Takehiro
I wanted to follow Zoe. I wanted to go after her. I knew why she ran away. I had to go after her. But the alien stopped me.
-Do not go... I can see she was afraid. I understand.-
I looked back at the alien. Now he was staring at me. The fear inside of me went away. I felt calm right where I was.
-But now...there is danger approaching...-
That caught me attention. I looked up and felt as if I was in the middle of everything. One side was to meet the alien and to know what danger he meant and the other was to go after Zoe.
Please, forgive me, Zoe.
I nearly gulped with fright. Swallowing in my fear, I stepped out from behind the wall.
"Whoa," Marco said. "Another alien. Let the games begin."
But his voice shook a little, and I knew he was scared, too. I stood next to the others. The alien stumbled a bit and then fell, and I realized that he was hurt. His right side was half covered with a burn.
-I am dying,- he said.
Then he started telling us about the Yeerks. Gray-green, slimy slugs. Only bigger than a rat. He told us how they've invaded Earth by taking over humans. How their sluglike bodies invade people's brains.
How they do that? They enter through the ear canal and drill their way into the crevices on the surface of a human brain. From there, they take control over your body and you're a slave to the Yeerks forever.
It sounded all crazy. And terrifying. But I was relieved to hear that the Andalites - which was what the alien called himself - are fighting the Yeerks.
That meant somebody else was taking care of it. I didn't have to worry.
-Yes, you do.-
Okay. Now he was starting to act just like Zoe. And that was not what I wanted to hear. He was the last Andalite on Earth, he told us. It would take a year or two before the rest of them returned. By that time, the Yeerks would have taken over the earth and all the people on it. We were in serious danger.
"What?" I blurted out. "That's impossible!"
-I have seen what they are capable of,- the Andalite replied and I turned stone-cold at the way he said it. I felt weak.
There was one thing he could do to help before he died. The Andalite directed Jake to fetch a small blue box from his ship. Jake looked a little nervous, but he disappeared, then reappeared, holding the box.
It was sky blue and square, maybe three or four inches on each side.
The Andalite told us that he could give us the power to morph into any animal we chose. All we had to do was to touch the animal to require its DNA.
"You've got to be kidding," Marco said.
I couldn't believe it, either. It was way past wacky. Way past unreal.
Suddenly, I saw red lights in the sky. Rachel saw them, too.
"What's that?" she asked.
The red lights gave me an eerie feeling. "Somehow, I don't think those are the lights of a plane..."
-Yeerks,- the Andalite said. The hatred in his voice was like a living force. The red lights were actually ships, which he called them Bug fighters. -Hurry.-
Was I making the right choice? I was just a kid. But this was getting serious. And firstly, I didn't have a choice. I placed my hand on the box next to the others. Six hands...and the Andalite's. I felt a shock wave run from my fingers up my arm, into my body. It didn't hurt at all. It felt...nice. Like a buzz of comfort.
I turned to the sky. A third ship appeared alongside the red lights. It was larger. Blacker than black, it was like a piece of a starless night sky. It was a strange shape.
Jake said it was like a medieval battle-ax. Rolling out its surface was that I could only describe as evil. I've never felt this before. But I knew what it was.
-Go now,- the Andalite warned. -They cannot find you. And remember, you can only stay in animal morph for two hours or you will be trapped in your morph forever. Now go! Visser Three is with them in the Blade ship. Run!-
Tobias stayed behind for a moment, but the rest of us took off. I felt the urgency and the power of the Andalite's order.
Suddenly, I saw my hand glow. I realized that my hand was in the circle of white-hot light coming from the ship. A searchlight!
I snatched my hand back, away from the light and ran. With a burst of strength, the six of us leapt over the half-wall. My knees hit the ground hard, but I hardly felt the pain.
Now the searchlight from the ship illuminated the dying Andalite. The Bug fighters slowly descended.
There was nothing I can do, I told myself. Nothing. I shook my head.
Baka! Don't think like that! I scolded.
But it was the truth. I couldn't do anything.
I watched as another Andalite exited the black Blade ship. Visser Three. I saw T-rex-like creatures called Hork-Bajir, walking weapons with blades growing out of their wrists and elbows. They served as hosts for the Yeerks. And then there were the enormous, spidery Taxxons, evil creatures who willingly allowed the Yeerks to take over their brains and horrible bodies.
Fear gripped me. I've never known fear like this. A Hork-Bajir came close, so close you could toss a stone and hit it. And I wouldn't dare try. And if someone dared me to, would I dare risk my life? No way! I held my breath. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run. I wished I had run after Zoe. I have to get away...
But I felt something warm seeped in, like a curl of warm water swirling around you. The Andalite had sent me courage.
I needed courage. Because I had to watch what was going to happen to him.
In a sneering voice, Visser Three called him Prince Elfangor. He morphed into a creature more horrible than the Taxxons, taller, bigger, with teeth three feet long. Their points were razor-sharp as daggers.
I felt my knees turned jelly. The fight was horrible. Already dying, the prince fought bravely. I could see there was no hope for him. And there was no mercy in Visser Three. Cassie covered her eyes. Rachel stared straight ahead, her eyes blazing hatred.
Visser Three opened his deadly mouth with the teeth like steel spikes. Jake almost sprung to help, but I helped Rachel pull him back. No one could help. No matter what part of me said we had to, we couldn't do anything.
At the last very moment, I turned away. I couldn't bear see Prince Elfangor die. Not like this.
But I heard it. His dying scream. I heard the scream in my head. It was more awful than anything I've ever heard. I bit my lips hard and shivered so badly. Tobias leaned over and gagged.
The nearest Hork-Bajir turned at the sound. I saw his eyes raked the darkness. I knew he was listening.
I didn't know who sprung up first. But suddenly, I couldn't contain the terror any longer, and we all took off. Running as fast as I ever knew I could run.
"Split up!" I heard Jake yelled, and I veered away from the others.
I knew the construction site pretty well. The prince had said that Hork-Bajir didn't see very well in the dark. And lucky for me, I was a trained ninja.
Come on. Zoe and I learned to be ninjas from Miaso's uncle back in Japan. We knew how to hide away from our enemies and attack from behind. We could sneak past without you knowing we were there.
I grabbed the handle of a pipe inserted between concrete blocks and swung myself over and into the shadows in a concrete pipeline. I could hear one of them below me, his blade whistling through the air. He was very fast but not fast enough.
I crawled deeper in the pipeline as he ran underneath it. He couldn't see me, but he could hear me! I stopped. I press myself flat against the concrete behind me. A chunk of rock fell off the wall but I caught it in my cupped palm.
I broke out into a sweat, imagining the sound it would have made had it hit the ground. How the Hork-Bajir would turn, how his blades would flash in the air before tearing me apart, limb from limb...
Wait. I looked back at the rock in my hand. I have seen a trick a million times in movies and on TV. Would he fall for it?
Then again, do Hork-Bajir watch TV?
I grasped the stone in my fist tightly. With my best effort, I drew back and fired the thing like a fastball, way off to the right. I heard the soft clunk as it fell.
The Hork-Bajir whipped his horned head around and took off after the sound. I ran in the opposite direction. My lungs were on fire, but I kept going. I vaulted over cinder blocks and debris. I swung over half-built walls. I got to my mountain bike and swung one leg over.
And then I really flew.