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At 0924 hours

Saturday 15th May

MARCO

This is insane

This plan was insane

This entire scheme is insane

I'm using the word insane too much so that's insane

And have I mentioned that Rachel's insane? Well, she is

And can I also add that Jake can be a little insane? Well, this time he was

I felt as if I had just fallen asleep after the Howler attack, when Jake came in and woke me up. I had thrown a pillow at him, but then Damien cried, Melissa got up and kicked me out, before soothing Damien

I had no choice but to follow Jake downstairs and into the meeting room, where Ax in human morph and Rachel stood over a large cardboard box

"Jake, if this is April Fools, I think it's a bit late," I said

Rachel reached into the box and drew out a small steel pipe, both ends covered up with alfoil. I stared at it in wonder

"It's a pipe bomb," explained Jake

"Don't drop that," I warned Rachel

She threw it into her other hand and grinned. I just thought she was insane!

"We've made a few," explained Jake

"Prince Jake, I have made two more," announced Ax

"Don't call me Prince"

"Yes Prince Jake. I think we are ready"

"Ready for what?" I asked

"Since us old Animorphs have acquired the Howler, we need weapons, so I thought we could go out into combat against David and get the Howlers' weapons, while the younger ones will drop bombs on the enemy"

I stared at him in disbelief! This plan was insane!

"What if one of them gets it wrong and hits us?"

"They won't," he reassured

Somehow that wasn't very reassuring

"Uh, Jake, I think you're missing the point. I don't want to get blown up by our side!"

"Ax, tell him"

Ax stood up, holding a small object in his hand. It was flat, round and seemed to be made up of two layers. Or three, I can't tell

"This is a force field generator that I built earlier," he explained, "Ear-lier, er, er. Dracon beams, flechette guns and bombs can't penetrate this once it's in use"

"What about the Howlers and David? Can they get through?"

"Of course," answered Rachel, "but first they have to get past the bird bomb brigade"

"Any more questions to ask, Marco?" said Jake

"When does this insane, suicidal plan go into action?"

"Five o'clock today"

"Why couldn't you have told us this yesterday?"

"Because yesterday we had a war. We want this over and done with, so we can all go home. Do you want to go home?"

I couldn't argue with that. I wanted to go home with Melissa and the boys. Yet, at the same time…

"Yeah, I wanna go home. Let's go out, kill some bad guys and die at the same time"

Jake grinned

"Then let's do it," said Rachel

"Why did I ever sign up to this?" I muttered

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At 1702 hours

Saturday 15th May

The time had come

I was out in the open in gorilla morph, along with the others. Rachel towered over me in elephant morph, Cassie was a wolf, Jake as a big striped kitty, Tobias was beside me in Hork-Bajir morph and Ax was Ax

And we were about two hundred feet away from David's fortress

(Come out, David, we challenge you) cried Jake

(What's happening?) I asked

(He's coming out) said Ax (He's bringing out several large canisters)

(What would he have in them?) asked Rachel

(Who cares?) said Tobias (We're gonna blow him up)

I looked up and saw five birds of prey circling overhead. We had Leah and Tori carry the pipe bombs, since they had the largest bird morphs and the fuse was long enough to be lit and taken out from our fortress onto the battle ground

See, we had Ashley and Melissa light the bombs when the battle will start. And as usual, I wasn't so sure, due that a bomb might go off and kill Melissa

Then again, Ax did make them, so he knew what to do

(Oh my God) cried Cassie (He has Venber with him. Impossible!)

(Could you say that again, Cassie?) I asked (David is bringing out Venber, correct?)

(Confirmed) said Ax

(But he can't turn them loose) Tobias pointed out (They'll melt)

(What's going on down there?) asked Adam (And what are those things?)

(Venber) answered Rachel

(That doesn't tell us much) called back Sam

I felt a sudden chill. That is not right

Oh man!

I could see snow blowing in our direction. And the air got chillier

(This is bullshit!) cried Leah (How are we're gonna drop the bombs?)

(How about you don't drop the bombs and we can go home in one piece) I said

Very quickly, the dry landscape looked like the Arctic. I did not like this at all

The gorilla, despite having thick fur, was cold. Very cold

I could see that everyone else seemed chilly. Even Ax and Jake couldn't see

(This is bogus) cried John (We're freezing up here)

(Well come down here and morph something warm) said Cassie

(What do we do, fearless leader?) I asked

(We demorph and remorph. Polar bears, now)

I started to demorph. And I slipped from gorilla into human, the air got colder and I was buried up to my knees in snow

I could see the Venber starting to move in their canisters

I felt ice under my feet and I felt the skin getting frozen off

I started the morph into polar bear. Thick, hollowed fur strands covered my body. I grew to a height of three metres tall

I quickly gained weight, as my fingers turned into claws

I felt warm again, but I saw another problem

See, I had said that we were now standing on ice

And David was morphing into a killer whale, perfect for the Arctic

(We are fucked) I said as he dived under the ice

The Venber started for us

But I was warm and I felt powerful. The largest carnivore in the world and anyone who dared challenged it quickly realized that the polar bear is a dangerous animal

We were six polar bears, four big cats and a jackal, against one killer whale

We'll see who gets eaten first

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