Prologue

The flaming ball of heat was headed right for us.

I was going to die. I knew it.

I tightly shut my eyes and waited for my death.

But it never came...

I SAID I WOULD ASK AGAIN.

Chapter 1

My eyes shot open and I looked around. We were still in the Yeerks stronghold. The fire mere feet from
engulfing us. But somehow, without knowing, we had all demorphed. Time itself had stopped. Only one
creature had such power.

"Ellimist!"

IT IS I.

He seemed to step out of the flames. A glowing humanoid that radiated with power.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I once made you an offer. That offer still stands."

"Offer?"

Cassie caught on. "When we were in the Yeerk Pool, about to be eaten by a Taxxon. You stopped time.
You gave us a chance to leave."

"The choice is still yours."

Jake and Marco looked around. As if searching for an escape.

The Ellimist shook his head sadly. "There痴 no way out. Not this time."

"If you can稚 help us, then why? Why this." I asked.

"I can help. I can save your lives, but only by taking you to another planet where you can start a new
colony of humans."

"We are not running away." I hissed.

Jake put a hand on my shoulder. "Rachel. I know you don稚 like to run from a fight, but there痴 no fight
left. He痴 right. There痴 no other way out. We stay here, we die."

"You want to leave?" I whispered.

"What else can we do?"

"This is rigged." I avoided his question.

The Ellimist looked at me with almost sad eyes. "No. This is no trick. In another second, you would all be
dead. With no one to defend her, Earth will fall. There will be no free humans left."

"If we go, our families?" Cassie asked.

"They will join you, as some others for a good biological mix."

"My mom?" Marco痴 eyes widened with hope.

"Yes."

There was silence for a moment as we considered our options.

<Maybe, maybe we can come back later.> Tobias said halfheartedly. <Take Earth back.>

"We can稚 fight forever." Cassie nodded.

"Better than staying and dying." Marco pointed out.

<It is the most logical approach.> Ax admitted.

Jake looked at me. I knew we would not go if I said no.

There was no enthusiasm as I said my famous words, only acceptance of fate. "Let痴 do it."

Chapter 2

That was the last time I saw Earth. I drew my next breath on an alien planet.

The bright light of the rising sun blinded me when I first entered the new world. Then I drew in the rolling
landscape, the sparkling river, and the lush trees. It was beautiful, simply beautiful.

Cassie voiced my thoughts. "This place is amazing."

I was already missing Earth, but this place had an appeal. It was strange, yet I felt at home. The air was
clean and fresh. The grass and trees were emerald green. The sky was a clear pure blue.

TOBIAS.

<Yes?>

DEMORPH.

Tobias froze. <Demorph? Demorph?>

THAT IS WHAT I SAID.

Tobias morphed, no, demorphed to human. He was trembling. He had guessed what was to come.

YOU HAVE YOUR HUMAN BODY BACK. AND YOU KEEP YOUR MORPHING POWER.

I turned and hugged him. He embraced me back.

"Thank you." Tobias whispered. "Thank you."

GOOD LUCK, MY FRIENDS. MAY YOU LIVE LONG AND PROSPER.

We felt his presence leave us.

"Is it just me or did blue-boy make a joke?" Marco asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Rachel?"

I turned to the voice. "Mom!" I ran straight into her arms. "Oh, Mom!"

"Honey, what happened."

"We attacked. We tried to destroy the Kandrona. But it didn稚 work. We were going to die, Mom."

"Rachel. Calm down. You池e not making any sense."

"Right, right. You don稚 know."

"Know what?"

"It痴 really complicated." I looked around. There were roughly a hundred people there. I noticed the other
Animorphs, except Ax and Tobias with their families. I reached over and grabbed Tobias痴 arm. "Guys.
Come over here."

They followed me to where my mom stood. Jordan and Sara had found their way through the crowd to
us.

"Mom. This is Tobias. My boyfriend."

Tobias gave me a look that said, 選知 your boyfriend??

I nodded yes and he smiled.

My mom, however, was looking at Ax. "I致e been working to much lately, because I swear, your friend
looks like an alien."

"Mom. He is an alien."

She rubbed her eyes. "You池e right. He is an alien." She must have been in shock.

That痴 when my dad showed up. "Naomi?"

"Dan?"

"This has got to be a bad dream."

"Um, Dad. I have something to tell you."

That痴 when Jake痴 voice rang out through the crowd. "Your attention, please!"

Chapter 3

"Everybody. Please, calm down! I will explain everything."

I noticed a few didn稚 understand him. "Jake! They don稚 speak English!" I turned to Ax. "Go over and
repeat what he says in thought-speak. Everyone can understand that."

Ax galloped over and Tobias and I followed. Cassie and Marco were already beside Jake.

<Everybody. Please, calm down! We will explain everything.> Ax repeated what Jake had just said. This
time, the crowed stopped talking and paid attention.

"My name is Jake. This is Cassie, Marco, Rachel, Tobias, and Aximili." He pointed at each of us. "We are
the Animorphs."

<My name is Jake. This is Cassie, Marco, Rachel, Tobias, and Aximili. We are the Animorphs.>

"For two years, we have been fighting an alien invasion of Earth. We?e lost. And now, now we are no
longer on Earth. We are on another planet in another solar system light-years away. This is our new
home. We have to start all over. I know some of you might be upset about leaving, but had we stayed,
you would all be Controllers soon. I think that you would rather colonize a new planet than lose your
freedom to alien invaders."

Ax repeated Jake痴 words in thought-speak and a murmur rose through the crowd.

"I know this is all very sudden, and it must be hard on you, but let痴 make the best of it. Could everyone
separate into families, or pair up with someone who speaks your language."

Once again, I heard Ax痴 thought-speak.

The crowd shifted. I saw my family head for me. I pointed to a small grove of trees. "Wait for me over
there, okay?"

I saw my mother nod and they headed in the direction I pointed.

"We have to find shelter, food. And figure out a better way to talk to people who don稚 speak English."
Jake looked worried.

"Let痴 walk around, talk to everyone. Find out how many people are here, and who痴 who." I suggested.

"Good idea. Everyone, talk to your family. Tell them we値l explain everything later."

"Okay." I ran over to my parents and my sisters.

"Rachel. This is unbelievable."

"There痴 more. I値l explain it all later, okay?"

My dad nodded.

My mom looked like she was about to protest, them stopped.

Chapter 4

One by one, we went over to the various groups of people. There were exactly 100 people, including
ourselves. They were from all walks of life. Professionals to farmers, children to retirees. Every walk of
life. We were a very diverse group. I think the Ellimist wanted it that way.

"So now what?" I asked Jake.

"I don稚 know. The language thing is a real problem. Only half speak some English. And most of that
 壮ome?is use and our families."

"What do we do?"

"We find some shelter, some food."

"How do we know what痴 edible? This is an alien planet."

"The plants that we eat on Earth should still edible here." Cassie shrugged.

"And how do we know which is poisonous and which isn稚? Besides the 粗at and if you don稚 die, it痴
okay?way." Marco asked.

"We eat what primates eat."

"And where do we get a primate to test this stuff?" Marco asked sarcastically. "In case you haven稚
noticed, we池e not on Earth anymore!"

"A gorilla痴 a primate."

"Oh, no. No way. I am not going to be you池e guinea pig!"

"Oh no. You don稚 have to be a guinea pig." I smiled. "Just a gorilla."

"Joy. Find me something to try first." Marco made a face.

I gestured to the berry bushes nearby. "Take your pick."

Chapter 5

We found some berries and fruit we could eat. And after some exploring, we discovered a wheat-like
plant with kernels. We decided to set up camp there. We were near water and food, so it seemed like an
ideal spot. Maybe, maybe we were going to be okay.

Food wasn稚 easy to get, but with our various morphs, we were able to catch a few animals. I morphed
grizzly and threw fish after fish out of the river. A hundred people are not easy to feed.

Making a bonfire was even harder. For some reason, the wood would not ignite. Finally, Ax struck his
tailblade against a rock to make a spark and the dry grass we found caught on.

We ended up making several small fires. At least we didn稚 have to eat raw meat. I was never one for
sushi. Then again, there was a Japanese guy who wanted to eat the fish raw.

We made lean-tos, and stocked up a woodpile. We would take turns during the night to keep watch over
the fires.

As I look back now, we were in a state of disorder, but with all that was going on, no one noticed.

That night, we slept under the stars. It was a good thing there was no rain. We were ill equipped for that.

My last thought before drifting to sleep was, Goodbye, Earth. Goodbye.

                                                                      The End
 
 
 

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