DISCLAIMER: Hi! It's me, Freak Apple drinking a Pepsi. Actually it's not a Pepsi **zip** it's a Pepsi TWIST! And I'm not really Freak Apple, **zip** I'm K.A. Applegate! **Real K.A. Applegate walks in, rips off Freak Apple's mask, and steals her Pepsi Twist** Awww. . .
NOTE: Aw, this is the last chapter. I'm. . .I'm. . .**sniff** WAHHHHHH!!!! Well, I'll miss it, but this is it.
F-RECAPL-LE: Turns out Cassie biting Motroveld collapsed the Sario Rip. Dun dun DUH! So now their all back home where they had their very last vision (in the barn) and it's like nothing ever happened. Only they know what happened. Them AND the two controllers. But Kevin's yeerk (Arbuthnot) had one of those epiphany thingies and he's kinda an ally now in the Yeerk Peace Movement. As for the other controller. . .Ax took care of that. . .
Tobias –
It was four days after we left Arbuthnot and Pubar to join the Peace Movement. Four days after I silently gave the yeerk to Ax. I never knew what happened to it. I never asked Ax and he never told me. But life pretty much went back to normal after that. I had been keeping tabs on Arbuthnot and Pubar every day. We all had, just in case Arbuthnot had lied. But nothing happened. Arbuthnot lived in his big mansion at Premium Point. He still went to the yeerk pool every three days, but he never told. The green-shirted man was still in the hospital, but he was improving. We found out his name was Parley, which left me wondering why the heck do rich people have to give their kids such weird names?
There were no surprise attacks on any of us. Arbuthnot and Pubar had kept their word. Everything was back to the way it had been. Rachel was still a little suspicious, but that eased off when they all got packages sent straight from the son of Gordon Kane, owner of Freak Apple Records. Inside the packages were a dozen assorted CDs. Everyone was pretty happy after that, although Ax never understood the purpose of "Shiny discs put in a primitive laser tracking device to emit loud sounds of shrieking humans to a choreographed thumping."
This particular day I had just left from spying over Arbuthnot's mansion when I saw several ants trailing toward an ant hill, all with large leaf pieces on their back. It looked like they were working together, like the Nisk. But I knew now that the Nisk and the ants were very different.
I wondered what had happened to them. One theory was that they were sucked into a separate Sario Rip of their own. Another was that they all simply perished in the explosion. Or maybe by some miracle they survived and are working together to rebuild their society right now. We would never find out if the Nisk got out alive, or if the Bobby and the combins ever got to enjoy their newfound freedom. Dim as they were, they still had a right to be free. I hoped that they did survive, because I wanted them to taste true freedom. But then again, fate had this annoying habit of giving you something, and then snatching it away without warning. That's how I felt about almost everything. About my friends, how they could just be snatched away by the war.
It's been my expirience that when something gets taken away you may never ever get it back.
Anyway, the thermals were being pretty dull, so I decided to head over to Rachel's house to see what she was up to. Last time I was there she was fighting with her sisters over her brand new collection of CDs. I had decided to leave them alone. But right now she wasn't home.
Probably at Cassie's. I told myself. I turned toward Cassie's rural neighborhood. When I got to her barn I saw Cassie sweeping the floor. Rachel was reclining on a bale of hay, petting a familiar looking cat.
"It's so cute!" I heard Rachel coo. "I wish Sara wasn't allergic to cats."
Hello, ladies. I greeted them as I swooped into the rafters. The cat cradled in Rachel's lap tensed up.
"Oww!" Rachel cried as the cat scratched her leg in fear. "Jeez, Tobias."
"Sorry." I said.
"Hi Tobias." Cassie said, setting aside the broom and sitting next to Rachel. She started to pet the cat too. "Look what I found. . ."
"YOU found? Hey, I'm the one who found it digging in your trashcan." Rachel said.
"Yeah, well I'm the one who accidently threw out your earring so that you had to go digging through my trashcan." Cassie said. The cat calmed down and purred loudly. Rachel took an animal brush from a barn shelf and started to brush it.
" I want to keep it." Rachel told me. "But Sara's allergic. We should name it anyway."
"How bout Pickles?" Cassie said thoughtfully.
Sounds good. I said.
"Aw, how bout Xena, Kitten of Darkness?" Rachel joked, making a baby face at the cat. It yawned.
I laughed. Speaking of naming, what were you guys thinking when you named those combins?
"Cassie started it." Rachel grinned. Cassie made a face. The cat meowed and curled into a ball. A very familiar ball.
Wait a second. . . I inspected the cat closely. No way!
"What?" Rachel asked.
Are your parents home? I asked Cassie. She shook her head. "Why?"
I flew down quietly so as not to disturb the sleeping cat and demorphed. I went over and touched the gray-black cat. He woke up and looked at me.
"Hey he likes you." Cassie said. Rachel lifted the cat and placed him on my lap.
"I think he remembers me!" I said excitedly. There was no doubt about it. I knew this cat and he knew me. He rubbed the side of his face against my stomach and purred happily.
"Remembers you?" Rachel asked.
"Rachel, Cassie, meet Dude." I said. Cassie looked confused.
"Dude? Dude! As in your cat Dude?" Rachel said, surprised.
"Yeah, I'm positive. This is my cat Dude from when I was, well, human." I was careful not to look at Rachel when I said this. "When I left, I knew my uncle would get mad at me for leaving Dude with him. My uncle never liked him, and I didn't want him to hurt him, so I let Dude loose. Scared him out of the house. I figured he would be safer on the streets than with my uncle." I petted my old cat fondly.
"Wow, small world." Rachel commented. "I bet he missed you."
"Yeah. And this was the first morph any of us ever did." I added.
"So she's a special cat. She. It's a girl by the way." Cassie smirked.
"Dude is a GIRL!?"
Rachel laughed. "You're a genius, Tobias."
"Yup." Cassie said. "Want me to show you?"
"Oh, uh, that's okay." I stopped her from lifting Dude's leg. "I wish I could keep her, but well, apparently she's scared of hawks. . ."
Cassie rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "You know, I always wanted a pet."
Rachel looked at her. "Are you serious? Do you not see the dozen animals you have in this barn right now?"
"Well, they're not pets. I always have to say good-bye to them when they get better. I never actually ever had a pet of my own to keep."
I turned to her hopefully. "Can you have Dude?"
"I'm sure my parents won't mind. And plus, Dude's a sweetie." She tickled her under the chin.
"That's so cool, you have your cat back. Too bad she can't stay at my house though, you could come over whenever you want." Rachel grinned.
Cassie snorted back a laugh. "Right. Use Dude as an excuse so Tobias can go over your house and you can be alone and make – "
Rachel scowled and shoved Cassie in the shoulder. "Quiet, you. Been around Marco too long, I'd say."
"Yeah." I agreed.
Cassie smiled so hard I think she almost broke her face. "Anyway, both of you are welcome to barge in whenever you want to play with Dude."
"Here." Rachel lifted Dude up. "Give her a kiss."
I stared at her. "Are you serious?"
"Aw come on, kiss her. She's so cute. . ."
"No."
"Kiss. Her."
"Come on, Rachel. . ."
"Kiss. Dude. Now."
I gave up and gave Dude a little peck on top of the head. "There. Happy now?"
Cassie laughed. "You're both nuts."
I ran my fingers over Dude's soft-brushed fur. My cat, my only friend from before I met the other Animorphs. I had lost her and forgotten her a long time ago. But I got her back. I guess fate does have mercy sometimes.
I smiled. Everything just might be okay.
- - -That's it, THE ISLAND is completed. Eveyone's alive **gasp**, Tobias has some hope and stuff **yay!**, and they got one more yeerk ally **w00t w00t!** Not to mention this is the RETURN OF DUDE!! (Dum da da DUM!). **Gets teary** I'm gonna miss this story. . .but it's time to let go. . .**sniff** Anyway, I'll post a reviewer's chapter and stuff like next week or something. So tell me what you guys think. Honestly. No sugar-coating or excessive pity for the poor delusional maniac known as Freak Apple. Alright, well here's a little Happy Korner for ya. . .
THE HAPPY KORNER!
DawnOfEast - Yes, Mopping solution. Hee hee. Hm, I thought my only habit was eating sugar and locking myself out of my room, but I guess you're right about that too. But it's just that I miss the Animorphs little adventures. . .**sob**
SaraMcGregor: Thanks, hee hee. Wonderful is fine, but I can't live without the freaky!
EsotericEric - Cool even people on the net roll their eyes at me! Typical girl? Hm, I'm somewhat offended by that. Hehe, just kidding.
Jinako-chan - Warm fluffy feelings? You sure you didn't just have some bean burritos? **giggles at own very corny joke** And yay for controllers! Well, no, but yay for Arbuthnot and Pubar!! **giggles at the names** And I dunno what Ax did to the yeerk, could someone ask him please?
Senydegger - Yup, Freak Apple Records. I made a little cameo **does a jig** Oh and in case your wondering, Gordon Kane is my next door neighbor with the unibrow. Great guy, hehe. Glad you liked the story!
Kristen Goddess - **does victory leaps with Kristen** Wee! Nope, they didn't eat and the whole story was like 8 hours. Guess thy're pretty durn hungry right about now, huh? The Shawn Ashmore fanclub cool! But I think there is one already, I just gotta find it.
Stink E. Burrito - Yeah, it was nice, wasn't it **sigh**. Hehehe. And yes it's over, except for the reviewer's chapter. And I do plan on writing more. Dunno when though.
Digimon-lover - Sorry that's the end. And maybe Ax did kill the yeerk, who knows? Actually, what else would he do with it?