It turned out that team Bucciarati's next mission (which they found out after Bucciarati was promoted to capo) was to deliver none other than the boss's daughter to him. Her name was Trish Una, and their first impression was that she was spoiled, as she demanded that her new protectors buy her everything she wanted at the moment.

"We can't bring those American kids on this mission with us. It's top secret," Abbacchio muttered to Bruno.

"We said we were going to help them, so we're going to help them," Bucciarati replied.

"If I remember correctly, they said they were going to help us," Fugo said.

Giorno led Trish onto the boat. A few seconds later Narancia came over, with a red-tailed hawk and five teenagers following him.

"Who's the new girl?" Rachel asked.

"My name is Trish. You're not from here. Who are you?" Trish asked.

"My name is Rachel," Rachel answered.

"Cassie," Cassie said with a smile.

"Jake," Jake said, holding out his hand for her to shake. She just looked at it and he pulled his hand away.

"Marco, the hot one," Marco joked with a smile.

"I am Ax. Ax-uh," Ax said.

"What's with the bird?" asked Trish.

"It's okay," Mista told the animorphs, seeing them hesitate. "You can tell her."

I'm Tobias, Tobias said.

Trish looked around in shock. "What was that voice I heard in my head?"

"Thought-speak," replied Ax. "Tobias is a human stuck in the form of a hawk."

"…What?"

Giorno went over to them. "I can explain it to her," he said. "You guys look tired, why don't you rest?"

It was true. Morphing so much in less than twenty-four hours was exhausting, and the only break they had really taken was when the boat ride had been halfway over.

"Thanks," Cassie said, smiling at Giorno. He smiled back. Once below deck Ax demorphed to his natural Andalite form. The animorphs fell asleep.

The animorphs reached the Bucciarati Team's hideout they were staying at, which was in the countryside. Dinner was eaten, and Ax morphed human and started to talk to Fugo about the morphing process and Andalite technology.

"The morphing abilities work by shrinking our mass particles so that our original form is in z-space-"

"How long have you been fighting the Yeerks?" Narancia wanted to know.

"Almost three years now," Jake replied. "I have to free my brother from the Yeerk in his head- or at least try." He frowned, his eyes going dark. "I've been trying not to think of the fact that if I can't free him, I might-" He stopped talking and glanced around the table.

"Have to kill him?" Rachel finished for him.

"Yeah," Jake sighed.

Marco laughed bitterly. "My mom is Visser One's host. I already know how that's going to end. Can't help but think about what the history books will say about me for it."

Bucciarati sucked in a breath. The Yeerks really were just as bad, if not worse, than the drugs. He looked at Abbacchio, Giorno, Narancia, and Mista. They were glancing at each other, unsure of how to react.

"If we can help it, we won't let Visser Three get Italy," Giorno said after a moment. "Defeating the Yeerks is as much our mission as it is yours now."

"Agreed," Bucciarati said. "Nothing should tear a family apart like that."

"Great," Marco said sarcastically. "Can you take out Visser One for me?"

Rachel elbowed him in the chest.

"Ow!"

"Why are you being so rude?" Rachel snapped.

Marco glared at her. "These guys might be mafiosos, but they know nothing about the Yeerks. They've never experienced getting their limbs cut off by Hork-Bajir blades! They don't know what it's like to see a family member or friend and know that they're trapped inside their own mind by a Yeerk! They don't-"

"Hey, cut it out! We may not have experience dealing with Yeerks, but we'll do what we have to do! You know nothing about stands but you don't see us acting like assholes to you!" Mista shouted.

Marco slammed his hands on the table. "You're not the one who has to kill his own mother!" He shouted back.

"Enough!" Bucciarati snapped, standing up in his seat. "This isn't a suffering competition. I didn't mean to offend you, Marco, and I apologize. I truly feel for your cause and want to help, whether you want me to or not. My team and your team are one team for now, and I don't want us to be fighting all the time."

Marco stood up from his seat, his eyes still full of fire. "I'm going to bed," he said, an edge to his voice. He went out the dining room doorway and up the stairs.

"Sorry about that," Jake said.

"Must be the jet lag. And morphing exhaustion," Cassie added.

Bruno sat back down. "Things like this happen sometimes. I just want all of us to be on the same page and try to respect each other."

Abbacchio's lip curled in annoyance at Marco. He wasn't sure who he disliked more, him or Jake. Add Giorno to the two and Abbacchio liked him better than either of the two animorphs.

That night, Bruno walked around the hallway, checking on everyone before he went to bed himself. He and Abbachio were sharing a room, as were Narancia and Mista. Fugo was with Giorno, Marco was with Jake, and Cassie and Rachel were sharing a room. Trish got her own room, per her request. Lucky for them, Ax in his Andalite form slept outside, being uncomfortable with closed in spaces, as they weren't like on his home planet. Tobias was also sleeping outside, perched in a tree.

The animorphs had gone to bed directly after dinner was over, clearly needing their rest.

"Marco and Jake really get on my nerves. They disrespected you- us," Abbacchio said. "Giorno is really respectful compared to those two."

"They're hurting, Leone. It's not their fault," Bruno said quietly. "They have a very big burden on their shoulders."

"That's not an excuse for disrespect," Abbacchio scoffed.

"I'm not saying it is. All I'm saying is that we need to understand where they're coming from. Maybe they just need a good night's rest and they'll be better in the morning."

"Maybe," Abbacchio said doubtfully.

Bruno noticed that Cassie and Rachel's doorway was open a crack. He peered in. Through the shadows he heard the sound of a gasp and saw one of the girls jolt upright in bed, breathing heavy.

Carefully, he pushed the door open a crack. "Cassie? Rachel?" He whispered into the darkness.

"It's Cassie."

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah. Just a nightmare."

Bruno pushed the door open slightly and entered the room, standing in the doorway. "Do you get those a lot?"

There was a few seconds of silence. "We all do," she replied.

"Do you need anything? I can bring you a glass of water," he offered, unable to think of anything else he could do to help.

"That's okay, Bucciarati. I'll be fine," Cassie answered.

"If you say so. Goodnight, Cassie," Bruno said.

"Goodnight."

Bruno stepped out of the room and closed the door, heading back to his room.

The following morning, Fugo entrusted Narancia to go shopping to get the things that Trish had asked for, as well as some groceries, giving him special instructions to ensure he wasn't trailed.

"Are you listening to me? Repeat it back," Fugo demanded to Narancia.

"You want me to turn around the block so many times I get dizzy or something," Narancia replied, having not paid attention.

Fugo smacked him. "This is serious!"

"I can handle it! Why are you telling me what to do? I'm a year older than you! Abbacchio, tell him to lay off!"

"I'm not getting in the middle of you two. Figure it out yourselves," Abbacchio replied.

"I'll go with him," Rachel offered. "I remember what you said. Besides, I want to get some stuff of my own. We need shoes."

Turning to Rachel, Fugo asked, "Are you sure you remember?"

Rachel repeated everything back to him.

"Okay, you can go with Narancia. Keep him in line, will you?" Fugo asked.

"Hey!" Narancia protested.

"Sure," Rachel replied.

Just as Rachel and Narancia got to their last stop, Narancia frowned. Getting out of the car, he said quietly, "Something doesn't feel right. It looks like we're all alone, but it doesn't feel like it."

"I get that feeling too," Rachel said with a frown, getting out of the passenger seat.

"Narancia, is it? Where are you headed to? You keep looking over your shoulder like some sort of boogeyman is following you," came a voice from the backseat. In the backseat of the car was a guy with really short hair and a red shirt with silver dots on it.

Narancia took out his switchblade. "Just who the hell do you think you?!"

"Stab him first, ask questions later!" snapped Rachel.

"Whoa, you two, no need to be so scary. Is that really how you treat someone asking you something? I didn't realize you'd be so rude!" the guy scolded.

"My name is Formaggio," the guy said.

Rachel ducked under the car, trying to let go of the urge to go grizzly bear and impulsively attack the guy. He continued to talk mafia business with Narancia. Suddenly, Narancia was thrown to the pavement, crying out in pain, clutching his bleeding cheek. Rachel felt the changes begin, felt the thick fur of the grizzly cover her.

Narancia called out his stand, Areosmith, who began to shoot at the car. Rachel rolled out from under the car.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Die! Die!" screamed Narancia, kicking the car. Areosmith dropped a bomb on the car and it blew up. Rachel covered her ears, midmorph. "Where'd he go?"

Rachel reversed the morph. "Did you get him?" She couldn't deny the disappointment she felt- she wanted to battle. She wanted to show Narancia what she could do and have some fun in the process.

"He's not here!" Narancia sounded distressed.

"Really?" Rachel couldn't contain the excitement in her voice.

"Yes! It's not a good thing, why do you sound happy about it?"

Instead of answering, Rachel frowned. "Um, Narancia, I think you're shrinking."

"Shrinking? Yeah right," he rolled his eyes. He began to walk around the car still looking for Formaggio. When he bumped into Rachel and saw she was much, much taller than him, he realized that what she had said was true.

"I have an idea," she told him. She disappeared under the car to morph. Her nose pushed out and rounded into a dot, and whiskers sprouted from her face. Her feet and hands turned into little paws, and she began to shrink. A tail shot out of her back end, and white fur covered her body. Her ears rounded and slid to the top of her head. Her legs and arms shortened to become rat arms. When she was fully morphed she crawled out from under the car.

Narancia had tried to get to a pay phone inside one of the stores, but was now too small to use it. Suddenly, Rachel saw Formaggio fly backwards, pressing himself against the parking meter.

Narancia? Where are you? Rachel called. The guy's over here, behind the parking meter!

Though she wasn't able to see the stand, she saw Formaggio's horrified reaction realizing that Narancia had found him. He made a break for the sewer, falling in. Rachel raced to the edge and peered down. A ton of rats were still in the sewer- if she went down there, they'd probably rip her to shreds! Starting to make a break for the car to demorph again, she was distracted by a low growling sound.

"Leave my friend alone!" Narancia shouted. He fired some of Areosmith's bullets at the cat attempting to hunt Rachel, and a frustrated Rachel demorphed under the car. Why was it so hard to pick a good morph for battling stand users?

"I got him now!" Narancia shouted.

But apparently, he didn't. Screw it, Rachel decided, grizzly morph it is.

Formaggio had returned to his normal size, and was interrogating Narancia by crushing him with his shoe.

"Are you going to talk now?"

Coarse brown hair covered Rachel's skin. She began to grow, and her nose and mouth pushed out to form a muzzle. Her hands and feet grew in size just as her fingernails and toenails turned to claws.

"How about I put you in with this spider?"

Razor sharp teeth filled her mouth. The bear's muscles appeared, and her ears grew out of her head, her human ears sucked back into her skin.

Narancia was now in the bottle with the spider, and Formaggio was taunting him. "You're so small that your stand is useless now!"

Rachel, already out from underneath the car, lunged. Formaggio gasped as her teeth sank into his neck, tearing his flesh.

Pick on someone your own size! Rachel told him.

He coughed and spluttered. Rachel leapt back as a stunned Formaggio fell to the ground, missing half his neck.

"It doesn't matter if you kill me," he rasped. "My gang already has intel on where the boss's daughter is!"

"Rachel, get back!" Narancia shouted, now at his full size.

Rachel leapt forward just as the car exploded, and with it, everything they had just bought.

Formaggio burned to death, weakened from the huge chunk Rachel had taken out of his throat along with his severe burns.

"We make a great team," Narancia commented as Rachel demorphed.

She smiled at him. "Yeah, I'd say we do too," she agreed.

"But still, the outcome isn't good. Formaggio got ahold of my map and contacted his gang before he died," Narancia said worriedly, looking at the man's corpse, which was still on fire. "We need to get back immediately."