Been meaning to post this for the past week... I'm such a failure. ;-;

Like before, I still own neither series. I'm too dumb to come up with an idea as genius as either of them.

Chapter Four

Jake

I soared down into a dark alleyway, talons raking the ground as I skidded to a rather unsightly halt. My bird's head craned upwards in a direction it probably wasn't built to look, as various other birds of prey landed all around me. I counted them, making sure all five others were there with me, and let out a sigh of relief. Or, I would've, had I been in my human body rather than this bird's.

Now that the effects of the adrenaline rush were beginning to fade, I could feel the aching pain in my side, but I didn't dare to try and look to see exactly how bad the Dracon beam had burnt the skin. I was just glad that I was alive, glad that everyone had made it out in relatively one piece.

(Everyone, demorph) I didn't know why exactly I felt the need to command this aloud, as already human-like figures were beginning to emerge from the other birds around me. Maybe it was just my own need for some sort of instruction to tell me what to do, but I didn't know. I was too tired to really care.

The feathers shrank back into my body, and the bird's beak softened into the human's mouth. I shot up from the ground like as if I were on some sort of dizzyingly fast elevator, and the wings shrank and formed a pair of arms. I had never exactly liked the morphing process, but at least it took away the stinging pain from the wounds.

(Prince Jake)

I tried to speak, but all I could make from my still not fully human voice was a sort of grunting sound. I waited a few seconds, then tried again, turning around to look at the alien. "What do you need? And I keep telling you, don't call me Prince..."

My voice trailed off as I saw the two humans the andalite had cornered against the wall. All I could manage was a stupefied "oh". Instantly, I could feel the mental alarm bells going off in my head. I had no idea how long these two had been here, how much they had seen, and most importantly, whether they were controllers.

I could hear a few hushed murmurs from behind me as the others too noticed what was going on. I'm sure that Marco was cracking some dry comment or Rachel was offering to deal with the situation. A dark corner deep in the back of my mind was almost willing to let her do it, and that's what scared me. I knew the circumstances; I knew that, were these people actually controllers, we were pretty much done for. But... still, the doubt remained. What had we been fighting for? To save the humans, not to kill the innocent. Then again, there was still the other side to that argument. Was a couple of innocent lives really worth the enslavement of the rest of the world?

Being an Animorph seriously sucks at times.

(Prince Jake)

I could tell the andalite was growing impatient, and I couldn't really blame him for it either. I mean, our lives — heck, the fate of the entire earth — could be at stake here, were at stake here.

I inhaled deeply. So much for the 'fearless leader' role. I knew I'd regret this later, it was just one of those gut feelings that always make you hate yourself for not having listened to it earlier. "We–"

Before I could get out another word, we were interrupted by the sound of insane laughter. Dumbfounded, I watched as one of the two broke free from Ax's watch and ran off in the opposite direction, leaving the other to splutter a mixture of insults and curses against him. Really, he wasn't the only one who wanted to.

Did I mention that being an Animorph really, truly sucked?