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Post by Jack Flynn on Oct 10, 2011 22:29:42 GMT -5
Jack let Ashley take over, as she explained how the Yeerks had taken over other alien species. She also mentioned The One, a being they still didn't know much about. Though they knew what he was doing and had an idea of what he was capable of. It was enough to be considered a major threat. Rue seemed to take the news....well better than how people normally would react to being told about a hostile alien race. She also asked about Kyle and offered help, but she didn't sound very confident about it. He didn't want to force her to do anything if she didn't want to.
"We're still waiting to get a signal from Kyle's earpiece," he explained. "Once we do, we'll know exactly where he is," He paused for a moment before he continued. "We would appreciate the help, but you don't have to put yourself in danger for our sake. We can drop you back off at your home if you want instead. It is a bit of a risk though, anyone you know can be a controller. Anyone." He looked over at Ashley, wondering what she thought. He felt like Rue had what it took to join them, but he didn't want to force it on her. He looked back over to Rue. "Its your call. We aren't going to force you to help," He kind of hoped she would, they could use any help anyone had to offer, but ultimately it was up to Rue to decide if she wanted to be a part of this.
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Post by Ashley Bennett on Oct 11, 2011 20:18:35 GMT -5
Ashley listened as Rue tried to sum up everything they'd said. Clearly it had been a surprise to her. Then again, Ashley couldn’t blame her. It had been something of a shock to her when she’d first found out about all of it too. All this stuff was straight out of a science fiction novel, the sort of thing you grew up being told wasn’t real. Maybe that was what had made things so easy for the yeerks the first time – part of it anyways - people wouldn’t have believed anyone who had told them about what was going on anyways.
Rue then offered to help them out, which a part of Ashley was grateful for. She didn’t want the girl to feel forced into this, though. Maybe she didn’t feel like she had much choice, but she did. She could go home, she’d just need to know to be extra careful, probably walk around armed, and trusting anyone too much was a risk that wasn’t affordable. Still, it was life. It was a life that didn’t end with her morphing and fighting. She could join them, but only if she really wanted to. Noticing the glance that Jack threw her, she echoed what he’d said. “Yeah. We’d be more than happy to have you join the team, but only if you’re sure it’s what you want. I mean… I’d love the help saving my brother…”
Woops… she hadn’t meant to say that. Ashley stopped talking, bit her lip, and then looked down at her feet. Her blond hair obscured her face some. Maybe if she’d kept going the girl wouldn’t have noticed, but Ashley couldn’t change that now. Rue knew, the cat was out of the bag now.
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Post by Rue Fraser on Oct 12, 2011 17:28:13 GMT -5
My mind's made up. --
She could go home. That option was available. Part of Rue did want to help, but the other part just wanted to let the Animorphs handle this and stay at home. She wanted to go back to work and do whatever from there. But, Jack had to say something that might change her mind. Anyone she knew could be a Controller. Any person she worked with, or came into contact at all. Period. Now that she knew what the Yeerks and Controllers were, she couldn't live in ignorant bliss anymore. What happened today could easily happen again.
And that just wasn't going to happen.
Ashley then also said something that helped change her mind. Kyle wasn't just another Animorph, but her brother. Rue wasn't completely self-centered. She could understand where Ashley was coming from, and how important it was to get her brother back. Now, she felt hesitant about wanting to go home. She didn't want to leave these two hanging, especially with what she knew now. And, she didn't feel safe going back home because of the Controllers. But, she didn't know what being an Animorph would mean, what she would be doing.
Anything was better than possibly becoming a Controller though. Not only that, but her life was pretty boring. Work, and then home-- what fun was that? Her mind was made up now. "I won't leave you guys hanging," she said, "Especially since you saved my butt. Just tell me what you need me to do." [/font]
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Post by Jack Flynn on Oct 12, 2011 20:22:20 GMT -5
Jack listened as Ashley also confirmed that they wouldn't force Rue into helping. She also at this point mentioned the fact that Kyle was her brother, which Jack just realized they had neglected to mention at this point. He didn't have to wait too long for Rue's answer, she was going to help them out. She asked what she could do and Jack thought about it for a moment. They didn't really have a whole lot of time to help her get used to morphing or anything, but they would have to do the best they could.
He turned over to Ashley. "You want to go ahead and get her set up the best you can? It'll have to be a crash course, give her a bird and something powerful and we can go from there," he told her. He would normally want to help new recruits get used to morphing, but he figured this way Ashley could keep her mind busy while they waited for Kyle's signal. "I'll make sure to let you know the minute something happens," He didn't mind being the one keeping an eye on things. That in itself would help keep himself preoccupied.
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Post by Ashley Bennett on Oct 13, 2011 15:35:14 GMT -5
Ashley felt a little like she was unintentionally guilting Rue into helping them. She hadn’t actually meant to say Kyle was her brother, but she was so used to not watching her words and interchangeably calling him by his name or their relationship. Maybe it hadn’t made that big a difference, though. Rue had seemed like she was considering the idea pretty strongly even before the two leaders had tried to make it clear that this wasn’t her only option. Maybe Ashley mentioning that hadn’t been that much of a push towards helping them, and Rue would have come to the same answer either way. Whatever the case, she was volunteering herself as a new recruit.
Jack spoke up next, asking Ashley to set Rue up with the power to morph and a couple morphs to start with. What he listed wasn’t everything that they usually gave new members, but they were short on time and Rue could get more morphs later. Also there was the fact that she would get a condensed, crash course in morphing. Probably with the bird morph, because Ashley didn’t want to run any risks of a more powerful morph getting out of control on Rue. Jack even promised to let her – to let both of them - know when they knew anything about Kyle’s location.
She knew why he was doing this. It was kind of obvious to her that Jack was trying to keep her occupied and keep her not thinking about Kyle. Then again, she was kind of grateful for that. She nodded and turned to Rue. “You ready?” She asked. “We’re going to need to take a little trip after I give you the power to morph. Morphs we still have to acquire the old-fashioned way, by actually touching the animal. We have a reserve on earth, which we’re actually hovering over now, so it’ll be a very short trip.”
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Post by Rue Fraser on Oct 15, 2011 12:06:30 GMT -5
Yeah, I should have thought of that earlier. --
Oh yeah, Animorphs were people that were able to turn into animals. Rue remembered that now. Wait, did morphing hurt? It wasn't like changing into a new outfit or something. You were changing your entire body-- your bones, your muscles, and even your brain when you thought about it. She probably should have thought about that before saying yes, but of course that thought didn't even cross her mind at the time. It was too late now though. She could ask Ashley if it hurt or not.
Before she knew it, Ashley was asking if she was ready. Nervously, she answered, "Yeah. I'm ready," as she followed after the blond. Then, she decided to add to that. "Does morphing hurt at all?" It seemed like a silly question to ask, but she wanted to know. It didn't mean that she wouldn't do it, though the idea of morphing into another animal was scary enough. Maybe she'd ask if that was normal too. "And were you scared when you were given the power to morph? This all just seems sort of scary." [/font]
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Post by Ashley Bennett on Oct 15, 2011 15:22:28 GMT -5
Ashley smiled as Rue asked her questions. It wasn't a condescending smile. Not the queen bitch smile she'd used to wear when she'd heard a piece of gossip that would destroy someone. This was a kind smile. This was one that was warm and sincere, showing how much she wanted to help Rue. They were walking, on their way to the Docking Bay to borrow one of the bug fighters so they could head down to earth. Of course, they’d be making a stop in what Ashley referred to as the War Room. This was different than the meeting room. The War Room was like a large gymnasium type room with padded walls and floors. It was meant for practicing with morphs, particularly ones that were small enough to fit in the ship. Some of the really big morphs just didn’t work, but that was the way things were. It was also where they were currently storing the cube, in a locked room off of the War Room. The room currently had a palm print lock, and Eric had reprogrammed it to open when any of the three leaders touched the palm pad.
As they walked Ashley began to answer Rue’s questions. “It’s normal to be scared. I know I was when Cassie recruited us.” She paused. “I’ll admit, the three of us – Jack, Kyle, and myself – knew we were Cassie’s first recruits and that we’d have an added weight on our shoulders. But I don’t think that negates your fear in any way. Morphing, getting involved in this mess, isn’t a decision to take lightly, and decisions of great consequence can seem frightening.” She paused looking for a moment to be sure she hadn’t passed their destination. “And no, morphing doesn’t hurt. It definitely sounds weird, because even when watching someone else you can hear things moving around. It looks weird whether you’re watching yourself or someone else too. It doesn’t hurt, though. Certainly you can somewhat feel things moving, or when you sprout fur or feathers it can itch a little, but it’s not painful. I don’t know how that works, but I don’t really question it. I’m just grateful it is the way it is.”
She stopped now, turning to a door she proceeded to open. She stepped aside and gestured into the large room. “Welcome to the War Room. This place is meant for training to use morphs. We only ask you not morph anything too big to fit inside it. Obviously if we’re in space and you do that… we kind of have issues.” She started into the room, heading to a door on the right wall. “The Morphing cube is this way. And obviously you need the power to morph before we take you down to get the morphs.”
((OOC: War Room is not currently – as of me posting this - an existing board. XD I’m going to add it because I realized it would be nice to have such a place.))
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Post by Rue Fraser on Oct 15, 2011 17:52:02 GMT -5
Right, not scary at all. Probably just weird looking. --
Making the decision to become an Animorph wasn't just a decision to have morphing powers or even just help out the current Animorphs. It was about getting iinvolved in a bigger mess, something Rue had never really done all of her life. Sure, she was good at causing her own trouble here and there, but this was on a much grander stage. They were going to fight more Yeerks, and other things that were possibly bigger than the Yeerks. Were they the only ones fighting too? If so, that was... that was just a lot of pressure. Maybe she should have given it more thought.
Pfft, more thought. She could rise to this challenge no matter what. She was still going to be scared though.
The one good thing was that morphing didn't hurt. She was so glad that Ashley told her that. She was a nice girl, and her smile from before emphasized that. But, watching someone morph... she was going to have to avoid doing that. She didn't want to hear all of the noises and gross sounds that were made as someone morphed. Just imagining it was enough. But at the very least, when she morphed into something, it wasn't going to hurt. She was going to be fine.
She was led into this big room called the "War Room". It had padded floors and walls, probably used in preparation for war-- or training with morphs actually. War though. That was really it wasn't it? "Okay," she said in reply, following Ashley. "Jack said I'm going to start with a bird morph, right?" [/font]
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Post by Ashley Bennett on Oct 16, 2011 14:13:35 GMT -5
Ashley nodded, speaking as she walked. “Yes, that’s right. You’re going to get a bird morph as the very first. We usually try to start with something simple. It might be a bird, a cat, a dog… in general a small animal that doesn’t have a lot of potential for damage. It’s not because we want to disadvantage you, but because…” Well, there were a few reasons they told themselves, and one that Ashley always felt had played some part in the decision.
“Well, for one when we were trained to morph by Cassie, that’s how it worked. The reason she gave us, the reason we give others, is that when you morph you have both your mind and that of the animal. The animal’s instincts will try to take over at first, and it can hard to get yourself back under control. The more dangerous the animal, the harder it becomes to stay in control.” She paused before saying. “A smaller morph and generally domestic animals are less of a problem to get yourself back under control the first time.” She came to a stop in front of the locked door. “This isn’t to say that you want to be 100% in control of things. There are some things, like flying as a bird, that the animal knows how to do and you don’t. You have to kind of share control and find a balance. It’s easier to learn to balance the control between yourself and the animal with an animal where the instincts are less powerful.”
She hoped she wasn’t scaring Rue away, but she was trying to be honest here. She knew it was a lot to take in. At the same time, she didn’t feel right hiding anything from the girl. As she thought about this she put her hand against the recognition pad. The scanner activated and then the doors slid open on what was really just a closet. Or maybe it was really more of a safe.
“As it is, we technically aren’t supposed to have this. The escafil device, what gives people the power to morph, is supposed to be locked up and in the control of the government. Cassie stole it and recruited us.” She took the blue box off the shelf in there. “We try to keep it locked up so that we can technically say it’s somewhere safe where not just anyone can get at it.”
Now came the interesting part, the part that Ashley herself hadn’t understood when she’d gone through it herself. “To gain the ability to morph, all you have to do is touch this. It won’t seem like anything happened, though there might be a tingling sensation on your hand. Other than that, nothing will seem different.” But something would be different. You’d be able to morph. It might not feel like anything had changed, but Ashley knew herself that her life had basically been turned upside down after she’d touched that cube for the first time. “You can take your time, because essentially, up until you touch this you still have the chance to change your mind. If you need to think about things… this is your chance.”
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Post by Rue Fraser on Oct 18, 2011 19:47:39 GMT -5
What is there to go back to? Nothing. --
That... certainly made things more interesting, to put it lightly. When they morphed, they got the animal instincts as well as the human ones. That meant that if she got a bird morph, she would react like a bird would unless she controlled it, learned how to balance it and stuff. That's why she couldn't go get a lion right now or something, or she might hurt someone. Yeah, she didn't exactly want to go and do that. It was probably better to play it safe. Or... not get into this mess at all. She could turn back. She could still turn back. It was probably a better idea to turn back and start running to some random remote location where there were no Yeerks.
If such a place existed.
Ashley led her to what could be called a closet-safe-thing. Inside of this was a blue box, which was called the escafil device. This box, this little box thing, gave people the power to morph. All she had to do was touch that box and she would gain the power to morph. Rue's hands stayed at her sides as if they were pinned there as Ashley explained it further, and told her that now was the time to make the decision. It was... well, daunting. Once she had the power to morph, everything was going to change. It wasn't going to be about living the life she wanted anymore, the ideal life of going to theater school and becoming an actress. She'd probably never get to act again.
But, was there anything in that? Was there really anything to gain from turning back and trying to go after the life she wanted? No matter what, she couldn't in this world, not with what she knew. The Yeerks controlled things now, not people. She couldn't go into acting school and expect to be safe from Yeerks. She couldn't really just fool around anymore like she did for a lot of her life. Things couldn't work like that anymore.
That was why she slowly reached out her hand and put it on the box. She didn't feel anything except the box, which felt like a box would. Her hand didn't really feel any different from it. But, with that touch, she gained the power to morph. It scared her to see that it was so simple... and why the Yeerks couldn't have it. She moved her hand off of it, then attempted a weak smile. Yep, things were going to change now. [/font]
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Post by Ashley Bennett on Oct 21, 2011 11:56:50 GMT -5
Ashley wondered, and kind of worried, whether she might have scared Rue by saying some of the things she had. At the same time, some of them were things Ashley remembered learning on here own. It hadn't been because Cassie had neglected to tell them everything they were getting into. Some of the information Cassie hadn't even known, and some of it she just hadn't gotten a chance to tell them before she'd died. Ashley knew from experience that sometimes it was harder to learn these things when you were already neck deep in the war with no way out. Better to know it from the beginning, to truly know what you were getting yourself into. That was her opinion anyways. It might be different for Kyle or Jack, but neither of them was recruiting Rue.
Eventually Rue reached out and placed her hand on the box Ashley was holding out to her. There was a small smile on her face, and Ashley gave her a somewhat bigger one back as she set the escafil device back in the locked closet. “Welcome to the team, Rue.”
She shut the door again, and it was once again locked. “So, now we get you a couple of morphs, and we hope that by that point we’ll have heard from Kyle.” She let that hang there like just a general statement. When it came down to the rules of morphing, she’d explain that to Rue when they got to that point. Ashley knew, though, that if they hadn’t gotten a signal from Kyle by the time that she finished getting morphs for Rue it would be too late. He’d be stuck in morph and they wouldn’t be getting a signal from him now or ever.
Pushing that thought aside, she said. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask one of the other Animorphs on our team to accompany us to the animal reserve. Javier spends a lot of his free time keeping an eye on things down there, so I always like to get his help and opinion when getting new morphs.” She paused. “Is it ok with you if he joins us?”
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Post by Rue Fraser on Oct 22, 2011 16:48:47 GMT -5
Not the only ones, right? --
Welcome to the team. She was part of the Animorphs now. Rue felt a bit of excitement after hearing those words, but fear overrode that quickly. Things were about to get intense. She was going to get a couple of morphs and then hope that they heard back from Kyle. Oh yeah... she was going to be helping rescue Kyle from the Controllers who almost nabbed her earlier. He was okay, right? They couldn't have hurt him when they captured him... or worse. No, they needed him too. He was valuable to them. He was going to be okay.
After the escafil device was put back away and the door was once again locked, Ashley asked her another question. Someone named Javier was going to help them? Yeah, she was more than okay with that. "Oh yeah, definitely," she replied, keeping her smile, "Love to meet the rest of the team. Are there others too, or are you, Jack, Kyle and this Javier guy the only ones?" She asked this as she followed Ashley to their next destination. Were they actually the only Animorphs in the world left? Were there others fighting in the United States, in different countries? They couldn't be the only ones... they couldn't be. [/font]
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Post by Ashley Bennett on Oct 22, 2011 18:03:45 GMT -5
"Ok then. We'll go find Javier. He's probably in his room." Of course, along with saying that it was okay to get Javier's help, Rue asked her a kind of complicated question. Were there other Animorphs? Well... that took a little bit of explaining. Fortunately, they had a little ways to go. Enough time to get through the story.
"Well, to start with, yes, there are more members to the team. Javier is one of our Animorph recruits. There's also Joey, Samantha, and a few others we've picked up over our two years of this. Eric is part of the team too, even if he refuses to morph. I mean, without him we might never have gotten The Sanctuary, which is what we call this ship."
And then the longer part. "But there are others who can morph who aren't among our team, yes. Kyle, Jack, and I were in no way among the first to gain the ability to morph." The story began... realistically with the original Animorphs. "See, there's a history to this. Seven years ago the yeerks invaded one time. They were defeated after a three year fight by a team of five teenagers and an alien ally. Those five - Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco, and Tobias - were the first humans to ever have the ability to morph."
But they weren't the only ones. "During the war, the original Animorphs recruited other members, some of whom they gave the morphing ability to. Also, at one point they lost the escafil device they had to the yeerks. Several controllers got the ability to morph as well. When the war ended, those people didn't just lose that power. However, some of them were killed in the first war. Some of the ones who survived - those recruited by the Animorphs - had been handicapped teens. Their thinking had been that the yeerks would see those humans as defective and useless." And it had been correct... but they'd fought as Animorphs regardless of how useless they'd seemed.
"About three years after the war had ended, Jake had been given the task of training a government task force of Animorphs that were to be an anti-terrorist unit. So more people got the power to morph. Joey - officially he's Corporal Joseph Carter - was one of Jake's students and one of the first people we met who could morph prior to joining our team." She sighed. "But when The One invaded, many of the members of the task force were killed, absorbed, or captured. I think there are others still out there, but we haven't found them. At least those ones we figure are fighting, whether or not they're on our team. As for those who gained the ability as controllers... I kind of assume they're laying low. I can't really blame them for not wanting to be involved after the way things went for them in the first invasion."
Not a really positive situation. Many possible fighters, just not a lot doing the fighting. "As for the original Animorphs... I wish they could help. Rachel died in the first war. Ax -their alien ally - was captured by a being we've learned was The One. We assume he was absorbed into The One. Jake, Marco, and Tobias went to try and save Ax. They haven't been heard from since. Cassie was the last one left when The One invaded. She recruited Jack, Kyle, and myself." And not even she was around anymore. "She died shortly after recruiting us, tracked down and killed by The One's yeerk servants. She hadn't recruited anyone besides Jack, my brother, and me, so we kind of ended up as the new leaders by default."
It was kind of depressing, but it wasn't hopeless. "But you don't have to be an Animorph to fight back. There are those, like Eric, who can't morph - some who refuse to morph - but are still fighting back. There are groups of Human Resistance fighters all over. We've never run into any, but they exist. A part of me thinks they don't trust us, and they're hiding from us." Regardless, they were allies. "Hopefully that answers your question. Essentially, we have a decent dozen or so fighters on our team and there are more out there. We're not a united front, but that might come with time."
She stopped in front of a door and knocked on it. "Javier? Are you in there? I have a new recruit and we'd like some help picking out morphs." If he was, that should definitely get his interest. "Not that I need to explain, but this is Javier's room. And if he's in, you'll soon be meeting Javier."
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Post by Javier Delgado on Oct 22, 2011 19:32:42 GMT -5
A rapping on his door roused Javier from his nap. "Javier?" he heard Ashley's voice say. "Are you in there? I have a new recruit and we'd like some help picking out morphs." Javier cracked open his eyes then lifted his head. A piece of paper from his desk stuck to his cheek where a drool puddle had formed.
"Yeah, I'll be right there," he said, then stretched and pulled the paper off his face. Did she say they had a new guy? Who needed morphs? Well, that was certainly one of his specialties. Javier stood up and kicked piles of dirty clothes out of his way as he made his way to the door.
The door to his room slid open and he leaned against the frame. He looked from Ashley to the new guy, then back to Ashley. The new guy was a girl. "Ladies," he said, trying to sound like a gentleman. "I would be happy to assist in your morph selections." He bowed his head slightly, which caused him to notice a pizza sauce stain on his shirt. He scratched at it briefly, then snapped his head back up and smiled at the ladies, pretending the stain wasn't there at all. "How about we go see about those animals."
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Post by Rue Fraser on Oct 24, 2011 19:43:23 GMT -5
How many people are going to die in this fight then? Will I? Hell no, I'm not gonna let that happen. Music --
Oh good, she wasn't the first new recruit the Animorphs had ever gotten. That Eric guy that Jack was talking to earlier was part of the team. Then there were those other people that Ashley mentioned. Was it bad she already forgot their names? Probably. She'd learn them again sooner or later anyway. Memorizing names was never her thing. Either way, there were more people that were with the Animorphs than she thought. She wasn't the only one who made the decision to go with them and fight.
Mom would be so proud. Her daughter was doing something unselfish for once.
There was more to the story though, more about the Animorphs that she didn't know. Ashley, Jake, and Kyle weren't the first ever Animorphs to exist. Everything started out seven years ago with five people and an alien. They were the first to ever morph and fight against the Yeerks. They recruited other people who could morph too, and even some Controllers got that power because they lost the escafil device. Rue could almost picture how that could have gone down. People morphing against each other... not good. Really not good.
After the big war with the Yeerks ended, one of the original Animorphs trained people to be part of this anti-terrorist group. But, and this was where Rue could hear her heart beating in her ears, most of them died when the One invaded. Joey, the one on their team, didn't die, but a lot of the others did. Some of the original Animorphs died too, even the one that recruited the three of them. Wow just... God that was so depressing. Way too depressing. Was this really what the world was like now? Depressing and full of death and aliens trying to take over? Dear God and she volunteered for this... no turning back now. Not at all. She was going to do this.
In the end, there were more Animorphs. Some were in hiding. Some weren't. They weren't united, but they might be someday. All in all, it was a sort of sad situation, or at least Rue thought so.
They got to what's his face's room-- oh right, Javier-- and knocked on the door. He seemed sort of nice when he was answering the door, smiling and stuff... was that a pizza stain on his shirt? Eww, sort of gross. Eh, whatever. He was going to help them. Besides, that stain might have just gotten there recently or something... actually never mind it didn't look like that. She wasn't going to think about that now. Instead, she returned the smile, and said, with some good enthusiasm to help get her mind off the depressing stuff, "How 'bout we? Lead the way." [/font]
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