Title: The Post-Animorphs Saga (yeah, crappy title. Good one comes w/finished story.)

Author: weetzybat

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Animorphs. I think that about covers it. Although I did make nearly all the characters involved. That was fun.

Description: After it all ended, a new world was born... There are none of the original Animorphs in this story. It is fifty years after the final battle, and a new set of characters are ready to take to the sky.

*Note*: The Andalite talk has completely baffled me. Other than using less contractions than we do, they seem about the same as humans. Also, keep in mind that this is 50 years after the End, so human gestures and expressions would probably have been picked up by the Andalites. At least, that is my excuse as to why they seem more human than they probably should.

Will somebody please tell me how to make Andalite thoughtspeech work out on FF.net? Right now I have to use (*) and I hate it! It doesn't look like Andalites are talking at all! *** (note from the future: I have fixed the thoughtspeak thing, but don't feel like removing any typing, so this will stay here.)

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*~*~*Chapter one: Prologue

Item #: 851912

Description: Thought Journal of Prince Isacor-Isthelin-Aradron,

Captain of the Oberon, recovered at crash site

Location: Hall of Records, Restricted Access,

Post-Battle era 2058 AD

Earth

Begin...

I leave this recording for those who wish to know the truth. Trentil would say I am an idiot, but I believe there are those who still know the meaning of the word. I have to believe it, or else all this has been in vain...

I suppose I should begin with a place we all know well by now: Space. Home to many, now that their worlds lie in ruin, or no longer exist. Some would say it is an evil place, and they would be half right. In fact, it is where good and evil become one and the same, united in the destruction of everything that surrounds them.

"The stars have always been here. They were here when the first Andalite raised his eyes to the night sky and wondered if there was something more. Later, in the midst of wars that killed entire races in an instant, they were a backdrop for the brilliant explosions and the cries of agony that were swallowed up in the vacuum. Even now that our worlds have gone black, they smile down on us. They know how it began."

----final history term thesis introduction by Isacor-Isthelin- Aradron

It was thinking like this that nearly got me expelled from the academy. It was beautiful words, but in a world like this there is no room for dissenters. My instructor told me that if I wanted to write poetry, I could go running to Earth with the rest of the bleeding hearted idiots who were too afraid to do their duty. I elected to stay, and have regretted it ever since. I failed the thesis, by the way.

I have been out here for seven years; fighting in this thing we'd like to call a war. There are no open battles anymore, the Yeerk army collapsed along with the Empire. Still we sit on our haunches, waiting for a confrontation that will never come, pretending we are making a difference. Were fooling ourselves, but we Andalites are good at that.

I can see the Arisths and young warriors out in the dome, talking and laughing as they eat. They can still comprehend things such as honor and loyalty. I envy them. I was like that too, once. I stood in the same place, excited, ready. There was a thrill in not knowing whether you would come back alive. Somewhere along the way death lost its appeal. It may have been when I found out about our proud, fearless leaders that could do no wrong. I had been trained to die for them, for their cause. Brainwashed, some might say. Blinded is more like it. And I made the terrible mistake of lifting the blindfold and seeing what I wasn't meant to.

The end justifies the means. This was the excuse my Captain gave when he sent the warriors under me off to die. It had been a test, to lure the rest of the Yeerk forces into the open. The gamble had cost us more than I had been willing to risk, and I finally I had to confront him, only to discover that he did not care.

I stood and watch them die! No end was worth that!

This was their duty. They were trained for this moment.

It was a slaughter. You tricked them.

And what will you do, Prince Isacor? He was irritated, as if he could not be bothered with my concerns. Will you tell their families that they did not die noble deaths? That it was meaningless? I said nothing. He knew he was right. I would not put a family through such grief only to tell them that it meant nothing. They wanted to believe that we were winning, and that the deceased had played some all-important role that had cost them their life. I would give them solace, but it was then that I lost all faith in my leaders.

Humans had talked of it for years. They said there was no way a society like ours could exist, with everyone working for the common good. I had ignored them, because they were unreliable pessimists whose own world was in disarray. What did they know about the upstanding Andalite leaders? Nothing. Or so I thought. It turns out human nature and Andalite nature are not so different.

I knew the day would come, sooner or later. The Captain would not tolerate me forever. Somehow he would find a way to dispose of me. I just hadn't anticipated how soon, or how devious his strategy would be.

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*A/N* This is my chance to explain all this craziness, so here goes! I think this is supposed to be mainly comedy, a satire of the "perfect" Andalites. Did they seem that way to you? I thought so, and I wanted to show the darker side, but in a funny, ironic way, you know? Did I succeed? Who knows, but the idea of a dysfunctional ship and crew was too good to pass up. It's like "Down Periscope", but with aliens!