(This post brought to you by The Omnific)<Run!> was the mouthless alien's final instruction, somehow appearing directly in the heads of the motley group, impossible to confuse for their own thoughts. As the enemy troops bear down on them, the newly drafted defenders of Earth consider their very first actions of this war...
Retreat, but think of a way to draw out just one of the enemy such that it may be Acquired. And then either executed or trapped for three days.
Red-haired
Sophia is the first out of the gate, realizing quickly that the alienness of the enemy doesn't preclude them from being acquired and morphed like any other animal. As she backs away from her hiding spot, [
6+
Ruthless Strategist prevents overshoot] she is able to take advantage of her smaller size and lure a seven foot tall Hork-Bajir into a small shed where it is briefly hampered in mobility. With shaking hands she reaches out and touches the leathery skin of the saurian monster, and it very quickly enters a trance-like state as its cells are scanned by the Andalite morphing technology.
Sophia has acquired a Hork-Bajir morph.turn into mole. find dirt. dig as deep down as possible.
The abnormally normal
Fred, by contrast, decides to experiment with the new ability in a different way. He remembers holding a mole in his hands on a field trip three years ago, and concentrates on that memory, but unfortunately nothing happens. It seems that
one can only morph a creature they have acquired using the morphing technology.
[
4] Fred is still and quiet in the attempt, and the sharp senses of the patrolling aliens have not yet located him.
RUN! But also remember the face of your new enemy’s, so that you may burn it into your mind and never forget. The Yeerk… what a despicable species.
Chris is next to act. The muscular jock is quick to direct his anger towards the Yeerks, but pushes down his first instinct to attack and decides to follow the warrior's orders instead. [
2] He starts running, but quickly draws the attention of a nearby Taxxon. [Taxxon:
2] The giant centipede creature moves to follow, but as Chris's escape route turns out to be through an under-construction maze of half-built walls and rebar, both end up spending more time trying to navigate the terrain than running or chasing.
Get the fuck out of there. Tag along with Sophia if reasonable, but don't stick around if she does. Insist that the aliens have fucking laser guns, and were probably prepared to fight trained andalite soldiers, so we should REALLY just be fleeing. :<
After just a moment's consideration
Isabella chases after Sophia, who despite the similar age looks as though their life circumstances could not have been any more different. After watching Sophia duck into a maintenance shed, lure an alien raptor in after her, and somehow emerge unscathed, Isabella helps her shut and lock the shed door, trapping the Hork-Bajir controller. For the moment.
Follow orders and beat a hasty retreat.
Zack takes a cue from Chris and decides to run as well. [
2+
1 Aerial Ace] Unfortunately the dash catches the attention of an apparent human, who is not quite able to catch up even despite Chris's geek physique, and quickly decides to instead draw some sort of alien ray gun from under his unremarkable civilian clothing.
Since we have to touch things after receiving morphing abilities (I assume we'd know that), just get away as stealthily as possible. Only run if caught, otherwise just stay behind things/in shadows and get away.
Seeing the varying degrees of success the others are having, and making a calculated assumption about the capabilities of his new ability, the bespectacled
Henrik takes a moment to analyze his best course of action. [
4] He is able to path an optimal route between patrolling humans and aliens and the others who are trying to escape in their own ways, and successfully evades detection as he reaches the outer edge of the construction site.
ChrisStatus: Alive
Form: Human
Acquired: None
Name: Chris Jackson
Background: A popular jock kid, Chris has serious anger issues he channels into football and boxing. Often makes bad decisions due to being bullheaded and stubborn. Has a strong hatred for the name Crayak.
Description: Generic popular jock, blond hair albeit with uncommon red eyes and very muscular.
Trait: Born Warrior
IsabellaStatus: Alive
Form: Human
Acquired: None
Name: Isabella Lori
Background: Isabella is sixteen, and the only child of a wealthy diplomat, who is currently abroad with his wife until the end of the year. She was left home at her request, ostensibly so her school schedule wouldn't be interrupted--but really because she dislikes traveling, especially after a particularly bad experience from the last time her father took her abroad. This has left her largely unsupervised (although her worrywart mother still calls her several times a week just to ask how she's doing), which she hopes will let her actually make and maintain lasting friendships. She lives with two dogs named Ko and Alyona, and a three-legged cat named Tripod, all rescues.
Description: Isabella is tall and tends to wear very formal clothes, mimicking her professionally-minded parents. She keeps her sandy blonde hair in a ponytail, and tends to look serious... though internally she's rather anxious, especially around people her own age. She tends to act more mature than one would expect of a sixteen year old, but again it's a behavior born from mimicking her parents rather than anything natural; Isabella doesn't really know what acting natural even is. Despite her family's wealth, she wears little adornment, aside from a fancy medallion with a sparkling blue sapphire set into it--a gift from her father, bought for her while abroad a couple years ago.
Trait: Morph Dancer
SophiaStatus: Alive
Form: Human
Acquired: Hork-Bajir
Name: Sophia Astos
Background: Sophia was born as slave, never knew her parents, and has seen the deaths of other kids she considered family. When she saw a chance to escape on her own, she took it. Having had a hard life, she sees no problem with focusing on killing as many evil brainslugs as possible.
Description: A fairly destitute-looking homeless 15 year old, though she doesn't seem unhappy about her situation, just happy to be free. Distrustful of others and swift to violence, though not un-altruistic. Rust-red hair and eyes. Also, illiterate and uneducated as you might expect.
Trait: Ruthless Strategist
HenrikStatus: Alive
Form: Human
Acquired: None
Name: Henrik Gregorio
Background: Henrik has always loved to take things apart and see how they work. His family liked to call him a genius - he'd take apart anything. Math equations, the themes of a book, how a computer program works. The occasional animal. He's not a bad person, exactly. He doesn't seem to understand that there's a difference between a living thing and a complicated machine. In his view, there isn't one.
Description: Light blue eyes, messy blonde hair with a dyed blue streak, just under 5'10" (178 cm). He tends to dress in fairly plain or functional clothes, almost always in some shade of gray or blue. He never seems to take off these little reading spectacles, no matter where he goes.
Trait: Tech Savvy
FredStatus: Alive
Form: Human
Acquired: None
Name: Fred Freddie
Background: stunningly normal life.
Description: overwhelmingly average
Trait: Morph Dancer
ZackStatus: Alive
Form: Human
Acquired: None
Name: Zack Olos
Background: Intelligent, but somewhat lazy, Zack is always more interested in having fun than doing his best work. Overall, he's a fairly ordinary kid mostly interested in having fun and sliding through life.. this is a point of view encouraged by his hardworking parents and older brother, who work long hours and take home honor student accolades, respectively.
Zach has mostly interested in a string of brief, but dropped hobbies.. science, writing, art, a dozen more.. but mostly of late he's been exploring his hometown, poking around for secrets.
Description: Medium height and a bit on the wimpy side. Wears T-shirts, polo shirts, and jeans, just easy-to-wear and simple clothes. Except for a pair of skateboarding shoes.
Trait: Aerial Ace