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| For the TV series version, see Rachel |
| For Nice or Mean Rachel, see Nice Rachel or, see Mean Rachel |
| AU versions → |
- "I'd been protecting her. Them. Jake. Cassie. Tobias. Even Marco and Ax. Helping to protect their innocence. Letting them see themselves as the good guys. It was a symbiotic relationship. Or co-dependent, whatever. They needed me to be the bad guy. And I needed them to be the good guys. See, if they were good guys, and I was on their team, then that automatically made me a good guy, too. Even if I was different. At least that’s what I'd been telling myself."
- ―Rachel[src]
Rachel was a founding member of the Animorphs and was known for her aggressive, bold, and reckless nature. Due to her ruthless demeanor, she was often used by the Animorphs to commit actions such as murder that the other Animorphs could not bring themselves to do. She was the only core Animorph to be permanently killed during the Yeerk war.
Biography
Early Life
Rachel was born in 1984[7] to Naomi and Dan as their first child.[11] When Rachel was two, she became a sister when her parents had a second daughter named Jordan.[1] Rachel lived in California,[5] with a mother who was an attorney and a father who was a weatherman[1] and a former gymnast.[11] While her father was Jewish, her mother was not, and Rachel did not identify as being Jewish herself.[8] By the age of three, she had already been enrolled in gymnastics, which her father took an interest in as he was a gymnast who nearly made the U.S. Olympics Men's Gymnastics team. When she was three, a picture was taken of Dan holding Rachel up after she succeeded on the balance beam, and Rachel would eventually have this picture on her desk. Rachel was her father's favorite child, and would often have father-daughter outings with him. Since Dan had initially believed that he could only have these parent-child outings with a son, he was very happy that he could do these things with Rachel. When Naomi was pregnant with her third child, Rachel overheard a conversation between her parents on what the biological sex of their new child would be. Naomi mentioned that Dan always wanted a boy, to which Dan replied that while he had initially wanted a son, thinking that only a male child would be one he could bond with and go out on excursions with, he believed Rachel was just as good if not better than a boy since he was able to do those things with her. Although Naomi notified Dan that he shouldn't ever repeat that in front of Rachel, she was actually happy to hear her father's remark, while also noting that her father's comment was sexist. Rachel became a sister again shortly after when her parents' third child, a daughter named Sara, was born. As she got older, Rachel and Dan did recreational activities like hiking while also attended gymnastics events and sporting events, all of which were just the two of them since her younger sisters and mother were not interested in these activities.[11] Rachel and Dan also once went on a whitewater rafting trip, although Naomi came along for this trip. Unlike her sisters, who inherited their mother's brown hair and eyes, Rachel inherited her father's blond hair and blue eyes.[1]
Rachel also had two paternal cousins[12] named Tom and Jake, the sons of her father's brother, Steve. However, despite knowing Jake all of her life[13] as well as them being the same age and attending the same school, Rachel and Jake were not close with one another and only spoke to each other at school[11][14] due to Cassie being their mutual friend,[15] and their families did not interact much.[11][14][16] Rachel was also aware of and had minimal interaction with another paternal cousin named Saddler, who lived in another town and who Rachel did not know very well. Rachel's contact with her paternal family became more limited when her parents got divorced.[16] Following the divorce, Dan moved out of the house and got an apartment in the city, where Rachel and her sisters spent one weekend a month. Dan also arranged for outings with his three daughters on every other weekend, although sometimes it would be just Rachel and Dan if Jordan and Sara were not interested in the activity, such as hiking or ball games. Rachel also attended sporting events with Dan where the pair of them trash-talked the umpires, an activity they both enjoyed. While Rachel took the divorce well, she missed her father and wished she could see more of him.[11]
Pre-Animorph Life
- "Rachel is every cover girl from every Mademoiselle or Seventeen you've ever seen. Tall, thin, blond hair and flawless complexion, and approximately four hundred shiny white teeth. To make matters worse, she can't just be written off as another fashion bimbo. She's not mean. She's not a snob. She is not a member of any clique. She is her own, one-girl clique. That's the power she has: to be everyone's vision of physical and intellectual perfection and not to care. [...] I wonder how she can have every boy in school throwing himself in her path, and be indifferent. Not that she's humble. No. You wouldn't call her humble. She knows she's special. But she's impatient with the whole idea of being popular or whatever. I get the feeling with Rachel that she's waiting. Impatient. Looking for something more. Moving through life in search of a very different destiny. Her sports are gymnastics and shopping."
- ―Cassie[src]
Rachel had a best friend named Cassie and a second best friend named Melissa Chapman, although Cassie and Melissa were not friends with each other.[1] Rachel also became enamored with shopping and received credit cards from her parents to make her own clothing purchases.[17] Rachel then developed a reputation of being quite fashionable and put together. Rachel remained very much into women's gymnastics, which she and Melissa both took classes for at the local YMCA specifically as something the two of them could do together. Rachel had aspirations of becoming an Olympic gold medalist like Shannon Miller when she was older.[1] In 1996,[18] Rachel attended Melissa's twelfth birthday party, where she witnessed Melissa's father, Hedrick Chapman, present her with an unfixed tomcat named Fluffer McKitty.[1]
As they attended junior high, also known as middle school, where Hedrick Chapman served as vice/assistant principal, Rachel found her friendship with Melissa waning.[1] By the time she was thirteen,[4] Rachel's physical appearance was likened to cover girls from magazines and was often the target of many school boys' attraction. She also grew to be quite tall, thus restricting her ambitions of becoming a professional gymnast. In addition to gymnastics, Rachel was very much into shopping and relished pairing outfits while prowling through the mall hunting for sales.[13]
Around this time, Rachel realized that Cassie had developed a crush on Jake and would often tease her about it, while also assuaging Cassie's fears that Jake may not reciprocate due to her race.[13] Rachel began conversing with Jake more often as a result, and she found herself physically attracted to Jake as well, although she did not act upon it since they were cousins.[19] Rachel was also attracted to a new boy at school named Tobias, who was often the target of bullies. However, Rachel and Tobias never spoke to one another.[citation needed] Around this time, Rachel decided to sign up to attend a gymnastics camp in a few months' time.[14]
Becoming an Animorph
Night at the Mall
One Friday in 1997,[20] when she was thirteen,[4] Rachel went to the mall after school with Cassie as she went shopping. Rachel discussed the sale prices and pairing of sweaters and jeans from different stores and gave Cassie a look of incredulity and confusion when Cassie did not understand what she was saying. Cassie then informed Rachel that Jake was at the mall and not to look, to which Rachel wondered why she couldn't be looking at her cousin. Rachel then went on to talk about how Jake had big, strong arms and lips that Cassie wanted to have wrapped around her body and pressed against her, and asked Cassie if she was worried that by looking at Jake she would convey this to Jake.
Rachel and Cassie then headed to the exit where Jake and Tobias were, along with Jake's best friend Marco,[13] a boy whom Rachel did not know too well.[11][14] Greeting them, Jake asked the girls if they were intending to use the abandoned construction site across the mall as a shortcut home, warning them that it was dangerous for them since they were girls. Offended, Rachel mocked Jake and asked if he was a "big, strong man" who would protect them. As she began berating him for thinking girls were helpless, Cassie interrupted her, stating that she was afraid and would appreciate the boys walking home with them. The five thirteen year olds then left the mall and headed towards the construction site.[6]
Gaining Morphing Powers
Rachel meeting Elfangor
- "We weren't a "group" back then. Jake was my cousin, but we didn't really see each other, except at school. Cassie was my best friend, and had been for a long time. But Marco was just Jake's friend, not mine. And Tobias was this guy Jake felt sorry for because he came from such a messed-up home and got picked on by bullies. [...] Right there in the construction site. That's where we saw our first alien. That's where we learned about the Yeerk threat. And that's where the Andalite, Prince Elfangor, gave us our power to morph."
- ―Rachel[src]
As they were walking silently through the abandoned construction site, Rachel heard Cassie exclaim that there was a flying saucer in the sky. Looking up at the night sky, Rachel remarked that the spaceship was headed their way before noting that it was coming to a stop near them. When the ship landed in front of them, Rachel suggested that they should try and communicate with whomever was on board. As Tobias stepped forwards and announced that they would not hurt them, Rachel and the others heard a voice in their head reply that he knew they would not. Rachel witnessed as a blue alien exited from the ship, who greeted them all before collapsing. Dying of his injuries, the alien informed the teenagers that there were other aliens on Earth who had come to destroy humans.
Rachel notices the red lights
The alien transmitted an image of a green-gray slug into their minds and explained that these were the Yeerks, a parasitic species that take over bodies to use as hosts, after which they become known as Controllers. The alien, revealing himself to be a member of a species called an Andalite, added that it would take a year if not more for the Andalite forces to come to Earth, and urged the teenagers to warn humanity of the Yeerk threat. The Andalite suddenly exclaimed that they should retrieve a blue box from his ship. As Jake retrieved the box, the Andalite informed them that he could use the box to grant them the ability to morph — by touching an animal and concentrating, they could acquire that creature's DNA and transform their bodies into that of the animal's. As the teenagers decided whether they should accept the power, Rachel remarked that they had to deal with the situation before she looked up into the sky. Noticing pinpoints of red light, she asked what it was, to which the Andalite replied that those were the Yeerks.
The Andalite urged them to decide quickly, and Rachel agreed to accept the morphing power. With Cassie, Tobias and Jake also in agreement, the five of them pressed their hands against the box, and Rachel felt a tingle run through her as she received the morphing ability. The Andalite warned them that they should not stay in morph for more than two hours or else they would be trapped before yelling at them to hide since Visser Three was coming. Rachel told the Andalite that she would stay with him and help, although he instead responded that she should run and save herself and save Earth.
Hiding behind a low wall, Rachel witnessed as the Blade ship and Bug fighters landed. As tall, bladed creatures emerged from the Blade ship, the dying Andalite used his thought-speak to mentally communicate with them, informing them that these were Hork-Bajir-Controllers and that the giant centipede-like creatures that were also emerging were known as Taxxons. The five kids then tried to remain silent as one of the Hork-Bajir-Controllers positioned himself near their hiding spot. They then noticed an Andalite emerging from the Blade ship, which the dying Andalite explained was Visser Three — the only Andalite-Controller to exist.
Rachel watched as Visser Three greeted the Andalite as Prince Elfangor before morphing into a monstrous creature with multiple ringed teeth. With tears streaming down her face, Rachel comforted Cassie by putting an arm around her shoulder as she also held Tobias' hand. However, when the Visser lifted Elfangor, Jake picked up a pipe to rush into action, prompting Rachel to cover his mouth as Tobias and Marco restrained him. They then watched as Visser Three dropped Elfangor in his mouth and were forced to hear Elfangor's mental screams as he was being ripped apart.
Marco then threw up, prompting the nearby Hork-Bajir-Controller to look in their direction. The five teenagers then bolted as the Yeerks began chasing them. Rachel and Jake both noted that Marco and Cassie were struggling to flee as they were short while Tobias was out of shape, so the two athletic cousins served as a distraction to ensure the other three escaped; Rachel uttered a stream of profanity at the Yeerks, which stunned Jake. Rachel then noticed that Jake, who was running behind her, had tripped, but he yelled at her to leave him. Heeding his words, Rachel continued to run and successfully managed to escape from the construction site. When she returned home, she spoke to Jake on the phone and apologized profusely for having left him behind.[6]
Investigating the Yeerks
The next morning, a Saturday, Rachel was contacted by Jake once more, who informed her that he and Tobias had morphed and that he wished for them to all meet at Cassie's farm. Rachel then went to the farm, where she witnessed Cassie constantly practicing her morphing by becoming a horse, noting that Cassie was improving her ability every time. Rachel was shortly joined by Tobias and Marco, and they read a newspaper which stated that residents near the abandoned construction site had called the police about seeing spaceships and explosions. However, the police claimed they had investigated the matter and concluded there were no spaceships; additionally, the police stated that the explosions were just teenagers using fireworks, whom they were now looking for. They then realized that the police and media contained Controllers, and when Jake arrived, they shared the newspaper and their realization with him.
As they sat in silence, Marco told them that they should just forget what they've learned and move on with their lives. Rachel and Tobias both looked at Jake expecting him to argue with Marco. When Jake began to do so, Marco interrupted and yelled that they could all get killed if they get involved, adding that if something happened to him, his father would stop deciding to continue living. Rachel then noticed Cassie galloping towards them and demorphing. However, as she began to turn back into her human form, a police cruiser suddenly pulled into the farm. Rachel then joined the others in shielding Cassie from view as she finished demorphing.
When the police officer stepped out, Rachel tried to sound more responsible as she asked him why he was here, and the officer responded that he was looking for information on kids who were at the abandoned construction site the night before. When they responded that they did not know anything, the police officer told Jake that he should join The Sharing before driving off. Rachel then warned the others that they needed to be careful and inform someone important whom they could trust to handle the Yeerks since they were just kids. Tobias then responded that they couldn't trust anyone since they could be Controllers and that he believed they should fight, prompting Marco to retort that Tobias couldn't even fight off the bullies at school. Rachel then shot a dirty look at Marco for this remark and stated that now aligned with Tobias' decision to fight the Yeerks.
The argument came to an end when Cassie and Jake decided that they should take some time to think before deciding, and the teens went their separate ways. Later that day, Rachel was invited by Jake to join him and the others as they attended a bonfire that The Sharing were hosting at the beach. After observing the behavior of the members there, Jake decided to spy on the full members in his golden retriever morph while ordering Tobias, who was flying above in his new red-tailed hawk morph, to land and demorph. Since Jake and Tobias would be nude as they still hadn't learned how to morph clothing, Rachel offered to turn around to avoid "offending their delicate boy modesty." When Jake returned, he informed the group that his brother Tom and their assistant principal Chapman were both Controllers, and that they were still looking to kill the kids from the construction site. When Marco stated that they should just forget everything and resume their usual life, Jake refused and declared that he wished to fight in order to free Tom, with Rachel, Tobias and Cassie agreeing to join him. The group then went their separate ways as they all went back home.
On Monday, Rachel met with the others at the mall's food court after school, where Rachel learned that Yeerks needed to feed every three days by absorbing Kandrona rays at a Yeerk pool. After Jake informed them that janitor's closet at their school held the secret entrance to the pool and that human screams could be heard, Rachel declared that they should do something about it. When Marco stated that they should forget about it, Rachel was upset that Marco could turn a blind eye to it despite Marco's family troubles, claiming that they all had families. Tobias then retorted that he had no family and that no one worried about him, to which Rachel immediately responded that she did care about him. Jake notified them that he was heading to the Yeerk pool later that night to rescue Tom; Rachel agreed to go with him, declaring that while she was afraid, there was no one else who could fight the Yeerks. With the others agreeing to join Jake on his mission, Rachel stated that they needed more powerful morphs and that they should go to The Gardens, an amusement park-zoo in their city, in order to acquire more DNA. As they prepared to leave, Marco dubbed them as the Animorphs,[6] a portmanteau for "animal morphers."[11]
First Mission
Upon arriving at The Gardens, the five of them began pooling their cash to pay for admission. Tobias remarked that he did not think he should come inside with them since he did not want to morph anything other than the red-tailed hawk, to which Rachel informed him that she thought that would be a mistake since their only method of fighting the Yeerks was to morph and thus they should acquire as many animals as they could. Entering the park, Cassie led them into the employees' hallway, which contained the doors leading to all of the other enclosures. She guided them to the enclosure belonging to Big Jim, a Silverback gorilla, and Rachel goaded Marco into acquiring the gorilla. An employee who recognized Cassie then saw them, prompting them to return back to the hallway. At a crossroads, Rachel decided to head towards the dolphin tank, although Cassie remarked that they would have no need for dolphin morphs. Marco, however, began walking down the path leading to the more dangerous animals, citing their need for firepower.
As a security guard spotted them, Rachel fled, with Tobias and Cassie following her, while Jake followed Marco; since the security guard chose to pursue the two boys instead, the trio were able to escape without worry. Returning back to the public space, the three stuck together and headed towards the African elephants, with Rachel deciding to acquire one of them. Both Cassie and Tobias elected not to acquire any additional morphs and thus the three returned to the main entrance, where Jake and Marco soon met up with them. The five of them then left The Gardens and took the bus back to their respective homes, planning to meet up at the school later after dinner.
A few hours later, Rachel biked to school, where she waited alongside Marco and Tobias, the latter already having morphed into a hawk and was flying above. Jake arrived shortly after and was infuriated that Tobias had already began his morphing clock, since they were unsure how long the mission would take. Tobias then landed on Rachel's shoulder and she chose to nuzzle him, much to Jake's surprise. Jake then informed them that Cassie had gone missing but that they were going to continue their mission regardless. Entering the school through an unlocked window that Marco knew of, the four Animorphs discovered that one of the Controllers entering the Yeerk pool through the janitor's closet was the police officer from earlier that day, and that he was dragging Cassie with him. Rachel then let out a few profane words before suggesting that they simply walk in after the Controllers, since they would naturally assume any human entering was one of them. The four then made their way to the closet and walked through the entrance to the pool.
As they began descending the many stairs, they were stunned to discover that the passageway in the janitor's closet was not the sole entrance and that were multiple access points, as the Yeerk pool was revealed to be a gigantic subterranean cavern that was situated under half of their city. The group watched in horror as the Controllers re-entered the pool on one pier, with their screaming hosts thrown into cages, after which they would be brought to the reinfestation pier. Jake noticed a group of Controllers laughing as they watched television, which Tobias explained were voluntary Controllers. Rachel disparaged the humans who had willingly allowed themselves to be infested, to which Tobias responded that certain humans turned to The Sharing and accepted the Yeerks in their heads as they believed becoming something different would be the solution to their personal troubles. When Marco retorted that some other humans turned to hawks in order to do the same, this offended Tobias and prompted him to fly away from them. Rachel then berated Marco, telling him not to be a jerk to Tobias and that they needed everyone. Tobias then flew back and informed them that Cassie was on the infestation pier and that they had mere minutes to save her.
Rachel morphs for the first time
Rachel, Jake and Marco walked away from the stairs and ducked behind a shed; there, Marco pulled Jake to the side, although they were spotted by a human-Controller, who found them to be suspicious and ordered his accompanying Hork-Bajir-Controller and Taxxon-Controller to take them. Rachel, who hadn't been noticed, stealthily manuevered herself behind the three Controllers and morphed for the first time by turning into an African elephant. Rejoicing that she had successfully morphed, she popped the Taxxon and flung the human-Controller away. Joined by Jake and Marco, who had morphed into a Siberian tiger and a Silverback gorilla respectively, the trio ran towards the cages, defeating the Controllers who attempt to impede them with ease. Rachel fended off additional Controllers as Marco and Jake liberated the prisoners from the cages. Rachel then noticed that Cassie was about to be infested and screamed at Jake to save her, although Tobias was able to get to the Hork-Bajir-Controller holding Cassie first, allowing her to escape and morph into a horse.
The Animorphs attempted to escape with the prisoners they had freed only for Visser Three to arrive and prevent them. Believing them to be Andalites in morph, the Visser morphed into a giant fire-breathing monster with eight heads. Shooting fireballs out of his many heads, one of them struck Rachel, causing her to scream both verbally and in thought-speak. She attemped to escape by rushing straight for the stairs but found her elephant body unable to ascend them. She then started to demorph as per Jake's orders and began running up the stairs as a half-elephant, half-human hybrid[6] while asking the others where Tobias was.[21] The four Animorphs, minus Tobias, successfully escaped from the Yeerk Pool and returned to their school hallway; however, they were unable to rescue Tom as he, along with every other host they had freed minus one woman, had been burned, killed or recaptured.[6] Rachel, still an elephant-human hybrid, parted ways with her friends, demorphed[22] and returned home; she later learned that Tobias, who was left behind in the Yeerk Pool, managed to escape on his own, although he had passed the two-hour limit and was now trapped as a red-tailed hawk.[1]
Melissa Chapman Investigation
Morphing Practice
Rachel flying alongside Tobias
- "Look, Jake, how many times have you been walking around the mall or whatever, and you'll see a girl who seems good-looking from far off, but when you get closer it turns out she's a skank? I mean, if you could see this well all the time—"
"Excuse me? I'm sure I didn't hear you say what I thought you just said."
"I wasn't being sexist. It goes both ways. See, from far off, I look taller than I am." - ―Marco and Rachel[src]
Rachel was then taught by Cassie how to incorporate skintight clothing such as stretch tops with leggings or tights into the morphing process so that she wouldn't be nude when he demorphed. A little over a week after their trip to the Yeerk pool, the four morph-capable Animorphs acquired bird-of-prey morphs, with Rachel acquiring a bald eagle. The four then walked to a run-down church near a beach by some cliffs and made their way to its abandoned bell tower. Stripping off their outer clothing, the Animorphs morphed into their raptor morphs for the first time and joined Tobias in the sky. Rachel soared above the thermals next to Tobias, noticing Jake as he struggled to flap with his smaller falcon wings. Tobias then asked Rachel if she wanted to try diving, and although Rachel was hesitant, she did not like turning down a challenge and thus agreed. She then tucked her wings back and plummetted towards the ground, only to find herself afraid of breaking a wing and dying, as well as realizing that she could not demorph in mid-air. When she shared these worries with Tobias, he advised her to tap into the eagle's mind and instincts to guide her, and to her relief Rachel found that the eagle could handle the dive. Jake then shot past them, which bothered Rachel due to her competitive nature. A bullet then whizzed past her, forcing her and Tobias to exit their dive.[1]
Rachel steals Chester's rifle
Rachel was aghast that someone would shoot at a bald eagle as they were an endangered species.[23] Cassie notified them that the shooter and his friend were in the woods and Rachel formulated an idea to disarm them. The Animorphs then dove into the woods and ambushed the two shooters, who were teenagers. The one with the rifle was attacked by Tobias, causing him to lose his grip on the rifle which allowed Rachel to grab it and fly away with it. Rachel then flew towards the beach and dropped the rifle into the ocean before they returned to the bell tower, where they demorphed. As they started resuming their human shape, Rachel and Marco shared jabs at their mid-morph stages; Rachel also glanced at Jake's human self, mentally remarking that he was big and strong-looking. Now fully demorphed, Marco mentioned that he was grateful to have human vision again and referred to certain women at the mall as being skanks. This insulted Rachel, although Marco quickly claimed he wasn't sexist and that the judgment worked both ways since he was short. Rachel mentally remarked that Marco was self-conscious about his height and that he was a very smart boy that many girls found cute.
As the group walked home, Rachel listened to the others as they discussed how they could've used morphing to have a career in show business. The Animorphs walked past the abandoned construction site, which brought back memories. Rachel noticed that Cassie had stopped walking and was crying and walked back to check on her. Rachel then mentioned a nightmare she had the night the before about the Yeerk pool. Rachel then noticed that Tobias, who had been flying above them, had descended into the construction site and landed on the spot where Elfangor had died. The thought of Tobias mourning the Andalite on the site bothered Rachel, who then proclaimed to the others that they needed to find another way to attack the Yeerks. Jake informed the group that he had checked the janitor's closet entrance at their school and that it had since been sealed. Rachel then suggested that they follow Tom to find a new Yeerk pool entrance, although Jake quickly shut it down, stating that he did not want to risk the Yeerks noticing and killing Tom. Jake then brought up using Chapman instead and wondered aloud if there was a way they could get close to him; Rachel noticed that Jake had intentionally avoided looking at her and immediately realized that he wanted her to use her friendship with Melissa Chapman to get close to Chapman himself. Rachel admitted that she was not comfortable with the idea of using a friend, prompting Marco to chime in that Rachel didn't seem to have any issue putting his life in jeopardy; Rachel then immediately retorted that Marco wasn't her friend. This hurt Marco's feelings, which Rachel noticed, and so she quickly assured him that she was kidding and that they were indeed friends. Rachel then privately reflected that while it made sense to use Melissa, it made her feel like dirt to do so.[1]
Escaping Sexual Predator
- "I was supposed to head over to the mall, then call my mom when I was done to come pick me up. That was the plan. But since I didn't feel like mall-crawling I just headed home. Alone. With the sky growing dark as rain clouds moved in. It was stupid and careless of me. But I guess I was preoccupied with other things. Although at least I had the sense to stay out of the construction site. I was walking down the sidewalk that runs along the boulevard when suddenly I realized that a car had pulled up just a little way down the sidewalk from me. A guy got out. He looked like he was in high school or even college. He also looked like trouble. [...] "Hey, baby," he said. "Want to go for a little ride?" I shook my head and clutched my gym bag close. What an idiot I was to be so careless! "Now, don't be stuck-up, sweet thing," he said. "I think you'd better get in the car." The way he said it didn't sound like an invitation. It sounded like an order. Now I was really afraid. I clutched my gym bag close as I passed him. "Don't ignore me," he hissed. He reached for me and missed. I walked faster. He was behind me. I broke into a run. He ran after me."
- ―Rachel[src]
The next day after school, Rachel made her way to the YMCA across the mall to attend her gymnastics class. She planned to go to the mall after class and made arrangements to have her mother pick her up. While in the locker room, she noticed Melissa Chapman changing into her leotard and asked her if she wanted to go the mall after class to shop for shoes and look at cute guys. When Melissa looked uncomfortable, Rachel privately questioned how she and Melissa had drifted apart this much, since Melissa and her often went to the mall to hang out in the past. Rachel told Melissa that she missed her, to which Melissa flippantly remarked that maybe they could get together sometime. Rachel then called Melissa out for blowing her off and asked her what was going on with her, and noticed an immense sadness in Melissa's face. When Melissa then left the room, Rachel berated herself for being such a bad friend that she hadn't noticed that something had happened to Melissa and that she had only reached out to her for ulterior motives. Rachel then got changed and attended her gymnastics class, where she was unable to focus; this resulted in her slipping on the balance beam and banging her knee, which caused her to cry. Melissa rushed over to her side , but after noting that Rachel was fine, retreated back to her moody demeanor across the room; Rachel then began to wonder whether Melissa was a Controller.
No longer feeling like shopping, Rachel decided to walk home from gymnastics, wearing her leggings with a sweater over it. As the sky darkened with rain clouds moving in, Rachel noticed a car stop in front of her; a grown man, which she believed to be high school or college aged, stepped out of the car and asked the thirteen year old Rachel if she wanted to go for a ride. Rachel then began to blame herself to walking home alone, remarking that it was stupid and careless for her to do so. The man ordered her to get in her car, and when Rachel kept walking, the man became upset that she had ignored him. He then tried to grab her, which Rachel avoided before breaking into a run. As the man chased her, Rachel began morphing into an African elephant. Stopping the transformation mid-morph, she turned around and frightened the man, who screamed and fled. As she demorphed, she noticed that it had begun raining and that her shoes had burst, although she was grateful that she was wearing leggings and a loose sweater; while both items of clothing had stretched, she had avoided destroying and morphing out of her clothes.
To her surprise, a second car then pulled up to her, this time driven by Chapman's Yeerk. Melissa then asked Rachel if she wanted a ride, although Rachel declined, worried that "Chapman" had seen her morph. "Chapman" then insisted that he drive her home, which she reluctantly agreed to. She was then dropped off at home without incident. Entering her house, she was shaking from her predatory encounter and threw her shoes in the garbage before greeting her mother in the kitchen. Naomi immediately inquired how she had gotten home, as she did not want Rachel walking home alone, to which Rachel assured her that she had gotten a ride from Melissa's father. Rachel then asked what they were having for dinner, and Naomi told her to order pizza or Chinese over the phone since she was busy with legal work. Rachel then told her mother that she wasn't good at cooking and that she did not mind ordering pizza for dinner. After dinner, Rachel called the human Animorphs to come to her house where she told them about her conversation as well as her terrifying encounter with the man, although she omitted that Chapman was in the vicinity and had driven her home. Marco berated her, claiming that her actions had been stupid since anyone on the street could've witnessed her morphing, and that even if the man hadn't been a Controller, he could share the tale with someone who was. Jake told Marco to ease off, although he added that what Rachel had done was a mistake while Cassie chimed in stating that Rachel should never have put herself in such a dangerous position to begin with. Jake then redirected the conversation into fighting another way to spy on Chapman since Melissa wasn't keen to hang out with Rachel. Rachel then noticed a photo of herself with Melissa and her cat, Fluffer McKitty, and informed the group that she could morph into the cat to spy on Chapman.[1]
Morphing Trauma
- "You didn't get creeped out by the shrew, did you?"
"Why? Just because I'm a girl, you think the shrew bothered me more than it would have bothered you or Marco?"
"No, that's not it at all. It's just... see, when I did the lizard morph, that bothered me. I had nightmares—"
"Nightmares? [...] I guess it's the different characters of the animals. Maybe some are good matches for our human brains. Maybe others aren't." - ―Jake and Rachel[src]
One night, Rachel and the other Animorphs traveled to the street where the Chapmans resided, bringing a cat carrier with them. When Tobias flew back towards them, informing him that he had located Fluffer McKitty, Rachel took stock that Tobias' gentle visage was now that of an intimidating and ferocious hawk. When Tobias mentioned that he could see rats and mice and that he found them to be juicy and plump, Marco berated Tobias, stating that he could not be friends with someone who ate rats, which angered both Rachel and Jake. Tobias then led them to the lawn where Fluffer was trying to hunt a mouse. As Jake and Marco waited, Rachel and Cassie crossed onto the lawn, where Rachel put on a high-pitched voice and tried to get Fluffer to come to her. When she reached out, Fluffer clawed at her, leaving three bloody scratches on her hand before jumping up into a tree. In order to get Fluffer down, Rachel asked Tobias to find her a mouse. Tobias quickly retrieved one and delivered it to Rachel, although Cassie clarified that the animal was actually a full-grown shrew instead of a mouse.
Rachel then morphed into the shrew, although she was immediately overwhelmed by the shrew's fear and desire to gorge on maggots. As she fled, Tobias plucked her from the ground and managed to calm her down enough where she could reassert her control over the body before setting her back down. Still committed to seeing this through, Rachel was picked up and dropped in front of the tree, where Fluffer leaped down to pounce on her. Rachel was too distracted to notice but was saved by Jake and Marco, who grabbed Fluffer and tossed him into the cat carrier. Rachel then demorphed and felt extremely sick, declaring that she would not ever morph into the shrew again. Feeling guilty, Jake announced that he should have morphed into the lizard instead of letting Rachel morph into the shrew, which Rachel immediately shut down, stating that Jake was not in a position to "let" her to do anything and that he was disturbed by the lizard morph. Rachel then acquired Fluffer as Cassie remarked that Rachel now had four available morphs. Rachel felt uneasy that she had four animal DNA strands in her system, some of which preyed on each other. Still feeling unwell, she asked if they could postpone the infiltration mission to another night, which the group agreed to.
That night, Rachel had a nightmare where she was a shrew who came upon maggots feasting on a dead cat and started feasting on both the maggots and the cat's dead flesh. She then started talking about maggots out loud before screaming in her sleep. She was then awakened by her sister Jordan. Recalling her nightmare, Rachel felt the urge to vomit and rushed to the bathroom to throw up in the toilet. Jordan contemplated waking their mother, although Rachel assured Jordan that it was unnecessary and that it was just a bad dream. Jordan then told Rachel that despite being a younger sister, she wanted Rachel to know that if something bad was going on with her, she could talk to her and trust that she wouldn't tell anyone, including their mother. While Rachel appreciated the sentiment, the idea that Jordan might be a Controller lurked into her mind. She then pulled Jordan into a hug before bidding her good night. Rachel then returned to bed.
The next morning, Rachel was on the school bus when she was joined by Jake, who noticed that she looked tired and asked her if becoming a shrew had freaked her out. Rachel immediately became defensive, wondering whether Jake thought she was bothered by the experience because she was a girl, although Jake quickly assured her that he was asking in general and revealed that he had a nightmare when he became a lizard. The pair then discussed their dreams and the possibility that they might have to morph into bugs someday. Upon reaching the school, Rachel noticed Melissa and bid Jake farewell. Noticing that Melissa was crying, Rachel approached her former friend and asked her what was going on. Melissa questioned why Rachel cared, and began talking about how everything had changed, including her friendship with Rachel and her parents until she was interrupted by the bell. Rachel watched as Melissa walked away and eventually made her way inside the school building, where she accidentally walked into Chapman.[1]
Infiltrating Chapman Residence
- "I discovered that Chapman has a way to communicate directly with Visser Three. I discovered that Visser Three is pretty hot to catch us, although he still thinks we're Andalites. And I decided something, too."
"What?"
"I decided that I don't care what it takes, or how many risks I have to run. I don't care what happens to me. I hate these Yeerks. I hate them. I hate them. And I will find a way to stop them." - ―Rachel and Cassie[src]
A few nights later, the Animorphs regrouped outside the Chapman Residence, where Tobias informed the group that the real Fluffer McKitty was nowhere near the house and that there was no risk of people spotting them. Assuring Jake and Cassie that she was fine, Rachel declared that she needed to get inside the house in order to help Melissa Chapman. Marco then reminded her that her job was to spy on Chapman and not to help Melissa, although Rachel merely replied that she knew why she was doing this before she began morphing into the cat. Rachel was pleasantly surprised to find a surge of graceful and confidence while in the cat morph. Despite being warned that the mixture of cat confidence and her natural personality could result in her being too cocky, and potentially acting un-catlike, Rachel lied to the others that she was completely in control of the morph; this was because she found the cat's confidence to be quite reassuring and calming. Rachel then entered the Chapman Residence through the cat door.
Rachel inside the Chapman Residence in cat morph
With the cat's sense of hearing, Rachel discerned that Melissa was muttering in her room. As she made her way further into the house, she noticed Chapman sitting in the living room but found it unsettling that he was not watching television or reading, but rather just sitting there and staring blankly ahead. She then glanced at the kitchen, where she observed Ms. Chapman cutting vegetables silently. Chapman got up shortly after and started walking into the basement, with Rachel deciding to follow him. She was startled by Tobias' thought-speak, who had decided to check up on her, but told him that she was going into the basement. As she descended down the stairs, she realized that neither of them could hear each other anymore since she was out of range. Rachel followed Chapman into a secret room where a holographic emitter transmitted the image and voice of Visser Three. Rachel listened as Chapman's Yeerk introduced itself as Iniss 226 and as Visser Three inquired whether Iniss had made any progress in locating the Andalite bandits, which Rachel registered as a reference to the Animorphs. Rachel was then caught by Visser Three, who ordered Iniss to kill the cat as it could be an Andalite in morph. However, Iniss responded that he might blow his cover if he killed his daughter's pet. Visser Three then "struck" Rachel with his holographic tail, although Rachel tapped into the cat's instincts to swipe back. This made Visser Three laugh, who appreciated the cat before allowing her to live.
When the meeting eventually concluded, Rachel made her way upstairs with Chapman, discovering that Chapman's wife was infested by a Yeerk as well. Melissa then appeared on the stairs and asked for help with her math homework, although her "parents" dismissed her. Rachel then followed Melissa to her room when she heard Tobias' thought-speak, who notified her that while she had just a little over an hour left in morph, the real Fluffer was trying to return home and that the others were struggling to capture him. As Melissa began crying in her room, Rachel told Tobias that she could not leave yet as there was something she needed to do. Rachel then jumped up onto the bed and began purring next to the crying Melissa, who began scratching her "cat's" ears. Tobias informed her that she now had less than an hour in morph and that Jake was angry and wanted her to leave the house immediately, to which Rachel responded that she could not yet leave as Melissa needed her. Rachel listened as Melissa cried about her parents not loving her anymore; this resulted in Rachel finding within her a new reason to fight the Yeerks: she realized that she despised them for robbing a child of their parents' love. Tobias then interrupted once more, relaying Jake's wishes, to which Rachel cut him short and told him to tell Jake to shut up and that she would leave soon. Rachel then stayed with Melissa while ruminating how there were parents who became Controllers or parents whose children became Controllers and how it felt to have family stop loving you. Rachel stayed with Melissa until she fell asleep and then exited the Chapman house, with only ten minutes left on her morphing clock. Regrouping with the others, she informed them about Chapman having a way to communicate with Visser Three and that the Yeerks still believed them to be Andalites. She then added that she hated the Yeerks and that she would find a way to stop them regardless of what happened to her.
Rachel flying with Tobias
Returning home, Rachel worked on some of her homework before going to sleep; she then worked on the rest of it in the morning before making her way to school. Upon leaving her math class, she was approached by Jake, who told her to fly to the church tower after school since they were having a meeting there. Two hours later, school had let out and Rachel morphed into the bald eagle and spotted Tobias, who guided her towards the mall's parking lot, which gave off good thermals. Rachel and Tobias soon arrived at the church tower, where Rachel demorphed. Marco made comments about their morphing outfits, and upon mention of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, Rachel made it clear to Marco that they weren't superheroes and that their life wasn't a comic book. After a brief discussion about Marco's family life, the group began discussing their next plans. Rachel informed the group that she wanted to go back inside the Chapman Residence so that she could learn the location of the Kandrona, as destroying it would strike a significant blow to the Yeerks. Jake added that he believed Rachel shouldn't go in alone while Rachel noticed that Tobias was privately thought-speaking to Cassie, who then also stated that Rachel shouldn't go in alone. Since two cats couldn't be present, Rachel made a flippant suggestion about one of them morphing into a flea and riding on her back. Rachel told the other Animorphs that she was going to return to the house and find a way to hurt the Yeerks; Tobias then privately thought-spoke to her, claiming that she was going in to help Melissa, to which Rachel replied that it was the same thing. The Animorphs then disbanded for the day, planning to meet outside of Chapman's house in a few hours.
That night, Rachel made her way down the street of Chapman's house, noting that it was dark and stormy. Upon meeting with the others, she observed that Jake was not there, to which Marco claimed that Jake had been grounded by his father and thus could not make it. As it began raining, Rachel morphed into Fluffer and prepared to set off towards the house; however, before she could leave, Cassie placed her hand firmly on Rachel's back before allowing her to go. Rachel then trotted towards the Chapman Residence and entered once more through the cat door. She waited for a short while for Iniss 226 to make his way to the basement and followed him. She then heard Jake's thought-speak, which startled her and nearly caused her to reveal her presence to Iniss. Rachel then ran into the secret room and hid under the table, barely avoiding Chapman's feet. Rachel then inquired where Jake was and became aghast when Jake revealed that he had morphed into a flea with the help of the others and was currently on her back, and she realized that Cassie had deposited him there when she touched her. Rachel then informed Jake that Chapman's Yeerk was in a holographic meeting with Visser Three and thus she was hiding, to which Jake replied that she shouldn't have to hide since she was a cat that lived there and thus it wouldn't be suspicious for her to be in the room. Rachel then divulged that she had been caught the night prior and that Visser Three believed she might've been an "Andalite in morph," causing Jake to yell at her for hiding it from them and still choosing to return. Iniss then kicked Rachel, revealing her to both Iniss and Visser Three.
Visser Three then declared that the cat was definitely an Andalite bandit and ordered Iniss to capture it. As Iniss leaped towards Rachel, she used her claws to lacerate his arms and legs, although she was eventually pinned. Unable to use her feet or claws, she chose to constantly bite Chapman's arms. Visser Three then ordered Iniss to bring both the "Andalite cat" and Melissa to him. Iniss then pulled a Dracon beam on Rachel and ordered her to enter the cat carrier that Ms. Chapman's Yeerk brought. As they went upstairs, Rachel watched in surprise as both Chapman parents struggled against their Yeerks and managed to regain control over some of their limbs, such as Chapman falling to his knees while Ms. Chapman tried to choke herself. Both Yeerks managed to regain control of their hosts and decided not to bring Melissa to Visser Three, since their hosts were fighting to protect Melissa. While Rachel was glad that Melissa was spared, to her horror Melissa noticed her "parents" and wondered why her father had her cat in the carrier. As "Chapman" started to leave the house, Melissa began to cry and follow her father. Realizing that Iniss might be forced to take Melissa after all if she continued to follow him, Rachel reached out to Tobias using thought-speak and asked him to get the real Fluffer back to the house. Rachel then watched as Tobias chased Fluffer back the front lawn of the house; seeing the real cat, Iniss claimed that the cat in the carrier was another cat and that he was taking her to the shelter. He then placed the cat carrier in his car before driving away from the house.
Rachel was relieved that Melissa was spared but became fearful at the idea that she was about to be given to Visser Three. Determined to remain in cat morph and not expose her humanity to the Yeerks, Rachel ordered Jake to jump off and escape; when Jake refused, Rachel tried to scratch him off. Jake then claimed that he had jumped off, and Rachel, to test him, suddenly claimed that she changed her mind and that she needed him. When Jake didn't respond, Rachel was glad that Jake had fled but felt lonely. She had also noticed that Iniss had brought her to the abandoned construction site and watched as the Blade ship and two Bug fighters landed in front of them. Visser Three then disembarked from his ship and approached Rachel, who was overwhelmed by the fear she was felt. Realizing she would crack under interrogation but that Fluffer was not afraid of the Visser, Rachel retreated into the cat's mind. Rachel then watched as Iniss 226 relinquished control of the body so that the real Chapman could speak to the Visser and was shocked to discover that Chapman had become a voluntary host in exchange for Melissa's freedom. Iniss then left, but not before Rachel spotted his watch and realized she had only seventeen minutes left in morph.
Rachel unlocks the cat carrier by partially demorphing her paws
A Hork-Bajir-Controller then picked up the cat carrier and made their way to the Blade ship. Rachel was then startled to hear Jake's thought-speak, who revealed that he had never jumped off her back and that the others were somewhere on the site as well. As the cat carrier was placed inside the Blade ship, Rachel noticed that one of the earthmovers had been started and relayed the information to Jake. Jake then told her that he would try a double morph and jumped off of Rachel's back. Rachel watched as Visser Three maimed a Taxxon for telling him that it would take two minutes for lift-off before ordering the Hork-Bajir-Controllers to shoot and destroy the earthmover. From the corner of her eye, Rachel watched as Jake rapidly demorphed from flea to human and then from human to tiger, undergoing the whole process in under a minute. Rachel then concentrated on partially demorphing her paws so that she could regain her human fingers, which she used to unlock the carrier. Jake, now fully in tiger morph, rushed at the Visser, who was standing outside of the open door of the Blade ship; at the same time, escaped from the carrier and remorphed back into the cat as she could not run with human fingers on her cat feet.
Rachel escapes from the Blade ship
As Jake wrestled with Visser Three, Rachel ran out of the Blade ship and back onto the construction site, where she was pursued by two Hork-Bajir-Controllers. Jake then rushed to her side, telling her to run as she was not in a morph strong enough to fight. Jake then tackled one of the Hork-Bajir while Rachel narrowly avoided the other. Rachel then jumped into a hole underneath a building and was about to begin demorphing as she had mere minutes left when the building above her was ripped out of the ground. To her horror, Visser Three stood in front of her, having morphed into a giant three-legged rock beast. Rachel tried to skirt around the beast but was unable to avoid it for long. However, right before she could get injured or killed, she was snatched by Tobias, who flew her to the nearby trees. Now in the safety of the woods, Rachel demorphed before the time limit could run out, where Tobias informed her that the others had all escaped as well. She then watched as an angry Visser Three rampaged throughout the construction site, crushing Taxxons and tossing Hork-Bajir into the air.
A few days later, Rachel typed a letter to Melissa using her computer stating that her father loved her more than she knew. During her next gymnastics class, she slid the envelope containing the letter into Melissa's locker and watched as Melissa opened and read it. After class, she was picked up her mom, who then drove her home. Rachel then got together with the others, to whom she had since disclosed the reasons regarding Chapman's voluntary host status. Rachel notified the others about the letter she had sent and began talking about what they would do next when Marco interrupted her and in mock horror "protested" against the idea of a next time. Tobias then affirmed that the Animorphs would keep fighting until the Andalites arrived.[1]
Relationship with Tobias
Lending Her Assistance
Rachel crushing cars at Dealin' Dan Hawke's Used Cars
- "You know something? I'm tired of trying to talk you into this, Marco. You want out? Fine, you're OUT!"
"Hey, Rachel, you're not just doing this to help save the human race. You get off on the danger. That's why you went with Tobias to free that bird. That wasn't about saving the world. That was about rescuing some stupid bird." - ―Rachel and Marco[src]
Having grown to care for Tobias, whom she realized had a crush on her, Rachel installed a birdhouse outside of her bedroom window to make it easier for him to land if he ever chose to visit. She also located a photo of Tobias' human form, which she cut out and kept in her nightstand. A short while later, Rachel was informed by Tobias that there was a red-tailed hawk named Price-Cut Polly that was being kept captive by Dealin' Dan Hawke to serve as the mascot for his used vehicles business. Tobias wanted to Rachel's assistance to free Price-Cut Polly, and Rachel agreed. One Saturday, Rachel planned to take the bus to meet Tobias at Dealin' Dan Hawke's Used Cars, although she missed her bus. Catching another bus, she arrived there just in the nick of time and morphed into an African elephant. Tobias then called for her help, as he was trying to unlock Price-Cut Polly's cage while some of the employees were trying to hit him. Rachel then made her presence known and began to crush the convertibles on the lot. A film crew was currently at the dealership to film a live commercial, and so Tobias' liberation of the other hawk and Rachel's destruction of the cars were all broadcast live. As Price-Cut Polly flew to freedom, Tobias and Rachel retreated to the patch of woods behind the dealership.
Rachel slightly berated Tobias for doing this during a live broadcast and agreed that the other Animorphs were going to see the footage and yell at them. Tobias offered to take the sole blame, although Rachel expressed her excitement at being able to crush the cars. Now demorphed and wearing a black leotard as part of her morphing outfit, Rachel walked to the nearby convenience store to see if they sold flip-flops. She then took a bus back home. As she arrived on her street, she noticed Tobias flying above and winked at him. She then entered her house and went upstairs to her room, where Jake, Marco and Cassie were. Tobias then flew in through the open window, and the pair were both yelled at by Marco, who revealed that the three of them had seen the broadcast and had made their way to Rachel's house to confront them. Jake then had the two promise him that they wouldn't do anything stupid like that ever again. The argument quickly turned jovial, after which the Animorphs departed from Rachel's house; however, before Jake left, he mentioned that he would be leaving some dinner for him in his attic, where Tobias lived. Rachel then told Tobias that she did not like the idea of him living in attic, although he replied that he would be fine before bidding her a good night and flying off into the night.
The next day, the Animorphs convened at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic on Cassie's farm, where Tobias notified them that he had seen an invisible Yeerk ship coming to and from the mountains. When Marco expressed reluctance, Rachel yelled at him for his hesitancy and told him he could leave the group, prompting Marco to fire back that Rachel was not truly interested in saving humanity but rather got off on the danger and action. Amidst the argument, Tobias stated that he was going to the mountains the next morning regardless of what everyone else did. Rachel, Jake and Cassie then agreed to come with him, although Marco pointed out the next day (a Monday) was a school day and that if they skipped school to attack the Yeerks, Chapman might suspect them. The Animorphs then decided to go to the mountains after school the next day.
On Monday, the Animorphs regrouped at the clinic. Deciding not to fly out to the mountains as their assortment of raptor forms could be spotted by bird-watchers, it was decided that they would travel there with wolf morphs; there was a pair of wolves at the barn, with Jake acquiring the male while the other three acquired the female. As Cassie's farm bordered the national forest, they entered the forest on foot and walked a good ways in before morphing into the wolf, after which they ran through the forest at twenty miles an hour. Tobias, who had been performing reconnaissance, informed them that there was a nearby lake surrounded with Park Ranger Controllers armed with automatic weapons alongside Hork-Bajir-Controllers. They then decided to walk to the lake in order to witness the situation for themselves; there, they marveled at the sight of the uncloaked disturbance that Tobias had seen, which was revealed to be a giant spaceship. Noticing that the giant ship had oxygen intake and was currently draining water for the lake, the Animorphs realized that the ship, which they dubbed a Truck ship, was carrying oxygen and water to orbit, most likely to the Pool ship.
Deciding to retreat, they returned to the forest, where they accidentally entered the territory of a rival wolf pack that had just killed a rabbit. The rival pack believed the Animorphs were encroaching on their territory to steal their kill, and Jake was forced to stand his ground as Cassie remarked that looking weak might cause the other pack to attack them. Tobias then swooped down and snatched the rabbit, redirecting the wolf pack's attention which allowed the other Animorphs to escape. As they ran through the woods, Tobias screamed at them via thought-speak to demorph, telling them that they had no time left in morph. Rachel tried to demorph but struggled, describing the process as trying to crawl out of molasses. Her attempts to demorph caused her human hands to appear where her legs should've appeared, much to her frustration. However, with Cassie's coaching, Rachel and the others were able to return to their human forms. As the four rejoiced over not being trapped in morph, Tobias flew away. Rachel, realizing they had been insensitive, yelled at him to come back, although he did not return. The other Animorphs then returned home.[24]
Providing Comfort
- "You are a human being, Tobias."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because what counts is what is in your head and in your heart. A person isn't his body. A person isn't what's on the outside."
"Rachel... I don't even remember what I looked like. I didn't know you had a picture of me."
"It's not a great picture. In real life you look better." - ―Rachel and Tobias[src]
That night, Rachel was in her bedroom in a bathrobe when she heard Tobias outside. Opening her window, she greeted him, telling him that she was worried about him before inviting him inside, assuring him that it was safe for him to enter as she had locked her door. When Tobias flew in, he told her that he felt like he was losing himself. Rachel began to worry about Tobias even more, and listened as he admitted that he saw Price-Cut Polly at the lake earlier and felt like he belonged with her. Rachel then stated that Tobias was a human who belonged with them, and declared that a person wasn't their body but rather what was in their hearts and mind. When Tobias replied that he didn't even remember what he looked like before, Rachel fought to suppress her tears. She then went to her nightstand and showed him the picture she had of him, adding that the picture didn't do him justice and that he looked better. Still fighting to prevent tears, she assured him that one day the Andalites would come and restore his human form. Tobias eventually left her room and returned to Jake's attic.
The next day after school, the Animorphs gathered for a meeting inside Jake's room, with his house being safe since Tom would be away at a Sharing meeting. Rachel informed the others that she could not stay for long as her gymnastics class was holding an exhibition at the mall in a short while. As the team discussed the Truck ship, Rachel brought up the idea of destroying the ship, stating that perhaps the Yeerks might leave Earth if they ran out of air and water, although Cassie pointed out that they did not know how many other Truck ships the Yeerks possessed. Marco then brought up the idea of turning off the Truck ship's cloaking technology while it was flying above the city, thereby allowing everyone to see it. Jake and Rachel became excited at the prospect of the rest of the world discovering the invasion and letting the authorities handle it. Jake then announced that they would be using fish morphs to enter the Truck ship through its water pipes in order to uncloak the ship. With a plan set, Rachel and Cassie left Jake's home, although not before Marco told Rachel that he come to see her exhibition at the mall.
Rachel notices Tobias while doing her routine
Rachel made her way to the mall where she began to perform on the balance beam. Just then, she noticed Tobias zooming past her and she called out to him. Noticing that Tobias was trying to hit a wall at full speed, Rachel yelled out at him and mouthed at him to not to do it; as she was pleaded with her eyes, Tobias flared his wings and tumbled down towards Rachel, who caught him and rolled both of them onto the mat. Tobias told Rachel that he was lost as he killed, to which Rachel responded that he wasn't lost so long as he had her and the other Animorphs. As other people gathered around her to try and "help" her get away from the "wild bird", she threw him into the air. She then watched as Tobias flew straight up toward the skylight. Before he could collide with the gass, Marco, who was on the second floor as he had come to see her perform, quickly threw a baseball at the skylight, shattering the glass and allowing Tobias to survive and escape.
Rachel became worried when Tobias disappeared for a few days, terrified that something bad had happened to him. On Friday night, a few days after the Tuesday incident at the mall, Rachel was in her room reading a book in bed when she heard Tobias' thought-speak outside of her window. Rushing to the window, she tried to hug Tobias before she criticized him for disappearing on them. She became a little disturbed when he revealed that the hawk mind had won over and that he had also killed and eaten a rat. Tobias then divulged that he had used his thought-speak and helped a man in the forest escape from Hork-Bajir and Park Ranger Controllers. Rachel began to feel like crying when Tobias brought up how he felt so trapped and how he wished he had fingers to move and a mouth he could speak out of. Rachel began to caress Tobias' hawk head and reminded him that so long as he had her and the other Animorphs, he would never truly be alone. Tobias then told Rachel that he had to go see Jake to discuss their planned mission the next day; when Rachel replied that they didn't have to go through with it, Tobias declared that the human hosts of the Yeerks were trapped in their bodies, a sentiment he was now familiar with, and that while he was trapped permanently, the hosts were not; thus, he wanted to keep fighting so that they could free some of these hosts. He then left Rachel's house to discuss the mission with Jake.[24]
Truck Ship Destruction
- "Tobias! We're trapped! The tank is full, but the grate won't open. [...] They'll find us when they get to the mother ship and unload the water. Tobias? We... we don't want to be taken alive. [...] I have to morph to human. We'll tread water here. We have to be ready for when we get to the mother ship. Then we'll morph into other animals and go down fighting." [...]
"Rachel... I never told you..."
"You didn't have to, Tobias. I knew. Good-bye." - ―Rachel and Tobias[src]
The next morning, Rachel and the other Animorphs gathered and solidified their plan: they would morph into wolves and travel to the lake, where they would then start fishing. Once they acquired a fish, they would practice the morph before retreating to a nearby bear cave that Tobias reported was empty. Then, when the Truck ship arrived, they would slowly make their way to the edge of the lake, morph into fish and swim towards the Truck ship, where they would then get sucked up into the ship. Rachel fashioned a tan-colored nylon pouch, which contained a watch, a fishing line, some fishing hooks and a lighter, and tied it to Tobias' leg. At the lake, Rachel and the others spent hours trying to catch a fish before Cassie finally caught a trout, which they acquired.
Just then, Tobias informed them that the Park Ranger Controllers were arriving and the four of them ran into the cave to hide. They were shortly joined by Tobias, who notified them that Visser Three had arrived on the site, along with additional reinforcements. As they debated on whether to terminate their mission, since they could no longer walk to the water's edge without being spotted, Cassie suggested that they morph into fish while in the cave; since trout could survive outside of water for a few minutes and was small enough to be carried by a red-tailed hawk, they could morph in the cave and be flown into the water by Tobias.
Once Tobias deposited them all into the lake, they swam towards the Truck ship and were sucked in by the water pipes, where they found themselves in a water tank with a grate above them. Jake and Cassie then demorphed and tried to open the grate but were unable to. Realizing that they were now trapped within the water tank, the four agreed that they did not want to be taken alive and thus decided that when the Truck ship docked with the Pool ship, they would assume battle morphs and go down fighting. However, Rachel, still in trout morph, quickly thought-spoke with Tobias, relaying their predicament to him. Since the Animorphs did not want to risk being taken alive, she asked him if there was anything he could do to destroy the Truck ship, as it would kill them in the process. As Tobias panicked about what he could do, Rachel informed him that she would be demorphing. Tobias then tried to tell her that he had feelings for her, but Rachel cut him off and told him that she was already aware of the fact. She then bid him goodbye and demorphed back to human.
As the four of them treaded water in the water tank, Tobias had seized a Dracon beam and destroyed the Truck ship's controls, causing it to lose altitude. The careening Truck ship then hit a Bug fighter, which collided into the water tank and exploded, destroying the tank. As the water poured out like a waterfall, the four Animorphs fell out of the hole and began hurtling towards the ground. Rachel then rapid-morphed into the bald eagle as the other three also rapid-morphed into their respective raptors. They regrouped with Tobias in the air and the five flew into the woods as the Truck ship slammed into the ground, creating a concussive shockwave. Rachel then witnessed as Price-Cut Polly, the female red-tailed hawk that she and Tobias has saved, flew into the sky and was shot down by a Dracon beam. The Yeerks then destroyed the grounded Truck ship to eliminate evidence as the Animorphs escaped and returned home.
The next day, Rachel was spending the Sunday afternoon in her room where Tobias flew in through the window. She told him that she had informed Cassie about Price-Cut Polly's death and that the two of them, with Tobias' help, wanted to return to the mountains and locate her so that they could bury her, but Tobias responded that she was to be eaten by other animals and that was the way life was. Rachel once again stated that Tobias was human as well, to which Tobias replied that while he was human, who grieved over the death of another animal, he was also a hawk who hunted other animals for food. Rachel became sad at Tobias' comments and then watched as he flew out of her bedroom window.[24]
Rescuing Ax
- "How did these Yeerks get this far? How did this happen? If you Andalites are so tough, why didn't you stop them a long time ago? How did a bunch of slugs who live in dirty ponds manage to become so powerful?"
"I am forbidden to tell certain things."
"You're telling us all of planet Earth may be scheduled for destruction and we are the only thing standing in the way, and you are going to keep secrets? I don't think so." - ―Rachel and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill[src]
Rachel began to enjoy fighting and the thrill of combat, and updated her room accordingly with Post-it notes with inspirational sayings, where she included a quote from Sun Tzu's The Art of War. While at school on a Monday, she was notified by Cassie that they needed to have a meeting, and Rachel offered to have the meeting at her house after school since Naomi, Jordan, and Sara would not be home at the time. There, Rachel listened as Cassie and Tobias revealed that they both been experiencing the same dream about a voice calling to them from the ocean. Jake then pulled out a video cassette and asked Rachel if they could use her VCR, and the team went downstairs to the living room. Jake then inserted the tape and showed them footage from last night's news that he had recorded, which showed a metal fragment that had washed up on the beach. Jake pointed out that the writing on the metal fragment was the same writing he had seen when he entered Elfangor's ship to retrieve the morphing cube and that he believed the fragment was a piece of an Andalite ship. Just then, both Cassie and Tobias fainted. Rachel then saw a brief flash of a vision herself before rushing to the telephone to call 911, although Cassie and Tobias regained consciousness. The two then revealed that the voice calling for them was stronger now and was definitely thought-speech, and concluded that it was an Andalite under the ocean who was sending out a distress signal. Rachel then declared that if there was an Andalite calling for help, she would definitely save him. She then called out Marco for his reluctance, although Marco stated that he would participate in a rescue mission since Elfangor had died for them. The team then headed to the beach to see if Cassie would experience another vision from being closer to the sea.
While at the beach, Rachel wondered why only Cassie and Tobias were receiving the dreams, which Marco theorized was because Cassie had a talent for morphing while Tobias was trapped in morph. Tobias, who had been flying above them, then informed them that a group from The Sharing was also on the beach with flashlights and that "Chapman" and "Tom" were with them; additionally, Tobias had eavesdropped on their conversation and learned that the metal fragment was indeed part of an Andalite ship and that Visser Three was also receiving the visions, which Marco believed was because he had an Andalite host body. Just then, the Controllers noticed the Animorphs' footprints and began to follow them. The four human Animorphs then ran towards the water; as it was nighttime, the Controllers could not see them clearly, although they could see their silhouettes, prompting one of the Controllers to shoot at them with a handgun. Jake then told everyone to get into the water and morph into trout, despite Cassie pointing out that trout was a freshwater fish and the ocean was saltwater. Struggling with the burning sensation they felt in their gills, they were able to survive in the saltwater long enough to swim to another shore, where they demorphed and returned home safely.
Rachel then resumed her normal life for two days, attending a gymnastics class as well as an award ceremony for her mother receiving a "Best Lawyer of the Year" award, which she enjoyed because a ceremony allowed her an excuse to go shopping for all new outfits. After school on Thursday, she took a city bus with Jake, Cassie and Marco to The Gardens so that they could acquire bottlenose dolphin morphs. There, Cassie expressed her discomfort with morphing into a sentient animal as she believed it made them no different than the Yeerks, although Rachel rebutted that the Yeerks infested other creatures whereas the Animorphs merely absorb an animal's DNA and transform into a copy of it. Rachel then acquired one of the dolphins.
The next day, the Animorphs did not have school due to a teacher conference. They met at a river estuary in a park since as an estuary, the river flowed into the ocean. Finding a spot that was isolated enough for them to morph, Rachel tied a Timex watch onto Tobias' leg so that he could keep track of time while the other four morphed into dolphins and swam from the river to the ocean. There, they spent forty-five minutes frolicking before sensing a humpback whale being attacked by multiple tiger sharks via their echolocation. The four of them charged forward and attacked the sharks, with Rachel ramming into one of them, although Marco was nearly bitten in half. When the sharks left, Marco demorphed and the grateful whale carried him to the surface. The humpback whale, dubbed the great one, then telepathically showed Cassie a vision of where the Andalite was. Marco then remorphed into a dolphin and the Animorphs returned to the river estuary.
On Saturday, Jake and Cassie visited Rachel at her house to discuss their next steps. Going over some maps, Jake and Cassie determined where the Andalite's location most likely was. However, it was too far for the dolphin to get there in under two hours, prompting Rachel to suggest that they acquire and morph into seagulls in order to land on a container ship that would be traveling in that direction, after which they could jump off the ship and morph into dolphins. Sometime later, Tobias and Marco appeared and were filled in on the plan before everyone dispersed. On Sunday, the Animorphs went to Cassie's barn where seagulls were kept as patients and acquired them. Flying out of the barn, the four seagulls and Tobias flew towards the beach and across the ocean when they spotted a container ship called Newmar. The Animorphs all landed on the ship and found themselves a secluded spot away from the crew. Tobias then left them the watch before flying back to shore as the four human Animorphs demorphed. After an hour had passed, Rachel helped Jake and Cassie push a half-morphed Marco into the ocean before jumping off the ship themselves and morphing into dolphin.
They noticed a helicopter dragging a sensor through the water and realized that the Controllers were very close. The four Animorphs then dove into the water and swam to the ocean floor before proceeding onward, where they came across a Dome ship. Jake noticed a hatch and opened it, and the four dolphins entered an airlock that then began to drain the water. Having demorphed back to human, the Animorphs opened the door to the Dome ship's interior when they were knocked out by an Andalite. When they came to, they informed the Andalite of who they were and what they were capable of. The Andalite, an adolescent named Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, revealed that he was Elfangor's younger brother and offered to fight alongside the Animorphs until he could return to his own people. He asked them who their prince was, prompting Rachel, Cassie and Marco to all look at him. Jake then grumbled that he was no one's prince before Ax pledged to loyalty to "Prince Jake."
Ax then began to give them a tour of the Dome ship, and Rachel mouthed to Cassie that Ax was cute before winking. Ax notified them that the Yeerk Empire had a habit of making the planets they colonized barren, much like the Yeerk homeworld, and only kept enough species to sustain the local host population; in addition, he added that were now only three species left in the galaxy who fought the Yeerks, and that Andalites would not come to Earth for another year or two. Jake was aghast at the realization that it would take two years for Andalite reinforcements to come and that the five kids were the only ones who were fighting the Yeerks on Earth, to which Ax chimed in that there were six of them now. Rachel then inquired as to how the Yeerk Empire was able to get so powerful when they started off as slugs in a pond if the Andalite military is so powerful, and became angry when Ax replied that there were some details he was not allowed to share with them.
Just then, the Animorphs noticed the silhouette of the Blade ship above them as sonar pings began to reverberate. They all ran to the airlock chamber and started to morph as water filled the chamber. They then exited the ship, with Ax in tiger shark morph, and swam away just as depth charges shattered the reinforced glass of the Dome ship. During their escape, they noticed that a group of Taxxons had been dropped from the Blade ship and were swimming towards them, although the four dolphins, alongside Ax in shark morph, fought and killed the Taxxons with relative ease. They then continued to swim towards the shore, where Ax revealed that he had the mental ability to accurately keep track of their morphing time.
However, at that moment a large alien aquatic creature began to pursue them, which Ax confirmed was called a mardrut, a creature that lived one of the moons of the Andalite homeworld. The group realized that the mardrut was Visser Three in morph and pushed their bodies to continue swimming for over thirty minutes, although the Visser, who confirmed his identity by thought-speaking to them, gained on them. With the five of them unable to keep swimming, Rachel declared that it was time to turn around and fight. Ax chimed in that they couldn't win, to which Jake responded that he would rather die fighting than allow the Visser to kill them one by one in a chase. Just then, a group of wild whales, led by the great one, arrived and attacked the mardrut mercilessly, causing Visser Three to scream in rage and retreat. With their morphing time almost depleted, the group demorphed in the ocean. Cassie then notified them that the great one would ferry them back to shore, so they climbed on his back and relaxed as he traveled towards land. Once he got close enough, the team disembarked and remorphed into their aquatic morphs as they swam back to the river estuary.
The four Animorphs began to get dressed with some outer clothing they had hidden by the riverbank when Tobias appeared, and Cassie introduced Tobias and Ax to one another. Jake then wondered what they were going to do with Ax, as they had nowhere to keep him and he could not travel in town with them. Cassie offered to hide him on her farm, as it contained forests, meadows and woods that extended into the national forest. Marco chimed in that they still couldn't bring Ax to the farm in his Andalite state. Ax then declared that he needed to morph and approached Cassie.[25] Asking for permission,[26] Ax acquired Cassie, Marco, Jake and Rachel in succession. Rachel then watched as Ax began to blend the four acquired DNA strands into one unique strand; as the four DNA samples he acquired contained two male DNA and two female DNA patterns, Marco wondered whether Ax was going to be biologically male or female, and the Animorphs turned away to give Ax some privacy. Jake then told Ax that he had an extra pair of boxers and a T-shirt and told him to get dressed. The Animorphs then turned around to find Ax holding up the shirt as his bottoms and wearing the boxers on his head like a hat. Jake then asked if the morph was biologically male or female, and Ax replied that he had made it male since he himself was male. Jake then told Rachel and Cassie to turn around while he and Marco helped Ax get dressed properly. Ax struggled to walk on two legs and began to play with his words while verbally speaking, as it was his first time having a mouth. The Animorphs then walked Ax back to Cassie's farm.[25]
Helping Ax
Reinfiltrating Chapman Residence
Shortly after Ax's rescue, Rachel went to Cassie's farm with the other Animorphs in order to speak with Ax. While walking through a field, Marco informed them how last night he had saved an old man from being attacked in an alley by three men and that he had morphed into a gorilla to save him, only for the old man to shoot at him. While Jake believed that Marco should not have gotten involved, Rachel asserted that Marco had done the right thing. Switching topics, Jake informed them that the reason for visiting Ax was because Ax wanted to return to the Andalite homeworld, and announced that they would have to steal a Yeerk ship so that Ax could fly there. With Tobias ensuring that there were no witnesses, Ax approached them and notified them that he could signal a Bug fighter to come to them by using a Yeerk distress beacon, and added that when he returned to the Andalite homeworld, he could ask for reinforcements to come to Earth sooner. A few days later, on Saturday morning, the Animorphs gathered at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, where Jake and Marco planned to take Ax to the mall so that he could visit Radio Shack in order to buy the parts he needed to make the beacon. Rachel bemoaned that she wanted to come too, but Jake told her stay behind. When Ax morphed into his human morph, Rachel and Cassie put his sneakers on for him and laced them up. As Ax repeated mouth sounds, Rachel remarked that people at the mall would see Ax as weird and worried that it could result in trouble.
The next day, a Sunday, Rachel met up with the other Animorphs in the woods, and brought sandwiches for the group while Jake and Cassie brought screwdrivers, a solder gun, a battery-powered drill, a hammer, wrenches, pliers so that Ax could build the distress beacon. Ax showed them the beacon when it was complete, but acknowledged that it was useless without a Z-Space transponder. Rachel insinuated that they had been wasting their time as humans did not have such technology. Flying down, Tobias wondered whether the Yeerks would have a Z-Space transponder, specifically reminding them that "Chapman" had a device that he used to communicate with Visser Three's Blade ship. Ax confirmed that such a communication device would have Z-Space transponders, and that they could steal one of them without the theft being immediately noticed. Cassie asked Ax how small the transponder was, and Ax indicated that it was the size of a pea. Rachel voiced her opposition to re-infiltrating the Chapman Residence, as the last time they had done so, they had nearly caused Melissa Chapman to be infested, and added that they could not remorph Fluffer McKitty again. With Jake agreeing that they would not endanger Melissa, Cassie then suggested a morph that would allow the Animorphs to enter Chapman's basement and steal the transponder without "Chapman" being aware they were there: ants.
Rachel in ant morph, entering enemy ant territory
Since Jake knew that Tom had a meeting of The Sharing that evening, a meeting that "Chapman" would also be attending, the Animorphs planned to use this time to infiltrate the Chapman Residence. Heading to the barn after school, Rachel and the others, minus Tobias, acquired black garden ants. They then went to the backyard of an empty house next to the Chapman Residence that was for sale and morphed into ants; however, they lost their sense of self and individuality. Although they managed to regain their consciousness shortly after, they were terrified at what had happened. The five of them made their way to Chapman's backyard, with their ant minds informing them that they were in enemy ant territory and that enemies were nearby. Reaching the foundation of Chapman's house, Rachel took the lead as they entered through a crack and found an enemy ant tunnel, where Rachel yelped as she ran into an enemy ant who then scurried away from them. Using a side tunnel, they emerged into Chapman's secret basement office and demorphed, and upon resuming her human form, Rachel confirmed that they were in right place. Ax then went to Chapman's desk and retrieved a Z-Space transponder out of the communication device; while doing so, he activated a Yeerk computer and read a document, and notified the Animorphs that Visser One, who had a human host body, was coming to visit.[27]
Ant Morph Trauma
- "I wish I could do that."
"What?"
"Always think things are funny. It's why you're so... you know, cool and in control."
"Me? Cool and in control?"
"Yesterday... last night... it got to me. You grind my nerves sometimes, Marco, always joking the way you do. But keep it up, okay? We need a sense of humor." - ―Rachel and Marco[src]
Not wanting them to stay too long, Jake told them to put the Z-Space transponder near the crack and that it was time to morph back. Remorphing into ants, Jake and Marco went ahead through the crack while Rachel, Cassie and Ax pushed the transponder through it. As they made their way back up, they were swarmed and ambushed by the native ant colony, to whom they were intruders. The five of them mentally screamed in pain as the ants stung them with poison and ripped out their limbs while using their mandibles to bite their waists in an attempt to bisect them. Realizing they were about to be swiftly killed, the Animorphs demorphed while still underground, and they burst out of the ground and into Chapman's backyard. Jake immediately inquired about Cassie, and when she replied that she was okay, Rachel grumbled how Jake had not also asked her how she was. After Marco picked up the transponder from the ground, Rachel started stomping on the ground, as well as the ants on the ground, to flatten the hole from where they emerged. The group then escaped from Chapman's backyard.
The next day at school, Rachel was in a dour mood due to the traumatic experience. As she ate lunch in the cafeteria, a girl named Jessica bumped into her, causing Rachel to drop her fork. When Rachel told her to watch herself, Jessica retorted that she might have to slap Rachel's mouth if she kept talking and then shoved her. In response, Rachel got out of her seat, grabbed Jessica by the sweatshirt, and then slammed her down onto a lunch table, causing food and trays to scatter. As Jessica shrieked, Marco jumped in and shoved his arms between both of them, and a teacher named Mr. Halloram then arrived. He brought them to Chapman's office, where Iniss 226 questioned Rachel as to why she started the fight while Rachel stared ahead; "Chapman" was surprised at her actions and asked if she had any stress in her life. Before she could respond, Marco told "Chapman" that the girls had been fighting over him as they were both in love with him. As Jessica shrieked in protest, Rachel began to smile. When Iniss dismissed them, Rachel told Marco that she wished she could find the humor in things as he did, and stated that she found him to be cool and in control. She then told him that even though he got on her nerves sometimes with his jokes, she wanted him to keep up his sense of humor, stating that the Animorphs needed it. When Marco asked in a humorous fashion whether she and Jessica were actually in love with him, Rachel told him to keep dreaming.[27]
Taken to Space
A few days after the ant incident, Rachel and the other Animorphs met up on the far fields of Cassie's farm, where Ax had finished integrating the Z-Space transponder into the Yeerk Distress Beacon. The Animorphs discussed where to set off their trap, and quickly ruled out Cassie's family land, as it was the only place they had to keep Ax if the plan failed. Tobias informed them about a gravel quarry that was an hour's flight away that would work, and the team agreed to initiate the mission on the upcoming Saturday.
On Saturday, Rachel morphed into her bald eagle and flew with the others to the quarry; due to her eagle's big size, she was tasked with carrying the distress beacon. Upon landing and demorphing, Marco pointed out how ridiculous their morphing outfits looked, and Rachel told him to not bring up that topic again. They then took shelter in an overhang and assumed their battle morphs as Ax activated the beacon, with Rachel assuming her African elephant morph. Marco, who was a Silverback gorilla, told Jake, who was in his Siberian tiger morph, that he could kick his butt, and Jake retorted that he didn't think so; Rachel then walked up to both of them and declared that she could defeat them both. The team chatted for a short while before the distress beacon relayed a returning signal and they assumed their positions. As a Bug fighter landed, a Hork-Bajir-Controller stepped out. Tobias, who had been up above, plummeted down and raked the Hork-Bajir's face, and Jake used the opportunity to tackle the Hork-Bajir, knocking it down to the ground; he then rolled away as the Hork-Bajir began slashing wildly. Rachel then told Jake to step aside and she walked up to the Hork-Bajir-Controller and placed an elephant foot on his chest, pinning him down. However, before they could continue with their plan, the six of them were surrounded by a hundred Hork-Bajir armed with Dracon beams. Rachel announced that they should just charge at them, but Jake told her not to be stupid and that she was not even capable of climbing rocks in her current form.
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The Animorphs were approached by Visser Three, who ridiculed them for using an outdated frequency before telling that he would be taking them to the mother ship in order to present them to Visser One. Rachel privately remarked to her friends that they might be better off trying to run, although Marco interjected that it would be suicide if they tried. A Hork-Bajir-Controller then yelled at Rachel to move toward the Blade ship; Rachel walked forward and stated that she would not be able to fit, but the Blade ship's metal was able to expand itself to accomodate her size. The other Animorphs followed behind her, and the six of them were locked inside of a dimly-lit room. The Blade ship departed from Earth and flew into space, and Rachel joined the other Animorphs in glancing out of a window, where she saw Earth. She witnessed the mother ship,[27] also known as the Pool ship,[4] come into view and remarked on its massive size, and wondered how humanity was unable to see it through radar; Ax then explained to her that it was shielded from radar and usually invisible, but had been rendered visible as the Yeerks wanted to instill fear into them. As the Blade ship docked within the Pool ship, Marco wondered whether their actions had an impact and whether their "little circus" had done damage to the Yeerks, and Rachel affirmed that they had.
The Animorphs were then presented by Visser Three to Visser One, and Rachel remarked on how the two Vissers clearly did not like each other. When Visser One walked away, Visser Three deliberated on what to do with the "six Andalite bodies" and mused at the thought of giving them to six of his lieutenants, which caused Ax to yell that Visser Three was filth and an abomination. Visser Three then asked them why Ax was the only one who had spoken to him and why the rest of them remained in their Earth morphs rather than demorphing, although he then shrugged it off and ordered that Animorphs be confined to a holding cell. Imprisoned once more, the Animorphs discussed possible escape strategies, and Marco suggested using the ant morph to escape. Jake brought up that Tobias was unable to morph, to which Tobias replied that the group needed to do what was best for them and that he would take his chances. Before they could enact their plan, the door to the cell opened, revealing three gold-uniformed Hork-Bajir-Controllers standing by a group of either knocked out or dead red-uniformed Hork-Bajir-Controllers. Rachel prepared to charge at them, although Jake told her to stand down. One of the gold-uniformed Hork-Bajir-Controllers notified them how to get to the dropshaft and that if they took it down fifteen floors, they would find an escape pod that was programmed to return them to the quarry; he then looked at Rachel and told her she was currently too big to fit into the escape pod and that she would need to demorph. The Animorphs wondered why the Yeerks would want to help them escape, and Ax pointed out that the gold-uniformed Controllers were part of Visser One's guard, and that if they escaped, it would look bad for Visser Three. With a laugh, Cassie remarked that Visser One was helping them escape for political reasons.
Rachel uses a dropshaft
Rachel led the charge as they ran out of their holding cell, and ran over a Taxxon with her four elephant feet when it tried to cut her off. When six of Visser Three's Hork-Bajir-Controllers came running in from the other sides, Rachel bemoaned that she could not turn around in the tight hallway, leaving the other Animorphs to fight them off. Jake then yelled at Rachel to keep moving and to make her way to the dropshaft. As she made her way through the Pool ship, Rachel yelled as she started falling, but realized that it was the dropshaft and informed the others. Marco reminded her that she had to stop after fifteen levels, although Rachel remarked that she did not know how to do that; Ax then informed them that dropshafts understood both verbal speech and thought-speak commands and told Rachel use thought-speak to get to her destination. Rachel followed his instructions and confirmed that she was slowing down, and began demorphing. As she exited onto the appropriate floor, Marco told her that she needed to demorph, and she replied that she had already started doing do. Marco then picked up her half-human, half-elephant form and carried her into the escape pod. With only minutes left in morph, Rachel finished demorphing as the escape pod detached from the Pool ship and flew the team back to the quarry.[27]
Hospital Mission
- "Look, I just said roaches are disgusting. I didn't say I didn't want to do it. We need to know what's going on with that hospital. The best way to do that is to crash this leadership meeting of The Sharing. And the best way to do that is with roach morphs. End of discussion."
"Yeah, but I can do it alone."
"What's going on with you? You know we're the Five Musketeers. One for all, and all for one. Six Musketeers now." - ―Rachel and Jake[src]
Following their return back home, the Animorphs decided to take a recovery period, allowing them time to return to their normal lives and get their grades back up. Due to Rachel's penchant for battle, Marco bestowed upon her the nickname of "Xena, Warrior Princess." Rachel also became aware of the fact that the governor of California intended to run for President of the United States in the future.[28]
One Saturday, Rachel went to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, where she met with Jake, Cassie, Tobias, and Marco. There, she listened as Jake revealed that he had morphed into a cockroach at home that morning and had nearly been caught by his mother before then being trapped in a Roach Motel, forcing him to demorph behind the refrigerator. As the other Animorphs laughed, Cassie berated Jake for his recklessness and told him that he was never ever to test out a morph alone again. After he apologized to Cassie, Rachel remarked that this was a "new and improved" Cassie that she liked. Marco then questioned why Jake had morphed the cockroach to begin with, and Jake informed the team that he had been spying on Tom and that Tom's Yeerk had risen up the ranks of the Yeerk Empire. Upon noticing that "Tom" had been making several phone calls to the Berman Clinic, a hospital in their city whose staff had been partially infested by the Yeerk Empire, Rachel questioned why the Yeerks would want a hospital, and Marco responded that it was a way to infest host bodies; individuals would come in for a medical procedure and would leave infested.
Jake's plan was for the Animorphs to acquire and morph into cockroaches in order to infiltrate a leadership meeting at The Sharing's Headquarters. However, as they needed to first master the cockroach's ability to interpret human speech, the Animorphs decided to practice first. Rachel acquired a cockroach, and on another night, she joined the other Animorphs as they gathered at Marco's new apartment, since his father was at work. Rachel then morphed into a cockroach alongside Cassie, Marco, and Ax as they spent an hour mastering the ability to understand spoken speech. When they demorphed, Rachel remarked that she did not like the roach body and found it to be disgusting, but affirmed her decision to still use the morph to participate in the mission. Jake then attempted to convince them that he could do the mission alone, to which Rachel questioned Jake's thought and remarked that they were the Six Musketeers—"one for all and all for one." Jake told them about a dream he had been having where he was hunting Tom while in tiger morph; additionally, Jake brought up that he believed "Tom" to be in charge of the hospital mission, which meant that if the Animorphs sabotaged it, there could be a chance that Visser Three would execute Tom. Cassie then exclaimed that they should abandon their mission, which Jake refuted as it meant they would be turning a blind eye to the Yeerks mass-infesting humans. Marco suggested that they could still continue with the surveillance mission in order to learn more and that they did not need to decide on whether to abandon the hospital sabotage mission right away, to which Jake agreed. In order to prepare for their surveillance, Rachel, Jake and Marco performed reconnaissance at The Sharing's headquarters and located an abandoned restaurant's basement nearby, which they realized they could use in order to morph into cockroaches and enter the headquarters.
On Thursday night, Rachel set her VCR to record two of her favorite shows and joined the Animorphs as they walked to the abandoned basement, where Rachel quipped that her mother would be proud of her if she knew where her daughter currently was. Rachel and the others morphed into cockroaches, and guided by Tobias, made their way into The Sharing's headquarters through a crack. They emerged out into a meeting room, where they eavesdropped on a meeting being held by human-Controllers. Just then, Visser Three arrived in a human morph and spoke of their hospital takeover, where he estimated they would infest about two hundred host bodies per month. The Visser then revealed that the next stage of the plan was to infest the state governor, who was slated to have a minor operation soon and who would be having his surgery at the Berman Clinic. Rachel gasped as she realized what this could lead to, and when the other Animorphs did not comprehend, she informed them that the governor was planning[2] to run for President of the United States in the future.[28] Having received sufficient information, the Animorphs decided to retreat; however, they were quickly spotted by a Controller. As the Yeerks attempted to kill or capture them, the Animorphs scattered in various directions. Rachel managed to climb onto the sock of an unsuspecting human-Controller and hid there for a short while until the Controller left the building to go outside, at which point she jumped off and retreated to safety.
On the next day after school, Rachel went to the mall with Cassie and Jake in order to help Jake buy his mother a birthday gift. Rachel was disappointed when Jake and Cassie deliberated going into certain other stores, remarking that she felt like she was shopping with Ax. She then redirected them to the second floor of a department store, where she found a silk blouse that was originally thirty-three dollars but was on sale for $17.50. As she celebrated the savings, Jake inquired how he was saving when he was only planning to spend fifteen dollars, to which Cassie responded that Rachel used a different math when it came to shopping. Rachel then left them to check something in the Juniors department and told them that she would meet with them later at the food court. Rachel was informed that they would be morphing into houseflies in order to infiltrate the Berman Clinic the next day. That night, the 1958 version of The Fly was on television, and Rachel chose to watch the film.
The next day, a Saturday, Rachel joined the other Animorphs at Cassie's barn, where they acquired houseflies. As Cassie began to morph, Rachel felt nauseous as she saw Cassie's fly eyes pop out of her human face, and she excused herself as she ran out of the barn to vomit. She returned inside by the time Cassie finished the morph, and when Cassie confirmed that the morph was suitable, she joined the others in morphing into a housefly and landing on Tobias' neck as he flew them to the Berman Clinic. Arriving outside of the clinic, they jumped off of Tobias and were guided through an open window into the clinic, where Jake split them up into two teams. Rachel and Marco, who were paired together, flew away from the rest of the team. Rachel and Marco soon discovered that the rest of the team was in the trouble, and Rachel demorphed and remorphed into a wolf while Marco became a gorilla. Together, the pair regrouped with the others, where Cassie informed them that Jake was injured after having fallen into a Yeerk pool. Rachel swiftly took command and ordered Marco to pick Jake up and cover his face while also telling Cassie and Ax to continue holding off the Controllers as she demorphed and remorphed into an elephant. Finishing her morph, Rachel went through the wall and helped clear the way for the rest of the Animorphs to escape.[2]
Detaining Jake
Rachel arrived in the national forest, with Ax keeping his distance behind her. As Rachel walked into Jake's field of vision, Ax sneaked behind Jake and tapped him on the shoulder. When Jake gave Ax a look of contempt, Ax quickly put his tail blade to Jake's throat and declared that Jake had been infested. Rachel yelled at Ax, but Ax notified her that Jake had fallen into the hospital's portable Yeerk pool; additionally, Rachel learned from Marco and Cassie that Jake had been unresponsive after he fell, which Ax stated was a symptom of infestation. Finding this suspicious, the Animorphs decided to detain Jake as a safemeasure for three days. Jake replied that his parents would search for him if he was missing for three days, to which Cassie proposed a solution: Ax could morph into Jake and pretend to be him for three days. Ax then stepped up and placed his fingers on Jake and acquired him, which caused "Jake" to yell "Get your hand off me, Andalite filth!" in response. Despite "Jake" quickly trying to defend his words, the Animorphs took this as confirmation that "Jake" was a Controller.
Marco stated that they needed a place to keep Jake, and Tobias divulged that he knew of an abandoned shack that was in the national forest. Since Ax would be busy playing the role of Jake, Marco informed the team that he, Rachel, and Cassie would take shifts guarding Jake, while Tobias was to remain at the shack at all times except when he needed to hunt. Rachel agreed with this, and ordered "Jake" to get up. The Animorphs then escorted Jake to the shack, with Cassie at Jake's side, Rachel in front of them, and Marco and Ax taking up the rear. As they approached the shack, "Jake" took this opportunity to plead with Cassie, casting doubt on Ax's ability to pretend to be him successfully and that if "Tom" found out, they would all be killed. Rachel then turned around and told Jake's Yeerk to shut up, and stated that between her, Cassie, and Marco, they would manage to teach Ax to pass for Jake. Jake's Yeerk merely responded that it would never work, and Rachel smirked as she looked at Ax, who was behind Jake and had morphed into Jake as well. Using Jake's voice, Ax stated that he disagreed that the plan would fail as humans believed what they saw. "Jake" then grinned at Ax and replied that Ax looking like "him" would not be enough and that "Tom" would discover him in about an hour. Rachel, Marco, and Cassie shared a look at this response, and Marco explained to Jake's Yeerk that the real Jake would have helped Ax play the part in order to prevent "Tom" from noticing, with Rachel chiming in that Jake's Yeerk had "blown Final Jeopardy" by not wanting them to succeed.
At the shack, Rachel and Marco tied Jake up with a piece of rope that Tobias had found. Rachel and Tobias then took the first guard shift as Marco rejoined Cassie so that the two of them could instruct Ax on how to successfully play the role of Jake.[2] At some point, Rachel left to acquire a great horned owl.[11][14] The others brought some sandwiches and juice for Jake, and Rachel was given a book to read during her shift. However, as the Animorphs knew that Jake's Yeerk would try morphing, Rachel was tasked with pretending to fall asleep that night while on guard duty. Just as they suspected, Jake's Yeerk morphed that night, turning into a tiger to bite through the ropes before running out of the shack. With Cassie following "Jake" from above in owl morph, Rachel morphed into a wolf and met up with Marco, who was also in wolf morph. Rachel and Marco howled repeatedly to inform the rival wolf pack in the national forest that they had met during the Truck ship mission that they were in the forest. The wild wolf pack responded to the howls and cut off "Jake" as Rachel and Marco demorphed. Rachel then remorphed into an elephant as they blocked "Jake" from turning back. Marco addressed Jake's Yeerk, urging him to return to the shack, but as "Jake" looked ready to lunge, Marco reminded him that he would not have much success with a wild wolf pack and an elephant to contend with. "Jake" then demorphed, and Rachel moved out of his sight to demorph and remorph into an owl as she guided "Jake" back to the shack.
The Animorphs continued to watch over "Jake" on Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday morning, Jake's Yeerk died of Kandrona starvation and slithered out of Jake's ear. With Jake freed from Yeerk control, he returned back home to resume his normal life. On Wednesday, Rachel joined the Animorphs as they went to Cassie's barn, where Jake wanted to use Cassie's father's cell phone to call Tom. Partially morphing into a wolf to disguise his voice, Jake told Tom to keep fighting and to not give up before quickly ending the call. Rachel wondered if the real Tom was able to hear the phone call, which Jake confirmed. Due to the damage and destruction done by the Animorphs to the Berman Clinic, the hospital was forced to shut down, which led to the governor not having his surgery there and the Yeerks being unable to infest him.[2]
Destroying the Kandrona
Offer to Move
Rachel in 1997 (aged 13)
- "How could he expect me to make this decision? I couldn't leave my friends. I couldn't. They were counting on me. We were going back to the Yeerk pool, and they were counting on me to be brave and strong. That's what they thought I was. But if I was so brave and so strong, why was I suddenly imagining a very different life, a long, long way from the war with the Yeerks? Why was I imagining a life of gymnastics classes and ball games with my dad — a place where I was just a person? Where no one expected me to go back down into that hell of screams and despair called the Yeerk pool? If I was so brave and so tough, why was I imagining a normal life?"
- ―Rachel[src]
On a Sunday, Rachel, Jordan, and Sara were to be taken to a circus being held at the City Arena by their father, Dan. As Rachel felt she was too old for circuses, Rachel had her best friend Cassie join them so she could talk to Cassie during the circus. While at the City Arena, Rachel and Cassie spotted the elephant trainer use a cattle prod on his Asian elephants prior to the circus, which infuriated Rachel. During the circus, Rachel watched as the trainer, a man named Josep with a surname that she found hard to pronounce, pretended to love his elephants during the performance. After the circus was over, Rachel and Cassie went to the elephant pen as Rachel wished to punish Josep. Cassie was hesitant to help her, adding that Jake would read her the Riot Act, prompting Rachel to laugh and ask what the Riot Act was. Cassie wanted Rachel to ensure that she would not seriously hurt Josep; Rachel replied that she would not hurt him unless he had his cattle prod, only to notice Cassie giving her a look which cut her sentence short. Rachel quickly assured Cassie that she would not truly harm Josep and to stop giving her that look, adding that Cassie would make a good mother in the future with a look like that. Entering the elephant pen, Rachel made her way to the back and morphed into her African elephant and trumpeted out loud, scaring Cassie and causing Josep to rush in.
Grabbing Josep with her elephant trunk and hoisting him into the air, Rachel used thought-speak to communicate with Josep. Claiming to be a member of the International Elephant Police, Rachel told Josep that she had heard about his usage of the cattle prods and threatened to kill him if he did not stop, and squeezed Josep with her trunk hard enough to make it hard for Josep to breathe. When Josep stood firm on his actions, citing that his elephants were his property, Rachel lowered Josep to the end of one of her tusks, threatening to impale him if he did not cease his animal abuse, and Josep agreed to stop using his cattle prod. Rachel then asked Josep if he could fly; when Josep responded that he could not, Rachel remarked that he could and tossed him twenty feet into the air. Josep landed on a tent, with Rachel believing that Josep would be fine; Rachel then demorphed and rejoined with Cassie as the pair left. The next day after school, Rachel and the human Animorphs walked through the woods as Marco wanted to share some news, with Tobias flying above them. As they walked, Rachel informed them of what she had done to Josep, although she omitted Cassie's presence to prevent Jake from being upset at Cassie since she knew Jake and Cassie had a crush on one another. Not wanting to apologize for her actions, Rachel asked Marco what he wanted to say, but Marco replied that he wanted to wait for Ax to join them so that he didn't have to repeat himself. When Ax joined them, the young Andalite remarked in an excited manner how he had a run-in with a cougar; due to his excited tone, Marco commented that Rachel and Ax should get married, which bothered Rachel as she was not interested in Ax romantically.
Marco then revealed than he and Tobias had spent the past week performing surveillance on "Chapman" and had discovered a new passageway into the Underground Yeerk Pool Complex, which was located in a dressing room in The Gap at the mall. Rachel listened as Ax spoke about the Yeerk pool[11] and referred to it as being like a religion to the Yeerks.[29] Rachel wondered why Marco and Tobias did not tell them about their plans, although Rachel quickly realized that Marco had kept silent about it to give Jake a break due to Jake's recent infestation. Jake wondered what they would do with the information of a new entrance to the pool; Ax immediately stated that they should attack, although Rachel and Cassie were hesistant due to their previous visit, where they fought dozens of Controllers. Rachel inquired about the Kandrona. and Ax explained that the Kandrona was a miniature sun that beamed Kandrona rays into the Yeerk pool that the Yeerks fed on. Rachel declared that the Kandrona was the Yeerks' weakness, and Ax added that since the Kandrona could beam the Kandrona rays from miles away, the Kandrona would not necessarily be within the pool complex. The Animorphs discussed what would happen if they destroyed the Kandrona, with Rachel remarking that many Yeerks would die. Rachel then suggested that they return to the Yeerk pool complex in order to learn the location of the Kandrona, with the other Animorphs agreeing while also musing about the nightmares they received from their first trip. Ax noticed their fear and how their reactions were scaring him, to which Rachel retorted that while she wasn't sure if Andalites believed in heaven or hell, the Yeerk pool was definitely not heaven.
Rachel then returned home, thinking about the last time they went to the Yeerk pool and the cries she had heard. She asked her mother Naomi what they were having for dinner, and Naomi revealed that Dan would be joining them for dinner as he needed to tell the girls something and that he would be bringing food. This alarmed Rachel, as Dan never had dinner with them following the divorce. Rachel took hold of Naomi's arm and tried to ask her mother what was going on, since Dan never came over for dinner; before Rachel could finish her question, the doorbell suddenly rang, which Naomi was confirmed was Dan. As Sara ran down the stairs to greet Dan, Jordan yelled that Sara would break her neck, which caused Rachel and Naomi to nearly smile. Rachel walked to the door, where she and Jordan exchanged a look, as both of them realized that something was indeed going on. Dan greeted Rachel at the door and told her to take the bag of Thai food that he had bought, which Rachel then took to the dinner table as Naomi brought out dinner plates and silverware. During dinner, they exchanged small talk when Naomi eventually told Dan to just tell them. Dan told his daughters that he received a better job offer and would be moving to another state, which Naomi clarified was about a thousand miles away. Rachel mentally remarked that despite all the pain and other mental experiences she had endured as an Animorph, the news of her father moving away is what bothered her. Trying not to sound upset, Rachel merely congratulated Dan before standing up and claiming that she had homework to do.
Rachel went upstairs to her room and locked the door behind her, musing that she felt too angry to cry. Dan then knocked on her door and asked her if he could come in,[11] and Rachel unlocked the door to let him in[30] since she believed refusing him entry would betray that she felt angry. Rachel sat on the edge of her bed as Dan asked her to move away and live with him, and that famed coach Carla Belnikoff lived in the city he was moving to and that she could pursue gymnastics professionally. Rachel was conflicted about leaving her mother and sisters, and initially believed that Dan was asking her out of pity. Instead, Dan told her that he wanted her to live with him so that they could continue going on their excursions and that they could go hiking and rock climbing, while also adding that the city was much bigger and therefore would yield better shopping opportunies. Sitting on the edge of her bed, Rachel told him that she would think about it. Dan then told her that he loved her and left her room, and her father's admission of love caused her to begin crying. After Dan left, Rachel spoke with her mother, who did not want her to move away but told her that it was her choice.
Lying in bed and unable to sleep, Rachel decided that she needed to get away from her room. Changing into the leotard that served as her morphing outfit, Rachel morphed into a great horned owl and flew out of her bedroom window. As she flew, she noted the various prey animals around and contemplated the feel of killing them with her talons before quickly telling herself that it would be wrong to do so, unlike Tobias, who had to kill in order to eat. As she flew, she thought of her father's offer, and told herself that she couldn't leave her friends to fight; despite this, she still entertained the notion of moving away with her father and having a normal life of going to games and gymnastics that did not require having her return to the Yeerk pool.[11]
Acquiring a Grizzly Bear
- "It took a while to find the bears. I wasn't interested in the little black bears. Or the polar bears. I was looking for the grizzlies. [...] There were two, a male and female pair. Both were asleep, sprawled across the rocks. The male was bigger. That's what I wanted. Big. Powerful. Fearless. If I was going back to the Yeerk pool, I wanted something desperately dangerous. [...] I touched him and felt his power flow into me."
- ―Rachel[src]
Rachel flew to Tobias' meadow, as she wanted to talk to him about what was bothering him. Spotting him in a tree, she swooped towards him, which terrified him. She quickly clarified that she was not a wild owl, although Tobias still admonished her for scaring him, as owls were known to hunt hawks. As Rachel knew that a great horned owl did live in Tobias' meadow who hunted during the night, she apologized, remarking that she forgot how dangerous his life was. Tobias then asked her why she was flying at night as an owl, and Rachel tells him that she just needed to get out of the house, to which Tobias asks her why while adding that it also was not any of his business. Despite having flown to the meadow to tell Tobias about her problems, Rachel suddenly felt like not bothering him with her problems and instead claimed that she was worried about having to return to the Underground Yeerk Pool Complex. Deciding to get a new battle morph, Rachel considered flying to The Gardens to acquire either a lion or a grizzly bear, and asked Tobias if he wanted to join her, although he refused since The Gardens was far and there being no thermals to aid his flight, in addition to hawks having poor night vision. Rachel then asked him what he thought the future would be like, such as when it was time to go to college, and Tobias responded that he could get straight A's in ornithology. Rachel remarked that he would be the professor but clarified that she was moreso curious on what they would do if the war with the Yeerk Empire was still ongoing by the time the Animorphs were college-aged. Tobias told her that he never thought that far ahead, but figured that the war would either be over by then, thus allowing everyone to resume their normal lives, or that the Yeerk Empire would win and they would not have to worry about college. As Tobias dryly remarked that his life wouldn't be normal again even if they won, Rachel began to hate herself for asking such a question and even considering moving away and leaving the war effort when Tobias had already paid the price of being trapped in morph, while also berating herself for contemplating abandoning Tobias to a life of living in the forest and potentially letting Cassie die in combat.
Tobias asked Rachel if she was feeling okay, and Rachel claimed that she felt fine but that she would still fly to The Gardens to acquire a new battle morph. Tobias commented that he would not be able to join them, and Rachel remarked that she would defeat a Hork-Bajir on his behalf. Rachel told him that she would be leaving now, and despite Tobias urging her to fly home, Rachel instead flew south to The Gardens. She flew above the lion exhibit and noticed a lioness, but decided to acquire a bear. Not wanting to acquire a black bear or a polar bear, Rachel flew to the grizzly habitat, where she spotted a male and female pair. Wanting to acquire the male as he was bigger and more powerful, Rachel flew into the habitat and demorphed. She noticed the male grizzly looking at her and slowly touched him in order to acquire his DNA, and thought of her father asking her to move in with him. Rachel was inundated with the feelings of guilt and struggling with the various decisions she was conflicted about, and lamented that while she wanted to have a normal life, that wasn't the type of life she had anymore. She then left the habitat and returned home.[11]
Meeting the Ellimist
- "What do you mean, we have to decide now?"
"If you decide the answer is yes, you, and some of those you are close to, will be instantly taken to your new home. If the answer is no, I will return everything to the way it was when I interrupted time."
"You mean we're back in roach morph headed down that Taxxon's throat?" - ―Rachel and Ellimist[src]
The following day, on Tuesday, the Animorphs decided that they would try and enter the Underground Yeerk Pool Complex through the entrance at The Gap, and formulated a plan: Rachel and Cassie would meet up at the mall food court while Jake and Ax, the latter in his human morph, would enter the mall as their own group, with Marco entering on his own; separately, the three groups would make their way to The Gap and enter the second last dressing room, where they would morph into cockroaches. As they would be shedding their outer clothing, Jake, who would be going in last, was tasked with recovering their clothes and storing it in a rented coin locker before returning to the dressing room to morph to roach, leaving his clothes behind for employees to find and discard. That evening, Rachel went to the mall and met Cassie at the food court, where Rachel acted surprised to meet her.
The duo slowly made their way to The Gap as Rachel wondered whether Marco would show up on time, to which Cassie remarked that she believed she did as Marco seemed into the war effort nowadays for some reason, a change that Rachel had also noticed. Inside The Gap, Rachel spotted Jake and Ax as she told Cassie to find an article of clothing to bring to the dressing room; as Cassie blanked at the idea of finding something, Rachel picked out a sweater for her, and Cassie balked that she would never wear it as it was "dry clean only." The two girls made their way to the second last dressing room, where they began morphing into cockroaches. They were soon joined by Marco and Ax before Jake took away their clothes and joined them. The five of them then crossed the divider into the next dressing room, where a man arrived shortly after. The human-Controller opened the mirror, which contained the hidden passageway into the underground Yeerk pool. Rachel immediately recognized the smell of the Yeerk pool emanating from the passageway, which she recognized from her first visit, and the Animorphs successfully followed the Controller through the passageway before the mirror could shut behind them.
As they made their way down the ramp, which Rachel noted was a change compared to the stairways from their last trip. For a while, the human Animorphs descended in silence as they kept remembering the screams and cries of the hosts from their prior visit to the pool complex. Ax eventually remarked that he wished he could see what was happening inside the pool complex, to which Rachel quickly told him that he did not truly want to see. Arriving on the floor of the cavern, Ax notified them that they had been in morph for forty-one minutes. Jake reminded the team that there had been buildings in the back of the complex during their first visit and that he believed these contained generators, air purifiers, and offices, and that they should check those areas. As Rachel wondered how they would get there since the roach's eyes were bad, Cassie stated that the roach was able to smell and they could just follow the scent of humans, adding that she could smell fries and that she believed the human-Controllers needed to eat. The Animorphs followed the scent through a crack in the wall and emerged into a lunchroom. However, moments after entering, Rachel noticed a scent that was familiar to her, although she could not recognize it entirely. The scent belonged to none other than a Taxxon, who quickly caught all five of them on its tongue. However, just before the Taxxon could shoot its tongue back into its mouth, time stopped and Rachel, along with the others, were automatically demorphed by a mysterious force.
Rachel and the Animorphs exited the lunchroom and entered the general area of the pool, where to her surprise she spotted Tobias in his human form. Feeling a sudden desire to hug him, she ran towards him; noticing her rushing at him, Tobias instinctively tried to flap away only to move his human arms up and down. Tobias apologized while feeling embarrassed, although Rachel did not care as she wrapped her arms around him tightly and hugged him. A strange voice suddenly began speaking to them telepathically and was able to read Rachel's mind, referring to her by name. The voice, which belonged to the mysterious force that had paused time and reverted Tobias to his human form, along with demorphing the others, revealed itself to an all-powerful being known as the Ellimist. The Ellimist told them that he assembled them to determine the fate of the human race, claiming that humans were going to become an extinct species and that Earth was a priceless work of art. Suddenly, the Ellimist transported them into the ocean, although he used his powers so that they could still breathe and would be unharmed by any factors. As they looked at the sea life, the Ellimist remarked that it was lovely before transporting them to the African savannah, where they floated in the sky and observed the various animals. The Ellimist then transported them to the jungle and told them to look at the planet's beauty, stating that in all the universe, there was no greater beauty than Earth. The Ellimist continued his tour, transporting them to New York City, a village by a jungle river, a rock concert in Rio de Janeiro, a political meeting in Seoul, a soccer game in Durban, and an open-air market in The Philippines. The Ellimist declared that humans were crude and primitive yet capable of understanding, and showed them a painting of irises that Rachel recognized.
As the Ellimist returned them back to the temporally-paused Yeerk pool, Rachel thanked him for the tour and asked him what the purpose of showing them that was for. The Ellimist responded that humanity was going to enslaved by the Yeerk Empire and that they would lose their fight, with Rachel taking his tone to be that of certainty. In order to prevent humanity from facing extinction, the Ellimist offered to relocate the Animorphs, their close family members, and other humans of genetic diversity, to another planet where they would be free to live their lives. Rachel was outraged when the Ellimist declared that they had to make the choice immediately, stating that he would either transport them and their family members onto the new planet instantly or would revert them back into being cockroaches on the Taxxon's tongue. Rachel turned to look at Tobias, and noted that he did not make a reaction, which caused her to wonder if he had forgotten how to display facial emotions. Rachel considered the Ellimist as having rigged the decision, since if they refused, they would most certainly be killed by the Taxxon; however, while her initial desire was to reject the Ellimist's offer in anger, she also contemplated what a life would be like where she did not have to fight, while also wondering which specific humans the Ellimist would also save.
Tobias announced that he would be refusing the deal, citing that the Ellimist was using Tobias returning to being stuck as a hawk as a way to manipulate the Animorphs' decision, while Cassie was in support of accepting. Marco then commented that Rachel and Tobias made up two votes against while Cassie was a supporting vote, and Rachel was shocked that Marco had correctly deduced her stance even though she had not voted, since she knew she would not vote against Tobias when Tobias was willing to sacrifice his humanity by refusing. Rachel then remarked that the Ellimist wanted them to abandon humanity just to save themselves and their loved ones, which earned her a smile from Tobias. As Rachel looked to Jake and Marco since they had not voted, she noticed that they were looking at something in the distance; following their line of sight, she realized that they had found a dropshaft. As Jake looked at her and cocked his eyebrow toward the dropshaft, she remembered when she had used a dropshaft on the Pool ship to descend, and wondered whether the dropshaft could be used to ascend. Noticing a female human-Controller within the dropshaft, Rachel analyzed the woman's shoulder-length hair and determined that the woman was in fact ascending, thus confirming the dropshaft to be a viable route of escape.
Marco declared that he too would be refusing the deal and that he did not appreciate the Ellimist trying to force them into accepting by having given them the offer when they were about to die. This prompted Cassie to bring up that many times when she tried to save an animal's life, the animal would try and attack her, not knowing that she was trying to save its life, and wondered if the Animorphs were doing the same thing by refusing to let the Ellimist save humanity. To her surprise, Rachel suddenly recalled seeing a nature program about people trying to capture endangered tigers with nets in order to relocate them to a preserve for safety, only for the tigers to attack the humans, and she wondered if they were doing the same thing to the Ellimist who claimed to be wanting to save them. Rachel wondered what decision her parents would make, and while she immediately knew that her mother would accept the deal in order to save the lives of her daughters, she wondered about her father, and what he would think of her if she accepted the decision and had to explain to him what had happened. Jake then told the Ellimist that he did not believe the Ellimist could truly see the future, claiming that if he could, he would already have known what the Animorphs' answer was. Suddenly, the Animorphs, minus Tobias, found themselves back on the Taxxon's tongue in roach morph, and the Ellimist stated that he would make them the offer again if they managed to survive.[11]
Relocation Dilemma
- "I lived in two completely different worlds. One world was filled by my family, school, gymnastics classes, shopping, listening to music, watching TV... normal stuff. But then I had this whole other life. A life where I wasn't just Jordan and Sara's big sister, and my mom's first child, and a teacher's pet, and a gymnastics student who was weak on the balance beam. In my other life I was... a warrior. I risked my life. I fought in deadly nightmare battles against terrible odds. I became so much more than just a kid."
- ―Rachel[src]
The Ellimist then unfroze time and the Taxxon's tongue went into its mouth. The Animorphs quickly demorphed inside the Taxxon, but as their lungs returned, they began to suffocate. Using his tail blade, Ax sliced the Taxxon open and the Animorphs emerged out of its remains and onto the linoleum of the lunchroom. Rachel then looked up, and as they were covered in Taxxon goo, she noticed that all of the human-Controllers in the lunchroom were staring at them. Rachel yelled out loud for them to bail and the Animorphs ran, which caused the human-Controllers to rush after them. As they ran out of the lunchroom and into the general area of the underground Yeerk Pool complex, with Jake yelling at them to assume battle morphs, Rachel pictured the grizzly bear in her mind, rationalizing that her elephant morph might be too big and that she wanted the bear's power compared to the wolf. Before she could morph, Rachel was knocked to the ground by an adult male Controller. Rachel was infuriated that a grown man would attack a girl half his size, while also realizing that it was not the man's fault but rather the Yeerk inside his head. The male Controller then put his hands around Rachel's throat to strangle her, but Ax then arrived and used his tail blade to slice the man's arm off, freeing Rachel. She then noticed Marco and Cassie ascending up the dropshaft while Jake looked at them in horror.
Rachel morphs into a grizzly bear and fights a Hork-Bajir-Controller
With a bunch of human and Hork-Bajir-Controllers between them, Rachel yelled out loud to Jake to escape, using his name. The Hork-Bajir-Controllers rushed towards them, and as Ax used his tail blade to try and keep them at bay, Rachel subconsciously morphed into the grizzly bear. Giving into the bear's instinct and allowing her bottled rage and frustration to merge with the bear's rage, Rachel attacked the Hork-Bajir-Controllers. Jake, who refused to leave them behind, morphed into his Siberian tiger and joined the fight; however, due to Rachel having given into the bear's instincts, she kept trying to kill Jake as well. Rachel, Jake, and Ax managed to make their way to the dropshaft, and as they ascended, Rachel continued to try and kill the tiger. Jake then yelled at her in thought-speak to regain control, which caused Rachel to snap out of it and realize that she had been trying to kill Jake. Rachel and Jake demorphed as they ascended and emerged out of the base of a water tower behind their school. Rachel apologized to Jake, citing that she had never morphed the bear before, although Jake credited her usage of the bear to them successfully escaping. The Animorphs decided to meet up at Cassie's barn the next day after school and then went their separate ways. Barefoot and in her leotard, Rachel walked home and entered the house around 9:30 PM and went straight to bed.
The next morning, she was awakened by her mother, and Rachel got out of bed to take a shower. Since Jordan was using their shared bathroom, Rachel went to her mother's bathroom, where Naomi was getting ready for work, and asked if she could use her shower. Naomi pointed out that Rachel was wearing the same leotard that she had returned home in, and how she had come home late at night with no shoes and in a leotard, and Rachel lied that she had been at Cassie's house showing her some gymnastics moves and had left her shoes behind. As she left for work, Naomi told Rachel to stay home tonight so that they could talk, and allowed Rachel to use her shower, but told her to make sure that Sara got on the bus to school. In the shower, Rachel thought of her father's offer, the Ellimist's offer, the feeling of seeing Tobias back in his human body, as well as the experience of being a grizzly bear. As the hot water was running out, Jordan knocked on the door to check on her, and Rachel asked Jordan if she could make sure that Sara got on the bus. Rachel then chose to skip school for the first time and decided to stay home and watch television. Around noon, Rachel went to the kitchen to make a grilled cheese sandwich and turned on the kitchen television, where she saw her father on the news. Throwing her sandwich into the trash, Rachel yelled out loud, asking what she was supposed to do. Wanting to get out of the house, Rachel went to her bedroom and dressed into a new morphing outfit before she morphed into a bald eagle and flew out of her window; Rachel then spent the afternoon flying around, demorphing when the two-hour limit was close and then remorphing.
As school ended, Rachel flew to the barn and demorphed, knowing that her friends would realize that she had flown there since she was barefoot and in her morphing outfit. Entering the barn, Rachel looked up into the rafters and saw Tobias perched there, and felt a pang of pain within her body to see him trapped as a red-tailed hawk again. Rachel went to help Cassie bandage a kestrel and told them that she had skipped school because she did not feel well, to which Jake retorted that she clearly felt fine enough to morph in order to fly to the barn. Jake inquired about her having acquired the grizzly by herself at The Gardens, to which Rachel joked that she had acquired the bear at the mall. Tobias then disclosed to the others that he had seen flying as a bald eagle since noon and that she would've been demorphing and remorphing since more than two hours had passed, causing Rachel to sarcastically remark that she was glad she had some privacy. Jake jumped up and put his face up to Rachel and yelled at her for being reckless, which endangered the team, and admonished her for acquiring the grizzly without backup. As Jake criticized her, Rachel retorted that it didn't matter since the Ellimist told them that they would be losing the fight. Rachel then told the Animorphs about her father moving out of state and wanting her to move in with him, and complained about her father putting that burden on her when she also had to think about the fate of humanity and Earth. Letting her emotions bubble to the surface, Rachel was conflicted about her choices hurting her mother or her father, and that if she left, she would be hurting the Animorphs as well.
Marco tried to gently tell her to take it easy and referred to her as Xena, only for Rachel to cut him off and state that she was not some television character and that she was scared of everything, such as the Yeerk pool and the choices that both her father and the Ellimist had given her, as well as revealing that she was scared about what was happening to her and the brave demeanor she had to put on. The team sat in silence after she finished ranting, and Marco eventually announced that if the Ellimist did ask them again, he would change his vote, citing that if Rachel had lost her composure, the rest of them did not stand a chance. Rachel swiftly told Marco that she was not in the mood for her jokes, and Marco clarified that he was not joking; he disclosed that he had slept for an hour due to nightmares and was extremely jumpy, and that he was scared and stressed. As Jake tried to assure him that those things would just happen, Marco asserted that they were just kids fighting an alien invasion and that all they managed to do was annoy the Yeerk Empire or risk their lives just to destroy a ship, and that there was no point continuing since the Ellimist had confirmed that they would indeed lose. With Marco and Cassie in support of taking the deal and Jake and Tobias still against, the team looked at Rachel to settle the tie. Before she could answer, the Ellimist telepathically declared that he needed to show them something.[11]
Visiting an Alternate Future
Rachel and the Animorphs, including Ax, found themselves standing in a scruffy field outside next to a nearly destroyed building. Cassie remarked that their surroundings seemed familiar, and Tobias, who had been reverted to his human form once again, recognized the nearby building to be their school. Rachel mused that she had only skipped school for a single day and wondered when the school had been destroyed, only for Cassie to state that she believed that the destruction of the school was not a past event but rather a future event, and that they had been sent to the future. Jake suggested that they check out the mall, and as they walked by the school building, Rachel spotted a skeleton in the history classroom. The Animorphs reached a highway, only to see that it was completely empty; instead,, a high-speed train system was being used. They managed to reach the mall, where they realized with horror that the building had become a Taxxon hive, with several holes drilled inside Sears and JCPenney that Taxxons slithered in and out of.
The Animorphs noticed a nearby Taxxon using a dropshaft to ascend to a platform where the high-speed train would be making a stop, which reminded Rachel of the Walt Disney World Monorail System. Tobias advised that they avoid any Controllers, only for Marco to point out that since the Yeerk Empire had won in the future, any human walking around would be considered a fellow human-Controller, which meant they could walk around freely. With this in mind, Ax assumed his human morph while Rachel decided that the Animorphs should use the dropshaft to board the train to see where it went. As they reached the dropshaft, Rachel noticed that the others hesitated to follow a Taxxon onto the dropshaft, so Rachel took the lead, which caused the others to follow her. Rachel spotted that the roof of the mall had been converted into a miniature Yeerk pool just for the Taxxon host bodies, and nudged Tobias to make him aware of it. When the train arrived, Rachel observed that there were far more seats for human-Controllers than there were for Taxxons or Hork-Bajir-Controllers, and concluded that they would therefore not be too out of place. Within a minute and a half, the train arrived Downtown, where the Animorphs disembarked. Rachel saw that many of the skyscrapers had either been completely destroyed or had been converted into Taxxon hives, although she noticed that the EGS Tower was still standing, albeit with the top two floors removed and replaced with a glass dome.
As she turned the corner, she stopped with shock as the City Arena where she had seen the circus recently, along with all of its nearby buildings, had been destroyed; in its place, a giant Yeerk pool had been constructed, with several human and Hork-Bajir hosts in cages who did not plead for help as they did in her time. Just then, a passing female human-Controller bumped into Rachel, causing Rachel to immediately call her out. The woman-Controller turned around and demanded to know Rachel's name while accusing her of being a spy; as Rachel prepared to fight the woman, Tobias gestured to Ax and declared that they were with Visser Three. Although Rachel was confused by this, Ax caught on and demorphed back to Andalite, frightening the woman-Controller. The female Controller then apologized and fled, although before she ran away, she pointed out that Visser Three had since been promoted to Visser One. Jake wondered how long the Ellimist would keep them in this timeline; when Cassie replied that she believed there was something the Ellimist wanted them to see, Rachel recognized that Cassie looked troubled and asked her what was bothering her, to which Cassie merely responded that she believed there was something more going on. Rachel then inquired as to why the Yeerk Empire had chosen to destroy the buildings to build a Yeerk pool at this specific spot instead of at an open location when she noticed a Bug fighter approaching from the EGS Tower.
Feeling a mysterious pull to the Bug fighter, she watched as the Bug fighter landed near them. As she approached the Bug fighter, the real Visser One/Three and a blonde human woman with short blond hair and no makeup emerged from the spacecraft, with Rachel recognizing the woman to be her future self in her twenties. Future Rachel remarked that her host had once experienced exactly what Rachel was currently experiencing, and Rachel noticed as her future self glanced at Ax. Realizing that her future self had been infested, Future Rachel's Yeerk smiled and glaoted that they had defeated the Animorphs and had succeeded in taking over Earth. Rachel listened as the Visser explained that he was aware that the Ellimist had sent the six humans that were the Animorphs, before correcting himself and stating that the Animorphs were five humans and Andalite, forwards in time to help them make a decision before returning them back to their original time. Rachel wondered what decision she had ended up making, but when Future Rachel's Yeerk replied that she had made the correct one that benefitted the Yeerk Empire, Rachel wondered why her future self's Yeerk was speaking to her currently; she theorized that Future Rachel's Yeerk was either there to change Rachel's decision to better suit them, or because their conversation was what caused Rachel to make the decision that ended up helping the Yeerks.
When Cassie, who did not wish to stay and interact with Future Rachel's Yeerk, tripped while trying to walk away, Rachel quickly caught her; however, when she nearly tripped herself, Future Rachel's Yeerk rushed forward to prevent her from falling. This sudden action from Future Rachel's Yeerk caused Ax to quickly put his tail blade to her throat. Rachel observed as her future self's Yeerk looked to Visser One, only for the Visser to be looking at Ax with a confused expression. Rachel then quickly put together the truth: the Visser had stated earlier that the Animorphs consisted of six humans because that was what he had expected them to be, hence why he was confused at Ax's presence, which therefore indicated that the timeline's history was different. Visser One then lashed out and disclosed how he had caught and infested the Animorphs of this timeline except for Tobias, whom they had killed, roasted, and then eaten with barbecue sauce.
Hearing of Future Tobias' fate caused Rachel to want to morph to grizzly bear and kill the Visser, but she held off since she knew she would be vulnerable to damage mid-morph. However, Ax alerted her that he didn't think the Visser would attack them because he was afraid that killing them would alter his history, and Jake clarified that since the inverse was not true, they would be free to try and kill the Visser. Rachel then began to morph into the grizzly and recalled how Tobias had been roasted on a fire by the Visser, and charged towards the Visser as soon she felt enough of her had been morphed into the bear. However, before she could strike him with her paw, she found herself back in the woods behind Cassie's farm with her human arm striking a tree, yelping in pain as the Ellimist had teleported them back to their own timeline.
Rachel raged that she felt sick of everything and that there was no point in fighting as they knew what the world would become like once they lost to the Yeerk Empire. Feeling entirely drained of energy, Rachel sat down on the forest ground and rested her head in her hands. Ax tried to convince her that perhaps the world they saw had been an Ellimist trick, which Rachel refused to accept, citing that the Ellimist had more than enough power to force them to do things without having to resort to such tactics. Jake attempted to convince her to keep fighting, and Rachel revealed that while she had intended to vote against the deal just before the Ellimist whisked them away to the alternate future, she was now voting to accept the deal. Upon uttering these words, Rachel found relief washing over her at the prospect of living in a world where she no longer needed to be brave, be in danger, or make hard decisions. The vote became tied, with Rachel, Cassie, and Marco voting to accept the Ellimist's deal while Jake and Tobias were still against as Ax sided with Jake. However, Tobias remarked that while he was not changing his vote, perhaps if humanity existed on another planet, they could one day return to save Earth. Rachel realized that the tie would be broken and that they would be accepting the deal right before Jake flipped his vote. Jake then called out to the Ellimist and stated that they had accepted the deal, and Rachel expected to be instantly teleported to the new planet, only for nothing to happen. The Animorphs eventually returned to their homes to continue their lives as normal.[11]
Battle at the EGS Tower
- "I couldn't tell who was winning. I couldn't tell who was hurt. It all became one long cry, one long scream of rage. Hork-Bajir and Animorph. Alien and animal. We were flesh-and-blood creatures thrown into a meat grinder. Thirteen deadly animals locked in a combat to the death. I felt the bear weakening as he was cut again and again by Hork-Bajir blades. I was losing blood. The human part of me knew that. I could feel my strength ebbing. [...] I stared blankly at my left paw. It wasn't there. It was a stump."
- ―Rachel[src]
The next day, on Thursday, Rachel went to school and listened during Ms. Paloma's history class as she spoke to them about World War II, claiming that the United States did not enter World War II earlier as the country was devoted to peace. As Paloma indicated that no one knew how history could have unfolded had things gone differently, Rachel privately reflected that an Ellimist could before musing how weird it felt to go to school while knowing how the future would unfold. When Paloma spoke to them about the butterfly effect, and how a butterfly flapping its wings in China could cause a tornado in the United States, Paloma suddenly looked at Rachel and in a trance-like state repeated her words about the butterfly effect, much to Rachel's confusion. When the bell rang, Rachel and Cassie exited the classroom and briefly remarked on Paloma's weird behavior before they began discussing the Ellimist. Arriving at their lockers, the two girls wondered why the Ellimist had not relocated them despite them having accepted his offer, and quickly realized that the Ellimist had wanted them to notice the dropshaft when they encountered him the first time. They reflected on what the Ellimist must have wanted them to see when he sent them to the future before going to their next respective classes.
On Friday night, Rachel recalled her recent experiences as she slept and suddenly woke up as she realized that the Kandrona was located on the upper floors of the EGS Tower; she had remembered Ax telling her that the Yeerks considered the Yeerk pool to be a shrine and how she had noticed that the Yeerk pool in the future had been positioned outside of the EGS Tower, and how the building's top two floors had been replaced with a glass dome. Rachel got out of bed and dressed into a morphing outfit; as it was around 3 A.M. on Saturday, Rachel knew that her mother would check on her in the morning, and thus wrote a note claiming that she had gone for an early morning run and that she would go to Cassie's house after. She then morphed into a great horned owl and flew into Tobias' meadow, where she woke him up. She asked Tobias to come with her immediately, and told him that she had discovered the Kandrona's location and that they were going to change history. The pair then went to Marco's home to wake him up as well for an emergency Animorphs meeting.
By 3:47 A.M., all six members of the team had assembled at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, where Rachel told them that the Ellimist's true goal had been to ensure they noticed the dropshaft so that they could escape from the Yeerk pool; in addition, she informed them that the Ellimist's reason for sending them to the future was so that they would notice that the EGS Tower, around which a Yeerk pool was built, was because the Tower held the Kandrona itself. Rachel believed that the Ellimist had approached them the way he did as it allowed him to help them without interfering directly while still giving them the choice to proceed. When Jake wondered if destroying the Kandrona would prevent the bad future they had seen, Cassie and Rachel responded that they could not know for sure but that the butterfly effect would cause some changes. Marco, referring to Rachel as Xena, asked her what their next move would be, and the Animorphs decided to head out immediately to destroy the Kandrona.
Rachel, Jake, and Marco use the freight elevator to get to the top of the EGS Tower
At 5:10 A.M., the Animorphs arrived by the plaza outside of the EGS Tower, with only one security guard inside. With Tobias flying above, Ax demorphed while the others entered their battle morphs, and Rachel morphed into the grizzly bear, having decided to make her hew new official battle morph. Finishing the morph, Rachel prepared to charge through the door, although Jake suggested that they let Marco, in his gorilla morph, take the lead. As Marco punched through the glass door to knock out the security guard Controller, Rachel barrelled through the glass door, leaving the others to jump over the glass shards. Since the elevator could not hold all of them, Cassie and Ax waited for the regular elevator to descend while Rachel, Marco, and Jake crammed themselves into the freight elevator, with Rachel using a bear claw to press the button to the top floor. As the elevator rose to the top, Jake asked if they had seen any movies lately, to which Rachel responded that she wanted to see the latest Keanu Reeves, adding that she found him to be cute while jokingly wondering if he would go out with her despite her being a grizzly bear. The elevator then arrived at the top floor, with three human-Controllers and two Hork-Bajir-Controllers rushing toward them. Rachel charged at one of the Hork-Bajir, plowing through one of the human-Controllers in the process, and used her momentum to carry the Hork-Bajir and slam them against a wall. The remaining Hork-Bajir was dispatched by Jake while the two remaining human-Controllers fled.
A Hork-Bajir-Controller attacks Rachel
Just then, the regular elevator arrived, containing Ax and Cassie. Smelling the adrenaline coming from the two human-Controllers who ran away, Rachel discerned that it was coming from a nearby room. She then charged towards the steel door and slammed into it, popping it off its hinges. Eight Hork-Bajir-Controllers were inside the room, but Rachel, believing they were humans since her grizzly was nearsighted, barrelled towards them, not realizing they were Hork-Bajir until she was three feet away. As she rushed into a Hork-Bajir-Controllers, it used its blades to slice Rachel, wounding her. The other Animorphs entered the fray, and as Rachel fought against Hork-Bajir-Controllers, she watched the others fighting as well, and the Animorphs experienced their first close-combat encounter with Hork-Bajir-Controllers. During the fight, Rachel slammed into a Hork-Bajir-Controller and shoved him out of a window, causing the Hork-Bajir to fall sixty stories to their death. The destruction of the window caused Tobias to fly in and rake the eyeballs of one of the Hork-Bajir, and the three remaining Hork-Bajir fled from the room.
Marco then put the steel door back into its frame before barricading the door before announcing that he had to demorph due to the grievous injuries he had received. Jake told the rest of the team to demorph out of their injuries as well; Rachel initially declared that she was fine, only for Tobias to tell her to look at her left paw, which caused Rachel to realize that a Hork-Bajir-Controller had severed it and that she just had a stump. Rachel then joined the team in morphing out of their injuries, and with her regular eyesight restored, she noticed the bodies of several Hork-Bajir-Controllers on the floor, and she remarked that while they were still breathing, they were actively bleeding from several animal-inflicted wounds. Entering the next room, the Animorphs spotted the Kandrona, which had been fastened. Jake asked Rachel if she could morph again, and she correctly deduced that he wanted her to morph into an elephant. Despite being exhausted, Rachel complied and slowly pushed the Kandrona across the floor until it went through the window and smashed onto the concrete sidewalk below. Demorphing, Rachel reveled in their success, but quickly groaned when she heard the Ellimist telepathically speaking to them. The Ellimist divulged that the Yeerk Empire would have a replacement Kandrona installed in three weeks; Marco initially questioned whether their actions were a waste, and Ax clarified that it was not, adding that the Yeerk Empire having to solely rely on the Pool ship's Kandrona would cause many Yeerks to die. Jake inquired as to whether the future had been changed; when the Ellimist did not respond to him, Rachel remarked that she did not believe the Ellimist could see the definite future due to the butterfly effect, which caused the Ellimist to laugh and reiterate that humans, despite being primitive, had the capacity to learn. Rachel then asked the Animorphs if they had the energy for one more morph as she wanted to fly; the Animorphs morphed to birds and flew out of the EGS Tower, having succeeded in their first major victory against the Yeerk Empire.
Two days later, on Monday, Rachel took the bus to her father's apartment in the city, with Tobias flying above. At her father's apartment, she told him that he was too disorganized to pack by himself, as she had made the decision to stay behind. Her father told her that she was always welcome to change her mind, and Rachel kissed her father on the cheek as he patted her hair. Wiping away her tears, she told her father that she could take care of herself. As they left the apartment and headed to the taxi cab waiting outside, Dan asked her to come to the airport with him, and that he would send her back home in the cab, although Rachel refused. Dan remarked that she probably had something to do with her friends, to which Rachel responded that they needed to save the world; her father then told her that if anyone could save the world, it would be her. Rachel bid her father farewell, and as the taxi drove away, she looked up at the red-tailed hawk flying above. Tobias then asked her if she was coming, and she nodded her head at him.[11]
Temporary Amnesia
- "Who was I? What was I? I didn't know. My mind would not answer me. I remembered how to talk. I remembered what things were called. I knew that the sky was blue, and the moon was white, and the ocean was deep, and that winter was colder than summer. I knew all the background things of life. It was like watching a TV show where you could see all the sets, but the characters were invisible. Of me — of who I was and what I was — I knew nothing."
- ―Rachel[src]
Rachel, who by this time had developed an attraction for Tobias, liked to visit him in the woods constantly, as she felt like she needed to care for him. During these visits, she sometimes brought books for him to read. Rachel was invited to a pool party hosted by classmate Darlene; at the same time, a weekend gymnastics camp that Rachel had signed up for prior to becoming an Animorph approached, which she decided to cancel on so that she could remain in the city with her friends in case they needed to fight. As a result, she informed the camp that she would not be attending, and on a Friday during school, notified Melissa Chapman as well. After school, Rachel and the Animorphs, minus Ax, met up at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, where Rachel told them about the gymnastics camp and why she was choosing not to attend. Cassie reminded her that they still needed to do normal things and could not let the war against the Yeerk Empire be their entire lives and encouraged her to go, while Marco joked that Rachel felt like the team would not function if she were not there. Rachel then agreed to go to the camp the next day, and looking at Tobias, asked if the team would stay out of trouble while she was gone, to which Tobias assured her that they would be fine.
Rachel notified her family that she would be attending the gymnastics camp and thus decided not to attend Darlene's pool party. The next day, on Saturday, Rachek walked from home to the school, where the school bus driving them to the camp was slated to arrive at 11 A.M. Arriving an hour early, Rachel's plan was to board the bus and go to camp even though she had told them she would not attend, while her family and friends had been told that she would indeed be attending. Noticing the thermals that made it an excellent day for flying, Rachel decided to go and see Tobias for a while. She crossed the athletic field and headed to the woods behind the school, where she stripped down to a leotard and morphed into a bald eagle. Taking flight, she noticed Ax in the woods and dipped down to say hello; however, before she could speak to him, she accidentally flew by a nest of baby jays, causing the adult jay birds to attack her, as they believed she, as an eagle, intended to harm the babies. While she was being mobbed by the jays, Rachel slammed into a tree, which caused her to fall through tree branches that tore at her eagle's body. Landing on the ground below in a body that was severely injured, Rachel felt her thoughts slipping away, and commanded herself to demorph. As she began to demorph, she lost consciousness, which halted the demorphing process; in addition, the trauma of slamming into the tree caused her to develop amnesia.
Trouble with Ax
To be added
Quest for the Pemalite Crystal
Meeting the Chee
To be added
Matcom Infiltration
To be added
Morphing Allergy
Crocodile Incident
To be added
Destroying Her House
To be added
Jeremy Jason McCole Investigation
To be added
Crocodile Birth
To be added
Free Hork-Bajir
To be added
Zone 91 Infiltration
To be added
Royan Island Mission
To be added
Preventing a Suicide
- "I powered back toward the poor suicide guy. Although by now I wasn't feeling sorry for him, so much as really annoyed. I mean, what is it with people killing themselves? How big a moron do you have to be not to figure out that at least if you stay alive you have some hope, as opposed to being dead and having zero?"
- ―Rachel[src]
To be added
Drug Warfare
To be added
Battle for Leera
To be added
In the Time of Dinosaurs
To be added
David Debacle
To be added
Weapon of War
When Jake thought that David, the newest Animorph, had gone rogue and apparently killed Tobias, Jake orders Ax to get Rachel. Rachel then becomes angry at Jake for thinking of her as the person who would be willing to kill another Animorph while also becoming troubled that from all of her battles with the Yeerks, she has changed so much from the person she was prior to meeting Elfangor to the present, where she craves combat and high-adrenaline situations.
Divisive Personality
To be added
Further battles
To be added
Leading the Animorphs
During an occasion where Jake was absent on a family trip, the Animorphs were temporarily left without any leadership. When forced to go on a mission involving an Inspector for Visser One, Rachel was chosen as the interim leader. Her plan was to raid multiple known-Controller-operated or-owned businesses in an effort to discredit Visser One. However, Rachel’s actions cause an innocent old man to die of a heart attack and cause Cassie, in polar bear morph, to become captured by the Yeerks. Although Cassie is saved, Rachel realizes that she doesn’t have any leadership skills, despite her warrior abilities.
David's Return
Crayak and the Drode, who developed a fascination with Rachel during the events of The Exposed and wished to have her kill Jake for them, rescue David from his marooned island and give Rachel reoccurring dreams where she simultaneously respects and hates Jake for being the leader of the Animorphs and ordering him around, and has a nightmare of maiming him to establish dominance. Rachel is pit against David and later Visser One, with Crayak granting Rachel power in exchange for Jake's life. When Rachel refuses, realizing that the world would see her as a monster, Crayak and the Drode make their leave, discarding their interest in Rachel. David then begs Rachel to end his life, citing it to be more humane than leaving him marooned once again. Rachel notices a mirror shard and breaks down in tears, before making her decision. Although the decision is not shown, it is implied that she murdered David.
Endgame
To be added
Death
- "We were so close. We were right there, right at the finish line, I'd already survived so many times when I shouldn't have. It seemed unfair. To come this far, get this close... Jake gave me the job because he knew that only I could do it. [...] I'm the one you send when you need someone to be crazy, to do the hard thing. I don't know whether I'm proud of that or not. I was Jake's insurance policy. He thought maybe he wouldn't have to use me. He hoped, anyway. But down deep he knew, and I knew, and we both hid the truth from the others because Cassie couldn't let Jake make that decision, and Tobias couldn't let me, and those two, by loving us, would have screwed everything up. It was a war, after all. A war we had to win."
- ―Rachel[src]
During the final battle against the Yeerks, Jake orders Rachel to secretly follow Tom’s Yeerk and kill him when he gives the order. Following him on board the Blade Ship, Rachel attacks the Yeerks in control of the ship and kills Tom, before dying at the hands of a Controller in polar bear morph shortly after; the Ellimist briefly stops time to memorialize her death, tells his own story to her, and she dies.
Legacy
Funeral
- "The next day an Andalite scout ship reported finding a human body floating in space. Young, female. The Blade ship had jettisoned her body before going into Zero space. The Andalites brought her to California. [...] Two days later, Rachel's body was cremated. It was inconceivable that she'd ever want to be buried in the ground. She ended up as a few handfuls of ashes in a pretty china urn. [...] The President of the United States was there. He gave a speech, too. I guess Rachel would have liked it, in her own way. She would have laughed. She would have thought it was all way over the top, but at the same time, she would have liked the attention. Would have, but she was a few ounces of ash in a jar resting inside an open wooden box."
- ―Cassie[src]
After the Yeerk war is officially over, an Andalite scout ship finds Rachel’s body. The Blade Ship had jettisoned her body before going into Zero space. Her body was brought back to California with Rachel’s mom and Jake identifying her. Two days later, Rachel’s body was cremated and her memorial service was attended by dozens of free Hork-Bajir, Andalite Warriors, the Animorphs, and many others. Tobias then arrives and flies away with Rachel’s ashes.
The Rachel
Three years later, Jake, Marco, Tobias, Santorelli, Jeanne Gerard, and Menderash-Postill-Fastill board a former Yeerk cruiser and go on a mission to save Ax from an unknown group of pirates aboard the Blade Ship. Menderash, following an Andalite tradition, believes it bad luck to board the ship before it is named; after Tobias notes that it is "beautiful and dangerous and exciting," the group gives it the only fitting name, The Rachel.
Personality
- "This is why we fight. And to be honest, I like a good fight. The adrenaline spike of battle. The rush. The challenge. And now that I've admitted that, I'll admit something else: Lately, it's been scaring me that I like it. That I look forward to it so much. [...] I can't help myself. It's like I'm addicted or something. Addicted to danger. Addicted to defeating the Yeerk invaders."
- ―Rachel[src]
Rachel was the most violent member of the Animorphs. She is Jake's cousin on her father's side, and was in love with Tobias. Before the war, she trained in gymnastics. Marco's nickname for her was Xena, Warrior Princess.
Rachel was the character that changed the most during the war. Before the war, she was characterized by her involvement in gymnastics, her friendship with Melissa Chapman (daughter of Principal Chapman, one of the Animorphs' enemies), and her incurable mall-crawling and shopping addiction. An attractive girl, she was also smart, confident and bold. She was also known to have a temper. After the groups' meeting with Elfangor, her relationship with Melissa faded, and her obsession with the war took the place of her older shopping hobby. Out of all the Animorphs, Rachel was the only one that seemed to enjoy the war, always eager to jump into a crazy mission. Her catchphrase was "Let's do it!" Soon her daring and love of action grew to a dark, almost sadistic love of fighting and aggression.
Rachel's love of violence was noticed, and "exploited" by Jake and the Animorphs, and later, even Crayak. Though her will to battle and sacrifice herself was a powerful asset to the team, it disturbed all of the groups' members, including Rachel herself. In The Separation, Rachel is accidentally split into two different beings, possessing different qualities of Rachel; most easily described as "Mean Rachel" and "Nice Rachel." Her violent side was far stronger than her kinder side, a fact that haunted Rachel throughout the series.
Physical Appearance
- "As for me, well, it's not that I'm Miss Fashion or whatever, but I do like nice clothes. I guess that, plus the way I look, makes a lot of people think I'm stuck-up or something. People do think I'm pretty. But to me that's just an accident, you know? Looks are not the important thing. It's what's in your head that counts, and that's what I concentrate on."
- ―Rachel[src]
Rachel was tall and thin,[1] and was considered to be "tall for a girl",[31] and had blue eyes and blond hair. She was White,[6] although Rachel often referred to her skin as being pink.[11] Her hair was originally shoulder-length[1] but grew her hair out a little. She eventually had six inches of her hair cut off, which brought her hair length to just below her ears.[32] She has been referred to by multiple characters as being extremely attractive, very pretty, gorgeous, and beautiful. Her beauty has caused her to be perceived as being "an airhead"[25] or a "fashion bimbo" by those who do not know her.[13] According to Cassie, Rachel had a model's body[14] and was willowy,[33] and both Jake and Marco described her as looking like a supermodel.[6][27] Cassie also remarked that Rachel looked like cover girls from women's fashion magazines, and that she had flawless complexion with perfect teeth.[13] She wore light makeup, and was known for always wearing fashionable or stylish clothes.[13] She did not typically wear earrings, although she briefly wore a pair that her father had bought for her.[19] Rachel viewed her beauty as being an accident and remarked that her looks were not important compared to what was in her head.[1]
Relationships with the other Animorphs
Jake
Jake and Rachel, as cousins, are arguably two of the most similar Animorphs. They share not only physical resemblance, both being tall, well-built, and possessing natural leadership and strength, but they share many of the same values. Both are very brave, though Rachel's bravery borders more upon rashness, and very self-sacrificing, always considering what is best for the group and for Earth itself. They share a value of strength and honor, and both have a strong sense of morality and right and wrong, though Rachel sometimes pushes the border with her habit of violence, something that haunts both her and Jake, on occasion. Jake, being the leader he is, must do what's best for the group, and sometimes he's forced to use this dark side of Rachel to their advantage, and Rachel understands this. They share mutual respect for one another, and, though they sometimes have wild fights and disagreements, like Rachel rebelling under his leadership or Jake unable to deal with Rachel's senseless risk-taking, they are something of a dynamic duo, both in battle and out of it, and never quite lose the kinship between them, even in the hardest of times.
Despite being cousins, Rachel and Jake were not very close at the start of the series, as their families did not interact much with each other. However, Jake and Rachel both had a close friend in Cassie, and thus were acquainted with one another during and after school. After becoming Animorphs, Rachel admits that Jake is now one of her few loved ones in her life, and has admitted an attraction to him, which she refuses to pursue since they are cousins. Jake worries about Rachel the most out of all Animorphs, often pondering on Rachel's bloodthirsty and degenerative nature, while the darker side of Rachel's mind wonders on what would happen should she ever challenged Jake's leadership - however, this is a thought process she throws out towards the end of the series after she confronts David and the Crayak along with the darker side to her nature. When Rachel accepts her final mission, which they both knew would be very dangerous, Rachel tells Jake not to be overwrought by his decision, knowing full well the burden under which Jake is placed. Jake is distraught by having had to send Rachel off to kill his Yeerk-infested brother and never recovers.
Tobias
Before the start of the series Rachel and Tobias weren't friends, although they had some prior knowledge of each other. They quickly develop feelings for each other, and eventually begin a relationship and fall in love. Tobias sees the good in her, and worries about her like she's a normal girl, not the fighting machine the others sometimes think of her as. Like Rachel, Tobias is no stranger to violence and doesn't shrink from making hard decisions, although to some degree, seems to be something of an odd pacifist, refusing to take life when it isn't needed, and showing remarkable pity for his prey and even certain enemies.
Cassie
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Rachel and Cassie are best friends. However, tension develops between them over the course of the series; Cassie is increasingly wary of Rachel's darkening nature, and Rachel in turn becomes impatient with Cassie's morality.
Marco
- "Marco is Jake's best friend. He's smaller than Jake, funnier, darker, more skeptical. But his suspicious nature makes him very good at seeing beneath the surface of things. And as much as he whines and complains about the dangerous situations we get into, he's still there in the worst of the fight, still making dumb jokes."
- ―Rachel[src]
Rachel and Marco often argue, though their verbal sparring is good-natured. They are similar in terms of ruthlessness, although Marco is inherently much more calculative and strategic; a side which contrasts with her increasingly reckless nature. He is the least affected by her death, given his philosophy towards life. In Back to Before, a book where an alternate-reality is concocted by the Ellimist and the Crayak, she agrees to date him. Marco, while sharing some of Rachel's coldness and ruthlessness, is in some ways her opposite, his characteristic trait being caution and a somewhat selfish sense of automatic self-preservation, whereas Rachel is completely reckless and very self-sacrificing. However Marco is often the only person who truly understands Rachel's mindset during a group decision, and they tend to often be on the same side of an argument when it comes down to it, as much as they bicker among each other.
Ax
Ax is the Animorph that Rachel has the least affiliation with. Ax and Rachel were similar in many ways, both sharing a militant attitude towards war and combat, both valuing strength and other warrior-like qualities. In the beginning, Rachel was initially distrustful of Ax, and was quick to criticize him when he would hide things from the group, show disloyalty towards the Animorphs or disrespect for humans. Outside these situations, she was initially generally indifferent towards his existence within the group, only speaking to him when necessary. Despite this, Ax held respect towards Rachel in their early days, admiring her for being a brave warrior ready to lay her life down fighting the Yeerks; however, over the years, he became apprehensive of Rachel's bloodthirstiness and recklessness, traits he considered to be unfit for a warrior and akin to a mental illness. Despite being Animorphs for three years and fighting numerous battles together, the two rarely, if ever, interacted one-on-one.
Morphs
Books Narrated by Rachel
Trivia
- When she was thirteen, her shoe size was either a women's six[1] or a women's five.[14]
- Rachel is allergic to crocodile DNA.
- Rachel was based on Steve McQueen's character from The War Lover.[34]
- From the Anibase: "Katherine Applegate always admitted to borrowing ideas from other sources, and the split Rachel (in The Separation) idea is no different. Here's what she had to say about the idea, and also about how she was trying to develop Rachel's character: "I'd admit I stole this from the original Star Trek, except, of course, that they stole it from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was really fun to write. And I was advancing my view of Rachel as the 'warrior who comes to need war.'""
Gallery
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"Someone took a picture of me? Not cool. Do you see what I'm wearing? I'm Spandex-boy. Totally not cool."
The image gallery for Rachel may be viewed here |
References
- ↑ Since not all children receive their father's surname, Rachel's surname is unknown. One should not assume Rachel has the same last name as Jake.
- ↑ Killed by a human-Controller in polar bear morph in #54: The Beginning
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 The Visitor
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The Capture
- ↑ The Return
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The Answer
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The Beginning
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 The Invasion
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Andalite Chronicles is said to take place in 1976 and states it is 21 years before Elfangor met the Animorphs, meaning the Animorphs met Elfangor in 1997. In #53: The Answer, Jake states they were 13 when they met Elfangor, placing their year of birth c.1984.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Elfangor's Secret
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Animorphs/comments/oqx7he/cover_models/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Animorphs/comments/ou1lcf/animorphs_rachel_cover_model_ama/
- ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 11.12 11.13 11.14 11.15 11.16 11.17 The Stranger
- ↑ The Conspiracy
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 Back to Before
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 The Andalite's Gift
- ↑ The Discovery
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 The Solution
- ↑ The Exposed
- ↑ In #2, Rachel mentions having attended Melissa's 12th birthday. Melissa and Rachel are the same age, and Rachel was 13 in 1997, placing Melissa's birthday party in 1996.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 The Separation
- ↑ The Andalite Chronicles is said to take place 10 years after the 1966 Yeerk exodus of The Hork-Bajir Chronicles and 21 years before Elfangor met the Animorphs. This sets The Andalite Chronicles in 1976, which then places the events of #1: The Invasion in 1997.
- ↑ The Test
- ↑ Jake, Rachel and Marco had not yet learned how to morph clothing by the time they attacked the Yeerk Pool, which was on the same day Rachel and Marco acquired their first morphs, meaning they would've been nude when they demorphed during their escape. The graphic novel rectifies this by giving the Animorphs a day between acquiring their morphs and attacking the pool as well as adding a new scene where Rachel, Jake and Marco are confirmed to have learned how to morph clothing in the interim.
- ↑ In the reprint, Rachel instead says that the bald eagle is a national symbol. This is because the reprint, published in 2011, attempted to modernize the series for a younger generation, and the bald eagle was no longer endangered as of 2011.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 The Encounter
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 The Message
- ↑ When Ax decides to acquire the four human Animorphs, he does not share this idea with the others; instead, he puts his hand on Cassie's face and says 'With your permission.' However, before Cassie can realize what he is doing and can even consent, he begins to acquire her. The others realize he is acquiring her before Ax starts to acquire them without asking for permission. However, the rest of the series continues to treat it as if Ax had received everyone's consent before acquiring them.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 The Predator
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 In #6: The Capture, Rachel mentions that the governor would be running for President the next year. #6 was released in January 1997, meaning that the next Presidential election at the time of publication would have been in 2000. Due to the series being set from 1997-2000, with #6 being set in 1997, Rachel cannot be referring to the 2000 election; it also cannot be set in 1995 where Rachel's reference would instead be referring to the 1996 election. Therefore, Rachel's remark does not align with the timeline of the series. For this reason, the Wiki instead operates as if the governor was planning to run for President 'in the future' as opposed to 'next year.'
- ↑ In the original print of #7, Ax does not mention that it was like a religion, although when Rachel later recalls the scene, he does mention it as being a religion. This is fixed in the 2012 reprint, where Ax mentions it as a religion.
- ↑ In the original print of #7, Dan is able to enter the room despite Rachel having locked it. The 2012 reprint adds a line about Rachel unlocking the door for him to enter.
- ↑ The Change
- ↑ The Attack
- ↑ The Unknown
- ↑ Animorphs Anonymous talks to MICHAEL GRANT!
| Animorphs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Animorphs | Jake | Rachel | Tobias | Cassie | Marco | Ax | David | |
| Auxiliary Animorphs | James | Collette | Timmy | Kelly | Craig | Erica | Julio | Liam | Tricia | Jessie | Judy | Ray | |