The group continued on the boat ride. Narancia and Tobias were the lookouts. Rachel and Cassie went into the turtle to keep Trish company.
Sex Pistols were whining about food, even when Mista tried to calm them down, and when he failed, he asked Bucciarati if they could stop for a bite to eat.
"I don't think we should," Jake said. "Too risky."
"It couldn't hurt," Bucciarati disagreed. "We haven't eaten all morning."
Jake noticed Abbacchio glaring at him, probably wanting to yell at him for acting like he's the boss, but he couldn't because Bruno was right there.
The group stopped at a restaurant and discussed their next plans, with Bucciarati explaining that they had to be careful. Mista, Narancia, and Abbacchio beat up a guy who Narancia had accidentally spilled his wine on.
"If only he had reacted that quickly when Formaggio was threatening him," Rachel muttered.
The animorphs watched in shock until Abbacchio told the other two to "pump the breaks" on their assault, as the man was just an innocent bystander (besides the fact that he had threatened Narancia for spilling the wine on him). After that, the conversation turned to Trish, who came out of the turtle to express her willingness to help with the efforts to find out her father's identity.
"I appreciate your concern, Narancia," Trish said, as he had expressed unwillingness to involve her in the situation, as she was the real victim, "But I need to find out whose blood is coursing in my veins!"
Abbacchio stepped toward the girl with a fond smile. "Looks like you're wrong about her, Narancia," he said. "She's tougher than she seems."
"Maybe I was projecting," Narancia said with a sigh. "Although the further we go into this mission, the more I lose hope." All of the sudden he called out, "We've got company guys!" He sent out Aerosmith to blast his soup bowl to pieces.
Bucciarati gave out orders immediately. "Giorno, get Trish back in the turtle! Abbacchio, guard right! Mista, left!" His team got in position.
Everything happened so quickly and the animorphs were at a loss of what to do. Narancia tried to talk but couldn't, as his tongue had been ripped out. Then he started suffocating. Bucciarati, Mista, and Giorno knelt down beside him in worry.
"Do you have a pen?" Giorno asked.
"Yeah, why?" Mista asked, pulling one of his boot.
Giorno stabbed Narancia in the throat. Uncapping the pen allowed him to breathe again. Cassie watched, impressed and relieved by Giorno's quick thinking. Soon he was sitting up and coughing.
"Are you alright, Narancia?" Bruno asked.
"I'm fine," Narancia answered.
"Can you give us any intel? Who are they? How does their stand work?" Bruno asked.
As Narancia talked and his teammates started asking about the stand, Cassie noticed Narancia looking surprised and frustrated. Mista was getting frustrated as well with Narancia's answers since he kept contradicting himself. Bucciarati decided that the team would stay and hunt down the enemy.
"The enemy's over there!" Narancia blurted out, pointing.
"Inside the restaurant's bathroom?" Abbacchio asked.
"Animorphs, will you guard the turtle?" asked Giorno.
"Sure," Tobias answered.
As the other gang members went into the restroom to investigate, Narancia began to cry angry tears. Cassie frowned. Obviously there was something wrong with Narancia. Jake noticed this, too.
"We have to do something," he muttered. "I have a feeling they're being led into a trap. Maybe this stand is like a Yeerk and can control someone."
It hit Cassie like a train. "I don't know how Narancia will feel about it, but I have an idea."
"What is your idea?" Ax asked.
Inside the restroom Mista said, "I'm not picking up on anything."
"We need to figure out this bastard's identity," Abbacchio said determinedly.
Suddenly Narancia burst into the restroom, running toward the sink. Abbacchio had called out his stand, but Narancia burst into the stall and began peeing in the toilet before he could reach it.
"Have you lost your mind?" Abbacchio snapped. "Bucciarati, I think this was all in Narancia's imagination. If we're looking for the enemy, we should start back at the table." They walked out of the restroom.
"You need to get a frickin' grip, Narancia," Mista told him. "This kind of bullshit could derail everything we've worked for." He walked out of the restroom as well.
Marco walked in, cupping something in his hand.
"We want to apologize in advance," Marco said. "But can you come over here, Narancia?"
He stepped backwards, his hand over his mouth. That was when Giorno noticed the blood pouring down Narancia's finger.
"Let me heal that for you," he offered.
Rather than let Giorno do that, he used his stand to shoot bullets into the wall. Using the heat from the melted metal, he stopped the bleeding by burning it.
Giorno cautiously approached. "Narancia, I haven't known you long, but I can tell something is forcing you to act like this. That's why you can't give a straight answer. It's the enemy."
Marco stepped closer to Narancia, uncapped his hand by Narancia's ear, and stepped backwards.
"What was that?" Giorno asked.
"Cassie in Yeerk morph," Marco replied. "We're thinking she might be able to overrun the stand by taking control of Narancia's brain."
"It's worth a shot," Giorno agreed.
All of the sudden, he was thrown back and there was a gash in his neck. Marco stared in horror while Narancia yelled out Giorno's name. He was sinking in a puddle!
"Stand in the puddle, Marco!" Narancia yelled. Marco stepped out of the puddle, knowing that Narancia was still affected by the stand. Cassie hadn't had enough time to reach his brain just yet.
Narancia called out Aerosmith to try to take care of the stand, which was teleporting Giorno where there was water- on the floor, on the wall where water was leaking from, everywhere. And then it got away with Giorno.
"Son of a bitch! It's not picking up his breathing. It got away from me!" Narancia cried out in frustration.
Sorry, Narancia, Cassie's thought-speak came from inside his head. I took control right at the moment you tried to fire.
"Cassie? Where are you?" Narancia asked, panicking.
I'm in Yeerk morph. In your head. I think I've managed to fight off some of the stand's effects by taking control. I'm sorry I had to do this, it's an invasion of privacy.
"I'm a Controller right now?!"
"Not completely," Marco said. "Cassie is letting you have some control of your body."
I'm fighting off the effects of the stand and it's taking a lot of energy, so you're free to move as you please, Cassie told Narancia.
Narancia found Giorno in the sewer, and he and Marco took off inside the restaurant to track him down.
"Thanks to Cassie's help, he won't get away!" Narancia declared.
It was interesting to Cassie to finally be able to see a stand, seeing through Narancia's eyes and with his mind. She could see Giorno's body in the fish tank, and see not only Narancia's stand flying above it, but the shark-like stand with its fangs in Giorno's throat. It disappeared again, flitting between vases on tables before it disappeared out of the radar.
You should aim for the pot, Cassie said, leading Narancia into the empty kitchen. Narancia felt a shock as Cassie took total control of his body. She let go and he let Aerosmith blast the pot, knocking it over. Sure enough, that was where the shark stand was.
I'm going to get ready to blast this bitch off of Giorno, Narancia was thinking.
No, Cassie interrupted. Do you smell that? It's gas! If you shoot you'll blow up the place!
"Lucky for us then that I don't have to shoot anyone to get that bastard!" Narancia replied. He sent Aerosmith after the stand, its spinning nose blades injuring the stand and the stand user itself by default.
"Guys!" Narancia shouted. "The enemy is in here!"
The gang and the animorphs came running. This time, the gang could see that Narancia wasn't lying. Mista lifted his gun.
"Don't shoot, Mista!" Narancia said. "Can't you smell the gas?"
Mista lowered his gun. "Oh, right."
"Narancia," rasped Giorno weakly, "Find the stand users. Eliminating them will eliminate the stands. Is Cassie still in your head?"
"Yeah, Cassie's still there," replied Narancia. "She took total control of me to get me in the kitchen. Man, I see why it's so horrible to be a real Controller."
Giorno, Cassie said in thought-speak, we'll save you.
The shark stand disappeared again. Cassie took control of Narancia and they followed the radar of his stand. It was picking up heavier breathing.
Something distracted Cassie from controlling Narancia- none other than the Visser himself in human morph.
"Cassie, help me out," Narancia said under his breath.
Sorry. I see the Visser- he's still tracking us, Cassie said. I hope the other animorphs don't come over here.
Tobias's private thought-speak entered their heads. Cassie, Narancia, I see them. One of them is bleeding. They're to your right! And I see Visser Three, too.
Cassie impatiently moved Narancia away the Visser and toward the stand users. Narancia prepared to fill the bleeding guy full of holes since he could clearly see him now, but the other guy noticed this and jumped in the way of the bullets. The enemy dropped to the ground, dead. The other stand user glared at Narancia.
"You killed him!" He raged. "I'll kill you for this! Die, bastard!" The shark stand moved to Narancia's throat, freeing Giorno, who was laying unmoving in a puddle a few feet away.
Tobias swooped down, catching the enemy stand user in the eyes. He swooped up out of the guy's range.
"I can't see!" growled the enemy.
Narancia silently thanked Tobias and rammed the guy with his stand's nose blades. He collapsed, dead. Narancia ran towards Giorno.
"Giorno, wake up," pleaded Cassie with Narancia's mouth. She could feel his worry about Giorno along with her own. Finally, Giorno opened his eyes.
"You saved me," he coughed. "Both of you."
"And Tobias," added Narancia.
With the enemy defeated and no one from their team dead, Giorno healed himself and Narancia. In the restroom, Cassie slid out of Narancia's ear canal and demorphed. Then the animorphs and the gang went back on the boat, headed for the airport.
It's a good thing we got out of there, Ax said inside the turtle. If you saw Visser Three, that means he's following us. It's only a matter of time before he attacks.
"We'll be ready. We have no choice but to be," Bucciarati said darkly. "We have two enemies now."
The boat ride became silent as everyone thought about what that meant.