Chapter Text
My name is Taiju, and I’m an Animorph. What’s an Animorph? Well, it’s the name Chrome came up with for what we are now, the five of us who were given the power to turn into animals by Prince Nemea. It means we’re a team, fighting the Yeerks together.
Oh right, uh. Yeerks are these alien slugs that take over people’s brains. Scary stuff! They’re at war with the Andalites—they’re different aliens, and now they’ve come to Earth to take over the planet! That’s why Prince Nemea (an Andalite) gave us the morphing power before he died. It’s a big responsibility, to fight an entire secret invasion, and it’s really dangerous. Senku says we can’t even mention our last names or where we live in case we’re discovered by the Yeerks and made into Controllers.
Being able to turn into animals is really cool, but having to fight aliens isn’t nearly as fun. We’ve had a few victories though, like taking out that Truck Ship the Yeerks were using to collect water. I try to hold onto those.
That was what was going through my mind one night when I couldn’t sleep, so I put on my shoes and decided to walk out to the barn. My grandparents stashed all the farm equipment there when they sold off the property when my parents died, so they hardly ever come out here.
Which is a good thing, because it would be kind of hard to explain Chrome to them.
Chrome raised an ear and sat up as soon as I entered the barn. Yawning, he crossed his paws and tilted his head at me.
<Having a hard time sleeping, huh?>
I sat down next to the pile of blankets Chrome was resting on and sighed. “Yeah. Sorry, I thought you’d be asleep.”
<Eh, I had a nice nap earlier today. And gray wolves are sorta nocturnal anyway.>
Yeah, um. Chrome’s a wolf. Well that’s not right, Chrome’s still human, but he got stuck in wolf morph when we were trying to investigate the Yeerk Pool and so now he lives in the barn. His foster parents didn’t even seem to notice he was gone, though Kohaku’s sister definitely did. It’s been hard keeping that a secret from her, but Kohaku and Chrome don’t want Ruri involved with Animorphs stuff for her own safety.
I blinked. “Nock-turn-what?”
Chrome let out a snuffling noise like he was laughing. <Nocturnal! It means an animal is active at night, while diurnal is for animals active during the day. Wolves aren’t exclusively nocturnal, but they do frequently hunt at night.>
“Oh, okay.” I rubbed at my eyes. “I kind of wish I was nocturnal…”
<Anything been bugging you in particular, big guy?>
“No, I…” I sighed. “I’ve just been having weird dreams lately.”
Chrome froze. “Dreams? What kind of dreams?”
“Like…I’m standing on the beach, looking out to sea.”
<The sea…and someone’s calling to you from under the water.>
I blinked. “…Yeah. How’d you know that?”
Chrome looked me right in the eyes. <Because I’ve been having the exact same dream.>
I stared at him as he stood up on all fours. <We need to get the others.>
“Okay, so let me get this straight,” Kohaku said, pressing a hand to her forehead. “For the past few days, the two of you have been having dreams about someone calling to help from the ocean, but the rest of us haven’t. Why is this important again? Maybe Chrome‘s just having weird wolf dreams and is somehow putting them in Taiju’s head with thoughtspeak.”
<Why would a wolf dream about the ocean though? You can’t just say this is a coincidence!> Chrome protested. We were all gathered in the barn since it’s hard to sneak Chrome through town without freaking people out.
“Come on you two,” Yuzuriha said gently, “let’s not argue, okay? There might be a simple explanation, but we don’t know yet.”
I smiled gratefully at Yuzuriha—when Chrome and Kohaku start arguing, it can be pretty hard to calm them down, and it really stresses me out sometimes. Yuzuriha’s so sweet and nice like that, it’s almost hard to believe such a wonderful, amazing person is friends with someone like me!
Kohaku frowned. “You’ve been weirdly quiet, Senku, what’s going on in that brain of yours?”
“Give me a minute,” Senku mumbled, tapping away at his computer. Kohaku sighed and crossed her arms impatiently, but I knew she wouldn’t push. All of us know that when Senku’s got something to say, he’ll make it known. That’s how he’s been ever since I met him.
Oh, I should tell you more about everyone on the team! Well, I really should start with Senku. He’s kind of our leader, though we never officially decided that I don’t think? I mean, even if we voted on it I’m pretty sure Senku would win anyway. He’s super smart, and he has this sort of attitude that makes you believe he can fix any problem if he has enough time to think about it. Of course, he’s also my best friend, so maybe I’m a little biased. His favorite morph is a green snake that kind of matches his hair, which he uses to gather information all sneaky.
I already told you about Chrome, but I didn’t really explain him very well. Chrome’s really smart too, and he and Senku work together to make plans for fighting against the Yeerk. Sometimes when things are tough, it’s Chrome who pulls through with an idea none of us have thought of, not even Senku. I really admire his ability to think on his feet like that!
Then there’s Kohaku, she’s Senku’s…step cousin? I think that’s right. She’s also Chrome’s best friend, which might be why they argue so much. Kohaku’s a really sporty type, and she’s not afraid of anything! Even though Senku and Chrome make the big plans, it’s Kohaku who thinks up new ways to use our morphs in battle. Some of her ideas are…a little scary, to be honest, but I know she’s right that we have to do whatever we can to defend our planet. Her favorite morph is a powerful lioness, though she doesn’t like it when Senku calls her one outside of missions.
Next there’s Yuzuriha. Man, where do I begin? She’s so charming and clever, she’s the one who makes sure we’re all staying undercover, coordinating our meetings, and making and repairing our morph suits. Not to mention she’s absolutely gorgeous, with lovely brown hair and eyes and the prettiest smile you’ll ever see. Her favorite morph is a beautiful owl with strong talons.
Can I tell you a secret? I’ve been in love with Yuzuriha since the day we met, back in fifth grade. But on the night I finally found the courage to tell her, we met the Andalite, and now…well. I feel like we need to focus on saving the world from the Yeerks first. After that…I’ll tell her for sure.
And finally there’s me. I’m…really not that special compared to everyone else. I’m pretty strong, and I like baseball, but I’m not nearly as good at fighting and athletics as Kohaku. I’m pretty dumb compared to Senku and Chrome too, and I don’t have Yuzuriha’s charm or skills with sewing. But if there’s one thing I can be, it’s dependable. Whenever my friends need me, I’m there, and my black bear morph is super tough, strong enough to take heavy hits that the others wouldn’t be able to. Because I’m going to protect them, no matter what. They’re the most important people in the world to me.
“Okay, I got it,” Senku said. “Check this out.” He turned his laptop to show us all what looked like a news broadcast, where a man was holding up a piece of scrap metal that had small symbols etched along the edge. “Look familiar?”
“Oh!!” I pointed at the screen. “That looks like the writing in the Andalite ship! The one the prince had!”
“Precisely,” Senku nodded. “I think this bit of scrap was a piece from a recently crashed Andalite ship. Which means there could be clues on the beach of a way to communicate with them.”
“Communicate,” I muttered.
And suddenly I felt myself pitching towards the floor as everything went dark.
“Taiju? Taiju!!”
I groaned and rubbed my head as I sat up. Yuzuriha and Senku were staring down at me with worried expressions, while Kohaku was crouched over Chrome’s body lying awkwardly on the floor.
“Taiju, can you hear me?” Senku asked. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Uh…zero,” I said as I pushed myself up. “Ugh…”
“What on earth was that?!” Kohaku said as Chrome groggily rested his muzzle on her shoulder. “My head suddenly felt all weird right when you two collapsed!”
“Mine too,” Yuzuriha said. Senku nodded.
“I heard…some sort of voice, I think,” he said. I gasped.
“The voice! I heard it again! It was calling out for help!”
<Yeah, but it didn’t sound like a human,> Chrome remarked. <It was more like…like thoughtspeak. Like the Andalite.>
He meant Prince Nemea, the Andalite who’d given us our morphing powers. I shuddered as I remembered watching him die at the hands of Visser Three, the leader of the Yeerks.
I never wanted to see anything like that happen again.
“You think it’s an Andalite calling for help?” Yuzuriha blinked.
“All evidence points to that being the case,” Senku nodded. “But that also means it could be a trap.”
We all fell silent at that. Then, I shook my head.
“Even if it could be a trap, it could just as well be someone actually in trouble! Can’t we investigate a bit, Senku? What else do we have these powers for?”
“Hey, I never said we shouldn’t at least check it out,” Senku said. “If we can rescue the Andalite, we gain a valuable ally in this war. But it’ll be risky—if we fail, the Yeerks win, and Earth is lost. We have to all agree that this risk is worth losing everything.”
All of us glanced at each other.
<I won’t be any help in the water,> Chrome said, <But I’m all for the rescue mission. Kohaku?>
“The Andalite prince died to give us a fighting chance,” Kohaku said firmly. “The least we can do is try to save one of his people too.”
“If someone’s in need, I want to do whatever I can to help them,” Yuzuriha said. “Just like Taiju said—what else are these powers for?”
Senku stared at all of us, then grinned.
“Then get excited! We’re gonna go get some aquatic morphs.”