THE HUNTED




Chapter 18 Jake

DEMORPH! the Visser ordered.

NO! Marco snapped back.

Cassie hadn't spoken for some time. I was starting to get worried. Why wasn't she saying anything… to us in the cage or to the Visser? Was she caught?

DEMORPH! Visser Three repeated, and then he added; …or be demolished!

I'm not afraid of blue morons who think they're something important!

Visser Three shouted the order again, this time his voice was boiling with rage.

No! Marco replied. No way I'm going back into being a just another host! No! No! Nonononono!

Jake? Cassie's voice said. I breathed out a sigh of relief. Jake, can you hear me?

I couldn't reply in thought-speak, and she wouldn't hear me outside the cage. So I told Tobias, who was in morph; "Tell Cassie I can hear her."

Good, Cassie said in thought-speak. You've gotto do something. They've got dracon beams pointed at us at full power, and at you all in the cage. Marco won't realise how deep in this mess we are… or the only way out. He doesn't listen to me!

"Okay…" I said, thinking fast. Marco was determined not to get a Yeerk in his head again. But the dracon beams surely meant we were all doomed if we didn't make him see reason.. And being dead or wounded wouldn't make it easier to escape. "Ax, Tobias? Did you hear that?"

Yes, we did, Prince Jake, Ax said. Marco seems to have panicked. He seems to be beyond clear thinking. That could be a problem.

"I know! Tobias, ehm, tell Cassie…" I said. "tell her to tell Marco he's gotto get a hold of himself! He has to keep calm if they're going to have any chance at all!"

There was a pause, and then I heard Marco's restless, angry and terrified voice in my head:

Jake? SHUT UP!! Don't tell me what to do! You got us into this!

…and that struck right on the spot.

Don't listen to him, Cassie said softly. He's gone mad! He's raving.

But Marco was right. It was all my fault.

Prince Jake, I think you'll need to talk to him yourself… Ax suggested.

Visser Three's voice blasted in our minds; DEMORPH! And SURRENDER! Or all and every single one of you will be annihilated!

I started morphing. Anything, as long at it could let me thought-speak. Turned out, I morphed the tiger. But as I was in a cage, that didn't matter.

Marco, get to your senses! I told him. Please, we'll never get out of here if we're all dead!

Better dead than a host! Marco laughed. I'm never going back to that cage! Never!

Marco, we'll all be killed! Tobias said.

So? Marco laughed giddily.

Marco, this is not a wise thing to do! Ax said.

I thought Andalites were all up and go for suicide when it comes to choosing that or being a host! Marco snarled back.

Not if our orders are something else, Ax muttered, and I could see his stalk eyes turning towards me. As a tiger, could see much better in the dark.

Marco, please! Cassie said.

SURRENDER! Visser Three thundered. YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS..!

NEVER, Marco laughed.

Cassie, I said to only her. Attack him. You've gotto charge him so they can catch him.

What? Cassie said shrilly. Jake, I'm sitting on the top of the cage. If I move, I'll be shot for sure. They've got at least a dozen dracon beams pointed at me!

Where's Marco?

He's flying around. They're trying to grab him, but he's very fast… ooh, that was close, Cassie gave a high-pitched little laugh. I think I'm going to panic here to. I'm feeling…

FIVE SECONDS! Visser Three roared. MARCO, CASSIE… I was a bit surprised to hear names from him, but I should have known he'd learn them. …I'll promise you one thing… We'll get you! There's NO escape! We'll kill you both, and your friends, too! We've got the escafil device, so we have no use for you!

Jake, tell Marco! Cassie urged.

Oh, it will be fun, the Visser said happily. We'll start by drowning the bird… in the Yeerk pool. He's scared of water…

Tobias trembled. He WAS afraid of water. Every time we morph something water-going, he has a long dispute with himself.

…and we'll starve the Andalite. After we've acquired him to get some more Andalite-Controllers.

Ax didn't flinch. But his stalk eyes turned towards my direction again.

Then we'll burn that barn of yours, Cassie, and we'll have Jake put in one of the cages… Visser Three laughed. Ah, that'll be fun. Nothing like burning enemies. And after all that fun, I believe that I will be hungry. You remember the Antarean Bogg, correct? My monster morph that consumed Elfangor? I think I will morph that again. And I will have Cassie for dinner.

NO! I roared in open thought-speak before I could stop myself. Leave her alone! I glared around, searching for something to attack.

But there was nothing.

The Visser laughed. And Marco… well, I'll think of something. What does Marco dread? Ah, yes, his mother, Visser One. And his father. I think I know. I'll bring along Visser One, too. That traitor. She knows about you, Marco, and yet she says nothing! I'll have her for a snack. I have a wonderful morph that I acquired on a near-by planet's moon. It can crush rocks in its jaws. And I'll turn his dad into a Controller. And then, well, I think Marco can remain a host. That's what he dreads.

Marco laughed hysterically.

Marco, listen to him! Tobias said.

Listen to Visser Three? Marco snorted. That's a new one.

Marco! I thundered, very angry. Very upset. Cassie? He'd eat Cassie? Not if I could help it. Marco! I'm sick of this nonsense! Land! Demorph! And get in this cage so I can kill you!

Time to choose, Animorph bandits, Visser Three said sweetly. Let's see… ah, the dracon beams are pointed in case anything goes wrong. Someone, grab the bird from the cage. I believe it is drowning time for him.

I'll go in the cage! Cassie said quickly.

That's only one of you, the Visser enlightened her smugly.

Marco, please! Ax said. Come to your senses!

The door to the cage opened. A Hork-Bajir climbed in to grab Tobias, who snuck into a corner.

I snarled. I was a tiger. I was furious. I was alive! Ready for action.

I charged, the ground shaking when I roared with all my might!

RRRRRRHOOOAAAARRRRRRRH!

Cassie! Tobias cried. Cassie, Jake has just charged the Hork-Bajir in here! Get the Visser's eyes!

I was startled by hearing dracon beams as Cassie moved. The sound was back! And right then, I had the pleasure of hearing the Visser's cry of pain. But then, also, I heard his tail FWAPING… and I heard more dracon beams.

TSEEEEW!

Aaaah! Cassie cried. My wing! They got my wing! I can't fly…

There was a loud crash near the cage. I heard it very well with my tiger ears.

Cassie? I called. CASSIE?!

Cassie's down! Marco reported. He must have been shook back to his senses. I'm going after her!

Prince Jake! I believe my tail would be of use…

I guarded the entrance to the cage. But Ax was right. His tail would be very useful.

Tobias! Get! That! Tail! Loose!

But, I'm a bird…

Then morph! Now now NOW!

The scent of the hawk behind me began to change to human. Hands to untie the knots, and fingers to push in the code on the lock.

I held back another Hork-Bajir. None of them were going to get into the cage! None! But the backside was that I couldn't come out.

Ehm… Jake? Marco's voice said. Trouble! There's a new gun in here…. Aah! TWZZIIP! Wow. That was close. An arrow! Must be some kind of…

TWZZIIIIP!

Tranquilliser! Tobias said. I've seen them shooting deer to tag in the woods. They shoot something like arrows. Tobias was by then a human, but as that was a morph he could still thought-speak. He was working on the ropes on Ax's back, even though both of them saw very little.

The Yeerks are using ordinary tranquillisers? I wondered and held back another Hork-Bajir.

Most likely, they are far more advanced than yours, Ax said. For example…

"Ax!" Tobias snapped. "Concentrate on telling me how to open this over-done knot!"

How's Cassie? I asked Marco.

Eh, sorry, Jake… Marco said hesitantly. But I couldn't stop them. She wasn't moving, and she got caught. They carried her away somewhere.

Cassie's gone. We couldn't leave. I couldn't leave without her. I don't know why we were even fighting. They'd probably have sealed all the exits by now, anyway.

I roared. I slashed another Hork-Bajir with a powerful paw.

Marco? See if you can find her. At least find a place to demorph and morph something useful.

Sure, Jake… bu- he stopped talking suddenly.

There had been a very short TWZIIP! and after it the sound of a bird that hit the ground.

Marco was down, too. That left me, Ax and Tobias. And none of us would dream of leaving two others behind.

Ax, Tobias, what's your say in this? Keep fighting or… I didn't finish the sentence.

I say nothing, Prince Jake. But I suggest that we wait for a better moment.

I say we give up. The Visser is right. We haven't got half a chance. Even with your tail, Ax. And we are already in for some serious trouble.

That's it, then, I sighed. Ax, they're going to want to tie your tail again. Just let them. We'll get out of here later. Somehow. But we can't leave Marco and Cassie.

They both nodded. Tobias started demorphing. I did, too. But before I went back to normal speech, I called out to Visser Three.

Visser! You've won this one, you stinking, jerky alien. It's a give.

Good, the Visser replied smugly. Very well. You'll all live. But this is the last time you will all be in that cage together.

The force field turned see-through again. We could see what was around us. And I didn't like what I saw. Visser Three and a thousand pointed dracon beams at full power.

An hour and fifty minutes later we were all Controllers again, after receiving a long, brutal "punishing". Another thing I'd prefer not to talk about. A living nightmare, and definitely one of the worst.

And I've been through quite many.





Chapter 19 Rachel

On the sixth day I was sitting in my tree again. As a eagle. I had just finished my lunch. Sushi. Again. Well, it was either that, rodent, or road-kill. And I hadn't really felt so eager to eat another rodent. Small, bony things. And road-kill was definitely off-limits.

After noon, maybe an hour or so, I saw a person walking through the woods. A person I couldn't help but to recognize. It was me! When I had been younger. A six- or seven-year-old version of me. Not an exact copy, but a fairly decent guess.

And she was carrying a camouflage-coloured hammock.

Jenny? I called. Is that you?

She looked around, and then nodded.

Talk, I said. I've got excellent ears. I can hear you.

"I've got news," Jenny said. Her hologram flicked from a young version of me to her own normal form. "They tried an escape this morning. But they didn't succeed."

Are they all right? I asked.

"Yes. Cassie got shot by a dracon beam, and Marco had a tranquilliser-dose that was as little too high, but they are fine now." She sighed. "But they're all very down-hearted."

I've gotto get them out of there, I said. There has to be a way. Just has to. I must have over-looked it.

"I can give you a fairly accurate account of their security."

Go on, I said. This might be useful.

"They've got BioFilters at every exit, set to Yeerk, Taxxon, Hork-Bajir, Human and Andalite. The best guarded entrances are those in the city. There is one near one of the Visser's old feeding-pastures, which isn't guarded very well. It's almost never used, and I guess they about forgot it. They've got around a hundred Hork-Bajir patrolling the pool area at all times, and now half of them are morph-able; mostly to humans, owls, falcons and to foxes."

Foxes? I asked. I though about the fox that had been shot by a dracon-beam. Shot for acquiring? And owls? And falcons? All three are useful morphs. Not as good for fighting as for spying, covering distances and finding things… or people.

Jenny nodded. "They also have some horrible alien morphs, like Visser Three has. But only the ones the Visser trusts… which aren't many."

Is there any way in… and out? I asked. Anything I can acquire to get in without being noticed?

Jenny shook her head. "Nothing you can get your hands on that has the authority you need to get them out of there."

Authority? Yes, I needed something that could tell people what to do. But also something I could acquire.

I suddenly got a lunatic idea. But one that only filled the first demand. I'd morph Visser Three! (Or at least his host, Alloran.)

I told Jenny about it.

"Wow," she said. "It might work."

What do you mean? It's impossible! I laughed. Absolutely impossible! How am I going to acquire VISSER THREE??!

"By tricking him, of course. Or do you think you can convince him to go along peacefully?"

The though made me giggle hysterically. Visser Three would LET ME acquire him? No way. He'd have me caged and infested in an instant. And then the small hope that I and most likely my friends were clinging to would go up in smoke.

"We still have some sources that haven't been revealed. Yet," Jenny said thoughtfully. "Even though they know all about us that Jake and the others know, they don't know anything from us. Since we aren't affected by torture or similar. It's just huge luck that the Yeerk peace movement Cassie's memories exposed didn't know about our sources. There are more than one peace movement, you know. So I can tell you the time for Visser Three's next feeding."

When? Where?

"So you want to go for it?"

What have I got to lose? I wondered. I'll go acquire some Yeerk scum at the first possible moment.

"I'll bring you to the place. The time is midnight, this evening. We better move directly to get there in time." She looked at the hammock curled up under her arm. "I thought you'd appreciate this. There's a blanket curled up inside it, too. But I don't know how to get it up into the tree."

How did you know I was up here? I said, alarmed. If she could see me, so could anybody else who were looking for me. Did you see me?

"No, don't worry," Jenny said, smiling warmly. She looked up. "I can't see anything. But I'm an android. I set my sensors to look for morphing energy, and then you're fairly easy to find."

Can the Yeerks do that?

"I certainly hope not. But they won't get this technology from us. Believe me. They might try to kill us but keep us well enough to investigate, but we can counter that by programming ourselves for self-termination. This type of technology in their hands would destroy much of the universe."

I fluttered down. I have a fairly large bird-morph, but I knew instantly that I would never be able to carry the hammock up into the tree. I'd have to take care of that later. I demorphed and we hid it and the blanket under some leaves. I'd try to put it up in the tree some other time.

"When will they all be in the pool again?" I asked Jenny.

"All of them? At the same time? They won't."

What? But…

"The Visser doesn't want any more escape attempts. So he is going to keep them separated as much as he can."

Then my chance is spoiled. I can't leave a few…

"Oh, just one. Only Ax's Yeerk is going to have a separate feeding schedule."

I can't leave the Ax-man, I said. I can't…

"There's no choice. You want to get your friends out of there? Then you better make it happen in two steps."

I looked down at her. I was very disappointed. I knew very well that I'd only get one good chance to try busting the Yeerk Pool.

When will the others all be in the cage? I asked. Determined not to give up just yet.

"In three days. They were there this morning, you know. Presently, they are scheduled for half past midnight, Monday night. Ax is going Tuesday morning, somewhere around four AM."

I looked at her, trying to remember what day it was.

"It's Saturday," Jenny enlightened me helpfully.

We started walking, with Jenny leading the way. I felt very weak and defenceless in my human form. And if you've ever walked through forest barefoot, you know that it is very uncomfortable before you get used to it. I hadn't gotten used to it. And my feet were already sore. I wanted to morph.

"How fast can you run?" I asked her. "And how far?"

"I don't really know," she replied. "I have never questioned the matter."

"I'm going the morph the wolf, because I don't feel safe at the moment," I informed her. "Think you can keep up?"

"Sure," she replied. "I'll just change my hologram to that of a wolf to arouse less suspicion."

The hologram flickered, and then Jenny looked like a wolf. I started morphing.

This time, since morphing never is logical, my hands and feet changed to paws before anything else. It was difficult to stand up straight like that, so I decided to sit down. That's about when I discovered that my knees had reversed direction and it was impossible to sit down in the ordinary way. Instead I lost my balance and fell…on my face. As I tried to get up again I noticed my arms had changed to the strong front legs of a wolf. I stood up carefully on all fours, and only then did my tail shoot out behind me and my head and still-human torso start changing. I still had human skin and nails and hair and my morphing outfit, but I had the shape of a wolf.

Very weird.

"Don't forget the fur," the wolf-looking android beside me said jokingly. "You look way creepy."

"Were-wolf," I tried to say. It came out as a mix of growls and whines. My vocals had already morphed. And my snout was growing outwards.

Then fur flashed over me in an instant. I could feel it popping out through my skin, hair by hair. And only then did my nails thicken and grow to thick, sturdy claws.

Let's go, I told Jenny.

She nodded, or her hologram did, and set of at a loping, fast wolf run.

Run? No problem. Wolves love running. I ran after her.





Chapter 20 Rachel

We ran. For what seemed a very long time. Not that I grew tired, no. Wolves don't get tired that easily. But I wasn't surprised when Jenny told me that I better stop to demorph and remorph before I got stuck as a wolf.

So I did. Then we continued, for what must have been another hour. That's when we arrived to a small green meadow. I could smell Hork-Bajir scents, even though they were a day or so old. I could also smell something similar to Ax's scent, which must have been Visser Three. And my sensitive wolf nose didn't like the Visser. I had this extra sense that told me to keep away. This was something bad. This scent meant trouble.

Yeah, I told myself dryly. Wish I could. I know he's trouble. I know that better than most people on this planet.

Now what is the plan? I asked Jenny.

"Plan? Sorry. You'll have to do that part. I'm not programmed for violence, and I guess that will have to be used."

Oh, I said. I started thinking.

We'd have to trick the Visser, of course. There was no other way. Preferably we'd have him stay still for a few moments, too. And preferably I'd have to sneak close to him without anybody seeing me.

What would happen to an Andalite if he falls over? I asked Jenny. He'd stay still for a few moments, right?

"If he hits his head, I guess," Jenny said. She talked in a very human way for being an android. You see, androids don't guess very often. They know. "But he's got four legs. How are you going to make him fall over?"

A little something called mud.

So that's what made me and Jenny carry a lot of water during the next hours (me as an elephant, filling up my trunk). And guess what happened after that, just when the meadow was muddy and slippery on small chosen patches under that neat, green grass?

Well, it started to rain. Really heavy rain, too. Isn't that typical? All that unnecessary work. We took shelter in a tree. Jenny hid us both under a hologram.

And we waited. I fixed the details on my plan. Which wasn't much of a plan. It basically called for the Visser to slip and somehow stay motionless long enough for me and Jenny to sneak up - hidden behind her hologram - and for me to acquire that Yeerk scum without him noticing it.

Most likely, we'd be running for our lives with the plan going quickly down the drain. And if that happened, I'd be caught for sure. This was a huge risk.

Jake would have told me it was too risky. Marco would be making some silly remarks about how it was all and TOTALLY INSANE… and I'd agree with him, just this once. Cassie would be worrying, and Ax would be keeping everything in mind with that excellent memory of his. Tobias would be on my side, of course. He mostly is. And it would end up with us going for it.

But this time, I was alone. Nobody to be on my side. Nobody saying it was too dangerous. Nobody going over everything again and again to find flaws. Nobody screaming about it being insane, and nobody worrying. Just little determined me. With a clear green "go" light.

We waited. The Blade Ship arrived right on time.

The Blade Ship is Visser Three's personal ship. It looks kind of like a medieval battleaxe. But it is huge! It's beyond huge. I wouldn't have seen it if the cloaking device had been on. But this was in the middle of nowhere. And I'd have bet my freedom that they'd have scanned the area. I was deeply thankful for that hologram that hid me and Jenny.

From the Blade Ship came five Bug fighters. They soared down to Earth, and then the cloaking device again covered the Blade Ship. I wondered why they had let it show at all. Maybe a signal to someone down on ground level.

If so, I hoped that someone hadn't noticed me.

The five Bug fighters landed in a semicircle near the edge of the meadow. Four of them opened, and out came… foxes! A dozen, at least, from each Bug fighter. The trees between them and I were limiting my sight.

As soon as the foxes were out, they ran around investigating and finally took positions here and there on the edges of the field. Some of them so near our hiding place that I was sure they'd hear my breathing. Then they demorphed into Hork-Bajir.

Of course! They'd come out as foxes, using fox senses and fox vision - foxes have good night-vision - to look about. Then they'd secure the area as Hork-Bajir. And foxes are smaller, so you can fit more of them in a Bug fighter than you would full-grown Hork-Bajir.

A Bug-fighter only holds one Taxxon pilot and one Hork-Bajir.

It looked like I had guessed correctly. The Yeerks did have the morphing cube.

And that made them a hundred times as dangerous.

"Ready?" I whispered to Jenny.

"Nope," she replied.

"And are you sure you can make your hologram camouflage us as the surroundings? So they can't notice anything wrong?"

"Nope," Jenny said again. "I've never done that before. I've done holograms, making things look different, not trying to make something look invisible."

"Is it possible?"

"Of course. I'll just have to change my hologram very quickly."

I took a deep breath. "I trust you, Jenny."

"Don't say that. I don't want you to say that now. What other choice do you have?"

I smiled uneasily.

We climbed out of the tree. I kept close to the dog-like robot that was the android in it's real form. The dog-like robot that walked on two legs and was the real Jenny, without her hologram to make her look human. We were inside the hologram.

We could see out. They couldn't see in. So as we walked out on the meadow, slowly, I felt very scared. Very, very scared.

The others call me fearless. They call me Xena: Warrior Princess. But I've got lots of fear. And that was one moment when I was reminded of it.

I just ignore fear mostly. I try to handle it. But many times that is very hard. I'm good at controlling emotions, I guess. And mostly anger lets me overlook fear. So I tried to get angry.

This was the tyrant that tried to enslave my entire species. The evil-doer that had been responsible for the capture of my friends. The monster who had eaten Elfangor alive.

And generally just a lousy person.

I though about all the bad things Visser Three had done. I thought about how annoying Marco was. I thought about the screaming down in the Yeerk pool. It all made me afraid. But also angry. Angry enough to keep the fear on a short leash, at least. And afraid enough to keep my anger on a short leash.

I hoped.

For that's when Visser Three himself daintily stepped out of the fifth Bug fighter, in his stolen Andalite body.

He looked around. He trotted over the grass on his hollow Andalite hooves.

Yes, hollow. Andalites feed my crushing plants under their hooves as they run, and absorbing them through the same hooves. So the Visser would run over the grass.

But would he run on the mud? Would he slip? Would he hit his head or something to stay still long enough for me and Jenny to reach him?





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Author's Note;

I'll put more up later. Don't forget to review.