Animorphs Primal: Invasion

Chapter 5

School was much harder today than I actually remembered. But it could be because of the SAT test we had to take today. I know that the test was necessary for getting into a good University, but I really didn't need it other than to prove that I am good enough to get into a university.

Fernview University, the newly opened one didn't have any other requirements aside from having a good GPA of 3.5 which I easily passed with a 4.2. I've tried to convince Melissa to go to the same university as Jake, me and the others, but she kept saying that she needs some time away from home. But I wasn't going to give up that easily. I'm not the type of person who gives up so soon.

I know all the answers to test but my nervousness was clouding me and causing me to get restless. I was done with nearly 3/4ths of it by the time the bell rang releasing us all for lunch. With a sigh, I logged out and started to exit the classroom behind all the other students.

Jake and the others always sat at the same table during lunch every day. And thankfully they hadn't abandoned the habit today. There was a lot we needed to talk about regarding what happened last night, but it meant abandoning Melissa for today. So after a brief mental conflict, I got a pizza and burrito and headed to sit with them.

They were already talking in a hushed manner by the time I got there. We were all here except for Tobias.

"Where's Tobias?" I asked as I sat down next to Jake.

"He finished early and told me that he was going to the Barn to talk with our foreign friend some more," Cassie responded.

I was actually surprised that she was using secretive terms. It was smart actually. But the realization of that hit me hard. I was ignoring the fact all morning long trying my best to think that it was impossible, but now I wasn't so sure. Anyone could be a Controller, anyone, at all, and we wouldn't have a clue who it would be. As far as I knew my mom, my sisters, even Melissa could be Controllers.

Maybe Melissa wasn't a Controller. I hoped not. If she was a Controller then why would she care about her parents not paying any attention to her? It would be a Controller's dream to not have any attention on them. Wouldn't it?

"So we know that Controllers have to go to the pool every 3 days right?" Jake whispered.

"That is what... Emmett said," I pointed out.

"Lego movie much, Danny? So what does this have to do with anything?" Marco asked.

"It means that we can single out Controllers by being observant, Marco," Rachel remarked, "And if we can single them out, then it'll give us more options on who to trust."

"But we can't drag anyone into this Rache. Especially not our parents or any of our loved ones. If anything happened to mine, I don't know what I would do," I protested.

"Agreed. Family, is off limits. My father is barely starting to get over my Mom's death. I don't want to worry him about losing the only family he has left. If I'm going to join this, I want to have him think that I'm going off to the University and living my life safely instead of going off to war against an intergalactic threat with highly advanced weapons and phasers who construct Jaegers to distract everyone else from a Secret Invasion," I couldn't feel any more gratitude than what I had right now for Marco's agreement.

"Fine. But how will 6 kids and an Alien Prince be able to win a war against an Empire that we can't really differentiate from everyone else? I mean we might end up killing innocents for all we know," Rachel nearly yelled. I turned around to make sure that no one noticed Rachel's blow out before immersing into the conversation again.

"Killing? Who said anyone about killing?" Cassie whispered sharply. Her chiming in surprised me, she remained silent during the whole conversation up until now. "We aren't killing anyone. Those are innocent people taken over by an alien who is forcing them to do things that they don't want to do. We're going to save them not kill them," she scolded her best friend.

"And how do you suppose we do that? This is a war that Andy was fighting. In a war, if I may remind you, people die. They die for causes that they had no say in. And others kill to survive and win. How will we survive if killing is off the table?"

"I know that this is war, and that's why I'm not saying that killing is off the table. But we can't kill just because. It should be a last resort. I won't let us turn into something worse than those Parasites. We're going to do this my way, or none at all. Especially since I'm the only one with access to the Garden's which is going to be necessary for acquiring morphs," Cassie's glare challenged Rachel to speak against her in any way.

Her Best friend just stayed quiet with her arms crossed.

"Speaking of Controllers, several of them showed up at my house this morning," Jake stated.

We just stared at him in disbelief. How could he know someone was a controller? Elfangor said that it was impossible to distinguish them from normal people. And unless Jake confronted them, he shouldn't know if they were or not.

I think he noticed our disbelief cause he began to elaborate, "I know that we can't tell them apart from normal people, but several policemen showed up at my house wanting to talk about the van we abandoned on the road" -I nearly forgot about that. We took our clothes but failed to remember that the van would have more of an identification thanks to the plates and insurance- "At first I thought they were genuine but then they began to ask questions about the meteor shower and if I saw anything strange. I think I managed to convince them that I was alone driving and kept you guys out of this. But now we know that they've infiltrated the ones with authority. And I was thinking about telling the police. We can't trust anyone guys."

We just say in morbid silence taking it all in.

"We need to set some rules for morphing," Jake stated trying to break the ice.

"Like what?" Marco asked.

"Well, Rule number one, We cannot acquire another person without their consent. When we morphed into our spirit walkers last night, a form of consciousness manifested. We created an entirely new being, and if that happens with people too, then we'll essentially be turning into the Yeerks. Creating a new person out of nothing without the consent of that person and taking over the mind." We all nodded in agreement to that rule. There was some wisdom behind that.

"Number two, we have to be together at all times when we morph..."

"I'm sorry what?" I interrupted. "What do you mean we have to be together when we morph? That's ridiculous."

"He's right, Jake. If we find ourselves in a spot where there are yeerks and we need to fight without anyone to help us?" Rachel snapped.

We managed to convince Jake to drop the second rule. By the time the bell rang we had established 3 ground rules.

We can't acquire a person without consentDon't trust anyoneAnd keep each other's families safe

"Alright Animorphs let's go defeat that test," Marco laughed.

"Animorphs?"Cassie asked not getting what Marco had done.

"Yeah, you know. Animal Morphers? Animorphs? I came up with the name with Tobias last night." Marco smiled obviously proud of himself.

"That actually doesn't sound bad," I complimented.

"Thanks."