The Sorcerer

By Patchboy

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Chapter 1

My name is Jake. I'm sure you know the drill by know, and it's pretty much given that you won't know any more about me. Sorry, but that's how it runs. Here we are, five kids, changing the universe, travelling through time, and basically having a blast. Right.
When I first morphed, I thought of how cool it would be to morph into a lion or something and give bullies what for. Tobias was sort of in that mind, since he was once a prime target for them. Still, we do our best. But I can't, and the worst Tobias manages now is to skybomb Drake or Woo, the two resident morons in our school.

So I was noticeably on edge when, as I walked up the steps to school, I spotted the new kid. And then I spotted Drake and Woo. Drake & Woo were moving with the deliberate pace they use when they're thinking - probably because it takes up all their mental ability to make each foot move in front of the other.

The new kid was tall - about Rachel's height. He had blond hair, which just sat on his head without a style or a cut. He wore a pair of gold rimmed round glasses, and his face was familiar. His clothes were plain, and his arms rested lightly at his sides.

I was walking towards him when Drake beat me to it.

"Hey, new kid, sport... I don't know if you've been warned, but there's a tax in this school."

"Tax?" Asked the new kid. He had a rather odd edge to his voice, really.

"Yeah. The new 'don't dip my head down the toilet bowl' tax. Got any money?" Woo, once again demonstrating the subtlety of a brick.

"Oh, oh, tax, right." He removed his glasses, and handed them to me.

"Hold onto these for a minute." He rubbed his eyes and went for his back pocket. He pulled out his wallet, and pulled out some bills.

"How about these..." suddenly, he went from nonchalant stand to blitzkrieg warrior in two seconds - his right fist lashed out and thumped resoundingly on Woo's chin. "FIVES!" He snarled. Drake made a rather idiotic lunge at him, but a knee came ripping upward and caught him on the chin. As Drake began to dreamily come upwards, the new kid's hands grabbed his shirt, and then his forehead met Drake's. Forcibly.

The pair weren't knocked out - they are strong, at least - but they weren't stupid, and stayed down like they had been. The kid picked up his wallet, and retrieved his glasses off me. Then, after he had put them back on, he extended a hand to me.

"Kyle."

"Jake." I shook his hand. I wished I'd known that that one five minutes had set a precedent for the rest of the time I'd know Kyle.

Chapter 2

We did more or less the same classes - with a few differences. He did mostly Art and Drama, while I stuck to History and Home Ec. But we both had to do Square dancing, and we everything else that went with it. I caught up to him in the halls.
"How was History?" he asked.

"Ok. Assignment for next week. Bit of a pain in the butt, really."

"Lucky you. Drama's doing a performance soon - a modernized Hamlet. Guess who was nominated to play the lovable lunatic?"

"You?"

"No, some freak called Marco. He's a good actor. I get the much nastier role of Claudius, the bad guy."

We walked past vice principal Chapman, the only school teacher who can make me shudder in fear. Not because of anything about his appearance - He looks normal - but he's a terrifyingly powerful Yeerk. And that scares me more than anything else.

Then Kyle looked all funny. His face contorted, and his hand went to his mouth. He dived to the toilets, which were halfway down the hall. When I caught up to him, he was vomiting into a toilet bowl.

"Hey, man, you ok?" Dumb question.

He stopped, stood up, and washed his face. After about half a minute of shaking, he finally spoke. When he spoke, it was with horror in his voice.

"What is in his head?"

Chapter 3

"Head?"
"His mind! It stinks! It looks at everyone like... like a... a big delicatessen! For it to pick and choose! It's foul! He's disgusting! It's not even humanly disgusting, like those two cheese-brains! He's just totally dispassionate, completely emotionless, and just horrible... erh.."

I froze in shock. "You can see his mind?"

"Yes. I can see everyone's mind. The general shape, it's not like reading a book. Guilt sticks out. Like... you once stole a chocolate bar from your brother and blamed it on your cousin... Rachel."

"Did you... 'see' any other minds like his?"

"About five or six. Just students. No-one special."

"Wow. Is this all?"

"No. Some things just float above your head like nine-foot high neon letters like... what the hell is an Andalite?"

I'd done it now. "Kyle, I need to talk with you. After school, at the Wildlife Recuperation center. This is the most important thing that will ever happen to you."

He didn't look surprised. I was taking a huge risk. Bigger than when I'd demorphed in front of Jara Hamee, the Hork-Bajir, bigger than when we fell in the Yeerk pool, bigger than when I'd.. well, bigger than anything, really. And here I was, realizing that I just may have revealed a secret to a Yeerk actor who had a suspicion.

The next period was the square dancing. As the musicians warmed up, I could see most of the students groan. I must admit, I did too. But Kyle was watching them, wincing on the bad notes. Eventually, he jumped up on the stage and grabbed the guitarists' guitar.

"That's it! This is a citizen's arrest under the cruel and unusual punishments act! You, as a musician, suck!"

The teachers just gawped at Kyle. Heck, I was gawping a bit. But then, he muttered to the musicians, and turned around, in a pose I'd have killed to seen in a concert. Then, he counted.

"One, two, one, two, three, four,"

Whatever it was, it wasn't normal country. It was the sort which I would listen to, but I wouldn't buy. It was good. And we squaredanced. That wasn't good. But still, there was less of the do-si-doh'ing, and more of listening. He sang, but that wasn't the point. We enjoyed it. And the teachers let us off a period. So that was alright.

Chapter 4

We sat in Cassie's barn, waiting for Kyle. Ax couldn't make it, but Rachel, Cassie, Marco, and Tobias were all here and ready - I was nervously explaining it all to them.
Kyle walked in, differently. At school, he acted the inoffensive dweeb. Without any worries now, he was, well, a bit intimidating. His height was more apparent - he was as tall as Rachel, and she was taller than my father - and you less noticed the glasses, and more the steely blue eyes behind them.

"You guys won't believe this."

I couldn't believe he was starting the conversation, at least. It was a start.

"Believe what?"

"Well, since our conversation, Jake, I've been... testing my mind. I can't read them, but I can do this..."

He reached down to the hay, and pulled out a few stalks. He braided them, and closed his eyes. He said something, I didn't hear it, but I saw the effect. Suddenly, the golden-looking hay became shinier, and stiffer. When he opened his eyes, he smacked it into his hand. It made a solid 'thunk' noise.

"Gold. Solid gold." He handed it to me. "I can... use my imagination on things. I can move things around, and I can change things into other things. But the weirdest thing of all was this -" He, once again, said a word I didn't hear.

His outline blurred. his body appeared to be an outline which held a generic Kyle coloured mix. As his outline altered and blurred, it slowly coalesced into a new shape, which he sort of... filled. The outline was, at first difficult to understand... but it quickly became obvious. He was becoming a rhinoceros.

"Wow." Rachel.

"This is amazing..." said Cassie. I knew what she meant.

Oh damn.

"What?" I said. The words had come out of nowhere. Not like thought speak - instead, the words arrived in my head as though I had thought them, but they weren't my thoughts - they actually had a kind of voice, that sounded familiar.

Damn, damn, damn. I forgot the knees.

"Knees?" I echoed aloud.

Yes, knees. When I changed, I forgot to imagine the rhino's knees. Now I can't bend my legs. Hang on.

I watched Kyle change back into Kyle.

"Phew. Jake, did you hear me?"

"Yeah, wow, that's like amazing!"

"Tell me about it. But I have to get it exactly right, or I forget bits. Like knees. Or ears."

I decided it was my turn to surprise him. But Marco beat me to it. He was already half-way through morphing into a gorilla. I decided to join him. I began to change into a siberian tiger.

He was surprised, to say the least.

"Well... It appears there is more than meets the eyes here."

<Yeah,> I said. <Tell me... ever heard of a Yeerk?>

Chapter 5

It was half an hour later. We were all human, except Tobias, of course. He'd morphed into himself for a while, but it wasn't necessary. Kyle was sitting on the floor, listening to us tell him about Visser Three, the Yeerks, Elfangor, and the whole deal. And he nodded, and listened. And best of all, he agreed.
"I may not be an Animorph," He said, "But I'm sure as hell against those Yeerks."

<Just what are you, anyway, Kyle? Do you know where this came from?> Tobias asked.

"...No, I don't think so. There was a dream I had, but it's not relevant."

Then Ax came walking up to the barn door. Once inside, he demorphed, not noticing Kyle.

<Prince Jake-> He began, then saw Kyle <Oh, dear.>

"Chill, Ax, Kyle the Sorcerer is one of us. He's cool." Marco said.

<Sorcerer? I have read some books, but such technology is beyond even Andalite standards. Nothing but an Ellimist could wield that sort of power.>

"You were saying, Ax?" I asked, desparate not to bait Kyle into anything. Too late.

"Really? So it's impossible that at some time, Humans were ever more advanced than Andalites? Is that it?"

<Yes. We had solar power while humans were still trying to make fire.>

Suddenly, Kyle gestured, and said a word. Ax suddenly fell. To the roof. It looked so weird, as if gravity had decided that it wanted a nice change.

"You were saying?"

<Er. It appears that I may, just may, have been mistaken.> Ax said from his place on the roof. He was standing on the roof like it was the floor. <Prince Jake, I have some good news. The Yeerks have run out of Kandrona!> His eyes crinkled at the edges, indicating a smile. <The temporary Kondrona generator that replaced the one that we destroyed has run out. It was never meant to sustain an entire pool on its own, just to supplement the functioning one!>

"They'll have a new one coming." Rachel said.

<Yes, but we have a window of opportunity. For about a week, lesser Yeerk will have to use the weakened pool, and come to the pool more often, and even then, they will be weak enough to perhaps lose control of their hosts! If we can, during this time, go to the pool->

"No way, Ax-man. So far, every time we've been down to the pool we've been blinded, trapped Tobias in a morph, been eaten by a Taxxon, had Jake captured, gotten all-but-fried by Visser three, and failed two algebra tests. No, thank you, I'll have the next batch." Marco interrupted. "After all, wouldn't it be easier to use this a breather?"

<No breathers for us, Marco.> Tobias answered. <You saw what Kyle did. Straw to gold. If we could get in there with Kyle, and... hey, what would we do?>

That got my attention. Freeing Tom...

At that point, Kyle relinquished his grip on Ax's personal gravity, and lowered him to the ground. A bit too fast, though.

Chapter 6

Saturday and the living is easy? I don't think. Marco, Cassie, Kyle and Tobias met up with me in the mall, in the music store. Kyle had just bought about five CD's. Tobias was still squinting and trying to clear out his ears, as he usually did as a human. But he was still there, and was doing his best to look normal. As if.
"Look, guys, I guess this is the plan," Tobias began. "Ax, Jake, and Rachel move into the pool as rats - they've got the most powerful attack morphs. Cassie and I morph into flies and follow you in. Then, while the chaos ensues, Kyle drops in the back way that I found and... shall we say.. starts some fireworks?"

"Sounds good. Let's do it." Rachel said. She walked up from behind me, and stood between Tobias and Kyle. I was surprised at how alike they looked. But, instead of thinking about it, I decided to think about more relevant questions.

"What about Marco?"

"He'll keep the door open for you guys. If what Kyle told me is true, he can just... what was the word?"

"Translocate. It's in a book. It's got a nice... mysterious feel to it."

Cassie laughed. Kyle looked slightly hurt.

"Well, I have to maintain a sort of standard. If I just go around saying 'flop' or 'change' or... or 'bounce' it's not going to do my reputation any good."

Cassie kept laughing.

"Translocate himself out of there. We're home free."

Then Ax walked up, a grave look on his human face.

"Hey, Ax-man, what's up?" Asked Marco.

"I have learned, lear-nd, of something grave. I overheard a controller talking to a fellow controller over the telephonic communications network you have. He mentioned the 'new pool' in a place called 'Egghead' egg-ed. That's a fun word, isn't it?"

"Oh, just great." Kyle sighed.

Ax looked at Kyle like a cat at a mouse with a machine gun. The cat knows it's just a mouse, but it also knows that if it eats the mouse, it's dead.

"So, If we do pollute the pool, we still have another one to deal with. Bad thing."

"Change of plan, people. I guess we have a new problem. We can go to the established pool, and fight a sizeable force to make a major blow, or we can play it safe with the new pool, and thump it down while it's being built. I vote for taking out the new pool." I said.

"I follow Prince Jake." Ax said.

"Well, if we take out the major pool, then we have an even bigger window of opportunity. We can total one pool, take a brief 'lie low' period, during which the new Yeerk pool will grow. Ax, how long does it take to build a Yeerk pool?" Kyle asked.

Ax appeared to think about it. "About one to six of your months, depending on size. To make one as big as the major pool, about six months."

Rachel interrupted. "So, we total the big one, then, three months later, when it's all died down, we bomb in and flatten the little one before it's big enough to pose a threat. The Vissers and the most important Yeerk are shipped off-world, while a skeleton crew operate here - the Taxxons and some voluntaries. Just fine. Then, by the time they get back, there's not going to be enough Yeerks here for them to regain their balance."

Ax interrupted. "See, Rachel? Chel. This is why Yeerks fear humans. Hyu-munz. Munzuh. Just five of you, and one piece of Andalite technology - and here you are, almost ready to kill the Yeerks off! Imagine, if the Yeerks and the humans allied. Human ingenuity, andalite genius, and if we are lucky and Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak have... procreated, Hork-Bajir muscle. An unstoppable alliance."

Kyle rested a hand on Ax's shoulder. "Ax, you read. Have you read the phrase 'don't count your chickens before they're hatched?' "

Ax nodded, and comprehended.

"Guys? I have been wondering... how do you get past this DNA thingy?"

Tobias leaned back. This was something he'd thought of, clearly, but he didn't like the answer.

"Nothing but the same DNA, right? We can't do much. This is where we need Kyle. Kyle? Can you... I dunno, get us all through about a foot of concrete?"

Kyle's face screwed up, as he thought out the technical process.

"Yes, I could. We're lots of little bits, with holes in us, and so's the rock. I slip our bits through the other bits."

"How?" asked Rachel.

"Uhh.. You guys as flies, and I think I can bend light in a full loop, so I think I've got a solution. I go invisible, with you guys on me, slip through the rock, you guys demorph, rest a bit, while I recover, then we go on as planned. When it comes down to it, Marco can just rip out the exit we need in the car-wash. It's out of town, and if I have to, I can avoid controllers."

Well done, I thought. He'd make a great leader. And he IS a great warrior.

Chapter 7

It was surprising, actually. It felt like swimming through really thick water, resting on Kyle's back as he slipped through the rock like a ghost. We did it in the restrooms, next to the burger store where we first met up with the Gleet Biofilter. But we were in. Once we were in, Kyle sagged in a heap. He tried to explain it all to me, once. It's like morphing quickly, except the tiredness is equal to the effort. Making a rock fall down faster than normal was easy - it just helped along nature. Getting said rock to fall upwards, like he did to Ax, took a great deal of effort. We demorphed, and rested, for about a full minute. Kyle had assured me that he couldn't detect any Yeerk controller within forty feet coming closer to us, so we could afford it.

"Ok, morphs, people."

As according to the plan, Rachel, Ax, and I went rat, scurrying downward toward the pool. A minute later, my weak rat eyes picked up two flies buzz overhead. Ax twisted his head toward me while we ran.

<I'm not a prince.>

<Yes, Prince Jake. Prince Jake, has Rachel been acting oddly around Kyle? I am no expert on humans, but they seem to react in a similar manner to when you are around Cassie.>

I wished sometimes that Ax had subtlety. But Andalites had no need for subtlety, since their entire culture was focused on honesty to each other. I hadn't detected the emotion. It wasn't the same... Kyle, when around Rachel, seemed perfectly happy to second-fiddle her jokes, provide lead-ups, and make side gags. But, when I'm around Cassie, it's nothing like that.

<It also appears similar to -> He was cut off. Because I mistimed a step, and fell, all the way down the stairs. Rats can bounce pretty well, so I wasn't concerned about injury. I was concerned about this new information. Tobias liked Rachel, I was pretty certain of that. And Tobias needed all the friends he could get. If Kyle, a newcomer, just barged in, and pulled Tobias away from one of his two closest friends - Rachel - it could really damage us.

We scurried behind a cage, one of the empty ones that held involuntary hosts. I waited a while, until I heard a vague, thought-speak kind of whistle. The signal. Cassie and Marco were ready. Cassie was on the roof, waiting for the second signal. Marco was in spider morph, waiting near our intended exit. And we all waited for Kyle's signal. I strained my ears, Hoping to hear his voice in his own type of thought-speak.

I needn't have bothered.

Kyle crashed in through the roof. Not too spectacular, If he was normal. He wasn't. I don't know the subtelties of it, but Kyle had fitted himself into a new shape. And it was a shape to scare the pee out of any Yeerk, anywhere.

He was about 6 foot tall, with broad shoulders, and extremely muscled arms. I could see them under the leather of his jacket, which was studded and spiked. And his head - well, this would scare the pee out of you. He had no head. Just a skull, hovering as if fixed over where his neck would be. And it was on fire. And when he spoke, it was like a lump of stone, with two dates and a name carved on it. I swear, I'd had nightmares about guys like that, who represented Death.

It wasn't helped by the fact Kyle carried a scythe.

He whirled it in a vicious circle, laughing a hollow, booming laugh. He peered around.

"NO ONE? NOT ONE OF YOU? HAH! THE MIGHTY YEERK EMPIRE, FEARFULOF ONE CREATURE! HAH!"

Then, the crowd parted in a wave, and revealed the second sight which would have scared me peeless, had I not lost it when Kyle smashed the roof.

Standing in the middle of a dais, as if waiting for a cue was an Andalite. He was tilting his head, as though listening for this odd new creature's next statement.

Then I heard Kyle's normal voice arrive in my head.

*This would be... Visser three?*

<Oh, yeah. Most Visser Three. Certainly Visser Three.>

Chapter 8

<Well, Well, Well. Not an Andalite, certainly. But an interesting creature, nonetheless. I wonder how well it can fight?> Visser three blasted out. Kyle had done it. The plan was once more screwed by the bad guys forgetting to act like bad guys. Visser three wasn't supposed to be here, he was meant to be in his Blade Ship, feeding off a Kandrona-cicle. Instead, he was here. And Kyle was in it deep. I demorphed, and quickly began remorphing. Rachel and Ax did the same - I was tiger, Rachel bear, and Ax went rattlesnake, which has a rather remarkable effect on Andalite reflexes and reasoning. But Kyle kept the audience.

"VISSER THREE! I CHALLENGE YOU. A FIGHT, TO THE DEATH!"

<Oh, all —> Visser began. His tail blade flickered at Kyle's neck!

Kyle didn't bother to duck. The blade whisked harmlessly through the flames.

As if in response, Kyle swung the scythe around, and cut a deep gash down the Visser's left flank. The Visser began his morph. He morphed into the terrifying creature I had seen, many, many months ago, when Elfangor had died. The Antares something-or-other. A mouth on legs. He was also somewhat larger than a pickup truck.

Before the Visser had finished, Kyle was morphing. His morph was his imagination, so he was well-off, as far as morphs went. I saw him become a creature I knew to be a match for the Visser. A creature that had, until tonight, never had more than two dimensions. Kyle became that grand terror - A Shambler.

For those of you who don't play computers as much as Marco and me, a Shambler is a twenty-foot tall bear/yeti cross, which walks on two legs, spits lightning, and has claws that could gut a knight in full armour like a fish. Shamblers are also very strong, and very, very, smart. In the game they're in, they hunt you down, first deciding how tough you are, and if they think you're suitable, they track and kill you.

It's not going to be easily stopped, trust me.

<Oh, wow!> Rachel said <Jake, do you think he can get me one of them?>

Kyle and the Visser hammered each other, claw on jaw. What Kyle lacked in speed, he made up with in his electricity attack. Whenever the Visser would withdraw to get re-inforcements, Kyle would electrocute him.

<Ok, People! Kyle can get out of here, on his own! We move! Marco, if that exit isn't opened when I get there, you will have to carry your teeth home in a bag!> I shouted. I was scared, angry, and worried. Not good, if you're the leader. We pounded to the exit. The Taxxons that tried to stop us were worm hash with one swipe of my claws, and since Ax was wrapped around my neck, no Hork-Bajir could catch us.

But they could catch Rachel. A grizzly is faster than it looks. But it's not as fast as a Hork-Bajir. Rachel should know. She'd been one, once.

<Yaaah!> Rachel screamed. <Hamstring! He got my leg! I can't run!>

I almost turned back to get her. As it was, when I turned, I saw the fight. They had changed, again. Visser was now about half as tall as the cavern, and looked like a weirded out spider with fur. Kyle had become a dragon, I think. And then, I saw what basically started a whole new string of problems.

Kyle bit down hard on the Vissers' top left shoulder. Kyle thrashed him about wildly, like when a crocodile kills its prey, and smacked him down. Except, he smacked him up. Into the roof.

Did I mention that the Yeerk pool has got a lot of roof supports? They need them. It's a mathematical fact, that if one tiny section of the roof falls even an inch, the entire roof would tumble down, killing hundreds of Yeerks.

I was desperate now. I leapt towards the cages, which contain involuntary hosts, and broke the door. Some of them died, I guess, later, by Hork-Bajir blades or Taxxon gunfire. But some escaped. And that was good. I hoped.

Then, the roof moved. More than an inch. About a whole foot.

Chapter 9

Just as I was whirling around to help Rachel, a rock the size of my - the tiger's - head plummeted from the roof, and landed square on Tobias.

<Aaah! Coming down!>

He landed about four feet from the dais where the Visser had stood, and in the middle of a ring of omnivorous Taxxons. And, with food in their midst, the Taxxons stopped watching the Visser fight, and started to circle Tobias.

<Tobias!> Someone screamed. It was either me or Rachel - it was all a bit hectic. Cassie and Ax where clearing a path for me, oblivious of Tobias' predicament. I ran towards Rachel, to stop her. But a boulder twice the size of a truck landed on the ground in front of me, in between a gap between two cages. I couldn't help Rachel. All I could to was get out. I whirled, bolting towards the exit Marco was guarding.

<Yaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!> Tobias suddenly flew overhead. There was something wrong about his flight. It had all the aerodynamics of a brick. I realised that Rachel must have thrown him.

<Ax! Time update!> I barked.

<One hour, fifteen minutes.> Ax replied, tersely. <There are more Hork Bajir here than I thought.>

<Really? How many Taxxons?>

<None. It seems the Hork Bajir are here fighting, while the Taxxons are waiting to eat the loser of the battle. They've polarised.>

Phew. That meant that Rachel just had to deal with some centipedes - even as a grizzly, she could only pull down about six Hork-Bajir before she had to demorph, but she could mince Taxxons all day.

<Tobias! Hang on!> I called to Tobias.

<Ouch. She THREW me! I can't move my tail!> Tobias groaned.

I flipped Tobias onto my back, and ran to the exit. Kyle would ensure Rachel's safety. I hoped.

Chapter 10

Tobias and I loped over the dead and wounded Hork Bajir. Ax's rattlesnake morph was less effective against the robust Hork-Bajir metabolism, so he had morphed into his natural Andalite form. It's always good to do that, it reinforces the image of the Andalite Bandits, and throws the Visser off looking for human kids. But we were still flattening the Yeerk forces. And doing it well. Kyle and the Visser were fighting, and they were really, really knocking this place down. Kyle, as a dragon, had bitten down on the Visser's neck so hard that the Yeerk's head was flapping around crazily.

I entered the tunnel that lead to the Marco-guarded exit, and waited. And waited. And suddenly, there was a crash, and the tunnel I had just run down collapsed. And then, Kyle was standing next to us.

*Damn place caved in. Nothing left there. Man, am I bushed.*

Marco wasn't paying too close attention to headcount, so he asked the second question in my mind.

*Think so. Sorry guys. I thought I was a diversion. By the time I was fighting for my life, I'd used up too much effort on the theatrics. I think I'm going to throw up.*

Tobias suddenly hoisted himself up into a parody of stance.

<Rachel, you idiot! Where's Rachel?>

*Whaaat? She's not here?* Kyle sounded more concerned than Tobias.

<Can't you count, doofus?>

Oh, no, I thought. Time for a fearless leader decision. Kyle beat me to it.

"If someone can get me a glass of water, I think I can manage some more..." he began. But it was time for ME to stop taking it easy and letting Kyle do what he had to. I had a feeling that I wasn't just the only one talking here.

<Kyle, can you keep our minds intact?>

What?

Yeah, I guess. It's not too hard a concept.

Yes, I think so, but you'd-

<Ok. Ax, Tobias. We're going ant.>

I saw the gorilla shudder.

<Kyle, once we're morphed, you preserve our minds, then make use horse - size. we'll clear the path.>

Marco put a hand like a bunch of black bananas on my arm.

<No.>

<Marco, we need to get to Rachel. Ants are the best earthmovers.>

<Ok, Marco. You're right.>

Well? Kyle had missed the private conversation.

Kyle cocked his head. No Yeerk coming this direction for about a half-mile. They're all running like hell's bells.

We demorphed, as per standard. Kyle was almost alseep on his feet. I hesitated to ask him - but Tobias beat me to it.

"Hah. Yes. She's in a small air pocket. But the roof's sliding down. We've got half an hour." He hammered on the side of his head. "Where are you, damn it?"

We chose to ignore what he said, thinking it to be the eccentricy of a sorcerer.

I was about to morph into rhino to plough through the rock, but suddenly, Kyle whirled. When he spoke, his words came from far off, and his eyes were glazed.

"Out of the way. Jake. I don't. Want you to. Get hit."

I was about to talk, when the entire cavern lifted. Kyle ran through, skipping over corpses, and running towards a goal. I could see Rachel from here. But I also say how the roof was shaking, and I was pretty sure Kyle could have dropped that thing on me. Kyle put his hands on Rachel's shaggy shoulders, and closed his eyes, the collapsed. Rachel appeared next to me. She was conscious, and she was de- and remorphing. She was becoming horse.

Chapter 11

The horses we had acquired were all racetrack horses, designed for speed and rider. But not uneven terrain. As Rachel headed toward Kyle, she darted around the rubble until she was near him. He was on the floor, but he managed to stand when she came near. Then, he fell forward. Ax started shouting.

I saw he was right. Rachel in horse morph was capable of outrunning the cave in, but as a human, Marco, Cassie and I couldn't. We started to run.

<Prince Jake. Ride me!> Ax shouted.

"What?"

"That's not riding, Ax. That's flopping over someone's back."

<Quickly!>

I hoisted myself on Ax's back, and watched Marco and Cassie go wolf. As the four of us ran towards the exit, I kept hearing words in my head.

NOR YET. NOT YET.

The far ceiling of the cavern began to drop, as Kyle's mind slipped into unconsciousness. Rachel kept running. She was too far from the cave! She wasn't going to make it! She tripped on a corpse!

NOT YET. NOT YET.

Rachel stumbled, but kept moving. She was alive. And she was still ahead of the cave roof. Then, one, last, despairing spasm ran through a half-crushed Hork Bajir, who had somehow survived the roof landing on him. He jumped about an inch off the floor. Rachel ran into him, full speed. She fell. As horse and rider came sprawled over and over, I knew she wasn't getting up.

I was about to jump of Ax's back, when the voice happened.

NOW.

Rachel was suddenly running alongside Ax, with Kyle on her back. He was still half-dead. But he was also half-alive. How, I wondered did she do that?

HOW INDEED, JAKE?

It wasn't sorcery. Sorcery, Kyle told me, is imagination. And Kyle didn't think like that. It was like someone had just picked her up from when she was fine in the past, and had put her now. How?... Ellimist.

YES, JAKE. ELLIMIST. BUT JUST AN ELLIMIST.

"Thanks."

DON'T MENTION IT> BELKYLE HAS DONE SOMETHING BEFORE< BUT SOON HE WILL DO SOMETHING THAT WILL SHAKE THE WORLDS OF THE ANDALITE AND HUMAN. AND THE YEERK. HE IS A POINT ON WHICH A WHOLE FUTURE MAY TURN.

"And Rachel? Why not just pull him out of here?"

PLEASE, JAKE. I DO NOT MEDDLE. I MERELY OFFER OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE RACES FROM EXTINCTION. AND KYLE CANNOT TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY WITHOUT RACHEL.

"Why?"

YOU ARE AN OPTIMIST IF YOU THINK I'D TELL YOU.

"Just testing."

FAREWELL, JAKE. FAREWELL, IOYRUL.

Chapter 12

Ever seen Indiana Jones? Where Indy's running from the boulder? This was sort of like that, but the boulder is the slightly more dangerous roof. And Indy didn't ride an Andalite. Just as the wolves and the hawk were outside the exit, Ax and Rachel put on a burst of speed to get out the cave mouth - not the carwash, I noted. But then again, this mission was influenced by the Ellimist, so if Ax suddenly started to state the humans were superior to Andalites, it wouldn't have surprised me. We stepped into the sunlight as the cave mouth came slamming down. We couldn't ever go back to that pool.

"You Ok, Ax?"

"That was almost a joke, Ax."

I knew better than to ask what Thyla was. I knew Ax ate via his hoofs, but I didn't know how he disposed of waste. Rachel was fully human, and I could see something was wrong, the way she leant over Kyle.

"What's wrong with Kyle?"

HE IS DEAD.

"Whaat?!" I shouted at the sky. The others must have thought me nuts. But this Ellimist was beginning to pee me off.

HE HAS DIED. BODILY FUNCTIONS HAVE CEASED. HIS BRAIN HAS BEGUN LIQUEFICATION.

"He's Meant TO LIVE!"

INDEED. I CANNOT SAVE HIM. ONLY ONE OF THE SAME WOMAN BORN CAN.

"You mean you won't. Kyle hasn't got any brothers or sisters."

JAKE, SOMETIMES YOUR SELF-BERATION IS WELL DESERVED.

My eyes were drawn to Rachel's blond hair, which was falling around her face, as she administered CPR to the corpse. Then to Kyle's blond hair, which fell around a face of the more or less same shape.

"Oh, crap! Rachel! The Ellimist says that only you can save him!"

"I'm trying, nimrod!" Rachel snarled. She was worried. She only ever snarled at her friends when she was very, very, worried. Then, I felt as if I was shunted into a little box to watch what happened.

"Not like that, Rachel. Place your hand on your heart, and the other on his."

The Ellimists words were formed, this time, by MY THROAT! He was using MY BODY! I shouted silently at him, in the confines of my mind. You Don't Interfere! You wouldn't save Humanity! And now, you're saving Kyle! One man, at the expense of six billion others!

The Ellimist spoke directly to me.

I HAVE WAITED TEN THOUSAND YEARS FOR THIS MAN TO BE BORN. NOT FOR WHAT HE IS, BUT FOR WHAT HE WOULD DO. I MADE HIS LIFE HAPPEN, AND ONLY THIS EVENT CAN STOP WHAT MUST HAPPEN FROM HAPPENING. TOBIAS STARTED WHAT MUST HAPPEN. KYLE WILL CONTINUE IT. AND YOU, PRINCE JAKE, WILL FINISH IT. YOU AND YOUR ANIMORPHS. YOU, WHO DOESN'T EVEN KNOW THE POWER THAT IS WIELDED BY THE ONE DEEMED THE LEAST OF YOU. THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SPEAK HIS NAME.

I watched. Rachel put her hand on her heart, as the Ellimist/me was commanding, then her hand to Kyle's heart. I watched as she shuddered, and then, Kyle's chest shook, and he coughed. He wheezed, gulped, and propped himself up on his elbows.

"Jake," Rachel asked. "How did you know what I had to do? And why me?"

To tell, or not to tell?

Tell.

"The Ellimist told me. He said only one of the same woman born could save him. I suppose it's like a blood transfusion..."

Rachel looked very slowly at Kyle, then at me. Kyle was grinning like a watermelon. Suddenly, Rachel swung her human arm around, and punched Kyle in his human mouth.

Chapter 13

"Ow!"

She leapt up, and had landed another solid one in my midriff before she seemed satisfied. Blue eyes glittering, she whirled on the others. Marco was conducting a detailed study of the back of his hands, Cassie was rubbing her feet, and Ax was studiously looking up at the blue sky.

"Well?" She demanded of Kyle.

"Not much to tell, really. You know were we - we're twins, sis, - born in a small hospital. Lady two wards down was a controller, who had been given a message by another Yeerk, who was apparently a prophet. Some sort of weirdo, named Elli six-two-nine. Any guesses?"

"The Ellimist."

"Yeah, I think so. Anyway, the message was to kidnap me, because a prophecy indicated that one day I would break the abomination's back, and reave the forth of its life. That much hasn't been explained to me. But, I was kidnapped, and shipped to Australia, and dumped in a controller home. Voluntaries." he spat. "They kept trying to get me into the Breakers, a sort of Australian Sharing. I kept going, but I knew what was in their minds."

"So the business with Chapman was faked."

"No. Once I came to where I needed to be, the Ellimist wiped my memory, and gave me a memory of a travelling father. Nothing special. Now, that Rachel knows, I can remember. When I turned twelve, I had... a friend... called Ellen. Ellen Mist. Say what you will about him, he lacks imagination. Or it. It helps if I think it. Ellen, one day, showed me something. She showed me a picture of a bug. This bug was the last of its species. She told me that it was a rare bug, but it was worth more dead than alive. Then, the next day, I found the bug. I kept the creature in a jar for five weeks, taking care of it, until it finally died. But it laid eggs. Hundreds of them.

"The next day, Ellen came to me and told me what I had done was right, and I had ensured the survival of a species. She gave me sorcery, and told me what she was. It was. I was suitably scared peeless, and then I was sent here. It wouldn't call me Kyle once it gave me sorcery, though. It called me Belkyl. It taught me some words I needed to know. And here I am."

Rachel looked at her brother for about a minute. Then she hugged him. Let's face it, Despite her exceptionally fashionable looks, Rachel is a very masuline girl in her behaviour. She never played dolls when we were younger. Instead, she'd kick a football around. She'd hated leaving my house on visits, or vice versa, because I was the closest she had to a brother. Now, she had one, one she could talk to like she talks to us, because he was one of us.

"How'd you kill Visser Three?" Marco asked.

"Hah! He went to Andalite. While he was just Andalite, I ran at his shoulders, rammed him with all my dragonic weight. His shoulders touched the base of his tail, and it made a snapping noise like -" There was a really horrible cracking noise from where Ax stood behind Kyle. Kyle turned. Ax was standing with his shoulders on the base of his tail, rubbing his back as a bear would against a tree.

<Yes, Belkyl?>

"Kyle, Ax. Just Kyle. Only the Ellimist calls me Belkyl, and I don't really like it. What are you doing?"

<Thyla. We dislocate our vertebrae for a while. You humans call it something like 'chiropractice'. We need to do it after we bear a heavy load. It does immobilise us for fifteen of your minutes, however.>

Kyle buried his face in his hands as realisation dawned. His shoulders were shaking. Cassie looked miserable, and patted Kyle's shoulder vaguely. But he wasn't crying. We heard his laughing. He fell backward and rolled in the grass, hooting with mirth.

"Should I charge to the Visser's insurance company, or bill him direct?"

Marco joined in the laughter. Then, he took on a formal tone. "Consultation fee: $45. Collapsing Yeerk pool on top of patient (Mud pack): $19. Chiropractical Therapy: $25, plus house call fee."

Even I laughed at that. I don't know why. Marco was trying to lighten the mood, though, so I fell for it.

Chapter 13

I wish I could say how the re-union between Kyle and his mother went. She had kept Kyle's birth a secret from Rachel, Jordan, and Sara for years. But only because she herself had been slightly... influenced by the Ellimist. I hear there was a whole lot of celebration, and Jordan and Sara were kicked out of bed at nine o'clock.

Kyle and I met up at school. We were walking down the halls of the school, past Chapman's office, before I remembered the word the Ellimist had used.

"Kyle, what is Loyrul?"

He stopped dead, but knew better than to act weird. He quickly followed on in his usual pace, after passing off his stop as tying his shoelace.

"Where'd you hear that?"

"Ellen told me. Ellen Mist."

"Ah." He paused, as if digging something from his memory. "Who was he talking to?"

"Me."

"Ellimist is a tricky language. Every word has specific meaning regarding specific people. The word he used to greet me he used to describe the Yeerk Visser Three once. The word meant, in my case, hello, and in the Visser's, abomination."

"What does it mean in regard to me?"

"You're an Andalite prince, a bandit, and a spy. That's the qualifications, I think. Also, your name Jake. Hmm.."

"The Meaning?"

"In this case, Loyrul is... it's a term of... I think, profound respect. It means, literally, 'One who shakes the world with his steps'. When I apply it to you, individually, it means: 'Leader of they who will Make that which must Happen'."

"Really make their language work, don't they?"

"Oh yes. When you've got seventeen thousand different words for ‘here’ that can be applied - I personally wonder how the Ellimists make it through breakfast conversation without having to eat dinner by the time they've asked to pass the milk."

"And... he said that you, Tobias, and I are all points on which the world will turn."

"Ah. Ellion."

"Ellion?"

"Yes. Ellimists believe that a race called the Ellion exist. Ellions cannot reproduce, they can only change. And every time one Ellion dies, a new Ellion is born, sometimes millions of light-years away, maybe even a million years before the Ellion died, and continue to work toward 'that which must happen'. He called you an Ellion, more or less."

"The Ellimists... do they create Ellion?"

"No. An Ellion is more like a spirit. An attribute that comes on people the moment they are born. If you are an Ellion, you were one from the moment you were born. And you'll continue to be one until the you are dead."

"So the Ellion are a kind of gift from the Ellimist?"

"Hardly. The word Ellimist means 'Second Only To The Ellion, They Who Make That Which Must Happen, Bearers of Time, etc, etc, etc.' It rabbits on for a while after that, saying what the Ellion are. Ellimists cannot interfere. Ellion can. An Ellion is not like an Ellimist. An Ellimist is like Tobias was as a nothlit. He could direct you to do things, but he could do nothing. An Ellion is more like a god. Something that can do whatever it has to."

"Wow. We're Ellion?"

"Oh, hell, I don't know. I'm pretty sure that if I'm an Ellion, than Marco and Cassie are, and Rachel certainly is. I've never been able to do anything that wild again. I can't do much more sorcery. I can change things, and I can move things, I can change shape - but there's no way in hell I can lift the cavern again."

"Heh. Did you read about the freak sinkhole that turned up in the news yesterday?"

"Oh, yeah. I expect that to have shaken the city to dust. I guess the Ellimist don't want that happening."

"Or they want something else to happen."

______________________

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