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The Ultimate, published in 2001 and written by K.A. Applegate, is the fiftieth book in the Animorphs series. It is narrated by Cassie.

Plot summary

The book begins with the Animorphs and the rest of the inhabitants of the Hork-Bajir valley drilling and preparing for a surprise Yeerk attack. It is clear they are not ready for attack; the parents, particularly Rachel's mother, are having trouble adjusting, and the Animorphs are in disarray. Jake remains cold and distant to everyone; he no longer wants to be the one to make decisions and no longer has a clear idea about what is wrong and right. Cassie tells everyone that Jake wants a camp meeting and tells him about it mere minutes before the meeting is set to begin; Jake reluctantly agrees to have the meeting. Some of the parents express doubt about the Animorphs' actions and fail to realize the necessity of the war. The Animorphs argue that they know best, and they have experience with the Yeerks. They argue that war is the only way, and that everyone should agree to follow Jake's orders. In the end the whole camp agrees that Jake is to be the leader. Jake reluctantly accepts the burden of leader once again, seeing it as his duty because he is the only one who is capable of leading the Earth resistance.

The next morning Jake calls a meeting of just the six Animorphs and they agree that something needs to be done to increase the protection of the camp, and increase the overall size of the resistance. They are no longer in contact with the Yeerk resistance and they don't know how strong the organization is, and the information coming from the Chee seems to be very slow. They recognize that they need more than intelligence; they need a larger force and manpower. They begin discussing the possibility of adding more Animorphs, but none of them has forgotten David, the disastrous last attempt to add a member to the group. However they feel they don't have much of a choice, as the war is clearly shifting to a more open battle, and the Animorphs need more numbers. They agree to use the morphing cube to create Animorphs from disabled teenagers about their age. They decide that it would be best to use kids because they would be more likely to accept the story and are less grounded in reality, and that they ought to use disabled teenagers because the Yeerks would see them as useless host bodies and there is little chance that any of them are Controllers.

Cassie, Marco, and Jake go to a hospital to begin the recruiting. They find a ward full of candidates and it is quickly determined that a boy named James, a wheelchair user, is the leader. They convince James to join the fight and he assembles his own team of kids that he thinks would be best. Thus the auxiliary Animorphs are formed. The original Animorphs take them to the Gardens to acquire battle morphs. The Animorphs and James continue to recruit more kids from the ward and after three nights of initiation the auxiliary Animorphs numbers 17. James and two of the others are healed of their affliction by the morphing power, but many more still remain disabled. Those healed agree to pretend to remain disabled for the duration of the war, so as not to alert the Yeerks. James proves to be a natural leader. Cassie wonders how it will work that James is now in charge of a majority of the Animorphs, but Jake is in charge overall. James chooses a male lion as his battle morph, the very same morph of the ill-fated David who challenged Jake's leadership. Jake, however, is not disturbed by this coincidence, merely remarking "Good choice James."

Cassie's father overhears a conversation discussing what they have done and confronts the group about the morality of their actions. Cassie recognizes the voice as the echo of her once naive self, and flies away from her father. She realizes more than ever how much she has changed, and how much all of the Animorphs have changed. She realizes they will never be children again and haven't been children for a long time.

During a separate recruiting session at a school for the blind, the Escafil device is used to give a blind girl the morphing power. The Animorphs fail to realize that the room is under video surveillance and the Yeerks are alerted of their presence. Tom Berenson (under control of a Yeerk) arrives with a battalion of Hork-Bajir and claims the Escafil device. Cassie is able to slip away and she goes to get James and the other new Animorphs at their hospital. They arrive and go to battle to save the original Animorphs. There are several close calls and one of the new Animorphs has to demorph in order to avoid dying. Visser One arrives and morphs a monstrous tentacle creature and goes after Jake. The other Animorphs try to save him but cannot get close enough. Once the Controller Hork-Bajir frees Jake from Visser One's grasp, this proves that the Yeerk resistance movement is not dead. There are still Yeerks fighting from the inside. Jake orders the Animorphs' retreat, and Tom slips into the forest with the Escafil device and with Jake in pursuit. Cassie follows Jake. There is a confrontation between Jake and Tom in the woods, and Cassie realizes that Jake is actually prepared to kill Tom. Cassie knows that if Tom kills Jake or if Jake kills Tom she will lose Jake either way. If she lets him go through with it he will never forgive himself, and the Jake she has come to love will be gone forever. This leads to Cassie's "betrayal"; she physically stops Jake from lunging toward Tom, thereby enabling Tom's escape with the device rather that have Jake kill him and get the morphing cube back.

James and the others arrive back safely. James reports that all of his Animorphs were calm during battle, no-one was seriously injured, nobody was screaming to get out, and nobody was threatening to give up their secret. Cassie reflects that even if Jake and the rest of the original Animorphs go down, at least the resistance would go on. The book ends with Cassie questioning whether the original six Animorphs are still a team, and whether or not they can continue to endure. She remarks that they have been back at the camp twelve hours and Jake has not so much as looked at her. As the book closes she confronts Jake, and he is furious at her. She remains convinced that letting Tom get away with the morphing cube was the right thing to do.

Contributions to the series' story arc

• The auxiliary team of Animorphs is formed.
• The Yeerks come into possession of the Escafil device.

Morphs

New morphs: James — Lion, pigeon, red-tailed hawk (Tobias), peregrine falcon.

Tim/Tuan — Bobcat, pigeon, red-tailed hawk (Tobias).

Kelly — Bull, red-tailed hawk (Tobias), walrus, pigeon.

Judy — Red-tailed hawk (Tobias), pigeon, African elephant.

Julio — Grizzly bear, pigeon, red-tailed hawk (Tobias).

Collette — Crocodile, pigeon, red-tailed hawk (Tobias).

Elena — Rachel, because she was blind.

Craig — Black panther, red-tailed hawk.

Erica — Lion cub, fox, pigeon.

Jessie — Wolf, pigeon, red-tailed hawk.

Liam — Polar bear, red-tailed hawk.

Ray — Cheetah, pigeon, hammerhead shark.

Tricia — Rhinoceros, pigeon.

Andrew — Scorpion, red-tailed hawk.

Zoe — Golden eagle

Mistakes

In the battle that takes place, after Tobias gets hit by Visser One, it is stated he demorphed and remorphed. Which is impossible, seeing as he was in his natural body when he was hit.

• Animorphs books