Chapter One: Runaway

Kimberly

It was a clear night and all the stars were out. A woman whose face I couldn't see looked at me, breathing heavily. She said something I couldn't hear, then stood up boldly and turned away.

The rest became black.

I opened my eyes. I found myself alone, miles away from the nearest city, soaked in the cold rain and covered in dirt and soot. The wrinkled face of a Native American dressed in causal clothes gazed down at me, giving a look you'd often see in a grumpy old man who wanted to be away from society. I saw his large hands come close and I felt myself lifted up.

That was the only first memory I ever had about my past. What happened before, I couldn't remember. Who I was, who or where my family was and most importantly, what was my name... All was a total blank in my head.

I was only a child then. Found by Antinanco that early morning. He took care of me for a week and later handed me to the rangers. To tell you the truth, I didn't want to leave his side but Antinanco insisted, saying "You have a life to live, Little Citlali."

That was a nickname he gave me since I couldn't remember my real name. It meant 'star' in his language.

I never saw him again. I tried to get word for a few years, find out how he was doing but…it was like he disappeared from this world. I may not see him again but the words he told me, I kept them as a promise.

I stayed in an orphanage for a while. I was adopted the next year and was renamed because my foster mother found the name I was given a little hard to pronounce. Even though she tried her best, I eventually decided to keep my new name. I liked it anyway. I grew up happy the next couple of years with my new family. I still missed Antinanco but I never forgot him.

My name is Kimberly now and this is my story from the day I lived in this city to the day I died. I will tell you about me and how I was involved in this cluster of events.

All because of my dreams and nightmares...


Ax

My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. I am a young Andalite marooned on Earth. What is an Andalite, you ask?

For many humans, they would consider me frightening. I am not from this planet but from my homeworld far away from here. I was told I look like a cross between a human, a deer and a scorpion. I have four eyes: one pair on my face and one pair on top of my head. I have four legs and two hands with seven-digit fingers. I also have blue fur and a tail blade.

As an Andalite, I have the power to morph. Andalites are not born with it. It is a technology we invented. Only Andalites have this power. That is, except for my human friends. They can morph too, thank to the Andalite morphing technology, the Escafil Device and to my brother who broke our rules and gave it to them.

Five human children and one Andalite are the only defense that stands in the way of the Yeerks, which are currently invading Earth. What are they? Yeerks are a parasitic species that have evolved to climb into a host's ear and drill their way to the brain, where they take complete control the body. The host, in mind, is trapped and is unable to do anything except let their body be controlled.

Already, the Yeerks have taken a number of species in their control: Hork-Bajirs, Taxxons and now they are after humans. Many humans have been infested. They have no idea what's happening. Any human could be a Controller, a Yeerk-infested human. It is difficult to know who is a Controller.

Then again, it is also difficult to know the outcome of meeting – as what Marco would describe – "an oddball".

It was late one afternoon. That day, there was no intrusion of Yeerks trying to attempt another quick way of infesting more humans so Prince Jake decided we all should relax. I ran into the woods as I normally would do.

I was heading to where Tobias usually perch when I saw a human not far away. The face was mostly convealed by a long neck of a 'jacket' with a strange covering over the head.

I quickly hid from the human's line of view. However, the human did not seem to notice me and was more interested in the surroundings. The human pulled down the neck of the 'jacket' and took down the covering. I soon realized this human was a female.

She was slightly shorter than my human friends. She was light-skinned and averagely thin. The human pulled out her light brown hair from the ring of her clothing. It was longer than Cassie's but shorter than Rachel's. Some strands of hair hid away her left eye. In her possession was her backpack, a unique carrier humans put on their backs to transmit their items around manually. What was more, although seeing other human groups enjoy the alleged 'camping' in company outside this area of the forest, she was alone.

More or less, she was without human company. She was holding a sort of red rope connected to a dog. It was not like the Golden Retriever named Homer Prince Jake kept as his pet. It was not gold in color but rather mostly black, white along the chest and brown on the nose and legs. Her companion was a large dog with long thick hair and brown eyebrows.

It seemed odd to bring an animal such as that to this location. Then again, she herself was odd on many standards.

For a very long moment, she stared up. I did not know why. All she was seeing was the clear sky.

She dropped her bag aside. Then she fell back, letting gravity take her down. She landed on the grass, unbothered by any pain given from her fall. Sunlight bathed warmly over her face. Strangely, she was smiling with her eyes shut.

I have experienced many emotions as a human and have seen expressions among my human friends but I have not seen a human in that emotional stage for a very long period of time.

It was then I have noticed some of the contents of her bag had fallen out. Two triangular substances lay on the grass. They gave off a nice scent.

It was food. But what kind of food, I wondered. I had not seen these things in shapes, nor smelled this kind of scent. It was a blend of many aromas nicely put together.

Curiosity got the best of me, I admit it.

I decided to morph into human and sneak one. Perhaps she would not notice one piece missing. I was also well out of sight for her to see me morph.

My human morph might be unusual. That is because when I was first found by my human companions, I had absorbed their DNA to create a different person so I could fit in during my time on this planet.

I began to morph. My stalk eyes, my tail, two of my legs and extra fingers disappeared. My blue fur faded away into a hairless beige color. Soon I was on two wobbly legs and in a very thin garment. I went away to find where Cassie had hid away my clothing, in case I would need to morph to human in the woods. I found them twenty meters away and quickly put them on.

When I went back, she was still lying on the ground, still smiling. How very odd. Although I knew I might be detected by her sooner or later, the desire of tasting those triangular-shaped rations was great. It was making my human mouth fill with liquid. Slowly, I crept \to some bushes that were close to the food.

The dog twitched its ears.

"Grrrrrrr!" it growled.

"Malcolm?" she called to the dog, sitting up. "What's wrong?"

The dog dashed forward but was held back by the rope. That nearly pulled her onto her feet.

"Whoa! Stay, Malcolm! Stop! Easy, easy." She looked to the bushes. "Who's there?"

I quickly reached out and grabbed one. I guessed this was her only rations so taking both would surely make her upset. I took a bite but tasted nothing at first. I then noticed it was wrapped in a shiny transparent material.

I peeled it off. The substance underneath was soft and squishy. I bit into it.

The taste was wonderful. So many flavors and yet they all made it delicious. A white creamy substance squeezed onto my fingers. I licked them clean.

"Hello?" the human called out. She began to look nervous and tied the rope to a root. The dog whined and tried to follow but could not. She breathed in and out and slowly approached my hiding place.

"Please don't be a wolf. Please don't be a wolf," she kept on repeating tensely.

I had to get away. I was not sure if she was a Controller because I do not think a Yeerk would take the time to act as odd as she was, but I did not want to take the chance. I backed off quietly.

If only the rope was tied up some more.

The dog constantly pulled until the rope slipped free.

"Malcolm! No!" she yelled, grabbing for the rope. She clenched it tight.

The dog didn't halt. It dove under the bushes and came nose to nose with me. I jumped.

"AAHHH!" I shouted.

"GAAHHH!" she screamed. She took a moment to breathe. "Oh, jeez! You scared me to death! I thought it was a wolf... What the heck are you doing down there?"

"Uh, I was eating?" I answered, showing her the half-eaten food.

She looked at me for a moment. Then she suddenly burst into laughter.

"What is humorous?" I asked. I had expected she would show anger at me. She did not.

"I'm s-sorry... But I've never met anyone so gullible." She went on laughing, clenching her stomach. She stopped laughing and wiped her right eye with a sleeve. "If you wanted to eat, you should have asked me, not scared the heck out of me."

"I did not mean to frighten you. Fry-gh-ten."

"Well, it was a good scare. My name is Kimberly," she said. "And this is Malcolm."

"Kim-ber-lee. Nice sounds. Kim-ber-lee."

"Thanks, I think. What about yours?"

"I am Phillip," I replied. It was the name I use for my human morph.

Again, she giggled. This time, she was clenching her mouth.

"What is wrong?" I asked.

"You got a smudge on you. You're not a very neat eater, are you? Here." She walked close to me, drawing her sleeve to my face. I backed away, wondering if this action was a new form of offense. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna hurt you, silly."

She cleaned off the smudge around my mouth slowly. Normally, I would prefer to lick the last bits and savor the taste while it lasted. However, I let her perform the strange ritual.

I examined her closely but the hair still covered her left eye. I wondered if she had something to hide under her hair. A secret of some sort.

She suddenly turned red on the cheeks and reared her arm away. She then scratched her head shamefacedly. "Sorry, my bad. I'm so used to cleaning my brother's mouth. My brother always gets ketchup or mustard on his face so I tend to wipe him up."

"It's alright," I told her.

"So, Phillip, what brings you here in these parts of the woods?" she asked, sitting down on a mold-infested log.

"Nothing brought me here. Hearr," I said and sat beside her.

"No, silly, I meant what reason did you come here? Hiking?"

"Yes, I was hiking. Hi-king," I replied. I did not know what this 'hiking' was but it was a reasonable answer to give.

"Ah-ha, hiking without shoes," she said, spotting I was not wearing any artificial hooves. I had forgotten those. Again, she laughed. But this time, softer than before. "You got a nice sense of humor, you know that. Are you with your family?"

"No, I am alone. A-lo-neh," I said, trying to act as human as I could while taking small bites. "What about yours?"

"I don't have one."

I was astonished when she easily said that. It puzzled me too of why she would say that.

"But you said you have a brother."

"Yeah but he's my foster brother. I'm adopted."

"What happened to your parents?"

"They died a long time ago," she said, still smiling.

"I am sorry. Sor-ree," I said.

"Don't be." How curious to say that, even when she was smiling. "It's not like it was your fault they're gone. It's nobody's fault. To tell you the truth, I don't really remember what my real parents look like or how they died... Hey, Phillip, you got good hearing?"

It seemed she purposely 'changed the subject', as Prince Jake would say. I think it was right to do so. I felt remorseful for this human. She did not know who her parents were or what happened to them. But somehow, I felt I should not persist on the subject when she was smiling optimistically.

"Yes, I have excellent hearing. Hea-ring," I said.

"Then you can hear Nature's calling, right?" Kimberly asked.

In my human morph, I gave a confused face. I did not completely understand. How could you hear the environment? It did not make sense.

"What do you mean? The environment cannot speak words to us."

Kimberly gave a faint but hearty laugh. "Of course it can. Nature's just very soft. A friend of me told me that only a few can really listen to what she has to say."

"I do not get it. The natural world is a person?"

"She is. Just invisible," she said. "But you can hear her crystal clear. Close your eyes."

I

wondered if this was another human custom so I did what she told me. I closed my eyes.

"Now, relax. Don't concentrate. Let your senses do the work, not your mind. Listen."

It was very puzzling at first. I could not hear any words other than Kimberly's.

I however heard these sounds. They were very faint but I could hear them with these human ears. The sound of the air blowing through the treetops was above us. Further away was the sound of small birds calling in their animal sounds and somewhere I heard running water.

"Hear that? The leaves shaking, the birds singing and the river moving?"

I opened my eyes and looked at her. She also had her eyes close. Slowly, she opened them and glanced at me with her smile.

Her eyes were most remarkable. I had first thought her eyes were the color of green like any other humans' eyes but then as her hair lifted up by the wind, I took notice of her left eye. It was a complete blue color, like my Andalite fur.

I have seen many eyes, each pair in one different color: brown, black, blue, green, gray, but I have never seen two eyes with two different colors.

"That's Nature calling," said Kimberly.

It was stunning, seeing her close up. I quickly turned away.

"Something wrong, Phillip?" Kimberly asked.

"...I-I...I still do not understand." I was having difficulty speaking. It was not because I was playing with my words but because of this giddy feeling. It was as if something was pitting in my stomach. What was this a human reaction?

"Hee-hee. That was actually what I said to my old friend. I didn't understand too. But he told me there's nothing to understand about. I only had to listen to her whenever I wanted to," she said. "It's been a long time since I've listen to Nature. A very long time..."

I watched her stare up to the sky before she gave a light sigh.

"It's getting late. You should probably go home now," said Kimberly and started going through her backpack. She pulled out a large soft material, rolled-up like a Puff pastry. I have tasted one before.

"Should you not go to your house too? Ho-use," I said.

"Nope," she answered, surprising me. "This is my home now. I like it here. It's close to Nature. Besides, I don't think I'll ever go back home."

"Why?" I asked.

Her hands stopped moving.

"Kimberly?"

After a silent moment, she looked at me, again with a smile but it was a delicate one.

"Let's just say I'm running away from something," was her answer. She turned back to the backpack.

"What are you running away from?"

She sighed again.

"You wouldn't believe me," she said worriedly.

"Why would I not believe you?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Because...! Well... Um... You would think I was crazy and need to go to the nuthouse."

"I would not think that." I was interested in what a 'nuthouse' was but I didn't ask.

Her face was meaningful and somewhat troubled. She then asked me this odd question.

"Do you have dreams?" she asked. "Dreams that are scary?"

I did not know how to answer that.

"I've been dreaming a lot, about things that don't make sense," she continued, her arms wrapped around her knees. "I don't remember how long it's been but I have them every night and...I'm scared...that these dreams I'm having might be true... And they might hurt someone... That's why I'm running away. I don't want anyone to get hurt. If I run away as far as possible, then maybe no on will get hurt."

There was a long pause.

"Silly, isn't it? Dreams can't come true." She laughed again but sounded unsure of herself. "But they all seemed too real."

Kimberly was still smiling but I could tell she was unhappy.

"I do not understand what is there to fear from dreams," I said carefully. "Are not dreams pleasant?"

"Yeah... People would dream of rainbow ponies and licorice waterfalls. But my dreams are a little different. I always see the same people and the same monsters. I don't see their faces but I know they're the same. Sounds weird, huh?" she explained. "What's worse, in my dreams I hear people screaming."

She looked up at the orange sky and got off the log, brushing off any dirt from her pants. "I think you should get going now. It's gonna be nightfall soon. And I only have one sandwich for dinner tonight."

She was not only right. I was close to the two-hour time limit. It later surprised me how exactly one hour, forty minutes and twenty-nine seconds went by in an unusual way.

Time had passed quickly. I needed to demorph soon but I wished to stay a little longer.

"I would like to see you again." I did not know why I said that so easily and with plead. I just did.

She was surprised when I said that, then thought for a moment. "Hmm, well, I don't think I'll be leaving anytime soon. Sure, how about tomorrow? Same place?"

"I would like that." I could not believe my luck.

"Okay then, it's a date."

I nodded and soon took my leave.

"Phillip?"

I turned back.

"Thanks for talking with me. It means a lot to me," she said.

I smiled. "You are welcome."

We said our goodbyes and I left. I walked far from her area. With minutes to spare, I demorphed and ran away.

What was I thinking? Of all the humans on this planet, I was having an effect to this human, a very odd human at that. What was wrong with me? Was I ill? I have no such reaction to Cassie and Rachel when I am in human morph. So why does this human make any difference?

I decided to go and see Cassie about this. Once there, I should have to inform the Animorphs about Kimberly's presence in the woods.

As I was about to leave, one of my stalk eyes spotted something.

A human, much taller and leaner than my human friends, stood not far off, staring at me. The human was wearing black apparel that seemed unearthly and not made on Earth. I could not see the face because the head was in a round and hard covering similar to the ones the humans wear while riding on thin transport machines on two primitive wheels.

I jerked and quickly looked to the direction of where the human stood. I feared that human could be a Controller.

But by the time I turned, the human was gone.

Perhaps it was my imagination. No human could move that swiftly. Were my eyes deceiving me?

I really needed to see Cassie.


Some time ago, my foster family moved to this city. Since my adoption, everything was normal for me. I attended school and did great in schoolwork. Though, sometimes with the exception of Ds and Fs.

I had many friends and looked out for those in trouble. There were times I was bullied a little and there were times I was helped onto my feet. I liked art class and cooking. I hated nosy girls who had no business with people's privacy. And the cafeteria food.

I love my foster family. My dad is gentle and kind, an ex-photographer and writer at heart and my mom is loveable and overprotective, working as head of a community center. And they love me and my brother so much. And there's Malcolm, the family pet. He follows me like a shadow or in my mom's case, a guardian angel.

I have a little brother even though he's also my foster brother. His name is Baxter. He is a year younger than me but acts like he's the older sibling in our impenetrable duo. Baxter is the closest to me.

He was the only one who knew why I ran away. He kept it as a secret from our parents because I made him promise he wouldn't tell them.

I used to be very happy. But as the days went by, so did the dreams grow more terrifying. And with each passing night, they grew scarier than the one before. Sometimes, they were peaceful but most of the times, I would see the monsters in them.

They became worse three weeks ago. And so on and so forth. Only yesterday, I decided to run away...


Author's Notes: Another attempt on an Animorphs fanfic. Okay, sue me but this one is a little different, I'm betting. Just like any other fanfic you'd read, it's all about an OC that somehow finds out about the Animorphs that you know will always lead to recruiting her/him cuz they know the secret. BUT what if it's a whole different reason of recruiting them cuz it's something much bigger than "oh, he found the box" and they don't even know the secret? And besides, who says there's gonna be recruiting in the first place, hmmm?

Just so you know, I'm only using two OCs for this fanfic: Kimberly and the anonymous black-suited human. Who that human is, you'll just have to find out.

Oh, Kimberly's eye colors, I purposely gave her an odd look, fitting for an oddball like her. XD

Btw, the thin two-wheeled transport machines are 'motorcycles' if you don't get it. And Kimberly's dog is a rough-hair collie.

And if you readers have noticed, I've taken down my "The Paranormal" Animorphs-crossover fanfic cuz I want to copyright my characters when I publish my first book. Sorry guys, even though I really wanna show you how it's gonna turn out with my characters and the Animorphs, I've gotta do this first before I even think of doing a fanfic like this. Don't worry, I've still got the chapters so maybe after I published my book, I'll bring back the fanfic. In the meantime, I'll be working on this. Though it's gonna be a challenge cuz this fanfic was supposed to be a sequel to "The Paranormal" but see how I go.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy this more than my pervious fanfics.

And yes, Ax might fall in love with Kimberly. But being an oddball, I don't think she'll realize an alien like LIKES her... Then again, she'd think Ax is odd too with his word playing and all...

EDIT: Changed the dog from hard rough collie to Bernese Mountain Dog. Cuz every time I read this, collie reminds me of Lassie. =3=; Plus I find brown eyebrows cute on this breed. XD

Mind you, I love dogs but I love small dogs the most! –hugs her pets-