**Disclamier: I don't own Animorphs *sighs* K.A. Applegate does. But that
doesn't mean I can't right this! :) He he he. But anyway...Enjoy the
fanfic. This is the first fanfic I've ever written and I hope you enjoy it.
Ja ne!**
Chapter 10:
The meeting was basically over after that. Everyone was shocked by what I had said, and even more shocked that Jake thought we should save my sister. Everyone was a little hesitant about agreeing whether we should or shouldn't go on the mission. Marco thought that Jake had gone insane and all most left, right before Rachel stopped him. Rachel agreed that it was worth a shot, Cassie totally agreed because she knew what I said about wolves was true, Ax and Tobias agreed, saying they would help any way they could, and Marco reluctantly agreed, still believing that we had all gone insane.
We weren't exactly sure how we were going to do it because they had never tried anything like this before (and neither had I) and everyone had to leave before the idea was settled. Since the next day was Saturday, we all decided that we would meet early the next morning to decide how we were going to conduct the mission that would take place that night, the mission that would save both the Animorphs and my sister.
"So how are we going to do this?" asked Marco the next morning. We had met up in the forest so Ax could stay in his Andalite morph and because we had agreed a while ago that I would stay as far away from civilization as necessary so that I wouldn't be discovered, alive this time.
"I was thinking that maybe we should just sneak into her house tonight, find some way to keep her asleep and just carry her out the window," I suggested.
"And how are we going to do this?" Marco asked. "We can't just waltz right into your house and say 'Hi we're here to see Cossette.' At oh, I don't know, three o'clock in the morning!" said Marco.
"We morph, duh," said Rachel.
"But as what?" Jake thought to himself.
"Oh, that's simple. One of my pet cat's. Luckily enough, I have seven and since they are all out-doors cats, he should each be able to find one, acquire it, and morph it."
"Sounds easily enough," said Rachel.
"Did I mention some of them are tomcats?"
"Okay, maybe not that easy."
"You guys have any good morphs for finding cats?" They all looked at one another and smiled. Turns out, they each had at least one bird of prey morph.
"How am I going to catch one?" I asked curiously, "Since I only have two morphs, and neither would be good at catching cats."
Well, we need something to lure the cats out with, said Tobias.
"Oh no! There is no way!"
You have to Jessica, real mice wouldn't work right. They would try and hide, you need to lure the cats into the open. Right then I had a look of total horror on my face. I had watched my cats hunt mice, this was not going to be fun. At that point, Marco started to laugh. He tried to conceal it, one by putting his hand over his mouth, the other by coughing.
"This is not funny Marco." But instead of stopping, he just kept laughing harder. I was so mad at that point, I started to think what a lynx would do to him if she was in this situation. Before I knew it, I had razor sharp claws and was lunging at Marco. Before anyone could stop me, I jumped right on top of him. I started to laugh when I saw the look of horror on his face right before I hit him. I knocked him of the bale of hay he was sitting on and slashed him as hard as I could with my razor sharp claws.
"Hey, I just got this shirt!" was all he could say after I jumped back off him and headed towards were I was sitting before, next to Ax and Jake. When he finally got back up onto the bale of hay he had been sitting on, after struggling for a couple of minutes, everyone noticed the four slash marks across Marco's shirt. They didn't stop at the shirt either, they went right threw the morphing outfit and ended up as four bloody claw marks across his chest, oops.
After that incident, they decided that whenever they had meetings only one of us would be present, either Marco or me, unless it was an emergency of course. Little did they know that I personally did not agree to this and that I planned on going to all the meetings, one way or another. In other words, they would soon find out just how stubborn I could be, when I wanted to. (But hey didn't know this would come later of course.)
We then decided that about after-noon today we would try to capture my poor kitties Chee, Star, Kuga, Kito, Spitz, Binx, and Zorro, four of which were tomcats.
I really don't like this idea, I said, gloomily.
Don't worry it'll be fun, right Rachel? said Marco.
Shut up, Marco, said Rachel.
What does he mean, Rachel?
Oh, nothing, she said. Isn't that right Marco? she said in a very angry tone.
Right, said Marco. In a way.. he mumbled to himself, snickering.
Whatever, I said.
Then we headed towards my house. Tobias had been watching earlier and called us over when everyone had left and no one was home. Ax had volunteered to carry me after I had morphed into mouse (of course).
They flew around for about ten minutes, and I had to keep my mouse from attacking Ax. At one point I lost control.
OW! Ax screamed. Jessica, why are you biting me?
It's my morph, it doesn't like being up high in the air. It thinks you are going to eat me, I said right before I bite Ax really hard, causing him to drop me. Aaaaahhhhhh, I screamed as I started tp plummet towards the ground.
Ax, what did you do? Marco asked.
I dropped Jessica, he said, as he started to go into a dive.
Allow me, said Jake. I have the fastest diving morph. And then I saw this huge bird come lunging at me, talons outstretched. He caught me about three inches before I hit the ground.
Jessica, are you okay, Jake asked me.
I'm f-f-fine, I t-t-think, I said a little shaky. Once I recovered my strength, I think Ax felt sorry for dropping me, even more than me than he all ready did.
I'm sorr... he began, but didn't have time to finish because I interjected.
You idiot, I'm going to kill you! I said screaming at the top of my lungs, I mean thought-speak. You could've killed me! I mean, yes, I did bite you, and I'm sorry for that, but I wasn't trying to kill you! Aaarrgghh! As you can probably see, I was a little peeved.
I am still very sorry, Jessica. This morph doesn't like to be bitten. It was it's instinct to drop you.
Yeah, I know. I'm sorry for yelling at you, but I really didn't want to die for the second time in a two week period, I replied. Even though I am small, from being dropped from two miles up in the air, I would've gone 'Splat!' when I hit the ground.
Mmm, yummy. Mouse pancake! said Marco.
Ha, ha, ha. Very funny Marco. As Cassie was telling me earlier, I heard you didn't have the time of your life in ant morph either. That kept him quiet. As soon as I said that, he stooped laughing and didn't say anything for the next five minutes.
Hey, I think I see a cat down there! said Rachel.
I'll go after him! Marco volunteered. Before I could give any warning Marco was all ready diving towards the seemingly helpless kitty cat.
Awe, he looks he saw cute. And at that moment, I had this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, to ask Marco a very important question.
Marco what color is that cat? I asked, since my mouse vision wasn't that accurate from that high up.
Awe, he's even purring.
Marco, just answer the question, what color is it!?
It's a really nice brown-gray with brown-black stripes.
Marco, get away from it NOW! I yelled frantically, but I all ready could sense it was too late, especially when I heard him scream.
Aaaaaahhhhhhh, he screamed. Captain, I've been hit, I'm going down!
Marco! Watch out, don't let him get on top of you!
What could this little cat possibly du to me? It was a lucky shot that he hit me.
Okay, don't say I didn't warn you. Oh, and by the way, that's the biggest toughest tom cat that I own. He's constantly bringing me dead birds, even rather large ones.
Yeah right, said Marco.
Wait a second is that the cat...Tobias began. Uh oh Marco, Fly, NOW! Fly like your life depends on it, because it does! But he was too late, because if I knew Zorro, he'd all ready be pouncing on Marco from behind.
Aaaaahhhhh, Marco screamed again. Get this big cat OFF me, NOW!
Can't say I didn't warn you! I added in a taunting voice.
Hold on Marco, Rachel said, really annoyed.
She dived toward Marco in her bald eagle morph, trying to rip Zorro off his back, needless to say it didn't work. Instead of taking Zorro off of Marco, she ended up getting attacked by Zorro instead.
Rachel! Tobias yelled as he dived toward the ongoing fight, trying to pull Rachel off my poor sweet innocent little kitty. I knew Tobias liked Rachel, and I mean liked Rachel, so I started to dive down, knowing that Tobias would do whatever it took to protect Rachel from my cat.
Tobias! Don't you dare kill or even hurt my cat! I yelled as Tobias approached the fight. Jake drop me, NOW!
What?
Drop me!
What are you insane! he said, flying closer to the ground.
Drop me off two feet in front of my cat, and everyone else...Get away from my kitty! When they heard me, they all started to fly away, or at least tried to. Zorro was now after Tobias, but once he saw me, he stopped, and I could feel something moving towards me.
I started to run, to run as fast as my little mouse legs could carry me, which is pretty fast for mouse standards, but not fast enough to outrun my cat. All of a sudden I felt a huge pressure on my tail, and I tried to run, but I wasn't going anywhere.
Um guys, a little help HERE!
No way, I'm not going back down there again, near that vicious monster! said Rachel.
No way, Xena doesn't want to go? Is the world going to end? said Marco. But, I have to say, I agree with Rachel for once.
I am definitely not going down there either, he almost killed me! said Tobias.
If that cat brought down Rachel, then it will easily bring down me, Jake, and Ax, said Cassie.
Fine, I guess I'm on my own then. So I started to morph back into human.
Are you sure no one is home Tobias?
Yeah, pretty sure, but...
Good, I said as I completed my morph back to human. "Here Zorro, come here." And then my poor little scratched up, now totally and utterly confused cat came up to me, and started purring.
I can't believe this!" said Marco, landing in the nearest tree. That vicious blood thirsty monster is actually not attacking you!
"What, this harmless cat? He didn't mean any harm did you Zorro?" He started purring even louder almost as in reply to my question. and then he started to curl up in a ball and fall asleep in my lap.
I am soo acquiring that cat. said Marco, in a voice (or should I say thought speak) that sounded like he wanted to get revenge.
Yes, I can see your reasons. This particular animal is quite aggressive and efficient at attacking prey the same size as and almost bigger than its own, said Ax.
"Anyone else want to acquire this cat."
I am not going anywhere near that monster, said Rachel.
Yeah, me either, said Tobias.
The rest of the cats were a lot easier to acquire than Zorro. Even though Spitz was not to particularly thrilled and took off a couple of Rachel's feathers. Tobias went after Chee, and had a fairly easy time acquiring him because Chee is fairly docile. I acquired Binx, since he was my favorite and was the easiest to catch since I wasn't in mouse morph at the time.Ax tried desperately to acquire Kuga, but I forgot to mention that other than being friendly, she has an unearthly fascination with feathers. This meant that any time Ax would try to go anywhere near her (after I led her out into the open while in mouse morph), she would playfully bat at him, except she would use her claws.
Jessica, is there anyway I can catch this cat without it clawing me to death? asked Ax, now just a little annoyed. By then, she had all ready taken out quite a few of his feathers leaving him looking like he had mange.
Ax, you look like you got attacked by killer fleas or something! Marco said with a laugh.
Jake, you want to go down and help Ax, before my cat takes out anymore of his flight feathers? I asked.
Sure, said Jake, laughing too. But he wasn't laughing for long because before I could say anything Star was coming up behind Jake and pounced.
Aaaaahhhhhh, Jake screamed. Get this cat off me! At this point, I started laughing, until I remembered that Star never plays cat-and-mouse, or at this case, cat-and-hawk. She always goes for the killing bite first, she never plays around.
Tobias! Go help Jake now! Star is going to go for the killing bite whenever Jake's neck is unprotected!
What? Tobias said, shocked.
Dive towards Star and Jake now! I screamed.
I'm going with you! yelled Rachel.
I'll go help Ax, said Cassie.
Same here, said Marco.
The next thing I saw I will never forgot. My cat Kuga was now being attacked and fighting a northern harrier and two ospreys while Star was battling a red tailed hawk, bald eagle, and a peregrine falcon. Well, I really can't say she was "battling" the peregrine falcon, she was actually trying to kill him and eat him. After about 10 minutes, Cassie and Marco somehow figured out a way to lift Kuga up, into the air and carry her over to the woods. Ax had to walk there because he had lost a good number of his flight feathers and could no longer fly. Star was still busy trying to kill Jake and completely ignored the two huge birds that were trying to pluck her off her prey's back. Then, for no reason at all, she lunged at Rachel, who was knocked to the ground and sent rolling, a mess of feathers and fur. Tobias was so fed up at this point he lunged at the spitting and hissing ball of fury and ended up dragging away a very angry and hungry, Star.
Jessica, why didn't you warn us that your cats are so vicious? said Rachel, bleeding from several different wounds on her chest, head, and wings.
Well, they aren't that way around humans. Actually, they are normally even really affectionate around strangers. I guess they just don't like birds, I said.
Really, I hadn't noticed, said Marco.
But the fights weren't over yet. Ax had been lucky and once he demorphed, Kuga started to calm down and even let Ax hold her as he acquired her. Marco wasn't too happy about that though.
I can't believe it! exclaimed Marco, almost falling out of the tree he had perched in while watching Ax have such an easy time with the cat. I almost become cat food down there and that cat is actually purring? There's no way!
With a little help from Rachel and Tobias, Cassie acquired Star. It took both Rachel and Tobias to prevent Cassie from getting bitten to death, but even so, Cassie walked away from Star with four fresh bleeding claw marks down each of her arms. You now may be wondering what happened to Jake, well, he wasn't very lucky either.
I lured Kito down from a nearby tree in my mouse morph, with Jake waiting behind a nearby tree, demorphed, waiting for me to lure Kito his way. Well, I wasn't that lucky. As I led Kito to Jake I realized something very important, Kito was the fastest of my cats, and she loved to play with mice. But I remembered this too late.
Aaaaaahhhhhhh, I screamed as Kito's fangs sung into my soft mouse flesh. Jake help! I yelled, but not soon enough because I felt Kito begin to run. And you know to where? Under the porch. Under the porch that was only six inches high. Great.
Um, guys. I think we have a problem, I said.
Jessica, I just saw one of your cats run under the deck with a mouse in its mouth, Tobias said.
That would be me.
You're under the deck? said Marco. Question, how are we supposed to get under your deck?
Better yet, how high is it under there? asked Jake.
Approximately six inches? I replied.
Uh oh, said Rachel.
Major, uh oh, said Marco.
You guys wouldn't be able to get me now would you? I asked, trying to hold back the intense pain I was feeling.
What should me morph? Marco asked Jake.
That's simple, one of her cats, said Ax.
Um, guys. Everything is starting to get really dim and I can't feel my back legs. Is that bad?
This is not good, Jake said.
I'm going in, said Ax.
La, la, la, la,la,. I said. Whoa, this is interesting, I don't feel pain anymore. And the mouse brain doesn't seem hungry or scared anymore either. Huh. I'm tired, maybe I should take a nap.
You guys, I'm going to sleep now, I'm so tired, wake me up when my two hours are almost up. And that's when I heard two cats start to fight.
Ax, what's going on in their? I heard Jake say, or was it Jake. What were all these voices doing in my head. Didn't they know I was trying to sleep?
Hurry, Ax-man! She's almost dead. I can see you there, under the deck. Oh, she does not look good!
And that's when I felt something or someone pick me up, and start to carry me. Where was I going? I felt like I was floating. Then, a voice in my head.
Jessica, you need to demorph, I heard a voice in my head say. It sounded familiar. Jessica, you must demorph, immediately! I knew that voice. It was Ax. I liked Ax, Ax the Andalite.
Okay, I said. And I started to demorph. I felt my senses come back to me. The first one being pain. OW, why do I hurt so much?
You don't want to know, just keep demorphing, said Rachel.
I can't feel my back legs, I said
That's because you don't have any right now, I heard Marco say.
WHAT! I yelled, now demorphing a lot faster. I felt my back legs now. My half human back legs. But at that point, I was glad to have back legs at all.
When I was done demorphing, I was shaking. I was whole once again, but still I was in shock. After about ten minutes, I regained the ability to talk, well, sort of. "J-j-Jake did y-you aqu-quire any of my c-c-cats yet?" I asked in a not-so-steady voice."
"No, but I will be shortly," he said as he turned his head in the direction of the forest.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW! I heard someone yelling in thought speak. Jake this cat does NOT want to be flying right now.
"Marco I presume?" I said.
"Yeah, I sent Marco to go get Kito again. I though she would've calmed down my now, I guess not," he said with a laugh. Poor Marco. I was never really fond of him, but I guess you could say I felt bad for him right then, in a way.
Jake, will you come here and get this cat before I end up being a bucket of KFO, Kentucky Fried Osprey.
"Sure," said Jake, as he headed towards the edge of the woods with a smile on his face. When he came back I was pretty sure that now everyone had acquired one of my cats, but Jake wasn't. "Has everyone acquired one of Jessica's...kmm...cats yet?
Yes, said Rachel.
And just in time, said Tobias. Because Jessica, your family should be arriving home in approximately five minutes.
"Great," I mumbled to myself. "But one question here, what am I going to morph for the flight back? I am NOT morphing mouse again, NEVER! There was just way too many close calls in that morph."
I already have that covered, said Jake, now starting to morph back to his peregrine falcon, since the others were already in their birds of prey morphs. I told Tobias that if anything went wrong with your mouse morph, to go capture some small bird for you to fly back as. And here he is now.
This is the only bird I could catch, he said, swooping down towards me and placing a small catbird in my hand. Isn't that ironic, a cat-bird. Oh, well. But anyway, I started to acquire it and the bird went limp in my hand as its DNA entered my blood stream to join the lynx and the mouse. "Thanks Tobias," I said, as I opened my hands and tossed the bird lightly into the air once it came out of the trance.
No problem, said Tobias. It was actually kind of fun, I just swooped down on it unsuspectingly, it didn't even know what hit him! he said with a laugh. But I had already began my new morph.
The first thing I felt was a falling sensation, but it was strange because my feet never left the ground. When I was about two feet tall, still mostly human, my skin turned a gray-blue color and the patterns of feathers appeared on my skin, almost like tattoos. Then they sprouted up, like little pine trees, covering my entire body. I felt the bones in my fingers elongate and then pop right out of my skin. I tried to scream, but my lips had already became as hard as finger nails and were forming a beak, so instead it sounded more like bird's version of a cat, but human like too. "Mmmrrraaaooohhhwww," I screamed, too loud I think. Oh, oh, oh, I began in thought speak. You are NOT supposed to be able to see your own bones. But as I said it, they were already beginning to be covered with skin, and then the catbird's grayish feathers. Moments later, I had wings, whole wings, and I was very happy about that fact, very, very happy.
Don't worry Jess, that happened to me once too, said Marco.
Thanks, that really helps, I mumbled, basically to myself. Well, at least I'm still alive, I replied, as I felt the last of my internal organs rearrange themselves to fit now the catbird's diet and felt my bones finishing hollowing out so I should be lighter, now built for flight. But when I looked down, I still had normal feet and legs. Although as I watched, I saw them turn a blackish gray color and became astonished as my toes became much longer and then melted together to form three toes, becoming like a smaller version of tyrannosaurus feet. At the end of each of toes was one black claw. Cool, but I still preferred my lynx. This bird was just a snack to that morph.
Okay, I'm done, I said. Tobias, this is a small bird and won't be able to fly far, so I need to know.
What?
How far away is the part of the wood that I'm supposed to be staying in?
Maybe a mile, why?
Because I don't think that this morph is going to be able to make it that far. Especially because I think that this bird is a ground nester and doesn't like flying far above the ground.
Great, said Marco.
All right, said Jake. Who wants to carry Jessica when she can't fly anymore?
She's a small bird so anyone should be able to carry her, right? asked Rachel.
Right, said Ax. So since I must head into the forest anyway, I will carry Jessica when she can no longer fly.
Thanks Ax.
No problem.
As for the rest of us, we're going to fly to Cassie's barn and demorph, we have a long night ahead us, said Jake.
Jake? asked Tobias.
What?
We need to leave, now! Jessica's family, including Cossette, should be arriving home in about, oh, I don't know, thirty seconds!
All right then, let's go! said Rachel. So Cassie, Rachel, Marco, and Jake flew off to Cassie's barn and Ax, Tobias and I headed deep into the woods, near Tobias's meadow, to get some rest before the mission that now lay ahead of us.
I was preoccupied thinking about my family as I flew over the forest that was now my home. I almost flew into a towering spruce if it wasn't for Ax, who went into a dive and scooped me up, just before I plowed right into the trunk of the tree.
Jessica, are you all right? Ax asked me, privately. You seem as if you are somewhere else?
Yeah, I'm fine. I just miss home. I miss my sister and my parents too. I mean, I miss the sister that I had before she was infested. It's not like I have anything against living in the forest with you and Tobias. That's what I had always wanted to do, to be out in the wilderness, trying to save the world if you will. I get to do that now, only in a different way. But still, like they say, home is where the heart is, and I miss the way my life was before I became an Animorph, before I became infested.
Yes, I know what you mean. I too miss my home. My home on the Andalite home world.
Wow, I guess I just took it for granted that you liked living here in the forest, I never thought that you wanted to be home too.
Yes, in fact I almost betrayed the Animorphs a long time ago when we came about an Andalite battle ship. If it wasn't for the fact that the captain was a traitor, than I would probably be with them right now.
Wow, I'm really sorry about that Ax. You probably haven't seen another Andalite in a long time huh?
Yes, but the Earth and its people are now my own, and Jake, is now my Prince.
I honestly never knew you felt that way Ax, and here I am making a big deal out of not being able to be home, while you are stranded millions of miles away from your own planet never mind your own home. I'm sorry Ax.
It is okay, maybe someday they will come back for me, but I sensed doubt in his voice.
Yeah, they probably will, I said, trying to give him some hope, something to dream about, something to look forward to, but I doubted it. I highly doubted it. After some while, we started to talk again.
Did you have any family back home, like any brothers or sisters or anything?
Yes, I had a brother. His name was Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, Prince Elfangor.
You probably miss him even more than I miss my sister, huh?
More than you know.
Why do you say that?
Well, didn't you ever wonder how the Animorphs got their powers? You know, they didn't always have the 'morphing cube' as they call it. Someone else gave them the power to morph.
Your brother, Elfangor?
Yes. They, I mean the Animorphs, they never told you how they got their powers?
No, I never really thought about it, not until you brought it up, not until now.
I can only tell you what I have been told and what I've seen, and what I tell you now is what they told me and what I've experienced myself, he said. As we reached the edge of Tobias's meadow, Ax flew down into the trees with me in his talons. He set me down on the ground in front of a log and then landed on the log before hopping down beside me and beginning to demorph. There was a battle between the Andalites and the Yeerks in orbit around Earth. We thought for sure that we would win, since we had a dome ship with us, but the Yeerks had a secret weapon, a blade ship.
"Visser Three's ship," I said to myself in a quiet whisper.
Yes, the blade ship of Visser Three, Ax continued. I wanted to fight in the battle that was occurring then, but I couldn't, I was sent to the dome of the ship by Elfangor. I was, and still am, a lowly aristh, just a soldier in training, forbidden to fight in the war that raged outside my dome ship. I went to the dome that was soon ejected so the ship could move more freely.That's when the blade ship was first noticed, that's when our ship, the Andalite ship, was destroyed. I watched the battle as the dome was caught in the Earth's gravitational pull and then pulled down through the atmosphere. I ended up landing in the ocean, far away and safe from the battle now between our fighters and the Yeerks. Elfangor's ship was hit in the fight and wounded, it could no longer fly, so Elfangor landed it in an abandoned construction site where he met Cassie, Rachel, Jake, Tobias, and Marco. He himself was wounded and stumbled as he tried to walk off of his now useless ship. Knowing that the Earth was in danger of getting taken over by the Yeerks, he gave them the power to morph, breaking the law of Seerow's Kindness. We are never supposed to give our technology to another species, never. Right after he gave them the power to morph, Visser Three arrived. Visser Three morphed into a horrible creature from another planet and picked up Elfangor. Even though there was no hope for him, Elfangor fought back to the very end. Until Visser Three,... until Visser Three ate him in that horrible morph, that horrible creature he had become, even though he was already a horrible creature himself. The abomination that is Visser Three. I must kill him to avenge my brother's death, and I will. And that's were Ax left off. I couldn't say anything, couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't think. Well, I could think, and the only thing I could think about was an Andalite, just like Ax, Ax's own brother, dying the way he did, trying to save Earth, trying to save us. That's why Ax didn't kill me when he first met me out alone in the woods. He knew Elfangor had died to save the human race, to save people like me and Jake, and Cassie and Rachel and Marco, and even kids that were the way Tobias was.
That's when I started to cry, and when I looked up, I noticed that Ax had started to cry too. I had never seen him cry before, and was even doubting that he could, but once I saw him then, I realized just how much like Elfangor he truly was and that maybe the Earth and it's people did have a chance after all. I then knew also that I would never see him cry again, and also now knew just how badly the Earth was in trouble, even if it could be saved. My sister meant more to me then, than ever before, and now I was determined to help her, no matter what the cost.
Chapter 10:
The meeting was basically over after that. Everyone was shocked by what I had said, and even more shocked that Jake thought we should save my sister. Everyone was a little hesitant about agreeing whether we should or shouldn't go on the mission. Marco thought that Jake had gone insane and all most left, right before Rachel stopped him. Rachel agreed that it was worth a shot, Cassie totally agreed because she knew what I said about wolves was true, Ax and Tobias agreed, saying they would help any way they could, and Marco reluctantly agreed, still believing that we had all gone insane.
We weren't exactly sure how we were going to do it because they had never tried anything like this before (and neither had I) and everyone had to leave before the idea was settled. Since the next day was Saturday, we all decided that we would meet early the next morning to decide how we were going to conduct the mission that would take place that night, the mission that would save both the Animorphs and my sister.
"So how are we going to do this?" asked Marco the next morning. We had met up in the forest so Ax could stay in his Andalite morph and because we had agreed a while ago that I would stay as far away from civilization as necessary so that I wouldn't be discovered, alive this time.
"I was thinking that maybe we should just sneak into her house tonight, find some way to keep her asleep and just carry her out the window," I suggested.
"And how are we going to do this?" Marco asked. "We can't just waltz right into your house and say 'Hi we're here to see Cossette.' At oh, I don't know, three o'clock in the morning!" said Marco.
"We morph, duh," said Rachel.
"But as what?" Jake thought to himself.
"Oh, that's simple. One of my pet cat's. Luckily enough, I have seven and since they are all out-doors cats, he should each be able to find one, acquire it, and morph it."
"Sounds easily enough," said Rachel.
"Did I mention some of them are tomcats?"
"Okay, maybe not that easy."
"You guys have any good morphs for finding cats?" They all looked at one another and smiled. Turns out, they each had at least one bird of prey morph.
"How am I going to catch one?" I asked curiously, "Since I only have two morphs, and neither would be good at catching cats."
Well, we need something to lure the cats out with, said Tobias.
"Oh no! There is no way!"
You have to Jessica, real mice wouldn't work right. They would try and hide, you need to lure the cats into the open. Right then I had a look of total horror on my face. I had watched my cats hunt mice, this was not going to be fun. At that point, Marco started to laugh. He tried to conceal it, one by putting his hand over his mouth, the other by coughing.
"This is not funny Marco." But instead of stopping, he just kept laughing harder. I was so mad at that point, I started to think what a lynx would do to him if she was in this situation. Before I knew it, I had razor sharp claws and was lunging at Marco. Before anyone could stop me, I jumped right on top of him. I started to laugh when I saw the look of horror on his face right before I hit him. I knocked him of the bale of hay he was sitting on and slashed him as hard as I could with my razor sharp claws.
"Hey, I just got this shirt!" was all he could say after I jumped back off him and headed towards were I was sitting before, next to Ax and Jake. When he finally got back up onto the bale of hay he had been sitting on, after struggling for a couple of minutes, everyone noticed the four slash marks across Marco's shirt. They didn't stop at the shirt either, they went right threw the morphing outfit and ended up as four bloody claw marks across his chest, oops.
After that incident, they decided that whenever they had meetings only one of us would be present, either Marco or me, unless it was an emergency of course. Little did they know that I personally did not agree to this and that I planned on going to all the meetings, one way or another. In other words, they would soon find out just how stubborn I could be, when I wanted to. (But hey didn't know this would come later of course.)
We then decided that about after-noon today we would try to capture my poor kitties Chee, Star, Kuga, Kito, Spitz, Binx, and Zorro, four of which were tomcats.
I really don't like this idea, I said, gloomily.
Don't worry it'll be fun, right Rachel? said Marco.
Shut up, Marco, said Rachel.
What does he mean, Rachel?
Oh, nothing, she said. Isn't that right Marco? she said in a very angry tone.
Right, said Marco. In a way.. he mumbled to himself, snickering.
Whatever, I said.
Then we headed towards my house. Tobias had been watching earlier and called us over when everyone had left and no one was home. Ax had volunteered to carry me after I had morphed into mouse (of course).
They flew around for about ten minutes, and I had to keep my mouse from attacking Ax. At one point I lost control.
OW! Ax screamed. Jessica, why are you biting me?
It's my morph, it doesn't like being up high in the air. It thinks you are going to eat me, I said right before I bite Ax really hard, causing him to drop me. Aaaaahhhhhh, I screamed as I started tp plummet towards the ground.
Ax, what did you do? Marco asked.
I dropped Jessica, he said, as he started to go into a dive.
Allow me, said Jake. I have the fastest diving morph. And then I saw this huge bird come lunging at me, talons outstretched. He caught me about three inches before I hit the ground.
Jessica, are you okay, Jake asked me.
I'm f-f-fine, I t-t-think, I said a little shaky. Once I recovered my strength, I think Ax felt sorry for dropping me, even more than me than he all ready did.
I'm sorr... he began, but didn't have time to finish because I interjected.
You idiot, I'm going to kill you! I said screaming at the top of my lungs, I mean thought-speak. You could've killed me! I mean, yes, I did bite you, and I'm sorry for that, but I wasn't trying to kill you! Aaarrgghh! As you can probably see, I was a little peeved.
I am still very sorry, Jessica. This morph doesn't like to be bitten. It was it's instinct to drop you.
Yeah, I know. I'm sorry for yelling at you, but I really didn't want to die for the second time in a two week period, I replied. Even though I am small, from being dropped from two miles up in the air, I would've gone 'Splat!' when I hit the ground.
Mmm, yummy. Mouse pancake! said Marco.
Ha, ha, ha. Very funny Marco. As Cassie was telling me earlier, I heard you didn't have the time of your life in ant morph either. That kept him quiet. As soon as I said that, he stooped laughing and didn't say anything for the next five minutes.
Hey, I think I see a cat down there! said Rachel.
I'll go after him! Marco volunteered. Before I could give any warning Marco was all ready diving towards the seemingly helpless kitty cat.
Awe, he looks he saw cute. And at that moment, I had this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, to ask Marco a very important question.
Marco what color is that cat? I asked, since my mouse vision wasn't that accurate from that high up.
Awe, he's even purring.
Marco, just answer the question, what color is it!?
It's a really nice brown-gray with brown-black stripes.
Marco, get away from it NOW! I yelled frantically, but I all ready could sense it was too late, especially when I heard him scream.
Aaaaaahhhhhhh, he screamed. Captain, I've been hit, I'm going down!
Marco! Watch out, don't let him get on top of you!
What could this little cat possibly du to me? It was a lucky shot that he hit me.
Okay, don't say I didn't warn you. Oh, and by the way, that's the biggest toughest tom cat that I own. He's constantly bringing me dead birds, even rather large ones.
Yeah right, said Marco.
Wait a second is that the cat...Tobias began. Uh oh Marco, Fly, NOW! Fly like your life depends on it, because it does! But he was too late, because if I knew Zorro, he'd all ready be pouncing on Marco from behind.
Aaaaahhhhh, Marco screamed again. Get this big cat OFF me, NOW!
Can't say I didn't warn you! I added in a taunting voice.
Hold on Marco, Rachel said, really annoyed.
She dived toward Marco in her bald eagle morph, trying to rip Zorro off his back, needless to say it didn't work. Instead of taking Zorro off of Marco, she ended up getting attacked by Zorro instead.
Rachel! Tobias yelled as he dived toward the ongoing fight, trying to pull Rachel off my poor sweet innocent little kitty. I knew Tobias liked Rachel, and I mean liked Rachel, so I started to dive down, knowing that Tobias would do whatever it took to protect Rachel from my cat.
Tobias! Don't you dare kill or even hurt my cat! I yelled as Tobias approached the fight. Jake drop me, NOW!
What?
Drop me!
What are you insane! he said, flying closer to the ground.
Drop me off two feet in front of my cat, and everyone else...Get away from my kitty! When they heard me, they all started to fly away, or at least tried to. Zorro was now after Tobias, but once he saw me, he stopped, and I could feel something moving towards me.
I started to run, to run as fast as my little mouse legs could carry me, which is pretty fast for mouse standards, but not fast enough to outrun my cat. All of a sudden I felt a huge pressure on my tail, and I tried to run, but I wasn't going anywhere.
Um guys, a little help HERE!
No way, I'm not going back down there again, near that vicious monster! said Rachel.
No way, Xena doesn't want to go? Is the world going to end? said Marco. But, I have to say, I agree with Rachel for once.
I am definitely not going down there either, he almost killed me! said Tobias.
If that cat brought down Rachel, then it will easily bring down me, Jake, and Ax, said Cassie.
Fine, I guess I'm on my own then. So I started to morph back into human.
Are you sure no one is home Tobias?
Yeah, pretty sure, but...
Good, I said as I completed my morph back to human. "Here Zorro, come here." And then my poor little scratched up, now totally and utterly confused cat came up to me, and started purring.
I can't believe this!" said Marco, landing in the nearest tree. That vicious blood thirsty monster is actually not attacking you!
"What, this harmless cat? He didn't mean any harm did you Zorro?" He started purring even louder almost as in reply to my question. and then he started to curl up in a ball and fall asleep in my lap.
I am soo acquiring that cat. said Marco, in a voice (or should I say thought speak) that sounded like he wanted to get revenge.
Yes, I can see your reasons. This particular animal is quite aggressive and efficient at attacking prey the same size as and almost bigger than its own, said Ax.
"Anyone else want to acquire this cat."
I am not going anywhere near that monster, said Rachel.
Yeah, me either, said Tobias.
The rest of the cats were a lot easier to acquire than Zorro. Even though Spitz was not to particularly thrilled and took off a couple of Rachel's feathers. Tobias went after Chee, and had a fairly easy time acquiring him because Chee is fairly docile. I acquired Binx, since he was my favorite and was the easiest to catch since I wasn't in mouse morph at the time.Ax tried desperately to acquire Kuga, but I forgot to mention that other than being friendly, she has an unearthly fascination with feathers. This meant that any time Ax would try to go anywhere near her (after I led her out into the open while in mouse morph), she would playfully bat at him, except she would use her claws.
Jessica, is there anyway I can catch this cat without it clawing me to death? asked Ax, now just a little annoyed. By then, she had all ready taken out quite a few of his feathers leaving him looking like he had mange.
Ax, you look like you got attacked by killer fleas or something! Marco said with a laugh.
Jake, you want to go down and help Ax, before my cat takes out anymore of his flight feathers? I asked.
Sure, said Jake, laughing too. But he wasn't laughing for long because before I could say anything Star was coming up behind Jake and pounced.
Aaaaahhhhhh, Jake screamed. Get this cat off me! At this point, I started laughing, until I remembered that Star never plays cat-and-mouse, or at this case, cat-and-hawk. She always goes for the killing bite first, she never plays around.
Tobias! Go help Jake now! Star is going to go for the killing bite whenever Jake's neck is unprotected!
What? Tobias said, shocked.
Dive towards Star and Jake now! I screamed.
I'm going with you! yelled Rachel.
I'll go help Ax, said Cassie.
Same here, said Marco.
The next thing I saw I will never forgot. My cat Kuga was now being attacked and fighting a northern harrier and two ospreys while Star was battling a red tailed hawk, bald eagle, and a peregrine falcon. Well, I really can't say she was "battling" the peregrine falcon, she was actually trying to kill him and eat him. After about 10 minutes, Cassie and Marco somehow figured out a way to lift Kuga up, into the air and carry her over to the woods. Ax had to walk there because he had lost a good number of his flight feathers and could no longer fly. Star was still busy trying to kill Jake and completely ignored the two huge birds that were trying to pluck her off her prey's back. Then, for no reason at all, she lunged at Rachel, who was knocked to the ground and sent rolling, a mess of feathers and fur. Tobias was so fed up at this point he lunged at the spitting and hissing ball of fury and ended up dragging away a very angry and hungry, Star.
Jessica, why didn't you warn us that your cats are so vicious? said Rachel, bleeding from several different wounds on her chest, head, and wings.
Well, they aren't that way around humans. Actually, they are normally even really affectionate around strangers. I guess they just don't like birds, I said.
Really, I hadn't noticed, said Marco.
But the fights weren't over yet. Ax had been lucky and once he demorphed, Kuga started to calm down and even let Ax hold her as he acquired her. Marco wasn't too happy about that though.
I can't believe it! exclaimed Marco, almost falling out of the tree he had perched in while watching Ax have such an easy time with the cat. I almost become cat food down there and that cat is actually purring? There's no way!
With a little help from Rachel and Tobias, Cassie acquired Star. It took both Rachel and Tobias to prevent Cassie from getting bitten to death, but even so, Cassie walked away from Star with four fresh bleeding claw marks down each of her arms. You now may be wondering what happened to Jake, well, he wasn't very lucky either.
I lured Kito down from a nearby tree in my mouse morph, with Jake waiting behind a nearby tree, demorphed, waiting for me to lure Kito his way. Well, I wasn't that lucky. As I led Kito to Jake I realized something very important, Kito was the fastest of my cats, and she loved to play with mice. But I remembered this too late.
Aaaaaahhhhhhh, I screamed as Kito's fangs sung into my soft mouse flesh. Jake help! I yelled, but not soon enough because I felt Kito begin to run. And you know to where? Under the porch. Under the porch that was only six inches high. Great.
Um, guys. I think we have a problem, I said.
Jessica, I just saw one of your cats run under the deck with a mouse in its mouth, Tobias said.
That would be me.
You're under the deck? said Marco. Question, how are we supposed to get under your deck?
Better yet, how high is it under there? asked Jake.
Approximately six inches? I replied.
Uh oh, said Rachel.
Major, uh oh, said Marco.
You guys wouldn't be able to get me now would you? I asked, trying to hold back the intense pain I was feeling.
What should me morph? Marco asked Jake.
That's simple, one of her cats, said Ax.
Um, guys. Everything is starting to get really dim and I can't feel my back legs. Is that bad?
This is not good, Jake said.
I'm going in, said Ax.
La, la, la, la,la,. I said. Whoa, this is interesting, I don't feel pain anymore. And the mouse brain doesn't seem hungry or scared anymore either. Huh. I'm tired, maybe I should take a nap.
You guys, I'm going to sleep now, I'm so tired, wake me up when my two hours are almost up. And that's when I heard two cats start to fight.
Ax, what's going on in their? I heard Jake say, or was it Jake. What were all these voices doing in my head. Didn't they know I was trying to sleep?
Hurry, Ax-man! She's almost dead. I can see you there, under the deck. Oh, she does not look good!
And that's when I felt something or someone pick me up, and start to carry me. Where was I going? I felt like I was floating. Then, a voice in my head.
Jessica, you need to demorph, I heard a voice in my head say. It sounded familiar. Jessica, you must demorph, immediately! I knew that voice. It was Ax. I liked Ax, Ax the Andalite.
Okay, I said. And I started to demorph. I felt my senses come back to me. The first one being pain. OW, why do I hurt so much?
You don't want to know, just keep demorphing, said Rachel.
I can't feel my back legs, I said
That's because you don't have any right now, I heard Marco say.
WHAT! I yelled, now demorphing a lot faster. I felt my back legs now. My half human back legs. But at that point, I was glad to have back legs at all.
When I was done demorphing, I was shaking. I was whole once again, but still I was in shock. After about ten minutes, I regained the ability to talk, well, sort of. "J-j-Jake did y-you aqu-quire any of my c-c-cats yet?" I asked in a not-so-steady voice."
"No, but I will be shortly," he said as he turned his head in the direction of the forest.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW! I heard someone yelling in thought speak. Jake this cat does NOT want to be flying right now.
"Marco I presume?" I said.
"Yeah, I sent Marco to go get Kito again. I though she would've calmed down my now, I guess not," he said with a laugh. Poor Marco. I was never really fond of him, but I guess you could say I felt bad for him right then, in a way.
Jake, will you come here and get this cat before I end up being a bucket of KFO, Kentucky Fried Osprey.
"Sure," said Jake, as he headed towards the edge of the woods with a smile on his face. When he came back I was pretty sure that now everyone had acquired one of my cats, but Jake wasn't. "Has everyone acquired one of Jessica's...kmm...cats yet?
Yes, said Rachel.
And just in time, said Tobias. Because Jessica, your family should be arriving home in approximately five minutes.
"Great," I mumbled to myself. "But one question here, what am I going to morph for the flight back? I am NOT morphing mouse again, NEVER! There was just way too many close calls in that morph."
I already have that covered, said Jake, now starting to morph back to his peregrine falcon, since the others were already in their birds of prey morphs. I told Tobias that if anything went wrong with your mouse morph, to go capture some small bird for you to fly back as. And here he is now.
This is the only bird I could catch, he said, swooping down towards me and placing a small catbird in my hand. Isn't that ironic, a cat-bird. Oh, well. But anyway, I started to acquire it and the bird went limp in my hand as its DNA entered my blood stream to join the lynx and the mouse. "Thanks Tobias," I said, as I opened my hands and tossed the bird lightly into the air once it came out of the trance.
No problem, said Tobias. It was actually kind of fun, I just swooped down on it unsuspectingly, it didn't even know what hit him! he said with a laugh. But I had already began my new morph.
The first thing I felt was a falling sensation, but it was strange because my feet never left the ground. When I was about two feet tall, still mostly human, my skin turned a gray-blue color and the patterns of feathers appeared on my skin, almost like tattoos. Then they sprouted up, like little pine trees, covering my entire body. I felt the bones in my fingers elongate and then pop right out of my skin. I tried to scream, but my lips had already became as hard as finger nails and were forming a beak, so instead it sounded more like bird's version of a cat, but human like too. "Mmmrrraaaooohhhwww," I screamed, too loud I think. Oh, oh, oh, I began in thought speak. You are NOT supposed to be able to see your own bones. But as I said it, they were already beginning to be covered with skin, and then the catbird's grayish feathers. Moments later, I had wings, whole wings, and I was very happy about that fact, very, very happy.
Don't worry Jess, that happened to me once too, said Marco.
Thanks, that really helps, I mumbled, basically to myself. Well, at least I'm still alive, I replied, as I felt the last of my internal organs rearrange themselves to fit now the catbird's diet and felt my bones finishing hollowing out so I should be lighter, now built for flight. But when I looked down, I still had normal feet and legs. Although as I watched, I saw them turn a blackish gray color and became astonished as my toes became much longer and then melted together to form three toes, becoming like a smaller version of tyrannosaurus feet. At the end of each of toes was one black claw. Cool, but I still preferred my lynx. This bird was just a snack to that morph.
Okay, I'm done, I said. Tobias, this is a small bird and won't be able to fly far, so I need to know.
What?
How far away is the part of the wood that I'm supposed to be staying in?
Maybe a mile, why?
Because I don't think that this morph is going to be able to make it that far. Especially because I think that this bird is a ground nester and doesn't like flying far above the ground.
Great, said Marco.
All right, said Jake. Who wants to carry Jessica when she can't fly anymore?
She's a small bird so anyone should be able to carry her, right? asked Rachel.
Right, said Ax. So since I must head into the forest anyway, I will carry Jessica when she can no longer fly.
Thanks Ax.
No problem.
As for the rest of us, we're going to fly to Cassie's barn and demorph, we have a long night ahead us, said Jake.
Jake? asked Tobias.
What?
We need to leave, now! Jessica's family, including Cossette, should be arriving home in about, oh, I don't know, thirty seconds!
All right then, let's go! said Rachel. So Cassie, Rachel, Marco, and Jake flew off to Cassie's barn and Ax, Tobias and I headed deep into the woods, near Tobias's meadow, to get some rest before the mission that now lay ahead of us.
I was preoccupied thinking about my family as I flew over the forest that was now my home. I almost flew into a towering spruce if it wasn't for Ax, who went into a dive and scooped me up, just before I plowed right into the trunk of the tree.
Jessica, are you all right? Ax asked me, privately. You seem as if you are somewhere else?
Yeah, I'm fine. I just miss home. I miss my sister and my parents too. I mean, I miss the sister that I had before she was infested. It's not like I have anything against living in the forest with you and Tobias. That's what I had always wanted to do, to be out in the wilderness, trying to save the world if you will. I get to do that now, only in a different way. But still, like they say, home is where the heart is, and I miss the way my life was before I became an Animorph, before I became infested.
Yes, I know what you mean. I too miss my home. My home on the Andalite home world.
Wow, I guess I just took it for granted that you liked living here in the forest, I never thought that you wanted to be home too.
Yes, in fact I almost betrayed the Animorphs a long time ago when we came about an Andalite battle ship. If it wasn't for the fact that the captain was a traitor, than I would probably be with them right now.
Wow, I'm really sorry about that Ax. You probably haven't seen another Andalite in a long time huh?
Yes, but the Earth and its people are now my own, and Jake, is now my Prince.
I honestly never knew you felt that way Ax, and here I am making a big deal out of not being able to be home, while you are stranded millions of miles away from your own planet never mind your own home. I'm sorry Ax.
It is okay, maybe someday they will come back for me, but I sensed doubt in his voice.
Yeah, they probably will, I said, trying to give him some hope, something to dream about, something to look forward to, but I doubted it. I highly doubted it. After some while, we started to talk again.
Did you have any family back home, like any brothers or sisters or anything?
Yes, I had a brother. His name was Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, Prince Elfangor.
You probably miss him even more than I miss my sister, huh?
More than you know.
Why do you say that?
Well, didn't you ever wonder how the Animorphs got their powers? You know, they didn't always have the 'morphing cube' as they call it. Someone else gave them the power to morph.
Your brother, Elfangor?
Yes. They, I mean the Animorphs, they never told you how they got their powers?
No, I never really thought about it, not until you brought it up, not until now.
I can only tell you what I have been told and what I've seen, and what I tell you now is what they told me and what I've experienced myself, he said. As we reached the edge of Tobias's meadow, Ax flew down into the trees with me in his talons. He set me down on the ground in front of a log and then landed on the log before hopping down beside me and beginning to demorph. There was a battle between the Andalites and the Yeerks in orbit around Earth. We thought for sure that we would win, since we had a dome ship with us, but the Yeerks had a secret weapon, a blade ship.
"Visser Three's ship," I said to myself in a quiet whisper.
Yes, the blade ship of Visser Three, Ax continued. I wanted to fight in the battle that was occurring then, but I couldn't, I was sent to the dome of the ship by Elfangor. I was, and still am, a lowly aristh, just a soldier in training, forbidden to fight in the war that raged outside my dome ship. I went to the dome that was soon ejected so the ship could move more freely.That's when the blade ship was first noticed, that's when our ship, the Andalite ship, was destroyed. I watched the battle as the dome was caught in the Earth's gravitational pull and then pulled down through the atmosphere. I ended up landing in the ocean, far away and safe from the battle now between our fighters and the Yeerks. Elfangor's ship was hit in the fight and wounded, it could no longer fly, so Elfangor landed it in an abandoned construction site where he met Cassie, Rachel, Jake, Tobias, and Marco. He himself was wounded and stumbled as he tried to walk off of his now useless ship. Knowing that the Earth was in danger of getting taken over by the Yeerks, he gave them the power to morph, breaking the law of Seerow's Kindness. We are never supposed to give our technology to another species, never. Right after he gave them the power to morph, Visser Three arrived. Visser Three morphed into a horrible creature from another planet and picked up Elfangor. Even though there was no hope for him, Elfangor fought back to the very end. Until Visser Three,... until Visser Three ate him in that horrible morph, that horrible creature he had become, even though he was already a horrible creature himself. The abomination that is Visser Three. I must kill him to avenge my brother's death, and I will. And that's were Ax left off. I couldn't say anything, couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't think. Well, I could think, and the only thing I could think about was an Andalite, just like Ax, Ax's own brother, dying the way he did, trying to save Earth, trying to save us. That's why Ax didn't kill me when he first met me out alone in the woods. He knew Elfangor had died to save the human race, to save people like me and Jake, and Cassie and Rachel and Marco, and even kids that were the way Tobias was.
That's when I started to cry, and when I looked up, I noticed that Ax had started to cry too. I had never seen him cry before, and was even doubting that he could, but once I saw him then, I realized just how much like Elfangor he truly was and that maybe the Earth and it's people did have a chance after all. I then knew also that I would never see him cry again, and also now knew just how badly the Earth was in trouble, even if it could be saved. My sister meant more to me then, than ever before, and now I was determined to help her, no matter what the cost.