A/N- I'm depressed 'cause I lost many reviewers. Oh well, this story isn't as good as the one before it anyway. But thanks to you guys who stick by me! You are greatly appreciated.
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Review Responses
DH-Call her Bri or Sandy, but I will be referring to her as Bri during the story. And Zak seems human because he's been influenced by those around him…but he gets A's in all his classes, being so smart. They can't get other morphs except those they find in the woods, because they'd have to be in their original forms.
KP-You're welcome, and this chapter should show some reactions, although I'm not sure how good it is. And yes! Please update! It's October…
Traycon3- Nope, no one else spotted her. Here's the update!
Chessrook44-I tried it, it didn't work.
Morph- Thanks for reviewing!
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Chapter 8- Bri
This was one of the strangest encounters I had ever had. Oh sure, I've met Andalites before. But always on familiar ground.
When I first met Zak, my sister had taken me up to his cabin in the mountains. And I was a toddler at the time, so I didn't think it was all that strange to see a blue centaur with extra eyes in the middle of the living room. I just giggled and said, "Pony!" And we were friends ever since.
My second encounter with Andalites didn't start out all that well, because as soon as Allie saw me, she knocked me out. My third Andalite experience occurred when I was chained to a wall. But all three times I was still in a fairly familiar setting. This was on Andalite ground.
There was only one Andalite in the dome, and a young one at that. He was about Zak's age. And oh yeah, he was holding a weapon that looked an awfully lot like a Yeerk Dracon beam.
However, as soon as he saw us, he dropped his weapon. He looked at us, almost gratefully, but there was a lot of pride there too. (You heard my call?)
Zak turned a stalk-eye to look at me. Then he said, (Yes. We…I heard you. We came to help.)
(What of the battle? Was it won? Have you heard news of my brother? His name is Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul.)
(I…I don't know what happened in the battle. I was hoping you would know.)
The Andalite seemed confused. Then he narrowed his main eyes. (Who are you? Why do you know nothing?) Then, glancing at me, he said, (Why are arisths sent to rescue me? Where are the warriors? There were no other arisths on my Dome Ship.) He held his tail up, ready to defend himself.
(I'm not from your Dome Ship. My name is Zantar-Semityr-Dantil. And this is my friend, Sabrina.)
(Sabrina is not an Andalite name,) the Andalite said. (Who, or what, is your companion, and why doesn't she speak?)
(She is not Andalite. She is human, with the morphing power. I can explain…) Zak said, as the Andalite raised his tail even further, and backed away. I decided that maybe I should demorph.
Demorphed, I turned to the Andalite. "Look, my name is Bri. And this is Zak. We really came here to help! We're friends. Just friends with a very strange, long story."
The Andalite had retrieved his dropped weapon, and he pointed it at me. (Tell me your story,) he demanded.
"Touchy," I muttered under my breath. Then Zak started to tell the story.
Before he got very far, however, the Andalite interrupted. (You expect me to believe that you were raised by humans?) he asked incredulously.
(Yes. I was alone on earth for about twelve years, never going out in public on earth. My mother was very paranoid.)
(Your human mother.) The Andalite said, not quite believing it.
(Yeah.)
The Andalite shook his head. (It isn't possible. The story you are telling is unbelievable.)
(Anything is possible. Believe it.)
(I am very confused. You speak like a human, and your companion is a human. How can I be sure you are not human yourself, trying to fool me into revealing secrets of the Andalite race?)
Zak sighed. (Watch this,) he said, and morphed again. Not to human, but to sparrow. See you can only morph from your base form, not from one morph to another, so Zak had to be Andalite.
When Zak returned to his original form, the stranger said, (So. You are an Andalite with a human companion. It seems to agree with your story, and yet…) He paused. (Just continue,) he said finally.
When we got to the part with Allie, and the morphing power he said, (You gave a human the morphing power?) He exclaimed, a fire in his eyes. (It is against the laws of our people to give another species Andalite technology. You have done a great wrong!)
Zak held up his hands in defense. (I didn't know that at the time. But even if I had, I probably still would have done it. Bri is my friend. And her having the morphing power certainly paid off today.)
The Andalite thought about that a minute, then sighed (I suppose you can be forgiven,) he said, a bit grudgingly. (You were not informed. Continue your story.)
But the Andalite seemed the most surprised when Zak told him he had chosen to stay on earth instead of return with his people. (You would have been happier with your own kind. I cannot believe you chose to stay here with aliens.)
That made me mad. I was about to give that Andalite a piece of my mind, but Zak spoke first. (That was my choice. My family is here. It isn't really your place to judge my decisions,) he said calmly.
The Andalite looked uncomfortable. (Perhaps not. However, your decision goes against many Andalite beliefs. It is hard for me to imagine someone refusing to return with his people.)
(Maybe someday you'll understand,) Zak replied. I doubted that.
Zak finished telling how I had become a Controller. He mentioned that we had removed the Yeerk, but did not say how we did it. We were protecting the Kelbrid once again.
(I heard you calling, and we came to see if we could help. That's all.)
He stared at us for a long moment, before finally saying, (You were right. Your story is long and complicated. Then, (What do we do now?)
"We should get out of here. My mom and Zak's parents will be furious," I said.
(Wait,) the Andalite said. (You are sure you know nothing about my brother, or the battle?)
I shook my head. "Nothing. I'm sorry."
He was downcast. (If the battle had been won, I would assume that earth would know of the Yeerk invasion. If you know nothing, then I believe the battle was lost. I can only hope my brother survived.)
Then he turned to us. (You know about the Yeerk invasion. What have you done about it?)
Zak and I glanced uneasily at each other. "Nothing."
(You have taken no action?)
(We are only two people. There was not much we thought we could do! And we were counting on the Andalites.)
(We must do something now, though. The Andalites will not return to Earth for another two years, even if they started the journey now. Z-space has reconfigured.)
I was shocked. "Two years? Then there is no hope. There's only the three of us. What can we do?"
(There is your mother and sister,) Zak reminded me, privately. But I couldn't respond, because I didn't want the Andalite to know they were Kelbrid. Besides, I was fairly sure mom wanted nothing to do with war. She had been in the Kelbrid military before going undercover to study Andalites, and her days there were not happy. Sam might help, but that would mean revealing her species to this stranger. It seemed like we might have no choice though.
"Listen, we really should leave. Um, by the way, you know our names, but we don't know yours." I waited.
The Andalite hesitated before replying, (I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil.)
I nodded. "Hey, Ax."
Ax was confused. (What is the purpose of this one-syllable name?)
Zak laughed. (Bri has a thing with long names. She calls me Zak. She's shortened your name to Ax.)
"Ax, do you have a water morph? We're going to need to swim. A lot."
Ax bobbed his eye-stalks. (I have acquired a sea-creature.)
"Okay, then. Let's move out"
We headed for the hatch. When the room began filling with water again, I started the dolphin morph. By the time the door had opened, I was fully dolphin. Three sea animals swam out into the ocean- two dolphins and a…shark? Ax had morphed a shark.
(Um, Ax? You morphed a shark,) I pointed out.
(Oh. Is this wrong?)
(Not really. It's just that sometimes sharks attack dolphins. Which we have become.)
(Oh. I apologize.)
Zak laughed. (No need to apologize, Ax. Just don't go trying to take a bite out of us.)
(I will try to restrain myself from attacking you.) Zak and I cracked up at that, although Ax didn't understand it. Andalites aren't usually big on humor.
We swam to the surface, and Zak and I took another large breath. Ax didn't need to, because sharks are fish, not mammals. They can breath in the water.
(Okay, let's go.)
We swam. After demorphing in the water, Zak and I picked up an image on sonar.
(Ax, don't swim that way. There are a bunch of sharks attacking a pod of dolphins. We should make a large detour, so that you aren't tempted to join them.)
If the dolphins hadn't been busy, they might have noticed something strange about two dolphins and a shark swimming together peacefully. But they didn't notice anything. And by the time the fight was over, we were long gone.
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The next day, the dolphins who had been delayed by the shark attack returned to the ocean. They found the dome where an Andalite had stayed for over four months. But they were too late; Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil was gone.