Morph [EDITING] || Wattys 2017 Winner

~THIRTEEN~

~amelie~

"Well done, you four," says Elian, beaming at us. "You've managed to rescue a valuable asset along with another child, and your intelligence about the surveillance room and its door have been very, very useful. You should all be extremely pleased with yourselves."
Hunter lets out a little whoop, and Lila claps sarcastically a few times, trademark smirk on her face the whole time. At this point, it's honestly more funny than annoying. We're all huddled at the table in the planning room, blue screens winking all around us. Elian and Markus are on one end, debriefing, and our little team is on the other side along with Amber. Ryan has his arm around me. I don't know where Sophia and James have gone.
"We will send a team soon to investigate that door, and then we'll discover what it's hiding. Information is power, and we'll have a leg up against the camps very soon." He turns, and directs his praise right at me with a pleased expression. "And congratulations, Amelie, on your very first successful mission!"
I smile as everyone in the room beams at me, and Amber claps me on the back. "You should be really proud, Amelie."
She glances at Lila, and her twin rolls her eyes and mutters, "Oh, not this one again."
But Amber laughs and carries on, "On our first, with Ryan, we managed to get a bunch of soldiers chasing us through the streets. I'd only just grabbed Hunter before Ryan flew us out. Luckily, Lila's illusion told them we were still running away on foot, and it came just in time. We managed to get up in the sky with four intact bodies, and a snoring Hunter."
The boy in question doesn't look at all embarrassed as he grins and continues, "Apparently, one of their tranq darts hit me in the ankle. I spent the entire journey sleeping."
"He was really heavy, actually," says Amber. "We almost dropped him twice."
His smile drops. "Wait, what?"
Lila sighs and stares at her sister, trying to hold back her grin. "Amber? Well done."
Hunter frowns and holds up his hands. "Hang on, just a minute, can we... can we go back slightly? You dropped me?"
"Almost dropped you," corrects Amber. "We managed to catch you again before you hit the ground."
"Oh, that's comforting," mutters Hunter, but he's grinning.
Elian claps his hands then, and he brings back the concentration that's vanished. "Anyway, since you've completed your mission, you don't have any other tasks for the time being. You can all return to your normal schedules."
My four friends turn to the door, and they're beginning to walk out when I speak. "Elian, I... what do I do?"
"Oh, Amelie," he says, slightly surprised, as if he's forgotten I'm still the newest member of his rebellion. "Yes. Come with me, and we'll get your classes sorted out."
It doesn't sound as fun as following the others to wherever they're going, but then Markus walks out and Elian does too. So with one last look back at my friends, I decide to follow Elian, and as I leave the planning room he starts talking.
"So, now we have to find out what you'd like to study..."

~~~

~ryan~

Amelie's retreating figure disappears, and the other three immediately resume their chatting. This time Hunter's demanding to know how close he got to the ground, and Lila's trying to prolong the answer as long as possible. Amber just stands between them, attempting to rein in her giggling. But I just keep my eyes on the doorway. I can't see Amelie any more, but she's still at the very front of my mind. I can't stop thinking about her.

Her, and that she's finally going to get what's coming to her.

~~~

~amelie~

When we reach Elian's office, the familiar dark wood walls and big desk, he invites me to sit in a chair in front of him. I do, and he sinks into the armchair behind his desk.
"As I was saying, we have to discover your interests. We have many classes, and a few of them are mandatory, but a lot have different variations." I must look confused, because he sighs and steeples his fingers, looking right at me. "Imagine it like this. One of the subjects is Control, and it's compulsory. However, we have three different classes - Combat, Surveillance and Multi-Purpose. The Combat class is for heavy hitters, people who can deal a lot of damage but aren't suited to stealth or recon missions. Surveillance students are the opposite, not very effective physically but able to infiltrate all manner of places without detection. Multi-Purpose, as you've probably realised, is the class for those who have powers suited for both sides of the battle. Of course, the spectrum of abilities is so wide that it's near impossible to pigeonhole students into only three categories, but I try my hardest to find the best fit. As a result, you'll find Amber, Hunter and Ryan in Surveillance while Lila goes to Multi. While the first three have excellent fighting abilities, technically their prowess is not linked to their powers, and so in the boundaries of Control they are simply stealth-oriented. However, Lila has a variety of techniques related to her illusions that can be used for fighting, so she hones them as well as her spying skills in Multi-Purpose."
"Okay," I say, processing the barrage of information. "So I'd be... Surveillance?"
"No," replies Elian, a pleased look on his face.
I frown. "But I only defeated that guy because of the stuff Ryan taught me. I used my shifting to spy on them."
"That's where you're wrong, Amelie. I believe the report I was given, a statement from James, mentioned you shrinking and growing parts of your body to adapt to your opponent's technique, and to deliver a heavy amount of force."
"I... I did?"
"You didn't even notice. That's your ability, defending itself. Consciously, you're solely using your fighting skills. But your subconscious is busy adapting to your needs in quite a unique way. I've seen animal shifters before, and we even have a small group of them here, but a shifter who can change their human form is new to me. Of course, that in itself isn't unique - Hunter's power is certainly not part of any previously-defined category - but I know we need to harness the specialness of your ability. If we don't train you to use that aspect by yourself, your subconscious will continue doing it automatically, and that could lead down a dangerous road if it doesn't differ between friend and foe."
"Oh," I say, frowning. "So I'm going in Multi."
"Precisely." Elian smiles at me, and reaches down behind his desk. He pulls a drawer open with a grinding sound, then pushes it back and straightens up. There's a sheaf of papers in his hand. "This is the list of all the compulsory subjects, and the variations. Normally I give new rebels time to look through it on their own, but since you've already shown a lot of promise I'd like to get you ready as soon as possible. So I'll be walking you through this. Is that okay?"
"Yeah," I nod, and Elian responds by shuffling the documents.
"Excellent," he says. "Here, we have a six-day training week, and the last day is free - you can do whatever you want. Every day, you'll have two hours of Control and two of Physical. Physical is the other main compulsory class. You can do any two of Fitness, Weapons or Hand-to-Hand." He hands over the first sheet, and it's got a blank table on it. "This will be where we fill in your schedule. Days begin at nine, and your Multi-Purpose classes will fill the first two hours of each day. Physical will follow. Then you'll have a couple of hours of optional subjects, and you can choose those yourself. Lunch is one until two, and after that you have three more hours of learning. Then you're free to do whatever you like. Socialise, eat, sleep, and even the training facilities are open to you."