Hold

Jake... a voice came to me through the fog.

Jake...! The voice came again, louder, clearer this time.

Jake! The voice came louder, loud enough for me to know it was female.

"Jake, please, wake up!" I heard Cassie say.

All of a sudden I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, the light faded and the shadow receded until I saw Cassie looking down at me, crying, her hair matted with blood.

"Ugh...I'm okay," I weakly said as I got up, my arm aimlessly moving forward. Cassie grabbed my hand and pulled me into a sitting position, she was in her morphing underwear, and so was I, I realized I was covered in blood, I looked down at myself in shock, feeling more naked then I ever have in my life, as Cassie hugged me, crying into my shoulder.

When I looked back up I saw that I'm the forest, the clearing.

"The ambush," I whispered as I fully remembered, the memories waking me up all the way.

The first thing I noticed in the tiny little field was the blood, there was blood everywhere, the grass had turned red with the fluid I realized was still sticking to my back, I saw the front pair of a moose's legs, hooves still attached.

I gasped in realization when I saw half of a Broad-winged Hawk, its feathers being blown by the wind.

"Wait. Where's Harry?" I asked, panicked. "Tobias?"

"We're alive," Tobias said, sitting next to me. "And so is...him."

I saw the Blade Dragon, he was lying on the ground, with Ben standing over him, giving him the meanest death glare I've ever seen on anyone's face with red glowing eyes. Rachel was standing there, too, demorphed to human, who was absolutely drenched in blood from the fight, her bare skin almost completely covered in red. The Blade Dragon was lying prone on the ground, and the reason why became apparent.

Eyelizard, the blessed beautiful bug-eyes gecko was biting down on its neck, jaws clamped down, no doubt keeping the alien asleep.

I heard a gentle weeping, I turned the other way and saw Harry sitting down next to a tree, weeping, holding his head, rocking back and forth as he shook from his crying, Alice stood, rubbing his naked back.

"What happened?!" Rachel angrily said. "We had this one in the bag! How could we just...ARGH!"

"So...everyone's alive, right?" Marco asked shakily, I saw him looking out in the distance, toward The Controllers, where the Blade Dragon came from. He turned back to look at me, giving me the most shaken look in his eyes, his own morphing underwear was wet, dark with urine, his legs glistening.

"A number advantage literally eight to one," Marco began, voice empty, filled with despair. "We had a comms jammer and invisible air support."

"We captured him, both of them," Rachel spat with clenched teeth and held up her hand, holding a gray squirming thing that looked like a slug.

"Is that...?" I asked.

"Them," Cassie said. "It started squirming out of his nose just as Eyelizard came in and paralyzed him, Ben captured it and Rachel's been holding that...that...creature, ever since so that he could heal himself."

Eyelizard then detached from the alien host, walked up to Rachel, and began licking the blood off her legs, she didn't care.

"But it was a draw!" Rachel said.

"A draw, with all the advantages we had..." Marco said, throwing his hands up. "We should never have done this. How can we fight them? We might as well have just complied when he asked us to surrender."

He's right. How can we fight those things? We're not ready. Twenty two days of preparation and we're still not ready! Of course we're not ready, how could we possibly be prepared to fight the deadliest alien empire to ever set foot on Earth's soil.

Will we ever be ready?

"We should never have tried to fight them," Cassie said. "My teeth couldn't break its skin."

I shook my head. Lips pressed into eachother.

"That can't be it!" Tobias said. "Isn't this guy an officer? Of course he trashed us, he just used the best body available to them. It's not like all of them are Blade Dragons! There's the worms, too, the Hungerers."

"But how many of them are?" Marco asked, as Rachel spat out red. "It doesn't matter if they only have twenty of these guys, the second they bring one to bear on us and we're already fighting, we're toast!"

I blinked, looking to the Blade Dragon, realizing. I rose, gently moving away from Cassie, her hand let go of me.

"But it's not like we can just give up!" Rachel said to Marco, spreading her arms wide in disbelief. "We're in this, there's no going back! We can't go back! This is a fight to the death!"

"Then how can we beat these guys?" Marco asked.

"You guys are forgetting something," I said, moving my hand forward to acquire The Blade Dragon. "We are Animorphs, and this is clearly not a robot, every bit of the Blade Dragon's strength can be ours to use in a moment's notice!"

"Wait!" Tobias said, grabbing my hand before I could touch our prisoner. "They're expecting morphers. His DNA might be booby trapped!"

I curled my fingers back and looked at the Blade Dragon, covered in our blood. And as I saw that rising and falling alien chest, with the awesome power contained within, I realized that our ability to morph is a gamechanger that can be all too easily vetoed...if the enemy knew what they're doing.

((This is James,)) a voice popped in my head, everyone reacted. ((I've just reached the ravine, and am hovering in it, waiting for your prisoner. Is everything alright?))

((James, glad to hear you,)) I said, looking to the Blade Dragon. ((We've captured two more, he's over seven feet tall and covered in blades, the other one is the parasite who bailed out. Gave us a Hell of a fight, can you carry him?))

((Wow, must've been some tough fight for you to sound that shaky,)) he said. ((Yeah, I can take him. Just gotta get him here.))

((Let's go,)) I said, getting up. ((We're in enemy territory, and way outnumbered.))

((I got him,)) Marco said, morphing to Gorilla and moving to carry The Blade Dragon, Eyelizard still attached. ((He's not going to get away.))

And like that I turned into a tiger, Cassie back into a wolf, and Alice returned to her Hyena morph to escort Marco as the rest of them returned to bird morph and took to the skies. As our fur and feathers grew in, it grabbed the blood and took it away from my skin, Rachel remained in her human body and got on Ben's back as he turned into his moose form, after he went to those severed hooves and absorbed them.

"Harry, come on, get up," Alice said. "We need to go, it's too dangerous here."

And like that we left the bloodsoaked clearing, stepping on sticky grass, to drag our bloodsoaked selves to the ravine. We ran, , jumping, the others keeping watch all throughout our journey. And I prayed, literally prayed, that no Blade Dragons would follow us.

"Alright, I'll remove his comm, and everything," Alice said as we laid The Blade Dragon down on the rocky cliff. Eyelizard scurried off, releasing his jaws as he scurried away to find our first prisoner. "We can't risk a tracking device."

((Hey, I see you!)) James said. ((I'm coming in closer, just hang on!))

I looked to the right and saw the Stratokite, flying low with the absurdly long trail of cages and caskets underneath it.

Wait a second...I looked to our prisoner.

The cliffside, with a forest behind me, James on the Stratokite flying in, and the Blade Dragon...that same exact Blade Dragon. This is just like my dream this morning.

And if it's going to come true, then something's going to go wrong when James arrives!

((Hold on! We have a contact!)) Harry said, bringing chills down my spine. ((The Hungerers! Hungerers, at least fifteen of them, coming your way! fast!))

I turned around to where we came from, Rachel, Marco, and Ben at my side, as I heard the demonic caterwauling. Like a pack of horrid demon cats.

((Oh, crap. This is insane, everyone needs to morph or get the Hell out of sight, right now!)) Marco said as Ben moved to the side away from us.

((What?)) Rachel asked, clearly struggling with containing the wriggling parasite in her hands. ((Then who's going to hold this worm right now?))

((James, do you have a shoebox? Or a vial? Or anything that can hold a large slug reliably?)) I asked.

((Yes, I have a vial, but it should work.))

((I can't wait for James to get here and morph in time!)) Rachel said.

((Don't bother,)) Tobias pointed out. ((We can't let anyone see our human forms! Secrecy is our best and only protection.))

That's right, he saw us all, I realized as I looked to the powerful alien prisoner with my tiger's eyes. He was freed of the parasite in his head, but Eyelizard still clamped down, and we have no idea how he'll react when he wakes up. No matter what, we can't allow him or his host to be recaptured...

((And that means if James comes, they'll see him, too!)) Cassie said. ((What are we going to do, then?))

((If worse comes to worst, push the Blade Dragon's body off the cliff,)) I said, my tiger's body growling.

((Wh-what?)) Cassie asked, horrified, and on a deep level I understood, we'd be killing a prisoner in cold blood.

((That's right,)) Marco said. ((And that pair of eyes saw me, Ben, Harry, Tobias, and Jake. Do you have any idea what would happen if The Controllers get that knowledge? We can't let him return to their captivity no matter what. If that means we dump him, then he's going off the cliff.))

"Hey!" I heard James say a the Stratokite came.

"James!" Rachel said, approaching. "Do you have a container for this thing?"

"Right here," James pulled out what looked like a test-tube, he pulled it apart and held it out in front of himself, leaning against the harness straps in the Stratokite.

Rachel put her hands forward and stuffed the parasite in there, and in an instant James sealed the vial, contained. Rachel walked over close to where Ben's moose morph was sitting down and she began morphing, all of a sudden, Eyelizard returned, holding the Flitterer I captured, it was restrained, squawking and trying to flap, trying to call for help. As Eyelizard jumped onto the Stratokite and locked the alien in a bird-cage, Alice and Marco picked up the Blade Dragon, still unconscious, head lolling to the side, and carried him to a large casket. Two of our three prisoners are contained.

They pushed his arms in there just as the caterwauling resumed, far louder this time. Not good, they're getting close.

((Come on, come on! Just stay inside!)) Marco said as Alice locked the Blade Dragon's ankles inside the shackles installed into the casket.

((Hungerers are approaching in thirty seconds!))

"What th-AAAH!" James cried out, I looked and saw, to my horror, that multiple Flitterers had gotten into him and were now attacking him! These Flitterers were much much bigger than the others, almost the size of eagles! Their wings were huge!

((James!)) I said. ((Harry, Tobias, James needs your help, now!))

((Those Flitterers are huge!)) Cassie said.

"Get off me! Get the Hell off of me! Aaaah!" James cried as the viscious birds clawed and bit into him, tearing at his flesh, trying to gouge out his eyes and grab the vial where the Controller was contained inside. And all I could do was helplessly watch, Ben and Marco were too preoccupied with restraining the Blade Dragon to help.

((They must've stowed away in those bird cages!)) Marco realized. ((Crap, bird boys, where are you?!))

No, I can't be distracted, I realized, turning away from the sight James being attacked by the Controller's attack birds just as Eyelizard jumped up at one, jaws snapping shut on one's wing. The Hungerers are almost right on top of us.

"Aaaaah God, no! I'm bleeding!"

Rachel was hiding next to Ben, who was sitting down, his Moose body was protecting Rachel's changing body from sight. The brown fur of a grizzley bear was sprouting from her bare skin, her muscles rippling as they grew in size. Marco and Alice were still restraining the prisoner, Tobias and Harry were on their way to rescue James.

That means Cassie and myself are on our own, fifteen to two.

((Cassie,)) I said. ((We need to buy time for the others. We have to charge them right as they reach the clearing.))

((Release the Blade Dragon and wake him up!)) Cassie said suddenly.

((Wh-what?)) Marco asked. ((Are you insane?))

((Drag him out to the middle of the field and wake him up!)) Cassie said. ((It's our only chance!))

((What if he goes berserk on us?)) I asked.

((No,)) Rachel said, having caught on to Cassie's plan before anyone else. ((He'll go berserk on Them!))

((Do it! Do it!)) I ordered. ((We're out of options!))

((If we die from this I will kill you for the rest of my life!)) my best friend said.

All the while, I could actually hear them, the Hungerers skittering through the woods sounds almost like a chainsaw. When I lowered myself into a crouch for anticipation, I looked at Rachel and saw that she was still morphing, Ben hiding her body, Alice was morphing behind me, hidden by Marco. I saw Harry fly in overhead and swoop into the fray, Tobias no doubt close behind.

"SkreEEEEEEEEEEE!" The noise came as the Hungerers erupted from the bushes!

Their bodies were like this bizarre cross between a worm and a snake, pale like mealworms, carried by large black legs like sticks that made them scurry through out from the foilage at a million miles an hour! Their mouths were wide circles filled with razor sharp teeth, and at the corners of these mouths were those four eyes that were this red that looked almost like gelatin candy, in those wet almost vibrating eyes was an all consuming hunger.

But the giant Flitterers, the Flutterers...we have to leave no survivors!

((To the death!)) I cried as me and Cassie rushed forward. I was terrified, my arms shaking, my heart racing at a million miles an hour, and the blood draining from my face as I ran...at least, they would if I were human. But at this moment, I was a tiger, and The Tiger was the true king of the jungle, they fear nothing, and that courage bolstered my defiance!

I let loose the mighty roar of the tiger as I jumped, and all at once The Hungerers stopped their charge, red eyes showing fear as they reared up. Instinctively I brought my claws down on the portion of their bodies behind the mouth of one, and surprisingly, instead of my claws scraping against a rock solid shell, they tore though the alien skin like wet paper, and pale alien bug innards leaked out its throat.

"SreyaAAAAAHhh!" The alien's cry turned into a gargle as it backed away, and in its place three more alien maws rushed forward to take bites out of me, I swiped at the one to my right, ruining the alien's upper face as I backed away from their lunges. Suddenly I felt something wrap around my chest, I looked behind to see a Hungerer had crawled underneath my body and had ensnared me like a python! It turned its head to take a chunk out of my own, I swiped at it with my own paw, hitting it with enough force for it to loosen its grip. But as the Hungerers in front of me lunged and bit into my arms, the others ran past.

((Aaaaah!)) I cried out as I heard the yelp of a wolf, Cassie!

To my horror, Cassie was engaged with a Hungerer, she had ripped open its belly but it had wrapped around her torso, in the air I saw Harry flapping for his Broad-winged Hawk life, Eyelizard clinging to his back, mouth open awith six Flutterers hot on his tail!

"Tseeer!" I heard that legendary cry of a red-tailed hawk as the Hungerer's top set of eyes were raked out by an invisible pair of talons.

"SrooaaaAAAH!" The alien cried out as Cassie wriggled free from its grasp.

Okay, this is definitely looking better than the last fight.

((From Babe Ruth with love!)) Marco called out as The Blade Dragon's body landed right on top of me, squishing the Hungerer with a pitiful cry that had wrapped itself around me, forcing its innards to spill out all over my back. The Hungerers stopped attacking me as they processed the shock of the Blade Dragon landing right on top of me.

I heaved with my powerful legs and muscles and escaped from the alien's grasp as the beating chest of a gorilla announced itself joining the fray.

((Hang on, Jake-man, I'm coming!)) Marco announced as his fist flew in my visual range, completely obliterating the head of the Hungerer in front of me. Thank God that bite in my right arm wasn't deep, otherwise I wouldn't have made it out of there.

All of a sudden a shadow overhead! I instinctively closed my eyes and looked down, away from the demon bird and its talons shredding my head.

"Haae! Haee!" The Flutterer cried as it tried to rake out my eyes! I swiped up at it with my right paw, but it dodged, crap! That hole they bit into my right arm isn't doing me any favors!

((Everyone, get some distance!)) Alice reported. ((The Blade Dragon's waking up!))

"Uh? Huh? RaaaaaH!" I heard the Blade Dragon wake up and emit a cry of shock behind me. I turned around to see the alien going crazy, he was slashing his arms at the Hungerers, who were swarming around him. His blades cut through them all like wet paper, every headbut, swipe of his arms, and kick of his legs devastated all who were hit. The Hungerers swarmed the Blade Dragon, jaws agape, in the background I saw Ben and a fully morphed Rachel fending off Flutterers from attacking James, who had been quite bloodied, with his scalp dangling down the side of his head, only held there by threads!

I jumped up at my airborne attacker and caught it in my jaws, it cried out for only a brief moment until my jaws closed, crushing everything between them.

I heard Harry take down a Flutterer, his talons and beak in its back as they both fell to the ground. But when I returned to the Blade Dragon I saw it had killed all of the Hungerers, but quite a few bites had been taken out of him, and he collapsed to the ground, at the same time I began to feel tired, I saw Cassie had defeated the Hungerer she was dealing with, now just a pile of goo. Two of them fled into the forest.

((Don't let them escape!)) I cried out as I gave chase. My paws making me fly across the ground, chasing the aliens into the underbrush. I heard their skittering scrabbling, and the aliens weren't out of sight for long, fatigue beginning to seep into my body, I jumped up and pounced on the Hungerer, my weight and both talons tore through the alien flesh. As the Controller's host let out a few dying twitches, I prepared to run to catch the other one before Rachel exploded from the bushes past me, her Grizzley Bear form in full charge. The skittering sound didn't last long after that.

Once the fleeing aliens were crushed, I turned around to rejoin the battle, as I sped through the bushes, I began to grow even more tired, crap, this fatigue thing really has to be kept an eye on.

By the time I returned to the field, another Flutterer fell to the ground, dead, and the Eyelizard was dragging another one to the Stratokite. The Blade Dragon was unconscious as Marco was putting him back into the casket James was morphing to a bird, Tobias himself demorphed and was strapping himself in to fly it, and everyone else was changing.

((The fight's over, we took them all out,)) Alice reported. ((But we need to leave, now! That can't be the only ones there are.))

((Okay, we need to get the Hell out of here!)) I said, beginning to change back to human.

((Everyone, try to change to birds,)) Tobias said. ((We need to travel as light as we can!))

As my body changed, the tiger's fatigue vanished, and was replaced with my own. After the change was done, I took a few deep breaths before beginning my change into a Peregrine Falcon, afterward I walk-hopped to a cage and walked inside. Soon enough Eyelizard locked us all inside except Harry.

((Holy AIDS! Second wave incoming!)) Harry said. ((All human, just this massive line of humans with guns stretching as far as the eye can see! I'm heading back!))

((Hurry!)) I said as Tobias began lifting off, the other boxes and cages rising from the ground. I heard a frantic flapping sound and saw a Broad-winged Hawk swoop in and land on the Stratokite from the hole in my box. Then everything outside my box turned invisible, and the outside world started shimmering, Tobias had become invisible, and he began to ascend faster.

Faster and faster we rose from the ground, we accelerated at shocking speed, the clearing next to the ravine became a much more distant thin by the time the humans arrived on the scene. This wall of people emerged from the forest, all holding human weapons, AKs, glocks, tommy guns, hunting rifles, they surveyed the carnage and then one of them opened their mouth and pointed to the sky.

And in a next instant I heard the distant popping sound of gunfire. It seemed almost funny, here stood this alien invasion force, and they're using human weapons, not their more powerful alien weapons.

((Yikes!)) Harry said as a bullet zipped past. ((Too close!))

After that we ascended so high the bullets were no longer a problem, the cold seeped in, but that didn't matter.

((Hey, guys, I'm not sure if I got schizophrenia or whatever, but...did we just win?)) Marco asked.

And just like that, with only the calm of the sky, hanging to Tobias' Stratokite, it sunk in.

((Oh, yeah! Ha ha, we did!)) Rachel said whooping.

((And we all survived,)) Ben noted, relieved.

((And took four prisoners!)) Alice noted.

((We got out! We did it!)) I said, sharing in Rachel's infectious joy.

We have learned much about the enemy. For whatever reason, they only use human weapons, the Blade Dragons are the hosts of the elite, their officers and great warriors, and are a status symbol among them. Hungerers are the trackers and chasers, the likeliest first response to any threat, Flitterers are air surveilance, keeping watch for threats while Flutterers are attack birds almost the size of eagles, possibly related to or are the same species, and of course, the most common Controller hosts are humans.

((But we took innocent life...)) Cassie said dejectedly, and the other side of the coin turned its head.

In all three encounters, we took prisoners, a Flitterer, a Flutterer, a liberated Blade Dragon, and a Controller, but we won't be able to take every human we encounter prisoner. We killed. We killed our enemies, but Their hosts were innocent, weren't they? How different were they from Tom? How many of those aliens were sons and daughters? Brothers and sisters? Mothers and fathers? They might have been enslaved, too, taken against their will, and having their entire life snatched from them in an instant, only to die as the meat puppets of a cruel alien overlord on an alien world they never wished any ill on.

I reflected on the blood and bug guts that covered me, I had no idea how much of it was my own or my enemy. Those Hungerers tore open like wet paper, but the fact of the matter was that they likely didn't want anything to do with Them, either.

I'd have to do this to humans, too, completely innocent people, ordinary men and women. How many people will be dead by my hands at the end of this?

((They'll be on high alert, now, and we still have Visser 3 to deal with,)) Tobias pointed out. ((A Controller with an Andalite for a host.))

((And all the deadliness that comes with it.)) Ben grimly stated.

They were right, we had won, and we had taken prisoners, however, there was nothing to celebrate, we had done nothing. And yet, this was a significant day all the same, we had fought Them and won, we tested our strength and now know somewhat about theirs, and depending on how well we can sustain these prisoners, especially the Blade Dragon, then we'll be able to glean much more information about the Controllers. And more than that, I left that field changed, we all did.

((This is...this is just historical...is anyone writing this down?)) Marco asked.

((Who would write it down?)) Alice asked.

((We would,)) Rachel said, her voice resolute with that stone cold certainty.

((That's right, we would,)) Ben said. ((Who else can? There's no one else to chronicle what is happening but us.))

((A record?)) I asked. ((We're leaving behind, like, a war journal? I don't know if that's a good idea.))

((We could die any second. Forgotten by all, grieved by none,)) Tobias pointed out, his voice grim, bearing just a shard of the grief from...God, what that really twenty-two days ago? That last day at the Summer camp seemed like a lifetime ago, now.

((If they find it,)) I pointed out. ((Then that'll mean the end of everything, we can't risk it!))

((I don't know about you, man, but I don't want to just be forgotten and no one ever realizing what happened to us, ever.)) Marco pointed out.

((If we do die, maybe someday in the future...)) Cassie began, her voice wistful. ((Not like 2020, or 2150, but really really far in the future, a thousand or two thousand years, someone might uncover the Sanctuary when we're all gone, whether that someone is human, or alien...we'll all be forgotten by that point. But if they do find a record, detailing what happened, just as well preserved as the rest of the Sanctuary...))

At Cassie's words, I felt a chill run down my spine, and the entire group was silent.

My name is Jake, I am the leader of the Animorphs, both Old and New Blood. Back then I had absolutely no clue of what was about to transpire, I had just dipped my toes in a world that mankind at that point had only the faintest glimmers of, but if I knew the full extent of the secrets just outside my scope of vision, then, I would've done much different.

I have seen the evil of a world that had fallen in love with insanity, betrayed by ancient conspiracies of vengeance, tasted the cruelty beyond cruelty of inhuman and unhuman politics, all fueled by the destruction of the greatest civilization the galaxy had ever seen, and the resultant strife caused by the goldrush to possess their relics.

These days were the worst, and best, days of my life.

Had I known what had truly happened, had I known what was to come, if I knew who could be trusted and who were betrayers, then I would've given everything to save them no matter the cost.

[2 Weeks & 5 Days before Jake, Rachel, and Cassie received the morphing power]

Midnight

The three entered the cave, Warlike, Lotr, and Yetuklen all prodded inside, and the occupants were very much active with chatter.

"What's going on, here?" Lotr asked as Warlike and Yetuklen prowled further in. And immediately, it was apparent, the Chee that Warlike gave a ribcage and mounted on his Digger Rod like a scarecrow had changed, he was covered in a shiny metallic skin that covered his whole body, and the wooden links that Warlike gave that served as his arms were covered with connective cyber tissue. Most importantly, he was awake.

"Chee?" Yetuklen whispered in amazement between her pants of exhaustion.

"So that's what took you so long, you got another rescue!" Lonos said.

"Aaah, so, you are them," The Chee-crow said, his voice blatantly more electronic than the others. "They told me how you rescued us, and how Warlike repaired me."

"I'm very glad to see you're awake," Lotr said.

"I thought I was dead...may I speak to Warlike?"

"Certainly," Lotr said. "I'll lead Yetuklen to the sleeping area, make her a bed."

And like that the tired Antimorph prowled along, following Lotr on all fours whilst Warlike lumbered to face the Chee-crow.

"You're pretty smart," he started. "The fact that you knew which materials to use takes real skill."

"Indeed I am," Warlike said. "I'm going to ask you the same question I asked the others."

"Yes."

Warlike blinked and stared at the Chee-crow, "That was a quick response..."

"The humans have taken everything from us, from me," The Chee-crow explained. "ETCS has betrayed us all, and for that, they must pay."

"So, all four of you are with us on this?" Warlike asked.

"Why wouldn't we be, bear face?"

Warlike's expression turned extremely sour.

"Ah, sorry, I had no intent to offend. If we don't stop them, nothing will," The Chee-crow explained.

"Why do you wish to fight them in particular?"

"I thought they had actually killed me," The Chee-crow said. "Most of my body is in one of those horrid contraptions, it's only by your intervention that this remannt of myself was able to be saved. They need to be stopped."

"But why do you, personally, want to stop them?" Warlike asked.

The Chee-crow was silent.

"Why do you think? I don't want what was done to me done to anyone else, and I have a pretty good idea as for what those D0gbones are going to be used for, and it's not on aliens."

"You mean to see ETCS destroyed?" Warlike asked.

"Yes, they must pay for what they've done."

The Antimorph leaned forward to whisper in The Chee-crow's ear.

"And what about the rest of the humans?"

"I don't care what happens to them," The Chee-crow responded, his voice only audible to Warlike's ears. "If they side with the enemies, then no mercy will be shown."

Warlike smiled, at last, a potential collaborator!

"You're not like Lonos, Bladan, or Teper," Warlike said. "You're definitely unique, however, there's a favor I must ask of you, depending on how fast you can rebuild your body, of course..."

The Chee-crow swivelled his head to the D0gbone suit lying abandoned in the room.

"If you can rearrange that thing around this Digger Rod you clearly set up to be my spine, then I should be unstoppable."

"Oh, our enemies are many, you will certainly need that strength. Oh, I almost forgot! Do you remember your name?"

"No, I was never given a name, I was hatched in the facility, and kept locked in a casket I couldn't see out of for years until something started slowly eating me from the feet up..."

"Hrrr, would you mind if I gave you a name?"

"No, as long as it's not something silly."

"Then let's go with Polearm," Warlike said. "Your arms are currently made of wood, and it's not hard to remember. We need you to get in fighting shape."

Warlike turned to face the other assembled Chee.

"That goes for all of you, we're about to destroy the Light Machine, and when we do, we're going to move onto the next step."

"Don't get ahead of ourselves, Warlike," Lotr entered the room alone. "Yetuklen's asleep, we need to rest up before we go on our next mission."

"We have a lot of fighting to do tomorrow."