34 views on a single day, 4 followers, 2 reviews, and a third favoriter! Welcome to the hole king of the kaiju, you caught the disease! That's good, but there are still only 2 reviews, I really would like for you to tell me what you think of this story. As of posting this chapter, this fic has 1,087 views, keep it coming! But anyway, here's chapter 8.
"Cassie's first attempt at morphing was successful, she turned herself into a bat before Rachel and Marco's very eyes, but soon after Jake arrived everyone realized that something has gone horribly wrong. In desperation, the trio looks to the envelope Tobias left them for answers, and a way to hopefully undo the change."
First Branching
I took the letter out of its packaging. The paper felt strange in my hands; the yellow color indicated that the paper used to make both the letter and its envelope was very old.
"Come on, what does it say?" Rachel asked desperately.
"From: Tobias. To: Cassie and her three friends."
"You don't have to read the format text," Marco said impatiently. "Hurry up!"
I nodded, then got back to reading.
"Hello Cassie, it's me, Tobias. I know our first meeting didn't go the way I'd hoped it would've. If you're reading this letter aloud to the others, you don't have to narrate the format text at the… beginning…" I said as my eyes widened.
I heard Marco break down into laughter behind me.
"Are you serious?" Rachel said. "Of all the things he could've started out with, that's his opening line?"
"Everyone, quiet," I said. "I'm not done yet!"
As I continued reading the letter, the others went quiet with anticipation.
"This note will explain the mechanics of morphing. First off, in order to morph an animal, you need to touch the creature with the palm of your hands and force your will on that creature. This will have a calming effect on every animal you touch. This can be utilized to stun any living organism through retaining contact, or even making them fall dead asleep. Then you can choose whether you want to acquire the creature's DNA."
"Huh, that's useful," Marco muttered, impressed.
"Why didn't Elfangor just tell us this?" Rachel asked incredulously.
"They were pressed for time," Marco said. "Do we really have to read all of it? Just skip to the part where it says what happens when you morph!"
I skimmed through the pages of the letter, trying to find the section where it would describe something like this happening.
"Found it," I said.
"Once you've taken in the acquired amount of materials to construct an animal's body and morph into it, the next step to gaining control of the animal is to morph it for the first time. The first step is to find an isolated place for you to morph where the animal in question cannot escape, because when you morph an animal for the first time, you will always lose yourself in the animal's mind. Keep in mind you're turning into an actual animal, partly in mind as well as body. 100% of the time, you will eventually assert control over the animal body, but if you break out before you gain control of your morph, this process can be prolonged to the point of taking days."
"It takes days?" Rachel asked, not happy at all with what she was hearing. I just read on.
"This process can be sped up by attempting to vocally 'wake up' the person morphed, or by inducing the animal body into a stressful environment, though you must be careful not to harm the animal body or cause too much stress. Though the latter method is faster, both results in the morphed person gaining control of the morph. Once you gain control for the first time, you won't have that problem when morphing it again."
"Induce it into a stressful environment?" I asked no one in particular. "How do we do that?"
"Cassie said that animals don't like sudden loud noises because they cause stress, right?" Marco said. "What if we scream our brains out at the heavens at how insane this all is until Cassie wakes up?"
"Are you serious?" I asked my best friend, but as I thought about it more, it really did look like a good idea, and by what Cassie told me about animals, it does make sense. "Do it," I decided.
"Wait, you're serious? Also, isn't that Rachel's line?" Marco asked.
"Marco," Rachel said in a deadly serious voice as she put her hands on his shoulders. "That was the best idea you've had all week, let's do it."
Then without warning Marco lifted his head to the roof and let out an agonized wail. This is the kind of scream I haven't heard since he stepped on that nail at Allison's place when he had a barbecue. You won't believe how close his Dad came to suing her entire family.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Rachel echoed Marco with her own howl of pure crazy. Her voice was surprisingly high-pitched.
"Jake, join us! It doesn't matter how insane it actually is," Marco said when his first scream ran out of breath. Then he immediately took a breath went and back to screaming his brains out.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Wh-why?" I asked again when his howl died down.
"Why not? Your girl needs you! Do it for Cassie!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Rachel and Marco both screamed. I looked back up at the rafters where Cassie was, and all of my hesitation vanished.
My voice joined the chorus, along with the wolves that Cassie kept in the horse stalls.
"AAAAAAAAAAH."
"WOOOOOOooooooooo"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH."
"OOOOOOOOOooooooooooo"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH."
((Guys, stop! Stop! Please, just stop!)) I heard Cassie's voice ring out in my head. The second I heard the voice everyone in the room flinched and stopped screaming.
I heard a faint fluttering noise and barely glimpsed a bat fly down into the stalls where the horses and… wolves were at.
"Uh, Cassie, there are wolves in those stalls!" I warned.
((Not all of them, there's an empty one right here.))
After a few seconds, I heard a sound like shifting sands. This lasted for a while, until Cassie collapsed to the ground and started breathing like she was literally a second away from drowning.
I ran to the stalls where the wolves and horses were kept.
"Cassie, are you-Oh, ooh!" I began to ask then backtracked when I saw her lying on the ground… without her clothes. I backed out immediately, remembering too late that her outfit was on the ground.
"Cassie, would you like me to get you your clothes or-," I asked my girlfriend.
"Yes, please, that…would be won…derful," she barely managed to say in a wavering voice.
Rachel took my place as I went back to get Cassie's wardrobe off the barn floor.
"Are you alright?" Rachel asked. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Four, and I…feel so weird," Cassie said in an almost normal voice as I grabbed her wardrobe, and only then remembered that I was still holding Tobias' letter. As I walked back over to the stall she was in, Cassie spoke up. "It feels like there's something in my throat."
"Are you hurt?" Rachel asked.
"Thanks, I'm fine. How did you guys know to do…that to bring me back?"
"We read the letter," Marco said. He was serious, his eyes hard, totally lacking in any of the humor he had only minutes ago. Marco's voice had a biting tone I never heard him speak before. "And next time when I say we don't do something for the safety of the group, maybe it would do you well to actually listen?"
"Marco!" Rachel started as she took the clothing from my hand. "Cut it out!"
"No Rachel, Marco's right. I'm sorry for scaring you like that, I… I should've listened," Cassie said, dejected.
Marco's face softened, and he scratched the back of his head. He angrily sighed then responded.
"Cassie you gave us all a heart attack. We thought you had permanently turned into a bat! A bat!" Marco explained. "We don't know anything about how this power works, what it's downsides are. We know nothing of the risks, which is why I told you, why I told everyone not to morph. We had no idea that would happen! This letter Tobias sent us is obviously an instruction manual."
"Marco," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. "Calm down, it's over now."
"Yes," Marco said, a smile on his face. "It's over, and we should take steps to make sure this never happens again."
I nodded in agreement.
"Right. Before we do anything else, we read the letter," I asserted, holding the papers up.
"From beginning to end," Marco agreed.
"Hey guys," Cassie said. "Could you please wait 'till I'm dressed to read it?"
"Sure, we'll be by the hay bales," I said as we walked over to the main area where the animal's cages were kept and sat on the hay bales.
"No shortcuts," Rachel said as we sat down and Marco walked past us. "It's not like we're reading a 400 page book on this subject."
"Marco, where are you going?" I asked him.
Marco turned to look at us as he reached the closed barn door. "To check outside. Cassie's parents might have heard that racket we were making."
He opened it and stuck his head outside, looking all around. He did this for a while, and was totally silent the whole time. In the end he sighed and re-entered, closing the doors. Just as Marco closed the doors Cassie walked out, fully dressed.
"Okay, nothing out there. Let's get on with it."
They both sat down, Cassie next to me. She leaned her head against my right shoulder.
"Okay, here we go."
This note will explain the base mechanics of morphing. First off, in order to morph an animal, you need to touch the creature with the palm of your hands and force your will on that creature. This will have a calming effect on every animal you touch. This can be utilized to stun any living organism through retaining contact, or even making them fall dead asleep. Then you can choose whether you want to acquire the creature's DNA.
Once the animal is rendered docile to the point of immobility, you will need to retain contact and then focus on the animal. This will allow you to scan its DNA, and allow you to turn into the animal. There are countless devices in the palms of our hands that will scan the entire genetic code of the creature. Touching the box did not fully give you the morphing power; in order to get access to all of the abilities and finalize Elfangor's Gift, you must morph an animal for the first time, then revert to your true form. Make sure your first morph is a small mammal, like a mouse, or a bat, anything bigger than a house cat and you'll run into issues.
This is because once you return to your true body for the first time, you'll be able to store excess biomass, the materials that the morphs that have more, or different, matter than humans do.
"Store excess biomass?" I asked. "How would we even get it?"
"I'm betting that means I can eat anything I want and not get fat!" Marco piped up.
"You wish," Rachel bumped him in the shoulder.
"Wanna bet?"
"Nah, there's not a single thing you have that's worth risking money for."
"Ouch," Cassie whispered. I turned back and continued reading out loud.
The matter that your animal morph is made from cannot come from nowhere. This is the reason a small mammal must be your first morph, and it's also the reason why the first morphing will always be the hardest. The body of the creature you turn into is made up completely of your original body, while the rest of your original form is shoved inside the subdimension where all of the mass your bigger morphs are made of will be stored, and where your human form is kept safe while you're in the morphed body.
Upon reverting to your true body for the first time, you will feel exhausted and out of breath. Do not panic, both symptoms are only a temporary thing, and will not happen again when you revert to your true form later. However, you may notice that morphing your first animal took some time – a few minutes in fact – but the more you morph a specific creature, the less time the changes take to complete the next time you morph into it. And do not fret, once you mentally gain control of the animal you have morphed, you would have absolute control of the morphed body, but with the animal in your head too; this is useful when you're flying or trying to act like an animal.
Returning to the subject of mass; in order to morph any creature bigger than yourself, you must consume the organic materials the creatures are made of. In order to do so you have to think to…oh it's so hard to describe, the way I did it was to always think of 'adding it to your stockpile' as it goes down your throat. It will not hit your stomach, but instead enter this subdimension, where it will be stored and broken down to its smallest parts. You can also use this method to store certain objects you wish to keep extra safe. As long as it will fit down your throat and you think of only 'keeping it safe' it will be perfectly preserved, provided you can swallow it whole of course.
"So that's why my throat feels strange…" Cassie muttered, holding her neck.
"Called it," Marco said with little interest. "About the swallowing thing, I mean…that ability sounds seriously freaky. Useful, but freaky."
This is merely the easiest method. Another good way of doing this is to press the matter against your bare skin. This is more exhausting, and increases the time it takes for you to morph, but the upside is you can store objects you can't swallow. Once the materials or objects have been processed and are stored, you'll be able to will it out through your skin. Just focus on the part of your body that you want the object or biomass to come out of, and presto. Depending on the kind of object, one of two things will happen. The object will either be separated from your body and return to the physical world that way, or the biomass will simply pour out of you, sort of like a slushie machine. How fast and how much is up to you.
"What…?" Rachel asked. "Eeeeeew, that's nasty!"
"You can always trust Tobias to go farther than anyone in the 'explaining concepts' department," I said.
"Let's just move on before I get sick…" Marco commented.
"Look on the bright side, it's not like we're pooping it out."
"CASSIE! What did I just say?!"
When you acquire a creature, your morphed body will be the same age as the creature you acquired, so make sure that your morph is in peak condition. What will also affect the morph is what season you acquire the animal in. If you acquire an animal that has no major behavioral and physical changes year-round, like tigers and eagles, you won't encounter any issues. On the other hand, if you were to acquire a hibernating animal such as any bear that isn't polar, you cannot do it when they're hibernating, because once you morph it, you'll have an incredibly difficult time trying to stay awake.
Another use for biomass, besides creating bodies, is when you're grievously injured in human or animal form. You simply change to the other form, and the damage is near instantly undone in that body. But beware, do not rely on this regenerative ability to fight recklessly. If you do not have enough biomass to reconstruct the body you wish to transform into, your true self, or otherwise, you will show no signs of change. Transforming back will be impossible until you consume the right amount of biomass. If you're ever grievously injured in that form before acquiring enough body mass to morph out, your chances of survival will be dire.
However, if you sustain not immediately lethal damage in your true form, such as a concussion, or your feet getting chopped off, you can regenerate your body at will. This restorative state requires you to be relatively still, so no sudden movements. It will also remove all foreign objects, from bullets and knives to pacemakers and bone splints. If you're in a situation where you don't want to morph an animal, you can acquire yourself and morph into that in order to reverse the damage as quickly as possible unnoticed.
Once you've taken in the acquired amount of materials to construct an animal's body and morph into it, the next step to gaining control of the animal is to morph it for the first time. The first step is to find an isolated place for you to morph where the animal in question cannot escape, because when you morph an animal for the first time, you will always lose yourself in the animal's mind. Keep in mind you're turning into an actual animal, partly in mind as well as body. 100% of the time, you will eventually assert control over the animal body, but if you break out before you gain control of your morph, this process can be prolonged to the point of taking days.
This process can be sped up by attempting to vocally 'wake up' the person morphed, or by inducing the animal body into a stressful environment, though you must be careful not to harm the animal body or cause too much stress. Though the latter method is faster, both results in the morphed person gaining control of the morph. Once you gain control for the first time, you won't have that problem when morphing it again.
Marco whistled. "Man, that's some awesome stuff, I'm kind of wishing that I just touched the cube with the rest of you guys."
Once morphed, you have a set of abilities that are active during that time. One is thought speech: once you gain control of your first morph, you will be able to telepathically communicate in both human and animal form, as well as send pictures to other people's minds. As long as two of you are on the same planet and awake at the same time, you'll be able to communicate with one another telepathically, but only as long as you reach out to and speak with a specific person you have in mind.
With enough practice and concentration, you can also use thought speech as a weapon. One method is essentially screeching in their head as loud as you can to scramble their brains. With discipline, you'll also be able to cause auditory and visual halucinations. Cassie should be able to master the latter ability easily, but for the vast majority of people touched by the box it'll take years to learn how to do it.
"Whoa," Rachel said. "Just… whoa."
"Alright, now this is just getting stupid," Marco commented while laughing. "You're telling me I'll be able to send my bullies to the loony bin, where those violent psychopaths belong?"
"Marco…" I turned away from reading the letter to face my best friend with one eyebrow raised.
"Wait, you're serious?" Rachel.
"I think we should be more concerned that Tobias misspelled hallucinations," Cassie offered.
"Agreed," I elected, then returned to reading the note.
With the coming conflict and hardship in mind, there are certain things you cannot do. For one, you must take care to never, ever, no matter the circumstances, have sexual intercourse AT ALL throughout the duration of the conflict.
"What?" Marco asked. "Why?"
"Shut up and let Jake finish!" Rachel.
While it can be tempting to relieve the inevitable stress through the act of 'recreational reproduction,' you must keep in mind that if you ever get pregnant, whether you're in morph or in your true form, you will be unable to morph for the entire duration which the baby/babies are inside your body, and must wait until the offspring leaves your body. DO NOT attempt abortion either; if you do, then on top of committing infanticide, your temporary inability to morph may become permanent.
I just stopped reading out loud, and everyone held an awkward silence. I looked back at the group, Rachel had her mouth open like the barn door, and Cassie's eyes were moons, her right hand positioned over her stomach.
"Well, that's good to know!" Marco finally said in an awkward and very freaked out voice.
"Let's just finish it, we're almost at the end," I said.
With all of this in mind, be aware that the Controllers are out there. You cannot morph anywhere in public where human eyes can see. You cannot tell anyone. They could be everywhere, anyone. There's no surefire way to tell who's infested. That aside, until I return you MUST master your newfound abilities, and in order to do that you have to morph. Morph the animals you intend to use as many times as possible; this will tire you out but it will speed up how fast the changes occur. You need three morphs that you'll use above all, I've dubbed this the three Bs; Bird, Bug, and Battle. One to travel, one to sneak, and one to beak the lines. Versatility is key to maximizing our combat effectiveness; while five grizzly bears would be devastating, having a lion, tiger, jaguar, hawk, and grizzly bear would be harder for enemies to handle. Each have their own weaknesses and strengths.
All of the above will serve you well. As long as you do not attempt to test morph multiple animals at the same time, morph in public, or morph in a place where your animal body can escape, the process should be perfectly safe unless you are incredibly unlucky. It will be a week after the day we met until I can return and help you prepare for the coming battles. Stay secret and safe until then.
My father's tracking device remains undiscovered, and is still transmitting. The subject is moving from location to location frequently. I don't have the coordinates for the Controller's base yet, but iI have a few guesses. The worm hasn't come anywhere close to your town. Regardless, please be careful.
I folded the multiple sheets of paper into a square shape, then put it back in the envelope.
"Tobias doesn't know where they are either," Marco mused.
"So, we practice morphing," I said, looking at the animals in the cages.
"Safe to say we most definitely should not have that skunk as our first morph," Cassie commented.
"You can say that again," Rachel agreed. "Let's do it."
"So, which one do you want to do, Rachel? The rabbit, or the bobcat?" Cassie said as we began to walk over to the cages.
"Don't do the rabbit," I said without hesitation. "We all know how fast a rabbit goes. If you run away before we manage to bring you back, we'll have a whole world of trouble on our heads."
"What if I morphed in the empty stall?" Rachel asked.
"That's a good place, but we need to block the gap below the door," I pointed out.
"Good thinking," Marco said, clapping his hands. "Let's grab some hay bales."
And that's it! Oh man, my longest chapter yet! And the first fic I've ever had that reach double digits in chapter numbers, I'm sort of proud of this. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter in August. So see you around, and please do comment, I would really appreciate it.