“Thanks Mr. Fisher, I’ll check it out,” you reply. “Is this something new?”

“It’s called The Sharing, and it’s been around for a couple years now,” he answers. “Don’t mind the goofy name, it’s really great. I think you’ll have a good time.”

“Sure,” you say as you look at the pamphlet. It’s covered in pictures of kids and adults, out in nature with big smiles on their faces. Now that you look a little closer, something seems a little off. “Mr. Fisher… this isn’t some sort of religious thing, is it?”

“No, of course not! It’s just a fun community group, I think you’ll really like it.”

“Okay, I’ll see what it’s like then. Thanks.”

--

Fred’s house is huge. In fact, you think it would be more accurate to call it a mansion. It sits on top of a large hill, almost overlooking the rest of town. It was a bit of a hike to get out here; he lives on the extreme southern end of town, not far from the mall. You, Anna, and Nate live in the middle of town, near the school, while Tony lives in the north, by the edge of the forest.

You send a text to Fred letting him know you’re here, and start walking up his long driveway. You were a little doubtful that this was actually his house, but you double checked the address and you definitely have the right street and house number. You’re about to ring the doorbell when the door flies open in front of. Fred is standing there with a finger to his mouth in a shushing motion, and his other hand is reached out to stop you from ringing the doorbell.

“Shh, my dad will freak if he hears you,” he quietly says. “Just come in and don’t talk too loudly.”

You’d normally be weirded out, but you understand how Fred feels. You wouldn’t want any of your friends meeting your mom, so you just agree and follow him inside.

He leads you towards the back of the house. You can’t stop thinking about just how big it is. Every room is massive, but it all seems somewhat bare. There aren’t any photos hung up, and while the furniture is nice, it still looks like nobody’s ever used it. Fred’s parents must have some crazy job to make enough money to afford this place, so maybe they’re just too busy with that to spend a lot of time at home.

You could ask Fred, but it might be an awkward question. You certainly wouldn’t want someone asking about your mom, but you are here to get to know him.

>Ask
>Don’t ask

>>4664118

>Ask

We are tenacious after all

>>4664118
ask him what's up

>>4664118
>Ask

>>4664118
>Ask

>>4664118
>>Don’t ask
My money is on Fred's family being squatters.

>Also
>The Sharing
That sounds like some sketchy Yeerk shit. What better way to grab recruits than to prey on people who are lonely and isolated?

>>4664133
>>4664136
>>4664167
>>4664295
>Ask
>>4664998
>Don't ask

Writing

>>4664118
You’ll ask.

“This house is huge. What do your parents do?”

He looks dismayed. “My dad’s an author,” he replies.

“Really? What does he write?”

“Books.”

“Come on, what kind of books?”

He doesn’t respond. You look at him, but he just stares at the ground.

“Fiction,” he eventually says. “Sci-fi. Like Star Trek, or Star Wars. You know, people going to space and stuff.”

“Are you embarrassed? That’s kind of cool actually.”

“Sure. Cool.”

This might have been a mistake. The pause in the conversation drags on into an awkward silence as you both look away from each other. You don’t know the details of what’s going on in Fred’s life, but you can guess that it’s probably something similar to yourself.

Oddly enough, you feel angry. You hate thinking about your family. What you have doesn’t even deserve to be called a family. It’s only you and your mom, and she probably hates you as much as you hate her.

You remember one incident a couple months ago. You’d had a swim meet somewhere upstate, and mom had told you she’d be able to pick you up afterwards. A teammate’s mom had driven you up in the morning, and mom was going to pick you up in the evening. You were in the last heat for the last event, so almost everyone else had left at that point. It was you, one other girl, and your coach. After the meet ended, you told your coach your mom would be there soon, but he refused to leave until she arrived. You were embarrassed at the time, but looking back you were lucky he didn’t leave.

Soon enough, the other girl left, leaving just you and your coach sitting inside, watching the road through a window. He asked you a couple times if you wanted him to give you a ride home, but you’d refused. You shouldn’t have been surprised your mom didn’t come, but for some reason you wanted her to prove you wrong. To show up and help you out when you needed her to.

The hours stretched on from evening into night, until the pool closed and you were asked to leave. At that point, you couldn’t refuse a ride anymore. It was starting to storm as you left, and what should have been an hour long drive stretched into an eternity. You had wanted so badly not to cry in front of your coach, so you spent the whole drive staring out the window, afraid to look at him, watching trees flit by in the dim glow of the headlights.

Halfway back, you got a text from your mom saying she wouldn’t be able to come get you. You showed it to your coach when he got home and he went ballistic. Storming up to your front door, yelling at your mom about child abandonment and neglect.

>>4665464
She shut him up pretty quickly. All she had to do was threaten to pull you off the team, and he backed down. She’s always had that ability to get her way no matter what. You suppose it’s something that’s good for her work.

The entire drive home you’d been planning out exactly what you’d say to her, and how you’d perfectly put her in her place and get her to realize what she was doing to you, but after that you just couldn’t. You thanked your coach for the ride and went straight to your room without saying anything.

You’re starting to get frustrated again just thinking about it. This is so stupid. You shouldn’t be dredging up the past and getting so upset again over something like this. It doesn’t mean anything.

Looking back at Fred, there’s an urge welling up inside of you to say something. You can’t let this silence drag on. You need to think about something other than family, to talk about something other than family.

Maybe you don’t have to speak though. You know Fred loves to fly, and honestly you do too. You can ask him to morph bird and just spend the afternoon flying. Safe, easy, and fun.

Still, it might be best to tell him about your family now. The rest of the group already knows at least the basics, and he might open up about himself if you start.

Something else occurs to you. If you’re feeling the urge to fill the silence, then Fred might be as well. If you stay silent then maybe he’ll start talking on his own.

>“Let’s morph birds. I want to fly”
>“I know what it’s like. My mom is an asshole and my dad is gone”
>Stay silent and see what he says
>Write-in

>>4665466
>>“Let’s morph birds. I want to fly”

>>4665466
>>“Let’s morph birds. I want to fly”

>>4665466
>>“Let’s morph birds. I want to fly”

>>4665466
>"It's NOT good is it? To 'only' be good at your job?"
>"Let's morph birds."

>>4665466
>>“Let’s morph birds. I want to fly”
We can talk once we're up in the air and have burned off some steam.
I strongly vote against saying anything now before we know the situation, we don't know he's in the same boat as us and making assumptions could be counter productive.

>>4665466
>“I know what it’s like. My mom is an asshole and my dad is gone”

>>4665466
>“Let’s morph birds. I want to fly”

>>4665466
>>“Let’s morph birds. I want to fly”

>>4665466
“Let’s morph birds. I want to fly.”

Fred looks surprised at first, but bursts into a smile after a second. “Sure, let’s do it.”

At the back of his house, the hill slopes down towards a truly gigantic backyard. In fact, it might be more accurate to call it a park than a yard. In the distance, woods surround the open green, blocking any prying eyes from seeing the two of you morph.

Thankfully, you remembered to bring your morphing suit so you strip down to that. You and Fred face away from each other as you morph. It’s not due to modesty, but because morphing is disgusting to look at. You’ve gotten more used to morphing, but looking at someone else morph is still horrifying, to say the least. You can hear your bones grind and pop as they shift location and shape. Talons grow, wings sprout, and before you know it you’re a hawk. It seems like the morphing is getting easier the more you practice it.

<All done?> Fred asks, and you turn to face him. He’s a falcon now, and his fierce gaze stares straight back at you. It looks like he finished morphing before you and was waiting. Damn, he was still faster than you.

<Yep,> you reply, and start flapping your wings. Normally taking off is the hardest part of flight, but you’re on top of a hill. You only need a little height to start soaring, and though summer is long over, it’s still warm enough out for a thermal to rise up from the open area. Stretching your wings, you catch the hot air and ride it up, up, up, until you’re well above the house and overlooking the town. With the hawk’s incredible vision, you can make out so much from up here. The mall, the school, your neighborhood. You can’t tell which house is yours, because to the hawk they all look the same at this difference, but you’re still amazed.

Morphing is so strange, but at the same time so incredible. A week ago, you’d never have been able to imagine this. You would have been at home, stuck on the ground, thinking about school, or swim, or something totally unimportant. Now you can fly.

As you lazily wheel through the sky on your bed of hot air, you glance down and see that Fred is still trying to get up to you. His falcon form can’t soar nearly as well as your hawk, but he’s still doing his best to catch up to you. You continue to do circles as he gains height, until you’re both at the same altitude.

<Let’s go,> he simply says. You’re about to ask him what he means, but he tucks his wings and goes into a dive without saying anything else. You mentally laugh, and follow behind him.

>>4667249
Unfortunately, you can’t dive nearly as quickly as him, but it’s still exhilarating. Your body shakes from the force of the rushing air as your feathers make a million tiny adjustments to control your descent. At the last moment, you spread your wings and tilt your body, letting the air resistance level out your steep dive. You go shooting across the treetops and then back up, using your speed to gain height again.

For the next hour or so, you and Fred just fly, letting the winds carry you where they will. Eventually you have to land though. Flying is tiring enough normally, but these repeated dives are exhausting. You circle back towards Fred’s house and just soar.

<I’m sorry I was so weird,> he says. You’re baffled for a second until you remember your last conversation. He must be referring to that.

<It’s okay. I shouldn’t have asked,> you reply.

<No, you couldn’t have known. It’s just… my dad is kind of crazy. I don’t really like to talk about him.>

You’re not sure what to say to that.

You could just let him speak. It would let him say what he wants without pressuring him, and there’s no risk of messing up.

You could also reciprocate and tell him about your family. It seems like the natural thing to do, but he’s already established he doesn’t like talking about it. Why would he bring it up though?

There’s also the possibility of just changing the subject. You don’t like to talk about your family and neither does he, so maybe it would just be best to talk about something more casual.

>Let him speak
>Tell him about your own family
>Change the subject to something more casual
>Write-in

>Let him speak

Let Fred be Fred, man.

>>4667250
>Let him speak
Though if we could relate some of our problems with our mom with what he says, I'd like to do that

>>4667249
>>Let him speak

if it's appropriate for the situation:
>>Tell him about your own family

>>4667250
>Let him speak
But it the conversation stalls or it otherwise seems appropriate we can open up a little about our own family. No need to dump everything on him but it might help to let him know we get what he's going through.

>>4667250
>Let him speak

>>4667250
>>Let him speak

>>4667250
>>Change the subject to something more casual

>>4667315
>>4667335
>>4667408
>>4667603
>>4667645
>>4668363
>Let him speak
>>4668398
>Change the subject

Got it. Updating soon

>>4667250
You don’t say anything.

Fred doesn’t continue, and for a minute you’re afraid you messed up again.

<He’s just a psycho,> he begins. <Every day he’s locked in his room talking to himself, or yelling about nothing. Usually he just doesn’t talk to me, but every couple of days he’ll have a mood or remember I’m here. Then he’s up and down the house, yelling Fyodor, where are you? Fyodor, make me tea and get the record books, I need to call the agents. Fyodor, what’s wrong with you? Why don’t you love me?>

You’re close to his house now, and before you can say anything Fred tucks his wings again and shoots down. He’s aiming straight for a second story window, and though you try to dive as well to catch him, he’s far faster than you could ever be. All you can do is watch in horror as he rockets towards the window. Just before he impacts, he tilts his body slightly, and zooms past the side of the house, his wing almost scraping the wall. He circles back around, before landing on the back porch. You land beside him.

He starts morphing back and you follow his lead. Before long, you’re human again and getting dressed in your regular clothes. The silence between the two of you is back, but you have to break it this time.

“Are you okay?” you ask. It seems like a meaningless question, but you have to ask.

“Yeah. You can probably tell why I don’t like talking about him,” he weakly laughs.

“Fyodor?”

“Oh. That’s my real name. I just prefer to go by Fred.”

“Makes sense. My mom is kind of like that. She’s not crazy, but… it’s like she wished I didn’t exist. My dad is gone and my sister left a while ago, so I’m stuck with her.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah.” You don’t have anything else to say, but you think that’s okay. Somehow you get the feeling that you and him are more on the same page now. Even if you maybe don’t get his situation fully, and he doesn’t fully understand your situation either, there’s still some understanding there.

>>4668678
There’s not much time left before you have to meet with the others. You and Fred head to the nearest bus station, which thankfully isn’t too far from his house. At this time of day, a bus runs straight from this station to the zoo. You’re feeling the fatigue from spending so much time today walking, morphing, and flying, so you can’t wait to get on the bus and sit down. Once you get on board, you shoot a text to Anna to let her know you’re on your way.

Normally you’d have to pay to get into the zoo, but Tony said he can slip you in the way maintenance workers use. When you get off the bus, you walk to the edge of the parking lot and up to a small maintenance door at the side of the building. The door opens as you get to it, and Tony sticks his head out. He looks nervous.

“Come in quickly, I don’t know how long it’ll be until someone comes by,” he glances around. “The rest are already here.”

You say hello to the rest as you walk inside, but there’s not much time to talk. Tony rushes you through damp, claustrophobic concrete hallways. There are lots of metal doors, but he rushes you past them, deeper into the building, until you reach a big red sign saying AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

“This is where the workers get to the exhibits. Just follow me, and if anyone sees us, act like you belong,” he says. He looks more scared than nervous now, but to his credit he is taking a risk getting you back here. You keep walking, past more signs and warnings until you reach a three-way intersection. A signpost on the wall reads:

Left: Tigers (DO NOT ENTER UNSUPERVISED)
Straight: Gorillas
Right: Elephants

“I figure we can start with the gorillas,” Tony says. “They’re friendly and safe. Then, we can do the elephants, and then we can maybe head to the other section of the zoo for bears if we have time. Those will be the animals that are best in a fight but won’t cause trouble if we go into their enclosure. Just follow my lead, and it’ll be fine.”

“Why not the tigers? I think they’d be pretty good in a fight,” you ask.

“They’re deadly, but they do not like strangers in their exhibit. I don’t think it’s worth the--”

“Hey! What are you kids doing back here?”

You turn and look over your shoulder. A security guard is looking right at your group! You freeze, staring right back at him, until he starts walking towards you.

“You can’t be back here! Where are your parents?”

“Split!” Nate yells. “Go through the enclosures!”

Hearing that, the guard starts running towards you. You don’t have time to think things through; you have to pick a door and go!

>Tigers
>Gorillas
>Elephants

>>4668681
>Elephants
Those trunks can do a lot of things

>>4668681
>Tigers
Be daring. Tigers are stealthy, full of power, and absolutely decked out to hell and back with an array of natural weapons that can tear through flesh like a hot knife through butter.

>>4668681
Tigers

I was hoping for a jaguar morph but tiger will do

>Tigers

Let's take the risk, it could pay off

>>4668681
>>Elephants

>>4668681
>>Tigers

>>4668681
>>Elephants
We're already exhausted. Tigers is asking for trouble.

>>4668681
>Elephants

>>4668681
>Tigers

>>4668681
>Elephants

>>4668681
>>4668681
Gorillas

Opposable thumbs man.
And elephants are too big for indoor scenes.

>>4668681
>>Tigers

>>4668688
>>4668713
>>4668787
>>4668930
>>4669321
5 for elephants
>>4668698
>>4668691
>>4668711
>>4668777
>>4669149
>>4669415
6 for tigers
>>4669382
1 for Gorillas

Calling it for tigers. Going to try for several short updates today

File: Tiger.png (1.73 MB, 800x1208)

1.73 MB PNG

>>4668681
You’re torn between elephants and tigers for a second, but you don’t have any more time to think.

While the rest of your group runs either straight or to the right, you dash to the left and down the hallway. At the end of it is a metal door, covered in warning signs. Glancing over your shoulder, you see the security guard standing at the intersection. His eyes bulge out in surprise when he sees you.

“Stop! Don’t go in there!” he calls out, but it’s too late. You grab the handle, pull the door open, and run through.

On the other side, the sudden daylight is blinding, but you don’t have time to adjust. You cover your eyes as best as you can and look around. You’re in a metal cage, with greenery all around. There’s another door with a giant deadbolt in front of you. Even though it’s covered in more warning signs, you don’t have time to waste. You unlatch the deadbolt and run through.

It looks like you’re in the back of the exhibit. It’s full of trees and bushes, and in the distance you can see a huge stone wall. It must be thirty feet tall with metal bars at the top of it. Glancing around, you still don’t see any tigers. There’s a steel ladder inserted into the wall, so you start heading towards it. That’ll be your way out. Right now, anyone outside the exhibit can’t see you, but once you start climbing the ladder they’ll spot you for sure.

You’re getting closer to the ladder, but you still don’t see any tigers. You can’t leave until you acquire one.

After you reach the ladder, you stop and look around. There still aren’t any tigers in sight. Maybe they’re not in the exhibit today? But then why would the security guard be so panicked over you going in?

As you ponder where the tigers could have gone, you start to move along the wall towards the other end of the exhibit. They have to be in here somewhere. There’s a formation of rocks ahead, and they might be behind that. You’re creeping towards the rocks when you hear a rustle behind you. You glance over and freeze.

Just a couple feet away from you is a fully grown tiger. You knew they’d be big, but you’re still taken aback by just how massive he is. He has to be almost 10 feet long, and his whole body ripples with muscles. He stares at you with what seems to be an almost bored expression. It’s as if he doesn’t even care about what you’re doing or how you got in here. You tentatively reach towards him, but as soon as your hand gets close he raises his lip and growls. Slowly, you draw your hand back, trying to stop it from trembling. You can see his fangs now and they’re bigger than you imagined. Much, much bigger.

>>4669859
If you’re quick, you might be able to touch the tiger before he attacks you, and then get around him while you’re acquiring him. Animals go into a trance when you’re acquiring them, and you could take advantage of that. Making a sudden movement could be a very bad idea though.

The only other thought that comes to mind is very, very slowly starting to move around him. He has to have had experiences with zookeepers before, so even though he looks scary he probably won’t attack unless you provoke him. Once he’s calmed down, you can try touching him. It’s less risky, but the longer you wait the higher the chances are that the security guard calls in more people to follow you in here.

>Go for it. Touch the tiger
>Take things slow. Better safe than sorry

>>4669859
>>Take things slow. Better safe than sorry

>>4669860
>>Take things slow. Better safe than sorry

Then morph into tiger ASAP

>>4669860
>>Take things slow. Better safe than sorry

>>4669860
>Go for it. Touch the tiger
RIDE THE TIGER

YOU CAN SEE HIS STRIPES SO YOU KNOW HE'S CLEAN

OH DON'T YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN

>>4669860
>>Take things slow. Better safe than sorry
I WARNED YOU ABOUT TIGERS BRO!!!!


I TOLD YOU DOG!

you guys are way too cautious

its no fun and makes all these quests so slow and undramatic

>>4669860
>Take things slow. Better safe than sorry

>>4669861
>>4669879
>>4669913
>>4670031
>>4670094
>Take it slow
>>4669923
>Go for it
Got it. Can I have 3 rolls of 1d20?

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>4670238

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>4670238

Rolled 19 (1d20)

Peepee

>>4669860
wasn't there something about not keeping eye contact if you're not trying to start a fight?

>>4669860
You’ll take things slowly. There’s no point risking pissing off a tiger.

You start to creep around his side as slowly as possible. He’s still staring at you, but at least he’s not growling. Suddenly he raises his paw, and you freeze again, only to let out a sigh of relief when he just licks it and uses it to wipe his face. He lets out a yawn and turns around. Apparently, he’s decided you’re not a threat. You quickly reach out, touch his side, and begin acquiring him. A slight tingle goes through you as the tiger closes his eyes and lays down. It’s done!

Morph Acquired: Siberian Tiger

You’d better leave now before anyone shows up. You back up towards the ladder, still keeping your eyes on the tiger. One hand is behind your back, running along the wall, searching for the ladder. You have to be getting close to it. Thankfully, the tiger seems content to take a nap.

Your hand reaching for the ladder touches something warm and furry. You stop in place, and tentatively look back. Standing next to you is another tiger, looking straight at you. Immediately, you try to acquire him. You’re not sure if you can acquire two members of the same species, but you feel the tingle go through you anyway as the tiger closes his eyes. While that’s happening, you look for the ladder again. It’s just a few feet away, so you break away from the tiger and start dashing up it.

You fly up the ladder and onto another platform. There’s a door leading out of the exhibit, and luckily it’s also unlocked. It leads back to a staff-only area. You glance around and find a map on the wall. It looks like you’re just a short distance from the exit. You start walking in that direction.

Now that you’re out of the tiger exhibit, you can feel your whole body shaking. Your mouth is dry, and you feel like you might faint. You hadn’t had time to think about it while you were face to face with the tiger, but things came very close to going terribly wrong. It doesn’t matter now though. You have to keep going.

Soon enough, you’re out of the concrete hallways and back into the main park. You’d like to meet up with the rest, but you can’t risk running into more security. You send the group a text and head for the bus station.

--

The bus takes you to the north end of town and you walk to Tony’s place from there. It’s getting late in the evening, and it’ll be time to head to the police chief’s house again soon.

That's all for tonight! Sorry about no vote, but I didn't want to end on a roll with no conclusion. Tomorrow we'll debrief with the rest of the gang and stake out the chief's house.

>>4670272
Afaik, tigers are ambush predators and will attack if you break eye contact. Jen wouldn't know either way, she was just under a lot of pressure and didn't want to turn her back on a deadly animal

>>4670340
Everyone else made it back safely to the barn as well. While you were acquiring the tiger, Anna, Fred, and Nate had acquired gorillas, and Tony had acquired an elephant. It’s a shame you weren’t able to acquire any other morphs, but it would be too risky to go back to the museum while the security is still looking for you. Hopefully the guard didn’t get a clear enough look to identify you or any of your friends.

“I can’t believe you actually went in with the tigers,” Tony says.

“Well, I didn’t have much of a choice,” you smile. “Besides, isn’t a tiger way cooler than a gorilla?”

He laughs, but there’s still a concerned look on his face.

“It’s not what I would have done, but it worked out,” Nate says.

He seems strangely happy. You had expected him to be all how dare you take such a risk, imagine what could have gone wrong. You won’t look a gift horse in the mouth though.

“We should practice with the new morphs before we go on a mission,” Nate continues. “We don’t know when we’ll need them, and I don’t want to lose control in an emergency. Let’s go into the woods and do it now.”

Nate is right, but honestly you’re exhausted from today. Morphing is draining, and you have to stake out the chief’s house tonight. You’d really just like to take a nap instead, but that would mean the next time you morph into the tiger will be your first time in that form. Animals have strong instincts, and you doubt the tiger will be an exception. You’re also concerned about looking weak or lazy in front of the rest.

Should you take a nap to be ready for tonight’s mission, or go out and practice the morph?

>Take a nap
>Practice the morph

>>4671069

>Nap

>>4671069
>>Take a nap

>>4671069
>>Take a nap

>>4671069
>>Take a nap

>>4671069
>>Practice the morph

>>4671069
>Practice the morph
Practice morphing at every opportunity.

>>4671069
>Practice the morph

I was wonderidng if i could join your game. I'm well veresed in the source material and a experienced gamer

File: 1566543190618.jpg (142 KB, 960x720)

142 KB JPG

>>4671344

Anyone can vote on a quest, anon-- vote away!

>>4671069
>Practice the morph

>>4671069
>Take a nap

>>4671082
>>4671083
>>4671095
>>4671128
>>4671444
>Nap
>>4671280
>>4671300
>>4671305
>>4671399
>Morph

Writing

>>4671069
There’s no way you can go out and morph again now. You’re too tired.

“I’m sorry, but I’m too tired and I have to watch the chief’s house tonight,” you say. “I have to take a nap if I’m going to be staying up all night.”

“That’s fine,” Nate says. Weird. You’re still not sure why he’s being so accommodating.

“I’ll hang back as well, then,” Tony says. He’s watching the chief’s house with you tonight.

Nate frowns, but then shrugs. “Well, okay. Just be ready to go when we get back.”

You and Tony agree, and the rest of your group leaves shortly afterward. You think about talking to Tony, but going to sleep is much more appealing

--

A couple hours later you’re roosting in a tree in owl form, staring through a window of the police chief’s house from over a thousand feet away. The owl’s vision is truly incredible; you could probably read a newspaper even from this distance. Right now, you’re just staring through a window at the basement door. It’s a good thing the chief doesn’t have any blinds. No matter how miraculous your vision is now, you can’t see through solid objects.

After another half hour, you’re starting to get bored.

<Tony, you there?> you ask.

<Yeah, what’s up?> he answers.

<What are we gonna ask the Yeerk when we catch him?> you ask. You already have some questions in mind, but you’re bored and you need to pass the time somehow.

<I guess we’ll start with the basics. You know, where’s the main Yeerk pool, what are your plans, and so on.>

<That’s the same as what I was thinking. By the way… why are you doing this?>

<What do you mean?>

<Like, the whole fighting the Yeerks thing. I know Fred and I both saw the same visions at the end, Nate’s probably in it because it’s the right thing to do, and I talked to Anna, but I’m not sure why you’re with us.>

<If Nate wanted to try to stop the Yeerks, I’d help him, but it’s also…>

<Also?>

<Well, you know when the Andalite was showing everyone the vision? Not the ones you and Nate got, but what everyone saw, with him fighting against the Yeerks.>

<I remember.>

<I noticed something about them. While the Andalites were fighting the Yeerks, every planet they went to was… desolated. Everywhere the Yeerks were, there was destruction.>

<Oh. I guess I was more focused on the spaceships and battles.>

<I don’t want that to happen to Earth. Even if the Andalites come back and save us, who knows what the Yeerks will do? And I got the feeling that the Andalites were more concerned with stopping the Yeerks than saving their victims. The vision was all about killing Yeerks and blowing up their ships. There was nothing about saving Controllers or liberating planets. Even if the Andalites do come to stop the Yeerks, do you think they’re going to put helping humanity ahead of stopping the Yeerks?>

>>4672840
<Aren’t they the same thing?>

<If the Andalites find out there’s a Yeerk pool in our town, do you think they’ll come down and root out the Yeerks themselves, or just blow it up with one of their spaceships?>

<They wouldn’t do that. Elfangor gave us this power to help fight the Yeerks and defend our planet. He wouldn’t have done that if they didn’t care about other species.>

<Maybe he just did it to try and stop the Yeerks anyway he could.>

You don’t know what to say to that. You don’t want to believe that the Andalites are actually like that, but Tony might have a point.

<The Andalites are still better than the Yeerks,> you eventually say.

<Yep.>

You’re still thinking about what Tony said when you see a flash of motion in the house. You’re not sure what it was exactly, until you see it again. It’s the chief! He’s walking through the house, and now he’s heading down to the basement.

<I see the chief!> you call out. <He’s heading downstairs, contact everyone else!>

You don’t wait for a response before taking flight. The owl soars like the red-tailed hawk, except the owl’s flight is totally silent. It’s strange, but you don’t have time to think about it. The dog should be asleep at this time of night, so you fly straight to the back door. You push open the doggy door and waddle through. You find a dark corner of the house and quickly start morphing human.

The plan was for the first person inside to head downstairs and grab the Yeerk while it’s in the pool, but you now realize you don’t have any morph suited for that. Ideally you’d be using a form with thumbs, so you can grip it and operate the machinery the pool is attached to, but you don’t have anything like that. It would have been easier with Tony to help, but you don’t have time to wait for him to text everyone else and join you.

>>4672842
You could try the tiger. It’s big, fast, and tough. There’s no chance the Yeerk’s host could pose a threat to you, and you can easily push him around. However, there’s no chance he won’t hear you coming down the stairs as a tiger. If the Yeerk is still in his host when you go down, he’ll definitely hear you and you won’t be able to catch him in the pool. The tiger’s size might also make it hard to maneuver in the basement, and it only has paws.

The wolf is another option. It’s similar to the tiger, but not nearly as big. Though the chief will still probably hear you come down, it would be easier to move around the basement with. A wolf isn’t as overwhelming as a tiger though. His host might not be able to beat a wolf in a fight, but he could sure cause a lot of trouble if you enter while the Yeerk isn’t in the pool.

Something that might be more risky is just going in as a human. You can sneak down the stairs without making noise and wait for the Yeerk to enter the pool. Your hands will let you fiddle with the machinery or grab the Yeerk without any problem. The only problem is that you’ll have to convince the Yeerk and the chief that you’re an Andalite disguised in human morph. If the enemy finds out your whole group is humans and not Andalites, it would be over for you.

If you want to use a different morph, or have a different idea for how to approach this situation, feel free to write-in. I’ll post the list of morphs acquired below

>Tiger
>Wolf
>Write-in

Morph List:
Cat (Bubbles)
Wolf
Peregrine falcon
Red-tailed hawk
Golden Eagle
Squirrel
Raccoon
Horse
Great Horned Owl
Siberian Tiger

>>4672843
>Raccoon. You can sneak in very quietly and manipulate most things pretty easily. Tony can wait very nearby in his combat morph, so that you'll be able to call him down when you know for sure the yeerk is outside of its host.

>>4672848

Support

>>4672843
>Raccoon
support >>4672848

Wait, how do we deal with the chief after he's been separated from the yeerk? Do we pretend to be an andalite morphed into a human who freed him?

>>4672893
The chief never needs to know anything. And he should NOT know anything. For all we know he could be a willing controller.
We knock the chief out, do a telepathic interrogation with the yeerk, and kidnap the shit out of him all while still morphed.

>>4672905
and if we can, we should absorb a yeerk morph

>>4672843
>>4672848
I’ll support this plan

>>4672905
How do we knock the chief out?

>>4673061
Tony should have a pretty strong combat morph - oh, shit, wait that's right he got the elephant. For some reason I thought he went monki.
...Hmmm
To refine my plan a bit more, what if Tony went down as a raccoon, and we were the one to wait on the side in our Tiger form? Since a tiger is actually capable of easily knocking someone out by sheer weight yet still able to fit inside.
It doesn't really matter who does the sneaking inside, ultimately. It's just to confirm the yeerk is outside of its host.

>>4673083
I can agree with this

>>4673083

Changing to this

>>4673083
Ah yeah that’s probably better. Supporting the adjusted plan

>>4672843
change >>4672905
to support >>4673083

>>4673083
Looks like this write-in wins pretty clearly. Not sure I'll be able to get the update out today but I'll do my best

>>4672843
If you need to make sure the Yeerk is out of the chief’s head and into the pool, then there’s no harm in waiting for Tony. You think about beginning the tiger morph while you wait, but you didn’t practice it earlier. It wouldn’t be smart to risk losing control in the chief’s house, so you’ll wait for Tony.
After a minute, you spy an owl pushing through the doggy door.

“Tony,” you hiss. The owl rotates its head towards you.

<Jen, don’t rush ahead without me!> he answers. <Is he in the basement?>

“Yep. Are the others coming?”

<They’re on their way. What’s the plan?>

“Can you morph raccoon? If you sneak down to the basement and make sure the Yeerk is in the pool, I’ll be waiting as a tiger to back you up.”

<Sure.>

Tony starts morphing, but you don’t pay much attention to him. It’s time for you to become the tiger.

Your skin bulges out as your muscles rapidly expand. You drop down to all fours, and see the bones in your hand move about under your skin as they rearrange themselves into paws. Fur grows out of your skin, and claws shoot out of your paws. You try to stop them from digging into the floorboard, but it’s too late. You don’t have time to regret it as you come into contact with the tiger’s mind.

All nervousness or anxiety you might have had about this mission is gone. Fear, or any emotion similar to it, is completely alien to the tiger. You’re seven hundred pounds of pure power and there’s nothing in the wild that can stand in your way. All the tiger knows, and all it needs to know, is that you’re here to hunt.

What was dark to your human eyes is like daylight to the tiger’s eyes. You glance around the room and see Tony stopped in his human form. You think you have this morph in hand, but it was still smart of him to not put a raccoon in front of a tiger without warning you.

“Am I okay to morph the raccoon?” he asks, looking at you.

<Go ahead. I’m in control.>

He starts to shift and shrink, but you’re more focused on your prey. You slink towards the basement door. Normally, a creature this size would be making a racket just from moving around, but you perfectly distribute your weight to avoid the floor creaking. You’re raising your paw to pull open the door when Tony interrupts.

<I’m ready,> he says. He’s standing next to you as a raccoon. <Thanks for getting the door for me.>

<Oh, yeah,> you answer. <I was, uh, opening it for you.>

<That’s what I just said.>

Maybe you’re not as in control as you thought, but everything is still fine. You step back, sit down, and watch Tony go downstairs. He gives you the all clear after a minute.

<Come on down. The Yeerk is in its pool, and the chief is cuffed to the machine.>

>>4674559
You’re not quite sure what he means, so you head down the stairs. No matter how well the tiger can move, it’s impossible to disguise the thump thump thump of your paws on the steps. It shouldn’t be a problem if the Yeerk is in its pool. The door to the pool room is ajar, and you push it open the rest of the way. The chief is kneeling limply next to the miniature pool, and you can see his hands are cuffed to the side and his head is bent over the top of the pool. As you get closer, you realize his head is bound in place. Tony sits on top of the machine next to him.

You think the chief is asleep, until you hear him make a noise. It sounds like a whimper, and you realize that he’s crying. He’s sitting there motionless, quietly crying while the Yeerk absorbs the Kandrona. He doesn’t even seem to realize a tiger and a raccoon are standing next to him.

You step over to the pool, and peer into it. Inside, a small grey slug is floating on the sludge. Occasionally, it slips under the surface. If you were a human, you’d be angry and disgusted right now. The tiger doesn’t really care though. In fact, it’s almost baffled. This is far from its usual prey.

<Awful, isn’t it?> Tony says.


<It is. How do we talk to the Yeerk when he’s like this?> you ask.

<I’m not sure. We can try thoughtspeech.>

<Can you hear me, Yeerk?> you broadcast to the Yeerk.

It stops, then immediately tries to slide over to its host, but Tony’s little hands dart out, grab it, and shove it back into the pool.

<I’ll take that as a yes,> you continue. <Can you answer me?>

You don’t hear anything for a minute, until the machine crackles and what must be the Yeerk’s voice comes through.

“I can hear you, Andalite,” it spits. There must be some way for the machine to convert its thoughts to sound. Anna would be interested in how it works, but she can figure it out when she gets here. You have a Yeerk to interrogate.

What do you say to it? What should you ask?

>Write-in

>>4674560
>It seems to think you're andalites, so lean into that and try to talk like Elfangor did.
>Propose a trade - its life for information on the operations here, perhaps even amnesty for its crimes if it proves cooperative and helpful enough. Make it clear that it will die here and now no matter what if it refuses or attempts to lie to us.
>How many pools are on Earth so far, and where are they? Which important human officials have been made into controllers? What activities are the Yeerks performing to acquire more hosts? How many human hosts do they have so far? Where is Visser 3? When is the next Yeerk ship expected to arrive, and where? What is your own designation and rank? What host species have been brought to Earth, and how many of them? Where do the Yeerks hide their ships? What protections have been put in place in Yeerk territories?

Did I cover everything important so far that wouldn't be meta knowledge...?

>>4674560
That's a pretty hefty write-in to throw uh. Pretty much the only thing we can offer him is a quick death instead of whatever Visser 3 has prepared.
>Ask where Visser 3's ship is, focus on that but we're actually looking for the yeerk pools and where they're keeping their Kandrona pieces

>>4674602
supporting this

play hardball

and hit the yeerk with a line like 'a tiger doesn't understand mercy'

>>4674602

+1

>>4674560
>If you answer us freely then we will let you live. We will, of course, free the human but you will at least live and you will have the opportunity to find another host. If you refuse to answer then we will take you far away from here and starve you to death. If you refuse to answer then you will die the slow, lingering death as your body desperately cries out for Kandrona
Questions to ask
>What is your own designation and rank?
>Which important human officials have been made into controllers?
>How are the Yeerks on earth communicating? What codes and ciphers do you use? What codes and passwords do we need to access your email/communication accounts?
>What is the human name and position of your immediate superior? How and how often do you report to them?
>What are the human names and positions of your immediate inferiors, i.e. who will replace you after this failure?
I think these are the most important, especially the codes/passwords question since we can immediately verify whether he's being truthful.
>How many pools are on Earth so far, and where are they?
>What activities are the Yeerks performing to acquire more hosts?
>How many human hosts do they have so far?
>Where is Visser 3?
>When is the next Yeerk ship expected to arrive, and where?
>What host species have been brought to Earth, and how many of them?
>Where do the Yeerks hide their ships?
>What protections have been put in place in Yeerk territories?

>>4674602
>>4674879
both of these sound good. I would like to kill him after he gives us information. We also need to extract and debrief the Chief

>>4674943
ooh remember to acquire the Yeerk

I don’t think an Andalite would let aYeerk at their mercy go free, and it’d die for giving up organizational secrets regardless.

>>4674989
The andalite motto seems to be that all is fair in love and war...as long as it doesn’t get out.
I don’t think they all would collectively be against the idea of creating moles or promising to overlook a few things if it gets them closer to ending the yeerk empire. What is one individual yeerk in the face of information that could defeat thousands, millions of them?
Remember the case of that one andalite taxxon nothlit that worked with the few rogue taxxons to spread rebellion. Taxxons almost entirely gave themselves up to the yeerks, but an andalite still worked with some cooperative ones.

>>4674950
>>4674943
I agree with both of these. I'm happy telling the Yeerk we'll let him go free but I don't intend to actually do it.

And we definitely need to debrief the chief.

>>4675067
Yeah, we're definitely not actually freeing the yeerk. No way in hell.
I don't know about KILLING him, given how uh...we've yet to kill a sapient being and that could be a little fucking rough to handle for such a young girl...
But at the very least we're going to steal his little kadrona bucket with him in it, if we don't kill him.

Okay, I should have included this in the original vote, but please rank your questions from the most important to the least important to ask.

Also, if the Yeerk refuses to cooperate, will you resort to torture? Reply to this post to vote.
>Yes
>No

>>4675929
>Yes

With the caveat that this is only for stuff we can plausibly verify. Anything unverifiable isn't going to be very useful if extracted via torture.

>>4675929
>Yes

>>4675929
>>Yes

>>4675929
>Yes

>>4675929

Yes. Also acquire Yeerk morph if possible

>>4675929
>Yes

>>4675929
>No
But only because I think we should have lines we shouldn't cross. At least initially. We're not hardened by war yet, and torturing another sapient is...well, horrifying.

>>4675929
>>Yes

>>4676440
agreed

>>4675929
I'm a no

>>4676440
But we did get those memories of all the destruction the Yeerk cause. Going off the deep end a bit with the first yeerk we find isn’t completely unimaginable. But yeah I definitely think our friends would be freaked out juuuuust a tad.

>>4675929
>>No

I can see it happening between the memories they've seen and generally being too young to know how unreliable it is, but let's just kill them and get on with it. We've got enough trauma on our plate with killing as it is.

>>4674602
Second these. I'm dubious we'll get much more than that.

As far as torture goes

>>4675929
>No

It doesn't work and it degrades us.

>>4675929
>>No
Fiiiiine swapping to no

>>4674560

Changing to no cause we're like... moral and stuff. Still try to get that Yeerk morph though.

Can't update tonight, so I'll leave this open until tomorrow.

>>4677918
I'll put a vote in on this after the interrogation. There's not much use for a Yeerk morph, and the others will likely be disgusted by the thought of you morphing a Yeerk, but you can if you want to.

>>4677993
Also in the future, if you change your mind, please reply to your original vote. I'll sort it out this time based on IDs, but it just makes it easier.

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55 KB JPG

Relevant to Animorphs

>>4675929
>Yes

>>4675941
>>4676131
>>4676143
>>4676200
>>4676435
>>4676644
>>4679561
>Yes
>>4676440
>>4676692
>>4677329
>>4677831
>>4677906
>>4677918
>No

Yes just barely wins it. Writing

>>4679681
The vote is as conflicted as our character should be

File: Yeerk.jpg (27 KB, 512x332)

27 KB JPG

>>4674560
He thinks you’re an Andalite, so you’ll play into that.

<Our commander will spare your life and grant you amnesty if you answer our questions,> you say, trying to sound like an Andalite. <If you refuse to answer or lie to us, we’ll kill you now.>

Tony looks at you as questioningly as a raccoon can. You’re too focused to say anything to him.

“Why should I trust you? Andalites kill my people wherever they find us.”

You’re not sure, but you have a feeling from the visions that Andalites are a proud race. They wouldn’t break their word. You could lean on that.

<Do you know my people to break our oaths? You have my word that you will be allowed to live free if you aid us.>

There’s a moment of silence.

“You wouldn’t use any information that could come back to me? And you would get me off this planet and away from Visser 3 when your fleet arrives?”

<Of course.>

“Very well then. What are your questions?”

<Where is the nearest pool?>

“Under this town”

You and Tony look at each other in surprise.

<Under the town?> you ask, trying not to reveal your alarm.

“Of course,” the Yeerk replies. “Why are you surprised, Andalite? We can’t let the humans know of our presence, and from what I understand your species practices the same policy. Surely you knew this?”

<How do you access the pool?>

“Through a variety of popular buildings the humans use. It’s cover for our hosts.”

<Be specific. Which buildings, and how do you enter?>

“There is an entrance through my host’s office in the law enforcement building. There is also an entrance through the local commerce center and the educational center. At the commerce center, enter the business named Gap and go into the fifth changing stall. There are several small buttons on the button of the mirror. Press the second and then fifth button. At the educational center, go along the hallway away from the main entrance. Enter the closet on the left at the end of the hallway, and pull the second and fifth hooks on the wall.”

<You mean the mall and the school?>

“Yes, those are the human terms.”

Damnit. You have to be careful about what you say.

<How many pools are on this planet, and where are they located?>

“Ten to twenty in this country. I don’t know anything else.”

<Why not?>

“I haven’t been told.”

<You have an influential host in the town where a pool is located and that’s all you know? I don’t believe you.>

“That is all I know,” he quickly says. Whatever he’s using to produce speech doesn’t convey tone very well, yet you can tell he’s scared from how fast his reply was. You should press him.

<What do you mean you don’t know? You know what will happen if you lie.>
“I don’t know. Visser 3 doesn’t tell me and I don’t know.”

<What important Controllers are there?>

“There’s a famous entertainer named John Cruz. He stars in a human film called Mission Inconceivable.”

>>4680023
<That’s it? There has to be more. Politicians, military officials?>

“That’s all I know”

<How do you recruit hosts?>

“We have an organization called The Sharing. There are operations to acquire specific, powerful hosts but I don’t know about those.”

Although you can’t put your finger on it, that name is really familiar.

After that, you go through the rest of the questions you’d planned to ask him. The Yeerk says the same thing to every other question:

“I haven’t been told.”

You press him more, but he refuses to give you anything else. It doesn’t make sense, why would he stop answering you now? If he planned to betray you, why wouldn’t he lie, or just refuse to answer any question?

<Why haven’t you been told any of this?>

“I can’t say.”

<Answer me, or else.>

“Visser 3 doesn’t trust me. He believes I may be working with one of his enemies. He only keeps me in this position to monitor me.”

<What enemy?>

The Yeerk doesn’t answer. He has to be working with someone else, but what ally of his could be so important that he’s willing to risk his life with Visser 3 and with what he believes to be Andalites? You don’t know what makes a Yeerk tick. In your mind, they’re some evil creature, with no morals or goals besides power. It’s what you saw of them in the visions Elfangor gave you. In spite of that, something is driving this Yeerk, compelling him not to answer you even if it means he might die.

<Any enemy of Visser 3 would be an ally of ours,> you state. A strange sound starts coming through the machine, and it takes you a second to recognize it as laughter.

“I don’t think they would feel the same way,” he replies.

<Explain, or die. It’s your choice.>

<Shouldn’t we wait for the others?> Tony privately asks you.

<I’m sure they’d say the same thing,> you answer him. <We agreed to kill the Yeerk when we were done.>

He stares at you, but doesn’t say anything else. You look back to the Yeerk. He’s still silently floating in his pool. After another minute or two of silence, he finally responds.

“I won’t tell you, but there’s something else I can offer. There is a Controller in this state’s government. His host’s name is Ted Berenson. Visser 3 trusts him, or at least as much as he trusts anyone. Berenson’s Yeerk will have detailed information on all the Visser’s operations. Do what you must.”

You don’t think you’ll get anything else from this Yeerk, but you’ll wait for the others anyway. You really wish there was some way to pressure him beyond vague threats. Maybe if he was human, you’d be able to persuade him somehow. He’s just a Yeerk though. Just some disgusting little creature floating about in his pool. Now you’re getting mad just thinking about it.

>>4680024
He’s able to do so much harm to humans, and you can’t do anything to him. Even if you squash him at the end of all this and let his host go free, that seems like a weak punishment for what he’s done. You look at the police chief. With a tiger and raccoon in his basement, he’s still kneeling on the floor crying. He’s not making any attempt to escape or communicate. Instead, he’s given up completely. That’s what this Yeerk did to him.

You look back at the Yeerk. Now that you think of it, maybe there is a way to punish the Yeerk and get the answers you want. You don’t know if this is right. You don’t know what the others will think. It doesn’t matter. This is necessary.

<Maybe this will change your mind,> you say, reaching your paw into the pool. Both the Yeerk and Tony try to ask what you’re doing. You don’t respond, and instead flip the Yeerk out onto the floor before they can finish. He lands with a wet smack and tries to slide away, but there’s no escaping a tiger. You pin him to the ground with your paw instantly.

<Do you still want to keep secrets?> you ask. You don’t think he can answer outside of the pool, but that doesn’t matter right now. Your paw moves like lightning, sending him flying across the floor and smacking into the wall. For a moment, you hesitate, concerned that you might have killed him by accident. A second later, he starts moving again and you bound over, pinning him again.

<How about now?> you ask again, and toss him back into the pool. <I can do this as long as it takes for you to answer my questions.>

“I’ll endure whatever you try to pressure me with. I’m not so easy to break as that, Andalite,” he spits at you.

<Not a problem for me,> you respond, and reach back into the pool to grab him again.

<Stop!> Tony interrupts. <You’re torturing him. I don’t like him either, and if we have to kill him then we have to kill him, but we can’t do that.>

You’re about to ask him why not when you hear another voice.

<Tony? Jen? Are you guys here?> Nate’s words come from upstairs. You’re not sure how you can tell who he is, or where his voice is coming from, but somehow you just know.

<We’re in the basement,> you answer, still looking at Tony.

<Coming down,> Nate says. After a second you hear what sounds like a ton of bricks coming down the stairs. Looking over your shoulder, you see the door open and three gorillas walk through. It’s almost comical watching them squeeze through into a room crowded with a human, a raccoon, and a tiger, but you’re not in a laughing mood. You move to the side to make room.

<That’s the Yeerk?> Anna asks. <Gross. Is the chief okay?>

>>4680026
<More or less,> you say. <We told the Yeerk we’re Andalites and got some information out of him, but he won’t answer most of our questions. He says Visser 3 doesn’t trust him because he’s working with some enemy of the Visser. The only other important thing we got was the name of some important Controller named Ted Berenson. I think we should put some more pressure on him.>

<She means we should torture him,> Tony angrily says. <She just got done smacking him around the floor.>

<Why are you upset?> you reply. <He’s a Yeerk. He takes people’s bodies against their will and he’s helping invade our planet. If he had his way, we’d all be living with Yeerks in our head.>

<It’s still torture.>

<We’re not going to get any answers without it. You can’t actually feel sympathetic for that thing.>

<Back me up here,> Tony says to the rest of the group. Though they’re all gorillas, you can tell who’s who from their reactions. The gorilla on the left looks at you, and then at the gorilla on the right, before deciding that the machinery is more important than this debate. That must be Anna. The gorilla in the middle slowly looks back and forth between you and Tony, as if he’s carefully considering what you’ve both said. That must be Nate. The gorilla on the right was looking at you at first as well, but now it’s staring at the gorilla in the middle. That must be Fred.

<I don’t like that you went beyond asking questions without waiting for the rest of us,> Nate begins, <but it might be necessary if he isn’t talking.>

<Come on man, are you really going to let this slide?> Tony frustratedly says.

<Let it slide? Excuse me? I’m doing what we have to do to get the information we need, while you’re apparently feeling bad for a space parasite that is trying to conquer the human race. Why would you ever say that?> you fire back at him. You might be acting a little defensive, or getting too angry at Tony acting like Nate is in charge, but you’re right. This is necessary. It has to be.

<Guys, please. What’s done is done,> Nate interjects. <What matters now is getting the answers we want. Anna, is there anything you can do with that machine to put some pressure on the Yeerk?>

<It looks like there’s some setting here I can change. This one is temperature, and it looks like this might be the current. This is basically a Jacuzzi,> she laughs, but nobody else does. <Okay, sorry. I can try turning those up to max.>

<Do it,> Nate orders. <Can you ask the Yeerk your questions again?>

You wait a minute, looking into the pool. Sure enough, the sludge starts to swirl faster and you feel heat rise off the top.

<How do you feel now Yeerk?> you ask. <Ready to answer our questions?>

He doesn’t respond. You can see him twitch at first, before starting to writhe. His body shakes, and you’re afraid he might die before answering. Then, he cries out.

>>4680028
“Please! Please stop, I’ll answer the questions, just stop. You’ll kill me!”

Your lips pull back as you smile as best as the tiger can. Anna presses a few buttons, and the movement in the pool slows again.

<Well? Who is your ally?> you ask.

“I’m surprised you don’t know, Andalite. In fact, I’m not sure you even are an Andalite. It doesn’t matter now though. My ‘ally’ is more than that. They are the one who discovered this planet. They are Visser 3’s greatest enemy. They are the one who will become the next emperor. They are Visser 1, and they will both conquer this planet and crush the Andalites.”

Visser 1? Visser 3 was bad enough, and if you understand the Yeerks’ rankings correctly, Visser 1 is above him.

<Where is this Visser 1? What are their plans?> you ask.

“Burn me if you must. I won’t say anymore.”

<Turn everything back up,> you tell Anna, and nobody disagrees.

The Yeerk continues to writhe and spasm in the pool, but somehow he doesn’t say anything else. After a minute, you ask Anna to turn it back down.

<How do you feel now? Willing to share a little more?> you ask.

“Turn the heat back up,” he slowly says. “Kill me. Or are you leaving me for Visser 3? You’re crueller than I thought.”

You don’t reply to that. You think about morphing back to human so you can acquire the Yeerk, but then the chief would see you as a human. You’d be screwed if the Yeerks ever caught him again. Besides, you’d never ever want to be a Yeerk.

<I think we’re done here,> you say to Anna. <Turn the heat up.> She presses the buttons again, and you watch the Yeerk die. Nobody says anything as he shudders and wiggles. Eventually, he goes still, and then starts to break up from the heat and the movement of the pool.

<What do we do with the chief?> Anna asks. You’re not sure. Before, you’d thought that the chief would be grateful and offer to help you, but that was before you saw him without a Yeerk. He’s just sitting there, silently. There’s a tiger, a raccoon, and three gorillas in his basement, who just killed the Yeerk that was in his head, and yet he’s still just sitting there. How long was that Yeerk in his head for?

<Can you undo those restraints?> Nate asks.

<Sure,> Anna says. She pushes some more buttons and the restraints pop open with a click. The chief slides out of his position and falls onto the floor. He’s not moving, but you can see his eyes looking up at your group.

<Can you hear me?> Nate asks. <You need to get out of here. The Yeerks are going to come back, and they’ll find you if you stay. You have to run.>

The chief doesn’t respond. You don’t understand why he’s just laying there. You can’t leave him though, he has information about you that could fall into the hands of the Yeerks.

>>4680029
<Look, you have two choices,> you say. <You either get up and try to escape the Yeerks, or you stay here and wait for another one to climb its way into your skull. Your choice.>

That seems to put a kick into him. He slowly climbs to his feet. Watching him, you’re reminded of a baby. It’s almost like he’s forgotten how to walk. He stumbles towards the door, before turning back to look at your group.

“T-thank you,” he slurs, before heading towards the stairs.

<We should get out of here too,> Nate says, and goes upstairs after the chief leaves. You follow him along with everyone else. You still don’t want the chief to see your human bodies, so you make a break for the woods along with the rest of the group, Nate carrying Tony’s raccoon morph. Once you reach the woods, you agree to meet again tomorrow evening. Ideally, you’d talk things through with the group now, but it’s getting pretty close to sunrise. You can’t have any of your parents finding out about your group. Everyone says their goodbyes before morphing out and then into bird morph to fly home.

--

It takes you too long to fall asleep. You keep tossing and turning, and thinking about the Yeerk. He was a monster. He deserved to die. He deserved everything he got and worse, but you still can’t stop thinking about it. You keep seeing him writhing in the pool as he burned up. Didn’t you do the right thing? Then why can’t you stop thinking about this? You did what you had to do, right?

The sun is almost shining through your window when you finally drift off from pure exhaustion. You dream again

--

You see the ocean stretching out beneath you. You’re falling towards its surface, yet you feel strangely calm. You can hear a voice faintly speaking as you splash through the surface. As you sink deeper and deeper, it grows more clear until you can hear what it’s saying.

<I’m here. Come to me. Help me. I don’t have much time… you have to come… Come to me…>

--

It’s nice to have a regular weird, indecipherable dream instead of something horrific and Yeerk related. Somehow, you manage to get up when your alarm goes off and make your way to school. You sleep your way through half of your classes, and thankfully your teachers don’t say anything. Maybe they expect that from you.

When you get home, you find yourself without anything to do. You’re still thinking about that Yeerk. You need to do something, anything to get it off your mind. You decide to meet up with somebody before the group gets together.

>>4680031
Who should you meet with though?

You could see Tony and patch things up between the two of you, but then you might end up getting lectured again by him.

Maybe you should see Nate. He’ll know what to say about last night. It’s not that you’re guilty, or upset, but… you just didn’t like seeing the chief like that, and not getting all your answers from the Yeerk. That’s it.

The opposite of talking things out with Nate or Tony would be hanging out with Fred again. You could just relax and fly around, or try out another morph. It might be just what you need.

It occurs to you that you haven’t talked to Anna one on one in a while. Normally, you’re inseparable, but this thing with the Yeerks seems to have thrown everything into disarray. It would be nice to reconnect.

>Tony
>Nate
>Fred
>Anna

>>4680032
holy shit that was a good update
>Tony
I'm going to stick with the theme of our character confronting things head on...usually.

>>4680032
>>Anna

>>4680032
let;s catch up with Anna

>>4680032
>>Tony
Camaraderie is important in getting through traumatic experiences and not snapping under the pressure. We need to build a sense of unity and make sure he knows we're in this together. And also make sure he knows we didn't enjoy what we did - we're doing what is necessary to save our families, humanity and every other creature living on earth.

I also think we should phone Anna for the same reason. We might not have time to meet in person but lets reach out and let her know we care.

>>4680031
Also, great update. Very emotional.
Wish we could've debriefed the chief though.

><I’m here. Come to me. Help me. I don’t have much time… you have to come… Come to me…>
Yeeeah. Muh boy Aximili is in town. Time for celebratory cinnabons.

>>4680032
>Tony

>>4680032
>Nate

>>4680032
>Anna

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>4680044
>>4680139
>>4680348
>Tony
>>4680077
>>4680126
>>4680730
>Anna
>>4680370
>Nate

Rolling. 1 for Tony, 2 for Anna

Is this the furry quest?

File: anna.png (295 KB, 509x503)

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>>4680032
You’ll get together with Anna.

After school, you send her a text asking to hang out before the group gets together. She agrees, so you head over to her house after stopping home briefly to grab some cash.

You quickly say hi to Anna’s mom before going upstairs. Anna’s little brother and sister are playing in the hallway, so you say hi to them as well before stepping into Anna’s room. She’s sitting on her bed, reading a book.

“Hey, whatcha reading?” you ask. She looks up at you with a smile on her face.

“It’s this really cool sci-fi novel,” she starts, but you interrupt her before she can dive into a full length explanation of every detail of the book’s plot.

“Actually, never mind. Do you want to put the book down and head to the mall? I don’t want to buy anything big, but we can hit the food court and maybe get something small on sale.”

“It’s never just one small shopping trip with you, but sure,” she laughs.

“It’ll be different this time, I swear!” you reply with a smile.

“Let’s go then,”

--

Half an hour later, you’re window shopping while snacking on cinnabons. You’d tried to keep the conversation light and casual, but it seems impossible to avoid the topic of last night.

“So, about what we did the other night...” you begin awkwardly. She gives an astonished look before bursting out laughing.

“Wow, what a way to phrase that,” she smirks. “I’m sorry Jen, I don’t think it’ll work out. It’s not you, it’s me.”

You laugh, but then sober up. “Seriously though, we should talk about it. I’m happy with how it went I guess, but--”

“Not here,” Anna interrupts. “We shouldn’t talk about this in public.”

She’s right. As much as Anna jokes around sometimes, she can still be serious when she needs to be. She leads you into a Sears and straight to the back of the store. Here, hidden behind the clothes nobody wants, you can talk freely.

“I just can’t stop thinking about it,” you say to her. “It’s not something in particular I wanted to do differently, but the whole thing. My mind keeps going back to the chief, and…”

“And the Yeerk?” Anna asks.

“How did you know?”

“I like to think I know you decently well, Jen. Are you upset we didn’t get all the answers we wanted?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s-- you’ll think I’m stupid, but I’m thinking about how he… died. It’s not that I feel bad or anything.”

“That’s not stupid,” Anna says quietly. “I get it. It’s not fun to boil something alive, even if it is a Yeerk. And anyone would be upset after seeing what happened to the police chief. I am too.”

“I don’t want to be upset or feel this way. I just want to know we did the right thing and then move onto the next mission.”

File: tony.png (305 KB, 510x503)

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>>4681554
“We did the right thing. You did the right thing. We saved someone from the Yeerks and got information we needed. It wasn’t pretty, but that doesn’t matter. I’m fighting to protect my family.”

She’s right. You didn’t enjoy watching a Yeerk boil to death, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right thing to do. It deserved to die.

“Let’s get back to shopping,” you say.

“Okay, but Jen, you should know I trust you and I’ll back you up whenever you need it. I should have backed you up with Tony last night, and in the future I won’t mess up like that.”

“Don’t worry about it, but thanks. I’m gonna see if there’s anything on sale.”

It wasn’t exactly comfortable talking about last night with Anna, but you feel at least somewhat better now. It’s time to go back to shopping.

--

A while later, you’re leaving the mall with Anna. You catch a bus over to the north side of town, and before too long you’re at Tony’s house. You don’t bother knocking on his door, and instead head over to the barn.

“Anyone home?” you call out as you walk through the open door, only to see Tony sitting alone on a haybale. He frowns as he sees you. Even if you feel better about last night, it doesn’t look like he does.

“Jen,” he says as you make eye contact.

“Tony,” you reply. Anna comes in behind you and sees the two of you staring at each other.

“This is nice,” she says. “I’m glad to see everyone is getting along well.” You crack a smile, but Tony just keeps frowning as he looks away. Even if he’s still mad about last night, you’re glad he didn’t blow up. You and take seats on another haybale. Anna tries to make smalltalk, but Tony doesn’t have anything to say and you would feel awkward chatting with Anna while Tony sits there silently.

You think about saying something to Tony. It would probably be best to smooth things over with him before you get into any discussions with the group. On the other hand, it might just make things worse, and you really don’t want to get into another argument with him before the rest of the group shows up.

>Bring it up (write-in)
>Don’t get into it

>>4681555
>>Bring it up (write-in)
Tony, about last night... (brief pause for him to interject and/or get himself mentally prepared for the topic). Allow him to speak if he wants to but if he says something like "not now" then push ahead with something like
>"No, I think we need to talk about it. We're in this together and you look upset, I think we all are."
Be sure to acknowledge his emotions and try to empathise with him. Let him know we're upset about it too.
Give him the opportunity to vent and explain why he's upset.
Respond honestly and sincerely
If it seems appropriate explain why we had to do what we did - that we're in a fight to save our families, humanity and every other living creature on earth. We all saw the visions of what the yeerks will do to the world, and have already done elsewhere.
Emphasise that we're in this together. Build a sense of unity. Let him know we care about him and will be there to help him if he needs us.
Give him a hug or rest a friendly hand on his shoulder if it feels appropriate.

>>4681604

+1

Not going to be able to update tonight

>>4681604
support

>>4681604
Writing

>>4681555
You’ll bring it up. It’s better to sort these things out as soon as possible.

“Tony, about last night…” you trail off to let him respond. He doesn’t say anything. “I know you’re upset, and I am too. What happened wasn’t ideal, but it was necessary. If you want to talk about it, I’m here.”

He looks almost disgusted. “What you did was torture. It wasn’t necessary at all.”

“I understand what you mean, but I think it was necessary. There was no way we were going to leave without finding out everything that Yeerk knew. We wouldn’t have found out about Visser 1 otherwise.”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you tortured the Yeerk.”

“Look: I get that you’re not happy with what happened, and neither am I. If there was another choice I would have taken it.”

“The other choice was not torturing him. Even if he was a Yeerk, he can still feel pain, and it’s still torture.”

“We’re at war, Tony. We’re the only thing standing between the Yeerks and our entire planet. If we want to stop the Yeerks then we have to work together as a team. You saw what the Yeerks do to other planets. I’ll do whatever it takes to stop that from happening here. It might not be pretty, but it’s necessary.”

“Okay,” he sighs. “I still think you’re wrong, but I know I can’t convince you so I’m not going to keep arguing about this. I’m not going to let it mess up the team or anything either.”

You guess he has a point. He’s still wrong, but there’s no point in arguing about it. At least you came to some sort of understanding. You lounge back on the hay bale next to Anna. She looks a little concerned. You smile at her, to let her know you’re fine.

“Hey guys,” Nate calls as he walks through the door with Fred behind him. He looks at your and Tony’s expressions. “Did I miss something?”

“No, everything’s fine,” Tony says. Nate looks like he wants to say something, but decides against it.

“Well, if you say so,” Nate replies. “We need to talk about this Ted Berenson guy. I did a little research and he’s a state senator. It looks like he’s out of state on some trip right now, but he’s coming back tomorrow. I say we ambush him as soon as he gets home. Pretty soon, the Yeerks are going to figure out a Controller who knew about Berenson disappeared and up his security, so we need to act before then.”

“I can’t say I’m not impressed,” Anna says. “How did you even find that out?”

“I just called into his office and said I was a reporter looking for his schedule,” Nate smiles. “The person who picked up the phone was very eager to help John Jacobson from the Daily Times.”

You laugh with the rest of the group.

“Is everyone free tomorrow?” Nate asks. The rest of the group says they are, but you have plans.

>>4684437
“Sorry,” you reply. “I might be busy for the first half of the day. There’s something I’m not sure that I can blow off. I told Mr. Fisher I’d go to this after school thing.”

“What after school thing?”

“It’s just this youth group, I think it’s called… oh shit. It’s The Sharing. The same group the Yeerk last night mentioned.”

“Really? And Fisher invited you to it?”

“Yeah.”

“He must be a Controller as well then. This might be an opportunity actually. If we follow you in morph, we could find out who in our town is a Controller and who they’re trying to recruit. The only problem is that we can’t all go after Berenson and still spy on The Sharing meeting.”

The group falls silent as you and Nate stop to think.

If you don’t go after Berenson now, you might not get another chance for a while. Whatever he’s doing, it’s certainly more important than any one town’s Controller recruitment. Can you really put your own life ahead of stopping him?

On the other hand, you told Fisher you’d go, and skipping out at the last minute might arouse suspicion. No matter how important what Berenson is doing, you won’t be able to do anything about it if the Yeerks start investigating you.

You could try to do both. Most of the group could go after Berenson while you and one other person in morph go to The Sharing. It would cover all your bases, but it’s substantially more risky than either option. A high level Controller will likely have plenty of security, and having just three people to go after them limits your options. Likewise, if anything goes wrong at The Sharing meeting, there won’t be as much you can do.

>“We can deal with The Sharing later. Let’s use this opportunity to go after Berenson”
>“I can’t get out of going to The Sharing without Fisher getting suspicious. Come to the meeting and we’ll see what we find”
>“Let’s do both. I’ll go to The Sharing with one other person, while the rest of you guys deal with Berenson”
>Write-in

>>4684441
>“We can deal with The Sharing later. Let’s use this opportunity to go after Berenson”
>"I'm going to need a way to fake being sick or something if I want to get out of my promise to go to The Sharing without arousing suspicion. I don't suppose anyone has any better ideas, or knows how to fake being sick really well...? Whatever I pretend to catch should be something contagious, I don't think Yeerks would want their hosts to catch something."

>>4684441
>>Write-in
Just go to the Sharing by yourself. Treat it as a low-key scouting mission to prepare for something more in depth later.

>>4684576
Suicidal tier, and a quick way to become a controller.

>>4684593
Unless I just plain forgot, I didn’t think The Sharing dumped first time visitors into a pool? I legitimately thought we could just see what they do on the surface level. I’m not suggesting we break into their secret basement or anything.

>>4684441
>We can deal with The Sharing later. Let’s use this opportunity to go after Berenson”

Easy way to avoid suspicion call in sick to school, even if Fisher thinks we're playing hooky it would explain us not going to the sharing

>>4684441
>>“I can’t get out of going to The Sharing without Fisher getting suspicious. Come to the meeting and we’ll see what we find”

>>4684576
>Just go to the Sharing by yourself. Treat it as a low-key scouting mission to prepare for something more in depth later.
This

>>4684995
>>4684576
supporting this

>>4684441
>>“We can deal with The Sharing later. Let’s use this opportunity to go after Berenson”

>>4684798
The sharing in the book didn’t, but I strongly caution against using meta knowledge like that. The sharing we see might not operate the same as the book’s sharing anyways.

>>4684441
>“We can deal with The Sharing later. Let’s use this opportunity to go after Berenson”
>"I'm going to need a way to fake being sick or something if I want to get out of my promise to go to The Sharing without arousing suspicion. I don't suppose anyone has any better ideas, or knows how to fake being sick really well...? Whatever I pretend to catch should be something contagious, I don't think Yeerks would want their hosts to catch something."

>>4684441
>>“We can deal with The Sharing later. Let’s use this opportunity to go after Berenson”

>>4684470
>>4684955
>>4685261
>>4685459
>>4685572
>Go after Berenson
>>4684576
>>4684995
>>4685092
>Go to The Sharing alone
>>4684980
>Go to The Sharing with backup
Calling it for going after Berenson

how did you make/find the character portraits QM?

>>4685786
A friend made them with this https://www.artbreeder.com/ based off of source images I provided and then I ran them through a couple filters in paint.net. The source images for each character were
Fred: Shawn Mendes
Nate: Nate from Gossip Girl
Anna: Stock images of Filipino women
Tony: Marco's actor from the animorphs tv show
Mom: Lucy Liu
Jen: fanart of someone's idea for a Bully 2 game. I just removed the references to Bully and didn't touch it otherwise

The rest of the images are either taken from fan sites or are real images I've ran through the same filters

File: after flight.jpg (914 KB, 3500x3500)

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here's a Jen post-flight

I'm not much of an artist but I'm learning and figured doing fanart for the quests I like might be a good way to work on stuff

if you don't want me posting this stuff QM just say so and I'll stop

>>4685879
>>4685882
Based, thank you very much. I love fanart

File: after flight.jpg (1.24 MB, 3500x3500)

1.24 MB JPG

threw on some color

>>4685934
Saved, thank you

File: Tony's Barn.png (509 KB, 800x533)

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>>4684441
“We can deal with The Sharing later,” you say. “Let’s use this opportunity to go after Berenson”

“What are you going to tell Fisher?” Nate asks.

“I’ll just call in sick to school and tell him I was under the weather. Don’t worry, I have plenty of experience pretending to be my mom on the phone.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “I guess if it works, it works.”

From there, the planning for tomorrow is simple. Nate had found out Berenson’s whole schedule for the rest of the week, and there was a gap in it tonight and tomorrow morning through afternoon. Nobody’s sure what it is, but you know he’ll be up to something during that time. After everyone else gets out of school, you’ll meet up at the barn before catching a train to the state capital. You had thought you’d use your bird morphs, but Anna had pointed out that it would still be slower than a train. Even with the train, it’ll be getting close to evening by the time you get there, so you’ll have to go after Berenson straight away.

You’re getting ready to leave when Anna speaks up.

“Guys, I’ve been thinking,” she begins. “We need a name for this team. It might be a little silly, but I’ve been thinking of Animorphs. Like a combination of animals and morphing.”

“Animorphs,” you say, trying the word out. “I kinda like it.”

--

You go to bed early when you get home. You’ll need to be up early to call in sick to school and swim practice.

After you fall asleep, the dream from last night returns. You’re falling from the sky, plummeting towards the ocean. Before you realise what’s happening, you hit the water with a splash.

Below you stretches a blue-green expanse, growing darker as you sink deeper and deeper. You look over your shoulder towards the sky, but it’s fading from your view.

<Help… help me…> a voice faintly calls out, and you look back to the depths. <I am here. I don’t have much time… you have to come… help me…>

You wake with a start. That dream was unnervingly vivid. It felt almost exactly like the visions Elfangor had given you. And that voice didn’t feel like actual sound. It felt like thoughtspeech. Maybe it’s some residual effect of the visions? You’re not sure, but you’ll tell the others about it today.

Looking over at your alarm clock, you see it’s almost 7:00AM. You don’t have time to think about dreams anymore, you have some calls to make.

--

Shortly before school is supposed to end, you leave your house to go to the barn. You think about leaving a note for your mom, but there’s no point. She probably won’t notice if you’re not there when she gets home from work, and if she wonders where you are, then she can just call you. It doesn’t matter though; she won’t notice or care.

Fred is already there when you get to Tony’s place.

“Shouldn’t you be in school?” you say with a smile.

File: fred.png (281 KB, 508x508)

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>>4686199
“Yeah,” he says. You expect him to say something else, but he stays silent. You can’t really fault him for skipping school when that’s what you’re doing yourself.

“Are you ready for tonight?” you ask.

“Definitely.”

Looks like he’s in a quiet mood today, which suits you just fine. You lean back on the hay bale you’re sitting on and stare up at the ceiling. There’s a crack in the roof that lets in just a little bit of light. If you look at it from the right angle, you can make out the sky. It’s clear and blue today, and you let the light fall on your face as you close your eyes. Today’s going to be a big day, and you want to be mentally prepared. You have a little ritual that you used to do before every swim meet, and it feels like it fits for today’s mission.

You used to imagine yourself coming in for the last lap of the race with everyone cheering you on. All your friends, coaches, and family jumping up and down as you come in towards the wall. They’d all go crazy as you just barely won the race, and when you’d climb out of the pool, your dad would be waiting there for you. When you were younger, it was something nice to look forward to. Since the accident, it was a memory of better times to look back on.

Now, you picture yourself in the capital. You’ve caught Berenson and managed to pry all the information about Yeerk plans that you’ll ever need out of him. You’re getting ready to get away when Visser 3 shows up. Only this time, you’re not scared. It’s you in a tiger morph between him and the rest of the team, and you’re ready. You don’t give him a chance to morph, and immediately leap. He tries to cut you down with his Andalite tail, but the tiger is too fast. You’re on him, and biting down. You’ve avenged Elfangor. You’ve saved the world.

“Hey Jen?” Fred interrupts your daydreaming, and you sit up with a start. You’d gotten too lost in your fantasy without realising.

“Yeah?” you reply, trying to act normal.

“Have you had any weird dreams lately?”

“A dream about falling into the ocean? With a voice calling for help?”

“Help, help, I don’t have time, you have to help?” he says, eyes wide.

“Exactly. And it felt the same as the visions too.”

“We need to tell the others.”

--

“So you’re saying you guys are having weird dreams? What do you expect us to do about it?” Anna asks.

“These aren’t just weird dreams,” you say. “It was more vivid than any dream I’ve ever had. And how could Fred and I have the exact same dream if it was just a coincidence and not a message? I’m telling you, something is out there and it needs our help.”

The rest of the group looks skeptical, but the fervency with which you and Fred are speaking might be winning them over.

“What do you expect us to do?” Nate asks. “We can hardly abandon this mission last minute to go deep sea diving.”

File: nate.png (309 KB, 512x512)

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>>4686201
“We can go after the mission,” Fred interjects. “Tony, can you get us into the aquarium section of the zoo? If we go now, we can acquire sea morphs and then catch the train in time.”

“No can do,” Tony replies. “The security there has been really tight since we snuck in.”

“Then what can we even do?” Fred groans.

“There is an aquarium in the capital,” Anna says slowly. “I went there for a field trip once. Their dolphin tank is open to the air. It wouldn’t be hard for a couple of birds to fly in after they close.”

“Then we’d be missing out on a chance to go after Berenson,” Nate replies. “We don’t know what he’s doing tonight. There’s a pretty big chance it’ll conflict with going to the aquarium. I thought we wanted everyone there to go after him, not chasing after weird dreams.”

“It’s not just a weird dream,” Fred insists. “It was a message. Maybe it was from another Andalite. We have to investigate. You guys can go after Berenson, I’m going to the aquarium, and then I’m going into the ocean tomorrow. If I can come back to help you tonight, I will, but the message comes first.”

You haven’t seen him this passionate before. It’s good, though. You don’t know how to explain the dreams, or whether it’s an Andalite or not, but it is important. You could feel the urgency coming through in the dream.

On the other hand, you can’t just let Berenson go. Who knows when you’ll get another opportunity like this?

>“We should all go to the aquarium. They’re not going to abandon an important Controller because one unimportant Controller disappeared. We’ll come after him when we get the opportunity”
>“You guys go after Berenson. I’m going with Fred to the aquarium. If we can come back to help you, we will, but this message is important. I can’t explain it, but we have to listen to it.”
>“Fred, you go to the aquarium, and the rest of us will go after Berenson. We’ll try to get to the aquarium as well, but if we can’t then at least you’ll be able to follow the message.”
>“Come with us Fred. We’ll get Berenson, and then we can go to the aquarium. This is more important than some weird dream.”
>Write-in

>>4686202
>You guys go after Berenson. I’m going with Fred to the aquarium. If we can come back to help you, we will, but this message is important. I can’t explain it, but we have to listen to it.
let's ride with Fred

>>4686202
>>“You guys go after Berenson. I’m going with Fred to the aquarium. If we can come back to help you, we will, but this message is important. I can’t explain it, but we have to listen to it.”

>>4686202
>“You guys go after Berenson. I’m going with Fred to the aquarium. If we can come back to help you, we will, but this message is important. I can’t explain it, but we have to listen to it.”
There's no way we're letting him go by himself, and he's adamant that he's going to do it.
Safer to have a buddy with him.

I kind of hope its an OC Andalite rather than Ax

>>4686266
My bet is that it’s likely going to be an OC
But with andalites they’re fairly similar anyways haha

>>4686202
>>“You guys go after Berenson. I’m going with Fred to the aquarium. If we can come back to help you, we will, but this message is important. I can’t explain it, but we have to listen to it.”

>>4686202
>>“Come with us Fred. We’ll get Berenson, and then we can go to the aquarium. This is more important than some weird dream.”

>>4686206
>>4686220
>>4686223
>>4686851
>Go to the aquarium with Fred
>>4686923
>Come with us Fred

Set. Writing

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>>4686202
“You guys go after Berenson. I’m going with Fred to the aquarium. If we can come back to help you, we will, but this message is important. I can’t explain it, but we have to listen to it.”

“No way,” Nate says flatly. “We need the whole team for this. Berenson is going to have more than just human security. There could be Taxxons, or Hork-Bajir. We need the backup.”

“I’m telling you, this is important. I don’t mean to bail on you, but I can’t let this go.”

“Please don’t do this,” he gives you a pained look. Jen and Tony look deeply worried. You hate that you’re leaving them on the verge of such an important mission, but you don’t think there’s any other choice.

“Trust me,” you say. It’s not much, but it’s all you can think of to say.

Nate sighs and shrugs. “Fine.” You can tell he’s not happy, but he’ll have to deal with it.

--

Anna, Nate, and Tony have all told their parents they’re sleeping over at someone else’s house. You and Fred didn’t need to make those arrangements. After everyone has sorted out their cover stories, you catch a bus to the train station.

Nate made everyone go over the plan several times. Once you get to the capital, you’ll all morph birds and split up. It’ll be evening then, so you and Fred will fly straight to the aquarium while the rest of the group starts tracking Berenson. Hopefully you’ll finish up in time to meet up with the rest of them. After covering the plan one last time, your group lapses into silence. You pass the time staring out of the window, watching the landscape slide by.

“Hey,” Tony interrupts the silence. He passes you a tourist pamphlet with a map of the aquarium “I’ve been to the aquarium before as well. You’re going to want this big pool in the middle, that’s where the dolphins are.”

You look the map over. The dolphin tank is in the exact center of the aquarium. It shouldn’t be possible to miss, but you make sure to memorize some landmarks of the park just to be safe. Something catches your eye as you look over the map. Not far from the dolphin tank is another large tank. It’s labeled Killer Whales.

“What about the killer whales?” you ask. “Wouldn’t a whale morph be really useful in the ocean?”

“Orcas,” Tony corrects you. “Everyone calls them killer whales, but the right term is orca whales.”

“Okay, then wouldn’t an orca whale be really useful?”

“Yeah, but you don’t want to go into their tank. Orcas in the wild are normally pretty nice to humans. The worst they’ll do is try to steal fish from us. In captivity, something goes wrong. They don’t form families like they do in the wild. They get health problems, their fins collapse, their lifespans are reduced. And they get hostile. Every couple of years, you hear about an incident with an orca.”

“So these orcas might be a bit moody?”

>>4688190
“They’re more than moody. They’ve bitten trainers and tried to drown them before. My dad told me they have a whale there named Nakai who killed a trainer and put two others in the hospital. He’s there because no other aquarium will take him.”

“So they are killer whales then,” you smile. “That’s probably just a crazy rumor. The orca exhibit is open to the public and they put on shows every day. It’s all here in the pamphlet. If he killed someone there’s no way he’d still be there.”

Tony doesn’t seem amused. “It is true. It was in the news and everything. He’s still there because a lot of people have seen Free Willy, and they’ll pay a lot of money for an orca to jump out of the water and splash them. Besides, there aren’t many tanks that can fit a full grown orca, and even less places willing to take in a whale with a track record of attacking trainers. I’m telling you, do not go anywhere near the orcas. If he’s willing to attack trainers that played with him every day for years, then he’ll definitely be willing to attack a stranger in his tank. I’m telling you, do not go anywhere near the orcas.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll stick with the dolphins.”

“Good.”

--

It’s late when you get off the train. You’re just outside of the city, close enough to fly in, while far enough that it’s not hard to find a secluded place to morph. Thankfully, the capital is far from the biggest city in the state, so there’s plenty of wooded area nearby you can morph in. As long as nobody stumbles across your clothes, you should be fine.

<Good luck,> you say to the rest after the group morphs. You’d like to say more, and try to explain the message again, but there’s not enough time. The aquarium has already closed, and Berenson should be finishing up his day now. Besides, you doubt it would change anyone’s mind.

<You too,> Anna replies, and then you’re off.

Flying over the city is surprisingly easy. Though the sun is setting, the asphalt below is still warm enough to heat the air above it. This hot air rises and forms a thermal, which your hawk body was built for soaring on. You extend your wings and let them catch the air. With a thermal beneath you, flying is effortless. Higher and higher you soar, a pillow of warm air buoying you up. The city stretches beneath you, dimly illuminated in the fading light of the sun. Ahead of you stands the EB tower, a fifty story colossus of steel and glass. It’s by far the tallest building in the city, but with the lift from the thermal you soar above it.

<Hey, slow down,> Fred calls out. You look back at him as you wheel about in a circle, and realize he’s falling behind. You’d been so caught up in the beauty of the city and the joy of flying that you’d forgotten his peregrine falcon morph can’t soar nearly as well as your red-tailed hawk.

<My bad,> you respond. <The aquarium shouldn’t be far. Follow me, I’ll fly a little slower.>

>>4688192
You keep riding the thermals until the aquarium comes into site. There’s a large concrete building with an Aquarium sign on it, and beyond it are several large pools. The one in the center must be for the dolphins and, and the other next to it is likely for the orcas. There are also several rides and public pools, but that’s not why you’re here. You pull your wings into your body and dive towards the central pool. You flap to control your descent as you land on the fencing around it, with Fred right behind you.

You peer around the pool to make sure it’s clear before hopping down to the ground. You’re about to start morphing when Fred interrupts.

<Stop, someone’s coming! Look over at the entrance,> he urgently says. You look over, and see a man and a woman in wetsuits approaching. You squeeze up against the fence, trying to conceal yourself as best as possible as they walk towards the pool. Judging by the logos and colors on their suits, they must be employees here. Looking more closely, you can see that they’re each holding a large bucket. You watch as they reach the water and start calling out. There’s no response for a second, until a dolphin bursts out of the water, jumping straight up and splashing water everywhere. The employees laugh as the dolphin squeaks and wiggles around in the water.

The man reaches into his bucket and lifts a fish out. He raises into the air for the dolphin to see, before tossing it up. The dolphin leaps up and grabs it, before diving underwater for his treat. After a second, it surfaces again, splashing the water with its tail and vocalizing more. The man and woman laugh, but you’re starting to get stressed. If they take too long playing with the dolphins, you won’t make it in time to meet up with the others.

<Just wait,> Fred says. He must be able to tell you’re getting antsy.

You try to be patient, but the man and the woman are taking their sweet time. More dolphins have surfaced, and they’re having fun trying to catch the fish out of the air one at a time. It feels like an eternity before the workers get tired of playing with the dolphins. They dump the rest of the fish into the pool, and make their way back towards the exit.

<Finally,> you say. <Let’s not waste time, hop down and we’ll morph quickly.>

Fred joins you on the ground, and you start morphing. The morph back to human takes painfully long, but try as you might, you can’t make it go any faster. After a minute or two, you’re human again, and heading straight towards the pool. Without hesitating, you dive in.

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>>4688196
The dolphins instantly start moving towards you. You can hear them chittering and squeaking as they swim around you and inspect you. You smile at them as they swim around you, trying to look at you from every angle. It’s cute. You reach an arm out, and one of the dolphins extends its nose. Your fingers touch its nose, and you start acquiring it. A tingle runs through your body as the dolphin goes still.

Morph Acquired: Bottlenose Dolphin

There’s a splash behind you as Fred joins you in the water. The dolphins turn away from you to look at this newcomer. He quickly acquires a dolphin as well, and you both climb out of the pool. The dolphins squeak at you as you climb out, and start splashing when you look back. It’s almost like they’re asking you to hop back in and play with them. The idea is tempting, but unfortunately, you have to go. You’ve already wasted enough time.

You walk over to the fence and start morphing to a hawk again, while Fred returns to his falcon form. It’s night out now, but there’s still just enough light for your hawk eyes to see. Unfortunately, the thermals from earlier are all gone now, so you have to flap your wings repeatedly to gain any height. You’re having an easier time of it than Fred at least.

As you rise above the aquarium, the orca pool comes into view. You can’t make out details while it’s this dark, but an idea occurs to you. At some point, it will get too dark for your eyes to see, and you’ll need to morph owls eventually. You had been planning to meet up with the rest of your group before doing that, but it won’t take much time if you morph now, and it would be easier for you and Fred if you do it ahead of time. While you’re down there, you could also acquire an orca. Tony did say they were dangerous, but the dolphins seemed nice enough. You would only need to touch the whale to acquire it, and then it would calm down long enough for you to get out of the pool. Having a morph able to put up a fight could really come in handy in the ocean. You don’t know what you’ll find, and having something up your sleeve to protect yourself with isn’t a bad idea.

><Fred, we’re going to the orca pools. I’m going to acquire one, and then we’ll morph owls and go after everyone else>
><Let’s land and morph owls now. Then we’ll go after the others>
>Just go after the others. There’s no time to waste
>Write-in

><Fred, we’re going to the orca pools. I’m going to acquire one, and then we’ll morph owls and go after everyone else>

let's do this

>>4688197
>><Let’s land and morph owls now. Then we’ll go after the others>

I’d rather take the warning seriously. We already went off script by going on this side mission, I don’t want to be a complete loose cannon. Just a small one lol.

>>4688197
><Let’s land and morph owls now. Then we’ll go after the others>

>>4688197
>><Let’s land and morph owls now. Then we’ll go after the others>
We're on a tight schedule, no time for any complications that might crop up while acquiring the orca.

>>4688197
><Let’s land and morph owls now. Then we’ll go after the others>

>>4688197
>><Fred, we’re going to the orca pools. I’m going to acquire one, and then we’ll morph owls and go after everyone else>

>>4688197
>>Just go after the others. There’s no time to waste
Orca is a terrible idea. Does acquiring also copy the animal's level of stress and injury?

>>4688907
>Does acquiring also copy the animal's level of stress and injury?
It does not. If you acquire the orca, you'll have a healthy adult orca to morph into.

Also, for those who don't know, you can't acquire someone else while they're in morph. You have to touch the original animal yourself to acquire it. Because of this, the rest of the group will not be able to acquire dolphins from you and Fred. It's not important for this vote, but I figured I'd let you guys know ahead of time if you weren't already aware.

>>4688197
>><Let’s land and morph owls now. Then we’ll go after the others>

>>4689353
Rip I completely forgot about that. I regret voting to do this, what was the point when the rest of the group is gonna have to do it as well?

>>4689709
It's not pointless, the intent is that after the mission Fred and us can both go find the source of the dream signal that has been calling to us.
Also, if we need to go dolphin in a yeerk pool we totally could, which is kind of based (if dangerous, maybe. Hard to say with how incredibly tiny the ear canal is for dolphins.)

>>4689776
Good point. I kinda assumed Nate would want the whole group to go.

>>4689709
As the anon said, you and Fred can go after the source of the message. Whoever was calling out to you said they don't have much time, and the others are set on chasing Berenson. This way, if the others don't have time to get dolphin morphs, you'll still be able to go after the message with Fred.

>>4688197
>>Just go after the others. There’s no time to waste

animorphs? more like anidead

>>4694132

The yeerks got OP

>>4694132
>>4694141
Not dead, just busy. I'm done exams and on spring break now so I should hopefully have more free time to work on this for a while. If I ever do decide to kill this quest, I won't do it without saying anything. Update tomorrow night

>>4694380
That's exactly what a controller would say

>>4688198
>>4688786
>Acquire an orca
>>4688252
>>4688277
>>4688290
>>4688735
>>4689428
>Morph owls
>>4688907
>>4690863
>Go after the others without changing morphs
Writing. Can I have 3 rolls of 1d20?

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>4695549
LETS FUCKING GOOO

>>4695549
!1d20

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>4695549
kill me

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>4695549
Just going to roll myself so I can work on the update

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>4695549

>>4688197
<It’s too dark for these morphs. Let’s land and morph owls now. Then we’ll go after the others.>

<Okay,> he responds, and dive back down to the aquarium. He flies into a thicket of bushes and trees and you follow him.

You’re painfully aware that you’re running out of time to meet up with the others. The longer you take here, the less likely you are to reach the others in time. You try to force the morph back to human as quickly as possible, but it doesn’t feel any faster than usual.

Come on, come on!

It’s still not speeding up. You try to push it more, yet it feels like it’s slowing down. No, you’re certain now. It is slowing down. Your body is caught in between hawk and human, and the morph is slowing down. Your wings have changed into stunted arms while your whole body is covered in a disgusting mix of skin and feathers.

A shadow passes over your twisted form and you try to look up as best as you can. Fred, as a human, is crouched over you.

“What are you doing?” Fred hisses.

<I-I’m stuck,> you frantically reply. <I can’t make this morph go through.>

“What do you mean? Just morph.”

<I can’t. I’m trying as hard as I can,> you say desperately. You’re trying not to panic. You might be stuck in between morphs, but you can’t panic.

“Okay. Okay,” he says. Your eyes are a strange mixture of hawk and human, but you can still make out what looks like disgust on his face as he stares down on you. “Can you try to go back to a hawk?”

You try, and it works. Your skin ripples as it turns back into feathers, while your bones grind against each as they move back to the configuration of the hawk’s skeleton. You’re out of that horrible in-between state, but now you’re just a hawk again. It’s tempting to ask Fred what to do next, but coming here was your idea. The others are counting on you, so you’re going to sort this out yourself. You begin the morph again.

This time, you relax and simply focus on the mental image of yourself as a human. Once you begin, you let the morph go on its own. Your feathers smooth and run together as they turn back into skin. Your talons fuse together and then start to expand to form feet. Meanwhile, your wings straighten and begin to change shape into arms. Even though the morph is slow, you try your best to keep calm and stay focused on the image of yourself. Right now, you have the torso and head of a bird with the limbs of a human, but at last that starts to change, and before you know it you’re human again.

“Are you okay?” Fred asks. It’s hard to tell in the dark, but he looks almost scared. You guess you might be too if you’d seen him stuck in between morphs.

“I’m fine,” you quickly answer. “Let’s finish morphing owls.”

Without waiting for a response, you start the morph. It’s still slow, but you’ve learned your lesson about rushing morphs.

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>>4696466
Annoyingly, Fred finishes before you. His wide owl eyes stare at you as you catch up to him.

<Are you sure you’re okay?> he asks again.

<I’m fine> you snap. <We don’t have time to talk. Let’s go track down everyone else.>

—

Try as you might, you can’t find the rest of your group. You fly around where you’d left them, the exterior of Berenson’s offices, and the backup location you’d agreed to meet them after the mission, but they’re nowhere to be found.

<They have to be chasing Berenson,> Fred says.

<I know, but what can we do?> you answer. <They would have followed Berenson, but we have no way to know where he went.>

This feels like your fault. You can’t admit it to Fred, but it was your decision to go to the aquarium, and it was you who messed up morphing. You continue to fly over the city, hoping you’ll find some sign of the others. Then, you see something.

Zooming down the city’s main street is a line of police cars. Their lights are flashing and their sirens are on. The owl’s vision doesn’t do well with bright lights, but there has to be close to ten cars.

<Do you see that?> you ask Fred. <Let’s go!>

Without waiting for a response, you wheel about and go after the police cars. There’s no doubt in your mind that they’re responding to something your group has done.

Even though the cars are too fast for an owl to keep up normally, the cops have to slow down for turns and to clear traffic out of the way. Meanwhile, you and Fred can simply fly straight after them, following the flashing lights through the city.

The cars start to slow down and stop once they reach the outskirts of town. There’s a couple office buildings out here, but not much else. As you fly closer, you see a few cops have gotten out of their cars and are now arguing with each other. You settle in on top of a nearby tree, Fred right behind you. They won’t be able to see you in the dark, while your owl hearing will let you pick up everything they say.

It seems like they’re arguing about going further. One cop is saying the senator is in danger and they have to get to the B&T building, while the other is saying he has orders to stop. The second cop looks like he’s in charge, and the first cop is not happy about it. You don’t know the details of what they’re talking about, but it doesn’t matter.

<I’ve heard enough,> you say to Fred. <Let’s find this B&T building.>

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>>4696468
You take flight again. The building isn’t hard to find; you just keep going in the direction the police were going until you find the only building that still has lights on. You peer in through the windows as you fly by. There’s not much to see, just endless rows of cubicles. As far as you can tell, the building is completely empty. Until you hear the shattering of glass and the trumpeting of an elephant.

Wheeling around, you flap your wings to get to the source of the sounds as quickly as possible. As you round the corner of the building, you see a Hork-Bajir bleeding on the ground, surrounded by broken glass. You look through the broken first floor window. Inside the building’s lobby stands an elephant covered in cuts, lashing its trunk from side to side. Taking cover behind the elephant are two gorillas, also badly cut. Surrounding them are close to a dozen Hork-Bajir, and standing behind the Hork-Bajir are two humans. Your vision isn’t well suited for the bright lights of this office building, but it looks like one human is an older man in a suit, and the other is a younger woman in an office dress.

<Oh no,> Fred says as he comes up behind you and sees what you’re seeing. Anna, Nate, and Tony are surrounded, hurt, and outnumbered. Somehow the mission must have gone badly wrong without you and Fred.

Your first instinct is to land out of sight of the Controllers and morph into a tiger. You’ll be able to jump straight into the fray as soon as possible. It’ll be a tough fight, but you’d much rather go into it as a tiger than an owl.

Another option is to go straight for the man. If he’s not the senator, then he’s definitely still a Controller. Even if you can’t do much as an owl, it’ll draw the attention of some of the Hork-Bajir away from your friends. That might give them the opportunity to put up a fight.

Alternatively, you could get past the Controllers, and then morph inside the building. It would take longer, but let you come up behind them by surprise. You could then turn the tide of this battle, or even take the human Controllers hostage.

Maybe you could work a plan out with Fred, but nothing comes to mind right now. Whatever you do, it’ll have to be quick.

>Morph to tiger ASAP
>Go after the humans. Distract as much as possible
>Get inside the building and then morph
>Write-in

>Go into the building and morph.

Urgency is the name of the game. Have Fred go right for them as we head into the opposite building. Distraction times 2.

>>4696469
>Morph to tiger ASAP

>>4696469
morph to tiger, fuck shit up

>>4696507

+1

>>4696469
>>Get inside the building and then morph

>>4696469
>Get inside the building and then morph

>>4696469
>>Morph to tiger ASAP

>>4696469
>Get inside the building and then morph

>>4696469
Supporting >>4696471

>>4696501
>>4696507
>>4696529
>>4696880
>Morph tiger ASAP
>>4696471
>>4697088
>Have Fred distract as we get inside and morph
>>4696555
>>4696687
>>4697041
>Get inside and morph

Looks like going inside wins, but several anons didn't want to have Fred run distraction. I'm going to have a runoff between going inside ourselves or going inside and directing Fred to distract. Reply to this post to vote. I'm going to be taking rolls no matter what, so I'll also need 3 rolls of 1d20
>Have Fred distract as we get inside and morph
>Get inside and morph

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>4698779
>Get inside and morph

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>4698779
>Have Fred distract as we get inside and morph

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>4698779

>>4698779
>>Get inside and morph
Voted

>>4698885
yeah? I tripped in your quest. WHAT OF IT!?

>>4698791
>>4698885
Calling it for get inside and morph. Writing

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>>4696469
You tuck your wings and fly in through the broken window. You do your best to keep out of sight, and while the Hork-Bajir don’t seem to notice you, the humans definitely do. They point and yell as you fly past. Responding to their call, two of the Hork-Bajir split off from the group to chase after you.

They can run almost as quickly as you can fly, but you should be able to lose them once you get into the maze of cubicles. You shoot through the narrow hallways of the office, flying low to the ground. Behind you, the Hork-Bajir are sending paper and cardboard flying through the air as they slice through anything in their way. Unfortunately for them, that only works in your favor.

Using the clouds of shredded paper as cover, you slip to the right as you reach the next intersection. The Hork-Bajir continue running straight forward and tearing up cubicles without even realising. You keep flying until you’re on the other side of the office. You’re not sure how long it will take for them to realise you got away, but this is a big office. There’ll be plenty of time for you to morph to human and then tiger before they come in this direction. Hunkering down in a cubicle, you start the morph.

It takes a minute, but you become human again. Then, the morph to tiger begins. You can only hope that the others will take advantage of the two Hork-Bajir chasing you. The morph feels the same as when you first became the tiger in the police chief’s house. Your muscles bulge out and your bones pop and grind as they move around. Your vision, sense of smell, and hearing all sharpen. You can hear the Hork-Bajir across the office, grunting with exertion as they continue to tear up the office looking for you. A familiar feeling of pure confidence settles into you. You’re no longer nervous or afraid. It doesn’t matter how many Hork-Bajir there are. They’re just prey to you.

You step out of the cubicle and set your sight on the cloud of shredded paper. Silently, you bound toward it. Though the smells and sounds of Hork-Bajir are unfamiliar to a tiger, they’re still just prey to you. It sounds like the Hork-Bajir have started to split up, and one is moving away from you. Without even thinking, you change course to target him. You close the distance within seconds and leap straight at him with a roar.

As you burst through the cloud of paper, you see the Hork-Bajir turning to try and meet you. He’s too slow though. Much too slow. You’re on him, your claws sinking into his flesh, and your teeth digging into his throat. He frantically tries to swipe at you with his arm-blades, but you disengage in an instant and vanish back into the cloud of falling paper. He storms after you, arm and leg blades swinging, but you’re still too fast. Your paw lashes out in an orange and black blur, tearing into his side before he can react. Unfortunately, his tail whips back at you on his way through, cutting your shoulder.

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>>4699387
You let out a roar, loud enough to make the ground shake. The Hork-Bajir stumbles away from you in fear, green-blue blood gushing out of his open wounds and staining the carpeting and paper all around him. You quickly take advantage of his distraction and leap again. It’s over in a flash. The Hork-Bajir lies motionless on the ground, soaked in blood, as you stand over him. You took another cut, but it’s shallow. You’re victorious. Until you hear the other Hork-Bajir sprinting straight at you.

Your superb senses give you enough time to move out of the way just in time. The Hork-Bajir shoots past you, but spins around before you can take advantage. All the paper from the torn up cubicles has fallen to the ground, leaving an open area for you and your foe. You make eye contact with him. It’s a strange scene; a seven foot tall dark green alien, covered in blades, and a tiger, circling each other in a ruined office.

There’s no point letting him make the first move. You strike like a bolt of lightning. The fight is almost too fast to process, but the tiger knows what it’s doing. You’re a blur, a whirlwind of teeth and claws. The Hork-Bajir puts up a valiant effort, and even scores several cuts on you, but ultimately he’s no match for a full grown tiger.

With the two Hork-Bajir dealt with, you sprint back to the lobby. As you get closer, the smell of blood grows stronger. When you reach the lobby, the humans you saw earlier are nowhere to be found. You do see Anna, Fred, and Nate as humans, standing around an elephant collapsed on the floor. It must be Tony, and he’s covered in wounds and blood. All around them are motionless, bloody Hork-Bajir, who have all been either gored or crushed, presumably by Tony.

<Is Tony okay?> you ask as you reach the group. Nate turns to you with rage on his face.

“Does he look okay!?” he yells. “What were you thinking? We could have all died because you decided to fuck around at the aquarium!”

<Hey, you decided to start a fight without me. I got here as fast as I could.>

“I didn’t decide to start a fight, I did the best I could after you decided to leave. You were gone for hours. We didn’t have any choice but to risk it because you abandoned us.”

>>4699389
It strikes you that this may not be about just the mission. You badly want to tell him exactly what you think of his abandonment and where he can shove it, but maybe there’s a more diplomatic way to approach this. Now isn’t really the time to be getting into an argument.

Being diplomatic might just be a fancy way to say letting him walk all over you, though. If you let Nate speak to you like that, then you’re opening the door to him acting like that in the future. It could be better to air everything out and let him know whatever issues he has aren’t your issues.

You could just drop this and go after Berenson. With the tiger’s sense of smell, it should be possible to track him and catch him. However, this is a big building, and the Hork-Bajir seem to have come from inside it. You have no clue whether Berenson will have any backup or what would await you. It’s the only way you see to salvage this mission, but going off on your own is a big risk.

If you do go after Berenson, it might have to be on your own. He has a headstart, and anyone coming with you will have to take the time to morph first. There’s also the issue of the police. From what you heard, it sounded like a Controller among the police was trying to stop them from getting here and seeing the Hork-Bajir, but who knows how long they’ll be delayed for?

“Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Nate interrupts your thoughts. What are you going to say?

><Look, I’m sorry I took so long. Fred and I got delayed at the aquarium. You know I didn’t want this to happen though. Can we please just put this aside and get Tony out of here safely?>
><I’m not dealing with your shit. You chose to go after Berenson without us, and now you’re attacking me because you obviously have some lingering resentment over a breakup.>
><I don’t have time for this. I’m going after Berenson.>
><I’m going after Berenson. I’ll wait a minute for anyone who wants to come with me to morph, and then we’re going after him.>
>Write-in

>>4699390
><I don’t have time for this. I’m going after Berenson.>

>>4699390
><I don’t have time for this. I’m going after Berenson.>

>>4699390
>><I don’t have time for this. I’m going after Berenson.>

>>4699390
> <Cool your fucking jets. We'll talk about this later. Right now, I'm going after Berenson>

>>4699441
>>4699390

>> <Cool your fucking jets. We'll talk about this later. Right now, I'm going after Berenson>

>>4699441
support

>>4699390
support >>4699441

>>4699406
>>4699411
>>4699420
>>4699441
>>4699519
>>4700600
>>4700818
Calling this for going after Berenson with the write-in. Can I have 3 rolls of 1d20? Also, I'm switching to degrees of success, so each roll over the DC will contribute. The DCs are still hidden, this is just something I'm doing in the background because I prefer it.