Cassie's Downfall
(Author's Note: For those who have finished the series, please note that
this story takes place during the war because it was fun to think up
stories for that time period. Also before (if you haven't finished the
series, don't look at this sentence because it will ruin it for you) the
Yeerks knew the Animorphs names and that they were human and where they
lived. . .you get the picture. DEATH TO THE YEERKS!!!
Right, the chapter. I'm Tobias. Can't tell my last name. You know the drill by now. Hopefully. If not, get one of the books and read it. I looked down. The mouse twitched. He must have sensed something. He looked up. He froze. I grinned in my head. Target locked. . .my wings closed in close to my sides. I gained speed. My talons tightened around him and I flared my wings. There was warm blood on my talons. I covered my pray with my wings. Then, I heard a rustle of feathers above. I looked up. Uh-oh. Some other hawk. He thought this was his territory. Tough luck. For him, that is. I glared up at him. He looked down at me. He gave a loud call and rustled his wings again. I wouldn't be the first to back off. I stared up at him and started to eat, ignoring him. He hopped off of the branch and dived at me. I grabbed the mouse in my beak and the exact second he would have hit me, pulled it with me out of the way. He took to the sky. A few seconds later, he was chasing me again. I dodged again. He reached for my mouse. I bit him on his talon. Bit it right off. He screamed and flew away in panic. I watched for a while and then ate my mouse. I knew he wouldn't be back any time soon. When I was done, I flew over to Jake's house. I flew past his window and saw that he wasn't there. I made my way back to my meadow. I saw Ax. There were two people walking over to Cassie's house. I followed them. One was tall and well-built, the other was short and slightly chubby. They were talking. You ought to know by now that hawks have good hearing. I didn't need to get any closer. "I know I saw the bird fly back here. I got Huref six-one-double-four to follow it last night. . .now what would an Andalite be doing in a human house?" said Chubby. "I dunno. . .maybe they have a hideout there?" Tall. I had heard enough. I flew hard to Cassie's window. I heard her bustling about in her room. {Cassie! Cassie, there are two people outside coming to the house! They-- oops. . .} Cassie wasn't in there. It was her mom, tidying up. Not good. She looked up. "______, did you say something?" said her mother to her father. You aren't allowed to know the name. (Plus there's the added fact that I forgot. . .) "No, why?" "Odd. I could've sworn I heard something. . ." I flew around the house, looking through windows. Cassie definitely wasn't inside. Then where was she? I flew away from the house as one of the Controllers knocked on the door and rang the bell. I saw Cassie emerge from Rachel's house when I went there. I went there partly because Rachel was Cassie's best friend, and partly because Rachel would know what to do if Cassie wasn't there. {Rachel! Cassie! Emergency!} Cassie looked up. So did Rachel. I continued. {Two men! Going towards your house. Heard them talking. One said that he saw you flying to that house last night. He says he told Herkef one- something to tail you there. They might break in! What should I do?} Rachel was already morphing grizzly. "Rachel!" said Cassie, putting a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "No! Anyone might see you morph!" {And even if they don't see you morph, a grizzly bear running through town will probably raise some concern, from Yeerks *and* humans,} I interjected. {I think the best thing to do is spy right now. I'm gonna go. You two morph birds and follow. Cassie, don't try to get inside. Your mother probably thinks you're out and if the Controllers hear her saying so, then they might suspect something. Bye. Oh, Rachel, go to Jake's and tell him about this. Cassie should come with me because it's her house. Go!} I took off and power-flew to Cassie's. A few seconds later, I saw an osprey come up behind me. {Hello, Cassie.} {I can't believe I was that stupid!} she panted. {I let him follow me and find my house! I--} {Cassie. Listen to me. It wasn't your fault. There was no way you could've known he was following you. Rachel and Jake should be here soon,} I said looking back. No one. {Maybe Marco too, if they remembered him.} I added. {Speaking of Rachel, she was pretty mad that you had *her*, of all people, go tell Jake. You know she always wants to be in on the action. . .} {Speak of the devil--and a few of his demons.} I said. An osprey, falcon, and bald eagle had just flown up. {You're the devil, Tobias! I heard that you forgot to tell them to get me, too. Just Jake? Perhaps you couldn't bear to see me if I wasn't in my handsome human form, Rachel? And of course, your wish is Tobias's command. So you "forgot" to tell Jake to get me, right?} He turned to Rachel. {Actually, I only said Jake because he is the leader and planner,} I said smoothly. {And he is the one who should know about this first. In fact, I was in such a panic that I even forgot about Ax. I'll go get him.} I started flying away. I found Ax, drinking by putting his hoof in the water. {Ax! Yeerks at Cassie's house. One saw her osprey fly away and told another one to follow her.} {I will come immediately. Do not wait for me.} I flew back meanwhile and warned the others to stay apart. {You should be particularly worried about attracting attention now; we know two Yeerks are right in this house! Don't stay together! Birds of prey do *not* fly in formation!} I shouted. They scattered. I sighed. "Excuse me, Mrs. ______," said Tall, "but are you sure you did not see an osprey flying to your house last night? I mean, we're starting to be worried. He's not as well as he thinks. He shouldn't be flying. Well, if you find him, please take all possible measures to subdue him and bring him to us. Thank you. We're terribly worried." "Well, thanks anyway for your help. We hope he turns up. . ." said Chubby. {Not good. . .} I began. {He knows that an Andalite came here last night. I'm not particularly worried about Cassie's mom finding Cassie, or Marco, because he's an osprey too.} Marco sniggered. {What is she going to do, shoot every osprey she sees with a tranquilizer and her super aiming abilities and magically find out two unknown, probably insane, guys' address and bring the bird there because those same two unknown people asked her to?} The man gave his business card to Cassie's mom and said something about the Sharing. And how she should join. Gulp. {Address not so unknown now, is it?} said Jake softly. {And what if she does join the Sharing? Then what?} Marco was silent. {Whatever the case,} I began, {We should follow and see what he's doing. I think. . .I have an idea.} {Well?} said Marco. {Whatever it is,} said Rachel, {I've got a better one! I say, get down there, battle morphs, and eat them both whole!} {Now, if *anyone* but Rachel had said that, I'd have agreed,} groaned Marco. {But no. It had to be Rachel.} {Hello! Listen up. Tobias has an idea! Pay attention.} {Thank you, Jake,} I said. {Follow them. When they go somewhere that they can't be seen, as they're guaranteed to do, they hosts' home, for example, capture them, interrogate them, and keep them for three days.} {But where?} said Jake. { I mean, someone's going to notice they're gone. Wife, for example. They're not going to go unnoticed. The Yeerks will find out.} {I know,} I continued, {But if we don't take them, they're going to report back to the Yeerks and then, big trouble. Also, on second thought, we should find Huref whatever-his-number-was. Take him too.} I stopped talking. The Controllers had looked up. We had unconsciously grouped back together while we were talking. {Split up!} shouted Jake. {Don't go back to your homes! Fly around till you lose them. Then get back home in human morph. Ax can morph flee and hitch a ride on Tobias. Go!} We went. I flew away from the others, but told Ax to come with me. I led. He followed. I flew all about, weaving around buildings. I flew onto an empty roof, looked around, and called out to Ax. {Ax! Morph here. Andalite and flea. Hurry!} I hopped off of the roof and flew a quick circle above the street. The guys were driving in their cars, looking around. One pointing up at me and fired a Dracon beam. I dodged an landed on another rooftop, leading them away from Ax. {Ax, are you done yet?} I called. {I am ready. Do not come until you have lost the Yeerks. We do not want them finding us.} Who was he kidding? Me? Get captured by Yeerks? Ha! As if! I flew over a building. I waited till the Yeerks had gone around it in their car. Then, I took off back to Ax's building. {Ax, I think we should wait a while. The Yeerks are still tailing us. Maybe if I had a different morph. . .can you think of anything?} {Every morph that I come up with is for battling and will make us more conspicuous.} {Wait! Human! I'll climb into the building and morph human. Stay flea.} I morphed. The eyes were terrible. I don't know how you guys can use these human eyes. I couldn't see a thing. I climbed down into the building through a skylight roof that. . .er. . .*broke*. I ran down the hall and into the elevator. I pressed floor one. Luckily, no one else was in the elevator. When we got to the first floor, I walked out of the front door and got on a bus. I got as close to my meadow as I could safely and then got off. I walked the rest of the way. When it was safe, I demorphed. I watched as Ax turned into an Andalite. I turned away in the middle because it was disgusting. When I looked again, it was Ax with no stalk eyes and weirdly bent back legs. {That was close.} I said. {Yes.} answered Ax, fully morphed now. I flew away. About an hour later, I saw Jake, Marco, Cassie, and--wait! Where was Rachel? She wasn't with them. Oh, no. {Where's Rachel?} I asked. {We don't--} said Jake, demorphing. "Know. We lost her." I stared.
Right, the chapter. I'm Tobias. Can't tell my last name. You know the drill by now. Hopefully. If not, get one of the books and read it. I looked down. The mouse twitched. He must have sensed something. He looked up. He froze. I grinned in my head. Target locked. . .my wings closed in close to my sides. I gained speed. My talons tightened around him and I flared my wings. There was warm blood on my talons. I covered my pray with my wings. Then, I heard a rustle of feathers above. I looked up. Uh-oh. Some other hawk. He thought this was his territory. Tough luck. For him, that is. I glared up at him. He looked down at me. He gave a loud call and rustled his wings again. I wouldn't be the first to back off. I stared up at him and started to eat, ignoring him. He hopped off of the branch and dived at me. I grabbed the mouse in my beak and the exact second he would have hit me, pulled it with me out of the way. He took to the sky. A few seconds later, he was chasing me again. I dodged again. He reached for my mouse. I bit him on his talon. Bit it right off. He screamed and flew away in panic. I watched for a while and then ate my mouse. I knew he wouldn't be back any time soon. When I was done, I flew over to Jake's house. I flew past his window and saw that he wasn't there. I made my way back to my meadow. I saw Ax. There were two people walking over to Cassie's house. I followed them. One was tall and well-built, the other was short and slightly chubby. They were talking. You ought to know by now that hawks have good hearing. I didn't need to get any closer. "I know I saw the bird fly back here. I got Huref six-one-double-four to follow it last night. . .now what would an Andalite be doing in a human house?" said Chubby. "I dunno. . .maybe they have a hideout there?" Tall. I had heard enough. I flew hard to Cassie's window. I heard her bustling about in her room. {Cassie! Cassie, there are two people outside coming to the house! They-- oops. . .} Cassie wasn't in there. It was her mom, tidying up. Not good. She looked up. "______, did you say something?" said her mother to her father. You aren't allowed to know the name. (Plus there's the added fact that I forgot. . .) "No, why?" "Odd. I could've sworn I heard something. . ." I flew around the house, looking through windows. Cassie definitely wasn't inside. Then where was she? I flew away from the house as one of the Controllers knocked on the door and rang the bell. I saw Cassie emerge from Rachel's house when I went there. I went there partly because Rachel was Cassie's best friend, and partly because Rachel would know what to do if Cassie wasn't there. {Rachel! Cassie! Emergency!} Cassie looked up. So did Rachel. I continued. {Two men! Going towards your house. Heard them talking. One said that he saw you flying to that house last night. He says he told Herkef one- something to tail you there. They might break in! What should I do?} Rachel was already morphing grizzly. "Rachel!" said Cassie, putting a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "No! Anyone might see you morph!" {And even if they don't see you morph, a grizzly bear running through town will probably raise some concern, from Yeerks *and* humans,} I interjected. {I think the best thing to do is spy right now. I'm gonna go. You two morph birds and follow. Cassie, don't try to get inside. Your mother probably thinks you're out and if the Controllers hear her saying so, then they might suspect something. Bye. Oh, Rachel, go to Jake's and tell him about this. Cassie should come with me because it's her house. Go!} I took off and power-flew to Cassie's. A few seconds later, I saw an osprey come up behind me. {Hello, Cassie.} {I can't believe I was that stupid!} she panted. {I let him follow me and find my house! I--} {Cassie. Listen to me. It wasn't your fault. There was no way you could've known he was following you. Rachel and Jake should be here soon,} I said looking back. No one. {Maybe Marco too, if they remembered him.} I added. {Speaking of Rachel, she was pretty mad that you had *her*, of all people, go tell Jake. You know she always wants to be in on the action. . .} {Speak of the devil--and a few of his demons.} I said. An osprey, falcon, and bald eagle had just flown up. {You're the devil, Tobias! I heard that you forgot to tell them to get me, too. Just Jake? Perhaps you couldn't bear to see me if I wasn't in my handsome human form, Rachel? And of course, your wish is Tobias's command. So you "forgot" to tell Jake to get me, right?} He turned to Rachel. {Actually, I only said Jake because he is the leader and planner,} I said smoothly. {And he is the one who should know about this first. In fact, I was in such a panic that I even forgot about Ax. I'll go get him.} I started flying away. I found Ax, drinking by putting his hoof in the water. {Ax! Yeerks at Cassie's house. One saw her osprey fly away and told another one to follow her.} {I will come immediately. Do not wait for me.} I flew back meanwhile and warned the others to stay apart. {You should be particularly worried about attracting attention now; we know two Yeerks are right in this house! Don't stay together! Birds of prey do *not* fly in formation!} I shouted. They scattered. I sighed. "Excuse me, Mrs. ______," said Tall, "but are you sure you did not see an osprey flying to your house last night? I mean, we're starting to be worried. He's not as well as he thinks. He shouldn't be flying. Well, if you find him, please take all possible measures to subdue him and bring him to us. Thank you. We're terribly worried." "Well, thanks anyway for your help. We hope he turns up. . ." said Chubby. {Not good. . .} I began. {He knows that an Andalite came here last night. I'm not particularly worried about Cassie's mom finding Cassie, or Marco, because he's an osprey too.} Marco sniggered. {What is she going to do, shoot every osprey she sees with a tranquilizer and her super aiming abilities and magically find out two unknown, probably insane, guys' address and bring the bird there because those same two unknown people asked her to?} The man gave his business card to Cassie's mom and said something about the Sharing. And how she should join. Gulp. {Address not so unknown now, is it?} said Jake softly. {And what if she does join the Sharing? Then what?} Marco was silent. {Whatever the case,} I began, {We should follow and see what he's doing. I think. . .I have an idea.} {Well?} said Marco. {Whatever it is,} said Rachel, {I've got a better one! I say, get down there, battle morphs, and eat them both whole!} {Now, if *anyone* but Rachel had said that, I'd have agreed,} groaned Marco. {But no. It had to be Rachel.} {Hello! Listen up. Tobias has an idea! Pay attention.} {Thank you, Jake,} I said. {Follow them. When they go somewhere that they can't be seen, as they're guaranteed to do, they hosts' home, for example, capture them, interrogate them, and keep them for three days.} {But where?} said Jake. { I mean, someone's going to notice they're gone. Wife, for example. They're not going to go unnoticed. The Yeerks will find out.} {I know,} I continued, {But if we don't take them, they're going to report back to the Yeerks and then, big trouble. Also, on second thought, we should find Huref whatever-his-number-was. Take him too.} I stopped talking. The Controllers had looked up. We had unconsciously grouped back together while we were talking. {Split up!} shouted Jake. {Don't go back to your homes! Fly around till you lose them. Then get back home in human morph. Ax can morph flee and hitch a ride on Tobias. Go!} We went. I flew away from the others, but told Ax to come with me. I led. He followed. I flew all about, weaving around buildings. I flew onto an empty roof, looked around, and called out to Ax. {Ax! Morph here. Andalite and flea. Hurry!} I hopped off of the roof and flew a quick circle above the street. The guys were driving in their cars, looking around. One pointing up at me and fired a Dracon beam. I dodged an landed on another rooftop, leading them away from Ax. {Ax, are you done yet?} I called. {I am ready. Do not come until you have lost the Yeerks. We do not want them finding us.} Who was he kidding? Me? Get captured by Yeerks? Ha! As if! I flew over a building. I waited till the Yeerks had gone around it in their car. Then, I took off back to Ax's building. {Ax, I think we should wait a while. The Yeerks are still tailing us. Maybe if I had a different morph. . .can you think of anything?} {Every morph that I come up with is for battling and will make us more conspicuous.} {Wait! Human! I'll climb into the building and morph human. Stay flea.} I morphed. The eyes were terrible. I don't know how you guys can use these human eyes. I couldn't see a thing. I climbed down into the building through a skylight roof that. . .er. . .*broke*. I ran down the hall and into the elevator. I pressed floor one. Luckily, no one else was in the elevator. When we got to the first floor, I walked out of the front door and got on a bus. I got as close to my meadow as I could safely and then got off. I walked the rest of the way. When it was safe, I demorphed. I watched as Ax turned into an Andalite. I turned away in the middle because it was disgusting. When I looked again, it was Ax with no stalk eyes and weirdly bent back legs. {That was close.} I said. {Yes.} answered Ax, fully morphed now. I flew away. About an hour later, I saw Jake, Marco, Cassie, and--wait! Where was Rachel? She wasn't with them. Oh, no. {Where's Rachel?} I asked. {We don't--} said Jake, demorphing. "Know. We lost her." I stared.