Toni

It took us a whole month to even get it right. A whole month. And not to mention trying to fit clothes into the shift. Do you know how hard that is?

Well, I guess you couldn't.

What was freaky was that Phoebe gave us clothes… leotards for the girls, tight shirts and bike shorts for the guys… that actually fit us. And I mean fit. Like, snugly. Like, not to loose, not too tight or anything like that. It was… well, creepy. Not to mention the colours of the leotards. Nicole got a light blue, Michelle and I got black, and Megan got a pinkish red colour. It was… well… creepy. The guys all got grey or white shirts, with black shorts. Too bad for them.

Now where was I? Oh yes, fitting our stupid clothes into our stupid shape shifts. Or morphs.

For the three weeks, we were in separate groups, the girls and the guys. The guys went back to the underground home, with Kay's 'protection'. After all, he was still an Andalite, and Andalites in their natural state are deadly. Us girls… well, we got to stay on the ship. We got a special room for all of us, where we both slept and trained. It was a little awkward, but I got used to it after a while.

Now, watching your body twist and bend and reshape is mind boggling enough, but having to do it with the clothes? Now, that was a feat in itself. And the focus shape-shifting took was enormous. Once I ended up part rock wall, part elephant. Bad mix, I can assure you. I was kind of felt jealous of Cody and Nicole. I mean, all they had to do was go to that computer, touch the little hand panel, and tell Kay or the computer what type of DNA they wanted. Nicole had already gotten so many…

Shape-shifting, how can I describe it? Well, it's kind of like a melting, and reshaping of your body parts. A little icy when you're first doing it too. And you have to keep a clear image in your mind of what you want to become, which is hard when you're just looking at the animal on a computer screen and stuff. Megan once ended up making herself into an actual computer. Man was she spooked after that.

By the third week, we managed to get the forms right, adding the clothes into it. We had to keep that image in our mind, as well as force our clothing into changing with us. It was hard at first, but we got used to it. And our change became smoother.

The fourth week, Phoebe decided to bring us all together to see how far each of us could go. We met out in the open, where I'd learnt the crew of the Karma ship had managed to clear away the rubble, and hopefully get rid of the remains of what used to be the Chanaiben population here.

First up, we watched Cody and Nicole.

Cody morphed into a massive silverback gorilla, making all of us step back from him. After Phoebe assured us gorillas were tame and gentle (unless provoked) I laughed at Cody a little.

(What?) He asked, using thought-speak.

"Well, it kind of suits you. After all, you were already a big ape to start with" I heard the others trying to hold back a giggle, and Cody came towards me.

(Gee, you really know how to insult a guy, don't you?) He stuck his big face inches from mine. I hardly flinched.

"You're welcome" I said, and he grunted in gorilla, then walked back to the boys, demorphing as he went. We'd formed a strange sort of line up on each side; boys and girls. Phoebe now stepped in the centre.

"Good Cody. Very good"

Next, Nicole. She became a cheetah. Liquid grace. I'd seen her do this before, but never with so much grace. So much… skill. The way she managed to make each set of spots appear on at just the right time. It was amazing. Even more when she reversed it. She kept the streaks of black under her eyes until the last minute, and as she did she blinked and her eyes turned from golden to brown. From the other side of us, I could tell the boys were seriously impressed. Especially you-know-who.

Then, it was like a boy-girl thing. First the boy would get his chance to impress us, then we'd, in return, impress them. Next up, came Seth. Of course, Seth had no problems. He became a wolf.

"Is it just me, or is this kind of showing off our 'battle morphs' and stuff?" Michelle whispered to me. I shrugged.

"Don't know. Maybe"

Then, Michelle shape-shifted. The first time the guys had seen us shift. First, her head split open, and I heard as Alex bit back a gasp. But then that became horns, and her ears migrated and her nose stretched out, muscles bulked up on her arms and legs. Her knees reversed direction, and she fell on all-fours, turning all brown. Her fingers and toes disappeared, to be replaced by hooves. Finally, a little tail sprouted, and she was fully bull. Heh heh, no bull about it.

She shifted back, and I knew the guys were seriously impressed. Then… then Sean stepped in the middle. He became a lion, shifting much faster than Michelle had done it.

"Oh thanks Sean. Way to upstage me" she muttered, folding her arms across her chest and flicking her now slightly longer hair back with a flick of her head. We all laughed. Sean changed back, went and muttered something in her ear, and she started to smile again. Then, it was my turn.

I held the image of the animal I was going to become clear in my mind. I shifted my head and my nose and my ears and that first, working my way down. I began to bulk up, and brown shaggy fur erupted all over. Thankfully, I felt my black leotard shifting with me, and I went faster. I fell onto all fours to complete my shift. When I opened my eyes, I caught the others staring at me funny.

"Toni? Wow, that was good"

"You've still got your own eyes" Seth pointed out.

(Well duh. Grizzly bears are like, so blind. I thought I might as well keep my own eyes so I could actually see something)

"Change them slightly. If you go into the line of fire like that, someone might poke your eye out and you'll be damaged for life" Phoebe interrupted.

(To… what?!)

"Change them to a polar bears"

So, I did what she said, and saw the world just as good as I did when I was human. Funny about that. Stuff it. If I had to do this every time, I might as well just go elephant next time. They were definitely some fun.

I shifted back, and let Alex take the 'spotlight'. He shifted easily to a white tiger. His mothers favourite form. My thoughts momentarily trailed over to my father, fighting in space…

Finally, it was Megan's turn. But before she could start her shift, Michelle and Nicole stopped her.

"Show them what you showed us the other day" Nicole said excitedly, then turned to Phoebe and the boys "She can do this soo good"

We watched as she turned her back to the boys, her head turned sideways and her eyes closed. She put her arms out, and I could see she was concentrating. Then, she sprouted giant white butterfly wings. In perfect scale to her human body.

"Wow" Elfangor muttered, and the others seemed mesmerised as well. Then, she lost the wings, just before she shifted to polar bear. Like Nicole, she seemed to have a way of making the change absolutely beautiful.

(Another estreen!) Kay said, seemingly amazed. Aerionna nodded at him, smiling a little. Megan quickly reversed it.

"This group has some definite potential" Phoebe mused, looking at all of us.

"Hang on a sec, what about Elfangor?" I asked.

"Don't forget Aerionna" Seth added.

"Well… Aerionna's true form speaks for itself. So does Elfangor's, but…" Phoebe turned to him, and he nodded. Seconds later, a crocodile stood where he had been. Then, he reversed it.

"And Aerionna?" Seth pressed.

"Look, Andalites are darn mean just the way they are" Nicole said, looking over at her, she smiled at Nicole with her Andalite eyes.

"Well, all righty then, let's get…" Phoebe began to say, but then she stumbled. Michelle and I barely caught her as she fell. I think she might have passed out for a few seconds, and the moment she regained consciousness, her facial expression changed. We helped her up, and she stood there, looking like she'd swallowed something that wasn't agreeing with her. She looked up at me (since I was a little taller than her) and then to Michelle. Then her eyes scanned the rest of the group. Her face was pale.

"I have to ask you this now, and I expect a direct answer from all of you; are you ready to go headfirst into war?"

One by one, we answered her. We were. Even Megan. Phoebe nodded, still pale-faced.

"Good. Because in no more than two days, you'll have to fight the Yeerks"