As the demon charged again, I took a grab at its ear after I dodged. It didn’t do anything to STOP the hippo, of course, but I think I got it angry. Probably not helpful - it’s not like it can stun itself any harder, right?
I took my booty as it charged, (not my ass, you sick pervs. The shard.) and hit the hippo in the eye, which started oozing. Yay!

Netherworlds had a lot of different races, as well as the ability to decide on a dungeons-and-dragons type alignment, which determined what quests were available and who you could group with. Liara, Taur’othen, Gorokka, Brynhilda, and the rest of Dyslexics Untied (our guild) were Neutral Good, which as far as I can tell is basically obeying the law but only if people are watching, and trying to help people as much as possible. Chaotic evil guilds were so common that it tended to make world Player vs. Player combat really imbalanced, because Chaotic Evil is going around slaughtering stuff not paying attention to what people THINK, and because you’re chaotic you’re allowed to kill pretty much anyone that you don’t have loyalties to, and sometimes people that you do.

We walked through an area that wouldn’t have looked out of place at the Berlin Wall during WWII, through another area that had HOLOGRAPHIC LANDMINES (I was so freaked out when I saw that explosion hit Mike) before passing through another place with HOLOGRAPHIC MISSILES. They were really having a field day with the holograms, as the holographic guards with holographic AK-47s shooting holographic bullets at holographic escapees showed. It… just… I mean, when did they even develop this kind of thing? It was so bloody over the top that I wouldn’t be surprised if they released ARMOURED TYRANNOSAURUSES with LASER CANNONS.

The place was surrounded with security cameras, barbed wire, there were a couple of armed guards, and it looked more like a prison than a school.
Stupid goddamn foreshadowing. I wish I hadn’t been right.

“What would you rather be? A girl dealing with her first period or a guy dealing with the same thing? This whole thing is a lot easier if you just let yourself BE who you look like. We’re worse off than born transsexuals, because we’re stuck like this. They can get operations and stuff but WE can’t do anything except accept this and hope like hell that we don’t get LYNCHED for having robots cut off our balls,” said Allison. “I liked being Alex. He was a happy kid. These nanobots come and change me into THIS. Allison is a new girl, and she’s learning. She’s not happy about that but at least Alex has the dignity to SHUT THE FUCK UP and try to let Allison live her life! If you’re going to let Sam keep running Sammy’s body, then you may as well jump out of a window now. ”

This wasn’t actually the first time nanites had been a terrorist threat - some Islam terrorist group had been trying to release a variation of GDD.
All it did was convert people into corpses. By eating their brains. Nanozombies. Urgh…

They wiped out the threat with massive a massive EMP - electro-magnetic pulse. Huge success. Nanobots all wiped out. No deaths. Pretty much a first for the US. *giggle*

After GDD, they tried the EMP solution.

It… didn’t work.

“My dad went… kind of insane after Mum died. He wasn’t violent… I guess I’m lucky there. He got angry, though… at me. But he wasn’t actually a bad guy. He wound up getting drunk a lot lately. But he… didn’t take it too well that he was losing his only son. He… kinda let it slip at the pub I’d caught BS. People started making fun of me for getting the “queer virus”… and he reacted badly.”

Thoughts
Written as I try
To sleep
With bizarre places
For new
Lines.

It was then, with bits of miscellaneous orange gunk dripping out of my mouth, that I realised how much my mind had changed. I’d SEEN broken bones before, and not felt like this. I’d actually seen a suicide jump, and while emotionally scarring, I didn’t feel nauseous, even seeing the pile of crumpled gore on the ground. But now? Even THINKING of that set me off again, but I had nothing left to throw up, so I was just retching. And I’d tried to help Leeroy. That is enough to creep me out.

I crawled slowly back to consciousness.
Body stock check - arms: 2, legs: 2, head: 1, penis: 0.
My eyes slammed open, if that’s possible.
“Hey, he’s up!”
Argh. Am I always going to be beaten to consciousness?
I was in a hospital bed. Not surprising, really…
Ah. The memories. There they are.
I craned my neck, and on my chest, I had a pair of boobs - I have no idea what size, it’s not the kind of thing I needed to know until now. I didn’t really need to look to see that I was lacking downstairs.
So. I’m a girl now.

And it started again. Nikolosandwhichev looked on in alarm as I spasm’d about. Sarah jumped up, looking alarmed. Alarm, I thought. That’s a word. Like Clock. And Peanut. Peanut clock. Peanut butter jelly time.

My brain had gone kinda insane trying to deal with the pain. While contemplating on whether Hitler’s moustache was actually the barcode for a brand of chinese razor, my bones ground against each other. I was insanely hungry too - it felt like my stomach was boiling. A couple of bits of stomach acid went up my throat. My balls felt like they’d been kicked in. My penis felt like it was being used for a slingshot. And my chest just plain felt weird. The spasm kept going, even as Nikefootwearmanchev went and got another… nurse… or doctor…

BS. Bimbo Syndrome. The real name was something like sex-reconfiggerwhatsit. But it’s been called Bimbo Syndrome since it was first released, back when it only affected guys.

She had it. My best friend was about to become a guy.

She grinned, and rather surprisingly, threw her arms around me.
“Um… Sarah? You alright?” I asked. This disease was supposed to make her into a guy, not into a moronic bimbo.
“Awesome! Never been better! Why?” she said, literally bouncing on the bed.
“Er, you do realise your life as a girl is, you know, nearly over?”
“Yup! So I gotta make the most of it! Also, you’re cute. Why haven’t we fucked before? Let’s do it now! Yes, let’s!”
I was really out of my depth here. Being a virgin at 15 presumably has its good sides, but I have yet to see ‘em.

BS. Bimbo Syndrome. The real name was something like sex-reconfiggerwhatsit. But it’s been called Bimbo Syndrome since it was first released, back when it only affected guys.

She had it. My best friend was about to become a guy.