The Animorphs have all thoroughly enjoyed their day, Tobias cleansed them of Jake and his friend's sickness, the team was officially formed, and they engaged in their first mission with high hopes. However, they have learned the terrible truth of The Sharing's true nature, and caught a glimpse of their sinister plans, now they seek to roll with the news as best as they could, Tobias is eager to examine the Animorph's dwellings to determine how they were poisoned. However, in the face of the terrible revelation, the Animorph's young leader was especially devastated.

Acceptance and Water Planning

Day 9, Sunset

It was too painful, I thought as I stared despondently out the window as Tom drove Rachel, Cassie, Marco, and myself home. Cassie's hand was on my own, rubbing the back of it in an attempt to comfort me, my tears had stopped coming long before I had left the clearing, I rejoined the party and waded in the water, staring at the clouds until the sky started to turn a rosy color. Tom came back to pick us up, and I somewhat collected myself as we piled into his car, Tobias and his allies had departed some time before that.

As I watched the forest edge and then the venues pass by, I heard from Tobias and his group for the first time in hours.

((Hey, Jake,)) Tobias spoke up in my head. ((Are you okay?))

((I don't know,)) I said. ((Where have you been?))

((We tested all of your homes for anti-morph serum contamination,)) he explained. ((It was easy enough, but I also did so for eleven other places across the city, I found out how you got poisoned.))

((Wonderful,)) I despondently answered.

The car ride continued uneventfully for a short while, more scenery passed, including a dog peeing on a mailbox post.

((Aren't you going to ask me how?)) Tobias asked.

((Jake,)) Ben calmly spoke up. ((I know that what you saw and heard shook you up, but buck up, now's not the time to be weighed down by the revelation you just had.))

Buck up? I looked up from my staring out the window and

((Ben!)) Tobias angrily admonished. ((He just had his whole world shattered, and you tell him to "buck up?" Give him a minute to process, this isn't something you can sort through in a measly eight hours!))

((What he meant,)) Alice piped up. ((Was that he can't act too different, especially now that he's in the car with a confirmed enemy who would kill us all if he ever realized what we truly are!))

And just like that I was reminded of the terrible revelation, Tom was one of Them. In a few seconds, Tom had gone from this super fun dude anybody wanted to hang out with to a man who would slit our throats in our sleep and then poison our animals just for fun.

((There's a time and a place to mourn,)) Ben concluded. ((And in front of an enemy is the last place you want to do it in, especially if said enemy will prod with questions!))

((No,)) I said. ((Ben and Alice are right, we can't act like Tom's some secret Right Wing terrorist or something.))

((Right Wing?)) Ben asked. ((The Hell is that?))

((I've never in my life encountered a single Right Wing terrorist,)) Tobias clarified.

((Yeah, they're like bigfoot,)) Alice agreed. ((They just don't have a tendency to show up at all.))

((We're getting side tracked,)) I interjected, looking up at the orange sky dotted with pink clouds. ((Long story short, we need to act natural around Tom, or he'll start suspecting something's up with us.))

((Agreed. If he finds us...)) Cassie left it up int he air.

((Quick question,)) Rachel asked. ((How long does Ellen's process for making morph-capable clothes take? I'm just as eager to save the world as anyone, but I would prefer to not do it while in an Adam & Eve reenactment.))

((A day, or so,)) Ben answered. ((It took two to make Harry's clothes because of hitches in the loom she uses, but the time to make clothing should become shorter as more kinks in the machine are worked out, and as she gets back into practice.))

((Is it...uh, too late to ask her to make it look a specific way?)) Rachel nervously asked. ((This is underwear, and it isn't meant to be seen by a lot of people, so...))

((You can still tell her, privately,)) Alice offered. ((And I'm sure if you make the design request now, it'll be early enough to listen.))

((Okay guys, you're still sidetracked,)) Marco piped up. ((How are we getting poisoned?))

And I felt somewhat stupid after that, I was despondent and taking the news hard, but that wasn't an excuse to shut out the world. Tom may be not himself, but he's still Tom, there's got to be a way to get him back. It's just a matter of removing the worm in his brain.

((It's just as I suspected,)) Tobias clarified as we hit a small bump on the road. ((Your tap water's been tainted. As a matter of fact the tap across the entire city is inundated with anti-morph serum.))

((Well, that's perfect,)) Marco commented, his face curling into an upset frown. ((So the water coming from literally ever faucet in the entire city is undrinkable!))

((But if the entire city's drinking this stuff, why are we the only ones affected by it?)) Cassie asked. ((And where is it coming from?))

((It's exactly what it says on the tin,)) Alice said. ((Anti-morph serum, it's a poison that's designed to only affect morph-capable beings.))

((Its effect is small at first, but even getting a drop of this stuff in your system can lead to disastrous results somewhere down the line, but drink enough of it, then you can say goodbye to living to the next month!)) Tobias clarified.

A chill ran down my spine at that, Cassie held my hand tighter, and I looked at the front seat to see Rachel's lips were pressed tightly against eachother, Marco in the back seat with Homer, but his face was a shade paler. I was very thankful that Tom is focused on the road to the point of near obsession when driving. It was scary, my teeth clenched at the idea that we were not only being poisoned to death without even realizing, but that we were drinking that toxicity for years without even suspecting it, and that such a weapon specifically tailored against morphers is already in action!

((As for its origins,)) Ben spoke up. ((It was made by a legion of furry freaks who excelled at biological warfare. One of our deadliest enemies.))

((There must be something we can do about it!)) Rachel said. ((We can't just touch the cube everytime we take a drink from the kitchen sink!))

((All of the water is processed at a facility before it leaves the faucets,)) I pointed out. ((If the poison is happening, it's most likely there. They can't have touched all of the pipes, especially in our homes!))

((But if they inserted them into the underground pipes that lead directly out of the facility?)) Marco questioned.

((No, if they did, then whoever's responsible would have to keep filling up whatever injectors poison the water.)) I pointed out.

((And dig up the pipes every time they did so,)) Ben said.

((Yeah, whatever's going on is happening at the water treatment center itself!)) I said.

((But what can we do before we deal with that issue?)) Rachel asked. ((Those places are guarded heavily, alien terrorists and all that!))

((I can install filters in each of your home's faucets,)) Ben volunteered. ((It will take a minute, but the bunker has plenty of spare parts lying around, just tell me how many faucuets you have in your home and I'll rig up an appropriate number of filters. And make sure you include the outdoor ones for the hoses!))

((Wait, did my house test positive?)) Cassie asked, concerned. ((My water comes from a well.))

((Thankfully, no,)) Tobias said as Tom stopped at a red light next to a grocery store. ((If the natural resorvoirs were poisoned as well, then we would be in real trouble.))

((So, I have two bathrooms, one has a walk-in shower, the other one is a bath-tub shower combo, a kitchen sink, and two nozzles for hoses on the outside,)) Rachel reported.

"Hey, you guys are really quiet in here," Tom spoke up, causing me to jump in surprise. "It's like a funeral, or something!"

"Just having a dead man party, dude!" Marco got into swing immediately. "The song palying for today is 'choppy shoppy!'"

My breath hitched in my throat as Tom stepped on the gas.

"Ah, ha ha, how thrilling," he commented. "So, how was the meet?"

Marco shrugged his shoulders, "it was cool...but had way too much going on, your meal options for example. What kind of person would you expect to just put horse radish, cranberry sauce, and dorito dust on their burgers or dogs?"

"It was nice," I shrugged my shoulders too.

The rest of the car ride was uneventful until Tom dropped us off at Cassie's barn, where we had left our bikes.

We stood in the barn's interior, it was dark now that the sun had dipped below the treeline, the sky we could see outside the window in the rafters was orange. The squeaking, scratching, wounded animals trapped in their cages were getting ready to wind down for the night, Tobias and his reinforcements had reunited with us, standing like dark sentinels looming over the shadows, on constant guard. We sat on the haybales for a few minutes, not knowing what to say in answer to it, to what we had just learned.

"Hey..." Marco asked. "Guess what time it is."

"Huh?" I asked.

"Tell me what time it is!" Marco asked again.

"But you're the only one with a...watch," I said before stopping, realizing what Marco was asking.

I focused, closing my eyes...

"8:10," I said. "8:10 P.M. is that right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I have that, too," Rachel asked.

"8..." Cassie said, unsure at first. "8:14?"

Marco smiled, holding up his wrist watch, Ben shone a flashlight in the barn, illuminating the room enough so that we could see the arms on Marco's watch

8:14

[4 Weeks before Jake, Rachel, and Cassie received the morphing power]

The pair of black loafers briskly walked on the blue vinyl floors that had red cell patterns all throughout it, making it look reminiscent to the water in a seaside cave. Attached to those shoes were a pair of pants, the white bottom of a dress suit that the paper pushers and errand people and guards in the hall side stepped out of the way from. His body was narrow, but not lean or malnourished, if the most powerful human in the world was not able to get enough to eat, then many would be in trouble indeed. His gray eyes were frustrated and indicitave of how well his day had been going so far, and his hair was playing host to a few graying hairs.

Automated turrets hung from the cieling, a few even being modified or installed as he walked past, he ignored it all and took a turn left at the crossroads.

He walked down an almost entirely unoccupied hallway that ended in a wide doorway that took up the entire space of the hall. Eight human guards wearing heavy armor, reverse engineered from the best alien technology humanity could get their hands on, vigilantly stood guard right in front of the door and they stepped to the side at the approach of the man in an instant. A giant emblem on the door was obvious once the elite guards stepped aside, a simplified image of a typical grey alien, its complexion a grayish white, however, a red line ran into the alien's mouth and emerged out of its left eye, the shaft ended in a black triangle with an image of the earth emblazoned on it, and behind the spearhead were golden laurel wreaths snaking around the rod behind like a Caduceus, the Staff of Apollo.

The door split open three ways and the large triangles receded into the walls, floor, and cieling to let the man through. The door closed behind him when he entered the room, illuminated in infrared light, there was a checkpoint with a massive wall heavily fortified with alien materials, the man stopped in the red box etched on the floor and looked ahead at the wall. A light blinked in the upper center of the massive wall as he was scanned.

"IDENTITY: CONFIRMED. ENTER, AMIN TORELLI."

Torelli smiled as he walked forward and a portion of the giant fortified wall opened to form a door, as he approached the gaurds inside that door stepped aside to let him through as well. Torelli entered the room, illuminated in infrared light, but dimmer this time, in front of him was a very wide round table with all of the chairs filled but one.

Lourdes McDan, Head of the ETS, in charge of everyone who moniters all alien communications, and keeps in contact with the Andalites, Bill Dune, the Chief of the Public Relations Department, the Resource Acquisition Minister, Jeanne Gerard, on that table was seated every single one of the ETCS' leadership. And Amin Torelli to his rightful seat as their Supreme Commander during this emergency meeting.

"So," he began. "What update to our fun little rollercoaster do you have?"

Bill Dune responded nervously, "Th-the Andalites...we've just lost contact with their main group."

Torelli's stomach dropped to his feet.

"All contact lost?" Torelli asked. "Check again and re-check!"

"I did sir," Lourdes reported with a forlorn expression. "They're not answering any of their backup channels."

"Does anyone here have any idea about what's going on, here?" Torelli demanded.

"I think it has everything to do with this new anomaly that's popped up," The Marshal of the ETCS military reported, named Santorelli, a name that brought a smile to everybody's face for the funny similarity. "An unidentified alien species has been travelling at a break neck pace across the country, attacking Andalite encampments and patrols since a couple of weeks ago, entirely wiping them out, and eating their remains afterward."

The room was silent for a good minute, losing their only alien ally was not something they wished to deal with, but as more time pressed on it became a bigger and bigger possibility and not so easy to dismiss.

It's Them, Torelli concluded, whispering in his own head. It can't be anyone else that's able to do this.

"How many do you think there are?" Torelli said. "Have the Andalites ever caught footage of their attackers?"

"We don't have a sure number," Santorelli said. "But they're a small group, consisting maybe of four individuals at most, armed with devastating weaponry unlike anything we've ever seen. Even though there are only confirmed traces of a single individual, there can't only be one as every single last one of his victims up until this point had every scrap of flesh picked clean off their bones. Whatever these abominations are, they're unbelievably ravenous, and they don't discriminate...they took out a dozen Andalites holed up in a single bunker, we only know about it because we found the aftermath the next morning."

"Where was the last confirmed report of their whereabouts?"

"Gonrod's squadron is confirmed to have been completely wiped out," Lourdes said. "His group were guarding a cache of alien weapons, with which these entities have no doubt pillaged and armed themselves with. And now their latest victims are a couple hundred miles north, we must expect an assault on Salt Lake City!"

"The current data doesn't support it!" the ETCS Intelligience Chief countered. "They've raided another such cache before, pillaging everything. They seem to be single minded, or not easily distracted, when they moved further south they completely ignored Phoenix, maybe even passing right through the city just to attack more Andalites!"

Bill grit his teeth.

"That doesn't seem to be all they're doing, they ventured pretty close to the coasts, they're trying to contact The Nartec! Who would just abandon their footholds on an entire continent for no reason? It's obviously some part of a larger plan! Once they destroy the Andalites, the Nartec will rush in from the Pacific Coast and sweep over us just like in '84, but these shadow strikers would sweep up from the east! We need to mobilize the National guard of the Western Coast and prepare for another full scale blitzkrieg!"

"Wild speculation! The sea they were close to was the Gulf of California," Lourdes pointed out. "The Nartec have never operated in that body of water, nor have we ever overheard them talking about doing anything there, or making any allies on the mainland."

Bill narrowed his eyes in an accusatory way, "and if Las Vegas gets completely vaporized like Atlanta did, I'm not going to be punished for the decision to dismiss the possibility as 'wild speculation,' am I?"

"Enough!" Santorelli said forcefully, shutting down the conversation before it could escalate. "Supreme Commander, if I have anything to add, do we have any information on the attackers themselves? What are they? And how could they just pass through a city without alerting anyone of their presence immediately?"

The Intelligience Chief pulls out a tablet and rests it on the table, everyone looks at it as a hologram jumps up, showing video footage from a traffic camera in Phoenix, whichw were only installed in the strategically important American cities. The camera highlights and focused on a single truck.

"This is the automobile of an ETCS Agent that acted as a liason for an Andalite outpost east of Anegam, Phoenix," The Intelligience Chief reported. "The Andalites there had requested a resupply of water, to which he had driven hundreds of miles deep into the wilderness to oblige, however..."

The next image that cropped up was the ruins of said Andaltie outpost, the Scoop was a blasted, scorched ruin covered in soot and bloodstains at this next image The Intelligience Chief continued.

"The 'Shadow Strikers' as Bill so eloquently dubbed them, had gotten too close when he arrived, and when the outpost was attacked, nobody survived, not even him, and in their usual pattern, they ate the remains of everyone there, and proved that they don't discriminate between Andalite and human flesh. But the investigation's findings indicate that the devastating force of the attack that wiped the outpost off the face of the map came from inside the facility."

Torelli was silent, eyes closed, he grasped his hands, propped his elbows on the table, and rested his head on them while he took a deep breath.

"Inside the facility?" Santorelli asked. "That's absurd! How would these animals have gotten past the Andalite's sensors? Holograms don't work on them!"

After a few seconds his eyes opened.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Torelli started. "I haven't told you everything there is to know about all of the invasion forces that were encountered. What I'm about to tell you is confidential intel, to only have the relevant personnel briefed on it on a 'need-to-know' basis, this malevolent alien force has operated on Earth in the past, and now seem to be making a comeback."

"What kind of force?" Santorelli questioned.

"And why haven't you told us this before now?" Lourdes questioned.

Torelli held up his left hand and snapped his fingers, all of a sudden retractible walls fell down fromt he cieling, one by one, until the meeting was completely sealed off from the rest of the room.

"As hard as it sounds to believe, this alien force is a species that has stolen Andalite technology in order to gain the power to morph," Torelli responded calmly.

"Morph?" Santorelli choked incredulously.

"Here we go!" Bill said sarcastically.

"Yes, as insane as it sounds, the Andalites have granted me access to a portion of their classified information that as Supreme Commander of the ETCS, only I am privy to, and some of that information indeed states that the Andalites have a technology in their possession that allows them to transform into a biological copy of any living creature that they can touch. This group, whose origins are unknown, acquired the morphing technology's secrets for themselves."

"They learned the Andalite sciences and studied the device that would give the power to change form, successfully creating a prototype that could be used on humans. The initial membership of this species was small, but their morphing prototype had a nasty secret, every human it had been used on enjoyed the power to turn into any biological creature and return to their original forms without issue, this device slowly but surely turned the people into members of this race, and the changes were indeed permanent and full, the humans warped into this species were fully able to, and did, produce viable offspring with the original members of this race."

Torelli snapped his fingers again, and this time a drone carried a several files down to the table, where the Supreme Commander took them. Once the drone's little propellers carried it back up, Torelli opened the file and laid it down on the table for the rest of the meeting to peruse.

"The name of this species; Animorph," Torelli said as the ETCS leaders looked at the dusty papers inside. "Up until I was presented with this intel, I believed that the Andalites had soundly defeated them on this planet many years ago. Read those files and we'll discuss what to do from here, the Animorphs only fought humans once, but tens of thousands of soldiers died, we only beat them thanks to Andalite military support. I trust you to understand the severity of the danger this species poses."

Day 10, Before Dawn

For the first time in a while, I had no trouble falling asleep, it was the best rest I've ever had, Mom and Dad were confused, but no questions were asked, they were just glad I was back to normal, so am I. Soon after we confirmed that our internal clocks had finally kicked in, we departed, Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Me went home while Tobias and the other Old Bloods, as they asked to be referred as, retreated to that fortress in the mountains for the night, or I assumed they did. I was having the best sleep in my life when I heard it.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

It was a light knocking sound, thinking someone was at my window, I got out of my bed, throwing my covers off of me, and sliding my bedside window's curtains apart I peered outside into the darkness.

Nothing. Not even a trace of that...thing that tried to rush me the other night.

I took a shuddering breath at the memory of those predatory eyes attached to...whatever that thing was.

I looked to the left and jumped out of my skin, letting out a shuddering gasp.

It was there, some dark shadow was crouching in my doorway, hiding right next to my dresser, it lifted its hands up.

"Easy, easy," the being whispered.

I blinked a few times before the question entered my head, "Ben?"

The dark shadowy figure nodded before standing up to his tall height, where multiple cracks sounded off in his back, eliciting a very quiet groan as he rubbed his back. He walked forward, his eyes not holding a glimmer of malice, but weary and distrustful, just as they always were.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, I looked over to my night-stand and noticed that it was 5:09.

He put his hand to the satchel he now carried at his waist, "Filter installation. Got the other's houses, be thankful I could rig enough to install one into every faucet."

"But why are you in my room, though?" I asked.

"Hmph, wanted to talk," he explained, walking over to in front of my dresser, not making a single sound on the floorboards, before sitting down, facing me.

"Do any of the others know you're here?" I asked.

"We've been doing stuff all night," Ben asked. "Tobias is tracking that worm his father planted a bug on, Harry's helping Ellen make your garments, and Alice's been investigating where the water in your tap comes from and the steps it goes through before it gets there. I've been doing the filters."

"Don't you guys need to sleep?" I asked.

"Do you have any idea how horrible dying via anti-morph serum is?" Ben snapped. "The fate of your body slowly decaying and mutating out of control until you fell apart and died warrants a state of emergency, I'd assume. I know you're selfless, but don't take the idea of losing your life so lightly!"

My eyes widened and my hands were raised in between myself and him.

"Okay, okay, keep your voice down!"

Ben calmed down and deflated, sighing and shaking his head in dismay.

"Why did you take it?" He asked.

"Why'd I...take the power?" I asked.

He nodded.

"You're the most caring and gentle-natured of everybody in this little resistance, the least likely to volunteer for an army, to fight, and kill, and do horrible things. You knew what you were signing up for, and the cost for accepting the power, so why did you? Knowing that blood, and for sure innocent blood, would be on your hands?"

I stopped, everything about me stopped, my body went still at his words, my mind was completely blank.

"I di...It has to be done," I answered simply. "We haven't been good caretakers for the planet, but these aliens aren't any better, and sometimes do even worse damage to the environment than we do! We only have a single world to live on, we lose Earth, it's game over for us, they could've gone anywhere else to set themselves up, but they chose to come to Earth, a place that's already jammed packed with five billion human beings. The others are bad enough, but...but...Them?"

I cradled myself with my arms, feeling cold and a sense of fear that was renewed by what we had just heard Tom talk about.

"They've infiltrated us like no one else ever has, and are selling human organs to wherever in order to get money."

"What do you think they're here to do?" Ben asked serenely.

"I don't know..." I said. "But I think Jake's right, selling organs can't be the last of it. They're here for something more, I don't know what, but if they are here to enslave the entire human race...I don't think I'd have any right to be surprised."

"What are you willing to do?"

"I'll fight. I don't have the same bite Rachel has, and I'm not as calm as Jake, or cunning like Marco, or..." I paused. "I don't know if I can do it, I don't know if when the time comes to fight, I'll run, and I know I'm weak-"

"You are not weak!" Ben interrupted, quietly.

He tooka deep breath before continuing.

"You have a heart, you may not be the strongest, or the fastest, or the smartest, or the one best suited to taking any kind of hardship, but no one is by default. It never gets any easier to care in the situations where it can hurt you, the pain just gets easier to bear as you age. But no matter how much it hurts, caring even in a situation where you can get hurt through no fault of your own is a mark of strength. Don't you dare let anyone convince you otherwise."

"You're not as mean as you let on," I whispered. "You care...but why are you so angry?"

"Like you," Ben nodded. "But I cared too much, empathy can be a source of strength, but it also has a funny way of betraying you just as cruelly as it saves you in hardship. Naivety allows our own morality and kindness to be transformed into the enemy's weapons, ignorance when sustained for too long prevents us from looking into corners for threats that would be our undoing."

He stared at me intently.

"I spent too long in the undergrowth of society, waiting for my friends to come back, fretting about things I can't hope to lift a finger to change. I thought that holding as firm as possible to our beliefs and values, isolating myself and not allowing anyone in, would carry me."

"And did it?"

"...It didn't. I became an extremist, dedicated to hiding, avoiding conflict, and accumulating wealth at all costs for the others to take whenever they had need of it, moderation was what truly aided me in my time of turmoil. It never got easier, holding my mask against what seems like the weight of the world, keeping all of my secrets from literally everyone I came across and talked with. But moderating yourself, and not worrying about things that you cannot effect, if you're anything like me, will serve you well."

"...That self-imposed isolation and disconnection started driving you insane, didn't it?" I asked.

He nodded.

"You have to be accepting of what's new as well as be weary of it, hold onto what's old or abandon it, when it's new vs old, always examine both to see which is superior, but in any instance, adjust your beliefs in accordance to reality, not to your personal preference."

Ben stood up and remained silent for a couple of seconds.

"I needed to get that off my chest. Balance and self-introspection will be the key to you preserving your freedom, in here," Ben pointed to his own head. "If you're anything like me, Cassie, you'll especially need it."

He got up and began walking to my night window, his footsteps just as silent as before.

"Wait! What if we get in a fight, and I run?" I asked. "How can I find the courage to fight with the others?"

Ben stopped, and turned to look down on me.

"I don't know. It's a very good idea to see the obstacles in the road ahead and think on how to overcome them, but in this case? Don't think on a bridge you haven't even seen warning signs it's coming up, yet. You'll cross that bridge when you get there, until then, don't think about it."

"Ben?"

"Hmm?"

"...Next time you want to talk with someone. I think it'd be knock on their window, first!" I whispered in exasperation.

And Chapter 20 is concluded, well, this is the first of many second chapters per month I will be posting! Please do tell me what you think! And in this one more than any of the others so far,t he information you've been presented with is not as it seems!

But as for the "main Andalite group" going silent, yes, that indeed does depict when the prologue, where Elfangor and his people were crushed decisively, took place.