Sorry that this took awhile but I messed up in a few places and that needed to be corrected. There still might be flaws so I am deeply sorry if there are.

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I wanted to demorph and go to her but it was as if I was glued to deck. Finally I was able to do something. I sat down.

/Marco, don't do anything stupid./ Jake whispered to me. /Stand up if you can. We can't allow them to figure out the truth./ /Marco,/ Tobias whispered. /That's isn't your Mother in a sense. She's one of them./

It was all a lie. I realized. The frayed safety line and the fact that there was no body. There was never a body to find.

/Why Visser One,/ Visser Three nearly sneered. /You seem to be afraid of the humanoid one./ "It's called a gorilla." My Mother's voice said coldly, devoid of the warmth that I heard so ofter in it.

"If you're going to be in charge of the invasion you should learn about the creatures that live on it." She informed Visser Three coldly.

/And take a human host as you did?/ Visser Three asked with a laugh. /I think not. Humans have no natural weapons and are rather slow when it comes to moving./ He paused for a moment before continuing. /I would think that you would rather have a Hork-Bajir host again/

She than said something too softly for me to hear and Visser Three's tail twitched in a manner that I didn't like.

The group wearing gold hands moved for their weapons and the reds did as well; giving each other death glares the entire time.

/They don't like each other./ Cassie observed.

/Of course not,/ Tobias said. /The red either means that they're not going to survive the episode or that they're in command. If the later is the case then the golds are still bitter that they no longer are in charge of the ships and they'll probably die in the line of duty./

/Actually each color denotes which Visser that they serve./ Arbron said.

The next thing I knew Visser One was snapping her fingers and walking away with a group of gold troops.

We all watched her go.

We turned our attention back to Visser Three. He seemed unsure a few minutes before turning back to us. /Eight Andalites, should I have you tortured, or should I simply have you infested?/ He asked almost maliciously.

/And have more abominations like you Yeerk Filth?/ Ax demanded. /I would rather die by my own Tail Blade then die by your hand./ Anji whispered with bravo I know she didn't feel.

The Visser cocked his head to one side. /A female Aristh? Last I knew your kind weren't welcomed in the Andalite Military./ He said with derision.

/You've been out of the loop too long./ Arbron said calmly. /Prince Arbron-Bantec-Deroma,/ Visser Three said with interest. /Are you looking for your missing friend? Elfangor is never coming back./ He sneered.

If I hadn't know better I would have thought that the Visser butchered someone's name.

The Visser than turned to his troopers. /Escort them to a holding cell. They can't stay in morph forever. In less than two hours they will begin to feel the urge to demorph and that will only get stronger as more time passes until their bodies force them to demorph. I want them guarded at all times so that they don't escape./ With that that he turned and walked away.

A large group of Hork-Bajir Controllers came forward and waved their Dracon Beams at us until we started moving. Anji seemed just as lost for words as we were; but somehow I knew that it wasn't from fear.

We were led down the corridors of the Pool Ship until we reached a area that seemed devoid of people. A door opened and the Hork-Bajir pointed their Dracon Beams at us and said something that I guessed meant get in.

We entered and the door closed behind us.

/You met Visser Three?/ Jake asked Arbron after a few moments. Arbron nodded his leopard head. /We went on a mission together before he was taken./

Anji was as silent as a rock.

Silence fell a few moments later and at least I thought about how we were either a) going to get out of this or b) what was going to happen if we couldn't. If I never came home then my Dad would really go off the deep end.

/There has to be a way out of here!/ Anji said, breaking the silence first. /We might be able to morph into ants, find a crack and get out./ Cassie suggested. /We could just attack them when they open the door./ Rachel commented. /And charge them./ Arbron said thoughtfully. /Yes, it would be better to go down fighting then be infested./

Suddenly the door opened and there stood a few Hork-Bajir dressed in gold uniforms; at their feet there were our guards on the deck.

The leader of the little band turned to us. "You must go down this corridor that way." He said and pointed to his left, our right. "Once you reach the end go right and then continue until you reach a security station. You are to go left then take the drop shaft to deck 23. There will be an escape pod waiting for you there; it will be the only one that is open. It will take you back to where you were captured. Some of you might need to demorph." He finished

it was then that I realized that not only was he speaking perfect English, like he'd gone to Harvard or Yale or one of those schools, but that he seemed to be helping us.

/Internal Politics./ Arbron said softly to us. /If we escape it makes Visser Three look bad./ Then he turned to the Hork-Bajir and nodded. The Gold Hork-Bajir turned and left.

After they had been left Arbron led us down the corridor. We met some Controllers on the way but we quickly got rid of most of them.

The drop shaft was an interesting experience, it was just a shaft in a wall that dropped. The worst part was that were was no floor. If I had been human I would have thrown up.

Once we got in the escape pod we automatically ejected it.

We all demorphed since it was a tight fit. Once the escape pod landed we quickly morphed into birds and flew away and it self destructed a few minutes later.

We flew to the Scoop and landed. Anji morphed almost immediately into a human after she demorphed and went in the Scoop; a few moments later we heard sobs. Cassie tried to follow her only for Arbron to stop her. /Let her be./ He told her.

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The next day I went to the cemetery that had my Mom's memorial in it with my Dad. It was a nice place with flowers, well cut grass and a few trees.

We stood in front of the marker for several moments; just remembering. My Dad broke the silence first. "Two years," he whispered. "Yeah," I whispered. Two years of living a lie of a type.

There was some more silence which I was fine with.

"Marco, I have been thinking." My Dad began. "Your mother wouldn't be happy that we weren't going on with our lives." I just nodded. "I spoke to Alan yesterday and he helped me get in touch with Jerry." He continued.

This time I looked up. Alan was a former co-worker; Tobias's Father and Jerry was his boss back when he worked for that company.

"I spoke to Jerry about getting my job back there; he said he would love to have me back. And Alan has volunteered to help me get familiar with the system." He told me. "

I felt a wide smile come to my face. Our lives would soon be normal again.

"I just hope that you haven't forgotten how to play Doom." I told him playfully. He smiled. "Let's see what I know before we go over to Alan's for supper." He told me, a smile on his face. "I've been wanting to see if Tobias has been improving on his game play of Super Mario World." I said.

As we left I promised myself that one day I would free my Mother and then we would truly be a happy family.

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I will be skipping to the eighth book.

And for those of you that still don't know who Anji's Father is either reread this fic or wait for the next part.