I would like to thank Milady for her work editing this story.

Kombat Champion

by

Morpheus

 

Part One

 

I stopped at the door to my apartment and let out a yawn, fumbling with my keys for a moment before opening the door. And the moment that I stepped inside, I called out, "Honey, I'm home...," just as I did nearly every day when returning home from work. As usual, there was no answer...nor had I expected one since I lived alone.

After another yawn, I stepped inside, immediately feeling a little recharged. Spending all day at work selling computers and dealing with clueless customers could really drain your energy, but for some reason all it took to get it back was coming home.

"Home sweet home," I muttered, hanging my coat on the hook by the door. As I walked past I caught sight of myself in the mirror that hung somewhat askew on the wall.

The face that stared back from the mirror was of course familiar, being the very same face that I saw every time that I looked in the mirror. It was the face of Craig Belmont, a 6'1", 24-year-old computer salesman who worked in a nearby electronics store. I had dark hair that could have used a bit of a cut, and a goatee which covered my chin.

"A real ladies man," I grinned at the reflection, though it had definitely been awhile since I'd been out on a date.

Since I sold computers for a living, some people might assume that I was a geek. But a friend of mine had once told me that a geek was someone who had no hobbies that did not somehow involve electronics. Then again, I guess that using that definition, I was a geek

With that, I looked around the apartment which was my sanctuary from the world as well as a convenient storage place for all of the electronic gizmos that my paychecks had gone into buying.  I loved watching movies, evidenced by the 56 inch plasma screen High Definition TV that sat against one wall, attached to a great surround sound system. In fact, my neighbors thought that my sound system was too good as they complained just about every time I tried to listen to movies the way that they were meant to be listened to...with the sound effects blaring.

However, as much as I enjoyed watching movies, I loved playing video games even more because they were interactive. In fact, I currently had four different game systems, though two of them were almost obsolete. And I also played a lot of games on my computer...which was of course a great system. Being a computer salesman, I couldn't very well have anything that was not up to par.

Lately though, I'd really been caught up in a new little known online came called Kombat Champions. It was a wicked game, sort of like Everquest or City of Heroes in that you could create your own character, but also like Mortal Kombat or Street fighter in that it was based off of fantastic martial arts.

Kombat Champions is a great online fighting game. Each player is a martial artist and you can have wicked martial arts fights, like in Mortal Kombat and Street fighter. You can go from village to village, challenging people to fight right on the street or even go and enter tournaments. And there are a lot of tournaments, some with special rules, such as black tournaments which were basically the game's version of a fight to the death. But few people enter those as there aren't a lot of people willing to risk their character actually being deleted from the game on the results of a single fight.

But one of the coolest things about the game is just how much control you have over creating and customizing your character. You can not only create a detailed and individual appearance and clothing for your character, but choose their fighting styles, weapons and even their special moves.

When you are done designing your character's appearance, you can choose their name and title...though you don't have to add a title. A lot of people do though, calling themselves things like Luke the Strong, Coleen the Fast Sword or Danny of the Iron Fist. But of course, those are mostly cosmetic and style type things.

One of the most important things about making your character is choosing which school of martial arts they're from. There are nine schools which you can choose from, each one giving the basic set of abilities that you start the game with as well as setting what kind of abilities and special moves your character can learn in the future.

Two of the most popular schools are the theme schools... One of these schools lets you design characters with animal themes...such as a cat, a wolf, or whatever. You can even get certain animal abilities. There's also an elemental themed school for people who want a character based off the elements like fire, water, electricity or ice...like Subzero of the Mortal Kombat games. The ice theme is fairly popular...and there's even one guy I've run across a couple times who dresses his character in yellow and customized the settings so that all of his ice attacks come out as yellow too. The smartass calls himself Pi...the Yellow Snow. But there are of course other schools as well, each with their own specialties and benefits.

Another important part of designing your character is the points assignment. You start off with so many points that you assign to various character attributes such as strength, speed, agility and the like. These are also largely determined by the body type of your character and the school you selected for them. But you also get a bunch of other points to assign to your abilities...which determine how skilled and powerful your character is and consists of your hand to hand fighting, your weapon fighting and your chi abilities.

Your chi level is how well you can do the super power type things that you see martial artists do in various anime, movies and video games, such as creating force fields around yourself and shooting energy blasts from your hands. This is what lets you do all of the really cool special moves in the game.

Then once your character is finished, you can play the game, running around fighting other players and building up experience points. Of course, the game also has multiple ways of increasing your abilities and making your character more powerful. You can go to various schools, training grounds and hidden hermits for 'training' which will increase your abilities and power levels, giving you more points for things like strength and agility, or for weapons and chi skills. You can even learn completely new fighting moves, techniques and special attacks...as long as they're compatible with your character's school and levels and provided that you have the required number of experience points first.

And then there is perhaps the coolest part of Kombat Champions. As you play the game, you keep building up your character's experience points, abilities and moves, which makes your character a better fighter so that you can fight and beat tougher opponents. And when you finally reach a high enough level, you get to design a signature move.

A signature move is a unique technique, usually a chi move which you design specifically for your character. You have to go through a few menus to find similar moves and graphics which can be adapted for it, and even write a good description of what the move is and what it does, then send all that in to the guys who made the game. They take a look at it all, judge whether that move is compatible with the game, your character level and your school...then deny it, or program it into the system for your character to use.

All this usually takes only 24 hours, and they often give a signature move which has been altered slightly from what you originally requested in order to make it more appropriate for the game. Basically, they don't want the signature moves to be too powerful or unbalanced...so you can't get a move that lets you just snap your fingers and automatically defeat an opponent.

I guess that one of the main reasons you can't start out with your signature move is that it takes personal attention from the people behind the game and that they don't want to waste their time customizing characters that will only be played a few times and then be abandoned. They probably want to make sure that a player has proven that they take the game fairly seriously and that they'll probably be around for while. Of course, it could just be that they use it as a lure to encourage people to keep playing the game...though personally, I believe that a signature move is a reward for serious play and something that needs to be earned.

There is also one more cool way for your character to 'learn' new moves, which is by going to a Sensei. These are player characters who have gotten to a high enough level that they're able to 'teach' some of their moves and attacks to other characters, as long as that other character has a school and ability levels which are compatible with that technique. Some of the players who get their characters built up this high consider it something of a bragging right to become a Sensei and 'teach' their signature moves to one or two students, while a lot of others guard their signature moves jealously. However, because of this and the fact that there are so few player characters who have built up to that level, it make this a very difficult way of learning new moves and techniques.

Finally, I turned on my computer and waited for the game to load up, smiling in anticipation. I was definitely addicted to the game and had been playing it for about two hours a day since I first signed on about six months earlier.

After a few minutes, the game finished loading and a flash of purple lightning shot across the screen, followed by the game logo and a picture of an old man with a long white beard and red robes. This was the Kombat Master, the only main non-player character in the game. Basically, he was just the referee in all of the fighting arenas, and sort of the spokesman for the people who run the game whenever they want to give a message to the players.

The game's slogan, "BECOME A CHAMPION" flared across the screen, just as it did every time the game loaded up.

I quickly typed in my name and password, then sat back and waited for my character profile to come up. I smiled, thinking about how far I had come since I first started playing the game.

When I had first started playing Kombat Champions six months earlier, my first character had been a brute...which was a game term for a character that is highly focused on physical strength and power...to the neglect of other traits. I had thought that being such a big strong character, he could beat anyone...though I quickly learned otherwise. Several opponents beat him using various chi techniques, and he ended up getting killed off when I entered my first and only black tournament.

After my first character had been killed off, I came up with a new character that didn't have the weaknesses of my first...though I overcompensated. My second character was a mage, which was gamespeak for a character that was heavily focused on chi power and abilities...to the neglect of just about all else. And like my first character, he got beat quite a few times until I ended up deleting him.

It was then that I created my next character, the one that I am still playing. When I first started creating her, I had expected her to be something of a throwaway character...one that I could experiment with for a little but that I expected to either get killed off in a black tournament or would quickly get bored of. I never expected her to work nearly as well as she did or that I would end up getting pretty attached to her.

I stared at my computer monitor which had my character's profile on it, including a picture of her that covered half the screen. She was a very pretty young woman with blue hair that was pulled back into a long pony tail. And for her clothes, I had given her a purple outfit that had touches of white and blue in the trim.

"Kestra the Jagged Wind," I said her name aloud. I did rather like that name, especially the title that I had given her a month or so earlier. Unlike a character's names, their titles could be deleted or changed at any time.

When I first started creating Kestra, I had mostly just wanted to do something different than with my first two characters, which was why I had chosen to create a female character. Of course there was also the fact that I wasn't expecting to actually be playing with her for long.

However, after designing Kestra's initial appearance, I couldn't help getting more serious with the rest of the character profile information. I wanted a character that was more balanced than either of my first two, and I was very careful to make sure that she was. In fact, I even made it so that a lot of her abilities complimented each other to make her even more efficient.

To start with, I made Kestra part of the martial arts school that a lot of the ninja type characters came from. That school gave bonus points to a character's speed, agility and precision levels, which was perfect as I made Kestra to be an all around great fighter who relied a lot on speed and agility.

I was amazed at just how many weapons the game had available for you to add to your characters arsenal. The top weapons menu had swords, daggers, spears, morning stars, and countless other options. When you select a basic weapon type, it takes you to another menu. If you chose swords, you find a menu that is just different types of swords. There are one-handed broadswords, two-handed broadswords, rapiers, katanas and others. Then, once you've selected one of those types, it brings up a bunch of options that you can choose a specific sword of that type from. It was all very cool, and there were so many choices that I had a hard time deciding on what weapons I should give Kestra.

Of course, you didn't just get all the weapons you wanted for free. You start out with a certain amount of points that you could sort of spend to buy abilities with specific weapons. And since the school that I had chosen gave bonus points for small hand held throwing weapons such as shuriken, throwing darts, and throwing knives, I got to add throwing knives to my list of assets for almost free.

Next I wanted to choose a primary weapon for her, and since swords were the most common weapon in the game, I wanted something a bit different. I spent a lot of time going through everything that was available and figuring out exactly what I wanted. Finally, I settled on the katar...or actually a pair of them.

A katar is also known as a thrust dagger. You hold the katar in your hand like you would brass knuckles, and a sharp blade about the size of a long dagger sticks out the front. It doesn't have the range of a sword, but it does have a number of other things going for it. For one, it works very well with fast, close combat attacks, which was perfect for Kestra. And for another, the katar is very simple to use which made it very cheap to buy as far as the points went.

To use a katar, all that you have to do is punch and slash, similar to how you might in hand to hand combat. It just adds a little lethal edge to it. The game even takes this into account, so that the higher your hand to hand combat abilities are...if they're of the right school, the higher your katar fighting abilities are. I really liked that idea since when I worked to improve Kestra's fighting abilities in hand to hand combat, it automatically improved her katar fighting abilities as well.

But the throwing knives and two katars I used, one for each hand, weren't the only weapons that Kestra had. After I'd started playing the character, I spent quite a bit of time going to various training grounds and the like to build up all of her points and abilities, as well as gaining a whole bunch of new moves and techniques. One of the things that I'd gained during this training was a spear.

I liked the spear as it was a pretty versatile backup weapon. It could be used offensively or defensively. It would give Kestra a bit more range in a fight than her katars, when I needed it and, of course, it could be thrown to get someone at a short distance with a bit more force and damage than the throwing knives could do. It wasn't a main weapon that I usually used in fights, but it was a nice addition.

And then of course, Kestra had all of her chi moves and techniques as well. She hadn't been a slouch in that department when I'd first created her, but she had grown more powerful and gained some interesting new moves thanks to all of the time I gave her in various training locations.

One of Kestra's chi techniques was called 'channel,' the most common chi technique used in the game. This let a person channel their chi energy into their weapons, making them more powerful for a time. Just about everyone who had a weapon used 'channel'.

Then there was 'augment', a technique similar to 'channel' except that it temporarily augmented a character's physical abilities...basically making them a little stronger and faster for a short spurt. It was a useful ability to use in a fight.

Kestra even had a special move where she could shoot energy blasts, as a lot of higher level characters did. However, I had been trying to save on points so that I could use them to augment her other abilities, and I was trying to make sure her abilities complimented each other, so I chose the option of making it so she could only fire her blasts by channeling them through her katars. It was a big limitation, but well worth it as it allowed me to improve her abilities in other ways.

But one move that Kestra had which I was especially pleased with was one that was called 'reflection.' This was one that I'd learned from a Sensei...having talked him into 'teaching' Kestra his signature move when I found out that he was going to quit playing the game. As far as I knew, Kestra was only one of three characters that he'd shared that move with, and one of those others had stopped playing. Basically, 'reflection' was a sort of force field which stopped any direct chi attacks...energy blasts and the like, and sent them right back to their source.

Finally, there was Kestra's signature move...which I called 'second wind.' Unlike most signature moves which usually seemed to consist of powerful energy attacks of some sort and were designed to do serious damage to the opponent, second wind was much more passive.  It was a move that I usually used when Kestra was low on energy and about to be knocked out of a fight.

When I activated second wind during a fight, Kestra's chi energy level bar would immediately drop to zero...no matter how full and charged it was before this. And at the same time, her health energy bar would immediately go back to full...even if it had been nearly empty. Then, if there had been a large enough amount of chi energy in that bar before activating this ability, Kestra would also get an effect sort of like 'augment', where her physical levels would get a temporary increase.

I had won more than a few games thanks to a strategic use of second wind. When I got close to losing, all I had to do was use second wind,...if I had enough chi to activate it, and I would be fully charged and ready to go, while my opponent's health bar would probably be somewhat less than full. Having Kestra come back from the edge of defeat to suddenly being at full health was a great trick, and really surprised most of my opponents. The only downside with this was that once I used second wind, my chi bar was empty and I couldn't use any other chi techniques for the rest of the fight.

But, at the moment it wasn't the time to think about the rules of the game or about how I'd created my character. I looked at Kestra's profile on my screen and smiled. Right then, it was time to play.

I clicked the enter button and a moment later, I was in the game and ready to play. Almost as soon as Kestra was on the street in one of the villages, another player challenged me to a fight. Unfortunately, one good look at the character revealed that he was probably a brute...and therefore a rookie since usually only beginners to the game played brutes. I was about to turn him down but decided that it might make for a fun warm-up.

"I hope he doesn't mind being beaten up by a girl," I grinned, accepting the fight.

As soon as I accepted the fight, our characters shifted to the fighting screen so we could fight. I grinned and Kestra launched into an immediate attack. My opponent threw a couple punches, which I knew would do a bit of damage to my health points if they connected. However, brutes were all about physical strength and power, not about speed. The fight was over pretty quickly, and when I finished my opponent I hadn't taken any damage at all to my health points.

"Now to find some real opponents," I mused, knowing that you didn't get any experience points for beating characters who had power levels that were much lower than your own.

A minute later, I was in one of my favorite arenas. A lot of other player characters were gathered around, and for the most part it was something of a chat room where you could talk to the other players.

At first, I just sat back and scanned the screen to see what other characters were there and if there were any of them I recognized. There was one guy called Kuno the Blue Thunder, obviously a swordsman type of fighter, a red haired girl called Ranma Chan, a guy called Goku23, Vegita the Super Saiyan and about a half dozen others. A lot of players liked basing their characters off of their favorite characters from various anime and video games.

However, there was one player that I immediately recognized. She was a tall character with long green hair and loose flowing clothes of green and purple. "Vypra," I said aloud, grinning to myself.

Vypra...or at least her player and I were online friends, and we even both lived in the same city, though we'd never met in real life...at least not that I know of. After all, it would be kind of embarrassing since I was a guy playing a female character. On the other hand, I was also kind of afraid that 'she' might actually turn out to be a guy playing a female character as well. So, when we were online, we talked a bit...just not about our lives outside of the game.

After talking for a minute, I challenged Vypra to a fight. And just a moment later, our characters shifted to a private screen with just the two of us so that we could have our fight. I grinned in anticipation.

To start the fight off, Vypra immediately charged up her battle aura...a sign that she was going to use one of her chi attacks. The aura showed up on the screen as a ghostly image of a snake. Vypra was from the animal themed school and being able to use animal shaped battle auras was one of the benefits of that school.

Then Vypra pulled out the two katanas which were her primary weapons and suddenly leaped all the way across the screen. A ghostly image of a snake was imposed over her and spread out behind her, with her two katanas being that snake's fangs. I immediately responded by crossing my two katars and using a basic defensive shield. It blocked Vypra's attack, though my health bar menu still dropped back a bit as I took the some of the damage.

I knew from previous experience that once Vypra had used that particular move, it left her completely open for a second or two. I didn't hesitate to use that opportunity to press my own attack, hitting her with several katar slashes.

Vypra and Kestra jumped back and forth across the screen, each attacking and dodging in turn. Vypra performed one move where several snakes actually seemed to shoot out of her hands, and Kestra jumped out of the way to avoid it, then sent a few throwing knives back in her direction. This all continued for another minute or two.

"Good fight," I grinned to myself, really getting into it. Then again, Vypra never failed to give me a challenge.

It was then that Vypra used her signature move...something which she called the 'snake fist strike'. Her arm glowed green as she charged at Kestra, hitting her with a quick strike. My health points took a bit of a hit, though certainly not a bad one at all. But, I knew from previous fights that this wasn't the purpose of the 'snake fist strike'. The true threat of that attack was my health bar would continue to slowly go down. All that Vypra had to do was hit her opponent with that move and then switch to running away and playing defense, and she could eventually beat her opponent without having to actually hit them again.

"Damn," I muttered, knowing that I was going to have to get the fight over with soon.

Of course, when my health bar got too low, I could always pull out 'second wind,' though I was sure Vypra was counting on that. After all, once I did that, I'd be unable to use my chi moves while she could cut loose with hers. So, I decided to surprise her with a different move.

I sent a few throwing knives at Vypra, and when she jumped over them like I had expected, Kestra was already in motion, hitting her in mid-air. I even got her with a few more hits before she knocked me back, then charged forward with her swords.

My health bar was getting pretty low and I knew I was either going to have to use 'second wind' or finish the fight very quickly. I decided to go with the latter, using 'channel' on my katars and jumping straight at her, hitting with a fast series of hits. It was a little more than Vypra could block so her health bar started to quickly go down. And when the 'channel' effect wore down, I jumped back, sent a barrage of daggers at her and then used the last of my chi energy to fire a burst of energy at her. That last burst did the trick and knocked her health bar down to zero.

"Gotcha," I exclaimed in delight.

"Great fight," Vypra's player typed to me.

I responded, "Definitely..."

"I'm afraid that I've got to get going," she told me. "I've got to get offline and get dinner made..."

"Talk to you later," I told her, just before she logged off.

With Vypra gone, I turned my attention to other opponents. After fighting two more players, I switched my primary weapon over from katar to spear, just to get more experience points for that weapon, then went and tried a few more fights. I lost one of those, but you can't win every fight, even if I do try. Eventually, though, I shifted back to my katars, beat one more opponent and then left the arena.

"Let's see," I mused to myself, already deciding to go to one of the training grounds that would give me the points to improve my endurance levels. My endurance level was already pretty good, but it wouldn't hurt to add a few extra points to it. In fact, constantly improving Kestra's points and levels was one of the things I enjoyed most about the game. "She'll be the toughest bitch around..."

Just then, I heard the rumbling sound of thunder from outside my window. I was a little startled at that since the weather had been fairly clear when I'd come home from work and there hadn't been any sign of a coming storm. And when I glanced to the side and looked out my window, I was even more confused because there still didn't seem to be any storm out there.

"Must have been a jet or something," I thought aloud, shrugging it off as I knew that there were a lot of things in a big city that could create loud noises. For all I knew, it could have just been the sound from someone's stereo.

I was just turning my attention back to the game when I heard the sound of rumbling thunder again. My eyes quickly darted back to the window, more out of reflex than for any suspicion that the weather might have suddenly changed.

But as soon as I looked back to the window, a purple flash of light flooded my vision... An instant later, my ears were filled with the rumbling sound of thunder while my body was flooded with a burning, surging pain. I screamed...or at least thought I did, though I couldn't be sure as everything went dark a moment later.

I awoke to the sound of a phone ringing... Or at least I regained the first glimpse of awareness, though I remained in that indeterminate place between wakefulness and sleep. I had no idea how long I was floating in that limbo, only that I heard the phone ring yet again some time later.

Slowly, I came out of this state. At first, it was just a bit more awareness, followed by being able to blink my eyes. And then, sensation...real sensation began to return to my body. At first, I was only being able to open and close my fingers, or moving my feet around a little. But then, almost as if a switch had been flipped, I could suddenly move everything again.

For a moment, even after I regained the ability to move, I remained where I was on the floor, staring up at the ceiling as I had been doing for who knew how long. I took several deep breaths, feeling scared, nervous and relieved all at the same time. I was definitely relieved that I could move again and that I didn't feel any pain. But I was scared as hell since I had no idea what had just happened to me.

Finally, I took another deep breath and slowly sat up, trying to brace myself in case I suddenly discovered some pain or injury that I had missed so far. But fortunately, I didn't feel any aches or pains at all. Instead, I felt fine. No, I felt better than fine. I felt...fantastic.

I was just about to marvel at how great I felt, when I noticed my computer. My eyes went wide as I saw the wreckage. The monitor was completely shattered and blackened, while the tower looked...destroyed. That was the only word I could think of to describe it. The tower looked like someone had taken a couple of whacks at it with a sledge hammer and then set it on fire.

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed in shock.

Then I remembered the flash of light that I'd seen before everything had happened and turned to look at the window. It had been shattered and there was a spider web of cracks over the entire surface, except for one spot near the middle where there was a hole about the size of a hand.

"No way!" I blurted out, realizing that I'd been struck by lightning. From the look of my computer, it had been struck too. With the flash of light that I'd seen before blanking out, the hole in my window, and way that my computer was melted, I thought that this was the only thing that it could be.

I stood there,a bit shaken at the realization. Then I gulped, absently reaching down to pick up the chair that I had been knocked out of. But, my eyes remained locked on what was left of my computer, making me realize how lucky I was to survive that.

But then, I couldn't help suddenly wondering if I might have been hurt more than I realized. I didn't FEEL hurt, but I sure as hell felt...weird. I'd just been too stunned to really give it much thought until the moment.

With that, I took a deep breath and looked down at myself, gasping in shock and confusion as I did so. My first realization was that I was wearing some sort of violet or purple clothes that I'd never seen before in my life. There were even bits of blue and white trim running through them. However, that was almost immediately followed by the realization that my chest was pushing out a bit more than was proper.

"What the hell?" I gasped, only then realizing that my voice sounded wrong to my years.

I froze for a moment, feeling confused as hell and wondering if that lightning strike had scrambled my brains along with my computer. Trying to prove to myself that I was imagining things, I poked at where my chest pushed out and let out another gasp. That was actually ME pushing out. It was a part of me.

Then I noticed my hand and held it up in front of my face, staring at it in silent disbelief. My hand WASN'T my hand. It was still a hand...just not MY hand. It looked a little smoother, a little more delicate...without any of the hairs which had covered the back of it. My fingers seemed just a little bit longer, perhaps because my nails were now a little longer as well. In fact, my hand looked like a woman's hand.

"This can't be...," I started, then paused, a thought suddenly coming to me. I had no idea where the thought had come from, but I gulped and poked at my chest again. It seemed sort of soft and... And it pushed out on both sides, like two round globes... Like two... "Oh shit..."

I stared down at my body again, this time a little more closely, noticing a few more details...such as the specific shape of my body beneath the clothes. My eyes went wide and my heart started to race. I was imagining things. I knew I was. Nothing else made any form of sense whatsoever. But as my eyes drifted back to my chest, I turned and rushed to the bathroom.

I froze as soon as I could stare into the mirror. So intense was the shock of what I saw that I was half afraid that even my heart had stopped.

"Impossible...," I whispered.

Staring back from the mirror was not my reflection, but that of a very attractive young woman. Her ethnicity was somewhat indeterminate, looking mostly Caucasian but hinting at something else. Her eyes seemed just a tiny bit too large, with the suggestion of an Asian slant to the corner of her eyes. As I stared at the woman in the mirror, she stared back at me with a pair of intense blue eyes.

After a minute, I allowed my attention to turn away from her face and to take in everything else. I could see the strange looking violet or purple clothes that I was wearing in a bit more detail, as well as the white and blue trim. The woman's...my figure was hidden beneath the fairly loose clothes, but I could see enough to know that she...that I had a nice body.

And then my eyes went to the blue hair, which I hadn't been able to help but notice the moment that I'd stared into the mirror. The hair was about to her...my mid-back and tied up in a pony tail with a purple ribbon. My hands reached for the hair, almost of their own accord, giving it a slight tug and proving that it was indeed my own hair...or at least connected to my scalp.

As strange as it was to see a woman staring out of the mirror, it was even stranger to recognize her. But how could I not recognize her when it was the same face and body that I'd been staring at every night when I played Kombat Champion? How could I fail to instantly recognize my own creation?

"I...," I gulped the words in quiet shock, "I've turned into Kestra..."

There was absolutely no denying that the woman staring back at me from the mirror was Kestra, my very own video game character. I'd played her far too often not to know her in detail. But, that didn't explain how I could possibly look like a character out of a video game, whether it was one that I'd designed myself or not.

"The lightning," I whispered, my female voice shaking.

My mind raced as I thought about it, realizing there were two options. The first was that it was all in my mind...that I was delusional, hallucinating the entire experience. Perhaps I was even laying comatose in some hospital, recovering from being lightning struck.

The other option was a little more unlikely...or just plain impossible. The other option was that the entire experience might actually be real...that all of the weirdness might actually be happening. Maybe...just maybe the lightning striking the computer and myself at the same time had somehow caused me to become what was on my computer at that moment... Perhaps, the lightning really had somehow transformed me into a real life video game character.

"Impossible," I shook my head, feeling my hair brushing my shoulders.

Even if this was some sort of dream or hallucination, it was without a doubt the most detailed and realistic one that I'd ever had. Hell, everything felt so real... And honestly, I didn't think that my imagination was up to the task of coming up with something quite that detailed or original.

I knew that this kind of thing just wasn't possible... It was against the laws of physics, the laws of reality and just about every other damn law that I knew of. People didn't just transform into video game characters...let alone girls just by being struck by lighting. It didn't happen. It was impossible. But then, how come everything felt so God damn REAL. As weird...as IMPOSSIBLE as the whole thing was, all of my senses screamed that it was indeed real.

Then, several thoughts drifted through my mind. "If it looks like a duck, feels like a duck and quacks like a duck...then it must be a duck." And to paraphrase Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "If you remove the possible, then whatever remains, no matter how improbable...or even impossible, must therefore be the truth." I was sure that he hadn't said it in quite those words, but that was the general idea.

"Okay," I took a deep breath, deciding for the moment to treat this as though it were real. After all, if I was in some sort of coma it couldn't really hurt anything.

I closed my eyes and took several more deep breaths to calm myself, and at least try to get some kind of grip on reality. Then I gave myself one more look in the mirror, more than half hoping that it would be my own normal reflection staring back, but kind of doubting it. Of course, my reflection hadn't changed since the last time I'd looked it just seconds earlier. I still looked like Kestra.

Just then, I suddenly noticed something else. I'd noticed it a little bit already, at least subconsciously, though now my conscious mind grabbed the realization as well. There were several things on the wall...a chip in the mirror... All of them seemed somewhat higher on the wall than before, just as the sink seemed a bit closer.

"Oh," I whispered as realization dawned. When I had turned into this Kestra look-alike, I had also become a good bit shorter. In fact, if I really had been turned into Kestra, then I would have to be 5 foot 8 according to her profile in the game. "I'm short..." That might not be completely accurate, but it did seem as though I had just shrunk 5 inches.

I hesitated a moment longer and then rushed out of the bathroom to find my tape measure. Then I stood against the wall and carefully measured myself, finding that my guess had been correct. My current height was 5 foot 8, a full 5 inches shorter than I had been the day before. But again, I guess a few inches of height difference was pretty minor compared to all of the other changes to my body.

"How in the world can lightning do THIS?" I grimaced, looking down at myself.

Then I let out a sigh, absently looking around my living room and then pausing as I noticed that my answering machine light was blinking. I had a message... That just reminded me of the way that the phone had been ringing when I had been collapsed on the floor. I hesitated a moment then pushed the play button, listening as the message started off as a bunch of static but quickly went clear again. It turned out to be from my boss, wondering where I was and why I hadn't shown up for work.

"Oh shit," I exclaimed, glancing to the clock and gasping as I realized how late I was for work. Hell, it was already noon and my shift was half over. I'd been out of it since the night before...much longer than I'd realized. "Oh shit..."

As soon as I realized how late it was, I immediately reached for the phone to call and apologize as well as tell them that I wouldn't be able to come in. But then I froze, realizing that this might be rather difficult as I didn't sound anything like myself at the moment. I would have a hell of a time trying to convince anyone at work of who I was.

"Just great," I grimaced.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, suddenly realizing that I had no idea how to fix this...how to change back to normal. And I couldn't very well go back to work until I did. Hell, I couldn't very well have anything to do with anyone that I knew until I got back to normal.

"But can I go back to normal?" I asked myself quietly. I had no idea how I had changed or how long I would remain that way. For all I knew, I might change back at any moment... And then again, I might end up stuck that way for the rest of my life, with no way to ever change back. "Oh God..."

It was then that I realized I was going to need some help. I was going to need some serious help. There was no way that I was going to be able to deal with this...this world shaking event alone. I was going to need someone to talk to...if for no other reason than to prove that I wasn't just imagining things.

At first, I thought about calling someone for help...but realized that I didn't really have anyone that I could call. I couldn't think of anyone I could trust enough to tell about THIS.

There was no one at work that I could go to, because even though I had some friendly co-workers, they weren't really friends. I had never hung with any of them away from work, and I was pretty sure that no one there even knew where I lived. My neighbors weren't an option either as I doubt that I'd spoken more than two or three words to any of them since I'd moved into the apartment.

Of course there was my family, but I only considered going to them for the briefest of moments. My mom had always been fairly religious, but after she and my dad divorced, she had gone a little overboard. She was one of those nearly obsessive 'born again' types who had more than their fare share of self-righteousness. No matter what the situation was, she seemed to think that she had the moral high ground and that she was always right. And there was little doubt in my mind that if I did go to her, that if I did tell her about my change, she would assume that this was some sort of punishment from God and then demand that I spend the rest of my life as a nun or praying for forgiveness of my wicked sins...whatever those were supposed to be.

My dad on the other hand was almost the exact opposite of my mom, though not in a good way. He was an alcoholic and compulsive gambler. If I told him about what was going on, about how I had suddenly turned into a video game character and a woman, I could just imagine him getting drunk and blabbing about it to all of his friends at the bar. And I could just as easily imagine him either trying to find some way of using me and my unique situation to pay off some gambling debt or to help him make some money in a get rich quick scheme.

And then there was my younger brother Gary, whom I hadn't seen in over a year and a half. The last time that I'd seen him had been shortly before he'd gotten his underage girlfriend pregnant and had then up and disappeared. He wasn't exactly the responsible sort, or the type of person that I would willingly trust with this.

Obviously, my family wasn't extremely close...which was one of the reasons that I'd gone out of my way to keep away from them as of late. I loved them...at least as much as anyone could, but I knew that hanging around any of them wasn't exactly good for me.

And I didn't really have any close friends either...certainly not someone that I could talk to about this. Then it suddenly hit me...the realization of just how few friends I really had. I didn't really have anyone in my life that I was close to...not friends...and not even family. There I was in deep trouble, and I had no one that I could turn to...no one that I could even talk to. And the fact was, that was pretty damn depressing.

"Just great," I grimaced, "I'm a short...weak girl."

Strangely though, I didn't really feel either short or weak. In fact, I felt pretty damn good... I felt stronger and healthier than I'd ever felt before in my life...and I seemed to be growing even more so with every minute. It was almost as though I had still been a bit physically dazed, even after I'd regained the ability to move, but even that was slowly wearing off.

"Damn it," I spat out, suddenly wondering which was worse...that I had suddenly and inexplicably transformed into a video game girl...or that I didn't feel even worse about it. I should have been completely off balance, on the verge of panic...yet I wasn't. Perhaps it was just shock. Still, making a brief show of being angry seemed to help my masculine self-image.

With that, I snapped around and punched the wall. My fist left a nice hole in the plaster and I gasped a little at my outburst...and how little it hurt my fist to make a hole like that. But at the same time, I somehow knew that when I'd thrown the punch, I had instinctively done so in such a manner as to maximize the force from my fist, while at the same time preventing any damage to myself.

"What the...?" I blinked, stepping back and staring down at my fist in amazement.

Then, partly out of curiosity and some instinctive understanding, I threw a punch into the empty air. My fist was fast and powerful, snapping with a sharp clear focus. I instinctively knew that it was a perfect punch...done in perfect form. And I followed that up by throwing a series of punches in mid-air, doing so with a nearly blinding speed...

"Wow," I whispered in amazement.

I continued with the punches, shifting into a series of other martial arts moves. They all flowed smoothly...gracefully, as if coming from long practice and experience. I went into an elbow strike, a block and a roundhouse kick, then ended my leg snapping into a high, powerful kick. I froze with that kick half finished, standing on one leg with my other one still extended in the air.

"My God," I gasped, slowly lowing my foot from the kick, stunned at the realization that I had just kicked high enough to get someone right in their face. And it had been so easy... "It looks like I actually have Kestra's martial arts skills too..."

For a moment, I just stood there, marveling at what I had just done and wondering what else I could do. The way that I had been able to do that last kick... That would have to require incredible flexibility...

And with that thought, I dropped to the floor and spread my legs, slowly shifting position until I was doing the splits. Normally something like that would have completely killed me, but now it didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable. I was able to stretch my legs like that without any difficulty at all... Then I stood up and touching first one toe and then the other, marveling again at just how flexible I had become.

A few seconds later, I shifted position again, dropping forward and pulling my feet closed, then lifting myself up into the starting push-up position. I could feel the strength in my body and tested it with a few push-ups. They were easy...effortless even, and I felt like I could do them all day. But I was curious about what else this body could do and was determined to find out more.

I shifted all of my weight to my arms and lifted my feet right off the ground, leaving me doing a hand stand in the middle of my living room floor. I remained in that position for over half a minute before I started to walk across the floor on my hands, my feet sticking almost straight up in the air. And as if that wasn't enough, I shifted my balance and removed one of my hands so that I was doing a hand stand with only one hand. And somehow, I was still able to retain my balance without much effort.

After I had gone back to using both hands, I lowered my legs back to the ground while keeping my hands on the floor. I was now bent over backwards... Finally though, I snapped back, curled into a ball and rolled across the floor before snapping back to my feet.

"Unbelievable," I exclaimed, staring down at myself in amazement...and admiration.

The things that my altered body could do were absolutely incredible. And the way I felt... I mean, I felt utterly fantastic. I felt stronger...healthier and more alive than ever before in my life. And though I knew that I should be completely freaking out over the situation, right then I was far too excited for that.

It was also rather odd that I had only been in that body for fifteen minutes, or at least up and moving about in it for fifteen minutes, and I didn't feel nearly as uncomfortable or off balance as I would have imagined. Perhaps it was due, at least in part, to my obviously improved sense of balance. And then again, perhaps the fact that my new body felt so good and healthy just made it a little easier to accept on some level.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, becoming more aware of the fact that I could feel the new power of my body. There was no doubt in my mind that I had to be stronger than I looked. I could feel that strength and power, flowing just under the surface. It was like a coiled spring...just waiting to be released.

"My God," I whispered, unable to help but being a little impressed with myself, "What else did I get from Kestra?"

Of course the whole thing made no sense whatsoever. How in the world could I possibly have gained those kinds of skills and powers from a video game character, just by being struck by lightning. Then again, how could I have been turned into a girl or had these strange new clothes suddenly appear on me? Obviously the laws of physics...or at least every one that I knew of, had just been thrown out the window.

Suddenly, had another idea. The realization that I had somehow gained so much from Kestra and the curiosity about what else I might have gained drove me to my next experiment. And perhaps there was even a bit of instinctive knowledge as well.

I barely gave any conscious thought at all to my actions as I reached behind my back with both hands, found two handles and smoothly pulled out two katars. The handles fit perfectly into my hands, as if designed just for me. The blades themselves stuck out about nine inches from my fist, from the base by my knuckles where they were each just a little wider than my fist, all the way to where they tapered off into sharp points. They were deadly, vicious little blades which I somehow instinctively knew how to use.

"Weird," I muttered after a moment, suddenly realizing that I'd pulled the blades out of their sheathes on my lower back...when there hadn't been any blades there before.

When I had been moving around, I would have noticed if I'd had two sharp blades like that strapped to my back, and I had noticed no such thing. There was absolutely no way that I could have possibly missed noticing those things on my back.

"Summoning," I blurted out in sudden realization.

Summoning was not an official technique that you could learn in the game, nor one that was even listed. However, it was a term that many of the players used to refer to what many thought of as a glitch in the game's realism.

Most people who played the game had selected weapons for their characters, even if some didn't use those weapons in most of their fights. You had the option to 'sheath' most of your weapons, putting them in the background so you couldn't use them in a fight...or so that you could switch to a different weapon. And when you 'sheathed' your weapons, you could sometimes still see it on your character... You might see a character's sheathed axe strapped across their back, or their sword in a scabbard at their side. However, there were also a lot of times where you couldn't see any sign of their weapon. A huge sword, spear or axe might disappear without any trace...but could be just as quickly recalled when you were between fights. That ability to have a weapon disappear without a trace when sheathed and then just as easily return was called 'summoning'.

There was really no clear explanation as to why some of the game characters were able to summon their weapons and others weren't. However, the main theory was that it depended on both the specific weapons involved and the character's school. Kestra was one of those whose weapons did indeed vanish when sheathed until I summoned them again, and as impossible as it was, I now seemed to have inherited that ability along with everything else.

I made several experimental slashes with my katars, then slipped them back into their sheathes. Strangely, once they were in their sheathes, they seemed to vanish almost entirely. But as soon as I reached back for them, I could feel the handles present...as if they were there only as long as I wanted them to be there.

"Can this possibly get any weirder?" I muttered, shaking my head in disbelief.

Then I reached into my sleeve and pulled out one of my throwing knives, of which there had been absolutely no trace of until then...just like my katars. I held the throwing knife out in front of me, taking a close look. It was definitely a throwing knife, being almost all blade but with a ring at the base to grab onto and throw with. And after a moment, I slipped the blade back into my sleeve where it once again conveniently vanished.

And after seeing all that had already happened to me, all that I could already do, I couldn't help wondering if I had the ability to do any of Kestra's chi abilities as well... I hesitated a moment, deciding that I probably didn't want to know about that just yet. Things were far too weird for my taste as it was.

I stood there for a few more minutes, just taking everything in and trying to make sense of it all. But it didn't make any sense and I was beginning to doubt that it ever would. All that I could do was take things one minute at a time and see where it led me.

Finally, I decided that it was all just too much and I needed to take my mind off of it all for a little while...or at least try to. Maybe then I'd be able to get my mind around my changes just a little bit better. And if I wanted a distraction, I had learned long ago that there was one thing to provide a distraction like no other...video games on my computer. But since my computer was completely trashed, I would have to make due with my TV.

But when I reached for my TV remote, I was more than a little annoyed to find that it wasn't working. I kept clicking the power button but nothing happened. So I went to the TV and pushed the power button on that. It seemed to stay dead for a few seconds longer than it should, but it did turn on.

"At least that works," I muttered, absently putting my hand on top of my TV.

Suddenly, the TV picture began to blur and crackle with a lot of static. As soon as I yanked my hand back, it snapped back to it's normal crystal clarity. I stared at the TV for a moment, then hesitantly put my hand to the screen, only to see it turn into static again.

I slowly moved away from the TV, feeling both curious and worried about this latest oddity. When I went to my clock radio and turned it on, it reacted much like the TV had, turning to static as long as I was touching it but then working again when I wasn't. That only got me even more curious, and I wandered from room to room, touching my electronic devices and finding that most of them seemed to react like that to my touch.

"Just great," I groaned, wondering if that lighting strike had somehow magnetized me along with everything else.

Since my very touch now seemed to disrupt electronic devices, I decided to test something and set my TV remote on the coffee table, pointed at the TV, then used a pencil to change the channel. It worked. I couldn't use my remote control in my hand, but it still worked as long as I wasn't touching it directly when I used it.

"Just great," repeated, not feeling all that proud of my discovery. It was downright annoying to realize that along with everything else that was happening to me, I couldn't even use my TV properly anymore. "No remote control... It's like I'm some kind of primitive or something..."

Still, the TV was on so I sat down on my couch and leaned back, trying to distract myself from all the changes which had occurred in my body and life. Of course, it didn't work in the least as every breath reminded me that my body was not my own, but I was too stubborn to give up on the idea just yet.

After I had been sitting on my couch for a good twenty minutes or so, trying just a little too hard not to think about my transformed body, I finally decided that I couldn't take it anymore. I had to satisfy the rest of my curiosity...

With that, I gave a gentle tug on my long pony tail, then pulled the hair in front of me enough so that I could see the blue coloring. I shook my head, tugged it again, then let it fall back behind me as I stood up.

I looked down at myself, taking in all of my body's curves, then slowly running my hand over them. It felt extremely strange to be doing that, especially as I didn't even have any of those curves the day before. Hell, I hadn't really even seen any of those curves yet. I could see quite a bit of them through my clothes, but that wasn't exactly the same thing.

A minute later, I was back in the bathroom and staring at my reflection in the mirror again. It was still extremely hard to believe that this reflection actually belonged to me. I mean, I wasn't exactly used to seeing a very pretty young woman staring back at me...and I hoped that I wouldn't be in this body long enough to.

"Okay," I said, trying to get my courage up as I began to undo my clothes. "If I'm going to be stuck looking like this for now, I might at least get a good look at myself..."

I'd already known that I would HAVE to take a real good look at my body since I had first seen it staring back at me from the mirror. It was inevitable, though I had been trying to avoid thinking about that since a part of me thought that as soon as I saw myself naked like that, it would somehow make it all the more real.

As soon as I had taken off my clothes and dropped them onto the floor, I stared into the mirror again, silently taking in every detail of my new body. There was absolutely no doubt that it was indeed a female body...as if I'd had any doubts before. But now I could see it without any clothing obscuring my view or getting in the way.

My body was every bit as nice as I had imagined, with curves in all the right places. But it was the body of an athlete as well, being almost solid muscle. It wasn't bulky muscle like a bodybuilder might have, but more like that of a gymnast. Then again, I knew that most female gymnasts weren't as tall as I was...or as curvy. I guessed that my breasts had to be a B...maybe even C cup...though it was only a rough guess since I wasn't very experienced.

"Wow," I finally said after a minute of silent examination.

Then I turned my full attention to the space between my legs, noting the fact that my blue hair seemed to be 'natural'. And not only that, but the little patch of hair down there was also neat and trimmed. But I didn't waste much attention on my body hair, focusing instead on the treasure spot.

A quick examination of my new soft spot proved that I was one hundred percent physically female. I wasn't a gynecologist or anything, but as far as I could tell, it was a perfectly normal female vagina. I couldn't say I was particularly thrilled by that, though.

"Just great," I sighed, running my finger over the sensitive skin of my new genitals. I couldn't help but gasping at the sensation. "Kind of...sensitive..."

After this, I continued to explore my body, running my hands over nearly every inch of my skin as I tried to take it all in. However, I avoided giving much more attention to my new genitals as the whole thing seemed just a little too personal for my comfort.

And once I was finished with my self-examination, I went through some of those new stretches that I was now capable of again, though without my clothes they seemed a whole lot kinkier. But somehow, without my clothes to obscure my view of myself, I could appreciate just how...intense my feminine new body was all the better.

But when I was done with my self-explorations and my naked cartwheels across my living room floor, at least for the moment, I settled back down in front of the TV, not really watching the screen at all...but just thinking. And there was no doubt that I had a whole lot to think about

When I awoke in the morning, I remained where I was, silent and motionless. All that I did for some time was breath in and breath out, listening to the sound of my own heart. I didn't need to sit up and feel myself up to KNOW that the events of the day before had not been a dream...and that I was still in the body of my video game character Kestra.

I finally sat up and looked down at myself, not the least bit surprised to see my female body. There had been no need to see myself since I had been able to feel it from the moment I awoke. I had been able to feel it with nearly every fiber of my being.

Then I climbed out of bed, finding it just a little odd that I felt so alert and ready to go. I'd never been a morning person, though I hadn't been the type to be dead to the world until noon either. Still, there I was, having just woken up and I was already feeling fully charged and ready to go. In fact, I felt ready to take on the world.

"Another advantage," I thought aloud, silently added that to the growing list of advantages to my altered state of being. There were definitely quite a few of them, though there were serious serious downsides as well.

I let out a long sigh at that, having spent quite a bit of time the day before doing nothing but thinking about my situation and all of the problems it created. When I had gone to bed, it had been with the hopes that I would wake up back to normal, or that I would have awoken to discover that it had all been a dream. But as it was morning and I was still Kestra, that was obviously not the case.

"Damn," I grimaced, knowing that this had just gotten more serious.

For a moment, I stood there scowling in dismay, not wanting to deal with the ramifications of my transformation. But, I knew that it wasn't like I exactly had a choice.

I decided to try dealing with things one step at a time, and that meant taking care of my morning business. First was a trip to the bathroom to relieve myself. I'd had my first experience doing that the day before, and it had felt a bit odd then too. But thankfully, the biological process of getting rid of bodily waste was actually pretty similar for both men and women.

A few minutes later, I was in the shower and carefully washing my body. Of course a bath might have been a nice and relaxing to both clean up and get used to my new body at the same time, but at the moment I was more interested in just getting clean. Still, it was pretty difficult to focus on cleaning myself without getting distracted, and I have to admit that I lost my focus more than once.

Once I was done with my shower, I had so much energy that I just had to burn some of it off. I almost felt like I was hyperactive, though I knew that it wasn't quite that bad. But to take care of some of this energy, I did some stretching, then did around a hundred push-ups, followed by as many sit-ups. When I finally stopped, it was more because I was bored than because I was feeling tired.

"Incredible," I muttered, feeling even more impressed with my new body, in spite of myself.

However, once I was done with my morning distractions, my thoughts returned to all of the problems that my situation was going to cause me. Since I was still Kestra, I had a growing suspicion that I was going to remain that way for quite some time to come. In fact, I was even beginning to suspect that I might be stuck like that for the rest of my life.

"Lightning doesn't strike twice," I told myself grimly, silently adding that even if by some miracle it did, it could never do anything as weird as my transformation a second time. If it didn't wear off on it's own...which I had no reason to believe that it would, then I would have to get used to remaining as I was. "Not a pleasant prospect..."

I let out a sigh as I sat down, thinking about my future. As hard as it was, I tried to distance myself from the problem and think about it objectively. Of course, I'd already thought most of this through the day before while sitting around the apartment.

Since it was the first day of my weekend, I wouldn't have to worry about the people at work asking about me for several more days. But if I was still Kestra by then, then they would be wondering where I was since I couldn't exactly go into work as I was or call in sick. If my co-workers questioned where I was...that could quickly lead to other people asking where I was...where Craig Belmont was...including the police.

"That could be a real problem," I thought aloud, knowing that it would be an even greater problem if 'Craig' had suddenly disappeared without any warning, and a strange blue haired woman that no one knew was found living in his apartment. I...that was the new me, would be an immediate suspect in the disappearance of the old me. "Definitely not good..."

Though I hated the idea, I knew I only had one option at the moment. I was going to have to vanish entirely. The only way for me to avoid being a suspect in my own disappearance was to cut ties to my old life...to run off and start over. It wasn't going to be easy in the least, but I was growing more certain that it would be necessary.

If I was able to somehow find a way to change back into myself, I could always show up again, giving some story about having been kidnapped or wandering around with amnesia. If I changed back to my normal self, I could always come up with some explanation... But if I remained as I was, which I believed would likely be the case, then there was no way that I could explain away what had happened.

"Lightning doesn't cause people to turn into video game characters," I said, knowing that there was absolutely no way in hell that I would be able to get anyone to believe a story like that. At best, they'd think I was insane and lock me away. And at worst, they'd assume that I murdered Craig Belmont and I'd still be locked away. "It's better to just leave..."

I felt devastated as I thought about cutting ties with my family and friends. Of course, I wasn't really close with my family and I didn't really have any close friends... I didn't really have that many ties to cut. But that wasn't the point... The thought of just up and abandoning my old life and everything I knew was harsh. But it was also necessary.

Fortunately, I reminded myself, I still had several days before I'd really have to worry about that too much. I could spend that time setting things up, trying to find a new job and place to live... But I knew that I would have to hurry...and that I'd have to be quiet about it. It certainly wouldn't do to have the neighbors tell the police that there was a strange blue haired woman living in Craig's apartment around the time he suddenly disappeared.

Of course, there was one other option that I could use instead of just vanishing without a trace... I could send an E-mail to my family to let them know that I'd found a new girlfriend and that we were going to run off and start a new life together. That might explain my disappearance as well as keep people from looking for me. But at the same time, it would provide a connection between Craig and Kestra which might be problematic.

"One thing at a time," I reminded myself.

Before I could vanish, there were things I was going to need. For one, I was going to need new clothes since none of my old stuff really fit me anymore and the lightning had left me with only one outfit that kind of stood out. And for that, as well as everything else, I was going to need money. I could get nearly a thousand from my bank account, but that wouldn't get me very far.

"Damn," I muttered, looking around my apartment.

There was one fact that I couldn't help thinking of. If I was going to leave my place in a hurry, which I would to have to do, I would need to have to leave almost everything behind. I couldn't afford the time or hassle of closing my rental account with the managers, especially not looking as I currently did. I couldn't afford the time and trouble of getting a moving van and moving everything out... Even if I could, I would definitely be seen...there was no helping that. And the very point was that I was trying to avoid being seen and remembered, which was hard enough with blue hair.

"Just the necessities," I grimaced, hating the idea of leaving everything behind, but knowing that I didn't even have a new place to move anything into. Hopefully I could find something before then. I still had a little time if I was careful.

Now that I had a plan, I felt relieved, though I still had a lot of details to work out. But, I could work on those as I went along. It wasn't like I had a whole lot of choice.

A short time later, I left my apartment, wearing the purple costume that had come along with my body, as well as a few extras that I didn't stand out so much. I had on my longest coat, which served to hide my unusual clothes a bit, as well as a hat for my hair. Blue hair might not be considered as odd as it once was, but it was still out of the ordinary enough to attract attention.

I had to admit that I had mixed feelings as I went out. It was my first time going out in public as my new self, and I was feeling nervous....yet another part of me felt excited, as though the whole playing dress-up and being seen as something other than I was inside was just some sort of thrill. A part of me was afraid that someone would point me out, laughing at a guy being dressed up as a girl.

The first thing I did was walk to a supermarket to the ATM. I could have gone to one at the bank which was closer, but the ones at banks had video cameras which watched you, while supermarkets didn't. At the moment, my goal was to avoid any cameras or other things that could connect the blue haired woman and Craig.

"Too bad I can't get more out," I muttered as I walked away from the ATM. Unfortunately, my account would only let me withdraw up to $400 a day. I grimaced, making sure to keep my head down so that even the cameras watching me go through the store wouldn't have any good pictures of me.   "I'll have to make several trips..." Of course, I could go to different places for each withdrawal to help keep me from being tracked.

Even as I left the store with my money, I couldn't help wondering if I was being just a little bit paranoid. After all, who would bother looking for me if I just disappeared? I couldn't help thinking it was better safe than sorry.

Since I now had my finances in hand, so to speak, I decided to take care of my next most important task. I was NOT exactly enthusiastic as I went to the store to look for clothes, but I knew that it had to be done. I couldn't very well get along with only the outfit I was wearing, especially when it was so noticeable.

I decided to try for a place where my appearance might not be quite so out of the ordinary. And that left me with only one place I could think of off the top of my head. The mall. I couldn't count the number of times that I'd seen teenagers...and even some adults wandering around there with oddly colored hair and who knows what for clothes.

"Let's see," I mused, sure where to start. I didn't know much about girls clothes. I knew that I needed be very practical, and there were several issues I would need to remain aware of as I shopped.

For one, I wanted to avoid attracting too much attention, so any real cute and sexy outfits were really out. Of course, I probably wouldn't have worn anything like that anyway, though a part of me was almost disappointed as I kind of wanted to see what my new body would look like all decked out. Then again, no one was watching in the dressing room, so I could always try something on for kicks.

Secondly, I had a limited amount of money and I wouldn't be in a position to get much more until I could find some sort of job that paid under the table. I figured that this wouldn't be too hard as there were always restaurants and places that were willing to hire people and pay with cash and cashiers checks rather than go official. There was something to be said for avoiding the hassle of paying the government or paying for all of those benefits. But, until I found that job, I wouldn't be able to afford too much.

"What I need and nothing more," I told myself firmly.

I quickly went through one of the shops, picking out a pair of jogging suits, which I thought were pretty practical. They were cheap, would fit me without any real concerns for size and they wouldn't attract much attention. However, it was only after buying them that I realized that they might not be quite as practical as I had first thought. After all, I couldn't very well go around...and even working in just a jogging suit.

At the next store, I went and bought some slacks and shirts... They were fairly simple, but they were more obviously women's clothes. Still, those were the kind of clothes that were designed for my new body, and I was practical enough to know that this was what I was going to have to get used to. But buying those clothes meant I had to try them on first, which meant I would get a bit better idea as to what my new sizes where.

The thoughts about my sizes did lead me to one other realization. I needed underwear that was a bit more appropriate for my new body. And though I was tempted, I steered clear of Victoria's Secret. It might be fun posing in that stuff in front of a mirror, but I was determined to remain practical at the moment.

I was pretty embarrassed to go searching through the lingerie section, knowing that I must look even more ridiculous since I had absolutely no idea as to my sizes. Fortunately, there was a helpful sales lady who was happy enough to help measure me, though I did have to come up with a story about being from Australia and telling her they used different measurements there. I had no idea if that was true or not, but she bought it and gave me all the help that I needed. I ended up walking out of there with a couple of bras and a half dozen pairs of panties.

"That should hold me over for now," I sighed in relief. My shopping was nearly over.

The only thing left for me to buy at the moment were a nice pair of shoes. The ones that came with my outfit were sort of like moccasins and extremely comfortable, but they were purple and would look a bit odd with anything I'd just bought. I quickly settled on a pair of plain looking tennis shoes then rushed out of the mall.

"Just great," I grumbled as I tried to balance the half dozen shopping bags that filled my hands. "At least now I can go home..."

But saying that last bit sent a faint chill down my spine. I wouldn't have that apartment of mine for much longer and I didn't have anything else set up just yet. That was the one part of my plan to vanish and start over that really worried me. I was going to need to find a place to stay and find it fast. And hopefully, I could find it before I left my current place.

"Maybe I should move to a different city," I mused aloud, realizing that this would be the logical extension of cutting my ties. The thought of leaving my familiar surroundings was not a comforting one, but it was one I needed to consider.

I was so lost in thought that I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings. I knew that there were a lot of people around me, and I was vaguely aware of a group of suspicious looking young men standing around nearby. I just hadn't really given them any thought, though perhaps I should have.

Suddenly, several of the young men went into action at once, with the others hesitating only a moment before following their lead. Two of them hit me, or at least rushed up and snatched the bags out of my hands while I was surprised. Others in the group were doing the same thing to some of the people around me, grabbing their purses and shopping bags and then rushing off.

"What the?" I gasped in shock as my bags were torn from my hands.

There was no conscious thought to my next actions, or at least very little. I was furious and chased after them, quickly slipping out of my coat and revealing the purple costume that I was still wearing. I was in motion, jumping higher and faster than a normal person should, catching one of them with a foot to his back and sending him flying face first into the ground.

"What the hell...?" one of the other young men yelled out in shock.

But, I wasn't finished yet and charged at the man who had taken my other bags. Somehow, everything seemed to be moving almost in slow motion and I was aware of every detail of my surroundings. His friends had abandoned their stolen goods...at least for the most part, and were coming at me as well.

I just grimaced and launched into a nearly impossible flip, catching a second man with a kick and then lashing out to punch a third. They all backed up and eyed me warily, until one of them pulled out a knife, obviously ready to take this to the next level.

At that moment, the words of Crocodile Dundee suddenly came into my head, and I quickly reached back and pulled out my katars, grinning, "You call that a knife...?"

"Holy shit," several people exclaimed at once, along with similar comments. "Where did she get those things," or at least a variation of that was another one that seemed to come from several places around me at once.

The would be muggers just stood around and stared at me in shock, obviously wondering where the hell I had gotten the katars, as well as what those things might do to them. Then almost as one, the young men all turned and ran.

"Bastards," I muttered, putting my katars back into their sheathes, feeling them sort of vanish until I summoned them again.

Then it suddenly dawned on me what I had just done. I'd never been the heroic type, though I had been willing to fight when I had to. But this... This was something else entirely. I'd just KNOWN that I could fight them....that I could stop them with ease. And that seemed to have been all that I needed to go into action with the skills that had come along with my new body

"Oh shit," I gulped, quickly glancing around and realizing that there had been a number of people saw that little scene. I'd been trying hard not to attract any attention, and I'd just blown that idea all to hell. I doubted any of them would ever forget me after seeing that. "Oh shit..."

With that, I quickly gathered up my own shopping bags, threw my coat on and rushed off as fast as I could. I didn't want that attention and almost regretted what I'd done. However, the few people who called out yells of encouragement and even of thanks helped remove that regret.

I hurried away from the scene of the fight, wanting to avoid any more of a scene than I had already created. I cursed the men who had started it all under my breath as I did so, furious at them for making me attract so much attention just when I was trying so hard to avoid it.

However, I had walked a good distance when I suddenly realized that I was being followed. It wasn't any of those men who were following me though. To my surprise, it was some woman. I had seen her standing back and watching the fight with a look of shock and disbelief on her face, much like everyone else, and I had absolutely no idea why she had decided to follow me.

Since I was still pretty ticked off about the attempted mugging, I decided to confront her rather than just ditch her. I turned around a corner, then abruptly stopped, waiting there until she turned the corner as well.

"Why the hell are you following me?" I suddenly demanded.

The woman suddenly froze, giving me a chance to get a better look at her. She was a rather pretty brunette, in her late twenties or even early thirties. And for a moment, she just stared at me with a look of stunned disbelief...and a hint of fear.

"You...you're Kestra....aren't you?" the woman finally blurted out.

"What?" I gasped in surprise, "Where did you hear that name?"

"My God," the woman stammered on, "I thought I recognized you... But that's impossible... Unless..." She paused, took a deep breath and then continued a little more calmly, "You designed your character based on yourself, didn't you?"

"What?" I asked again, feeling even more confused...not to mention nervous. Who was this woman who seemed to recognize me...or at least the character that I had been turned into.

"I play Kombat Champions too," the woman blurted out, still staring at me in amazement, "I play Vypra..."

"Vypra?" I repeated in surprise. "You're Vypra?"

If what she said was true, than I had talked to this woman online quite a number of times. Of course we had fought on the game, but there were times where we had just sat there and talked about things outside of it.

"Well," she blushed, "My name is Nancy... Vypra is just my character. I mean, you don't see me with green hair or anything..." Then she stared at my hair, "I can't believe how much you look like your character..."

"Uncanny, isn't it?" I said, not sure what else I could say.

Nancy just nodded, "Uncanny is right... I never thought that I'd meet you outside of the game, much less be able to recognize you on sight..."

"Well, It's nice to finally meet you," I told her, giving a weak smile. "I'm just a little on edge after what happened back there..."

"You really kicked butt," Nancy exclaimed, "The way you moved... It was just like something right out of the game..."

"Um...yeah," I said, not sure that I liked where that was going.

"And your clothes..." Nancy shook her head in amazement, "You're even wearing the same clothes as in the game..."

My mind raced around that one as I tried to come up with some sort of reasonable explanation. Then it dawned on me... "I was going to a costume party and decided that I might as well go as Kestra..." I shrugged, "I guess I just got a little too into character..."

Nancy seemed to accept that explanation, much to my relief. In fact, I think that she was relieved as well, as though such a simple explanation made me safer and not just some weirdo who thought she was some sort of video game character. I silently reminded myself to use the costume party line again if someone else started asking about my odd clothes and blue hair.

Then Nancy hesitated for a moment before smiling nervously and told me, "I don't live too far from here... Why don't you come on over to my apartment so we can talk for awhile..."

The invitation caught me by surprise, and though I knew that it wouldn't be a good idea, I had to admit that I was tempted. The two of us had been talking online for months and the chance to actually talk and get to know her in person was really hitting my curiosity hard.

"Come on," she pushed gently, "It'll be nice to talk in person for once..."

I thought about it for a moment more before reluctantly nodding. In spite of the fact that it was a bad idea, I couldn't resist the temptation.

Nancy had been telling the truth when she said that her place wasn't far away, and we were soon sitting down inside. It was a modest sized apartment, nothing too large or fancy but certainly not small or cramped either.

"My husband isn't home right now," Nancy told me, "so it's just the two of us..."

"Okay," I nodded, remembering that she'd mentioned being married several times while we'd been talking.

Then she offered me a glass of tea, which I accepted with a smile. I didn't really care for the stuff, but since she was offering I didn't want to offend her by turning it down.

"So," Nancy grinned, "Do I call you Kestra or...?" She left it hanging.

"My friends call me Kes," I smiled back, earning a faint chuckle.

"Oh, the costume party," Nancy gasped, starting at me as I took off my coat again. "I'd almost forgotten... You don't have to be late on my account..."

"Don't worry about it," I reassured her, "It's not a big deal at all..."

"But getting dressed up like that," she insisted on continuing.

"It isn't a big deal," I told her again. "I'd rather be here."

That seemed to console her and she changed the subject. We started talking about the game, about Kombat Champions and some of the character's that we'd played against. It was kind of fun, especially when we both snickered about some of the idiots who'd signed up to play the game.

And as we talked, it was almost easy to forget that we had never actually met in person before then...and even about my strange situation and problems. I was quickly reminded however, when she brought up the subject of just how realistic my costume was.

Nancy and I talked for a good two hours, and it was strange to realize that I was quickly thinking of her as a very close friend. It was even stranger to suddenly appreciate that she was probably my closest friend. And then I realized, that this was rather pathetic. My closest friend in the world was someone that I'd never even seen in person until a couple hours earlier.

I guess my thoughts began to show on my face a bit as Nancy put her hand on me knee and gently asked, "What's wrong?"

For a moment, I just stared back at her... Then the tears began to come. I had no idea where they came from, but it was as if all of the stress of my situation and the realization of just how alone in the world I had been hit me all at once. It all came out in a burst of tears...

"What's wrong?" Nancy asked again, looking worried.

I was embarrassed, feeling kind of foolish for just sitting there and falling apart. I quickly wiped the tears from my cheeks, desperately trying to figure out WHY I was reacting like that. Though the simple and easy answer could have been that I had been turned into a woman and women cry easily, I seriously doubted that the answer would have been anything like that. More likely, the truth was I had been through hell in the last few weird days and it was just catching up to me...big time.

Nancy just sat there with a concerned expression on her face. She was obviously dying to know what was wrong and why I was losing it like that, but she was too polite to ask. Instead, she just remained where she was, as if hoping her presence would give some sort of silent comfort. And in a strange way, it did.

"I...I don't just look like Kestra," I said slowly, not sure why I was telling her this. "I am her..."

"What?" Nancy blinked in surprise.

For a moment, I just stared at her, afraid that she would think that I was crazy. I wasn't even sure why I had told her that much, especially since I knew that not only would she not believe me, but that I had been trying to avoid attention. It made no sense, even to me.

Then it hit me... It was all part of the crying, of the pent up emotion... I had no one else in my life I could tell about this...not even my own family. But I needed to tell someone... I couldn't keep it all to myself... And since I felt so close and friendly with Nancy, I guess a part of me had decided that I could tell her.

I took a deep breath, deciding that since I had started telling her, I might as well go all of the way. She might think I was crazy if I told her the whole thing, but she would definitely think I was if I left things as they were.

"I know this will sound crazy," I whispered, wiping away the tears. I looked at Nancy, giving her an intense look as if willing her to believe me. "But this isn't exactly a costume..." I tugged my hair to prove that it wasn't a wig. "And I didn't always look like this."

"What do you mean?" Nancy asked cautiously, watching me carefully.

With that, I let out a sigh, knowing that I would have to put my money where my mouth was. I stood up and stepped back from her, slowly turning around to make sure that she could get a good look at my back. Then while she was watching, I carefully reached behind me, grabbed the handles of my katars as they came into being and pulled them out.

"What the?" Nancy blinked in surprise. "Where did those things come from?"

She looked a bit afraid of the katars, and I didn't blame her since I'd just pulled out a couple of sharp blades. But at the same time, she seemed pretty curious.

"Summoning," I told her, giving a weak smile. "Just like in the game..."

Then, I decided that I would have to do even more. Though I hadn't tried any of my chi moves yet, I was pretty sure that I could do those as well. After all, if I could do the whole summoning thing, I could probably do other interesting tricks as well.

And with that, I closed my eyes, somehow feeling the chi energy within me... I could feel that it was indeed finite, that it had definite limits. Then, I smiled faintly, somehow instinctively knowing how to use my channel technique... I transferred a part of my chi energy through my hands and into my katars, letting out a faint sigh of relief as the blades began to glow with a faint violet light.

"My God," Nancy exclaimed, jumping to her feet and staring at me.

I nodded, then carefully put my katars away, not wanting to appear as though I was threatening her in any way. As soon as they had vanished back to wherever the hell they went, I turned to let her see that the katars were indeed gone. I even lifted my shirt up enough to show that they weren't being hidden.

Nancy slowly came closer to me, staring at my lower back in disbelief. Then she carefully touched me, running her hand over my entire back, stunned that there was no sign of the katars. "How...?" she finally asked, stepping back and staring at me as though I might be some kind of alien.

"Like I said," I told her with a frown, sitting back down on her couch as I did so, "I am Kestra... At least physically..." I shook my head, "Just a couple days ago, I was perfectly normal... I was playing the game, then suddenly I got hit by lightning. Don't ask me how, but somehow it actually turned me into Kestra... It even gave me all of her abilities from the game..."

'You're kidding me," she gasped.

I shook my head, responding, "No..." Then letting out a long sigh, I told her, "I wish I was... I was just playing the game, then ZAP.... I woke up yesterday looking like this..." I gestured down at myself.

Nancy stared at me in amazement, looking as though she believed me. But then again, that demonstration of summoning and channeling the chi through my katars was probably pretty convincing. And then there was the way I'd been fighting back at the mall...

"How can you handle something like that?" Nancy finally asked me, "I mean...something like that...turning into Kestra has to be strange..."

"It's even stranger than that," I told her with a sigh, "At least for me." I scowled deeply, feeling rather embarrassed as I admitted, "Before the lightning turned me into Kestra, I was a guy..."

Nancy's eyes shot open at that and she stared at me with a renewed look of disbelief. She gulped, looking as though her entire world view had just been shaken...which I guess it had been. "Why...why are you telling me about all this?"

"I...I trust you," I told her, not completely sure why, but I did. "I guess I needed to tell someone and..." I shrugged...

"And I just happen to be it?" she smiled, looking a little honored.

"Pretty much," I responded, feeling pretty self-conscious at the moment. I mean, there I was, a guy in a girl's body and I had just admitted as much to someone else. I could feel her looking at me, seeing me in a different light, and it was sort of embarrassing. It felt much more comfortable to be a woman if that was what people saw me as and didn't know any different.

Nancy nodded and sat down, looking at me with a strange expression that was a mixture of curiosity and concern. She obviously didn't think I was any kind of a threat anymore. Instead she looked as though she wanted to help me.

And with that, I opened up and told her everything... I told Nancy all about what had happened to me since I was struck by lightning...and it felt like such an incredible relief. It was great to finally be able to open up and share all of that with someone. Now I didn't feel nearly so alone anymore.

I sat there for a long time, staring at Nancy while she stared back at me. I had told her everything...all about who I had been before the strange lightning strike and everything that had happened to me afterwards. And as expected, she was completely and totally stunned.

"You really have her special moves," Nancy whispered.

"Yeah," I nodded, having already told her that several times, even demonstrating the ability to summon my weapons and channel my chi.

"This must be extremely strange for you," she told me, "I mean, turning into a woman..."

"You have no idea," I sighed.

She stared at me again before tentatively saying, "You seem to be handling it pretty well..."

"I don't have much choice," I reminded her with a scowl. "It's either handle it and make plans for it or go insane..."

Nancy continued to stare at me for a few more seconds, then at the floor. "Your plan to disappear...." She shook her head. "I don't know how you could do something like that..."

"I don't want to," I told her with a scowl. "But I don't really have much choice. If I don't disappear...things could get a LOT more complicated than I can deal with..."

Thoughts of my secret being discovered suddenly ran through my mind. I gulped at the thought of suddenly having my story spread out all over the news. It would be completely humiliating and I would have no privacy at all. But even worse, I would probably vanish anyway...this time unwillingly. I might end up in some secret research laboratory as a lab rat while they dissected me and tried to find out how I had changed...and how my weird chi powers all worked.

"I can't have that," I grimaced.

Nancy nodded at that in understanding, giving me a sympathetic look. "I think I have an idea..." She paused a moment, licking her lips thoughtfully before continuing, "We have a spare bedroom... You can stay here for a month or so until you get up and going again..."

"What?" I gasped in surprise. "Do you mean that?"

Though I'd tried not to think about it too much, one of my biggest worries was about where I was going to go. About where I was going to stay. I didn't want to be stuck living in a homeless shelter... So as unexpected as Nancy's offer was, it also meant quite a lot to me.

"But your husband...," I said, suddenly remembering that she was married and that it wasn't her decision. At least not entirely.

"Don't worry about Tom," Nancy told me with a grin, "I'll talk to him when he gets home...

To Nancy's credit, as soon as her husband Tom came home from work, she did exactly as she had said she would and had a little talk with him. I had thought she was halfway out of her mind and that there was no way that she could get someone to let a complete and total stranger just move in with them, but I was quickly proven wrong.

Nancy was all sweet and smiles, telling Tom a story about how I was an old friend from college who had just ended a bad relationship where my boyfriend had destroyed nearly everything that I owned in retaliation. She spun a nice story, with the true part being that I had gone through a recent trauma and was forced to start over from scratch... And by the time she was done, I felt like offering my own help to the poor victim...until I remembered that it was supposed to be me.

Before I knew what was happening, Tom had not only agreed to let me stay in the spare bedroom while I got back on my feet, but he seemed to think it was his own idea at the same time. I didn't know whether to be horrified at just how easily Nancy had manipulated him, or amused. Either way, I was thankful to have one of my biggest worries dealt with.

"Thank you so much," I told her sincerely, "You have no idea how much this means to me... I mean, you've never even met me in person before today..."

Nancy just smiled at me, "Well, you needed some help and I've never been one to turn someone away when they needed it. And besides, I liked playing against you..."

"You like losing against me," I teased, getting a chuckle and an offer of another rematch in return.

Since I now I had a place to stay, and even sooner than I ever could have hoped, I decided that it was time to move out of my old place. I went back to my apartment, telling Nancy not to come... After all, if I was cutting ties with my old life, I didn't need anyone to see her and connect her with my disappearance.

I looked around my apartment, feeling extremely depressed as I did so. It wasn't going to be easy to leave all of that... It would be especially difficult to leave my TV, but I couldn't exactly bring that with me. Of course, it wasn't leaving my property that was the real hard part. The part that really hurt was leaving everything that it represented...my old life.

When I saw my computer, or at least the ruined mess that was left of it, I sighed. "At least I won't have to worry about that..." It was history whether I brought it with me or not.

For the next ten minutes or so, I just wandered around my apartment, silently saying my goodbye's to everything. Then I took my gym bag and packed up the few items I was going to take with me. There was my hidden cash stash, a few personal items I couldn't bear leaving behind and some photos among other things. Once I had collected everything I could take with me, I tried to clean up as many traces of my new self as I could.

"I wish I would have thought about fingerprints and stuff ahead of time," I muttered with a grimace. But it was too late to do anything but clean everything up a little before I left. "I just hope that it's enough..."

It didn't take me long to finish doing everything I needed to do. When I was done, I went to my fridge, grabbed some leftover fried chicken and took a bite. Silently, I looked over my apartment again, letting out a long sigh.

"Goodbye," I said, turning and leaving, taking another bite of my chicken as I walked away. I had brought what I could with me, and that would have to do.

Later that night, after I had moved into Nancy's spare bedroom, she came in with a grin, "I bought something to help you.."

"Yeah?" I looked up at her.

"Well I know that you said that you wanted to avoid attention," Nancy told me, coming over and putting a hand on my hair, "And this just cries for attention. So I bought some dye... What do you think about being a brunette?"

I looked at the bottle of hair dye that Nancy offered, and the pair of scissors that she had pulled out as well. As soon as I saw the scissors, I knew what she meant by them. If I cut my hair a bit shorter, it would help to attract less attention as well. But, for some reason I felt reluctant to cut my hair. In fact, it almost seemed silly to me, but I rather liked long hair on women and it seemed such a shame to cut it...even on myself.

"I'll keep the hair long," I told her, "But I can handle being brunette..."

With that decided, Nancy and I went into her bathroom and spent a good deal of time running the dye through my hair and changing it from it's blue color into something a bit more socially acceptable. And once we were done, I had to admit that it looked pretty decent.

"So I'm a brunette now," I said, running my hands through my dark hair. After several days with blue hair, it almost seemed strange to have black hair now. "I can handle this..."

"It looks good on you," Nancy told me with a smile.

Unfortunately, when I took my shower the next morning, every bit of the dye washed straight out of my hair. I was stunned, but quickly realized that whatever it was that made my body so strange...that gave me the blue hair and made it so I couldn't handle electronics, also made it so that I couldn't dye my hair either...at least not unless I wanted to do it every day. It looked like I was stuck with the blue hair.

"This stinks," I grumbled as I leaned back from the computer, glaring at it in disgust. "I can't even use a computer anymore..."

I had just gotten on Nancy's computer in order to surf the web a bit when I discovered that it wouldn't work for me anymore. Or at least the keyboard and mouse didn't work properly for me anymore. It was the same as with just about any other electronic device I touched. For some reason, my very touch kept it from working for me.

"What's wrong?" Nancy asked as she came up.

"This," I grumbled, typing a few things on her keyboard and showing that there were no results on the screen. "I told you about how my TV remote doesn't work for me... Well, nothing electronic seems to anymore..."

"That stinks," she frowned.

I nodded at that, then put my hand to the computer monitor, frowning as the whole thing blurred out at my touch. I pulled my hand away and it returned to it's normal state.

"That does stink," Nancy shook her head. I guess you can't check your e-mail..."

"There is a way around it," I told her, "But it takes some time..."

With that, I used a pencil to start typing on the keyboard, pushing one key at a time. It took quite a bit of time, but it worked. Whatever it was that made my touch mess up electronics seemed to need direct contact to actually work.

After a few minutes of checking out some of my favorite sites online, I logged onto the Kombat Champions game. There was something I was really curious about. But when I tried logging on to my account, it said that it wasn't there. I retyped my user name and password, but it didn't do any good. It said that I didn't have an account.

"Your account just vanished?" Nancy gasped when I showed her. She stared at the screen, "Are you sure that you didn't cancel it..."

"Positive,' I told her with a grimace. "In fact, I was in the middle of playing when THIS happened to me... I haven't been able to get back on since..."

"Let me try something," Nancy told me, gesturing for me to get out of the way and then sitting down in front of the computer herself. She logged into her own account, then did a character search... However, it came back with the results that there was no character named Kestra in the game. "It looks like you were erased from the game..."

"Just one more thing," I grimaced, knowing that it must have happened when I'd been struck by lightning. "Maybe it somehow transferred Kestra's profile to me and made it real..."

"Makes as much sense as anything else," Nancy told me.

I just nodded at that, "I guess..."

We just sat there for a few minutes before Nancy started, "So Kes...have you figured out what you're going to do for money yet?"

"Not yet," I frowned. "I'm going to start looking for under the table jobs pretty soon." I scowled even deeper and added, "It's going to be a little more difficult finding a job that doesn't require any ID or social security."

"Good point," Nancy admitted.

I let out a sigh at that, "Yep."

After a few more minutes, Nancy brought up another problem that I was going to face. "If you really are a woman all the way through, you're going to need to learn a few things about taking care of your body..."

"Oh shit," I grimaced, having managed to avoid thinking too much about that particular aspect of my transformation.

"Are you really female now?" Nancy asked as if having a doubt. "I mean, completely..."

"As far as I can tell," I frowned, "Though it's not like I've gone to the doctor and had an examination..."

"Well I'm no doctor," Nancy said slowly, "But maybe I can have a look..." She was a bit embarrassed to have suggested it, and I was embarrassed as well.

"I don't know," I hesitated. Then I looked at her, took a deep breath and steeled myself. "Okay..." I guess a second opinion might not hurt... Especially not one from someone who knows a lot more about female biology than me.

We both remained where we were for a few more minutes before we finally decided to just go ahead and do it. I stripped out of my clothes, silently thankful that her husband Tom was at work rather than in the apartment. I only hoped that he didn't come home early and catch us like that or he might get the wrong idea.

"Okay," I said once I had all of my clothes off, "Lets play doctor and get it over with..."

"Trust me," Nancy told me, "A real doctor would be a lot more uncomfortable about giving an examination than I am..."

I stood there, completely naked for several minutes while Nancy carefully looked over every inch of my body. She examined my breasts and even touched them, apparently to see if they felt like a real woman's breasts.

"You're even blue down here," she exclaimed as she examined the space between my legs. "How can you have blue hair...?"

"How can lighting change a person into a video game character?" I responded.

It was at this point that the examination became truly embarrassing. Still, I cringed and tried to bear it...just wanting to get it done and out of the way. Maybe after this I wouldn't be so nervous when it finally came time to get checked out by a real doctor.

When Nancy was finished, she stood back and shook her head. "Well, I'm no doctor but as far as I can tell you've got all the right parts in all of the right places."

"I kind of figured that much," I grimaced, quickly covering myself up.

"I mean, it sure looks like the real thing to me," she said, obviously embarrassed about it as well. "But I guess we'll know for sure if you start having your period..."

"Ugh," I winced, definitely not liking that idea.

Once I had my clothes about halfway on again, Nancy reminded me, "About what I said earlier..." I gave her a blank look and she continued, "About needing to learn things..."

I stared at her for a moment, understanding what she meant. "Will you help me?"

Of course I already knew the answer. I doubted that she would have brought the subject up if she hadn't been willing. But it still seemed important for me to ask...at least for me.

Nancy blinked at me, as if surprised that I'd asked even after she'd made the tentative offer. Then she smiled and nodded, "We'll start your lessons in womanhood immediately..."

I had spent three days under Nancy's careful tutelage, learning everything she could teach me about what I would need to survive as a woman. She showed me everything that I needed to know about feminine hygiene, as well as quite a bit more.

Nancy had a few choice comments about my limited wardrobe and took me out to get a few more outfits, ones which she thought would be a little more feminine and appropriate, as well as flatter my body a bit more. It was a bit more money than I wanted to spend on clothes, but she chipped in half so I couldn't really argue there.

Nancy also insisted on giving me makeup lessons. My first impulse was not only to say no, but hell no... That was just going too far... But I just couldn't do that. I was the one who had asked Nancy to teach me what I would need to live as a woman, and I couldn't very well say no now that she was doing just that. So I grimaced, sucked it up and did my best to pay attention and learn.

Though it was a bit uncomfortable and embarrassing for me at times, I had to admit that I was making pretty good progress as far as Nancy's lessons went. I was picking up a lot of things that I'd never really given much thought to before, and feeling just a little more confident in my situation.

Of course, I was still a guy trapped in the body of a female video game character. It was still pretty odd for me, yet not as bad as it could have been. My new body was in unbelievable shape and I felt utterly fantastic. I had no doubt that feeling healthier and more alive than I had ever felt in my life played a large role in just how well I was adjusting.

I might have made a good bit of progress in my lessons with Nancy, but unfortunately, I hadn't gotten anywhere with my job search. It was hard enough looking for a new job at the best of times, but to look for one when you had no identification and wanted to get paid under the table... It wasn't like I could go to the classifieds to find a job like that, and a lot of the jobs out there where they wouldn't ask questions were ones which I had no interest in being involved in.

I know I hadn't been searching all that long and that it was unrealistic to expect to find anything so quickly, yet I was still feeling a bit frustrated. It was probably due to the stress of an unknown future. That kind of situation would be hard for anyone to handle.

At the moment, I had decided to pound some street, looking for a job. Or at least that was the excuse I gave myself, when in fact I knew I was more or less just going for a walk downtown to get some fresh air and clear my head. Still, it made me feel better to at least have the pretense of doing something productive.

But while I was out and about, there was one problem with my new body I found particularly unsettling. Specifically, it was the way that guys were looking at me now. I definitely wasn't bad to look at so had no doubt as to what was on some of their minds. I tried my best to ignore it but doubted I would ever get used to it.

I had been wandering around downtown for a good hour or so when I suddenly realized that I was being followed. I'd seen the guy several times, though I hadn't really paid it much attention. But this time, it dawned on me that I had seen him before, and a little too often for it to be random.

"What the...?" I blinked in surprise.

The man that was following me is one that I'd nearly run into while coming out of one shop. I'd noticed him several other times as well, though only vaguely and not enough to really remember. Of course I couldn't be certain that he really was following me, but it did seem a bit suspicious.

Since I wasn't sure whether I was really being followed or just being paranoid, which seemed like a real enough possibility considering all the stress I'd been through, I decided to find out for sure. I turned and walked into a shop without notice, then watched through the window as my follower stopped in front of it and stared at the door I had just gone through.

"Well I'll be," I muttered, frowning as I saw him take out a cell phone and make a call. He hung up after a moment and continued to wait around in front of the shop, trying not to look too obvious. But now that I knew who to look for, it was pretty obvious he was indeed following me.

In a way, I felt a little relieved to know that I hadn't just been imagining things, though that didn't really help me any. In fact, I felt even more nervous and worried, and I couldn't very well call the cops and tell them that I was being stalked, especially since I was a legal non-entity and it would attract too much attention.

The harder I looked at him, the more I realized that he looked vaguely familiar, though I couldn't place where from. He sure as hell wasn't one of my former co-workers or neighbors, and even if he had been, how could he recognize me. Of course he could be like Nancy, someone who recognized my character from the game, but I rather doubted that.

I frowned intensely, unsure of what to do about my stalker, only that I couldn't stay in that shop all day. Then I decided that I had to lose him... Since I knew he was following me and he didn't seem to know that I knew, that gave me the edge... I smiled, feeling kind of like I was in some kind of spy movie.

After a minute, I left the shop, wearing a fake smile and trying to pretend like nothing was wrong. As I had expected, my stalker followed me, staying far enough back where he wouldn't think I'd notice, yet close enough so he could keep a good eye on me.

"Probably some freak with a thing about blue hair," I muttered to myself, knowing that even if my hair was some normal color that I would still have a pretty striking appearance.

Half a block later and I was about to make my move to lose him, when suddenly a car pulled up in front of me, running up onto the sidewalk and nearly hitting some old lady. I jumped back, even as a half dozen guys started to spill from the car.

A couple of the men who jumped out of the car looked familiar too, and only then did I realize exactly where I had seen the man following me before. He was one of the guys who'd tried snatching my bags at the mall several days ago. These were some of the guys that I'd fought... And it looked like they brought a few friends.

"There's that blue haired bitch," one of the men snarled. "Get her..."

Two more guys came around behind me, along with the one who'd followed me... Several knives flashed and from the looks in their eyes, it was obvious that they were intended for me.

"Not good," I grimaced, taking a step back, seeing that just about everyone nearby who wasn't involved was running way. Obviously no one wanted to be involved in what was happening, and I couldn't very well blame them. I only hoped that someone had thought of calling the police, and that they could arrive in time to help me.

I was just bracing myself to deal with the men in front of me when I suddenly heard a loud bang and something tore into my side. I screamed in pain and dropped to the ground, realizing someone had just shot me from behind...

"Fucking bitch," the man with the gun grinned, "This will teach your martial arts ass not to fuck with us..."

I could only grimace and roll around in pain. The man with the gun just stood back and glared at me, no longer even aiming it at me. I only wondered whether they were going to just leave me to bleed to death, or if they would going to use their knives to finish the job. I didn't know which of those fates would be worse.

But then I suddenly remembered something... I acted more on some survival instinct than anything else, but I closed my eyes and felt the chi energy flowing through me. It burned inside with a warmth and power, filling some large reservoir within me... And then I activated it...my 'second wind' technique...

Suddenly my chi reservoir emptied, and energy flooded through my body in an entirely different way. I gasped as it rushed through my veins and muscles...and burned into my injury. I could feel the gunshot wound healing and vanishing in mere moments, leaving me filled with a nearly overwhelming feeling of health and vitality.

I jumped to my feet, the world around me almost seemed to be moving in slow motion. I felt...supercharged. That seemed to be the only way to describe it... I felt stronger, faster, more energized...hyper. This must be the side effect from my 'second wind' technique, which had not only healed Kestra in the game but transferred her remaining chi points into a short burst of extra physical power... And there I was, experiencing it all first hand.

Of course I didn't have time to just stand there and marvel at my new abilities or how good I felt. Instead, I lashed out, kicking one of my attackers in the face, then spinning and catching two more.

"Gotcha," I snarled, punching another man in the gut. The knife in his hand didn't even slow me down.

Since I had already used my 'second wind' technique, I couldn't use any other chi abilities. But then again, I didn't need them. I was stronger, faster and a hell of a lot more skilled than any of these jokes who were attacking me. Of course that didn't mean I was about to relax and take it easy on them. Not after the way that they'd had ambushed me and shot me from behind.

The man with the gun, the one who had shot me from behind was taking aim and ready to shoot again. I reached out with my hand and grabbed the gun, using enough force to push it away from me. There was a click as he pulled the trigger, but no shot was actually fired. The gun might not have been pointed at me right then, but I still felt a surge of relief.

I snatched the gun right out of the man's hand. He stared at me in surprise, his eyes wide, especially when I quickly pointed the gun at him. Then I raised the barrel just a little and went to fire a warning shot, hoping this would scare my attackers away. But, when I pulled the trigger it only had an empty click as well.

The gun obviously wasn't working at the moment, but it sure as hell had a minute earlier. For a brief second, a thought flashed through my mind. Perhaps whatever it was about my body that kept electronics from working right also had the same effect on the gun... But at the moment, it didn't really matter so I didn't waste much thought on the question at the moment.

"I owe you one," I snarled, simultaneously dropping the gun and punching the man who had shot me. There was a satisfying crunch, and I satisfied myself even more by kicking him in the stomach and sending him flying into the side of a wall. He might very well need some hospital time after that, but I sure as hell didn't feel any guilt about it.

It was around this time that I realized just how slow, weak and clumsy my attackers were compared to me. Even with their weapons, none of them were any real threat to me. That didn't mean that I was going to just let them all go, though. I was still pissed. Instead, I used them to try out my new abilities on. For the most part, that just meant that I was showing off and playing with them.

I started to stagger around a bit to look more tired and weak, making myself look like a more appealing target to these men that I already had on the verge of running off. It wouldn't be any fun if my playthings ran off before I was finished playing with them... Then I played defense for a bit, backing up and letting them think that they had me right where they wanted me.

One man came at me with a baseball bat he'd apparently pulled out of the car while I was distracted. He'd swing it at me and I'd dodge it, avoiding the hit. I would change positions and back up, pretending that I was scared. Then when he swung it again, I bent over backwards, shifting my position into a backwards roll along the ground, where I suddenly stopped and sprang forward, hitting him hard enough to send him flying.

"Next," I grinned, getting two of them to charge at me at once. And since one of them had a broken nose and the other was missing several teeth, it looked like these were ones that I'd already dealt with at the mall. But that didn't stop me from taking care of them again, this time with just a little more force, since they seemed to need another lesson.

While I was playing with them, I waited for all of those who were still standing to charge me at once. And as soon as they were close enough, I jumped up and did a flip over their heads, landing on the roof of their car. Then I hopped off the other side and let them run around towards me again.

Around this time however, the extra surge of energy I'd gotten from 'second wind' had pretty much worn off. I was back to my more or less normal levels of abilities, which were still more than enough to deal with those guys. However, I was getting bored with the fight...and more importantly, worried that the cops might show up at any moment. Now that I wasn't in any danger from my attackers, I didn't want any police involvement.

When the men came at me again, I decided that I'd had enough with the playing around. I ignored their yells and insult, focusing instead on kicking their asses. And once I put my mind back onto doing just that, it was a surprisingly fast process. Within mere seconds the rest of them were all collapsed on the ground, moaning in pain.

"Bruises and broken bones," I spat at one of them, "You're lucky that's all I did to you..."

I felt surprisingly satisfied to have cut loose and kicked their asses like that. I know that I shouldn't have, especially as I'd never been a violent person before in my life. But it sure had been a good way to work out all of my frustrations, and without any guilt at that. What more could someone ask for?

"I got some exercise," I pointed out to myself, "And I got a chance to cut loose and see what this body could do..."

I couldn't help feeling rather proud of myself for just how easily I had handled the situation. It still amazed me that ME, a guy who had been a computer geek just a week before was able to beat the crap out of so many armed guys...all at once. It was definitely a boost to my ego and made me feel somewhat better about my whole situation.

Then just as I was turning to get away from there, someone called out, "Hey you... You with the blue hair..."

"What?" I turned and braced myself for another attack.

Instead of an attack, however, there was a man in his late thirties, dressed in a sports jacket and baseball cap. He slowly came towards me, obviously trying hard NOT to look threatening.

"I caught the last half of the fight. Impressive display," he commented as he got close. Then he asked, "How would you like to put those skills to work and make a bit of money?"

"What?" I blinked in surprise.

Just then I heard the distant wail of police sirens. The man suddenly looked a bit more impatient.

"If you're interested, call this number." He handed me a business card and added, "Tell them Stan sent you..." And with that, he turned and hurried off, disappearing into the crowd that was gathering.

For a moment, I just stood there, staring at the business card in surprise. The whole day was getting weirder and weirder... But then, I looked up and decided to take a lesson from that Stan character...and get my ass out of there before the cops showed up and started asking questions I couldn't answer.

 

To Be Continued