Distant Dreams   
By: Olivia C.
Narrator: Aximili
Nuttypeanutbuddy@aol.com
 

   "Anybody hear about Jackson? Not guilty?!" I sat at the plastic table at the mall with Prince Jake, Cassie, and Marco, and of course, me in my human morph. Rachel was out with Tobias somewhere else. Marco was complaining about someone named Jackson, Prince Jake was listening, while Cassie got food and my wonderful cinnamon bun. Many people sat at familiar tables such as ours, but one table of two people caught my eye. One was in black, and the other in blue. They leaned over the table talking to each other. Cassie walked over and let the food down softly on the table. She said our names as she gave us our food, Marco a hamburger as he called it, Prince Jake a small platter of fried food, fish he called his, and Cassie, a cup filled with orange substance, a smoothie. She gave me my bun last, and I devoured the cinnamon bun instantly. While I ate, I overheard the two males at the table that caught my eye. " This is big, Britto! Another Andalite! However, something is wrong with it. It keeps on pacing and moaning in pain or something. Visser Three's Andalite knows nothing of its illness." The other one nodded and spoke. " Maybe the Andalite Bandits will know. " They laughed.

    I told the team. Prince Jake stared at me. " Are you sure you heard that? A sick Andalite?" I nodded, a human gesture to say yes. Prince Jake stood up. " Ok, everybody! I pay for the movies and we meet at Cassie's house. See you all tomorrow!" Just as he said that, a female came through the mall door. " Help! They're after me! Yeer-" She tried to finish her sentence, but two guards grabbed her roughly by the shoulders." Get your filthy hands off me! Help!" Many heads turned in her direction, especilly mine. Her yellow clothing showed up well in the mall, so many could see her. The question was why her middle was large.

   She kicked and screamed as the guards dragged her away. Prince Jake walked towards the bathrooms. Marco and I followed together while Cassie cleaned up the mess we made. We morphed sea gulls and followed the female. They drug her to a long, black car. A Dracon blast lit up the long car. The female yelped and fell silent. < Limo. Visser is involved. > Prince Jake announced. The car stopped near a abandoned warehouse. Visser was in his human morph as he got out of the car, and Chapman followed as he and another Controller pulled the large bellied female out. She seemed beaten, tired. Her feet dragged and her arms were wrapped around her. Visser opened the door and sneered as they dragged her in.

   < What should we do, Jake? I see the room they’re in. 285, storage room. > Cassie asked as she caught up with us. We flew around the building. Before Prince Jake could answer, Marco replied. < Maybe we she ask Ax, the Andalite about ANDALITE STUFF? > I thought of an answer, but came up with nothing. < I have no idea. I think we should attack and take her back. > We landed behind some tall bushes and demorphed. Prince Jake was the first to finish demorphing. " Ok, battle morphs." I stayed myself as a wolf, a tiger, and a gorilla appeared before me. I made my way to the door of the warehouse, watching for a force field, lasers, ect. I nodded and everyone was in front of the door. Marco bashed the door down and we made our way to the room we spotted when we were sea gulls. Visser demorphed into his Andalite form and glared at us. < You! This is none of your business! > He looked at the female Andalite, in an iron bar cage to the left of us. She looked outraged and in pain. < Yes, what he said. I can get out of here myself. I do not need babysit-Argh! > She wilted away from the bars to the far corner of the cage in some mysterious pain. I glared back at Visser Three. < Leave the female alone, Visser. She is in pain. > Visser laughed at me. Prince Jake leaped, a low growl escaping his lips, as he slashed a deep cut in Visser Three’s right arm.

   FWAPP! Visser quickly sliced Prince Jake's paw off. The two Controllers pulled out Dracon beams and shot at Marco and Cassie, which left me to handle the female. The small room quickly was hot thanks to the Dracon discharge. I made my way to the cage and cut the lock from the door. She glared at me as I opened the door. < Go away! I can- Argh! > I quickly grabbed her as she slightly lost balance. I let her lean on me. I tried to make a conversation as I coaxed her out of the cage with me. < Ummm, what is your name? > She looked up at me with smiling, brown eyes. < Zizih-Zittiu-Jevirkcor. And you are? > I felt myself grow hot on my cheeks. She was a beautiful female. She laid her soft, lavender head on my chest, listening to my hearts. Her main eyes closed, her stalk eyes wilted as she waited for my name. < My name is Aximil-Esgarrouth-Istihll. > I let her lean off me.

     She put a hand on her head. < I am delirious from the pain. > She whispered. < Delirious from the pain of what? > I did not get an answer, for Prince Jake cried, < Haul butt! Get out! > Cassie limped out, two of her paws missing. Marco followed a large cut on the side of his head and chest. Prince Jake was the worst. His tail was completely blown off along with both his ears and the paw sliced off by the abomination. < Ax! Get your girlfriend and get out! > She took my hand in her's and ran out of the cage, no further. < Arghhh! I cannot go any further! > I looked around the room. A fly! I caught the insect and lightly squeezed it. < Zizih! Morph! > She lightly touched the insect and transmitted its DNA into her. < Done. I am morphing. > I felt her shrink. Everyone was out of the building, even Visser, but his Controllers were not so lucky. I started to morph fly. < Stay where you are, Zizih. I am morphing also. >

 I finished, and we flew out the main door together, hid behind the tall bushes with the others, and demorphed. I privately spoke to my team. <  Something is wrong with her. Her name is Zizih. She barley got out of her cage. She is in pain, a deep pain. She said she was delirious from it. > Of course, I left out the part where she let her head lay on me. I did not want them to know that I had feelings for her. The Animorphs decided to go home and rest. I did not want to be alone with Zizih. Her head on me was a sign that she wanted to take her small relationship with me higher. I walked behind Cassie as she began to her home. I grasped her shoulder. < Cassie? Do you mind if Zizih stays within a stall in the barn? > She nodded and invited me over.

  Cassie made Zizih a cozy little place in a stall for horses. Zizih yelped and cried out, having enough energy to yell and curse at Cassie. As Cassie walked out of the stall, she stopped to talk with me. " Yeah, something is wrong with her. Every time I brush her fur around her belly, she cries out or she shrinks away from me." I thought of what I learned in school but came up with nothing. < Yes, I heard her. > I walked away from Cassie's barn. < Aximili! Come back! > I did not listen to her calls, for I would see her tomorrow.

  Cassie, Marco, Tobias, Rachel, Prince Jake, Eric, and I all met in Cassie's barn with Zizih. Eric was going to give Zizih a small checkup as he called it. We all waited. I had to strain myself from running into the stall and find out what was going on. Zizih was afraid and upset, crying out in fear. < No! Get away! Argh! Get that object off me! AXIMILI!! > She was yelling for me, as if I was her husband. The first time she yelled my name the group looked at me in awe. I had to answer. < Zizih, That Eric is with you. He is a Chee. Do not try to kill him, you will waste energy. > Nevertheless, she kept calling out and cursing until Eric stepped out of her stall an amazed look on his face. " Umm, it seems that Zizih a - " Zizih interrupted him < NO! Be quiet MONSTER! Do not listen to him. What do Chee know about us Andalites, Aximili!?!?! NOTHING! > Eric sighed and tried to tell us the news. " Good news is that-" < SHUT UP!! MONSTER! GET OFF MY CASE! AXIMILI! > This continued for quite sometime until Eric knocked her out with a kind of sleeping medicine. Eric looked upset, mad even. " Zizih's a mommy. Baby's dad is.. well..." He looked embarrassed now, not wanting people to know. He cleared his throat and continued. " Baby's daddy is Visser Three.Oh, and it's a girl."

  Everyone's eyes grew wide. Marco broke the silence. " That means.... OH GOD!!" Prince Jake glared at Marco. " Sicko! He only did that to have more Andalite Controllers. Who knows? She might be a Controller!" I did not want to come to that decsion. Zizih was beautiful, but maybe Prince Jake was right. Eric had more news. " Visser wants his kid. He seaching for Zizih and her child, but he doesn't know that the child isn't here yet, but it will be soon. Less than two days. I say go down to the Yeerk pool and fight. Let her morph Ax and fight." I was surprised, flabbergasted. A few seconds later, she woke up. < I am sorry Aximili, so sorry. >

   The plan was that tomorrow we would meet at a restaurant named McDonalds that has a Yeerk pool opening. It was my job to get her decent morphs before tomorrow. She had a human morph, but she needed something to fight with. She took my DNA and we flew as flies to what humans call a zoo. She picked her own morph, a female lion. I could tell she was ready any day to give birth. Her face was always slightly wrapped in pain. I tried not to, but I could not help but keep one of my stalk eyes on her face and one on her belly. She caught me staring. < I am sorry, so sorry. Well, rules of morphing for Andalite females with children. One, everything I morph will also have a child. Two, morphing does not stop the pain, so I will have to stop once and a while. Three, my child will turn into the animal's natural child, so no matter what, it will fit me. > I had an idea. < Zizih, morph human. I want to show you something. >

    I led her to the vending machine, cutting it open with my Andalite tail blade before it disappeared into my human morph. " Have you eaten human food yet?" She was in the same yellow dress as last time, her blond hair cascading down her back. Her blue eyes glittered in the moonlight, as she looked up at me, one hand on top of her belly the other at her side. " No. NEOOOO." I tore open a small bag of what Prince Jake called M&M'S. She popped one in her mouth and her eyes lit up. " Oh my! Miyyyyyy ohhhh!"  I threw one in my mouth and the world stopped. " CHOCOLATE! " Zizih looked at me, confused. " This is called chocolate.” I guess we both had the same thing in mind. “ C HO-CO-LATE! LATTTTTE!" We both laughed.

     The day came when we had to go in the Yeerk pool. Zizih morphed her human again, I did also. We all met at McDonalds ready to get this done. Prince Jake went first, said the password to the man at the counter, then Marco, then Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias. My turn was next, then Zizih. We found our way quickly to the door. We all made sure we all stood on the top step. Zizih seemed nervous, which did not help her child. She stood beside me, holding my hand tightly. Prince Jake spoke first, staring at Zizih. " Battle morphs. Zizih, you can take a break if you need to. Storm after Visser if he's here, if not, just attack."  I could tell he was worried about Zizih, so was I.

    Blood everywhere made my hooves slip. Dead bodies lay here and there. My arms were lacerated, cut into chunks. Everyone was tired, especially Zizih. Her baby could not handle the noise and blood. She stood beside me, her lion paws covered in gore and one blown off by a Dracon beam. She was panting, overheated and in pain. She has not taken a break sense the fight started, so she was completely wore down. . She could not take another fleet of Hork-Bajir. < Aximili, I.... Arghhh!!> The lion curled up in the gore, shaking. She started to demorph < Cassie! > I looked for the wolf. Nowhere! < Cassie! > I searched through the bodies for a gray wolf. Had I missed the fall back call? If so, where should we go? < Aximili! > I looked at her only to find Visser, his tail to her throat. < Zizih, where is my child? I know it is here. WHERE?!?! > His tail dug into her throat, letting a trickle of blood out. She was shaking violently as she answered calmly. < It is not born yet. However, it will be soon, I promise you that. Argh! > Visser took his tail from her neck and looked at me with his main eyes.< What are you doing here, Andalite? Protecting your friend here? > He laughed inside my head. I spoke privately to Zizih. < Get out. Morph and get out now. Get to Cassie's home. I will be back later. >

   Visser glared at me. < Tail-to-tail, Andalite scum! You and me. > He ran towards me this tail swinging in midair. My stalk eyes followed Zizih up the stairs in human morph. I could tell she was in pain as she barley made it up the first step. " Argh!" She cried out, and Visser turned his stalk eyes to her. < Zizih! How dare you run away from me! I need the child you- ARGH! > I pulled the muscles in my tail and hit him in the side of the head with the flat side of my tail blade. It knocked him out cold. I ran over to Zizih, letting her get on my back, slowly but surely. Her legs straddled my belly, her arms around my upper chest, and her belly against my back. She whispered in my ear, " It will not be long. Hurry!" She was right, for her child pounded against my back, agitating me. I made sure not to upset her child as I raced up the stairs, Zizih breathing deeply. I had to morph human. I let her down easily as I morphed. " Morph fly, Zizih!" I saw her slowly shrink. It was a lot to ask, but I wanted her and her child to survive she was done as soon as I was. I grabbed her and put her in my pocket. She complained and moaned as I made my way out of McDonalds and I ran to Cassie's home.

    I sat on a hay bale, my human head bowed, listening to Zizih's cries of pain from her stall. Cassie was home but she was asleep. If she did not awake soon, I would have to help Zizih with her birth. She morphed human and she came out of her stall and sat by me. She let her head lay against the wooden stall door. She brushed her hand across her eye. She looked at the small bead of water on her finger. " Wha...what is this?" I looked at her finger and replied, " It's called a tear. You are crying, where water leaks from tear ducts in human eyes." I felt myself about to cry also. Cassie walked into the barn sleepily, walking over to the sink to wash her hands. Zizih looked nervous, so I gave her a human sign she would be OK. I slid my hand over her's and squeezed. I admit, I have feelings for her. So beautiful. She looked at me in surprise, and then smiled. Cassie slid on gloves and let Zizih walk slowly into her stall to demorph. Cassie popped her head out of the stall door," Hey, Ax? I don't think Zizih wants you to hear her in pain, no offense." I smiled and ran to the woods behind her house.

    I came back the next day, worried how she was. Cassie was tending to a sick goose when I walked up in my human morph. I came up quietly and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around, surprised. She laughed. " You can't get enough of her, huh?" I smiled and I felt my cheeks grow hot. She put the goose back in its cage and led me to Zizih's stall. Zizih was sleeping, all her eyes closed, to the farthest left wall. Her child standing beside her, staring at us with all of its eyes.” I think she named it Estril. " Cassie said as she made her way slowly to the little one. I also stepped in, shut the stall door, and demorphed. I nodded. < Yes, that name is very popular on my planet for females. > Cassie slid her hand over the child back. Her bladeless tail twitched out of reflex, but kept all of its eyes on me. I smiled and walked over.  Zizih's main eyes flew open and in a millisecond, her blade was at my throat. She pulled it away as she found out it was me. < Aximili! I thought you would not come back! > She placed her palm on my cheek in an Andalite kiss. I returned the kiss by putting my palm on her face. < Why would I leave you in such a condition? I... I have feelings for you. I cannot leave you for all the planets in the Graysha Nebula! > I let my palm fall from her face and she did the same. Zizih looked down at her child. < She looks a lot like you, her eyes, I mean. > It was true; her eyes were a sparking green. I smiled, feeling like a father.
 

                                                           The End

                          ( Watch out for Distant Dreams 2! Email me! )