The annoying thing about thought-speak is that I couldn't block out the screaming in my head.

‹I hate your driving!›

‹AHHHH! That's not a lane!›

‹I always beat you at racing games! This is why!›

That last one was Jake, and they were all freaking out because I was driving. Yeah, yeah, I get it. I've had rough experiences in the past, but this was different!

I yanked the steering wheel to haul down an offramp. I turned left at the next red light. There was a line of trash cans on the side of the road.

BAM BAM BAM BAMBAMBAMBAM!

Okay, so it wasn't that different.

It was still pretty cool though. Driving fast through the city at night, following a giant shape-shifting alien monster. I didn't know how Zenguh was doing what he was doing, and I didn't know how fast a FedEx truck could go, but life is full of surprises, I guess.

We were leaving the city lights and heading out into the rural part of town. I was briefly worried that Zenguh was heading in the direction of Cassie's farm, but quickly realized he was headed in a different direction. In the dark, it was hard to make out the building that was ahead in the shadows. Wait, it kind of looked familiar…

‹Hey guys, do you recognize that building up there?› I asked.

‹Marco, we're cockroaches in the dark,› Rachel said sarcastically. ‹Eyesight isn't our superpower right now.›

‹Oh sure,› I shot back. ‹But you could see enough to complain about my driving.›

‹It's the lumber mill,› Tobias interrupted, from up ahead. ‹Remember our wonderful termite adventure? He's stopped inside that building.›

‹What should we do?› Ax pondered aloud.

We pulled up to the mill, and I turned the car off. We were very far from the city, now. The eerie silence of the woods was a jolt, considering the wild drive. Well, "wild" by their standards. I thought it was fine. The group and I demorphed and we sat thinking. We were crammed together in the FedEx truck, listening to the occasional sounds that Zenguh was making inside, which suddenly included a low humming sound.

The humming sound got louder. Hold on...

‹Guys, helicopter, coming in fast behind you!› Tobias warned from above.

‹Battle morphs, now!› Jake ordered. He didn't have to tell me twice.

I went back to my gorilla morph, and Rachel went elephant. Cassie started to go polar bear, and then changed her mind, morphing to wolf instead. Jake became his usual tiger, and Tobias went Hork-Bajir. Ax remained an Andalite. We were ready, I just didn't know what we were ready for.

We ran out to the edge of the woods, where we could still see the opening that included the lumber mill. The helicopter landed outside. Two Hork-Bajir and a Taxxon crept out, very tentatively. In fact, once they heard Zenguh roaring and banging around inside the mill, they turned around and went back to the helicopter out of fear.

Can I go home, too?

‹Go!› came a commanding voice from the chopper. Ah, our good buddy Visser One.

Startled, the three aliens turned back and cautiously approached the door to the mill. The commotion inside had grown louder. I turned to Jake.

‹What do you think he's doing in there?› I asked.

Before Jake could answer, all sounds from within the building stopped, and the silence of the night continued, with only the chirping of insects and the helicopter blades winding down.

And then the door exploded outward. From out of the wreckage came the Jubba-Jubba, only different. He lumbered forward, out of the mill, and I could feel the ground slightly shake beneath me. The creature's mouth was disproportionately larger than it should have been, and part of his feet had the remains of a semi-truck's wheels. Oh, and instead of fists it had giant circular saws that were buzzing like crazy. One of the Hork-Bajir was immediately eliminated. It wasn't pretty.

‹Ah, the almighty Visser One!› Zenguh crowed, while his morph growled with delight. ‹Now you pay attention to me? Here's something to pay attention to: I can absorb Controllers now. How about two minds for the price of one, the Yeerk and the host?!›

He lurched toward the helicopter.

‹Plan?› Rachel asked, looking at the rest of us.

Jake sat down suddenly. ‹No,› he said, looking shell-shocked. ‹Guys, I really don't have a plan. This is insane.›

‹As Marco has pointed out before,› Tobias remarked. ‹THIS is the insane part? Nothing before this?›

‹I agree,› I said. ‹I'm too overwhelmed to even complain about this level of craziness.›

‹Okay then, I have a plan,› Rachel said, quite calmly in my opinion. Oh, right, here it comes.

‹Let's do it! Ahhhh!›

And she rushed out of the brush, trumpeting as she stampeded toward the scene.

‹Well, when you put it that way,› Cassie said.

‹Your girlfriend is crazy, man,› I said to Tobias, and then I rushed out too. The six of us charged toward Zenguh, the Hork-Bajir, the Taxxon, and the helicopter. Immediately, Visser One stepped out of the aircraft once he saw us. The chopper's blades were slowing down, but not enough. Zenguh threw the Taxxon into the rotor blades and its guts went, well, everywhere.

‹Andalite bandits,› Visser One said, sounding resigned. ‹I request your assistance with this Yeerk. He has caused us too much trouble, and I expect you have your own issues with him as well.›

The beast roared. Visser One turned his eye stalks to look at Zenguh, but kept his main eyes on Jake. The remaining Hork-Bajir was slicing and running around Zenguh, keeping him slightly distracted but mainly looking to stay alive.

‹I request a momentary truce,› the visser added.

The Hork-Bajir was decapitated. It was just one wrong move but that was all it took.

‹Visser, I do not know if the seven of us is enough to take him down,› Jake said coolly, trying to sound like an Andalite leader. Zenguh had now turned his attention back to our little meeting.

‹Who said it was just us?› Visser One said, smiling with his eyes the way Andalites do.

Just then, a bunch of cars, motorcycles, and pickup trucks roared into view, approaching from the same dirt road we had driven in on.

‹What do humans say?› Visser One asked, probably rhetorically. ‹"The cavalry has arrived"?›

‹Man,› I muttered to my friends. ‹Now everyone is saying it. Lame.›

Gunshots rang through the air. Dracon beams sizzled toward Zenguh. Controllers yelled as they ran toward the creature. Even Visser One was joining the fray: I guess he was taking Zenguh's defeat as a personal mission. The Yeerks charged, and we charged. It felt like this was going to end, tonight.