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Post by Drake on Aug 22, 2010 18:24:46 GMT -5
 As much as he hated to admit it, Escar could see Quar's point. The YPM shouldn't have to rely on the animorphs. But if he was going to go along those lines of thinking, then he shouldn't have to rely on his own host either. Yeerks shouldn't have to depend on other species, but if they wanted to experience the world in any reasonable capacity, they would have to deal with it. And the fact of the matter was, the animorphs could do things that the YPM just couldn't do on their own. Their situation was a lot like a getting a tooth pulled. Escar was trying to go to the dentist, but Quar was trying to tie a string to a doorknob and slam it shut. Just as Escar was about to try and explain his point, Suji lunged and knocked the dracon beam away. It was all so sudden that Escar hardly had time to react. "Well that changes things a little," he muttered to himself. He clenched his own dracon beam that was in his hand and eyed up the helicopter. <<What are you thinking?>> Thomas asked. <<Worst-case scenarios, that's all.>> He didn't want to shoot at it, mostly because of all the possible dangerous repercussions, but now that there was only one major threat to target he would have to at least consider it. |
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Post by Aubrey on Aug 24, 2010 2:44:11 GMT -5
<<Yeah, I think I do,>> Aubrey said in reply to Suji, the pain causing her to wince. As for Quar's shouting, she was biting her tongue. Who exactly was he with? Some wayward branch of the YPM? He didn't sound like he was from the Empire, but she could be wrong. Still, this whole scenario did nothing to ease her aversion towards the Yeerk Peace Movement--the only YPM Aubrey had ever come across had gotten in the way or gotten other people killed. All the while, they wrapped their slimy little bodies around some person's brain and called it "peaceful." Peaceful would be leaving the planet and leaving humanity alone. Peaceful would be swimming in some dirty yeerk pool somewhere else. Not wearing human bodies--much like "normal" Yeerks--and demanding the right to steal important information from the Animorphs.
<<You first. I'll watch him.>> Suji's thought-speak gave Aubrey the cue to begin demorphing. Through the steady throb of pain, Aubrey concentrated on a mental picture of herself. The first change was her hair; it sprouted at the top of her head, lengthening until it dangled well past her cheeks. Next, the thick fat and muscle of the Cape Buffalo began to melt off in chunks. The sight was odd, in the least: For a good ten seconds she looked like some sort of thin, gangly, four-hooved creature with a shock of long, blonde hair hanging from its head. Then, steadily, Aubrey began to shrink. The blood that was oozing from the wound on her flank began to fade--along with the wound itself--and her brown fur sucked itself back into her skin.
A few minutes later, Aubrey was fully human. The scuffle between Suji and Quar had gone mostly unheard throughout her demorph, and she looked momentarily surprised at the dracon beam at her feet. Then Aubrey swept it off the ground and glanced towards Quar. The yeerk was just shakily getting back on his feet, a look of apprehension and fear on his face, one hand rubbing the one Suji had knocked with her massive paw. His face had grown a deep red--not out of anger, exactly, but embarrassed frustration. Quar didn't seem to know exactly what to do. The helicopter cover above seemed to make him more brave than he would have usually been, but at the same time he wasn't willing to risk his host's body in an attempt to grab some measly dracon beam. They already had a dracon cannon pointed at the group, that was enough for him.
"Finished," Aubrey said to Suji. The dracon beam wasn't quite pointed at Quar, but if something happened he'd only be a wrist flick away. Aubrey glanced around, wondering about the Taxxons. There hadn't been any wind of them yet, but she was sure that they were on their way. If they weren't already beneath them.
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Post by Suji on Aug 28, 2010 14:47:34 GMT -5
Suji felt better now that Aubrey had the gun, and not Quar. One more thing she now had control over. It didn't change the fact of the helicopter or its heavy weapons, but it was at least some progress. Before she started to demorph, Suji's big ears twitched. She thought she felt some rumbling tickle the pads of her paws as well. In a motion that she was pretty sure no real lion would ever do, Suji hunched forward so that she could put the side of her massive head to the ground. The lion's hearing was certainly better than her own human ears. What she heard was disturbing. There was a steady scratching, shifted noise, and it was hard to judge its distance. <<Let's spread out more.>> Suji said. At least if the ground opened up, hopefully not everyone would be caught in the pit. She stood back up on all fours, and internally assessed her wounds. Her belly was stained with blood, but all her organs were still inside of it. Her flank was missing a decent chunk of flesh. It really would be best to demorph, but stopping for any length of time was making her more and more nervous. Suji had seen people run and morph at the same time, but it was always from human to animal. Moving and going from two legs to four was a lot easier than four to two. She was a pretty competent morpher, and she could probably get back to human in about a minute and a half, but they'd already been standing here for a while. <<Let's go.>> Suji told them all. "I hear you. Infrared is going crazy up here. You guys need to move," the voice from the helicopter boomed down. While Suji fought the urge to bare her fangs in a snarl at being instructed by whatever traitor was flying above them, safe from their danger, it confirmed her suspicions. <<All right.>> She started moving, and Samantha began moving again as well. Suji tried not to focus on all her aches and pains, shutting them off from herself. Sooner or later it would catch up with her, but there were bigger problems to worry about now. |
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Post by Drake on Aug 28, 2010 17:54:05 GMT -5
Escar retightened his grip on the horse's mane when Samantha spread out further from the group like Suji suggested. He was a little nervous about moving away from the other animorphs. Especially if his briefcase really was the only reason the helicopter wasn't shooting right now. A couple seconds after they spread out, they began to head to their destination once again. It was hard to stay on the back of the horse at first, but by now Escar had developed a sort of rhythm with Samantha's stride. He could probably avoid falling off as long as she didn't go to fast or try anything fancy. <<How much further?>> Thomas asked. <<I'm not sure. You know that. We left the map back in the jeep. Do you see a stop sign around here anywhere? The rendezvous point is supposed to be near there.>> <<Well, gee, I would be glad to help you look but we kind of share a pair of eyes.>> Escar made a point to roll those very eyes in annoyance. <<It's a good thing you have me with you right now, otherwise you would have wet your pants long ago. Actually, it's not too late. How would you like to wet them right now?>> <<Don't you dare.>> Escar considered it, but this was neither the time nor the place. Besides, he didn't want to involve the animorph he was ridding on in the squabbles he was having with his host. He was about to issue another snappy comeback, but just then the ground began to rumble. "That can't be good." |
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Post by Aubrey on Aug 31, 2010 2:34:56 GMT -5
Quar blundered unsteadily ahead of Aubrey, still slightly thrown off by his fearful encounter with the white lion. Aubrey had distanced herself to the left of everyone, carefully minding each step she took. The thought that Taxxons may be digging beneath them had her entire body tensed and ready to run. She wasn't the massive Cape Buffalo anymore, and she could just see one of those huge centipedes bursting up right beneath her and swallowing her whole without a problem. The thought caused her grip on the the dracon beam to tighten, and a tiny shiver touched her spine. Best to just keep moving on.
Her bare feet brushed against the broken terrain, and she sidestepped around various broken bottles and pieces of trash littering her path. After a few more steps, Aubrey glanced up and over at the others. She didn't have the luxury of thought-speech anymore, and so was about to ask aloud if anyone thought that they were close to the rendezvous--they'd been walking awhile, it seemed, and no doubt everyone was more than anxious to get this tense situation over with--when she felt something beneath her. A small movement in the ground beneath her bare feet, a steadily growing shaking. The ground rumbled. The YPM escort seemed to have felt and heard it as well. The Taxxons had to have caught up with them.
"I think we may want to pick up speed, here," Aubrey said between clenched teeth. She was already walking quite a bit faster herself now, still keeping a cautious distance away from Quar. After a few hurried steps, she glanced backwards to the spot where they'd been standing around. The ground there was shifting and churning, and the usually flat surface had grown into a deepening depression. More Taxxons.
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Post by Suji on Aug 31, 2010 23:39:39 GMT -5
The lion was unhappy. The injuries would have been mortal if infection had time to settle in, but Suji supposed that she'd either be dead or demorphed long before that was an issue.
More Taxxons. Suji took inventory.
Two Controllers. One they needed alive, with his briefcase, as part of their mission. The other could rot in hell for all she cared.
One helicopter with more Controllers. Invested in keeping them alive, for now, and armed with a dracon canon.
One horse, carrying their mission target.
One Animorph with a pretty good battle morph, currently human.
And herself: morphed for battle but injured.
<<Samantha, go to the rendezvous. Escar, hold on. You in the helicopter? If you want the case so badly, make sure they make it out of here alive.>> That left Quar's fate with them, which hopefully meant he'd behave himself. And also that the helicopter team wouldn't completely fuck them over, if his life depended on them. Then again, they were traitors. They could just leave him.
"Don't think so," the voice from the helicopter came back. An arc of dracon fire shot out in front of Samantha, who barely reared in time to avoid it. Escar, not exactly a cowboy and already off-balance from the suitcase, took a tumble to the dirt. "We need that suitcase. Now."
<<This isn't a good time->>
"It's the only time you have. Hand it over."
Quar, taking his leaders cue, began to move towards Escar.
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Post by Drake on Sept 5, 2010 16:40:24 GMT -5
Escar didn't even have time to think as Samantha reared back and he lost his grip. His host body fell backward through the air and he landed hard on his back, dropping his dracon beam in the process. The wind was knocked out of him, he was seeing stars, and his tailbone may or my not have gotten broken. He would definitely need to see a doctor later. If there even was a later. Despite the discomfort and three normally debilitating sensations he was experiencing, Escar made an effort to regain his feet. He coughed, squinted, and groaned, but still only made it to a kneeling position. "Here, just take it!" Escar yelled between coughs. "We need to get out of here or we are all going to die!" Escar held out the briefcase as best he could with his dislocated shoulder, but barely managed more than to scoot it forward along the ground. He didn't know how they planned to get the cuffed briefcase off of his arm, but he imagined it wouldn't be pleasurable. He waited for Quar to approach as he kneeled in the dirt, his free arm cradling his side underneath his suit coat. The side where his desert eagle was still holstered. How many shots did he have left? Three? Four? It didn't matter. Hopefully he would only need one. |
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Post by Aubrey on Sept 18, 2010 0:28:06 GMT -5
The piercing sound of the dracon cannon caused Aubrey to flinch and take an involuntary step backwards. Her fingers tightened around the dracon beam in her hand, and she looked over to where Quar was heading--to Escar. Aubrey spared an anxious glance over at Suji, then back at the two controllers.
Quar knelt down in front of Escar and grasped the briefcase in both of his hands. He turned it sideways a couple times, then tugged at it. "Do you have the key to the handcuffs? Or some way to open the briefcase itself? Maybe a way to just give me the documents?" It was clear by Quar's tone that he was agitated. The Taxxons were coming, and he didn't have time to mess around with a briefcase stuck to someone's wrist. The best option would be to just take a dracon beam and slice off a section above the handcuffs. Of course, Quar had lost his dracon beam, so that wasn't an option. At least, not right that second.
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