We can't tell you who we are. Or where we live. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. Really careful.

The thing you should know is that everyone is in really big trouble. Yeah. Even you.
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Standard Animorphs blurb-segment aside, this RP is simple, really- take Animorphs, replace the characters with our own ones, and then... well, go. To join this RP, you'll probably need to have read at least a few of the Animorphs books, since people who haven't will be kinda alienated.

The roleplay will start off the same as the books- 5 kids, aged probably somewhere from 13 to 15, walk through abandoned construction site, meet the dying Elfangor, et cetera, but with changes as things go along- our group may not undertake certain missions, for example, or there'll be new stuff happening, as well as certain plots replaced (Eg. The Marco's mum plot is out, since Marco's not an Animorph.)

I know an alternate-reality RP is a bit unoriginal, but I wanted to make an Animorphs RP and this was all I could think of. Anyhoo, fill in this profile:

Name: (First name only.)
Gender:
Appearence: (Not clothes- you don't wear the same stuff day-in day-out!)
Battle Morph: (Try not to go for anything already taken.)
Personality: (Optional- you can just play it out.)
Any Controller family members?: (If yes, who?)

My character is:
Name: Ryan
Appearence: White-skinned, with plain, short black hair. He has green eyes, and is about average height.
Battle Morph: Red Kangaroo
Personality: Playin' it out.
Any Controller family members?: Depending on how many others do, I'll edit this to say yes or no.

Four people need to sign up- we'll then have the five Animorphs we need, and can go through the construction site. Also, I would appreciate having at least one girl on the team. Everyone should start in or around the arcade- you can post in 1st or 3rd person. I hope you enjoy this roleplay!
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IC: "And... Yes... WOO-HOO!" I shouted. I was in the arcade, playing Tekken 3- and I was winning! I'd practised all week at home, and now... I'd nearly beat the game! I just have to win this..., I thought. But then my finger slipped, and I lost. "D'oh!"
I checked my pockets, but I was out of money. I didn't feel like going home yet, so I walked around the arcade, looking for any of my friends.

<Hey! Jason! It's me!> I thought to myself- at the time, I didn't know he'd be able to hear it.

IC:
Lizzy went down to breakfast after thinking about things, she wasn't good at phone conversations so she decided to go to someone's house in person. She decided Jason's was the best bet because it was closest.
After eating she told her Mum she was going to Jason's and she would be back later, no specific time.
Then she was out the door, she walked a fair way from her house then ducked into an alley way and morphed into Furzy. Then she headed off down the street. Every now and then she crossed the road to avoid dogs.
She enjoyed the thrill of everything, her ears twitched at sounds from inside houses, she smelt everyhting, grass, dog, human, tree. Furzy knew a bit. She was enjoying herself until she got to the corner of the street, two more blocks and she'd be at Jason's house. Then she met the dog.

The dog owner tried to hold his Doberman back from the the ginger cat crossing the road but it broke free of their grip and charged after the unfortunate feline. Lizzy heard the barking and didn't look back, her little cat feet knew what to do. She sped up the path, she could hear the dog's steps behind her, she streaked towards jason's house, the door was open. She ignored the fact that there was another dog there and ran down the path and bolted through the door. She saw the dog and recognised it,
"Hey that's Ryan's dog isn't it?"
She wasn't sure how to do what the Andalite did but she tried her best.
<Jason! There's a friggin Doberman outside! SHUT THE DOOR!!!>
TBC

IC:
I hung up, now I had even further proof that what had happened last night had been real.
I wondered if the others made it out okay.
"Okay, I'll go to Jason's house (seeing as that's where everyone else is showing up) and see if we can find out what happened to the others.
I went downstairs, vaguely told Mum I was going out then left walking down the street, I looked aorund, every animal I saw reminded me that if I touched it and concentrated, then afterwards I could become it.
I restrained the temptation to go try and aquire a dog or a cat, I could be discovered easily if I tried to morph in an alley, but even so...
I shook it off and walked faster, what could the others be doing?

Suddenly a ginger cat ran past me at full speed, what looked like a doberman behind it.
"What the?"
I turned to watch them pelt up the path and the cat disapeared into Jason's house.
Suspiscion started to creep into the back of my mind and I ran after the dog, towards Jason's house.
TBC

Brilliant...another normal, uninteresting day suddenly turned completely heywire!

I thought I heard Ryan's voice call my name, and I paused and turned round, only to see a ginger cat racing up the pathway, a large doberman in hot persuit! Before I knew what was going on the cat dived past me into the house, and the dog tried to follow it, bumping into me with some force!

I managed to regain my balance and grab the dog as he tried to barge past, pushing the brute back out the door. "Get out of here mutt!" I growled, concentrating hard on the creature's mouth. If it decided to bite me...

Suddenly I felt a tingling sensation in my hands and the dog went limp, as though in a trance! I wondered if I had hurt it, but it seemed ok, just in a world of it's own. I quickly took advantage of the situation and pushed it back onto the porch, then I spun round to dive back into the house before it woke up. As I did I saw Jenny running up the path! Wow she'd been quick! I motioned to her to get inside the house before the doberman tried to ram-raid again.

We made it, and as the door slammed shut I heard the big dog begin to bark again. Dad popped his head out of the kitchen, a look of confusion on his face. "What's all the noise???"

"Nothing." I replied. "Jenny just came round for a visit and that dog outside tried to get in when I opened the door."

Dad raised his eyebrows. "Hm." he muttered. "If it doesn't go away soon I'll have to call the pound. Hi Jenny!" he smiled at her, before returning to the kitchen to finish his meal.

I breathed a long sigh of relief. Then suddenly I remembered the cat and the other dog! They had both ran past me as I was dealing with the doberman, and I think they might hare run upstairs! Man there'd be fireworks if mum saw them! She hated all animals!

I turned to Jenny and lowered my voice so my parents wouldn't hear. "Hey could you help me find those two animals before mum and dad do? We've got to get them out of the house!" She nodded in reply and we both set off upstairs at pace...

<Wow!> I exclaimed. <This place looks so different when you're a dog... Smells cool too! Say... that cat smells familiar...> I thought, wondering where I knew the smell from.

IC:
I nodded,
"Okay."
I followed him upstairs in search of the animals, I wondered about something, and whispered to Jason,
"Hey, what if they're Liz and Ryan, they look like their pets, I'd recognise Liz's cat Furzy anywhere. She could have touched it and aquired the morph then come other here."
TBC

IC:
Lizzy wandered around the house she was still a little jumpy from havig to run so fast. Shaking a little she looked fro Jason, as she wandered around, ti occured to her that Jason hadn't heard her thoughtspeak, she'd obviously done it wrong. Puzzling over that she turned a corner and saw Jason and Jenny walking around. Only hesitating for a second, she walked over to Jenny and pawed at her leg.
<Jenny! It's me! Lizzy! Can you hear me?>
TBC

IC:
I looked down at Furzy, only it wasn't Furzy, it spoke in my head.
<Jenny! It's me! Lizzy! Can you hear me?>
I looked down at it in shock.
"Lizzy?"
TBC

Ok, now I was getting freaked! Until now I had completely forgotten about the whole morphing deal, and truth be told last night I hadn't really believed any of it, even though I had gone along with it. I just figured it was some kind of special power that made enemies think we looked like animals or something, so ignore us.

When Jenny sugested that the dog and cat may be Ryan and Liz I almost replied "Don't be silly!" In fact I would have done had I not noticed the cat stood at the end of the landing. I was about to go and grab it, but it came bounding up to us and started pawing at Jenny's leg...

...then it spoke!

It was Lizzy's voice all right, but it just seemed to appear in my head, same as the Andelite's voice had done! I stared down in shock, my brain refusing to comprehend what my sences were telling me!

"This...isn't...possible!" I muttered, almost lost for words. "You're...a CAT!"

Zack walked outside of his house, wanting to test out his new powers. He saw a squirrel on the ground. "Well... it might work..." he said as he silently sneaked over to it. He cupped his hands over it, not letting it out of them. He felt a sort of tingle, and then he set the squirrel down. He made sure noone would see him. "I REALLY hope this works..." he muttered to himself, as he tried his new powers out.

OOC: Sorry I haven't been on recently. I have discovered the wonders of Jak II for my PS2. >.O

I barked at Lizzy loudly. <Yeh, and I'm a dog! I am sooo tempted to chase you, Lizzy...> I thought to everyone.

"Shhhhhhhhhh!!!" I hissed through clenched teeth. "We can't let mum and dad know you're here!"

We all fell silent. I held my breath, waiting for mum to come running upstairs to investigate the barking. Fortunately they mustn't have heard.

I waited a moment, then waved the others down the hall with my hand. "Everyone into my room quick." They all complied, and I shut and locked the door behind us. Then I took a deep breath, and turned to face the girl, dog and cat sat on my bed, staring at me expectantly.

"Ok I think we need to spend some time figuring out just exactly what's going on here! We need to discuss all this, and what it means for us!" I moved over to the window and opened it, letting the light in a little more. We sometimes got squirrels in our back garden, and in the past I'd laid nuts on my windowsill and sat quietly watching as they came to eat. There were none around at the moment though.

I turned to the others again, suddenly struck with a thought. I pointed at...Ryan and Lizzy, apparently...and exclaimed, "And if either of you start shedding on my bed you'll be in deep trouble!"

IC:
"Ur...Jason? I think the least of our worries right now would be wether or not they shed on your bed. Yeerk invasion force seems to spring more to mind, don't you think?"
TBC

IC:
Lizzy looked up at Jason innocently,
<Shed? I can't really help it if my fur wants to fall off.>
She shifted and revealed a few strands of ginger coloured at hair on the bed. Stepping down lightly onto the floor she looked back at Ryan;
<Hey, resist the temptation to chase me 'cause I'm really not in the mood today, one dog was enough.Oh! And you may want to get off the bed before you leave any evidence.>
TBC

I was holding my chin in my hand, deep in thought. "Ok," I started. "I think we can safely say that all that last night actually happened. This...power...that the Andelite gave us allows us to transform into animals! We need to use this power to overcome an invasion of cosmic slugs that crawl into people's brains and control them."

I paused, but the others didn't speak, so I continued. "Just what have we let ourselves in for??? We're going to be hiding from ordinery people, in case they're being controlled! We'll have to make out like nothing has changed so no one gets suspisious! We may even have to fight those other aliens we saw last night, the Hork-Bajir, or those Taxxon things, or that Visser Three guy!" I was really thinking aloud. The others seemed to be unnafected, even excited, about the changes we had experienced, but the thought terrified me! Maybe they hadn't come to terms with the implications yet, or maybe they were simply dealing with it far better than me.

"Our lives will never be the same again!" I muttered, a strainge cold feeling running down my spine as I thought about it. It sounded so creepy...so dangerous!

I turned to stare at the others, my mind feeling numb. "So...what do we do now?"

IC:
I shrugged,
"Well, first I think we should find Zack. Liz, he went with you, did you make it out alright?"
<Yep. We caught the bus.>
"Okay. So, we find Zack, then we get some powerful forms to beat up these nasties before they get us. We work it out from there I think."
TBC

(OOC: Anyone seen Amadeus recently...? I think it's his turn to post. We need more story...)

(He's probably waiting for me... <_<;;;)

A very strange acting squirrel climbed through the trees. <Wow! There's a cool view from up here...> he thought to himself. He finally reached Jason's house. He saw an open window, and, from a tree branch, he jumped inside. He saw Jason and Jenny inside. And found Ryan's dog and Lizzy's cat there, too. <Aaah! They're probably gonna eat me! I better run!>

( O.O @ all the missing posts THAT WE DIDN'T MAKE)

(OOC: We did make them man, it's the rest of the story that's been deleted. Hopefully we'll get them back as the board restoration continues.

Anyway, I hope Amadeus doesn't mind me doing a quick recap on the story so we can get back into character.

The group of teens, Jason, Ryan, Lizzy, Jenny and Zack (hey was I right about that last one? can't remember ><) were heading home through the construction site when they met the Andelite. They got the abillity to morph, but then were chased out of the area by the Yeerks. All of this was seen by a shadowy figure by the name of Logan, and he actually saved one of them from a Hork-Bajir at one point.

The following day, Logan (in a wolf morph) is keeping an eye on the group, some of whom are trying out their newfound powers. Lizzy and Ryan have morphed their pets, a cat and a dog, and Zack has become a squirrel. Lizzy, Ryan and Jenny have all come round to Jason's house, and in the confusion Jason accidentally aquired the doberman that was chasing Lizzy, although he hasn't tried to morph yet. They are all in Jason's room discussing what the changes in their lives mean for them and what to do next, and Zack is just arriving outside the window.

I think I got everything. Let me know if there's something I missed^^ Let's carry on the RP!)

OOC: Yay! My account exists again!!!
And I don't think you missed anything.

IC:
Lizzy looked out the window, she'd heard something move, and there was a squirrel. Curious as to the reaction of a normal animal she decided to speak to it in thought speak.
<Hello little squirrel. I may look like a cat but I'm not really and I have no intention of hurting you. You can call me Lizzy.>
TBC

Jason turned to her, his face wearing a slightly sarcastic frown. "Liz...the Andelite said we could become animals, not become Dr Doolittle." He glanced out the window at the squirrel, sat on one of the nearby branches staring at them. "He may be tamer than normal, but all he's after is food. It's not like he can talk to us or anything."

<L-liz?! Woah! It's me Zack! I sorta found a squirrel on my front lawn this morning...> the squirrel thought-speaked.

Jason jumped out of his skin as the squirrel promptly proved him wrong!

"Wha...Zach????

<Cool!> I exclaimed happily. <We've all done this, apart from Jason! How does it feel being a squirrel, Zack?>

Squirrels... quick little beggers, with a suprising amount of meat on them none the less. 'probably from all that running around and climbing stuff' Logan thought as he rended another peace from his fresh catch. Squirrels weren't easy pray, he'd lerned that pritty quickly, but they were far more abundent in the urban areas (unlike dear and the small mammles he usualy fed on). As he swalowed the fresh meat, the large wolf crained its neck upward to the window that it could just see through the leaves of the bush, beyond which he knew most of the humans to be gathered. He could see very little, and it was only by sound that he could seriously guess at their locations. He had considered de-morphing and clambering up a nearby tree, but decided it would be too exposed. No, best to bide his time and wait for them to make the first move. But by gods they better make it quick, because he had no intention of living off squirrals and pidgins for any longer then was neccery.

OOC: Hey! Now I AM back. I'd typed that post ages ago and it vanished. Hmmm...ah well, atleast its back now

IC:
<Wow. I never expected you to pick a squirrel. Anyway, urr...now we're all here, I think we should have a serious talk and um...someone watch the time, I'd rather NOT be a cat for the rest of my life. If we can change, then Yeerks exist so...>
Lizzy, looked around at everyone, then looked at Zack,
<Get in here before someone sees you.>
TBC

"Okay." I murmered, thinking. "If we're going to fight those Hork-Bajir things and Visser Three, we're going to need something a little tougher than squirrels and house cats." I looked up at the others, my eyebrows raised. "Any ideas?"

<Maybe we could go for a walk in the woods and see if we can catch something there!> sugessted someone.

<Don't be silly. The biggest things out there are deer. They wouldn't be much help.>

"That dog at the end of our street can be dangerous sometimes."

<Oh yeah, that'll really help our stealth tactics...an army of german sheperds all looking exactly alike snooping around their ships!>

<Hey wait a minute!> exclaimed Ryan suddenly. <Isn't the zoo looking for volenteers at the moment while some staff are off ill?>

I stopped short, blinking. "Of course!" I exclaimed. "That'd be the perfect oppertunity to get some big animals! They have all kinds of things there!"

<Yeah!> replied Ryan, an expression that may have been trying to resemble a grin on his canine features. <They have lions, tigers, elephants...loads of stuff!"

Maybe I was completely crazy, but I was actually starting to get excited about this! I still hadn't tried morphing myself, and it still scared the living daylights out of me, but anyone would have to admit, there was something cool about the idea of turning into a massive animal when you were in danger! I quickly thought through the various creatures in the zoo, and with a grin I decided on the one I wanted to try. Dang that would be awesome!

"Sounds like a plan to me. We could go sign up this afternoon. What does everyone else think?"

OOC: Hey, I didn't think of it at the start, but would it be possible to make a mixed morph and use THAT as our battlemorph?

IC:
"Great. Ur...but I don't think first time people get to do stuff with the big animals ay first, do they?"
TBC

OOC: No can do bro, fact is that mix morphing takes not only a hell of a lot of consentration but also knolage and experiance in controled morphing. You can't just ternback on a morph during the mixingprocess, so one falce move and your air way could become cut off or worce. In this way Cassy (I think that was her name anyway) would be the only one of the curent Animorphs who could attempt it, and it still carries massive risks. The only reason Logan knew about mixing was A: he was a controler for a yerk scientist that was working on morphing and B: the initial mutation gave him some experiance with how to do it, even if the cange was beyond his controle. And remember, Logan felt the conserquences too, being technicaly half wolf even though he may look human. I like the idea of people going to work in a zoo, that'd be cool ^^

"Sure they wouldn't let us, but like Ryan said, most of the keepers are off sick at the mo. We could probably sneak in while no one's looking." I shrugged. "I can't really see any other way of getting big animals either. At the zoo they'll be used to people milling around, so it'd be less dangerous than if they were in the wild."

I sat down at my desk and reached for my shoes. "Anyhow I'm gonna go check iut the volenteer program there. Anyone who wants to join me is most welcome."

OOC: okay, I undestand. No prob really.

IC:
"I'll come, but I guess everyone else would have to change back to being a human before we can go. Cats can't exactly try out for helping out at the zoo."
TBC

(OOC: sorry for doing quite a few posts in close proximity to each other, but not many are posting, and I'm worried the story may fizzle out.

Also, a factor in the books that I've just remembered...I'll bring it in here.)

IC:
<Yeah, neither can squirrels.> agreed Zack. <let's see...how would you...?>

Suddenly the squirrel's face began to bulge, as though it had something in it's cheeks. It's eyes gained irises, it's mouth began to flatten and it's body began to grow bigger.

I nearly threw up. It was my first time seeing a morph, and it knocked me sick to my stomach. I looked away, trying to concentrate on my shoelaces. I knew I'd have to get used to seeing it happen, to the others and to muself, but I'd do it in my own time thankyou very much!

"Phew!" said Zack's voice, in my ears rather than my head now. I looked up.

"Dude...what happened to your clothes???"

They looked like they'd been through a shredder then burned with a flamethrower! Blackened, torn, and full of holes...about the only thing that seemed to have survived unscathed was his t-shirt! As for his shoes...well...shoes wasn't a propper term for them anymore!

"That from the morph or did you lose a fight with a Bug Fighter before coming???"

IC:
Jenny looked in surprise at the torn clothes and looked at the t-shirt more closely.
"Hey, that looks pretty um...secure on you. I have a question, how close fitting was the rest of your clothes?"
TBC

OOC: Shall we press on peeps? May I sugest doing a skip scene to when the gang actualy get to the local zoo? Posibly under the proviso of a couple of them getting sataday jobs there?

OOC: Nah, we'll try to find a way to speed things up, though. Sorry about not posting here for a while.
IC: <Man,> said Ryan <No way am I changing back here. I gotta go home, change back, put more clothes on... You get the idea. Can you find a way for me to get outta the house?>

"Oh make it easy why don't you!" I muttered sarcastically. "Wait here I'll check where mum and dad are."

I left the room and went downstairs. Dad had by now set off for work, but mum was in the kitchen washing up breakfast bowls. As I reached the bottom of the satirs she turned round.

"Hi Jason. You haven't eaten yet! Are you hungry?"

"Yeah." I smiled. Actually after seeing Zack de-morph I wasn't really that hungry anymore, but I wanted to keep her occumied for a bit. "What have we got in?"

"Plenty." she replied, drying her hands on a tea towel and moving over to a coupboard. This was my chance!

While she had her head in the cupboard I quickly stepped out into the hall. The others were gathered at the top of the stairs waiting, and I motioned them to quickly come down and get out! They quickly filed down the stairs and left, Jenny shuting the door with a bang behind her in her haste!

"Jason?" my mum called from the kitchen.

I quickly stepped back into the room. "Just checking to see if that dog was still there...you know, the one that was barking earlier?"

Mum made a face. "It'd better not be!" she muttered.

I wolfed down my breakfast and told mum I was going out for a while, then I left the house and started walking into town. Our group hadn't made any arraingements where to meet, so I figured I'd take a look around the Zoo to see what was on offer. It was probably the place the others would be headed for anyway.

(OOC: I agree with Amadeus in that I don't think we need to skip some story in order to get back on track, but I also agree with Astral in that we could probably do with upping the pace too keep the story going. I'll be making a little faster paced posts from now on...let's try not to let it die again^^

I think this story has potential if we can all post regularly and try to put some detail in our posts, rather than just making short connectives^^)

<Well guys,> said Ryan, happily. <I gotta go and become my normal self! As cool as dogs are, I don't wanna spend my whole life as one!>

He ran home, sniffing at things along the way. Wow, he thought. Being a dog gets better and better!

The wolf awoke with a start, realising that some how he'd fallen asleep and started dreeming as though he was still on watch. Standing on all fours, the ragged canine streched out his limps, yawning widely and licking his lips as he tryed to pick up any sounds from the bedroom.
'...Crap' he thought to himself, his quarry clearly having left the bedroom. No matter, it wasn't like he could keep track of them all, there were just too many. Padding his way back around the side of the house into the streat, he noticed an unfamilior dog trotting away back towards its own naberhood. A sly smile crept up the wolf's mussle, one that looked so unnatural that it would have sent shivers down the spines of anyone who bothered to look. Reterning to his post across the streat, Logan continued his watch over the house, determined as ever from priding the yeerks with another weapon.

OOC: Sorry I haven't posted in a while

IC:
I headed off for the zoo, aware that I still hadn't aquired anything yet.
Jogging along I watched as the others went their seperate ways down the street and wondered what it was like being an animal, being something other than human.
After a few more minutes I turned the corner and looked at the zoo ahead of, me, gathering up my courage II walked up to the front desk.
"Hi, I was just wondering about those volunteer jobs and if there where any left that I could apply for? If that's okay."

As I left the house I noticed the town stray was back, sat across the road staring at, apparently, our house. Strainge...it never normally frequented this area. I eyed it carefully as I crossed the road and walked past about seven meters away from it. It was big, for a dog, maybe some kind of crossbreed or something. It had never been known to attack people, but stories circulated about people seeing it "acting straingely". One person even claimed they had seen it turn into a warewolf, but that was just laughed at.

Still I couldn't help but feel a little cold as it's calm, almost sinister eyes slowly followed me across the street and towards town. For a moment the image of the creature from last night flashed into my head, the one that had rescued me from the Hork-Bajir. That looked kind of like a warewolf! I shivered involutarily. Just what WAS that thing? It hadn't come from the Andelite's ship, and I'm sure it hadn't come from Visser Three's either!

As I turned the corner of the road, I thought I saw out of the corner of my eye, the dog stand up, shake itself off, and set off after me. I shook my head. No I was just being paranoid.

It didn't take me long to reach the Zoo and I quickly moved over to the customer services kiosk. There was a list taped to the window there of all the jobs available, but most of them didn't have much information about what they entailed. At the bottom was a small note: "PLEASE ASK FOR MORE DETAILS"

"Hi, I was just wondering about those volunteer jobs and if there where any left that I could apply for? If that's okay."

I spun round in suprise. "Hey Jenny, you got here quick too!"

She smiled as she saw me. "Hey, I didn't notice you! Yeah I had nothing else to do. Decided I may as well come right away."

The woman behind the desk in the kiosk had turned round in her seat and was talking to a man in the back of the office. Now she turned back to face us. "Steve here is the head of maintanence at the Zoo, he'll give you all the information you need." she said, smiling.

"Thanks." replied Jenny as a tall, fair-haired man of about forty stepped out of the office door and round the side, stepping up to us.

"Hey there." he grinned. "Are you both here for jobs or just one of you?"

"Both." I replied, shaking hands with the man. "We're both really interested in animals!"

"Good to hear!" Steve grinned. "It's mainly cleaning jobs we have available, but you'll get to see the animals for free as you work, and if you're responsible enough we'll even let you clean some of the milder animal's cages!"

Me and Jenny exchanged looks. Well, milder animals were a start. And maybe as we found out how things worked around here we'd be able to sneak a peek at some of the bigger ones!

"Come with me." continued Steve, not noticing our look. "I'll show you some of the things we need doing." He set off, and we obediently fell into step behind him. As we set off I noticed a large board at the back of the kiosk, so big it covered an entire wall! It was studded with lots of little hooks, each of which held a small key. Above the hook a piece of paper was taped to the board, with a note scrawled on it in black marker. "Elephants" "Lions" "Zebras"

Hullo I thought. If that's what I think it is those keys could come in handy!

I mentally marked the board for further investigation when time permitted, and set off following the Zookeeper.

(OOC: Astral it's up to you wether Logan does follow Jason there, or wether it is just Jason's imagination. I've left it open for either option^^)

'Damn..'
The wolf growled quietly, watching from behind a car as the boy entered the zoo. There was no way he'd get in there unnoticed, human or dog alike he'd probably be chucked out the moment he set foot in the place. No, what was needed was a more... 'subtle' form. The dog padded into an ally way and jumped up on the closed side of a garbage bin, droping down to its open side. After several moments and what sounded to be a lot of uncomftuble movements, a Raccoon scrambled out of the dumpster, ploping down to ground level rather unceramoniasly before scampering off toward the Zoo. Strangely, had anyone bothered to take notice, the coon stopped at the edge of the parked cars to check the road in the clasic 'Look left look right' sequence before crossing, skailing the vines on the outerwall and dissapearing from sight.

IC:
I was glad that I'd gotten the job thing over and done with...sort of.
I watched as our 'guide' showed us around.
I turned away for a moment, ceratin I'd seen something out the corner of my eye near the fence, but I pushed it to the back of my mind, I had to pay attention...
TBC

"...and the aivery. Over there is the reptile house..."

My ears pricked up. That was where my quarry lay...the animal I'd had in mind to morph.

"...we need a cleaner in there, not in the cages of course, but for the walkways and viewing galeries."

Bingo! I thought. "I'll take that! I'm fascinated by reptiles, I'd love to work where I could see them!"

Steve grinned "Sure that can be arrainged." He turned to Jenny. "If you'll excuse me for a moment miss? I'll be right back."

She nodded, and me and the guide stepped into the large building. It was devided into many different habitats, most of them screened off by glass walls. All sorts of people were wondering between them, staring at the animals in fascination.

And in the corner, in one of the biggest habitats in the building, was my prey.

The Zookeepers had named her Lola (Why on earth did they give their animals such stupid names???) and she was one of the biggest Komodo Dragons on record! One of the very few that had been brought out of her native Indonesia, she had been bought for a breeding programme, since Komodo Dragons were such a rare spiecies.

I hadn't been lying when I said reptiles fascinated me, and as I stood looking into the rocky, barren habitat, I was transfixed! The sheer size and power of the nearly twelve-foot-long animal...that would surely be a match for a Hork-Bajir!

"Hey."

I came out of my revier with a start. "Sorry I was miles away."

Steve grinned, along with another man, short, rather plump, with stringy black hair. "No fear." grinned the second man. "Lola's the pride and joy of the Zoo. Can't blame anyone for admiring her."

Steve introduced us. "This is Ray. He's our resident Reptile Expert, and he's in charge of the Reptile House."

We shook hands. "Good to see another Reptile enthusiast. I'm about the only one here." he joked.

I was rather put off by him to be honest...the guy was ugly. But, if it ment I could aquire something powerful enough to take on these Yeerks, what choice did I have? Steve left the reptile house, saying he would find Jenny somewhere to work, and Ray passed be a pair of green overalls with the Zoo's badge emblazened on the arms.

"Important thing to remember in here is: Never get in the publics way. They're here to have some fun and we don't wanna spoil that." I nodded, already bored. Ray handed me a bucket and mop and directed me to the gantry viewing gallery above the crocodile pen. "Just keep a low profile and clean whatever needs doing." he grinned.

I acknowledged the order and started work, all the while glancing out of the corner of my eye, looking for some way of getting into the pens...

IC:
With no one around I enjoyed looking at all the animals, wondering which one would be mine for a form, to be, even if for a short time.
I puzzled over what would be a good battlemorph, but I just wasn't sure they all had their pros and cons for a choice.
In the end I gave up and just waited for Steve to return, eventually he did.
"Okay, so, any idea where you'd like to work."
"Not really."
"Okay, well, lets continue shall we."
I followed Steve again, listening to the list of names he gave off, but each one was equally tempting. Eventually we came to the staff room.
"Alright then you can have a think about it in here, I'll be off for now to do some work but I'll be back in about five minutes, this will give you time to make up your mind. But don't worry, Amy will be here to look after you."
Out of a room came a large shaggy dog with bright intelligent eyes, she padded up to me and thuroughly investigated me with her nose.
I started stroking her immediately.
"Okay, well, see you in a bit."
Then he left.
Leaving me alone with Amy the Belgium sheperd.
I thought back on what I knew of how to aquire a morph and decided to test it out, after a few seconds I noticed the dog seemed to be half asleep, then she snapped out of it and walked off back to the room she'd just come out of.
I was frozen for a minute, dying to try morphing but aware it was far to risky. Sighing I knew I'd have to wait 'till after I got out of the Zoo...
TBC

From the rafters of the Reptile house, a small, scruffy raccoon was watching the child just below him with intent. Silently it had followed the boy though out his tour, pusseling over why they were here at all. After what happened last night he had expected them to all be in denile, but to go get a job the very next day?
Logan sat at a junction of wooden rafters and idely scrached an itch with his hind paw.. ahh a dragon lizard, so thats why the boy was so intreegued by this place. It didn't scear off his parranoya, but atleast the child was trying to arm himself. There was no sense in staying here, sneeking around took energy, and so the coon turned around and headed back the way he had come, clambering a tree that stood in the caurght yard outside the Reptile House and waiting on one of its limbs for his quarry to retern.

I'd never be able to get in there with all these people.

I'd just been wondering around pretty much randomly, just cleaning anywhere. My mind had been elsewhere.

But the reptile house was still crawling with people and there'd be absolutely no way of getting into one of the pens without being noticed. Maybe if I waited until zoo closing time...? But then I may be told to leave...

"Hey Ray, you got a spare hand in here?"

Another zoo employee had come through the doors, a woman with a long blonde pony tail and delicate features.

"Eeh...kinda...why?" asked Ray.

"I have a demonstration in the Falconry center coming up and I can't find an assistant."

"Well yeah, that guy over there could help, but we also need a cleaner here. I can't keep him after the zoo closes."

This was turning out to be my day! "Escuse me." I said, stepping forward. "I don't mind staying late if nessecary. I'm enjoying working here." And if I was still here when everyone else left, it'd make it so much easier to aquire morphs!

"Hey thanks kid!" replied Ray, grinning. "There should be more people like you out there!"

The woman shook my hand. "Hi, I'm Melanie, the zoo's Falconry expert." Great, another name to remember. "You look like you've got a level head. That's good!"

We left the reptile house and set off towards the falconry center. Mel was explaining what it was she wanted me to do. "It's really simple. All of our birds are tame. They're used to Humans. All I'll need you to do is hold them every now and then, while we set up a demonstration or something." She took a heavy leather glove out of one of the pockets of her overalls. "Just keep that on your hand so their talons aren't on your skin and you'll be fine."

I was only half listening. I was also thinking. This could be useful in itself! It could be an idea to have a fast-moving morph, as well as a powerful one, in case I ever needed to get somewhere quick, or escape fast. A bird of prey could be just right!

"I'll let you get a feel for it before we start the show." continued Mel as we entered the falconry center. She walked over to one of the large cages and opened it with a key she took from her pocket. "Try this guy. He's big, but he wouldn't hurt a fly." she said smiling.

I gaped! She had turned round, and was coming out of the cage with a large Golden Eagle on her arm! It was looking around with it's large, piercing eyes, observing everything with a cold stare.

I paused as she held the bird out to me, and she smiled. "It's okay." she said. "Just get hold of those leather strings on his talons and let him stand on your wrist." I complied, somewhat sheepishly, and the large bird fluttered it's wings as it switched it's perch.

It's grip was incredible! Even through the thick leather of the glove I could feel the powerful talons grabbing hold of my hand, squeezing like a vice! It was also very heavy, and suprisingly difficult to keep my arm level! There seemed to be a certain knack to it...

Mel was smiling. "Great work! Now are you okay waiting there just a moment? I'll just finish up preperations for the show and then I'll be right back." I nodded and Mel left the room.

I stared up at the Eagle's head. He was regarding me...on of his eyes fixed firmly on my face. Mel had said the birds were tame...let's hope so. I didn't want my eye pecked out or anything. I wanted to aquire it, but there was no way of doing it through the leather glove.

Slowly...gently...I reached up abd began to stroke the feathers on the bird's chest. The Eagle shifted it's position on my arm, but it allowed it.

I was taking a massive risk of course. There was nothing to stop him biting off my finger with his hooked beak, but that simply didn't occur to me at the time!

A tingling sensation started in my finger, and the Eagle's eyes closed, as though it was tired...

IC:
Lizzy panted as she slowed to a stop outside the zoo, she missed the speed and endurance of the cat morph she'd aquired, but it couldn't be helped. She walked up to reception, still panting slightly, she asked,
"I'm..here for the vol..unteer work." She wished now she hadn't practically run all the way.
"Sure, its funny, today we're getting so many offers, first the two friends and then you, I hope we get more."
"Um..what were their names?"
"I think it was Jenny and a boy called...Jason I think it was...yeah. Why? Do you know them?"
"Yeah," by now she'd caught her breathe,"They're my friends, so they're here too? Anyway, could I um...volunteer?"
"Oh yeah, sorry, I'll just need a few details..."
TBC