A/N ~ Sorry, sorry, sorry this took so long. I really thought it would be over sooner. The good news is, it's really long. I had no idea this chapter was going to be so long. Whew! Well, enjoy. We're back to Tobias' POV. J
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really. Nothing. The song belongs to Alan Menken and Jack Feldman. There are large sections of dialogue that have been copied from the books, and they are not mine. They belong to K.A. who we worship. Please don't sue me.
This was it. This battle could be the end of the war. If all went as planned, we would stop the Yeerk invasion for good. It could also be the end of everything. If we lost – I didn't want to think about what would happen if we lost. Needless to say, the outcome of this battle was extremely important. There was more than a little tension involved.
Especially when you stopped to consider that we were walking right into the enemy's trap. Toby and twelve of the other free Hork-Bajir were leading me to the Pool Ship. To Visser One. The others were already there. I tried not to worry too much about them, and what would happen if something went wrong. If the Yeerks didn't believe Toby's story. If they suspected…
I shook away the uncertainties, the "ifs." I had to concentrate on playing my part. I was a Taxxon surrounded by Hork-Bajir who were supposed to be turning me in to the Visser. I was anxious for this part to be over so I could get out of the Taxxon body. It's definitely among the worst morphs I've ever had to do. Not only are Taxxons just plain disgusting, but they basically have only one focus. Hunger. There was no escaping it. Ever. It was no wonder the rebel Taxxons wanted different bodies. Almost anything would be better than living with this hunger.
My heart started to beat faster. We were approaching the Pool Ship.
Open the gates and seize the day.
Don't be afraid and don't delay.
A variety of Human Controllers and Hork-Bajir Controllers stopped us and Toby stepped forward to explain. "We have a Taxxon prisoner," she told the guards. "It is urgent. The Visser will want to be told immediately."
The guards looked nervously at each other. Disturbing Visser One was not a job any of them particularly wanted. The bearer of bad news wouldn't be looked upon kindly. One Human Controller turned back to us. "The Visser is in the middle of very important business. I'm sure if there is a problem with the Taxxon, it can be solved simply without bothering the Visser."
Toby narrowed her eyes menacingly. "This Taxxon may be treacherous. There is word of a Taxxon alliance with the Animorphs. What do you think the Visser will do if he finds out you decided not to tell him of this problem when you had the chance."
The guard paled. He turned quickly and pointed at a woman near the back of the group. "You. Go." She gulped, looking unsure. She was probably new to the job.
"Y-yes, sir," she said, gathering her dignity. She straightened and nodded to Toby. "Follow me." Our group shuffled past the guards and entered the Pool Ship. We were in. The first part of the plan was a success. That should have lifted my spirits. It didn't.
Nothing can break us;
No one can make us
Give our rights away.
Arise and seize the day.
The guard told us to wait while she explained to the Visser. I hoped the others had made it this far according to the plan. And Rachel… Rachel would be fine. Of course she would. She was Rachel. The Rachel who'd punched a hole in a dinosaur's stomach after being swallowed. And she had Elfangor to help her. I pushed away my doubt. The guard returned to take us into the room. Time to focus on the task at hand.
We moved across the room to Visser One and Tom stood and Cassie lay, bound and bleeding on the floor. My heart leapt. It's not her, I reassured myself. Just a hologram. We waited while Tom explained to the Visser about the Taxxon rebellion. I confirmed the truth of it with some difficulty due to the unfortunate Taxxon mouth and tongue. Tom went on to suggest that he take control of the Blade ship and destroy the Taxxons. Everyone held their breath while Visser One contemplated about the proposal.
I don't like so much good luck, he said at last, suspiciously. I've fought to seize this planet for years. For years! And suddenly now everything falls into my hands? I don't trust good luck. For all I know, this Animorph, this Cassie creature, has managed to carry her fellow bandits in with her. It was the expected reaction.
"But, Visser, the Gleet BioFilter…" Tom said.
They've beaten the filter before, the Visser roared. No! No! There's something wrong here, something very wrong…. Look how she stands there, beaten, whipped, cowed. No, it's too easy. And this Taxxon, how can I be sure he, too, isn't one of them? They can take any shape. How can I be sure? My heart was pounding. I knew this was all part of the plan, but it was still nerve-racking to hear the Visser hit on the truth like that.
Tom answered as we'd expected he would. "Very simply. Order the Taxxon to eat the Animorph girl. If the Taxxon is an Animorph in morph, he will refuse. If not, then the girl – and any hidden morphs concealed on her person – will be consumed. Thus, we will be sure of both."
The Visser liked the plan. He ordered me to eat Cassie and prove that I was not an Animorph, which, of course, I was. I obeyed, letting some part of the Taxxon mind take over as I slammed myself onto the hologram and force field that Erek was creating.
Now is the time to seize the day.
(Now is the time to seize the day)
Send out the call and join the fray.
(Send out the call and join the fray.)
I ignored "Cassie's" screams and continued pretending to devour her, piece by piece. When, to all appearances, there was nothing left of her, I rose, and faced the Visser. He and Tom bought the illusion completely. They believed they were rid of at least one Animorph.
You did good, Erek, Jake said. My insides squirmed to think of how we'd blackmailed the android into helping us. It was a dirty, rotten thing to do, but I knew it was a choice Jake had had to make and he probably felt a lot worse than I did about it. It was just one more addition to the long list of things he'd be blaming himself for when it was all over.
Visser One happily turned the Blade Ship over to Tom to stop the Taxxon rebels. He thought he'd destroyed the Animorphs and would have no trouble gaining control. But he was wrong. He had Rachel and Elfangor to deal with. My throat constricted. Two of the most important people in the world to me where going into extreme danger and I could do nothing for them. Breathe, I told myself. Breathe. It would work out. It would. I had to believe that everything would be right in the end.
Wrongs will be righted,
If we're united.
Let us seize the day.
Tobias, you okay? Jake asked.
I gathered my thoughts. I think I chipped a couple of Taxxon teeth munching on Erek's force fields, but yeah, I'm good. But I didn't feel good. I felt like I being sick. Marco, Cassie, and Ax, in fly morph, moved from Erek's body to mine as the Toby and her people led me away. Tom left the bridge in the other direction, toward the Blade Ship.
Good luck, Dad, I called as we parted.
The same to you, Tobias, he answered. Don't worry. I won't let these foul Yeerks kill her.
If I'd been human, I would have cried. Don't you get yourself killed either.
I'll try not to, for your sake, he promised, but don't feel bad if I don't survive this fight. After all, I was supposed to have died three years ago. His thought-speak voice faded. Even though I was surrounded by my friends, I felt more alone than I had in a long time. We filed out of the room and headed for the engineering room.
Friends of the friendless seize the day.
(Friends of the friendless seize the day.)
Raise up the torch and light the way.
(Raise up the torch and light the way.)
Toby and the other Hork-Bajir separated from us and went in the other direction – to the control room. As soon as it was safe, we all demorphed. I was more than happy to be out of the Taxxon morph. With luck, it was the last time I'd ever have to use it. Once they were human, the others quickly morphed again. Battle morphs this time. We hurried down endless hallways praying that we wouldn't meet any opposition.
It took far longer than we'd anticipated to get to the engineering room. When we finally found it, we stood for a moment at the door gathering our strength. The door will be locked, Ax commented.
Allow me, Marco answered, and we all stood back. He lifted his giant gorilla fist and slammed it into the edge of the door, making a good sized hole. We could hear shouts from within. Once more. Marco threw himself at the metal door, twisting it back, and basically annihilating it. Half a dozen Hork-Bajir were waiting on the other side.
"Tseeeeerr!" I swooped down on one, raking his face with my talons.
"Arrggghh!" He cried, clutching his head.
To bad Rachel's not here to join in the fun, Marco commented, as he swung his fist, punching a Hork-Bajir in the stomach. If only, I thought.
FWAPP! Ax's tail blade whizzed through the air as the battle raged. I threw myself into the fight, trying not to think about where Rachel was.
Proud and defiant,
We'll slay the giant.
Let us seize the day.
Bruised and bleeding, we finally had control of the room. We could only hope we weren't too late. Erek and Ax got right to work at the computer. Cassie and Marco demorphed, I morphed and demorphed again. Marco stayed behind to help Erek and Ax, while Cassie and I left the room to find a hiding place. There was a small door in the wall which led to a room that looked just big enough.
We hurried back to the engineering room. Marco had morphed one of the Hork-Bajir, and Ax and Erek were desperately trying to get control of the ships weapons. Marco was talking to Jake using thought-speak. He asked Ax and Erek how long it would take.
Approximately three of your minutes, Ax answered.
Marco relayed this to Jake and then turned to Ax. "You know Ax," he started, "they really are your minutes, too. You've been here long enough; I think you can start using the same minutes now." Ax ignored this and continued with what he was doing.
A Hork-Bajir from the bridge was trying to contact us. Apparently they'd noticed that injuries had been inflicted on the Hork-Bajir stationed here. Marco informed him that everything was fine. It was just a disciplinary matter. He accepted that and left us alone.
"Haven't you got it yet?!" Marco cried tensely.
Almost, Ax muttered. Almost… Then, Got it!
"Yes! Okay boys and girls, let's get out of here. Erek, you gonna be okay?" Erek nodded. "Alright, let's go." We hurried out of the room and down the hall to the room Cassie and I had found.
Distantly, we heard Jake's thought-speak voice. Marco! Cassie! We're on our way down there. Visser One and a whole bunch of his people. A few minutes later, we heard a lot of footsteps moving past us to the engineering room. Jake called out again, much closer, Hey, guys, they're going to fire blind. They'll saturate the room with Dracon beams on medium setting, kill everything. Are you ready?
Yep, Marco answered. We're good. He started demorphing. We heard Visser One ordering his troops to open the doors and fire. Ax opened the door to our room to let Jake in. He quickly demorped.
"Well, Jake," said Marco. "Imagine meeting you here." Jake told us that pretty much all of James's people had been killed, as well as a number of soldiers.
Cassie grabbed his arm, a concerned look in her eyes. "Jake, was Rachel down there with them?" Here we go, I thought.
"No," Jake answered.
"Then where is she? Why isn't she with us? Why won't you tell me?"
Jake sighed. "She's with Tom," he said quietly, not looking at any of us.
There was a pause as the information sunk in. "Oh, Jake…" Cassie cried. I said nothing. What could I say? I'd already known. I was trying very hard not to hate Jake for sending her.
"I can't let him get away," Jake explained, as if that were an excuse. "Tom's Yeerk… A Blade ship, probably the morphing cube? You were right, Cassie, I can't let that happen."
"Had to be," Marco agreed, but he couldn't conceal the angry look on his face. He wasn't mad at Jake, just at the fact of what had been necessary.
Cassie looked like she was going to cry. She'll be okay, I tried to reassure myself. They'll be okay. But I couldn't get rid of the gnawing feeling in the pit of stomach.
Neighbor to neighbor,
Father to son.
One for all, and all for one.
Erek had disabled the weapons systems. They were only useful for one or two shots, but we couldn't access them. The Yeerks wouldn't be able to control the ship's flight easily, so most likely, they would take it into orbit.
"Our blackmail only goes so far," Marco said. "Erek's down to core programming, no discretion: He cannot enable a major weapon's system. Flat cannot. We'll be sitting ducks if Tom turns the Blade ship against us, and we all know that's his plan."
Jake blew up, suddenly. "It's not Tom! It's not Tom, don't call him that. It's the Yeerk in his head. It's the Yeerk, not my brother!" Nobody responded. The war was tearing all of us up, and Jake was no exception.
He calmed down. "One chance and one chance only. You said it, Ax: one or two quick shots, if we had access to weapons. One or two shots, maybe we could disable the Blade ship."
"We don't have access to weapons," Marco said, repeating what had already been determined.
Jake nodded. "Yeah. But Visser One does."
Marco frowned. "Use Visser One to disable the Blade ship?" He was probably about as confused as the rest of us were.
Jake didn't explain. He morphed tiger, and told Toby to keep everyone inside the engineering room. Cassie pointed out that with the morphing power, Visser One would be able to get out and attack Toby's people. Yeah. But he won't go after Toby's people, Jake answered. He'll come after us because he'll know we're after his precious bridge.
"He doesn't even know we're here," Cassie said.
Battle morphs, everyone. Let's inform Visser One of our presence.
We moved easily to the pool, with very little resistance. There it was. The pool. Surrounded by cages of temporarily free hosts. Marco! Jake cried. The cages! Marco happily hurried to free the humans and Hork-Bajir locked inside. Cassie and I attacked one the Taxxons that tried to stop us. The other would finish him off.
We had to fight a few Hork-Bajir, but it was over quickly. Ax pointed out a booth with controls for the pool. We fought the eight Hork-Bajir guarding it. We might have lost, but the prisoners Marco had freed helped fight, turning the tide.
Ax cut through the lock of the booth and Marco pulled open the door. Hi, there, He said to the Hork-Bajir inside. You want to live? Then lie down right now! He grabbed him and threw him out into the crowd. Jake and Ax hurried into the booth. Ax was telling Jake about the flush sequence. There are seventeen thousand, three hundred seventy-two Yeerks in this pool, I heard him say.
Suddenly, I remembered something Elfangor had told me earlier. About Jake blaming himself for everything, his guilt making him completely miserable. For all the deaths he'd caused. This was a huge part of it, I was sure. Should I stop him? I wasn't exactly feeling too happy with him right now. Then I realized that for Elfangor to have known and informed me meant that the other me, the future me had told him. Had probably wanted to stop it.
Jake, I called. Don't do it.
He turned to look at me. What?
Don't do it, I repeated. You'll regret it, believe me. He stared at me. You'll hate yourself later if you do, I continued. Please, Jake, you've gotta trust me on this.
There was a long pause while the fate of seventeen thousand Yeerks hung in the balance. Jake looked at me, then he looked at Cassie. He nodded. Okay, he said to Ax. Leave them.
Open the gates and seize the day.
(Open the gates and seize the day.)
Don't be afraid and don't delay.
(Don't be afraid and don't delay.)
Visser One was waiting for us when we got to the bridge. We could see the Blade ship approaching on the view screen. I don't think they'll be much help to you, Visser, Jake said.
No, the Visser responded. It took me awhile to see what had happened. But I see it now. The Blade ship will attack, and I am helpless, unable to control this ship. Only a traitor could have beaten me. I was not beaten by you, human, or by your pet Andalite there. I was undone by my trusting nature. I was undone by my trusting nature.
Marco started to laugh, then stopped.
Only another Yeerk could have beaten me, and then only by the lowest treason. I was not beaten by you. Never by you. He was clinging to this one shred of dignity.
Visser, said Jake, you can still get off one or two shots at the Blade ship. Take out his engines.
Yes, responded the Visser, dryly, we will try that very thing. But you see, someone is bleeding power out of the Dracon beams. Power is being diverted. One of the traitors at work, I suppose. We will get off one or two shots, but at one-quarter strength. Will they be enough? Unlikely.
Of course. Erek. Erek who had to follow his programming and cause the littlest amount of deaths as possible. There was silence as Jake raged at Erek, privately. My one consolation, continued Visser One, is that when the traitor murders me with my own ship, it will at least finally be the end of you!
One of the human controllers fired their two shots at the Blade ship. They both missed. The Blade ship fired back, disabling the pool ships engines. "We are being hailed," announced one of the human controllers.
Of course, muttered Visser One. By all means. We must play it out.
Tom's face filled the screen. I didn't pay attention to the exchange between him and the Visser. All I could think about was that Rachel and Elfangor were on the ship somewhere, in serious danger. Had they managed so far? The danger of the situation was increased tenfold by the fact that we hadn't been able to do a single bit of harm to the Blade Ship.
Tom seemed rather cheerful in his triumph as he talked to Visser One. Until he shifted his gaze, and saw us. He paled. "You're not dead!"
I noticed the same thing, said the Visser dryly.
Tom started shouting orders to his crew. They were going to fire at us again. Everything inside me felt cold, and Jake gave the order.
Rachel… Go.
Nothing can break us;
No one can make us
Give our rights away.
Rachel… I called.
I heard her thought-speak voice say, I know, Tobias. I know. And then she attacked.
A huge grizzly bear charged at Tom, as Dracon Beams were fired. Tom was yelling at his people to morph. Rachel swung her giant paw at Tom. She missed. She missed and out of nowhere, there was the flash of a blue Andalite tail blade, and Tom sank to the ground, unconscious. Yes! I said, mostly to myself. Elfangor had arrived.
What the heck was that? Marco wondered. No one answered him. Rachel was startled, but she quickly returned her attention to the fight. It made quite an impressive show – the Andalite and the grizzly bear fighting an odd assortment of animal morphs. My heart was pounding furiously. I landed on the floor and started to demorph.
The view screen was a mess of teeth and claws and that beautiful Andalite tail. We all watched, barely breathing as each Yeerk was beaten. The leopard, and the lionesses. Elfangor was in the process of defeating the cape buffalo when Rachel turned and rammed her full weight into the polar bear. It staggered, and she sunk her claws into its chest. It hit back. It might have gone on for a long time – the two bears fighting each other – but the cape buffalo dropped to the floor, out of the fight. Elfangor rushed to Rachel's aid.
And then, miraculously, the fight was over. Rachel and Elfangor stood bruised and bloody surrounded by their fallen opponents. Rachel demorphed. Her face was white and she was sweating, but she grinned at the screen. "Hah HAH!" she crowed. "Take that, you filthy Yeerks!"
We were all breathing again, but shakily. I felt sick, and there were tears on my cheeks, but I couldn't tell if I was laughing or crying. Maybe both. The worst was over. Over, and they were alive. Alive!
Neighbor to neighbor,
Father to son.
One for all, and all for one.
A/N ~ Told you it was long. I apologize for my slightly less than satisfactory fight scenes, but that seems to be a weak point for me. Also, the thing is long enough anyway. Well, the song is "Seize the Day" from Newsies. I found it to be rather appropriate. All right folks, I don't know when Chapter 7 will be up. It could be awhile. Or maybe not. At any rate, this would be the time to review…
darklover: Thanks. Yeah, I'm definitely a Loren fan.
MimiChica: Thank you so much! I'm glad you didn't think it was too corny. Sorry about the long wait. And sorry, but you'll have to wait a little longer for the Elfangor/Loren fluff ;-)
blurdodoman: Thanks, I will.
Taka ichijouji: Yeah, I love that song. Hope you liked this one – it's nice and long. J
Oedipal Kat: Thanks a lot! I like to think that I'm merely building on what hope KAA did leave us with, and expanding it, hopefully not in a completely unrealistic way.
Bonnie 4: THANKS!
Rachel9466: Thanks. :-D I know the feeling. This story… hmmm… I actually don't remember where the idea came from. It's been so long… Interesting screen name, by the way.
Cor-chan: Thank you so much! Yeah, I like the songfic thing. It's working for me.
con2020tran: Yes, at the end on ch. 3, Elfangor uses the Time Matrix and at the beginning of 4, he's in the time of the last book. I guess that could have been clearer. I hope this helps!
JoJo: Thanks, I think so too. Sorry this chapter took so long. Hope you enjoyed it!
Rad: Yes, I disturbed myself too. J Gosh, I guess it's been awhile hasn't it?
