Animorphs: The Second Wave (it BEGINS!)

[Silencer]

Animorphs
The Second Wave

In the universe, there are many different creatures. Some are gentle and live side by side in peace. Others are more blood lusting and have no difficulties to attack. Some are intelligent others are as advanced as cavemen. But one thing all of these creatures have in common is that they are in danger.

One race, known solely as Yeerks, have managed to acquire a powerful technology. The power to take over a body. Using this, they have slowly taken over their home world and advanced at an amazing rate. With the capability to travel to newer worlds, their reach has grown steadily and so has their power. With every new world conquered, the Yeerks have enslaved more and more species.

Only one race has opposed the Yeerk invasion, the Andelites. The technology developed by these highly intelligent creatures surpass that of humans wildest dreams. With great battle ships fighting in the emptiness of space, the Andelites strike back with a power weapon on the surface of planets. Their morphing powers seem to hold great power and the war has been going on for ages and change locations frequently.

The next war zone is Earth. The Yeerks have set eyes on infesting this world and where ever the Andelites can fight back, they will. As the war wreaks havoc in space, the troubles are coming closer and closer to the blue planet. But in this struggle, the Yeerks prove to be superior and manage to knock back the Andelite assault. All that is stopping the Yeerks from taking over the Earth, are teenagers given the ability to morph by an Andelite survivor.

* * * * * * * *

You live in the peaceful suburbs of a rising tourist area called Verano. During the past 20 years hotels and other tourist attractions have popped up. Close to the sea are hotels, bars and restaurants as well as entertainment like movie theatres and shopping centers. Amusements parks are currently in the making. The suburbs are behind all this glamour displayed to the tourists. The quiet areas house several families and have normal facilities as super markets, schools and playgrounds.

Even further land inwards is a mountain region. As a protected area called Green Acres, wildlife is abundant and spread out. With government support, the park rangers even managed to build a small zoo, hoping to support more exotic animals and help in raising endangered species.

Your school is having a field trip to Green Acres. You meet up with some of your friends and decide to be a little rebellious. Hosting your own hike, you sneak off and investigate the area yourself. Amazed at the forest you are in, you get distracted by a light that is rapidly speeding towards your area. Not to far off, the light seems to hit the ground. A small thud and a dust cloud reveal the location. You decide to investigate and make a startling discovery

* * * * * * * *

Name: Drake Hayes
Gender: Male
Age: 14
Appearance: Just your average kid. Standing at around 5 feet he isn't really short, but not big either. With his lightbrown(edging red-head), messy hair and blue eyes, he can be considered to have a cute face. Drake doesn't have a very muscular buid, he is kind of skinny. Mostly wears a jeans with a lose shirt over it. Is mostly seen wearing his mp3-cord under his shirt and with the headphones around his neck.
Personality: A very relaxed guy, carefree mind and doesn't have much to worry over anyway. In discussions Drake can get headstrong and stand his ground, even though he sometimes knows he's wrong. Can be considered competitive, but not according to himself. He just has a health obsession to win...
History: Drake had a regular time growing up. His 3 year older sister is attending the same school as him and his parents are still togheter. He participated in several sports such as basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball,... but never excelled in any of them, always being decent to good. At school he isn't the most popular guy, but he gets around not being bullied.
Interests: Likes to listen to music, mostly alternative, rock and punk. Is begging for a guitar of his own, but so far hasn't succeeded to persuade his parents. Also some minor interest in sports
Relations: Close friend with John, he lives in close-by. Also knows Gavin from the football team
Other: Has his room covered in posters from bands o.O

* * * * * * * *

“Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!” my voice yelled throughout the house.

“Going to be late! Can’t be late today.” I continued as I sped down the stairways while I was still putting on my blue shirt.

At the bottom of the stairs I strapped on my shoes and continued my frequent morning ritual. A bit to frequent according to my parents

I ran through the kitchen, grabbed the toast my mom had made already, quickly stuffed my lunch into my backpack and rushed out the door thanking my mom for the food.

I took a bite out of the toast as I hopped onto my bike and drove like a madman to school. Before I reached the end of the street, I hit the brakes hard, turned around and rushed back in.

“Almost forgot my iPod.” I said when I saw my parents worried look.

I took another bite out of my toast and plugged in my headphones, turned on the mp3-player and continued on. Somehow while driving as fast as I can, eating my toast and looking out for traffic, I made it in time.

Today was the annual school trip to the Green Acres, a wild life resort not to far off. If you were late, you would have to stay in school. Spending an entire day at school, studying, wasn’t a nice prospect at all, especially not on a Friday.

I checked in with my teachers and went ahead to one of the busses. I think she yelled something like “and put that headphone off” but I wasn’t quite sure.

I still saw 2 busses, the closest one had a bunch of girls gibbering in front of it while they were stepping in. Ok, let’s take the second one...

Almost all of the seats were taken. The few seats available were aisle seats. Here I was hoping at gazing through the window to…

I walked up to the first person I recognized with an open spot next to him.

“Hey John, mind if I sit here?”

John looked up.

“Go right ahead.” He smiled.

Me and John go way back. Our parents were close friends and he lived in the neighbourhood so it seemed like it was destined that we would be friends. Sure we had our hardships but we always pulled through.

I sat down and looked around. Not really a lot of familiar faces. I would have offered John an ear plug but those things always breakdown on me, thus I’m stuck with the old style of headphone. As the bus started moving, I turned down the volume on my iPod to at least be able to talk to John.

A voice suddenly boomed over the speakers.

“Attention students,” it was one of the teachers, “we are with a rather large group so when we get to Green Acres, please stay close and don’t wander off. Also, because of our large numbers, we will have to split up the group. Each group will have a different guide but you will all pass the same areas so don’t worry about missing any information for possible pop-quizzes.”

A common ‘aaaaw’ rushed through the bus.

“Yes, yes, I know. Around 1PM, depending on which tour guide you are with, you will have a short break at which time you’ll be able to rest, eat and drink. We’ll be leaving at 3:30PM so don’t wait to long before getting on the bus. Also, when I or other teachers notice that you are using your cell phone or mp3 or whatever during the tour, we will not hesitate to confiscate it. That was all.” A click echoed through the boxes as to indicate that the microphone was put down.

“Damn, I paid good money for this thing. Can’t risk getting it taken away.” I said at that last comment.

“Well, maybe you can still listen to your tunes if you want.” John laughed.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you think they’ll miss 2 students in a group of over 150?” John hinted

“Man, you are the best.” I smiled

* * * * * * * *

Alright, first issue is to get your characters on the bus, meet up with the rest (in one of the two busses or at the entrance of Green Acres). Afterwards you decide to follow an elderly park ranger for easy escape plans. A little touring around and after that I'll continue again.

[Drusilla]

Name: Natalie Hall
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Appearance: Not quite done growing, she's all ready taller than most people her age at 5'7. Her hair is a dark auburn red, which sets off her fair skin and clear blue eyes. Her body is more mature than most girls her age, and the attention that it gains her is almost always unwanted. Her clothing is laid back; band t-shirts, jeans, and black boots are her usual attire.
Personality: She can be slightly eccentric at times, but all around she's pretty friendly and easy to get along with. Any mention of her split family does bring a slight pain to her features, but on anything else she's open and agreeable. The kind of girl that most feel comfortable coming to with problems, she loves to help others and a secret is a secret with her. Anything that she is either asked to not talk about, or just feels that she shouldn't, is safe.
History: Her parents are divorced, which has always been a source of pain for her, especially since her mother lives on the other side of the country with her younger brother. She lives with her dad, a microbiologist, and her two cats. In school, she's always been a bit of a wild child; while she can be caring, intelligent, and very insightful, the constant thorn in her teacher's side is the fact that she never pays much attention in class, nor does her homework very often.
Interests: Though you wouldn't think by looking at her, she's a computer addict. She spends much of her time online, finding new music, which is her other chief passion.
Relations: Just about everyone knows her, though some closer than others. She doesn't really fit into any stereotypical clique, and as such tends to hang out with just about everyone that doesn't annoy the hell out of her. She's especially close friends with Izumi Shibuto.
Other: Uhm... Potato.


Natalie Hall
Welcome to the strange

I yawned and rolled over, still half-asleep, after beating the hell out of my alarm clock. I so did not want to get out of bed, field trip or no. I knew I wasn't going to be allowed to stay home, though, so I managed to get to my feet, feeling slightly dizzy as my blood pressure adjusted itself.

I went over to my computer and wiggled the mouse. The screen flared to life, and I looked at the results of the downloads I'd left to finish while I'd slept. All complete.

"Yessss..." I whispered to myself, pulling out a blank CD and setting it up to burn. I'd finally found an album of an obscure band that I'd been searching for for several weeks. I couldn't wait to show Izumi.

I dressed, choosing a slightly rugged-looking pair of jeans and a white shirt with the Trashlight Vision mascot-guy on front, the Grim Cupid. I'd put masking tape over part of the back so I could wear it at school. It now said, "Rock Like (tape)". Damn schools and their rules...

I brushed my hair, pulled my boots on, grabbed the newly-burned CD (which I put into my CD wallet), stashed my CDs and sunblock in my backpack, and went downstairs. My dad was almost ready to go.

"Good morning, Natalie..." His eyes drifted over the t-shirt. He knew what it said on the back, though he didn't mention it. I could read the slight disapproval in his eyes.

"Good morning, Daddy," I said, promptly opening the fridge and scanning it's contents before pulling out the lunch I'd packed the previous night, bread, and a peach yogurt. I retrieved the peanut butter from the cabinet, spread some on two pieces of bread, then put the PB and the bread back where I'd gotten them. I threw my lunch into my backpack, ate the yogurt, and grabbed the peanut butter sandwich on the way out. I was ready.

"Oh, can I drive? Pleeease?" I'd gotten my permit a few weeks before, and sometimes he let me drive as far as the school. He shook his head.

"Not this morning, sweetheart. It's Friday, and people are going to be impatient. Maybe on Monday, OK?"

I sighed and nodded. I got in, buckled, and we were off. I tapped my foot to the sounds of CCR on the radio. Wasn't my cup of tea most of the time, but I'd grown up with the classics and I appreciated them.

My dad pulled up to the curb around the corner from where the busses were waiting. We said goodbye, and I hurried off to find Izumi. She was hard to find in a crowd, so it was usually her finding me, as was the case this morning.

She popped up out of nowhere. "Get it?"

I grinned. "Yep, it's all ready to go, too."

She grinned back, and after checking in with our teacher, we boarded the bus. We plugged her earphones into my CD player and split them, pleased with how slick we were at hiding from the teachers. The buses pulled away, and we were off.

Green Acres; not the most imaginative name, of course, but the name didn't really matter. I came here often, or at least more often than most, so this wasn't going to be that big of a deal to me. Old hash, if you will. I knew all of the trails into the woods, and I had little need to stay with any group. Freedom, that was my song right there.

We got off of the bus after listening to the rules, which I pretty much ignored. I had a timer set on my watch so that we wouldn't miss the bus, but no big deal.

We were led off after being put into our groups. The ranger didn't even bother to take a head count, all the better for us. Off we went into the forest, and once we'd cleared the first line of trees, putting us out of sight from the teachers who lagged behind, Izumi and I were off.

We wandered for awhile, maybe an hour, when we stopped to sit on a fallen log. We were back on a trail that none of the groups would bother with, since it was so long and out of the way, not to mention pretty rough. I pulled out the large bottle of water I'd packed with my lunch when I heard footfalls in the trees nearby.

"Hang on, I'll go check it out," I told Izumi, putting my backpack down on the ground and quietly going off to investigate. I saw them, two boys that must have had a similar idea to ours. They were heading our way.

"Jocks," I grumbled when I got back to the log. "Probably off in search of adventure so they can brag to the little cheerleaders later on..." I smirked. It wasn't that I didn't like jocks, but that I didn't like how they often treated others. Too many of them thought they were so damned cool. I didn't count any of them among my friends, but a few were classmates, and I treated them according to how they treated me and those around them. I didn't really know these two very well, so I guessed that I'd just wait and see.


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