<Rich! It's us! The lion is my brother, and he's a Controller. We're trying to injure him and then pin him to force him to demorph. He only has a little bit of time left in lion morph, and if he's hurt badly enough, he'll HAVE to demorph. Then, we can knock him out and tie him up for three days to kill the Yeerk. Just DON'T kill him!>
I leapt over the lion's back, kick-slicing him from above. I landed next to Edward, to block Alistair from diving at him. Alistair snarled and swiped at me, and I gashed his muzzle.
<Yeerk, just give up now. You're out-numbered and over-powered. You cannot win. Best-case-scenario, you'll be trapped permanently as a crippled lion. Demorph and come with us.>
<Do you think that I'm STUPID, or something? You'll just kill me, either way. All you care about is my host, your brother. What makes you so sure that he wasn't voluntary?>
<Ali would never do that to our family!>
<Are you willing to bet his life on it?>
I snarled and dove at him, tripping his front feet and grabbing the back of his neck. The thick mane prevented me from getting a good hold on him, though, and before I knew it, I was the one pinned to the ground. I rolled and slashed at his gut from below, leaving five deep gashes. He yowled and I jumped away as he let go.
<A little help, here?>