Animorphs Travels #2: The Message

[Phoenix004]

ANIMORPHS TRAVELS PART TWO: THE MESSAGE

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANIMORPHS!
Nor do I own any characters (Human or alien) associated with this story, with the exception of Mike and maybe a few original characters that might appear at some point.

Yes I'm finally back with Animorphs Travels! I'll probably be posting it slowly, but I intend to continue with it. Please PM me with comments or post in the http://animorphsforum.com/index.php?topic=460.0 thread, as this thread will be kept locked except while I'm posting. Thank you!

And if anybody here hasn't read my first fic yet, please read it here http://animorphsforum.com/index.php?topic=461.0 before reading this one, otherwise you might be confused!


CHAPTER 1: A Crazy Month

(MIKE’S POV)

My name is Mike. About a month ago I was an ordinary teenager whose biggest worry in the world was finishing my maths homework. Let me tell you something: a lot can change in a month!

Let me explain. I’d just finished reading the final book in the Animorphs series, my all time favourite books, and woke up the next morning to find that I wasn’t in my bedroom. In fact, I wasn’t even in my own universe anymore! A near omnipotent being named the Ellimist, a being I once thought to be completely fictional, had transported me to a parallel world where the Yeerks, the Andalites and the Animorphs were all real. The Ellimist told me that he’d made some kind of deal with Crayak, in return for being allowed to bring me to this universe and join the Animorphs on that fateful night when they first met Elfangor in the construction site. He didn’t really give me much of a choice in the matter, but I hardly would have objected in any case. The opportunity to become an Animorph? It was a dream come true for me!

I had high hopes when I first arrived, thinking I could change everything for the better. However, after getting involved in the events of the first book and having very little affect on the outcome of our mission to the Yeerk Pool, I began to realise the enormity of the task ahead of me. How could I possibly know which changes would lead to a better outcome for the end of the series? Sure the original ending wasn’t perfect, but the Yeerks were still defeated and the galaxy was saved. How was I to know which small changes would result in saving lives and which ones would result in doom for the entire galaxy?

After failing to prevent Tobias from being permanently trapped in morph, I figured that my contribution didn’t matter. If I couldn’t stop something as simple as that, what chance did I have of stopping major problems later in the series? I ended up telling the other Animorphs the truth about whom I was and where I had come from. It took some convincing before they believed what I was saying, and once they did I assumed that Tobias would hate me for letting him be trapped as a hawk when I could have saved him. However, far from blaming me, Tobias was actually the one who convinced me to keep on fighting. He also reminded me of the former Controller who had been saved solely by my efforts in the Yeerk Pool. A man who would not have been saved without my intervention was now free from Yeerk oppression thanks to me, and that made me feel like I could actually make a difference in this strange, yet familiar world…

It’s been a long and crazy month since that first mission and I have done little to change the events described in books two and three of the Animorphs series. The way I saw it, both those books turned out pretty well without my help, so any major intervention on my part could just screw things up.

Knowing what’s going to happen certainly has its advantages, although it hasn’t helped me much trying to gain the trust of my fellow Animorphs. Rachel in particular has become increasingly frustrated by my refusal to give away information about their future. I imagine that Rachel’s attitude towards me is related to the fact that she still holds me responsible for Tobias becoming a Nothlit. I almost felt like telling her that she shouldn’t bother hating me for that, as I still hate myself enough for the both of us.

The other Animorphs have been friendlier than Rachel, but I can tell that even they have their suspicions. I don’t blame them for not entirely trusting me, I would probably do the same thing in their place, but it is becoming tiresome sticking to the rules the Ellimist gave me when I first arrived here. One of the main rules is that I am unable to give my fellow Animorphs direct information about the future of the series, otherwise I will be erased from this world (along with any changes I have made) and returned home.

So, much to the annoyance of my fellow Animorphs, I allowed Rachel to be almost captured by Visser Three in book two. I allowed us all to be stranded on a giant truck ship in Trout morph. However, in the process we dealt some damage against the Yeerks by taking out a number of Hork-Bajir and Taxxon troops, ramming a Bug Fighter with an earthmover and destroying their main supply ship. True pretty much all that happened without my help, but at least I haven’t screwed anything up… yet.

As I was saying, it’s been about a month now (give or take) since I first arrived in this universe, and I get the feeling that the events of Animorphs #4: The Message are about to unfold. We had a brief meeting earlier today just make sure that nothing was going on with the Yeerks and Cassie told me that she thinks a wild animal has been sneaking into the barn at night.

“It’s probably just a Racoon or a Badger or something,” Cassie had explained while we were waiting for Tobias to show up. “But it’s causing real problems in the barn. We’ve already had a few birds taken and we can’t figure out how anything is sneaking in.”

“I can check it out for you if you want,” I volunteered. “It’s not like I have to get up early for school or anything.” I winked at Marco. The fact that I had no school to go to while in this universe had started to become a running joke between the two of us.

Marco glared back at me.

“I still can’t believe Mike gets to–”

“Are you sure Mike?” Cassie asked me, ignoring Marco’s attempted comeback. “Whatever animal is doing this seems to be doing it late at night.”

“No problem,” I insisted. “I’ve always been quite the night Owl.”

“Speaking of Owls, here comes Bird boy!” Marco announced as Tobias fluttered into the barn.

After that we had briefly discussed the lack of recent Yeerk activity before we all headed off home, but later that night I returned to the barn to get ready to scare away Cassie’s mysterious bird-killer, which I knew to be a Fox. I had done some thinking in the last few hours about how to go about chasing away the Fox that had been stalking Cassie’s barn and decided to go with the simplest method of scaring it away. It was a highly complex plan which involved… scaring the Fox away.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t so complex, but it sure would be effective. The plan was to find a secluded area near the barn to wait for the Fox, then morph the Wolf I had acquired for the previous mission and chase the Fox away. I had no intention of harming the poor Fox, it was only doing what came naturally after all, but I was pretty certain that he wouldn’t be sneaking into barns with Wolf security anytime soon!

It took longer than I expected to find a suitable hideout, but I soon found a small number of trees a short distance from the barn. My Harris Hawk eyes may have been incredible during the daylight hours, but at night the Owls were the masters of the air and my Hawk eyes were only a minor improvement on my own Human eyes on this dark night.

As I finished demorphing, I shivered slightly in the darkness. I couldn’t wait to have a fur covered body to protect me from the cold. I had to agree with Marco about the clothing problem, the skin tight morphing suits were annoying at the best of times, even in the generally warm climate of this state. I just hoped that the winters here weren’t too cold.

I peered into the darkness, squinting as I tried to make out my surroundings. I briefly considered morphing to Jaguar, my normal battle morph. Although the Wolf’s eye sight was superior to my own at night, the eyes of the Jaguar were better still and would light up the area around me like a spotlight. However, since the Wolf’s sense of smell was better than the Jaguar’s and I was bound to smell the Fox long before I saw him, I decided to stick with my original plan and morph the Wolf. Not to mention the fact that if I was unluckily enough to be spotted by someone, a Jaguar would attract a hell of a lot more attention than a Wolf, which could easily be mistaken for a stray dog at this time of night. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the Wolf DNA running through my veins, remembering what it was like the last time I had morphed the Wolf.

During the events of book three, I had acquired a female Wolf from Cassie’s barn morphed it several times. As with all new morphs, it was a little overpowering at first; all those new instincts and enhanced senses, but once I got over that it was an extremely fun morph. We had a close call with the time limit the first time we morphed, but I remembered what had happened in the books and saved us all from the terrifying experience of almost becoming trapped as mutated werewolf-like monsters.

I felt a strange itching sensation in my mouth, almost like toothache except it didn’t actually hurt. I then realised that my Wolf teeth must be the first thing to grow in this time around (morphing is never the same twice). As my sharpened canines continued to grow, my nose protruded out from my face, bulging into a snout. I felt my ears creep up the side of my head, while at the same time a ripple swept across my skin as fur started to appear all over me. I couldn’t see in the poor light, but I knew the Wolf hair was grey.

After another minute or two of bones creaking, body parts changing and organs rearranging themselves, the morph was complete and I was a Wolf. I sniffed the air cautiously and took in so many different scents at once that I was almost overwhelmed by them. Imagine if you had no sense of smell your whole life, and then you could suddenly smell a chocolate cake baking in an oven, a garden full of flowers and an entire perfume store all at once! For me it was a sensory overload, but the Wolf relied on smell just like the Hawk relied on sight, and it had the perfect nose for the job.

I caught scent of all the animals in Cassie’s barn nearby. Birds, Deer, Squirrels, even other Wolves. The Wolf’s instincts were eager to investigate such a prime source of prey, but I luckily I was used to the Wolf’s urges by now and easily managed to keep them under control. I couldn’t detect the scent of a Fox so far, but now that I was a Wolf I realised that I’d better move so that I was upwind of the direction the Fox would be coming from, in order to prevent the Fox smelling me before it reached the barn. I stealthily crept over to a better location for my ambush and hid around the side of the barn. Then all I had to do was wait.

I wonder what exactly I can do to change book four? I wondered. It all turned out fine in the end, although they did have a couple of close calls with the Sharks and with Visser Three. Maybe I can do something to change that? I spent about half an hour or so trying to think of what I could do to improve things in the upcoming mission, without much success. Fortunately, I was interrupted by the scent of a wild animal closing in on the barn. It was the Fox!

That poor Fox is never going to see this coming! I laughed silently before making my way towards the Fox. I knew that the Fox would also have a good sense of smell, although the Fox also had the added advantage of better night vision than me. Still, that hardly mattered since no Fox could hope to defeat a Wolf in a fight.

Finally, I came face to face with the Fox. I expected the animal to flee immediately, but instead he simply froze, as if taken off guard by the fact that a Wolf had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. The Fox then took me by surprise by standing his ground and snarling at me. Perhaps the Fox had mistaken me for a domesticated Dog? Or did he think that a lone Wolf would not attack without help from other members of a pack? Either way, he was dead wrong and about to be taught a lesson about what happens when you mess with a Wolf. I lifted my head up and let loose a deafening howl.

The Fox suddenly decided that there were other prey animals available elsewhere that didn’t have Wolf bodyguards. He ran for the forest like, well, like an angry Wolf was chasing him.

Not bad for a night’s work, I thought to myself proudly. I scared off the Fox without even lifting a paw and–

A large shadow suddenly passed over me and I heard a thud, like something hitting a nearby a tree. Could there be some other creature out here? Perhaps stalking me like I did with the Fox?

<Cassie is that you?>

I jumped in surprise.

<Tobias? You almost gave me a heart attack!> I yelled back at him, although I was secretly relieved. <What the hell are you doing out here?>

<I could ask you the same thing Mike,> Tobias replied. I could now just about see his Hawk body perched in a tree next to me. <Morphing Wolf and yodelling like an idiot in the middle of the night right next to Cassie’s house? Not exactly subtle.>

<Cassie mentioned that something was killing off birds in her barn at night and I volunteered my services as a Guard Wolf. I spotted a Fox trying to sneak in and, well, let’s just say that he had a change of heart when he saw me!> I laughed.

<Well I can’t argue with anyone who wants to protect birds.> Tobias said.

<So what brings you out here man?> I asked.

<Just out stretching my wings, I can’t sleep.> He told me.

<Bad dreams?> I guessed.

It was hard to tell in the dim light, but I could just about see that Tobias was now glaring at me with his fierce Hawk eyes.

<How’d you–? Never mind.> Tobias and the others are still getting used to the fact that I know things I’m not supposed to know about. <Anything I should know?>

<You should talk to Cassie about it,> I advised. <I hear she’s good at figuring out dreams.>

<I’ll do that,> Tobias nodded. He knew me well enough to realise that I was giving him a cryptic clue about something I wasn’t allowed to tell him. As long as I don’t directly give anything away about future events, it wasn’t against the rules. <You going to demorph already?>

<Will do,> I replied as I started demorphing back to Human. <How about a race back to my place once I’m morphed Hawk?> My house in the woods was very close to Tobias’ meadow.

<Deal!> Tobias laughed.

[Phoenix004]

CHAPTER 2: Dreams, Visions, Guns and Fish

(MIKE’S POV)

“No, I haven’t had any weird dreams about the sea.” Marco said.

“So you think it’s just a coincidence that Cassie and Tobias just happened to have identical dreams at the exact same time?” I asked, interrupting him before he could start his rant about a variety of weird dreams he’d been having.

“Well since you know everything and you clearly think there’s something to this, I’m guessing there is something going on and the end will result will be the six of us screaming and running for our lives?” Marco asked.

“You know I can’t tell you.” I said with a knowing smile.

“I know that look; we’re all gonna die!” Marco yelled dramatically.

After Tobias and Cassie had realised they were having the same dreams about somebody calling for help from beneath the sea, they called a meeting at Rachel’s house the next day after school. Rachel’s family were all out and Tobias and I had done aerial surveillance to make sure we weren’t being followed. Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean that there aren’t people out to get you, especially when you’re fighting against the secret alien invasion of the planet.

Marco continued joking around, Rachel was supportive of the idea because she liked Cassie and Tobias, but was still sceptical as she often was with anything I believed. I of course agreed that the dreams were worth looking into, but couldn’t say anything more about it. Jake hadn’t said a word about what he thought, but I knew that he was about to pull a video tape out of his bag.

“Cool, let’s watch a movie.” Marco suggested as Jake showed us the tape.

“You can never see Die Hard too many times!” I joked.

“Die Hard? Not James Bond?” Marco gasped with mock surprise. He does seem to enjoy the British jokes.

“Depends on the Bond.” I pointed out truthfully. “But John McClane always kicks arse!”

“Anyway,” Jake interrupted, rolling his eyes. “This isn’t a movie. I don’t suppose anyone saw the late night news last night?”

Marco made a joke about watching taped reruns of some TV show and we all headed downstairs to watch the tape. It showed a man at the local beach holding a large piece of shiny metal, covered in strange symbols. Presumably the writing on the wreckage was part of the Andalite alphabet. Jake told everyone that the writing was remarkably similar to the symbols he had seen on Elfangor’s ship the night we all received the morphing power.

“I think what washed up on the beach is a piece of an Andalite ship.” Jake said.

As soon as he finished that sentence, Cassie and Tobias fell to the floor unconscious, just as I had expected. However, at the same time I was struck by a sudden migraine, like I’d just taken a sledgehammer to the head. I massaged the sides of my head with my hands, trying to force the pain away, but it just got worse. I fell to my knees and heard a faint voice echoing in my head.

<… here. I cannot survive much longer. Please…>

And just as suddenly as it had appeared, the pain vanished and the voice went with it. For some reason I had briefly experienced the same vision as Cassie and Tobias, but I had only heard the voice, not seen the ocean or anything else. I’d even managed to remain conscious despite the blinding headache.

I looked up to see Cassie coming around and Rachel about to phone for an ambulance. Jake and Marco were watching over Cassie and Tobias was still lying motionless on the ground.

What the hell was that about? I thought. The book mentioned the other Animorphs getting a strange feeling, but not getting migraines or hearing voices. It was almost like I was getting something between a weird feeling and the detailed vision Cassie and Tobias received.

Tobias soon woke up as well and Rachel put the phone down after realising that both he and Cassie were alright.

“Oh, and I’m fine by the way, thanks for asking.” I said.

“You saw something too?” Cassie looked at me in astonishment.

“Seems like it,” I replied. “But it wasn’t as strong as you described. I didn’t see the ocean; I just heard the voice and got one hell of a headache. It was almost like I was getting a weaker signal or something.”

Jake, Rachel and Marco all agreed that they had each sensed something too, although on an even lesser scale than I had felt. Of course, they didn’t have to suffer through a mind-numbing migraine to get their telepathic radio message, so I saw them as the lucky ones. Clearly the morphing technology was somehow connected to the way these messages were being sent, but for some reason they were having a varied effectiveness on each of us. Tobias was related to Ax so the strength of his vision made sense and Cassie was a skilled morpher and closely connected with animals on an emotional level. As for myself, I didn’t have a clue. Perhaps something to do with the fact that I wasn’t from this universe? I had no way of knowing for sure.

The others discussed the situation for a little longer before realising that the thought speak voice from the dream was an Andalite voice, just like when Elfangor had first talked to us in the construction site before he died.

“He died trying to save us,” Rachel glared at Marco. “I know that doesn’t mean anything to you, but the Andalite died trying to save Earth.”

Ouch, that was cold! I thought.

“I know.” Marco said. “And you’re wrong Rachel, that means plenty to me.”

“We were all there that night,” I said. “We all saw Elfangor give his life to save us, to save the whole planet. I think it’s safe to say that if there’s an Andalite out there that needs saving, the least we can do is go check it out.”

         *

Later that night, we were all down at the beach to see if we could find any clues or see if anyone got any new visions from being this close to the ocean. Only I knew that this little trip was pointless, but who was I to object to a nice long walk along the beach at night? If I was any good at astronomy, I’d have started counting the constellations as we walked across the cool, dry sand.

“You guys do realise that if there were any other pieces of wreckage down here, the Controllers would have already got rid of them?” I pointed out.

“Contrary to what you might think Mike, we don’t just do everything you say just because you claim to know everything.” Rachel said curtly.

Nice to know Rachel isn’t holding a grudge against me, I sighed. This is what I get for trying to save them all the trouble of a pointless search.

The others continued discussing various ideas they had for a few minutes, until Tobias warned us that there were people approaching. We quickly hid in the dunes while he went to check it out.

“You sensing a disturbance in the force yet Cassie?” Marco asked. “Because I was kinda hoping I’d have time to watch a movie tonight.”

“Not really,” Cassie admitted. “I guess I was expecting a stronger vision this close to the sea, but I’m not getting anything.”

A few moments later, Tobias returned and informed us that a small group of Controllers from The Sharing were walking along the beach searching for something.

“Tom is with them?” Jake asked.

<I’m pretty sure,> Tobias said. <Some of the senior members, Chapman and Tom, are following behind the others. I could hear some of what they were saying. They’re very worried about that fragment of Andalite ship.>

“So it is Andalite?” Rachel asked excitedly.

<I guess so. I heard something else too. Something about Visser Three being distracted by visions, and how he threw a Hork-Bajir out of an airlock for interrupting him.>

“Visser Three has an Andalite body,” I said. “It makes sense that he’d have the visions as well. Whoever is sending these messages must be desperate to risk Visser Three intercepting the signal.”

“Maybe whoever sent the message doesn’t know that Visser Three is here on Earth?” Jake suggested.

“Visser Three is the only Andalite Controller in existence. I think the Andalites probably keep track of where he hangs out.” I replied.

Suddenly a bunch of flashlight beams lit up an area nearby. Then one of the group started yelling excitedly. The Controllers had seen our footprints and would be after us any second.

“They’ve found our footprints! Run!” I hissed and started running without waiting for a response. Jake and Rachel were faster runners and soon caught up with me, with Marco and Cassie trailing behind slightly. And that’s when things started to get noisy.

BAM!

Gunfire! The Controllers were shooting at us, not with advanced alien Dracon Beams, but regular Human handguns. It seemed a bit ridiculous after being blasted by ray guns and attacked by giant worms and walking razor blades.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Man those things were loud! I’d been to a shooting range once, but we wore ear plugs to reduce the noise. What I was hearing now was ten times louder than a gunfight in any action movie. Not to mention a whole lot scarier. There’s just something about the noise a gun makes that makes it seem a lot more dangerous and fear inducing than a Dracon Beam.

“Head to the water,” Jake ordered. “Morph to fish.”

Jake,” Cassie panted breathlessly. “Trout… they’re freshwater fish… this is saltwater.”

“You have a better idea?!”

One by one we splashed into the cold seawater. As I did, I tried to clear my mind and focus on the image of the Trout I had morphed not long ago on the mission in the mountains.

My arms and legs shrivelled up and became fins, my skin turned into shiny scales and gills appeared on my neck to replace my vanishing lungs. Within two minutes, I had become a small, slimy fish. I was a Trout. It wasn’t the most fun animal I’d morphed and I kept seeing an image of being fried and covered in tartar sauce, but I was alive and safe. Aside from the fact that I’d just been chased by guys with guns and was now a freshwater fish breathing saltwater, I was just fine.

<Everyone okay?> Jake asked.

We all replied and Marco complained about the fact that we were being hunted by alien invaders instead of at home watching TV (and I admit that by that point I almost agreed with him).

<You know what just occurred to me?> I said to the others. <I knew we were going to end up down at the beach. I knew we were going to get chased by a bunch of alien psychos with guns. I knew we would escape by morphing into fish.>

<What’s your point?> Rachel asked irritably. Clearly she wasn’t happy about me holding back such information, even though I had no choice.

<My point is that I knew that it was all going to happen; so why didn’t I acquire a bloody saltwater fish?!>

[Phoenix004]

Would have posted earlier but I've been working almost everyday of the last two weeks. Happy holidays everyone! 


CHAPTER 3: Dolphin Encounter

(MIKE’S POV)

I didn’t get together with my fellow Animorphs for the next few days. They all had school to go to, Rachel went to an awards dinner with her Mum and Jake had failed a test which he had to make up for. I really did pity the others, having to get through school and all the other normal everyday things in life as well as fight off an alien invasion. Personally I had enough trouble paying attention at school back home without having to deal with the stress of being a full time Animorph.

I would never admit it to the others, especially Marco, but a part of me was starting to miss school. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration as I could never truly miss being at school, but I did miss parts of my normal life. Seeing my family, hanging out with friends and not having to worry about brain stealing aliens. Also, there was the fact that I had way too much free time here when we weren’t on missions and that made it easy to get bored. Going to school here would be impossible even if I did want to go, I was too young to get a job and making new friends would lead to too many unwanted questions.

On the plus side, I had an awesome house all to myself packed full of books, DVDs and computer games to help pass the time. Tobias even came by sometimes when he wasn’t busy and we would talk or watch a movie together. His meadow was nearby and I guess I wasn’t the only one who got bored a lot. He’s good company, although I do sometimes feel a little guilty when he’s around. Even though it’s been over a month since he was trapped in morph, he hasn’t once asked me anything about the future, even though I’m sure he’s dying to ask. The others have all asked me questions, despite the fact that I can’t answer them, but Tobias has more reason than any of them to ask me something and he hasn’t. I can only assume that he’s afraid of what the answer might be.

Speaking of Tobias…

<Hi Mike.> A Red-tailed Hawk flew through my open window and landed on the small wooden perch I’d put next to it.

“Hey Tobias,” I replied. “I got that book you were talking about; just make sure you don’t tear the pages this time!”

<Sorry about that.>

“It’s okay. Anyway I’m glad you’re here, I’m so bored! I’m guessing the others sent you to get me?”

<How’d you guess?> Tobias laughed.

“I’m psychic, don’t tell anyone.” I winked. “You know I did give the others my number and they don’t use it. Maybe I should consider setting up some kind of Bat Signal for them to summon me with?”

<I guess the others feel a bit weird about calling you since they don’t really know you very well. They’ve barely even seen you except when we’re on a mission.> Tobias pointed out.

I admit that surprised me a little, but Tobias was right. I knew the Animorphs quite well from being a big fan of the series for so long, but I didn’t even think about the fact that they didn’t actually know me at all. It was definitely something to think about.

“So where are we headed?” I asked as I started to morph Harris Hawk, my usual bird morph.

<The Gardens. Like you didn’t already know.> Tobias joked. <Wanna race?>

<That’s hardly fair, you know the city like the back of your talon!> I switched to thought speech as I continued my morph. <I’ll have to slow down to ask a Seagull for directions.>

<Not to mention the fact that I can fly circles round you!> Tobias laughed.

<Oh it’s on Bird Boy!> I fluttered over to the window sill and took off into the open sky with Tobias closing fast behind me.

         *

“I wish they had a place like this back home.” I said to the others as we entered The Gardens.

I hadn’t ended up racing Tobias all the way to The Gardens, as I’d had to stop off at Cassie’s barn to pick up the change of clothes and small amount of money I’d secretly stashed in there. From the barn I’d then met the others at the bus stop and we’d all gone to The Gardens together.

“They don’t have amusement parks or zoos in England? I know which country I just crossed off my world tour!” Marco joked.

“Sure they have them, just not both in the same place.” I replied as we passed through the amusement park section of The Gardens and reached the part with the animals. “This part actually reminds me of a zoo I used to visit when I was a kid.”

“You must miss being home.” Cassie said.

“Are you kidding me? No school and a whole house to myself? I love it here!” I yelled a bit more enthusiastically than I felt. I may have been slightly homesick, but I didn’t want the others to know.

We soon reached the Dolphin exhibit just as a public show was ending. Pushing past the small crowd of people leaving, we made our way to the large open swimming pool where the Dolphins were kept.

“So what’s the difference between Porpoises and Dolphins? Both just fish right?”

SPLOOSH!

I managed to shield my face with my arm as Marco finished talking, just in time to block a spray of water which splattered the five of us as a playful Dolphin shot out of the water like a shiny grey torpedo. A four metre long, one hundred and eighty kilogramme, living torpedo that grinned joyfully at us as it gracefully flew through the air and landed back in the water with another loud splash.

“That was a Dolphin.” Cassie told him.

“Also they’re mammals, not fish.” I added. “And man that was awesome!”

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen some pretty amazing animals in my time (not to mention turned into a few of them) but this was the first time I’d ever seen a Dolphin besides on TV. They were quite unlike any animal I’d seen before. There’s just something about watching Dolphins that fills you with joy, seeing an animal so playful and innocent, yet intelligent and a master of its environment at the same time. You know when you see a Dog playing and you can genuinely see that it’s happy? That’s what watching that Dolphin was like.

“He’s trying to get me to give him some more fish.” A woman’s voice spoke out behind us and we all turned round to see one of the Dolphin trainers.

“Oh, hi Eileen.” Cassie said.

The Dolphin exploded out of the water again and somersaulted in mid-air before plunging back down into the pool. It was like watching a world class gymnast perform the most amazingly complex move imaginable with apparent ease, and laughing the entire time.

“That’s Joey; he’s the biggest con artist.” Eileen explained. “He’s always trying to get extra fish.”

“He’s amazing.” Cassie said, gazing in awe at the majestic animal.

“Yes, he is.” Eileen replied, her voice filled with pride.

Cassie told her a story she’d made up about how we’d been looking up Dolphins on the internet and decided to come see them for ourselves. Eileen offered to let us feed the Dolphins, leaving us with a nice big bucket of dead fish to give the hungry Dolphins. As soon as we started throwing fish into the water, Joey and the rest of the Dolphins swam over to us in search of food. The fish smelled pretty bad and it was a little unnerving to think that I’d turned into a very similar fish only a couple of days ago.

I let the others discuss the Dolphins amongst themselves and grabbed some fish to tempt one of the Dolphins over. As soon as I started dangling a fish in the water, Joey shot over to me and snatched it right out of my hand.

“Cheeky little bugger.” I muttered quietly, but I couldn’t help smiling as I said it.

Joey started making a strange chattering sound, almost like he was laughing at me in response to what I’d said. Hell, maybe he was.

“Aww, you’re too cool to stay mad at Joey. Here, have another.” I held out a second fish just above the water and Joey quickly poked his head out of the water and took the fish. “Listen, I know you probably can’t understand me, but I need to borrow something of yours to save a friend of mine. Is that okay?”

Joey nodded.

Okaaay, that was unexpected. I thought. Probably just a coincidence. I tried to convince myself.

I reached out and placed my hand on his wet, rubbery head and concentrated, focusing on the image of the Dolphin, imagining what it would be like to race through the water and dive out into the air with a sly Dolphin grin on my face.

Joey suddenly snapped out of the acquiring trance and I knew that his DNA was now a part of me. I’m not quite sure how much Dolphins understand about Humans and the world around us, but I had a feeling that if Joey did know about the Yeerks, he’d be glad to know that he was allowing me to help stop them. Maybe I’m just crazy, but Dolphins are one of the few animals I’ve encountered that seem to know more then they’re letting on.

As I started to leave, Joey leapt out of the water once more and performed a back flip in the air before landing like an Olympic diver back into the water. I took a wild guess and assumed that he was either saying goodbye or asking for more fish.

“One for the road,” I called out to him as I tossed the last fish into the water and he munched it down before his friends could get near it.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I swear that as I was leaving Joey made another weird noise in that strange Dolphin way that sounded a lot like ‘thanks.’

[Phoenix004]

CHAPTER 4: Fun and Games

(MIKE’S POV)

The next day was Friday, but the others had the day off school so that the teachers could have a conference (whatever the hell that means). This meant that we had a three day weekend ahead to save Ax from the bottom of the ocean. We had already planned to meet down at the beach, but I knew that I’d soon be getting a message saying that we were heading over to the river instead due to it being way too crowded down at the beach for us to morph without being see.

I had some time to kill, so I was catching up on some Halo 3 time. Back home I was only a casual gamer, but with all the extra free time I’d been spending more time than usual playing on various consoles. I’d only played Halo 3 a few times before being brought to this universe so I figured I could use the practice. If, when I got home, my older brother was going to be in for a nasty surprise…

<Playing Halo 3 again? You really need a new hobby.>

I jumped as I realised that Tobias had arrived. Somebody in game took advantage of my distraction and shot me in the head.

“I hope you’re proud of your sneaking up on me skills, because you just got me killed.” I sighed. “Sorry, I wouldn’t even be playing if I’d known you were coming.” I tried not to play computer games around Tobias, as it’s just another thing he can’t do in his Hawk body. I really wanted to tell him that in a few months he’d be able to morph Human again, but I knew I wasn’t allowed.

<It’s okay, I was never much of a gamer anyway.> He replied. <Anyway, the others are waiting for you down–>

“At the river, I know.”

<I thought you weren’t allowed to reveal anything about the future?> Tobias asked as I started to morph Harris Hawk.

“I’m not ‘revealing’ anything, I’m just turrrr–” My mouth started to become a beak so I waited a few moments for my thought speech to kick in. <I’m just telling you something you already know.>

<That’s still bending the rules though right?>

<Oh believe me, the guy who brought me here is the master of rule bending.> I told him, completing the morph and spreading my wings wide. <Now which way to the river?>

<It’s almost reassuring to hear that there are things even you don’t know!> Tobias laughed.

We took to the skies and I tried to keep my distance from Tobias while still staying in sight of him, which wasn’t that hard considering how powerful my Hawk eyes were. I could be half a kilometre away and still keep track of him easily, without risking any birdwatchers wondering why two different birds of prey were hanging out together.

<You know the old saying about how ignorance is bliss?> I said.

<Yeah.>

<It’s not entirely true. I know a lot about what’s going to happen, but I don’t know everything and it’s the things I don’t know that really scare me. I can prepare for the things I do know about, but how can I prepare for something I don’t know is going to happen?>

<You can’t,> Tobias said simply. <Now you know how the rest of us feel most of the time.>

After another few minutes of flying and random small talk, we arrived at the point of the rover where the others were impatiently waiting for us. I briefly noted the fact that Cassie was already here despite the fact that in the book Tobias was already waiting for her, but that was nothing to worry about since Tobias had been sent to get me.

<Hi guys,> Tobias called out as he landed gracefully in the treetops. I landed not-so-gracefully on the ground below and started to demorph.

“Hey Tobias, how’s things?” Cassie asked.

<The same old thing, you know how it is–>

“It’s a hawk-eat-mouse world out there!” I finished the sentence for him as I completed my demorph, earning me a variety of amused and confused looks from my fellow Animorphs. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

“I’ve got something for you Tobias,” Rachel announced after she’d finished glaring at me. She held out a digital watch and Tobias dropped down to a lower branch so that Rachel could attach it to his talon.

“Okay Tobias, you’re our timekeeper and our eyes in the air while we’re in morph,” Jake told him. Jake might not enjoy being the leader, but he’s very good at it. “Cassie, will you go first?”

“Actually I was hoping I could go first if it’s okay with you guys,” I said. “I’ve kinda been looking forward to this one.”

“Cassie?” Jake asked.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Cassie nodded. “After all, Mike knows exactly what to expect from the Dolphin’s mind.” I could almost hear a sigh of relief in her voice as she said it. Cassie was uncomfortable with the idea of morphing such an intelligent creature, so she most likely welcomed the chance to let somebody else go first for a change.

“Thanks Cassie,” I replied gratefully before stepping into the river. It was cold, but not as bad as I had been expecting. Of course, I was used to the freezing river back home, but the weather was warmer here. Strange how even stepping into a river could make me feel homesick.

I waded further into the water until I was waist deep, then I closed my eyes for a few seconds to help me focus and I concentrated on the image of the Dolphin whose DNA now flowed through my veins.

As I pictured the image of the Dolphin in my mind, I suddenly felt my entire face turn rubbery and protrude outwards, almost like when I grew my Wolf snout only worse. My face was bulging out so much that I could actually see the bottlenose shape emerge in front of my eyes.

“Wow, you’re going to need a lot more than your British charm to get girls when you’ve got a face like that!” Marco smirked. It’s probably just as well that I didn’t have any vocal chords at that point, otherwise I might have said some very inappropriate words in response.

“You’re one to talk Marco,” Rachel said mockingly.

As the transformation continued, I looked down at my hands in time to see my fingers start to melt together to form fins, while the colour of my skin turned grey and shiny. Just as my arms had finished changing, my legs also started to shrivel before merging together into a long, elegant Dolphin tail. My eyes widened in panic at the sudden realisation that I no longer had any legs to support my body, before I plunged face first into the water. Thankfully, I felt a blow hole form on my back a second later and I was able to breathe again. A few moments after that and the change was complete. I was a Dolphin.

I must have read the fourth Animorphs book half a dozen times in preparation for this mission, but it just goes to show that no amount of reading can prepare you for the real thing. Becoming a fish had been incredibly strange, but this was something different entirely. It may have lived in the water and had fins like a fish, but the Dolphin body didn't have gills, it still needed Oxygen from the open air to breathe. Sucking in air through a hole in my back was certainly going to take some getting used to.

The most amazing part, however, was the Dolphin's mind and instincts. At that point, it was by far the closest I had come to experiencing an almost human mind. I didn’t encounter a self-aware mind, morphing doesn’t work that way, but I could tell that the Dolphin mind was intelligent. Unlike the other animals I had morphed, the Dolphin in me wasn't motivated solely by desperate fear or intense hunger. It didn't have the instant fight or flight response reaction of a fish or the predatory hunting urges of the Wolf or Jaguar. Just like in the books, the Dolphin's mind was like that of a young child's: it just wanted to play.

Remember how it felt to be four years old? All you wanted to do was play all day long without a care in the world, running around everywhere just for the sheer joy of it. Kids run around everywhere because it’s fun, and Dolphins play for the same reason. It was then that I realised why people like Dolphins so much. Seeing a Dolphin is like watching a child play, it reminds you of when you were a kid and the only thing you had to worry about was which toy to play with. Having that fun-loving nature inside my head was very therapeutic.

<Hey Mike, you in there?> Tobias interrupted my thoughts.

<Yeah I’m here,> I replied.

<You okay?> Tobias asked with concern in his voice. I must have zoned out for a minute after I’d finished my morph.

<I’m fine, great actually,> I told him truthfully. <Although I really want to play a game…>

<A game?> Tobias sounded confused. <We don’t really have time for games right now Mike, we’ve got a mission to complete.>

<There’s always time for games!> I yelled enthusiastically. I powered upwards with my strong tail and burst out of the water and out into the open air, sailing up for a moment before plunging back down into the river with a giant splash. <Come on you guys! I want to play in the ocean!>

The others probably thought I sounded crazy at first, but the Dolphin part of me didn’t care. And once they had all morphed as well, I doubt they cared much either. All that mattered was having fun!

<YEEEH HAAAAH!>

<WAHOOO!>

Cries of giddy excitement filled my head as my Dolphin friends and I reached the wide open ocean. That’s when the game really started to get fun, diving down to the bottom of the sea bed and then coming rushing back up and launching ourselves out of the water at what felt like a million miles an hour.

<There is no way this could be more AWESOME!> I shouted out.

<This is beyond awesome,> Rachel replied. That was probably the first time she’d ever agreed with me on anything.

<Let’s all dive down at the same time!> Jake laughed.

In a move that would have been the envy of every synchronised swimmer on the planet, the five of us swam down until we could practically touch the ocean floor and then shot back up towards the shining surface of the water above us and fired out into the sky. After defying gravity briefly, we all crashed back into the water and laughed like a bunch of toddlers having a party.

<Um, maybe you guys should try to focus more a second here? You’ve wasted forty five minutes already.> Tobias pointed out.

A part of me knew I should be worried about that fact, but I was too caught up in the sheer joy of being a Dolphin for anything to really bother me at that point. Time might fly when you’re enjoying yourself, but the Dolphin mind wasn’t concerned about time. Time wasn’t a problem as long as there was an ocean to swim in, games to play and fish to chase. For a Dolphin, life is like one big party.

<I know you guys think the Dolphin mind hasn’t affected you, but trust me it has. You guys need to get a grip and remember why we’re here. We need to find the Andalite’s space ship.> Tobias reminded us.

<I bet I can find it first!> Marco cheered.

<No I will!> Cassie insisted.

<It’s like trying to talk sense into a group of three year olds…> Tobias muttered.

<Race you!> Rachel laughed as we all sped off into the distance, just five Dolphins and a Hawk looking for a crashed space ship before a group of evil slugs found it first…

Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.

<Hey, can you guys do this?> Cassie fired off a round of echo-locating clicks, which bounced off something solid in the distance and echoed back to give her a picture of the surrounding area.

<That sounds like fun!> I used my own echo-location and heard the others firing off clicks of their own. We all got a strange image back, something that was big and definitely alive.

<What is that?> Marco asked quizzically.

<A fish? Another Dolphin?> Jake suggested.

<Doesn’t look like a Dolphin to me,> Rachel added nervously.

<Oh, I know!> Cassie exclaimed, sounding like an over eager student who knew the answer to a question in class. <It’s a Shark!>

That shut us all up pretty fast, because if there’s one thing in the world that Dolphins don’t think us funny, it’s Sharks. This wasn’t a game anymore, this was deadly serious…

[Phoenix004]

CHAPTER 5: Danger! Shark Attack!

(MIKE’S POV)

<You guys do realise we aren’t here to fight Sharks right?> Tobias asked. I let him and the others continue their discussion as I swam ahead of the group and fired off another volley of echo-locating clicks into the area where I knew there were five Sharks out hunting.

As my echoes bounced back to me and showed me a mental picture of the Sharks attacking a Great– a Whale, I instinctively knew that I had to do something to help. I’d like to think that feeling was simply my own human compassion for another living thing, but I sensed it was more than that. Yes I certainly cared for the poor Whale, but it was the Dolphin part of me that was truly moved by what I had ‘seen.’ That knowledge alone convinced me that if Dolphins weren’t sentient, they must have been pretty damn close.

<You guys do what you want,> I told them seriously. <I’m going in.>

<Dolphins don’t attack Sharks unless they attack first,> Cassie told me.

<I know,> I admitted. <But I’m no Dolphin and I don’t like bullies. There’s a Great One being attacked by these Sharks and I’m going to save him.>

<A Great One? What are you talking about?> Tobias sounded very confused by this point.

<He means a Whale,> Cassie explained. <A Whale being attacked.>

<A Great One being attacked…> Marco trailed off. Even he couldn’t just leave the Whale to its fate, not when something could be done about it.

<Let’s do it!> Rachel yelled, speeding forwards with the rest of us following close behind her.

A few moments later we spotted them. Five Sharks were circling the wounded Whale, stalking the kill and ripping chunks of bloody flesh from the poor creature’s body. The five Sharks were as scary and menacing as the Whale was graceful and awe inspiring.

Sharks are one of the oldest surviving animals on the planet. They’ve been around for roughly 400 million years, and in all that time their basic design has barely changed. Mother Nature pretty much did a perfect job the first time. This was one of the only animals in the history of our planet that not only predates the Dinosaurs, it outlived them. That alone is more than enough to make people fear and respect the Shark as one of the world’s master predators.

I recognised the Sharks we were facing as Tiger Sharks, the second largest predatory Shark in the world. The length of the average adult is just over four metres, and it is considered one of the deadliest Sharks in the world.

However, despite their impressive hunting skills, Sharks don’t have the brains to hunt in groups. The reason that there were so many Sharks attacking this Whale was simple because any nearby Sharks would have caught the scent of blood and come to investigate. Some species of Sharks can detect one part of blood per one million parts of sea water. Even a small amount of blood could potentially attract Sharks from miles away. Once this Whale had become wounded, it hadn’t stood a chance…

Until we came along…

The Sharks were too concerned with the smell of freshly wounded prey to worry about a group of approaching Dolphins, but that fact did little to soothe the sudden bolt of fear that flowed through me. If there was one thing that my mind and the Dolphin mind could agree on, it was the fact that neither of us liked Sharks. I read somewhere that the fear of being bitten is a very primitive type of fear, far more primal than being stabbed. As a species we’ve had an instinctive fear of being bitten by other creatures for eons, and I would assume that Dolphins have evolved the same way. Even if they weren’t, the human part of me was more than terrified enough for the both of us.

This is a really bad idea… I thought to myself grimly as we charged the unsuspecting Sharks. I kicked my tail as hard as I could to try and build up momentum, speeding faster and faster towards my target; the nearest Tiger Shark.

WHAM!

Imagine smashing your head against a brick wall. Now imagine that someone has reinforced the wall with solid steel and has then covered the entire thing in sandpaper. That’s pretty much what it felt like when I rammed that Shark. My bottle-shaped Dolphin nose was tough, but hitting that Shark seriously hurt.

As I recovered from what felt like a minor concussion, I was amazed to see that despite the fact that my face felt like it had lost a fight with a sledgehammer, the Shark had turned out worse. A trail of dark red blood spilled out from a wound on the Shark’s side. One way or the other, this would be that Shark's final fight. I felt a small pang of shame as I realised that fact, and almost laughed at myself for feeling that way. That Shark would have gladly torn me apart without a second thought, and I was worried about hurting it to save a Whale's life? It sounded ridiculous, but it didn't change the way I felt. 

It was only when I turned around that I saw the fight wasn’t going quite as well as I’d thought. There was nothing but blood, chaos and terrified voices in my head.

<Jake! He's on your tail!>

<I got him!>

<They're so fast!>

The Sharks were fast, much more so than I had expected. They were as fast as we were, just as manoeuvrable and far more deadly. The battle was swift and bloody, the water already murky with the crimson cloud of blood swirling around. It made it almost impossible to spot my friends, let alone see my foes coming in for the kill. Luckily I didn't have to rely completely on my eyes. I fired off another round of echo-locating clicks and suddenly the ocean around me might as well have been illuminated by giant spotlights. I could “see” my friends fighting for their lives, the Sharks that were trying to kill them, and even the majestic Whale amongst all the carnage going on around me.

I also saw a very large Shark headed straight for Marco…

<Oh no you don’t!> I shouted and shot towards Marco as fast as I could. <Marco! Behind you!>

Marco jumped a little at my warning, but quickly reacted by powering forwards as fast as he could, smashing the Shark senseless with his strong Dolphin tail as he moved away. It was only stunned momentarily, but the Shark had learnt its lesson. A Shark’s nose is quite vulnerable if hit with enough force, so I doubted the Shark would try another attack. The Sharks finally realised that there was much easier prey to be found nearby, such as the other Shark I had wounded earlier in the fight. Like I said, Sharks aren’t exactly a fan of teamwork. Blood is blood and Sharks really don’t care about who or what happens to be bleeding at the time. They certainly don’t have any sympathy for their wounded brothers.

<Ha ha! Take that Jaws!> Marco laughed.

<Nice one Mar-AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!> I screamed in agony as what felt like a thousand knives sliced into my left fin. One of the other Sharks had caught me off-guard and viciously tore at my Dolphin body, ripping a huge chunk of my left fin out as a tasty bite-sized snack.

Things got a little blurry after that, what with the massive blood-loss and all. I still can’t remember everything clearly after being bitten, but the others told me later that I managed to fight back and force the Shark to leave the rest of my body intact. Lucky me…

I heard the others all panicking, wandering what they could do to help me and I realised that I should really start demorphing before I passed out from blood-loss or lack of Oxygen. If I blacked out now, I wouldn’t be waking up.

I focused as hard as I could on my Human body. It was difficult, but I could feel my tough, rubbery skin become softer and my Dolphin features shift around and become more Human. My blowhole vanished, my tail became legs, and to my huge relief, both my fins were replaced by healthy, fully intact arms. I made a mental note to be more grateful for my body in the future. As Humans we often take the little things for granted, like having all four limbs firmly attached to our bodies. Oh, and the ability to breathe…

My Dolphin body may have been able to hold its breath for a long time, but my regular old Human body wasn’t so fortunate. I kicked my legs as hard as I could, struggling to reach the open air above me, when I suddenly felt something, something big, rising up underneath me. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought it was the lost city of Atlantis floating up from the bottom of the sea, but I knew what it was. It was the Whale we’d saved from the Sharks.

Let me put things in perspective here. An adult Humpback Whale can grow up to sixteen metres long. Our Bottlenose Dolphin morphs were about four metres long. My natural Human form was less than two metres tall. If that doesn’t sound impressive enough, that Whale weighed maybe thirty or forty tons more than I did. When you can encounter an animal that weighs more than the contents of a small car park, then you know you’re dealing with something huge.

Another thing you’ve probably heard about Whales is how smart they are. Humpback Whales have been known to cooperate in groups in order to catch large numbers of fish at once, using a technique called bubble net fishing. The Humpbacks swim in a circle blowing air bubbles from their blowholes, creating a ring of bubbles that traps huge schools of fish, which can then be devoured by the hungry Whales. It’s an ingenious method of hunting that requires a lot of skill and intelligence to pull off. Humans are the only animals on the planet that are more efficient at catching so many fish at once.

All that stuff is just trivia though; facts, figures and statistics. Nothing can prepare you for what it’s actually like to encounter a Humpback Whale in real life. This awesome creature rose up from the depths of the ocean and carried me up to the surface on its back. It was like being in a movie where the submarine comes up underneath someone, but this was a living submarine.

“Thank you,” I managed to say as I coughed up some foul tasting saltwater. I patted the Whale on its back to show I was grateful.

After a few moments, the Whale began to slowly descend again, back into the watery depths below, and I started treading water until I was ready to morph back into a Dolphin. A few minutes later, once I’d recovered from the shock of nearly being eaten by a Tiger Shark and then almost drowned, I started to feel really jealous of my fellow Animorphs, especially Cassie. She was down there right now in Dolphin morph, having a conversation with a genuine Humpback Whale! One thing’s for sure, fighting against an alien invasion certainly has its perks. Any marine biologist in the world would give anything to be in Cassie’s place at that point.

My legs were starting to get tired, so I figured I’d better morph back before I needed a giant marine mammal to come rescue me again. The changes were just as amazing as before, and in a just as baffling order. All I really cared about was that two minutes later I stopped being the polar opposite of a fish out of water and became a Dolphin in the ocean once more. The cool, calm, confident, grace and fun-loving nature of the Dolphin mind came with it, as well as feeling the amazing presence of the Whale. The Dolphin brain seemed almost more open than it had before, more aware. I could sense the gratitude coming from the Whale. This incredible creature not only realised that I had helped save its life; it was intelligent enough to feel grateful for it. And I don’t mind admitting that it made me feel pretty great.

<Cassie? Are you okay?> Jakes asked when Cassie had finished talking to the Whale.

<I’m fine,> she replied. <I’m beyond fine.>

<Only twenty five minutes left in morph guys,> Tobias informed us. <You better start heading back to shore.>

As we turned to leave, the Whale sailed gracefully through the water ahead of us. As he passed me, I heard his mysteriously silent voice in my mind, just like Cassie had described it in book four.

Goodbye little one, the Whale said to me. I hope you find your way home soon.

Somehow, I got the feeling the Whale wasn’t simply talking about getting back to the shore…

[Phoenix004]

I was halfway through writing the new chapter when I suddenly decided I wanted to write a short chapter from Ax’s point of view. Sorry this chapter is so short, but the next chapter will be much bigger. Comments and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks for being patient.

CHAPTER 6: One Last Message

(AXIMILI-ESGARROUTH-ISTHIL’S POV)

I’d been trapped down here at the bottom of this alien ocean for a long time now. Too long. Day after day I held onto the small hope that my brother Elfangor had survived and was coming for me, but I knew it was foolish of me to think that way. If my brother was still alive, he would have come for me by now. His fighter’s sensors would easily have detected the crashed section of our great Dome Ship.

Unfortunately, that also meant it would only be a matter of time before the Yeerks found me. It would only take one Controller to detect the energy signature of the weak force field protecting the dome, or notice the fact that there was a pocket of air impossibly at the bottom of a deep sea. Either way, I didn’t have much time before they found me.

I had spent my days trying to keep my mind and body busy with exercise, combat training and imagining that Elfangor was still out there somewhere, perhaps leading an underground resistance against the Yeerk invasion of Earth. In my hearts I knew that Elfangor was gone, but as long as I didn’t know for certain, I could live in hope that Elfangor, my older brother and hero to our people, was still alive…

Eventually I had risked sending out a mirror-wave call to my people, praying that one of my fellow Andalites was still out there and able to find me. It was dangerous because if Visser Three was somewhere on Earth, there was a chance he might intercept my message. Despite the possible danger, I was becoming desperate and decided I had little choice.

However, I had been sending out my distress call for some time now and had yet to hear any kind of response or encountered any search parties. My chances of rescue seemed to decrease by the day, and were now probably slim to none. Therefore, several days ago I had come up with a plan to escape the dome. It had taken a long time, but I had finally been able to temporarily trap one of the Earth fish creatures that I had seen swimming outside. It was a large, dangerous looking creature with armoured skin and triangular fins. It also had something called a mouth, a body part common amongst many species of the galaxy. Inside its mouth were rows of deadly sharp teeth, which made me think that the creature used its mouth as a weapon to defend itself against other predators, as well as hunt capture its prey. I was unfamiliar with the names of most Earth creatures, so I called the creature Blue Blade.

Earlier in the day, I had acquired the Blue Blade before setting it free. I needed all my strength for my escape plan, so I decided to wait until tomorrow before I put my plan into action. After grazing for a few hours, I forced myself to try and rest. Before I went to sleep, I tried one last attempt at a mirror-wave call, hoping someone might still come to my aid. One last message before I resigned myself to my fate.

<Tomorrow,> I told myself firmly. I had long since become accustomed to talking to myself; it was normal behaviour after being stranded on my own for so long. <If I have not heard from my people by tomorrow, I will leave this place…>

         *

(MIKE’S POV)

I felt myself falling, down through the water until I reached the ocean floor. I wasn’t in Dolphin morph this time; I was in my regular old Human body. I knew it was impossible for me to be breathing down in these watery depths, but it was like I was a ghost, a disembodied spirit gliding through the water.

Ahead of me I caught a glimpse of an alien landscape. Brightly coloured grass, plants and trees which were clearly not of this world, but stunningly beautiful all the same. A piece of the Andalite homeworld, miraculously suspended in a great glass dome at the bottom of the ocean. It was an incredible sight to behold.

<Please help me,> I heard a thought-speech voice begging for help. <This is my final chance. I am trapped and require your help. If you can hear me, please come. If you can hear me, please…>

My eyes snapped open and I jumped, sitting up straight in my bed. I’d been dreaming; the same dream vision that Cassie and Tobias had been having all this time. I hadn’t had the dream before; it was much more vivid than the voice in my head had been when I’d almost passed out the other day. It felt so much more real than that, too real to have been just a dream. My instincts told me that this was the same vision that Cassie and Tobias received. What I didn’t understand was why I hadn’t had the dream before, why now?

He’s getting desperate, I thought, answering my own question. He’s probably using the last of his strength to make the call stronger. Hang in there Ax, we’ll be coming for you soon.

It took me a long time, but I eventually managed to fall back to sleep…

[Phoenix004]

I'm not going to make promises I can't keep about this fic, but if I have time I will continue it. The updates will be slow however. In the mean time, I present Chapter 7 in hour of my 10,000th post on RAF. LONG LIVE ANIMORPHS!!!

As always, please post all comments in the http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=460.0 thread, thank you.

CHAPTER 7: Unexpected Visitors and Rats with Wings.

(MIKE’S POV)

It was the next day. I’d taken a break from trying to beat my brother’s gaming scores to have some real fun; I was currently small, feathery and riding a thermal a kilometre above my house. Screw Halo, flying is way more fun than any computer game!

As fun as it was I had no intention of being trapped as a Harris Hawk for life, so I dropped lower in the air until I could look in through my bedroom window and see the digital alarm clock on my bedside table. I was happy to see that I still had another half hour or so, but that’s when I spotted Cassie walking through the trees towards my place. Considering that in the books she had visited Marco after he was attacked by a Shark, I wasn’t really surprised to see her. In fact, I’d pretty much been expecting it.

<Hey Cassie,> I announced my presence as I came in for a landing on the large oak tree next to my bedroom window. <What’s up?>

“Nothing really, I was just hoping that we could talk for a while,” Cassie told me.

<Sure, just give me a second to get changed,> I joked. I hopped onto the grassy floor and focused on my regular old Human self. My beak softened into lips, my eyesight dimmed and my feathers got sucked back into my skin (trust me, that never stops being creepy). A couple of minutes later I was myself again.

“Alright then, let’s go inside,” I said, gesturing for her to go in.

“You don’t lock your house?” Cassie asked as she opened the front door to my place.

“Didn’t seem to be much point when only you guys can actually find my house,” I admitted. The Ellimist installed something that I call a perception filter. Anyone who comes near my house is subconsciously drawn away from it. “Not to mention the fact that my Harris Hawk body could spot a burglar coming from a mile away!”

“That’s true,” Cassie smiled.

“You want something to eat?” I offered as we entered the house. “I’m not much of a cook, but I’m great at making those microwave mini pizzas.”

“Haven’t you got any real food in yet?” Cassie asked me.

“I’m a thirteen year old guy living on his own in the middle of the woods,” I pointed out. “I don’t really know how to cook, so I’ve basically been living off cereal and microwave meals for the past month.”

“Well in that case, I can teach you how to cook sometime.” Cassie suggested.

“You can cook?” I gave her a surprised look.

“I live on a farm and both my parents work,” she said. “I picked up a few things about looking after myself.”

“Cool,” I replied. “And thanks, I wouldn’t mind a cooking lesson or two. As long as I’m making something with meat in; I respect the fact that you’re a vegetarian, but I like my meat.”

“How did you…” Cassie trailed off.

“I’m psychic, don’t tell anyone!” I winked. She laughed.

“I keep forgetting that you already know so much about us,” she said.

“Not much really,” I admitted. “I didn’t know you could cook after all.”

“Good point,” she acknowledged.

“Anyway, I’m guessing you didn’t come all the way out here to talk about cooking?”

“Not exactly, I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday,” she told me.

“Yeah I thought you might,” I nodded. “You did the same thing for Marco in the book when he got bitten by the Shark.”

“You mean Marco was the one who was supposed to be attacked?” Her eyes widened in surprise.

“Yeah, I managed to warn him just in time yesterday, another split second and Marco would have almost died, not me.”

“That was really brave of you.”

“Thanks,” I blushed slightly at the compliment. “But it’s not like I knew I was going to get attacked instead. If I did, I might have been a bit more hesitant in helping.”

“I’m sorry,” Cassie apologised.

“For what? It wasn’t your fault.”

“It was my decision to go out there looking for the Andalite,” she said. “That makes it my responsibility if my friends get killed.”

“Listen to me; it was not your fault,” I insisted. “It was my decision to come to this universe to help you guys out. I could have stayed at home where it was safe, doing homework and reading all about you guys, but I made the choice to join this fight. I don’t want to die believe me, but if something does happen to me, it will be my responsibility. Not your’s or Jake’s or anyone else’s.”

“Were you scared yesterday?” Cassie asked me.

“Yes,” I confessed. “I’ve been scared a lot since I first came here and it’s only been a month. I’ve been scared by giant cannibalistic worms, I’ve been scared by walking lawnmowers and now I’ve been scared by a freaking Shark. I’ve even been scared by Visser Three, and he’s one of the deadliest beings in the universe. But those aren’t the things I’m really afraid of. The things I’m really terrified of are things like getting trapped in morph or screwing up so badly that one of you ends up dead or worse. And I’m also worried that I’ll never see my family again…”

“You must really miss them.”

“They’re a pain in the arse sometimes, but they’re my family.” I sighed. “The worst part is that even if I survive all this, I can never tell them about any of it. Even if I could tell them, they’d just think I was crazy.”

“You chose to come here and risk your life to save our planet. I think your family would be really proud of you Mike.”

“Yeah, I guess they would,” I smiled sadly. “Thanks Cassie.”

“Anytime,” she smiled back.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door so I went to answer it. Unlike with Cassie, this visitor was definitely unexpected. It was Marco.

“Hey,” Marco greeted me as I welcomed him inside. “Am I interrupting something?” He wondered aloud as he spotted Cassie.

“No, I was just leaving anyway,” Cassie replied.

“I talked to Jake and we’re having another meeting at Rachel’s place tonight,” Marco explained.

“Alright, I’ll see you both there.” Cassie left.

“You do know that Jake has a thing for her right?” Marco asked me.

“There are blind mice in the woods that know about that,” I rolled my eyes. “She just came to talk to me about yesterday. She felt guilty because it was her decision to go out there and she thinks it was her fault that Shark tried to make me its lunch.”

“That’s dumb, we all decided to go out there.”

“Yeah that’s pretty much what I told her,” I agreed.

“Speaking of what happened yesterday, I just wanted to say thanks,” Marco said. “For saving my butt from that Shark.”

“No problem,” I replied. “I know you guys don’t always think you can trust me, but I’ve always got your backs. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to help you guys.”

“Yeah I get that, and we do trust you,” Marco said firmly. “We just don’t know you very well that’s all.”

“You’re all welcome round here anytime if you want to hang out,” I offered. “I have mini pizzas and a whole bunch of games consoles that need play testing.”

“Sounds good!” Marco laughed. “Hey, is that Halo 3?”

“Yep, you want to play? I must warn you, I’ve been getting a lot of practice lately.”

“Well some of us still have school to go to,” Marco pouted.

“You’re never going to let that go are you?” I asked rhetorically.

“Let’s play then,” Marco picked up an Xbox 360 pad. “Unless you’re afraid to lose?”

“You’re on school boy!” I laughed as I grabbed my own pad.

         *

After Marco and I had played some Halo 3 for a while, we went to the meeting at Rachel’s place. After laughing at the ridiculously weird concept of following directions to a crashed alien space ship given to us by a Whale who we’d saved from Sharks by turning into Dolphins, we came up with a plan. And that’s how we all ended up at Cassie’s barn the next day, getting ready to morph Seagulls so that we could fly out to a boat heading towards Ax’s ship and hitch a ride.

<Seagulls,> Tobias sneered. <Almost as bad as Pigeons. They’re just Rats with wings!>

“As long as you don’t try to eat us, I’m fine with that,” I replied. Marco s****ed.

I stuck my hand inside a cage that contained a Seagull with a broken wing. The poor thing was still too weak to put up much of a fight, but it still managed to struggle for a few seconds before I started the acquiring process and the Gull fell silent and stopped moving, almost as if it were hypnotised by my touch.

As soon as I’d finished acquiring its DNA, it started squawking again so I moved away so that the others could acquire it. Once they had, we all got ready to morph. I wasn’t at all nervous about this particular morph, as I knew there wouldn’t be any nasty surprises. Even so, as far as this morph was concerned, I was glad I’d eaten a decent breakfast that morning.

The first change that happened as I focused on my newly acquired Seagull DNA was my skin turning white. Not white as in Caucasian white, more like the pure white of untouched snow on a Winter’s day morning. Then the feathery pattern started to emerge like a thousand tattoos appearing across my skin before the feathers suddenly became three-dimensional. For that brief moment, I must have looked a guy who’d covered himself with glue and then dived into a pile of feathers.

My eyesight became subtly stronger. It was nowhere near as powerful as my vision was as a Harris Hawk, but it was better than my normal eyes. Seagulls don’t float up on thermals several kilometres up like birds of prey do; they prefer to stay closer to the ground so that they can spot food that has been abandoned by people on the streets below.

I got the strange falling sensation that comes from morphing any animal smaller than my natural form. Of course the Seagull was smaller than a Harris Hawk, so the shrinking time took slightly longer than usual. The strangest part is that by that point I still looked mostly Human, albeit an extremely small and very feathery Human.

It was only then that I felt my bones and organs rearranging themselves. Those squishing and crunching sounds always made me feel a little nervous. If I didn’t know that it was going to be completely safe, then it would have scared the hell out of me. It’s one of the many things I’ve had to get used to as an Animorph.

After that I grew wings, my lips melded into a small beak and my feet became tiny little Gull feet. The transformation was complete. I had become the scavenger lord of the civilised world, the king of the rubbish bins. I was a Seagull.

<Everyone okay?> Jake asked us all as we each finished morphing. We all replied telling him we were fine. <Then let’s fly!>

I flapped my wings manically as we rose up off the ground and took to the skies. It was a bright, sunny day, perfect weather for flying. Of course being a Seagull I didn’t have to rely so much on thermals like Tobias did; Seagulls do a lot more flapping and a lot less soaring than birds of prey.

There was something else different about this morph too. My Harris Hawk instincts were always telling me to be on the lookout for mice, rats and other small prey animals. My Seagull instincts were telling me to look for something to eat too, but the Seagull brain was much more open-minded when it came to the definition of food. If it even remotely looked like it might be food, the Seagull part of me noticed it. And since we were flying over a large town in a developed country, that meant spotting every single piece of litter that people had dropped, regardless of if not still contained food or not.

One thing’s for sure; Seagulls must really love the fast food industry.

<Pizza! Pizza! Pizza! I think it even has a stuffed crust too!>

<Man that sandwich looks tasty…>

<Oh! Look! French fries next to that bin outside McDonalds!>

<Is that fried chicken on the ground behind KFC? Who just throws fried chicken away like that?>

<It should be illegal to throw meatball subs in the trash...>

Sometimes an animal’s mind can be so strong and overwhelming that they become difficult to control. The predator’s urge to kill, the prey animal’s urge to flee, but the Seagull’s instincts weren’t like that. The part of me that wanted to check out every crisp packet and orange peel wasn’t over-powering the logical part of me; it was just so insistent that it was easier to go along with it instead of fighting it.

As we finally reached the beach and continued flying out over the open sea water, the nagging instinct to dive bomb discarded junk food pretty much went away. There weren’t many old sandwiches or pizza crusts floating on the waves, so the Seagull’s mind became easier to keep under control.

At was at this point that I finally felt relieved that we’d come in Seagull morph instead of our usual assorted birds of prey. We were flapping hard, only ten metres or so above the surface of the water, but Tobias wasn’t much higher than we were now. There weren't any thermals to ride now that we were flying over the ocean and Tobias would soon be starting to struggle. Most birds of prey are designed for floating on warm thermals, not power flapping over waves of sea water.

<There’s a container ship dead ahead,> Tobias reported.

<Dead ahead?> Marco asked with his usual ‘we’re about to do something stupidly dangerous so let’s joke about it’ type humour. <Oh that’s it, we’re doomed!>

[Phoenix004]

Hi everyone, I know it's been a long time coming but I hope you enjoy the new chapter. As always comments, suggestions and criticisms can be posted in the feedback thread or sent to me via PM.

CHAPTER 8: Sneaking About. Like a Ninja.

(MIKE’S POV)

Fighting the exhaustion I knew the others were also feeling, I flapped hard against the damp sea air, beating my wings and desperately trying to reach the old container ship. It was huge, even longer than the rugby pitch from my school back home. You could still see the blue colour it had been originally painted with, but a lot of the paint had long since rusted away with time.

We flew onwards to the far side of the deck, to the large cargo section. It was isolated from the rest of the ship and was completely the deserted. The crew had no reason to come back here, so we knew we would be safe from discovery, hidden amongst the hundreds of giant steel shipping containers.

There was a collective sigh of relief as we all landed on the deck. Tobias consulted the watch he was carrying in his talons and informed us that we’d been in morph for about an hour and a half.

<Just when I was starting to like this morph,> I said as I started to demorph. My feathers sucked back into my skin, my beak softened to form my human face and I began to grow steadily taller.

<No fast food out here anyway,> Marco pointed out.

“With this many containers out here you never know,” I switched to normal speech as I finished demorphing. “In fact, that gives me an idea…” I walked up to the corner of the nearest container, pressed my back against it and cautiously looked round the corner.

“Suddenly he’s James Bond,” Rachel muttered.

“What are you doing?” Jake asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Sneaking about. Like a ninja.” I winked. “I’ll be right back.”

“Famous last words,” Marco joked as I quietly walked away.

I wandered around the cargo section for a few minutes, even tried opening some of the shipping containers, but they all appeared to be locked. Most of them were fitted with small metal boxes to prevent someone breaking in; lock boxes I think they’re called. However, a few of the others only had simple padlocks. I was no expert, but I figured I could probably pick a padlock if I had the right equipment.

After several minutes of searching in vain, I finally stumbled across an abandoned toolbox, just lying on the deck next to a pile of rope and a life jacket.

“Perfect…” I grinned, ignoring the fact that I was talking to myself. I mean come on we all do it sometimes and there was no-one else there.

I opened the toolbox (which thankfully wasn’t locked) and rooted around inside, looking for anything I could use to pick a lock, but with no success. Even the smallest screwdriver was too big for the task. There wasn’t even a pair of bolt cutters to use to sever the lock. Then I noticed the rather sturdy sledgehammer, innocently lying at the bottom of the toolbox.

“Well it’s not exactly subtle, but this could work.” I smiled mischievously as I picked up the hammer. It was heavy, but I could just about handle it without accidentally breaking something (eg. like my wrist).

I carried the heavy duty sledgehammer back to the first padlocked container I’d seen. I wasn’t sure if there was a specific technique to breaking a padlock, but I’d watched enough movies to know it couldn’t be all that difficult. So I held the hammer up high and brought it swinging downwards. Unfortunately I missed the lock entirely, smashing it hard into the deck with a loud bang that made me wince.

“Bollocks!” I hissed. I was convinced someone must’ve heard me, but after a heart-pounding minute of complete silence, I realised I was in the clear. “So much for being stealthy,” I sighed.

I tried again, more carefully this time, only raising the hammer slightly and gently tapping the padlock. Bringing it up slightly higher, I hit it again, harder this time. And again. And again. Turns out it wasn’t as easy as I expected; apparently Hollywood had lied to me. Even so, after my sixth attempt the lock finally came loose and dropped to the floor with a thud. The sheer mass of all the containers must have been blocking the noise, because none of the crew came to investigate.

I entered the vast container and discovered that it was completely filled with… tins of dog food. There must’ve been thousands of them.

“Fantastic.” I muttered sarcastically.

Not yet willing to admit defeat, I moved onto the next padlocked shipping container and repeated the process of lock smashing. After just four attempts this time, the padlock gave way and clattered to the floor. I unenthusiastically opened the container door, expecting more dog food (or something equally useless) and ended up being pleasantly surprised.

Two minutes later, I returned to my fellow Animorphs, carrying a small pile of towels.

“Towels?” Jake raised an eyebrow quizzically.

“They were all out of blankets and sleeping bags.” I replied dryly as I started handing them out.

“You stole them?” Cassie gave me a disapproving look.

“It’s only stealing if I don’t give them back,” I pointed out. “Which I fully intend to do. I just don’t want to spend the next hour listening to Marco whine about the cold.”

“You make it sound like all I ever do is complain,” Marco feigned a hurt expression.

“You? Complain? Never!” Rachel teased. The others laughed as they wrapped the towels tightly around their shivering bodies.

“Didn’t you get one for yourself?” Cassie had noticed I had been left empty handed.

“Are you kidding me?” I laughed. “This is practically a heat wave compared to where I’m from.”

“I always wanted to visit England,” Rachel admitted. I guess her curiosity must’ve overcome her dislike for me. “What’s it like over there?”

“It rains all the time and our winter gets colder every year,” I told her. “But it’s home. Plus there are some beautiful areas to visit. I live in a small town not far from the country, so there’s loads of great places for hiking and camping nearby.”

“Sounds like a nice place for a vacation,” Jake said.

“We call it a holiday, not a vacation,” I replied with a smile.

“Next thing you know he’ll be talking like Sean Connery and offering us tea and crumpets.” Marco rolled his eyes.

“Sean Connery is Scottish, I’m English.” I pointed out.

“What’s the difference?”

“Don’t let the Scottish hear you say that!” I laughed.

“I think I’ll pass on the field trip to England. Personally I’d prefer Hawaii.” Marco said.

“What’s the matter Marco? A bit of rain too much for you?” I teased.

The jokes, banter and discussion of preferred holiday destinations went on like that for quite a while. I have to admit, it was pretty nice having the time to make small talk with the others for a change. It was probably the first time we’d had the chance to have a real conversation together without having the threat of imminent death looming over us. I guess hanging out alone in the woods between missions had made me lonelier than I thought, because I actually enjoyed the idle chit chat of four bored kids killing time before a dangerous mission.

“I’m just saying, if the bad guys took the time to thoroughly search Bond after they captured him, they wouldn’t have to worry about him using some cool gadget to escape.” Marco pointed out.

“Or they could just shoot him in the face instead of hoping their pet tarantula finishes him off.” I added.

Okay, so our conversation kind of went in a different direction after a while, but it was very entertaining I promise you. Although how we went from talking about Hawaii to discussing the bad judgement of Bond villains I have no idea.

“Anyway…” Jake interrupted us before we continued our ranting about fictional super spies. “It’s been about an hour.”

“Then let’s do it!” I yelled while punching the air dramatically. The others stared at me like I was wearing a straight jacket and a banana skin on my head. “Sorry, I just wanted to beat Rachel to it.” Rachel did not appear happy about this fact. Ah well, it’s not like she was a big fan of me anyway.

After shoving a half-morphed Marco over the side and diving clumsily in after him, I began to tread water as I tried to focus on the image of Joey the Dolphin in my mind. I pictured him back in his tank at The Gardens, playfully jumping out of the water with his friends and stealing their fish at tea time. I smiled sadly to myself as it occurred to me how jealous Joey would be if he knew where I was at that very moment; out in the open sea where he and his friends belonged.

I felt a dorsal fin grow out of my back as my face elongated into a thick, bottle-nose shape. My skin turned grey and rubbery, my arms shrank down into flippers and my legs melted together to basically form a mermaid’s tail.

A few moments later my transformation was complete, and I was Joey the Dolphin once more. The giddy, happy mind of the Dolphin joined my own and it was hard to feel anything but joyful with those carefree instincts in my head. Until I heard a strange, deafening noise coming from above, the noise of something that did not belong to this mighty ocean.

It was a helicopter. The Yeerks were here.