Chapter 1 As the Bug fighter slammed the Blade Ship, I felt a small feeling of triumph. Sure, I knew that I was taking my and the rest of my crew's lives, but it was for the greater good. By destroying The One, I would be able to save the universe from a plague worse than the Yeerks. However, just as the two ships collided, I felt a mysterious pull. Opening my eyes, I could barely make out a person standing over me. As my eyes focused, I recognized Marco. Marco said, "Hey dude, you totally spaced out on me. I'm talking about how badly I kicked your butt in video games, and you just kinda fainted. What's up?" I shook my head. The last thing I remembered was ordering the Bug Fighter to ram the Blade Ship. Now, from the look of it, I was back home. I looked up in the sky and saw a lone hawk floating above Marco and me. Tobias. There was only one hawk who would stay around a certain area for prolonged times. Hey Jake, you OK? You took a pretty nasty fall. I couldn't answer. So I just nodded my head. Tobias flew down a little bit, and then got within hearing distance of me and Marco. Marco said, "Hey, have you spotted the girls yet?" Sure have. They're about a hundred yards away. What was so important that Ax wanted to talk about? "I don't know. Ever since we kicked Yeerk butt, he's been kind of uppity. And it's been five years. He wouldn't call all of us if it wasn't that important." I just listened. I knew that Marco had said "girls", meaning more than one. And also, Ax was still on Earth. Something had changed. Just then, Cassie walked up. And right beside her was. Rachel. I was in shock. Rachel had died on the Blade Ship. Why was she walking around as if she had never died? Reality was definitely distorted. I had no idea what was going on. Suddenly, time froze for everyone except for me. I looked up to see a small man walking towards me. I recognized him immediately. "Ellimist! So you're the one behind all of these weird games. What's going on? Why are Rachel and Ax alive? Why am I still alive? Why didn't we all die in the Bug Fighter crash?" The Ellimist smiled, then answered. "I brought you back for a purpose. You see, while all of you're strategizing against the Yeerks won the war, it did not end Crayak's power. That's why he placed you and that Bug Fighter there to meet The One. He had planned his revenge on the Animorphs, starting with Rachel, then Ax, then the rest of you. None of you were really big threats to him, except for Cassie. She has the ability to sense a true reality. However, Crayak had plans to destroy Cassie. You see, in our cosmic game, Cassie is the only thing that keeps him from winning. So, he decided to fight her the way you six fought years ago. He sent an Andalite traitor to Earth with a morphing cube. He then handed it over to a group of terrorists known as the Alternamorphs. The plan was for the Alternamorphs to kill Cassie, then they could do whatever they saw fit with their powers. I, however, was allowed to make a few changes as well. So, I created a Sario Rip at the time of impact in order to bring you back. Also, Ax and Rachel were restored to their former selves. By doing so, Tom was saved, and the Yeerk was starved from his head. He is now one of the leading experts in anti-terrorism, though he cannot fight the Alternamorph threat alone. The Hork-Bajir have been called from their new habitat, and a select few have been given the morphing technology, in order to add more to your ranks. The other Animorphs are still alive in this reality. The only other changes I made were that the Chee no longer have the violence prohibitation programming, making them powerful allies. I believe that's all. However, if you do not succeed in stopping the Alternamorphs, you will be sent back to the Bug Fighter very quickly. If you do succeed, you will live in this reality for the rest of you're life. You will have no record of this conversation. Now go. Ax has been monitoring the activities of the Alternamorphs. He has the information you will need. Two more things. One, Tobias' true form is now human. Also, the two-hour limit, never existed. Goodbye!" And like that, he was gone.
Chapter 2 As time became unfroze, everyone picked up like nothing had ever happened. Instead, they all headed towards the city park. There, in the center was Ax's scoop. As it had turned out, the park had been transformed into a small "camping" area, so to speak, for Andalites. Scoops had been dug into the ground, and were outfitted with all kinds of things to keep Andalites occupied. Ax's scoop was no exception. He had the latest computers, TV's, and other high tech equipment out on the market. For the past month, he had been working alongside Tom, trying to figure what the Alternamorphs had in store for the United States. Now, he believed he had the answer. I believe the Alternamorphs plan to assassinate the President, and then begin total conquest of the nation. However, they have let slip out that they are currently hiding out here in California, waiting to strike. I think they have some important mission they must take care of first. I just don't know what it is. "Good work Ax. We need this information. Let's gather up everybody we can for this mission. You continue to work on figuring out where they are. The five of us will split up and get the Hork-Bajir, the Chee, James and his crew, the freed Controllers with morphing abilities, and the Andalites here on Earth," I said. Marco quickly morphed to osprey and took off towards Erek King's house, so he could contact the Chee. Tobias was already flying in the opposite direction towards the Hork-Bajir colony. Rachel was morphed to eagle, and took off to get James and his team. Cassie, meanwhile, was walking around the park talking to the Andalites. I flipped open my cell phone and called the house. Tom answered. "Tom, I need you to gather as many of your anti- terrorism team members as possible and meet me in the park." "OK, will do." After the conversation, I sat down next to Ax and began working with him to learn the hiding place of the Alternamorphs. We were listening for fifteen minutes when Ax was finally able to trace the phone call we were listening in on to an old warehouse on the west end of town. I remembered the warehouses. We had had battles a few times in there. Once, when the Pemalite ship had malfunctioned and we had to save a Chee who had been frozen. Another time when we had saved Mertil, an Andalite vecol, a handicapped Andalite. Now, we would be fighting in quite possibly our worst battle yet.
Chapter 3 After thirty minutes, everyone was assembled. James and his auxiliary Animorphs, plus the six of us, numbered thirty. There were twenty Hork-Bajir, fifteen Chee, ten Andalites, and twenty-five members of Tom's anti-terrorism team. We numbered one hundred, but from what Ax and I had heard, we were still out numbered three to one. However, still, I began to brief everyone there. "Now, as you all know, we are here to fight off a threat to this nation and our entire world. Normally, this would be a job for the military. However, these terrorists are equipped with the morphing technology. That makes them ten times more dangerous. Therefore, we are taking matters into our own hands. We have pinpointed their location to the warehouses on the west end of town. This is an ideal place for us to fight, out of the path of innocent bystanders. So, please, try to contain the battle to that area. Now, I want everyone to use their battle morphs, and those of you without the morphing technology, you will fight any way you can. Now, let's get some wings and head out that way." Normally, bird of prey morphs would have been the way to go, but there was no way I was going to allow us to be seen all flying in formation. Instead, we became various birds that could fly together. Some were ducks, others geese. Also, there was an assortment of seagulls and pigeons in the air. And away we flew, like a giant squadron of stealth bombers.
Chapter 4 Silently, we glided down towards the ground. Everyone demorphed, and after a small break, we began the changes to our battle morphs. As I felt the orange and black fur sweep over me, I looked around at my assembled team. Growing from the ground were lions, tigers, bears, gorillas, wolves, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, and various other creatures of power. I saw rhinos and elephants, and crocodiles and a bull. Finally, after five minutes, I could see everyone finished with his or her morphs. Standing off to the side were the fifteen Chee, who had thrown up holographic images to disguise our morphing. Also, standing in back, tails at the ready, were five Andalites. Five Hork-Bajir had stayed in their natural shapes. Ax walked back to the Andalites, and stood in front of them, a proud general leading his own squadron into battle. We had decided on the way over that we would split up into groups. Ax would lead the group of non-morphed Andalites and Hork-Bajir, along with the Chee. Meanwhile, Tom's anti-terrorism team would sneak around the back. The morphed Hork-Bajir and Andalites would storm through the front. Then, after everyone was engaged in the battle, I would lead my Animorphs through the front, while James led the auxiliary Animorphs through the back. It worked perfectly. Ax and his team snuck in from the top, using the fire escape. Then, Tom's team and the morphed aliens barged in. Finally, James and I led our groups inside. Only to find that the room was empty. So, we ran outside, and began searching the other warehouses. No luck.

Chapter 4 As we swooped through town, back towards the park, we saw the mall. There were people running out, screaming. Through the skylights, we saw various animals attacking customers. So, without any planning, Rachel launched a rock through a skylight. Like a giant arrow, we all flew through the skylight. Below, Erek was leading his Chee, already attacking the various Alternamorphs. Meanwhile, we had all morphed to battle morphs. The battle ensued. It was very bloody. I saw many deaths, but mostly from the Alternamorphs. We lost many fighters. When the battle ended, we regrouped at the top of the escalator. All fifteen Chee were still there, but we had lost twenty members of Tom's anti-terrorism team. The Hork-Bajir had lost fifteen, and we were down to two Andalite warriors. James had lost all but three of his team. There were the six original Animorphs, four auxiliary Animorphs, five Hork-Bajir, two Andalites, fifteen Chee, and five members of Tom's group. We numbered thirty-seven. We were beaten and tired. However, we had managed to beat over two hundred Alternamorphs. The remaining ones had run off towards who knew where. We demorphed, and headed back towards Ax's scoop. On the horizon, we saw smoke rising, and it smelled like something was burning. We ran towards the fire, and towards Ax's scoop.
Chapter 5 The Alternamorphs had attacked the Andalite colony, and since it had been so unexpected, the Andalites had been caught off guard. Nearly all had been killed, and those that survived were badly burned and could not fight. It was up to us. We morphed battle morphs, and started to attack. I saw many Chee get burned badly. They were not going to win. Tom's team all burned and died. Dracon beams quickly cut down the Hork-Bajir and Andalites, having not morphed. James and his three crewmembers were killed. The original six Animorphs were all that were left. However, there were still twenty-five Alternamorphs left. However, Rachel was confident that we could take them. After all, we had had our share of one- sided battles before, and we had won out. So, I gave the order to fight. Marco slammed a pile driver sized fist into the face of the nearest Alternamorph, a cheetah. Meanwhile, the rest of us were causing havoc around the rest of the Alternamorphs. I heard Ax's bullwhip tail slice through many necks. However, just then, I heard a wolf yelp. It was Cassie! I turned around to see her fighting against a fully-grown male lion. Just then, I heard the lion thought-speak. Ha ha ha. Stupid Animorphs. Did you really think that you could defeat me? It was David, the traitor Animorph we had stuck in rat morph. How could he have changed? It didn't matter now. Cassie was in danger. I was just about to reach her when I saw David's huge paw, claws outstretched, slice into Cassie's side, and spill blood out. Then, I felt a snap, and remembered nothing.

Chapter 6 I opened my eyes to see a large area, roughly the size of the city park. I looked around, and saw that my friends were still lying down, as if in suspended animation. Then, he came to me. The Ellimist had a sad smile on his face. "You lost Jake. You lost the battle against the Alternamorphs. Cassie's death backfired the Sario Rip. You came back just in time to hit the Blade ship. You were killed, but in doing so, you killed The One. The One was Crayak's last-ditch effort to beat me in our game. By sacrificing yourself, you won the game for me. Crayak has retreated, and has promised never to engage me in battle again. And now, you are dead. However, you now have the rest of eternity to live the way you always wanted to. No war, but here with all of your friends. Everyone has died, but you are still alive, in spirit, here in a world of my creation. This is the planet I offered you so many years ago, when we first met. Now, go, be with your friends. You have done your job well. You were the deciding factor in the fate of the universe. You deserve a break. Now, I will not bother you again. Good- bye?" Then, he was gone, and I went to join my friends in a world that had endless possibilities of exploration. Who knows, maybe someday our families and friends'll even join us.
[Author's note: In fact, the Animorphs families did come to the mysterious planet. So did the auxiliary Animorphs, and all the heroes and allies the Animorphs ever had. The day after arriving on the planet, Jake and the others found a small village nestled deep in a valley. In the village, Jake found Tom, Jara Hamee, and others. Ax was reunited with his parents. However, the biggest joy was when Tobias finally met his real father, Elfangor. And they all lived happily ever after.]