DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Animorphs, or anything else that doesn't belong to me. I only own this story.

Reply to Guest Review:

Matt: So I'm just on the first chapter and I want to know if Ax is in this
story or not?

Me: As of the 17th chapter, Ax is not in this story. There are plans for him to show up sometime around the third arc, though.

Chapter One: Denial

DUKE

I moved quickly – there was no point in a panicked run, since that would just alert the Yeerks to my presence. Even if this happened to be a nightmare – and the chances of that were quite slim by this point – I didn't wanna lose to it.

I'd been fast, and had gotten clear of the explosion when the Yeerk ship landed – and fortunately for me, the Yeerk leader sounded like he was gloating in my mind. I was well clear of the construction site by the time he'd finished, and heading off down the street.

Problem: My place was a good way away from here – I now needed to get from here to the other side of Domino City, without being spotted. A lone individual would stand out at this time of night…

Hmm.

I tilted my head, considering my options as I slipped down a dark side alleyway. There wasn't a whole lot I could do, beyond calling my chauffer – but then again, I'd told him to take the day off – the guy was probably stoned. I risked being spotted if I tried to get through on foot, and a taxi driver could easily be a Yeerk. Then again, I couldn't stay here either. The Visser would surely have soldiers looking for us now. And they would be looking for five–

Five teenage kids! That's it!

I smirked to myself – they wouldn't be looking for animals. If I could morph something, then I could get away without being spotted…

A flapping noise behind me made me turn, to find a bundle of tattered rags which just barely resembled a man. A crow sat on the thing's shoulder.

"Sir… if you could spare…"

I felt like something had been triggered inside me – and now the knowledge of the Andalite bubbled, still fresh in my mind. (1) Come to think of it, I'd always wondered what it'd be like to fly. Always wished for wings, just for a little bit – just so that I could soar like a bird…

The morphing technology allows you to…

"Thankyou", I breathed, and the thing looked confused.

"I am sorry, sir?"

Touch the animal, then focus on becoming it. It will go into a light trance…

I swallowed. "Old man, you may have just got yourself a deal." I pulled out a handful of bills.

"Ten thousand yen, right here. And all I ask is that you let me hold that crow for ten minutes."(2) I grinned. "Come on, it's pretty good. A thousand yen a minute."

At the sight of the money, the bundle's eyes lit up, glittering with pure greed. "Yes! Yes!" He thrust the bird into my arms without a single protest, and I rolled my eyes as he snatched the money. If the others asked where I'd gotten the crow morph from, I'd just say I found an injured one.

The bird was quite tame, making it easy to concentrate on. Closing my eyes, I thought about its black plumage, its sharp beak, and of course the wings. I built a mental image in my mind of that crow, then imagined it flying high into the sky. If this worked, his bird could get me right back to my house.

Minutes passed, and I began to worry.

What if I've somehow been high on drugs, and now the police are after me? Or… What if morphing just doesn't work for humans?

I set my jaw at that, concentrating as hard as I could.

No. Not giving up yet!

A warm tingling went right through my body, and the bird went limp. My new knowledge told me that this meant that the acquiring process had been completed.

I waited about thirty seconds, and the crow sat up, alert once more. With a yawn, I handed the bird back – only just holding in my pleasure behind a mask of boredom. "Thanks. Now, get out. Keep all ten thousand yen."

"Yes, sir!" The beggar scrambled away, joyful at this new turn of events – and I focused. No doubt the Yeerks would find me soon if I stayed here; judging from the inhuman shouts, they were getting closer.

Closing my eyes, I once again thought about the bird.

Please, please work.
I don't want to be a Yeerk slave…

The first changes were subtle – so subtle that I didn't notice them initially. After a moment of concentration with no obvious change, I shrugged, and continued walking down the alleyway.

I had best keep moving, until I can work out how to become this bird and get out of here.

I scanned my mind for anything from Elfangor that might help me to morph, but the only response I got was to "be patient", whatever that happened to mean. It wasn't really helpful.

After perhaps thirty seconds, I reached the end of the alleyway, paused – whatever things the Visser had set on my trail were definitely closer now. The road forked straight ahead, and to the left and right – if I didn't morph soon, the direction I took would make or break my escape. Peeking around the corner, I whipped my head left and right, scanning in all directions before folding my arms.

Hmm. Which way should I g–

I glanced down at the pavement a moment – and my eyes widened as I stared at my left arm.

My skin had darkened from tan to dark brown. As I watched in fascination, holding my arm right out in front of my nose, it went a dark grey. The buildings around me rose higher, and with a start I realized that I was beginning to shrink; my clothes hanging loosely off me. My breath caught in my throat.

"It's… it's really happening…" My bones started to hollow, and a thrill went through me. Soon, very soon, I'd be experiencing flight itself.

I guessed that morphing probably should have creeped me out, and it did to an extent – after all, my whole body was shifting and creaking into something else entirely. It was only the thought of being able to fly that kept me from screaming or whimpering as I continued to morph, black feathers rustling over my shoulders and down my back, my legs withering and shrinking into my now chubby body.

The things were very close now, and their noise made me cringe in fear, the changes instantly speeding up. I stumbled as my feet decided to change, stretching out and out into talons – my shoes were a lost cause, shredded in seconds. My clothes were far too large for me now, draping on top of me; and as the changes reached my arms and face, I closed my eyes.

After maybe thirty or forty seconds, the strange noises of bones snapping and organs moving stopped. Tentatively, I opened one eye, to find a view of what was on my right side. My left eye gave me a view of what was on my left side, and there was a huge blind spot where my new beak jutted out of my face. The shouts had reached the alleyway just behind mine now, but whatever things were after me had no hope of finding me now.

After all, they weren't looking for crows.

I win! Take that, nightmare!

With a yell of delight that came out as a rasping caw, I jumped up into the air. Wings moved like I'd been doing this all my life, lifting me off the ground with ease.

Fly, I told my new body, circling higher over the rooftops. Fly to my house…

And so I did.

I woke the next day, blurring visions in my head.

What a strange dream.

I wanted to believe that I had become a bird. After all, flying had felt so good – but it was probably just a cruel dream. It wouldn't have been the first time, after all. With a yawn, I sat up–

And stared at three black feathers, lying on my dressing table. I staggered over to the mirror there, examining my whole frame from head to toe to make sure that I was still human. Only after a full minute did I actually realize that there was no need – I had changed back to human in the dream… not–dream… well, whatever it was. I blinked; oddly enough, I couldn't remember what I had actually done last night – or at least, nothing sane I'd done last night. My brain seemed to think that the thing about meeting an alien and becoming a bird was an actual memory.

Maybe it is…

I considered this for a long while. On the supporting side of the argument was the crow feathers, and the odd new knowledge in my head. In my experience, dreams weren't particularly detailed – but I had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of how morphing worked, and what Andalites and Yeerks were. On the other side of the argument… well, the whole thing didn't seem particularly likely to happen.

Well, only one way to find out.

With a sigh, I focused on the crow, to see if I could morph – I'd be wondering about that all day if I didn't get some quick proof. I watched my reflection carefully for any changes – and six seconds later, there were feather patterns flashing up my cheeks, my body shortening, beginning to tilt forwards… With a gasp of shock, I immediately focused on being human, and the morphing reversed, leaving me stunned and sitting on the floor.

I've… I've gotta tell the others about this!

I stood, mind racing as I went to get my pajamas off and put some day clothes on. There'd been five of us at the site… the question was, who to visit first?

Take on the hardest first.

I thought about this. Yugi and Joey were presumably full of the usual "we've gotta save the world" stuff – they weren't going to take much persuasion that this was real, now that they'd been shown a real alien. One of them could well have morphed already. Ryo was probably still hiding under the covers, but he'd accept his duty readily enough – and besides, Yugi and Joey had probably visited him already. The only one who would need any real evidence…

Of course.

Cracking my knuckles, I strolled out to my car.

Time to give Tristan Real World Taylor the wake–up call of his life.

TRISTAN

I woke up, shaking. My body ached all over – like I really had been running hard last night.
No. No, it was just a dream – it had to be. I chuckled softly to myself. Maybe I'd partied a little too hard, and that trippy vision and this pain was the end result.

Yeah, just a dream. Pretty weird sort of thing, but it wasn't real.
It can't be real.

DING DONG!

"Ugh… Coming!" I called, dragging myself out of bed. I checked the alarm clock – I'd slept in 'til nine–thirty in the afternoon. Whoever had rung the doorbell was impatient.

DING DONG!

"And I said, COMING!"

DING DONG!

"Sheesh, door to door salesman these days…" I pulled on my trousers and shirt, threw on my trademark jacket – there was no time for shoes. On the way out, I saw a note left on the kitchen table:

Hey, Tristan. Door was wide open, so we let ourselves in. We wanted to talk about what happened in the construction site, but you were out cold, so we thought we'd come back tomorrow, about 9:45.
See you then!

Joey, Yugi, and Ryo.

DING DONG!

'What happened in the construction site'… Gee, wish I could remember something other than those trippy visions. I shrugged, and opened the door.

"All right, what do you wan– Oh. Hi, Duke."

He looked around like some sort of monster was after him. "At last… Erm, can I come in?"

I rolled my eyes, stepping away from the door. "What do you think? Of course you can come in!"

He glanced around nervously. "No-one's home, aside from you?"

"Duke, I'm always home alone, and you know it!" I groaned.

Perhaps I should explain that one. I'd lived on my own in the house I'd been born in for a while now, living off the money my parents sent every week - much like Ryo did, although he lived in a flat, having been expelled from just about every school he'd tried due to Bakura sending the students into comas. My parents were living in America, where they did important work for The Sharing – they'd moved right after I'd gotten back from Duelist Kingdom. Apparently this city wasn't suitably accommodated or something, I dunno. They told me I'd be OK, since I had Joey to protect me from the thugs, and I'd done very well up until now and it would be all right. And the work was super, mega, ultra important… something about kids. It didn't really make a lot of sense, but I just accepted it as being part of the weirdness that was The Sharing.

As a result, whenever Yugi felt down, whenever Joey got beaten up by his dad, whenever Ryo felt scared to sleep because of the Millennium Ring he wore around his neck and quite literally couldn't take off, whenever Duke's lethal combo of being a CEO of his own company and attending school got too much for him… well, they'd come here. I didn't mind if they cried or didn't want to tell me what had gone wrong – I just got out the spare mattress and said they could stay as long as they wanted to. I was the quiet one. The one who would listen to whatever their problems were, and wouldn't ask questions.

Duke checked over his shoulder, then walked in, immediately pacing back and forth across the wooden floor of the living room. "Did you see the alien last night?" He stopped. "Do you remember? You do, right?"

I blinked. "Oh – you had that dream, too? Weird, wasn't it?"

His voice shook. "It wasn't a dream, Tristan…"

I cracked up laughing. "Of course it was! Yeerks? Andalites? Being able to become any animal we touch? That's just fantasy!"

I knew almost immediately that I had just used a very bad choice of words – instantly, the teen stiffened. His eyes flashed menace, and his gaze bored into mine like a green laser, forcing me to blink and look away. Inwardly, I groaned - there were some things Duke would just let go of, and some arguments he'd refuse to back down from - and as silly as the case he was arguing was, he obviously wasn't going to give up.

"It. Was. Real."

I growled. "Well, go on. Prove it!" I waved a hand. "Prove to me that Visser Three and the Andalite and morphing were all real. Go on!"

Oddly, Duke just shrugged. "I can't prove to you that the first two were real… but that last one I can prove, no problems whatsoever. Can we go to your room?"

I blinked in surprise, but led him up the stairs to my bedroom anyway. Sat on the mattress, patted the spot next to me. "Well, go on. Show me this wonderful proof. Let me guess, you got a handful of blue fur off the Andalite?" But he didn't sit immediately, standing over me as he considered his reply - and instantly I felt uncomfortable. In my head, I cursed – he was using me.

A slight smirk crossed his lips. "No. Something better than that. I'm going to morph, right in front of you."

My jaw dropped, then I started giggling uncontrollably. "Are you kidding me? Okay, okay. Look, joke's over."

"Nope. The nightmare's only juststarted." The raven – haired teen sat down, closed his brilliant green eyes… then opened them. "Hang on. It only works with tight clothing. Morphing, I mean. I don't want to tear anything – you wouldn't believe how much designer clothes cost these days."

He pulled off his leather shoes, then his socks, standing barefoot on the hard wood floor. He tugged off his waistcoat, placed his bracelets on top of it, before finally letting his hair out of the headband he usually kept it bundled into; evidently his black shirt and tight pants were tight enough for him to morph in. He turned to me, his expression deadly serious. I tried not to snigger – as when placed on the features of someone who was usually smirking, that looked very strange indeed.

"OK, sit very still. Just to warn you, morphing's really weird. Don't scream or anything." I rolled my eyes, logically assessing the options available. I knew full well that no matter how hard he tried, Duke was not going to be able to change in the least - which got me thinking about why he'd lie about this. Either the teen had evidently lost his mind, or this was a really good act on his part, and part of some strange prank... But either way, I didn't believe anything would happen. With a yawn, I stretched right out on my bed.

"Fine, fine. Let's see you… what did you call it? …'Morph', Duke." I snorted. "Go on. Turn into a blinkin' animal, if it makes you happy."

He just nodded, closed his eyes again. For a few seconds, nothing happened.

"Nothing's happening, bozo!" I teased, and a pair of green eyes opened, glaring at me.

"Oh? Take a look at my arms, before you make that judgement."

I glanced at his bare, tanned arms, and noted a tattoo pattern of feathers racing up them. I grinned – the young CEO was evidently trying to fool me. Technology could do all sorts of things these days - why not tattoos that would slowly form when his arms were exposed to sunlight? After all, Duke was mega-rich - if such a thing existed, he'd be able to get hold of it.

"Tattoos. Very funny-"
CRACK!

That was the sound Duke's head made as his nose and mouth melted and ran together, then suddenly bulged out into a beak shape, hardening like setting cement. I jerked back from him at the suddenness of the change. "Whoa!"

Now the tattoos on the boy's arms became 3-D, black feathers erupting everywhere, replacing his clothing at an astonishing rate. I realized with a jolt that I wasn't having to crane my neck upwards to see his face anymore. Duke had been standing over me, but now he was only my height – he was shrinking. His eyes went from brilliant green to black, and moved to either side of his head as the feathers raced up his face, his neck disappearing altogether. I wanted to look away from him, but I just couldn't. There was something horribly fascinating about watching your friend, someone you'd known a few years, twist and mutate into something else…

Duke was now shorter than the bed, forcing me to lean over the edge in order to watch the final stages of the transformation. There was a horrible snapping sound as his arms decided to migrate to his back, rotating and spreading to become wings. His legs were getting shorter, scales wrapping around them as his toes melded, then split into two sharp claws, a third talon growing out of the spot where his heels had been. His whole body was becoming chubbier by the second, shrinking to bird proportions, tilting forwards as a full set of tail feathers appeared behind him.

He's… he's…
A crow.

I blinked in shock. It looked like my friend hadn't actually been lying or delusional – unless we both were imagining the same thing, of course. He'd been telling the truth - where Duke Devlin had been standing only three minutes before, there was now a black, raggedy bird. And I'd seen the whole transformation, too – much as I hated to admit it, there were no tricks. One minute he'd been here, and the next…

The crow hopped onto my bed, and then from there onto my knee, tilting its head to one side as it watched me. I gave it a poke – it seemed real enough, just as real as the teen who'd been standing over me not long ago.

I put my head in my hands."Oh, man… I'm still dreaming, aren't I?"

–{No, you're not. It's real, Tristan. Face it.}–

I sat up. That was Duke's voice, in my head! What was going on? "Duke? No way!"

–{Yes way!}–

I jumped. "Wha?"

–{Oh, good. I guess it works, then.}–

I blinked slowly, trying to get used to the idea of a crow talking to me. "So... you can talk in my head… Like the Andalite?"

The crow nodded – a strange sight, a bird nodding thoughtfully like that. –{Yeah. Elfangor could talk to us with no mouth, so I thought I'd see if I could do it.}–

Can you hear me, I wonder…?, I thought hard at the bird. Silence. "Did you hear that?", I asked eventually.

–{Nope… I think it only works if you're in morph.}–

I stroked the soft head feathers as calmly as I could, although inwardly I was desperately trying not to scream. The feathers were like silk beneath my fingers, and freakishly real. Parting them, I found grey skin.

"You seem… rather real."

–{That would be... Oh, I dunno. Maybe because I am actually real?}–

I let that one slide. "I thought you had to touch an animal to become it. In that case, how did you become a crow?"

–{I found one with a broken wing in the street on the way home. Remember what Elfangor said? Injuries don't carry over in morphs.}–

I sighed. "So, if you just turned into a crow… That would make the Yeerks real as well, wouldn't it?"

–{Yes. The Andalite said we should fight them.}–

"We? Excuse me?"

–{Well, you, me, Joey, Ryo and Yugi. They were there too, remember?}– The crow preened itself. –{By the way, flying's totally awesome. You should try it sometime.}–

"OK, now I know I've gone nuts." I laid my head in both hands once more, and wondered if we'd both taken drugs or something – or maybe we'd both gotten completely drunk and somehow hallucinated. Actually, maybe I'd just taken the drugs, and Duke was teasing me into believing more of this madness...

–{You haven't gone nuts!}– the crow protested.

"Then I'm dreaming."

SNAP!

"Owww!", I yelped, leaping back from the bird and rubbing my wrist. "You bit me!"

The crow tilted its head to one side, looking almost menacing. –{Oh, so you felt it? Must be a pretty realistic dream, then.}–

"Alcohol. Or drugs. And you're teasing me into believing more of this."

–{Look, you've got to just accept it!}– Duke was getting frustrated with me now, and my head hurt. This couldn't be true!

Something inside me snapped, and I rounded on the crow. "What, accept that the world is being invaded by a bunch of aliens? And the only way to save it is to become animals? And only us five can do it? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Duke, I'm not as gullible as you are!"

–{But I'm not kidding, Tris…}– the crow "said" quietly.

"Well, then you're even more damn gullible than I thought you were!"

The bird remained silent, seemingly sulking. Ignoring it, I remembered the note, and stood up, checking my watch. 9:43, and the note had said 9:45 – that meant they'd be here in a few minutes. Duke flew onto my shoulder as I stood there, and I sighed. "Regardless of whether you happen to be real or not, the others left a note on the kitchen table – they dropped in before, but I was asleep. They'll be here in a few minutes. Assuming you are actually a bird, I'd suggest you unmorph and -"

–{You mean demorph}–, he corrected, and I facepalmed. Typical smartass Duke to say something like that.

"Unmorph, demorph. Same thing, right?"

–{Probably not.}–

"Ah, whatever it is, just do it. I think I like you better as a smartass teen."

–{Why would that be?}–

"It's rather disturbing to hear your voice coming out of a bird", I deadpanned.

–{Ah.}–

I walked over to the door. "I'll meet you downstairs – the rest should be down there by the time you're done. My guess is they'll be able to tell me what your motivations were for making me hallucinate like this."

The crow nodded thoughtfully once more, and glided back onto the bed. –{I think they'll tell you exactly what I told you.}–

"Wanna bet?"

The bird raised its wings in an obvious shrug. –{I wouldn't if I were you. Duke Devlin never loses a bet, y'know.}–

"This one's going to be a tough bet for you to win – even for you."

–{Hah, you wish.}–

I could hear the sound of organs squishing as I left, and I shook my head to clear it as I headed downstairs, closing the door behind me. Duke had just turned into a bird…
No time to think about it. I was just hallucinating, that was all…
Or dreaming. Or maybe, it was all real… I groaned.
Was this was what a hangover felt like?

DING DONG!
I sighed with relief, opening the door – but there was no–one.

"Hello?" A movement below me caught my attention, and I looked down. "Ah, there you are!"

Yugi and Ryo were standing next to each other, at the foot of the stairs leading up to the front door. A Golden Retriever was sitting patiently between them. Yugi looked up at me with that same nervous expression Duke had been wearing when he'd first walked in. "Hey."

"Are… are you a–all right, Tristan?", Ryo asked. "Y–you look pale." Actually, Ryo looked about ready to faint himself, but I wasn't about to point that out.

"Nah, I'm fine. Come in." I stepped aside, allowing them to enter. "Where's Joey?"

Yugi and Ryo exchanged looks, then they both looked at the dog. There was a silence, and I raised an eyebrow. The smaller boy shrugged, the two of them standing awkwardly in the doorway until I shooed them further inside and closed the door. "Um… That's what we wanted to talk about."

"What, the dog?"

"No, Joey. Although it's more to do with last night, really. We couldn't find Duke, he wasn't at home – so we thought we'd drop in on you instead. You were asleep, "

He was babbling – evidently nervous. "Well, make yourselves comfy. Sit down, at least." I lead them to my decidedly small dining table, and indicated that they sit - which they did, albeit as stiffly as possible. The dog also attempted to get up on a chair, but Yugi glared daggers at it, and it went and sat in a corner instead.
"That's a rather… well trained dog there." I mumbled.

Yugi made a bold attempt to break the silence. "So… Have you seen Duke?" I gestured up the stairs as we sat around my table, deciding not to mention Duke's randomly becoming an animal in my bedroom just yet.

No need to let Yugi know I've gone crackers, until I absolutely have to.

"Duke came here a few minutes ago. He'll be back down in a minute - he wanted to… uh… change his clothes." That was a partial truth, since Duke would indeed want to get his clothes back on – after changing into a human once more, that was. I relaxed at the table as best I could, trying to make the others relax a little with my body language."So, what's up?"

Ryo looked at me, eyes wide. "D-do you remember the a-alien from l-last night?"

I sighed, and looked at the ceiling. "We all had the same dream last night, didn't we?"

I was expecting him to back away from me, but the white – haired boy only shook his head. "N–No… It wasn't a dream, it was real. I– I mean… I, uh, I didn't believe Joey either when he b–b–banged on my door last n–night, but then he… uh… um…" Here Ryo broke off, shooting Yugi a look that said 'I don't want to explain this!'. Yugi looked a little embarrassed, and they both glanced at the dog, who was chewing its paws on the carpet. A funny thought came into my head, but I ignored it.

"He what?"

Yugi fidgeted, sounding almost like Ryo in terms of awkwardness. "Uh… I don't think you'd believe me, but… uh…"

"What? He lost to you in a card game?"

"Triiiiiiiistaaaaan…" Yugi groaned, and I shrugged.

"Well, it must have been really embarra–" I frowned and broke off, noticing the distinctly odd behavior of the dog. "Wait a sec… Is that dog facepalming?"

"Isn't the correct term 'facepawing'?" Yugi replied. In its corner, the dog nodded, a very human nod – and I suddenly had a very strange feeling about that canine.

My eyes narrowed."Yugi, whose dog is that? Ryo wouldn't be allowed a dog in that flat of his, and I've never seen you with one."

Yugi's face went oddly blank for a second, then he sighed, and looked at the Retriever. "Yeah, I guess you've got a point. Tristan, watch this and try not to freak out."

"Freak out?"

"Trust me, it's freaky… Joey, you can demorph now."

Ryo promptly turned away and covered his ears, and I did a double take. "Wait, did you just say Joey?"

The Golden Retriever harrumphed in reply, and immediately fur melted into skin, the canine snout shriveling into a human face. The dog's legs suddenly stretched upwards, and I looked away as my best friend emerged from the dog. Joey looked pretty sheepish, as he rightfully should have, being stark naked.

"Umm… I sorta lost ma clothes when ah morphed. Ya wouldn't happn' ta hav anythin' I could borrow?"

I remembered what Duke had said earlier. "There should be something in my room. Duke said you could only morph tight clothes – you might want to grab some tight ones this time, in case you have to morph again today."

"Thanks, man!" He raced up the stairs.

Yugi blinked. "Duke already knows about morphing?"

I shrugged. "Well, he turned into a crow right in front of me in my bedroom."

The teen grinned. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Yeah, I found some crow with a broken wing on the way home. Tried it out as soon as I got home - I was showing Tristan here just before you came."

Now human once more, Duke strode down the stairs, having presumably witnessed the whole thing from the top of them, and sat at the table - pointedly ignoring Joey as they passed each other. As soon as the blonde was out of earshot, Duke raised an eyebrow. "By the way, what exactly was up with Joey being stark naked?"

Yugi shrugged. "Didn't morph tight clothing, apparently."

"…I see."

Yugi nodded. "Well, let's wait for Joey before we discuss this. We're going to need everyone's help in the coming fight."

Everything was going too fast – I didn't want to believe any of this! I slammed my head into the table. "Please tell me this isn't real…", I pleaded.

Ryo looked down at me with those innocent eyes of his that spoke volumes. "Um... uh... well... I don't want to believe it either, but… You s–saw a dying alien last night, Tristan. We all did. You listened to him… tell you everything. And then... Y- you saw another alien turn up and kill him. You touched the… the, uh, box."

"So? It could have been some freaky hallucination we all had… I hear today's drugs really send you around the bend…"

"You saw Duke become a crow!" Trust Yugi to point out the obvious.

I waved it away."More hallucinations. I was sleepy. It must have been a trick - I mean, Duke's super rich! If anyone could pull that one off, he could!"

The raven–haired teen yawned. "You keep on telling yourself that."

"Don't worry, I will."

A now- clothed Joey came down the stairs at that stage, and decided to enter the argument.

"Sure, Duke becomin' a crow might not hav been real… but den you saw a dog turn inta me. So… Am I real?" He spread his arms wide, letting me examine him from head to toe - and looking at him, I didn't know what to think. His reasoning was sound, but… This couldn't be real. It just couldn't! People didn't turn into animals! Garden slugs didn't invade whole cities!

Ryo spoke softly, slowly, like I was some frightened animal that needed comforting. "It's real, Tristan-"

I smacked my head on the table, felt very real pain flow into my head - but I didn't care. I whacked my head against the hard surface several more times, pounding on it with my fist as the others watched in silence.

"No! No! I'm still dreaming! I know it!"

Yugi sighed. "Tristan, we've done everything we can to convince you. You saw Joey come out of a dog!"

"I know, I know!" I yelled. "I... just..."

Ryo stood without a word, walked around the table and put his hand on my shoulder. "You know it's real… you just don't want to believe it, do you?"

I wished he'd been wrong – but Ryo had a penchant for reading emotions, and he'd hit the nail on the head. I raised my head from the table, desperately trying not to yell. "Yeah… I guess you're right. None of us want to believe that the Earth's being invaded by parasitic aliens…" I broke off.

Joey's voice was unusually quiet."As far as we know, we're da only ones asid' from da Yeerks who know dat dis is happ'nin' - and we can't tell anyone. Elfangor said dat a Yeerk can read its host's mem'ries, so it can act jus' like its host. We wouldn't be able to tell da difference betw'n a non-Yeerk and a Yeerk, 'n if we explain'd it to da wrong pers'n…"

Duke made a slashing motion across his throat. "Curtains for us."

The silence was broken by Yugi, who of course was completely over the stranger aspects of this whole situation. I knew him well enough to know that all that mattered to Yugi was getting the world saved, regardless of the strangeness of it all.

"We need everyone to work together if we're to make a difference. I know it's short notice… but we don't have much time. We don't know how far these Yeerks have spread already – but we need to fight. Who's with me?"

He looked at the others, one by one. Joey nodded enthusiastically. "I'm with ya. Let's go kick some Yeerk butt!"

Duke considered it. "I can't help but think that this is going too far, too fast. I mean, we could get killed!"

Yugi looked pained. "But Duke, we don't have much time! Every day we wait, the Yeerks will just infest more people!"

The teen thought for a long while, and seemed to be arguing with himself at one point - but after a long silence, he slowly nodded. "You're right. We don't have much time…I'll be with you."

Yugi smiled. "All right, then. What about you, Ryo?"

Ryo stared at the table. "It's… not really my thing. I don't think I've ever fought before…"

Joey smiled at him, as gently and encouragingly as he possibly could. "Come on, Ryo. Think of it like a card game -"

"You don't kill people in card games!" he whimpered. "And… morphing creeps me out. I'm already scared, and I only saw Joey become a dog the once. I couldn't even watch the whole thing. A–and… If I had to morph… I mean, I really want to help… but… Killing? Morphing? I… I don't know if – if I c-c-could t-take it."

The Millennium Ring flashed gold around his neck, and the temperature in the room seemed to go down several degrees. Ryo's eyes narrowed, his hair spiked outwards, and he bared sharp teeth - it didn't take a genius to work out who was doing the talking. "Well, I say yes. If he doesn't want to kill, I'll do it. And I'll enjoy the looks on their faces when I tear them to pieces!" Bakura smirked triumphantly at us, and Yugi just sighed.

"I guess that'll just have to count as a yes from Ryo, then?"

"Oh no, of course not…Kehehheh... I'll let him say it."

The Ring glowed again, and the pale boy sagged. "I'll… I'll do it."

Yugi looked at me pleadingly. He knew as well as I did that while he might have been the leader, I was the one who held the group together. If I refused, chances were that Joey would get fed up with Duke's constant teasing, and Ryo would most likely hide in a corner if either of them tried to talk to him. "Tristan?"

I still clung on to the shred of hope that maybe, just maybe, it was all an elaborate ruse. I didn't fear death like Duke, I didn't mind the thought of going into battle as Ryo did – I'd been in enough street fights to have become as bad as Joey in that respect – and as for morphing… well… whilst it was weird and creepy, I guessed I'd get used to it. My problem with all of this was that I just didn't want to believe any of it. Earth, invaded by aliens? Us becoming animals to fight them?

"I still think you're just trying to trick me." I managed at last, and Joey raised an eyebrow.

"Tris, we've done all we can ta convi'ce ya. We can't do much mor–"

"Wait."

The voice was as soft as silk, as Duke leaned across the table towards me. His eyes captivated me, like they'd probably done to a hundred poor betters - he really was quite a hustler at heart. "I'll tell you what: I'll take you to an animal shelter or petting zoo or something, and you acquire a morph. Then you become an animal. That way you'll know that we aren't lying, you aren't on drugs, I'm not on drugs, and you're definitely not dreaming. Would that convince you?"

I could feel four sets of eyes boring into me, and looked at the table instead. "I… I guess so. But… I choose the morph."

Duke nodded. "Deal."

Yugi stood, and I noted that he'd swapped places with Yami while Duke had been talking to me. "Well, that's settled then. Joey, Ryo, you come with me. It won't be good if we all go together in one big group. We'll get ourselves some morphs while Duke's dealing with Tristan. Everyone, try to get a bird morph today if you don't already have one – we'll be flying to Kaiba's private zoo tonight to see about some more… dangerous morphs."

Yeah, you heard that right: Kaiba's private zoo. The billionaire had just about everything anyone could ever want, and this included a massive zoo of sorts around the back of the Kaiba mansion, stocked with just about every animal you could think of, including very rare and nearly extinct specimens. It was extravagant, and basically existed for the amusement of the Kaiba brothers only - and of course, it would have some of the best treated, most dangerous animals we could get hold of.

Yugi blinked as he resumed control, then headed cheerfully for the door, the other two following. "We'll see you again at six o'clock tonight. Make sure the bird you choose has reasonable nighttime vision…" He went to head out, then stopped and stared at Joey.

"Uhhh, Joey? Anyone watching us would have seen two guys and a dog walk in there. They need to see two guys and a dog walk out. Know what I mean?"

Joey nodded, and took off my jacket, revealing the tight clothing he'd chosen underneath as his legs started to thin and bend. "You got it. Sorry, Tris' – I'll give your other clothes back later, OK?"

I nodded, and looked away as Joey's knees reversed direction, sending him flat onto the floor on his face.

"Agh! Stupid wood floor… Why can't it be carpet? Carpet wouldn't do thi-" he managed to complain, but the rest of his rant was distorted by his face bulging out horribly into a muzzle.

"So…" Duke stood up from the table, and jangled a set of car keys under my nose, completely ignoring the disgusting half dog, half human combo that Joey was by this stage. "Where do you want to go?"

Notes:
1. In the canon, Tobias gained some of Elfangor's knowledge as a result of his experience, and you can see that happening with Duke here.
2. Yu–Gi–Oh always used yen as its currency, with freakishly high values for its US equivalent. According to the footnote, "A hundred thousand yen" = "About $500 US". Here, Duke's offering the beggar about $50 US.
3. Tristan refuses to believe that any of the construction site incident was real, so Duke turns into a bird right in front of him. This is a direct mirroring of what happened between Jake and Tobias in the books – however, it has a different resolution, as Tristan refuses to accept that it's real.