Jade

Great. We were doomed. I guess I knew that from the beginning. I just… I didn't want to believe it, you know? Like… I wanted to believe we were like a Rambo squadron. You know, like… go in, guns blazing, and somehow take out a gazillion guys and still survive. But that was only in movies. This was real.

Asen still had his gun, and he told us at just the right setting he should be able to seal the doors up again. So, Rachel, Robert, Amanda and I, as elephants, collected each piece of door and put it back in place. One didn't seem to fit anymore, but he said he could wield it anyway. Ax began to help, and he instructed Jake on how to do the same thing too. Soon, they were all working hard. Ithiell however… well, he was still holding Istan. Or… Inaad. She was screaming blue murder.

"You'll pay for this! You'll die, and when you do I'll feed you to my faithful followers!"

"No, you wont" Ithiell said calmly, sitting on her, pinning her arms and holding her tail and legs with his own tail.

"Ithiell! Unimm! Quena! Selemaar! Selamaan!" Inaad broke through, startling us all. She was still fighting! Ithiell was right!

"Unami, I love you ceqin malanarp, you will be free by the time this is over. Fight harder… drive her out… you can do it!"

"Ha HA!! She will loose!"

"I'll never give in! Unimm is with me! He will help free me!"

"You will never be free you little…"

"Free or die!"

"You have no choice!"

It was like seeing (well, hearing since I was helping hold the door) split personalities. One good, one evil. It was… creepy.

(I have never seen a host resist their Yeerk for so long! Indeed Inaad is one to be honoured for her bravery) Ax said, his stalk eyes facing back towards them. Soon, both doors were in place. Although, the left door was slightly scrunched up and didn't fit by about five or six inches on the top. Still, it would help us hold them off for long enough. Long enough for what? I couldn't be sure.

"Hey, something's just occurred to me" Rachel said when we were all human again.

"What?" I asked.

"Maybe the reason why Inaad can break through so easily… maybe she's at the end of her feeding cycle"

"Doubt it" Ithiell said, and under him Istan laughed madly.

"You little fools! Don't you know?! This is my ship!! I can feed whenever I wish!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!"

"Great. Well, that helps" Robert muttered.

"No. I believe… I believe she may still be able to get rid of the foul creature from her body" Ithiell said, the distaste in his voice notable.

"I think… I think I know what you're getting at" Amanda said excitedly, and beside her Jake and Ax seemed to agree. I had no idea what they meant.

"Shift" Robert said, and it all came to me like someone had flicked a light switch on in my head.

"Ha! What good that will…" Istan hesitated, and I think she was reading Inaad's mind. And she seemed afraid.

"Yes Yeerk. I see you understand what I am talking about" Ithiell smiled now, knowing, and Istan let out what sounded like a hissing sound.

"She will never take control for long enough! NEVER!!"

"Watch me!" Inaad broke through again. And then, she began to shift.

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

Inaad

My name is Inaad of the Nibrit clan. And for nearly ten years I had been a slave of the foul creature that called herself Istan. I had watched her do unspeakable things to races that were peaceful. I'd watched as she mocked the Geer, innocent pawns in the Yeerk war. Their screams would never leave my mind. Never.

What was worse, was that I could not help them. Could not lift a finger, could not even pray for them, and send their spirits to a better place.

But now, I was being asked to do the almost impossible. Taking control of my speech centres was one thing. Completing a full shift was another. Yet… even as I held back this impossible tidal wave in my own head, I felt strength flowing from my brother. He believed in me. So, I fought Istan harder than I'd ever fought before. And I began to shift. In my head, Istan was desperately trying to regain control. But I kept fighting her.

(How does it feel Yeerk? To not be able to save yourself?) I asked her in my mind.

(You'll regret this Inaad! I will make you…) She didn't get to finish, because I was shifting faster now, with Ithiell letting go of me at just the right time. My bones dissolved, and my head and eyes caved in, making me blind. She screamed, and I knew she was trying to escape from being crushed. But I had her now, and if she could not take control…

Then… a wave of resistance! She fought to return my body to its original form. I fought back.

"Come on Inaad. You can do it!" Ithiell's voice cried, and I held back that overwhelming resistance, fighting for him. From far off, I heard his friends call out simular things. It made me realise I was not as alone as I once thought.

My tail collapsed in on myself, and I felt myself begin to shift faster. All my senses shut down, but not before I got rid of the Yeerk from my own head. Ejected her out of my shifting form. Then, I was purely, completely liquid. I couldn't see or feel anything. But… I knew, I was free. So I began to shift back, knowing if I was Chanaiben right then I would have cried from pure joy. I was free!

As my shoulder formed, I felt something slimy start to crawl up it. But then that thing was yanked away. And as I grew eyes and my face again, I saw the brown-haired boy holding the Yeerk Istan with distaste. He was holding it out in front of him, by two fingers, like it was a disease. To me, it was more than just that.

Finally I was whole again, and Ithiell took my hands and helped me up of the floor. I was me again! I was free! I put my arms…my arms!... around my brothers and hugged him for the first time in ten years. He hugged me back, and I think at that time we were both crying.

"Inaad, you did it" he whispered in my ear, squeezing me even tighter.

"Thankyou, brother. I… I love you so much…" I cried a little more, not wanting this feeling to go away. I had control of my own body again! And what made it all better, was that my brother was with me. My twin. My… my other half. The only thing in this world that mattered to me any more.

"Uhh, what do you want me to do about this?" For a second I thought the voice wasn't real, but when I pulled away from Ithiell I saw the brown-haired boy holding up the Yeerk. In seconds, the blond-haired girl named Amanda came and took it from him, holding it out to me. But the freedom… the joy of being able to move again… it almost made me forget about it. But…

"I think you know what to do Inaad. Here" I took it from her, holding the squirming mass of slime in my hands. I dropped it on the floor… and stepped on it. I didn't take pleasure in this killing… just satisfaction that it would never take a host or destroy more lives again.

Sadly, at that moment, Istan's former followers decided to come…

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

Ithiell

BAAAMMMMM!!! The door rocked from the pure force I knew the Bendis were delivering. In seconds they'd be through.

"Dammit! What now?!" Jake cried as another hit nearly took the second door off its hinges. Or… its welded frame.

"Morph?" Rachel wondered. Inaad stepped forward, joy flickering across her face before she turned deadly serious.

"Yes. If you can. Although…" She read my mind, since it was now almost completely open to her "… you may not be able to morph things that can fight. Robert, Jade, Asen, Amanda and Ithiell will be able to shift to Bendis… one of these from the bridge… and the three of you… the three morphers… must become something small and stay out of sight"

"What the… how do you know…" I cut Robert off.

"Our link is now clean. There is hardly any more secrets I wish to keep from her now"

"Nor I from my brother" Inaad added.

"All right. But… if it gets ugly…" Rachel never got to finish, because there was another slamming at the door, and a hunter robot… which seemed to be just small enough to fit through the break in the door… came through.

"Get your weapons!" I yelled, even as I knew what Inaad was planning. Jake grabbed his, and dove behind a chair as the hunter robot took a shot at him. It missed… but it was close.

"Master! Are you all right!"

"Hold your positions! We'll take care of this" Inaad's voice came out strong, just like Istan had made it. Immediately, the banging at the door stopped. But the robot was still advancing, still firing at each of us. In seconds, it was aimed at me…

"NO!!" Before I could blink, there was a shot, and an instant later Asen fell in front of me. He had taken a shot for me! He fell, a gaping hole where his stomach was. I knelt beside him, knowing there was nothing I could do for him now. He looked up at me, smiled… then died. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ax's tail arch upwards, splitting the hunter robot into two separate halves.

"Asen!" Rachel cried, and tears spilled down her cheeks. For a moment I didn't understand. Then I realised… Asen was not just a Chanaiben to her. Neither was he to me. I had become to know and trust Asen like a brother. So I cried for him, and muttered those few words in our language that would take his soul to the giflitt lands.

I noticed Jake had gone to his cousin, and she cried on his shoulder. Jade, Amanda and Robert all looked in shock. Inaad however…

"I am… I am sorry for your loss. But we must act quickly. The Bendis will not stand at attention for much longer" She said, and I knew she was right.

"Ok" Jake whispered, then said something to Rachel. She nodded, then they both began to shrink. Ax wasn't far behind them. I stepped over Asen's lifeless body to go look down at a Bendis. I remembered the shape and size of it, and began to grow. Fur sprouted from my skin, and my feet were gone, replaced by stumps. My nose retracted back into my face, my eyes grew smaller and I lost both sets of my eyelids. My knees reversed direction, and my arms and legs grew big and thick. Now, I was full Bendis. I saw the others completing their own shifts. Inaad was watching us, and nodded. She then turned back to the door. I knew what she was going to do and say, and warned the others. I felt something land on my eye, and in seconds it was gone as I relayed the message to Jake, Rachel and Ax. With my weak Bendis eyes I saw three flies attach themselves to the ceiling.

"Break down the door!" Inaad yelled, and in seconds we were exposed.

"Master! Was there not…"

"Yes, but we incinerated them! Ha HA!!" Inaad laughed, and the Bendis joined in. We did too, and again I had an image of giant earth dogs barking.

"Master, what do you wish us to do now?" One of them asked, stepping forward.

"Take twenty of your troop to the fighter bays. I believe that is where our sensors last picked up the signals of those Chanaiben mongrels. Now go!" In seconds, half of them were out the door, and the others were all standing at attention.

"Master?"

"Stay there, at attention! Do not move, turn, or even breathe until I tell you to do so" Inaad said, sitting down at her chair, and then instructed the four of us to do the same.

"Master, what about the three ships?"

"They've pulled off for now. Look! They're just sitting there like cowards! Hahahaha!"

I felt her intentions, and I relayed her message to the others. Moments later, there were three very big, and very angry, earth animals behind the true Bendis. And, of course, there was us.