Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs, but I own the characters Joshua, Ben, Jessie, and Jimmy.

Chapter 12

"Sub-visser?" I repeated. "As in visser? As in Visser Three?"

"Yes," The sub-visser replied. "I am the second highest ranking yeerk on earth thanks to that Andialite."

"Shut up you!" Ben said. "Come on."

We backed out of hearing range. We could still see the sub-visser.

"So how do we go about this?" Jessie said glancing over at her brother.

"I guess we just keep an eye on him," I replied. "I don't think he'll be able to escape. If he tries to morph we just morph and beat him back. He couldn't have acquired anything stronger then our battle morphs, could he?"

"You never know," Ben said.

"All right," I said. "Here's what we do. One of us will stand guard at night in morph. If something odd happens he wakes the others. We take one and a half hour shifts."

"How do we know if it's been a hour and a half?" Ben asked.

"I don't know. Just guess." I replied.

"If I end up trapped in bear morph you're going to regret it," Ben said.

"During the day we all keep watch. Somebody in battle morph, someone in bird of prey morph. The other will remain in human form. That way we won't get tired from the morphing." I said.

"Yeah, maybe we should have acquired some owl morphs," Jessie said.

"Too late now," Ben said. "We need to keep an eye on this sub-visser guy.

"All right," I turned back toward the tree that Jimmy was tied to. He was still there, but he was also half way into insect morph. We appeared to be half way to becoming an ant.

"Hey!" I shouted running over to the sub-visser who was already out of the ropes. The others were two steps behind me.

I stopped next to the half morphed monstrosity. He was already as small as a backpack.

"Yeah, keep morphing," I said. "As soon as you're small enough maybe I'll just squish you, but of course you won't get too far in such a small morph."

He began to morph back. As soon as he was fully human Ben and I grabbed him and tied him to the tree again.

"All right," Ben said, "Who takes first morph?"

"I'll take the bird of prey watch." I said wanting to sore in my osprey body some more.

"Okay, I'll take the battle morph watch," Jessie said.

"All right, let's do it," Ben and I said.

The two of us glanced at each other.

The wind began to pick up as Jessie and I started to morph. The wind got stronger and stronger. I looked up puzzled by the sudden windstorm and I saw three helicopters.

"Coppers!" I shouted.

One of the men leaning out of the copters was holding one of the laser we had seen before. He fired and a red beam of light hit the ground beside me. The ground exploded.

"Don't move," one of the controllers in the helicopter said over a loud speaker.

Why so you can capture us? I thought. "Run for it," I shouted.

I had no idea where to run to. The helicopters were dropping ropes and controllers were sliding down them into the woods.

"Head for those rocks," I heard Ben yell.

I glanced around and saw a large rock formation. I ran for it. Laser beams shot through the air. Fortunately none of the beams hit me. I clambered over the rock and jumped down behind it. Ben and Jessie were already there. "You all right?" I asked Ben.

He nodded and pointed to Jessie. Part of her arm was burnt. Her eyes were filled with tears from the pain.

"Let's morph," I said fighting back the disgust I felt from seeing Jessie's burn wound. "Battle morphs"

We all began to morph. I was surprised that Jessie could do it through the pain. The wound disappeared as she changed into her African Wild Dog form. For those of you who don't know an African Wild Dog is an almost wolf-sized canine with brown, black and white fur. Ben was becoming a Black Bear. I was on my way to becoming a Snow Leopard.

I heard a voice that I recognized as Jimmy's. It sounded a little odd. As though his mouth was changing. "Come out and we won't kill."

"Yeah you'll make us controllers, like you did my brother!" Jessie shouted her voice distorted by the morphing.

"Better to be alive and be a controller then to be dead," Jimmy said.

(I disagree.) I said in thought-speak.

We were now fully morphed. A Snow Leopard, a Black Bear, and an African Wild Dog. We crouched behind the rock. I was having no trouble controlling the morph. It was time for them to pay for all they had done to me.