A/N: Haha! Finally, here's the next chapter! Oh, and Oobergoober, I have
decided to add in your character even though I said the roster was full. I
needed more Controllers anyway. Thanks!
RAZ
I paced back and forth in my dark enclosed box. I had "demophed" so my natural body was restored. At least no one could see me from outside. My wolf mind was getting restless. It wasn't used to being in tight spaces. And neither was I. I tried many times to reach the others with thought- speech, but it was no use. They were too far away. I slammed against the wall for the sixth time that minute, trying to make it tip over or break or do SOMETHING.
It's no use Andalite. There's no escape, Visser Five said, in a low husky growl.
I tried to sniff through the box, to tell what creature the Visser had morphed, but I couldn't tell. After Sub-Visser forty-three had caught me, he had given me over to Visser Five, some newly promoted Yeerk. I didn't know what Visser Five's host body looked like, but I knew it was morph capable.
How cowardly to talk to me like that with the safety of your men. You act so high and mighty while I'm in my prison. I won't be for long though, Yeerk, I promise it, I snarled back, trying to sound as Andalite as I could possibly sound.
Interesting. A female Andalite bandit? I though only males were allowed to go out to battle.
I hesitated a little, trying to remember what Ax had said about Andalite ships. You shot down our Domeship filthy slug. That's why I'm down on Earth.
Huh. Even the females are pretty arrogant aren't they? Oh how I'd love to infest you. Together, Andalite, we could be great! But then again, I don't have to earn your trust. I'll just wait until you demorph. Then I can snag you all for myself, the Visser said with a hint of triumph in her voice.
I'd never surrender to you Visser. Not to you or any of the Yeerks. As they say, it's better to die than have your freedom taken away for good.
Pitiful. That's the kind of attitude that's going to get you and your whole race killed! the Visser spat angrily. If you were smart, you'd demorph now!
The box suddenly opened, and I charged out. But I crashed into a force field of some sort.
Ahh! I fell back.
Oh, I forgot to tell you: watch out for the force field, Visser Five laughed.
I looked at my surroundings. Hork-Bajir were all around me, and a jaguar was staring right into my eyes. It had a slight look of victory on its face. I snarled, but I knew that in a one on one combat, I wouldn't have much of a chance.
Well, demorph Andalite! If you don't, I'll put this shield down. I don't think you can handle this many Hork-Bajir on your own, the jaguar leered.
What? Are you too scared to finish me yourself Yeerk? Don't want to dirty your nice clean paws? I ridiculed, trying to buy myself more time.
Visser Five was angry, and I could tell. She bared her fangs at me, and I could see her retractable claws stretch out. The jaguar crouched down in a pouncing position, and stared at me with more hatred.
You want to play wolfie? Don't worry. We'll play.
The force field went down, and the jaguar leapt with amazing speed. I dodged just in time, but still got a little scratch from the claws. I spun and jumped. The Visser caught me in the gut. I fell onto the ground, gasping to replace the air that had been knocked out of me. Visser Five swung a paw down toward me, and I rolled and avoided. I bounced to my feet, and bit down. On air. The Visser had pounced, and I felt something sharp sink into my hindquarters. Teeth! The Visser had bit down on me! I howled in pain, and tried to shake the oversized cat off my back. It felt like someone had stuck a hot iron rod in my back. The blood ran down my back legs, and I finally shook free. But the Visser was able to yank off a chunk of me. She spit in onto the ground.
There was immense pain, but pain was not registering in my mind anymore. My mind was full of rage. I howled, and bared my teeth. Pain could wait until later. Pain was for humans, and I was not. I was a very angry, wild wolf. I howled and charged Visser Five with speed I never knew I could achieve. I aimed for the jaguar's throat, but she moved, and I got the shoulder instead. I didn't care though. It was payback. I bit down hard, then let go as fast as possible, avoiding the deadly swipe of the jaguar. My injury was finally coming into effect though. My rear legs began to drag. I limped away from the Visser, and faced her again. Blood was dripping from her left shoulder, and I could literally see fire burning in her eyes. She leapt, and so did I. We collided in the air, pushing each other off balance, and falling to the floor. I got up, but she was quicker.
She was on me in seconds. I tried to fight her off, but she had more weight than I did. Her teeth sank into my neck, inching closer and closer to the large vein in my above my collarbone. I could feel the life draining from me, and my last thought in my mind was: Luke.
What? Luke? But before I could answer myself, two bloody figures charged in with flying colors. An Andalite and a hyena ripped through the crowd of Hork-Bajir, tearing them to bits.
Luke! I will deal with the Hork-Bajir! Get Raz! the blue creature yelled.
My vision was starting to blur, but there was no longer teeth in my neck. A brown blur had pushed it off of my chest, but I was too weak to do anything. I heard a roar and a barking sort of noise, but it all seemed faint and far away...
Everything...getting...whiter..
TERRY
Terry! TERRY! Demorph NOW!
Huh? Oww! My head... I tried to hold my head in my hands, but I realized I didn't have hands, and my right wing was broken. AH! I started to demorph as quickly as possible. Luckily I hadn't hurt my head that bad, and I was able to demorph perfectly fine.
Are you okay? a wolf looked at me with a puzzled look.
"Yeah... I think I'm okay," I said and rubbed my temples. I leaned against a tree that I was sitting next to, and took a couple deep breaths. But then, I sat up. "Where are the others?"
Well um... I don't know, Michelle confessed.
"Damn it!" I sprung to my feet, and faced the wolf. "Where are they? Why am I here and not over there were everyone else is? Did we save Raz?"
Ah! Only one question at a time!
"Sorry. Okay, so why are only me and you here?"
Brian went to go hide the scientist guy, so there was only me and you and Luke and Ax. But then, you were unconscious, so you weren't much help, though you did save Brian with that suicidal dive bomb. You're a complete and crazy idiot did you know that?
I blushed a little.
Anyway, Ax was trying to keep Visser Three at bay, when Luke told me to take you and get out of there. I tried to protest, but he looked at me with these totally Brian-like eyes, so I had to go. The last thing I saw was a bunch of Taxxons rolling into the room...
"You left them to the TAXXONS?" I yelled, totally losing control.
I know I should have stayed, but with you in that condition, and Luke being serious for once, I decided well, maybe I should listen to him...
"We've got to go back," I said plainly.
Huh? What are you saying? The whole place is CRAWLING with Taxxons! And we don't even know where Brian is! I'm pretty sure I saw Visser Three come running out of the building hot on Brian's trail in this big black wolf morph. Well, it looked like a wolf at least. It had these big yellow fangs sticking out of its mouth, and was like twice as big as a regular wolf. Really freaky looking. Reminded me of a werewolf, Michelle said and shuddered.
"Damn damn damn!! What are we going to do! Okay, here's the deal. You have to go help get Raz out. Get as close to the building as you possibly can without getting seen, demorph, and remorph into a fly. Go in, and FIND RAZ! I'll try to find Brian and the Visser," I said, while trying to sort out all the thoughts in my mind. I turned and saw that the wolf was still looking at me, blankly. "GO!" I yelled.
Michelle reluctantly took off, looking back at me once, before disappearing into the bushes. I looked up at the sun. It must be around 7:00 I thought to myself. I started to morph. The bones in my body started to creak and shift, while my internal organs sloshed around and changed. My hands gradually became large padded paws, and jet-black fur began to grow from my face. I felt the inside of my mouth with my tongue, and felt the long fang- like teeth growing. A tail grew from the bottom of my spine, and I fell to all fours. My knee joints reversed, and I was almost done morphing. The last things that came were the senses. My hearing was suddenly enhanced, and I could smell everything! Then, I could suddenly see through the darkness. It was like someone had lit my pathway with a flashlight. I shook myself, and silently bounded off into the trees.
My panther nose picked a strange scent that my Animorph mind identified as, Andalite. I followed the trail, until the smell stopped. A different scent was there instead. My panther mind identified it very closely to a dog. I kept on the trail, until I could hear the crunching of leaves in front of me. I could smell the creature better now. The panther did not want to get any closer, for it smelled too closely to a dog or a wolf. But I forced it to keep moving, slower this time though. I went around it, and saw the clearing that the wolf-creature was looking at. A mountain lion had its forehead against a tree, and a guy in white lab coat was standing by it, looking around like a scared little mouse.
Brian! the mountain lion's head came up. Try not to make it too obvious you're listening to something. Anyway, this is Terry. Visser Three is watching you! He's in this weird wolf-creature morph. You have to get out of here! I'll take on the Visser.
No! You take the scientist and hide him! I'll hold off Visser Three, Brian said, with a fierce tone that I had never heard him use before. If I'm suppose to be your leader, you're suppose to listen! I usually ask you to do something, but this isn't asking. I'm ORDERING. I order you to leave with the scientist!
But- I started.
No buts Terry! Look, I know that you want to fight, but it's not your responsibility right now. I was supposed to have Visser Three in the building, but I ran away from it and handed it to Ax. I won't do it again. Now GO.
My respect for Brian just about doubled right then.
You got it fearless leader, I said.
Brian told the scientist to stay put until a large black cat came by to pick him up. That black cat was me.
Visser Three. I know you are out there. Come out, Brian said, openly.
A big black wolf-like thing stepped out of the bushes. It was just as Michelle had described. The creature was twice the size of a normal wolf, with large yellow fangs sticking out of its mouth. There was dark saliva dripping from its distorted muzzle. Its claws looked like knives sticking out from its dinner plate-sized paws. The eyes were hollow and lifeless, and looked like black holes. There were no visible pupils, and the eyes seemed to stare at you, wherever you were. The tail was like reptile's tail. It was long and scaly. But the scales gleamed, as if they were made of steel.
So, you found me Andalite. Alert as always I see, Visser Three said.
You no longer have the element of surprise on your side, Visser. Now we will have a fair battle at last. You in your morph, I in mine, Brian said.
Visser Three laughed. Startling both me and Brian. You think you can drag me into a little dual like you did with the juvenile Andalite? Guess again Andalite filth.
Suddenly, dozens of Hork-Bajir surrounded us. I tried to fight them, but there were too many. I was pushed into the clearing with Brian. One of the Hork-Bajir reached for the scientist. I bit its arm off. The Hokr-Bajir screamed with pain, and ran back into the crowd of Hork-Bajir.
Still fighting though you've lost? Typical Andalite, Visser Three spat.
A dozen Hork-Bajir surrounded just me and Brian. We faced the aliens, but there was not way we could fight our way out.
Face it Andalites. I've won, and you've lost.
I saw a Hork-Bajir grab the scientist, and another take out a silver container. It reached inside with tweezers, and pulled out a slimy gray slug.
No! I yelled, and started to claw and bite at the Hork-Bajir around me. As much as I fought and raged, the Hork-Bajir just kept coming back. Brian leapt in front of me, taking down a Hork-Bajir, making sort of a step for me to leap over the circle of Hork-Bajir. I saw the opportunity and took it. I soared over the Hork-Bajir, and knocked down the Hork-Bajir with the container.
"Graashhr Andalite!" it screamed.
But I saw it was too late. The Yeerk was already crawling inside the head of the scientist.
Nooo! I yelled.
The scientist was screaming, with his head up, exposing his neck. I knew what I had to do. It was something none of us Animorphs had done. We had agreed not to kill any humans voluntarily. But it was the only option. The Yeerk disappeared into the man's ear, and his screaming started to falter. The Yeerk was taking control. I had to do it. I looked into the fearful eyes of the man with my stern feline eyes.
Sorry, I whispered to the man, and leapt, feeling my sharp claws bite into the soft flesh of his neck...
RAZ
I paced back and forth in my dark enclosed box. I had "demophed" so my natural body was restored. At least no one could see me from outside. My wolf mind was getting restless. It wasn't used to being in tight spaces. And neither was I. I tried many times to reach the others with thought- speech, but it was no use. They were too far away. I slammed against the wall for the sixth time that minute, trying to make it tip over or break or do SOMETHING.
It's no use Andalite. There's no escape, Visser Five said, in a low husky growl.
I tried to sniff through the box, to tell what creature the Visser had morphed, but I couldn't tell. After Sub-Visser forty-three had caught me, he had given me over to Visser Five, some newly promoted Yeerk. I didn't know what Visser Five's host body looked like, but I knew it was morph capable.
How cowardly to talk to me like that with the safety of your men. You act so high and mighty while I'm in my prison. I won't be for long though, Yeerk, I promise it, I snarled back, trying to sound as Andalite as I could possibly sound.
Interesting. A female Andalite bandit? I though only males were allowed to go out to battle.
I hesitated a little, trying to remember what Ax had said about Andalite ships. You shot down our Domeship filthy slug. That's why I'm down on Earth.
Huh. Even the females are pretty arrogant aren't they? Oh how I'd love to infest you. Together, Andalite, we could be great! But then again, I don't have to earn your trust. I'll just wait until you demorph. Then I can snag you all for myself, the Visser said with a hint of triumph in her voice.
I'd never surrender to you Visser. Not to you or any of the Yeerks. As they say, it's better to die than have your freedom taken away for good.
Pitiful. That's the kind of attitude that's going to get you and your whole race killed! the Visser spat angrily. If you were smart, you'd demorph now!
The box suddenly opened, and I charged out. But I crashed into a force field of some sort.
Ahh! I fell back.
Oh, I forgot to tell you: watch out for the force field, Visser Five laughed.
I looked at my surroundings. Hork-Bajir were all around me, and a jaguar was staring right into my eyes. It had a slight look of victory on its face. I snarled, but I knew that in a one on one combat, I wouldn't have much of a chance.
Well, demorph Andalite! If you don't, I'll put this shield down. I don't think you can handle this many Hork-Bajir on your own, the jaguar leered.
What? Are you too scared to finish me yourself Yeerk? Don't want to dirty your nice clean paws? I ridiculed, trying to buy myself more time.
Visser Five was angry, and I could tell. She bared her fangs at me, and I could see her retractable claws stretch out. The jaguar crouched down in a pouncing position, and stared at me with more hatred.
You want to play wolfie? Don't worry. We'll play.
The force field went down, and the jaguar leapt with amazing speed. I dodged just in time, but still got a little scratch from the claws. I spun and jumped. The Visser caught me in the gut. I fell onto the ground, gasping to replace the air that had been knocked out of me. Visser Five swung a paw down toward me, and I rolled and avoided. I bounced to my feet, and bit down. On air. The Visser had pounced, and I felt something sharp sink into my hindquarters. Teeth! The Visser had bit down on me! I howled in pain, and tried to shake the oversized cat off my back. It felt like someone had stuck a hot iron rod in my back. The blood ran down my back legs, and I finally shook free. But the Visser was able to yank off a chunk of me. She spit in onto the ground.
There was immense pain, but pain was not registering in my mind anymore. My mind was full of rage. I howled, and bared my teeth. Pain could wait until later. Pain was for humans, and I was not. I was a very angry, wild wolf. I howled and charged Visser Five with speed I never knew I could achieve. I aimed for the jaguar's throat, but she moved, and I got the shoulder instead. I didn't care though. It was payback. I bit down hard, then let go as fast as possible, avoiding the deadly swipe of the jaguar. My injury was finally coming into effect though. My rear legs began to drag. I limped away from the Visser, and faced her again. Blood was dripping from her left shoulder, and I could literally see fire burning in her eyes. She leapt, and so did I. We collided in the air, pushing each other off balance, and falling to the floor. I got up, but she was quicker.
She was on me in seconds. I tried to fight her off, but she had more weight than I did. Her teeth sank into my neck, inching closer and closer to the large vein in my above my collarbone. I could feel the life draining from me, and my last thought in my mind was: Luke.
What? Luke? But before I could answer myself, two bloody figures charged in with flying colors. An Andalite and a hyena ripped through the crowd of Hork-Bajir, tearing them to bits.
Luke! I will deal with the Hork-Bajir! Get Raz! the blue creature yelled.
My vision was starting to blur, but there was no longer teeth in my neck. A brown blur had pushed it off of my chest, but I was too weak to do anything. I heard a roar and a barking sort of noise, but it all seemed faint and far away...
Everything...getting...whiter..
TERRY
Terry! TERRY! Demorph NOW!
Huh? Oww! My head... I tried to hold my head in my hands, but I realized I didn't have hands, and my right wing was broken. AH! I started to demorph as quickly as possible. Luckily I hadn't hurt my head that bad, and I was able to demorph perfectly fine.
Are you okay? a wolf looked at me with a puzzled look.
"Yeah... I think I'm okay," I said and rubbed my temples. I leaned against a tree that I was sitting next to, and took a couple deep breaths. But then, I sat up. "Where are the others?"
Well um... I don't know, Michelle confessed.
"Damn it!" I sprung to my feet, and faced the wolf. "Where are they? Why am I here and not over there were everyone else is? Did we save Raz?"
Ah! Only one question at a time!
"Sorry. Okay, so why are only me and you here?"
Brian went to go hide the scientist guy, so there was only me and you and Luke and Ax. But then, you were unconscious, so you weren't much help, though you did save Brian with that suicidal dive bomb. You're a complete and crazy idiot did you know that?
I blushed a little.
Anyway, Ax was trying to keep Visser Three at bay, when Luke told me to take you and get out of there. I tried to protest, but he looked at me with these totally Brian-like eyes, so I had to go. The last thing I saw was a bunch of Taxxons rolling into the room...
"You left them to the TAXXONS?" I yelled, totally losing control.
I know I should have stayed, but with you in that condition, and Luke being serious for once, I decided well, maybe I should listen to him...
"We've got to go back," I said plainly.
Huh? What are you saying? The whole place is CRAWLING with Taxxons! And we don't even know where Brian is! I'm pretty sure I saw Visser Three come running out of the building hot on Brian's trail in this big black wolf morph. Well, it looked like a wolf at least. It had these big yellow fangs sticking out of its mouth, and was like twice as big as a regular wolf. Really freaky looking. Reminded me of a werewolf, Michelle said and shuddered.
"Damn damn damn!! What are we going to do! Okay, here's the deal. You have to go help get Raz out. Get as close to the building as you possibly can without getting seen, demorph, and remorph into a fly. Go in, and FIND RAZ! I'll try to find Brian and the Visser," I said, while trying to sort out all the thoughts in my mind. I turned and saw that the wolf was still looking at me, blankly. "GO!" I yelled.
Michelle reluctantly took off, looking back at me once, before disappearing into the bushes. I looked up at the sun. It must be around 7:00 I thought to myself. I started to morph. The bones in my body started to creak and shift, while my internal organs sloshed around and changed. My hands gradually became large padded paws, and jet-black fur began to grow from my face. I felt the inside of my mouth with my tongue, and felt the long fang- like teeth growing. A tail grew from the bottom of my spine, and I fell to all fours. My knee joints reversed, and I was almost done morphing. The last things that came were the senses. My hearing was suddenly enhanced, and I could smell everything! Then, I could suddenly see through the darkness. It was like someone had lit my pathway with a flashlight. I shook myself, and silently bounded off into the trees.
My panther nose picked a strange scent that my Animorph mind identified as, Andalite. I followed the trail, until the smell stopped. A different scent was there instead. My panther mind identified it very closely to a dog. I kept on the trail, until I could hear the crunching of leaves in front of me. I could smell the creature better now. The panther did not want to get any closer, for it smelled too closely to a dog or a wolf. But I forced it to keep moving, slower this time though. I went around it, and saw the clearing that the wolf-creature was looking at. A mountain lion had its forehead against a tree, and a guy in white lab coat was standing by it, looking around like a scared little mouse.
Brian! the mountain lion's head came up. Try not to make it too obvious you're listening to something. Anyway, this is Terry. Visser Three is watching you! He's in this weird wolf-creature morph. You have to get out of here! I'll take on the Visser.
No! You take the scientist and hide him! I'll hold off Visser Three, Brian said, with a fierce tone that I had never heard him use before. If I'm suppose to be your leader, you're suppose to listen! I usually ask you to do something, but this isn't asking. I'm ORDERING. I order you to leave with the scientist!
But- I started.
No buts Terry! Look, I know that you want to fight, but it's not your responsibility right now. I was supposed to have Visser Three in the building, but I ran away from it and handed it to Ax. I won't do it again. Now GO.
My respect for Brian just about doubled right then.
You got it fearless leader, I said.
Brian told the scientist to stay put until a large black cat came by to pick him up. That black cat was me.
Visser Three. I know you are out there. Come out, Brian said, openly.
A big black wolf-like thing stepped out of the bushes. It was just as Michelle had described. The creature was twice the size of a normal wolf, with large yellow fangs sticking out of its mouth. There was dark saliva dripping from its distorted muzzle. Its claws looked like knives sticking out from its dinner plate-sized paws. The eyes were hollow and lifeless, and looked like black holes. There were no visible pupils, and the eyes seemed to stare at you, wherever you were. The tail was like reptile's tail. It was long and scaly. But the scales gleamed, as if they were made of steel.
So, you found me Andalite. Alert as always I see, Visser Three said.
You no longer have the element of surprise on your side, Visser. Now we will have a fair battle at last. You in your morph, I in mine, Brian said.
Visser Three laughed. Startling both me and Brian. You think you can drag me into a little dual like you did with the juvenile Andalite? Guess again Andalite filth.
Suddenly, dozens of Hork-Bajir surrounded us. I tried to fight them, but there were too many. I was pushed into the clearing with Brian. One of the Hork-Bajir reached for the scientist. I bit its arm off. The Hokr-Bajir screamed with pain, and ran back into the crowd of Hork-Bajir.
Still fighting though you've lost? Typical Andalite, Visser Three spat.
A dozen Hork-Bajir surrounded just me and Brian. We faced the aliens, but there was not way we could fight our way out.
Face it Andalites. I've won, and you've lost.
I saw a Hork-Bajir grab the scientist, and another take out a silver container. It reached inside with tweezers, and pulled out a slimy gray slug.
No! I yelled, and started to claw and bite at the Hork-Bajir around me. As much as I fought and raged, the Hork-Bajir just kept coming back. Brian leapt in front of me, taking down a Hork-Bajir, making sort of a step for me to leap over the circle of Hork-Bajir. I saw the opportunity and took it. I soared over the Hork-Bajir, and knocked down the Hork-Bajir with the container.
"Graashhr Andalite!" it screamed.
But I saw it was too late. The Yeerk was already crawling inside the head of the scientist.
Nooo! I yelled.
The scientist was screaming, with his head up, exposing his neck. I knew what I had to do. It was something none of us Animorphs had done. We had agreed not to kill any humans voluntarily. But it was the only option. The Yeerk disappeared into the man's ear, and his screaming started to falter. The Yeerk was taking control. I had to do it. I looked into the fearful eyes of the man with my stern feline eyes.
Sorry, I whispered to the man, and leapt, feeling my sharp claws bite into the soft flesh of his neck...