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The Reaction (Animorphs)
Encyclopedia
The Reaction is the twelfth book in the Animorphs
series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is narrated by Rachel
.
to zoo at The Gardens. At the crocodile enclosure, the girls witness a young boy fall in. Rachel bravely jumps into the pit after him to rescue him. Out of sight of the other zoo-goers, she acquires and morphs a saltwater crocodile
, and carries the boy to safety. The boy is hailed a hero, while a disgruntled Rachel becomes known as "the girl who fell in the crocodile pit".
At a meeting later in the barn, Jake derides Rachel for taking such a foolish risk. The Animorphs then focus on their latest news: An actor
named Jeremy Jason McCole, a teen heart-throb on a fictional TV show called Power House, has become a new spokesman for The Sharing. The Animorphs fear this could make thousands of teenage girls join The Sharing, and decide to try and stop it from happening.
That night, Rachel looks up information on McCole on the Internet
. Suddenly, she finds herself morphing involuntarily into the crocodile, subsequently morphing directly into a fly
- without needing to return to human form, a clear violation of traditional morphing 'rules'- and then into an elephant
. Her floor collapses under her weight, and crashes into the kitchen. Fortunately, her two sisters were not in the room. Once again, Rachel makes a media spectacle of herself, now "the girl who fell in the crocodile pit" and the "girl who had her house fall on her". She meets up with her father (a reporter), and he takes her to his hotel. Rachel asks Dan, her father, to get her on the Barry and Cindy Sue Show, as McCole will also be on this show.
Rachel tells Cassie what really happened, but pleads with her not to tell Jake, because he will remove her from the mission. Cassie agrees, but warns her that they will have to ask Ax about uncontrollable morphing. Things become even more problematic when Rachel is called to Chapman's office- Chapman feeling that the potentially suicidal Rachel might make a good candidate for the Sharing- and she is barely able to stop herself from morphing into a grizzly bear (Fortunately she manages to keep the morph contained to her feet, passing them off as new boots).
The next day the Animorphs spy out McCole's yacht in seagull morph, and find that Visser Three
is there in his human morph. McCole is telling the Visser he wishes to become a voluntary Controller, as he is sick of being a teen heart-throb. Rachel becomes angry at him, but suddenly finds herself morphing straight from seagull to elephant, then ant, and then crocodile. Visser Three is alerted, and morphs a "Lebtin javelin fish". The other Animorphs morph dolphins to try to protect Rachel, and the Visser is thwarted when Rachel uses her powerful crocodile jaws to bite through the alien fish's soft skin. They quickly escape the scene.
Back at the barn, Ax diagnoses Rachel's condition. She is allergic to crocodile DNA, which explains her involuntary morphing (which only happens when she is emotionally stressed or otherwise excited). Ax tells her that she needs to expel a full, live crocodile, a process known as hereth illint
, roughly "DNA burping" in English. Jake pulls Rachel off the mission until she undergoes the process; however, she lies to him and Cassie the next day, pretending that it occurred that night.
The next day Rachel is scheduled to be on the Barry and Cindy Sue Show. She takes Cassie with her in human form, while the other Animorphs infiltrate the studio as insects, Marco later posing as a llama
. To avoid any complications if Rachel is called upon while 'burping' the crocodile, Cassie acquires her DNA to replace Rachel if the need arises. Rachel and Cassie meet McCole in the dressing room. Also on the show that day is Bart Jacobs, an animal handler. Rachel gets nervous, and the real hereth illint begins. Cassie rushes her to the bathroom, and Rachel 'vomits' the crocodile there. As the crocodile attacks her, she morphs to grizzly bear to defend herself. While Rachel does this, Cassie morphs a squirrel in another stall (She claims to have been unable to think of anything else). The new crocodile becomes wild and runs onto the stage with Rachel and Cassie, causing great commotion with the cast and the audience. Cassie is flung off-stage, where she later turns out all the lights. The crocodile tries to attack Jeremy McCole, and the Animorphs are unable to match the crocodile's sheer power and armored scales, until Ax decapitates it with his tail. This is not seen as everything is dark. Rachel steps on McCole's Yeerk, which tried to escape its host when the crocodile nearly ate him.
Rachel later sees one of the producers speaking to Cassie (who has morphed Rachel) backstage. He suspects she may be one of the "Andalite bandits," but Cassie manages to convince him otherwise; when he calls after her "Andalite" in an attempt to catch her off-guard, Cassie simply replies "Yeah, a light would be helpful, too."
The mission to stop McCole is a success, as the young actor retreats to Uzbekistan
, a sparsely populated country of deserts and plains - far away from Yeerks and crocodiles. The Animorphs finish the book by watching Xena: Warrior Princess
in Rachel's hotel room.
Animorphs
Animorphs is an English language science fiction series of young adult books written by K. A. Applegate and published by Scholastic. Five humans, Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias, and one alien, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill , obtain the ability to morph into any animal they touch. They name...
series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is narrated by Rachel
Rachel (Animorphs)
Rachel is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series Animorphs. Her full name is never explicitly mentioned in the books, but her relation to her cousin Jake Berenson through their fathers makes it most likely to be Rachel Berenson, if it was never changed or hyphenated.-Biography:Before the...
.
Plot summary
Rachel and Cassie are on a school field tripField trip
A field trip or excursion, known as school trip in the UK and school tour in Ireland, is a journey by a group of people to a place away from their normal environment...
to zoo at The Gardens. At the crocodile enclosure, the girls witness a young boy fall in. Rachel bravely jumps into the pit after him to rescue him. Out of sight of the other zoo-goers, she acquires and morphs a saltwater crocodile
Saltwater Crocodile
The saltwater crocodile, also known as estuarine or Indo-Pacific crocodile, is the largest of all living reptiles...
, and carries the boy to safety. The boy is hailed a hero, while a disgruntled Rachel becomes known as "the girl who fell in the crocodile pit".
At a meeting later in the barn, Jake derides Rachel for taking such a foolish risk. The Animorphs then focus on their latest news: An actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
named Jeremy Jason McCole, a teen heart-throb on a fictional TV show called Power House, has become a new spokesman for The Sharing. The Animorphs fear this could make thousands of teenage girls join The Sharing, and decide to try and stop it from happening.
That night, Rachel looks up information on McCole on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Suddenly, she finds herself morphing involuntarily into the crocodile, subsequently morphing directly into a fly
Housefly
The housefly , Musca domestica, is a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha...
- without needing to return to human form, a clear violation of traditional morphing 'rules'- and then into an elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
. Her floor collapses under her weight, and crashes into the kitchen. Fortunately, her two sisters were not in the room. Once again, Rachel makes a media spectacle of herself, now "the girl who fell in the crocodile pit" and the "girl who had her house fall on her". She meets up with her father (a reporter), and he takes her to his hotel. Rachel asks Dan, her father, to get her on the Barry and Cindy Sue Show, as McCole will also be on this show.
Rachel tells Cassie what really happened, but pleads with her not to tell Jake, because he will remove her from the mission. Cassie agrees, but warns her that they will have to ask Ax about uncontrollable morphing. Things become even more problematic when Rachel is called to Chapman's office- Chapman feeling that the potentially suicidal Rachel might make a good candidate for the Sharing- and she is barely able to stop herself from morphing into a grizzly bear (Fortunately she manages to keep the morph contained to her feet, passing them off as new boots).
The next day the Animorphs spy out McCole's yacht in seagull morph, and find that Visser Three
Visser Three
Visser Three, born as Esplin 9466 Primary and later known as Visser One, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the sci-fi book series Animorphs, written by K.A. Applegate. He is the leader of the Yeerk forces on Earth, having inherited the planet from Edriss 562, who was Visser One at...
is there in his human morph. McCole is telling the Visser he wishes to become a voluntary Controller, as he is sick of being a teen heart-throb. Rachel becomes angry at him, but suddenly finds herself morphing straight from seagull to elephant, then ant, and then crocodile. Visser Three is alerted, and morphs a "Lebtin javelin fish". The other Animorphs morph dolphins to try to protect Rachel, and the Visser is thwarted when Rachel uses her powerful crocodile jaws to bite through the alien fish's soft skin. They quickly escape the scene.
Back at the barn, Ax diagnoses Rachel's condition. She is allergic to crocodile DNA, which explains her involuntary morphing (which only happens when she is emotionally stressed or otherwise excited). Ax tells her that she needs to expel a full, live crocodile, a process known as hereth illint
Andalite terminology
A compilation of Andalite terminology used throughout the Animorphs series.*Andalite Homeworld: The name of the native planet of the Andalites is not given in the series, and is simply referred to as the Andalite homeworld. It possesses more than one sun, which gives its sky a red-gold hue, and the...
, roughly "DNA burping" in English. Jake pulls Rachel off the mission until she undergoes the process; however, she lies to him and Cassie the next day, pretending that it occurred that night.
The next day Rachel is scheduled to be on the Barry and Cindy Sue Show. She takes Cassie with her in human form, while the other Animorphs infiltrate the studio as insects, Marco later posing as a llama
Llama
The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....
. To avoid any complications if Rachel is called upon while 'burping' the crocodile, Cassie acquires her DNA to replace Rachel if the need arises. Rachel and Cassie meet McCole in the dressing room. Also on the show that day is Bart Jacobs, an animal handler. Rachel gets nervous, and the real hereth illint begins. Cassie rushes her to the bathroom, and Rachel 'vomits' the crocodile there. As the crocodile attacks her, she morphs to grizzly bear to defend herself. While Rachel does this, Cassie morphs a squirrel in another stall (She claims to have been unable to think of anything else). The new crocodile becomes wild and runs onto the stage with Rachel and Cassie, causing great commotion with the cast and the audience. Cassie is flung off-stage, where she later turns out all the lights. The crocodile tries to attack Jeremy McCole, and the Animorphs are unable to match the crocodile's sheer power and armored scales, until Ax decapitates it with his tail. This is not seen as everything is dark. Rachel steps on McCole's Yeerk, which tried to escape its host when the crocodile nearly ate him.
Rachel later sees one of the producers speaking to Cassie (who has morphed Rachel) backstage. He suspects she may be one of the "Andalite bandits," but Cassie manages to convince him otherwise; when he calls after her "Andalite" in an attempt to catch her off-guard, Cassie simply replies "Yeah, a light would be helpful, too."
The mission to stop McCole is a success, as the young actor retreats to Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
, a sparsely populated country of deserts and plains - far away from Yeerks and crocodiles. The Animorphs finish the book by watching Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....
in Rachel's hotel room.
Morphs
| Morpher | Morphs acquired | Morphs used |
|---|---|---|
| Jake Jake Berenson Jake Berenson is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists from the science-fiction book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate. Until the penultimate book of the series, his last name was never revealed, and he was known only as Jake... |
-- | Seagull, Dolphin Dolphin Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating... , Cockroach Cockroach Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations... |
| Rachel Rachel (Animorphs) Rachel is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series Animorphs. Her full name is never explicitly mentioned in the books, but her relation to her cousin Jake Berenson through their fathers makes it most likely to be Rachel Berenson, if it was never changed or hyphenated.-Biography:Before the... |
Crocodile Crocodile A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e... (unusable after hereth illint Andalite terminology A compilation of Andalite terminology used throughout the Animorphs series.*Andalite Homeworld: The name of the native planet of the Andalites is not given in the series, and is simply referred to as the Andalite homeworld. It possesses more than one sun, which gives its sky a red-gold hue, and the... ) |
Crocodile, Housefly Housefly The housefly , Musca domestica, is a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha... , African Elephant, Grizzly Bear Grizzly Bear The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America... , Seagull, Ant Ant Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than... , Bald Eagle Bald Eagle The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle... , Wolf |
| Cassie Cassie (Animorphs) Cassie is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate. Her last name is never mentioned, although she referred to it as being "nice" in The Secret.-Biography:... |
Human Human Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus... (Rachel) |
Great Horned Owl Great Horned Owl The Great Horned Owl, , also known as the Tiger Owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas.-Description:... , Seagull, Dolphin, Squirrel Squirrel Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia... , Human (Rachel) |
| Marco Marco (Animorphs) Marco is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series, Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate. His last name is never mentioned.-Biography:... |
Llama Llama The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times.... |
Seagull, Dolphin, Housefly, Llama |
| Ax Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series Animorphs.-Biography:Aximili is a young Andalite who becomes stranded on Earth when the Andalite Dome Ship GalaxyTree is shot down by Yeerk fighters... |
-- | Northern Harrier, Tiger Shark Tiger shark The tiger sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier, is a species of requiem shark and the only member of the genus Galeocerdo. Commonly known as sea tigers, tiger sharks are relatively large macropredators, capable of attaining a length of over . It is found in many tropical and temperate waters, and is... , Housefly, Human |
| Visser Three Visser Three Visser Three, born as Esplin 9466 Primary and later known as Visser One, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the sci-fi book series Animorphs, written by K.A. Applegate. He is the leader of the Yeerk forces on Earth, having inherited the planet from Edriss 562, who was Visser One at... |
-- | Human, Lebtin Javelin Fish |
Allusions
- The character Jeremy Jason McCole is a parody of Jonathan Taylor ThomasJonathan Taylor ThomasJonathan Taylor Thomas is an American actor, voice actor, former child star, and teen idol...
, and the Barry and Cindy Sue Show is modeled after Live with Regis and Kathy Lee. - This story was used as an Animorphs TV episode (given the same title and using the same animal, the crocodile) but the episode had Cassie allergic to the morph rather than Rachel in the books; also, the allergy simply caused Cassie to morph randomly between her human and crocodile morph, rather than the random transformation from one morph to another that was demonstrated in the book.
- Cassie's mom (Michelle) thinks Cassie is interested in a number of musical groups: The Fudgies, Snoopy Diggity DogSnoop DoggCalvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
, Boys Eleven MenBoyz II MenBoyz II Men is an American R&B vocal group best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are the most successful R&B group of all time, having sold more than albums worldwide. In the 1990s, Boyz II Men found fame on Motown Records as a quartet, but original member Michael McCary...
, and Nice Is NeatNine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
. - In this book Cassie mentions that she told her mother NIN stood for 'Nice Is Neat', so she could get the new Nine Inch NailsNine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
CD. However, in real life NIN hadn't released an albumThe Downward SpiralThe Downward Spiral is the second studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released March 8, 1994, on Interscope Records. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his climactic attempt at suicide...
since 1994 at that point.