DISCLAIMER: **Walks down the street and meets a kind-looking old lady**

Old Lady: Hello!

Freak Apple: Hiya!

Old Lady: Do you own the Animorphs?

Freak Apple: Yes. . .?

Old Lady: WRONG! Cuff her, boys!

**Old Lady pulls off her wig, revealing that she is in fact a fat bald police officer. More cops jump out and poke Freak Apple with cattle prods**

NOTE: **types furiously to make up for the crazy-confusing last chapter** Um. Yeah the story is getting kind of strange. I'm even having trouble keeping up **gets weird looks** But we had this really weird discussion in Bio about why people can't. . .um. ..copulate. . .with baboons. It was so inspiring **sigh** Anywhoo, You people seemed to like the Reviewer's Response so I'll keep the lil doo-hicky. I'd also like the point out that I got the idea from Jinako-Chan **claps**

F-RECAP-LE: **Deep, fancy announcer voice**Okay, here's what happened last chapter: uh, Jake and his dudes meet with Ern, a bunch of Nisk who form the Leader of Foreign Affairs. Or LOFA. Hehe. They find out that the Nisk are pretty much being enslaved by some big, tentacled monster-dude called Motroveld. So one group of Nesk are following Motroveld's orders, until they find some way to overthrow him. Another group of rebel Nesk are like, "Screw it, I'm bizzouncin to anotha planet, yo!". Unfortunately they want to go back to Earth. Dun dun DUHH! These "rebels" are bossing around combins with free will, while the other group of Nisk create combins that are not sentient, so Ta-da! No free will to enslave, thus they aren't really doing anyhhting morally wrong. Rachel and Cassie are with some rebel combins, and think they are cute lil innocent freaks 'o' nature. But perhaps their masters aren't so cute. . . **takes a deep breath and looks at the recap** My God, what have I gotten myself into? Hehehe.

Cassie –

It was strange, entering the rebel base. The water was parted and a hole was opening up on the ocean floor. I couldn't see what was inside yet, it was too dark. I glanced at Rachel. She looked pretty anxious too. But our new friends were unruffled.

We are entering the base. Our leaders will welcome you. Bobby said.

"What? Leader?" I asked. "I thought everyone here was equal." Wasn't that why we had that whole thing with the names?

"Oh, all combins are equal. The Nisk are our leaders." Frankie clarified.

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that mean one is higher in status than the other, 'thus bringing about civil war and destruction to all'?" Rachel quoted Bobby's earlier words. Bobby's eyes widened as he pondered this. He looked at his combin friends. They also looked stumped.

"It is different." Pickles insisted, but she didn't seem too sure of herself.

"They are equals. . ." Frankie said.

They are our leaders. . . Bobby said.

"So they are not equal?" Frankie asked.

"It is different." Pickles repeated.

"Is it just me, or are they going in complete circles?" Rachel asked me.

"Yeah. Kind of like when we argue about mall sales and how you say we saved money and I say we spent." I agreed.

"Didn't we reach a conclusion on that?"

"Nope."

The hovering platform we had been standing on suddenly jolted. Rachel and I lost our balance, but the sturdier combins helped us up. I fell hard and I felt something come loose in my mouth.

"Ow." My lip throbbed. I brought my hand to my mouth. When I took it away I saw blood. I must have bitten my lip hard, to draw blood. I spit out what I felt in my mouth. In my hand were four of my teeth. "Oh my-"

"What?" Rachel asked, brushing a mop of blond hair from her face. I ran my tongue over were the four teeth used to be.

In it's places were four pointy, razor-sharp fangs.

"Cassie?" Rachel asked curiously. Then she caught sight of my teeth. "Holy-"

ENTER. a voice boomed. Our platform had landed in a blank white docking bay, similar to the rooms of the Nisk on the island. I didn't see were the voice came from. Of course it was thought-speak, you never know where that comes from.

Follow me. Bobby said. He stepped off the flat ship and walked towards a wall, which magically opened a millisecond before he would have smacked into it. The Nisk and their doors. I'd never get used to this. And hopefully I'd never need to.

We tromped down the blank hallway. So far it looked exactly like the other Nisks' facility. All white and creepy. Then Bobby suddenly turned a right and another door SHOOOPed open.

"Jeez." Rachel commented.

When we entered the room we were greeted by a dark black room, lit only by a few glowing, three-dimensional diagrams of several planets hovering in midair. Also in the room were about a zillion Nisk. A couple million of them formed the Nisk creature we were used to seeing. Different colored lights blinked at us from the walls, but they were too dim to make a difference in the near-darkness.

We are the Kermu. It said. The first thing I noticed was that these Nisk did not speak in the annoying yelling thought-speak voice that the other Nisk used. (Note: Phew, I could give that Caps Lock button a rest. . .) I took this as a good sign, that hopefully these Nisk were a lot more humble. I mean, they had taken in these reject combins, they had to be decent people.

"I'm Cassie. That's Rachel." I introduced ourselves.

You are in transition. The Kermu observed. They looked at my arms and neck, which were pretty much all dinosaur hide by now.

"Yeah." I said simply.

You are not yet infected. The Kemu said to Rachel.

"No. But can we help Cassie?" Rachel asked.

"It is too late to help the combin." It said, eyeing me.

"Why did they do this to me?" I croaked. They couldn't help me, but at least I wanted to know why this was happening.

Kermu shifted his position. Combins you may leave. Our new friends were dismissed silently, not letting on that they had individual names. Kermu focused again on us and launched into a long explanation. He told us about the civil war between the Nisk and that the combins were made out of the wishes of to please the monster named Motroveld. Then he explained that the "foolish collaborators" were too slow in their attempts to overthrow Motroveld.

"So, what, you want some action now? Cause maybe we could help." Rachel said.

No we do not want action. Motroveld is too powerful, it would be useless to fight him. Kermu said. We wish to migrate. He pointed to the planet projections floating around us. Then he waved a hand and a familiar blue planet came to rest in front of us.

This planet was ours, many ages ago. Kermu said. Our records tell us we left it because it was uninhabitable.

Rachel snorted. The true reason the Nisk, or Nesk, left was because we had driven them out, with the help of the Mercora.

Sources indicate that this planet still exists today, and that it is very much like this one. We plan to migrate there. This seemed like a good thing. It showed that they were peaceful and didn't want to fight. Unfortunately, they wanted to take our planet. And I was pretty sure some people on Earth wouldn't like that.

"But what if it's already inhabited by a species." I asked, staring at the replica of Earth.

Then we will destroy them.

Okay, so maybe they weren't so nice after all. I gulped.

"Um, wouldn't it be easier to just help the other Nes-I mean Nisk defeat this Morto guy?" Rachel asked. She was feeling threatened too.

The Nisk waved a hand and all of a sudden two of the torture weapons were aimed in our direction.

YOU ARE COLLABORATORS!? Kermu roared.

"No! No way. We are totally not." Rachel tried to calm them down.

"We'll help you." I added, to make them lower the weapons. They did and I breathed a sigh of relief. Rachel sent me a look that said "We'll help them? Are you nuts?". I sent her a look that said "Do you want to be shot?". Then we stopped conversating with the looks because the Nisk started getting impatient.

No. You cannot help us. It is too late for you. Kermu said to me. But not for this female.

"Wha-" Two Nisk creatures formed behind Rachel and wrapped themselves around her. "HEY!"

"What err yerr doooeeenk?" I demanded. But it came out slurred and distorted. My tongue. It

had gotten longer and was crowding the inside of my mouth. Rachel stared.

"Cassie!" she hissed. I looked down at my bare feet. They were now the feet of a tyrannosaurus Rex, only a lot smaller.

Your transformation is speeding! Kermu noticed. Take her to a cell before she loses control!

"Lose contr-?" More Nesk wrapped themselves around me. I didn't move, in fear of being stung to death.

You. . . Kermu said coolly to Rachel. You can help us.

"When chickens have lips!" Rachel growled defiantly. Kermu didn't get the phrase, so he ignored it.

"Bring in the prototype combin!" Kermu ordered. "You see, we will need an army. There are too few of us Nisk left. We have only 6 combins left. This one-" he sneered at me "will be useless once her transition is complete. So we need a way to produce many spawn to be our soldiers. Combins' DNA is useless to use, because it is exhausted of genetic material. But a pure organism like you, and a prototype combin maybe able to be combined."

I heard a wall open up and a combin walked in automatically, most likely controlled directly like the other combins on the island. It stood in the darkness so I couldn't see what it looked like.

Of course, creating combins takes too long. But we have found a way to produce many offspring at once. It is a natural process called reproduction. Kermu continued. I began to get a sinking feeling in my stomach. We can produce as many as nine offspring at a time in a period of 5 hours by breeding our prototype combin with a pure organism.

"BREEDING!?" Rachel screeched. I think even the Nisk hesitated after that. "NO WAY IN HELL AM I-"

SILENCE! Kermu roared. Rachel mist have been stung by the Nisk, because she stopped to grimace in pain. You will. You have no choice. We created this combin using genetic material of the same species of yours, thus making the fertilization easier. We were able to find a strand of fur from the body of one of your comrades from the island. One of the males.

Strand of fur? Did that mean they had a hair from one of the guys?

"No." Rachel said weakly. "Go fu-"

Just then the protoype combin stepped out of the darkness. I instantly knew that this was going to be VERY difficult.

Before us stood a half-dinosaur, half-Marco.

Okey, there ya go, Chapster 16. Gosh. It's getting kinda twisted now, ain't it? I'm so twisteedd. . .Well, I figure maybe six or seven more chapters til its done. Still got a ways to go. But I'm itching to start a new full-length fanfiction already. Hehe. Durn them voices in my head. Actually I already wrote out the first chapter for my new story, but I won't upload it til this is done. : )

THE HAPPY KORNER! (Reviewer's Response)

Mr. Black – Frappe Lake! Oh oh oh oh oh! I remember that! AWESOME! What does way left field mean? Doesn't matter, I like parking lots. They're awesome. I'm sorry I gave you brain hemorrages. My mom says I do that to her all the time. **shakes hand** Welcome to Freak Apple Land!

DawnOfEast – You got it! **throws confetti and gives DawnOfEast a hug** Huzzah! I think you're right about the too much info thing. I blame the Nesquik! **wags finger at Nesquik** Thanks!

Kristen Goddess – Sorry about the confuzzlingness. . .**gives KG a nice pen that talks as a sorry gift** I'll try my best not to do that again, but I hope maybe the recap helped you understand? A little? Kinda? Oh Nartec! That's number 15 isn't it. . .**hangs head in shame** Sad to say I've only read that book once. And I don't own it. So I don't remember the Nartec much at all. Pooh to me. . .The Reviewers Responses are here to stay, so yes you do make a difference!! **pretty music in the background** You make a differennnncccceee!!! And yes, the mating thing does bring in disturbing images, but that's my Bio class's fault. They were talking bout peoples and baboons!

Digimon lover – You understood! **does a jig** Huzzah! Yeah, Poor Rachel and Cassie. **flexes the supreme power of being a fanfiction writer** Muahahaha! Maybe I'll have them get stuck in a monstrous bowl of Jell0! Oh. . .uh oh, I got an idea. . .

SurrealSerpent – You see the light! Yay! Light are good cuz without them it'd be. . .dark. And yeah, the Nisk are a tad too weak to overthrow Motroveld. Besides, that guy is a hell of a lot more powerful than everyone thinks. . .

Amy Angelblade – Fruit hat! Cool!! Yeah, I think I need to go to Nesquik rehab. Moons are scary sometimes. I used to think one day it would fall on me cuz my mom said that every time I do something bad God cuts one of the strings that are holding it up. If I do too many bad things it'll fall on me. Gosh, my parents were mean. Anyway one day I thought "Screw it, I'll be bad" And will ya look at that: the moon stayed put. God must have used a lotta string. . .

Jinako-chan – "Do the happy" **giggles like theres no tomorrow** Hee hee! Glad you understood my weirdness. I will update. In fact, I just did! Go me! Yay! Hey everbody! I'm gonna be on Jinako-chan's site! HUZZAH!

EsotericEric – You're right. Too much info in one teeny chapter. Stupey me. Oh, nitpicky nitpicky nitpicky! Happy writing? Okay! **Happy writes** Thanks!