For those of you who have read my other Animorph fic, "The Other One," you already know about Tsuki. Well, here's Star! Star is well... I'll just show you that. It's a potential Marco or Ax X OC pairing. Starts after book 25.

Marco

The door to my English class swung open. Chapman strode into the room. "What do you need?" Mr. Tidwell asked.

"Just showing the new girl to her first class."

I didn't see anyone at first. Chapman turned around. "Are you coming inside?"

A teenage girl strode into the room. "This is Es-" Chapman started to say.

"Star," she interrupted.

Mr. Tidwell gestured at a seat next to me. "Sit next to Marco."

She nodded, sliding into her seat. Her short black hair pulled into a spiky ponytail, black choker, red dangly earrings, all seemed to give her a sort of rebel-punk type of look. But those blue eyes, that red hoodie, they seemed to tell another story.

"Name's Marco," I said. "And no, it doesn't end with Polo."

She giggled. "Nice to meet you."

"Hey, are you new around here?"

"Yeah. Just moved in yesterday," she shrugged, giving off a casual, aloof air.

"Well, if you're not too busy unpacking, maybe I could show you around town after school?"

A few hours later, Star and I were hanging out at the mall. As it turned out, she was a foster kid, her parents had died two years ago, same as my mom. But we were avoiding the topic of parents, just enjoying the mall. I'd introduced her to Jake and Rachel and Cassie earlier. Right now, we were talking about movies.

"Oh, my god, that actor is amazing!" Star said. "Tall and dark and sexy."

"And I'm short and dark and cute," I commented.

She laughed. "This has been a lot of fun, Marco. I really-" Suddenly, she froze up. A look of sheer terror burned in her eyes.

I waved my hand in front of her face. "Star? Hey, Star, are you okay? Star!"

She blinked, looking at me. The fear was still in her eyes, but she was trying to hide it. "I... I'd better head home. It's... getting late. Mr. and Mrs. Jonas are gonna kill me if I'm out in the dark."

She stood. She calmly started to walk away for a bit. Once she thought I was out of sight, she started to run.

"What was that all about?"

I turned around. Tobias and Ax- in human morph- were standing right behind me. "I dunno. We were having such a good time, then she freaked out for no reason and ran off. I'm gonna follow her."

"Why don't we come along?" Tobias suggested.

We ran after her. She was trying to get away from everyone, her hair going from black to blond, her eyes going from pale blue to dark green. Soon she ran into the construction site. We hid behind a crumbling wall.

She fell to her knees clutching her head. "No! No, I can't change back, not yet! I'm not even close to the water. Please, help me, sis," she begged.

Another girl stepped out of nowhere, a few years older than us. She knelt next to Star. "Shh. It's okay. Trust me, I had issues my first time too. Salt water, it always helps. Jessica and Mark have a pool don't they?"

She nodded. "Why does it hurt so bad? I thought shape-shifting was supposed to be painless."

"True. It normally is. I think you're just having issues. Any strong emotions?"

Star paused. "Well, umm, there was this..."

The girl laughed. "That explains it. Fear normally triggers transormation. It's part of that whole fight-or-flight thing. Listen, this town is pretty much Controller Central. You have to get used to being around Yeerks, or you're going to have another incident like this, and I won't always be there to help you out. Are you good enough to stand?"

Star nodded. They both stood. Then a swirling blue portal opened and the girl stepped through, the portal vanishing behind her. Star looked around. Her eyes widened with the same fear as before. She started to run, when Visser Three stepped out and grabbed her.