Chapter 10 Ax: Missing Animorphs

Oh I am so overjoyed, we are about to go to the mall, to get me a new kite that I could construct myself.

We were outside the mall in the nearby woods. I was standing at the edge of the woods with my human friends besides me. But only Prince Jake, and Rachel were there. We knew that Marco was with his father, he had been severely injured by a human who I did not know, but whose name was Arobber. My human friends later informed me that it was A Robber. But I do not know who this Robber is.

"So, Rachel," Prince Jake said. "When did you last see Tobias?"

"I saw him last night, he said he was coming with us to the mall today, but he seemed off."

Tobias is missing, as well as Cassie. I am beginning to worry about him, he did not return to the scoop last night.

"How about you, Ax. Do you have any idea where Tobias could be?" Prince Jake asked me.

[No, Prince Jake. He did not return to the scoop last night, which is strange.]

"He left last night around 9:30, he said he was going to the scoop for rest." Rachel said.

"Rest? Did he seem tired?" Prince Jake asked.

"Yeah," Rachel explained. "He said something about his hawk body growing and it was making him tired. Also something about his hawk morph causing him to be sleepy and that's why his thought speak sounded off."

[His thought speak sounded off, how do you mean? Was it not functioning correctly?]

"It was working just fine," She answered. "He just sounded weird. His voice just sounded a bit deeper. And he didn't morph to human like he usually does."

"Why not?" Prince Jake asked.

"He said it had to do with the hawk body changing or something. He said he could morph when it was over, and that was supposed to be at midnight."

"What does that mean?" Prince Jake asked.

"I don't know," She answered. "If you want a better answer just ask Ax, he's the one who told Tobias about it."

Prince Jake turned his head and looked at me with a look on his face which I think means confusion.

"What does she mean, Ax?" He asked. "What is going on with Tobias?"

[I do not know what Rachel is talking about, I do not understand, I did not tell Tobias anything.]

"What happened yesterday?" Prince Jake asked.

[He performed the evening ritual with me, in Andalite form of course. Then...]

"Wait," Rachel said, interrupting me. "Tobias said that he couldn't morph yesterday while the whatever was going on."

"While what was going on?" Prince Jake asked. "Ax," He said, turning to me. "What is Rachel talking about?"

[I do not know what she is talking about, we did the evening ritual then he had to leave, to be with you, Rachel. I wanted to show him some tail fighting techniques to use in battle. But he left, saying when he got back, we could do some tail fighting.]

"Ax." Prince Jake asked. "When did Tobias leave last night?"

[He left the scoop around 6:30 in your hours.]

"But he got at my house at 7:45. So it took him more than an hour to get to my house."

Prince Jake had a look on his face that means he had make a hard decision. It's a look I see too often in battle. Sometimes I fear for Prince Jake's mental state. A War Prince, even a Prince like Prince Jake has struggles, the weight of commanding your friends in war can drive any good warrior mad. It happens all too often in hopeless situations such as this. But Prince Jake, as well as all of us know that there is an end to this war, this war has two endings, one where we will be free, and the other, unimaginable.

"Ax," Prince Jake said. "Looks like we are going to have to skip the mall today. With Tobias missing and Cassie not returning my calls, we can't afford to do this today. We need to go find Tobias."