* Disclaimer : I don't own any of these character's except the dragon Loren. To the person who said I didn't get the hatching poem right I WAS LOOKING AT THAT BOOK WHEN I WAS WRITING THE FIC, IF YOU CAN PROVE OTHERWISE, DO SO, YOU MORON! By the way, this is a sort of crossover for Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, except that from here, it gets strange.
Ax's New Friend 2: Raising an Over Active Hatchling
My name is Aximili. I am the only Andalite to live free on earth. I am also the only one ever hatch a dragon.
It was the day after the night that Loren had hatched. I was again reading the paper that Mr. Elives had given me.
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF DRAGONS
You have been chosen to care for a rare and precious creature, Aximili. When fully grown, your dragon will be unimaginably powerful. But in the early stages of its development, it is very vulnerable. Like any infant, it must be cared for if it is to survive.
To begin with, you must guard the fact of its existence. The world at large does not love dragons. Should your dragon be discovered, it will almost be certainly be taken from you.
As to feeding: while mature dragons prefer live food, an infant will be satisfied with something that has already been killed. Small gobbets of meat are particularly appropriate. When the dragon is older, it will be able to hunt for itself. Eventually your dragon will start to shed its skin. Do not be alarmed at this. However, you must save the skin, as well as any baby teeth, which will begin to fall out at about the same time. You must also save as mush of the eggshell as possible. These things will be very important when Midsummer Night arrives. Your dragon must have a name. Actually, every dragon is born with a name. However, since these birth names must remain secret, you should provide another name as soon as possible. Finally- your dragon will be very sensitive to your emotional state. It would be wise to avoid extreme agitation while raising the dragon. If you do not, trouble will result.
(Okay, anyone who reads this and has read the book, I didn't put the paragraphs in. I am having trouble on this computer.)
I looked down at the sleeping hatchling. She is curled up in my scoop. She is charming. I had not thought that I could become prey to the concept that humans call 'cuteness', but I find that I am as easily overcome by this creature's personality as a human is by a kitten. I felt tied to her.
I picked up the book that I found at the library. Flipping through it, I searched for the subject of taming. I finally looked in the index where it said in bold print," DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"
I heard a scuffle from my scoop. Loren was attempting to shred some of my artificial skin.
I went into my scoop, and said, Stop that!
She looked up at me in astonishment. I got a feeling of a question leak into my mind. It was very similar to the thought-speak of very young Andalites. The hurt look on her face made me regret the harsh tone that I had used. I pictured that I needed the artificial skin, and that I would be very sad if something were to happen to it. She looks up at me again and flies up to my shoulder. She projected an image into my mind of herself not damaging the clothing, and a feeling of apology. Then, a desire for something else to play with. I laughed.
Of course we will find you something else to play with. I went trotting through the woods to find something appropriate.
We looked at the surroundings, but nothing seemed to appeal. Then we found a magazine. A magazine is a book filled with all sorts articles and advertisements. This one was not like others that I had seen, because it contained information. Pertinet information, not the silly kind found in most earth magazines.
It was called National Geographic Explorer. It contained pictures of things from all over earth.
I was reading it when I felt an unhappy feeling come from Loren. I pointed an eyestalk at her to see what was the matter. She was looking at the magazine with a confused look on her face. She knew I understood what was in the magazine, but she did not, and this made her very unhappy. * Not know,* she thought at me, when I put the images into words. * Sad. Bored. Hungry.*
Okay, that couldn't be good. The main problem is that I'm a grazer and she is a carnivore. I knew little of hunting for prey. But I knew someone who did. I went looking for Tobias.
I found him in his favorite tree. I was grateful that he hadn't started hunting yet. If he had, I would not have been able to find him without morphing. I did not want to leave Loren alone for that long.
Tobias! I called out.
He said, What is it, Ax-man?
Loren is hungry, and I do not think it wise to leave her ling enough to morph and go hunting. If you wouldn't mind finding her some prey?
No problem, Ax-man. Although, I think it would be a good idea if she came with me while I did, so she can learn to hunt on her own.
That would be a good idea, if she wasn't so young. She was only hatched yesterday.
I got another question feeling from Loren, and I put my hand up to my shoulder to soothe her. I pictured what Tobias had said, and I got a feeling of not-quite-ready-to-hunt. That was followed by images of herself flying to watch, then coming back and learning about the words in the magazine. I smiled at this, wondering how intelligent she was. Then I said, Yes, 'pronouncing' it as clearly in thought-speak as I could.
*Yes,* she thought back. Then with a human baby's soft lisp, yes.
Wow, Ax. She's learning thought-speak. Cool! Come on now, kitten. We have breakfast to find. He flapped off, with Loren behind.
I felt myself smile. My little dragon is already growing up.
Tobias
We found a nest of rats quickly. I fell into a dive, and made an easy kill. Loren, on the other hand, squealed with delight, and scared the rest away before she could trap one.
She looked at me mournfully. I felt like sighing, and let her have some of my meal. She said,Good Tobias, accompanied with images of her giving me food next time. I smiled internally. She was a cute little one.
You, you name me, right? she questioned.
Yes.
My name make you sad. Why?
Loren was my mother's name, I replied.
Oh. You call me kitten earlier. What kitten?
A kitten is a young cat. A cat is a creature that is very beautiful, I said, not knowing how to explain what a cat was to a creature that had never seen one.
She preened. If she could have, I think she would have blushed. Most girls like flattery. I guess she was no exception.
If you like better, call me Kitten.
Ah, um, thanks. Thank you, Kitten.
We fly around a bit more, and Kitten makes a successful kill. We fly back to Ax's scoop to show off her prize. Not bad for a dragon not yet a day old.
Rachel
I woke up that morning, feeling strange. I didn't know why. Then I remembered. I had stayed up half the night waiting for a dragon that wasn't supposed to exist hatch. No wonder I was still sleepy. Good thing it was Saturday.
I got up, dressed, snagged myself some breakfast and ran out the door, heading for Cassie's. I wanted to check up on the little green dragon.
Turn's out, we all did. I was met by Jake, Marco and Cassie at the barn.
"Look's like we're all here. I guess we'll all be heading out to see Loren and Ax."
Don't need to come looking, here we are, came a voice from the rafters. We looked up to see Tobias, and another bird. Ax.
"Aren't you guys worried about leaving Loren by herself?" asked Cassie.
Not really. That book we got at the library had a trick about giving a dragon milk to keep it calm. She has had one busy morning, so she should sleep for a long time now. We decided to come to you, because we are tuckered out. said Tobias in an exhausted voice.
"Was she that much trouble? After all, she's just a baby," responded Marco.
She started playing with my artificial skin, I stopped her, we went for walk, found a National Geographic, which she had me read to her, Tobias taught her some hunting, I taught her thought-speak, she ran into mad skunk, then into a stream, then she got lost and we had to find her, and then… Ax's recitation went on for some time.
"Oh," I said. Who knew dragons were so much trouble?
I'm bad? came a sad little voice from the door.
We all turned to look, and a small green dragon appeared from nowhere onto the rafters. We were so surprised, no one said anything.
"No," Cassie said in her gentle talking to baby voice. "Your not bad, just young. You have so mush energy and non of us are used to dealing with that. So, be patient with us, and we will be patient with you."
Okay! Loren said joyfully, broadcasting her happiness for them all to feel. They all smiled at the innocence displayed in her baby feelings. It had been a long time since any of them had been able to feel such unshadowed joy.
"How did you get in here without anyone seeing you?" asked Jake.
I didn't want you to see me. So you didn't, she said gleefully. Aren't I clever?
"Yes, very clever," said Marco. "But how did you do it?"
This went on for some time. They never could get her to explain how, largely, Cassie said, because she didn't know herself. She had just done it. Give her some time. She's not even a day old.
Ax
Over the next few days, we had a lot of fun with baby Loren, or as Tobias called her
Often, Kitten. She loved the T.V. I started teacheing her math, reading, and other things. We all had a hand in teaching her, and not so incidently, keeping her out of trouble. Which still managed to happen, frequently.
Her first shedding was quite an experience, because she thought that if humans shed their
Skins all the time, her skin should come off the same way. She kept looking for a zipper, until the itching drove her crazy and I came to help her.
During this time, the war with the Yeerks hadn't stopped. We were worried that they might find out about Loren. She could become a powerful weapon against us.
Loren became more ariculate as time went on. I had started teaching her z-space calculations by the time she first became exposed to the Yeerks.
We were having a meeting in Cassie's barn. We didn't know it, but Kitten was there, too.
She had grown very large, but with her ability to be unseen, no one knew that she was listening in.
The Yeerks were trying to place a new Kandrona in the new YMCA. It was a good place to put it, because it was right above a major branch of the Pool. We would go in tonight. The day before Midsummer's Night.
We attacked. It was the only thing we could do. Nobody suspected that it would be an ambush. We were surrounded quickly. No hope, no way out.
Tobias, my friend, before the end, do you want me to…?
No, Ax. Don't give up hope yet. I want to live a little longer, and hope.
Like a bolt, Loren fell from the skies. She roared in such a way that even Visser 3 trembled. She spat flame a good twenty of your feet into the group of Controllers surrounding us. We broke out, shaken, but alive. We were grateful for the gift of friendship that we had with such an amazing creature. So sad that she would be leaving us tomorrow night.
We had received the letter from Elives a few weeks ago. All of us were in shock about our dragon friend leaving us. She had become a member of the Animorphs, a kind of mascot. We loved her.
On Midsummer's night, we all went to the corner of Main and Not Main. None of us knew were that was. All of us were huddled closely around Loren. We all wanted to pet her, tell her goodbye. I hadn't hurt so badly since Elfangor died.
We reached the corner of Main and Not Main. We hadn't a clue as to how we got there, considering we hadn't even been on Main at the time. As we approached, we saw a gate. Before it was Mr. Elives. He walked up to me. I wasn't in morph. I didn't see any point.
"Hello, Hatcher. I see you've brought the little one back. What is her name?"
Loren.
"That's lovely. My I have her skin and teeth?"
I handed them to him.
"I will start making a gate. Remember this, Hatcher. 'Full moon's ligh to wake the egg, Full moon's light to hatch it. Midsummer's Night will break your heart, All Hallow's Eve may patch it.' Nothing you ever love is truly lost, Hatcher. Not your brother or your home. Not even Loren. Now, I have work to do."
As Mr. Elives worked, Loren, my kitten, came over and hugged me with my wings. You will never lose me, Ax-man. Never. she started crying, and a diamond rolled down her cheek. Dragons weep diamonds.
We all stood and cried in each's own fashion as we watched her pass through the gate. The gate closed, and we found ourselves in Cassie's barn.
Comments? (By the way, those who read my stupid Poke'mon story, it was meant to be that dumb. Duh.)