Chapter 5

Eventually, Lucy announced it was time for a short break and a short film. I went down with Sebastian to pick up some forms for ourselves and the others to fill in. It seemed like a dozen. Membership forms, NMA membership, training weekend forms, insurance details and a competition tryout application for Chloe. I noticed a few people had peeled off their tee-shirts and were now demonstrating some of their morphs to the first years.

"That's so weird!" cried one girl, as Peter's face bulged out into the muzzle of a dog. "Oh my god, he's got a bloody tail as well now!"

"Ok, guys, if you could all take your seats again" called Lucy after a couple of minutes. I put my cheque into the box marked 'new members' and we took my seat with René and the others.

"I can't wait to start morphing," René said enthusiastically, glancing up at the overhead video projection that was playing above the lecturer's desk. It showed various home videos of club members at training weekends, doing their first morphs, and going out flying as a big group once they'd all got their licence, all set to a really cool rock soundtrack.

"It looks amazing," I agreed. "I still think I'll enjoy flying the most."

"Flying's great, but being a cat is pretty good too," Chloe said, watching the screen. "So is being a dolphin - that's such good fun!"

"Better be worth it," muttered Julia from behind us. "My mum's not going to be pleased. She thinks it's too dangerous and wanted me to do a 'nice' sport - like tennis."

"Julia - you're at university!" I said. "You can do whatever you want now she's off your back."

"I guess," she said, but she still looked concerned.

"She sounds just like that Penny girl," René muttered. "Do ballet instead. Yuck."

"OK, guys!" said Lucy from the front of the hall and addressing us all. "We've arranged a little performance for everyone here so that anyone who's never morphed before can see what it's all about. Our Female Estrinology Team are going to perform their new routine. They're hoping to compete in the regional level championships in a few weeks time and are in the process of perfecting their routine. They've all been morphing for quite a while now, and have had a great deal of practice, so don't worry if any of you think that morphing is too beyond you after watching this!" She switched off the video and took a seat at the front of rows of seats with the other club committee members.

The doors at the side of the lecture theatre opened and in walked four girls who made their way to the front of the hall. One of them put a CD in the hi-fi and pressed 'play'. For a few seconds, there was silence as we all watched the girls formed a line in front of us, their backs facing us. They were all dressed in matching morphing outfits - a set of striking purple and black velour leotards with 'Westwood University Estrinology Team' printed up the side of their right legs.

"Cool suits," murmured René. "All I have is a tacky pair of cycling shorts."

"Go to that Falcon place then," I said.

The girls took a dance-style pose, hands out behind them, fingers outstretched, eyes looking towards the ceiling. Suddenly, a powerful RnB song started playing from the hi-fi. The girls launched into an amazing dance routine - spinning round to face the audience, arms extended in front of them, performing a variety of complicated street-style movements in perfect unison, movements that even Destiny's Child would be proud of. As they danced, they began to morph. But the morphing wasn't erratic and uncontrolled like many of the morphs I'd watched on TV, these morphs were perfectly timed, perfectly smooth and beautiful to watch. The girls were in complete control of their morphs, just like they were of their movements. The first thing I noticed to change was the growth of their fur. Soft, glossy fur became to grow over their bodies, starting from their toes and working their way up to their faces, all at the same time as one another's, until their whole bodes were covered. Two of the girls had grown thick, white fur, contrasting with the other two who grow black fur.

The song became a little slower, and a little sexier, and the girls spun round to face the wall and performed a series of sinuous, silky movements in time to the beat - whilst slowly and elegantly growing long, supple tails, which they waved in time to the music. The music sped up again, and the girl spun round again to face us, performing a series of high kicks and semi-gymnastic endeavours, which looked all the more incredible with their tails and their fur. As they danced, their faces changed. Their eyes became large and slanted, noses become small and wet, ears sliding up the side of their heads and formed larger, triangular ears. Whiskers grew from their faces as they grinned cheekily at the audience - they were becoming cats!

"That looks amazingly cool," whispered René.

"I know," I said, my mouth hanging open at the amazing display.

Just then, the girls performed a sequence I don't think I'll ever forget. They had taken a few steps back and were now dancing near the wall, leaving a couple of meters' space between them and the first row of chairs. They put their hands in the air like gymnasts, then took a each too a couple of fast steps and propelled themselves into a no-arms cartwheel, landing facing the wall. They then kicked off from their bent knees, performing a backwards somersault, just as the music reached its most powerful peak yet. As they flipped through the air, they accelerated the morph - so that by the time they landed back on the ground, they were fully cat!

"Oh. My. God." René muttered, he eyes transfixed at the cat-girls. "I can't even do that as a human!"

The cats were now dancing again, now fully morphed. They stepped forward gracefully, front legs forward then front legs back, arching their backs, waving their tails. It looked strange, beautiful and astonishing, all at the same time - four cats, two black and two white, performing this awe-inspiring dance routine. Not only had the girls taken complete control of the actual morphing process, but they'd got control of the cat's mind as if it were their own.

As the song began to come to an end, the girls began to demorph as they danced. They grew slowly and gracefully as the song played softer and quieter verses, gradually becoming more and more upright. Fingers and toes replaced paws, their tails were slowly sucked back into their bodies. Yet they were controlling even the bone and muscle changes to their bodies as well as the obvious processes, because they were slipping into supple ballet movements - high leg movements, back-bends and the splits. At last, the song began to end, and the girls stood and faced us, forming a striking pose. They were almost entirely human, save for the fur that still covered their bodies. At last, that began to dissolve, but, again in an artful and aesthetically pleasing manner. The fur appeared to 'ripple' over their bodies, stripes of fur appearing and disappearing like a weird Mexican wave. The song faded out, and the girls completed the demorph, the last traces of fur disappearing from their body.

A round of applause echoed around the room, all one-hundred and fifty or so of the new members, existing members and the committee clapping widely. The girls smiled and stood up straight, taking their seats with the rest of us.

Lucy got up and grinned at us, seeing our astonished faces.

"Wasn't that amazing?" she cried, motioning for the applause to die down. "Thank you so much to Danielle, Siobhan, Layla and Emma for that fantastic routine! And good luck with the championships - no way you're not going to win if you guys carry on like that! And anyone who's morphed before - or even if you haven't! - don't forget to try out for our teams this year! We've got spaces available for individual Estreen performers, males' mixed animal and multiple animal pairs! Plus, we're also planning to arrange a trip to see Elaine Moore at the National Morphing Tournaments in February - she used to be a student here at Westwood and she's fantastic!"

"I've seen Elaine Moore on TV!" René said. "She got the bronze last year for her swan morph to Robbie Williams's Angels - I think that's what got me interested in morphing."

"So anyone who hasn't, make sure you sign up if you're interested," Lucy continued. "That's it for now - any questions about anything we haven't covered, come and speak to one of us afterwards or send us an email. New guys - see you all at one of the training weekends! Old members - dolphins at the Lake on Tuesday, normal time. And everyone - meet up at the bar in half an hour so we can all get to know each other!"

"Going on the training weekend?" I asked René.

"Definitely!" she grinned.