Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10

Chapter 4: What was that?

Tobias' POV

I was human. I could see my hands in front of me. I was surprised, I don't remember morphing. I heard laughter. I looked up from my hands and saw Rachel.

"Hey Tobias lets go!" She said holding out her hand. I smiled and took it.

She pulled me as we ran to everywhere and nowhere. We did everything and nothing. I knew about everything that we did and remember nothing of it. I was happy, full of laughter. I had never felt so alive!

Then it stopped. I opened my eyes and i saw the world through the sharp eyes of a red tailed hawk.

I am Tobias. I used to be human. I am now a hawk. I live and survive as one.

I was hungry and so was the hawk. I let its mind take over and it searched for signs of movement in the grass. After spotting several I took off from the branch that i perched on. I flapped hard in the still air of the day straining to gain altitude until i was swept up by and updraft. I felt the hawk's mind spread my wings to catch the wind. It was bright and late in the morning. It didn't matter. Why would it? I'm a hawk i have all the time in the world. No school, no work, no responsibilities, just hunt, fly, and survive.

Sounds pretty nice right? Well it kinda is, but as I've said I live and survive as a hawk. I hunt and kill for my food, not only do I hunt I am also the hunted. Everyday that i fly out in the vast open sky there will always be that chance of me getting killed by another predatory bird. That fact always loomed over me like a great shadow. I have to kill or be killed. Sounds cruel? It is, but that is the way of nature and I wasn't human anymore and i had to live by the rules that nature had set for me and other predatory birds.

I spotted a small rabbit with my keen sight. The hawk part of me knew exactly what to do. I never really had a hand in the hunt, it was always the hawk. Why should I? It was born to do this, I wasn't. It knew exactly what to do, I didn't. Though the first few times were uncomfortable. I let the hawk take full control to protect myself from what i was doing. Killing and eating to survive. But now it didn't matter anymore. I had lived as a hawk for a long time. Now i just let the hawk do its thing and i just observe.

I felt my wings fold as the hawk part of me was ready to dive at the unsuspecting rabbit. The rabbit was fairly large, but it was young and had little experience in defending against predatory birds. So I dove at it, i was going at fifty miles an hour then I flared my wings and stretched out my razor sharp talons wide open. And contact! I could feel the rabbit's flesh give as my sharp talons pierced it skin. I could almost feel its heart beat quicken in shock and panic then eventually slow and stop. I unhooked my talons from the now dead rabbit. As I've said it was young and inexperienced. Normally i wouldn't have gone for rabbits for they were more trouble than they were worth normally. They run like crazy and if that weren't enough they kick, hard.

I started to feed on the rabbit. My sharp hooked beak dug itself in its flesh tearing small chunks and swallowing them whole. At first i always closed my mind away from whenever i feed but now i had done it so many times that i was used to it. Sometimes I actually enjoyed it.

After having my fill of meat I took off and went back to my usual tree and rested watching the field that i settled in and used as a hunting ground. It wasn't long until i wanted it take off to fly in the free sky. So i took off. I let the hawks mind do most of the work. It knew more about flying than I'll ever know. It knew how to position my tail feathers just so, to take off, to land, to glide. I flew off into the forest to see what Ax was up to. Maybe I could watch some Tv with him.

I flew in the direction of his house deep in the forest. Well call it a scoop or a tent to be more accurate. I flew over above the trees looking down searching for signs of Ax's scoop. Then I saw Ax running around the forest. By his pace i knew that he was just enjoying himself and not being chased. Ax loved to run around the forest. I guess that it was the horse-like part of him that was responsible for that. Cassie would sometimes morph into a horse to run but Jake discouraged her from doing it but she just does it anyway.

I swooped low catching up with him.

(Hey Ax-man) I said while dodging branches and trees.

He slowed down before coming to a stop letting me perch on a branch close by. (Hello Tobias.)

(What's up Ax-man, why are you running around this time?) I wouldn't ask him questions like this before but we've become pretty close friends compared to the other animorphs since we both live in the forest and are both outcasts to our people.

(I am feeding) He responded in a matter of fact tone (The grass is particularly delicious in this area.)

(Okay, hey wanna go watch some TV? I got nothing to do and I just ate so i wouldn't need to do anything for the next few hours.)

(That would be pleasant Tobias. I was just heading back to my scoop when you called out to me.)

We headed back to his scoop. I flew overhead while he ran. We reached his scoop and watched some Tv. I let Ax choose the channels since i never used to watch Tv back when I was still human. I always spent most of my time out of the house. We watched a couple of soaps. Ax had a particular liking for them.

(Hey Ax-man I'm gonna be heading back, okay.) I said as i saw that it was getting dark.

(Alright Tobias.) He said as the Soap ended and the commercials began.

I took off. It was still early. By experience i knew that the sun wouldn't sink for a while. But i there was someone I wanted to talk to. I flew to Cassie's barn. By the time i got there she was forcing a pill down the throat of a fox. I landed on my usual spot on the rafters.

"Hey Tobias." She said not looking up before forcing the pill down the fox's throat.

(Hey Cassie.) I said as she looked up at me.

"Anything you need?" She asked me before going to another cage to look over an injured wolf.

(Nothing much.) I said.

"Anything you wanna talk about?" She asked.

(Yes.) I said relieved.

"What is it?"

(Well you know. . .) I started. And i talked about my life as a hawk. I rambled on talking and she listened. She listened to every word that i had to say. When I looked out and saw that i needed to get back to my field before it got too dark i said. (Thanks for listening Cassie.)

"Anytime." She said and I took off.

I didn't want to stay out when it gets too dark. Flying at night is hard enough when i can barely see, but there were no thermals or updrafts to help me along. Whenever i wanted to get some altitude i had to flap hard.

I got back to my field just in time. It was still pretty bright but i didn't want to test my luck. I saw my roommate taking off from a far off tree, it was an owl. We shared the field. If it was another hawk i would've fought him over control of the field. But since he was an owl our hunting times were different. I hunted in the day, he in the night. It was an unspoken agreement between the two of us. So long as i kept hunting in the day he would hunt at night and not try to eat me while i was in my sleep. I tucked my head under my wing and slept.


I woke up the next day hungry. The rabbit I ate was still there out in the field. The owl didn't touch it last night. I was still surprised that it was still there though. I thought that a fox or a raccoon would have gotten it by now. Not feeling up for a hunt that morning I quickly got to the dead rabbit. There were a bunch of flies surrounding it and a few maggots crawling on it. Thank god being a hawk meant that i barely had any sense of smell or taste, otherwise i would've puked from the smell. The meat was cold from last night but neither me or the hawk cared and I ate.

After i had my fill i thought that i would go fly around the city. The city was a great place to fly. There were thermals aplenty and the currents that the buildings caused made flying there much easier. I took off from the ground and headed towards the city. I flapped hard in trying to gain a bit more altitude when i felt the telltale signs of a thermal. They were pretty uncommon this deep in the forest but it was glad that i didn't need to flap anymore. I spread out my wings and let the warm air lift me up high in the sky.

The city wasn't very far but it did take a little while for me to get there. From the thermal that I rode from my field i glided to another thermal before reaching the road that cut through the forest. It was i bit out of the way but the hot tarmac made great thermals.

With the help of the thermals i quickly made it to the city. I was quickly greeted by a flock of fat pigeons that saw me and took off in surprise. i didn't mind them, I had just eaten, even the hawk part of my mind didn't care if they got away. I swerved around the tall buildings until i reached a avenue where the towering office buildings made a kind of giant wind tunnel since the wind always blew strongly here. I flew against the wind both going forward and up, until i reached the end of the wind tunnel. When I reached the height i wanted i tilted my body so i turned and i blasted away. I flew what felt like a hundred miles per hour with the wind behind me. It was exhilarating, even though i had been a hawk for a quite some time, flying had never lost its appeal.

This was one of my favorite pastimes when there was absolutely nothing to do. I had eaten, no Yeerk plots to foil, I was free to do anything. A while back when going around the city, looking over the other animorphs as a lookout i had discovered a kind of track of wind in the city. It was because of the way that the city was built. The tall buildings caught the wind and sent it through the wide gaps of the busy roads and streets. It was like a river of wind. It twisted and bent, there were shortcuts and branches along with the main part of it.

The first few times that I tried it i had almost crashed into windows and nearly smashed into vents. But over time i learned which areas were the main body where the wind was strong and stable. I also learned of the side paths where the wind was even stronger but tended to gust or stall unexpectedly. I never told the others of this pastime. Although i knew that they would enjoy it as much as i do, the two hour limit for them staying in morph would make it difficult for them to fly around to say the least.

I raced along the track quickly shooting through flocks of pigeons and other birds that lived in the city. The track was huge, even at full speed with the wind behind me, my fastest time by my best guess was about half an hour to do a single full lap. It never got boring for me. All throughout the track i needed to concentrate otherwise i would crash into a window or flagpole. Although the wind in the main body of the tracks were fairly stable, I had to worry about the sudden gusts from alleys and spaces between the buildings. It was never the same, never predictable.


I flew until my muscles ached from the effort of keeping my wings open and straining from the force of with wind behind me. I left the city and headed back to the forest to rest. I followed the road until i reached the spot closest to my field and as i quickly gained altitude from a thermal i quickly glided down to the forest. I had a great time that day. I scared a few flocks of pigeons off the roofs of some buildings, though i almost crashed into a flag that hung out on a pole. Nothing went wrong.

By pure luck i spotted a ground squirrel. And although my wings ached and i wanted to rest i was starting to get hungry so I let the hawk's mind take over and swooped down for the kill.

While I ate the squirrel i thought i saw something in the corner of my eye. I looked up expecting a wolf or a fox that had seen me and was going to either take my squirrel or eat me. But i saw nothing, then again in the corner of my vision i saw a blur. I looked around again and saw nothing. I was starting to feel uneasy until the mind of the hawk urged me to continue feeding if there was nothing there to kill us. I continued to eat until i had my fill. I have been pretty lucky these days. I always got my prey and nothing had tried to take them.

I took off leaving what was left of the ground squirrel for any scavengers. I caught an updraft and soared above the trees. I looked down and saw that Cassie was out riding a horse. I haven't seen her go out riding before, usually she'd morph a horse and go out like that. I guessed she had something on her mind so i didn't go near her. Then something caught my eye. In between the branches of the trees i thought i saw a blur of fast movement. It looked to be blue and i guessed that it was Ax. But then no one came out, no one came to greet Cassie. I looked over the trees where i thought i had seen the blur and found no trace of anyone, human or Andelite. I grew uneasy, i didn't think that it was a wild predator, as far as I knew Ax was the only thing colored blue around this forest. Was it Visser three? Cassie was out far enough, it might be. So i kept watch over her, just in case.

I followed Cassie as she rode back to her home. It might have been Visser three, so i kept an eye on her until she got home. But on her way there i saw a blue blur again behind the trees, I got a better look at it this time. It certainly was blue but i couldn't make it out. It was going too fast for my eyes to see, which was saying something. Then it disappeared off deeper into the forest, leaving a trail of windswept leaves.

'What was that' I thought.

Once I was sure that Cassie was safe, i quickly made my way back to my field. It was getting dark and i didn't want to meet my roommate at this time of day.

Authors Notes: Hey guys! I notice a lack of reviews for my story. Come on people! Please leave a review! I need feedback on how I'm doing. Even if you don't have an account leave an anonymous review at least! Please your feedback helps me make a better story.

Please Leave A Review