Chapter 3: Introductions
Jake told me how they'd been fighting a secret alien invasion for months, pretending to be Andalite bandits by using their morphing powers. That's where the name Animorphs comes from. It's short for animal morphers. If they hadn't taken a short cut through an abandoned construction site one night, they wouldn't have met a dying Andalite prince who gave them the power to morph. As far as the Yeerks knew, they were all Andalites who had escaped the destruction of the Dome Ship, the Andalite mothership that was vaporised by the Yeerks when they began orbiting our planet. This is only partially true. Only one Andalite escaped the crippled ship, and the Animorphs rescued him from certain doom moments before his ship was destroyed. Aximilli-Esgarouth-Ithsmil, or Ax for short, has been living in the forest as well. That would explain why I found a copy of World Almanac so far from any of the hiking trails. If I was an alien on a foreign planet, I'd want to know about its inhabitants.
They also told me about the Yeerk Peace Movement, a renegade group of Yeerks that didn't want to have to invade a planet to have a host. They'd rather that artificial hosts were created so that they wouldn't have to enslave innocent species. One of their teachers, Mr Tidwell, was a member, and I gathered that Jeb was as well.
"That's great and all, but who are you guys?" I asked. The shorter, dark haired boy stood up and bowed.
"Introductions are in order, I believe. I am Sir Marco. Knight of the order of the..."
"Midgets. Definitely of the midgets," the taller blonde haired girl finished for him. Marco just scowled at her. "I'm Rachel, by the way. Don't listen to Marco. He thinks he's the funniest guy around." The African-American girl spoke up.
"Hey. I'm Cassie. This is my family's barn, also known as the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, and I'd like to say welcome to the group. Or gang. Or team. Or whatever you want to call it."
< While we're doing the whole Alcoholics Anonymous thing, I'm Tobias and I'm a red-tailed hawk with the mind of a human. Or possibly a human with the body of a red-tailed hawk, I don't know really. I'm still trying to get my head around it >
"What do you mean you don't know?"
< I'm what the Andalites call a nothlith. Someone who has overstayed the two hour time limit and become trapped in morph. When you morph, you get the animal's instincts. When you become stuck, you still have those instincts. There was a time when I didn't know who I was anymore and the instincts kept me alive. I like to think of myself as part bird now anyway. >
It was reassuring to know that they've already accepted someone who's part bird. so I decided to reveal my secret.
"I guess we should get along alright then. We already have that in common. I'm Max, and I'm human with a few genetic anomalies."