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

Joey was on the edge of the Yeerk Pool now, refusing to get on his knees, and I was still too far away to reach him.
"Get in!"
"Yah, getting' yerself, ya– Uh!"
A Hork – Bajir kicked the teen's legs out from under him, sending him sprawling. In return, the blonde kicked out with both legs, getting the alien in the face as it bent over him.
"RRARGH!"
Another three Hork–Bajir ran forwards, grabbing Joey and–
"KIIYAAAA!" The screech of a diving bird of prey was the only warning the aliens got, and even then all it made them do was look up. A golden eagle dropped on top of them, talons lashing out and wings blinding the Controllers, giving Joey a chance to run for it.

–{Duke!}–
You could hear the smugness in his voice.–{In case you hadn't noticed, Tristan, eagles are always faster than wolves.}–
I ignored the insult and arrived on the scene a minute later, sinking my teeth into Hork–Bajir and letting loose with a nice warning growl. Needless to say, the others fled.
Ryo joined us a few minutes later, and I relaxed. Everyone except Yugi seemed to be all right – Marik said he was remorphing and would be there in a few minutes. Things were almost normal as Joey came strolling over…

Almost.
–{Guys, look out!}– Ryo warned.
The evil look on Joey's face as he held up the cage said it all. "Your friend, right?"
The golden eagle inside looked battered itself against the bars.–{Sorry guys. I should have known!}–
–{Marik, are you alright?}–
–{Yeah, but I'm guessing that won't be for long.}–
"Is he your friend or not?" Joey demanded, and it was Duke who responded.
–{Yup, he's one of us.}–
"Den Visser Three will be pleased."

–{Joey, don't do this! Can't you see it's wrong?}– Ryo pleaded, but Joey just shook his head, smiling mockingly at him.
"Ah, you must be Ryo. Moral as always. Joey likes to think you're weak, you know… I think it's time you learned a lesson. There is no wrong. There is no right. You may think you live in a fairytale world, but we don't. We kill. We hurt. Get over yourself."
Something was wrong with that statement, but I couldn't pick it.

He looked at me for what seemed like an age – he was trying to tell me something, but I had no clue what. A large figure appeared behind him, flanked by what looked like a veritable crowd of Hork–Bajir, and reluctantly Joey tore his eyes away to look at the Visser.
"The bird is one of them."
–{Good, good. So, Andalite bandits. How do you like this morph? Is it strong enough for you? I recently acquired it on the planet Rota, and wished to try it out. I do hope you won't mind.}–

Ryo looked like he was going to throw up, and I couldn't blame him. Visser Three's morph was nothing short of horrific. Four dog– like heads grew on wrinkled necks, from a short, stumpy body that could be best described as a miniature Diplodocus. Only with twenty centimeter long killer claws, four on each foot, and the tail replaced with four long, thorny tentacles… This creature seemed to have something about the number four.

–{You will surrender. I will give you one chance – the promise of your friend's safety if you will submit.}–
–{And what good is the promise of a Visser? We will never surrender!}– Duke thought–yelled in his very best "arrogant Andalite" voice.
–{Then watch your friend die.}– With one swift motion, one of the heads shot forwards, the neck extending like a spring so the teeth could grab the door of the cage and rip it off. Before Marik could move, a tentacle had grabbed him around the throat. Visser Three's laugh echoed in our heads as he pulled the bird out of the cage, slowly choking it. The Hork–Bajir joined in, and Joey smiled, thought I noticed he wasn't laughing.

I bristled.–{Marik, I'm com–}–
–{Tristan. Don't move. There are at least fifty Hork–Bajir with Dracon beams trained on us right now. Don't be stupid!}–Duke growled at me.
–{Dracon beams?}–
–{That's what they call those laser guns.}–
–{Oh.}–
Joey gave me that look again, trying to communicate, but I still had no idea what he wanted.
Duke looked straight at the Visser.–{What do you want?}–
–{You refused the first time, Andalite.}– Visser Three snarled, and the tentacle squeezed harder, A strange sound came from Marik, and it took me a moment to work out that his windpipe was slowly being crushed.–{So, I will make you a different offer. Demorph. Now.}–

Duke started to answer, but Ryo jumped in.–{Wait. Duke, why would the Visser be calling you an Andalite if Joey was a Controller? Surely Joey's Yeerk would have told him?}–
Visser Three held the eagle aloft for all to see.–{You have ten seconds to decide, Andalites!}–
–{Ryo's right. What if Joey's not a Controller?}– I wondered.
–{What if he is, and he just wants power for himself?}– Duke argued.–{I mean, seriously. The chances of that loyal idiot insulting anyone are about one in–}–
–{Duke, we have to take a gamble here!}– Ryo pleaded.

–{Your time is up, Andalites!}– The Visser tightened his grip on the eagle, the thorns biting into the feathers now. Marik let out a gurgle, and–
One of the Hork–Bajir leapt forwards, blades flashing. Suddenly the Visser only had three tentacles.
And a familiar voice said in my head–{Hey, guys.}–
–{Yugi!}– I cheered.
–{Yeah, did you really think I was a goner?}–
–{ARGHHH!}– Visser Three screamed, demorphing as fast as he could. I raced forwards and grabbed Marik as gently as I could, darting away before the Hork–Bajir could react and depositing him a little distance away from the fight. To my relief, I could hear shallow breathing, and fur was beginning to replace the feathers. I dashed back to the fight, and everything seemed to go in slow motion. I heard Ryo's roar beside me as side by side, we charged the nearest Hork–Bajir. They were fast, but again and again, we were faster, killing them quickly and efficiently…

And as I fought, I caught a glimpse of Joey. He was just standing there, watching while the Hork–Bajir tried to help the Visser and find the traitor in their midst at the same time, watching while Ryo and I charged the aliens. Watching me, even as I slashed and fought with all my might.

Watching… and smiling.

After what seemed like hours later, but could only have been minutes, Visser Three, now a full Andalite – a creature best resembling a centaur, if the horse part had been replaced by deer and had been given a deadly scorpion like tail –stepped out of hiding, rounding on Joey.
–{Fool! You brought me this bird! If it wasn't for you, we would be winning!}– The tailblade flashed, but then the Hork–Bajir was there, deflecting it with one wrist–blade.
Visser Three lunged forwards in a fury, and Yugi slid under the tail strike – but it was a feint! One hoof tripped the alien, and then the tail came down, the deadly blade flashing–

–and Joey punched the Visser in the face, making the Andalite stagger and miss.–{Why, you–}–
"Hey, don't just assume things. Just because they were dragging me over near the pool doesn't mean that I got infested."
Then he was gone, running towards the entrance of the Yeerk Pool.

With a roar of rage, Visser Three started shouting orders as, one by one, we followed Joey's example, running as fast as we could towards the lift. Yugi and I were the last to flee, holding the Hork–Bajir as best we could and all the while backing slowly towards the lifts.
The Visser's voice was like thunder in our heads.–{KILL THEM! KILL THEM!}–
Yugi gritted his teeth.–{Right. Marik, are you coming?}–
–{Yeah, coming, coming. It takes time to morph!}–
–{Time's not something we have much of at the moment! Hurry!}–

I waited until a dog bolted past me – a Pharaoh Hound, to be precise – before I turned and ran after it.
–{That is it. I am OFFICIALLY never doing that, ever again!}– Marik howled.
–{Agreed.}–
Ryo was already demorphing, knowing that his Komodo Dragon would be too big to fit in the lift. Somehow, he managed to keep moving while he was doing it – I wasn't sure if it was due to talent or due to the rather high things at stake.

We all made it to the lift, and went human on the way up. Joey was waiting for us outside the changeroom. "Hey."

I looked around at the others. Joey looked exhausted. Ryo was trembling like a leaf. Duke just stared into space, for once unable to make a smart comment. Marik leaned heavily on the nearest wall, shaking his head. Yugi seemed to be struggling with himself.
Ryo was the first to speak. "N–never again."
Duke was blunt as always. "Unfortunately, I think there will be an 'again'. And another, and another."
Ryo let out what could only be described as a whimper, and nearly collapsed. I glared at Duke. "Just leave him alone, will you?"
"But it's the truth!"
Yugi stepped between us "It can wait until tomorrow. It's late, we're all tired–"
Marik yawned. "One question. What happened to you and Ryo, Joey?"
"Well, Ryo an' I were captured, stuffed in da backova truck, den taken over to da Yeerk Pool. When Duke an' Marik arrived, dey managed to get Ryo out. Ryo morphed while dey were trying to free me… but then he went mental. You saw what happened after dat. Wat about you, Yug'?"

Yugi shrugged. "Me? I worked out that the Yeerks would be on my tail around the same time my granddad started asking all these questions. I made an excuse and headed over to Duke's… but you guys weren't there. I guess you went to look for me or something, because the next thing I know, there's a wolf, a cougar, and a golden eagle running around on the beach."

That got a few smiles from the others. I just nodded while Yugi explained how he'd kept on missing us, until he'd found out that Marik and Duke were heading into the Yeerk Pool. He'd gone in through a different entrance to me, and had morphed Hork–Bajir as soon as Visser Three showed up.
Yugi blinked. "Hey, Tristan. You weren't with Duke and Marik, were you?"
I just nodded.
"Why?"
"Oh, well–"
"Tristan doesn't like killing." Duke said bluntly. "He needed some time to deal with what happened at the beach – he killed a few down there."
Ryo spoke. "What just happened… that was awful."
"Yes, but we've gotta keep fighting", Marik said grimly. "We don't have a choice – I'm guessing it'll be raid the Yeerk Pool tomorrow, Yugi?"
Yugi considered a moment, but even before he'd said it, I knew what he was going to say. Yugi would never push us to exhaustion – he was far too clever for that.
"Ah. Well, I guess we all need to deal. We should take a break for a few days, meet up after that."

We all went our separate ways after that – Ryo, Joey, and Yugi all had homes to go to, Duke had some sort of CEO business to take care of, tossing me the keys to his mansion before he left. Even Marik was strangely quiet as he strolled, then after a quick detour through an alleyway, trotted on four legs beside me. To be honest, I wasn't surprised – my whole body ached, and worse still, I was still reeling from the nightmarish images that had been burned into my brain.

After a long day, I was exhausted. I crashed into bed, hoping the nightmares wouldn't be too bad…

The next day…

I stood, shivering next to Ryo, holding Duke's camera, on top of a skyscraper, at one o'clock in the morning.
Yup, it was Marik's idea to do this – it was the silliest scheme I'd ever heard of, but for some strange reason (possibly a case of Puppy Eyes Syndrome), I was still doing it anyway. The idea was to make it look like Marik was dead, so the police wouldn't be looking for him anymore. His guardian Odion and sister Ishizu were both going back to Egypt in a few hours time, so we were having to do it today if word was to get to them.

Of course, Marik himself was currently asleep on my bed, claiming he was not needed to help film. Typical.
I stared down – a very long way down – at the empty streets, and glanced over at Ryo.
"Sure about this? You reckon you can demorph and remorph in time?"
The teen nodded, white hair becoming blonde as he shifted into Marik. "I'm sure."
The hyper Pharaoh Hound had literally dragged us out of our beds and explained what he wanted us to do. I just hoped Ryo would be able to morph in time…

Ryo clicked the play button, then walked back and bent down to the camera's level. I'd adjusted the camera already – this was just to make it look like Marik was filming the video himself.
Nervously, the teen took a deep breath and recited his line. Since Marik himself had thought the words up, they were, of course, simple and straight to the point.
"Sorry. I just can't take it anymore."

He walked around behind me and the camera, so I could then pick it up, point it over the edge and show everyone exactly how high the building was. After that, I took it to the spot I'd decided on – sitting on the edge of the building on its little tripod, and tilted downwards, so we'd could see him fall. As soon as I'd finished adjusting the camera, Ryo swung both legs over the edge, then maneuvered so that he was hanging by his hands off the edge of the building, in full view of the camera. I nodded to him, and he bowed his head–then let go.
Nervously, I looked over the edge, watching as falling Marik became falling Ryo, who promptly grew wings, slowing his fall as best he could while he morphed. He managed to pull up just in time, soaring into the air–

I turned off the camera, packing it into its little case before morphing kestrel. We'd cut the video off at the point where Marik became obviously something other than Marik, then hand in a copy of the little film we'd made to the police, and a second copy to Marik's family.
Spreading my newly-formed wings, I picked up the camera case in my talons. I had better get a non–interrupted sleep tomorrow, or else-
–{Tristan?}–
–{Yeah, Ryo?}–
–{Couldn't we just… you know… fly away? And never come back? Never have to fight again?}–

A chill went down my spine. Ryo had a point, we had wings. If we wanted to, we could steal whatever we needed from homes, hide out somewhere and live an idyllic life – couldn't we? Could we?
A long silence, while I struggled with my thoughts. No killing. No more fighting, no more being scared and uncertain about my friends, no more nightmares…
It was an effort to get it out, but I managed it.–{No. We have to fight. There's this little thing called duty. If we run, Earth won't stand a chance.}–
Ryo was quiet for a while before he replied.–{I–I know. It's just…}–
–{Tempting, isn't it?}–
–{Yeah.}–
–{You'll stay with us, though?}–
–{I guess I don't have a choice.}–
–{No, I don't think any of us do.}–And that's what makes it such a horrible burden to carry, I added silently.
–{Will we win?}–
–{How would I know?}–
–{We're the good guys, right?}–

I couldn't answer that one. Were you still good, if you'd killed some innocent person because of what was hiding in his head? Was killing an already injured Hork–Bajir really self–defense?
And so we flew on, into an uncertain future.