DIGIMORPHS
THE BEGINNING
Tai:
Hello.
My name is Tai.
And I am the leader of this group.
Got a problem? Join Matt. He is a problem.
Now you're probably wondering who Matt is. Who I am for that matter.
I'll tell you.
We are two of the Digidestined. Eight of us, destined to save the Digital World(hence the term...). There's Matt Sora Izzy Mimi Kari Joe T.K and myself. We all have Digital pals, but for those of you who watch us regularly, I'll spare you the details.
This story really starts when we were all in the normal word, 'safe and sound' after the battles we had fought. Matt called me up, announcing a meeting. At first, I was mad. I was the one who should be calling all the meetings, if any. Then I detected the urgency in Matt's voice. See, urgency in Matt's voice is not good.
Jake:
Hi.
Me again.
Jake, that is.
I woke up to Tobias tapping at my window. At five am. I bolted out of bed to my window, letting Tobias in.
Jake, we have a problem...
* * * *
"I don't wanna have to bite my tail off again."
Do not worry, Rachel. This time I don't think we will need to take such drastic measures. Ax reassured my cousin.
"Yeah, those two might not be psycho killers out to eat us all." Marco stated.
One only looked five or so, Tobias said. The one watching him was our age. A cool kid. There was a tinge of anger in his voice. Tobias was a bully magnet when he was still human. Now, bullies wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole. If they knew his past, They'd probably give him a ten-mile berth.
"I'm sure they're harmless," Cassie soothed. She gave a smile up in Tobias' direction. "Even the 'cool kid'."
"Even so, we should stand watch." I said, taking command.
"Do we have to, mommy? I'm tired." Marco whined.
I sighed. "Tobias, Cassie, and I will take the first shift. If anything happens, someone will alert you, Rachel. If, after that, things get really bad Marco and Ax will be alerted." I waved, and started morphing.
"Gee thank, fearless leader." Marco put his hands on his hips and stuck his tongue out at my shrinking form.
Matt:
My doorbell rang for the sixth time that night. Five minutes late.
"I'm sorry I'm late, you guys. You see, my glasses fell off and-"
"Sit down, Joe, before you hurt yourself or others." Tai said. "Now then, Matt, what is this big emergency that could not wait till morning?" He yawned hugely at us.
"This." I took a blue cube out from behind me. The reactions differed from person to person. Mimi's eyes shimmered as if it was the 'Heart Of The Ocean' or something. Izzy looked ready to run a bunch of tests on it. Tai turned red.
"You wake me up at four in the morning because of an oversized piece of Lego?! ARGH!!" Tai stomped out.
"A-hole. Anyway, for the rest of you who are sane, what do you think?" I asked.
"My theory is aliens. Perhaps it is a weapon, or-"
"All your theories are aliens. I think it's probably something expensive. Something a girl would like, Matt." She batted her eyes at me. Mimi has a way of not being able to hold in secrets, not even her own.
"My guess is some kind of weapon to destroy the world with. I wanna go home. I feel sick." Joe complained.
"What do you think, Sora?" I looked around Mimi.
"I don't know. I kind of agree with Izzy on this one." She sat with her hands on her knees, not really looking at anything.
"What? Are you serious?" I looked at her wide-eyed. She shrugged, and went back to staring at nothing.
Cassie:
Who are these people? Jake wondered.
From what I gather, they are a bunch of people who think they are special enough to have a group.
Marco, I thought I told you to go home and get some sleep.
And I thought I told you I'm not a sissy baby who does everything Mommy tells me to do. Besides, Jakey, the one in pink is kind of cute, don't cha think?
Please don't talk about girls, I groaned.
Ah yes. The female friend. Bummer taking one of those with you wherever you go. Apologies sent.
Can we please focus on these people or does Tobias have to work alone? Tobias asked, fluttering his wings in the tree beside me.
The excitement had drawn away from the blue box. 'Pink Girl', 'Cool kid' and the nervous guy were talking about some dude named Tai and what a loser he was and what a loser he wasn't. Okay, so they weren't talking. More like yelling and screaming. One boy was inspecting the box, and the only other girl kept staring at nothing.
Sora:
I really didn't know what to think. I glanced at Izzy. He was looking at the blue box from every angle, muttering things to himself.
I told Matt I was going home. He waved me off. I wandered along the star-and-streetlight-lit street(say that ten times fast), having told my mother I was sleeping at Mimi's house. Every once in a while I heard fluttering behind me. I always just shrugged it off.
After about an hour, I spun around and looked about for my follower. Let me tell you, I was plenty afraid. Tai's courage was rubbing off on me I guess.
"Hello? Who's there?" I waited for a response.
Just me. A voice in my head! How... Thought speech. To your view, I'm a red-tailed hawk. I am truly a human guy. I'm morphed.
"How..."
Let me continue. The blue cube. It can give you the power to morph. Like me. You'll have to give me the box, though. The 'voice' seemed unsure, as if saying something against it's will. I finally located the source up in the tree beside me.
"I don't have it with me, Birdboy."
How did you...
"What ?"
Know my nickname? He now sounded scared.
"It's your nickname? It suits you. I didn't know it. I needed to call you something. It was the first thing that popped into my head." I shrugged, then turned toward Matt's house. I was very interested in having the ability to morph. I immediately started wondering about what it was like to be a cat, graceful, calm and cool. Then I wondered if I could trust this boy, this bird. Then I remembered how unsure he had been about telling me all that, how scared he sounded when he thought I knew something about him. I walked faster now.
Where are you going? The guy-bird asked.
"Back to Matt's house. If you want and or need to come, please morph into human, so you don't need to follow me and worry me to death."
Tobias:
I can't. I said simply. She gave me a puzzled look. Then she continued. walking.
"Why not?" She had a look of concern on her face now. I knew it would turn into sympathy, but Jake said to tell 'Trustable-Looking' everything she asked.
Technically, I can, but I'd rather not. I could get stuck in morph.
"Stuck in morph?"
Yeah. I'm already a nothlit, stuck in morph. I regained the powers to morph, but I don't want to go back to human form and loose them again. I can only be in morph for two hours.
"It will only take about an hour or so. You should be fine."
I'll meet you there, okay? I really did not need to show up in human morph with a girl none of us knew while Rachel was taking her shift. I flew off, not waiting for her response.
* * * *
Well? Does she want to go out with you or not? Marco wanted to know as I got there.
Who? Rachel asked. What did I miss?
Oh, Birdboy here went off after the girl who left the house about two and a half-hours ago without saying why.
WHAT!?
Jake gave me the orders to go after her. He wanted me to ask her for a date. Along with the rest of her friends, and the blue cube. I said tiredly. Would someone go tell Jake that he and Cassie should get to the construction site fast? I'll wait here for these guys.
I'll gladly go tell Prince Jake. Ax left.
Marco, go with him. I'll stay with you, Tobias. You never know about people. Rachel sounded concerned.
If I had lips, I would have smiled.Yeah. we waited for a while. Then, I saw the familiar face running up the sidewalk. Yo! Tell your friends to go to the side of town, at the construction site. I'll lead you there.
So will I. Rachel piped up.
This is Rachel by the way. I pointed to her with my wing.
"Hello, Rachel, Birdboy. Construction site. Gotcha." She went inside.
Joe:
"We've... got to... go to the... construction site... with that box..." Sora said, pointing to the thing Izzy was holding. She was slowly regaining her breath.
"Why?"
"'Cause a little bird told me so."
"Get serious, Sora. Really why do we have to?" Matt asked again.
"Fine then. A slightly big bird told me so. It can give us the power to morph. Into animals. We have to bring it to the construction site on the far side of town. He'll be able to give us the power then."
Matt had a 'talking to a psycho' voice, a worried expression. "Sora, I'm sorry I have to say this, but that is a bunch of bull. Now, are you sure you haven't gotten into your mother's liquor cabinet? Just sit down, cause you're not going much of anywhere for quite a while if I have anything to say about it." He grabbed her hand and tried to tow her to the couch.
Sora pulled away from him. "I'm not insane, Matt." She looked around, jerking her head left to right for a moment, as if looking for a way to make us believe. "Don't move." she said to all of us. Then she ran out the door.
A few minutes later she returned. With a boy and a girl we did not know.
"This is Rachel," she said, pointing to the girl. The girl was beautiful. And that I couldn't say about to many females I knew. But she was Model Beautiful. Not like I was in love or anything. "And this is..."
"Tobias." The boy said.
"Yes. Tobias."
"And why are they in my house?"
"Watch, Matt. Just watch."
Then a process began that made me want to spill my guts. His nose and mouth ran together. Feather patterns appeared on his arms, only to pop out in 3-D. I turned away, so I didn't puke all over this poor boy that was changing into something he was not.
Please, follow the birdy. I heard in my head.
* * * *
We were on the other side of town. We had made a slight detour, to which my feet did not approve, and now Tai was with us. We had been joined with Two other boys. One more girl. And a thing that was beyond earth. A blue deer. With a long tail ending in a scythe. A big, deadly, gleaming sharp knife. I shuddered behind Izzy. He was the only thing to hide behind that wouldn't take a running jump. It wasn't very efficient. But he could defend me, couldn't he?
Marco:
It was hilarious. They all looked terrified of Ax. Even who Tobias described as 'the cool kid'. All except for the girl Tobias ran off with. She looked fascinated. And expectant. She handed over the blue cube to Jake. Jake gave it to Ax.
Who first, Prince Jake?
"How about this one," He pointed to the girl Tobias left with.
"What exactly do I have to do?" She asked. Suddenly the guy who uses way too much gel in his way too long hair grabbed her arm.
"Sora, you don't know what these creeps can do! Please just come on, let's get out of here."
"Tai, I'm a big girl. I can make my own decisions."
"Yeah. Let the girl do her own thing. It's a free country, man." I butted in.
"Who told you that you had a say in this at all, TanMan?"
"Hey, I like my tan! And so do the girls. Tell me, how many females swoon and sigh over that nest of yours?" I gestured to his head.
I heard Ax already giving her the power already. Just press your hand on the side of the box closest to you. He was saying. Then the Sora girl pulled away. Now, you won't be able to morph just anything. You have to touch the thing you want to morph. Acquire it.
"We, as Animorphs, have a policy, though." Cassie told her. "You are not allowed to morph any human."
"Unless under extreme pressure to do so." Jake said.
"I still don't like it," Rachel put in. "Why did we go and just grab any old people off the street?"
They found the blue box, Rachel. Tobias reasoned. Tobias was trying to explain something to Rachel instead of just letting her do whatever? That's not right. Rachel's Bird-Boyfriend shouldn't be telling her right from wrong. It's just temporary. Tobias just thinks he agrees more with Jake. That's all. Yeah. That's all my butt. Oh well. Life goes on.
"SORA!! I told you not to do something and you went ahead and did it anyway? It was an order!!" Tai looked very angry.
"Man, Tai. Loosen up on her. She's not your pet, okay?" 'Cool kid' came in.
"And she isn't yours either, so don't butt in!"
"Calm down, Tai. I'm very interested in the effects of all this. If you'll kindly just let it all proceed, I might-"
"Izzy, I don't give a 3@#$% about your experiments or observations or whatever!! I'm concerned about the team!"
"Jake, I suggest just leaving it at this one. The others don't seem to thrilled." I piped up. "I'm thinking that maybe its about time we blew this Popsicle stand."
"No, wait!" The short kid almost commanded, almost pleaded. "Let me come, too. I'm not letting just Sora take all the experience from this!"
Ax looked to Jake for help. What should I do?
Jake sighed. "Let him come, too. We'll need all the reinforcements we can get."
Ax gave the guy the power. My part had come. I reached out and grabbed the Sora girl's arm.
"Hey! What's with you?" she asked, trying to shake me off.
"Leave her alone!" Tai screamed at me.
"Listen, I've had about enough of you," I said to him. "Now, just leave off and don't worry. I'm not gonna hurt her or anything."
Rachel grabbed hold of the little dude. "Cassie, you could probably take care of this one, eh?" Then he did something unexpected. Spun so quickly Rachel lost her grip on him, then gave a nice smooth upper cut that hit Rachel's jaw hard.
"Don't touch me," he said calmly.
"Maybe in wolf morph, Rachel." Cassie finally responded.
Rachel burned with fury. I could see it in her eyes. She wanted to pull the little kid apart. I knew she could. I also knew that Jake had told her not to.
"Sorry, by the way. I shouldn't of hit you, you being a girl and all."
"Geeze, Rachel. Your new boyfriend sure is full of surprises, eh?"
"Your girl seems quite cozy with your arms wrapped around her, too, Marco." I suddenly realized I had fully encased the girl, just so I knew she couldn't do the same thing to me as the boy had done to Rachel. Sora was squirming around, trying to loosen my death-grip.
"Sorry," I muttered, loosening up but not letting go.
"Yeah, whatever, just let go of me!" She squirmed again.
Out of nowhere, a fist connected with my eye. I stumbled backward , bringing Sora down on top of me. "Oomph!" The air left my chest on her impact.
"Now let go of Sora!!" I heard from above me. My head was spinning, but I could make sense of enough to let the girl go. Then I heard Jake.
"What in the world is your problem?" He said almost calmly to Tai.
"My problem is your friend grabbing hold of my girlfriend."
"You're too possessive, Tai," a voice I recognized as 'Cool Kid'.
"Matt, no one asked you! Stay out of battles that aren't yours! And who's side are you on!?"
"Clear your mind of question," I managed to croak. "You still have much to learn, little one."
He pulled me up by my shirt. "What did you say?"
Then a fist flew over my shoulder. "That's for what that kid did to me." Tai soared through the air. "You're their leader, right? Then it's your problem."
I turned, a ring of black already forming around my eye. "You do care!" I went to hug her.
"Don't touch me. You want your other eye to match?" Rachel grumbled. "I could fix your face. You'd look better with some missing teeth, anyway."
Jake had something else to say. "Let's move, guys. Tobias, Rachel, Marco. Stay with these two. You know where we're going."
The others started morphing.
Izzy:
It was truly fascinating.
These people had, by some miracle, the power to change form. Changed into animals.
It made me wish I had a camcorder.
Now I had the power.
I couldn't wait to test it. But the thing that had said it was an Andalite had told me that I could not until I acquired something to morph.
Tai was shouting after the ones who had flown away.
Now the one who'd grabbed me, Rachel, and Marco were changing shape. But definitely not to bird. Marco had changed into a gorilla. And Rachel was a grizzly.
All set. Come on you two, let's get a move on. Follow the birdy.
"Tobias," Sora almost sounded wounded, "where are we going?"
You'll see when we get there.
"But-"
Don't doubt the birdman, Marco said. Then he picked Sora up. Now I am King Kong! Just, please, don't scream. Sora looked stupefied. She obviously had no idea what the normal reaction to this situation was. I didn't either.
Rachel shoved me forward with a paw. Come on you're coming too.
"Oh, goody." I said sarcastically. Then something really shocked me.
"You big bullies! Leave Sora and Izzy alone!" Mimi ran forward and tried to kick Rachel in the shin.
Rachel roared, and Mimi literally jumped into Tai's arms.
* * * *
Welcome to the barn. Tobias said in his thought speech. They had answered some of my questions. Like how and why they talked in our heads while in animal form.
"The Barn? Isn't that like a food store? I don't want to morph a pear." Sora said.
You know, I'm starting to like this girl. Marco said. She has a weird sense of humor. Like me.
Exactly why I don't like her.Rachel said from behind me.
"I feel like a prisoner," I grumbled for the millionth time.
Would it help if I said that, technically, you are one? Marco inquired.
"No."
Then stop complaining.
"Welcome to my humble home." Said the black girl. She was wearing a pair of jeans that were old and worn, and a T-shirt that was five sizes too big. It was almost comical.
"My name is Jake," One of them stepped forward. "And this is Cassie, Ax, Rachel, Marco, and Tobias." He pointed to each one in turn.
"We know the last three." Sora said as Marco placed her on the barn floor. "My name's Sora, and--"
"I'm Izzy." I said before she could speak for me.
"Yeah. I was wondering why exactly you took us and not the rest of our friends?"
Well, they weren't exactly cooperating, were they? Rachel said before starting to change.
"Well, no but--" A look of disgust crossed her face, then Sora turned away. "How do you put up with that?"
"We don't watch," Marco said, fully human once more. "And it doesn't hurt, if you're wondering. Just feels weird."
Sora nodded, in agreement, or acceptance, I suppose.
I'll be able to answer any questions you have. Ax said.
"Okay then," I said. "Why us?"
"Because you guys found the morphing cube." Cassie said.
"But doesn't that make it only fair that Matt gets the power too? And T.K.? They're the ones who found it." Sora protested.
"If your friends were willing to settle down, they might have gotten it too."
"You can't deprive people of this wonderful power just because Tai's an idiot." Sora said.
I looked at her in shock. "You are calling Tai an idiot?" I didn't believe it.
Sora nodded her head vigorously. "Yes, very much so. He is a big loser and I'm not quite sure why I'm going out with him." She absently looked over at Marco. "Hey! What happened to your eye?"
"Huh? Oh, when you morph, anything done to you in battle- er, ah, I mean whenever you get hurt, it goes away after you morph."
"Oh."
I didn't let that slip by so easily. "What do you mean, battle?"
Marco looked uncertainly at Jake.
Jake said, "Battle against the aliens."
"What?" Sora and I said together.
"Against the yeerks."
"Yeerks?" I inquired? "Aliens?" I added hopefully.
"Wow. Izzy was right for once? With his theories? That's not right...." Sora gasped
"Talk about your oxy-morons," Marco muttered.
"Very funny Sora. Aliens? What are they doing? Why are you guys fighting them?" I couldn't understand this until I was given some information.
Aximilli
My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. All the humans I know call me Ax, because apparently my name is difficult to pronounce out loud. This new boy, Izzy, seemed so full of questions and curiosity that I had to take him aside and explain everything. He turned out to be a very interesting boy and he reminded me much of my fellow Andalites. He acted a bit like my nephew, Tobias. If you're not sure how an Andalite can be the uncle of a human, I'll explain.
My brother Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul came to earth with his female friend, Loren, because he was sick and tired of going to wars. Personally, I can't believe that my brother, Prince Elfangor, gave up on his people. He came here and lived out life as a human, with Loren as his wife. Just as Tobias was born, Elfangor returned to his people miraculously in Andalite form and lead my people in his last war against the Yeerks.
I explained this to Izzy, who sat there in total shock. "I didn't think any of this was possible. Actually, truth be told, I've never thought about this." Cassie came over holding in her arms a baby squirrel, to which she was feeding some milk.
"If you guys are done, we'd like Izzy to come and morph something now." Izzy stood up excitedly, prepared, it seemed, for anything. We both followed Cassie to the middle of the barn, where Sora stood triumphantly waiting for Izzy so she could begin the morphing process. Izzy acquired a fox, and then went to stand beside Sora who had taken off her shoes and put on a tighter shirt belonging to Cassie.
Sora started first, shrinking down before anything else happened. Izzy stared down at the miniature Sora standing beside him, who was now beginning to grow feathers. Izzy then shrugged, closed his eyes and concentrated. I watched as Izzy sprouted a tail and began to grow red- orange fur. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the others morphing as well, some to wolf and others to birds. I started to morph my northern harrier, and I guessed that we were planning on showing them around.
The finished product was four birds and four canines. Me as my northern harrier, Sora as a red-tail, Marco as his osprey, and Tobias as his self. Then there was Izzy as a fox, and Rachel, Prince Jake, and Cassie as wolves.
Have fun, but keep safe, Prince Jake told us, and then he lead his troops out the door. Tobias led us to the skies.
Mimi
Tai paced back and forth Matt's living room. "Why are we still here? We should be out saving Sora! and Izzy. Let's go out there and search, if nothing else!" He was pulling on his hair with frustration, which I think is probably very bad for his roots, and if you ask me he needs to take care of what he has, 'cause by my standards it's not very stylish.
"Tai, calm down. We'll get Sora back. And Izzy will be fine too. We can't do anything to help them now." Matt looked like he wanted to knock Tai into next week, but he was still reasoning with him. Matt was so mature! And he's hot too, which makes him that much more lovable. I have to admit, I've had a crush on him for a while.
"They're most likely being mauled, or maybe poor Sora... Oh, it makes me sick."
"You're not helping anything, Joe. Maybe you should go home and get some rest." I told him. I smiled sympathetically at him. he was obviously behind in sleep from his school studies. He planned on going to doctor collage or something the next summer. I couldn't believe it.
"Maybe you're right. I think I'll leave this to you guys to figure out." He grabbed his coat and went out the door. Tai continued to pace throughout all of this.
"What if Joe is right though? We've got to find them now!!" Tai was in a state of confusion, I think, because the was running around trying to pull out his hair.
"That can't be good for your health," I told him, but he ignored me as usual.
"Let's go, if that's what'll make him stop." Matt said. He put on his shoes and his coat, and the rest of us followed.
Elimist:
THE ANIMORPHS ARE DOING WRONG...
((Seeing as though this chapter is so incredibly short, I'm gonna post here that this is K.A. Applegate's and Toei's, not mine! :o) ))
Tai:
I didn't want to think about what was happening to my Sora. She was my world, and we needed to make sure she was alright, even if the others didn't care. I needed to find her as soon as possible, before those freaks of nature did anything to her.
"Come on! You people are so slow! We know where to start, and that's the construction site! We'll move on from there." I marched off in the direction of the construction site, even though I knew it would be a long march. I seemed to be getting farther and farther ahead... "Why did you guys stop?" I said, spinning towards them.
"Tai, you're marching into this without a word of planning. What do we do when we meet up with them? We don't have our Digimon with us, remember?"
"Remember?" I said. "How could I forget? I was so used to having Augomon beside me that sometimes I ask him his opinion!" I missed the little dino guy. "Wait!" I had an idea. "What if we could reach our Digimon? We could get them over to this world, and they could protect us from those things. I wasn't even sure what they were, but then, I wasn't sure where I was at the moment.
"Tai, where are we going??" Mimi piped up from behind me. I looked up at the street sign, and wondered where we could even start to look for them. I realized I had no clue where they were, or where they had taken Sora. I sighed deeply, then turned to the others.
"We're going to the construction site, I already said that." I marched onwards, while Matt announced he was going home for some sleep, and everyone else followed him. I grumbled to myself on my way to the site, and stopped on the sidewalk, looking into the dark area.
I did not look like a happy place, and I immediately got the shivers as I looked into the darkness of early morning. I decided sleep was not a half-bad idea, and that Sora could wait till the morning. I turned back, and onto the street. I looked up at the nearest street sign, and realized that I must have come out of the construction site on a different side than I had entered it from.
I shrugged that off and started walking around the outside of the site. I really didn't want to admit that I was lost. But as soon as I saw the mall across the street from the site, a place I had never seen before, I had to worry. I would do most anything for Sora, but now I had to admit I was in over my head.
1
2
THE BEGINNING
Tai:
Hello.
My name is Tai.
And I am the leader of this group.
Got a problem? Join Matt. He is a problem.
Now you're probably wondering who Matt is. Who I am for that matter.
I'll tell you.
We are two of the Digidestined. Eight of us, destined to save the Digital World(hence the term...). There's Matt Sora Izzy Mimi Kari Joe T.K and myself. We all have Digital pals, but for those of you who watch us regularly, I'll spare you the details.
This story really starts when we were all in the normal word, 'safe and sound' after the battles we had fought. Matt called me up, announcing a meeting. At first, I was mad. I was the one who should be calling all the meetings, if any. Then I detected the urgency in Matt's voice. See, urgency in Matt's voice is not good.
Jake:
Hi.
Me again.
Jake, that is.
I woke up to Tobias tapping at my window. At five am. I bolted out of bed to my window, letting Tobias in.
Jake, we have a problem...
* * * *
"I don't wanna have to bite my tail off again."
Do not worry, Rachel. This time I don't think we will need to take such drastic measures. Ax reassured my cousin.
"Yeah, those two might not be psycho killers out to eat us all." Marco stated.
One only looked five or so, Tobias said. The one watching him was our age. A cool kid. There was a tinge of anger in his voice. Tobias was a bully magnet when he was still human. Now, bullies wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole. If they knew his past, They'd probably give him a ten-mile berth.
"I'm sure they're harmless," Cassie soothed. She gave a smile up in Tobias' direction. "Even the 'cool kid'."
"Even so, we should stand watch." I said, taking command.
"Do we have to, mommy? I'm tired." Marco whined.
I sighed. "Tobias, Cassie, and I will take the first shift. If anything happens, someone will alert you, Rachel. If, after that, things get really bad Marco and Ax will be alerted." I waved, and started morphing.
"Gee thank, fearless leader." Marco put his hands on his hips and stuck his tongue out at my shrinking form.
Matt:
My doorbell rang for the sixth time that night. Five minutes late.
"I'm sorry I'm late, you guys. You see, my glasses fell off and-"
"Sit down, Joe, before you hurt yourself or others." Tai said. "Now then, Matt, what is this big emergency that could not wait till morning?" He yawned hugely at us.
"This." I took a blue cube out from behind me. The reactions differed from person to person. Mimi's eyes shimmered as if it was the 'Heart Of The Ocean' or something. Izzy looked ready to run a bunch of tests on it. Tai turned red.
"You wake me up at four in the morning because of an oversized piece of Lego?! ARGH!!" Tai stomped out.
"A-hole. Anyway, for the rest of you who are sane, what do you think?" I asked.
"My theory is aliens. Perhaps it is a weapon, or-"
"All your theories are aliens. I think it's probably something expensive. Something a girl would like, Matt." She batted her eyes at me. Mimi has a way of not being able to hold in secrets, not even her own.
"My guess is some kind of weapon to destroy the world with. I wanna go home. I feel sick." Joe complained.
"What do you think, Sora?" I looked around Mimi.
"I don't know. I kind of agree with Izzy on this one." She sat with her hands on her knees, not really looking at anything.
"What? Are you serious?" I looked at her wide-eyed. She shrugged, and went back to staring at nothing.
Cassie:
Who are these people? Jake wondered.
From what I gather, they are a bunch of people who think they are special enough to have a group.
Marco, I thought I told you to go home and get some sleep.
And I thought I told you I'm not a sissy baby who does everything Mommy tells me to do. Besides, Jakey, the one in pink is kind of cute, don't cha think?
Please don't talk about girls, I groaned.
Ah yes. The female friend. Bummer taking one of those with you wherever you go. Apologies sent.
Can we please focus on these people or does Tobias have to work alone? Tobias asked, fluttering his wings in the tree beside me.
The excitement had drawn away from the blue box. 'Pink Girl', 'Cool kid' and the nervous guy were talking about some dude named Tai and what a loser he was and what a loser he wasn't. Okay, so they weren't talking. More like yelling and screaming. One boy was inspecting the box, and the only other girl kept staring at nothing.
Sora:
I really didn't know what to think. I glanced at Izzy. He was looking at the blue box from every angle, muttering things to himself.
I told Matt I was going home. He waved me off. I wandered along the star-and-streetlight-lit street(say that ten times fast), having told my mother I was sleeping at Mimi's house. Every once in a while I heard fluttering behind me. I always just shrugged it off.
After about an hour, I spun around and looked about for my follower. Let me tell you, I was plenty afraid. Tai's courage was rubbing off on me I guess.
"Hello? Who's there?" I waited for a response.
Just me. A voice in my head! How... Thought speech. To your view, I'm a red-tailed hawk. I am truly a human guy. I'm morphed.
"How..."
Let me continue. The blue cube. It can give you the power to morph. Like me. You'll have to give me the box, though. The 'voice' seemed unsure, as if saying something against it's will. I finally located the source up in the tree beside me.
"I don't have it with me, Birdboy."
How did you...
"What ?"
Know my nickname? He now sounded scared.
"It's your nickname? It suits you. I didn't know it. I needed to call you something. It was the first thing that popped into my head." I shrugged, then turned toward Matt's house. I was very interested in having the ability to morph. I immediately started wondering about what it was like to be a cat, graceful, calm and cool. Then I wondered if I could trust this boy, this bird. Then I remembered how unsure he had been about telling me all that, how scared he sounded when he thought I knew something about him. I walked faster now.
Where are you going? The guy-bird asked.
"Back to Matt's house. If you want and or need to come, please morph into human, so you don't need to follow me and worry me to death."
Tobias:
I can't. I said simply. She gave me a puzzled look. Then she continued. walking.
"Why not?" She had a look of concern on her face now. I knew it would turn into sympathy, but Jake said to tell 'Trustable-Looking' everything she asked.
Technically, I can, but I'd rather not. I could get stuck in morph.
"Stuck in morph?"
Yeah. I'm already a nothlit, stuck in morph. I regained the powers to morph, but I don't want to go back to human form and loose them again. I can only be in morph for two hours.
"It will only take about an hour or so. You should be fine."
I'll meet you there, okay? I really did not need to show up in human morph with a girl none of us knew while Rachel was taking her shift. I flew off, not waiting for her response.
* * * *
Well? Does she want to go out with you or not? Marco wanted to know as I got there.
Who? Rachel asked. What did I miss?
Oh, Birdboy here went off after the girl who left the house about two and a half-hours ago without saying why.
WHAT!?
Jake gave me the orders to go after her. He wanted me to ask her for a date. Along with the rest of her friends, and the blue cube. I said tiredly. Would someone go tell Jake that he and Cassie should get to the construction site fast? I'll wait here for these guys.
I'll gladly go tell Prince Jake. Ax left.
Marco, go with him. I'll stay with you, Tobias. You never know about people. Rachel sounded concerned.
If I had lips, I would have smiled.Yeah. we waited for a while. Then, I saw the familiar face running up the sidewalk. Yo! Tell your friends to go to the side of town, at the construction site. I'll lead you there.
So will I. Rachel piped up.
This is Rachel by the way. I pointed to her with my wing.
"Hello, Rachel, Birdboy. Construction site. Gotcha." She went inside.
Joe:
"We've... got to... go to the... construction site... with that box..." Sora said, pointing to the thing Izzy was holding. She was slowly regaining her breath.
"Why?"
"'Cause a little bird told me so."
"Get serious, Sora. Really why do we have to?" Matt asked again.
"Fine then. A slightly big bird told me so. It can give us the power to morph. Into animals. We have to bring it to the construction site on the far side of town. He'll be able to give us the power then."
Matt had a 'talking to a psycho' voice, a worried expression. "Sora, I'm sorry I have to say this, but that is a bunch of bull. Now, are you sure you haven't gotten into your mother's liquor cabinet? Just sit down, cause you're not going much of anywhere for quite a while if I have anything to say about it." He grabbed her hand and tried to tow her to the couch.
Sora pulled away from him. "I'm not insane, Matt." She looked around, jerking her head left to right for a moment, as if looking for a way to make us believe. "Don't move." she said to all of us. Then she ran out the door.
A few minutes later she returned. With a boy and a girl we did not know.
"This is Rachel," she said, pointing to the girl. The girl was beautiful. And that I couldn't say about to many females I knew. But she was Model Beautiful. Not like I was in love or anything. "And this is..."
"Tobias." The boy said.
"Yes. Tobias."
"And why are they in my house?"
"Watch, Matt. Just watch."
Then a process began that made me want to spill my guts. His nose and mouth ran together. Feather patterns appeared on his arms, only to pop out in 3-D. I turned away, so I didn't puke all over this poor boy that was changing into something he was not.
Please, follow the birdy. I heard in my head.
* * * *
We were on the other side of town. We had made a slight detour, to which my feet did not approve, and now Tai was with us. We had been joined with Two other boys. One more girl. And a thing that was beyond earth. A blue deer. With a long tail ending in a scythe. A big, deadly, gleaming sharp knife. I shuddered behind Izzy. He was the only thing to hide behind that wouldn't take a running jump. It wasn't very efficient. But he could defend me, couldn't he?
Marco:
It was hilarious. They all looked terrified of Ax. Even who Tobias described as 'the cool kid'. All except for the girl Tobias ran off with. She looked fascinated. And expectant. She handed over the blue cube to Jake. Jake gave it to Ax.
Who first, Prince Jake?
"How about this one," He pointed to the girl Tobias left with.
"What exactly do I have to do?" She asked. Suddenly the guy who uses way too much gel in his way too long hair grabbed her arm.
"Sora, you don't know what these creeps can do! Please just come on, let's get out of here."
"Tai, I'm a big girl. I can make my own decisions."
"Yeah. Let the girl do her own thing. It's a free country, man." I butted in.
"Who told you that you had a say in this at all, TanMan?"
"Hey, I like my tan! And so do the girls. Tell me, how many females swoon and sigh over that nest of yours?" I gestured to his head.
I heard Ax already giving her the power already. Just press your hand on the side of the box closest to you. He was saying. Then the Sora girl pulled away. Now, you won't be able to morph just anything. You have to touch the thing you want to morph. Acquire it.
"We, as Animorphs, have a policy, though." Cassie told her. "You are not allowed to morph any human."
"Unless under extreme pressure to do so." Jake said.
"I still don't like it," Rachel put in. "Why did we go and just grab any old people off the street?"
They found the blue box, Rachel. Tobias reasoned. Tobias was trying to explain something to Rachel instead of just letting her do whatever? That's not right. Rachel's Bird-Boyfriend shouldn't be telling her right from wrong. It's just temporary. Tobias just thinks he agrees more with Jake. That's all. Yeah. That's all my butt. Oh well. Life goes on.
"SORA!! I told you not to do something and you went ahead and did it anyway? It was an order!!" Tai looked very angry.
"Man, Tai. Loosen up on her. She's not your pet, okay?" 'Cool kid' came in.
"And she isn't yours either, so don't butt in!"
"Calm down, Tai. I'm very interested in the effects of all this. If you'll kindly just let it all proceed, I might-"
"Izzy, I don't give a 3@#$% about your experiments or observations or whatever!! I'm concerned about the team!"
"Jake, I suggest just leaving it at this one. The others don't seem to thrilled." I piped up. "I'm thinking that maybe its about time we blew this Popsicle stand."
"No, wait!" The short kid almost commanded, almost pleaded. "Let me come, too. I'm not letting just Sora take all the experience from this!"
Ax looked to Jake for help. What should I do?
Jake sighed. "Let him come, too. We'll need all the reinforcements we can get."
Ax gave the guy the power. My part had come. I reached out and grabbed the Sora girl's arm.
"Hey! What's with you?" she asked, trying to shake me off.
"Leave her alone!" Tai screamed at me.
"Listen, I've had about enough of you," I said to him. "Now, just leave off and don't worry. I'm not gonna hurt her or anything."
Rachel grabbed hold of the little dude. "Cassie, you could probably take care of this one, eh?" Then he did something unexpected. Spun so quickly Rachel lost her grip on him, then gave a nice smooth upper cut that hit Rachel's jaw hard.
"Don't touch me," he said calmly.
"Maybe in wolf morph, Rachel." Cassie finally responded.
Rachel burned with fury. I could see it in her eyes. She wanted to pull the little kid apart. I knew she could. I also knew that Jake had told her not to.
"Sorry, by the way. I shouldn't of hit you, you being a girl and all."
"Geeze, Rachel. Your new boyfriend sure is full of surprises, eh?"
"Your girl seems quite cozy with your arms wrapped around her, too, Marco." I suddenly realized I had fully encased the girl, just so I knew she couldn't do the same thing to me as the boy had done to Rachel. Sora was squirming around, trying to loosen my death-grip.
"Sorry," I muttered, loosening up but not letting go.
"Yeah, whatever, just let go of me!" She squirmed again.
Out of nowhere, a fist connected with my eye. I stumbled backward , bringing Sora down on top of me. "Oomph!" The air left my chest on her impact.
"Now let go of Sora!!" I heard from above me. My head was spinning, but I could make sense of enough to let the girl go. Then I heard Jake.
"What in the world is your problem?" He said almost calmly to Tai.
"My problem is your friend grabbing hold of my girlfriend."
"You're too possessive, Tai," a voice I recognized as 'Cool Kid'.
"Matt, no one asked you! Stay out of battles that aren't yours! And who's side are you on!?"
"Clear your mind of question," I managed to croak. "You still have much to learn, little one."
He pulled me up by my shirt. "What did you say?"
Then a fist flew over my shoulder. "That's for what that kid did to me." Tai soared through the air. "You're their leader, right? Then it's your problem."
I turned, a ring of black already forming around my eye. "You do care!" I went to hug her.
"Don't touch me. You want your other eye to match?" Rachel grumbled. "I could fix your face. You'd look better with some missing teeth, anyway."
Jake had something else to say. "Let's move, guys. Tobias, Rachel, Marco. Stay with these two. You know where we're going."
The others started morphing.
Izzy:
It was truly fascinating.
These people had, by some miracle, the power to change form. Changed into animals.
It made me wish I had a camcorder.
Now I had the power.
I couldn't wait to test it. But the thing that had said it was an Andalite had told me that I could not until I acquired something to morph.
Tai was shouting after the ones who had flown away.
Now the one who'd grabbed me, Rachel, and Marco were changing shape. But definitely not to bird. Marco had changed into a gorilla. And Rachel was a grizzly.
All set. Come on you two, let's get a move on. Follow the birdy.
"Tobias," Sora almost sounded wounded, "where are we going?"
You'll see when we get there.
"But-"
Don't doubt the birdman, Marco said. Then he picked Sora up. Now I am King Kong! Just, please, don't scream. Sora looked stupefied. She obviously had no idea what the normal reaction to this situation was. I didn't either.
Rachel shoved me forward with a paw. Come on you're coming too.
"Oh, goody." I said sarcastically. Then something really shocked me.
"You big bullies! Leave Sora and Izzy alone!" Mimi ran forward and tried to kick Rachel in the shin.
Rachel roared, and Mimi literally jumped into Tai's arms.
* * * *
Welcome to the barn. Tobias said in his thought speech. They had answered some of my questions. Like how and why they talked in our heads while in animal form.
"The Barn? Isn't that like a food store? I don't want to morph a pear." Sora said.
You know, I'm starting to like this girl. Marco said. She has a weird sense of humor. Like me.
Exactly why I don't like her.Rachel said from behind me.
"I feel like a prisoner," I grumbled for the millionth time.
Would it help if I said that, technically, you are one? Marco inquired.
"No."
Then stop complaining.
"Welcome to my humble home." Said the black girl. She was wearing a pair of jeans that were old and worn, and a T-shirt that was five sizes too big. It was almost comical.
"My name is Jake," One of them stepped forward. "And this is Cassie, Ax, Rachel, Marco, and Tobias." He pointed to each one in turn.
"We know the last three." Sora said as Marco placed her on the barn floor. "My name's Sora, and--"
"I'm Izzy." I said before she could speak for me.
"Yeah. I was wondering why exactly you took us and not the rest of our friends?"
Well, they weren't exactly cooperating, were they? Rachel said before starting to change.
"Well, no but--" A look of disgust crossed her face, then Sora turned away. "How do you put up with that?"
"We don't watch," Marco said, fully human once more. "And it doesn't hurt, if you're wondering. Just feels weird."
Sora nodded, in agreement, or acceptance, I suppose.
I'll be able to answer any questions you have. Ax said.
"Okay then," I said. "Why us?"
"Because you guys found the morphing cube." Cassie said.
"But doesn't that make it only fair that Matt gets the power too? And T.K.? They're the ones who found it." Sora protested.
"If your friends were willing to settle down, they might have gotten it too."
"You can't deprive people of this wonderful power just because Tai's an idiot." Sora said.
I looked at her in shock. "You are calling Tai an idiot?" I didn't believe it.
Sora nodded her head vigorously. "Yes, very much so. He is a big loser and I'm not quite sure why I'm going out with him." She absently looked over at Marco. "Hey! What happened to your eye?"
"Huh? Oh, when you morph, anything done to you in battle- er, ah, I mean whenever you get hurt, it goes away after you morph."
"Oh."
I didn't let that slip by so easily. "What do you mean, battle?"
Marco looked uncertainly at Jake.
Jake said, "Battle against the aliens."
"What?" Sora and I said together.
"Against the yeerks."
"Yeerks?" I inquired? "Aliens?" I added hopefully.
"Wow. Izzy was right for once? With his theories? That's not right...." Sora gasped
"Talk about your oxy-morons," Marco muttered.
"Very funny Sora. Aliens? What are they doing? Why are you guys fighting them?" I couldn't understand this until I was given some information.
Aximilli
My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. All the humans I know call me Ax, because apparently my name is difficult to pronounce out loud. This new boy, Izzy, seemed so full of questions and curiosity that I had to take him aside and explain everything. He turned out to be a very interesting boy and he reminded me much of my fellow Andalites. He acted a bit like my nephew, Tobias. If you're not sure how an Andalite can be the uncle of a human, I'll explain.
My brother Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul came to earth with his female friend, Loren, because he was sick and tired of going to wars. Personally, I can't believe that my brother, Prince Elfangor, gave up on his people. He came here and lived out life as a human, with Loren as his wife. Just as Tobias was born, Elfangor returned to his people miraculously in Andalite form and lead my people in his last war against the Yeerks.
I explained this to Izzy, who sat there in total shock. "I didn't think any of this was possible. Actually, truth be told, I've never thought about this." Cassie came over holding in her arms a baby squirrel, to which she was feeding some milk.
"If you guys are done, we'd like Izzy to come and morph something now." Izzy stood up excitedly, prepared, it seemed, for anything. We both followed Cassie to the middle of the barn, where Sora stood triumphantly waiting for Izzy so she could begin the morphing process. Izzy acquired a fox, and then went to stand beside Sora who had taken off her shoes and put on a tighter shirt belonging to Cassie.
Sora started first, shrinking down before anything else happened. Izzy stared down at the miniature Sora standing beside him, who was now beginning to grow feathers. Izzy then shrugged, closed his eyes and concentrated. I watched as Izzy sprouted a tail and began to grow red- orange fur. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the others morphing as well, some to wolf and others to birds. I started to morph my northern harrier, and I guessed that we were planning on showing them around.
The finished product was four birds and four canines. Me as my northern harrier, Sora as a red-tail, Marco as his osprey, and Tobias as his self. Then there was Izzy as a fox, and Rachel, Prince Jake, and Cassie as wolves.
Have fun, but keep safe, Prince Jake told us, and then he lead his troops out the door. Tobias led us to the skies.
Mimi
Tai paced back and forth Matt's living room. "Why are we still here? We should be out saving Sora! and Izzy. Let's go out there and search, if nothing else!" He was pulling on his hair with frustration, which I think is probably very bad for his roots, and if you ask me he needs to take care of what he has, 'cause by my standards it's not very stylish.
"Tai, calm down. We'll get Sora back. And Izzy will be fine too. We can't do anything to help them now." Matt looked like he wanted to knock Tai into next week, but he was still reasoning with him. Matt was so mature! And he's hot too, which makes him that much more lovable. I have to admit, I've had a crush on him for a while.
"They're most likely being mauled, or maybe poor Sora... Oh, it makes me sick."
"You're not helping anything, Joe. Maybe you should go home and get some rest." I told him. I smiled sympathetically at him. he was obviously behind in sleep from his school studies. He planned on going to doctor collage or something the next summer. I couldn't believe it.
"Maybe you're right. I think I'll leave this to you guys to figure out." He grabbed his coat and went out the door. Tai continued to pace throughout all of this.
"What if Joe is right though? We've got to find them now!!" Tai was in a state of confusion, I think, because the was running around trying to pull out his hair.
"That can't be good for your health," I told him, but he ignored me as usual.
"Let's go, if that's what'll make him stop." Matt said. He put on his shoes and his coat, and the rest of us followed.
Elimist:
THE ANIMORPHS ARE DOING WRONG...
((Seeing as though this chapter is so incredibly short, I'm gonna post here that this is K.A. Applegate's and Toei's, not mine! :o) ))
Tai:
I didn't want to think about what was happening to my Sora. She was my world, and we needed to make sure she was alright, even if the others didn't care. I needed to find her as soon as possible, before those freaks of nature did anything to her.
"Come on! You people are so slow! We know where to start, and that's the construction site! We'll move on from there." I marched off in the direction of the construction site, even though I knew it would be a long march. I seemed to be getting farther and farther ahead... "Why did you guys stop?" I said, spinning towards them.
"Tai, you're marching into this without a word of planning. What do we do when we meet up with them? We don't have our Digimon with us, remember?"
"Remember?" I said. "How could I forget? I was so used to having Augomon beside me that sometimes I ask him his opinion!" I missed the little dino guy. "Wait!" I had an idea. "What if we could reach our Digimon? We could get them over to this world, and they could protect us from those things. I wasn't even sure what they were, but then, I wasn't sure where I was at the moment.
"Tai, where are we going??" Mimi piped up from behind me. I looked up at the street sign, and wondered where we could even start to look for them. I realized I had no clue where they were, or where they had taken Sora. I sighed deeply, then turned to the others.
"We're going to the construction site, I already said that." I marched onwards, while Matt announced he was going home for some sleep, and everyone else followed him. I grumbled to myself on my way to the site, and stopped on the sidewalk, looking into the dark area.
I did not look like a happy place, and I immediately got the shivers as I looked into the darkness of early morning. I decided sleep was not a half-bad idea, and that Sora could wait till the morning. I turned back, and onto the street. I looked up at the nearest street sign, and realized that I must have come out of the construction site on a different side than I had entered it from.
I shrugged that off and started walking around the outside of the site. I really didn't want to admit that I was lost. But as soon as I saw the mall across the street from the site, a place I had never seen before, I had to worry. I would do most anything for Sora, but now I had to admit I was in over my head.
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