I'm back! This chapter is a little... crazy, so hopefully I don't loose you with it.


~Cassie~

"Today's the day," Jake announced.

It had been three days since Buddy left us, and we had finally gotten out of our rut. Jake had made sure that we balanced our time between hunting, training, and looking for potential morphs. Due to the ever-present threats of dogs and other cats, we made sure we always traveled in pairs. I suppose we would have less to fear from other cats if we actually marked our own territory like Buddy had once suggested, but none of us were quite willing to do that. After one particularly embarrassing experience in wolf morphs, we found the idea of placing scent markers to be repulsive and extremely uncomfortable.

"Today's the day for what?" Rachel asked eagerly.

Jake cracked a rare, genuine smile. "It's about time we acquired some morphs," he said.

"Yes!" Rachel shouted, and we joined her in cheers. So far, our collection of morphs only ranged from various forms of small prey like mice and shrews. Jake, Tobias, and Ax were the only ones who had managed to acquire rabbits, and only Tobias had a morph that was actually battle worthy, a red-tail hawk.

"Are we going to leave camp unguarded?" Ax asked.

Jake nodded. "No rogues have traveled near us since we've settled, so we won't have to worry about them dropping by our camp," he said. "And even if they did, we have nothing here except a rabbit from last night. There's nothing worth guarding."

Ax nodded.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Marco asked. "Let's go!"

"Cassie, we're going to need some bird morphs. Lead the way," Jake ordered. "The sooner we get flying morphs, the better."

I nodded, and we set out. The journey wasn't very interesting. We traveled for a little over two hours by Ax's mental clock, and there was nothing to see except grass, bushes, and the occasional tree. Our destination was a small cluster of trees that wasn't nearly thick enough to count as a forest.

"We've got a flock of ravens living here," I said. "Not only are ravens decent fliers, but since they naturally travel in flocks we won't look suspicious traveling together like we used to."

"I don't think we'll have to worry about looking suspicious when there's only cats around, but still a good call in my opinion," said Marco. He scanned the trees carefully. "I see them, but there's no way we can catch them by climbing or pouncing."

"I can grab one," said Tobias.

"I thought ravens liked to mob larger birds of prey," I said, remembering something Tobias had frequently complained about.

"They do," Tobias agreed with a sour expression on his face. "But if I'm quick, I can snag one and get it down to the ground before the rest can catch up to me."

"And then we can protect you as you hold it down," said Jake with a nod. "Excellent idea."

Tobias didn't respond because his mouth was already shifting into a beak. Another minute later, he was a red-tail hawk, soaring in the sky. He cried out loudly to attract the attention of the ravens, and they answered his call immediately. A swarm of black bodies flew upwards to Tobias, who regarded them calmly. Just as they were halfway up to him, he tucked in his wings and dived. The ravens scattered in panic, but one of them was the unlucky victim of Tobias' talons. The other raven screeched angrily as they saw their companion taken out of the skies, and followed after Tobias in hot pursuit.

No flock of ravens, however, could out-dive a red-tail hawk. Tobias hit the ground long before the ravens could even organize themselves, and by the time they actually struck we had already arranged ourselves in a circle around him. The ravens tried clawing and pecking us, but they didn't manage to do anything except flesh wounds. It took a few minutes to kill enough of them to convince the flock that we could not be beaten. By then, we had all acquired a raven morph. Some of us had acquired Tobias' catch, but I myself had merely acquired one of the birds I had been fending off.

"Everyone okay?" I asked. Everyone replied the affirmative.

"Raven morphs everyone," Jake ordered. "Cassie, lead us to our next stop."

As the last of our raven features appeared, I was suddenly assaulted by the ravens' emotions. I felt the sudden urge to search for food while socializing with my flock. However, it didn't take me more than a few second to recover. {Everyone ready?} I asked. After receiving affirmation from everyone, I took to the skies.

We flew southward for about an hour. It was very lazy flight. There weren't any good thermals to ride, but it wasn't too much work to keep ourselves aloft until we arrived. {Foxes live around here, a whole pack of them,} I said warningly. {As of right now, they are the only battle morphs we have access to, aside from horses, which will attract too much attention if we use them casually.}

{They'll do well enough for me," said Marco. {Though, I wish I could get a raccoon morph or something.}

{That would require us to take a trip to the city,} Ax reminded him. {It would not be feasible.}

{It still would be cool,} Marco argued.

{Let's just focus on the morphs we have available to us,} Jake said.

{Focus is essential,} said Tobias. {I'm going to be your eyes in hawk morph. Foxes are clever, and they're as large as Ax, so they aren't easy to beat in a fight. We'll have to do our best to catch one or two off guard.}

{We'll demorph and follow your lead then,} Jake decided.

It felt good to have four legs again. This was surprising, since I was used to walking on two legs. I supposed that my mind was adapting to the feline body faster than I anticipated. "The foxes live in the area, but I don't know where their den is," I told Tobias. "You'll have to make a wide search of the area."

{As if that matters to me,} Tobias scoffed, already halfway into his hawk morph. When he finished he flew off.

"I've got a fresh trail!" Rachel, who had been sniffing around, announced suddenly. She took off, leaving the rest of us in her dust.

"Slow down!" Jake shouted as he gave chase. "Remember, we can't risk running into them unprepared."

Rachel slackened her pace, but she continued at a brisk walk as she followed the scent. I smelled the air, and could easily distinguish the smell of wet dog in the area. It was very strong, and well overpowered the stale scents of mice and birds. "We must be very close to their den," I remarked.

Ax opened his mouth wide as he also scented the air. "Quite so," he agreed. "Their scent is everywhere around here." Suddenly, he stiffened and raised his hackles.

"What is it?" Jake asked in alarm.

A mental call from Tobias cut in, {Guys! You're surrounded by foxes!}

We didn't exchange another words as we moved in a defensive circle. From the bushes crept four foxes, a vixen and three tods. Sneers were plastered on their faces as they eyed us like fresh meat.

"Leave us in peace!" Jake growled.

One of the tods, who I assumed to be the alpha due to his large size, gave a barking laugh. He responded to Jake's threat in yips and growls that none of us could understand. However, we could tell that he didn't fear us.

{Three more foxes headed your way guys!} Tobias alerted us. {I'll keep them busy, but you have to get out of there now!}

Jake slowly made eye contact with all of us, and then gave a small nod. We sprang as one, choosing our opponents carefully. Jake went straight for the alpha. Ax leapt on the vixen. Rachel barreled down one of the remaining males, and Marco and I paired up on the last one.

The fox tried springing for Marco first, probably because he was smaller. However, Marco easily managed to leap from the fox's pounce. I sank my teeth into its hind leg, causing it to whirl on me. However, Marco jumped on its back and sank his teeth into the fox's ear. The fox reared, throwing Marco away. However, it left its stomach open to me and my claws. The fox howled and slammed me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me. I tried to throw it off, but it kept its body firmly planted on me.

I panicked as its teeth came close to my throat, and desperately clawed at its face. My efforts saved my neck, but the fox managed to sink one of its fangs deep into my paw. I let out a howl of pain as it violently ripped its fang out and prepared to have another go. I was ready to fight it off with my remaining paw, but the fox suddenly went slack. Its eyes became unfocused, and its grip on me loosened. Even in my panicked state, I could recognize the signs of an animal dazed by the morph acquiring process.

"Hurry up!" I heard Marco urge me.

I decided to save my strength and thank him later. I barely managed to roll the fox off me before it came out of its stunned state. It looked at me in dumbly, probably wondering how I escaped its grasp. I didn't give it time to think as I leapt for its neck and sank my teeth into throat. It tried to shake me off, but I held fast as long as I could.

It eventually managed to shake me off, but it took off the second it broke free. I didn't even care that it had gotten away. My paw was killing me and I was already feeling exhausted. Around me, the others were still fighting. Rachel and Ax were fighting back to back against their opponents, while Marco had joined Jake against the leader. I was more than annoyed that Marco had left me alone with that fox, but it appeared that he had made the right call. Jake was a mess. Three vertical cuts oozed blood from one of his sides, and one of his ears had been completely bitten off. The alpha fox wasn't looking much better. It was keeping the weight off one of its forelegs, and several gashes adorned its muzzle.

I decided that Marco and Jake could handle themselves, and I jumped onto one of the foxes that were battling Rachel and Ax. My weight was not enough to topple it over, so it only turned its head around in surprise. However, I acquired it before it could make another move. "Acquire them and let's get out of here!" I called out.

Ax caught on immediately. He broke the formation and tackled the other fox head on. The fox managed to withstand the blow, but before it could counterattack, it went slack as Ax acquired it. The fox under me started squirming again, but Rachel jumped on it and acquired it as well.

I glanced to Jake and Marco to see that they were doing the same thing. For a moment, I was at a loss for what to do. Tobias hadn't given us a status update, so we didn't know how he was doing. Jake hadn't given the order to retreat, but I didn't want to continue fighting. I was starting to see spots in my vision, and I was feeling extremely tired.

Luckily for me, Ax took the initiative. "Prince Jake! We must retreat!" he called out.

Jake glanced at him and nodded. "Retreat!" he yowled as he took off running. We followed behind as fast as we could manage.


~Rachel~

The five of us ran until we couldn't go any farther. "Is everyone here?" Jake asked as his sides heaved.

"Here," said Cassie weakly as she nursed one of her paws. It was ripped apart by our recent run, and Cassie looked like she was about to pass out at any moment.

"I'm dead," said Marco. A grin was plastered to his face despite his exhaustion.

"Present," said Ax.

"Alive and well," I responded. Actually, my sides and back were stinging from the bites and scratches that vixen had left on me, but they weren't serious enough for me to worry.

"Where's Tobias?" Jake asked.

Ax's eyes widened in alarm. "He wasn't with us when we escaped!" he exclaimed. "We must go back for him!"

"Let's try to reach him through thought-speak first," said Marco.

"That'll take too long," I growled. "We need to go back now!"

"We can't rush into things just because your boyfriend forgot to send us a call!" Marco retorted.

"He could be hurt!"

"He could be hiding!"

"You don't know that!"

"Well neither do you!"

{Don't worry, guys. I'm up here.}

I craned my head in response to the surprising message. Sure enough, I could see a red-tail hawk careening towards us. "Tobias!" I called out in surprise.

Tobias flew down and gently landed on the branch of a bush. {Cassie told me you guys were about to go fight those foxes again because you didn't see me,} he said as he nodded to Cassie, who had morphed into a mouse while we were busy arguing. {As you can see, I'm alive and well. Those foxes were too stupid to leap for me without getting in each other's way.}

"I'm glad to hear that you're alright, but remember to stay in contact next time," said Jake. "If Cassie didn't get a response from you, and we would have had to assume you were in trouble."

{I know. I know,} Tobias grumbled. {You try keeping three foxes busy without getting eaten and see how much time you have for calling in for a status update."

"This was so much easier when we were all in our battle morphs," I said with a groan.

"We'll have to get used to it," said Jake. "We need to have us much practice in our cat bodies as possible, so we won't be using battle morphs except for emergencies. Remember, we need to keep a low profile."

"It's not like there's any media to take photos of us out here," I muttered.

{Can we not argue about this right now?} Cassie asked.

Ax nodded. "We should be grateful that we got out of this experience," he said. "We'll learn from our mistakes so it doesn't come this close again.

Jake nodded. "Cassie, take us to our last stop," he ordered. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get back home."


Yes, this chapter was very fast, but I didn't see a good reason to slow this down. The Animorphs got their morphs (including one that I won't show you yet), and none of the clan cats showed up this chapter. Sadly, when writing a crossover, the foreigners to the universe tend to get most of the screentime since they have more adjusting to do.

And no, I'm not telling you what their final morph was. It'll come up when needed.

Now that the Animorphs have their morphs and their training, it's time for this story to really take off! Confrontation is approaching! The next chapter will be all from the clan cats' perspectives, and after that...

It's showtime.