The Pemalite Crystal

The Pemalite Crystal

I don't own the Animorphs-the traitorous K. A. Applegate does. As well as any characters or names. Kudos to her. There. I said it.

PS-If KA or anyone from Scholastic is reading this-PLEASE DON'T SUE ME!!

(I'm writing this as of 3:00 AM. I've been writing since 1:00 AM. If this fic isn't top material, there's the reason [along with the fact that this is my first Fanfic.] So...Please don't kill me if it stinks!

"Ax, what is that?" I asked but I already knew the answer.

Maybe I should explain a couple of things first. My name is Marco. You may know me from my appearances on TV. that's right, I'm the famous Animorph, Marco. The amazing hero Marco. The oh-so-hot-and-irresistable-to-women Marco.

You probably already know about the Yeerks and their invasion and the end of the war, so I'm not even going to bother explaining it.

It has been about a month since the war ended. I had managed to get away from the mobs of fans and worshipers that seemed to follow me everywhere. I was standing with Ax and Cassie in an abandoned office building for the Sharing-the frontal organization for the "recruitment of troops" for the Yeerk Empire.

It was basically a dump. My best guess would be that as soon as word got out that the Sharing was related to the Yeerks, everyone within a five-mile radius had come and torn the place apart. Whole walls had been knocked down. The entire northern face had been ripped off and every window had been shattered. Anything of value was taken away or left in pieces-computers, televisions, desks-you name it.

We had come down to take a look at the last sign of Yeerks on Earth. Call it curiosity, but something at the back of my mind kept telling me to come down here.

Far be it from me not to trust my instincts. I guess Cassie and Ax had the same idea. (And I'm not entirely sure Jake and Tobias hadn't had the same feelings.) After looking around for a while, I felt my instincts may have been wrong. But then I saw it. The shiny metal looked out of place against the rusted metal and graffiti covered walls behind it. It was weirdly shaped, and had a grey-ish liquid in it. I'd seen only one before. I called Ax and Cassie over and asked.

It is a portable Kandrona pool, Ax replied in his matter-of-fact voice. And it has been recently used.

* * * * * * * * * *

No one talked for a while after that. We just stared at the alien object in horror and disgust. It was a symbol. A symbol that an oppresionistic force was still alive on this planet. Usually, I'm not the one who thinks of stuff like that, but I swear that's what I thought right then. I guess I'd been hanging out with Cassie too long.

I felt sick to my stomach.

Cassie was the first to speak after what seemed to be an eternity. "How is this possible?"

I do not know, Ax replied, still stricken with wonder.

"It's been a month, and these things are only good for one time. So for a Yeerk to survive..." Cassie counted to herself. "It would take nine or ten of these..." she motioned toward the pool.

"Where could he have gotten so many of them?" I wondered out loud. Suddenly there was a horribly loud creak. "Uh-oh." Then came a sound I was dreading: an even louder CRUNCH! The nausea I had felt earlier suddenly became worse. I soon realized why. I was falling.

I knew the sensation of falling all too well. I've been a bird and dived at super high speeds towards the ground. I still remember the mission where I had to infiltrate the Matcom building by falling into a vent shaft from a pipe two stories up as a wolf spider. After all the years experience, I was still not used to it. Especially not in human form.

"Ahhhhhh!"

"Ahhhhhh!"

Ahhhhh!

I fell into a world of darkness.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Marco, wake up!" I felt a slap across my face.

"Ow! Stop that!" I complained. I got up, and felt a searing pain in my head. I felt my forehead for injuries and felt a huge bump. "This isn't going to help my TV career," I joked. No one laughed. I looked over at Cassie and Ax and realized they were staring away from the fallen floor from above. "What is it? Where are we?"

I believe we are in the basement of the building. Judging by the looks of these boxes, it must not have been disturbed for a long while. Something about the tone of Ax's "voice" told me he was preoccupied with something. I noticed all four of his eyes were pointed where Cassie's were. I looked too and was dumbfounded at what I saw.

"I guess this answers your question, Cassie." I was looking at a room the size of a football field. That's not the astounding part. It was the fact that the room was filled with row after row of wooden crates, most of the ones we could see were marked with the words: PORTABLE KANDRONA POOLS. I turned around, and saw the floor of the above room extend down like a slide. I looked beyond it and saw a set of stairs leading up, and three of the crates, broken open, spilling out packing foam.

FWAPP! I turned around and saw Ax cutting into a crate with his wicked tail blade. Sometimes I envy Andalites, just because of the money they must save on defense systems back on their planet.

I count twenty pools per crate.

"Sixty pools?!" I yelled. "You mean that a Yeerk has up to two months more charge ups before he has to come back here for supplies?"

"That doesn't seem so bad. Two months isn't that long. Besides, Marco, where's he gonna go?"

Actually... Ax said worriedly.

"What?" I asked

Yeerk pools' Kandrona producers are rechargeable by two ways. One being to have the producer soaked in Kandrona rays itself. The other, is to connect the producer to a source of energy that is very powerful. Such as a space craft engine.

"What on this planet is that powerful?" I asked.

Nothing. The only thing I have ever seen that powerful would be the Pemalite crystal.

"What did you and Jake ever do with that crystal, Marco?"

I thought for a moment. "We...we threw it into the ocean. Well, actually, Jake's dog did."

"What?! You threw the most powerful machine on Earth into the ocean?"

"Um...yes." I felt a heat crawl up my spine and into my neck.

If the Yeerks had done a sensor sweep of the oceans, they may have found it. Do you think that is what this renegade Yeerk is looking for?

"Oh my God. What if he finds it? He could have a power greater than Andalites and humans together!" Cassie stated. Ax gave her an indignant Andalite look with his eyes and then a look of fear washed over them.

We must find this Yeerk!

"Wait a minute!" I said. "How do we even know that this is the Yeerk's plan? There's no proof that he's even looking for the crystal. The Empire never went looking for it after they lost it at Matcom, so why would he decide to do it now?" Ax walked over to an unmarked crate and reached in it with his tail. When it came out, it was holding something that looked like a remote for a television.

Because of this sensor. It is specifically designed for the kind of energy fields that were given off by the crystal. And because of the fact that two of these were missing from the crate.

"Oh," I said stupidly.

"That's not our only problem," Cassie stated. "A Z-space communicator and a number of weapons were also found missing. Whoever this guy is, he must be expecting some trouble from humans during his search."

"Duh. he's got sixty Yeerk pools on him. They're going to be hard to hide without the aid of a shipping truck, and those things are checked frequently by paranoid cops all of the time." I said. I didn't mean to sound mean, but this kind of news didn't exactly bring out my best moods.

I believe we should consult Prince Jake about this. If what we are thinking is true, it may cause the war to start again.

"How?" I asked.

"If news that a Pemalite crystal were found by a Yeerk on Earth reached the Yeerk home world, the Council of Thirteen may decide to send the rest of their troops and ships here in a last effort to beat the Andalites, and they could with that crystal," Cassie said with a twinge of sickness in her voice.

"We have to stop him. At all costs."

"How will we find him?"

"We won't. We'll find the crystal and then he'll find us. Assuming the fact that he hasn't got the crystal already. Ax?"

Yes?

"Grab a sensor..."

To Be Continued...