Disclaimer: I do NOT own Animorphs, Rachel, Marco, Ax, Tobias, Cassie, or Jake or any of the Chee. I do not own ANY of this except the actual story (so it's not plagiarism).

::Thought::

"Speech"

*Emphasis*

Thought-speak

§Foreign§

My name is Rachel Anderson.

Or it could be Rachel Broad.

Or maybe Rachel Dorny.

Possibly even Rachel Hillgrove. Pick one. Not one of them is my real last name. Well… maybe one of them is, but you just can't be sure. How do you know that Rachel is even my real first name? Well anyways, I'm being chased, which is why I can't give you my last name. It all started when…. Oh what the heck. Let's just cut to the chase. Long story short: Earth is being attacked by a bunch of evil extraterrestrial parasites called Yeerks. The End. Want to know more about the Yeerks? Read my books. Well anyways, I can morph. Another REALLY long story short: We (me and my 4 friends; Jake, Cassie, Marco, & Tobias) met an alien (a good one) named Elfangor Sirinial Shamtul (his little brother, Aximili Essgarrouth Isthill a.k.a. Ax joined us later) who held a blue box, told me to touch it, and gave me the ability to become any animal who's DNA I… um… absorbed, I guess you could say.

Well, Jake (our unofficial leader) doesn't like us using our morphing powers for personal reasons. But we don't always abide by that rule…

I'm gonna beat you… I'm gonna beat you! I screeched at Cassie, my best friend. We were morphed dolphins and were playing around in the ocean. Ha! Yeah Rachel. You'll beat me at this the same day that I go into Limited Too willingly and actually GET something!

Is that a bet? I asked skeptically.

Well I GUESS it IS!! she replied.

Oh, you are ON, sista.

And if you lose, you hafta help me clean out the barn.

In that case, I'll SOOO win. There is NO way I'm gonna run around smelling like crap!

We had decided to amuse the on looking beach-freaks and jump up in the air. We were racing up towards the surface world where we could take a breather and entertain the dolphin loving… um… dolphin lovers! FWOOOOOOOOSH!! We broke the glistening and smooth (well, it wasn't smooth anymore) barrier that separated the beautiful, blue, mysterious ocean from the great big, polluted piece of crap that we live in. Dolphin's hearing isn't so great in the air, but if it was, I'm sure I'd be able to hear the clicks of cameras.

Crud. That wasn't a fair!

Yup! Crud's the deal!

I grumbled and muttered Let's go demorph. My dolphin's getting mad at your dolphin because your dolphin is making my dolphin scoop dookie.

~~~~~Later at Cassie's barn~~~~~

The six of us were all gathered in Cassie's barn. Marco on his usual bale of hay, but accompanied by Jake (who is my cousin), who was playing "Thumb-Wars" with the other idiot. It's not that I don't like Marco. I do… I mean, as a friend. He just really irks me sometimes… wait. Let me rephrase that. He just really irks me MOST of the time. Anyways, Ax and Tobias were having a staring contest. Not smart. See, Ax is new on this planet, and he doesn't know that birds - especially hawks- can stare unblinkingly for who-knows-how-long. And since I lost our bet, Cassie got to clean the animals while I got stuck with the shovel. ::I should NOT have to be doing this. I mean, for Pete's sake! Tomorrow is my gosh darn birthday!:: I grumbled a lot and was relieved when Jake called the meeting to order. I finally got to put down the shovel. He stood up as if he were the president about to give a speech, or a judge about to sit down.

"All rise for the honorable Judge Jake," Marco joked.

"Already risen," I retorted.

"To me, you'll always be low, my dear Xena."

"Who are you to call someone low, your royal shortness?"

"All right all right. That's enough. Now shut-up and listen." Astonished, everybody turned to see that it was not Jake, but *Cassie*. Yeah. *That* was weird.

Blown away, Jake tried to keep up with the program.

"Uh… yeah. Well, l-let's get b-back to the… erm… important st-stuff."

Marco leaned over and whispered loudly to Ax, "Betcha anything he's gonna say to word 'Yeerks'." Jake grinned and continued.

"The enemy has launched a new plan."

"I object! You did that on purpose!"

Jake ignored him.

"I don't suppose you remember the Helmacron machine that the Yeerks used to detect morphing energy and how much fun we had during that time? Well, they have come up with a new machine to do the same, according to the Chee."

What is it called? Asked Ax.

"I think it's called something like §neuron diatomic stabilizer§."

Ax sort of growled.

Again! Stolen technology! he cried.

I looked at him, puzzled.

"Ax. Dude, what would the Andalite's need that for?"

I did not say they stole it from the Andalites. They stole it from the Helmacrons!

I rolled my eyes.

"Moving on!" Jake announced.

Hey, where's Cassie? Tobias asked.

Right here, came a voice. It was Cassie. She was trying out her new morph, a cobra. Marco and Ax had it, but she wanted it.

Why doesn't anybody want to try out a red tail- but Tobias cut off. He said in a whisper,

Cassie. Hurry. I want- no, *need*- you to slither into one of the stalls and demorph. Now!

Tobias? Tobias, what's the matter? Cassie asked, pleadingly.

Just do it!

We heard some dead leaves and pine straw move.

Alright. I'm in here. Now what is going on?

All of us- me, Jake, Marco, and Ax- were silently asking the same thing.

A helicopter just landed about an eight of a mile away and some Hork-Bijar just piled out with lots of dracon beams and are headed this way.

Why?

"They sense your energy, Cassie. I suggest obeying Jake. "