NON-INTERACTIVE 6.0!!!!
(The greatest Animorph story ever told)

Created by: Super Hurricane, Pheophins, Rachel9466, Jinako-Chan, Alikat, Bookworm, Snow_bliz, ... other people when I decide to use their ideas... oh yeah, and ME!!! T.B. Stormshot!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Animorphs. Sue me... no... don't. Gah, why do I get the feeling I've used that joke before... uggh...






Aighty.

"Let me go you freak!" Rachel screamed as she wrenched her wrist from the Drode's grip.

"The rage, the mental anguish, Rachel, you really are unique," the Drode said half-heartedly. He sighed and looked apologetically towards the enraged Rachel. "I'd do better, but being forced against my will to charter kids around the world is really putting a damper on my charm."

"Charm? Charm?! You disgusting monster, I should kill you now!" Rachel screamed angrily, forcing herself to concentrate on her grizzly bear morph, she focused mainly on the power and size, and what her bear claws could do to the Drode.

"Ah, that you still can't do. Even more so now actually, like I said, this woman has taken a shine to me. In fact, I would warn you not to even touch me. You wouldn't believe what she did to Marco when he tried to take a chunk out of me. It was beautiful," the Drode cackled, his eyes flashing brightly at the memory.

"Marco? You have Marco?" Rachel asked in surprise, she stopped in mid-morph, muscles bulging and fur just beginning to sprout.

"Oh yes. She has Marco. And Jake, and Cassie, and Aximili, and Tobias... we all know how much you love the bird. I wonder how much he loves you though, I was so sure that he would transform back to a human after gaining the ability. Well, too bad, even I can be wrong I suppose..." the Drode chuckled.

"Shut up!" Rachel yelled, she truly wanted to lash out at the Drode, but with her friends at stake she didn't want to risk it, slowly and painfully she demorphed. "Where are they?"

The Drode shrugged. "The actual location is far beyond your mind, which is why I am here."

"What?" Rachel snapped angrily, narrowing her eyes at the Drode. The Drode grinned.

"Your transportation awaits," he replied smiling widely as he stretched out his hand as graciously as possible.

"Oh god..." Rachel said taking a step back. "No! I'm not going anywhere with you!" she yelled hatefully at the Drode.

"But you already have," the Drode exclaimed, outstretching his hands at the new surroundings. "Now that didn't hurt did it?" Rachel looked around, now realizing she was no longer in her backyard. She was on an unfamiliar neighborhood street in front of a large house. Still wearing her bikini? She looked down at herself, no, she was wearing her morphing clothes, the skin-tight leotard that was the only thing she could morph with her. No shoes either.

"I took the chance to change you into your... working clothes. Relax, I didn't peek," the Drode grinned snidely.

"Where are we?" Rachel hissed, ignoring the Drode's comments. The Drode shrugged in response.

"I've decided to make a few pitstops to pick up a few other people my... well she wished of me before returning. I trust you'll be patient," the Drode told her in a rather eerily rational, laughter-free voice. Rachel shrugged, turning away from the Drode without saying anything. The Drode grinned and walked up to the white door of the house. He glanced back and grinned at Rachel before flourishingly ringing the doorbell.

After a few moments of waiting, he rang again.

And then again.

And then again.

"I guess nobody's home," Rachel yelled out sarcastically. "But that's alright, everybody makes mistakes!" The Drode sneered and was preparing to say something extra nasty and when finally he heard footsteps from inside the house, he turned back and watched as the door open.

"Eh?" came from the teenager who answered as he rubbed sleep from his eyes. The Drode raised a nonexistent eye brow.

"You realize it's almost noon you know," the Drode said as he looked at the sleepy person.

"So?" the boy replied. He finally finished rubbing his eyes and looked at the Drode. He stared for a long moment and then blinked. "Is this some sort of candid camera prank? Because if so it really sucks."

"Steve, right?" the Drode asked, the boy nodded in response. "Have you ever been interested in saving the world?"

"Not really," Steve shrugged. "Be seeing ya, I'm going back to bed." Steve began to close the door, but the Drode quickly put one clawed foot in the way. "Hey! I told you, I'm not interested in your little joke! I admit, that's certainly a very nice costume you have there, but it doesn't work! Now go away!"

"Ah, a sceptic aren't we? Well, as much as I'd love to let you waste away in your bed, I'm afraid I can't. Call it an obligation," the Drode said, grinning wryly as he snatched Steve's wrist and dragged Steve out of the house. Rachel observed from the driveway, that despite the Drode's weak-looking arms, he had more strength than he let on.

"LET GO OF ME!" Steve yelled as he tried in vain to break free of the Drode's grip. Rachel snorted at Steve's attempt, wondering if he could do any better than that.

The Drode dragged the struggling Steve up to Rachel and looked at both of them for a long moment. "Rachel. I'd like to introduce you to Steve. Steve, this is Rachel."

"LET GO OF ME YOU PRUNE-FACED FREAK!" Steve yelled in response.

"Well isn't that original," the Drode commented before calmly flicking Steve in the head with a single finger. Immediately Steve collapsed.

"What'd you do to him?" Rachel asked in a reluctant tone.

"I knocked him out for a few hours. He was beginning to annoy me with his boring insults," the Drode shrugged. He then grinned, "Shall we be off? Only a couple more stops to go and then you can be with your bird-boy again." He opened his other hand and made a waving motion, Rachel shivered in disgust. "I'm so sorry you're revolted by my very presence but I'm afraid you're going to have to hold my hand before we can actually go anywhere."

Rachel sneered, but the Drode simply smiled in venomous delight. Finally Rachel tentatively touched the Drode wrinkled hand and the Drode gripped tightly. "Uggh, let's just get this over with," she said, trying to hold her disgust in.

"Aww Rachel, I never knew you cared," the Drode chuckled maliciously. With a tight grip on both passengers the Drode popped out with a poof of bright pink smoke.

Rachel felt a pull that was almost too much to bear. Not a physical pull, but rather a tug on her soul. It took her breath away as she felt both hot and cold and something else altogether at once. She glimpsed bright colors, reds, purples, yellows, colors she couldn't began to describe. Creatures that knew no beginning or end. It was beautiful, it was ugly, it was...

"Never did get used to that," the Drode commented. The ride was suddenly over. Rachel looked up expecting a sneer, but was surprised to find the Drode looking rather sincere. However, it only lasted a second before he grinned again, "Overwhelming I suppose? Of course it would be."

"Shut up," Rachel growled. "Who's this guy anyway?" she then asked. The Drode shrugged.

"I don't know, just some human named Steve. Nobody my lord Crayak would worry about."

"Yeah? Well whoever he is, he needs some fashion sense, badly. You don't buy everything you own at Sports Fitness," Rachel muttered, looking down with distaste at the boy who wore blue bike shorts and a rather tight T-shirt. His hair-tossled head sported both black goggles and a trendy pair of glasses.

"Now that's the Rachel I know," the Drode cackled as he walked up to a nearby blue house. Rachel gave a small kick to the unconscious body of Steve as the Drode left to walk up to a nearby blue house. He paused, glanced back with a slight grin, and rang the doorbell.

DingDong!

Immediately, someone walked up to the door and slowly opened it just a crack. A small teenager peeked out shyly. "Hello?" she asked softly.

The Drode grinned nastily and pushed the door open. Georgia gasped and took a single step backwards before freezing in fear. "Let's dispense with the pleasantries shall we? You are required to come with me whether you like it or not. And I've been given permission to do this however way I like, so it's the easy way, or the hard way. I suggest the easy way. You see that boy over there?" the Drode said, snatching Georgia's hand as she began to back away from the door, he pulled her out the door and pointed to the unconscious Steve. "He wanted to do it the hard way. I knocked him out with a single tap to the head. Now I'm sure you don't want the same, do you?"

"N-No-" Georgia stammered out fearfully.

"Good. Then if you would just come with me and my little friends over there, we can get this over with. Are you going to come quietly?" the Drode asked, he menacingly looked at Georgia with narrowed eyes.

"Y-Yes. Just don't hurt me," Georgia complied softly, shaking at the touch of the Drode's claw.

"Good. Let's go," the Drode nodded. He walked towards the rest of the small group, carefully making sure he kept a tight enough grip on Georgia's arm to keep her from running away. Rachel raised an eyebrow as he came back with the frightened Georgia and the Drode shrugged. "Not my decision. This is Georgia."

"That state right next to Alabama?" Rachel asked sarcastically.

The Drode snorted scornfully and rolled his slitted eyes, which was a rather unsettling sight. "One more stop and then our little pick-up will be over with. I can get back to what I should really be doing..." he muttered.

"Being a henchman for Crayak?" Rachel retorted back.

"Ha ha. Sometimes I wonder if you're the comedian instead of Marco," the Drode sneered before snapping up Steve over his small back and grabbing Rachel's hand. Immediately they disappeared in a poof of sea green smoke.



"Now you're not going to run away are you?" the Drode asked dryly. "Afterall, I could easily catch you again... and it's not like you have a weapon or anything."

"N-no. What do you want from me?" Georgia asked. The Drode shrugged.

"None of my business," he replied as he hopped over the yet unconscious Steve and walked up to the next house. A small garage was nearby with a gray compact sitting on the driveway. The Drode went up to the door and rang the doorbell.

"So who are you?" Rachel asked Georgia, who was at the moment staring wide-eyed at the Drode who was beginning to knock on the door after the lack of any answer from the doorbell.

"I-I'm Georgia," she replied, stammering slightly. "Who are you?"

"Rachel," Rachel replied, keeping an eye on the increasingly frustrated Drode.

"What's happening? What is that? And what does it want with you and I?" she paused for a moment, looked down at the still-unconscious Steve and added, "and him?"

"I know what he wants from me. But I have no idea of what he could possibly want with two kids like you," Rachel replied.

"Hey! You look about the same age as me!" Georgia stated haughtingly as she stood up straight.

Rachel narrowed her eyes and stared directly into Georgia's. "You really can't call me a kid anymore."

"What's that supposed to mean? And you still haven't told me what that little monster is," Georgia exclaimed.

Rachel shrugged, but finally complied. "It's name is the Drode. He's an evil little bastard that works for an even more evil bastard named Crayak. Usually Crayak is kept in check by another being named the Ellimist, but something went wrong. Someone else showed up and now he's working for this new girl," Rachel told her as she pointed at the Drode who was now punching the door with enough force to wind an elephant. "I don't know what she wants though. The Drode won't tell me."

"How do you know all this?" Georgia asked, looking wide-eyed at Rachel.

Rachel shrugged. "Met them a few times."

"Oh," Georgia replied simply.

"Nice hat by the way," Rachel asked, remarking on Georgia's bucket hat. "Goes well with those sneakers and jeans."

"Um, thank you," Georgia thanked, slightly startled.

"You know, you and my friend Cassie could exchange fashion tips together."



"HELLO?! IS ANYBODY HOME?!" the Drode shouted angrily as he banged on the door. He sighed and finally stopped slamming his fist into the door. Leaving half-inch indents in the solid wood wasn't solving anything. "Screw this," he muttered as he called upon his Crayak-given powers to walk through the door. He caught a short glimpse of the hallway before a crack of thunder signaled a devastating shockwave that sent the Drode hurtling outside onto the driveway. "Damn it! How the heck am I supposed to get in then?!" the Drode swore angrily.

NO TRESPASSING. a voice came from thin air, somewhat reminiscent the Drode's master, Crayak, but much less ominous.

"Well then, you tell me how to get your human!" the Drode sneered as he picked himself up and dusted himself off. Suddenly a loud thump came from the trunk of the small car sitting outside the garage. The Drode blinked and walked over to the small silver vehicle. "... Hello?"

"Is somebody out there?" came a voice from inside the trunk. The Drode squinted an eye at the back of the car.

"Perhaps," he replied as nonchalantly as possible.

"Oh... well if anyone is out there, would you mind popping the hood? I didn't realize my mom was going to be gone for a few hours when I locked myself in," the voice added sheepishly. The Drode heard a muffled banging from inside.

"I'll think about it," the Drode snickered. "But tell me, you wouldn't happen to know an Ali around here, would you?

A moment of silence passed inside the trunk before the voice replied. "Why?" it asked.

"I'm going to kidnap her for a crazed maniac for no reason that is apparent to me. She might even be killed, or something crazy like that," the Drode replied nonchalantly.

"So-oooo, I imagine Ali would be pretty helpless in that kind of a situation, huh?" the voice remarked.

"Pretty much," the Drode agreed.

"Swee-eet! Okay, just open up this trunk and let's go!" the voice shouted, a violent struggle that rocked the small car began.

"Oh, this isn't ironic," the Drode remarked with a sneer as he crossed his arms.



Rachel watched, only slightly confused, as the Drode popped the hood to the small gray car and a purple-haired girl climbed out. "Oka-aay..." she muttered. She was a little surprised as the Drode simply walked back up to them with the giggling girl, hardly more than five feet, skipping along behind him like some lovestruck puppy. She rose an eyebrow at the Drode who simply shrugged.

"Again, not my decision," he replied.

"Hi everybody! My name is Ali!" Ali shouted as she waved ecstatically at Rachel, Georgia, and the yet unconscious Steve. "Who are you guys?"

"My name is Rachel and this is Georgia," Rachel replied, pointing a thumb at Georgia.

"Hi..." Georgia said softly.

"And who's that?" Ali asked, pointing to Steve.

"Uh..." Rachel tried to remember.

"Steve, I knocked him out for being an idiot," the Drode told her, giving a kick to Steve's ribs.

"Oh... maybe you should un-knock him out now," Ali commented. The Drode shrugged, but didn't see any reason why not to. He snapped his fingers once and immediately Steve began to revive.

"Uggh..." Steve groaned groggily as he struggled to get up. "I feel like I've been run over by a semi..."

"Worse, you were knocked in the head by him," Rachel commented, pointing over to the Drode.

"Aw Rachel, what a nice compliment," the Drode remarked sarcastically.

Steve slowly looked over at the Drode and his jaw dropped. His eyes then went from groggy, to shocked, and then to almost unspeakable rage in only the span of a few seconds. "YOU!" he shouted before lunging at the Drode. The Drode looked slightly annoyed as he stepped to the side to dodge Steve's attack, and brought his fist quickly down to tap Steve again on the head as he passed by. Steve immediately collapsed. "Not my decision," he muttered in annoyance.

"Aw, he wasn't very nice," Ali commented as she looked over the Drode's shoulder at the again unconscious body of Steve. The Drode flinched and leaped away from Ali.

"Don't sneak up on me!" he yelled angrily.

Rachel snorted. "Are we afraid of a little girl Drode? Well that's something to remember," she joked rottenly.

"Hah, believe it or not, even I have to watch my back in the territory of Crayak. There are plenty of backstabbers out there, just vying for my status. Call it survival instinct," the Drode told her haughtingly, standing up straight (3 ft. 4 in.) Rachel looked unbelievingly at him but let it go.

"Drobe? Globe? What's your name?" Ali asked, adjusting her glasses.

The Drode looked slightly disgusted by Ali, but tried not to cringe. "I am the Drode," he told her shortly.

"The Drode? So-ooo, does that mean when I talk to you I to say 'Hi the Drode, or I say 'Hey the Drode, how about a cup o' joe and some pie?' Or can I just call you Drode?" Ali asked, slightly hyper.

The Drode began to develop a tick in his right eye. "I have an idea. How about you don't talk to me at all?" he said with a forced smile to Ali.

"Oh, but I have to talk to you!" she told the Drode good-naturedly.

"No. No you don't," and with that the Drode tapped Ali on the head and she collapsed with a heap on top of Steve. The Drode then looked up at Rachel and Georgia. "Shall we go?"



"I thought you said you had to touch us all in order to transport us!" Rachel yelled at the Drode. The Drode simply grinned widely.

"I lied. I am capable of that," the Drode smiled. Rachel miffed as the unconscious bodies of Ali and Steve lay side by side a good two feet away from the Drode. Much too far away to actually be touched by him during transportation.

Georgia simply cleared her throat and stayed off to the side. Around friends she might have made a loud joke, around her other friends she might have said something worse. But at the moment, around such strange people and having absolutely no idea of what was going on, she just decided to stay quiet and compliant until someone told her why she had been basically kidnapped from her home. Maybe then she could take action...

"Damn it, I am so going to kick your-" Rachel screeched, as she began to stomp towards the Drode. The Drode put his weak arms up as if in defense, but a wide grin on his face spelled otherwise.

"Oo, touchy, touchy. I suppose now you're going to make some ill-born insult about prunes correct? You're too late. It's been done. A little overdone actually..." the Drode cackled.

Rachel looked at the Drode in fierce hatred. He was the cause of all this. He had taken her friends, and so she had quelled her temper for this long. But when he blatantly tried to anger her, he damn well better expect to deal with it! He was the cause of all this. It was all his fault, the disgusting, evil, filthy, moral-less-

The Drode narrowed his eyes, his wide, open-mouthed grin settling into a smug, thin-lipped smile. As if he was reading her very thoughts. Perhaps he was. And then he whispered, and to Rachel's surprise, she listened. "Do you really think I'm to blame for your mental anguish? For your despair? Oh yes, if you're feeling tortured, there's an easy answer isn't it? Feeling bad? Feeling like you need to rip the head off of something? Blame the Drode! I have to admit, I'm a pretty good scapegoat, eh? A good focal point for all that delicious hatred of yours, that rotten black core deep in your heart. Don't worry. I don't mind, I rather like the attention. Just remember, tearing my head off isn't going to solve your problems. It might make you feel better, but it won't get your friends back. You'll feel the wonderful feeling of victory and bloodthirstiness, and then your true self, your evil self will grow a little more, and you'll go off looking for new victims to spew your frustration on. And I'll grow a new head."

Rachel grew cold at the Drode's words, a tinge of doubt spreading throughout her mind. The rage which had been so fierce a moment ago had been whisked away, leaving only uncertainty. Rachel mulled over the Drode's words. Despite the foul speaker, he had a point. Killing the Drode would have no effect on her present situation, if anything it would make it a whole lot harder. After all, at least the Drode knew where he was going. She tried to ignore the part about the growing darkness inside of herself. Rachel forced herself to relax, but only slightly.

The Drode, sensing Rachel's acceptance, grinned again and pointed off into the distance. "Now, if you ladies wish to be off."

Rachel and Georgia, who had chosen to pretend as if she had not heard the conversation (though she had listened to every word intently), looked off in the direction the Drode was pointing in. They both gasped. Though, they had noticed that this place was not exactly normal, they had not really seen it all with the distracting strife between Rachel and the Drode.

It was tye-dyed. Not just the buildings or any part, but everything. The sky, the ground, all in different shades and densities and definitely color. While most objects, such as the buildings or what was defined as the ground, was similar to normal earth color, they were nonetheless tie-dyed. The ground was in greens, and blues, and browns of all shades-while the buildings were all sorts of corresponding colors. The sky was a riot of color, all the colors of the rainbow in millions of shades and varieties, ever-changing, twisting, and glimmering. And despite the abnormal colors of the rest of the world, white clouds still floated across the queer sky. Ordinary puffy, white clouds.

It was a strange, beautiful, and disturbing sight from the hill the group was standing on. It was what the world would look like if a child had taken it and drawn all over it with a pack of gigantic crayons.

"Weird..." Georgia commented, trying to draw in all the color. The Drode shrugged in response.

"She's no innocent herself," he remarked.

"What's that?" Rachel asked, turning to more business-like manners. The Drode looked and saw Rachel pointing towards a large labyrinth below them. The Drode glanced down and grinned.

"You see that castle over there?" he asked, dipping his head towards the distance. Rachel looked in that direction, but shook her head. the Drode grinned wider. "Are you sure? It's there. It's that tiny gray dot, just over the horizon I believe." Rachel squinted again, and searched intently for a few moments, finally she found what she thought to be the tiny little gray dot that the Drode was talking about. Her eyes widened and the Drode nodded in knowing acknowledgement. "That's ri-ight," he said in a singsong voice. "And the only way to get there is by navigating the labyrinth."

"But that's impossible! Nobody could get through that!" Georgia yelled in shock. The Drode shrugged.

"She has a thing about solicitators," he replied. "And just in case any salesman actually acquired a map of the thing, she set of a few dozen traps or so around it."

"Like what?" Rachel asked, eyes studying the maze furtively.

"Oh, quicksand, lasers, energy barriers, arrows, super glue... things like that," the Drode shrugged innocently.

"Super glue?" Rachel asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Don't ask me. This isn't my idiot world," the Drode shrugged.

"Well, I'd-" Rachel quickly glanced at Georgia before looking at the Drode. "I'd you-know-what in order to get over, but it'd be easier if you'd just do your little transportation trick. You can do that much right?"

The Drode grinned and flourishly bowed. "Your wish is my command."

"Than I wish you would just shut the hell up," Rachel muttered under her breath.

"Shut the door to my home? I can do that, but perhaps I should get you to the crazy woman's castle first, hm?" the Drode remarked, expertly twisting Rachel's words back against her. Rachel gave a sneer of disgust and the Drode gave a small chuckle before snapping his fingers. Rachel, Georgia, the Drode, and the unconscious bodies of Steve and Ali disappeared in a cloud of yellow smoke.

A flash of color and then...



Rachel blinked away spots as she looked around the supposedly 'dark' and 'dreary' castle. It wasn't as bad as she might have expected. Sure, there were plenty of fake gargoyles and gothic arches to go around, but the whole thing, the stones, the slabs, the statues, were clean of all cobwebs, everything looked very new. There was absolutely no dust in the air at all, and it smelled of fresh lemons for no apparent reason.

Plus the whole chasm was brightly lit, not with torches, but rather with gigantic electric lights from the ceiling and sides, leaving no corner unlit. The gigantic red beanbag chair at the center of the room was quite apparent.

"This guy really is crazy," Rachel murmured, taking it all in.

"I decided to skip the rest of it and take you straight to the so-called throne room. It's all more idiocy anyway," the Drode comically yawned. He then cupped his narrow jaw and shouted out," Alright! I have taken care of your foolish task. I've collected the people you want. The Animorphs. The indecriptive faces. Maybe you'll do as well as to let me go about my business now?"

A light mumble came from all around the room and both Georgia and Rachel searched with their eyes to find it, unsuccessfully. Rachel ventured a question.

"Hey! Where are my friends? What did you do with them?!" she yelled angrily. A moment of silence passed before another mumble rolled passed, this time Rachel was sure she heard it coming from the beanbag chair. "Are you in that beanbag chair?" she asked incredulously.

Several moments went by before a tuffled head popped out. "Eh?" it asked unsurely. It blinked, blinked again, and then blinked once more. Finally, some sort of fact must have occurred to it because it began to climb out of the giant beanbag chair, which was certainly a feat considering the chair was probably eight feet tall and even more wide. "Gimme sec," she mumbled as she struggled to pull herself free.

"Who's that?" Rachel asked, hoping it wasn't who she thought it was.

"Who do you think?" the Drode muttered.

"God..." Rachel muttered in disbelief.

The girl finally succeeded in pulling herself and her black robes free of the giant beanbag and jumped to the floor. Rubbing her eyes, she looked sleepily at the Drode and the rest, studying them without much interest. Coming to Ali and Steve, who were still unconscious, she blinked and cocked her head sideways at the Drode. "I don't think I asked for them to be dead." The Drode shrugged.

"They were causing me problems so I knocked them unconscious," he replied.

"Oh... well you mind waking them up? I'd rather not go over this all again, and plus I need to get you all going before Melinda gets back. She's always on my back-"

"On your back about what?" a rather indignant voice came from behind Rachel and the rest. Rachel, Georgia, and the Drode turned to face another girl, taller than the first but obviously younger. Rachel wondered where all these people got their fashion styles from. The dead and Cassie probably. 'Melinda' as the first had called her, wore a black shirt and baggy jeans, looking a bit punkish. Her long blond hair was done up in a pony tail.

"About... stuff," the first hissed as she walked up from the beanbag chair to the small group.

"Oooo, stuff. How vague. You want to embellish on stuff?" Melinda asked haughtingly.

"No, not really. You want to know why? Because my stuff is none of your business!" the girl from the beanbag chair yelled angrily.

"If it was none of my business I wouldn't be here. Unfortunately I am," Melinda informed her. "I am your assistant, don't forget it."

"What kind of assistant are you? You don't do anything I tell you to!" the girl yelled in annoyance.

"That's because I'm not stupid," Melinda shot back. "Now what are these people doing here?"

"Yeah, what are we doing here anyway? And what about my friends? Where are they?" Rachel yelled angrily.

The girl in black robes seemed to cool down at Rachel's questions and smirked. "Ah yes, your friends, the Animorphs right? Well, they started to bug me, especially when I was trying to take a nap. Having almost unlimited power tends to tire you out pretty easily. So I sent them somewhere," the evil lady said, shrugging slightly.

"Sent them somewhere?" Rachel asked.

"I love how you are apparently unable to give a straight answer," Melinda remarked sarcastically.

"You shut up," the girl told Melinda sharply.

"Well wherever they are, bring them back now!" Rachel yelled, "I won't ask twice!" The Drode snorted at that comment and Rachel glared at him angrily.

She shrugged, but conceded. "Yeah, I guess. They need to be here for this anyway." With that her eyes glimmered, flashed, and the Animorphs suddenly appeared in battlemorph right behind her. "There we go," she said grinning.

We're back here again,> Jake observed after a moment of silence. Good, I don't know how much longer we could have survived that. Is everybody alright? he called to the rest of the team. Jake was limping in tiger morph, Rachel peered closely and saw he was missing a forepaw.

Rachel! Cassie cried in a ravaged wolf-form. I was just taking care of a few animals when suddenly the Drode appeared-

"Yeah, I know. The same thing happened to me," Rachel nodded, she turned angrily to the evil person. "What happened?"

"Well, I'm not specific... I guess I accidentally sent you to a hostile planet. Sorry about that, glad you survived. I hate resurrecting people," she nodded nonchalantly.

Sorry? Sorry? We were nearly killed! I mean this was supposed to be my day off. I wasn't planning to go off fighting a planet of monsters! Maybe watch some TV, catch up on a few video games, go on a date, Marco yelled as he began to demorph from a deep chest wound to his gorilla morph.

"Now you're going overboard," Rachel snorted.

"Point is, I was not expecting the Drode to show up in my bathroom while I was taking a shower!" Marco yelled angrily. The Drode scoffed.

"Please, if you're angry about me interrupting your little concert hall, let me tell you I wasn't interrupting much of anything," the Drode snorted.

"My little what?" Marco blanched.

"Oh you know, what was that song? What? 'I'm a' what?" the Drode comically tried to remember. Marco kept quiet, his cheeks turning a bright red. The Drode grinned wider. "Come on now, 'I'm a' ... it started with a 'B'"

"Shut up Drode," Rachel said angrily.

"Oo, Rachel, standing up for Marco of all people? And here I thought you were hooked up with bird-boy. Where is he anyway?" the Drode asked sarcastically.

With that alarming thought Rachel looked up and around for Tobias. "Tobias? Tobias where are you?!"

Right here, came a tired reply. Rachel looked and saw Tobias laying in Ax's arms, feathers ruffled and torn, and on a closer look, a wing was severely broken.

"Tobias! Are you alright?" Rachel cried in alarm.

One of the creatures who attacked us reached up and hit Tobias out of a dive. It was very fast, Ax told Rachel, cradling Tobias carefully.

It's no big deal. Just glad we got out of there when we did. Set me down Ax, I'll morph, Tobias said to Ax as he tried to calm Rachel down. Ax set Tobias to the ground who quickly morphed and demorphed back to hawk.

Georgia took a step back, arms shaking, eyes wide, her face pale. It couldn't be. Could it? "The-The-"

The Drode glanced at her, blinked, and then smirked. He put a finger to his lips and signaled Georgia to keep silent.

Georgia looked at the Drode, her face a mixture of fear... and hate. "A-Are they-?"

"Might want to keep quiet about that. But yes, yes they are," the Drode replied, whispering. He glanced towards Rachel. Luckily she was too upset over Tobias to notice anything. The other Animorphs had demorphed and were too far way to hear. At least with the Drode around they were. The evil one who had forced the Drode's help had begun to fight with Melinda about some unknown, yet probably frivolous detail, and was too occupied to even notice. Not only that, but the Drode knew she probably already knew and didn't care. And, of course, Steve and Ali were still unconscious. "They are the so-called 'Andalite bandits', obviously except for Aximili, they are not. But I'd keep that under my bucket hat if I were you, you're only one yeerk, in a teenaged body, and I know for a fact that your dracon beam is at this child's home buried deep in her junk drawer. They are 5 teenaged beings, an adolescent andalite, all seasoned warriors with the power to morph. Not very good odds, eh?"

Georgia nodded absently. They were not good odds as the yeerk inside withdrew to calculate. Her best chance would be to keep playing the girl until she could escape... somehow, and return to Visser 3 to report these so called "andalite bandits". But how long could she keep it up? The yeerk worried about that point, she had fed on kadrona rays yesterday, that meant only two days left until she needed to feed again... or die. If she couldn't escape and reach a yeerk pool before that...

"I wouldn't worry about that for now," the Drode advised. "I'd worry about them." The Drode pointed a thumb back to the animorphs. He shrugged, "Besides, I'm sure the beast who dragged me here is more than informed about your 'condition'. She'll probably give you some form of sustenance when the time comes... or she might let you die. I don't know." The Drode chuckled softly and Georgia involuntarily shivered. Was that the yeerk shivering from fear? Or the real Georgia from sheer delight? It was hard to tell. To the Drode either way was fine, a master's greatest nightmare, or a slave's dream to murder, it was all the same to him. Wonderful.

"Why are we here?" a forceful voice called out. All looked up, Jake's voice demanded to be listened to.

The girl looked up from fighting with Melinda. She had won, but only because at some point she had become angry enough to turn Melinda into a very large and warty toad. Melinda was now fiercely trying to get back at the other by rubbing up against her and causing her a rash, unfortunately the 'evil' person's black robes were very hard to get under.

"Yeah, I guess we should be getting to that by now," she agreed. She looked over at the unconscious bodies of Steve and Ali, and then looked up at the Drode. "Hey, I told you before, I need those guys up."

The Drode shrugged. "Yes, alright. But if you mind, I'm not going to be here when they are, understand?"

"Afraid that guy is going to attack you again?" Rachel asked sarcastically.

"No. I'm afraid she's going to attack me," the Drode informed. He quickly snapped his fingers and disappeared from existance.

"Uggh, Where am I?" Steve groaned as he got up.

"Ditto to that. And who are all of you? And what's with that blue-deer-thing? And why's that frog trying to hump your leg?" Ali agreed.

Steve suddenly remembered what happened and turned red. "That slimy prune! Where is that guy?! I am going to kick his ass for kidnapping me!"

"Kidnapping?" Ali asked in confusion.

"Woah, a girl who's shorter than me. Nice," Marco commented. "Purple hair and seemingly crazy, but... that height."

"Aw, thanks! Don't forget my glasses," Ali grinned widely.

"Yeah, sure," Marco shrugged.

"Okay, okay. Now that I've got you all here. There's some stuff we need to go over before getting started. First off, like I said before, no omnipotency-" the evil person began to speak.

"When did you say anything about omnipotency?" Cassie asked in confusion.

"Oh, heh," the evil person said, grinning goofily. She adjusted her glasses. "Sorry about that, another life I guess. Anyway, I guess you don't know everybody here," she said, shrugging. She pointed to the Animorphs. "Those are the Animorphs, they go around and fight aliens and stuff. That's Georgia," she went on to say as she pointed to Georgia. "She likes swimming-heh-in pools-heh heh. That's Ali," she went on again, pointing to Ali. "Uh... she's got purple hair." She pointed to Steve. "That's Steve." She blinked. "Sorry Steve."

"For what? The guy who's supposed to be apologizing to me isn't even here," Steve said angrily.

"... Yeah... but if you're talking about the Drode, a.k.a. the short prune-like dinosaur... thing, he's around somewhere. I'll force him here when I need him. Anyway, that's Melinda," she said, pointing to Melinda who was still trying to attack her as a toad.

"That cute little frog?" Ali asked.

"For one thing. It isn't a frog... it's a toad. For another, if she doesn't stop peeing all over my robe I'm going to turn her into something worse. Like ROADKILL!" the evil person yelled angrily. Immediately Melinda hopped off her black robes.

Ax asked.

"Who? Me? Hm... well, you may call me the Evil OverLord of... everything," the Evil OverLord of Everything grinned brightly.

How can you be lord of everything. Space is far too vast! Ax contradicted fiercely.

"Look, that's not the point. It's my title. Alright?" the Evil OverLord told him in annoyance.

Yes, but a title should be true to the person who wields it. You are far too- Ax went on.

"Ax, drop it," Jake said, interrupting Ax. He looked stonily down at the Evil OverLord, who, while not as short as Ali was, was no giant herself. "Uh... OverLord, we just want to know why you brought us here. What's the point?"

"Getting to that. Now, let me just tell you. I'm pretty powerful. I'm the overlord, the Evil overlord. And as any overlord, I have a certain amount of territory to protect," the OverLord began.

Just how much territory are we talking are we talking about here? Tobias asked with a hawk cry from above, he was circling the room, but without any thermals he was tiring. The OverLord looped her hand over and a red-tailed hawk-sized perch burst up from the floor near the Animorphs. Tobias swooped down and alighted upon it. Thanks.

"Welcome. As for my territory, about 30 billion light years," the OverLord said shrugging.

How vast, it would take thousands of years travel in Z-space for anyone to reach that far... Ax mentally gasped in awe.

"Eh," the Evil OverLord said, shrugging in response. "Considering the universe is infinite and ever expanding, you have to understand that 30 billion light years isn't much compared to the entirety of it all. There will always be parts of the universe even I will never be able to reach."

Georgia was as awestruck as Ax. So much of the universe ready for conquest, but would never see it because of sheer distance.

"But anyway, like I was saying, I have a lot territory to protect. And it just happens to be that my boundary lies just off of Earth," the OverLord told them.

"Just how far off of Earth?" Rachel asked.

"A couple light years off your solar system. I figured you needed a little space so I traded in a couple suns to buy it up. You can thank me later. The yeerk and andalite homeworlds are in my territory just to let you know too," the Overlord mentioned, looking at Ax, and giving a quick glance to Georgia. "So like I was saying, a bit further, maybe 600 light years up the river so to speak, is another planet, called Changarie. It's inhabited by a sentient race. And I kind of like their planet. It's my vacation spot actually. But right now it's being attacked... by a race over on the other side of my territory."

"Yeah... so?" Marco asked. "Why don't you just go fight them off or something? I thought you had all this great power!"

"Yeah... well. You see, if it had been a race from my side, I wouldn't feel like I would have to do something to stop them. Except for the fact that it's my vacation spot. There are a few rules to being Overlord of course. For instance, I can't help a race from a separate planet take over another planet in my territory. But I'm not required to stop them. But since this is a race from a different territory, I am still able to stop them and I do feel compelled to..."

"That doesn't explain why you can't fight them off yourself," Cassie pointed out.

"Yeah, but since I'm the Evil Overlord of this territory, in doing so I would signal to the Evil OverLord of the other territory that I'm declaring universal war against him. But if I just send a few minor heros from my side discretely..."

"You can fight off the other side without getting yourself in trouble," Jake finished.

"Exactly," OverLord grinned.

"But wait, what's in it for us?" Marco suddenly broke in. The others shot him surprised looks at his greed, but he simply shrugged. "I just want to see."

"Well, let's put it this way. Earth is basically on the edge of my territory. If war is declared between my territory and the next, your planet will be one of the first to be utterly wiped out. Not cool, right?" OverLord informed Marco.

"... not cool," Marco agreed.

"Of course, I could go find someone else. There are plenty of stronger people than you guys..."

Tobias asked.

Yes, it would make sense to use your most powerful warriors against an invasion, Ax agreed.

"Nuh-uh. I can't make it obvious. If I make it obvious, he'll take that as a signal of war too. Can't do that," OverLord said shaking her head. She then narrowed her eyes at the Animorphs, frowning slightly, "However, I do have a few consequences, just in case you decide to pull out anyway..."

"What are you going to do? Destroy our planet?" Steve asked sarcastically.

"But that's where all my Invader Zim memorabilia is!" Ali cried.

OverLord blinked and shook her head. "No, OverLord rules, and plus, why would I destroy a planet I already own? No, but I can do something far worse... Like I said, I can't help an alien race to take over a planet. However, Earth is one of the rare planets with two separate sentient races. The humans... and the Nartec."

"You'll help the Nartec to take over the planet?!" Cassie cried in disbelief.

OverLord shrugged. "Yup. No rule against helping a home race retake it's planet. In fact it's encouraged."

The Nartec. The blue amphibious people, with nectarines for eyes. The Animorphs had met them before at the bottom of the ocean... and had barely escaped alive. From what they had said, their ancestors had been human, but over time evolution had adapted them to under water living. They were strong in the water, but faced with dry land they were horribly weak. However though, with their gene pool under attack from severe inbreeding, they would do anything to retake the Earth. Anything.

Jake and the rest of the Animorphs looked grim. "Then I guess we have no choice then," Jake finally concluded after a moment of silence.

"W-wait a moment! I'm getting a little confused here. Who are the Nartec? And what am I doing here?" Steve asked, breaking in to the serious moment.

OverLord looked over at them and blinked. "Oh yeah, you guys. You guys don't know anything do you? Yeah, I remember. You three, Steve, Ali, and Georgia, are especially needed."

"Why? I already know I'm special, but why do you need us?" Ali asked, cocking her purple-haired head sideways.

"I'm not telling you. You guys can figure it out for yourselves. If I told you that would ruin the whole point of being special, wouldn't it? On another note, you all get special powers. Cool, right?" OverLord mentioned brightly.

"Wait. What kind of special powers?" Georgia asked.

"Cool! Super powers! Wow! What do I get??" Ali asked excitedly.

"I'm not telling you that either. Let's just say they'll depend on your situation. Okay? When they happen, they'll happen," Overlord told her. She then looked over at Melinda who was still in toad form. "Unlike you."

Jake sighed. "Let's get this over with then, I doubt you're going to give us time to get supplies, right?"

OverLord nodded. "Exactly. The sooner you start the better." She then looked up and around. "Yo! Drode! Get your butt down here, I need you!" A sigh seemed to come out of nowhere.

Can you tell us about the invading aliens please? And you mentioned a sentient race on this planet Changarie. Can you tell us what they look like? I wouldn't want to accidentally take the head off a peaceful alien, Ax asked politely.

"Yeah, I guess there are a few things you should know. Changarians are easy to recognize. They look a lot like humans... a lot like humans heh... The invading aliens I think are called... the Cro--aahh... uh..."

"Croak!" Melinda burbled.

"The Croake! Thanks Melinda! I always knew you were worth something," OverLord grinned brightly at the toad. Melinda growled lowly, which as a toad was pretty impressive. OverLord then got serious. "Just remember, the Croake of course don't know about me or their overlord. Understand. And he's probably watching them right as we speak. He knows just as well as I do that they shouldn't be there, I don't know why he hasn't bothered stopping them. But I don't want to risk confrontation. So whatever you do, don't mention me. Do and you will be dead before you even know it, first casualties of an outergalactic war. Get me?"

Yeah, we get you, Tobias replied, staring with fierce hawk eyes at OverLord.

"Good. About the Croake though. They're all about peace. Okay?" Overlord mentioned.

"What do you mean about peace? I thought they were attacking this planet," Cassie asked in confusion.

"Exactly, you'll figure it out when you get there. I just thought I should mention it so you don't get confused... or anything," OverLord told them. With that she stared into space, into another life, into-

"What are you looking at?" Marco asked.

"Huh? Sorry. Nothing of importance to you," OverLord told him with a flash of a smile.

"You know, as an evil overlord, you really haven't impressed me," Marco remarked in an unimpressed voice.

"That's why it's just a title," OverLord reminded him. She blinked and looked around the room. "Okay. The Drode has not heeded my call in the last minute. Okay." She then raised a hand and seemed to yank some sort of invisible cord. Suddenly the Drode appeared in front of the Animorphs, looking very pissed.

"Damnit. I don't want to be here!" he hissed angrily.

OverLord shrugged. "I don't care. I got some transfer work for you to do. I can't have my energy signal being recognized." The Drode groaned in annoyance.

Steve went red. "You! I'm going to kill you!"

"Hey! It's that weird guy who brought me here! Hi the Drode!" Ali grinned happily as she waved to the Drode.

The Drode looked at both of them for a long moment before glaring at OverLord. "I suppose I have no choice in the matter, correct?" OverLord nodded in response. "Alright. I'll do it. But after I'm through, I'm not sticking around. Understand?" OverLord shrugged unhappily, but nodded. "Good." He looked at the others. "Okay, let's go. Sooner you're there, sooner I'm gone."

"One thing that bugs me though," Rachel said.

"Hm?" OverLord replied, looking startled at Rachel.

"Before the Drode told me merely looking at you would kill me. I'm not dead yet," Rachel remarked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at OverLord. OverLord snorted.

"If I was in my real form. This is just a shell, a husk, a way so that you won't die from trying to process what I really am. Now go away. You got work to do. You have to drive away the Croake. You're bugging me." OverLord responded as she crossed her arms and shooed Rachel away with one hand.

"Is everybody ready?" the Drode asked, glancing from left to right.

"No-" Marco began to say.

"Good!" the Drode interrupted. He snapped his fingers and they disappeared in a puff of multi-colored rainbow smoke.

OverLord blinked and looked at the charmed Melinda. "Well that was a close one. I'll tell you, that Rachel's a smart one." Melinda growled angrily.



Yes! Chapter two! Not only is it very good, but it's also very long! The longest thing I've ever done! I'm looking at my print preview! HUGE!!! Love it. *coughs* I suppose I should make a few apologies though. *Ahem* Sorry Super Hurricane. I knocked Steve out for much of the story. I thought it was funny, but you probably thought I was ripping you off. It was a stupid gag joke and I'm very sorry. (But I still think it was funny) As for Ali being knocked out... I didn't think you would mind.

I'm also very sorry to Jinako-Chan. Yes, I realize you said absolutely nothing about being yeerked. On another note you didn't say anything about not being yeerked. *looks sheepish and cheap* I did it to add interest. And plus I didn't want the story to get off track from where it came from. It came from the Animorphs. Animorphs fight the yeerks. The yeerks are very important to the storyline of Animorphs. So therefore I needed a yeerk to remind people that this was an Animorph story. Oh sure, it might not have a whole lot of yeerk fighting and Visser 3 (or 1 for anyone who excepted that) and junk, but I needed a yeerk to remind people and to balance the story. On another note, It'll add interest to your character, Georgia. I'll be able to write more about her and she will be more involved in the storyline. That's cool, right? it wasn't anything personal that I chose your character, I just simply couldn't turn the only new guy (not including Tim who hasn't shown up yet) in the story into a controller and Ali was much too crazy to be a controller. Basically, you were my best choice. Sorry 'bout that.

To everybody, Bookworm, and Pheophins, your characters will show up in the next chapter. I just simply couldn't make this chapter any longer without losing the 'interactiveness' of it all. Okay? Hope you understand, but I can't make everybody a spontaneous character. Some people just have to show up later to make the story somewhat realistic.

At that note of realism... anybody figure out who the Evil OverLord of Everything is yet? *grins widely* Heh heh...

TO BE CONTINUED...