of the conversation. "... she's a total hottie. Getting to see her in that leotard every day makes these stupid tests worth coming to..." I couldn't believe that these guys were talking about me.
"We need to thank that queer Ashley for pushing her in the pool. You can see her nipples right through her suit now."
I was shocked, and was about to turn around when I heard their next comment. "... forget her tits, man.... check out that camel toe... "
Now I was furious. I turned my back to them and made the necessary adjustments to my suit before walking over to their little group. They got quiet rather quickly as they saw me approaching.
"Hey babe. Wanna go..."
SLAP!
His head reeled back and he brought his hand up to his face. Before he or his friends could do or say anything, I shot a shield of energy at them and sent them flying into the middle of the pool. Then I made my way quickly back to my spot in line next to Ashley, before the teacher returned from her office.
"You four! Out of the water and into my office this instant!" The boys started to protest but a look from Ms. Walker quickly silenced them.
"I can't believe you did that. They're gonna get in soooo much trouble."
"Ash, they deserved it. You should have heard what they were saying about me."
"If you say so. Gah, I hate this class. I'm so sick of all these stupid tests."
"I just think that you're afraid of water... Or that I'm going to beat your time today, pixie girl." An evil smirk grew across my face as I came up with a little plan.
"I'm not afraid of you. In fact, I'm going to beat you so badly that you'll be too ashamed to show your face in this school again," laughed Ashley. "And for the record, I'm not a pixie, and I'm not a girl!"
"But you'd make such a beautiful girl," I pouted. This crazy plan just might work. "How 'bout this. If I beat you at swimming today, even by just one second, then the girls I hang out with and I get to dress you as a girl and you have to spend all day like that." Ashley's mouth opened and closed a few times before he said anything.
"Okay... I'll do it. But... If I beat you... you have to show me your boobs... And let me touch 'em."
I was shocked at first but I was pretty confident that I could beat him. "I'll show them to you but you don't get to touch them."
"Okay, deal."
"The mission was a complete failure. You've all received the best training possible and not only were you beaten by a young girl, but you let her do it with your own weapons."
"Sir, we couldn't see. Not even night vision worked."
"That's no excuse. She should have been taken out with the first shot."
The door opened and a tall, slender man quietly entered. He went unnoticed for several minutes as his white clothes and white hairless skin caused him to almost disappear against the blank wall. His solid red eyes were a stark contrast to the rest of his appearance.
He glanced at the papers he was carrying before walking to the front of the room. The men stopped talking and rose up to salute the man in white as he took his place in front of them.
*PHWEEEITT!*
I covered my ears a spit second before Ms. Walker blew her whistle and watched as Ash dove into the water. Maybe it was the rippling water distorting my vision, but it looked like Ashley was using his wings to help him cut through the water. Ash was really speeding along and I was straining to think of a way to beat him.
As he was turning to start his final lap, an idea came to me and I brought up my energy shield around me. With a bit of concentration I was able to change its shape. After another few seconds I had it spinning around me. By the time Ash was finished and it was my turn, I was surrounded by an auger shaped shield that was turning slowly.
*PHWEEITT!*
I dove out in high arc over Ash before dropping gracefully into the water. I stayed dry as the shield repelled the water. I increased the speed of the spin and within seconds was at the other end of the pool. I quickly did my six laps as the water churned around me. As I approached the end of my last lap I dove a little deeper, retracted the shield and Kicked off the bottom of the pool, launching myself out of the water. I did a simple back flip in the air before dropping to my feet and giving Ashley a sly smile.
"17.44, Great job Sanura. Your style was very ... resourceful."
I was grinning from ear to ear. Ashley looked like he was going to be sick. "You are going to make just the cutest girl ever. Meet us at JB's tomorrow at seven."
''I agree that your performance was nothing short of pitiful," he droned. Even though his voice was extremely calm and monotone, it seemed to demand attention and respect, something that was reinforced by his hard red glare. "The only good thing you did was coax her into using her powers. We had a mobile lab near your location the people in it were able to take readings of her powers. We have been doing thorough analysis of those readings all day. We have yet to identify her powers with any known energy sources. What we do know is that the sheer magnitude of this energy is off the chart. We must have her!"
There were times when I just felt dumb standing around dressed as I was. I kept expecting someone to point out the boy dressed as a girl. I know that those thoughts are irrational, but since when have woman ever thought rationally? I giggled to myself as I thought that and looked around once again for Colin. Still no sign of him.
School had let out nearly half an hour ago and I was now the only kid around. If Colin would ever get out of his meeting with the basketball team, then we could go on our date.
I was starting to get really bored. Swinging my bag, (I wasn't ready to call it a purse yet), between my feet had only amused me for a few minutes. I was about to go find him when I felt myself being lifted off of the wall I had been sitting on and into the air.
I floated away from the wall for only a second and then dropped into Colin's waiting arms. My arms went around his neck almost immediately, in case he dropped me. He smiled at me before leaning in for a kiss. I brought my lips up to meet his.
"Ready to go to dinner?"
"Of course I am. I was the one waiting for you, remember? So where are we going?"
"I thought we'd hit the Chinese buffet near the theater. Last time we were there, I believe you and I had an eating contest. I doubt you'd be up to the challenge this time."
"I would totally win if we did that again. I may be smaller now but I think my appetite has tripled. But I don't really think having an eating contest is something we should do on a first date."
"So what's your take on this whole Sanura and Colin thing?"
"Is that still bugging you? Personally, I say if it makes her happy to be with him, then I support it. If he was a huge asshole it would be completely different, but he's good to her."
"I understand all that Amy, but don't you think it’s all a bit fast?"
"Zack... You need to quit worrying. Whether this relationship is a way to temporarily forget about the new life that MORFS thrust on her and feel some sort of normality or whether it’s serious, it's not our place to judge. This is a good thing for her anyway. This whole relationship is helping her get in touch with being a girl."
"Okay, okay, I'll support her decision..."
There was a slight groan on Amy's end of the phone and it was a moment before she said anything more. "Trance, I gotta go. I'm feeling a bit queasy. I'm gonna go lay down for a bit."
"Okay, I'll talk to you later. Get better."
''I'll try. Bye."
"See ya."
''I thought we weren't having an eating contest?" Colin raised his eyebrow at me and I stood still with my plate in hand.
I had eaten several plates of food already and blushed hard as I realized what a pig I must look like. "I... I was just going to get a bit of ice cream," I lied.
This sucked. I wasn't even full yet. Does being a girl mean I have to starve myself all the time? Its not fair, guys get to eat as much as they want.
I got my ice cream and loaded it up with toppings before heading back to the table. When I got back to the table, Colin had just paid the bill and was chuckling quietly to himself.
"What's so funny?"
He held up the little piece of paper with his fortune on it and read it aloud. " You will find a new relationship as love blossoms with an old friend. Now that’s the first accurate fortune cookie I've ever had. What's yours say?"
I put down my spoon and reached past my bowl of ice cream to grab the cookie. I broke it open and pulled out the slip. "Curiosity killed the cat,'' I frowned. "That is not funny. Not to mention that that's not even a fortune." Glancing at Colin, I noticed he was trying really hard not to laugh. "Go ahead and laugh, but I want a new fortune cookie..." Still a little miffed I dug into my ice cream once again.
"Amy... Dinner!"
Amy's mother waited several minutes before going upstairs and knocking on her daughter's bedroom door. She got a grunt as a reply, so she opened the door and walked in.
Amy was lying on her bed, curled up in a fetal position, hugging a pillow to her chest. "I'm not hungry," she said. The pain was evident in her voice.
"Amy, what's the matter?" She took a seat beside the young girl and put her arm around her.
"I feel all nauseous and my whole body aches. I've never felt this bad before. I think it might be MORFS."
Colin paid for our tickets and I bought us some popcorn and drinks after convincing him that it was all right for me to pay.
We chatted a little bit before the lights dimmed and the movie trailers started. Some of them looked pretty good and I made a mental note to myself that I would have to check them out. I noticed that Colin was fidgeting beside me.
Tentatively, he put out his hand and placed it on top of mine. I turned my hand so my palm was facing up and intertwined my fingers with his. I looked up to see him smile back at me before I rested my head on his shoulder.
"...and you're sure that you didn't have any of the typical symptoms before tonight?"
"Nothing at all," said Amy as she clutched her stomach with her hands. "It just hit me all of a sudden."
The ER doctor made some notes while the machine behind him clucked away as it processed the blood sample the doctor had taken from Amy.
After a few minutes the machine stopped its analysis and printed out a paper with the results. The doctor picked up the paper and read over it, then turned to face Amy and her parents and cleared his throat.
"This is a bit odd. Especially since you haven't had any symptoms before tonight. According to these results, you've already entered stage two of the massive ontogenetic regulation failure syndrome. That’s the stage where you experience any physical changes. Given the rate at which you passed stage one, I would say that unless you experience a very drastic change, that you should be into stage three, that's the recovery stage, by this time tomorrow. Do you have any questions before you go?"
"I thought that MORFS usually lasted much longer than you're saying. Back when I morfed, it lasted almost two weeks."
"Well Mr. Adams, you're right that most cases last much longer than your daughter's. Even with the many advances in medicine, stage two still usually lasts three days. However, there have been a number of documented cases where patients have gone through all three stages of MORFS within as little as seven hours. The reasons for such a quick change are still unclear. The only common thread is that all those who have had such a change are third generation morfs. I'll give Amy an arm mount IV that will give her a sedative and the energy packs. When she's finished stage two it will automatically retract the needle and start beeping so you know to take it off her. Then just bring the unit with you when you come back for her post MORFS check up.
(Nura=^_^=) Dani?
(GoddessDanielle) hi nura I like ur cat
(Nura=^_^=) thanx
(Nura=^_^=) What u doing tomorrow
(GoddessDanielle) nadda. Why?
(Nura=^_^=) You know Ashley Stark?
(GoddessDanielle) Yeah
(Nura=^_^=) he lost a bet with me in gym today..
(Nura=^_^=) want to dress him up as a girl?
(GoddessDanielle) Do I! When?
(Nura=^_^=) tomorrow. I told him to meet us at JB's at 7. he agreed to let us dress him up and stay like that all day
(GoddessDanielle) cool
(GoddessDanielle) he's about my size u want me to bring stuff for him to wear?
(Nura=^_^=) yeah
(Nura=^_^=) you goimg to be on for a little while?
(GoddessDanielle) yeah
(Nura=^_^=) k, I'm gonna go to bed. can you let the other girls know about tomorrow?
(GoddessDanielle) sure. See u in teh morning.
(GoddessDanielle) this is going to be so much fun.
Ah... Saturday. The day where I can just be a bum and do whatever I want. I nearly fell out of bed before making my way to the bathroom and lifting the seat. I stood there half asleep long after I finished. After snapping out of my early morning daze I got in the shower.
I hurried through my shower so that I could make it to JB's on time. I was running behind by the time I got back to my room. Panties, sports bra, a tee shirt and some basketball shorts and I was dressed for the day. I grabbed my bag, pulled on my sneakers, laced them up tight, put my hair up in a ponytail and went over to my window.
To Be Continued…
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. Can Sanura escape from another group of people out to get her?
By Britney McMaster
The wind blew through my hair as I was filled with a feeling of absolute freedom. For a short amount of time, I could experience the thrill of being a flyer, before I dropped back down to a rooftop and had to make another jump. I wished I could feel like this forever. It felt great to just feel … at peace, with myself and with the world. My body still felt alien to me. Even now I was conscious of the breasts pulling at my chest with each jump, my tail out behind me, maintaining my balance with each landing, and my ears flat turned down to keep the wind out of them. It all felt foreign, but at the same time, oddly normal. Its weird, maybe it’s a defense mechanism the brain uses the to keep people from freaking out over the changes, or maybe it’s the realization that MORFS could happen to anyone, no matter what we do, but not many people really freak out over the changes, most seem to take all the changes in stride. Personally, I think its something the brain does, maybe it’s the fact that the new hormones in my system make me enjoy feeling feminine, but its like I’m two people sometimes. Most of the time I have no problem being a girl and actually enjoy it. Hell, I’m even dating a guy! But at other times, I still feel like Jason, a boy, trapped in a girls’ body. Another inner conflict is that I know the girl half of me is taking over, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Should I be fighting it?
I let these thoughts play in my mind as I continued to make my way to JB’s. I started doing some flips and twists in the air as I went, to test out my acrobatic skills, and was amazed at how easily I could control my movements while maintaining my balance. Before I knew it, I was on the roof of the store across the street from JB’s and could see Dani, Jade and Megan waiting outside. I crouched down and gave my next jump as much power as I could.
I soared up into the air quickly and put my arms out to the sides as I sailed across the street, stories above my friends. I started into the downward arch of my jump headfirst and readied myself to land, by twisting forward until I was right side up, then bent my knees a bit. I came down with a lot of force, right in front of my friends, landing in a crouched position. Each of them let out a little scream when I landed, and that brought a smile to my face.
“Hey guys, “ I said, waving at them.
“Sanura, you scared the hell out of us!” Dani glared at me before continuing, “How’d you get up there, anyway?”
“I jumped from that roof over there,” I responded as I pointed across the street to where I had jumped.
“No way you jumped that far or that high, “ challenged Jade.
“Yeah, I did. I’ll do it again, if you want me to.”
“Maybe another time, here comes Ashley.”
I turned and looked up in the sky in time to see Ash come in for a landing. “Hey there, Pixie,” I grinned.
“I told you not to call me that.”
“Hey,” said Dani to get our attention. “What gives? I thought that we were supposed to dress you like a girl, not for you to come dressed like one already.”
I looked back over at Ash and realized he was pretty much dressed like a girl, already. He was wearing a pair of jeans that had a slight flare to the legs and were rather slim fitting. They could have been boys or girls jeans. With that, he was wearing a light blue and white halter top that didn’t quite meet his jeans, leaving a bit of his stomach exposed.
“Yeah, what’s with the halter top?” asked Megan.
“I have to wear it, because of my wings,” stated Ashley “do you have any idea how much they charge for custom made shirts?”
“About as much as they do for custom pants,” I said, as I swung my tail at Ashley with my hands.
“See, Nura knows what I’m talking about. I have a few of them that I wear to school, but I do wear girls tops most of the time, because they fit and they don’t get caught in my wings.”
“Okay, that makes sense,” said Jade. “But that doesn’t explain why you’re wearing girls’ jeans.”
Ashley’s face went pretty red. “I have wide hips… ’cus of morfs. Guys’ pants don’t really fit me properly.”
“Guys, leave Ash alone. He can’t help what morfs did to him. I didn’t ask for any of the things morfs did to me and how I have to dress because of it.” I could definitely sympathize with Ash on this one; no guy wants to have to wear girls’ clothes. “Now we gonna stand around and talk or are we gonna get Ashley that makeover we promised him?”
“How are you feeling sweetheart?”
“I could be better Mom, I feel like my whole body is on fire,” groaned Amy, as she sat up in bed while her mother fit another energy pack into the IV unit mounted on her arm.
“You’re quite lucky though, most people would have to endure that feeling for days. The doctors say you should be into stage three of morfs by tonight.”
“Well, do you see any changes yet? Can I look in the mirror yet?”
“Amy, just lay down and get some rest! I’m sure you can wait a few hours until your changes are finished.” Amy’s mother helped her back into bed, tucked her in and gave her a kiss on the forehead, before turning out the lights and leaving the room.
Amy lay there for several minutes before finally closing her eyes and drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
“Sir?”
“Did you identify the energy signature?”
“I think I have. I compared her energy with every know signature in our database, and came up with no matches. Then, on a whim, I ran it through NASA’s database and got a match. There’s only one problem.”
“And that is?”
“NASA has it classed as an unknown energy as well. The only information they have listed on it, is that it’s an energy given off by dark matter. Unfortunately, we don’t really have any idea what dark matter is, or how it works, as there’s never been a sample that could be tested.”
“Well if our agents would do their job and apprehend that girl, then maybe we would have a sample we could study. Imagine if we could harness her power.”
“Okay Ashley, into the shower, you need to shave your legs and your armpits,” said Danielle as we all found places to sit in her bedroom.
“I um… don’t have body hair,” Ashley blushed as each of us gave him a bit of a weird look. “It was a morfs thing, okay?”
“Okay, then go in the bathroom and put these on,” I said as I handed him a pair of panties and a bra, both pale pink. “The bra has a front closure, so it shouldn’t be hard to get on with your wings.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” We all watched as Ash went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.
Jade waved us in close to her before she whispered, “Anyone else find it odd that he didn’t put up a fuss about wearing panties?”
“It is a little weird. Did you put up a fuss about it at first, Nura?”
“I would have if I’d had any boys clothes my size I could have worn. But I kinda shrunk quite a bit, so I was kind of stuck wearing them. Still, I try not to wear anything overly frilly. Most of my stuff is rather plain.”
“Unless Colin is around,” added Jade. “Then she makes sure she looks nice and pretty.”
We were cut short by the sound of the bathroom door unlocking. We all looked up to see the door open a few inches and Ash stick his head out around the doorframe.
“Do I have to come out wearing just these?” asked Ash
“Yes, you do. Now get out here.”
“Ok, but no laughing.”
Slowly the door opened and after what seemed like a few minutes, Ash stepped into view. He had his hands in front of the panties, trying for some modesty and was blushing profusely. Not surprisingly, he looked really good. He definitely had a girls figure, the and the lingerie really showed off those curves. If he had boobs he would totally look like a girl, he already had wide hips and a narrow waist some girls would kill for.
“Okay,” said Dani, breaking the silence. “Hair and makeup first, and then we’ll pick an outfit.”
“Dibs on doing his hair,” Jade held up her curling iron.
“I’ll do his makeup.” Megan asked me, “Nura? Can you do his nails?”
“Only if Dani can find some gloves I can use.” All the girls looked really confused at that comment so I continued, “furry hands and nail polish don’t mix.” I wiggled my fingers at Megan. “But if Dani has some rubber gloves I can wear to keep from getting nail polish in my fur, then I can do his nails.”
“Oh…” said Danielle. “I think I can find some for you.”
Jade had already started on Ashley’s hair and a good portion of it was sporting some pretty flowing curls. Megan was carefully applying some black eyeliner, and I began picking out a colour for Ash’s nails from Dani’s seemingly endless collection of nail polish. I had just picked out a colour when Dani returned and tossed a pair of yellow dishwashing gloves on my lap. I pulled them on and got to work on his nails, starting with his toes.
“Hello?”
“Hi. Is ah … Zack there?”
“Just a moment…” there was a slight bang as the phone was set down and Colin could hear some talking in the background.
“Hello?”
“Trance, its Colin. I need your help with something.”
“With?” asked Trance, already knowing that it involved Sanura.
“I know you and Sanura are like best friends, so I thought you could probably tell me what kind of music she listens to. I might be able to get some concert tickets and I want to ask her to go with me, but I need …”
“Colin, slow down. Nura listens to almost everything. But she really likes dance and punk, I know that’s a strange combo but that’s what she likes.”
“Ok, thanks. Sorry for rambling. I just really like her and don’t want to do something stupid and mess this up.”
“Not a problem. Just be good to her like you promised.”
“Deploy the agents once they’ve been briefed. And stress that this has to be by the book, as this is a day run mission. There will be civilians in the vicinity. I want her brought in unharmed. Is that clear?”
“Yes sir!”
“We need her in custody before anyone else beats us to it.”
“She can’t wear that, she looks like a skank,” I exclaimed, before dissolving back into a fit of giggles.
“Well they’re your clothes Nura.”
“Yeah, but Ash is taller than me, so the skirt is way shorter on her, and so is the top.”
“Here, Ashley,” said Dani as she handed him some more clothes to try on.
Ashley had been trying on outfit after outfit for the last hour or so, and so far we hadn’t found one that all of us liked on him. He was definitely being a good sport about this though. After a few minutes, Ash emerged from the bathroom wearing the latest outfit. I thought it looked awesome on him. It was a halter style slip dress with a soft pattern to it in pink and cream. It hugged his ample fake breasts, and fit snug to his small waist and flat stomach before flaring out over his hips, ending with a ruffled hem a few inches above his knees.
We were all speechless as he stood in front of us, blushing slightly. His wings fluttered a bit causing the loose skirt to swirl around his legs playfully.
“Wow! I vote fore that one,” said Megan.
“Sorry Dani, but Ashley looks better in that dress than you ever did,” said Jade, before she received a pillow in the face from Dani.
“I like it too, its like it was made for her,” Dani said. “I’ll go get her some shoes.”
“So now can I call you Pixie?” I laughed, as Ashley gave me the finger.
“Where did you get these?”
“That’s none of your business. You want them?”
“Of course I want them, they’re floor seats. How much?”
“Ninety bucks.”
“Okay, let’s get going.”
“I need to talk to Ash in private first,” I said as I grabbed him by the arm and led him away from the door.
The girls left without a word, and I waited until I could hear them downstairs. For the last twenty minutes Ashley had been “practicing” walking in the heels Dani had found. They were a pair of sandals with a three-inch heel. He didn’t really need the practice, the girls said he must be a natural, but I knew better.
“What’s up Sanura?”
“So how long have you been doing this?” I asked
“Doing what?” he tried to reply calmly. I wasn’t buying it. Thanks to my enhanced hearing, I noticed he was suddenly breathing faster, and could faintly tell that his heart was racing.
“You don’t have to lie to me. How long have you been dressing up like a girl? You are way too used to wearing those heels.”
“Like the girls said, I must be a natural.”
“I don’t buy that at all. I’ve only been wearing them for like a week, and I still have trouble with them.”
“Wait, you’ve only been wearing them for a week? But you’re a girl. You must have worn them before.”
“Well, I didn’t okay? This is all new to me, too, and so I know a guy doesn’t just put on high heels and magically know how to walk in them” I ran out of steam about then and then realized what I had just said, and by the look on Ash’s face he didn't miss it either.
“You weren’t a girl before you morfed, were you?” he asked hesitantly.
“What! Why on earth would you say that?” Now it was my turn to lie.
“You just said that this is all new to you, meaning you didn’t used to dress like a girl or anything like that, and you said that ‘you know’ that a guy doesn’t just know how to walk in heels, implying that you used to be a guy. Am I right?”
“And I think that you’ve been dressing up like a girl in your free time, am I right?”
“And what if I have? Is that a crime?”
“So you have, so you’re a crossdresser?”
“Yes I am! I’ve been doing it since I was like five years old, okay? Now answer my question, did you used to be a guy?”
“Yes! I used to be a guy, but at least I didn’t choose to dress up like a girl. In fact I wish I still was a guy, I know nothing about being a girl, you have no idea how hard it is to just be forced to change genders. I just want to be Jason again.” My eye were watering, and I was on the verge of tears, but so far, willing myself not to cry seemed to be working.
“Jason Miller? You were Jason Miller?”
“Yes,” I squeaked.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” was the last thing he said before he sucker punched me in the face.
The door slammed shut behind the group of agents as the engines started and the thrusters came to life, lifting the aircraft off the ground. The agents took their seats as their tracer did her work. After a moment, the woman opened her eyes and raised her hands in front of herself as if she was holding a large ball. A translucent silver film quickly started forming between her outstretched hands. It swirled around for a few seconds before coming into focus. The image that formed in the film was of their target, Sanura Miller, talking to another teenage girl. The image started to zoom out and twist skyward, giving a bird’s eye view of first, the house they were in, and then zooming out even more giving a view of the whole neighborhood and then the whole city. Now they had their map and their target’s position.
“Move in.”
“Ow,” I complained, as I brought my hand to my face. “What the hell was that for?”
“That’s for making fun of me when I first moved here last year. You used to call me gay, along with everyone else, just ‘cus I look like a girl. Its ironic that I may be a crossdresser and am straight, but you get a sex change from morfs and start dating another boy shortly afterwards.”
“Ash, I’m sorry if I made fun of you. I was too busy trying to look cool around everyone else. I was jerk and I’ll admit that.” I got back to my feet and took a step towards Ash, who towered over me by several inches. “But when I was a guy, I at least didn’t hit girls. So are you going to apologize for hitting me, or do I have to spread it around school that Ash beat me up?”
“What? But you totally deserve that.”
“I know I did. I was just messing with you. So I’ll keep your crossdressing a secret. as long as you keep my birth sex a secret?”
“Deal.”
“Jeez, took you guys long enough, lets get going.”
Dani unlocked the car and we all piled in. She backed the car into the street just as a small black vehicle lowered to the ground and two large guys in black exited it and started to head towards us. Memories from the previous night flooded my mind and filled me with fear. I could practically feel my blood pulsing though me, carrying a rush of adrenaline with it. “Drive! Dani! Go! I’m not joking around. GO!”
The men were nearly to us when Dani floored it, and the car peeled out and made its way down the street. I watched though the back window as they ran back to their airship and it hovered back into the air and started its pursuit.
*Trance?* I cried, hoping he had left a link up like he usually does.
*Nura? What is it?*
*They’re back. And they’re chasing us, Trance. I need your help.*
*Tell Danielle to head towards the park. I’ll meet you there.*
*Colin! This is Trance. Nura needs your help. Get to Sunrise Park ASAP, and be ready to fight.*
We were still about a block away from the park, and the airship was closing in on us. I couldn’t let my friends get hurt over this.
“Dani, open the sunroof.” By now, she was listening to me with out asking questions and did as I had asked. I undid my seatbelt and turned myself around in the seat. “Keep driving once we get to the park, I doubt they’ll follow you. It’s me they’re after. Find somewhere safe. I’ll call your phone when it’s safe.” I took one last look at my friends before pulling myself out through the sunroof and perching myself on the roof of the car. I was going to send a message to whoever these guys were, and that message was the same one I shouted as we arrived at the park, “Leave Me Alone!!”
Trance sprinted the half block from his house to the park as fast as he could. Nura was like a brother, … sister to him, and he wasn’t about to let her get hurt if there was still life in him.
He could hear some sort of commotion not far ahead, and came around the corner in time to see Dani’s car speeding down the street in his direction, followed closely by a black aircraft. Nura was crouched atop the car. She yelled something Trance couldn’t quite make out, and then leapt off of the car. Sanura soared through the air as time seemed to stand still, but within a second, she was on the roof of the craft. Using one hand, she gripped her claws into the metal exterior of the craft as she raised the other hand, already shrouded in darkness, poised to attack. Her hand swung down in a hard chop, the black energy extending out into a long blade shape. The energy blade came crashing down into the center of the right forward thruster, which exploded from the impact. The craft started to dive downward in a spin. Another chop destroyed the left thruster, and the aircraft quickly met the ground. Sanura made her exit from the craft only seconds before its crash, and landed squarely in front of it, both hands blazing with energy. Trance was by her side in an instant.
There was a loud bang as the ship shook slightly. Then another. The third bang was followed by a crash as the door of the aircraft flew off and the large man who kicked it open stepped out into the light. A slim purple haired woman quickly followed him, along with a tall four-armed muscled giant lizard hybrid, and an older woman. All of them were dressed in black combat attire, except for the old lady.
“Sanura Miller, you are ordered to comply with detainment. You have ten seconds to withdraw your active energy,” said the purple haired woman before she turned towards Trance. “Civilian, you are to leave this area for your own safety.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” said Trance as he stepped in front of Sanura. “And you’re not taking her anywhere!”
“Then we will have to take her by force.” All but the old lady started to move forward. The guy who had kicked out the door was the fastest. He was almost to them, when he suddenly flew quickly up into the air.
The move caught all of them by surprise. None of them saw Colin jumping off the top of the wrecked ship, drop kicking four-arms to the ground in the process. Lizard snapped around towards Colin, whipping his powerful tail at him, when a burst of light went off in front of his face, causing him to recoil while clutching his eyes. Shine came up beside Trance, while Colin came up beside Sanura.
“Shine, you don’t have control of your powers, you shouldn’t be here,” said Sanura.
“Now’s a good time to learn, then.”
“What the hell is going on? Who were those guys?” Megan was freaking out. Dani was still firmly gripping the steering wheel and softly crying. Jade and Ashley were both just sitting there quietly.
“Can we do anything to help?” asked Jade.
“You heard her, she said to stay here.”
“Ash, you’ve morfed. isn’t there anything you can do?”
“Jade, all I can do is fly. I don’t have any powers. I wish I could help.”
I smiled as Colin gave me a kiss on the head. I was glad he was here to help out. I was a little worried about Shine; her powers were unstable. at best. But I can also feed off of the light she creates. so it’s not all bad. The group in black had held off until lizardboy had recovered his sight and for the big guy to recover from falling back to the earth. Little did they know that Trance was using his abilities to let us come up with a plan telepathically.
*What’s up with the old lady?*
*She’s an illusionist, she covering up this whole fight. so the cops don’t show up. And if my guess is right, she’s not even an old lady, but an illusion of one.*
*Okay, here they come. Shine keep your light on me so I can supercharge my energy and so I can heal myself. Trance, you guard Shine. Colin, you give me some airborne targets and I’ll take them out.*
“Lets do this!” I stepped forward and brought my energy back up, surrounding my whole body. Four-arms started running towards us, and I ran to intercept him. This guy might be big, but he’s not that fast. As I ran towards him, I split off two energy shields shaped like myself. As far as four-arms was concerned, there were now three of me. I started running around him, my “shadows” following me. I split the shadows again, and he was suddenly encircled by six of me. As I ran behind him, I leapt into the air, leaving my shadows behind. Each of my shadows moved in towards him, and he was engulfed in a large blast that sent a tremor through the ground. I landed back in front of my friends and Shine helped me refuel with a burst of bright light all around me. Four-arms had passed out on the ground, but those with him were ready to fight.
Lizard came at us next, and Colin tossed him into the air. With the help of some light from Shine, I formed an energy ball above my head that was easily five times my own size. With some telekinetic help from Trance, we got it hurtling through the air, right at lizard boy.
“Let’s not use such a heavy one next time,” I panted. Shine helped me refresh again, and this time it was the really big guy who came at us.
Colin tossed him in the air again, and I formed a dozen basketball size blasts in front of me, which I sent flying. Once the first dozen where on their way, I formed another dozen, and did the same and then again. After he had been battered from all sides, Colin let him drop with a thud.
Purple hair had just been standing there watching all of this, and hadn’t moved since she spoke to us earlier. I readied another blast and supercharged it with all my energy. I sent it hurtling at her with the rest of my strength, and then dropped to my knees in exhaustion. The light shone around me, and I felt myself gaining back my power quick enough. I looked up as my blast closed in on the purple haired woman, only to see her catch it and slam it into the ground in front of her. My jaw dropped at what I had seen. That was all of my energy, and she just caught it, with a smirk on her face.
Colin attempted to throw her up in the air, but she stayed firmly in place, while pieces of dirt and grass flew upwards from the ground. She slowly raised her hands, and the wind immediately picked up around us. It kept getting stronger, and stronger, and being as small as I am, I was having a hard time keeping my footing. I held on to Colin for support, while I slipped off my sneakers and dug the claws on my feet into the ground. I let go of Colin’s arm and took a step forward. This was going to end, right now.
I let myself drop forward, my hips sliding into their new alignment and took off running. The wind was having little effect on me and I was closing the gap between us when she whipped her hands in font of her. Then the wind stopped but suddenly, a burst of fire headed right at me. I had enough energy still that I could form a shield around myself and charged right on through. I was at her now, and dove into her with my shoulder, only to end up behind her on my back.
This was seriously weird. I got back up and tried attacking; she dodged all of my attacks with blazing speed. I continued attacking her, but every time I touched her, I got spun around so fast that I began feeling sick. Lying on the ground, I was ready to puke, wondering, ‘How do I beat this lady?’
The fire and wind picked up again and I found myself getting tossed around like a piece of meat. A gust of wind picked me up and tossed me at the airship. I figured she was trying to either throw me on it, or against it and I wanted neither of those. I reached out with my hand, hoping to dig my claws into something so I could stop myself. I was moving so fast that I didn’t even see the old lady until my claws had sunk into her shoulder. She let out a cry as my claws dug into her skin, and suddenly everything stopped. The wind was gone, along with the fire. The lady with the purple hair disappeared, and the old lady changed shape too, until I was standing beside a clone of the purple haired lady, but this one had silver hair. Between her hands was what looked like a hologram of the park we were in. The image started to wane, and changed to a strange silver film. I pulled my claws from her shoulder and she gasped from the pain. The silver film dripped to the ground and faded away, and then she disappeared as well.
“Nura!” I looked up to see Colin rushing towards me. He swept me into his arms and I held on to him like my life depended on it. “Are you okay?” I nodded my head against his chest. “What was all that about, who were they?” I pushed myself back from him.
“I don’t really even know. I really don’t want to talk about it, either. Not here Colin, not now … Let’s get out of here.”
“Ah!” the ringing phone, broke the silence in the car, and scared all four of them. Dani answered the phone, “Hello?”
“Hey, you want to get some food? I’m starving,” replied Sanura.
“Nura! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just hungry. I’m with Shine. You guys want to meet us for lunch?”
“Sure, where?”
“Golden Grill? They’ve got their lunch buffet special.”
“Okay, we’ll be there soon.”
“Mom!”
“Amy? Are you all right? Can I come in?” The bathroom door opened and Amy stepped into the hallway.
“Look at me!”
“Honey, you look fine, they’re just minor changes.”
“Mom, I have pointed ears, and I, ... my hair isn’t red anymore,” complained Amy.
“And you’re taller,” stated her mother.
“Wow, I am, too. I didn’t even notice that.”
“Well, it is only a few inches. And don’t worry about how you look. If anything, you’re even more beautiful than before. Those ears actually suit you pretty well, and you’re hair is still red, its just got some other colours in it. I think it looks very pretty with all those shades of copper and gold and red. Like a beautiful tree changing colours in the fall.”
“Mom, you just compared me to a tree. How do you think that’s supposed to make me feel?”
“That’s not what I meant, young lady, and you know it,” she scolded. “I simply said, it’s a lovely mix of colours, and it still has plenty of red in it.”
“At least I don’t feel like I’m dying anymore,” said Amy
“That’s it dear, focus on the positive. Are you hungry?”
“Famished.”
“Oh man! I’m famished!” I continued down the buffet, piling my plate with as much food as I could. “I feel like I haven’t eaten in a week.”
“Well, you do have about a weeks worth of food on that plate,” Ashley retorted.
We were the first two back to our table, yet as hungry as I was, I had to ask him. “So how are you enjoying being out in public dressed like that?”
“It’s always a fun to go out all dressed up. I have done it before, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“You really do look good like that. It’s too bad you have to hide it,” I said, feeling a bit sad for Ash.
“I get to dress at home when ever I want to and I have some friends from my last school who know about it. Including my girlfriend, err … ex-girlfriend. We had to break up when I moved here.”
“If you had all that going for you, then why’d you move here? What brings you to Sun City?”
“We had to move somewhere warmer once I morfed, since my back is usually exposed no matter what I wear. We were going to move to the south, but mom didn’t want to move that far away from her family, so we learned a bit about this artificial paradise you guys have going on here, and decided that was the place to move.”
“Cool. I pretty much grew up here, so this is normal for me but I bet other people in the country find it odd that we have a tropical paradise on the top of a snowcapped mountain range. It makes for lots of tourism right down town though, come to a resort where you can go snowboarding and surfing in the same day.” I thought back on the few times I’d done that. I’d caught a cold from the difference in climates last time. Since then I’ve tried to stay within the warm city limits.
“It’s a very cool city, that’s for sure. It’s amazing to look at, from the sky,” said Ashley
Amy had been looking at herself in the mirror since she had finished eating. She liked the fact that she was taller, and although she had liked the way she had looked before, her new appearance was starting to grow on her. Her mother was right. The numerous autumn colours in her hair did look really nice together, and complimented her complexion. The ears were still not to her liking, but as her mother said, they seemed to suit her. They looked like the ears the elves had in that old movie trilogy from the 2000’s that her grandmother loved so much. Amy rolled her eyes as she imagined her grandma’s reaction to her new elvan looks.
“Oh, great,” she said, a heavy tone to her voice. “She’ll probably make me watch the movies again. What a waste of twelve hours.”
“Oh, I think I ate too much…”
“Feel like you’re going to burst?” asked Megan.
“No,” I stopped to rub my tummy again. “I’ve just got some cramps.”
“No throwing up in my car,” was Danielle’s unsympathetic remark.
“So what are we doing now?” inquired Jade.
“I dunno, I just want to lay down,” I groaned.
“Well as much as I’ve enjoyed letting you guys dress me up and drag me around town, I do have to get home. I just have to grab my clothes from your house, Danielle. Then I’ll fly home,” said Ashley.
“Ash,” I started, “the deal was that you have to stay dressed up all day, that means you have to go home dressed as you are.” He grinned at me and then pretended to look shocked.
“But my mom will freak out!”
“Just tell her you lost a bet. It’s the truth. Besides, maybe she’d like having a daughter for a change.” It was hard for me not to burst out laughing as I said that.
“I can just bring your clothes to school on Monday, if you want to just bring my dress back, instead of driving all the way back to my place right now,” said Dani.
“Okay, I guess that will work. Just pull over, so I can get out and fly home.” We stopped the car and he waved to us after he got out. He started flapping his wings and lifted about a foot off the ground. “I’ll see you guys later.”
“Ashley, wait,” I said, fishing around in my bag, looking for something I’d put there. ‘There it is.’
“What is it? I have to get getting.”
I whipped my eCom out of my bag and up to the window in a flash, then hit the capture button. “Smile!”
“How the hell does a fifteen year old girl and a few of her friends take out a team of special op morf soldiers?”
“Sir, the power she exerts is exponential. It’s off all of our charts. She used it to smash the thrusters on our transport. Those are made out of armor grade alloy, we had to use a metal elemental to even forge those, and she smashed them like she was crushing a pop can.”
“Once our team is healed up, I want them shipped back to training. Put out a mission request to all of out top special ops, with a description of all we know about this girl. One of our lone wolves may have an ability that can counteract this girl’s powers.”
“Yes sir, I’ll have it sent as soon as debriefing is complete.”
“We should have a sleepover,” suggested Jade. “Nura hasn’t been to one before, and its totally part of the whole ‘girl’ experience.”
“On this short notice?” Megan asked.
“Sure. We can have it at my place,” said Jade. “My parents never really care.”
“I’m up for a sleepover.” Dani giggled, . “Besides, Mike always gets jealous when I have a sleepover, and he has to stay at home.”
“we need to get a hold of Rakira again, and I doubt Amy would be much fun, being all drugged up, but maybe the five of us could go visit her.” Megan pulled out her eCom and started to call Shine.
“So, Nura, you in or not?”
“I dunno, I’ve heard about the lesbian orgies you guys have at these parties and I don’t think that would be fair to Colin,” I managed to say that with a straight face before bursting into laughter.
“We don’t have lesbian orgies,” giggled Dani.
“I know that. Yeah, I’m in. But I need to grab a change of clothes and stuff from my house.”
“Let’s go meet Shine,” said Dani. “ then she can drive you and Jade to your place to get stuff while Megan and I go get our stuff and then we’ll meet back up at Jade’s before going to see Amy.”
“That sounds good.”
“Please? I’ve done all my homework already,” I pleaded with Dad.
“Sanura, you’ve been out all day already. I think you’ve spent enough time with you friends already.” Why did Dad have to be so mean. I should have just snuck back in through my window.
“But everyone else is going,” I whined.
“That’s nice. You’re not,” he replied.
“But they’re teaching me how to be a girl. I just want to be able to fit in, and right now I know nothing about being a girl. Don’t you want me to be able to fit in with the other girls?” I could play dirty if he was going to play hardball.
“Nura, you’ll have plenty of time to learn … how to be a girl. I just think you need to take a break from your friends and spend some time with the family. Maybe you can have a sleepover with your friend here next weekend,” explained Dad. ‘How can he make that sound do reasonable?’
“But I just to be able to be normal like the other girls,” I pouted. I had become quite acquainted with my tears over the last week, and started to turn on the water works a bit. So far, it was working, as my eyes became watery and a single tear had run down my cheek. Dad always caved in when Crystal did this, hopefully it would work for me too. “Don’t you want me to be happy, Daddy?” I sniffed a bit and wiped away a tear with the back of my paw.
“Of course I do, Sweetheart…”
“So I can go?” I asked, bringing a hopeful smile to my teary face. I could see his resolve breaking. “Pleeeease Daddy?” the Daddy part was working like it had the first time, and I knew I had him.
“Okay, kitten, you can go, but tomorrow we are having dinner as a family.” He stumbled back just a bit as I jumped up and wrapped my arms around his neck in a big hug. ‘Man. do I ever feel tiny next to him.’
“Thanks, Daddy. I’ll see you in the morning.” I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door to Shine’s waiting car. ‘Did dad just call me kitten?’
“What just happened?” asked Brett Miller as he sat down beside his wife on the couch.
“You let Sanura go to that sleepover, didn’t you?” inquired Kaitlyn.
“Yes, I did. Even after I told him no. I don’t get it, I’m usually more firm with Jase.”
“Yes, you are. but Nura was appealing to you as your daughter,” said Kaitlyn. “And she had you wrapped around her finger and got her way. She must have been watching how Crystal does it.”
“She started crying. That is a very unfair tactic,” complained Brett. “Next time she wants something, you’re dealing with her.”
“I thought it was cute. She even called you Daddy. When was the last time Jase ever called you that?”
“Not since he was little, maybe five years old. How am I supposed to say no to her when she does that, looking up at me with those large blue eyes of hers with a pout on her face. I’d say she already knows how to be a girl, if she already manipulating me like that. Just like the rest of the females in this house.”
“Hey!” Kaitlyn attempted to shove her large furry husband in mock anger.
“You don’t think Amy will mind us just dropping by like this?” I asked, thinking about what my reaction would have been to my friends just showing up while I was morfing.
“I don’t think she will. She’ll probably enjoy some company, if she’s awake,” said Shine.
Danielle stepped forward and rang the doorbell. A minute or two afterwards the door opened and Mrs. Adams invited us inside. “Hi there, girls. Here to see Amy, I assume?”
“Yes, we are,” I answered.
Amy’s mom turned towards me and a puzzled look came over her face. “I don’t believe I’ve met you yet, young lady. I’m Amy’s mother.”
“I’m Sanura, Sanura Miller. We’ve met before, but that was before I had morfs.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Oh my,” said Mrs. Adams. “So you’re Sanura. Amy told us about you. You certainly do look different than the last time I saw you. How are your parents?”
“They’re doing fine. Trying to cope with having a new daughter, I guess,” was my lame attempt at humor.
“Well tell them I said hello. We really should have your family over for dinner again some time soon. Why don’t you girls go into the living room? I’ll go get Amy. She finished morfing earlier this afternoon, so I’ll warn you, she does look a bit different.”
She turned and headed up the stairs, while we went into the living room and found places to sit down.
“She’s finished morfing already?” asked Shine.
“I heard in health class that you can morf, like all three stages in like less than twelve hours,” said Dani.
“Meanwhile, I had to be in agony for nearly a week,” I pouted.
We all stopped talking as we heard two sets of feet coming down the stairs. A moment later a gorgeous girl that looked a lot like Amy walked into the room. *Gah… she’s so hot!* was the first thing to run through my mind, and I could feel myself getting aroused, in a boy way. I discreetly moved a throw pillow from beside me, onto my lap. Amy took that as an invitation to sit down beside me. That didn’t help the situation much. I guess this means I’m bisexual, but why Amy? I’ve never felt like this towards her before. But then she’d never looked like this before.
I tried to check her out without being too obvious. Her hair was amazing, with at least a dozen different shades of reds and blondes that cascaded down to the small of her back. Her face was slightly different as well. Her eyebrows had a more pronounced arch to them and sat above her deep green eyes. Her face had a sharper look to it than it had before and her full pouting lips nearly cried out for me to kiss them. Along with this rather exotic look, were her ears, long and pointed giving her a look of elegance like some elvish princess. She was breathtaking.
“…Nura, you listening?”
“Sorry, still have those cramps,” I lied. Sure I did still have them but that wasn’t why I was distracted. “What did you say?”
“I asked if you were cold,” Jade replied.
“Huh? Why would you ask that?” I was very confused now.
Jade looked at me like I was an idiot and then pointed to her chest and move her finger back and forth from right to left. I looked down and saw that my nipples were trying to seek some attention by pushing out against my tee shirt, making them very visible. All I could do was blush, while trying to cover them up with my hands and ignore the incessant laughter of the girls around me.
To Be Continued…
MORFS Encyclopedia references in this episode.
eCom
(i.e. entertainment communicator.) a portable device that is available in many styles and designs. This device is capable of the following tasks”
Three-dimensional hologram recording (Holograms can be played back on select models or auxiliary devices)
Audio and video recording and playback
Internet browsing
Worldwide satellite telephone
HD Digital camera
Sun City
The world’s largest climate-controlled city. Located at an elevation of 5,500ft in the rocky mountains and situated within a nearly year round snowy valley. This city however, is home to one of the worlds most popular resort destinations due to its many attraction. Noah Eglington founded Sun City in 2015. Noah first acquired the land for Sun City in 2013 and over the next two years Sun City became a small tropical resort with steady business. This task was accomplished using Noah’s, and later his wife Hannah’s Elemental abilities to heat the climate of Sun City to a steady 85 ° year round. Over the next decade, the small resort grew into a large community centered around the numerous resorts located at the heart of the city encircling the large manmade lake now known as Sun Lake. Over the years many other elementals were hired from all over the world to expand the city. The recent addition of two water elementals now makes surfing in Sun Lake on of the most popular attractions although the ski and snowboarding outside of the heated city limits remains the most popular. In 2032 the large community was officially recognized as a city and Noah was elected as Mayor. The current population of Sun City is 998, 500.
The entire MORFS Universe can be found at http://morfs.nowhere2go.org/Encyclopedia.html
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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 some confessions to make.
By Britney McMaster
I was pretty quiet on the way over to Jade’s place. I really had no idea what was going to go on at this sleepover. Crystal always went to her friends’ houses for her sleepovers so I’ve never had a chance to look in on one at my own house and I of course had never been to one myself. But that’s not why I was being quiet.
Ever since I saw Amy earlier, I can’t stop thinking about her. I’ve always been friends with her and may have had a small crush on her when we were kids, but nothing like this. Every time I closed my eyes I’d see that gorgeous face smiling at me. I couldn’t get her out of my head even if I’d wanted to. I had thought I was attracted to Colin, but the feelings I had when I was with him, as nice as they were, were nothing compared to what I was feeling for Amy.
But who am I kidding. There is no way Amy would go out with me now. For one, I look just as much a girl as she does and I know she doesn’t like girls. Second, now that she’s morfed, she’s way out of my league, even if I was still Jason. I opened my eyes, let out a sigh and looked out the window at the mountains.
“You okay?” asked Amy, placing her hand on my arm.
I nodded, not trusting myself to talk. Her hand on my arm was already distracting me from my thoughts. I brushed some of my hair out of my face and looked up at Amy. She was looking back at me with concern in her eyes.
“You’ve been quiet ever since I saw you today. Is it me? It’s my morf, isn’t it?”
“A ... Amy it’s not you and it’s not your morf. You look great, actually. It’s just, I’m trying to deal with some stuff that’s been on my mind,” I replied. “I’m fine, really.”
“Okay, but if you need to talk, let me know,” said Amy, “no matter what it is.” She gave my arm a little reassuring squeeze before letting go. I turned back to the mountains trying to not think of anything, but again, Amy invaded my thoughts.
Jade’s parents were co-owners of Tropic Garden resort down on the beach and of course, owned one of the condo’s on the private beach of Sun Lake. That meant we would have tons of room in the large house to have our sleepover. It also meant we had to drive through the slow traffic downtown. Eventually, we got past the tourism district, and the flow of traffic picked up as we drove about a quarter of the way around the lake.
I watched people playing in the surf and found myself hoping we’d do some swimming at Jade’s place. The clear water was sparkling beyond the white sand. It really was a beautiful lake. Even with fish in the deeper part of the lake, it was still as clean as any pool.
I was torn away from my thoughts as we pulled into Jade’s drive way. I hopped out of the car and went round to the trunk to get my stuff. Shine pulled in beside us a few minutes later and soon all of us were hauling stuff inside. I had volunteered to take Amy’s bag as well, and managed to convince her I could carry it all, even though I’m small. We went down to what Jade called her party room. I’d been there when I was a guy, but this time the girls opened a closet at the end of the room and started pulling out mattresses. I followed suit and pulled one out for myself. We set them all up in a makeshift semicircle around the projection wall. I busied myself with making up my bed with the sheets Jade gave me, using my sleeping bag as a blanket once I had it unzipped. Of course, Jade gave ‘me’ pink sheets.
I finished getting everything set up and plopped down on my bed. It felt nice to lie there. The cramps I’d had at lunch were gone, but I still felt a little bloated. I was starting to get hungry again as we approached supper time. I heard someone sit down on the bed and opened my eyes to see it was Amy.
“No sleeping yet, Sweetie. That’s not going to happen for a long time,” she said as she rolled off of my bed and on to the one next to me. Now I realized was going to have to sleep next to her. That made me nervous for some reason but also a little anxious.
“I wasn’t sleeping, I was just resting.” I sat up and looked around the room. Pretty much everyone had their stuff set up. “So, are we going to go swimming, or what? I even brought my suit.”
“Ooh, the one you wouldn’t model for us when we went shopping?” asked Megan.
“That’s the one.”
“I’m up for swimming, if it means I see Nura in a bikini,” stated Amy. I wasn’t exactly sure how to take that comment. I kinda wanted to see Amy in a bikini though.
“Ok, then, lets go.”
Amy turned in front of the mirror again, checking herself from different angles. The suit looked better on her than it ever had. The white bikini was maybe a bit too provocative, but she liked the way she looked. Besides, she was only going to be around the girls. For some reason, she wanted to look her best though she didn’t know why. Leaning in towards the mirror, she ran her hands through her hair, then grabbed for her purse and got out some red lip gloss to do her lips with. Soon, they looked seductive and sexy, just like she wanted them. She shook her head, trying to clear it and remind herself that she was with the girls, and that there was no need to look sexy. After all, who was she going to seduce?
She took one more look in the mirror before grabbing her towel and opening the door. Sanura was waiting there, clutching two tiny wisps of fabric in her hands, with a towel over her shoulder. She looked up at Amy in surprise, then back at the floor. Amy gestured towards the empty bathroom and the two girls quickly switched places.
I hurried into the bathroom. Quickly closing the door behind me, I locked it, then leaned up against the door and tried to catch my breath. Amy had looked, well … breathtaking. I was straining pretty hard on my panties and waited for it to go away. At least when I get excited now, it comes down in a tucked position, instead of making an embarrassing tent in my panties. I stayed there against the door for a while before I felt I was ready to get dressed.
I slipped out of my clothes and held up my tiny swimsuit for closer inspection. The size of this thing was ridiculous. I vowed then and there to never wear this with any boys present. The suit itself was designed to scream “SEX” to everyone around. The top was little more than two triangles of cloth and some string. The bottoms were just as bad. They had been made to look like they tied on the sides, and were very low in the front. The back had a little keyhole designed to show a little butt cleavage. Thanks to my needing a tail hole, I’d been stuck with this suit. And it was pink! Why does everything have to be pink? Reluctantly, I pulled it on, maneuvering my tail into the rear hole before bring the panty all the way up.
The top was a little trickier to get on. I tried tying it behind my back a few times before I got the bright idea to turn it around. I tied it snugly beneath my breasts and double knotted it before twisting it back to face the right way. A quick tie behind my neck and I was done. I even managed to keep my long hair out of the knot.
When I looked in the mirror, I frowned. I felt naked, because I practically was. Jade was bound to make some sarcastic remark, that’s how she is.
‘I really d0n’t want Amy to see me like this. How could she ever see me as a guy after seeing me in this? The way I look now, there is no doubt that I’m a girl. Mind you, if Amy happens to like girls, I am looking seriously hot. I guess I’ll just have to see what happens.’
“Hey Todd, its Mike. What you up to?”
“Not much. Why?” asked Todd.
“Dani’s got one of her sleepovers going on and I want to go do something. You up for some surfing?” ask Mike.
“Do you have any idea how busy it’s going to be? It’s a Saturday night!” exclaimed Todd. “Hey, wait! Damian’s parents own those jet skis; maybe we can borrow those and go mess around on the lake.”
“That’d be cool,” agreed Mike. “I’ll call him and then give you a call back.”
I was greeted by a wolf whistle that got everyone’s attention when I walked into the party room. I had known Jade would do something. Everyone had changed, so we headed outside to do some swimming. I had been trying for a little modesty with a sarong I was wearing, even though it was a sheer black. That didn’t last too long as I had to take it off before going in the water. I picked out a lounge chair and put my stuff on it before heading towards the water.
“Nura?” called Danielle. “Shouldn’t you put on some sunscreen?”
“I don’t need it,” I replied.
“But you’re the palest one here,” remarked Jade.
“Yeah, and that’s ‘cus I absorb the light and convert it into my dark energy instead of getting a tan,” I quipped. “Watch.” I did my energy absorbing thing, which reduced the light directly around me, shrouding me in shadows.
“Weird,” was all that Jade said back.
I turned back towards the beach and made my way to the crystal clear water, diving in without checking the temperature first, knowing that it would be warm enough, like it always is. I kicked away as hard as I could before running out of air and resurfacing. I was disappointed to see how little distance I had traveled. Must be my tiny feet. I went under again and used my paws more. They cupped a lot of water and I could feel myself moving quickly through the water. I hoped my eyes and could see a few small colourful fish swimming by below me. I watched them swim away while fighting a weird urge to catch them. Maybe I could catch one of those tuna they have in here. But that would involve getting on the other side of the fences and going into the deep water. I wasn’t exactly ready to do that. Never mind the huge fine for swimming in the deep water.
I popped my head above the water for air and realized I was almost to the fences. I could even see the dark water where the depth dropped off. I dropped underwater again and started heading back to where the girls were. I was about half way there when I felt something brush my leg. I opened my eyes and looked down. Nothing was there. I swam a little further and felt it again. I looked down and there was still nothing. I checked my tail. It was floating up behind me and I felt pretty stupid for not realizing what it was before. I started swimming again, but this time something grabbed my tail. I screamed, no that it did any good underwater and whipped around to see what was there. Nothing. I popped up to catch my breath and could see the girls still a little ways ahead. I was about to start swimming again when something grabbed my leg and tugged me back into the water. I looked down in time to see a white hand move away from my ankle and disappear against the background of white sand.
I put up one of my shields and started moving like there was no tomorrow. I was out of the water and up the beach in no time. I was rambling incoherently about something in the water, but none of the girls were listening to me and just stayed in the water. And where was Amy? Speak of the devil, a moment later, her head popped out of the water right where I had been and she waved sweetly at me.
“Amy, there’s something in the water!” I shouted.
“Sanura, it was me, you crazy girl,” she yelled back. I slowly made my way back into the water as she swam over to me.
“There’s no way that was you. I looked, there was nothing there.”
“Well then, you need to have your eyes checked,” said Amy. “I was swimming right underneath you the whole time. And didn’t you see my hand when I grabbed your leg?”
“I saw a hand, but it wasn’t yours. It was all white, and I’m talking like the colour of the sand. As soon as it let go, it blended in with the sand and I couldn’t see it anymore.”
“Well that’s really weird ‘cus that was definitely me that grabbed your leg.”
“This is awesome!” shouted Mike as he launched off of a wave. The three boys were cruising around the lake, enjoying the sun and surf like everyone else who came to the lake.
The three of them started to race each other as they entered the deep water. Damian was winning, as he had more experience driving the Jet Ski. They we passing the private swimming waters when Damian slowed down and look over to shore. The other two boys did the same and pulled up beside Damian.
“Damn, check out that chick in the white bikini,” said Damian before he pulled out a pair of digital binoculars.
“Let me see,” said Todd, trying to grab the binoculars. Damian eventually handed them over and Todd focused on the girl in white. “Wow, she’s hot. I wonder who she is? I’ve never seen her around before. Crap, I think she sees us.”
Mike grabbed the binoculars and took a look. “Guys, I don’t know who that is, but the girl beside her is Sanura. And she doesn’t look pleased.”
“I thought I knew this place, that’s Jade’s condo.”
“Can you believe those guys are just sitting out there watching us?” asked Shine. “What a bunch of creeps.”
“I think I can get rid of them,” I said. I charged up an energy ball and sent it flying. It wasn’t very big, but made quite a splash was it landed beside them in the water. A second later they took off at full speed.
“Guys are such pigs!” all the girls were looking at me. “Well they are!” I said before laughing.
We continued playing around in the water until everyone was nice and pruney. I sat down on my chair and went to work on towel drying my tail and paws while the others stretched out, trying to get a tan. I was dry about the time we started heading back inside. Jade ordered an unbelievable amount of pizza as we scurried off to change into out pajamas. Somehow Amy and I ended up together in Jade’s bedroom getting changed. I offered to leave while she changed, but she insisted I stay since we’re both girls. I took my top off and then pulled my nightgown on before taking off my bikini bottom. I had just thrown my bikini on the floor and was stepping into my panties when Amy said my name.
“Yeah Aim?”
“Uh … Nura, you’re spotting,” she said, pointing at my bikini bottoms. I noticed the red marks in them and knew exactly what that meant.
“Oh Crap! Amy, I ah … don’t have…” I started.
“You don’t have any pads or tampons with you, do you?” she asked. I shook my head. “I think I have a few tampons in my purse that you can use, but you really should be carrying some with you like all the time. Let me go get them for you.”
I managed a weak thanks as she left the room. ‘Why did I have to have my first period start tonight? And why did Amy have to find out?’ I was standing there blushing, looking down at my panties, which were still around my ankles when Amy came back in with her purse. She pulled out a few things and then turned to me.
“Ok, I have a tampon and a pad for you. You should use the tampon now, and then change to the pad before you go to sleep. Ok?” I nodded my head and she handed me the tampon first. I took the wrapper off and then just stood there, holding it in my hands. “Nura,” said Amy “you don’t know what to do with that do you?”
“I uh… have a vague idea.” I mumbled.
“Do you want me to help you?”
I looked back at the floor as my face reddened even more. “I can do it,” I squeaked.
Amy explained how to do it, anyways. Thankfully, she turned her back to me as I sat on the end of the bed and pulled my nightie up around my waist. With trembling hands, I put the applicator where it needed to go and pushed on the plunger on the other end before pulling it back out. I was surprised that I could barely feel it in me. I grabbed my panties and pulled them on before telling Amy I was finished. Amy came over and gave me a hug, which was a bit odd, with me being eye level with her chest.
“I know all this must be tough on you,” she spoke softly. “As I said before, if you ever need someone to talk to, just let me know.” She crouched down to my look me in the eyes. “Okay?”
I nodded slightly and then without thinking, I leaned in and kissed her on the lips.
“Hi, is Sanura there?” asked Colin
“She’s out right now, could I take a message?” inquired Kaitlyn.
“Can you tell her that Colin called?”
“I’ll make sure she gets the message.”
The kiss was everything I thought it would be. Amy froze up at first, but then she started kissing me back. Kissing her was sensual and soft, not at all like kissing Colin. The kiss was even better, because I was kissing, not letting myself be kissed. It seemed to last forever, but after a few wonderful moments Amy pulled away. The great feelings I had had vanished in an instant. ‘Why did I kiss her? I’m such an idiot!’
“Amy, I …”
“Nura, please, just don’t say anything,” said Amy calmly. My stomach churned as I realized I’d just really screwed up a friendship. “I need time to think about this, Nura. I can guess from that how you feel about me, but we’re both girls.”
“I’m a boy too …” It was a weak argument and was met with a look from Amy that said “Maybe, but you don’t look it, and that’s what matters.”
“Nura, please don’t make this hard. I don’t like girls, but for some reason I did enjoy what we just did. This is all really confusing. Just give me some time to think.”
“Of course,” I said as I wiped at my eyes. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, I didn’t mean too.”
She put her hands on my shoulders and looked down at me, “I know you didn’t. It’s okay.” She bent down and kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll think about it and let you know, okay? I haven’t said no yet, so cheer up.”
So things didn’t turn out too badly with Amy. From what she said, surprisingly I might actually have a chance with her. That fact alone brought a smile back to my face. The girls gushed over the nightie I was wearing when we got back to the party room. I guess it’s still a novelty to them to see me being feminine.
The pizza had arrived just before we got there and everyone was munching away. Megan put on a movie, and it was of course, a chick flick. I was bored pretty much right off the bat. Chasing my tail would have been more exciting. At least being a girl hadn’t affected my taste in movies. I spent most of the movie either eating pizza or daydreaming.
I was thinking about my kiss with Amy when I noticed the movie was finished, and that it had got quiet in the room. I opened my eyes and saw all the girls looking at me.
“Aww… she stopped,” whined Dani.
“Stopped what?” I asked.
“You were purring…”
“I was not purring,” I exclaimed. “I don’t purr.”
“That’s like someone saying they don’t snore. How you know?” said Megan.
‘She does have a point.’
“Well what are we doing now that the movie is over?” I asked.
“Hair and nails,” shouted Jade.
So for the next few hours, we played around with different hairstyles. I learned more than I thought I’d ever need to know about how to style my hair in different ways. I ended up with my hair all pulled up in back. They even got the hair at the front around my ears without it looking stupid. With the right make up, I’d look like I was going to prom or something.
It was also decided that my claws needed to be repainted. ‘I need to stop getting into fights if I want my nail polish to last. Maybe I can form one of my shields just over the claws.’
Anyway, the girls soon had me once again poking my nails through some plastic bags while they painted them. I ruled out the bright red they wanted to use, and then there was an argument between them on what colour I should get. Eventually, all of us settled on a shiny silver polish. It was also the first nail polish I had seen that didn’t have a girly name, and I watched as my fingers and toes received several coats of “gun metal” polish.
Painting each other’s nails took a long time, and I spent most of it just watching while the various coats of polish dried. After waiting for quite some time, I was able to take off the plastic bags over my hands. I retracted my claws then held up my hand and extended them. The metallic gray claws looked awesome as the shot out of my dark fur. I was going to have to buy myself a bottle of this colour polish.
I was starting to get tired by this point. It was well after 1am, and judging by the drooping eyelids around the room I wasn’t the only one getting sleepy. I announced my intentions to go to bed and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth first. After I was done brushing, I double-checked that the door was locked before sitting on the toilet to change my tampon. I tugged on the little string and out it came. The thing was soaked and I quickly dropped it into the toilet. ‘Do girls really bleed this much during their period? I had thought a tampon was supposed to last for hours’. I pulled out the pad and managed to get it stuck in place in my panties on the first try. Pulling them up, I flushed the toilet and put the pad wrapper back in my bag before going to bed.
When I slipped under the covers, I passed out soon after my head hit the pillow.
I opened my eyes and blinked a few times as they adjusted to the light of the morning sun streaming through the window. I had somehow wrapped myself cocoon”‘style in my sleeping bag, but it was comfy, so I continued to lie there. I rolled onto my side and looked over at Amy, sleeping peacefully beside me.
Once again I was struck with just how beautiful she was. She was only a few feet away from me and I wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold her. I could smell her sweet flowery scent, and it was driving me wild. I managed to find some self-control and contented myself with just watching her sleep. Amy had said she would think about how she feels towards me and l wasn't about to do anything that would end up pushing her away.
I was still watching her about a half hour later when she woke up. As her eyes fluttered open, she was stared right at me. Before I could look away, she gave me a little smile and whispered, "Good morning."
"It is now," I said, without thinking. To my surprise, Amy giggled at that and reached her hand out towards me.
"You're so cute when you blush like that," she said, as she gently brushed some of my hair out of my face. She kept her hand on the side of my face for a moment before she moved it up near my right ear. "So cute," she mumbled softly to herself. I was grinning from ear to ear at the attention I was receiving from her.
She was stroking my hair softly for a few minutes before she stopped and brought her hand back beside my ear. I noticed a mischievous look pass over Amy's face, right before she started scratching behind my ears as if I was a pet cat. I would have got angry at being treated like an animal, but I couldn't get angry at Amy. Besides that, it felt really good! I found myself closing my eyes and pushing back against her hand with my head. I was absolutely lost in bliss.
*Rrrrrrrrr* was that me? I forced myself to open my eyes and pulled back, from Amy's touch.
"What’s the matter?" she asked. "I thought you were enjoying that."
"I was ... a lot," I admitted. "But was I purring?"
"Yes. That's why I thought you liked it," replied Amy. "It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I think it's cute."
"Really?"
"Really." she smiled at me. "The girls usually sleep in for a while. Do you want to get up now, or go back to sleep?"
"I guess I’ll get up. I'm already pretty awake," I said, sitting up. "What about you?"
"I'll get up if you are; said Amy. ''Maybe we can go for a swim."
Amy got out of her bed and made her way to the bathroom. I busied myself with unwrapping my sleeping bag from around myself.
Amy splashed some cold water on her face, trying to wake up fully. Grabbing a towel from the usual place under the sink, she dried her face and then stared into the mirror. She let out a sigh.
'How come this has to happen to me? The boy I've liked for the past year finally likes me back, but not until he becomes a girl too. And why am I still attracted to him? I've never liked another girl before.'
A few sad tears ran down her cheeks and into the sink. She sat down on the cold tile floor. Her back against the wall and pulled her knees to her chest.
'I guess I could date her, but what would my parents think? But I can't stop thinking about that kiss. Am I a lesbian? But Nora is a boy too. The prettiest boy I know, but still, a boy nonetheless. I don't think I can ignore these feelings I’m having. I can't believe she actually kissed me like that. Was I flirting? Maybe I was. I need more time to think this through."
Amy rose to her feet, checked her appearance in the mirror and opened the door. She walked down the hallway and back into the party room and froze at what she saw.
Sanura was sitting on her sleeping bag. She looked paler then usual, and was looking down into her lap. Her once pure white nightgown was stained red with blood, as was the inside of her sleeping bag. Amy stood there in shock for a second or two before moving as quickly as she could to her friend.
"Nura!" Amy exclaimed, but I didn't hear it. "Nura," she said again, shaking my arm with her hand.
"Amy?" I heard the sound of terror in my voice.
"I'm here, don't worry." She took my hand in hers, and that helped. "Tell me what happened."
"I... I unwrapped m... my sleeping bag and there was just blood everywhere…” I let out a ragged sigh and looked up at Amy with fear in my eyes.
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up and then we’ll figure all this out,” said Amy. “Wrap your sleeping bag around your waist, so nothing gets on the carpet, and come with me.”
I did as Amy said and followed her out of the room. When we got to the bathroom, I carefully dropped my sleeping bag to the floor. Amy started the water in the bathtub and added some scented bubble bath to the water before turning back to me.
“Okay, that nightie needs to come off,” she stated. “Put your arms up and I’ll try and get it off you without getting blood everywhere.”
I hesitated, not wanting to take my clothes off in front of the girl I liked so much, but found myself not wanting to disobey her orders. Reluctantly, I raised my arms and she carefully gathered up the nightie, starting at the hem, until she was lifting it up over my arms. My first reaction was to bring my arms down to cover my breasts. Amy giggled at that.
“Okay, hop in the shower and wash off as much of the blood as you can, then get out and into the tub.”
Again, I did as I was told. I hopped into the shower stall, wishing I had a bathroom like this at my house. I only peeled off my panties once the shower door was closed, then got to work washing off the dried blood. I was starting feeling sick at the sight of the red water swirling down the drain. ‘What is wrong with me? Maybe I injured myself during that fight yesterday. But that doesn’t make sense, ‘cus I heal really fast.’ I was pretty much finished in the shower and slowly opened the door. Amy wasn’t there anymore and neither were my bloody clothes or sleeping bag. I quickly made my way across the bathroom and into the tub. I tried to let myself just relax, and it seemed to be working.
It was working so well that I didn’t even hear Amy come in until I saw her kneel down beside the tub. I was especially grateful for the bubbles at that moment, and the little bit of modesty they gave me. “How you feeling now?” Amy asked, with genuine concern in her voice.
“Better, but I need to find out what happened.” I looked up at her smiling face and lost my train of thought for a moment. “I know that girls don’t have their period that quickly.”
“Are you still bleeding?” asked Amy.
I shook my head in reply, “No, no I’m not.”
“Okay good. Finish your bath and then get dressed. I brought in your clothes and I managed to get another pad for you, just in case.” Amy she stood up, “When you’re done in here, I’m gonna make sure we get you home, you need to tell you mom about this.”
“Hello?”
“Hi Mrs. Miller, This is Amy. I was wondering if you could come pick up Nura over here at Jade’s house.”
“Is everything alright?” asked Kaitlyn, concern in her voice.
“Umm… I think they are,” said Amy. She dropped to a whisper before continuing, “she started her period last night and I think there are some complications. I gave her a pad to wear during the night and this morning she had soaked through that. There was a lot of discharg,e and now she claims she’s already stopped bleeding.”
“I’ll call her doctor and then I’ll be right over. Amy?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for looking out for her,” said Kaitlyn.
“Not a problem. She’s my friend,” said Amy before hanging up the phone, ‘and I love her.’
I got out of the tub and grabbed a few towels to dry myself off. The first one I used to wrapp my wet hair. The second one I used to dry off my tail . The third one got pretty wet trying to dry off my paws. That took me about ten minutes and I still wasn’t dry. Some days I hate having fur more than anything. I picked up a hairdryer that was on the counter and spent the next ten minutes drying my arms and tail until they were soft and fluffy.
Then I grabbed my bag, which Amy had brought in for me and pulled out my clothes. Bra and panties were first ,of course, followed by a pair of white sweats and an orange tank top. Even though it was Sunday, and I was feeling like crap, I wanted to look good for Amy, so I pulled out some of my makeup and went to work. Just a little mascara, eyeliner and some pink lip gloss was enough to help me look good. I gathered up my stuff. Threw my used towels in the hamper and headed out of the bathroom.
I walked into the main room to find all the girls still sleeping. I spotted Amy out on the porch and headed out there to be with her. I walked up beside her and leaned forward against the railing. Without a word, she put her arm around me and I rested my head against her shoulder. I’m not sure how long we stood there like that, watching the waves crash gently against the beach as the tide came in. I wanted this time to last forever, just happy to stand there being held by my Amy.
“Yes,” she whispered, causing me to look up at her.
“Yes, what?” I asked.
She turned to face me, and I turned myself. She brought her other arm around my waist and I found myself draping my arms around her neck. We stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before she continued speaking. “Last night I said I hadn’t said, no, yet. I said that I needed time to think things through. Well I’ve thought about it, and now I’m saying yes.” My heart began racing as she brought her lips down to meet mine, and once again I was in bliss. We were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming around the house. Amy pulled back and said, “That’s probably your mom.”
I gave one Amy one more quick kiss just before Mom came around the corner.
“Nura, you ready to go?” asked Mom.
“Yes, Mom. I’ll be right there, I just have to grab my stuff,” I replied.
Amy and I went back inside. I grabbed my bag and Amy picked up a garbage bag which had all my blood-soaked stuff in it. We made our way around the house to my mom’s waiting car.
As we were loading my stuff into the trunk, Amy leaned in close to me and whispered in my ear. “Nura, I want to be with you, but I’m not ready to go publicly lesbian or whatever we are together, so please keep this quiet. Also, you don’t get another kiss from me until you’ve broken up with Colin. I don’t want you cheating on him with me. That’s not fair.”
I nodded and she gave me a hug before I closed the trunk and got into the car with Mom. I waved to Amy as we drove away.
“So, Mom, I’m guessing Amy told you what happened?”
“Yes she did. I don’t want to worry you, but what happened is really not normal at all, so I called our gynecologist explained what happened. She’s meeting us at her office to take a look at you, even though it’s Sunday. It’s hard to find a doctor willing to do that much for her patients, but that’s why I’ve been going to see her since I was a young lady myself.”
“Okay, I’m not looking forward to another one of those exams, but I’ll make sure to thank her for doing this on her day off.”
“It’s not that bad Nura, you’ll get used to it eventually.”
“So you say you started your period last night around 9pm?” asked Doctor Evans. I nodded in confirmation. “And how much discharge was there when you changed your tampon before going to bed?”
“The whole thing was soaked, including some of the string and there was some that came out after I had taken it out,” I said. ‘This is such a gross topic,’ I thought to myself. “Then I put on my pad and went to bed.”
“How much came out after you took the tampon out? Was it a lot?”
“It was kind of like I was peeing,” I admitted.
“That’s not normal at all,” said Dr. Evans. “And you say you haven’t had any discharge today?” I shook my head. “Okay, well let’s take a look. Pants and undies off, and then up on the table, legs in the stirrups.”
I did as I was told and got myself in position for the doctor. This was the part I had been dreading and I tried to relax. I saw her pick up the speculum and I remembered how cold and weird it had felt last time. I closed my eyes and tensed up a bit.
I heard doc Evans chuckling a bit before she said my name. I looked through my legs at her. “Sanura, I can’t do this if you’re going to block me out. I know it’s uncomfortable, but just relax.”
“Block you out?” I asked in confusion. She pointed between my legs, and I sat up as much as I could, and looked between my legs. Right where the doctor needed to go was a small shield of black energy. I blushed and willed it away before laying back again. “Sorry,” I mumbled.
“Its okay, sweetheart. I just can’t say I’ve ever seen a girl do that before.” The doc laughed before going back to what she was doing. As expected, it was uncomfortable, and cold, and yes, degrading. She was doing things down there for quite a while before she looked up and said, “Are you sure you had your period last night?”
“I’m positive.”
“Well from what I can see, you appear to already be into your cycle. From where you are now, I would have guessed that you’d had your period last week. The part that puzzles me is that you seem to have had all your discharge in the space of a few hours last night.” The doctor looked thoughtful for a few minutes before telling me I could get dressed.
She went out of the room to get my mom. When they returned we all sat down and Dr. Evans looked through her notes. “Sanura, tell me, what abilities do you have?”
“I can control energy, you saw that earlier. I can absorb light. I have a lot of catlike abilities …” I thought for a moment “I heal fast … that’s about it.”
“How fast do you heal?” she asked.
“I heal almost right away if I have the energy. Almost instantly if I’m absorbing light.”
“Okay. That confirms my suspicions. What I think is happening, is that when you completed your menstrual cycle, your body used its enhanced healing abilities to detach the uterine wall and discharge the unused egg at an accelerated speed, causing you to experience your period within a few hours, instead of the usual few days. I would like you to keep track of when your next few periods are, so that we can monitor the length of your menstrual cycle, as well. I would recommend that if you feel like you’re entering your period, that you simply stay home, as you’ll probably have to change pads every half hour. Any questions?”
Mom had a few questions, but I wasn’t paying attention, I was thinking how lucky I was that my periods were only going to last less than a day, and that I’d get to stay home from school each time I had one. ‘Just wait till I tell the girls I have a twelve hour period, they’re gonna be so jealous.’
“Mom? Can I talk with you and Dad?” I asked as I walked over to where they were sitting. Crystal was out of the house, so now was a good time for this discussion.
“Of course you can, Sweetie. We actually need to talk with you, as well,” replied mom. “Why don’t you go first?”
“There isn’t really a good way to tell you this, so I’ll be straight to the point. But please don’t get mad at me that I haven’t told you this before, I was scared and confused and didn’t want to worry you. On Thursday night after I got home from shopping, and you guy had gone to bed, these military guys showed up and tried to abduct me. I fought them off and I thought they would leave me alone, but yesterday this group of morfs came after me again and me, Trance, Shine and Colin fought them off and now I don’t know what to do,” I finally ran out of breath and just broke down into tears.
Dad got up and walked over to the window. He didn’t say anything as he looked outside. Mom patted the couch next to her, so I slipped over beside her and cried on her shoulder as she tried to console me.
Dad finally turned back towards us. He looked worried. “Nura, I’m disappointed you didn’t tell us about this. I suppose we need to contact the police, but I’m not sure how much that would help. I’ve heard of groups like this. They try to abduct powerful morfs before they can fully harness their abilities and then force them to work for them.” He sat down on the couch and wrapped his large furry arm around Mom and I. “Nura, try not to worry about these guys. Your mom and I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I wanted to believe Dad, but I was old enough to know that my parents couldn’t protect me from everything. “Okay, Daddy, thanks.” Judging from the look on his face, he was not too sure of what he’d told me, either. “What did you want to talk with me about?”
“Well” started Mom, “tomorrow you won’t be going to school until around lunchtime. In the morning I’ll be taking you to go see a post-morfs counselor.”
“But I don’t want to see a counselor,” I whined. “I don’t need to talk to anyone about my more. All they’re going to do is tell me I need to accept my changes, as there’s no way to change back… I already know that, and I’m doing my best to accept this.”
“Honey, you got a forced sex change and became a hybrid. Those aren’t easy things to deal with,” said Dad, “I really think you should talk with someone about it. If you don’t think it helps to talk, then we won’t make you go back. Okay?”
“Okay, I guess. I still don’t want to do it, though. I’m only doing this to please you guys.”
“That’s fine, but please keep an open mind about this,” said Mom.
“I like the way you did your nails,” Mom said as she curled my hair for me.
“Thanks, I like them too. I need to get a bottle of this colour next time we’re shopping,” I stated honestly. I couldn’t believe I actually wanted to buy nail polish … but it makes my claws look so cool.
I looked in the mirror as Mom finished curling the last section of my hair. She had already done my make up for me. She had done an amazing job. I looked like I could be at least twenty years old. It’s amazing how makeup can do that. Mom had done everything. She’d even curled my eyelashes. I like the way my eyes looked the most. I thought they looked pretty sexy. Mom had used lots of eye shadow and mascara, making my already large blue eyes look even larger. My pouty lips looked so kissable, covered in a light red lipstick that really stood out from my pale skin. She had covered it in a clear, wet look lip gloss. I found myself wishing Amy was there to see me.
It was weird. This morning she was the only thing I could think about. Now that I wasn’t with her, wasn’t that I didn’t think about her, but I could at least think clearly instead of just drooling over her. It would be nice if I could learn to act the way I was now, around her. I think she’d enjoy having a boyfriend or girlfriend, whatever, who can think rationally.
Mom finished my hair and I went to get dressed. I carefully put on the nude stockings so as to not snag them on my claws and then hooked them to the garters hanging from the bottom of the red bustier that I was wearing. Next, I slipped into the matching red panties and then went to get my dress. I took it off its hanger and stepped into it. It felt awesome as the silk fabric caressed my hairless body. Sometimes, being a girl did have its perks. It was a strapless dress, so I held it up over my breasts and called from Mom to come zip it up for me. She had to have me hold my hair up in the back with my free hand while she zipped up my dress. Mom had also hidden a zipper in the rear seam of the dress about three inches long. I unzipped that and pulled my tail through before zipping it back up against the base of my tail.
Mom looked me over and declared me beautiful, before she left my room to go finish getting ready herself. I went to dig through my numerous pairs of shoes, trying to find something that would go with the dress I had on. I found a sexy black pair and pulled them out. I was definitely going to be relying on my catlike balance to walk in these heels. The shoes were a pair of black stilettos, with a black satin ribbon which also functioned as an ankle strap. I tied it into a neat bow. The heels themselves were extremely skinny and about four inches or so high. I stood up and wobbled slowly across the room. I had to practice walking around my room for nearly ten minutes before I was able to walk normally in those heels.
I could hear Dad calling me, and realized that I was keeping everyone waiting. I grabbed the matching black silk wrap and black handbag before heading downstairs. I carefully made my way down the stairs in the high heels. I got to the bottom of the stairs and into my family’s line of sight. Mom smiled at me while Dad just stood there with his mouth open. Crystal looked jealous, probably because Mom let me wear a dress like this, and not her.
“So let’s get going,” I said. “I’m hungry, and I want to know what this fancy dinner is all about.”
To Be Continued...
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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 makes and breaks a few relationships and a trip to a MORFS counelor!
MORFS: Sanura's Tale, Part 7
By Britney McMaster
We drove for about 20 minutes before we reached the edge of the climate control and could see the snow falling not too far ahead. We kept on driving and were soon surrounded by blowing snow as we neared the skiing suburb of town.
“Dad? Why are we way out here in the cold part of town? I’m gonna freeze. Silk isn’t exactly warm,” I complained. I was already feeling cold, as the heater in the car had just been turned on.
“We’re headed out here because there’s a restaurant near the resort that the guest are constantly raving about. And you’re not going to be that cold, we’ll park right near the doors,” Dad said. I saw him look at my shivering form in the rearview mirror. “Just try not to blow up the place this time.”
“That wasn’t my fault!” I snapped back.
~~~
Amy had been thinking about Sanura all day long. She knew she liked her. Maybe she even loved her. She had always had those feelings for Jason. Maybe she felt like this because she knew they were the same person and the fact that Sanura looked like a girl was somehow a non-issue.
She needed to think about all of this and left her house to take a walk. She had gone to a small park backing onto a forest not far from her house many times in the past to simply be alone and think. This was one of those times. The walk didn’t take long and she was soon passing the playground and heading down the pathway to the forest. She went about halfway into the forest before making a left turn off the path. The underbrush looked quite thick, but Amy pushed aside the hanging branches of a weeping willow tree and entered into a hidden area around the bade of the large tree. She walked over to her sitting rock, a somewhat chair shaped stone settled along the bank of the small stream that made its way along the ground under the tree. She took a seat on the rock and closed her eyes.
‘I really want to be with her, but I’m not a lesbian,’ she thought to herself. ‘I guess we could have a normal boy-girl relationship, but anyone who sees up together is going to assume we’re both girls and I don’t think Nura is ready to announce to the whole school that she’s a boy-girl or whatever. She has already had to deal with people who don’t like hybrids. She needs to break it off with Colin, though. Do I want a boyfriend that’s been with a guy before?’
She was ripped from her thoughts by the sound of willow branches being pushed aside. She opened her eyes and was shocked at what she saw. She wasn’t sure whether to be scared by its presence, or amazed to see something so rare. The eagox stepped closer to her and her heart began to race. It was staring right at her. The fox like creature spread its large wings out at its sides and in one quick swoop, moved forward through the air and landed in front of Amy on the rock. It sniffed at her and then closed its wings against its back.
“KIAAARK!” it screeched causing Amy to jump. It put its front paw on her knee in a way that seemed to tell her that it was okay, and not to be afraid, then lowered its head until it was resting in her lap. She wasn’t sure what exactly to do. She knew that trained eagox were gentle creatures, and that some could even talk, but this one was wild.
‘No one is going to believe me when I tell them I had a wild eagox resting its head in my lap like a puppy. This is so crazy.’ “I’m Amy,” she said, immediately feeling stupid for talking to a wild animal like it would be interested in such introductions.
“Griyok.” The eagox lifted its head from her lap.
Amy looked at it in surprise. “Is that your name? Is your name Griyok?”
The eagox put his paw on her leg again and said, “Name … Amy.” He lifted his paw, touched his nose with it, and said, “Name… Griyok.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Griyok.”
~~~
When I stepped out of the car, I was immediately assaulted by the wind and blowing snow. I tried pulling the black silk wrap tighter around my shoulders, but it did nothing to warm me. My long silk dress was slit to mid thigh and was blowing around me. I tried taking a step forward in my narrow heels and barely avoided falling on the slippery ground. “Daddy?” I called out. “A little help, please?”
Without a word, Dad came over to me. He put his warm furry arm around my bare shoulders and held out his other hand in front of me. I took his hand and with his help, carefully made my way to the front door of the restaurant where Mom and Crystal were waiting for us.
We went inside, where after checking our reservations; the waiter led us over to our table. Dad held Mom’s chair for her and the waiter did the same for Crystal. I wasn’t really sure what to do, and was about to just seat myself when the waiter pulled out my chair for me. I was about to just drop into my seat when I noticed Mom glaring at me and remembered what she had told me, so I moved my tail to the side and smoothed my skirt as I sat down.
The waiter pushed my chair in a bit, and then handed each of us a menu. I could tell by the rich smells in the room that with was going to be a good place to eat and after looking at the prices inside the menu I realized why this place was a black tie affair. My back was to a large stone fireplace and I basked in the warmth while I looked through the menu. The first few pages were smaller entrees and appetizers. I flipped the pages, skipping over the salads and vegetables. I wanted meat. They had some fish that looked pretty good. I was tempted to get the Salmon Wellington, but then I saw what I really wanted.
When the waiter returned and started pouring drinks, I got a half glass of champagne and took a sip. Its was kinda gross, and I must have made a face because Dad laughed as I put down my glass and asked what I’d rather have to drink.
“Milk?” I asked hesitantly, no knowing if they even had it. To my surprise the waiter just nodded and scribbled something on his notepad. He started taking our orders and I wasn’t surprised when Mom ordered a Caesar Salad for me. I think I shocked my family and the waiter when I placed my order, “Porterhouse Steak for me, please. Medium rare.”
~~~
Amy sat there for nearly an hour, thinking over the problems with her relationship with Sanura while petting Griyok on the head. She still couldn’t figure out why this wild predator was beings so docile. It was beginning to get dark when Amy got to her feet. Griyok was quickly on his feet beside her. When she started back towards the trail, he followed.
“Griyok, I have to go home now,” said Amy. The eagox seemed to nod its head but when Amy stepped out onto the trail, Griyok followed. “Griyok, you can’t come with me, you need to go to your home.” Griyok let out a whimper and gave the classic sad puppy look to Amy. “Go, I come here a lot. I’ll see you again.” She pointed up into the sky above the forest and said, “Griyok, go!” The eagox turned quickly and lifted itself into the air.
“Goodbye Griyok!”
“KIAAARK!”
~~~
The waiter had just come with our food and my milk. I was really impressed with the service this place had. I was working on finishing my salad when Dad cleared his throat and I looked up at him. “Sanura, I have to tell you, you look absolutely beautiful tonight.”
I squirmed in my seat bit. It just seemed weird for Dad to be saying that to me. “Also, as you’ve probably figured out we are out for dinner to celebrate something, and I think now is about as good a time as any to give you this.” He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, pulled out a large envelope, and handed it to me.
I put down my fork and took the envelope from him, eyeing it suspiciously. Then I looked up at dad, who told me to just open it. I slipped the claw on my pointer finger under the edge and cut open the envelope. I pulled out the contents and was left with a handful of what looked like legal documents. I flipped through them quickly, not really understanding them. At the bottom of the stack was a smaller envelope. I opened it and pulled out the few things inside. “Oh wow!” I said. “Are these real?” I asked holding up the cards. Mom and dad both nodded. I looked down at the official birth certificate in my hand, the one with my new name on it and my new middle name…
“Anne?” I could feel my eyes start to water. “You gave me Grandma’s name?”
“Yes, Anne, after Grandma. It was going to be your middle name if you had been born a girl, anyway. You don’t mind that we picked it without asking you?” asked Mom.
“Of course I don’t mind,” I sniffed. “I’m flattered that you’d give me that name. What about Grandma, won’t she mind? I am her grandson, after all.”
“We already asked her. They’re coming up next weekend to meet their new granddaughter. I think we might make a big family thing of it, and invite your aunts and uncles and your cousins, too. From what I’ve heard, you’re not the only one in our family to morf since we were all together at Christmas,” Dad said.
“Okay. And thanks again for the name.” I looked back down at the birth certificate and noticed something odd. “Why does this say ‘I’ under sex?”
“The ‘I’ is for intersexed. Due to morfs, that’s the new third option on birth certificates. Take a look at the driver’s licenses, there’s two of them.”
Sure enough, there were two of them. They both had the same picture, but I spotted the difference right away. One of them had an ‘F’ and the other had an ‘M’. I had a feeling I’d be using the female one as my regular ID.
I ate more of my steak, determined to finish it. It was definitely cool to have legal ID for myself now, but that also meant that Jason no longer really existed and that was kind of sad to think about. I was also a little apprehensive about having my grandparents and my other family to see me like this. Being seen by people around town isn’t that big a deal, because for all they know, I’ve always been a girl. But family is different, they’ve seen me grow up as a boy, and now I’ve changed completely. I really have no idea how they’re going to react to this.
“So now that I have a valid license again, can I drive home?”
“I think that can be arranged. Just take your heels off before driving.”
~~~
“Hello?”
“Hey Colin,” I said.
“Nura!” exclaimed Colin. He sounded really excited to hear me and that made me feel even worse. ‘He’s been so nice to me. How am I supposed to break this off without really hurting him?’
“So, what you up to?”
“Nothing much. I’ve just been hanging out at home today. How was your sleepover last night?”
“It was fun.” I said, then thought, ‘I realized I like girls better than I do you.’
“What you doing tomorrow night?”
“Nothing, yet.”
“Want to get together?”
“Sure, can we just find somewhere quiet and talk a bit. I don’t feel like actually going anywhere.”
“That’s fine, Nura.”
“Well, I’ve got to get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight.”
~~~
The next morning I was able to sleep in later than usual, as I didn’t have to be at my appointment until 10:30. I rolled out of bed around 9:00am and made my way to the bathroom to take care of business. Hopping in the shower woke me up, and after shampooing and conditioning the hair parts of my body, I did one final rinse and then got out, to once again take on the task of drying myself off. This always took way too long and I was getting sick of it. ‘There’s got to be a faster way,’ I thought. Then an idea came to me.
I concentrated and one of my energy shields started to appear over my hands. The shield was thin and literally just on top of my skin, with my fur sticking out above it. Knowing that my energy tends to repel things close to it, I increased the amount of energy in the shield and watched as the water in my fur was forced off of my arms and dropped to the towel on the floor. I did the same thing with my tail and was ecstatic that my idea had worked. Dried off in less than five minutes. I’ll take that over half an hour, any day.
I decided today was going to be a dress down day, so I picked out a pair of loose fitting cargo pants in black, and paired them with a green tank top. I dropped my towel and pulled on my panties. The pair I had grabbed had a ribbon tie in the back that did up around my tail. I ended up having to tie it while looking over my shoulder into the mirror. Once I had that, I quickly put on my bra, tank and pants. My stomach started to grumble at that point, and I decided putting on socks could wait until after breakfast.
I hurried out of my room and jumped over the stair railing across the hall. I turned myself in the air, grabbed the base of the rails and swung myself down the flight of steps. As I landed silently at the bottom, I stood up to see Mom staring disparagingly at me.
With my tail between my legs I made my way past Mom and into the kitchen to pour myself some cereal. I was just putting my bowl into the dishwasher when Mom called my name.
“What, Mom?” I called back.
“We’re leaving in ten minutes. Go finish getting ready, grab your purse and let’s go.”
“Okay,” I said as I headed back up the stairs. My first stop was the bathroom. I worked as fast as I could, brushing my hair before putting it in a ponytail. I headed to my room next and found myself a pair of socks. I put those on, stepped into my sneakers and grabbed my purse. I bounded down the stairs just as Mom got there, car keys in hand.
~~~
“Wow,” commented Mike as Amy walked into the classroom and sat in her usual spot in the back with Dani, Mike and Trance. “Amy?”
“Yeah, it’s me. You like my new look?”
Mike simply nodded. Trance stayed quiet. There was something new about Amy other than her appearance. ‘It has to be some kind of ability,’ he thought. He focused his mind sight and could see that there was indeed something in the air around her. It was similar appearance to when he saw perfume around someone. The difference was that this was actually coming out of her. He made a mental note to talk to her about it.
~~~
Walking into the waiting room, it was obvious what field the doctor was in. Around the room were groups of either one or two parents, with a recently morfed child. The parents were waiting patiently while the kids seemed to all be embarrassed about being there.
Mom and I made our way across the room and sat down near a large window. One seat over from myself was a sad looking boy around twelve years old. He was most likely the first in his class to morf. I couldn’t help but notice the fact that he was wearing a pair of thick rubber gloves. He looked up at me as I sat down and I gave him a little smile.
“So what are you in for?” I said jokingly.
“Trying to learn how to deal with my morf. I don’t have any friends that have morfed yet,” he said. “What about you?”
“My parents made me come,” I answered honestly. “To be honest, I’d rather be at school.” He laughed at that.
“So what’s with the gloves?” I asked, hoping I hadn’t crossed the line in asking that.
“I have to wear them so that I don’t hurt anyone. I’m an electricity elemental and I can’t shut it off yet.”
“Can I see? Without your gloves, I mean.”
“I’ll get in trouble, I don’t want to shock you.”
“I’m an elemental too, I’ll make a force field between us, and then you can take off your glove, okay?”
“I guess.” He sounded unsure, but I created the shield anyways.
Hesitantly he pulled off his left glove and held his hand out for me to see. It was amazing; you could actually see the electricity surging over his hands. I felt bad for him, knowing he had to wear those gloves all the time, just to be able to touch anything. After a minute, he put his glove back on and I took down the shield.
“So what kind of element is that?” he asked me.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I wish I did.”
“At least you can control it,” he said.
“You’ll learn eventually. Just don’t give up.”
“I won’t …”
The receptionist interrupted by calling a name, ‘Rick’, over the PA system. “That’s me,” he said as he stood up. “It was nice to meet you …”
“Sanura, sorry.”
“Well it was good to meet you Sanura. My name’s Rick.”
“You too, Rick.”
He headed off to see the doctor and I looked through their selection of magazines. I found a sports magazine and pulled it out to read.
“Nura,” said mom. “That wasn’t very nice of you.”
“What?” I asked in confusion.
“You were flirting with that boy,” Mom stated.
“I was not, Mom. Besides, he was like twelve, I was just being nice.”
“Nura, you could pass for a girl his age you know. I doubt he knew you were almost sixteen.”
“But I wasn’t flirting,” I insisted.
“You might not have thought you were. But you need to be careful around boys, so that you don’t give the wrong signals.”
“Okay, Mom.”
I went back to my magazine and tried to pass the time. How come when you go to the doctor’s you never get in until like twenty minutes after your appointment time? I was just about finished my magazine when I was called in to see the doctor.
~~~
“Good morning Sanura. I’m Dr. Golding.” She smiled softly at me, extended her hand, and I shook it. “Why don’t we have a seat over here,” she said, gesturing towards a sofa and an armchair. I sat down quickly on the couch, hopped back to my feet and then sat down again with my tail around my waist that time. I was still constantly getting used to that thing. “So, Sanura, tell me a little bit about yourself.”
“Well, I’m fifteen years old, I like to play sports, and I used to be on the school basketball team. I just morfed about two weeks ago, so I’m still getting used to that …” I trailed off.
“Tell me about the changes you had from morfs.”
“Well I used to be taller, and I grew this tail and then there’s the paws and the cat ears. I have some sort of elemental power, which is cool. The biggest change though, is that I used to be a boy,” I said.
“How do you feel you’re handling the changes?” asked Dr. Golding.
“I think I’m doing pretty well. I always assumed that I would get MORFS at some point, and my dad is a hybrid, so becoming one myself wasn’t as big a shock as I’m sure it is for some people. It’s the forced sex change that is the hardest to deal with, and not only the physical changes.”
“What exactly do you mean?” she inquired.
“Well, it’s like everyone expects me to know how to be a girl and wants me to act like one ‘all' the time. My own parents treat me as if I’ve always been their daughter. I’m still the same person that I was before, but its like people assume that I’m different now. They all expect me to wear makeup and pretty clothes all the time and to be a real girly girl. That’s not who I am.” I felt as though I was ranting but the doctor was writing things down as I spoke.
“I see from your medical records that you’re actually male and female. If you’re unhappy with how you’re treated as a female, why don’t you express your male self?”
“Do you honestly think I could portray myself as a boy, looking the way I do? No matter what I did, I’d still have a girls figure and a girls face. I accept the fact that I have to live as a girl, and I’m not saying there aren’t some good things about it. … It … it’s just hard to be forced to switch sides.”
“Well I have to say, and don’t take offense at this, but you present yourself well as a female. The way you talk, the way you move, it’s all feminine.”
I thought about it and she was right. I was even sitting on the couch with my legs crossed. That was a easy habit to pick up after having to wear skirts to school everyday.
“Okay Sanura. You’ve told me what you don’t like about being a girl. Now I want you to tell me what you do like. I’ll remind you, that what we discuss in here is in confidence, so please be honest.”
“I said I don’t like how people expect me to act like a girl, but I do really like the way I’m treated as a girl. People are nicer to me than when I was a boy. I like ummm … the clothes …” I was blushing now, and I wasn’t sure why I should even feel embarrassed about this. “I like the fact I can wear pretty much whatever I want. I can wear boys’ clothes or girls’ clothes and it doesn’t really matter. I also like the way a lot of girls’ clothes feel. They’re always really soft and feel really nice on my smooth skin.”
“Good. I’m glad that you at least enjoy some aspects of being a female. Now, how do you feel about your sexuality? Your parents tell me you have a boyfriend?”
“Yeah, I do. His name is Colin. This is a bit of a difficult subject right now. I actually need to break up with Colin. There’s someone else that I like a lot more,” I said.
“Is this someone another boy, or a girl?” she asked with a grin.
“It’s a girl. We’ve been best friends for a long time but just over the weekend I realized how much I actually liked her. The amazing part is that she likes me back, even though I look the way I do,” I was beaming at the thought of Amy.
“I can tell from the look on your face that you really love her. It must make you feel very special to have her love you for who you really are. How do you plan to break things off with your boyfriend?”
“Well,” I started while I gathered my thoughts. “It’s complicated because he knows about me. That I’m male and female, and who I used to be, so if it’s a bad breakup I don’t know if he’ll spread that around school or not.”
“What I would suggest, since he sounds like a very mature young man, is that you sit down with him and simply explain how you feel and both try to be mature about it.”
~~~
“Okay young lady, you go get ready for school and I’ll make us some lunch,” Mom said as she pulled the car into the garage.
“Yes Ma’am,” I replied jokingly as I got out of the car.
The counseling session hadn’t been too bad. Definitely not what I’d expected. I made my way up to my room and decided that a simple swap of a skirt for my pants would be fine for school. I found a black gypsy skirt that looked like it would be comfortable enough. I sat down and carefully pulled on some nude stockings. The skirt was next and then I fished out a pair of black shoes with a small heel. Next stop was the bathroom for some makeup. Just a little mascara, eye shadow and lip gloss and I was done. I took a look at myself in the mirror and thought I looked pretty good. Depending on which teachers saw me, I figured I might have a bit of trouble about the tank top I had on. ‘Stupid dress code.’ Not wanting to be hassled about it, I grabbed my denim jacket out of the closet before heading downstairs for lunch.
Mom had made up some grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. That had always been one of my favorites and I had a bit of deja vu as I pulled out one of the high stools at the kitchen bar and had to pull myself up to sit down. Being small in a house built for a large bear hybrid was not cool. Mom got herself a plate and sat down beside me. She surprised me by putting her arm around me and giving me a hug.
“I’m glad you went today. I hope it helped you some.”
“It did, Mom,” I replied. “But I have to ask you something.”
“Go right ahead.”
“I’m meeting with Colin tonight to talk. I’m going to break up with him.”
“So soon?” questioned Mom.
“Yes, I thought it was working but I’ve found someone else I like better. How do you feel about having a lesbian for a daughter?” I asked.
Mom choked a bit at my question and then started to chuckle. “Sanura, why would I be upset at you dating a girl? You were our son for fifteen years and you’re still part boy. I don’t know if that would even qualify you to be a lesbian. You date who ever makes you happy.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Its Amy, isn’t it?” asked Mom.
“How did you know that?”
“Mother’s just have a way of knowing these things.”
~~~
I had barely walked into school when I was pulled aside by coach Harding. She pulled me aside and we went into her office. “Sanura Miller, I’ve heard quite a bit about your basketball skills from coach Williams. He’s recommended that I let you try out for the girls’ team even though we’re already into our season. Normally I wouldn’t allow this, but as you were on the boys team, I’m willing to let it happen.”
“Thank you so much, coach,” I said.
“You’ll be trying out after school today during the team’s practice,” said the coach. “Also, I’ll remind you that using any supernatural abilities during play is against the rules. However, enhanced abilities such as your speed, jumping and agility are allowed. We meet in the gym at 3:15. I expect you there on time, changed and ready to play.”
“I’ll be there.” Coach excused me from her office and I hurried to my next class. I slid into my seat just as the buzzer went. I was glad I had made it back for science class. We were currently doing our MORFS unit, and had recently been talking about different supernatural abilities. I was hoping that we might touch on something that would enlighten me concerning my own powers. So far, that hadn’t happened. I must have got lost in thought as I was startled by the teacher, Mr. Grandover, calling my name.
“Yes?” I asked hesitantly.
“Would you please come up to the front Miss Miller?” he asked.
‘Great, why am I being singled out like this?’ I was thinking that I must be in trouble for something as I walked up front. But as I was walking up there, Mr. Grandover called two other students to the front of the class, as well.
“Okay class, today Sanura, David and Paul are going to be my teaching assistants.” The three of us looked at each other, all equally confused. “Today we will be learning about hybrids. Please take out your text books.” That’s when it hit me, the three of us at the front where all hybrids.
I zoned out a bit as Mr. Grandover droned on about gene swapping between species and how the genome could be compromised by MORFS. I’d heard all this before. Having a father who is a hybrid, I grew up asking the standard questions that kids do. ‘Where do babies come from?’ ‘Why is the sky blue?’ but I also asked questions like, ‘Why does daddy have fur like an animal?’
After about ten minutes of reading from the textbook, Mr. Grandover turned back to the three of us at the front. “Sanura, would you step forward please?”
I moved forward and blushed a bit as everyone focused in on me. I looked up and tried not to laugh as Damian made faces at me from the back of the room. “Sanura is a perfect example of a partial hybrid. This is apparent by the even mix of human and feline characteristics. When only certain hybrid characteristics are present, they usually each serve a specific purpose. Sanura, would you please explain the functions of your various feline attributes and their purpose, demonstrating if necessary?” asked Mr. Grandover.
“Well, first are my ears. Uhh … I’m able to move them in many directions to focus my hearing on particular things. I also have a keener sense of hearing due to their shape and their position higher on my head,” I said, while moving around my ears. I was hoping that’s what the teacher wanted to hear. I looked over at him and he gestured for me to continue.
“Another attribute is my tail. It’s used for helping me balance, and can, with concentration can act as an extra hand. My hands and feet both have retractable claws that can be used for climbing. My forearms are covered in a thick fur that acts as a protective layer when I am climbing. That’s about it,” I said, looking back over at Mr. Grandover.
“Miss Miller also has enhanced senses and abilities similar to a feline. Speed, agility, smell and night vision are only a few. You can return to your seat now Sanura.”
I walked back to my desk and sat down as he called David forward. “David is what is known as an absolute Hybrid. As you can see, he displays more animalistic characteristics than Human.”
I considered myself luck that I hadn’t ended up as an absolute hybrid like Dave. People like him take way more abuse and harassment than I would. I’ve even heard that in some countries absolutes are actually considered no longer human, and are forced to live in the wild. The sad part is, that Dave has always been a really nice guy, but thanks to morfs he’s avoided by almost everyone, just because he looks like your stereotypical werewolf from the movies. Eventually David was sent back to his seat and Mr. Grandover had Paul move forward into the spotlight.
Paul is a very ‘normal’ looking kid. I’m sure most people would assume that he never morfed, based on his appearance. This part was bound to shock a few of the students in the class.
“Paul here is was is known as a concealed hybrid. That means that he is a hybrid, but that his animal characteristics are hidden from plain sight,” stated Mr. Grandover. “Paul, would to please reveal your hybrid attribute to the class please?”
Paul pulled his shirt off and tuned his back to the class. His back was well muscled and you could faintly see two folds of skin running down his back, starting near his shoulder blades and down to the bottom of his ribs. He flexed his arms out at his sides and the folds in his back opened up, releasing a pair of large silver dragon wings with blue webbing. He spread them wide and they touched both side walls of the classroom before he closed them and they became once again hidden in the cavities on his back. I noticed that a good amount of the class looked shocked, while the rest of us seemed to think it was very cool.
~~~
‘What am I going to say to him?’ I asked myself. ‘If only he was some kind of jerk, then I could break this off and not feel so guilty.’ I pulled my sports bra on over my head and then stepped back into my shorts. I had tried wearing my old boy’s shorts that were still in my locker but when I had tried them on, they were practically pants. That left just my leotard from gym, and I wasn’t about to wear that for basketball. Getting down on all fours, I had run home in record time and quickly traded my skirt and top for a pair of shorts and a tee shirt. I grabbed some clothes for later, and stuffed them in my backpack before speeding back to the school. I got there just in time to change into some more athletically appropriate underwear than the wispy stuff I’d had on.
‘Okay, worry about Colin later,’ I told myself. ‘Right now you need to focus on getting on the team. And careful with the claws, don’t pop the ball.’ I smiled at my last thought as I opened the locker room door and walked into the gym. The girls were all warming up, so I decided to do some stretches. I did a one handed handstand before twisting into a cartwheel, followed by a standing back flip, when suddenly the whistle blew and I headed over to where coach Harding was standing.
“Okay, girls. Today’s practice will be pretty normal for all of you. We’ll be doing some drills and then play a short game. We do have a new student, Sanura Miller, who is going to be trying out for the team though,” said Coach. The girls didn’t seem too happy with me being a possible addition to the team. “I want you to be nice to her and give her a fair chance here today.”
“We don’t need someone like her on the team,” said one of the girls. She stepped forward and I recognized her as the green metal chick from in the bathroom that one day. “We don’t need animals on this team!”
“Cali!” snapped coach Harding before I could say anything back. “Go hit the showers, you’re on probation.”
“I can’t believe you’re defending that!” she screamed, pointing at me, before storming off to the locker room.
“Do any of the rest of you have a problem with Sanura being on the team?” the room was silent other than some faint screaming coming from the locker room. “Good. Now we’ll start with a few passing drills. Everyone go grab a ball.”
I picked up a ball off the rack and held it in my large paws. I never could palm the ball, not even as a guy, but with my claws poking out of my fur, just barely touching the ball, I was able to finally do it. I played around with that as we got into the positions Coach wanted us in. I noticed a couple girls watching me and they looked impressed as I held the ball out at my side, pointing down, with only one hand. Things got under way and the next half an hour were pretty boring as we practiced passing and dribbling and shooting. Finally it was time to play an actual game for the remainder of the practice.
Two captains were chosen and I was surprised when I was one of the first to be picked for a team. My team won first ball and started down the court. We had just arrived at half court when the ball was tossed to me and the girl who had been dribbling it said, “Show us what you’ve got.”
I only hesitated a moment before dribbling towards the net. All the other girls were taller than me, but I was able to weave in between them with ease. When I got close to the net, with most of the other team following me, I jumped high into the air. I pulled back both arms and the ball, preparing for a monster dunk and then slammed the ball through the hoop. ‘Wow!’ I thought as I hung from the rim for a few seconds. My impressive 92lbs didn’t seem to put any stress on the net. I dropped to my feet and then hustled back to our end as the other team made their way up the court.
The game continued to go back and forth across the court but I was doing a good job of keeping the other team from scoring. Coach called out that we had one minute left and the ball was in our end. They took a shot and missed, but caught the ball as it rebounded. Coach called out thirty seconds and started to count down out loud. As she called ten seconds, I managed to steal it for a break away. I weaved in and out between the other players and got to half court as she started counting down from five. I was already in a run when I got there and launched into a long and high jump as she counted. “Four… three… two…” I was at the net and reached out towards the rim… “One!” I put the ball through the hoop as coach Harding called out “Time! Game over!”
I grinned and walked over to the other girls. I was surprised when I was met with hugs from my teammates and “good jobs” from the girls on the opposite team. Coach Harding walked over with an amused smile on her face.
“Well that was a bit of a lopsided game,” she said. “Sanura, your team won 62 to 10, and you scored 40 of those points. Congratulations, you made the team!”
I let out a very girlish squeal and started jumping around.
~~~
He was walking towards me. This was the moment I had been dreading. I forced a smile as he walked up to me. “Hi Colin.”
“Hey, Nura,” he said, leaning in for a kiss. I moved my head back and to the side to avoid it.
“So where we going?” I asked.
“Well, you wanted to just talk, so I figured we could just go to that café at the mall. You ready to go?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” We walked in silence to the mall. We were holding hands, but for me, the spark that we’d had was completely gone. When we arrived at the little café, Colin found a little table in a secluded corner. We sat in silence for a while. I still had no idea what to say.
“So what’s on your mind?” asked Colin. “You’ve been acting pretty distant.”
“Colin,” I started, “we need to talk about … about us. This is really hard, 'cus I don’t want to hurt you, I like you and I really value our friendship. It’s just … its just that I don’t think our relationship is working…”
“What do you mean? I thought we had something going on?”
“We did, but I think I was just rushing into our relationship. I had just got over MORFS and I was new to being a girl and there was some attraction but I think I was just willing to be your girlfriend, because I was thinking that no one would ever like the new me. I was trying to be a girl the way everyone wanted me to be, and I wasn’t being myself. I went out with you because that’s what girls do, they date boys,” I had to stop and catch my breath before I continued.
“So … are you breaking up with me?” asked Colin.
“Yeah, I guess I am. But Colin, it’s nothing personal. I was a boy for over fifteen years before I morfed and well … I still like girls. … I do have some attraction to boys, to you, but it’s not as strong as how I feel towards a girl. I’m sorry.” I reached across the table and put my hand on top of his. “Colin, can we at least be friends again, like we used to be?”
“Nura … Jason, we’ve been friends for a long time and I’m not the kind of guy to ditch my friends because of a morf, so yeah, we can still be friends. I’ll admit that I really like you, and if you ever change your mind, I’ll be here, but when I found out who you were before you morfed, I kinda had an idea that it wouldn’t last.”
“Thanks Colin, for being there when I needed you, for keeping my secret and for being my friend.” I rose from my seat and went around the table and gave him a hug.
“Well, I guess our friendship will be a bit different now that you’re a girl. I don’t remember you ever hugging me as a boy,” chuckled Colin as he hugged me back.
“Yeah, well, I’m a bit more emotional that I used to be,” I said, sitting back down in my chair. “It’s the hormones, I swear.”
~~~
Amy was sitting on her bed when she heard a quiet tapping on her bedroom window. She looked over and couldn’t see anything there. She went back to doing her homework but after a minute she heard the tapping again. She got up and went over to her window. She opened it to look out when Sanura dropped down in front of her. She was upside-down and hanging from the edge of the roof.
“Hey Cutie, you know you could have just come to the front door,” remark Amy as she opened the window all the way and stepped back.
“I know, but then I wouldn’t have surprised you.” Sanura swung herself around, landing on all fours on the windowsill. “So I broke up with Colin today Aim. Can I come in?” Amy gestured towards her room and Sanura came in through the window. The need to be close to Amy was building in her again and she stepped in close to Amy and kissed her. They kissed for what seemed like ages, Sanura purring happily, her tail wrapped around Amy. She was absolutely in love with this girl. They fell back onto the bed, Amy’s homework falling forgotten onto the floor. Their kiss ended, they lay quietly together in a quiet embrace.
Sanura curled her small body into a ball and rested her head on Amy’s shoulder. Amy looked down at the cute little catgirl, who was purring softly. It reminded her of her encounter with Griyok in the forest. He too had sat there, resting quietly against her, just as Sanura was doing. It made no sense. She could tell that Sanura wasn’t acting like herself.
~~~
I was lying next to Amy and she was all I could think about. Every time I was around her she dominated my thoughts. ‘But that doesn’t bother me, I realized. ‘I love her and I love thinking of her. If only I could figure out how to talk coherently around her, but right now I’m content to just be with her.’
Mmmmm… Amy, my girl. My girl!
~~~
“I am not a patient man, Doctor,” said the man in the white suit, his red eyes focused intently on the head technician.
“Sir, its almost complete, but we have no way to test the device properly without the girl. In theory it’s all perfect.” The technician handed a diagram of the device to the imposing man.
“Hmmm… this is exactly what we need. Be sure it works! I want our little cat to become very well acquainted with her new cage.” The man in white walked over to the device and ran his hand across the smooth exterior. “I understand how this is supposed to absorb her energy and contain it, but will it withstand her strength and her claws, Doctor?”
“Yes of course. We’ve used top grade alloy, and its been specifically designed based on her stats. Get her in there and she’s not getting out.”
“Perfect. Have it finished by the deadline and you will be handsomely rewarded. I don’t think I have to say what will happen if it’s late.”
~~~
*Nura*
*What’s up Trance?* I asked, mildly annoyed at having my daydreaming disturbed. I sat up in my bed and tried to clear my head.
*I did some checking on those guys that attacked you.*
*Did you actually find anything?* I asked.
*Yeah, I did,* said Trance. *Turns out they’re part of some secret worldwide organization that may or my not be funded by the government. Some kind of secret police. Their job is to monitor specific morfs, detain powerful morfs and study unknown ones. I’m guessing you got on their radar when you blew up your aunt’s restaurant. *
*Well I would have thought after the first fight that they would have given up and realized that I don’t want to be detained or studied! *
*That’s where it gets a bit weird. *
*What do you mean? * I asked.
*From my sources, they’ve only come after you once. Other than attacking you, were their any similarities between the two times? *
*N … no … not really. The first group came at night with guns and surveillance stuff. They seemed to be normal using smart-came. The second time it was a bunch of morfs fighting me, and it was in broad daylight. * Now I was becoming even more paranoid. *Do you think there’s two different groups? *
*Yeah, Nura, I do. I’ve heard things, nothing more than rumors and whispers, about another group. That’s the group that you really want to avoid. Apparently the same group of terrorists that started the whole MORFS thing are now kidnapping and experimenting on morfs, usually kids who have recently morfed. I’ve heard that they’re doing everything from brainwashing the morfs to work for them, to cloning morfed abilities in others. As I said, all those things are rumors, but a lot of the time these rumors turn out to be the truth. I know that the government has been trying to cover up a lot of abductions. *
*Trance, do you have any idea how much you’re freaking me out? *
*Don’t worry, you have friends looking out for you, * said Trance. *And I’ll keep trying to get to the bottom of all this. *
*That’s another thing. How do you, at fifteen, have sources that know these kinds of things? * I asked.
*Remember when I told you I can only ‘take over’ a persons mind if they’re very stupid or weak willed? Well, let’s just say that there are a lot of that kind of people in important places. Usually not the ones running the show, but lackeys that have a lot of knowledge that I can leech off of. *
*OK, try to keep yourself out of trouble, though. *
*Always do. *
~~~
To Be Continued...
~~~
Encyclopedia Entries for part 7
Eagox
Fox/Eagle morf indigenous to North America. In most cases it appears to be a fox with eagle wings and tail feathers with some feathers on the ears, although many other variations have been known to exist. The Eagox has very high intelligence and usually hunts in packs. Due to their increased intelligence they also can be trained to talk and interact with humans.
The entire MORFS Universe can be found at http://morfs.nowhere2go.org/
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 is in love and finds a new old friend at a family reunion.
MORFS: Sanura's Tale, Part 8
By Britney McMaster
The next few days were pretty much the same old routine other than basketball practice after school. The time passed quickly and soon the school week was over. Looking back I still find it amazing how normal life seemed now that I’d got used to all this girl stuff I have to do.
I was really looking forward to Saturday. I was going to be going on my first official date with Amy. I had a hard time going to sleep Friday night and was late to wake up Saturday morning. I rolled out of bed, but really wanted to crawl back under the covers. I felt like crap. My nose was all stuffed up and my throat was a little sore. ‘How am I sick? I have healing powers!’ I walked over to my window and started absorbing the morning sunlight. I could feel the energy bottling up inside me, and my throat seemed to get better, but my nose stayed all plugged up.
Promising myself that I wouldn’t let a little cold mess up my date, I went about getting ready for my day. I tried my best to look a bit more boyish for Amy, but at 4’10” with long hair, a pretty face and B-cups, it’s not really possible to have my image say ‘boy’. Girls jeans, a tee and a baggy hoody and I was ready to leave. I looked out the window and it was sort of half snowing, half raining, as the snow melted in the warm air. I grabbed my eCom and put it in my pocket before heading out of the house, yelling a quick goodbye to my parents as I went through the door.
I was about halfway down the block when my eCom went off. “Hello?” I answered.
“Nura,” said Mom. “You’re going to the mall, right?”
“For a little bit, why?”
“I’m going to transfer some money to your eCom. You need to get yourself something nice to wear at our picnic with your Grandparents tomorrow.”
“What’s wrong with what I already have?” I asked.
“Because you don’t have much in the way of dressy casual,” replied Mom.
“Dressy casual? What’s that?”
“Well you have plenty of nice skirts for school, and you have lots of jeans and shorts for being casual. But you don’t really have much in the way of casual skirts and dresses. It’s a picnic, so it’s not like I want you to buy yourself a party dress. Just a casual skirt, like a denim one or something like that.”
“Oh, okay, yeah. I can get one of those.”
~~~
“Sir, the cage is complete. We’ve field tested it with high energy signatures, it should withstand her energy as well.”
“Good. Await my command to commence the mission.”
~~~
I was sitting perched on the top of a light post waiting for Amy when I saw her rushing towards the mall, followed by what appeared to be a pack of squirrels. It looked like they were chasing her, so it was time for me to come to the rescue. I leapt off the top of the pole and landed right between the squirrels and Amy. I let out a low feline growl, something I didn’t even know I could do, and the squirrels froze in place, so I turned towards Amy, “You okay?”
“Yeah, they’ve just been following me. It’s weird,” said Amy. “Where did you come from anyway? You just dropped out of the sky.”
I was about to answer her when I was suddenly pounced on by two dozen squirrels. I let out a small burst of energy and they were thrown off but were right back on me within seconds.
“STOP!” shouted Amy. I froze. So did the squirrels. “Leave her alone and go away!” the squirrels dropped off me and looked at Amy before running away.
“Amy, how did you do that?”
“I have no idea. That’s the second time that animals have listened to what I tell them to do.”
“That is weird, maybe it’s a power you got from Morfs,” I said. “You should have Trance check it out sometime.”
~~~
“So what do you want to do?” I asked Amy as we walked into the mall. “We could do a movie, but matinees don’t start until around 2pm.”
“We could do some shopping,” said Amy. “I’ve always wanted a boyfriend who would go shopping with me, and maybe we can even make out a bit in the change rooms when no one is looking.”
“Uhhhh …” what was I supposed to say to that? “Okay, shopping it is. Mom wants me to pick up something to wear tomorrow. We’re having a family picnic with my Grandparents.”
“Ooh, when I’m finished with you you’ll be the cutest little granddaughter ever.”
“Amy, you really want to do that? Wouldn’t you rather have me look like a guy?”
“Nura,” chuckled Amy. “No offense Sweetie, but there’s no way you’d look like a guy, no matter what you were wearing.” I wasn’t happy to hear that but unfortunately I knew it was the truth. “Hey, cheer up. All that macho stuff is overrated anyway.”
“So what store you want to go to first? I honestly have no idea what to look for,” I said. “This is the first time I’ve been shopping without being dragged around from store to store.”
“There’s a really good store over here. I’m thinking we should get you a nice sundress. Something that’s going to be light and comfortable, but at the same time, look really pretty.” Amy grabbed my hand in hers and I followed her through the mall.
We arrived at a store that was crawling with girls our age. Amy and I both joined in and started rummaging through the racks of clothing. It still seemed weird to be picking out dresses for myself, so I had to mentally remove myself from the equation and just picked out dresses that I thought would look good on Amy, but in my size of course. After about half an hour we headed to the back of the store to use the change rooms. We each had an armload of clothes, containing both things for ourselves, and for each other. I had to admit to myself that I was having a lot of fun just shopping with Amy. We would each try something on and then come out and model it for the other. I was about halfway through my pile of clothes when I pulled out a sundress with a halter style neck. The material of the dress was really thin and felt really soft. I slipped it on and took a look in the mirror, immediately falling in love with that dress. The skirt ended just above my knees.
It fit me perfectly. I stepped out of the change room to model it for Amy and I could tell by the look on her face that she liked how it looked too. I turned towards the mirror and did a little twirl. The shimmery fabric sparkled prettily in the light.
“I think that’s the one for you,” said Amy as she came up behind me. “They had that one in a few colours, so I think you should get a couple, though you need to wear a different bra ‘cus of the halter top.”
“I have some at home already, the bras that is. I’m going to get this one and I think I have a few of the other colours in my pile already.”
I went back to my change room and tried on the remaining dresses and skirts. The other colours of that dress looked good on me too, and they went into the pile of things to buy. I liked a few other dresses, too, so they also went in that pile.
Once we were finished, Amy and I went to pay, and after swiping my eCom and taking my receipt, we both headed towards the movie theater with a few bags full of clothes. I bought our tickets and we went inside. We got seats in the theater before I went to get some food for us while Amy guarded our bags. I had a huge smile on my face when I returned to our seats. The day was going so well. If only I could get rid of this stuffy nose, then it would be perfect.
We were both chatting away waiting for the movie to start when I looked over and saw something very strange. Amy’s hand was completely black. It startled me, and it was a few seconds before I could think of what to say. I ended up just saying her name and pointing to her hand.
“What’s going on!?” she exclaimed holding her hand up in from of her. Before both our eyes, her hand quickly changed back to its normal coloring. I could tell she was close to freaking out, but I, on the other hand was recalling what we had learned in class last week about Cell Shifters.
“Amy, it’s alright. I think I know what’s happening. I think you just discovered an ability you got from Morfs.”
“What, the ability to turn my hand black?” remarked Amy with nervous sarcasm.
“I think you can do a lot more than that. Remember when we were swimming and you kept messing with me in the water and I couldn’t see you?”
. Amy nodded. “Well I think that’s because you changed colours. I caught a glimpse of a hand when you grabbed my ankle, but it was totally white and blended in perfectly with the white sand.”
“So you’re saying I can become whatever colour I want?”
“I think so. It’s called cell shifting. Basically, through concentration you should be able to change the colour of any cell in your body. Here,” I said, taking her hand in mine, “ Just concentrate on your hand being the same colour as my fur.”
“Okay, I’ll try.” Nothing happened at first, but after a moment her hand started to darken until it was the same charcoal color as my fur. “I did it!” she exclaimed. She held her hand up and turned it green, then red, then back to its normal color.
“You should get Trance to take a look at that, too.”
“I will, now let’s enjoy the movie, it’s starting.” I leaned my head against her shoulder and she put her arm around my waist. I know it seems backwards, but with her being bigger than me, I often find myself taking the female role in our relationship.
~~~
“Captain, prepare the soldiers. By Monday we will have her in our custody. Then we’ll find how exactly she’s creating this unknown energy.”
~~~
“So what now?” I asked, after stealing a quick kiss while we were still alone in the girls’ room.
“I was thinking maybe we could go over to Trance’s and see if he can help me figure this cell shifting out.”
“Okay, but I want you show you something on the way there,” I said as I took her hand and we walked out of the mall. The rain and snow had stopped and it was now another beautiful sunny day in Sun City. “Okay, I need you to hold all our bags for this to work, okay?”
“I guess so.” She held our bags to her chest and I quickly picked her up in my arms. “Sanura, what are you doing?”
“Just trust me,” I said as I crouched down. I leapt into the air and landed softly on the roof of the mall before jumping again. Amy kept her eyes closed tightly and let out a little squeal each time I jumped. Eventually, she opened her eyes and looked around as we soared through the air. We traveled quickly and were soon at the Klein household.
“Nura, that was crazy,” stated Amy after I had put her down. “It was like a roller coaster.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. So are we going to tell Trance about, you know, … us?” I asked.
“I guess we should, I know we can trust him to keep it a secret,” said Amy.
*Two beautiful young women, seeking male companionship, journey long and hard until they approach the man they have been searching for.*
*Trance, knock it off and let us in your house,* I said to the booming voice in our heads. After a few minutes the door opened and Trance waved us inside.
“I was only kidding, Nura. I know you two only have eyes for each other,” said Trance. Amy whipped around and looked from Trance to me and then back to Trance before raising her eyebrows.
“How … do you know that,” asked Amy.
“Umm … you guys do remember that I’m psychic, right?”
“Oh yeah,” I said. “Stop reading our minds then.”
“Anyway, what can I do for you?”
“Amy wants you to take a look inside her head and help her figure out her powers. I’m pretty sure she’s a cell shifter.”
“Okay, you want to do this right now Amy?”
“Yeah, I want to figure this out. Nura told me you set up some triggers for her powers. Can you do that for me too?” asked Amy.
“I’ll have to see. The triggers have to already be there, I just kind of unlock the,” said trance. “Now just sit down and relax and try to clear your mind.”
~~~
“Sir?”
“What is it, son?”
“We just got a report that they’re going after that girl again. How should we proceed?”
“Normally I would say that we should set up a counter strike, or get to the girl before they do. I feel like that would be a mistake, though. It’s against my better judgment but I’m going to trust my gut with this one. For now, just keep a watch on the girl; this is an opportunity to let them lead us to their HQ. I also have a feeling that they don’t realize what they’re dealing with, with this girl. They know she has some powers and that she can take out their trained men, but we know that she can take out a group of elite morf agents.”
“So we just let them take her? Even knowing how much power that will give them?”
“We’re not giving them any power unless they can break her will, and from what I’ve seen, that won’t be done easily. No, from what I’ve seen her do, we’re going to let them take her, if they can, and then we’ll sit back and watch her destroy the place trying to get out.”
~~~
“Okay, now picture yourself with white skin,” said Trance. Amy’s skin quickly bleached out. “Okay, now lets try something a little more difficult. Put your hand on the table. Now picture your hand with the same wood grain as the table.” Amy’s hand changed to the colour of the wood. “Okay, you’re doing good, but concentrate on duplicating the grain pattern that the table has.”
Slowly, the dark wood grain started to appear on the back of Amy’s hand. “Wow! My hand blends right in with the table. This is so cool!” she exclaimed. “Too bad there’s no real practical use for this.”
“Are you kidding? You can pretty much throw out all your makeup now that you can do this,” I said.
“I hadn’t even thought of that,” said Amy as she stood up and walked over to the hallway mirror. She was already wearing pretty light make up, but after a moment, her lips turned a deep rich red, her eyelids took on a shade of copper and her eyelashes darkened to a rich black.
“Did you just change the colour of your eyelashes?” asked Trance. Amy nodded. “Try changing your hair and eye colours.” The whites of Amy’s eyes changes to a deep blue as the iris changed to white. Her beautiful autumn tones hair changed to a dark black, similar to my own.
“Nura? Could I talk to Amy for a minute, in private?” asked Trance.
“Uh, yeah, that’s fine. But I want her back when you’re done,” I said jokingly. I wandered outside and sat down under a tree in Trance’s front yard. ‘I wonder what they’re talking about.’
~~~
“Amy, you have another ability that I want to talk to you about,” said Trance. Amy reverted to her normal looks and sat down at the table across from Trance.
“What other ability do I have?”
“You’re a Tamer.”
“A what?” questioned Amy.
“A Tamer, someone who can tame or control animals through the use of special pheromones. You have those pheromones all around you, but only animals can sense them. Has Sanura done anything irrational around you since you morfed?”
“She kissed me, totally out of the blue, at our sleepover last week,” said Amy. “And she’s been acting a little weird around me, not anything big, but not herself. She’s been quieter, and I’ve caught her just watching me a few times. She got in trouble in class for not paying attention a few times ’cus she was busy looking at me.”
“That’s what I figured,” said Trance.
“But she’s been acting normal around me all day,” disputed Amy.
“That’s because she has a cold,” said Trance. Amy raised an eyebrow at him. “I haven’t seen her breathe through her nose yet and she sounds a bit congested.”
“Oh … so you think she’s going out with me just because of my pheromones?”
“I wouldn’t say that. She definitely likes you. The fact that she still has those feelings for you despite her lack of a sense of smell says a lot for how she really feels for you. The pheromones aren’t helping her though,” said Trance. “Which is why I want to set up one of those mental triggers on your pheromones for you.”
“You can do that?” asked Amy.
“The trigger is there, I just have to unlock it and teach you how to use it. Close your eyes. We’ll get this done quickly.
~~~
‘What am I suppose to do with these tickets now?’ thought Colin. ‘So much for surprising Nura with them. She did say she still wanted to be friends, why can’t we go to the concert just as friends?’
‘Because she’ll think you’re just asking her out on a date, idiot.’
‘Maybe I should just give them to her and she can take her girlfriend with her. I can’t believe she broke up with me for another girl!’
~~~
“I had a really good time today, Nura. Thanks.”.
“It was my pleasure,” I said as I rose up on my tiptoes, and luckily, Amy leaned down just a bit so that I could give her a kiss. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you later.”
“Okay, see ya later,” said Amy. She gave me one more kiss before opening the door and going into her house.
I still had that warm fuzzy feeling as I soared through the air while I jumped home. I landed on the back patio, where Dad was busy cooking what smelled like chicken on the barbeque.
“Hey there, Kitten. Dinner’s almost ready. Can you go set the table?” asked Dad. I nodded my reply and then went inside to get some plates and silverware. Despite the earlier precipitation, it was now nice and sunny, so I set the outside table. Actually, it was a bit too sunny and I had to keep squinting to see I was doing. I complained about it to Dad, who just told me it wasn’t that bad. I finished setting the table and went to get some drinks, but the moment I walked outside I was once again hit in the face with the blinding glare from the sun. Both my arms were full of stuff, so I was unable to shield my eyes. That’s when I cam up with a brilliant plan and formed a very thin energy shield in front of my eyes in the shape of some stylish sunglasses. The shield probably cut out around eighty percent of the light and with my ability to see in low lighting, it worked out great. I kept the shield up and just lounged around on the deck sipping some lemonade until dinner was put on the table.
Mom ushered Crystal out to the table, saying that she needed to eat something. Crystal looked like she had just rolled out of bed. She was wearing pajamas and looked really tired.
“Hey Crystal, you just wake up or something?” I asked innocently.
“I’m sick, okay!” she snapped back at me.
“Fine. Sorry I asked.”
The meal was good and I told Mom and Dad all about my date. It struck me as odd that my parents didn’t mention anything about me now dating Amy after being with Colin. ‘Maybe they just think the thing with Colin was just a phase, which I guess it probably was.’
After dinner I helped Mom clear the table while Crystal went back to bed and Dad cut the grass. After we finished cleaning up, Mom scooped the three of us some ice cream. I was content to just sit out on the patio, licking my ice cream cone and letting my hair be carried on the gentle evening breeze. For the first time since I morfed I felt truly happy with my life.
Things weren’t perfect but I had a family that loved me and a girlfriend which I was pretty sure that I loved and just sitting there relaxing, I felt comfortable in who I was.
~~~
“Well you’re up early,” commented Mom as she came into the kitchen and headed straight for the coffee pot.
“Not that early,” I said, glancing up from the frying pan to look at Mom. “I’m making eggs and sausage. You want some?”
“I’d love some, Sweetie, and I’m sure your father will, too. He’s just checking on Crystal and then he’ll be down,” said Mom. I went over to the freezer and pulled out another pack of sausages since Dad would be joining us. “By the way, I like that dress on you. It’s very pretty.”
“Thanks, Mom. Amy and I both liked it as soon as we saw it.” I continued cooking away while Mom sat at the table nursing her cup of coffee. Dad came downstairs and came up behind me. If I hadn’t heard him coming, I would have been startled as he wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug from behind. What did startle me was when he gave me a kiss on the cheek. I mean, I can’t even remember the last time Dad had done anything like that. Not since I was a toddler at least. “Uhh … morning, Dad.”
I dished up our food and took it over to the table. “is Crystal going to be eating?” I asked.
“No.” Dad shook his head. “She’s not feeling very well. I’m not sure whether she’s going to come on our picnic today either. I know she wants to, but she really is feeling sick.”
“Is this like the flu, or what?” I inquired.
“She’s got a stomach flu, she should get over it soon,” said Mom.
“Maybe its Morfs,” I commented. “You morfed when you were her age, Dad.”
“That’s true, and I suppose it could be Morfs. We’ll have to wait and see.”
***
“Hey, Sis,” I said as I knocked on her open door. “Can I come in?” She waved me in and I took a seat on the edge of her bed. “So how ya feeling?”
“I’ve felt better. So you ready for the picnic?” she asked.
“Yeah, I am. Are you going to go?” She nodded her head. “Well if you need anything, let me know. We all want you to get better.”
“Sanura?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you being so nice to me? We’re usually always fighting.” Crystal looked over at me and I could see the pain in her eyes. I didn’t like seeing that.
“We used to fight because you would always bug me, and I usually saw you as my annoying little sister. But … now that I’m a girl too, I just figured we could probably relate to each other better as sisters then we did as brother and sister. I just thought that maybe we could be more like friends. I do need your help with this whole being a girl thing too.”
Crystal put down her hair brush, walked over to sit beside me and put her hand on my paw. “So you really want to be sisters?”
“Well, technically we already are, but I want us to have a friendship like most sisters do.”
“Oh Sanura!” she exclaimed as she hugged the air out of me. “I’ve always wanted a big sister. This will be so much fun. And if you need any help with learning girl’s stuff, just let me know and I’ll do my best to help!”
“There is one thing,” I said. I held up the new curling iron Mom had bought me. “How do I use one of these?”
“Come sit in front of the mirror and I’ll show you.”
~~~
It was short drive to the park where we were going to have our picnic. It was another beautiful sunny day and I was once again wear my energy shield as sunglasses. Crystal had done a great job curling my hair and I was still getting used to the feeling of the curls bouncing around my head. Mom had insisted on taking a picture of my curly hair before we left the house.
I pulled the truck into the parking lot and parked it beside Aunt Mika’s van. I killed the engine and Dad made a big production of unclenching his hands from the seat. We got out and I helped Dad carry stuff over to the picnic area while Mom and a sick Crystal went and sat down with the family that had already arrived. I was carrying a big cooler, about my own size, over to the picnic table with little effort when Aunt Mika’s son, my cousin Alex rushed over to me.
“Here, let me get that from you,” he said, taking the cooler from me. He seemed to struggle a lot more than I had been with the weight. “A girl your size shouldn’t be doing this kinda stuff.” I wasn’t sure whether to be lazy and let him unload the rest with Dad or to be offended, as my masculine pride was being severely beaten. Alex stumbled with the large cooler again and I went over to him.
“Here,” I said as I put my hand under the middle of the cooler and lifted it with one hand. “Go see if my Dad has anything else to unload if you really want to help. I can handle this little cooler by myself. I’m a big girl.” I carried the cooler over to the table and set it down. When I turned back around, Alex was still standing in the same spot, mouth open, looking defeated. I just walked past him with a smug smile on my face. Dad was carrying the barbeque over, so I closed the trunk and locked up the truck before heading back to where my family was.
I knew that Aunt Mika and Uncle Jack and their kids were there, and Aunt Roselle and Uncle Nathan had just pulled into the parking lot with their car. They got out and enlisted their kids to carry stuff over to where we were. Something was different and it took only seconds to spot the difference, there was an extra kid with them. I recognized my cousin Logan, but the unhappy looking girl beside him was definitely a new face, even though she looked like she could be related to us. In fact, she looked a lot like Logan. I glanced around at the rest of the family and the rest of my cousins looked just as confused as I felt.
“Well I think there’s some introductions in order,” Uncle Nathan announced. “There are some new faces in the family this year.”
“I think we should wait for Mom and Dad to get here first, Nate,” said Dad as he sat down next to Mom. “And we might as well wait for the rest of the family too. Kaylie and Dan both said they’d be here with their families. Actually I think that’s Kaylie right now.” Most of us turned to see My Aunt Kaylie getting out of a van with a baby in her arms and a few younger kids piling out of the back seat and being herded over to us by her husband, Uncle Tom.
Uncle Dan, Aunt Lana and their kids arrived at about the same time Grandma and Grandpa did. A bunch of the younger kids ran over to greet our Grandparents, while the teenagers for the most part, stayed where we were. Alex and Logan were recruited to help get stuff from the newly arrived cars. After a few minutes of people running around and finding seats, we were finally all sitting together in a big makeshift circle.
“Okay, Nate,” said Dad. “Now we can do the introductions. I’ll start off. First, I want to thank you all for coming today. I know this was kind of thrown together at the last minute. As many of you know. There have been a few members of our affected by MORFS since we were last together. This picnic was planned so that these members of our family can be re-introduced and shown the love and support that I know this family will show.”
“We’ll start off with my new daughter.” Dad motioned for me to stand up, so I did. He put his hand on my shoulder. “A couple weeks ago, our son Jason had MORFS and underwent a very drastic change. Jason is now our daughter, and her new name is Sanura, although we often call her Nura for short. This change has been really hard on her, but I’m proud of the progress she has already made in adapting to her new self.” To my surprise, I was given a round of applause from my family. I blushed, and trying to be funny, I made an attempt at doing a curtsy. I guessed I did it well enough, because it got all the adults and some of the kids to laugh. “Okay Nathan, your turn.”
Dad and I sat down while Uncle Nate stood up. “Okay, as many of you have noticed we have another child with us today. I’d like Logan and Laura to stand up, please.” Logan and the unhappy looking girl who I now assumed was Laura, stood and waited for Uncle Nate to continue. “I’d like to introduce all to our son Logan and his twin sister, our new daughter Laura.
“Around the end of February, Logan was diagnosed with MORFS. Over the next week we saw some very strange changes take place. According to the doctors, Logan was splitting into two people, just like a fetus would to produce identical twins. We were worried that the two of them would end up as conjoined twins, but by the end of the week they had split apart completely. We’re not quite sure how Logan split into both a male and female child, but the important thing is that they’re both healthy. Laura also apparently has all of Logan’s memories, so you don’t need to treat her as a new person as she already knows all of you. Just try to support her as she is just as new to being a girl as Sanura is.” Again, we all clapped and I made a mental note that I needed to talk with my new cousin.
“Okay, I guess we’ll go next.” Aunt Mika stood up and dragged her daughter Mandy to her feet with her. “ Mandy here just finished morfing last week. She’s a telekinetic, but doesn’t have full control of that yet. So if you see stuff floating around her, please just ignore it.” Mandy was blushing bright red as she and Aunt Mika sat down.
Uncle Dan stood next and said, “I think we’re the only ones who haven’t made our Morfs announcement yet. Unless Kaylie has anything?” he looked at his sister, but Aunt Kaylie just shook her head. Her kids were way too young to get Morfs. “Okay then, as we all know, our family tends to have a few hybrids and we’ve got a new one in our house.”
My cousin James, who was the oldest of all my cousins at age nineteen, stood up. “We had all assumed that James here had avoided Morfs, but just after Christmas he caught it. James is a bird Hybrid, and a flyer.” James unfolded a large pair of black wings on his back. I was surprised that I hadn’t noticed them earlier. We gave him a round of applause and then Dad, Uncle Nate and Uncle Tom went over and fired up the barbeque.
“Sanura! Laura!” I turned as Grandma called our names. “Come over here. I want to meet my new granddaughters.” I made my way over to the table where Grandma and Grandpa were sitting. I sat down and remembered to smooth out my skirt.
Laura just plopped down into the seat beside me. “Laura, stand up, and smooth your skirt when you sit back down.” Laura sighed loudly, but did as Grandma had asked. “I know that this must be hard for you both. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have my sex changed almost over night. But what I do know, is that I’ve been a woman all my life, and it’s not that bad. Another thing I know, is that neither of you have ever been quitters. Your parents raised you better than that. Sanura, you seem to be adapting to this pretty well. You move and talk like a girl from what I’ve seen. Your mother even told me that you have a girlfriend.”
“Ummm … yeah, I do. And the whole moving like a girl just kinda come naturally,” I said. “I just try not to fight it.”
“Well I want you to know I’m proud of you for not trying to hide the new you,” said Grandma as she patted her hand on my paw. “Now Laura, you can learn a lot from your cousin. You’ve been a girl for nearly two months now, and you still want to fight it all. That display earlier when you sat down is a prime example. I know that your mother has been after you to sit properly and act like a lady, and all you do is rebel against it. Now I don’t mean to nag, and I don’t mean to preach, but your parents would give the world for you, and they want to see you adjust to all of this. They’re just trying to help you. None of us expect you to be all girl all the time. Girls are allowed to do nearly everything a boy can … but, they also get to do so much more. You can still play rough with your brothers, but you also need to learn the things that all girls know, like makeup and fashion, how to sit properly in a dress, the list goes on and on. Will you at least give being a girl a chance?”
“I can try, but I … I never asked for this, I never wanted to be a girl,” said Laura. You could hear that she was on the verge of tears.
“Laura, I never asked for any of this either, but it’s not the end of the world. You can pull through this,” I said.
“But it’s different for you,” she said. “At least for you, your male self is gone. For me, I have to see Logan everyday, living the life that I should be living. Hanging out with ‘my’ friends, wearing ‘my’ clothes. I’m reminded everyday of everything I’ve lost!”
“I’m sorry, I never really thought of that,” I put my arm around her and let her cry. “It will take time but you can have a life of your own. I’m sure your old friends will still hang out with you and you’ll make new friends. But to do that, do need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and start being that outgoing energetic person you were before.”
“I’ll try Sanura, Grandma, I’ll really try. Logan wants me to do that too. We’re empathetically linked, so he doesn’t like me being depressed. I’ll try and be a girl so that Logan and Mom and Dad can be happy.”
“Laura, don’t do it for them. It is not ‘them’ that you should do it for. Do it for yourself, so that ‘you’ are happy.
~~~
“So what's up with those glasses?” asked Laura, after we had spent a good portion of the afternoon hanging out together. Jason and Logan had always been close, so it was nice to become friends with Laura. We both knew each other pretty well, but I think it was really helping her to have a friend who was in the same boat as her.
“What about them? They keep the sun out of my eyes.” I grinned at her.
“You know what I mean Dummy. Where’d you get them? What are they made of?”
“I made them. I’m some sort of dark energy elemental.”
“I’ve never heard of dark energy before.”
“Yeah, neither had I, but that’s the only way I can think to describe my powers. I can form projectiles or force fields. The shades are just one of my shields in the shape of sunglasses.”
“Cool!”
“You know, and don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad you morfed like you did Laura. I mean, we’ve always been friends, but if you were still Logan, well, just look at how Logan has interacted with me today. It’s like, now that I’m a girl, he doesn’t know how to talk to me, but with you being a girl now too, we can continue our friendship almost like nothing had happened to either of us.”
“Okay, I see what you mean. It is pretty cool that we can carry on like normal, although I think a few things are definitely going to be different.”
“It doesn’t have to be different, we’re both still the same person. If anything, we have even more in common now than we used to.”
“Nura, it’s going to be different, no matter what. I don’t think I remember us as boys sitting around in dresses and talking about clothes like we were a few minutes ago,” Laura giggled.
“Yeah, I guess not,” I laughed.
~~~
“Okay, dinner is ready,” shouted Dad. Everyone dropped what they were doing and headed over to the food. “Remember, Ladies first, boys.”
I grabbed Laura’s arm and pulled her with me into the line up. “See? There are advantages to being a girl.”
“I’m not going to complain,” Laura said. “Besides, its making Logan jealous that I get to eat first when he’s starving.”
“Huh?” I looked over at Logan. “He doesn’t look that upset about it.”
“Oh, he is. Empathic link, remember?” she reminded me, while she tapped one finger to her head. “He’s just good at hiding his feeling on the outside.”
“I wish I could still bottle up my feelings. So what other little female advantages bug him?” I asked.
“One of the things that really bugs him, is that I get a larger allowance than he does. I tried to explain the how expensive makeup and pantyhose and tampons are, but he just ignores that and complains about me getting more money anyway.” We took our plates of food over to a table under the tree and continued our conversation.
“Maybe he’s just jealous because you get to wear makeup and pantyhose?” I joked.
“I doubt that. I used to be him, and never felt that way.” She picked at the food on her plate before looking over at my plate full of food and then up at me. “Are you seriously going to eat all that?”
“Yeah, I know it’s not very ladylike but I have a high metabolism so that I can fuel my powers.”
“I just figured … you know, because of your size, that you wouldn’t eat very much. I know that my appetite has seriously decreased as a girl. I mean I could probably eat like I used to but I would rather just have a smaller portion now. When Mom first took me shopping after I morfed, she let me order what I normally would and there was no way I would have been able to eat it all without making myself sick. I mean, as weird as it sounds, if we go out, Mom will order me a salad and that will pretty much fill me up.”
“I’ve found I eat a lot of meat, I don’t know if that’s my hybrid side or if I get more energy out of it. Mom always orders me salads though, too.”
~~~
The guys had started up a game of touch football, and Laura and I were watching from one of the tables. We had tried to join the game but had been told we weren’t allowed to play. That made both of us angry until it was explained that we couldn’t play in skirts, which did make sense. I didn’t really want to be flashing my panties, and my flip-flops weren’t really made for playing sports either.
The teams were divided between the ‘kids’ and the ‘men’. The kids’ team was lucky to have James on their team. The game was fun to watch, even though I’d rather have been playing. The guys were doing pretty good against their dads. My dad was quite an asset to the men’s team. Once he got the ball and started running, you got out of his way.
Laura and I were laughing so hard it hurt when James tried blocking people with his huge wings. That only lasted a few minutes before a pointless argument started and they agreed that he couldn’t block like that.
About halfway through the game a wild throw sent the ball flying at us. I blocked it from hitting Mom by using one of my shields and then launched it back across the field. Someone on the field said, “Maybe we ‘should’ have let her play.”
I glanced over at Crystal who was snuggled up, sleeping against Mom. She was definitely sick. Laura noticed where I was looking and said, “MORFS?”
“Yeah, I think so. We’ll have to wait and see though.” I turned back to the game just in time to see Logan take a hard pass right to the groin. Laura let out a yelp, grabbed between her legs, fell off the table and hit the ground. All the women in the family rushed over to Laura, trying to figure out what happened. She wouldn’t give an answer, she was only grunting in pain.
Grandma noticed where she was grabbing herself. “Is it her time?”
Aunt Roselle shook her head. “No, she had her period two weeks ago.” She chuckled. “I had two moody children as Logan was picking up all of her feelings through that link they have. I have no idea what this could be now, though.”
“I think I know what happened,” I said. “Logan just got hit in the … that area, with the football.” All of the women, glanced over to the field where the guys were all standing around Logan, who was on the ground too. The guys were mostly laughing at him.
Uncle Nathan was running over to us though. He saw Laura on the ground and was quickly by her side. Most of the guys realized something had happened to her and were rushing over to us now, too. I reached down and tugged her skirt back down before the guys got there.
“Laura, what’s wrong, Honey?” asked her dad as he rocked her in his arms.
She was no longer grunting or gasping for breath, “Dad, Logan’s … hurt. I can feel it.”
“Honey, it’s going to be alright, it was just an accident.” Laura sat up as Logan walked slowly up to picnic area.
“It’s going away. I’ll be fine, too,” she said, wiping away the tears in her eyes. “Who threw that ball? That seriously hurt. I didn’t think I’d ever feel that pain again though.”
~~~
The guys had resumed their game, but Logan was now sitting out at the sidelines with us. He and Laura seemed to be doing better. Laura was busy fixing her makeup after wiping off the tear-streaked stuff she had been left with.
“You know, you do really do look alike, now that I’ve seen Laura without her makeup. Hey, Logan, if you grew your hair out and let Laura do your makeup, you two could pass for sisters,” I laughed.
Logan raised his fist.
“Logan, don’t you dare,” said Laura without even looking up.
“But…”
“But nothing! She was just joking around and you do ‘not’ hit girls,” said Laura.
“Fine!” Logan looked at me, lowered his fist and then mumbled something under his breath. Even with my enhanced hear I barely heard him say, “Bitch.”
“Excuse me? What exactly is your problem?” I asked.
“Nothing!”
“Oh? Can’t you take a little joke? So I said you look like your sister, big deal. By the way, your Mom told us how you had your period two weeks ago. How did that feel?”
“Shut up! I didn’t have a period, she did!” He pointed at Laura who was now putting away her make up. “I’m sick of you making fun of me and calling me a girl. I’m a boy! Not some stupid girl.” I saw it coming but obviously he didn’t, because Laura scored a direct hit as she slapped him across the face … hard!
“Come on, Nura.” She grabbed my hand. “Let’s get out of here.” We walked across the park to a small play area and both sat down in a swing. Laura rubbed her cheek with her hand. “Damn, that slap hurt, but he deserved it.”
~~~
To Be Continued...
~~~
The entire MORFS Universe can be found at http://morfs.nowhere2go.org/Encyclopedia.html
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's life seems to be settling down. She's in a new relationship and has mostly adapted to her new life. Meanwhile, there's a trap being set for our favourite catgirl.
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 9
By Britney McMaster
I slapped my alarm as I sat up in bed. Another Monday, another long week of school. At least my birthday is coming up soon. Surprisingly, for a Monday morning, I was feeling pretty good. Life had settled into a nice little routine and it wasn't overly bad. Meeting Laura the day before had been really cool. Just knowing that there's someone else in the same boat as me really helps. Now I don't feel so alone. I went about getting ready for school. Shower, then breakfast, then back to my room to get dressed. My hair still had a bit of curl left from the day before, and after brushing it out a bit, it looked good with the soft waves in it. I took the time to do my makeup just right, picked up my clothes for basketball and put them in my backpack. That went on my shoulder as I grabbed my purse and headed downstairs. I slipped on a pair of heels and was out the door just in time to meet up with Amy as she was leaving her house. We walked hand in hand until we got within a block of the school. For the last block we simply walked together, talking about nothing in particular. We arrived at school, got our books for morning classes out of our lockers, then headed for homeroom. I spent most of homeroom daydreaming about Amy. I didn't seem to be quite as infatuated with her as I had been. I could now think clearly around her, but I was definitely in love with that girl. She noticed I was looking at her and smiled, then put her palm out towards me and I could see writing appear on her skin as her cells changed colour. The writing became clear and I smiled as I read, 'hey there beautiful.' The words faded away and class continued on like normal. Soon the buzzer sounded and we all rushed out of the room to get to our next class. I pulled Amy aside while the room emptied, brought up a shield around us for privacy and kissed her passionately on the lips. “Nura!” she whispered in my ear. “What if someone saw that?” “Amy, relax. No one can see through my shields, don't worry.” I kissed her once more and then pulled back and retracted the shield. “I'll see you at lunch,” she said as we rushed out the door and down the hallway in opposite directions. ~~~ “The target usually departs the school after her basketball practice at 4:00. We will commence the mission when she crosses the field on her way home. I want this done clean and fast, and I want the girl unharmed. Dispose of any witnesses.” “Yes sir.” “Under no circumstances are you to open the cage once she has been detained.” “Yes sir.” ~~~ ‘That Cali girl is stupider than I thought. No only has she already tried to attack me in the bathroom once already, so I'm already on my guard, but now she's trying to do it again when I can see her in the mirror.’ She swung her fist at me as I turned towards her. I caught her punch in my hand and used some energy to help me bend her wrist back a bit. She whimpered and dropped to her knees. “What did I ever do to you Cali?” I asked. “You stole my place on the team!” she screeched at me. “I didn't steal anything from you. You got yourself put on probation because of your prejudices.” “I hate you!” she screamed, as even more of her body turned metallic and she pushed back against me. “Yeah? Well the feeling is mutual!” I said. She continued to push against me. I was pretty much against the wall and mustered up more of my strength to push back. I once again let out a low growl as I pushed back and sent her falling backwards a few feet. Something about being cornered had got me fired up. I was standing there, breathing heavily, still growling, with my claws extended. I saw the fear in Cali's eyes as I looked down at her. I shook myself, trying to keep myself in check and forced myself to leave the bathroom before I did something stupid. I hurried through the hallway, trying to calm down. I didn't like the feelings I had. They were the same raw primal feelings that I’d had when I had first been attacked a few weeks before. I felt as if I wasn't in control of myself, and the feeling scared me. By the time I had got to my class I was back to feeling pretty much like I normally do. The weather was nice by lunch time and a lot of students ended up eating outside. My friends and I found a slightly shaded area near the field. I sat next to Amy as we ate. I wanted nothing more than to be with Amy at that moment, and fought the urge to hold her hand, but I knew she wasn't ready to make our relationship public, even to our friends. I distracted myself by focusing on my lunch, not looking up till Shine came jogging towards us. Having known her for so long, I could tell she was excited about something. "Hey Shine, where ya been?" "I was showing Coach something. Can you guess what?" "You managed to hold your energy for forty five seconds this time?" Mike quipped. "Better than that. I figured out what I've been doing wrong." "And that is ...?" Jade asked. "I've been pushing all my light energy out of my body to try and form the balls of light. But then I realized that when I do that, I don't have any energy left to control it." "That's great to know," said Cody, “but how does that help you control it." "Watch." Shine's eyes started to glow like they usually do when she uses her powers, but nothing else was happening. Suddenly her dark skin started to lighten and become transparent. It was hard to look right at her as her body began to emit an intense white light. I formed a pair of shades with my powers and kept watching. It was strange watching her glow like that. I could see her bones through her now translucent body. They seemed to be shining even brighter than the rest of her. She put her hands up beside her and formed two bright balls of light energy which she held longer than I had ever seen her hold them. She turned towards me, "Hey Nura, Catch," as she tossed the energy at me. I caught both of them in my hands and quickly absorbed the energy. I replaced the light with two balls of my dark energy and tossed them back at Shine. She dodged quickly. Not quite at the speed of light but pretty damn fast. "Nura! I can't catch energy like you can." I regained control of the rogue energy and absorbed the energy back in to myself. "I had everything under control. No worries." ~~~ I spent my next two classes lost in thought. Shine seemed to have control of her powers now. That got me thinking about whether I could use my powers internally too. I had a feeling that that wouldn't be a good idea as I pictured myself blowing up like Aunt Mika's restaurant. Eventually, classes ended and I headed to the locker room on auto pilot,, changed, and headed into the gym for practice. I was able to focus on practice and did as well as I normally do. I had my first game with the girls’ team next week and I wanted to be ready for it. I had been spending most of my time practicing my free throws and jump shots, learning to compensate for my lost height. After practice, Coach pulled me aside and gave me my team uniform. It was pretty much the same as my old boys team uniform, but naturally, a lot smaller. I hurried to the change room and tossed my uniform in my locker. By the time I got out of the shower, all the other girls were gone. I used my energy trick to dry myself off and started getting dressed. My hair went into a ponytail because it was easy to do, then I gathered my stuff and left the room. I was pleasantly surprised to find Amy waiting for me. No one else was around so I gave her a kiss and took her hand in mine. "I've missed you." She kissed me back, "I love you too." "You wanna do something tonight?" I asked as we started across the field towards home. "I don't have any homework." "I’d love to. Mom and Dad are working late, you wanna come over?" "Sure. I just ... “ I stopped walking and sniffed the air. "What is it, Nura?" "Something isn't right. Get behind those bushes and hide." "What about you?" "I’ll be fine. I don’t need to worry about you getting hurt if I'm right, and something bad happens. So please hide." Amy hid in the bushes as I asked, however I saw her stick her head out so she could watch, but then it quickly changed to shades of green and was camouflaged in the bush. I slowly made my way further into the field. I knew something wasn't right. There was an odd smell of metal and sweat in the air. I extended my claws and continued forward.. I spun around at the sound of something moving in the tall grass, but there seemed to be nothing there. I sent an energy shield in that direction. It moved fast, and when it hit something, I dropped to all fours and ran at whatever it was that it had hit.. I pounced and landed on a soldier. "Smart camo!" I growled at him, then, then hit him with a punch that knocked him out. I knew there would be others and stood up to look for them just in time to be hit by a tranq. I pulled the dart from my neck and shot off as many energy blasts as I could before the world went foggy and I dropped to the ground. ~~~ Amy watched in shock as two dozen men emerged from the tall grass and picked up Sanura. An airship came into view and landed beside the group. Amy crawled closer as the men unloaded a metal box from the airship. The box was about eight feet high and had cables running around the outside. A thick power cable ran from the box to the airship. Sanura was strapped to a metal table as one soldier opened the box. The table was lifted in and locked in place in the box. Several cables were attached to her restraints. The box lit up in many places as it was activated and a soft hum spread through the air. The box was quickly loaded into the ship, followed by the soldiers. the ship immediately lifted into the air. Amy rose to her feet, noting which direction it was headed as the airship took off, passing almost directly overhead. Not sure what to do, she ran across the field and into the forest. She was in her hidden area under the tree within minutes. "Gryok!" she called. "Gryok! I need your help." Hearing was a rustling behind her, she turned around to see the winged creature bound towards her. "Gryok! Someone kidnapped my girlfriend. Can you help me follow them?" "Kidnapped?" "They hurt her and took her away." "Gryok help Amy. Amy ride Gryok." "We need to get one of my friends. Are there any more eagox she can ride on?" Gryok raised his head to the sky and let out a strange screeching howl. A moment later Amy heard similar sounds coming from deep in the woods. "Pack coming to help." Amy pulled out her eCom while she waited and placed a call. "Hey! I need your help ... I don't care if your parents want you to finish your homework first. They took Sanura ... I don't know who! But she needs your help ... Meet me outside your house in five minutes ... Your powers may be all that can save her." Amy got on Gryok's back and held onto the animal's fur as its powerful wings lifted them into the air. When they rose above the trees, Amy was amazed at the number of eagox circling in the air. She was frightened at the thought of being in the midst of all these large animals and concentrated on releasing as much pheromone as she could. "Gryok, we need to go this way." ~~~ “uhhhh …,” my head was throbbing as I tried to open my eyes. Everything felt fuzzy, but soon the memories came flooding back. I felt something around my legs and feet and tried to pull at whatever it was before I realized I was strapped down. Unable to move my head more than a few inches, I look around myself, trying to figure out where I was. I was lying on a table inside some sort of metal cell. There were bars of blue light running all around the inside, and something was emitting a low humming sound. I tried to break free by using my energy fields. I felt the pressure building in me, but as I tried to expand the field outside of my body, the blue lights brightened, the pressure inside faded and the field didn’t appear. A voice came through a speaker. “Don’t bother trying to use those powers of yours, girl. The cage you’re in neutralizes the energy you create.” “What …” my mouth was dry and it was hard to speak. “What do you want with me?” “I want your powers, of course. I’ve studied MORFS since before the outbreak. I know that makes me old, but it also makes me the most knowledgeable on the subject.” “Before the outbreak?” “Yes, the early human tests. In those days, most didn’t survive the change, since we didn’t have the assistance of the energy packs. We were very disappointed when that fact was discovered so soon in the epidemic. Not nearly enough people died. But we are placated by the hatred it has spawned around the world. Parents against children, brothers against sisters and nations divided and fallen against themselves.” “What’s that all got to do with me?” I asked. “In nearly fifty years of studying the effects of our MORFS, every case has had some scientific explanation. Each power or ability could be proven on physical findings. There’s never been anything magical about MORFS. Its all purely science. An advancement of human biology. But you’re different. You control something undiscovered. Something not of this earth.” “Why abduct ‘me’? How does this concern you? I didn’t do anything.” “Well in a way, you’re my creation. And on the other hand, it simply intrigues me. You have in you the potential to unlocking the mysteries of our universe. Research of your abilities could change the very foundation of astrophysics.” “So what is it you want me to do?” “My dear, I don’t want you to do anything. All I want is for you to lay right where you are. The secrets of the universe are inside you, and I’m going to go inside you and take them out for myself.” I tried pulling at my restraints again but couldn’t get away. “Calm down. I’ve done this many times. Don’t worry yourself, it won’t hurt for very long, I promise. Then everything will be over for you.” The speaker clicked off and I lay there alone, thinking about my friends and family. Being afraid I wouldn’t see them again hurt more than anything else. I cried freely as I tried to absorb as much light energy as I could. The bright blue lights were an excellent source. One way or another, I’d meet my end with a fight. ~~~ The flock of eagox quickly grabbed the attention of the many tourists in Sun City as they bolted through the sky. Cameras flashed and many holos were taken as the elusive beasts flew low over the city. Some of the people wondered aloud the possible reasons for the urgency of the animals as they quickly went north. Some thought they saw a person riding the largest one, which was leading the pack. Amy gripped tightly as the flying beasts followed her directions. They traveled several blocks in mere minutes. Finally, Gryok and one other large eagox dropped to the ground, landing smoothly as the rest of the pack circled in the air. “Amy,” said Gryok in his rough voice as she dismounted. “Get friend, they will ride Flaxok.” The other eagox bowed it’s head at Amy, saying, “Flaxok is swift. Flaxok will carry friend with speed.” “Thank you, Flaxok.” Amy stroked the fur of the beast with affection. *What happened?* came Trance’s steady voice as Amy ran to Shine’s door. *I think you already have a good idea what happened.* Amy knocked on the door impatiently. *I’ll be there in a minute. Hang on.* The door finally opened and Shine hurried outside, closing the door behind her. A moment later, Trance came running up the street. *Shine filled me in on most of the details after you called her. You can fill me in on the rest while we’re flying.* “We’re riding on those?” asked Shine, looking a bit intimidated. “Eagox, it’s the only way to travel. But do I get one of my own or do you expect me to fly there on my limited TK?* asked Trance. Gryok let out a screeching cry. A moment later another eagox landed on Shine’s front lawn. This one was even larger than Gryok or Flaxok. *Hello, Trance. It’s an honor to help you.* *Brok? You’re …* *Not human? Not all telepaths are, Trance. You should know that* *We’ve been friends since I received my powers. Why did you never tell me you were an eagox?* *It never came up? Now will you accept the help of an old friend or not?* “It would be an honor to ride with you, Brok.” Trance got on the back of the large beast as Shine and Amy looked on in confusion. *Amy, Shine, Brok here is an old friend and fellow telepath. Stop trying to figure out what just happened and let’s get in the air* The girls rushed to their respective animals and held on tight as the three eagox launched into the air and back to the field where Sanura was taken from. ~~~ Time passed quickly as I was poked and prodded by robotic arms inside the cage. Blood samples were taken and various tests were run, all while I struggled for escape. "They'll come looking for me, you know." "I very much doubt that," said the same voice as before. "We'll be finished with you before they even know you're gone." I heard someone approaching the cage I was trapped in for the first time since I woke up. I heard several electric locks turn and slowly the front of the cage opened to reveal a white skinned man in a white suit. His solid red eyes seemed to burn as he looked at me with a cold stare. "At last I meet my creation." It was the man I had been talking with. "You're a Morf?" I asked. "How very astute of you to notice. I was the first. or at least, the first to survive, thanks to my idea of injecting the necessary nutrients into the morfing patient. People thought I was mad for morfing myself, but I've always understood the basics of how it all worked. As I said, I was the first. I am the creator." "Then you're a monster!" "Sanura, we've already had this discussion. I'm here to talk about you, not me." He held an x-ray in his right hand, then held it to the glowing blue lights on the cage wall. "This is an x-ray we took of you. Tell me if you see anything odd." The x-ray showed my chest. The bones and organs were clear to see, but the middle of the chest was completely black. "I think you need to learn how to take an x-ray." "Very funny, girl. This void is being caused by your powers, so now I know where to look. Maybe the source of you power is in your heart, maybe your lungs. I guess I'll have to just remove everything in there and see, won't I?" "I'll kill you, you bastard!" "Actually, I believe that role will be reversed." ~~~ The eagox took turns sniffing around the field where Sanura had been taken. Finally Brok let out a call and the other eagox followed him back into the air. *Trance, it’s going to get cold once we leave the city limits.* *I'll be fine, Brok* *I was more concerned about the girls.* *So am I. But there's nothing we can do, is there?* *I'll have Fyrol fly ahead of them. She isn't as fast, but she is a heat elemental, and will keep the wind warm.* *Can we afford to slow down?* *If we don't keep them warm, we'll have to turn back.* Brok let out a call in his native tongue and a smaller eagox pushed ahead of Flaxok and Gryok. The air took on a rippled effect as the heat poured off of the lead creature. They left the city and plunged into cold air. There was snow swirling about but it melted quickly as it entered the heated area. ~~~ *Thu”‘Thump... Thu”‘Thump... Thu”‘Thump...* Sanura's heart beat faster and faster as the robotic arm moved closer to her with its razor sharp blade. *thu”‘thump thu”‘thmp thu”‘thump thu”‘thump* her breathing became deep and rapid, and her heart rate rose higher. Her blood surged through her body, under such pressure she could hear it. She was sure her captors must, too. Her adrenal gland opened and she felt a rush of strength spread throughout her body. She struggled to free herself from her restraints but could not break free. A feeling of impending doom washed over her as the scalpel came within an inch of her skin. It moved slowly, with delicate precision. She couldn’t get away. She felt the energy stored within her, but she couldn't release it. Then a familiar feeling of pressure built in her center, tightening like a knot in her chest. *THU”‘THUMP THU”‘THUMP THU”‘THUMP THU”‘THUMP* Her heart beat still faster with each passing second. The blood rushed from her heart, surging through her veins. A monitor started beeping as her blood pressure spiked. As the blood rushed through her chest towards her lungs it passed a strange black organ near her heart, which swelled with tremendous pressure, then suddenly contracted as a gland opened and released its contents into the surging blood. The red and white blood cells were quickly outnumbered by billions of tiny black cells. Her blood darkened like ink as it flooded through her system. Sanura began convulsing from the shock as the black fluid poured throughout her. All the arteries near the surface of her body became visible through her skin as the blackened blood was pumped through them. Still, the black organ used the energy it had stored to charge more dark matter as it drew it through the vortex from where it where it had previously resided, turning it into still more of the black cells. She gasped for breath as the raw power of the black cells overcame her. The cells started to absorb into her entire body, becoming more differentiated, no longer just stem cells. Her muscle tissue became heavier and denser as the black cells permeated her entire muscle system. Her whole body tensed as it was taken over by the black cells. Her skin thickened and her muscles bulged. Her restraints tightened as her arms grew larger and stronger. Thick coarse black hairs sprouted from every follicle, covering her body in thick fur. Her clothes ripped and fell away from her as she continued to expand in muscle mass. Before long, Sanura stopped convulsing as the growth stopped. Her eyes rolled back and closed as she lost consciousness. Her blood began to return to its natural colour as the last remnants of the black invaders was absorbed into her muscles. The scientists rushed in as her heart rate spiked even higher and then stopped. The monitor emitted a single long tone as the men rushed over with a defibrillator. They were charging the paddles when … *thu”‘thump... thu”‘thump... THU”‘THUMP THU”‘THUMP THU”‘THUMP* Her eyes flashed open as her back arched off the table and she released a deep menacing roar, pulling against her restraints. The metal gave way to her strength. Her claws extended and she cut away the wires and tubes attached to her body. The men in the room dropped their medical tools and drew their weapons. "Get back on the table and no one will get hurt girl!" one of them ordered as she rolled off the table on all fours. Sanura lunged forward at the men, who opened fire and hit her several times before she crashed into them. She whirled around, striking with precision, first disarming them, then cutting them down with her claws. One of the men managed to sound an alarm moments before she impaled him from behind. She threw him aside and let out another roar. Her body tensed again as it pushed out the bullets lodged in her skin. The open wounds closed over with a black skin within a second as more thick black hair grew over the already healed wounds. ~~~ As the perimeter scanners started beeping, they woke the guard from his nap. He took a look at the radar and watched as over two dozen little blips moved toward the base. He grabbed his radio and called it in. “Do you have visual confirmation?” “They’re not close enough for visual yet, sir.” “Get visual confirmation and open fire if they get any closer. We can’t afford to have this mission … Aaahhh!! Skshhhhhhhhhhhhh …” the line went dead The guard nervously armed the perimeter weapons and activated the motion detectors before going to check out the disturbance on the other end of the radio. He picked up his weapon before leaving his post and made his way to central command. As he walked quietly down the corridor, alarm lights started flashing and the alarm suddenly sounded, making him jump. He grabbed his chest and forced himself to settle down after the shock wore off. Rounding the corner, he stopped abruptly. The door to the command room was half open, a large dent in it keeping it from closing. The rest of the door was covered in scratch marks. He cautiously entered the room and surveyed the carnage, seeing bodies strewn about the room. He raced over to the main computer and activated the lockdown sequence for the facility. It would also arm the weapons in the hallways, which were programmed to attack anyone not entered in the system and not wearing their electronic ID badge. He exited the room through another hallway, making his way down to the next room. The autogun in the corner turned towards him. He started sweating as it scanned his ID, even though it was only a second before the gun retracted. As he took another step forward, the gun turned back towards him and started firing at something just behind him. He ducked out of the way as a large black catlike creature dodged the shots and charged at the autogun. A swipe of it’s claws and the gun dropped to the ground. He quietly pulled and aimed his gun. As he released the safety, the cat turned quickly and slashed at him before he could pull the trigger. ~~~ “Sir, our sources have confirmed it. The girl has been captured. What are your orders?” “Move in. we don’t want the girl harmed, and we definitely do not want her powers falling into their hands. Assemble as many operatives as you can for this mission. I want all colours who are available to lead this mission. White will lead the colours. She’s been briefed already.” “Yes sir. The teams will depart in 20.” ~~~
*Hold on, girls, we’re going to be coming under fire in a minute,* Trance warned as they came into view of the facility. Using his mind sight, Trance could see the infrared scanners of the motion detectors. The first autogun popped up over a ledge and took aim at them. Before it could fire, Trance crushed it with a telekinetic blast. *Brok, I need some help taking out these guns. Do we have any other elementals in the flock?*
*We have a few. I’ll call them to take out the guns while the girls stay back.* Brok let out a call, and four eagox streaked forward. They all moved with tremendous speed, as they weren’t burdened with a rider. Trance continued taking out some of the guns from afar, but the other four attackers were much more efficient, each one using their elements to take down the facility’s defenses.
Lightning strikes, small volcanic eruptions, twisters and burning acid covered the cold mountain valley. The facility, which had been very well guarded, was quickly surrounded by desolated land. Remnants of weapons could be seen here and there.
The flock moved forward. As they approached the facility, they quickly became aware that something was happening inside. They could now see that many of the windows were broken and parts of the building were on fire.
They landed just outside and the three teenagers dismounted from the eagox who had carried them. Trance closed his eyes and tried to make sense of what was going on inside. Brok did the same. All they could sense was the panic and chaos of the people inside.
Trance turned to the two girls. “I’m going inside.”
~~~
Sanura ran on all fours throughout the corridors of the facility, attacking anything that moved. Her actions were swift and instinctual, simply trying to keep herself alive. The energy in the black cells was fading and they were starting to shrink back down, her muscles starting to return to their former size. She continued running around the complex, looking for anyone who might still be after her. There was no one left. The only thing left to do was escape.
Back in the control room, she caught a familiar scent coming through the window. She charged at it and broke through the remaining glass, landing in the snow, ready to pounce, her muscles bulking back up slightly. She was surrounded by other animals and a few people. She growled at them. They made no move towards her. She could smell their fear, and knew they weren’t a threat.
She straightened up, rising to stand on just her feet and let out one last roar as the black cells depleted and imploded on themselves. She shrunk quickly back to her normal size, the thick fur starting to fall out as she fell softly into the snow.
Her friends raced to her side. Amy checked her pulse. She was alive. Trance stood and ran into the destroyed building, Brok following him. “Trance, what are you looking for?”
“I’m trying to find Sanura some clothing.”
“And you want to know what they did to her.”
“Of course I do.”
“Then you want to go this way.”
~~~
“What’s the report?” asked the man in white.
“The facility is destroyed. Sensors are only picking up two alive inside, and one of them is big.”
“We’re going back. Assemble as many men as you can. I also want all our Morfs on this job. I will have that damn girl, dead or alive!”
“We’ll be there in half an hour, sir.”
~~~
“Sir, we have all the colours that aren’t currently on missions gathered in the briefing room. White is briefing them now.”
“How many do we have?”
“We have five colours, and 28 special ops.”
“Get them in the air. I want them there as soon as possible.”
“Departure is in five, sir. Estimated time of arrival is fifty minutes later.”
~~~
Trance picked up the x-ray from the floor and held it against the flickering light. A dark void covered the heart and most of the right side of the chest. The x-ray was labeled, ‘female morf, age 15’, making him was sure it was Sanura’s. He looked around the remains of the lab, but found no other real information.
When Brok called to him, he left the room and went down the hallway. Brok had found a supply room. He rushed inside and started pulling things from various shelves. Food was in order, and he grabbed what he could and threw it into a bag. Sanura always was hungry after using her powers. Next, he found some stacks of clothing. It was all male clothing, and would be way too big on Sanura, but he grabbed some, just in case there was nothing better. He kept looking and found a door behind one of the shelves. He opened it and when in to the room.
It appeared to be just another lab, but there were piles of cloth laying on the counters. He looked at the nearest pile of cloth and smiled as his face was reflected on the material. ‘Nice, raw smart camo,’ he thought to himself. He went over to the computer and started typing away. He had an idea. Changing the properties of the nano-technology was easy. He could have changed it using his powers, but he would have had to change each nano-cell one at a time. He hit the production button and a machine across the room started feeding out a thin fabric. He picked up the end of the fabric and held it up in front of the machine. The image of the machine appeared on the other side of the fabric. “Backwards smart camo. Amy should find this useful.” He cut the length of fabric from the machine and stuffed it in the bag he was carrying.
As he was leaving, he spotted a cabinet in the corner. He opened it up and found it filled with even more clothing. He had to search through it all but finally came up with a pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt in a women’s small. It was stretchy and he figured it would fit Sanura, if it wasn’t too big. He put that in the bag and he and Brok rushed back outside.
Fyrol was heating up the area and Amy was holding Sanura in her arms. As Trance walked up, Sanura opened her eyes. “Hey,” she said, then looked down at herself. “Why am I naked? And where the hell are we?”
“You don’t remember?” asked Amy. Trance pulled the clothes from the bag he was carrying and tossed them to Sanura.
“The last thing I remember is being tied up and they were about to operate on me.”
“And you don’t remember anything after that?” confirmed Trance.
“I just remember this there being a really heavy weight on my chest and then I blacked out.” Sanura turned and pulled the black top on over her head while using Amy as a shield, to provide her with some modesty. Putting on the pants was hard to do without everyone seeing her naked, but she rationalized that they already probably had. Never the less, she kept her back to them while she pulled the pants up to her waist.
“Let’s get out of here and get you home.” Amy helped Sanura to her feet.
~~~
“Sir, we’re arriving now.”
“Ready all the troops for combat. This girl is going to pay.”
“Sir, on our last mission, you ordered that she be brought back alive …”
“I can get what I want from her now, whether she’s dead or alive.”
~~~
“What’s the convoy’s status?”
“Estimated arrival in thirty minutes, Sir.”
~~~
To Be Continued...
~~~
The entire MORFS Universe can be found at http://morfs.nowhere2go.org/
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 25th 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/