Post by Esplin 9466 on Jul 19, 2006 0:43:39 GMT -5
The Persuasion
Done over YIM by Marco, Toby Hamee, and myself. ^^
Done over YIM by Marco, Toby Hamee, and myself. ^^
Jake smiled, clutching the joystick of the latest game that he and Marco were playing. He'd been playing video games with Marco, and of course, he'd gotten beaten. Marco was better at video games and seemed to have the "magic touch". Or maybe it was that he just had more practice.
He'd been feeling a little tired from the last mission; if he let this fatigue get to him, he felt he should be catching on sleep, but he really needed some down-time as well. There were bags under his eyes, and he'd noticed bags under the eyes of his friends as well.
Marco smirked as he pressed the button on his joystick, dealing the finishing blow to Jake's character. "Man, I beat you six times in a row. Most of the time you can at least win one. You doin' alright?"
The adorable boy knew, of course, that Jake was exhausted. Still, this was time they could be using to be normal for once. Marco wasn't about to let Jake waste the down time. The fearless leader seemed to have aged dramatically since the war had started.
"Tell you what, Jake, We can play another game. I've got one more quarter left. This time, I'll go easy on you." He winked at his best friend and pulled out a shiny quarter.
"I'm fine," Jake said. He was, in truth, thinking back to their mission. The Helmacrons had caused them a lot of misery that he wasn't going to forget. Cassie had been shrunk, and he had worried about her and the others while it was happening. Luckily, they were now okay.
He was glad, now that they had some downtime. He chuckled. "Go ahead." He was sure he'd beat him this time. If not, he'd just look pathetic, and he didn't like that.
"Right." Marco smirked, pretty sure he knew Jake well enough to know that he wasn't really fine. He popped the quarter into the slot of the game and pretended to crack his knuckles. "Don't cry when I beat you." He laughed and took hold of the joystick, ready to play, and win.
Jake gripped his joystick, grinning. He was ready. He pressed the button.
BLAM! BLAM!!
His character shot his gun at Marco's. And it got him thinking. Thinking about the earlier mission, when the man had shot out at Rachel's bear-morph, and, instead of pulling out, she went barreling toward him. She'd nearly died in that battle.
BLAM! BLAM!!!
Jake's character fell dead…
Marco tugged at the stick, making his character dodge. Jake really wasn't playing well this time. He aimed a shot, and pushed the button...Jake's character never even tried to dodge, and fell dead.
"Dude...you need to pay more attention." He quirked a brow as he spoke, "Maybe we should just head back to my place..."
Jake was exhausted. He hadn't been able to do much. He kept reliving moments from past battles, wondering…why did it have to be them? Why did they almost always end up suffering from things that should be victories.
He nodded. "Yeah. Just preoccupied. And tired." He yawned, loudly, placing his hand over his mouth as he did. "Didn't your dad say he was making his famous chili?"
He turned. As he did, he saw Erek outside. This didn't bode too well. Because wherever there was Erek, there was news. Not all of it was good. Not usually.
"Nah, no chili. It's my night to cook..." As he turned to leave he spotted the android and rolled his eyes, "Great. Here comes bad news." He sighed as he ran a hand over his dark hair. He was thinking of regrowing it...he'd liked it long, and kinda missed his fingers trailing through it.
Rachel carried her shopping bags bulging with all sorts of items of clothing handpicked by her from the Gap and The Limited and other clothing stores.
She ran her hand through her shimmering blonde hair that never seemed to get messy or tangled and flashed a million dollar smile as she walked by the video arcade. Wait out of the corner of her eye who was that she spotted? She was so distracted she bumped into someone.
Marco and Jake were who she saw. And the guy she'd bumped into: Erek. Cliché cliché.
Marco quirked a brow as the hot blond collided with the Chee. He began casually walking towards them and waved, "Hey. What's up you guys?" He cast a look up and down Rachel's frame, 'pretending' to evaluate her, "You tracked me down at the mall, huh? How creepy yet touching. I'm flattered to have you as a stalker."
His dark gaze turned to Erek with a look that said 'You I'm not so thrilled to see'. Jake and I were gonna head back to my place if you guys wanna walk with us."
"Sure," Erek replied. "There's something I need to tell you anyway." He flashed a holographic smile. "Now there are no worries. All everyone else will see is just a group of giggling teenage girls talking about what clothes they want.
"Now. Down to business." He cast a glance at Jake, who was now worried, but prepared for this information he was going to give them. "The Yeerks have a new facility. It's a lab, but we don't know its location. The Yeerks are keeping it top-secret because it's sensitive material.
"However, they were reports of raids. Guards reported a group of Hork-Bajir storming the facility as it was being built." He stopped talking, and Jake knew. He knew it. The free Hork-Bajir. Toby and the others knew where the facility was. And, knowing Toby, they wouldn't dare to give it up.
"What are they doing in this facility?" he questioned, curious as to why Erek was telling him this.
"A certain Visser Five is going to arrive tonight. I don't know exactly who he is, but I'm sure it has something to do with the two projects, which are code-named Project Seer and Project Avian. Have any idea what they might be?"
Jake thought for a moment. Avian…birds? Seer…like the Hork-Bajir?
Yay! Another fight! Another chance to kick Yeerk butt and foil another Visser's dastardly plan! A chance to meet another bad guy and kick his butt. Rachel was so for this that she said, "Well we should ask Toby about it. And if there is a chance of storming the facility, let's do-"
Girls? Why did Marco have to be a holographic girl? Couldn't it be a hologram of a bunch of girls hanging all over him instead? He listened to Erek, and then heard Rachel giving her catch phrase, "Yeah, yeah...let's do it, we know. But shouldn't we wait to get ourselves killed until we know what these projects really are." He took a breath and paused to think. "Seer, like Toby. So, smart Hork-Bajir...maybe they're trying to increase the walking salad shooter's intelligence? And avian...I'm no bio-freak, but that's a bird...right? So, are they trying some new flyin' hosts?"
"Yeah, I figured that," Jake said. "So, probably trying to make bird hosts and smarter Hork-Bajir. This could be a problem, if they succeed. This would mean Hork-Bajir that could think well enough to figure out strategies. Not good for the Animorphs, especially since it was hard enough battling them already. And flying hosts? These would be even more of a risk.
"Oh," said Erek. "It gets worse. Obviously, Visser Five has just finished conquering a race called the Perit Hur. Rumor has it that these creatures can see in the dark."
Jake frowned. Even more to worry about. A Yeerk host that could see in the dark was dangerous. He'd have to call an emergency meeting, he decided, at the Hork-Bajir valley, because they needed Toby too.
"Great...so now we have to worry about walking night vision goggles too?" Marco sighed and shook his head, "This party just keeps getting better. How are we supposed to use darkness for cover to morph in if they can se us? We can't...that's the answer."
Two girls came walking past. One, Jake knew as Sara. The other, he didn't know the name of. Jessica? Jasmine? No wait, Jamie. She was this really quiet, but very pretty girl who was in special-ed and sat around flapping her hand and reading science fiction books all the time.
"My parents are both at this club," Jamie said, rolling her eyes. "They call it the Sharing. Supposed to be like Boy Scouts or something. I don't get it."
Jake was glad that no one could hear what they were saying.
Sara laughed. "Oh, the Sharing. I'm a Full Member. It's really great, Jamie. You should join. You'd fit right in; after all, you need to make some friends."
Jake cast a worried glance at Marco and Rachel. This meant he'd have to add Sarah to his list of Controllers. "Is that all?" he asked, turning to Erek.
"Yeah."
Rachel grinned. This probably meant a battle though she wasn't too sure the Hork-Bajir rebels would tell them the location of the base knowing them. "So what are we going to do about this? We don't know the location of this base and Visser Five's arriving tonight so if we're gonna kick his butt then we need to act fast and coax Toby into telling us."
Marco rolled his eyes at Rachel's death wish, "First off, we don't even know for sure what we're up against. Toby's been doing raids, so maybe she can help us with that. Then we can worry about convincing her to tell us where the base is."
Jake nodded. "Maybe they can let us join them on their raids. Though I'd really like to find out what we're going up against, as Marco said. Anyway, we need to talk it over with the others. Where will Visser Five be arriving?"
"The research facility," Erek said. "They can cloak and land it, and the base has an underground hangar. There's also a Yeerk pool entrance there. That much I know. And I've just received some more intel on Visser Five on CheeNet. Apparently, his Yeerk name is Intram 149, and he's got an elite band of Hork-Bajir guards, rivaled only by the Blue-bands. They're called the Green-bands, and he trained them himself. This may give you a fair idea of what you're up against."
Jake sighed. This would be worse than he thought. Not only did this Yeerk have Controllers with night-vision under his command, but a group of deadly and elite Hork-Bajir warriors? Why hadn't they told him sooner?
"Then I guess we should find out the location of the base from Toby and scout it out," Rachel said. An elite band of Hork-Bajir warriors? What fun. They didn't stand a chance against Rachel. She'd knock them over like bowling pins.