The Kinkou of the Yajuu
I don't own Naruto and Animorphs!
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"Talking"
'Thoughts'
-telepathy-
XD Scene change
/ Different point of view
):P Flash back
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Chapter 6
He watches from the sky as the four follow the tracks that Toby left for them to follow. He's currently in his crow morph and the bird's mind was just as curious to see what's going on with the group below, he's still amazed at how intelligent the crow was, but then, there had been studies about how smart ravens, jays, and other birds so he probably should have expected that since a crow is a cousin to a raven, therefore must be intelligent as well.
His body grows slightly tired and he picks out a tree to perch in so that he can rest. The four were doing pretty good, especially after hiking all that way yesterday, he hopes that their parents or guardians are getting too worried about them, he really didn't want to get them into trouble even though that's going to be unavoidable in the coming future. The crow's mind begins to preen the wing feathers, he doesn't mind since he has other things to worry about then letting the crow dominate the body they share.
'I haven't gotten around to trying out that Uritso morph I acquired on that alien world. I wonder what it'll be like viewing the world through four eyes?' He muses over that for a while, trying not to remember what also took place on that distant world.
He blinks as the crow notices some crows circling over head. The crow wants to join in but he decides that it's time to check up on Blue and the other three. He feels the crow relent and once more, he's in the sky, flying around in order to find the teens he brought into these woods.
/ Danielle/
She glances up and notices that, once more, a crow is circling over head. "Freaky." She says out loud. "What?" Nath asks. "That crow's back." She replies. "How can you tell it's the same one?" The boy asks. "Don't know, but I haven't seen any other crows flying about." She points out.
Nath shrugs and he continues to follow Blue and Kit, she shakes her head as she looks away from the circling crow. She jogs to catch up to the others, she sighs as she notices some kind of bird like foot print on a patch of dirt. "I still think it's some kind of large bird that we're following." Nath says, as they stop around the track. "What kind of bird can make that kind of mark on a tree trunk?" Blue asks as the boy points to one of the lone trees that's growing in this mountainous region.
Nath doesn't answer and Kit sighs. "Maybe some kind of alien bird with blades on its body?" She asks. Kit snorts in amusement while Nath and Blue chuckle. She smiles slightly, glad to have broken up the tense atmosphere that's between them. "Good one, Dani." Kit says and she shrugs, though it's most likely wistful thinking on her part.
"It would be cool though, if whatever this thing is was an alien." Blue says. She nods while the other two teens just shrug. They then continue off in the direction the print pointed them into.
/ Nathanial/
He frowns as he gets the feeling like something is making them go around in circles. Kit stops as do Danielle, he glares at the rock that he's sure they passed over five times in the last five minutes. Blue stops when he notices that they had stopped.
He re-examines the trail and growls slightly, he doesn't get it but it seems that he can't seem to keep an eye on the next set of tracks. He tones out the conversation as he begins to think about how to go about locating the next series of tracks. He moves around until he notices that one angle seems to last longer then the others. He blinks and his mind races at what this implies.
"Ok, guys, come over here and tell me what you see right there." He says, pointing to a rock that he had a hard time keeping his eyes on. The others do as they're told and in a few seconds they gasp in surprise. "Ok, lets see how many steps we can take in the direction." Blue suggests and he nods and leads them in that direction.
Over the next two hours, they finally make it through some kind of illusion maze. They soon stand before an entrance to a valley; they all blink as the sounds of clapping reaches their ears. "Good work, here Toby wagered that it would take you four hours to make it to this point." Naruto says, they turn and glare at the teen that seems to enjoy making them jump through hoops.
"What the hell was that maze?" Kit asks, clearly her temper getting the better of her. "That was the only line of defence this valley has to keep outsiders from locating it. I sometimes have trouble getting through it too. I think you're all wonder about who you've been tracking and I want you guys to meet Toby, the Hork-Bajir Seer." The blond says and something out of some kind of horror film walks out from behind a large rock.
"It would seem Naruto was correct to put his faith into you four." The bladed being named Toby says with what he hopes was a smile on its face. "Are you really an…?" Danielle asks, her voice filled with awe. "She's an alien if that's what you want to know." Naruto says and he feels faint.
"The Hork-Bajir are herbivores, the blade were design for them to cut strips of bark off trees. They're a peaceful race, though Toby's a unique among her race since being a Seer equals her being a genius." Naruto says and he notices how Toby seems to shift her weight around, he's guessing that she's slightly embarrassed at being called a genius.
"How many Seers do the Hork-Bajir have?" Blue asks, his interest in aliens is aroused. "Currently? Only one." Naruto answers and Toby looks off into the forests, sighing. "So there's more of her kind in this valley?" He asks and Toby replies, "Not as many as I wish there'd be." Naruto nods his head in agreement.
After a few minutes of quiet, a small group of other Hork-Bajir come racing towards them. "Naruto!" The five children shout, clearly happy to see the blond teen. "Hey you guys, been good?" Naruto asks and the five children nod their heads rapidly. "Play now?" One of the kids asks, hope can clearly be heard in the kid's tone.
Naruto glances at Toby and the older Hork-Bajir nods as she waves Naruto away. The kids cheer and one of the alien children grab's Naruto's right hand and 'drag' the teen away, leaving them alone with Toby, the Seer of the Hork-Bajir. He couldn't help but shake his head, still awed that they were in a valley that's home to alien bark eaters.
"So… how did your race get to Earth?" Danielle asks Toby. "You might want to be seated, since this is a long story and I was told it from my father who learnt it from his father…" Toby processed to tell them of a young Andilite named Andrea and of a Hork-Bajir Seer named Dak, of what happened on the Hork-Bajir home world.
/ Naruto/
He watches as Bek and the other four Hork-Bajir children head off to find their parents. He can't help but feel uplifted and content as the children vanish into the trees. He glances up into the sky and notices how late it was. He turns and heads back to where he left the four teens.
He notices how enchanted the four were, listening to the story of Toby's great-great grandparents. He smiles, he does enjoy listening to a lot of Hork-Bajir stories, but that one always manages to choke him up. Sure it ended sadly, but then, it also shows how far the Hork-Bajir had come too.
He sighs and decides to unpack the camping stuff from the scrolls he stored them in; he learnt how to do it from one of the scrolls the Ellimist had given him. He feels bad about not saying thanks, but he guesses that the Ellimist knows he's grateful about receiving them. He finds a nice spot and within ten minutes, everything's been unpacked.
He then begins to make supper since he doubts that the four had eaten anything for most of the day. By the time the food's ready, the four teens come walking into the small camp he had set up. He notices the dazed looks on their faces, he smiles sympathetically.
"So these Yeerks are trying to conquer Earth?" Danielle asks and he nods. "You know the Sharing? That's their front, they try for voluntary hosts, but it really doesn't make much difference since a host is just a host, a puppet." He says and he could tell that Kit and Blue wanted to object, but they most likely lacked the energy to do so.
He makes sure that the stir fry containing veggies goes to Blue once the group of four were seated. The frying hot dogs were soon done and he places one dog onto three plates, making sure to hand them over without letting go of the handle of the frying pan. One that's done, he puts the rest of the hot dogs onto a large plate before he places the frying pan onto a rock, he then picks up his plate and spears a hot dog off the plate.
Soon the remaining hot dogs are speared by the other three teens, since Blue is a vegetarian. Once everything has been eaten, Blue asks, "So you're part of this resistance?" He nods and says, "You know about morphing from listening to Toby, right?" The teens nod and he continues, "You see, an Andilite by the name of Elfangor gave five humans the ability to morph, these five are the original rebels, or Animorphs. I wasn't part of the war until recently, but I had been there to witness what happened. I even searched for and found the morphing cube; I activated it and gained the ability to morph, though I didn't know how to use it since I wasn't included into how it worked."
He noticed the startled looks on their faces when he admitted that. "You see, I'm not really native to this reality, I come from a parallel one. I'm an energy manipulator since we stumbled upon it." He states and then continues, "Ok, soon these five humans discovered that another Andilite survived the space battle and landed in the ocean. This Andilite turns out to be Elfangor's little brother, Aximili, or Ax for short. They've been doing this for about two years now and I want to try and take some pressure off of them, so I tried to get them to agree to recruit, but that idea keeps being shoot down."
Nath says, "So that's what you mean by them not agreeing to this and why you're attempting to force their hand!" "Guilty as charged, but you have to admit, this is war and in war you need people fresh people to help out every once in a while. You four might not see a whole lot of action, but we need new people with fresh ideas or a fresh prospective on things." He says and he could tell that the teens were thinking this over.
"It's late, maybe a good night sleep will help." He suggests, ending the subject for now. The four younger teens nod and soon he's alone, he then begins collecting the garbage and stays up for a while, thinking about nothing in particular before he lets the fire die. He heads into his tent and falls asleep.
XD
He blinks as he notices Tobias circling over the camp site; he waves at the teen turned hawk. The red-tailed hawk lands on a branch and Tobias says, -And here we thought the Chee were pulling our leg when they mentioned that you were out training some 'recruits.' They're going to be furious with you.- He smiles slight and replies, "I think it's worth it, can you really say that it wouldn't be nice to have some new people to join the fight? It would lessen the pressure they're under."
-But you did go behind our backs to do this.- Tobias points out. "It was either do this or start faking their family's deaths. Honestly, Toby and I have been making a base for when the Yeerks begin to give up the idea that we're Andilites." And then he adds, "Also for future reference, I would have started off with Marco's father and then did Tom, just so you know." He hears Tobias chuckle, it seems that hawk-boy was amused about his impudence on this.
-You're really something else, you know? I do believe one of these days you'll give us all a heart attack.- Tobias says, he notices how relax 'bird boy' is. "I just maintain that things can't remain what they are, is all. It's better to expect the unexpected then to be caught flat footed and killed." He says, his mind going over the incident at Wave Country. "Being cautious is being prepared; you can't just keep putting off tough decisions just because you don't want to face the facts. It's becoming high time for most of the family members to be evacuated off the front line, because if you haven't noticed, that entire town is some kind of focal point of this invasion and that means it is the front line." He glares at Tobias as he says the last bit. Tobias shifts his weight, a sign that Tobias is uncomfortable with his reasoning.
"You should listen to what he says, Tobias. He's told me a bit about his home and I trust his judgement on this matter. Already I've located at least five other places which my people can flee to when this valley is attack, and yes, I say when since we know that Visser Three will, in time, locate this place. As much as I hate that possibly, I know that as long as Yeerks are a threat, my people will be hunted and be made host of the Yeerks. I want my people safe and free, which is why I put my faith in Naruto to help me along that path, to be there to give me advice and guidance." Toby says, most likely having spotted Tobias circling around over head.
He hears Tobias sigh in his mind and Tobais says in a soft tone, -It's hard for them to envision that. They so much want to believe that they can still have a normal life, continue living with a normal family, and to be normal. They know, deep down that their lives are an illusion, but it's nice to embrace an illusion then to face the ugly reality that surrounds them. But what it's worth, I do support you, as does Ax.- Then Tobias says, -I even think the Chee support you, which is kind of odd since they're into non-violence.-
He scratches the back of his head, embarrassed about hearing how much faith people have in him, even though he's never really opened himself up to them. "I'm overwhelmed by that, thanks you guys, for believing in me. It means a lot, it really does." He says and Toby smiles at him. He can remember her as the small baby that Ket and Jara had been proud to show off during his previous visits to the valley, he marvels at how much she's grown in the time he's known her.
A cough erupts from behind him and he turns to find all four teens looking at him. He chuckles nervously and introduces them to Tobias. –Nice to meet you four. Well, I better be off, they'll want to know about the truth of this. See you later.- Tobias says and as they say bye, the teen turned hawk launches off and climbs up into the air.
Soon it's just Toby, the four, and himself standing around. He wonders how much of that did they hear as they study each other. "So… how about some breakfast?" He says in an attempt to break the silence that descended on the group.
XD
"Ok, so you want four of us to mentor one on one with the newbies?" Marco asks and he nods. "It actual sounds like a good idea." Rachel admits and from the looks of things, so did Cassie, Tobias in his human morph, and Ax. He notices Jake sigh and asks, "Ok, we'll try this out. So, who's to train who?"
"I think Kit and Danielle would be a good pair, they'll balance each other out." He says thoughtfully, knowing that it's true. Kit's more out going then Danielle and being paired with Rachel would also help boost Danielle's confidence. Rachel asks, "Which one is she again?" "The dark brown haired one." Tobias says. "Kit's the one with soft brown hair." He says.
"And which of the two boys are who?" Marco asks and Jake answers, "Blue's the black haired one while Nathanial is the red head." "Ok, so if I'm with Danielle, does that mean Kit's with Cassie?" Rachel asks. "Well, does anyone want to mentor in particular want to mentor Kit?" Jake asks and Tobais says, "I can give it a go." He shrugs, though he's kind of surprised that Tobias would volunteer for mentoring someone.
"Ok, so that leaves Blue and Nath, so who wants to train Blue?" He asks, looking around. "He's also the one that's a vegetarian, right?" Marco asks and Rachel sighs as he nods in agreement. "So why not pair him up with our own vegetarian, I'm sure Ax-man's up to it." Marco says, he glances at Ax who's currently stuffing his face with what appears to be crackers. "Mmmm?" Ax asks with his mouthful.
"Do you want to mentor either Nath or Blue?" Jake asks and Ax looks thoughtful for a few seconds, once Ax swallows what's in his mouth, Ax answers, "If you wish me to, I will, Prince Jake." "Stop calling me Prince." Jake says automatically while Ax replies, "Yes Prince Jake." He chuckles silently; he never gets tired of that. "Ok, Ax can mentor Blue and I'll mentor Nath. Any objections?" Jake asks and there wasn't any.
"Good, then let's bring them into the barn. You do have the morphing cube with you, right?" Jake asks and he nods, he pats his backpack. "Though I think I have a bit of a pest problem. Some tiny buggers keep trying to get into my apartment building, but I managed to seal them up in their ship so they can't get out of it. I sent them packing about the time you guys were heading north. Kind of weird, they keep calling me their slave and that they were the masters of the universe." He says thoughtfully. "What did they want?" Cassie asks, clearly concerned about their treatment. "They kept rambling on and on about some kind of power source, I really got tired of it about five times they followed me to work. It's kind of odd, I think they could tell the difference between me and my clones since they never did fall for that trick." He adds.
"So long as you didn't kill them." Cassie says. He shrugs at that, still not really overly concerned about them. He really didn't think they'll ever be that much of a problem since they can't get out of their ship for any reason at all.
Soon Blue, Danielle, Kit, and Nath were brought into the barn, each was nervous, but seem to be standing firm despite it. Ax puts down the bag and morphs back into his birth form. He takes out the morphing cube and hands it to Ax. Without being told, they gathered around Ax. –Put your hands on a side of the box.- Ax tells them.
He feels as once more the energy from within the box builds and then spreads into their bodies, merging with their chakra. Once Ax's done with the cube, he puts the box back into his backpack. "So, what now?" Kit asks. "Now you get to acquire this." Cassie says, holding up a cage with a crow in it. "Cool." Nath says, clearly impatient to fly about in the sky. He notices that Tobias just seems to sigh in defeat, he smiles at bit, glad that he now has others to 'flock' with.
To be continued …