My name is Jake.

You don't know how much I would love to say that my last name is Whitter, or Riley, or Jones. I think I would give
just about anything to be able to say that. Because, see, if I could tell you, it would mean that this war with the
Yeerks weren't taking place right now. That I wouldn't have to worry about a parasitic slug crawling in my head and taking control of my body. That my friends and I would still just be normal, everyday kids.

But since this war is taking place, and I do have to worry about parasitic slugs, and my friends and I aren't normal at all, I can't tell you my last name.

Maybe I never will.

Let me explain. There are three things you need to know:

1) The Yeerks are here. They are trying to take control over the entire human race. They enslave whole races by
infesting them. The Yeerks infest a person's brain by wrapping its vile body around their brain and taking total
control. They reduce the host to a tiny bubble of consciousness in the back of their own mind. Imagine not being able to move your hand. Your legs. You can't even turn your head to look at something. The Yeerk owns your body. Completely.

2) We - that is, myself, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, Tobias, and Ax - have the power to morph into any animal we can touch. We gained this power from the Andalite prince Elfangor, who died just after he did. We Animorphs are the only resistance on Earth against the Yeerks. You could say that we are sort of like Atlas - you know, the guy who had to carry the world on his soldiers? The fate of Earth and all its inhabitants rests on us.

3) With all this stress, it's really unfair that we still have to maintain a normal life. We still have to put up with the
things any normal teenager has to. School. Parents. School. Siblings. Did I mention school? Our schedules are a little more than tight. Normal life is exhausting. That plus being an Animorph can be really tough.

Which is why I really did not want to be at the library that Saturday morning. Cassie had talked me into it. Actually, that's the only reason why I had agreed. You see, Cassie and I ... well, we're a little more than just friends. There's something about her that makes her different from any other girl I know. Something that would convince me to go anywhere with her. Even to the library on the weekend.

We both had English papers due Monday. Topic: Impacts of the Great Depression. Naturally we had waited until the last minute to do it, considering we had received the assignment three weeks earlier.

We were getting nowhere fast. "I can't believe we can't find anything useful on the Great Depression!" Cassie
exclaimed.

"I guess we're just not looking hard enough. Come on. Let's try this one." We had compiled a pretty lengthy list of books on the subject. We just couldn't find anything we could actually use for our paper.

Just then, Marco came in with a grim expression on his face. He looked exhausted. He ran toward the table we were working at. "Uh-oh," I moaned. "Why do I get the feeling I really don't want to know what you're going to say?" Then something incredible happened. Marco didn't jump at the opportunity to make a joke. This worried me deeply.

"Jake, something's wrong. You've got to come. Right now."

"What's up?" I implied, dreading the answer. Marco looked around suspiciously, making sure we were alone.

"Erek just called a meeting in Cassie's barn."

"Great. Okay, Cassie, we'll have to do this again sometime. Hopefully before Monday."

"Sure. It's a date."

"Some date."

"Um, excuse me, but chances are this is slightly more important than your love life. Let's go." We left the library
wearing grim expressions.

"Marco, have you told the others yet?"

"Yeah. They're on their way to Cassie's barn. Erek's already there."

"Good. All righty then, let's get going." We found a secluded spot in the woods nearby where we morphed birds.

Morphing is like nothing you've ever experienced. Worse, you never know what will change next. This time I
started shrinking first. Shrinking is like falling, only you never quite hit the ground. It's a strange yet thrilling
sensation. I watched as both Cassie and Marco shot up and up, as tall as trees! And of course the real trees were suddenly sky scrapers.

Next to change was my skin. I watched as beautiful, yet itchy feather patterns covered my whole body. The grayish colored designs then popped up and became real feathers. My arms twisted and molded into wings. I heard a sickening crunch as my thick sturdy human bones transformed into hollow bird bones.

My feet and legs became coarse, as if covered by some awful callous. My feet reshaped themselves into bony toes and grew talons. Through all of this, my head remained normal except for a few feather patterns.

Then my head changed, almost all at once. My ears shrank to almost nothing, while at the same time feather
patterns became real. My eyes changed to the fierce, intense eyes of a bird of prey. My lips and teeth all melted
together and protruded from my face, forming my beak.

I stretched out my wings. I had become the fastest animal on Earth: a peregrine falcon.

"All right, now listen up. I've got something very important to tell you."

"Yeah, and if you don't mind, we'd like to know what it is sometime before our hair turns gray," I retorted
impatiently.

"I have wondered for some time now just why this happens to you humans. It is very strange. Strayn-juh.
Stuh-rain-juh." Ax, of course. "Is it because - "

"Later. Erek?"

"Yes. The Pemalite Crystal has been found."

"What?" Marco yelled. "I thought we got rid of that thing! It should be at the bottom of the ocean by now!"

"Supposedly, it has washed up on the shore of a tropical island near Martinique in the Carribean Sea. The island is generally uninhabited except for a team of scientists who are studying the wildlife there. They suspect that the crystal is very valuable, but do not have the proper equipment to test it. But if word gets out about the crystal, you can guess who will be going after it. And if those certain people get a hold of it, they will be able to create virtually anything they want to speed up their conquest of Earth."

We all just stood there for about 10 seconds, dumbfounded. "And how, may I ask, do you know all this, considering the fact that Martinique is about twenty thousand miles from here?" Marco, of course.

Erek smiled. "Chee-Net. We have Chee all over the world." Then, to Marco he added, "And by the way, this island is exactly 2,683 miles from this location."

"So how are we supposed to get to this island? I mean, it would take weeks to fly or swim there, and that's
continuous morphing and demorphing. And sorry, but I'm kind of against going on an airplane in fly morph." Jake had not had a good time the last time we tried that. He ended up getting swatted. We almost lost him. "So, any suggestions?" "That's the thing. With the crystal, we would have no problem creating a ship that could get us there almost instantaneously. But without it, we really can't do anything."

"Hmm..." Cassie looked up from the cage she was cleaning. "What about riding a ship? It would be easier than
flying on a plane," she gave Jake a soft look at this, "and much more convenient. It just might take a little bit
longer." She thought for a moment. "But what about our families? They'd notice if we're missing."

"Hey," Marco remembered, "You and some of your friends were able to pose as us for a few days while we were at the North Pole. They could do it again."

"Yes. Getting there is not really a problem. The question is, what will we do when we get there?"

"I'm guessing we'll just take the crystal back by force."

"Rachel! As far as we know, these are innocent people. We can't just show up as elephants and tigers and what have you and just knock the place in until we find the crystal."

"Don't give her any ideas!" Marco yelled with mock horror.

Tobias spoke up. < Cassie's right. This needs to be a calm, peaceful mission. In and out. No damage done. >

"Unless a certain Yeerk warlord who happens to have the host body of a blue centaur with a deadly scorpion tail. I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count." Marco again.

"Marco, how you can make a joke about Visser Three is beyond-"

"The first one doesn't count, remember?"

"I would morph to grizzly and squeeze your head into mush, but I don't want to strain myself trying to get through
your thick skull."

"Ahh, and Mighty Xena plunges another spear through my heart!" Marco wailed sarcastically.

"Can we please stay on track, here?" Jake moaned wearily. "Okay. We have to get that crystal. Any suggestions, any calm, peaceful suggestions?"

< We know we're going, right? > Tobias spoke up. < It seems to me we shouldn't waste any time getting there. We can figure out a plan on the way. >

"Good idea. Come on, I'll take you to the port where the cruise ship is departing. I've already told my friends to start posing as you guys, It's going to take at least four days to reach the island." Erek said as he started for the door. We all just sort of stared at him for a while.

"How can you know about a ship already? And have already told your friends ..." I replied, surprised.

"Chee-Net is built into our brains. It's sort of like a cross between E-mail and thought speak."

"At least four days ... Erek, do you think your friends would mind writing a couple of reports for Cassie and me?
The topic is the Great Depression."

"You didn't finish that yet?" Marco gasped immaculately.

"The one posing as you, Jake, once lived the life of a farmer during the Great Depression."

"Great."

"So before we do anything, let me recap: We are about to sail to Martinique on a cruise ship along with an alien and an android, in order to recapture a crystal created by the creators of the androids, while those same androids pretend to be us so our parents don't start a search party for us, and all this has to be done before the parasitic space slugs arrive on this same island and get the crystal first," stated Marco.

"That's about it," Jake replied.

"This is insane." Marco stated plainly. "Well, I suggest we get our little behinds moving before the Yeerks figure
out what's going on."

I started to say, "Let's -"

"I swear if the next two words out of your mouth are 'do it,' I will punch your nose in."

"- get going!"

"I hate you so much," Marco retorted.

"I know. That's what I love about you."

We hid out behind a sand dune. "All right, ladies, gentlemen, birds, aliens, and androids, this is where the fun
begins," Marco said with a tone I believe is called sarcasm.

"Everyone, morph to seagull. As soon as we get up there, mingle with the other gulls until the ship takes off. Erek, you know what to do." Erek planned to use a hologram of one of the ship's crew members in order to board the ship. He left us. I watched him disappear over the dune as my stalk eyes appeared on top of my human head. While the others had only to morph to seagull, I had to demorph to my own body before I could continue into gull morph. Tobias just stayed himself.

When I was fully Andalite, I savored the instant I had before I started to morph the seagull. Morphing like that is
excruciatingly tiring, but we had no time to spare.

As soon as I finished, Prince Jake said, < Everyone ready? >

< I was born ready, > Rachel complied.

< Were you born reckless as well? > Marco asked sardonically.

< Come on, let's go. This is the easy part .> We got up in the air. Instantly I was in heaven. Or at least, the seagull was. Food everywhere!

< Ooh, a whole bag of Fritos! How could they just throw it away? >

< Popcorn! Salt and grease! >

< Look, a whole dumpster of garbage! >

< Where? Where? I don't see it! >

After this last remark by Prince Jake, Tobias called down from overhead. < Can we please stay on track
here? > It sounded a lot like Prince Jake.

< Tobias is right. > I stated. < We need to stay focused. >

< Oh, so now you're all big and responsible, > Marco sneered. < I heard that comment about the popcorn. >

< Can we please stay on track here? > Prince Jake said. We all laughed.

< Hey, guys! The ship is starting to leave! > Tobias was right. We flew out to it and landed on the deck casually.
Which was pretty easy to do, since there were seagulls everywhere. We looked for a place to demorph. We found it in a pile of boxes on the starboard side of the ship.

I nervously demorphed. This time I spent no time at all savoring the feeling of being in my own body. I began
morphing to human instantly. I realized that this was going to be a long trip. Four days at least. I would have to find a place to hide for most of the time, or else I would have to demorph and morph back every two hours.

But the first thing was to find Erek. We did not know what he might look like. We figured we would just walk
around until he spotted us. Fortunately, he was not far away, still in his hologram of the sailor.

"Hey, guys," he said as he walked toward us. "It's all right no one is watching." We quickly stepped into his
hologram as he projected it out further. "Okay. Now, all we have to do is hang out for four and a half days until we get to Martinique. Ax, most of the time you'll be in my hologram so you don't have to keep renewing your morph." Of course! Why hadn't I thought of that?

"So, we might as well use this time to come up with a plan," Cassie repeated Tobias's thought from earlier that day. And so, for the next two days we spent our time devising a plan while enjoying the ship's conveniences. Yes, this was probably wrong, but we knew it would be much too long to wait with nothing to do. And besides, we had to eat. We tried to limit what we did.

Slowly, three days passed. I found it pleasant to watch the sunrise each morning and the sunset each night. It is one of the few things that really reminds me of the Andalite homeworld. Our own sky is red and golden at all times, with a little blue as well. Earth's sky at these times turns brilliant shades of red and gold, along with yellow, orange, purple, pink ... It's a beautiful sight.

When I woke on the fourth day, I performed the morning ritual quickly. I did not want to miss the sunrise.

When I got to the boat deck, in human morph of course, I noticed that the sky was particularly red this morning.

Cassie walked up behind me. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"I particularly enjoy this deep red coloring. It looks exactly like the Andalite sky. Ski-uh. Ski-ee-uh."

"There's an old saying about that. 'Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning,"
she said. "Of course, that's just superstition."

"Of course."

The day started out just like the other three had. Marco made many comments about how insane the whole thing
was. Rachel countered each time. Prince Jake continued to tell us to please stay on track. Tobias watched for land.

It was around noon when I first sensed it. A cold, chilling sensation. The clouds covered the sun, making it slightly darker.

"Did you feel that?" Prince Jake implied, just as the first few raindrops fell.

Obviously, we didn't have a room or anything to go to, so we were hiding in a storage closet. As flies. Erek was
projecting his hologram to make himself look like a mop. I was just about to make a joke about it when we heard the loud thunder. To our fly brains, it was just a low, annoying rumble that drowned out other vibrations. The fly brain was irritated at the fact that it could not sense anything around it for a second.

"Guys? I think we may have a problem here," Erek said in a low whisper. "My sensors are ... well ... sensing violent activity in the atmosphere. We may have a storm on our hands."

< So? > I said, not really interested. < We'll just wait it out. No big deal. >

"When I said 'violent activity,' I meant dangerously violent. As in, possible hurricane." No one said anything for a
minute.

< Oh. > I said, breaking the silence.

<What is a hurricane?> Ax asked.

< A hurricane is a huge storm that develops over the Atlantic Ocean and usually sweeps toward the U.S. It's windy, rainy, and powerful. Sometimes they wipe out entire cities. Not to mention ships. >

< Thanks for that encouraging thought, Cassie. I feel so much better now, > Rachel said sarcastically.

< Erek, would this rain, I don't know, make you rust or anything? > Jake asked him.

"No, it wouldn't have any effect on me," Erek replied.

< Okay. Why don't you go up and see what's going on? >

"Of course. I'll be back," he said as he left the storage closet. He used a hologram so no one would see the door opening.

We waited. And waited. We waited some more. And then, just to vary our activities a little, we decided to try waiting impatiently.

<So, anyone seen any good movies lately?> I asked, just as the door burst open.

"Guys! Erek whispered. "Big trouble! It is a hurricane, and the ship's crew doesn't know what to do! It's getting
worse. I have a feeling this ship is doomed."

< This is just great, > Tobias complained.

< Hey, that's my line! I, and only I, am allowed to complain! > I said sardonically.

< Come on, everyone. We have to demorph anyway. > We flew out of the closet and demorphed in the cover of Erek's hologram.

"Okay, now what?" Rachel asked.

"We have to get off this ship." I replied.

"And leave all these people to die?" Cassie, of course.

"They'll be fine." Jake told her.

"Didn't you see Titanic?"

"Cassie, this ship has plenty of lifeboats. I saw them when I went up." We all looked at Erek in surprise. For about the tenth time that day. "Hey, we Chee have to do something every now and then besides play with the dogs,"

"Let's go above deck," Jake decided. We couldn't think of any morphs that would be good for the rain, but we
certainly had the right morph for the sea. Dolphins are great swimmers. But that didn't help Erek.

We walked up the stairs to the door, which was unlocked. But it might as well have had fifty locks on it. "It won't
budge!" Rachel exclaimed as she pushed against the door, pushing against the wind.

"Here. Let me try." Erek pushed against the door. He easily opened it and held it open while the rest of us filed out. The rain stung my face and the wind pushed at my body, threatening to push me off.

Just then, I heard a loud noise. It wasn't thunder. The ship shook. "This can't be good," I screamed over the din.

I turned around to make sure everyone was still there. But instead of seeing my friends, I saw the huge box flying
straight for me. The world went black.

When I woke up, I found myself lying under a warm sun on a sandy beach. I sat up and looked around. It was an
island, I was sure of that. I could not see any land very far off, so I figured it must have been pretty small.

Then I wondered about the others. Had they been as lucky as I had been? Were they alive at all?

"Cassie!" I turned toward the line of trees that started a few hundred feet from the shore. I was filled with relief
when I saw Jake standing there - battered, but alive. I took off running to him. He did the same. I know it sounds
really corny, but it was one of those classic scenes. I ran toward him, and he ran to me. Those few seconds seemed to stretch on forever.

Finally, after the longest 7 seconds of my life, we met. He threw his arms around me and hugged me and I hugged him back. He kissed me and when neither of us had anything to say, he kissed me again. All I could do was whisper, "You're all right. You're not dead. You're ... Jake, you're so not dead!"

"No, I'm totally against that image." He looked in my eyes and gave that special smile, meant only for me.

As I backed up a little, I lost a little of my enthusiasm. "The others?" I asked him hopefully.

"I don't know."

"I guess we should look for them."

"Yeah."

"Jake, what if we don't find them? Then what?"

"We'll worry about that when we have to," he answered me. "For now, we'll just look."

We started off along the coast. We figured they might have just washed up on the shore like I had and not gotten any farther - yet. But then, that was only if they were even on the same island.

Like I had suspected, the island was very small. It only took about an hour to walk all the way around the island.
"Oh." Jake said plainly, as we completed the walk. "Why didn't we just morph to bird and fly?"

"Oh," I said, repeating him. "I think I saw a few parrots in the woods."

"Yeah." I focused my thoughts on the parrot whose DNA was a part of me. In a couple of minutes, I stood about a foot high, had a curved, hooked beak, and short legs. I had four toes at the end of each leg. The first and fourth were turned backwards. But what was most shocking was that I was red. Not like a blush, when you're embarrassed or something. I was a brilliant, piercing crimson color.

Jake was just a little shorter than I was. He was as white as snow.

Just then, the parrot brain bubbled up beneath my own. It was very intelligent. After dealing with such brains as the shark's killing instincts, and the squirrel's constant fear, it is amazing to sense something so smart instead. The parrot could think, reason, and even feel emotions.

But I didn't have time to marvel over the fantastic mind. My friends could be in trouble. I took wing and flapped hard to gain altitude. We were a flutter of red and white feathers. I once read somewhere that the colors red and white symbolize true love. They were the main colors of the Taj Mahal, which was built by Shah Jahan for his beloved wife.

Things look a lot smaller from overhead. And the island was small to begin with. It didn't take to long to see that our friends were not on the island.

< So, now what? > I waited for Jake's answer, even though I knew he wouldn't have one.

< I ... I don't know. This should have been such an easy mission. Or at least, this part was. Now we may have already lost before we started. > I didn't want to believe it. But Jake was right. It was hopeless. How could we ever hope to even get to this island without Erek? And if we could, then what?

< It can't all be over, just like that! > I screamed to no one.

< No. It's not over. As long as we're alive, it'll never be over. >

I was not on the ship anymore. I was floating in a sort of turquoise nothingness.

TOBIAS. The voice filled my head. It wasn't really intimidating, but it certainly wasn't weak. I looked down at my
body. My half-human, half-hawk body.

"Not again!" I moaned. I had had this dream before. The Ellimist would make himself seen pretty soon.

TOBIAS. TOBIAS. The Ellimist just said my name over and over again.

IT IS YOUR CHOICE. TOBIAS ... TOBIAS ...

"Tobias! Tobias! Are you okay?" I opened my eyes. Rachel filled my vision.

< Rachel? >

"It's me. Oh, thank God! I thought you were dead!"

< Nope. I'm still my charming hawk self. > I looked around me. All I could see was water. Endless water. It stretched as far as my powerful hawk eyes could see. Which is pretty far.

We were floating on a wooden raft. I guess it had been part of the ship. < How long has it been? >

"I can't tell. Except that it's about noon now. Other than that, who knows? Maybe it was just last night, or maybe it's been a few days. It must not have been too long ago, because I'm not really that hungry."

< So, what do we do now? > I asked her.

"Beats me. Do you see any land anywhere?"

< No. Not from down here. But I may be able to see farther from the air. >

"But isn't flying over the ocean hard on you?"

< I'll morph to seagull. > With that I began to morph. It wasn't a very hard morph. I mean, the transition from one bird to another isn't too drastic. Basically, my feathers turned white, my eyes dimmed slightly, and I lost my talons and hooked beak.

I lifted up in the air. I flapped hard to get up higher. The sky was clear, showing no signs of the storm that had just occurred. I still saw no land.

< Nothing, > I called down to Rachel.

"What are we going to do?" she asked as I circled down to her. "Where are the others?"

< I have no idea. > We were both talking as though we were sure everyone else was still alive. Even though their
chances of surviving were not very good.

"We have to do something."

< First we should find some land. Land means food. Food means survival. >

"You're right. Let's get going." Rachel morphed to seagull. I waited patiently for her to finish. When she was done, we flew together, in search of anything that might mean land. We found none.

We kept flying. We had no idea where we were headed. We had to find a place to stay for the night.

After about an hour of flying, our chances were starting to look pretty bad. < Tobias, this is getting us nowhere fast. >

< I know. I know! If only Jake were here. He'd know -- >

Suddenly I was not there anymore. What is going on here? I asked myself. This was supposed to be a dream. And yet, here I was, floating in the Ellimist's blue nothingness.

TOBIAS. THIS IS NO DREAM.

"Oh really? I couldn't figure that out," I said sarcastically.

TOBIAS. YOU ARE WONDERING WHY I BROUGHT YOU HERE.

"Uh, yeah," I said impatiently. "I'd like to know why you keep popping up in my dreams. And now, you've pulled me here while I'm awake. So what is it?"

I KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT VERY FOND OF ME. HOWEVER, I CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE CLOSEST TO YOU, OUT OF ALL THE ANIMORPHS.

This was surprising. "Is that what you brought me here to tell me? That you like me?"

NO. BUT THE REASON I HAVE BROUGHT YOU HERE AND NOT ONE OF THE OTHERS IS BECAUSE NO
MATTER HOW MUCH YOU MAY DESPISE ME, I KNOW YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME AND CARRY OUT MY
WISHES, AS YOU ALWAYS DO.

"No way. We're sort of in the middle of an important mission right now."

YES. I KNOW. THIS HAS TO DO WITH YOUR MISSION. YOU SEE, THE YEERKS ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES YOU MUST WORRY ABOUT. CRAYAK KNOWS ABOUT THE CRYSTAL AS WELL, AND WANTS IT FOR HIS OWN CHILDREN.

"The Howlers? But I thought we ruined them by screwing up their collective memory."

THE CRYSTAL IS THE ONLY WAY CRAYAK CAN DESTROY THAT FLAW. SO, YOU MUST KEEP HIM FROM OBTAINING THE CRYSTAL.

"But why doesn't Crayak just take the crystal? No doubt he has the power."

YES, HE IS QUITE CAPABLE OF DOING SO. HE COULD TAKE IT. I COULD TAKE IT. BUT THAT WOULD BE AGAINST THE RULES.

"Oh. I forgot. Well, if you're done here, I guess I should get back -- what to do. > Suddenly I was back in the air, back in seagull morph. Back with Rachel, right where I had left her.

< Well, he isn't. >

< Rachel, the Ellimist just talked to me. >

< What? You've been here all this time. >

< No. He just pulled me out of here mid-sentence, did his thing, and then brought me back to the same place I left. >

< Ellimist tricks. >

< Rachel. He told me that Crayak is after that crystal. >

< Well, this just gets more and more fun, doesn't it? But why does Crayak want it? >

< It's the only way he can fix the Howlers' collective memory. So now not only do we have to keep it from the Yeerk Empire, we also have to keep it from Crayak and all his evil dominions. >

< Tobias, please don't say 'evil dominions.' It sounds too much like Marco. >

The next to be knocked off was Rachel. I watched her helplessly, bound by the strong wind myself. This was insane! My friends were being blown -- literally -- from the ship, and I could do nothing.

The storm ripped the ship apart. Eventually I was blown off. Once in the water, I could maneuver much better.
Androids are experts at swimming.

I searched the water for familiar faces. It was full of faces, none of them familiar. It reminded me of that scene at the end of Titanic where they're all floating in the water.

Then I spotted Ax, unconscious like all the rest. I dragged him along behind me. I used the other arm to swim, so I would not be able to save anyone else. I began to swim away from the horrific scene.

As I swam I caught a glance of another familiar face, thirty feet away. I was sure it was Marco. I could leave Ax and take Marco ... But I had already found Ax and could not simply leave him to die.

I swam. And swam. There had to be land somewhere.

I swam all night. It wasn't until dawn that I found solid ground. I pulled myself onto the shore. I dragged Ax up as
well. He was just coming to as the sun began to rise over the ocean.

< Wh ... where am I? > He asked me.

"Ax. It's me, Erek. We are on an island somewhere in the middle of the Caribbean Sea."

< I remember now. But how did we get here? The last thing I remember is being blown off that ship. > I explained what had happened. < You have saved my life. I owe you greatly. >

"Don't worry about it."

< The others? >

"I don't know. I wouldn't have been able to save them anyway. You were all I could handle. I can only hope they will find a way to make it out safely."

< We may be on our own now. >

"I know," I replied grimly. "I'm going to check out this island with my sensors. See how far we are from our
destination."

< Good idea. > I waited patiently as my internal sensors went to work. The result was surprising.

"Ax! This island -- it is our destination!" I exclaimed. By luck we had landed on the very island we had sought. "Come on. Let's start looking for the crystal."

< I will now morph to human. There are humans on this island somewhere. >

"Wait. Morph to something with wings first. Seagull. Maybe you could find the lab from the air."

< Yes. > He began the transformation. I watched him morph as I continued with my sensory readings. The island was about six miles in diameter. It was mostly covered with vegetation. The north coast was much rockier than the rest of the island.

My sensors found what I had been looking for: The research lab.

I signaled to Ax to come closer so he could hear me. "Ax, do you see it yet?"

< Yes. Follow me. >

"That's all right. Go ahead. I've found it." I began running towards the lab. It was on the east coast of the island. I was on the south side. As I ran along the shore, I wondered about my friends. Had they survived the storm? If so, where were they? But the crystal was my first priority. As much as I wanted to look for my friends, the crystal was more important. Failure meant the enslavement of Earth.

I had to retrieve the crystal. But then what? We couldn't just let it go in the water again. That hadn't worked. It
couldn't be trusted with my own people. That was hard for me to realize, but it was the truth. It really couldn't be
trusted with anyone. It couldn't be destroyed. Or could it?

Destroying the Pemalite crystal would take an enormous amount of energy. More energy than human technology would be able to harness. But I would worry about that when the time came.

"I'd like to know what." After about an hour and a half of flying, we landed and demorphed. The situation was
beginning to become really helpless.

"We can't just sit here while our friends might be in trouble."

"Well, we can't exactly go check on them either."

"Did you ever think that maybe this is the island?"

"Did you see any research lab anywhere? Or a team of scientists studying the wildlife? Because I know I didn't."

"You're right. I just ... "

"Just what?" I asked her.

"I don't know. It can't be over. All these aliens running around who would give anything to see us dead, and we end up getting stopped by a hurricane."

"You're talking like a hurricane is an easy thing to get past."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But ... I know this sounds corny, but I would rather have been stopped by the Yeerks
than one of Earth's own natural disasters."

"At least this way, the Yeerks don't have six more morph-capable hosts."

"Good point. Still ... "

"Yeah. I know."

"Hey, what's that?" Cassie pointed out towards the ocean.

"Where? I don't see anything."

"Look! I think it's a whale!"

"Cassie, I know you like animals, but this isn't really the time -- "

"It's either a sperm whale or a humpback. I can't tell from here."

"Cassie, are you listening to me?"

"Think about it. Rachel and Tobias both have sperm whale morphs, and Aftran decided to live out her life as a
humpback." I thought about that.

"You do realize that the chances of that whale actually being more than a whale are slim to none, don't you?"

"Yeah, but it's worth a shot." Cassie began morphing the seagull.

"Why seagull?" I was trying to keep from getting my hopes up. But it was hard not to get excited.

"Why not? I just need to use thaaaaaaawwwwww -- " Just then, Cassie's mouth pushed out from her face and formed
her beak. < What I meant to say is, I just need to use thought-speak .> Then, to the whale, <Hello? Rachel? Tobias? Aftran? > For a few seconds, there was no answer. I began to feel a little depressed.

Cassie tried again. < Rachel? Is that you? Tobias, Aftran? Please, be someone I know! >

Then, to our sheer amazement, the whale answered her. < Cassie? > I couldn't believe it. What were the odds?
< Cassie, is that you? > Aftran called to us.

< Aftran! Boy, am I glad to see you! >

< Cassie, what are you doing here? >

< Long story short: we're on a mission to retrieve a valuable crystal that could mean the end of Earth if the Yeerks get their hands on it. Jake and I are stranded on this island. >

< You mean, that crystal is back? I remember it. We ... they were planning on taking over every computer in the world using that little rock. >

< Aftran, maybe you know where it is. Do you know of any islands around here with a team of scientists studying the wildlife? >

< Yeah. They haven't been there for very long. >

< Great! Is it anywhere near here? >

< About a three-hour swim. > That wouldn't be too bad. We would have to stop once to renew our morphs.

"Well, we should probably get started. We don't have any time to waste."

< Jake says we should get going right away. We'll have to morph to dolphin first. > I walked out in the water. Cassie had to demorph first. Then she followed me. When the water was up to my waist, I started morphing.

My legs elongated. Suddenly the water was up to my knees. Almost down to my ankles! My legs twisted together and became one solid tail. No longer able to stand up right, I fell backwards into the water. At the same time, my skin turned gray and rubbery. A blowhole appeared in the back of my neck. My feet stretched into flippers. Every part of my body stretched in one way or another. My nose and mouth pulled out to form the bottlenose snout. I acquired a permanent toothy grin.

When I was fully dolphin I began to swim out to Aftran. Then the instincts hit. Although I easily pushed them out of
the way, I welcomed the short feeling of joy.

< You guys ready? > Aftran asked us.

< Yeah. >

< Then let's go!>

< As Rachel would say, 'Let's do it!' >

We flew some more.

After about a half hour that felt like 5 years, we landed to demorph. That is, we landed as easily as it is to land with no land.

We were two wet birds. And let me tell you something. A wet bird is not a happy one. < Let's just get this over with, > Tobias complained.

< Wait. After you demorph, go dolphin. If we go back to seagull morph, we'll be to wet to fly. As dolphins, we might be able to find land through echolocation. >

< Good idea. > I started demorphing as fast as I could. As soon as I felt the last of my seagull features drift away, I immediately started morphing to dolphin.

< Come on, Rachel! Let's have a race! > It was the dolphin instincts. As much as I wanted to play games, I knew we had to stay focused.

< Tobias, we have to find land. >

< Oh yeah. > I fired a series of clicks. Almost immediately, I could 'see' everything under the water. I saw everything from fish to sea anemones to the seafloor. < Rachel. Follow me. > With that, he plunged down deep beneath the water.

< Where are you going? >

< You'll see. > He dived down to the seafloor, and began swimming along the 'ground.'  <Isn't it beautiful down here? >

I was about to say something about staying on track, but then I realized he was right. I started to look around me. The blue water helped make the fish look brighter. The plants on the floor seemed to wave at us as we drifted past. It was an underwater paradise. And at that moment, everything else disappeared. It was just Tobias and me. And the ocean.

I fired more echolocation clicks. The water was filled with so many wonderful things. Then I noticed something
different. Something not so wonderful.

< Tobias! Straight ahead and to the right! >

< Oh. Oh, man. > He saw it too. < Sorry, Rachel. This wasn't part of my plan. >
 
< He's coming this way !> I yelled just as the killer whale propelled himself in our direction.  < Tobias, go back up! >

< And leave you? No way! >

< Who said I was staying? >

< Oh. >

< Come on! > I darted up towards the light. Water swirled around me. I broke the surface, blew out the old air, and sucked in fresh new air. I dove back down and made a mad dash away from the orca.

I was pretty fast.

He was faster.

< Rachel! He's right behind you! > I turned as quickly, as sharply as I could. I turned and brushed past him. His tail passed by my mouth, and I chomped down on it. This only made him madder.

He jerked me around insanely, until at last I fell off, in a daze. I couldn't see straight. I saw him coming for me, his
mouth open wide. I took a shot in the dark and sprinted forward as fast as I could. I had no idea if I was heading away or towards him. Was I going up or down? It made no difference now.

I broke the surface of the water and jumped as high as I could. Then I saw -- But I fell back down, down towards the whale and his open mouth waiting for me.

< Tobias! Help me! > He was literally flying through the water. He rammed into the whale's side just as I hit the water. I landed on Tobias in the process.

< Ah! Rachel, warn me next time, okay? >

< Sorry. > Talk about falling for a guy, I thought to myself. < Tobias, when I was up there, I saw something. I think -- >

< Look out! > I turned. The whale had swam away, picked up momentum, and was now speeding towards us. I got an idea.

< Tobias, now it's your turn to follow me. > I began swimming full-speed towards the whale. < On the count of 3,
jump! >

We swam towards the whale. < 1! > The gap became smaller and smaller. I could make out the whale's features. < 2! > We were thirty feet away. Twenty! Fifteen! < 3! > I screamed. I lifted up out of the water. Tobias did the same. We sailed through the water, side by side. We landed on the other side of the whale.

< Go! > Tobias screamed as we plunged down into the water. I swam faster and faster. We had to get away from the whale before he figured out what had happened. At the same time, I started calling my friends' names. You see, when I had been up in the air that first time, the thing that I had seen, was two dolphins swimming alongside a humpback whale. By some miraculously lucky chance, it might be our friends.

< Cassie! Ax! Jake! > I paused. < Okay, okay. Marco! >

< Rachel, is that you? > I heard Cassie exclaim. < Yeah it's me! And Tobias! >

< Thank God! I thought we were the only survivors! >

< So who's with you? >

< Jake's here. And this is Aftran! >

< Aftran's here? > I said. < What are the odds ?>

< I know. Come on! She knows where our island is! >

< All right! > I stopped to think. Four of us were accounted for. That left Marco, Ax, and Erek. Where were they?

Tobias and I met up with the others. The killer whale decided we weren't worth it now that we had two more dolphins and a whale on our side.

It sounds strange, but it's true. Also, I couldn't control my body. I heard a cruel laugh as the truth settled in.

I was a Controller.

A Yeerk! While I had been unconscious, floating in the water, a Yeerk must have entered my ear.

I couldn't believe it. We were finished! The Yeerks now knew everything I knew.

< So, you finally figured it out, did you? > He sneered at me.

< Get out of my head, you filthy slug! > I screamed at him.

< Oh, I don't think I want to do that. No, no. I am enjoying this wonderful morph-capable body. >

< Leave me! >

< Allow me to introduce myself, > he said, ignoring me.

< I don't care who you are. >

< Oh, I think you do. For I am none other than Visser Four. > Oh my God, I thought to myself. I'm a Visser?! < That's right. Visser Four. > Instantly I thought of the time when we had followed this Yeerk through time, preventing him from rewriting human history. He wouldn't remember that though. Except that now he would.

< Hmm. Interesting, > he muttered as he read the story in my mind like a book. < Well, this upsets me. I could have been given a huge promotion. But I cannot be bothered about that now. We've no time to lose. >

I started to protest, but I knew it was useless. < Yes, it is true. You are my slave, and I am your master. There's nothing you can do about it. Once our glorious plan unfolds, the Animorphs will be destroyed! >

< What 'glorious plan?' >

< Quiet fool! You are no longer an individual. You are merely a tool, a vessel to accommodate myself. >

After that, neither of us said much to each other. I was still in shock. I mean, come on! I was a Controller! And not only that, I was Visser Four!

The Yeerk taunted me numerous times, while I silently cried for freedom. But it was futile. I could do nothing.

I looked around. Or at least, the Yeerk looked around, and I watched. There were a lot of people floating in the water.

I figured there would be some rescue ships soon. I was right. About half an hour later, they arrived. But they were like nothing I had ever seen. That is, nothing I had ever seen on Earth.

They were shaped like roaches. They had two spear-like structures sticking out in front. They looked almost exactly like Yeerk Bug Fighters. But these were seafaring vessels.

< Yes, they are Yeerk ships, > the Visser announced with pleasure. < State of the art. We created them specifically for Earth's many oceans. > Then I realized what Yeerk ships were doing rescuing humans. They were here for hosts. All these people would be enslaved. It had been a pretty big ship. I think there were about 1600 people on board. All would inevitably be made into Controllers.

1600 people! It would be worse than Titanic, with 1500 deaths. And these people were in for a fate worse than death.

1600 people would be made into Controllers. And there was nothing I could do except watch. I couldn't even control where I watched.

< So, human, how do you like it? Oh wait, I'll just find out for myself. > I could feel him reading my brain. And not just about how I felt. He was reading everything I ever knew. I felt violated.

The ships started picking up people. Including me. However, while everyone else was being taken below deck, I
stayed above and went straight to the bridge.

"Visser!" The crew stood at attention.

"Yes. It's me. I have enslaved the morph-capable human." A wave of dread swept over me. They knew! They had already known about us, before the Visser had enslaved me!

< That's right, slave. Visser One's great discovery was the beginning of our 'glorious plan'. It gets even better now that I know the rest of you are humans as well. > Visser One's great discovery? Of course! Just before she had fallen off the mountain, she had heard me talk to her. She knew I was a human; her host's son. And worse, that I could morph.

But while I felt bad that it was my fault they knew about us, I also felt relief. My mother was still alive! Of course she was still Visser One, but she was alive. I still had the chance to save her.

< It shall never be. You are nonexistent, fool! >

< Not yet, > I sneered. < As long as I'm around, there's still the chance of freeing her .>

< It is futile. You and your mother have fulfilled your destiny. The same destiny all humans have - to serve the mighty Yeerks. >

< So, now what do we do? >

"I suppose we should try to get inside."

< I can do that easily, but what about you? > The Chee may be advanced, but they never had a need for morphing, I assume.

"I'll stay out here and run a few more tests. It takes a couple of hours, but I can find out if our friends are alive."

< Good. I'll sneak in and see what I can find. > I began demorphing as Erek covered me with his hologram. When I was done, I started to morph the cockroach.

Roaches are an amazing Earth species. They can survive almost anything, live almost anywhere. They are considered pests by humans.

I chose this morph because I would be able to get into the facility very easily in this body. It could squeeze through even the tiniest of cracks.

The change to cockroach was a bizarre one. An Andalite has nothing in common with a roach. The first things to go were my stalk eyes. My vision dwindled away to nothing as the eyes dissolved. The stalks themselves, however, exploded from my head, forming my antennae. My main eyes popped out and became the roach's faceted compound eyes. My world was made up of thousands of tiny screens.

My arms and legs became thin, multi-jointed insect legs. At the same time, I began to shrink at an alarming rate. It kept my legs from snapping under my own weight. Transparent gossamer wings sprouted from my shoulders.

My tail fell limp and disappeared. I felt a crunching sound as my bones became nothing and my organs rearranged. Three of my four hearts stopped beating entirely. My skin and fur turned hard and brown, forming my exoskeleton. Lastly, my nose slits mutated into the roach's mouthparts. My ears sucked into my head.

I was a cockroach.

I called up to Erek, < Could you place me near an opening? >

"Of course." I felt a breeze as Erek's hand swooped down to pick me up. Suddenly, the roach's instincts kicked in.

FEAR!

Something large was coming down on me! It would crush me!

VIBRATIONS!

RUN! RUNRUNRUNRUN!

I fired my insect legs and took off at what had to be three hundred miles an hour!

"Ax, it is slightly difficult to pick you up when you keep running around like this," Erek called down to me.

What? Ax ... oh. I was an Andalite, not a roach. < I am sorry, Erek, > I said sheepishly. Erek said nothing more. He reached his hand down again. This time I ignored the roach's screaming cries to run away.

Erek carried me nearer to the human facility. It was poorly built, and I was able to slip in easily. I crawled along
through the wall. The space was in reality only a couple inches wide, but it might as well have been ten feet. It
reminded me of walking down a corridor of one of our great Dome ships. For a moment I felt a pang of homesickness. But I quickly brushed it away. A warrior must not fall victim to such feelings.

I could "hear" faint vibrations. They "sounded" like voices, coming from the opposite side of the building. I
continued my long trek through the walls. I was faced with many obstacles which slowed me down. I scampered over nails sticking out like hideous blades. Bits and pieces of what humans call "dry wall" littered the ground. Also, there was an abundance of sand; the building had been constructed on the beach. My legs kept slipping, plunging into the sand.

Despite the inconveniences, I made good time. After half an hour, the voices had become more distinct. I could make out some of the words that were being spoken: "Progress is coming ------------------ nicely. Research on
----------------------------------- plants ----------------------------- nearing completion."

What I heard next caught my attention. "Good! ------------------------------ never suspect ------------------------------------- as it seems. I want ----------------------------------- crystal shipped --------------------------- for further tests." They were sending the crystal away? No! We had to act quickly, or we might lose everything!

Then, I heard the next few words and heard nothing else. My tiny roach heart skipped a beat when I heard one of the voices say, "The Hork-Bajir -------------"

We were too late.

The Yeerks were already here.

Along the way, Tobias informed us of his meeting with the Ellimist.

Erek, Ax, and Marco were still missing. Things were not looking up, except for the fact that we were on our way to retrieve the crystal. Not that I was looking forward to that.

When at last we reached the island, we had to leave Aftran behind. I thanked her for her help and asked her to come back and see me some time. At home, that is. If I ever made it home.

The island was much larger than the one Jake and I had washed up on. It was also more densely wooded. Each island out here seemed to have its own miniature rain forest on it.

Aftran had brought us to the side of the island with the research lab, and we merely had to walk about a mile to reach it.

Suddenly a figure appeared from behind a tree. "Hey!" It was Erek! "I thought you guys were goners. How did you get here?" We quickly filled him in on everything that happened.

"Erek, are Ax and Marco with you?" Rachel asked him.

"Ax is. I hoped Marco was with you."

"No," I said glumly. We were all accounted for - with the exception of Marco.

"When I left the scene of the shipwreck, I caught a glimpse of him. But I was already dragging Ax behind me, and I couldn't hold anymore and swim at the same time."

Jake spoke up. "If Marco is still back there in the water, he'll probably be rescued with the others. I mean, I guess there'll be ships coming to pick them up. I saw the ship's crew sending some distress signals." I couldn't tell if he had meant the last part or if he had made it up to make us feel better. I decided to believe him, because it was easier.

"Hey, you said Ax was here," I said. "Where is he?"

"He went in the lab to check it out. As a cockroach. I couldn't go with him."

"All right. We'd better join Ax," Jake said.

"Do you know where is in there?"

"Wait," Erek said. "He's talking to me."

"Why doesn't he talk to us all?" Rachel asked.

"Because he doesn't know we're here," Tobias said plainly.

"Oh yeah."

"Uh oh," Erek said after a few moments. "Ax says the Yeerks are already here."

"Great," Jake said weakly.

"Ax is out of the building. I'm going to cover him while he demorphs." Erek extended his hologram to envelop a roach near the wall of the building.

"Ax! We're here, too!" I said, rushing over to him.

< Cassie? > he asked, astonished.

"Yeah. We're all here. Except Marco."

< But how did you ... > While he demorphed, we told him how we had gotten there.

"One last thing," Tobias said, finishing our story. "Crayak is after that crystal too. Not just the Yeerks."

< This is not pleasant news, > Ax said. He has a very strange sense of humor. Sometimes I'm not sure whether he's joking or not.

"Ax, did you find anything else?"

< Yes. The crystal is going to be shipped away soon. >

"Can anything else go wrong?" Jake muttered. "All right, we have to get that crystal. Now."

Rachel spoke up. "I say we go back to Cassie's original plan."

"My plan?"

"Yeah. 'Show up as elephants and tigers and what have you and knock the place in until we find the crystal.' We
know now that this place is a Yeerk facility, not innocent humans."

"You know, it just might work," Jake said.

"Are you crazy?" I asked him.

"Well, we did the same thing to the Marriott resort," he replied, "and those were mostly free humans."

I felt sick at what I was about to say. "All right. But no one hurts anyone, all right? Unless you have to."

"Let's do it!" Rachel said, fire in her eyes. Rachel is my best friend, but there are times when I look at her, what she has become, and deep down, she really, truly scares me.

Erek had covered us while we morphed, but after that, there was nothing he could do except watch.

We took off towards the lab. I still had no idea exactly what we were going to do.

Suddenly, the wall was in front of me. I hit it with all my three tons of power. Just as suddenly as there had been a wall, there was no wall anymore.

The room I had burst into was empty, except for a few tables and chairs. The others were right behind me. < Okay, we're in. Now what? >

< Knock down another wall.> Rachel, of course. She stomped over to the left wall and pushed on it with her trunk. < Ha! > She backed up and rammed into the wall using the full force of her shoulder. The wall exploded. Literally.

The facility had been built quickly. Nothing was very good quality, and we could easily break through the walls in
one movement.

This next room had two occupants in it. They had heard the chaos coming from the next room, and were just about to investigate when we came crashing through. "AHHHHHH!" One of them screamed. He ran out of the room, leaving the other behind. I suspected the remaining one was a Controller. Any normal human would have run away screaming at the sight - as the other guy had demonstrated.

"What the --" He was cut off by Rachel's mighty trumpeting. "Andalites!" he cried. So he was a Controller.

< Thanks, that makes it so much easier, > I said calmly as I wrapped him up in my trunk and lifted him off the floor. I threw him back over my head to the other room. He moaned and slumped to the floor. He wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.

< Come on people, we've got to find that crystal, > Jake said as he stepped forward. He tried to listen for anything that might help us. But now humans were streaming into the room. Some left just as quickly as they had come, and some started shooting at us. I felt a pop as a bullet hit my cheek. It stung, but didn't do much else.

< Go out the door! > I yelled. We charged toward the oncoming people, most of them Controllers. The smart ones moved out of the way. The not-so-smart ones received a one-way ticket to the other room, via our trunks and Jake's horns.

Jake got to the door first. He crashed through and turned left. Suddenly the door was much wider, as was the hallway. We pushed on through the research lab, looking for the crystal.

< Open the doors, Jake! > Rachel called to him. He turned his head to the right and slammed it into the door. It crashed open. The room was empty.

< This is way too familiar ... > Jake muttered.

The next room contained two very frightened scientists. We charged on. < It has to be here somewhere! >  Cassie said, frustrated.

Let me remind you that while all this was happening, we had Controllers behind us, in front of us, and just about
everywhere else shooting at us. The air was filled with the din of shotguns.

< Hey! I think I found it! > Jake exclaimed. He pushed down a door labeled "MINERAL TESTING ROOM." I couldn't help thinking that is was all too easy.

The room was huge. But that's not what I noticed first. There was a good thing and a bad thing.

The good thing was that the crystal was there, resting in a glass case on the other side of the room. It looked like it was being displayed in a museum.

The bad thing was that it was being guarded by an army of the ugliest creatures I had ever imagined, led by none other than Crayak's servant, the Drode.

He looked like a cross between a bird, a dinosaur, a human, and a prune. He stood on two legs, balanced by a stubby tail. His skin was black and wrinkled. His almost human head had eyes and a mouth outlined in an eerie shade of green. Despite his dark body, his eyes shone out, bright white. He had two short, many-jointed arms that resembled a T-rex. Ultimately, he was standing in front of five nightmares that made Hork-Bajir look tame.

Each one was six feet tall. Three arms extended from the midsection. Each arm ended in four claws, which were covered with sharp spikes. Five legs - yes, five - and a foot at the end of each one grew from the midsection. The feet were almost identical to a Hork-Bajir's own tyrannosaurus feet. Two different heads protruded from the neck, which was two feet long. One head consisted of only eyes - at least twenty of them. The other head was covered with bristly hairlike structures I assumed were antennae.

The mouth was positioned on the midsection, just below and between two of the arms. It was lined with blue teeth, each one an inch long. The mouth was at least two feet wide. The skin was thick, almost as tough as my elephant skin. It was a dark blue color. Worst of all was the tail. It protruded from behind, like most tails do, but this one was ten feet long. It was more like a tentacle than a tail, and I could tell it was not for balance. The tail was smothered with ripping blades, with a stinger on the end.

"So, we meet again," the Drode snickered. "I hoped we would. How long I've waited to be graced by your presence." He laughed an evil laugh.

We were all still in shock, staring at the hideous creatures. "How do you like my friends? They are a new species created by my great master. They're called the Bezzlocks. Speaking of my master, Crayak is very upset with you. He didn't like the fact that you tricked him out of our deal. Jake should be dead. But that is not the only reason I am here."

"These Yeerks are fools not to have realized what they had. The Pemalite crystal was found by them, but I have it now. It will revive the Howlers and erase the flaw in their collective memory. But you will not be around to see that. Your end is here."

< I thought you couldn't kill sentient creatures! > I exclaimed.

"I can't. But they can."

I jerked around madly and threw him off me. He was sitting in front of me. I charged. My horns rammed into his
midsection, the side opposite his mouth. I was standing on top of his tail, and it wasn't comfortable. A rhinoceros cannot maneuver very well in a hand to hand ... I mean, horn to claw fight. The Bezzlock was using this to his advantage. His clawed hand was ripping at my face.

I backed up, and charged again. This time I aimed for the eye-head. I connected, and suddenly the Bezzlock had no sight. I heard him cry out from pain. My next goal was to remove the head with antennae. That would leave him blind and deaf.

I twisted my head so my horns stuck into the head. I couldn't get it off, but I was able to cause quite a bit of damage. Almost done! Now all I had to do -

Suddenly I felt a sharp pain and realized I wasn't moving as fast as I had been. I felt the Bezzlock's poison seeping into my body through the tail stinger.

"Yes! Die, Jake! Die!" I heard the Drode's giddy words as a distant murmur. I was fading fast. I knew I would die
soon, and there was nothing I could do about it. Suddenly the world went black ...

'Jake! Jake, oh God, Jake! Demorph! Demorph now!"

< Wha ... what? >

"Jake? Jake! Demorph!" Cassie yelled. I began to feel myself changing ... my strength was coming back.

< Cassie? >

"Jake! Are you okay?"

< I am now. Thanks. Are we still ...? >

"Yeah." I could see now. We were still in the room. Bezzlock and rhinoceros and elephant parts were lying all over the floor. The others were all there, demorphed. The Drode was still there as well. They were morphing to their power morphs. The Drode was going after the crystal.

Rachel, halfway into grizzly morph reached with her massive hand and smacked the Drode away from the glass case.

I began morphing to tiger. Ax, who had remained an Andalite, ran to the Drode. He was about to strike when the
Drode shimmered and disappeared. "Ha ha ha!" he laughed. "I will not be defeated so easily! I'll be back, Jake! I'll be back ..." With that, he was gone.

< Now what? > Rachel asked. We were all in our battle morphs now.

< Get the crystal, and let's get out of here. > I had had enough of this crystal, and would be glad to see this mission over. We were about to crash through the wall and leave when something else beat us to it. The wall exploded inward, and the ceiling was going to come crashing down on our heads!

We made a mad dash for the safety outside. I heard the wall ceiling crash just inches behind me!

< Cassie! > someone yelled. I turned and looked. Cassie had been caught by the falling ceiling!

I saw what had broken through the wall. < At long last! I shall defeat the Andalite bandits! > It was Visser Three! He was in morph. It was a huge snail, except it walked on four legs. It also had two large protrusions that looked like they could squirt some kind of chemical. < You first, > he said, looking at Cassie.

< No! > I yelled as I ran in front of him. The poison meant for Cassie hit me in the side. I felt it burning through my tiger skin. One blast would not kill me, but another one in the same spot would be fatal. < Cassie! Get out of there! >

I turned and sprinted at the Visser. He sprayed me in the face. < AHHHHHHH! > I screamed. My nose ... my mouth ... my eyes! They were literally dissolving!

Somehow I managed to avoid any more acid blasts. I couldn't see to fight, but the others were doing well. Rachel had managed to break through the Visser's tough shell. The Visser had underestimated us, and chosen the wrong morph. His soft flesh was exposed and he was vulnerable.

< What's happening? > I called to someone, anyone.

< He's melting! > Rachel informed me.

< Seriously, Rachel. >

< No, really! He's melting into the ground! He's ... he's escaping! >

< Well, let him go. Let's get off this island! >

The others came to me and led me to the ocean. We walked out in it and felt the cool water running over us.

"Hey wait!" Erek called to us.

"And just where have you been?" Rachel asked. "We could have used you back there. Well, maybe."

"Give me the crystal!"

Rachel did so. I demorphed and watched as Erek took the crystal back towards the crumbled facility. "Erek! What are you doing?"

"Look. It's Visser Three's Blade Ship." The ship was powering up. The engines roared and lit up with fire. "The ship's engines are one of the few things here on this planet that will destroy the crystal for good. And right now, it's the most convenient."

Erek threw the crystal at the ship with precision. It landed in the flames of the ship's engines. The ship took off.

"They'll never know that they brought about the destruction of the crystal."

"Great." I said wearily. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get off this crummy island before anything else happens."

"Amen," Rachel agreed.

"We've lost Marco," Cassie said plainly.

There were a few minutes of silence as we all let that sink in. Marco was gone.

"Wait. He might have been saved, remember? We assumed there would be rescue ships coming to pick up all the people," I said, hoping to cheer everyone up a bit. It didn't work.

< There seems to be nothing we can do right now, > Ax put in.

"You're right, Ax. Come on. Let's get going." With that, we waded out to deeper water and began to morph. Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias would take turns morphing to whale in order to carry the rest of us. Erek was our navigator. It would take a while, but eventually we would make it back home. We hoped.

It was then that I realized something. Visser Four was obviously working with Visser One. Visser One was viewed as a traitor in the Yeerk Empire, and was not trusted. So Visser Four probably was in the same position. < You are clever, slave. But soon you will be broken - unable to think on your own. > I ignored him. If they were not trusted, they would not have told the rest of the Yeerks our secret - that we were human.

The others were still safe - for a while.

We were in orbit now. We approached a huge ship that I recognized as Visser One's 'Nova-class Emperor ship,' as Ax had called it. The crew piloted the ship into the docking bay. I ... Visser Four walked down to where the other prisoners were being held. Actually, they had already been infested, so they weren't being held. They were walking out of the ship in a single-file line.

< You are lucky, slave, > Visser Four laughed at me. < Most hosts have a fate like this: guards and computer
technicians. You get to see how Yeerk celebrities live, > he said, as though I were some kid going to work with his father.

< Oh yay, > I said with mock giddiness. < Say, dad, after you're done at work today, can we stop and get some ice cream? > I felt an intense pain. The Yeerk was suppressing me.

< That will the last of your defiance. Speaking of 'dads,' you'll be seeing yours soon.>

< What? >

The Visser walked down the ramp to the polished steel floor. I saw a figure walking across the bay to us. Then I
recognized her.

It was Visser One. My mother.

"Welcome ... my son," she said with a laugh.

"I see you made it, too." A new voice - but a familiar one. I watched in horror as another person came strolling up to us.

It was my father. "Allow me to introduce my companion," Visser One said. "Visser Four ... Marco ... meet my good friend, Visser Two."

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