Exit the Hero.
Quide moved his host's eyes toward the platform. His host had stopped rebelling a long time ago, his spirit had been broken. Except when the Andalite bandits came in, then he would fight harder than ever before.
Tom kneeled down on the metal platform and his Yeerk came out.
Then Tom stood up quietly, the Hork-Bajir guards watching him carefully to make sure he didn't rebel. They knew he had stopped trying to run away, but they had to be careful. They led him to a near-empty cage and he went in, quietly.
Melissa sat across from him.
"How are you doing, Tom?" she asked, careful not to stutter. Freedom, no matter how short, was relished.
"Just fine. Quide's trying to make Jake go to the Sharing, though."
"With all the Yeerks the Andalites are killing off, you've got to wonder why they want more hosts. Especially a kid like Jake."
"Quide thinks he's trouble for him, so it's sort of like pushing him out of the way. Thank goodness Jake thinks the Sharing's a cult. Otherwise he would be in here with me."
"A cult? That's a laugh. Rachel seems to think the same thing, too. I would absolutely hate it if she was one of them."
Silence as neither knew what to say.
"I want to fight them, Melissa," Tom said suddenly. "I- I just don't know how to do it. Why the hell did the Yeerks come here, anyway? I never knew how they pinpointed this planet."
Melissa gave a sad smile. "You don't know?" Tom shook his head. "In the '80's, my dad and some girl were kidnapped by the Skrit Na. The Andalites took them, brought them to the Taxxon homeworld, and there, my dad told the Yeerk's about humans."
"Why were they brought to the Taxxon homeworld?"
"Some reason the Andalites never said. There were three Andalites there. One of them disappeared, one of them became Visser Three, and the last one was the great Elfangor."
"Elfangor? So your dad met Elfangor."
"That would be it in a nutshell."
Taxxons, Gedds, and Hork-Bajir milled around, working, as voluntary human hosts watched The Matrix on DVD, the cage next to them full of sobbing humans. Another human was put in their cage, and he ignored them.
Tom turned back to Melissa. He started to say something, but was interrupted when a scream rang out through the Pool.
"Andalites!!"
Tom sprang up, trying not to get too close to the laser beams that were the bars as he tried to get a good look at the battle on the other side of the pool.
He spotted who he considered the best warrior, the tiger, and cheered him on.
"Why do you do this?" Melissa asked, standing next to him.
"Come on, Melissa, the Andalites are our hope for freedom."
"No, they're not."
"Yes, they are."
The smell of gasoline filled the air as gallons of it were poured into the Yeerk Pool. That would kill off most of the Yeerks in the pool, including Tom's and Melissa's.
The Andalite's had morphed into a bear, a gorilla, two Hork-Bajir, a tiger, a polar bear, and there was that one that stayed as an Andalite.
Controllers littered the floor, all wounded, Taxxon's feeding off them. It was a disgusting sight.
Then, when they had done what they had come to do, they left. Until Yeerks were brought in by ship and the pool was cleaned, the hosts would stay in their cages.
The man with them sighed, it was one of relief that his Yeerk wouldn't go back into his head and torture him the way Yeerks did.
"I hate the Yeerks, too, Tom, but these Andalite's aren't doing anything for us."
"What? What do you mean?"
"They just pile on the bodies, Tom. They don't notify authorities, media, they just fight and the Yeerk's come back in more numbers. It's hopeless."
"It's not hopeless. You just gotta believe, Melissa. I want my freedom. I'm gonna fight."
"How? Involuntary hosts don't have the energy to fight when they've been hosts for as long as you have."
"Then I'll fight them if they try to get Jake. That's at least what I can do."
Melissa gave a sad smile. "If your brother knew what was going on, you would be his hero."
Tom gave an egotistical grin. "You think?"
"Definetly. He was pretty hurt when you quit the basketball team." Tom's grin disappeared. Melissa, sighed, then said, "You keep hoping for me, alright? I don't think I can do it for myself."
"Sure. Until then, just believe, alright?"
Melissa nodded.
A Hork-Bajir came up to their cage, turning off the lasers just long enough to bring Tom and Melissa out. The man with them tried to run, but the lasers cut into his arm, and he laid on the floor, writhing. Gedds came to bring him to the hospital wing, and Tom was up first on the infestation pier.
Another Hork-Bajir guard carefully put his ear to the surface of the molten water, and a Yeerk slid his way into Tom's ear, gaining control in a matter of seconds.
Hello, Tom. I am Threm 245. He dug into Tom's memories. Interesting conversation you had with Chapman's daughter. Tom said nothing. Threm would soon find it useless to taunt an unresponsive host.
Tom turned and went toward the stairs to the McDonalds, Threm trying to find an excuse for Tom's parents for being gone so long. Tom didn't give him any help.
In the shadows, a tiger with a grin on his quizzical face, scooted back into the room where the rest of his group were.
We're done, here, Big Jake, the gorilla said to the tiger.
All right, now let's get out of here. I'm in a good mood. Food court on me. The tiger looked back to where his hero had exited.