Ax's New Friend

Ax's New Friend

* Disclaimer: Animorphs belongs to Scholastic and K. A. Applegate. The Magic shop

belongs to Bruce Coville. I am not making any money.

My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. I am an Andalite arsith. If you are reading this,

then you probably already know about the Yeerk invasion and the Animorphs. I am the

only one of my species on earth that is free. As the humans would say, do not get me

wrong, my human friends, Tobias, Prince Jake, Cassie, Rachel and Marco have been very

good to me. I consider Tobias, my nephew, to be my shorm. I just wish that I had a friend

who would not act as if it was something amazing for me to describe mass extrusion in

zero-space.

There is another human saying. Be careful what you wish for.

Tobias and I had decided to go to the mall after flying that day. We were going to

get humanity's greatest creation, the cinnabun. To do this, we both had to morph to

human. We decided to ride the bus to the mall, go into a "dressing room"( a place where

humans change their artificial skin) to demorph and remorph. Once there, we left the

"dressing room" and headed to where the many wonderful eating places were located.

Tobias and I went walking after we had the cinnabuns, because Tobias wanted to see if

there was a new version of Doom out. (Humans are the only species that I know of that

would actually go looking for 'doom'.)

I stood outside the store where they sold the primitive electronics and tried not to

get bored. I was using napkin to wipe off my face (Rachel has often stressed to me the

importance of not walking around with frosting on my face) when I saw something

peculiar, even by human standards.

A magic shop. The name of the store was Elives' Magic Supplies.

Andalites do not believe in magic. I found it amusing that some humans did. So,

after throwing away my napkins (making sure to put them in the trash can, a point that

Marco was most adamant about), I went inside.

Inside I found many of the supplies that I had seen on my television that human

magicians use. I thought, if humans had more then two eyes, they wouldn't be fooled by

such ridiculous tricks. But I had to admit that the shop had an astonishing variety of

inventory. There was a variety of human head coverings (hats), lengths of brightly

colored fabric, different types of animals, which even Cassie would say were well cared

for. There was a something called the Skull of Truth, different rings, and a beautiful

sphere that swirled with iridescence. I was, forgive my attempt at a human style joke,

'bespelled' by it.

Andalites are not normally the type to covet objects. I am not a Skrit Na. But I

*wanted* that sphere. I started to look for the owner. I found him at a counter made of

transparent material, which he was rubbing with a patch of fabric." Excuse, ex-ex, excuse

me, sir. Ir. Is that sphere, fere, sa Ph ere, for sale?"

"Hmm? That over there?" said the white-haired human. I nodded, an affirmative

human gesture. The old man said," You don't want it."

"How do you know that?" I asked, confused. In my experience, a human will try

to get you to by objects you do not want, not the other way around.

"It's my business."

"I thought your business was running a magic shop."

"Huh? Do you take things that literally, kid?"

"No, but may I at least get a closer look at the sphere?"

"Your looking at it right now, isn't that enough? Do you have any idea what that

is?"

"A human form of entertainment?"

Mr. Elives, whom I assumed I was talking to, said, "Never mind."

"What is it, then?"

The old man sighed, and then knelt and opened a wooden drawer at the bottom of

a cabinet. It was filled with boxes of all sizes and colors. He pulled out one that was the

same shade of blue as the morphing cube my brother used to give my friends the

morphing power. Mr. Elives picked up the sphere and placed it in the box, very, very

gently. He then placed the box in front of me.

I felt my human hands become sweaty with nervousness. Something strange

tickled the back of my mind. I gently picked it up with my clumsy human fingers. The

old man moved as if to stop me, then dropped his hands and shrugged.

I brought the sphere up to my face and smiled. I wanted it more than ever. The

warmth of it soaked into my hand.

The old man looked puzzled. He carefully took the sphere from me and held it to

his face. He seemed oddly worried. Then he sighed and shook his head.

"Do you have a quarter?" he asked.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, young arsith, do you have a quarter? You may have it for a quarter." He

snapped.

"I thought you said I didn't want it."

The old man looked directly into my eyes.

"You don't," he whispered. "It wants you."

I began to wonder about the state of this human's sanity.

The old man held out his hand. "Now, young cadet, give me the quarter."

I reached into the pockets of my artificial skin and found the change from the

money Tobias and I had used to get the cinnamon buns. I was carrying the money

because Tobias said he wasn't going to be seen buying cinnibuns with me. I still wonder

at his meaning.

I found the quarter. A quarter is a flat disk of metal that humans place value on.

Mr. Elives took the quarter. "Stand still," he ordered. "I have to get something."

I stood still. I don't think I could have moved if I had tried. I still don't know how

long I stood there before the old man returned carrying a yellow piece of paper, which he

folded up and placed carefully inside the box. He handed the box to me and grabbed my

shoulders. His gaze seemed to penetrate inside my mind.

"Follow the instructions exactly," he whispered. " And for Ishtar's sake, be

careful, or you'll have me to answer to!"

At that moment, I was more afraid of this strange old man than I had ever been of

Visser 3.

I walked out the door.

"Hey, Ax-man, where have you been? I lost you after the game store," said

Tobias as he walked up to me.

"I was in the magic store," I said, pointing back behind me.

"What store?" said Tobias, looking confused.

Back behind me, there was nothing but a blank wall. I was getting more confused

by the second. "But I was sure…" I started to wonder if I had imagined the whole thing.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Tobias.

I looked down at the box cradled in the crook of my arm. No, I realized. It had

been no daydream.

"It is a colorful sphere that I exchanged for a quarter at the magic store. I went in,

saw it, and I had to have it."

"A quarter, eh? May I see it? May be you found something valuable… or you got

ripped off." I handed him the box. He opened the lid, and gasped as he saw the swirling

colors on its surface.

"Nope. You did not get ripped off. Let's get back to your place, 'cause I want this

safe."

Both of us were careful to demorph and remorph again before riding the bus back

to Cassie's neighborhood. There was no way that we were going to take the risk

damaging the sphere by flying.

Once we got back to my scoop, I reopened the box to see what the paper that Mr.

Elives had given me said. When I had it unfolded, I blinked all my eyes in surprise. A

picture of a large reptiloid was drawn across the top of the page. A burst of fire coming

from the reptile's mouth separated into letters that said, "HOW TO HATCH A

DRAGON'S EGG." I had never heard of such a creature before.

Tobias, what is a dragon? I asked.

It is a giant fire-breathing lizard from Earth myths. Why do you want to know?

It seems that I have one of their eggs.

What? Dragons don't exist, Ax. This guy really took you for a loop, you know

that? said Tobias. He flew over to me and stared at me, then the sphere.

He did not take me anywhere. I said. I lifted the sphere out of the box to get

another look at it. I started in surprise. It was much warmer than before!

I gasped a memory came back. He had called me an aristh! I began reading the

paper, hoping to find an answer to this mystery.

HOW TO HATCH A DRAGONS EGG

The egg you have just purchase has already gone through a long aging process. It now

needs but two things to be ready to hatch- the light of a full moon, and the words of a true

friend.

To quicken the egg, take it outside at midnight on the night of the first full moon. Lift it

to the moonlight and whisper:

Full moon's light to wake the egg,

Full moon's light to hatch it;

Midsummer Night will crack the world,

But St. John's Day will patch it.

Expose the egg to the moonlight for at least three earth hours, then await the results.

You have been entrusted with a very special creature, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. Treat it

with care, for its safety depends upon your willingness to follow these instructions

exactly.

It goes without saying that secrecy is essential.

Good hatching!

-S.H. Elives

I felt all my fur stand on end. How had that man known my name, especially in human

morph? I showed the paper to Tobias. He said shakily,We need to call a meeting.

That evening we met in Cassie's barn the way we usually do when a meeting is called.

"You mean we are having a meeting because Ax went into a magic shop? Does this mean

that Ax has found a way to make Visser 3 disappear?" asked Marco, using the mouth

sounds for sarcasm.

"Yeah, when you put it that way, this does sound a little weird," said Cassie.

Tobias and I explained the best we could what had happened today. When we got to the

part about the egg, they all seemed incredulous. Then, when we told them about Mr.

Elives knowing my real name, they all got worried. I couldn't blame them, because I was

worried myself.

"Can we see this egg?" asked Prince Jake.

Of course, I said a little reluctantly. It was my egg, I found myself thinking. Mine. I

wasn't going to let anyone damage it. Huh? What am I thinking? This person could be a

Controller…

I handed the egg to Prince Jake. He looked at it, then handed it to the others. All were as

entranced by it as I had been.

I told them about the directions for hatching.

"Are you going to do it?" asked Rachel. "I mean, it could be just some strange joke by

the Ellimist or something, but what if it hatches a real, live dragon? Don't they, like, eat

people?"

I don't know

Not all dragons are bad guys, said Tobias.

I want to try to hatch it, I said, surprising even myself.

The rest of the Animorphs looked at each other, and Cassie said, "Can we come?"

First we need to find out about the date for the full moon. Cassie went into her

house to look at the calendar. She said the next full moon was tonight. We all made plans

to meet at my scoop at eleven forty-five to watch the hatching. We had about 6 hours to

wait.

Tobias and I returned to the forest, talking about the possibilities around the egg. I

carefully placed the egg inside my scoop, and went to graze. I found myself wondering

about what a dragon was like. My friends had talked like they were evil. For some

reason, I was sure that my dragon wasn't. I decided to go to the library.

Libraries are repositories of human knowledge. Many books and primitive

computers are there. There is a local one within bus distance, so I asked Tobias to come

with me to help me find out more about dragons.

We arrived and got the computers to try to find books on the subject of dragons. We fond

many, but all were either stories, or about how to kill them.

I take it that dragons are considered very dangerous.

In frustration, Tobias and I went to the information desk. The librarian there is not

what is considered the norm for librarians. She was young, and was smiling with her

mouth when we asked her for help.

We arrived and got the computers to try to find books on the subject of dragons. We fond

many, but all were either stories, or about how to kill them.

I take it that dragons are considered very dangerous.

In frustration, Tobias and I went to the information desk. The librarian there is not

what is considered the norm for librarians. She was young, and was smiling with her

mouth when we asked her for help.

"What are you looking for?" she asked.

"Um, my friend here is very interested in mythology. We are trying to find

information on dragons," mumbled Tobias.

"Have you checked out the card catalog?"

"Yes, but all it has are books that are either fiction, or talk about killing them. We

need something about…" Tobias trailed off.

"We are looking for information on the care and feeding of a young dragon," I

interrupted. "It is for a school project."

Her eyebrows went up at that. "Hmm. I do believe that I can help you."

She reached behind her desk and pulled out an old, worn book. The cover was

battered, and the pages were cut at the edges.

"Here. This out to be very helpful."

We left the library, careful to leave before morph time was up, and morphed in a

restroom. I do not understand the term rest room. You can rest in any room, correct? As

we rode the bus back out to Cassie's, I flipped through the pages of the book the librarian

had given us. I stopped at the cover page, when I saw the name of the author. E. S.

Elives. "Tobias! Look!" I said, handing him the book. His eyes bulged when he saw the

name.

We had calmed down by the time we returned to my scoop. After we returned, we

went through all the material we had found. Most of it was very interesting. I was getting

to see a part of Earth culture that I had never seen before.

11:55 p.m.

We had all gathered at my scoop to watch to see what would happen to the egg.

The directions said that the words had to be spoken "out loud". I decided to morph to

human, so that I could say the words. We had all agreed that I should be the one to speak

it, because I was the one who owned the egg.

"How do we know when it's midnight?" asked Marco.

"My time sense will tell me," I said with my human voice.

It was nearly time. I took a deep breath, and whispered:

"Full moon's light to wake the egg, full moon's light to hatch it; Midsummer Night will

crack the world, and St. John's Day will patch it."

We all waited, a bit breathlessly.

"Well, what did we expect?" said Rachel. "The directions said we have to wait three

hours. We can take turns watching it, while the rest off us go to Ax's scoop to watch T.

V."

That was how the night went.

After three hours, it was my turn to watch. I looked at the egg, and saw that the colors

were swirling furiously. I touched the egg, and found that it was so warm that it nearly

scorched my hand.

Everyone! Tobias, Prince Jake, something is happening! I exclaimed.

We all gathered around as the egg cracked in my cupped hands. Up until then I

had not truly believed that this egg would give birth to a creature from Earth myth, but

the animal in my hand that struggled free of its shell could be nothing else. I felt a shaft

of warm light seem to trickle, then surge through my mind. The little creature struggled

to lift and fill its wings. When it finally did, I felt a surge of triumph as keen as the first

time I had ever beaten anyone at tail fighting.

Around me, my human friends went ooh, and ahh. They all were amazed that I

now had a real dragon. A dragon; my dragon. It was a beautiful shade of green; emerald

was the word that came to mind. The webs of its bat-like wings were a delicate green-

gold. It opened its eyes and gave a pitieos cry. I felt a pang of hunger so strong that my

knees nearly buckled.

Food, I said. It needs food.

"Well, what do we feed it?" exclaimed Cassie.

I don't know!

"Where are those directions? May be they say something about it!" shouted

Prince Jake.

I went over to the box where the directions were. I do not remember if they

did…What! I shouted, because now the paper said THE CARE AND FEEDING OF

DRAGONS.

"What's it say?" asked Cassie.

I read the paper to her.

Got it. said Rachel, in owl morph. She ghosted away, on silent wings.

I picked up the little dragon. We need to give it a name. What should we name

you, little one?

I got a feeling of blankness, of not knowing from the dragon.

We all tried names, coming up with as many as we could, until Tobias, the only

one who had been silent, said, I have a name. How about Loren?

I got a feeling of pleasure, of bright, happy colors from its, no, Loren's, mind. Oh,

it is a she.

Rachel came back with a dead rabbit. As Loren ate, I said what the rest of us were

thinking.

Welcome to the world, Loren.

Tell me what you think, already!