Author's Note: Okay, I might rewrite this...someday. I was going to before I posted it here, but since I have so many other fics cluttering up my brain, I'll save it for later. I'm the only person who doesn't like it...oh well. This was originally a challenge fic, I'm not to blame! Really!
Oh, yeah this is SLASH. Fluffy slash, too. =P Enjoy.

"Okay...one more time."
I picked up the basketball and threw it at the hoop. It went sailing,
sailing, sailing...right over it. Today was not my lucky day. Of
course, it's a little hard to really concetrate on basketball when
you're thinking about being attacked from evil slugs from space.
Evil Slugs from Space. Sounds like a cheesy sci-fi movie, doesn't it?
I can just picture it now...some fat guy in a huge slug costume
(that's obviously fake) is the lead alien, who is from Mars, and
wants to blast Earth to bits.
Except in my case, it isn't some fat guy in a huge slug costume. He's
not from Mars, either. And Earth's a little too precious for him to
blow up. In my case, it's a nasty slug pretending to be either an old
Andalite war prince...or another one pretending to be my mother. Oh,
and they want your body. They want to make you Controllers. Slaves,
in simple terms.

Don't believe me? Well, if you want to end up in the Yeerk Pool with
Hork-Bajir forcing you down so that the Yeerk can slither into your
brain, I guess it's your choice.
I'm an Animorph and I fight the Yeerks. I'm not the only one, that
would suck. The other Animorphs are Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Tobias, and
Ax. We got the morphing power from a dying Andalite prince named
Elfangor. Excepting Ax...he's an Andalite, so he already has the
power to morph. He also Elfangor's brother. Jake is our leader. He's
the kind of guy who commands respect from people, so it's easy to go
with what he says. Cassie is Jake's girlfriend. She's like our
peacemaker, the person who keeps us from going nuts. Then there's
Rachel. She's Jake's cousin, and the one who gets us up and going so
that we're still fighting. Tobias is our eye in the sky, in more than
one way. He used to be trapped in hawk morph because he defied the
two-hour time limit of morphing. He has regained his morphing power,
thanks to certain not-quite all-powerful beings. Then there's me, the
funny guy. You know, I'm the one who always makes the jokes. If we
ever do survive through all this, I'll be remembered as the funny
guy. Last but not least, there's Ax. Like I said, he's an Andalite,
and Elfangor's brother. He's...
Weird. Very weird. That's really the best way I can put it.

I was out on the basketball court after school. I was there for a
couple of reasons. One, I just kind of needed to relax...do stuff
that didn't really have to do with getting my head blown off, y'know?
Secondly, it was a mission. Not one that would directly involve
getting my head blown off, for a change.
What was the plan? Well, Jake and I were going to teach
Jake's 'cousin Phillip' (Ax's human alias) how to play basketball,
while trying to see if we could get any info from the meeting of The
Sharing that afternoon at the school. Brilliant, huh? Knowing our
luck, we'd probably end up morphing roaches to sneak in an then try
and avoid Visser Three's tail blade. But hey, I can hope, can't I?

I jumped up, and shot the ball towards the hoop. "He shoots!" I
yelled triumphantly.
Then, as I watched the ball..."He misses it by a mile." I muttered.
Behind me, I heard Jake snigger. He was standing there and watching
me with Ax on his side. Ax was in his oddly attractive human morph,
which is a mix of DNA from me, Jake, Cassie, and Rachel. Jake was
holding a basketball in his right arm. He gave Ax a push, sending him
sprawling onto the court.
I really shouldn't be saying this, but Ax looked like a total dork.
Jake passed him the ball, which Ax managed to catch. It's not that he
was being a real goof about the game, it was what he was wearing more
than anything. He was wearing jeans, sneakers, and I swear...a
sunflower print t-shirt. It was pretty funny.

"What is this for? Or?" he asked Jake.
Jake gave me a Look, so I decided I'd better explain.
"It's a basketball, Phillip." I said. "Now, the goal of the game is
to get this ball into your team's net -- see those nets up there? You
shoot the ball into one of those." Ax nodded, though I'm pretty sure
he didn't really get it.
Jake watched us with a weird look in his eye, but I dismissed
it. "Um, look, Marco...I'm going to see if I can see what they're
doing in the autorium...you and Ax stay here as backup, kay?" he
whispered.
Ax and I both blinked. "Sure, Fearless Leader...but, uh, why?" I
asked.
Jake looked a bit surprised. "I just thought we should try to see if
we could anything directly..." he muttered under his breath. I
frowned, getting the feeling that my best friend was hiding something
from me.
I shrugged and looked at Ax. "You up for some b-ball?" I asked.

I'd found out that, unfortunately, Ax was actually pretty good at
basketball. Of course, I'm not exactly the most stellar player, but I
like to think I'm decent. So far, mine and Ax's little game was 6-0.
Ax was winning. I jumped up and watched, feeling rather defeated at
this point as my ever reliable basketball soared into the net with a
swish. Ax ran foward, ready to shoot the ball into the hoop again. I
was standing in front of him, ready to guard him from the net. But
then...
Well, Andalites have four legs in their natural form. So Ax still
isn't used to having two legs. Just as he threw the ball, he fell. I
tried to catch him, and I did. Sort of.
I threw out my arms as I tried to stop Ax from falling. It worked for
a second, then gravity started to kick in. CRASH! I found myself on
the floor, pinned under Ax. A little too closely pinned under Ax.
Like, one inch away from his lips.
Then male psycho egos kicked in. We both jumped to our feet, blushing
like kids. We didn't say anything. Then, Jake came running in.

"Marco! Ax!" he shouted. We both looked at him.
"What is it, Prince Jake?" Ax asked, and I shook my head. He was
hopeless.
"Tobias just found out Visser Three's at the meeting! We've gotta go
morph, now!" he yelled.
"Tobias is here?" I asked angrily. "If Tobias is here, then why did
you drag me out here? I can stand you kicking my butt, but Ax has
never played in his life!" I complained.
Jake just shook his head, a weird grin on his face. "Because." he
answered simply.
"Well you can bruise your ego later." he told me, still grinning.
That was getting annoying. "We gotta go."
"Yeah, sure..." I muttered. It was then that I noticed Ax was staring
at me. I'd never noticed how blue his eyes were before...

Okay, okay...review. Try not to flame, would you? I don't need my muse staring at a fireplace for hours...