Apathymorphs: The Invasion - Ch. 2

Summary: A Daria/Animorphs crossover. Jane just walking home from the mall when a spaceship crashed right in front of her. Now she and her "friends" have the power to turn into animals— which they'll need to stop the alien invasion threatening the planet!

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Yeerks

"Wha—what?" Upchuck said, his voice barely a squeak.

<They are called Yeerks,> the alien said.

"Really? I haven't noticed any little green men walking around," Daria said. I couldn't only just hear the quiver in her usual dry monotone.

<You do not understand. Yeerks live in the bodies of other species. They are…>

The alien trailed off, then closed his main eyes. Suddenly a picture seemed to flash into my head—something grayish-green and slimy, like a rat-sized slug with little flippers on the side.  

"Ewww!" Quinn cried.

<They are parasites,> the alien explained. <They—UGH!> Another blast of pain went through us; I saw the alien's chest rise and fall rapidly, the slits on his face expanding with effort. <They live in the bodies of hosts. In this form they are known as Controllers. They enter the brain and connect to its neurons and synapses, taking over their minds and bodies.>

"Wait—you mean like people?" Jodie said in amazement. "There are aliens on Earth—living inside people's brains?"

"And they control them?"

<We had hoped to stop them,> the alien continued. His green eyes clouded. <We Andalites knew that the Yeerks had sent scout ships to this planet, but when we arrived there was already a Pool ship in orbit, swarms of Bug fighters…and a Blade ship, hidden in a crater of your moon. We fought, but…we lost. Our Dome ship is destroyed, and most of our fighters…they have tracked me here. They will be here soon to eliminate all traces of me and my ship.>

"What? Pool ship…what are you talking about?"

I wasn't sure if the alien had even heard Daria speak. <We fight the Yeerks wherever they go throughout the galaxy. My people may not know to send help, and even if they do, it will take a year or more to arrive. If the Yeerks can consolidate control before then…>

Another spasm of pain went through us. My mind was racing, but I didn't know how much time we had for questions, how much time did this…Andalite have left?

"This—this is crazy," Quinn said. "I mean—what do you want us to do?"

<You must warn your people.>

"But no one's going to believe us," Daria said. "I'm not sure if you realize, but we're just a bunch of teenagers. You've got you come with us."

"We have to try to help him, no matter what he says," Jodie said. She tried to lift the Andalite up, but to no avail. "We have to—call a hospital or something. Quinn, dial 911."

"Will they even know how to treat him?"

<There is no time, no time!> the alien said. <And any help you call may already be Controllers. The Yeerks will be here any moment.> Suddenly he paused; his eyes brightened. <But perhaps…>

Daria and I looked at each other nervously. "Perhaps what?"

<Go into my ship. You will see a small blue box, very plain. Bring it to me. Quickly! I have very little time, and the Yeerks will find me soon.>

We all looked at each other. Quinn immediately started shaking her head. I was going to suggest that Upchuck go, but Jodie took a deep breath and stood.

"I'll go," she said. She turned and walked toward the ship, marching as if afraid she would lose her nerve. She hesitated at the doorway for a moment, then disappeared inside.

We all waited in silence. The Andalite's breathing became raspier. To my surprise, Quinn bent down and carefully laid a hand on its narrow shoulder. His stalk eyes turned to her; she gave a smile so nervous it almost looked like a grimace.

Jodie emerged a moment later, walking slowly toward us. She was carrying a small, sky blue cube in her hands, about four inches on each side. She knelt down beside the alien again. "Here you go," she said quietly, passing it to him.

The alien took the cube from her; I noticed that his hand had too many fingers. <Thank you.>

"What is that?" Upchuck asked.

<Something I may be able to use to help you fight the Yeerks.>

"Fight?" Daria said, eyes going wide behind her glasses. "Who said anything about fighting?"

<I know that you are young. I know that you have no power with which to resist the Controllers. But this is a piece of Andalite technology that the Yeerks do not have—the power to morph.> He turned to us solemnly. <We have never shared this power. But your need is great.>

"Morph? What does that mean?" Quinn asked.

<To change your bodies. To become any animal or species.>

"Become animals," Daria said. She sounded detached, even for her.

<You will only need to touch a creature, to acquire its DNA pattern into your body, and you will be able to become that creature. It requires concentration and determination, and there are…limitations. Problems, dangers, even. But first, do you wish to receive this power?>

"He's kidding...right?"

"This is definitely weird," Jodie agreed, glancing around at the group. "But unless we're all just dreaming, I think we need to deal with this. Like, now."

"Maybe we are just dreaming," I muttered.

"Uh…guys? What's that?" Upchuck asked, pointing back up at the sky. We all turned; two small, bright red lights were flashing far overhead.

The Andalite watched them with his stalk eyes, and I could feel the hatred in his tone. <Yeerks.> His main eyes focused on us. <There is no more time. You must decide!>

"This is crazy!" Quinn suddenly screamed, startling me.

"I don't like this. I don't like this at all," Jodie muttered. Then she nodded. "But—alright."

Upchuck suddenly chuckled. Or forced out a sound sort of like a chuckle. "Heh. What's to be afraid of, right?"

"I…I don't know about this," Daria said nervously.

"Me neither," I said. I glanced back up at the sky; it might have been my imagination, but the lights looked larger, closer. "But I don't think we have a choice."

"This is crazy," Daria said stubbornly.

"Yeah, totally off the map crazy," I agreed. "But…what else can we do, amiga?"

She looked at me. Her expression was unreadable, which was actually pretty normal for her. "…Fine."

The Andalite held the box out to us. <Each of you, press your hand against one side of the square.>

We each slowly did so, huddling together. Quinn was the last to join, looking around at each of us as if hoping for someone to help her out of this.

<Do not be afraid.>

A weird sensation went through my body, like a cross between being electrocuted and being tickled, if that makes sense. (I know it doesn't.) The Andalite withdrew the box.

<Go now,> he said. <Only remember this—never remain in morphed form for more than two of your Earth hours. If you stay longer than two hours you will be trapped, unable to return to your human form.>

"Just two hours?!"

The Andalite was looking back up at the sky now; following his gaze, I noticed something new up there, a shadow larger than the other ships. <The Abomination,> the Andalite murmured.

"The what?"

<Visser Three. He is the most deadly of your new enemies. Run!>

"But maybe we can help—" Jodie began.

The alien turned to her. <No. You must save yourselves, and your planet. Now, hide, all of you! The Yeerks are here!>

He pointed; we all looked at each other and turned to race away. A blood-red spotlight suddenly fell on the fallen Andalite and his ship. Upchuck, at the back of the ground, was almost caught in the light, but managed to dive forward just in time to escape, crawling with the rest of us behind a half-finished wall. Peeking out, we could see the new spaceships descending, growing closer and closer.

Two of the ships were each shaped like a giant, legless cockroach. They touched down on either side of the Andalite's ship. The third ship was jet black, several times larger than the others, and shaped sort of like an ax or something. There was no space for it to land in the construction site, but as it descended half-finished buildings and construction equipment seemed to just disintegrated beneath it.

"Okay, I want to wake up now," Daria muttered. "Somebody wake me up. …Ow! Quinn!"

"Sorry. I was sort of hoping that would work."

A door on the dark ship opened. A dozen new figures began to step out.

Quinn started to scream, until Daria tackled her and forced her hand over her mouth.

These new aliens looked like a person had mated with a dinosaur, then stuck their baby full of knives. Each one was seven or eight feet tall, muscular, with long, snakelike necks and beaked heads that were topped with two or three curved horns. They had claws on their hands and feet and huge blades sticking out of their knees, their elbows, their long tails. Each one looked like it could kill somebody just by bumping into them.

<Hork-Bajir-Controllers,> the Andalite said, making us jump. I glanced around the wall; apparently his telepathy could work from more than twenty feet away.

<Do not worry; I am directing my thought-speak only to you,> the Andalite said. <The Hork-Bajir were a peaceful people once. But their entire species has already been enslaved by the Yeerks.>

"Yeah. I look at those things, 'peaceful' is definitely the first word to come to mind," Daria muttered.

After the Hork-Bajir, a new group of aliens began to slither out of the ship. Each one looked like a massive, ten-foot-long centipede as thick as a tree trunk. The lower two-thirds of their body crawled on the ground with dozens of spindly legs; the rest was reared upright and had rows of small lobster claws. Each one had a massive mouth filled with teeth on top of their tubular bodies, as well as four wiggling red eyes.

<Taxxon-Controllers,> the Andalite explained. <The Taxxons were…less peaceful than the Hork-Bajir.>

"Wonderful," I muttered.

The Hork-Bajir and Taxxons formed a circle around the Andalite ship. Each one carried what looked like ray guns in their clawlike hands.

One Hork-Bajir came right up to us. I gasped, knowing we were about to be discovered, but instead it turned on the other side of the wall, joining a circle with the rest of its ugly compatriots.

To be perfectly honest, I felt just about ready to wet myself.

A new figure began to emerge from the black spaceship. I turned, wondering what new nightmare we were in for now.

I was shocked when I saw it.

<The Abomination. Visser Three,> the Andalite said, his mental voice dripping with hate.

Quinn peeked out nervously. "What the…but isn't that—the same kind of alien he is?"

"Another Andalite," Jodie whispered.

<There is only one Andalite-Controller. That one is Visser Three.>

Visser Three walked confidently toward the wounded Andalite. I stared from one to the other, fascinated. Visser Three seemed bigger—though maybe just because the other Andalite was crumpled on the ground. His fur was a darker blue. But they both had the same centaur body, the same weird stalks, the same scorpion tail. But you could just tell that there was something messed up about this Visser Three guy. Maybe it was the way that he walked, or the way that he glared down at the Andalite, or the way that he smiled. I'm not sure how he was smiling without a mouth, but it was obvious—his whole face was awash with pure sadistic pleasure.

<Well, well. What have we here?> The mental voice was like ice water poured down my shirt. <Ah, but no ordinary Andalite warrior! If it isn't my old rival, Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. An honor to meet you again. How many of our fighters have you shredded? Seven, or was it eight by the time the battle ended?>

The Andalite only glared.

<I'm afraid your Dome ship has been completely destroyed. Completely,> Visser Three continued.

The Andalite glared harder. Then, to my amazement, he climbed to his feet. His four legs shook, I thought for sure he was going to fall again, but he managed to stand and glare down the new alien.

<There will be others,> Prince Elfangor said. Then, <What do you want with these humans? Why these people?>

Visser Three took a defiant step forward. His bladed tail suddenly snapped like the crack of a whip. <Because there are so many, and they are so WEAK,> he sneered. <Billions of bodies! We'll have to build a thousand new Yeerk pools just to raise Yeerks for half this number of hosts. And they have no idea what's happening. With this many hosts we can spread throughout the universe, unstoppable!>

He leaned in closer to Enfangor. I found myself leaning closer as well, breath caught in my throat, watching the mad, malicious look in his eyes. <And when we have this planet, with its rich harvest of bodies, we will move against the Andalite home world. And I promise to personally hunt down your family and oversee the placement of my most faithful lieutenants in their heads.> He leaned in even closer, tail twitching. <I hope that they will resist, so that I can hear their minds scream.>

Suddenly, the Andalite struck! His tail whipped forward, so fast that I could barely see it, and slashed at Visser Three's neck. He dove out of the way just in time, but the scorpion stinger drew dark blood from his shoulder. At the same moment the tail of the Andalite's ship suddenly lit up, and a sudden blast of light—so hot that I could feel it on my face even from my hiding spot—shot out, blasting the nearest cockroach-ship into flames and sending the other aliens scattering.

Visser Three screamed in my head. I felt the others draw closer. "Maybe he has a chance after all!" Upchuck cried excitedly.

But he was instantly proved wrong. The Andalite only seemed to have enough strength for that one attack—instantly he collapsed and the Hork-Bajir were on him, grabbing his arms and tail. <FIRE!> Visser Three roared. <Burn his ship!>

The Taxxons slithered forward and began to fire with their ray guns; the construction site was awash in red light, and the Andalite's ship began to melt and disintegrate before our eyes.

Daria suddenly grabbed my arm. "Look at the—the evil Andalite. Visser Three or whatever," she whispered.

"What the hell is happening to him?!" Quinn gasped.

"I think he's…" Upchuck swallowed. "Morphing."

"Into what?"

Visser Three's Andalite head grew larger and larger. His four hoofed legs seemed to melt, then merge into two, then grow huge. A sudden gash appeared on his face, opening into a mouth filled with giant teeth. His arms turned into tentacles. He grew. A lot.

He looked like some kind of monster from a bad horror movie. Except a real monster from a bad horror movie, muscles rippling as it reared up taller than the unfinished buildings around us. It threw back its head and roared.

I'll admit—I heard myself whimper. Quinn was covering her face. Daria's eyes were wide with horrified fascination. Jodie was saying something, but I couldn't hear what.

"RAAAAGGGGHHHH!"

Visser Three's tentacle reached down and grabbed the Andalite from the Hork-Bajir's grasp. Prince Elfangor struck at him with his tail blade, but the monster hardly seemed to notice.

"Oh G-d. Oh G-d. Oh G-d," Quinn gasped.

Visser Three opened his mouth wide and threw Prince Elfangor in.

He screamed, like a blast of pain and terror in my brain. I suddenly heard Quinn start crying. Despite myself I looked away and let out a small choking sound.  

Visser Three began shrinking, his monster body melting back into alien-centaur form. <Ah. Nothing like a good Antarean Bogg morph to…take a bite out of your enemies.>

I might have rolled my eyes at the corny joke, if it weren't for the fact that I was trying not to faint. The Hork-Bajir-Controllers made a sound that I think was laughter. The Taxxons merely hissed and swarmed around the changing Visser-monster. A chunk of meat fell from the creature's giant maw as he changed back—the Taxxons immediately fell forward, fighting each other for a chance to gobble it up.

Suddenly, Upchuck bent over and started to live out his nickname. I wish I could blame him for that, but I felt about ready to hurl myself. Still, the sound caught the attention of the nearest Hork-Bajir. Its snakelike head suddenly whipped around and peered down over the wall at us. Its beady eyes blinked in the darkness.

Immediately, we all screamed.

"RUN!"

We ran. The Hork-Bajir let out a cry to the rest of its companions.

"SPLIT UP!" Jodie screamed. "They can't follow all of us!"

We scattered in five different directions. The Hork-Bajir hesitated; my brain worked wildly. Quinn is on the short side, Upchuck is totally out of shape, and Daria is both. Jodie seemed pretty fast, but I run a lot—in fact I used to be on the school track team. So I figured that if the aliens were going to chase anyone, it might as well be me.

"HEY!" I stopped and spun around, waving my arms. "E.T.! Why don't you try to catch me, ya Star Trek rejects!"

I don't know if the aliens understood me, but they began the chase. I turned and sprinted away, ducking behind any building I could find.

I tried to lose the Hork-Bajir, but they managed to stay on me—for all I knew they could track me by smell or with psychic powers or something. I turned another corner and ducked into one of the half-finished buildings, putting my back against the wall and trying to shuffle into the darkness. I clamped my hand over my mouth, refusing to breathe.

I heard the Hork-Bajir prowling outside. The beam of a flashlight flashed in through the empty doorway.  

I heard a guttural, alien voice speak in a language that I couldn't understand. I was shocked to hear a response in perfect English.

"No-no, no need to capture them! Whoever you find, kill."

That voice…it was human, I realized. And familiar. But who—I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't think straight with all the adrenaline coursing through my system and my heart hammering in my chest and the blood rushing to my ears. All I could manage to wrap my head around was that the voice was familiar and belonged to a woman.

"Oh, forget it," the human said, sounding irritated. "I think the little brat went over this way…"

The flashlight beam vanished; I heard the Hork-Bajir walking away. For several long minutes I remained frozen, straining my ears for any tiny sound. Then, taking a deep breath, I moved to the doorway and peered outside again.

Nobody there. No humans, no Hork-Bajir, no anyone. But I could still hear them prowling in another part of the construction site.

I ducked out of the building and ran, and didn't stop running until I made it back home.