I should just call myself Psycho Chick... I act that way... oh well...

Ax; Am I a War-Prince yet?

Robert; Ax, shut up or I'll pound you one!

Rachel; Yeah, what he says!

Me; Ax, soon, ok? In a few...

Ax; All right... (sniffles, then goes off as a human to find LittleMidgett) I'll just have to go eat a cinnamon bun...

LittleMidgett; Ahhh! Help! He's nuts! (then laughs hysterically as he starts to try and eat her)

Me; (rolling eyes and shaking head) where did I go wrong...

Ok, hope that gave you a bit of a laugh... well, it's time to get serious here... back to my twisted story line... and my wickedly twisted mind.

LittleMidgett; I love Green Day! My fave is 'American Idiot' (it just came out here a little while ago) I like other bands too... I wish I could hear your brothers band... he sounds funny!

Okay... here goes people...

Fifteen minutes later, we were all assembled on the bridge. The Animorphs, Ax, and of course us. Ithiell was there too, probably berating himself for being so stupid. I didn't think he was. I guess neither did Rtaia. Lowri had... during the time we were out... taken his crew to the Aerionna and fixed it in only the way he knew how, then left to get help... perhaps from the Runchak. I didn't know. Fifteen minutes wasn't enough time to get all the info.

Amanda and Cassie were overjoyed that we were both all right... and Robert just kind of gave me a curt nod. But the rest were serious. They knew something we didn't. And Jake and I... passed our 'how embarrassing' phase, wanted to know what.

"We'll show you" Ithiell said and lead us down the corridor...

(It is important that you understand we are merely...)

"Aximili, be quiet" Rtaia said gently. Surprisingly, Ax fell silent. Not even a surprised look. Weird.

We reached the lab about ten minutes later (it was a very big ship) and Ithiell just kind of stood in front of it, looking at both of us. Everyone else was behind us.

"What you will see may shock you, but it was either that or let them stay in you until they..."

"Until they basically ate you from the inside out" Robert supplied.

"Thanks Robert. You really know how to make a girl feel better" I muttered, watching as Ithiell shrugged at me, smiling sadly, then turned back to the door and pressed some buttons, then the door slid open and Ithiell stepped inside. Jake and I shared a look, before we followed him. The rest were right behind us.

He led us to three large glass cylinders. Two were occupied, and what they carried just made the both of us gasp.

It was like a mini-tar creature in both cylinders. About a foot and a half tall, two feet wide... only, they were frozen inside. The glass was only slightly frosty.

"It was the only way we could stop them from growing. After they were out of you... they doubled their size... so we froze them in water"

"But... why didn't you kill them? Why didn't you..." Amanda put a hand on my arm, and I fell silent.

"Well, we wanted to find out more about these things... if they're truly dangerous... we've run several scans on them... and well...."

"I believe what my brother means to say" Rtaia began "Is that their cell structure is not exactly what humans call 'DNA'. Rather it is more like the cellular structure in your earth plants. It can grow, and become a hybrid if necessary"

"But I think we know why that thing did this" Ithiell took over "Since I believe its civilization is fading... it injected you with the seeds, that feed off fluid and tissue..."

"They're cannibals" Robert put in "They think these things feed off each other... and when they ran out of food..."

"They turned to science. They tried to find a way to save their species. At least, the one you met did. That's why it... decided to take you. And when it found good enough specimens..."

"Not good enough specimens" I muttered.

"It injected you with these things. It thought that even if you got away... it had done its job..."

"But... what about our DNA?"

"Well, we don't know why that happened, but... I'm guessing... it wanted to see if your DNA could save them. Maybe create a hybrid of us and them" Ithiell said, sounding like he was back to his old self. I liked it like that. I guessed Rtaia had lived up to her name after all.

"But... what are we going to do with them now? We can't exactly let them go. If we do.... it's goodbye ship... and goodbye us" I said.

"We can't kill them" Was Cassie's response.

"Why not?" Rachel shot back "They could've killed Jake and Jade!"

"But... they're out..."

"Cassie, they're dangerous. Either way... we let them go... and they either kill us all, or... or some other innocent species" Robert put in.

"For once Cassie, I agree with them" Amanda said.

"What?! But you can't..."

"Okay, okay. Calm down people. We'll figure out what to do with them... a little later. Right now... I want to know if the Canask are willing to trade with us"

"The who?" Jake asked. Ithiell shook his head.

"We'll explain on the way" he said, and we left behind those two things. Little did we know that was just the first of our mistakes.

-------------------------------------x-----------------------------------------------

The Canask were a race located in this far end of space. Peaceful... curious... just like the Runchak in some ways, only... not to such an extent. Ax, Rtaia and Lowri met them a few months back. Lowri actually went to go ask their permission if we could stay there for a little while. They accepted, happily... they would help repair our ship... give us gracious amounts of food and water... even house us for a few days. All we needed to do was tell them stories. True and made up, they didn't care.

For the first time in a long while... we set food on solid ground. It was on purple grass... and I hoped it wasn't toxic or anything as I took off my shoes just to feel it between my feet. Some of the others did the same... Tobias... Marco and Amanda... even Robert. Jake and Cassie were kind of distant. Rachel just wanted a mall. In some ways I did too.

"Wow, this feels... good" Tobias said, looking at me. I smiled at him.

"Yeah. Cool huh? I think I almost forgot what it felt like"

"Well, you just take it easy, all right? Those stitches probably can't take a lot of jolting" Amanda warned as we stood there, watching as Ax, Lowri, Rtaia and Ithiell talked to them in a weird language. Lowri and Ax were kind of translating for Ithiell, I guess.

"Yes mother" I laughed, tossing one of my shoes at her. It missed on purpose... but she dodged and laughed at me anyway.

"We can't kill them" we heard Cassie say to Jake from a little further off.

"Look, can we not? Just for now" Jake replied.

I saw Marco turn, and was about to give Cassie a what-for, but I opened my mouth to stop him... only to find Robert had beaten me to it.

"Shut up runt. She's allowed to have her opinion too" He said to Marco, and Marco close his mouth, then turned back to look at us. I gave him a warning look. He backed off.

"Guys?" Ithiell came back to us, and he was smiling.

"They say it's fine... in fact, we're to be given a special dinner in our honour. How cool is that?"

"Very cool" Rachel said, smiling.

So, that night (because it actually became night here) we went out and gawked at the stars for a little while, then went to what looked like a bonfire kind of party. Canask... looking strangely like a mix between the stereotypical alien and a totem pole... were happy. Most of our crews came (Ax's crew was more reluctant) and so did Kayleese and Ovatt. I was glad to see they were all right. They seemed a little happier as the Canask asked them very simple questions, and Ax made sure they didn't ask too many questions. He was taking care of his people. I liked that.

We ate some strange but delicious food, drank something that had a simular effect as whine... and it was all just happy and wonderful. Even Cassie seemed to be jolted out of her sour mood. We all danced as well, and Marco even suggested 'dirty dancing'. I pushed him away, and right into the 'buffet table'(a big long piece of wood with all the food and stuff on it) where he got soaked by the 'whine glass'. He decided to go get changed, and I decided to go with him, feeling a little guilty.

But... then something felt wrong as we neared the Inaad. Someone was lying facedown at the bottom of the stairs. We ran and picked her up. It was Kumatt, a science officer that had been in the lab when we were looking at the tar-creatures. She was still alive... but barely.

"What happened?" I asked, kneeling down as Marco held her in a sitting position.

"Tried to... had to get to warn... got out..." she passed out then, and Marco and I looked at one another.

"This doesn't feel good" I said, and he nodded in agreement. Marco stripped to his morphing outfit and became a gorilla, bounding up the stairs as I followed. I wasn't allowed to shape-shift because of the stiches.

We went in... and it all looked pretty normal. We walked to the empty bridge, and nothing seemed wrong. But it was Ithiell had left an Andalite male called Arbron up here. He wasn't here.

(The lab) Marco said, bounding off. I ran after him. When we got there... it wasn't looking good. Two Chanaibens were dead... their blood spilled out into the corridor. And then...

"Oh my god" I gasped as I looked up at the two cylinders. The two broken, empty cylinders.

(They escaped) Marco said.

And we were about to learn just how dangerous they really were.