November 13, 1999 6:32 PM
Rachel
I flew down and demorphed. I remorphed to Elephant. Bailey! DiPatri! I need Buffalo Cover! Full Arsenal!
Bailey and DiPatri were both fast morphers. Not estreens per se. Their morphs were as ugly as the rest of ours, but they were fast. Speed was essential when morphing on the front line. They morphed buffalos and they were each outfitted with a large AM-III Cannon on their backs, which they could control with thought-speech, and only their thought-speech. Another one of Captain Hunting's brainchildren. Bailey and DiPatri joined me.
Disruption Sparks on my signal. Bailey, you get the Poly-pendage. DiPatri, hit the Reaper.
Poly-pendage and Reaper were code-names we used for the various types of Morph-slayers. Poly-pendage was called that because it was a ten-foot monster with six arms and almost uncountable number of tendrils, tails, and tentacles, each with a horrible weapon or purpose.
The Reaper looked a lot like the Grim Reaper, and even had a scythe-like blade coming out of the wrists. It made Hork-Bajir blades look like pocketknives.
One of each was attaching Captain Hunting. The Captain had removed one of the Reaper's arms and several of the Poly's tendrils. McCabe was slashing and biting at the head of the Reaper.
Take care not to hit the Captain or Lt. McCabe. Ready? Fire!!
Baily and DiPatri fired off two Disruption sparks, which looked like giant yellow sparks. They hit their targets and instantly, the two machines stopped moving for some time. Enough time for me to smash the Poly with my tusks and for McCabe to rip the CPU out of the Reaper's head.
You okay, Captain? I asked.
What am I . . . . .? Where . . .? Oh shit! The Captain said. He seemed lost. Disoriented. He clutched his head like it hurt.
Captain? asked DiPatri. Her voice sounding like she was addressing her father, even though Hunting was a year younger than her.
Captain Hunting! said Warrior Millu–Yosti–Cranshtaw, an Andalite, over the communicator. Bug Fighters above the Dis-Field. Dracon Weapon powering up.
Power up, Anti-Dracon Shield. Captain Hunting commanded.
Anti-Drac shield down. said the Warrior.
The Captain looked at us. We're gonna have to take care of them ourselves. How many?
Three.
I can see them. said Lt. McCabe. He was in Leopard morph.
Wait. Hold on. Captain Hunting said. I heard the familiar sound of squishing eyes.
Captain Hunting was piece-morphing. It was a technique he invented. While still in some overall morph, a morpher could demorph part of his body and have it remorph into something else. Actually, Cassie Verenda was the first to do it. The Captain only developed it.
Captain Hunting often did this to give some morph, like his Hork-Bajir morph, better night vision. He usually picked eyes of the Barn Owl.
I see them too. He said. He gave attack vectors. Bailey and DiPatri fired at the fighters. Two went down.
The Captain ripped open the Poly-pendage and took something out. It was its Dracon Beam. Capt. Hunting then fired it at the remaining Bug Fighter and destroyed it. I would have been impressed if this was the first time I had seen him do it.
The Captain then did something strange. He plopped the weapon down and said – like he was very tired – "Let's get back to base."
The Captain was never tired. I mean, he got tired, obviously, but he never let his speech show it. He sounded almost defeated, but we won. We achieved our objective. We activated the sensor and concealed it from the Yeerks. Even a squad of Morph-slayers and three Bug Fighters couldn't stop us. Why did the Captain sound so tired?
We all morphed to Bat, the ten of us, and flew back to base. Capt. Hunting led the way like he had a hundred times before, but when we got there, he said This is our base?
Yes, sir. Carmen DiPatri said.
It's the construction site where Prince Elfangor met with General Berenson and the other Original Animorphs. said Daniel Finn. Including Lt. Berenson and Lt. McCabe.
Right. I knew that. said the Captain. We landed and demorphed. The Captain forgot to debrief Big Y, so McCabe did it for him.
We were off duty now. I could call him Marco. Anyway, Marco gave me this meaning full look before he went to see War-Prince Yevon-Bevel-Yuvice, or Big Y, the 'leader' of the operation. Meanwhile, I had grabbed a shredder from the Armory, annoyed that I had tried to fight that last battle unarmed.
Something was wrong with Hunting. He wasn't acting himself.
I found him in his trailer. We started using Trailers as Officer's Quarters. As if they were movie stars or something.
"Captain? Is anything wrong?"
"You recuited me." the Captain said. "How did I come to outrank you?"
"The Andalites gave you that title. Don't you remember?"
"Right. After I organized them." He said as he left his trailer. He seemed to take in the destruction around him as if seeing it for the first time. "It got this bad? How did it get this bad?"
He knew this story. What was going on? One of those Morph-Slayers may have messed up his memory, but that sounds so Power Ranger!
I humored him. "The five of us, the original Animorphs, fought a covert, secret, guerilla war against the Yeerks. It was going fine, until the Empire stumbled upon their existence. Unbeknownst to us, the Empire sent secret task fleets to destroy the Central Yeerk Pools in England and the Empire's territories here in North America. It backfired horribly."
"So Jake steps up and tells the Emperor." The captain interjects.
Nobody calls him Jake. Everyone calls him General Berenson. Yes. "That's what General Berenson did. The Empire immediately appointed the men to command positions. We girls were sent back to the American Colonies. With General Berenson and the others protecting the Central Isle, someone had to protect the AC's."
"So you recruited us. Thirty-two of us." The captain continued. "Then the Andalites came."
The Captain walked outside of his trailer and seemed to take in the surroundings. "Open war. This is the result of open war."
That's when Capt. Hunting did what he normally does. Walk briskly to wherever he needs to go.
But where does he need to go? We had no new mission. I followed him as he made his way to the mess hall. He stopped at one of the tables. There, some of our soldiers were eating.
I watched as Captain Hunting lifted the table up and threw it far. The soldiers who were eating, mostly humans but some andalites, backed off like scared, confused rabbits. The Captain morphed.
He became about seven feet tall with sharp razors for claws. He was a dull yellow color with four small eyes and two large ears. His morph also had two clawed dog-like legs and a tail.
I recognized this creature. It was a digging creature from the moon of an uninhabited planet. I forgot its name though.
Captain Hunting began digging in that spot feverishly. I had never seen this kind of action from him. He did things that were at times reckless and brutal, but this seemed almost insane. Why, the hell, was he digging in the middle of our mess hall?
"Captain? May I ask what you're doing?" I said.
Don't bother asking, I'll answer anyway. I'm fixing time.
"Um . . . what?"
I can't expect you to understand Rachel. Hell, I don't understand it. Too many Davids. Too many mes in me.
"What?!" I said as I thought He's lost it. He's finally lost it. After all the battles, he's finally lost his marbles.
Big Y, along with more Big-Wigs. An Apex-level agent for the Andalite Intelligence named Sumika-Kelcro-Kinozc and his little toadie Semar-Unsea-Gwadornt rushed in with Marco. I mean, Lt. Cabe.
Captain, may I ask what you're doing? Big Y said.
The Lieutenant already asked. I answered her. Don't bother me.
I was shocked. The Captain mouthed off to Big Y! He never does that. Okay, I take that back, but he never did it with such contempt before.
"He said something about fixing time."
"The Captain has finally lost it, Commander." Marco said.
'Fixing time'? Sumika repeated. He then stepped up and pulled his Shredder out. He then addressed Captain Hunting like a criminal! Captain Hunting! I command you by order of the Apex level of the Andalite Intelligence to cease and desist all actions!
Captain! You will do this at once! Big Y shouted.
I found it! Captain Hunting shouted.
Semar! Sumika commanded.
Semar began to morph. He was an estreen, so he was fast. He became a large flying insect. An insect that was the size of a house with huge bladed pincers. The flying monster flew toward the hole in the ground where Capt. Hunting continued to work feverishly.
Before I knew it, I had drawn my shredder and fired at the large bug.
Lt. McCabe! Commander Yevon shouted at me.
"Rachel!" Marco yelled as he ran to me. Several Soldiers, human and andalite had now drawn shredders and pointed them at the small area where myself, Marco McCabe, two unmorphed andalites, a wounded, morphed andalite, and a large hole now stood. It was unclear which soldiers were aiming at whom, but they all looked nervous and they all awaited a signal.
Marco had come to me. "Are you crazy? Firing at an Agent of the Andalite Intelligence?"
"You said it yourself. 'We lose Hunting, we lose the war.'"
"If Hunting is nuts, than we've already lost."
"You're being negative again."
"I am not!"
Lt. McCabe! Seize the traitor. Commander Yevon shouted. Seize her, or you will be charged too.
Marco looked at me. I knew what he was thinking. After Tobias died, I was doubtful I would fall in love again. Least of all, Marco. He too, was surprised by his growing romantic interest in me. He had returned to the AC under the Empire's orders. The Empire wanted someone they trusted around Commander Yevon. When we finally admitted our love for one another he said I would be the death of him. I never told him about my brief affair with Hunting. The Captain doesn't like to bring it up. Neither do I, for that matter.
But I still trusted Hunting. I knew that he had a purpose for whatever he was doing.
I looked back into Marco's eyes, and his eyes answered me. He morphed into Gorilla.
Hunting. He said privately. You better have a damn good reason for this. Then to Big Y and the others. Sorry, Big Y, but I won't turn in some of the greatest damn soldiers of the Empire to you aliens. I work with you and I respect you, but I was never your vassal. I do what I do for the good of the Empire. Now and forever!
Foolish Human! Sumika shouted. Do you not know what Hunting has found?
Marc Antony! Get down here! Hunting shouted to Marco. You too, Cleopatra!
Marco grabbed me with his gorilla arms and jumped down into the hole that Hunting made. We landed on a rounded off-white surface. David was demorphing. Big Y and Sumika were coming for us.
What the hell are you doing, Hunting? Marco yelled.
"Touch the sphere and keep your minds blank." Hunting said.
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"Go somewhere and take you two with me. You did say you wanted to chaperone."
What? When did I say that? Chaperone where?
"Here we go again!" Hunting said.
Noooo! Sumika shouted. He found the Time Matrix!!!!
And suddenly we were no longer in hole at our home base.
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The Plot Bunny that wouldn't Die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next chapter will be the end of the MM4 Arc, I promise.