A/N Hey guys, here's the next chapter so I hope you enjoy and as for the questions I asked regarding Jeremy revealing who he really is, I'm going to have him do it anyway after the raid on the Yeerk pool under the school since he needs to be honest to a point if he's going to be working with the Animorphs as the war goes on for three years.
Yes, the war occurs for three years if that's what you're wondering and a full-fledged resistance group consisting of many civilians, law enforcement, and military personnel will be fighting during the final fight instead of a thousand national guard troops while the scene I have of the Animorphs and Jeremy infiltrating the blade ship during that time will instead be inspired by the recent scene of Chris Redfield and his Houndwolf Squad assaulting the village during Resident Evil Village so I can't wait for that.
Speaking of Resident Evil, I've been trying to add it to a couple of my stories once they reach a certain point, but it just didn't feel right in my head so I'm going to try this one and see if it works but it'll happen in a sequel so wish me luck.
Well, enough of me rambling so sit back and enjoy.
While I kept driving, I made my way to Cassie's barn following his instructions and it wasn't that hard since the place wasn't that long of a drive from where I lived, then I found a decent place to park and walked the rest of the way there until I could see Cassie's barn coming into view.
The place looked like your standard red barn with fences that had regular cows and horses while I noticed a woman near one of the fences who's tending to one of the horses, and I assumed that I was looking at Cassie's mother so I began to approach her.
"Hello!" I called out, causing the woman to turn around and she smiled a bit.
"Hello, who are you?" the woman asked before I showed her a pleasant smile.
"My name's Jeremy and I was wondering if Cassie's here, Tobias told me she lived here," I said and the woman perked up.
"Oh, you're friends with Tobias? Good to meet you, I'm Michelle, Cassie's mother," Michelle told me and I shook her hand.
"Nice to meet you too, so is Cassie around?" I asked and Michelle nodded.
"She should be in the barn with her friend Rachel and, if you're interested, we could use some volunteers at the barn during the weekdays if you want," Michelle offered and I liked that, considering that I didn't have much to do other than help the Animorphs against the Yeerks so I decided to accept.
"Sure, I'd love to help out however I can," I agreed and Michelle perked up.
"Great, we could use all the help we could get since we only have a few people around to help out during the weekdays because most kids are at school, so it would mean a lot if you could help out and Cassie can help you get situated," Michelle said excitedly while I noticed the large brown horse she was tending to.
"Thanks, I'm happy to help so is it all right if I pet him?" I asked politely, then Michelle nodded.
"Go ahead," Michelle replied, prompting me to reach out to touch the horse's long neck and stroke it while I focused on acquiring him.
The horse paused while I acquired his DNA and finished before removing my hand, then the horse snapped out of it a few seconds later before I sent one last goodbye to Michelle and went over to the barn before I could hear Rachel's voice inside.
"Cassie, this is...I don't even know what to say...you're...," Rachel trailed off in astonishment.
"A horse? I know, it's amazing!" Cassie replied gleefully in thought-speak, which told me that she morphed into a horse for the first time as I walked up to the barn door and knocked on it.
"Hello? Cassie, you in there? It's me, Jeremy, from last night so are you in there?" I questioned before there was nothing but silence for a short minute until the door creaked open and Rachel stood there as she stared at me with a critical eye.
"You...were with Tobias, right?" Rachel asked, keeping an eye on me and I nodded.
"Yeah, so you're Rachel, right? Cassie's friend? She's around here, right?" I inquired, then Rachel nodded and glanced back inside before she allowed me into the barn and I saw a black horse nearby.
"So, where's Cassie?" I asked and the black horse approached.
"Right here, good to see you, Jeremy," Cassie greeted and I smiled.
"Yeah, you too and I see you morphed into your first animal," I stated while I could see the joy in Cassie's equine eyes.
"Yeah, it's amazing! I've never felt so...alive, and so powerful in this morph! So fast!" Cassie exclaimed excitedly, causing me to chuckled before I looked at Rachel.
"What about you, did you morph yet?" I asked and Rachel shrugged.
"I haven't yet since I haven't found anything to morph into yet, so what about you?" Rachel questioned.
"I already morphed into a german shepherd and acquired two more morphs, but I haven't used them yet and I'm hoping to acquire a flight morph just in case," I answered and Cassie nickered to get my attention.
"Well, there's a red-tailed hawk and an osprey if you want to get started with those," Cassie offered and I smiled.
"That sounds good, so where are they?" I asked and Cassie motioned her head at two cages that held the birds in question, so I walked over to them and went to acquire their DNA while making sure not to startle them into attacking me until I met back up with Cassie and Rachel.
"Well, now that you have the flight morphs, you should test one of them out now since it's better to get it over with," Cassie told me, and I nodded.
"Yeah, and the interesting thing is that I can morph clothes so there shouldn't be any problems," I said.
"Actually, you can only morph skintight clothes from what I can figure out so I see you discovered that as well," Cassie added and I held up a reassuring hand.
"I don't have any skintight clothes, but I was able to morph just fine in my regular ones and you are right when you said that I should get this over with since I'll explain why I can morph regular clothes once the others show up," I assured and go ready by closing my eyes and focusing on the mental picture of an osprey.
My changes began as my body shifted like liquid as I felt an odd itching sensation on my arms and I opened my eyes to see that they were becoming overcome with patterns of feathers that were spreading until they rose up like something out of a 3D animation and became real feathers that grew nearly all over my semi-solid form.
Then I started shrinking and it was an odd experience while my clothes melded into my body and my feet grew harder before shifting into deadly talons until my arms formed into wings with my mouth stretching and hardening into a curved beak.
After that, the changes had completed and the first thing I noticed was how amplified my vision had become and I had expected to see everything around me, but this was unexpected as I could see a spider up on the ceiling and my hearing was also enhanced while I could detect mice creeping around the barn.
At that moment, the osprey's instincts hit me and I had an urge to hunt for fish but I stayed in control and looked to see the astonished expressions in Rachel's and Cassie's eyes while I was fluttering my wings to get a feel for them.
"Jeremy, you okay?" Rachel asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay...jesus, this is incredible because I wasn't expecting hawks to see this much," I admitted in astonishment.
"Bird's eyes are better than humans by far, hence the term bird's eye view so are you feeling the animal instincts?" Cassie inquired and I looked at her.
"Yeah, but I have a handle on it so I need to try out my new wings," I said as I used the hawk's instincts to flap my wings, rising up from the ground and heading upwards before I landed on a nearby perch, and with the increase of air, it was time for me to fly.
"Well, be back in a minute," I added as I leaped up from my perch and used my wings to fly out of the barn through the door.
I continued to flap my wings as I struggled to find a thermal wind to carry me up into the sky, then I suddenly felt a rush of warm air from the ground and I was suddenly lifted even further into the air, prompting me to stop flapping my wings and just let them ride out what was certainly a thermal.
The thermal took me straight up into the air, practically up a kilometer and it felt like I was hovering in place for a moment before I let the hawk's instincts tell me what to do as I adjusted my tail feathers, pointed my head in one direction, and I soared forward.
This feeling, the rush of flying was unlike anything I had ever felt before in my entire life, and never before have I felt so free, so alive but even though I had piloted a helicopter to Fairport after escaping that town in South America, nothing compared having actual wings and using them.
"Holy shit, I'm really flying," I gasped mentally as I soared up as high as my new form could take me, and when I got high enough, I tilted my tail feathers a bit to the left and pointed my beak down before I entered into a steep dive.
Feeling the sensation of being on a roller coaster, I kept diving down while truly feeling happy for the first time in my life as I approached the ground fast and pulled out of the dive at the last minute by flaring my wings and used the momentum to allow me to glide a few meters from the treetops as I let out a joyful laugh in my mind.
For a while, I just flew as far as my wings could take me and reflected on my life and the cruelty my brother, mother, I had suffered from because of Armacham before I started wondering what life would've been like if none of those horrific events had ever happened, though I quit reminiscing and knew that I had to morph back to my human form so I returned to Cassie's barn and entered through the rafters until I landed onto the ground and noticed that Cassie was gone but Rachel was still here.
"Bout time you got back, so how was it?" Rachel asked with a smirk.
"There are no words to express it, flying without a care in the world," I admitted and Rachel shook her head.
"Alright, bird-boy, better morph back since the Andalite said you only have two hours before you're trapped," Rachel reminded me and I nodded.
"I know, though there's something you, Cassie, and Marco should know and I already told Jake and Tobias about it," I stated as I focused and turned semi-liquid as my size grew with my avian form shifting back to my human one while my clothes formed until I was back to normal.
"I got to know how you're doing that since it looks similar to how Cassie morphs, but much more fluid and effortless," Rachel told me as I brushed off any dirt that was on me.
"As I said before, I'll explain once Jake and the others get here so where's Cassie?" I inquired.
"She left to give her horse morph a test run, get a feel for it and Jake called to tell me that he and the others will show up in a half-hour or so since we need to discuss what to do next," Rachel said before I nodded.
"Sounds good since I think we all need to come to a final decision on what to do next," I agreed and we began chatting for a short time.
It was interesting getting to know Rachel as a few minutes had gone by, though I fully intended to save her just as much as I hoped to save Tobias since her fate in the final book was one of the biggest things I intend to change, if not one of the most important.
"Well, I'm going to morph into a horse and go out to join Cassie, so I'll see you later," I said once we were done chatting and Rachel gestured for me to go.
After that, I focused on morphing into a horse and got onto all fours as I melted into a semi-liquid state that allowed me to smoothly flow into another shape when my mass increased as my arms and legs shot up vertically, adding at least two feet of height if I were standing when chocolate brown fur raced along my back before enveloping my lengthening body as my clothes melded into me.
My muscles became more powerful while my torso enlarged, my ass swelling out and my stature growing while my hands and feet melded into hooves and a thick bushy tail sprouted from my equine rump, then I had the appearance of a centaur since the morphing had finished on my lower half but had yet to start on my upper one and it left me looking like the mythical creature since I had stopped the changes and was admiring my new appearance.
I continued the changes with a popping sound occurring as my hair grew out and restyled itself into a mane before my shoulders melted away into my barreling ribcage while my neck began to stretch forward and thicken, bringing my mane along with it as my ears migrated to the sides of my head and become pointed.
Finally, my features grew and warped as my eyes slid to the sides of my elongating head while my lips and nose pulled forward, blending together halfway out as it enlarged into my equine muzzle that was stretching and lengthening until it filled out with a final wet sound.
Before Rachel's eyes, I had morphed into an Arabian horse and snorted at her as I felt the equine instincts trying to take over, but I remained in control as I trotted out of the barn and went into the field to find Cassie before I began galloping and was amazed by how strong and fast I was while I kept on the move until I recognized a familiar black horse and met up with her while she was galloping as well.
"Hey Cassie," I greeted, causing her to look at me with a surprised expression in her eyes.
"Jeremy, is that you?" Cassie asked and I sent a single nod at her.
"Yeah, I had acquired a horse morph when I arrived here earlier and you describing how amazing it was had gotten me to ponder about it, so I figured that I should give the horse morph a try and I have to admit, you weren't bullshitting when you said you felt powerful and fast as a horse," I explained and Cassie chuckled.
"Enjoying it, huh? Well, how about a race to pass the time before the others show up?" Cassie offered and I decided to accept.
"Sure, eat my dust!" I shouted before moving into a sprint, causing Cassie to chase me as she laughed.
Nearly half an hour had gone by with Cassie and I having fun to pass the time before I told her that I was heading back to the barn so that I would wait for the others, then I made it back and met up with Rachel before focusing on morphing back and the changes occurred with my equine appearance shimmering and the distinct morphing sounds began to emanate from my being once again.
My equine self began to dissolve while bits of my human appearance seeped out of my liquefying horse form as my masculine body shaped itself again and hooves shifted into human hands with fingers, then my body pulled in on itself and smoothed into my athletic figure while fur receded.
Last but not least, my equine face began to contort and shrink as my large muzzle started pulling back into my shifting skull with eyes and ears sliding inwards before my nose and lips appeared, the final joints clicking into place and my clothes formed on me.
After that, Tobias arrived not long after and Marco showed up a few minutes later with a newspaper in his hand, which I already knew what was in it but he showed us regardless and it showed that the police were after 'the kids launching fireworks at the construction site', then we waited for Jake to show up as Rachel had her head tilted up to catch the tanning rays of the sun until Jake finally arrived on his bike and I waved at him in acknowledgment while he got off and approached us.
"Hey guys," Jake greeted and Rachel opened her eyes to look at him before immediately showing him the newspaper.
Jake took the newspaper and read through it, his face lighting up hopefully from the section of UFOs and bright lights spotted, as well as the sounds of gunfire coming from the site but his face fell when the next section talked about how it was only teenagers playing with fireworks and Jake started looking pissed.
"But this is a total fucking lie!" Jake shouted in frustration, causing Marco to send him a dry look.
"Ding ding ding, correct answer. Johnny, tell our contestant what he's won," Marco said sarcastically.
"Did you see the last part?" Rachel asked as Jake read the last section of the newspaper.
"They're looking for us, and the only reason that would be is that the Yeerks have controllers in both the media and law enforcement," I said, beating Marco to the punch.
"Probably not all of the cops," Tobias pointed out while Rachel started looking uneasy.
"Jesus, if the police have been infiltrated by the controllers, then who knows how many others have as well. Teachers? People in the government? The newspapers and TV?" Rachel listed and Marco smirked.
"Math teachers for sure," Marco joked and I couldn't help but smile at that a bit, only the others were looking around nervously like they were expecting to find themselves surrounded by controllers and Rachel sighed.
"Honestly, I tried to tell myself that it was all a fucked up nightmare," Rachel admitted and Jake nodded.
"I tried to convince myself the same thing, only it didn't work," Jake added, then no one said anything for a while as the gravity of the situation settled in until Marco opened his mouth.
"Look, why do we have to deal with this bullshit? I say we just forget about it, never talk about it, never morph, and just deal with our own lives," Marco piped up and I looked at him seriously.
"And when the Yeerks take over, then what? Let's say we do forget about this, forget about the Yeerks, the Andalites, the morphing, then whoS going to fight the Yeerks if not us?" I questioned and Marco threw his arms up in irritation.
"Hell, I don't fucking know, the military?! There has to be someone who's fighting these damn things!" Marco shouted before I started scowling.
"I doubt the military would be of much help since they were probably the first to become controllers in order to get rid of any resistance during the invasion, not to mention that the pentagon and the white house might already have been infiltrated," I retorted logically since if you wanted to take control of a planet, you target the military first to prevent retaliation.
"Marco, I halfway agree with you-" Jake attempted to say and was cut off when Marco went ballistic.
"We could get fucking killed! Don't you guys get it, you saw what happened to the Andalite so this is seriously messed up shit, Jake! This is for real and we could all die!" Marco exclaimed in frustration with a hint of fear in his voice.
Tobias stared at Marco with a sideways look, like he thought that Marco was maybe a coward but I knew better and didn't blame him for reacting like this since he was terrified of what was happening right now and that he also had his reasons that were about to be explained as Marco shook his head and sighed.
"Look, I know these controllers are real bastards for what they're doing to innocent people, but if something were to happen to me...my dad would fucking lose it. You all can think that I'm some kind of weasel, I don't give a shit, but my dad will just flat-out die if I were to get killed or something because he's only hanging in there because of me," Marco explained quietly, causing me to let out a silent sigh as I kept my mouth shut for the time being and looked to see Cassie galloping across the green grass in the distance.
"There's Cassie," Rachel said as she noticed her approach as well, the others looking in the direction Rachel and I were staring at as Cassie slowed down and trotted closer.
"Cassie, Jeremy, and I have been here for a while and she's really good at this, so look at how fast she can do it," Rachel commented just before Cassie started morphing back to her human form.
The horse nickered softly and began to melt as her big brown eyes became slightly smaller and the long muzzle pulled back into a human mouth while soon forming a much more human head after, which was Cassie's as she smiled at the others with big equine teeth.
"Hey kids," Cassie greeted and Marco suddenly sat down very hard with eyes wide open in shock, obviously haven't seen someone morph yet.
I continued to watch Cassie morph, seeing her in control of the changes as she was morphing out her upper torso first and the top half of a skin-tight bodysuit formed before the changes stopped and she stayed as a centaur for a few seconds, looking very much like an Andalite in a way but I knew what came next and looked down the road to the barn until I could see a car driving towards us in the distance.
"Cassie, you need to morph right now because a car's coming," I notified her urgently, making Cassie and the others look before they widened their eyes in alarm once they saw what kind of car it was.
"Shit, it's the cops!" Tobias shouted.
"Which way should I morph?! Human or horse?!" Cassie wailed as she reared back on her hind legs, and I knew that she was fighting the horse's instincts to panic.
"Human, now! Everybody, stand in front of her and act casual," I instructed tensely before we all stood in front of Cassie and pretended to look calm, just as the police car came to a stop and the officer driving it stepped out while Jake and I waved at him.
"Morning," Jake greeted and the officer sent him a single nod.
"Morning, you kids hiding something?" the officer asked, and I shook my head.
"No, we're just hanging around," I lied but the officer's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Alright, all of you step aside," the officer ordered as he gestured for us to move, then I shrugged as I moved aside and so did the others to reveal Cassie fully human before the officer looked puzzled and shook his head.
"Can we help you, officer?" Rachel questioned in her best responsible tone of voice.
"We're making some inquiries and are looking for some kids who were shooting off some fireworks in the construction site from across the mall last night," the officer said while he was still eyeing Cassie.
"You mean the ones in the newspaper?" I inquired as Marco suddenly started coughing.
"The very same and is he okay?" the officer asked while turning his focus on Marco.
"Yeah, just a dry throat so he's fine," Jake answered casually.
"Listen, what those kids did was very dangerous and someone could've gotten hurt, so we need to find them as quickly as possible," the officer stated, and I knew that this guy was a controller since he was practically telling us he was and I've already read the first book to know that he was a controller.
"Why is that? I thought fireworks are legal in this state, aren't they?" I asked and the officer nodded.
"They are, but those kids fired them off pretty close to the mall so a stray one could've hit somebody," the officer said.
"Well, I don't know anything about it since all we know was in the newspaper," Jake lied, then the officer started looking at Jake more closely and I could see him starting to sweat.
"You know what, you look familiar so do you know a young man named Tom?" the officer inquired curiously.
"Yeah, he's my brother," Jake replied while trying to remain calm, then the officer seemed to smirk a bit.
"Tom's your brother, huh? Well, he's a good kid and I know him from the Sharing, where I'm one of the adult supervisors so it's a great group and you should come to a meeting since we have one coming up tonight at the beach," the officer offered.
"Yeah, um, Tom invited me, actually," Jake said and I nodded as well.
"Same here," I added and the officer smiled, but I could tell that he was a bit too eager for me and Jake to show up at the beach.
"It's a lot of fun so think about it, and you call me if you hear anything about those kids at the construction site...also, I should warn you that they might concoct some story to conceal their guilt, but you look like smart kids so I'm sure you won't fall for it," the officer stated.
"Yeah, we're regular geniuses," Marco chimed in, then the officer nodded before he got back into his car and drove away.
"He's a controller," I said suddenly, causing the others to look at me and it made me add, "He was pretty much telling us that he was since he was pressing too hard about what happened last night."
"Either way, we need to lay down some rules and the first one is don't attract any attention, which means we have to keep everything a secret and that also means morphing," Rachel stated firmly, causing Cassie to look embarrassed.
"Sorry...that was stupid of me, but it was just so amazing running around in the open space, just running and running," Cassie described, and I knew what she meant since being a horse was an incredible experience.
"Actually, how did you morph your clothes? When Tobias and I did it...well, let's just say that it was a good thing neither of you girls was around but Jeremy was able to do it easily like it was natural," Jake said, then he and the others looked at me.
"That reminds me, how are you able to do that? You said that you would explain once all of us were here so what did you mean by that?" Rachel inquired, then Marco looked interested and I crossed my arms.
"Well, I already told Jake and Tobias about it so let me explain because it has something to do with what Elfangor told me in private...basically, I'm something called an advanced Estreen and I don't know what that means, but what's interesting is that I don't have a time limit and can morph back even if I'm in the form of another animal for more than two hours," I explained and I saw the looks of surprise on Rachel's, Cassie's, and Marco's faces.
"So, you're like a real-life version of that comic book character Beast Boy?" Rachel asked and I nodded.
"Something like that, only I'm not green and don't joke as much," I answered before Cassie cleared her throat.
"Well, that's pretty interesting and it seems like being an advanced Estreen lets you morph regular clothes easily since I had to do a little practice to figure out that I could do it with skintight clothes. I once tried it with a coat and it got shredded, so I don't know what the rest of us will do in the winter," Cassie admitted and Marco frowned.
"That's not going to be a problem because there isn't going to be any more morphing," Marco said firmly.
"Maybe Marco is right since this is too big for us and we're just kids, so we need to find someone important to tell this to, someone we can trust," Rachel agreed, then Tobias sent her a grim look.
"We can't trust anyone since anybody could be a controller so, we tell the wrong person, we're all fucking dead and the whole world's screwed but let's not forget that the Andalite told us that there are already thousands of controllers in many countries across the world already," Tobias pointed out flatly.
"I don't want to stop morphing so do you realize what we could do with this power? We could maybe communicate with animals, help save endangered species," Cassie argued.
"Humans may be the next endangered species, Cassie," Tobias added quietly before Cassie looked at Jake.
"What do you say, Jake?" Cassie asked, causing Jake to sigh as he rubbed the back of his head.
"I don't fucking know...Marco's right, we could all get killed and Rachel also has a good point since this is too big for a bunch of kids, but...Tobias is also right since the whole world is in danger and we can't trust anyone, though Jeremy told me and Tobias that we might not have a choice but to fight back since the Yeerks will come for us eventually," Jake stated uneasily.
"So, what the hell do we do?" Rachel demanded and Jake threw his hands up in frustration.
"Hey, it's not up for me to decide, dammit!" Jake retorted hotly.
"Then let's take a vote," Rachel suggested while I stayed quiet and watched the argument play out.
"I vote we try to live long enough to get our driver's licenses," Marco chimed in, prompting me to take out my wallet and remove my license so that I could hold it up.
"Already got that and I'm doing it since I promised Elfangor I would fight, so I will," I said as I put my license away and slipped my wallet back into my pocket.
"I agree with Jeremy, so I vote that we do what the Andalite said; fight," Tobias agreed and Marco sneered as he pointed at me.
"You've never been in a fight and we've known this guy for barely a day! You can't handle the dickheads at school, and now you suddenly want to kick Visser Three's ass?" Marco questioned, causing me to sigh.
"So what, you're just going to ignore the problem and hope that it'll go away? I hate to break this to you, Marco, but that's not the way things work since nobody even knows the Yeerks even exist besides their hosts that are trapped in their own bodies while feeling helpless, not to mention that they will come for us eventually and once they discover that we can't become controllers because of Elfangor's precautions, they will kill us so we will have to fight back, like it or not.
Elfangor gave us this ability for a reason and died so that we could live, which is why we have to fight or his death would've been for nothing...look, I know you're worried about your father and how you don't want him to go through more grief, but imagine how much worse it is going to be for him when he becomes a controller and I don't want him to go through that kind of hell.
I'm not going to lie, it is going to be risky and there is a chance we could die, but we're now at war and everyone you know and care for is in danger of becoming controllers, so we can't let that happen," I stated firmly, causing everyone to stare at me until Rachel snapped out of it.
"He's right, we didn't even consider that our families might already be in danger of becoming controllers, so I vote we fight since I wish we could dump this on someone else but we can't because Tobias is right when he says that we don't know who to trust," Rachel agreed while sending a dirty look at Marco.
"L-Look, let's just think it over for a while since this is still a big decision...I mean, it's not like we're deciding whether to wear jeans or a skirt," Cassie said with a slight stutter, and I assumed that she was taken off guard by my speech.
"Yeah, let's just wait a while and in the meantime, no one says anything to anyone and we just go back to our normal lives," Jake said, sounding relieved and I looked at Marco while expecting him to smirk as he did in the book, but he wasn't and kept staring at me with an expression of surprise while Tobias was still blushing as he sent Rachel a grateful look.
Soon after, Jake and Marco left before Tobias sighed and went to look at me as he said, "Thanks, for supporting me with Rachel...that was a great speech you said."
"It was nothing, I just felt like I needed to say something since we can't afford to have doubts about this or things will get even worse," I pointed out and Rachel smirked slightly.
"It was pretty good, and you actually got Marco to think twice so that counts for something at least," Rachel told me, and I nodded before gazing at Cassie's barn.
"Well, while we're here, might as well see what morphs we can acquire," I said before we got started.
A few minutes have passed and, making good on my promise, I helped Cassie out in the barn and she was grateful for the help while I learned a bit about the animals in the clinic, then we also spent some time acquiring all the animals in the barn and I had gotten all of them.
Cassie had asked me why I was so focused on acquiring as many as I could and I told her that it was better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them, something she agreed with and my library of morphs had grown after I had acquired DNA from a mouse, raccoon, fox, bobcat that was missing an eye, a great horned owl, deer, coyote, and a gray wolf to add the icing on the cake while those were the first few I'd acquired.
I had also morphed into my osprey shape and made a quick stop back home to make a few quick preparations for the Sharing meeting that would happen tonight, then I came back to the barn and discovered that Tobias had acquired the red-tailed hawk before I offered to have him morph and go flying with me.
"So, you sure it's safe to morph into a bird?" Tobias asked in uncertainty as he stood in the middle of the barn with me and the others.
"Trust me, Tobias, you are going to love flying because if you thought being Dude was awesome, a bird of prey will be like a rollercoaster," I reassured while standing next to Cassie, then Tobias nodded nervously while sighing and started morphing as Cassie turned her attention to me.
"So, why do you think the Sharing is involved with the Yeerks?" Cassie asked and I frowned thoughtfully.
"I have my suspicions since that cop was going on a bit too much about joining the Sharing, telling us about how we should go or that it's lots of fun...now that I think about it, Jake's brother suggested that I should go as well," I muttered and Rachel looked at me.
"So, you think Tom is a controller now?" Rachel asked, giving me an arched brow and I shrugged.
"Hey, I'm just saying since I'm running on the assumption that everyone's a controller until proven innocent, not to mention that my gut's telling me there's something about the Sharing that rubs me the wrong way even though they're a cheap boy scouts rip-off.
I've also been reading a lot of mystery novels lately so I've learned how to deduce these kinds of things," I explained and Rachel shook her head.
"You're just being paranoid," Rachel said, causing me to sent her a serious look.
"Rachel, after what we've seen and learned since last night, I have a right to be paranoid because we don't know who we can trust and it's not paranoia if they're actually out to get you," I argued logically just before Tobias was done morphing and I turned my attention to him.
"Holy crap...you weren't kidding when you said hawks can see and hear everything, so what now?" Tobias asked me, then I morphed into the osprey and looked at him.
"Now, we fly," I declared before we took off and left the barn, traveling through the sky for a while and I could hear Tobias' thrilled shouts through thought-speak while he was having the time of his life.
"Holy shit, this is awesome!" Tobias cheered as he plunged into another nose-dive towards the ground, and I followed after him in my osprey morph.
"I know, flying is unlike anything else," I agreed happily as we pulled up at the last second again.
"This will never get old, I swear! I've never felt so alive!" Tobias shouted as he did a barrel-roll, then we left the forest and entered the suburban area where Jake lived before we got close to his house.
"Hey, I think that's Jake's house," Tobias pointed out, and I spotted it.
"Yeah, you want to see how he's doing?" I offered while I was flying on his left.
"Sure," Tobias replied as we dove down and headed to the house but, as we got closer to the window of Jake's room, I heard a commotion coming from inside and it sounded like one hell of a fight had broken out.
'Oh shit, Marco found out that Tom's a controller,' I thought, making sure not to direct it at Tobias since it would cause him to start asking questions as we could hear what was going on inside.
"Jake, quit acting like a fucking asshole!" Marco exclaimed defensively.
"Take that back, you son of a bitch!" Jake shouted lividly.
"Not likely, you think it's a coincidence that he's suddenly all interested in what happened at the construction site?" Marco questioned as Tobias and I looked at each other.
"What the hell is going on in there?" Tobias wondered in confusion.
"Sounds like they're having one hell of an argument, and I doubt it's about who won their last game so we should see what's going on, not to mention that we should tell Jake what Elfangor told you last night about the Yeerks so I'll race you," I said and Tobias chuckled.
"With pleasure, now let me show you how it's done," Tobias declared before he moved into a dive, folding his wings back in a free-fall to let gravity bring him into a landing until he opened his wings wide to slow his descent and start flapping against the window with his left wing to try and get Jake and Marco's attention.
'Damn, he's good,' I thought, a little surprised at how expertly Tobias pulled that off during his first time in his hawk morph before I followed him, mimicking his movements as best I could before I met up with him.
"Let us in, alright? We can't hover here forever!" Tobias announced loudly.
"Yeah, we're not hummingbirds!" I added just before Jake opened the window and we flew in, Tobias landing on the dresser and I landed on the bed.
"What the hell were you guys fighting about and what do you think of my red-tailed hawk morph?" Tobias questioned while Marco frowned.
"Is that you, Tobias? Jeremy? I thought we weren't going to do any of this morphing crap," Marco lectured firmly.
"I never agreed to that," Tobias pointed out.
"And neither did I since I believed we agreed not to agree yet, not to mention that I would use this power just to enjoy it since it's like stepping into another world every time I morph into another animal," I commented while Jake pursed his lips.
"I know you don't have a time limit, Jeremy, but Tobias does so you guys should morph back since that Andalite said you can't stay in a morph for more than two hours," Jake reminded us, mostly to Tobias as I nodded.
"We know, though he still has loads of time left," I said as I began morphing back, but I noticed that Tobias hesitated until he started morphing back as well so my first assumption was that he had yet to morph clothes or another reason is that he enjoyed being a hawk so much.
It was at that moment I started to believe that Tobias wanted to become a hawk nothlit from the beginning since he has no parents that he knows about, his aunt or uncle didn't give a damn about him, and he barely had any friends to speak of.
As a human, his life wasn't all that pleasant, but I hoped that I could change all that since we were like kindred spirits in a way because of the experiences in our lives so I wanted to be Tobias' friend just like I wanted to be friends with the others, though I still thought about all the good he did as a hawk and it was that very reason why I was hesitant on keeping him human as Tobias and I finished morphing until Jake loaned him some clothes since Tobias hasn't mastered morphing clothes yet.
"How did you two get those hawk morphs?" Jake demanded.
"Cassie's barn, there was an injured hawk there, as well as this cool osprey, but Jeremy had already picked the osprey so I chose the hawk," Tobias explained and I nodded.
"Similar story, I had arrived at the barn and asked Cassie if there were any flight morphs I could acquire and she showed me the hawk and osprey, so I acquired them and it's a good thing that injuries like broken wings aren't written in the DNA to be acquired for morphing," I added before Tobias sighed.
"Yeah, he's so depressed..." Tobias trailed off and Jake blinked at that.
"Who?" Jake asked.
"The hawk and, I know they're not trying to hurt him or anything, but he can't stand being cooped up in there while his wing heals, so it's fucking terrible that birds have to be locked up in cages when they should be free," Tobias admitted bitterly, and Marco rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, free the birds and all that shit, so I'll get the bumper stickers printed up," Marco commented sarcastically, causing me to smirk.
"Marco, you wouldn't have that attitude if you morphed into a bird," I stated while Tobias smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, being a cat was cool and all, but a hawk was total absolute freedom," Tobias agreed excitedly.
"No more than two hours in a morph, right? You keep track of time, right?" Jake reminded him and I smiled assuringly.
"Don't worry, Jake, I make sure to remind him of that and we can see someone's wristwatch with the hawk's eyes while half a mile in the air," I reassured.
"It's like being Superman, being able to fly and have super-vision," Tobias described while Marco frowned.
"Now they're supermen, great," Marco muttered in exasperation.
"Anyway, we were just flying around but made sure to keep an eye out for anything that could be a Yeerk pool," I said, causing Jake and Marco to look confused.
"Yeerk pool? I think I heard that Visser Three asshole mention something about that but what is it exactly?" Jake asked while arching a brow.
"Well, while I was running with you guys to cover, the Andalite sent me info on the Yeerks, things that we can use against them and what I learned is that a Yeerk pool is where they live in their natural state.
Basically, for three days, a Yeerk has to leave their host body to go into a Yeerk pool to soak up the nutrients, especially the Kandrona rays," Tobias explained, only that caused more confusion judging by the looks on Jake's and Marco's faces.
"In simple terms, Kandrona is their sun near their homeworld and the rays mimic that but if a Yeerk doesn't get rejuvenated by Kandrona rays once every three days, then they die and the Kandrona rays are generated from some artificial generator they have hidden somewhere on the planet, though the Yeerks themselves need to bathe in a place called a Yeerk pool," I clarified before Marco raised a hand to stop me and Tobias from continuing.
"Hang on, let me check the door," Marco interrupted before he went to the door and peeked out into the hallway until he said, "All clear."
Tobias sent him a questioning look and Marco replied, "Tom, he's one of them.
"Don't make me kick your fucking ass because Tom's not a controller!" Jake shouted in outrage until I sighed.
"So that's what you guys were arguing about...you may be right, Jake, but we still need to consider the possibility that anyone other than us are controllers, not until we can devise a plan to track down who's a controller and who isn't so that also means your brother," I pointed out and Marco cleared his throat.
"Whatever, but what does a Yeerk pool have to do with you two flying around and spying on people like you're Superman?" Marco asked before Tobias smiled sheepishly.
"Well, it seems stupid now, but I was thinking that maybe we could spot a Yeerk pool from above so we saw a lot of swimming pools and some ponds. You get up there and you realize that there are ponds, lakes, and streams everywhere but we didn't see anything special," Tobias explained.
"And if you found a Yeerk pool, then what?" Marco asked.
"One step at a time, so the first thing to do is find the Yeerk pool and we decide to go from there but I doubt we can just blow it up since we don't have any explosives we can use for that, but once we identify the Yeerk pool's location, we can begin mapping out the entrances.
I doubt the Yeerks would have just one way in or out of the pool so, if they have more entrances, then more controllers can access them at a variety of locations so we map these locations, then we can start identifying who are controllers and who isn't," I said before Tobias could speak, then Marco frowned.
"Didn't we decide not to get into this?" Marco questioned and Jake looked at him.
"Actually, we decided not to decide yet," Jake pointed out.
"Well, Jeremy and I have decided to fight, with or without you," Tobias stated, nodding firmly and Marco sneered at him.
"Suddenly, the fucking wimp is a hero," Marco said condescendingly.
"Maybe I just found something worth fighting for, Marco," Tobias replied.
"You didn't even fight for yourself!" Marco exclaimed irritably.
"That was before last night happened, before Elfangor died to save us and gave us the power to morph...I can't let that go and let him die for nothing so whatever you guys decide, I'm going to fight," Tobias said softly.
"And we're going to do it with or without you so when we find the Yeerk pool, we're going to make those bastards regret ever coming to earth in the first place and show them we're not fucking around," I added darkly with a firm nod.
Jake and Marco were silent for about a minute before Marco started showing a crafty smile since he knew Jake was on board with this now thanks to me and Tobias so say what you will about Marco, he can be pretty clever when he had to be.
"Remember that cop today, the one who is so interested in finding whoever was at the construction site? The cop who is probably a controller?" Marco questioned, and we all nodded.
"Yeah, what about him?" Jake asked.
"Well, let's see...he invites you to join the Sharing and now Tom is suddenly very interested in what happened at the construction site but guess what, he also invites you to join the Sharing," Marco began to say as he leaned back in his seat.
"Asked me too, so I spoke about it with Rachel and Cassie back at the barn since that cop seemed pretty suggestive that we joined the Sharing, so I think the Sharing may be a front for controllers and they probably use it to recruit humans so that they can gain their trust and eventually infect them with a Yeerk," I said while nodding, then I gazed at Tobias as he also nodded.
"We're pretty sure that cop is a controller and I don't give a shit what you say, Jake, I think Tom is too. So, here's the deal, you want to get into this fight against the Yeerks? Fine, let's see how much you want to do it when it turns out it's your own brother you have to take out," Marco told Jake, then I rolled my eyes.
"We don't have to kill Tom, Marco, just the Yeerk in his head so we find a way to free him from the Yeerk and Tom will no longer be a problem," I pointed out logically before Marco scowled.
"Easier said than done because this isn't some video game, this is reality and you have no idea what reality is since nothing bad has ever happened to Jake and he has the perfect family, just like I used to have!" Marco shouted with his voice cracking slightly at the mention of his mother before he continued quietly, "Maybe we should just walk away and let someone else deal with this so I'm sorry about the Andalite, but there's been enough death in my family."
"You don't get it, there will be a lot more death if we let the Yeerks win, and do you really think they will always be this 'passive'? Eventually, they're going to have enough hosts and they'll decide not to hide anymore because of that, so they'll move in for the kill and turn every human they can into controllers while killing anybody who attempts to fight back.
Let me ask you this, do you really want your friends and family to go through that much suffering? Being killed or worse, spending the rest of their lives as slaves to the Yeerks? The Andalite said that those bastards don't have the ability to morph besides Visser Three, so we have an advantage over them and it's a power they don't have.
We might start off small, but over time, we can grow and become a formidable army against the Yeerks," I stated darkly, catching everyone by surprise judging by the looks on their faces until Jake nodded.
"He's right, the Andalite gave us the power to morph for a reason and it wasn't for the fun of turning into a dog, horse, or bird...he hoped we would fight," Jake agreed while Marco looked frustrated.
"Then maybe Tom is the enemy, maybe it's your own brother you'll end up killing and not the Yeerk!" Marco exclaimed.
"Yes, maybe that's what will happen or maybe not, but the first step is to find out more and I think the only way to do that is to check out this Sharing meeting tonight, so I'll call the others. Anyone wants to come, cool. You want to stay out of it, Marco, that's cool too," Jake said grimly, then Marco hesitated before shooting me and Tobias an angry look but I shrugged it off and he sighed.
"Fuck it, it's just a meeting, right? I'm all for just checking it out," Marco conceded reluctantly.
"Sounds good and this is just recon, we're not looking for a fight so we go in, check it out, find out anything we can, and get out before anyone there gets suspicious," I said before we all got ready to go.
A/N Hey guys, another quick chapter even though it took a few days to complete so I hope you enjoyed it and as for Marco, I didn't really blame him for acting like that when I first read book one since he's been through enough with his mother's 'death' and witnessing his father being an emotional wreck for two years so it's understandable that he doesn't want to put his father through any more anguish.
So, the next chapter will show the Animorphs' first recon mission and there will be a few surprises after that so I hope you're excited for the next chapter, now let me know what you think so far and stay tuned.
