The Resistance

by Phoenix-sol

I really don't know what to say about this one, it's a team of humans that fight the Yeerks...don't worry they're not morph capable.(New chapter added)

1. Resistance I

Author's note: I'm not sure I want to continue this story, I basically ran out of ideas for the plot and events that may happen during the fic, if anyone is keen on giving a few ideas you can e-mail me at phoenix_sol@yahoo.com. And I'd appreciate it if I get some clear opinion on the story…

THE RESISTANCE

Prologue

The clearing, deep in a forest, a place uninhabited by man, an arena so dark that it seemed to swallow the nearby trees, mist had fallen down, making an eerie show of confused altitude; trees that seem to be surrounded by thick, moist clouds.

The sky, crammed with heavy clouds, threatening to bombard the soil with heavy rain. The moon showed through a break in the sky, the only source of light. Yet it disappeared and reappeared as the clouds shifted and moved beneath it.

A flash of lighting announced the beginning of the storm, the sky rumbled in acknowledgment. Soon, the forest was a demonstration of light and shadows.

Night.

In to the clearing, stumbling in view was a young female, human. Lost, alone…afraid.

The look in her eyes was the look any prey on Earth would have had, when a predator was homing in for the kill. She slipped, fell, got up and tumbled again.

She sobbed silently, helpless. Fait not too far away, she scrambled up, her boots sending clots of moist, fresh mud into the air.

She was drenched now. The rain was falling at it's hardest. She rose to her feet, staggering, threw herself behind a tree. Waited.

Her pursuers, the predators, the hunters, ran into view, annihilating trees in their wake, cutting them down with effortless swipes, these hunters where something new for Earth's nature, and something new always meant trouble.

They were seven-foot tall bladed monsters, reptiles; their eyes scanned the clearing. The young girl turned to see if they had reached her, she saw the walking horrors, gaped.

Had these predators seen her? No one but the girl herself knows, what nature saw was what mattered.

Out of the thicket something roared. And into view came one of nature's proudest creations, the most lethal killer, a hunter that is found in any given terrain on Earth, whether it was the deadly heat of a desert, or the killer freeze of the cold, you can count on seeing this beautiful awesome creature.

The cat.

This cat was the biggest of all its cousins, the largest of its entire species. It was the tiger. It prowled into view. Stealth was not its concern. It had power, and that was all it needed.

The clearing was soon to be a battle arena; it was only now that the girl noticed something vital. Beside the moving nightmares, was something familiar. A human, male, he was squinting at the darkness. Hoping to find the girl. He too was hiding from the monsters, and the tiger.

"She's not here, she must have gotten away." One of the reptilians said, oblivious to the tiger. The tiger ran, roared and jumped towards the reptilian, it reared up, it's paw slashed. Four bloody tracks appeared in it's face.

"Arghh!"

The battle ragged. Out of the mist appeared something else, more comforting to the girl than the tiger because the tiger would have done the same thing her pursuers would have done, it would have killed her.

Taller, bigger than a human, stronger too, came in the gorilla. The girl silently pleaded for help. Maybe the gorilla would understand, help her, after all, there was some relation between a human and a gorilla, they were both apes. And some stories had been told, about gorillas helping humans.

He clambered up, shoved through some of the fallen bodies and joined the fight. What stuck the girl as strange was that the tiger did not turn to slash at the gorilla, why, would a tiger ignore the presence of a gorilla, he too was a prey of some sort, or is he not?

There were more of the bladed creatures; fresh ones came from one side. The tiger did not turn to them, he was preoccupied with two of these strange creatures, the gorilla was too busy knocking the lights out of one of them.

But help did come; in the most horrifying way that is. Lumbering out of the mist came something that rivalled the tiger's powers, it did not have the agility, but it had all the power, and a body that allowed it to express its supremacy.

Its weak sighted eyes peeked into the darkness. It stood on two legs, showing off its height. It roared, a sound muddier than the tiger's own slightly higher pitched roar.

The aliens hesitated, and that was all the time the bear needed to drop down to all fours and charge.

Massacre, that's what a bear could do to anything breathing and alive. The girl turned away from the fight, tried to run for it but her legs wouldn't cooperate, she was now more afraid from the tiger and bear than anything else in the clearing.

Her own fear grew, panic spread trough her, making her heart hammer and her breathes become shallower. The need to survive was growing by the minute.

A flash of feathers made her turn to the battle again. The bird flew tucked it's wings and dove…talons outstretched, and gored the eyes of an intruder.

Help. Her brain wanted to scream. She sank to the ground, gasping for air…and then froze. Her hand flew up to her mouth.

Walking towards her was nothing she had ever set eyes on, it was a cross between a deer and a human, it looked like it had blue fur, in the darkness, she could not be sure of what she saw next. She thought the creature had four eyes, two like her own and another two on stalks.

The minute her terrified eyes searched its face she knew he was no real danger. She almost got up and cried with relief.

Something that gleamed caught the corner of her eyes; she crouched down, making herself less visible. The creature was fast. And, it had a tail that arched over it's head…like a scorpion, but where a scorpion's tail end should be, was not the usual pincers, no, this creature had a blade, long and sharply tipped.

It walked past her; it did not realize her presence. She was grateful.

The battle seemed to change sides as this creature engaged in the fight; the bizarre gathering of animals seemed to be winning.

A wolf joined the fight; it jumped nimbly, chancing a bite wherever it could.

The male, the human finally got to the terrified female, he grabbed her arm and started to drag her away.

It was all over. All of the aliens were dead. The strange group of animals, turned and walked away, only the tiger stayed behind. He scanned the area for any sign of life.

A fallen reptilian stood up, his lips moved, as if he was saying something, the tiger roared, the girl felt the vibration of the sound waves. The tiger sprinted towards the boy and slashed across his chest, four bloody tracks appeared.

He hit the ground. Now, the tiger was very close to the girl, if it could have heard her beating heart she would have been dead, but the steady drumming of her heart was camouflaged by the storm.

"Come on Jake," A voice called from the thicket, "It's time to go home."

Had Mother Nature designed this predator with a higher sense of smell, he would have smelt the girl.

The girl that saw, but had not heard.

She was finally taken away from the sight. The human male that was with her had not noticed either of the tiger or other animals.

She had.

"I couldn't believe it!" Cole shrieked, "What were you planning on doing?"

Melody paid no attention to Cole. Squeaky glared at him. "Leave her alone okay?"

"That was the stupidest thing that we ever did!" He continued, "I mean, what Melody did. Sure, it was sweet that she tried to save our lives and all but come on! We had an exist secured!"

"At that time it didn't look like there was." Squeaky countered.

Cole jumped up, "I had told us that I had it all figured out, but do you want to listen, no, of course not, why listen to Cole when-"

"Why are you making a big deal out of this?" Max spat out, then suddenly he smiled, "She saw an Andalite."

Squeaky looked at Melody doubtfully, "Are you sure it wasn't Visser?"

Melody turned around to face him she nodded her head viscously.

He still didn't look a hundred percent sure.

"What about those animals?" Cole wondered, "Are they animals? Or Andalites. We know that the race called the Andalites possess the morphing power, which is why the Visser can morph, which means that these were Andalites."

"The Andalite fleet!" Max concluded.

"Don't jump to conclusions." I said. I rolled the twig that was in my mouth, chewed on it thoughtfully, then looked back at the group. "I don't think that this was the fleet."

"How come?" Genie asked.

I rolled my eyes, "If the Andalite fleet is here then why would they morph to animals and fight? Why not bring in the weapons, ships, etcetera?"

"Oh." Genie said, looking downcast.

You're probably wondering who we are; I'm not going to tell you the drill. You know, the whole thing with Earth's invasion, Yeerks are here to get us and so on.

Most people don't know about them, I'm not bothered about explanations. Leave that to Genie, she's the one to explain. If you want to know about the threat then drop by Genie she'll give you all her time.

Me? I'm all action and no talk. At least, I figured we'd get somewhere this way.

We call ourselves 'The Resistance'. We were at base, since none of us has any living relatives, we group ourselves there, actually, it is our home, our only home. Which is why I am not going to describe it or anything, it's a secret hideout, if our enemies discovered its location then we would have to find another place to live in. And movement is risky.

All in all we're seven. Max, the leader of this group of misfits, he's the kind of person leaders are cut out to be. And you know the kind; responsible, hypocritical, sincere, serious and well, he knows what to say and when to say it, otherwise he would not have been elected leader.

Max is average, he has dark hair, good looks and a charming personality. Although I've heard Cole say he's cheeky. I disagree, if anyone is cheeky it's Cole himself, and you have to really know Cole to understand him.

Cole is one heck of a paranoid guy, and his paranoia led him to be the sly, cunning, double-faced guy he is. He's also awfully light handed, with a tendency to prove his 'talent'. He has this understanding with computers, cars, and all sorts of little bits and pieces of machinery.

Cole wouldn't do badly in a fight, although I'd put my bets on Max or Squeaky. Possibly Squeaky. He's the strongest of Cole and Max.

But Squeaky doesn't fight much with anyone, everyone but me call him Mitch. He has this thing with 'decency' and with cleanness. Which is why I have come to call him Squeaky. You know, Squeaky clean.

And whom do we have next? Ah yes, the ladies.

We have Genie, she's a sweet black girl whose morals are confusing not just her but also everyone around her, excluding Cole and I. The word 'moral' doesn't leave a meaning in our limited underdeveloped ethics.

Melody; beautiful Melody, I've never met a girl that rivalled Melody's beauty. But as pretty as Melody is, her perfection is…imperfect.

She's deaf.

Somehow, I think it affects the way she acts, I've never met a person that could express facial emotion the way she does. Sometimes it scares me. The only emotion I've ever expressed so extensively is rage. This unique talent that she has had helped us in this fight for freedom of humans.

The mixture of venerable pretty girl with the con-artist Melody is had blended her to become a great fighter…well, not fighter as much as deceiver. Beneath her changing face, Melody is a very…girly type of girl. She's…a girl. You know, emotional, venerable and…you know, why should I explain?

Ah, and the last but not least, every single time I look at her, I've had to double look. Angela. I've never met a girl as…as strong and insane as she is. I mean she got guts. She's so manipulative and deceiving and complex that I usually decide against coming too close to her. But how could I? I…admire her.

But sad as it is, Angela thinks I'm all Bran and no brain, and that I'm a thick head. She has an eye for Max, I really can't see what she sees in him. Ah and another thing, she doesn't like me.

"Bullet-head. Sailing far away?" Cole cocked his head at me. "Don't drown in your thoughts okay?"

"He doesn't think before he acts. How can he drown in thoughts?" Angela murmured, "Struggling yes, but drowning? No."

"Snap off." I growled.

And my name is not Bullet-head, it's Julian, somehow they keep forgetting this piece of information.

"So, Andalite or Visser?" Max asked.

"One way to find out," Cole murmured, leaning over his laptop computer, he started to tap away, his long thin fingers flashed and his pale, thin face twisted in a smile.

"What are you doing?" Max asked.

"At your service." Cole replied without looking up, "I'm, um, calling them in a very direct way."

"What's Cole up with?" Melody asked softly, her voice slightly lower than usual. She had been reading our lips, a vital way of communication with any of us. Facts are facts, which means that Melody is deaf, she's been born this way, never heard a sound in her life.

Looking at Melody I could see that she was still shaken up from her little encounter. I had to drag her away from the place before we got caught. I knew more than anyone how scared she was. She wouldn't stop screaming. Something she saw or felt had scared her. I don't know what. I doubted that she'd seen an Andalite or a tiger or the animals that she described. She was pretty wild when I found her.

"He's up to something alright." I murmured. Melody smiled at me and rocked gently, then she said, "What does Julian think?"

Melody has this weird habit in talking as a third person. I've never heard her talk 'right' before.

"Julian thinks that Cole is crazy." I replied without a sound, just moving my lips.

"Melody thinks so too." She laughed. The others didn't bother to find out what she was laughing about, they could only guess that I've talked to her, I've done that a lot. I joined her laughter.

"Ha, and another hah." Cole snapped, "I've got their attention Bullet-head."

"Wha…? How?" I asked as Melody 'left us', she does that a lot. And I don't mean just leave the room, I mean that she blanks out; she has this 'I'm not home look' she retreats back into her 'shell'.

"What should we say?" Angela asked.

"Does 'We are the resistance, who are you.' Sound okay?" Max wondered.

"I was thinking on the lines of-" Angela started.

"Too late." Cole interrupted, "I wrote that."

I stood beside Max to get a look at the screen.

We are the Resistance, who are you?

What Resistance?

The Resistance.

Can you please define?

We are enemies of the yeerks, who are you enemies of?

There was a long pause then.

We are sworn enemies of the yeerks, we are defenders of freedom. We are Andalite warriors.

"Whoa!" I said. I looked up at Max, "What do you think?"

"I think we should meet them." Max said slowly. "But I have a weird feeling about all this."

"I can arrange that, just tell me the place." Cole said.

"A Fast food chain." Angela said, "Somewhere crowded, you know, incase they are Yeerks."

"McDonalds?" Cole asked.

"No," I said suddenly. They all stared at me.

"I like Burger King." Angela rolled her eyes skywards and Genie smiled.

Happy faces. People smiling, people eating, kids yelling and harassed parents. The lot.

"Alright, here's what we do." Max said, "Cole, Mitch and I are going to take a table inside. Bullet-head and Angela take another table near the door. Genie and Melody sit near a window."

"Alright, the plan is that only Cole, Mitch and I-my team, are going to talk to the Andalites. Genie and Melody are going to tell us when they're coming, Bullet-head and Angela you follow them when they leave. And Angela?"

"Hmm?" She said playing with her hair.

"Don't let them see you, and don't talk to them, Got that?" He looked at both of us.

"Sure, chill out, no way am I letting them see us." I replied. "Or hear us."

"Yeah, right." Angela rolled her eyes, "That's coming from the guy that trips over everything."

"I'm not clumsy." I said.

"I didn't say you were."

"Knock it off, we don't need that." Max snapped at me, like it was my fault, Angela flashed him a smile. "You too."

Angela's smile vanished. "Alright." She snapped. She grabbed my arm making a point of digging her nails in my flesh.

"Ow!"

She kicked my foot as we went through the doors, "Don't attract attention."

She pushed me on to a chair and said, "Don't. Move. I'll be right back."

I shrugged, watched her as she ordered something and came back with it. I grabbed what she brought and started to eat. She opened her hand, palm up and beckoned with her index finger at me.

"What?" I said with a mouth full of burger, I swallowed, leaned forward, she put her face close to mine and whispered in my ear. "I don't plan to completely obey Max's wishes, what about you?"

I leaned back and grinned at her, "Very sly, what's your motive."

"I don't agree with Max's plan, I have a feeling that nothing is going to be said. Not much anyway. And you know how Max is with 'strangers' he'll be so polite and all. I think maybe we ought to show'em that we mean business."

"And trouble." I nodded, "Say. You wouldn't mind buying me another Soda, will you?"

She glared at me, "Don't push it."

"Hey, look, is that them?" I caught Genie signaling at Cole. I raised an eyebrow then looked at Angela. "They morphed kids?"

"They look like they're around fourteen." Angela said, "Maybe they morph kids as so not to attract attention from unwanted humans. Kids tend to be ignored by most adults."

"How on earth do they fight back if someone like me bashed their heads together?" I wondered.

"Just when I was starting to think that you've gained an intellectual capacity bigger than that of a three year old." Angela muttered. "They demorph you nit wit."

"In front of all these people?"

"If you bashed their heads together you are most likely going to be stopped by all these people, look, this place is like a parental shrine or something. Parents with kids everywhere. Besides, the manager will kick your ass out."

"Uhuh-" I started when Angela interrupted me.

"Check out the blonde."

I slurped what was left of my Soda and looked at the blonde girl. "What's wrong with her?"

"You'd have thought an Andalite would choose a lesser eye catching morph," She muttered, "I don't like blondes, you know that?"

I smiled and tossed my head, "You're jealous of my fair hair? Black haired witch."

Her green eyes flashed, "Not you, you idiot!" She hissed at me, "The girl."

I shook my head, "Angela? How can you be insightful when the second you see a good looking girl you go blind? That's an Andalite, not a human girl."

"Right." She grumbled.

I watched as the blonde sat down next to Squeaky, Cole was beside Max. And another boy, a short Hispanic kid with another dark haired kid sat down. The black haired kind opened up a sauce and started licking it. I saw the blonde shake her head in exasperation. I noticed that Angela had the same expression on her face, although hers turned into a sneer.

"You would have thought they learn some thing about human habits."

"What's wrong with licking sauce?" I wondered, "Duke does that all the time."

"Bullet-head." Angela snapped, "Duke is a dog, not a human."

"There's a difference?"

"Why do I bother?"

"That's are queue." I said, nudging Angela.

She jerked out of my reach and whispered angrily at me, "Stop acting like such an obvious jerk. Why do you act like a three year old? I can see them getting up, can't I?"

"What's the matter with you?" I wondered. Maybe it was the blonde.

As we went outside Genie came up to me and grabbed my arm, "Cole hid a transponder on one of them." She thrust the receiving device in my hand, "You're not going to be losing them."

"Come on!" Angela said. She grabbed my arm and yanked me along. She started to run. "Bullet-head, they're heading south."

"What's your hurry?" I grumbled, "We're not losing them."

"Uhuh. These are Andalites in case you have noticed."

"Sure, I know that."

"They're not going to stay human for a very long time."

"Oh, jeez, you're right!"

"Aren't I always?" She snapped.

Bang!

"They turned right." I said, "In that ally."

Bang!

"What's that?" I asked. I looked at her then ran into the dark alley.

Thud—Twaaang! Clash!

And tripped over something knocking garbage cans over and ended up as a sprawled mess at the ground. I fumbled furiously. Tripped over an alley cat! The thing was hissing and spitting at me, furious that it had been trapped under my bulk.

Angela jumped over me and yelled triumphantly, "Don't move!"

I froze. What was it?

Angela leaned over and grabbed the cat. The cat struggled but Angela's grip was firm.

"What? Why do you want a cat? You already have one at base. I know that my dog messes around with your cat but come on, leave that thing alone, we don't need strays-"

"That." Angela said grinning, holding the black and white kitty by the scruff of his neck, "Is an Andalite."

"Huh?"

"An Andalite in morph." She said, "He ditched the clothes."

I looked at the ground, and true, there were a bundle of clothes, I took them, they were the blonde's outfit.

"Why doesn't it talk to us?" I asked, "Maybe its just a cat."

"It isn't just a cat." Angela said smoothly, "I bet it is an Andalite."

Angela found a cage to throw the cat in. We found a place to stay, got us a room in a motel, Angela called Max and told him that we lost them, she said that they morphed to something and took off, so the transponder fell off. She told him that we're not heading back to Base and want to spend the time joy riding, cruising. Maybe find the Andalites.

Yeah right. Although I was disappointed to hear that Angela wasn't being serious about the joy ride thing, I wouldn't mind taking a car on a spin, I have a driving license, but no car. Although we did find an Andalite.

That's supposed to be good news. I think.

"What if his friends come?" I said, "Well be busted big time."

"We'll worry about that later."

"Hey, pisst." Angela said, she slapped the side of the cage and brought her face near to the wire mesh. "Say something."

Silence.

"I swear that the rest of his team is around." Angela murmured, "Bullet-head?"

"Huh?" I was getting sleepy.

"Give me your gun."

"Why do you want it? Where is your Dracon beam?" I demanded.

"I don't carry a Dracon beam around when I'm at public places, that's only when we fight them. And I forgot to bring my gun."

I stared at her. Angela forgetting her gun? That's like Genie swearing at somebody. That's like me not starting a fight. That's like Cole being stupid-

"Bullet-head?"

"What?"

"The gun."

I sighed and reached out to give it to her. She took it gratefully, then she went up to me and slid her hand in my pocket to retrieve the muffler, she took the tube and spun it on top of the gun's muzzle.

Then she aimed at the cat.

"Hey!" I said, alarmed. My alarm faded, I realized her plan, I started to laugh. It was a low, snickering sound, Angela joined me.

"Tell your friends that you need them, tell them that if they don't appear within a minute, you will have a hole in your brain."

The cat stared. Blinked at us.

"Tell them that I mean business."

"Tell'em that we're trouble." I echoed, Angela stuck her elbow in my ribs.

She loaded the gun and slowly took the safety hatch off; the nine-millimeter's surface glinted evilly. There was a mad light in Angela's eyes. Her green eyes blazed in anger. Her shoulder length hair was so dark it was barely visible in the dimmed room. Since Angela was wearing black on black, her hands and face was the only visible part of her.

"One." Angela whispered.

I saw a shape twist and meld in the darkness, my eyes fixed on it. I grabbed Angela's free arm. "Angela." I whispered. "Look."

"Two." She continued, paying no attention what so ever.

"Thre-"

Stop!

Angela turned her head at an angle, looking at Andalite. "Ah. There he is."

She retargeted and aimed at him, "So. An Andalite at last. Finally we meet."

There was something insane in her voice, which was normal since that was the Angela I knew, rarely had she not used her low, silky voice with that I'm two seconds away from being locked in a rubber room with a straight jacket kind of look, she'll alternate from that, to talking in a cool, off hand, unemotional way. Creepy.

Angela took out her own gun and handed mine back. Hers was ready with the muffler on, so that when she shut there will be minimum noise, wouldn't attract attention to the people in the motel. I pointed my gun at the cat and Angela walked up to the Andalite.

"I heard so much about you." She whispered, she placed her head on his shoulder and stroked his fur. "Of course, all from their point of you. Tell me, are you always that wicked?"

Whose point of view? He asked, backing away from her.

"The Yeerks," She giggled, "Who else."

Then the expression on her face changed, she cocked her head at him and placed the muzzle of her gun dead center at his head.

She smiled. A sane smile.

"Beg me."

He glared at her, For what?

"Are you stupid." She hissed, "I have a gun t your head and you act as if nothing is happening?"

The anger evaporated, she looked at his tail, "Is it as fast as the Visser's?"

Faster.

Fwaap!

His blade was at her throat. Drop it. Or your friend will be headless. He said looking at me.

I shook my head laughing, "What friend?"

I shot the cat.

No!

Angela jerked away and shoved the Andalite, I shot the window.

Crash!

Angela and I jumped out-

Thud.

-And landed outside.

"Come on!" I heard the giddiness in her voice; she grabbed my hand "Les' go!"

We ran for quiet a while. I stopped and tried to catch my breath, I doubled over hands on my knees.

I heard Angela panting, the she shoved me. "That was great."

"Yeah." But I wasn't listening to her.

"You killed that morphed Andalite! Did you see what he did?! I thought he was-" She stopped and looked at me, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I said shaking my head at her. I winced, "Let's go home, I'm tired."

"Hey guys what's up?"

"The sky." Cole's answer was dull.

"Cheer up man."

Cole rolled his eyes at me, "Bullet-head, find someone else to bother."

"What's up with him?" Squeaky asked.

"He's upset." Genie replied.

I grabbed an apple and bit into it, "I figured that part out, why?"

"We lost him his toys." Angela rolled her eyes at Cole. "Get over it Cole, those transponders bug things you fixed up are smashed history."

"I don't spend over six hours perfecting my 'toys' so that you can just lose them." He snapped, "That's not the first time you lost me something, last time it was that bugging device and know the satellite transponder-"

"Get them insured." I said, laughing.

"Ha, and another ha." He snapped at me, "Very funny."

He left us and I heard him stomp up to his room. I looked at Max.

"It'll blow over." Max said shrugging.

"Where's Melody?" I asked.

"Up in her room." Genie replied.

I got up to Melody's room. Knocked softly on the door. Remembered that she was deaf and pressed the button near her door, it opened a lamp in her room, that way she'll know if someone wants to come in or not.

No answer.

Maybe she was asleep; I shrugged and went to my room. I quietly closed the door behind me. Sighed at my untidy room and started to get things organized. I wouldn't have done it if not for the nagging voice in my head, the voice that spent its days pestering me to 'tidy up my room'.

It was of course my mother's voice.

And it's a pity that I couldn't hear her voice again. Sad actually.

Both my parents and little sister were killed in a car crash. I was in the back seat and didn't get hurt much, my sister, little Kenny flew from the backseat and out of the car, my father was killed immediately, his side of the car was crushed and the impact…

My mother lived for three days, and was pronounced brain dead. And I the living survivor got away with a few scratches and a scar on my thigh.

Luck huh?

At least I wasn't Angela, she's a fugitive, a criminal, her mother died giving birth to her and was raised by her father who was a heavy alcoholic, she pulled the trigger on her father when she was fourteen, sad story there, and not a good one either.

Let's just say that she lived two years getting all the money and the things that she wanted by shop lifting, shooting people and much more.

And what about Max? and Cole? Their stories are unusual, at least, Cole's was. His parents were 'abducted' by aliens, not the Yeerks, the imaginary ones, that's what we though first, but is turned out real, and that they were truly abducted, not by Yeerks, or Andalites, but by a race called Skirt Na.

And Max? Strange story because it's weird and doesn't quite add up. He's a run away, he ran away from his home, he used to have caring parents, but I don't know what made him leave, he has two older brothers and a good average family. He said it was destiny that brought him here, destiny and a dream he wouldn't talk about.

Genie and Melody know each other from childhood, they're both orphans, Genie's parents are dead and Melody's had abandoned her, they both had the opportunity to leave the place they were in, Genie said it had been creepy and Melody insisted that it was run by creepy people. These being Yeerks.

And that would be another long tale to tell, because it was a mission of ours; free the orphans.

Exciting? Not. Satisfying? Yes.

I laid back in bed and tried not to think about what might or might not happen, I kept thinking maybe, just maybe, we hadn't lost the Andalites, maybe they had followed us. Then again maybe not.

I tossed around in my bed and finally fell asleep, I woke up about three in the morning, I tried to go back to sleep but I heard a sound. It was muffled.

I got up out of my bed and room and into the main corridor that led to all the other bedrooms, I walked until I located the source of he sound. It came from the one of the spare rooms.

I opened the door, keeping a gun in hand.

"Freeze!" I said as I saw a shape move around in the darkness, the shape didn't stop moving but started to come towards me, I switched the lights on.

"Merrow!" It was Angela's cat. Lovely.

"Stop that." I muttered and hid my gun.

That appeared to be a mistake; two enormous black-gloved hands grabbed me. One went on my shoulder the other covered my face.

I struggled to free myself but whoever it was had a firm iron grip on me, I jerked my head back and caught a glimpse of my catcher.

A gorilla.

Oh boy. I didn't think gorillas lived in America. And besides, even if they did, they wouldn't be going inside our homes and grabbing us. This was an Andalite.

Duh.

Angela's cat, Jewels, started to shift meld and change, my eyes widened in alarm, finally, when he finished demorphing, the Andalite turned to face me.

Oops.

What do I do now?

Apparently he was busy doing something else, the gorilla still didn't let go of me. How do you get a gorilla to loosen up? I needed to shout or something to wake up the others.

I don't know, I didn't have a banana to give him. I started to struggle again but his grip tightened even more.

Give it up already. He snapped. You're lucky you're still alive.

I rolled my eyes, so they were here for payback or not?

I had only one free hand, but my other arm was twisted in an arm lock, and I didn't know if I was fast enough to grab something before he tightened his grip more snapping off my arm.

That would be bad.

And painful.

Then I remembered something. I've learned to get myself out of situation like these by twisting myself round, and still hold the opponents arm, this way I could transfer the arm lock, only I knew it worked with humans and Hork-bajir that were equal my size, or a bit bigger, this gorilla was massive. Will it work? I needed to surprise him.

The gorilla pushed me forward, he wanted me to move.

That's fine.

I took one step and then twisted round, I caught him by surprise. Duh. I shoved and then bolted. I was out of there.

Ax!

"MAX! COLE! SQU-urgh!" The dull side of the Andalite's blade found my stomach.

I went down hard.

WOOF! WOOF!

Duke!

He came in barking, his attention mainly at the Andalite. The Andalite took a step back.

"What's the racket out there?!" I heard Cole yell, he sounded sleepy, and very pissed off.

"Cole!" I started to say but Duke's barking drowned off my voice.

"Will you shut your stupid mutt up!" Cole screamed, he took it personally if someone woke him up. Especially if that someone was not a human, i.e. a dog. My dog. Or Angela's cat.

Cole is one light sleeper, which accounts for his being upset, he stepped into the room and the angry expression on his face evaporated.

"What the…?"

Soon, Cole got dragged into the fight, for some strange reason the others weren't in a hurrying to wake up and find what was making this much noise.

I grabbed a metal pipe and hit the gorilla on the side of his head, he stumbled backwards and then lunged at me, Cole and Duke were fending off the Andalite.

"Watch out!"

"Yah!"

"Grab his tail!"

Fwap!

"Ow."

Goarh!

BAM!

I heard a gun shot being fired. I saw the owner of the gun and groaned.

"What is going on here?" Max roared.

"You're asking me?"

Duke padded over to me and sat down, he yawned.

"You decided to follow us home?" Max asked the two intruders, "What is this?"

The Andalite snorted. I believe you have an answer for this, is it not true that you fired at one of my comrades?

"What?" Max said, "No one fired at you. Or one of your comrades."

Then it is not true that the human standing next to you is known to you?

"Of course he's known to me." Max, I could hear a tingle of anger in his voice, "I've known him for years. What's it to you?"

This human and another one, seized one of my friends and opened fire at us. He answered tightly.

"But I never told-" Max fell silent suddenly. "ANGELA!"

"What did you guys do?" Cole stared at me.

Max turned on me, "Bullet-head. Is there something you need to tell me?"

"What do you want?" Angela stood at the door way, she cocked her head at Max as if nothing had happened, she blinked lazily at him, "Why are you looking at me this way?"

He glared at her, "Did you and Bullet-head do something behind my back?"

"Maybe." Angela replied, she looked unconcerned, "Why?"

Max looked like he was two seconds away from throttling her he turned at me again. "Bullet-head. You and Angela wait downstairs. And stay there."

"What's wrong what happened?" Genie and Melody stood outside the room, Genie's mouth dropped open when she saw what was in the room.

"That's him." Melody said as if in a daze. "Julian, that's the Andalite I saw."

"Ah, sure." I replied, "I'm in a tight spot now. Maybe later."

"Angela, you heard what I said." Max reminded her. She glared at him, apparently he was unaware of it.

Without another word, Angela stormed out of the room, I followed her. She ran to her room and slammed the door behind her. I paced outside the door and after a moment of hesitation, knocked softly on her door.

No answer.

I knocked again, then said, "I'm coming in."

No reaction, I opened the door to her room, stepped in and closed the door behind me.

Angela was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. One arm was over her face, the other dangled off the edge of her bed.

"What's up? Max said downstairs. Not in you're room."

"Maxi can say whatever he wants, I'm not listening."

"Up to you." I said, I left and waited downstairs. Soon All of The Resistance members plus a gorilla and an Andalite stood in the living room.

"Where's Angela?" Max said, then "No, forget I asked."

He sighed and looked at me, "What did you do after I specifically told you not to do anything more than follow them? Come on, how hard is espionage?"

"Hard enough for Angela." I said grinning, Max gave me a dirty look. "She got excited. And you know Angela when she gets excited, we found this cat in the alley, and the blond girl's clothes, Angela put two and two together and figured it was an Andalite in morph. So, we grabbed the cat, and the clothes-"

Cole said, "You got the clothes? Meaning the transponder I built?"

"Sure," I said annoyed at Cole's stupidity, "Duh, anyway, we left them in the motel-"

"WAIT!" Cole shouted, "You had the transponders and then you just threw them away?!"

"Well-"

"I cannot believe this!" Cole yelled, "Man, I'm off to see if I could get my stuff back."

"It's just a lousy transponder Cole." I muttered.

"No, not just a lousy transponder, it's something I made, apparently Bullet-head I don't throw away my stuff." Cole snapped, storming out of the room.

I shook my head and looked at the gorilla, "Touchy feller, huh?"

I'll say.

"Anyway." Max said.

"Anyway," I agreed, "Angela was yelling at the cat to talk, and then when it didn't she started to get mad, you know, insane mode switched on. She grabbed my gun-"

I wouldn't say grabbed.

"And then pointed it at the cat and threatened to blow it's brains out if it didn't call him,"-I cocked my head at the Andalite-"He did come and then she gave me back my gun and she took out hers and then she started to act all weird, you know Angela. Then he"-I cocked my head again at the Andalite-"Pressed his blade against Angela's throat and told me that he intended to kill her, I had to act Max! So as a distraction, I shot the freakin' cat and got us out safely." I ended in an angry tone, "Got a problem?"

Squeaky laughed, "And you didn't try and stop Angela at all?"

"Uhh, I should have?" I wondered, grinning slightly.

"Very amusing Bullet-head." Genie snapped. "You killed an Andalite that night. And all you're saying-"

Max held up a hand, "Hold up. Sure, killing a sentient creature isn't something to be happy about, but the issue here is that you,"-he looked at me-"decided to ignore my orders, what if we were in a combat situation?"

I snorted. "What if."

Max stared at me, "So you're saying it's okay if you decided to have your mind at what I say and end up killing one of us. So, you're saying you wouldn't care if you ended up killing Melody, Genie, or Cole, or even me? What then?"

"I'd be happy to kill Cole."

Max stuck his face very close to mine, he spoke in a low, calm, voice, but there was something dangerous about the expression on his face. "Next time you decided to pull off a stunt like that, Julian, think about how much this could affect this war, if I'm gone, none of you will lead, without me, the lot of you will be yelling at each other, Angela will be out of control and you'd be following her. Cole would stop fighting and Mitch would probably end up being killed. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sure." I struggled to keep a straight face.

"We're affecting the war?" Squeaky muttered, "That's something new. What happened to us being pebbles?"

"Know that that's cleared up, I think that you owe them an apology."

"Not that it'll bring that cat back." I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm sorry."

The gorilla said, Our comrade, by the way, did not die.

I stared at him.

But she was seriously pissed off.