A/N Hey guys, looks like I'm on a roll with this story so let's hope I can keep going since things are going to get interesting, now sit back and enjoy.


Once Jake called the others, we headed to the beach with Tom while he was simply describing how great the group was and if I didn't know that it was a front for enslaving people with alien parasites, I would say that the Sharing operated almost like a cult with how fond Tom sounded as he talked about the group and I kept driving us until we arrived at the beach.

Say what you will about the Sharing, it doesn't change the fact that everyone in it are all probably controllers and they are just a boy scouts rip-off as the bonfire burned brightly on the shores of the dark beach while people ranging from kids to adults were playing, talking, and eating so the Sharing would've looked like a pretty fun group to me if I hadn't known that it was run by controllers beforehand.

Tobias had separated from us and went behind a dune until he took off into the air in his hawk morph a few minutes later, then the others went off to do their own thing and I opted to head over to the edge of the beach and sat down on the sand, staring out at the ocean and watching the night sky while the moon illuminated the water with its soft glow and I had to admit that it would make for a nice picture as I also saw the others having fun with other people or just simply looking around.

It was at that moment that I hoped that Ax was okay, trapped in the Dome under an alien ocean with nothing but fish and sharks to keep him company so he must be getting lonely down there while I frowned thoughtfully.

'Just hang in there, soldier, we'll find you so just hold on for a little while longer,' I thought as I watched the view for a little while until I noticed Jake giving me a meaningful glance, silently telling me that I needed to meet up with him and the others before I stood up and walked over to where the others had gathered.

"They're all going off to a separate meeting, all the full members so I'd sure like to know what's going on in that meeting," Jake said once I regrouped with him and the others.

"I saw people heading that way," Rachel added while subtly pointing in the direction of where the meeting was going to take place.

"Let's see if we can get close," Jake told us before Marco started looking exasperated.

"What the hell is going on? I thought we just decided that everything was normal here," Marco groaned, causing me to send him a grim look.

"It's anything but normal because something is seriously wrong here, Marco," I stated, staring at him with a hard look.

"What the fuck are you talking about? Everything is normal here!" Marco argued while gesturing all around us, then Cassie started looking uneasy.

"Too normal since nothing is normal, so can't you feel it? All the full members, they're just being so perfectly nice, so perfectly helpful that it's abnormal...their eyes are following you all the time, watching you like a hungry dog watching a bone," Cassie described uncomfortably while Rachel nodded.

"It's so fucking creepy like if you took cheerleaders, combined them with gym teachers, and made them all drink ten cups of coffee," Rachel agreed, and it caused Marco to look thoughtful.

"Well, when you put it like that, you have a point so they're all just too happy, aren't they? People keep telling me how all their problems disappeared once they became full members of the Sharing, almost as if it's like a goddamn cult or something," Marco admitted uneasily.

"And if there is one thing I learned, is that cults can't be trusted because when things are just too nice and PG to be true, then there's probably a darker side being hidden from the public like Scientology or something," I added seriously.

"Either way, I'm getting into that secret meeting of full members so let's just get away from the fire and head over behind that lifeguard stand," Jake chimed in as he gestured at the object in question.

"How exactly are you going to get inside that meeting?" Marco asked with an arched brow, then Jake smiled a bit.

"They won't notice some stray dog walking along the beach, will they?" Jake pointed out, and Marco had a look of realization.

"Good thinking, I'd do it too but all I have is my horse morph, and I would think they'd notice a horse," Cassie said sheepishly.

"I still have my german shepherd morph so I'll go with Jake, make sure all hell doesn't break loose," I pitched in, though I was doing this to make sure Cassie doesn't get involved since, in the book, she was spotted by the controller cop and targeted to be infected by the Yeerks, so I hoped that she wouldn't go now that I was going to be keeping an eye on Jake.

Jake waved his hand over his head once we were behind the cover of the lifeguard stand and Tobias landed over us, then we were informed of the location of where the Sharing meeting would happen and Jake had told Tobias to morph back.

"No, I'll keep watch from above for a little while longer," Tobias refused and I frowned slightly for a second before sending him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, you already did your part in gathering information so Jake and I should be fine as long as we stay in our dog morphs, not to mention that seeing two stray dogs wandering the beach wouldn't cause suspicion than seeing a hawk flying around.

Also, if you don't have any morphing clothes, then Marco has some regular clothes in a bag while Cassie and Rachel will look away," I assured him before Cassie chuckled a bit with a grin.

"I'm going to have to teach you boys how to morph clothes, won't I?" Cassie remarked wryly, and I sent her a smirk.

"Already a natural with it, so let's get started," I replied while we got ready.

Tobias still seemed to hesitate, but Rachel thankfully managed to convince him to morph back while Jake and I started morphing into our dog forms, though I was becoming increasingly concerned for Tobias since he was getting more and more reluctant to morph back, my theory of him wanting to become a nothlit looking more likely so I had to do something to make sure he wasn't trapped in that hawk morph for the rest of his life until book 13.

Either way, I put those thoughts away for now as I morphed into a german shepherd with my body turning semi-liquid and smoothly shifting into a canine shape while my clothes melded into my body and fur sprouted all over, wet noises coming from my changing form as a tail grew, ears stretched up into points, limbs turned completely canine, and my face pushed out into a muzzle with my eyes moving and my head flattening until the changes finished while Jake was also done morphing.

"You know, I don't think I'm ever going to get used to seeing how you morph, Jeremy," Marco told me with an expression of astonishment, then I sent him an amused look before I turned my attention to Jake.

"Alright, let's go," I told Jake, who nodded.

"Right, let's see what the Sharing's dark little secret is," Jake agreed before we began moving to where the meeting was going to take place.

We traveled down the beach, moving through the high dunes all around us while the scents and sounds were trying to distract me because of the dog instincts, but I stayed in control and ignored it before I heard something breathing in the seagrass and it bolted as it caused Jake to chase after it suddenly.

"Jake, goddammit!" I exclaimed as I went after him, knowing that the instincts had taken over and I needed to get him under control before he unintentionally screwed up the recon mission.

I chased after Jake while he was running to a hole in the ground and started digging before I hurried over and got his attention with a sharp bark, then Jake quickly looked at me before he wagged his tail and ducked into a playful bow.

"Jake, you need to focus because the dog instincts are taking over," I said urgently, causing Jake to pause at that until he shook his head and stared at me in shock.

"Jesus...I don't know what came over me there so sorry about that," Jake told me sheepishly, then I motioned my head at where the Sharing meeting is.

"That's why you need to be careful when you're in another morph so come on, the meeting is this way from what Tobias told us," I stated before we continued towards our next destination.

As we kept padding down the beach, I could hear murmuring ahead and I made sure to tell Jake to act like a normal dog wandering around before we began to act like a couple of regular stray dogs by sometimes lolling our tongues out or wagging our tails occasionally until I could faintly see about thirty or twenty controllers gathered together, though it was too dark to see because of the dog's weak eyes.

That didn't matter since my hearing and sense of smell would more than make up for it as Jake and I got closer, encountering a controller who was patrolling the area and he ignored us just like he did in the book as Jake and I came to a stop and listened in just as Chapman showed up.

"Everyone quiet, we have a problem because item one, we still haven't found the little shits who were at the construction site so I want them found and Visser Three wants them found, especially the one with the earth weapon since Visser Three is livid that a human was able to injure him and kill three of our troops, so he wants the human's head on a platter.

Now, did anyone discover any leads?" Chapman questioned and no one spoke for a few moments until Tom stepped forward.

"It could've been anyone, but it might be the one who's my host's brother, Jake. I know he goes through the construction site sometimes and that's why I brought him here tonight, so we can either make him one of us or kill him," Tom stated coldly, then I could see Jake recoiling with a look of horror in his eyes and I bumped my snout against his side to show my support and he sent me a pained look before we continued listening.

I knew Jake was affected by what that parasite said, all the more reason to get that thing out of Tom's head as I continued to listen and the controllers started arguing about how infecting or killing Jake would cause too much attention while they also argued about finding a bunch of innocent kids to infect and lie to Visser Three, which would end badly for them but one of the controllers callously talked about how the witnesses would suffer agonizing deaths if they were to talk and that was when I picked up Cassie's scent and quickly looked to see her about to approach from a distance.

"Cassie, what the hell are you doing? You need to get back before you're spotted," I stated through thought-speak, causing her to flinch and she looked like she was about to argue.

"Listen, Jake and I will be fine since they can't see us, but controllers are patrolling the area and they will come after you if they spot you so get back to the others before you're seen," I added firmly, then Cassie looked reluctant but she conceded and left the dunes while I felt relief at that.

Now that that issue was taken care of, I turned my attention back to the meeting and made sure to make note of any kind of potential intel as the discussion mostly resolved about their plan to track down 'the kids', though it eventually ended up into a plan to appease Visser Three by grabbing some random humans and simply claiming they were the ones before having them either killed or infected.

The only real thing to note was that Tom would be heading back to the Yeerk pool on Monday to feed and, eventually, the meeting was slowly dismissed as Jake and I went back to regroup with the others, then we morphed back into our human forms and Jake got dressed until our own meeting began.

"Marco, you were right...Tom's a controller," Jake said somberly, and Marco looked less than happy to hear that.

"Shit, I was hoping that I was wrong about that," Marco muttered with a sour expression.

"It gets worse, turns out that someone by the name of Chapman is a controller as well and he seems to be involved in this town's high school," I added before the others, except for Jake, had recoiled from that.

"Wait a damn minute, Chapman is one of them too?! Vice-Principal Chapman?!" Rachel hissed incredulously.

"The Yeerk controlling him seemed to have a high rank since he looked to be in charge, along with Tom," I informed her and the others, just before Jake nodded.

"He's right, it was Chapman the other night at the construction site since I heard him telling the other controllers to save the heads while we were running," Jake clarified before Marco rolled his eyes.

"That's so Chapman," Marco muttered dryly.

"Anyway, I suggest we get the hell out of here," Tobias stated warily before I raised my hands in a placating manner.

"Relax, they aren't here to kill anyone since they specifically said they don't want any deaths associated with the Sharing, not to mention that they have no way to confirm who was at the construction site.

They're basically operating off on hunches at that moment and they plan to simply wait and see if kids start talking about seeing aliens, assuming they can't keep their mouths shut about them," I reassured.

"Except that we're not going to talk about what we saw," Rachel pointed out, then Marco shook his head.

"Damn right we're not going to talk about it, so we aren't saying anything..." Marco agreed before trailing off and I waited for him to go on a rant about how we should stay out of all of it, only he didn't.

'What the hell?' I thought in confusion.

"And?" Cassie asked, noting that Marco seemed to stop in the middle of his sentence and quietly contemplated until he threw his hands up in disbelief.

"I don't fucking know! I just want to ignore this fucked up situation, have everything go back to the way it used to be, but...but...dammit, Jeremy is right because we can't avoid this since Chapman's one of them, Tom's one of them, and they have controllers in law enforcement so when does it fucking stop?" Marco wondered, and I could see just how terrified he was as I narrowed my eyes and stepped forward.

"It stops once we put an end to these bastards and free every single person from the Yeerks, so this is why we need to do it because these fuckers are trying to divide our friends, our families, our loved ones, and turn them into hosts to be used until they're thrown away like garbage once these damn parasites are done with them.

It will stop when we've freed Tom, when we've freed Chapman, and it won't stop until we make it stop and we're free or dead, preferably free," I declared firmly while I was being stared at until Marco nodded.

"Definitely better than dead," Marco agreed, just before the sound of voices reached us as the Sharing meeting was coming to a close.

"Everybody quiet, we'll let this ride out...for now," Jake told us, causing all of us to nod and went our separate ways as Jake went with Cassie, Rachel went on her own, and Tobias went with me as we walked towards my truck.

"Hell of a day, huh?" Tobias asked, causing me to let out a tired sigh.

"No shit, lots of new info we just learned today," I agreed while Tobias bit his lip in thought.

"So, what do we do?" Tobias inquired, and I gazed at him as we left the beach and entered the parking lot.

"For now, we do what Jake said and lay low for a bit since he said that he was going to do some recon on Chapman so, once he's done, then we'll get a better idea on how to proceed from there and he'll contact us for a meeting so that we can discuss our next move," I stated as we approached my truck, and Tobias nodded at that.

"Right...you know, you'd make one hell of a leader, Jeremy," Tobias said with a smirk, and I chuckled.

"Nah, I'm fine with being Jake's second in command and you guys have known him the longest, so it wouldn't feel right just taking over like that," I admitted as I got into my truck and once I said goodbye, I started up the truck and drove back home as I thought about the small changes I had created to the timeline.


A day had gone by since the events of the Sharing meeting and as planned, Jake was going to investigate Chapman by following him and see if we could find a Yeerk pool that way, though I recall Jake telling us that he and Cassie had developed an idea for him to morph into a lizard to get inside the school and follow Chapman that way, which was a good idea in my opinion and that he was going to give it a shot on Monday.

Either way, I was outside of my house and decided to explore the surrounding woods so I stood in front of the house and focused on morphing into a wolf, then the changes started as my body shifted and rippled fluidly while gray and cream-colored fur sprouted everywhere as my clothes melded into me, then I got onto all fours as my form flowed into a quadruped stance with my arms and legs shifting into a lupine state, my chest barreled out, my new tail formed, my ears grew pointed, and my face stretched out into a muzzle while my vision amplified as my eyes altered and turned into an amber color.

I was unprepared by how intense my new senses were and unlike the dog's vision, the wolf's was better and sharper while everything looked so clear around me as my hearing was much more improved, my ears picking up the sounds of wildlife all around me while the instincts urged for me to mark the area around me and hunt for a stag.

I remained in control and took off into the forest, enjoying the sights and sounds around me as my powerful lupine muscles worked hard when I found a small lake in a clearing a short time later and felt a little parched, so I approached the lake and gazed at the reflection of a regular wolf staring right back at me.

I leaned my head forward and let the instincts help me as I lapped up water with my tongue, drinking to ease my thirst until I was done and simply explored my property as I was marveling at everything around me while I was in my new body, then I understood why Tobias didn't want to morph back since I was entering into a whole different world every time I morphed into an animal and changing back felt like being imprisoned.

At that moment, I realized that I felt truly happy as an animal and I was concerned that I might stay as one if I got tempted enough since my life as a human wasn't a life at all and I felt free whenever I was in the body of an animal, so I had to be really careful if I didn't want to stay as an animal permanently as I focused and started morphing again.

I rose up as my hind legs shifted into a digitigrade stance with my paws enlarging into footpaws and my legs packing on muscle, just as my forelegs swelled up and grew into powerful muscular humanoid arms while my paws turned into humanoid hands with deadly-looking claws and animal pads on them.

My torso smoothly shaped itself into a humanoid muscular appearance with hard pecs and chiseled abs forming while my spine adjusted into a stance where I would be able to move on two legs or all fours as I stood up fully and the changes completed, then I looked like a very realistic werewolf as I raised my hands and clenched my mutated fingers a few times to test how dexterous they were.

Feeling pleased, I started bolting on two legs and was stunned by how fast I was moving as the trees became a blur and I reached my house in just a few seconds, then I just stared at my own two hands and looked at a tree until I decided to test something and charged at it with a vicious swipe that left nasty-looking gashes that would've been fatal if the tree was a person.

I showed a lupine grin as I filed away this form for now and started changing back to normal, concluding that morphing has become one of my favorite abilities that bordered on my enhanced reflexes as I morphed back into a human and went back inside.

After that, some time had gone by and it was now Monday afternoon before I was contacted by Jake and he told me to meet him and the others at the food court in the mall, prompting me to drive to the mall until I arrived and went inside until I soon met up with the others who were waiting for me at a table and having nachos.

Once I joined the others, Jake began telling us about how he had morphed and followed Chapman until the controller entered a janitor's closet and opened a secret entrance, confirming the existence of the underground Yeerk pool.

"There were human screams and they sounded far off, but that's what they were," Jake told us while I listened quietly.

"You were a lizard at the time, so who knows what you heard," Marco pointed out.

"I know," Jake replied, nodding firmly.

"Makes sense when you think about it since the location is perfect for two reasons, which is that the pool being underground makes it extremely difficult to locate since no one would think to search underground and people like Chapman, Tom, or other controllers who go to school there or work there would have access to it without raising suspicions

Besides, isn't it obvious? It's school, so where else would you look for a source of pure unadulterated evil?" I joked and everyone laughed as the mood lightened a little, and I could've sworn I heard Marco mutter "I'm starting to like this guy" but it must've been my imagination.

"Either way, we need to do something, jokes aside," Rachel said before Marco grimaced.

"Yeah, let's rush down there, and then it can be us screaming," Marco stated uneasily.

"Marco, we can't exactly ignore this because what's to stop them from taking a random teacher or student and infecting them? Hell, if we don't do something about that entrance, who's to say they won't try and snatch one of us by any chance? Even if we can't get infected thanks to Elfangor, they'll still kill us to prevent us from becoming a threat," I pointed out logically as I grabbed another nacho chip.

"He's right, Elfangor told us just how ruthless the Yeerks are so even if we do get caught, we're fucking dead once they realize that we can't become controllers," Tobias agreed, then Marco smiled nervously.

"We could always try and go to another school," Marco said almost jokingly, only Rachel didn't see it that way and glared at him.

"That's it then? Just whatever's best for Marco?" Rachel questioned in outrage before Cassie cleared her throat.

"I don't think Marco's being selfish, just the opposite since he's thinking about his father, about what would happen to his dad if Marco-" Cassie tried to say to defuse the situation from escalating into an argument, only she was cut off.

"He's not the only one with people to worry about because I have a family, we all do," Rachel pointed out until Tobias smiled sadly.

"Not me and it's true, nobody gives a rat's ass about me," Tobias said solemnly before I sent him a firm look.

"That's bullshit and you know it, Tobias, because you're my friend and I care about what happens to you," I stated sternly while Rachel nodded.

"So do I," Rachel agreed as Jake sighed.

"Look, I'm not asking anyone else to go with me, but I have no choice since I heard those screams today and I know Tom is going down there tonight...he's my brother, I have to try and save him," Jake emphasized while he held out his hands helplessly.

"You don't have to ask me since I'm in, whether you guys like it or not," I said with a serious look as I leaned back in my seat.

"I'm going in too, for the Andalite," Tobias added firmly.

"There's no one else who can do anything to stop the Yeerks and I'm fucking terrified just thinking about it, but I'm there," Rachel told us until Marco groaned a bit and looked at Jake.

"You're my best friend, so do you really think I'll let you face this fucked up situation alone? I'm in, if only to rescue Tom and then I'm done...for now at least," Marco accepted reluctantly, but I knew he would've helped anyway since he does come through for his friends during the war, even if the fear of breaking his father completely by dying is still there.

"Either way, we need better morphs than the ones we currently have since I think the most powerful one we have right now is the wolf I acquired in Cassie's barn, not to mention mine and Tobias' birds of prey so we're going to need some more firepower than a dog, lizard, horse, and house cats," I pointed out before Jake nodded.

"He's right, we're going to need more than simple farm and domesticated animals, so the Garden should be the place for us to get some morphs that can really do some damage," Jake agreed while Cassie smiled.

"I can get in for free and even though you guys have to pay for entry, I can use my mom's employee discount so it'll be cheaper," Cassie said as Marco rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure we could talk them into letting us in for nothing, just tell them we're the Animorphs," Marco remarked sarcastically, and Rachel did a double-take at that.

"Tell them we're what?" Rachel questioned while staring at him weirdly.

"Idiot teenagers with a death wish," Marco said irritably, only I started looking thoughtful.

"Animorphs...Animal Morphers...I like it and don't worry about needing the money to get in, I'll pay for all of us," I offered, causing the others to look at me in surprise.

"Are you sure? We could pay for our own tickets," Rachel said and I waved my hand.

"It's fine, I've got a lot of cash to burn so I might as well put it to a good cause," I insisted before Marco grinned.

"How about getting me a PlayStation or a Nintendo 64?" Marco asked, causing me to send him a half-hearted glare.

"Don't push it," I said wryly, making everyone laugh before we continued finishing the nachos.


I've read all the Animorph books and the one thing they've almost constantly mentioned is the Garden, the perfect hybrid between a zoo and an amusement park but I was more focused on the mission than being interested in the place as I held up my promise by paying for everyone's entry into the Garden.

To be honest, I was a little tempted to try out the rides, but there were more important things that are a priority right now like getting me and the Animorphs some true combat morphs as Cassie led us to the main building, which had all kinds of exhibits that held many different animals except the really big ones that needed a lot of space and those were further out in more grassy habitats that looked like parks.

"Okay, now everyone stay together and try not to look too suspicious, we're going inside," Cassie instructed after we stopped at the otter habitat.

"Right, no one starts humming the Mission Impossible theme and I'm looking at you, Marco," I warned with a firm look, making the joker of the group roll his eyes but he still had a smirk on his face.

"So, where are we going?" Marco asked.

"Well, the way it works is that there are walkways behind all the exhibits, which is how they feed the animals and give them meds but before you ask, meds are medicine so sorry about that. Anyway, we can go in through here," Cassie explained as she pointed at a door and we followed her through it, then we left the fake rainforest and were now in a hallway that looked like it belong to a school, only it smelled pretty bad.

"Okay, look, if any of the staff stop us, the story is that we're here to see my mom but it's late in the afternoon so of course she won't be here, I hope...because if she finds out I've been dragging six of my friends around back here...well, I can't be saving the world from alien invaders if I'm grounded.

Hopefully, there won't be many of the staff here at all," Cassie said as we walked down the hall.

"I've got my own excuse, where I'll just tell them we're doing a school project on the animal kingdom and you said that you could give us a behind-the-scenes look at how animals in captivity are taken care of and treated," I chimed in while pulling out a notepad from my pocket, then Cassie blinked at that but she nodded as she guided us through the inner-workings of the Garden until we eventually arrived at the door that led to Big Jim's habitat.

"How do you guys feel about gorillas? This is Big Jim's cage, he just came over from another zoo so he's in his own private environment for now, and don't worry because he's very gentle," Cassie told us reassuringly, then it appeared to slowly dawn on Jake what she was saying.

"Oh, you mean, does one of us want to acquire his DNA?" Jake asked tentatively.

"That's why we're here, Jake. How about you, Marco? Haven't you always wanted to be a big hairy guy?" Rachel inquired as she batted her eyes as the person in question, who didn't look thrilled at the idea but I knew exactly what would rile him up and I was going to be the one to say it, not Jake.

"Well, I know I'm going to acquire Big Jim's DNA but maybe Marco should try something easier for his first morph, like a cuddly little koala or something," I remarked wryly, and that worked as I saw Marco sending me a dirty look for the taunt.

"Koala? Cassie, open the damn door and you said gentle, right?" Marco asked hesitantly, then Cassie nodded.

"Gorillas are extremely gentle unless you piss them off," Cassie reassured as she opened her backpack and handed Marco an apple while adding, "Here, you open the door and the way it's set up is that none of the visitors will see you unless you walk clear out into the cage. Besides, there's an extra security gate so he can't just jump out and you can't just walk in, now we just open the door and hope Big Jim feels like eating."

As was described in the book, there was a second steel door behind the first one with a little cutaway section for the handlers to put food through while the entire door's opening is concealed behind a fake rock ledge so it wasn't visible to the people looking into the habitat, but Big Jim noticed us right away.

The large gorilla certainly lived up to his name as he climbed down heavily from his perch on a rock ledge and took a good look at us through the bars as I studied him, seeing that his fingers were as big as Jake's wrists but Big Jim didn't seem to mind us being there and was mostly interested in Marco's apple before the gorilla looked him over and snorted like he wasn't impressed until he held out his hand.

"He wants the apple, so hand it to him," Cassie directed, prompting Marco to gulp before he smiled nervously.

"I loved your work in King Kong Versus Godzilla," Marco told the large animal, just before he stuck his hand through the bars and held out the apple until Big Jim took it and started inspecting the fruit while I got ready to make my move.

"Alright, now hold his hand," Jake spoke up, making Marco laugh in disbelief.

"Yeah, right," Marco scoffed skeptically before I looked at him.

"Don't worry, he'll go into a kind of trance when you acquire his DNA and I'll be right next to you just in case, so grab his hand and concentrate," I instructed as I went to stick my hand through the bars and touch Big Jim's thick wrist, prompting Marco to do the same.

"Nice monkey," Marco said uneasily, only Big Jim was more interested in the apple than any of us while Marco trembled slightly.

"Concentrate," Rachel piped up, just as I focused on acquiring Big Jim's DNA, and Marco closed his eyes to do the same until Big Jim fell into the trance.

"Holy shit, this is so fucking cool and you guys realize that gorilla could pull you two apart like goddamn paper dolls because look at those arms," Tobias commented, making me shoot him an unamused look while Marco paled significantly.

"Tobias, you're not helping by scaring the hell out of Marco so please be quiet and let him concentrate," I suggested, shutting up Tobias just before the man in the electric cart began to show up and that caused me and Marco to quickly slip out before Cassie slammed the door shut and had all of us act natural.

Everything went the same as it did in the book as the man greeted Cassie and went to his next destination before we continued on our way while talking about what morphs to get, only I was planning to get as many as I could since the army taught me to be prepared for any situation and I'm going to need as many morphs as I could get since it was better to get as many advantages I could during this war, though the others and I were found by security as the book had shown.

"Hey, what are you kids doing back here?!" the old security guard called out suspiciously, prompting all of us to scatter.

Jake and Marco went one way, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias went another way while I bolted down a completely different hallway until I found myself alone so it wasn't necessarily a bad thing since I didn't want to end up causing Jake to not get his tiger morph or for Rachel to not get her elephant morph, so I continued running through the halls for a bit.

Thankfully, the Ellimist had left a map of the Garden back home for me to study and I had memorized the layout pretty well so I knew which habitat to enter, then I proceeded to acquire as many animals as I could while avoiding security and also got the rhino, tiger, and elephant while trying not to agitate any of the more territorial animals until I finally reached the dolphins once I left the building and made sure I wasn't spotted as I acquired one until I waited for Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias to show up.

"Hey, there you are," Cassie greeted as she, Rachel, and Tobias approached me.

"Hey, you should check out the dolphins since they're pretty cool," I replied as I waved them over, then Rachel nodded.

"Yeah, they're really awesome," Rachel agreed.

"Anyway, I've just acquired a dolphin so that one should help for underwater missions and you guys should acquire them too just in case," I said and Tobias shook his head.

"I don't see the point in morphing into them since we can only use them in the water, and besides, I'm happy with my hawk morph," Tobias refused before I shrugged.

"Well, you never know when you might need a dolphin morph, considering our...line of business so it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, though I'm guessing that because of that you didn't get a morph then, Tobias.

What about you two?" I asked Rachel and Cassie, then Rachel grinned.

"African Elephant, but we left before we could get anything else because Cassie wanted to find you and the others...speaking of them, have you seen Jake and Marco?" Rachel inquired, causing me to shake my head.

"No, I got separated from them and haven't seen them since," I answered just as we started walking back to the front gate.

"So, did you get any morphs besides the dolphin?" Tobias asked and I nodded.

"Yes, got most of the animals here since I'm definitely going to need them, but it wasn't easy," I replied before Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Yeah right, as if you could get that many morphs so quickly," Rachel scoffed skeptically, only I simply smiled at her and didn't say anything just as Cassie pointed at something.

"There they are," Cassie informed us as she gestured at Jake and Marco, the two boys crouching low and making their way to the gate while it was obvious to me that they just barely survived their close encounter with the Siberian Tiger and worrying about the guards seeing them again.

"What did you do, morph into midgets?" Rachel asked, looking slightly amused as the two guys looked up at us.

"The guards were after us," Jake said, still looking a bit shaken up.

"Oh quit screwing around, Jake, let's get out here since I have to be home for dinner," Rachel stated before we headed back to my truck, then Jake and Marco practically collapsed in the back with Rachel and Cassie joining them while Tobias and I were in the front.

We told the two boys what we've been up to while they were busy running for their lives and they explained what they had been doing by avoiding security and almost getting killed by the second tiger, only the others didn't believe them and they looked more than irritable by that.

"Seriously, we could've gotten killed because it was that close to ripping us to shreds," Marco retorted with a pout, only Rachel sent them a skeptical expression.

"Sure, whatever, don't obsess over it since we still have tonight to deal with and whatever danger you think you had today will probably be nothing, next to what's going to happen tonight," Rachel pointed out before I nodded in agreement.

"She's right, we have no idea what we'll be walking into so we have to be ready for what the Yeerks throw at us," I stated with a serious look as Cassie shook her head.

"Yeah, tonight, and I haven't even thought about studying for that math test tomorrow," Cassie admitted uneasily until Rachel laughed.

"We may not have to worry about tomorrow," Rachel said morbidly, making Marco send her a dry look.

"Thank you, little miss cheerful," Marco muttered under his breath as I kept driving to drop everyone off at their homes, thinking about the upcoming raid that would happen soon and I knew that things would go very differently this time now that I was here so Visser Three and the Yeerks have no idea what kind of hell was heading their way soon.


A/N Hey guy, I'm sorry that it took a while because I got sick with a cold after catching it from someone else, so that put me out of commission for a little bit but I'm feeling just fine now and ready to continue this story.

So, the next chapter is going to show the raid on the Yeerk pool and as you can imagine, all hell is going to break loose and Jeremy is going to be responsible for a lot of controller casualties and Visser Three getting seriously injured thanks to the Point Man's reflexes and his surgical precision with firearms while his explosives are definitely going to cause some damage and lower morale for the Yeerks.

Well, hope you're excited about the next chapter because there's going to be a massive change that you all won't expect so let me know what you think and stay tuned.