Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist ❯ The Fifth Experiment ( Chapter 5 )

ZIPPY ZIPPERDALE:
MODERATELY MAD
SCIENTIST:
The Fifth Experiment

By Hardcover


First thing in the morning, Zippy realized that this was going to be a long day. A really long day in fact; she hadn’t had much sleep that night, having been up all night dealing with an alternately despondent and demanding Krystal. Since Krystal had been Cristobel yesterday, and Zippy had given her the involuntary gender switch herself, Krystal was in a very real way, Zippy’s own creation. And now it felt like her own monster had her by the throat. This morning had been tricky as Zippy and Lizzy had spent it giving Krystal a crash course on how to be female. Zippy was grateful in her own foresight in permanently removing all of Krystal’s body hair, so at least she didn’t have to deal with any shaving. She was also grateful that Lizzy, despite her earlier objections to helping our their rival, had agreed to help.

Trying to teach her how to do hair and make up was difficult, for a couple of reasons: Krystal didn’t seem to get it, or was still unwilling to learn (which made sense since it would mean fully accepting herself as a girl) and fought it constantly, and the unsurprising fact that Krystal made for a slightly vein woman; she had to look absolutely the best and was constantly critical of what Zippy and Lizzy did. A few reminders that they were the only friends she had now who would do this for her calmed the normal combative student down.

Still, just getting her to remember that she was wearing a skirt was a battle in and of itself, as she kept sitting and walking like she was still a boy. Finally, after a bit of work and a lot of arguing, as well as an inventive trick of attaching high intensity magnets to the inside of Krystal’s knees, they finally got things to an acceptable level of tomboyish femininity. At the very least, Krystal seemed to be getting the hang of keeping her knees together without the magnets. So, gathering up their bags, the three of them headed out to Madame Petri’s enormous dining hall.



The dining hall was crowded and noisy as usual, with Werx moving to and fro keeping things in order and serving up the food. As soon as Zippy and Lizzy walked into the room with Krystal in tow, students began whispering and giggling, sending everything from bemused to hostile looks in the new girl’s directions. To her credit, Krystal kept her head high, and made like she didn’t hear them, but she looked absolutely terrified.

Zippy reached over and squeezed her hand, “Don’t listen to them. They’re just shocked at your change, that’s all.”

“They hate me.” Krystal breathed through gritted teeth, “So many of them.”

“We’ll change that, don’t worry.” Lizzy assured her with usual unassuming monotone.

Truth be told, Zippy wasn’t entirely so sure of that; getting the former Cristobel Bell to be accepted as one of their group was going to be a hard sell. Zippy would need to convince them that it was their responsibility to help her adjust to her new identity, and that Krystal had changed in more then just her body. Hard to tell if this was lying or not, but much of Cristobel’s obnoxious personality seemed to be due to his family, and now that she was cut off from them . . . well, Krystal had a good chance to change for the better. The question was, would she take it?

There was a whirring sound and Vixen approached hem, balancing a serving tray on her hand. She stopped in front of them, her gears and gyros clicking as she halted, her mechanical eyes looking over them with glee.

“Jeepers!” Vixen exclaimed, “You look lovely, Miss Bell. You’ve turned into a beautiful young woman.”

A bit of blushing flushed over Krystal’s face as she muttered, “Umm . . . thanks.”

Vixen nodded and then sped away on her wheels to do whatever it was she was doing, and Zippy ushered Krystal towards the table where they all sat. As she brought her over, she saw the usual crowd gathered: Katjia, Nadjia, Lorne, Buttercup, and Rina/Madoka (it looked like Madoka at the moment). Eve and Sharon seemed to be absent. Zippy approached them, trying her best to seem casual.

Everyone looked up with the usual friendly greetings, but they faded as soon as they saw Krystal. The hostility was minor, but unmistakable.

“What the hell’s she doing here?” Madoka (it was definitely her) demanded.

Zippy took a big sigh, “Look, Krystal is our new roommate, and she’d going through a lot of adjustments. Miss Piranha said we should her out, and that’s what we’re trying to do. And we really could use all of your support with this. Alright?”

It wasn’t all right: Madoka and Katjia both began shouting at Krystal, whose combative nature right away asserted itself again. A shouting match ensued with hurled insults flying back and forth over the table in colorful language. Nadjia growled at her and even leapt forward attempting to bite Krystal on the arm, held back only by Lorne’s timely intervention. The scene had rapidly become ugly, and Zippy was at a loss to control the erupting chaos. She had expected an icy reaction, but this was way out of control, and Krystal was not making anything better, digging herself deeper and deeper into the hole she’d dug for herself.

Finally, a livid Krystal stormed off screaming, “Have it your way! I don’t need you! I don’t need anybody!”

Lorne held an infuriated Nadjia back, talking to her quietly and calming her down, eventually getting her to relax and sit back down. Zippy stared after Krystal, and then turned back to Lizzy.

“Look, I’ve gotta . . .” Zippy began.

Lizzy nodded, “Go, go after her. I’ll take care of things here.”

Zippy turned around and walked off after Krystal, not entirely sure where she’d run off to, but reasoning that she couldn’t have gone far. Zippy bit her lip; she couldn’t help the guilt she was feeling. True, Cristobel had attempted to do thing far worse to her, but she didn’t like the idea that she had sunk that close to his level. She hadn’t really intended on ruining Cristobel’s entire life, just alter him enough to pay him back for everything and his misogyny. She hadn’t expected Krystal to be disowned by her family and all her friends. Her loathing of Amber and the rest of the groupies had risen quite a bit after hearing how they’d treated Krystal when she was no longer a potential source or riches to them. At least now she had the chance to prove that she was the better woman then Amber.

She found Krystal in an empty hall, leaning sullenly against the wall and looking despondent. She didn’t look up at first as Zippy approached her.

“Hey,” Zippy said, “That could have gone better.”

“I know,” Krystal said irritably, “I know.”

“Listen, if you want me to help you,” Zippy told her, “You’re going to have to help me. You can’t go picking fights with the rest of the group like that. I know you didn’t start it, that was Madoka’s fault, but you sure fed the flames.”

Bitterly, Krystal replied, “They hate me.”

No point in denying that, so Zippy simply said, “It’s up to you to change that.”

“I don’t think I know how.”

“Listen, Kevin Crowsfeet is still your friend. He’s stuck by for years and years, no matter what. And Kevin is a really great guy; he must have seen something in you that is worth his friendship. If he can see it, the other’s can too.”

“I . . . don’t think I can make friends like you do all the time. I don’t charm everyone I meet.”

That comment surprised Zippy, in its way, it was round about compliment. She pursed her lips; maybe she was making some headway here.

“Listen, Krystal.” She said, “Do you really want to be all alone with no one looking out for you in this school?”

Krystal shook her head almost immediately.

“Then you need to make an effort,” Zippy asserted, “Try not to pretend your better then everyone. Apologize, admit when you’re wrong, and listen to other people for a change. And just try to act friendly; you’d be surprised how much a simple friendly greeting can change someone’s attitude.”

Zippy turned and walked away back to the dining hall, “You need friends, Krystal. And you can’t simply buy them anymore; you have to make them yourself.”

As she left, Krystal clasped her hands together. She still hated to admit it, but Zippy was. God, she was right about so many things.



At Madame Petri’s the general idea of a P.E. class was Physical Augmentation with its teacher Miss Anvil. Structured like a general sports and fitness class, it differed in that the students were encouraged to devise scientific methods of augmenting their performances. Like quite a bit of Petri’s curriculum, this struck Zippy as being highly dubious, but she went along with it like anything else. The current activity was one you weren’t likely to see performed in any other school gym: A large maze of padded obstacles had been set up, and the students, armed with high tech stun guns, had to navigate the maze while taking down as many of the other students as they could. It was kind of like laser tag or that old photon thing, except when you shot the other players they were knocked unconscious as opposed to just loosing points.

The maze was set up to with various sorts of terrain; large tubes to crawl through, pillars all over the place, plenty a small rises with holes in them that you could shoot through, stairways and balconies and mirror traps with large mirrors on the upper portions making it difficult to hide.

Zippy crouched, her gun ready, hiding behind a small pillar. Her breath was deep from exertion, and sweat glistened off her body. She was dressed in Madame Petri’s usual gym outfit: Tight black gym shorts like the kind Japanese school girls were notorious for wearing and a tight black tank top that made Zippy even more self conscious about her lack of mammary development then she usually was. The glistening on her skin wasn’t just sweat; Zippy had covered herself in a gel that she’d chemically engineered to reduce air friction, allowing her to move faster and more accurately. It probably would have worked better without her gym clothes, but this was a co-ed class.

Behind her were three doors leading from other parts of the maze. There was a flight of steps to her left, and two her right further down was a series of rises in the floor that could be used for cover, but it was a mirror trap, the mirror being on the opposite side, turned down in a way that was sure to give away your position. In front of her was a long wall that led to two hallways on either side in which anyone could be lurking. And there, smack dab in the middle of the wall, was another door, one that would lead her to the final run.

Zippy looked at her watch, she didn’t have a lot of time, class was almost over.

She had only a few feet to go before getting to the run that would take her to the goal. And the way seemed almost clear. She carefully crept out of her hiding place and began to sprint towards the opening. As soon as she moved, two other students rounded the bend behind her and spotted her. Zippy cursed, as they opened fire.

There was a split second whining sound and then a loud crackle as bolts of electricity streaked in her direction. Zippy knew to the listen for that whine and was moving before the bolts fired. She rapidly zig zagged avoiding the two bolts which crackled harmlessly into the padded floor as Zippy dove and slid across the padded ground on her side.

She returned fire instantly, striking one player dead on. The girl crumpled to the floor twitching, her eyes rolled back in her head. She missed the guy who ducked behind a pillar, popping out from the other end and sending fire in Zippy’s direction. Zippy dodged doing cartwheels, a lot easier with the gel on her body.

She felt her hair prickle up as the bolts sneaked dangerously close to her. She threw herself forward, running the mirror trap area. Diving down and sliding on her belly like a reject from a John Woo movie, she took a chance and aimed her gun at the boy’s reflection in the overhead mirror and fired. He gun crackled and the bold struck the mirror, ricoquetting off the polished surface and back down to the other player who hadn’t gotten what Zippy was doing yet.

The bolt struck him square in the head and he went down with a small cry. As soon as Zippy thought she had a clear path, another player rushed out of one of the halls, wearing some kind of harness to make him faster. Zippy ducked for cover, cursing herself for getting caught in the mirror trap like this. She waited for shots, but then the other student veered out of control and slammed painfully into a pillar with a resounding smack.

He fell to the floor, out cold. Zippy darted into the final run as medical Werx dropped down to pick up the unconscious students. The Werx would take them to recover, or bring them to the school hospital where Madame Petri’s resident medical expert, Dr. Rabecca Cavorkian would take a look at them. For all intents and purposes, Dr. Cavorkian was the school nurse. But in a place where getting good grades could be a dangerous undertaking, having a full medical doctor on staff was a good idea. Zippy plowed down the narrow final run, her heart pounding and her breath coming out in heaves. This was the trickiest part of the maze; with no where to hide, it was impossible for her to avoid a shot if someone else came down the run and saw her. She had to get to the end as fast as possible.

As she ran, she heard the padding of feet behind her. The run had a slight curve to it, so whoever had come in after might not have seen her yet. She took off faster, her feet pounding on the padded flooring. She saw the plate up ahead that she’d have to push to finish the match, but she could hear running feet behind her. If she could just keep the curve of the run between her and whoever that was at her back, she could make it. She only had a few seconds left before the start of the exercise; she had to make this run count.

When she was just a few feet from the plate, she threw down her gun and leapt forward as hard as she could, throwing herself to the plate. Even as her feet left the ground, she heard that distinctive wine. No way to duck now, the hall filled with flashing light and the crackling sound of a stun gun going off.

With only ten seconds to go, Zippy’s hand touched the plate, causing it to light up blue. The panel it sat on swerved around, moving zippy into the opening behind it and out of the maze just as the bolt crackled on the other side of the wall. A few seconds later, the buzzer sounded and the game was over.

Sore and breathing heavy, Zippy made her way over to where the other students who had beaten the maze were standing. She was not surprised to find that Katjia and Nadjia, who she had this class with, had made it out before her. Wild girls that they were, the Farrell twins were naturally athletic. They’d been using these packs of a highly elastic rubber like gel tied to their hands and feet that allowed them to bounce to great heights in the maze. With the packs still on their feet, they were still bouncing up and down on the floor like they were on pogo sticks. It looked like they were having a good time.

Miss Anvil blew her whistle and the class gathered around her. She was a massive muscular woman, over six feet tall and pumped up like a Miss Olympia competitor, bulging all over with huge muscles that would have made Lou Ferrigno or The Govenator himself turn green with envy. To Zippy, hell to most everyone who saw her, it looked ugly and ridiculous, but then Zippy had always thought the male super body builders had looked ludicrous to begin with.

She had sandy blonde hair that she kept tied behind her head, a surprisingly feminine and pretty face boasting high cheek bones and sparklingly blue eyes. The rest of her looked like it was ready to burst; absurdly huge muscles decorated every inch of her, spider webbed with bulging veins that appeared to be ready to start rupturing any second now. The building of her muscles had reduced her breasts to the point where it was impossible to tell if she still had any. It was hard to imagine her being able to do something as simple as walking through a door, but Miss Anvil was swift and athletic, and deceptively flexible.

She spoke to her class in a surprisingly high pitched and pretty musical voice that served to make her body seem even more grotesque.

“Alright everyone.” She said, her slight Austrian accent being something of an ironic joke, “Good work today, I’m very impressed with most of your performances today.

“I know that some of you don’t see fitness as being important to science, but I can assure you that it is. Science is first and foremost a part of the realm of fitness. As the future researches of the next generation of unrestrained science, you have to be strong in body as well as in mind.

“It can be a very dangerous world out there, and you need to be in good shape to survive it. People will try to take away you accomplishments. They may seem like your friends, they may seem like a nice person. They may if tell you that they love you. They may even say that you’re their one and only. And just when you’re ready to open your heart and spend the rest of your life with him; he runs off to with some blonde secretary that he met in bar!”

She stopped for a second and then said with a small sob, “Class dismissed.”

The class split up as boys and girls headed off to their respective locker room. She walked into the room, filled with the echo of giggling and loud talking as usual. She got to her locker and quickly stripped off her sweat soaked clothes. Once suitably naked, she strolled into the shower room to get clean. She picked an empty spot and turned on the water, letting the trickling flow wash over, flooding away sweat and grime, as well as making her feel a little refreshed in the head.

The shower was alive with the sounds of water hitting the porcelain tiles, spraying around in rhythmic patters, mingling with the chitter chatter of naked girls conversing with each other under the steady stream of moisture. As Zippy washed away the day’s exertions, two other girls came up and took the spots to her left.

They were Charlene Walker, a chubby and short girl who wore glasses, and her friend Tamera Hildebrandt, a tall and thin girl who always seemed to tower over her much shorter companion. As they washed up, they looked at Zippy and began to talk.

“Zippy,” Charlene asked her, “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.” Zippy said.

“I hear you’ve been helping out Cristobel . . . I mean Krystal.” Charlene said levelly, “Is that true?”

Zippy nodded, “Yeah.”

“Why?” Charlene asked, “I mean, it is still Cristobel, right? Why are you even bothering?”

Zippy looked at her, “For one thing, I didn’t realize that by changing his gender I’d be ruining his entire life. Krystal’s been ostracized from her family, and its pretty much my fault. For another thing, I’ve spent the last twenty four hours with her, and I’m noticing more and more hints of decency in her. It’s like there was some small part of Cristobel that wasn’t a total asshole and it’s now struggling to come out.”

“Oh come on, you really think there’s anything worthwhile in her?” Tamara added skeptically, “I think you’re just wasting your time with her. Hell, she deserves what she got.”

“Part of me thinks that’s true,” Zippy admitted, “But the more time I spend with her, the more I think there’s more to her then the arrogant personae she’s displayed before. It’s not just that I feel sorry for her, though that is part of it.”

“I dunno, I think that’s all of it.” Charlene said honestly.

There was splashing of the water as Katjia and Nadjia bounded into the shower in a lively manner. More at home being naked then they ever were in clothes, they chatted animatedly with each other and quickly ran over to the empty showers on Zippy’s right. Nadjia turned to zippy as they entered.

“You know, I’m with Zippy.” Nadjia said, “I think she’s doing the right thing here.”

That surprised Zippy, who turned around to look at her in astonishment, “Really? But you tried to bite Krystal this morning?”

“Yeah, I did.” Nadjia said without a hind of embarrassment, “But after you left, Lizzy explained the whole situation to us. I’ve gotta admit I’m feeling a little sorry for her too.”

“Yeah, and you’ve all read Frankenstein, right?” Katjia interjected, “Not a good idea to create a monster and then just abandon it.”

“Oh that’s pushing it.” Tamara chuckled, “It’s not like she has bolts in her neck.”

“I could arrange that.” Charlene giggled.

“Anyways, didn’t Cristobel try to cut off your head and switch it with Lizzy’s?” Charlene said, “I don’t see how you can think there’s any evidence that there’s anything worthwhile in her?”

“I do see some evidence.” Katjia spoke up, “Kevin Crowsfeet. He’s been Cristobel’s friend for like forever. If you wanna know what’s worthwhile about her, you should probably ask him.”

“You’re probably right. I had the same thought myself.” Zippy shut off the water, “Listen, guys, I appreciate the concern, but I know I’m doing the right thing. I’m sure there’s a real human being in there somewhere.”

Zippy headed out of the shower to find Posey standing there handing out towels, her gears and gyros whirring as she moved.

“Thank you, Posey.” Zippy said as she took a towel.

“Blork.” Said Posey.

And then, everyone ran for cover when the Twins dropped down on all fours and dried themselves off by shaking their bodies, spraying droplets of water in every direction.



Deep under the school, far down in the aquatic area, poor lovesick Jetson the Humboldt squid sat at the edge of the huge window that looked into Megan’s massive tank. He moved his tentacles lazily as the huge sixty foot megalodon floated just beyond the glass, her colossal triangular head taking up much of the window. Jetson had been brought here many times by the girls, and he’d noticed they sometimes felt better after they talked with Megan about something. Or so he thought, humans were hard to understand. In any event, he had decided to give it a try.

“I know we’re different, but I can’t help it.” He continued, “I think I’m in love with her. I don’t know what to do, I help her out, and I give her things, but she still thinks of me as her pet.” Jetson moaned sullenly, his skin turning a dark blue shade, “What should I do?”

Megan floated quietly, thinking about it before the implant on her head flashed as she spoke, her high feminine voice, completely at odds with her mouth full of steak knife sized razor sharp serrated teeth, coming out of the speakers around the window.

“I don’t pretend to understand human mating, and their whole courtship thing. We sharks keep it simple: When you’re in heat, you mate.” Megan said thoughtfully, “But I have noticed that when human males like a female, they tend to give them compliments about their appearance.”

Jetson brightened up, his skin turning a light pink shade, “Yes, I have noticed that myself. But what would I say?”

Again, Megan thought about it, moving her fins languidly as she floated, her gills opening and closing as she filtered the water through her body.

“Perhaps you should tell her how thin she looks?” Megan suggested, “I have observed that human females appreciate it when you notice their lack of blubber.”

Jetson turned a deep orange color, “Yes, I have noticed that too. I’ll try that. Thank you, Megan.”

Excited by his new information, the mutated land squid scurried off down the hallway to find Zippy, his tentacles moving rapidly and propelling him along.

“I’m late! I’m late! I’m late for an important date!” He sang happily.



Floating in the zero G section of the Grav Ball court, Gerald “Flash” Driver maneuvered skillfully around the other players, keeping an eye on the ball as it flew around the court. Off to his side, he could see the line of girls excitedly cheering him on. He would have been lying if he said he didn’t enjoy all the adoration he received as Madame Petri’s star player. Girls threw themselves at him, guys hung on his every word and they all battled for the privilege of hanging out with him. In most ways, he was living the dream.

But for the most part, Flash both loved and hated his status as Petri’s celebrity athlete. Flash was damned if he was going to be just another brainless jock riding a sports scholarship to some big sports stadium with a college attached to it, he had applied to this school specifically for its academic and scientific programs. Grav ball was fun, but it wasn’t the kind of thing you could make a good career out of. There was an international professional league, but since it was part of the hidden unrestrained science world, it wasn’t very big. And sometimes Flash felt like the game got in the way of his real passion: Molecular biology.

What particularly disturbed him was the nagging suspicion that his grades were being fixed so that he could continue to play. He didn’t really have any evidence of this other then the fact that several of his projects had received higher marks then he’d thought they would. The thought irked him, how would he ever know how well he was doing if everyone made excuses ‘cause he was good at grav ball. How in the world could he do anything worth while on his own if people simply cleared a path for him? If he never failed at anything, how was he supposed to learn?

He shifted his thoughts to the game as the ball headed his way. He had no opening shot from where he was, so he dived upward, using the top gravity to shoot up above the other players, pitching the ball to Caleb Murphy. With some spectacularly skillful moves of his own, Murphy shot the ball into the goal. Applause roused from the bleachers.

When the match finally ended with two point lead, Flash dropped to the ground as normal gravity was restored. He grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from his brow as he headed for the locker room. A few guys patted him on the back in congratulations, and some to the girls ran up to squeal in glee at him excitedly. He reminded himself to stay cordial, talking and joking with them good naturedly. As he continued towards the showers, he noticed something, or someone, he hadn’t before.

A strange looking girl sat in the very back of the bleachers, stark black wavy hair sitting completely at odds with her pale white skin. Instead of the giggling and cheering that all the other girls were doing, she simply stared with a passive expression her eyes fixed on something. After a second, Flash realized she was staring at him. He knew her from somewhere, but he couldn’t quite place the face.

When the mysterious girl realized he was looking at her, she quickly looked down and gathered up her stuff, disappearing into the crowd as enigmatically as she had arrived.

Entering the locker room, Flash stripped off his uniform and other accessories quickly getting naked and heading to wash off the day’s hard work. He stepped into the showers and found an empty spot next to Caleb who was busy washing himself off. The water splashed on the floor, mingling with the sounds of guy talk; consisting in usual athlete fashion of two topics: sports and girls. Both were a lot of fun, but sometimes Flash wondered if they could talk about anything else, just for a little bit.

As he let the water fall over his body, he said, “Good game today, Murphy.”

“Thanks, you too.” Caleb replied, soaping himself up and getting a good lather.

“Listen, Murphy,” Flash began, “Who was that black haired girl in the bleachers today?”

“Really black hair? Pale skin?” Caleb asked, “Very intense looking eyes?”

Flash nodded, “That’s the one. I’ve seen her before, I think her name is Lissa, or Lizzy or something like that.”

Caleb nodded, washing away the soapy suds, “That’s Lizzy Malaria. You’ve seen her around; she usually hangs out with Zippy Zipperdale.”

“That’s right, yeah, I have seen her.” Flash snapped his fingers.

He knew who Zipperdale was; of course, she’d been the hot news all over the school ever since she got here. And her feud with Cristobel Bell had been the source of all sorts of campus gossip, though no one would have predicted that it would have ended the way it did: With that arrogant misogynistic jackass being turned into the very thing he hated. Zipperdale’s rather ironic revenge had almost had Flash cheering for her. Lizzy Malaria was her best friend, so that’s where Flash knew her from.

“Has she come to the games before?” Flash asked him, rubbing the soap on his body and removing the sweat and grime.

“She’s been showing up a lot lately.” Caleb said, “But I haven’t seen her here before that.”

Mostly to himself, Flash muttered, “Interesting.”



The hallway that Krystal was walking down was packed end to end with other students, moving one way or another in a steady stream of movement that resembled some white water rapids. She had to twist and turn her newly altered body to get past the swell of bodies that didn’t seem to bother to get out of her way.

Surrounded by people on all sides, Krystal still felt completely and disproportionately alone. She felt down and despondent: She had no family, and barely any friends, one of which used to be her worst enemy. The students around her shot bemused and malicious glances at her, whispering amongst themselves. Plenty of them stared. Not that Krystal could really blame them; she been a guy only twenty four hours before. She’d have been interested in herself too.

She hadn’t had the guts to try to call her parents yet, although she knew the school already had. She dreaded seeing her father again more then anything. What would he say when he saw that his only son, the heir to his empire, was nothing but a woman now, a pretty girl with wavy hair and a curvy figure. God, he’d be so mad; and so disappointed that his son would never live up to his expectations of being a man. It was the thing the Krystal had feared her whole male life: Disappointing her father, not living up to his standards, failing in the responsibilities entrusted in her by her family. And now, it looked like all those fears would be realized. She shuddered at the thought.

Strangely, she wasn’t sure how her mother would react. She damn well knew how Celestine, her sister would react: Pure derision. For all their lives, Celestine had done as expected and deferred to her younger brother as the male child. With a younger sister, Celestine would now be in the upper position, and damned if she wouldn’t make the most of that every chance that she got. Krystal realized she may never go home again.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that Zippy had been right; she could probably make it on her own without her family. Intellectually, she knew that was true, but emotionally she was still a wreck. And she knew she needed friends, Zippy had been right about that too, she had to make alliances, and she couldn’t do it the same way she had before. She had to make actual friends, not paid for underlings.

She shuddered as she realized she’d never had any real friends before; her whole life had been a lie, a fabrication paid for by the llfamily fortune. It was all she could do not to cry. She turned down another hall, her head down, biting her lips in misery. It was then that she heard a familiar voice that made her heart beat faster and her blood pump through her veins: Kevin!

A bit of hope flooded through her: Kevin would always be there for her. She heard it coming from around the corner up ahead, and quickly ran towards the sound. Just before she got to the end, however, she stopped dead as she heard another voice: Zippy’s. Not sure why she was doing it, she hid around the corner, flattening against the wall and listened to them. They were talking, it seemed, about her.

“So that’s what happened.” Zippy was saying, “They all just turned on the drama and Krystal stormed off. And now everyone thinks I’m crazy, or that I’m wasting my time. What do you think? You’ve known Cristobel for longer then anyone, is there anything really worth saving in Krystal? Does she really have any redeemable qualities?”

Kevin nodded, “I can understand why you’d think there wouldn’t be, but this arrogant, elitist megalomaniacal personae she’s been projecting her whole life is really just a front. She’s behaving the way her father expects her to; the way her father acts. Deep down, she’s a lot different, but hardly anyone ever sees that.”

“I’ve had that feeling myself.” Zippy said, “Over the last day I’ve glimpsed things a lot . . . nobler then what I would have expected. It’s like the person she should be is now struggling to come out.”

“I hope so.” Kevin replied, “She’d kill me if she heard me say this, but I think being out of favor with her family might have been the best thing that ever happened to her. With you taking her under your wing, I hoping she’ll learn to open up, maybe really start being her own person.”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking; I was so sure that this was the right thing to do, but with everything that’s happened and everything that’s been said . . . well . . . It’s got me questioning myself.”

“Listen, lemme tell you a story about something that happened when Cristobel was seven. His father keeps a lot of hunting dogs as pets . . .”

Krystal almost gasped as she realized what story Kevin was going to tell Zippy. No! The thought hurriedly, No, don’t tell her that story! Please don’t!

But Kevin continued, “One day, one of them was injured in a fall, broke its front legs. Cristobel knew that his father would just shoot the dog right away, so he stole it and hid it in the wood behind the mansion. For months he secretly tended to that dog; putting casts on its legs, bringing food to it, sneaking out whenever he could to play with it and keep it company. Over a long period of time, he carefully and lovingly nursed that animal back to health. The compassion in him was so strong, you wouldn’t believe it. I’m the only one he shared that secret with. And in those times that he spent with that dog, I think I really saw his true nature.”

“Wow,” Zippy said quietly, “I had no idea. Did the dog recover?”

Solemnly, Kevin nodded, “It recovered fine, but Mr. Bell shot anyways, right in front of Cristobel; apparently to teach him a lesson in obedience.”

“Jesus.” Zippy grimaced, “I had no idea.”

Kevin was silent for a second before he said, “You don’t have to be physically abused to be emotionally battered. There’s a reason Cristobel was the way he was. But now Krystal has a chance to be something more, something better then the sum of her father’s derision.”

“Damn, maybe I’ve been too hard on her; I’m beginning to understand her a little bit more.”

He put a hand on Zippy’s shoulder, “Trust me, you are doing the right thing.”

Krystal couldn’t help herself anymore; tears were streaming down her cheeks as the bad memories flooded. She looked around, at least no one could see her. She wiped them away, realizing she was probably smearing the make up she had worked so hard to learn how to put on this morning. She wasn’t just sad, but oddly moved that the two of them had so much faith in her. And yet, she’d behaved like a barbarian when they gave her this chance. Guilt flooded her at letting them down like that. She was confused as emotions she didn’t quite grasp made themselves known. Damnit, what was happening to her?

“I guess you’re right . . .” Zippy began, but was interrupted by Jetson scurrying up to her.

He held one of her books in between two of his tentacles, holding it tight with the suction cups. Zippy realized it was her Doomsday Theory book, and she had forgotten it.

“Zippy!” Jetson called, “You forgot this!”

Zippy reached down and took the book from her pet, smiling broadly, “Thank you, Jetson. You’re a good squid.”

Looking up at her, Jetson felt nervous. He didn’t know what to say at first, and then he remembered Megan’s advice from before: Just compliment her on her appearance; tell her how thin she looks.

“Zippy, you seem malnourished.” Jetson told her, “Are you suffering from internal parasites?”

Furrowing her brown, Zippy stared blankly at Jetson for a few seconds and then smiled, “No, but you’re sweet to be concerned.”

She leaned down and kissed Jetson’s cone, causing him to turn a deep red color. She walked off, heading for her next class and Jeston followed her, moving quickly on his tentacles as he did so, his three hearts beating fast in his red cone. Megan had been right; it had worked like a charm.

He would have to take Megan’s advice more often.



When dinner time rolled around, Zippy found herself back in the dining hall with all the usual crew, including Eve this time who had woken a little early. They sat and chatted amiably as they waited for their food, discussing their classes and their projects as usual. As they chatted back and forth, they were all suddenly surprised as Krystal approached the table, her hands clutching nervously.

Giving a small bow Krystal took a deep breath and said, “I apologize for my behavior this morning. It was uncalled for, and I hope you’ll forgive me.”

There was a stunned silence from the table, as if someone had mentioned E.F. Hutton. Krystal looked nervously at the surprised faces, not sure if she should stay or turn and run. She noticed a slight smile on Zippy’s face, and decided to tough it out. She remained where she was, waiting someone to say something. It felt agonizing; she wished one of them would speak, if just to say ‘get lost’.

Finally, Nadjia spoke up, “I’m . . . um . . . I’m sorry I tried to bite you.”

The surprised expressions remained, but all the head rotated in an almost comical manner to stare at Nadjia, who had been most vocal in her objections to Krystal that morning. Krystal felt a little moistness in her eyes as relief flooded her. She could do this.

“Thank you.” She said.

Zippy gestured for her to sit down and Krystal timidly took her seat. Werx came around dropping dinner in front of them, chicken parmesan today. After an uncomfortable silence, they began to talk as Rina described her new project.

“It’s for Mr. Carcharias’ class,” Rina was saying, “I’m taking coy and altering them with bio luminescence, which they can turn on and off if needed.”

Krystal was not in the habit of admitting when someone else’s project intrigued her, so she kept her mouth shut.

Eve said, “Wow, that should make for a spectacular coy pond.”

The project was an interesting one, and it was an idea Krystal had once had herself, but she could never get to work. She wanted to ask how Rina had done in, but she kept her silence, hoping somebody else would.

All at once, she realized that she was being stupid. She shoved her inhibition aside and spoke up.

“Really?” She said, “I tried a project like that a while ago with bass, but I could never get it to work. Were you using Angler Fish DNA?”

Being that it was the first time Krystal had ever expressed an interest in someone else’s work, everyone turned to look at her in surprise, not the least was Rina who paused for a second in astonishment before responding.

“Um, no, actually, I used Watasenia scintillans.” She commented.

“The firefly squid?” Krystal asked, “I never thought of that, what made the difference.”

Relaxing a little, Rina began to talk, explaining how she’d done the alterations and what she had used. Quickly, Krystal began to understand what she had done wrong and why Rina’s version worked when her’s didn’t. There were a lot of ideas that Krystal wouldn’t have thought of. Krystal was interested, and her impulse to pretend she wasn’t returned with a vengeance. Again she found herself shoving it aside. What was it that Zippy had a bazillion times last night? ‘Give credit where credit is due’?

“That’s ingenuous.” Krystal commented.

Rina blushed and looked down at her plate, smiling, “Thank you.”

Once again, everyone at the table was staring at Krystal in surprise. As the conversation continued, Krystal began to relax and start talking more. She found herself enjoying this simple chit chat. It then occurred to her that this was the first real conversation that Krystal had ever had at the school with someone other then Kevin. Always before, it had always been Cristobel talking, and the groupies hanging off his every word. Now, as Krystal, she was having a normal give and take conversation, friendly talking amongst fellow students, and she was surprised how enjoyable the process was.

She began to realize that she just might be able to enjoy her new life as Krystal.



As the weeks progressed, Zippy watched with a sense of satisfaction as Krystal more and more mellowed out on a day to day basis. She became friendlier, more interested in other people besides herself and more and more tolerable both as a roommate and as a person. The decent person that Kevin had insisted was hidden in there could be glimpsed more and more, and in many ways Zippy found herself getting closer to her new roomie. In fact, she Krystal and Lizzy had begun trying to collaborate on ideas for Miss Variola’s Artificial Life Form Project, but with no good results so far.

Not only was she getting friendlier, Zippy noticed, but she was also getting girlier as the weeks went by. Perhaps it was the artificial organs pumping her full of estrogenic hormones, but Zippy thought that Krystal was really starting to accept herself as female. It could be that Cristobel might have had a secret desire like this: When Krystal talked about her family, she had a certain amount of affection in her tales of her mother and older sister, but her references to her father were always of a detached respect and admiration, always of a slightly cold nature. From what Zippy knew of Artemis Bell it didn’t really surprise her.

Krystal’s descriptions of her mother, Constance Machiavelli Bell, and her older sister Celestine, contained hints of real affection, although it still seemed like the whole family was kind of uptight and ridged; no big surprise there.

Eventually, Krystal became one of them, so much so, that Zippy and Lizzy felt safe showing her the hidden library, to her giddy and astonished amazement.

Although the Cristobel problem was officially solved, Zippy found a whole new can of worms opening up right away. Zippy had assumed that with no Cristobel to compete over, the groupies would have broken up. But she soon found that wasn’t the case. Amber Tiffendorf quickly took control of the group, changing it from a Cristobel worship clan to an Amber obedience clan. Charity and Tiffany became her two top flunkies along with another of the groupies named Porsche who was ‘promoted’ from the lower ranks. The hieratical organization of Amber’s new mob was really something to see. It didn’t take long to find out that as the leader, she was just as obnoxious as Cristobel had been, and hated Zippy and her friends, Krystal now included, with the same passion as before. Around the school, people took to calling them Amber’s Army. She swiftly became a royal pain in the ass.

Particularly galling was Amber’s tendency to send her flunkies to steal project ideas from Zippy. After being ‘scooped’ on three strait projects by Amber, Zippy and the rest began carefully protecting their projects and idea, meeting in secret places around the school. Unofficially, they had begun calling themselves The Shark Tank Guild, because they frequently hung out at Megan’s tank. Zippy began coming up with such elaborate security measures that she sometimes wondered if she would be scouted by the CIA.

As the war heated up between them, Zippy realized that Amber was going to be a much bigger problem then Cristobel ever was. After narrowly thwarting a few kidnapping attempts, Zippy began to understand how the world had felt after World War II, when they got rid of Hitler, only to have to deal with Stalin.

One person did benefit from the change in power: With Charity no longer competing for Cristobel, Rick quickly seized the moment and made his move. Very quickly they were seen together frequently, and soon they were a bona fide couple, and one of the talks of the campus. Good for Rick and Charity, bad for Amber’s boyfriend Adam, who now not only found himself shoved aside by his girlfriend’s ego instead of another man, but was deprived of his former companion in loneliness. Without Rick to vent his misery to, Adam began to look more bitter and despondent then he ever had before, and Amber could seem to care less. Despite that, Adam continued to live under Amber’s thumb as he always had, hopelessly, and stupidly, still in love with her. It made Zippy quite sad just to look at him.

Then again, Zippy’s own love life wasn’t going so well anyways: She made numerous attempts to get her relationship with Kyle to something more then just casual, but her timing seemed to be off, and she could never quite get him at a good moment. At the very least, she now could manage to hold a good minutes worth of chat with him before starting to dissolve into idiotic giggles like before. Still, he always seemed friendly, and generally happy to see her. After a little bit, she stopped having giggles altogether, and could manage to hold a decent talk, but something always seemed to interrupt them before she had the courage to make a move.

This was all to bewildering to Zippy, who had always been very assertive romantically before. She didn’t know what it was about him that had this strange effect on her.

And so, Zippy focused on all her other concerns, particularly in the perplexing problem of Mrs. Variola’s project, which she worked on constantly with Lizzy and Krystal, but a good solid idea still eluded them.



It was several weeks after their first dinner with Krystal, and Zippy had slipped into the hidden library for about the hundredth time. She scanned the book lined shelves, going over each volume, looking for some inspiration. The room smelled as dusty and musty as it always had, and Zippy brushed some away from several different volumes as she looked around. So far, nothing jumped out at her as a good source for Mrs. Variola’s project.

She glanced over at the far wall, looking at that strange hexagonal plaque on the wall. She still had no idea what it was, but it looked like the one that led into the hidden library. She was sure it was a key hole of some kind, but she didn’t have the key. She had contemplated picking it on several occasions, but she didn’t want to set off any sort of alarm and be discovered here. And she had a pretty good feeling this was not your ordinary lock.

She turned her attention back to the books. She sighed, looking them over. She was about to give up and go back to the regular library when she spotted something she hadn’t noticed before: on the left hand shelf, hidden behind several large volumes, lay another book sitting horizontally between the wall and the back of the books.

Curios, she reached behind the book and pulled the new volume out. It was far dustier the then others having sat back there for who knows how long. She had to remove several layers of dust and shoe away and upset spider to even make out the title. The book was large and bound in old fashioned black leather with a silver lettering and lining. There was even a metal clasp on the side, which fortunately was not locked. Finally getting enough dust off the book, she read the title.

“The Black Book Of Forbidden Science”

An ominous title if ever she’d heard one. A small gasp escaped her lips as she looked under the title and saw the author’s names:

“By Dr. Victor Frankenstein
Dr. Henry Jekyll
Dr. Fu Manchu and
Dr. Mabuse”

She stared at the cover for a while and then opened the book scanning through the pages. If she had been surprised by the contents of the other books, this one astonished her. She flipped through each chapter with a growing sense of wonder and excitement. She couldn’t believe what she was holding in her hands. And then, midway through the book, she stopped dead at one particular chapter.

At first, she couldn’t quite believe what she was reading; it all seemed so impossible. But as she read through the words, she began to realize something shocking: This actually could work. It was radical stuff, far more advanced then anything she’d ever attempted, but she understood it, and she could tell it was indeed possible; possible, and completely doable.

A wide grin appeared on her face and her heart began to beat a mile a minute: This was what she’d been looking, hell; this was everything she needed and more for the project and for her academic career.

She quickly shoved the book into her bag, closing it tight so no one could see inside and checked through the peephole to make sure no one was out there to see her exit. She then slipped out of the hidden library and made a bee line through the regular one, giddy with excitement.

As she made for the exit, she giggled and chuckled in exhilaration, this was the holy grail of mad science, and she was about to rediscover it. As she ran though the room with her book back clutched protectively to her chest, she continued sniggering with enthusiasm, ignoring the ‘shush’ from Eve as she passed the vampire hanging upside down from the balcony as usual.



Mindful of Amber’s constant spying, Zippy told Lizzy and Krystal to meet her in the forest outside the school grounds, and to tell no one of the meeting. It was late at night and the dark gloomy woods seemed like the perfect setting for a horror film or one of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The slightly damp grass under her feet stuck annoyingly to her shoes as she leaned against one of the ancient trees. A slight breeze made the branches move as they were alive and reaching out to Zippy. She wasn’t one to get spooked that easily, but she couldn’t deny that the effect of the forest was downright creepy.

The thick trees shielded her from view, and she waited, holding her arms around her until she finally heard Lizzy and Krystal approach. Both were shivering in the slight chill as they came up. She could tell from their faces that they weren’t any more thrilled to be out here, but thanks to that bitch Amber, this was unfortunately necessary. They came up to her, holding small fluorescent lights so they could see.

“Good, you made it.” Zippy straitened, “You’re sure no one followed you?”

Lizzy nodded, “We slipped out a side door in the kitchen. No one followed us.”

“So, what’s so important it’s got us out here in the middle of the night?” Krystal asked irritably.

Her irritation was understandable, in these conditions, but Zippy was pretty sure she’d forget all about it when she heard what Zippy had found.

“I’ve got the perfect project for Mrs. Variola’s class.” Zippy announced, “And I mean absolutely perfect, and completely revolutionary. I’m serious; if we pull this off, and I know that we can, we will not only get a good grade in the class, but we will have made history.”

She said that last part with a dramatic whisper, laying in the set up for the big reveal.

Lizzy raised an eyebrow, “Sounds good, but how are we going to keep Amber from finding out about it?”

“I had a thought about that.” Zippy waved a finger, “We’ve got two weeks of spring break coming up, right? And Lizzy, I know you’re parents are going to be busy with that conference they have to go to, so you won’t be going home this break. And, I don’t mean to be rude, but I know for a fact that there’s no way in hell you’re going to go home for break at all, Krystal. No offense.”

Krystal shrugged, “None taken, it’s the truth. I’m not ready to face them yet.”

Zippy went on, “So, what I was thinking was this: Why don’t the two of you spend spring break with me at my parents’ house. I’ll talk to them and get ‘em to let you both stay with us. Then we could do the project over break, there’s a big basement in their house that they never use for anything other then laundry. I’m sure I can get them to let us set up shop there. They’re very supportive, so they’re probably go along with it. All the materials can be ordered through the usual channels, it’s just one particular part that will require an . . . alternate method of procurement, but I think I know how to do that.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lizzy replied, “I really didn’t want to spend the break taking care of Miss Fulci’s zombies again. Have you seen those fast ones she’s been making lately?”

The others were obviously intrigued. Krystal chuckled, “So, enough with the hard sell, what is it?”

“I found this in the hidden library.” Zippy announced, pulling the book out of her bag, “It was hidden behind the other books.”

Lizzy said, “It looks old, what is it.”

Zippy grinned, “It’s like a Necronomicon of mad science. This contains some of the most hidden and secret formulas of science in history. There’s stuff in here that we shouldn’t really even be reading.”

Now as excited as her, Krystal chirped, “So what did you have in mind?”

Zippy flipped open to the chapter she had bookmarked and held the book out to them with an enthused smile and mischievous gleam in her eyes, “This.”

Lizzy and Krystal both gasped when they saw what the chapter said.

Awwwooooooo!!!! I’m Katjia Farrell and it’s my turn to tell you about the next story: Zippy, Lizzy and Krystal begin their project over spring break, and astound their parents when they find out what their daughter is really working on . . . Hey wait a minute! I’m not even in the next one? Find out what it is in the next chapter of Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist, “The Sixth Experiment”.

EurekaI’ve got it!