For what seemed like an eternity Mason wandered about in the forest his best efforts bringing forth nothing but frustration. On and on he went until he stumbled out of the encompassing trees onto a small dirt path. It took Mason a moment to figure out where he was, coming to the conclusion that he must’ve come across the hiking trail, just further down. An odd mix of relief and despair overwhelmed Mason and he closed his eyes in defeat. She was gone, nowhere to be found. He checked his wrist watch, eyes widening when he realized he’d been searching for three hours. Three whole hours, with Emma as a deer lost somewhere in the forest. Trapped permanently in the body of another creature by now. That’s what Elfangor had said, two hours at the most or the morphs body would become their body. Shame weighed heavily on Mason as he silently berated himself. He should’ve told her not to touch the deer. He should’ve known to scare it away. He should have found her and helped her change back. He should’ve stayed away from that construction site in the first place. This was his fault, he should have known better. And what of the others? Adrian, Stephanie, the strange Lalna, and Tammy. He didn’t know them well, but they needed to be warned lest curiosity killed them as well.

Picking up his pace Mason forced his tired legs into a steady jog, running up the hiking trail in the direction he hoped the others were in. It’d been a long time, they might’ve already given up on him and Emma or even come looking for them. Rounding a final corner Mason released a sigh of relief seeing everyone still standing there, looking lost and confused. For a moment he scanned their faces hoping desperately that Emma had somehow returned on her own.

“Hey,” he called, alerting them to his presence. He looked pretty awful, tired, sweaty, with his clothes torn and dirty from brambles. Mason kept his eyes downcast as he approached, only looking up when he drew to a stop, a slight tremor in his voice. “I couldn’t find her, and it’s been too long. She’s d-“ Mason stopped himself, there was no way of knowing for sure if she was dead. Even if they found a body it would be absurd to try and pick her out from another deer. “She’s gone. We need to find someplace safe to talk about this. We need to make sure this never happens again.”

Lalna sighs loudly, crosses his arms, and leans against the fence. He seems to be a bit worried and looking to be annoyed. He turns to the others after around the 3 hour mark, and begins to speak. "Lads, I think Mason might be in trouble in the woods. Do you think something happened to him and the runaway? I think we should go out looking for them..." He says, his voice catching, as he scans the woods for signs of anyone. He coughs loudly, and sighs once more, worried deeply about his fellow morpher but trying to hide his internal worry. He perks up from his upset daze when he hears someone hastily running in the woods towards him and the others, and sees Mason come out towards them, appearing to be quite dirty and tired, and Lalna collapses on the ground, sitting on his knees. "Oh, thank the lords that you are alright! I was worried that you weren't coming back!" He says in relief, happy to see him alive, even if he isn't the nicest to him. His relief drops into minor panic, and he stands shock still, as he stands up, looking paniced. "My god, is that correct? She is gone? Just out of the blue? We cannot sit here twiddling our thumbs, we must do something! At the very least, we should call her parents and tell them the truth! We cannot keep this a secret from everyone, correct?" He says, attempting to sound calm and collected, and managing to sound calm with a bit of a upset and worried tone.

@Holly@Dusty@Aristocles@SupernovaBlitz@ayzrules

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Green Hill Airport was one of those grass airstrips that was surrounded by private Metal Building Hangers that contained attached Apartment homes and the only thing exciting about it was a red Biplane which sometimes flew stunts above the lake in the summer. It’s security guard was one of only two people that worked for what amounted to the Airport’s HOA and the other the tower watch Landings canceled after 22:00 hours and not resuming till 9:00 hours unless scheduled and the watch confirmed the dew wasn’t too heavy.

The Guard just smiled and waved the others through the gate as each of Tammy’s new friends arrived even handing them a map of the 1100 acre property’s roads telling them if they take the Taxi way they'll get there quicker but not to stray onto the strip which they can tell is the strip by the lights and reflective signs on either side.

When they arrive Tammy is working as a dog herder keeping several impressive dogs amused
German Shepard
Alfie 3 years old 114 pounds
Non Docked Large Dobie
Duchess 2.5 years old 78 pounds
Akita
Betsy 4 years old 132 pounds
Plott Hound
Kebler 3 years old 97 pounds
Tammy's choice a Briard named Molly 3.5 years old 79 pounds
And one large Kitty named Monty a 19 pound 4 year old Maine Coon

---

”Well now we are all here I am sure you noticed I have gathered my doggie friends from my neighbors.
I chose them because they are all smart and strong, oh and while Monty the cat isn’t trained he’s also volunteering...oh and if he acts like he wants down I’d put him down he has 6 claws on each paw and isn’t afraid to use them; he’s my dad’s cat. He listens to my dad.

Now before we do the collecting part I’d say you get to know the dogs or Monty first because I talked with Emma when I took her homework over and yes I know no one got any homework. Her mom and dad are still freaking and she’s still grounded.

From what I got off Emma the deer’s instinct took over and our human smell put her in a panic among other things so I thought Dogs; dogs are part of human society so they should be easy to adapt and well if we are gonna have a look around and see if we can do anything we need a cat burglar and Monty is able to take care of himself. Believe me when I say you don’t want to feel nearly 20 pounds of feline fury.

Soon enough, the sound of strange clanking metal, banging, and soft beeps and whirrs come alive. A wild Lalna, wearing what seems to be a retro-futuristic armour made from assorted metal painted white appearing to be angled to deflect light and perhaps projectiles, what appears to be a small retro-looking computer on his back, battery pack on his chest, a few small bits of tech like a floppy drive and a portable PDA heavily modified to work as a low res-monitor. He literally looks like a low tech ironman(from the comic books) suit made by an insane engineer and computer expert. He stands in the same area as Tammy and the dogs, and gives a salute, his armour groaning. He presses a button on the PDA, and with a electronic beep and a power down noise, the computer and electronics turn off, and he attaches the PDA to a holder on his hip. He smiles, pretending that this metal suit is the most normal thing in the world. He clears his throat, and flexes his back, dusting a bit of whitish grey dust off his chest and shoulder. He adjusts the visor on his helmet, and coughs from the dust he inhales, as he stands up as straight as someone as weighed down as him can stand.

"Ahem... Hello there Tammy. It is your favorite young scientist, Lalna, who is here in my finished proto-suit! I have spent months with several people to make this suit, and I am pleased to show you the first edition of a technology suit, inspired by my vivid dreams of aliens and their tech. It is nice to see you with a few dogs, and a cat! Hope they haven't been too much of a bother to deal with. I assume you have brought them here for... *quieter* our morphs *quieter*... I can understand why our scent would drive Emma away, since the deer instincts would likely be hard to fight off, as you have said. I hope that Emma is alright, as I would hate to see someone get hurt thanks to our morphing. And don't worry, I am good with cats, so I don't think Monty will hurt me." He replies, his voice having a crazy edge to it, but mostly the calm, smart tone he has typically.

Joining the others in the hanger Mason lugged with him several armfuls of small cages setting them up on a convenient crate. The teen eyed the cat Monty suspiciously as two white rats, a curious little ferret, and a blue parakeet scurried and flapped about in their separate containers. Ensuring the cat couldn’t get at the smaller critters Mason turned to engage the others, an air of relief about him.

“Thank goodness about Emma,” he murmured once Tammy finished her spiel. Mason felt as if a great weight lifted from his shoulders at this good news. He’d been blaming himself over the past few hours for failing to help her, but at least she’d been resourceful enough to save herself. He still felt sick to his stomach at the memory of his desertion. He should have kept searching. Returning to the present Mason motioned towards the rows of cages he’d set up explaining his idea behind them. “If we’re going to survive this we won’t be able to fight the yeerks in open battle.” He shot an annoyed glare towards Lalna. “Don’t you remember their dracon beams? They’ll melt right through that armor, or any animal’s flesh. We’ll have to fight them from the shadows, hit them where they least expect it, when they least expect it. I’ve been reading up on military experts like Sun Tzu, and he says deception and information is everything in war. So, I thought one way to spy on them would be to use small, unconventional morphs like rats, or small birds.

“I work at a pet store, so I was able to get these. But maybe we could capture a crow, or a sparrow, or something less obvious then a parakeet for a flying morph later. I’ve always wanted to fly.” Mason shook his head, kneeling down to scratch Alfie’s ears. “Of course that’s after we master these dog morphs. We don’t want another situation like what happened with Emma. So who wants to go first?”