CHAPTER 8: Yeerk Pools and Inspirational Speeches

(MIKE'S POV)

"Is that you Tobias?" Marco demanded. "I thought we weren't going to do anymore of this morphing."

--I never agreed to that.-- Tobias pointed out.

--Neither did I.-- I confirmed.

"Well, better morph back you guys," Jake warned. "You know what the Andalite said – never stay in any form for more than two hours."

I started to morph back, but I saw Tobias hesitate. Maybe it was because he hadn't figured out how to morph clothing yet; but it was most likely because he really enjoyed being a hawk. It was times like this that I suspected Tobias was planning to become a Nothlit all along. He didn't have any parents, and his aunt and uncle didn't really care about him. As a human, he didn't have much going for him. Maybe there was someway I could change all that.

Even so, after a few moments he hopped onto Jake's bed and he also began to change, just as I was starting to feel the effects of my own disturbing transformation.

I could feel my own bones crunching, twisting, growing, and rearranging themselves inside me. I looked down at my arms just as my feathers were sucked back into my body. I felt my beak softening, and my tongue growing between my half grown teeth.

About halfway through my demorph, I looked over at Tobias and saw similar changes happening to him.

Tobias' feathers merged together and turned pink, almost like they had been turned into melted wax. His beak became a set of lips, and his talons split into five and became toes. Then two tiny, shrivelled arms protruded from the front of his chest with fingers like a newborn baby. All in all, it was a pretty disgusting sight. And what made it worse was the knowledge that similar bizarre changes were happening to me.

Two minutes later, I finished demorphing. Tobias was less experienced so it took him a minute longer. After we had finished there was a moments silence before Tobias spoke.

"I haven't figured out how to morph clothes yet, like Mike and Cassie," he admitted sheepishly. "Can I borrow some of yours Jake?"

Jake loaned him a pair of trousers and a shirt, but just like in the book, his shoes were all the wrong size.

"It doesn't really matter about the shoes; we can fly out of here anyway." I pointed out.

"Tobias, how exactly did you get that hawk morph?" Jake demanded.

"There's an injured hawk in Cassie's barn," Tobias told him. "There was this cool Osprey too, but I picked the hawk."

The three of them then got into a conversation about DNA not being affected by injuries, and how cool being a bird is. Eventually we ended up on the subject of Yeerk pools.

"Mike and I were searching the town to see if we could spot a Yeerk pool." Tobias said.

I had discussed the Yeerk pool thing with Tobias earlier. I lied and told him Elfangor had given me an 'information burst' too so that's how I knew about them. Fortunately, he believed me. For a while I was afraid he was going to suspect me of being a Controller.

"I think I remember that Visser Three guy mentioning them last night," Jake recalled. "What is a Yeerk pool?"

"It's where Yeerks live in their natural state," I jumped in before Tobias could start. "Every three days they leave the host body to feed by soaking up Kandrona rays."

Jake and Marco both shared a suspicious look, which was to be expected since they obviously had no idea what I was talking about or how I had obtained the information. Thankfully, Tobias stepped into to clarify what I had told them.

"At the end," he explained. "When the Andalite told us to run for it, we stayed behind for a few seconds. I guess we didn't want to leave him like that."

I froze.

That wasn't what he said in the book! I thought, concerned. Is my presence in this universe already starting to alter certain events?

Tobias continued his explanation, interrupting my confused, panicked, thoughts.

"Anyway, he gave us… visions, I guess you'd call them. Pictures and information. A lot of it all at once. All jumbled. We haven't even started to sort it all out yet. But we do know about the Yeerk pools and the Kandrona."

Marco held up his hand, silencing Tobias.

"Let me check the door," he said.

He went over to the door and peeked out into the hallway.

"All clear," Marco announced.

Tobias gave Marco a questioning look.

"Tom," Marco told him. "He's one of them. That's what Jake and I were arguing about when you guys dropped by."

"Don't make me hurt you," Jake warned him angrily, looking him in the eye. "Tom is not a Controller."

"Either way we should be careful," said Tobias. He lowered his voice slightly. "The Kandrona is a device which produces Kandrona particles. You see, it's like a portable version of the Yeerk's home sun. The Yeerks need Kandrona particles to live, just like humans need vitamins or whatever. The Kandrona particles are beamed from wherever the Kandrona is and concentrated in the Yeerk pool. Once every three days, all Yeerks must leave their hosts to swim in the Yeerk pool. They then soak up these particles and then re-enter the host body."

"What does this have to do with you flying around playing Superman?" asked Jake.

Tobias and I exchanged a slightly embarrassed look.

"Well, it seems kind of dumb now, but we were thinking maybe we could spot a Yeerk pool." He made a rueful smile. "We saw plenty of swimming pools and a couple of ponds; you get up there and you realise there are ponds, lakes, and streams everywhere. But we didn't see anything unusual."

"And if you did find one of these 'Yeerk pools?'" Marco demanded. "Then what would you do?"

"We'd blow it up," Tobias said confidently.

"Wrong," said Marco. "I thought that we had already decided not to get into this."

"No, actually we decided not to decide yet," Jake pointed out.

"Well, I've decided," Tobias announced.

"Suddenly the wimp is a hero," Marco sneered.

"Maybe I just found something worth fighting for Marco," Tobias replied.

"And he won't be alone," I said standing up. "I'm not going to let Earth go down without a fight!"

Marco turned to look me in the eyes.

"Maybe you don't know this guy too well Mike," he said, pointing at Tobias. "But he won't even fight to defend himself, let alone this planet!"

"That was before," Tobias told him softly. "Before the Andalite. Before he died trying to save us. I don't know about you Marco, but I can't let that go; I don't want his sacrifice to be for nothing. So whatever the rest of you guys decide, I'm going to fight."