Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs, but I do own Joshua, Ben, Jessie, and Jimmy/Sub-visser 1.

Chapter 7

Ben and I morphed back into our bird of prey morphs and then went to look for some clothing for Jessie. We flew toward the city. We spread out searching for clothing.

I spotted a clothes shop and decided to check it out. I flew around to get a better look at the shop. My osprey eyes easily saw through the glass. I spotted a couple of leotards. I swooped down into the store.

In about a minute, I was back in the air. I had a blue leotard (You know the clothing girls wear to do gymnastics.) clutched in my talons.

(Hey, Ben, I got some clothes.) I called in thought speak. He flew over and looked at the leotard.

(How'd you get it?) he asked. (I thought you didn't have any money.)

(Well, I stole it.) I said.

(Why? I might have been able to pay for it.) Ben said.

(Yeah, but we need to conserve our money and some controllers might recognize us in our human forms.) I said.

(Wait. How did you steal it without demorphing?) Ben asked.

I related the story of how I dived out of the sky, just as someone was entering the store. I flew in and through the store, grabbed the leotard, and then turned and flew out a back door.

Ben burst out laughing.

(It isn't that funny.) I said.

(Yeah, it is.) Ben said. (I mean imagine the look on everybody's face if a bird swooped into a store and made off with a leotard.)

(Okay, well, I guess it is kind of funny.) I said. (Come on, let's get back to Jessie before she catches cold.)

We flew back to the cave. I dropped the leotard down and landed along with Ben. We turned our heads away and demorphed as she put on the leotard.

"All right," I said now fully human. "Let's morph back to hawk."

"What for?" Ben asked.

"We are going to follow Jimmy around see if he leads us to the yeerk pool," I said.

"Then what?" Jessie asked.

"We try and blow up the yeerk pool and/or we capture Jimmy and starve his yeerk to death. We're going to need all the help we can get with this," I said.

"Okay," Jessie agreed.

"Let's morph," Ben said.

We morphed back to bird. I kept my eyes on Jessie to see if she could morph her clothes. The leotard started to be replaced by feathers.

We were soon in the air over Jessie's house, each of us at different altitudes and spread out in different places. We were still within thought speak range though.

Jimmy soon left the house with his parents fallowing. They climbed into their minivan and started off down the street. We all followed. They seemed to be in a hurry and were soon pulling into a mall. They got out and walked in.

(Now what?) I asked.

(I don't know.) Ben said. (Maybe we could fly in through the mall and follow them.)

(Oh, very funny.) I said.

We spent a few moments debating what to do. We didn't have much time. We couldn't fly through the mall we would be spotted and if we went in as humans we would might be recognized by any controllers that happened to be there. However we did come up with a plan.

We would demorph in an alley or some other secluded place and then Jessie would follow her family into the store and try to find the yeerk pool entrance. If she got into trouble she was to leave the mall as quickly as possible. Ben and I would be waiting in our battle morphs just in cause something went wrong.

We begin to descend toward an alley. When Ben yelled. (Helicopter!) I pulled out of my landing and scanned the sky for the helicopter. I spotted it. The windows on the helicopter were black making it impossible to see the pilot. It had something on the front of it that looked similar to the ray gun that the yeerks used as weapons. It was heading our way.

The ray gun turned and a flash of red light struck a bird. The bird fell from the sky.

(Head higher. Try to stay hidden in the clouds.) I said. I caught an updraft and went as high as I could. The others followed.

The helicopter was now getting closer there was no way we could out run a helicopter.

(Split up!) Ben said. (We'll meet back at the cave.)

I flew through a cloud. I emerged on the other side. The helicopter was getting closer. It was right on top of me. They had spotted me! The laser aimed toward me.

I tucked my wings back and dived. The helicopter came after me. I flew over the streets of the city. The yeerks weren't going to fire at me now. If someone saw the laser, or a helicopter this low to the ground it would look suspicious.

On the other hand the yeerks probably really wanted to capture or kill us. We were probably a threat to the invasion. Would they risk shooting at me. Even if people saw it they would not give away the fact that the yeerks were invading. The yeerks would probably find a way to make it look normal. They've probably infiltrated the press.

I turned and started to make my way toward the woods. The helicopter was hovering over me but they weren't firing.

I could stay in the city. The helicopter wouldn't shoot me, but of course I couldn't fly forever. I would have to land and rest and when I did that the yeerks would be able to capture me.

By the time I reached the outside of the city, my muscles were aching. I flew out of the city there was a gap between me and the forest. The helicopter could shoot me now and nobody would notice.

I began to swerve to avoid the laser. They fired once. They missed, but not by much. I reached the woods the helicopter couldn't follow me now. The trees hide me from view. They couldn't follow me through the forest, the trees where too close together.

. I slowed down enough to avoid hitting any trees. I flew on heading toward the cave. I hoped the others had made it back okay.