I almost forgot to update this. Alright, guess what? It's spring break! Yay! Meaning I'll probably have a ton of time to write. Cross your fingers guys. Enjoy and review!

Chapter 7

I was out for less than a minute. I was floating on top of the water. Air.

((Secure all the entrances! Nobody comes in or leaves. Nobody will be infested! If what the Taxxon said is true, Tobias could be anything. Anything. Look for small creatures. If you see anything, bring it to me. Do not kill it. Unless ordered otherwise, nobody moves. If the child is not captured in the next two hours, whoever is responsible will die by Kandrona starvation.))

It was weird hearing him call me by my name. Usually it was "kill the Andalite bandits!" this or "capture that bandit!" that. Hearing my name made it even more real. And scarier.

There was a splash and a tsunami sent me tumbling back. A yellow flash passed rapidly by my compound eyes. Taxxon. Splash. Another wave sent me crashing into it. I crashed into something red. One of its many feet. If you could call them that. I held on. It was nearly impossible.

((Tobias?)) I nearly let go.

((Dad?)) My voice was shaking. The Taxxon submerged. I was underwater.

The shock of hearing his thought speak "voice" was almost as strong as the feeling of pure idiocy I felt after responding. Don't answer.

((Tobias? Oh man… You really are in morph. How is that even possible? The morphing power isn't passed down through the genes. You had to- when did you touch a morphing cube?))

What did he mean it wasn't passed through the genes? He had the morphing power once? Him or my mom. I couldn't give him anything. I couldn't reply. It'd be suicide. How was he thought speaking? Oh, right. Duh.

If the Taxxon didn't surface in the next five seconds, I would let go and get air myself. I was not going to drown in the Yeerk pool.

My dad was an Andalite. Visser Three said so. How had I missed it?

The Taxxon (or the part I was on, anyway) emerged. I'm guessing it took a breath. Then it went right back under.

How had it happened? You thought speak when you're in morph or if you're in Andalite. We're the only morph capable non-Andalites. My dad was a morph. He was an Andalite in morph. Or at least was an Andalite. He trapped himself in morph. He must have. There was no way he could have demorphed every two hours for years without somebody noticing. How had I missed it?

He was a genius, for crying out loud! He laughed whenever he read my science textbooks, and put my algebra teacher to shame. One of his coworkers once told me that he had potential. It was like if he had secret abilities and was hiding it. His brains could allow him to be a millionaire. The arrogance. The claustrophobia. The pride. The over protectiveness. How did I miss it?

((Tobias? Tobias, please answer me.)) I didn't.

The Taxxon shot out of the pool and didn't go back in. Were we out?

((So? Did you find him?))

The Taxxon must have said no because suddenly there was a strong wind, and I felt myself falling. A horrible stench filled the air, and if I had been human, I would have puked. He cut the Taxxon in half.

((Fools! All of you!))

I jumped off. The Taxxons were cannibals and you really didn't want to be near one that had been chopped in half. All the other Taxxons would run and devour their fallen comrade.

((Tobias, answer me!))

There was desperation in my dad's voice. I barely avoided being squashed by Taxxon feet.

I was soaked so I couldn't fly. I had to crawl and hope I wasn't noticed. I couldn't demorph and I couldn't walk out through any of the exits without being fried by one of the Gleet BioFilters. I could not, under any circumstances, draw attention to myself. I would die. Or worse.

It was nearly impossible to ignore the stench of Taxxon guts. However, after reaching the conclusion to never be in fly morph near a skunk, I located the second worst smell in the pool. Bingo.

I crawled in its general direction. Besides spying and being small, the only thing the fly was good at was finding poop. That was probably the only time I encouraged its hunt.

((Child, turn yourself over and I'll spare your parents' lives.))

I considered it for about a second. Just a second. My parents were everything to me. I couldn't let them die. But no. He needed them for something. Something important. I could only hope that whatever it was, was more important than capturing me. If I was human, I would have cried.

((Tobias… Where are you?))

My parents knew about the Yeerks. The realization suddenly hit me hard. They knew. My dad was an Andalite. They despised the Yeerks, and they knew how dangerous they were. They bowed to annihilate them. So why the hell didn't he ever do something!? And my mom. Humans were her people, as far as I knew. And she just sat down and watched them be turned into slaves.

All this damn time I'd be risking my ass to save their sorry butts, and they did NOTHING!

I was cut off of my ranting when two large fingers suddenly wrapped around me and picked me off the ground. I froze. A cupped hand enveloped me and I was suddenly surrounded in darkness.

No. I was captured! My fate rushed before my eyes and I started to shake violently. I wouldn't be infested; I was too small. I wouldn't be killed; I was too valuable. I'd be tortured and interrogated. I could almost hear myself screaming. I wouldn't survive it. I wasn't strong enough. I would give up my friends and they'd be infested and the world would be doomed. I wanted to die so badly. It was the best choice.

((No!)) I cried in panicked open thought speak. ((Let me go! LET ME GO!)) It sounded like if I was crying.

"What the?"

"The child!"

Everyone heard me. I didn't care. I was doomed.

"I saw him! He's over there! He's demorphing!" What? What?

((Tobias! Tobias answer me!)) I was pretty sure my dad actually was crying.

There was noise everywhere. It sounded like a stampede. All the while I was screaming, demanding to be released. Suddenly, movement! I bouncing around cupped hands and later I realized that the owner of the hands was running.

((Get him! Get him! Where is he!?)) I could only imagine the panic in the pool. Later I'd understand that this saved my life by helping my capturer slip by unnoticed.

There was light, then darkness, and I was in an even smaller space. One hand was wrapped around me. I was being squashed! But, no. I heard the familiar sound of a doorknob and a door closing. The hand opened. Light!

((TOBIAS!))

"You are one lucky bug," a voice said. "Look at you, not even a wing ripped off." I remained silent. "What, you aren't answering?" But I wasn't listening. The smell of crap was overwhelming. The fly was in heaven. Was this the- I almost laughed. I hated the irony. "You know, you can talk to me. I won't hurt you. It's in the YPM pledge. We wouldn't even hurt a fly."

The YPM. The Yeerk Peace Movement. The anti-slavery Yeerks. Our allies. The relief was almost too much to handle.

((Are we in the restroom? Please tell me we're in the restroom. Are we clear?)) I hopped off.

"Yes and yes. We're in the restroom. Really? Is this really what you're going to do? You do realize these are probably your final moments, right?" I was demorphing fast.

((Turn around. My fly morph is the grossest. Don't look. And of course not you-)) My mouth formed. "-moron. Restrooms have pipes that lead away from here. An eel could travel through those pipes." It was actually Marco's plan. We'd tried to do it once. It wasn't successful.

"Genius. Why have you guys never tried it before?" The YPM Controller was a black headed guy a few years older than me. As soon as I was human, I started my transformation to eel.

"Long story. Look I nesjdgh," my mouth wasn't a human mouth anymore. The guy turned around. His green eyes widened.

((I told you not to look. Look, I need you to flush me down the toilet.)) He laughed.

"There's something I never planned to hear." You can't roll eel eyes.

((Technically, you're not "hearing" me. Now pick me up, genius.)) Sorry, I was annoyed. You can't blame me for being cranky.

"You're a very rude child. Didn't your parents ever teach you manners?" It was a fresh wave of pain. I guess he realized what he said. "I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to say that."

"Visser! There's noise in the bathroom!"

((Well, open it you imbecile!))

((Crap! Pick me up!))

"Tobias…" His voice sounded terrified, but I didn't notice.

((What!?))

"Nothing, never mind." I felt strong hands lift me and I was moving. The door opened.

"You!"

I fell into a puddle of water. It wasn't just water.

((Dude!))

"Consider it my last prank. Good luck."

There was a loud flushing sound and I was out of there. However, not before I heard my dad's voice in my head.

((It all starts in the construction site, Tobias.))