My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. I am an Andalite, as my name tells you.

<Ax-man, Ax-man!> Tobias came shooting over my head to wheel once and come to a screeching halt. I almost laughed as he caught a branch, because he was going too fast, and did a sommersault on the branch to come up staring me in the eyes.

<Tobias, are you OK?> I asked him, holding back my laughter.

<There's nothing to laugh about, Ax. The Andalites have come!>

I stopped dead in my tracks. <Tobias, are you sure?> I asked him, my heart pounding.

<I'm sure> He said. <Meet us all at the barn in one hour!>With that he winged away. As I ran through the forest, my heart pounding, I reflected on this new turn of developments.

I had recently contacted the Andalite homeworld, after we had made the Yeerks believe the free Hork-Bajir were dead. And after Visser One had figured out who we were thanks to Marco's sentimentalness. You may be familiar with the story?

Anyway, to tell the truth, I was scared. You see, if an Andalite is very deeply dishonored, his 2nd-and-3rd names are taken from him. It severes all contact with your family. You are a rogue, an orphan with no family. The best you can hope for is that you die honorably in combat. Sometimes (very rarely) the Council votes to give you back your name if you do something very distinguished, and you are considered a hero. If your names are taken away, you will probably be demoted to aristh. It kills any chances of promotions.

Anyway, needles to say, I was nervous about the prospect of facing dishonor, because it was believed I broke Seerow's Kindness. You probably know that. And I was nervous of who might be there. You know that I promised Prince Jake that only he was my prince, but if an Andalite Prince showed up?

<Greetings> the Andalite who seemed to be the leader told us.

<Yes> Ax replied.

This time, another Andalite answered. He was smaller than the other three, and was a lighter color. <We are the reinforcements for now. The fleet sent us ahead to see if the Earth situation was worth salvaging. We must report in. But first, we must give you something. Aximili?>

<Yes> Ax said nervously. We have a present for you. Here.>

I was stunned! The disk took a long time to play, with a lot of private instructions for me. But the "long and short of it," as my human friends say, was this.

War-Prince Galuit (he had been promoted after the battle on Leera which we won), told me that for my services in the war, I was promoted to Warrior with a temporary promotion to Prince so I could lead the arisths.

Yes, arisths. Under my command I had four arisths who were deeply dishonored, as you will see.

"So what this means is-"

<Wait, wait> the leader of the new Andalite said. <We don't even know each other. I am Devilin. This is my shorm, Xeltos, and our friends, Insithiniss, and the lone female in this squad, Henralina. You may call us Dev, Xelt, Insith and Henra.>

<Devilin-what-what?> asked Ax.

It's hard to say, but I think Insith drooped and Dev's tone became cold and dispassionate. <Just our first names.>

<But that means->

<Yes, we are deeply dishonored> Xeelt said, his tone dejected. <But we prefer not to talk about it.>

<No one must ever speak of this> Ax told the five of us in private thought-speak.

"So what's the other gift?" I asked, hoping it was a superpower or something like that.

<Where is Tobias, the son of Elfangor?> Dev asked diplomatically.

<Right here> Tobias said from his perch in the rafters.

<If you trap yourself in your human form and touch this cube,> Henra said, holding out something that looked like the blue box, only green, <you will be able to morph from that form.>

I don't know how that made me feel. I saw Rachel staring at me intensly. <We'll talk later.> I told her in private thought-speech. She nodded.

<Allow me to introduce the human morphers.> Ax said. <Tobias you know, Marco, Rachel, Cassie, and Prince Jake.>

<WHAT?!?!> demanded Dev.

<What's the problem?> asked Ax.

<We don't take orders from anyone but Andalites> Xelt said, but quietly.

I was MAD!! I don't know about you, but I was kinda MAD that they weren't even warriors and they went and dissed my boyfriend.

<We'll settle that later> Ax said. <Now you must report back to the fleet.>

They went and reported back to the fleet, with a recommendation to came save our butts. We got the Andalites some morphs, including birds, humans and a few bug morphs. We all left then, but I noticed Rachel looking at Tobias as she morphed to bird to go home.

I hope that they resolved it.

I was practically in heaven! Tobias could be human again! I could have him back!

<So, when are you going to trap yourself?> I asked Tobias.

<Who said I was going to trap myself?> he asked, startled.

<But-> he cut me off. And so on, until I got fed up.

<Tobias. You. Could. Have. Me.> I stated matter-of-factly.

<OK, Rachel, I'll consider it.> I said. <I'll tell you tomorrow.With that he was gone.

It was the next day. I saw Rachel, switching classes. <Rachel, I've made my decision. Meet me at my tree after school.> I saw her nod excitedly.

<Are you sure you want to do this, Tobias?> I asked my shorm.

"Yes, Ax, I do."

<OK.....two hours!>

"So what do I do?"

<Henra explained it to me last night. Press your hand against the box.> He did so, gingerly.

"I feel...tingly."

<You should. Here....> I held out a red-tailed hawk for him to acquire. He did so. Then he started morphing.He actually looked like an estreen. Only a little worse than Cassie. A little side effect of the box, I assume.

<YES!!!!! Sorry, Ax-man, gotta run!> With that he was off!

It was after school, at Tobias's tree. Man, if that jerk stood me up.....he's DEAD!!!

Just then, Tobias landed in the clearing and began to demorph.

"Hey Tobias. How long were you in morph?"

"Before this?.....Two hours and five minutes!"

"YES!!!!" I swept him up in a huge bear hug. He returned the hug, smiling.

"Rachel....." he whispered. "Will you-I mean, like, gooutwithme?" he asked hurriedly.

"Of course" I smiled. Then I kissed him and he kissed me, and the world and all it's problems seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye, and we were happy.