Sorry, I meant to get this one up earlier, but FFN wouldn't let me log in (anyone else have this problem)?

And, um, to those of you who read this in a month or so, ignore the previous message; it means nothing to you.

Imagine a picture of David (rat) turning into a lion

66: The Hunters

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Well, here it is: the world's first full-story length fic staring David. I know there have been short ones in the past, but nothing on this scale as far as I know.

This is Part I of a trilogy (and I'm not Douglas Adams, so I can't get away with writing more than a 3 part trilogy), which will complete the massive reshuffling that began in 63 and 64. This, specifically book 67: The Loss, should answer many of your questions about things. The final book in this trilogy, 68: The Redemption, should be pretty damn good.

Enjoy or go to hell.

Chapter 1

My name is David. Maybe you've heard of me, maybe you haven't. If you know anything about me, I'm sure it isn't good. Maybe one of the others mentioned me in the books they wrote after the first war. Probably not. I'm a part of their lives they tried to forget.

I am…I was a human. I was born human, with two human parents, and lived in a human house, eating human food. I suppose my life was never 'normal', but it sure seems like it was compared to what it's become.

My father…well, he was a spy, so we moved around a lot. I never stayed in one place long. Never made any lasting friends or put down any roots. I learned at a young age not to get attached to people. Whenever I started to care about someone, we always left. But you get over it. I had my cat Megadeath and my cobra Spawn. They were all the friends I needed, really.

But one day everything went horribly, horribly wrong. I was walking around this new town and went through an old, abandoned construction site. I found a weird, blue box in a wall. I thought I could sell it to someone; thought it might be worth something. I had no idea…

That blue box could give you the power to turn into animals. Sounds cool, right? But that box destroyed everything. The Yeerks, I'm sure you've heard of them even if you don't know who I am, came to get it. The Animorphs tried to stop them.

In the resulting battle, my house was destroyed. So was my family. The Yeerks took my parents. The Animorphs took me along with the box. And then I guess they thought they did me a favor: they made me one of them.

In the end, I turned my back on them. They didn't care what happened to me. If I lived or died, it didn't matter to them. If my family lived or died, it was of no consequence. But the apathy wasn't what got to me. No, it was the hypocrisy.

Jake's brother was a Controller. But if it ever came to it, the Animorphs would have moved heaven and earth to save him. Tom's safety, happiness, and freedom were at the top of Jake's priority list. And my family? Not even an item.

And there was Marco. His smug superiority complex. His derision and insults. Precious, funny Marco could do what he wanted; Jake wouldn't stop him. If he wanted to insult my family or call me a coward, no one would stand in his way. But if I ever brought something up, I was smacked back down.

We can't forget Rachel, either. Rachel, who thought she was better than the rest of us. She was more or less happy to pretend I didn't even exist. I'd have gladly been with Visser Three any day than spend time with her.

Cassie, of course. Perhaps the most sickening of all of them. She'd moralize everything, tell us that what we were doing was wrong. She tried to make us all conform to her standards of morality in a world where such naïveté is the fastest way to get killed. And she didn't even obey her own morals. She was just as guilty as anyone else.

Ax wasn't even human. An alien who was just here to have us fight the war his people were too lazy or stupid or incompetent to fight on their own. If his people had done their jobs, if they hadn't been such idiots. We would never have been in this situation.

Tobias… That was my mistake. If any of them had understood, it would have been him. He knew what it was like to lose everything. He knew what it was like to have a war suddenly appear and take away what few things you cared about.

If I had reached out to him, things might have been different. If I had had just one true friend among them all, maybe I wouldn't have done what I did. But I avoided Tobias, ignored him. What happened to him scared me. It was all too easy to see myself becoming what he was.

So is it really so hard to believe that I turned against them? What would you do if a bunch of arrogant hypocrites and aliens stole everything from you and then discarded you? Would you stick around with them waiting to get cut in half by a Hork-bajir? Or would you do something to make it better.

I was not going to sit around and be helpless. I only asked them to give me what was mine. I found the box and I wanted it back. I didn't want to kill anyone. I never wanted that. But I had no choice. They had to realize how serious I was.

But I guess I underestimated just how serious they were, too. They tricked me and trapped me in the body of a rat. They left me to die on a godforsaken rock in the middle of nowhere. They thought they were free of me. But they were wrong.

The Drode came to me with an offer. A chance for revenge. I accepted, of course. But things fell apart, like they always seem to do in my life. When the smoke cleared, I was still just a rat.

I begged Rachel to kill me. I just wanted it to be over. I wanted to stop feeling the constant fear and hunger. I just wanted some peace. But she wouldn't kill me. She told me that she knew better than most that inside of a nothlit's body, there's still a human soul.

I lived as a rat after that. No more holding on to anything human. There was nothing left for me. David the boy gave up. There was only the rat. Until the day The One came for me.

He sent a servant of his, a man in a suit. He made me a deal. If I agreed to fight with the Yeerks against the Animorphs in a second war, I'd get my morphing powers back. I could even be human again for two hours at a time. And I'd get my revenge against them and against Crayak. I accepted without thinking.

But I betrayed the One, too, and the Yeerks. Cassie and Al convinced me to fight for humanity. Maybe it was the weirdness of morphing the symbiotic Anati with them or maybe it was the years of loneliness and isolation or maybe it was just the Ellimist messing with my brain. In any case, I'm batting for the home team again.

So if you've heard of me, if you know my name, then you probably didn't hear anything positive. History doesn't look at traitors kindly, no matter who they betrayed. When this is all over, if we win, I might end up tried for treason.

But I've tried to redeem myself. I've fought against the Yeerks repeatedly. I tried to turn myself in to them once to save Ax. Maybe when it's all over, that'll count for something. That's pretty much all I can hope for.

Chapter 2

The above speech was really just to explain for you just how odd my life has always been. Even doing something normal has an undertone of oddness for me. Like this particular day. I was going to hang out with my best friend. Normal, right?

Except that my friend has a very screwed up family situation. He lives with his half-brother and uncle, Tobias and Ax, in a house with his brother's pregnant girlfriend, Rachel, and her family, including her French stepsister, Jeanne. Yeah, that sounds kind of messed up, but it gets weirder.

See, my friend's an Andalite named Alloran-Sirinial-Fangor. His uncle is also an Andalite. His brother is not; you figure it out. To top it all off, Al was raised by robots and had to be kept secret because his father, Prince Elfangor, had a lot of very dangerous enemies. So you can see that for me, even something as normal as going to hang out with my best friend is extremely odd.

I felt awkward as I knocked on the door. Part of that was because I was never in the habit of going to visit friends, not having any of them. What made it worse, though, was the fact that I had tried to kill three of the people who lived here. I think Tobias and Ax got over it, but Rachel still seems bitter. And pregnancy isn't making her any more pleasant. Not to mention that Naomi, Rachel's mother, didn't like me because I was involved with fighting the Yeerks.

The door was opened by Sara, Rachel's very attractive younger sister. Maybe it's kind of sick of me to say that. See, 'technically' I'm 20. But when I was 14, I was trapped as a rat. I didn't live a human life. I didn't really grow up like humans do. And my human body didn't age either. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still a kid. I don't consider myself to be any older than Sara or Al.

"Hi. David, right?" Sara said.

I nodded. "Is Al here?"

"No, sorry. He went to the mall with Rachel and…what's the other Andalite's name again?"

"Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We just call him Ax," I reminded her.

"I don't know how you people keep those names straight. Last night, Tobias and Rachel were talking about…something…and they were using all sorts of Andalite names that I can't even believe they can pronounce. And then Ax joined in and it was completely confusing."

"It gets easier with practice," I assured her. "When you've dealt with all the aliens they have, everything just rolls off the tongue."

"I have the feeling I'm going to be dealing with a lot of aliens," Sara sighed. "I mean, sooner or later, we'll have to meet the rest of Tobias's family and that'll be awkward."

I shrugged. For a few moments, neither of us said anything. We just stood there awkwardly on the steps in front of their house. Then Sara said, "You can come in and wait for Al if you want to."

"Sure, why not? It's not like I have plans. Who all's here anyway? I know Jeanne's over at Marco's -"

"Oh, so that's where she went. I knew it. Remind me that Jordan owes me ten bucks. Anyhow, the house is mostly empty right now. Mom and Dad are at work. Rachel and the blue guys are off at the mall, like I said. Jeanne's with Marco. Right now, it's just us, Jordan, and Tobias."

"What's Tobias up to? I've started to wonder what he does in his spare time. I just can't picture him relaxing."

"He reads a lot," Sara shrugged. "War books mostly. I've seen him read the Art of War cover to cover to cover at least ten times. Other war books, too. Just look at this." Sara handed me a copy of the Art of War that was lying on the coffee table in the living room. I opened it to a random page. Handwriting that was almost completely illegible filled the margins. Arrows led everywhere, crossing and overlapping and looping so many times that I had no idea what went where. Some things were underlined or highlighted, others crossed out. Those little legal sticky notes marked every page, probably in some sort of color coding system only Tobias understood.

"Uh…wow," was all I could say.

From the hallway, I heard Tobias's voice. "-don't care how many Bugs it would save you, the Reliquary is not going to be pulling your ass out of the fire every time the Visser looks at you funny, Mersa."

He walked into the room with a small, hologram emitter in each hand. One displayed a 3D image of Mersa 528, the leader of the Yeerk Rebellion. They were our allies, in a sense, even though they were trying to take over Earth.

"The only reason I asked you to help is because I don't want to expend more Bug fighters than I must," Mersa responded. "If you really want me to waste my resources-"

"Yes, that's exactly what I want. I want you so dried up and weak that when I finally have time to deal with you, you'll just fall over with a strong breeze. Now hold on for a minute; I've got a bigger idiot on the other line."

Tobias switched off one emitter and turned on the other. This time, it was an Andalite looking perturbed. "Sorry for the interruption," Tobias told him. I don't know if the Andalite could tell, but it was pretty obvious to me from his tone that Tobias was not sorry in the least bit.

"Perhaps now you will answer my question," the Andalite said.

"What was it again?"

"What is the situation like on Earth?"

"No situation at all. Everything's fine and dandy. Thanks for asking. How are things on your end?"

The Andalite sighed. "Prince Tobias, it is obvious to everyone in the Andalite Electorate that something is going on on Earth. Not only was our original fleet over the Hork-bajir world destroyed, there were reports that Esplin 9466 escaped from his prison. Prince Aximili is listed as wanted for questioning, and-"

"Oh, you can cancel that thing about Ax," Tobias told him. "But you do want to keep an eye on a Prince Imrahil-Feyorn-Breeyar. I know he's listed as dead, but trust me, he's probably a Controller."

"What in the Ellimist's name are you doing on Earth!?" the Andalite demanded. "Dead princes suddenly becoming Controllers, Yeerks escaping from prison-"

"I told you before and I'll tell you again. I will explain matters fully to Menderash-Postill-Fastill and no one else. And I'll only explain in person so that I know no one else is listening. If you want to know what's going on, send Menderash."

Tobias switched off the communicator and then turned the other one back on. Mersa reappeared. "Okay, where were we?" He wandered out of the room.

I shook my head. "I don't remember Jake ever doing this much work."

"It's not fun to watch what used to be my bedroom turn into a military command center. Thank God Rachel keeps everything somewhat organized." Sara shrugged. "Do you want to go to the mall or something? It'll probably be more fun than hanging around here listening to the General yelling at idiots."

Chapter 3

It was really weird walking through the mall with Sara. Firstly, I was completely lost. Secondly, I kept seeing people who looked vaguely familiar. I think I went to school with some of them. The third thing was the memories.

In the middle of the mall, I stopped and looked up at the big glass pyramid that was overhead. Sara noticed me staring. "What is it?"

"I almost killed Jake here. It's…just so weird…"

"It can't be easy living with something like that."

I shrugged. "That's the least of my problems, I think. I just don't think about it. Of course, that's kind of hard when it's shoved in my face like this."

"Well, let's go find something distracting. Rachel promised Ax some cinnamon buns in order to convince him to go to the mall; if we find them, I'm told it'll be plenty distracting."

"Oh yeah. I've seen him eat. We shouldn't have a lot of looking to do."

"Rachel's not going to be happy, though."

"Why not?"

"Oh…she warned Jordan and me to avoid you."

"What's she afraid of?"

Sara shrugged. "I don't know. She's been pretty protective of everyone lately. Maybe it's just everything that's been happening. She doesn't want to see someone else in her family get hurt and she doesn't trust you. Or maybe she's just worried because the guy she met when she was our age ended up getting her pregnant."

I laughed. "Yeah, that could be it."

It wasn't hard to find Ax, Al, and Rachel once we were looking. There were more than a few Andalites in human morph at the mall, but there was only one Ax. Even after all the odd Andalite eating binges the security guards had seen, they could always be counted on to arrive when Ax was left alone with food.

That was how we found him: alone and being watched by security. At least no one was trying to drag him out of the mall this time. They were content if he obeyed all the necessary laws in his pursuit of more food. Of course, he was still making a scene.

I won't even bother to describe it to you; I'm sure you've heard it all before. Bits of food and condiments everywhere, children gawking, that old bit. It never really amused me and now it's all really old. Forgive me if I don't go into every little detail of the same old gag.

I grabbed Ax's arm and forced him down in a chair. "Ax, calm down. You've eaten food before. Why must you do this every single time?"

"You're one to talk," Sara muttered.

"And while we're at it, where are Al and Rachel?" I asked, ignoring her. "Shouldn't they be watching you or something?"

"I was hungry so I came to get some food."

As if on cue, Rachel and Al appeared. It was kind of dangerous for Rachel to go out in public, in case she was recognized. But she was older now than she had been when anyone had last seen her, and with the addition of a few minor changes, it was unlikely that anyone would recognize her.

"Ax! What have I told you about wandering off?"

"I am fine, Rachel. I am perfectly capable of handling myself. I am an adult, after all."

"Only in the broadest sense of the word." She turned to glare at Sara and me. "And what are you two doing here?"

"Tobias is no fun, so we thought we'd try to find you three," Sara told her.

"What was David doing at our house anyway?"

"I was looking for Al," I told her. "I didn't realize he'd be here. How many times do you need to drag him off to the mall anyway? It seems like he was here just yesterday."

"That was yesterday," Rachel informed me. "We've got a lot of shopping to do."

"Why?" I asked.

She looked away. "You should ask Tobias. He'll tell you."

"Tell me what, Rachel?" She didn't say anything. I looked to Ax and Al. "Do you guys know what this is about?"

"Apparently," Ax told me, "Rachel knows something that we do not."

"Oh, big surprise. Tobias tells her secrets," Sara sighed sarcastically. Ah, alliteration. Ahem. "I'm sure he'll tell you all soon. Maybe it has something to do with all those aliens he's been calling lately."

"Well, you're supposed to meet him in half an hour," Rachel told us. "Ax and Al and I were just leaving."

"There's a meeting? Why didn't I know about it?" I demanded. Were they having secret meetings without me? It wouldn't be the first time…

"Because you're kind of hard to contact. We told Jeanne to tell you, Marco, and James. You must have just missed the memo."

"Yeah, maybe." Or maybe they didn't want me there.

"It must have been an accident," Al said as though reading my mind. "Rachel assures me that this is a very important meeting. One that no one could miss."

Oh great. That could only mean horrible catastrophes were sure to ensue. Ah, the life of a transforming rat.

Chapter 4

This meeting had a totally different feel to it than the ones I had grown used to. Usually, there was a big meal in front of us (granted not even I could eat Rachel's cooking, but still…). Sure, the atmosphere was never festive, but there wasn't the pervading sense of impending doom that I felt going in to this one.

Tobias was seated at the head of the table, as usual. Rachel took a seat to his left, Ax and Al to his right. I sat at the other end, as far away from Rachel as I could get. Sara had made the wise decision to disappear. Although no one had told her exactly what was going on, I think she realized it was Animorph business and knew to get out of the way.

Marco, Jeanne, and James arrived last. James was an interesting story, I think. He is…my opposite, I suppose. I grew up with a loving family; he was alone. I had a healthy human body; he was confined to a wheelchair for his whole life. But the very thing that was my curse, the morphing power, was a blessing to him. He gained everything I had lost. Maybe it's true what they say: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Marco sat down and moaned. "Oh man. This just does not feel good. Does anyone else feel all the negativity in this room?"

"It's going to get a lot more negative if you don't shut up," Rachel snapped. At the same time, Jeanne said, "I think part of that is that everyone knows you're going to say something ridiculous, Marco." Sometimes, in spite of everything, it's hard to remember they aren't related by blood.

"I have some news," Tobias began. He never sounds happy exactly, but this was definitely beyond his normal tone. He was not happy about this. "The Visser launched an attack on the community center. He sent a transport ship full of Kelbrid and Guraff to attack it, supported by a full squadron of Bug fighters.

"Mersa's forces met them in space. In the resulting battle, the transport ship was destroyed by the Blade ship. The Visser lost about half a squadron of Bugs, Mersa the same. Early reports suspect that Guraff escaped in one of the Bugs."

"Why do you sound so disappointed?" James asked. "I thought that was what we wanted."

Tobias nodded. "It is. Mersa can take care o f himself now. Which means that we don't have to sit here and babysit him anymore. And the other front has been neglected for far too long already…"

"Wait, you mean…go back?" Marco asked. "What about the fight here?"

"Mersa can't really afford expand his operations. He has a very limited number of Yeerks at the moment and has to wait some time to breed some more. They're actually overextended as it is. They got greedy and nervous and grabbed more hosts than they could handle. Already they've had to take Yeerks out of Horks and stick them in humans just to keep hosts from getting free. Now's the time to strike the Visser's forces."

"What could we do to them?" Marco asked. "How can we do some real damage?"

Tobias turned to Ax. "Do you want to explain?"

((I would be honored, Tobias.)) Ax went through a whole hell of a lot since I met him so long ago. He did a stint as the Visser's host and that messed him up. And in our last battle, he lost an eye to the Kelbrid. Now, he had a stylish eye patch covering the burn marks from the Kelbrid's acidic blood. He always made me nervous, but now he scared me.

((The Kelbrid have a few weaknesses. They are driven by an almost Taxxon-like need for battle. But on top of this, they have a very fast metabolism. If not properly and frequently fed, they starve rather quickly. It takes a great deal to fuel the Kelbrid body.

((In the event that a Kelbrid is unable to feed, it is capable of going into a hybernative state that will prolong its life. When traveling from world to world, the Kelbrid are often in this state. Otherwise, the expenditure of food that would be necessary to keep them alive during the journey would be astronomical. I believe that sums it up, Tobias.))

Tobias nodded. "Right. Here's what I'm thinking. Ax also told me that the Visser doesn't exactly feed his Kelbrid. Guraff's elites are fed, but the others are left to die. This is why he only imports Kelbrid when he needs them. He just doesn't have the resources to feed most of them.

"According to Ax, he stationed several packs of Kelbrid on the Hork-bajir world. His personal team of smugglers transports them from the Hork-bajir planet to a waiting transport ship beyond the sensors of the Andalite blockade. The transport ship then brings the Kelbrid to Earth. This is faster than waiting for the One to ship him some."

I realized where this was going. ((With the recent loss of that transport ship that Mersa's people took out, he'll be importing more Kelbrid. Since he needs them in a hurry, he'll use the ones from the Hork-bajir world. If we keep wiping out transports, he can't get more Kelbrid.))

Marco caught on then. "And because he doesn't have the resources to sustain his other Kelbrid, they'll go into hibernation. That'll be a massive blow. And all their facilities will be massively exposed. No amount of humans or Hork-bajir could ever overcome a Howler, two Andalites, a pair of Garatrons, and a couple of lions."

James sighed. "I wish I had a cool alien morph."

Tobias ignored him. "Yeah. This could be the opening we need, now that we know about this weakness in the Kelbrid. It's time for us to strike back. So pack your bags everyone because we aren't coming home until this is all over."

I snuck a glance at Rachel, who was carefully not looking at anyone. This couldn't be easy for her, to have us all leave to fight the war. Now I understood the dark look in Tobias's eyes.

Chapter 5

Dedicated to John3Sobieski

Being a rat, I had no bags to pack. When I needed clothes, I just borrowed Al's, since we were about the same size. With nothing better to do, I hung out at Marco's while I waited for the Andalties and Jeanne to arrive. The Reliquary was kept in Marco's basement. I figured I'd find James and kill the time with him. He seemed like a good enough guy.

I met him and Marco in the dropshaft. "Oh, there you are," Marco said to me. "Morph to human. I've got something I think you'll really want to see."

I did as I was told. Forgive me for not giving you every detail of it; I'm sure you've heard it all before. The growing, the lack of fur, the slight suppression of my instincts. There's really nothing new to tell you there. All I'd be doing is trying to make this take up more space and make it look longer and more intellectual.

I was in human morph by the time we reached our goal: the first subbasement of Marco's mansion. It was right between the hangar and the grotto. Don't ask me why he needs a grotto; I try to not go in there. The less I know the better.

"What's on this level?" I asked. I had never found any reason to go here.

Marco smirked at me. More than usual, I mean. "The firing range. I figured, why not have one? You never know when it might come in handy. And it's a great way to blow off some steam."

We went down a short, concrete-walled hallway to a massive, steel door. Marco typed in a code and pulled open. Inside was the firing range and armory. One wall was actually just a rack of weapons. All kinds of weapons. Shredders, Dracon beams, and a bunch of alien stuff I'd never seen before. There were also good old human guns of all kinds.

James pointed to something on the rack. "Marco, is that C4? And are you keeping it next to two boxes of grenades?"

"Uh…yes and yes. Don't worry, I'm kind of trained in their use. Nothing should accidentally go off."

"Marco," I said, "this has got to be unsafe storage practices. I mean…is any of this stuff even legal?"

"Some of it. You'd be amazed what the government will give you if you take the right steps and get a permit."

"Ah. And do you have one?"

"Let's not make this about me. Just shoot something; it'll take your mind off things." He gestured to the stalls. There were six of them, with targets suspended from the ceiling in front of them. I took a close look at the targets. They were all people from Marco's life. I chose a stall with the Drode looking at me.

I heard the TSWEE of a Shredder and saw green light burn a hole through the target in the lane next to mine. I heard James hiss something. I guess he wanted to try out one of those Andalite weapons he had seen before.

The weapon in my hands I recognized as some sort of magnum. I don't know more specifically. I used to be way into guns and could tell you the whole history of a gun just by looking at it. But things had changed a lot while I was gone. Now, I just barely recognized this.

I could have gone with one of the Alien weapons. Most people would have, I guess. But there's something special, for me at least, about a bullet. You can almost feel it travel down the chamber. There's something intrinsically deadly about it; and because it's deadly, it's exciting. Give me a good bullet over a flash of green light any day. And there's that special smell, too.

I know my technique was improper. My father had taught me how to shoot a long time ago. I know I was being an idiot. I had one hand on the weapon and I wasn't wearing anything to protect myself. My father would have been ashamed at my lack of form. I fired anyway.

I emptied six rounds into the Drode cutout. They were decent shots but far from perfect. One round missed it entirely, and another two didn't hit the body. But three of my shots were good.

I heard James laugh as he fired off a shotgun. I tried one, too; it was pretty fun. We fiddled around with all sorts of weapons, including some prototypes Marco had somehow managed to finagle out of the government. We definitely had some things the Chinese military would rather we didn't know existed.

Then, Marco brought out his latest acquisition. A brand new M-16. "Hey guys, I was thinking of giving this to Rachel for her birthday? What do you think?"

"I think that will end with someone getting seriously injured," James answered. "This will end badly for someone."

I nodded. "Someone's going to die."

Marco just shrugged. "We'll see. Oh, look who's here."

Tobias, Ax, Al, and Jeanne came in. Tobias nodded to Marco. "Our stuff's already in the Reliquary. We're ready to go at any time."

The four of them caught sight of the targets. Then, in unison, they broke out laughing. I didn't even realize Andalites could laugh. Or Tobias, for that matter.

"What's so funny?" Marco demanded.

"Nothing. It' s just…" He was laughing too hard to finish the sentence.

"Have any of you even seen a gun before?" Jeanne supplied. "This is like something a child would do."

((That is indeed the source of the hilarity,)) Ax confirmed. ((Marco, if this is an elaborate joke, you have finally succeeded in making me laugh.))

Al did what he could to remain respectfully silent, although he was still laughing in my head. ((David, please tell me you were not the one shooting at the Drode. Were you blinded at the time?))

Ah… friends.