CHAPTER 13: Hell hath no fury like a Yeerk Pool

(MIKE'S POV)

"Okay, listen up guys," Jake whispered. "We need to find a secluded to place to morph. Until then, just try not to attract any unwanted attention from-"

"Hey! What are you kids doing over there?"

I almost rolled my eyes as we turned to face the anonymous controller. Even without reading the books, I could've seen that one coming. The controller seemed really suspicious of us for some reason; I could tell we would have been in serious trouble if it weren't for the large African Elephant emerging behind him. An angry African Elephant. I almost pitied the guy as a long grey trunk hurled him several metres into a very solid wall.

I didn't recall that being in the book.

That's when all hell broke loose in the underground city. Rampaging elephants tend to have that kind of effect on people.

As I crouched down low, hidden in the shadows, I wondered if enraged Elephant attack was the only method of attracting attention down in this underground labyrinth city. The thought made me smile for the first time since I entered this living hell.

I noticed Marco growing fur and Jake growing a tail and decided that I should morph already. After all, I thought darkly. Thanks to my mistakes, we don't have any time to waste.

I thought back to that moment of terror when I had reached out to touch the Jaguar; remembering his eyes, whiskers and fur, but also his strength, confidence, and courage. Back then, he had become part of me. Now he was going to become me. I closed my eyes and concentrated, imagining what it would be like to be the Jaguar, just like the days not so long ago when I had only imagined being an Animorph.

The Animorphs always claimed that morphing never occurs in the same order, but even the Andalites never explained why. I guess even the 'Almighty Andalites' don't know everything about morphing. Either way, I knew it was true after morphing the Harris Hawk several times. Sometimes my feathers grew in first, other times they were the last thing to change. One thing was for sure, I knew that becoming a Jaguar would be quite different.

I was right.

My head was the first part to start changing, but there no fur at first. The first sign of change was a strange itching sensation I felt, which turned out to be my- or at least the Jaguar's- whiskers growing in. My eyes suddenly grew sharper, as the Jaguar's night vision was far superior to my own. My ears became pointed, and began to slide up to on top of my head. My hearing also improved, allowing me to hear my canines extending and my own skeleton rearranging itself.

I was forced down onto all-fours and my spine continued to stretch outward, eventually growing an unmarked tail. It was only then that the familiar pattern of the Jaguar's fur began to spread, as if somebody was drawing pieces of artwork on me which somehow became three-dimensional.

I now had fur, teeth, paws, and the supreme confidence of a super predator. I had become one of nature's most beautiful, yet deadly, creatures. I was fearless, intelligent, and powerful. I didn't just look like the Jaguar, I was the Jaguar.

But you're also Human, I reminded myself. And Humans have intelligence and free-will, which makes me stronger than any other Jaguar.

With my new heightened senses, I observed our battle field. Rachel and Jake were beating back groups of Hork-Bajir and Taxxon, whilst Marco was ripping open cages. Tobias had already swooped down and given Cassie the opportunity to escape. And I knew that Visser Three would be turning up any second to crash the party and turn the tide of this battle.

Okay my Jaguar friend, I thought as I leaped in to strike a huge Hork-Bajir warrior who had targeted Jake. Let's go kick some ass!

One of the strangest things I have ever experienced is the feeling I get when my mind co-exists with the animal's mind. Our instincts work together to achieve my desired goal. It's almost like playing a computer game in that sense. My mind decides what I want to do and presses the buttons on the control pad to make it happen, but it's still a computer generated character which performs the actions I could never do alone.

However, there was one main difference. This was no game, it was very real. It was me who was leaping at a six-foot tall bladed alien with my teeth plunging into the neck of the enemy and severing the arteries in its neck. It was me who could smell the blood of a creature not meant for this planet, and it was certainly me who felt the pain as the doomed warrior struck a final blow to my shoulder with his dying breath. In reality, this was nothing like a computer game.

After that Hork-Bajir fell, I turned to face a group of Taxxons who were blocking Marco's path to the cages. Taxxons, although easy to kill, are very deadly in large numbers. Marco was in trouble unless he got help soon.

I unleashed a deafening roar and swiped at the leg of a male Human Controller, who hit his head on the cavern wall and fell into unconsciousness (I could still hear his breathing). I then dived at the wall of Taxxons and struck at their vulnerable balloon-like bodies. As Taxxons burst open around me other Taxxons arrived to take their place, but they were distracted by their hunger and began to feast on their fallen comrades. Some of the exploding Taxxon guts landed on me (gross!) but if any other Taxxons saw me as an easy meal, they would soon regret it as I continued to slash open more of the Taxxon Controllers.

--Forget these worms Marco, head for the cages! I'll hold them off.-- I told him. --Taxxons are cannibals, so if any get in your way, just pop one and the others will ignore you.--

--How the hell do you know that Mike?-- Marco demanded as he continued to swing his fists at the Taxxon blockade. --You write a report on alien worms in Biology? I must have missed that class!--

--It doesn't matter how I know; you just have to trust me on this one. Please just go free Tom and the others!-- I begged.

I'm not sure if he truly believed me or not, but he ran towards the cages nonetheless. He began tearing the locks off the cages with his giant Gorilla fists and releasing the captive hosts while I dealt with the remaining Taxxons. It's very difficult to feel pity for giant cannibalistic worms who willingly became slaves to a race of evil parasites. Of course killing them was hardly necessary, I just sliced open a few of them and their hungry friends finished them off. I guess it's hard finding a loyal friend when you're a Taxxon.

After disabling the Taxxons, I headed back over to the main battle area to help the others defend against the remaining Hork-Bajir and Taxxons. I spotted a Horse in amongst the crowd and knew that Cassie had escaped the clutches of the cop Controller. That was a relief at least, as I would never have forgiven myself if my intervention (or lack thereof) had caused Cassie to end up dead, or worse.

We seemed to be doing pretty well for the moment, but I knew it would be short lived. It was only a matter of time before Visser Three showed up and the chaos really started. Before that happened, I intended to do as much damage and save as many people as possible.

I leapt at another Hork-Bajir warrior and sunk my teeth into his neck, it was not something I enjoyed but it was perfectly natural to the Jaguar part of me. The Jaguar's predator mind set knew that the neck was always the best target for a quick kill. However, I was still pretty new to this morph and my blow wasn't as deadly as it could have been; the guy wasn't going anywhere for awhile but there was a good chance that he'd live. At least he might have, if he hadn't suddenly found himself with a smouldering stump where his arm had been. Hork-Bajir are tough, but very few species can live through losing a major limb after having their throat ripped apart. The Hork-Bajir Controller dropped like a ton of bricks, giving me a clear view of the person who had fired the Dracon Beam. I instantly learned that the Hork-Bajir might not have been the intended target.

The shot had been fired from one of the Yeerk Pool lounges, a more relaxed area than the rest of the place where only voluntary hosts were permitted while their Yeerks fed in the Pool. Some smart Controller had come up with the idea of using the sofas to barricade the doorway while firing wildly at anything which looked like a threat. Most of them weren't having much luck as they clearly had very little experience with the particle weapons. However, the girl who had shot down the Hork-Bajir was obviously better trained, as she had come within a metre of hitting me. She had a cold, ruthless expression on her face and when I saw her eyes I could tell she had shot down the Hork-Bajir intentionally to get a clear shot at me. If Jaguars could show emotions, I knew that the shock and anger would be displaying on my furry face. The girl was barely older than me, with long blonde hair and emerald green eyes.

It was Erika, a voluntary Controller of the Yeerk Empire…

It was the Jaguar's instincts which saved me by forcing my body to dive behind a section of the cavern wall as Erika took another shot at me, which I barely avoided.

How could I have been so stupid?! I thought angrily.

I had suspected from the start that she was a Controller, especially after finding out that Tom had followed her to a Sharing meeting. I had even heard her talking to one of her friends saying that she had plans for tonight, the very same night that many full members of the Sharing would be coming down into the Yeerk Pool to feed. Yet I had still held onto the hope that she was just a normal girl. And for what reason? Because she was pretty? Because she had pretended to like me? I couldn't believe that she had fooled me so easily, but I wouldn't let her do it to anyone else. This would end tonight.

I dived around the corner and raced towards the lounge where Erika and the other voluntary Controllers had taken up firing positions.

TSSEWW! TSSEWW!

Erika fired two more shots at me with her Dracon Beam, but I was moving as swiftly and erratically as I possibly could to avoid being hit. The first shot hit the wall behind me and the second shot hit one of the escaped hosts who had been running for the stairs. It shocked me to see no reaction from Erika as she shot a fellow Human being. How could any teenage girl (one who didn't even have a Yeerk in her head at the moment) be so cold and indifferent to the suffering of others?

I let loose a deafening roar as I approached the lounge, and was pleased to see fear in Erika's eyes. Unfortunately, fear didn't seem to have affected her aim much and I was a lot closer to her now.

TSSEWW!

A hit! The Dracon blast burned a nasty hole in my shoulder, causing intense agony as it scorched away skin and fur. The Jaguar part of me felt the pain just as much as the Human part of me, but unlike the Human, the Jaguar was more enraged by the attack than it was scared. I snarled with fury and swiped with one of my powerful paws, sending Erika's hand-held weapon flying into the Pool. I admit a wave of smug satisfaction flowed through me as I saw the look of shock, terror and rage on her face.

"Curse you Andalite scum!" She screamed at me. She might have tried to yell something else if I hadn't knocked her to the floor with my paw.

As I stared at the poor excuse for a Human being lying at my feet, time seemed to stand still for a few seconds. Up until that point, it was the longest moment of my life. This girl had thrown her life away, voluntarily giving her mind, body and soul to a brain stealing slug. She had casually betrayed her entire race, her whole planet, to a race of evil parasites. She had even killed without remorse right in front of my eyes. In that moment, I decided that if anybody in the universe deserved to die, it was her…

… But I sure didn't have it in me to become her executioner.

--Consider yourself lucky Yeerk.-- I told her before knocking her senseless. I doubted she'd be unconscious for very long, but I figured it would be enough time for me to escape. --And I am so not calling you back by the way.--

Feeling a lot more relieved now that Erika had been taken care of, I turned my attention back to the war zone in the main area. The freed Humans were screaming and running, the Controllers were doing everything they could to restore order, but weren't having much luck thanks to the small zoo wreaking havoc everywhere.

And then he appeared…