CH. 1

It was a beautiful day in the jungle. A hawk flew through the air. Up, and up, and up.

Meelon, the toucan, had realized that the blue box he found had special powers. He could think of one of his friends or something he saw and become it. He had thought it was some kind of spell. Then, he thought it was magic and stuck with that. As he flew, he wondered what he would become next.

How about a swinger or a caw-caw? he thought. To him and the other animals a monkey was a ''swinger'' and a parrot was a ''caw-caw.''

He decided on a ''swinger'' and started to morph. He was still flying so the weight of the morph brought him down. He tried to flap, but his wings were gone! He fell like a weight. He formed hands and flailed at the air with them but caught nothing. He fell hard to the ground. He had broken one leg. He hobbled on.

Suddenly, a tiger came up.

Cassie, tell me if there's something wrong with this picture. A monkey with a broken leg hobbling around. a voice asked.

Uh, yeah. Definetly something wrong.

They were in his head!

A wolf stepped up, sniffed the air, and shrank back.

A Yeerk? the tiger asked.

Obviously the wolf didn't hear the question.

Monkeys don't act like that. the animal laughed. Kinda like...

A Yeerk? the tiger repeated.

Yeah. the wolf picked Meelon up between her jaws.

Yeerk? What were Yeerks? Meelon thought of this while he was carried.

Meanwhile, a bear prowled. He had just discovered the blue box. He wondered what this mysterious glowing thing would do to him. He thought he would go see his friend the dolphin. Zetpotha would know what to do. When he came to her ocean, all he saw was another bear like him. ''Zetpotha?'' he called. I'm right here. she answered. Of course the leopard didn't realize the voice was in his head. ''What's wrong with you?'' the leopard called Lonei asked. ''You're me.'' I turned into you. she explained. ''How?'' Lonei inquired in amazement. Blue box. she answered. ''The same one I found!'' Lonei realized. Zetpotha came closer, You found it too? Suddenly, Lonei realized her voice was in his head. ''You're talking in my head!'' he exclaimed and ran.

Meelon was carried until they came upon the end of the forest. The wolf set him down then suddenly started to change! She transformed into a human! The human girl picked up Meelon and brought him into a vast, open barn. He was suddenly in a cage.

''What are you doing!'' Meelon tried to yell but it came out as, ''Hoohoo! Ha-ha-ha!'' He thought he'd try to speak in their head like they did.

Please let me go. he said slowly.

''Did that monkey just thought speak!'' the boy that had been the tiger said.

''Andalite?'' they both asked.

What is an 'andalite' ? he said a little more quickly.

''Well...i'm officially mind boggled.'' the girl laughed.

Meelon had had enough. He started to morph back to himself.

''Whoa! It's a hawk!'' the boy yelled.

''He must have found the blue box!''

''Impossible!'' someone else exclaimed and a robot dog appeared.

By this point Meelon felt like flying away as hard and fast as possible. So he did, and left the mystified kids gaping up at him.

Zetpotha swam around looking for her friend. If someone was talking in her head she would have ran off, too. As to cover more ground she morphed into a falcon. Now she go over the land and search more efficently.

Animorph's View: Rachel

She had seen it with her own eyes. Had she imagined it? By the faces of the others it really had happened.

''I can't believe this! A hawk? Morphing! Into a monkey!'' she exclaimed.

''I know!''

''Weird!''

But one word was said by each of them: ''Yeerks.''...