‹See anything yet, Cassie?› I asked, circling my owl body low above the playground in the southern portion of the park.
‹No,› Cassie answered from the other side of the park. ‹Are you sure I shouldn't try to use my wolf morph to keep searching?›
‹Cassie, you don't have to use wolf for everything. We all have plenty of morphs besides wolf, and we use them,› I suggested softly. I didn't want to rile her up.
She didn't respond to that, but flew toward me.
‹Jake, do you hear that?› she asked.
The sun was pretty much fully down. My owl vision was lighting up the park, but when I listened hard, I could hear some commotion coming from just beyond the tree line.
Suddenly, an antelope burst out of some bushes, clopping quickly over the sidewalk and across the park.
‹Jake! Jake!› I heard Tobias' thought-speak voice calling. I saw him shooting toward us in the sky. ‹He's an antelope, Jake. It's Zenguh! He created quite a scene back there.›
I had guessed that antelopes weren't native to this neighborhood park. Thanks, Tobias.
‹On it, Tobias!› I yelled back. ‹Where's Ax?›
‹I think he may have fallen behind,› Tobias said. ‹Antelopes are freaking fast, apparently!›
‹An antelope can get up to 60 miles per hour,› Cassie offered helpfully. ‹That's a pretty good morph choice for a getaway.›
‹Did we ever get an antelope morph?› I asked both of them. ‹We have so many at this point, it's hard to keep track. Should we keep a list?›
‹I don't think we do,› Tobias said. ‹Some of us have mountain goats, I think. What if we just thought about a random antelope? If we have acquired one, it should work, right? I mean, I don't remember exactly what that raccoon I acquired looked like.›
He seemed to be going off on his own tangent about morphing.
‹Hey guys,› I said, vocalizing my realization. ‹Um, where did he go?›
We suddenly realized the park had gotten quiet again. The three of us stopped talking and looked around. I decided to land for a closer search.
‹Tobias, let Marco and Rachel know we found the Yeerk. As long as we haven't lost him. They should still be at that motel,› I said. ‹Cassie, stay in the air to watch for any trouble. I'm going down there.›
‹Good luck, Jake!› Tobias said, flying away.
I landed behind a rather large metal slide and demorphed. I immediately remorphed tiger. This was an unpredictable situation, and the park was abandoned at this time of night anyway. Plus, I really didn't want this rogue Yeerk to know we were humans. That was the last thing we needed. I hoped Ax was alright.
I saw movement in the bushes ahead. A figure, as dark as the night sky, emerged.
A black panther.
A tiger's eyes are great for seeing in the dark, but the silhouette of the panther was still very difficult to spot in the shadows of the park.
The panther sauntered over to me, almost lazily.
‹The Andalite bandits,› Zenguh said slowly, thought-speaking me directly for the first time. ‹Why won't you leave me alone?›
‹Fighting Yeerks is kind of our thing,› I said, forcing myself to sound cocky and confident like an Andalite should. A wind had picked up, blowing leaves and small branches across the park.
‹I no longer have an interest in the Yeerk war on the humans,› he said, somewhat mockingly. ‹I have far better plans for myself. But I don't need you in my way.›
‹You're trapping humans,› I shot back. Then I bluffed. ‹Whatever your end goal, we can't have that. I have backup all around. You're trapped.›
‹Somehow, I doubt that,› Zenguh responded. ‹There's only so many of you, and you have no idea the knowledge I've gained over the past few days. You can't compete with me.›
We had begun circling each other, too distracted by our conversation to prevent the natural tendencies of the big cats in their pre-battle ritual. However, that last statement brought me to a stop.
‹Last warning,› I said, in what I hoped was a stern voice. The wind abruptly stopped.
‹Have it your way,› came the reply. And he was on me in a flash.
Zenguh was so fast, my cat reflexes were not quite enough to completely dodge the attack. His bite sank into my back right leg, but before I could shake him off, he had let go and moved to the other side. I rolled to avoid the next attack, and scampered under the slide. Zenguh pounded hard on the slide, and the reverberating metal was shrill to my sensitive ears.
He seized the chance to ram into my side with his front paws, and I was on my back. Then Zenguh dove directly toward my exposed belly, but I used the strength of all four paws to absorb the hit and propel him behind me. I raced to my feet and spun around. Nothing.
‹Jake!› Cassie called from above. ‹Jake, behind you!›
Too late. I felt searing pain stretching from my right ear to my front right leg. I staggered.
‹Ahhhh!› I yelled involuntarily.
I blindly swung a paw into the air. With complete luck, I connected with the side of the panther's head. With a roar, he tackled me onto my side, and we rolled down a small hill, biting and clawing and scratching as we went. When we landed, Zenguh was on top of me, and again I was on my back. In the light of the moon, I saw his teeth glisten in a snarl. I heard his thought-speak laughter as he continually went for my neck, and my front legs were quickly growing tired from the effort of holding him back.
‹Cassie…› my voice trailed off. I was focused on the gnashing teeth in front of me. The pain from before was decreasing, but so was my strength. My head was laying in something wet on the ground.
WHAM!
His paw smacked my right eye.
WHAM!
His other paw smacked my left ear.
‹I did not want to kill you,› Zenguh was telling me from afar. ‹But I need you all to leave me alone to my own plans! Stop inserting yourself into my private matters.›
I had enough energy. ‹That's...what...she...said…,› I gasped.
As my vision faded, I saw something shoot down from the sky and collide with the panther's face. And then I saw no more.
