Synergy Part 4

by:

Shrike

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Rating: G	Add Review   Read Reviews, Last Review 05/27/07 (1)	Added: 05/27/2007
Complete: no
Synopsis:	It's 2041, people, especially teens are now faced with the possibility of many strange changes induced by the MORFS virus. Our hybrid girl learns to do new things with her power and helps people.
Categories:	Britney McMaster's MORFS Universe  SciFi
Keywords:	Cheerleader  School Girl

Synergy (A MORFS Universe Story)
by: Shrike

Part 4

Eventually, the dreaded time came. The first school day in that awful, cute looking uniform. Well, at least the other girls would be wearing the same outfit, except for the belt. I wasn't actually wearing a belt, but managed to put my tail around it, and through the loops of my skirt. It kept my tail out of the way and made me look like a normal girl. I hesitated in the courtyard a bit, feeling nervous about going in. I felt like my skirt was too short and felt almost nauseous at having to show my body like this.

From behind came a familiar voice, "Hi there Maren, don't you look beautiful today."

I turned around to face him. "What are you doing here, Lance?"

"Isn't it obvious? I go to this school, too. Pop is a police commander, so he can afford it. How about you? I didn't think your parents had the money for a school like this."

"Parent, as in single. They are divorced," I said gruffly. "And it is none of your business what they can or cannot afford. So back off, Batman."

"Ssh," shushed Lance. "Nobody here knows about me having Morfed. So keep it down, will you?"

"OK Lance, but you'd better stop hitting on me then."

"All right, girl, you got it. Don't get your panties in a twist." As he set off towards the entrance, he turned around for a moment. "Before I forget, no shades allowed inside the school."

Great, that didn't help my mood. I wore my sunglasses to hide my cat eyes. How did Lance do it? He is sensitive to bright lights right? As I neared the entrance, I took off my shades and kept my eyes downcast. The teacher or whatever at the door halted me.

"You're new here right? I'm sorry, but we don't allow belts here."

I looked up with my cat eyes in tiny slits. "It isn't a belt Ma'am. It's my tail."

The woman couldn't resist a tiny smile but kept her voice haughty, "Well I'll allow you to wear it then. But do keep it as inconspicuous as you can, Miss ... eh?"

"Maren Johns. Yes Ma'am, I will."

I hurried inside and thought I heard some people starting to gossip behind me. The teacher quickly ended it, but I knew the damage had already been done. My first trip was to Admin to pick up my schedule and to report in. The old lady was quite nice, even after seeing my Morfs form.

"So you're a cat hybrid. How nice. I always liked cats. I see your change isn't much physical in nature, so I'll just put you in the regular gym class."

Then she gave me my class schedule and locker assignment. I had just enough time to put my stuff in my locker, see where my first lesson was, and arrive there in time for the first lesson. The teacher, a Mister Halton, wasn't very interested in keeping tabs on attendance. Of course at this school, he didn't need to be.

He just announced, "I see some new faces, and old ones. No matter, just try to keep up, and if you have questions, just come to me later."

I paid my usual attention to the lesson and found it was on the same level as my old school. It did take my mind off my clothing, and soon it felt like normal school. The next hour was completely different. An old hag of a woman kept rigorous attendance, and when she didn't find my name on her roster, she called out to me, "What is your name, young lady? And do stand up, please."

Slowly I rose from my seat, already feeling my cheeks burning in embarrassment. "I'm Maren Zoë Johns, Mrs. Pinklets," I answered her curtly.

However she didn't let me off that easy. "Why don't you tell us where you are from, Miss Johns."

Now I was in even more trouble. I could feel the attention of the boys looking anxiously at me. 'Why did she pick me out?' "I'm sorry Mrs. Pinklets, but I don't want to talk about it, as my parents had a rather nasty divorce."

Fortunately, she let up at that, and choose another student to talk about himself. At lunch break I explored the cafeteria. It was the usual sight at this school. Purists on one side, Supers and Morf supremacists on the other. On a third side, the cheerleaders, though they were extremely close to the purists, and the fourth side contained the Nerds, morphed or not. Of course in the middle was the biggest group, people who didn't mind if people were morphed or not.

I had just picked out my lunch and was looking for a place to sit down, when Lance stood up. "Hey Maren, I've kept a seat for you."

I groaned inside, 'Does he ever let up on his attention for me?' I didn't know if I should like him for being friendly, or dislike him for always coming on to me, and being too friendly. Well it was rather crowded, so I took his offer and sat down next to him. He introduced me around and soon we all talked about school and things. I almost didn't believe it. Lance was nice, no hints or come on. Just like a true good friend.

I made it through the afternoon without any problems or things worth mentioning. When I got home it was another matter. Mom was very upset. Apparently Sammi had broken out of his very large and luxurious cage and opened almost every case and box it could find, making a big mess of the house. Did I mention that the critter has a knack for opening locks? Well it has. I took him out for a walk and after putting him back into his roomy cage, I made a new lock that needed energy to open. I made very sure that there were no power outlets or any other devices in range, and locked it with my own power. Then I started to clean up all the mess Sammi had made. I only interrupted it for dinner, and it took me all evening just to get the house back into shape. I didn't even have time to do the shed on the roof where Sammi had made my experiments into a big mess as well. A quick shower afterwards and the ritual for getting ready for bed followed. 'Gee, in the past I just hopped into bed. Now I have to do my long hair, make sure everything is ready for the next day, and put on some creams. It takes me so much longer nowadays.'

I rushed to get to school on time. Mom did wake me early enough, but left while I slumbered for a bit. A bit too long, as it turned out. I had to rush getting ready and ran most of the way to school. Tardiness wasn't a thing they took lightly. I did manage too keep my sweating down, fortunately, by shedding the excess heat into other kinds of energy. I just made it in time for the first class. The classes were just that, classes. Some were boring, some very interesting and the rest in between. Lunch break was a welcome interruption. I was chatting with Mandy, a girl I'd met, who seemed to be in all my classes, discussing all the choices we had today to pick from, when suddenly I felt something pierce the skin of my tail. The automatic reaction of pulling it back tore the loops off my skirt, while I yelled out loud, "Ouch."

I twirled around extremely fast and bitch slapped the person responsible, hard. She reeled back and almost fell down. The girl recovered quickly enough and came at me looking for a fight. Now I recognized her, Cynthia, the leader of the purist group, and a cheerleader. She had at least four of her cronies backing her up, while I don't think I could count on Mandy to help me in a fight.

Then Lance came up beside me, "I'll back you, Maren."

It never came to a fight, though. The dean stepped in and took most of us girls into his office. He made us stand at attention and demanded explanations. Cynthia was very quick to give her distorted view on the situation.

She pointed at me, "This sorry excuse for a girl just turned around and slapped me hard without any reason."

The dean considered her words, and then turned to me. "What is your version, Miss Johns?"

"Someone behind me stuck something sharp into my tail, hurting it like he ... um well a lot."

I swished my tail to the front. "Here, there is even some blood." I showed the spot to the dean. "So I reacted on instinct, and turned to hit the person responsible."

He turned to Cynthia again, "Well Miss Hosier. What do you have to say?"

Cynthia snarled chesty, "How was I to know it was a tail? I thought she was just wearing an illegal belt."

Now Mandy spoke up, "That's a lie, Cynthia. Yesterday you heard Maren tell Miss Banks that it was her tail."

The dean interrupted, "Quiet, Miss Simms. You were not asked to speak."

Mandy cast her eyes down, "Sorry, Mr. Hagleton."

"Apology accepted, Miss Simms. Now, all of you except Miss Johns are dismissed. Miss Hosier, you will wait with my secretary till I send for you."

The girls all went out in a hurry, leaving me all alone with the dean. I was a bit concerned, but not overly so. I hadn't done anything wrong right? Well, I did slap Cynthia, but she was asking for it.

The dean sat down on the edge of his desk and said in a pleasant tone, "Miss Johns, I do believe that you are the victim in this altercation. But please try to restrain from fighting. If you do not, I will have to have a talk with your mother. And do be careful in the future. Cynthia Hosier has very influential parents. Unfortunately, that lets her get away with a lot of the trouble she makes."

He dismissed me with a gesture while turning to his intercom to have Cynthia sent in.

Later as school went out, I encountered Cynthia again. "This isn't over, you freak. I was warned not to do anything to you physically. But I will find something. Just count on it."

Furiously, I watched her go. I had met my enemy, but I didn't know why she had singled me out. As I got home, I confessed the whole chain of events to Mom, partly because I needed her help to fix the loops on my skirt. Mom got quite upset about it. And she knew about Cynthia. She even knew about her parents. Mom made me promise to watch out for her, and not to take any chances which might get me into trouble with her.

Before going to school the next day I had a talk with Mom. My schedule said I had gym today. So I agreed with Mom that we weren't supposed to know each other, and that she would treat me just as any other student. No favoritism, or extra harsh treatment. After feeding Sammi, I set out for school for my first hour, Physics. It is my favorite subject. I paid more than my usual attention as the teacher talked about all the kinds of energy, what it is, how strong and such.

The next class was gym. I almost made the mistake of going to the boy's locker room, but caught myself just in time. 'Remember Girl. You're a girl and have to use the girls locker room.'

I could have hit myself. I'd almost made myself the laughing stock in the school. As I stepped into the room that before. I had never been allowed to peek into, though every boy really wanted to, I felt a little disappointed. It looked just like the boy's locker room. Well, except it was full of girls in various states of dress. I think I expected to need to watch my eyes, seeing all the girls undressing to put on their tight gym clothes. But instead, I felt just like before, when I was a boy, changing with all the other boys. Sure, I saw some girls with bare breasts, but so what, they could see my bare breasts as well. I quickly changed into the school's leotard, which Mom had adjusted to fit my tail. ( Thanks Mom ). I put on some leggings before heading out to join the other girls. The boys had lined up on the other side of the room with their coach, while Mom was waiting for us girls to form a line.

"Hello, girls. I'm Miss Naomi Landers, your new gym teacher, cheerleader advisor, coach, and if you sign up for it, your dance instructor."

Right, I forgot. Mom told me that this school encouraged their students to be able to dance classical dances. They some times held dance events, and also employed Mom as an instructor.

Mom pointed into the gym room, "Now, I've set up an obstacle course for all of you so I can see what I have to work with. This is not a race, just run the course, so I can see your individual potential."

I set off on my run through the course and felt quite light on my feet. Because of my disease before MORFS I had never done any sports. Well, except a little dancing, but even that had only been for a short time before I got too tired. In the past I had always been excused from gym classes, so I had a lot to catch up now.

Now I enjoyed running, throwing balls and just had fun. I was able to keep up with the best of them even. My tail provided some extra balance and I was so much more limber than in the past. Even Mom was surprised at what I could do. I saw her looking at me with raised eyebrows. She was writing down lots of stuff on a board all the time, and sometimes conferred with the boy's coach. Mandy had told me that he was soccer, basketball, baseball and football coach, all at once. Mom, on the other hand would be the coach for girl's soccer and softball.

Next, Mom divided us into teams and had us play volleyball, basketball, soccer and such in 2 on 2 games. At the end, we were quite exhausted, and she made us form a line again.

"Girls, you've done very well today. But I will want improvement during this year. Now I have something else. Our cheerleaders can still use some new members. Please volunteer to try out for it." I swear she was look at me specifically.

Mom dismissed us and another childish past tense dream came true. All boys want to take a peek at the girls showering. Now I was there and it didn't do anything for me. I showered naked, with naked girls all around me and I was just chatting with them. I was definitely a girl now. I look like one, think like one (mostly) and am not attracted to girls anymore. Maybe Snake is right, and soon I'll be looking for a boyfriend. I know Lance will be first in line to try that. I still can't figure him out. Sometimes he's just like a friend, at other times he such a jerk, obnoxiously trying to make me his girlfriend.

At lunch break I barely had time to grab something before Mandy took me outside to eat. We sat down at a small out of the way table next to a demure shy black girl. Mandy introduced her as Denise, and introduced me to her. She nudged Denise to tell me.

"Tell me what? Mandy, what are you pushing Denise for?"

Shyly Denise spoke up, "Maren I know you are a hybrid. So I guess my secret will be safe with you. I also had MORFS this summer. My appearance didn't change, but I'm a fire elemental now."

I frowned at her, "Why are you afraid of that, Denise? You can tell people."

Denise cast her eyes down. "I know how bad Cynthia and her clique thinks about us. I don't want any trouble. I'm always afraid that I'll start a fire accidentally and burn someone."

I hugged her, "Don't be silly. I'm sure you have your power under control. You practice, right?"

Denise nodded.

"Can you show me an example?"

The girls looked around to see if anyone was near us, but we were quite alone. Denise flicked her fingers and a small fire started burning in the middle of and above the table.

"Wow, very good Denise. So how good is your control?"

She made it bigger , smaller and changed it's shape.

"You can put it out, right?" asked Mandy concerned.

"Of course I can. Here I'll show you."

"Wait Denise," I interrupted. "I want to try something."

I concentrated and drew in the heat of the flame, extinguishing it effectively.

"Wow, Maren! How did you do that?" Denise asked.

"I'm also an energy converter, Denise."

Both girls looked at me with even more admiration.

I decided to change the subject. "Hey, Denise, you're not the only one who is hiding a power. Can you guess who else morphed, but doesn't tell people?"

Both girls shook their head and shot a questioningly look at me.

I leaned over and whispered, "Lance calls himself Batman for a reason, outside school, and it isn't because he wears a cape."

Mandy giggled, "Wow, him? I would never have guessed."

I warned, "Keep it a secret OK?"

Both girls said that they would keep the secret between us three girls.

Finally it was Saturday again. I could wear pants and tinker around with my hover board in the storage shed on the roof. Well that is, if I could find all the parts. Sammi had made a real mess up there. I guess he felt guilty. I'd let him come up for exercise, and he seemed to try his best to help me find all pieces he'd strewn around. I never knew there were so many small items. Lucky for me, Sammi was very good at finding them and gave them to me. Some time later it was almost complete, and I was ready to try another run with the repulsor. As I fired some of my electrical energy into it, I suddenly notice that Sammi had stuck a piece of wire into the side. I shut down the power as fast as I could, but too late. I averted my eyes, thinking the thing would explode, but in fact it rose with a screeching whine to about 7 or 8 feet high. Than it shorted out and crashed down to the floor, scaring poor Sammi way back into a corner. 'Wow I never had a result like that before'

I examined the wreckage and saw that it shouldn't have been able to work. But it had, and quite well, too. I started work on a new prototype with experimental shorts that I could put in. I got so caught up in the work that I forgot about lunch and time.

Mom came home from the dance school and called me to dinner. I wanted to work on it directly after dinner again, but Mom insisted that I clear the table and do my homework first. By the time I finished my homework, it was already time for my girl getting ready for bed rituals. I had to postpone my work.

The next morning early I went back at it, barely taking time to eat breakfast and take care of Sammi.

I wore just a shirt and some tight jeans that Mom fixed ( Thanks Mom ) over my underwear. Through some experiments with the new prototype I figured out how to let the machine hover with quite a load on it at one foot or 2 feet off the surface, depending on a setting. It didn't seem to matter how much the load was, but of course it did matter as far as the amount of power I had to put in it. It would hover after a certain threshold, and didn't change if you put in more energy. Now I could make a more permanent, ready to use repulsor for my board.

I was picking out the parts that I would need when there was an interruption. Someone was at the door. 'Oh well Mom can handle it.'

Mom did open the door, "Hello Snake, Lance. And you are ... ?"

The girl introduced herself, "I'm Leo."

Lance was flustered, "Miss Landers, what are you doing here?"

Mom smiled, "You can figure that out on your own, Lance. Now please go on up to the roof. Maren is in the storage shed there, tinkering with her project."

"Hey, Maren, what are you doing?"

"Oh, hi Snake." I looked up at him, and then I saw the hybrid girl behind him. "Hi, who are you?"

The girl smiled, "Hi, I'm Leo."

I stepped out of the shed to greet her, "I can see that." Indeed she had a full golden mane of long hair and fur on the rest of her body, just like a lion.

"No, no. It's short for Leona."

"Oh I'm sorry Leo," I apologized.

"That's OK, Maren is it? You're right, Leo also is my nickname for being a lion hybrid."

Then Lance jumped into view, "Synergy, why didn't you tell me that Teach Landers is your Mom."

"Because I told you that it is none of your business, Batman." I looked quite intensely at him. "If you tell anyone about this, I will tell on you at school."

"Well, you already did so to the Match, Synergy."

Now I was thinking, 'The Match? Who is he talking about?' Then it clicked, "You mean Denise? How did you ... ?"

"Easy Maren, she lives next door to me. I saw her practice and had a talk with her. She asked me why I called myself Batman, so I told her about my sound power. I knew she could only have gotten my name from you."

I looked a bit guilty and disappointed.

"Hey, Synergy, It's OK. We will keep the secret safe with us."

I looked up a bit more bright, "OK, thanks. What are you all doing here?"

Snake laughed, "We came here to take you out to a movie. Leo is a classmate of mine, and I didn't want you to be the only girl with us."

I squinted suspiciously at him, "You're not trying to set me up for a date with Batman, are you?"

Leo answered for him, "They are not Maren. I'm Batman's date, and you're with Snake, if that is OK with you?"

I smiled back at her, "Of course, Snake is just a good friend. That reminds me, I want to have a talk with you later, Snake."

Leo interrupted, "Maren, why do they call you Synergy?"

"Leo, you're not the only hybrid here. I'm both a hybrid and an energy converter. How about you, any powers?"

"Nope, just a hybrid with fangs, claws, fur and a tail."

She swished an impressive lioness tail around to the front. I swished mine around and hooked it on hers.

Leo beamed, "Nice tail, Synergy."

That broke the remaining ice between us and we kinda swirled around each other, till Batman got impatient. "Girls, excuse us, but we were taking you to a movie?"

I had a great time that day. We saw a good movie, a sci-fi detective thriller, and had drinks and snacks afterwards. Batman tried to put a move on Leo, but backed off a little after she growled at him. She winked at me. I think Snake must have warned her about Batman.

Lance had the car with him, so he dropped Snake and me at my place before driving Leo home.

Snake escorted me to the roof, "What did you want to talk about in private, Maren?"

"I sat down and sighed, "I feel more and more like a girl everyday. How long did it take you to adjust?"

Snake sat down next to me. "Don't worry, there is still some boy left in you. But I did tell you so, remember?"

I nodded.

"Just don't think or worry too much about it. You make a great girl."

"You know Snake? This doesn't set my mind at ease. Maybe I don't want to be a girl. I mean, I act and think like one more and more all the time." I was depressing myself here.

Snake hugged me. "You don't have a choice, Maren. You are and you will always have to be a girl. Sure, you can cut off all that beautiful hair, bind your breasts and dress like a boy. But you will always stay a girl. Well there is surgery, but I don't think it that would make you happy. All I'm saying is, just let it happen. Be the girl that you can be and enjoy it. Tell me, honestly, is there anything that you like as a girl?"

I thought hard, "Well I did enjoy dancing as one. And this body is much more enjoyable than my old diseased one. Still, I'm afraid of my future."

Snake just continued to hug me.

"I guess you are right Martin, I don't have a choice. I'm a girl now, and I just have to be the best girl I can be."

"That's my girl, Maren."

I winced, "Snake?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, just an expression. I'll always be there for you to help you and talk to you about these things, OK?"

I nodded.

"I'll call you, I've got to go home. My parents are waiting."

I walked down with him as far as my front door and waved goodbye to him.

Mom was waiting, "Have a good time, Honey?"

I just mumbled a confirmation.

"Don't forget that tomorrow afternoon are the cheerleader tryouts."

I blew my cool. "I knew it! You want me to be a cheerleader, right?"

Mom tried to calm me down, "Honey, it's up to you. But I would like you to try. You know I was one in the past."

"Mom you know that Cynthia and her cronies are among the cheerleaders. They will never allow me to join. And even if they do, they will only make my life hell."

Mom calmly stood before me, "Honey, I have already told the cheerleaders that I will not tolerate any discrimination towards any hybrid or MORFS afflicted person. Besides, Cynthia and her bunch think that only Football matters. The rest of the sports are beneath them. Since I'm the supervisor, I can make sure that you only have to cheer at Soccer and Basketball matches."

I looked up, "OK, Mom. You win. I'll go to the stupid tryouts."

"Maren!" There was a warning tone in mom's voice.

"Sorry, Mom. I promise to do my best at the tryouts. Can you give me the cheers, please."

She gave me all the new cheers and indeed I cheered my heart out that afternoon. Mandy did the same and though Cynthia objected, ( Of course) , we both got chosen to cheer the guys on at the basketball and soccer matches.

The days started to fall into a new routine. Going to school, doing the sports, and sometimes I helped Mom with the dancing at the dance school. The first thing she taught me now was how to dance on high heels. At first I hated it, as I stumbled and looked awkward. But then it got better and I liked the extra height it gave me. Strangely enough, it had a positive influence on my dancing and soon I even like dancing in high heels.

There were also some bad things with the dance school. First, Lance joined the school and of course he picked me to dance with. I have to admit he is a good dancer. Sometimes he makes me forget everything while dancing.

Then I found another new student on the roster, and made sure I would not be at the dance school at those times. Cynthia Hosier signed up for an advanced class at Mom's school. She talked to me about it, she didn't like it that much either, but the parents were paying a small fortune to make sure that their daughter would be good enough in dancing the classical dances.

One Friday after school I was walking home alone, wearing the casual day outfit that I had chosen, a denim pleated skirt and a pink sweater. 'Pink, how girly have I become?' I turned a corner and ran into some commotion. A building was on fire. Already lots of policemen and firemen were working and a crowd was watching. On my side I was all alone, with just a police ribbon separating me from the fire across the street.

I watched the fire for a while, noticing that the fire brigade didn't seem to be making much progress in putting it out. I prepared to go on home, when I thought I saw person in the flames. Intently I stared at the flames, and saw it again. I didn't think it is an adult, more like a child. I looked at the police and firemen, trying to get their attention, but no one noticed me.

Then I did something that I probably shouldn't have. I ducked under the tape and ran into the burning building. Of course now people noticed me. As I ran through the flames, I drew in the heat, changing it into light that I emitted as powerful flashlights from my hands. For a while I searched and looked, but couldn't find anyone. had I make a mistake and saw something that just wasn't there?

Just as I wanted to give up and get the hell out, a beam snapped, clearing a space where I saw something dark moving. I went over and found two small girls trying to hide from the flames. I reached them unscathed, but the flames closed in on us from all around us. The heat became unbearable, even with my converting it to light. I feared that this inferno might be more than I could handle with my power. I think the temperature around us reached flashpoint, as things started to burst into flames all by themselves. I panicked, as the girls screamed in fear.

End of part four

To be continued...





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