Chapter 9
Tobias tells Jake how to acquire a morph. You have to meditate on becoming whatever it is that you're acquiring. Homer goes into a trance like state and Jake jokes that the dog knows he's a lunatic.
After ten seconds Homer is back to being his hyperactive self. Tobias and Jake put him outside since bird-boy figures that he'll get freaked out by the morphing process.
Jake concentrates on his image of Homer and then opens his eyes thinking the process didn't work. Raise your hand if you tried to morph and felt disappointed that you couldn't. Because that's what this part feels like to me.
Tobias then tells Jake to look at his hand. It has fur on it!
It's funny how this scene is turning because Tobias is calm and telling Jake to calm down so he can finish the morph. Meanwhile Jake is having a nervous breakdown.
Jake tries to back down again and says he doesn't have to do this.
Tobias agrees sarcastically and points out that it's fight or let the Yeerks win.
With that Jake goes to complete his first morph.
Jake mentions that it feels like he has Novocaine while he's morphing. He says his bones feel strange but they don't hurt.
He mentions he should be scared but he feels happy.
I would love to morph a bird, specifically a raven, but to morph into a dog and feel such happiness is what I want so bad. I have clinical depression so you can see my reasoning. I would also like to smell like dogs smell. I can't smell so being able to do so would be awesome.
So when you morph something you get some of the memories (not just the instincts)? I don't know if this was retconned later on or not.
Jake starts barking at Homer in the yard. The dog part has taken over and Jake is overwhelmed. It takes Tobias talking to him to bring Jake to himself.
Tom comes in questioning about Homer and sees Tobias. Jake's brother asks who he is. Tobias says he's one of Jake's friends and that Jake is around.
Jake picks an odd scent from Tom while he's in Homer morph. Tom calls Jake a bad dog (thinking he's Homer) and Tobias has to scratch behind Jake's dog ear to make the fearless leader feel better.
Chapter 10
Jake calls the others saying that they'd meet later at Cassie's farm. The light of my life, that is Tobias, leaves and Jake talks to Cassie on the kitchen phone. Tom then enters the room and Jake has this feeling that he shouldn't talk to his should-be-wife-at-the-end-of-the-series.
Jake then tells Cassie he'll see her later.
Jake says how he and Tom used to be very close. But now Jake's brother is involved with The Sharing and that takes up all his time. Jake also says that Tom should've been the very first person he told about the Yeerks, but he had this feeling that he shouldn't. And now all I can think of is in the final book...Tom's fate and Rachel...
When Jake thinks Tom means girls I...I'm not getting teary eyed...
After Jake does chores he heads over to Cassie's farm. He talks about how it used to be a farm and now Cassie's father uses the main red barn as a clinic for non-pet animals. Cassie's mother works at The Gardens which is described like Busch Gardens.
Everyone but Cassie is there. Rachel shows Jake an article about what happened at the construction site the other night. At first Jake is happy that others know and then continues reading it. He then gets angry when it says that what really happened was teenagers setting off fireworks. There is also a reward out for information about the teenagers.
Jake wonders why the police would lie. Marco replies that it's because the police are Controllers in the most insensitive way possible and with a bonus 'math teachers are aliens' joke.
It hits them that they are really in this by themselves. Marco and Jake argue about whether to fight or not. Tobias thinks Marco is a coward for not wanting to fight, but Jake understands Marco. Sure enough Marco brings up the fact that he is thinking about how his Dad would react to him dying.
Marco's mother drowned and then his father lost it and is now at a job where he's barely able to afford to take care of Marco.
Marco says they can all think he's a coward, but he doesn't care because he's thinking of his father.
Cassie comes up in horse morph and partially demorphs before greeting the group. Marco had never seen morphing before and is very surprised.
Jake is impressed with how much control Cassie has over her morphing ability.
And then the cops show up!
Chapter 11
Jake tells Cassie to morph but she is confused which way to morph. This is due to the fact that the horse part of her mind is panicking. Jake tells her to morph human and for the others to stand in front of her.
The police officer asks if the kids are hiding something. Luckily Cassie demorphed in time.
Rachel asks, politely, what the officer wants. He says that they're looking for the kids that set off fireworks (aka, the teens he's talking to). Marco coughs and Jake covers for him.
Jake's Controller sense tingles and he knows the police officer is a Controller. How he describes a Yeerk is just damn creepy.
This Controller recognizes Jake as Tom's brother. The parasitic slug then starts trying to sell Jake on The Sharing. I didn't mention this: but earlier in the book Tom also says Jake should join The Sharing.
Love Marco's line of saying that Jake is "a regular genius" to the officer.
Rachel says they have to be careful about morphing and Cassie is ashamed that she put her friends in danger by getting artsy with her ability to morph. Cassie says that she's only able to morph tight clothing and it took practice to do that. Of course the Andalites wouldn't worry about morphing clothing as they go around all naked.
Marco says that they shouldn't morph and Rachel agrees with him. Tobias brings up the point that they can't trust anyone since anyone could be a Controller. Cassie says that she can't see herself not morphing since this ability could help save endangered species. Tobias brings up the fact that humans could be the next endangered species.
Jake ends up being asked to decide and he says it's better that everyone vote. When Tobias says they should fight, Marco brings up the loner's inability to fight. This makes the future bird-boy blush. Cassie says that they should take time to make this decision as it's a big one that'll affect their future. Jake is relieved that Cassie brought up that option.
Jake says that everyone should go back to their normal lives until later. He and Marco play a video game, but Jake can't seem to get into it like he usually can.
Tom comes in and offers to play the video game with them. Jake mentions it's been months since Tom has done something like this.
Tom then questions Marco and Jake about the event at the abandoned construction site. This doesn't make Tom look suspicious or anything...
Tom then says Jake and Marco should join The Sharing. After Tom leaves Marco says Jake's brother is a Controller.
Chapter 12
And, of course, Jake doesn't react well to his best friend saying that his brother is the enemy. Don't really blame him as a lot of responsibility has been thrust upon his shoulders. Especially for a teenager.
Marco basically tells Jake to stop thinking like an idiot and realize how odd Tom has acted recently. ESPECIALLY his interest in the events that happened in the construction site the other night. Marco finally relents and says there is a possibility that he is wrong, but the likelihood of that is very low.
Tobias arriving stops anymore fighting between the two. And he has finally acquired his signature morph: THE RED-TAILED HAWK!
So that's, dear readers, why I've been calling him bird-boy. Well...part of the reason, but you'll find out the entire reason at the end of this book.
Marco is mad about Tobias morphing again and Jake warns bird-boy about staying in morph for over two hours. Tobias seems conflicted about demorphing, almost as if he prefers being a bird than being a human.
He finally demorphs. Jake mentions the process took three minutes for Tobias this time.
Unlike Cassie, Tobias is still unable to morph into with clothing on.
Tobias says how riding the thermals was the coolest thing he's ever done. When Jake asks what a thermal is it makes me think of the many children who didn't grow up knowing what thermals are. Thermals are talked about so often in this series that I have known what a thermal is since around age ten.
Tobias and Marco get into an argument. Tobias is on the side of empathizing with the injured hawk while Marco thinks it's an idiotic standpoint to empathize so completely with an animal (that isn't human).
Jake gets a feeling that Tobias will purposefully trap himself in morph and so reminds the teen about the two hour limit. Bird-boy replies that he can keep track of time by looking at clocks and watches, since a hawk's eyesight is so powerful.
In The Andalite Chronicles it's revealed that Elfangor asked Tobias about his mother, but it's shown in this book that Elfangor also gave bird-boy visions. Not visions as in predictions, but visions showing information about the Yeerks that the Andalite Prince didn't have time to tell the five teenagers.
Marco tells Tobias that he suspects that Tom is a Controller. Jake threatens Marco again. Tobias doesn't take a side but says that they should still be very careful around him.
Earlier Tobias had said he was looking for a Yeerk pool and continues talking about them now. He talks about the Kandronas. Talks about how Kandrona particles are like vitamins to Yeerks and that they need to feed every three days.
Tobias admits that now the idea of flying around looking for Yeerk pools was a dumb idea. Marco asks what bird-boy would've done if he had found one. When Tobias says that they'd blow it up, Marco replies that they would do nothing since they had decided not to become involved in stopping the Yeerk invasion of Earth.
Tobias says that he has decided to fight and Marco again brings up the point that the loner has never fought before. Tobias says that he has finally found something worth fighting for. He says that whatever the others decide, he will fight.
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Animorphs Re-Read Table of Contents
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