With surprising speed the winged half of the Mortron came flying straight at him. Elfangor, reacting the way he had been trained to, stood firm and raised his tail into a battle-ready position.
Don't worry, Loren. I can deal with these two creatures, Elfangor said, confident that he could do just that.
The second Mortron quickly released its winged half to join the first, aiming for the closer one Elfangor sliced it in twain. The split halves of the Mortron's avian segment tumbled to the ground and lay there, apparently dead. The second circled around, seemingly oblivious to the death of its counterpart.
Once it was in range, Elfangor slashed it in half almost exactly the same way that he had the first. The Visser found this funny for some reason, Elfangor could hear his raucous laughter echoing through his mind. He was about to tell the Yeerk to shut up, but then he saw the cause of it.
Both avian Mortrons, all four pieces of them, were starting to grow again. Two of the halves were simply becoming the avian component, but the other two were regenerating into two complete Mortrons with incredible speed.
"Elfangor, look out!" Loren shouted.
As Elfangor looked from one to the other, the newly regenerated avian Mortrons flapped their wings and rose slowly into the air once again. Visser Thirty-two was laughing, and this time Elfangor knew why.
Are you doing the equations, Elfangor? the Visser taunted. They regenerate, cut these four Mortrons in half and they will become eight! Eight will become sixteen. Sixteen, thirty-two, I'm sure even you can grasp what will happen if you continue to attack, he said, chuckling.
Loren, I don't know how to fight these creatures! If only I still had a Shredder, Elfangor cried.
"Can you outrun them?"
Yes, they appear to be slow, but I will not abandon you to the mercy of that vile Yeerk.
"If my idea works, you won't have to. How strong is – never mind, it must be strong enough. Look, don't be offended by this, okay?"
Offended, by what?
"I'm going to try something, I hope it works."
With those words, Loren placed her left hand on the back of Elfangor's neck, and her right on the base of his tail. Hoisting herself up with her powerful arms, she straddled Elfangor's back.
"Now Elfangor, let's ride!" Loren said, grinning.
She'd always liked horseback riding. Of course, this should really be called Andaliteback riding, she thought with a bit of a laugh. Elfangor, for his part, was confused. But since there was a more pressing matter in front of them, he decided to save his inquires for another time.
The two regenerated Mortrons were closing in on them, and a third avian Mortron had been launched. Elfangor galloped off, feeling Loren grab his shoulders to keep herself steady. The Mortrons were far too slow to keep pace with a running Andalite.
As they outpaced the Visser's beasts and raced out of the Andalite landscape and into the Earthlike forest, Elfangor noticed that the Visser was nowhere to be seen. Loren watched as the trees slowly gave way to the city. The sky was beginning to grow dark as they entered the urban area, Elfangor's hooves clattered loudly once they were on the street.