The Generation
Chapter 24- Max
I came to in a cage. The bottom of the cage was dirt. Oliver and Emily were knocked out beside me. Emily was just coming to, but Oliver was out cold. Bruises marred his face and what I could see of his neck. "Emily." I hissed, "Emily wake up!" I shook her.
"Stop the ride please mommy, I want to get off." Emily groaned. Her eyes fluttered open and she blinked. "Where the hell am I?" Emily demanded as she sat up.
"That's what I'd like to know." I answered.
I looked outside the cage, and gasped. The scene around me was like something out of Dante's Inferno. In front of me I saw a row of stairs, rising up... up... Humans and Hork bajir went up and down them. To my right were more cages. Some contained humans, packed ten to a cage. Hork bajir had their own cages. People wept, and screamed, and cried. Some just stayed silent, defeated.
Through the air, instead of the wasps in Dante's poem, were tiny, ball shaped robots with a single lens. I knew from Ax that these were hunter killer robots.
Behind us was a pool of sludge. I saw the flitting yeerks within. That was what caused the pool to seethe. To my right, directly across from the pool, was a pair of piers. On one, hork bajir and humans waited quietly, under armed guard. On the other, humans, hork bajir, and other creatures were dragged, screaming and crying, to its end. The hork bajir who dragged them, boredly kicked their legs out from under them and shoved their faces under the water.
They stayed there for a moment, before being pulled back up. I saw a sort of flash as the slug finished entering their ear. Of course, the taxxons were different. Taxxons were centipede like creatures with crab claws for hands, four jelly like eyes, and a tube like mouth filled with jagged, less than sanitary looking teeth. The taxxons were all voluntary controllers, and they were all cannibals. According to Ax they were perpetually hungry, so hungry that they didn't care what they ate, even if it was their own brothers.
As I watched, I saw two hork bajir drag an odd, yellow, frog like creature to the end of the line near the deinfestation pier. The creature had two HUGE green eyes, a swept back head with a large lobe at the back, and four tentacles for arms. As I watched they threw it into the cage next to us.
Then I heard it...
//Max!// TYSON! HE WAS HERE! My eyes frantically searched the crowd for something that could be him.
//Tyson?// I asked groggily.
//Where are you?// Tyson asked. I felt his tender concern through our link.
//I'm not sure.// I answered. //It's a cave. Oliver and Emily are with me. Where are you?//
//A taxxon tunnel, with Erek and the others. Are you ready?//
//Yeah, I'm ready. We're in the cage nearest the stairs.// I told him.
//Great, look, we need to know what kind of hosts the yeerks are using.//
I can answer that. The frog creature answered. Tell your andilite friend that they're using hork bajir, human, taxxon, gedd, and leeran.
//Tyson, the frog thing said that they're using hork bajir, human, taxxon, gedd, and leeran.//
There was a pause. //Max, Cassie says that this is bad. Leerans are psychic. You need to disable the leeran next to you as soon as the hork bajir come for it.//
//How?// I asked, irritated. Tick tock, there goes the clock!
//Cassie says to cut off the lobe at the back of the leeran's head. She says that Draciel should be able to do the job.//
//I quote Marco, this is totally and completely insane.//
//I know, but you need to find an opening to help us break open the cages and disable any leeran controllers that you see. They're pretty rare, but annoying and problematic to security. If you cut off the lobe at the back of their heads the yeerks won't be able to control the leerans, they'll go right out the other side.//
//Hello, reality check, I don't think that the leeran will survive it...// I pointed out.
We can, leerans can regenerate. Our neighbor said helpfully. But we are psychic, if I, or any of my friends, get within three feet of you and escape, they will know your secret. As your friend Marco would say, we are a major security hassle.
At the same time Tyson said. //Cassie says that leerans can regenerate. We're moving with Erek, give us the signal and we'll bust loose.//
That was the moment when I saw the three of them. Kane struggled between two, big, buff bouncers from the party. Behind him, two hork bajir carried an unconscious Dunga between them. Behind them, Lee, covered in bruises, was practically being carried like a package.
The cage was opened for the hork bajir, and the three prisoners were thrown in. //Tyson, they've got Kane, Dunga, and Lee. Dunga's out cold, but Lee and Kane look like they're pretty much okay.//
//We're still waiting for three more.// Tyson grumbled.
As I watched, I saw Erek slip into the shadows next to the enormous carved staircase in front of me.
Oliver and Dunga stirred. "Woooahh." Dunga moaned, sitting up. "Man, those walking razor blades suck."
"No, really Einstein." Kane growled, rubbing a bruise on the side of his face.
Dunga called Kane something that I won't repeat.
Oliver's eyes fluttered open. "Where am I?"
"I'm not really sure." Emily told him. "But wherever we are, we're stuck here."
"How are we gonna bust out of this place?" Lee wondered, looking around. "I mean, they have walking razorblade/goblin/gargoyle... things, giant centipedes, demented gray apes, and mutated, tentacle covered frogs."
I am a leeran and I ought to take offence. The leeran replied. You are in a place called the yeerk pool. Take a look in the water. The leeran dipped a tentacle into the sludge of the pool and pulled up a yeerk. This is a yeerk. He threw it back into the water. They are kind of like your human stories about body snatchers, only you stay alive inside of your own head, unable to control your own body. The 'Walking Razors' are hork bajir. They were taken against their will. They are to be pitied. The centipedes are taxxons. They are evil enough to eat their own brethren. They gave themselves up on purpose and serve roles as clean up crew, diggers, engineers, and maintenance. The 'demented apes' are called Gedds, they really aren't very smart. And of course there are humans. You are prisoners here. No human has ever escaped the yeerks, although about seventy hork bajir have made it to freedom.
"So basically you're telling us that we're toast?" Demanded Dunga. "There's no way that I'm going to accept that!"
Not toast, your friends, the Blade Breakers had a plan. I am not sure where it is in terms of completion, but you must keep quiet and trust me! The leeran replied.
All eyes were on me. "What? Hey, I thought I saw Tyson in the crowd somewhere, but I could have been wrong. I wasn't even supposed to be in on it unless they decided to take Tyson instead. And you, Froggy-Doggy! Stop reading my mind!"
I will attempt not to do so. The leeran said, miffed. I was simply trying to be helpful.
"So what do we do Max?" Emily asked.
I explained what Tyson and Kai wanted us to do. "And we can't give anything away." I finished. "When the Demolition Boys (whoever they choose), Wyatt, and Zeo come down here, we keep our mouth shut about any of this. And we need to pretend that we don't know. Dunga if you slip, then you, leeran, tell the yeerks that you told us all." I explained.
I hate playing dumb, but oh well, if you insist. The leeran sighed.
As I watched the crowd, I saw a group of six hork bajir make their way through the crowded cave walkways. I couldn't see whom they were carrying completely, but I did see them supporting a familiar, strawberry blonde head on their shoulders. BRYAN! The other two were probably Zeo and Wyatt.
Your friends approach. The humans called Bryan, Zeo, and Wyatt are on their way. The Leeran said without looking up. They will be here in about two minutes. Zeo is furious. Wyatt is very upset, and Bryan's leg is twisted, he cannot walk without pain. I would advise you to leave him out of it. The visser is brutal, and he is on his way. If the Visser were to decide to strike back at Bryan for defying him, then he would not stand a chance at fighting back, and would probably end up being seriously injured.
"Don't count our friend Bryan out just yet." Lee reported. "He's taking a good look around, just pretending to be blacked out."
Obviously, or I wouldn't be able to read his mind. The leeran said coyly.
//Okay Tyson, I see them carrying Bryan between them, the leeran says that he's pretending to be blacked out, but that he's really taking a good look around him. The leeran also says that his leg is twisted, so he'll need help in a fight. I'm not sure, but I think that Zeo and Wyatt are with them.// I told him.
//Great, we're in position.// Tyson told him. //We're hidden and ready to morph.//
//Good.// I answered.
The guards opened the cage and threw Bryan, Wyatt, and Zeo in. Then he cupped his hands to his mouth and said. "LISTEN UP! THE VISSER IS COMING IN ABOUT FIVE MINUTES! EVERYBODY WITH A JOB TO DO! MOVE IT! THIS IS AUTHORIZATION OF SUB VISSER TWO!" Then he moved off.
Bryan struggled to a sitting position. "Ow, hey, what are all of you doing here? They caught you too?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Ironic that they went for the weakest blade breaker huh?"
Bryan rolled his eyes. "I dunno, you almost had Spencer that one time. But whatever we're here for we'll probably find out when this Visser comes."
Emily pointed. "Our, of course, you could use that wonderful brain you were born with and just look over there." She pointed towards the piers.
Zeo, Wyatt, and Bryan watched as a little kid was dragged down the pier, screaming and crying and kicking. The hork bajir dragging him rolled her eyes. "Kids, stupid brat. Take him." She told the hork bajir at the end. "Honestly, what are they thinking taking little kids? It's the big daddies we need."
"Orders from the top." The hork bajir on the pier grunted. He boredly shoved the child's head under the water. A few seconds later the child was pulled out and held. Wyatt gulped as he saw the slug disappear into the child's ear.
"That's harsh." Bryan commented. "They're gonna do that to us?"
"What was in its ear?" Wyatt asked, terror evident in his eyes. "What was in its ear?"
"Some kind of slug. Somehow the slugs in the pool can control people. Look at the kid, he's moving off without a word." Lee explained.
"Looks like something out of the Inferno." Zeo shivered.
"You'd know a lot about that wouldn't you Zeo?" Dunga asked with a sneer. "You've been through it with Dr. Zaggar, and voluntarily too."
"Dunga if you weren't twice my size I'd beat the crap out of you here and now!" Zeo growled.
"Okay kiddies." Emily intervened. "Listen up, when this Visser comes, we spread out into a half circle, with Max foremost, and we aim our Beyblades at whatever is in sight. Then when Max gives the signal we fire. Got that?"
They looked at me for confirmation. "Yup, that's the plan. Maybe we can take some of them down with us." I explained.
"Suicidal." Bryan smirked. "I like it."
I heard some kind of alarm go off. Galard, the language of interstellar trade. The Leeran explained. The Visser is on its way. And the yeerks are ten cages away from me. Whatever you plan to do, you'd better hurry.
I felt a wave of fear. I looked up at the ship that entered through a hatch in the top of the cavern. Don't ask me how, but I knew that something evil, horribly evil, had entered the cavern. We all looked up.
The ship was blacker than the darkest night I've ever seen, it was blacker than a moonless, foggy night. It was shaped like a medieval battle axe. The Blade Ship The Leeran explained. Every Visser has one. It is heavily armed and armored. Few ships can match it in battle.
Emily shivered. "I don't believe in psychic things, but that ship is giving off seriously bad vibes."
It should, the creature on it is so evil, that… even those who don't believe in psychic powers can sense the "bad vibes" it gives off. Many an andilite has looked at their own death when they see that ship. The leeran explained.
Bryan shivered, the closed his eyes. When he opened them, I saw that the pupils had narrowed, the irises were slowly changing from pale, sky blue into an icy, glacier color. I knew what had happened. Bryan was calling on the cyber programming he'd been 'Enhanced' with. I was glad, we'd probably need it.
Some part of me, deep, deep inside of my own soul was terribly, terribly afraid. Not just afraid, I was ready to scream in total, abject terror. Oh gods. What was I supposed to do against something that big, that horrible?
Visser three is the only andilite controller. The Leeran explained. A controller is a person who has been infested. He is coming here to oversee your infestation.
"The only what?" Zeo demanded, craning his neck to see.
A controller, a being whom the yeerks have infested. Answered the Leeran. The Andilites are the yeerks' worst enemies.
The hork bajir were slowly working their way up the cages. They were five cages away from the Leeran.
We stood up as the Visser approached. "Hello." I said with a cold smile. "You must be the head honcho around her, slug."
//In a very short time Max the Blade Breaker, you will also be a 'slug.'// Visser 3 said with a superior eye smirk.
"You will have our bodies, but you will never have our spirits." I said, feeling braver than I felt. I spoke loudly so that the others nearby would hear me. Several humans in the cage across from us cheered. "That philosophy has resonated throughout our history. If you opened your mind to learn from others, you would have known this."
The entire pool was silent. They looked at us expectantly. Controllers were punching their hands eagerly, ready for a fight. Human hosts in the cages were listening eagerly. The hork bajir hosts were murmuring among themselves.
The hork bajir were three cages away from the Leeran. //Arrogant human. I'll show you the error of your ways.// The Visser smirked.
"Try it." I said, with as close to a sneer as I have ever had. The others were moving into position. I raised my Beyblade at Visser 3's face. I saw a flicker of fear cross his face.
But I was not aiming for the Visser. The Visser was the least of my concerns. "Ready?" I asked the others.
"LET IT RIP!" We shouted in unison.
Nine Beyblades shot in every direction. Leading the pack, Draciel emerged, followed by Trygator, Unicolyon, Cyber Dragoon, Vortex Ape, Galeon, Falborg, and Cerberus.
The hork bajir carrying the Leeran ducked. The beyblades sailed past them, ricocheting off the cages and slamming through the lobe at the back of the leeran's skull. The leeran was now missing half of his head. He/She/It screamed in pain. The Beyblades bounced between the cages, smashing locks. Humans and hork bajir broke free.
"RUN FOR IT!!" I shouted to them. "GET OUT OF HERE!"
The look of hatred on the Visser's face was enough to make me want to wither. I saw Toby and six of her people emerge from Erek's hologram and merge with the crowd. "EVERYBODY! I SHOW YOU FREE! FOLLOW ME!"
The hork bajir roared. "SHOW US FREE!" They guided humans, hork bajir, and a smattering of Leerans towards the exit to the convention center. Our leeran stumbled, but Toby scooped it up under her arm like a package.
Blades clashed. //Ready Max? I hope you're okay out here, because it is HELL!// Tyson shouted. I saw, faintly, a Kodiak bear, a gorilla, a wolf, a hyena, an andilite, and a cheetah seem to melt into the crowd. A holographic emitter, of course! Erek couldn't have hidden them from sight during the fight. They had probably built a holographic emitter from the parts that Ezimili had rescued from her craft and the Grotto. //We're almost out… okay everybody listen to the Kodiak bear over here. Hork bajir and leerans go out the left hand fork, humans, take the right! MOVE MOVE MOVE!!// Tyson bellowed in thoughtspeak.
The hork bajir were fighting, covering their retreat. And more heartening, they were winning. Visser three did not give chase.
Visser three glared at me. I felt like hiding. I could feel his anger. I could feel his hatred.
//Call back your beyblades or I will kill you all right now.//
I laughed. "Visser wasn't it? I thought you needed us as hosts? But alright. You got your wish." We called our beyblades back, but not before giving the Visser multiple, bloody gashes across his flanks, and when Falborg came back, he cut off the Visser's right eyestalk.
The look of malicious anger on my face was almost equal to the Visser's as his right stalk eye fell to the ground. I noticed with satisfaction that Visser three's tail blade had chunks missing out of it from where we'd hit him. "You know Visser," I said with a smirk. "If you want us so badly, there's always a price to pay, and you'll pay it… how often did that leeran say?" I asked Emily.
"Three days." She answered with a satisfied smirk.
"You'll pay it every three days, in rebellion, in a few hundred 'hosts' here or there… in damage done to buildings and cages. My history teacher called it 'Folly.' The definition was any policy that is contrary to self interest." I said, with an air of superiority.
The Visser turned his stalk eye on the hork bajir controllers that had come up behind him. //Take them, take them to the pier, infest them!//
The cage was opened. The others struggled, twisted, trying to get free. Dunga managed to knock one of them unconscious. Bryan made a lunge, straight for the Visser. I gasped. Visser three laughed and knocked him aside before two of the hork bajir managed to catch Bryan.
I was dragged towards the pier. The controllers were cheering. I didn't fight. I had done all that I could, all I could... But I was still Max… still the weakest Blade Breaker… I didn't have Tyson's guts, or Kenny's brains... I didn't have Hillary's attitude. I wasn't empathetic and compassionate like Rei. I wasn't strong and silent like Kai. I was just… just a nobody… I was out of options, and also out of hope…
Then Ax's words came back to me.
I am the servant of the people…
I allowed myself to be dragged to the pier.
I am the servant of my prince…
I let myself go. I was facing an existence worse than death.
I am the servant of honor…
But all those people and hork bajir, they would carry on the fight, as in my mind I reaffirmed what I had known all along.
My life is not my own when the people have need of it…
I took a deep breath as the hork bajir plunged my head beneath the pool.
My life is given, for the people, for my prince, and for my honor…
The yeerk touched my ear, slithering inside. The pain! The pain!
My head was yanked up. "Mom…" I whispered faintly, as the yeerk made contact.
It opened my memories. It moved my hands. It took a step.
"Didlit 425 reporting for duty Visser." The yeerk said calmly.
The others, controllers now, were straightening up around me, murmuring names and ranks.
//It's okay.// The yeerk said calmly. //I'm one of the pacefists.//
//So I've been told.//
"Didlit 425, you are in charge of bringing the Blade Breakers to heel. You are promoted to Sub-Visser 65. Be sure to make the human Max suffer for what he and his friends did to my eye." Visser 3 had morphed to human and was quickly demorphing. I noticed that the cuts and scratches on his body and the missing eye were completely healed. //Make him remember that whatever damage he does to me will only be healed when I morph.//
"Yes Visser."
//Dismissed.// Visser three waved his hand airily on his way back to the blade ship.
//I failed.// I whispered softly. //I failed.// I was stuck in the back of my head, crying.
//No Max. I think you'll see, when you're older, that this battle was just as much won as it was lost.// Didlit said, as we made our way in silence up the long tunnel back to the convention center. //You just don't see it. Think of an ant on a chessboard during a game. When you look from below, every move feels like an earthquake. But if the ant were to grow a few inches, he'd see what's going on. We'll never know what good we did until its all over, Max. Let's chill and ride this one out.//
An ant? Yes, I suppose we are ants. Chill? Easy for her to say, and there was something feminine about the yeerk's voice. Maybe it was just me.
//So what form would you want?// I asked.
//hmmm...// She thought for a moment. //I think a falcon. That way I could keep an eye on everybody. I think two of them wanted to be hork bajir. Four of them wanted to be human. Two of them wanted to be wolves, probably because they like Cassie so much. They used to be assigned to some of the kids in the Vo-Ag club. They liked the way she dealt with animals, and her strength and spirit.//
//I wish I was strong.// I sighed, as Didlit powered her way up the stairs.
//You are. You just don't see it.// Didlit said with a mental smile. //Where were we supposed to meet the Animorphs again?//
//Meeting room, the one above the DJ booth with curtained windows looking out on the dance floor.// I told her.
//Oh. I've got the one now, thanks.// Didlit turned in the appropriate direction.
We opened the door. There was nobody there. "Um..." Didlit began.
"In here SubVisser 56." Jake's voice came from inside. "We've got a portable pool and kandrona set up. I'm sorry if we interrupted your feeding."
I/Didlit stepped inside. "Is there a possibility Jake, of a bird of prey morph? I think your hork bajir friends could use a watch woman."
"I think Cassie will be able to help you there. We've got five." Jake said as he closed the door. "As sub visser you're in charge of this group."
"Thank you." Didlit said with a smile. She bent my head down low over the cooler that Jake indicated. I felt something slither out of my ear, and then I was me again.
I sat back, kneeling by the cooler.
"Max. Max are you alright?" Cassie asked worriedly. I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah…" He said softly. "Yeah, I think so."
"Good, because there's one more thing to do tonight, before we go." She said with a smile. "Come and see."
Cassie led me downstairs to the dance floor. Tyson and the others were waiting for us. "Hey man, come and watch."
Mom, my wonderful, glorious mother, stood on stage. The DJ was saying. "Judy, coach of the All Starz would like to sing for us, and dedicate this next song to her son Max, of the Blade Breakers."
Mom smiled. The music started. It brought tears to my eyes….
"I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know
I found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you
I'm sorry that I hurt you
It's something I must live with everyday
And all the pain I put you through
I wish that I could take it all away
And be the one who catches all your tears
That's why I need you to hear
I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you
And the reason is you
And the reason is you
And the reason is you
I'm not a perfect person
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know
I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you
I've found a reason to show
A side of me you didn't know
A reason for all that I do
And the reason is you…"
I heard the silence that makes a performer weep. Then I began to clap. The entire auditorium roared in applause.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Hey." Jake said with one of his small smiles. "I think that's as close to an apology as you're going to get." He said with a smile. "But we need to pack up and get out before the… Generous people…" (Meaning the yeerks.) "Catch up with us."
I trembled, shaking. "Right."
We turned, and headed back up to the meeting room to wait.