Animorphs II

#2: The Kidnapping

By: Howler99

Chapter One

 My name's Courtney.  I used to be normal, until this kid named David cam and made me and my three friends-Gary, Mark, and Alice-freaks of nature.
 He gave us the power to morph to any animal we can touch an acquire its DNA.
 He led us into a fierce battle.  A battle that nearly killed me.
 And now they're after me.
 The other ones.  Jake, Tobias, Cassie, Ax, and Rachel.  They can morph too.  Except that they want to take over the world after they're done saving it.
 You see, we're being invaded by aliens called Yeerks.  You probably already know that, so I won't need to tell you.
 My story starts right now.  I was walking to lunch, when two of the other Animorphs, Jake and Cassie, was standing in the doorway to the cafeteria.
 "We need to talk," Jake said to me as I tried to pass him.  I walked with them outside.  The sun was beating down.
 "How can you morph?" he asked me in a stern voice that wasn't harsh.
 "Have you lost your mind?" I asked him, trying to squirm out of the question.
 "Don't fool around," he threatened, "Tell me. Where did you get the f-"
 "-morphing power," Cassie interupted.  "Where did you get it?"
 "David gave it to me, Ma-"
 Suddenly, there were cars squeaking.  I turned and saw a car flying down the road at over a hundred miles an hour.
 Jake and Cassie probably thought it was a drunk.
 But I knew who it was.  David.
 When they turned their heads to see, I ran out of there and into the cafeteria.
 < Hey guys, > I heard someone call in thought speak.  It was probably Tobias.  < She ran back in. >
 Why did he include me?  To scare me?  To frighten me?
 I ran and bumped into Marco.  He was with them too.
 "Hi, just the person I wanted to see," he said.
 "Get out of my way you peice of-"
 "Why hello there Ms.____________(can't tell you my last name in case you didn't know.) and Mr. _____________(Marco can't tell you his last name either.)," Principal Chapman said.  He's a Controller.  A Yeerk. The enemy.  "Why where you running in the halls young lady?  And where are you two's passes.  Don't make me give you detention again, Marco."
 "Okay Mr. Chapman.  My, your rug-I mean your tie looks really good today," Marco answered.
 Mr. Chapman walked off, fixing his toupee.
 "Now, where-" Marco started, but it was too late.  I was already in the cafetreia, sitting down eating.

Chapter Two

 Later that day, during last period, I was in gym.  The problem was, so was Cassie.
 She tried to talk to me when I was dressing out, but I ignored her. She stayed away during class, but when we where back in the locker room, she got ticked.
 "Now listen to me," she said as she pulled me aside and took me to the showers.  "I'm getting really ticked.  I know who you are, but I don't know how.  You'll have to fill me in on that."
 I was about to tell her everything, when the fire alarm went off.
 Saved by the bell.
 I started walking out of the locker room, when Cassie pulled me back in.
 "Answer me," she said quieter.  Her voice was silky and full of rage. Quite unlike her.
 "You know what," I said, getting really ticked. "I don't really care if you kill me.  Go ahead.  But my friends will
find you.  They'll rip you and the rest of your puny little Animorphs to shreds.  They'll rip out every pulsing, pumping vein."
 I normally don't do stuff like that, but I was ticked.  Seriously ticked.
 I have never, in my entire life, evr threaten someone like that.  I was scared.  Not of the Yeerks, or the Animorphs, or getting bad grades.  I was scared of my self.
 I left the locker room and went out with everyone else.
 Marco came up to me and pulled me aside.
 "You know," he said.  "I was thinking, we could get a bite to eat later.  Maybe pizza.  Or Chinese.  Maybe even
Mexican.  We could sit down and talk about stuff like gossip, ballet, opera, where you got the morphing power.  You know, the usual."
 I looked at him and said, "Yeah that sounds good."  I leaned over like I was going to kiss him, then slapped him in the jaw.
 He covered it with his hand.
 "Ouch," I said.  Then I left.

Chapter Three

 It was that afternoon when me, Gary, Alice, Mark, and David were at the mall.  I was about to explode.  Mark already did.
 "I don't believe you almost told them everything," Mark shrieked at the top of his lungs.  "If you had said one more word, we could all be dead!  Don't you ever think?!  If David hadn't shown up, we could all be eating dirt six feet underground!  And if you had told Cassie or Marco what was going on, we'd be deader than dead!  I
swear, if I had a gun, I'd-"
 He was cut off by Alice.  "If they want to kill her, why did they let her live?"
 "To get the rest of us!  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out!"
 "You know this happened to me, not you," I interrupted.
 "Yeah, but it could've been all of us, you freaking moron!"
 "Hey," Gary said, trying to break the tension. "Just back off. Nothing happened."
 "But it could've," Mark said with less enthusiasum then before.
 "Let's get down to business," David said.  "Gary and I spied on a Sharing meeting after school.  I couldn't find
anything out."
 We all knew what he was talking about.  His parents are Controllers. He's trying to find them and free them.  That's why we're here.  To help him.  Our reward?  The power and curse to morph.  Bottom line: stay in morph more then two hours, you stay in that morph forever.  The other Animorphs did that to David. He got free somehow.
 "Did you find out anything else?" I asked David.
 "We found out that the Yeerks are doing something with a building in downtown, setting up a new headquarters closer to the suburbs, and that they've enslaved Michael Jackson."
 "Why would they want him?" Mark asked.
 "To get free copies of his new CD?" I suggested.
 "If they want free CDs, they'll need to enslave Will Smith."
 We laughed and talked foor thirty more minutes, but broke up.  I went over to the toy store looking to see if I could find a gift for my little brother for his birthday.  I bought him a lightsabre then went to the Gap.  I tried to see if I could find a skirt for the dance coming up in a couple of weeks.  Instead I found Rachel. She's one of the other Animorphs.
 She walked over to me, but I walked away.  I went out of the the mall, heading home.
 < Could you slow down? > a voice said in my head. I looked up and saw Tobias, spying on me.
 "Do you have anything better to do?" I yelled up to him.  I couple of people turned to stare.  I kept on walking.
 I walked into my neighborhood.  On the sidewalk, blocking my way, was Marco, Jake, and a disturbingly pretty boy.
 I ralized I was going to die.  But I wasn't going down without a fight.  I put my bag down and started morphing
into the black panther who's DNA was inside of me.
 "Hey, whoa," Marco said.  "No need to get all tough.  We just want to talk.
 But even as he said that, he was already morphing gorilla.  Jake was morphing a tiger, and that pretty boy was
morphing an Andalite.
 I couldn't take them on.  I was done for.
 < People are starting to notice us morphing, > Ax said.  < I suggest we leave before someone decides to use a primitive human weapon on us. >
 Jake and Marco reversed the morph and morphed they're own bird of prey morphs.  Ax morphed his too once he was in his Andalite body.
 They flew off with three other birds.
 I demorphed and grabbed my bag.  My clothes were torn and loose as I walked into my house.  Safe at last.

Chapter Four

 I didn't go to school the next day.  I tricked my mom into thinking I was sick.  I stayed home and watched The People's Court and reruns ofThe Andy Griffith Show.
 Mom was off at work.  She draws blueprints of houses.  My little brother was at school.  He was going to a friends house after school, so I was alone until five o' clock.
 I was half asleep during the Rosie O' Donnell Show, when the phone rang.
 "Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh," I screamed.  I jumped up and answered it.
 "What?" I asked hysterically.  I did'nt get any sleep for two nights in a row.  So I was a little bit crabby.
 "It's me," Gary said.  "We're meeting at the Taco Bell on the corner of Austin and West.  I think you should come."
 "Why?" I snapped, still annoyed with being woke up.  "Is it about attacking the Animorphs again?  Or is it about
poor little baby David looking for his parents.  Oh boohoo.  I'm touched."
 "What's wrong?" Gary asked in a gentle voice, despite my temper.
 "What's wrong?  I'm being chased my homocidal freaks of nature, saving some geek's parents, and saving the world! What's Wrong?!"
 "It'll be okay," he said and hung up.
 I put down the phone and smiled.  I could never stay mad at Gary for long.
 I put on my jacket and went out the door. Fifteen minutes later, I had arived at Taco Bell.
 I couldn't see the others, so I ordered a Chili Cheese Burrito and a large Mountain Dew.  I sat down.  The others came in, one at a time.
 "Hungry?" Mark asked as he sat down.
 While I was waiting, I got some soft tacos and a couple of gorditas.
 The others came in.  David got down to business.
 "Okay, here's the plan: we go to the forest where Ax lives.  We morph battle and surround him.  Gary acquires him and morphs.  If the Animorphs come, they'll see Gary in Ax morph.  We force Ax to morph harrier and fly to an office building in downtown.  everyone demorphs except me so I can make sure he doesn't attack. He then morphs to human and finds out where my parents are.  After he's done . . ."
 We all knew what he ment.  That Andalite wasn't going to have a good day.

Chapter Five

 It was later that night.  After dinner, I came here.  We were near Ax's scoop.  he couldn't see us because he was watching TV.
 Alice couldn't make it, so it was just us four of us.  Mark and I had sneaked in Cassie's barn and acquired an owl.  A barn owl to be exact.
 I had morphed black panther and David morphed lion.  Mark was owl standing guard.  Gary was human.
 Tobias was with Ax.  We waited untill he left, then struck.
 < What?  Tobias, > Ax shouted.  But Tobias couldn't hear him.  He was out of range.
 David had knocked him to the ground.  I kept his tail down so he couldn't hit us.  Gary walked up and acquired
him.  Then he bagan to morph.
 First the stalk eyes sprouted.  The a tail, blue fur, two legs, and extra fingers.  His body twisted and turned.  His
human self evaporated as Andalite gave way.
 While this was happening, David was telling Ax what to do.  < Morph into Harrier now.  We need your help.  You will be freed once you help us. > Then to me, < Courtney?  demorph and remorph owl. >
 I demorphed and morphed owl.  It was just like the panther.  Cool, calm, collective.  Night was bright as day, day was brighter then bright.
 Once Ax had morphed harrier, Mark and I landed on him so he couldn't get up.  Once David finished morphing golden eagle, we flew off.
 It was disturbingly quiet as we flew.  Ax was silent as far as I could tell.  David was too.  Mark and I didn't speak.  We knew what was going to happen.  We didn't like it.
 Twenty minutes later, we reached an office building with an open window.  David and Ax flew in.
 < Mark, stay out as look out, > David ordered as soon as he landed.
 Mark flew up to the roof to demorph.  he was nearing the two hour limit.
 I flew in and demorphed to human.  David was already lion.  Ax was still harrier.
 Once I morphed panther, David gave the next order.  < Demorph, then morph human. >
 Ax did as he was told, not knowing that soon, he wouldn't be able to do anything.

Chapter Six

 Once Ax was human, David said, < Okay, now sit at the computer to your left.  Turn it on. >
 Ax went to the computer and turned it on.  David waited for it to boot up then said, < Now, log on to the
Internet. >
 Ax logged on.
 < Hack into the Yeerk mothership. >
 "I can not hack into the mothership.  Mo-ther. Ther. Hip.Ip.Othership. I can not get to the mainframe from an Earthbound computer.  Puter. Ter.  Puterterter."
 < JUST DO IT!!!!!!!! > David roared.  He then gave out a mighty roar of frustration.
 I let out a low growl.
 Ax worked and worked and worked well over an hour.  He was still working when a janitor came in.
 "Andalites," the janitor sneered.
 I was on him in a flash.  The janitor backed up and ran.  He went out the dorr and slammed it shut.
 That didn't do any good, because I busted the door down.
 But while I was knocking down the door, he and a couple of his janitor buddies, had drawn Dracon beams and aimed them at me.
 < David, > I whispered, < they've got guns. >
 < Get them away, > he said.
 I turned tail and ran.
 TSEWW!  TSEWW!  TSEWW!  TSEWW!  The janitors fired.  I turned a corner.  WHAM!  I looked up, dazed.
 It was another janitor.  "Andalie," he sneered. He reache for his Dracon Beam. I was on him before he could reach for his pocket.
 "Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh," he screamed in terror as a two hundred pound panther jumped on him.
 "Over this way," the janitors yelled.  I stood up and ran.
 An elevator opened!  Another janitor!
 < What is this place?  Janitors 'R' Us? >
 This one, however, was not a Controller.
 "Mommmmmeeeeeee," he screamed as I flew past him.
 I turned and stood on my hind legs.  I lifted up a claw and pushed close.
 But, in the process of pushing close, I pushed 12, 39, 47, 2, and 57. I was originally on the sixty-ninth floor.
 < Oh, brother. >
 I tried to push stop, but I pushed around twenty different floors in the process.
 From far away outside, I heard the familiar thought speak of Mark saying, < We've got company. >

Chapter Seven

 I demorphed to human and pushed stop.  Then I pushed open.
 The doors slid open, and I walked out of there.
 I ran to the stairs.  I opened the door and ran as fas as I could. Twenty floors later, I was about to collapse.  I
opened the door to the sixty ninth floor.  I looked around for any janitors, but I couldn't find any.
 I headed back to the room we where in.  15097. I gripped the door knob and feared for the worse.
 It slid open.  David was still lion pacing around the room.  And Ax was still sitting down at the console, cursing about human technology under his breath.
 "I have found it.  Ound it.  They are in a place called the Rockman Tower."
 < That means they're in this city, > David said anxiously.  Then he got serious again.  < Ax.  Close your eyes. >  He backed up and prepared to pounce on Ax, when I got between them.
 < Courtney, get out of my way! >
 Before I could say no, a gorilla broke through the window.
 CRAASH!  Glass went everywhere.  Several pieces flew into my arm.  Pain went through my arm and into my brain.  My vision got blurry.  I noticed that I must have got some int o head to.  It should heal when I morph.
 I saw a tiger and a hawk fly through the window.  The gorilla hit David, who had demorphed and morphing into a
golden eagle.  David flew away.
 Right before I lost concioussness, I felt strong, hairy arms lif me up.  Then came a voice.  < King Kong, eat you
heart out. >

Chapter Eight

 I somehow got home and woke up at three o' clock at night.  There, at the foot of my bed, was a kestrel.  Gary's raptor morph.
 < Hi, > he said, sounding depressed.
 "What happened?" I asked.
 < Well, Tobias didn't fall for me being Ax. Cassie and Rachel stayed with me, watching.  They saw a mountain lion in the forest and thought it was one of us.  Rachel went to check it out. I hit Cassie with the flat side of my tail balde and ran away.  Then, Mark said he was tied up on the roof as an owl.  He demorphed, remorphed, and flew away.  After I finished talking to him, I came over to see how you where doing. >
 I ran my fingers through my hair.  "Thanks," I said.
 He opened his wings and flew away.
 I laid down and tried to get some rest.
 As impossible as it seems, I fell asleep.

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