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

We pulled up in front of the run-down warehouse, and Duke glanced up at the sign: RSPCA Animal Shelter – all animals welcome!
He grunted. "Well, I guess this is it…Hey – don't get out of the car just yet." I sank back into the seat. "OK, this is what we're going to do. I'll go in first, then you – just wait five minutes before you go in. Car should lock itself once you're out, so don't worry about that. This is the RSPCA after all – they do animal rescues, take in abandoned kittens, that sort of thing – so the selection of animals will be pretty random, you can't be too choosy. Pick an animal you like the look of, and ask to see it… and hopefully, if you're carrying these–" and here he handed me a leash and a wallet as he continued – "-they'll let you touch the animal. Now, this bit's important: As soon as they let you do that, wait 'til they aren't looking – then place your hand on the animal and close your eyes."
"So, I concentrate on it?"
"Right – you don't just think about it, though. You want the animal, want to become it – picture the whole thing, as detailed as you can, in your head. It won't work if you're just petting it – you need to really concentrate. Understand?"

Feeling a little bamboozled by the sheer amount of unnecessary detail, half scared and half excited about my first morph, and fairly skeptical of the whole thing, I just nodded.
Duke went on. "If it works, it'll go very quiet for about ten seconds. Don't go for lots of different morphs – just pick something, acquire it, head out. I'll meet you in the car."
I nodded again, and Duke got out, whistling as he walked inside like he'd been here a million times before. I waited five minutes like he'd told me to, then headed in myself.

The sounds of barking, whining, hissing, meowing, snarling, and growling met my ears as soon as I stepped inside. I wandered around the place, walking past row after row of cages. Abandoned animals – mostly cats and dogs – of many shapes and sizes and breeds stood up at the bars, each one wanting its freedom. I felt for them all, but I kept walking, looking for one that really caught my eye…

There! A stoutly built German Shepherd. Dark brown eyes looked at me hopefully, as I crouched at the bars.
"Hey, girl." I'd owned a dog like this one once – Blankey. That was before my parents had moved to work for The Sharing, and it had been put down. The sign above the cage read 'POLICE TRAINED', so I guessed she wouldn't try to bite me or anything if I petted her.
Perfect.

I took down the cage number, and headed for reception, passing Duke on the way. He was holding a limp black cat in his arms, and winked at me as I passed.
I grinned in reply, and marched up to the desk. "Hey. I'd like to have a little look at one of your animals, please." I gave her the number, flashing my wallet. "I know she's police trained, but I'd like to just check that out with this leash. I might pet her, too - is that all right?"
The receptionist – an aging, grey – haired lady – beamed as soon as she saw Duke's wallet, and I could just imagine the cash register going off in her head. "Yes, of course!"
She led me to the cage, opened the door."Ruby, sit."
Surprisingly, Ruby sat obediently rather than make a wild dash for freedom, and she didn't even move when I put the lead on and fondled her ears.
"Very obedient", I commented.
"Yes - she's a new arrival here, probably won't be here for long", the lady smiled, sensing a possible customer – and that was when the phone rang.
"Hold on a moment…"

As soon as her back was turned, I put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Time to see if this works…" I muttered to myself, and concentrated, wiping my mind of any other thoughts. Imagining wasn't too hard for me – I was a bit of a daydreamer in school, with a versatile imagination to boot. I focused, picturing the German Shepherd, every aspect of her, from her snout to her tail. Then, I imagined her bringing down crooks– it was what she'd been trained for, after all. And now, I wanted to be her, wanted to become her. I pictured myself, then pictured myself becoming Ruby and bringing down intergalactic crooks.
C'mon, girl. Loan me your strength… I pleaded, concentrating as hard as I could.

A warm, tingling feeling washed over me, and I opened my eyes to find the dog completely unfocused, her tongue hanging out of her open mouth. Just as Duke had said, ten seconds later she shook her head and sat up straight. I grinned, and shut the cage door behind me as the lady rushed back.
"Did you like her?"
I shrugged. "I might take her – I'll check some other shelters, maybe consider it."

And with that, I headed back to Duke's car.

The teen revved up the engine as I got into the passenger seat. "Did you get your morph?"
"Yup."
"What was it?"
"German Shepherd."
"Ah."

We didn't talk about morphing after that. Instead, we talked about video games, who Serenity loved better, who would kick whose butt if the Blue Eyes White Dragon faced down the Red Eyes Black Dragon, that sort of thing. It wasn't until we'd arrived back at my house, played a few rounds of good ol' Halo 2 (one of the few games I was actually any good at - I won every round, 15-0), and had finished the bowl of chips I'd put out for us to share, that I asked him how to morph. He yawned and stretched, then followed me to my room, where I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. I was a tallish boy, but unlike Joey, I wasn't built like a stick. Duke had once said that I was built like an ox, and I guess he had a point – after all, I was fairly strong in a fist fight.

"First, you need tight clothes." Duke looked me up and down, then reached into my closet and rifled through my clothes, pulling out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. "These should fit fairly tightly on you. Put them on, and lemme know when you're done."

The teen strolled out, leaving me to change clothes. I glanced at the mirror again, without really knowing why. Maybe it was a comforting sort of thing – after all, I knew what to expect, and I got it. Chocolate brown eyes gazed back at me, and I saw dark brown hair, gelled up into a neat point at the front. I held up one hand, and saw blunt nails, short fingers in comparison to the long, slender ones of Duke's or Joey's. I blinked, and my reflection blinked back, then frowned as I did the same. It somewhat unsettled me that in twenty or so minutes, that familiar face looking back at me might not be reflected in the mirror any more…

Duke's fashion sense was impeccable as always – the clothes fitted perfectly. When I'd finished tugging the jeans on and getting the T-shirt over my head, I came out and called down the stairs, "Done!"

With a yawn, Duke lifted himself from the couch and strolled over, eyeing me approvingly as he tugged at the sleeves of the T-shirt. "Yes, that should be alright. Now, the real deal: 'Morphing For Dummies'. Hmm, I could write a book… Sell a few thousand copies, make a few bucks–"
"Hey!"
"Lighten up! I was only joking!"
"Sorry, I'm a bit tense", I mumbled, and he shrugged.
"Understandable, I suppose. After all, you might not be you in a few seconds." I gulped, and he tilted his head with a slight smile. "Scared?"
"Just… apprehensive, that's all."

With a curt nod, Duke sat down on my bed, and indicated for me to sit beside him. "It took me a while to figure it out, to be honest. You see, you've got to focus on the German Shepherd. Picture every detail of it in your mind, and think of all the things you can about it – doesn't matter what they are. Clear your mind, and focus on the dog."
"Got it." I closed my eyes, and thought hard. I thought about Ruby, how devoted she'd seemed. How she'd sat quietly and just let me pat her. How she'd once run, and done all the police training. I thought of her, sitting in the animal shelter and hoping that maybe, just maybe, someone would pick her and take her home…

"Okay. Focused?" Duke kept his voice low, soothing, so it would not break my concentration, and I just nodded, keeping my mind trained on Ruby.
"Now you have to want to be the dog. Keep the image nice and detailed, and pretend you want to be her."
Right. I want to be Ruby.
Carefully, I constructed a mental picture of her from the head down to her paws – and I wanted to be her.
I opened one eye. "OK, I think I've got it. So, now what?"
"Now, you wait. You should be going bow-wow in a few minutes – don't worry if you lose concentration. Once the morph's started, you'll have to think about being human to reverse it. Or…" He paused. "I mean, that was the only way I could reverse my morphing, anyway. There might be other ways."

My hand itched, and I scratched it, the sensation snapping me out of my intense concentration. I glanced at the mirror, then laughed. "Woof woof, Duke. I don't see any dogs looking back at me."
He tilted his head, smiling slightly. "Actually..."
My hand itched again, and when I went to scratch it, I felt something odd – soft, too soft to be skin. With a start, I glanced at my hand – then did a double take.
It was covered with dark brown fur, patched with lighter tan and black parts. Fur that was exactly the same colour as Ruby's, in fact. I blinked, then looked again – and now it was spreading rapidly up my arm.
"What the-"
I raced to the mirror, just in time to see my ears grow large and pointed, then slide up my head until they nearly touched on top. The fur was growing everywhere now at an astonishing rate, replacing my clothing, and I felt my spine literally stretch as a tail grew out behind me.
"Duke, am I morphi-"
I turned towards the teen, still sitting calmly on the bed, but tripped over my own feet – or should I say, paws – and went down in a tangled heap.
Duke smiled. "You know, I'd say you are morphing."
"Hwwray, strop dat!"

"Fine, fine!"

With a groan that sounded strange and guttural, I somehow managed to get back up, but my legs immediately began to bend and shrink. I struggled to maintain balance, but it was futile; eventually my knees reversed direction with a sickening crunch, and unable to stand on two legs, I fell over once again.
"Grrrarrr!"

With a decidedly feral grunt, I landed on my hands and knees – though my hands were hardly hands anymore. I mean, the backs were covered in German Shepherd fur, and the palms were hard and calloused, looking more like paw-pads. As I watched, my fingers retracted into my palms, leaving behind stubby nails – which turned black and hard to become the dog's claws. My thumbs bent and shrank, then migrated up my arm, becoming dewclaws.
I tried to speak, but my voice definitely wasn't working properly. "Rrr… Gwrrr?" I looked helplessly at Duke, who just shrugged in response. "Sorry, I don't speak dog."

Glancing up at the mirror as the changes continued, I could see that I was a strange creature now – my whole back half was basically all dog, fur was spreading over my body, and my hands had been replaced by canine paws. The changes affected my teeth next, as they multiplied and grew longer, my gums itching as they did so. As I watched, they became so large that they began to stick out of my human mouth. My whole head began to change – my nose flattened and became wet and cold, and my skull made a horrible sound as it slowly shifted outwards. The sight made me feel sick – my whole face was bulging into a long muzzle.

As I began to shrink, Duke went over to the mirror and tilted it for me, so I could see better how far I'd progressed. I was nearly all dog by now – my arms were lengthening, my legs shortening, my back changing shape to let me stand better on all fours. I looked up at Duke as the last traces of my humanity disappeared, fur replacing the last bits of my skin –

The dog's mind crept into my own, and suddenly I was HAPPY. (1) I looked up at the teen. Perhaps he's got a ball I could have?
My tail thumped hard on the floor in anticipation, and I barked.
He just sighed. "Tristan, get a grip on yourself."

I started sniffing the boy. Hmm. He'd recently been petting a cat, and he'd had bacon for breakfast! Mmm… Bacon. Yum. I started drooling.
"Triiiissstan. Hello, Earth to Tristan. Duke Devlin himself here…"
I continued drooling, spit collecting in a small puddle on the floor. Baaaaaccccooon…
"Dude, the dog mind's got you. You are a human. Human, you hear me? Remember your parents? No? What about school? Remember school?"
My ears pricked up – there was another dog outside. In MY territory! Thus, Idid the sensible thing – I started barking.
The boy didn't seem to like that. "Bad dog! Tristan, the dog's controlling you!"
Bad dog? I was a bad dog? But… but I wanted to be a gooddog! I cowered and nudged him with my nose. Perhaps we could go for a walk?
"Um, OK. This could be difficult. Actually, you're starting to scare me now – Tristan!Get away from there!"

I backed away from the window, where I'd been hoping to see the other dog.
"C'mon, man. Remember me? I'm Duke Devlin, and you're a human. Your name is Tristan Taylor, and I'm your friend. Remember? We were playing Halo 2, and you completely owned me. 15-0, remember?"

I tilted my head, wondering what on earth the boy was on about. There was a leash on the bed next to the boy. Perhaps he'd take me for a walk if I brought him the leash?
I jumped up on the bed, and grabbed the lead.
"Hey! What are you – Get off the bed! Bad dog!"

My tail drooped as I put the leash in his lap and got off the bed. The boy rubbed his temples in obvious annoyance. "Tristan, get a grip! You're not a dog, you're a human! And you're not going for a walk!"
Walk! There it was! The W-word sent me into bouts of ecstasy, and my tail thumped hard on the floor as I sat in front of Duke, waiting for the lead. He understood! Success!

The boy reached down and scratched me between the ears, and I closed my eyes in pure bliss.
"Ohhhhh, Tristan, Tristan… I guess I'm just going to have to keep repeating myself. I sound like a broken record. You're a human, remember? Remember me? No? What about Yugi? Joey? Umm… Ryo? OK, so you were with me at Battle City…"
Battle City. Yeah, I remembered that… I hadn't been a dog, though…

Wait, what? I wasn't a dog?

Memories flooded back, as I snapped out of the dog mind.
"Okay, you're not looking at me like that anymore. I'll take that as a sign you're back? Nod for yes."I nodded, and Duke looked relived. "OK, good. You're in control now – the dog mind must be pretty strong to have taken you over like that. I didn't have many problems with the crow's mind... Anyway, if you want to talk to me, just think what you want to say at me."
–{Can you hear me?}– I thought at the teen.
"Yup."
I moved my head from side to side.–{Man, these senses are amazing! I can smell everything! Hear everything!}–
He flashed me one of his rare smiles. "Yeah, the senses are good, aren't they?"
I couldn't help looking at him hopefully.–{Do you have… a ball? Or a toy I could chew on?}–
"Umm…" Duke felt though his pockets and pulled out a short length of rope. "I wonder how this got in my pocket? Hmmm… Probably thought I could use it for something or other."
He tied a knot in it at either end, then held it out to me at eye level. "How's this?"
I pounced on it, trying to get it out of his grip.–{That's perfect!}–
–––––––––
"Hey, stop. I've got an even better idea…" Duke grinned and pulled the rope slowly away from me. I started to lose interest… but then the rope twitched. Instantly, all my senses focused on that rope, and my muscles automatically stiffened.

There was a perfect silence, then the boy smirked–

–and the rope twitched again! I pounced on it, and shook my head vigorously, letting out a little growl of excitement. –{Aha! I've got it!}– , I cheered.
Duke laughed, and the rope wiggled in my mouth like a mad thing, trying to get away! The boy tugged hard, and the toy went speeding across the floor. –{Oh, no you don't!}– I yelled, leaping at it.

I pounced, again and again, the battle sometimes dragging me forwards, sometimes pulling the teen forwards instead. Eventually he got it off me, and tossed it into a corner. I ran after in and chewed on it, victorious.

Duke watched me chew the rope for a while, then came over to fondle my ears. Instinctively, I rolled onto my back, and he scratched my belly. While as a human I probably wouldn't be okay at all with Duke fondling me like this, the dog mind seemed to be enjoying it, so I let it go. Half an hour later, I was in heaven, and slightly annoyed when the teen pulled away. I rolled on my side and gazed pleadingly at him.
–{Just a little more?}–
He laughed. "Sorry, not this time. To demorph, just think about being good ol' Tristan Taylor again – concentrate like you did for Ruby. I'd close my eyes this time!" he added quickly, as I began to change.

I nodded, my eyes firmly shut as the changes began once more. When I opened them, the last traces of fur were vanishing into my body.
Duke was watching me intently as I got up. "Well, how was it? Being a dog, I mean?"
I considered. "The ears and nose were awesome… The belly rub was good, too." I added, somewhat sheepishly.
"Maybe someday, when we get some free time together, we could do that again."
"What, the belly rub?"
"Yeah… You certainly seemed to enjoy it." Duke grinned slyly. "Maybe, deep down, you've got the hots for the one and only Duke Devli-"
I rolled my eyes. "That was the dog mind talking."
He raised an eyebrow. "If that's the case, you didn't exactly resist it…"
I decided to change the subject. "Well, anyway – you should try getting a dog morph sometime. The senses were awesome. "
Duke nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty good, being an animal – flying was amazing. There's a two-hour time limit, though."
That caught me by surprise. "Where did you hear that?"
"Elfangor told us, but you were presumably too busy being creeped out by his alien body to remember that one."
"Now that I think about it…"
"He said that you wouldn't be able to change back after two hours."
"Ah. Right."

After an awkward silence, Duke stood. "Well, thanks for the chips. I'll head home now – business to be taken care of, memos to be written… Good luck finding a bird morph!" He wandered out of the house, humming to himself, and I heard the car engine start outside, followed by the screech of tires on the driveway. I sighed – he'd probably burned rubber all over my driveway again – then pulled a helmet over my head, and hit the streets on my motorbike.

I quickly realized that, unlike dogs, wild birds were unlikely to just let me walk up and pet them. After that, I spent hours driving around Domino, looking for a petting zoo or something similar. It was three in the afternoon by the time I discovered that there was a raptor show on in the south part of Domino and had managed to get over there.
Ryo was hanging around the booth when I arrived, admiring a snowy owl – a ferocious looking thing, with blazing orange eyes.
"Hey, Ryo!"

He jumped – I'd surprised him."Um, hi, Tristan…" he mumbled, grabbing me by the arm and tugging me towards a back alley. I obliged, following along - and as soon as we were out of earshot, he immediately turned and gazed at me with those innocent blue eyes of his.
"Did you… Did you… you know…" He broke off, but I knew what he was going to ask. I tried to look as casual as I could.
"Yeah. Duke found me an animal shelter."
He tilted his head, his stare now boring into mine. "Did it… hurt?"I thought about it – it hadn't felt at all right, but it hadn't been painful.
"Nah. Felt a bit… strange, but it didn't actually hurt." I mumbled at last - the boy nodded nervously."So, have you acquired your first morph yet?"
"Yeah… A–actually, I acquired a… a c–couple..."
I saw the question in his eyes, and relented. "All right, all right! I'll just acquire one of these birds, then I'll take you back to my house. You can morph there."
He smiled – the best thing I'd seen all day. "Thanks, Tristan!"
"No problem. Just wait here a moment – I need a bird morph."

I discreetly snuck around to the back of the stall, where three birds sat in crates, glaring at me – a massive, vicious eagle in the first, and an equally huge, angry owl in the second. Problem: I had to reach into the crates to touch them, and they'd have my hand off if I so much as tried it. I glanced at the third crate, labeled "Australian Kestrel". Inside was a smaller bird that didn't look quite as aggressive as the other two. I sighed – at least it wouldn't cause too serious an injury when I tried to touch it… though it could still probably remove one of my fingers if I wasn't careful with it.

I examined the bird carefully, gathering my focus. I knew what was going to happen, but did it anyway. "Here, nice birdie…" I whispered, sticking my finger in the crate.

CHOMP!

The beak latched onto my finger, and immediately I focused on the bird to prevent my digit from being amputated. After a painful second, the raptor went limp in a trance, allowing me to pull my hand free of that killer beak.

I quietly left the stall, jumped back on my motorbike, and picked up Ryo. The journey home was uneventful as we roared back to my house, and I unlocked the door, leading the teen inside. He looked pretty nervous –biting his lip and shaking – and I felt bad all over again.
"Ryo… You don't have to do this if you don't want to." I already knew what the answer would be, but I felt I had to ask the question somehow.
The pale teen turned away. "No… Honestly, it's fine. You don't need to worry."
Bingo. Ryo never wanted anyone to worry about him, not ever. I sighed."But I do worry, Ryo."
The teen bit his lip so hard, it drew blood. "Well, don't!" I shook my head – why he had to be like this, I had no idea.
"Fine, then. So, has anyone actually explained to you how to morph?"
"Um… No?"
"Well, it's just like acquiring. You just focus on whatever you acquired, but you try to get a really, really clear image of it. Before you do, though…" I pointed at Ryo. "…you'll definitely want some tighter clothes than those."
"I've got that covered." The pale boy kicked off his shoes and socks, and stripped off his jacket and pants, revealing boxer shorts and a tight, horizontally striped shirt. He moved to sit on the couch. "S–sure it won't… hurt?"
"Of course not."

A sudden thought came to me at that point – I really didn't want a raptor flapping around in my house. If he wasn't in control, Ryo might gouge my eyes out or something – not really what I wanted. And it would be absolutely terrifying for the kid, too, if he couldn't control the owl and hurt someone.

"Okay, so I'll walk you through the morphing process. Before we start, let me warn you: The instincts of whatever you chose will kick in – whatever you do, don't be caught off guard. You're Ryo Bakura, and you're a human. As soon as you feel yourself start changing, don't stop repeating that. All right?" To be honest, I wasn't sure if a mantra would actually work or not, but it was worth a go. Ryo was trembling like a leaf as he nodded. He swallowed in anticipation, in fear.
"Close your eyes." I suggested, and he just nodded again, eyes closed tight, bottom lip quivering. I tried to ignore it, and keep my voice calm. "All right. Now what did you choose?"
"An… an owl. The white one."
"Ah, a Snowy Owl. Good choice. Do you know, my kestrel bit me? Nearly took my finger off."
That was probably the wrong thing to say to Ryo – one eye opened. "Uh… Mine didn't… Birds like m-me, I guess…"
"Yeah, I guess… So, think about that owl. Think long and hard about it. Picture it in your head…"My voice dropped to a soft whisper. "And now you want to be it…" The eye closed again, and the boy bit his lip once more. "Ryo… relax. You don't need to concentrate quite that hard. Just… I dunno, you just need to become the bird."

The white haired teen started to shake, presumably concentrating even harder. I was about to point that out, but then I noted that his hair was beginning to melt and reform into white feathers. Whatever he was doing was evidently working - I spoke softly, soothingly, so as not to scare him."All right, Ryo. The morph's started. You don't need to concentrate any more… Just don't open your eyes. I want you to sit there, and say to yourself "I'm Ryo Bakura, and I'm a human." Remember that you're a human for me, OK? Don't actually picture yourself as a human – that'll probably reverse the morph…"

He nodded, his eyes still firmly shut as white feathers slowly spread down his back, spreading out to form a tail behind him. There were no changes for about a minute after that, while the bones in the teen's body cracked and thinned out, organs moved. The sounds scared the kid – he tensed up and shivered.
"Wha- what's happening to me, Tristan?"
"It's all right, Ryo. Just the noises morphing makes. Doesn't hurt at all, does it?"

Haltingly, the boy shook his head - and suddenly a pair of massive white wings came out of a slight bulge on his back with an almighty crack, the force sending him off the couch and to his knees. He let out a gasp of shock and a whimper as he hit the floor, and my jaw dropped in astonishment; at that moment, his hair a total mess of white bangs and feathers, wings spread behind him, Ryo looked like some sort of angel. Somehow, he was able to make morphing look significantly less creepy than me, Joey, or Duke. I shivered, remembering Duke turning into a crow in my bedroom that morning, that beak exploding out of his still – human face.
Man, Duke's morphing was disgusting…

"Tristan? What's going on?" Ryo's voice shook and quavered with all out fear, and I was quick to reassure him.
"Uh, it's fine. Just the morph again. Things happen strangely sometimes, all right? I promise, it'll be fine – you're doing very well. Not much longer now."

The changes continued, Ryo's feet now becoming the powerful talons of a raptor, human skin turning even paler than his normal pale tones; eventually becoming a deathly white. White feathers spread over his shoulders and down his front, replacing the white and blue fabric of the shirt. His legs shrank and bent, scales racing from his talons up to his shins, feathers rolling down his thighs. Seemingly instinctively, Ryo folded the massive wings around him, and hiding his still human face and arms from view as his whole body shrank. When they opened again, I was looking at the hardened, fierce face of a Snowy Owl, and watching the last trances of the boy's arms melting away into the proudly outstretched wings.

"Ryo. Are you still in control? Nod if it's a yes…"
The bird nodded, its wings shrinking to a more proportional size. I could see it was pretty much all owl now, and knew what was going to happen next.

I tried to keep my voice as relaxed as possible. "Okay. This is the hard part, Ryo. The owl instincts are going to try to take over. Just remember that you're a human, and it'll be fine. You can't talk, but just think what you want to say and I'll hear it. All right?" The owl nodded vigorously, its eyes still tightly closed.
Ryo's shaky voice came into my head.–{Tristan… I think I felt the owl instincts before. It wants to eat a mouse…}–
I did my best to keep my voice soothing. "It's going to be fine, Ryo. You'll be all right…"
The owl nodded again.–{Can I open my eyes now?}–
"Yeah, sure."

Orange eyes snapped open, and I was treated to the sight of an owl doing a double take.
–{Wha…? I–I've got wings? And… Feathers?}–
I hid a smile. "Well, you are an owl…" A sudden thought came to me, and I checked outside - the sun was low in the sky, just setting now. "Hey, I've got an idea. I've never flown before… I'll open the window and morph into my bird. We can fly together – get some practice, hmm?" Ryo nodded vigorously again, and I immediately concentrated.

–{ Umm… You don't suppose you could do it somewhere private, could you? I hate watching people morph…}–
I shrugged, and held out my arm. "Yeah, sure. Here, jump on my sleeve. I'll take you to my room and open the window. We can fly from there – I'll morph just outside the door, okay?"
Ryo hopped on, and sat perfectly still all the way up to my room. I deposited him on the bed, opening the window.
–{Umm… Tristan? How do I fly?}–
"The owl's mind might know… Hang on. Let me morph, and I'll be right with you."

Stepping back into the hallway, I took off my jacket and concentrated on that stupid Australian Kestrel, or whatever it was – very careful to think about being human while I was morphing, feathers rushing in a torrent down my body, my face bulging out into a beak…

Three minutes later, I strutted back into my room, now a lot smaller than I'd been when I walked out, with wings, and covered in feathers. I flapped my way over to the bed, alighted on the windowsill-
No Ryo.
Panic filled my mind. Where was he? Had some Controller shot him with a tranquilizer gun?
–{Ryo? Where are you?}–
The owl swooped past, thought-giggling like mad.–{This is sooooo fun, Tristan! Come on, try it! The kestrel should know how to do it!}–

I trusted the kestrel brain. 'Fly', I told it… and it obeyed. I floated high above the streets, Ryo wheeling below me.

After about fifteen minutes of glorious flight, a disgruntled looking crow flapped onto a branch below us.
–{Oi! Can you try to at least split up? A lone kestrel's not that bad, and neither's a lone owl, but both at once?}– Duke called.

Ryo moved off to my left as I wheeled higher, but in our minds Duke took in a sharp breath.–{Tristan. There's a guy, teenager, orange hoodie, jeans, far too much jewelry, very tanned, thin as a stick. He's following you.}–
–{Are you sure?}– My excellent raptor vision quickly found the guy. I flew one way, then the other, and watched as he changed direction, gazing up at me the entire time – the shadows cast by the buildings prevented me from seeing his face, but he looked familiar somehow.
–{W-w-what are w-we going to do?}– That was Ryo, of course.

There was an awkward moment of silence. None of us were used to leading – usually Yugi did that.
Eventually, it was Duke who made the decision.–{Ryo, go find Joey. He'll be somewhere to your left. Look for a Golden Retriever rummaging through garbage, and get him to follow you. You both need to head for an alleyway named Elmsworth.}–
–{Yes, Duke.}– I didn't see the owl, but I guessed he'd headed off. I could see a black, feathered shadow flitting between the trees to my right – Duke, I assumed.
–{OK, Tristan. This is the plan…}–

Hoodie Guy followed me everywhere I went, so I lead him on a wild goose chase through the alleyways and streets of Domino City. Thirty minutes later, I heard Joey's Brooklyn accent in my head.
–{Duke, Tristan - me an' Ryo are here. Now what?}–
–{Joey, demorph. Hide in the alley and wait for a guy in an orange hoodie to come past – jump him from behind, OK? Don't let him see you as a human – he's a Yeerk, I'm sure of it. He's been following Tristan for the last half hour.}–
–{J-Joey's… um… demorphed, and he's r-ready}– Ryo informed us a few minutes later – I guessed we couldn't use thought – speak when we were human.
Duke paused a moment before he gave the order.–{All right, then. Ryo, you'll want to hide too – owls don't generally hang out in alleyways. Tristan… Head for the alley.}–

Notes:
1. Dogs are always portrayed as being HAPPY in the Animorphs canon, and are very hard minds to control in general. Tristan frequently loses control when he's a dog, for this very reason.