‹You are all fools,› Zenguh taunted me as he flapped ahead of me in the air. ‹You all possess a great power, and you waste it on saving a race that typically ruins themselves.›
‹Zenguh,› I pleaded. ‹You need to stop this. Your actions are simply deplorable.›
‹Ah, Ax the Andalite,› Zenguh continued. ‹How I would love to acquire another Andalite body, this time the brother of the famous Prince Elfangor. Even to bring you into my ever-expanding mind would be hugely beneficial.›
‹There is only one Abomination, and there will only be one Abomination,› I muttered indignantly, referring to Visser One. I tried to ignore how much he knew about my family.
More and more lights were appearing below us as we left the rural area and headed into town.
‹Ah, yes,› Zenguh said. ‹Andalite pride. Speaking of pride, mine is still hurt that I could not retrieve my morphing shard from you and your friends. But no matter, I have an alternative nearly complete.›
I didn't know what to say to that. Did Zenguh have another form of morphing technology? Impossible! Although, who knew what he had done and what technical knowledge he had obtained while this vile Yeerk was on my home planet.
‹An alternative?› I asked.
‹Of course!› he replied. ‹Until the nothlit revealed that you had regained the shard, I thought I would never see it again. After getting a taste of this power, I could never stop! So, I've developed something new. And in the meantime, I attacked you for being in my way. I'm brilliant, you know.›
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
‹Yes, I know they are all following us!› Zenguh suddenly exclaimed.
My friends had mentioned that Zenguh had been prone to sudden outbursts since his return to Earth. I had a theory I could test.
‹Ax, you doing okay?› Rachel asked from some distance behind me.
‹Yes, Rachel,› I answered. ‹Thank you for checking. I'm still following Zenguh.›
I turned my attention back to the kafit that flew ahead of me. He seemed to be headed in a predetermined direction, otherwise surely he would pursue aerial combat. He clearly had the morph advantage. My harrier eyes were having a difficult time seeing details in the darkness, even with the increasing quantity of lights from below.
‹Zenguh,› I addressed him. ‹How many minds do you have within your own?›
‹Several,› Zenguh sneered. ‹So many that I have lost count. I should be approaching five hundred.›
I nearly dropped out of the sky. Five hundred. That was an extraordinary number of captives inside Zenguh's mind. I felt sicker than when I came down with the yamphut virus.
‹I expect every one of them can hear me,› I said, trying to regain my composure. ‹I also expect that the more minds you have, the more distracting they can become.›
‹Shut up!› Zenguh shouted, and I saw him dip in the air before recovering and continuing on.
‹A friend of mine was a Controller once,› I continued, happy that I was taunting him. ‹He said that he had nothing to do except bother the Yeerk in his brain. It was very distracting, and eventually helped to free him.›
‹Enough!› Zenguh spun around in midair, and nailed my harrier body with his claws. I dropped through the sky, and Zenguh was in a nosedive above me. However, I had time to flip my bird body over and straighten out just before coming into contact with the sidewalk below. After landing gently, I laid on the cement, tired from the constant flying and the most recent maneuver.
I watched Zenguh zoom past me and into a building with a red neon sign that said "TGI Friday's". As I was suddenly on the ground, I was farther from my friends in the air than I expected. I sent out a test thought-speak, but heard no response. Our distance must have been too great.
I did not understand the significance of TGI Friday's. I had some knowledge of human timekeeping, but to my knowledge, buildings and days of the week were unrelated. I would have to ask Marco. Luckily, the street was abandoned at this time of night. After some time, I demorphed to Andalite and followed Zenguh into the building. I tested another thought-speak out into the night air, and again heard no response. I hoped my friends would find me soon. I did not know if I could take Zenguh in one-on-one combat, but I could at least determine "what he was up to," as Prince Jake would say.
Many of the objects within the building had been pushed to one side in a haphazard pile. That was not the focus of the room, however. I hid beneath the bottom of a glass window that separated the room I was in from the room where I could see Zenguh. He was almost finished morphing from kafit into the form of some poor human captive we had yet to witness.
I hid for what seemed like hours, watching Zenguh's every movement.
‹Ax?› I eventually heard Tobias thought-speak. The group must be near! ‹Ax, you around?›
I responded to Tobias with my location, and continued to watch Zenguh. He was standing with his back to me, tinkering with many, many tools and instruments that were strung about on a few tables. Electricity flashed from various items, and tubes with bright colors glowed brightly in the dim light. Humming and zapping sounds filled the air. Farther back against the wall, I saw a few people chained up. The setup was very similar to his headquarters at the ham shop during our last major encounter.
"I did it," Zenguh said out loud to no one in particular. "I think I finally did it! Much sooner than I expected! Ha-HA! Morphing shard or not, I will still have the power!"
I quietly walked through a door frame to enter the main room where Zenguh was experimenting. I did not know what he thought he had accomplished, but it seemed prudent to find out.
As I stepped closer, trying desperately to keep my hooves from echoing in the large room, I watched Zenguh suddenly grab two thick cords, one with each hand. And at that moment, a bright bolt of white shot through Zenguh's body, and a resulting vibration shook me to my knees and very nearly knocked me unconscious. Through the multi-colored haze that suddenly filled the room, I woozily kept my stalk eyes on Zenguh. The rest of my body was concealed behind a large table that had fallen over in front of me. The light was receding and I could make out Zenguh's silhouette through the glare.
He looked...different somehow. I could not tell if it was the impact of my head hitting the pavement, or something about the energy from his experiment, but he looked...blurry and indistinct. Like an image from a primitive human video camera that was not quite in focus. I did not have to dwell on it, for Zenguh sprinted to one of the walls of the building. In the process, he became, incredibly, the Jubba-Jubba morph that Tobias had described as attacking him in the night. I had heard of the creature from Andalite folktales and children's stories, but seeing one in person was another matter entirely He punched through the wall with an enormous, three-fingered hand, and was gone into the night.
