Tobias had made the plan, sending Tommy to watch over them while the nearly rest of the Animorphs morphed wolves, Marco went into his gorilla morph, and Rachel and Tobias morphed into copies of the Hork-Bajir they were trying to protect. That was what the Ellimist had given him, as a reward for acting as a guide to the pair of them as they escaped the Yeerks: the return of the morphing power he'd lost when he'd been trapped as a hawk.

Rachel didn't seem particularly happy about that, but considering what even the little he'd learned about Tobias' life from before he'd even been an Animorph, Tommy had the feeling that it might have been the best thing for him.

(You're not far, now,) he reported, circling high over the forest as he kept an eye on both the approaching Yeerk forces, as well as the fires they had set. (You remember which way to go after the Yeerks find your trail?)

(Yeah we know,) Rachel said, sounding a bit more snappish than he'd ever heard her; she hadn't been happy when she'd heard what the Ellimist had chosen to give Tobias, in return for acting as a guide to the escaping Hork-Bajir. (We're not idiots, Dad.)

(Right,) he said, almost wanting to both laugh and roll his eyes, and doing neither as he kept flying. (Anyway, I see the ravine ahead; I can see Jake, Cassie, and Ax all getting into place with the Hork-Bajir. I can also see Marco getting into place, too. He'll be ready to catch you when you need him.)

(Do you see the line of fire?) Rachel asked, after a moment spent running. (Because I sure do smell it.)

(Yeah: the fire forms a semi-circle around you,) he said, circling over the embattled forest again. (The Taxxons and Hork-Bajir are the other part of the circle. The only way open is the ravine itself, so we're only going to get one chance at this.)

(Wonderful,) Tobias said, clearly annoyed by everything that was going on.

(You're closing in on a pair of Taxxons,) he informed them, deciding not to comment on Tobias' feelings; his friend could handle himself, even with everything that was going on. (They're just past a pile of rocks that probably looks like a thicket of thorny weeds to you.)

Circling the pair of them as Tobias hesitated for a moment, Tommy urged them on, watching over them as another group of Hork-Bajir Controllers came to reinforce the Taxxons, since it wasn't like even an army of Taxxons would have been able to stop even a single Hork-Bajir. Still…

(You guys need to move faster, the Controllers will cut you off at this rate,) he said, circling again, searching for a way for Tobias and Rachel to make it to the ravine without being forced to keep cutting their way through the undergrowth in front of them. (There's a gully with a small stream running through it, about ten steps to your right. It should let you make it past them without being intercepted.)

The pair of them ducked into the gully, and Tommy directed them past the Taxxons and their Hork-Bajir backup. Still, as clever as they'd been trying to be, in the end Rachel and Tobias were still forced to fight their way past the Hork-Bajir Controllers closing in on them from the south. That did seem to be the way things usually went for the Animorphs, though: in the end, they always needed to fight.