Joined Forces Part 2: The Power
( Authors note: Please pay attenion to who is speaking, Marco1 or Marco2)
Chapter1
Marco #1
"Your… me." I said to the other Marco.
The other Marco smiled sarcastically at me. " Wow your looking good, if I do say so myself."
Both the Rachel's looked at us, groaned in unison and then glared at each other.
" Are these the people from Cassie's universe?" The other Jake finally asked.
Cassie's universe… Yes! Our Ax said before he turned to our Jake. Prince Jake I think this is a case of alternate universes. That would explain the most recent events, I believe we are not in our home universe but one very similar to it.
By now we had basically formed two groups; our universe's people and theirs. We were totally ignoring each other except for the two Cassie's who were off to the side, chatting.
" Do you know how to get us back?" Rachel asked.
No,
Jake rubbed the bridge of his nose. " Just great." Then he turned to the other group. " Hi, I'm-well you know who I am. Do you know why we are here?"
" Yeah," Tobias said. " Alternate universe."
The other Jake spoke up. " Listen Jake…ER… "
" I know!" I exclaimed. " My group will be the ones, Cassie1, Jake1. And you guys be the twos."
Jake2 nodded. He seemed to be relived. I couldn't blame him, it was unnerving looking at somone exactly like you. It was even weirder to call them your own name.
Jake2 continued, " The alien, Ax2 thinks that he knows what caused this. Some kind of machine that was supposed to destroy matter misfired and…" He shrugged. "This happened."
We are stuck here. Tobias1 said.
Until that machine can be found then I think so, Ax1 said heavily.
There was sort of an uncomfortable silence until Ax2 started talking. I understand that the Yeerks have been trying to invade your planet. How long have they been trying to do this?
" Two years." Jake1 said. " But we have slowed it down a little."
Rachel1 demanded, " What about this place? No one was here to slow it down."
" No way, I thought that the Yeerks were only in your universe." Tobias2 breathed.
No they are here too. We andalites came to stop them but the Yeerks came in force and we were beaten. That's when I crashed. Ax2 added, I estimate 6 months until they take over Earth.
Rachel2 cried, " 6 freaking months? We can't let that happen!" She strode right in front of our group. " You have to do something."
We all looked at each other. What could we do, the invasion was already too far along to stop now. " Oh shit." I exclaimed softly. Could we do it? Could we create more Animorphs? I gestured for the other 1's to gather around. " Give them the morphing power."
" Do you even have half a brain left Marco?" Rachel1 hissed. " Remember David? I do and I'm not going through that again."
Cassie1 said. " Rach, how can you even say that? These aren't strangers, they are us." Rachel1 didn't say anything else.
" Anyone have anything else to say?" Jake1 asked. "No? Ok, then anyone not want to do this?" No one spoke up again even Rachel1 kept silent.
" Speak now or forever hold your peace," I muttered.
We broke up and faced the other group. They all looked ashen faced, probably the way we looked when we first found out about the Yeerks. But Marco2 looked… Disappointed. No, he was just in shock. I had to be imaging it.
Jake1 began, " We have a way to help you help yourself. We can give you the power to morph. The same power we have… That it if the box survived."
" But you're going to help us too right?" Marco2 asked.
Jake1 nodded, " Yeah until we can get back."
Ax2 looked horrified. You can't do that! You can't just-
Silence, Ax1 snapped. The law of Seerows kindness should be broken. Humans are not Yeerks.
I will have no part in this. Ax2 pouted.
" Fine," Jake1 said coldly, then he addressed the two's. " Do you guys want to do this?" One by one they nodded. " Good, Marco, Ax, Tobias, you guys look for the box. It should be in the construction site. At least it was there in our universe."
It was in the site. It took us an hour to find it, but finally Tobias spotted it from the air. It was underneath a slab of concrete with just a corner sticking out. When we got back we found the others all mingling and talking with our counterparts. But the two Rachel's still stayed away from each other and pretended like the other wasn't there.
" Sorry about being late." I said. " Couldn't find it for awhile until the bird-boy found it."
" No prob," Marco2 said airily. " I just can't wait to morph."
That stuck me as odd. I never wanted to morph or even be in this fight, at least not in the beginning. Cassie1 was looking at me. She gave a slight nod, so…she had noticed too.
Come over here and put your hands on the box, Ax1 said while the other Ax glared at him.
Marco2 was the first there, he put his hand on the top like he was a witness in court or something. I was about to comment on it when I noticed the look in his eyes. Triumphant. Marco, me triumphant? No never, not in a million years.
The world suddenly slowed down to a crawl as I put 2 and 2 together.
I screamed, " HE'S A CONTROLLER!" (Authors note: Ha Ha Veggie Freak!)
Chapter2
Marco #2
See I told you it wouldn't work. I'm just too smart! I told Bantan 960.
In an instant the andalite's tail blade was at my neck. Marco, are you sure?
" He has to be. I never acted that way when I got to be able to morph." My counterpart said confidently.
Ax2 walked up within tail range of me. It was kind of pointless, if Bantan so much as made me twitch my arm Ax1 would kill me.
Ax2 scoffed his hoof on the ground. See, I told you. This is what happens when you break the law. This one is probably voluntary.
" He is not a controller!" Jake2 raged. " He's my best friend."
" It doesn't matter. Don't you see? Anyone could be one." Cassie1 said softly.
Ah, they fight among themselves. That will be their undoing. Bantan gloated.
I tried desperately to move an arm or a leg to even speak but it was useless as always.
Jake2 leaned next to me and peered into my face. " Marco, man you still look the same."
"That's because it is me." The Yeerk pleaded. " Their nuts."
Jake1 put a hand on his shoulder in an awkward gesture, " That's the terrible thing about the Yeerks. Marco may look the same, act the same but right now… If we are right. He is trapped in a corner of his own mind. I've been there."
I wanted to yell, " Yes, yes! Jake listen to the man. He knows!"
" So what do we do?" Rachel2 asked, looking at me like I was some kind of a bug. " Kill him or something?"
We tie him up for three days and starve the Yeerk. Tobias said from up in a tree.
Yes, Marco1 can take his place. Ax1 agreed.
Bantan laughed silently, Won't he be surprised when he finds out about your mother. Out loud he said. " You can't do this! It's insane. Let me go." He turned me to Cassie2, mindful of Ax's tail. " Cassie please don't let them do this."
Cassie2 bit her lip and looked away. " Just for three days right? The other Marco can do that easy."
Ax1 suddenly withdrew his tail and the other one took his place. I think we should wait to give the others the morphing capability until Marco is free. He said while the others agreed.
Andalite scum. I will find a slow death for him. Bantan spat.
So they took me deeper in the woods and put me in a nearby cave that Tobias1 knew of. It was decided that at least two people would always watch over me to make sure I didn't escape.
I was happy. Or at least as happy as I could get with a Yeerk in my head. For the first time in a long time I felt that everything would be all right.
Chapter 3
Marco #1
"Dad I'm home!" I called, that's what I always did when I came home. I just hoped the other Marco did it too.
"Hey kid, where have you been? Dinners almost ready." My dad said from inside the kitchen.
I breathed a sigh of relive. I had worried that Dad could be a controller, but I don't think a controller would say " Hey kid."
" Oh I've been out. The girls were hanging all over me."
Dad came out of the kitchen holding a pot of something that smelled like burnt hair. "Yeah right, get the table set."
Turns out that the dinner just didn't smell like brunt hair, it tasted like brunt hair too. It was good to know that something's don't change…even in other universes.
I spent the night there, got up and went to school, the usual. I had 5th period with Jake2. " How ya doing?" He asked when I sat down.
I shrugged. " Fine fine, everything is completely normal. In fact it's so normal it's creepy."
"I know," Jake agreed. " When I look at you I see Marco, my best friend forever. But I know that you're not the same Marco. He is sitting in a cave somewhere…. What if we are wrong?"
"What?"
"What if he is not," Jake lowered his voice to a whisper, " a controller?"
I thought about that for a few seconds before saying. " Do you remember my mom?"
" Of course,"
" And she died two years ago, didn't she?"
Jake looked a little annoyed, " She did, why?"
" Would you believe that she is a controller and her death was faked?" I asked.
Jake was so startled that he fell out of his chair. Some ditzy girls giggled. I walked over to him, " Get up your making me look bad," I said with mock ferocity.
" You're shitting me," Jake gasped when he got up.
"About my mom? No"
After school I decided to pay a visit to my counterpart. Tobias1 and Tobias2 were on watch duty. " How's he doing?" I asked them
Silent, Tobias1 reported from up in the tree.
" Right now that is," Tobias2 added. " He was screaming about kidnapping earlier."
Then the Cassies came into view. " Our watch," They called in unison.
*****
(Story magically switches to an obeisant view)
Deep inside the cave Bantan 960 knelt his host body down on his knees and pulled out the small dracon beam weapon from his sock. It only had enough power for a few shots but it would be enough.
Soon, He thought.
(Story then randomly switches back to a first person view again)
*****
Chapter 4
Marco #1
The next day when I checked on Marco2 the Ax's were on watch.
I looked at the mouth of the cave, " How is he?"
Ax2 said, He won't take food or drink, in fact we were beginning to debate whether or not he is ill.
He is not ill, Ax1 quickly countered.
" I should still go and check just to be safe," I said. " Ax cover me," I walked to the mouth of the cave, just a hole in the ground really. The opening was so narrow that I had to suck in my stomach to get in. But it widened out once I was inside.
" Hello?" I said, suddenly there was a flash of something and what felt like a dracon beam was digging into my back.
" Don't morph," a voice so much like my own whispered, " Or I will shoot." Marco2 pushed me to the mouth of the cave. " Tell the andalite scum to move back,"
I sighed and poked my head out of the hole, " Uh guys we have a little problem. Marco2 kinda has a dracon beam pointed at me and he would really like it if you moved away a few feet."
The Ax's stared at me a few seconds then backed up a little.
Marco2 pushed me out of the cave and came up blinking in the bright sunlight, his dracon beam still leveled.
"This won't work you know," I said trying to distract him so an Ax could do something.
" Oh yeah?" The other taunted. He then pointed his dracon at the Axs.
TSEEEW!
TSEEEW!
Ax1 and Ax2 fell like a ton of bricks. I ran over to one, he was still breathing, barley. " Get up," Marco2 told me coldly. He then led me through the forest at a fast trot, threatening to shoot me every time I slowed down a little. Finally he got a stitch in his side and we had to stop.
" Why are you doing this?" I gasped. " Why do you want me?"
" Shut up slave!" He screeched.
But I didn't stay quiet. " Look around idiot. See the birds up there? Anyone of them could be my friends lying in wait for the chance to strike. You don't have a chance."
I saw a flicker of doubt cross the face that I knew so well, but it was replaced by hatred. " We will see," He sneered.
We walked through the forest now, but at a slower pace then before. The yeerk seemed really nervous now and stopped whenever we heard an animal sound. I, however, was just waiting for the chance to morph into my gorilla and knock him down.
I got that chance when we stumbled though a bush of wild pigeons. They flew up from the ground so close that I could have grabbed one. It startled Marco2. This was my chance. I turned around and hit him in the jaw as I focused on my gorilla morph.
Marco2 dropped the dracon beam and I kicked it out of the way. I hit him again and knocked him down. Marco grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it into my eyes. "Hey!" I cried.
I didn't see him get up and the next thing I knew he kicked me in the… well in a place I didn't want to be kicked. I took a wild swing at him with arms that were already mostly gorilla but he dodged it and rammed into me knocking me down.
Morph, I thought. I couldn't win this fight, only the gorilla could. Through the dirt that clogged my eyes I could see myself still changing. Marco2 uttered a curse and started kicking me.
I felt dazed, I gotta morph I gotta. But what was I morphing? An ant? No, not the ant the… I threw up. I heard Marco2 kneel down beside me. " They will be here soon," He muttered to himself.
Then I felt something-wet touch my ear and a horrible pain started in my head….
(Author breaks in and laughs hysterically at Veggie Freak)
Chapter 5
Jake#1
It was our turn for watch duty again. The way we had it set up was every pair would take a watch for two hours twice a day. Jake2 and my watch was one of the easiest. 5:00Pm to 7:00 and then 5:00 Am to 7:00.
We were still a mile or so away from the cave, pretty soon the forest we were walking in would turn into a band of pretty meadows and a pond. The cave was about 200 yards from the pond.
But still it was a long walk.
" So what is it like?" He asked me, breaking into my thoughts.
" Is what like?" I asked startled.
He smiled a smile that was so much like my own. " You know, to turn into a different animal. To have all that power."
I heard crashing in the bushes and Ax, or should I say an Ax jumped out. Jakes! Prince Cassie says that Marco2 has escaped and he has taken Marco1 with him!
" How?" I demanded.
Marco1 went down into the cave to check on the other one, but somehow Marco2 had gotten hold of a dracon beam. He stunned the other Ax and I, Prince Cassie revived us but the Marcos was gone.
I snapped into my " leader mode", as Marco would have called it. " Ax, get Tobias1 and tell him to get the Rachel's. We need to start a search from the air. Jake, get your group together and start a ground search. We will meet up together at the cave. Go."
They ran off and I morphed into a falcon, one of my favorite morphs. With falcon eyes I could spot a flea a hundred feet away. With 6 pairs of eyes in the sky we would find the Marco's easily.
I hoped.
I flew over the trees and went to the cave site. Cassie was already there, waiting. How long have they been gone? I demanded.
20 minutes tops.
We had to wait for the others. My group was there first but the other group took a bit longer because they had to travel on the ground. But once we were all together I described the plan.
You two's organize look for them on the ground in the direction of the foot prints. We will scout ahead from the air. Everyone spread out, but keep in contact with the person to the right and to the left of you.
So we searched, and searched, and searched, and searched. Did I mention that we searched? It was like they had disappeared into thin air.
I was about ready to scream from frustration when Tobias called from my left. I see them!… Oh Jake, it doesn't look good man.
I felt cold fingers seize my heart. If that other Marco had hurt my best friend I would…
Lets get down there and Demorph, Rachel said taking over my role. Ax, get the ground crew over here.
I finally caught sight of the two. Marco2 was crouched over Marco2 who was partially into his gorilla morph. He looked badly beaten up. I landed on the ground and began to demorph. Marco2 tore his gaze away from Marco and looked up at us with pleading eyes.
" You have to help him he's a controller!"
Chapter6
Marco #1
My brain couldn't comprehend it. I was free. I was free?
I sat up and looked around. It was amazing to actually move my own body after all this time.
To my right came ragged breathing from Marco1, but not really Marco1 anymore. Bantan had gotten out of my ear and slithered its way into his. Right now he was probably trying to get control of Marco's brain.
I heard some flapping sounds and I tore my gaze from the controller to see 5 birds demorphing. " You have to help him he's a controller!" I croaked.
Bull- Jake started to say but his beak became a mouth.
Just then the 2s burst out from the bushes. " There's the yeerk!" Rachel cried pointing triumphantly at me.
" No, Marco is the controller." I insisted. Then I realized why Bantan had left me. They…the others would all believe what ever Marco1 said because they trusted him. They saw me as the enemy. The yeerk.
I struggled to my feet. "He got out of me and went into him!"
Marco2 gasped. " Yeah right, then why do you have the dracon beam?"
I looked in my hands and to my horror I realized that I still carried the hand held weapon that had started it all. I forgot that Bantan had picked it up again.
The newly demorphed Cassie1 ran over to Marco's side and helped him up. " Are you ok?"
" Yeah I am," The controller replied, then he gave me a compassionate look. " Don't worry Marco, we will get that thing out of you."
" YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I charged him, but Tobias2 and Rachel1 kept me back.
Marco smiled a little grimly at the Jakes. " Wow Rachel is fast. She would be a good body guard, I could have used her earlier."
The others laughed a little while Rachel1 growled. " Shut up Marco or I just might let him at you."
"Guys, listen to me," I said slowly, " I am not the controller he is."
Jake2 laughed. " Sure whatever, lets get Marco2 back to the cave."
So they took be back, completely unaware of the mistake they were making.
Chapter 7
Marco #2
That was easy, your friends are very foolish indeed.
We watched as most of the 2s took Marco, kicking and screaming, back to the cave.
I felt sick inside.
Bantan turned me to face the two Jakes. " Well I guess I had better get back home." He said cheerfully in my voice.
"Yeah go on."
Then Bantan focused my mind on the osprey. This is wonderful! This morphing… this flying! He exulted once we were in the sky.
Well I'm glad you're enjoying it. I said as sarcastically as I could. After a few minutes I realized that we were not heading home. Were are you going? I demanded.
Bantan laughed. You really thought that I was going to take you home? Ha! We are going to the sharing headquarters. That's where my boss, Subvisser 34 will be. I'm sure he will be very pleased to see you.
You can't do this! I raged.
The sharing headquarters were in site now. Maybe Visser 3 will finally notice me. The yeerk said hopefully. I could become a sub-subvisser before this day is done!
He landed in a patch of trees just behind the sharing building and demorphed. Just a few more steps until my secret was out.
Suddenly I heard a crack of a twig. I whirled around. Nothing.
Felling nervous? I taunted.
Then I heard the sound of paw pads scrape again wood and a hand lay on my shoulder. " And where do you think your going?" Someone asked behind me.
" Uh… I'm going… uh to the sharing." Bantan stuttered. He tried to break the grasp and turn around but the person held me steady as a rock. I only knew of one creature that had that kind of strength.
" Chee!" Bantan hissed, picking it up from my head.
******
It took one more day for the Yeerk to die. It was so strange watching him starve right inside me. I almost felt pity for him, almost.
At last, for the first time in 24 hours I opened my eyes " Is it dead?"
Jake1 nodded, and did something very Un Jake like. He gave me a hug. " Yeah it's dead Marco, its dead."
" How did Eric-"
Cassie, who was also there, laughed and explained. They had gotten in contact with the Chee … just in case. They had actually suspected that I was a controller so they called on Eric to follow me home.
I shuttered when I thought about what almost happened. It was way too close.
Epilogue
Marco#2
Please put your hand on the box. Ax1 said to us.
I put my hand on the top and a tingling sensation when up my arm that made me want to laugh.
Ax1 smiled with his eyes. " You now have the power to morph.
And now… A small part of Joined Forces Part3: The Defector.
I stuck again, this time I just barely missed his neck. Another inch and he would have been killed.
I didn't care.
He was a hero to my people! I yelled.
I then saw something very interesting in my counterpart's eyes. Hate. Pure hate and loathing. His tail moved so fast that I didn't have time to react and in the next second it was against my throat.
Whoa! Back off you two! Tobias cried.
Now you listen to me you insignificant Aristh. Ax2 said in the Andalite language. He is a murderer and a traitor to our people. He sided with the Yeerks as a voluntary controller. Ax2 then began to scream. He made me an orphan and would have killed me too! But one day I will kill him. Oh yes, one day I will kill Elfangor!