Disclaimer: I am not KAA, and I do not own the Animorphs or any related names. ;)
A/N: This is my first fanfic posted on FFN, so please read and review. If I get enough reviews, I'll post my other fanfics and more chapters of this one. Thanks, Alara-Sirinial-Amalon
"Number Four-Six-Three!" the voice called over the speaker. "What do you think you are doing?"
I looked down at the small book that I had been writing in. "I am completing my journal entry for the day, sir."
The speaker crackled. "Very good. Carry on."
"Another day of my life, gone," I muttered as I wrote. "I live out my life in this bland room, never seeing the light of day. I have never seen another being in my entire life. What do I even look like? I cannot see my own reflection. They make sure of that. I could be blue with green hair, for all I know. I speak to these scientists by way of a communication device. Why must they study me? I feel that I am no different from any other being on this planet. But then again, I don't know anything about them, except for what I read. I write this every day, hoping that I may convince the scientists to let me out. But my hopes are fading as I near my seventeenth birthday. If they don't let me out to experience the world by then, then they never would."
I put my pen down on the bed and laid the journal by the small opening at the bottom of the door. A hand reached in and grabbed it.
They let me see a hand. They must be getting careless.
A sheet of paper slipped through the opening.
Four-Six-Three,
Your whining will not convince us to let you out.
--Jake
Why couldn't I have a normal name like that? Why am I just a number?
"Four-Six-Three," the speaker began, "please report to the testing room."
That startled me. "I am to leave this room, sir?"
"You were given orders. You must follow them."
Two people dressed in black from head to toe escorted me to the testing room.
I was locked in another room, this time with a computer screen. It was an LCD screen, so I couldn't see my own reflection.
I sat down in the chair and waited for my orders. At the table in front of me were various objects that I recognized from pictures: a baseball, a paperclip, a penny, and a dollar bill.
"Four-Six-Three?" a voice asked from behind me.
I turned to find another black-clothed person.
"Yes?"
"You are to complete this task which you have been training for your entire life. This is to prove if you will be right for a much larger task that we have in store for you. Today, we will find out if your creation was a mistake."
"Creation?"
"Genetics. You know all about that, I assume, considering the amount of reading material you consume. You are a 'super human', created in a laboratory."
"So I'm human?"
The figure nodded. "Mostly, but by far stronger than any real human."
I sighed. I knew it was true. Deep down, I'd always known it. "What's my task?"
"I want you to change into your other form. Rip the baseball open with your claws. Then I want you to take the paperclip and levitate it with your mind. You can do that, I am told. After that, I want you to take the penny, hold it in your fist, and melt it. As for the dollar bill…I will explain that to you when you complete your task."
"Other form?"
"You know what I am talking about."
I nodded. I understood. I closed my eyes and felt the familiar sensation as layers of muscle were added to my body. I felt my retractable claws form and my teeth become sharp. My vision and hearing became more acute. My sense of smell was far powerful than any human's.
The black figure pressed itself against the wall. Obviously, it was scared of me.
It was a nice feeling.
I turned to the task at hand. Rip up that pathetic baseball? No problem. I was well-equipped for doing things like that. Levitating the paper clip? I had been doing things like that since I was four. As for the penny, I handed the hot lump of copper to the black figure as I returned to my normal body.
I stared at the person as I stuck my hand out behind me. The dollar bill automatically landed in it, as things always did.
"Who are you?" I asked him.
He pulled off the mask, and I finally saw what a human looked like. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. He was very professional looking, I suppose. I wouldn't know.
"So this is a human?" I said, circling him. "Not very interesting."
The door opened, and more black figures stepped in. One by one, they removed their masks.
I circled them, which seemed to make them nervous. One woman was writing something. I took it from her, and read it aloud:
" 'The young girl circles us as if she was a predator, stalking her prey'. Is that what you think I am? Some kind of animal?"
She cleared her throat. "Actually, you are our planet's only chance for survival. You are to form a group of six, including yourself. You and your group will fight our enemy. Right now, you are to read all of the information we have on this enemy."
"What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked, holding up the dollar.
The scientists looked at each other, excited.
"Four-Six-Three, you are about to try your first human soda," one of them said.
I was nervous as they handed me a cold bottle of brown carbonated liquid and took my dollar.
"She just made her first purchase," one said proudly.
I drank the soda quickly. I closed the bottle and handed it to the nearest person.
They looked at me expectantly.
"It was okay," I said. "Actually it was a lot better than anything I've ever consumed in my life."
"Um, Jake?" one woman said to the man who had watched me complete my task. "I think you need to work with her on vocabulary. She sounds like an alien."
He motioned for me to follow him out of the room. We stepped in a smaller room with a table and two chairs. I sat in one and he closed the door.
"Jake?" I asked. "I have a question for you."
He smiled. "Anything."
"What do I look like?"
He laughed.
"No, this isn't funny. I know what you look like, I know what the other people looked like, but I have never seen my own face."
He realized that I was serious. He pulled a small communication device from his clothing and called for something called a "mirror".
"What is a mirror?"
"It's a device to see one's reflection."
An older man entered the room and handed Jake a mirror, which he then handed to me.
I looked at it and saw a young female with light brown hair and green eyes. She was pretty.
"Is that me?"
Jake nodded. "Now why don't you take a look at your other form."
I changed and looked into the mirror. I saw the same female, but slightly altered. Her eyes were darker and the pupils were similar to those of a cat. I opened my mouth and revealed two rows of sharp teeth. I moved the mirror away from my body and saw the muscles up and down my body.
"This is amazing," I said.
He smiled and took the mirror from me. "You are amazing."
"I'm a walking killing machine."
"You are a wonderful new species."
I glared at him and he jumped back, his chair scraping the floor.
"You're scared of me."
"Yes I am."
"What have I ever done to you?"
"Nothing."
"Then why do you back away?"
"We know nothing about you. You are unknown territory."
I laughed. It was a harsh, guttural sound. "And you people trust me to save your planet?"
"It's your planet too."
"No. I do not have a planet. If I had a planet, I would be living in it, participating in it. Not stuck here in this place. If it was my planet, I would go to a normal school, have a normal name. I wouldn't be a number in the world. I would be identified by a combination of letters that formed an identification tag."
"I'm sorry."
I was on a roll. "No. Don't apologize. I understand that I was created by scientists in a lab. I understand that I was created for one purpose only and that as soon as I complete my task, I will be eliminated. But I am a person. A living, breathing person. I don't care what you think, but you took almost seventeen years of life away from me."
"I understand, but—"
"No. If you were in my shoes, would you be content to just serve your purpose and then die?"
He shook his head. "No I wouldn't."
