DISCLAIMER: I own neither Animorphs nor Halo; the former belongs to K.A. Applegate and the latter belongs to Microsoft and 343 Industries. This is purely for fun and NOT for profit.
BACKGROUND: So I had this crazy crossover idea, where an Andalite from Animorphs was decked out in the kind of armor warn by the Master Chief in the Halo franchise. The-Chronothaur was nice enough to illustrate it for me, and so now here's a description, scribbled by Yours Truly, to go with it. You can view the original piece here on DeviantArt (remove the spaces): [slash]the[dash]chronothaur[slash]art[slash]Spartan[dash]Andalite[dash]Commission[dash]912197119
(Also, for those of you reading this on FFN, go read this over at AO3 instead to see it embedded!)
The Andalite warrior shouldn't even be alive, but here he is.
He had been left for dead by his own fellow warriors, and he watched from the wreckage of his own ship as the survivors of a disastrous battle fled into Zero-space. Whether they didn't know he was still alive or they didn't care, he could only guess.
But what he had not been expecting was to be rescued from the edge of death by yet another space faring species.
They called themselves "humans" and hailed from a home planet which they called "Earth," and they had a number of colony worlds as well. After some initial confusion, they rescued him and did their best to heal him.
And they also told him about their "SPARTAN Program," where they took the most promising candidates of the human race and made them even more powerful on the field of battle.
It was more of a life-saving measure than anything, but they offered to restore him back to health and make him more powerful than ever before. They also stressed that if they did not do that, then he would either die or be crippled for life.
The Andalite recoiled at the thought of being injected with all these strange substances and implants, on top of being encased in this mechanical outfit, but the thought of him being permanently crippled for life, or what the humans generously termed "disabled" – what his people called a vecol – was even more repulsive than that. And so he ultimately consented and agreed to their offer.
And while they tended to him, they exchanged tales of their battles and wars against overwhelming threats which menaced the galaxy.
They called themselves the United Nations Space Command (or "UNSC" for short), and they told him about their war against the multi-species alien conglomerate known as the Covenant. In return, he told them about his people's war against the Yeerk Empire.
They were immediately alarmed by the news of yet another alien threat and swore to immediately do what they could to prevent any possible infiltration by the Yeerks. In the meantime, they helped him compile everything they knew about the Covenant, and he would tell his own people about the Covenant when he reunited with them.
The result of his transformation, becoming the first Andalite or any kind of non-human alien to become a SPARTAN, was strange and yet awesome at the same time. Modifying their armor for Andalite physiology had been a challenge, but in the end, the result was impressive, with him somehow blending in with the other SPARTANs despite clearly standing out because he was an Andalite and not a human like them. Special gloves were made for his seven-fingered hands, special coverings were made for his stalk eyes atop his head, and they even managed to backwards-engineer an Elite's Energy Blade to give him a special electric blade over his own natural tail-blade.
And he was stronger and faster than any Andalite who had ever come along before him. It made him feel like a god among mere mortals. It took all of his self-restraint and pride to not let it go to his head.
In the meantime, he vowed to fight alongside the humans, the first Andalite in their SPARTAN Program, slaying both Yeerk Empire and Covenant troops wherever he encountered them… but he also yearned for the day when he could return to his own people and fight alongside them once again.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: So, what do you think? And please stay tuned for another such illustration real soon! ;)