I opened my eyes. The air was full of dust, and there was debris everywhere. I was bigger than I expected. Oh, right. I was still an elephant, and there had been an explosion. I looked around for Cassie. I wanted to stand up, but I didn't want to step on her.
It occurred to me that I had never seen an elephant lying down before, so I didn't know how they would get to their feet. The intricacies of standing up lost importance when I saw Hork-Bajir and human-Controllers with Dracon beams running in through the smoking hole in the wall. I'd have to learn how to stand up in a hurry.
I saw the Yeerks pointing and shouting in my direction. I felt like a turtle trying to stand up. I got my feet under me, but I weighed so much. Every moment that this was taking was agony. Give me a break, gravity. I was almost to my feet, when I was hit in the forehead by a Dracon beam. It tickled. I guess they don't shoot a lot of elephants with them. Still, it made me mad, and I felt the bloodlust swelling back up inside of me.
This was going to be fun.
Then I remembered: Zenguh!
Where is he? I thought.
I looked around and saw Zenguh, in the form of the frazzled blonde woman, hiding behind the boxes he had landed in earlier.
‹You're not getting away!› I yelled. I punctuated the thought-speak with an elephant trumpet that made her fall over backwards. Just then, I was hit in the butt by another Dracon blast. It hurt more this time. They must be adjustable. I started trotting after Zenguh, but another blast hit me in the back of the leg. That did it. That was the straw that broke the…well, it was about to break all of their backs.
I turned and charged at the Controller holding his weapon out. I grabbed him with my trunk and threw him. I didn't expect him to leave a man-shaped hole in the wall. Very Looney Tunes. I let out another trumpet, but it came out in bursts because I was laughing. My mood was soured when I was shot again. Let's see if I can do the same thing, but with the ceiling this time.
I wrapped my trunk around the most recent offending Controller, and threw him upward, toward the warehouse ceiling. It was a two story room, and I just didn't have the force necessary to send him through the roof. I was starting to really hate gravity. However, when the Controller landed, I felt confident that he wasn't going to shoot at me again.
Right! Gotta catch Zenguh! I turned again, and saw that the room had filled with people. Human- Controllers, Hork-Bajir, and a tiger! And a gorilla! My friends were here!
‹You better not take out all the good ones!› I yelled happily.
‹I wouldn't dream of it!› Marco yelled back. ‹Go get 'em, Xena!›
I took a few more steps toward Zenguh, who was now creeping along the perimeter of the room, avoiding both the battle and the people chained to the walls. I noticed a Hork-Bajir cutting people down from their chains. If these Yeerks thought they were taking these people, and turning them into Controllers, they had another thing coming. It was going to have to wait, though. I put it on my mental to-do list.
Out of nowhere, a Hork-Bajir took a flying leap at me, trying to slice at my trunk. I moved it out of the way just in time, and charged him as he landed. I knocked him down, but two more of them jumped on me. I shook and shook, but they dug their sharp wrist blades into me, and hung on. I slammed one into the wall, and he let go. When I recovered my balance, I saw that I was surrounded by six human-Controllers with Dracon beams trained on me.
"Andalite bandit! Demorph and surrender!" one yelled.
I trumpeted, just in case they were dumb enough to think I was a real elephant. Unfortunately, this group was not.
"I repeat: Demorph and surrender!"
I didn't think I could take them all out before they got a few hits in, and who knows how high these guys had their Dracon beams turned up? If they hurt me too bad, I'd have to demorph, and risk them seeing that I wasn't an Andalite.
‹That's Zenguh!› I pointed with my trunk at the frazzled blonde woman. ‹That's who you're here for! Help me stop him, and then we can talk about this.›
"Demorph!" he practically shrieked, ignoring me.
He wasn't going to listen. I hung my head in a sign of defeat and compliance. I slowly bent my knees, just a little, to give the illusion of shrinking while I stalled for time.
Suddenly, I heard the sounds of metal being torn apart, and saw a couple of wrecked Dracon beams clatter across the floor.
I heard Tobias's voice. ‹You're clear!› he said.
I thanked him, and looked for Zenguh again. I saw him scrambling into the walk-in freezer.
‹Jake, he's headed for the freezer!› I yelled. I knew he was somewhere in the room.
I laughed to myself and then called out to the Controller, ‹I thought you were supposed to be smart, Yeerk! You're trapped in there until this fight ends, and no matter who wins, they're gonna want you dead!›
He closed the door, pressed his face to the little porthole-style window in the door, and yelled something to me. I couldn't quite make it out. I must have subconsciously moved an ear closer to him, because he yelled it again, and this time, I understood.
"I am smart!"
He turned from the window, and I lost sight of him. Then, I lost sight of the entire walk-in freezer, as it turned invisible. The area where it had been started to rumble, and I saw chunks of the building that had been attached to it start to break off, rise a little, and then fall to the ground.
The walk-in freezer was invisible and…flying? Had he built his own spaceship?
Oh no. He's getting away. He's actually getting away again.
And he knows what I look like.
