Author's Note: Where to begin? Uh...let's just say its been a while...a real long while. Sorry. Also, for some reason I claimed spoilers for the last chapter which totally did not exist - my bad. There may be a couple from The Ellimist Chronicles in this one, and there will be in future chapters, so just fair warning now. Anyway, here's the next chapter written and awaiting reading and reviewing.

PS - In Other news, looks like they're going to republish the first two Animorphs books next year with some minor tweaks and changes, I'm rather excited to see just what those will be.

Disclaimer: No, I do not own the characters. No, I do not own the Setting. Yes, Applegate takes credit for both. Yes, the story herein is mine. Yes, I hate disclaimers.

Chapter 13

There was no mistaking him; he looked like a taller, older version of Jake. Exactly as I remembered. Rachel had died assassinating him, or rather the yeerk that had taken over his body. Tom, Jake's older brother. Jake had fought the war to save him, only to sacrifice in the end that which he had been fighting for.

"Hi Jake. It's been a long time little brother." The being that looked like Tom held his hands up and stepped towards us. "How about you step away from that orb for a bit so we can talk?" If it hadn't been for the fact that almost the entirety of the time I had known Tom, he'd actually been controlled by a yeerk, this might have actually been convincing. As it was, it looked like Jake felt the same way. "I….I'm sorry Tom."

"Jake, wait! Look, I don't blame you for what you did – it was a war. But if you touch that now, I will never be free."

Jake hesitated a moment. "Tom….I would have done anything to save you if there had been another way. But I don't have the right to change history to soothe my guilt, and I can't trap the others with me for it either."

"Don't do this. It's me, really. It's hard to explain but the One gave me life, gave all of us life." He gestured to the soldiers around him. Rachel gripped my hand tightly and I glanced over to find her face very neutral as if she had come to a very unpleasant realization. She turned towards me slightly and mouthed the word, 'Father' – I had no idea what she was trying to get across.

Tom continued speaking. "We aren't just delusions or Hallucinations, we're real. But if you leave, we'll die."

Marco leaned across the Time Matrix towards me. "Wow, it's like the plot of FF10, and we're the Fayth." I stared back blankly; it seemed everyone had an idea about what was going on but me. Marco just rolled his eyes and resumed his place, grumbling about uncultured barbarians.

"Tom….I I'm sorry. I wish I could have done things differently." Jake took a step away from the Matrix and raised his hands in the sky. "I just wanted you to be free." He turned his head slightly towards the rest of us. "The Barn." And without warning he dropped his hand onto the smooth surface of the Time Matrix as Tom jumped forward shouting, but it was too late. The world around us blurred and pulled away as if we were falling up into the sky. There was strange feeling this time – as if we were being pulled in different directions, one for each of us. I concentrated on the only barn I could think of. After only a few moments the directions seemed to coincide, four of them unifying together and overriding the other two.

When the world resolved once more, we were standing in the middle of Cassie's Barn, though all the cages around us were empty and the air had a strange dead feel to it. Jake yanked his hand off of the Time Matrix as if it burned. "That was a little weirder than normal."

"We're using a giant pearl to cross space and time in a hallucination created by an alien entity while it slowly eats us….what's your definition of normal exactly?" Marco found an empty cage and dropped down onto it.

"We don't have time for a break. The One's forces could find us at any time and we still have to get Menderdashe before we leave. Come on, back on your feet." Marco groaned and shot Jake a glare as he pushed himself back up and placed his hand on the Matrix. Jake waited until everyone else was back in position before doing the same. "Everyone ready? Alright. Take us to where true Menderdashe resides within this prison of our own making."

"You know, I don't think you have to say it out loud each-"I was cut off as the world shuddered around us and then spiraled off into nothingness. The journey was not as easy as it had been previously – it felt like we were stuck in a hurricane during an earthquake. I felt as if my body were being ripped into a hundred pieces – my mind fragmented across all of time and space. Distantly I could feel the Time Matrix getting warm, and then burning. There was a bright flash of light and suddenly we were all standing back in Cassie's Barn, as if we'd never left.

Santorelli moved unsteadily over to a corner and wretched in the straw while Jeanne just sat down heavily on the nearest crate. Ax's front legs buckled and he barely caught himself on a shelf. Jake dropped to the floor clutching his head. Only Marco and I stayed on our feet. Jake finally broke the silence. "What happened?"

"We almost got torn apart, or did you miss that bit?" Marco rubbed his neck and shoulders.

I suddenly noticed that Rachel was not with us and I spun around searching for her. "Rachel? Rachel!"

"Right here Tobias." I whipped around to the Barn doors as Rachel entered, looking slightly tousled. I moved around the Time Matrix and wrapped my arms around her, causing a grunt of surprise. "It's okay T – I'm fine, or at least as fine as one can be in my condition." As I let go, I became aware of the others looking in our direction and I quickly became interested in staring at my feet.

"Everyone was thinking of the same place right? So why are we still here?" Jake asked again, standing up and looking at each of us.

Rachel spoke up first. "I think I know what happened, but it's not good."

Jake just nodded for her to continue.

"I think Menderdashe is dead – When we've jumped previously, I've been able to sense the person we were going after – but not this time. He either didn't survive the crash or he's already been consumed."

"What? That is impossible. No Andalite would have so little resistance to this One being. I have been in the process much longer than he and I am still here." Ax was back on his feet, his arms crossed against his chest.

"I see that old Andalite arrogance came back with a vengeance…" Marco muttered not so quietly under his breath. Ax's stalk eyes swiveled in his direction, but Rachel spoke up before he could retort.

"I agree Ax, but that only leaves one other option. That Menderdashe died during the crash. I'm sorry." Rachel moved past me and stood next to her cousin, looking across the Time Matrix at Ax.

"That is not true. They could have taken him for interrogation as they did to me."

"Maybe…" Jake looked unconvinced. "Either way, since he's not in here with us, it's time that we break the One's hold and get out of here for good. Is everyone ready?" Jeanne nodded weakly and stood back up placing her hand on the Matrix. Santorelli also nodded in affirmative as he rejoined the rest of us.

Marco just bit his lower lip. "We sure this is gonna work and we're not just going to end up in another dream?"

"Nothing is certain Marco." I replied, looking across the perfect sphere at him. "But we have to try. Besides, we've got Rachel here to guide us if it is." Marco cast a doubtful look at my dead girlfriend. "No Offense Rach, but I'm still not entirely sure you aren't a part of this dream yourself."

"None Taken, especially since you're technically right. I am a part of the dream, just not the Ones."

As Marco was digesting this, a fluttering of wings caught my attention and I turned to the open barn door as a Red-tailed hawk flew in, landing in the rafters above. (They Come.) I turned to the others as I slammed my hand onto the Matrix harder than I intended. "Guys, we got Company! They've found us. We gotta try now!" Only Ax and Rachel seemed to have seen the Hawk, both looking from it to me briefly before placing their hands on the Matrix. The others just glanced at the open door before connecting to the smooth surface of the Sphere.

Jake looked at all of us, his eyes cold and serious. "Concentrate on the real world, on our predicament as it physically is and waking up – shattering the dream. On Three."

The sound of hundreds of people running reached my ears and I risked a glance over my shoulder. The Hawk was staring at the open doors, its muscles tensed in anticipation. What was coming?

"One…."

The sunlight vanished as if a great storm had rolled in all at once, the wind picking up and whipping the trees outside.

"Two…"

Figures came into sight beyond the door, charging the Barn. Humans, Taxxons, Hork-Bajir, and even a couple Andalites. All of them were injured, mostly by physical damage. It took me a moment to recognize what they were – Everyone who had ever died because of us. They charged through the barn door.

"Three…"

The Hawk dove from the rafters, "Tssssssseeeeer!" talons slashing across the face of the first person to pass through the doors. (Go!) It yelled at me. Forcing a dozen questions from my mind, I concentrated all my might on being back in the real world. Then sound became indistinct, and everything becoming fainter; grey and transparent. A bright light seemed to be shining through everything, replacing the fading reality, and it was accompanied by a low rumble – a rolling sound that was growing in intensity. The last thing I heard was Rachel, faintly beside me, "Goodbye Tobias."

As the light began to fade, the strange sense of completing a morph came over me, the sudden instincts of the hawk merging with my own mind. And then I was back in my body, a red tailed hawk. I felt very strange as if I was restrained somehow and has this odd feeling around my beak and throat. With some trepidation I opened my eyes to see what was wrong and it took me a minute for it to sink in – There was a thick yellowish tentacle snaking through my open beak and down my throat. Half a dozen other tentacles surrounded me and held me tight. I began gagging, or at least the most similar thing a hawk can do when it's got something the size of an eel stuck in its throat. I didn't know how I was breathing with that thing and I didn't care. But despite my attempts, it wouldn't budge – it was as if it was fused to my flesh….which it took me a second to realize that it was. I glanced back at the tentacles around me, everywhere they touched I was numb and I could see that my feathers had dissolved in those places, the skin beneath breaking down as well. The One really was consuming us.

I immediately began to focus on my Hork-Bajir morph; I needed to cut these things away. My body started growing almost instantly, causing the tentacles to tighten against my form painfully. At the same time I could feel the one in my throat being forced apart from my body which was at least some relief. When I reached about 4 feet tall and didn't think I could take the pressure the tentacles were exerting any longer, my skin hardened and blades shot out from my joints, slicing clean through the yellow appendages. Something that sounded like a cross between a gurgle and a scream came from somewhere beyond the mass of twisting tentacles to my left. Guess the One feels pain. The sounds of struggles in front and in back of me suddenly caught my attention and I began tearing myself free from the last of the yellow limbs as the morph completed. Standing up to my full height, I could see now over the 'walls' made of the One, looking a lot like a writhing pile of yellow maggots. The One was a massive thing, sort of like an ancient vine which has been allowed to have its way for dozens of years – It covered most of the floor, walls and ceiling of this room with a central bulbous mass centered on one wall. I seemed to be nearest the door – I could see bits of orange and black beside me, ripping apart the tentacle vines as they tried to hold it and next to Jake was Jeanne's panther doing the same thing. Santorelli and Marco were behind me, morphing Crocodile & Hork-Bajir respectively. The One's gurgling sounded furious now, its tentacles shifting all over the place trying to regain a hold on its escaping prisoners. A mass over to one side lifted itself up, revealing a human, tentacles attaching where it once had legs and arms, and another spiking through the back of its head. It was like some horrible macabre puppet. "They're escaping – Kill Them" It hissed in a dry scratchy voice that only emphasized the fact that it was no longer living in the normal sense of the word.

Thwap!

A tail blade swum up from a mass of tentacles and sliced neatly through the one that attached to the puppet man's head and one of its arms.

Thwap Thwap!

The rest of the tentacles were sliced and the poor husk of a human collapsed to the floor, finally allowed peace. The Tail blade then began hacking at the tentacles all around it revealing a worn and bloody Ax beneath them. Large patches of fur across his body were gone leaving either horribly irritated skin or open sores. One stalk eye was completely missing as were several fingers on each hand and a good chunk of muscle on his flank. As he pulled himself upright I was dumbstruck to see that he was missing his right foreleg from the knee down, it looked like it had just been melted off. Whatever the dissolvent was on the tentacles, it seemed to prevent bleeding. Small favors.

Jake and the others had finished extricating themselves from the One and had moved over to the door. I had continued to stand in the same spot and fend off the encroaching tentacles like an idiot. Pulling myself together, I moved over to Ax and carefully positioned myself on his bad side, supporting him. I felt one of my arm blades cut into his back but other than a slight tightening of the muscles in his face, he made no acknowledgement of the pain.

(I think we've angered it, let's get out of here.) Marco said from by the door. I glanced behind me to see dozens of the tentacles ripping themselves from of the wall as the entire creature seemed to becoming alive.

(I agree. Ax, you okay?) Jake asked.

(I am fine Jake. We must move now or we will lose our only advantage.)

I looked over with concern at Ax and sent him a private message. (You sure Ax-man? you seem worse for wear here.)

(I will morph something more stable once we get out of this room. And thank you Tobias, for rescuing me.)

(I'd hold off on that if I were you, we ain't out of the fire yet.)

(I meant in there.)

(Oh. Yeah, no problem.) I helped him to the doors as Jake punched the console with his paw and the others pounced through onto the surprised guards beyond. Unfortunately, one of them must have heard The One's 'mouthpiece', as an alarm started blaring down the halls.

(Why can't things ever go our way?) Marco asked as he sealed the doors to The One's chamber behind Ax and me. Ax began morphing almost immediately and I let him down gently, backing up as he grew larger and his fur grew in thick and white. At that moment, the hall suddenly seemed much smaller with two Hork-Bajir, A Tiger, Panther, Crocodile and Polar Bear all standing in a group. Jake started moving down the hall, but paused to look back at the rest of us. (Everyone ready?)

For Rachel. (Let's do it.)