Chapter 8
Cassie
The trip to the dome ship Alliance only took ten minutes. I watched from the front viewing panel as we approach the brand new done ship. The ship was truly beautiful, made by the most advanced Andalite technology. It also had human touches. There were human trees and flowers located in the dome part. The actual ship part had many human cabins, bathrooms, and believe it or not, restaurants. The Andalites truly loved their human morphs. They loved to eat.
We boarded the ship, and instantly Caysath ordered for it to get moving. He headed directly towards the bridge, asking me to come meet him there after I was settled into my cabin. I agreed and was taken to my cabin by a young aristh. The young cadet brought me to my room, keeping his main eyes off of me. Even to the Andalites, I was a celebrity and hero. It unnerved me slightly, but I smiled at him and thanked him. I entered the cabin and instantly felt terrible. The room was huge and furnished with all human accessories. I had a large bed, my own personal bathroom, and chairs and a large couch. I knew that most of the Andalite crew lived in cramped cabins with the bare minimum. I didn't want these soldiers to be jealous. I knew that they wouldn't, but I couldn't help but feel bad. I noticed that my bags were already unloaded and my clothing was all in the designated drawers or closet. I changed into a military suit, consisting of dark grey pants, boots, a white tank top, and a black zip up sweater. It was comfortable and yet fit well. I knew that I could move in it fine, even run or fight in it.
I left the room and asked a passing warrior to show me to the bridge. He just gave me an Andalite smile and said of course. It took a while to reach the massive room, and by then, the fleet was already traveling through Z-space.
I entered the huge bridge to see roughly twelve other Andalites and seven humans working at the large holographic screens and computers. I saw Caysath in the middle of the room, standing in the captain's post. He had his arms crossed and looked around at the crew. When his stalk eyes saw me, he spun around and walked over to me.
((Hello Cassie, I hope your quarters are adequate for our journey,)) He said.
"Yes, very much so. It is too much Caysath," I said modestly. I really did feel terrible.
((Don't feel bad my friend. You are a hero to both our peoples. You deserve it,)) The Andalite Prince said. He gave me a warm Andalite smile, and then returned back to overseeing everything on the bridge. I waited around the bridge for a bit, watching everything that was going on, but eventually I became anxious. I had a lot of energy built up. I excused myself from the bridge and took a drop shaft up to the dome. I entered the beautiful park. I was full of life, with Andalite and Earth birds flying in it, many different species of fish in the small lake and rivers, rabbits and other small animals roaming around. The Andalites liked having Earth animals on board. It allowed them to feel even more at peace. The dome was twice the size of a normal dome. The park was exactly two miles from each point in the dome. The dome roof shone bright, imitating with a beautiful hologram, an Earth sunset. I took everything in. I took in all of the sounds, smells, the cool artificial breeze that was blowing around the park, adding to the effect of being back on Earth.
I needed to get rid of my energy. I focused on the wolf inside of me. The wolf was truly one of my favorite morphs. It embodies beauty, danger, endurance, speed, intelligence, and freedom all in one. I had been the wolf so many times, been through so many battles as the wolf that I didn't feel out of my body in it.
I felt thick hair grow out on my back and neck. My hands formed into paws, while my face bulged outward. My teeth realigned, forming into sharp, dangerous canine teeth. I fell over onto all fours, with my hind legs reforming into strong wolf legs. My spine extended outward, become a tail which quickly grew thick fur. The last thing to change on me was my sense of smell. I thought I could smell everything in the dome as a human, but I was wrong. As soon as my wolf sense of smell kicked in, I could smell things totally different. I could smell every individual detail in the dome. It amazed me and shocked me. I gave into the wolf mind, allowing the total feeling of freedom to take me.
I started running, at full wolf speed through the dome. I ran over boulders, up and down hills, jumping the river that flowed through the dome. I powered my legs to go harder, faster. I wanted to get tired, but I knew that wasn't going to happen with the wolf. I ran along side a young Andalite warrior as he was feeding. He smiled at me and started to run with me.
((Hello warrior, I am Cassie. I absolutely love this dome. It is magnificent!)) I exclaimed.
((Hello Prince Cassie, I am Rennix-Enzintar-Rentara. I am very pleased to finally meet you, a true honor,)) Rennix said. I knew that he was truly excited to meet me by the way he repeated himself. That was a very unAndalite thing to do. Also, the title of Prince made me laugh. The Andalites had given all of us the title unofficially. It really showed great respect and honor from the Andalites. I continued to run with Rennix for what felt like a very long time.
((How did you get involved with the military Rennix?)) I asked him as we ran over a hill. Rennix continued to run along side me, but turned one of his stalk eyes towards me.
((I joined the academy when I was just a young child. My father was a war Prince during the Hork-Bajir wars. He was severely injured in a battle and was unable to continue to serve. I wanted to honor him by joining the military as well. After you and the Animorphs won the war on Earth, I knew that I wanted to work with humans. There are some Andalites feel that Humans are too unintelligent to ever truly be our equals. I disagree. I feel that we both can learn much from each other,)) He said. I was socked that he was so open and candid with me. During my experience with Ax, and later other Andalites, I knew to expect progress to be slow when it came to developing relationships with Andalites. We continued to run and discuss our lives. We discussed many things, including my own career and how the war effected my life. He was a kind, young soul who truly wanted to help people. He loved his human morph, with which he loved to, like all Andalites, eat. He also loved to fly as a Golden Eagle, soaring above mountains and over valleys. His innocence was refreshing. For the last few years, I had worked closely with people who were more politicians then people.
((Cassie, I hate to ruin this moment, but your two hour morph limit is almost expired. I suggest you demorph and go rest. I hope that you would honor me and run with me again another time,)) Rennix said.
((Rennix, I would love to run with you again. I guess this wolf body isn't that tired, but me as a human needs some sleep. Thank you for just talking and listening to me,)) I said. I jogged over to the drop shaft and demorphed. Rennix watched me, and gave an Andalite smile the entire time. I gave him a hug, which was totally unexpected and new to him. He tightened, but eventually loosened up enough to give me a shy hug back.
"I will see you later Rennix. Thanks again," I said. I waved goodbye and walked into the drop shaft. I got out back on my deck and walked to my room. I instantly fell asleep as soon as I got into my large, comfortable bed.
The next day, I met up with Rennix again in the dome. We ran some more, and talked. This time I talked about my own issues mostly. Rennix proved to be a compassionate listener. When my time limit ran out, I demorphed. We went and sat down on the edge of a rock cliff that was added to give the dome some geographical changes. I hung my legs over the edge and leaned back on my arms as Rennix morphed human next to me, then imitated my position. His human morph was a very attractive male about my age of Latino descent. He had dark eyes, skin, and hair, with strong arms and a models body.
"I figured that since you morphed, mor-fd, to run with me, I would change to sit with you," He said. He smiled a gorgeous smile that made me get light headed. "Now Cassie, continue to tell me what is difficult about your relationship with Prince Jake." I still got a kick out of that we were all given the title of Prince.
"Well, I guess that I love Jake. I mean, I truly care about Ronnie, don't get me wrong, but I love Jake. Jake is who I should be with, I know that. It is just…It is just that ever since Rachel and Tom died, Jake has been different. He became more of his old self after Visser One was convicted, but we were never able to get back together. We tried, but it just wouldn't happen. I almost gave up hope, but I know that if Jake and I weren't meant to be together, that he never would have contacted me for help," I guess the words just kind of kept coming. I felt totally comfortable telling Rennix all of this. He just listened and looked at me with sympathetic eyes. He truly did care about what I was saying.
"Well Cassie, I feel that you have answered all of your own doubts here. If Prince Jake is the one who you love, then do not stop yourself from being with him. You have done your part for the galaxy, as he has. It is time to give yourself what you want the most. I understand that Prince Jake has had a dark cloud so to say over his head since Prince Rachel's and his brother's deaths, but you might be the only thing to truly help him. Sometimes we need to give up on what we believe is right in order to help ourselves." Rennix said. I was touched by his response and noticed how is eyes got lost in the distance, as if he was thinking of something completely different.
"Rennix, have you ever lost someone you loved?" I asked him. With this, his eyes refocussed on me and he gave me a sad smile that answered my question.
"Andalite culture does not accept those who are different from the status quo. It is something that I hope to help change by using the influence of Humans. I did love someone once, but this was something that we could never openly express to anyone else." Rennix said sadly. After a second or so, I realized what he was trying to say. I could understand how hard it was for him and that it was probably something he had ever talked about. I reached my hand out and softly laid it ontop of his, interlocking my fingers with his. Rennix stared at our hands for a second, then a smile slowly spread across his face. As he was about to say something, Caysath's voice boomed through the dome.
((All warriors report to your posts. This is not a drill. All Princes report to the bridge immediately,)) Caysath said. He sounded excited an, but also anxious. I knew what it meant. We had found them. I looked at Rennix, beaming at him. He just smiled back at me as we stood up. I watched as he demorphed then I morphed to an osprey to get back to the drop shaft as fast as I could. I ran down the halls to the bridge, going separate ways from Rennix, waving goodbye. I entered the bridge, finding myself among four other Andalite Princes. They all bowed their heads to me slightly as I entered. I nodded back to each of them in return, showing them the same respect for their rank as they showed me.
((Cassie, good thing you are here. We have found the Blade ship and an unidentified ship at the other side of this system. There have been weapon discharges, and the Blade ship seems to be captured,)) Caysath said. I put a scared hand to my mouth. If the Blade ship was captured, that could mean my friends were dead. Caysath obviously saw the horror on my face, so he added more. (( We feel that they will still be alive. The wouldn't have chased the crew of the Blade ship down across as much space as they did to just kill them.))
((We will go in with this dome ship and the Dome ships Freedom and Andalite Dream. They will offer cover fire from any fighters trying to hold off the Alliance. Also, we will deploy 300 fighters to help hold back any other attacks. Everyone, get ready to go. We will arrive at the other ships in a few minutes.)) I was stunned, but quickly realized that Caysath and the Andalites weren't going to take any chances. They were going in full power or not at all.
((I will be taking my team, consisting of 100 warriors, into the enemy ship. If we fail to return in one hour, or if you receive an order directly from myself or Prince Cassie, open fire on the enemy ship and make sure it is destroyed.)) I looked shocked at Caysath. I knew that I would be with him when he entered the enemy ship, but I didn't realize he was basically putting me as his second in command. He just gave me a strong Andalite look, so I just nodded in agreement. We returned to normal space about three miles from the "diamond" ship and the Blade ship. The massive alien vessel was just sitting there, slowly rotating. I couldn't see the Blade ship, but I knew it was inside the Diamond ship. Caysath, myself, and his team of Andalite warriors, including Rennix, boarded three separate docking ships.
I was crammed in with about 40 other Andalite warriors, all hanging on tightly as the docking ship weaved through enemy fire. I could feel the shock waves from the energy weapons being fired just outside our transport. In what seemed like forever, the transport finally slowed and I could hear it locking onto the Diamond ship. I was grateful that we hadn't been shot down before, but I knew that there would be trouble inside. I started my wolf morph, changing as fast as I could. Finally, the bulkhead was locked onto the enemy ship and opened. Immediately, Andalite warrior stormed out, holding their shredder weapons ready to destroy anything that moved at them. I could already hear the energy weapons being fired at an unseen enemy. I saw an Andalite warrior get shot right in the shoulder, sending him flying back into the ship wall, laying dead. I leapt out of the transport, closely followed by Rennix. Caysath moved up behind us, commanding teams to break up. The part of the ship we entered in was a large docking bay of sorts. I had a long mezzanine over head, which carried hundreds of alien enemies. I have no clue what species these were, but they looked like vampires. The word was the only one I could think of, because the animals were a striking mixture of human and bat. They walked on two medium length legs and hand long, strong arms that hung all the way down to the ground. I could tell they supported themselves on their knuckles, like a gorilla. They also had a sort of short tail that hung out their spine, but it didn't seem to offer much of balance. Their skin was a brown color, with was looked like small scales interlocked all over the body. Their spine was bony and stuck out distinctly. Their heads were what was different. They had bulging faces that resembled some type of reptile with sharp, jagged teeth. Their eyes were large and yellow, and their noses were just slits in their face. They had no lips, and their ears were large and pointed, like a bats.
I had no clue how many of these creatures there were up there, but I knew that there had to of been twice the number of them than the Andalites. Immediately, all of the Andalite forces moved out through the docking bay, getting cover behind large, metal like crates and other objects. I moved swiftly, closely followed by Rennix and seven other Andalites that were under my command. My team moved quickly towards a metal stair case, that was probable about ten feel wide. There were many of these stair cases around the docking bay, leading up to the cat walks ahead. One of the Andalite transports began to fire at the mezzanine, incinerating the alien enemy. The Andalite warriors continued to push forward up the stairs. As my team reached the top, I leapt up, straight over the head of three Alien bat things. Rennix jumped with me, and we landed right behind them. The three aliens turned to look at us, but were quickly slashed apart by the following Andalites. I charged directly at another alien, who swung one of his long, muscular arms at me. I could see that his hands ended in ten fingers that were shaped like extremely dangerous claws. I ducked under the slash, then jumpedtraight for the Aliens throat. I clamped down with my powerful wolf jaws, ripping and pulling with everything. The alien's skin was thick, but wolf jaws were made to tear open thick hides, so in the end, it wasn't able to stand against my teeth. I tasted its blood, which reminded me of eating mud. I released the dying, crippled alien, and then jumped up to attack another one that was slashing at Rennix. I could see a slash mark down his lower body side. There were only three claw marks, but there were long and looked deep. Rennix kept moving gracefully, whipping his tail blade with supreme accuracy. The other members of my team fought all along side each other with perfect team work. I envied them, and it made me sad once again to know that my own team could never work with one another like that.
For the next ten minutes, the only things I knew was to jump, attack, tear, pull away, and jump again. In that time, ever single one of the bat aliens was either torn apart or blasted into individual atoms. I stood in amazement as I realized that these Andalite warriors were able to do that so effectively to an enemy twice its number. However, I did notice that there were many dead Andalites as well. Two if my own guard had lost their lives. I trotted up to Caysath, who was giving orders to all of the warriors around.
((Caysath, I am sorry for your losses. It looks like we lost about fifteen warriors in the fight,)) I said. I didn't really know what to say to the Andalite Prince.
((Cassie, these warriors died defending what is right. They all knew the risks and they were honored to die this way, in battle. There is no higher honor for a warrior then to die in battle. You better demorph and then morph again. Your wolf body is in bad shape,)) the Prince said. I guess I had blocked out the pain during the fight, but I realized then that I was injured. I could feel a deep, sharp pain in my side, and I remembered with a cold shutter when one of those deadly claws had ripped open my side. I demorphed quickly, watching as other Andalites in the docking bay morphed and demorphed to heal their own injuries. I saw as Rennix became his beautiful human body, then as he became Andalite once again. As soon as I was wolf again, Caysath ordered everyone to keep going. We only had an hour to succeed. The Andalite team left the docking bay, heading into the corridors beyond. The warriors help organic sensors that would allow them to find life forms. The ship was teaming with life and every few minutes we would be attacked and have to fight our way through a bunch of the bat aliens. Then, finally, I got caught a sent, a very familiar sent.
((This way! I smell Jake!)) I started running towards the smell, which I knew was Jake. I could smell that he was afraid, nervous, and injured. I could smell blood, but not all of it smelt like Jake's blood. I raced down the chambers as fast as I could without losing the sent. Whenever my sent trail was blocked, the Andalite warriors used their shredders to make way through any wall that stood between us. Finally, after about fifteen minutes of searching and battling, we entered a large chamber, which reminded me of a throne room. The room was illuminated by a massive over head light that reflected off of all of the walls, giving them a green glow. There was a large power generator in the center of the room with electricity running from the base of the generator to a similar structure in the top of the room. There were bodies of the strange bat creatures all over the floor. Blood stains shone bright in the eerie light, looking like puddles of gasoline. The sent of the room was to powerful for my wolf nose. I had to demorph or have fear of passing out from the massive input on my senses. I quickly demorphed to my human body, standing in between Caysath and Rennix. Then, behind the power generator, on a low platform, I saw him.
Jake, laying there. Blood flowed from a large wound above his left eye. Without thinking I ran over to him, panic arising in my chest. What if he was dead? What if I came all this way to find out he was dead? Where were the others? Were they dead? I reached his body and crouched down to inspect his pulse, which was steady. Thank God, I thought to myself. I touched the wound on his face lightly, but the contact must have been too much for him. With the touch, Jake opened his eyes with a startled and painful jerk.
"Cassie," He said. The tears that were in my eyes couldn't help but flow now. I threw my arms around Jake, hugging him tightly.
"Jake, Jake, Jake. I had to come…I had to come…I couldn't leave you, O God," I said through sobs. I pulled away and looked into his eyes. They were dark still, but I noticed they were blood shot. His pupils were dilated and I could see red veins running through them. He must of noticed the alarm on my face, for he said.
"Cassie, it's a trap. I'm the bait," I just looked at him, confusion on my face, when I heard them. Like cats walking on linoleum, I heard the clicking. I turned to find hundreds, maybe thousands, of the bat aliens clawing into the chamber from some unknown place. They were able to cling to the walls, move horizontally or vertically. I looked to Caysath, who was yelling out orders to the rest of the Andalite guard with us. The Andalites began firing at the bat aliens, killing many, but more just kept coming.
"Jake, we have you fight. Can you morph?" I asked, already as the thick wolf fur started to billow out from my own hair. Jake just looked and me and nodded. I turned and finished my morph just as the first bat creature charged at me, swinging his claw like hand at me. I dodged away and jumped at the creature, knocking it down then biting into it's neck, killing it. I left the creature to move closer to the Andalite guards, who were fighting feverishly, whipping their tail blades and chopping up the strange aliens.
I moved as quickly as I could, biting into legs of the aliens, trying to make it as hard for them to move as possible. Then suddenly I stumbled to the ground. I looked up to find one of the aliens standing over me with blood down his claws. I saw that he had slashed a deep gash into my side without me even knowing it. He raised his claw to slash down at me, but let out a deep blood curdling scream as his hand fell to the ground, severed from his arm. Then, as quickly as his scream started, it ended as his head fell to the ground. I turned to see Ax standing there, tail blade shining with alien blood.
((Ax!)) I cried. I pulled myself up onto my paws. The wound was painful and deep, but I could keep going for a bit before losing too much blood.
((Cassie, you should demorph. You hare hurt badly,)) Ax said. He looked at me with his main eyes, allowing his stalk eyes to move around. There was no compassion in his voice. Nothing of what I remembered of my friend. Then, he turned and ran off. I tried to follow him, but there was no way I could follow with all of the bat aliens. I jumped back onto another one, continuing to fight, but I knew that I wouldn't last long, that none of us would. There were simply to many of them. I could see Andalite warriors fighting valiently, but now in vain. One warrior was overwhelmed by a group of aliens pinning him. His stock eyes were severed from his head as well as his tail was bitten off. I tried to move to protect him, but my way was blocked. By the time I was able to doge around my attackers, the Andalite warrior was lying dead, his body torn apart and laying limp on the ground. All around me, death continued to happen. Aliens and Andalites were slaughtered. Blood flowed over the floor so thick that it was difficult to remain upright.
((STOP!)) A strong, determined voice called. At first I thought it was Jake, but then I realized it wasn't. It was a voice that I recognized, but not Jake's. As if someone had paused the room, each of the aliens stopped their attacks and just stood there, waiting for their next order.I turned to where I "heard" the shout to see Jake standing there, human, still with the bloody cut above his eye. Next to him stood Ax, holding an Andalite shredder, aimed at Caysath. A large gorilla next to him with a hawk perched on his shoulder. On Jake's other side stood two lions, a male and female, and another human man who was probably in his late twenties.
((Jake, what are you doing? Why haven't you morphed? Why have they stopped?)) I asked as I moved over to the tight cluster of Andalite warriors, all looking tired, injured, but ready with their tail blades head high above their heads, ready to strike. There were only twelve left, including Rennix and Caysath.
((Cassie, there is no point in fighting and losing more life. Enough has been taken from us already. Just demorph and wait. Wait for The One,)) Tobias said. It had been Tobias who had called off the battle.
((Tobias, what are you doing!)) I cried.
((Cassie, there will be peace,)) Tobias said. I saw Marco nod his hairy gorilla head.
((Cassie, you said Jake told you that The One was able to take control of someone's mind. That he had taken Prince Aximilli. I feel that that might be what we are seeing now,)) Caysath said privately to me, but I had already figured it out. I knew that whatever The One was, he had taken my friends.
((Jake, fight it! Tobias, Marco! You are all stronger then this! Don't give into The One. He will not give you peace. He will take you, make you a slave. Remember everything we fought for. Tobias, remember what Rachel died for!)) I cried. Tobias shifted his wings at the mention of Rachel's name, shifting his weight on Marco's shoulders.
There is no use Cassie. I have your friends now, and I will have you soon. A booming voice announced. Next to Jake, a bright light appeared, just a spot at first, but then grew into an image of a human man.
((The One I assume,)) I said. I looked at the human face, which smiled darkly at me.
"Yes Cassie, now, why don't you demorph and have come over here. Join your friends," The evil being said. He continued to smile at me, sending cold shivers down my spine. I began to demorph, to return back to my human body. As I did so, I never moved my eyes from Jake. He just kept staring right back with his sad, old eyes. Once I was fully human, I stood, arms opened.
"What do you want from me? What do you want from any of us?" I demanded. I was tired of this. I just wanted to go home with my loved ones and be done with it.
"O, you five are the ticket to something so much greater for me. I can use you to achieve a power that will make me unstoppable. I just need to take you out of the equation, remove you from the game any way I can," The One said. His smile never fell.
"Crayak. Crayak put you up to this, didn't he?" I demanded. The One nodded his human head, smiling. "You know that Crayak would be breaking the rules with the Ellimist if you do this, right? Crayak is directly bringing in another party that was never agreed upon, one that is getting involved at his demand."
"Yes, well, Crayak is more powerful then the Ellimist. He will defeat that stupid game player in the end! I will gladly take up Crayak's offer and take you for my slaves, adding you to my army!" The One cried.
"No, if Crayak is allowed to interfere, then the Ellimist can," I said more to myself then The One. That is when time froze, literally this time. Everyone stopped moving. Everything did, including The One.
"Ellimist, what is going on? Why is Crayak allowed to do this?" I shouted. Then, to answer me, the Ellimist appeared to me. He took the body that he normally came to us in, of an alien looking old man.
"Cassie, I knew I could count on you. Crayak has indeed broken the rules. Now because of that, I am allowed to counter," He explained to me quickly. I had expect this to not be casual and that we would get down to business right away. It is how I wanted it.
"So you moved us here. You had us come save Ax. But for what, to die here or become slaves? We cannot possible defeat The One's army around us. There are hundreds!" I shouted. My mind wasn't working, I couldn't think of what the Ellimist could possible want us to do.
"No, you coming was all apart of Crayak's move. My move is this. I have given the others the same hint I am going to give you. They have positioned themselves in a situation where they are being held captive by their emotions by The One. Now, if The One takes a slave, it is by taking darker emotions. He controls all of his slaves through a single, super organized mind. Using their more negative emotions, The One is able to control a host. Once a mind is in his collective unit, it is there for good. You can weaken the connection, but you cannot fully separate it."
"Then what is the point? Why have the others give in?" I thought quickly of what the Ellimist had said. The One used darker emotions to control a host…The Howlers also used a collective mind, they were tainted when they experienced…"Love! You hinted to the others to give themselves up so that we can introduce love into the slave mind!" The idea raised through me. What could I do to break it? Would my love for Jake and the others be strong enough to help diffuse the mind?
"Cassie, without knowing it, you have already proven that. At the mention of Rachel's name, Tobias grew uneasy. It was just for a moment, but that memory came back to him. Bring all of those memories back to all of them, and things might be different. Good luck Cassie." And with that, the Ellimist disappeared and time started again.
I looked at Jake. I locked my eyes on him, and took a step towards him.
"Fine, as long as we will live," I said. The One smiled at me, and it was as if I felt a dark fist clench it's self around my heart and mind. I could feel the others, while it was still weak, I could tell that they were there. I could feel a single mindedness, like when we were ants. I could feel my anger very slowly going away, but I knew that that was The One. If I didn't work quickly, if my plan didn't work, then I would be lost like the others.
((Cassie!)) Caysath and Rennix both cried together. I just kept walking towards Jake. I stopped in front of him, with all eyes watching, touched his wound again on his forehead. I held the side of his face in my hand and kissed him. I kissed him as passionate and lovingly as I could. I brought to my mind every loving memory of us together, from being on the Iskoot planet, to the last time we really talked about us in the snake house at the Gardens. I poured all of those emotions, all of those memories, into the collective mind. Everything I remembered, they remembered. At first Jake tightened right up, as if to pull away, but I held him. Then, after what seemed like forever, he calmed down and slowly wrapped his arms around my waist.
"What are you doing? Stop now!" The One cried. His human image showed a mask of fury. I ignored him. I continued to kiss Jake with everything in my heart and soul. Finally, after what felt like forever, we pulled apart.
"Cassie, I am so sorry. I love you," Jake whispered.
"STOP NOW!" The One cried.
"No. You brought us into this mind, now you will get everything we have," With That, I thought of every happy memory with my family, of every time Rachel and Marco had teased each other, every time Jake and Ax playfully argued about Jake being called Prince, of every time we had flown together. I let every memory pore in, and slowly at first, but then just as powerfully, Jake started pouring his own memories in. Memories of him and Rachel playing on a swing set together when they were five, of him and Marco playing video games, of him and I holding hands. I could feel confusion from the others. Marco started to shift uncomfortable, and then slowly, memories of his mother and father started to flood the mind. Memories of us saving his mother, of watching his parents reunite after all of the long years being apart. Of Tobias, as a human, laying under a tree with Rachel wrapped in his arms, exhausted from kissing her. Of finding his mother. Of Ax being made a Prince. Of seeing his parents again.
"STOP! STOP NOW!" The One screamed. We didn't. Each of us now poured our most loving, happiest, proudest moments in. Soon, we could draw on each other's strength to fight The One. We even were able to help Jeanne, Santorelli, and Menderash to start bringing memories in. We opened our happiness and love to them, allowing them to give it back and regain their identities.
"No. No, we are the Animorphs. You will not beat us," Jake said. I could hear the fire in his voice. I could feel it in his mind.
"Kill them! Kill them all!" The One cried. With that, all of the bat aliens started to attack again. The Andalite guards began attacking with their shredders and with their blades, holding the aliens back until Jake and I had completed our morphs. Jeanne, Santorelli, Ax, and Marco all jumped into the battle, attacking with blades, teeth, and fists. Tobias began to morph. In a few seconds, he was a full grown grizzly bear. He attacked the nearest alien and ripped it apart with his massive claws. Menderash was tossed a shredder by a fellow Andalite and began to open fire. Jake and I completed our battle morphs and jumped, once again, into battle together. I could feel each of the other Animorph's battle as if they and I were the same. I knew they could feel me too.
Each time one of us was injured, the others felt it, but were able to encourage the other to keep going, to persist. Though we were powerful, we still took losses. I saw an Andalite warrior get ripped apart by a group of bat aliens, completely overwhelmed. I felt Menderash take a full clawed hand into his stomach, but he still managed to stand, to fight. The One stood behind the fight, watching intently, moving his pieces. I knew that even with our joined mind, we would lose. There were to many.
((Cassie, behind you!)) Jake cried. I turned, but too slow. I felt claws tear into my hind quarters, pulling me to the ground. I tried to stand, but the weight of a group of Bat aliens clawing at me held me down. I knew I would die. I just did. I could hear Jake and the others running and trying to help, but it was no use. They were not close enough to reach me.
((Cassie, I will not let you die!)) Rennix suddenly yelled. With that, he ran to my side and began to slice off the enemy. The Bat aliens left my mangled wolf body for dead and charged at Rennix, slashing at him. He slashed his tail blade, decapitating three aliens with one swing.
((Rennix, no!)) I cried. I knew that there was nothing I could do. I tried to move to help him, but I couldn't. Rennix continued to fight, to kill the enemy, but there were too many.
((Live Cassie. Live and love. Thank you for being my friend,)) He said. I could feel an explosion of love from him pouring into the meld as he moved himself in between me and the aliens, giving me room to demorph. By the time Tobias and Jeanne were able to arrive and help, Rennix was dead.
((Cassie, do it now!)) Marco cried. I began to demorph, to become healthy again. I returned to my human body, and then tried focusing on my wolf body, once again. Exhaustion was taking its toll on me, making my morphing slow. Jake and Tobias blocked me from the aliens in the front as Santorelli and Jeanne guarded me from the back. I drew on strength from my friends, and painfully finished my morph. I ran back into the battle, but I could feel something was different.
The intensity that the bat aliens had fought with was gone. They were slower now, weren't working in groups. They were coming in as individuals, not as focused and not making as dangerous attacks. They were in effect, easier to take down.
((His hold on them is weakening. As long as he has us, he cannot retain control. He is weakening. This was the Ellimist's plow, to use us to defeat The One. We can completely annihilate him! We were a trap, and The One took it!)) I cried. We moved towards the door, all of the Animorphs, Jeanne, Santorelli, Menderash, and the seven remaining Andalites. Together, we pushed our way back through the corridors we came through. As we went, the attacks became weaker, less focused, until finally, the bat aliens didn't even attack. They just watched us, ignored us, or walked around as if lost. The One had been fully defeated.
We reached the Andalite ship and boarded. The others and myself began to demorph, and soon we were all human, hawk, or Andalite again.
"Thank you…Captain…Prince…It was an honor," I heard Menderash say. I turned to watch as Ax and Caysath both held one of his hands as Jeanne tried to bandage his wound. We all knew there was nothing we could do. His stomach had pretty much been ripped out.
((Thank you. My life is in dept to you, Menderash. You are a full Andalite warrior,)) Ax said. He lowered his tail blade and placed it flat on Menderash's human forehead. I couldn't help but start to cry.
((It…has been an honor…all of you,)) Menderash thought to us. Then, his life ended. All of us just stood there, solemn. Jake held his arm tightly around me, comforting me.
We docked back into the Alliance a short time later. The other Andalite Princes had been just about to open their attack on the diamond ship when we arrived.
((Should we attack sir, destroy the ship?)) the Andalite warriors asked Caysath. Caysath just turned to each of us in turn, then finally stopped on me.
"No. They will be of no danger to us anymore. The mind is done with, and they all deserve a chance to live," I said. No one disagreed. No one argued. After calling in 200 more reinformcements who retrieved the bodies of all of the dead warriors, we jumped to Z-space and traveled home.
We arrived on Earth five days later. By then, the entire world had heard of our journey to the diamond ship. In that time, I was able to spend time with Jake and the others. I found it fitting to wake up in his arms, feeling the cold hum of space around us. Somehow it was natural. We landed back in Washington D.C. and stood ready to brief the world on what had happened.
"Well, if this just doesn't take me back," Marco said with a laugh. Each of us smiled and Jake took my hand and held it. "So, going to stick around this time?" Marco said to Tobias. For a second I thought Tobias was going to be hurt, but he just smiled his human smile.
"Of course," He said with a laugh.
"For once I can finally just feel like everything will be okay," I said. I saw Marco nod in agreement. I saw Tobias smile at me, his face glowing. I looked at Jake and was shocked to find tears in his eyes and a wide smile on his face.
"Whatever happens now, we all do it together," He said. With that, we all faced the World.