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Sean

I stumbled out into the sun and into the destruction that had once been the beautiful Chanaiben home world. Places I'd seen… recently and months ago with my cousins… were gone. All… gone.

Shock seemed to freeze up my joints as the others began to move forward in the group… and Seth shoved me forward to get me moving again. We followed Phoebe, and a man named Dustin… in some kind of contraption that had moved the sliding door those few inches… across the place that used to be a small town. Were my cousins all right? Were my great-grandparents? I wanted to know. I caught Elfangor's angry look… and Aerionna's fear…and I couldn't say I didn't feel the same way.

Whoever had done this… they had spared no one any mercy. Women and children… everyone was gone. I caught sight of a body laying facedown in the rubble as we walked down the street… but I tried to ignore it. Megan ran off a little and threw up behind half a wall. I saw Michelle go and check if she was all right.

"Who could do this? Who would…" Nicole trailed off, looking around, and trying to avoid looking at the body.

"Yeerks" Toni snarled "Snivelling little… I'll kill them all!"

"I'm right behind you" Cody said softly. His tone though… was deadly.

"We may need to come back here" Phoebe said softly.

"Why? Why would we want to come back here! It's… it reeks of death! So much death!" Elfangor yelled at her, then spread his wings and flew, up above us all. He circled, then dropped back down, beside his sister. I saw his mood had changed.

"What did you see?" Nicole asked him, standing beside him and putting a hand on his thin shoulder.

"This carnage… continues for miles! Miles! It must be all over the planet! And… a ship… further away than…"

"The Blade ship" Was Phoebe's response.

"The Blade what?" someone asked. Seth, I think.

"The Blade ship. The ship that caused this trouble in the first place" Her voice was grim, but I knew… she was telling the truth. And I believed her. She apparently saw things in the future, so maybe… maybe she saw us fighting against the ship…

"What are we going to do now? Where are we going?" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Back to the ship called the Karma. My ship" Phoebe said. Beside her, in the contraption that moved strangely like a lopsided crab, Dustin nodded grimly. Soon, we were in front of something that looked like the ship we came from earth in, only… it looked like someone had turned it to Lego and added all these odds and ends that were different colours and just… didn't look right.

"It's needed some… repairs since I first set off in it" Phoebe explained "Although we ran out of repair supplied early, and had to use whatever we came across in space" She stepped forward and up a ramp, with the crab-walking thingy following. For a second I thought it was going to get stuck, but then he turned it sideways, and it just fit through the door. After that 'Dustin' and the crab walker vanished pretty quickly. Phoebe however, was waiting for us to follow.

"It's all right. We don't bite" She assured us. For a second none of us moved. But then… Nicole stepped forward and headed up the ramp, a strange sort of confidence in the way she moved. Before I knew it, we were all following her, even Aerionna and Elfangor.

It was if she had a power…

"That's it. Now hurry, we don't have much time" Phoebe said once we were inside. I took a look around, realising we were in a gigantic white hallway. The crab-thing was way off to the left, going at what seemed like a thousand miles an hour. To our right, we saw other hallways, and a couple of doors far off. I saw what looked like a couple of humans walking towards us, seemingly engrossed in something in their hands. A chart? Looked like it. I couldn't be sure.

We went in the direction the humans were coming from, watching as they slipped through a door. Seconds later, I felt an arm slip through mine as I walked, and that arm take a hold of mine. I looked down to see Michelle had latched herself onto me, watching the woman named Phoebe as she walked.

"Chellie?"

"I don't like this Sean. She went missing when I was eight, and now… suddenly she's here, and wants to help us? And… she knew…"

"Maybe it's because she's your aunt. I have and uncle that can do that. Although, most of the…"

"No Sean, you don't understand? How… tell me how did she know what my brothers' nickname is? He changed it after she was gone, when he got sick of being called Alej. I… I know that sounds…"

"No, you're right of course. But… if Nicole can trust her… and Alex can… then I guess we should too. At least… for now"

Michelle looked up at me, those green eyes flashing with an emotion I'd never seen before, but then that was gone, and she nodded at me, sighing.

"All right. But… we have to…"

"Uh-huh. Don't worry, we all have our guard up right now. Even me"

"Megan is…"

"Take care of her then. She needs you now"

She nodded, and let go of me to go to her twin. Seth soon took her place and nodded at me. We watched the woman as she lead us down another hallway, and then to a door, where she pressed a flat rectangle next to it, and the door slid open. She stood aside to let us in, but none of us moved. I thought she'd be upset or something that we didn't trust her, but all she did was smile warmly.

"Ah, I see. You're still wary. It's a good trait in war. You have to follow your instinct. I'll go first if it makes you feel any better" She said, then passed through the room. To my surprise, it was actually Elfangor that took the first step into the room, then Aerionna. Before we knew it, all of us were in the room, and the door shut behind us. Toni yet out a startled yelp, then blushed and gritted her teeth.

We looked around. It was pretty simple enough; a computer with something that looked like a pad with an outline of a hand, a few chairs, another table and a sliding door (an actual human sliding door, like one you use for the back door of your house) and other bits and pieces scattered around here and there. But what caught our attention was the Andalite working at the computer.

(Kay?) Aerionna asked, shocked. His stalk eyes swivelled around to look at her.

(Yes Aerionna, it is I) he replied a little hesitantly. He was about our age, I guessed.

"Wait a second, I thought you said that…" Nicole turned on her angrily.

"I haven't lied to you Nicole. He can't morph"

(But… perhaps with the blue cube, maybe you could) Aerionna said excitedly.

(No) he said flatly.

(No? But you must help us!)

(I would if I could, but… I am… I am…) he trailed off, turning around and looking with all four eyes at Phoebe helplessly.

"Aerionna, Kay has… an allergy to the morphing technology. He is also…"

(I am also dying. I have Simplav)

(Simplav?! But that can be reversed… un… unless….)

(Correct. It is in the second last stage. I will be dead within a year)

(NO!!)

(Yes)

At that moment, she ran to him, throwing her arms around him. I knew, if she had been human then, that she would have just bawled.

(Do not fear for me friend. Fear for yourself, and your brother. For I have seen the destruction these Yeerks can cause. They do not know mercy. All they know is how to kill) he said, his arms going around her as well. Beside me, I saw Megan start crying. Alex put an arm around her, silent.

(But this cannot be! There must be…)

(Aerionna, do me a favour)

(Anything Kay)

(When I am gone, I want you to fight the Yeerks for me. Fight them… fight them in my memory, all right?)

(But Kay…)

(No more sadness) he said, suddenly pulling her off, then turned back to the computer in front of him (This computer can give those who are not morph-capable a chance to acquire many earth animals I downloaded into this database. The DNA harvested can still be used, whether it from a living animal or not. We do, however, have a few small earth animals referred to as 'pets' around this…)

"All right Kay, enough for now" Phoebe interrupted kindly. Then she turned to us.

"So, who's first at trying to morph?

------------------------------------2-------------------------------------

Cody

Well, that someone turned out to be none other than little old me. Toni, who had carried the small blue box all the way from the underground home, gave the box to Kay. He then came to me, instructing me and Nicole what to do. We each placed a hand on the box, and I felt… I don't know how to describe it. It kind of felt hot and tingly, or like the little zap that you get after someone rubs their feet across the ground then touches you. Yeah, kind of like that. Only, in a good way.

We both let go, and Kay gave the box back to Toni, who put it back in her little bag at the waist, zipping it back up and securing the box.

"So, who wants to meet Toffee and Wolfie?" Phoebe asked, smiling a little.

"Toffee? What are you, a food critic?" Toni asked.

"No. Here, I'll show you" She went and opened the little side door, and whistled. Suddenly, two gigantic Alaskan huskys were in front of us. Both were wagging their tails and their tongues rolling out.

"They look like they could wag themselves in half!" Nicole commented, laughing as she knelt down and scratched one of them behind the ear. This just made it roll over and wait until Nicole gave in and patted its stomach.

"Okay. Toffee? Wolf? Come" Phoebe called, and in seconds they were both sitting down in front of her obediently. Then she ruffled their coats and they both went crazy with delight.

"Toffee… this one" she indicated to the one with the brown and white coat "She's a darl, and this one…" she moved to the second one, the grey, black and white one "Is my beloved Wolf. I call him Wolfie cause he's such a big baby…"

"Uh, hello? Can we get serious here? What do we do? How do we 'acquire' these two?" I asked folding my arms over my chest and looking down at her. She smiled at me anyway, getting up and making the dogs sit for her again.

"All right. Come here and place your hand on one of their heads" I chose the boy. Nicole imitated what I was doing with the girl. The dogs themselves were trying to lick our hands. I didn't let him. I needed to focus on the reason why we were doing this. To help our parents…

(Now, you need to think of the dog; form a picture of him in your head. You'll feel a little strange, but that's just normal) Kay took over talking, and I thought I heard a hint of jealousy in his voice. Then again, I could have been wrong. But I focused anyway, doing exactly what I'd been told to do. Underneath my hand, I felt Wolf go still and quiet, and I quickly took my hand away and looked at him. It looked like he was in a daze. Or on drugs. A dog on drugs. Funny thought.

"It's all right, you didn't hurt him. That's just the acquiring faze. It puts them in a bit of a trance for a few seconds" Phoebe said, and as if on que, Wolf started panting again, and even jumped up and planted his gigantic paws on my chest, knocking me over. He licked my face, and I gave in and patted him, laughing in spite of myself.

"Now, which one wants to go first?"

"I will" I said before Nicole could react. After all, I knew what my second cousin was like. And I also knew she'd most likely end up our leader…

I got up, pushing the dog gently off me. Thankfully he didn't resist much and backed up, still whipping that tail of his left and right.

(All right then. Now you have to picture it in your mind again, only this time, you have to picture becoming the dog. What it feels like, how it...)

I didn't hear the rest of what he said. Because at that moment I felt some itchiness start to creep up my arms, and when I looked down…

"Yah!" I yelped, seeing grey and white fur sprouting on my arms. And my hands… my fingers looked like they'd been sliced off! I yelped again, unable to keep it in.

"That's it. Just go with it" Phoebe coaxed. Beside me, my friends were all watching in wonder. I looked down at my arm again, taking a deep breath before continuing to 'morph'. Fur sprouted all over on my body, and my face just seemed to explode outwards, then a tail sprouted, ripping through the back of my pants….

"Uh-oh" I tried to say, but now it came out more like "Orrr-awwrrr"

"Um… has anyone thought about what's gonna happen when he morphs back?" Seth asked, bringing up the most obvious question. Alex laughed.

"Well, it's probably going to be really embarrassing" he said as I began to shrink, and my knee joints snapped the other way, but… I didn't really feel it. I mean, I know at some level this morphing should be hurting. I should be in agony, but… no, I didn't feel any pain at all. There was the feeling of my body changing, but… nothing actually hurt.

I continued to shrink and change and grow thick fur and paws. My ears moved to the top of my head, and my eyes changed until I was seeing the world a different way. Finally, I felt my teeth itching, and canine teeth replaced my human ones. I struggled out of my clothes, sniffing the air, and…

The smells! I could smell everything! The other dogs, my friends… even scents from people who had been here days before! I could tell you when they were here, what kind of cologne…

(Be aware of the dogs mind…) Kay was saying, but at that moment, it's like something else clicked on in my brain. I. WAS. HAPPY!!

I wagged my tail and ran over to Nicole, rolling my tongue out and waiting for her to pat me. If only she'd scratch behind my ear…

"Cody, what are you…"

(The dog brain must have control)

"Dog brain, what do you…"

(When someone 'morphs', they don't just get the body of the animal, they get the instincts that come with it)

"And you didn't think to tell us this before Cody became an idiot dog??" Someone said. Meaningless words to me. I dropped my tail, since she was ignoring me, then ran over to the other dogs. I planted my front end on the ground, inviting them to play. They accepted, and we raced around the room, knocking into someone before beginning to run for the door. Before we got there, Phoebe shut the door, and I bonked into it headfirst.

"Well, it could be an improvement. After all, we know Cody's just a big old goof" A female voice said. I recognised that voice… it was Toni's!

Seconds later, I remembered everything. Who I was… what I was… and why I was there. The crazy, totally HAPPY dog instincts took a back seat as my human mind regained full control.

"Cody, are you all right?" Nicole asked as I trotted over to her, then sat down and looked at her and the others. I couldn't talk to her, I couldn't…

"Cody, all you need to do to speak to us is focus your mind on what you want us to hear. You can direct it to any one of us… or all of us" Seth said. I tried it.

(Can you hear me?)

"Yeah, we can hear you"

(That's good. That was… it was weird. Firstly, the change, and secondly… it was like someone else was in my mind with me. Or something. I didn't even have time to think 'what?' before the dog instincts took over)

"How was it?" Nicole asked.

(It was… it was kind of fun. Let me just say this; when a dog is happy, it is HAPPY. There is no halfway about it. It's a total goofball! But… something else too. There's a sense of loyalty there as well, and… a little territorial as well)

"It's probably because Wolf has been brought up well trained. That's probably a part of his mind you're feeling.

(Really? Wow. This is amazing!)

I didn't exactly find it amazing when I morphed back to human. Thankfully the girls turned discreetly away and Phoebe went to get a new pair of pants for me. I hurriedly put on my old clothes, sitting down to avoid any more embarrassment.

"I think we're going to have to find a way to morph clothes" Nicole said.

"Oh gee, you think?" I asked, still red-faced.

"It's all right. I can probably help you. After all, I've shape-shifted before, and I had the same problem" Seth said.

"That probably means we'll all have the same problem" Michelle said, looking at Megan, then back to me.

(I will… I may be able to assist the girls, since I have been able to shift clothing into my human form) Aerionna offered.

"And that helps us… how?" Sean asked.

(Seth and I will assist the boys, to avoid any more… embarrassing moments) Kay said.

"Sounds good enough" Megan said, nodding. Phoebe came back in a few moments later and handed me a brown pair of pants.

"I have to warn all of you, this won't be easy. Especially for the shape-shifters. And then you have to face the horrors of war. Are you all up to it?"

We were.