Animorphs Re-Read: #4 The Message (Chapters 21-25)

Chapter 21

Jake tells for everyone to pick a target and Cassie has to force herself to fight the Taxxons. Dolphins don't know about Taxxons and so don't have any instincts to fight them. So the need to fight has to be Cassie's alone.

Cassie quickly decides to fight as she knows what will happen if the Taxxons win this fight. They would show no mercy to her.

And when Cassie attacks the Taxxons it basically just pops. So why did Visser Three send the cannibalistic alien worms after the Animorphs again?

Cassie goes over evolution. She talks about how sharks are the perfect predators and have always been; how dolphins were once land animals; and remarks that whatever evolution the Taxxons had taken that they weren't ready for Earth's oceans.

From what was shown in The Andalite Chronicles: why would Taxxons need to swim? There never seemed to be any big body of water where they would have to swim. Maybe a Taxxon's body can be used to swim though it isn't natural for the species? Just like how a Hork-Bajir can be used to fight though they are a pacifistic species?

It is revealed that Ax has a natural sense of time. This makes a morph time limit understandable to Andalites: they wouldn't have to worry about checking clocks all the time when in morph since they would naturally know how much time they had left.

Ax replies with how much time they have left by giving the group a math problem. I connect so much with Cassie now since she states that she's not good in math especially when in a life and death situation. Luckily she is able to figure it out.

Cassie hears something large fall into the water and no one sees the Blade ship. The others remark that the ship could just be clocked and I smell the lovely smell of Visser Three!

Ax says that what the something is is a Mardrut from one of the Andalite moons. He seems to be more concerned with his Yeerk hatred than the actual danger. Ax says that he heard about Mardruts once but wasn't paying attention in class that day.

Ax has become so relatable to the majority of the intended audience with that acknowledgement.

I want to hit Ax, though, since he has to point out to the group that it's not a real Mardrut because NO FUCKING SHIT, SHERLOCK!

When Ax finds out the others have survived Visser Three in the past he is very impressed. But Marco is smart and says he'd trade any good thoughts Ax had of them for something that could outrun the Visser's morph.


Chapter 22

Visser Three's Mardrut doesn't seem to tire which makes me wonder about the Andalite home world. If it needs to have that much endurance and speed the oceans may be huge and the creatures in them might be more dangerous than things found on Earth.

Cassie finally sees the Mardrut and...it has tails all over it? That is really weird but it does help explain the speed of the creature.

When Visser Three speaks to the group Cassie feels hatred. As she's a pacifist she doesn't like feeling hate. It's almost like Cassie is scared of hate.

Ax hasn't heard Visser Three's thought-speak before and is afraid of it. He held his brother in such high regard that he doesn't think he can survive something that Elfangor died from. This shows both brotherly love and how inexperienced Ax is in terms of fighting abilities.

Cassie reassures Ax and tells him to keep swimming but even she is beginning to have doubts.

Cassie prepares herself for death and those aren't tears in my eyes!

She decides not to die with hatred in her heart. Not even hatred for Visser Three. That is just...just...HOLY GOD CASSIE IS AWESOME! FUCK YOU IF YOU THINK OTHERWISE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH STRENGTH WHAT SHE HAS DECIDED TAKES?!

Cassie lets the good memories, like flying, go through her mind and she remembers the whale's song. No, she hears the whale's song now which means he's close by! She then cries out to the whale for help.

Rachel knows that they can't escape in time and be able to prevent themselves from becoming nothlits, so she say it's time to turn around and fight. A very Rachel thing to say.

Jake agrees that their next move is to fight. Ax remarks that they won't win but Jake explains he'd rather go down all at once than be picked off one by one. Ax says that's a very Andalite thing to say and that he wishes they had more time together and IT'S JUST DUST IN MY EYES!

  Cassie cries out one last time for the whale but knows she will die.

Chapter 23

Visser Three says that the chase has made him hungry and that he'll eat the Animorphs. What the hell is up with Visser Three and eating people? It makes sense that his twin brother, which we'll met in a later book, is a cannibal. It's like a common gene the pair share: the need to eat sentient creatures!

The Visser rushes at the group and the group rushes toward him. Suddenly things start attacking the Visser!

The whales are attacking the Visser!

Visser Three flees and the whales chase him for a little bit. I like that Cassie feels a connection to one of the whales and thinks of him as hers.

The group is happy and Marco makes a joke about Visser Three not liking whales. No he doesn't, Marco, but he sure loves cats!

Cassie tries to say thanks to her whale in a way he'd understand. She comments on how you don't need to be smart to be great. She does mean this in terms of whales but that's true of people to. It doesn't matter what degree you have or how much knowledge you have on a subject, you are great no matter what. You can be socially awkward and never know the right thing to say in the moment, but you are still great.

Big group hug for everyone!

Cassie wants to thank him for coming to answer her call, but has a feeling that the sea called him to her. This is something that she would never tell anyone else because they would have laughed at her.

The Animorphs demorph and the whales carry them back towards shore. Cassie says the reader finds it surprising to see her sleep but I don't. She has just gone through a lot of shit. I would probably pass out first thing too.

There is a cute Cassie/Jake moment!

Jake compliments Cassie saying that she was right and that they all survived in the end. They then discuss the morality of morphing dolphins. Cassie says she's still not sure and that the dolphins would think of saving the world as one big game.

This shows how different species view the world. Like with whales, dolphins won't be on level with humans in terms of brains but they are still great.

Jake tells Cassie that they had used the dolphins and other animals to save them. So that made it okay. The part about him saying he'll do anything to win is creepy foreshadowing. Because Jake ends up crossing some lines.

Chapter 24

The Animorphs morph again and beach themselves on the shore of the river, where they had originally morphed dolphins.

Marco makes a joke about Jake not being human in the first place but everyone is too tired to laugh. Aw! No one gives the laughter Marco's joke deserves.

Ax, being an Andalite, doesn't understand clothing. Marco's sarcastic reply of other humans being upset seeing each other naked is telling. It seems a lot of people will judge others on the amount of clothing on their body. Which isn't a good way to give any indication of a person's character.

Tobias arrives and notices that the group has found the Andalite.

Tobias jokes about being trapped in morph to Ax and here is bonding between the two the very first time they meet. I believe Tobias wasn't joking when he said he meant to get trapped in morph, but now is not the time to get into that subject.

I think Ax respects Tobias' resolve to continue to fight even when his original body is lost to him. In Andalite society nothlits (aka, people trapped in morph) aren't looked upon highly and so he most likely sees Tobias being deeply ashamed but keeping up the fight.

Tobias admits to being with Elfangor until the end and that most likely deepens the bond between the two.

Jake interrupts the two and says that they need to find somewhere to hide Ax. Cassie suggests the area around her barn since it is somewhat similar to the ship they found Ax in.

Marco, being the voice of reason again, points out that people will notice an Andalite walking around. Ax then asks for Cassie's permission and starts to acquire her before she answered. Yep, Ax, that's not how that stuff works. To get permission you need the person to reply. Or should I just mark this off on my 'Andalite Arrogance' checklist?

When Marco asks if Ax can acquire Cassie I don't think he means if he can acquire her like any other animal. Marco would know the rules at this point. However, I think he's asking if it's morally right for the Andalite Aristh to do so.

Ax then goes to acquire all the Animorphs except Tobias.

Cassie is a little freaked out as Ax is morphing a human and not another creature (from Earth or elsewhere). Plus Ax's human morph seems to be a combination of all the Animorphs except Ax and Tobias.

Cassie realizes that Ax will be naked and tells the group to look away. Marco's speculation over the gender of the morph isn't considered important since Ax will still require privacy.

Jake must've intended for Ax to acquire a human morph as there is spare clothing. Jake asks Ax if his morph is male or female and I am glad I didn't write this book since I would've had Ax reply: I don't know, Prince Jake, but there seems to be a large member coming from between my legs.

Ax does reply that he's a male but I wonder how he knew. Elfangor didn't seem able to tell the difference at first, but maybe some conversation that wasn't shown informed Ax of which was which.

Ax, of course, is wearing the clothing wrong. Ax also spends a little time getting used to his human morph. He comments on the addition of a mouth, the lack of his two stalk eyes, and having only two legs. The last one Jake has to remind him of as Ax nearly loses balance.

As the gang sets of, Cassie tells Ax not to speak to anyone on the way to her barn.


Chapter 25

A few days after they rescued Ax, Cassie decides to go to The Gardens. She sneaks in as a seagull since who would stop a seagull from entering a park? The seagull police?

Cassie is going to visit the dolphins. They are saddened when Cassie hasn't brought them any food but are very interested when she starts to morph.

Cassie had wanted to tell the dolphins why she and her friends had used their bodies. Even though the Animorphs use copies and not something with a mind of its own, just instincts which can be considered basic programming. And this confusion of hers made her think when she morphed dolphin that there would be a copy of the actual dolphin there and it wouldn't be like previous morphs. Because, dear lord, nothing but things like pretty dolphins have a mind of their own.

But once Cassie has morphed dolphin she forgets why she came and just plays with the dolphins. One of which must be very confused seeing that Cassie is a copy of herself.

I have been looking forward to finally meeting Ax in the Re-Read. He has a great character arc throughout the series and he goes through such a transformation from when we first meet him to when we last see him.

So far I am not liking the 'is it right to morph' thing because, in the books, it's started because of dolphins. I'm one of those people that hate when you say you care about animals but only when they're cute. This whole debate starts off reeking with the stuff.

Though I loathe the tv show it manages to downplay this debate, like it does everything that is slightly complex, Cassie brings it up due to how many animals she's been acquiring and morphing. So it makes the debate focus on the morphing part and not the "AW! THIS ANIMAL IS SO CUTE! THAT MUST MEAN IT IS WRONG TO MORPH IT AND I MUST MAKE A DEBATE WITH MYSELF TO FIND A REASON WHY IT'S OKAY!" thing of the books.

I like the chapter where you really get to see the fact that Marco is a complex character. And, with a kid series, it's great to see that.

The next book in the Animorphs series I will be Re-Reading will be

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Animorphs Re-Read