When I woke up, I was bathed in warmth. Not one, but two blankets were wrapped around me, like a foxy burrito. I rolled to the other side staring Melody straight in the face.

“Good morning, Sky!” She exclaimed happily. “I hope you had a nice rest.”

Sky? Wait… yesterday happened, right? I unwrapped myself and stared at the cat pyjamas on my female body. I was a girl and it didn’t feel weird, no, it felt great.

“It wasn’t a dream, Mel!”

I hugged myself, my tail trying its hardest to be included in the hug.

From my side a rough laughter interrupted my thoughts.

“I’m so happy that you’re alright, but you should get some breakfast. Really, you must be hungry by now.”

As if on command, my stomach started to growl and I blushed, I could smell something heavenly wafting over to me.

Melody simply snorted at that.

“Come on out, my little fox.”

I swung my legs off the bed, realizing now that my feet didn’t actually touch the ground. At that sight, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Haha! I am soooo tiny…”

I could almost hear Melody rolling her eyes. “Silly you. Move your butt or your pancakes are gonna get cold!”

I landed on the ground, striking a pose, then wriggling my tail at Melody. “I’m moving my butt alright.”

From behind me I could only hear suppressed giggles as I stode pridefully, in my cute cat PJs, into the kitchen.

It was then when I realized how tiny I actually was. The chairs in the kitchen went up to my chest.

I looked at Melody helplessly.

“Uh…? How…?” Uselessly I tried to hop onto the chair. When that didn’t work, I pulled myself up on it, my legs kicking wildly to give me the necessary boost. Out of the blue, I felt a hand on my butt pushing me up. It surprised me so much, I almost fell out of the chair on the other side.

“Mel!” I squeaked.

“What? Didn’t you want help…?” She looked at me with an amused smile on her face. “Come on, let’s eat. I got some stuff to tell you.”

With a big sniff, I inhaled the heavenly smell that the stack of fresh pancakes exuded. I grabbed the maple syrup and poured it all over the stack licking my lips in anticipation.

“So, what have you found out?” I absentmindedly said while my mouth began watering.

“Well, apparently, this emergence is global. And from what I could read online, there is a lot of violent backlash to the emerged. I feel like racist groups are going to grow a lot in the coming weeks.”

I sighed, biting into a pancake. “What else?”

“Well, from what I could see, Park Lane Mall is closed because a cocoon appeared there and off the coast, some kind of artifacts appeared out of the sea. Couldn’t find much more about the latter, the government has a tight lid on that.”

She took a break, watching me eat.

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do now?”

I shook my head.

“How? I didn’t really have the time to do that. I don’t know, Mel, honestly. I don’t want other emerged getting hurt or even killed by crazy people, but I am not sure I can even do anything about it.”

“Sure you can! You have awesome ice powers…”

“That I can’t control properly!” I interrupted, my voice raised. “Mel, don’t you understand, if I knew my powers better, I wouldn’t have killed the two people yesterday. I’m exactly what they fear!”

A resounding crack sounded through the kitchen before I felt the pain. I rubbed my cheek.

“Stop it, Sky! You’re going down a dark path - you’re not dangerous, cutie - you’re an adorable fox, nothing bad, okay? Don’t worry about your powers, just train them and you’ll gain more control over it. You can learn how to… how to protect yourself from harm better, right?”

I shrugged, still rubbing my pulsing cheek.

“This world is so screwed up now. I don’t know what to do… I don’t want to be involved in all of this, you know. I just wanted to have a normal life. Sure, I am happy that I am a girl now, yeah. It’s the best feeling in the world right now, but all the extra stuff? It’s cute, yeah, but I never asked to be Emerged, to be discriminated upon.”

I stabbed my remaining pancakes with my fork. “I’m probably going to understand a lot better how other minorities feel. And this isn’t right. For anybody. If only I had the ability to change things, you know?”

I felt a hand softly stroking my hair.

“You do now, Skyla. You have the power to do some real change. Like it or not, Skyla, some Emerged have become heroes, you know? I’ve seen news coverage of Toronto this morning, where a hero naming themselves ‘Guardian’ saved people all night.”

“Heh… Heroes. In all the comic books, they are always self-indulgent assholes. Who’d even voluntarily be one of those?”

Melody laughed.

“Still. I am worried, you know? I don’t want you to get hurt again. Especially by those… nasty people. I really hope you’ll learn how to use your powers, they will keep you safe, I think. Safer than you would be without. I’ll set up a training area for you.”

The snarl escaping my throat was unexpected, but it did underline my growing hatred for those… monsters.

“Not today, though, Sky. You’re going to rest today and get your mind in a proper state, okay? You need to get used to your body before you head out on adventures. Especially now that you’re a girl. Oh, and a fox of course.”

She smiled as my ears twitched, clearly communicating my emotions to her.

“Things will be different, okay? And I’ll will help you with getting used to everything. You want to be as comfortable as possible, right?”

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I nodded and looked down at my PJ-clad body.

“This is probably the most comfortable I have felt in my life, Mel. This is right. This is how I always should have been.”

Melody wrapped me in a warm hug.

“I know, hun. I knew it for years, I could see it in you. You were suffering without actually knowing that you were. Poor thing, you.” She stroked my head, her hand moving over my ears, which were lying flat on my head. It was a weird experience having ears that expressed your every mood for everyone to see. That and the tail, which was currently wagging happily and trying to wrap around Melody.

For the rest of the day, Melody tried teaching me, more and more, the ways of living as a girl, what I had to keep an eye out for and even started me on makeup.

The next days were spent similarly, except for a couple of hours that I spent in her yard, where Melody had set up a gym-esque area for me to train my powers at.

It had been two weeks since the emergence happened and I had grown incredibly comfortable with my body. I loved it, the flexibility, my increased hearing, my tail and being a girl. Especially the latter one. Never had I felt more comfortable in my own skin as now.

Every one of my movements felt good and so smooth, I was almost dancing whenever I did something that required more activity.

My ears twitched as I heard somebody open the window of the house, a hundred feet behind me, trying to be as stealthy as possible.

“Hey, foxy!”

Mel dropped by, literally, jumping down from the window on the second floor into the yard, where I was training. She had been training alongside me a lot as well, not wanting me to be the only one that gained more athletic prowess.

“Hey, Mel!” I greeted her, not surprised by her appearance at all.

“Mh, wanna go clothes shopping, foxy? I heard a new shop just for emerged opened up at Granville Mall selling clothes and other accessories. Wanna come check it out?”

I smashed a rock I had shock frosted with my hand and then thumbed up to Mel.

“Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! You did manage to confirm that I was off the radar now, right?”

“Mhh.” Melody nodded. “You’re clear. The police have more and bigger problems now, like the constant fight between heroes and villains in this town.”

I shook my head.

“I still don’t like heroes. Pretentious butt hairs!”

I huffed but made myself ready to go out, changing from my training gear into a jeans and hoodie combo. It was a pretty warm day for mid-December day, so I didn’t need a jacket, not that I really had anything that really fit me. That’s why we were going to a fashion store in the first place. To get stuff that fits me.

Stepping out of the house, I started to get nervous. I got even more nervous, after I entered Mel’s car. When she started the engine, I flinched and pressed my ears against my skull. “Loud…” I managed to squeak out. I had been in Melody’s house and backyard for so long, I forgot how sensitive my hearing was now.

“Mel… I don’t… like this…” Even the cop car was a lot more silent, probably an electric car, now that I thought about it.

“You need to get used to it, Sky.”

My ears were still pressed back to my head. “It’s so loud, though… it hurts…”

I felt a hand on my head softly petting me.

“You’ll get there. Sorry, my friend, it’s gonna get a bit louder now.” She said as she turned onto the highway.

Everytime we passed a truck, I had to suppress a pained squeal. Luckily we didn’t have to stay on the highway for long and as soon as we left it, the pain in my ears lessened.

When Mel parked her car downtown, my stress levels had reduced to a bearable amount. Once the car shut down my ears finally rose again.

“Haa haa haa…” I breathed hard. “I need to find out how to protect myself from all that noise…”

Once again, Mel’s hand landed on the top of my head and she ruffled my hair.

“Home was really quiet, so, you’re not used to the noises of city life. Just be happy no police or ambulance is around right now. They’d blow your brains out. And I still need your brains.”

I chuckled softly at her attempted lightheartedness.

Now, though, I noticed that there were people staring at me. Lots of them... Well, not all of them were staring, but at least a third were turning their heads to look at me. I felt uncomfortable under their stares. Were they good stares or bad stares? I didn’t know.

Well, I did now, because, somehow, I ran into a person, even with my tiny frame. I only went to just under his sternum, such tall a man he was.

“Miss, I would be careful with that. Should have kept that freak at home. Who knows what damage she can cause. People and their exotic pets these days...”

I growled.

“Excuuuse me, mister! I am still a sentient being, thank you very much!” I threw into his face, trying to be as intimidating as possible, which for this small fox girl, was quite the challenge.

“Aha, a feisty one. You should get her neutered so she cannot reproduce.”

“WHAT?!” I screeched, a lot of people turning their heads to me now. “That went too far!” I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged his face down to my level.

“Apologize. I have rights, too!”

“Hold on citizen! I will save you from this villain!” A stilted voice came from the sky above me. Gods, no. Not one of those…

A muscly man clad in a red spandex suit with a blue frontal torso section and a blue cape landed in between me and the asshole.

“I am Seeker, villain! You shall know the name of the one who will bring you to justice!”

I stared at him incredulously.

“I didn’t do anything, though. I just had an altercation with this guy here who, for some reason, decided to insult me. You’re emerged like me, we shouldn’t have to put up with being treated as if we were freakish pets!”

“I have only spotted you assaulting an innocent civilian! I shall bring you to justice!”

In disbelief I could only notice my mouth falling open, agape.

“Holy shit, you’re even more snooty than I had originally thought…” I muttered.

“Surrender, evildoer! Or I will have to hurt you!”

I looked back at Melody, whose face was as bewildered and shocked as I had imagined it to be.

“She hasn’t done anything, douche! Why don’t you get it!” She yelled, wet tears staining her face.

“Shut up, woman! You decided to walk your pet today and your pet did something wrong. It needs to be punished.”

Suddenly, he rushed ahead, directly at me, arms stretched wide open. Oh...

Right as Seeker was about to tackle me, I raised a wall of ice.

With a resounding crack, the wall shattered and the hero tumbled to the ground.

“Leave me alone!” I cried as he got up. He didn’t seem perturbed by my opposition and rushed me again. This time, he was too fast for my wall and slammed me into the ground.

I felt as if all the air escaped my lungs, but somehow, nothing broke. Heaving, I almost vomited on the bastard that had tackled me. I wish I had, though.

With a cough, I tried to pressure against his grip, but soon realized, it was no use. He was so much stronger physically.

“What are you planning to do with me, Seeker…”

He grunted. “You seem to be a low level villain, no real threat. Consider this a warning, little girl. If I ever meet you doing evil deeds again, I will send you to a detention center!”

As a parting gift, he launched his fist into my belly…

Holy fuck, that hurt. I had probably coughed for at least five minutes before I even realized that Mel was wrapped around me, holding me tight.

“I’m so, so, so, so sorry this happened… First the noise, now this…” She muttered tearily.

I felt something wet hit my forehead… The racist dude had spat on my face!

But I was too weak to do anything about it…

It took me at least fifteen minutes to completely recover, but I also noticed, I wasn’t alone with Mel. There were at least two other obviously emerged around me trying their best to comfort me and Mel as well as a drove of several humans. They had seen everything and didn’t believe Seeker’s lies

One of them, a woman in her early thirties, her hair a mess of glowing, golden tendrils kneeled and looked me in the eyes compassionately.

“Are you okay, little fox? It looked like it must have hurt.”

I nodded and suppressed the tears that were threatening to be released again.

“I’ll be fine, thanks…” Then, I couldn’t hold it anymore and broke into a heart wrenching sob.

“I… I just wanted… wanted to go clothes shopping… not… not… this!”

“Clothes shopping?” The woman asked gently. “Could it be, you wanted to go to Alexa’s Attires for Emerged?”

I nodded, my tears subsceding. The tendril woman smiled gently.

“Aww, cutie. Nice to meet you, little fox. I’m Alexa, owner of Attires for Emerged. Want to try on some clothes? I have some stuff that would look absolutely marvellous on you.”

She bent down and whispered into my twitching ears.

“I may or may not give you your first outfit for free. Hmm? How does that sound?”

Several hours later, I walked out of Alexa’s shop wearing a cute and comfortable hoodie and an extremely comfy, ice blue scarf wrapped around my neck.