Children of the Andalites Chapter 1: The Protector

by Sarah aka DEVI

My friend Lauren and I are HUGE animorph finatics. So why not put us in the story somewhere?-_-'....Hopefully will have more chapters to come... :) I do suck@summaries-_-'....Please R&R

2. Children of the Andalites Chapter 2: The...

The Rescue

Chapter #1

My name is Wisteria-Delphini-Saramistrum. My human name is Sara. That much I can tell you. To tell any more would be too dangerous. The Yeerks are everywhere, so we have to be very careful what we tell people. My friends and I are called the Animorphs. That's what Marco came up with, or so I'm told. You could probably call me the newcomer to the group. There are six others- Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco, Tobias, and Ax. We are the only defense for Earth against the Yeerks- the Animorphs.

I was going to Cassie's barn for one of our meetings. Rachel was going to meet me and then we would fly to Cassie's house. You're probably thinking what in the world would we be doing flying to Cassie's house? If that's the case then let me back up for a moment.

My friends and I have the special power to morph into any animal we please as long as we can touch it and absorb their DNA. This is our only weapon against the Yeerks.

The Yeerks are a species of aliens that take over the minds of other species. In their natural form they are nothing more than a rat-sized slug. They wrap themselves around their victims and take complete control of their minds. The terrible thing is that you are totally conscious of what is happening. Jake was a controller for them once. A Controller is anyone with a Yeerk in its head. There are Human controllers, Hork-Bajir controllers, Taxxon controllers, and so on. There is only one Andalite controller- Visser Three. He is our most lethal enemy, in control of the Yeerk invasion of Earth.

That day I was sitting at our house waiting for Rachel. I was outside on the grass barefoot. I just love the taste of grass. Now you're probably wondering why I was eating grass. Well I wasn't. You see, I am half Andalite and half human. I didn't know my parents. So instead I live with Uncle Gran who was an Andalite but then he became human. The things I inherited from my Andalite parent were superior running abilities, using thought speak when not in morph, radiant green eyes, and having to eat grass through my feet. This means every week or so I have to eat a portion of grass to get certain nutrients.

After a few minutes, Rachel appeared. She and Cassie are good friends of mine. In fact we are best friends. Rachel is one of those rare people that is drop-dead gorgeous. She is tall with long blond hair. She looks like one of those ditzy air-headed models until you get to know her. She is actually a good warrior, excellent at fighting.

"Hi Sar," she said, "ready to go?"

"Sure," I said "Let's go but let me get my purse."

We then dashed inside and went up to my room. Our house is the only place we are safe from the Yeerks. I pulled down the blinds and pulled off my outer clothes to reveal a light blue leotard. We were ready to morph.

"Okay," Rachel said, "Here we go again."

I closed my eyes and concentrated. A benefit of the Andalite/human cross genes is that I can speed morph. Very quickly, I felt myself drop. My skin sprouted red and brown feathers and my teeth mushed together to form a beak. In about 15 seconds, I had become a red tailed hawk. I opened my now very keen eyes and saw Rachel about halfway through her bald eagle morph. In about 30 seconds she was finished.

What took you?I said in thought speak.

Ha ha very funny. Rachel replied

We flew out my window and took to the air.

Chapter #2

Two birds of prey landed with a whoosh in a pile of old hay, scattering feathers.

Nice landing! perked up Tobias.

Humph. I muttered. easy for you to say. Rachel ignored him. She was busy unmorphing.

" So, what's the big news?" she asked as soon as she had a mouth. I followed her example and we went to sit in the circle where the rest of the Animorphs were waiting for us.

There are five others in our group. I took my usual place next to Cassie, my other best friend. She is kind of dreamy and loves animals. I think she likes animals more than she likes most people. Her dad runs a wildlife rehabilitation center in the barn. That's where we get most of our morphs. Cassie is our animal expert and the best morpher. I may be a very quick morpher but Cassie can make it almost an art form-very pretty and artistic.

Next to her is Jake, called Prince Jake by Ax. He is sort of our leader in a way. He is stockily built, with brown hair. Jake is generally very serious, but he knows when to laugh. Jake is Rachel's cousin. I sort of feel sorry for him because his brother, Tom, is one of them.

Next to him is ever so cocky Marco, also Jake's best friend. They have known each other since they were both in diapers. He is short, with short hair which supposedly used to be longer. He is a huge joker that can find a joke in everything. I think that without him, we would all go insane from the risks we have to take.

If you looked any farther and did not pay any attention to a word I have said, you would have dropped dead away because next was Ax, also known as Aximili-Essarough-Istill. He is an Andalite stranded on Earth. To describe an Andalite, think of a deer with the head and torso of a human; similar to a mythical centaur. Now dip that creature in blue and tan paint, give it a scorpion tail, take its mouth, give it stalk eyes, and very green eyes. Voila, an Andalite. He is Prince Elfangor's younger brother. Ax lives in the woods behind Cassie's barn with Tobias.

Tobias came down from the rafters and landed squarely on my shoulder. Tobias is a hawk now, but he used to have very dreamy eyes, hair that's always a mess, and a tendency to be a bully target. He stayed a hawk for more than 2 hours, the deadly time limit for a morph, so now he is a red- tailed hawk. Tobias just recently got the ability to morph again and got his human form again. I don't know what it is, but I feel somewhat attracted to him, but not in the way you think. Its almost brotherly.

Everyone looked at Jake, who looked at Ax. Ax looked uncomfortable.

We have a problem." he began.

"Oh really." Marco said sarcastically. "I thought we were coming here to discuss the new movie coming out this Friday. As if we ever do that anymore, between saving the world and saving the world again."

Rachel looked like she was about to make some sharp remark, but before she could speak Ax looked at Marco in astonishment.

How did you guess? It seems the Yeerks have been getting a decrease in the number of new Sharing inductees, and they have come up with another method to get bodies. He paused a moment.

"Well? Well?" Cassie urged with a mixture of excitement and fear.

They transmit thought waves through a visual display, what you call a movie. The screen shows a certain mixture of colors that causes complete hypnosis. When all the audience is out, Human-controllers will walk the aisles, placing a Yeerk by each person's ear. In less than a minute- the Andalite broke off, overcome with fury.

" There'll be a whole auditorium of human-controllers, and more with each showing!" I concluded with amazement.

"Exactly," Jake said

"So what are we to do about it?" Rachel asked "I mean, it's not a good idea to just waltz in and say Hi, we're here to stop the movie theater so get out now!"

"Ooh," Marco exclaimed, "and this is coming from Xena: Warrior Princess."

"Hmm," I said. While Rachel and Marco fought, I was in deep thought.

Cassie says that whenever I get a crazy idea, which usually happens, my eyes glow even more than their usual green. This was happening at that very moment.

Uh oh, Tobias said Hey, idea alert idea alert. You guys, Sara has an idea.

"Oh boy," Marco said "Okay Sara out with it. Let's hear it." I frowned at Marco, thinking hard.

"What if we sneak into the theater, in morph of course, find the projection room, and get rid of the phoney movies. Then the Yeerks won't have their movies any more and people will be saved, even if they don't see Star Wars. Well what do you think?" Everyone turned expectantly to Rachel. She grinned.

"Let's do it!" she yelled and sighed in thought-speak to me. We always know Rachel will go for our insane ideas. If she doesn't, we've got something to worry about.

"Well," Marco said," I'd hate to disagree with Xena here, so I'm for it." The rest of us nodded consent.

"Hey," Cassie added, " It sounds almost easy compared to some of the jobs we've done. No Hork-Bajir, for example. Or Taxxons."

Darn, Tobias said in mock disappointment. I was really looking forward to slashing up some of those disgusting worms.

"So, when is the first showing?" I asked Ax.

" Five minutes." he said calmly.

"Five minutes?!" we all shrieked.

"Let's get going! Rachel cried. Cassie was already halfway into her osprey morph.

"Hey, wait up!" I said to Cassie. In about 5 seconds I was at the same point as she was in morphing to my red tail hawk morph. I don't know what it is, but Tobias always gets nervous whenever I use this morph. Maybe it's because my morph is female. I don't know. By the time I was finished with my morph, the others will still about a quarter through their morph except for Cassie who was almost done.

Okay Spock, Marco said, Show me how you morph so fast. Spock is Marco's nickname for me due to my Andalite half.

Sorry, classified information. I said with an invisible smirk.

Chapter #2

After everyone was in morph, we caught a thermal outside and flew as fast as we could to the movie theater.

Moments later, a strange assortment of birds that would have shocked any birdwatcher landed behind a Dumpster in the back of the movie theater and quickly morphed back into their true shapes. All except Tobias, that is. Then we morphed into flies and set off for the entrance. Tobias was growling in frustration.

Anyone see any bugs I can acquire? he called out. We were busy zipping about in glee. Being a bug has its pleasures.

WHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! WHHHHOOOOOOPPPP- Oh, sorry, Tobias. There's a fly- wait... Jake, is that you? I called in thought-speech. There was no reply from the fly in question. Go for it, Tobias! I shrieked, doing a double flip. He flew carefully toward the insect and snatched it delicately with a talon, descending to earth.

Go ahead! he cried. I'll catch up.. Soon a fly buzzed through a door along with a large family. He joined us and we flew toward theater 3, which had 'Return of the Jedi: Now Showing' glowing above the double doors. We were waiting to slip in when Cassie cried out in dismay. Look! she cried. Theater 2! We looked, and saw with shock that theater 2 was showing "The Empire strikes Back".

Ax, I said nervously, Do you happen to know WHICH Star Wars movie the Yeerks were using as their coverup?

Uh... said Ax. I sighed.

Well, that's just peachy! said Marco in annoyance. What are we supposed to do, just hop into one of the projection rooms and ask, 'Hey! Are you a Yeerk, or what?' ? I don't think so!

We have to split up, said Jake. Rachel, Tobias, Sara- you go to Return of the Jedi. Cassie, Ax, Marco- you're with me. If you see C-3PO instead of swirling Yeerk treachery, get to our theater as quickly as you can. Let's go! We slipped in with a red-headed teenager, and as the door shut, Ax called after us-

Don't look straight at the colors if you see them! Look out of the corner of your eye! but could not tell if his cries had been heard.

Did Ax say something? Rachel asked

I don't know, I replied Something about not looking directly at the screen. We better follow his advice.

My compound eyes saw a door as we were going towards the theater. When looking through the eyes of a fly, everything is broken up, like watching millions of tiny TV sets forming one picture. I could just barely read out: PROJECTION ROOM CINEMA 3.

Hey over here! I yelled I think this is it!

Okay, well let's go! Rachel said. She never fails to turn down a mission.

We all veered up the stairs. There was a crack in the wall that we flew through. It was a dark hallway, but we finally reached the projection room. It was dark, and full of movies, old and new. We all morphed out, with Tobias back in his hawk body. I got out of my fly morph as fast as I could. Being a fly is fun, but there is a picture in the back of my head that shows me on the sports section, literally.

This must be where they show those old film festivals. Tobias remarked. Look at all these old movies.

"Well, let's get to work, Rachel." I said. No reply. "Rachel?"

Rachel was just staring at the screen through the window in the projection room. I looked at her eyes. The irises were completely swallowed up by her pupils. She was just staring. Then I remembered Ax's warning: Don't look directly at the screen. Rachel had looked.

"Tobias," I said, fear in my voice. "Don't look at the screen. It got Rachel." But Tobias had been swallowed up too. "NO, not you too!" I was hysterical with fear. I was alone, with the possibility of a controller walking through at any moment.

I very carefully turned and stared at the wall. I focused on the screen out of the corner of my eye. Indeed, there was an array of colors, swirling. It was tempting to just turn and take the full blast of the hypnosis, just to watch the colors swirl. But I fought it and turned my attention on Tobias.

"Tobias!" I said, desperate. "Tobias wake up!" I shook him, trying to snap him out of it, but it was no use. I had one last chance.

Tobias, I said through thought-speak. It was the only way I could speak to him that I could think of that he would hear me. I know you can hear me. Please, wake up. You must try, I can't do this alone. I know your unconscious mind can hear me. Fight, Tobias, fight!

For a moment nothing happened, then the hawk shook himself and staggered.

OOOOHHHH, my head. he said. I just wanted to pick him up and hug the poor bird, but I had to shut down the projector. Time was running out.

Chapter #3

"Okay, Tobias, you rest, but I will have a job for you in a moment. I would try to get Rachel out of the hypnosis, but there's no time. The controllers will be walking down the aisles any moment."

While Tobias rested, I concentrated on the projector. It was a new model, fairly simple to operate. I opened it up, and ripped the tape. I know it sounds silly, but I was mad at the Yeerks for hypnotizing my friends. The picture stopped abruptly stopped, just as the controllers were walking down the aisles. As far as I could tell, there were no new controllers in the audience. As the picture stopped, everyone woke up, so to speak, including Rachel.

"Whoa, what happened?" she asked "I was just out of morph and I saw a really pretty picture on the screen. I just watched it, until now."

"Let's just say you were getting very sleepy." I said with a laugh. I then got the tape out of its projector and set it in front of Tobias, Rachel, and I. "Okay," I said, "Let 'er rip!"

We all tore into the tape as much as we could. It had to be totally destroyed, so there would be no more infestations via movie. Within two minutes, we had it so there would be no way anyone could play it again.

"Okay, c'mon" I said, nervous, "Let's go before the controllers get here. The Controllers saw the film stop. They'll be here at any moment."

We all morphed into bugs as fast as we could. Just as we were all done, the controllers came in. Unfortunately, they noticed us as well.

"There! the three flies!" one said "The Andalite Bandits!"

"Get them!" another said. A shower of hands came down around us.

Let's go! Tobias yelled. We all flew out of there as fast as we could. The controllers tried to keep up, but hey! You know how hard it is to catch a fly. We headed for theater 2 to join up with Jake, Cassie, and the others.

Chapter #4

We didn't have to go very far, because coming the other way was a group of Controllers that were swatting papers at some more flies.

Is that you guys? I yelled out.

No, its the fly acrobats extraordinaire! Marco called out. OF COURSE IT'S US!!!! NOW LET'S GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE WE BECOME FLY PATE'!!!!

Unfortunately the controllers were blocking the door to the outside. Everywhere there were controllers, including some Hork-Bajir. Apparently, all of the normal humans were out of the building. There was no way to get out. If we tried, we would be greeted by a volley of hands and fly swatters. A man stepped out of the crowd and looked at us mockingly.

"Ah my little Andalite Bandits, having some difficulty?" It was the voice of our worst enemy, Visser Three. He had discovered us and was going to finish it now. However, I had other plans.

Everyone, the way we got into the projection room was through a crack in the wall. We can go in there to morph into some more dangerous animals. I yelled.

It's the best chance we've got Jake said, Let's move!

We flew as fast as we could. The Controllers were going as fast as they could, but we were faster, due to the fact that they were trying to keep everything clean to show no clues to their intrusion. We got to the crack and morphed out as fast as we could. I was out of my morph in about three seconds, I was so scared.

Lock the door! Jake yelled. I practically flew to the door and turned the lock.

I then started focusing on a new morph. Since I'm half Andalite, I can morph deceased animals as long as I have a piece of genuine DNA. This includes dinosaurs. You don't want to know how I got dinosaur DNA.

Chapter #5

I started to grow a little as I reached about 6 feet high. My skin grew leathery as my backbone stretched into a tail. My head grew to accommodate my huge brain. The last touch was when a huge claw sprouted out of my big toe. Then, I had become a vicious velicoraptor. Everyone was morphing to fight the controllers. Ax morphed back to himself because he can do a lot of damage as an Andalite. Tobias stayed a hawk, Marco morphed a gorilla, Jake became a tiger, and Cassie and Rachel became wolves. Rachel would have been an elephant, but they are too big.

Welcome...to Jurassic Spock. Marco said to me. Can you open doors too?

Yes. I said bluntly.

Oh..Uh okay. he replied. We all had to laugh. We would need it in afew minutes.

Nothing like a little bluntness to stop Marco's jokes. Rachel said

Okay everyone, Jake said try not to kill any of the controllers. They might be someone's auntie or uncle.

Right, I said Let's go!

Uh oh, Marco said Hey Xena, I think we found Gabrielle.

Stop it Marco. Rachel said, tense They are starting to break down the door. Indeed, we could hear pounding on the other side of the door. We stopped talking and got ready for battle.

Nothing happened. No Controllers knocked down the door. No hand-held Dracon beams or, even worse, flypaper lashed out at us.

What's going on? asked Cassie.

Shh! I responded. I hear something....it's the manager! Even though the Controllers had tried to be quiet, the theater's manager had noticed the noise and come to investigate. we listened through the splintering door.

"Awright, boys, what's the problem? I let ya have this theater special to show yer little 'Star Guns' thing or whatever it's called, an' now I find a theater full of confused an' angry people who look like they were hit over the head with a sledgehammer, an' you guys breakin' up my door! What gives? Do ya wanna be thrown out?"

He's not a Controller! Jake thought gleefully.

It seems the Yeerks forgot something. said Ax grimly. They didn't-

Shhhhh! Marco broke in. Somebody's talking!

"We are dreadfully sorry for the problem, sir." one of the Controllers spoke up with barely contained hatred. " You see-"

"We have to get in there!" suddenly a voice broke out with urgency. "There are dangerous animals loose in the projection room, and-"

"I see." the manager interrupted. "Animals, huh. Whatever you say. Now, why don't ya boys run along. Come with me and you'll be able to rest in a nice, cool cell. It might get rid of some of these crazy ideas you seem to have."

"No!" cried the voice that had broken in. "Please! Just look in the room, and you'll see. Hurry!"

"Well, all right," grumbled the manager. "But don't try anything funny..."

Hurry! I cried. Hide behind something and morph back! We morphed as quickly as we could, then into our various bug shapes so we could easily hide. The manager was turning the key in the lock as I finished morphing into my fly. But not everyone was done yet. Ax was a shrunken Andalite with a fly's head and two fly legs. Rachel was done. Cassie was a gross bug of unidentifiable origin. Jake and Marco were almost finished. Tobias, not used to morphing, was still a hawk.

I can't do it! he cried. I'm so tired!

Sure you can! I shrieked. You have to!

I can't! he moaned.

Hide! hissed Rachel. You're small enough!

At that moment the door swung open to reveal Tobias trying to edge behind a box. Scared out of his wits, he still had the sense to act like a hawk. Shrieking, he flew frantically around the room. The manager looked condescendingly at the Controllers entering the room.

"Well, I'll admit there's somethin' here, but it ain't enough to break down a door for. Awright, I'll let ya off this time, if you can help me capture this bird and release it outside." A Controller looked at Tobias with mixed disbelief and fury.

"Why don't we just kill it?" he asked with contempt. "Much easier and quicker." The manager looked at him in shock.

"I happen to like animals, buddy. You ain't doin' anything to that there bird, not while I'm around." The Controller looked at him with interest.

"Yeerk," he whispered to his companion, who carefully pulled something brown and slimy from a pouch at his hip. Tobias saw.

"SSSSSSSSSSSKKKKKKKKKKRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" he screamed down at the luckless Controller, who froze. Tobias grabbed the Yeerk in his talons and shrieked out the door with it. Unnoticed, six bugs followed.

Chapter #7

We flew at top speed on Tobias's back back to Cassie's barn. We were praying that there would be no birdwatchers out and see a red tailed hawk holding a huge slug. Eventually, we got back and crawled out of our morphs. All that rapid morphing had made us all extremely tired. Believe me, morphing takes a lot out of you.

After I got out of my fly morph, I collapsed on the floor. Tobias attempted to land on my shoulder but missed and landed in my lap. I gently took the writhing Yeerk from his talons and handed it to Ax. Just touching it made me very queasy. Then I got an idea.

"Ick," Marco said "so now we have a foot long slug."

Cassie then perked up. "Can this thing hear us?" she asked tensely.

I don't believe so. Ax said. I could tell that he just wanted to crush the slug. Extensive research has not been conducted.

"So what do we do with this thing?" Rachel asked.

"Well, I know one thing we can use it for." I said "Ax, give me the Yeerk."

He handed it to me, and I held it in my hands for a moment before closing my eyes and concentrating. I started to acquire the slug's DNA. Acquiring takes a lot of concentration, but it can be done. Frankly, I thought it was really gross, but we may need a Yeerk in the

future, and this may be our only chance to get it.

"Good thinking Sara," Jake said, "but it still leaves the problem of what to do with it."

"I say we kill it." Rachel said bluntly.

Cassie's eyebrows went up.

"I have an idea." she said. "We've killed too many Yeerks to count, right?" I shivered inwardly. I will never get used to killing.

"Right," I answered with an inaudible sigh. Cassie continued.

"So, why don't we leave this Yeerk to some people who haven't had the same luck we've had?" she cringed as she said this. Cassie doesn't like killing any more than I do.

"Who who who who who?" Marco asked impatiently. Cassie glared at him.

"If certain owls would shut up, maybe I'd tell you." she snapped. Cassie had had a long day. "You remember those Hork-Bajir we freed not too long ago? How about we let them have a go?"

"Let's go!" cried Rachel, talons already appearing on her feet and down sprouting out of her arms. Minutes later, we dropped a squirming Yeerk in front of the two Hork-Bajir. To our surprise, Jara Hamee, the Hork-Bajir we had rescued not too long ago, leapt up with fury and fear in his strange eyes. Before we could stop him, Jara Hamee had sliced the Yeerk neatly into two.

He looked satisfied.

"Well, that's one less Yeerk." Jake said.

"And one more morph." I added with a smirk.

"Jara Hamee kill Yeerk!" Jara said. "Yeerks no take Jara Hamee again! Safe in valley with Ket."

"Well, okay," Marco said, "so now that we have a new morph, we will obviously be using it immediately. So what is the plan?"

"What about..." I paused.

"Next idea!" Cassie said.

"Since we have found that Yeerks can take over the bodies of other beings, why don't we use my morph to find out how to fight the control. The we can sneak into the Yeerk pool, get to the imprisoned beings, and secretly tell them how to fight. The only problem is that one of us will need to be my host to find out how to fight."

"Sounds good, Sara." Jake said. "You'll need a host though, like you said. Since I've been a controller, I'll help."

"Okay, let's try this out." Marco said, "Jara, don't go salad shooting Sara now, okay."

"Jara Hamee will not hurt Animorph. Animorph will free more Hork-Bajir."

Jara said with a smile.

"We sure hope so Jara." Rachel said.

"Here goes nothing." I said.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. The first thing I felt was falling, extreme falling. Then all my bones went to mush. My sight dimmed, then vanished completely. My skin became slimy and gray. I braced myself for the conscious mind of the Yeerk. This Yeerk was strong, but

I managed to beat it down. During the fight, I managed to learn the Yeerk's name- Franon-nine-three-four.

You were right Sara. Tobias said. You became nothing.

Haha very funny. Why don't you try morphing a Yeerk sometime then? Then you can beat down its mind. I said.

Ax then picked me up and placed me next to Jake's ear.

Ready? I asked

"Ready," he replied. I could tell he was just as nervous as I was.

I crawled into his ear and traveled to his brain. Frankly, it totally grossed me out, but we needed to find a weakness in the Yeerk.

Still with me Jake? I asked

Yeah, barely. he replied. I was at his conscious mind, so I could hear his thoughts.

Okay, Jake, I said, now try to stop me. I will try to gain control. I could feel Jake trying to repel me, but I was still more powerful. Hmm, I said. What about if we had a normal fight between human and Yeerk? I will attempt to get motor control while you try to stop me. He tried, with all his might, but I could still get control. As I thought, I noticed a small fear within the Yeerk. It was afraid of the brain section where the instincts were kept. Jake, I said Listen carefully. I found a place in the brain where the Yeerk is afraid. Its the place where instincts are held. Try to use that against me. I could feel him struggle hard, which is understandable. Most cannot access that part of the brain. As he worked, I felt him gain strength. Suddenly, I had no control whatsoever! The Yeerk was repelled out of Jake's brain! I fell with a thump onto the grass. We found it! I shrieked while I morphed. We found the Yeerk's weakness!

Chapter #8

Minutes later, we were at the Yeerk pool beneath the mall. I was in Jake's head, in control. He couldn't use our new knowledge to stop it because then our cover would be blown. Nervously, we stopped near the entrance and started thinking.

What about Tom? Jake worried. If he's there, will notice me. He might be able to tell if I wasn't truly under control. I need to morph. I thought hard.

There's no way, I said, That we can just grab someone. We'll have to disguise you. We went into a costume store and bought a makeup kit. Luckily Jake had brought money. As we were on our way to the restroom to apply it, I spoke up.

This is so cool, I said.

What? Jake whispered.

I've never been in the boys' bathroom before. I replied. Jake blushed.

"Just one of the privileges of being an Animorph, I guess," he muttered. Being embarrassed, he forgot to speak to me as a host. He was able to do this because I had relinquished control being out of the Yeerk pool. A tall boy with greasy black hair in spikes and a walkman on his ears turned toward us.

"Ya talkin' to me, boy?" he asked.

"No," Jake said, "Just talking to myself." The boy shook his head and began walking. " "Maniac," he muttered.

What an idiot! Jake remembered to speak silently. "I'm not the maniac, he- Hey! What's wrong, Sara?"

He was a Controller, I said in shock. We turned into the bathroom. Jake went into a stall and I slipped away from his brain and sat on top of the toilet paper.

"How," said Jake, "Did you know he was a Controller?" He began to put on the makeup.

I don't know, I replied. I guess if I really concentrate, I can see it. I could see the Yeerk inside his head!

"You're kidding right?" Jake replied. But I wasn't. I was concentrating on the weird guy, and then I saw a Yeerk in his head, all slimy and wrapped around his brain. "This could be good." he said. Then we will know when people are Controllers or not."

Maybe, I replied. Anyway, could you leave the stall for a moment? I need to morph out. I know what you are going to say, I'll be careful and keep my feet on the toilet seat so no one can see me. He left to finish his makeup while I rested for a moment.

"Ready?" Jake whispered to me.

"Yeah," I replied. "just give me a moment to morph and unlock the door." I unlocked the door, and then went back into my very disgusting Yeerk morph. When Jake opened the door, he saw a Yeerk sitting on the toilet paper again. He leaned over so I could slide back in his ear.

So do you know where the entrance is? I asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "Its in that dressing room, like before. I guess no one really cared that time because one Taxxon isn't much of a loss to them."

Okay, I replied as we went to the dressing room. Listen carefully. When we get in there, you pretend to be a voluntary controller. That way, we can sneak in better. You let me out into the pool and I'll go into the next involuntary controller and get over to the cages. Then I'll secretly tell them the Yeerks' weakness and get out of there quickly. Then you'll go to the bathroom or something and morph into a bug. We'll meet up outside.

"Now you're sounding to sound like me." Jake said. "Here's the dressing room." He grabbed a shirt and went into the dressing room. "Let's see if I remember how to do this." He found the entrance and we went down.

This was my first time in a Yeerk pool and it totally freaked me out. You first hear the gentle sound of waves which is kind of soothing, then you hear the screams of innocent people being made into controllers. They cut into me like a knife. I shuddered inside Jake's brain.

"Horrible isn't it?" He said.

Okay, let's make this expeditious. I said.

We walked down to the pier, and Jake let me off. This was where I was really alone. The Yeerk pool was really weird. There were what seemed to be thousands of Yeerks around me, all swimming in this gunk. I acted like them, and made my way to the infesting pier. There was a person being infested at the moment, so I decided to wait for the next person. A person's head was shoved in, and I made a beeline for it. I managed to get in before this person's Yeerk came.

I slithered in, and the person came out gagging, swearing at me. The voice was vaguely familiar, so I did a quick check of his memory. I know it was nosy, but I got the distinct feeling that this person had to be saved desperately. I saw many files with Jake in them. That, I thought, was weird. Then, the thought hit me like lightning. I was in Tom, Jake's big brother.

Tom? I asked. He stopped struggling. No, no, keep struggling, they might know something's up. Listen, I'm here to help you. I'm the newest Andalite bandit, the velociraptor that you saw. Listen, I will help you, but you need to do exactly as I say.

Tom tried to control his feelings. But he was miserable, confused, and in great emotional pain as well.

"No!" he cried. "You lie!"

Shut up! I shrieked in his head, putting a little of the Yeerks' will into it. I wouldn't have been so harsh, but five Taxxons and a human were heading our way. Tom jerked and collapsed on the floor. The human had pushed him.

"Who lies, fool? Tell us, quietly. We don't want to be heard by the happy shoppers." I thought of (and heard) the screams of the humans tricked into joining the Sharing and consequently put on the waiting list to be Controlled, and I knew this was just a ploy to scare Tom. Before I could will him not to speak, the words squeezed out.

"Yeerk....in.....head.....says.....is.....Andalite.." The Taxxons leapt up and looked as if they were about to rip me out of Tom's head, but the human stopped them with a wave of his hand. It occurred to me then that this human must be some important person, just to order the Taxxons around so easily. I searched my brain, the Yeerks' brain. The Yeerk knew this human! I reached into the mind and tried to find the information.

The human looked into Tom's eyes.

"Well, my little slug brother, it seems your host thinks your are an Andalite bandit. I suggest you come out of his head before I blast you both to smithereens." He took out a Dracon gun. Tom stirred, coming to his senses.

"No......Visser....."

At that moment it came to me. Of course! Visser Three! Our most hated enemy, who had only recently acquired a human morph. I nearly started hissing insults at him, but remembered the possibility that the Yeerk would be able to tell if I was an Andalite, human or Yeerk by hearing my thought- speak. I stayed silent and stayed put. The Visser raised the Dracon beam. Tom closed his eyes and I sent a silent goodbye to all the Animorphs. I was on Marco when I suddenly had an idea. With a flash I took control of Tom's mind, leapt up and knocked the Visser over. I (Tom) grabbed the Dracon gun and ran off, firing wildly at any Taxxon or suspicious human I saw. As I ran I (Tom) shouted,

"Humans! Listen to me! Access the instincts part of your brain! The Yeerks are afraid of instincts! I AM WORKING TO SAVE YOU ALL- US ALL! " I don't know what possessed me to say that last bit, but I don't think the Yeerks were listening very hard. Tom and I dashed up to the entrance. I (Tom) quickly dashed into another dressing room stall and locked the door. I practically leapt out of Tom's brain and demorphed. He gaped at me. Tom was panting and completely confused and lost.

"You're.....not.....Andalite..." he gasped out. I nodded.

"I know!" I said. "Hurry! You go on and mingle with the crowd. I'll meet you at Natural Wonders." he hesitated. "Please!" I cried. "You have to help me! The human-controllers will come up soon, and they'll shoot you on sight!" He hesitated a moment, then left. I sighed with relief and quickly became a bug. Luckily I still had energy left from my adrenaline rush from the fight. As soon as I was morphed, I set off to find Jake. When I told him of my rescue, his compound eyes nearly burst out of his little fly head.

I thought it was Rachel that did that kind of thing, he said. I guess Marco was right about Gabrielle. I ignored him.

Jake, I said, I left Tom at Natural Wonders. We need to get there fast. The controllers will be here in any moment.

Okay, he replied. I could tell he was nervous. Jake wanted his brother back, badly. go into the girl's bathroom and morph out. I'll go to the boys' bathroom. Get Tom, then meet me outside by Barnes & Noble. I'll stay out of sight or Tom will know that I am another "Andalite bandit."

Okay, go! I yelled and flew at top speed for the bathroom. I morphed out at lightning speed and dashed for Natural Wonders. Well, not really, but I did walk fast. Once I got there, I wandered in nonchalantly and pretended to look at the gardening stuff. I saw Tom over by the music rack, every few moments jerking around to see who was watching.

Tom, I said in thought speak, Over here, by the gardening stuff. Wander your way over here.

He jerked to see me shocked to see me use thought speak, and came over. "Hi, Tom!" I said, doing my best to look surprised to see him.

"Uh, hi, uh,"

Sara! I whispered.

"Uh yeah, uh hi Sara."

"Hey! Did you see the sale over at Barnes and Noble?"

"Um, no, I didn't." He was catching on quickly.

"Why don't we go check it out?"

"Okay."

All we needed to do now was get outside and get to the bookstore across the street. Jake would meet us outside the store. Then my Uncle would pick Tom up in disguise of course across the street. Jake and I would morph into our birds and get back. We wandered outside where I saw Jake, still in his disguise.

"Hi Jack!" I said to Jake. Even though we had no intention of losing Tom, it would be safer to use an alias for Jake, just until Tom was safe.

"Hi Sar!" he called back, and walked over. I could tell that he was virtually crawling out of his skin with happiness for seeing Tom free.

"Going to B&N?"

"Yep. Care to come along?"

"Sure." We started to walk over to the book store, with a very confused Tom. When we got there, we all went to the magazines carefully looking for my uncle. We stayed near the window, so if he came, we could get out of there in a hurry.

Tom, I said in thought speak. I wanted to tell him the plan. In a few minutes my uncle will be here with the car. You will dash out when I say so and get in the car. He will drive you back to your house. Jack and I will follow.

"Um, how can-- how can you use thought speak?" Tom asked. I understood how he felt.

I'm half Andalite. Its one of those genetic things. Don't worry, it's actually a pretty powerful weapon. Wait a sec, is that his car? I had seen my Uncle's car pull up to the parking lot. However, it would take a moment. There was a block at the lot. The Yeerks had probably anticipated that Tom could not just fly away and so were not letting any cars in. Now the fun began.

"Sara," Jake said with much fear in his voice. "I think that that clerk is a controller. I could almost swear that he was holding a dracon beam. Can you check him?"

"I'll try." I replied uneasily and began to concentrate really hard. It took me a moment, but I then got a clear image of the clerk's head. There was a Yeerk wrapped around his brain. "Controller!" I hissed.

"Hey Jack," I said picking up a really heavy hardcover. "I hear that this is a good book."

"That book?" he replied, playing along. "Its terrible!" The controller was now a couple of steps away.

"I know." I smirked and then knocked the controller's dracon beam away. Immediately we were overrun by controllers.

I thought fast.

"Aaaaugh! Help! I'm being mugged!" I shrieked. The customers looked up in shock. They had not noticed us being attacked- the Controllers worked quietly.

"What a day to leave my mace at home!" I moaned, grabbing the dracon beam from where it lay wedged between my arm and the floor. A large man wrestled the confused Controllers away from us and helped me up. Jake was rubbing his arm and Tom had a bruise or two, but they seemed all right.

"Are you okay, miss?" the man asked. I looked at him and concentrated. He was clear.

He's not a controller, I confided to Tom and Jake, while answering my okayness to the man. I thanked him. He looked relieved.

"Just think, muggers in my own bookstore! My own staff, too!" I realized he was the manager. Jake nodded.

"They got careless, didn't they?" he murmured thoughtfully. I started. Tom was looking at Jake in what might be recognition.

Jake-o, I muttered nervously, Your makeup is smeared from the fight. I suggest you leave- fast. Jake glanced up at Tom, nodded ever so slightly, then left, glancing wistfully at Tom.

Go! I hissed, so sharply the manager looked at me in surprise.

"Did you say something?" he asked. I blinked.

"Just thinking out loud," I said. "Will they be arrested?" I added, motioning toward the Controllers. The manager nodded.

"Yes, and- why, here come the police right now!" I glanced up in shock. Through the door walked three uniformed policemen and one policewoman, all with Yeerks glowing through their skulls.

Oh shoot. I said. Tom! Try to get out of here. I back you up. Tom started to edge toward the door. He was stopped by the policewoman.

"Where do you think you are going young man?" she asked. I could tell that they were about to drag him off. "You're to come with us too, miss." she said to me.

My mind fled like crazy, thinking of any trick I could use against them. Then, I thought of something.

"Oh, my God what is that?" I screamed, pointing to the far corner of the store. "Its an alien!!!" I screamed.

That did it. All four of the police went over towards the back, guns in hand. Run. I whispered to Tom. He ran, out the door, and towards my uncle's car. I was right behind him when I remembered Jake.

Jake? Are you in here?

Yeah, I'm a fly, coming towards you as fast as I can. Get out of there! I'm right behind you.

I flew for the door. That's when the police realized that they had been tricked. "Stop! Police!" One yelled. Luckily, I was already outside and running for Tom.

BANG! BANG! PING! Bullets whizzed just hairs by me. I dodged them with my lightning reflexes, fine tuned from being an Andalite and from 2 years of figure skating. Unfortunately, Tom wasn't as lucky.

"YAAAHHHHH!!" he yelled as a bullet got him in the leg. He fell.

Nooooo! I heard Jake yell. I rushed up to him and started to drag Tom to the car. That went fine at first, but soon I got immensely tired. You see, Tom is like Jake, strong and stockily built.

Can't you lift him? Jake asked desperately. Can I help?

"No, we can't risk anyone seeing you morph out. Wait, I have an idea." I said. I just got the idea to half morph to the strongest animal I had, just enough to get its strength. That meant my T-rex morph. I focused. I could feel the muscles of the Tyrannosaurus bulging. I carefully controlled it so that the only other change that happened is that my eyes changed to slits, like the eyes of a cat.

That gave me the extra oomph I needed to drag Tom the rest of the way. He was moaning and clutching his leg. Once we were in the car, I grabbed a tissue from the tissue box my uncle keeps. He has an allergy that makes him have a runny nose. I pressed the tissue onto Tom's wound to stop the bleeding. It seems all those movies we watched in health about first aid were finally going to pay off.

"How is he doing?" My uncle asked. He rolled up the windows so that Jake could morph out. You see, my Uncle got some tinted windows on the car so that no one will see anyone who is morphing in the back seat. "I'm going to get you to our house. The rest are waiting there. I called the rest of them." He said to Tom. "The Yeerks will think that I would take you to the hospital first to tend to your wound. We are going to do the opposite instead.

By this time, Jake was wrapping up his morph. The makeup had come off almost completely by now. This was a problem because Tom then looked up at him.

"J-Jake?!?" He asked, astonished.

"Oh no." Jake and I both said at once. Tom knew now that his little brother was one of the defenders of earth.

"I thought you were up to something, midget." Tom said.

"How much further?" I asked desperately to uncle Gran.

"Almost there. Hang on." he replied.

Chapter #9

The trip home seemed to take forever. Jake helped me out by keeping Tom's leg elevated and handing me new tissues every few minutes. By the time we got back, uncle Gran's tissue supply was almost out. Cassie and Marco came out to help us get Tom into the house.

"Catch some heavy artillery?" Marco asked.

I just stared at him for a moment, then said "Listen, I just discovered a weapon, sort of, that can help us in finding out who is a controller.

"What?" Cassie asked. "No one can see who is a controller and who isn't until you see the Yeerk crawl out of his or her head."

"I know, but if I concentrate, I can see a Yeerk in someone's head who is a controller." I defended.

"Wow. You're like Voodoo. You know, the Wildcats? Cartoon that was canceled a few years ago." Marco said. "Anyway, you got Tom as your controller?"

"Yeah." I replied. "But how was I supposed to know? I actually think it's really good."

"Okay that's nice everyone but we have a bigger problem on our hands." Jake said, taking command. "In the escape Tom was shot in the leg. In order to loose the Yeerks we took Tom here instead of the emergency room. Our problem is how in the world to get the bullet out and heal this wound. Anyone have any ideas?"

Cassie then went over to Tom once we were inside and started to examine the wounded leg. Tom was very astonished now to see that Cassie, Rachel, Marco, a hawk, and a crazy kid wolfing down some cheese were also part of the resistance. Cassie checked the leg for a moment, then said grimly,

"It's in there deep. I think it cut an artery or something. We need to get the bullet out.

We all thought deeply, and as hard as we could to get an idea to save Tom's life. I was just about to give up when my eye caught my copy of Watership Down. I remembered that in the book, the seagull named Kehaar saved the rabbit Hazel's life by taking out the bullets in his leg with his slender beak.

"Wait." I said to the others. "Didn't you get a seagull morph once?"

"Yeah," Marco said. "But what's that got to do with anything?"

"Because a seagull could pick out the bullet easily with its beak. Didn't you ever read Watership Down?"

"No, I didn't." he replied.

"Well all right, I'll morph the seagull." Jake said. "But it still leaves the problem that Tom has a bullet hole in his leg. We need to stop that bleeding."

"I doubt that we can. The bullet cut the artery. There is nothing we can do." Cassie said grimly.

"Wait, I have an idea." I said. "Jake, go ahead and remove the bullets. I'm going up to my room for a moment." I then started to head up the stairs.

"If that's the case I'm going with you. This is making me queasy." Rachel said and followed me up.

I went up to my room, and removed the landscape picture on my wall to reveal a sort of safe.

"Cool." Rachel said. "You have a safe in your wall."

I did the combination, and opened it to reveal a wooden box that seemed to be seamless. I then did a series of spins and taps to open the box. In it was a book, and a sky blue box.

"Is that what I think it is?" Rachel asked, astonished.

"Yes." I replied. "I will use the morphing technology to save Tom."

We went back downstairs, to see Jake very carefully taking out the bullet. Tom winced whenever Jake wrenched the bullet out a little more.

"Oh my gosh!" Cassie exclaimed. "A morphing cube!"

"What do you need it for?" Marco asked.

"Its for Tom, genius." Tobias said.

"Yes yessssss," Ax said, exaggerating most of his sounds. Ax uses his voice like it was a new toy whenever he is in human morph. "Remember, DNA is not affected by wounds. If Tom was given the ability to morph, he could change from a human to something else, and then back, his wound would be totally healed. Heeeaallleddd-DDDD"

We were busy thinking this over when Marco suddenly gasped.

"You guys. Do you REALIZE what kind of life Tom has ahead of him, morphing or no? He has untold numbers of Controllers who are going to be sent his image. They will be looking for him! They don't know what to think right now, but they know he is dangerous, maybe even an Andalite or something- I don't know what's going through their slimy slug-covered brains, but what matters is that they'll be out to get him! And if they do, and he is made a Controller again, they'll know about all of us! This is INSANE!!!!!!!!!" We were speechless until Rachel broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Good thing you ended with INSANE, Marco. I was beginning to think you actually were being serious for once." We laughed nervously. Ax cleared his throat.

" I see only one possible solution. Sooooluuushun. Shun. Shun. Shunshunshunshun! Oh, sorry. The solution is to have Tom become an Animorph, as I suggested. He will find some person who looks similar to him, but different. Then he will acquire this person and become a nothlit while in that morph. Then he can touch the morphing cube again. The morphing cube will not like this- it can take only so much strain- but we won't need to use it that much, anyway. Way. Waaay!" Everyone stared at Ax in astonishment, especially Tom. Rachel stared into space, wide-eyed.

"Or..." she began. "Maybe we can find a way to erase the Yeerks' memory, like in Men in Black." Rachel said. "I mean, what if we could find or create some sort of gadget that would erase the Yeerks' memory about Tom. They wouldn't know he even existed. Then he would be safe."

"I never bargained for this when I joined the Sharing." Tom mumbled to himself.

"Well, we still need to use the morphing cube to mend that wound." Jake said. He sounded desperate. "Ax, do you know of any memory erasing technology?"

Ax thought hard, searching deep through his memory. Finally, he said, "Supposedly, one could create a memory neutralizer by melding together a communicator, like the one we created once before, and a haring device. IseiseiseiseISE. Sorry."

So, what's a haring device? Tobias asked.

"As far as I know, its a kind of radar, that allows one to focus on a certain species. It is usually used as a spying mechanism by the Skirt Na. We would use this to focus on the Yeerks, and set what memories to erase. Race RAS-UH."

"Well, that's all fine and dandy everyone, but we have a bigger problem on our hands." Jake said. "MY BIG BROTHER IS BLEEDING TO DEATH WHILE YOU ALL ARE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT A HERRING DEVICE IS!!!!!!!!!"

"Haring device." Ax corrected.

"Well, anyway, we need to use the morphing cube on Tom if we want him to live."

"Look everyone, I don't care if I have to become another bandit or not, but I do want to live to see my next birthday. I say let's go for it. I'm ready." Tom said.

"Okay, here goes nothing." I mentioned.

"I think that's your new quote, Sara." Marco said.

Chapter #10

I went over to Tom carrying the cube while he struggled to sit up. I set the box in front of him while he just stared at it for a moment, trying to grasp what I was about to do.

"Just put your hand on one of the sides." I said. "I'll do the rest."

Tom did as he was told. He put his hand on the panel opposite to me. I put my hand on it then. I then sent the impulse that activated the cube. I saw Tom's face relax for a moment while the technology was transferred into him.

"Okay, now a victim is needed." Marco said.

What about me? Tobias asked. "A hawk would be a good morph if I do say so myself."

"How about a red tail?" Jake asked Tom.

"Works for me." He replied.

"Okay, come on down Tobias." I said to Tobias who was sitting on the banister of my stairs. He floated down and landed squarely on my shoulder like he always does. Then, Tobias went down to Tom and stood next to him.

"Okay Tom," I said to Tom. "Just put your hand on Tobias, and concentrate on his shape."

Tom reached out, and focused on Tobias. The hawk stopped moving and just stood. It happens to any animal you acquire, they go into a trance while you absorb their DNA. After he broke contact, Tobias stayed in the trance for a moment, then shook himself and returned to my shoulder.

"Okay Tom, now concentrate on the form, imagine yourself turning into the hawk, be the hawk."

"Thank you, Yoda." Marco remarked.

"Hush!" I replied.

Tom closed his eyes and concentrated. At first nothing happened, but then I could see the changes begin to happen. His skin turned into a pretty brown pattern, then up came feathers from any angle. He shrank like crazy, and his mouth stretched out to form a beak. He then stopped.

Oh man this is insane! He said.

"That's my line!" Marco shot out.

"Keep going, Tom." Cassie encouraged.

After a few more minutes, Tom had finished and was now a full hawk.

Wow, this is incredible! Tom said. I'm a bird!

"He's a plane, he's superman!" That of course came from Marco.

After Tom had calmed down and was perched (he wanted to keep his cool new form for a little longer) on my shoulder, we began discussing how to make our brainwashing device. Jake and Rachel, on Ax's instructions, went to put together a communicator while Ax explained how we could get a haring device.

"It's really quite simple." Ax explained. "Haring devices are made of compounds usually rare, but surprisingly abundant on Earth. What we need is some - what do you call it? ah- salt, and a battery. Attery. Ery." Marco stared.

"You're telling me all we need to make this, uh, herring radar thingy is a salt shaker and a flashlight?" he blurted. Ax blinked at him.

"You have a strange way of putting things, but yes, that is true." I leapt up, upsetting Tom who leapt into the air, screeching.

"Sorry, Tom!" I called at the wheeling bird. "I forgot you were there! Now what was I getting up for?" I muttered. "Oh yes! I'll go get the salt and the battery," I dashed out the door towards the kitchen.

"Salt, salt, salt, darn it where's the salt?" I was scouring the kitchen in search of the salt shaker. "Ax, is that iodized salt you're looking for?" I yelled into the living room.

"What's the difference? Rense. DIFF-ERRE-NSE." he called back.

"Oh, fine, I'll take both." I said to myself. I grabbed the salt canister and the first battery I could find. I dashed into the living room and gave the battery and the salt to Ax.

"Yes, this will do fine. INE. YNE. IEIEIEIEIEIE. Now I need some silver to focus and a canister to hold it all made of-- of--."

"What? What?" we all asked at the same time. It was kind of silly but the future of the Animorphs was resting on what form of canister to use.

"Oh, that form of silicon, that-- that-- I can't remember. We learned about it in school but my mind was elsewhere."

"Oh NO!" everyone except me yelled. I was in deep thought.

"Ax you've got to remember! If the filthy slugs get their hands on Tom we're all doomed!" Marco yelled at Ax. I could tell that he was more than upset.

"Silicon, silicon, silicon..." I kept repeating to myself.

Uh, hey, Sara's eyes. Tobias said. Apparently my eyes were shining again. Everyone stopped yelling and just watched me talk to myself.

"Silicon, also known as sand--sand can't hold though.. but.. no that can't be right.. can it? wait.. maybe if.. THAT'S IT! GLASS!"

"What?" Rachel asked, stunned at my yelling.

"Silicon is sand, and sand can't hold, but if you superheat sand it melds together and when it cools it creates glass! Ax needs a glass cup!" I explained.

"Yes, bartender, I'll have a salt battery silver on the rocks please." Marco joked. We all had to laugh.

"Cassie, can you get me a glass from the cupboard? I'm going upstairs again. I think I have one of those bottles filled with water that has silver flakes in it." I said.

While Cassie went to the kitchen for the glass I went upstairs to my room for the bottle. Sure enough, I had a tiny bottle of silver pieces underwater from the nature shop. Down I went with the silver. Cassie was already in there with the glass watching Ax work. Tom had morphed back to his original form.

"Here's the silver Ax. Hope its not too small." I said.

"Yes this will do. ooo, ooh." He replied, adding his own array of extra sounds.

"Ax?" Jake said.

"Yes Prince Jake?" he replied

"Don't do that."

"Do what? ut Uht."

"That. Don't play with your sounds. You are like a child with a new toy."

"Yes Prince Jake. Not a toy. I believe you have told me that before. Ororororororor"

"Don't call me 'Prince.'"

"Yes Prince Jake." I of course, smirked. Maybe Ax has a sense of humor after all.

Chapter #11

The time used to create the haring device was long. Eventually, Ax needed to morph back to his Andalite form. During the change, I could literally see Tom turning green. When Ax's Andalite tail shooped out of his spine, Tom couldn't take it anymore and keeled over.

"And I thought that I had a problem with morphing." Marco said.

Well, you're used to it. Tom isn't. Tobias countered.

Cassie and Jake went over to Tom to help him wake up while I helped Ax with the device.

Now keep your finger there while I add the salt. That will allow a place for the battery to stand. Ax instructed me. In about an hour, the device was done.

"I'll keep the device safe. Its about time for you to get home now. Its getting late." My uncle said. It was in fact only four o'clock, but we did not want to make our parents suspicious.

"What about the Zero G transponder?" Jake asked. "I think that we will have to get one from the other communicator that we had built, the one that is floating around in the forest."

"I think the best thing is to get it tomorrow. I doubt that anyone will steal it from the wilderness and tomorrow is Sunday so we'll have plenty of time." Cassie said.

"Fine, fine," Rachel sighed. "I was really looking forward to frying some slug brains though."

"That's our Xena." Marco said.

Tom, Tobias said with urgency. Until we get some Yeerk brains fried,you better stay out of sight. We can't risk you being infested by the Yeerks again.

"Okay, fine." Tom replied. "Not that I want to be infested again."

"I'd better keep a low profile too." I said. "The Yeerks know that I am a threat too."

After that, every one went their separate ways until tomorrow. Ax morphed into his human morph and I walked with Cassie and Ax partway to Cassie's farm. Tobias flew overhead.

"Do you think that this will work Ax?" Cassie asked.

"We can't be for sure until its tested out. Even then, we'll need to test some controller to see if they know." Ax replied.

"I hope it does." Cassie said. "I hate to see Jake tortured from the fact that his big brother is a controller."

"I'd better go." I said. "I can't risk any controllers seeing me. See you tomorrow."

"Good bye my friend." Cassie replied.

I then turned and ran back to my house to prepare for tomorrow.

Chapter #12

It was noon when we were ready to activate the brainwasher. Marco, Cassie and Jake had got the transponder from the forest- it was an uneventful trip. Ax connected the transponder to the communicator, picked up the haring device and frowned at them. We waited patiently until Marco lost his patience.

"Get on with it!" he shrieked. In his surprise, Ax's weak arm jerked and the haring device landed on the communicator. We heard a click. All was silent as we stared at the odd contraption. Slowly colorful lights lit up on the sides, though where they come from I had no idea. The thing began to hum. Ax smiled thankfully.

"Thank you, Marco. I am afraid I was, sort of, uh, not paying much attention in class when we were learning this, and couldn't remember how to put it together. There was this female- "

"Oh come on, Ax!" Rachel said excitedly. "Forget the nostalgia! Forget the female! Let's go kill some Yeerk brain cells!" We cheered and were about to rush out the door, window, whatever when Jake called a halt.

"Listen, you guys!" he said. "We've got to think up a plan here! How on earth do we brainwash all the Yeerks that know about Tom and Sara?"

"To get a big enough radius, we need to be high above the Yeerks' main area- the mall, as it is." Ax explained.

"So we morph birds and carry this thing up!" Rachel decided. I wrinkled my nose.

"That won't work, Rach. What would go through the Yeerks' heads if they saw a bunch of birds lugging some object up above their precious little pool?" I worried. Rachel growled.

"Come on, Sar, it's not THAT dangerous!" she pleaded. "They won't be looking up. The worst that can happen is that we'll be on TV, like that one time at the gas station." I stared at her, clueless, but Tobias paced embarrassedly. He was back in his bird shape.

Humph. he muttered. Let's not go into that. But Rachel's right, Sar. C'mon, what else could we do? Let's-

"Go!" cried Rachel, not to be beat to her own line. We all laughed and streamed out the door, this time in earnest.

Chapter #13

I never realized that this thing was so heavy!

We were flying overhead heading towards the mall. Rachel, since she had the strongest bird morph, was doing most of the carrying. Tobias and I flanked her on both sides for extra support. We figured it wouldn't look AS weird if there were two of the same species. Marco, Cassie, Jake, and Ax were a little ways off in case we got too tired to go on.

Remember Rachel, it was your idea. I mentioned after she had complained about the weight of the transponder. However, I too was feeling the weight of the brainwasher but didn't complain.

I think that you should land on the roof of Hudson Belk. I don't really feel like frying some Yeerk brains in midair. Jake called.

Oh great, that's over on the other side of the mall. Tobias complained.

C'mon Bird boy, be like Ah-nold and heft that sucker! Marco encouraged. We all had to laugh.

He's right, besides, we're almost there. I said. Indeed, the rooftop was right below us.

All right everyone, set it down gently. We don't want to break the thing. Jake warned.

We all started to set the brainwasher down. It was tedious work, especially because birds of prey could not hover. Eventually though, Rachel, Tobias, and I got the brainwasher down on the rooftop of the mall. We all morphed out, with Ax and Tobias going to human. It would be hard to explain this as it was, but it would be even harder explaining Ax.

"Okay, so how do we focus this thing?" Cassie asked.

"When creating a focus, you enter the brain file and the species into the device. Then, you send it out like a normal message, except it cannot be detected by normal communicators. NATORS ORSORSORS." Ax explained.

"All right, so how do we do that?" Marco asked.

"Simple. We just enter the main subject of the file and the brainwasher,as you so aptly put it, will erase that file very quickly. Wikly. wikwik." Ax explained more thoroughly.

"So, let's fry!" Rachel exclaimed.

"How will we know if this thing works or not?" Cassie asked.

"Uh, I think that that will not be a problem." Tobias said with a worriedexpression. He was squinting down at the parking lot. You see, Tobias is so used to his hawk eyes that human eyes are like being severely nearsighted.

I looked over the edge, and saw Chapman, our assistant principal walkingout of the mall. Chapman is a very high ranking controller. "Well, it seems that we have a lab rat."

"Well, fire the sucker up before we loose him!" Rachel yelled.

Ax then commenced to pressing a number of buttons on the console. It seemed forever before he said "Its ready. Edy."

"Fire then!" Jake yelled.

Ax then pressed what I think to be the send button. At first nothing happened. I watched Chapman walk to his car with no change. Then suddenly, he jerked back and scratched his head in confusion, as if he was thinking of something and then lost it.

"All right! MIB strikes again!" Marco exclaimed.

"So how do we get this thing off of here?" Jake asked.

"Simple, we carry it again." Rachel replied. Both Tobias and I slapped our heads for having to carry the thing again.

"Well, back to being big, bad, communicator hefting, Ah-nold like, birds once again. I can't wait. Maybe we can get our own exercise video while we're at it too." Marco said. We all had to laugh.

"Fine, fine," I said. "Let's morph." I got back into my red tail morph. While the rest were finishing up their morphs, I looked over the communicator trying to find the best way to hold it. Rachel hopped on top and grabbed the handle on the communicator. I took the left edge and Tobias took the right.

I hope this is the last airborne hefting job we have to do. This thing is heavy! Tobias commented.

Look at poor Chapman down there Tobias, he looks so lost and confused. Marco said. There was no reply. Tobias?

I looked over at him. For a hawk, he looked totally exhausted and tired. Are you all right?

Too....heavy. Can't.......hold. He replied in gasps.

Jake, Rachel called. Can you take over? He's getting too tired for the weight.

I'll try, but the thermals have died down and it is somewhat hard to keep up. Jake replied.

He started to soar over, but I could see that Tobias's side was starting to slip from his talons. Hang on Tobias, I encouraged. Jake is almost here, then you can have a break.

I....can't. He gasped. Its...slipping! Noo! Suddenly, the handle slipped from his talons. Rachel and I dropped like stones, right in front of Chapman. He may have lost his memory, but he does know that birds carrying a huge communicator means Animorphs in morph.

"Bandit!" he sneered and whipped out a dracon beam.

"Tsseeewwww!" I screamed and dove at his eyes.

Get that communicator out of here! I yelled. But a few more controllers in the parking lot ran over and aimed their dracons at us. We were trapped.

Chapter #14

I was staring down the barrel of a slick Dracon beam. But at that moment, with all the danger we were in, all I could think of was the fact that my foot hurt. I glanced down. I was standing on the sharp edge of the 'send' button on the brainwasher! My mind clicked and I shifted my foot.

Ax! I shrieked. Is the brainwasher still on the right setting? At first there was no answer, and I can tell you my hawk heart went nuts. Then, finally, there was the very weak reply- Yes. I didn't stop to think what could have happened to Ax. I pressed the 'send' button. The Controllers were already brainwashed, so the brainwasher had no real effect- except to make them dizzy. During the brief time of confusion, I morphed larger muscles into my hawk shape and told Cassie to do so as well. Soon we were done, and I cried,

C'mon, everyone! Let's get out of here! Cassie and I had much more strength now, and zoomed up into the air with the heavy but bearable communicator. The assorted birds lifted into the air and landed quickly on the roof of a nearby Hechts. Jake turned back to check the Controllers were still disoriented and would not see where they had landed. What he saw made his blood run cold. The Controllers were not dizzy any longer. There was no danger of them being spotted; none of the Controllers were looking their way. All six Controllers, including Chapman, were closing in on a small, forlorn, tired-out figure on the ground. A bird. Jake instantly knew who it was. He drew the other Animorphs to the edge of the roof and pointed.

It's Tobias! I gasped.

Yes, replied Jake. We were all stunned into silence.

I'm sure the others were mad at the controllers, but I was filled with rage. I don't know what came over me, but I got so angry, like I wanted to bash a couple heads together with dynamite.

I could hear Chapman speaking. "Ah, so the Andalite scum is abandoned by

his comrades." He said. "You know, if you morph out and let me take your body as a controller, I will let you live. I'm sure that I would be promoted, possibly to a sub Visser! You and I would go down into Yeerk history!"

Oh good grief. Cassie said, but I didn't hear. At the moment, I was morphing at top speed, possibly from hawk to human in ten seconds. Ax was morphing too, but from harrier, to Andalite, to human, and much slower.

Sara, are you all right? Marco asked, almost scared at how angry I was.

That's it, I've had it! Its one thing to shoving a dracon beam barrel down my throat, but to go threatening my friends, that's a whole other ball game! You controllers are going down! I yelled, then stopped, shocked at my speech. Everyone was staring at me. Rachel was next to speak.

You're right. Let's go!

Xena and Gabrielle strike again, but for the first time, I'm right behind you. I won't let them go harassing Tobias. Marco remarked.

Everyone stayed in bird morph except me and Ax. Ax stayed on the rooftop- I'm not sure why, but I had no time to ponder. I was in my velociraptor morph.

I jumped down from the roof to the ground with a thud. Luckily, no one was in the parking lot or they would be in shock. The controllers did not notice me.

"What is your answer, Andalite scum?" Chapman asked.

"SSSSCCCCCCRRRRRREREEEEAAAAAACCCCCHHHHHHH" I yelled.

That got the controllers attention. Immediately they were frozen in terror at my sight. Apparently they had all seen Jurassic Park. With a very well aimed tail swipe I swished off all those dracons down to the ground. I narrowed my cat like eyes so that it was if I was saying to them to take a hike fast before I rip their arms off.

Unfortunately, I had underestimated the velicoraptor's brain. This dinosaur was smart, agile... and extremely overconfident. I was so engrossed in threatening the cowering Controllers I didn't notice the flashing Andalite tail until it was against my tough throat. Quickly I turned my eyes, but not my head.

Visser Three! I hissed, forgetting our rule to keep silent in case the Visser could sense we were humans.

You're wrong, my little HUMAN friend, he sneered. I am one you know well. Aximili-Esgarr- suddenly the face contorted, then slowly returned to its former sneer, though the sneer had fright in it now. The- the Andalite is fighting hard, Ax, or what was left of Ax gasped. But he will not- I will- This time the figure doubled over in pain.

Ax! I shrieked, now recognizing the young Andalite. Remember! Instincts! All I could do then was pray he remembered how to access the instinct part of his brain- and that Andalites had an instinct part in their brain. Luckily he came through. Minutes after, a wiggling gray slug flew out of the Andalite's ear. This time I did not hesitate to squash it. I turned to Ax, worried and still apprehensive. Meanwhile, the rest of the Animorphs had come down and unmorphed.

Are- are you all right? Are you- free? He slowly turned his strange blue face up.

Yes, Sara. I am all right. He slowly turned toward Jake. I feel deep respect for you, my prince. Being a Controller, especially for an Andalite, is -how do you say it? No picnic. Ick. Ickickick. Kick. Jake offered one of his rare, slow smiles.

"No kidding, Ax-man." he said. Then he turned to me. "By the way, Sara, that is the coolest morph! How in the galaxy did you acquire it?" Before I could answer, Marco interrupted.

"Hate to break up the Jurassic Park episode, but the Controllers are gone- they ran off as soon as you were distracted by Ax, Sara- and they've taken Ax!" I groaned silently.

Man, Ax, did you have to pick a time like this to get a slug in your ear? Sorry. I just hate when we are sooo close and then are chances are gone! Snap! Like that! I almost snapped my fingers, but remembered just in time that they were not exactly fingers.

"Well," said Cassie with a sigh, "Morph out, Sara, and then I guess it's plan time once more!"

"Stupid stupid stupid Yeerks!" I yelled. We were at Rachel's house trying to decide what to do. I was pacing. Something came over me while we were there. I don't know what it was though, but it was weird. "If I get my hands on Chapman, I'm going to shake him until his teeth rattle and come out of his head!"

"Calm down, Sara! I've never seen you worked up like this." Cassie reassured.

"That's a good idea Gabrielle." Marco agreed. "Besides, you need to clear your head for a plan, because we need one." We all looked at Marco stunned at what he said. Normally, he would be the last person to say that. "Not that I am going along or anything. It's just always you that comes up with the ideas." I growled at him.

"Well, anyways, we need a plan everyone. Ideas?" Jake asked.

"Why don't we work on where they could have taken Tobias?" Cassie asked.

"Lets see," I said when I had calmed down. "We've got the Gardens but they would not put Tobias there. There are more animals that people would be interested in. Your rehabilitation center Cassie, but there are no controllers that have access to the barn and there would be no place to hide him, so the most likely place is the (gulp) Yeerk pool."

"Perfect." Rachel said. "I hate to sound like Marco here, but this must be the fifth time that we have gone to the Yeerk pool in the past week. That's a little too much, even for us." We gaped at Rachel for saying a thing like that.

"Well, fine, but we've got to act fast. Ast." Ax said, obviously in morph. "Soon the Yeerks will find out that Tobias is a nothlit and possibly kill him."

I jumped up. "Then let's go and not be sitting here waiting to take root!"

"Not yet Gabrielle," Marco said. "Let's hear Jake's plan." I growled and sat down again.

"Thank you Marco." Jake thanked. "Sara and I will go in as controllers with Sara as a Yeerk. Everyone else will be flies and come in after us. Once there, we will find an isolated place to morph into stronger animals. Someone will go and find Tobias while the others make a diversion."

"I'll get Tobias." I said almost immediately.

"My gosh Sara, what's gotten into you?" Cassie asked, concerned for me. "Ever since Tobias has been kidnapped, you have been even worse than Rachel. Its starting to scare me."

"Sorry," I apologized. "I've just felt very protective of Tobias, and when he was kidnapped I went wrecked."

They all stared at me, and then Rachel said "Well, let's go!" We all laughed at Rachel and then started to morph.

Chapter #15

I hovered at the top of a dark stairway and gulped. I could hear humans screaming down below. We had got into the mall and morphed into flies in the bathrooms, a couple at a time.

Oh boy. said Marco. The Yeerk pool again. Man, I practically know this place by heart by now.

I waited a moment, then burst out.

Come on, you guys! We've got to save Tobias! I got no arguments, only a few anticipatory groans, mostly from Marco. Five flies buzzed down into the hellhole that was the Yeerk pool. I looked out through my crazy compound vision, trying to spot a lot of people clustered around a hawk. Fly vision isn't all that great, I can tell you. My fly brain wasn't much a help, either. It wanted to go toward some trash can which I would not have expected down here.

Tobias! I called, directing the thought only to him. Where are you? Nothing.

How do we find him? asked Cassie.

How about we listen to some Controllers? Ax suggested.

That looks like Chapman to me, said Rachel. Over in the direction of, uh, the big fuzzy gray thing.

That's the Yeerk pool, you idiot! Marco hissed. Let's go! To make sense of the hum that was human speech, I landed on top of the baseball cap Chapman was wearing. Ax landed beside me. The rest of the Animorphs hovered nearby, high up so as not to attract attention, waiting for the news.

"Has the Andalite, if that is what it is, morphed back to its Andalite form yet?" Chapman asked.

"No," replied some Controller nearby. "And it has been nearly an hour and a half since we captured it. Doesn't morphing have some kind of limit?"

"Yes," Chapman answered, "I think so. But I am not exactly an expert on Andalites. We will have to leave that to Visser Three." Visser Three! Our most hated enemy would be in this battle too, if he arrived soon.

Visser Three, I groaned to Ax.

Yes, he replied. He will know at once Tobias is a nothlit, if he accesses ex- Prince Alloran's memories. He will have no way of knowing Tobias has morphing abilities still, and anyway Tobias has not acquired any dangerous morphs. They will kill him.

Not if I have anything to do with it, I hissed. Come on, you slug- infested fiend, ask where Tobias is being kept! I directed this toward the unknown Controller Chapman was talking to, though not actually so he could hear it.

"Let me see the hawk again before the Visser comes," Chapman said.

Yes! I cheered silently. Rachel! Marco! Jake! Cassie! Follow Chapman! As I called this order, our assistant principal headed toward a low, far too small cage. Crumpled in the center of this cage was a mottled brown hawk. Red feathers flashed from its tail. The hawk was obviously in pain, but its red eyes glared at the Controllers surrounding its cage, aiming Dracon beams right at its eyes.

Tobias! I cried in pain seeing him so captured. He glanced up in confusion, then relief and controlled joy when his sharp eyes saw the two flies perched on Chapman's hat.

Don't move, Tobias, I said to him. we're here to rescue you, just stay there for a few more minutes.

Is this the Andalite bandit? A voice boomed out. I shook with fear at knowing exactly who it was. Visser Three, our most hated enemy, assessing what to do with Tobias.

Visser Three! Ax hissed.

What's going on down there? Rachel whispered down to us.

Visser Three. I whispered. She was then silent.

I don't know about you, but I've had enough. I said. Jake, I called up. Did you see any alcove when you were in here last? I'm going to morph.

He paused for a moment, then said Yeah, under the staircase. Its fairly large. I'm coming with you.

Everyone else went except for Marco and Ax who were going to stay with Tobias. Cassie, Rachel, Jake, and I flew for the staircase. We got there and started to morph as fast as we could so no one would see some half morphed kids.

What do you think, Cassie? I asked Raptor or t-rex?

Go for raptor, then there won't be any earthquakes. If we get in a clinch, then go to t-rex. She replied.

We all started to morph, Jake as a tiger, Cassie as a wolf, Rachel as an elephant, and myself as a velociraptor. I could barely hear the discussion going on about Tobias.

So, we finally capture one of the Andalite bandits for good. I could hear Visser Three say. However, he appears to be a nothlit. We will interrogate him, then kill this thorn in our sides.

No you won't! I said. Everyone was morphed now. I jumped out and bit the nearest Hork- Bajir I could find. He screamed in agony.

That got everyone's attention. Hork- Bajir and Taxxon started to swarm on us, dracon beams blasting, but we were just as strong. Jake was a striped whirlwind of fury, biting and scratching anything that came nearby. I saw Rachel pick up a screaming Taxxon with her trunk and smush it on the ground. The ten nearest Taxxons then swarmed over, not to fight, but to eat their comrade. It made me sick to my velociraptor stomach. Cassie fought with me. We became a powerful pair slaying about maybe ten Hork-Bajir and three Taxxons.

While the others were fighting, I called out I'm going to head towards Tobias! Once I get him, we better bail! They all called their agreement, and I started to fight my way towards the now well protected cage where Tobias was being held captive. My powerful claws tore a hole in the side of the cage.

Tobias! I cried. Are you okay?

Sara? was the weak reply.

I'm getting you out of here, Birdboy. I tried to keep the extreme relief out of my 'voice'. Could you manage to hold onto my shoulder? There was a pause, then Tobias weakly crawled out of the cage. I picked him up and placed him on my shoulder. His talons skittered on my scales, then found places to hold on to. I turned to fight my way out and saw Visser Three standing there with three Hork-Bajir.

You're not getting away this time, Andalite! If that is what you are... Before he could raise his tail, I did something I've always wanted to do- I rammed that Yeerk scum like I was a bus. I just put the velicoraptor at full speed and leapt through the enemies, slashing as I went. Visser Three was down cold. I would have loved to kill him, but I hate killing and anyway, we were running out of time.

C'mon, you guys! I called. Let's go home! That provoked a rousing cheer in thought-speak, which is a strange sound if I ever heard one. Though sound isn't quite the right word. We fought our way out of the pile of Hork- Bajir and Taxxons, toward the stairs and home.

After dashing up the stairs as fast as we could, we practically flew for the door. We all morphed out as fast as we could, then into birds once we were outside. At the very last moment, a pair of controllers came out looking for the zoo escapees. They found none.

Talk about close encounters. Cassie exclaimed. If we had been a second late, they would have found us.

First we nearly become half wolf half human nothlits, then we are nearly killed by some sharks, now this! Marco criticized. Let me know when we get to the climax. We all laughed.

Soon after, we all collapsed in a heap on the floor of Cassie's barn as birds. After morphing out, I think that we all nearly fell asleep after all that rapid morphing and fast flying. That is enough to make even the most experienced morpher collapse in a heap. I was cradling Tobias in my arms, who after the fast flying was too weak to sit on my shoulder. He was asleep. I still don't understand the anger I had when he was birdnapped. Maybe it will come to me soon.

After we had all recuperated, Marco, Rachel, and Jake left for home for some well deserved rest. Ax morphed his human and stuck around with Cassie and I to see how Tobias was doing.

"He looks all right Sara," Cassie reassured. "I think that he just is really tired. After all, he did become very tired out there on the rooftop. I think that he just needs rest."

"If that is the case," Ax said "I will bring Tobias back to the forest to rest. I will watch him until he is well again."

"I'll come with you." I said. After that, I carefully picked up the hawk and headed towards the forest after a good bye from Cassie, who needed to work on a paper for school.

Ax and I walked across the field towards the forest. It was a large forest, ideal for Tobias and Ax to be. Ax and I walked in silence until we got to the forest. Ax turned into his Andalite form again.

After that, Ax said Thank you.

"What for?" I asked

You helped me fight the slug that was in my head, helped me to be..free again. For that I am forever grateful. Ax explained.

We sat in silence for a while, then Tobias woke up suddenly. I practically wanted to shout in joy that he had not gone into a coma or something. He just laid there for a moment, then jumped up and flew for the closest branch to sit on.

Are you all right Tobias? Ax asked.

Whoa, I guess I am, except for a slight ache. Tobias reassured. What happened?

After landing in Cassie's barn, Ax explained, You fell asleep and did not wake up until now. Are you all right now?

Yeah, I guess. Tobias replied bluntly.

In that case, Ax said I am going to get a drink of water. Good bye. We both said our good byes to Ax and then he ran off.

Then it was just Tobias and me. We talked about the rescue, and my great event of knocking out Visser Three. I then told Tobias about my anger when he was birdnapped.

Whoa. Was all of Tobias's reply.

"Crazy, isn't it?" I said

Well, yeah, Tobias said, But the scary thing was that I just knew that you were coming, not everyone else, but you in particular. That you wouldn't just abandon me to the Yeerks.

"Oookkaaay," I said with a little bit of nervousness in my voice. "Now it's getting freaky."

It's getting dark. Ax called. He had come back from the stream and had rejoined us. I suggest you go before it gets too dark.

I smiled, then said "You're right, of course. I guess I'll morph and leave this popsicle stand. Bye!" I then morphed into my snowy owl and took to the air towards home.

The next day, I got a letter from Jake and Tom outside my door. It was a thank you note from them. I could almost swear that there were tear spots on the letter. It was thanking me for putting my life on the line to help get Tom free again. It reminded me of one of the real reasons I even fight the Yeerks, why I am even an Animorph- it brought torn families together again, and maybe that's why I will keep fighting until all the Yeerks are gone.