[Hopefully all of the thought-speech has been converted into brackets, but I'm not sure if it is. The song lyrics at the end of the story are from Monica's song, For You I Will.]

The Device

Chapter 1

I left the mall a little earlier than usual. Probably because I already had all the stuff I could carry. Not bothering to call my mom, I started walking home carrying 1 bag in 1 hand and 2 in the other. Not much going on then. It used to be that I would have gone through the construction site as a shortcut. Now I didn't dare.

I'm Rachel. I can't tell you my last name or where I live, or give you any kind of clues. No offense, I may be kind of reckless but I'm more careful than that. Now you're probably wondering if I'm paranoid or something. I guess I am, just a little. How could I not be? The Yeerks...we don't know who could be one. But you probably know that, right?

My friends and I fight the Yeerks. Hopefully you know who they are; Jake, Cassie, Marco, Tobias, and Ax. If you don't know about us, then you shouldn't be reading this and probably got lost from wherever you're reading it. Anyway, I was on my way home and I felt a drop of water on my head.

"Great, rain." I mumbled.

I grabbed my bags under my arms and started to jog as the rain got heavier. Then I saw a bird overhead.

I jogged faster so I wouldn't get as wet. It wasn't really working, because I was already mostly soaked. I ran to my house, and put my bags in my room. There was a message on the answering machine so I checked it. There was a familiar beep and then the message started playing.

"Rachel, this is Cassie. Remember that book you need for your project? Well, it's at my house if you want to come use it here." Then it stopped, so I went to my room and went to the window, about to morph to bald eagle. I concentrated hard, and felt the changes begin. My outer clothing fell down and I was left in my morphing outfit. You can only morph minimal clothing, a big setback.

A feather pattern appeared over my skin and leotard, and then became real feathers. I began shrinking very fast, and before I knew it, I had to look up to see out the window. My lips hardened and became a beak, and my feet became some dangerous talons. My arms had become wings by then. When I was full eagle, I flew out the window in the rain.

I got to the barn and demorphed. Everyone else was there, so I was late. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Jake, you want to tell her?" Cassie said.

"Sure. Erek just told me that Visser 1 was coming here to oversee some big project. We're going to check out what's going on, and maybe destroy it." Jake told me.

"Well, that sums things up."

"Doesn't it just?" Marco added sarcastically.

"Marco?"

"What?"

"Shut up."

Marco sighed and leaned back in the haystack he was sitting on.

"How are we going to do this? I mean, for one, we don't know what there doing. Another thing, we don't know where this project is being held. And how would we go about doing this altogether?" Marco asked.

"That's why we're going to spy on Visser 1, of course." Cassie explained. "If she's watching over this thing, then she has to know what it's about."

"Duh." I said bluntly.

We broke up the meeting and went home. I morphed back to eagle and flew part way home when I noticed a red tailed hawk.

[Who's that?] I asked.

[What other red tailed hawks would be flying in this weather?] It was Tobias.

[Why are you out?]

[I wanted to know if you wanted to just fly around for a little while, maybe.]

[Tobias, it's raining.] I pointed out.

[Yeah, so?]

[Oh well. I guess I'm up for flying around in the rain, unless I see lightning. Then I'm out of here.] I turned around and headed for the woods.

[So where do you want to go?] I asked.

[We can fly around the woods.]

Then I noticed something. [Hey, what's that?]

[What?]

[That, down there!] I dived down to where the thing was and perched in a nearby tree. Tobias followed me.

[It's just a group of campers.]

[Camping in the rain?]

[Okay, you have a point.] Then I saw someone come out of 1 tent. He looked and seemed very familiar. Then I felt an uneasiness surround me. It was him. The abomination. Visser 3.

[What's he doing there?] Tobias asked.

[I don't know. But this project must be pretty important for Visser 1 and Visser 3 to be working on it.]

[I would guess so.] I looked at Visser 3, and he looked at me.

"What is that?" He asked someone.

"It appears to be a bald eagle, sir."

"Kill it immediately. It could be an Andalite in morph."

"Sir-" The man began.

"Don't question me, just kill it! Our project must not be manipulated!" The man raised a dracon beam at me and prepared to fire.

[Rachel?]

[What, Tobias?]

[MOVE!] I jumped off of the branch where I was and took off.

[Tobias, you may want to move.] I said. No answer. I looked back in time to see him lift off, and then I saw Visser 3 shoot at him. He had pretty good aim.

[TOBIAS!] I turned around, feeling like I was about to have a heart attack.

[It's okay, I'm fine.] I breathed a sigh of relief.

[Did you get hit?]

[No, he barely missed me. But I think your time's probably almost up so you'd better hurry.] I saw him above the trees, flying towards me.

[I think I should go home now. Bye.] Then I flew home.

Chapter 2

"Mom, I'm home." I said. It was getting a little dark, and I didn't get a reply. "Mom? Sara? Jordan? Anyone home?" Still no reply. "Where is everyone?" I looked at the fridge and took a note off of it. It said,

"Great, I have the house to myself." I actually didn't know whether it was a good or bad thing. I picked up the phone and dialed Jake's number.

"Hello?" It was Tom.

"Hi Tom, it's Rachel. Is Jake there?"

"Yeah, sure. Hold on and I'll get him." I heard the phone tap on the table. "Hey Jake! Rachel's on the phone!"

"Hi Rach. What's up?" Jake asked.

"Did Tobias tell you what happened after we left?"

"Not yet, why?"

"Because whatever's going on here is big, if the he's going to be here too."

"He is here? Why?"

"How should I know? All I know is that they're both going to be here."

"Well I...oh, here comes Tom. Talk to you later." Then I heard a click and a dial tone. I put down the receiver and went into the fridge. I wasn't hungry, but I wanted to make sure I had something for when I wanted it. There were a few more important things to deal with, but I didn't have answers. Not yet. The phone rang. I ran over and picked it up.

"Rachel?"

"Cassie?"

"Yeah."

"Why are you calling?"

"I don't know. Something just told me to call you."

"Are your parents home?"

"Nope, why?"

"Just wondering. Listen, we know that you-know-who is going to be overlooking this project. But I think he is helping her."

"V- I mean, he's helping you-know-who? But they hate each other! Why would they be working together?"

"This must be important."

"Yeah, I guess. Oh, got to go! Bye Rachel!"

"Bye." I hung up the phone and went to my room. The window was closed, but I felt a little rustling. Tobias was there. "Hi Tobias."

[Hi Rachel.]

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

[I just talked to Jake. He said we're going to follow Visser 3 for this. As something small.] Then he began to morph to human. Tobias's regular body is that of a hawk, but he can morph to human. It's really unfair for him.

"Oh, how fun."

"Rachel, are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

"Ever have one of those days where basically the whole world's against you?"

"I've had days like that. Weeks, too. Once an entire month was like that."

"Oh." For a minute we just sat there, not talking, not moving much. I looked at him, and caught his eye.

"Well, I think I'd better go." He said, as if he was uncomfortable. As he demorphed and flew out the window, I gave him a small sympathetic look. Then I went and closed the window.

"Okay. Thanks for telling me." I looked at the floor. There was something on my mind. The window was open the whole time. But none of it got on my carpet. It didn't mean anything, but I wanted to notice something just as a normal person.

I sat down on my bed and picked up my book, but I couldn't concentrate. Every time I looked at the page, Tobias's eyes were in my mind. I went downstairs and heated up my food in the microwave, and then ate. It was dark outside by then. Suddenly I felt tired so I went upstairs and went to sleep.

I woke up the next morning, still in my clothes, and sat up. "Jeez, Rachel. Calm down." I told myself. Getting out of bed, I went to take a shower. There was a calendar on the wall. Today was Sunday. "I hate Sundays. Even if I don't have school tomorrow." I mumbled.

After my shower, I went downstairs. Mom was sitting at the table, working on some legal case. "Hi Rachel." She said, barely looking up.

"Morning."

"Oh, Jake called and said something about going to a barn right about now."

"Okay, bye." I went out the front door and walked to Cassie's barn. Jake, Cassie, and Tobias were there.

Chapter 3

"Hi." Jake said. Cassie smiled.

[Hi.]

"Hi. Okay, way too many hi's here."

"Hello everyone! I have arrived!" It was Marco, being way too cheerful.

"Unfortunately." I said, grinning.

"Where's Ax?"

[Right here, Prince Jake.]

"Ax, how many times have I asked you NOT to call me prince?"

[Many, Prince Jake.]

"Well, for once would you actually just call me Jake?"

[That would be hard, considering you're my prince.]

"For the last time, I'm not a prince!"

"Okay, everyone just shut up please." I said. They stopped talking. "Thank you. Now, why are we here Jake?"

"Remember the project thing the Yeerks are doing?" I nodded. "Well, Erek told me that they're going to start it today. And that they're starting it in an animal testing lab."

"So? How are we going to get in there?" I asked.

"After that, we can discuss the many reasons why not to go." Marco said.

"Marco, we haven't even thought of anything." Jake told him.

"Yeah, but every plan we have seems to be completely irrational. Plus, we narrowly escape being killed."

"And your point is?" I asked.

"Well, Xena, my point is that maybe you like risking your butt, but we've been lucky. There won't always be a next time. We're running out of chances." He had a good point.

"We have to try anyway!" I said.

"Rachel's right." Cassie said. "I just can't help but remember when this all started."

[When my-when Elfangor gave us the power, he gave it to us for a reason, remember.] Tobias said.

"Everyone's against me?"

"Apparently."

"Okay, whatever we plan, guess I have no choice so..."

"Good. Now, how are we going to get to this lab?"

"We're going to...follow someone I guess." Jake said. For the first time, I don't think he was sure of what our plan would be. And that creeped me out.

"How about Visser 3? We know he's working on this." I suggested.

"Good idea. We'll meet here tomorrow and Rachel and Tobias can lead us there." Jake said.

"How are we going?" Marco asked.

"Either flies or fleas, and flies sounds better to me."

"Flies it is."

We disbanded, and I started home. I started to daydream about the day this war would end, maybe. I wished and I hoped and I prayed, but still I'm waiting for that day. Who knows, maybe it'll be next week. Or it could end 10 years from now. I was almost home when I heard a voice.

"Hello." I turned around.

"Hello?"

"Here."

"Where is here?"

"In the trees."

"Who are you?"

"I'm a friend. Don't be afraid."

"I would take that into consideration if you'd show yourself." I said to the voice. Then something did step out from the trees. It looked almost human, unless you counted the fact that it had a tail, and a snake-like head. It was actually similar to a Hork-Bajir.

"Who are you? Name, I mean."

"My name is Harish."

"Oh yeah, that tells me a lot."

"I have come on a sort of rescue mission. There was one like me on this planet, and I received a distress signal from him. He may have already died."

"Like you? What species are you?"

"Yes, we are the Grogolits."

"So...Harish. What are you doing on Earth?"

"I already told you, my friend said he was lost here on earth."

"Um...maybe you should come with me. By the way, how can you trust me?"

"I have been watching you for a while now, human. I have heard you talking to your friends." I walked through the woods that Harish had come from, motioning for him, I guess, to follow me.

[Where are we going?]

"To meet someone." I took her to where Ax lived.

"Ax! Could you...uh...come here for a minute?"

We was watching TV in his scoop. Moments later I saw him coming towards me.

[Rachel, what do you-] He stopped when he saw Harish. [Who are you?]

"I am Harish. I have come to search for my friend. I think I may have a little information for you too."

[I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.]

"Elfangor's brother?!"

[Do you have a ship?]

"Most of it disintegrated in this atmosphere." I looked to one then the other as the conversation got really technical.

"I'm going to go home now." I said, backing away from the 2 Andalites.

[So who, or what, was that about?] It was Tobias.

"Some alien came to rescue his friend. His ship apparently disintegrated."

[Well, maybe it wasn't his fault.]

"Obviously it wasn't." I turned and went home.

Chapter 4

We were at the barn, and it was the next day. I didn't know if Ax had told the others about Harish, so I decided to say something.

"Now, we need to get-"

"Jake?" I interrupted. "We have a little bit of a problem."

"What is it?" He asked, annoyed that I interrupted him.

"Hasn't Ax told you?" He shook his head. "I found an alien."

"What?! Wait, where is Ax?"

[He's here, and he's brought someone with him.] Tobias said. Just then Ax and Harish walked in.

"Do you mind introducing us to your new friend?" Jake asked him.

[Prince Jake, Marco, Cassie, this is Harish. I believe Rachel and Tobias have already met her.]

"Nice to meet you." Jake said.

"Hello, newcomer." That was Marco.

"Hi." Cassie used her warm, welcoming smile.

"Hello Marco, Cassie, and...did you say he was your prince? I suppose, since my prince is dead, you are my prince too." Jake groaned.

"Just what I need, another person, I mean alien to call me prince."

"I think it's kind of flattering, Jake." Cassie said, grinning.

"Yeah, it suits you well fearless leader."

"Don't call me that either!"

"Boy is someone in a bad mood." That was me saying that.

"Well Harish, can you morph?" Jake asked.

"I can shapeshift. Not very well, though. I can change to a form I see." He replied.

"Oh. Can you shift to human?" Harish nodded. Then he shifted, and he seemed strangely familiar. He was like all of us blended together, except for Ax and Tobias. I guess Ax would have looked similar to Harish, if he was in human morph.

"This morph is strange. No tail to balance yourself!"

"Well, that's okay." I told him. He stood up and started to fall backwards. Jake caught him.

"Well, we're a very clumsy race." Marco said.

"I don't see how you can run on just 2 legs."

"Harish? Can you please not do that?"

"Do what, my prince?"

"Well, for one, don't call me prince. And don't compare humans to...whatever race you're from in public."

"Yes, Prince. I will try."

"Is it imprinted in your mind to call me prince already?"

"I guess it is." I said to him.

He unshifted and shifted to fly. When he was done, fully fly, he zipped around the room. "Harish?" Jake asked. He paid him no attention. "Harish!"

[Oh, sorry Prince Jake. These instincts are overpowering.]

"I think you should change back." He told him, and he did.

"Now you need to go to bird. Right now we have a Swanson's hawk, and a sparrow hawk." Cassie said.

[I think I will shift to the one you call Swanson's hawk. But who is Swanson?]

"It's just the breed. No one owns this hawk, it's illegal to do so." She explained.

[I see.] He looked at the hawk and started to change.

Chapter 5

[Amazing eyesight.] He sounded surprised. Then I remembered, he had probably never morphed a bird, more or less a hawk.

[It is, isn't it?] Tobias said.

"Harish, demorph. Now you need to go to roach."

"We're spying as roaches?" I asked.

"Yeah. Harish, shift to the roach." He shifted to it, and then changed back.

"Now, everyone morph to birds. Rachel and Tobias lead the way to Visser 3. Harish, I'll explain on the way." Jake said.

"Jake, you sound so controlling." Marco teased.

"Marco, shut up."

"Have you ever confronted the Visser?" Harish asked.

[Once or twice.] I told him, since my mouth was already a beak.

[You must be very courageous warriors.] He said, having shifted already.

[No, we're just extremely lucky.] That was Marco, of course.

[There is no such thing as luck in battle.]

[You've got that right.]

[Everyone ready?] I asked.

[Yes.] Ax said.

[Yeah.] Jake followed.

[Sure.] Cassie told me.

[We're wasting our time.] Marco sighed, and that's as close to yes as we ever got.

[I am ready.] Harish said.

[Let's go!] Tobias exclaimed.

[Yeah, let's do it!] I said, and we flew out of the barn. We led the way to a camp.

[This is where the Visser was?] Marco asked.

[Yeah, why?]

[Well, with him being a Visser, I expected something a little more fancy.]

[Let's just follow him! Find a place to demorph then remorph.] We found a clump of bushes, and except for Tobias we all demorphed. Then everyone morphed to fly and we went to find Visser 3.

[Where the heck is he?] Marco asked.

[In a tent, no doubt.]

[Yeah, but I meant which tent?]

[That one!] I had seen a faint swish of blue in one tent.

[He's probably morphing.] Tobias suggested.

[Let's go!]

[The cry of death.]

[What?] Harish asked.

[Whenever Rachel says 'let's go' or 'let's do it,' we always end up almost getting killed.] Marco explained.

[Marco, that's not true!] I shot at him.

[Yeah, it is. Remember last time? And the time before? And the time before that? I can't remember a time when you weren't all for it when we didn't almost get killed.]

[He does kind of have a point, Rachel.] Tobias told me.

[Okay, I'll take back the let's go part. Will that help?]

[I hope so, because we're going to need a lot of luck to pull this off.] We flew into Visser 3's tent and waited for him to morph. Then we all landed on his head, and waited.

[Ax, how much time have we used?]

[We have used approximately nineteen of your minutes, Prince Jake.]

[Ax, they're not just our minutes, they're your minutes too. Jeez, I'm wasting my time trying to talk to you.] Marco told him.

[We're doing good on time so far.] Jake said.

[Let's keep it that way.] Marco suggested.

[That's kind of along the lines I was thinking, Marco.]

[Woah, we're moving!] Cassie said.

[Okay, we'll be there in no time.]

Chapter 6

We got to the lab and flew off the Visser's head. [Find a place to demorph!] Jake said.

[Sir, yes sir!] Marco joked. We flew around and found a washroom where we could demorph, and that's what we did.

"Now morph to roach!" He whispered. We all morphed to roach, and it wasn't very pleasant to see Harish's reaction. He sounded as grossed out as Marco first did.

[Follow him!] We scurried after Visser 3 as fast as we could, which was pretty fast.

[Great speed!] Harish shouted.

[Well of course. You think they look ridiculous for nothing?] Marco joked.

[Marco, I'll say this one more time. Shut up!] I shouted in morph.

[Rach, calm down.] Cassie told me.

[Okay, fine. I'm a calm, cool, collected roach.] We kept following the Visser until he led us to a locked room. I think he pulled out a card, slid it through, and punched in a key. The door opened and we scurried inside as fast as our little roach feet would go. The door closed behind Visser 3. Hopefully this was the room we needed to be in, because we were stuck there until someone left it.

"Is everything going well?" It was a woman's voice. I recognized it as Visser 1's. "Well Visser 3. I'm glad you finally decided to grace us with your presence. Ready to test?"

"Yes, Visser 1." He said as he started to demorph.

"Iniss 5-4-9, please explain this device to our friend Visser 3." Visser 1 commanded.

"We're going to test this to detect the presence of morphing. It's supposed to detect more than one set of DNA in the body and track it. Any morph-capable being's position at that moment will show up on this map." Some guy said.

[You hear that? They'll be able to pick us out!] Marco said.

[If you'll shut up I can hear what they're saying.] Jake snapped. He was more worried than Marco was.

"You may begin the test." Visser 1 said after Visser 3 finished demorphing. There was a bright light in front of Visser 3's Andalite body.

[Step into the light...] Marco said. It was a hollow joke though. A beam swept over the Visser, and the man nearby looked at a table that I'm guessing had the map on it.

"It works!"

[Good. We should find those Andalite bandits any time now.] Visser 3 stated.

"If we can send out a wave of this energy. It'll need a lot of power, but I think it could work. If we set this up at the Yeerk Pool, it can transmit waves from the center of the city outward."

[Good thinking Iniss 5-4-9. We'll get enough power then move it to the pool.]

[We've got to destroy that thing!] Jake said.

[Before or after it's moved to the pool?] Marco asked.

[What does it matter?]

[Nothing.] It was settled. We had to destroy that machine. Before they found us.

Chapter 7

We waited, and waited, and finally someone left the room.

[Let's go!] Jake commanded, and we scurried out of the room. We ran out of the lab, demorphed, and morphed to birds of prey.

[So what do we do now?] I asked.

[Well...we check this out until we see someone taking that thing down to the nearest Yeerk pool.] Jake told me.

[Or we could trash it while it's still at the lab.] Cassie suggested.

[Or we could forget about the whole thing.] Marco said.

[They'd find us if we did that you idiot.]

[Well, it was only a suggestion. You don't have to kill me for making a suggestion!] He pouted.

[We'll go down to that lab tomorrow and destroy the machine.]

[You know, they might take it to the Yeerk Pool before tomorrow.]

[Good idea. Tobias, can you keep an eye on these people until we go there tomorrow?]

[Yeah, I guess so.]

[Good.] We flew the rest of the way home in silence, except for the few times that Marco said something stupid, which we all ignored. We split up and went to our homes. Well, Harish went to the woods too. I walked home, instead of flying, in my normal clothes which I had stashed behind the barn. I arrived at my house and looked around. No one was there. There was no note on the fridge this time. I went upstairs. My mom stood outside her door.

"Hi mom."

"Hi Rachel. How was your day?"

"It was okay. I hung out with Cassie mostly." I lied. I hated to do it, but I had to.

"Okay. Well, we already ate dinner. You can go microwave what's left of it, though." She said.

"Um, sure. I'll do that." I walked back downstairs and took leftovers from dinner out of the microwave, then I heated them up and ate.

[Rachel, let me in!] I heard. I spun around and looked at the kitchen window. Tobias was flapping his wings outside.

"Tobias? What are you doing here?" I asked, while opening the window.

[I wanted to talk to someone.] He replied, and then he started to morph to human.

"Oh. What did you want to talk about?" He finished morphing and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. Then he began to tap his foot nervously.

"Our mission. I just saw them move that machine into the Yeerk Pool, and they should start using it tomorrow. I told Jake about it and he said we're going out early tomorrow morning, about 6:00."

"Okay, is that all?" I asked. He didn't say anything back, but we sat there for a minute looking at each other.

"Rachel, I..." He just stopped there and came closer to me.

"You what?" My heart was pounding, and it barely escaped as a whisper. I closed my eyes and felt his lips brush against mine. We stayed like that for a few seconds. It was the warmest kiss I had ever felt. Then we stared at each other. He smiled warmly at me, and that turned into grinning like a madman so I grinned back.

"Hey, is something funny?" He asked.

"No, nothing at all." I looked at Tobias again and giggled. Then he started to demorph and I opened the window so he could leave.

[See you tomorrow.] He said.

"Yeah, see ya." I replied, smiling inwardly.

Chapter 8

I had my alarm set for 5:45, and when it went off I woke up, for once.

"Well, this thing does work." I mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I put on my morphing outfit and yawned. Then I opened my window, morphed to bald eagle, and went to Cassie's barn.

[So, are we doing this or what?] I asked.

"We're doing it, but we have to wait for the 3 woodscreatures." Marco said. I demorphed.

"You mean they're not here?"

[Well, some of us are.] Tobias flew in, followed by Ax.

"Where's Harish?" Jake demanded. I shrugged.

"Ax, did you see him?"

[No, Prince Jake. I didn't see him this morning.]

"I'll go look for him." I volunteered. Before anyone could object, I morphed to eagle and flew over the woods, out to where I thought Harish would be. I saw him lying on the ground, face down. I dived down and demorphed. Then I turned him over onto his back. There was a huge wound in his stomach. I didn't have to check his pulse to know he was dead. I remorphed and flew back into the barn.

"Did you find him."

[Yeah. He...he's dead.] I started demorphing as the others looked around the room, searching for something to say.

"How'd he die?" Jake asked.

"I guess it was some kind of disease, or...or a weapon or something. He had a wound in his stomach. Maybe his friend died that way too. Maybe he was prone to some kind of disease around here. I don't know how he died, I just know that he's dead." I sounded a little hysterical, but that's what seeing a dead person, or alien, can do to you.

"Well, we need to go now. We'll deal with Harish later." Jake said, as he started to go out the barn door.

"You sure? I mean, a dead alien isn't exactly what I'd call subtle." Marco said.

"Yeah, I'm sure. For right now. But if they start using that damn machine we're all dead so we'd might as well take out chances with leaving him in the woods."

[Well, you guys follow me. I'll show you where they took it.] Tobias said. We all morphed to bird. Then we walked out of the barn and followed Tobias.

Chapter 9

We walked to the pool entrance, conveniently located in a self-storage warehouse. We flew inside, demorphed, and looked around for anything that could be the actual way in.

"I think I found it." Jake said.

"Where?" I asked.

"Over here. See this grate? There are stairs under it."

"Hey, good observation." I noticed.

"Um...thanks." He lifted the grate and we went down one at a time.

"I'll go first." I volunteered. Before anyone could protest, I jumped down and landed on the step. I heard a soft thump as Tobias jumped in behind me. Then the others did the same thing, and we descended the stairs, down to the hellhole which we liked to call the Yeerk Pool.

"Okay, morph!" Jake whispered to everyone. I concentrated on the bear DNA inside me and felt the changes begin. Coarse brown fur sprouted all over my body, and I started to grow a little. My nose shot out in front of me and I felt claws growing on my fingers. My teeth itched as they grew sharper. I could actually tell the exact moment when my vision dimmed.

I looked around, fully bear, at the others. They were done morphing, so we charged into the pool.

[Rachel, you and Marco go find that morphing tracker thing. Everyone else provide a distraction.] Jake said.

[Okay.] I said. [Let's do it!] Marco and I started looking for the machine while the others started to attack at random, charging at the controllers who spotted them. I looked around, ran around, lumbered around, trying to find the stupid device that could win or lose this war.

[Where the heck is it?!] Marco demanded.

[That's what I'm trying to find out!] I told him. I was looking behind me when I tripped over something. [Marco!] I said.

[What?]

[I found it!] I looked at the thing in front of me. It was about 3 feet tall, and round. It had lights all over it.

[Well, get rid of it!] Marco snapped. I slashed with my huge claws, and Marco tried to pound it into the ground. Nothing we did worked.

[Guys, did you find it yet?] Jake asked.

[Yeah, but it's not responding to any of the punishment we're giving it.] I told him.

[Take it out of there then! We're right behind you.] Marco grabbed the machine and ran. Jake headed for the exit and everyone else followed him. We ran up the steps and I focused on demorphing as I went. Apparently the others did too. We got to the top of the stairs and I pulled myself up into the warehouse. Marco handed me the semi-heavy device and I set it on the ground as he pulled himself out of the hidden staircase. The others came up and we sat on the cold cement floor.

"How do we destroy this thing?" I asked.

[I believe I may be able to disassemble it.] Ax said.

"Go ahead Ax." Jake ordered.

[Yes, Prince Jake.]

"I'm not even going to bother..." Ax looked over the sphere and saw a crack where the device's insides had been sealed up. He re-opened it with his tailblade and looked inside. It was just a bunch of wires. He carefully began to pull wires away from their sockets and he pulled all of them out of the machine, one by one. Then he discarded it.

"Well, can we go now?" Marco asked tiredly. Jake nodded.

"Everyone morph back to bird, and we'll go home." Tobias was already demorphed. I concentrated on the bald eagle and soon found myself flying home, away from another mission.

Chapter 10

The boy sat beside the ocean, on the rocks on the shore. The spray from the waves sprinkled over his face. His tousled blond hair blew all over the place, and he could smell the salty ocean. He sat there looking at the sun setting over the water, far out on the horizon. Then he started thinking, questioning things that he had never thought of before. He determined the time he had been sitting there like that, an hour.

One face stuck out in his mind. The blond hair, the blue eyes, the soft features. Then is when he realized how much he loved her. How much he had always loved her, and how much he always would. That thought made him smile.

A girl sat in her room looking out the window at the trees surrounding her house. She looked at them and thought. Thought of a fierce stare, a flash of red. And then a thoughtful face, with troubled eyes. Messed-up blond hair, combined with rusty tinted feathers and sharp talons. She remembered what he had told her earlier, and smiled. She decided to take a flight, down to the beach.

It wasn't very far. She began to change, and soon she flew out her window to the shoreline. She looked around for a while and spotted the boy on the rocks, sitting alone. She went behind a sand dune and came out as herself again. Her blond hair whipped around her face in the sea wind. The air there was so much cleaner, so much clearer. The boy on the rocks soon spotted her, as she went over and sat beside him.

"Hi Rachel." He greeted, a smile forming on his face.

"Hey Tobias." She returned. "What did you want me to meet you here for?" Tobias delayed for a moment.

"Look at the sunset." He said, directing her vision towards the horizon.

"It's beautiful." She noted. Then she turned back to him.

"Just like you are." Tobias smiled, and relaxed a little. She took his hand and stood up. Then she hopped off of the rock deposit, bringing him with her. She walked down a little and he followed. Then she looked into his eyes. He locked her in a kiss, and they stood that way for a minute. Then she grinned at him.

"I think I have to go now." She said.

"Yeah, me too. I mean, I don't know how long I have left in morph." She let go of his hands and walked back to the sand dunes. A few moments later, an eagle emerged and flew towards the suburban area that it called home. Tobias also morphed and flew home to his meadow. There was one thought in both of their minds.

The End