Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10
Chapter 19: Observing
Ax's POV
The wind howled through the forest. The rain hammered on the leaves of the trees. The forest was almost pitch black, like empty space where you couldn't see the stars. The only light that shone through was what came from the lightning that ran through the clouds. Not ten minutes ago a bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree. The air was still charged with electricity. Every other living thing in the vicinity went and found their own little safe haven to hide away from the storm.
But not me.
I took in the rain.
I stood in the middle it all. It was a bitter-sweet moment for me, as it reminded me of what would be the equivalent of summertime rains back on the Andalite homeworld. I was used to much stronger storms back home, since me and my parents lived in the equatorial part of the planet. We experienced harder rains compared to those who lived in the more northern and southern hemispheres. Since the Andalite homeworld was more or less a vast plain and a vast ocean. We only had a few places where there were forests and jungles. Though in a few places we had ravines and and deserts, but the one natural thing that truly broke the scene of vast plains on the planet was the Great Eztelekinth Mountain. You could say it was the Everest of my homeworld, but it is much larger and peak was taller compared to Everest. They say that on the clearest of days you could see the peak over the horizon even when you were hundreds of Earth miles away.
I enjoyed the feel of the rain as it poured down. It felt similar to the way that the faster-than-light engines hummed when they were being brought up to full speed. I had been lucky enough to pilot one during my training on the dome ship. At the time it was as if my whole body vibrated with the ship. It was a good, nostalgic feeling.
I had never understood why humans always tried their best to avoid the rain. Didn't they know that the rain is an important part of the cycle of life? Even in very light showers they would rush to the closest shelter to avoid it. It was such a peculiar reaction to something that gives life to all organisms. To something that they needed to survive.
Putting everything aside, I simply stood in the middle of the storm.
On the day that the storm had ended I trotted around the forest, surveying the damage. The tree which had been struck by the lightning looked worse now than it did in the dark. The ground was covered with still green leaves which left very little for the trees that once held them.
It was somewhat difficult to move around the forest as the ground was still soaked and muddy. In some places I almost fell off balance when what seemed to be a patch of muddy ground was actually a small mud pool. After that had happened a few more times, I decided to return back to my scoop and simply stay there until the ground had dried up.
I had made quite a few improvements to my scoop over the past months. Before it was simply the barest of scoops, which served the purpose of being my home, but it was missing a few things. For one I didn't have a place to work on, when I decided to tinker with some pieces of electronics that I collected. As well as it's size. It is now larger compared to when it was when I first built it, but I could still collapse the roof and hide any trace of it being there. The inside was much more spacious and the ground was thankfully and solidly dry. I grabbed the remote that Marco had given me and passed the time watching television.
X
It wasn't until the day after that Tobias came for a visit.
(Hello Tobias. Did you find anything out?) I asked.
(Yep, our guy is definitely with the Yeerks.) He answered. (I saw him go inside the Mcdonalds where the Pool entrance was and I didn't see him leave during or after the storm.)
I swore internally. This was bad, if the yeerks really found a new type of morphing technology, then the Andalites would lose their last advantage they had in the war. Hopefully the Yeerk that held the technology is similar to Visser 3 and greedily keeping it to himself.
(Did you tell Prince Jake about it yet?) I asked him.
(Yep, first thing after the storm.) He replied.
(What is our next plan?)
(Jake said he had to think of our next move. So we're gonna keep an eye out for Ben, but in the meantime just lay low.)
(Alright if that is what Prince Jake says then we will lay low.) The phrase "Lay low" is not to be taken literally as I had learned early on on my stay on earth. It means to
(Yup.) He said, then turning to look at the TV asked. (Is there anything good on?)
X
Tobias left a few hours after. And I was by myself in my scoop.
I turned off the TV and went over to the small collapsible table that I usually kept small pieces of primitive Earth technology and a few scraps of Yeerk technology from some of our previous missions. It was a small collection, I have to admit. But it was all I could scrounge from Radioshack. Most of the small projects that I worked on were improvised at best. Many of the parts that I needed were either impossible to get or, if there was a possible substitute, costly and very inefficient. And i had very little Earth money to buy the small pieces that I needed.
One of my latest projects was supposed to be a small handheld cutting tool, that used a similar energy that Andalite shredders used. But now that I am about halfway through, it became quickly apparent that without the proper diodes and chips it was going to be far too heavy to be handheld. I could barely carry the device. I knew that it would be useful in stealth missions where, even with the smallest of morphs, would be impossible to get to. But with something like this it would be simple to cut open a small hole in a wall and morph an appropriate creature to crawl inside. Or maybe even, as much as I despise assassinations, cut a small hole in the hull of a certain abomination's Blade-ship.
I looked over the heavy device on the table, looking over the maze of wires and circuits and trying to find a way to reduce the number of materials to make it lighter. The device will still be very compact when I find a casing for it, but it might be too cumbersome with its weight.
I couldn't find any way to make the circuit more efficient with any of the spare parts that I had on hand. I would have needed a Dracon beam at the very least and it save me so much trouble.
I walked away from the table and looked outside my scoop. The ground was still damp, but most of the soil had already dried during the day. I could afford not eating today. Anyway, the grass would be much more delicious after a few days. They would be much juicier and richer than they were the past few days before the storm.
I ended the day with the evening ritual before heading out.
A few days later I decided to go ask Tobias to accompany me so that I can see how Ben behaves for myself. He had told me previously that there really wasn't much to see, since, like all controllers, he acts like a normal human. But I wished to observe him properly for myself.
We spotted Ben on the streets. It was during the afternoon, and it was obvious that he had just some from school. He was strangely dressed, quite different from what the others have told me as "in" whenever I went to my human morph. But he didn't seem to care that he wasn't wearing something "in". I had never fully understood the human concept of fashion or clothes for that matter. There was never a need for Andalites to wear clothing.
I was in my usual bird morph, a northern harrier. Me and Tobias flew apart, but within range of thought-speech.
(I told you Ax-man, this guy isn't interesting to watch.) He said to me, while we both turned to keep Ben within sight.
(I know, you have already told me this.) I replied. (But it is still good that I get to observe him even if it is only like this.)
(Whatever you say, Ax-man.)
(He may be the most dangerous thing that we will be facing, next to Visser three.) I explained. (And who knows, we might be able to gather some useful information about him.)
Tobias didn't respond right away and then he said. (You got me there Ax-man.)
We followed him to the park where there was several other humans. At the moment he seemed to be walking around aimlessly through the park. Looking and watching the other humans do their activities. I could see many children and the adults that accompany them. A few of the kids were playing in a small colorful structure. one of them quickly ran up a ladder, going inside the structure and then exited out of a bright red chute, then running back to the ladder and once again coming out of the chute a few moments later. Beside it stood another structure and this one had three children climbing and swinging from it.
Ben had stopped nearby the structure and sat on an empty shaded bench. Fortunately there were many nearby trees that me and Tobias could land in and observe him. We landed in separate trees and conversed.
(Tobias, what is the purpose of that structure?) I asked. (It doesn't look like a suitable shelter, or for anything important)
(You mean the playground?)
(Is that what it is called?)
(Yep.)
(Then what is its purpose?) I asked again. (And why does that child keep going inside just to come out through the chute?)
(Oh, you mean the slide.) Said Tobias chuckling. (It's not really meant for stuff that ha house does, it's just made for fun.)
(For fun?)
(Yeah, like just to have fun. Going down a slide is fun.)
(Oh, so it serves no other function than to provide fun.) I said. Humans really have a love for fun. I sometimes think that it is a major contributor as why the human race is a primitive as it is. They spend too much time and resources to create things for fun than they do to advance their civilization.
(If you put it like that, then yeah.)
Ben sat on the bench for the rest of the day. It was a bit difficult trying to keep a low profile every time I needed to demorph. Fortunately none of the humans in the park seemed to notice. The adults were either vigilantly keeping an eye on the children or conversing with each other. I demorphed on the roof of a nearby building, staying low and quickly remorphing to avoid getting seen.
When I came back to my perch I saw that he had fallen asleep on the bench, head bowed and eyes closed. And as Tobias said, there really wasn't much to be gained by observing Ben out in public.
I was inside Cassie's barn with the other Animorphs. I listened intently as we planned out next move, and how to deal with Ben.
"We need a way to keep him from morphing." Said Prince Jake, sitting on a bale of hay.
"Yeah, but how are we gonna do that?" Asked Marco. "It's not like we got a indestructible jail cell that we can keep him in for three days."
"Marco's right." Said Cassie. "If we can't find a way to keep him contained, he's probably just morph and escape wherever we put him."
"Yeah, he could probably just morph into that walking bonfire and walk out of there, if he doesn't turn us into roasted marshmallows first." Said Marco.
"I know where we can bring him." Said Cassie. "I know that there's a cave in the forest that we could keep him in. Ax could keep guard over him." She said looking at me.
"Yeah, maybe a tail-blade next to his throat would do the trick." Said Marco
(That could be an option.) I said.
They continued to plan how we were going to deal with him. Since all of us have the ability to morph, we all know the possibilities and ways that we can use morphing to escape and none of us had morphs as dangerous as Ben did. Back on the dome ship, we had specialized holding cells that could contain a Andalite no matter what they morphed, be it a small insect or large beast. But we don't have that kind of technology at our disposal. But I was surprised that they were able to formulate a plan and that we were able to succeed.
And what happened was quite Unexpected.
Author's Notes: Another day a new chapter. I hope you guys like this chapter even though it's a bit short. I am saving more plot progression for the next chapter. So I hope you'll all be excited for it. And thank you all for your patience! And remember every time you leave a review, it's like a motivational treat that makes me want to write. And the more I get the faster I can finish a chapter. So. . .
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