From my aerial vantage-point, I can see the monster. A rge bug, about the size of a dump truck, chewing its way through the wall of a factory or industrial building with every sign of enjoyment. I beat my wings, hovering there, waiting for my sisters to arrive. The park seems to have been deserted already, thank God, or this would have gotten messy. I certainly don’t want to find out if that thing eats people, too, rather than being a building-tarian.

  As soon as my sisters arrive, they begin taking up fighting positions. Then, I drop from the sky like a frozen bolt of lightning, smming down full-force on the back of the beetle, causing it to get fttened against the tarmac. It fils angrily, as Philippa bursts out ughing. “You were waiting for us JUST so you could show off, weren’t you!?”

  I grin. “Yep!”

  Niko forms a scythe out of her bck blood, twirling it like a baton-dancer, as she readies herself to charge. The beetle bucks, screaming like a velociraptor in a disco, before I sm my fists down, beating the huge insect over the head and whooping, my tail flicking as I use it to keep my bance while rodeo-riding the thing like a bull with six legs.

  Niko’s scythe skates off the thing’s exoskeleton, leaving a faint white scar in the bck chitin, while my fists make dull booms as I pound on it like I’m the world’s most determined Jehovah’s Witness going door-to-door.

  Then, the beetle buzzes furiously, its wings bursting out and lifting it into the air. It flips over, barrelling into a wall and dislodging me from its back. I drop down beside Niko as she reaches out to steady me, her hand on my scaled back.

  “Are you… okay, Rika…? That Battleshell… didn’t hurt you… did it?”

  I shake my head. “No, I’m fine, sis. But will you be able to harm it? What can we do?”

  Philippa steps up. “It’s durable, but it’s not that fast. If you can get it to stop, I can drop the wrath of the Thunder Goddess on it, but until then, I’m going to be useless. I’ve got to charge up to my limit in order to make sure I finish it in one go!”

  I grin at her. “Okay, I can keep it busy in the air. Niko, have you got any ranged attack options? Or can you fly like me?”

  My oldest sister shakes her head. “I can… throw things. But… I can’t fly. I’ll… protect Philippa… you do what you… can to bring the Battleshell to… a halt!”

  I grin. "I was hoping you'd say that! Let me show off the fruits of my training!"

  I crouch, before taking off, uppercutting the huge beetle with my entire body, my tail scything round and smming against the huge insect's underside. It screeches, massive mandibles cshing in rage, trying to snip me in half like a demon-possessed pair of scissors.

  I disengage, swooping up and over as the bug fires a spray of rubble-fragments at me like a shotgun.

  The shrapnel punches holes in the chewed-up wall of the factory, and I grin at it.

  "I've seen worse than you, you big ugly bug! Skadi's way tougher than you are!"

  I plunge my right fist, shrouded in a icicle pile-bunker, into one of its compound eyes, bursting it like a bunch of overripe grapes.

  With my fist buried in its face, the Battleshell can't shake me loose, and I use my breath-weapon to freeze one of its wings, locking it in pce.

  The dump-truck-sized beetle spirals crazily out of the air, its remaining wing insufficient to keep it aloft, crashing down with a meaty thud.

  Leaping into action, Niko draws a bloodforged longbow, pinning the monster down with arrow after arrow, her shots missing me as I add my own ice, binding the colossal creature to the ground.

  Philippa raises both hands, her purple-dyed hair fanning out as the stink of ozone permeates the air around her. A humming whine builds, as the Battleshell fils and struggles, trying desperately to pull free of its bindings.

  Then, a bolt of iridescent vender spears down, the Battleshell letting out one final shriek, the noise lost in the earsplitting discharge of thunder, before it disintegrates into fine, ashen dust.

  I smile, letting my dragonshift drop, leaving me looking normal-human-female. Niko hugs me, as Philippa whoops.

  "Now THAT was a hell of a show, baby sis! You're sure you needed us? I bet you could've destroyed that thing alone!"

  I grin.

  "Maybe. But I wanted to show off a little, so sue me!"

  Niko finally releases me, as Philippa 'pnts' the amber crystal, a wave of invisible energy washing over the area and erasing any belief that 'monster ate the building'. I scan the environment, and grin. "Well, that could work! This pce stores Nitrogen gas! And, since I maaay have frozen the ground a bit, lemme just..."

  I approach the tank of liquid Nitrogen, and punch a hole in it. Once done, I rip the side open, pulling the edges outwards to make it look like it burst naturally, ice forming over my body as I stage an 'accident'.

  Pulling myself free easily, I brush the glittering crystals off my body.

  "Bah, that's not cold enough to make ME shiver!"

  Niko and Philippa giggle, the rusty-chainsaw of Niko's ugh joining Phili's pyful one as my sisters wait for me to return to them. They share a look.

  "So, since we were only helping you, I think it's only fair that you get most of the cash from the Battleshell's defeat. Right, Niko?"

  Philippa smiles, and my oldest sister nods repeatedly. Tugging her phone out, Philippa taps at the screen rapidly, before grinning at me.

  "Sweet! The Association gave us a bonus for taking it out so quickly! Looks like we don't have to worry about sharing!"

  I blink, bouncing lightly on the balls of my feet. "Association? Bonus??"

  Then, my phone chimes. Tugging it out, my eyes widen. My banking app is blinking urgently at me, as if it's having an existential crisis. When I read the notification, I can understand why.

  "Philippa Crane, transferred... 65,000?!?! What the steaming cross-eyed fuck?????"

  Philippa grins. "That Battleshell was worth a cool 100k, bonus included, and since you did most of the work, you earned most of the reward! We got the other 35,000 between us, so... yeah."

  I stare at her. "Okay, THIS definitely expins how you girls always had the test fashion, or could afford crazy-expensive presents for my birthday!"

  Pocketing my phone again, I hug them both. "I love you both! I'm really gd I could fight a monster WITH you this time, rather than surprise you like I did with the Twin-Head!"

  That night, I cook for my family, as I have many times, but this time feels... different. I hum happily to myself, almost dancing around the kitchen as I set the table, my dad and sisters chatting as I serve the food, still hot from the stove. Dad's gaze lingers on me, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepen as he smiles at my clear and evident joy at being truly myself.

  After dinner, Tricia in the lead, Philippa and Niko frogmarch me up to her room. Carefully settling herself on her bed, Tricia grabs a hairbrush.

  "Alright, Rika, get your butt over here and sit down. Let me do your hair!"

  I settle down beside my sister as she begins teasing the brush through my reddish-gold hair.

  "Whoa, these highlights are so cool. Ice-blue is a great contrast."

  I smile as she works. "You mean the frosted tips? Yeah, they're actually natural for me. It's a side-effect of my dragonshifting."

  "Tips? Girl, these are NOT just the tips!"

  Tricia holds up a mirror as Philippa hands me her compact. With a little angling, I can see the back of my head, and my eyes widen.

  "You have to be shitting me... those weren't there st week!"

  Where my hair had only been white-tipped, the paler colour has started spreading, streaks forming all through my locks, almost like it's.... taking over.

  However, despite the alteration to the pigment, it doesn't seem like my hair's being damaged by it at all. In fact, Tricia gets Philippa and Niko to touch, and they both gasp and coo.

  "Oh my God, Rika! Your hair's so THICK! And shiny, too! Do dragons have some kind of super-secret shampoo or hair-care products, or something???"

  I giggle, "Actually, I haven't washed my hair ONCE since I left! So I have no idea! But really, I haven't even thought about it. I spend the mornings training, then explore in the afternoons with Skadi."

  As Tricia pulls her brush through my hair, Philippa teases, "Wow! Even mentioning this mysterious dragon-girl makes your cheeks go pink, heehee!"

  I pout. "Hey, not while Tricia's got a death-grip!"

  Philippa keeps needling me about my apparent crush on Skadi, and, having spent weeks around the pretty, goth-y, punk-y dragonnel, I can't really deny that I AM attracted to her.

  "Okay, fine, she IS my type, but... I mean, it wouldn't work! I'm not a full-blooded dragon, only a dragonshifter. Plus, even if she IS into girls, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't pick me, especially because her uncle despises me because I'm human!"

  Tricia sets down the brush, gently pulling my hair back into its loose ponytail.

  "Well that sounds like a 'him' problem more than a 'you' problem. And have you even asked her if she's gay?"

  I frown. "Well.... no? But she didn't know what lesbian meant. Dragons don't really have any judgement against homosexuality, since same-sex couples are fairly common."

  Philippa grins. "Okay, now I'm starting to get jealous! This pce sounds like it might just be perfect!"

  Niko, as expected, is more curious about the food dragons eat, and I happily regale her with stories of the meals I've eaten, until I have to stop before she floods the room with her drooling over pasties, breakfast-rolls, stews and roasted meats.

  Tricia reaches out, patting my back gently. "Rika, do you think you could show us your dragonshifted form again? It's been weeks, and I want to see it again. I didn't really get a good look at it earlier, thanks to mom being a raging psychobitch."

  I smile. "Alright. Let me have some space!"

  I stand and move into the centre of Tricia's room, tugging my dragon-made training clothes into better position. They're so much more durable that even transforming doesn't damage them, and I've gotten good at manifesting my wings in ways that fit through the slits in the back of the form-fitting tunic.

  I train barefoot, and have subconsciously been reinforcing the soles of my feet with scales, even in human form, but now, I push my transformation, feeling the now-welcome itching as scales ripple up my forearms and calves, extending all the way to my shoulders and hips as my feet alter into digitigrade, my toecws sliding out, my tail emerging and flexing, as if stretching after confinement.

  My horns poke out, growing into pce at the sides of my head, and the short spikes that run down my spine to meet the base of my tail pop through, one by one, followed by the leathery 'boom' of my white wings, the talons at the top joints hooked and razor-edged.

  I flex my scaled hands, my nails elongating into thick, deadly cws. Then, as the armoured scales cross over my belly and breasts, I close my eyes, feeling them quiver in their sockets.

  Opening them again, I pause. Everything seems... sharper, as if my vision had been fuzzy or fogged. Now, everything looks crystal clear, and slightly brighter. Turning, I smile, my lips drawing back to reveal my mouthful of fangs.

  "Here I am, Tricia. Is it all you hoped it would be?"

  She gasps, eyes wide as she starts to beam.

  "Hell fucking YES it is! Rika, you look like a total badass!"

  She raises the mirror, and I blink. My eyes have taken up their appearance from this morning. Bck, with almost glowing blue slitted pupils, while my horns look.. longer, like smooth, lightly-curving icicles, angled back to meet the frozen mane of my hair.

  As I grin back at my trio of older sisters, all three of which are smiling, even Niko, my wings furled tight against my back, my tail swishes in jubition, the powerful muscle colliding with Tricia's desk. A small, polished crystal, cut into the shape of a heart, wobbles, then falls, plummeting towards the carpet.

  That wouldn't save it, since the finely-spun crystal is insanely delicate. I brace myself for the crack of it breaking, as Tricia flings a hand out, eyes wide.

  "No!"

  The crystalline heart.... stops, in mid-air, hovering there. We all stare at our injured sister, as she slowly, gritting her teeth, lifts the floating trinket back up, returning it to its pce.

  I breathe, "Tricia, you.... you didn't lose your powers!!!"