Kinetic Potential
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I slowly crawled up from the person-sized crater I found myself in. My entire body felt like it was shaking, buzzing, and vibrating as small bolts of orange energy shot a few inches off me in every direction. Mud clung between my fingers as I moved across the grass, desperate to find a momentary halt to the turbulence in my very being. My breath ragged, I slumped against the truck of a tree. The dwindling daylight was peaking through the branches of the foliage surrounding me. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down.

“Just… need… to… stop…” I said out loud. I took a few deep breaths trying my best to remember what my mother had told me as a kid when I began to have panic attacks in elementary school. 

“Deep breaths,” she had told me, “Find your center. Let your problems wash away even just for a moment.” I nodded along to the voice in my head. I took my breath deeper and held it more restrained. Slowly an image began to form in my head of a forest meadow with flowers and trees and absolutely no mirrors. My safe place. I cracked an eye open to peek at my surroundings. Upon closer inspection, they actually looked kind of similar to my safe place. This connection proved to be the final push I needed, and felt my shoulders finally untense and the grip of my palms relax. With both eyes now open, I also observed that the small bolts of energy were no longer running off of my body. I sighed in relief. I looked down at my hands.. My fingers were smaller, but still long. Some of the roundness at the tips had been shaved off, giving them a very delicate shape. Turning them over I found that the undersides were similarly changed. It was difficult to tell without anything to compare to, but my feet appeared smaller too.

I grabbed at my pants, well, my sisters pants and found they were now much more snug and well fitting. They molded around my butt much better that they had previously. I noticed with… that gone the pants were much smoother in the front. I bit my lip. Nobody was around, I could check without anybody really noticing. I shook my head. As soon as the thought entered my head it felt wrong. I wasn’t ready for something like that. Instead I ran my hands across my stomach, surprised by how toned and flat it felt against my fingers. Unlike my crotch my hands shot to my chest surprisingly fast.. I cupped them slowly and lifted them. They felt sort of big, but I could tell at the same time they weren’t unusually huge. They seemed to be sized perfectly for my body. I frowned, noticing that one was a bit bigger than the other. Maybe not? Could be an Alter thing.

My hair felt a little bit longer, but not by much. Maybe from my head shrinking a bit? Nobody ever covered what your first time transforming was like in class yet, I was pretty much stuck figuring things out for myself. But how did the wolf boy grow his hair? I shook my head in frustration. Why is my Alter form a girl? Is that a thing that can happen? Why did this have to happen to me? I couldn’t be a girl. none of it made any sense. I slammed my fist against the tree and sent fragments of bark back in my face as the tree shook violently. I scooted back out of the way of falling leaves and twigs and stared back down at my hands in awe. . That was… me? I rose from the ground, suddenly intrigued by the possibilities of what this new form could do. I could feel a buzzing deep within me, an energy pulsating and waiting to break free. Energy crackled to life again from my skin, but this time it wasn’t scary. It was me. 

I looked at a tree about 50 yards in front of me and moved to take a step. In that instant I could feel that buzz within grow stronger, and before I knew it I had taken much more than one step and had reached my destination. I looked back, amazed at what I had just done. I took my phone out and opened up a timer app. There was a trail of sorts past the tree that forked about fifty yards away. I set the timer on the device for 5 seconds, about how long it’d take a person to sprint to that point. Lowering into a sort of runner's stance, I eased my racing breaths and sprinted forward. I was amazed, I was moving so fast! I looked down while running to watch my legs move while I was running found that they were slowing down somewhat before my eyes. Was I winded already? Stopping at the fork, I brought my phone back out stopped the time.

1.02 seconds.

1.02 seconds?!

I tried to calculate the numbers with the assistance of my phone, but found myself peculiarly impatient with the time it took to start the app. Instead I stuffed my phone back into my pocket and finished the equation in my head.

I had run slightly over one hundred miles per hour. A laugh erupted from my lips. Wait, no. That wasn’t a laugh; that was a giggle! I could giggle? I shook my head, conflicting thoughts fighting inside. I looked out past the trees and saw the faint silhouette of the city skyline. Energy began buzzing around me. I had to see what I could do. Once more I took off, trees whizzing by as I raced towards the city. Oddly enough, while I expected moving at super speed to require more concentration, it actually came with surprising ease. It was like I could just comprehend everything faster. It felt amazing. I even had a line of light trailing behind me in dazzling orange and red color. Before I knew it I was out of the woods and racing down the suburban street. Just when I thought I was running at my maximum speed, I could feel some deeper energy open up. Further and further down I dug while my surroundings sped by faster and faster, eventually becoming an almost indistinguishable amalgamation of houses. A car pulled out in front of me, blocking my way. Not a split second to lose, I jumped. And holy shit did I ever as I soared far past the truck and down the block. I landed on my heel with a slight hitch but continued right on like it was nothing.

This was absolutely incredible.

I noticed that it looked like I was in the heart of downtown, shop lights twinkling in the deep twilight. Smiling I continued my gait before smelling the wonderful, intriguing and greasy scent of Planetarium Pizzeria. A large growl in my stomach alerted me that I was basically starving. Maybe I could just have one slice? Unfortunately the momentary lapse in concentration proved too great a distraction and I consequently lost my footing, sending me head over heel tumbling into an empty alleyway. I slammed into an empty trash can with resounding THUD, eliciting a higher pitched yelp from deep within my throat. I found that, despite everything I had just done, I actually wasn’t dead. I rubbed my head and picked myself back up on wobbly legs. I should be halfway to the afterlife after a stunt like that. I guess Alters really are more durable. While my vision slowly recovered from the intense blurriness it was now engulfed in, I stumbled over to the end of the alley. 

Peaking out onto the street I began to recognize exactly where I was. A few blocks away from Planetarium Pizzeria but still quite a ways from school. I decided to check the dumpster behind me for any kind of shoes that might fit my smaller feet in the hopes that I could avoid repeating that last fall. Unfortunately even after looking through several trash cans and dumpsters I didn’t find anything. Making a mental note to grab new shoes for this form later. I stepped away from the dumpster and spotted a broken mirror partially popped up behind it. 

As my image came into view my stomach dropped out from under me. I was gorgeous. My complexion was significantly clearer scant a cluster of freckles centered over my nose. My eyes were bigger and more expressive, my nose a cute button ghost of its former self. My hair, now a more vibrant ginger that seemed almost electrically so did indeed come down to just past my jawline. A few off colored strands of lighter hair mixed in with the rest, giving my overall color profile a sort of textured look. Everything else about me was smaller, my shoulders, my waist, even my torso was significantly thinner and shorter than before. I pulled my GRL POWER shirt up while looking to inspect the abs I had felt earlier and was shocked, my stomach was incredibly toned! I pulled back the sleeve of the top I was wearing up and flexed my arm. A toned muscle popped out of my frail-looking arm’s frame. Girl or not, guess I did still get the muscles.

Still, I couldn’t shake my focus off the new globules of fat that now adorned my chest and the lack of my previous equipment between my legs. Why didn’t I hate this? I’m not supposed to be like this. I’m not supposed to be a girl. Yes, I was wearing my sister’s clothes, but what boy wasn’t curious about how girls clothes felt. It didn’t mean I wanted an Alter form with a gender change included. Thinking back on what I had seen about other Alters from television and the internet I knew that while Alter forms tended to reflect a person’s inner nature, they didn’t often include a sex change with them. Not to say that some transgender Alters didn’t exist, but it looked like they always ended up having fairly androgynous Alter forms either from the start or ended up there at some point. Of course most of them lived pretty private lives so there wasn’t much known besides a few declarations of support and occasional appearances in pride parades.

Before I could continue my train of thought I heard a gasp followed by the sound of a gruff voice saying something in a low tone further down the alley. I wandered down away from the road deeper into the alley in search of the sound with my fingers running along the worn brick work of the adjacent building. I approached a corner where the alley split into a path on the left and right. The path to the left led back out onto the street, however once I peeked around the corner on the right I could see a woman next to a car with a man holding a knife pointed right at her. She had her hands up in fear and he seemed to be moving forward very slowly. I felt a small surge or power within me. I could think about my problems later, this was something I had the power to deal with right now.

I jumped out from the corner and sped at them, slamming my shoulder into his torso and sending him crashing to the ground. He flew backwards in what seemed like half the speed he should have, his knife as well was turning in the air slowly before clanking on the ground next to him. I stood there for a moment in front of the woman waiting for the guy to rise from the ground, but he stayed down, apparently laid out by my shoulder check. I turned around to the woman to check on her.

“Are you okay?” I asked her. She took a longer amount of time to respond than I had expected, and her response was long and drawn out.

“Thank… you… who… are… you…?”

“Why are you speaking so slowly? Are you hurt, ma’am?” I asked her.

“Why… are… you… speaking… so… fast…?” she replied with a confused glance. I looked around us at the guy sprawled out on the ground and the knife next to him. Realization started to dawn on me but I needed to test my theory. A piece of wood was laying on the ground underneath me so I picked it up and gently threw it at the opposing side of the alley. It left my fingers slowly, traveling in the air again at half speed before knocking off the wall and clambering onto the ground and confirmed my earlier idea. I seemed to still moving at a heightened speed. Fear crept into my veins for the first time since all this had started. Would I ever be able to slow down? Was I cursed to always move faster than everyone else every time I used my Alter form? It would never be anything more than a momentary use thing for me. Why was that so distressing? I fell back against the wall and felt myself begin to hyperventilate. I was a freak.

Instead of running off, the woman approached me slowly making sure to stay clear of the man still laid out. She placed her hand on my shoulder and in the same dragged out method tried to calm me down.

“It’s… going… to… be… alright. You’ll… be… okay. You… just… need… to… settle… your… thoughts.” I tried to heed her advice and thought back to my safe place. The green grass shining in the sun. The gentle rustle of the leaves in the breeze. I felt my muscles un-clench and the everpresent bolt of energy inside me seemed to mute somewhat.

“Better?” the woman asked quietly. I noticed that the speed of her speech was much faster than it previously was, virtually at a normal pace. I nodded my head.

“Thank you,” I sighed softly. She patted my shoulder. I got a good look at her for the first time from the light of a backdoor nearby. She had dark hair speckled with gray strands pulled into a tight braid and laugh lines that ran down the sides of her mouth.

“Not a problem, my wife works with Alter folks and is an Alter herself so I’ve picked up a few things,” she smiled, “What’s your name?” I hesitated, unsure what to say. I didn’t want it getting out that I used my Alter form outside of school, even accidentally. Let alone the fact that I was a girl, for which I would surely face some sort of mockery for. I could hear it now, digs and calls of the hermaphrodite speedster. I winced inwardly, I couldn’t let that happen.

“Maybe it would help if I told you my name first. My name is Melissa.” She said softly. I decided to give her a fake name, anything to get her off the subject. There was a girls name I had always liked, after all.

“G-Gabrielle.” I whispered.

“Well Gabrielle, it looks like you’re an Alter.” she smirked.

“I hadn’t noticed…” I chuckled a bit.

“That-a-girl,” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that comment, but it wasn’t something that immediately struck me as wrong. She continued, “Humor is the best way to come to terms with your new identity. Is this your first time transformed?” I nodded again. “That’s okay. It’s a perfectly natural expression of your biology. You’ll find that in time you’ll come to view your alter form as more of a different side of the same coin that is Gabrielle.” Her advice was strangely calming and I found my racing thoughts quieted.

“Really?” I asked. She nodded.

“Yes. Now I don’t mean to dig, but do you go to Alter Academy here in Crescent City?” My attention snapped back to full focus. Why was she asking? If I said yes would it get back to the school? They’d make me show everyone and… no. She couldn’t know.

“I have to go.” I responded, quickly rising from the ground. I looked back at her for a moment.
“Wait!” Melissa called out, but I was already gone in a cloud of dust.

The city raced by in a blur once more. It was getting late, I needed to get home. The tall building turned to smaller offices which transitioned into the suburbs I was familiar with. I turned on a heel into an alley that bordered my house’s fence and the neighbor next door’s fence. As I stopped I smelled smoke very close. I looked down and found that my clothes were actually smoking and smoldering somewhat. I fearfully patted them down quickly. Was this something I was going to need to worry about with all of my clothes?

One of the boards had a knot in the center which I could peer through. I knelt down into the still-wet dirt and looked through. Even in the wee remaining hours of the day Mom was still working in the garden, though she looked to be about finished. Usually gardening was the final thing she did in the day, a “rigorous after dinner decompress” she called it. The window to my room was located just above and to the left of the back door where mom currently stood. I’d need to get a change of clothes first, considering I was still wearing Jules’ clothes.

I wasn’t sure if there was a way I could get past her. Could I really run so fast that she wouldn’t notice? And that was if I could even get up to the window. I wouldn’t need to go all out but I would need to be seriously booking it to get up to the second floor. That was a tall order for someone who got his Alter form only a few hours ago. Regardless I didn’t really have another choice. I waited for her to bend over to pick up a planter to make my move. Everything seemed to slow down as I hopped over the fence and raced forward. Too late I realized I didn’t know if I could actually run up the side of the house. I’d seen it on the news before, sure, but the news isn’t usually instructional in how to perform feats of Alter greatness. Nevertheless, I raised my foot to meet the siding of the house and promptly was thrown off by the sudden change in gravity. Just as quickly as I had taken a few steps up I fell back down into a brush pile below. If I wasted even a second Mom would be able to see me, I was in plain sight of her once she turned around. Time still appeared to be dampened, so without thinking I quickly brushed myself off and threw myself back over the fence.

Everything sped back up again, and the sounds I had caused while sped up erupted from the backyard, causing my mother let out a sharp yelp and dropped the pot she had been carrying. It smashed on the concrete of the patio with a loud CRASH. I continued to look through the knot in the wood as she looked around for the source of the noise, becoming frustrated when she found nothing.

“Hello? Is someone there?” she called out. I held my breath, I felt horrible about what I had caused, but I couldn’t let her see me. I just couldn’t. Not receiving an answer, she huffed and stepped inside to presumably grab a broom. I seized my chance and hopped over the fence again and repeated my previous maneuver. Expecting the gravity change this time, I was able to successfully continue my way up the siding of the house. It was odd, I would have expected this to be harder but it felt like this almost came naturally. My bare feet stepped across the siding naturally, as if I was running on any other surface. I slipped into my room successfully and landed on the floor with only a soft thud. 

It was weird to look around my room from a different perspective than I was used to. I knew my Alter form was shorter, but this is a bigger change than I was expecting. I looked around and found some clothes on the ground that I had worn a few days ago. Utilizing my speed made changing extremely quick. As soon as I was finished though I noticed that my pants were extremely baggy and the cuffs rested in a bundle of the material at my feet. I groaned, that seemed like it would be a common experience in the future. I grabbed some sandals from my closet and popped my head back out my window. Mom was just starting to sweep up the pots. I waited for her to complete her task wistfully. I had never really snuck out of my house before, but here I was sneaking in, about to sneak back out, so that I could walk in the front door. How ridiculous my life had gotten in just a short amount of time.

Eventually Mom finished sweeping and took the pot remnants inside. I jumped out the window, landing in the same brush pile I had been in previously with a thump. I looked around, it didn’t look like anyone had heard me. I made my way back to the small alleyway and couldn’t help but notice that my breasts were starting to hurt. Like, a lot. As soon as I changed back it would stop I told myself. Except as I squatted in that alleyway, I couldn’t seem to change back. I tried everything, saying magic words, making hand gestures, hell I even looked for pressure points anywhere I could find them to no avail. I sighed and sat on the grass. People don’t get stuck in their Alter forms, that’s just not something that happens. Then again, I couldn’t remember the last Alter who was public about how they could change their sex. I shook my head, panic was starting to set in and that was not how I was going to get out of this mess. My thoughts drifted back once more to my safe place. The feeling of the sun shining down on my skin and the warmth that radiated through me. It was so pleasant. It kept growing and growing, covering every inch of my body in that radiant warmth. I opened my eyes to find my jeans were no longer bunched up around my feet. Likewise, my shirt and shoes were better fitting as well. I ran my fingers over my face and found a familiar wider set jaw and adams apple. Strangely feeling these features of my anatomy didn’t seem to improve my mood. A quick check of my crotch confirmed it. I was me again. I breathed a sigh of relief and picked myself up. Finally I could be done with this crazy night.

I approached the front door trying my best to remain calm. If I acted like nothing had happened I could just take this on the chin from Mom and get it over with. I walked in through the door like I did earlier in the afternoon and called out that I was home. Jules and Parker were watching a reality TV show while having their eyes glued to their phones until my voice sounded in the house. After that they darted up at me mischievously. 

“Hey, Gavin~” they chimed in unison. God, that was always the creepiest thing. “Mom was looking for you.” I groaned. Yeah, that made sense. I heard a clamoring from the back door.

“Gavin?” Mom called out, a sharp edge to her voice clearly evident. That was her chewing out voice.

“Yeah.” I replied. I readied myself. This wasn’t going to be fun. A few ideas of what I could say popped into my head as she came stomping into the room still wearing her gardening gloves with a bit of dirt caked on her jeans.

“Why in the world did you leave the house earlier without telling me?” she demanded. 

“I just had a lot of my mind,” I replied, hoping she’d buy the lie I’d cooked up, “I wanted to take a walk.” She eyed me skeptically.

“In the pouring rain. With no umbrella. And your clothes aren’t even a little bit wet.” she crossed her arms. She had me there, I completely forgot it was raining earlier in all my previous excitement.

“I- I just… okay, you got me. A person from school wanted to hang out and I don’t have any other friends so…” I trailed off. I chuckled inwardly. That was only a lie insofar as I was saying I actually had a friend. Some of the sadness that though kindled must have shone through in my eyes, because Mom’s look softened.

“Oh, Gav,” she sighed, “I’m sorry for pushing. Still, you need to tell me when you’re leaving, either by texting me or by leaving a note at the very least.” she huffed.

I nodded my head, “Yeah, you’re right, Mom. I’m sorry.” Weirdly, I didn’t think that was a lie. Somewhere inside of me was apologetic for something. Not this, but something.

“That’s okay sweetie. Your dinner is in the fridge, I’ll go warm it up.” She stepped away before snapping back. “By the way, you left your phone in the laundry room.” She handed it back to me quickly before heading back to the kitchen. Crap, I left my clothes on the ground in the laundry room! Does she suspect something? She didn't say anything else while she walked away so I couldn’t be sure.

I finished dinner that night with little fanfare and retreated up to my room against my mothers protests. I just needed some time away from everything for a while. I booted up my computer and started playing an FPS. As always my friends list was empty as I joined lobby after lobby and did solidly okay. By the time I looked at the clock next it was 11:30pm. Deciding it was probably a good time to get ready for bed, I closed out of my game and made my way to the bathroom. Most everyone else had retreated to their rooms as well. I could see some light peeking out from underneath Jules’ and Parker’s doors whereas Mom’s room was completely dark. I closed the bathroom door quietly and turned the nozzle in the shower. Hot water started spraying out of the shower head and splashing down against the porcelain material of the bathtub. I always found pleasant stimulation in that sound. Regardless of the earlier events of the day, I still liked the idea of basking in warm rain drops.

I took off my clothes and let them fall to the ground in a messy pile. The mirror caught my eye; a lanky too-tall for his weight awkward teenager was looking back at me and caused me to frown. I didn’t hate him but I couldn’t say I liked him either. He was a reflection of all of my loneliness and awkwardness. But regardless, he was still me. The doorknob lock caught my eye, inspiring a curious thought. I silently turned it to the lock position to secure it. When everyone at school today transformed it hadn’t actually been very noisy, had it? It was more of a flash than anything. The whisper of a smile ran across my lips as I imagined that power running through me again. That electricity. A flash rang out followed by a quiet whoosh of air. Once my eyes adjusted I was met with her. Er, me. My Alter form. Gabrielle. I’ll call her Gabrielle.

This mirror being much clearer allowed me to really inspect a few details of my appearance I had missed previously in the dirty alley mirror. My eyes were so beautiful. Emerald green with a hint of amber running through the irises. The smile caused by this discovery was so cute. This girl, my Alter form, she felt so right. I stepped back, once more running my eyes over my new curves and slopes. I’m not afraid to admit I checked myself out a small amount that night, who wouldn’t? I was definitely a knockout.

After what seemed to be the most luxurious shower of my life spent basking in the warm water as it poured all over my breasts and thighs and everywhere else, I shifted back to my default form. I noted that my hair was still wet and my skin still felt clean. I guess that lady really was right about myself and Gabrielle being part of the same coin. Once settled into the covers on my bed I quickly passed out with a large smile on my face. 

I was incredibly apprehensive about school the next day, but unfortunately since I couldn’t tell mom about what all had happened the day before, she didn’t leave me much negotiating room. Everything about the walk and ride to school this time was so much slower, it was nearly unbearable. It was all just so slow, and I could go so fast! I grumbled sourly as I stepped off the bus and headed into the school. Once inside my nerves amped up as I began to realize that I was hiding what was essentially honey from that children’s character, the bear one. How would they know it was me? I barely made an appearance last night, and I’m fast as all get out, no way anyone saw me. My grip on my backpack relaxed a bit and I headed towards my homeroom where Ms. Catarelli stood facing the class looking through a few pieces of paper. The bell rang just before I sat in my seat, prompting a nod from her.

“Good morning, everyone,” she started off. The class moaned and grumbled a return greeting prompting her to roll her eyes and smile, “Everyone have a good night last night?” The class repeated their earlier pathetic response. “Good, good. I know someone had a pretty good night last night,” she smiled. My stomach dropped out from under me. There was no way they knew, right? “Looks like last night a new speedster was finally spotted racing through the city.” The class immediately perked up. Even on day two the imposing absence of the second speedster of the area had apparently been communicated to the student body. Ms. Catarelli continued, “Whoever she was, she helped save Mrs. Bittinboulder’s wife from being mugged. So, round of applause for that.” She retained a curiously straight face while prompting the class for applause, as if searching the faces of all of us for guilt or doubt or… something. I wasn’t sure. Regardless, it still felt incredibly nice to be noticed, even if it wasn’t exactly me that was in the spotlight. A few girls even voiced their approval that the new speedster was a woman with a whistle. If only they knew. The clapping died down at Ms. Catarelli’s request.

“So, on that note, it is expressly forbidden from practicing your powers outside of the designated areas and times inside the school campus. If this mystery speedster is any of you, please come forward.” she said flatly and crossed her arms. Of course nobody else stepped forward, and I certainly wasn’t going to either. While she waited, I caught something weird about her eye movements. She was looking back and forth between all the girls around me in the class. Did she expect the new speedster to have a female default form? I inwardly sighed, of course she did. Sex swapping Alter forms definitely weren’t normal. After another awkward amount of silence she held her hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay. Sorry for the third degree. The administration just wanted to get that information out there.” She finished before turning to head back to her desk. I drew a deep breath and imagined how many more times I was going to experience this conversation today. 

Today wasn’t going to be fun.

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