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Jake and the others have heard Tobias and Elfangor's story, and now that they understand the true gravity of the threat. The greatly weakened but still mighty Elfangor offers the children the chance to fight on in the stead of his vanquished Andalite comrades. But Tobias and Elfangor do not wish to delay, they don't know how much time they have, the longer they linger, the greater the chance that their time being cut short grows.
The Dying Star III
"What is your decision?" Elfangor's question repeated in my head.
The ability to morph into animals, in return for fighting on the front lines of humanity's defense against the worst aliens that have tried to invade us yet. Or walk away, and hope someone else fights for us instead.
If Elfangor is even telling the whole truth, that is.
We'd been quiet for what had seemed like forever when Marco broke the silence.
"No," he said in a way that did not warrant debate.
Elfangor looked at him disappointedly, but didn't object outright. He really was leaving it up to us, I guess – for all we knew he'd zap us if we'd say no rather than just erase our memories somehow.
Tobias wasn't as easily swayed, though. "If you don't trust Dad, I understand. But at least trust me. I've already received the power myself."
"No," Marco repeated, adamant. "Look, Tobias, I trust you, but how do I know Elfangor isn't just tricking us all? You included? Do you have any tangible proof that your dad can be trusted?"
"I've already used it," Tobias said. "As a matter of fact, I've flown all the way here as a red-tailed hawk."
"The box has no negative side effects," Elfangor said. "It is a special model that was created just for humans, for this exact situation."
Marco was silent, and then he looked up, conflicted.
"I'm sorry, but the answer is still no," he eventually said. "Look, turning into animals; it sounds awesome. I'll be able to actually fly under my own power!" Marco gushed for a few seconds.
"But you're not asking us to fly free as any bird out there, you're asking us to fight a war," he continued. "One we have to keep secret. One that we have no way of knowing if we'd even win! And how do we win? We have nothing, we don't know what their power structure looks like. We don't know how tough these aliens are. We don't know how many humans they control, we don't even have any idea where they are! We're literally going into this blind!" Marco said, expressing himself with his hands.
"And I would love to do that, I really do. I can't stand by and watch as alien warmongers choose to keep carving up humanity and our world like the Thanksgiving Turkey. But my dad's with the ETS, you can't get into that by being ignorant of your surroundings. Sooner or later he'll notice something's up."
"Then I'll cover for you," Tobias said, putting his hand on my best friend's shoulder. "And you won't be going in completely blind. Dad placed a tracker on one of the attackers, a giant worm. It should still be in his stomach. The data is being transmitted and recorded at… a location I'm not allowed to disclose. But I'll go there, and retrieve the data."
"I'll do it."
Everyone turned to where the words came from.
"Cassie?" I asked, as she stepped forward to Tobias, who was holding the box.
"Give me the power. Someone has to fight back. If the Controllers win, then we're done for."
She put her hand out, but then she hesitated, unsure of what to do exactly.
"Simply touch one side with the palm of your hand, and focus on receiving the power," Elfangor reassured her.
"Be warned though, it will tingle a little bit," Tobias said. "And your hand will be stuck to it for thirty seconds and be a little numb for a while."
So there are side effects. Made me wonder what else they left out so far.
But Cassie didn't hesitate further. When she touched the box, a sort of…paste oozed up and enveloped her hand. Her arm started twitching for a few moments, then stopped. Marco let out a quiet noise of worry.
"This does tingle," Cassie murmured in fascination.
We then waited, until…
"It is done," Tobias said solemnly.
Cassie then lifted her right hand and made a fist, clenching and unclenching her fingers. The blue-gray paste receded into tiny crevices that covered the surface of the cube.
"Huh, that's odd," Cassie said in confusion.
Oh no.
"What is it?" Tobias asked, concerned.
"You said my hand was supposed to feel numb, right? It doesn't feel numb at all."
Tobias looked back at her wide-eyed, seemingly unsure what to say. Even Elfangor seemed shocked. He opened his mouth to try to say something a few times, but failed and closed it again.
"What?" Rachel asked, concerned for her friend. "Did something go wrong? Is she okay?"
"Cassie…" Elfangor finally said. "You are something very special, the lack of numbness in your hand indicates that you're an… Estreen. A more powerful morpher than even normal humans with the gift. A supermorpher, so to speak. You will have more control over the morphing process than any of your friends, and will be able to heal more rapidly than anything else on this planet."
I sighed in relief.
"What just happened to you, was literally a one in ten thousand chance," Tobias added in astonishment.
"One in ten thousand," Marco repeated distrustfully. "Or did you just modify the box so it would do something different?"
"No," Tobias said. "The cube's settings cannot be altered, this was pure luck."
Elfangor turned to the rest of us expectantly. "First Tobias, now Cassie. Will any more of you step forward?"
I was still somewhat indecisive. Rachel stepped up before I could answer.
"Aaah crap, now that Cassie's in this, I can't just back out. I'm in," Rachel said. She immediately stepped forward and put her hand on the cube. Her arm got jittery when the paste touched her, just like Cassie's had. "Yow, that's…something…"
Her arm stopped twitching after a few seconds. The half-minute then came, as the wind picked up outside.
"It is do-" Tobias said, but before he could finish, Rachel removed her right arm and made a T-pose. "All right, who's bad?" Rachel exclaimed victoriously, without realizing that the cube was still stuck to her until it hit the ground. She looked at the box and immediately realized what had happened, then blushed, embarrassed. My cousin leaned down and gave it back to Tobias before walking away, clenching and unclenching her arm.
"Now there are three," Elfangor said. "Marco, are you still adamant about not receiving the power?"
"I… I'm…" My best friend said, rather conflicted. "I'm sorry, but I won't touch the cube."
"There's something else is there?" Elfangor asked gently.
Marco swallowed, before speaking up. "If I… If I choose to fight, but not get the morphing power here, will I be able to decide to get the power later on?"
Tobias' father nodded, "Yes, you can acquire the power at any time. My son will accompany you and aid you in your journey, including holding the cube. But the sooner, the better."
"Wait, you're not coming with us?" Cassie asked.
Elfangor shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, but I cannot. Though I will survive, the injuries I have sustained have crippled me. I can no longer fight."
Yeah, no kidding, I thought. He looked as if he should have died several days ago. Then again, if it wasn't for those weird crystals, would the healing abilities that come with morphing really have healed all that?
"I must go to a specially made sanctuary to heal," Elfangor elaborated. "I will join you in your fight when I recover, but this will take years. My son will escort me to the sanctuary a couple days from now, and bring some supplies back to you when he returns."
"This is… It's just too serious," Marco exclaimed. "I've seen how often Dad comes home practically yanking what remains of his hair out of his head. I don't want to see him like that anymore, please, just…don't erase my memory."
Elfangor looked at Marco with a grave expression. "This is a serious handicap you're putting on yourself. Are you absolutely sure you want to fight this way? Keep in mind this is your last chance to back out and lead a normal life, but this is also your choice, and your choice alone. However, until you receive the morphing power, you cannot take any active roles in combat or recon, and must be extra careful to stay hidden."
"This is my choice," Marco repeated. "I will fight, but I will not get the power to morph. I mean, not yet. So please, don't erase my memory."
Tobias' dad nodded. "As you wish. Considering your previous experiences with alien life, I understand why you would not trust me so easily. It is a wise decision, however unnecessary a reaction that is to my kind. I will let you go, but please do not wait around too long."
Marco just nodded.
He now looked at me, "Jake, what is your decision?"
"Yes," I said in a way that dispelled any ambiguity. It was sort of instinctive, like I wasn't even sure if I'd made up my mind yet when I said it. But I guess I'm like that. If someone puts me on the spot, I don't waste time answering.
Elfangor's eyes widened, two light dots in a sea of red. "You –" Elfangor said before getting into a nasty coughing fit. It was a long time before he stopped. "You accept?" he asked, tears in his eyes. I guess he wasn't expecting me to.
"Yes, I'll take the power," I said, turning towards Tobias. "They'll come for all of us eventually, there's nothing stopping that. Nothing but us."
"From the moment he saw you, my son knew you were something special," Elfangor said. "It is not very apparent now, and it took me some time, but I, too, can see it now. You will make a fine leader."
"Oh my gosh," Tobias said in exasperation. "I didn't see that last part in him, Dad!"
"Then what did you see?" he asked quizzingly with a smile on his face.
"I saw… something," Tobias said in confusion. "I can't put my finger on what it was, but… the best I can describe it is as a sort of… greatness. But your point still stands, Dad."
Tobias then extended his arm, the cube still in his hand. I walked a couple of steps towards him and touched it.
The paste rose from the crevices and covered my hand, glueing me to the box. Two seconds in, my right arm spasmed for a moment, just like what happened with the others. It made it feel like pop rocks feel in your mouth at first, but then it went completely numb. I also felt… strange in my chest and head while it was happening, but that feeling abruptly stopped after a little while.
"It is done," Tobias said. The box and my hand became unfused with each other, but my entire right arm remained completely numb.
"Now, you must go!" Elfangor said desperately. "Flee, return to where you came from!"
"What?" Rachel said. "But we literally just –"
"There's a chance that my father may have been followed," Tobias interrupted. "The longer we remain here, the greater the chance that the Controllers will find their way here and track you down!"
"What?!" Rachel demanded angrily. "Why didn't you tell us before now?"
"Because they didn't want to rush us into this decision," Cassie said, trying to defuse the situation.
"Ensuring that the battle for this planet is not lost is our absolute top priority," Elfangor said firmly. "There are two relics on this Earth that will turn the tide irrevocably to the enemy's favor, one is The Last Recorder, the container of an archive of ancient information millions of years old, and possibly including the identity of the Controllers and each of their alien hosts. The second is the cube that my son now carries. These are the conditions of our defeat: the Controllers are not stopped, they seize the Recorder, or they take the Cube. If any one of those things happen, then both of our kinds are truly finished."
"WAIT! EVERYONE QUIET!" Tobias suddenly exclaimed, holding his hand up. He looked desperate.
"Oh no…" he said after listening intently for a few seconds. I looked to Elfangor and saw the same expression of fear.
"Children, hide in the mineshaft, now!" Elfangor said.
"What are yo-" Marco said.
"There's no time, they're coming!" Tobias said urgently before running out the door, taking the box with him.
"Who's co-?" Rachel tried to ask Elfangor.
"Get. To. The. Mine. NOW!" he shouted at us with a strength I didn't know he had. But his voice wasn't the only thing that spurred us to go there that day. One look at his face was all it took to know that if we wanted to keep on living, we had to obey.
"Everyone, we gotta move," I said before following Tobias, and we all broke into a sprint, navigating through the bank's doors to get outside. Tobias was already at the mine entrance when we emerged, waving us forward. Rachel and I were the first to get to him, with Marco following close behind. Cassie was the last to get there, and she only just made it in time. Just as she went past the tree in front of the entrance, I heard a sound like a bomb exploding in the distance.
"Oh crap, is that a ballistic missile?" Marco asked in fear.
"Worse…" Tobias quietly said in hollow despair. He took his right index finger and rubbed it violently on the palm of his left hand, then he put his left hand to the ground and I briefly saw a flash of rainbow light.
"Whoa, what was that?" Rachel asked.
I looked outside to see that the world was now slightly distorted.
"We're invisible now," Tobias said. "They can't hurt us here."
They? I thought. Just when I opened my mouth to ask Tobias who he was talking about I saw something small, dark, and fast crash into the roof of the building we were just in. We flinched, and everyone was quiet.
We waited a few seconds before I spoke up.
"Why didn't i-" was all I could get out before I heard a loud, hateful, and inhumanly angry voice shout from all the way inside the place where Elfangor was.
"DID YOU THINK YOU COULD HIDE?!"
And thank you for reading this chapter to its end! As always the ever accommodating flaks314 has edited this chapter so it would have the most authentic Animorphs feel possible! In the next chapter, one of the controllers has found Elfangor and has him pinned, it seems this is the end for the Andalite warrior, but Tobias has a trick up his sleeve, one that he must time right in order to prevail against his father's assailant.