"I Am Jake"
Written by: Doctor Strangelove

"Oh." That was pretty much all I was capable of uttering at the moment. I was kinda in a state of shock. A little unsure of what to think of Marco, my best friend, and Tom, my brother, dancing. Very close. Dancing to some slow song that really made no sense if you listened to the lyrics.

"Hey," Osiris said to me, his eyes also watching Marco and Tom. "what's the name of that play, you know, the one where the guy kills his dad and marries his mom?"

"Oedipus." I answered, whilst watching the two guys and thinking Hey, that's an odd place to put your hand on Marco.

"Yeah, that's the one." Osiris nodded and looked somewhere else in this... whatever it was. Building, I guess.

"Why?" I asked, finally tearing my eyes away from Marco and Tom.

"Oh," Osiris shrugged, "no reason."

"Where are we?"

"Oh, it's a club. The Sharing's new club, in fact. The one you Animorphs were going to infiltrate I believe." Osiris turned again to the same spot he'd been looking at earlier. "And there they are now."

I followed Osiris's pointed finger to a small table off in a corner. Tobias was standing, seemingly staring at Marco and Tom. He looked, I don't know, kind of confused but like he knew what was going on at the same time. Rachel was sitting next. She looked... she just looked cold, and in the temperature sense. And Cassie...

"What's wrong with Cassie?" Her head was down on the table and she wasn't moving.

"All in good time, Jake." Osiris said, but when I turned to look at him he was gone.

"Osiris? Where are you?"

"All in good time, Jake." His voice echoed in my head. "We'll get to Cassie soon enough. But right now..." I suddenly screamed and fell over in pain. My head... my head felt like it was going to explode. I was seeing things, visions, but I couldn't make out what they were. Tom was there. Tom as a little boy. Tom playing basketball. Tom on the phone with his friend Jason. Tom wanted to talk to me. Tom, naked, on an operating table. Tom on the ground bleeding.

Then they stop. My head stopped hurting. I looked up and Osiris was there, extending a hands toward me. "Now, we're gonna talk about Tom.

*****

Osiris and I went and sat down at a table at the back of the club. When I looked around, I noticed the rain had stopped and that all the people are going. "Where'd they go?"

"Marco woke up. We're in the real club now. It's closed. Buffalo wing?"

"What?"

Osiris gestured downward onto the table. There was a basket of hot wings. "Oh. No."

Osiris stared at me. I guess he expected me to continue our so called vision quest. I wasn't exactly sure what to say. I was still trying to figure out all of the things I'd seen. The stuff with Marco.

And Tom.

"Why did you show me that stuff with Marco?" I finally asked. Osiris just stared at me. "Well?"

"I can't tell you."

"What?"

"Well," he corrected himself, "not yet. Not until I'm done. You need to see things on your own before I go explaining things to you. Trust me, I've got special powers. I know things. "

I was kinda pissed off at this guy and his whole "vision quest" crap and didn't feel like playing games. But I didn't really have a choice, so I figured I'd use his knowledge to my advantage. Which was pretty easy to do, 'cause that's what Osiris wanted anyway. "So, um that thing with Tom and Marco. I mean, they were pretty close. Really close. Much closer than two guys normally are. Plus the whole dancing thing. So, um, is Tom gay?"

Osiris didn't answer. But then he didn't have to. We had another change of scenery.

We were in someone's living room. There was Tom, looking a little younger. And next to him was, "Hey, that's Jason." I looked over to Osiris. "That was Tom's best friend. Haven't seen him in a while."

Tom and Jason were sitting on the floor. From the looks of it, they'd just finished a game of Mortal Kombat. Tom had won. "He was always really good at that game." I mused, mostly to myself. "God, I can't believe it's been so long since we've played video games together."

"Ha ha!" Tom shouted victoriously. "Looks like Mr. Rayden just got his ass kicked. Even the almighty thunder god is no match for the even more almighty Scorpion!"

Jason picked up a handful of popcorn our of a bowl and threw it at Tom. "Oh, shut up, Tom. Come on, rematch."

Tom laughed and ate a few pieces of the popcorn. "Oh, no can do. I believe that was our rematch." Tom smiled and grabbed a handful of the popcorn. "I also believe that was the ninth match I kicked your ass in." He turned to look at the television. "Oh, oh, I was mistaken. That was the tenth." Tom stood up and thrust his fists into the air. "I am victorious. No man can stop me!"

At that Jason grabbed Tom's legs and pulled him to the ground. He climbed on top of Tom and pinned his arms down with his own. "Really? No man?"

Tom kneed Jason in the stomach and rolled over on top of him. "Yes, that is correct. No man."

The two just stayed like that for a moment. Jason, laying on his back, with Tom, on top of him. Face to face, and their bodies very close. They stared at each other, neither one saying anything. Then they kissed.

And this wasn't some quick little Dawson's Creek guy-on-guy kiss. This was... pretty intense. And very weird.

It's incredibly creepy and little nauseating to see the older brother you admired for so long and longed to be like making out with another guy. Certainly something I never expected to see.

Then Osiris and I were back in the club. I was a little shocked and speechless. Osiris was eating a chicken wing. And he was getting ranch dressing all over his clothes.

"Well, I guess that answered my question. Hey, you know what else would've answered it?" Osiris just looked at me. "'Yes.' You didn't have to show me that."

"Hey, be glad I stopped it when I did," Osiris licked some ranch dressing off his finger. "It got a lot more intense later on."

It took a minute before I got what he meant. "Oh, God."

"Yeah, but we do need to go back to that night. Other important stuff happened then too."

I didn't like the sound of that. "What stuff?"

Time for another scene change. These were starting to tick me off. We were in a bedroom. I'm assuming Jason's, because he was there sitting on the bed. Tom was asleep in the bed.

I turned to Osiris. "What's going on here?" He didn't say anything. "Osiris."

Then I saw it.

"No."

Jason had a small container resting on his bed. He had just opened it and pulled out a Yeerk.

I didn't think. I rushed forward and tried to smack the Yeerk out of Jason's hand. My hand just went through his.

Jason moved the Yeerk toward Tom's ear. "No, no. You can't let this happen." I pleaded to Osiris, but he just stood there, silent. "You can do that time freezing thing and stop this. Osiris!" I stared at him, begging him. "Please."

Then I heard the scream. I jerked my head around. Too late to stop anything, the Yeerk was slithering into Tom's ear.

I turned away. "I can't watch this. I can't." I turned around to face Tom again. I didn't turn by choice, my body moved without my control. I tried closing my eyes. I couldn't. I couldn't move any part of my body. It wasn't under my control anymore.

So I watched them. I watched the Yeerk work its way into my brother's head. I watched him scream out in terror. And finally I saw his eyes, so full of life and fear and just Tom go cold. Go dead. I saw my brother's last few moments as a free human.

And then suddenly I was watching Jason and Tom again. The real ones. Because now we were in the Yeerk pool.

And there was me.

I was there, as a tiger. I saw me, a horse, a gorilla, and an elephant. This was our first attack on the Yeerk pool.

"What does this have to do with Tom?"

"You'll see." Osiris answered me. He pointed to the cages. "Just watch."

I broke Tom out of the cage. He got onto my back. And, something I hadn't realized before, so did Jason. I didn't recognize him back then.

And then I saw the Hork-Bajir attack. The one I hadn't seen coming the first time this happened. He attacked me.

He missed.

Missed me, anyway.

But he got Jason. Cut him, almost in half, right across the stomach. He fell.

As Jason fell, so did Tom's face. He looked so... broken. Like something in him died.

Jason and Tom in the cages. Moments before what I had just seen.

They were close very close. All other sounds in the Yeerk pool had died off. All I could hear was Tom whisper, "I love you."

Then we changed again. It was all happening so fast, I didn't have time to react. I only had time to watch. Maybe that's what Osiris wanted.

It was some kind of operating table. Tom was laying on it, strapped down, naked and unconscious. His body was cut open. Not just in one place, but all along. His arms and legs each had a long gash in them. These connected to an even bigger cut that ran from his chin down to his navel.

I almost threw up again right there. There were doctors or something operating on him. Some were human, and some were some species I'd never seen before. They had some kind of steel with them.

Then there was Tom, now all sewn up, standing in some other room. There was a Hork-Bajir there. Without any warning, the Hork-Bajir drew back his fist and hit Tom, hard, and in the gut.

Tom didn't flinch. Instead, he reached out and grabbed the Hork-Bajir's head.

Without any effort, he ripped it off.

"Oh, my God. What did they do to him?"

Osiris turned to me, looking like he was finally ready to talk. "They infused his bones with an alien metal. It's made him stronger, tougher, and nearly invincible. That's what the Sharing's club really is. It's a plan to institute this new metal in Controllers. An army on nearly unstoppable soldiers. They'll wipe out these so called Andalite bandits."

"No." I told him. "We're tough. We've faced Yeerk plans before. They can't be that tough."

"Really you think you can stop them?" Osiris smiled. "Okay."

We were in some room. Tom was standing there. Next to a Hork-Bajir and a gorilla. They were all frozen.

Osiris pointed. "Those are your buddies Tobias and Marco. Watch."

Marco hit Tom and he flew into some machinery. The machine collapsed onto Tom. Then Tom stood up, completely uninjured. Without breaking a sweat Tom had grabbed Marco by the arm and thrown him into a wall. Just as easily he had ripped off Tobias's arm and hit him with it. Tobias went flying. And he froze in mid-air.

Osiris gestured to the carnage. "Tom, by himself, nearly killed one-third of your entire group. You think you could stand against an army?"

I was so shocked at what I had just seen, I didn't know what to say. "No. We'd fail. We'd die. How do we stop them?"

Osiris sat down on the ground and looked up at me. "You have to stop them before they start. This an experiment for the Yeerks. If this fails, they won't try it again. It's risky."

"Why is it so risky?"

"It's not reversible. Plus, they don't know what effects the alien metal will have on the bodies."

That took a second to sink in. "Not reversible? So Tom is..."

Osiris nodded. 'Yeah, he's stuck like that forever. Sorry. But there is a bit of an upside to it."

I couldn't think of any. "What's that?"

"Forever won't be that long." Osiris said, his voice suddenly lowering to an eerie tone.

I instinctively backed away. "What do you mean?"

"The one way to stop this, the one way to make sure you don't lose to the Yeerks, is to stop this before it starts.

"By killing the leader of this plan. By killing Tom."

I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. I didn't what to feel. I was very, very confused. "Why do you care so much about us?"

We were outside. They sky was dark and... red. Then I saw... him.

He was big and muscular, his four arms were well tanned and covered in spikes. His mouth was filled with fangs and three large horns were protruding from his forehead. His eyes were white. No pupil, no iris, just white.

"What is that?" I asked, while trying not to scream out in sheer terror. This guy was seriously imposing. Then he turned to me and his eyes flashed a bright red. He smiled and I swear to God it was the single most terrifying thing I've ever seen.

We were suddenly back in my bedroom and I was never more thankful for this place jumping we were doing. "That's Balthazar. And I care so much if you beat the Yeerks, because you need to beat him. And you can't do that if these Super Yeerks kill you."

"Oh." was pretty much the only answer I could give.

"Now do you see? Do you get what you have to do?"

I stared at Osiris for a long time. Then I made a decision. I nodded. "I know what I have to do."

Osiris smiled. "Good."

"Get out." I told him.

His smile faded. "What?"

"I said get out. I'm feeling a lot better now, and I think it's time for you to leave. Thanks for all the visions. They've really taught me something."

"Yeah, we weren't actually done with that." Osiris said, sounding like he was starting to get a little upset.

"No, we are. Now leave. We're done." I stood firm and stared Osiris straight in the eye.

And then he was gone. And I was alone. And you know what? Back then I really thought I was done for good with him.

To reviewers: *ROGUE*: Jake and Cassie are up next. And their chapter will probably be the longest of all.

Wake: You're actually complaining about me not finishing a fic? Maybe you should borrow that walking stick and prod its owner to finish some of her stories. And I finally watched Trigun. Some of it, anyway.

Jinako-chan: Yes, Jake and Marco have a brotherly love relationship. In this fic. Their relationship is a little more twisted in other stories. But in this one, Jake is straight, so none of that. Um, not everyone's lives. Just Marco, Tom, Cassie, and then one on the Animorphs in general. And then a final chapter. So it'll be only six chaps this time. Pretty short fic. We're mostly done with M/A, although their might be some more in the Animorphs chapter. And I am enjoying Chronicle Two. Please continue. Jeffrey commands it!

Tinnuelenath: Your fic was very nice (as I said in my review of it). Yeah, there might be more with the whole Egyptian/Greek thing later on. Maybe. I thought it was kinda funny. There will probably be more M/A stuff. Maybe.

Aqua Rhapsody: I'm glad people are liking Osiris. I was a little unsure as to how people would respond to him. My first original character to play a major part in things.

Lady Aura, freak show, & Tobias: Thank you all for the reviews. I hope you all enjoy this chapter too and I'll try to get chapter 4 out as soon as possible.

Myself: I know you haven't reviewed this fic, but those chicken wings are just for you.

And yay! On December 11, 2003, this series celebrated it's one year anniversary! Cake for all!