(What? No resistance? I'm surprised at you Kat.) Essilas sneered.
(It's futile.) I answered.
(Glad to see you've finally realized that you can't beat me)
(I can't. But they can.) I said. All my friends stood next to me, along with another boy around our age.
"It's going to start soon." Cady said, smiling nervously. And then it started.
(UUUUGGHHHHH!) We screamed. The pain, it was horrible. My body cringed, everyone adopted worried expressions.
"It's okay, the pain will be worth it." Alex said.
"You'll be free, Kat." Josh said.
"Just sit back and watch the Yeerk die." Carman said. "I found it helps if you distance yourself from the pain." I tried to do as she said, it worked like a charm. It was really weird, I
was still in my own head, I knew my body was cringing and I knew I was experiencing pain. And yet I didn't feel it.
"Here it comes." Aly said.
(Here what comes?) I asked.
(The Crayak) Essilas answered.
(AHHH!) I screamed, a big red eye appeared in front of me. I was feeling the pain again, I felt my body cringing again. Then it stopped. Everything just stopped. The eye disappeared, and it was all peaceful. Except for the yelling.
"Audrey!"
"What?"
"Don't squish it! Let Kat do it!"
"But-"
"No buts missy!"
(SMACK)
"Hey! That hurt!"
"All of you just SHUT UP!"
"Fine o fearless leader."
"Alex?!"
"Sorry, he's just acting like Jake."
"We have our own version of Jake, sweet."
"You guys are so immature."
"We're sorry we don't have as much insight as you Cady."
"I mean Kat's still lying here unconscious and you guys are arguing over who gets to squish the Yeerk."
"But it's important to us!"
"She's got a point."
"Fiiiinnnee. Jake."
"Stop calling me that!"
"Kat? Kat?" My eyes opened. I was lying on my back, the chair had tipped backwards, the boy from earlier was standing over me. "You okay?"
"Umm...Yeah.." I said shakily, he began to untie me.
"I'm Erek." He said, holding out a hand. I took it and he lifted me up.
"You obviously already know me." I said.
"The others told me. Speaking of which, if you know of any way to shut them up, feel free to do it anytime." Erek said.
"The trick is, to get their attention to you." I said. "Of course I'll marry you Tobias!" Erek caught on easily.
"Oh I love you Rachel!" He yelled.
"What?!" Everyone yelled.
"See? They love Animorphs. It's a good bait." I said.
"Kat!" Alex groaned.
"I did that for a reason! You guys need some chill pills." Audrey and Aly gave each other a look, they just looked at each other for a few minutes, then yelled.
"Chill out dude tablets! You are now the proud owner of a brand new Jake!" Then burst out laughing.
"Congratulations! You just bought a Jake! The newest and most responsible member of your family!" Audrey said.
"Any attempt to take the Escafil device will result in immediate death. We are not responsible for any funeral costs." Aly said, then the two of them burst out laughing again. Erek looked so confused, the rest of us just shook our heads.
"Get used to it." I said.
"You know, I'll just give it to you now." Erek said.
"Give what?" I asked.
"Long story. Follow me." He said, I did. He explained to me who he was, our - our meaning us and the Chee - mission, and what I needed to know about Yeerks, Hork-Bajir, and Taxxons.
"Here." He said, we arrived at a metal workbench.
"The last one eh?" The Chee behind the desk said, he gave Erek a black box. We walked back into the hall, Erek gave me the box. Inside was a pink butterfly necklace.
"Oohh." I said.
"It's a holo emitter." Erek explained how it worked, I put it on, and we came to the park doors.
"I've got some stuff to do, your friends are still in there." He said, I walked through the doors. Everyone was sitting on the ground in a circle, I have no clue what they were doing.
"Hey guys." I said, Cady and Carman made room for me in-between them. Next to Carman was Audrey, who was next to Aly, who was next to Alex, who was next to Josh, who was next to Cady, which brings us back to me.
"Just in time." Audrey said.
"Time for what?" I asked.
"We're going to tell you what to expect." Josh said.
"We were explaining it to Cady when you got here." Alex said.
"Explaining what? Erek told me about the Yeerks, Taxxons, and Hork-Bajir." I said.
"We're going to explain to you the Animorphs." Aly said.
"And what we know about Andilites." Carman added.
"Erek mentioned those, aren't they the good aliens?" I asked.
"Yeah." Josh answered.
"Oh, and we'll tell you more about the Yeerks, Taxxons, and Hork-Bajir." Audrey said.
"We could just lend them the books." Alex said.
"Or we could just tell them. We have nothing else to do. Erek's not briefing us for another four hours." Carman said.
"Okay, it all started at an abandoned construction site." Josh said.
"No it didn't!" Audrey protested.
"It started with Seerow!" Carman joined in.
"It started with the Hork-Bajir Chronicles." Aly said, Audrey, Carman, and Alex laughed.
"Okay fine. Who wants to tell the story of Seerow's Kindness?" Josh asked.
"I'll do it." Alex said. "It really started, with an Andilite named Seerow."