My name is Matt.

   Just Matt.

   I wish I could tell you my last name or where I live.

   I wish I could, really.

   But there are a few things I can tell you. There is a war going on. Its not WW III. There are no cruise missiles or chain guns destroying things. This war is more secretive.

   I bet youre thinking, Yeah Right. Its all right. I probably would have said the same thing once.

   But dont lose hope. We are protecting Earth as best we can, we being my friends and I. We are animal morphers, teenagers given the power to morph into any animal we can touch. An Andalite prince gave us the power so that we could defend Earth.

   The enemies are the yeerks. They arent predators, but parasites. They want to enslave all humanity.

   See, theyre pretty much slugs. No arms, no legs, no face, and no sight.

   Thats why they need hosts. The yeerk slithers into your ear, and wrap itself around your brain. It reads your memories, your thoughts, it becomes you.

   Youre still there, but youre not in control any more. You want to warn people, but cant. It speaks for you, eats for you, and does your job for you.

You are helpless.

   The yeerks have a cover organization called the Sharing. Its like Boy or Girl Scouts, but coed. You go in as human, but dont come out as an Eagle Scout. You come out as a controller.

   The yeerks are the ultimate enemy.

   Its not like we dont know our enemy. Weve identified a few:

   Our assistant principal, Mr. Chapman.

   Marcos mother.

   Jakes brother, Tom.

   Anyone could be a controller. Your parents, your brothers and sisters, maybe you. 

   Thats why we have to be careful about what we say.

Now you know the facts.

   I walked to my locker. There were a lot of people crowded around. One of which was Marco. I figured he was telling some bogus story about how he got out of detention this week.

   As I turned my combination, I listened in on what he was saying.

"Wouldnt it be cool if we could all become animals. I mean, like, birds or gorillas, or he glanced at me, a cheetah."

   That was all I needed to hear. He was basically giving away our secret.

   He had said a cheetah. That was my specialty morph..

   I walked up to him and asked politely, "Marco, may I have a word with you?"

   We walked out of earshot of the others. Then I turned on him.

"What did you think you were doing? You were blowing our cover!"

   He shuddered, like hed been in a trance.

"Wha... what happened?" he asked

"You were about to tell the whole world about our ability to morph into animals."

"I was?" he asked. "I feel like I just woke up."

"Something weird is going on here. We'd better go find Jake." I said.

   As I turned around I saw, thought I saw, what looked like a fox with a moustache holding a spoon. When it saw me looking at it, it disappeared.

   The creature I saw looked like the Pokemon, Kadabra. Pokemon is Japanese for pocket monster. Its also a video game. It couldnt have been a Pokemon, or could it?

   Marco and I found Jake talking to Cassie. Since class was about to begin, I told them that we needed to have a meeting in Cassies barn.

   I should probably tell you something about my friends.

   Jake is the unofficial leader of the group. I guess we just see him as the leader.

   Marco is the comedian. He tries to make a joke whenever possible. He is also really good at getting from point A to point B.

   Rachel is the beauty queen. She could go through a hurricane, a tornado, a mudslide, and an avalanche, and come out clean, every strand of hair in place. She is also really into the fighting. If the war ended tomorrow, she would be devastated.

   Cassie is the nature nut. Her mom is a veterinarian at the Gardens. The Gardens is a zoo \ amusement park. Her father runs an animal rehab clinic in their barn. So you can see why she cares for animals.

   Then theres Tobias. He is a nothlit, or a person trapped in a morph. We can only be in a morph for two hours or were stuck. He used to be a bully magnet. Now hes the bully. He was trapped as a red-tailed hawk. He picks on mice, rabbits, and other rodents. Tobias was given his morphing power back by the Ellimist. The Ellimist is very powerful, but we really dont know much about it, or him, or whatever.

   Last is Ax. His full name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, he is an Andalite. An Andalite is sort of like a centaur, with blue fur covering its body. They have six fingers on each hand, and a powerful tail with a scythe blade on the end. They also have four eyes, two of which are on stalks. They dont have mouths, but they talk through thoughtspeak.

    Later that day, we met in Cassies barn. Tobias keeping a look out in the hayloft and Ax in human morph.(Which is a combination of all of our DNA, except Tobias, who was stuck as hawk at the time.)

   I told everyone about Marcos behavior and thinking I saw the Kadabra.

   We had Erek, the Chee, come too. The Chee are an ancient race of androids. Erek actually helped build the pyramids.

"We have heard that the yeerks are using genetics to create creatures. So your seeing a Pokemon is probably not a coincidence. Erek told us. The yeerks are using the Pokemons powers to control Marco and make him persuade people to join the Sharing."

   I should also mention that the yeerks think that were Andalite bandits hiding out on Earth.

"I feel so violated," complained Marco.

"You will be worse off if we dont stop the yeerks." I replied.

"How do you know so much about Pokemon, Matt?" asked Cassie

"I've played the game and memorized the Pokemon." I answered.

"Oh boy, we have a walking Pokedictionary." Rachel remarked.

"Pokedex." I corrected her.

   Then Tobias interrupted,<Then you can tell us what is a white ball of fur with arms,  legs, and a tail, with a pig nose?>

"That would be Mankey, dont tell me that its heading this way." I said.

<No, but it really doesnt look too friendly. Its beating up on a raccoon.> Tobias said in thought speak.

"What else can you tell us about Pokemon?" Jake asked.

"Well,There are many kinds. Electric, fire, water, plant, psychic, dragon, normal, and fighting. All Pokemon have special attacks. Mankey is a fighting type Pokemon. It evolves into Primape." I stated.

<Okay I see another. It looks like a bee, but larger with needles where hands should be.> said Tobias.

"Thats Beedrill. We'd better leave if its coming this way." I said.

<No, its getting into a fight with the Mankey.>

   All the time we had been talking Erek and Ax hadnt said a word. Then at the same time they both asked, "How can we stop them?"

   I asked if they could create a pokeball.

"A poke ball is a ball which you catch Pokemon in." I said.

   I showed them what on looked like, and they began immediately.

"What Pokemon would be good to capture?" Cassie wondered.

"All Pokemon." I answered.

"That helps," Marco and Rachel said together.

"If I had to chose certain Pokemon I would say: Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Butterfree, Pidgeot, Riachu, and Mewtwo. Then theres the secret Pokemon that the yeerks wouldnt know about." I said.

"Were done." Ax said.

   They had enough pokeballs for each of us to have six each. Except Erek who left after the pokeballs were made. The next day we had planned to go out and catch all the Pokemon we could. We figured we could use them against the yeerks. We could also morph them.

   The next day, which was Saturday, we all morphed to birds and split up. But always staying in thought speak range.

   I morphed to Golden Eagle and set off.

   Everyone wanted input on the Pokemon that they found. We all also wore belts with the pokeballs on them.

   The first to find a Pokemon was Ax. He described it as living rock. I asked him for more detail. He told me that it had only arms and a face. I told him it was a Geodude and that he should catch it. It might evolve into a Golem.

   He landed and demorphed, threw the pokeball , caught the Pokemon, remorphed and got out of there. Now we know that the pokeballs work.

  Next to find a Pokemon was Rachel. She found a big, black mass, sleeping in the meadow. I told her it was a Snorlax and wasnt worth catching. Then she found a Persian and caught it.

   I the found an Articuno, a very rare bird Pokemon, that was sleeping in a tree.

   At the end of the day  our Pokemon count looked like this:

   Ax caught a Geodude, which evolved into Graveler, an Arcanine, a Weedle, and a Farfetchd.

   I caught Articuno, a Charizard, a Wartortle, an Oddish, a Pikachu, and an Ekans.

   Cassie caught  a Ninetails, a Diglett, a Venonat, a Paras, and the Snorlax that Rachel had found.

   Jake caught a Machoke, a Pikachu, a Riachu, and a Seadra.

   Marco caught a Golduck and a Mewtwo.

   Rachel caught a Persian, a Voltorb, which evolved into Electrode, an Abra, a Dratini, and an Eevee.

   Tobias caught a Starmie, a Nidoking, a Zapdos, an Ivysaur, a Charmander, and a Sandslash.

   The Pokemon that we had caught obeyed us, and not the yeerks. Now all we had to do was strengthen our Pokemon..

   Our Pokemon battled each other and became stronger. Some evolved and some did not.

   The majority of the time I won, but I did let my opponent win sometimes.

   Now that our Pokemon were strong enough we could foil the yeerks plans. First we had to acquire our Pokemon so we could sneak inside.

"Wait," Rachel said, "Were forgetting some thing."

"What?" the rest of us asked.

"The yeerks think that were Andalites, which were not, we need morphs with hands." She pointed out. "We all need Pokemon with hands."

"So, We'll morph Pokemon with hands." Jake said.

   We morphed to our various bird of prey morphs and set of toward certain doom, as Marco would say.

   As we flew toward the genetic building, at the coordinates that Erek had given us, I trivia to keep everyones spirits up.

<Did you now that a pika is a real animal? > I asked in thoughtspeak

<I thought it was Pikachu, > Cassie replied.

<The Pokemon is, but the real creature isnt. The majority of Pokemon are created from real animals. Ekans is  snake backwards and Arbok is Kobra backwards. Although Cobra starts with a C. Meowth is for cats and Persian is a type of cat. Charmander is, char meaning fire and salamander, Charmeleon is chameleon, and Charizard is lizard. > I stated.

<Now I get it. > Jake said.

   When we got there, we landed on the roof. It was unguarded, which is unlike the yeerks. Theyd usually have ten guys with snipers up there.

   We morphed and remorphed into our various Pokemon. We figured that there would be plenty around, so wed just blend in.

   I morphed Charizard, Jake morphed Riachu, Rachel morphed Kadabra, Cassie morphed the Snorlax, Marco morphed Mewtwo, Tobias morphed Nidoking, and Ax morphed Graveler.

   Then Marco opened the door and we were in.

   All around us were many types of Pokemon. The only difference between those Pokemon and us was that we were wearing our belts with the pokeballs. We werent under the yeerks control either.

<Now where do we go from here? > asked Tobias.

<I'd say that way, >said Jake pointing down a long corridor.

   We walked until we came to a large room, filled with machinery.

   Just as we thought that we had seen every thing in that room, many Pokemon suddenly burst through the door. Following them was the only Andalite ever to be made a controller, Visser Three. He looked startled seeing his greatest enemy here.

<Ah, so the Andalite bandits finally show up. This should be interesting. Let's have a match shall we?> the Visser bellowed.

<How do you know so much about Pokemon, Visser?> Rachel asked.

<By studying the game over and over again. Might I ask you the same?> the Visser said.

<Same,> I said.

<Now, one of you face me! > the Visser yelled.

   Rachel stepped forward.

<Matt, tell me which Pokemon to use.>she pleaded.

<Okay,> I answered. 

   Visser Three was about to send out his first Pokemon.

<Charizard, Go!> he screamed.

<Rachel throws out Dragonair,> I advised.

<Go Dragonair!> she yelled.

<Charizard, flame thrower attack!> the Visser attacked

<Dragonair, Water Blast!> Rachel countered.

   The blast of water hit Charizard. It was down.

<Fine, Go Venusaur!> said the Visser.<Vine Whip now!>

   Dragonair was knocked unconscious.

<Rachel, now throw out Electrode, tell it to do Explosion.> I said.

<Electrode! Go! Explosion now.> she attacked.

   The attack knocked out both Pokemon.

   During the battle we had Marco and Ax go into the lab and stop the creation of any more Pokemon. We didnt want them to destroy the equipment, just turn it off. Then stop the yeerk control system over the Pokemon.

   But back at the battle Rachel had lost. So had Jake and Cassie. Now Tobias was battling and doing pretty well. Many of the Vissers hurt Pokemon were gathering in a group.

<Zapdos! Thunder> Tobias said. He was ruling the battle, but the Visser had numerous Pokemon.

   At last Tobias was defeated. His Pokemon were safe in their pokeballs.

<What about the last one? > Visser Three asked pointing to me.

<Mine are weak,> I said, hoping that he would be convinced.

<Then in that case> He started morphing, into something that very few people know about.

   The Visser grew a beak and feathers, and started to grow. The feathers became 3-D and turned gold, red, and green.

<Uh, Matt, what is that?> Jake asked.

<I thought they didnt know about secret Pokemon, I was wrong.>I said.

<But what is it?> asked Cassie.

<That is Houou, one of the rarest Pokemon.> I said

<Ah, so you thought I didnt know about secret Pokemon, didnt you? Yes, this is Houou. A most wonderful creature if I do say so myself. I also know about Togepi, Pikablu, and Bruno.> the Visser gloated.

<Too bad you didnt know about this!> I yelled.

<I thought all your Pokemon were weak.> said the Visser.

<I lied! Pokeballs GO!> I screamed.

   Out came my secret Pokemon, Rainer, Sappasaur, Charzilla, Flareth, and Charmewpikasappasaur.

<What are those?> the Visser yelled enraged.

<Meet my dream team, Rainer, Charzilla, Sappasaur, Flareth, and Charmewpikasappasaur.> I yelled triumphantly. <Pokemon do you special attacks, aim towards Visser Three!>

   The world around us was transformed into a special array of colors and lights. The force of the attacks sent Visser Three soaring through the Heavens.

   I knew we would see him again. He was in charge of the enslavement of the human race. He wont succeed as long as were around.

<Man, where did you get those? > Jake asked me.

<There are some advantages about knowing about Pokemon. I found these guys deep in the woods.> I said.

<CONGRATULATIONS> a voice said.

<I know that voice,> Tobias said,<It's the Ellimist.>

<YES IT IS I> the Ellimist said.

   Suddenly we were back in our original bodies. Ax and Marco were there too.

<YOU HAVE STOPPED THE YEERKS, BUT THE POKEMON ARE STILL AROUND. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO CREAT A PLACE FOR THE POKEMON TO STAY?>he asked

<Yes, > I said, < But where would they go? >

<I WILL CREATE AN ISLAND AND NAME IT KARUKA ISLAND. THERE THE POKEMON WILL LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY. >

<We will agree if we can keep the Pokemon that we've already caught> I told the great being.

<THEN SO BE IT. > He said.

   All the Pokemon around us disappeared. We knew the Pokemon were in good hands.

   We demorphed and headed for home.

< So, Matt you never did tell us what you favorite Pokemon was. > Marco asked, <What is it? Out with it man! >

<Thats easy > I said,< its Wartortle.>