CHAPTER 1: Before I Knew You
Aur 1-6-2

Around me a battle raged. Six Andalite bandits together fought: a bear, a wolf, a tiger, a hawk, a gorilla... and an aristh in his true Andalite form. Together they took down many of the Yeerks I have known all my life... and most of them... I hated.
It had started sincerely. I had noticed as a group of three teenage humans walking in. One was a boy who had tanned skin, brown hair, and dark brown eyes. He looked... odd, shall I say. Not quite all male, he had sort of a feminine touch to him, also. Next to him stood a boy with dark brown eyes and light skin. His hair was a dirty blonde. He had a deep face with no emotion at all, it seemed. Next to him was a girl. She had light skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. I recognized none of them.
They had slipped into the shadows, which, to me, was suspicious. So I went over to investigate. I heard odd sounds, like a grinding sound as if it was wood against wood or metal against metal or... bone against bone.
I peered further and saw a flash of blue, then deep, glowering green eyes that glared straight at me...
"ANDALITE!" I had shouted, pointing at him.
I will kill you for that Yeerk filth! the Andalite leapt out toward me. For some reason he had hesitated. I did not know why. But that hesitation saved my life. I was able to duck in time, dodging the strike of his tail. I spun around and pulled out my Dracon Beam only to find he was already surrounded by Hork-Bajir.
I began walking away. This was not my fight. I would surely be killed: all I had for a host was a human. I turned back, for I felt as if someone was staring at the back of my host's head. There was. The Andalite aristh.
He narrowed his eyes at me, as if to say: Next time, Yeerk, I won't hesitate. And then where will you be? Dead.
I stared icily back, unafraid, as if to say: "Next time, Andalite, neither will I to shoot you. And then where will YOU be?"
We both knew what each other was saying without really saying anything to each other at all. Confusing? It confused me even more to the fact that it was hard to turn away from all of them. I supposed I felt sorry for them. It is in their nature to hate us. To want to destroy us. But on the contrary, they were fully sentient. They had a choice. Instead they mercilessly struck us down for being who were are.
So there I stood, with a fight among me. Visser 3 would soon be contacted and coming. I wasn't glad. That irritable fool was most annoying.
Most Andalites think all Yeerks are the same: they don't care about controlling a host against their will. But there are some of us, more than a hundred, that are forming an allegiance, a sort of movement, against doing that.
My host, Ana, already knows. She is, shall I say, a very good friend to me. We have had many disputes, but none where it got out of control and the deal was off. What was the deal? That I would be able to stay in her, under a few conditions: I let her have some freedom. She wanted to be able to hug her parents at night. And speak with them occasionally. She couldn't do that while I controlled her. I understood that. She should be lucky. Yeerks don't have parents. And they don't show affection through physical touch.
If things got worse, if hope began failing, if her/my life became in danger because Visser 3 suspected we were part of that movement, I agreed to leave her, and only enter another host under the same conditions.
And lastly, I was to search her mind as little as possible. She was entitled to her own privacy. She was entitled to her own thoughts. I controlled her by voluntary choice only.
I told her I'd abide by those conditions, but we never really found the need to test them in any way. We have agreed with many things, and unexpectedly have become friends. So we combined our names. A surreptitious link between us. Using Aur, from mine, and Ana, from hers, we have become 'Aurana'. The oddest things come to the oddest species...
But there was one thing I could not abide by. That was to agree to get along with the Andalites. I hated them. With every appearance they angered me. They did not care whether it was one Yeerk or another, just as long as they inflicted pain. Yes, they have done some good things. They saved Aftran. I was there to see it. They have balanced Visser 3's position: The council of thirteen was just about fed up with him. They have foiled his plans many times, but not once have I seen them try and make peace. Make agreement. Just fight and kill, not for the sake of humans, but for the sake of themselves and their foolish pride.
THWUMP!
Next to me a Hork-Bajir had fallen, which shook me out of the dream. I saw a wolf coming straight for me. I turned and cowardly ran. I felt like a fool. Until I realized fools didn't come up with ingenious plans. And I had one. A trick, sort of. I grinned to myself, thinking, "Let's just hope they do what they usually do and retreat."
See, I've always wondered what happened after all of the battles. Where did they go? What did they do?
I was soon about to discover this.
I exited the Yeerk pool out into the Gap, a section in the human's mall. I exited the Gap and sat down on a table sitting right outside of it. Then I thought better of it: The Andalite aristh had gotten a pretty good look at me, and he might recognize me. So I stood up and walked over to a little crevice on the side, sort of in between the Gap and another store. I stood there, waiting for the Andalite bandits to come, hoping that they chose this exit.
Just when I was beginning to become bored, I saw them. There were more than I had first spotted. I had first seen three humans. Now there were six. Six Andalite bandits, all in human morph, and vulnerable beyond imaginable.
There stood the odd human male. The one that was male, but had a feminine touch to him. Then was a dark skinned girl. She looked... upset sort of. Sad. I wondered if maybe they had lost the battle, but that seemed not to be it. Then came the familiar blonde female, looking somewhat exhilarated. I also recognized a boy standing right next to her; he had originally been the ones I had seen entering the Yeerk pool. He had dirty blonde hair and the same, unemotional face. Then there was another dark-haired boy, with light skin and brown eyes. He stood next to the dark skinned female. Lastly came a boy, one humans call a 'Mexican'. He had black hair and brown eyes, but a sort of dark tanned skin.
I only caught glimpses of their conversation.
"... meet back at the... th... d..y ..fter tommorrow... alr...?" the dark brown haired boy standing by the dark skinned female was saying.
"Ri... Jake," the dark-skinned female said. "I've... get home... do ...work... cant' believe my... tea... They ex... me to do all o... ...is home..."
"Ah... ...at... ...tive work yo... chers... ...ive you," the boy that had sort of a feminine touch to him said. He was... well... odd. I kept my eye on him.
"I've got to... my little...ters... ...-sit," the blonde female said.
"Ye... have to... father... not feeling... ...ll," the boy with the dark tanned skin said.
"See... then... bye."
They all parted. I decided to follow the boy that had spoken weirdly. Slipping out of the shadows, I followed him out of the mall. Trying not to look conspicuous, I sat on a bench as he went down the street and into the woods. I stood up and followed him.
Once inside to woods, I at first saw nothing. Then I heard a screech and looked up to see a bird, soaring above. I walked over to a tree and climbed up it to see the bird fly over, off into the distance. I smiled as I saw it dive down, reaching it's final destination.
"Tommorrow, Andalite, tommorrow."

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The next day I spent waiting and worrying. I decided to strike in the evening, that way if I was to get into trouble, at least my host's parents would begin to worry when I did not return home during dinner.
I wasn't sure if I'd make it. The Andalite was swift, and cunning. But also a fool. It shouldn't be too hard. At least that's what I was trying to tell myself all day.
Once I saw the sun reaching the apex of the sk, I walked into the woods. Occasionally I climbed trees so that I could find the point I was looking towards, but I finally reached it.
Softly I crept closer to the meadow, until suddenly the woods ends, and there across lay a field of grass and flowers and... an Andalite.
He seemed to be deep in thought, which was good for me because I actually hadn't expected coming upon him at all.
"At least you know where he is," I thought to myself. Smiling, I was about to turn and leave, when the Andalite felt my presence. First his stalk eyes slowly went up. They caught sight of me. My breathing stopped. So did my heartbeat.
The Andalite snapped his head up and a wave of anger washed over him.
I turned and ran.
I ran blindly into the woods. I foolishly paid no attention to my surroundings, and finally found out I had been running the wrong way. I heard the Andalite close behind. He would catch me. And kill me. There was no hope for me now.
Or maybe there was...
He was so close behind me he could have reached up and grabbed me. But he was running too fast. I dodged to the side unexpectedly and continued running. I did not stop, even though my sides ached and my lungs burned.
I finally came upon a gorge. I was trapped, practically. If I did not think up of something, I'd surely die. So I did. I had become skillful of climbing trees from doing it so many times. So I sped up the tree.
I sat myself down on a branch, a breathed heavily a couple times before I froze: I heard the Andalite coming.
I completely halted, and tried to slow my breathing down as I saw him enter. He looked around angrily. But never did he look up. My chest heaved, and slowly I let out one breath after another. One was too sharp... too clear. I stopped instantly. Had he heard?
Yeerk filth, he muttered. I suppose she took another turn. What am I standing around here for?
Apparently not. I watched as he disappeared through the trees, and began to climb down, pleased with myself.
Then I saw a blur of blue.
I saw him coming. With hatred in his eyes. I froze in mid point, still at the utmost branches of the tree. I knew he couldn't reach me, so I was about to relax.
When I noticed his ail was not aimed at trying to get me. It was at the tree.
FWAP!
I could barely think what was happening. All I knew was that he had cut down the tree. I looked down and saw I was not going to land on the ground.
I was to be thrown down the gorge.
I screamed the whole way.
I was going to die. There was nothing else to it. The Andalite won. For good... I closed my eyes, losing the faintest glimmer of hope. I really, really should have kept that hope...