Prologue: Marco

Disclaimer: I do not own the Animorphs but I do own Kaianaria. How to pronounce: Kai-an-nah-ri-ah. Or Kai-ana-ria. (Ria is pronounced like Bria but without the b)

Prologue: Marco

"Ram the bladeship."

The last words I heard from Jake before blackness fell upon me.

My name is Marco, as you know. You know the cute, smart one. All right, I'll shut up with the "me" talk.

Anyway, you know how Jake was telling us to ram the bladeship. We wouldn't stand a chance. We should have died. None of us should have survived. But, some of us really didn't survive. It all started after Jake gave the order and we became knocked out...

Chapter One: Tobias

I woke up nearly crushed under pieces of debris. I wiggled out of the small spot.

My name is Tobias. I am part human, part hawk and part Andalite. It was because my uncle Aximili was captured that we left Earth.

((Manderash? Santorelli? Jeane? Jake?)) I called out in thought-speak. ((Marco? Is anyone...)) I gulped. What if everyone was...? No, Tobias, don't think like that. They're around here somewhere... But where is here?

I was "standing" on grass that was covered with the debris and some kind of blue coloring...

((Manderash has not been heard of in a long time,)) A female voice stated. And it was thought-speak.

((Who are you?)) I asked. I looked around with my hawk eyes but I couldn't figure out where the girl could be.

((Who are you?)) The female repeated. Then, ((Who are you?)) again but this time it sounded like...

Me.

OK, there is no way that this girl could use my voice. If she had acquired me, the thought-speak would be her own voice. Unless somehow she got a recording of my voice just then and played it...

(("Unless somehow she got a recording of my voice just then and played it...")) The female said in my voice. ((Oh please.)) This time it was her normal voice... if she had a normal voice. ((You make the Andalites sound dumb. I'm a Shifter. An Andalite that had DNA injected into him or her and can become any individual of the same species. It's like morphing but much faster. And after a while you can become an Estreen with it. I only chose to change my voice.))

Oh. ((So who are you?)) I repeated.

((Kaianaria-Samijkos-Allyonia. And you are, Andalite cousin?)) Kaianaria replied.

((Andalite cousin?)) How did she know about...?

((I can only read present thoughts so I do not know what you are talking about. But, yes, I said Andalite cousin.)) Kaianaria clarified. (A/N: KaianariaKai, for future notice.)

((Tobias.)) I answered. No use in lying. ((Can you show yourself, Kai?))

((Kai. I like that nickname. Yes, I will come out.)) A hoof came out from behind a large tree, followed by a purple leg and so on until Kai had only her tail hidden. She saw my hawk eyes staring at her and probably read my thought about her being a Vecol- a disabled Andalite. She did the Andalite version of a scowl and stepped out all the way. And... her tail...

((What happened to your tail-blade?)) I wondered. ((I mean, if you want to...))

Kai nodded. ((I am a disgraced Andalite. They took away my second and last name but they could not erase my memory of my full name. I was a "Prince" in the military. They never expected a female to get even past the Aristh title, but I proved them wrong. Then I did a horrible deed, as did my Starfighter, Teacher and Medic. I was the Officer, so they gave me an extended punishment. My Starfighter Jernall, Teacher Margtheo, and Medic Evworth all became simply disgraced and removed of their second and last name. But they had cut off my tail-blade and when I tried to morph out of it, when I demorphed, it was still there. They caused me to become a Vecol. It was no accident.)) Up to then, she had been talking as if she had been speaking to a superior, but now there was a change in tone. She began to speak as if I was her Shorm. ((They demoted us all to Aristh. I lost my Shorms. They swore never speak to me again. Jernall and Margtheo decided to reenlist in the military quickly after but Evworth waited for one year before he reenlisted as a Medic. I, on the other hand, decided to never reenlist. I would not risk running into them again. But they still kept on calling me Aristh Kaianaria, instead of removing the title since I wasn't in the military anymore.)) She turned and rubbed the tree, sighing. ((I found a friend in you, Tobias, though we barely met each other half an hour ago. You let me babble on about my past and listened. I would be proud to call you a Shorm, but then, the same thing that happened between me and my past Shorms may happen between us.)) She sounded like she was about to cry- that is, if Andalites could cry.

I morphed human and walked to her, resting a hand on one of her shoulders. "I wouldn't care. They probably let their pride get in the way of their friendship. I'm sure that they called their friendship off for something silly."

((You don't understand,)) Kaianaria said, shifting into a human girl that had brown hair, brown eyes, dark skin, and was just a little shorter than my human morph - the morph aged too- then grabbed me. "They- we- killed an entire fighter of Andalites. The punishment for murdering an Andalite is death. They changed the punishment of death, even though we killed twenty; they only disgraced us for it was because the Andalites wanted to rape me. They killed five Andalites each for me just because the Prince and several of the Arisths wanted to..."

"Shh, shh. It's OK," I whispered, smoothing her hair. But how can you say it's OK to a person who had done a crime like that?