A/N- I am getting restless so I'm posting again. By the way, have you guys seen the news about C2? Something about communities within fan fiction. Does anyone have any information on this, and is anyone planning on starting an Animorphs community? Just wondering.

No one pays attention to trivia anymore. Oh well. As Chessrook44 is the only person to attempt an answer, this chapter is dedicated to her.

Review Responses

Panthergirl- Do you know what has changed that is giving us so much trouble with the thought-speak thingys?

DH- If I told you about a rescue, I'd be breaking a law of fanfic writers- never reveal something before it's time. But about Bri babbling about herself- she didn't say anything about Zak or anything that would help the Yeerks at all. If she knew anything else important, she figures Dakra would have reported it. And Bri's personal life isn't going to matter much longer. Yes, it may be a bad excuse, but it's the only one I've got.

Morph- Thanks for your review! And yes, I'm updating sooner now.

Chessrook44-Nobody but you appreciated my trivia- too bad. But thanks for guessing! And the song is called 'Two Worlds'.

KP-Yep, foreshadowing, I've put a little more thought into what I want to happen throughout this story. In fact, this entire story is already written, and I'm starting on the next one now. You'll have to wait until that book for Alloran to come up again, but I do have it planned. Katakana and Kanji- are those Japanese dialects? I've never taken a foreign language, so my non-English vocabulary is very limited.

There is Hope- I'm sorry if I was a little ticked at you earlier. It just sounded a bit like you were bragging about your own story…sorry. But thanks for reviewing! I noticed I'm on your fav. List… Thanks again!

Chapter 4- Zak

I was worried about Bri. She continued going to those Sharing meetings, and I couldn't persuade her to stop. I didn't understand it. That place gave me a bad feeling. Those people gave me bad feelings. They were too happy, like they were acting for a commercial or something. And now, Bri was acting that way too. She adopted an everything is hunky-dory, nothing is wrong attitude, and told me to stop worrying. Four days after she became a full member though, I finally realized why Bri had been acting so strangely. I was right to be worried.

On that day, Bri asked me to walk in the woods together. We used to do that more often, back when I couldn't go anywhere else. But now, we hang at the park, the mall, or beach as regularly as the woods. Another unusual thing was that Bri didn't morph Andalite or ask to sit on my back so we could move faster. She said we should 'enjoy the scenery' or something like that. Then, she had me stop in a clearing walked away a bit, and said, "Close your eyes. I have a surprise for you." She smiled an un-Bri-like smile, and reached for her pocket.

It was then that I knew. It felt like a scene from a movie where everything moves in slow motion. Bri reached for the ray-beam in her pocket, smiling that weird smile, and my tail whipped out, and whammed into the side of her head like Alanthi taught me. Bri's face registered shock before she fell to the ground. Which is when time slid back into real-time, and my mind moved at a million miles per hour.

Bri was a Controller? How was that possible? She was going to shoot me with a ray gun! Dracon beam, that's what Alanthi called them. I had just knocked out my best friend. How was I going to get her home? What if I had been mistaken, and Bri had to go to the hospital? What would I say then? Calm down Zak, just get her home.

I removed the Dracon beam from her pocket, hoisted her onto my back with the help of my tail, and ran back home at full speed. I must have startled my parents, who were making dinner, by running inside in full Andalite form with Bri unconscious on my back and shouting, (Bri's a Controller!) Mom dropped the spaghetti water in the sink, and it splashed on Dad, making him yell.

"Zak, what is it?" Mom shouted, ignoring Dad, who glared at her.

(Bri is a Controller. I need to call Sam and Ms. Johnson! Tie Bri up, and don't let her wake up!) Of course Mom didn't do this, still being confused as to what Controllers were. I, meanwhile, dumped Bri on the couch and began morphing to human at full speed.

Once I was human, I dialed Carmen Johnson. "Ms. Johnson, your daughter is a Controller! She…"

I didn't get any farther before Ms. Johnson said, "Shhhh!" Then, in a quiet, calm voice, she said, "Now, what is wrong with Bri, Zak? She fell?"

"I…" Then I realized Ms. Johnson didn't want to talk about Yeerks on the airways. "Yes. She fell. Do you have a first aid kit or something that would help her? I don't know what to do."

"Okay, Zak. Is she unconscious?"

"Yes."

"That's alright. Wait until I get there to do anything. I'm coming now." Then she hung up.

Waiting for Ms. Johnson, I explained in detail what happened with Bri. Dad had an ice pack on his arm, and Mom was still confused. Dad understood, though, and he groused, "Great. We don't need any more aliens around here. Especially not these body-snatchers. At least hose cousins of yours were polite enough to keep their bodies to themselves."

"Dad, they weren't exactly my cousins…" I started to explain, and then gave up. Dad liked the world the way it was before, without aliens crash-landing on earth, in the good old simple days. He'd adapted, and I knew he loved me, but he liked to complain about aliens every chance he got.

I slowly demorphed, and my mom looked away. Morphing is irregular, and not something you want to watch on a regular basis. It can actually be quite gross, like now, when my spine elongated without any skin covering it. So Mom prefers to keep her attention on other things. When I was an Andalite again, I felt less helpless. Now I would be able to knock Bri out again, in the event of her regaining consciousness before Ms. Johnson came.

Ms. Johnson came, and very quickly too. We heard strange flutter outside, but when we opened the door, all we saw was the woman rushing inside. Once inside, she was much less hurried. She placed a small pair of handcuffs on Bri, pulled out a syringe, and held it over Bri's arm. We waited for Bri to wake up, but eventually had to drizzle water on her. Apparently being knocked out by an Andalite is a painful thing.

Blinking the water from her eyes, Bri sat up. "Zak," Ms. Johnson instructed, "put your tail-blade to her throat."

(What?)

"Do it. Now."

Bri jerked unsteadily as I brought the blade close to her neck. I was nervous, too. My tail-blade shook from nervousness, because I wasn't trained in this kind of thing. I could fight a bit, but this kind of skilled maneuver- I wasn't steady enough. And I was afraid I would accidentally kill Bri.

Bri looked around. "What's going on? Zak, why did you knock me out?"

(Bri, you are a Controller.)

"What?" She laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. "What are you talking about?"

(You tried to shoot me with a Dracon beam. And you have been acting a bit, off, ever since you became a member of the Sharing.)

"Zak, what's wrong with you? I'm not a Controller. And what's a Dracon beam?"

(Alanthi told us about the weapons Yeerks used. And when you drew a gun on me, one that isn't found on earth, I knew you were a Controller.)

"You're imagining things. I don't have a Dracon beam."

(You did,) I said, pulling it out and gratefully replacing my tail-blade with the ray gun. I would have more control over the Dracon beam than my tail-blade.

I should have had Alanthi teach me more about tail-control.

Breaking my train of thought, Ms. Johnson started to talk. "Now, Yeerk, you will tell me your name and designation."

"I'm not a Yeerk. How many times do I have to say it?"

"Then, you won't mind if I inject you with this poison." She held up the syringe filled with clear liquid. "It is a Yeerk poison. Not harmful to a human or any other creature, but lethal to a Yeerk. Once in the blood stream, it acts as a controlled Quantum Virus, killing a Yeerk within five minutes after they extract oxygen from their host's blood to breathe."

Bri's face went white. Then she sneered. "We have nothing like that at our house, Mom. I would know."

"No, you would not know. I had hidden my chemistry set far from your reach. It is not a thing for a human to use."

"You're lying."

"Why would I lie, Bri?" She said softly. "If I am lying, then it will not matter if I give you the injection." Ms. Johnson began to push the needle into Bri's arm, but didn't release the poison just yet.

"No!" Bri screamed suddenly. "I'll, I'll tell you everything. Just don't kill me!"

Cowardly Yeerk. Stupid, too.

Her mother pulled the syringe out and dabbed a piece of cotton on Bri's arm where the needle had punctured the skin. "Now you will tell me your name and designation, or I will kill you."

The Yeerk was quiet for a minute, until Ms. Johnson began to replace the needle. "No! I'm Dakra 281. I have no designation as of yet, but I am to be announced as Sub-visser 22 in three days."

(That will not happen,) I couldn't help commenting.

Dakra glared at me out of Bri's eyes. It was a strange and unfamiliar look. Bri was almost never angry with me.

But this wasn't Bri.

A cold feeling settled at the bottom of my stomach. I hadn't allowed myself to think about that earlier; there was too much to do. But now I realized that Bri really wasn't Bri anymore. Ms. Johnson had better be able to fix this.

I realized that once again, I had let my mind wander. Ms. Johnson was interrogating the Yeerk, who was revealing many things about the Yeerk invasion. There was an underground Yeerk pool complex, the leader of the invasion was a Yeerk named Visser Three who held an Andalite body, the hosts being used were Hork-Bajir and Taxxons. I had no idea what those were. Finally, we could get no more out of Dakra.

"Now, Dakra 281, you will release my daughter."

"No," Dakra whispered, face white. "You'll kill me. You'll kill me whatever I do! I shouldn't have revealed so much information!" She was almost in hysterics by now.

"We will not kill you," Ms. Johnson said. "I have a bio-stasis mechanism. You will be left in suspended animation."

Dakra shivered. "I don't trust you."

"You must trust us, or you will die for certain. If you do not release Sabrina within 30 seconds, I will inject the poison."

Fear surfaced in Bri's- no, Dakra's eyes. I could see she would consent.

"Fine," Dakra mumbled, the last word she spoke aloud. Bri's face took on a dazed look, as a ring of slime appeared inside her right ear. I watched as the Yeerk extended feelers, and then wriggled out of Bri. It fell into a zip-lock bag Ms. Johnson was holding.

Bri sagged. "Mom, Zak…" She grabbed her mother to her, sluggishly, and they embraced. Then she hugged me too, even though I was still Andalite and not the most comfortable person to hug. It was even more difficult than usual, because Ms. Johnson had not removed the handcuffs yet.

When they were off, everyone relaxed and smiled. We were relieved, even my parents, who still didn't really understand what was going on. Luckily my mom was in the kitchen when the Yeerk emerged, or she might have fainted. She's seen aliens before, and dealt with it fine, but seeing a slug writhe out of a girl's ear is something I don't think she could handle well.

Then Bri sat up, remembering something. "Mom! They're- they're going to storm our house! Dakra, she told them they could take you. You have to get Sam out of there!"

"Sweetie, everything is fine. Zak's phone call came just before some dark vans drove up outside the house. I took everything that was Kelbrid, told Sam, and flew."

"Flew?"

Ms. Johnson smiled. "Honey, I can morph. I morphed the kanjakra bird from the Kelbrid home world. It is large enough to carry a briefcase. The only trouble was staying out of sight until the Controllers were inside."

"What about Sam?" Bri asked fearfully.

"Samantha was at her ranch. I notified her via thought-speak. The Controllers will believe she is dead."

"Why?"

"Unlike Andalites, Kelbrid morphers can dispel any of their DNA at any time. Samantha will reject her human DNA pattern, which will emerge in the form of a body. A dead body, because the DNA cannot survive outside of Samantha. She will do this near a river, and they will believe it was a drowning accident. She should meet us in a few minutes." I thought that releasing DNA in the form of a body was perhaps immoral, but said nothing. We couldn't worry about that now.

Bri sighed. Then she hugged her mom again. "Oh Mom, I'm just so glad you're safe. I was afraid…"

"Shhh. Its okay, Sabrina. Everyone is alive and free." She stood up, and held out the syringe. "I think it's time I inject you both."

I was puzzled. )Why? Neither of us is a Controller, anymore. What good would it do?)

"The poison is not for one time use. It stays in your bloodstream, killing any Yeerk who infests you. All Kelbrid receive injections like this at birth. I did not believe the Yeerks would ever come to this planet, however, and did not give Sabrina the injection. Now I wish I had." After this speech, Ms. Johnson came forward and injected Bri and me. Now, according to Ms. Johnson, we could not be infested. Although there was one drawback, if you can call it a drawback- we could never morph Yeerk. The poison would kill us.

Then Ms. Johnson said, "Don't you have something to do, Zak?"

Yes, I did. As my parents went back to making lunch, and as Samantha arrived in a bizarre bird morph, Bri and I notified the Andalite home world of the invasion of earth.