Animorphs: A New Beginning

[Chad32]

Cody's POV

<I need you back here, Nichole.> Cody said as he fought off another Hork-Bajir controller. <You know, to make me feel safer.>

The crowd had started pushing forward, but it wasn't going as fast as he had hoped.


Jason's POV

Visser Five expanded his body, and his arms turned into tentacles as he prepared for the wave of Hork-Bajir. When the first ones came, he wrapped his tentacles around them, and threw then towards the controllers. He couldn't keep it up for very long before the crowd pressed against him. His body hardened against the blades of the free Hork-Bajir, which helped keep him from being sliced up. They began crawling on him, and grabbing his limbs to pull him down.

Then his skin turned spiky, and the Hork-Bajir were forced back. <Stay back slaves! Obey your master!> Visser five began trying to get away as he was wounded and trampled. Soon the Humans got there, and began running past as the Hork-Bajir fought the Visser.

Dozens of Humans ran up the steps to the exit, and Jason began to wonder where they would end up when they got through. Soon the Hork-Bajir also ran through the passage instead of fighting Visser Five.


Cody's POV

Everyone ran through after the crowd. Soon there was no one in the cavern but Cody's group and the girl who was still on his back.

<Let's bolt now!> He yelled.

When they finally made it to the top of the passage, they found themselves in a cabin. Cody wasn't sure why they'd put an entrance in a cabin in the middle of the woods, but perhaps it didn't matter. Most of the Human crowd had kept on running, but the Hork-Bajir stood around wondering what to do.

<We need a way to keep from being followed.> Jason said.

<Yeah.> Cody replied. <Everyone start wrecking this place! Reduce the cabin to rubble and bury the entrance!>

The Hork-bajir slashed through walls, and broke beams while Cody threw stuff against the entrance like shelves and such. The others demorphed and helped Cody once they had hands to carry with.

The Hork-Bajir then ran for the trees, and disappeared into a nearby mountain. The Humans ran off, though whether they would return to their families or disappear was unknown. The one girl thanked Cody, and left as well.

[Yarin]

Yarin morphed to human and made his way back to his ship, he demorphed inside and settled down for a rest.
He awoke hours later feeling awful, he scanned himself and found that his metabolic functions were being accelerated. He was going through his final stage of puberty, the Narcon-Gleesh. But how? he thought, then the realization dawned upon him, It must have been that temporal anomaly i passed through on my way here. But I thought that was nothing all it did was set my journey back a few days.  He needed to find his friends he couldn't be left alone lest he hurt himself. He quickly morphed to human and went to find them.

[Chad32]

Cody demorphedafter leaving th cabin. Things had gine pretty well for the first mission. He was tired, but also restless, so he took the long way back to Yarin's ship. Eventually he noticed he was being followed. It was getting dark, but a streetlight shown on Emily.

"Um...hi." She said sheepishly.

"You know, when the superhero leaves, you aren't supposed to follow him." Cody said as they walked up to each other. "There's that whole secret identity thing."

"What am I supposed to do now?" She said with a cracked voice.

"To be honest, I didn't really plan that much. If everyone goes around shouting about Yeerks, they'll round up the more vocal ones. You'll just have to keep a low profile and hope for the best. Maybe leave town."

"I can't leave without my parents, and there's no way they'd listen to me. They'd think I was being disobedient again, and send me back to the Sharing. That's how they got me the last time. They told my parents they had a program to make their child more obedient. My parents are obsessed with me being the perfect little girl, but what they really want is some biological automaton. You don't know how horrible that is!"

"Let me get this straight. You et a nice house, three square meals a day, and education, and good healthcare, and you call that horrible? There are people who would sell their souls for that kind of life."

"I don't care about some poor people in third world countries. Don't give me that story."

"Who's talking about a third world country? I'm talking about people that live in this town."

"Please let me join you. I could help. I could do something...better than just sitting around waiting for the Yeerks to win or lose."

"Okay. I'll keep an eye on you for a few days while you return to your life. If the Yeerks don't come for you again, I'll come and get you."

"Thanks." She said. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, then left.

Cody stood there, thinking that a girl just kissed him, when Yarin found him.

"Something is wrong with me, Cody." He said.

"Really? Not feeling well, Yarin? I'll get you some medicine for you to take in Human for tomorrow. Let's go back. It's been a long day." He said as they left for the ship.

Cody had a lot of things on his mind. Nichole being hesitant to fight, Jason worrying about things, the problem with the Yeerks, and now Emily. On top of that, it was his first night with Yarin, and something may be wrong with him. Hopefully some of that stuff could be delt with in the morning. He then drifted off on the alien bed.

[Kelran-Isthinar]

Any onlooker would have said Kelran’s motivations were born of a desire for glory and combat, but deep down, the only emotions in his heat were honor and valor. And love for his brother. He knew what he was going to do, and he knew he was capable of doing it. Emotional repercussions aside, he could deal with those if he survived.
Festhar practically read his mind, having known him since he hatched, he wasn’t about to let him go through with it.
“Lets at least leave it to chance Kelran” Festhar withdrew a glist from his pocket.
The coin sparkled, an engraved stylized talon on one side, a beak on the other.
Festhar tossed it, Kelran called it. “Beak”
The glist landed talons side up.
Festhar retrieved it and slid it into his sash.
Kelran sighed, “You know Festhar, I never could trust to luck. You know me, and you know I make my own luck. And you know that despite what comes next, I love you. My brother.”
Festhar knew it was coming, but Kelran still caught him off guard.
A quick thwack to the back of his neck, and Festhar slammed into the tactical console, falling unconscious.
Kelran dragged his only true friend to the bridge hatch, surprisingly it opened, apparently the force fields had come on line at last.
Kelran slung Festhar over his broad back between his wings and trotted on two legs.
It seemed like ages, but in reality it was only moments, Kelran reached the junction point between the fore ventral section and the main section, he gently deposited Festhar on the other side.
then stepped back into the fore-section.
He began to manually pump the lever to seal the port.
Festhar moaned, rolled over and looked up…
“Good bye.”
With that, Kelran delivered one last vicious pump to the handle, sealing the door.
Festhar threw himself against the bulkhead. He screamed, he cried, he pleaded.
Kelran never heard.  But he knew.

[Yarin]

Yarin sat down as Cody slept, he had given him the extra gel bed.  The large gelatinous sphere was designed for maximum comfort for any species that used it.  It grew and reshaped itself to conform to human comfort standards.  He ran one more scan on himself he was trying to find a way to slow down the process but to no avail.  He knew no human medical treatment could help him. Neither could his own people even if they were here. He sighed and tried to fall asleep.

[traycon3]

Nichole made her way back to the college campus. She was a bit too wired to sleep at the moment, so instead, she headed for one of the cafeterias. She grabbed a smoothie and a few cookies before heading to a table in the almost empty seating area.
Frowning slightly, she stared at the cookies. "What should I do, huh? I mean, I'm not exactly violent. Far, far from it. But I agreed to do this. Maybe...should I try mixing it up a bit with my meds? Maybe that would help a bit. I'd definately be able to consentrate on stupid things. But, that might make things worse. Maybe I should just drop the other pill, but that'd make me hormonal for a few weeks. Like I want to be hormonal around the guys." Frustrated, she placed her head between her hands.
About two hours later, a member of the staff approached her. Shaking her lightly, she finally roused Nick. "Sweetie, I hate to say it, but we're about to close this cafeteria. But you can take the cookies, if you like."
"Huh?" Nick replied, wiping a bit of drool from the corner of her mouth. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Thanks, for, ya know, letting me take the cookies."
She walked out and went back to the dorm. "I really should get a morph for traveling across campus," she mused to herself as she drifted off to sleep.

[Chad32]

Cody's POV:

Cody woke up later in the morning than he usually did. The alien bed was the most comfortable thing in the world. He would be inclined to stay until noon, except Yarin said something about not feeling well. He left his room and went to Yarin's room.

To his surprise, Yarin was floating in the air. His skin was changing colors like some kind of disco ball. His body was stiff, and there was a pained expression on his face.

"Yarin! Are you ok?" He said, but Yarin didn't give an answer. Cody rushed over, and took him to the bed. However, now he was just hovering over the bed. If he fell, it would be a softer landing, though. He really didn't know what to do. Going to get Yarin medicine depended on him being in Human form, but giving it to him in his natural form could make things worse.

So he just sat there by his alien friend, and hoped he would get better.

(Due to the feedback pulse, this would be a time when Yarin learns of Cody's memories. It could be part of what helps them bond more as friends, once he finds out everything about Cody.)


Jason's POV:

Jason spent the night relieved that things had gone well, considering there situation. He got some rest so he could be ready for school the next morning.

The school day was pretty much the same. There weren't a lot of people running through the streets yelling about the Yeerks. Maybe they were too scared, or knew that way wouldn't help much. Or maybe they had already left town or been rounded up by the Yeerks. There was no way to tell, but he knew that somehow their group had to get better. They had to save the world.

[traycon3]

Nichole counted her blessings that she had meds. It forced her to consentrate, despite the fact that her mind wanted to wander. And, fortunately for her, the class she was able to consentrate best in was Spanish.
Unfortunately, this wasn't true for her Chem lab. She forgot to add an important ingredient and nearly caused a violent reaction. Fortunately, her partner caught her mistake and fixed it.
This just was not her morning.
She thanked her stars when it turned out her History of Rock class was canceled due to teacher illness. She couldn't take another class at that point.
So, instead she headed for the park. She really needed a bird morph and short of sneaking back into the place where she had gotten her panther morph, the park would be the best place.
So, off she went, after picking up some birdseed.
After a few trial and errors, she finally managed to get her hands around a seagull. She aquired it and sat there, staring at it for a few seconds. Then it came out of the trance and began squaking and pecking at her and trying to get away. Shreking a bit, she dropped it, and it flew off.
"Well..." she muttered. "That was random."
However, she didn't want to try the morph until the others were around.
So, she went to the mall. Specifically to the book store. Where one of her favorite mangas had been updated. She bought the books she needed to catch up on and went to Starbucks.
Coffee in one hand and a book in the other, she began reading.

[Yarin]

Even as he lay there near unconscious, Yarin knew what was happening to himself. First, a sickly orange light visible only to him came streaming out of every orifice. Then the rest of his body began to glow. Then the first energy pulse came, it was relatively weak.  It dissipated four feet away from him in a circle.  However, Yarin knew the worst was yet to come.  Soon his body became ridged and he fell to the floor, only to find himself hovering a foot off the ground a few moments later, unable to move as the excess psionic energy wracked him again.  Then came what some of his friends back home called the Torrent, a cascade of mental white noise consisting of the thoughts and emotions of every person within two miles.  Had he been on Nya Yarin would have the support of his friends and family plus trained doctors to help him in the event of a feedback pulse.
Oh Paox!  He thought. The feedback pulse. He was not sure if it would happen but if it did then Cody would be in for some rough times ahead. The second pulse hit him with the force of a Dracon beam His skin began to change color as he lost all control of his pigment cells, slowly at first then faster and faster until he looked like a flickering strobe.  Then the torrent came at him.  A metaphysical wave of Terran sky blue energy. It collided with his latest pulse and over powered it.  He felt his skull about to split.  It was too loud coming at him too fast. He cried out in pain "Arrrg!!!" and with that scream he felt a new sensation.  Most who entered the Narcon-Gleesh were weak in mental faculty. 
The psychic scars he had received during his time fighting the Yeerks had strengthened his resolve.
The pulses erupted from him faster than before increasing in intensity.  They reached the Torrent and pushed it back.  Oh no.  He thought. I just created a feedback pulse.  He still could not move, but at least the Torrent had stopped.
Then he looked into Cody’s mind he saw memories and what witnessed made his heart grow heav, with sorrow. It would all be over soon.  Finally after a few minutes he was lowered to the ground all signs that anything out of the ordinary had happened were gone save for a slight headache.  He opened his six eyes and just stared at Cody, neither of them said a word, there was no need to.

[Kelran-Isthinar]

It only took Kelran a few moments to over-ride the control sequencers and reverse the clamp polarization. The fore section blew away from the Legacy with a loud KACHUNK.
“Legacy to fore section! Stop what you’re doing now!”
Kelran ignored the communiqué.
The fore Ventral section of a Legacy class ship  is one of its smaller sections, to that end it is one of the most agile warships you’ll find in a three galaxy radius, being the smallest of the small sections it’s also a mere 240 feet long.
Kelran never knew, to his dying day, how he evaded the Kelbrid ships, maybe it was some unseen guiding force, innate piloting skills, the much speculated upon Gryphonic sixth sense, of which Kelran was unusually well endowed.
Or maybe it was dumb luck.
Once in range the array responded easily to his authorization codes, Verteron generators began to spin wildly generating a particle matrix that would deform zero-space properly to allow the jump.
Until this day, no one in the C-535 Galaxy had even thought of using Z-space as anything but an energy source.
But today would change all that.
The graviton emitters began to charge deforming the Z-space aperture, forcing a coherent conduit to form out of chaos…..
Kelran smiled grimly, Gryphons, despite having beaks, are oft one of the most expressive species in existence. This is because they are one of the most emotional species.
Kelran said a final prayer, set the gate’s vector for 21-alpha prime by 442 beta,  steeled himself, and tapped the panel.
Kelran’s last thought was “Ohhhhhh…. Skritht!” Which, in Gryphonic, is not a very nice word.
And the Kelbrid 5th attack wing, the GVG, and Kelran’s world, went all to pieces.

[Chad32]

Cody's POV:

After Yarin recovered, Cody told him about Emily. They got themselves some bird morphs, and flew to the rich part of town. Cody flew as a Golden Eagle, and Yarin flew as a Falcon. On the way there, Cody spotted a squirrel and made a meal out of it. After eating, the Eagle morph was easier to control than before.

<That was cool. Talk about fast food.> Cody said.

<What about fast food would you like to talk about?>

<It's just an expression. Look, that's Emily's part of town up ahead. I've seen her out and about before, though I never knew her. Her part of town is a gated community, and people aren't really allowed in unless they make six digit annual incomes. Some people like to sneak in and grab stuff to sell on the black market.>

<And you have seen her while sneaking around this gated community?>

<Yeah. Her house is up here. Remember to keep a good distance between us, so no one wonders why a Golden Eagle and Falcon are hanging out together.>


Emily's POV 

Emily had gone home to her parents house. It was about the same time she usually came home, except now there wasn't a Yeerk in her head. She really didn't know what to do. She went to supper, and ate in silence, then washed her plate and silverware and went to her room to study.

Eventually she went to bed and got some sleep, and woke up the next morning for school. She wondered if the boy was watching her or not. He actually looked like the kind of guy her parents warned her against, but he had gone down to the pool and helped save a bunch of people. As she drove to school, she noticed a Golden eagle flying over head. She actually noticed it twice more during school. It made her feel a little better.


Jason's POV:

With school in session, Jason and Nichole would be busy with classes and school work, and wouldn't have much time to go on a mission. They would have to wait until the weekend. After school, he went to Nichole's campus dorm, but her roommate said she had gone to the mall.

He found her there, sipping on coffee, and reading. "Hey Nichole. You want to hang out?"

[traycon3]

"Yah!" she yelled, jumping a bit. "Jeeze, don't scare me like that!" She tore herself from her book, as much as she wanted to continue, and looked up at him. "Ok. Now, what was that? Hanging? Uh, sure. Just give me a second. Kinda engrossed in the book." She smiled sheepishly and held it up.
"So...where do you wanna go?"

[Kelran-Isthinar]

“Penetration Vector achieved….. Penetration Vector Achieved…..”
Kelran groaned and sat up, taking stock of his limbs and bones as he went. Satisfied that he wasn’t severely injured in any way he stumbled to the helm console and smacked it into silence.
Then he looked out the view screen.
The Ship was surrounded by nothing but whiteness… yet it almost seemed like the emptiness had shape, volume, and velocity. No matter how many times he blinked he couldn’t shake the impression that he was moving very very fast.
Numbly, almost like an automaton, he tapped the helm controls. According to the computer, he was very close to coming out of the Z-Space conduit…. But he wouldn’t know where he was until he did.
If he did.  No one had ever tried traveling through Z-space before, much less a Z-space vector conduit.
He slumped back into the Commander’s chair and stared as the chronometer counted down the rotations, pings, and milli-pings to vector penetration point.
5… 4…..  3….. 2…………… 1.
The noise was deafening, a screaming howling of massive energies as the ship hurtled back into normal space, Kelran’s vision blurred as the resulting optical illusion produced a triple image of the ship around him.
When the maelstrom of motion light and noise finally ceased…. Kelran looked up.
The first thing that caught his eye was the slew of red status indicators that advertised he had lost more than half the ship’s systems. But his attention was almost instantly riveted on the view screen.
Below him, a beautiful planet spun lazily on its Axis. He was between the night-side and day side, and the view was spectacular…. It reminded him of his home, and for a brief moment, he felt a deep pang of loss. But this like the magnificent view was again swiftly driven from his mind by several a-tonal piercing alarms.
His talons flew over the panels, his instincts and training kicking in to bring him the information he needed…..
The ship was damaged, main drives offline, thruster quads at 47%, shields drained, ablative hull armor burned off in several patches, two hull breaches, one from the Kelbrid attack one from the Z-space exit….
And then the proximity alerts.
First and most obvious was that this alluring planet had him deep in the grip of its gravitational  field, a crash was therefore inevitable.
Second, was the ghostly half-sensor image of a huge ship… somewhere in orbit near him.
But there was no time to deal with that. Kelran set the sensors to attempt to determine his position, then turned to the task of making a survivable crash-landing.

[Chad32]

Jason's POV:

"Sorry." Jason said as he sat down. He looked around, and saw that no one was near them. Then he spoke in a low tone.

"I know we don't have much time for missions on school days, but I was thinking maybe we could go find a new morph or two. It would make us more ready for weekend missions, which would be our major window for missions. Then again, if we only go on missions on weekends that may become suspicious."

"Regardless, I'd like to go out and get a new morph or two. Do you want to help? We could practice some new morphs together."

[Yarin]

After watching Emily, Yarin and Cody flew for a bit more, getting a handle on controlling thier morphs.  Then when they were finished they went back to Yarin's ship to demorph and take a quick rest, when they woke up 30 minutes later Yarin morph to human and they went out looking for Nichole and Jason, they found them at the mall and Yarin asked what the next mission was.