A/N: This is slightly AU as I gave the Animorphs all of the morphs that they acquired throughout the entire series, but set it before the yeerks knew who they were. And thanks to all of my reviewers! Wanted to let you know I appreciate people like you, even if I can't personally respond to every review. Reviews are the fuel that keeps my pen writing and my fingers typing. If you want this story to be finished and you want to be thanked, please review! This story also has no pre-defined ending, so any good suggestions you make in your reviews could change the whole direction that it's headed. Probably should have called this Author's Paragraph, but, eh, who cares? Read on...

TOBIAS

I wafted lazily over the treetops, making wide circles around my meadow. It was a nice, sunny day, and the thermals were beautiful. No flapping required whatsoever. You have no idea how sweet that is.

I casually scanned the ground. There! My sharp hawk eyes caught the flicker of movement in the grass. A squirrel! I went halfway around my circle, and then let myself drop. Hurtling towards the grounds, talons raked forward, I closed in on him.

The squirrel never knew what hit him. I had made sure that I was flying towards the sun, and he didn't see my shadow until it was too late.

Human mind and hawk body, I thought, tearing into the juicy flesh. A formidable combination.

Clop, Clop. Clop, Clop.

I recognized the noise. Rapidly finishing my meal, I flapped into my favorite tree just as Ax leapt into view. I was glad I had heard him. For some reason, I always feel guilty eating in front of him, like I was it was my fault that nature had designed the hawk to be a predator. He ate grass, and I killed and ate living, breathing creatures. Yeah, Tobias, I thought, Nothing to be ashamed of.

(Hey, Ax-man.) I called. Ax looked up at me with an Andalite smile.

(Hello, Tobias.) Ax greeted. (I am glad that I found you. Prince Jake requires us to be at the barn in fifteen of your minutes.)

(Ah-) I was about to comment that it was everyone's minutes, but decided it just wasn't worth the effort. (Never mind. Get you feathers on and meet me in the sky.)

I took off, aiming towards Cassie's barn. Pretty soon, a northern harrier wafted into the air a few hundred yards behind me. We flew in silence, both of us wondering about the meeting.

After a while, we drifted over a large, muddy field, where Cassie was working. The sad thing is, she was stomping around in the mud in what she usually wore: Overalls.

(Hey, Cassie.) I said lightly. (Fine line between work clothes and play clothes, huh?)

Cassie looked up and waved, showing she wasn't offended.

(Actually,) A voice called out above me. (The last time I checked, it was a hi-contrast black-on-white line, with warnings every five feet. And I heard they were redoing it so that it glowed in the dark, too.)

I glanced up, and saw a majestic bald eagle soaring overhead. Rachel, of course.

(Didn't they put up those little yellow signs that say 'Cassie crossing'?) An osprey said, swooping out of nowhere. (She crossed the line so much that they just gave in. They put those up so that the fashion police didn't drag her away.)

(Who is this they that you speak of? Who are the fashion police?) Ax wondered.

(They're people who would report us to a loony bin if they saw our morphing outfits.) Marco explained, deciding to answer Ax's second question. (Frankly, I would report us, too.)

"If we're done talking about our wardrobes?" Cassie said pointedly, motioning towards the barn. "Jake's waiting."

(Oh, no, we have kept our leader waiting!) Marco exclaimed, swooping inside. (Our heads will roll!)

I flapped in after him and landed on the rafters. Jake was indeed inside, resting on a hay bale. From his expression, it looked like Marco wasn't far off the mark.

"Where have you been?" He said, leaping up. "This is a serious emergency!"

(What's wrong, Big Jake?) Marco asked mockingly, his features beginning to melt.

"Jessie is gone." Jake snapped.

"Sha uuwwuu ongh!" Rachel growled. Her mouth was a half formed monstrosity.

(That is the human female dressed in deceased cow skin, correct?) Ax asked.

I'm the one most used to Ax lingo, so I got it first. (The chick in leather.) I translated.

"Yeah, Cassie talked to her last night." Jake growled. "Found out a bunch of stuff."

"So, you were having yourselves a girly sleepover." Marco pouted. "Why wasn't I invited?"

Cassie ignored him. "It wasn't exactly a party. She was very hostile, and also a very good actor. It was hard to get much out of her."

"Come on, let me see your toes." Marco laughed, tugging playfully at Cassie's boot. "I'll bet they're sparkly pink."

"Marco!" Jake snapped. "Focus. We need to find her, and fast. She had a big head start, but her dose of pain killer should be wearing off, slowing her down."

(Unless she's not moving under her own power.) I said, speaking what I thought was the obvious.

Evidently not. Jake turned around slowly to look at me. "What is it that you're suggesting?"

(Well, she's an escaped host.) I said slowly. (Surely the yeerks would want to get her back. Maybe they kidnapped her?)

"I need a way of knowing for sure." Jake said, pacing up and down. "Anybody at all?"

(Prince Jake,) Ax said, speaking up for the first time. (If somebody kidnapped this female, they would most likely leave a scent.)

"Yes!" Jake said, pointing at Ax. "Great. Anyone with a dog morph, do it. Everybody else, stand to the side."

I fluttered down to the ground and focused on the German Shepard DNA inside of my bloodstream. I felt the changes begin, and watched them on Jake and Marco.

Jake started off with this strangely awesome golden coat of fur shooting out of his skin. Then he dropped onto all fours as his joints reversed direction. His nose turned black and leathery, and his fingers melted into his hands. His eyes turned a golden shade, and then his face stretched out to form a snout. All in all, it wasn't as disgusting as it could have been.

"Wow." Cassie nodded, evidently agreeing with me. "We must be getting better at this. That didn't look half as bad as normal."

(Uh-uh.) Jake shook his head. (Don't say that. I'll bet my demorph makes everyone barf.)

"Don't worry, Marco." Rachel said. "You still looked ugly."

(I didn't hear you saying anything about Tobias.) Marco shot back.

I realized with a start that I was already German Shepard. I guess that their morphing distracted me.

(Let's go, Tobias Holmes!) Marco said, with a little poodle yip. He began sniffing around the barn.

I followed suite, and was amazed with the sophistication of the dog nose. It was like watching a security camera videotape, only in smells. I knew exactly what happened.

(This is awesome!) I said. Me, Marco, and Jake relayed information to them, like a doggy style play-by-play.

(This Cassie smell is stale, that means she left at around 9:30.) Jake said.

(Uh-oh.) I said, gagging. (I smell Taxxon.)

(Probably the hunter Taxxons.) Ax commented for the sake of Cassie and Rachel. We already knew that from the smell, and were too far gone in our doggy world to clarify.

(Getting a strong, concentrated Hork-Bajir scent.) Marco said worriedly. He followed the smell over to the ladder, and then tried to scramble up it. (Legs are too short. Care to give it a try, Tobias?)

"Legs are too short?" Rachel cracked. "Guess you must feel right at home, Marco."

(My German Shepard is too heavy.) I said. (This task goes to the Jake man.)

Jake agilely raced Homer's body up the ladder. (Hork-Bajir stops halfway up, Jessie smell meets it. I'm guessing she went to the Hork-Bajir.)

"Or she could have been forced." Cassie reminded Jake. "Maybe the Hork-Bajir pointed Dracon beams at her."

(Yeah.) Jake leapt down from the ladder with a grace that belied his dog body. (That explains the mixed Hork-Bajir/Jessie smell I've been smelling near the doorway.)

(I'm getting a smell of leather under moderate friction.) I said, sniffing madly.

"Leather under moderate friction?" Rachel laughed. "You guys sound like the dog equivalent of nerds."

(Dragged.) Marco said suddenly.

(Pardon?) Ax asked.

(Her boots dragged across the floor!) Marco said, letting out an excited poodly yip. (She was dragged, and her boots were dragged on the floor. She was kidnapped, guys. And I sure don't need this nose to figure out where.)

None of us did. Jessie was being taken to the yeerk pool.

RACHEL

Jake is a smart boy. He makes millions of life and death decision on almost a daily basis, and somehow we are all still alive. If I made a list of the smartest people I've known in my life, Jake would probably be at the top.

Unless I wrote it at this very moment. Then I would be so overwhelmed by the stupidity of the decision he had just made that I would probably stick him second to last. Dead last is reserved for Marco. See, we had to get to the yeerk pool in a hurry, and only one thing would cut it: A car.

That would be fine and dandy, but Jake decided who would drive. You guessed it: Marco.

(I still don't see why Marco gets to drive.) I grumbled, powering my eagle wings. You see, Cassie's parents had taken the car to go to this animal reservation convention. Don't ask. We were looking for a car that we could, err, 'temporarily borrow' .

(I still don't think we should steal some poor person's car.) Cassie snapped. (You know Marco is just going to total it.)

(Exactly!) I crowed. (So why don't you back me up, Cassie? Why shouldn't I drive?)

(Marco. Has. Experience.) Jake said.

(Well, he obviously leaves it at home when we go on missions.) I snorted. (What's your next excuse?)

(Marco has a humanoid morph that can take a lot of damage.) Jake said impatiently. (You would have to drive as a human. Let's say that Marco crashes, which he probably will. He as the driver will take the main impact, but he'll be a gorilla and live. If you drive, you have a far less chance of crashing, but if you do, you have a far lower chance of surviving. Marco has a 100 percent chance of crashing and a 100 percent chance of living. You have around a 50 percent chance of crashing and a 50 percent chance of living. That's a twenty five percent chance that you die. Not acceptable.)

(I'm being punished for being competent? But what if he flips over and we all-) I began to argue, But Cassie shushed me.

(Don't bother.) She laughed. (This is why Jake's failing math class.)

(Actually, Prince Jake's math is correct.) Ax said. (It is the statistics where he is wrong. Rachel has about a thirty-five percent chance of crashing, and a forty five percent chance of survival. It is more of a twenty one percent chance if you take in the average of motor accidents-)

We all laughed and flew on. I let it drop, and we all relaxed. We immediately tensed up again as Tobias called, (There! Those four kids are getting out of that big mini-van!)

(Swarm! Swarm! Swarm!) Jake bellowed. It worried me that I didn't know whether he was joking or not.

TSEER! Tobias screeched, and shot out of the sky. We all dove after him, hurtling like arrows at the ground. But we were like blimps compared to Jake. He shot past us all, screaming his battle cry.

TSEEER! The four teens barely had time to look and widen their eyes in surprise before Jake was on them. With perfect precision, Jake snatched the car keys right of a big blonde boy's hand.

(YEAH!) Tobias yelled, looking like he was about to burst with pride. (That's my boy!)

By then we had caught up with Jake, and the kids were running away at full speed. Except one of them, a greasy looking punk with red hair and pale skin. He reached into his pocket, a murderous look on his face.

Controller. I'd bet my life on it, Except it's not good to bet things that you might lose in the next few minutes.

I hurtled towards his face at breakneck speed. I was betting my life that I could reach him before he pulled out that dracon beam. Okay, I don't follow my own advice. Sue me.

He whipped his dracon beam out and pointed it at me. I was too slow - I wasn't going to make it! "Andalite Bandit!" He mouthed angrily, and squeezed the trigger.

TSEER! A Peregrine Falcon slammed into the dracon beam. I didn't know how Jake had gotten there so fast, and I didn't care. I cranked hard to the left, Jake knocked the dracon beam to the right, and it missed me by so little I felt the heat go whizzing past.

I hit him with my talons outstretched, right in his face, leaving bloody tracts. He screamed and dropped his weapon. "I'LL KILL YOU ALL, FILTH!" He bellowed. I dug my talons in tighter, and he bellowed.

(Rachel!) Cassie yelled. (Let him go!)

I ripped my talons out and fluttered over to the car. (Let's get out of here!) I said, perching on the back of the seat.

(Agreed!) Marco said, beginning the fastest demorph to human he'd ever done. He finished just after Cassie. He paused for a moment, and then began another rapid morph to gorilla. We all knew how hard it was to do rapid morphs, and one after the other must have practically killed him. I was impressed. Of course, I didn't let him know that.

"Hey, no need to hurry. I'm in no rush for this joy ride." I said, half joking. "The longer you take to morph, the longer I get to enjoy life."

(Sorry, Xena, but I feel the need...) Marco said. We all groaned as Marco finished. (The need for speed!) His foot hovered above the gas pedal. Then he turned and looked at me. As a matter of fact, everyone was looking at me.

"Whoops. Almost forgot." I said. I forced the wild, crazy grin they've come to expect onto my face. "Let's do it!"