"Okay, so you want us to go on a suicide mission to the Yeerk pool and try to morph yeerks? You have to be kidding. No way," Marco's voice wafted up to me.
"Yeah, and you'll be the guinea pig," Rachel of course.
"Nuh uh. Why should I?" Marco said.
And so, the meeting continued. Rachel and Marco throwing insults at each other and Jake and Cassie doing you-know-what.
"By the way Tobias, where is Darvan and Melissa?" Cassie asked.
<Out in the woods with Ax saying they have found a cave by the stream.>
Cave? Stream? <No!> I immediately regretted the minute the word went out of my head. Tobias eyed at me suspiciously. I tried to act like any normal pigeon would, flying away. I only just hope that Tobias wouldn't go after me. Quickly, I headed for my cave. Hadji seemed a little startled at a dove suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
"What's the matter? Meeting ended early?" I settled on the perch craved out of the rock wall to catch my breath.
<I accidentally blurted out in thoughtspeak. Did you lower the hologram??????>
"No, why do you ask?" Hadji answered.
<Phew, I thought you did and some of the members of the Animorphs found a cave with a stream trickling nearby. It almost gave me a heart attack.>
Hadji chuckled. "Now, would I be so thoughtless? Besides, I thought you would like to get out of pigeon morph and go directly into wolf morph, to see the others."
<Good idea.> Wolf morph! I almost stumbled from where I was standing. <Yikes! I forgot. Whenever I am doing a creature that walks instead of fly, I should be on the............ whoaaaaaoooo!> Bump! <.......floor........ Oh, that gotta hurt.>
"Hee. Off you go now."
1)Morph directly from one morph to another.
2)No time limit.
3)Morph with clothes and SHOES on
So, you see, these abilities were really useful to me. Ah, there they were. I crouched behind a thick holly (that gotta hurt!) bush. I could hear snatches of thoughtspeak here and there.
<Do we.......ly have t.........jir?> See what I mean? Then I heard something that made me feel very, very unlucky.
<Guys? There's a female wolf crouching behind a very thick holly bush looking intently at, um, let's see, ah, Marco. Now, I think she's attracted to "him" and I think she sensed that Marco was a male instead of a female........> (Ah, that's better.)
<Woo hoo!!!!! Finally! A girl who likes me!!!!!!!> Marco crowed.
<So what are you going to do, morph Jake's wolf, stay for two hours one minute, and mate with her?> Rachel cut in sarcastically.
Suddenly, a male wolf took his place beside me and growled at Jake. <Marco? Wishful thinking. That female has already a mate.> I immediately recognized the wolf.
<Todd!>
Todd snapped back. <What are YOU doing here?>
<What's wrong with that?>
<You know what's wrong! You were making eyes at that guy!> motioning to Marco.
<What's the matter with that? I have my own free will of choice! And if you don't shut up, I will blast you!>
Todd immediately quieted down. I realized our mistake as soon Jake's 'pack' came around us. <I think you have some explaining to do,> Jake said to us.
<Ooookay, but can you please come to my cave? I have to take Todd back.>
I heard some private thoughtspeak from Darvan to Jake. <It is strange. I could not do a scan on her memory, not even when she is angry. It seems that there is a blockage, a door where she could only unlock herself. There is only one species which who could do that. They are called.......>
I didn't want to hear anymore. There is something I need to tell you. I am a mongrel, a mix of species, but mostly Ellimist. That blockage part came from a species more ruthless than the Yeerks. Fortunately, this species are extremly crude and primitive, and they could never advance.
<Where is the cave you told us? Is this a trap?> Rachel demanded.
<Patience, my friends. Hadji, can you please lower the hologram? I have few friends here.>
<Hadji? Is that the indian guy from The Real Adventures Of Jonny Quest?>
<You read that kind of stuff?> Suddenly, all quietened down. Hadji had dropped the hologram.
<Cool stuff in here! Ooh, VR stuff! Can I try?> Marco asked. Demorph!
<What the? Would you look at that? She morphed so fast it was a blur.>
"Sure, you could try it. Unfortunately, you need to be in human form to try it."
The Animorphs reluctantly resumed their normal shape. However, I had to stop Marco from running to the VR set.
"Hold on. Before you enter the world of virtual reality, I would like you to meet someone. Here," I said, handing out earplugs to everyone.
"Why?" Jake demanded.
"Do you want to hurt your ears? We need to call out to this friend." After making sure that everyone had earplugs safely on, I pushed a switch on the main computer. The whole cavern rumbled from the impact of the sound.
"Earplugs off everyone now," I said to the miniature microphone installed in the earplugs.
"I tell you, this guy must be deaf," complained Marco.
Jake asked, "Won't the other humans hear this sound?"
"No," I replied. "The reason we hear this is because the sound resonated around this cave. It is too high pitched for the human ear to hear. Ah, here is our friend." The Animorphs gasped in surprise.
"What's up, Rita? Hey......" the pteranodon stop talking.
"Hi Bulls'eye. I have a few friends here to meet you. Don't worry, they are not going to experiment with you. Can't you see that they are too young?"
"Then what is he?" Bulls'eye asked, looking at Ax. I explained everything to Bulls'eye, while the Animorphs stood there gaping at him.