Chapter 1
Prepare for return to normal space, Captain Nerefir said in thought-speak.
I, Raeolin-Ashul-Tallien, was on the battle bridge with the other full warriors, the princes, the captain, my freinds, and the one aristh on the dome ship Galaxy Tree, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. Personally, I was not one to care so much about him. Any aristh, even one who's Elfangor-Sirinal-Shamtul's brother, doesn't mean much. Except for the fact he ran into the Captain so hard once, he ended up bruising one of his eye stalks. I realize it was an accident on his part, but still, it's not the best idea to go around doing that.
I was working at the sensor station. To my left was Tashe-Kelane-Farleen. My shorm during the entire war. A warrior, same as I was. We were waiting for any signals, when we heard something slightly interesting.
Is that Earth? It was Aximili. I didn't realize there was so much water. Can you get old Hoof and Tail to let me go down there with you? I took a quick look at him with one stalk eye. That is not how you call the captain when he's listening!
Aximili, shut up! yelled Elfangor. I snickered silently to myself.
At least he's getting what he deserves. I signaled to Tashe. Many of the warriors chatted amid themselves at the battle bridge, but they use hand signals to avoid the jumbling of thought speak.
What do you expect from that aristh? he replied. He did have a point. Although I did feel some pity to Aximili. For the trouble he was going to get into.
Old Hoof and Tail, eh? spoke the Captain. Is that what they call me?
Not all of us., I signaled back to Tashe. Both of my stalk eyes we now on the conversation.
I'm sure this aristh didn't mean any disrepect.said Elfangor. That got a smile out of the both of us.
Ah, It's the ruffian. the wild brat that knocked me over. Old Hoof and Tail , is it? I kind of like the name. The captain winked one eye at Elfangor. I suppose we'll have to let the ruffian live. That got another smile out of the both of us.
My spirits sank almost immediatly after. Yeerks! We have a Yeerk mother ship in orbit over the planet! I cried.
There're launching fighters! I count twelve Yeerk Bug fighters,exclaimed Tashe, They're on an intercept course. They'll be in firing range in twelve earth minutes.
Nerefir signaled in Elfangor's direction. He quickly turned to me. You two. Go out there with Elfangor.
Chapter 2
I
am Raeolin- Ashul- Tallien.I suppose part of the story I tell will be known by other Andalites. I mean, this is an invasion that will go down in pure infamy. But the whole truth will not be told. I suppose that's a good thing.
I probably should explain. We Andalites are locked in a deadly war against the Yeerk empire. Yeerks are a parasidic speicies that lives within other species. They have complete control of their host's mind. Complete and utter control. They can live their host's life flawlessly, and entice others to defect. To become controllers. That's what you call an infested host.
Yet there is one weakness. Every three Earth days, the Yeerk must leave its host in order to feed on Kandrona rays sent by a Kandrona wave/particle generator.
We Andalites stand alone in this war and are being spread thin by the Yeerks. but we have two strengths that allow us to survive this war. One is the fact we are more technologically advanced than the Yeerks. The second is a power to slip through planets and Yeerk posts unnoticed.
The power to morph. The power to become any animal we touch and acquire. I never have personally had to do this in my services, but we are morph-capable.
I had... well, I stilll have some freinds on the dome ship Galaxy Tree. There is Tashe, whom I already told about. Casten-Tellon- Harelin, one of my other teammates, and Jekkal- Corlen- Fahlo, one of the new integrated female officers. I have affections for her, but I never have revealed it. In obvious fashions, anyway.
The people have just allowed for more females to recruit into the army. At the amounts of soldiers needed, it became the only logical solution.
But that was not the most important item in my mind.
We ran down ot the dropshafts where a phalanx of warriors were streaming down the dropshafts to the fighter bays. We quickly found our model thirty-four and entered.
Raeolin, take the helm. Tashe told me.
I quickly loaded myself into the cockpit and within a few minutes, we had left the dome ship.
The raged around us. Andalite shredders burned Bug fighters. Dracon beams hit Andalite fighters. It was is if a laser hologram had a virus so that it did not make any three-dimensional symbols.
We were directly over the planet between it and its moon's orbit. A that point it looked as if we may win this battle and stop the invasion of Earth. Until I spotted its silhouette against the moon.
A blade ship.
Chapter 3
A visser's blade ship!It was the turning point in the battle. The ship looked like a twisted battle-ax with a triangular point on the end of the shaft.That was the battle bridge. The ship was fast and manuverable. Too fast!
A dracon beam glanced off the left engine. That was close!Tashe said.
Elfangor, come in! We need help! Quickly!
I can't, he cried, I'm hurt too badly. Go down to the planet. You are ... of no use ... here.
We won't leave you. I responded, out of pure desperation.
Go!
I turned the engines toward the planet. I glanced out and saw the dome ship break apart . It needed to be able to fight. That was my hope. If the dome ship ....
I saw the beam from the blade ship.
No! I heard the silent cry from one of the other fighters. I never learned who it was. It did not matter.
The ship was blown apart. A hundered Andalites destroyed in one blast. That was not why I did the next move. Not out of bravery, not out of insanity, but out of total fear.
I bounded for the planet below.
Five bug fighters trailed us down into the atmosphere. The dracon beams came closer with every try.
We are not going to make it!
We have to-
By the time I said try we were no longer in earth's orbit. We were not even within the Andalite fighter. We were on our sides in what appeared to be complete green. You could not tell the ground from the air.
Wha? Where? It was probably not the most brillant comment. But I was confused.
'Who' is probably a better question.
The sound caught me off guard. It seemed deeper than thought speak, yet similar. Fine. Who, then?
An Ellimist.
An Ellimist! But it should have beeen impossible. They only existed in the fairy tales of Andalite children. The green clumped together and reformed itself to an old Andalite body, but the greenish light still lingered. We quickly jumped to our hooves.
Tashe spoke. Why are we here? Did we...
No. You see, your ship was hit and destroyed, but I was able to pull you from the fighter a few moments before the blast. It was necessary.
Necessary to do what?
To save Earth.
Chapter 4
I see. So you would put us on earth in order to stop the Yeerk advances?
Yes. But five Earth months after the battle.
Five months? Would not the Yeerks already have a substantial amount of humans?
To a degree, yes. But there has been a resistance that has slowed down the Yeerks . A band of four humans, an aristh, and one hawk.
An aristh? I said. How could he have made it?
Aximili? But we saw the dome ship...
The dome was not destroyed. Aximili survives.
Would you tell us more about this group?
Prince Elfangor broke Andalite law to give five humans the power to morph. One of them was trapped as a hawk. Later they found Axilmili, who has given benificial knowledge to the group. After that I gave the one trapped as a hawk his morphing powers back to save a couple of Hork-Bajir. The Yeerk forces belive this group to be a band of Andalite warriors. Now I will make that true.
But how?
When I saved you I also saved Casten and Jekkal. They have already been told of their mission.
Almost at that very instant they appeared over the hillside. Jekkal? Casten?
All of you know of what is to be accomplished. I will send you down and hope you can hold down the Yeerks before backup arrives.
Instantly I found a forest around us. We had been deposited near where a bird of prey was resting.
That one is Tobias. It is probably best you contact him first instead of Aximili. Since Visser Three killed Elfangor, he may think that you are him. Remember, there are only two Andalites in this section of space. You may be mistaken for either one of them.
I nodded my head and prepared for contact. Tobias?
What, Ax-ma...YIKES! He was about to fly off.
Tobias, Do not be afraid. We are not who you think we are. Jekkal spoke.
Okay. I can tell now. Just one question. Who are you?
I am Raeolin-Ashul-Tallien.This is my shorm, Tashe-Kelane-Farleen, Casten-Tellon-Harelin, and Jekkal-Corlen-Fahlo. We were sent down by an Ellimist to help you.
Why?
We are not sure. We just know we were sent to help. Casten said.
Okay. Let me get the Ax-man and bring him over here.
A half hour later a new Andalite showed up in the small clearing. His eyes seemed to grow wide in surprise, darting to Tashe, then me, then Jekkal, and finally Casten.
Let's demorph.
Chapter 5
The humans, obviously. I was surprized to hear that. Demorph from what? I did not see any other animals besides Tobias and Aximili. Until I saw specks too small to be noticed become too large to ignore.
I noticed four humans emerging from the shapes. Once I had a decent view of them, I noticed two different types of humans emerging. The first type appeared very dark and had short, black hair, while the other was light and had shoulder-length, yellowish hair. The second type was also light, but with brownish hair . The last one looked slightly darker, although not by much, and had short hair, but not as short as the first one. He also looked shorter than the others.
You probably know who we are by now. Who are you? questioned Tashe.
"I'm Jake. To my right is Marco, on my left is Rachel, and behind me is Cassie."
Fascinating, exclamied Jekkal, that such a group manages to fight the Yeerks and survive for this long.
"Yeah, we end up surprising ourselselves." exclaimed Rachel.
"Jake, this isn't good. HIding Ax was somewhat easy, but five?" spoke Marco, "We can't hide five Andalites in this forest and expect none of the Yeerks to find out."
"'Course we can. Tobias can keep track of them and make sure no one sees, and we can give them morphs so they aren't Andalites all the time." said Cassie.
Yes, that would work. I said.
"Come on. You're going to need human morphs, so you may as well get them now." exclaimed Rachel
I extended my hands out to the two females. Jekkal acquired the two males. Casten acquired Jake and Rachel, and Tashe acquired Cassie and Marco.
When can we try these morphs?
"Ax'll tell us when you've tried it and we'll have Tobias drop off the morphing suits." told Jake .
Morphing suits?
"Clothing. " he explained.
Clothing?
Most humans belive that certain areas of the body are unacceptable in public. They cover it with clothing and artificial hooves called shoes. Aximili explained into further detail.
Ah.
Later that day we tried out the new morphs. in keeping with what Aximili said about clothing, it was somewhat humiliating at the sight of it. It turned out that Casten, Tashe, and I acquired female morphs, while Jekkal had a male morph. After Tobias has delivered the morphing suits, Aximili helped us with putting them on. It was confusing. Shirts go on the upper body, and not on the feet , for example.
Near sunset, when I was back in my Andalite form, I peered out into the colored sky and contemplated. I knew up there a mother ship and a blade ship existed, and up there loomed an abomination and a threat to all free species. but now all I could do was stay down on this planet and plan to destroy it.
Chapter 6
The next day I used my human morph again to gain access into the barn without detection. I did have troubles with my new morph. For one thing, trying to walk on two legs without a tail to stand is very difficult. Another thing is that they also have no natural defenses.
The barn is where humans keep other animals besides humans. I noticed many animals that I had seen roaming through the forest, and a few I did not.
"Guys, we're going to get you new morphs and help you get used to your human ones." explained Cassie.
"How? Hao-wah?" Tashe remarked.
"It's starting already," sighed Jake,"We have to teach you not to play with every sound, and to control you when you eat in this morph."
"Why? Eye. Wuh-eye?"
"We all saw what happened with Ax the first time. We don't need a repeat." stated Marco.
"What Happened? Hap-pind?"
"He basically went crazy and acted like a ravin' lunatic."
"Ah." I said, not completely understanding. Rachel came in with a bag of something that smelled sweet. "What is that smell? Suh-mell."
"Brace yourselves. Rachel brought the cinnamon buns.," said Marco. He indicated brown, round objects covered with a white goo. "Dig in."
"Are they good?"
Relax. They taste wonderful. stated Aximili, now demorphed.
I bit into the piece given to me. Oh, how can I explain it ? My mouth savored the goo and the cinnamon. It enjoyed the warm, golden bun. "Thith ith fantathik!" I tried to say ,but I meant to say 'This is fantastic!'.
I told you so.
The rest of the day went along similarly, with learning not to stutter over our own words, trying to control our emotions when eating, and acquiring new morphs, including ones such as the seagull, the fly, a skunk, another bird called a merlin, and a female wolf.
Your planet has some very amazing animals. Jekkal stated.
"Yes, but I think you may need a few more morphs, ones you can't acquire here." Cassie announced.
Where? This area already has a stunning array.
"Cassie's right. We need to take all of you down to The Gardens and acquire stronger morphs, ones... definitely not from this area." stated Jake.
Such as?
"Lions, tigers, lepoards, polar bears, gorillas, crocodiles, anacondas, rhinosceros.. you name it."
We are going to acquire all of those? I asked in amzement.
"No, just a few." he added.
We left the barn, puzzled at what these animals might be.
Chapter 7
In the morning we headed out to The Gardens, as the humans refered to it, in seagull morph. The seagull is a bird reaching two-and-a-half feet to three feet in wing span. It is a small white bird with webbed feet and a beak that curves slightly on the end. It also is a scavenger that thrives on human garbage. I noticed that quickly.
Look! There's cheez puffs! exclaimed Jake.
Behind the KFC! Half a wing! Extra crispy! shouted Marco
Isn't that cannibalism?
C'mon, Cassie, I love extra crispy!
I do not understand. stated Casten, as confused as we were.
You wouldn't.
Rachel, be quiet. We have four Andalites, probably scared outta their minds, flung deeper into this war then they were trained for, and you have to go badmouth 'em. At least let them enjoy the flight. Probably their first time, too.
No, I explained, Some arisths, before being assigned to dome ships, will morph kafit birds for fun. I went on a flight with Tashe once.
You were not the only ones in this group. I went too. Jekkal added.
Kafit birds? Like that one the visser morphed?
The abomination? HERE?!Casten replied, I knew there was one visser, But I never...
Too bad.
We landed in The Gardens a few minutes later. It was uninhabited, and dimly lit in the area we landed. There were metal structures, poorly constructed, some almost reaching two hundred feet in the air.
The amusment area. This is not where we need to be. Cassie spoke. We flew over an artificial swamp, and to an open skylight that led in towards a series of numbered doors. where we demorphed.
"We'll have to be careful. There shouldn't be too many people in here, but if they get a good look at our boys, they'll know."
Four boys and a girl. corrected Jekkal.
"This is Serena's den," explained Cassie as she opened one of the doors, "She's had a litter, so she's been sedated heavily, and seperated from the others. I'd say it'd be easy, but watch out." I was directed to the reclining beast and her lounging cubs. It awoke. She glared at me with large, glowing eyes.
I will not hurt you. I extended my tail out so she could easily see it as I touched one hand on her forehead. She closed her eyes and lolled back to sleep as I acquired her.
"What's next, Cassie?" inquired Marco.
"I'd say down to the reptile section," stated Cassie as she shut the door of the mother's den, "Jake mentioned anacondas."
Jekkal had acquired the anaconda, Tashe had acquired a polar bear, but Casten had no morph yet.
Chapter 8
"Back here are the Florida panthers. They shouldn't be too much trouble." said Cassie as she opened up the last door . Casten entered gingerly into the algae-covered waters, looking for anything that might have reselmbled the feline. It was noticed. Very suddenly, in fact.
"Cas! behind you!" exclaimed Jake.
He flicked his tail and knocked him unconcious. Jake, I cannot be tricked so easily off guard. he pressed his tail blade down on the panther's nape as he acqiured it.
We headed home quickly into the forest where we demorphed. I had found Jekkal as she tried out some of the new morphs, including the ones she acquired yesterday. Jekkal is an estreen, and also is Cassie. An estreen is a morpher who has an artistic ability to it. Cassie, however, does not practice her morphing as Jekkal does. She uses some morphs from the home world, such as a kafit bird and a flaar, but not many. For Jekkal, she tends to think of morphing not as something she has to do, but something she wants to do.
She was begining to do her anaconda morph when I walked by. The scales started at her tail blade, mowing down the fur and replacing it as quickly as the eye could follow. Her coloring was no longer a light blue and tan, but an iridescent black. her stalk eyes dove into her head. Her upper body thinned to accomodate her new snake body. When she turned to look at me, her eyes began to glow with thin slits for pupils. The Andalite limbs were pushed into the body as it grew to its full length. A gash tore across her face lined with the small jagged teeth of the anaconda. She was now complete.
Hello, Raeolin.
Hello, Jekkal. I was wondering.
About what?
Well... I have been wanting to say this for a long time, but...I was going to say this after the war, but I -
Ahhhhh!
Tashe! we quickly bounded over to where the thought had been coming from.
Tashe what is..... What is that smell?
"Aww man! Tashe...you didn't." moaned Cassie, obviously as repulsed by the smell as we were. The humans had come over too.
I don't understand. I saw the creature I acquired yesterday, I went up to it, and then...
"You got skunked." said Marco, summing up the ordeal.
"Tashe, take a break for about a week. That 's how long it'll take to get rid of the smell. Rae, Jekkal, Cas, you guys can come with us." spoke Jake.
