Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs. I wish I did, but I don't. - Anyways this story and any characters that are made up are mine and Cassie's. So don't use them without asking.

Just so people now this isn't just my story. My friend Cassie and I came up with this together. We're co-authors. I come up the ideas and she types them up. And the chapters will switch between Kitty's POV and Loren's POV. Enjoy!!

Kitty's POV

With Ax bent over the nameless Andalite, I wondered what had happened. I wondered what my mom had to do with this, and Marco. So many questions, but I knew there weren't any answers. At least none that I was looking for. The nameless Andalite had called Ax a nothlit. What was that?

"Mom, what's a nothlit," I asked curiously. She looked at me strangely.

"Where did you hear that?" she asked me directly, almost accusingly.

"The other Andalite said it to Ax. What's it mean?" I wanted to know!

"It means someone who is stuck in another form. That they're trapped in morph," Marco answered. My mom glared at him.

"Look, Cassie, she knows already, and he gave them the power to. What do you want to do about it, just let it be there while the Yeerks try to build another empire?"

"They promised-"

"Some of them did. Remember Tom? Remember how he was renegade? There had to have been more that were renegades. And I bet they're back here, knowing that Andalite control won't expect them to try this lowly planet again."

Marco is right, Cassie. Andalite control won't expect the Yeerks to try another invasion on the same planet. But I'm not sure what Sirian meant when he said another invasion. Ax gestured to his fallen comrade.

"Who are you?" Marco asked suddenly.

What do you mean?

"Ax was taken by that thing in kelbird space. And, Sirian here called you a nothlit." Ax looked stunned. "Who are you?" Marco persisted. The Andalite looked at his fallen brother, turned tail, and left.

"That was helpful, Marco," my mom said dryly.

"You two seem to have a better idea of what's going on than I do, so would someone like to fill me in on this?" I said. The two exchanged looks, and Loren clung tighter to me.

"I don't like this," she whispered in my ear. I shook my head in response. Finally, Marco sighed.

"So, looks like I have to tell them, huh?" he said. My mom shook her head.

"No, we both do. It seems that we're not done with this." She looked sad. I wanted to know!

"What's going on?" I asked quietly. Marco looked at me, and tried to smile. It failed utterly.

"Now, let's see," he started. "The trees are swaying in the breeze, we just had someone turn into Ax and run away, and you're all standing there gaping."

"Very funny, Marco," my mom said with a smile.

"I try," he said smugly. My mom sighed and shook her head.

"All right," she said with a sigh. "Let's head towards home, it's a long story." With that, we turned and walked to my house.

Later, while everyone was drinking some soda. Marco and my mom started to explain. My mom started.

"Well, it was a long time ago," she started.

"A very long time ago," Marco corrected. She smiled softly and continued.

"A very long time ago, a group of teenage kids walked through an abandoned construction site on their way home. A lot of things happened that night, and it changed our lives." She paused for a minute, took a deep breath, and continued. "Now I have to warn you, it sounds impossible, but I think with what you've seen today, you'll believe me. What happened that night goes something like this..."

What she said was about what I had seen in the cavern. She told us about Elfangor and the morphing power. She told us about the Yeerks. She told us about the many battles she had been in, all the while opposed to it, but doing it because it was right. She always was one to be more sentimental, and do things only because they were the right things to do. She loved being an animal, though. She talked about that some. The ability to change into an animal. That was the gift that we had been given. Or curse, as she said.

Then she started talking about Rachel. That was not a good thing. She started to cry, and she paused long enough to compose herself, with a little support from Marco. I assumed that Rachel was the tall blonde girl that I saw in the construction site. She talked about Rachel's love for the battle. She dwelled on the battles, and described them in great detail. Most of them were not too pleasant. She also talked about Jake a lot. She kept saying how good a leader he had been, but there was also a tinge of resentment in her tone. I couldn't figure that one out. I made a mental note to ask Marco about it. But I didn't know which one of the boys had been Jake. I would definitely have to ask Marco that one.

Then Marco stepped in. He talked about space. What he said made my head spin worse than anything else that they had said that evening. He talked about Kelbird space, and how Ax was captured there. He said that we had to know about it. They had flown into Kelbird space to find Ax. Jake had ordered them to ram the blade ship. The blade ship was a huge Yeerk vessel that was really bad. It had a lot of weapons, and a very strong shield.

Then I saw it. I was there. I watched the smaller ship ram into the bigger Yeerk starship. Just before the smaller ship hit the blade ship I saw two small ship coming out of the smaller ship. They looked like they when some sort of shuttles. I watched as the other two ships get blown to smithereens. I looked hard for the shuttles, but all I could see was the huge explosion that the impact had caused. Neither of the two ships had survived. Then I saw a huge entity. It moved closer to the shuttles and enveloped them. It had one face, but it was many faces. I saw Marco's face on it, I saw Tobias' human face, and I saw Ax, even. I also saw the faces of the tall boy with blonde hair and three others that I didn't even know. It was everything. Then another entity filled all the space around me. I could hear words, but I couldn't understand them. It seemed to be a battle of wits.

I heard a few phrases shouted so loud that I felt it within me. They reverberated through my very being. I saw the being with many faces draw back. And I saw people come out of it. Just Jake, Marco, Tobias, and the other three people. They were alive in space. They were breathing in a vacuum! They looked all around them. I heard the Ellimist talking to them.

"I have saved you from a fate not meant to be."

"Why?" the tall blonde boy yelled. I assumed he was Jake.

"Your jobs are not done."

"But you're not supposed to interfere with other being's affairs!" Marco shouted.

"The One interfered first. That changes the rules! Now I will put you back." All of a sudden, everything was gone except the shuttles.

"Tobias, , and I were on one of the shuttles. Jake, , and were on the other shuttle. After months of traveling through space we lost the other shuttle. It just disappeared one day. After many more months of traveling we had finally made it back to Andilite space. They gave us a ride back to Earth. When we had gotten back to Earth everyone had forgotten about us," Marco said, finishing up. "We had been gone for years. My fortune had been given to charities. We all found places to live. But the Ellimist saved us. I don't know why. I don't suppose that I ever will, really."

They talked about a lot that night. I never really did put it together how Marco came to living in the woods. He could have gotten his fortune back. And not all of it was gone. I knew that he was lying a little. But I didn't care. I was so confused that my head was spinning. My mom stood up. I looked at her, and at once knew how hard it had been on her to tell all that, to remember all of it.

"It's getting late, kids," she said. "Loren, why don't you stay here tonight? I don't want you walking home alone this late." Loren nodded numbly. She had taken in a lot that night. I didn't know if she believed it or not. I didn't want to believe it, but deep down, I knew it was real.

"Let me call my mom," she said quietly. I got up, and helped her to her feet. She called her mom, told her where she was, and then the two of us went upstairs to go to bed.

We could hear Marco and my mom talking in low undertones. We sat on the steps and listened for a while.

"...I told you, Cassie, we can't do that! We're going to have to-"

"No, Marco. I won't do it," she said quietly but firmly. "We did what we had to do, now let them do it on their own. We can't help anymore. We've done our work." Marco snorted.

"Yeah, great job we did. They're back. And we don't know what they want this time."

"The same thing they wanted last time, probably," my mom said in resignation.

"I'm going to help them," Marco said firmly.

"No, you won't. They don't even believe it," came the reply. Marco sighed, and stood up.

"I'm tired, I'm going to go to sleep. Good night," he said.

"You can sleep down here if you want. But the girls will be up early; they have school tomorrow."

"Oh, great," he said. My mom stood up, and left Marco to his own thoughts, and started towards the steps. Loren and I scrambled quickly and quietly to my room.

My room wasn't the neatest room on the earth. In fact, it was one of the messiest. There were clothes strewn all over the wood floor, and you didn't even want to look in the closet. There would be an avalanche if you opened it. My desk was covered in old homework papers that I had never done, and the chair was draped with tomorrow's outfit, which included jeans and a tee-shirt. My bed wasn't made, and my pillow was on the other side of my room, near the window.

From the window, one could see straight past the woods to the mountains. They were pretty, big, and the tops were dusted with snow. The sun had set, so I couldn't see them just then, but I knew they were there.

Because my mom had come up the stairs, I hadn't turned on the light. Loren knew better than to try to move in my room without a light on. I should have known better, but I didn't. I banged into my chair after tripping over the shirt I had worn the day before. "Ouch," was only one of the words I used. Loren stifled a laugh, and I couldn't help but smile.

I kicked a few of the various things on the floor aside, giving Loren enough room to walk to my messy bed. Under my bed there was a sleeping bag, just for Loren. She was over at my house enough, we had decided to keep one with me. I unrolled it, and spread it out on the floor.

"There may be a few bumps on the floor," I said quietly, with a smile. "But it should be all set for you." She crawled down from the bed, and sat on the sleeping bag. I crawled up to my bed after retrieving my pillow.

I snuggled into my warm blankets with a smile. I hugged my stuffed raccoon tightly, and squeezed my eyes closed. I was just slipping into an unsettled dream, when Loren whispered something.

"Huh," I said sleepily.

"I said, what do you think about what happened today?"

"I think that it was all a dream, to forget about it, and let me sleep so I can be awake for the biology test I have tomorrow."

"Okay," she said. I waited until her breathing slowed and steadied until I closed my eyes again.

My dreams were mostly of Andalites and what I had seen in the cavern. They were not very pleasant, though. I was in the middle of running from an alien that looked totally human when I woke up.

The sun was shining through my window, and Loren was still snoring softly. I shook my head, smiled, and looked out my window. The sun was shining brightly, which lit up the mountains in various colours: sunrise. I quickly got dressed, and I made my way to the barn, leaving Loren in my room.

As soon as I stepped onto the stair, the smell of fresh pancakes and bacon slithered up to my nose. I breathed deeply, and went into the kitchen. My mom was in the kitchen, humming softly to herself, and Marco was still asleep on the couch in the other room. I only knew because I could hear him snoring through the wall.

"Morning," I said to my mom cheerfully. She smiled at me, and gestured to the stove; a pancake was sitting there, perfectly done. I took the plate she handed to me, snatched the pancake off the pan, smothered it in maple syrup, and dug in, still standing. When I had finished, I chugged a glass of orange juice, and went to the barn to do my chores. Well, I meant to.

What actually happened was that I went into the living room, shut the door behind me, and woke Marco up. I knew that my mom wouldn't be able to hear us.

"Marco, wake up," I whispered. He muttered something, and turned over, facing the back of the brown couch. I shook him, and he swatted at my hand, but didn't wake up. Finally, he woke up.

"Good morning," I said.

"Go away," he growled.

"Are you always this much of a grump?"

"Yup, now go do your chores."

"Not until you talk to me."

"What?"

"I want some answers."

"About what?" he asked cautiously.

"About last night."

"What about it?"

"What happened to you? How did you come to live in the woods from being a millionaire? Why us? What's going on?"

"Well, a lot happened to me, and I don't live in the woods, and you discovered the Andalite, and you have to save the world. Now can I go back to bed?"

"No!" I grabbed his shoulder as he went to lay down. He turned to face me, and there was a big smile on his face.

"You're mean," I said playfully.

"Go do your chores."

"No, Loren will be up when I'm done, and I want to talk to you now."

"Fine, fine. What was it you wanted to know?" I repeated my question. "Oh, that. Well, I got sick of living like a rich person, and I wanted to see everyone again, and to see how they were doing. I had heard that your mother wasn't doing well, so I gave my money to a charity, found somewhere close by to live, and helped her out. She was at work most of the time, and she used that as an excuse to be away from home all the time. She was haunted by memories of what we did. We all were." His eyes glazed over, and he looked out the glass door, to the yard. He was remembering.

"Cassie was always so sensitive. It was wrong for her to be part of that. Jake was really too hard on her towards the end. They were in love, you know," he added. "Anyway, we fought the Yeerks, people and things died. And now they're back. And it's your turn. Cassie won't help you. She hated it the first time. We can't ask her to do it again." I nodded, shocked. He had told me more than what he had said in words. He had told me how horrible it was, how hard it was on them. He had told me the hurt that came with killing things, the pain of losing people they loved. I thanked him, and went to the barn.

When I got out there, I was bombarded with the smell of animals. I loved that smell. The hawk screeched at me suddenly, and I went to work. I had cages to clean, animals to feed, a wolf's leg to check on, and my horses to feed and brush, and not a lot of time to do it. It may not sound like fun, but believe me, it was. I loved working with animals. It always put me in a good mood. And I needed a boost right then. What Marco had told me disturbed me. I put my thoughts on my work, and forgot everything else.

I finished quickly, and bounded back into the house and up the stairs. Loren was at the kitchen table, looking very tired. I decided to have a little fun with her. I was a morning person, and she wasn't.

"Hey, Loren," I said cheerfully. If looks could kill, I would be dead. "Grab whatever you want to eat, I've already had my breakfast. I'm going to go upstairs and change. Then we can go to school."

"Whatever," she mumbled. I saw her wearily get up and trudge over to the fridge. She practically lived at my house, and knew where everything was. The pancakes and bacon had already been put away, and she started to warm them up as I went up the stairs to change into somewhat more decent clothing for school.

After Loren had eaten, we went to school. It wasn't a long walk, but it was hot out. By the time we got there, we were dripping with sweat. As we were wiping the sweat off our brows, and walking into the somewhat air-conditioned building, the bell rang for classes; we were late.

Please review the story. And don't be afraid to point out any mistakes.