Redux: The Suspicion

[dolphin4077]

thank you.

[Kitulean]

Chapter Six

Praise be to the Glorious Overlord of our Esteemed and Magnificent Fleet of World Conquering Behemoths! Your awe-inspiring leadership surely has paved the way to our obvious and inevitable victory. Our Incredible Ascendancy awaits only our locating of the pathetic, contemptible change-capable planet dwellers. Once they are found, they will all marvel and cower in terror under our might. This would of course happen much sooner if your awe-inspiring leadership could see fit to provide a map to their location...

--- From the log of the Helmacron ship, Galaxy Blaster.

Here's the thing. When you're surrounded by heavily armed aliens that want to kill you, jumping off the nearest ledge seems like a perfectly valid plan. Three seconds later, when you're falling through what to you is several miles of open air toward the ground below, it becomes clear that it's lacking something. I'd say sanity, but the last time I had that was before I could morph. Wait. I threw my train of thought into reverse and backed up several words. Morph.

"Morph!" I called out to Rachel before noticing that she was halfway into her bald eagle form. She couldn't speak that way, so I said the "Duh." for her and then began my own change. As quickly as I could, I began to change into my own bird-of-prey morph, the merlin.  Sure the bird was small, but back when I chose it, I had hoped that the name would give me some kind of karmic connection to one of the most powerful wizards in mythology. You laugh now, but at the time I had just been told that alien invaders were hijacking people's brains. How should I know what could work?

I'm pretty sure adrenaline must fuel morphing, because sometimes it seems to take full minute or two to finish a morph, while other times it takes less than half that. It seems to be dependant on just how desperate you are. So like I said, adrenaline.

Whatever the reason for morphing being faster in near-death situations, I was glad for it. Because it meant that I actually managed to get my wings and flare them in time to avoid splatting against the ground. It's possible that I would have just bounced, giving my size. But that was a theory I didn't particularly want to test.  If you are ever shrunk to less than an inch tall and subsequently find yourself falling practically from orbit, feel free to let me know if it works.

Rachel let out a whoop that let me know she was alive, just as both of us practically crashed into each other. Of course, our current size situation notwithstanding, Rachel hitting me would have been the equivilant of a 747 plowing through, well, a bird. I told you I need to work on my analogies.

We both managed to veer off and I looked down in time to see David plow into the dirt. I knew he wasn't hurt because, well Chee are practically invulnerable. But I still winced a little. <Do you think he's out of it?>

Rachel replied with obvious scorn. <If you think we're that lucky, you really are new.>  She angled her wings and began to drop. <Come on, we better find him.>

I cast a glance up through the sky, looking for the Helmacron ship. I couldn't see it, but I knew it had to be somewhere. Though as fast as everything had been going, they might have gotten miles away from us before anyone thought to throw the brakes. Finding nothing in the sky, I followed Rachel toward the ground. <What do we do with him? Ask for him to please guide us to the nearest Chee stronghold? Do Chee have strongholds? Or is that too violent of a term. Peaceholds, maybe? Happyholds?>

<I'm not sure. But the only place he'll lead us is straight into a trap, if we let him.> Rachel replied slowly while banking in for a landing on a twig the size of a car. There was a hole in front of the twig where David had drilled into the ground when he hit. All around us were blades of grass the size of palm trees. I landed beside her and both of us began to demorph.

I hadn't had time to really notice when we were on the ship, but because Rachel had been shrunk in her bear form while I had been human at the time, and both of us were shrunk to the same baseline, when she was human now, Rachel was about a head shorter than I was. That was kind of weird, since she's usually a head taller.  "Huh." I commented. "I don't think I've seen the top of your head from this angle before."

We saw David pulling himself out of the hole then. Upon seeing two barefoot, leotard wearing girls watching him with folded arms, he raised his gaze skyward and muttered something before turning his sneer on Rachel. "I see your stupidity didn't shrink with the rest of you."

"I see your ego stayed the same too." Rachel shot back. Then she got angry, pushing up into David's personal space as her hands grabbed at his shirt, or the solid hologram projected into the form of his shirt. "Why are you working with these little idiots? You just can't wait to sell out the human race to the nearest bidder, huh?"

"Why am I working with them?" David replied mockingly.  "Let's see, maybe because they're not the ones who have now made a habit out of trapping me in a form that I can't do anything in?"

"Oh gee." Rachel rolled her eyes. "I am so sorry that we trapped you in a form that stopped you from killing everyone and dooming the planet. I'll write out an apology letter right now."

"Not we." David's voice was low, cold as he raised a finger to point it at her. "You. You trapped me this way. You humiliated me. You made me helpless.  And I..." He focused entirely on Rachel. I'm not even sure he remembered that I was there. "... am going to make sure that you feel the exact same defeat."

I pushed myself between the two of them before they could burn each other to death with their glares. "Rachel! Rachel, we have David. We have to get back to Jake. We have to get help, and make sure he's all right."

She didn't look away from David. "We still have to get that ship."

I snorted. "What are you going to do, lure the ship full of alien invaders down here and stage a hostile take-over?" Realizing belatedly that this was Rachel I was talking to, I corrected my phrasing. "You are not going to lure a ship full of alien invaders down here and stage a hostile take-over." When she didn't respond except to smile, I shouted. "Rachel, they have laser rifles!"

Her reply was calm. "So do the yeerks. We fight them. We can fight these turkeys. Besides," She finally looked away from David to give me her trademark predatory cover girl smile. "We're smarter than they are."

David snorted and looked vaguely amused. "Sure, you're both smarter than the aliens that shrunk you down to their size."

Rachel pushed her hair out of her face while smirking at him. I really think she was at home with all of this. "Considering how well we out smarted you, I don't think you really want to lower the bar for our intelligence, Sparky." That shut the boy up briefly and she looked back to me. "They'll come back looking for us. Hopefully they'll land and search. When they do, we'll jump a couple of them, morph them, then sneak onto and take over their ship."

I stared at this mad woman for about six silent seconds, and then flailed my arms. "Oh, is that all?! I thought you were going to suggest we do something suicidal. At least there's--oh wait that is suicidal!"

David spoke up, sounding casually curious. "And what exactly makes you think I won't whistle and holler dixie when you try this?"

Rachel opened her mouth to respond to me, then shot David a glare. "Because if you do, we're dead. And your programming won't let that happen. Besides, you're so arrogant that you still think you're going to get out of this body one day. And if that happens, you want to beat us yourself." Then she turned to me once more. "Melissa, we can do this. They're ****y, arrogant, and they have no idea what they're up against."

I responded dryly. "So basically, the difference between them and us is that we know what we're up against?"

She grinned and gave me a high five. "Exactly!"

That made me sigh. "That wasn't supposed to encourage you." I thought of something else and gestured. "Where are we going to hide out? They could be here any second."

"Over there." Rachel pointed to a stack pile of bricks that towered off into the sky. In reality it was probably about four feet high. To us, it was the Empire State Building. Small gaps between the bricks were enormous caverns where we could hide and wait. "We'll have to morph birds to get there, but that should draw them back faster anyway, if they track morphing energy."

"Yeah." I replied slowly, unable to believe what we were doing. "Because that's exactly what we want, to get the psychotic alien death machines here faster." At her answering grin, before she could respond I shouted. "Sarcasm! That was sarcasm, Rachel!"

****************************************************************************

"This is insane, Melissa. You know she's crazy." David's voice had been droning on the entire time that we had been holed up waiting for the Helmacron arrival. "We should be getting the hell out of here and letting the Chee find a way to fix us, not waiting to ambush this army."

<We?> I retorted sharply. <What's this we? Even if you could help, you wouldn't.> I had taken on the shape of the Helmacron that I'd acquired and was using a piece of a leaf to conserve some small portion of modesty. I wished that I had kept the jumpsuit I borrowed from the ship before. And that laser rifle might have been nice too. At least the Helmacron body didn't have instinct trying to tell me what to do. Then again, the lack of it was almost as distracting as the presence would have been. We were all standing in the shallow recess near the left bottom corner of the brick pile monument.

"Of course not." David's voice was patronizing. "Not before, and not with her. She did this to me. She threatened my family, before, in the other reality. She's the same way in this one. She's insane, Melissa! She's going to get everyone killed, just to fill her own need for--"

<Shut up.> Rachel's voice was remarkably calm. Then again, in her elephant form, she was much harder to hurt. Even at our reduced size, the elephant towered over the Helmacron. <You made your choice, David. Before and now. You could have gone back to your family. You could have warned them. You could have made everything perfect for yourself. But you just had to get your revenge. And now you're stuck. Well, live with it.> She finished bluntly.

Then she quieted, because we all heard it. The whine of the Helmacron ship approaching. We could see spotlights flaring out over the ground around the bricks as they searched for the source of the energy they were tracking. A moment later, a voice bellowed out through our minds, demanding that we surrender.

<Yeah, cuz that's gonna happen.> Rachel commented darkly before shouting up at them. <Come down and find us, you lunatic goggle-eyed pyramid heads!>

<Rachel.> I said tensely. <Maybe giving them the nickname of one of the scariest bad guys in video game history isn't the best way to encourage my participation in this exercise. Just saying.>

Before she could respond, we saw squads of Helmacrons begin to descend on those tractor beam things that they had used to pull us in. There were three separate squads of four Helmacrons each. Rachel practically stamped the ground in glee. <Here they come.>

<Yay?> I watched the alien teams split up and start to search for us. The nearest quad were yapping it up as they came closer. They continued to go on about how pathetic we were and how they'd strip the flesh from our bones as we wailed and pleaded for mercy while our blood boiled out through our eyes. You know, the usual.

<Wait for it...> Rachel whispered, shifting her relatively immense bulk in the darkness. I really hoped she restrained herself from trumpeting. She lowered her head and we all watched as the four helmacrons drew closer, picking their way around boulder sized flecks of dirt. One of them was waving a hand along the length of the rubble tower while excitedly declaring that it would be the ideal location from which to stage the attacks that would cripple our military. You had to say this much about the Helmacrons, they didn't lack for ambition. Sanity, common sense, functioning survival instinct maybe, but not ambition.

Just as the four heavily armed, comma sized sociopaths turned the corner into our shadowy nook, Rachel lunged forward. I tried to stay out of her way, pressed back against David. He actually put his hand on my shoulder with what I could have sworn was a reassuring squeeze. "It's all right."

I didn't have time to wonder what he was up to, because Rachel had just finished stomping two of the Helmacrons flat. I tried to remind myself that their minds would just jump into other bodies. The third she held up tightly in her trunk while the fourth lay prone under one of her large feet while she pressed it gently down. <Hey guys.> She remarked calmly. <We need to borrow your clothes.> The four would-be conquerers had been dispatched without any of them getting off so much as a single shot. I would have said that they weren't exactly the cream of the Helmacron military. But I had the distinct thought that they actually were.

Minutes later, the surviving Helmacrons were unconscious and Rachel had already acquired one of them. We had taken their jumpsuits and their weapons. Now, Rachel turned to David. <Let's go.>

David shook his head. "No." He shrugged. "What are you going to do? You can't hurt me. You can't drag me either. And nothing in my programming forces me to help you here. In fact, my staying out of it reduces the chance of you getting caught. So no, I'll stay right here and you can decide if you'd rather take this ship, or stand here and watch me. Hmmm, I wonder if the shrinkage is permanent eventually."

She glared as well as marble shaped balls on top of an inverted pyramid were capable of glaring, but David remained confidently motionless. "Tick Tock, Rachel." The sneer in his voice didn't even need the hologram's portrayal. "What's more important, leaving me on my own or getting up there and getting back to your normal size?"

I don't know what Rachel would have said, because at that moment, the ground shook violently. All of us were thrown to the ground while the earth rumbled. I hugged the ground and shouted. <What's going on?!>

Rachel got it before I did, calling back. <Cars! A bunch of cars just pulled up!> That was the source of the rumbling ground. Several vehicles had torn up over the grass and parked in a semicircle around the small area we were in, end to end. We were enclosed in a wall of mountain sized metal.

<This...> I started slowly. <Is not good.>

Just how not good it was became perfectly clear only seconds later. A voice filled all of our heads, one that was cold and devoid of any warmth, one that made even Rachel sieze up a little bit. <Our new friends say that the Andalite Bandits are here. Get those lights on, and find them. If any of them escape, all of you will be executed before the Council.>

We were a sixteenth of an inch tall, trapped in a pile of bricks, and Visser Three had arrived. Could things possibly get worse? As if in answer to that, I looked behind me to find that yes, yes they could.

David had disappeared.

[dolphin4077]

Great update!  Good luck on your other writing projects.

[Jellica]

Nice. Missed this story! Glad to see an update, and good luck with your other writings.

[mehigdon]

This story was stinkin' amazing.  I started with the first Redux this past weekend and have now caught up.  Actually, your first Redux is the reason I don't have any notes from either my Political Science class or my Western Civilization class from Thursday.  They're so good!!!  I love all the changes you made and how you portray each character so awesomely!  I hope you'll update soon but I understand delays...good luck with your other writings!

[dolphin4077]

Sorry to be a pest but I was wondering an update could happen anytime soon.  I've really been missing this.  Thanks

[Kitulean]

No problem at all, you're not a pest. I know I need to come back to this, and I most definitely will. At the moment, I'm attempting to finish my own original story within the next 10 days (to finish the whole book within a year of first posting it) If interested, you can read it here: http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=3598.0

It's not Animorphs, but I like to think it's still worth reading.
Post Merged: August 21, 2010, 03:21:35 AMChapter Seven

<He left?> Rachel was tipping over from fuming to boiling. <That little piece of **** punk!>

<Yes.> I responded dryly. <By all means, let's take all the time that's necessary to adjust to the shock of this turn of events.> Without pausing, I went on. <Well, that's done. What do we do about the ummm... insane megalomaniacal alien that wants to kill us?> A moment of thought after that, I winced. <You know, when I have to narrow it down further than that, life just sucks.>

<On the plus side,> Rachel finally dragged her attention away from the spot where David had been. <You're getting better at the whole joking through life threatening situations thing.>

<Yay me?> Unfortunately, the pounding footsteps that rocked the ground we were standing on as human-controllers swept the grass with flashlights reminded me that the bad guys don't like to wait for you to finish your personal discussions before trying to capture, maim, and even kill you. It was rude, but what was I going to do? There are certain things the Better Business Bureau just isn't qualified to regulate. Swallowing, I stepped closer to my friend. <Uhhh, Rachel, I'd love to continue this bantering thing, but can we please please please get out of here before they find us? Please with a cherry on top?>

<Right.> Rachel frowned. <Um. I'm not... exactly sure how we're going to do that.>

She went silent, looking at the grass around us while I watched the sweeping beams of light coming closer with each pass. Reflexively, I pressed myself backwards against the thick wall of the blade of grass behind me as though that might help. Yeah, that was likely. I wanted to see that headline. Dracon beams stopped by grass! Yeerk technology defenseless against Kentucky Blue. Whole Andalite fleet mocked ridiculously for eating their entire defensive structure! Through their hooves somehow! Further investigation on that pending! My newspaper would have a lot of exclamation marks.

<Rachel!> I tried not to sound panicked. <We have to go now! I want my exclamation marks!>

<Okay, we just-> Rachel turned to me. I'm not sure how you make jello marble eyes squint, but she managed it. <What?>

Realizing what I had said, I just shook my head. <Never mind. How do we get out of here?> I pressed further back into the shadows as the beam of light from one of the nearest controller's swept a little too close to my toes. We couldn't go any further back with the bricks blocking the way, and any second now the methodically searching Controllers were going to find us. They were kneeling in the grass, carefully passing their lights over every millimeter of ground, leaving nothing unturned. If we morphed, the Helmacrons would pinpoint the energy immediately.

<Yes, little Andalites.> The Visser's voice was as cheerful as I had ever heard it. <You're starting to realize that your tricks won't be of any help now. How does it feel, to be, as these humans say, trapped like mice?> One of the nearer human-controllers murmered something to him, and I heard the sound of something whipping through the air, followed by a crash that shook the ground as something heavy fell. Visser 3 asked almost casually. <Would anyone else like to correct my Earth terms?> No one did. I know I for one was ready to let him rewrite the entire dictionary of modern phrases if it tickled his fancy.

<Rachel.> I practically whimpered. I'm not too proud to admit that I was scared. It's hard to be brave when a dozen heavily armed people who want to kill you actually aren't the most threatening things within ten feet.

I felt Rachel's hand, or at least the helmacron hand, on my back. <It's okay. When I tell you to, run into the light.>

That made me turn and look at my obviously deranged friend like the mentally ill nutjob she was. <Into the light? Rachel, I have every intention of staying as far away from the light as possible. And I mean that in every conceivable term.>

She stared right back at me. <Trust me, Melissa. There's not time to explain. We run into the light on the count of three.>

I shook the upside down pyramid head as fast as I could. <That's not->

Rachel tensed and bent slightly on all four Helmacron legs, preparing herself. <One.> The light from the nearest Controller began to sweep back along the path ahead of us.

<But we don't even have-> I continued to protest, waving the spindly arms.

<Two.> Rachel put her hands on my back, squeezing firmly.

<I don't wanna->

<Three!> Giving me a solid push to start me running, I felt Rachel coming up fast right beside me.

<-die!> Despite my panicked protests, I didn't fight the push and started running. I didn't know why we were doing this, but at least I trusted her. She may have been crazy and prone to taking risks, but she wasn't stupid. There's suicide crazy and there's warrior crazy. Maybe moreso than any of the others except Ax, Rachel is a warrior. If she was running into the light, it was because she had a plan. It was probably at least half delusional and required what I like to call Rachel-logic to understand, but it was more than I had.

Together, both of us sprinted between the huge blades of grass and into the light. Almost immediately, the controller moving the flashlight shouted in excitement. Rachel grabbed my arm and jerked me to a stop, even as several more lights converged directly on us. I saw the enormous hand of the Controller nearest us start to reach out. I saw the Visser's tail pull back. Resisting the urge to whimper as we both stood flatfooted in plain sight, I prayed that Rachel hadn't been replaced by some kind of body snatcher, which would be really redundant at this point anyway, and that she really did have a plan.

As it turned out, what Rachel had wasn't so much a plan as it was a boyfriend. Even as those giant human fingers reached for us, a piercing hawk shriek filled the air as a small brown feathered missile shot out of the sky. I heard the Visser's enraged scream of warning and then a hard talon closed around both me and Rachel, hauling us off the grass. Tobias skimmed the grass, flapping as hard as he could while shouting in triumph. <Evening, ladies. I know you both love the spotlight, but let's see if we can't find you a less hostile audience.>

A few shots were fired after us, but as it turns out, it's kind of difficult to hit a moving target the size of a hawk at night. I heard Visser 3 scream again, and shuddered inwardly. I actually felt sorry for the men who had failed to contain us. Then I turned my bulbous eyes toward Rachel while the two of us were held tightly within a single set of talons. We hadn't been so much picked up by the talons as swept away by them like a couple of bugs hitting a windshield. Thankfully without the splatter part. <Would it have been that hard to say 'Tobias is going to pick us up and needs to be able to see us?'>

Rachel had already started to demorph back to her human form. She started to say something but was cut off as the change progressed far enough to take away thought speak, but not far enough to have regular speech. A minute later, she finally answered. "I was trying to focus on timing it right. Besides, we made it didn't we? And what did we lose?"

I made my own transition back to human before answering. "Well, nothing, but only because without any instincts, I couldn't figure out how the Helmacron bodies pee themselves. But metaphorically I wizzed all the way down my leg!"

"Then metaphorically, I'm sorry." Rachel grinned at me. "But wasn't that an amazing rescue?"

"Yes, yes, your boyfriend is wonderful." I muttered before poking her. "And you're not sorry. Don't you forget, I'm still bigger than you right now."

Immediately, Rachel made a face. "How could I forget? How do you deal with being the short one all the time?" She shifted around a bit against the hard talon, both steadying herself and trying to get more comfortable. The ride wasn't exactly smooth.

It was my turn to shrug back at her. "Out of every problem in my life right now, my genetic predisposition toward having to look up people's noses when I talk to them is pretty low on the priority list. If life ever settles down enough that I can worry about that, I'll probably do a little dance." Then I winced. "No, nothing little anymore. Big dance. Giant dance. Dance on stilts. With huge strobe lights."

Tobias's voice interrupted before I could ramble on. <Hold on, ladies, we're heading down to join up with the others.> Then he began a swift, spiraling descent that brought us to a dumpster in an alley. I could see Marco and Jake waiting there, along with Ax in his human morph. Marco closed the lid of the dumpster, giving Tobias a place to land.

As soon as we were down, I scrambled off the talon and shuddered. "I never want to be that close to Visser 3 again." Realizing belatedly that no one except Rachel could hear me, I started to morph into the dog shape to get my thought speak back. A minute later, I repeated myself, then added. <And for the record, whichever Andalite invented this whole 'morphing thought-speak works in every form except human' thing needs to be poked in the eyes.>

Ax jerked his head toward me, and nearly fell over. He's still not used to the whole balance issues that are inherent with the loss of two limbs and a tail. "Eyes? Aye aye aye zuh? Po Po Kuh Poke in the eye-zuh?" He's not used to making mouth sounds either. It makes conversations with him take about three times as long as they should. "Thatuh would hurrrrrr hurt, it would hurt." He worked his mouth a little half silently, experimenting with the faces he could make using the 'hur' sound.

"No one's poking anyone in the eyes, Ax." Jake may have been against the gouging part, but he was certainly rolling his own. "What happened out there?" The latter part was directed at Rachel and me, and his shoulders slumped a little as we explained what had happened on top of the ship and afterward. "Great. David's missing, we don't have either of the ships so we can't fix Rachel or Melissa, and any time now the Howlers are going to show up and start obliterating the human race. Did I miss anything?"

Rachel, who had resumed her bear form, at least partially to spite me for being taller than her as a human right now, shook her furry head. <I think you summed it up, Leaderman.> Then she waved a paw. <Oh, I want to say, Marco has disgusting nose hair.>

Marco started to retort, then his eyes squinted as he lowered his head closer. "You're a bear, you can't see that far."

<Well no.> Rachel admitted. <But then, I didn't say it was a new observation.>

Without looking, Jake reached over and covered Marco's mouth to muffle his comeback. "Girls, just tell us everything you know about the Helmacrons now, everything you saw. Maybe there's something that might tell us how to stop them."

Once more, we explained how the Helmacrons acted. I did most of the explaining on that front, since I'd had the most experience with them. In essence, Rachel covered the general stupidity and I gave them specific examples. We made a good team that way.

When we were done, Marco raised his hand. "Wait, I'm confused. Their so-called Empire is a bunch of ego maniacal females on a power trip that refuse to listen to logic and like to step on the males around them?" He looked to Rachel. "Why didn't they welcome you as their God?"

<Jake.> Rachel said dangerously as she lifted herself onto her hind legs with as much of a glare as her lazy bear eyes could muster.

"Got it." Jake responded, smacking Marco upside the back of the head.

"Oww." Marco rubbed his head, and then shrugged. "Worth it." Sobering, he folded his arms, looming over us like a giant. "So how do we take down these napoleonic ants? Actually, I've been an ant, that's a redundant statement."

Tobias answered, sounding thoughtful. <We need to lure them somewhere, then take them by surprise. Before they can use their shrink thingamajigger on any of us.> He ammended. <Any more of us. We need to convince them to fix Rachel and Melissa. And then make them leave the planet.>

"Is that all?" Marco asked. "I thought you were going to ask us to do something hard, like convince-"

<Marco.> Rachel interrupted. <If my name is anywhere in this next sentence, you will never sleep with both eyes closed again.> Wisely, Marco shut up, lowering his hand.

Ax spoke up then. "It may be posseee... poo see ablah... possiblah... possible to capture one of the Helmacron... cron... croh nun... ships from within. If they do not recognize Rachel and Melissa... lissa... sssaaaa leeesseee yah. Your name is very fun to pronounce... nounce, nouncing nouncey nounce."

<Thanks.> I said, unable to help a slight giggle despite the situation. <I'm glad my name makes your mouth happy.> I paused. <There's something wrong with that sentence, but I'm choosing to ignore it and I hope everyone else shows the same level of maturity. In other words->

"Got it." Jake responded, immediately covering Marco's mouth before moving on. "Ax, you think that Rachel and Melissa can take over the ship if we get them on it?"

Ax raised both of his shoulders in a shrug that he had picked up from the rest of us. "Yes, Prince Jake. The Helmacrons do not appear to be as militarily adept... ept... depty... doop... adoopety... as even an Andalite Aristh-run training vessel. They should have no serious trouble."

"Yep." Marco managed to say by pulling Jake's hand away. "I don't know about you guys, but that's exactly the word I think of when the Andalite military comes to mind. Adoopety." Then he added after a moment's thought. "Also, slow. Slow's another one."

"Focusing." Jake half ordered and half pleaded. "How do we lure the Helmacron ships somewhere? We could go get Erek or Belle to lead us to them again, but they're just as likely to be with the Yeerks, and we need to get them alone, on our own turf. Where we can step in if anything goes wrong with Rachel and Melissa."

We were all silent for a moment, and then a new voice spoke up. "Well, I could always lead them wherever you want them to go." A normal sized David stood by the side of the dumpster, smirking slightly.

It took us a minute to recover from that surprise. Jake was the first one to manage it, stepping forward with a frown. "David, you're full sized again? How did you..." He trailed off, thinking about it.

"Please, 'Prince' Jake." David said, obviously enjoying this. "Use that tactical brain of yours. Physical me is still about yay tall." He spread his thumb and index finger apart slightly. "But my hologram can be as big as I want it to be."

Jake nodded once to that, stiffly. "Why are you here, David? It's not to help."

"Oh but it is." David spread his arms in a mockingly open and peaceful gesture. "I've come to offer my services. The Helmacrons can track the energy I give off, so I can lure them wherever you want them to go."

Not fooled for a moment, Jake inclined his chin. "And what's in it for you?"

"You never miss a trick, do you, 'Prince' Jake?" David smiled and then grew serious. "You're right, there is something for me. You see, the Chee are always connected through their Chee-Net. So they always know exactly where I am, no matter what I do. They'll know. So here's the deal. I'll help you get Rachel and Melissa back to normal, and get rid of the Helmacrons before the Howlers can show up and destroy the planet. I'll help you save humanity and your friends, and in exchange, you get the Chee to delete the Network from me, so they can never find me. Your choice, Jakey. You can save everyone, but you have to let me go."

[dolphin4077]

Thanks for coming back! You haven't lost your touch.  I hope you finished your book.  I'll definitely check it out. 

[Kitulean]

Chapter Eight

Filth and mucus upon the eyes of our bloated and disgusting enemies, oh Powerful and Beloved one. We, your loyal crew of the Almighty Planet Crusher have been delayed by the clumsy and traitorous fools of the  ridiculed Galaxy Blaster for too long. Now they have interrupted our Glorious Destruction of these change-capable planet dwellers yet again, and we will no longer stand for it. Let today mark the end of the incompetant Galaxy Blaster cretins, and the beginning of the awe-inspiring rein of the Planet Crusher Conquerors!

--- From the log of the Helmacron Ship, Planet Crusher

<Here's a better thought.> Rachel spoke up, her voice low and dangerous. There was no humor here, no banter. She was dead serious. <Why don't we just find your puny little body and squish you like the annoying bug you are?>

David's own voice dripped with dismissive sarcasm. "Yes, by all means, insult and get rid of the one person who can help you save the entire planet. Why don't you do something useful and learn how to cook something while the rest of us chat?"

<Learn how to cook--> Rachel sputtered, heaving herself up once more. I think she might have hurled herself at the hologram, size issues be damned, if Jake hadn't abruptly put his hand down in front of her.

"Rachel, stop." He said tensely. "David, stop. Neither one of you address the other. You want a deal, David, don't say another word to her. You wouldn't come to us unless this is something you really want. So not another word. Rachel, let it go."

Rachel, not being one to let things go easily, protested to Jake. <You can't seriously be thinking of giving him a free pass so he can go do whatever he wants without anyone controlling him.>

"It's not a free pass." Jake said, the tension still in his voice. "The programming still stops him from turning us in, or from doing anything that could put us, or anyone else into direct danger."

<It's letting him go.> Rachel's anger was more of a hot simmer than a boil now. She almost sounded like she was pleading. <After what he did to Jordan. After everything he's done, everything he tried to do... after Cassie. You can't just let him go!>

Jake finally snapped. "I might not have a choice! David is a bastard, but the Howlers are coming, Rachel. And if they get here, it's not a matter of fighting another invasion with a wolf and a tiger. It's death. Everyone dies. You, me, our families, every single person we know, good and bad, will all die. So if I have to give this son of a **** a little bit of freedom, if I have to swallow back everything in me that wants to wipe the arrogant smirk off his face, just so that everyone we know doesn't have to die, then I'll do it. It isn't about forgetting what he did to Jordan. It's about protecting her, and everyone else from something worse. Even if we don't like it." Jake's voice never faltered, never broke as he continued. "But that's not a choice I can push on anyone else. So no vote. You all made me the leader to make the hard decisions. And I've made this one. If it hurts us in the end, it's no one else's fault. None of you are to blame. It's mine."

It was really only then, in that moment, that I truly understood why Jake was the leader of the Animorphs.

The silence was broken by Marco, who stepped up beside his best friend. Pausing then as their eyes met, he eventually reached out with both arms. At first I thought he was going to hug Jake. Instead, he mimed hoisting a huge, orb shaped object off of Jake's shoulders and onto his own. "Let me just ahh, polish this up for you and get it right back, Atlas."

A tiny smile quirked the very edges of Jake's lips before he shook his head slightly. Then he focused on the hologram of David. "Here's the deal. We tell the Chee the plan. They prepare the programming that will release you from their net. Meanwhile, you lead the Helmacrons to the construction site by the mall. You know the one."

Rachel was still simmering and I couldn't contribute anything to the negotiations, so I nosed up against her, lapping her furry leg once. <I'm sorry, Rachel. I know what you went through to trap him. But he's not really getting out of it. He's still trapped, just left to go around the world and... do whatever. But he can't hurt us.> I kept my thought-speak private, so only Rachel would hear it.

Flopping down once more, I heard the pain in Rachel's voice. <He can't get away with all this. After everything, he can't just walk away and enjoy his life.>

i had no idea what to say to that. What could I tell my friend that would make this better? The boy who had come so close to killing her little sister, and who taken her best friend away from her, was making a deal to be free of a good portion of his prison. Maybe he couldn't hurt us directly, but after everything he had done, and now that it looked like he was simply going to walk off into the sunset on a permanent vacation, maybe he didn't need to.

Finally, I spoke. <I guess what it comes down to, is do you focus more on what happened to Jordan in the past, or what could happen to her in the future?> I felt bad for putting it as bluntly as I did, because the truth was that there was no easy answer. What David had done was evil. It wasn't as simple as dismissing the feelings about what he did so that she could feel better about what we had to do just because there was a good reason for it. A good reason, or in this case, an only choice, didn't erase the fact that Rachel had absolutely every reason to hate David.

She was silent for a long moment. The bear's large paw came up to rest on my back, and I waited. The others were talking and planning, but all I cared about for that brief time was how my friend felt. When Rachel spoke, I could feel the bitterness within the words. <I don't agree with it. He's going to betray us. He's going to hurt us. And Jake's wrong. It won't be on him. It'll be on all of us.> She paused, and at first I thought she was done, but then Rachel continued. <But he made his choice, and I'll follow his lead like a good little soldier.> She didn't say for now. She didn't have to.

By then, the talking had finished. Both of us looked up as Jake spoke. "Right then. Ax, you go with Tobias and find Erek. Tell him what we need. Marco, you're going ape. David, if you want this to work, show yourself and let Marco pick you up. Marco, if he tries anything at all, squish him."

Ax morphed and then he and Tobias took off. Meanwhile, Marco started to change shape, becoming a large, hairy gorilla. David's hologram shrunk down until it was simply a spotlight that illuminated his position, allowing Marco to reach down and pick him up with a disdainful grunt.

Then Jake came over to us. "We'll fix this, you guys. We'll get you both back to your normal size. I promise." He held out his hand, flat against the dumpster. After a moment, Rachel heaved herself up and climbed onto the enormous hand. I followed suit, trotting behind her.

Once we were on Jake's hand, I spoke up. <What are we supposed to do now? And don't tell me we have to go inside anyone's body. Kids getting shrunk down so they can go inside a human body was an overused cliche about three days after television was invented. Please don't Magic Schoolbus us.>  I said it as a joke, to ease the tension. I'm gradually realizing how this pre-dangerous battle stuff works.

I think Jake smiled, but it was hard to tell from this vantage point with these eyes. "Don't worry, I won't make you go inside anyone's body. Even my plans don't suck that much." I felt Rachel stir beside me, but she kept silent. Jake continued. "I'm going to put you in my hair so I can morph tiger. Then we'll head for the construction site. David's going to lure the Helmacrons there." He moved his hand up to his hair, letting us step off into the dense brown follicle jungle.

Rachel finally spoke, her voice that already familiar quiver of battle readiness. <And then what, oh fearless General?>

"Then..." Jake answered before I felt the ground shake under my feet as he began the morph. "Then we send these guys packing. There's only room on this planet for one unstoppable alien invasion."

There was a beat, and then I asked, a little more timidly. <You probably meant that to be encouraging, huh?>

Jake, who had fully morphed by this point, leaving Rachel and me stuck in a jungle of orange fur, responded. <Umm. Yes. Sort of. I should try again.>

<No no.> I said, genuinely terrified of what else he might say at this point. <Just take the mulligan and go. Really, I feel totally inspired. Off we go into battle! Hi ho silver! Make it so! Engage! By the power of Greyskull!>

Even as we set out, I heard Marco mutter. <We have got to get our own battle cry, before we end up getting sued for stealing everyone else's.>


********************************************************

It didn't take long to get to the construction site where the original group had found the crashed alien ship that ended up being Elfangor's, which led to all of this. Even though I'm sort of a 'second gen' Animorph, I still feel a connection to this place. So it made sense to bring the new alien invasion here, in our attempt to get rid of them. There was some kind of balance there. Plus you know, it was empty and quiet, which worked well for our purposes.

There was a cement platform, raised just a little bit off the ground and clear of any clutter. That was where Marco had placed David, directly in the middle. Marco himself was a short distance away, half ducked down behind a set of metal beams. At least that's where Jake said he was. I couldn't actually see that far. As for Jake, he was crouched inside a large pipe opposite of the cement.

David sounded bored. "Better hope Erek shows up, Prince Jake. I'm not playing along if I don't get my part of the deal." I was still amazed that someone that small could project a voice that large. When I had said so to Rachel, she had retorted that David's mouth knows no bounds.

<They'll be here, David.> Jake responded tiredly. <Actually, there they are.> I had to take his word for it. Being an inch tall was good for many... for a few... for at least one thing. But it was not good for seeing long distances.

But sure enough, I heard Tobias's voice. <Erek's here, David. You better do your job.> He sounded almost as frustrated with this whole deal as Rachel was. Which I supposed made since, they were kind of-sort of dating or something. It's real hard to pin Rachel down on specifics.

"Oh don't worry, bird boy." David's voice came back. I didn't have to see him to imagine the sneer. "I'm ready. You ready to do your part, big bad robot man?"

Erek's voice was calm. "If it's what must be done to protect this planet from the Howlers, then yes. I'm ready." A moment later he added. "But this sucks."

<It hoovers, dude.> Marco agreed. <But like you said, not letting those things get here is sort of the biggest goal here. So, can you reprogram the jackass so you can't track him by the chee-net?>

"Yes." Erek responded. "It would take only a moment. Are you certain?"

No one responded at first. No one wanted to be responsible for what we might be about to do. Finally, after a long pause, Jake forced the words out. <Do it, Erek. Release him from the net.>

I expected everything to happen at once as soon as Erek said that the job was complete. All he'd had to do was stand there for a moment and access Erek's programming wirelessly. But for over five minutes, nothing happened. David was still standing on the concrete, and the rest of us were still hiding out like kids waiting to yell surprise to a birthday boy that never shows up.

<David.> Rachel growled. <I swear, if this is some kind of trick.>

David didn't bother responding. He didn't need to. At that moment, a spotlight lit him up. or at least it lit up the concrete he was standing on. Jeeze, one of those ships was floating directly above him. We hadn't even heard it come in.  The ship immediately began to tractor David in toward them.

<Go!> Rachel shouted. <Get it!>

<Not yet.> Jake responded. <We have to make sure the other one shows up.>

<But they're getting David! They'll have the shrinking power again.> Rachel protested, sounding furious that she couldn't just rush up and smack the ship out of the sky herself.

<I know.> Jake said tensely. <But we're waiting for the other ship. We have to. We need to take them both at once.>

Rachel started to protest, but just then, Marco called out. <Jake, coming in over your shoulder, man!> Almost directly above us, the other ship swooped in. At that exact moment, David disappeared into the first ship's hold. Then the two ships were together.

<Now!> Jake cried out. <Tobias, Ax, go for it! Marco, with me.> Then Rachel and I had to hang on for dear life, half tumbling back through the thick orange jungle of hair as Jake bounded forward. Elsewhere, I could hear a gorilla bellow as Marco charged from the other side. I didn't know where Tobias and Ax were.

Then I saw them both, as Jake landed on one side of the concrete. As I was fighting to keep my teeth clamped around the thick vine of hair, I saw two ****roaches  right where David had been standing. <Uhh, is that--?>

<It's them.> Jake responded. Then he shouted up at the ships. <Hey, pimples, you wanna try that shrinking thing over here and see how well it works?> He stopped right near the two ****roaches, while Marco stopped on his other side. 

<Jake.> Rachel started. <What in the hell do you think you're doing?>

<Just trust me.> He responded. <I am sixty five percent sure I know what I'm doing.>

<That's a D, Jake.> Marco didn't sound exactly reassured. <You are D level confident in this mission?>

If Jake had shoulders, he would have shrugged. <Think of it as better than average.>

Marco groaned. <We are so doomed. Hey you alien freaks! Do your mumbo jumbo already before we get bored and eat you or something!>

Then the beam appeared. It was familiar by now. As soon as it happened, Rachel yelled. <What the hell kind of plan is this?!> Even as she spoke, the ground around us shook and began to get smaller. The two of us were pressed together while the tiger shrunk down. When it was too small to stay on, both of us fell off opposite sides, onto the cement floor. Immediately, both of us demorphed. It had to be close to time for that anyway.

After we finished demorphing, the two ships had already landed. An entire group of the strange looking helmacrons disembarked, all armed for war. Facing them was a tiger, a gorilla, and two human girls, all miniaturized to be about their size. Wait, that was only four. The other two had been... I remembered just as I turned to look around and found myself face to face with a ****roach that was the exact same size as me.

I didn't just scream. I shrieked, flailed my arms, and throw myself backwards to land on my butt. Hey, you try being face to face with a roach as big as you are. If you don't pee yourself a little, you're braver than me and you can have my job. With my blessings.

<Neep Neep!> The lead Helmacron crowed. <See the way the bloated one cowers in terror at our might?> The cry was taken up by the others. <So, fat ones, you surrender yourselves to the might of the Helmacrons!>

<Not quite.> Jake said grimly, stepping forward on all four paws. That got the attention of the celebrating Helmacrons, just as Jake spoke again. <Tobias, Ax?>

<Thought you'd never ask, Bossman.> Tobias replied. Then the roach right behind me and the one near it both began to change. They started to grow.

While all of us sat there dumbfounded, as feathers emerged from one of the roaches and eyestalks from another, Jake continued. <See, I figured your shrink ray thing is a one use thing. It puts whoever you use it on down to your level. Makes your baseline their baseline. But see, the bodies that Tobias and Ax were in were already near your baseline to begin with. So, you might have shaved a few inches off them, but not much. And now you can't hit them again.>

The Helmacrons looked completely dumbfounded. Which pretty much just added the 'founded' to them, but hey. Before they could recover, Jake ordered. <Rachel, Melissa, morph. Marco and I will cover you. Tobias, Ax, don't let their ships take off.>

There was just a little bit of smugness in Jake's voice as he added. <It's time to show the Helmacrons what a real war is.> Then he sprang forward with a roar that was still deafening.

Beside him, following his best friend into battle, Marco commented approvingly. <See, that's a battle speech.>

[NateSean]

Chapter One

My name is Melissa.

Best start to a story, really. Ever since reading MM 3, I desperately wanted to hear a story from Melissa's point of view. And maybe only a handful of writers ever attempted to tackle one.

I like how you made it Melissa who discovered the morphing cube, instead of David. And you used the Kess effect on Cassie, evidentally, though I'd like to see the backstory there if you've written it.

Finally, Melissa's character is very believable so far. You've made her your own, which the Animorphs universe allows since we don't see Melissa again after book 2. Her insecurity about the way the other Animorphs feel about her, and you give an actual unique explanation for her feelings about her parents instead of basically copying what Rachel says. The gold fish flushing down the toilet metaphor was very powerful in it's simplicity.

Will definitely read on. And do you prefer your comments here in the thread or in the fanfiction comments thread that Phoenix started?
Post Merged: January 16, 2011, 03:36:00 PMI'm going to write a full blown review of this one after I've read the first story. I want to just get the full backstory so I don't make a comment about something you've all ready written about.

[dolphin4077]

Sorry, to take so long to review.  I got sick, but this update made it more bearable.  As usual, you did an excellent job.  I'm really looking forward to the next part.  I know it's early for me to be asking, but who is gonna narrate the next book, Marco or Ax? 
Post Merged: April 09, 2011, 11:18:37 AMHi, any chance of an update?

[QIfry]

Links to your other stories? I'm a huge Melissa "should have been an Animorph" fan.

[Kitulean]

Sorry for the delayed reaction, I've been awaaaaaaaay. And I need to update this. I will! Soon! I swear!

Anyway, you can see the whole series up to this point on fanfiction.net at the profile http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1696058/CeruleanSlane

[Kitulean]

The last chapter to this particular story has been up for awhile on Fanfiction.net (and the next story has a couple chapters done as well, which I will post here in a minute)


But in any case, to finish this one off, here:


Chapter Nine
 
You know, for a species that was so obsessed with war, somehow I don't think the Helmacrons were all that accustomed to fighting one. At least not on fair (relatively speaking) terms.
 
They froze, as flatfooted as a cadre of old ladies (did old ladies travel in cadres?) facing down a fleet of semi-trucks, as Marco and Jake charged into their ranks. I really think they expected us to just surrender unconditionally. It was very nice to disappoint them on that front. It was going to be even nicer to get back to my full size.
 
But first we had to win, and we had to do it before the Yeerks showed up to spoil the party.
 
(Wait for me!) Rachel when charging off as her psycho-grizzly self, and I had a moment to wonder how many people on this planet would see a fight between a tiger and a gorilla facing off against a battalion of four legged upside down pyramid heads with jelly ball eyes and think, 'I gotta get me some of that'.
 
My friend is very special in that way.
 
I had to morph out of my dog self, and it took me some time to reorient to human, and then change to hippo. It was also unbelievably exhausting, but I pushed myself with the inward promise that it would all be over soon, at least the part with this particular alien invasion. Then I'd sleep for a week or so before dealing with the next near-obliteration experience this new life decided to throw at us.
 
Late as I was to the fight, my entrance did not go unnoticed. As a human I was about a sixteenth of an inch in size. That meant that even as a hippo, I most likely wouldn't have succeeded in a brawl with the averaged sized rat.
 
But against the Helmacrons? Yeah, against them, I was murder on wheels. Err, feet. Or maybe hooves. I wasn't sure what I actually had. I'm not an animal person, and for all the benefits being a hippopotamus gave me, the ability to see my own toes was not one of them.
 
I barreled into the largest group I could see, a collection of five battle crazed Helmacrons that had taken up a formation to aim at the Jake-tiger, who was busy biting the arm off one of their shipmates. Luckily for us, the Helmacrons were as terrible of shots in person as they were with their ship-board lasers, if not more so.
 
Saying they popped like jelly-filled balloons when I charged into the group is rather disgusting way of putting it, but that's exactly what happened. My enormous (comparatively) bulk slammed into the first three Helmacrons and rolled right over them as if they weren't there. I opened that gaping maw of a mouth and chomped down on one of the other Helmacrons as it turned to face me, then did a sort of hippo hip bump against the fifth to send it sprawling.
 
Rachel was… well Rachel was having fun. I used to think her idea of heaven was being in the middle of a hoard of crazed shoppers at the biggest sale of the year. Now… now I was pretty sure it was the same, only the other shoppers were armed with swords, and were also Mongolian Ninjas. Don't ask. Suffice to say, she was well in her element.
 
I wasn't sure what was going on with the alien ships. I was occupied at the time, and my eyes weren't nearly good enough to sort out specifics even if I hadn't been. My sense of smell was pretty decent, but that wasn't much of a benefit because the Helmacron ships weren't lathered in barbeque sauce. I mean, considering their repeatedly demonstrated strategically prowess, it wouldn't have surprised me, but they weren't. 
 
Still, we were pretty much kicking the pants of them, and their ships weren't firing on us, so I assumed that Tobias and Ax had things in hand up there.
 
Yet, no matter how many we put down, they weren't giving up. I felt like a bull in an arena-sized antique shop. Everywhere I turned there was another dopey alien to smash. It wasn't hard, because they were pathetic fighters, but even the easiest action gets terribly repetitive. It was horrible, gross work that I never would have willingly done if I hadn't known that behind these Helmacrons were coming much, much worse things that would kill everyone I knew.
 
So I smashed, and I smashed, and I smashed some more.
 
(These guys don't ever let up!) Marco complained. (I mean, not that I object to kicking ass any more than the next gorilla, but come on. I'm actually getting bored in the middle of a fight here. It's like beating up megalomaniacal preschoolers.)
 
Jake agreed. (We have to find a way to make them stop.) Then he broadcast to the Helmacrons themselves. (You've lost, surrender!)
 
(Hah!) One the Helmacrons that was currently missing both legs said while fumbling with one of their rifles. (The wallowers wish to surrender!)
 
(What?) Rachel sounded flabbergasted. Even she was getting tired of this senseless slaughter. She preferred some kind of challenge, which this decidedly wasn't. (We're not the ones surrendering, you idiots. You--)
 
An insight hit me then, like a truck passing on the duh freeway. (Yes we are!) I blurted.
 
Everyone, even the Helmacrons, froze in mid battle and turned to look at me incredulously. A tiger, a gorilla, a bear, and a bunch of Helmacrons missing most of their body parts stared at me, and I had to resist the urge to giggle. The hippo just felt sleepy. And angry at all these things bothering it. And upset about the lack of water. And hungry. Okay so the hippo was full of emotions, while I was just trying not to snicker at the absurd sight in front of me.
 
(We surrender.) I said firmly. Then I began to shrink, undoing the morph. (Jake, Rachel, Marco, please trust me. Please, please trust me. I am pretty sure I know what I’m doing.)
 
(How sure?) Jake asked.
 
(Um, C Minus sure.) I offered.
 
He considered, and then started to change as well. (Better than my D, I guess.)
 
Rachel and Marco followed suit, and I prayed I really did know what I was doing.
 
The Helmacrons looked like they didn't quite know what to do now that they had 'won'. Most of them were missing body parts, were covered in what I guess passed for blood with them, a kind of greenish ichor stuff, or were generally messed up. None looked like they were in pain.
 
"So," I said, stepping up in front of the nearest of the Helmacrons. "We surrender. Now we give you our surrender terms."
 
(Surrender… terms?) The Helmacron looked at the severed arm in his… or I guess I meant her intact hand and then tossed it aside. She clearly had never really been in this kind of situation.
 
"Yes." I took a breath and then let it out. "We surrender and subject ourselves to the leadership of the Mighty Helmacron Fleet."
 
"… We do?" Rachel, Marco, and Jake all said, dully.
 
"Of course we do." I pressed on in spite of the looks I was getting. "We surrender, but uh, it's going to take time to get the planet, uh, prepared for our new rulers."
 
The collection of Helmacron survivors continued to stare at me. (Prepared?) I really think they were utterly baffled about what was really supposed to happen when an enemy surrendered.
 
"Sure, sure." I nodded rapidly. "We have to get the statues built, the slave pits created, the feasts of subservience prepared…"
 
Marco jumped in then. "Of course!" When the attention went to him, he grinned. "See how big this planet is, dudes? It's gonna take…" He paused as though considering before whistling. "Gee, I'd say years--"
 
"Decades." Rachel cut in, shaking her head. "I mean, to let all the rest of us wallowers know about our one true supreme overlords…"
 
"Tell you what," Marco spread his arms. "Why don't you name us your uh, head wallower slaves, to spread the message about Helmacron superiority?"
 
My head bobbed quickly in agreement. "And then you can move on to your next conquest instead of wasting all your time with the petty, boring little details."
 
"Very boring." Jake agreed. "You don't wanna waste your time with that kind of paperwork. It's a drag."
 
The poor Helmacrons clearly had no idea what we were talking about. (We won?) They repeated, dully. (Of course we won!) The quick amendment came. (Yes, wallower slaves! You will spread the word to all corners of this disgusting bloated mud heap of a planet! You will wail and sob and cast yourselves upon the ground to plead for your other wallowers to join you in supplication!)
 
"Yup." Marco examined his nails. "We'll get right on that. Oh, but uh…" He looked down at himself.
 
"You have to--" Rachel started before Jake elbowed her.
 
He took over while she scowled at him. "Would you, please, kind and generous masters, use your size changing ability one more time to make us large again?"
 
"If you don't," I put in, "we'll never be able to talk to all the other wallowers. They can't hear us at this size. Your great and uh, impressive victory will never be known."
 
The Helmacrons looked at each other before starting to nod. We had them.
 
************************************************
 
It took some more negotiation, but the Helmacrons eventually agreed to change our sizes once more so that we could spread the word about their victory while they attended to every other planet's conquest. By the time they got back around to Earth, we figured the problem with the Yeerks would be solved… one way or another. Yes, it was a delaying tactic, but it meant the Helmacrons would leave before drawing the Howlers here.
 
Marco, genius that he can be at times, even convinced them that we needed David to help spread the word. Jake admitted later that he'd been tempted to leave the psycho with the Helmacrons, but decided against it, since the last thing these idiots needed was someone that could actually take over and lead them.
 
So, the Helmacrons put our sizes back to normal, made us promise to tell the whole world full of wallowers who their new masters were, and then flew up and away in their two ships. All it had taken was another flash of that light, and we were big again. I was my right size. I was still shorter than everyone else, which Rachel made no effort to disguise her glee about as she patted the top of my head, but that was okay. I liked my size just the way it was.
 
The Yeerks eventually made it to the construction site, but we were well on the way out by the time their spotlights lit up the area our dramatic confrontation with the tiny dictators had taken place in. The sound of Visser 3's fury as he was informed of the Helmacrons departure made me shudder and pick up the pace of my retreat. The others kept up, so I assume they felt the same way.
 
Before long, we were standing in an empty park. The six of us, including Ax and Tobias in human morph, stood in a slight semicircle in front of David, while Erek and Belle stood apart, watching and waiting.
 
"So I guess this is it, Prince Jake." David said with that usual smug tone that made the term sound like an insult. "I go my way, and you go your way." He smiled thinly. "I'd send a post card, but I kind of like you not having any idea where I might be."
 
"Hold that thought, dude." Marco stepped over to Erek and leaned in to whisper to him. The android boy's face went from sad and resigned, to holding back a smile.
 
A frown touched the face of David's hologram. "Don't even try to weasel out of this deal, Marco. We have an agreement."
 
"Sure, sure." Marco waved a hand dismissively.  "The deal was that Jake convinces the Chee to turn off your tracker. Totally not breaking it. A Chee's word is his bond and all that."
 
"But…" He continued while David's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "We never said that we couldn't make an entirely unrelated deal with the Chee ourselves. Erek?"
 
The android boy smiled openly now. "Ah, Marco, it has occurred to me that in the future, we Chee might become corrupted or need your assistance. As our allies on this planet, it would be for the best if you could provide that assistance."
 
David looked between them, the distrust and suspicion growing. He probably should have taken off at that point, but I think his morbid curiosity about what they were talking about got the better of him. Not to mention his ego.
 
"So," Erek continued and produced a small hand held device that looked like a big wrench with a phone on the end from his pocket, extending it toward Marco. "Just in case such a situation arises, take this control rod. I can get a new one."
 
Marco took it, looked at it curiously, and then asked, "Oh if I ever need to… I don't know… lock a hologram--"
 
Erek pointed to a button, even as David shouted a denial, and Marco pointed the device at him before pressing the button on it.
 
David's eyes closed, and he was obviously focusing on changing his hologram. Nothing happened. He was just David. "You can't do that!" He shouted, his anger palpable. "We had a deal!"
 
"And we kept it." Marco informed him coolly. "You're not being tracked. But we're not going to let you mess with us either. So you can just stay David. No hologram changes, no toying with any of us. But hey," He went on, smiling. "Consider yourself lucky. I could always turn you… green?" He looked at Erek, who gestured to a dial on the device. Marco twisted the dial back and forth, and David's hologram changed color from green, to red, then blue.
 
David took two quick steps and got right into Marco's face. "You stupid, smug little--"
 
Jake was beside Marco then. "Back off, David." He ordered. "You can't hurt anyone and you know it."
 
David's attention turned to Jake as Marco twisted the dial to turn his color back to normal. "You're going to regret this, Prince Jake." His voice dripped with venom.
 
Jake met his gaze without flinching. "I have absolutely no doubt that there are going to be many, many things that I will regret before this war is over, David." He shook his head then. "But not letting a sociopath like you run around with free reign to look like anything or anyone… no, I don't think I'll be regretting that."
 
David sneered, but Rachel moved beside Jake and stared him down. With Marco and Rachel flanking him, Jake continued to meet David's gaze. They were joined by Tobias moving next to Rachel, and Ax putting himself on the other side of Marco.
 
The five of them stood there, watching David's impotent fury.
 
Then his attention turned to me. "Melissa," He started. "You can see what they're like. They wouldn't even give me a chance. They lied and they cheated and my parents would still be alive it if it wasn't for them. Come on, I can help you get your parents back. These losers just want to play soldier. They'll never free your parents. They don't know how to do what needs to be done. I do. We can get your mom and dad, then get the hell out of town. You can have your parents back, and you don't have to fight anymore."
 
I looked at the ground, then straightened and met his pleading gaze as he silently begged me to side with him, to see how terrible all these people were and how he was just a victim of their manipulations. I took a step, and then another, and then I was standing next to Tobias. "You're wrong, David." I said quietly. "I do belong here. And I will get my parents back."
 
Rachel's hand moved around Tobias to settle on my shoulder. "We will, just like we'll save everyone else, David. Without you."
 
His mouth opened, and then he cast me a look of such betrayal and hurt that I honestly had to wonder what sort of delusion about me he'd had running in his deluded head. Finally, he scowled before spinning to storm away.
 
Everyone else collapsed then, once he was gone. It had been a long night. Erek and Belle began to explain the nuances of the control rod to Marco and Ax.  I assume they learned everything they needed to know about making sure David could never use the hologram to mess with us. That was their business.
 
As for me, I was rather occupied on my hands and knees. I was staring at a little bug in the middle of the sidewalk that ran through the park.
 
Rachel stopped in front of me and nudged me with her foot. "Pretty good plan there, 'Lissa. Surrendering, I don't think the rest of us could have thought of that. Except maybe Marco, but he's a ninny."
 
"Yeah, well…" I shrugged. "It means my lifetime fight record is zero and two."
 
"No it's not." Rachel shook her head. "Every time we survive another day without being taken by the Yeerks, every one of their plots that we stop, every person we get away from them, that's another victory. Every day we go without the Yeerks taking our planet is another win."
 
I smiled a little and sat back on my knees to look up at her. "I guess you have a point."
 
"Of course I do." Rachel assured me. "I know a lot about winning. And eventually, we're gonna squash those Yeerks, just like bugs." She lifted her foot and went to put it down on the beetle that I'd been watching.
 
I stopped her, putting a hand out to block the bug. "Not this guy. Let's just leave him alone." I rose, giving the beetle one last look. "He's got it rough enough, being that small." I looked to my friend and smiled. "Just because we're bigger, doesn't mean we can't look down once in a while."
 
Her arm went around my shoulders again and she started to walk me back to the group. "I look down all the time, Melissa. How else am I going to even see you?"
 
"You are the worst friend ever." I announced. Rachel just laughed and gave me a shove.
 
One day, I knew, one day I really was going to save my parents. But I wasn't going to do it with a sociopath like David. I was going to do it with these people, the Animorphs.
 
The… other Animorphs.
 
Coming soon: My name is Aximili-Escarrouth-Isthill.