Chapter 5

Verdaifei Four-hundred one-thirty

I had a serious attack a hundred verdaifei ago. Against five Human Controllers and Visser Three, the one who killed Prince Elfangor. The verdaifei I would meet him and have my revenge was that time until two flying creatures attacked me. One was my attacker. What are their links with the Yeerks?

I am now recovering under the shelter. Again, my fur is matted. Curse those attackers.

Weow, weow! >

Don't worry, X-Fel. Once I recover, I'm going back to that quarters they went in. And I will get back the Escafil Device from the Yeerks. After that, I will kill Visser Three. )

End of Verdaifei Four-hundred one-thirty

Takehiro

"Are you all sure it's alright?" Kaoru asked. She had been a little worried about Ax when his face was cut badly.

But hey, who's not worried about her? I mean, she had her own intestines draw out. It's not like I was worried.

...So maybe I was very VERY worried about her.

"It's okay, Kaoru. He can heal himself when he morphs. Just like the rest of us," Cassie explained.

"Oh, okay."

"I just can't help but ask this one little question," I said, feeling rather ignored. "What the heck are you all doing in our house!"

The truth was clear. Everyone was in our house, in the living room. Like this was all some discussion room or something. We were all sitting on the living room floor. Ax and Tobias were in their human morph. And note this, Ax has this very weird human morph. He combined four DNA together to make one person. And the DNA of Kaoru and I are not included. That's because my sister wasn't there at that time and I didn't want him using MY DNA. He sat there gobbling up the steam buns that Kaoru had saved for snack time.

"Well, Daredevil, you did say your house was vacant for now," Marco intoned.

"I only said our grandpa and that little demon cousin are out!" I barked. "And that doesn't mean we can stay here! What if one of you turn into a animal here! How am I gonna explain that?"

"Say that you brought in a stray?"

"...Shut up."

"Let's just get on to what we were talking about," Jake ordered bitterly. "We know this Perinduro is after the box but don't know what reason."

"Don't forget," Rachel uttered. "This thing called Ax "Visser Three", remember?"

"What? Did this alien suddenly have amnesia or something?" Marco uttered.

Maybe this alien can't exactly tell the difference, Tobias suggested from his perch on the TV.

"And she looked like she was going for the kill," Cassie said worriedly.

"I don't get it. She's not only after the box but also the neck of our most feared enemy," I said. "She knew Elfangor too."

Kaoru suddenly put out her hand. "Uh, one question. Who's Elfangor?"

The room was silent. We all stared at Kaoru's mild curiosity. I nearly forgot that she has never heard the name before until now.

"Kaoru, remember that alien we saw at the construction site?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"That was Elfangor."

Another silent.

"...What did you say?" she asked.

"Elfangor," we all announced.

"One more time?"

"Elfangor."

The silence still hung.

"That's right. We didn't tell her about that alien," Jake exclaimed. It was then we all explained.

"WHAAAAAAT!" I could have sworn the house shook. "You mean to tell me that was a prince from the Andalite planet and he was the one who gave you that box! And he's Ax's brother!"

"Calm down. It was pretty surprising for us too," Cassie said.

"Well, it's not surprising that aliens land on earth and are taking over the world," Marco uttered.

"Come to think about it," I said. "That was the only ship crash we came across, besides Ax's ship."

"Now that you mention it, it does seem strange that this alien appears out of nowhere when there haven't been any other crashes lately. Do you suppose Elfangor had another passenger with him alive?" Rachel asked.

That was when Ax suddenly stopped stuffing his mouth.

"Maybe. But what would a Perindino be doing on board an Andalite ship? It doesn't make sense," Jake added.

"A GP-Soldier," Ax suddenly spoke out.

"A what?" Marco uttered.

"The armed forces of the GP Headquarters. For-cees. Most of the GP-Soldiers are to accompany the Andalites in their fight against the Yeerks. A-come-piny. Only the strongest can aid my people while the others must defend their planet. De-fan."

"So that Perinduro was on board with Elfangor. She must be after the box because it might have been her mission," Cassie exclaimed.

"Come again?" Marco intoned.

"Well, think about it. We're protecting the box from the Yeerks. And she thinks we are the Yeerks. She's trying to retrieve back the box."

"Well, we know what her reason is. But what's her link with Elfangor?" I asked.

"Ax, do you know any Perinduro that was with him?" Jake asked.

Ax didn't listen. Somehow he was in his own world. Barely touching the steam buns.

"Ax?"

"But it cannot be her...can it?" he said to himself.

"Can be who, Ax?" Rachel asked.

SWOOSH!

Something's coming! Tobias alerted.

KA-CRASH!

Sprinters of wood flew past our eyes, as the siding doors to our garden broke open. And I met face to face with the Perinduro and her long retractable claws daggering at me. You would expect me to scream but instinctively I grabbed her wrists and held back the claws as she pushed me downwards.

"Someone HELP me!" I yelled, trying to hold back her deadly claws from driving holes into my head.

"Morph now!" Jake ordered.

"No time!" Kaoru hollered and leapt, spinning into a kick. Before the Perinduro could react, she was flung off by Kaoru's martial art move and crashed into the wall.

"Alright! Now morph!" Jake uttered.

"NOT IN OUR HOUSE!" I yelled.

"Would you rather be sliced and diced or have your house thrown down?" Marco intoned.

"Neither!"

"She's gone!" Cassie shouted.

"Gone? What do you mean-" Marco and I looked back at where the Perinduro was. Indeed she was right. Our invader was gone. "Where'd she-!"

"Argh!" I heard my sister scream. I looked over and saw a wound suddenly inflicted on her arm. Blood spilled as she tumbled out onto the garden.

"Kaoru!" I shouted. We dashed out of the house. I was relieved that it wasn't too serious. Just a deep scratch.

"Gah!" Marco coughed as he was pushed aside as if some invisible hand punched him in the stomach powerfully. We could see the print on his shirt.

"Marco! You alright?"

"Where is she! What's going on?" Rachel shouted.

"She has the Chenoak morph!" Ax exclaimed, without playing his words. "She has accelerated her speed with that of the Chenoak."

"Can we stop her?" Jake demanded as we all gathered together, surrounding Kaoru and Marco.

"She is far too fast to be seen."

"Then how do we beat her!" Rachel asked noisily.

"Andalites can detect the sound of a Chenoak easily. I will morph into my Andalite morph and then-"

SWHISH!

I heard the Perinduro shoot her weapon. We weren't fast enough to try and yell, "Ax, watch out!" but Ax was faster to respond.

FWAPP!

Ax's morph had taken place. The scythe tail slithered out quickly from his pants and encountered the Perinduro's claws and circumvented her attack. The Perinduro was thrown back, skidding across the ground. She stood up boldly and flashed out her claws while Ax morphed into his Andalite morph fully. Before Ax could be ready to attack, the Perinduro suddenly disappeared in a flash.

"Not again!" Rachel yelled, ignored by her sudden disappearance.

"Takehiro, can you use that Shields of Karine?" Jake inquired.

It's a shot. "Let's see give it a try. Just one thing."

"Yeah?"

"How do you call upon the Shields of Karine?"

"You're supposed to know that!" Rachel hissed.

"It only comes naturally!"

Then at that moment, I heard something whished above my head, something sharp like a knife.

"Takehiro! To your left!" Kaoru bawled.

I swiftly turned and as if it was part of my nature, I held out my hand.

SHASH!

Instantly, the three familiar giant plates encircling a circular transparent shield, all made entirely of light had suddenly appeared before us. I heard a "Bonk!" sound as we watched the Perinduro crashed head into the shields and fell down with a bleeding nose.

Jauria! Impossible! How could a Yeerk get control over a Jauria? ) she hissed after she got up, holding her nose under her hood.

"We are not Controllers!" I shouted, retrieving back the Shields to who knew where the Shields of Karine disappeared to until they were needed to be called again.

Lies! )she hissed furiously and dashed quickly in regular speed, not the speed of whatever it was.

Ax galloped in.

FWAPP! KA-CLASH!

Both scythe tail and claws met in the sounds of blades hitting each other. The tension was high. Ax was protecting us with every strike of his scythe tail. The Perinduro assaulted every strike with the blows of her swift claws, countering.

"Like I said before, morph!" Jake demanded. We didn't need to be told thrice.

I concentrated on the Komodo dragon DNA inside of me. Slowly, my skin started to dry and thicken like armor. Then quickly, it turned to scaly green and pebbly. My tongue stretched and narrowed, poking out of my mouth. The tip split into two and soon my tongue was yellow.

That was the disturbing part about being a dragon but I've been through more gross morphs than this!

The mind of the dragon was, simple, ancient. A predator's mind. Focused on only one thing: food.

No...wait! This wasn't what I was supposed to do. With an effort, I focused to the battle before us.

The bones of my hands crushed and shaped as my fingernails became longer and sharper. My jaws painlessly shot out and I felt my teeth enlarged, curved and jagged, enough to tear flesh from bones. I dropped down on all fours as my tailbone began to stretch out from the base of my spine, becoming into an enormous tail.

ERG! ERG! ERG! ERG!

The tail spurted out in bursts.

The heat of the sun gave me energy, strength. The power of the dragon was strong in daylight, much stronger than any other time. Which is why I really need to get a morph for nighttime.

Jake was already as a tiger. Cassie into a wolf while Rachel was a bear of powerful claws and teeth. We raced into the fight. It was five against one opponent. As long as we avoided her claws, we might be able to beat her.

Jake leapt; bearing out his retractable claws but the Perinduro noticed and dodged the attack. Landing to the massive arms of Rachel.

Just when Rachel was about to rip her into two, the Perinduro hurdled and soared up in one somersault. She dived back down, and like a bolt from the blue, she scraped robustly at Rachel's back. Ten deep slices dug into her fur and skin.

Arrrgh! >Rachel screamed as her massive body tumbled down.

Rachel! > Cassie cried.

Rachel, are you alright? > Tobias inquired at full volume from above.

I'm okay...! > she replied.

Suddenly, out of the blues, something brown wrapped around Cassie's neck. It was long, narrow and furry. The tip of the tail was creamy white. Another one wrapped around Jake's.

And they both tightened. I soon realized what they were. They were the tails of the Perinduro, having shot out from her cloak and elongated. The tails drew Jake and Cassie down and dragged them across the grass, choking them to death.

Cassie! Jake! > I yelled.

There's no way of beating her! > Tobias shouted.

Ax arched his tail and fired it at the Perinduro but the alien lifted up her claws and caught it between the needle-shaped claws. There was a struggle. Ax couldn't retreat back his tail. The Perinduro couldn't fight back. But the tails gripped tightly around Jake and Cassie. I had to do something. I scampered in.

X-Fel, get rid of that Human Controller! ) the Perinduro ordered and out shot the flying crystal from her cloak.

Weow! > it wailed proudly.

And it was heading towards me. Like a chainsaw ready to saw me in half. I ducked. And felt it fly above me. And something falling off. I looked over and met my tail. Or what had been cut off. The tip of my tail has been slashed off. I had expected blood to be pouring but it wasn't. The tail was a clean knob. No blood, no pain. It was a shock that I have lost my tail!

Surrender now, Visser Three! ) the Perinduro mocked. You have lost. )

Perinduro! We are not your enemy. Stop this at once, >Ax demanded. We mean no harm! >

She's not going to listen to you, > I said and leapt.

I scratched her with a fling of my powerful claw, ripping off her hood. Strangely enough, a green drop of blood tinkled out from the small cut. I skidded across the ground and turned up, ready to attack, this time with my poisonous bite. But the Perinduro held her face, perhaps feeling the small pain as she backed away. The tight grips of the tails around Jake and Cassie's neck loosened and shortened to the size of a baseball bat. They could finally breathe easily. The Perinduro looked up, moving her clawed hand away. And nearly all of us gasped.

It was like meeting a girl, about our age, only with a hair problem. She was covered in a thin coat of brown fur all over her body, from head to toe. Her long jagged hair was cherry light pink that waved wildly. Every end of her sharp locks was dipped in black like it was dyed.

Her ears were extremely long and merely flurry, extending out like cable satellites. The tips of those ears were slightly black and slightly white. One ear was clipped with a tag. Her face was the likeness of a cat: her nose was a black dot and her upper lips made a distorted inverted smile, the smile of a cat. That is if she was smiling. She was bearing her teeth and gritting them.

Her eyes were almost entirely yellow: the iris and the supposedly whiteness were gleaming amber. As well as rage.

She glared irritably at us.

Now, you've made me very angry, ) she hissed.

Ryo-Mew-Ki? > Ax shouted out loud, his four eyes wide as ever.

The Perinduro shunned her head, shocked. Was that her name?

She then gazed quickly around. Jake had gotten on all fours and stalked near. Cassie was ready to attack. I was moving in closely, ready to bite the Perinduro. Rachel, regardless of her injuries, got up and walked closer. Tobias, in the sky, was about to dive down and assault her with his talons.

We were closing in on her. The odds were against her. She could see she was outnumbered. She glared angrily at Ax.

You...! I will never forgive you, Visser Three! You may have taken Prince Elfangor but I will take you down with my life! I oath it! )she yelled. Surprisingly, tears were falling from her eyes. Was she crying? We all could see her pain in these eyes.

With that, she darted into the treetops and disappeared quickly. With the treetops shielding her from Tobias's talons and eyes, Tobias lost track of her halfway beyond the forest.

"Phew. Glad that's over," Kaoru sighed.

"For a while," Marco managed to speak with a moan.

"Kaoru, are you alright?" I asked worriedly.

She gave me a weak smile. "Yeah, it's just a scratch."

"Hey, what about me?" Marco asked, still clutching his stomach.

"A scratch? You're lucky that your arm didn't get cut off!" Cassie cried out.

"Don't worry. It's nothing. Really," Kaoru told us.

"Hello? This guy is barely alive here," Marco intoned.

"We should get that wound bandaged," Jake suggested.

"I said don't worry. I've faced much more than a scratch."

"Yeah, listen to her. I have just been punched right in the guts and she has a small scratch. No big deal," Marco noted.

Are you sure, Kaoru? > Ax asked awkwardly.

"I'm alright, Ax," Kaoru replied, her cheeks suddenly turning red. "Thanks for asking."

"Hellooo! Have you all forgotten about me, the great one who's a member of this group?" Marco snapped.

"Oh, shut up," Rachel quieted him down.

It was then we heard someone calling. It was in the house, near the front door. It sounded like...

"Oh no! Grandpa!" Kaoru and I shouted.

"What's Grandpa doing here! He isn't supposed to be home early!" I shouted.

"What are we going to do! The doors!" Kaoru yelled. "The room!"

"Grandpa's gonna kill us!" I whined.

"What are you going to do?" Cassie asked apprehensively.

"You just get out of here! I don't want to have to explain why we have a blue centaur in the middle of the garden!" I shouted. "Quickly!"

Good luck, Tobias said, hoping that we would try to give an explanation for the broken doors. He then soared away.

Jake helped Marco up on his feet and the whole gang ran out of the garden and into the forest, along with Ax galloping after them.

As they were just gone, Grandpa came into the living room and sighted the mess and the broken doors. We were in serious trouble.

"Kaoru. Takehiro. What happened here?" he asked with his tone of discipline.

"We, uh, had kendo practice?" I lied with a weak laugh. Kaoru cackled timidly.

An hour later after Grandpa's arrival, we have spent the rest of the afternoon with the greatest punishment ever toiled upon us.

"Kaoru?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do we get ourselves in these messes?"

"Less talking and more cleaning," Grandpa uttered calmly. "And once you're finish with this room, you will clean the toilets to pay for the damage you recklessly caused."

We were on our knees, cleaning the living room floor with rags and a pail of water. Grandpa had seen through my white life. Because of our so-called 'reason' for the broken doors, we have been resulted to cleaning the floors and the house.

"What did we do to deserve this?" I groaned loudly. Kaoru just kept quiet, with a disappointed face.

A/N: YEAH! THE FANFIC REBORN! I FINALLY GOT TO FINISH THIS CHAPTER! -somersaults happily about- I've changed some stuff in the fanfic and deleted one chapter but added it to another because they look fitting together. So that is why we are still at ch. 5 but a NEW chapter of 5.

To Anonymous-cat and Little Midgett, thanks for the reviews!

I am so sorry for taking this long. I just hope you'll all like this chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!