Your characterization of Tom is so good, can't wait to read more. So interesting to see a rational type of reaction the animorphs had to this scenario with Jake's capture. You're an awesome writer!

Nice to see some levity in Tom and Jake's life for a change, I must say :D. Can't quite imagine what the next chapter is going to be, from your note at the end, so I'll certainly look forward to finding out!

Lots of great interactions here. I'm left to imagine just how close this whole family - including Tobias - is going to be by the time this whole war draws to a close. I'm also left to wonder just how many other ways Tom help the team as their missions continue. Great stuff, I say.

Loving it.

Love this so far.

Lots of really good stuff here. You do a great job of showing just how close the two brothers are here, and I'm left to wonder just how much closer they'll continue to grow as the war wears on. I can see Tom's support becoming ever more valuable to Jake as things progress (along with the support of the rest of the family), and it'll be interesting to see if it affects the war's outcome in some way.

And the Ellimist, huh? I imagine Tom will have a good number of thoughts there; I'll look forward to reading them!

Yowch. You certainly do a great job depicting Temrash here, and his interactions with his former host felt suitably dark.

I suppose the next chapter will focus on the aftermath of this incident? That ought to be an interesting one to read, particularly with the whole family (and Tobias!) aware of what all was happening.

By the way, are you planning to cover #19 when the time comes? I expect Tom would have a lot of thoughts on that particular incident, given his own experiences with yeerks up to then.

Certainly a great starting point for an AU, this. I can't help but ask myself what role Tom will ultimately end up playing in all of this. Will he remain as a bystander and supporter for the animorphs, or will he join the team at some point or other? And how will this alter Jake's behaviour further down the line, with Tom's continued imprisonment no longer a factor? Needless to say, I'll look forward to seeing where this story leads.

This is interesting. I’m definitely on board and would love to read more.
I hope you don’t mind me offering a little constructive criticism your way. Definitely take it with a grain of salt - I’ve never written a fanfic myself as I’m too much of a perfectionist and would nitpick myself to death. So just the fact that you wrote and published a fanfic makes me have a huge amount of respect for you.
I’m excited to see someone tackling a story with Tom becoming free right off the bat. As a huge R/T fan, I’m also very intrigued as to what you have in plans regarding their relationship and how that plays out now that he isn’t a nothlet.
I will admit that reading the reaction of Jake’s parents finding out was significantly calmer than I would personally imagine, to put it lightly. Their reaction reminded me more of how I usually react upon hearing a tornado siren go off during a bad thunderstorm. A little bit of surprise, an exasperated sign, and then forging ahead to gather everyone into the basement to seek shelter.
While I feel their reaction was pretty mild, I do think you have a lot of ideas for this story and this chapter was just you getting past the intro and getting your readers caught up to “present day” of your story. So with that in mind, I’m going to give that some grace and still stay on board with wherever you are taking us. I do hope that you intend on expanding and digging a bit deeper into the rest of the content in this story.
I usually tend to not be as straight forward when handing out constructive criticism, but I genuinely like this story and can see you really taking it somewhere. I’m pumped to read what you have in store for us. Please update soon.