Let's Read Animorphs! The Whole Series! Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges

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Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Mazerunner posted:

Rachel and Jake's families are Jewish anyway

So if anything she should know the name is, too

# ? Feb 22, 2022 19:23

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# ? May 27, 2024 09:42

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Capfalcon posted:

Religion as a whole basically doesn't exist for the Animorphs, from what I can tell, so yes, it was pretty jarring.

I seem to recall Michael Grant saying both he and Applegate were atheists, so when it came time to write Gone, he made one of the main characters a visible and practicing Catholic both for the sake of diversity among the characters and to challenge himself to try and write a character who was as ideologically opposite as he could think while still making them a sympathetic and heroic character.

# ? Feb 22, 2022 21:19

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

In Animorphs, Cassie and her parents are religious Catholics.

# ? Feb 22, 2022 23:53

dungeon cousin: Nov 26, 2012; woop woop
loop loop

So what's the Animorphs holiday special gonna be like?

# ? Feb 23, 2022 01:38

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

dungeon cousin posted:

So what's the Animorphs holiday special gonna be like?

The Animorphs need to get Ax home so he can celebrate an Andalite holiday with his family, but they're chased by the evil Visser Three. Also, for some reason, we find out that Ax's father is really into erotic VR of pop singers.

# ? Feb 23, 2022 02:03

Soup du Jour: Sep 8, 2011; I always knew I'd die with a headache.

Epicurius posted:

The Animorphs need to get Ax home so he can celebrate an Andalite holiday with his family, but they're chased by the evil Visser Three. Also, for some reason, we find out that Ax's father is really into erotic VR of pop singers.

The animated interlude with the Drode was really cool though, I hope it gets its own streaming service show one day

# ? Feb 23, 2022 02:57

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Epicurius posted:

The Animorphs need to get Ax home so he can celebrate an Andalite holiday with his family, but they're chased by the evil Visser Three. Also, for some reason, we find out that Ax's father is really into erotic VR of pop singers.

Fuckin' Life Day...

# ? Feb 23, 2022 03:46

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 5

quote:

<Councilor,> Ax said, his voice tight. <The inspector is a candidate member of the Council of Thirteen.>

�What�s this guy doing here?� I said angrily. �He screwed up our plan.�

Marco turned to look at Ax. �Did you know about these Garatrons?� he asked. �I mean, I know I�m not the only one who saw the similarities. Blue fur. Four legs. Arms.�

Ax stiffened.

�Physical similarities don�t necessarily mean there�s a genetic relationship,� Cassie pointed out. �Mammalian shrews and marsupial shrews. A lot alike, but not related. Could be the same thing with Andalites and Garatrons.�

<The Yeerks have taken only one Andalite host body,> Ax said. <The inspector called the Garatrons the newest host species, implying the Yeerks have infested far more than one creature. Something the Andalites will never allow to happen.>

I paced before a cage full of chittering baby squirrels. Their mother had been killed.

�This is bad. The inspector outran one of the fastest, most agile animals on Earth. If we can�t catch the Garatrons, we can�t kill them.�

<We�re missing something here,> Tobias said. <I don�t know about other Garatrons, but the inspector, the Yeerk, is very intelligent. That much was obvious. And he and the visser were antagonistic. That was clear, too. The inspector mentioned notes. I�m betting he�s here to observe Visser Three. Make and submit a progress report on the invasion of Earth.>

I thought about what Tobias had said. It made sense. But what did it mean for us? And how could we exploit the visser�s being under a microscope? Later on we could deal with the implications of yet another gifted Yeerk host species. Maybe when Jake came back.

And then I grinned. �This is so perfect. This is another opportunity.�

Cassie looked up from the droppers of milk or something she was preparing for the squirrel babies. �To do �?�

�To discredit Visser Three. Embarrass him in front of the inspector. Show the inspector what an incredibly lousy job the visser�s doing. Get him kicked off the job.�

Marco raised his hand. �Wait up. And what happens when Visser Three is gone? Assuming, of course, we succeed. What if the council replaces him with someone far more dangerous?�

<Better the evil you know than the evil you don�t know,> Tobias said quietly.

Cassie nodded. �Maybe. But I want to hear what Rachel has in mind.�

�Simple,� I said. �A kind of smear campaign. We strike hard and fast. Continuous pressure. Make it look like there�s five hundred Andalite bandits fighting this war. We hit every known Controller in town. Every one in a position of power, anyway. And we hit in public places, wherever there�s a Controller in charge. We want coverage. We want the inspector to know what�s going on. And we do it now. We don�t know how long the inspector is going to be here. We start today!�

�I say we wait,� Marco said abruptly. �When�s Jake getting back? Two, three days? We wait. I like the idea, Rachel, but this mission is potentially too dangerous to do without him.�

�What�s so dangerous?� I argued. �Boom boom boom. We hit, we get out. We hit again.�

�Yeah, in totally open, public places.� Marco shook his head. �You amaze me. How can you not see the risk in that? The chance that one of us will get left behind? That one of us will have to demorph in the middle of a supermarket bread aisle with a Yeerk-infested stock boy peeking around the hamburger roll display, waiting to drag us off to Visser Three?�

<Or not be able to demorph,> Tobias said, his voice forcedly arch and bright. <Or maybe be captured and tortured.>

I shot him a look. It pained me when he talked like that. He didn�t do it often, but � Tobias had been caught in morph, way back in the beginning. More recently, he�d been voluntarily captured, for the sake of the mission. Tortured, too. He�d sacrificed more than any of us for this stupid war. He had a right to deal with it all whatever way he could.

Still, it hurt me to see him reveal the damage that had been done to him. I have strong feelings for Tobias. The kind you can�t help. The kind that seem inevitable. Like they were always there, even before you knew the person.

�I agree with Marco and Tobias,� Cassie said, opening the door of the squirrels� cage. �It�s a good idea. But for a fast series of relentless attacks we need someone calling the shots. And Jake does that better than anyone.�

�Jake�s not here,� I grumbled.

�And look what�s happening,� Cassie went on, over her shoulder. �We�re wasting time arguing. Without a leader, nothing gets done.�

�My point exactly,� I said. �So let�s choose a temporary leader. Look, we�re agreed we can�t go into a mission arguing over who�s in charge and when. So ��

<But are we agreed we should go ahead? If someone acts as leader?> Tobias said. <Ax?>



<I�m not denying the danger,> Tobias said slowly. <But like Rachel said, we�ve got a solid opportunity. The risks are big. But I�m not sure we�re free to say no.>

�And Rachel�s also saying she wants to be in charge, right?� Marco. �I mean, that�s what this is really all about, right?�

I bit back an angry response. If I wanted to lead, I had to control myself first. �No. That�s not what I�m saying.� I turned to Cassie. �I don�t care who�s in charge. Cassie can be in charge.�

Cassie fitted a dropper into a little squirrel mouth. �No thanks. Brain surgery? Okay. Secret rescue missions to the Yeerk pool? When I have to. But not this kind of thing. Not rapid-fire attacks.�

�Tobias?� I said. �How about you?�

<No. I�m no one�s leader.>

�Much as I hate to admit anyone is superior to me,� Marco sighed, �I�d have to say that in terms of intelligence, Ax is our man.�

Ax tilted his head back almost as if he were posing for a photo shoot.

�But,� Marco went on, �and no offense, Ax-man, this job is going to require pretty intimate contact with humans. With, uh, society. And let�s face it, you still don�t accept Earth hours as your own hours. And your favorite TV shows are These Messages.� Not good.�

Ax looked offended. 

�So who�s left?� I challenged. �You?�

�Possibly.�

�Not likely. I�m the one who does hard and fast. And relentless.�

�And reckless,� Marco shot back.

�While you want to sit around and think every stupid little step to death,� I spat. �You�ve got a Hamlet complex, Marco.�

�Yeah and there�s a method to my madness. Which is more than I can say about your finer moments.�

<Who or what is this Hamlet complex?> Ax asked.

�I�ll explain later,� Cassie said quickly. �Look, if we�re going to have a leader until Jake gets back, we�re going to have to choose that leader in the democratic way. We are a team, right?�

<A vote,> Tobias said. <It�s the only way.>

Marco snorted. �Beautiful. Let�s see. We�ve got Rachel�s best friend and her bird-friend and Ax isn�t voting � forget it, man. I�m out.� Marco turned to me and bowed. �Congratulations, your highness. Your wish is my command.�

So, at least in this case, the author isn't ignoring previous books. What do you all think of Rachel's plan?

Chapter 6

quote:

�Crap.�

I threw myself onto my back and folded my arms across my chest.

Sleep was just not going to happen. My mind was too busy whirling, racing. Thinking about the strangest things.

Not about the first attack we�d planned, on the local Yeerk controlled TV station.

But about how last month in English class we studied a few Greek tragedies. Like Oedipus Rex. Written by a guy with an equally unpronounceable name.

That�s where I first heard the word �hubris.�

Hubris is like a disease. It means excessive pride. Over-the-top self-confidence. The belief that you can do anything you want, better than anyone else. Because you know best. Because you�re special.

Because you�re you.

The problem is, hubris usually results in some extremely nasty payback. Like being so horrified when you learn that something you did was really, really wrong that you pluck out your own eyes. It kind of scared me, reading about those heroes and warriors and kings.

It also kind of reassured me. Made me feel like I was part of a special club, one that�s been around for a long time. An exclusive club. A club for people like me who know they can do great things and do them. And then get punished for doing them.

�Ugh.�

I sat up and shoved the pillows behind my back. If I couldn�t sleep I wasn�t going to just lie there staring at the ceiling.

Maybe I would read. Or listen to the radio.

Why was I thinking about this stuff now anyway?

Because suddenly, I was the leader of our little band of soldiers. That�s why. And Jake had told me often enough that the leader can be as scared or full of doubt as any of his followers. He just isn�t allowed to show it.

Under any circumstances.

No matter how horrible things get.

That�s the deal. People want their leaders to be larger than life. Perfect. Not subject to human frailty and weaknesses. Gods.

�People want their leaders to act the way they wish they could act themselves,� Jake always said. Totally confident. Completely brave. Not afraid. Never confused. Never worried.

Trouble was, I was confused. And majorly worried.

Being the leader is mostly about other people.

Being the kind of hero I was born to be - the kind of hero I�d discovered myself to be since this war started - was a lot about me.

I was smart enough to have figured that out. So I was worried. Suddenly and out of the blue.

Worried I�d do something on this mission that would seriously backfire on one of my friends. Worried I�d be responsible for doing something so wrong I�d want to pluck out my own eyes, like that poor old Greek from the story.

It bothered me. Made me mad. I couldn�t afford to worry. And I definitely couldn�t afford to show it. I was the hero, the warrior, the king! The doer of great deeds! Right?

And in order to do the great things, in order to win wars and build cities, or whatever, you�ve got to have pride and confidence. You�ve got to be just a little bit arrogant. Sometimes a lot arrogant.

Pride and confidence and arrogance equal courage. At least it was that way for me. If we - we heroes and warriors and kings didn�t do the grisly but necessary stuff, the in sanely brave stuff, who would?

�Nobody, that�s who,� I said to the sliver of moon peeping through the open curtains.

So it�s a trap. An inevitability. You are who you are. Character is plot. Character is destiny.

TAP TAP TAP.

I swung out of bed and went to the window.

�Hey,� I said, raising it to let Tobias walk into perch on my desk. �What took you so long?�

<Sorry. Ax waylaid me. There was a dessert special on his favorite cooking show �>

�Tobias?� I interrupted. �Do you think we�re doing the right thing? Rapid strikes I mean? Make the inspector think we�re all over the visser�s butt? That we�re stronger than we really are? It�s a good strategy, right?�

Tobias fixed me with his intense hawk stare. <Stealth wouldn�t get us anywhere right now. We don�t know exactly how long the inspector will be here. So if we�re going to act, this seems the way to do it.>

�So, you think I�m right,� I pressed. �That I�m the one for the job. I�m the one, right?�

Nothing.

It mattered very, very much what Tobias thought. I knew he was my friend. I knew he loved me. I knew that much.

But tonight, more than usual, it mattered that he believed in me.

�I mean, you were going to vote for me, right?� I said quickly. �And Cassie ��



For a minute I didn�t say anything. Then I yanked my favorite old ratty nightgown off over my head and stood in the center of the moonlit room, shivering in my morphing suit.

�Fine. Let�s do it.�

Tobias doing a good job not answering the question....

# ? Feb 23, 2022 04:29

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

Her plan, the idea at least, is sound.

Putting ideas into action, though...

# ? Feb 23, 2022 04:35

OctaviusBeaver: Apr 30, 2009; Say what now?

If they don't want Visser 3 replaced I don't see the point of doing this at all.

# ? Feb 23, 2022 05:46

Capfalcon: Apr 6, 2012; No Boots on the Ground,
Puny Mortals!

OctaviusBeaver posted:

If they don't want Visser 3 replaced I don't see the point of doing this at all.

If it were anyone else, getting replaced would end up getting removed permanently. But the prime issue with Visser Three is that he's infesting an Andalite. As far as leadership, they generally agree he's a net negative on the invasion.

But, there's no way the council would execute Visser Three in his host, so they'd have the same problem of a morph capable opponent (with admittedly far less experience) and roll the dice on the leadership score.

One alternative that they don't bring up is that cornering Visser Three is more likely to lead to a Yeerk Civil war than him quietly resigning to execution, but there's a lot of moving pieces there that the Animorphs don't have control over.

Overall, I think the assassination was worth it, but this is too dangerous even if they were at full strength.

# ? Feb 23, 2022 06:26

Pwnstar: Dec 9, 2007; Who wants some waffles?

I'm choosing to believe Ax saw someone making cinnamon buns on TV and went absolutely apeshit with the forbidden knowledge he had obtained.

# ? Feb 23, 2022 06:30

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 7

quote:

�You know, before I started hanging with you people, I didn�t even know there was such a thing as sunrise. No, I mean it. I knew the sun set. And when I woke up each morning it was back in the sky. But the actual rising part ��

�Marco.�

�I�m shutting up,� he said, yawning and crouching.

We were in the alley behind the WKVT TV studio. First stop on our planned rampage. On our mission to convince the inspector that the Andalite bandits were all over the visser�s butt, like white on rice.

Another mission that had us meddling in Yeerk politics.

I fought off a dark flash of doubt. Shot a look at Tobias. Did he not trust me? Shouldn�t matter.

Maybe that�s what he was telling me: It shouldn�t matter what he thought.

�Battle morphs,� I said.

Marco stood. �Hold up, General Patton. How about step one, first?�

I scowled. �Am I the leader here?�

<Let�s hear what Marco has to say,> Tobias said neutrally.

�Infiltration. None of us has ever been inside this place, right? We check it out in some small morph, get the layout, then if it looks safe, we do battle morphs.�

I shook my head. �No. Not a good idea. That means we�d have to go human inside. Too risky.�

�Unless we did flies. Something small, at least. Went in, scoped out the place, bailed, demorphed, remorphed to battle morphs, and went back in,� Cassie said.

�Why don�t we just put off the mission until, say, next week?� I said nastily.

Cassie looked ticked off but I didn�t care.

�Ax, you�re with me on this, right?�



�Okay, battle morphs. We go in hard and fast.Create havoc. Wreck the place. But try not to hurt anyone, okay?�

Marco sighed and began his morph to gorilla. �Uh-huh.�

I began to morph to grizzly bear. And as I grew, larger, stronger, more dangerous, the doubts seemed to shrivel away. Marco was always dubious. Big deal. Forget Marco. And Tobias was � forget him, too. I was right.

Six feet tall, seven, more. Muscles on muscles. Bones so thick they could have been dinosaur fossils. Matted fur that was like a suit of armor. I was power made flesh. The most powerful land predator on planet Earth.

I was a grizzly bear.

<Okay, boys and girls. Let�s kick it.>

I slammed into the door.

WHAM!

The door came off its hinges. It fell with a clatter.

We were in! A narrow hallway. Bright lights. Moving shapes and figures, all blurry to my weak eyes.

But we were in. Grizzly, gorilla, Andalite, wolf, and hawk - bent on destruction.

<Move! Move! Move!>

Down the hallway we tore.

A scream! Papers flung in panic. I swatted down a framed picture and left gashes in the Sheetrock.

�What the �?�

�Oh my God!�

I dropped to all fours and ran full-out. A bear on the move is like a semi on the interstate: Get out of the way.

I brushed a Xerox machine and sent it tumbling. Marco punched a side door and crumpled it in.

A security guard loomed up, trying to draw his weapon.

FWAPP! Ax�s tail cracked, fast as a bullwhip, and the guard fell unconscious to the floor. A man with a clipboard. I hit him like a bowling ball hitting a pin. He rolled over my back and hit the floor. Cassie leaped nimbly over him.

Suddenly we were out of the hallway. Out in the open. Backstage. I could see the bracing for the set. I reared up and shouldered into a big TV camera on a dolly. It went spinning and crashed into the back of the set.

<On to the set!> I was pumped. Exuberant. Nothing could stop us!

�Tseeer!�

�What the � Get those An - animals out of here!�

Ah. Christine Kaminsky. Our favorite Yeerkish morning news personality. All dressed up in her tight but tasteful two-piece red suit and understated, expensive gold costume jewelry.

We�d caught her in the middle of her read-through. She looked really, really unhappy.

<Rip this place apart!> I cried.

<Easy on the people,> Cassie said. <Most are probably innocent.>

I jumped in one easy bound onto the anchor desk. It collapsed. I rolled away.

<Am I seeing snap-on hair on Bobby Baransky?!> Marco cried.

<Oh, I think so!> Cassie said, growling and backing Christine�s blandly handsome weenie sidekick up onto his news desk.

CRASH!

Another news desk upended. I slid it across the floor and into the weather map �green screen� for good measure.

ZZEWEEEEEE � SSZZZZ �

Marco yanked microphones and other electronic equipment from the overhead grid while Ax went off to find the control room, pull some key levers and switches, and put WKVT off the air.

<We have company, guys,> Tobias called as he landed on an overhead lighting fixture.

I whirled as quickly as my shaggy brown mass would allow. Coming into the studio, led by an employee guide, was a group of about twenty visitors. Adults and kids. I guess even local �personalities� have their fans.

The guide stopped cold. She screamed. She fainted. Grizzly sight isn�t great, but I could make out most of the visitors standing frozen, mouths hanging open.

I turned back to the destruction. To the crew, long since scattered. To Christine and Bobby, now both huddled and crying behind Bobby�s crumpled desk, menaced by Cassie�s growling, snarling wolf.

I thwacked a rolling coffee cart with my big bear paw. Sent it careening into a wall. Bagels and pastries flew. A chocolate frosted donut rolled toward the visitors.

<Time to bail, Rachel,> Tobias said. <Too many civilians, now, with these tourists. Someone�s going to get hurt.>

<No! Not yet!>

The seats for the occasional live audience were bolted to the floor, ten rows of five chairs each, one after the other up a slight incline.

RIIPP!

One less seat!

CRAASH!.

The seat flew into the wall, knocking down a chunk of plaster the size of a truck tire.

Then, �Oh, no!� A vague voice from the cluster of onlookers. �Someone, help!� And, �Grandpa!�

<Rachel?> It was Ax. From the control room, unseen by the visitors. 

<Okay, Tobias, Cassie, cover Ax and then haul out of here,> I ordered. <Marco? Grab Miss Sunshine, there.>

Marco grabbed the screaming, resisting Yeerk anchorwoman by her blouse and held her motionless. I put my huge bear face up close to hers.

I give her credit: She had some courage.

�You don�t scare me, Andalite,� she hissed.

<Oh, but I do,> I said. 

She said nothing, just drew back from my teeth.

<Here�s the message for the visser, and all your brother Yeerks: Go home. Can you remember that? Tell him we said, �Go home.�>

I nodded to Marco. He released her. She straightened her clothes and glared hatred at us.

We were in the studio for less than five minutes. By the time we left, there was no studio.

We bailed, ran, and demorphed well away from the police cars, ambulances, and news vans that were racing toward the site.

 Ax commented.

�I can�t believe we had a live audience,� Cassie said, laughing. �It was more than we could have hoped for. In one way.� Suddenly, she didn�t seem so sure. �Maybe it would have been better if we�d known they were in the building. Gotten them out first somehow.�

There was a moment of weird silence. Like everyone was suddenly thinking real hard about those visitors.

 Tobias began, silent until now. <He fell. He was kind of old. What if he had a heart attack or whatever?>

I felt a chill. Something like fear. Or guilt. And then the chill was chased away by a hot rush of - something else. Self-defense? Something.

�Yeah, what if he just tripped? Come on. Casualties happen,� I said coldly. �We didn�t mean for the guy to get so scared. Besides, for all we know he�s a Controller, too.�

My team looked at me. And that weird silence was still hanging around. But they had a job to do. And they�d just have to toughen up and do it.

�The raid was a success,� I said. �End of story. Now, we have a schedule. Next stop, bookstore.�

I'm going to say right here. I'm not sure Rachel is a great leader.

Chapter 8

quote:

We demorphed from birds behind the massive stacks of cardboard boxes in the alley behind the local bookstore.

�Somebody grab me a Laa-Laa doll when we�re inside, okay?� Marco said. �I really like that little yellow one.�

I gave him a look. You know the one.

�What?� he said defensively. �I�ll send the manager a check tomorrow. Even though he�s a Yeerk. It�s not like I�m going to steal it or anything.�

�Uh, Marco, you do know Teletubbies are for preschoolers, right?� Cassie said.

<�Eh-oh, Laa-Laa,�> Ax said. <�Big hug.�>

<Okay, that does it, Ax,> Tobias grumbled. <We need to think about turning off your TV.> <Remember,> Tobias said, <careful of the civilians. This time of day, should be mostly empty.

But ->I deliberately interrupted him. �We�re in and out in five minutes tops,� I reminded everyone.

�Just like the studio. Five minutes of rock and roll. Ax? You keep us honest, okay?�

<Of course. But I was not aware that we would be involved in perpetrating a deception.>

<Just keep track of time for us, Ax,> Tobias said. <At four minutes, we get ready to bail.>

�Hey! I thought I was giving the orders,� I blurted, annoyed.

Tobias turned slightly away and stared into space.

�I mean, am I wrong about that?�

�No, you�re right. But you might want to consider one of those leadership workshops, Rachel,� Marco said mildly. �The ones that teach communication skills. Like how not to be a jerk.�

�We�re ready when you give the word, Rachel,� Cassie said calmly.

I let it go. No point getting into it with Marco. Or Tobias, for that matter. I was proving all I needed to prove.

�Let�s do this,� I said.

We morphed.

We tore in through the loading dock at the rear of the building. Grizzly, gorilla, wolf, hawk, and Andalite clopped and knuckle-walked and trotted through the stockrooms and employee locker rooms,

tossing aside cardboard boxes, sending empty pallets careening into full shelves, and upending flimsy metal lockers.

Then we erupted out onto the main floor of the store and unleashed our own patented brand of havoc.

�Aaahhh!�

�Holy ��

�Help!�

I stabbed my X-Men Wolverine nails into a cardboard box of books and flung it. It ripped open in midair. Books flew, and I wanted to laugh.

The three employees at the cash registers decided it was time to leave. They left. Very quickly. One left his cash drawer open. I ran behind the counter and slammed the drawer shut. This was not about looting. No one was going to steal money and blame us. No stealing. Plenty of mayhem.

�Tseeer!� Tobias!

Ha!

Hunched over, his hands on his head, the ultra hip twenty-something manager Tobias had identified as a Yeerk the week before scuttled into a corner like a panicked bug!

A crowd of patrons stampeded for the front door of the store. One guy threw himself against a wall shelf and climbed it like a ladder.

Cassie chased the shoppers to the door, then turned to snap and growl at the retreating heels of the climber. She was trying to keep them out of the way. Trying to make sure none of them played the hero and got hurt.

�My chai! Nooooo ��

From the little cafe where Ax was cutting seat cushions into threads, cups of espresso and double mocha latte and hot chocolate were being tossed into the air. Brown foamy liquid rained down like sizzling polluted rain.

It was panic! It was chaos! It was hysterical!

And I was responsible!

THUDDD!

Marco, in the children�s department. He sent wire and cardboard racks crashing to the floor.

Two-foot-high brightly colored displays napped off as the racks hit the ground. Guess How Much I Love You bunnies slamming down on top of assorted Disney heroines and Pooh and Piglet and Tigger� CRASH!

The Blue�s Clues display went down!

<Hey! Don�t mess with Blue!> Cassie yelled, racing toward him.

<Sorry. I didn�t know.>



<Cool. How about Intermediate Series?> He rested a ham-sized fist on a rack, preparing to push it over.

<Just get out of the kids� section, Marco,> Cassie warned. <What�s the matter with you? Go up front and trash the computer magazines or something. Man, I hate this. Bookstores are like church or something.>

I grabbed the edges of a six-by-six-foot table on which were piled seriously discounted books and -

WHOOMMPPFF!

The Yeerk manager wailed in his corner.

Hundreds of oversized art books and fancy address books and biographies about some boy who was a star for about a minute went piling onto the floor.

�Look, Mommy!� I whipped around to see some little boy yanking on his mother�s jeans and pointing at Marco. �It�s Curious George!�

<Hey, little dude, I�m a gorilla. Curious George is a monkey. Lady, you should buy your kid an encyclopedia!> Marco picked up a slightly smashed box from the floor. <How about investing in a CD-ROM version? Zillions magazine, the Consumer Repcrt, for kids� rates �>

�WAAAAAAH! Curious George is mean!�

The kids�s mother dropped to her knees and threw her arms around her howling son. <Oh, man. Sorry,> Marco said, sounding genuinely contrite. 

<We have been here for four of your minutes,> Ax announced calmly.

I lumbered over to the Controller manager. Reached down and wrapped him in a bear hug. I squeezed him tight, crushing the air from his lungs. His face was inches from my muzzle. He was shaking and gasping for air.

I squeezed harder. Harder till the veins in his neck stood out.

<We know you, Yeerk. All of you. There�s no safety anymore.>

His face was turning blue.

<There�s no place to hide. You tell Visser Three that. You tell him we�ve only just begun. You tell him it�s time to go home.>

I do feel bad about wrecking a bookstore. Also, I'm pretty sure that Animorphs counts as Intermediate Books.

# ? Feb 24, 2022 04:41

WrightOfWay: Jul 24, 2010

Cassie has a niece? I'm guessing that was meant to be cousin.

# ? Feb 24, 2022 07:46

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

WrightOfWay posted:

Cassie has a niece? I'm guessing that was meant to be cousin.

Have any siblings of hers been mentioned before?

# ? Feb 24, 2022 08:07

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

It feels a bit cavalier to have Ax in particular galloping around in front of a bunch of witnesses. Have they ever done that before? If you're worried about an old guy falling over maybe you should also be worried about the Controller-heavy police in your town forcefully infesting every witness to today's alien sightings.

quote:

The problem is, hubris usually results in some extremely nasty payback. Like being so horrified when you learn that something you did was really, really wrong that you pluck out your own eyes. It kind of scared me, reading about those heroes and warriors and kings.

Oh, go on, we've already exposed the children of this series to plenty of horrors, do tell us what exactly it was Oedipus did!

# ? Feb 24, 2022 08:46

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

WrightOfWay posted:

Cassie has a niece? I'm guessing that was meant to be cousin.

I'm assuming it was meant to be cousin. But who knows....maybe she has a niece. Maybe her niece is a controller! She can fit in with everybody else's family.

# ? Feb 24, 2022 15:09

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Sadly, intimidating the Yeerks is going to have to wait until tomorrow. Sorry about that.

# ? Feb 25, 2022 04:54

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

...he typed from the wreckage of his house, trashed by the Animorphs during their blitzkrieg operation

# ? Feb 25, 2022 05:31

Tree Bucket: Apr 1, 2016; R.I.P.idura leucophrys

"average person suffers 3 gorilla attacks a year" factoid actualy just a statistical error. average person fights 0 rhinos per year. Falcon Georg, who lives in an affluent west coast city & fights half a dozen wild animals every week, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

# ? Feb 25, 2022 06:34

Malpais Legate: Oct 1, 2014

You guys ever feel like Falcon Georg is involved in a suspicious amount of exotic animal attacks for someone that runs a convenience store?

# ? Feb 25, 2022 06:37

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

If the FBI refuses to re-establish its exotic animal black market taskforce after all twenty agents declared "nothing to see here" after mysteriously long visits to The Gap and McDonald's, then I'm simply going to have to demand the Chamber of Commerce hire private investigators, I cannot operate a small business in this volatile environment

# ? Feb 25, 2022 07:17

Tree Bucket: Apr 1, 2016; R.I.P.idura leucophrys

Malpais Legate posted:

You guys ever feel like Falcon Georg is involved in a suspicious amount of exotic animal attacks for someone that runs a convenience store?

What? He's simply a very dedicated small business owner. In fact I can't remember the last time he took a holiday for longer than three days!

# ? Feb 25, 2022 07:45

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 9

quote:

�Next stop, Style-a-riffic!�

�What�s that?�

Cassie, of course.

<Style-a-riffic is a place where women �>

�And men,� I pointed out.

Ax inclined his head. <Where humans go to have their hair cut, teased, treated with chemicals, or tortured into an updo. Liquid acrylic is applied to the delicate human fingernail and dried in a cancer-causing machine much like your microwave. Hair from above the eyes is torn out by the roots. Skin from the feet is sliced off with sharp metal instruments. Hair from the legs, however �>

Cassie held up a hand. �I get the picture, Ax.�

�TV commercial?� Marco guessed and Ax nodded.

�So, why Style-a-riffic?� Cassie asked. �What�s the Yeerk connection?�

�First, it�s the largest beauty salon in town,� I said. �Second, Tobias learned that Mrs. Chapman is their best client - and co-owner. You tell me there�s not a Yeerk running the place.�

�You�re enjoying this, aren�t you?� Marco asked me.

�Yeah. I am. We�ve taken it and taken it, and barely fought back. Now they�re scared. And they�ll be more scared, soon. Should have done this a long time ago.�

�Yeah, well, we didn�t have the mighty Warrior Princess In charge before?,� Marco said.

I heard the tone of sarcasm. But I didn�t care. That�s right, I thought, but now I am in charge, and now the Yeerks are going to pay.

Jake would be proud of me when he got back. Or maybe a little jealous. Maybe even a lot jealous. That was okay, too. Things changed. People changed. Situations changed. Jake had been the leader for a long time. Maybe it was time he took a well-deserved rest.

Again, we struck. Quick and unexpected as lightning.

�Ahhh!�

�Ohhh!�

�Eeek!�

<Oh, yeah, this is a beauty salon,> Marco said. <�Eeek�? What am I, a mouse?>

This time, we came in through the front door. The bored, airhead receptionist didn�t even look up.

�Do you have an appointment?� she said, cracking a piece of smelly, grape-flavored bubble gum.

And then she looked up. And then she fainted. CLUNK! Facedown on the desk. It was pretty funny. Plus, she used way too much hairspray.

<Let�s do it!>

Then we hit the nearest sporting goods store. CRAASSSHHH!

BOOMPP. BOOMPP. BOOMPPBOOMPPBOO-MPP.

An entire wire container, six feet high, crammed with basketballs, hit the floor!

<Hey, I like these Skechers �>

<Put �em down, Marco!>

�Aaahhh! What are you doing to my store!� Tasset. Owner of All That! Sporting Goods.

Controller.

Cassie. Chewing through the mesh on a tennis racket. <This had better not be catgut is all I�m saying,> she growled.

Tobias, using talons and beak to deflate rubber rafts and rowboats suspended from the ceiling.

FWAPP!

Ax, smashing glass cases full of sports watches with well-aimed blows of his blade.

Announcing, <It is time.>

SCREEEEEPPPP! EEERRREEEPPP!

The metal bars of the gate separating the safety deposit boxes from the rest of the bank just kind of - fell apart in my paws.

<They don�t make gates the way they used to,> I commented.

BONK!

The armed guard was down. Something about the sight of a grizzly and gorilla playing with metal made him knock himself in the head with his own nightstick.

<You know, after this experience, I�m thinking that putting my money under the mattress is not such a bad idea.>

<What money? Like you have any money!> I taunted.

<Some of us save our allowances,> Marco shot back, dragging the felled guard across the marble-floored room and propping him into an armchair. <Some of us don�t run right out and spend it all at The Gap.>

Cassie had herded the bank customers into a small office and stood outside, growling menacingly, barring the closed door.

�Ah! Help! Somebody, call the police! Ask for Sergeant ��

It was the Yeerk-controlled bank manager, Mr. Arundel.

Arms in the air, navy blue suit and yellow power tie askew. Shouting to be heard through the door of the closed office.

FWAPP!

Ax, coming up from behind the panicked bank manager, smacking his head with the side of his tail blade.

Mr. Arthur Arundel, down for the count. Unable to call out the name of a Controller cop. A cop who�d no doubt know exactly how to deal with the Andalite bandits. By alerting Visser Three.

<Rachel, we should bail,> Tobias said, flap ping up from a desktop he�d been ravaging.

<But it hasn�t been four minutes yet!>

<Someone�s probably already tripped the silent police alarm.>

<Okay, okay,> I grumbled. <Let�s go!>

<Was that Chapman going into that cigar store?>

<Doesn�t he know smoking is bad for him?>

Tinkletinkletinkletinkle!

The plate glass window was gone! I shook a few shards out of my shaggy brown fur and stepped up into the tobacconist�s shop.

CRUNCH! Glass compacted beneath my feet. Whatever.

Tobias soared in after me, flared, pulled up, and dove for Assistant Principal Chapman.

�Tseeer!�

�Aaah!�

Chapman swatted at the red-tailed hawk menacing him.

Big mistake.

�Ow!�

Chapman fell back into an overstuffed armchair, the kind Bruce Wayne and rich old men in smoking jackets are supposed to laze around in. Lines of bright red blood trickled down his cheeks.

The owner bent and grabbed something from behind a counter.

<No you don�t.> Marco none too gently removed the thirty-eight special from the man�s shaking hand. <Smoking and playing with loaded weapons? Tsk, tsk.>

BONK!

The guy went down, the impression of a gorilla fist plastered on his face.

Cassie butted at a wooden Indian until it toppled, destroying a glass case of silver cigar cutters and pocket-sized leather carrying cases. <Later for that thing,> she muttered.

I loomed above Chapman and delivered the same message I had been delivering all day.

<It�s over for you,> I said. <Go home, Yeerk. Go home.>

<It is time,> said Ax, proclaiming our job was done. Again.

They are doing a good job keeping track of Controllers, who apparently are the backbone of the town's economy.

Chapter 10

quote:

We ruled! The old standbys - force and surprise - served us well. Put us totally in charge of the town!

I was pumped! Psyched! This was my plan and I was in charge and we were kicking butt in the spectacular way I knew we would.

Hard to believe I�d ever doubted myself, even for a moment.

Hard to believe that even for a minute I�d questioned my ability to rule, lead, direct. Make tough decisions in the depths of crisis. Exploit my soldiers� particular talents.

I was made to be leader! Hero, warrior, king. I�d known that all along. Character is destiny �.

After the cigar store we hit Fred�s Fitness Center on Peach Street downtown, where at least two of the most popular trainers were Controllers. Maybe some day Kirk and Kristen will get over the embarrassment of Ax�s slicing off their gym shorts in front of their worshipful yuppie clients. Maybe.

Two blocks away, we rampaged through Kinko�s. The manager was a kid I recognized from around. He went to the local high school now. A seventeen-year-old loser who�d joined The Sharing to get a life.

What he�d gotten was a Yeerk in his head. And now he was Mr. Career Path and all, Mr. Responsibility, Mr. Self-importance in a pathetic short-sleeved white dress shirt and clip-on tie.

Please.

I thought it might be interesting to make a photocopy of his butt. Send it to his boss. Tack a second copy up on the break room bulletin board.

So I did.

While the others trashed the stock and ripped the insides out of expensive laser jet machines or whatever. Oh, yeah. Ax did something not nice to the rent-by-the-hour computers.

Then, it was on to the big law firm with three names. All three names were head honchos on the Yeerk payroll.

File cabinets do not stay intact when thrown from a tenth-floor window. Neither do water coolers.

Next, we paid a little visit to the chambers of Judge Forensik, in the private, secure area of the courthouse where judges have their offices. I remembered the judge from when we�d paid a visit to the Yeerk pool during the instant oatmeal episode.

Judge Sally Forensik was, on most occasions, a distinguished-looking older woman. On this particular afternoon, bawling and crawling under her big maple desk, black robes hiked around her knees, she didn�t look terribly deserving of respect.

Just before we got out, Ax sliced the judge�s massive desk into several smaller desks, one for
each of her underpaid, overworked staff. Now that was an act of true justice.

We avoided The Gap and its concealed entrance to the Yeerk pool. Way too crowded with civilians, Tobias pointed out. Secretly, I was pleased. I wasn�t thrilled about messing up good clothes.

We avoided the police station. Too many guns. Even I knew it would be too easy to get killed. And none of us wanted the accidental death of a real, hardworking human cop on our hands. It had been hard enough to avoid hurting the guards at the courthouse.

All day we raided and rampaged and put the fear into human-Controllers. Sustained minimal injuries. Made Visser Three look bad. Hoped the inspector was taking note. Hoped he was getting the message: Visser Three had accomplished nothing on Earth. We could hit him anywhere, any time.

<Go home, Yeerk. Earth will never be yours.>

After the raid on Phil�s Hardware, we split up. Left Controller Phil bound head to toe in two rolls of silver duct tape. Planned to meet in a half hour at the highly hyped Community Center the Yeerks had recently opened.

The Community Center was the scene of one of our most dangerous missions - find and destroy the Anti-Morphing Ray. A mission Tobias would never - could never - forget. One he�d never purge from his memory, from the hawk or human or mysteriously Andalite part of him.

During that mission Tobias had been a voluntary POW. An act of supreme sacrifice and bravery.

The experience had almost destroyed him. It had scared me to death.

I had wanted more than anything to destroy his torturer. I�d spared her life once, at Tobias�s request.

I guess Tobias is a better person than me.

Anyway, bad, haunting memories didn�t mean we could stay away from this center of Yeerk activity. Especially now. I figured we�d find a whole bunch of high-ranking Controllers gathering there to panic and plan. Maybe even the visser himself. No doubt he�d been contacted by now, told about the total chaos the Andalite bandits were causing.

It was a dangerous place to attack - so many Controllers in a concentrated area. And here they would have Hork-Bajir shock troops. A very different proposition from scaring off civilians and roughing up human-Controllers. I wasn�t sure exactly what we�d do once we got there.

But I knew I�d figure out something. I was Rachel! Hero warrior and interim king!

Tobias flew ahead to do what reconnaissance he could.

Marco took off with Ax, in human morph, right behind him. Cassie and I walked a few blocks uptown. Once we were sure we weren�t being followed, we�d morph to birds in a filthy but very private alley we�d spotted earlier.

There was a bounce in my step. I felt like howling and laughing and leaping up onto a sign-post and twirling in midair! Like Gene Kelly in that old movie Singing in the Rain.

There was chaos in the streets!

Maybe not chaos but there was definitely confusion. At least there was evidence of something going on.

Lots of police cars, just kind of cruising along.

Shopkeepers shutting down before usual closing time.

Clusters of people talking hurriedly, glancing over their shoulders nervously. Anticipating the next bizarro attack.

�Boo!�

The two men in suits flinched as Cassie and I passed.

�Jeez, Rachel, could you not call attention to us, please,� Cassie muttered. �We all split up for a reason.�

We passed a home electronics store. You know, stereos, beepers, cell phones, TVs.

One of the TVs in the window was tuned to the local news station. Well, to the temporary livefeed the station had hooked up after this morning�s raid.

�Look! She�s talking about us!� I grabbed Cassie�s arm and pulled her closer to the window. We couldn�t hear the announcer�s voice, but the shots of the wrecked TV studio were clear enough.

�C�mon, Rachel,� Cassie said. �We can watch a report later. Right now, we�ve got to move.�

I shrugged off Cassie�s hand. �Just wait a minute, okay? I want to see if they show us tearing up the place!�

They did. Just a few grainy flashes as cameras tumbled and then nothing as cameras broke. And then they showed something else. Across the bottom of the screen, in medium, white letters.

The words:

One man dead in attack on WKVT. Visiting his grandson from Kansas, heart disease patient succumbs.

My own heart stopped. No. No.

Oh, God. No.

So i feel like, I dunno, Rachel never thought this threw if she didn't realize that this plan might have unexpected casualties. And. of course, she obviously didn't. She's been sort of high on her own plan.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Feb 26, 2022

# ? Feb 26, 2022 04:40

Capfalcon: Apr 6, 2012; No Boots on the Ground,
Puny Mortals!

This still... doesn't make a lot of sense, which might be the point in a different book, but Marco and Cassie are just kinda going along with Rachel here..

In theory, if they were going to be offing prestigious Controllers to reduce their hold on the city, I'd get it, but no way would a series of targeted hits fly in kidlit. So, we're just running around, causing havoc. Maybe they're accomplishing keeping people away from known infestation sites by wrecking the place, but even the end goal of embarrassing Visser Three into a show trial and execution is specifically what they said they didn't want.

Also, there's no way this doesn't become national news, even in the 90s. Wild animals go ape across bustling California town? Every reporter on the western seaboard wants a crack at that.

# ? Feb 26, 2022 04:55

Skellybones: May 31, 2011; Fun Shoe

Ax is going around all these places as an Andalite too. Dozens, maybe hundreds of uninfested humans have seen a knifedeer alien wrecking stuff.

So this takes it from X Files �there�s something weird going on in this town but nobody knows what� to XCOM �it�s public knowledge that an alien is doing crimes with a gang of animals�

# ? Feb 26, 2022 05:07

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Capfalcon posted:

This still... doesn't make a lot of sense, which might be the point in a different book, but Marco and Cassie are just kinda going along with Rachel here..

In theory, if they were going to be offing prestigious Controllers to reduce their hold on the city, I'd get it, but no way would a series of targeted hits fly in kidlit. So, we're just running around, causing havoc. Maybe they're accomplishing keeping people away from known infestation sites by wrecking the place, but even the end goal of embarrassing Visser Three into a show trial and execution is specifically what they said they didn't want.

So, let me start by saying that I agree with you that it's not a great plan. That being said, I understand what Rachel is trying to do here. There's a tactic among resistance movements sometimes, especially if they've been lying low for a while, to "show the flag"....engage in aggressive and showy operations, both to rally your own people and also to shake up the enemy. It's a way to say "We're still around., we're still fighting, don't get complacent", which is what I think she's trying to do here. The danger of that is that it usually leads to a crackdown, which is something these kids can't really endure.

# ? Feb 26, 2022 05:13

Tunzie: Aug 9, 2008

I'm not going to lie, without some kind of pretense for it, Rachel in I-Should-Be-In-Charge mode always felt out of character to me.

# ? Feb 26, 2022 05:29

Capfalcon: Apr 6, 2012; No Boots on the Ground,
Puny Mortals!

Skellybones posted:

Ax is going around all these places as an Andalite too. Dozens, maybe hundreds of uninfested humans have seen a knifedeer alien wrecking stuff.

So this takes it from X Files �there�s something weird going on in this town but nobody knows what� to XCOM �it�s public knowledge that an alien is doing crimes with a gang of animals�

I do like the idea of Mulder holding a wanted poster of Ax, saying, "I know... I know you're out there."

Epicurius posted:

So, let me start by saying that I agree with you that it's not a great plan. That being said, I understand what Rachel is trying to do here. There's a tactic among resistance movements sometimes, especially if they've been lying low for a while, to "show the flag"....engage in aggressive and showy operations, both to rally your own people and also to shake up the enemy. It's a way to say "We're still around., we're still fighting, don't get complacent", which is what I think she's trying to do here. The danger of that is that it usually leads to a crackdown, which is something these kids can't really endure.

Fair enough. I get the idea of running lots of operations to hit the Yeerks in the morale and cause general havoc in their operations. I'm still a bit stuck on the initial plan, but Rachel's probably lost the plot now that they're on a smashing spree.

Rachel's shakey voice aside, I've liked the last few chapters as some good, effective action.

Tunzie posted:

I'm not going to lie, without some kind of pretense for it, Rachel in I-Should-Be-In-Charge mode always felt out of character to me.

I can sort of see it in the "Wow, Jake makes this out to be way harder than it is, when I all I have to do is order people to go fast and break things. I must have a natural gift for this, never mind that hubris thing I was wondering about a few chapters back!" way.

So, not leadership for control or power, but the ability to start missions so she can mainline adrenaline with no one restraining her.

# ? Feb 26, 2022 06:12

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

Yup. I forget what happens next, but the text is certainly setting her up for a nice little 'quit while you're ahead' moment.

# ? Feb 26, 2022 06:55

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

quote:

Jake would be proud of me when he got back. Or maybe a little jealous. Maybe even a lot jealous. That was okay, too. Things changed. People changed. Situations changed. Jake had been the leader for a long time. Maybe it was time he took a well-deserved rest.

Way out of character. Something David or Mean Rachel from the dumb starfish book would think.

# ? Feb 26, 2022 09:50

Strategic Tea: Sep 1, 2012

I was just thinking that - are we sure this isn't Mean Rachel who is literally unable to conceptualise the future?

I mean even if it was resistance flag waving, there's no one to rally!

# ? Feb 26, 2022 12:14

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 11

quote:

We met up in part of the dense wood surrounding the Community Center and its playground and picnic areas. Still in our traveling bird morphs, mostly for security. Scattered on perches within several yards of one another.

<Tell them, Rachel> Cassie said, in private thought-speak. <If you don�t, I will. But it should come from you.>

 I growled. 

Marco narrowed his osprey eyes and looked from me to Cassie. Ax, as northern harrier, was barely visible from my perch. Tobias �

<That old man,> I blurted. <From the TV studio this morning. The one Tobias saw fall. He
died.>

<It was a heart attack,> Cassie added gently. <That�s all we know.>

Silence.

<Well, that�s nice,> Marco said finally. <That�s just beautiful.>

<The man�s death is unfortunate, Perhaps it was even avoidable. But there is nothing we can do to change the fact of it.> Ax. Of course.

<Tobias?>

I was glad Cassie spoke to him. I wasn�t sure I could. I felt - uncomfortable.

He�d seen potential trouble. He�d told me to get us out of the studio. I�d said no. I�d been having too good a time.

<ALL clear so far,> he reported from the high oak branch on which he perched as our most experienced lookout. He didn�t comment on the old man. He didn�t even look at me. Or say he was sorry - for me.

<Look,> I said, suddenly angry, <it wasn�t my fault. We all agreed to do this mission. Nobody forced anybody. We all agreed: Hit them hard, scare them, attack, attack, attack. I�m sorry the guy died but �>

<Rachel.> Cassie cut me off. <Nobody�s saying it�s your fault.>

<It�s what they�re not saying,> I muttered. And then I felt even angrier. We were doing a good job so far!

And I was the leader! It was my place to keep us doing a good job. My duty. No one could ever blame me for not doing my duty. <You know what?> I went on. <The Yeerks are spooked. We�ve got them right where we want them.>

<Good. Great. Mission accomplished!> Marco snapped.

<No. Not yet. Okay, there�s only a handful of people in the picnic area. Maybe a Sharing subcommittee or maybe recruits, not Controllers yet. Either way, they�re no real threat to us outside the building. Tobias, what�s going on inside?>

He turned his intense hawk glare on me. For a moment. <There�s some kind of meeting going on in a small, ground floor room at the back. Lots of very grim looking Controllers. Some look more ticked off than scared. Some look really scared.>

<Any sign of the visser?> Marco asked.

<No. Doesn�t mean he�s not in the building,> Tobias said.

<It also doesn�t mean he�s not in morph as one of the humans in that room,> Cassie pointed out. <Or in some other morph.>

<We need more information. There could be Hork-Bajir on the premises, hiding, waiting for an attack,> Ax added. <There could be the inspector.>

Tobias fluttered and resettled his wings. <They�ll be expecting us. Some kind of intrusion, at least. We�re not a surprise by now. We have to be careful.>

<I�m not sure this attack is even necessary,> Marco added. 

<Let Jake take it from here, when he gets back day after tomorrow,> Cassie suggested.

 I cried. <This is not the time to quit! This is not the time to get all nervous! We break in and we kick butt. We stick with the plan!>

<All right,> Marco said calmly. <I�ll go in. But only after infiltration. Only when we know what we�re getting into. Only if we think we have a reasonable chance of getting out.>



<You, too, Cassie?> I wished I were human so I could make a sound of disgust. <You people kill me. Every attack so far has been a success. And you want to blow it now? By the time we check out the building the meeting could break up and everyone could be gone! What then?>

<Rachel ->

<No. No one says �no� to Jake,> I challenged. <Suddenly, I�m leader so it�s okay to be all rebellious and mutiny? I don�t think so. You chose me as leader. I got us through today okay. Didn�t I? Didn�t I?>

Another weird silence. Did Jake have to deal with these weird silences?

<She�s right,> Tobias said. <We chose her.>

More silence. At least no one turned or flew away.

<Look,> I said, the inevitable pre-battle excitement building in spite of the lack of enthusiasm and support the others were showing. <This is going to be fantastic. The last raid of the day. We�ll leave the Yeerks with an experience they�ll never forget.>

I looked around my wary group of feathered warriors. Imagined a hugely grinning, glittery eyed, adrenaline-soaked look on my own human face. And said, <If you guys are really that worried, we�ll go in with maximum firepower. We all go in as polar bears!>

So, Animorphs leadership lesson. Rachel is doubting herself here, which, you know, is natural. However, unfortunately, the way she's dealing with her self doubt is taking it out on the rest of the Animorphs. They're scared, they're uncomfortable, they're also freaked out the old man died, and they need reassurance. But Rachel, because she's already doubting herself, is treating this as an attack on her leadership, and in response, she's bullying them to accept her leadership. That's how I see the polar bear line at the end. Rachel is afraid she's weak, so she's reassuring herself by taking on one of the biggest, toughest, most aggressive morphs she has, but because she doesn't want to admit she's weak, she's projecting. "If YOU GUYS are that worried" This lets Rachel feel altruistic.

Chapter 12

quote:

�Did I hear you correctly?� Marco, almost totally demorphed, cupped his hand to his ear. ��Cause I don�t see anything wrong with our usual battle morphs.�

�He�s got a point, Rachel.� Cassie, now also human, stood next to him on the fragrant, pineneedle- covered ground, still hidden in the woods. �We know our morphs. They�ve been working for us all day. We handle them best.�

�We�re going for mass here, people,� I said, pushing down the defensiveness I knew was creeping into my voice. They were still arguing with me! �Bulk. Spectacle. Going out in style. Besides, we want to send the message that there are a lot of us.�

I knew I was right. I knew it.

So I waited and felt every muscle in my face tighten. Harden. No expression. Give them nothing but determined, fearless leader. Hero. Warrior. King.

No objections.

Not from Marco or Cassie or Ax. Not even from Tobias.

�Then, let�s do it,� I said, finally.

Morphing isn�t pretty. It�s not rational or logical or predictable.

And it�s uncomfortable.

Though the idea is worse than the reality. Skin pinching and withering. Organs smooshing or stretching. Bones scraping together or being hollowed out. Huge, bulky muscles slapped on a narrow skeleton not yet ready for them.

Not exactly fun to think about but once the process gets going, it�s bearable. Especially when you�re not morphing something gross like a fly.

This time, the first thing to change was �

WHUMPPFFH! WHUMPPFFH!

I was down on my two front paws. Each a foot across, round, distributing my weight like snowshoes.

Five toes and five thick claws. Good for traction. And for grabbing prey.

My back legs, heavy, stocky, shot out from the expanding round of whitish hair that was my middle.

My shoulders bulged. My butt exploded out. Two hundred. Six hundred. One thousand. Fifteen hundred pounds of blubber and muscle and fur before I reached my full bulk!

I was a fifteen-hundred-pound arctic beast, largest land carnivore - from the shoulders down.

<Whoa,> Marco said, his own morph complete but for still-sprouting hair. <You look like someone in one of those costumes with the big, detachable head. The kind that walk around amusement parks, terrifying little kids. Except you�re missing the head.>

�Yeah, thanks. I hadn�t notifff ��

And then, finally, my head began to shift and reshape. From an almost circle to an almost oblong.

Pinkish skin turned black and sprouted the whitish, hollow tubes that are the polar bear�s hairs. Miniature greenhouses, conducting warmth to my heat-absorbing black skin.

My eyes stayed pretty much where they were, facing forward. Sight was about the same. Better than my grizzly morph. Hearing? No big deal.

But smell! Now that was amazing. Smells meant food. And food meant �

Meat. Close by. Only just beyond that concrete-and-brick wall. No problem.

<So, think they picked up Mickey D�s on the way in?> Marco, now fully polar bear, swung his football-shaped head from side to side, inhaling through his smallish black nose.

<You know, I think I smell a Filet-O-Fish.> said Cassie. <I�ve always had a secret love of the Filet-O-Fish sandwich �>

<Perhaps the temporary inhabitants of this so-called Community Center will share their greasy fried flesh treats with us �.>

<Uh, people,> I said, myself fighting the polar bear�s instinctive urge to feast. <Ax-man? Get a grip. This isn�t the time for protein snacks.>

Tobias lumbered forward, each step like a human�s, the heel of each massive paw touching the ground before the toes. <Remember, everyone,> he said blandly. <These are humans. Controllers, but humans all the same. We�re here to scare them. Not to hurt. Or kill.>

I was stunned. He�d meant that for me! Me.

I didn�t need his advice. His warnings.

I knew this was just another busting-up mission. I knew that!

All day long, at every raid, I�d been in control of myself. Of my morphs. I had! I hadn�t been responsible for that old man�s dying -

<So?> Marco said. <You gonna say it? Or am I?>

I hesitated. But only for a second. <Let�s do it!>

�HHIISSSRRROOOAAARRRWWWW!�

So, Marco and Cassie have good points here. This is a dangerous mission, so they should go with the morphs they're most comfortable with, instead of morphing polar bears, which is something they don't do a lot, and you can see them having to fight the polar bear instinct there. But Rachel is nervous and she's afraid to back down.

Also, good description of morphing here.

# ? Feb 27, 2022 03:52

Capfalcon: Apr 6, 2012; No Boots on the Ground,
Puny Mortals!

I will say, that as bad as the plan is, Rachel does have a solid point in that using new morphs does imply there's more of them.

# ? Feb 27, 2022 04:20

Fritzler: Sep 5, 2007

I do think this book is built around a good idea. I do think teenagers in this situation would eventually attack individual Yeerks. That may not be best strategy, but it would happen. It�s truly interesting concept, and I don�t know if it happens in this book but would like to seem some Yeerks responses to this.

# ? Feb 27, 2022 05:32

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Cassie is definitely right that they use their regular morphs for a reason, but I always enjoy it when they crack out the more obscure morphs in their arsenal because the situation happens to call for it again. But that's why this specifically annoys me: polar bears are not the rarely-used firepower in your arsenal. Four of you have elephant morphs and Marco has a rhino.

# ? Feb 27, 2022 08:58

CidGregor: Sep 27, 2009; TG: if i were you i would just take that fucking devilbeast out behind the woodshed and blow its head off

Also wouldn't polar bears overheat like hell outside of the arctic climate they're evolved to handle?

# ? Feb 27, 2022 17:46

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 13

quote:

We were in!

Through the smallish back window, glass shattering, chunks of plaster flying. The wooden frame cracking and breaking.

One, two, three, four, five polar bears!

One after the other, hurtling into the room from above, half-falling, half-sliding down the wall, crashing down onto a handful of unsuspecting human-Controllers.

They screamed. Jumped from their seats. Ran for the door. One fainted. Another wet his pants.

Fine. Let them panic. They were going to get what they deserved.

A good butt-kicking.

It was easy. I smacked a raised chair out of a man�s hand.

<That�s for the old man,> I told him. I don�t think he heard.

Marco barreled into a huddle of three Controllers and sent them scattering across the linoleum floor.

Ax and Cassie and Tobias rolled and rumbled and rampaged, bumping into one another�s massive bulky bodies and knocking their heads against the low ceiling as they terrorized the Yeerk infested humans. Tore the portable video screen off a wall. Threw a podium through a back window.

I laughed. At this rate, the attack would soon be over. We�d smash a few more skulls, break a few more pieces of furniture, and get out.

<Rachel! Hork-Bajir!> Tobias shouted.

I swung my massive body to face the interior door.

Yeerk shock troops. So what?

We could take them.

<Attack!> I cried. Adrenaline pumped harder through my veins and I leaped forward, teeth bared, claws extended.

My teeth tore at leathery Hork-Bajir flesh. Forty-two weapons in my mouth alone!

With my massive paws I batted and smacked and ripped! At eight feet I stood taller than any of the Controllers in the room. Human or alien.

�HHIISSSRRROOOAAARRRWWW!�

I shoved a human-Controller aside and watched as his head bounced off the edge of a small table. He slid, unconscious, to the floor.

To my right, Cassie smashed the head of one human-Controller against the head of another. Like something out of an old Three Stooges.

To my left, Marco and Tobias wrestled a Hork-Bajir to the ground. Where he stayed.

In front of me, Ax hurled a bleeding Hork-Bajir aside and smacked the pathetic little knife out of the hand of a human-Controller.

We were winning! We would destroy this room and its Yeerk inhabitants and get away before anyone could call for help.

Before anyone could understand the extraordinary force that had defeated them!

And then the inspector would have to believe that Visser Three was totally harassed and incompetent and �

<Rachel! Behind you!>

ZZZZZZZIIIISSSPPP!

Blindingly fast! A blue blur �

The inspector. The Garatron. Had to be. Nothing else moved like that.

A blur and Marco�s head jerked to one side. His knees buckled.

THWAP!

Marco was down, moaning.

<Jump him!> I ordered.

<Can�t see him!> Cassie yelled.

Insane! Tobias threw his huge body at the inspector. At the point in space where the inspector had been. Less than a half second earlier.

Thunk!

Tobias was facedown on the floor.

The inspector circled and spun like a whirling dervish around Cassie. Jim Carrey in The Mask. The Tasmanian Devil in a whirlwind around Yosemite Sam. Futilely she slapped the empty air with her paw, over and over again.

<Cassie! Watch out!> I cried.

Too late!

Dizzy from trying to follow the inspector�s swirling path, she couldn�t react in time. Couldn�t dodge the swinging bladed arm of the Hork-Bajir who loomed behind her.

<AAAAGGGHHH!>

She was down! The Hork-Bajir raised his arm to strike again, to slice the polar bear�s already bleeding back.

Two down! No!

<No you don�t, buddy.> Marco! Stumbling into the Hork-Bajir from behind, buckling its knees, shoving it away from Cassie.

<OOOWWWRRR!>

I�d been hit!

Shot in the belly at close range by a human-Controller I hadn�t seen sneaking up on me. I�d been too distracted by the inspector�s infuriating speed and evasiveness.

This Yeerk-carrying human was going to pay for that! If only I could rear up on my hind legs �

ZZZIIISSSPPP!

THWAAAPP!

My head jerked violently to the left. I could hear the bones in my neck crack and creak.

Pathetically I raised one front leg - and stumbled to the ground.

The room spun! Bodies, human and alien. Flailing. Falling.

The flash of gunpowder. The clashing of blades.

The hissing growl of polar bears, growing weaker.

I had to get up, get back into battle!

Slowly, painfully, I raised my bruised head.

And saw the blue blur come to a dead stop about twenty feet in front of me. Speak to a blue deerlike creature with a bladed tail who stood just inside the door.

<Ihaveseenenough.Ileaveyoutocleanupthemess,mydearVisser.>

With an odd grace the inspector walked off through the door held open for him by a heavily bleeding human-Controller.

Lose one opponent. Gain another.

No way could we win against a dozen still-standing Hork-Bajir and twenty human-Controllers with guns. And Visser Three. In a space barely big enough to accommodate five polar bears standing still.

Exhaustion. I had never felt so drained and depleted. And the pain in my gut �

Maybe it-was time to �

Pllaaaammmph!

Rache; is right. It was clearly time to pllaaaammmph.

Also, a more general thing. The Animorphs have met the free Hork-Bajir and befriended them....Toby, her parents, etc. They know that naturally, the Hork-Bajir are friendly, peaceful, timid, and harmless, and victims of the Yeerks. In the last book, they were justifiably horrified by the experiments conducted on them and visibly affected by watching one of them die in front of them.

So how come when they're fighting Human-Controllers, it's always, "I knocked the weapon out of her hand and knocked her out", but when they're fighting Hork Bajir-Controllers, it's "My jaws closed on the Hork Bajir as I disemboweled him."? I could in a way understand this difference in the past, where the Hork Bajir were just this general threat and they didn't think of the personality behind the Yeerk, but now....is it just human chauvinism that they seem to value Human lives more than Hork Bajir lives?

Chapter 14

quote:

I swung my head around.

Fllooooommph!

The visser had begun to morph.

To some massive, horrible - thing.

From his proud Andalite body shot folds of gray skin. Flaps of stinking flesh, piling on top of one another, layer upon layer. Like pudding dumped from a bowl.

Skin like buckets of quicksand slapped onto a six-, seven-, eight-foot monster!

Eyes like tiny rotted raisins. Arms and legs like columns of poured mud, two feet around.

A stomach that roiled out like a wave and slapped onto the floor!

That kept on growing!

Skin that oozed an outrageously foul stench. Think sewer. Then corpse.

What little air there was in that small over-crowded room was already stale with the odors of sweat and blood. Boiling with the heat of so many bodies. The visser�s reeking morph made breathing almost impossible.

And the heat!

My body felt bloated with it. My skin stretched over layers of dense blubber. My fur coat felt like the heavy lead blanket the doctor drapes over you before pointing an X-ray machine at your chest.

Oppressive!

Too late I realized the polar bear - an animal that expends twice the amount of energy at a given speed than any other mammal - an animal covered in layers of insulating blubber - was not the morph for this job.

<Too hot. Gotta � can�t breathe.>

<And, uh, guys, I�m bleeding pretty bad,> said Tobias.

<Perhaps we should have chosen our usual battle morphs,> Ax said unnecessarily, his voice grim. <We are all one thing, with no flexibility. We must withdraw.>

<Yeah. Go for the window!> I shouted. <I�ll hold off the visser. Go! Go!>

<Rachel, don�t be crazy �>



I was vaguely aware of massive white shapes, splotched with gore, lumbering toward the outer wall. Dragging themselves over a pile of bloody Hork-Bajir. Warriors dead and dying.

�HHHSSSRRROOOAAARRWW!�

With all the willpower I could muster I reared up on my hind legs. My battered oblong head swung from side to side as I took a step closer to the visser�s disgusting, still-growing monster.

I�d never survive an assault. Only one thing to do.

Attack!

I threw my suddenly puny body into the grotesque fleshy monster. Stumbled as I met little resistance against the reeking pulpy mass.

<Fool of an Andalite!> the visser laughed. <You have failed even to bruise the flesh of this admittedly foul creature. Your efforts to damage this body are futile!>

I pulled back. Again, threw myself against the pile of stinking gray flesh. Again. Again!

Until the visser reached down with one putrid claw and plucked my fifteen-hundred-pound body off his like a chimpanzee plucking a flea off its belly.

And with a wet spray of foul breath - tossed me against the far wall!

I smashed into the plaster and slid to the floor. My senses were dulled. Fire raced down my back

and across my ribs. My front left paw was pulpy and red. But I wasn�t dead.

And that�s all that mattered.

The window! On the wall above me!

A quick glance around the destroyed room.

Marco, Ax, Cassie, Tobias.

I couldn�t see any of them.

Good.

Just piles of Hork-Bajir and battered human-Controllers, groaning, struggling to their feet.

No inspector.

And Visser Three�s outrageous morph slowly shrinking.

Time to bail.

I lumbered to my feet. My head spun with the effort. I felt a stream of blood flow down my forehead. And another jab of pain - awful! - down my back where my spine had crashed against the wall.

The window was about seven feet up the wall. The glass and frame had been smashed when we stormed the room.

With effort, I stood on my hind legs. Stepped onto the back of a felled Hork-Bajir. Reached. And with my last ounce of strength hauled my broken body up and across the torn sill.

And tumbled to the litter-strewn ground.

I was out!

We were safe!

<Marco! Ax! Tobias! Where�s �>

I didn�t finish the question.

Because the look on Marco�s face, the set of Ax�s shoulders, and the way Tobias turned away gave me my answer.

Cassie was still inside.

So they lost Cassie. This is bad.

Meanwhile, Visser Three apparently acquired a Great Unclean One in his adventures.

And points to CidGregor for pointing out the problem with the Polar Bear morph.

# ? Feb 28, 2022 04:23

dungeon cousin: Nov 26, 2012; woop woop
loop loop

I really can't imagine how they're gonna get out of this one. They're all incredibly injured and succumbing to heat exhaustion. Cassie is completely surrounded and likely has no opportunity to demorph. Feels like they might not even be able to run away since they're so close to the enemy base and are probably easy to keep up with.

# ? Feb 28, 2022 11:19

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# ? May 27, 2024 09:42

FlocksOfMice: Feb 3, 2009

If this wasn't a filler book I'd be way more worried too that Rachel is breaking kayfabe and talking to yeerks all the time in what is clearly not the way an andalite would ever choose to communicate.

Imagine the yeerk water cooler talk?

"Yeah so then the andalite stood over me and instead of killing me or capturing me it told me to go home. Like, yeerks go home."

"Weird! This one polar bear disarmed me and said 'this is for the old man.' What do you think that's about?"

"So they're definitely morphing humans, right?"

"Obviously."

"We can't tell Visser 3 about that without him getting angry and killing us, right?"

"Obviously."

# ? Feb 28, 2022 19:06

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