Chapter 1
I am one of the only living beings ever to defeat a Yeerk. The only living host that has successfully rebelled against a parasite that's evil knows no bounds. I am special. I am cursed.
Two months ago, my mentor, Miss Ruth, died. She was the only other person that destroyed the Yeerk controlling her. But the effort drove her insane. For a time she could control her outbursts, but in the end she lost control of herself; her powers that she acquired when she defeated the Yeerk consumed her. You see, her mind was not developed enough to deal with the great strength of mind that accompanies the overcoming of the Yeerk. I only have myself and Ruthie's experiences to draw on, and that's as close to a hypothesis as I can get.
With her death came my coming of age. Since disappearing and being presumed dead, I had been training myself how to use my mental powers, which stretch from mental domination to spontaneous healing to telekinesis. I am constantly strengthening myself and discovering new abilities. My new mission in life was to seek out the small Andalite force here on Earth and join them in fighting the Yeerks. I know they are based near here, in a large city about fifty miles from my old home. I wasn't too sure how to find them, but yesterday I had a brainstorm.
My plan was kind of stupid, know that I look back on it, but that was then. I had reached the end of my rope and thought, "Hey, just go for it."
Like I said, probably not very wise.
Anyway, I was going to go underground and stake out the Yeerk pool. When I was still a Controller, about four months ago, there were always reports coming in about the Andalite bandits attacking the Yeerk pool here, dumping oatmeal there, meddling with this and that. So I figured, hey, find a nice place to watch from, set up a mental force field and projection, and you'll be in business. Just wait for them to show up. Sounds easy, right? It should have been.
I saw my Grandma. She was in a cage, crying her eyes out. I had forgotten she lived around here. I wasn't expecting anything like this. Seeing her wasn't such a shock, however, because my entire family had become slaves after I had been taken. It's still gut wrenching to see someone who held you as a baby cry, though. For the longest time I just stood and stared. Then I shook myself. I was supposed to be dead. Even though I had changed my hair color and lost weight living in the woods, I needed to be careful. If Grams say me, her host would find out I was alive, and worse yet, that I was down in the Pool.
I began to inch my way along the wall, keeping with the shadows, when I ran into a small child. He was just sort of sitting there, but then I looked again and saw the Dracon beam in his small hands. This little kid, this little boy that couldn't be older than five, was a Controller.
In shock I pushed away, but then I realized my blunder. I was looking very out of place. Just as I feared, the kid pointed his Dracon beam at me and ordered me to stop. But no, I couldn't be stopped now, so I concentrated very hard, and suddenly the end of the Dracon began to melt. The heat radiated up through the gun and the boy had to drop it. But in the process he screamed in pain.
"Uh-oh," I thought, "This will just not do."
I bent over and whispered in the child's ear, almost speaking to the vile Yeerk wrapped around his brain, "Forget. Your Dracon beam malfunctioned and burned your hand. You never saw me. I do not exist."
"My Dracon broke, and it hurt me," the little kid said dreamily. "You don't exist."
With that thought implanted in his head, I turned on my heel and walked away just as a Hork-Bajir was coming to investigate.
I was catching my breath when I heard a horrible scream that somehow pierced my heart. The sounds of pain and sorrow already permeated the room with screams and sounds of despair, but this was different. This was Grams I could hear. Only then did my emotions catch up with me. For the past few months I have been hiding my pain, holding it all in. Those screams tore a hole in my heart, and suddenly all the emotions I had repressed came flowing out of me.
As I sat behind the building crying, sobbing really, I forgot to control myself. The past couple of months' mental discipline and control broke down. It was only a little, but it was enough. Suddenly the cavern around the Yeerk Pool was pure chaos. My sorrow was manifesting itself in an intense thunderstorm. Yup. It was underground and storming like there was no tomorrow.
As a bolt of lightening crashed just twenty feet in front of the shed, causing the ground to shake, I woke up from my little pity party. It was healthy for me and all, but yeesh, this was ridiculous. But the thunderstorm had a life of its own by now. I had to get up and into the open to stop it. Even if it risked blowing my cover, I couldn't risk killing all those innocent people in the cages. They could drown if I didn't act quickly.
I ran out from my hiding spot, tears still streaming down my face (not that you could tell in the torrents of rain). Out into the middle of the cavern, all the way to the infestation dock I ran. As I firmly planted my feet against the driving wind, I gathered all my energy and concentrated as hard as I could. I also prayed to God I could stop this thing, or we would all die. The cavern was already starting to flood.
Slowly the tempest began to die down, and within a minute stopped completely. With that done, I turned around to get the heck out of there when I saw him, Visser Three.
Oh, thank the stars, he was not talking about me. I don't think he even saw me. I quietly slinked away from the edge of the lake. But then...
<You there! Where are you going?>
Evidentially the Visser had just seen me sneaking away and thought I was responsible or something. How lucky for him. How bad for me. Suddenly I found myself surrounded by Hork-Bajir Controllers. There was no way out of this one. Then I heard a new voice.
"I know who that is, my Visser," the voice said. "It's my host's supposedly dead Granddaughter, she must have somehow gotten revived without her master Yeerk."
The look on my face was what convicted me. My own Grandmother, sending me to the gallows. Of course, it's not her anymore, I know that. But still, it's a horrible thing to have to accept.
<Well, then, deal with her.> the Visser said contemptuously. <Reinfest her. Now, who must I kill to find out what happened here?>
"NOOOOO!" I screamed in terror. Not this. Anything but this! I couldn't just use my powers to get away, I might lose control and end up blowing a mental fuse. I couldn't do anything after stopping that cyclone. But, the Yeerks would have my power. This could be a huge blow to my people. With my power to read minds, they could find reasons to get people to join them, or just dominate their minds into submission before infesting them. I could be the undoing of an entire race. What could I do? My mind raced. This was awful. This was unconceivable. But by this time, I was at the end of the infestation pier.
This caused quite a panic. All of a sudden, every Controller in the place was looking at me in wonder. Even Visser Three looked stunned. Then one of his human lieutenants whispered, "The Vessel has come. The prophecy has been fulfilled." Then he knelt down.
I looked around in utter confusion. What in the world was he talking about? Vessel? But then I noticed every Controller had bowed down or knelt in someway, except the Visser. Taxxons were bent with their grotesque mouths pointing down. Hork-Bajir had carefully squatted down on their haunches with their heads down, forehead blades pointing out. And the humans were kneeling.
The Visser said in a voice filled with awe, <So the stories are true.>
All this happened in a matter of seconds of the dead Yeerk hitting the deck. In a whirlwind of time, I found myself carefully taken to a special cell in the wall above the Yeerk Pool. It was exceptionally strong, and later I was told it was where Visser Three's Andalite host stayed when the Visser fed on Kandrona rays at this Earth based Pool. Soon everything was explained to me.
There is to be a Vessel, the second being ever to destroy a Yeerk. The first was a sort of a prophet, and that would have been Miss Ruth. The Vessel would be me. (Lucky me, huh?) Evidentially, just before the Vessel's death, one chosen Yeerk would enter its brain and take it over. There is only one Chosen One. Any other Yeerk would die trying to infest me. When the Chosen One controlled the Vessel, both would cease to exist consciously and become the great Conqueror, the final and greatest weapon that would make the Yeerk's conquest of the Universe possible.
This was all told to me in a much longer, way more boring version by a Human-Controller. She also told me that I was to remain passive and captive for the rest of my days, or else they would murder my family. They wouldn't touch me, of course, but simply cause me lots of mental anguish. I would be fed and actually kept pretty well, but I would never see the outside of my cell until I was infested with the Chosen One.
Meanwhile, I was sitting there thinking of ways to get out of here. There is no way I would let this happen to me. I can only hope that the Andalite bandits hear of this and try to rescue me. Or I could bust myself out. One thing is certain: that little prophecy is never going to be fulfilled.
In practicing and expanding my mental powers, I have noticed that as my mind gets stronger, my body gets weaker. I'm getting to the stage were my legs are almost useless. I have to float around using my powers, which in turn makes them grow, and physically weaken even more. This is the price of my accelerated evolution. Yuck.
Sometimes the Visser comes and looks in at me with frustration. I used my powers and found that he thinks he is the Chosen One. He isn't so sure, however, and this drives him crazy. Last time I was in here I went up to the triple reinforced window and whispered in his mind that there was only one way to find out. This really made him mad, because he knew that I knew he didn't have the guts to risk death. And the Visser hates an enemy to know he is afraid.
And so here I waited. Until today. As Visser Three had me studied, he couldn't see the true range of my powers. I feel like I can get out. I know that the Visser won't kill my parents. They are too integrated into his great scheme. Even if he does kill them, it's better than being a Controller. It's a horrible thing to realize something like that. I still hope he doesn't hurt them.
Hi, I'm Rachel. I have blond hair and am pretty tall.
My friends and I are the Animorphs, or as know to the Yeerks, the Andalite bandits. We have the ability to morph into any animal who's DNA we can acquire through touch. It was given to us by Prince Elfangor, before Visser Three murdered him.
My cousin Jake is our sort-of leader. He's the type you'd turn to in order to make decisions in a crisis anyway, so he emerged as the head of the group when this all started. My best friend Cassie, is his unspoken girlfriend, because neither will admit their feelings. Cassie is one of us, too. She's a short, African-American girl who loves animals.
Marco is the biggest pest in the world. He's Jake's best friend, and is the jokester of the group, even if all his jokes are stupid, it helps relieve some pressure in a tight spot.
Tobias is stuck as a hawk. We're um, close. He used to be a shy, soft-spoken sweetheart, and still is, except now he has a more intense aura about him.
Last but not least is Ax. Ax is an Andalite, Prince Elfangor's brother. Ax is a big blue deer that has a scorpion tail, a human looking torso, six fingers, no mouth, and stalks with eyes on the ends where a deer would have antlers. But we've know Ax a while now, so his being an alien doesn't faze us anymore.
We had all gathered in Cassie's barn, where her parents kept injured animals they were rehabilitating. Tobias fit right in, but Ax had to morph his human morph, which as a combination of Jake, Cassie, Marco, and I. Also with us was Erek King.
Erek is what is known as a Chee, a race of ancient robots created by the peaceful Pemalites. The Pemalites were destroyed, but the Chee lived on and grafted the essence of the Pemalites in with wolves, creating the dog.
The Chee are hard-wired non-violent, but want the Yeerks to be defeated. So they sabotage things here and there, and spy for us. When Erek shows up, it's always trouble. Nice guy and all, but he always brings bad news. He had wanted us all together for this new announcement of doom.
"We've known about this for about two weeks, but we wanted to find out if it was the truth," Erek said. "This is so major, we had to be sure."
"Well, spit it out!" I said impatiently.
But Erek turned to Ax instead. "Do you know anything about the ancient Yeerk prophesy? The one about the uninfestable being and the one Yeerk that could Control it?" he asked.
"Yes, but when we Andalites first contacted the Yeerks it was considered just a legend. Le-jund-a. Legund." Ax said, always fascinated with using a mouth.
"Well, guess what, it's true," Erek responded.
"So, for the unenlightened humans here, please explain what you guys are talking about," Marco burst in. "I don't have all day, you know. Dad ordered the pay-per-view-wrestling match this month. I can't miss that, it's Goldberg versus somebody from the NWO."
I was just about to cut in and tell Marco that watching sweaty old guys pretend to fight was right up his alley when Erek continued.
"As Ax said, it was considered to be a fable. This prophecy told of a being that defeated a Yeerk-" "As in killed it?" Jake broke in.
"Yes, as in killed it. That creature was to be reinfested, only to kill the second Yeerk. There was also to be another one who defeated its host, but that was a precursor to the actual prophesized one. And it's happened. Approximately one month ago such a person, a human, was found. This girl is known as the Vessel, and is being held in the Yeerk Pool. The prophecy tells of one Yeerk who can defeat the Vessel, and only one. This can only happen at the point of the death for the Vessel. When the Chosen One takes control, they shall meld together and become a super-powerful being that will ensure the Yeerks' victory. In short, certain doom for the Universe," Erek explained.
For a minute we all just stood there with our mouths open. This was big, bad, trouble.
<You guys, we have to get that girl out of there. Maybe we could keep her safe.> Tobias said.
"Or maybe we could kill her," Marco mused under his breath.
"Marco!" Cassie exclaimed. "We can't do that! It would be murder. We have to save this kid, whoever she is! Right Jake?" So far Jake had remained silent about this. "Cassie's right, Marco," he said wearily. "But if we can't save her, I guess we might have to do the worst."
"Actually, Prince Jake, this ancient prophecy said the Vessel would have tremendous powers. She might not be that helpless. She could actually help us. Act-julie. act-aaa," Ax added.
"Ax is right, she's supposed to be able to make things happen. In fact, she was captured after creating a huge underground thunderstorm that nearly flooded the entire Pool area," Erek said. "She could certainly help you."
"By the way, what is this girl's name?" Cassie asked.
"We don't know. She's usually just referred to as The Vessel." Erek told her.
"So, is it settled? Are we going to rescue this person?" Jake asked everyone.
"Let's do it!" I said.
And here is was. A Human-Controller opened the door and brought in a pizza (pepperoni, yum) and a bottle of Coca-Cola. I waited until he had closed the door and walked out.
I took one slice of pizza and ate it quickly, then took a swig of the Real Thing. I looked at the rest of the pizza longingly. But now was not the time to pig out. In my most powerful and concentrated thought I made the lights go out. All of them. The entire cavern was thrown into disarray. This also gave me the edge over surviellence cameras. Can't catch what you can't see. I then used my full power and send a wave of blistering heat and set that thick glass on fire. Only the glass blazed in intense heat and that amorphous liquid was the glass melted down. Within seconds there was a hole about three feet around formed at the top of the glass. I could see this with the flashlight beams starting to spark on everywhere. But never the less, it was time to get the heck out of Dodge.
I floated myself up towards the hole in the still smoldering and melting (and very smelly) glass.
Well, here we are, trying to get back to the Yeerk Pool, risking our lives to save humanity, or at least some Vessel chick. Erek had managed to get us past the security of the Pool entrance. Now we were trying to find where they were keeping this girl.
"Marco, give me those directions!" Rachel said as she snatched at the map I was holding. "You couldn't even find snake if it bit you on the nose."
"No way. I know what I'm doing. Besides, when do you get to become the supreme map-reader of the Universe, Xena?" I shot back.
<I see her!> Tobias thought down to us. He and Ax were in fly morph, since both would have been conspicuous. I mean, the bird-boy flying around underground. A stuttering, stumbling Ax in human morph? We would have been spotted within seconds.
<They're feeding her. Oh, looks like pizza. Now they've closed the door. Okay, she just ate a piece of pizza. Now---> Tobias reported.
Right at that second the lights went out. Every light. Underground is not a fun place to be, especially surrounded by enemies that want to kill you or enslave you forever. Nope. Not at all a fun place.
<Is this as blinding to you humans as well?> Ax asked. He had landed and was demorphing. So was Tobias.
"You guys get back in morph! What if someone sees you?!" Cassie yelped.
"Well, we should at least get out of sight and see what's going on. You guys just go to your normal selves. We might have to fight." Jake told Ax and Tobias.
"Yeah, this was a great idea. We should start hitting them while they're weak. Now is the perfect time to do some serious damage!" Rachel said a little to gleefully.
"No wait, you guys, look at that! What is that?" I said, pointing up to a sudden flash of light.
< I don't know, I'm a hawk, not an owl.> Tobias said.
By this time everyone was back behind a storage shed. The Yeerks were already starting to recover and get flashlights. In the deep gloom we could just make out a Hork-Bajir coming toward us. He shined a light right in our faces, and then...
"Andalites! Andalite bandits!" He screamed as he caught sight of Ax.
Great. Now we had to fight.
We had all managed to get into our battle morphs before other Controllers arrived. This was not looking good for us. Rachel was a grizzly, Jake was a tiger, Cassie, a polar bear, and Marco was a gorilla. Ax and I were our usual sunny selves. Rachel had taken out the Hork-Bajir Controller that had discovered us. Our secret was safe. But now we were backed into a corner, just hoping to hang on. Suddenly...
Above us a flash of light as bright as the sun! All the Yeerks stopped and looked up, as did we Animorphs. It was a girl, about 15, with long auburn hair that flowed to her waist and bright green eyes. She had on just regular jeans and an X-files t-shirt. She was also floating in mid-air.
A thought popped fiercely into my head, <Andalites, get down!>
So I dived down and perched on Rachel's shoulder as she hit the dirt. Evidentially none of the Controllers heard the thought, because they started stupidly as we all got onto the ground.
As soon as we were all on the ground a wave of air passed over us and hit the Hork-Bajir in the chests. Immediately they fell over, dead.
<Wow.> I thought in total awe. <You guys, I think we were just saved by the person who we were supposed to save.>
The floating human covered for us as we ran for the nearest dropshaft to bring us to the surface. Then she joined us on the platform and collapsed in a lump, unconscious. We brought her up to Cassie's barn, where Cassie attended to her. She was strangely intriguing and beautiful, even to me. Soon the human woke up.
"Oh, my, gosh," she gasped. "That was a rush."
"Are you okay?" Cassie asked gently. "What's your name?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. But I'm evolving right out of my body. That can't be good. Oh, and my name is Diana." She responded, rubbing her head and sitting up.
<What do you mean, evolving right out of your body?> I asked. It was late enough at night that I was safe in my true Andalite form.
"Well," Diana started. "Hey wait a minute. Who are you guys? Humans? And a nothlit hawk? Only one Andalite? Wow! Outrageous."
"Hey, hey, hey! How do you know all that stuff?" Marco asked defensively. "We haven't told you nothing."
"Anything." Rachel corrected him. "Don't give Diana the impression we're all Neanderthals like you, Marco."
"I'm psychic. I have mental powers and use about 90 percent of my brain. I'm evolving to the point where my body will cease to be important. I think I'll become like, oh, a floating mass of consciousness or something. Unless of course, I figure out some way to fix my body," Diana explained. "Do you guys know the whole Prophecy thing?"
"Yeah, we've been informed," Jake said.
"Well, then you know that at the point of my death is when I'm supposed to be infested. I think if I am at the brink of shedding my body, that is if I keep evolving, is when it'll happen. Either that or I won't be able to keep going on this evolving thing." Diana said.
<So what, uh, are we going to do?> Tobias asked.
"Like I know. I've got mental powers, not super intelligence."
<We could fight.> I interrupted. <If the Yeerks aren't around to infest you, then well, you will stay free. If we combine our forces, we could win.> Somehow I could not bear the thought of this human, Diana, dying. It was odd.
"Oh, no. Ax, you're sounding like Rachel!" Marco groaned.
"You're right, Ax." Diana said to me.
<Thanks for your concern, too.> she also thought in my head. Then she smiled warmly.
"Of course, he's right. With these powers of yours and our fighting experience, we'll at least have a fighting chance!" Rachel exclaimed.
The Animorphs and I are going to keep fighting. For a while we were trying to decide whether or not to give me the morphing power. No one is taking it lightly because of what happened to the last guy they gave the power to. I didn't think it would be necessary, but then I found out about sneaking on ships and hiding and all that stuff. I'll probably become a full-fledged Animorph any day now.
Yeah, I used to be an ordinary kid. Not anymore. Thank God.
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Never ever to be continued
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