Tobias's Legacy Part 5

The Others Part 3

Prologue

The Ellimist decided on his move. Crayak would not expect this so quickly.

He called up his action list. He entered his command.

And watched as his victory began to blossom.

Chapter 1

Anthony

I was in the cavern again. As a jaguar. Richmond turned and saw me. He whipped his Dracon beam around.

"Not today, Andalite!"

He fired at point-blank range.

I was in space. It was cold

The old man appeared.

You must decide…

I shot straight up in bed, in a cold sweat. I looked at my hands. Human hands, not paws.

I lay down again.

Oh, sorry. I'm Anthony. I'm suppose to protect Earth from the Yeerks, blah blah blah…

This story is too important to begin by explaining. Besides, if you know about the Yeerks, Andalites and my friends, then it doesn't matter.

It was a month after we had met Kandi for the first time. It was also a month after we had met Dem and Alisi. We had become partners, all of us. Ziana was designated leader, much to Dem's disapproval. And we each had collected many morphs.

We had also spied on many Controllers. My girlfriend Gabe, Dr. Jakob Richmond and his daughter, and this rich kid, Jay. He was my sister's crush. Until she found out about him.

Some close calls. Some dangers. All interesting.

Until one day.

None of us had been separated before. It was only a week into Dr. Richmond's seminar schedule. We had followed him, but we didn't find the Yeerk pool entrance. It was still a mystery to us.

Chapter 2

We were deep in battle. I was in jaguar morph. Adam was an anaconda, wrapped around Meg, who was a Siberian white tiger. Tanya was a hyena, and Ziana was a caiman, and Robbie was a mink. Dem, Alisi and Kandi were all in their normal, Andalite bodies.

What a motley crew.

I jumped at the nearest Hork-Bajir. He slashed, but missed me by inches. I tackled him and bit him in the neck. He roared in more rage than pain.

Shut up, I said to him, then hit him with one paw. He fell unconscious, or dead.

In a battle, it didn't matter.

It's not like I was relentless or cold-blooded. It was true. Nobody cared about the deaths or brain-damage or anything. As long as we won.

I ran at the leader of this sad group. He was in a Todxar (Tod-Zar) host. A Todxar looks like an Andalite with two legs, a scorpion tail, pincer arms and black skin. He was called Sub-Visser Two Hundred Forty Eight. He was nasty to fight.

Our main goal was to get aboard the Blade Ship Alpha, his personal ship. Apparently, only two other Yeerks had a "Blade Ship": Visser Twenty-Four, who had Blade Ship Beta, and Visser Three, who had the original Blade Ship. He also was the second in command of the Earth Invasion. To make matters worse, he was the only Controller to have an Andalite host.

I was glad I didn't have to meet him.

I was about to tackle this loser as well, but then Tanya called to out.

Guys! I'm in the Blade Ship!

Anthony! Zi yelled, Get into the ship. We'll come after!

I ran at top speed.

A single Taxxon was guarding the entrance. I took him out quickly, then raced up the ramp and found Tanya cornered by a bunch of Hork-Bajir, which I dispatched quickly. Then, we burst into the cockpit. It was empty.

Okay, I'll find the weapons, you fly.

Okay, she said.

Since we had learned about the fighter earlier, I had no problem finding the weapon's grid. Tanya had no trouble flying the ship either.

But, as soon as she started the ship up, we heard a voice.

Foolish Andalites! You have fallen for my trap! Unless you are the greatest fools in the galaxy, you know that the Blade Ship Alpha is still under construction!

Uh-oh… I said.

This is the only Blade Ship in existence. And it belongs to Visser Three.

Oh crap! I cried.

Tanya agreed with me.

The ship suddenly vibrated and started moving.

Big "Oh Crap!"

Chapter 3

I ran towards the door it had locked behind us.

I knew I had only ten minutes in morph, so I demorphed. Tanya did the same.

"What the hell is going on?" I burst out.

"I don't know. I guess we were duped." She replied.

I sighed and sat down.

"Great. We're dead meat."

"No we're not," she said, defiantly, "we haven't even gotten to our destination. I mean we could land somewhere, where some Horks are and just fight them. We could be fooled."

I laughed. Not at Tanya's nickname for the Hork-Bajir, but at how naive she was.

Finally, I decided.

"We have to morph, just in case we land." I said, taking charge.

She nodded and started her hyena morph again.

I went jaguar at top speed. I figured that the Blade Ship was extremely fast, so maybe our destination was far. But maybe we'd be there quickly.

Within minutes, we were ready for a battle.

But then…

Warning: Fuel tank 1 leakage. Engine 1 shall cease to function in three minutes.

Oh man! I cried.

We were going to crash.

I demorphed, and so did Tanya.

I grabbed onto a bar, as did Tanya.

A few minutes later, we were falling from the sky.

Collision imminent. Approximate time to collision: 54 seconds.

"Get ready!" I yelled.

Just then, the hatch blew open.

"Jump out!" I screamed.

I let go and was sucked out. As I did, I was morphing an eagle.

My wings were the first thing, thank God. The rest of my body started to change a few seconds later.

Within thirty seconds, we were birds.

Amazing what fear and panic can do for you.

We flared our wings and soared up just in time to see the Blade Ship crash.

The explosion was so great, the surrounding woods burned and vanished.

We swooped down and landed, making sure it was safe demorph. There was a lone hawk sitting in a tree, watching the Blade Ship crash. Then, it turned its attention to us.

Demorph. I told Tanya.

The hawk jumped.

It said, Who are you?

Chapter 4

Tobias

I watched as the Blade Ship crashed and burned. I was really confused now.

Then, two birds, an Eagle and a hawk (not red-tailed, mind you) fluttered down. One of them said Demorph.. I was scared.

Who are you? I asked.

The birds were starting to demorph when I saw it.

Hork-Bajir!

Whoever you two are, move. A Hork-Bajir is coming your way!

They stopped demorphing and returned to the sky. The Hork-Bajir didn't notice.

I watched and more Hork-Bajir came. The new, I was guessing, Andalites flew over to a branch and landed.

Thanks, whoever you may be. one said.

No problem, helping Andalites is my job, I guess.

But, we're not Andalites. We're humans.

I swear, if I had a jaw, it would have dropped so far, it would touch the ground.

They were humans!

I'm a human too. I'm Tobias.

The two newcomers spoke privately for a few seconds. Then, I'm Anthony. And this is Tanya.

I thought back for a second. Tanya? My long-lost sister was named Tanya.

Could she be?

I mentally shook my head.

How can you guys morph? I asked after a slight silence.

We were given the morphing powers to by an Andalite.

So was I, I said.

We were quiet for a few seconds.

We'd better demorph, Anthony finally said.

We took wing, and I led them to Cassie's barn.

We landed inside. I flew up to the rafters, while Anthony and Tanya demorphed.

When they were finished, Tanya looked up.

"Aren't you going to demorph?"

Don't need to. I said.

Before they could react, Cassie came into the barn.

She jumped three feet in the air hen she saw them. She ran to the tool bench and grabbed an axe.

Cassie, it's okay. They're friends. I think.

She looked up at me.

"I'll call the others."

Chapter 5

Anthony

We waited with Tobias, while the girl, Cassie, went inside to phone some friends.

Cassie can morph too, Tobias said, and so can a few others.

I was very confused. How could other humans morph?

Then it hit me like a train.

I have come to find Warrior Aximilli-Esgarrouth-Isthtil. Do you know of him?

Kandi had mentioned another Andalite, aside from Visser Three, on Earth.

Another thing struck me too.

Anthony, over here!

Help!

Oh no! Tobias was hit!

Jake! Back off!

The dream.

But… how?

"Um, Tobias. Do you know of an Andalite. Um… Axim… Aximilli…"

…Esgarrouth-Isthill? Yeah, how'd you know?

"The Andalite we got our powers from mentioned him as being the only other Andalite on Earth."

"Or so we think."

I spun around. Cassie was back with some other people.

Anthony, Tanya, these are Jake, Marco, Rachel and Cassie.

"Hi." Is all we said.

"So, you can morph?" Jake asked.

I nodded.

Jake said, "How?"

We explained our story to them. How we met Kandi, Dem and Alisi. How we had followed Dr. Richmond around. How we were fooled by the Blade Ship.

"You know," the guy named Marco said, "this is all fine and dandy. I mean, we have some extra help now. But what city are you guys from? How far was the Blade ship?"

We told them the name of our town. Tobias looked up.

I used to live there. With my aunt.

"Might know her. Who was she?"

Mrs. Alice Hall. he said.

"I know her. She works at the supermarket on Main."

Then, Tobias looked almost… sad.

What about Gabriella?

He told me her last name.

"Jeez, what a coincidence. I know her alright. She's my girlfriend. Well, not anymore actually. She's a Controller."

"Look, we have to figure something out now. Okay?" Jake was restless. "Your town is about two hundred and sixty miles away. We could probably get you there in four or five hours max.."

Wait, Tobias intervened, I want to learn more from these two.

"Yeah, I mean, I want to hear what happened to you guys."

"Well, what can we do?" Jake asked.

Then, Marco snapped his fingers.

"The Chee could help. I know that there are at least four in their city. Erek told me. They could cover from these them."

Jake nodded. "Okay, go get him. See if he can get two to help."

"Um…" Tanya was confused, "What's a Chee."

Jake glanced around.

"Have we got the story of a lifetime for you."

Chapter 6

They told us what had happened. They told us about Prince Elfangor, the battles against Visser Three and the Yeerks, the free Hork-Bajir colony. Everything.

Then, they got to the Ellimist. That really got my attention.

"My dream!" I said, "He was in my dream!"

"Who? The Ellimist?" Rachel asked me, suspiciously.

"Yeah. I've had these dreams lately. I…"

I explained what happened in them.

Wait, Tobias interrupted, I get shot? Not cut up or busted up?

"Shot." I confirmed.

Marco came into the barn again, puffing. He was followed by a guy about my age.

"Guys, this is Erek. He's a Chee."

I noticed Erek staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm scanning your body. I can create an image in my processor and send it through the CheeNet to a Chee in your town.

He turned away from me and stared at Tanya. I felt a slight bit of jealously. For no reason.

Then, something freaky happened. Erek's body shimmered and dissappeared. In its place stood a dog-like creature made of some kind of metal.

"What the?"

"I need all my power sources to transmit the images to my collegues. I haven't recharged my power cells for quite awhile."

"Eating too many Whoopers?" Marco joked.

Then, Erek was a human boy again.

"They can cover for a while."

"Wait, how do they know where we live?" Tanya asked, almost panicking.

"City files are all stored in CheeNet systems."

I nodded.

"Look, we have to find a place for our guests to stay." Cassie said.

They can stay with Ax and me. Tobias suggested.

"Sounds good to me," I said, answering before Tanya could.

With that decided, we set a time to meet the next day. Thank God it was summer now. No school. But my family was leaving on vacation three days from then.

I hoped to be there.

Tanya, Tobias, Rachel and I all flew o Aximilli's scoop. He saw four birds of prey, but one too many hawks and eagles.

We all demorphed. Aximilli's eyes widened when he saw us emerge from bird of prey bodies.

Ax, its okay, Tobias explained, They're friends.

But… how?

I had finished morphing within minutes.

"We were given the morphing powers by Kandil-Morin-Pantar about a month ago."

Now, Aximilli's eyes widened so much, I thought that they were going to fall out of his skull.

He whispered, Kandil is here?

Chapter 7

"Yeah, how do you know her?"

Aximilli looked down to the ground and pawed at the dirt of his scoop.

We were going to become mates. Until I left for Earth.

And you never told me? Tobias demanded.

Aximilli was now nervous. I could so tell.

I did not want to impose upon all of your love lives!

Sorry, Ax. Tobias apologized.

I turned away to stifle a laugh. Tanya noticed and looked at me with a look that said "This is weird".

After Tobias and Aximilli figure everything out, we agreed to stay at the scoop over night and Rachel went home. The next morning, we would fly back to our town.

We got up early, so we could fly back. We grabbed breakfast at Cassie's and flew west, towards out home. It was Tobias and us.

….and so Adam tackles him and we win by two points.

At this point, I was telling Tobias what he had missed. He hadn't been "home" in four years. I decided to bring him up to date.

We stopped and demorphed, remorphed and flew onwards. We finally arrived. At four o'clock.

I flew over Adam's house.

Adam? I called in private thought-speech, We're back.

Tobias

We made an arrangement. Every second weekend, I would visit with the others back in Anthony's town.

I was still confused. Were Tanya and Adam my siblings?

I would find out.

Soon…

This is book five.