《Frostbite - A Kammi Kettu Fan Story》 Change Change usually comes unexpected. Change usually comes fast. Some people say change is good, other people say change is the worst thing that could happen to them. For me, change opened my eyes to a reality I hadn''t really known before. Before change, I would have never dreamed I was as unhappy as I was, that I didn¡¯t know what happiness even felt like. I was normal (or at least that was what I told myself) and my friends tended to agree. Some days I was so normal, I became boring. In this crazy life, I was the pillar of reason and sound mind. "Relax, Josh! God, you''re destroying all the fun. " Melody''s arm landed on my back with a resounding clap. Despite her name, she was probably the most rebellious girl I knew. No, I had no idea why I was hanging out with her. Full on athletic, she probably could have lifted my sorry ass, if I wasn''t as tall as I was.Though, to be fair, Melody wasn''t exactly short either. On the contrary, at six feet she was pretty tall, but I was still a head and a half taller than her. But oh boy, she had strength. Being the leader of the university''s archery club and participating in track and field events regularly, her clap on my back almost sent me to the ground. "Ow! Mel!" I rubbed my back. "I just want to prevent you from getting into trouble." She rolled her eyes. "You¡­ you need to have more fun in life. I can''t imagine being this boring is good for your own mental health." Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. What did I do to deserve a friend like her? "We have study group tonight, remember?" I reminded her. "Vaguely..." She grinned, then she turned mockingly serious. "What do I do with the supplies I bought for the prank?" "Fuck, Mel. You were really planning to go all in on this, weren''t you?" She nodded with a wide smirking grin. I let out a long sigh. "Fine¡­ You can leave the stuff at my place for now. I''ll think of something to use them for. Now, let''s move it. The host can''t be late to an appointment at their own place." About fifteen minutes later, I arrived back home, with Melody in tow. Of course the others from the study group were already there waiting outside my door. A short, brown haired girl shook her head. "Very unbecoming of you to be late to your own home.", Natalie said disappointed. A strongly freckled redhead laughed. "It was Melody again, wasn''t it?" "Shut up, Lina!¡±, the girl that had been mentioned snarled. Lina smiled knowingly. She didn¡¯t even have to look at me to find out the truth. The last person of the group groaned. ¡°Please... Can we finally start? I don¡¯t want to spend more time than necessary on this.¡± Damian pressed himself through the door just as I unlocked it, entering my flat before I did. He probably needed this study group the most, but I always had trouble trying to teach him anything. Only Natalie was partially successful with him. ¡°Dame¡­ don¡¯t raid Josh¡¯s fridge! He does need to eat, too¡± Lina reminded the boy. Sighing I let him be and steered directly into my living room, plopping down my bag in a corner and motioning Melody to dump her crap there too. I¡¯d have to sort out what the hell she bought later. The others (except for Damian of course) who had already moved into my kitchen were gathering around the large table. I had set it up in such a way that we all could sit on the ground on really comfortable pillows. Natalie had found those pillows and I couldn¡¯t thank her enough for that. ¡°Damian, if you managed to find enough snacks for yourself, can you actually come here? You were the impatient one, after all¡± I asked, certainly loud enough for Damian to hear me. Sure enough, not even a minute later, he came to our table, a beer in one hand and a bag of chips in the other. ¡°Now we can start.¡± The exasperated sigh that came from Melody brought a snide smirk on his face. I kind of wanted to hit him for that, but, I just couldn¡¯t be bothered enough. Finally, we could start. Being in the first semester of our urban planning master, exams were coming up soon. We five were also doing an infrastructure survey project - we had quite a lot to do and to prepare for, since such a project was never an easy undertaking. It took a long time and required precise measurements and data. ¡°Nat, have you got your survey results for Quinpool Road?¡± She nodded and pulled out a piece of printed paper. ¡°I compiled it already for you¡± she noted. ¡°Ah, thank you¡­!¡± I took the sheet of paper and scanned it quickly. It was a list of vehicle type and amount over a whole day, sorted by hour. As usual, Natalie did an amazing job going well above and beyond what was expected of her, even though, at 21, she was the youngest of us. Not that her age really mattered much in our group. Myself being 25, I wasn¡¯t really that much older than her, with Damian, the oldest, at 27 years of age. ¡°Ah, Lina? How did the interview with the people from the public transit company go?¡± I asked. ¡°The interview? Went well. I got some nice info on what the city could do to improve public transit quality. You know, if we were journalists, I could make a really juicy story out of¡­¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°No.¡± Melody interrupted the redhead reaching over to her. ¡°Bad Lina! Bad!¡± She roughly ruffled the red tresses. ¡°Mel¡­ stohop¡­¡± Lina tried to push the big, athletic girl off of her, to no avail. I could only watch as my carefully planned evening was threatening to unravel. ¡°Girls, please. Melody, stop it. Lina, no. We are not publishing a juicy story on what the city is doing wrong. We are scientists, not writers for some gossip magazine. Now, let¡¯s concentrate on the project. We have to combine the results of the survey with the interview to create a conclusion, okay? By the stars you people are hard to work with sometimes¡­ Not you, Natalie.¡± She gave me a weak, understanding smile, going back to staring disapprovingly at the two other girls and giving a side eye to Damian, who was happily munching on the chips he¡­ acquired. Somehow, it always went like this, every time we met. Damian would get some snacks to feast upon (a wonder he was still rather slim), Lina would say something counterproductive and Melody would jump all over her for that. Usually, if it didn¡¯t calm down, Natalie would get out a pencil and a piece of paper and start sketching, often the antics Melody got up to. It was as if we all were 15 or 16¡­ One last attempt¡­ ¡°Guys¡­ please can we¡­? Huh?¡± A bright white light came through the window. Flashes of coloured light spread through the sky, creeping ever closer. ¡°What kind of thunderstorm is that¡­?¡± Melody whispered under her breath. And then it was on top of us. Different colours clashing over and over again, like a kaleidoscope. The lights danced through the clouds and out of the clouds, striking ground. A glowing, white lightning bolt burst through the window, not even close to caring that it was in the way, just phasing through it and hitting me square in the chest and my world faded to white. All I could see was blinding white. I could hear nothing at all. Flashes of heat appeared all over my body. And then the pain hit. Everything hurt, my entire being felt as if I was pressed into a tin can multiple times too small for me. I couldn¡¯t bear it anymore, so my brain shut down and everything faded to black as I lost consciousness. ¡°Hey! Hey! Wake up! Please¡­!¡± Someone was shaking me. It felt weird¡­ My eyes shot open and I stared Natalie in the face. She was looking at me really funny. Like, not in a ¡°You did something amusing¡± way, but in a ¡°Holy shit, is this happening¡± way. ¡°That is still you, Josh, right? Right?¡± She sounded desperate. The faces of my friends seemed to share in that as I looked around. ¡°Uh, yeah, who else¡­?¡± What the hell was up with my voice? It sounded¡­ very different. Raspy, but distinctly female. And young. Way too young. ¡°Guys¡­? Guys¡­!?¡± I felt the panic start creeping up gripping tightly at my heart. Something on top of my head started to creep closer towards me. I reached up with a trembling hand and grabbed it¡­ I felt my hand¡­ on¡­ what was it? ¡°What¡¯s going on¡­?¡± I squeaked, my voice almost disappearing into the void. If I wasn¡¯t so utterly mortified¡­ and if it wasn¡¯t, you know, me¡­ I would have found, whatever escaped my throat then, really cute. It took a little bit until I realized, the things I were touching, soft and fluffy; They were attached to me¡­ I was hearing out of them! The long fluffy things were ears! Finally letting go of them, my gaze wandered downwards and I saw¡­ mostly my clothes. They seemed huge, or, well, my body was tiny. ¡°You¡¯re a girl, Josh!¡±, a voice I recognized as Melody¡¯s broke through my panic. Wait what? ¡°You look like you¡¯re fourteen, too.¡± Wait what, wait what? I had to check¡­ hoo boy! Or should I say hoo girl? Melody was spot on. My ears were long and fluffy and on top of my head and I was a girl. This could happen, right? My tail curled around my body and covered me in a snow white blanket. Wait what? My tail? I stared at it. It appeared to be quite long and extra fluffy as if it was taken straight from an arctic fox. By that time, my brain had started to overload and I could only squeeze out an almost nonchalant ¡°Huh¡­?¡± I did, however, pick up somebody inhaling sharply and exhaling in the most massive squee I had ever borne witness to. ¡°You¡¯re so fucking adorable!¡± With that expression of pure bliss (and terror for me) Lina tackle-jumped my tiny body. ¡°Buargh!¡± was the thing that escaped my mouth with the force of the impact of the now bigger girl. ¡°Lemme gooooo¡±, I squeaked. She adamantly refused. ¡°No. You¡¯re my little foxgirl now!¡± Now she was laughing, too. And not a comforting laugh at all, no, it seemed as if she really meant business Aka, she declared dibs on me. ¡°Let him¡­ her¡­ whatever... go, Lina.¡± Weird. I hadn¡¯t heard Melody speak in such a serious tone in years. ¡°Mel?¡± I twisted my body in such a way that I could actually see her face again. Her expression was pained, eyes squinted, mouth warped into a frown. ¡°I have a little sister, probably your size. I am going home. I will be back soon with some of her clothes.¡± What happened with her? Melody being the voice of reason? Not even my own changed body worried me as much as this. The last time I had seen her like this was when her girlfriend had died. ¡°A...are you okay, Mel?¡± I asked, my raspy voice still super weird and unknown. She had already gotten her bag and was on her way to the door. ¡°Yea. I need some fresh air. See you soon¡­ and be careful, promise me?¡± A very slight smile did manage to slip past her mostly frozen face. ¡°I promise.¡± She nodded, satisfied, and left through the door. Damian had been pretty quiet through all this so far, but now he piqued up. ¡°You should look into the mirror¡±, he simply stated. ¡°I¡¯ll carry her!¡±, Lina volunteered. ¡°Wait, wait!¡± I tried to stop her, but, the redhead, as usual, didn¡¯t listen to me, gathering my oversized clothes underneath me and lifting me up in the air. ¡°Hoo, you¡¯re so light for your size!¡± she exclaimed happily, carefully carrying me to the bathroom. She dropped me onto the ground and closed the door behind her, so that Damian couldn¡¯t enter behind Natalie and herself. When I stood up, my clothes fell to the floor, but I could finally see myself in the full-body mirror. ¡°By all the gods¡­¡± I whispered. The teen girl staring back at me was certainly pretty, but what mostly came to mind when I saw her long, white furred fox ears, long white hair and the fluffy fox tail was¡­: She was adorable. Lithe, lean and soft, ready to pounce on her pray. Bright yellow, slitted eyes staring curiously at me. Wait¡­ That is me! The little fox girl in the mirror was me! I should have been terrified, mortified or anything like that, but on the contrary¡­ I think I actually felt a bit happy. So much so that, when Lina said ¡°You¡¯re so cute, right?¡± I couldn¡¯t help it but nod with a smile on my face. ¡°We don¡¯t know how long this is going to last, but are you okay with us using female pronouns when addressing you?¡± Natalie asked. I shook my head, still mesmerised by the reflection in the mirror. ¡°That¡¯s fine with me.¡± Standing there like that, I noticed how short I was. I couldn¡¯t be any taller than 4¡¯9, almost half a foot shorter than Natalie, one and a half feet shorter than I used to be. ¡°I think you need a fitting name as well, don¡¯t you? We can¡¯t call you Josh like that, can we?¡±, the formerly shortest person of our group said. ¡°Skyla. Call me Skyla.¡± Different Why did I feel so elated? After stating my new name, I shivered. Not because I was cold or anything, no. I actually felt comfortable. It shouldn¡¯t have, though. I grew up for 25 years, as a boy, as a man. But now, it appeared, I had a new chance to experience life differently. Well, very differently to be honest. Not only was I a girl now, but I was also a foxgirl. Although¡­ this might prove a little bit problematic seeing as being a girl with fox ears and tail wasn¡¯t exactly a normal occurrence. ¡°I will go see if Melody has returned yet, okay? Lina, stay with Skyla, keep her company¡± Natalie said a newfound touch of caring in her voice. ¡°No funny business, Lina!¡± she reminded the girl as she left the bathroom. ¡°Now it¡¯s just us two¡­¡± Lina purred dangerously. Uh oh¡­ ¡°Uhm¡­ Lina?¡± Gods, my voice was raspy. I sounded like a tomboy. ¡°Yeeeeees?¡± she drew out that word as she approached me¡­ and poked me in the side. ¡°Gya! Don¡¯t!¡± Holy mother of Thor that tickled so much. Apparently my skin was super sensitive now. ¡°Ehehehe, is somebody ticklish now, hmm?¡± she whispered into my ear. Gods¡­ what was she doing¡­ my ear twitched wildly and I tried to wriggle away. ¡°Lina¡­ please¡­¡± I whimpered. But she seemed a merciless mistress and her hand went to my ear proceeding to stroke it softly. And I melted. No, really. I became like puddy in her hands, a strange rumbling starting in my chest. ¡°Mhhhh¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t speak anymore, especially when she rubbed the base of my ear. I just couldn¡¯t. No word was able to be formed, not by my mind or by my throat. I fell over. I think. I didn¡¯t really know anymore what was happening to me, I was feeling too ecstatic . It was pure bliss. Nothing I had ever felt in my life compared to this. ¡°LINA!¡± A shout tore me out of my bliss-trance and I noticed that I was indeed purring. I didn¡¯t stop, even when I realized, I was lying on Lina¡¯s lap curled up to her stomach. It was just too comfortable here, no way I could leave this heavenly place. However, I looked at who was the shouty person. Melody stood in the door, her arms on her hips with a bag slung over her shoulder. And she looked pissed. ¡°Out. Now! Go turn on the fucking TV instead.¡± Holy shit. Lina scrambled away, almost dropping my head on the tiled bathroom floor. She hustled to the door, which Melody still occupied. ¡°For your sake, I really hope you didn¡¯t do anything to her.¡± What happened to her¡­? Tears started welling up in my eyes. This is not the Melody I knew for most of my life. We had always been next door neighbours playing together most of the day before we went to school. Almost everything we did, we did together. Even in school, we went to the same class, did our homework together, studied for exams together, did pranks together, until I grew out of it at one point and she didn¡¯t. She was like family, and I knew her well. For a time, our parents thought we were one hundred percent going to marry at some point, until she came out as gay. Sometime when we were in university, she asked me why I never came out. I had been highly confused by that, because I was very sure I wasn¡¯t gay. She clarified that she thought I was trans. Apparently I was¡­ or, well, am now. Maybe I was before and I just hadn¡¯t properly realized it? Maybe that was why I felt so comfortable at the moment? Who knows. I¡¯d need to dive into this more later, because right now, I probably felt too comforted by Lina¡¯s scritches to be objective on that front.... Suddenly Melody was beside me, her hand on my back. ¡°Hey, uh, Skyla, right? That¡¯s what you chose, right? Are you okay? You wouldn¡¯t believe what is happening outside.¡± I perked up, my ears at attention. ¡°Huh? What¡¯s happening outside?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll show you in a bit. Just so you know, you¡¯re not the only one who has changed. Here. I got you some clothing. I am not sure how you¡¯ll do with¡­¡± She pointed at my backside. ¡°Your tail and such.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I stared blankly at my tail and the bag of clothes Melody had deposited next to me. Opening the bag, I found about five pairs of panties, a similar amount of small bras, sporty icey blue polyester tights, a blue pleated skirt, a pair of really comfy looking light blue sweatpants, a pair of blue jeans, a sky blue t-shirt, a sweat jacket of the same colour and a simple white hoodie. ¡°What the hell is this colour combination¡­ Want me to play hide and seek in the snow?¡± I giggled a bit as Melody sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. ¡°To be honest, I just saw your white fur and thought, these things would fit with the scheme a bit¡­¡± I sighed and tried to put on a pair of panties¡­ however, I quickly noticed, the band of the underwear would be above where my tail started. ¡°We gotta cut a hole in these. And these sweatpants, too.¡± I stated the obvious. Melody nodded, took the pair of panties and the sweatpants and turned for the door. ¡°I think Natalie can do something with this quickly. I mean, she can do anything, really. We have to seek out a real tailor at some point, though.¡± She darted away and let me be alone for the first time since the change. Melody had said I wasn¡¯t the only one who had been hit tonight. Of course, she didn¡¯t go into any detail whatsoever, but that was pretty much like her anyway. I took a bra into my hands and felt it. It was pretty small, not that I really needed much. My new breasts were sticking out not even two inches from my chest. I really looked like a girl in the middle of puberty, cursed by smallness genes. From my height to everything else. At least my body seemed very fit. I probably could keep up with Melody, if I weren¡¯t as small. I fit the bra around my chest snugly. The straps were a bit annoying, but what needs to be done needs to be done, right? With a bit of a smile, I slipped the white hoodie over my torso. I squeed a bit at how comfortable it felt and then looked in the mirror again in surprise. Why was this feeling so good? Why is this euphoria here? Did the change inject me with some kind of serotonin? I probably should seek a doctor about this. A few minutes later, Natalie came in and threw the panties and the sweatpants in front of me. ¡°Get those on, quick. You really need to watch the TV now. Like, really.¡± Huh, when Natalie gets excited she loses her nerdy girl personality? That was a new discovery. I should keep it in mind for future use!The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I shimmied into the panties, taking care to slip my tail through the hole that Nat made and did the same with the sweatpants. Quickly I followed Natalie into the living room, where the TV was running. ¡°... currently nobody knows how or why this is happening. The only thing we can say for certain is, with the thunderstorm, a lot of people changed. Some are even showing signs of, superpowers. We urge every citizen to stay at home if possible. Don¡¯t go outside unless it is for an emergency. We know you are scared, especially those of you who have changed. Over the next hour, the military and the police will go through every neighbourhood and we ask everyone who has changed to register with the police. We will provide you with temporary IDs until such a time that we are able to set up a permanent solution. They will come to your home, don¡¯t be scared. This is a trying time for our country and the world. But we will make it.¡± A black screen appeared for a second before the face of a rattled news anchor reappeared. ¡°That was the speech of the governor of Nova Scotia. We sincerely hope all our viewers are alright and stay safe. The RCMP representative stated earlier, they will have a provisional casualty report up by the early morning hours. Current estimates are at least ten thousand. Those are expected to rise¡­¡± Melody muted the TV. ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± I muttered and I could see my expression of shock reflected in my friends¡¯ faces. Melody recovered first, as usual. ¡°Okay, we five are all healthy. Well, one of us changed.¡± Her eyes darted to me for a second. ¡°I called all of your families, they are fine as well, none of them changed either.¡± A very audible orchestra of sighs moved through the room, then Melody fixed me with her eyes. ¡°That reminds me. They said the changed people got some sort of powers. Have you noticed anything yet?¡± I scratched my ear. ¡°Well, apart from being very foxy and having a new weak spot of pure bliss, nothing yet. I haven¡¯t lost control yet either, so¡­ maybe I don¡¯t have any powers?¡± As I said that, Damian suddenly jumped at me, his arm stretched out roaring aggressively. In panic, something snapped. Suddenly a massive wall of ice appeared right in front of me, encasing Damian¡¯s hand. ¡°Holy fuck! Sky!¡± Melody cursed. I stared at the wall of ice, a hand reaching through it, but perfectly unable to move. ¡°Ahh¡­ uhh¡­ that¡­? That was me¡­? What the fuck Damian?! Why would you charge at me like that! I don¡¯t know how to fix this¡­¡± ¡°Shh, shh, Skyla. Calm down.¡± A gentle hand stroked my back. I looked up to see Natalie standing behind me. ¡°You can do it, Skyla. Just take a deep breath and think of making the wall disappear.¡± Taking her words to heart, I took a deep breath, noticing how the air flowed through my new body into my new lungs. I breathed out and concentrated on the wall. And surely enough, it actually started to melt. Concentrating more sped up the melting process. I focused more ¡°power¡± onto the wall and it splashed down into a puddle on the ground in front of my feet. His hand finally free, Damian shook it wildly. ¡°Fucking cold man¡­¡± He grumbled angrily. ¡°Your own fault. Why try punching me¡­ Idiot?¡± I snarled. ¡°I just guessed, if you had an ability, maybe you¡¯ll activate it when you are in danger. Just a hunch.¡± ¡°Great. We know, I can create ice walls¡­ what now?¡± I plopped down on one of the pillows careful not to sit on my tail. It was as if that tail of mine had its own desires, though, and curled around my stomach. ¡°Now we wait. The police should be here soon to take your ID. Before that, we can¡¯t do anything anyway.¡± Natalie said. Barely two minutes later I groaned and let myself fall onto my back and rolled back and forth a bit. My friends were all mustering or staring at me. I was sure, but at this point, I didn¡¯t care. I really abruptly grew incredibly bored, my mind racing at several dozen miles an hour. If I had to guess, this was because of me being part fox and from what I had seen of foxes online before this, they were really active. I was really restless, so I tried something. With just a tad bit of concentrating, I managed to create an icicle in the air above my hand, make it fall down into my hand again and rise up as an icicle again, before dropping the icicle in an empty cup on the table and did the same again. But even that grew boring after just a couple of tries, so, I jumped up and scrambled to Melody and plopped myself down in her lap. ¡°I¡¯m boooooooored, Mel!¡± I looked at her with puppy eyes, almost literally, since I did have these foxy, slitted, bright yellow eyes. I blinked twice and Melody gave in and gave me super nice head pettings, even going over my ears. This was great, like, really great. I could do this all day, yes. Happily I buried my head in her chest. This caused some ¡°D¡¯aww¡± sounds to waft over to my ears from both Natalie and Lina, who had been silent thus far after being reprimanded by Melody before. However, even though I had started to purr, I noticed the air change a bit around where I was guessing Melody¡¯s face was. Neat, I can sense air humidity¡­ wait, increased air humidity around a person¡¯s face? That could only mean two things and since it was almost December in Canada, it couldn¡¯t be sweat. Still purring, I lifted my head and tried to look at her face, which she hid well from me and our friends. ¡°Why are you crying, Mel?¡± My voice was laced with worry. This seemed to have been the spark, since after that, I felt tears drip onto my head and some heaving sounds. Those heavings I could feel rocking through her body. ¡°Mel?¡± I sat up as much as I could, my purring having subsided, to try to look her in the eyes. A stream of tears flowed down her cheeks. ¡°Mel?¡± , I tried again. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ you¡­ why¡­¡± With a sniff, she tried to answer me, but when she looked at me, she broke into another sobbing fit. I took a finger and tried to whisk away some of the tears from her cheek. My eyes didn¡¯t stay dry either and tears started to build up. No. I can¡¯t cry now. She needs me. ¡°My¡­ my best friend is gone!¡± Melody managed to cry out in between pauses of her sob attacks. ¡°No, I am not gone. I am still here for you. Different, but still here.¡± She hiccuped. ¡°No. You¡¯re not¡­. You¡¯re¡­ you¡¯re not the same¡­ anymore¡­ You¡­ you look like a fox girl¡­ you¡­ you act¡­ like an animal¡­ my best friend¡­ is gone¡­ dead¡­ no more¡­¡± I listened to all she had to say with the occasional ¡°Mhh¡± as a sound of acknowledgement. ¡°Melody. Just because I behave like this doesn¡¯t mean the old me is gone. I am still myself. I am still, mostly, in control of this body. I just have new instincts. Yes, my personality might change, but look at it that way¡­ you always found me super boring anyway, right? Can¡¯t get any worse. I am still your best friend. Your family.¡± I grabbed her head and locked her view with me. ¡°Look at me. I am happy now. I feel like something that has been missing in my life suddenly clicked. Look, I was wrong, you were right all along. I was¡­ I am trans. I just got an easy out of many problems transwomen have to face.¡± ¡°And some problems added that transwomen usually don¡¯t have to face.¡± Lina added snidely from the side. I motioned her to stay silent. Meanwhile, Melody had stopped sobbing and was now only sniffling a bit. ¡°Melody, silly girl. I would never leave you.¡± ¡°But¡­ you¡¯re so different now¡­ like¡­ you purr, you curl up like a pet¡­ I am scared. I don¡¯t want to lose you.¡± I brought her head onto my tiny shoulder and caressed the back of her head as I felt my hoodie become slightly wet on my shoulder. ¡°I promise, I won¡¯t fade away, okay?¡± I said softly, almost whispering. ¡°I am still your dorky childhood friend, now in a fun sized packet, okay?¡± She nodded and sniffed loudly, her arms wandering around me to embrace me in a massive hug. I smiled and enjoyed her embrace now knowing how much I meant to her. I almost cried again there and now. However, our moment was rudely interrupted by a loud rapping on the door and a ring of the doorbell. I sighed. ¡°That must be the police. Let¡¯s get this over with, so we can sleep.¡± With an even heavier sigh, I peeled myself from Melody¡¯s arm and scampered to the door. Opening it, a male officer, probably in his early thirties and a female officer, in her late twenties, stood in front of me. ¡°Ah, another one here. Hello, sweetie. Would you be so kind as to give us your name?¡± I snorted a bit. They honestly thought I was even younger than the seventeen years I was now. ¡°Josh Blair. Now Skyla Blair.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ your gender changed as well¡­ are you okay?¡± I nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am trans.¡± The female officer let out an ¡°Ah.¡± while her colleague was tapping away on a tablet. ¡°It says here, you are 25. Is that right?¡± ¡°I was. I look like I am 18 now. Does that need to change on my ID as well?¡± The man nodded. ¡°Sadly, yes. You don''t appear to be the age you were before.¡± He tapped some more. ¡°Have you noticed any powers apart from your new additions?¡± ¡°Actually, yes.¡± , I shared. ¡°I can make ice out of thin air, it seems.¡± Both officers looked at each other, then the woman sighed. ¡°You have to come with us.¡± Refuge I blinked a couple of times. ¡°Did I hear that right? I¡¯m supposed to come with you? Why?¡± I felt my tail twitch nervously. ¡°We take all mutants with powers to the closest police station for safekeeping. For your safety and ours.¡± The man said bluntly. Mutants¡­ That word left a nasty taste in my mouth. ¡°If I have to¡­ Can my friends come with me?¡± The officer shook his head. ¡°Unfortunately no. But we can promise, you will be back home by tomorrow. We need to make sure, you and your¡­ kin¡­ don¡¯t pose any threat to the city.¡± I snorted. ¡°That is bullshit and you know it. Fine. I¡¯ll come with you.¡± Reluctantly, I turned around to see all my friends standing behind me frowning and scowling. ¡°Let¡¯s meet tomorrow for lunch. Back here, okay?¡± While Damian nodded, Natalie and especially Melody still looked worried. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, okay? The police will be there at all times. I¡¯m safe.¡± I tried to assure them. It probably didn¡¯t work and they would still be worried until they saw me again. Slinking out the door I followed the two officers to their car. To be honest, I would have guessed they had a bus around somewhere to collect the transformed people instead of moving them one by one in a car. The woman got into the driver¡¯s seat, while I was ordered to sit in the back, the male officer sitting beside me, watching me carefully. ¡°Police radio¡¯s calling you people ¡®Emerged¡¯ and this event an ¡®Emergence¡¯.¡± He said after a while. I tried to laugh a bit, but the atmosphere in the car wasn¡¯t particularly good and it kind of got stuck in my throat. ¡®My people¡¯ have a name now, great. Took them only six hours to figure that out. I played with my tail, growing more bored by the minute. However, something was off. It was deep in the night at this point, though with my enhanced senses, I could see a lot better than I used to. And I did not see buildings. Halifax wasn¡¯t a big city, sure, but, I was certain, the police station wasn¡¯t out in the woods. ¡°Officers¡­ where are we going?¡± My voice seemed to quiver. Fuck, I had absolutely no poker face anymore. I saw the male officer motion something to the woman and less than a minute later, they pulled up into some sort of camping ground parking lot. ¡°Out! Now!¡± The man ordered and shoved me hard towards the opening door. I tumbled, landing roughly on the gravel ground. ¡°Ow¡­ What¡¯s the deal?!¡± I yelled rubbing my face, which felt like it has at least been slightly bruised. Behind me, the man exited the car, his feet falling heavily into the gravel. Starting to get a bit panicked, I scrambled into a sitting position. ¡°What the hell?! I thought the police existed to protect and serve!¡± His eyes burned holes into me and his face warped into a grimace of disgust. ¡°The reckoning has begun. We have to cleanse the beasts before they sully the human race.¡± I felt my eyes bulge out and terror gripped my tiny heart. ¡°C-cleanse?¡± I squeaked out. A clicking sound came from the man. Gods above! A handgun was pointed right at me! ¡°Please¡­! Why are you doing this?! I am not a threat to you, to anybody!¡± I whimpered. ¡°It isn¡¯t about threats. You and your disgusting ilk are going to destroy the human race. We have waited for years for this day. And now, finally, you come out of your shadows and show your faces! Just know, beast, you will have died for a noble cause. Humanity will survive.¡± Before I could reply, it felt as if time froze. I sensed something else. The humidity around the man¡¯s gun suddenly dropped immensely. He had fired. I had precisely 50 milliseconds to dodge the bullet which I wouldn¡¯t. So, I reacted. When time returned to normal, I could see a chunk of ice on the ground and my chest surprisingly without a hole. I scrambled to my feet, with my size not very intimidating at all. But I scowled anyway, beads of sweat forming on my forehead. The man stared at the encased bullet for at least a minute when, from the car, the police radio was engaged. ¡°This is cruiser 339, we need assistance. We have a violent white fox girl here with ice powers. We will try to subdue, but will use lethal force as self-defence if necessary.¡± ¡°LIARS!¡± I screamed, my voice hoarse. crackly, and full of anger. ¡°What are you fucking doing, Fred? Just kill it already!¡± The woman shouted from inside the car, getting ready to exit it as well. I had to end it now, I wasn¡¯t sure I could avoid two bullets at the same time With a whispered, ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± I concentrated and found a flow of humid air fitting for the task. In almost an instant, the air around the man Fred froze entombing him in a person-sized block of ice forever preserving the face of hatred for the afterworld. I breathed heavily. ¡°Fred! You monster! You will pay for this!¡± Bullet after bullet rushed towards me, somehow I could catch them. But I grew more and more tired. I couldn¡¯t wear out the woman¡¯s ammo supply before I would faint¡­ and die. I rolled to the ground, my wall of ice following me down, splinters of ice flying everywhere as bullets one by one impacted it and I had to fill the holes made by them every time. For some reason, I could see through my ice wall. I¡¯ll take it.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Steady breaths, Skyla, this was going to be hard. Punching the top of my wall, several spikes of ice launched at the woman with great speed. I didn¡¯t want to look as I heard the surprised shriek of pain. Please, please¡­ I don¡¯t want to do this¡­I felt my eyes start to water. Not now, not now. Later. Now, I have to survive. One final shard of ice caused the shrieks to go silent, except for a gut-wrenching gurgling sound. I couldn¡¯t look. I ran. Away, I just had to get away. I needed to survive. Where to? Right now, I didn¡¯t know. I just ran through the forest. It was cold and dark, I tripped at least twenty times in my mad dash. I didn¡¯t think, I couldn¡¯t think, I wouldn¡¯t think. After something that felt like at least fifteen minutes of pure flight, I collapsed against a tree and broke down into tears. Everything that happened came back to me. Two police officers just wanted to kill me¡­ and I killed them instead. I had killed two people. Me. With my new powers. I stared at my tiny new hands¡­ blood sprang up and covered them, trailing down my arm. In a panic, I tried to swat away the blood from my hands, but it didn¡¯t leave. It didn¡¯t leave! ¡°No! No! I don¡¯t¡­! I am not¡­!¡± I couldn¡¯t form coherent sentences nor could I think properly. The blood crept up my arm, engulfed my shoulder, down my chest and stomach, but also up my neck. I was going to drown. The blood reached my mouth and I could taste iron, it filled my nose, my eyes, everything was red, I couldn¡¯t breathe anymore. I was going to drown. I snapped awake gasping as if I had just come up for air after diving. I was leaning against a tall tree. There was no blood, not on my hands, not on my face. There was no evidence on me of the terrible thing I had done. My breath was shallow. What would I do now? The police were probably hunting me now, even though, the two officers I had killed were probably not even real officers. I mean, real officers wouldn¡¯t attempt to kill an innocent girl, would they? Or¡­? Or were the police as rotten as everybody said they were? It couldn¡¯t be, right? It just couldn¡¯t. Yes, they must have been fake, no other explanation. My breath slowly steadied. There was one place where I could find refuge. I stood up and went to look for a road. Even in the middle of the night, I started to spot familiar sights. I knew immediately where I was. To be fair, there weren¡¯t many abandoned roads in the area near Halifax, so figuring out that I was near Otter Lake wasn¡¯t too hard a task, especially with the landfill that lay in front of me. I just had to walk a long while and hide as much as possible. I followed the road but hid in the bushes and trees on the side of the road. I was probably being hunted right now. Nobody should see me. A hint of fear snuck into my head, but I managed to suppress it. Sure enough, a while later, I didn¡¯t know how long, I could see an ambulance roll down the road. I gulped. No, Skyla. Focus. First, get to safety. It started to slowly lighten up outside. There was a distinct possibility that I could only notice it, though, because of my enhanced vision. I stood in the backyard of a house. There was only one way I could get in, to safety. Carefully, I climbed up the structure until I reached a window on the second floor. I knew it would be, despite the cold outside, slightly ajar, so I pushed myself through it. The landing was not the softest I could have pulled off, but it didn¡¯t matter, I was safe. The constricting feeling in my chest had vanished. With a blinding flash the lights in the room turned on and I looked into the face of a familiar girl. ¡°J¡­ Skyla?! What are you doing here¡­ you look terrible!¡± I think I heard the voice of a goddess. Yes, that must be. Something, no someone, grabbed me and lifted me up and sat me into a soft bed kneeling in front of me. ¡°Skyla? Please be all right!¡± Melody shook me lightly and wrapped her arms around me. I didn¡¯t even notice that I was crying. ¡°Mel¡­ I¡­ I killed people¡­¡± The hug ceased and I saw as she knelt down to look into my eyes. She was all blurry, though that came from the tears. ¡°You did what?¡± ¡°The¡­ the officers¡­ they were trying to kill me¡­ I didn¡¯t know what to do¡­ I... ¡° My sobs grew heavier, heaving as I tried telling Melody what happened. ¡°I killed them, Melody!¡± I yelled, my voice surprisingly clear, but that fixed itself immediately as I began crying anew. Again, I felt the warmth of her body wrapping me in its embrace. ¡°You only acted in self-defence, right?¡± Her hand went through my hair. It felt calming. Whimpering I nodded. ¡°They¡­ they were trying to kill me. They said¡­ I needed to be cleansed¡­¡± Melody proceeded to stroke my hair. ¡°They¡­ said¡­ I would destroy humanity¡­ soil the blood.¡± I felt Melody shake her head. ¡°You¡¯re not. They were radical racists. I have heard of a group like that. This event is surely a revelation for them.¡± ¡°He called it a reckoning...¡± She stroked the tip of my ears and I noticed I was calming down significantly. ¡°Mhh. Those people are going to bring ruin to this country if they aren¡¯t stopped.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but nod. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have killed them, though.¡± I lamented again, my voice still quivering. For that, I got a bap on the tip of my nose. ¡°Stop that, Sky! You did what you had to do to survive. Nobody could blame you for that.¡± ¡°I do, though. I blame myself.¡± Again, another bap on the nose. ¡°Don¡¯t. This world is crazy now. And¡­¡± I heard a sniffle. ¡°And¡­ I don¡¯t know what I would have done if I had lost you¡­¡± Oh no. I had only thought of myself this entire time and never thought of what others would feel like if the crazies had executed me. Melody would have been devastated. I don¡¯t think she would have survived another loss like that. ¡°Mel. I¡­ I realized, I don¡¯t just need to survive for myself. I need to survive for you, too.¡± She gasped and broke into tears. ¡°When I saw you sitting there, all catatonic¡­ It felt terrible, Sky. I don¡¯t want you to die. I need you!¡± Now, both of us were crying and hugging. It must have looked ridiculous from the outside, but it felt so good to be in my best friend¡¯s arms crying about the terrible things that had happened to me tonight and how lucky I was to be still alive. ¡°Mel?¡± I asked once both of us had calmed down enough to talk sense again. ¡°I need to stay hidden for a while. The police are probably looking for me. Can I stay with you for a while?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be my house fox?¡± Melody grinned mischievously. I pouted in response. ¡°Hey, if I have to house you for a while, you gotta follow my rules and everything, yes? You will be my personal cuddle fox.¡± She gave my hair another ruffle. I just couldn¡¯t resist that. ¡°Fine. I will. Just¡­ don¡¯t be a Lina, please.¡± Melody chortled, and I felt my chest warm up at the sound. ¡°Of course not, my little one.¡± She took my head and buried it in her shoulder, her hand on the back of my head felt like a safety belt. ¡°You¡¯re probably tired, right?¡± I nodded into her shoulder. ¡°I still have an old pair of PJs lying around somewhere. They should fit you.¡± She let me go and went to her closet digging around in it until she found purple pajamas holding them up for me to see. They were cute, though in a kid-like sense. Cartoon cats were printed on them doing all kinds of cute shit. I took them and retreated into the bathroom to change clothes. Arriving there, I froze when I saw myself in the mirror. This time it wasn¡¯t because of the unusual form of my body, but the shape my body was in. My pretty face was full of scratches, some had stopped bleeding not long ago. I trembled a little. The state of my body reminded me way too much of what had happened hours ago. I pushed the memories aside, growling a little, spotting cute little fangs in my mouth instead of my usual canines. Tearing myself away from the mirror, I slipped off my clothes, except for the underwear, and into the pajamas. When I returned to Melody¡¯s bedroom, she fawned over me. ¡°Awww, Sky, you¡¯re so adorable in them!¡± I blushed. Sure, I had been calling myself cute ever since the storm happened, but coming from Melody, it meant a lot to me. She softly patted her bed. ¡°Come on, Sky. Let¡¯s get you some rest, okay?¡± I nodded and practically fell into the bed she had already prepared. It was soft. Very soft. It was heaven. Second heaven after being scritched behind the ears. But it was the best thing for me right now. However, something warm closed in on me. I turned around and saw that Melody lay next to me¡­ in bed¡­ ¡°Mel¡­? What¡­?¡± ¡°Am I doing? Sleeping, silly. You woke me up way too early.¡± ¡°But¡­ with me in bed with you?¡± She smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything else. You have to put up with that. The bed is big enough for both of us, I am sure.¡± I saw her close her eyes, so I turned around. The warmth next to me was distracting at first, but the longer I was exposed to the presence of somebody next to me, the calmer I felt. It didn¡¯t take long for me to fall asleep after that. Heroes When I woke up, I was bathed in warmth. Not one, but two blankets were wrapped around me, like a foxy burrito. I rolled to the other side staring Melody straight in the face. ¡°Good morning, Sky!¡± She exclaimed happily. ¡°I hope you had a nice rest.¡± Sky? Wait¡­ yesterday happened, right? I unwrapped myself and stared at the cat pyjamas on my female body. I was a girl and it didn¡¯t feel weird, no, it felt great. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a dream, Mel!¡± I hugged myself, my tail trying its hardest to be included in the hug. From my side a rough laughter interrupted my thoughts. ¡°I¡¯m so happy that you¡¯re alright, but you should get some breakfast. Really, you must be hungry by now.¡± As if on command, my stomach started to growl and I blushed, I could smell something heavenly wafting over to me. Melody simply snorted at that. ¡°Come on out, my little fox.¡± I swung my legs off the bed, realizing now that my feet didn¡¯t actually touch the ground. At that sight, I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Haha! I am soooo tiny¡­¡± I could almost hear Melody rolling her eyes. ¡°Silly you. Move your butt or your pancakes are gonna get cold!¡± I landed on the ground, striking a pose, then wriggling my tail at Melody. ¡°I¡¯m moving my butt alright.¡± From behind me I could only hear suppressed giggles as I stode pridefully, in my cute cat PJs, into the kitchen. It was then when I realized how tiny I actually was. The chairs in the kitchen went up to my chest. I looked at Melody helplessly. ¡°Uh¡­? How¡­?¡± Uselessly I tried to hop onto the chair. When that didn¡¯t work, I pulled myself up on it, my legs kicking wildly to give me the necessary boost. Out of the blue, I felt a hand on my butt pushing me up. It surprised me so much, I almost fell out of the chair on the other side. ¡°Mel!¡± I squeaked. ¡°What? Didn¡¯t you want help¡­?¡± She looked at me with an amused smile on her face. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s eat. I got some stuff to tell you.¡± With a big sniff, I inhaled the heavenly smell that the stack of fresh pancakes exuded. I grabbed the maple syrup and poured it all over the stack licking my lips in anticipation. ¡°So, what have you found out?¡± I absentmindedly said while my mouth began watering. ¡°Well, apparently, this emergence is global. And from what I could read online, there is a lot of violent backlash to the emerged. I feel like racist groups are going to grow a lot in the coming weeks.¡± I sighed, biting into a pancake. ¡°What else?¡± ¡°Well, from what I could see, Park Lane Mall is closed because a cocoon appeared there and off the coast, some kind of artifacts appeared out of the sea. Couldn¡¯t find much more about the latter, the government has a tight lid on that.¡± She took a break, watching me eat. ¡°Have you thought about what you¡¯re going to do now?¡± I shook my head. ¡°How? I didn¡¯t really have the time to do that. I don¡¯t know, Mel, honestly. I don¡¯t want other emerged getting hurt or even killed by crazy people, but I am not sure I can even do anything about it.¡± ¡°Sure you can! You have awesome ice powers¡­¡± ¡°That I can¡¯t control properly!¡± I interrupted, my voice raised. ¡°Mel, don¡¯t you understand, if I knew my powers better, I wouldn¡¯t have killed the two people yesterday. I¡¯m exactly what they fear!¡± A resounding crack sounded through the kitchen before I felt the pain. I rubbed my cheek. ¡°Stop it, Sky! You¡¯re going down a dark path - you¡¯re not dangerous, cutie - you¡¯re an adorable fox, nothing bad, okay? Don¡¯t worry about your powers, just train them and you¡¯ll gain more control over it. You can learn how to¡­ how to protect yourself from harm better, right?¡± I shrugged, still rubbing my pulsing cheek. ¡°This world is so screwed up now. I don¡¯t know what to do¡­ I don¡¯t want to be involved in all of this, you know. I just wanted to have a normal life. Sure, I am happy that I am a girl now, yeah. It¡¯s the best feeling in the world right now, but all the extra stuff? It¡¯s cute, yeah, but I never asked to be Emerged, to be discriminated upon.¡± I stabbed my remaining pancakes with my fork. ¡°I¡¯m probably going to understand a lot better how other minorities feel. And this isn¡¯t right. For anybody. If only I had the ability to change things, you know?¡± I felt a hand softly stroking my hair. ¡°You do now, Skyla. You have the power to do some real change. Like it or not, Skyla, some Emerged have become heroes, you know? I¡¯ve seen news coverage of Toronto this morning, where a hero naming themselves ¡®Guardian¡¯ saved people all night.¡± ¡°Heh¡­ Heroes. In all the comic books, they are always self-indulgent assholes. Who¡¯d even voluntarily be one of those?¡± Melody laughed. ¡°Still. I am worried, you know? I don¡¯t want you to get hurt again. Especially by those¡­ nasty people. I really hope you¡¯ll learn how to use your powers, they will keep you safe, I think. Safer than you would be without. I¡¯ll set up a training area for you.¡± The snarl escaping my throat was unexpected, but it did underline my growing hatred for those¡­ monsters. ¡°Not today, though, Sky. You¡¯re going to rest today and get your mind in a proper state, okay? You need to get used to your body before you head out on adventures. Especially now that you¡¯re a girl. Oh, and a fox of course.¡± She smiled as my ears twitched, clearly communicating my emotions to her. ¡°Things will be different, okay? And I¡¯ll will help you with getting used to everything. You want to be as comfortable as possible, right?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I nodded and looked down at my PJ-clad body. ¡°This is probably the most comfortable I have felt in my life, Mel. This is right. This is how I always should have been.¡± Melody wrapped me in a warm hug. ¡°I know, hun. I knew it for years, I could see it in you. You were suffering without actually knowing that you were. Poor thing, you.¡± She stroked my head, her hand moving over my ears, which were lying flat on my head. It was a weird experience having ears that expressed your every mood for everyone to see. That and the tail, which was currently wagging happily and trying to wrap around Melody. For the rest of the day, Melody tried teaching me, more and more, the ways of living as a girl, what I had to keep an eye out for and even started me on makeup. The next days were spent similarly, except for a couple of hours that I spent in her yard, where Melody had set up a gym-esque area for me to train my powers at. It had been two weeks since the emergence happened and I had grown incredibly comfortable with my body. I loved it, the flexibility, my increased hearing, my tail and being a girl. Especially the latter one. Never had I felt more comfortable in my own skin as now. Every one of my movements felt good and so smooth, I was almost dancing whenever I did something that required more activity. My ears twitched as I heard somebody open the window of the house, a hundred feet behind me, trying to be as stealthy as possible. ¡°Hey, foxy!¡± Mel dropped by, literally, jumping down from the window on the second floor into the yard, where I was training. She had been training alongside me a lot as well, not wanting me to be the only one that gained more athletic prowess. ¡°Hey, Mel!¡± I greeted her, not surprised by her appearance at all. ¡°Mh, wanna go clothes shopping, foxy? I heard a new shop just for emerged opened up at Granville Mall selling clothes and other accessories. Wanna come check it out?¡± I smashed a rock I had shock frosted with my hand and then thumbed up to Mel. ¡°Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! You did manage to confirm that I was off the radar now, right?¡± ¡°Mhh.¡± Melody nodded. ¡°You¡¯re clear. The police have more and bigger problems now, like the constant fight between heroes and villains in this town.¡± I shook my head. ¡°I still don¡¯t like heroes. Pretentious butt hairs!¡± I huffed but made myself ready to go out, changing from my training gear into a jeans and hoodie combo. It was a pretty warm day for mid-December day, so I didn¡¯t need a jacket, not that I really had anything that really fit me. That¡¯s why we were going to a fashion store in the first place. To get stuff that fits me. Stepping out of the house, I started to get nervous. I got even more nervous, after I entered Mel¡¯s car. When she started the engine, I flinched and pressed my ears against my skull. ¡°Loud¡­¡± I managed to squeak out. I had been in Melody¡¯s house and backyard for so long, I forgot how sensitive my hearing was now. ¡°Mel¡­ I don¡¯t¡­ like this¡­¡± Even the cop car was a lot more silent, probably an electric car, now that I thought about it. ¡°You need to get used to it, Sky.¡± My ears were still pressed back to my head. ¡°It¡¯s so loud, though¡­ it hurts¡­¡± I felt a hand on my head softly petting me. ¡°You¡¯ll get there. Sorry, my friend, it¡¯s gonna get a bit louder now.¡± She said as she turned onto the highway. Everytime we passed a truck, I had to suppress a pained squeal. Luckily we didn¡¯t have to stay on the highway for long and as soon as we left it, the pain in my ears lessened. When Mel parked her car downtown, my stress levels had reduced to a bearable amount. Once the car shut down my ears finally rose again. ¡°Haa haa haa¡­¡± I breathed hard. ¡°I need to find out how to protect myself from all that noise¡­¡± Once again, Mel¡¯s hand landed on the top of my head and she ruffled my hair. ¡°Home was really quiet, so, you¡¯re not used to the noises of city life. Just be happy no police or ambulance is around right now. They¡¯d blow your brains out. And I still need your brains.¡± I chuckled softly at her attempted lightheartedness. Now, though, I noticed that there were people staring at me. Lots of them... Well, not all of them were staring, but at least a third were turning their heads to look at me. I felt uncomfortable under their stares. Were they good stares or bad stares? I didn¡¯t know. Well, I did now, because, somehow, I ran into a person, even with my tiny frame. I only went to just under his sternum, such tall a man he was. ¡°Miss, I would be careful with that. Should have kept that freak at home. Who knows what damage she can cause. People and their exotic pets these days...¡± I growled. ¡°Excuuuse me, mister! I am still a sentient being, thank you very much!¡± I threw into his face, trying to be as intimidating as possible, which for this small fox girl, was quite the challenge. ¡°Aha, a feisty one. You should get her neutered so she cannot reproduce.¡± ¡°WHAT?!¡± I screeched, a lot of people turning their heads to me now. ¡°That went too far!¡± I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged his face down to my level. ¡°Apologize. I have rights, too!¡± ¡°Hold on citizen! I will save you from this villain!¡± A stilted voice came from the sky above me. Gods, no. Not one of those¡­ A muscly man clad in a red spandex suit with a blue frontal torso section and a blue cape landed in between me and the asshole. ¡°I am Seeker, villain! You shall know the name of the one who will bring you to justice!¡± I stared at him incredulously. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything, though. I just had an altercation with this guy here who, for some reason, decided to insult me. You¡¯re emerged like me, we shouldn¡¯t have to put up with being treated as if we were freakish pets!¡± ¡°I have only spotted you assaulting an innocent civilian! I shall bring you to justice!¡± In disbelief I could only notice my mouth falling open, agape. ¡°Holy shit, you¡¯re even more snooty than I had originally thought¡­¡± I muttered. ¡°Surrender, evildoer! Or I will have to hurt you!¡± I looked back at Melody, whose face was as bewildered and shocked as I had imagined it to be. ¡°She hasn¡¯t done anything, douche! Why don¡¯t you get it!¡± She yelled, wet tears staining her face. ¡°Shut up, woman! You decided to walk your pet today and your pet did something wrong. It needs to be punished.¡± Suddenly, he rushed ahead, directly at me, arms stretched wide open. Oh... Right as Seeker was about to tackle me, I raised a wall of ice. With a resounding crack, the wall shattered and the hero tumbled to the ground. ¡°Leave me alone!¡± I cried as he got up. He didn¡¯t seem perturbed by my opposition and rushed me again. This time, he was too fast for my wall and slammed me into the ground. I felt as if all the air escaped my lungs, but somehow, nothing broke. Heaving, I almost vomited on the bastard that had tackled me. I wish I had, though. With a cough, I tried to pressure against his grip, but soon realized, it was no use. He was so much stronger physically. ¡°What are you planning to do with me, Seeker¡­¡± He grunted. ¡°You seem to be a low level villain, no real threat. Consider this a warning, little girl. If I ever meet you doing evil deeds again, I will send you to a detention center!¡± As a parting gift, he launched his fist into my belly¡­ Holy fuck, that hurt. I had probably coughed for at least five minutes before I even realized that Mel was wrapped around me, holding me tight. ¡°I¡¯m so, so, so, so sorry this happened¡­ First the noise, now this¡­¡± She muttered tearily. I felt something wet hit my forehead¡­ The racist dude had spat on my face! But I was too weak to do anything about it¡­ It took me at least fifteen minutes to completely recover, but I also noticed, I wasn¡¯t alone with Mel. There were at least two other obviously emerged around me trying their best to comfort me and Mel as well as a drove of several humans. They had seen everything and didn¡¯t believe Seeker¡¯s lies One of them, a woman in her early thirties, her hair a mess of glowing, golden tendrils kneeled and looked me in the eyes compassionately. ¡°Are you okay, little fox? It looked like it must have hurt.¡± I nodded and suppressed the tears that were threatening to be released again. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, thanks¡­¡± Then, I couldn¡¯t hold it anymore and broke into a heart wrenching sob. ¡°I¡­ I just wanted¡­ wanted to go clothes shopping¡­ not¡­ not¡­ this!¡± ¡°Clothes shopping?¡± The woman asked gently. ¡°Could it be, you wanted to go to Alexa¡¯s Attires for Emerged?¡± I nodded, my tears subsceding. The tendril woman smiled gently. ¡°Aww, cutie. Nice to meet you, little fox. I¡¯m Alexa, owner of Attires for Emerged. Want to try on some clothes? I have some stuff that would look absolutely marvellous on you.¡± She bent down and whispered into my twitching ears. ¡°I may or may not give you your first outfit for free. Hmm? How does that sound?¡± Several hours later, I walked out of Alexa¡¯s shop wearing a cute and comfortable hoodie and an extremely comfy, ice blue scarf wrapped around my neck.