A Helping Hand

[Dustin]

Dustin hurried up and slid on the skin-tight outfit that had been provided for him. It was pretty much just a wetsuit, so it wasn't anything new to him, but it didn't fit as well as he might have hoped. He might have to ask someone about it later.

But right now he didn't have time. He was running late. The clock next to his bed said he had two minutes to get to his first morphing 101 class. And it would probably take him at least that long to find his way over there. Dustin zipped up his suit, slipped on some flip-flops and headed out the door.

"I hope he doesn't hold this against me," Dustin mumbled to himself four minutes later as he knocked on the door to Morphing 101. He had no idea what to expect in this class, hopefully the teacher wasn't super strict. And hopefully the subject matter wasn't as "out there" as it sounded.

[Jullian]

Jullian flipped through the book on yoga positions that he'd picked up during his last visit to Union. He didn't get out to the human colonies often but he tried to get out to Union as much as he could. It was nice to see old friends and to visit with the LA animorphs when he had the time, especially Allie and Matt. It was Allie who had given him this latest book. Jullian had been sharing some of his theories about the connection between morphing and meditation and Allie had pulled out the yoga book and told him he could borrow it with the understanding that he'd have to visit soon and give it back.

Jullian had tried many of the positions in the past few weeks and he'd found it was a good way to start a day. Not as relaxing as people made it out to be, at least, not while you were doing it. But you did feel better afterwards.

He closed the book and put it aside when he heard a knock on his door. He palmed it open and smiled at the young man on the other side of the door. "Hi Dustin," Jullian said with a warm note of welcome in his voice. He hadn't met any of the new recruits face to face yet but Seiya always let the teachers know who was coming into the Academy and when. Dustin was hard to miss since he'd lost his arm. It was the reason Jullian had scheduled him first. He strongly believed in the lesson plan he'd worked out and he wasn't going to necessarily rush through it for Dustin. But there was no reason not to move him through it as quickly as was responsible so that his injury could get healed.

"Come on in. How are you this morning?"

[Dustin]

"Uh, hi." Dustin was at a loss for words. He walked into the room as he looked over the instructor. "You're Jullian, right? The Morphing 101 teacher?" Nobody had told him what Jullian was supposed to look like, but for some reason he had expected someone... older. Someone who looked like they would know what they were talking about. As it stood, Dustin was pretty sure he was older than this kid.

"So, are you in a morph or something?" Dustin asked with a raised eyebrow. "Did you use your magic powers to turn into a kid to tease the newbies? I mean, no offense or anything, but am I really supposed to believe someone who looks like they are still in high school is going to teach me how to protect the world from aliens?"

Granted, Nineteen was supposed to be a teacher too, and she looked pretty young too. But she wasn't teaching them how to use some kind of strange alien power. Nineteen's class seemed like it would be more of a sports lesson.

[Jullian]

Jullian smiled at Dustin's confusion. Sometimes he forgot he was only sixteen and at other times he was painfully aware of it. His class was one of the times he forgot and, he'd found, his students forgot after a while too. Dustin was hardly the first person older than him to take his class. In fact, Jullian had never had a student younger than him. The Animorphs had started to put limits on how young they would take recruits (to Allie's frustration) and Jullian would only have just qualified this year. That didn't change the fact that he'd been morphing since he was thirteen years old.

"Yes. My name is Jullian. Sorry I didn't introduce myself. I hate when people know my name and I don't know theirs. And then," Jullian tapped himself on the head as if to say 'duh', "I went and did the same thing to you."

Jullian turned and walked farther into his room, giving Dustin the space to wander around if he chose. He picked up the book on yoga and put it away in his desk before beginning to try to bring up the morphing book on the terminal that could be found in almost every room. He had no idea how to use the things and they'd only recently just come back online, or at least, recently by Jullian's standards. Maybe in the past few weeks or so as they got more of the Bladeship up and running.

"I am the morph instructor," Jullian said, his eyes still focused on the screen in front of him. "I'm not in morph, I'm actually sixteen," Jullian said with a small smile, glancing up at Dustin, "and I've been morphing since I was thirteen." He finally got the book to display on the screen and he moved it to the intro section before turning back to Dustin. He'd just wanted to have the book up for quick reference once they started the session.

"There are not many animorphs that have as much experience with morphing as I do and only Cassie has more skill." Jullian said it plainly. He wasn't boasting, he was just stating a fact. His morphing abilities were well established and were valued no more or less than what they were worth. "Which is why I have this position and, I can assure you, it's one I fully enjoy and have gotten quite good at."

"What about you?" Jullian asked, holding out a hand to him. "I know your name, but not much else. How did you find your way into the Animorphs?"

[Dustin]

Dustin listened politely as Jullian listed his credentials. Dustin didn't know enough to refute any of his claims, so listening was all he did. Having him say he was better at morphing than most might have well been "I'm better at bull riding than most people." It just didn't hold any weight with someone who had never been on a bull.

But that was probably going to change real soon.

"Well, if you really are the teacher, I guess I better answer your questing," Dustin said with a slight smirk. This was going to take a bit of getting used to. "I found my way here from the Miami area. South of Miami, actually. I was hiding out in an abandoned basement, just surviving, and then I was approached by a resistance group who claimed they were the animorphs. I thought maybe it was a trap, but it didn't seem like one. And I figured if I declined their invite, I would either be taken anyway, or die. So agreeing to become an animorph seemed like a decent enough choice in the end. And lucky for me, they were telling the truth."

Dustin stood with his arms crossed, or what passed as arms crossed for him, now that his little story was done. He hadn't moved from his spot in a while and he was starting to feel out of place in his outfit. "So, what's with the wetsuits? Do they serve a special purpose or are they just for style?"

[Jullian]

"The wetsuits are necessary, at least for now," Jullian responded. Well that answered one question he had. Either Dustin hadn't read his book yet or he had skimmed over it. That was to be expected and Jullian really didn't mind when someone hadn't read the book. There was certainly enough to do and enough new things to get used to when you first arrived at the Academy. Reading a text book was never on the top of anyone's list.

"When you first start morphing you can only morph skin tight clothing. That doesn't change too much as you get better. I can morph this," Jullian said, indicating his t-shirt and his pair of jeans, both of which were tight as befit his own sense of style, "but it's best to try to just stick to skin tight stuff to start."

Jullian walked around his desk and took out the Escafil device before tapping a key on the terminal. He'd meant to make the display go holographic. Instead it disappeared. He frowned and spent a minute playing with it until he got it back on the screen. Then he tried to make it holographic again and this time it worked. The image of a glowing blue box sprang out of the wall and hung in the middle of the room.

"Right, so that and this," Jullian said, holding up the blue box, "is an Escafil device and touching it is what will give you the morphing power."

[Dustin]

Dustin raised an eyebrow as Jullian explained morphing clothing, but he didn't comment. Yet another thing he would probably have to experience before fully understanding. But this guy seemed to be determined to stick to the claim that morphing was something that actually happened. Not just a yeerk superstition.

Jullian seemed to be messing around with some equipment for a while and Dustin took a moment to look around the room. He wasn't sure what made this setup ideal for new morphers, and he didn't feel too inclined to ask.

Just when Dustin was about to ask what Jullian was doing, a blue box appeared and hovered in the middle of the room. It was a hologram. A real life hologram! "Whoa..."

It took a moment for Dustin to clear his head and realize what Jullian was saying. Then it took another few moments for Dustin to peel his eyes from the hologram and look at the actual cube that was in Jullian's hand. "Wait, that thing gives people the power to morph? That box? Just by touching it?" Dustin was starting to think this was one great big hoax all over again.

"So that little box is what gives yeerks nightmares?" Stretching out his hand as a smirk crossed his face, Dustin asked, "Can I hold it?"

[Jullian]

"It's us who give the yeerks nightmares," Jullian said with a grin. He was about as far away from blood thirsty as you could get and still serve in a fighting force. But he was serving in a fighting force and, if he wasn't on the frontlines, he knew plenty of people who were. He was proud of them and the work they did and he wasn't afraid to show it.

Jullian held out the box. "Touch, hold it, throw it around if you like, as long as it doesn't leave this room." The morphing cube would be returned to a safe location once this day was over. There was absolutely no reason to keep it in Jullian's class room since it only required one touch to do its work. But it was here for the day at least.

Before Dustin could touch it however, Jullian pulled it back to his chest. "But before you do I should warn you. If you touch this there is no going back. You're an animorph for life after that. I don't mean to scare you but I'm also not talking about taking an oath or anything else like that. I'm talking about real changes. This blue box makes you an animorph and that means it makes you a target. No matter what you may end up doing, and fighting isn't the only thing animorphs do," he said, holding out his hand since he was obviously a good example of the other occupations open to animorphs, "but it's what most of us do. And, no matter what you do, the yeerks would give anything to get their hands on a morph capable body. You won't be able to just hide anymore so if you have the slightest doubts about your decision maybe you should think about it and come back tomorrow or not at all, which ever you decide."

Jullian had gotten very serious very quickly but Dustin seemed a bit new to the entire idea of alien technology. His reaction to the hologram had worried Jullian and he wanted to make sure that Dustin knew what he was getting into. Jullian wouldn't send someone to a faction that didn't know the risks. If they bailed they may hurt someone he cared about. So he wanted to make sure he and Dustin were on the same page.

[Dustin]

Dustin's smirk turned into a full-blown smile when Jullian pretty much told him to play around with a rare, valuable, and powerful weapon. But his smile quickly faded when Jullian became serious. It was obvious that Jullian took this morphing business very seriously.

Suddenly this whole situation seemed very real, and it weighed down on his shoulders like a lead vest. "I-I think I'm going to need a minute. I have to think this through."

Dustin felt a bit silly just standing there in the room, thinking, with his instructor waiting for his answer. But the answer he had to give, assuming morphing was real, would change the course of the whole rest of his life. He would take all the time he needed to puzzle it out, wether the teacher wanted to give it to him or not.

He walked over to the nearest wall, leaned against it and stared at an uninteresting spot on the floor. He put a knuckle up to his lip in concentration.

So, he thought to himself, do I really want to join this club? Become an animorph? It sounds like I would have to risk life and limb for who-knows-what causes. Who knows how long I would last. Dustin spent a good long while trying to imagine what all the negative repercussions might be. Admittedly, he had limited success. I was difficult to imagine what fighting aliens would be like by turning into animals. Or even without being able to turn into animals for that matter.

But then he took some time to imagine some of the good he might accomplish. It was also difficult to imagine, but much more comforting.

Finally, he imagined what he would accomplish if he declined the offer. Which was a whole lot of nothing. So I guess it's settled then.

After what seemed like almost too long, Dustin stood up straight, walked back over to Jullian, and with a determined expression on his face he said, "I'll do it."

[Jullian]

Jullian waited patiently while Dustin thought. He'd been serious when he'd said Dustin could take the whole day if he'd wanted to. He was glad to see that he was giving it serious thought. The smallest doubt had entered Jullian's mind that the kid may have been a traitor. It wouldn't be the most unheard of thing for the yeerks to try to place a plant among them and even though Jullian trusted the recruiters there was no reason not to be cautious.

Dustin had seemed a bit too eager to get his hands on the morphing technology. That would have made sense if he'd known it would heal him but he didn't, or didn't seem too. So why was he so eager to jump into something he didn't believe in? Maybe that was the reason, because he wanted to see if it were true. But that wasn't a good enough reason to join the Animorphs, not in Jullian's book anyway.

Jullian watched Dustin's face carefully while he thought. He certainly couldn't read minds but he looked for any signs that may tell him what Dustin was thinking. He was relieved when Dustin looked back up at him and said he would become an animorph. This time the decision appeared like it was coming for a deeper place than just, 'I'll give it a shot.' There was a steadiness to Dustin's eyes that hadn't been there before.

Jullian nodded and held out the morphing cube. "Then let's begin."

[Dustin]

Dustin nodded in agreement, the reached his hand toward the blue cube. The whatchamacallit, the Escafil device. "So what, all I do is touch it?" he asked as he ran a finger along its smooth surface. All of a sudden he felt shock run through his body. Not painful, but almost pleasurable. He pulled his hand back. If there hadn't been a delay he might have mistaken it for static electricity, but this was different.

"Whoa." It wasn't as cool, visually, as the hologram had been, but Dustin could tell even now that it was much more important. More meaningful in the grand scheme of things.

Dustin examined his hand. "I don't feel any different. Not physically anyway. How do I know if it really worked?"

[Jullian]

Jullian put the cube back on his desk. "Well most people report feeling a sting or a tingling sensation. That's normally a good indication that it worked but there is only one way to really find out."

Jullian went back behind his desk and pulled out a briefcase. He'd loaned out a few samples of blood from the DNA bank but when he opened the case there was a puzzled expression on his face. He'd asked for standard morphs, the type he liked to start newbies off with. Medium sized mammals for the most part since they were the easiest to control. But he had some weird choices in the briefcase which meant someone had gotten his order wrong.

He ran a hand through his hair and looked up at Dustin. "Alright Dustin, I have a choice for you. It seems someone down at the DNA bank messed up a little. I prefer new animorphs morph a mammal, preferably one of similar size like a dog, for their first morph. It just makes it easier. But we don't seem to have any. So we can go over morphing theory today and I can get you your first morph tomorrow. Or you can choose from one of these," he said, turning the briefcase around, "but your morph may be a bit harder than usual."

Inside the briefcase there were vials of blood, each one fit neatly into the foam background to protect it from breakage.

[Dustin]

"Hmm?" Dusting asked as he furrowed his brow. "What do you mean, they "messed up?"" Dustin looked into the briefcase and read the labels. Crab, velvet worm, flamingo, and kiwi. "I see. That's what you mean." Dustin hadn't even heard of a velvet worm, but it sounded gross. And wasn't a kiwi a fruit?

"Flamingos are pretty big, right? And birds are warm blooded at least. I think I'll go with that. I probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I wait." That and Morphing Theory just didn't sound very appealing two seconds after you are told you can turn into animals.

"So what is the next step? Morphing? How do I do that?" Dustin was really starting to regret not looking at the text book Jullian mentioned. He felt totally lost and ignorant.

"Wait a minute. I don't have to drink this, do I?" he asked, concerned, as he held the flamingo blood up next to his head.

[Jullian]

Jullian frowned slightly at Dustin's confusion. The kid really hadn't boned up on morphing at all. Even the recruits who had never seen his textbook seemed to know the basics of morphing. They picked it up in the mess hall or at the gym or even from their recruiters. Had he never asked anyone any questions? Had he been that doubtful that the technology existed?

"Well it looks like you get a heavy dose of Morphing Theory," Jullian said, closing the briefcase once Dustin had taken out the vial of blood. He saw Dustin grimace but he only smiled.

"So I'm going to go over the basics. You can put that down for now," Jullian said, motioning to the flamingo blood. "Morphing is an alien technology passed on to us by the Andalites. Morphing is DNA based. It allows you to acquire a DNA sample of other creatures and then to become those creatures, so to speak. When you wish to return to your own form, you can do so and your body will be recreated based on your DNA. To acquire an animal, or an alien, you must come into contact with its DNA and picture that animal in your mind, hence the blood. Living animals would be preferable but you can imagine the logistic nightmare that would be. In order to morph the animal you, again, use a thought command. Picture the animal, you become the animal. The clearer you can envision it, the more control you have over your morph. To become yourself again, picture yourself."

Jullian put the briefcase back under his desk. "Now, you're going to watch me first. Then we'll get to your first morph." Jullian walked around to Dustin's side of the desk and concentrated on his first morph. He felt himself begin to shrink as fur sprouted out all over his body. His spine elongated into a tail and his ears migrated a little farther up the side of his head. His fingers and toes got longer, relatively speaking, even as his whole body shrunk.

A minute or so later Jullian hopped up onto his desk, a full grown squirrel monkey. He cocked his head at Dustin. The monkey was a little bit afraid of the much larger creature but Jullian had used this morph many times and he was in full control of it. <<Any questions?>>

[Dustin]

Dustin set down the vial and patiently listened to Jullian's morphing lecture. It was interesting, if to the point. Dustin couldn't claim that he had a complete grasp on everything the teacher said, but he understood well enough. He was mostly just glad that drinking blood wasn't a requirement.

But then Jullian started his morphing demonstration and things got really weird, really fast. "Holy shhhhhortcake!" Dustin's eyes went wide as Jullian began sprouting fur, real fur! His expression hardly changed throughout the entire process. Jullian was doing it. He was actually doing it!

<<Any questions?>> Jullian asked. Dustin barely even noticed that the words were inside his head.

"That- What- It works! I mean, I believed it would work, but... Wow." Dustin fully believed it would work since the morphing cube, but seeing an actual morphing take place was no substitute for an idea. The process had been a little creepy, but the awe factor compensated for it more than was required.

"I can really do that? Turn into a monkey? Well, a flamingo at least?" Dustin was ecstatic and nervous at the same time. He took a second to breathe deeply and calm himself down. He eyed the vial of DNA, but restrained himself from lunging at it. As calmly as he could manage, he picked up the vial.

"I have to say, this is beyond awesome." He held out the container to the monkey/teacher. Dustin figured it might be inappropriate, not to mention unsanitary, to open it with his teeth. "A little help with the top?"