A/N:  Battle morphs!  Yay!  What fun!

Disclaimer:  K.A. Applegate owns the Animorphs and I own Sarah, Bade, Hope, Josh, and Alexandria.

~~Sarah~~

Yes, I was the brilliant one who decided to point out that our situation was hopeless the way we were causing Hope to decide to have us get battle morphs.

I find there is always a way in which it was your fault.

We were into regular speech again, thankfully.  I don't really like thought-speech, it's kind of creepy.  The street was empty so we didn't have to be careful of what we said.

"Okay, everyone should decide on their battle morphs now so we don't waste any time," Hope said.

"Why?" Alexandria asked.  She was out of morph and we had her surrounded.  We decided to take turns resting out of morph, all except for Hope who was just too tall.

"Because they think we're dead and we have to acquire them out of morph." I answered.

"Oh.  Okay, I want a lioness morph." Alexandria replied.

"Hmmmm…how about an elephant morph for me?" Bade said.

"I want to be a hyena," Josh told us.

"Leopard or bear for me," Hope said.

"Well, Sarah, what do you want?" Josh asked me.

"What do I want to be?  Well, I'd like to be something where I'd actually survive long enough after acquiring it to try the morph it," I said.  That wasn't a joke by the way.

"You have to pick something.  We can't waste any time," Hope told me just to make this situation seem more desperate.

"If you don't shut up I'm going to make this group Hope-less." I told her.

She hit me just hard enough to not make it a playful punch.  It stung like heck. "If I was given a nickel every time I've heard that joke, our headquarters would be a Beverly Hills mansion."

"Fine.  Um, how about gorillas?  They can't hurt me." I said hoping it was true.

They all started laughing.  I don't know why.  I hope it was from a joke that didn't include me or gorillas.

~~Josh~~

I admit it, I'm a sucker for animals.  Especially dogs.  I love dogs.  That's why I wanted a hyena morph.  They are dog-like.

We made it to the zoo without any problems.  I even I got a few moments rest out of morph.

I looked to Hope.  She looked exhausted.  I decided to ask her something that has been bothering me ever since we left the movie theater.

"Hope, how are we supposed to do this?  How do we get in?" I asked.

She rubbed her temples, "Let's go to the park and plan this."

So we walked across the street and sat down under a tree in a very dark spot.  I suddenly had images of a mad man like the one last night when I was just Josh and not Mike too.

We all demorphed since there was no point in wasting energy.  "Okay, I have a plan.  Josh morph halfway and come with me.  The rest of you, morph and get ready to run inside.

We did as we were told.  Hope's face changed and her hair changed, but mostly she stayed the same.  I was Hispanic with my height and black hair.  Hope and I left the others and walked across the street.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You'll see, just get ready to run and hide." She answered me.

She reached down and picked up a rock.  Then, before I could do anything, she broke the window of the office.  She grabbed a couple more rocks.

"Hey!  What the heck-" the security guard said.  We both ran at this.

"Don't split up." She panted.

The security guard was running after us.  We lost him at a corner.

Dive! Hope screamed at me.

We got into some bushes.  In the very dim light, I saw Hope finish morphing.  I did the same.

The security guy passed us.  We got out of the bushes and ran to the zoo.

We got in there without a problem.  The guy had left the gate open.

Pssst!  We're in the bathroom. Sarah said to us.

That's great.  But we have to do one thing first. Hope told her.

What do we have to do? I asked her.

Smash the security cameras.

We hid in the shadows trying to avoid anything to do with security.  Finally we got to the security office which still had the door open.  Hope took her rocks and threw them at the TVs and smashed the VCR after taking the video.  Then we ran to the bathroom to hide.

Then we demorphed and we were ready to acquire our battle morphs.

~~Bade~~

I was actually shocked that Hope's plan worked.  And now we were ready to acquire some fire power.

At least, I was.

"Okay, here's the elephant exhibit.  You said you wanted to be an elephant Bade." Josh informed us.  Now I understood why she picked him for the last mission.  He knew this place the best so he would be able to find the security office easily.

"Yeah, I did," I said as I walked through the door.

Then I began to have doubts.

Gee, I never realized elephants were so big.  I mean, I knew they were big.  I just didn't know that they were that big.

"Come on Bade.  We don't have much time.  We've got to get moving." Hope yelled.

Hope gave me courage.  Not much, but enough.  I reached a trembling hand toward the biggest elephant.  My hand was really trembling.  If you put a bottle of chocolate milk on me it would have been shaken in a second.

I grabbed the trunk of a particularly big elephant and hoped it wouldn't decide to lift its trunk over its head.  I started the acquiring it.

The very large beast grew quiet.  I felt the DNA flow into me.

Then I ran.

"Let's get out of here!" I said as I ran to the door.

Bade, you've got to morph first! Alexandria cried.

I morphed as I ran.  Why was the door so far away?!  Didn't these guys have any sense!

I was fully morphed when I came out.

Sarah started laughing, "I can't believe that you were scared of a sleeping elephant!"

I smiled, "Why don't we get you a gorilla morph next?"

She stopped laughing.

~~Sarah~~

Let me tell you something.  Gorillas have muscles.  Ones that could crush your head with ease.

See why I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about getting my gorilla morph?

"Here we go." Hope said as she opened the door.

I took a step inside and looked at the gorilla.  Or more rather, the huge muscles of the gorilla.

"Don't let folks tell you that big people can't wear plaid," I said to the gorilla and turned around.

"Go on Sarah," Bade coached.  I think he was getting sadistic pleasure from this.

I walked up to the gorilla.  "You wouldn't crush me if you didn't like me, would you?" I said to it.

It stared at me, "I was afraid of that." I said.

I reached my hand.  I didn't realize it was possible to shake more than Bade he saw the elephant.  I touched it and its eyes drooped.

"Thanks for not killing me," I said as I finished.  I morphed to Samantha and ran.

"Not so easy, is it?" Bade teased.

~~Josh~~

I didn't know why Bade and Sarah were so scared to acquire their animals until I came face to face with mine.  Their animals were quiet and gentle.

Mine was a very angry hyena.

A very angry hyena.

I gave it a worried smile and grabbed its ear.

"Go Josh go!" cheered Alexandria.

Easy for them to say.  If the hyena decided to attack them, they could just close the door and let it eat me.

The hyena grew still.  Thank goodness.

I turned and ran away before it had time to react.

I slammed the door as it leaped at me.

A very angry hyena.

I morphed and led the way.

Sorry, but I just had a near-death experience, so aren't I allowed to be annoyed, "Go Alexandria go!" I said to her as we reached the lion exhibit.

~~Alexandria~~

Lions are cool.  My uncle's battle morph was a lion.

So naturally, I decided to go with a lioness.  They're the ones who do all the hunting anyway.

I don't like lions as much anymore.  That's a side effect of staring a very annoyed and hungry lion in the face. 

I wonder if I'm big enough to qualify as lunch.

I reached my hand and grabbed the closest lioness's tail.  It stared at me and licked its lips.

Not a good sign.

I felt the DNA flow into me.  But the lioness wasn't getting sleepy.

It was getting angry.

"Help." I said worriedly.

I started to back away.

The lioness followed.

Holy crap!

"Alexandria, you need to get out of there now," Josh said to me.

"Thank you for pointing that out to me Josh.  That would have never occurred to me." I said back.

"You're nearly there.  Just a little bit further." Sarah informed.

Why was that when it decided to pounce?

It leaped at me.  I turned and ran.

I stumbled through the doorway.  It grabbed my leg.

"Oh my god!" I screamed.  The pain, it was horrible!

The next thing I saw was a fist swinging.  Hope punched the lioness.  Yes, she punched a lion.  It threw it off enough so that they could slam the door.

I started to cry.  There was barely anything left of my leg.

I found Josh trying to comfort me, "It's okay.  Just morph and it will all be okay."

I nodded and morphed.  When I finished morphing, I looked at Josh and smiled, "Let's never do that again."

~~Hope~~

I was last in line to get my battle morph.  There wasn't any time to get two.  Leopard was the closest.

"We need to get home," I said.

"You know…" Josh started.

"What?"

"We could get bird morphs on our way out."

I snapped into my leader mode, "Okay, we've got no choice.  But let's do it quick.  Bade, stay with me.  Everyone else, get an owl and bird of prey morph and get out of here."

We split up.  I needed someone that knew this place, even if it was just vaguely, with me.  I headed to the Leopard cage.

I opened the door and stepped in.  Strangely enough, I wasn't scared.  I felt calm.  I touched a leopard.

I brushed its beautiful yellow coat with its light brown spots.  Its DNA became a part of me.

I wanted to morph right then, just to see what it feels like to be a big cat.  I wanted to have the quick reflexes and beautiful fur.  Then I realized I wanted to be an Animorph.  That I did not regret having the power to morph.

"We have to go," Bade said.

I morphed to Julia and we headed to the birds.  We needed to go home before they suspected anything.

~~Sarah~~

We left Bade and Hope, or the lovebirds, alone.  Alexandria, Josh, and I went to see the birds.

"Okay, grab a bird morph and go.  Let's all just go for the Great Horned Owl." Alexandria ordered.  After what happened with the lioness, I decided to listen to her.

Josh opened the cage and we quickly acquired the bird.  It took several chunks out of all of us.

"Okay, bird of prey morphs," I said with excitement.  There is supposed to be nothing like being a bird.

We all went our separate ways.  I looked around; I wasn't really sure what I wanted.  Then I saw my dream bird: A Gyrfalcon.

I touched the beautiful bird.  After I finished acquiring it, it jumped on my arm.

"Hey!  You like me don't you." I said to it.

The gash it left on my arm was answer enough.

Suddenly, we heard a voice in the darkness, "Hey!  Get out of here!"  Then there was a brief pause before a, "Animorphs!"

~~Bade~~

We were walking to the bird exhibit.

"Bade," Hope said.

"What is it, Hope?" I asked.

"I'm really sorry for getting all of you guys into this."

"It's not your fault."

"But it is.  If I hadn't just worn that stupid necklace to the party, we'd all be normal."

"It was fate Hope," I told her and I believed every word of it.

"No Bade, it was my fate.  It wasn't yours or Sarah's or Alexandria's or even Josh's.  It was supposed to be mine alone, but I dragged you into this."

I grabbed her hand, "It doesn't matter whose fate it was.  We're all in this now, whether we like it or not."

We looked at each other.  Hope demorphed so I saw her for what she really was.  I nearly kissed her, and I would have if right then we hadn't heard a person yell, "Animorphs!"

A/N:  Boy, they never get a break, do they?  Amazing what my mind cooks up.  Anyways, please review.