Animorph Successors

[Darth Revan]

Garrett smiles wide, "You seem awfully mad for just an inaccurate accusation." He tilts his head and gives a mock pouting face, "Did I hit a nerve?" He resumes his grin, "Seriously, you hoovered those cinnabons like you were a diabetic and the buns and frosting were made of insulin. You talk like you learned to speak from an encylcopedia, and how exactly did you get here?"

[Chad32]

Chad smiled at Garrett. He was quite obvservant, which would be good in a group. Though he was still uncomfortable with doing something illegal, if they were going to do this they needed good skills. They weren't little kids like the Animorphs were, so more should be expected of them.

[KitsuneMarie]

Ertoran's eyes narrowed, but she forced herself to calm down. "If you would stop acting like such an arrogant brat, perhaps we could speak about this rationally," she murmured, releasing her aggressive posture. She gave a long sigh, then murmured, "I have never been able to overcome my affinity for Cinnabon, even though I feel I have assimilated well into human culture in most other ways. As for how I got here, I walked; my scoop is not only a few miles from here." She glanced to Raya to see her reaction to this revelation, frowning a little in apology for telling her own secret. She looked back to the group and said, "My name is Ertoran-Sorath-Anduross, but you may continue calling me Tora, if you please."

[Terenia]

<An Andalite!> Raya cried silently, a wave of revolt running through her. For a moment her nose wrinkled in distaste, but she quickly smooted it out, keeping her expression blank.

<I told you they could not be trusted,> Raya hissed to Marisol, <an Andalite, fighting for Yeerk freedom? It is absurd!>

<Maybe...>

<No. It is not possible.> Raya realized that her hands had balled into involuntary fists, and she relaxed them, fixing Ertoran with an even gaze.

"And what stake does an Andalite have in Yeerk freedom?" Her voice has an aggressiveness that was not there previously, when she had been trying to hide behind her human skin and clothing.

[Darth Revan]

Garrett nodded his head expectedly and dropped his smile as Tora had finally cracked and told them her true name. Arrin, beside him, looked shocked and his eyes narrowed into slits. He still carried the anti-Andalite propaganda in his mind, but remembered what Garrett had taught him during their time together. He made a slight paniced expression as he suddenly realized he had let himself be controlled by the lies instilled in him by the Empire from an early age. He closed his eyes and concentrated on letting go of the anger he knew wasn't his.

Garrett, not taking his eyes away from Ertoran, softened his face to show sincere gratitude. He bowed his head to her and said, "Thank you Ertoran. I'm sorry I was brunt, but I feel secrets now, will only hurt and cause dissension once they are revealed in the future. And believe me, with the intimacy that's involved in working so close together, all secrets will be revealed. I just don't want anyone to feel as though they've been betrayed after putting so much trust in the other.

"I want you to know, as I stated before, I don't care that you're an Andalite. I've always felt that Andalites didn't hate the Yeerks themselves, but the actions taken by them; oppression, destruction, and enslavement. Arrin too has come around to understanding such views." Garrett elbows Arrin in the side prompting him to say something.

Arrin jumps at Garrett's jab and stares wide-eyed at Ertoran. Wordlessly he looks everywhere but at her. He collects himself, looks into her eyes and says, "I want to... thank you, for not lying to us any further. I... look forward to getting to know you better, and hope we can work together... um, well." Arrin spoke nevously and with humility. After he was done, he looked at the ground. He was not used to being amongst others openly as he was now. He had been in hiding for so long, being "himself" was now a new experience.

Garrett patted Arrin on the shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. He was proud of Arrin and how far he had come in the six years of hiding. He knew this would be hard for him; but it would also be good for him to make other friends as himself, rather than as Kyle.

[Cloudbreaker]

Ben had to sit down on a bale of hay.  All the information flowing through his brain was threatening to overwhelm him.  Garrett had brought a morph-capable yeerk named Arrin, who was now standing right in front of him.  And now Tora, who Garrett had predicted was an andalite based solely on her eating habits turned out to actually be an andalite!?

Garrett had also said Marisol was a controller, but to be honest, Ben couldn't see any reason why he would think that.  Yes, Marisol looked like she might have been hiding something when Ben asked if anyone else had any secrets, but a controller?  Unless there was some clue Ben had missed he was prepared to believe her when she said she was a free human.

Finally, Ben spoke up again.  "I feel like such a fool," he commented.  Then quickly realized someone might take it the wrong way.  "I mean, I don't have anything against andalites or yeerks.  Although I am definitely surprised to have found both in my stables today.  I feel like a fool because I wanted to start up a group with people I knew next to nothing about, apparently."

He stood up again.  "This is just... big.  Beyond immediate comprehension.  Sorry."  He shook his head clear of thoughts then continued.  "If this is the way it is going to be, then I guess this is the way it is going to be.  Chad, Garrett, Arrin, Tora, Marisol.  Unless any of you have any objections, I guess we are the new animorphs in town."

[KitsuneMarie]

Ertoran watched the others' reactions to her revelation in silence. At Ben's final words she shook her head and spoke, the corners of her lips quirking upwards. "I wonder if the Animorphs had as much tension as our band already does."

Turning to look at Garrett, she shook her head. "But you are dead wrong," she said flatly, her smile fading as quickly as it had appeared. "The Andalites do hate the Yeerks, and not just their actions. There is truly unconditional hatred within my race. As you can see, it is not the case for every individual Andalite--but I am hardly normal; my experiences have made my sympathetic to the Yeerk cause. Do not believe that any other Andalites will support us. I am already dishonored and disowned by my people, and my very presence on this planet is one I am trying to hide from them."

[Terenia]

Raya noticed that Ertoran had not addressed her question and stored that information away for future use. Now that she was aware of an Andalite in their midst she was certainly not going to reveal her identity. She felt a wave of guilt wash over her when Ben regarded her trustingly, but squalled it quickly. The world they lived in had no place for the weak-minded.

"Well, that's cheerful," Raya said in response to Ertoran. She struggled to keep the contempt from her tone, "but shouldn't we be back to the matter at hand? What's our mission? Do we even have a mission?" She looked at Ben expectantly.

[Darth Revan]

Garrett felt bad for Ben, having your own ignorance slapped in your face is never fun; even if it wasn't done maliciously. "Well, to be fair, Ben. I was just reminded of your name not too long ago. Six years is a long time for people to change."

In response to Ertoran's question, Garrett thought for a bit before replying, "We'll never know. They rode off into the sunset as far as I heard. Although we do seem to have some hurdles to leap over first. I'll agree with you there."

When Raya was quick to change the subject onto business, Garrett gave her a look to say, What are you trying to keep us from knowing? What could be so damning that would keep you from divulging?

[Cloudbreaker]

Ben nodded in agreement to Garrett's response to what he had said.  It was true.  Six years was a long time.

"At any rate, as I was just reminded, I guess we really should get back to the matter at hand.  With all the excitement, I almost forgot that we gathered here for a reason."  Ben took a moment to regather his thoughts before continuing.

"Since we are mostly in this to help the yeerks, I looked online to get some ideas of what we could do.  Not a very spectacular way for a secretive group to get information, I know, but I use what works."

"Have guys may have heard of the Freedom festival over in the city of Belmont?  It is about a two hour drive from here.  The Freedom Festival is a yearly event to celebrate the anniversary of the day the original animorphs defeated the yeerks.  Each year they have a parade and this year, for the first time, a yeerk-run float will be allowed in the parade.  Apparently a group of yeerks that were happy to see the empire end."

"As you can imagine, a float with yeerk controllers on it will be very controversial at the Freedom Festival.  It will probably be at a high risk of being targeted by someone or at the very least, a mob of onlookers.  I figured they could use some extra security.  What do you guys think?  If they do get targeted by some sort of organized group, then we could try and find out more about them too."  Ben shrugged his shoulders.  He wasn't sure if the others would feel like his plan was worthwhile or not.

(If anyone has any better ideas then feel free to throw them out there.  But remember, we can make boring ideas as interesting as we want.  We control how this story plays out. )

[Chad32]

(sounds good enough for a first mission.)

"Temrash was actually planning to watch the festival on TV. Yeah, I'm well aware of the festival. I'm also already worried what might happen to the float and the nothlits running it. sounds like a fair place to start."

chad was already planning to be there in person, and may have possibly had to do something. This Yeerk float was a good way of showing everyone that even some Yeerks celebrated the end of the Empire. On national television even.

"But this is going to be televised. Also there will be people clicking pictures all over the place. Just keep that in mind."

[KitsuneMarie]

Ertoran nodded in agreement with Chad. "This sounds like a worthwhile mission, but one that will leave us vulnerable to discovery. And if someone sees me demorph... I'd rather that not happen." She looked back to Ben. "Perhaps I could start in a morph that blends in but is also useful for attacking and providing security, if needed?" She sighed. "Now I have shared my secret, I suppose it is appropriate for me to tell you the gamut of my morphs: this human body, a mosquito, and a Yeerk."

[Terenia]

"A Yeerk?" Raya gave Ertoran an incredulous look, "why on Earth would an Andalite want to morph a Yeerk?" She shook her head incredulously, but quickly returned to the topic on hand.

"I suppose that protecting the nothlits from being harmed is as good a place as any to see how we work together," Raya said, her face growing serious, "but being able to march in a parade is the least of the Yeerk problems."

[KitsuneMarie]

Ertoran ignored Raya's question and nodded. "I agree that this mission will not be particularly effective, although it may still be useful for us as a team. Still," she added thoughtfully. "we might gain some allies." Looking to Garrett and Arrin, she raised an eyebrow. "What do you two think about this mission?"

[Darth Revan]

((Sorry for my absence, I've been in an RP funk.))

Garrett was confused as to how a Yeerk float could be possible, instead of staring at the ground thinking it through on his own, he decided it was easier to ask. "Wait, how exactly is a Yeerk-run float supposed to work? If all of the publically accepted Yeerks are nothlits, then who builds and drives the float? Is it just going to be a bunch of animals on a flatbed driven by a monkey? I mean this almost doesn't sound possible."

A public venue such as a parade didn't seem like such a safe place for their first mission. The original Animorphs had never had such public battles so early in their campaign. Garrett asked, "Isn't this mission a little 'public' for our first mission? There are so many angles we don't know if we can cover. I mean we'd have to find the place they make and ready the floats, inspect the floats, and then we'd have to travel with the float to insure no one rushed it. I assume we'd be taking the guise of nothlits ourselves, otherwise we probably wouldn't be allowed on the float. So we’d have to worry about our two-hour limit there. When and if someone ever did attack the float, then we'd have to take them down. Since it's a public arena, the people wouldn't really like it if nothlits suddenly killed a person, assailant or not. So we’d have to contain them, which is going to be rather difficult for animals. I mean, what exactly did you have in mind as to our role in the security for this float? Don’t they already have a security detail? I mean just because they’re nothlits doesn’t mean they’re stupid, they have to know they’ll be a target and should have some sort of defense planned. Shouldn’t we hook up with their security ‘people’ first?”