Hello to all that enjoy the Rissa/v3/v1/Sargimf series, especially it's parent, Purgatory Bust. This is the sequel, Resurrection Code. After Book 30, Visser One and Sargimf died, so now it's up to everyone's favorite Andalite-Controller and vampire-dragon duo to get them back. How will they do it? Even more so, what crazy predicaments are fated to stumble upon their path? Well, to Heaven and Hell and Purgatory alike, watch out spirit world, here we COME!
Oh, the first chapter is kinda sappy and depressing, but it's merely a speed bump in the humor to come! Oh, it's in my POV, but the rest will probably be in Visser Three's. It's just the prologue!
Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs, or any characters that were created by Sinister Shadow. However, I do own Sargimf, the lovable, horny Hork-Bajir. And the spiritual ideas and epiphanies found here belong to only one taco-chowing, fire-lovin' dragon.
Dedicated to Sinister Shadow and Darth Vader es Cool 5.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prologue
Rissa
I raced as fast as my limbs could carry me up the hill, already panting and sweating in the oxygen deprived air. However, I'd been raised in similar mountains as a kid, so the terrain didn't bother me. No, something far darker and sinister did. A distant memory, of a book that hadn't ever been my favorite in the Animorph series, that was playing out this very moment.
Book Number Thirty to be exact. It had been in Marco's point of view, coming to this very moment where he made the horrible choice between life for his mother and death for her captor. Eva, Visser One. I hadn't told Visser Three any of this, despite its importance, much like everything else I knew from reading half the books in my home dimension. Why? There was no telling what even a shred of difference could affect, so I'd played about influencing things, much like the Elimist--except I wasn't an all-powerful, galactic being who controlled time and space and light.
Well, I could think I was, but that involved a bunch of alcohol.
At that moment, I'd desperately wished I'd snuck off from the Yeerks for a few hours and acquired the morphing ability--the Animorphs all, but pointed out where Cassie's barn was. It would've raised questions and--from Visser three--outrage maybe, but now, I needed to be a wolf or eagle or Hork-Bajir. Something stronger and faster and more agile.
I could see the lip of the topmost cliff now, watch as Esplin in his camouflage crab morph slashed at Visser One and she responded with a blast from her Dracon beam. No, no, no! Why had this still happened? After we'd gone to Purgatory and back, after that time on Halloween in the meadow that Iniss, Ellie, Sargimf and I witnessed, how could they still be trying to murder each other? My throat closed up even as a rippling screech came out as a strangled yelp. Stop! Please stop!
A blur of green and rough scales descended from the trees above, a Hork-Bajir. I sighed in relief, but instantly tripped over my feet when I saw it wasn't one of our own. The brute knocked the Dracon beam from my hand--not that I would've had much luck using it in the first place--and slashed out at me. I yelped and slid backwards In the dirt.
Another arc of blade came whistling at me and it was only pure luck, ingrained instinct and slippery grass that made me slide away in time. I reached into one of my jeans pockets and pulled out a Swiss army knife. However, though it had helped me on long, dark walks to avoid stalkers and rapists, I didn't think it would be much use against a seven-foot-tall, bladed Godzilla.
"Back!" I growled, swinging it chaotically. "I got a woman's aggression and I'm not afraid to use it, bucko. Don't make me go all taco-noto on you!" I tripped over an elm's uplifted root behind me, twisting my ankle and lay sprawled on the ground.
"Die, Yeerk," the lizard hissed, and brought his blades down upon me. I screamed, not wanting to face old Aldrea back in the Purgatory prison cells again yet.
Another Hork-Bajir, with darker scales, larger height and eyes the color of freshly spilled blood, leapt down from a rocky ridge and whipped his blades across my opponent's throat. Red and blue blood splattered over me, but I looked up gratefully at my man, my knight in shining armor.
I stood up, forgetting the sounds of chaos and the throbbing pain in my swelling ankle a moment, and wrapped my arms around him. "Took you long enough," I scolded. "It may be a good time to work on your punctual skills. Face it, they suck."
Sargimf chuckled and bent his head down to lick my cheek in a brief kiss. "You know you love the suspense. Way better than Highlander movie--" He caught me when I swayed and toppled, my foot aching like Fat Bastard--a.k.a. Norm--fell on it. "I'm starting to think Iniss had the right idea about hiding in the janitor's closet."
"Too right." I gently placed my hand over the large gash in his chest, too close to one of his two hearts for me. I took a deep breath, leaning against him. "We have to stop Vissers One and Three. They shouldn't be killing themselves."
"Are you kidding?" he asked, skeptical. He glanced up at where they continued to circle, but didn't notice the not-so-native mountain goat advancing near them, followed by a definitely-not-so-native Bengal tiger. "We'd have better luck breaking up a shark frenzy."
"Please?" I begged, squeezing him, stealing some of his warmth into my shivering frame. "They may be a pair of hateful, impatient, stick-up-the-butt bozos, but they're still our bozos. We snag Visser One and drag her away into the woods from Esplin. His morph can't climb or even have long endurance. Then, we tie her to a tree and come back to knock him silly with a Dracon beam, then drag him back somewhere else from the battle."
Sargimf arched a scaly brow, scowling. "That has got to be the most ridiculous, suicidal plan I've ever heard. We could do that, or run like sane people and head for safer ground. No one'll notice and we could hide for a day or two, since we fed yesterday."
Yeah, he, eh, still didn't know I wasn't exactly a full-blooded--or any blooded for that matter--Yeerk. Ignoring that, I cocked my head to the side. "Since when are we sane? Wouldn't that make us a pair of unimaginative, heartless Andalites?"
He bristled for a moment, but sighed. "Fine. Hop on." I crawled onto his back and hooked my arms around his flexible neck, burrowing my head in the crook of his collarbone. "One of these days, we're going to end up dead in a ditch because of this." He jumped onto a low, springy oak branch, and soared off toward the cliff's face.
"Feh. I'll just drag ourselves back from Purgatory," I scoffed. "It's easier than it sounds."
He decided not to comment for some reason, scaling up the dirt wall overtop where the battle played out. I spotted a Hork-Bajir I'd chatted with that very morning, almost shredded by a grizzly's claws. Still holding grudges from Halloween, I swung the knife from my hand and watched it bounce off Rachel's snout harmlessly. Still, it provided enough distraction for Emiton 342 to crawl away.
"There!" I pointed to Edriss's staggering form, and Visser Three's not quite invisible body with all the gore--much his own--painted over him. "Hurry, hurry, hurry!" I cried, pasting myself against him and ignoring the bugs catching in my wide-open mouth as he ran as fast as Quicksilver.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blue-gray centaur careen toward us, unable to even yelp out a syllable before the blur of young Andalite slashed his tail blade at Sargimf. FWAPP! Sickened, my stomach twisting upon itself in multi-loops, I watched the left arm drop to the ground. Sargimf howled in agony and threw his good arm towards Aximili, leaving a dark blue gash in the Andalite's chest.
During the battle, I was thrown head-over-heels off of him in his wild thrashing to the wet, iron-smelling soggy earth. I gritted my teeth, watching as my love desperately fought, and stood as well as I could, stumbling back towards our main objective. I could take either Visser down with each having an arm behind their backs and blindfolded, let alone adrenaline crazed, battle ready and with me dragging a twisted ankle. Then again, stubbornness killed the cat--I think.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I swore, ambling towards them vainly.
Then it happened. As if a piece of time was taken away, I watched Visser One's body teeter on the edge of the cliff, gravity yanking back on her towards the empty cavity of space. Panic filled the eyes of Visser Three, I could see clearly as day, as if he hadn't expected their scuffle to ever end. Bile rose up my throat. No…
Then the slender, black-maned woman was gone, swallowed by the unforgiving sky.
Another cry of pain and terror echoed back at me and I watched another death take place. Sargimf had taken on a new opponent, ironically one of Visser One's subordinates. Hadn't we spoken with the same guy a couple weeks before over acorns and coffee? The Dracon blast sizzled my Sargimf into scattered atoms.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
I don't remember the rest of the battle, how it ended, whether we slaughtered more on Edriss's side, or our own. Faintly, I'd noticed a human-Controller pick me up by the armpits and pull me towards a parked Bug Fighter. There was a glimpse of Esplin's face, once again blue, furry, and Andalite all around, but instead of whooping with glee at the news that the enemy who'd outnumbered us had lost, he merely nodded and glanced out the window of the Bug Fighter.
Halfway back to the Blade ship, my teary eyes and foggy mind began to clear at a snail's pace, misting slightly again when I touched the sliver of Hork-Bajir blade Sargimf had made into a pendant, hidden under my black shirt. Something seemed to spark a moment, but fizzled out.
It came again when I glanced at Visser Three, his deviated, silent self still a mass of blood plastered, sticky fur. Clinging to the mass of red, purple, and blue gore were a few strands of onyx hair, long and silky with a slightly gleaming shine. I simply knew who owned them.
I gently prodded Visser Three and he glanced down at me. I shuddered a bit at the lost look in his eyes. I tended to think of him as…not a father or brother model, maybe a uncle who was happy and giddy one moment, while on the couch in stained boxers and hammered the next day. Like a Hallmark card. (Not now. Go prance and light things on fire somewhere else.)
I shook my head and plucked the black strands off him. "These are Edriss's."
(Oh…they are,) he mumbled, fingering them slightly, wiping off the dried blood.
I pulled the blade shard out from under my shirt. "And if no one else knows, we know where they are." The somber depression that had befallen me slowly peeled away like the dried crimson flakes that drifted off me as I wiped my skin and clothes clear. A plan was slowly forming in the base of my mind. "The Pyro Poulet has come up with another great scheme."
(The fire chicken?) he translated. (What are you talking about now? We can't follow her and--) He glanced at the green spike in my palm. (And Sargimf to…) He glanced around at the small ship, with only two human-Controllers inside with us. He whispered, (Ah, Rissa, how would we be able to get another near-death experience?)
Well, at least he wasn't COMPLETELY turning the idea down. He HAD to be desperate. "We know our way around Purgatory like that!" I snapped my fingers. "And don't sweat the basics. Are you ready or what? You didn't get to being a bad ass V Three by not being reckless and stubborn…wait, I think those are the only two reasons why you made it."
He snorted in agitation, some of the old Esplin seeping back into him. (And how do you propose we do it?) he spat.
"Okay, I'm going on a hunch. I've watched enough witchy and vampy movies to have a slight clue on this." I grabbed the hair off him and threw down to his hooves, as well as the blade. "Crush these under your hooves first, then we're supposed to consume the powder."
He did so, but paused before sucking up half of it. (What is this supposed to do besides screw up my intestines?)
"Since you went around the spirit world in your host self, I think they'll do the same. If we eat a bit of mortal essence from each, it'll draw us to them faster than the silver cords," I explained. I went down on my knees and started, erm, licking the floor, amused by the sidelong glances from the human-Controllers.
Esplin grinded his fore hooves in the remaining material. (Now what?) he asked, almost…eagerly.
I wiped my mouth. "You really want to see her, huh?"
(Who else am I going to bicker with?) he asked nonchalant. (Iniss? I used up all my sexual harassment and incompetence jokes on your last two presidents.)
I grinned at the other two passengers, walking up to the controls. "Hey, boys," I started, though they were twice my age, probably thirty-two. "You might want to grab onto something. This ride is about to get a little bumpy. Hold on!" I pressed a dull red button--much to humorous reference--and a dull beeping noise started.
On the side of the Bug Fighter, the hatch started to open slowly, sucking air into black, starry space. I let out a whoop of insane freedom, feeling my weight start to lessen as I was pulled towards it. I quickly set the timer so it would be open for only fifteen seconds.
(What?! This wasn't what I was thin--AHH!) I crashed into the Andalite, sending both of us spiraling out into the freezing darkness.
My brain waves and heart beats became irregular, body twisting upon itself as warmth and movement and thought were sucked away. There was pain. Oh yes! Excruciatingly, mind numbing agony swept through me as in what seemed like eternity stretched on, limbs bending into pretzels and spine snapping itself in frantic jolts. Visser Three did no better, his eyes bulging from their sockets like a cartoon character's, back legs and tail giving a final twitch, then falling still.
Then it was over.
Mist curled around me and I was floating in blank space that cleared as my essence expanded. A figure strode out of the fog, and spoke in a voice I thought nether Esplin or I would hear for another few decades.
"Oh, no. No, no. I thought we were rid of you bastards!"
Esplin rolled a stalk eye. (Hey, Aldrea. Anything new?)
"Why me?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ending with the sadness of despair, we shall move onto the rescuing part…after we deal with spiritual airport security. What people shall the Visser and dragon meet as we wait for our damn plane to arrive? Duh duh duh…