A/N-Chapter dedicated to Chessrook44, who wants to see Zak, Bri, and Ax hook up with the 'morphs.

Review Responses

KP- I hate it when fanfiction/fictionpress doesn't let you review! It's so annoying. And everyone talking at once…you might see a bit of that in this chapter. As for your other question, I think it should be obvious by now, but…just read! And oh yeah- thanks so much for updating your story!

Panthergirl- Glad you found it funny!

DH-I'm re-writing the first chapter of my next book for you, with some B/Z action, but you'll have to wait for it…if you want it quicker, then review!

Morph- It's not changed all that much, but some stuff will change. Hope you like it!

Traycon3- Well, actually, about what happens to the Animorphs…just read to find out! Ax isn't necessarily not joining them, he's just not doing it at the expected time and place…

There is Hope- Jake and the others? Just read…

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10- Zak

(So Ax, what do you think of earth?)

(The oceans of earth have very diverse life-forms.)

(Yeah, but what do you think of the land?)

(The trees are very different from the trees back home. Very strange. But I have not seen as much life in this forest. I did see a quadruped this morning, with large branches on its head, though.)

(That would be a deer.)

(Ah. I tried to communicate with it, but it did not respond. I assume that it was not sentient.)

(No, Ax. Humans are the only sentient creatures on earth.)

(That is, except for you and I. And Yeerks. And Hork-bajir. And…)

(I know! I meant native to earth.)

It was two days after Bri and I had returned with our Andalite guest, and Ax and I were out having dinner in the woods. Because Ax did not have a human morph yet, I had decided to keep him company instead of eating dinner with my family. And we were having a very interesting conversation.

Ax turned an eyestalk up to the sky as a large bird passed overhead. (What sort of a creature is that?) he asked.

(That's a bird. A hawk, I think.)

(Ah. Do hawks often travel in flocks?)

(No, I'm pretty sure they hunt alone…) I turned both my eyestalks upward. (That's funny. There are five of them. And they…they don't appear to be the same type of bird, either! I could swear I saw a bald eagle flying with the hawks.)

We watched as the birds swooped ahead of us and made a turn. Now they were passing above us once more. It was almost as if they were watching us.

(Ax…I have a bad feeling about this.)

(I do, too.)

(It looks like those birds are following us! But why?)

(Zantar…Zak, I believe we should run.)

(Right behind you.)

We reared and ran into the woods at the side of the meadow, where it would be more difficult for the birds to follow us. But they kept up. We jumped over fallen logs and dodged around the trees. Then we doubled back and ran toward my house.

(Are you sure we should go this way? We're leading them back to my house.)

(Yes. If we do not lose them, I have a plan.)

We reached the shed where Ax and I slept. Stopping and skidding from the speed, we turned around and looked at the sky. There were no birds in sight.

(I think we lost them,) I said to Ax. (But why were they following us in the first place?)

Ax didn't reply, but went into the shed instead. I turned back to look at the sky, and was astonished to see the birds landing in the clearing around my house.

(Aaaaaaah!) I shouted, surprised. The birds began to twist and mutate, all except for one. I was too shocked to realize that the birds were only morphing.

TSEEEEEW!

I jumped aside as a beam of green light shot out from the Shredder Ax was holding. The twisted mutations fell to the ground and laid still.

I turned to Ax. (This was your back-up plan? To kill them?) I shouted angrily.

(I have not killed them,) Ax said calmly. (They are merely stunned. Unconscious.)

We stared at the bodies. Studying them more closely, I saw that the morphers were not changing into Andalites. No Andalite features were forming from the birds. No, instead I noticed human features.

(They are humans!) I exclaimed.

(This is very troublesome,) Ax commented.

(What do we do when they wake up?)

(I have no idea,) confessed Ax. (My plan did not go farther than this.)

(I should probably get Bri,) I said. But I made no move toward the phone.

Then the humans stirred. One of them tried to speak, but she was still mid-morph. The others seemed to demorph subconsciously, not really knowing where they were. When they were finally fully human, they seemed to notice us.

"What the…Oh. Please tell me that's a real Andalite and not Visser Three," said a short, dark-haired boy.

Without warning, Ax whipped his tail-blade forward. It stopped inches from the boy's face.

(Visser Three! Do not speak that name!)

"O-o-o-o-kay," The kid said slowly. "Whatever you want."

(Ax!) I exclaimed. (We don't know that he's an enemy. Let him go.)

(We don't know that he is a friend either,) Ax muttered, but withdrew his tail. The kid began breathing again.

I turned to the others. (Who are you?)

An African-American girl spoke. "We are friends."

She was oddly familiar. She and the other girl, the blond…(Cassie?) I exclaimed. (Rachel?)

The kids stared at me. "Did I miss something, or are Andalites suddenly psychic?" asked the kid Ax had threatened.

Ax narrowed his eyes. (How do you know of Andalites?)

Rachel, looking annoyed, said, "First tell me how you knew my name."

Ax spoke before I could, saying, (We will tell you nothing.)

It was like some weird game that kids play. You know, I won't tell until you tell. But I won't tell until you tell. But I won't tell until… Ax and I stared at the kids, and they stared back. Both sides had a secret, and nobody wanted to reveal anything until they were sure the other side could be trusted. We couldn't keep this up forever, though. One of us had to relent.

I was about to step forward and reveal my self to the kids, but a brown-haired boy spoke first. "Rachel, let it go. We have to trust them." So these kids must be desperate.

He turned to Ax. "We knew an Andalite, once. We were with him when he…when he was killed."

Ax's stalk-eyes quivered, but he showed no other reaction. (Who was this Andalite you say was killed?)

The boy looked to Cassie. She stared at the ground. "I don't remember all of his name. But part of it was Prince Elfangor."

Elfangor? Why was that name familiar? I searched my memory. Alanthi had mentioned it in her call. One of the best warriors in the Andalite military, she had said. But there was something else.

I swung a stalk-eye over to Ax, to see if he knew this Andalite. His face was filling with grief. Then I remembered. Elfangor was Ax's brother!

(Prince Elfangor? No one could kill Elfangor. He is the greatest warrior ever. No one could kill him!)

"Someone did," said the boy. "We were there."

(Who? Who do you claim killed Elfangor?)

"The one whose name you don't want us to speak," Cassie replied, softly.

Ax's tail drooped, and he finally lowered his Shredder.

(He was my brother. Did…did he die well? In battle?)

The boy answered. "He died protecting us, and defying the Yeerks to the end. At the very last moment he struck with every weapon he had."

Ax closed his eyes and backed away. It was clear he did not want to speak anymore, and it was my turn to speak.

(How do humans have the morphing power?)

Rachel answered. "This Andalite's brother gave it to us. To help us in the fight against the Yeerks."

That seemed to wake Ax up. He seemed disturbed, although it might have been because his brother was dead. (Elfangor gave that to you? It is never done! The situation would have been very bad for him to give it to you.)

I interrupted. (The situation on Earth is very bad, Ax. I don't blame Elfangor.) Then I turned back to the kids. (How did you find us?)

Cassie responded. "An Andalite called me. Called us. We thought he was in the sea. But when we searched, trying to help, we found no one. We figured that any Andalites that had been at the bottom of the sea had escaped, and were on land, so we kept a look-out for you." She grinned. "It was actually Tobias who found you."

I looked from the short boy to the brown-haired one. (Which of you is Tobias?)

But the reply was not aloud. It was in thought-speak.

(I am.)

My stalk-eyes stretched tall and I turned to look at the bird that had not demorphed, sitting in a tree. (You are still a bird,) I answered dumbly.

He answered with a grim laugh. (Yeah. I liked this morph so much I moved in permanently.)

Ax stared at him. (You are a nothlit? A person trapped in morph?)

(Yeah.)

Ax turned away. (You pay a great price for the gift of my brother, Elfangor.)

"Okay," Rachel interrupted. "You know all about us. How we know about Andalites. How we can morph. We've answered your questions. Now tell me- how did he know my name?" She said it a bit angrily, as if she felt violated or something.

I looked at Ax. (Should we trust them?) I asked privately.

(Elfangor trusted them,) he said simply.

(Okay, then.) I turned back to the group. (I have something to show you all.)

And with that, I began to morph.

"Hi," I said. I was now a human.

Rachel and Cassie looked at me, trying to remember. "Zak? That friend of Sandy's?" Rachel said, incredulously. "Or only a morph of Zak?"

"No, not a morph. I'm the real thing."

She stared. "How did you get an Andalite morph?"

"I am an Andalite. Not a human. But I pose as a human to go to school with Br…with Sandy." Seeing their inquiring looks, I hurriedly said, "No, Sandy isn't an Andalite. She's as human as you are."

The conversation ended with me telling my life's story for the second time that week. After several interruptions, they finally seemed to get it.

"So Ax was underneath the ocean!" Cassie exclaimed. "Only you got there before we did."

"Yes," I replied. But I still wanted to know more about them. "I still have questions about you though. But first, I need to know- What are the other boys names? They are not in any of my classes."

"I'm Jake," replied the brown-haired boy. "And this is Marco."

"Hey."

I nodded. "So, now that you can morph, what do you do? How did Tobias become trapped?"

Jake hesitated. Then he said, "You told us your story. I guess we can return the favor. When we found out about the Andalites, we also found out about the Yeerks. And we decided that we couldn't just sit back and do nothing. So we fight them"

Then it all came pouring out. How they had seen an Andalite fighter crash in the middle of a construction site. How they saw Elfangor murdered. Their first trip to the Yeerk pool, Tobias becoming trapped, infiltrating a Controller's house, attempting to destroy a Yeerk truck-ship. And of course, searching for Ax.

When it was over, Jake still had more to say. "I guess we haven't fought as much as we can. We've only been to the Yeerk pool once. And we've never fought in a battle after that. Not really. But we're going to stand up to the Yeerks." He looked at us, oddly, almost pleading. "We can't do it alone."

I felt guilty. Up until now, I had done nothing. Nothing against the Yeerks. Those five humans had more courage than I would ever have, but I realized I couldn't sit back anymore. I couldn't let someone else fight my wars for me. Earth was my planet, wasn't it? I had chosen it. I couldn't let the Yeerks take that away.

Ax seemed to be thinking. Then he said, (You five humans have fought alone. You resist the Yeerks against all odds, you risk your lives to try and help an Andalite. You are very brave.)

Marco laughed. "Yeah, we like to think that."

"It is true," I interrupted. "You have all done incredible things."

Then Ax spoke again. (I cannot return to my people for a long while. The reinforcements will take one, maybe two years to reach Earth.) Jake and the others looked worried at that, but Ax plowed on. (I am marooned here, but I can still fight.) He looked over them, searching. (Who is your prince?)

The others all looked at Jake. "Oh, give me a break," Jake said. "I am not anyone's prince."

But Ax had already stepped forward. He bowed his head and lowered his tail. (I will fight for you, Prince Jake, until I can return to my cousins.)

Ax backed away, looking at me meaningfully. I knew what he wanted me to do. But I wasn't ready! I had no idea how to fight!

(I can teach you how to use your tail, Zak,) he said, privately.

I took a deep breath. I had to remember this was my world. And no matter what, freedom was worth fighting for.

"That goes for me too. I- I never had a prince, being raised on earth, but I want to help stop the Yeerks. And I know Bri will want to as well."

Ax smiled at me. I let a breath out, slowly. What had I just committed myself to?

To freedom.