Chapter 10 - Monster Menace

“What was so important that you needed me to come to the mall tonight?” asked Violet.  “We all have our dresses for tomorrow.”

“Not what,” said Bailey, pointing to three girls standing near the Venn Machine.  “Who.”

Violet smiled when she saw the three cheerleaders that had helped her over the past week.  “Amelia, Darla and Stella all want dresses?”

“Yep.  We won’t be the only two showing off tomorrow.  Chelsea will blow a gasket.  Plus, when they found out we’d added school-approved body mods to our price list, they wanted in on that as well.”

“You put all the new stuff up?” asked Violet.  At Bailey’s nod, she grinned.  “This might get interesting.”

Violet and Bailey approached the cheerleaders.  Violet waved as they got close.  “So what’s the plan?”

Amelia looked to the others.  “Dresses and some exploration of what ‘school approved body alterations’ means.”

Violet explained the constraints of the policy that would be announced the following morning.  She showed off her tentacle arm going from tentacle mode to hand mode when she got to the bit about “forearms must be able to look human”.

“How far can you go with the dynamic forms?  Could we get cat claws that look normal when not extended?” asked Amelia eagerly.

Violet shook her head.  “I could probably do it, but claws would count as weapons.  I might be able to manage something that changes colour patterns?  I haven’t tried that before, it could be fun to experiment with.”

The cheerleaders were also disappointed to hear that cat-ears were also off the table due to allergies.  They huddled together for a few minutes to come up with some new ideas, and before long Amelia was approaching Violet once more with a new design in mind.

“Before we start, there was something else on your site.  A price for changing you.  What’s up with that?”

Violet shrugged.  “Part of ending the blacklist.  You’ve already paid for the last time you changed me, you paid extra for the costume.  This way if people want to have fun with me, well... I get something out of it.”

Amelia slowly pulled out a bill, and handed it to Bailey.  “So this means I can turn you into whatever I want?”

Violet found the intensity of Amelia’s gaze disturbing on several levels.  Her breath quickened.  “I... yes.  Hadn’t thought about paying in advance.  You don’t get to keep me.”

“Wasn’t planning to.  Do I still pay if you decide you like what I did?” asked Amelia in a low, sultry voice.

“I...”  Violet looked over to Bailey, who shrugged.  “No.  You get your money back.  If it’s good enough, I’ll give you a discount on the next, ah, service.”  

Violet took a step back as Amelia pressed forward eagerly.  “Then I’ll have to make it a good one.  Come on!”

Violet set the Venn Machine for a month.  Amelia tsked softly.  “Are you sure?  What if I turn you into a swarm of butterflies?  You’d never get enough of you back into the Venn Machine to restore yourself any time soon.”

Violet looked shocked.  “I’d never considered that.  I...  Eh, I’m pretty sure you want your friends to get pretty shapes and dresses too.”

Amelia laughed and nodded.  “True.  But you should think about how you’ll handle such things.  Certainly before you let Chelsea change you.”

Violet’s eyes went wide.  “Oh.  I suppose she’s off the black list too.  Not that she ever came to me.”

“She really doesn’t like the Venn Machines,” agreed Amelia.  “Hates the thought of what they can do.  Which is why you’re going to turn us into creatures of legend.  I want her to see this blow coming.”

Violet blinked.  “What blow didn’t she see coming?”

“Have you watched the video of Katie’s fight?”

Violet winced and shook her head.  “I can’t.”

“You should.  She was amazing.  But there’s a bonus cut at the end.  Of ‘someone’ secretly recording Chelsea’s order to mess Katie up.  At lunch.  When she’d arranged for there to be no teachers around.”

Violet’s eyes went very wide.  “You?”

“I know who did it, and helped it on its way.  I’d rather not say who, as I’d prefer they escape Chelsea’s notice for that particular stunt.”

“Given Chelsea’s likely reaction if she finds out who did it, I’m not surprised.  So Chelsea’s reputation is shot?”

“Close.  We’re here to finish the job.  C’mon, I can’t wait to be this.”

Violet nodded, and gestured for Amelia to enter the Venn Machine.  “Step into my office.”

It took about ten minutes of focussed work to get the effects Violet was after, and Amelia had been nude for half of it.

“Don’t you find me attractive?” asked Amelia as she put her plain white dress back on.  “You barely looked at me, you were looking at whatever you were doing.”

Violet chuckled softly.  “I do.  Which is why I was trying to keep it professional.  You’d prefer I leer?”  She did so.

Amelia grinned.  “That’s more like it?  Though I suppose you’re leering at your handiwork, not at me as I am.”

“Not as much difference as you’d think.  I’m gilding the lily here, not creating something new.  Ready?”

Amelia nodded, then cheered as she felt her body change.  She pulled a lock of hair around to look at it - instead of blonde, it was now the colour of spun gold.  “Oh, wow.”  She pulled her not-so-simple-any-more dress open to look over the golden scales covering her body.  “Gilding the lily indeed,” she giggled.  “Oop, gotta do my change too.”

Violet held her breath as Amelia reached for the dwindling green circle.  A moment later she was looking down on Amelia, and released her breath explosively.  “This is...  Woah.  What did you do to my voice?”  Violet’s voice had dropped an octave, to a smooth tenor.

Amelia was already out of the Venn Machine and staring at herself in the mirror.  Her hair had grown even wavier, and formed a halo of gold about her head.  Her face was unchanged, save for the glittering ruby eyes and the pointed elven ears.  Peeking out from the collar of her white cheongsam dress was a fringe of golden scales, hinting at the ones further down her body.

The dress itself had simple lines, the better to showcase the embroidery.  Two dragons curled around her body from either side, showing their head, a wing, and two clawed limbs.  One was silver with brilliant blue eyes, the other green.

Amelia turned back to Violet with a huge smile on her face.  “I look incredible!  Consider this lily truly gilded.  What do you think of your change?”

Violet looked down at herself.  “Oh.  I...”  She flexed an arm, eyes widening at the muscles rippling under the skin.  “Woah.  I’m ripped.  And huge.  How tall did you make me?” she asked in her new, deep voice.

“Not quite seven feet tall.  You’ll need to duck under most doors.”  Amelia reached up to squeeze Violet’s bicep.  “Mmm, sexy.”

“What?  You didn’t turn me into a guy, did you?”  Violet quickly checked her chest, and a hand went to her crotch.  Nope, still female, though her breasts didn’t seem to have grown with the rest of her, so she had a very masculine mein.

“Would it be so bad to be a hunky guy?” asked Bailey, pretending to wipe drool from her chin.  “You’re sexy as hell.”

“What?”  Violet looked to the other girls, both nodding in agreement.  “This is...  You think I’m hot?”

“Pick me up,” cooed Stella.  Violet did so, amazed at how light the cheerleader felt.  Stella even talked her into tossing and catching her, turning artfully in the air as she did so, and posing as Violet set her down.

“We could use you on the squad like this,” mused Amelia.  “But I don’t think the giant girl thing will fit the new regs, right?”

“I’m no cheerleader.  No insult meant, you three have been nice.  The others...”  Violet shrugged.  She crouched in front of Amelia, and pulled her into a hug.  “Thanks for this.  I can’t stay this way, but...  I suspect I’ll try this out again.”

Amelia purred happily into the hug, then squeaked.  “What’re you doing to my head?”

“N...nothing!”  Violet pulled her hand back.  “I just wanted to see...”

Two ruby-red horns were rising up from the top of Amelia’s head.  They had rounded tips to make it clear they had no combat value, and when Amelia reached up to touch them they yielded like rubber.  “Horns?”

Amelia turned back to the mirror and grinned.  “Wicked.  How do I make them show up?”

“I... it was supposed to be voluntary, but...”

Amelia touched her horns again, cooing softly.  “They feel...  Ohrr, so nice.”  As she stroked them, they grew.  “Did you give me nipples on my head?  Is that how they work?”

“Maybe?” squeaked Violet.  “I can change them back.”

“No!” barked Amelia.  “I... I like them.  So pretty.  So rude.”  She giggled.  “Come on girls, your turns.”

Before long, Stella and Darla had matching bodies.  Stella had silver hair and scales, with blue eyes and horns to complement them.  Her dress had a golden dragon and a green dragon on it.  Darla had green hair and scales, offset by pearlescent horns and eyes.  The cheongsam she’d been given had a gold and silver dragon.

“Are we wearing each other’s dragon forms?” asked Stella.  “Brilliant!”

“And there’s one more thing,” added Violet.  “The capes.”

Amelia turned to check, and flowing down the back of her dress was a narrow golden cape that fell to the back of her knees.  “What about it?  It’s pretty.”

Violet instructed her on how to find the loops concealed in the edges of the cape.  When Amelia slipped her wrists into them and spread her arms wide, the cape flared out like a pair of golden dragon-wings.  “Awesome!  I thought you said we couldn’t have wings.”

“Costume wings aren’t body mods,” said Violet with a grin.  “We established that last week.”

“Tomorrow’s going to be awesome!”

Violet sighed.  “I hate that Katie’s going to miss it.  It’s not fair that she’s suspended and Chelsea isn’t.”

Bailey reached up to pat Violet on the arm.  “It’ll be okay.  She’ll be there in spirit.  So.  Are you going home seven feet tall, or changing back now?”

Violet flexed again.  “I love this…  But Amelia was right.  This won’t fly.”

Bailey nodded, and turned back to the Venn Machine as the cheerleaders waved and headed off.  “Let’s get you back to tentacle-normal.  But first…”

“Yes?”

“Pick me up.”

Violet scooped Bailey up in her arms easily, pulling her into a muscular hug that left the smaller girl breathless.  The kiss that followed was scorching.

“We are so doing that again,” panted Bailey happily once her feet were back on the floor.  “Maybe by shrinking me, so you fit in cars.”

“It’s a date.”

*** *** ***

The next day, Jimmy was waiting for Violet just outside the schoolground.  He presented her with a gaily wrapped jewelry box.  “From Katie, so you don’t forget her.”

“As if I could ever,” laughed Violet as she pulled off the ribbons.  When she had the box open she gasped.  Inside was a silver octopus necklace, with two of its tentacles elongated to go around her neck and clasp in back.  “It’s beautiful!”

The octopus winked a sparkling diamond eye, and wriggled happily.  

“Katie?” asked Violet softly, wonder in her eyes.  “You…”

“She can see and hear just fine, but she can’t talk.  It’s the perfect shape for her.”

The silver octopus flipped a tentacle at Jimmy in what was obviously intended as a rude gesture.  Violet giggled.  “Yep, that’s my kit-kat in there.  Help me put her on?”

Violet lifted the necklace to her throat, but before Jimmy cold do anything the two long tentacles wrapped gently around her neck.  They met in back with the click of magnets finding each other.

“She’s not quite strong enough to pull the magnets apart herself,” said Jimmy.  “So she’s stuck until you take her off.”

“Her idea?”

Jimmy shrugged.  “Just happened.  She didn’t ask to try again.”

Violet touched the necklace softly, felt its tentacles twine with hers.  “Thank you.  Both of you.  Time to go face Chelsea.”

“You didn’t think you were going to face her alone, I hope?” asked Bailey.

Violet smiled.  “Not in the slightest.”

“Good,” came Amelia’s voice from a bundled up figure that Violet hadn’t recognized until she spoke.  Two other covered-up figures stood beside her.  “We’ll follow your lead.”

Violet grinned and stretched her tentacles, then squared her shoulders.  “Showtime.”  She strode forward to confront her foe.  Chelsea was holding court as usual, but when her eyes caught Violet’s, she could see a darkness there that almost stayed her hand.

Then the moment was over, and Chelsea was once again bragging about another “stolen” design that had, once again, been over-garnished with sparklies.

“Yeah?” asked Violet when Chelsea was done.  Then she slipped out of her jacket to show off her new dress.  Simple, elegant, and with sleeves that fit her tentacles perfectly.  So when she flared them out dramatically and arched her tentacles wide, the changes to her body were more than apparent.  Bailey followed suit a moment later, dropping her jacket to her waist to show off her spotty-fur dress.

“Copy this!” crowed Violet.  Chelsea had gone chalk-white, staring at Violet, mouth open in a frozen scream.  “Cat got your tongue?”  She gestured to the cheerleaders standing just behind her.

As one, Amelia, Stella and Darla dropped their jackets, showing off their bright, metallic hair and gorgeously embroidered dresses.  They posed artfully behind Violet and Bailey, then stepped up to join them.  “It’s over, Chelsea,” said Amelia.  Then she turned to the others gawking.  “The blacklist has ended, Violet will make dresses for anyone who asks.  And other changes, since the school is now allowing cosmetic alterations.”  Amelia opened the front of her dress far enough to show her scales.

“What... what are you?” cried Chelsea, pointing at Amelia.

Amelia prowled closer.  “Do you look at us and see monsters?  How monstrous is it to order an innocent girl beaten to death?”

The girls clustered around them gasped, and shuffled away from Chelsea.  “The video was real?” asked one.

“I was there,” said Amelia.  “The conversation happened.”

Violet turned to face Amelia.  “Why didn’t you warn her?”

Amelia smiled.  “I did.  She knew what was coming, and smiled.”

Another asked, “Is it true?  We can come to school Venned?”

“They should be announcing it right about... now.”

Amelia’s sense of timing was off by half a breath.  The loudspeakers crackled to life, reciting the usual dry bits of day-to-day trivia.  Then the vice principal confirmed the rumours.  “Principal Carson has resigned, and until his replacement is appointed I will be in charge.  The school’s policy on Venn Machine body changes has been replaced with a slightly more open one.  Ask Violet Powell for details, or see the rules posted on the office window.  That is all.  Have a good Friday.”

Chelsea was staring up at the loudspeaker in horror.  She moaned hopelessly, then turned to Violet.  Sensing weakness, Violet wriggled her tentacle-fingers in Chelsea’s face.  “I get to keep these.  All thanks to you.”  She compressed one ‘hand’ to a single tentacle, kissed it, then blew the kiss to Chelsea off the tentacle-tip.

Chelsea’s eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed.

Violet turned worried eyes to Bailey.  “Is she...  I didn’t kill her, did I?”

Bailey waved Violet and the dragon-girl cheerleaders back.  “Give her some space.  Monsters seem to set her off.”

“Going to suck to be her next week,” muttered Darla.  Bailey shushed her, and waved them further back.

“It’s okay, Chelsea.  The monsters won’t hurt you.”

Chelsea started to laugh, then.  Followed great racking sobs that nearly broke Violet’s heart.

Bailey crouched lower.  “Are you going to be okay?”

“No.  My life is over.”

“You look pretty good for a dead girl.”

Chelsea turned her face up to glare at Bailey, then her eyes widened in horror.  “Inhuman.”

Bailey looked down.  Her posture had opened the neck of her dress, exposing the violet spots on her chest.  She stood, tugging the dress back into place.  “Be that way.  Goodbye, Chelsea.”

The five of them marched into the school, leaving Chelsea to whimper on the steps, alone.

Violet glanced back.  “I feel bad for her.  Something’s wrong with her.”

“Don’t waste your sympathy on her,” counselled Amelia.  “She’s been nothing but vile ever since she arrived.  And now it’s come back around to bite her.”

“I guess.”  Violet turned to follow the others, reluctantly.  “I still feel like I’ve kicked a puppy.”

“I’m sure she’ll be back to her old vicious self in no time.”

Violet was soon swept up into the usual activities of the day.  Classes, chatting with Bailey or Jimmy when she could.  Amelia and the others talked to her as well, now that they’d dropped their pretence of following the cheerleader clique.  Over the course of the day, others followed suit.  By lunchtime, Bailey said she’d already filled much of their schedule for Saturday.  “Chelsea’s attempt to break us failed.”

“I know.  I wonder what she’ll do now?  Amelia?”

The cheerleader shrugged.  “I haven’t seen her all day.  There’s a rumour her father showed up in a limo to take her home.  Have you heard about the football team?”

Violet shook her head.  “Just mutters and evil looks in my direction.  It felt different from the ‘monster’ stuff, but I couldn’t tell how.”

“Katie hospitalized all six of her attackers.  They all have multiple broken bones.”

Violet put her hand to her necklace, petting it softly.  “Wow.  So the team’s done for the season?”

“Would have been anyway,” said Darla.  “I’ve heard the football team is going to get kicked out of the provincial sports association for the balance of the year due to the attack on Katie.  Not surprising or anything, but that leaves us with less to cheer.”

“There’s still the basketball team.  Better yet, we get to cheer indoors for that.  Cheering football games in winter wasn’t my idea of fun,” offered Stella.

While there were general mutters of assent, it still left the mood at the table somber.

At the end of the day, Jimmy sought out Violet.  “The principal wants to talk to Katie.”  At Violet’s puzzled look he added, “Can you, uh, bring her?”

Violet giggled.  “Right!  Sorry, I’d forgotten I was wearing her.  She’s been quiet all day.”  Her necklace gave her a quick squeeze, then settled down again.  “She doesn’t seem to mind.”  That got her another silvery hug.

Jimmy chuckled.  “I’m not in the least surprised.”

Mr. Hanley looked puzzled as Violet and Jimmy entered his office.  “I asked you to bring your sister.  Still, this concerns Violet indirectly as well.”

“Katie’s here,” said Violet.  “She’s my necklace.  She can see and hear, but won’t be able to answer much other than yes or no questions.”

“Ah!  She’s quite lovely like that.  A pity you don’t share classes, she could keep up that way.”

“I think she spent most of the day napping, actually,” said Violet with a grin, and a gentle pat of her necklace.  A silver tentacle coiled around one of her ‘fingers’, so she relaxed it into a tentacle and left it there.

“Right.  On to business.  Chelsea has opted to transfer out of the school.  She won’t trouble you any more.  Her father is putting her in a more... rigorous program at a private school.”

“Is she going to be okay?” asked Violet.  “She broke when she saw us, this morning.”

“I believe she’s made of sterner stuff than that.  Apparently her father got wind of our new school policy regarding the Venn Machines, that was named as the primary reason for her departure.”  He shook his head.  “That family has some odd ideas about... well, never mind.  Not your business, nor is it mine any longer.”

“That wasn’t all you called us in for,” prompted Violet.  “Though I’m glad to hear it.”

“Right.  This other concerns Katie more directly.  We’ve been updated on the condition of the six who assaulted her.  Two of them will be healthy enough to attend school by the end of the original suspension, though with casts on.  The remainder are being kept at the hospital.  Three did such immense damage to their legs that they may never walk again, and undoubtedly have ended any aspirations they’ll ever have for a career in sports.  Gordon may even lose his leg.”

“He did that much damage?” gasped Violet, gripping Katie’s little tentacle more tightly.

“It’s not Katie’s fault.  He managed to get a lot of gunk from the cafeteria floor imbedded in his tibia, and the marrow is infected.  They’re having trouble treating it.”

“Eww.  So.  What does this mean to Katie?”

“Given the seriousness of the wounds and the video evidence that Katie deliberately egged on her attackers with intent to harm them...  I’m going to have to extend her suspension until the matter can be reviewed by the school board.  That may take until the end of the month.”

“And the others?” cried Violet.  “The ones that attacked her?”

“Will be subject to the same punishment,” replied Mr. Hanley calmly.  “Half of them will be in the hospital for most of that time, and physical therapy for longer.  Missing a month will be much harder for them to recover from, as they’re all in twelfth grade, and universities will be looking closely at their transcripts.”

Katie gave Violet’s neck a reassuring squeeze.  “She’ll manage.  We’ll get her assignments to her, and help her as best we can.”

“Good.  I hope this is the end of the chaos, Miss Powell.  Please try not to cause any more disruption.”

Violet smiled.  “As long as pretty hair and dresses don’t count as disruptive, I’ll be good.”

“Excellent.  Have a lovely weekend.”

Violet and Jimmy thanked him, and headed out the door.  Bailey was waiting outside.  “So?”

“All good.  Chelsea’s gone.  Katie gets to be worn for the next month, which is making her positively giddy.  Or maybe the lack of air is making me giddy, hard to tell.”  Violet giggled, and Katie loosened her grip on Violet’s neck slightly.

“Are you going to keep her as a necklace all month?” asked Bailey.  “She’s pretty.”

“I suspect she’d like to spend some time human,” said Violet.  Two sharp squeezes around her neck made her blink.  “Was that a no?”  Another squeeze.  “Uh...  Two squeezes is no, one is yes.  Do you want to stay like this?  Really?  Wow.”

Violet looked over at Jimmy.  “Uh... how long is she set for?”

“A month.  We figured you’d probably change her into something else along the way, and knew you’d change her back whenever she was allowed back to classes.”

Violet petted her necklace.  “I’m tempted to keep her like this, then.”

“Really?” asked Bailey.

“If she’s happy this way, why not?  Here, hold a tentacle.”  Violet lifted up the silver octopus, holding it out to Bailey.

Bailey let one tentacle curl around her finger.  “So.  One squeeze for yes.  You’re happy like this?  Really, really happy?  Because someone has a list of things she wants to be that’s a mile long.”


Katie’s tentacle dropped from Bailey’s finger, and she curled up in the shape of a heart on Violet’s chest.

“Well.  That’s that, then.  Going to be a fun month.”

Jimmy giggled girlishly.  “Just the three of us, like old times?”

Violet eyed him.  “Don’t you two have a date tonight?”

“That’s right!” said Bailey, snapping her fingers.  “And I get to wear you as a bra.  C’mon, to the mall!”