(This post brought to you by Meshuggah)As the controllers of various species assemble into rough formation in the center of the construction site, a cold voice cuts bluntly through the thoughts of everybody present. The very same voice as the one heard from the Andalite-controller who killed Elfangor - Visser Three. <I trust you are all competent enough to handle human witnesses. I have business to attend to.> The door to the Blade Ship slides shut as it lifts into the air silently, and moments later it is out of sight in the darkening evening sky. Even the Yeerk forces look unnerved, one or two taking nervous glimpses up towards the sky.
Try to create a distraction! Maybe I can throw some of the rocks off to the side to give myself an opening, and sneak away? If not just start running while I still have a head start.
Pick up phone first either way.
Quickly retrieving the dropped phone, [
3+
1 Ruthless Stategist]
Bobby grabs a hefty chunk of concrete at the same time and tosses it off to one side, where it makes a loud clatter. The approaching footsteps pause, then move in that direction instead, giving Bobby the exact opening he needs to make it away quietly, joining Isabella at the edge of the construction site.
"Isabella, help me!"
Get outta there. Morph if I get hurt.
With the Hork-Bajir looming above her,
Sophia desperately attempts to crawl out from under it and get back to her feet. [
1] She ends up prone on the ground as the alien plants a foot on her back, piercing her back in three places with its clawed, raptor-like toes. In desperation and panic, Sophia fixates on the mental image of the creature above her, the very same one whose DNA she acquired not moments before...
[
6] The changes come on quickly. Her body stretches out to the seven foot tall frame and proportions of the Hork-Bajir body, followed by blades sprouting from her head and every joint, then along her newly-formed reptilian tail. There is no pain during the extreme physical changes, only the distant sensation of something...
wrong happening to her body. The rest of the transformation takes place quickly as the original stands back in a mixture of shock, horror and confusion. Sophia rises to her newly saurian feet, and the final piece of the morph falls into place - the instincts of the Hork-Bajir brain that Sophia is now inhabiting kick in, and she is overwhelmed. No incredible intellect, and a nature that is surprisingly peaceful, given the alien's fearsome appearance - there's another male! Of the same size and build, no less. Sophia lashes out with her elbow blades in a dominance display that her rival matches, beginning a deadly ritual dance.
Even before Sophia shouts for help, Isabella is already turning and grabbing a rock--which she promptly hurls towards the big alien pinning the girl.
"Hey, you big bastard! You... She's not even an Andalite, like me!"
Throw a rock at the hork-bajir pinning Sophia, and taunt it in an attempt to get it to let go and chase Isabella instead. Then turn and fucking run.
Isabella and the newly arrived Bobby witness Sophia's disturbing transformation and the subsequent knife fight the two Hork-Bajir get into. Keeping careful track of which is which, [
3] Isabella hucks a particularly large bit of gravel at it, striking the dinosaur in the side of the face. The distraction allows Sophia to get a hit in, a shallow cut to the left side of the chest which oozes a deep bluish-green, and Sophia bellows her triumph. The dominance display settled, both Hork-Bajir turn their attention towards Isabella and Bobby.
Chris looks around and tries to find any animals to morph into, not aliens. After he does this, he gets the hell out of dodge.
“Let’s meet up at our secret Andalite base (school) tomorrow! We need a game plan!”
Chris takes a quick look around for anything he can acquire, [
2] but the exertion and panic of the chase hamper his efforts, and he doesn't find anything. He runs off free and clear into the night after passing his plan on to Henrik and Zack.
Where is Chris heading now?I record their forms with my tech and then Run away. very fast
Flanked on the left and right by Taxxons,
Fred [
5+
Morph Dancer prevents overshoot] reaches out with his hands and touches them both, putting them into a trance as he absorbs their DNA into himself, instinctively mixing and matching so that the genetic template is not an identical copy of either one.
Fred has acquired a Taxxon morph.[
5] He then takes advantage of their lull to run to the edge of the construction site, dodging ray gun fire along the way and outrunning anybody inclined to chase, and joins up with Henrik and Zack.
Henrik shrugs. "Fair enough, no point exposing ourselves further."
Unless someone looks like they're in immediate danger, leave. Try to not get seen.
Unable to see what's going on with the other group,
Henrik takes a cue from Chris and leave as soon as it's clear that Fred is safe.
Where is Henrik heading now?Help provide a distraction. There should be something heavy to push over, or something to bang into a steel bar or something. Then move around the outside to remain clear.
Looking around,
Zack doesn't see any immediate problems - Chris and Henrik have ran off into the night and Fred is clear, but the other group is not visible from here. Zack skirts around the edge of the site and runs into Isabella and Bobby, with two Hork-Bajir bearing down on them. [
2] Failing to push over a squat concrete support onto them, he instead tosses a length of rebar at the advancing aliens, which hits one of their elbow blades and is shorn in two. The two halves clatter to the ground ineffectually.
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: Hork-Bajir (approx. 2 hours remaining)
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: Taxxon
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
BobbyStatus: Alive
Form: Human
Acquired: None
Name: Bobby Serafin
Background: Descendant of Jewish immigrants from Poland, he'd been raised sheltered, and was often spoiled by his doting grandmother. She used to tell him stories about the old country and why they had to flee, which made a lasting impression on him.
Description: Dark haired, light complexion, mix of Caucasian and Slavic in looks. 30 years old, thin and a bit of a shut-in. Too online, lost in life lacking a real purpose. Has a broad interest base and spends his time as a research associate for the failing history department at the local college.
Trait: Ruthless Strategist