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

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

«‹›236 »

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

Not stupid, though. He knew if he'd seen it there were decent odds the Andalites had too.

And to be fair, the morphing cube on the loose does seem like a justifiable situation for the brute force option. This is not something you'd want to leave to chance.

# ? Apr 15, 2021 12:59

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 27, 2024 16:06

HisMajestyBOB: Oct 21, 2010; College Slice

Plus, from the Yeerk's perspective, it really looks like a trap by the Andalite guerrillas, so better to show up in force.

# ? Apr 15, 2021 18:19

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Animorphs-Book 20-The Discovery, Chapter 15

quote:

David�s room started out with the usual four walls.

Within seconds, it had only two.

It was an explosion of wild, insane violence.

A bunch of Hork-Bajir, a grizzly, two humans, a tiger, a real Andalite, an Andalite-Controller, and me, Snake-boy.

SLASH!

ROAR!

<Andalite scum!> Visser Three cried, enraged.

The bed ripped apart. Foam rubber protruded from the gash.

SLASH!

FWAPP!

<This time you won�t escape, Visser,> Ax said bravely.

Rachel swung one ham-sized paw, hit a Hork-Bajir warrior, and knocked him through the wall. Not into the wall. Through the wall.

<About time you guys showed up!> I said. <We were getting our butts kicked.>

<Is there some reason why you�re a snake?> Jake asked.

<Long story,> I said.

Crash! Someone or something went out the window.

I slithered forward, under the feet of the Hork-Bajir. I was looking for Andalite hooves. I was looking for Visser Three. I was going to drain my venom sacs into him.

But down there on the ground, looking up at all these monstrously tall creatures screaming and roaring and slashing and stomping, it wasn�t easy.

Suddenly, Jake cut loose. Rachel�s grizzly might be scarier to see, but Jake�s tiger was amazing to hear.

RRRRROOOOOOOOOWWWWWRRRR!

I mean, the floor jumped from the sound waves. The windows rattled. You could feel the air vibrating.

Then, hooves! Delicate, Andalite hooves. But whose? Ax? Or Visser Three?

As I stared through snake�s eyes, I saw the hoof changing. Melting. And now growing.

It was Visser Three morphing!

I reared back. I flexed the bones that flared my hood. And I -

A hand reached down and grabbed me behind the neck. It was David. �Look out, Spawn!� he cried. <You idiot, put me down!> I roared in thought-speak.

David jumped back, startled, and dropped me. I spun, looking to take my shot. But then -

WHUMPF!

A big Hork-Bajir foot came down on me.

It didn�t kill me, but it sure slowed me down. I lay there stunned, gazing up at Visser Three as he morphed.

Visser Three has morphs acquired from dozens of planets and moons spread all across the galaxy. We�d seen some of them. I had never seen this one.

It was as purple as Barney the Dinosaur. But it was not cute. And it didn�t look to me like an animal that would sing �I love you, you love me.� This purple monster did not have a happy family.

It rose from the body of Visser Three, hunched over beneath the ceiling. It had massive shoulders. Massive enough to make Rachel�s grizzly shoulders look puny. It stood on two widely separated feet, each with four thick toes as big around as my thighs. Its face � if you could call it a face � was in the center of its upper body, so it couldn�t turn and look behind itself, only straight forward. Two big eyes blinked from where a guy�s chest would be. Weird? Oh, yeah. Definitely weird.

As I watched in horror, the mouth grew, splitting open, a red-rimmed gash across the creature�s belly. Serrated teeth and a tongue that lolled out almost like my own snake tongue.

And all of that was bad. But it wasn�t as bad as what came next. Because from the shoulders grew four arms, two on each side. The arms started off smooth and muscular at the shoulder. But they became increasingly wrinkly as they went down toward the place where the hands should be.

And instead of hands there were bony, deep, deep red points. They looked like, like, I don�t know, like really sharp traffic cones. You know those things they put up on the highway to divert traffic? That�s what they looked like: sharp cones on the end of the four arms.

The two sides had separated a little: Rachel, Jake, and Ax on one side, bloody, sweaty, gasping, hurt, and mad. And the Hork-Bajir and Visser Three on the other side of the room. Between the two sides were the utterly destroyed remnants of David�s bed.

Two of the walls were essentially gone. One wall now opened into a bathroom. David and his father were in there. David�s father had his gun, but he was looking wildly from one of us to the other, probably wondering where to shoot. Who were the good guys?

The other battered wall opened onto the master bedroom. Twisted, shattered two-by-fours stuck out here and there. Slabs of Sheetrock were all askew.

I wondered where Tobias and Cassie were. But then I realized I could hear a whole other battle taking place downstairs. They were covering our rear.

Visser Three had completed his morph.

<It�s called a Dule Fansa,> he said. <A rather fanciful name, don�t you think? Would you like to see what it can do?>

He aimed one traffic cone hand at Ax. FwooooooOOOMPH!

It shot out like a rocket. The wrinkled skin at the bottom of the arm extended, stretched, zoomed right out! The cone shot toward Ax. Ax dodged but caught a glancing blow that knocked him to his knees. The cone shot right on past Ax, into the one remaining wall, and punched a two-foot hole
through it.

In the blink of an eye, the cone hand retracted and wrinkled up, ready to fire again.

<Now, let�s make this simple,> Visser Three said confidently.

Does he really think they think he'll let them live if he gets it? I mean, come on, man. One of the disadvantages of never showing mercy is that the threat "Do X or you will die" doesn't have much of an effect.

Chapter 16

quote:

Fact One: There was no way we could let Visser Three have that box.

Fact Two: I didn�t even know where the box was.

Fact Three: There were now six Hork-Bajir crammed into the room and the adjoining master bedroom. Plus Visser Three in his powerful morph. More Hork-Bajir downstairs were keeping Cassie and Tobias from helping us.

So Fact Four was: We were not going to win this fight.

<We need to bail,> I said to Jake and Rachel.

<We can�t. If we leave, the Yeerks can tear this place apart and find the box,> Jake pointed out.

<Where is the stupid box?> Rachel wondered.

I should point out that thought-speak is a little like E-mail. It�s only heard by the people you want it to be heard by. Unless you�re speaking �in the open,� in which case it�s like any normal voice and can be heard by anyone within range.

The three of us were talking only to each other. But when the Visser spoke it was for all to hear.

<I�m not a patient Yeerk,> Visser Three said. <I�ll have the blue box. And I�ll destroy you all. But if I get the blue box now, I may decide to destroy you some other time.>

<Only David knows where the box is,> I pointed out.

<Okay,> Jake said. <Ask him.>

<David,> I said, directing my thought-speak to him. <David, listen to me.>

I saw his frightened eyes darting, looking for the source of the voice. He was in the bathtub. Not a bad place to be, considering the other choices.

<David, listen to me. I�m on your side. We have to rescue that box. So we have to know where it is.>

Visser Three glared at Ax with his chest-mounted eyes. <Brave Andalites,> he mocked. <You�ll let me kill these humans rather than give up the box?>

�No!� David shouted suddenly. �I have the stupid box. Just let us go. I have the stupid box right here in my backpack, if you want it so bad.�

He started to unsling his backpack. And about ten other things happened at once. The Hork-Bajir leaped for him.

His father fired. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! CLICK �

Ax whipped his tail toward the Visser�s morph.

Rachel muscled forward, trying to grab David or his backpack or both.

The Visser took Ax�s tail blade on one pile-driver arm. �Aarrraaawwwggghh!� the Visser screamed as Ax�s blade sliced neatly through one arm.

Jake coiled his powerful legs and leaped straight at the Visser, ignoring the Hork-Bajir.

I struck the closest Hork-Bajir leg I could find and emptied my poison sacs into him.

<Rachel! Get that kid outta here!> Jake yelled.

Rachel bellowed, lowered her head, landed on all fours and ran straight at David. Like a train. Like a Mack truck she ran. Straight at him.

Hork-Bajir slashed at her. I shot a glance and saw what she was doing. There was a smallbathroom window. She was going to try to shove him through it. Not exactly fun for David, getting rammed through glass and dropped from the second story, but David�s alternatives weren�t too good.

Rachel ran.

David cowered.

And the Visser fired two massive pile-driver cone hands straight for David.

WHUM-WHUMPH! WHAM! CRUNCH!

The cone hands missed and blew a hole in the outer wall of David�s bathroom. In a flash he was swept up by a mountain of bear, shoved through the shattered plaster and glass, and propelled out into the late afternoon air.

I knew Visser Three could not afford to go racing around a subdivision in his alien morph, followed by a dozen Hork-Bajir warriors. But I also knew he was going to take it out on someone. And the someones were me, Ax, and Jake.

WHAM! The pile-driver fist fired at Jake. I felt the breeze from it as it shot past my face. It hitJake in the flank. He went down hard.

WHAM! The left side fired at Ax. Ax dodged, but just barely. He staggered aside and almost fell through the hole. He was off-balance, teetering. He couldn�t hold on, so he turned it into a jump. By the time he hit the ground outside, he was already morphing out of his Andalite body.

<Jake, run!> I yelled.

He ran. But his back legs were dragging.

The Hork-Bajir encircled him, slashing, hacking, attacking. And I was helpless!

Then, swift, silent, unexpected, a flash of gray and white burst into the room. A wolf, running low to the ground, teeth bared. Cassie!

She leaped straight onto the back of the closest Hork-Bajir and locked her jaws on the back of his neck.

Jake staggered the last few feet to the hole in the wall and half-jumped, half-fell through it, toland hard and painfully on the grass below.

Cassie unclamped her jaws and used the back of the Hork-Bajir to simply spring over him, sail through the wall, and drop gracefully to the ground below.

Everyone was out. Everyone but me and David�s father. Two Hork-Bajir had him by the arms.

He was yelling. He was crying his son�s name, over and over.

�David! David! David!�

I was still there. Visser Three�s awful gaze focused on me.

I slithered under the bed, fast as I could. I raised up into strike position, hooked myself over one of the bed slats, and held on, wishing I were a python.

Powerful hands threw the bed back.

<Hah-hah! We�ll have one Andalite to play with, at least!> Visser Three gloated.

But what they saw on the floor was not me. It was Spawn.

The Hork-Bajir threw a towel over Spawn and gathered him up. They stomped away, down the stairs, carrying what they thought was an Andalite in morph.

I didn�t want to think what they�d do to the poor snake. Maybe just hold him, waiting for him to demorph.

But maybe when they realized that wasn�t happening, they�d do other things. Visser Three is an evil, vengeful creature.

As for David�s father � he�d seen too much. There was only one fate for him: Within hours he�d have a Yeerk slug inside his brain.

His life as a free human being was over.

Visser Three stayed behind for a moment, after his Hork-Bajir and their prisoners were gone.

Did he sense something wrong? Did he sense that I was still there? I was in plain sight, curled tightly around the upturned bed slat.
I froze. I was so still I could have been dead.

Visser Three demorphed. Back to his stolen Andalite body. He took one last look around the room.I wished he�d come closer. Maybe my poison sacs were full again. Maybe I had enough to destroy him.

But he didn�t come within range. He morphed into his human form and walked calmly from the room.

Poor David's father. If it helps, given that Marco had just bitten that Hork Bajir, I don't think he had enough poison in him to affect Visser Three.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 04:03

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I love how insanely that mission escalates. A quick, covert break-and-enter to unplug a computer erupts into a huge battle and the wholesale destruction of the house.

quote:

<This time you won�t escape, Visser,> Ax said bravely.

A nice nod back to Ax's crisis of conscience after his duel with the Visser in 18; a little reminder that regardless of who's narrating any particular book, everyone else has their own thought processes going on.

I wonder what the Visser's wearing as his human morph clothing? Can't see him as a bike shorts kind of guy.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 04:52

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

freebooter posted:

I wonder what the Visser's wearing as his human morph clothing? Can't see him as a bike shorts kind of guy.

Neither Yeerks, Hork-Bajir, nor Andalites fully understand this human concept of "clothing", so maybe you're making unwarranted assumptions here.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 05:04

Homora Gaykemi: Apr 30, 2020; by Fluffdaddy

Epicurius posted:

Neither Yeerks, Hork-Bajir, nor Andalites fully understand this human concept of "clothing", so maybe you're making unwarranted assumptions here.

i was gonna say, the idea of Visser 3 strolling out in the nud, thinking he's being real inconspicuous, is the best/funniest option

# ? Apr 16, 2021 05:12

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

Oh my god they grab the wrong snake

That poor thing is gonna be the toughest nut to crack V3 has ever had

# ? Apr 16, 2021 05:16

Bobulus: Jan 28, 2007

Imagine being the yeerk inside David's father's head, trying to explain to an insurance agent what happened to your house without giving away any alien secrets.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 05:55

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

Bobulus posted:

Imagine being the yeerk inside David's father's head, trying to explain to an insurance agent what happened to your house without giving away any alien secrets.

Against all odds, the Yeerks seem to at least be marginally OK at coverups. That's assuming that the agent isn't also Yeerked. could be useful to have someone at the insurance agency to write in a "galactic damage" clause.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 06:06

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

QuickbreathFinisher posted:

Against all odds, the Yeerks seem to at least be marginally OK at coverups. That's assuming that the agent isn't also Yeerked. could be useful to have someone at the insurance agency to write in a "galactic damage" clause.

Covering things up is a lot easier when the witnesses say exactly what you want.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 06:11

WrightOfWay: Jul 24, 2010

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

Covering things up is a lot easier when the witnesses say exactly what you want.

Plus the Yeerks seem to have people in law enforcement and the media.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 06:39

GodFish: Oct 10, 2012; We're your first, last, and only line of defense. We live in secret. We exist in shadow.

And we dress in black.

Do we know if thought speech translate languages? Do any animals ever react to thought speech? Will spawn get anything out of visser threes interrogation?

# ? Apr 16, 2021 07:38

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

GodFish posted:

Do we know if thought speech translate languages? Do any animals ever react to thought speech? Will spawn get anything out of visser threes interrogation?

I think a more relevant question is whether snakes can feel pain.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 07:44

Grammarchist: Jan 28, 2013

I appreciate the "X-Com multiple pod activation" feel of this chapter. Just a complete clusterfuck.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 08:09

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

Grammarchist posted:

I appreciate the "X-Com multiple pod activation" feel of this chapter. Just a complete clusterfuck.

I always love "everyday environment is subjected to absolute carnage" scenes, like X-Com missions in a residential neighborhood, cs_office, or the Burgertown mission from COD.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 11:16

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

freebooter posted:

I love how insanely that mission escalates. A quick, covert break-and-enter to unplug a computer erupts into a huge battle and the wholesale destruction of the house.

Yeah. It makes sense, like people mentioned, the Visser would have to roll in and get that immediately. Plus David's dad captured and hand damage. It definitely feels like the writers stopped pulling punches where maybe they had sometimes before.

Grammarchist posted:

I appreciate the "X-Com multiple pod activation" feel of this chapter. Just a complete clusterfuck.

Yup. I was going to say, it feels like a tabletop combat or something that goes completely off the rails, like a game of Fiasco.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 11:53

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

quote:

The fight had been rowdy. Now it was going nuclear.

David was going to have a real problem cleaning up his room.

I don't know why, but this is one of the lines from Animorphs that stuck with me from reading them as a kid.

e X posted:

I always love "everyday environment is subjected to absolute carnage" scenes, like X-Com missions in a residential neighborhood, cs_office, or the Burgertown mission from COD.

This is the number one reason I never got into X-COM 2, the sci-fi battles happening in every day environments is a huge part of the game's appeal for me.

# ? Apr 16, 2021 12:26

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

<You are strong, Andalite. Hours of torture and not a single word. But I am patient. You will break, eventually, and then you will tell me all I wish to know.>

*Visser Three kicks snake around the room some more*

# ? Apr 16, 2021 13:04

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Animorphs-Book 20-The Discovery, Chapter 17

quote:

Police rushed to the scene. We heard their sirens as we were escaping and demorphing. But by the time they got there, my friends were gone. So were the Yeerks.

David�s house was practically a hollowed-out shell.

I demorphed to human, then to osprey, and I flew away just as the police came rushing inside. I spotted my friends down below. They had all demorphed, except for Ax, of course, who had morphed his human form.

They were manhandling David along between them. He was unconscious. I didn�t know if the fall had knocked him out or what.

I swooped down and landed in a Dumpster in an alleyway. I demorphed there, away from prying eyes, and climbed out. The others were just reaching the alley.

�Hey,� I said, catching their attention. Jake hustled the still-groggy-but-reviving David into the alley.

Rachel and I helped place David gently against the greasy brick wall.

�They took his dad,� I said.

<They took his mom, too,> Tobias said, swooping down silently to land on the lip of the Dumpster. 

�She�ll be a Controller next time anyone sees her,� Rachel said. She looked down at David. �Poor kid.�

�He has no one to go home to,� Cassie said. �Visser Three knows his name, his face, his address. By now he knows what classes he�s in at school and where he hangs out. He�s marked. If we let him go they�ll take him, too. They�ll make him a Controller.�

I nodded. Then I reached into his backpack and fumbled around till I felt the smooth, hard edges. I withdrew my hand, holding the blue box.

�He hasn�t seen any of us,� I said. �He can�t give us up to the Yeerks. They�ll take him, make him a Controller, and he still won�t be able to give us up.�

<What do you want to do, Marco?> Tobias asked. <Just write this kid off?>

�You have another idea?� I said.

�Harsh,� Rachel commented. But I could see she agreed with me.

�There is perhaps one other alternative,� Ax said. He was in his weirdly handsome/pretty human morph. He�d created the morph by taking DNA from Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and me. To this day it�s weird, looking at him and seeing elements of myself joined with elements of Rachel, Cassie, or Jake.

�What alternative?� Jake asked Ax.

�We have the box,� Ax said. �Box. Box-uh. We could use it. The box-uh.�

We all stared at him.

�Create a new Animorph?� I asked skeptically.

�Create a new Animorph!� Cassie said enthusiastically.

Jake was nodding. Rachel was thinking about it, looking from Cassie to Jake back to David, zoned out on the ground.

�I don�t like it,� Rachel said.

�The question is, do we have any alternative?� Jake argued. �I mean, look, the kid is gonna wake up. I can�t keep him knocked out. So it�s down to this: We either make him one of us, or we leave him, right here, right now. In this alleyway. With parents who will be Controllers soon. With Visser Three
knowing his name and looking for the blue box.�

�It�s harsh,� I said, �but I don�t see this guy fitting in with us. We don�t know him.�

<We didn�t all know each other back when Elfangor used the box on us,> Tobias pointed out.

�We didn�t know you, Tobias,� Rachel said. �But Cassie and I were already best friends. Cassie and Jake were, um � friends. Jake was my cousin. Marco was his best friend. There were connections. Aside from you. And Ax. With this David guy, no connections.�

It�s weird, somehow, the way Rachel and I often end up on the same side. She likes Tobias more than me, and Cassie a lot more than me, but it�s often the two of us together on big issues.

�Big risk,� Jake said thoughtfully. �If he works out, we�re stronger. If he doesn�t � �

�Look, we have the box, right?� Cassie said. �The point is, maybe David here is just the first of many. I mean, we can use the box to create more and more Animorphs. Dozens. Hundreds. The more of us there are, the more we can hurt the Yeerks.�

That was a pretty good point. I hadn�t thought of that. But she was right. It wasn�t just about this one kid. It was about a long-term strategy.

Rachel looked at me. �If you�re in a war, you want more troops rather than less, right? Makes sense. Besides, we could be a little less cautious that way. With just us six we have to be careful.�

I could feel a rush of excitement at the idea. I mean, Rachel was right, too. We had to be so careful now. We couldn�t afford to take some risks. With more Animorphs, we could try to let the whole world know what was happening. We could infiltrate the Letterman show and morph onstage and make people realize what we were saying was true. Or go to the President and show him our powers and then he�d have to listen to us.

We could actually win the war, instead of just maintaining.

And yet �

I spread my hands, pleading. �He names his cat Megadeth. He has a cobra named Spawn. What kind of a kid is that?�

Cassie shrugged. �A kid with bad taste in music and good taste in comic books?�

 Tobias said. <But it�s Jake�s call.>

�Yes, Prince Jake should decide,� Ax agreed.

�This is a big step,� Jake said, shaking his head firmly. �If Erek is right, and he usually is, we are coming up against the toughest mission ever. The most important mission ever. I�m not going to make this decision on my own. Not this time. We do this by vote. Simple question: Do we make David one of us, yes or no?�

<Yes,> Tobias said. <Can�t just leave him to Visser Three.>

�I vote yes,� Cassie said. �We have to make a leap of faith here and hope it will work out.�

I snorted. I can�t help it. It�s my automatic reaction any time people start talking about �leaps of faith.� Cassie smiled tolerantly at me.

�I should not vote,� Ax said. �I follow Prince Jake. Jay-kuh.�

Jake shook his head. �Nope. You are a part of the group, Ax. In battle, maybe there isn�t time to vote on everything, but this is a democracy.�

�Then I vote no,� Ax said.

My eyebrows shot up. There were six of us altogether. This vote could still go my way.

<Just out of curiosity, why, Ax-man?> Tobias asked.

�We are not an army. We are a guerrilla group,� he said. �Guerrilla, gorilla? The differences between the two words are very subtle. You humans should not make your words so � But my pointis, going from six members to seven will not make us much stronger, and it carries risk. Risssss-kuh.�

�If we�re talking about having hundreds, maybe thousands of Animorphs eventually, don�t we have to start somewhere?� Cassie asked.

�Yes,� Ax agreed. �But we should start with someone we understand. Not a stranger. We have this mission before us, to save the human leaders of your various countries. A seventh person might help us. But it might also make our team indecisive, uncertain.�

Jake looked at me.

�I�m with Ax,� I said. �Something about this guy doesn�t feel right to me.�

�Two in favor, two against,� Jake summarized. �Rachel?�

Rachel would vote against. Then, even if Jake was for it, we�d have a tie. Jake would never go ahead if we had a tie vote. I was starting to feel relieved and guilty all at once. I didn�t enjoy thinking about David�s fate.

�Let�s do it,� Rachel said.

�What?� I yelped.

�You heard me,� Rachel said. �Ax makes a good point. One extra member just adds risk. But Cassie�s right, too. We have to start somewhere, now that we have the box. What are we going to do, run an ad in the newspaper? �Help wanted: danger, nightmares, big-time creepiness, no pay? Have you ever wanted to turn into a bug and fight brain-stealing aliens? Well, call �1-800-ANIMORPH.��

Cassie laughed. �The sad thing is, Rachel, you would actually respond to an ad like that.�

Rachel laughed. �Exactly. So you see the kind of people we�d get.�

It was up to Jake now.

David moaned and moved his head. His eyes fluttered open.

�Who are you?� he asked, blinking up at Jake, then looking around at the rest of us.

Jake sighed. �We�re the people who are going to totally change your world, David.�

So, there we go. The Animorphs...and Ax.....and David.

It is interesting, Marco's observation, and also true, that even though they don't really like each other that much, Marco and Rachel usually have similar points of view. If anything, I think they agree more with each other than any other two Animorphs. I'm not sure who comes next in that paring.

Chapter 18

quote:

�They are called Yeerks,� Jake said.

We were back in Cassie�s barn, among the caged, wounded animals. Amidst the smells of hay, medicine, and animal poop. David was sitting on a bale of hay, rubbing his jaw. We were standing around him.

�They are a parasitic race from another planet. They are not much more than gray slugs, really. But they enter your brain and reduce you to slavery. Those big, seven-foot-tall creatures that were in your house? Those are Hork-Bajir. They have Yeerks in their brains. An entire species already enslaved by the Yeerks.�

�And now they�re after the human race,� Cassie said. �There are thousands of humans who�ve been made into Controllers. That�s what you call a creature who�s controlled by a Yeerk.�

�My brother is one,� Jake said.

�And by now, David, so are your mother and your father,� I said.

Cassie shot me an angry, disapproving look. Jake obviously agreed with her. I shrugged. �He needs to know what�s happening,� I said. �He needs to know this isn�t just some game.�

�What about my mom and dad?� David asked me directly.

I sighed. �Look, it�s all about that blue box you found. The Yeerks want it. The guy who turned into the big purple pile driver? That�s Visser Three. He�s the leader of the Yeerks here on Earth. He�s running the invasion, okay? As you may have noticed, he wants the box. And he allowed your father, and your mom, too, I guess, to see the truth. To see him. And that�s a no-no. The Yeerks don�t want people knowing what�s happening, not yet. So he�s going to keep your mom and dad quiet. Plus, he�s going to find out what they know about the box.�

David shook his head, not understanding. �Are you saying he�ll torture them or something?�

�Man,� I muttered. Explaining everything was going to be hard. I walked over and stood right in front of David. �Listen to me. By now your parents have been taken to a secret, underground facility called a Yeerk pool. It�s not a nice place. Picture a sludgy cesspool of a pond the color of molten lead. There are two steel piers leading out over the pond. Hork-Bajir warriors will drag your parents out to the end of one of those piers. They will -�

�Marco!� Cassie said angrily.

�They will drag them out to the end of that pier and they will kick their legs out from under them and force their heads down into the sludge. And while they are kicking and screaming and calling for help, a Yeerk slug will swim over and it will squeeze into one ear. And it will flatten itself out and
squeeze and burrow and dig its way into their skulls, where it will spread around and into their brains. And the Hork-Bajir will yank them up out of the sludge, and they will start to feel that they cannot control their own arms or legs. Cannot open their own mouths or move their own eyes. The
Yeerk will open their memories like a person opening a book. They will be slaves. The most total slaves in all of history because even their own minds won�t be theirs anymore. Are you getting the picture?�

Throughout all this, David had just stared at me. But slowly, without me noticing at first, tears had begun to well up in his eyes, and now I jerked myself away. I was panting. Feeling like � I could see it all happening in my imagination. As I�d been talking, it wasn�t David�s mother I was seeing, it was my own.

That was incredibly brutal and cruel, but also probably necessary.

quote:

Silence in the barn. Even the animals seemed quiet.

�My mom is one,� I said flatly. �She�s a Controller.�

�There�s a lot to tell you, David,� Jake said quietly. �But Marco�s right. You need to know this isn�t a game. This is life and death. This is the future of the whole human race. It�s too late to help your parents. And as of now, you have no home and you can�t go back to school. You do, they�ll find you. And it�ll be you taking that long walk down the steel pier.�

I saw the expression in David�s eyes darken further still. It�s not every day someone tells you your life is over.

�This is stupid,� David said. �I mean � it�s not right. Can�t be. This is all some kind of trick.�

�You saw what went down at your house,� Rachel said.

�That could have been guys dressed up in costumes,� David argued.

�You saw Visser Three morph,� Cassie pointed out.

�What�s a Kisser Three?�

�Visser Three. With a �v,�� Jake said. �The one who looked like a deer with a scorpion tail. You saw him morph into that purple pile-driver monster.�

David looked sullen. �It�s all a trick.�

I shot a look at Rachel. She looked like she was already regretting her vote.

�Ax,� Jake said. �Demorph.�

Ax nodded his human head. �I would be glad to. It is very disturbing being without my tail. Disster-BING.�

�David, watch Ax. Watch him closely.�

David stared as Ax began to change. Hooves began to grow on his feet. His arms became thinner and weaker. Extra fingers emerged on his hands. His lips were sealed together, and then faded to the color of the surrounding skin, and finally disappeared altogether. His front legs began to emerge, growing straight out of his chest.

�Aaaahhh! Aaaahhh!� David cried. He jumped back, stumbled, and started to run.

Rachel grabbed him. �It�s okay, you�ll get used to it,� she said. She turned him around and pushed him back toward the hay bale he�d been sitting on.

There was a slight slurping sound as Ax�s tail began to appear. Ax fell forward on all fours. The stalks grew from the top of his head and then - pop! pop! - eyes appeared on the ends of the stalks.

�See?� Jake said. �No trick. This is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We call him �Ax� for short. He�s an Andalite. The Andalites are the good guys of the galaxy.�

�Mostly, anyway,� I muttered.

�Visser Three, who you saw in your room, has an Andalite body. But he�s a Yeerk underneath it all. He has just stolen and enslaved an Andalite.�

David was shaking. I don�t know how much he was absorbing. I felt like laughing. I mean, it was insane, of course. This poor kid is minding his own business one minute, and suddenly he�s in the middle of �

But come to think of it, that�s just what had happened to all of us, back one night when we walked through an empty construction site.

Back then I hadn�t even wanted anything to do with being an Animorph. Jake hadn�t wanted to be a leader. Cassie had just wanted to hug trees and take care of her animals. Tobias was a lost, messed up kid looking for someone to care about him. A human kid.

Rachel � well, I personally think Rachel was glad to see her life go this way. Rachel always was a warrior hiding inside a fashion queen.

How would David deal with it all? Would he resist, like I had? Would he embrace it like Rachel?

�There is one nice thing about all this,� Cassie said. �There is a compensation for all the danger and all the fear.�

David looked at her, uncomprehending.

�You know the wild animals who were fighting the Yeerks today? You know the birds who tried to steal the blue box before that?� I said. �Us. That was us. See, Visser Three and Ax aren�t the only ones who can morph. So can we. And now that we have this,� I lifted up the blue box, �so can you.�

�Any animal you can touch, you can become,� Cassie said. �A dolphin, a skunk, a wolf.�

�An elephant or a grizzly bear,� Rachel said.

�A gorilla. A shark,� I said.

�A tiger, a fly, a cockroach,� Jake said. �Any animal. Any size. But only for two hours at a time. You can never stay in morph for more than two hours.�

�Why?� David wondered.

�Meet the final member of the Animorphs,� I said. �David, my man, meet Tobias.�

Well, that whole presentation was kind of a kick in the teeth.

# ? Apr 17, 2021 04:03

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

Epicurius posted:

quote:
�He hasn�t seen any of us,� I said. �He can�t give us up to the Yeerks. They�ll take him, make him a Controller, and he still won�t be able to give us up.�

Marco is (unusually) wrong here, I think.

Yeah, David didn't see any of the kids morph. But Marco saw David with the blue box and immediately ran up to him and tried to buy it off him. David later talked to Marco about the bird home invasion and about the email going out. After the email went out and the Yeerks showed up, the Animorphs were in David's house already. There's basically zero chance the Yeerks don't snatch Marco and make him a Controller; either he's one of the Andalite bandits or he's close enough to them to be suspiciously interested in the box. One way or the other, they can't risk allowing David to be infested.

Epicurius posted:

It is interesting, Marco's observation, and also true, that even though they don't really like each other that much, Marco and Rachel usually have similar points of view. If anything, I think they agree more with each other than any other two Animorphs. I'm not sure who comes next in that paring.

Yeah, this is something KAA does really well: the way people think tends to be at least as predictive of who they agree with than who they most get along with. There's Marco/Rachel as the smart ones vs. Jake/Cassie as the caring ones and Tobias/Ax as the outsiders. But there's also Marco/Rachel as the ruthless ones vs. Jake/Ax as the lawful ones and Cassie/Tobias as the moralizers. Or Marco/Rachel/Ax as the logical side and Jake/Tobias/Cassie as the emotional. Or Marco/Ax/Tobias as the deliberate planners and Jake/Rachel/Cassie as the (more) spontaneous ones. The books are generally really good (though worse once we're in the ghostwriters) about putting each book's conflict on a different axis and drawing different lines as a result.

To respond to your musing, I think the next-most-common agreement is probably Jake/Marco, but that's not interesting. After that, though, might be Cassie/Tobias, and that fits more into the "they're not close but their POVs are."

# ? Apr 17, 2021 04:29

Mazerunner: Apr 22, 2010; Good Hunter, what... what is this post?

Interesting that Ax was the one to first suggest bringing David into the group/giving him morph powers, but later voted against it.

I guess since his first inclination was that he'd follow ~~don't call me Prince~~ Jake's lead, he figured the best, most soldierly thing to do would be to present the option for his leader's consideration, and only later realized/decided that he personally was not for it.

# ? Apr 17, 2021 07:26

GodFish: Oct 10, 2012; We're your first, last, and only line of defense. We live in secret. We exist in shadow.

And we dress in black.

Ax is definitely right though. I completely missed this section of the books so I don't know what happens here but adding one member is a massive risk for completely marginal gains. If they were recruiting a bunch of people at once it'd be a different story.

They probably should have just not told him about Tobias at first so he could safely watch him for a few days.

# ? Apr 17, 2021 07:32

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

disaster pastor posted:

Or Marco/Rachel/Ax as the logical side and Jake/Tobias/Cassie as the emotional.

Mazerunner posted:

Interesting that Ax was the one to first suggest bringing David into the group/giving him morph powers, but later voted against it.

I distinctly remember Ax's input here, and find it really interesting that he makes a very clear and concise argument against the recruitment of David specifically. He's my favourite character but is often, aside from in his own POV books, presented as the one-dimensional alien dude who's just a funny fish out of water. This is one of the cases where he isn't. (Although I think it also sticks in my memory because it's where I learned as a kid what a "guerilla" is.)

What I didn't remember, and is very funny, is that that they have this conversation standing above a semi-conscious David in an alleyway. If it had gone the other way I can imagine the fresh Yeerk in his head poring over those groggy, vague memories and trying to identify the human voices.

Also, this makes no sense, because there's no reason they can't do any of this right now...

quote:

I could feel a rush of excitement at the idea. I mean, Rachel was right, too. We had to be so careful now. We couldn�t afford to take some risks. With more Animorphs, we could try to let the whole world know what was happening. We could infiltrate the Letterman show and morph onstage and make people realize what we were saying was true. Or go to the President and show him our powers and then he�d have to listen to us.

...unless it's actually Marco's subconscious way of saying they could prod David (or some other rando) out onto the world stage and if he gets killed, nothing lost. Cold, dude.

# ? Apr 17, 2021 11:32

ANOTHER SCORCHER: Aug 12, 2018

Another interesting way to view the Cassie/Marco split is strategic thinking vs. tactical thinking. Cassie immediately realizes the box has the ability to end the war - it would let them recruit vastly more humans to their side and go from a guerrilla force to an army. Marco immediately realizes the tactical situation they have right before them - use the box on David or essentially abandon him to slavery.

# ? Apr 17, 2021 13:28

Bobulus: Jan 28, 2007

We've already seen that humans and Andalites use the power to morph differently in combat situations. They have different tech and different ways of thinking. Plus humans don't have the Time Sense that Andalites have.

In an all-out war, I don't think things would be a clean for humans as Andalites. Way more nohlits, way more morph-capable humans captured, etc.

# ? Apr 17, 2021 15:31

Crespolini: Mar 9, 2014

Morphing is great for saboteurs and assassins but not so much for open warfare I feel.

# ? Apr 17, 2021 18:49

WrightOfWay: Jul 24, 2010

Morphing makes sense for combat when you are kids with no access to weapons and fighting a guerilla war where they need to hide their identities but an actual military force would be more effective as just humans with guns and tanks.

# ? Apr 17, 2021 19:47

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Crespolini posted:

Morphing is great for saboteurs and assassins but not so much for open warfare I feel.

Which is why the Andalites use morphing for espionage and scouting. For actual combat, they have guns and bombs.

# ? Apr 17, 2021 20:59

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

Epicurius posted:

Which is why the Andalites use morphing for espionage and scouting. For actual combat, they have guns and bombs.

And of course their tails and genocide viruses

# ? Apr 17, 2021 23:45

Mazerunner: Apr 22, 2010; Good Hunter, what... what is this post?

the regenerative capabilities of morphing on it's own is a huge boon, let alone everything else

# ? Apr 18, 2021 00:48

Jazerus: May 24, 2011

Mazerunner posted:

the regenerative capabilities of morphing on it's own is a huge boon, let alone everything else

yeah, it's certainly a force multiplier for any military force. i think the calculus of the war remains unchanged no matter how many humans are given the morphing ability on the down-low though - exposure leads to open war and eventual yeerk victory without an andalite fleet in the region to intercept reinforcements, and even if you generously guess that a year has passed since elfangor's death at this point, the andalites are still a year out if they're even coming at all.

marco isn't really thinking straight here, he (unusually for him) is so off-balance that he hasn't considered all of the angles yet. CUBE is important but it's not war-changing for the kids to have it; the yeerks, on the other hand...

# ? Apr 18, 2021 01:09

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Jazerus posted:

yeah, it's certainly a force multiplier for any military force. i think the calculus of the war remains unchanged no matter how many humans are given the morphing ability on the down-low though - exposure leads to open war and eventual yeerk victory without an andalite fleet in the region to intercept reinforcements, and even if you generously guess that a year has passed since elfangor's death at this point, the andalites are still a year out if they're even coming at all.

The ultimate Yeerk problem right now is manpower----err, Yeerkpower. They have a massive technological advantage...spaceships that can cloak, and Dracon beams, both hand held and ship based,, but like Marco points out, in terms of Controllers, they have millions of Hork-Bajir, millions of Taxxons, and thousands of humans. In 1998, after massive cuts, the size of the US army alone was 1,406,830. The Chinese army was about 4 million., Russia 1.7 million, etc., all without widespread mobilization or conscription. And the Yeerks can't commit all their forces to Earth. They're fighting on multiple fronts. Without the need for secrecy, the Yeerks can expand their forces quicker than people can. Take over an area, force a slug into everybody's ear. But then they run into a logistical problem, which is that, can they get enough Kandrona generators on earth to feed their forces? I don't know if they can, if it comes down to it, not fast enough to meet their needs. I agree with you that Earth will probably still lose, in the end, but it's not a sure thing for the Yeerks, and a victory like that would be extremely costly for them.

# ? Apr 18, 2021 04:22

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Animorphs-Book 20-The Discovery, Chapter 19

quote:

David spent the night at my house. I told my dad it was a sleepover. I gave him my bed and I used my sleeping bag and an air mattress. An air mattress that had lost all its air by two A.M.

Just for the record, it is a sleepover. It's the very definition of a sleepover. Those first two sentences are a little bit like, "I was eating a grilled ground beef patty on a bun. I told my dad it was a hamburger."

quote:

Which was a good thing, because I woke up when David was sneaking from the room. I found him starting to make a phone call from the hall phone.

I put my finger down on the buttons before he could dial. �Ever heard of Caller ID?� I whispered.

�I�m calling my mom and dad,� he said fiercely.

I nodded. �Okay. But not from here.�

We got dressed and crept past my dad�s room and down the stairs. It was chilly outside and damp.�

Come on,� I said.

�Where are we going?�

�You want to call home, fine. We�ll call. But from a pay phone. And then we�ll see what happens.�

I led him down the street, hoping no cop would pass by and notice us. I wasn�t used to roaming the streets late at night. At least not as a human. Normally, I�d be in morph.

I took him down the dark, quiet subdivision streets, out through the gate, and along the boulevard to the 7-Eleven. There was a phone on the street side of the 7-Eleven parking lot.

�Okay, now listen up,� I said to David. �We do this my way. You can call. Tell your parents you�re all right. Don�t tell them who you�re with. Don�t tell them where you are. Got it?�

He nodded. But I don�t think he intended to listen to me. That was okay, because I wasn�t going to leave him alone. My finger would be half an inch from the little lever, ready to kill the phone call if I even thought he was about to say anything wrong.

David pumped in a quarter and started to dial. I grabbed his arm. �Before you do that, let me tell you exactly what�s going to happen. Your mom and dad will sound totally normal. They�ll tell you to come home. If you refuse, they�ll ask where you are. Ask them what happened today at the house. Just
that.�

David finished dialing.

�Hello? Dad? It�s me. It�s me.�

I waited while he listened.

�No, I�m not okay, I�m scared.�

Listening again.

I silently mouthed the words �ask him.�

�Dad, what happened? I mean, those were aliens and all.�

David listened. His eyes turned to me. I could see the dull fear.

�It was all a trick?� he echoed back. �It was guys from your work playing a trick?�

I rolled my eyes. I�d expected some lame lie, but that was really lame.

�Dad, I saw that one alien turn into something else. That was real.�

Pause.

�I�m okay, I�m-�

Click! I stopped the call.

David turned on me, furious. He looked eerie in the neon and fluorescent glow from the 7- Eleven.

�What are you doing?� he demanded.

I grabbed his sleeve. �Come on. That�s time enough.�

He shook me off. �Step off, Marco, you don�t tell me what to do.�

�Listen, you idiot, in about two minutes a couple carloads of Yeerks are going to come screaming up looking for you. They�ll trace the call.�

�My dad wouldn�t do that.�

�No? Come with me. We can watch. We can see what happens.�

He came with me across the boulevard. There�s a row of older buildings over there. The kind with deep, dark doorways. We slunk back into the shadows.

I was wrong. It didn�t take two minutes.

Two Jeeps, windows darkened, came roaring down the street a minute and a half later. The long, sinister limousine was not far behind.

Human-Controllers leaped from the Jeeps. No Hork-Bajir this time. Not out in the open.

�See?�

�That doesn�t prove anything,� David hissed.

But then another car came squealing up. David�s father and mother jumped out. They joined the others. His father began passing out photographs.

�Your picture,� I said.

�They�re guys from my dad�s work,� David said. �Other spies, like him.�

�What exactly does your dad do for a living?�

�He works for the National Security Agency. So, see, he would be able to trace the call, and he�d have his work buds with him. He�s just looking for me, that�s all.�

His father and two of the other men dodged traffic and ran across the boulevard. Others spread out into the store and around the back, looking here and there.

His father and the two men came down the sidewalk straight for us. We could hear their footsteps. We could hear his father�s voice.

�If we don�t find that kid, Visser Three will make us wish we were dead,� David�s father said.

I looked at David. I saw him sag. I was afraid he�d collapse.

�He�s coming this way,� David said, his voice cracking. �He�ll see us.�

<No, he won�t,> I said in thought-speak.

I guess David didn�t notice that he hadn�t really heard my voice. His father and the other two came closer.
And then �

PAH-LUMP, PAH-LUMP, PAH-LUMP, PAH-LUMP.

There came the sound of something running. Something large.

I stuck my head out of the shadows to watch. David did the same. The three Controllers heard the heavy galloping sound and turned.

There, running down the sidewalk, came a rhinoceros.

David�s father and one of the men were bright enough to get out of the way. The third man was not.

WHUMPF!

Rhino horn hit human flesh and human flesh didn�t do so well. The Controller flew up, over, cartwheeled once, and landed hard on the pavement.

<That would be Jake,> I said calmly. <He and the others have been taking turns watching my house in case there was any trouble. They followed us.>

David�s father turned, drew his gun, and aimed for Jake�s retreating butt. Not that a little pistol was going to do serious damage to a rhino butt, still �

I stepped out, wrapped one massive gorilla hand around the back of David�s father�s neck, and tossed him lightly against the wall. David�s father hit, bounced, and fell to the sidewalk with a sigh.

The other Controller took a long, gaping look at me. At my tree-trunk arms and bulldozer gorilla head and shoulders.

�It�s a trap!� he yelled and scurried back across the boulevard.

<Seen enough?> I asked David.

Honestly, can you imagine the psychological effect of all this on David here? He just moved to this town, and today, he saw his house destroyed, his parents taken away, was saved by a bunch of teenagers who explained that they were the only people defending earth from an alien invasion, was lied to by his parents, and then heard his dad talk about capturing him. Also, what number did David call? His house was just blown up. I guess people did have cell phones in the late 90s, and if his father worked for the NSA, he'd probably have one, but would David have memorized the number, or would it be more of a "work phone"?

Chapter 20

quote:

We moved David from my house to Jake�s house. We didn�t have any idea what to do with him long-term. He couldn�t go home. He couldn�t go anywhere. He was a hunted person. And we could not allow him to be caught. Not with what he knew.

I just want to point this out. Jake's brother Tom is controlled by a Yeerk. Said Yeerk is a top lieutenant of Visser Three, who is second in command of a cult to attract troubled teenagers for Yeerkification. As such, don't you think that the Yeerk will know that Visser Three is hunting a specific teenager in particular and know the details? So why are you hiding David in the house where that Yeerk lives?

quote:

The day after he witnessed his father as a Controller, we assembled in the woods. Cassie�s dad was working in the barn. Even though it was still chilly out and the sky was filled with clouds, we were tramping along, clutching our sweatshirts and jackets closed with one hand.

With the other hand we were carrying a large, divided wire cage. We�d passed poles through, front to back, one on each side. Cassie, Jake, Rachel, and I each had a pole-end. David walked alongside, a little off by himself. Tobias and Ax were in the woods.

In the cages were two big birds of prey: a merlin and a golden eagle. The merlin was about a quarter of the size of the eagle. The eagle was one big bird. And heavy. My carrying arm was straining.

Both birds had been patients of Cassie and her dad. Both were going to be released.

Tobias came swooping down, seemingly out of the clouds. He landed with easy precision on a small log.

<What are you doing with that?> he demanded, glaring at the eagle.

�Relax, relax, Tobias,� Cassie said, setting down the cage.

<You�re not releasing him near my territory,> he said flatly.

�Tobias, this bird has only been at the center for a couple of days. He has a well-established territory well back in the mountains. You know golden eagles don�t like roosting in trees if they can find a nice cliff. So he won�t be hanging around. But we can�t get him any closer to his territory, really, because the road back up there washed out.�

Tobias stared fiercely at her. But then, Tobias always looks fierce. That hawk face never looks exactly happy or relaxed.

He switched his gaze to David, then to Jake. It was a clear, unspoken question.

�David�s here to acquire his first morph. The merlin.�

�Which one�s the merlin?� David asked.

�The smaller bird,� Cassie said. �They�re very fast, very agile,� she added helpfully.

�Faster than the big one?� David asked.

<You don�t want to be a golden eagle,> Tobias said. <They�re jerks. They go after other birds. Not to mention anything from a rabbit to a small deer. And I�m not kidding about the deer. I saw a golden eagle take down a young doe. Sank those talons right into the back of her head, boom, she went down like she�d been shot.>

�I want to do the eagle,� David said.

A moment�s hesitation. �Any special reason?� Jake asked.

�Yeah. You tell me I have no home. No family. Now I�m supposed to be in the middle of some war with aliens. If I�m in a war, I want to kick butt.�

Jake nodded. �It isn�t always about sheer power. That golden eagle is as big as a bald eagle, and we have problems sometimes with Rachel being a bald eagle because of the size.�

�That bird has a seven-foot wingspan,� Cassie pointed out.

David nodded and looked down at the leaves and grass underfoot. �Did Jake here tell you all what animals to morph? Or did you pick them yourselves?�

�I�m not telling you what animal to morph,� Jake said calmly. But it was that calm voice Jake uses when he�s actually starting to get mad.

�Okay, then I�ll morph the eagle,� David insisted.

I know I shoouldn't mention this because it violates the Animorph's most sacred rule, but there's nothing stopping David from acquiring two morphs in one book. He could morph both the eagle and the merlin.

quote:

�Here�s an idea,� I said. �How about not being such a jerk? We saved you from the Yeerks. We�ve been doing this for a while, all right? We know what we�re talking about. And Jake is the leader of this little group, so how about if you show some respect?�

[quote]�Who are you, my father?� David sneered. �You don�t tell me what to do. No one tells me what to do. As for saving me, hah! That�s a joke. You wanted the blue box, and now you have it, and you know what I have? Nothing. That�s what I have, nothing. So thanks.�

I don�t know what I�d expected from David. I couldn�t be a hypocrite. I wasn�t thrilled about being an Animorph at first, either. I didn�t care about saving the world then. I just cared about my dad not getting hurt anymore. And I guess I didn�t really accept it all till I discovered my mother was a
Controller. That�s when I knew we had to fight.

�Look, kid -� Rachel began.

But Jake gave a little shake of his head and Rachel stopped talking and just fumed.

�You guys all think you�re so tough and so cool,� David said. �All these battles you�ve been in and all. But now, here I am, the new guy - as usual for me - and you don�t like me.�

�No one doesn�t like you,� Cassie said.

David turned his head to stare right at me. �He doesn�t. I�m not an idiot, you know. I can tell what people think about me. My family moves every couple of years whenever my dad gets transferred. I�m always the new kid in school. So I�ve gotten good at telling what people think of me.

And now, here I am in this different school. And I�m the new kid.� He shrugged. �So, look, maybe you like me, maybe you don�t like me. I don�t care. I�m here. If you use the blue box on me I�m one of you.

But I�m not going to get pushed around. And I�m not going to be all, �Oh, thank you, wise and wonderful Animorphs, for letting me join.� If I�m in, I�m in all the way. If not � I guess I�ll walk away and try to figure out what to do. On my own.�

The funny thing was, I kind of liked David�s little speech. I like people who push back when they get pushed. I liked the speech. I liked the attitude. I still didn�t like David.

But Rachel laughed out loud. �Oh, he�ll fit in fine.�

Jake looked at Tobias. �Where�s Ax?�

<Can�t you hear him? You people are so deaf. He�s galloping, should appear right about � there.>

Ax sprang lightly into view. he said. 

Jake hesitated, just a split second before saying, �Yes.�

Rachel had been carrying the blue box in a waist pouch. She unzipped the pouch, popped out the box, and tossed it to Ax. Ax missed the catch. Andalite hands are weak and slow. But before the box could hit the ground, Ax whipped his tail forward, turned the blade flat, and caught the box. He raised
the box to his hands.

<Press your hand on the square nearest to you,> Ax said.

�Wait! Shouldn�t there be some kind of ceremony or something?� Cassie said.

�Like what?� I asked. �You want us all to join hands and sing The Star-Spangled Banner�?�

�No, I don�t know all the words,� Cassie said.

With a sly grin she added, �We could sing �MMM-Bop.��

We all laughed. Even David.

Ax held out the cube in one hand. David stepped forward, still obviously a little intimidated by Ax. He pressed his hand down on the cube.

�It tingles,� David said.

Suddenly I was back in that dark construction site. Back with Jake and Rachel and Cassie, with a human Tobias and a dying Elfangor.

I barely recognized the person I�d been back then. I had changed. Everything had changed that night.

Now David, another kid not very different from any of us, had been dragged into this nightmare reality of great power and greater fear.

Maybe I didn�t like him. But I felt sorry for him.

I stepped up to him and stuck out my hand. He took it. �Welcome to the Animorphs, new boy.�

We each shook his hand. And then Cassie cracked open the cage of the golden eagle.

�You just put your hand in very slowly,� she instructed.

David�s shaking hand moved toward the bird.

�Now press your palm against the bird�s shoulder.�

He did. The eagle gave him a dirty look, but then ignored him.

�Focus your mind. See the eagle in your imagination. Think about him, what he is, what he represents.�

David�s eyes fluttered shut.

�Now take your hand away,� Cassie said softly. �You now have the golden eagle inside you. His DNA is in your blood. You can become him.�

David grinned. �When do I do it?�

�Soon,� Jake said. �We also have to get you a morph with some teeth. Cassie? Take David to the zoo. With your access he should be able to get in and out without being spotted, but the rest of us will fly cover. Let him have whatever morph he wants. But also get him a bug or two in case he has to get
small. We want to be ready,� he said, switching back to David. �We have a little � situation. A mission.�

�Nothing to worry about, though,� I said. �Just the usual: Save the world from the alien invaders. You�ll get used to it.�

I just want to say I like it when Tobias goes on rants about birds.

# ? Apr 18, 2021 04:52

Mazerunner: Apr 22, 2010; Good Hunter, what... what is this post?

Watching Marco's house, keeping an eye on David, totally prepared to take out the yeerk force, which they do swiftly and without fuss- probably the group's most competent moment yet.

Although, I do wonder how feasible it would have been to capture David's father? I guess not very, since they were in the middle of the city. Maybe if they had a car.

# ? Apr 18, 2021 05:50

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Mazerunner posted:

Watching Marco's house, keeping an eye on David, totally prepared to take out the yeerk force, which they do swiftly and without fuss- probably the group's most competent moment yet.

Mmm, I think they pulled off de-infesting Jake with fewer people/resources available.

Epicurius posted:

I just want to point this out. Jake's brother Tom is controlled by a Yeerk. Said Yeerk is a top lieutenant of Visser Three, who is second in command of a cult to attract troubled teenagers for Yeerkification. As such, don't you think that the Yeerk will know that Visser Three is hunting a specific teenager in particular and know the details? So why are you hiding David in the house where that Yeerk lives?

Lol this never occurred to me before but absolutely a big mistake on KA's part.

And it seems super crazy and risky to just let him call from around the corner. I like the idea of Marco's dad leafing through the paper the next day at breakfast. "Huh - apparently there was a rhinoceros attack down the street last night. How bout that."

# ? Apr 18, 2021 06:16

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

freebooter posted:

And it seems super crazy and risky to just let him call from around the corner. I like the idea of Marco's dad leafing through the paper the next day at breakfast. "Huh - apparently there was a rhinoceros attack down the street last night. How bout that."

"First leopards, then rhinos. We really need to move to a safer neighborhood."

# ? Apr 18, 2021 06:25

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

quote:
I stepped out, wrapped one massive gorilla hand around the back of David�s father�s neck, and tossed him lightly against the wall. David�s father hit, bounced, and fell to the sidewalk with a sigh.

I get that Marco's not actually trying to kill him, and thinks he can precisely control the gorilla's level of force and just ragdoll the dad around a little bit. But that's still a very good way to accidentally kill someone. :stare:

# ? Apr 18, 2021 06:41

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

If there's one thing that kids/YA/genre/adventure fiction really never made clear to me, it's that getting knocked on the head can easily kill you, and that if you're unconscious for more than a few minutes you've probably suffered a serious and permanent brain injury.

# ? Apr 18, 2021 06:51

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

freebooter posted:

If there's one thing that kids/YA/genre/adventure fiction really never made clear to me, it's that getting knocked on the head can easily kill you, and that if you're unconscious for more than a few minutes you've probably suffered a serious and permanent brain injury.

Unfortunately, it's a really common fiction trope that getting hit on the head by pretty much anything means instant unconsciousness, and the person just wakes up after, groggy, but never with a serious injury. I wonder where the idea came from.

# ? Apr 18, 2021 07:01

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 27, 2024 16:06

Shwoo: Jul 21, 2011

It's a easy mistake to make if you're not familiar with head injuries, and it's so convenient as a plot device that I'm sure writers who know better use it as well. Like just a few chapters ago, when David got knocked out, giving the Animorphs a chance to take him somewhere discreet and have a discussion on what to do with him.

It's interesting that both this book and the previous one involved taking huge risks that could easily go bad. In #19, everything turned out okay, even when it didn't really make logical sense, but it was very satisfying emotionally. But that was a Cassie book, and this is a Marco book.

The Animorphs aren't handling this very well, but they are in their early. And I don't know what else they could be doing to keep David safe, now that he's seen too much and the Yeerks know it.

quote:

�Wait! Shouldn�t there be some kind of ceremony or something?� Cassie said.

�Like what?� I asked. �You want us all to join hands and sing The Star-Spangled Banner�?�

�No, I don�t know all the words,� Cassie said.

With a sly grin she added, �We could sing �MMM-Bop.��

They should have brought an American flag so they could recite the Pledge of Allegiance. They must know the words to that.

# ? Apr 18, 2021 12:42

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

«‹›236 »