Friends, contemporaries, countrymen - lend me your trite salutations. Out of blind curiosity, may I initiate a small questionnaire? Answer by raise of hand, if you would. Who here is a shapeshifter or some derivative of such? Ah, quite a few. Now that that's out of the way, know that the soon-to-be stream of consciousness is not an affront to you in any way (Trust me, considering the fact that I, myself, am a mattershifter. I'd end up insulting myself). What I've been postulating for a good month or so is my tertiary and final mutation before I reach the age of legality. I'm one of the few shapeshifters out there that places stringent limitations of what I can transform into (and the colors I can utilize, for that matter) so, I thought expanding the gamut would be the best course of action. Then, several things assailed my rumination: Darwin from X-Men: First Class and the evolutionary theories brought about by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.

The concept of an organism instantaneously transmogrifying portions of their bodily systems, whether it is integumentary or otherwise, piqued my curiosity something fierce...to the point where I'm actually considering dropping the shapeshifting mantle and assuming the designation 'hyper-adaptable'. Now, before I ignite a slew of vituperative and other rancorous roars, let me ask you a series of questions in regards to convenience - which, ultimately, is the reason behind shapeshifting. What would be more advantageous to the end user in any given scenario - a complete genetic rearranging a la a certain verdant Teen Titan or just sections of your corporeal form modifying and augmenting themselves? Take me, for example. I could very well turn into an obsidian aquatic mammal for extended periods of time underwater, but wouldn't generating gills, pulmonary sacs, and extending the webbing being my fingers and toes autonomically OR voluntarily prove more expedient AND aesthetically pleasing?

Forgive me, I'm starting to slip into my persuasive mode rather than treating this as an expository oration. Don't feel pressured into following my example! Now, where was I... Oh yes! Dolphin or an amphibious possat? Personally, I'd choose the latter. What about occasions where you'd need to scale a vertical surface? I'm sure modifying your hands to they had the adhesive properties of the family 'Gekkonidae', with its microscopic hairs - or setae - manipulating the Van der Waals force, would be much more convenient than discarding your entire DNA and replacing it with that of a gecko! Defensively, there's an armadillo's and a pangolin's chitinous structures (which, incidentally, is something my brainstorming colleague suggested). There's also that...membrane thing you see on flying squirrels. The... Alright, lemme look this up. One moment... I know it starts with a P... Pa... PATAGIUM, that's it! You should know by now that my memory's as porous as a common sponge. Regardless, attaching that would permit and facilitate gliding - especially after scaling the aforementioned surface. Quadrupedal forms for more lissome movement... Retreating into freshly transmuted carapace...es? Carapii? Transitions from plantigrade to digitigrade - the former for stability and the latter for speed...

I won't regale you with every possible situation, but you can see why someone like moi would prefer this offshoot of shapeshifting over the tried and true. Of course, this would bar swapping genus and phylum forever, meaning you'd have to stick with the species you were born into. Hehehe, and I know I'm rather far away from the crowd and this spot lighting is obscuring your faces, but I did notice several people frown up at that. Like I said before: It's your choice whether you want to go through with this or not, but do note that I'll be testing it personally, just to make sure there are no unintended side-effects. After everything's stable, I'll be offering adaptability chambers that /should/ recreate the molecular reconstruction that I perform naturally. Do note that you must be eligible first! There'll be a litany of prerequisites and you must me them all before going through this process. Otherwise, you might turn into a sentient-yet-immobile primordial soup upon exiting - hence why this probably won't come about until a good decade from now as we iron out potential bugs. Annnnd that should conclude the explanation! You're now free to move about the auditorium.

-This is list is subject to expansion later down the line, but here's what I've got jotted down so far:

• Musculature Reinforcement (Strength/Resilience)
  
• Aquatic (Amphibious/Pulmonary) Augmentation
  
• Selae (Gecko) Wall Crawling
  
• Plantigrade to Digitigrade (Acceleration)
  
• Pitch Shift & Typhanum Sensitivity (Echolocation/Mechanoreceptors)
  
• Patagium (Gliding)
  
• Feral Transformation [Quadrupedalism] (Lissome Evasion)
  
• Dulled Nociception (High Pain Tolerance)
  
• Smooth to Hirsute Epithelium [and vice versa] (Heat Retention)
  
• Eyeshine (Tapetum Lucidum) (Night/Low Light Vision)
  
• Slit Sensillae [Amplified] (Analogous to Spider Sense)
  
• Light Refractive Scales (Psuedo-Invisibility)
  
• Spinal Carapice/Pastron Formation (Shielding)
  
• Tauric Transformation (Load-Bearing Beast of Burden)
  
• Pin (Tapered) Appendages (Increased Agility and Equilibrioception)
  
• Ineffectual Groin Shots (Nullpatch)
  
• Keratinous/Chintinous Scale Fortification (Armor)
  
• Vocalization Mimicry (Auditory Deception)