Hehe! This one was so much fun! I have no idea if I put Rachel, or any one for that matter right. I think that I did them wrong. Whatever. I don't own, please no flames.Have fun!


4
A Horba-what!


Jake was not happy. And I knew why. It was because of me. I hadn't passed my plans by him, and he didn't like that.

"You put us all in danger by doing what you did! What if Rachel had killed you! She thought that you were the Yeerk, and if she had killed you, we'd be caught 'cause then you would have given our secret away! And you could have given it away when you absorbed him!" he wasn't yelling, which surprised me. I expected him to yell himself horse… but instead, it was a rushed, deadly whisper… notice my sarcasm. How did he expect to reprimand me if he didn't yell?

"Look, Jake, if I hadn't done what I did, none of us would be alive. None, of, us… I'm sorry if I went against your 'supreme command', but I figured that you would like to be alive to tell me that I messed up. Now, I have a question for you. What would you have done?" I also had a plan here.

That stopped him, he couldn't answer that. I knew that he would have done the same. Barter the head enemy his life for our own. I could have killed him, but instead, I spared his so that he would spare ours.

We were on the roof of the school. At night. We had been sitting there for a while, letting ourselves feel better that we were alive. The moon was full, and it felt good with how cool the wind was blowing against my skin. It was hot, and that's all that I really hated at the moment.

"Look, Jake, let her go. It was her first one, and for that, if all she did was save our lives, and with a really good plan at that, then I think you should let it go. They don't know who we are, and we're alive-" Cassie began.

"Oh yes, we're alive! But so is the Visser! She could have killed him! She SHOULD have killed him!" Rachel cut her off. Rather rudely in my mind.

"Earlier, Jake, you were telling me to try not to kill those that were innocent and under control. Like that Hork-Bajir. Wouldn't the Andalite be in the same boat. I was only following orders… Prince Jake."

That was a low blow, and I knew it. He hated being called that, Tobias told me that the other night. And I used it to make a point. It worked. He flinched, and turned away.

"You don't like it, do you? Feeling like you're responsible for every drop of blood that's spilt and for every gallon that's not. It's hard, isn't? Knowing that you're all that controls whether someone or something lives or dies. So why do you still do it?"

"Because we have to save the world-"

"That's not what I meant. I know that we have to be superheroes for a while. But what I'm asking is why you haven't given over the command to Cassie, or Rachel, or Ax. Why do you keep it if all you are doing to yourself is making yourself guilty of every life that's spared or every life that's taken? Even if you want to keep command while not wanting it, why do you torture yourself?"

There was silence. I know, I had, by far, over stepped my boundary. But I wanted to know. There was no reason to have another person's guilt burden you too. The thought settled into all their minds. They had all been doing it.

( Max, you've gone too ->

"Shut up Tobias, I don't need your help."

( But… you don't need to attack Jake. He didn't hurt you, no one did. He didn't leave you out in the woods alone when you were ten. Leave him be.> he was sending it privately now, I could tell by the tone change.

"That has nothing to do with it Tobias, butt out!" now the others were confused.

( It sure seems like it, because you're hitting him hard and deep. He doesn't need that. It's hard enough for him, keeping all of us alive ->

"But he didn't keep us alive this time, I did. And I'm getting chewed out for it! Has he, or any one else for that matter, been chewed out because they kept the rest of us from getting killed!"

Silence reigned again. I had hit the nail on the head. They didn't like the idea that their lives had been saved by someone that had just came into the group, and not one of the regulars. They felt like they should have done something to save me, not the other way around. They weren't in control, and that bothered them.

"I think that I've had enough for one night." I muttered, then morphed golden eagle quickly and flew off before any of them had a chance to stop me.


Golden Fang


That night, I sat in my tent, well aware that there were eyes watching me. Rachel's. I was glad that she didn't trust me. After that little show, if they had, then we had already lost. I don't know what she was, but I knew that she could take me down if she wanted too.

So, we were going to play mind games? Fine by me, I'm a great player. Haven't lost one yet. I came out of my tent, and called up the liger nose. I found Rachel easy. Wolf, alone. Take me? What was I thinking, she couldn't take on a fly if she wanted too!

"Rachel, come out of the bushes. It gets cold up here in about twenty minutes. And I know that your time is up in about half an hour. Why not save yourself a long night and have some food?" a wolf came gliding out of the foliage.

( How did you know?>

"Who else would Jake send to make sure I wouldn't do something stupid? Cummon, I've got stake."

"I'm supposed to watch you." she had started to demorph, allowing her mouth to come forward.

"And you will be. While you're eating. Now do you want food, or do you want to sit out in the bushes all night and freeze?"

"Will you tell me what the hell that was all about then?"

"Sure, whatever. Now do you want stake or ham?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Bull shit."

"No, really. I had pizza just before coming here." She was a rotten liar. I could smell it a mile away, with or without a sensitive nose. So I would cook the meat, and let her suffer a bit. Fun? I think so.

The meat cooked slow, and smelled delicious. It was midnight before the meat was done, and I could see that she was drooling. She was also cold, huddled in her bathing suit by the fire, shivering. I took off my thick leather coat and tossed it to her. She accepted it gratefully.

"So, Mr. High and Mighty doesn't like how I play his game by his own rules, is that it?" I asked, taking a huge chunk of meat and chewing it slowly. I heard her stomach from across the fire pit.

"Not like that. He doesn't want you going back to the Yeerks and trying them on your own. Um… sorry, but it has been a while since the… the pizza… yeah, pizza, right… and I was wondering…" she trailed off. I gestured towards the rack of cooked meat.

"'Elp 'ersevf."

"What?" I swallowed.

"Help yourself."

"Thanks!" She dove right in. I shook my head.

"Are you sure that Jake sent you, and you didn't come here on your own?" I asked after a moment or two, letting her eat. I stood and packed my food into a metal box. A bear box they call it. Raccoons like to steal my stuff in the middle of the night.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you sure that you didn't come for something else?"

She stood up, and stood behind me. Drawing the jacket closer, I knew that she was trying to figure out what I was doing.

"Like what?" That was an innocent enough question. Too bad I didn't want to take it that way.

"Jake asked for volunteers, didn' he." I knew the answer, so I didn't ask a question. She paused. That was more than enough. "So, why did yous volunteer? It's not jus' 'cause you were worried about me, so, what's the beef?"

"I've been wondering… who are you?"

That threw me off a little. Tobias hadn't told her? I figured that he would have told everyone by now. Had he really kept it?

"Tobias didn't tell you?"

"He… told me. A little. Actually, the only thing that he told me was that you've been here since you were ten. Other than that, I have no idea who or what you are. He sounded like he had more, but wouldn't tell us."

"'Us'? What happened to 'me'? Is there anyone that doesn't know? I had a feeling that he told you everything… told everyone. I was somewhat right. But how many, really, all of you?"

"Yes, we all bombarded him after you left. We knew that he was here after all, and your talk wasn't all privet, so we wanted to know. What happened?"

"It's none of your business!" Yes, I snapped at her. But it was none of her deal. I told Tobias, thinking that he'd respect me. He seemed to respect everything else about our group. And he'd understand. He was left without family, and now he was stuck in the forest just like I was. I had hoped that he'd just let it be between us, but I guess not.

"Max, why did you say to the Visser that you could look like him? We're supposed to be Andalites to his mind, so wouldn't we all look like him?" She changed the subject, for which I was thankful.

"I kinda figured it was the same for them as it is for us. Some races here on earth look the same, but are different. So I thought that to us, all Andalites, or any other species for that matter would look the same too. But to the species themselves, they can tell the difference between say one Taxxons and another, even if we can't." she nodded.

"That's true, the Hork-Bajir can tell one another no problem, and for us, we can tell a couple."

"So I used that idea. If one Andalite absorbed another, then the Andalites look like twins, rather than separate Andalites. And if his Yeerks have been around him and other dead Andalites for a while, then they can tell the difference too. So, morphing into him can give us a leg up. I can pose as him while he's off somewhere else, and we can run the place!"

"Max, I don't think that they are going to fall for something like that again."

"Oh, they will, they will. See, there's something that you guys don't know." Just then, I started to morph. See, I found one that I liked.

I grew taller, almost twice my height. When I reached about twelve-foot, my hair grew longer, and began to face forward. My face melted into a beak, then grew razor sharp teeth: my legs "reversed"… in reality, my feet grew longer, and the rest of my legs changed so that it looked like my knees were backwards. Talons burst from my toes, and the toes themselves grew longer. Claws sprouted hands increased by two to three sizes. Blades jutted out of my joints and my skin turned red/brown, becoming thicker. The tail, thick and stubby of a Hork-Bajir, grew longer, almost my own height, and developed more blades than normal. Lastly, bat wings sprouted out of my back. I had taken a bat when I came home. I snagged it out of the air, absorbed while I flew, and kept going, letting it go as I went on my way. It felt good, being what I was. I was starting to become tired, almost ill kind of tired. But now… NOW I felt like I could rule the world!

It was a simple mix. Hork-Bajir, for the base. Alligator for the "length" (or in my case the height), as well as my teeth. The bat, for the wings – bat-ray and Andalite helped with the tail in length and blades, and I added muscle with the liger, and made my neck a little longer with the help of the python. All in all, very impressive. I looked down at Rachel with my eagle-enhanced eyes; she stared up at me. Then she fell to the ground, out cold.

Great, now I couldn't even sleep on my cot!


Now what?