Animorphs Primal: Invasion

Chapter 1

I tensed as the mothership appeared out of nowhere. My hands began to shake as I started shooting at it. The screencast a green glow on my face as it began to build a charge up. The laser shot out of it and ate a ship that was next to me, destroying it. Dread filled me as I knew what was going to happen now. The green glow came up again and this time it was aimed at me. I closed my eyes accepting my fate as the light grew more intense closing up on me.

Game over

The game read the final screen. I took off the virtual reality headset. This was the last time I would be playing the rage inducing game. Now I knew why a lot of people hated the virtual reality headset for gaming. You couldn't focus on anything. The visuals moved too much, just a little nudge caused the viewing screen to move to a completely undesired area.

Okay, so I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Daniel. I'm a Senior in High School and tonight was a school night. But I came to the mall to play the new game for virtual reality like I did every time I was bored. I would've stayed a bit longer, but I was out of money. I wasn't dirt poor but I wasted all the money that I set for tonight.

I guess you could say that I'm a bit of a neat freak. Everything that I had was always organized. Except for my bedroom. But not the point.

Some kids were arguing somewhere in the Gamestop store. They sounded familiar so I decided to check who it was.

The place was crowded with a bunch of shoppers that came to buy the new game which made it difficult to navigate to the source of the familiarity. But I somehow managed to push through and arrive at another virtual console. This one was occupied by some school friends that I knew.

I noticed that the game that they were playing was the same one that I was playing earlier. So Jake was the one who I saw get destroyed first.

"I told you to shoot at its weak spot!"

"What weak spot? It didn't have a weak spot! And in case you didn't notice, none of the other guys thought so either," Jake shot back.

"Hey, guys. I thought you both worked tonight," I finally interrupted.

They both turned to me suddenly taking in my existence.

"Daniel! Good to see you," Marco, Jake's friend, gave me a hug.

"We actually had tonight off. Though we have to work tomorrow after school," Jake answered.

We were really good friends. Jake, Marco and I. But we rarely hung out. I was usually too busy with work too or hanging out with my girlfriend. We also usually hang out another kid, Tobias, shy chap if I do say so. The kid really didn't have anyone else to hang out with. Other kids usually either bullied him or just pretended that he didn't even exist. Jake helped him out though when it came to bullies. That's how he is. Jake is one of the good guys.

I found myself to have more in common with Marco though. Both of us were jokesters. We used comedy to lighten the mood whenever possible. Which was always, apparently. We also came from Latin families. So we knew what it was like to be outsiders. That's where the difference ended. I am not the most popular. I didn't have the best self-esteem either. And with this being my last year of high school, I wasn't in the best place currently. I used video games as a means to escape my reality whenever I wasn't with Melissa. That's why I usually ended up here at the mall. Though I also came to the mall at the insistence of Melissa to go shopping.

"I was actually heading out already since I'm out of money. And today's a school night so we really shouldn't be around for much longer." Jake nodded in agreement much to Marco's disappointment.

"Can't we just play one more game?" he pleaded.

"Marco, we need the rest for tomorrow. We have the SAT exams to take," Jake reasoned.

That's what I liked about Jake. He's smart and reasonable. He reminded me much of the leaders in the books I used to read.

"Fine," Marco finally relented.

"Where's Tobias? I thought I saw his username in the game," I asked as we started leaving the store.

At the mention of his name, Tobias came running out after us.

"Hey, guys. How's it going?" we greeted each other.

"I knew I saw your username in the game," I commented triumphantly.

"Yeah. I actually beat the game for you guys," Tobias ran his hand through his hair awkwardly.

"You did?!" Marco's eyes nearly bugged out.

"Yeah. After you guys logged out, I figured out the weak spot in the mother ship and fired on it. It was a tiny hitbox, but it was manageable with the photons. For a mothership, it sure had very low health," he chuckled.

I noticed that Jake was distracted during the whole exchange. His eyes were focused on one of the stores near the exit. I looked at the direction he was looking at and noticed that he was actually staring at Rachel and Cassie as they were leaving Macy's. I quietly laughed at his goo-goo eyes.

Everyone knew that he had a major crush on Cassie. Even Cassie herself. But Jake doesn't really know that or has the courage to tell her himself.

As we passed them he suddenly blurted out, "Hey girls. We're actually going to leave right now so why don't you guys come so that we can protect you from what's out there?" I inwardly cringed at his offer.

I knew that Rachel wouldn't like the comment. If the term looks can be deceiving could be given an image, then Rachel would be that image. At first glance, you'd think that she was just another pretty face. She was beautiful, yes. But she was more than that. She had this natural fierceness to her.

"What are you saying, cousin? That just because we're girls we can't take care of ourselves in the night?" though she was genuinely mad, she was also teasing Jake since she also knew that he had a crush on her best friend.

"Uh, no. I meant uh," Marco, Tobias and I were trying to stifle our enjoyment at Jake's fluster.

"Actually, Rachel. I don't know about you, but I think there's a safety in numbers. After all, not all of us can be as strong and brave as you," that was Cassie, she always knew how to defuse a situation properly.

"Fine. I guess," Rachel relented.

"Besides. You know you like a Knight in Shining armour," I winked at Rachel.

She punched me on the arm, hard.

"My best friend is your girlfriend. So watch it, Mister," everyone laughed as she glared at me.

That's how we usually acted when we were together. Like little kids playfully doing things to each other. Little did we know that this would be the last time we ever did something normal together again. This night was the night that everything would change. Our perception of the world and our fight for survival would change from a worry about school to the survival of our species.