The animorphs finished eating a few minutes after Bucciarati's team left. They slunk back into the alleyway and morphed birds, tailing Bucciarati's team in the sky. They landed on the roof of the boat rental place and watched them get on the boat.
Seagull morph? Suggested Cassie.
Gonna have to be, Jake answered.
Tobias, being the only one who didn't have a seagull morph, kept watch as the rest of the animorphs demorphed behind the building.
Guys, three men just went into the building, and they have Dracon beams, Tobias said just as the animorphs finished demorphing.
The animorphs looked at each other. "Does this mean that the Yeerks are also tailing that guy and his gang?" Rachel asked.
"Must be," Marco said. "And if the Yeerks want them, we have to prevent that."
They left. That was fast- they most likely vaporized someone in there, Tobias said.
We need to morph. Now. Those Controllers are probably stealing a boat to go after those guys, Ax said.
The animorphs morphed seagull and flew into the air, with the exception of Tobias, who was still a red-tailed hawk. The gang caught up with their target's boat relatively quickly. Tobias landed on the sail pole to rest, hoping the gang wouldn't look up and see him.
"Narancia!" The gang members were calling.
Are they looking for someone? Wondered Tobias.
How could someone get lost on a small boat like this? Asked Rachel.
"Mista, where are you?" The blonde guy with the green outfit called.
Another person lost? Asked Jake.
The animorphs scanned the boat area for the two missing members, but saw nothing.
The blonde in the green outfit opened a hatch on the boat.
"Don't tell me you're in on this too," he was saying.
Uh, guys? That blonde guy just vanished, Tobias reported in awe. Something just pulled him under.
What? How? Cassie asked.
The animorphs joined Tobias on the sail pole, watching to see what would happen next.
"Fugo?" The black-haired guy asked. He stepped forward and saw that Fugo wasn't there. "Abbacchio, Giorno, I need you to stick together! We're under attack. A stowaway snuck onboard, and they have a stand!"
Stand? Ax wondered.
I've never heard that term before, Rachel said.
They listened to the black-haired guy say that he thought he was being attacked because he knew where the money they were searching for was.
"They won't hesitate to kill you all," the guy said, his eyes flitting around the boat.
"They're still alive," the blonde guy with the pink outfit said.
"How do you know? Prove it! I'm not just going to take your word for it," snapped the white-haired man.
"I used my stand to turn Narancia's shoe into a fly, and now that fly is trying to return to its owner. If Narancia had been killed, the fly wouldn't be hovering and searching," the pink-outfitted blonde guy explained.
This dude can turn objects into flies? Marco asked in disbelief.
"Giorno!" the black-haired guy shouted as the pink-outfitted blonde ran toward the other side of the boat. The animorphs watched in shock as, to them, what appeared to be a random wound appeared on Giorno, and he was sucked back into the ship.
Bucciarati and Abbacchio went below deck, and Abbacchio called out his stand, Moody Blues, who traced Narancia's steps from five minutes prior to when he disappeared. The animorphs, not possessing stands, could only hear Bruno and Abbacchio talking about it, however they did see Bruno zip open the floor.
As Abbacchio was taken by the unknown stand, Bruno unzipped everywhere he thought Abbacchio could be. "What did you do to my familia?!" Bruno demanded, furious when his frantic efforts turned up none of the missing. The animorphs, trying to appear as normal seagulls, flew off the pole in case they were acting suspicious.
"I suppose you see the seagulls around you," came a voice from somewhere inside the ship. "It seems like we're finally approaching land."
The animorphs, fearing that they might be the next target, went back to their pole with Tobias.
"They're not seagulls," Bucciarati replied. "The ones flying around us are black-tailed gulls. I can tell because they sound like they're meowing."
"You spoke out of turn. Say goodbye to your comrades!" shouted the mystery voice.
"Just try it!" Bruno shot back. Water came through the boat, flooding the deck.
Is this guy crazy? Tobias exclaimed as the animorphs took to the sky again as the boat started to rock.
"I didn't strike the deck to find out where you hid Abbacchio. I just wanted to create a little leak." The mafioso went on to explain in detail how he discovered the enemy's secret.
To the surprise of the animorphs, the boat began to separate, revealing that an entire other boat had been stretched over it somehow.
How is that even possible? Jake wondered.
I do not know of any technologies on earth that make it possible, Prince Jake, Ax answered.
Don't call me Prince.
Yes, Prince Jake.
A guy with green hair came out of the deck on the new boat. Bruno used his stand to separate the guy's head from his body.
They must have weird powers, Cassie said.
They seem like they can take care of themselves. Mission over, Marco said.
They might not be able to fight the Yeerks and these weird mafia guys at the same time. We're staying, Rachel said.
Abbacchio, Giorno, Fugo, Narancia, and Mista were now on the deck, waking up.
We need to demorph soon, Ax said. Our two hours are almost up.
The animorphs landed towards the back of the boat and demorphed.
I am exhausted, Ax announced once he was back in his Andalite body.
"Let's sneak below the deck," suggested Rachel. "We can rest while we wait for them to arrive on the island."
That's what the animorphs did. In their normal forms, they spent the next two hours trying to recover from all the morphing they had done before.