Disclaimer: Animorphs are not my property. All I own is the story and the characters I created. Read and Review. Also, maybe the name Animen isn't the best, and if any alternatives are presented I'll consider them, but I've grown accustomed to it, and for now it stays.
Mark
I was in my room, pacing. Kevin is a Controller. I am one of the Animen. Kevin is a Controller, and I am one of the Animen. We are enemies. Friends and enemies. He is my friend. He is the enemy. No, he's just controlled by the enemy. He is a slave to the enemy. I am his friend. I am not his enemy, I am his friend and I will save him.
My thoughts were all running into each other as I waited for the others to get here. It was Friday. I had my Agriculture GE class at 6, and we were going to be meeting to discuss Kevin before the class. Discuss the Yeerks, then go to class. Morph animals, and then be human for everyone else. It was all getting mixed up.
I heard someone knock and I answered, seeing Amy standing in tears.
"Are you sure?" She asked me.
"Am I sure, what?" I said, confused by her appearance.
"Is he a Controller?" she asked.
I said nothing and instead looked at the ground. She let out a soft moan and ran into me. I held her, and as she sobbed into my chest I tried to stop her shaking, but I knew that I was shaking just as hard.
"It's alright. It's alright." I repeated that over and over. A mantra to keep me sane. Everything was ok. Her body shook in my arms, and I knew I couldn't really do anything.
"We know now." I said, trying to assure both her and myself. "We know, and we have this power. We can stop them. I don't know how, and I'm sure that not even Darek, Ben, or even Ane know how, but we will figure it out. We will save him."
She stepped back and continued to sob quietly, but her trembling was slowing. I led her in, and we sat in silence for a long while waiting for the others to arrive.
Don came in after a few minutes, probably from one of his runs, and went to shower before the others could arrive, since we had class together. Finally we were all in the room.
"So what do we know," Darek asked cautiously.
I took a deep breath and said, "We know that the Yeerks have the Sharing. We can't tackle that yet, but we also know they have KTE. I say we go in and try to destroy the Yeerk pool there."
"Ane," Ben said, "What happens if we can destroy the Yeerk pool?"
Ane was in her Andalite form, having arrived as a duck, and demorphing inside. ((We are not sure that this is the only Yeerk pool. You say it is only accessible to males of this KTE group, and so there is probably another one for the females. Both must be pretty small, just large enough for this group. My theory is that this small group is to recruit more host bodies and so there is most likely a larger pool somewhere for the Sharing.))
"So taking this pool, won't do a whole lot of damage?" Ben asked.
((Well it will slow them down. These males will be without Kandrona rays. Their Yeerks will die. It will be a large inconvenience for the Yeerks.))
"So what's our plan? We morph ducks and quack them to death?" Don asked.
((Quack?)) Ane asked.
""It's the sound the duck makes, Ane."
((Ah, I did not realize the sound was fatal to humans. I was wondering what kind of defense mechanism the animal had.))
We stared at her, and one by one we fell into hysterical laughter.
"He was—he was—joking," I gasped out in between bursts of laughter.
((Joking?))
After we settled down, Don tried to explain joking. "It's when you say something funny, or ironic, or sarcastic."
((Funny.))
"Humorous," I added, trying to be helpful.
"Forget it, Ane." Darek said.
"Seriously though," Ben said. "How about this, we get new morphs, something small, so we can get into the Frat house, and then something big for once we're there. We can morph, let's do something dangerous. Tomorrow we can head to the zoo, and get something so we can destroy the pool."
I was quiet and so was everything else. It was almost as if we hadn't realized what we were doing until now. I had been worried for Kevin, and I had been scared for myself as we first morphed, but now I realized that there was still a bigger part. We still had to fight.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Tomorrow we go."
"Alright," Don said, "Me and Mark have a class now, so let's meet back here tomorrow morning."
Everyone left slowly until only Don, Amy, and I were left.
"Kevin's in your Agriculture class isn't he?" She asked me.
"Yeah," I said, looking at her feet.
"Alright, well, just… be careful." She looked at me and then turned to leave.
"C'mon man," Don said quietly. "We'll be late."
So, I headed down the stairs with Don, ready to meet up with Kevin.
Amy
As I walked down the stairs headed for my room, I kept my head down, trying to block out everything that was going on. I had to get to my room. I had to hurry. I was in such a rush and not looking, that I ended up running straight into someone.
"I'm sorry," I began, but when I looked up I saw Kevin's face staring at me oddly. "Kevin!"
"Hey Amy. Where have you been? I haven't seen you all week." He said.
We had been ignoring him for the last week. It seemed impossible to look at him and think that there could be something like a Yeerk in him. Now we knew. I wasn't talking to Kevin. I was talking to the Yeerk who had taken over his entire self.
"Hey, Kevin. I guess I've been really busy lately." I said.
"Yeah? Well, I'm going to go, I have class."
"Alright, I'll see you later," I said, wishing I could say more.
I knew, though, there was nothing I could say. That's not to say, that I couldn't do something. I had been planning something. I was going to send Kevin a message.
Back in my room I quickly changed out of my outer clothes, leaving only the leotard I wore underneath. I knew he was different, from the beginning. He had been colder. It was a subtle change, but I knew something was different.
In my room I headed for a glass jar and picked it up, looking at the small creature inside. I picked it up and felt the DNA flow into me. I opened the window, and let the small red and black polka-dotted insect fly away. Then I headed back out, ready to follow behind Don, Mark, and Kevin.
I stopped at the stairs where we morphed, becoming a duck, and followed them from the dormitories to the bus that would take them down a few blocks to the outskirts of town where Agriculture classes were held on the school's farm grounds. I followed the long yellow bus from above, trying to assure myself of what I was doing. It was reckless and it was stupid, but I had to do it.
When we realized that Kevin might be a controller I started having nightmares. The idea of being controlled by something alien was horrifying. I needed Kevin to know that we would save him.
At the farm grounds the bus stopped and a dozen or so kids emptied it onto the wet grass. I tilted my wings aiming and letting myself fall slowly in that strange way the duck has of landing. I could make out Kevin and the others and I quickly waddled over behind the large red main building. I focused on myself, and began to demorph. I felt my bill slurp into my face leaving soft lips and a nose on a growing face. I felt the feathers melt away into skin and my hair exploded from behind my head. I was a girl, out of place in skin tight clothing, but there was more. I looked around cautiously and began to morph again. I shrunk, much faster than before. My skin became black and crisp, as if it were burnt, and my arms thinned and shrunk as a new set of legs erupted from my stomach. Around my head a hard casing grew from my hair. A pair of thin and fragile wings emerged from behind and soon the bright red shell came over them.
I looked around with my eyes, weak and in black and white. I moved around and felt a strange sensation. The ladybug was small, but it was filled with a sense of calmness. There was an absence of fear, and I suddenly realized that I had no need for any of this. I moved my red shell and flew on my gossamer wings. I landed to rest and found myself on a leaf filled with delicious aphids. I quickly went to work devouring the tasty treats, until I felt something immense grab hold of me. I felt the air vibrate and soon realized I was hearing words.
"Now, class, remember that these little creatures are our friends. Look at how she's been eating all those nasty aphids off of our vegetables."
I looked around crawling on this new and tan terrain, with wrinkles and fleshy ground. I was gently put back and heard more voices.
"I'm telling you, joining KTE was the best decision I ever made. My life has never been better."
I recognized that voice. It was Kevin. This was his class, but who was he talking to?"
"I don't know, I'm not really into the idea of Greek Life." Another voice said timidly.
"Believe me; KTE is different than other fraternities. We are closer to our members. It's like a real family."
He was recruiting more people. I took off and headed for that voice. I landed on blue fabric, what I assumed to be his jeans and did what I came here to do. Maybe I couldn't save him yet, but I was going to send him a message. All I would need to do is tell him to hang on. That's it.
"There is one thing though," Kevin continued. "You have to go through an initiation."
"Initiation" the other voice asked.
"Luckily for you, we can do it here." Kevin said in a strange manner.
"What kind of initiation?" the boy asked.
"It's really easy. We have a container, kind of like a pool hidden on the grounds here. All you have to do is hold your breath and go underwater for 1 minute. Then you're in."
"That's it? Then I'm in KTE?'
"Exactly."
They didn't say anything after that, but I knew I had to stop this. I would find Mark and Don and tell them. They might be mad about me coming, but we couldn't let the Yeerks get this boy.
First though, I aimed my thought-speak at Kevin. I tried my best to make it a quiet voice, barely audible and hopefully unrecognizable. ((Kevin. Kevin, hold, on. We're going to save you. We're going to free you.)) I felt the ground I was on shake as he turned looking for the voice. I took off and headed through the air. I called Mark and Don. ((Mark, Don, it's Amy. Where are you guys?)) They couldn't answer me back, I realized, as they wouldn't be in morph and thus were unable to use thought-speak. Then I heard something.
"Hey Don! What are you doing here by the TOMATOES?" said Mark in a loud voice even I could hear, and I almost laughed heading for the vines of tomato.
((Guys, I'm the ladybug on this tomato!))
After a few seconds I felt myself being picked up again.
"People are going to think I'm crazy for talking to a ladybug, but why are you a ladybug?" said Mark.
((It doesn't matter,)) I said, ((Kevin is trying to recruit someone into KTE right now! He said something about a pool here on the farm grounds!))
"A Yeerk pool here?" asked Don.
((We have to stop him!)) I said.
"Well what can we do?" Don asked.
Mark was quiet and then he said, "I've got a plan. Amy, go demorph and then morph back to duck. Get on the roof of the barn. Keep surveillance and tell us what's going on. I think I know how we can stop them."
((Alright)) I said, releasing my wings from inside their shell.
"Wait a minute," Mark said. "Did you say anything to Kevin since you've been here?"
I said nothing and instead headed off to morph.
Don
I headed away from the gardens following Mark. There was a Yeerk pool here? What good did this place do to the Yeerks? We walked around the vines of tomato and the vegetable plants from other classes. We quickly walked from the garden area to the gates the led into the other half of the farmlands. This was where they kept their animals.
"What exactly are you planning?" I asked.
"We have to stop Kevin, but we don't know where this Yeerk Pool is so we need him to lead us there." He said.
"And?" I asked not understanding.
"And, he won't do that. But if we start a distraction we can follow him without him knowing." He said walking towards the chicken coop.
"A distraction?" I asked.
"Yeah, a distraction. Now, go open the gate for the horses. I'll get the chickens. Then the cows. Go!" he said already fiddling with the clasp.
I did as he told me and opened the gate surrounding the horses. Then I headed for the cows. As I let the door open I heard a shout and turned just in time to see Mark messing with a lock high on a gate only to fall into the field where 2 bulls were grazing.
"Mark!" I yelled running over.
I saw the 2 bulls instantly turn and run towards him. As I ran I saw him stand and try to get over the gate he fell over. When he realized he couldn't he started running. I made it to the fence and saw him run past me. The bulls were right behind him. Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed one of the bulls. He pulled me forward for a few seconds, but as I concentrated he calmed down, and I felt the DNA wash into me. Now there was only one bull following Mark. It slowed in front of him and Mark followed what I did and reached out to acquire it. As soon as the animal was in a trance Mark ran to the gate and practically leaped over the fence.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, Thanks. Now we just need to find Kevin." He answered.
As the animals made their way around the grounds the students and teachers tried to grab at the chickens and for the horses. It would have been a little funny if it weren't for the fact that we had things to do.
((Guys, I'm on the roof of the tool shed. I see Kevin. He's heading for the barn)) It was Amy and we quickly turned to look at the duck standing still on the brown shed where the basic gardening tools were kept. Then we turned back and headed for the barn.
Around us was chaos, but we had to keep focused. As we neared the barn we finally caught sight of Kevin and another kid walking ahead of us. We sped up and followed as close as we could without them seeing us. Inside of the barn Kevin headed to a stall that would have normally been occupied by a horse. The boy turned around and said something and started to fall back. Kevin glared at him and grabbed his arm. The boy tried to get away but Kevin was stronger and they headed into the stall.
I looked at Mark and we waited but they didn't come out. Slowly we got closer and closer until we could see the empty stall.
"Where did they go?" I asked. Mark didn't answer but instead got closer and as he stepped into the stall he disappeared. "Mark!" I yelled. Then he reappeared.
"It's got to be a hologram or something." He said. "There's a staircase inside. Let's go."
"Are you sure?" I asked. "We don't know what's down there. Maybe we should come back with Ane and the others."
"Kevin isn't Kevin anymore. We're going to have to save him, but first we have to stop this from happening to that kid."
I looked at Mark for a while and then nodded. We slowly headed down the stairs hoping to stop Kevin, but we were not prepared for what we saw. It was like an underground mall. There were short buildings around the edges, and supplies stacked in boxes set up around the walls, but in the center was a round pool about 20 feet in diameter. We quickly ran to hide behind a pile of boxes labeled canned goods. Around the room were a few people walking around, and there were some creatures I instantly recognized from a description Ane gave us. I couldn't remember what she called them, but they looked vicious. They were tall and covered in blades, and looked like monsters. There were a dozen or so hanging in groups around the area. In the back corner, though was the worst part. People screaming and kicking in cages. Some were familiar faces from school, people I saw in the halls, but didn't really know. Others I didn't know at all, but it was scary.
I looked at Mark and saw as he noticed the cages and his face began to change. It was angry and filled with hurt and sadness. I looked around again and saw Kevin leading the boy to the edge of the pool. When I looked back to Mark he was still getting angrier. His face was changing quickly, and then I noticed the small horns coming from his head. The fur showing itself on his arms which began to grow huge and disproportionate. The shirt he's been wearing stretched and then began to rip.
"Mark get a hold of yourself. We have to get out!" I said, but his morph continued. He grew and grew until he was on all fours. "Mark!" Suddenly he started running. No, not running, charging. Straight at Kevin.
