Jake asks Ax how long they've been in morph since Andalites have the ability to perfectly tell time. I would love that ability as my grasp on time isn't really solid most of the time. Ax replies by saying "twenty-eight of YOUR minutes" and that's a little gag that I love.
Marco, of course, points out that Earth minutes are now Ax's minutes. Oh, you two!
Rachel then recaps what we already know about the Yeerk pool. She says that when she has nightmares about the Yeerk pool it is about the second pier where the newly fed Yeerks re-enter their hosts. It's where the non-voluntary hosts would struggle and then would be calm as the Yeerks took over.
Ax says he wish he could see more clearly and Rachel replies no. Ax is the new and less experienced with battle. He is more trained, but the other Animorphs are more used to fighting than him.
Once they get to a spot, the group discusses where the Kandrona ray could possibly be hidden. With poor roach eyes it'll be hard to get to the right spot if the Kandrona ray is hidden at the Yeerk pool. Cassie points out that roaches have a good sense of smell.
And she can smell french fries. I really need to get cheese fries ASAP.
They figure out, with Marco making a funny joke, that they're most likely in the lunchroom area of the Yeerk pool.
The group is suddenly assaulted by a non-human smell and then a Taxxon. The Taxxon then proceeds to pull them into its mouth via its tongue.
Chapter 10
But as all seems lost and hopeless, everything just stops. Then everyone starts demorphing although none of them had wanted to start the process. Rachel wonders if this is a hallucination and her cousin replies that if it is, it's a shared one.
After all of them have completed demorphing and see the scene of everyone and everything frozen, Marco asks to wake up now. I don't blame him for saying that as Controllers paused in the middle of eating and steam frozen is just...beyond creepy.
As they run out they see Tobias as a human. Tobias is more than a little surprised to see himself as he was when he was human. He just looks at his hand that is a hand and not a wing. Rachel rushes to hug him and then he flaps his arms as if to fly away.
This is what should have happened in the tv show. Tobias being unused to his old human body. In the tv show he is totally fine. Of course they remove all of the sub-plot about Tobias getting used to his hawk body and all the troubles he faces because of it in the tv show. Because THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
Tobias is embarrassed and quickly apologizes to Rachel. Rachel doesn't mind and asks her boyfriend what's going on. He replies that he doesn't know and he was flying when suddenly he was transported to the Yeerk pool.
Ax tells the group that he can feel that time has stopped for everyone but them. Um...couldn't he sort of see that for himself? Does he really need to 'feel' it?
When one of the kids asks Ax if it's a trick of Visser Three's he says no. That not even Andalites have this kind of technology.
The Ellimist's first words to the group sounds like he's a sarcastic asshole. He remarks on the oddity of humility from an Andalite.
The Ellimist decides to take a physical form so that the others will have an easier time talking with him. He's like a blue glow in the dark elf being in the physical form he chose. He introduces himself as "an Ellimist" even though he turns out to be the only one of his kind and not a species.
I will get to fully ranting on this when I get to the Ellimist Chronicles, don't worry.
The Ellimist tries to reassure Ax by saying none of the other Animorphs are afraid of him. Ax replies that the others don't know what the Ellimist is. The Ellimist replies that neither does Ax. Rachel is pissed off and asks if someone will just tell her what the fuck the Ellimist is.
The Ellimist looks at Rachel and says she can't ever understand him. Wow, Ellimist, and you complained about Andalites' arrogance!
The Ellimist informs the group that he came to the Animorphs so that they could decide the fate of the entire human race. He says that his race doesn't interfere except in the direst of times and only to save a few of the soon to be extinct species.
The Ellimist takes the Animorphs around the world to show them what an amazing planet Earth is and Rachel is still taken aback by Tobias being back in his human body.
Rachel asks the Ellimist what the tour meant and tries to sound tough while on the inside she's scared shitless. The Ellimist replies that it's because he knows that humanity will lose and the Yeerks will win.
Rachel knows that the Ellimist is telling the truth because he sounds very certain about it.
Chapter 11
The Ellimist replies that he's there to take the Animorphs, a few of their family members, some other humans to make a good genetic sample, and some non-human creatures from Earth to another planet. Cassie realizes that the supreme being is an environmentalist.
So the Animorphs will accept the offer, right? They'll go with the guy giving them an easy way out so they don't have to fight a battle they shouldn't have been involved in?
Marco is scared and makes a joke comparing the planet they'll be taken to to Noah's Ark. Tobias points out that it's more like a zoo. I think he might be against the idea of a zoo just because he's become very hawk-like and he wouldn't want to be caged.
The Ellimist reminds the group that the decision is theirs since they are the only humans that know what's really going on. This is just beyond unfair. These are teenagers who are already having to deal with growing up and an alien invasion. Now they're being asked to make a quick and simple decision about the fate of their planet.
Rachel looks at Tobias and guesses he'll be back in red-tailed hawk morph. What makes that part even sadder is that she thinks Tobias isn't showing emotion because he forgot how to. My poor shipper heart is breaking!
Cassie asks about Tobias and the Ellimist says that he'll be a red-tailed hawk if they say no. Marco points out how the Ellimist is being unfair as he asked them as they were about to die. Jake is angry and points out that they're not the ones who should be making this decision even though the Ellimist may mean well.
Ax basically says the Ellimists are manipulating dicks of the universe who pretend to give choices that are really no choices at all. Rachel finds it hard to disagree with that assessment.
Cassie reminds Tobias that this is a decision about the whole human race, not just for him personally. But if someone is willing to manipulate the group with Tobias being a nothlit then who's to say the Ellimist isn't lying.
Jake proves to be a clueless dumbass by pointing out that Tobias will be back to his hawk form. No shit, Sherlock! Okay, maybe I was wrong about it being odd you didn't notice certain things in the last book. You're supposed to be the leader for fuck's sake.
Marco tallies up the votes and says it's Tobias and Rachel saying no while Cassie is saying yes. But Rachel hadn't voted and she is momentarily annoyed before she realizes he is right. She has to stay and fight if Tobias won't back down. Besides being her boyfriend, Tobias continuing the fight meant that he risked more than any of them.
So Rachel asks like she really had no doubt about her decision. Tobias smiles briefly, though it isn't big or noticeable.
Cassie points out that it's better to save some humans than to have them all become enslaved. They might not even get out of the Yeerk pool alive. While this has logic to it, remember who is saying this. This is Cassie who everyone just assumes to do the morally good option. However, Cassie isn't blind to what has to be done and so seems to make morally questionable choices.
She doesn't want humans to die, some or all, but she would prefer the option that has a better outcome.
Jake and Marco are looking towards what turns out to be a dropshaft. It is the same thing the Animorphs had used in the Yeerk Mother ship. Rachel looks at the woman in the dropshaft to see if she's going up or down. She determines that the woman is going up.
Marco says no to the Ellimist's offer. Cassie points out that they might just be reacting like scared animals to the Ellimist's offer of help.
Rachel considers what Cassie had said and the thinks about how her parents would vote. That her mother would say yes and she wonders what her dad would think about her saying yes to the offer.
Jake says that if the Ellimist is all knowing he wouldn't ask for them to vote because he would know. And if he knew the answer would be no then he wouldn't have come asking in the first place.
Chapter 12
As they continue to demorph they need air so Ax cuts them out. The air doesn't smell good but Rachel is just glad that there is air to breathe.
Rachel finally realizes the Controllers are frozen in disbelief at what they had just witnessed. She yells at the others to run and then a Controller wakes up and tells their fellow Controllers to stop the 'Andalite bandits' or else Visser Three will be supremely pissed off.
How does no one realize the bandits are humans after this? At least for the most part.
As they head towards the dropshaft, Jake tells all of them, except Ax, to morph. Rachel knows she should morph an elephant or a wolf. She should morph an animal she knows how to control. But Rachel doesn't know if the elephant will fit and the wolf won't provide enough brute force.
So she decides on her new Grizzly bear morph. Know why this is beyond a dumb idea? Every morph gives you part of the animal's instincts. If you've never morphed an animal before, their instincts may be beyond hard to control the first time around.
After Ax rescues Rachel, by cutting off the hand of the Controller who was going to harm her, they are separated from the others by a small army of human and Hork-Bajir Controllers. Rachel yells at Jake and uses his name.
Glad the Controllers won't remember that piece of information.
While Rachel is there covered in Taxxon goo, the Controllers go to fight Ax as they put more importance on an Andalite. Um...not like she and the others are supposed to be Andalites?
So now Rachel is in morph...from the description I thought she paused while morphing and didn't continue. So...she's a bear now. And this fact seems to surprise her like she morphed without realizing it. I thought morphing was all about concentration?
She's attacked by a Hork-Bajir and reacts instinctively by attacking back. She revels in the power the Grizzly bear morph has. She then loses herself in the near-sighted and fearless morph. She then forgets what happens and the next thing she remembers is being in the dropshaft trying to kill Jake.
In all honesty, it's won't be the last time she'll be in a position where she's killing a cousin.
Rachel is exhausted and Cassie tells her where they are as well as making sure her best friend doesn't fall over.
She apologizes and the others just accept her morphing something like that for the first time in battle. I really hope the others get madder because if that happens again...you can't just do that. Of course they all just got out of a battle so I agree that reprimanding Rachel harshly isn't the thing to do at the moment.
She gets back home even though she can't remember how.
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Animorphs Re-Read
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