Natalie Gardiner/History

The full history of Natalie Gardiner, one of the main characters of Cinder Isle.
=== Early Life ===
Born as Nathan, he grew up in a broken household where his mother and father divorced and separated at an unknown point in his childhood. Nathan mainly grew up in Portland living with his mother and visiting his father Stanley on the weekends. Despite mainly living with his mother Nathan always wanted to follow in his fathers footsteps as a journalist and when he was old enough he began to join his father on his investigations to find the truth behind certain stories.
=== Cinder Isle ===
Nathan is first introduced in "Cinder Isle" where, several months after the initial outbreak of the T1-G1 virus, he joins his father on an illegal and secret trip to scout the island. Stanley had attended several press conferences about how the island had been contaminated by radiation after a freighter carrying nuclear waste capsized off the coast and eventually killed all the residence. Despite the military cover up Stanley knew they were hiding something and chose to investigate himself. Nathan and Stanley used a rented fishing boat to try and scout near the island on a snowy night. While they do manage to spot the military on the shore shipping barrels of Red Water proving that the island is not contaminated they also unfortunately fish a stray barrel out of the ocean and Stanley is exposed to the water resulting in his infection with the virus. Just before he begins to transform and show symptoms the Military spot and detain them both bringing them to the island. After they are shown to General Windham whom Stanley (now Stacy) had met prior at a press conference he orders her arrested for entering an area under federal law but as Nathan is not responsible for his father-turned-mother's actions Windham allows Nathan to go free but he is now forced to live out his life quarantined on the island. Stacy is placed under permanent house arrest and Nathan is enrolled in the local school.
At first Nathan is somewhat of an outcast as he is the only fresh face the other students have seen for months. However at lunch on his first day he is approached by the trio of friends Gavin, Shane, and Zoey. The trio greet him and as they themselves are somewhat of the outcast group they are quick to make friends with Nathan. After telling them what the outside world has been made to think about the island and how he and his new mother ended up on the island he is quick to become the newest member of their friend group officially turning their trio in "The Quad".
Several weeks later the Quad goes to a local indoor pool to hang out while on holiday break. Nathan and Shane are quick to get ready and get to the pool. After a short time Gavin and Zoey join them after having an awkward encounter of their own. With everyone present the group decides to try play chicken and Nathan gets teamed up with Zoey. Zoey gets on his shoulders and wrestles a bit with Gavin but due to her getting aroused by Gavin's touching her and their earlier encounter Zoey leaks a small amount of sexual fluid through her bathing suite and onto Nathan's neck. Nathan notices the sticky substance but before he can speak up or question it too much he begins to get sick and transform. The others flee the pool assuming the water is contaminated but Zoey is too embarrassed to admit she is the cause of Nathan's infection. Nathan is quick to transform and fully becomes a girl within a few moments. He (now she) is then taken to the hospital by a containment team and the others join her in the recovery room after she is confirmed to have reached Stage 5 or Carrier Stage of the virus. Stacy is brought to the hospital by the police to see her and while she blames herself bringing her to the island and trapping them both there Nathan accepts the situation and doesn't blame her. Nathan then officially adopts the name Natalie and begins her life as a woman.
Over the next several weeks the Houltons begin to help Natalie in regards to things like driving her to school and helping her and Stacy with errands as Stacy is unable to leave the apartment they were given. Eventually Natalie joins the rest of the Quad and their families on a trip to the mountain lodge and ski resort for a mini vacation where she stays with the Houltons and enjoys a weekend of skiing with everyone. She and Zoey's older sister Heather talk a bit on the slopes where Natalie reveals how she's begun to better embrace now being girl and she not only finds men attractive but also have learned to enjoy some of the pleasures her new body can offer. While this make Zoey feel awkward and uncomfortable as she still denies her own similar feelings Natalie and Heather continue talking about it as they ski for the rest of the weekend. Natalie is then shown asleep on an air mattress in the Houlton's cabin but is not woken by Zoey when she at last decides to try and masturbate to her arousal she's been so avers to.
Months later Natalie joins Shane on a trip tot he school gym to work out. Shane has really slimmed down thanks to his diet he's been on for several months and Natalie suggests now that he's lost so much weight he should start lifting weights and trying to bulk up and build muscle mass. Shane agrees but unknown to either of them the Ghost known as the Harlequin is spying on them and decides to playfully help out by enchanting Shane to gain muscle much quicker than should be possible. As Shane starts lifting a few dumb bells Natalie seems to notice his arms get bigger before her eyes but passes it off as her eyes playing tricks on her. Soon after the two of them are visited by the local bullies Bridget and Frank. Both of them begin to bully Shane but Natalie remains off to the side of things. When things escalate and Frank begins to get physical with Shane and eventually Chase when he arrives to help Natalie flees and goes to get Nurse Belfast to stop the fighting. She then joins the others in the principals office when Principal Harpswell berates them all for the fight and issue the punishments to Frank, Bridget, and Chase oblivious to the fact that the principal has actually been possessed by the other ghost on scene known as the Mistress.
The Next day Natalie and the others are talking and when Shane mentions how he saw the Harlequin at the gym she is confused as she had not yet encountered the ghosts on the island yet. After the others explaining things to her Natalie encourages them to finally start trying to find out more about what's going on on the island and suggests they brainstorm and draw up everything they know about the ghosts, the virus, and the events of the past several months. After the original trio explain there encounters and what ghosts they've encountered Natalie and Gavin both piece together the pattern that the ghost sightings seem to be centered around Underwood Forest where Zoey had originally gotten infected. She then suggests they begin to investigate on their own and hike into the woods the next night to try and find the ghosts. While the others are hesitant, Natalie's investigative side wins over and they agree to the ghost hunt. The next night the quad rides their bikes into the forest and hike deeper in looking for ghosts. Natalie heads up the group but they are forced to turn back when Zoey falls behind and has her own ghost encounter. After everyone is reunited they all go deeper into the woods where they find a military compound guarded by soldiers and sending out loads of the same kind of red barrel that infected Stacy. Natalie begins to spot what's going on until a massive roar is heard and the military opens fire on the monster in the red lake known as the Abomination. After seeing everything Natalie and Gavin are the ones to piece together the fact that the Red Lake is somehow the origin point of the virus and that's where Zoey had first gotten infected. As they realize this however the soldiers catch them in the brush and are quick to detain them and all the local police. Shane's Father Dutch and his partner Petrina arrive to collect the kids and warn them not to wonder this deep into the woods again. Natalie is then taken home by Patrina along with Zoey.
Natalie is mentioned by Gavin and Zoey while they are both gaming with Shane one day. The two of them have already begun to date but not told the others as of yet but they also tell Shane that Natalie seems to be attracted to him and he should think about going out with her. While Shane is not against the idea his focus is quickly shifted when his father is infected by Wanda and their affair is exposed soon after. Despite this Shane eventually joins Natalie on a trip to the beach where she consoles him about the situation with his father and revelation his mother has already moved on with a new family. Natalie tries to cheer him up and begins to get a bit provocative with him. This eventually leads to the two admitting their feelings for the other and they kiss. Not too long after this however both Natalie and Shane hear commotion from around the coastline of the island and go to investigate. There they find a military port shipping the red barrels off the island. Natalie begins to take pictures hoping to expose the governments activities and write them up in a story. As they watch, another ghost appears known as the Queen who attacks the soldiers and spills the red water all over them infecting them with the virus. Shane then spots one barrel has begun to roll into the ocean but he runs out to stop it fearing it would infect the water, the people on the beach, and or even the mainland if it floated far enough. Natalie calls out to him but its too late as he's already caught the barrel but gotten infected from the fluid leaking from it. Natalie then runs down to join Shane as he is quickly loosing muscles as he transforms. Natalie helps Shane (now Sandra) push the barrel back up to the dock and apologizes for her getting infected. Sandra however is happy she was able to stop the barrel in time. Sandra asks Natalie if she's still attracted to her as a woman now but Natalie is quick to embrace her saying she's still very interested in the new her. Following their struggle on the pier, Natalie and Sandra find the Harlequin who had attempted to stop the Queen but got her head cut off in the process. The two girls take her head and body to the southern marshes per her request where they meet the Nurse ghost and learn more about them by speaking with the two of them. Natalie takes note and snaps a couple pictures fascinated by speaking with real ghosts. Both the Nurse and Harlequin then suggests that the Quad could help them find out where they came from and and possibly find the origins of the virus. While they are a bit hesitant both Natalie and Sandra agree to hear the ghosts out on their plan to help them reach the bottom of the red lake and find the origins of the virus.
Months Later Natalie returns to school with the others and pesters Zoey about joining their plan to find out where the virus came from but Zoey says she still wants to think it over. Soon after however Bridget and Frank appear again and due to the effects of the Harlequin giving them both a curse they have become rather obese over the summer. As the three girls squabble with them they reveal the fact that Zoey and Gavin are dating much to the others shock but their squabbling is short lived as both Frank and Bridget are now the object of everyone's ridicule due to their weight and were warned they were on thin ice by the principal due to their past misdeeds. Natalie then continues to pressure Zoey for a bit longer until class starts. During class Zoey at last agrees to help them with their plan and Natalie thanks her for her help. Soon after the principal arrives and introduced Mayor Westbrook who has arrived to offer some praise to Sandra and Natalie for their exposing the military's operations and preventing the mainland from being infected. He then says how he has planned a festival to commemorate the one year anniversary of the out break first beginning to bring some light to the community and wants to award both of the girls during the main event. Natalie and Sandra are quick to accept and Natalie is happy her writing has provided results for once.
A few weeks later Natalie and the others sneak out one night to put their plan into motion. They meet with the ghosts in the forest and after their plan is explained, Natalie, Sandra, and Zoey use the shield ruins the ghosts gifted them to travel to he bottom of the red lake and sneak past the military. Once at the bottom they find a cave where the red water flows from. After they find and get the help of another ghost known as The Girl they ride her conjured horse construct through the cave until they come to a large chamber filled with strange red orbs they believe are the source of the virus. They explore the cave and then find the opening in the wall to a large chamber filled with fractured blue crystals. Natalie tells Zoey to collect them while she joins Sandra in exploring out to the surface. There they find they are on an island and likely miles from Cinder Isle. While looking around Natalie and Sandra discuss the issue that if they do find a cure to the virus then they would both likely go back to being straight men. Despite the feelings they have both formed for each other they wonder what path would be best to take if they wanted to stay together. Soon after Zoey arrives with the collected crystal and they all agree to head back to the island. Once they arrive and explain their findings Natalie goes to look over her pictures again after they give Gavin the crystals hoping he can reassemble them with the help of the Nurse ghosts.
A few days later Natalie and Sandra attend the Festival celebrating the one year anniversary of the outbreak and are brought to the center stage in the park to be awarded for their efforts earlier but as they are given their medals the parks sprinkler system goes off due to an attempted revenge by Frank and Bridgett to infect everyone else on the island. Natalie and Sandra remain dry due to being on stage but the Mayor is exposed and quickly becomes a young busty woman. The girls then go out into the crowd where they find Gavin and Zoey and are upset to see Gavin has gotten wet with the infected water. However after a moment the three girls see that there are no other men left in the crowd and Gavin hasn't even begun to sniffle suggest he may be immune to the virus. While Gavin is shocked at the idea the quad sees Bridget and Frank (now Francine) being loaded into a cop car being arrested for bioterrorism. Natalie insists they go over so she can get the scoop for a story. As the group goes over asking questions the Mayor spots Gavin and how he hasn't changed yet calling an ambulance to get him to the hospital to be examined saying how if he is immune it may be vital to creating a vaccine for the virus. Natalie and the others follow behind and join Gavin in the hospital where they meet with the Mayor and the recently infected General Windham who announce Gavin is indeed immune but is also very likely the last man left on the island now that the water supply has been contaminated.
A few days later Natalie returns to school and talks with the other girls confirming that the rumors were true and Gavin is the only man left on the island. As they talk Zoey mentions how the two of them still haven't gone all the way due to Gavin being stressed out about his situation but Natalie tells her about how she and Sandra took the leap. Natalie had bought a sexy nighty to change into and surprise Sandra one night and the two finally slept together in a rather passionate night. Zoey considers what she said and thinks how she may help Gavin destress and go all the way on her own.
About a week later Gavin and Zoey have just reassembled the blue crystals enough that its begun to speak and its revealed to be a Blue fox statue named Alistair Huntington. Natalie comes over along with Sandra after the others called them and they all explain what has occurred to Alistair who tells them about where the virus came from and how if he is reconstructed fully he can undo it all. At first he says he can cure everyone and erase all memory of it from the past year but the group says he can't just erase it all due to everything that's happened since the outbreak. Natalie suggests that they arrange to have a question added to the upcoming election ballots about changing back or not so they can find out if each citizen on the island wants to stay the way they are. Alistair agrees so long as they can pull it off without exposing him to anyone else. Days later however Natalie announces that the Mayor refuses to add their question to the ballot unless she first speaks with Gavin in person. While he is hesitant Gavin agrees to speak with her knowing that they need to get the question added. He and Zoey then question Natalie and Sandra on what their choice will be when the time comes around to change back or not but both girls say they want to think it over a bit more. Natalie then questions Gavin and Zoey on their choice and point out how they've picked up on the fact Gavin wishes to be a girl and plans to ask Alistair to change him into one and then cure Zoey back to Zack. Both Natalie and Sandra are supportive and hope to have their minds made up soon as well.
Weeks later Natalie travels with Sandra to the Marshlands again to see the Ghosts one last time before Alistair uses his restored power to send them all to the after life. He does his best to explain exactly what the ghosts are and while Natalie is fascinated she is also sad to see her friends go. Both she and Sandra bid all the ghosts goodbye save for the Nurse who plans to stay behind long enough to finish helping Gavin put Alistair back together.
On Halloween Natalie and Sandra meet up with Gavin and Zoey to go to a party in a group costume. When they find them on the streets however they are shocked to find Alistair has had a trial run with them and has transformed Zoey back into Zack and removed Gavin's inherited Gender Curse and made him into her true self, Gaela. Both Natalie and Sandra say they are still deciding on changing back or not but are fairly confident what they want to do. They all then head to the party together hoping to have a fun night.
Another few weeks later Natalie is working the election polls along with Sandra and marking off the names of people who have elected to stay transformed given he chance and is discreetly collecting the names for Alistair. As the night winds down Natalie shares a few names of people the quad all know and what their decisions were when suddenly they all hear a roar coming from the underwood forest. Fearing that it is the Abomination that Alistair had planned to confront that night Natalie, Sandra and Zack race to the red lake where they find Gaela, Alistair and the Nurse having successfully destroyed the abomination and sent the soldiers away cured and memory altered. With the Red Lake purified and the monster defeated Alistair sends the nurse to the afterlife as she bids farewell to the quad. Natalie then presents him with the election results to go over as he readies himself for the spell to cure the island and rewrite everyone's memories (save for the Quad). Gaela and Zack then question Natalie and Sandra one last time on their decision and Natalie announces that she has chosen to remain a woman so she and Shane can stay together. While Zack is a bit shocked Gaela is more understanding and sees Natalie has come to enjoy the benefits of being a woman a bit more than Sandra has. Alistair then transforms Sandra back into Shane and he and Natalie are quick to embrace and kiss. After Alistair finishes reading the election results he speaks to Natalie and gives her a special bracelet that will act as her wild card if she ever changes her mind saying it will change her back to Nathan if she ever wants that but if she ever becomes pregnant the bracelet will loose its power and she'll no longer have that option. Natalie accepts the bracelet but is confident she won't be wearing it until she becomes a mother one day. Alistair then addresses the quad and tells them the truth of how all this happened. He explains he committed suicide and blew himself up but the resulting explosion and earthquake caused the cave system to form and the curse fluid to flow to Cinder isle causing the virus. They all question him on his suicide but after explaining his own emotional pain they understand. They all say how he is welcome to come visit them from time to time so he will no longer feel so lonely and Alistair gladly accepts. Natalie and Shane embrace one last time before Alistair begins his spell and in a flash of light they all black out.
The Next morning Natalie find the rest of the group at the Houlton's and announces how Alistair cured her dad and made it so the rest of her family moved to Cinder isle last year so she is now free to live on the island with the rest of them and be with Shane. Both she and Shane then head to school a bit early hoping to get some extra work done and begin to live their new normal lives together.
=== Cinder Isle: The Cure ===
In a non-canon alternate telling of Cinder Isle, Natalie's exact arrival on the island are not shown but implied to have occurred under a similar circumstances. However it is unclear how she becomes infected as in this variation Zoey strangely maintains her male genitals after her infection thus would not have been able to leak sexual fluids onto Nathan to infect him. Despite this its shown that by the time the Quad goes on their trip to the Ski lodge Natalie has again already been infected and become a girl.
At the cabin one night Natalie joins the others in a game of table top Age of Adventure but they are forced to stop when it gets very late. Natalie then walks back to the cabin with Zoey and goes to sleep. A short time later however, she is stirred awake by hearing moaning. She turns over on her air mattress to see Zoey is masturbating hopping it will help her sleep but Natalie enjoys watching and begins to finger herself as well. She reaches climax about the same time Zoey does but turns over in bed again too embarrassed to be found noticed by Zoey. The next morning Natalie finds Zoey marching off upset outside the cabin and goes over to ask her what's wrong. Zoey explains how she finally worked up the courage to flirt with Gavin but he didn't seem to pick up on it and rejected her forthcomings. Natalie is surprised and suggests they have a breakfast of ice cream sundaes to cheer her up. They then go to the cabin and each have their ice crème while talking. As things progress however Natalie admits she finds Zoey attractive and they both quickly move into having sex with each other overcome by their own hormones. They both have sex and Zoey climaxes inside of Natalie. While at first Natalie is worried but says she's already started taking birth control. That turns out to not be a concern however as Natalie suddenly begins to transform again and within a moment becomes Nathan once more. Shocked at the realization Nathan concludes the only explanation is that somehow Zoey coming inside of him/her must have somehow revered the effects of the virus revealing she is somehow the cure.
=== Awakening ===
Over twenty years after the events of Cinder Isle Natalie and Shane eventually got married and had two kids named Henry and Sophia showing that she elected never to use the bracelet Alistair gave her and fully embraced being a woman for the rest of her life. One weekend she and Shane look after their niece Jackie and Nephew Ricky; the children of Gaela and Zack who have also gotten married. Over the weekend she takes the kids to see her office as an investigative Journalist which Ricky finds interesting. On the day they were meant to bring the Houlton kids back home they got a call from Gaela and Zack who informed them that Alistair had returned and turned himself human. But on top of that he and his allies, the Sapphire Legion, needed to stay with them for a few days after they were defeated by Sylvana and Alistair's Island destroyed. While Natalie and Shane both understood the importance and agreed to watch the kids a few more days they were also concerned when the Houlton's told them about the curse spreading again similar to the T1-G1 Virus when they were younger.
A while after the legion had taken refuge in the Houlton's house Natalie arrived with the rest of the family and discreetly thanked, he others for giving them the heads up about Alistair. After the kids had a brief catch up with their parents who announced how they need to stay with the Gardners a few more days Natalie and Shane both had their brief reunion with Zack and Gaela and the whole Quad finally greeting Alistair as flesh and blood for the first time with Natalie saying she never thought she'd see the day.