Again, thanks to all reviewers.

To The Shang Kudarung: Yes, you are evil. I'm not even an English major. What do I think I'm doing writing a novel? I must be crazy.

To metamorphstorm: Thanks!

To Darth Taegous: It's okay that you missed them so long as you keep reading, right? And thank you!

To Small-Fri: Thanks to you too! I hope this update was soon enough.

To Skyflight Erek's Loyalty: Thank you! I was really worried about that battle scene because I've never actually written one before so it's nice to hear it worked out okay.

To freak show: I really do need to start with the whole Elfangor-Tobias relationship part of this story, don't I? I'm gonna try and do it in this chapter (See the title!). And thanks for reviewing! Oh, and I lied. I said it would be explained how the others became Controllers in this chapter but then it turns out that that won't happen until probably the next chapter. And I mean it this time. Really.

And to Evance: And thanks to you too. I will definitely try not to let the plot peter out. Maybe you could warn me if you see it doing that?

AN: Oh, and it's been a long time since I've read the first book so I forget what it really felt like for them to touch the blue box so I'm just gonna make something up. Just so you know. And this is gonna be another slightly short chapter.

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Chapter #6: Father and Son

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"Well, I suppose I should probably get home before my mom freaks out any more than she's already gonna freak out," Rachel eventually said, but then, even as she said this, we both looked down at her clothes. Even Rachel hadn't been able to get out of the battle without any bloodstains, though on her they looked like a personal fashion choice.

"Um . . ." I said uncertainly, taking in all of the blood. "Do you want to borrow some clothes, maybe?"

She looked at herself and then at my own bloodstained outfit and me. "I'd say we should buy some new clothes, but the stores are closed and that freak with the car that ran you over still has my purse. People are gonna freak if we go anywhere like this. They'll think we committed a murder."

I looked down at myself. I did kind of look like a murderer. "Yeah . . ." I said slowly. "Maybe we should stay off the regular streets then. You know, just use the alleyways and things."

Rachel looked skeptical of this idea. "We're gonna need to use a main street eventually. My house is all the way across town."

And suddenly I realized something major. "I don't even really know where my house is."

"What?" Rachel asked.

"Well I have a basic idea, but I don't really know the specifics," I explained, wide-eyed as I realized this. "When Maril led me there after the whole lawyer situation he used this really complicated route and we basically circled the area like three times in three different ways before finally getting there."

"So you don't know how to get home," Rachel summarized, looking at me like I was an idiot. "Why did you even leave in the first place if you didn't know how to get back?"

"I was only gonna go like three blocks," I said, starting to get a little afraid. What if I had to wander around with all this blood on me for hours? What if I never found my way home? Still I continued, "All I needed to do was retrace my path. It's not like I knew I was gonna end up on the other side of town." Getting an idea, I calmed somewhat and continued again, "But I know the basic area and the actual address so all I have to do is wander around until I find that and I'm good."

"It's getting late though and you can't exactly wander around lost in those clothes," Rachel said logically. "Maybe you should come home with me."

I was unsure about this idea. "Are you sure? Won't your mom, you know, freak out about you bringing a guy home so late?"

"Like she's not gonna freak out anyway?" Rachel replied rhetorically. "I should've been home hours ago.

I ignored this and continued, "And what if she recognizes me? You know, from the news? I can't take that chance. Besides, Elfangor and the others probably expect me to come home tonight and I'm sure they're already probably pretty mad at me. I should just go home."

"Then I guess you're just gonna have to wander around lost for the rest of the night," Rachel said as if this was going to deter me. Maybe on any other day it would have, but not today. I'd had enough for today and I really just wanted to get home. "With who knows how many Controllers out there," she continued to try and convince me, "And policemen. And dogs."

I looked confused at that last one. "Dogs?"

"Yeah, they'll smell the blood on you and start barking, waking up everybody in the neighborhood so that they can look outside to find out what the dogs are barking at and find you covered in blood."

Right. Well, I was determined and so that wouldn't deter me either. "Well then I guess I'm just gonna have to take that chance," I said.

"Fine," Rachel said with a shrug, as if it wasn't any of her business what stupid things I did. "You're funeral. I guess I'll see you later then." And so she waved at me and started off for her own house.

But, before she left completely, I had a thought and called out, "Wait!"

Having only gotten a few feet away up the sidewalk, Rachel turned back around to give me an impatient look. "What?"

"It's just . . ." I hesitated before revealing my concern, but finally did say it, "What if the Yeerks are after you too now? I mean, they know your face. They can come get you anytime."

Rachel laughed. "Like I'm gonna let some slug get a hold of me."

"But still . . ." I said, starting to get worried now that I thought about the possibility.

"Oh fine," Rachel said, obviously deciding that she would play along. "Tell me your number and if the Yeerks come after me I'll call."

There was just one problem with that. "Um . . . I actually don't really know my phone number."

"You don't know your phone number," Rachel repeated flatly, as if this was some huge deal, but then continued despite this, "Fine. Then tell me your address and if I can get away from the slugs I'll come straight to you."

I wasn't sure if I should really be giving out Elfangor's address, but what else could I do? Rachel needed some way to find me and, like I had said, I didn't know Elfangor's number. So I told her the street name and house number and then we said our goodbyes again. Throwing off any lingering doubts, I turned in what I hoped was the right direction and started off on my quest to find Elfangor's house.

--

It took me a long while and a lot of sneaking around, but I eventually did find Elfangor's house again and, starting to feel nervous as I tried to imagine what the Andalites' reaction to my return would be, I slowly walked up the drive and hesitantly knocked on the door. I still didn't exactly feel comfortable enough there that I could just enter on my own.

It took a moment, but then Elfangor was at the door in his human morph. "Tobias," he said with no visible emotion and then stepped back to let me in.

Feeling completely ashamed and embarrassed, I ducked my head and walked further into the house and into the living room where Maril, Erithin, and Aximili were all sitting around in their human morphs. They'd obviously been waiting for a while because they had an empty pizza box open on the coffee table with only a slice of Hawaiian pizza left. I was surprised they even had that. Erithin went as crazy over pizza as Aximili went over Cinnabons. Which was pretty crazy.

All three of them turned to look at me as I entered the room. Then Elfangor came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Why don't you take a seat," was all he said.

I could already tell this was not going to turn out pretty, but I still took a seat on the edge of the couch next to Aximili. But then, with a look from Elfangor, all of the others suddenly decided that they needed to get home to their scoops and they stood up to leave. It took another five minutes, but then Elfangor and I were alone in the house.

"So . . ." Elfangor said into the silence as he took a seat in his armchair. "You decided to go for a walk."

He still wasn't showing any emotion and I cringed, but didn't say anything.

Elfangor continued, "You decided to go for a walk when I expressly told you that you were to stay inside."

Now I spoke up. "I'm sorry."

Elfangor ignored that. "Tell me. Just what was it you hoped to achieve by ignoring my orders?"

"I . . ." I studied my hands intensely, not wanting to look up at Elfangor's face. "I just wanted to get out," I said feebly, all of my reasoning no longer seeming quite as good as it had before I'd left.

"Did you not realize what going outside would mean for you?" Elfangor asked. I could tell he was trying to hold himself back from saying anything he would regret or from treating me like one of his men. I was his son, not his soldier and I could see him trying to remember that with every word. It must've been hard because I still felt like he was drilling me.

"I thought they wouldn't recognize me. I mean, it's been a whole month!" I said, finally looking up. "I thought they would've forgotten about me by now."

"And what would make you think that?" Elfangor said, maybe overly patiently.

At that, I looked down at my hands again, not wanting to say this next thing but knowing I had to explain. "Because I'm not that important," I said softly.

"Tobias . . ." Obviously still angry, Elfangor looked at me as if to show me that what he said next was critical. "You have to understand that I am one of the Yeerk's number one enemies. You are my son. They will do anything to get their hands on you because anything they do to you will only hurt me."

I sighed. "I know, I know." And I did know, at least on some higher, non-connected level. I could admit that the fact that I was his son, and all of the things that came with that title, hadn't exactly hit me yet. He was still just a stranger to me. Plus, I wasn't exactly used to having a dad or having anybody care what happened to me and I didn't know what to do with a person who did. Though I don't think Elfangor really knew what to do with me either.

"It's just . . ." I continued as I kept looking down at my lap, wanting to make him understand that what he was asking me to realize was going against a lifetime of hard experience even if by saying this I was making myself look really pathetic. "Nobody else has ever really cared about me enough to bother remembering me for long amounts of time, even if only in a negative way. I mean, my uncle's probably forgotten all about me and he's pretty much all the family I have besides my aunt."

I didn't look up so I didn't see how this admittance affected Elfangor, but for a moment there was silence. Then Elfangor sighed and said, all traces of anger gone and replaced with only weary acceptance, "Then I suppose it is my fault for not pressing the importance of this understanding on you. I simply assumed you would understand how relentless the Yeerks can be."

I looked up then, not wanting him to take the blame for something that was my fault. "No, it's my fault. I should have realized it on my own. I mean, you know the Yeerks better than I do so when you said I couldn't go outside I should have realized you had a reason for that."

"Tobias," Elfangor said, looking me in the eye. "This is not your war. The Yeerks are not your enemy. You shouldn't—

"But the Yeerks are my enemy," I broke in, "This is my war. I mean, remember, they're the ones invading my planet. I should've listened to you. That's it."

Elfangor smiled slightly, but it looked almost sad. "That's almost exactly what Maril said."

I frowned, a little confused by this. Why would Maril have said anything like that? "What?"

Elfangor leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and hands clasped, suddenly even more serious than before. "Tobias," he said, carefully not looking at me. "What if I was to say that there was a way that you could go outside whenever you wished?"

My frown deepened. But if there was a way I could go outside why had I not heard about it until now? "What do you mean?"

Still Elfangor wouldn't look at me. "I mean, what if there was a way for you to go outside without being recognized?"

"You mean, like by wearing a disguise?" I asked, trying to understand what he was getting at.

"Something like that," Elfangor replied vaguely, "but I'm talking about a little bit more than a disguise. I mean . . . I'm talking about . . ." Here Elfangor looked up into my eyes to continue seriously, "giving you the power to morph."

I stared at him. I didn't know much about the morphing power, but I did know one thing about Andalites. "Isn't there, like, a law against that kind of thing?"

Elfanger sat back in his chair and took a deep breath before he answered. "Yes . . . yes there is. The Law of Seerow's Kindness. We would be breaking the Andalite's most crucial law, but I truly cannot think of another way."

"I can just . . . stay inside, you know," I offered, though why, I don't know. The power to morph and leave this house whenever I wished would be amazing. "I know better than to leave now," I still continued.

Elfangor shook his head sadly. "I can't ask you to do that and I don't expect you to be able to comply. You should be free to go outside. It would be a fate worse than death to expect you to live out the rest of your life in these four walls. Besides," he continued, "you are my son and as such the technology is your right. But Tobias," Elfangor looked up at me again. "The decision has already been made to give you the technology, but you must still make a choice."

Okay . . . I thought warily. "What kind of choice?" I asked.

"You said that this is your war," Elfanger said in response to that, not really answering my question. "That the Yeerks are your enemy," he continued, before looking at me with a strangely intent expression, "Did you really mean that?"

What was he asking that for? "Um . . . yeah. I guess," I said then shrugged. "I mean, sure."

"Do not take this lightly," Elfangor chided.

"I'm not. Really," I said.

Elfangor frowned, obviously not quite convinced, but still he continued, "Then the choice is whether you wish to fight or not. Whether you would help us or go on living your own life."

Elfangor went on to explain what would happen if I were to choose the second choice. "If you were to go on living your life you would acquire several human DNAs, most likely including your uncle, and then we would teach you how to meld those DNAs into a single form. You would then stay over the two hour limit to be stuck in that form and be put into an orphanage where you would pretend to have no memory so that you could hopefully be adopted into another family."

So I would essentially become an entirely different person only so that a family that might actually be worse than my real one could adopt me? No way.

Elfangor continued to tell me about the first choice. "But if you were to choose to fight, you would stay hidden in this house. You would become one of my men and I would expect full obedience. No more of this sneaking out of the house without my permission."

That sounded much better despite how militaristic it sounded. And besides, ever since I'd first learned of this war I had wanted to help out. I had figured it was my right as a person of this planet, but I hadn't figured out a way that I could actually be useful. So I told Elfangor, "I want to fight."

Elfangor looked almost pained by this. "Are you sure? Maybe you should take some time to think it through."

I shook my head. "No, I'm positive. I want to fight. It's my planet. I wanna help."

"But you don't have to," Elfangor said, obviously trying to change my mind. "This war is not something to be taken lightly. You will be hurt. You may die."

"I don't care," I said firmly, sure in my decision, "I wanna help."

Elfangor sighed and looked defeated, his human face suddenly seeming much older than the 35 it appeared to be. "Very well then. If I can't change your mind." And, with that, he got out of his chair and went back into his study to remain there for a long moment before returning, having demorphed to his Andalite form and now holding a strange blue box.

"What's that?" I asked curiously as I stood up from my seat to get a closer look at the strange box.

(This) Elfangor said, (Is the Escafil Device.) Holding the box out, he nodded at me and said, (Place your hand on the top.)

Somewhat unsure, I nevertheless followed his command and put my hand on the top of the box. Not sure what I was supposed to be doing, I felt something almost like a jolt of electricity and quickly jerked my hand away. "Hey!"

(There,) Elfangor said, (It is done.)

I stared at my hand. "So I have the power to morph now?" I asked, turning excited eyes back to Elfangor. "I can just touch something and then morph it?"

(Yes.) Elfangor replied solemnly. (But remember,) he went on to caution, (This power is not a toy. You have two hours in morph at the very most. Any more and you will become a nothlit. You will be stuck in the body of that animal for the rest of your life.)

I have to admit, I kind of zoned out on his warnings. I'd heard them all before. Maybe not as they applied to me personally, but I'd still heard them. And I was just really excited to try this morphing thing out.

"I'm gonna go find something to morph," I said excitedly then turned to run out of the room. Getting to the door, I remembered the clause that came with my new power and stopped. Turning back to Elfngor, I asked, "I mean, is that okay? Do you mind?"

Elfangro smiled with his eyes, still looking a little sad. (You are so much like your mother.)

That effectively killed what enthusiasm I had. Well not killed it, but delayed it. Elfangor never talked about my mom and I was always curious to know more about her. She'd left when I was really little. I can just vaguely remember blonde hair and a kind smile.

"Really?" I asked, intrigued as I stepped back further into the room. "How?"

(Your mother was such a bright spirit. I can see that in you,) Elfangor answered simply.

"What do you mean by 'bright spirit'?" I asked with my curiosity peaked.

Elfangor seemed to shake himself out of his reverie and was suddenly all business again. (I mean just that. She was a bright spirit. Now if you'll excuse me. I have some work to do.) And with that, he abruptly turned and left the room.

I stared at his retreating form for a long moment as the door closed behind him then went over and plopped myself down on the couch, the strength of my disappointment making it hard to stand. Just when I thought I had been getting through to him, he blocked me out completely. And just when I thought I would actually learn something about my mother, he turned away.

Suddenly, I had never felt so alone.

--

TBC?