Rachel stared in awe at the absolutely huge green tiger that now stood before them. Jade's powerful shoulders stood five feet above the floor, and the lighter viridian lines that normally accentuated the alien girl's formidable curves now formed the tiger stripes that covered her powerfully muscular feline form.
The other girls laughed with delight at seeing Jade transform into this shape, and they walked over to stroke her soft, dark green fur, while John scratched behind her ears. Jade began to emit a deep throaty purr, and her emerald, vertically slitted eyes watched Rachel curiously.
Fighting down the natural instinct to flee in terror, Rachel tried to rationalise with herself that the colossal feline standing before her was the cute and benevolent Nymph. The fact that Jade's eyes hadn't changed actually helped quite a bit, and Rachel built up enough courage to walk over and join them.
"You look breathtaking," she said in awe as she stood by Jade's side, and the huge tiger gently rubbed her head against Rachel's armoured hand.
Rachel began to stroke the green striped fur reflexively, as she marvelled at the incredible transformation she just witnessed. "Where did all this mass come from?" she asked in disbelief, as she gently touched the tiger's heavy flanks. "You feel as solid and convincingly real as your dolphin form, but you seem so much bigger!"
"That's a misperception caused by the water," Alyssa explained, translating for Jade. "She says that she copied the real bottlenose dolphins she met on Oceanus, and she was well over nine hundred pounds as an adult female dolphin. The biggest thing she's transformed herself into so far was a Tiger Shark, which was about fifteen hundred pounds."
"Why don't you show her how this tiger form has saved our butts before?" John asked the Nymph playfully.
Jade looked up at him, and her large feline face broke out into an amused grin, revealing the tips of her gleaming white teeth. She looked at Rachel and then slowly and carefully opened her maw, to show her the six inch long canines, and surprisingly the faint aroma of mint filled the vicinity. Once the inquisitive doctor had stared in amazement at those for a little while, Jade closed her mouth and then raised a heavy paw, before turning it over and tensing the tendons that controlled her claws. The five razor-sharp, curved claws slowly unsheathed themselves from her padded paws, extending out a good six inches.
Rachel held the paw in her hand, and knelt on the ground so that she could take a good close look. She gingerly reached out to touch one of the claws, staring at the ethereal green material it was constructed from.
"Normally a cat's claws are made from Keratin, but that certainly doesn't look like Keratin to me," she murmured to herself.
John nodded as he looked down at the tawny haired brunette. "We've seen her use them to effortlessly rip through plated armour before, which must have been at least as durable as steel."
"You really are quite amazing, aren't you?" Rachel said, as she stared up into Jade's emerald eyes.
In a shimmering verdant haze, Jade changed form again, shrinking quickly to her Nymph shape. Once she had finished the transformation, she moved from a crouch to kneel next to Rachel, and then gave her a hug.
"I think you're pretty great too," Jade said, and rubbed noses with the startled brunette.
John raised an eyebrow at her now nude green body. "Sorry about your outfit. I probably should have suggested you strip off first," he said, looking around at the shredded clothing on the floor.
Jade stood up and walked over to him to give him a kiss. "It's alright, it was more dramatic that way, and I've got plenty of clothes."
"That transformation was much faster than the last time you turned into a tiger, practically instantaneous, in fact," Calara observed, thinking back to Jade slowly transforming in front of them in the cargo bay.
"I've spent a lot of time shapeshifting on Oceanus now, so as long as I know what form I want to adopt, I'm much more confident about pushing my body into that shape," Jade explained.
Rachel stood up and shook her head in amazement as she re-evaluated what she thought she knew about the exotic alien girl before her. "How have I never heard of Nymphs doing this before?" she asked Jade curiously. "I'd heard some of the more lurid tales about your species, but even those I dismissed as some wild fantasies."
"As far as we know, Jade is the only Nymph who's been able to explore her shapeshifting like this," Alyssa explained to her. "It might well be something to do with John's cum, but that's just a guess."
"May I study you both at the same time? Please?!" Rachel pleaded with John and Jade. "I don't think I could wait to completely finish researching one of you before looking at the other!"
John looked at Jade and she nodded to him with a smile. He then said to Rachel, "Sure. Go and remove your armour, and then we can go to the Medical Bay so you can take some samples to get you started. It's just around the corner from here, so we might as well do it while we're nearby."
The brunette walked over to pick up her armoured Phalanx helmet, placed it on her head and then stepped into one of the two equipping frames in the firing range. When she pressed her thumbs to the buttons concealed in the gauntlets, a series of soft rippling clicks unlocked the armour plating, and the robotic arms moved smoothly down to remove the body armour sections from her chest and limbs, while the helmet was lifted carefully from her head.
"Done!" Rachel said eagerly. "Let's go!"
They laughed at her cheerful enthusiasm, but before they moved anywhere, John picked up the XR75 rifle that Rachel had left on the table and began to strip it, years of marine training kicking in.
"Hang on!" Dana told him eagerly. "I've modded the weapons racks, and this is a perfect time to show you."
John looked at her quizzically, and she strolled over to the weapon locker, placing her rifle carefully on the rack. With a contented little hum, four robotic arms popped out of slots at the back of the rack, and took a firm grasp of the rifle. They ejected and stowed away the magazine clip and then began to dismantle and clean the weapon, before reassembling it with unfaltering robotic speed and precision.
"What do you think?" the redhead asked him eagerly, as the robotic arms slid back out of view, leaving a spotless and gleaming rifle ready for use.
John shook his head with disbelief and let out a snort of laughter. "My old Drill Sergeant would have an aneurism, but that's very nicely done," he congratulated her with an appreciative grin.
Dana jumped up and down, and clapped excitedly, overjoyed as always when one of her inventions received a glowing review. John smiled at her, and then he, Jade, and Rachel turned to walk out of the room, to head over to the Medical Bay.
