Animorphs in an alterate universe.

[Quickest Hands ever]

   You wouldnt believe my story if I told it to you. My name is Cj, thats all you will get from me or my friends. I wish I could tell you more I really do, but if I did then they would find me. Who are they, why all the mystery you ask, well let me fill you in, Earth is being invaded. Thats right invaded by aliens, and theye are nothing like Hollywood has made them out to be. Picture a slug about 6 inches long and flat with feelers coming off its head and fin looking extremides for movement.Let me guess, your saying oh they cant be that bad, yeah well your wrong as hell. They take over your brain and then controll you or whoever they can. They get into your ear and crawl in and latch onto the back of your brain, at that point its game over.
   I didnt believe it either but while out on my own (this is where you all come in, with your own bit on how you came to get the powers if you didnt know) I all heard this voice in my head and out of it at the same time. It explained to me just what I did to you. It was an amazing event, though I heard it there was pictures in my head as well, almost like a stort was being told. He told me that I had been chosen to fight them, the others that he would choose later, and to fight them he would give us the ability to morph. Thats right morph, we can change into anything, that is alive, any animal that is as long as we touch it. Pretty cool huh, we thought so, there is a draw back, we can only morph for two hours at a time or we are stuck like that forever.
   That was  five years ago, when I was twenty two. In that year, many battles had been waged, though not always with the outcome in mind. I felt like a grizzled veteran, more so than the members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in which I was a member when I first heard the voice. If I told you that I didn't go to them for their stories to try and gleam some bit of advice on how to fight this covert war I would be lieing to you. They taught me more about guerrilla warfare than any book ever could. That advice along with the battles themselves have made me who I am. There are a few of us now, and as I was the first one to hear this voice in our small group they elected me their leader, something that though Im not sure I deserve at times I know it was always meant to happen.

[Gankhruun]

I sighed as I entered the animal park. More like a zoo really but these last couple of years had really changed my perspective on animals. You see, I can morph into any animal that I touched. Confused? Don't worry, you'll know soon. My name's Jayce but please call me Jay. Jayce makes me sound like one of those male teenagers whose parents gave them an effeminate name.

I took a turn after I had paid my entrance fee and noted one of the passing zoo keepers. I looked at his head and thought, 'Yeerk?'. Hmm, let me backtrack. I was chosen years ago by some omnipotent being that an invasion was happening. That's right, not like War of the Worlds though. The combatants weren't flying squid like machines but little slugs that could take control of a host body. That's their biggest weapon and right now the 'body' was us... humans. Total control and I wasn't sure if they could be beat but we were doing all we can. That's why I was here at the zoo. I was going to meet Cj to see how things were. I was part of the little group of Animorphs that had been rebelling the invasion all this time. Our leader, Cj had been doing it longer than I have though. I had only joined nearly a year ago but I had gone through so much with him as our leader, making all the life and death decisions but everything has worked out. I'm here and breathing and that was all that matters I think. Cj is not only our leader though, he's also one of my good friends even though he's old and wrinkly... kidding. But he's old enough to have a career while I was still jumbling maths and English in high school.

I took a left and headed towards the Reptile House where I'd gotten the message to meet him there.

[Quickest Hands ever]

I was standing outside the reptile house, checking my watch for what felt like the millionth time in two minutes. Jayce wasnt late, I was early I kept telling myself at least until I spotted him walking my way. Though he was younger than me by more than a few years I considered him to be one of my good friends, he had joined the war a year ago and had proved himself on more than one occasion. Today would be another step forward for him, it was going to be his first time acquiring a snake. The snake that he would acquire was up to him, I had a rattle snake myself, I was interested in what he would pick. As he came closer I shook his hand and led him into the employees area so that he could pick, but more importantly could do it without being seen. We had to do almost everything in secret  there was no telling who was a controller.

[Gankhruun]

I spotted CJ ahead and smiled, waving above my head to catch his attention

"Hey! Sup CJ?" I asked, my face brightening at seeing a familiar face.

Usually my face was blank or as if my parents have died and I'd fallen into a dark depression but I'm not's not that. It was hard sometimes, trying to be genuinely nice and kind to random strangers when you might be thinking you're being nice to a slug like species intending to doom all of mankind. But maybe you would say they're also human? I get that, I know but I can't get past the fact that there might be a slug in their heads.

I didn't actually know why CJ had called for me here but when it was the Reptile House I was beginning to get the heebie jeebies. I hoped CJ wasn't going to do what I was starting to think he was but my smile didn't lessen. Sometimes keeping a strong face was way better than looking fearful or worried.

[Quickest Hands ever]

"Whats going on Jayce, school go ok," I asked as we walked in, I could tell he was nervous but he was braving it out. "Listen I hate to do this but we need another reptile morph, whether you want it to be a snake or what its up to you. We need the low body heat. The Yeerks are getting smarter with how they hunt us down when we are spying on them."

[Gankhruun]

"Well as you've probably been hearing me complain all the time..." I inhaled, preparing myself for what I was going to say next, "School is boring, my English teacher has it in for me, I'm failing maths, the cafeteria food tastes like it was blended with cardboard to cut costs, my friends want me to go on a week long camping trip..." I stopped there, turning my head away at the last complaint on my list of complaints about school. I couldn't go of course because my priorities was with the Animorphs. Sure, I still have some form of a social life but it was crumbling. I found it hard to talk to people normally anymore. I was beginning to be paranoid over who I could trust ever since I knew about the invasion and had done my first mission but CJ probably already knew or suspected it. I was going down a slow descent to dehumanisation but our race was at stake. I couldn't stop and think about all the small things so I just shrugged and gave CJ a fleeting smile, "You know, the usual. If I'm smart enough to figure it out, and trust me I'm smart when I wanna be, that you brought me here to... 'get' something."

I exhaled slowly to chill my nerves but I nodded, walking into the Reptile House. It had a Australian-them to it. The walls of the exhibit was painted to look like bark with dot paintings of reptiles. There were sections of the room for different kinds of animals, some of them walled by clear glass with the top open ended so we could see the reptiles without anything blocking the way... it would be simple to just reach down and touch a reptile and I think that's what I was going to do.

"A lizard I think..." I suggested as i made my way towards the nearest glass exhibit, looking for a reptile that was resting close enough for me to poke at. I looked around, hoping for CJ to keep watch as I made sure no one was looking this way. I didn't make it obvious of course in case the security cameras caught it suspicious but I boldly leaned over the glass boundary and extended my finger to strike the head of a Frill-Neck and begun to acquire it. I played it out as if I was some rebel high schooler trying to get up close and personal with a lizard but I guess that was what I was doing.

After I was finished I pulled back and turned to CJ, "I got it." My eyes darted around the exhibit after that, looking at all the families, couples, kids that were walking around observing the reptiles. Were any of them yerks? Or Animorphs? It was hard to tell. We were hoping we had a way to tell but it wasn't easy.

[Quickest Hands ever]

I led Jayce out, thinking to myself the whole time. Until now I knew it had to be hard on him with school and friends ontop of doing what we did but it hadnt hit me until now. "Jayce listen, go with your friends just make sure that you have a cell signal and your own ride incase we need you. There hasnt been any new intel lately on the yeerks trying anything so it should be ok. As for school though, if you want I could morph gorilla or something like that and scare your teacher. Hey wait do you still have show and tell I could be your pet and lift her till she promises you an A, that and math too." I laughed trying to ease what he was feeling.

"Seriously though you know if you want to go you can, we can handle this for a week and if you need help with school I do know some stuff still. I cant promise Ill know it all but some of it Im sure to know." I reached into my wallet as we passed a vendor and said "Want anything its on me?"

[Quickest Hands ever]

The yeerk known as Sunsir 213 was mad, he had finally been giving a host after years of wait. Though it was better than the pool he had known his entire life. He had been hoping for something more exciting maybe a hork bajir, or even a human with an exciting job, but this host was a janitor at a zoo as the human called it. The subvisser told him that it was an important job though as the andalite bandits had Earth animal morphs that could have only come from here.

That settled him a bit, he was doing something  for the Empire, though in the two months that he had been here he had seen nothing strange. He had made a few acquaintances with this host to help him, one of them CJ, as the human was called helped run the Zoo, he had control over all the animals. CJ was nice enough to show him around and help him when he could, though he said he hadnt heard of any disturbances with the cages. In all though the human was helpful he was useless without a yeerk in his brain.

[Gankhruun]

Jayce perked up when CJ used his full name of which he knew he didn't like so it must've been serious.

"No, it's okay CJ." I was shaking my head to announce my disapproval. "My place is here. I can make it up to them some other way anyway so it should be fine." I was hoping CJ wouldn't push it any further than he had to. I knew I wouldn't be able to be myself if I didn't know what was happening with the group. It kind of worried me what I've started to become but again I didn't let it get the best of me. I tried to laugh at CJ's jokes but my soul wasn't in it. I know he was trying to cheer me up so I played my part in turn though it did lift me up a little. "Nah, I can handle the grades though I would so take up on your offer for food. I hope you have a fat wallet 'cause I'm about to blow your funds with the mega burger I'm gonna order." I snickered this time, finding the familiar feeling of mirth bubbling in me.

At the vender, I made it obvious I was giving him a look while at the same time inhaling a breath, similiarly to explaining something long or huge. I was hoping to freak him out, making him think I was going to order everything on the menu but then, "I'll just have a cheese burger with extra pickles and a coke." It was nice having someone else pay, especially CJ 'cause you know... he actually works for his dough.

[Quickest Hands ever]

I laughed a bit "thats it? Wow you are cheap Jay" I ordered the same thing and led him away, not really wanting to be heard for the next part of the conversation, "Listen, youve been doing this for a year now, and your doing great dont get me wrong, your like my second hand. I want to know though how are you? I know this can be rough on someone, at times I think the only thing that kept me from losing my mind is that I had been in war before. Yeah it was a different kind of war but far, but war none the less." 

[Gankhruun]

I accepted my order, a pickle filled cheeseburger in one hand and a luke warm coke in the other. Eugh, lukewarm? Man they need to replace their fridge. I followed CJ to some off beaten path that lead to the least populated part of the zoo, biting on my burger as I walked. I swalloed and give CJ a quirked eyebrow. It was touching of him I suppose to be so worried. I turned my head away so he wouldn't see the uncertainty on my face. Truth was I wasn't sure how I was. So many things were messed up in my life now that the invasion happened. Not like they were clean and tidy before.

I simply placated CJ's concerns with a small laugh and told him not to be so worried. I put the coke can to my mouth and pulled on the tab with my teeth hearing the can hiss before drinking generously. "It's okay CJ, really. I'm fine. You should stop worrying or you'll be adding numbers to your age," I replied and taking another huge bite from my burger. "Sho heuuws ee hnnew guy ahn our irk pwace?" I attempted to divert the conversation with my mouth full of food. It was hard saying, 'how is the new guy at your work place?' with bread, cheese and pickles being turned into slush in my mouth.

[Quickest Hands ever]

I sighed,  I knew the answer but I wasnt sure how Jay would handle it, hell I was sure how I wanted to handle it myself. "Well like I said before, he is into the sharing a lot, as in he invites me to every meeting, asks a lot of questions about quote weird things that happen with the animals. Well all and all I decided to follow him one night and see where it went, well we were right, he is a controller. Whether its willing or not I dont know, I didnt want to risk going down there again. Not alone." I looked at him for a reaction, "any ideas on how we should play this?"

//
Sunsir 213 walked slowly by Cj and the kid that was sometimes with him, Cj had never mentioned any family so he took note of it. His host Jim did as well, after all he was a willing controller, his life sucked and he had wanted to become part of something better to belong and maybe someday matter.

[Gankhruun]

I listened thoughtfully, keeping pace with CJ as he explained. My eyes of course were focused ahead of me and casually looking over my shoulder. I was suspicious of everyone now-a-days but I tried not to make a big deal out of it. Not a lot were around us of course.

I swallowed, "Not sure at this point. He's just another controller out of many. It just means you'll be to be more careful around him now since we know for certain he's a controller and he works with you in the zoo." I replied voicing all the thoughts that had arisen as CJ spoke. As usual this was just another sign that the yeerk invasion was growing. Then I caught the attention of someone's eyes staring straight at us... and also walking towards us too. I quickly diverted my eyes away not to think that I was spying on him but I muttered under my breath, "Someone's approaching us."

[Quickest Hands ever]

I did a half turn as if looking for something and seen Jim walking towards us, I took Jay by the shoulder and said "ok just act like I am taking you home." I nodded to Jim as we walked passed but didnt stop to talk, not with Jay here I didnt want him having anything solid on Jay. I knew he had information on he, that I could deal with, I had done this three years on my own before the rest of the team started to form.

As we got into my car I started the engine and  started to drive away, "Thats him, hes a janitor at the zoo. We may need to do something now that he has seen you."

[Gankhruun]

I nodded at CJ's command then started to tug softy away from CJ's grip, "Awww but I didn't mean to throw that pickle at the animal! Honest... I was just feeding it!" I whined though I followed CJ to his windowless white van-- woops, spelling error. I meant I followed CJ to his car. I wasn't sure what was going on but I knew from CJ's response that the man was bad news. I dunked my half drunk coke in the bin as I passed by and started to munch down on the burger as an excuse not to talk. I wondered what CJ was going to do with his coke or burger?

I went in the passenger seat of his car, scrunching up my burger rapper and tucking it into the pocket of my brown jacket. I looked down at my faded blue jeans and groaned silently. I had fresh ketchup stains on it and on my white shirt as well. It probably looked very embarrassing but I attempted to wipe the stains off my white shirt. I knew how futile that was... ketchup stains on a white shirt? Might as well have had permanent marker drawn across it.

I turned to CJ who went into the driver seat and explained to me who the man was. I was a little confused, "The controller... but he doesn't know who we are. For all we know he probably thought I was just.... your friend? Unless there's something I don't know--" Before I could finish CJ's phone start to ring.

It must have been one of the others, one of our own. I turned my head to the zoo knowing one of them had probably turned up and realised we weren't there. We still had provide everyone a reptile morph, whatever CJ had planned.

[Darth Revan]

My name is Shaun. Some call me "Street" as my initials are S-T, but it's rare that they use it. I could tell you my last name, but I like keeping my freedom. What do I have to worry about my freedom for, you ask? Well, the exact opposite, enslavement, absolute and total enslavement. My body, mind, and... abilities become the property of something else. Not someone, something. They're called Yeerks, those that would enslave me; as they would enslave you, and every living soul on this planet. These Yeerks are a sapient parasitic alien. They're like a slug that crawls inside your ear, flattens itself out, wraps itself around your brain and hijacks all of your synapses. It taps directly into your brain, reroutes every electrical signal however it wants. It reads your thoughts, your memories, even your desires. They take complete control of you. You don't breathe, it does. When you want to look around, nothing happens unless it wants to. You become a prisoner within your own body; like being completely paralyzed, except your body continues to move. They use your voice, your mannerisms, your inside jokes. No one around you can tell you've changed. If you had an identical twin, even they could be fooled by the act these Yeerks put on.

This is what my friends and I have been fighting for the last five years. To free the Human race, to make sure these parasites don't suck our world dry; as they've done to many worlds before. That's right, there are "other" worlds. Other alien races that have fallen to these slugs; but we will be different. We won't go down so easy. How do we fight an enemy we can't see, you ask? Well, it helps to be invisible yourself. No, we don't actually turn invisible, but we might as well. My friends and I have an ability, a power if you will. We can metamorphose into animals, any animal. If it has DNA, we can become it. Granted, we can only stay that creature for two hours, but two hours is plenty of time to bust an area to hell and get out. You'd be surprised what we can accomplish in two hours. I certainly have been.

Now we weren't born with these abilities. We received them from another alien; this one was a good alien though. This alien also fights the Yeerks. He gave us this power to morph. It was a weird experience. He could speak to us using his mind. I always thought telepathy was some crazy theory, of course I thought the same thing about aliens too. He warned us about the Yeerks and what they've been doing here on Earth, and what they plan to do to it. I was only 18 at the time. I was on my way to a Marine recruitement office to fight for my country. I ended up getting recruited into a different war, fighting for all of Humanity, and we've been fighting ever since.


My friend CJ, our group's leader, asked me to meet him at the zoo in which he worked. I was on my way there when I saw him and our other friend Jay driving away from the zoo. I thought it was weird to see them leaving before I got there. Granted I was late, and we had a potential controller to surveil, but still, I wasn't that late. Maybe they got spooked by something. I called CJ on my cell phone as I turned my truck around and began following them. I looked around, making sure I wasn't going to hit anyone saying idly, "C'mon c'mon CJ, pick up man."

[Doomhawk]

My name is Alice S- no, that's right, I'm not supposed to be giving out any kind of personal information. Because even a surname is probably helpful enough to get you tracked down. Right now, you're probably thinking, 'Hello, who is this paranoid nutcase and why is she terrified of the CIA?' Well, it's not the CIA that are apparently infiltrating this planet right now. It's these small slimy alien things that are basically sentient slugs. I can't remember their name...well, I can't remember a lot because every time I think about what happened to me two days ago, I just freeze up in fear. As any sane person would when they're being told that these slug-aliens are taking over Earth by crawling into people's ears and taking control of their brain. Impossible to believe, I know. Especially as if these slugs are inside your head, nobody can see them, so you can't prove their existence. Except I've seen it, second-hand. Right before the weird voice in my head then told me I had just been granted a power to combat them. The power to transform into any animal and fight back. I wrote it off as some weird kind of sleep-deprived hallucination. Until by laying my hand on my neighbour's pet cat, it became all sleepy. Then, like the voice said, I imagined becoming the cat, and it happened. I don't know how to describe the change...it wasn't like in fantasy movies where there's an instant transformation. It was more like my entire body shifted slowly and gross things happened which ended in me becoming a cat.

But becoming a cat was harder than I thought. You see, as an animal, you have that animal's brain, so you get their instincts too. Which is why I spent almost an hour or so prowling the neighbourhood before I fully got control of the creature, freaked out and turned back into human as fast as I could. You see, the voice also told me that if I stay in the form of an animal for over two hours, I'll get stuck in that animal's body. And even though being a cat isn't exactly terrible, cats die. Like, earlier than humans. And there are so many more dangers for cats, like dogs, moving vehicles, and so on. Oh. And it just so happened that this transformation is all about DNA, and let's just say clothes are not a natural part of a human's body. Man, my cheeks burn even thinking about the journey home- fear of this weird power overcame my embarrassment then, which is why I crept home as a human.

I haven't done anything since, but remembering the final bit of the voice's speech in my head has kinda gotten to me. I'm supposed to fight these slug things, and alone for all I know. I asked the voice somehow whether I was the only one entrusted with this task, and all it said in response was 'Divide and conquer'. I'm seriously hoping that it means that there are others, and we're all spread out across the country (or even world if we're lucky) so that the net won't ever close in on one of us, due to the others taking the heat off us when it matters. Anyway, with no idea of how to fight one of these slugs- that's right, I forgot to mention yet another factor that's going to make this impossible. These slugs, because they have access to their host's brain, can mimic the host's normal behaviour. So there is no way to tell if anyone you know has a slug in their brain. Even your parents.


I shivered as I paid the entry fee, strolling into the zoo as a few vehicles passed by. I had no idea what to do to fight these slugs. The only thing I could think of doing right away was somehow getting access to big animals. The kind that can take out even a karate master with claws, teeth or both. I imagined turning into a grizzly bear and was both horrified and delighted at the idea. Sure, you always get those times when you wish you were a bird so you could fly, or your friend's pet dog so you never had to study or go to lectures, but in these circumstances, the thought of doing just that wasn't so fun. I checked my watch. I had a free day today, but tomorrow I had a paper to submit. I'd finished it already, just needed to fine-tune it and check spelling, but I wanted to get home in time to do this as well as hang out with my dorm friends. Well, as long as I don't specify which university I go to, they can't find me, right? Anyway, enough thinking about this essay. Stopping at a billboard with a map of the zoo on, I hesitated. I could go guerilla warfare or gorilla warfare. Get something small and poisonous and somehow wage this war quietly, or get something big and brute force. The only question was how to somehow get access to any of the animals. They'd be in enclosures and unless I timed it right, they could easily harm me. That, and...anyone here could have one of those slugs in their heads. They'd think it was weird if I was trying to climb down into an alligator enclosure. "I'm suicidal!" just wouldn't cut it as an excuse...or would it? Did the slugs even know about humans turning into animals? The voice had mentioned the slugs having an enemy alien race who had fought them in the past... I sighed and stood there, deliberating what to do.

[Gankhruun]

((Since we have such great roleplayers here I couldn't let the thread become stagnant so I'll be taking over CJ's character until he returns so he'll be doing neutral actions that wouldn't affect his character too much.))

I felt the car start up, heard the handbrakes being pushed and we were heading down the road. CJ made an attempt to grab his phone that was ringing on the dashboard but I launched forwards and took it first and gave CJ a knowing look. It wasn't safe to drive while on the phone. I flipped the phone open and checked the caller ID and sure enough it was Shaun so I pressed answer.

"Hey Street. Sorry about ditching you in the last minute but uh," I pulled the phone away and gestured towards the left around the zoo, "CJ, take us to the staff carpark. We still have to meet up with the others and give them reptile morphs for whatever ya got planned." I returned to the phone and muttered a small apology before continuing, "We'll be there in a bit yeah? Just hang on. CJ doesn't really like me meeting his new work buddies 'cause he hates them with a passion," I chuckled lightly. I waited for Street's response.

[Darth Revan]

I listened to Jay explain the situation as I followed them. I nodded passively and replied, "Yeah, sure. What's this about needing reptiles?" I knew about CJ's co-worker. CJ wanted me to help scope him out, but I had to work that night and had to stay late to finish a problem for a client.

As CJ turned around a couple corners, we all ended up in the employee section of the lot. I found a space near CJ's truck and got out. I hung up my phone and gave the pair an upward nod of greeting and asked, "'Sup?" When CJ got out of the car, I asked him, "Hey how'd your stake out with your weird co-worker go?"

[Gankhruun]

The staff car park was in view so I ended the conversation with Street knowing we'd meet up with him sooner. I flung the phone lightly back on the dash board and crossed my arms. I was feeling a little uneasy but I was the master at hiding my discomfort. My face was the perfect portrayal of a master poker player. I could fool anyone with my nonchalant attitude and it wasn't the mission that we would be doing soon that rubbed my nerves the wrong way. It was all the new experiences I was experiencing and many more experiences to come. Experiences not meant for teenagers like me. I suppose I was actually a little angry about the whole thing, even after I had been doing it for nearly a year but you know what they say. As you get older time flies faster and it was true.

I felt the car stop and casually walked out, my hands in my pockets as a force of habit when I felt stressed. I spotted Street in the distance and walked over towards. I merely gave a discrete two-fingered wave and a nod in Street's direction before waiting for CJ to come over and prepare us for what was next. Personally I didn't know a whole lot about Street. I had my own suspicions about him whether he was a yeerk or not but they were just unreasonable doubts.

CJ turned up next to me. He had been busy finding a place to dump his burger and coke and in the end settled for the car bonnet. It was gonna smell when I would be getting a ride home now but it was okay. I loved the smell of burgers. CJ turned to Street and frowned, a small grimace lacing his face.

"Not good. He's definitely a yeerk. Seen him go through one of the yeerk pool entrances the other day. He made it quite obvious what he is the moment he kept badgering me about The Sharing and all the good stuff." CJ took a momentary pause to palm his belt, a soft jingling as he touched his keys. Satisfied he took off expecting me to follow. "Let's get you a morph though Street. Need a cold blooded animal. We're gonna have to do some of our own retcon. One of the others was making tabs on some of The Sharing members and there's already talks of something big going down but we don't know what so we're going to break into one of the meetings. There's one already planned from what I hear so we go from there."

CJ took a turn and we were heading back towards the reptile house again. I hunched my shoulders lightly, paying more attention to the side than the front so that they wouldn't see my my hesitation to go back there when I had already touched a reptile. Sure, it's a reptile but they freak me out to the bone next to spiders. We didn't meet up with CJ's new work buddy thankfully.

"Why reptiles? The meeting is being guarded by heat sensors. We morph reptiles, we blend in with the ambient temperature and we're in." CJ said finally just as he stopped at the entrance to the reptile house and I stood beside him, my arms crossed again. The plan sounded simple enough. Seems like a bust in, find info and bust out kinda deal. Although of course I could never think like that. There were so many possibilities where things would go wrong.

---

Sunsir Two-One-Three stopped approaching the adult and teenager, allowing them to leave by the entrance. He frowned lightly, his eye brows furrowed while his mental gears worked to figure out what made them fly like chickens. He deemed it worthy of telling his superiors about this event. 'Andalites in a human morph?' he had thought but quickly started walking away in case an idle zoo keeper was not considered normal.

[Doomhawk]

I stood by the map a while longer, lingering indecisively. I noticed a trio of guys walk past, and according to the map they were headed for the reptile house. I allowed myself to be distracted from my current problem to wonder absent-mindedly what the trio was up to. Of course they wouldn't be scared of the cold-blooded creatures, being macho guys and all- OK, so I was generalising. But the males I knew weren't just the kind of guys who wouldn't be scared of snakes- they're the type who would dare each other to touch it or pick it up or try and make it bite someone. Yes, we were university students and in our late teens, which meant they were the typical stupid guys who drank all the time...

The group vanished and I turned back to the map. If I had to fight, I needed something powerful...but how could I fight an enemy I couldn't see? Maybe I needed to go for espionage first. Something small. I shivered as I thought about bugs. They were tiny and discreet, but gross. And if they got stomped, it was game over for me. Then a horrible thought entered my head: I knew about a bug tough enough to survive being stomped. A gross beetle-like insect that repulsed any sane person. So, I headed to the bug house exhibit, shuddering at times.

I stood outside, trying to psych myself up. Somehow I was going to break into the exhibit or open a display case and get the DNA of a 'roach...I wasn't going for the bigger ones or the more exotically-coloured ones. I just wanted a smallish, black roach to turn into and sneak up on people. The more I ran the idea through my head, the more I began to think I was going mad.

[Darth Revan]

When CJ called me "Street", I rolled my eyes. The joke was really beginning to wear thin. I followed CJ without hesitation. Finally we get a truly stealth morph. I've been waiting for this type of mission for a while. All the fighting and flying missions were getting old. Time for some real espionage. I immediately knew which reptile I was going for. I was about to comment on which I was going to choose when CJ interrupted with an explanation that no one had asked for. When he was done, I rolled my eyes again, this time swaying my head with them. As my eyes fell on Jay, I asked, "You okay? You seem on edge man."

I didn't really wait for the reply. I expressed my concern, I just wanted to set CJ straight... again. I said, "CJ, will you quit calling me 'Street'? Yes, I get it, my initials are S-T haha. It's getting old. It's Shaun. Sure it was cool at first, but when you guys over-use it, it just gets old fast. Even the others stopped using that name as much, catch up man."

I didn't mean to go too far with my little speech, but it kinda got away from me. I sighed and continued, "It's about time we use reptiles. I have the perfect one I've been scoping out. You guys just got it imported from Florida." I ran ahead of the group and began walking backward while talking still, "The name is so cool, 'Crotalus adamanteus'. Doesn't that sound like the metal in Wolverine's body? The translation is 'Eastern Diamondback', but Crotalus Adamanteus sounds so much cooler." I turned back around and lead the way to the exhibit where the new snake was held.

I stopped at the display and held out my hands showing the snake like one of the Price is Right girls and spoke using a voice over actor's tone, "The Crotalus Adamanteus is the largest rattlesnake species and, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is the heaviest venomous snake. Specimens over 7 feet (2.1 m) are rare," I broke character for a second with pure excitement, "and this sucker is 7' 4"!" I continued reusing the voice over tone, "Common names include eastern diamondback rattlesnake, eastern diamond-backed rattlesnake, eastern diamondback, diamond rattlesnake, and many other variations." I let the voice over voice fail and continue excitedly again, "This baby is supposed to be the most poisonous snake in North America. They've had deaths in minutes after being bitten. Minutes!"

I held out my hands to CJ expectedly and said, "C'mon, let me in. Let me at him." I looked around to make sure no one else could see what we were doing and said, "We're clear buddy, let's do it."

[Gankhruun]

I was at the back of the little group keeping a wary eye on the people around us to make sure we weren't overheard but it was fine. They all seem so damn preoccupied to really pay attention to us so there wasn't much of a problem as we headed towards the reptile house with CJ in the lead.

Shaun swivelled his head towards me and I stared back at him muttering a small 'yeah?'. He asked if was okay and I just pretended to fumble my hair in embarrassment with a laugh before waving him off with a hand, "Yeah, I'm fine. Stop worrying yeah? I get enough of it from CJ over here." And just like that Shaun's attention was elsewhere. I didn't mind and I slightly appreciated he wasn't so forward.

Shaun though, he was about to become very forward on another matter entirely. I bowed my head to hide a smirk that appeared on my face as he complained about his name. I didn't say anything because I hated being confrontational but not only that I might have chuckled out loud if I opened my mouth. I didn't get why Shaun didn't like the name Street. Not once have I called Shaun 'Street' as an insult meant to sting but as friendly nickname. I never realised until now that Shaun didn't take a liking to it.

CJ was already quick to remedy the situation though, "Ah, sorry Shaun. I'll be sure to remember next time." And the situation was dissolved and Shaun was already excited for whatever morph he had in mind. I turned my head and started looking at the distant groups sitting in the parking area but I was still listening to Shaun. Images of Wolverine, the comic book version, popped into my mind and then a snake and then a bunch of other stuff as I thought about what Shaun was saying. CJ unclipped his keys and tossed it towards Shaun while he turned around to keep watch and so did I.

[Darth Revan]

When CJ tossed me the keys, I snatched 'em out of the air. I unlocked the terrarium and grabbed the stick they use to grab the snakes. I stuck it inside and fished around for the snake's midsection. I could feel something soft in the brush, and immediately a rattle sounded. I gave a deep concentrated breath and hooked the snake. I lifted upward, and the snake appeared wrapped around the hook. It was obviously trying to squeeze it to death. My heart raced as I stared at the rattler's head and it stared at me back. I spoke quitely, "Slow... slowly now." I reeled in the snake on a stick. I saw it begin to gather its body to prepare a strike. I continued to stare down the snake as it got closer and closer. Finally it struck. Luckily it was far away enough for me to react. I dropped the stick and twisted aside. The snake flew passed me and I grabbed its midsection and immediately began concentrating on the snake. It's long slender gray body, the row of black diamonds on its back, the stripes on its head. I could feel the snake relax as it entered the usual trance that almost all animals enter.

When I was done, I gathered the snake and tossed him back in the terrarium. I locked the door and smiled to my friends, "Whew, that was fun. Let's not do that again." I tossed CJ his keys back. As I drew my hand back, I looked at my arm, "Crazy to think there are so many animals contained in my bloodstream."

[Doomhawk]

Finally summoning up my courage, I entered the exhibit. It took all of my efforts to try and keep a straight face as I passed by exhibits full of nasty wriggly insects. It didn't take too long for me to reach the 'roach exhibit and as I stared into the glass display, my eyes stuck to the bugs that were crawling all over the bark lining the bottom of their case in horror, I found myself realising that I had no idea how to get hold of one and acquire it. Not that I was sure I wanted to anymore, watching them twitch and crawl all around the display.

To distract myself, I glanced at the sign next to the display. Interestingly enough, it displayed the anatomy of the insect and explained why it was so hardy. The heart could stop without it dying (though that wasn't elaborated on), it could live for a week if its head was cut off, although it would die of starvation, the fat in its body was what dealt with poisons like insecticide in its system... I stopped reading and started thinking. OK, so they were hardy, but I didn't want noisy ones. I recalled a trip to a zoo in my childhood where we got to hold some rather large 'roaches that hissed like an angry snake for no apparent reason. They weren't too bad...though maybe that was my unafraid-of-anything childhood bravado tainting my recollection. It was probably because they were large enough not to be creepy. Holding this memory in mind, hoping it would give me courage, I checked the species name and didn't find anything about hissing in it. Then I began my plan.

"Excuse me..." I wandered around the bug house until I found an office behind the locust display, knocking at the door despite it saying 'Do not enter'. It wasn't long before it opened and I was face-to-face with a zookeeper. Continuing my conversation, I kept the childhood memory in my mind and also the memory of me lying to one of my professors about a late paper a month or so ago. I had somehow managed to keep a straight face. Hopefully they would help me carry this out.

"What is it? Has anything escaped or is anything eating each other?" The zookeeper, a lanky and bored-looking man asked as if this was a habitual occurrence. I shook my head, looking sheepish as I realised that maybe this was a silly way to go about getting a 'roach.

"Um...maybe I should have called beforehand. My name is Al-exandra," I automatically renamed myself and then struggled to hide a frown. That wasn't intended, but my subconscious must have remembered the Yeerks and whether they could track me down if this went badly. "I'm a Biology major hoping to specialise in animal biology, possibly with a view to eventually becoming a vet or maybe studying zoology after I graduate. As part of a project I'm doing, I have to make a detailed report on one animal of my choice. If I get a high grade for it, I'll be allowed to take more advanced electives in animal biology and then I should be able to specialise." The man looked at me strangely, obviously wondering what this had to do with him. "I wanted to take a really detailed look at the anatomy of my chosen animal for part of the research, which happens to be a 'roach." His strange look bloomed into a frown.

"OK. Let me get this straight, you're basically saying that you want me to let you handle a 'roach for this project of yours? This zoo doesn't have the word 'petting' before it in the title. And why did you choose something you could just catch around the house?" He had a point. No, he had several points. Trying not to freak out or get annoyed, I plastered an embarrassed grin on my face.

"I know it's a weird choice. I chose it because other people are going really all-out in this, they're choosing tigers and highly venomous reptiles...the anatomy part of their research is going to be interesting, but they aren't going to be able to get close to those animals. I thought that I'd get more credit if I actually did a detailed study myself by handling the animal. And there aren't actually that many 'roaches around my school...And I could easily make up this research instead of getting confirmation from the zoo that it's actually legit." He still seemed unconvinced. "I mean, when I was a kid, I got to handle these massive 'roaches that hissed at the zoo, so I thought that you might let me do this for a project...but do you have to book in advance for this kind of thing?" He folded his arms, clearly thinking about it. I tried not to let my relief show as I remembered that in my small handbag, I always carried a small notepad and pen just in case. I could take notes on it. Finally he relented.

"This is going to be a short thing, yeah? Maybe a few minutes?" I nodded, smiling gratefully at him. He strode out to the 'roach display, opening it up carefully and lifting out one of the insects before closing it. He beckoned me into the office and placed the 'roach down on the table carefully. "Don't let it run away." He warned and I pulled the notepad out of my bag as it began to explore the surface of the table. I quickly sketched it under his keen gaze, trying to focus on my role as a scientist. Remembering those terms from the display, I annotated the sketch before throwing out a question to keep him believing me.

"You'd say this one was, what, an inch long? At a guess?" He looked at it before turning away, rummaging through his desk to grab a tape measure. I thanked him before measuring it (which was hard as it tried to walk away). "Yeah, 1.1 inches." I noted it down and then set down my notebook, grabbing it as it tried to crawl off of the table and down the leg. Picking it up, I lifted it before my eyes, fighting off every urge to shudder and doing as the voice told me to all that time ago. I focused with all my mind on the animal, trying to think 'I am acquiring you, I am borrowing your DNA. It stopped moving and seemed almost...sleepy, for lack of a better word. I felt like something had happened at least, and pretended to be studying its compound eyes as the zoo keeper stared closely at me.

"I think this one likes you." I tried to laugh at what he said, still fighting the revulsion as I set it down and it began to move slowly. I added to my sketch about the compound eyes and nodded approvingly at my research.

"Thanks, I think I've got everything I need. I don't suppose you have anything I can take to school to prove I actually examined this 'roach here at the zoo?" I asked as the zoo keeper scooped up the 'roach. He nodded,

"We have a stamp we use for internal paperwork, I can stamp your sketch if you want." He disappeared to replace the 'roach and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. When he returned, I had the sketch ready. He retrieved a stamp from his desk and stamped it with the zoo's logo and name. I smiled at him.

"Thank you so much for your help! I think this is going to go really well! Maybe I will end up studying zoology..." He seemed amused now.

"Well, you're going about it the right way, showing initiative in coming here and getting all your research done. You handled that 'roach pretty well- a lot of animals are more delicate than you'd think. Maybe one day you'll end up working with us?" He joked and I laughed, surprised at his mood change. Maybe I really had impressed him. With a handshake and more expressions of gratitude, I left the exhibit, heart pounding.

I'd done it. I'd successfully acquired a 'roach. If I ever saw that guy again, I'd have to keep up the lie, but I'd already started it, so just building on it should be easy. Heck, maybe it'd even get me access to bigger and better creatures later on down the line! With a triumphant smile growing across my face, I returned to the zoo map I'd been standing next to before, confidence telling me to try it again with another animal, or at least something similar.

[Quickest Hands ever]

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