FLASH!

I closed my eyes, putting my arms up, attempting to shield my face. As soon as the light began to dim through my eyelids, I slowly started to open my eyes.

The area in front of me was desolate, and before I could turn to look behind me, I heard a voice behind us.

"Get down!" I heard before I was knocked down, someone tackling into me from behind.

I heard something go by overhead and looked up, seeing a huge winged creature coming up from a swoop, as I had done so many times.

"Get up, and follow me. Now!" The person got up out of our seven-man dog-pile and took off running, trenchcoat flailing behind the guy. I looked over at Jake quick enough to see him nod and get up, taking off after the guy who had saved us.

I jumped up and started running over to the least destroyed building, the one that the guy had gone into, and I managed to reach it first. I slipped through the door, the others following me in very soon.

"The Animorphs?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jake replied, putting up his poker face.

"You're lying. You don't need to worry, though. I'm an ally," the voice said, the owner walking out from behind a corner. He was a little taller than Jake, with dark hair and unusually blue eyes. He was the trenchcoat guy that had helped us, all right. He was wearing the black trenchcoat, which I saw was leather, black baggy jeans, a loose black shirt, and black boots. His clothes looked like he had just gotten the shit beaten out of him, and he didn't look much better physically. He extended his hand towards Jake. "The name is Alex. You are Jake, I'm guessing."

"Yeah... how did you know?" Jake looked amazed as he shook hands with Alex.

"The Ellimist told me. He also told me where and when to be looking for you."

I stepped forward. "Yeah, thanks for saving us from that. What was that, some sort of giant alien bird of prey?"

"Tobias. The human in a bird's body. No, that was a Yeerk experiment. Kind of a mix of some six-winged Andalite bird and a few normal birds. The size of the mythical Roc, and four winged."

He looked over our group quickly, and before any of us could open our mouths, he spoke again. "I hate to bring this up, ladies and gents, but you guys are dressed a bit too... colorful for the current situation."

He went over to a closet, opening it and reaching in, grabbing stuff. He came back out with three outfits, all black. The first, he handed to Cassie. The second to Rachel, and the third to me. He tossed a black shirt at Marco and handed a fourth uniform that he grabbed to Ax, pointing Ax, Cassie, Rachel and I to where we could change.

I went off to the area he pointed at, and took off my jeans and white overshirt. I grabbed the black baggy jeans he had given me and pulled them on, the black overshirt following it. I buttoned up the over shirt, minus the top two buttons, and put my other clothes on the hanger. I walked back out, holding the pants up with my free hand.

Alex smiled. "Sorry bout that Tobias, didn't think about the size difference."

With that, he reached into the closet again, pulling out a belt and a leather coat.

"Try it on."

I put the belt on, fastening it so that my pants would stay up, and grabbed the jacket from him. I slid it on, the coat fitting perfectly loose on me.

Rachel walked out in tight leather pants and a black tank top, making my eyes almost bug out. Soon after followed Cassie in a similar outfit, but with a black unbuttoned blouse over the tank top. Ax, surprisingly not having needed help, came out dressed like me in his human form. None of our clothes were new, and some of the clothing looked like it'd gone through Hell, but that was to be expected.

"Hey, uh, Alex... I've got a question for ya," Marco said.

"What's that, Marco?"

"Why do you have girls' outfits... I mean, ya don't look like someone who'd think he was a badass by dressing like a chick."

As Jake kind of stifled a laugh, I looked to Alex, thinking he'd be pissed. Instead, I saw a huge grin on his face, his eyes happy as he began to laugh.

"Actually, those belong to Sarah and Debra. Sarah's my cousin, Debra is her best friend, and they're part of the team. They should be getting here in just a little bit, actually."

Right after he finished saying that, a loud sound that sounded like many people running on the roof made all of us whirl around, ready to go into battle morphs.

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So, what do ya think the noise is? A human-Controller attack? Only one way to find out! Read and review!