Note: This is chapter five. Before we continue, I would like to respond to Elwing's review.
You were correct with the parent's jobs. But I got the parents names from book # 50, on pages twelve and thirty-two. Apparently, the television show has different names for them. Probably because at the time of the TV series, K. A. didn't have names for the parents. Given freedom with this, the TV series came up with their own names, names that K. A. didn't particularly like. But that's just a theory. Anyway, according to the books, the names of the parents are:
Cassie: Michelle and Walter
Rachel: Naomi and Dan (he lives out of state)
Jake: Jean and Steve
Marco: Eva and Peter
Tobias: Loren and the late Elfangor
Ax: Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf (his father) and Forley-Esgarrouth-Maheen (his mother)
Thanks for the reviews! On to the story!
Ax
TH-THUMMP! TH-THUMMP! THUNNK!
"Alright!" Tom had successfully placed the orange sphere through a circle hanging horizontally from the side of the cave. He recovered it and sent flying through the air to Prince Jake, who threw it in a high arc so that it sailed cleanly through the circle.
They were attempting to teach me how to play basketball. Prince Jake bounced the ball to me. I clumsily grabbed it and turned. Threw it through the air. It fell short.
But Tom ran and caught it in midair. Turned and slammed it down through the "hoop".
Prince Jake ran over and gave Tom a midair palm slap, what they call a "high five". He was a lot more emotional now that Tom was free of his Yeerk. Laughing and playing this ridiculous game. He turned his head to look at me. I smiled and he threw me the ball.
I was determined to show I could play this game. I went about twenty Earth yards away from the hoop, where it was connected to the cave wall on my right. I judged the distance. Marco walked in, preparing to say something, but saw me and smirked.
"Air Andalite. This should be interesting."
I took off! Faster and faster, then leaped! I mimicked Tom and slammed the ball through the hoop, ducking my eyestalks. I followed through and stopped near Prince Jake, thinking back to the conversation he and his brother had during a previous game.
To the surprised faces of Prince Jake, Marco, and Tom, I said, (You got game?)
Marco burst out laughing, actually falling to the floor. Thinking I had embarrassed myself, my eyestalks deepened in color.
"Oh no, not you too Ax!" Rachel, just arriving, turned to Cassie and said, "We turn our backs for a few hours and the guys turn Ax into a bantering, bragging guy." She sounded horrified. Cassie giggled.
Prince Jake turned to Tom. "Do you mind? We have some business." Tom shrugged.
"Sure thing." He walked out as a hawk swooped into the cave.
(Did I miss anything?) Tobias is a nothlit, someone trapped in a morph. He is also my nephew and shorm. Tobias is perhaps the strangest of the human Animorphs – part human, part hawk, and part Andalite.
Marco grinned. "Yep. Ax here just signed on to play for the Lakers."
Prince Jake held up his hands with an expression of weariness. "We have important things to talk about here. Previously, our most powerful ally was Visser One's need to stay incognito. Well, now that the war is open and public, we just aren't strong enough to take them on anymore. Not without serious risks." He paused before continuing. "We need to consider making more Animorphs."
Rachel immediately said, "No way! Everybody remembers David, right?"
We all did.
"The point is, it doesn't matter. We need reinforcements right away." He looked around the group. "Does anybody have anything else to say?"
Silence.
"Okay, we don't have time to lose. We need to find recruits right away. The only problem is, it'll take too long to see if any candidate is a Yeerk. We might have to go to other towns, and –." Cassie cut him off.
"There is a group of kids we can be pretty sure aren't Yeerks, and they live nearby." She looked down at the ground.
"Who?"
She looked back up. Sighed. "Disabled kids. The Yeerks won't want them."
Vecols! It is a sad and desperate war when we must recruit vecols. I stared at Cassie like she was mentally unstable. (You have got – oh, I get it. I'm sorry, I must get used to your humor.) I tried laughing. I could tell from the looks they gave me that they weren't joking.
Rachel snorted. "Listen, they might be disabled, but they're not helpless."
"Okay, okay, let's not get into an ethical discussion here. We just don't have time. Marco, use our computer to find a nearby rehab center or something. Try to avoid one in the city. Too many Yeerks. Take Ax and get me as soon as you find it."
I didn't want to enlist vecols to help in this war, but Prince Jake gave me an order.
Without another word, Marco and I turned and went to his log dwelling. Marco's father was hanging halfway through a hole in the roof, helping Eva mount a Dracon beam on top. (Do not be alarmed. We are merely surfing the web.)
He gave me look the others call "fishy", and went back to his work.
Marco had pulled up the Internet interface and was looking at a website already. I peered at the title.
It said: The Official Baywatch Website
(Marco, is this "Baywatch" a local vecol center?) He looked at me and sighed.
"One day, Ax-man. One day I will show you true entertainment." He went to site after site, until we found one.
"Bingo."