Well, well, well. Look at that, a new chapter! Took me long enough.

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Disclaimer: I certainly do not own Animorphs.

Chapter seven

Julie: Chapter Seven: First Steps

Julie

The long grass tickled at my ankles, wet with dew, as I walked over the field. It was lightly drizzling, condensation gathering on my cheeks and in my hair. Gray clouds darkened the sky far above my head, threatening heavier rain. Mist covered the empty field, completely abandoned but for myself and the vague silhouettes I could barely make out through the fog. I shook myself pushed and started jogging towards it. At about 20 feet away I could finally make out the face (though I already knew who it was) and it turned to face me.

"About time you got here!" Nellie exclaimed. "I've been here since 8! Didn't you get my calls?" She glared at me, challenging, and I grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry, I slept in," I explained. "I came as soon as I woke up." I had found myself unable to sleep after that first morph, my mind too full of buzzing memories and hopes that I couldn't get it to slow down. It took a few hours before I finally drifted into a light sleep.

"Where is everyone?" I wondered, looking around.

"We probably should have specified a time," Nellie said. "Did you bring your phone?"

"It's dead," I answered. She nodded and bit her lip, a nervous habit.

"Do...do you think it was real?" She asked, staring at some point beyond me. "I mean, I know it had to have happened, but...it still doesn't feel real. It's so ridiculous! I mean, turn into animals?" She barked a laugh. "Come on!"

I stiffened, forcing a laugh and wincing internally at how fake it sounded. "Yeah, crazy. Hey," I said, changing the subject as quickly as I could. She couldn't know that I'd already tried it. "Is that Laura?" I pointed towards the other end of the field. We were standing as near to the woods as possible, so that Fendrien wouldn't find it difficult to locate us. Assuming he was even in there. The ugly scar where he had crash landed his ship stood out starkly from the lush green grass; we had tried to stay as far away from it as we could get. We looked suspicious enough.

"I think I see Sarika with her," Nellie commented. Squinting through the fog, I saw that she was right.

"Hey, guys!" Laura's voice was faint, but I could still hear her shout. She broke into a sprint and Sarika reluctantly joined her. She stopped a few feet in front of us, breathing hard. "Is Cady here yet?"
"No," Nellie answered.

"Any sign of Fendrien?" Sarika asked. How she could remember and pronounce his name, I would never know. I just preferred to call him Fen.

I shook my head. "Not yet." A bird squawked from the forest behind us, muffled by the fog.

"How was your swim meet?" I asked Sarika conversationally.

She shrugged. "Good, I guess. I managed to cut my hand on one of the lockers." She held up her hand, revealing a nasty-looking gash across her palm. I winced sympathetically.

"Guys!"

We all looked to see Cady sprinting across the field.

"Sorry I'm late," She said. I noticed the distinct lack of cat in her arms.

"Where's Cornelia?" I asked curiously. She shook her head.

"I forgot she had an appointment at the Vet's today," She said. "I couldn't bring her this morning."

Laura frowned. "So we're not going to morph?"

"I guess not," Cady answered, looking at the ground. "I'm sorry."

There was a collective murmur of disappointment from the group. Beside me, Nellie gave a shaky sigh that sounded oddly relieved. A knot unraveled in my stomach, dissolving tension I didn't even know I'd had.

"I can bring her tomorrow, though," Cady said quickly. "If we're all free again, that is."

"I'm free," I said immediately.

"Me too!" Laura chimed in.

"I guess," Nellie added. Sarika just nodded.

"Tomorrow then, I guess," I said. "Probably around noon would be best."

"Should we just leave, then?" Nellie wondered.

"We have to tell Fen," Laura disagreed. "Where is he, by the way?"

We all looked around, as if expecting the Andalite to appear miraculously from the fog.

"I'm sure he'll be here soon-" I started, but a gasp and a point from Cady cut me off.

"Look!" She said. "I see something!"

We all whipped around, staring intently in the direction she had pointed. At first all I saw was fog, but slowly a figure began to emerge, making its way toward us. It walked slowly, shambling along at a snail's pace. I saw it trip before catching itself clumsily with one leg.

"Are they drunk?" Nellie whispered. "They look like a zombie."

I snorted. "Zombies aren't that clumsy."

As it approached I began to make out its features. It was a teenage boy, slightly older than us (probably in high school), with dark brown hair and a thin face. He came to a stop, opening his mouth and raising an arm towards us.

"Hello!" I jumped at his shout. "Hello, fellow humans! Human-zuh!" His speech slurred and he worked his tongue, an inquiring look on his face. "He-lo….lo."

"Definitely drunk," Nellie whispered. I tilted my head, studying him more closely. Something about his actions seemed familiar.

"Should we leave?" Sarika asked nervously.

"No, wait a minute," I insisted. The boy walked closer.

"I am here - he-ruh - at the time we agreed to be. Ti-yum," He said. "I- ah!" He tripped over his own foot, faceplanting into the ground. I reached forward to help him up. He stood uncertainly, wobbling back and forth.

"How do you walk with two legs? And no tail? Tayl, tayul, tay-la." He played with the words. "And this...mouth…" He stumbled over the word, as though unfamiliar.
I stared. Tail? Only two legs? That implied…

It clicked.

"Fen?" I cried. He turned to look at me.

"Yes? Who else-else-el-elsseee would it be?" He said.

"What- how- where did you get that morph?" Laura asked. "Did you sneak into someone's home, or…."

Fen swallowed, putting hand to his throat with a look of fascination, before answering. "No. I was in the forest when I saw several humans lying on the ground. Ound. They were un...uncon-si-ous-" He struggled through the word. "-and I believed I would eventually need a human morph, so I acquired - ired!- them." So. Fen had stumbled upon some drunks.

"So…" Sarika said, looking alarmed. "You're out here looking exactly like someone's twin? What if we're in public and someone thinks you're them?"

Fen blinked at her. "No, of course not. Tuh. I performed the Frolis maneuver." He hesitated at our confused looks. "It is when DNA is pulled from multiple sources-es and combined to create a new morph. Tiple. Pul." He prodded his lips. "It is amusing to speak with a mouth. Tell me, what is the purpose of-" He couldn't seem to find the word, and simply stuck out his tongue to point at it. "It is...odd."

"That's a tongue, Fen," I answered, fighting the urge to giggle. "You use it to speak, and to taste."

He stared at me blankly. "Taste? What is taste? Aste."

"Um…" I didn't know how to describe taste. "It's a human thing, Fen. Don't worry about it."

He frowned, then looked surprised at the facial expression. "Why do you call me 'Fen'? My name is Fendri- Fendrie...Fendrian-Perennah-" His face fell. "Ah. My full name is difficult to say, with a mouth. I apologize, I had not realized. You may call me Fen." He leaned down as if to nod his head, then lost his balance and fell forward. He would have slammed face first into the ground if I hadn't moved forward to catch him.

"I don't think he's quite ready to go out in public," Cady commented. I heard Nellie snickering.

"What do you mean? I look like a human. Nuh," Fen responded.

"You don't act like one. For one thing, you need to…" I stopped, not sure where to begin. "Well, start by not playing with words. And practice walking. And stop referring to people as 'humans'."

He sighed. "I will try not to. I may need to practice walking on two legs...legsssss-suh-" He cut himself off. "Apologies." He swung his head exaggeratedly to the left, then the right. "We are the only ones here. Do humans avoid this place?"

"No, it's usually pretty crowded," Laura said. "Just not on rainy weekday mornings."

"Your people do not like the rain?" He wrinkled his nose. "Strange. Raynge. On the Andalite Homeworld, our storms are few and far between. But they are always quite intense."

I was intrigued. "Really? And on your world, are there-" Nellie coughed, cutting me off.

"I can't really stay long to chat," she interjected. "So let's just get to business. Fen, Cady couldn't bring her cat today. Can we practice morphing tomorrow, around midday?"
He was examining his hand, and arm, practicing curling his hand into a fist. "Understood," he said distractedly.

"OH!" Laura exclaimed suddenly. She dug through her pockets, snatching an object to present before Fen. He accepted it, holding it before him at an arm's length.

"I found my old phone yesterday," She said. "I figured you could use it to contact us if you needed to."

Fen continued to examine the phone. "Is this... a primitive communications device?" He slid it open with a laugh of wonder. "This is...this is ancient technology! Does it at least use quantum entanglement- no, just basic radiowave signals!"

Laura crossed her arms. "Well, at least you like it," she grumbled, before admitting, "Yeah, it's a bit dated. I had it a year ago. I've got a new one. It's not really working all that well but I figured you could probably fix it."

Fen scoffed, "Fix it? Do not insult me, I could easily improve on such base technology. I scored quite high in the Academy on-" He stopped. "I mean, yes."

"We're good then?" Nellie asked. "I should go." She turned around.

Fen looked up. "Wait." We all paused. "I...I had not realized the state of technology on this planet. I expected...suffice it to say, be cautious on such devices. Ses. Yeerks could easily be monitoring planetary communications. I will secure this one," He waved the phone. "But we must still be careful."

We all went our separate ways after that, calling out farewells. Fen walked in his odd way back into the forest, presumably to demorph. But as I walked away I couldn't help to feel a strange chill in my bones.

We hadn't even suspected that we could be currently being watched. I mean, you heard all of these things about the NSA and all that, but you never really paid attention. But this was real. This was dangerous. We could have easily given away ourselves without even realizing. It made me wonder.

What else were they capable of that none of us were even considering?