The Archaic

[capnnerefir]

Hi there. capnnerefir here, but you already knew that. I've got this story burning a hole in my head and I can't concentrate until I get it out of my brain. This one is a bit different from my usual ones. Here's the premis (which, by the way, I ended up with after reading a similar fic on fanfiction.net, so I guess the idea is a little stolen. Normally, I wouldn't post this, but I have to do something with it. Sorry): what if the Animorphs, instead of taking place in the 90s, happened in a medieval (I don't think that's spelled right) type world with magic, knights, and stuff like that? Here's what I think it might be like. Feedback is asked.

No one in particular's POV:
It was a very special day. The favorite day of the children of the kingdom. Of course, Prince Jake wasn’t a child, so he wasn’t very interested in it. But he had a duty, as Prince, to attend. This was the day that the traveling storyteller visited the kingdom and told tales to the children. The young royalty had to attend.
As usual, Jake’s jester, Marco, followed him. Marco wasn’t yet the official court jester, but he could well earn that title one day. His tale was a sad one, though. His father had been a brilliant inventor. But then, Marco’s mother had drowned one night at sea. His father was never the same. Marco hid the pain behind jokes, but he also made jokes for the simple fact that he thought they were funny.
Having him there made it a lot easier, since he made sarcastic comments during the entire telling. The stories themselves weren’t bad, really. But Prince Jake had heard them all before, every single year. And he was required to be there at the beginning of the first story and not leave until the final one was told.
The local children were gathered around the fire. The storyteller, an old man calling himself the Ellimist, stood before it, the flames casting odd shadows over him. It was late at night now. The time had come for his favorite tale...

You like? Unlike my other fics, I'll be doing this bit-by-bit. Next, I think it'll be Jake who we hear from.

[capnnerefir]

Good news: Here's the actual first part of the story. I realized that the prologue I gave wasn't enough to judge this story by.

Jake:
“Children,” the Ellimist called, “it is time for a scary story. It is a great tale. An epic of bravery, sacrifice, and foolishness. A story of magic, betrayal, and war.”
I saw my cousin, Princess Rachel, perk up at that. Rachel’s father was Jake’s father’s younger brother. As the younger, Daniel wouldn’t inherit the throne, so he had went to make his fortune in a distant kingdom a thousand miles away.
I knew how Daniel must have felt. My older brother, Tomas, would inherit the throne, while I would be left with…well, not nothing, but considerably less than Tom. Not that Tom wouldn’t be a good king, of course. He was brave, smart, handsome, and charismatic. He would be a good leader. He was a good fighter, too.
I also noticed Rachel’s friend, Cassie. She and her parents were in charge of the royal animals. They also cared for those from around the countryside. I had a lot of respect for Cassie. And some other feeling as well…
“This is the story of the Andalites. The Andalites were once a peaceful people. Artists and farmers. Their kingdom was in the lands that surround this kingdom.
“The Andalites used to keep to themselves and they were happy. But then they began to explore the world and the surrounding lands. One day, one of their leaders, a great Prince named Seerow, came to a small village.
“In this village were the Yeerks. The Yeerks were small, weak people. They were very sickly. Seerow wanted to help them. So he taught them powerful magic so that they could explore the world.
“But the Yeerks fooled Seerow. They were a race of sorcerers. They could steal the minds of other creatures and transfer themselves into their brains.
“With Seerow’s magic, the Yeerks spread out throughout the forest. The Andalite fought them for generations. But the Yeerks grew more and more powerful. Eventually, they had enough power to challenge the Andalites directly.
“The Andalites fought long and hard but in the end, they were defeated. Their kingdom fell into ruin. Only a few scattered bands of Andalites still live. They do what little they can to hold back the Yeerks from peaceful unsuspecting kingdoms, but they cannot hope to succeed.
“Some say that the Andalites walk among us. They can change their bodies into any living creature. And the Yeerks can steal the minds of others. Yeerks and Andalites could be anywhere; anyone. They say that the two forces still fight, just beyond our vision.”
Silence reigned. And then, Rachel said, “That’s it? That’s the story?”
“That is all.”
“Why didn’t anyone help the Andalites?”
“They were too proud to ask for help. And after what happened with the Yeerks, they did not trust anyone.”
“But why—”
“Rachel,” Marco cut her off, “it’s just a story. Andalites and Yeerks aren’t real.”
The Ellimist fixed him with an unnerving gaze. “Aren’t they, Marco?”
Marco snorted. “Look, I know you make your living peddling these stories, but only an idiot would believe them. Is this your last story?”
“It is.”
Marco turned to me. “Can we go now, Jake?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. It’s pretty late anyway. Oh! If we don’t hurry, the cooks will shut down for the night and I’m starving.”
Marco looked horrified. “Well, we’d better hurry. I hate going to bed without dinner.”
Rachel and Cassie decided to walk with us, since they were going back to the palace, too. “Well…” Rachel began.
Cassie gave her a look. “I don’t like that tone.”
“I was just going to say that we could get home a lot faster if we cut through the forest.”
“Oh no,” Marco protested. “People get killed in that forest!”
“Aww…little Marco too scared?” Rachel prodded.
Marco liked Rachel, so he’d never admit that he was, in fact, afraid of the forest. “Me? I’m not afraid of anything.”
“Not even Chapman?” I asked. Chapman was the local schoolmaster.
“Okay, just him, though. Let’s go, ladies.”
“Marco?” Rachel began. “You do know that I could have you beheaded, right?”
“Then you’d put my head on a pike so you could look at it all the time,” Marco answered. “What concerns me is what you’d do with the rest of my body. You know, you could just ask.”
Rachel hit him in the shoulder and we all laughed. That made me feel a little better as we crept through the forest. Then, I heard an odd sound. A hawk, screeching.
“A hawk? At night?” Cassie asked. “That isn’t right. It might be hurt. Let’s go look.”
I was about to argue, but then she looked at me and I couldn’t refuse. “Okay, let’s go.”
We ran through the woods and suddenly emerged into a clearing. There were two people there, both on the ground. There was a hawk perched on one’s shoulder. “Come on, you have to try to get up.”
We gathered around. The one with the hawk was a boy about our age. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and he wore all black. I’m pretty sure he had the classic ‘tall, dark, and handsome’ thing going on. I guessed the handsome part from the look Rachel gave him.
The other guy, the one on the ground, was a man about twice our age. Light armor and a few weapons were in a pile next to him. There was a deep gash in his side. To be honest, he looked a lot like the guy with the hawk. They might have been related.
The man coughed. “I cannot. I…” Suddenly, his voice was in my head. <I will die here.>
“No,” the other guy insisted. “You can’t. You’re the last of the Andalites!”
Andalites? I shot Marco a questioning look.
<Not the last. There are others. They will come to help you but…it will take time. But that is time you do not have. The Yeerks have come.>
I could tell that the Andalite was talking to all of us now. <Come closer, children. Do you know about the Yeerks?>
“I thought they were a myth,” Marco mumbled.
<They are all too real. And they have come to your kingdom. Because they know that you believe it is all a myth. They are taking your people even as we speak. Every day, more and more of your people wake up with their minds under the control of a Yeerk. They are working quietly and quickly. And now that I am dying...now there is no one left.>
“No. They can’t!” Rachel insisted. “Someone has to stop them!”
The Andalite nodded. <Someone must. But we Andalites are too few. And your people do not have the magic to fight the Yeerks. I fear that your kingdom will be lost. But maybe…yes, that is the only way. In my pack is a small, blue cube. Bring it to me.>
I looked at the other guy, the one with the hawk. He nodded to me. “Go. I’m not leaving him.”
I nodded and rummaged through the man’s pack. I saw the name embroidered on the pack. Elfangor Sirinial, Prince.
I rummaged through his pack, feeling like a thief. There were some interesting thigns in there, like a small portrait of what I assumed to be his family. Finally, Ifound the cube, a small sky-blue box, and brought it to him. He nodded. <Each of you, put a hand on the cube. I will give you some Andalite magic. It our most prized power. The power to change your form. The power to morph.>
We didn’t seem to have a choice. At the time, I didn’t even realize what we were agreeing to. I just knew that we had to help in any way we could.
I locked eyes with the hawk guy. He nodded to me. “No choice,” he said. I nodded back. At the same time, we placed our hands on the cube. Rachel’s hand joined ours almost instantly. Slowly, Marco and Cassie joined us as well.
I felt a tingle go through my body and then it stopped. <You must go now. You can change your shape into any living thing. But there are limitations, at least until you are more powerful. For now, at least, you can only become a creature you have touched. And you cannot remain in one form for more than two hours. If you do, you might never change back.>
“Is that it?” the hawk guy asked.
<There is more, but we do not have the time. The Yeerks are on their way. Their Visser will come to claim my body. You must go now.>
“What’s a Visser?” Marco asked.
<A powerful Yeerk warlord. I can feel him. This is Visser Three, one of their most powerful. He will be your greatest enemy. Only he of all the Yeerks has the power that you now possess. Visser Three can morph.>
“How is that possible?” Rachel asked.
<He has stolen the mind of an Andalite named Alloran Semitur. Go, now!>
"How do you know it's him?" I asked.
Elfangor smiled a bit sadly. <He and I have a bit of a...history. Now be gone! If he finds you here, any hope that your kingdom has will die with you. Or worse. He may not kill you. He may make you into creatures like him.>
“Wait!” the hawk guy said. “What is your name? Who are you?”
The Andalite managed to smile with only his eyes. <My name is Elfangor Sirinial. Prince Elfangor. Now go. You must fight the Yeerks until the Andalites come. The fate of your kingdom rests on your shoulders now.>
We pulled back to hide in the woods. Just when Elfangor was almost out of sight, two people joined him. One was a tall, dark haired man who bore a bit of a resemblance to Elfangor. He stood tall, arrogant. I knew who he must be. Visser Three. Maybe it was the magic powers he possessed or maybe it was something more mundane, but I could feel his evil like a physical force. It was a cold hand that grasped my soul and strangled any hope from it. I'm not asahmed to admit that I was almost brought to tears. I was squeezing Cassie's hand so hard I think I might have broken a few of her fingers.
The other was Chapman. I’d recognize him anywhere. Normally, he stood tall and proud. After all, he was the schoolmaster and he had authority even over the nobility. But now, he was almsot cowering. I couldn't tell who he was more afraid of: Elfangor or the Visser. I got the impression that Chapman expected to be killed by either one of them at any time. The Visser must not have been a very nice ruler.
With them were…demons, I guess. They were conjured by Yeerk magic, I suppose. <Hork-bajir,> Elfangor said in my head. <A sweet people until they Yeerks took control of them. Now, they are killing machines. They will be your toughest adversaries aside from the Visser himself.>
I saw some new demons. <Taxxons. They are… as bad as they appear. While the Hork-bajir were enslaved, the Taxxons submitted willingly. They are cannibals and gluttons. But they are not strong. In a battle, they are no threat.>
<Ah, who is this that I see? So it is true. The great Prince Elfangor himself came to stop us. And he came alone, it appears. Incredible, isn't it, Chapman? I thought that Elfangor, at least, was above the arrogance of his people. It would seem that I was wrong. He thought he could stop us all by himself. Noble. And foolish. Then again, they are one and the same.>
<Visser Three,> Elfangor rasped. <This is not over yet. Others will come. More than you can hope to defeat. The Andalites will come to save this kingdom.>
The Visser smiled with just his eyes. I didnt' know it was possible to give a cruel smile like that. <Yes, Prince Elfangor. They will come. And by then, it will be too late.>
Elfangor tried to rise to his feet. He picked up his chain/sickle (a weird Andalite weapon) from his pile of gear and tried to fight the Visser, but he was too weakened by his wound.
The Visser laughed, and then he started to change. His flesh broke into scales and turned black. His eyes bulged out of his skull, huge, red orbs. Teeth the size of a sword filled his mouth. And then he started to grow. Even as he changed, morphed, Elfanogr struck at him with his chain/sickle. The Visser only continued to laugh. Within a minute, Elfangor stood alone before an enormous dragon. I didn't even believe in dragons until that. <And now, Prince Elfangor, I bid you farewell.>
The Visser opened his mouth and expelled a torrent of flame. In less than five seconds, there was nothing left of Prince Elfangor Sirinial.
That was when we ran. Rachel, Marco, Cassie, and I ran back to the palace.
We slammed the gate behind us. Then, Marco turned to me, fear on his face. “Hey, what happened to that other guy? The one with the bird? I’m sure he knew who we were. The Yeerks want to keep themselves a secret, but if he tells them that we know…”
I nodded. “We’ll have to find him. But I think we can trust him. I mean, he was trying to help the Andalite, after all.”
“Yeah,” Rachel agreed. “I’m sure he’s trustworthy. We’ll find him. And then we’ll talk about what we have to do to stop these Yeerks from taking over our home.”

Okay, now you can tell me whether or not you like it. There's more coming, eventually.

[Ellimist]

You are really talented, you know that?
It's a (stolen, as you say, but) awesome idea. My feedback :

1. The characterisation was awesome. I mean, (Prince) Jake as the prince, Marco as the (would be) court jester, Rachel as the beautiful princess, it all sort of just fits.
2. Humour: It's awesome!
   “Marco?” Rachel began. “You do know that I could have you beheaded, right?”
   “Then you’d put my head on a pike so you could look at it all the time,” Marco answered. “What concerns me is what you’d do with the rest of my body. You know, you could just ask.”
3. The death of Elfangor seemed a bit hurried up. I wanted some more description.
   Then, the Visser turned into a dragon and burnt Elfangor to a crisp.
   In fact, I'd have liked the whole meeting with Elfangor a bit detailed.
4. Overall, the story is great, and I feel it has the potential to become greater.

I guess that's about it.

[capnnerefir]

The death of Elfangor seemed a bit hurried up. I wanted some more description.
Then, the Visser turned into a dragon and burnt Elfangor to a crisp.
In fact, I'd have liked the whole meeting with Elfangor a bit detailed.

Yeah, I did kind of rush that. I think it's because, in my mind, it didn't need a much change from the way it originally was in the books, so I didn't think it through very well. I'll go edit that now. Thanks.

[capnnerefir]

Here's the next chunk, since it's still burning in my brain. It's Rachel's POV. It might be a bit out of character since I don't know how chicks think (if I did, I'd have better things to do than write fanfics ). It's a little more to the romatic side than I usual lean, so it's a bit of an experiment for me. Enjoy.

Rachel:
I was pretty scared when I woke up the next morning. I half thought that it was all a dream that crazy Ellimist gave me. It was possible. But something made me think it wasn’t. I hoped it wasn’t.
It isn’t that I wanted to believe that the Yeerks, who weren’t even supposed to be real, were attacking us. But I liked the thought that I’d actually get to do something. I mean, my father had taught me to use a sword and ride a horse and all the sorts of things that he learned to do as a boy. But once he was gone, my mother would never let me.
Sure, I often did it anyway. I’d sneak out with Cassie or Jake and we’d go riding or whatever. When Jake wanted to practice his swordwork, I’d practice with him, since Marco was pretty bad.
To be honest, I kind of liked the idea that I’d actually get to put those skills to use in real life. Sure, I wouldn’t be of much use against one of those Hork-bajir demons, but I could split open a Taxxon, that’s for sure.
As usual, I had breakfast in my room. That’s a privilege you get when you’re a Princess. Cassie brought me my food. That wasn’t part of her usual duties, but we usually ate breakfast together, so this made it easier.
Her first words were, “Did you have a weird dream about Andalites and Yeerks?”
I shrugged. “It might have been a dream. That guy with the hawk was too cute to be real.”
Cassie gave me a look. I just laughed. “Okay, so he’s not your type. I forgot; you go for a more princely character. Have you seen Jake today?”
Cassie blushed. She has a thing for Jake and thinks that no one knows. But I think that even clueless Jake has figured it out by now.
“We do need to find that guy,” I reminded her. “Marco was right. I don’t think he’d betray us, but he might give us away by accident.”
“Do you have any idea how to find him, though?” she asked me.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. We didn’t even find out his name. All we know about him is that he has a hawk.”
“He had a sword.”
“Did he? I didn’t notice.”
“Maybe he’s one of the knights in training. Elfangor’s wound didn’t seem to bother him, after all. I’ll go and check out the practice fields.”
“Are you sure you just don’t want to see Jake all shirtless and glistening as he practices with Tom?” I teased.
She gave me a hurt look. “Fine. Have fun. But I’m not going there. It depresses me. I’m better than half the full knights and I’m not allowed to touch a sword.”
“What will you do, then?” Cassie asked.
I shrugged. “May dad just sent in a new eagle for me. I think I’ll take him out for some training.”
“Honestly, Rachel, I don’t know how you can engage in that kind of behavior.”
“What? It’s just falconing. I let the bird do what birds do. There isn’t anything wrong with it. It’s no different than horse racing.”
“And you know how I feel about that.”
“Which is exactly why I’m not inviting you. Have fun with the big sweaty knights. I’ll be enjoying some fresh air.”
After breakfast, I went to the aviary and retrieved my new eagle. He was heavier than I expected. I hadn’t named him yet. It’s bad luck to name a bird before you start training it.
I took my eagle and went beyond the edge of the palace, over to the woods. I think eagles liked woods. It would make him feel more at home here.
Technically, I wasn’t supposed to be alone, since the eagle could attack me. But I wasn’t too worried. I was good with birds. It was a special talent of mine. Birds loved me.
I was enjoying watching my eagle soar and for a moment, I wished I could join him. He looked so free, so…happy. And then I remembered what the Andalite had said. Maybe I could join him. But I wasn’t going to practice morphing alone. I can be a bit reckless, but playing with magic is crossing the line, even for me.
Suddenly, I heard my eagle cry out. There was an even larger bird flying with it. No, not with it. Attacking it. I tried to call my bird to me, but he didn’t know enough to respond yet.
I cursed. I didn’t want to lose my father’s gift like this. And I didn’t really want my eagle to die, either.
Then, from out of nowhere, a third animal joined the fray. A smaller bird, but it moved with a lot more grace and… skill, I guess… than the eagles. It was joined by a forth bird, almost identical to it.
The second eagle broke off and wheeled away. No one followed it. My eagle descended and landed on my gloved hand. I started checking him for wounds; there were some minor cuts, but nothing suspicious. The other two birds- hawks, I think they were- disappeared into the trees.
“Hey!” I turned to the new voice. A blonde guy was walking towards me. I didn’t recognize him. “Is that your eagle?”
I nodded. And then scowled when I saw that, on his arm, there was the same golden eagle that had attacked mine.
“Yeah, it’s mine.”
“Then I am terribly sorry. I don’t know what came over Imaeus. I’m David, by the way.”
I nodded. “Rachel.” I held out my hand. He decided that was an invitation to kiss it. I yanked it back.
“Sorry again,” he apologized. “That was our custom back where I used to live.”
“You’re new around here?”
He nodded. “My father’s with a mercenary company. The king here wanted to hire them to keep an eye on the Anati. I travel around with my father a lot. Sorry again.”
He seemed nice enough. But there was something about him that I just didn’t like. I don’t know what it was. It wasn’t that he was unattractive or anything…
I heard a rustle behind me. David and I turned to look. Out from the woods stepped the guy with the hawk from the previous night. I realized that it was his hawk (or hawks, apparently) that had saved my eagle.
And Cassie was right; he did have a sword. And he wore it comfortably. David had a sword, too, but it looked awkward and out of place on him.
This new guy was, as I said, incredibly good looking. He had the classic tall, dark, and handsome look going on. There was something in his eyes… something deep. A sorrow he couldn’t hide. His face was cold, impassive. Only his eyes gave away anything that he might have been feeling.
“You saved my eagle, didn’t you?” I asked, stroking my bird.
“It was team effort.” I couldn’t tell if that was a joke or not.
“Where’s your other hawk?”
“He comes when I need him. You’re Princess Rachel, aren’t you?”
I nodded. How did he recognize me? Not that many people could recognize me on sight. They could figure it out if I was dressed for something formal or escorted by guards, but I was dressed as normal as I could be today.
“Yeah. I think we met last night after the Ellimist was done telling his stories. Do you remember?”
“I didn’t sit to listen to the stories. But yeah, we met.” He paused. Then, “I’ll think I’ll be leaving now. I just wanted to make sure your eagle was alright.”
“How did you know he was mine?”
“I didn’t. But a bald eagle is a noble bird. And I hate golden eagles.” He didn’t shoot David a look, but he definitely could have been staring him down.
David took the hint, I guess. “Well, my Lady, I must be off. My father wants me in the practice yards. Maybe you’ll stop by later? You could show me what the palace’s best meals are.”
“Maybe,” I answered, noncommittally. David turned and left without acknowledging the hawk guy. Hmm… hawk guy. He needed a name. “Do you have a name?” I asked.
A stupid question, I realized. Of course he had one. But for some reason, I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I usually did.
He shook his head. “No name. I’m just a figment of your imagination.”
“Great. Another Marco. That’s the last thing I need on top of everything else.”
He sat on the ground and leaned against a tree. He looked… right, here by the woods. On the edge of civilization and wilderness.
I took a seat next to him. He gave me a look. “The princess sits on the ground?”
“The princess could knock you flat without breaking a sweat,” I answered.
He gave me a smile. It looked out of place. “Now that would be interesting to see.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
He stood up and spread his arms. “Come on. I’ll give you a free shot.”
“You’re asking for it,” I warned him.
“No. Hit me. Hit me. Now, I’m asking for it.”
I didn’t have much of a choice. I heaved my eagle into the air and rushed at the jerk. I meant to loop my ankle behind his and push him over. It was an old trick I had learned as a little girl. Jake and Tom usually found themselves on the receiving end of it.
He grabbed my wrist, spun around behind me, and, with is foot in my back, forced me to my knees. “Hey!” I protested. “You said I got a free shot!”
“Yes, yes I did. I didn’t say which shot that would be.” Somehow, I knew he was smiling.
He let me go. I stood up and turned around. “That was really unfair.” Then, my eyes fell on the sword at his waist.
He saw what I was looking at. “You want your free shot now? Go on, then.”
I grabbed the sword and pulled it out of its scabbard. I loved that sound. He gave me a look. “Oh, come on. What, you’re going to stab me?”
“You said I get a free shot,” I reminded him.
“So do it,” he dared.
I don’t really know what happened next. I really don’t. All I know is that, suddenly, there was blood on his sword and the guy was clutching his side.
I dropped the sword. “Oh my god! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to…” I trailed off. The wound looked pretty deep.
He smiled at me through gritted teeth. “I’ve had worse,” he hissed. I could tell he was in pain, but he didn’t want to show it. Stupid male pride.
“You need help. We’ve got to take you to a doctor!”
“I’ll be fine. Just…” He sat down, hard. Then, he pulled his shirt off. He was bleeding a lot. A small part of my mind noted that he had a lot of scars, too. He tore his shirt into strips and started wrapping his own wound shut. I couldn’t think of anything to do.
After he had totally mutilated his shirt, he lurched to his feet. “Well…I suppose I’ll be off now, Princess.”
Just like that. Like nothing had happened! “No. You’re coming with me back to the palace. You need to see a doctor.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Don’t give me that. Come on, you’re going and that’s final.” He grumbled but let me lead him to the palace. I grabbed his hand to make sure he didn’t run off when I wasn’t looking. That was the only reason. I swear.
About a quarter of the way there, it became apparent that we weren’t going to make it. He wasn’t walking very much and he was doubled over, one hand tight over his wound. “I’m not going to make it,” he gasped.
“You are not going to die on me,” I said. Pleaded.
“No. I’m not going to make it to the palace. My home isn’t far from here.”
I looked around. This wasn’t the best section of the village. In fact, it was pretty much the worst. I’d never even been here. I was trying to take a shortcut to the palace but even I tried to avoid this area.
He stumbled down the allies and I tried to follow him. Eventually, he collapsed against the door of a small hovel. I was amazed that the door withstood his body. He gave it a harder shove and stumbled through.
It was a tiny hut. There were two rooms. One was some kind of bedroom with several overturned kegs in it. The other was the main room. It had a table and some food. In one corner was a ragged blanket. The entire place reeked of cheap ale.
He collapsed into the pile of blankets. I realized with a shock that this is where he lived. His hawk flew through the open door, searching for its master.
The hawk (I noticed that its tail was red) landed next to the guy. He gently started stroking its chest. And then something weird happened.
Feathers grew on the guy’s body. He shrank. In a few moments, he was an identical bird. A second red-tailed hawk.
<Oh, this is much better,> I heard his voice say in my head.
“Is that you?” I asked.
<Could be. But I’m not sure who you’re talking to.>
“Well, you never gave me a name.”
<No, I suppose I didn’t.>
One of the hawks grew back into the guy. He was shirtless, so I could see that his wound was completely gone. He did have a nasty scar now, though. He ran his finger along it. “Hmm… a souvenir from the Princess. I’ll take it with me everywhere.”
“Are you going to give me your name or will I have to give you another souvenir?”
He just smiled some more. “My name is Tobias.”
I nodded. It was a nice name. A bit foreign, though. “Your family lives here?” I asked. I felt the need to say something, after all.
“In a manner of speaking.”
“Must you always be cryptic?”
“It’s part of my charm.”
I laughed. But then I started to think. Maybe there was a reason he didn’t want to answer me. He had a foreign name. Maybe he thought I’d laugh at him. Like I was laughing now. I stopped abruptly.
“So do you live here?” I asked again.
He didn’t give me any answer this time. “Look, Tobias, it isn’t something to be ashamed of. I don’t care if you live here or not. I just want to get to know you better, that’s all.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, I live here with my uncle. He’s a bit of a local celebrity.”
“Really?”
“He’s the town drunk.”
“Oh. So… you sleep there?” I asked, nodding at the blanket.
“Sometimes. Usually, I’m in the forest.”
I nodded. “So… where did you learn to use a sword? And train hawks?”
He gave me that odd smile. It reminded me of Elfangor’s smile. “The Andalites taught me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Well, they taught me some stuff. I was sleeping in the woods one night. I must have been about four or five…”
“You slept in the woods alone at that age?”
He shrugged like it was nothing. “It was safer than being here. Anyhow, when you spend as much time in the woods as I did, you’re bound to come across a random Andalite or two. After a decade or so of working with Andalites, I’ve learned a thing or two.”
“Did you know that one from last night?”
“Only by reputation. Prince Elfangor… he was a great hero. The Yeerks were terrified of him. When I found him in the woods… he came here to try to stop the Yeerk invasion all by himself. He tried to do it alone.”
“How can someone be that arrogant?”
“Not arrogant. Desperate. He told me… he has a son who lives in this kingdom. He’s done everything he can to protect his son from the Yeerks. There wasn’t enough time to rally the other Andalites to protect this place, so he had to come on his own.”
“His son lives here?”
Tobias nodded. He looked like he was about to say more, but then shook his head. “It amazes me, really. Prince Elfangor crossed thousands of uncharted miles and prepared to fight an army all on his own to protect his son. And yet my mother just up and left without another word.”
“Oh! I’m so sorry, Tobias. I didn’t know. I just …”
“Of course you didn’t know. My father died when I was very young. I’m not sure how; my uncle can’t tell me because he didn’t think it was worth remembering. And shortly after that, my mother ran off. So I live here when I can’t make it in the woods.”
“How often is it that you’re here? I mean, we’ve got to fight the Yeerks together, so we need to be able to find you.”
“I’m usually in the woods, actually. Even in the winter. But I could stay near the palace for when you need me. Maybe there’s some work they’d give me in exchange for sticking around.”
“Well, if you’re good with that sword, there’s a job for you. And that’s a very well trained hawk. I’m sure the aviaries could find a place for you. Let’s go now. Do you have anything you want to pack?”
Tobias reached in a keg and pulled out a pack. It wasn’t nearly full. He stuffed his old blanket into it and tossed in a cloak hanging by the door. “This is all I have. Let’s go.”

And there you have it.

[capnnerefir]

It's a quiet, dreary day
Here in Washington, PA
I'm sitting here with not much to do
So I wrote a little more of this fic just for you

So...who the hell knew I was a poet? I sure didn't. Check out that AA-BB rhyme scheme. Awesome. Anyhow, here's the next chunk of the fic, for those of you who are reading it. And remember: I like feeback, even if it's just a little smiley face like the one on the cookie I just ate.

Jake
Marco and I were walking down the halls of the palace, on our way to a meeting with Chapman. Even though we were nobles, he still insisted that we do well in school. Actually, he insisted that we do better than the commoners because we were nobles. We aspired to a higher standard. His words, not mine. And it didn't help that Tom had been Prince Perfect. I love the guy, but sometimes, it's really hard to be his brother.
Marco was saying to me, “I’m telling you, it was all just a dream. That Ellimist guy messed with our heads and we just happened to have the same dream. He’s probably some kind of wizard. Isn't that illegal? Could we have him arrested?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. I mean, if it was real, someone would have seen that guy with the hawk.”
Almost as if on cue, we turned the corner and ran into Rachel and that guy, although his hawk wasn't with him. When Marco ran into him, Marco almost fell over. It must have been like hitting a wall, because the guy didn’t move. Although his hand did jump to the sword at his side.
Rachel seemed happy to see us. “Oh, great, you two are here. Can you show Tobias to the aviary? I was supposed to meet Cassie in the stables like twenty minutes ago.”
Marco glared at the guy, presumably Tobias. “So, I guess that means that wasn’t a dream, then.”
Rachel shook her head. “No. I saw Tobias turn into a hawk.”
Marco leapt to his feet and slapped a hand over her mouth. “Not so loud, Rachel. If that was all real, anyone could be… one of them.”
Tobias nodded. “We can’t trust anyone. Not much of a change for me, I guess.”
I shook my head. “No, we can trust each other. We know that the rest of us aren’t with them.”
“With who?” I heard Cassie ask. She just entered the hallway. “Oh, Rachel, there you are. I’ve been wondering where you were. Ah, you found him.”
Rachel nodded. “Some golden eagle was attacking my new bald eagle. Tobias saved him.”
Tobias just shrugged. “I hate golden eagles. And there was something I didn’t like about that David character.”
“You too, huh?” Rachel answered.
I looked from one to the other. They already seemed like old friends. Did they already know each other? Rachel doesn’t warm up to people quickly. Usually, trying to 'warm up' to Rachel ended in the guy crying and holding a sensitive area. Just ask Marco.
“You didn’t seem to have much of a problem with him,” Tobias said to her. It was weird. His tone sounded like he was teasing her, but his face didn’t give any of it away. And his eyes…they reminded me of that hawk he had. Speaking of which…
“Where’s your bird?” I asked.
“She’s out hunting, probably. She missed her breakfast this morning because someone,” he shot Rachel a look, “couldn’t take care of herself.”
“I was fine,” Rachel insisted. “I could still handle you just fine.”
“That isn’t how I remember it. If I recall correctly, the last time you tried to ‘handle’ me, you ended up on the ground and I stayed standing.”
I raised an eyebrow. Rachel was tougher than she looked. There was a reason Marco called her the Warrior Princess. If Tobias could handle her…
“Hey,” I began. “Are you any good with that sword?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Seeing as I’m not dead, I’d say so.”
“You’ve actually fought people like, to the death?” Marco asked, surprised. None of us had ever been in a real fight. That kind of thing just doesn't happen to nobles.
Tobias just shrugged. “It happens. You do what you have to do to survive. Some just have to do a little more than others.”
I realized why Rachel liked this guy.
“Oh,” Rachel said suddenly. “I almost forgot. Tobias, we were supposed to go down to the practice yards and try to get you a job.”
He nodded. “Alright.”
Cassie gave Rachel a look. “I thought you hated the practice yards, Rachel. It was too depressing for you. What’s changed?” Cassie gave her a wink. I tried to suppress what that wink did to me. It didn't work, but no one noticed. If they had, Marco and/or Rachel would have said something.
“Okay. You two have fun. But seriously,” Marco said, “Tobias was right. We can’t trust anyone but each other. I say we never talk about Yeerks, Andalites, and morphing again.”
Tobias and Rachel shook their heads in unison. “No way,” Tobias said. “I owe too much to the Andalites to just sit back and let the Yeerks have their way. I don’t know what the rest of you are going to do, but I’m going to fight. I’ll do it alone if I have to.”
“I’ll be there,” Rachel said instantly. “I am not sitting by and letting Yeerks take over my kingdom. I’m in, too.”
“You don’t get it,” Marco said. “We could get killed. Killed! And then what would happen?”
Tobias shrugged. “In my case, nothing. No one would miss me.”
“We would,” Rachel insisted.
“Speak for yourself,” Marco muttered.
“Marco, I halfway agree with you,” I began.
“Thanks,” Tobias snorted. I couldn’t tell if it was sarcastic or not.
“But I agree with Rachel and Tobias, too. We can’t sit by and let this happen. I mean…it’s our responsibility to help, Marco.”
Marco sighed. “You and your responsibility. Sometimes, Jake, I think you forget you’re a prince. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
I ignored him and turned to Cassie. “Cassie, what do you think?”
“I think… I don’t like any of this. We could get killed.”
“Exactly!” Marco shouted. “We could all die. Think for a moment, guys. If I died, my dad would lose it. That would be the end of him. The only reason he’s still holding on at all is because of me. If he lost me, that’d be the end of him. Jake, you couldn’t convince your dad to keep him around any longer after that. He’d be totally dead. He might actually kill himself.
“And you, Cassie. What would your parents do? How would they feel if they spent all their time saving animals and couldn’t save their own daughter? They’d snap, Cassie. We all know it.”
Marco spun to look at me and Rachel. “And the two of you! You’re a Prince and Princess, for god’s sake! The whole kingdom might be torn apart! If something happened to you, your families would probably think it was assassins. You could start a whole other war!”
He turned and looked at Tobias. I guess Marco was speechless. “Okay, look, I don’t know you. I don’t know what your family is like, but—”
“Then let me tell you. My father is dead. My mother ran off; I think she’s dead, too. My uncle is the town drunk. He’s either unconscious in an alley or back home getting me confused with a dusty rug.”
The hawk-like look in Tobias’ eyes was suddenly stronger than his usual look of pain. “Every day, I have to fight for my life. Do think I carry this sword around because I like it? I’m not afraid to die. If I die in this fight, I’ll be okay with that. There’s only one thing I couldn’t take and that’s knowing that I sat by and did nothing. If you don’t want to fight, if you’re afraid to die, that’s your business. But don’t stand here and try to tell me that this isn’t worth my life because I’ve almost lost it before for a lot of worse reasons.”
We all just sort of stared at him for a few moments. Tobias sighed. “Look, I get it. You’ve never faced death before. You’re afraid. Well, I am, too. When you face death without fear, you’ve lost your mind. But if you sit back and let your fear control you… well, then you’re nothing but a coward. Now, I’m a lot of things, most of them bad, but one thing I’m not is a coward.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve got less to lose. I don’t know. What I do know is this. I’ve never been one to stand up for others. I try to mind my own business because I learned the hard way that trying to help and trying to care only gets you hurt.
“But Elfangor died for me. For all of us. He could have fled and lived. But instead he stayed to warn us. And that isn’t something I can ever forget. So the rest of you can go home to your families. But I’m ready to die for Elfangor, because he already died for me.”
Again we were silent. Then, I looked at Marco. “How can you argue with a speech like that? I’m with Tobias and Rachel. I’ll fight.”
Cassie nodded. “Someone has to. I do believe in helping others. We’re the only ones who can, now. It’s all up to us.”
Marco sighed. “Fine. You all want to run off and get yourselves killed, that’s fine. I’ll have to come along to make sure you don’t die.”
Rachel laughed. “If Marco’s the voice of reason, we’re all dead.”

[capnnerefir]

Well, for the four of you who are reading this, here's the next bit. I'd be really happy if someone would respond to me. It kind of kills my edge when I don't think I have an audience. It makes me sad...

Marco
After we all decided it was a good idea to get ourselves killed, we went down to the practice yards so that we could find Tobias a job.
I already didn’t like him. There were a couple of reasons for this, some of them good reasons, some of them not so logical.
My first reason was that he was acting like he was one of us. Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and I had been friends for as long as I can remember. At least, Jake and I have. It’s the same with Cassie and Rachel. And we all knew each other because there weren’t a lot of children in the palace.
Then Tobias showed up. Somehow, he managed to talk all of my friends into throwing their lives away on some ridiculous fight that shouldn’t even be real. It wasn’t fair.
He had managed to talk Jake into something ridiculous. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve tried to talk Jake into stupid stuff? But Tobias did it so easily. Talking Jake into stupid things was my turf.
And there was the other thing. The thing with Rachel. She obviously liked this guy. You’d have to be an idiot not to see it. And, since Tobias was a human male, he liked her. The problem? I saw her first.
Normally, I wouldn’t have to worry about stuff like this. I was a noble (not exactly, but I was friends with them) and Tobias wasn’t. Rachel’s parents could just order her to be with whoever they wanted her to be with and if I asked them, that would be me. But Rachel wasn’t exactly the type of girl to listen to her parents.
It took us about five minutes to get to the practice yards and by that time, I had already heard Rachel laugh at about a thousand un-funny things Tobias had said. The man sickened me.
In the practice fields, we saw a lot of people fighting. A lot of them were with the mercenary company that had moved in earlier that day. We also saw Tom.
“Hey, Tom,” Jake called.
Tom didn’t flinch. He was busy practicing against some guy about our age. Tom was wiping the floor with him. Tom was very good at what he did.
“That’s David Tom’s fighting,” Rachel muttered.
Tobias raised an eyebrow. “Prince Tom?’
“Yeah,” Jake confirmed. “My brother.”
“I should have guessed.”
“Who’s David?” I asked.
“His father’s with the mercenaries,” Rachel told me. “Tobias and I met David earlier.”
“Well, he’s got nothing on Tom,” Jake said proudly.
“Of course not,” Rachel agreed. “Tom’s the best.”
“Even better than the mighty Rachel?” I teased.
“Well…he’s not better than me, but he’s bigger and stronger, so he’s got advantages. That’s why he usually wins when we spar.”
“I haven’t spared with Tom in a while now,” Jake commented “He’s been different lately. He’s been… more responsible, I guess. He’s even taken an interest in that organization the villagers were forming. What’s it called? The Sharing. He’s really in to that.”
Something flashed across Tobias’s eyes but it was gone before I could read it. Tom and David broke off, David almost lying on the ground. Tom hadn’t even broken a sweat.
Now Tom turned to us. “Hey, Jake. Marco. Rachel. Cassie. Who’s your friend?”
“This is Tobias,” Rachel said. “We were hoping we could find him a job here.”
Tom shrugged. “Does he know how to use that sword he’s carrying?”
Tobias nodded. “I can use it.”
Ton smiled. “Well, come on. Show me.”
Tobias shrugged. Then, he took off his sword and handed it to Rachel. That made me jump. He was treating her like some kind of serving girl. And she was letting him. This had to be stopped.
Tobias picked up one of the wooden practice swords and tested it. “A little light.”
Tom shrugged and then assumed his stance. Tobias did the same. I leaned over to Jake. “So, I’m guessing five strokes.”
Jake eyed them. “I don’t know. I mean, if Tobias has fought for his life…most of the people Tom fights with haven’t ever been in a real fight. Then again, he was trained by the best. I’ll give Tobias seven.”
“Seven? Wow, you’ve never given someone that high before,” I commented.
“What are you two doing?” Cassie asked.
“Oh,” I said. “We’re begging on how many strokes it will take Tom to beat this guy.”
Cassie rolled her eyes. “Sometimes, I know I’ll never understand guys.”
“I’ll give him ten,” Rachel said.
“Or you,” Cassie amended.
Jake and I just stared at Rachel. “Ten?” I asked. “TEN!? What, are you carrying his child?”
“Sooner his than yours,” she told me. Then she whispered, “Tobias was trained by Andalites.”
Oh. “In that case, I’ll give him until four.”
Tom and Tobias advanced. Tobias parried Tom’s first stroke and counterattacked. Almost before I realized it, they were at eight strokes. Then they broke off, Tom and Rachel smiling. Rachel was smiling because it Jake and I had already lost.
Tom laughed. “You’re good, kid. There’s definitely a place here.”
Tom turned to leave. “Wait,” Tobias called. “Aren’t we going to finish?”
Tom shrugged. “If you really want to lose, that’s fine with me.” Then, in a stage whisper we could all hear, he added, “But I was trying not to embarrass you in front of Rachel.”
“Don’t worry. I’m shameless,” Tobias replied dryly. “Are we going to do this or not?” He leveled his sword.
Tom sighed and raised his own wooden sword. “If you really want to…”
Rachel leaned over to me. “Does this still count as part of the original bet?”
I shrugged. “I don’t think so. I’ll give Tobias seven this time.”
Jake nodded. “Tobias is good, but I don't think he has enough stamina to go for much longer. I'll give hm five.”
Then, Rachel said the last thing I expected. “Tobias will win.”
I didn’t even bother to give her a confused look.
Tom and Tobias went at it again. After seven strokes, they broke apart again. Then, they went at it some more. But this time, Tobias seemed different. I’m no expert (I don’t pay as much attention as Rachel and Jake, at least), but Tobias’s style seemed different now. It seemed… better.
Tom’s eyes went wide. And then I saw him mouth a word. It looked like “Andalite!” Tobias just smiled.
Suddenly, Tom’s style looked different. He was feinting a lot, and dodging a lot more. He usually just parried Tobias’s strokes, but now he was almost running from him.
Then, Tom leapt at Tobias. He kicked Tobias’s sword out of his hand. Tobias stumbled backward and dodged under one of Tom’s slashes.
“Tom, that’s enough,” Cassie said. “He’s disarmed. It’s over.”
“It’s not over,” Tom and Tobias hissed at the same time. Tobias dove on the ground, rolled, and sprang up next to Rachel. He grabbed his sword out of her hands. This suddenly got serious.
Jake stepped in between Tom and Tobias. “Hold on here. That isn’t a practice sword. And Tom, it’s illegal to kick in a duel.”
Tobias and Tom both shrugged. “You do what you have to do,” Tobias answered. “I don’t hold it against him. I can’t say I would have acted any differently.”
Tom was drenched in sweat now. He sat down on the ground. “Man, you are good. Where’d you learn to fight?”
“Here and there.”
“Well, I’m hoping you’ll stay here. I’m the heir to the throne, so I can sure as heck get you a job here. I’m not sure where you’ll stay, though.”
“He could stay with me,” Jake offered.
Tom shook his head. “You’re a great guy and all, Jake, but a prince does not give up his room to anyone. He can stay with Marco.”
There wasn’t any point in protesting, since Tom would one day be the king. His word was law.
“I guess that makes us roommates,” Tobias said to me.
“Oh joy.”

[Elfangor]

*Clap* *Clap* I love it this is one of the best fanfic that is like animorphs in a different way that ive read{ The other one being the ipod version} Great fic i love it!!!!!!! keep up the good work

[capnnerefir]

Okay, let' s mix it up a little. I never use this POV.

Cassie
It was pretty obvious to me that Marco didn’t like Tobias. I don’t know whether or not Tobias realized it. Usually, I’m pretty good at reading people, but it wasn’t easy with Tobias. His face never gave anything away and I didn’t know him at all.
It was just as obvious that Rachel liked him. A lot. She looked at him the way Marco looked at her. It’s kind of a shame about the two of them. I used to try to get Rachel to like Marco, but it never worked out. I thought it would be great if Marco and Rachel liked each other. Then maybe I wouldn’t feel so awkward around Jake. I know he liked me and I feel the same way, but Marco and Rachel can be… well, jerks. But if they were together, they wouldn’t be able to say anything about Jake and me.
That dream was all but dead, though. Besides, I had bigger problems now. Namely the Yeerks and Andalites. We had decided to fight. Now we needed to figure out how.
Jake seemed to be reading my thoughts as we walked away from the practice fields. “Okay. Now that we have that taken care of, we need to decide what to do about the Yeerks. I—”
“Not here,” Marco hissed. “We need somewhere private. Somewhere no one will overhear us.”
“What about the barn?” I asked. “Pretty much no one but my parents and I go there.”
“Sounds good.” We steered off in the direction of the barn. Suddenly, I heard the screech of a hawk, followed by the screech of a Marco.
“Ah! Get it off of me.”
“It isn’t even on you, you big baby,” Rachel said.
I turned around to see a hawk perching on Tobias’s shoulder. If its talons hurt him, he didn’t show it. Marco glared at the hawk. “Is that… thing… going to be living with us?”
Tobias shrugged, which caused his hawk to flap its wings and screech. “If she knows what’s good for her. She had a bad accident as a chick and it left her severely mentally retarded. She can’t survive on her own in the wild.” (A/N: That’s based on a true story. I actually met a retarded red-tailed hawk once. Not that you care…)
“Is that how you met?” I asked.
He nodded. “I saw the whole thing. I was walking in the woods a couple years ago. She was flying past and got mobbed by a bunch of jays. She crashed into a tree. I did what I could to take care of her and she’s stayed with me ever since.”
“Oh, so he rescues animals, too. Soon he’ll have Rachel and Cassie eating out of his hand,” Marco grumbled.
Jake elbowed Marco. “Uh, dude? You said that out loud. We could all hear you.”
“Oh.”
“We’re there,” I interrupted, opening the barn doors. We walked in. Tobias’s hawk perched in the rafters.
“She’ll tell us if anyone approaches,” Tobias assured us.
“Smart hawk,” Rachel commented.
Tobias fixed her with a look that I wouldn’t have minded getting. “Animals take after their owners.”
“And the other way around,” I added. That was a proven fact.
“Does that mean Tobias eats mice?” Marco demanded. He sounded hopeful.
Tobias shrugged. “You do what you have to do.”
Jake and Marco looked a little sick at that. Jake composed himself first. “Okay, people, we need to get down to business. How do we fight the Yeerks?”
I looked at Tobias. Somehow, I thought he knew the most about Yeerks. He didn’t dissappoint me. “The Andalites I’ve met have told me some things. For one thing, the Yeerks need to go and perform a ritual every three days or their hold on the person they control is broken.”
Marco perked up. “Okay, that’s helpful. What do you know about this?”
“It’s called the Kandrona ritual. A Controller, someone who is controlled by a Yeerk, has to go to a special place. There, the Controller is temporarily freed from the Yeerk’s control so that the Yeerk can rest and recharge its magic. After that, they perform a ritual and the person goes back under the Yeerk’s control.”
“Okay,” Jake said. “So if we could disrupt this ritual, we could free people, right?”
Marco nodded. “And if we free enough, they can warn everyone. That’s a good idea. But how do we disrupt it?”
“Magic rituals have components, if I remember what we learned in school right. I think it has a focus for the spell. So if we destroyed that…” Rachel trailed off.
“How do we even find it?” I wondered.
“By following Controllers we know,” Marco said. “Like Chapman. OH!!!”
“What?” I asked.
“Jake and I were supposed to meet Chapman like an hour ago!”
Jake slumped on the bale of hay he was sitting on. “Oh man. This isn’t going to be good.”
“He’s not the only Controller you know,” Tobias said quietly.
“What? Who else is there?” I asked.
Tobias didn’t respond. “Come on, Tobias, out with it,” Rachel urged.
“You won’t like it,” he insisted.
“Just say it already,” Jake ordered. He isn’t the ordering type, but it slips out sometimes. Probably his royal upbringing.
“Tom. He’s one of them.”
“No he isn’t. Any other guesses?” Jake said. He didn’t even consider it.
Tobias shook his head. “Tom’s one of them, Prince Jake. I could tell when I was fighting him. I started to suspect when I saw him fighting David. He was using Yeerk moves, Jake. Where would he have learned them?”
“You can’t tell someone’s a Controller by how they fight,” Marco protested.
Tobias nodded. “Yes, I can. You learn a lot about someone when they try to kill you.”
“He wasn’t trying to kill you,” Jake insisted.
I nodded. “Tom wouldn’t do that.”
“Maybe Tom wouldn’t. But a Yeerk would. He called me an Andalite and then he tried to kill me. He’d have kept fighting, except I grabbed a real sword. If I hadn’t done that, he’d have killed me and acted like it was a terrible accident.”
“No. You’re wrong.”
“Oh? The Yeerks can be anyone, Jake.”
“So can the Andalites,” Marco said. “And we don’t’ know who’s good and who’s evil.”
Tobias glared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“I mean, sure, we’ve heard the Andalites’ side of the story,” Marco went on, “but we haven’t heard from the Yeerks. They might not be so bad.”
“The Yeerks are the worst scum in all the land,” Tobias said. “They’re murderers, thieves, and cowards.”
“Of course you’d say that. But how do we know that we can trust you?”
“What do you mean?”
“What were you doing in the woods alone? Why were you already there with Elfangor? Why do you know so much about Andalites and Yeerks?”
“What are you getting at?” Tobias demanded. The mask was starting to slip. He was getting angry.
“You know what I think? I think,” Marco said, leaning close to him, “you’re an Andalite.”
Tobias was unphased. “I’m flattered, but you’re wrong. If I was an Andalite, why would I be lying?”
“You tell me.”
Tobias shook his head. “This is ridiculous. Look, you’ll have to trust me that I am who I say I am.”
“Why should we? Does anyone here actually trust Tobias?” Marco demanded.
“I trust him,” Rachel said immediately.
Marco rolled his eyes. “How about someone who didn’t fall in love with him. Jake? Cassie?”
“I don’t know. I feel like he’s telling the truth, Marco but… Tobias, there’s something you’re hiding from us. What is it?”
He sighed. “Okay. I wasn’t going to tell you this, but here goes. Elfangor was here alone because he needed to get here fast. He was trying to save his son from the Yeerks.”
“He has a son?” Jake asked.
Tobias nodded. “Yeah. His mother was a normal human woman, so his son is half-Andalite. Now the Yeerks are hunting for him. They’re afraid of him. And Elfangor was a Prince, so his son is now the heir to all that the Andalites have left. If they could take him…”
“Who is he? If Elfangor was dying, he must have told you,” Jake said.
Somehow, I knew. I knew what Tobias was hiding. Tobias and I locked eyes, then he nodded. “It’s Tobias,” I said. “He’s Elfangor’s son.”
Marco threw up his hands. “And there you have it. How can we trust anything this guy says?”
We all sat there in silence for a while. Then, Rachel turned to Tobias. “Okay, so what do we do? How can we hurt the Yeerks?”
“What!?” Marco exploded. “You’re still on his side?”
“Yeah. I don’t care if he’s half Andalite or not. Actually, I think it’s kind of cool.”
Tobias shrugged. “We need to follow Controllers. If you don’t believe that Tom is one of them, that’s your business. But we all know that Chapman is one. Follow him. Sooner or later, he’ll need the Kandrona. And when he goes there, we’ll follow.”
“And then we wreck the place?” Rachel said.
“And then we wreck the place,” Tobias replied with a smile.
“But how?” Jake asked. “We’ll need powerful morphs, I think. Where can we get them?”
Everyone turned to me. “Okay. I guess it’s time for a trip to the Gardens.”

And there it is. Hmm...I' just realized that there's no Ax. I'll have to work on getting him involved...

[capnnerefir]

Okay, now I think I'll go with the POV of, apparently, the most popular character (if that poll is any indication; sorry, Marco fans).

Tobias
“The Gardens?” I asked.
Jake nodded. “The Gardens. They’re out behind the palace. We keep the menagerie there.”
“Menagerie?” Marco said. “Well, I’m fine with any combination that involves Rachel.”
It took us all a moment to get the joke. Then Rachel swatted Marco on the arm, which made me smile in spite of myself. Then it was off to the Gardens.
I can’t describe how out of place I felt. We were walking through a palace. A palace! I was lucky if I slept with a blanket most nights. Heck, I grew up in the woods and in the streets. I didn’t belong in the palace.
To be honest, I didn’t think I was particularly welcome, either. Marco certainly wanted me out of there. I couldn’t tell if he was naturally suspicious or if there was something about me he didn’t like, but I saw well enough that he wanted me gone.
Rachel clearly wanted me to stick around. She was the one who suggest that I come, after all. I couldn’t figure out her motivation, though. I dismissed my first thoughts because they were impossible. There was no way a smart, beautiful princess wanted anything to do with me like that. She was up to something and I wanted to know what it was.
Cassie seemed nice enough, but she gave me the impression that she was nice to everyone. She’d probably be willing to hear the Yeerks’ side of the story if it was offered to her. Nice, but naïve.
Jake was the swing vote, I guess. He seemed to be their leader; that was to be expected, since his father was the king. If he wanted me to stick around, I’d be allowed to stay. If not… well, then I’d do what I’ve always done.
I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to stay, really. I had a war to fight and I wasn’t sure if these nobles could cut it. Rachel seemed like a fighter, and Jake might have been. Cassie and Marco weren’t warriors, though. Then again, it takes more than soldiers to fight a war.
Whether or not I’d stick around, I followed them to the menagerie. I could at least use this opportunity to grab some powerful morphs. If I ended up fighting alone, they’d come in handy.
The Gardens was/were impressive (I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be singular or plural). Instead of actually being a garden, there was an open field. Half of it seemed to hold the sort of things the nobles played with. Horses, jousting equipment, stuff like that. Most of it was stuff I hadn’t seen before.
The other half was a zoo. They called it a menagerie, but it was just a zoo. I guess menagerie is noble talk for ‘bunch of animals in boxes.’
Cassie led us through the twisting alleys between them. “My parents are in charge of the menagerie,” she said, mostly to me since everyone else already knew that. “I know my way around here. Hey, here’s a good one. Who likes monkeys?”
Marco practically jumped up and down. “I love monkeys.”
“You would. They’re just like you,” Rachel replied.
“They are adorable. And regrettably small.”
“And covered in hair. And loud. And annoying.”
“And,” Marco added, giving her a pointed look, “they fling their feces at people they don’t like.”
Rachel only responded with a poisonous look.
Cassie broke the tension. “Well, Marco, today’s your lucky day. You get to get up close and personal with a monkey.”
“Well then, what are we waiting for? Maybe this whole Yeerk-Andalite thing won’t be so bad after all.”
Cassie opened one of the cages. “Go on in, Marco. He’s really friendly.”
Marco took one look in the cage and then shook his head. “Cassie, that isn’t a monkey. That’s a gorilla.”
“Well, if I had told you that earlier, you wouldn’t have agreed to do this.”
“But—”
“Too late,” Jake said. “You already said you’d do it. You aren’t going to wuss out, are you?”
Before Marco could answer, Rachel kicked him into the cage. “Get on with it,” she ordered.
A few moments later, Marco came out, glaring at me like it was my fault. “Okay. I really hope I acquired that gorilla because I do not want to do that again. Do you realize how big those things are?”
“If I morph something bigger, will you stop whining?” Rachel demanded.
“Yes. I will gladly stop if you find something bigger to morph.” Just then, I heard a strange noise in the distance. It sounded like a trumpet, but there was a notable difference.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Elephant,” Cassie replied. A kind of scary grin grew over Rachel’s face.
“I’ll be right back.”
“You are not going to acquire that thing alone,” Jake warned her.
“Fine. Come on, Tobias.” She grabbed my arm and started dragging me off before I could protest. I couldn’t help but notice the look Marco was giving me.
Oh. So that was why he didn’t like me. Well, there wasn’t much I could do about that. It wasn’t what it looked like anyway. I didn’t know what Rachel’s game was, but I knew it wasn’t what it appeared to be.
I’m not sure how Rachel found the elephant so quickly. Maybe she spent a lot of time sneaking around back here with Cassie. Or maybe it’s just easy to find an elephant. However she did it, we made our way to the elephant without trouble.
I climbed into the pen without too much trouble. The fence was strong, since it was designed to hold back an elephant, but it was easy to climb. Rachel joined me inside almost as soon as I was in.
We stared at the elephant. “Wow,” I gasped. “That’s bigger than I thought it would be.”
“Yeah,” she said, sounding out of breath. She shook her head, “Well, let’s do it. Uh…how do we go about doing this?”
“First, you have to touch it. Concentrate on it and you’ll feel it become part of you. It should relax when you’re acquiring it.”
“Should?”
“Well, my hawk did. And I think Marco’s gorilla did it, too. Anyway, the elephant probably wouldn’t mind you touching him. I mean, what could he be afraid of?”
“Right. No problem,” she said. Her words were confident. Her voice wasn’t. But, in what I guess was her usual style, she did it anyway. She reached out and grabbed the elephant’s trunk.
“I wouldn’t have encouraged squeezing,” I mumbled, eyeing her white-knuckle grip.
“I am trying to concentrate!”
As with my hawk, the elephant went limp. Well, as limp as an elephant can go. After about ten seconds, Rachel relaxed. “Okay, I think I got him. Do you want to acquire him, too?”
I shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt.” I acquired the elephant too. “Now let’s get out of here. He might not be very happy when he comes to. And we don’t have a lot of time.”
We climbed back out of the cage. Rachel turned to me. “Well, is there a special animal you want to acquire?”
I shrugged. “Visser Three can morph a dragon. Is there anything around here that can handle that?”
“I didn’t even believe in dragons until last night,” Rachel answered. “I think we have a unicorn somewhere around here, although it might just be a horse with a massive tumor.”
“Unicorn? No thanks. I was thinking of something…not so gay.”
“Well, I think the Gardens just got something you might like.”
“what?”
“A giant anaconda. It was brought in by some explorer who went pretty far south. You’d have to ask Cassie about it. All I know is that it’s like thirty feet long and I saw it crush a deer’s neck and swallow the deer whole.”
“Well, let’s get at it.”
Rachel led me to the reptile house. It was supposed to be closed for some reason or another, but no one was going to stop Rachel from walking in.
I shivered. “It’s cold in here.”
“Yeah. I think it keeps the reptiles sleepy.”
“Good. The acquiring trance ought to knock the thing right out, then.”
It wasn’t hard to find the anaconda. There were several signs directing us to it, since it was the newest exhibit in the Gardens. “Who comes here anyway?” I asked. “I didn’t even know you had a zoo here.”
“You didn’t? I thought everyone did. The wealthy people come from all over the place to see the menagerie.”
“Just call it a zoo.”
“Why?”
“Because I hate the word menagerie. It’s… pretentious.”
Rachel decided to glare at me. “That’s how I talk.”
“Well, I don’t like it.” Bad move.
“Do you expect me to stop?” It almost sounded like a challenge. But I wasn’t stupid. I shrugged and decided it was best not to answer.
The anaconda’s had pretty thick bars and I definitely couldn’t climb over. How to get in… “Uh, Rachel, any ideas how I can get in there to acquire the snake?”
“I’d give you a suggestion, but that would require talking and I’m too pretentious for you.”
That was pretty much the response I expected. I gazed at the anaconda, wondering what to do. I could see it without any trouble. It was, like Rachel said, about thirty feet long. It was dark and covered in scales. Pretty much what you’d expect from a snake.
I guess it sensed me because it lifted its head up to see me. For a frozen moment, I looked into his eyes. They were beautiful, in their own way. It was a simple, uncomplicated life the snake lived.
It was a loner. I could see that. It went through life alone. It waited, hidden, until an opportunity presented itself. Then, it struck with everything it had and squeezed the life out of anything that tried to stop it. It’s mind was a simple one, uncomplicated. It was the cold mind of the predator.
Slowly, I reached my hand out and placed it on the snake’s head. It closed its eyes as I acquired it. I could feel it becoming a part of me. But at the same time, I felt like I was becoming a part of it. I was taking something from this place, but I was leaving something behind as well.
“Okay,” I said. “I think we’re done for today.
Rachel and I left the reptile house and bumped into someone. “Lord Chapman,” Rachel said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Hello, Rachel. What were you doing in the reptile house? It looks closed.” He switched his gaze from her to me and back again.
“It’s not what you think,” I promised.
“Well, it’s really none of my business. Although, Princes, I do believe your mother will want to know about this.”
“Lord Chapman, there really isn’t any reason to let my mother know about this,” Rachel insisted.
“Oh? Do you realize you were supposed to see me for your private lessons half an hour ago? When you did not arrive, I came looking for you. I thought I might find you in the Gardens. I think your mother should know that you have been ignoring your studies to sneak off into closed buildings with young men.”
Rachel went pale. “It really wasn’t anything like that,” I insisted. “We were just…” Just what? Touching a giant snake so that I could turn into it and squeeze the Yeerk out of your brain? It would be better to let him think what he was thinking than to let him know the truth.
Rachel thought fast. “We were looking for Jake and Marco. We couldn’t find them and we thought they might be playing around in the reptile house.”
Chapman snorted. “Oh, yes, Jake and Marco. I had almost forgotten about them. Have you seen them?”
“I think they were over by the gorilla,” Rachel answered.
“Thank you, Rachel. I hope you will not miss tomorrow’s lessons.”
“I won’t, Lord Chapman.”
“Good. And your friend…”
“Tobias,” I said.
“Tobias. Will you be receiving instructions as well?” Chapman asked.
I didn’t know. Rachel answered instead. “Probably. He’s new here; just got hired by Tom at the practice yards less than an hour ago.”
“Ah, how wonderful. You were from the village, Tobias?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then perhaps you’ve heard of the Sharing.”
I nodded. “I’ve heard a thing or two.”
“Well, you might not know this, but Prince Thomas is very involved in the Sharing. I’m sure he’ll offer you the chance to join soon. Adjusting to life in the palace might be difficult and the Sharing can make that adjustment much easier.”
“You don’t say.”
“Oh, but I do. You should come to one of our meetings. Actually, we are having a feast by the lake tomorrow night. You should come. You, too, Princess Rachel. I think you would enjoy it very much.”
Chapman left after that. As we walked towards the exit gates, I turned to Rachel. “I think we should go to the Sharing.”
“I don’t know. From what I’ve heard, it sounds kind of like a cult.”
“Not because of that. Because I think it’s run by the Yeerks.”

That's all I have written for now, so I have no idea when the next installment will come.