quote:

<Go for it!> Jake yells.

Go for it? You can’t! Not until you morph.

You look at Ax. Andalite, you think. Morph an Andalite.

Muscles ripple across your legs, adding bulk and definition at the same time. An extra pair of legs sprout from your hips and muscle up with shocking speed.

FLUMMP! You fall forward on all fours.

You can hardly believe the effortless power. It’s like turning into Schwarzenegger without even doing a single crunch.

You feel a distant almost-pain as the Andalite tail stretches out from the base of your spine. Growing, growing, growing until it is almost as long as your body. You hold it up off the ground.

SPLING!

The blade edge is the last part of the tail to burst out. It glimmers in the dull Iskoort sunlight.

Your stalk eyes grow out of your skull like an antenna rising out of an expensive sports car. You hear the eyeballs pop out on the ends.

Paamp! Poomp!

Suddenly you can see everywhere at once. Up. Down. Left. Right. Front. Back. All 360 degrees.

Behind you, Iskoort. Some watching the fight. The others going about their business of buying and selling. To either side, steep drops off the edge of the platform.

In front of you, the others surging forward. Rushing the Howler as a group. Tobias in the air.

Jake leaping. Cassie running low to the ground. Rachel galloping forward on all fours. Ax moving swiftly to the Howler’s right. Marco moving surprisingly fast on his bowed legs.

You don’t know what to do! How can you help the others? But then the Andalite mind wells up under your own. The mind is arrogant, almost cocky. Result: Your panic fades. You are ready for battle. The Andalite mind is calculating, thinking strategically. You need to get in close. That’s the only way you can use your tail.

You run forward, hooves thundering against the smooth Iskoort pavement. You feel clumsy and unsure. Having a strange new body is like playing a video game when you’re not sure how all of the controls work.

“Hhhhhrrroooowwwwrrrr!” Jake roars as he leaps.

You are there! In the battle. Moving onto the Howler’s left. You flex your massive tail muscle and let it rip.

FWAAPP!

You stumble sideways, knocked off balance with the impact.

The Howler’s hand drops. The weapon clatters down. But before the weapon stops rolling, the hand is growing back!

You draw back for another strike. But your tail hits Marco’s chest, drawing blood.

<Watch it!> Marco shouts.

<Draw your tail back over your own body!> Ax instructs.

<Sorry!> you yell.

Then the Howler lets loose.

“KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-row.”

The sound is a blast like nothing you’ve ever heard.

Cassie howls in pain.

“KEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-row.”

Jake misses his leap and falls in a tangle on the steps. Rachel trips and falls, landing on top of Jake. Tobias is falling out of the air.

Everything blurs. A swirling, mad, red, blur. You reel and run! You clasp your strange Andalite fingers over your ears and feel blood seeping between your fingers.

“KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-row.”

The third howl knocks you to your knees.

You die with blood flowing from your eyes and ears. Howlers are weapons designed to kill sentient species.

quote:

<Attack!> Jake yells.

You concentrate on the Komodo dragon. Drawing up a mental picture of the creature is easy enough. You once saw an hour-long special about the dragons on PBS.

Your skin dries and thickens. Then, rapidly, it turns Godzilla-green and pebbly. Your fingers lengthen and your fingernails grow pointed and sharp.

Your tongue is stretching, narrowing until it hangs down over your chin. You watch in horror as the tip splits in two and the entire thing turns yellow. The tongue twitches. Without thinking, you slurp it into your mouth.

Food!

You spin around.
The wind is coming from behind you and it carries the smell of rotting flesh. Half a mile away is something dead, something you can eat. You start to trot toward it. The dragon’s mind is simple, ancient. A predator’s mind. Focused on only one thing: food.

You run forward on your half-human, half-dragon feet. That way - the sweet, rotting smell is coming from there.

No…

Wait! This isn’t what you’re supposed to be doing. With an effort, you force yourself to stop running. You gain control over the dragon’s mind.

By now your jaw has shot out and filled up with large, curved, jagged teeth.

Your neck gets bigger and bigger. You lower yourself down on all fours as an enormous tail begins to stretch out from the base of your spine.

ERG! ERG! ERG! ERG!

The tail spurts out in bursts.

One foot! Two feet! Three feet! Four feet!

FWAAPP!

Ax and the Howler are already fighting.

Tobias hurtles down on the Howler from above, talons outstretched.

You hear a clatter as the Howler drops a weapon. The sound is strange, distorted. Your ears have shriveled up and disappeared.

Cassie is fully wolf now. She runs forward, teeth bared. Marco lumbers forward on gorilla legs. Your eyes migrate to the sides of your head. Through the dragon eyes, the colors of the Legoland look washed out. Then -

Movement!

<More Howlers!> you yell in thought-speak. <They’re coming down the stairs!>

“Hhhhhrrroooowwwwrrrr!” Jake roars as he leaps.

Rachel barrels ahead on all fours.

Then one of the Howlers lets loose.

“KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-row.”

Cassie howls in pain. Jake misses his leap and falls in a tangle on the steps. Rachel trips and falls, landing on top of Jake. Tobias falls out of the air. Ax is reeling, running.
You hear … nothing.

Yes!

The dragon’s hearing is somehow insensitive to the Howlers’ most powerful weapon.

The Howlers are circling the others.

You have to attack! The dragon’s mind resists. The dragon wants to find someplace and hide. Find someplace and wait until the prey draws near….

“KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-row.”

Marco swings a fist, hitting a Howler on his arm and spinning the creature sideways. The Howler twirls around on his weird waist and brings up a weapon.

F-t-t-t-t-t-t!

He fires! A dozen steel darts, tiny triangles, whiz through the air. A bloody hole appears in Marco’s back. He drops like a load of bricks.

Cassie recovers enough to bound into action. The Howler raises the gun, but too slow. Wolf jaws clamp down on the arm and Cassie holds on like a bulldog, ripping, tearing.

You force the dragon forward. You move fast, your claws making a sound like a muffled machine gun. All you can see are the Howlers’ lava-like feet. You bite with your strong jaws. Rip at the exposed flesh with your claws.

Nothing.

No cry of pain.

Is the Howler even hurt?

You can’t tell.

Yet the dragon mind is satisfied, ready to rest. The dragon knows these Howlers will die. Your bite contains a poison. The Howlers will grow weak in a few days’ time.

A few days? You don’t have that long!

One of the Howlers draws his flechette gun. He shoots triangular steel darts at you.

You are killed before you can morph out.

nine-gear crow posted:

The rare “both choices lead to a game over” story fork. You gotta love it! So now we have to go back all the way to Decision Point 3A where our choices are:

• Andalite, shark, Komodo dragon.
  
• Fly, hawk, Hork-Bajir.

quote:

You’re behind Jake, Cassie, and Marco as their bodies begin to grow muscles, fur, and claws. You can hear Tobias’s wings fluttering above you as he gains altitude.

Ax and the Howler face off, circling each other for half a turn. Then -

FWAPP!

Ax slashes out with his tail blade, knocking the Howler in the shoulder. Spinning him around on his weird lazy-Susan waist.

The Howler uses the momentum to bring up a weapon. A Dracon beam. He fires. Ax dodges. The shot goes wide.

You’re confused. Everything is happening so fast! You’ve only morphed once. And you’ve never been in battle before. “What should I morph?” you demand.

Nobody answers.

The Howler aims again. Point-blank at Ax’s head.

“Ax, go left!” Erek yells from his place under the steps.

Tobias swoops out of the air with his claws forward, aiming for the Howler’s sky-blue eyes. The Howler brings up a hand, moves sideways.

Hawk, you decide.

“Six more Howlers,” Erek reports. “Coming up the stairs.”

<Forget the battle mor -> Jake says. His orange-and-black tiger fur rapidly begins to fade. His muzzle collapses and his human mouth reemerges. “GGGGrrrroaro - Go fly! That means everyone.”

You focus on the fly DNA inside you, and begin to shrink. Spiky legs grow out of your chest. Your internal organs melt away to be replaced by simpler insect organs. Your mouth and nose sprout out to become a horrible, long proboscis.

The bright Legoland is a shattered mirror of images. The fly’s compound eyes see with a thousand tiny, irregular, bewildering TV sets, each tuned to a slightly different channel.

“The Howlers are here!” Erek cries.

<Let’s go!> Jake yells.

You power your fly wings and take off like a jet helicopter - straight up! You see massive red-and-black hands reaching for you. One gets close and you hit reverse, zipping back through the clutching fingers.

With your compound eyes the Howlers seem to be made of glowing purple and blue with pulsating black veins. The facets in your fun-house-mirror eyes break them into pieces. They are everywhere around you as you fly unmolested, unnoticed.

You do a midair flip and zip after the others.

<Some fight,> Rachel says.

<Yeah,> Marco agrees. <We showed them who’s boss.>

At least we escaped, you think.

quote:

You find an Iskoort guide. A place to hide.

That evening, you sleep in shifts. Two on guard at all times. You’re on watch with Erek, staring into the darkness. Watchful for any sound that may signal a Howler attack.

“You can relax,” Erek says. “I will hear the Howlers coming long before you will.”

“Why?” you ask.

“I am Chee,” Erek tells you. “Part of an android race created thousands of years ago. My hearing is vastly superior to human hearing.”

“Is that why you served as a lookout today?” you ask.

“No,” Erek says. “I could not fight. I am programmed to be nonviolent.”

“Who programmed you?” you ask.

“The Pemalites created the Chee,” Erek explains. “The Pemalites were a peaceful race. Then one day, the Howlers appeared out of Z-space and decimated them. I will help you defeat the Howlers any way I can. However, I cannot kill or hurt a living being.”

After two hours, Rachel and Tobias relieve you. Erek, being an android, needs no sleep. You curl up on one of the soft beds the Iskoort have made available to you. Try to get some sleep.

A smell like oil and mothballs and…

“Insecticide!” Rachel says.

You come awake with a jolt.

<Howlers!> Tobias yells.

What to do? The Howlers are pumping poison into your hideout. They have learned fast. Too fast. Insect morphs are no longer a choice.

What morph do you choose?

Acebuckeye13 posted:

Hawk, let the thermals bring us home one last time.

quote:

The stench of poison is growing stronger by the second.

You’re already morphing to hawk. Feathers sprouting out of your skin. Flesh oozing and shifting like mud sliding down a hill. Your face crumpling, then extruding as a hard beak forms. Toes becoming talons.

The others are morphing birds, too. You could stock an aviary. A bald eagle, a pair of ospreys, a northern harrier, two red-tailed hawks, and a peregrine falcon.

<Erek!> Jake demands. <Can you project a hologram through another window? A hologram of us?>

“Absolutely. There would be no harm to the Howlers, and it might save you. That would be well within my parameters.”

<On three,> Jake says. <One, two, NOW!>

The far window slides open. Instantly seven birds fly toward it. Dracon beams burn. Flechette guns rattle. The Howlers are attacking the hologram. Jake’s plan is working!

The near window opens. You spread your wings and flap with all your strength.

You blow out of the window, flapping like crazy, desperate for every foot of distance. The others instantly pull ahead.

But you’ve never been a bird before. You’re overwhelmed by your freedom to move in three dimensions. By the eyesight that makes each puffy orange Iskoort tree a composition of a thousand details.

TSSEEEEW!

<Aggghhh!> you yell.

A pain! Like a red-hot poker driven into your wing. You’ve been hit!

<Down, down, down!> Jake yells.

You’re still flying! Okay. The Dracon blast wasn’t bad. It’s not over yet.

The others are diving. Down into the maze of trees and bushes and flowers. You follow, blazing along the lane, inches above the heads of Iskoort out walking in the early light of dawn.

B-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-t-t!

A line of flechettes tears a tree apart inches ahead of you.

The Howlers are after you!

You turn a sharp left, banking around a line of trees. A Howler bursts from the vegetation ahead.

<Pull up!> Tobias yells.

Tseeeew! Tseeeeew!

Marco’s left wing is gone, falling like burning embers among the strolling Iskoort. Marco tumbles, out of control, falling like a stone. He hits the ground, disappears from view.

Jake dives after him.

A Howler jumps from an overhanging tree. He aims his beam weapon even as he falls.

Tseeeew! Tseeeew!

<Aggghhh!> Jake hollers.

<We have to help Jake and Marco!> you yell. You bank hard right.

Tree!

You swerve around, straining your wing muscles to the popping point. Straighten up. And then -

Bonk!

You slam headfirst into a tree you never saw coming. You fall to the ground, knocked silly.

An Iskoort is standing over you, staring down. <Call a member of the Embalmers Guild!> he calls.

<I’m not dead yet,> you reply.

Jake is hollering in your head. <The Ellimist and Crayak have an agreement. They can’t kill the Iskoort! Use the Iskoort for cover!>

<Ax! Behind you!>

<Here comes another one!>

The others are running for their lives.

Your head is starting to clear. You sit up.

Flap. Flap. Flap. Cassie lands next to you. <Are you okay?>

<Yeah … I think so,> you say.

<Then let’s haul!> Cassie takes off, straining for altitude.

You flap once, twice. You’re high enough to see a Howler. He’s bounding toward you, his dead blue eyes focused on you. <Cassie - watch out!> you scream.

TSEEEW! The Howler fires!

A bald eagle attacks! Rachel!

You flap up, turn toward the Howler.

He brings his Dracon beam up, aims.

TSEEEEW! TSEEEEEW!

<Agggghhhh!>

Cassie tumbles out of the air.

<Cassie!> Rachel screams.

<I’m … I’m okay … .I’ll demorph … .Don’t worry.>

The Howler is closing in on Cassie, weapon drawn.

You dive.

Rachel dives.

You reach out, ready to rake the Howler’s bald head with your talons.

TSEEEEW! TSEEEEW!

The Howler fires at point-blank range.

<NO!> Rachel screams.

You stare down in horror. Cassie couldn’t have survived that blast. Her osprey body is smoking. You can smell the acrid odor of burning flesh.

Suddenly a group of Iskoort come zipping down the path. They walk over Cassie’s body and it disappears.

<Hey!> you yell.

Rachel swoops to attack.

<Easy, easy,> Tobias says. <It’s us.>

Erek has created a hologram of Iskoort. Ax, Marco, and Tobias are hidden inside. Erek drops the hologram long enough to examine Cassie, to see if there is some way he can save her.

After a tense moment, the hologram reappears. “I’m sorry,” Erek says. “Cassie is dead.”

<No …> Rachel says. Her fierce eagle eyes are blank. But you can hear the pain in her voice.

The others are silent as you rendezvous with guide and find a new place to hide. An abandoned factory. Filled with mysterious, dusty machinery.

Erek sets Cassie’s osprey body down on the seat of a strange machine that was like a merry-goround for tools. Rachel finds an old blanket and covers her up. You and Rachel demorph.

“What happened to Jake?” you ask.

<I saw him go over the edge,> Ax says.

“Is he … gone?” you ask.

<No,> Tobias says harshly. <I’m going to find him.>

“I’ll go with you,” Rachel says.

<No,> Tobias says again. <If they Howlers attack, you’ll need maximum firepower here. I’ll go alone.>

Tobias leaves.

As soon as he is gone, Rachel turns to you, her eyes shining with grief and worry. Her intensity frightens you.

“This is all your fault,” she says quietly.

Marco has also demorphed and watches silently from a few feet away.

<Rachel,> Ax says. <We are all sad. Blaming one another will not help.>

Rachel’s eyes are locked onto yours. Blazing with anger.

“My fault?” you ask meekly.

“You got Cassie killed,” she says.

“Rachel,” Marco tries.

But Rachel doesn’t back off. She’s right up in your face. “I want you to promise me something,” she says.

“What?” you ask.

“That you’ll stay out of the way from now on,” Rachel says. “I don’t want you getting anyone else killed.”

Do you promise?

quote:

Someone shakes you awake in the middle of the night. Ax. <Gas!> he says in thought-speak. <Use your fly morph. We have to get out.>

You’re groggy, confused. The room is black. A darkness so deep it is featureless. You hear someone pounding at the door, the others rushing around.

You morph.

You can’t see the ground rushing up, your nose stretching out, or the fly’s weird compound vision blink on. But you are more aware of the changes going on inside you. You’re not in pain. But you can hear the slooshing, slurping changes.

Then -

A rush of air! Not much, but clear to your fly senses. Something clamps down on you!

You power up your wings. Take off.

A ceiling!

You zoom forward.

A wall!

You hit reverse.

Another wall.

Bzzzzzzzzzzz …

Your wings hit against the ceiling and walls, making a sound like an insect trapped inside a glass.

A glass …

You are inside a vessel ten times taller than you and half as wide.

Trapped.

<Ax?> you call. <Jake?>

No answer.

Demorph, you think.

You focus on your own body and begin to change. Soon you are a strange lump of flesh, pressing out against the walls.

But the vessel doesn’t break. The walls and ceiling press in, crushing you.

No, no, no!

You morph back to fly. You’re beginning to panic. Have the Howlers captured you? No, that can’t be right. Howlers don’t take prisoners. Howlers attack. They’re not about stealth.

Then you remember…

Ax’s voice. Ax telling you to morph fly.

You’re a prisoner, but not of the Howlers.

You’re a prisoner of the Animorphs.

<Why are you doing this to me?> you ask.

Silence.

And then Rachel’s voice. <You’re a risk. We have to get rid of you before you get anyone else killed.>

It takes two hours for you to become a nothlit. A person trapped in morph.

Two hours of horror.

You spend it crying, threatening, pleading.

You know when the two hours are up because someone lifts the glass and sets you free.

You’re a nothlit. And unfortunately flies only live for two weeks.

quote:

“Fine,” you say. “I promise not to take any more chances.”

Rachel finally backs off. Retreats to a corner with her grief. Marco and Ax go after her. You can hear the three of them whispering but you can’t hear what they’re saying.

You sit with your back against a wall and wait for Tobias and Jake to return. Erek sits silently a few yards off. You almost have the sense he is protecting you.

You’re numb. Horrified by Cassie’s death. Racked with guilt. But unsure what you could have done to prevent it. Maybe if you had just ignored that box. Never picked it up.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Hours creep by. Then -

Flap, flap, flap.

You jump to your feet as one - no, two! - birds fly into the factory. Relief rushes over you as the others come running.

<Prince Jake!>

“Jake!”

“Oh, Jake… Cassie… Cassie is…”

Jake lands next to where Cassie’s small form is laid out. He begins to grow out of his falcon form, to reemerge as human. As his human mouth forms, he lets out a scream filled with rage and grief that turns your stomach.

Hours pass as Jake sits next to Cassie. The sun is going down when he calls you together.

“I have a plan,” Jake announces.

You put it in motion the next morning.

Guide leads you to an empty store at the end of a long, narrow street. Ax leaves. Goes out for a stroll on the crowded streets, hoping to lure the Howlers to you.

Tobias, floating high above the narrow streets, reports the scene by thought-speak.

<The Howlers are sticking together. Not as cocky as they were, though. They should spot him any second now. Any second now.>

“Do it now,” Rachel says to you.

You nod slowly, wishing you had never agreed to stay out of the way. Now that the plan is underway, now that the others are facing danger, you feel like a coward.

“DO IT,” Rachel orders.

“All right!” You start to morph.

Down, down, down you shrink. You feel a loose liquid sensation inside as your human organs slide and fuse. Coarse hairs grow on your arms, your legs.

Two extra legs explode out of your chest.

<What are they, blind?> Tobias wonders. <Ax is getting awfully close. The crowd is blocking their view of him. Too many Iskoort in the way. Oh, man! He’s too … they see him! Ax-man, run! Run!>

Your mouth and nose elongate into a powerful sucking straw.

The fly’s compound vision blinks in. you can see Rachel again. See her face from a thousand slightly different angles. Only now her angry, accusing human face has turned into the fierce face of a grizzly.

<Climb aboard,> Rachel says.

You power the crazy fly wings, zooming up and up and coming to rest behind the bear’s upsidedown U of an ear.

“It’s time,” Jake says. “I have to do this. Rachel, you know what to do. If I get out of control, can’t control the morph. If I start that howl… you’ll have to do it.”

If Jake lost control of the morph, Rachel would… Would do what she had to do. Quickly. Before Jake could hurt any of us.

You’re lost in a dense thicket of brown fur. Clinging with your clingy fly feet. You can’t see, can’t affect the outcome of the battle, but you can still hear what’s happening.

<They’re on him!> Tobias yells. <All six of them. Like hounds after a rabbit. Man! That boy can run! Ax-man! Opening to your right!>

Tense minutes pass. You know Jake is morphing a Howler, but you can’t see it. Nobody speaks.

Until -

<You can let me go,> Jake tells Rachel.

<Are you sure?>

<Yeah,> Jake says. <This thing isn’t out of control. The killing is a game to the Howlers.

They’re having fun. They’re enjoying it.>

<Here they come!> Tobias yelled. <Thirty seconds. Crowd is thinning out, Ax-man! They’re gonna have a shot!>

The sound of flechette guns, in the street outside our door, only a dozen feet from us.

<Aaahhhh!> Ax cries in pain.

<He’s hit!> Tobias yells.

WHAM!

You hear Ax’s hooves. Pounding that has to be a Howler following him. A scuffle. Thumps, bangs, creaks. Moans. Groans. Flechette gunfire. The sound of fists impacting with flesh. You guess that Rachel is running, fighting, dodging. You can feel the air moving over your sensitive fly parts. But you can’t make out what is happening. Then -

<No!> Jake yells. <Forget them! This way!>

Staying down, hiding in Rachel’s fur, is unbearable. But it’s too late now. You can’t help. You’re powerless in your fly morph. And you have your promise to keep.

The flood of sounds and vibrations continues. Some sort of weapon burning for minutes. Slaps. Bodies falling. Guide whining with fear.

<NOW!> Jake yells in thought-speak. <Marco! The memory emitter! Now! He’s getting up!>

What’s happening? you wonder desperately. Where is Marco? Why isn’t he responding?

The plan was to pour all of your collective memories into the Howler’s head. Your life plus the lives of Jake and Rachel and Marco and Ax and Tobias. Even Guide. And the long, long memory of Erek. Once inside the Howler’s head, the memories would flow into the endless pool of collective Howler memory.

Suddenly, silence.

No battle sounds.

No Dracon beam fire.

Quiet.

<What happened?> you ask cautiously.

“They’re gone,” Erek says. “The Howlers disappeared.”

quote:

Iskoort world vanishes. Simply disappears.

You are no longer a fly.

You are in your own true body, sitting in the back of a convertible limousine. A gentle breeze blows on your face as you’re riding through New York City. Confetti floats down from a cloudless blue sky. Cheering crowds line the street and shout your name.

“Who changed the channel?” Rachel growls.

<Ellimist,> Ax says.

“Ticker-tape parade,” Marco says. “Does this mean the Yankees won another World Series?”

You spin around and count your companions. Marco, Ax, Jake, Rachel, Tobias … .

No Cassie.

ADMITTING YOUR LIMITATIONS IS NOT EASY.

The booming voice easily fills the canyon of skyscrapers.

“No joke,” you grumble.

YOU HAVE PASSED THE TEST.

“Thanks.”

BUT THE COST WAS HIGH. YOUR ACTIONS TOOK A LIFE. I WILL DO THE SAME.

“What? What do you mean?” you holler. “We had a deal. If I won, you would save my parents!”

ONE.

“That wasn’t the deal!”

YOU MUST CHOOSE.

“Choose? But that’s impossible!”

How can you choose? Choosing to let one of your parents live means choosing to let the other die. Would your father wish to live with the knowledge that your mother was infested? Would your mother wish to live with the knowledge that your father was a slave?

The rest of the Animorphs are watching you. Rachel angry. Ax resigned. Marco volatile. Tobias’s hawk eyes fierce, impossible to read. And Jake…

Jake imploring. Haunted.

You know what you have to do.

“I choose Cassie,” you say.

And she suddenly appears. Sitting between Jake and Rachel.

Smiling.

“Hey!” she says. “I love ticker-tape parades!”

quote:

You roll. Stumble to your feet.

RUN!

You focus some small part of your brain on morphing. Imagine yourself as a sleek gray wolf running through the woods.

As you run on your slow human legs, you feel the changes begin. Your jaw stretching outward. Your bones grinding as your weak human mouth becomes the crushing jaw of the wolf.

Down comes the massive dinosaur head, teeth flashing, drool drippng. You can see one huge yellow eye marking you.

Instinctively, you dodge behind a tree. Make a quick turn.

CHOMP!

The T-rex closes its jaws shut on a tree inches to your left. A piece of bark flies into your cheek.

“HrrrrrRRROOOOAAAARRRR!” the T-rex screams with rage.

<Go eat something else!> you beg.

You’re running full out, knowing it’s hopeless, but needing to put as much distance as possible between you and that jaw.

SPLING! SPLING!

Your knees change direction mid-stride! You stumble. Your arms are growing, getting stronger, your shoulders broadening.

You put your hands on the ground. Your hands are still human, but you try running on all fours. Your wolf legs are only half-formed, but you are already faster.

You dodge through the trees, feeling more at home in the forest. Rough pads are growing on your feet, making it easier to run.

Then the wolf senses blink on.

The wolf’s ears hear everything. They hear huge insects scurrying under damp leaves. They hear your friends crashing through the woods a hundred yards ahead of you. They hear

Marco crying in panic. And they hear the footfalls of the T-rex.

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

Directly behind you.

Your human mind was afraid.

The wolf mind is terrified.

A strange whining yelp escapes from your lips. “UrrrUrrrUrrr …”

WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM!

RUN!

You are all wolf now. Wolves can move. Especially scared wolves. You are going so fast the ground under your paws is a blur.

Then -

“HrrrrrRRROOOOAAAARRRR!”

CHOMP!

You feel a flash of pain and then -

Nothing.

quote:

Erek, Guide, and Tobias watch impatiently as the rest of you morph.

You go Hork-Bajir. Cassie and Marco morph osprey. Jake goes falcon. Rachel goes bald eagle. Ax to northern harrier.

While the others shrink, you shoot up to two-feet. You are tall enough to brush your head on the ceiling of the Iskoort room.

Your face elongates. The jaw bulges out and becomes smooth as a bullet. Lips stretch out and out. Your eyes narrow.

Your skin turns green-black. Your toes shift and merge into the three-toed, one-spur feet of the Hork-Bajir. Your tailbone bulges out and grows vertebra by vertebra.

Turning into a Hork-Bajir is bizarre, to put it mildly. The last time you saw one of the nightmare creatures, they were tearing your house to shreds. Now you are turning into one of the “Wild Things.”

SHWOOP! Blades slide from your forehead.

SHWOOP! Blades at your wrists and elbows!

SHWOOP! Blades at your knees.

You like this morph. You feel secure in this body. Strong. But you brace yourself, expecting to struggle with the violent Hork-Bajir mind. It floods in as a rush of instincts. But not violent instincts. You want to… run. Run and climb.

<Let’s go!> Tobias says. <Birds don’t tolerate poison that much better than bugs.>

<Neither do Hork-Bajir,> you say. The fumes are starting to make you dizzy.

<Point taken,> Jake says. <On three. One, two, NOW!>

The others move toward the window. You let them go first. Six birds flapping desperately.

You climb out on the narrow ledge, knowing you have to hurry. You look down. You’re five stories up. It’s dizzying, terrifying.

But the Hork-Bajir knows no fear. Doesn’t understand the concept of falling. You let the Hork-Bajir instincts take over.

You swing your talon feet out of the window, then flip around to face the room. You cling to the windowsill with strong four-fingered hands.

Down! the Hork-Bajir thinks.

You give a little kick to place your knee blades.

Srreeeccch!

Your blades won’t grip! You scramble, trying desperately to bring yourself back up, to crawl back through the window.

But now gravity is pulling you down. The poison is slowing your reflexes. The Howlers are running and leaping around the corner of the building. They’ve seen you!

Srreeeccch!

Srreeeccch!

Srreeeccch!

Srreeeccch!

Your horn blades sound like fingernails on blackboard as you slide down the Iskoort façade, gathering speed. Then you lose even that tenuous connection.

Splat!

You’re dead.

Zore posted:

We also accomplished nothing? Like we went through... most of David's recruitment book before the Ellimist throws a hissy and forces us to go to do an incredibly abbreviated Iskoort/Howler book (which is explicitly an adventure the Animorphs had already completed) or do uh the bit of Megamorphs 2 that happens before the plot kicks in and then arbitrarily end them.

Like for all the poo poo we gave You 1 and the first Altermorphs at least they like did stuff? They had a dog fight with Visser 3 at least which was pretty funny.

IPlayVideoGames posted:

It really sucks to type this, and I’m sorry this announcement was delayed but I don’t really use the forums for anything other than occasional shitposting and I didn’t even know this thread existed. It somehow doesn’t feel real yet either, but I suppose grief is a journey down a winding dark road.

My older brother, Steve or Epicurius, passed away on May 27th of a heart attack. I know he had his fingers in all sorts of SA groups and had a good number of friends that he met on here and on the offshoot discords. If you’ve ever chatted with him or argued about history or discussed books or anything else, thank you. You meant a lot to him, and by extension, to me.

Soonmot posted:

mods goldmine this thread

quote:

"You were brave. You were strong. You were good. You mattered."

Level Seven posted:

HonorableTB posted:

I grew up reading Animorphs as a child in the 90s, and to this day I cannot see or hear the word "thermals" without instantly thinking about Animorphs. Now that will be forever linked to Epicurius too. Thanks for everything, Epi. You made the pandemic years a lot easier

I love this, would be happy to buy it as a gangtag for others to use

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

I would like this gangtag

Kazzah posted:

Hell of a thread, hell of a poster