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

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freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Epicurius posted:

So they'd write a detailed outline and plot summary, send it to the ghostwriter, get it back, usually do extensive edits and rewrites, (in the case of one book, I think they were so unhappy, they rewrote it from scratch) and send it to Scholastic. So it wasn't a fun experience for anyone

I'd also assume that aside from ghostwriters themselves differing in quality, there were probably differences in any given month with how much time or effort the Applegates had to spare for both an outline and an edit.

Rochallor posted:

Then there are also some not-so-successful authors: Laura Battyanyi-Weiss wrote Rachel turns into a squid, Tom tries to murk his father with a Nazi knife, and a buffalo turns into Cassie, none of which really had anything to do with their characters.

I'd argue both the Jake/Tom/Dad book and buffa-human book were very tied to their respective character arcs, namely Jake's struggle with having a Controller in the family and Cassie's struggle with the ethics of how sentient animals are and whether it's OK to morph them; they just aren't executed very well. Ironically I think Rachel Squid is a great book because it's just a banger of a plot, even though it has nothing to do with anyone's arc and easily could've been told by any of them. (The obvious choices would be either Marco because of his ongoing association with the Chee, or Tobias because of his claustrophobia as a bird in water, but even those are weak.)

Overall though I think most of the ghostwriters did a decent job. I never realised they were ghostwritten as a kid, and although now I can see differences in basic dialogue and character writing quality between e.g. the Chronicles/Megamorphs books and most of the main series it's minimal. (Though I think I do also remember noticing a quality uptick in 53 and 54, the final two books in the series which the Applegates came back to write themselves.)

# ? Sep 27, 2022 08:50

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# ? May 27, 2024 20:42

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

Fuschia tude posted:

Also, IIRC some of the ghostwriters are just like, their babysitter, or their neighbor. I get the feeling for a while there they were so overwhelmed they were just offering writing jobs to anyone who was interested in banging out a story in a month or so based on a prewritten outline.

This "just recruit anyone" is even how Grant got involved: Applegate started ghostwriting, took on too much, and told her husband "hey, I need you to write one of these, pick an outline."

# ? Sep 27, 2022 12:20

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Book 49-The Diversion
Chapter 1

quote:

My name is Tobias. And I was one hungry bird.

I was perched in a tree at the edge of my meadow. A meadow grown crisp and brown from too many days without rain. The sun blazed overhead. Wind whispered through the weeds.

And among the rippling stalks, one, then two twisted slightly in another direction. I dug my talons into the bark of the branch and waited.

Listened.

Mouse feet scrabbled against hard-packed dirt. Mouse teeth chewed through the shell of a seed.

Chewed. Stopped. Scrabbled.

Stopped.

I waited.

Nothing. No sound. No movement. The mouse remained still. Also listening? Waiting?

I tensed. Cocked my head.

And thought, not for the first time, about the irony of my hunt. In my old life, my life as a boy, I was the mouse. The prey. Stalked by predators bent on flushing my head down the men�s room toilet. Scurrying to find a hiding place. Rarely succeeding.

Another irony: In my old life, my life as prey, food was not a problem. I was on the free lunch program at school. So I knew exactly where my next meal was coming from. Overheated ladies in hair nets slapped it on a tray and handed it to me.

Movement. Small. A single blade of grass tipped toward a bare patch of dirt. Claws scritched against earth.

The mouse was coming out into the open.

I opened my wings, pushed off the branch, and circled, high above the meadow, then began to descend. My shadow grew larger and darker over the patch of dirt.

Weeds twitched, first one, then the next, as the mouse moved closer to open ground.

Dust billowed out from the undergrowth. Then a nose. Brown. Whiskered. I raked my talons forward.

The mouse scuttled out, completely unprotected now. I dropped. In a split second the mouse would be mine. In a split second my hunger would be -

No!

Scales. A flash of yellow. Fangs sinking into the mouse�s flesh.

That�s when I heard it. An ominous rattle.

Yeah. Like I needed a warning. I flapped hard and rose, talons empty. I was hungry but I wasn�t stupid. I wouldn�t fight a six-foot rattlesnake over a poisoned mouse.

I climbed higher, glided above the meadow, and watched the snake devour my lunch. A diamondback that had lain coiled, waiting, motionless, in the very spot I�d been watching. In the meadow. My meadow.

I circled and swooped back to my branch.

Would a normal hawk have seen it? Maybe. Probably.

Your normal red-tailed hawk, equipped with the standard-issue hawk brain, has a basic train of thought. Hunger. Food. Kill. Eat. Brilliant in its simplicity. The hawk is not distracted by ironic musings. The hawk doesn�t reminisce about toilets and school cafeterias. But I�m not a normal hawk. I�m not a normal anything. I�m a kid trapped in a bird�s body. Like nothing else on this or any other planet. A species of one. I used to be human. Fully human, or at least that�s what I thought. Until my friends and I met a dying alien warrior, an Andalite prince named Elfangor. Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. Strange how, even then, before I knew who he was, before I knew about my own past, I was drawn to him. Connected in a way the other Animorphs hadn�t been.

That�s what we are, my friends and I. Animorphs. Animal morphers. We can acquire the DNA of another animal, then become that animal. Elfangor gave us that power. He gave it to us as a weapon, the only weapon we have in our battle to save Earth from evil, parasitic aliens.

Yeerks. Slimy. Gray. Not much bigger than the field mouse I�d been stalking, but completely lacking the mouse�s senses. Yeerks are deaf, blind. They have no feet or hands. If you saw a Yeerk in its natural state, you�d think it was an overgrown slug. And you probably wouldn�t be any more afraid of it than of a slug.

But you should be.

A Yeerk slithers in through your ear canal and flattens itself out over the surface of your brain. It wriggles into all the crevices and valleys. Taps into every brain circuit and nerve ending. Taps into your very existence.

You become a Controller, and it�s an ironic name because you have absolutely no control. You can�t speak, move, eat, even go to the bathroom unless the Yeerk wants you to. You watch as the Yeerk spreads evil and hatred using your hands, your voice. You can�t scream. You can�t run away.

The Yeerks enslaved entire sentient species on other planets. The Gedds. The Taxxons. The Hork-Bajir. Now they�ve come to Earth, to enslave humans.

And we, the Animorphs, are fighting them alone. A few things help level the playing field.

Kandrona, for one. If a Yeerk doesn�t feed on Kandrona rays every three days, it dies.

We also get help from the Chee, an android race hardwired against violence. They can�t fight, but they�ve infiltrated the Yeerk organization and feed us information when they can.

And, of course, morphing. An Andalite technology. Though it seems unbelievable, the Yeerks still think we�re Andalites.

Morphing is a powerful weapon, but it has rules. 1) You can�t change directly from one morph to another without first returning to your natural body. 2) You have to acquire DNA directly from an animal. You can�t acquire it from another morph. 3) You can�t stay in morph for more than two hours at a time, because if you do, you stay permanently. You become what the Andalites call a nothlit.

Like me.

I stayed in hawk morph too long, and now I�m not a human in hawk morph.

I�m a hawk.

I was able to regain my morphing ability and through a little fancy time-bending by a powerful being called the Ellimist, I gained another morph. My old self. My human self. For two hours at a time I can morph Tobias the kid- Be human, at least physically. Then I must return to hawk or I�ll lose my
morphing capability altogether. I�ll be out of the fight.

So, while I watched the snake digest my mouse, I spotted an eagle soaring toward me. A bald eagle, carrying lunch in its talons. Not a mouse or a rabbit. A paper bag. Even from this distance I could see the golden arches.

Rachel was bringing McDonald�s. Rachel, my own personal cafeteria-lady-in-a-hair-net.

Don�t ever tell her I said that.

So, honestly, not a lot in this chapter. Just going over the metaplot, basically, as well food delivery from Rachel.

Chapter 2

quote:

Rachel drifted over the meadow, her profile stark against the sun. She spiraled down and dropped the McDonald�s bag in the grass under my tree.

<You do know there�s a rattlesnake in your meadow, don�t you?> She landed and began to demorph.

<Uh, yeah.> I flapped down from my perch. <We met briefly.>

Rachel�s feathers melted together, swirled into tan Rachel skin. Her wings stretched into arms. Legs shifted forward with a sickening crack.

That�s one thing I�ll never get used to - the sounds. Body parts twisting, tearing, being absorbed and re-formed. It doesn�t hurt. It should, but it doesn�t. The Andalites worked some kind of painkiller into the technology.

But they didn�t manage to kill the sound.

Rachel�s body shot up to human size. A human with bird-of-prey eyes. I�ve never been sure if Rachel�s human eyes are more intense because of the eagle, or if the eagle�s eyes are so intense because they�re Rachel�s. They were clear blue now instead of amber, but they still held a deadly gaze.

She fixed that gaze on me now. �Look, before you get your feathers in a wad, just listen. I know I don�t have to baby you. I know you can take care of yourself. But I also know your happy little meadow is about to dry up, and the weather guy on Channel 6 isn�t predicting rain any time soon.�

She pulled a Big Mac from the bag. �So eat this and don�t give me grief, okay?�

That�s one of the things I like best about Rachel. I don�t need to admit to her that hawk life can be a little stressful. She just knows. And tries to help. But she doesn�t feel sorry for me. Or at least, she doesn�t let me see her feel sorry for me. She lets me have my dignity.

Too bad you can�t eat dignity. I watched her open the Big Mac box and set it on the grass.

�I know you have to eat yours as a hawk.� She pulled out another Big Mac and two large fries. �But at least we can hang out for a while. A little while.�

Uh-huh. I wasn�t paying much attention to the conversation. My hawk brain focused on the usual.

Hunger. Food. Kill. Okay, maybe we could skip �kill� just this once. Eat.

But my human brain remembered something more: The pure pleasure of sinking my teeth into three inches of hamburger and bun. The crunch of lettuce and onion. The grease and cheese and special sauce combining as I chewed. And the fries. Was there ever a more perfect food than a
McDonald�s french fry? Fresh from the fryer, while they�re still steaming. Crisp and salty and so soft
i
n the middle they -

�Tobias?� Rachel was staring at me, frowning. �I asked if you want me to take the pickles off.�

<Um, no.> Get a grip, Tobias. You�re turning into Ax. <Just pull off one of the hamburger patties. I�ll eat it first, then morph human and eat the rest with you.>

She peeled the Big Mac apart and set one of the patties in the grass. I ripped off a chunk of meat and wrangled it sideways into my beak.

You know, Tobias,� she said, �we have very weird dates.�

I devoured the hamburger, then stood completely still for a moment, savoring the full feeling in my stomach. My hawk belly was happy. My hawk body would survive another day.

Time to feed the human. I focused on Tobias the kid.

SPRRROOOOOOT!

I shot up to my full human height. The sudden shift knocked me off balance, and I teetered on twelve-inch talons. Morphing isn�t predictable. As I lifted my wings for support, my feathers melted and evaporated, leaving only pale pink nubs on my skin.

I looked down. I was a nearly naked bird the size of a human kid. A giant plucked chicken in spandex.

�Attractive,� said Rachel.

Hollow bird bones thickened and - snap - realigned. Internal organs shifted and stretched. My shoulders widened, neck grew long. Arms and fingers emerged from stubby wings. The scales on my legs disappeared and human flesh emerged. Talons split into toes. My beak melted and formed a nose
and lips. Round bird eyes slid forward and became ovals.

I touched my arm. The pink chicken bumps dissolved into smooth beige skin. Pale still, but smooth.

I was human.

Rachel smiled. �Much better.�

�Thanks,� I said. Or at least, that�s what I meant to say. What came out was, �Grrrx.� I hadn�t used my human voice in a while. I cleared my throat, limbered my jaw, and tried again. �Thank you.�

We sat side by side in the grass with our backs against the tree. I bit into my Big Mac. And sighed. Well, actually I moaned. Out loud. Grease and cheese and special sauce dribbled down my chin.

Rachel shook her head and handed me a napkin. Which would�ve been embarrassing if I hadn�t been so involved with my lunch. Sometimes I forget normal human things. Like my old locker combination or which months have thirty-one days or how to work the token machine at the arcade. Useless information to a hawk, of course. Still, it scared me a little. Like I�d crossed a line and might not ever get back. Or worse, I�d forget so many things
that given the opportunity, I might not want to get back.

But I hadn�t forgotten the Big Mac. Or the fries. As long as I had fast food, I had hope.

Rachel brushed an ant off her leg. �You need to get a picnic table,� she said. �Or at least a couple of lawn chairs.�

�Oh, yeah, Rachel, definitely low profile. A hawk with patio furniture. Maybe I could get a barbecue grill, too, and some bamboo torch lights.�

�Very funny.� She crumpled her empty burger box and stuffed it into the bag. �Shut up and eat so we can get out of here. Cassie�s called a meeting, and Jake says we all have to be there.�

�Ah.� I swallowed a fry. �The X-Men have nothing on us, do they?�

�Got that right.�

This chapter I like, because it's just a little slice of life thing about sitting under a tree with your girlfriend eating lunch.

# ? Sep 28, 2022 03:13

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

This chapter I like, because it's just a little slice of life thing about sitting under a tree with your girlfriend eating lunch.

While being a bird.

# ? Sep 28, 2022 04:58

TCE: Feb 26, 2016

So what happens if a host has like, a heart attack or an aneurism or something? Is the Yeerk inside just hosed? If it happens at the host's work or commute or something does the Yeerk have an obligation to go down with the ship, since slithering out could risk exposure?

# ? Sep 28, 2022 07:19

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

The McDonald's sponsorship is a bit odd but the scene is very sweet. Definitely has that ring of "calm before the storm."

TCE posted:

So what happens if a host has like, a heart attack or an aneurism or something? Is the Yeerk inside just hosed? If it happens at the host's work or commute or something does the Yeerk have an obligation to go down with the ship, since slithering out could risk exposure?

Yeah, pretty much by my understanding. Other people here know a lot more, but it's implied-but-not-stated that the Yeerks make it a priority to target able-bodied/healthy people and only go for higher health risk targets if they're very socially important like a politician or CEO or something.

# ? Sep 28, 2022 07:27

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

TCE posted:

So what happens if a host has like, a heart attack or an aneurism or something? Is the Yeerk inside just hosed? If it happens at the host's work or commute or something does the Yeerk have an obligation to go down with the ship, since slithering out could risk exposure?

This has been brought up before. Host death usually = Yeerk death as well unless the Yeerk is incredibly on the ball and able to bail out quickly enough. More often than not the shock and trauma of the host's death also dooms the puppeteer Yeerk, even if they manage to disconnect and escape the body in time.

# ? Sep 28, 2022 08:11

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

I can only imagine what it would be like for a Yeerk to operate undercover because of just how dull going through the monotony of human society is.

# ? Sep 28, 2022 09:08

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Epicurius posted:

This chapter I like, because it's just a little slice of life thing about sitting under a tree with your girlfriend eating lunch.

Agreed, it's not quite the same as the scene last book with Rachel's mum/sisters and domestic life, but it is really nice to stop and appreciate the status quo when we know the end is looming

Star Man posted:

I can only imagine what it would be like for a Yeerk to operate undercover because of just how dull going through the monotony of human society is.

I prefer to imagine that - compared to the monotony of life as a slug - they are just absolutely stoked to be showing up to an insurance firm and filling out spreadsheets all day. Bagged lunch, neatly knotted tie, huge cheerful hello to all the other office drones in the elevator

# ? Sep 28, 2022 10:18

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

Epicurius posted:

This chapter I like, because it's just a little slice of life thing about sitting under a tree with your girlfriend eating lunch.

I've always liked it, I mentioned it earlier in the thread IIRC, but I'd forgotten that it came at the start of this book.

# ? Sep 28, 2022 12:01

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

freebooter posted:

Agreed, it's not quite the same as the scene last book with Rachel's mum/sisters and domestic life, but it is really nice to stop and appreciate the status quo when we know the end is looming

I prefer to imagine that - compared to the monotony of life as a slug - they are just absolutely stoked to be showing up to an insurance firm and filling out spreadsheets all day. Bagged lunch, neatly knotted tie, huge cheerful hello to all the other office drones in the elevator

Also Yeerks love bureaucracy and procedure. It's been proven time and again. Office work would be like heaven for them.

# ? Sep 28, 2022 15:39

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

And yeerk senses are rubbish. Having decent eyes and ears- it'd be ax-in-the-foodcourt all over again

# ? Sep 28, 2022 23:47

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 3

quote:

�Let me get this straight.� Marco shredded a piece of hay. �They wanted blood samples. Not cash. Not drugs. Blood.�

We were in Cassie�s barn. The Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. Sort of a homeless shelter for wounded animals. Cassie�s parents are both veterinarians. Her mom works at The Gardens, a combination zoo/amusement park where we�ve acquired most of our battle morphs. Her dad runs the clinic here on their farm. Cassie helps him out.

At the moment she was inside a big wire pen, doctoring a doe that had been shot in the thigh. The rest of us were trying not to focus on the hypodermic needle in her hand.

�The rest of us� could�ve starred in one of those weepy movies on Lifetime. Jake: Rachel�s cousin, Cassie�s true love, and the leader of our little band of misfits. Ax the alien: Elfangor�s little brother and, strange as it sounds, my uncle. Marco: Jake�s best friend and Ax�s part-time roommate. Rachel, of course: Cassie�s best friend, the girl dating out of her species. And me: Tobias. Bird-boy. On lookout duty in the rafters.

Cassie stroked the deer�s neck. �It�s okay, girl.� She closed the pen and turned to face us. �All I know is what my mom said. Two men broke into her veterinary ward last night. It wasn�t the usual smash and grab, and no, they weren�t after drugs, which surprised Mom, too. They wanted blood samples, specific blood samples. Tiger. Elephant. Eagle. Rhino and grizzly. Gorilla and wolf.�

Rachel stared at her. �Our battle morphs.�

�Right.� Cassie nodded. �They showed no interest in the warthogs or baboons. One of Mom�s lab techs stumbled in on them. They really roughed him up, especially -� She glanced at me. �Especially when he told them The Gardens didn�t have a red-tailed hawk.�

Seven pairs of eyes, including Ax�s stalk eyes, gazed up at the rafters. I turned away to preen a wing.

Cassie went on. �The lab tech said they�d been cold and methodical up to that point, but when they couldn�t get the hawk sample, they just went nuts. Like they were afraid to leave without it.�

�Yeah, I bet,� said Marco. �I bet they were peeing their pants wondering how to explain the concept of failure to Visser One.�

Visser One. Evil incarnate. The Yeerk in charge of the invasion of Earth, recently promoted from Visser Three.

Rachel nodded. �Our battle morphs? The Gardens? Nutso thieves on a mission for hawk blood? Definitely Yeerks.�

�Uh, yeah,� Jake agreed. �But the Chee haven�t heard anything, not even rumors. And we haven�t intercepted Yeerk communications about a new project. Whatever they�re up to, it�s at the highest level. We don�t want to do anything stupid. We need to really think this through.�

�Okay, so we�ll think it through and then we�ll do something stupid,� said Marco. �First question: Why do the Yeerks need animal blood? Have they invented a new way to morph?�

<Invented?> Ax�s stalk eyes narrowed to slits. <Yeerks do not invent. They steal. Everything they have, they have taken from other species. Most notably the Andalites. They do not have the intelligence - or the integrity - to invent a morphing technique of their own.>

Did I mention Andalites can be a wee bit arrogant?

Cassie looked at Jake.

�I think Ax is right,� he said. �They�re after something bigger. Tom brought home a flyer yesterday. The Sharing is sponsoring a huge blood drive.�

Tom was Jake�s older brother.

Tom was a Controller, a high-ranking member of The Sharing. The front organization for the Yeerks.

Cassie took a deep breath. �Here�s what I think. There�s only one reason the Yeerks would suddenly be interested in blood. DNA. They�re collecting samples of our morph animals, and they�re collecting as many human samples as they can.� She looked at us. �They�re searching for humans with
strands of animal DNA in their blood.�

Silence.

�Which means -� Marco sighed.

�They know we�re human,� said Rachel.

Honestly, it's about time, given all the slipups the Animorphs have made. It's basically just luck and Visser One's stubbornness that they haven't been caught before.

Chapter 4

quote:

They. As in Visser One.

The only Yeerk ever to infest an Andalite. Until now he�d been convinced we Animorphs were Andalites, too. Which was somewhat surprising because the former Visser One had discovered we were human.

By keeping our secret, she hoped to destroy her adversary. The Andalite-Controller, then Visser Three. But we destroyed her.

The former Visser One was a human-Controller. And her host was Marco�s mom.

Very long story short. We raided the Yeerk pool and rescued Marco�s mom. The human. The Yeerk in her head tried to escape, but was killed.

And our secret died with it.

Or so we�d thought.

�The Yeerks are probably collecting human blood from as many different sources as they can,� said Jake. �Hospitals, doctors� offices, labs. Now this blood drive. So.� He looked at us. �Has anybody given blood since we started acquiring morphs?�

Rachel shook her head.

�I�ve been afraid to,� said Cassie. �Who knows what�s floating around in my veins.�

�I�ve been too busy saving the planet.� Marco.

�The planet is grateful.� Jake rolled his eyes. �But it�s not you we need to worry about, Marco. The Yeerks think you and your family are dead, so even if they had a sample of your blood containing animal DNA, it wouldn�t lead them anywhere. Ax is an Andalite, so that�s not a problem. And Tobias��

<Tobias hasn�t given blood since he magically turned into a bird,> I said.

�Right.� Jake smiled at me - a grim smile edged with guilt - and nodded. �Which narrows it down to Cassie, Rachel, and me.� He turned to Cassie and Rachel. �Think hard. Any doctor visits? Trips to the school nurse?�

Cassie shook her head. Rachel shrugged.

�Are you sure? What about when we all came down with the Andalite flu? The yamphut.�

�Oh, man.� Rachel shut her eyes. �My mom did haul me to the doctor. I don�t think they took blood, but I had a really high fever. Part of that time is just blanked out. But that was a while ago. If they took blood, it�s long gone by now.� She looked at Cassie. �Isn�t it?�

�I don�t know,� Cassie admitted. �I don�t know how long labs keep blood samples. Or data on blood samples.�

�So.� Rachel, eyes wide. �It could still be in a freezer somewhere. With my name on it.�

<Don�t even think that,> I said. <It�s such a long shot.>

�Yeah.� Rachel shook her head. �But we can�t take that chance. If the Yeerks find me, they find us all. They�ll slide a Yeerk into my head and then we�re dead or worse, infested, and so are our families.� She looked up at me. �And everyone we care about.�

<And the free Hork-Bajir,> said Ax. <They have been forced to relocate once, in spite of our assistance. Without our help they easily could be captured, their colony destroyed.>

�Maybe,� said Cassie. �Look, the Yeerks don�t know we�re human. Yet. They only suspect. If we really were Andalites, we�d want them to waste time and manpower analyzing human blood samples, right? So if we bust in, destroy their project, we only prove we�re not Andalites.�

�Better than the alternative,� Rachel argued. �We can stop the Yeerks, and yeah, they�ll know we�re human, but they won�t know which humans. Or we can let them continue till they find us. Which they will.�

�There�s another option,� said Jake. �We can get inside, find out what they know. Then decide what to do. The research is probably on a computer somewhere, at whatever company the Yeerks are using as a front. If we can get our hands on it, maybe we can destroy any incriminating data without the Yeerks catching on. They continue their research and come up blank. Ax, is that something you can handle?�

<Of course, Prince Jake.> Ax whipped his tail forward. <We need only find the correct facility.>

�Not a problem,� said Marco. �We hack into the computer system of every blood bank, hospital, and clinic on the planet. The one we can�t get into, the one with the extraterrestrial firewall, that�ll be the Yeerks.�

"The former Visser-One had figured out we were human...." I mean, Chapman had a pretty good idea that the Animorphs were Human as far back as Book 5 or something. He and Tom's first Yeerk had a conversation about it and decided not to tell the then Visser Three because he'd probably kill them for suggesting it.

It is a good plan to figure out the place they can't hack into would be the likely Yeerk location.

# ? Sep 29, 2022 03:09

Vandar: Sep 14, 2007; Isn't That Right, Chairman?

Oh man. I just remembered what book this is.

# ? Sep 29, 2022 07:43

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

Vandar posted:

Oh man. I just remembered what book this is.

I never got this far into the series- love seeing comments like this.
It's so cool to finally be in the end game, where stuff matters!

# ? Sep 29, 2022 09:21

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

Yeah I've got that yawning feeling in my stomach, like getting to the top of a hill on a roller coaster. Looking very much forward to end game.

# ? Sep 29, 2022 14:16

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

Wasn't there an earlier mention of blood tests potentially outing them?

Also, here's an idea: What would happen if they morphed each other and then got the blood tests?

# ? Sep 29, 2022 19:20

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 5

quote:

I figured Ax and Marco would find the blood bank, Jake would call another meeting, we�d infiltrate the place and destroy any incriminating information.

Good guys win and go home.

I flew from the hayloft. The meeting was over. The sun was setting, the air beginning to cool.

Below me, Marco and Ax slipped into the little strip of woods that led from the barn to Ax�s scoop. I knew they�d soon be logging on to their souped-up Mac, hacking into blood bank computers. They�d find me when they needed me, when it was time to plan the mission. In the meantime, I had other things to worry about.

Like how to eat without being eaten.

Not that I�d ever actually starve. Rachel would see to that. But what self-respecting hawk lets his girlfriend feed him? Lets her buy vitamin drops for him at Petsmart? Lets her fix a spot in her sock drawer so he has a cozy spot to sleep on dark and stormy nights? A hawk shouldn�t wake up smelling
like dryer sheets.

Don�t get me wrong. I�m glad she cares. And I�m glad it�s Rachel.

But she shouldn�t have to do all that. I took care of myself as a human. I can take care of myself as a hawk.

As a boy, I�d been passed back and forth between a much-married aunt and an alcoholic uncle. And my parents?

Official story: My dad died and my mom walked when I was still too young to remember. The truth: Yeah, my mom walked out, but the man who died had been my stepfather. I had another father. My real father.

Elfangor.

I found out through a sleazoid lawyer-Controller, of all people. Elfangor had grown tired of war, tired of defending the galaxy.

I knew how he felt. I was defending one small planet, and some days I longed to soar away to some remote mountaintop. Forget the fear and the fighting. Just fly free.

That�s what Elfangor did. He flew free. He came to Earth because he was in love with my mother, Loren. He morphed a human man and deliberately stayed past the two-hour time limit - became a nothlit - so he could live out his life with her. He must have believed she was worth it. Personally, I thought he was a little misguided. The only thing I knew about my mother was what my aunt used to tell me � and tell me � and tell me: �Nutty as a fruitcake and didn�t want nothing to do with her own kid. So they dumped you on me.� But Elfangor stayed on Earth for years. Went to college, married my mother, created a life. Was happy, I think. I hope.

Enter the Ellimist.

The same all-powerful being who�d given me back my morphing powers and left me as a hawk.

The Ellimist restored my father�s Andalite body, returned him to the Andalite fleet, and erased all memory of him from my mother�s mind.

Elfangor fought valiantly in the Andalite war and returned to Earth only once. To save the planet from the Yeerks.

And to die.

Did he know? As he lay in the dirt of that abandoned construction site, his life slipping away, did he know he was talking to his son?

I want to believe he did. To believe I was the reason he trusted me and my friends with his greatest gift.

But the truth is, he was desperate. Once he was gone, the Yeerks would enslave and destroy the planet. And he couldn�t let that happen. He probably would�ve given that morphing ability to any kid who wandered by.

The kid just happened to be me.

I soared over the rooftops and utility lines of the new housing development that had recently popped up near my meadow.

Movement. Steady. Winding. In the yard below. I banked. A snake slid from the grass onto a backyard walkway. Not a rattler this time. An everyday, garden-variety blacksnake. It slithered across the walk, fully exposed.

I circled. The yard was empty, the house dark. The sun was just sinking behind the hills. The streets and houses were draped in shadows. No one would see me.

I circled again. Hunger. Food. Kill. Eat. I swooped. The snake was still alive, still warm, when I ripped into its flesh. Yes. It felt good. It felt hawk. I sank my beak into the meat.

Creeeeeeeeeeeeeek.

I turned my head. The back door of the house inched open. A bare-chested lunatic in camouflage pants darted out, clutching a bow and arrow. Not a toy bow and arrow. This was a compound bow, with weights and sights and a razor-edged arrow fitted onto the bowstring. The lunatic aimed.

I flapped toward the sky.

Thwwwoooooooooook.

The arrow sliced past. Its feathers raked the edge of my wing. Half an inch to the right, and I would�ve been birdie shish kebab. I swooped over a row of newly planted trees and dropped down into the next yard.

Thwwwoooooooooook.

Another arrow. Above me. I stayed low, skimming along the spindly line of trees.

A hawk is built to soar, not flap endlessly like a duck. Flying that close to the ground was hard work. No thermals. But it was my own fault. I knew not to hunt in human territory. In somebody�s backyard! It was a stupid mistake. A mistake a real hawk wouldn�t have made.

But Tobias the hawk hadn�t made the mistake. Tobias the boy had. I�d seen the snake, and my human brain took it as a dare. A snake had stolen my lunch, and now I was stealing it back.

My human brain was going to get my hawk body in big trouble one of these days.

Only one chapter tonight. But maybe Tobias will get his revenge on the snake!

# ? Sep 30, 2022 03:15

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

There's an interesting point about Tobias' pride in his independence comes from his pre-Animorph life, viewing being a hawk as just another way he has to provide for himself because no one else is going to.

Except that the Animorphs are happy to do so, but help feels like pity. And it probably is a bit of pity, to be honest. But Jake gave him leftovers for a human, probably out of guilt that he got a team member trapped under his command. And Rachel... well, she wants to care for him, because that what you do for people you care about.

Interestingly, I don't remember Cassie ever giving him any special treatment or free meals. I don't think we've ever had any significant scenes with the two of them, but there's no way she'd avoid helping him if he needed it.

Maybe she just respects the natural cycle a bit more than the others that it doesn't seem like as bad a deal as to the others?

# ? Sep 30, 2022 03:48

Chucat: Apr 14, 2006

I remember her dragging him for eating one of the skunk kids or something? Besides that they haven't really had many interactions that I can recall.

# ? Sep 30, 2022 08:29

Zore: Sep 21, 2010; willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d�etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things

Yeah, there's definitely a few relationships that are really threadbare. Cassie-Tobias, Rachel-Ax, and Marco-Cassie just don't get a lot of focus or real connective tissue.

Having said that, the last few books do massively expand on one of those pairs in an interesting way.

# ? Sep 30, 2022 08:36

JesusSinfulHands: Oct 24, 2007; Sartre and Russell are my heroes

I understand Rachel/Ax and Marco/Cassie not being close based on their personalities, but I would figure that Tobias and Cassie have some similarities as, erm characters (wanted to say people but one's a hawk). In book 4 they had that shared vision of Ax, and in book 9 they had to work out an arrangement where Tobias would watch out for the skunk babies after eating one. But I can't think of many scenes since then.

# ? Sep 30, 2022 09:14

kiminewt: Feb 1, 2022

There are very few Rachel-Ax interactions but I love every single on of them. Wish we had more.

# ? Sep 30, 2022 16:22

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 6

quote:

Saturday morning.

I flew to the scoop. I took a longer route this time, bypassing the new housing development. Soared over fields and pastures and circled back to Ax�s clearing in the woods.

Ax built his scoop soon after he came to Earth. According to him, it was a smaller version of a typical Andalite home. He�d had to do some remodeling when Marco took up part-time residence with him. Now the scoop was bigger, with a little more enclosed space and a lot more clutter.

Ax was an alien of few possessions. Some research-type books, pictures of his favorite human foods. Some computer equipment. His beloved television set. But Marco was a boy with lots of toys. And he kept a lot of them at the scoop.

The rest of Marco�s stuff was at his other home, the cabin he shared with his parents in the Hork- Bajir valley. When we�d rescued Marco�s mom, we�d also had to rescue his dad. The Chee helped us stage his - and Marco�s - �death.� The family evacuated to the valley, and Marco stayed there whenever he could.

But when he needed to be closer to us, closer to the war, he stayed here with Ax.

<How�s it going down there?>

<Hello, Tobias.> Ax stood in the open part of the scoop, his stalk eyes scanning the sky. 

<Already? You found the site?>

�Complete no-brainer.� Marco was hunkered down in front of the computer at the back of the scoop.

I perched on the CD tower behind him.

He leaned back in his chair. �Hospitals, labs, clinics, community blood banks - they all opened right up for us. Kind of scary when you think about it. Your complete medical history is just a click away, available to any nut-job with Internet access. But then we get to this one.� He motioned toward the computer screen. �Midtown Bio-Services, Inc. Suddenly it�s like breaking into the CIA.�

<Actually,> said Ax, <it was far more difficult. We experienced relative ease penetrating the Central Intelligence Agency databases.>

<The CIA?> I looked at Marco. <Wait. You hacked into their computer one day for kicks?>

�Hey, the more information we can gather, the better prepared we�ll be.� He shrugged. �Besides, I gotta have something to do. It gets lonely hangin� here. I almost miss school. Okay. Maybe not. But unless you count the Victoria�s Secret Web page, there are no babes in my life anymore.�

<There were no babes in your old life,> I said.

�Oh. Very nice, Tobias. Go for the jugular. You�ve got Rachel tending to your every need. Me, I�ve got Ax-man.� He jerked his thumb toward Ax, who was gazing lovingly at a magazine ad for the new original M&M�s. �I�ll trade you right now, straight across.�

<Yeah, Marco. That�d work.> I glanced at his CD player, satellite dish, and assorted Gameboy cartridges. At the stacks of CDs and the piles of comic books. All of which he�d somehow, mysteriously acquired after having to abandon his old stuff. <You�d make one fine bird of prey.>

He lobbed a TV Guide at me.

But you know what? Marco�s an opportunist. He would probably adjust to my bizarre version of hawk life better than I had. He�d have no problem with Rachel feeding him. He�d live in her room and wait for her to bring snacks. Preen himself in her mirror all day while she was at school. Marco wouldn�t make himself live by some glorified rule of the hunt, or whatever it was I felt compelled to live by.

<So now what?> I said. <Back to Cassie�s barn?>

�Nope.� Marco powered the Mac down. �We head straight for this Bio-Services place. It�s only a couple of miles from here, and Jake doesn�t want to waste time. He thinks a daylight mission on a Saturday morning might catch the Yeerks off guard.�

<Off guard?>

�You know what I mean. As off guard as Yeerks ever get. Maybe they won�t be expecting us. Maybe we can slip in and out before they notice.�

<Yeah, maybe. And maybe you�re crazy.>

You think Yeerks take wekends off? I also like that Ax collects pinups of candy.

Chapter 7

quote:

I caught a nice thermal over the freeway and soared high in the sky. Marco, in osprey morph, stayed behind me, lower and to the side. Ax, the northern harrier, swept back and forth above the rooftops.

We flew over houses and strip malls, parks and ball fields, till we reached the heart of the city. Then we swooped between the downtown skyscrapers. Soared and plunged and emerged over the domed roof of the Civic Center.

The streets around the center had been barricaded with orange sawhorses. Police cars were parked crossways at the corners, lights flashing. Uniformed officers directed traffic away from the them. Eighteen-wheelers, their trailers brightly painted with clowns and tigers, lined the blocked-off streets.

I floated above the big rigs. Below me, burly guys wielding leather prods unloaded elephants from the trailers into a huge pen in the Civic Center�s plaza. More policemen tried to hold a crowd of onlookers behind a rope barrier. A monster forklift trundled across the plaza and dumped a huge round bale of hay into a low trough at one end of the pen.

�HhhuuuurrHHHHEEEEEAAAAH!� One of the elephants trumpeted. A dozen others lumbered over to the trough.

Marco swooped out over the plaza. <Hey! How come nobody told me the circus was in town?>

<Jake was afraid you�d try to join it. You know - the whole clown thing?> I circled. <Shouldn�t the lab be pretty close?>

<If you bank right, Tobias, and proceed approximately forty-six yards, you should be directly in front of the research facility.>

Ax skimmed over the Civic Center and down aside street. Marco and I followed. Ax was right. It wasn�t long before we sailed past a long, low concrete building. A small brass plate beside the door said MIDTOWN BIO-SERVICES, INC. Below it hung a larger sign: NO SOLICITING.

<Gray concrete, no windows, and a complete lack of architectural charm,> said Marco. <Gotta be Yeerks.>

Cassie, Rachel, and Jake were waiting for us in the alley across the street. We landed, and Marco and Ax demorphed.

�We don�t have much to work with,� said Jake. �A pair of solid steel doors in front and a loading dock in back.�

�Both armed with Gleet BioFilters,� said Cassie.

Which we�d expected. It was starting to become standard equipment at all entrances and exits at Yeerk facilities and all entrances to the Yeerk pool. We�d found that out the hard way. The BioFilters were programmed to destroy any life-form whose DNA wasn�t entered into the data bank. Another bit of technology the Yeerks lifted from the Andalites.

<Prince Jake?> Ax trained his stalk eyes on the research lab. <If the control panel is destroyed, the BioFilter will deactivate.> He paused. <Of course, the control panel is located inside the building, and we are on the outside.>

Jake nodded. �Yeah. So we need to create a diversion. A little chaos, and a whole lot of noise.� He looked at Rachel. �Any volunteers?�

Rachel smiled her �let�s do it� smile. �Elephant?�

Jake nodded, but Rachel had already started to morph.

Her nose and upper lip melded together into a fat, gray nub. Ears sprouted like a pair of gray pot holders. Soon the pot holders were beach towels, the nub a full-fledged trunk. Legs and arms thickened. Hands and feet flattened. Tanned skin dissolved into leathery gray hide. Jake outlined his plan.

He turned to Rachel. �You know what to do, right?�

<Call a little attention to myself, short-circuit the bio-zapper, and lead any and all pursuers toward the circus, where I can squeeze in among the other elephants and, in the confusion, demorph.>

�And then?�

<Then?> She swished her rope-thin tail.

Jake sighed. �Then mingle into the crowd, do not call attention to yourself, and wait patiently for the rest of us.�

<Wait patiently. Right.> She saluted him with her trunk. 

Marco looked at me. �She. Cannot. Do. That.�

<No,> I said. <Probably not.>

Rachel stood down beside a Dumpster while the rest of us went fly. Definitely not my favorite morph. Whooosh!

The ground shot up as I shrank to the size of gravel. Bones dissolved, reemerged as fly exoskeleton. My wings thinned to tissue. Feathers shriveled into tiny fly hairs.

Sploooooooot.

Four extra legs sprouted from my chest. A pair of antennae shot from the top of my head. My vision shattered into a thousand pieces.

The morph was complete. And my fly brain had exactly one thought. GARBAGE! POOP! I buzzed into the Dumpster, into the wonderful world of curdled milk and moldy pizza boxes. Four other flies darted around me, savoring the stench and the rot.

<Uh, do you guys think you can get a grip?>

Rachel called. My compound eyes pieced together her huge gray face, peering down into the Dumpster. <Ax, I don�t even want to know what that is you�re standing on.>



<Oh, how gross are you?> Rachel cried. <Can you all please just get out of there before I hurl?>

Cassie laughed. 

<You people are sick.> Jake. <Rachel�s right. We have someplace else to be.>

Rachel�s thought-speak helped guide five flies the relatively short distance to the research lab. Several minutes later, we lit on the wall above the metal doors. Not a moment too soon. �HhhhRRRRRRuuuhhh!�

Rachel thundered from the alley, pushing the Dumpster with her wrecking-ball head. Shoved it up across the little strip of grass in front of Midtown Bio-Services, Inc.

CRRRRUUUUNCHHH! WHAM!

Slammed the Dumpster into the concrete wall! Backed up and squashed the trunk of a BMW parked at the curb.

<You�ve made her a very happy pachyderm,> I told Jake. <It�s been weeks since her last carstomping.>

�HhhRRRuh!� Rachel trumpeted before she wrapped her trunk around a NO PARKING sign and ripped it from the sidewalk. Held it high. Waited.

Вzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

And the thick steel doors slid open.

it's really convenient the circus is in town right next to the Yeerk research lab.

# ? Oct 1, 2022 03:29

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

Ax, Marco, and Tobias loving around on the internet is one of my favorite bits, and I wish that it happened more in the last arc of the series

# ? Oct 1, 2022 03:34

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

Epicurius posted:

Chapter 7

it's really convenient the circus is in town right next to the Yeerk research lab.

When I was younger, being around animals always made me nervous. I was always worried about the inhuman mind inside of them. Who knew what they could be thinking? Maybe dogs were just playing along and desperately wanted to bite you Maybe birds would try to dive bomb your carr of the road.

I outgrew it, of course, but imagine being a Yeerk and wondering, "is that a real bird or a deadly Andalites assassin?" It's ironic, in a way' that morphing turns the paranoia of the Yeerk invasion against them.

# ? Oct 1, 2022 05:20

Zore: Sep 21, 2010; willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d�etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things

Capfalcon posted:

When I was younger, being around animals always made me nervous. I was always worried about the inhuman mind inside of them. Who knew what they could be thinking? Maybe dogs were just playing along and desperately wanted to bite you Maybe birds would try to dive bomb your carr of the road.

I outgrew it, of course, but imagine being a Yeerk and wondering, "is that a real bird or a deadly Andalites assassin?" It's ironic, in a way' that morphing turns the paranoia of the Yeerk invasion against them.

Animorphs to this day makes me feel uneasy about squashing bugs thanks to the mutiple horrifying almost deaths they have in insect morph sticking with me

# ? Oct 1, 2022 05:33

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

Zore posted:

Animorphs to this day makes me feel uneasy about squashing bugs thanks to the mutiple horrifying almost deaths they have in insect morph sticking with me

The obvious solution to your anxiety here is to briefly pretend you are Visser One in some gigantic morph. Be sure to bellow "fools!!" mid-squash.

# ? Oct 1, 2022 05:58

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 8

quote:

�Andalite!�

Human-Controllers streamed from the building.

�Surround it! Don�t let it escape!�

Rachel reared up on her hind legs. Controllers dove for cover.

<NOW!> Jake ordered.

With her massive trunk, Rachel hurled the NO PARKING sign like a javelin toward the open doors. Pop, Pop.

Sparks flew.

A cloud of smoke puffed out from the open doors. The NO PARKING sign clanked to the floor.

A computerized voice droned through the smoke. �Bio. Filter. Deactivated. Immediate. Shutdown. Immediate. Shutdown.�

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. The doors began to slide shut.

<Let�s go! In! In! In!>

Jake zipped through the doorway. Ax, Marco, and Cassie followed.

I hovered outside. Through broken fly vision, I could see Controllers lunging toward Rachel, surrounding her. She reared, head thrashing.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

<NOW, Tobias!>

�HhhhRRRRuuuhhh!� Rachel reared again and swung around. Controllers scattered. Rachel charged down the street.

I spun. The doors were an inch apart. Half an inch. I darted between them. Solid steel brushed the tips of my wings. Halfway through. I could see light beyond. Almost there.

WHAM!

The crash of metal vibrated through my body. The rush of air launched me into space.

<Gee, Tobias, we�re glad you could join us,> Marco said as I hurtled past.

<Are you okay?> Cassie.

<Yeah.> I flipped upright. <Fine.>

Four other flies hovered on the ceiling. I buzzed up to join them. And to get my bearings. We seemed to be in a long hallway. Humans and Hork-Bajir bustled along below us, in and out of offices, carrying folders, pushing carts. I didn�t need the fractured flashes of red or the clink of glass tubes to know what the carts carried. Fly senses screamed the answer. Blood. Human blood.

<We�re definitely in the right place,> I said.

<Yeah,> Jake agreed, <but we need a more useful morph. Better eyes, at least.>

<Hands would be nice.> Marco.

We hummed along the ceiling, looking for a place to demorph. The long hallway led into another, and another. We finally spotted a darkened door at the end of a corridor and darted under it.

And waited. No sound. No movement. No blood, either. Only the overwhelming stench of floor wax and disinfectant. We spread out and demorphed.

<Uck,> Cassie whispered. <I�m standing in a bucket. And guess what? There�s still water in it.

At least I hope that�s what it is.>

We were crowded into a janitor�s closet. Three kids, an Andalite, and a bird. I perched on the edge of the sink. Light from the halt shone through an air vent in the door.

<Hey.> I stared at Marco. <You got a new morphing outfit.>

�What, you just noticed?� He tugged at his bike shorts and tight blue T-shirt.

I leaned over and plucked up a beakfull of T-shirt. <Does this remind you of anything?>

�Yeah.� He pulled his shirt from my mouth. �It reminds me why I never wanted a pet bird.�

<No,> I said. <The color.>

Ax nodded. <It is the color of the Blue Band Hork-Bajir.>

Right. The Blue Bands. Visser One�s elite Hork-Bajir guard. Part Green Beret. Part armored car.

Pure terror.

We stared at Marco�s shirt.

�Whoa.� He backed up against a row of metal shelves. �You�re looking at me like I�m lunch.�

<No,> I said. <We�re looking at you like you�re a giant armband.>

Cassie rummaged through the shelves and found a utility knife and a roll of duct tape. Marco peeled his shirt off and handed it to Cassie.

�No looking,� he warned. �There�s no telling what the sight of my naked torso might make you do.� Marco turned to me. �I�m lethal at the beach.�

Cassie struggled to control a grin. And quickly cut the shirt into wide strips.

Then we went Hork-Bajir. Carefully. Five fully grown Hork-Bajir have no business huddling in a janitor�s closet.

I focused on Ket Halpak, my Hork-Bajir morph.

And felt my feathers harden to leather.

Bones ground and popped.

I shot seven feet in the air.

Thump. <Ouch.>

My head banged into the first-aid kit hung on the wall.

My beak grew wider, longer. My neck slithered out like a snake�s.

Thooomp! Thoomp! Horns erupted from my forehead. Talons spread to tyrannosaurus proportions. My tail shot out to twice my height.

SHWOOP! SHWOOP! SHWOOP! SHWOOP!

Blades burst from my wrists, elbows, knees, tail.

I was a walking switchblade. Death on two legs. Crouched in a sink, trying not to fillet my friends.

We wrapped our new blue armbands around our biceps and stuck them down with slivers of duct tape.

<Ready?> Jake eased the door open. <Just act like you belong.> He stepped into the hall.

Marco sauntered after him. <Famous last words.>

Jake led the way back to the main corridor. The rest of us marched behind him, two by two.

Human-Controllers and Hork-Bajir scrambled aside to let us pass. Nobody stopped us. Nobody asked where we were going. Nobody even looked us in the eye.

<We should�ve gotten armbands a long time ago,> Marco said.

We neared the center of the building. The crowd of scurrying lab techs and office workers thinned out. We marched down a nearly empty hall, turned the corner -

- and stopped.

Before us lay a narrow passageway. At the end was another pair of solid metal doors, guarded by an armed Hork-Bajir.

The guard leveled his Dracon beam at us.

<Um,> Marco said. <Think we found their computer?>

Remember when the original plan was NOT to make a big deal about this infiltration or destroy the computer?

Chapter 9

quote:

Jake strode toward the guard. He pushed the end of the Dracon beam away and pointed at the door.

�OPEN.�

The guard hesitated. His gaze flickered toward Jake�s armband. Then he aimed the Dracon at Jake�s chest.
�Where is pass?�

Hey, nobody ever accused a Hork-Bajir of being eloquent.

�Pass?� Jake turned toward us. He jerked his thumb at the guard. �He wants pass! HA-HAHAHA!�

Cassie and Marco laughed. �HA-HA!�

�HA-HA!� I clapped Ax on the shoulder. �HAHA-HA!�

Ax frowned. �Ha,� he said.

Jake whipped his snake head back toward the guard. �Surprise inspection. Heh-heh.� His laugh turned menacing. He leaned forward till his beak nearly touched the guard�s forehead horn. �Visser One.�

The guard swallowed. �Visser One?� He reached back and ran his palm over an entry pad on the wall.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The doors slid open.

Jake snatched the Dracon beam from the guard�s hand. He pointed it toward the open doorway.

�IN.�

The guard backed into the room. We marched after him, across a raised metal floor.

<Whoa.>

Yeah. Marco was right. It looked like Mission Control. An electronic map filled one wall. Little green dots were scattered across it, connected like a web to one large red dot. A tiny orange dot flashed beside the red one. A bank of computers faced the map. Rows of numbers scrolled across their screens.

<Analyzing data,> Ax said unnecessarily.

But other than the computers, the guard, and us, the room was empty. No human-Controllers. No Hork-Bajir.

Jake motioned toward the door. �Close.�

The guard turned and swiped his hand over the entry pad.

Вzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Jake raised the Dracon beam. <Sorry.>

He thumped the guard over the head with the butt of the weapon. The guard slumped to the floor.

<Okay, Ax,> he said. <We don�t have much time. It won�t take the Yeerks long to notice their guard is missing.>

Ax raced to a computer. His clawed Hork-Bajir fingers stumbled over the keyboard. <Prince Jake, my Andalite hands would be better suited for ->

<Demorph. Hurry.>

Ax nodded and began to demorph. Jake stood watch over the guard. Cassie, Marco, and I crossed to the map. Cassie traced the green dots with her finger.

<These must be blood collection sites. And this -> She tapped the big red dot. <This must be where we�re standing. See? All the green dots lead here. But what�s this?> She pointed to the orange dot.

<Yeerk pool!?> Marco guessed.

<Ah. Much better.> Ax�s Andalite fingers flew over the keyboard. He stopped. <Prince Jake? We may be too late.>

Four Hork-Bajir stared at him.

<They found a match?>

Ax studied the monitor. <Yes. But I don�t think the Yeerks are aware of it yet. This file has not been accessed since the computer analyzed the data. And it is only a partial match.>

<Partial?> Marco circled the computer bank. <What does that mean? They either find animal DNA or they don�t, right?>

Ax shook his head. <This is very strange. It indicates a human who has significant family ties with one of the Andalite bandits.> He leaned toward the screen. <But the computer has not yet uncovered the identity of this Andalite bandits.>

<Oh man, Jake.> Cassie closed her eyes. <We overlooked something. Something huge. Our blood is all over the place. Every time we fight these creeps, we bleed. Traces of our human DNA is floating around in all that animal blood. All they have to do is scoop it up and wait for a match.>

Jake nodded. <Or a partial match. Somebody in our family.> He stared at Ax. <Tom?>

<No, Prince Jake.>

Marco leaned over Ax�s shoulder. <Uh, Tobias?> He looked up at me. <You may want to see this.>

I crossed to the computer. Ax moved aside so I could see the screen. And the name.

Loren.

<But that�s my -> I stopped.

My mother. First name. Last name.

Address.

I stared at the screen. She lived only a few blocks from the three-room shack I�d shared with my uncle. An easy walk. One bus stop.

I looked up at the map. At the flashing orange light. My mother. The light represented my mother.

<Uh-oh.> Cassie�s voice pulled me out of my stupor. <Trouble.>

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The doors slid open.

A dozen Hork-Bajir marched into the room. Real Hork-Bajir. Wearing blue armbands.

Hey, we might get to see Loren again! But, no, this is bad news, especially if the Yeerks have an offsite backup.

# ? Oct 2, 2022 03:40

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

Epicurius posted:

Chapter 9

Hey, we might get to see Loren again! But, no, this is bad news, especially if the Yeerks have an offsite backup.

Well, guess that answers my question about what would happen if they morphed each other.

Also, yet again we get a great example of why morphing is the best spy tool in the universe, sans maybe the actual telepathy of the Leerans.

It also reminds me of a story my uncle told me about being in the Army and guarding an explosives stockpile. His boss told him something along the lines of, "I don't care if the President himself drives up to this gate. If they don't have a valid badge, you turn them right back around and tell them to start driving the other direction until you can't see them anymore, at gunpoint if nessicary."

# ? Oct 2, 2022 04:03

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

Soup du Jour posted:

LOREN

Loren loving rules

# ? Oct 2, 2022 13:02

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 10

quote:

�You can�t escape. So, do us all a favor and don�t even try.�

A human-Controller pushed through the line of Blue Band Hork-Bajir. Orthopedic shoes squeaked against the metal floor. Reading glasses swung from a chain around her neck. She looked like somebody�s grandmother. Wrinkled pink cheeks. A puff of white hair. A lavender cardigan pulled over her flowered dress.

But instead of offering a plate of homemade cookies she trained a Dracon beam on us. And said, �Surrender now, or die.�

<Ax,> Jake said in private thought-speak. <Work fast. Erase Tobias�s mother from the database. The Controller won�t shoot. She can�t risk hitting the computers.>

<Yes, Prince Jake.> Ax�s stalk eyes swung from the Controller to Jake, then back to the Controller. His fingers raced over the keyboard.

Jake was still holding the unconscious guard�s weapon. He met the human-Controller�s gaze and held it, then aimed the Dracon beam at the bank of computers.

The Controller chuckled. �My, my. What a well-thought-out plan. Destroy the database, and I�ll have no reason to hold my fire. I�ll mow you down. You and your little friends. Visser One will be delighted. The so-called Andalite bandits will be dead, and he�ll no longer need to divert time and resources to this project. Go ahead, dear. Pull the trigger.�

<Uh, Jake, can I make a suggestion? DON�T SHOOT.>

<Thanks, Marco. I�ll take that into consideration.> Jake tightened his grip on the Dracon beam. <Ax? How�s it going?>

<Not well, Prince Jake. I have encountered an unexpected second level of security. I can break through, but it will take a few moments.>

<Good. Keep working.> Jake studied the Controller. Then, in public thought-speak, he asked, <Have you counted us?>

The Controller narrowed her eyes. �What do you mean?�

<Are you sure we are all here?> Jake�s thought-speak was deeper than usual. More exact, like Ax�s. Like an Andalite�s. Would it fool her? Did it matter?

<If I destroy the computers he said, <you could kill us. But how many Andalites would still be out there? How many escaped �bandits� would you have to report to Visser One?>

The Controller�s face hardened. Her gaze swept to Marco, Ax, me, then Cassie. Then to the map. To the red dot, and the smaller dot beside it.

She froze.

Smiled.

She�d seen the flashing orange dot.

She knew they�d found a match.

She turned to Jake. �Be sensible. Surrender peacefully and you won�t be hurt. Much. With your morphing abilities, you�ll make excellent host bodies. Much better than this worn-out human I�m living in. In fact, Visser One will be so pleased, he�ll probably promote me, and I�ll end up in one of
your heads. Won�t that be cozy?�

 Jake pronounced.

Granny shook her head. �Such a pity. But it�s your choice.� She turned toward the Hork-Bajir. �Kill them.�

The Blue Bands had been standing at attention. Not moving, not blinking, barely breathing. Now they leaped forward in one precise movement. Like automatic weapons.

Jake whirled and fired.

Tsssssssssseeeeeeeeeew!

�AAAAAARRRRGGGGGGGGHHHH!�

Two Hork-Bajir fell, their legs severed at the knees. Blue-green Hork-Bajir blood spilled across the metal floor.

Another Hork-Bajir sprang at Jake. And another. THUMP!

Jake slammed against the wall. The Dracon beam slid across the floor. Under the computer bank. If I could get it -

SWOOP!

A wrist blade sliced past my chest. I jerked away. Stumbled. A Blue Band kicked. Knocked me back.

WHUMP!

My head bounced against a computer. I slid to the floor. The Blue Band lunged for me. I thrust my arm up.

Blades plunged through skin, muscle, bone.

The Blue Band�s eyes glared at me. Dimmed as his body went limp and he collapsed against my chest. I wrenched my arm blades from his belly.

Around me the battle raged. A forest of Hork-Bajir kicking, leaping, clawing.

<Jake! Behind you.>

<Cassie, watch out!>

Fwwwap! Fwwap-fwwap!

Ax�s tail blade struck, and struck again.

But I was cut off from the fighting. For now. The dead Blue Band lay on top of me, concealing me. His blue-green blood oozed over me.

I could see the human-Controller. She circled the perimeter, weapon aimed, still not firing. They�d found a DNA match, and she knew it. She couldn�t jeopardize the research. She couldn�t shoot. But I could. I inched toward Jake�s fallen weapon. If I could destroy the database � I slid my hand under the computer. It had to be there. It - Yes! My claws brushed something solid, metal.

<MARCO!>

Cassie screamed. I turned my head.

Marco was pinned between two Blue Bands. His beak had been ripped from his face and lay at his feet in a lake of blood.

One Blue Band held Marco from behind. Pulled Marco�s head up and back, leaving his neck exposed.

And the other Blue Band raised his wrist blade above Marco�s throat.

Just one chapter today, but I figured it's better to end it on a cliffhanger.

Also, as Grannie Yeerk reminds us, anybody can be a Controller.

# ? Oct 3, 2022 04:14

Zore: Sep 21, 2010; willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d�etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things

This is one of those pieces of body horror seared into my mind. Marco's beak being torn off completely is just horrifying.

# ? Oct 3, 2022 04:32

QuickbreathFinisher: Sep 28, 2008; by reading this post you have agreed to form a gay socialist micronation.
`

Is Marco at the most near deaths at this point, or is it Rachel or maybe even Jake who did literally die twice? feels like it's definitely not Tobias, Ax, or Cassie. I'm morbidly curious which kid has been through the meat grinder the most at this point.

# ? Oct 3, 2022 07:20

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Soup du Jour posted:

Ax, Marco, and Tobias loving around on the internet is one of my favorite bits, and I wish that it happened more in the last arc of the series

For the first time the joking here actually feels like genuinely good-natured banter between old friends who care about each other; in the past it felt like when the jokes had hidden barbs, Marco and Tobias actually meant to be mean to each other. Might just be my imagination, but it feels right for this point in the series.

QuickbreathFinisher posted:

Is Marco at the most near deaths at this point, or is it Rachel or maybe even Jake who did literally die twice? feels like it's definitely not Tobias, Ax, or Cassie. I'm morbidly curious which kid has been through the meat grinder the most at this point.

Off the top of my head the closest to death we've had in terms of actually almost bleeding out is:

- Marco as dolphin early on
- Jake as a fly on the plane

There's other "near death" stuff like Tobias almost getting drowned by the racoon which is terrifying but not starting-to-fade-away level of gore.

And I think all the stuff from the time travel Megamorphs doesn't count, either for us as readers or them as individuals. Did Jake even remember getting shot in the head?

# ? Oct 3, 2022 11:49

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Marco is also near death and only saved by the Chee in the book where they're introduced (which is why he's unconscious when a reprogrammed Erek murders every Yeerk controller in an office building).

# ? Oct 3, 2022 13:37

SonicRulez: Aug 6, 2013; GOTTA GO FIST

Trying harder to catch up with the thread. I can really only read like this in spurts. David. I liked the Animorph premise and the cast. But David is what really hooked.me something serious. What a dark plot.

# ? Oct 4, 2022 01:01

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

JFC ripped his loving beak off, and on balance Marco is one of the more adjusted kids

# ? Oct 4, 2022 02:02

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

Marco is also near death and only saved by the Chee in the book where they're introduced (which is why he's unconscious when a reprogrammed Erek murders every Yeerk controller in an office building).

Pretty sure they explicitly said he died and Erek needed to restart his ape heart.

# ? Oct 4, 2022 02:05

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# ? May 27, 2024 20:42

Zore: Sep 21, 2010; willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d�etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things

Let's count some of the worst stuff that's happened to all of them so far ignoring all the big events where everyone got hosed up like constant morphing so they didn't freeze to death in the arctic;

Jake;

Infested by a Yeerk then had to go through it dying in his head
Got pasted as a fly and almost bled out on a plane
Was about to kill his brother to stop him from killing their dad

Rachel;

Stayed to watch David become a nothlit
Killed him or brought him back to his own personal hell later
Got literally cut in half

Tobias

Horribly tortured by a deranged Yeerk
"involuntary" nothlit
Everything about his family situation is insane

Cassie

Became a caterpillar nothlit
Aldrea possessed her and almost took over her body
Killed a dude back in book 1

Marco

Most severe injuries I can remember (this one, dying as a Gorilla and having Erik restart his heart, that time he got rabies and almost died)
Had to deal with his mother being the host for Visser 1

Ax

Got infested by a yeerk while delirious
Met other Andalites 3-4 times, betrayed by at least some of them literally every time

Zore fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Oct 4, 2022

# ? Oct 4, 2022 02:17

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > Let's Read Animorphs! The Whole Series! Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges

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