Animorphs: The Second Coming

#8 New Findings

By: Forlay

Chapter One

My name is Abata-Aximili-Elfangor. Yes, it is considered odd for an Andalite name. I am the third child of Noorlin-Sirinal-Cooras and Forlay-Esgarouth-Maheen. Yes, third child. My eldest brother, one I've never met, Elfangor-Sirinal-Shamtul, was killed by the first Abomination. He has since been killed by my second eldest brother, Aximili-Esgarouth-Isthill. My parents were allowed to have a third child because it was believe Aximili had also been lost to the Yeerks. But shortly after I was born, Aximili returned home safely, and with five curious aliens, humans.
 These humans have since grown up, and have families of their own. I've befriended their children. The twins Catara-Fitalia-Goroara and Tom, and Ritora-Fuloa-Maheen and Jordan. I fight alongside these four alien youths against the Yeerks who are now pressing an invasion against the Andalite homeworld.
 Ritora is the leader of our resistance. I have taken her as my prince. Many humans seem to think it odd that she'd be refered to by a masculine title, as a human who is visiting with Prince Ritora and Jordan, Lindsey, pointed out. But, in the Andalite military, even the few females who've been permitted to join the military are called princes.
 I was "hanging out" with these four one day at Prince Ritora's house. For Andalites reading this, a house is a box-like structure that humans live in. They prefer to be in enclosed spaces, rather than in the open. It was what they considered a beautiful day, so we were outside.
 There was no mission against the Yeerks planned, as far as I knew, but we often got together. I am one of their few friends here, and they some of my few friends. Many Andalites my age at school distance themselves from me, thinking I may believe myself to be better than them due to my high ranking kin. This is untrue.
 "Hey, Abata?" Prince Ritora asked, interupting an argument between Tom and Jordan.
 < Yes, Prince Ritora? >
 "First: Stop calling me Prince. Second: I need you to look at a map for me. I'll get it a sec."
 < Yes, Prince Ritora. >
 She sighed and ran into her house. Tom and Jordan resumed their argument, Catara sighed and watched them, shaking her head. A moment later, Prince Ritora returned with a small electronic map. She handed it to me. "What's this?" She pointed to an area that was blacked out.
 < That is the "Untouched Wilds", > I said simply.
 "And they'd be untouched...why?" she pressed.
 < It's difficult to explain, > I said, uncomfortable with the subject.
 "Well you'd better find a way to explain it," she said. "We've got Yeerks activity there."
 "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tom said. "I thought you said earlier that we weren't dealing with the Yeerks today! Don't tell me I just wasted a perfectly good argument with the Kid!" Tom often calls Jordan "Kid", or "Xena: Warrior Princess". I understand the kid reference, Jordan is the youngest in the group by two or three years, but I'm still confused by the Xena term.
 "I said, 'I'm not sure if the Yeerks are doing anything,' " Prince Ritora clarified for Tom. "Not that we weren't dealing with them."
 I lowered my stalk eyes, not wanting to look at anyone during my explanation. < The Untouched Wilds are the only unexplored area of the Andalite homeworld. It is said 'monsters' live there. Any Andalite who goes in there, does not come out. >
 "The Bermuda Triangle," Jordan said softly.
 "What?" Tom asked.
 "The Bermuda Triangle. Superstitious people back on Earth used to believe an area of the Caribbean ocean, between the island of Bermuda, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the city of Miami, Florida where people, air planes and ships disapeared in, never to be seen again," she explained. She smirked at Tom, "Not all of us fall asleep during history."
 "I didn't think Andalites were superstitious," Cassie said.
 < Normally, we are not. But it's said the giant beasts, beasts who's names have been forgotten, who suposedly reside there, are Andalite Eaters. No one is willing to risk their lives against them, even if they are just children's stories. >
 "Which would explain why Yeerks would be setting up camp in there," Ritora said. "They know no Andalite is going to risk their necks going in there. Unfortunatly, we're going to have to, monsters and all."

Chapter Two

We would be leaving that day. While Prince Ritora, Jordan, Catara and Tom packed food and clothes needed by them, I contacted my parents, telling them I would be away for anytime between a day and half a week. I did not tell them where I was going. They are smart Andalites, and not superstitious, but all Andalites, despite any bravado, have a great ammount of respect for the Untouched Wilds.
 "Okay, I hate to say this, but I think we're gonna have to go kafit to carry these packs with us," Prince Ritora said once we had all gathered in her front yard. My human friends don't like morphing the kafit bird, they find it too cocky for their liking. They much prefer their Earth bird of prey morphs.
 I began to concentrate on the morph. My blue fur turned a shocking red. My hind legs began to shrink at an amazing speed, I almost fell over. My fore legs and arms shortened and thickened into two of the twelve wings.
 The front of my face split apart and began pushing out to form the large, hooked, tearing beak. My stalk eyes dimmed and abruptly went black. My main eyes shrunk and slid to the sides of my head. My vision sharpened untill I could see the individual insects crawling among the grass and agbs scurrying about in the woods nearly 200 yards away.
 Quite suddenly, I felt the kafit's conciousness appear next to my own. I fought down it's instincts to attack the other kafit birds--my friends--and to keep from flying to the forest to eat.
 < Everyone alright? > Prince Ritora asked. We all answered yes. < Cool. Pick up your packs, and off we go! >
They each grabbed the plain black bags they had packed, then we all flapped our wings and took off for the open sky.
 The flying was easy to the mountains. The afternoon sun warmed the ground so we had excellent thermals. There are fewer bodies of water on my world than on Earth, so we didn't have to worry about the air growing slack. We demorphed once in an empty area of grasslands. Prince Ritora, Jordan, Catara and Tom quickly opened their packs and ate "sandwiches", a piece of meat placed between two pieces of bread. I found it rather repulsive to watch, so I ran throught the grassland to graze. Approximately 12 minutes later, we were ready to remorph and finish our flight to the mountains.
 We found a shallow cave in the foothills and demorphed. I stepped out into the open and looked around, < All clear, > I reported.
 "Cool," Prince Ritora said. "Empty out what you can from your bags now, we've got quite a hike ahead of us." I waited for the others to remove a few objects from their bags, then picked them back up and walked to the mouth of the cave.
 "Let's do it!" Jordan said cheerfully.

Chapter Three

The hiking through the foothills was rough. I am constantly amazed at what my friends can do on their two legs, and climbing through the hills was no exception. In fact, when we reached the actual mountains, they seemed to have an advantage over me, as they could easily lean over and use their strong hands to grab at hand holds, and they could use the delicate toes on the end of their feet to help hold them in place, while I only had hooves.
 < We must be careful here, > I warned once we started getting into the rocky mountain area.
 "Why?" Catara asked.
 < This...this is beast territory. They are said to have exceptional hearing and sense of smell, and are nearly 20 feet tall and twice as long. If they are real, we would not have much of a chance against them. >
 "Ritora, do you even have an idea of where the Yeerks are setting up camp?" Tom asked.
 Prince Ritora looked up and put her hand over her eyes to block the sun. "Up there," she said, pointing with her free hand towards the cloud covered peaks of the mountains. "Way up at the top."
 "Great, just great," Tom said, sitting down. "Not only do we need to hike to the top of mountains that no Andalite in recorded history has scaled successfully, we have to do while on the look out for monsters!"
 "Oh, come on, you big baby. I'll protect if the big bad boogey monsters come out and scare you," Jordan teased.
 "Fine, Jordan, you walk out front and lure the monsters to you."
 "Shut up, both of you," Catara said in a harsher voice than I'm accustomed to her using. "Nobody's going to lure these monsters to them." She turned to me, "Abata, I know you only know children's stories of these things, but if we're going into their alleged territory, we need to know all that there is to know on these things."
 "Goody, story time," Tom said.
 They all sat down on rocks to rest while I tried to remember the stories my mother had told me as a child.
 < There are different stories of their size and physical features. What I know is true is that they are very large, yet very fast, and have amazing natural weapons. It was to protect ourselves from them that we Andalites evolved the way we have. Talk eyes so we could watch in all directions for them, grazing through hooves instead of mouths so we wouldn't have to lower our heads, great speed to attempt to outrun them, and our tail blades, our natural weapons against them. What we used to fight them before we began to build cities and weapons.
 < Once Andalites became sentient beings and began to build cities, the monsters were driven from their habitats and into the Untouched Wilds. At one time, Andalites tried to spread cities into the region, but the monsters defended it fiercly. They were not willing to become extinct easily. They have not been seen for hundreds of years. As I said, Andalites have strayed in here occasionally, but they are not seen again. It's not known if it's because of the beasts, or something else dwells here the kills them. >
 They were silent for a moment, then Jordan spoke. "Well. That sure lightened my mood. Let's keep moving."
 "Even for you, Kid, that's sick. These things eat Andalites, tail blades and all, do you think you could take one of them in your natural form?" Tom asked in apparent disgust.
 Jordan shrugged, "I'm just not going to dwell on that image. I just want to hurry up and get this mission over with."
 "Jordan's right," Prince Ritora agreed. "I don't want to spend any more time here than necesary. Let's move."

Chapter Four

We fell into a line as we hiked: Prince Ritora, followed by Jordan, myself, Catara and Tom complaining in the rear. The mountains were baren rocks, with only a few bushes scattered around. Every once in awhile, we saw caves, but we stayed away from them. It was possible the beasts lived in those caves, and we were here to fight the Yeerks, not wild animals.
 At sundown, we were maybe a third of the way up the mountain, not bad for an afternoon's climb. It was sure to be getting cold in the mountain air, especially out in the open, so we risked going into a cave.
 Prince Ritora morphed her chatma morph, despite our protests. Jordan did not want to loose a sister, Catara didn't want to loose her friend, and I thought it was not a Prince's job to look for danger, but she wouldn't listen.
 "My chatma's the best for that job. If I smell anything, I can run out of there faster than any of your morphs, and along with that, I have the saber teeth and tail spikes. I'll be fine," she argued.
 She morphed the chatma quickly and stealthily slinked into the cave. 
 We all waited in nervous anticipation for Ritora to return. < Okay, all clear! > she called.
 One by one, we walked into the dark cave and met Prince Ritora, already demorphed, a few yards in. She was waiting in front of a pile of sticks, "Who brought the lighter?"
 Tom reached in his bag, "Here ya' go," he tossed a small object to Prince Ritora. She leaned forward, clicked something, and started the sticks on fire.
 Prince Ritora, Jordan, Catara and Tom took 'sleeping bags' out of their backpacks and arranged them around the fire.
 "I'm beat," Jordan yawned. "Good night."
 "Good night," everyone replied. One by one, I listened to their breathing deepen and gradually fall asleep.
 Sleep was not so easy for me. Andalites had developed an instinct to watch out for the very animals who's territory we were in. This time, though, the lack of sleep was a blessing.
 I heard a twig snap outside the cave and a deep growl.
 < What was that? > I asked no one.
 Quietly, so as not to disturb my sleeping friends, I walked to the mouth of the cave. Waiting there was a group of five animals, about the size of Tom's vuri morph, or the size of an Earth wolf. They had dark tan and gray mottled hide, with no fur that I could see.
 They had short, blunt snouts, but when they pulled back their lips, they reveled two rows of dagger-like teeth.
 < The--the monsters! >I managed to gasp. Slowly, I turned around and ran back into the cave, I hoped they didn't follow me.
 < Prince Ritora! Jordan, Catara, Tom! >
 "It's just Ritora, Abata, what is it?" Prince Ritora asked groggily.
 < The monsters! There's a pack of them just outside the cave! >
 Jordan sat up quickly. "How big are they? As big as the stories say?"
 I loooked down with my main eyes, but kept my stalk eyes looking behind me. < They are aproximately the size of Tom's vuri. >
 "Well, no problem then," Tom said. "I'll go out there and show them who's boss."
 < They are apparently a pack animal. There are five of them out there, you would not be able to take them alone. >
 "All of us together could, easy," Jordan said eagerly.
 "They're just animals," Catara said. "We're in their territory, they're just protecting it. We should just morph to defend ourselves and get out of here."
 Prince Ritora nodded, "Catara's right. Morph power morph so we can get out of here, but defend ourselves if necesary."
 I waited for my friends to morph. Hopefully, I'd be deadly enough in my own body to hold off these animals.
 Green mottled fur spread over Ritora and Tom. Jordan's shoulders tripled in size and she began to turn bright orange. Catara was turning blue, her skin turning to pebble reptile skin.
 Once they were finished, we boldly walked out of the cave where the animals were still waiting.
 The one that seemed to be the leader looked us up and down, taking special interest in me. I must have smelt like prey to them, but my friends were animals that could very possibly take his pack out. He growled and bared his teeth again, but left, with the rest of the pack following.
 < Well, I guess we're the meanest animals in the wilds, huh? > Tom joked, begining to demorph. I, however, was shaking. This had not been a good day for me.
 Ritora said while demorphing, < Let's keep moving. The sooner we reach the top, the sooner we're out of here. >
 I waited at the mouth of the cave for them to gather their things and put out the fire completely. Once that was done, we fell back into line.
 "You alright, Abata?" Catara asked me quietly. We were in the rear of the line, and with the sound of the wind rushing through the rocks and various animal sounds, her talking couldn't be heard.
 
 "Alright, but if you want to talk, just tell me."
 Catara is often able to tell what others in the group are feeling. Her senses are keen, I hadn't been aware I was letting it so well known how I was feeling. This area was making me nervous, and our encounter with the animals hadn't eased my fears.

Chapter Five

"Ritora, we've been climbing for nearly five hours straight, we need a break!" Tom complained.
 "Be quiet you big baby," Jordan told him.
 "Why don't you," Tom shouted from ahead of her. "I heard you complaining earlier."
 "Yeah, from having to walk behind you!"
 "Quiet! Both of you!" Ritora shouted from the front of the line. "We're gonna climb untill we reach that ledge up there," she pointed to a smooth outcropping of rocks perhaps one hundred feet ahead of us.
 Tom moaned, but Jordan kept walking, putting her hands firmly on his back and pushed him forward. "C'mon, it's not that much farther."
 Tom complained, but in five minutes, we were at the ledge. Tom greatfully sat down right away, the others did, too, but didn't make their relief so obvious.
 "How far up do you think we are?" Catara asked.
 I raised my stalk eyes up towards the top of the mountain and did the equation in my head, 
 "That's what you call 'approximate'?" Tom asked.
 "C'mon, let's keep going," Jordan urged. "I'm fine, I'm rested, and I want to get this over with!"
 "Jordan, I hate to say it, but I'm siding with Tom on this one," Catara said. "I'm beat. It's nearly 8:30, I'm gonna have breakfast." She reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of fruit, the others did also.
 "Okay, breakfast's over, it's nearly nine, I have things to do back home, can we get on with this mission?" Jordan demanded.
 "What do you have to do at home?" Prince Ritora asked. "Watch something on MTV? VH1?"
 Jordan glared at her sister, "For your information...you're right. But I'm also not too keen on sitting out in the open when those animals could pounce on us any second."
 < They are probably nocturnal, > I said. < We saw no sign of them before early this morning, and haven't seen any sign of them since. >
 "Maybe you're right, but I don't really want to take any chances."
 "Fine, Jordan, we'll keep moving," Ritora relented. "Honestly, you're worse than Tom sometimes."
 "I resent that!" Tom called.
 Catara sighed, pulled herself up, then helped up Tom, "Can't you please not complain for...I don't know, five minutes? Longer would be preferable, but at least that long to save my sanity?"
 "Cat, you live with me, you're bound to lose your sanity sometime," Tom said as we started hiking up the mountain again.
 "But I'd prefer to keep it as long as possible. And don't call me 'Cat'."
 We climbed for nearly half an hour in relative silence. The air was begining to get thinner, making breathing labored. Tom had complied to Catara's wishes and hadn't complained since we'd resumed our climb. Unfortunatly, the peace wasn't meant to last.
 "Yah!" Ritora shouted from the front of the line.
 < Prince Ritora! > I shouted as I scrambled to get to her.
 "Ritora!" the others cried, following.
 "I'm okay! Just fell down this hole," Ritora called.
 I looked down into the hole. It was nearly five feet deep, carved perfectly into the rock. < Who did this? > I asked myself.
 "Can you climb up?" Catara asked.
 "No, the walls are, like, sanded smooth."
 < This obviously isn't a natural hole, > I said.
 "But what could have made it?" Jordan asked.
 I looked around the area, trying to find some sign of what could have made this hole. I looked down, and saw in a patch of dirt, a large, clawed foot print. A Hork-Bajir foot print.
 < Yeerks. >

Chapter Six

"Excuse me? Yeerks? They've been reduced to digging holes in the ground?" Tom laughed.
 I said.
 "Great," Prince Ritora sighed. "Now, can somebody help me out of here before the Yeerks come back here to see the catch of the day?"
 "Here," Catara said, pulling a rope out of her bag. She threw one end down to Ritora, "Climb."
 Ritora quickly pulled herself up the rope, "Come on, let's keep moving, but quietly. We don't want to tip off the Yeerks that we're on to them."
 Another hour of silent climbing before we found the first signs of a Yeerk base: hunter robots.
 < Those robots are most likely programed to shoot down animals, we should be fine as long as we stay in our normal bodies. >
 "They're also probably programed to shoot down Andalites, Abata," Catara said softly.
 "Did you acquire a human morph while on Earth?" Ritora asked.
 < No, Prince Ritora, > I answered. 
 "Well, that helps alot."
 "Why doesn't he do one of those Frolis Manuver things and combine our DNA to make a human morph for himself?" Jordan suggested.
 < That does seem to be the only way I could get in. >
 "Alright, go ahead," Ritora said.
 One by one, I acquired the DNA of my friends, then concentrated on mixing them together to make a new body, and finally morphing it.
 My front legs began to shrivel up and be sucked into my body, as did my tail. My stalk eyes went blind and I felt them being sucked into my skull.
 My blue fur turned to a dark tan or olive color. My arms strengthened, and two of my fingers melted away, leaving me with 5 fingers on each hand, instead of my usual 7.
 "Um, Ritora? Jordan? We better turn around," Catara suggested. All three of them did so.
 I continued changing. I felt a gash appear in my face, and felt it fill with hard teeth. A nose pushed out from my face.
 I curently was bent over at my waist, keeping myself from falling with my ahnds, while I still had Andalite legs. Finally, those began to morph into strong human legs.
 "Here, Abata, let me help you up," Tom offered. He took hold of my arms and helped me balance on two legs.
 He reached in his bag and pulled out a pair of pants and a shirt. "Put these on."
 "Why? Hy? Wuh-Hy?"
 "Oh, no. Don't start that," he said. "Just trust me when I say you need these." He thrust the clothing into my arms.
 I struggled to pull on the pants, but was unable to do so without falling. "Hold on a sec, Abata. I'll help you with those," Tom volunteered. In a few minutes, the pants and shirt were on properly.
 "It's safe for you to look again," Tom told the girls.
 Catara, Jordan and Ritora turned around. Jordan gasped. "Man, that's freaky! A heck of alot more freaky than Ax!"
 "He's got our hair," Catara said, looking at Ritora.
 Prince Ritora seemed to shudder, "Jordan's right, he does look pretty...odd. C'mon, Abata, we gotta keep moving." She turned and began walking again. I started to follow, but after a few steps, I found myself on my stomache.
 Catara heard me fall and turned around. She walked back and helped pick me up, "Just take it nice and easy, Abata. One step at a time."
 With Catara's help I was able to keep pace with the rest of the group. Before long, we reached the area where the hunter robot's sensors would pick us up if it were to shoot us. Nothing happened.
 "Yes!" Jordan hissed quietly. "They aren't expecting humans to be a danger!"
 "Don't start celebrating yet, Jordan" Prince Ritora cautioned. "Those robots may be too stupid to realize we're a threat, but any guard is going to recognize right away that we aren't controllers.
 "Once, on-ss, we are out of the robot's range. Ange. G. we should be able to morph and take out any guard. Orph. Ph. Out. tuh."
 "How far away will we have to get?"
 "Judging from their size. Ize. Zzzz. Interesting sound. Zzzzz."
 "Get on with it, Abata," Tom said.
 "Sorry. Orry. Judging from their size, these robots would have a range of 15 feet. Eet. Of course, if they were Andalite technology, they'd have a range twice that. Dalite. Lite. Ite. Nology. Gyyy."
 "Okay, we keep near the rocks, hopefully out of sight, untill we reach that tree up there," she pointed to a small, nearly dead tree. "That should be about 15 feet, wouldn't you say so, Abata?"
 "Yes. Es. Yuh-essss," I replied.
 "Alright, move out!"
 Quietly, we shuffled behind the rocks untill we reached the small tree. The Yeerks relied on their hunter robots too much, there were no other guards.
 "Battle morphs everyone," Prince Ritora instructed. While the others started immidiatly to morph their variety of animals, I demorphed to my normal body. There are few things deadlier than an Andalite.
 Unfortunatly, one of those few things chose that moment to sneak up behind us.

Chapter Seven

< Um, Prince Ritora? >
 < What is it, Abata? > she asked, already mostly chatma.
 Tom looked behind him, in my direction. < Ritora, look behind you. We have company. >
 She turned to look behind her, as had Catara and Jordan. < As if we didn't have enough to deal with, > Ritora said. < Okay, Abata? These things seem to like you, so move ahead of the rest of us. The rest of you, keep going forward untill you reach guards or the base itself. I'll follow, but being sure to keep this thing at bay. >
 < Prince Ritora-- >
 < Abata, this thing is more likely to eat you than for you to beat it, just go! >
 Reluctantly, I followed her orders. I couldn't disobey what she said, but she was putting herself at a great risk for me. I hoped she would make it through alright.
 < Whoa, hold back everybody, > Jordan, who was walking slightly in front of me said. 
 < They're all nasty looking, Kid, > Tom pointed out.
 < These aren't your usual dracon beams, Tom, go ahead and look. >
 I pointed a stalk eye over one of the rocks and saw the Hork-Bajir Jordan was talking about. Their dracon beams were different than their usual hand held ones. These were longer and larger, obviously not meant to just be quickly drawn and shot with one hand.
 < They're like canons, > Tom said. < Like over-the-shoulder dracon canons. >
 Catara said. < There's no way anything could survive being shot at with one of those things. >
 < Yeah, well, I think we're going to have to. >
 < Prince Ritora! > I said, turning around to see her.
 < Yep, it's me. Our friend back there decided he wasn't going to even try and beat me up by himself. I saw one of those Hork-Bajir a ways back using those animals for target practice. >
 < Why?! > Catara demanded. < Sure, they've tried to eat us on more than one occasion, but that's no reason to destroy the creatures! >
 < The Yeerks do not care about the animals, > I said. < They probably suspected it of being one of us in morph. >
 < Let me at those creeps. I'll show them-- >
 < Catara! Chill! > Ritora interupted. < We'll have a chance. But we can't just go rush the place and destroy whatever they're doing up there. >
 < Then what is the plan, oh Fearless Leader? > Tom joked.
 < Two people can go distract those Hork-Bajir up there, draw their fire, whatever, just keep them away the main group. The rest are going to try and find a main building and find out just what the Yeerks are planning up here. Now, who's going to volunteer to be a distraction? >
 Jordan said immediatly. A moment of silence, nobody else was as eager as her.
 I volunteered.
 < It's just Ritora, Abata, and we'll need you inside in case we find any computer stuff that needs to be hacked into. > She waited expectantly for somebody else to volunteer to be part of the distraction. < Alright, I guess Jordan and I are the distraction team. We'll catch up to you once we've finished with them. See you in a few. > She and Jordan ran off to distract the Hork-Bajir.
 Catara, Tom and I were frozen as we watched Ritora and Jordan start leading the Hork-Bajir in the opposite direction of which we were going to be headed. As the Hork-Bajir, or, more precisely, the Yeerks in their heads, realized that Jordan and Ritora weren't normal animals, they lifted their dracon beams to their shoulders and began firing.
 < You guys still there? > Ritora demanded after a minute. < Get going! We can't hold them off forever! >
 < Come on, > Catara said. < This way. >
 Quietly, she led the way behind the Hork-Bajir, Tom following right behind, myself in the back, keeping one eye in each direction.
 < What is that? > Catara said suddenly.
 < What? > Tom and I asked in unison.
 < That, > she indicated a large, gray stone building, perfectly camoflagued in the mountains.
 < It appears to be their base. Whatever we are looking for, we'll find in there, > I said.
 Jordan ran up to us, < Whatever we're gonna do, let's do it fast! Ritora and I managed to get those two Hork-Bajir...thoroughly distracted, but there's sure to be reinforcements. They know we're here, so we need to get in an out now! >
 < Jordan's right, > Ritora said. < Come on, let's find out what's going out in that building! > She sprinted ahead of us towards the building, we quickly followed.
 < Argh! It's locked! > Ritora complained once we reached a door.
 < Allow me, > Jordan said. She walked up to the door, drew back her powerful arm and punched straight through the steel door.
 < Remind me not to get you mad, Jordan, > Tom said as he ran through the opening she made.
 Once inside, we found ourselves face to face with the most vile sight I've ever seen.
 An Andalite Controller.

Chapter Eight

< Well, well, well. It seems that the Andalite bandits that plagued Earth have decided to turn their vengence on me, how quaint, > The controller said. < Allow me to introduce myself, I don't believe we've met. I'm Visser One, the only Andalite Controller since that incompetent fool Visser Two was destroyed in the battle for Earth. A battle which we would have won, if it weren't for you. >
 I said. < And I wouldn't count on winning this planet either. >
 < Nobody talk to him, except Abata, > Prince Ritora ordered in closed thought speak, excluding the Visser.
< We can't let them know we're human. >
 < Such brave talk for such a small Andalite, > the Visser mocked. To his troops of Hork-Bajir he said, < Put your dracon beams on the lowest setting, I don't want these Andalites killed, just stunned. I'll feed you to the Taxxons if these bodies are harmed. > The Hork-Bajir adjusted the settings on their dracon beams quickly, then leveled them at us again.
 < Now, you may be right, I may not be able to take this planet...as long as you five are here. However, if you were taken as hosts...well, there wouldn't be anyone to stop me, would there? >
 < Ritora, what are we going to do? > Jordan demanded.
 < Retreat, > Ritora replied.
 < What?! No way. I'm not retreating, > Jordan said.
 < You think I want to retreat? No, I don't. But we aren't getting out of here through them. Abata, are there any Yeerks coming up behind us to block our exit? >
 I turned a stalk eye to look behind me at the door we had just come through. < Unfortunatly, Prince Ritora, there are. We won't be able to get out that way. >
 < Well, they've just got those dracon beams set for stun, right? We charge them, those of us with the largest morphs out front so we'll hopefully be affected less, we go through, destroy whatever we can in here, and get out of here as fast as we can. >
 < Much better, > Jordan approved.
 < Even for you, Kid, that's sick, > Tom said. < We're going to be charging an army of Hork-Bajir, hoping that we won't get hit by them? >
 < Tom, it's the only way we're going to get out of here alive, > Catara said.
 < Alright, let's do it! > Jordan shouted.
 < Now, I'm not an unjust, Yeerk. I'm willing to give you five a chance, > Visser One said. < You can demorph now and come with me quietly, or I can take you by force. Your choice. >
 < Let's go! Move! > Prince Ritora shouted.
 We charged the Visser and his troops. Jordan and Catara, they had the largest and toughest morphs, out front the rest of us covering the rear. The Visser hadn't expected a move like that, and his troops weren't going to fire without being ordered to.
 As we made it through the first line of Hork-Bajir, Visser One finally realized that they weren't shooting at us.
< Shoot at them, you idiots! Fire! Fire! Fire! Keep them from getting to the computer room! >
 < Abata! Any idea where we should look for that computer room? The Visser obviously doesn't want us to go there, so let's find it! > Ritora said as we ran.
 
 < The center of the building! > Tom shouted. < Just like at that place on Earth. They put their sensitive information at the very top of the building to be safe, same idea would go for here, except there's only one story, so it should be in the middle! >
 < But which way is that? > Jordan asked. < This place is a maze! >
 As we were running past an open door something caught my eye. I stopped and went back.
 < Abata! What are you doing?! > Tom demanded.
 < Hah! These Yeerks have alot to learn about security, I think this is it! > I shouted.
 The others sprinted back to me, < Whoa, I think you're right, > Jordan said.
 We walked into the room, surprisingly without guards. Whoever had been working here had left in a hurry, for the computers were on and operating.
 < Abata! Find out what this facility is for, then find a way to destroy it! > Ritora said. < The rest of us will hold off the Visser's goons. >
 I walked up to one of the computer consoles. Apparently this computer used interfaces to received commands. I pressed one hand on the square.
 < Computer: What is the purpose of this facility? >
 "This facility is the main base for Yeerk control on the Andalite homeworld. Due to the briliant genius insight of our leader, Visser One, it was learned that Andalites have a terrible fear of the area known as the Untouched Wilds.
 "Here, scientific expirimentation will take place, trying to find a way to make controllers of the animals native to this area. The animals, which the Andalites are too afraid of to name, will be modified to become the perfect fighting tools. If any Andalite doesn't run away at the sight of their ancient enemy, a pack of these can easily tear them to shreds. Of course, with a magnificent Yeerk in it's head, the animal shall only capture the Andalite and bring it to the nearest Yeerk pool for infestation."
 < Computer: Does this facility have a self destruct command? >
 "Yes."
 < Implement it. >
 "I'm sorry, you must give the command codes of our brilliant leader, Visser One, to give the self destruct command."
 I looked around, trying to figure out how I could 'hack' my way into this computer to give the command, when I saw one of the consoles didn't use interfaces, but rather a keyboard of sorts. I typed a few commands into the keyboard and quickly accessed the computer's main frame.
 < Abata! Hurry up in there! We can't hold these Hork-Bajir off much longer! > Ritora shouted.
 I hunted through the programs in the computer before finally finding the one for self destruct. I accessed it, no need for a command code. I built in a delay of three minutes to allow us to get out of here, but hopefully not too many of the Yeerks.
 "Self Destruct has been activated. Three minutes untill destruction."
 < We must leave! > I shouted as I ran out of the room.
 < Ya' think? > Tom asked sarcastically. < 'Cause, you know, I was considering staying here, fighting these Hork-Bajir, then getting blown to smithereens with them. But if you think leaving would be better, I'm all for it! > He managed to use the Hork-Bajir he'd been fighting as a spring board and jumped over the fight. The others were soon able to find a way through the Hork-Bajir and we all started running for the exit.
 "Two minutes, thirty seconds untill destruction."
 As we ran, we passed the Visser, running towards the computer room. < Better hurry and reverse that command, Visser, > I taunted. < Not much time. >
 < I'll get you, Andalites! You may have won this battle, but I shall win this war! >
 < Think he's old enough to have had a human for a host? > Tom asked, trying to joke. < That sounds like something Dad would say. >
 We continued running, meeting little opposition. Everyone in the facility was trying to either get to the computer room to reverse the self destruct command, or racing to get out of the building as fast as they could.
 Just as we reached the exit, the final warning came. "10 seconds untill destruction. Nine...Eight..."
 < Come on! > Ritora shouted. < We need to get away from here, now! >
 "Five...Four..."
 We kept running, hoping to clear the facility.
 "Three...Two..."
 < Hunter robots! The hunter robots! > Catara warned.
 "One...Zero."
 BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Chapter Nine

The shock wave threw us well past the range of the hunter robots, and kept us in the air for nearly five seconds.
 < Man, we've got to get that ride! > Jordan shouted once we'd been thrown to the ground.
 < Stop the ride, I wanna get off now, > Tom mumbled.
 "Come on, Tom, wake up, demorph," Catara said, already mostly human. She'd started to demorph as soon as she'd gotten to her feet. The others followed her example.
 "What now?" Tom asked once he'd demorphed.
 "We get out of here," Catara said. "Sooner or later, somebody who made it out of there is going to find us. I'd rather make that later than sooner."
 I said. < It's highly unlikely that we were the only ones to escape the facility, and I would be very surprised if Visser One didn't make it. >
 "Let's start walking then," Ritora said. "We don't have our packs anymore, so we need to get off this mountain in one day. We can morph birds later, but I think I speak for everyone when I say we need a rest before morphing again." We all agreed.
 "Alright, let's morph," Jordan suggested after an hour of walking. "I'm more tired from all this walking than I am from the rapid morphing."
 "Alright, but just in case there are Yeerks in the area, go kafit," Prince Ritora said. My human friends have two choices when it's time to morph bird. Either their Earth bird-of-prey morphs they acquired from their parents, or the kafit bird, a bird native to this world, but one my friends are uncomfortable with due to it's cockieness.
 I, however, have opted to keep just my kafit morph. I concentrated on the image of the bird. My fur melted together into feathers. My hind legs began to shrink and my hooves split apart into talons. My forelegs and arms shrank and formed four of the twelve kafit wings. My stalk eyes were sucked into my head, as my tail was sucked into my back. From my face, a large, sharp, piercing beak erupted.
 My main eyes shrank, but the vision became sharper. From my chest and stomach, eight more wings sprouted.
 The morph was finished, and beneath my own consciousness came the kafit's instincts. Kill or be killed. The kafit lived for two things: to eat and to fight. And right now, it was ready to fight. There were four other kafit birds, and all were in my territory.
 TSEEEEEER! TSEEEEEER!
 < Abata! Get ahold of yourself! > Prince Ritora commanded.
 I quickly forced the kafit minds into submissiveness. < I'm alright, Prince Ritora. >
 < You sure? > Catara asked.
 < Yes, I am fine. >
 Simultaniously, we flapped our wings and lifted ourselves into the sky.

Chapter Ten

< We did good on that one, > Jordan said as we were flying over a field. < We kicked butt on that one. >
 < No, we didn't 'kick butt' on that one, > Tom argued. < We barely got out with our lives! It would have been way to easy for us to end up blown up with that facility back there. >
 < Does it matter? > Catara asked. < Can't we just enjoy this awesome flying weather, and enjoy the fact that we're still alive? >
 < Yeah, > Jordan said with a sigh. < She who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. >
 < You hang out with your mother too much, > Tom told her. They all laughed. I, didn't however. For one, I don't understand human humor, for another, I'd had too many close calls for one mission. First the animals that used to be my species' greatest enemy, then meeting Visser One, an Andalite controller, and barely escaping the Yeerk facility with my life. Way too many close calls.
 But I decided at this moment to take Catara's advice. This really was a perfect day for flying.
 We made idle conversation for awhile before landing to demorph, rest and remorph. Once we were rested, I remorphed the kafit bird and started flying back to my family's scoop. The others morphed their Earth bird morphs and headed towards their own homes.

Chapter Eleven

When I reached my home scoop, I found not only my mother and father waiting, but my brother, Aximili. A pleasant surprise. Aximili often has to spend his time at the military base. As he's told me often, A Prince's work is never done. While living with humans on Earth, he picked up a sense of humor from them.
 < Aximili! > I shouted when I was demorphed and saw him.
 < Abata! > he shouted back, sounding surprised. < We were not expecting you back so soon. >
 < We were able to cut our return time nearly in half. And I have the most amazing story to tell you. > Together we walked out to the small area of woods that is in our family's grazing lands. When I was younger, Aximili would often take me here to 'hang out' when he was on leave. It's still a favorite place of mine to go when I am troubled.
 Out here, I told Aximili of the discovery of the animals thought to be extinct and now told in children's stories along with Ellimists.
 < This is quite an amazing discovery, Abata, > Aximili said. < You've done something the very bravest Andalites have been unable to do. When I return to the base, I shall inform the Electorate of your discovery. Surely you will be honored. Have you thought what these animals should be named? >
 < No, I haven't, > I admitted. < Do you think they would allow me to name them? >
 Aximili laughed gently, < These are your discovery, Abata, it is only natural for you to name them. Think about it for awhile. I have things to attend to back at the scoop, stay out here for awhile. > He galloped back towards the scoop.
 I paced restlessly, this wasn't an easy decision. I ran through my elementary knowledge of the 'ancient' Andalite language, a language we spoke when Andalite had not evolved to graze through their hooves and had mouths. It was something basic, tought in the equivelent of elementary school, but it was something I'd never enjoyed.
 As the sun began to set and two of the moons appeared faintly in the sky, I began walking home, still deep in though. Once there, I looked up various phrases and words in ancient Andalite in my old electronic textbooks. Finally a found the perfect name: Nesike. It was a combination of two words. Ne meaning Myth, sike meaning friend. In honor of their myth, and my friends who helped in this momentous discovery.

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