Epilogue

My friends and I were all inside of Ax's scoop, waiting for the early afternoon edition of the local news. It was cramped, but that was all right. No one, not even Rachel and Marco, minded being jammed together. It's not often we pull off an out-and-out victory against the Yeerks. We had done that this time. It was almost over. We just had to make sure the loose ends were tied up, which is what we were all doing crammed around Ax's little TV set.

Turned out the others had never really been in much danger. They'd done exactly what Jake and Erek had asked them to – waited until the Yeerks moved on the respective banks, spent just enough time terrorizing them to be believable, then they'd bailed. Well, the bank Rachel had been at would need some work on its lobby…but other than that, it was a fairly clean operation for everybody else.

"Dun dundundun dun, doo doo DUN!" Marco made stupid sound effects to go along with the stupid opening music of the news. I saw Rachel's lip twist like she was about to snap at him…and as I watched, the expression relaxed into an easy smile. That's just a way for you to gauge how good we were feeling – not even Rachel felt like taking the bait and getting into it with Marco. He actually looked a little disappointed.

"Today, the Seaside Stabber is behind bars, say officials from both local police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation," the cheesy-looking guy with the plastic hair helmet behind the news anchor's desk said. "A tip from a reliable source led FBI agents to an undisclosed location in the woods east of the murder scenes." A mugshot of the guy, looking completely insane, popped up beside the news anchor's head, and I suppressed a shudder. "Forty-three year old Arnold Underwood was taken into custody yesterday afternoon. A local attorney, well-respected in the community until his heinous dark side was brought to light, confessed to the murders of seventeen local people, many of the crimes unsolved for years. He has been initially charged with seventeen counts of capital murder and is being held in the county jail without bond."

The guy kept talking, but I stopped listening. Marco slapped Jake a high five. "Seventeen counts of capital murder? He's done. He'll be locked up forever. And that's just if the other inmates don't get to his deranged butt first," he joked.

(Why confess?) I wondered. I wasn't exactly surprised that he had, but I also didn't understand it.

To my surprise, it was Cassie that clued me in. "This way, he gets to be a rock star," she said. She still had that sick tone in her voice. It still hadn't gone away. "He gets the credit for his crimes. In some way, I guess that's what all this was leading up to, before the Yeerks got in the middle of it. He might die in prison, but at least he'll be free." We all knew what she meant. "He'll still get fan mail and marriage proposals from people just as sick as he is."

I didn't want to talk about it anymore, and apparently, I wasn't the only one. Ax spoke up. (Now we know what has happened to this human. Can we not discuss it further? I am not ashamed to admit that the whole subject…well, as Marco would say, it gives me both the Willies and the Jim-Jams. I dislike it very much.)

Everybody laughed. Even I joined in – I couldn't help myself. Marco was the first one to get serious, believe it or not. "That's cool with me, Ax-man. I've had enough of this kind of thing to last a lifetime."

Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and I agreed. Jake checked the little clock on Ax's coffee table and stood to stretch. "Well, just one more thing to do. Ready?"

This was the exciting part. We were actually going to get to see the fruits of our labor, for once. The Yeerks were bringing their new super-Dracons out into the woods to test them. Erek had told us that Visser Three had even called in a specialist called a Stanteen to witness his great triumph. A Stanteen was someone who made sure the far reaches of the Yeerk Empire was maintaining their standards, whatever they are. Stanteens reported directly to the Council of Thirteen, the heads of the Yeerk Empire.

Thanks to Erek, we knew exactly when and where this demonstration was to take place. We got there a few moments ahead of time in the most inconspicuous morph we could think of that would still be able to observe the action – sparrows. Ugh. Obnoxious little things, but perfect for fitting in just about anywhere.

Right on schedule, several Yeerk ships landed and started ejecting Hork-bajir and Taxxon troops throughout the demonstration site. Visser Three ordered some of them to form a loose perimeter, but he wasn't worried about us. Erek had told us that the Visser had believed every part of our charade. He believed that we knew what he wanted and why he wanted them, and that we had tried to stop him from getting his precious diamonds. He also believed that we knew what he would do to the planet after he showed off his new weapons to the Council's emissary. He actually thought we were on our way back to the Andalite homeworld right now, tails between our hooves. He actually believed that, Erek said.

He was excited; anybody could see that as he lightly galloped in front of his line of troops. Six Hork-bajir stood elbow to elbow, each holding the new, advanced Dracon rifle. A smaller, sleeker ship than the Bug fighters landed off to the side, and an elderly-looking Gedd hobbled down the ramp.

Visser Three acted differential to him. (Ah, greetings, greetings! It is an honor for you to join us for this glorious demonstration!) Visser Three boomed proudly at the Gedd, who just looked at him like the whole affair was boring him already. (This is a historic day for the magnificence for the Yeerk Empire! The Council -)

"The council eagerly awaits my – hhhch! – report," the Gedd-controller who was obviously the Stanteen cut him off. "I will observe your demonstration. I will not watch you posture and – hhhch! – pose for hours. Get to it."

Even being talked down to like that couldn't dampen the Visser's good mood. (Very well. Acquire targets!) he ordered. The Hork-bajir pointed their weapons downrange, where several sheets of metal in the shape of Andalites had been scattered. Everyone else was at a safe distance, but they all leaned forward eagerly to see the results of the demonstration. Even the Stanteen had a difficult time looking disinterested. Visser Three made sure he was watching, then gave the order. (Fire!)

At first, all that happened was everything the Visser expected. What looked like a pure wall of solid Dracon energy poured downrange, disintegrating the metal targets with ease. (Yes! Yes! Finally, the Andalites are under my hooves! Yes!)

His celebration was cut short. The Hork-bajir on the end lost his grip on his rifle as it started to vibrate violently. Dozens of aliens hit the deck as the gun bounced along the ground and spewed Dracon energy everywhere like an out-of-control lawn sprinkler for a split second before it exploded.

As that one went off, the others suffered massive failures, as well. Two Hork-bajir in the middle just disappeared in the crackling black hole of the flaargaars. Another rifle hopped a good twenty feet along the ground before exploding in the middle of a group of observing Taxxons. The brave Yeerk soldiers scattered and ran in terror, yelling in their respective languages.

From start to finish, the demonstration had lasted maybe ten seconds. When it was over, I counted at least a dozen gravely injured controllers. None of the prototype rifles had survived. Visser Three was staring out at the scene in disbelief.

"Well done, Visser Three," grated the Stanteen, who was hiding behind the boarding ramp to his ship. "I am impressed, as I am sure the Council – hhhch! – will be." He hobbled aboard his ship, retracted his ramp, and flew away as his ship cloaked itself.

(But – the engineers promised – they said it would work,) Visser Three muttered. He seemed to be in shock. (They…they…aaaAAARRRGGGHHH!) His thought-speech scream of rage rose in volume until it felt like my little sparrow skull was vibrating like the Dracon rifles. His stalk eyes wheeled wildly until they locked on to a group of Taxxons. Without warning, he charged at them, his tail already whipping crazily out in front of them. (It's your fault! It's your fault!) he yelled in some sort of shock-induced psychosis.

We'd seen enough, and the remaining controllers didn't notice when six sparrows flitted away in formation through the trees. They were too busy avoiding their most dangerous enemy – an enraged Visser Three.

I replayed the scene in my head as we flew away, and suddenly, I started laughing. It was funny – sue me. Hysterical, actually. I actually felt lightheaded as I flew through the forest, laughing away in thought-speech. I noticed the others were all laughing as hard as I was. It was all just so darn ridiculous. I landed on a small branch before I could smash headfirst into a tree and die from laughing too hard. The others all perched in the same tree.

I can't tell you how long the six of us stayed in that tree, just cracking up, but it was a while. Finally, as we were all winding down, Jake said, (Oh…oh man. That was great.) He tried to get the giggle out of his tone, and succeeded after a minute.

(My dad's at work,) Marco said gleefully. (I say we go over there, order about ten large pizzas, and watch some tube.)

(Yes! Pizza!) Ax agreed immediately, which started another round of laughter. We all followed Marco as he turned west to head toward his place.

(We got him. We saved the world and made Visser Three look like an ass, all in a forty-eight hour period,) I mused.

(Saving the world is good and all…but I'd trade my next year's worth of allowance to see the look on Visser Three's face again, I wouldn't even have to think about it,) Cassie laughed.

One time, Marco had told me that it's the little things that keep him going. The stupid little things that made him laugh that kept him sane, kept him in the fight. At the time, I'd thought he was just a silly little kid who didn't know what he was talking about.

Now I know better. He was right.

Author's Note: Thank you again to everyone who reviewed throughout this fic! I hope you all enjoyed it! I want to say a special thanks to these people: kimjledford, Sweetbriar, chlorinehamster, wredan, Theanimorpherz, jurjid and iris129. Knowing that you guys would review it if I posted it made finishing this one a treat to work on. I hope to see you over for the second half of Ax's fic, The Revenge! Oh, and just because this one is finished, don't think I don't want any more reviews! I might just end up writing these canon stand-alones until the day I die, and if I do, any comments on this fic and the others like it will be so helpful and appreciated! Thanks again, everybody! Hope you had as much fun as I did. :D

-Shane C