For the TV series version, see Ax

Captain-Prince Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, also known as Ax, was the sixth Animorph,^{[note 2]} the younger brother of Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, and the uncle of Tobias. In 1997, while stationed on the Dome ship GalaxyTree, Ax crash landed onto the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean of Earth, off the coast of California. After being rescued by the Animorphs, he aided them in their battle against the Yeerk Empire, although he kept secrets from them as he did not view himself as an Animorph but merely an ally. Following a botched assassination mission against Esplin 9466, Ax decided to share all that he knew with the Animorphs and officially joined the team as their sixth member. Ax then spent three years on Earth with the Animorphs, serving under Jake and becoming close friends with Tobias and Marco while learning about humanity.

In 2000, the Animorphs managed to bring an end to the Andalite-Yeerk War, which resulted in Ax being promoted from aristh to Prince. Serving as the liaison between Andalites and humans, Ax formed partnerships with Adobe, Microsoft, and Nintendo to grant them Andalite technology. By 2003, Ax was revered as a national hero on the Andalite homeworld and had been promoted to Captain-Prince after he was given his own ship, the Intrepid. During a mission, he located the Blade ship where he encountered The One who then assimilated him.

Biography

Early Life

Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill was born on the Andalite homeworld in the Andalite equivalent of the 1980s on Earth. His parents already had an adult son named Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul but had been seeking approval from the Andalite Council to have a second child.^[6] He was raised by his mother Forlay-Esgarrouth-Maheen and his father Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf, the latter of whom addressed him as "Aximili-kala" affectionately. Aximili revered and idolized his older brother Elfangor, a war hero whom he had yet to meet in person as Elfangor was off fighting the Yeerk Empire, although Aximili spoke to Elfangor sometimes through digital communication. Due to Elfangor's reputation as a warrior, Aximili often felt that he was living under his brother's shadow.^[3] During his youth, Aximili and his parents took a trip to the Elupera, where he saw tail-blade carvings made by ancient Andalite tail-blade masters.^[7]

While he was young, Aximili met Elfangor the first time in person when Elfangor returned to tne Andalite homeworld on leave. Aximili was surprised that Elfangor talked to him the same way he talked to their parents and did not treat him as a younger Andalite or give any lectures as a big brother. Aximili and Elfangor then went on a run together, and Aximili decided that he wanted to become a full-warrior just like Elfangor when he grew up, although Elfangor's return to the family home made Aximili realize he was not the most important person in their family.^[3] While spending time with his brother, Aximili was told an abridged version of Elfangor's adventures with the Skrit Na^[8] and that Elfangor once had an aristh friend named Arbron.^[9] He also overheard Elfangor discussing that Vissers in the Yeerk Empire each had their own private army with their unique uniform colors, and learned that Visser One possessed a human host body.^[10] Aximili was also told of the Andalite legends regarding Ellimists, all-powerful beings that Andalites believed in.^[11]

Student Life

Aximili joined the Andalite Academy, where he was an average student who sometimes struggled to retain information, as he was distracted,^[1] often by female classmates.^[12] Along with other students his age, Aximili took Xenobiology class in school, where he was exposed to Earth's television programming such as news shows and music programs during their study of humans,^[3] and he was taught how to read and speak English.^{[note 3]} He was also taught how to read a written language used by the Yeerk Empire^[10] as well as being taught Galard, the intergalactic language of commerce.^[13] Within the academy, Aximili successfully gained the warrior-cadet rank of aristh,^[3] and like all other Andalites in the military, was given the power to morph^[14] via the Escafil Device^[15] and had to subsequently pass a morphing proficiency test.^[6] Aximili passed the test, and acquired a few animals from the Andalite homeworld.^[3]

Stationed on the GalaxyTree

In 1997,^{[note 4]} Aximili was allowed to accompany the warriors of the Dome ship GalaxyTree despite being an aristh since he was the younger brother of Elfangor, who had been stationed on the GalaxyTree as well.^[3] Unbeknownst to Aximili, his invitation onto the Dome ship was arranged by the Ellimist, who had plans for Aximili's role in the Andalite-Yeerk War.^[6][16] While on the GalaxyTree, due to his status as an aristh, Aximili was relegated to his private quarters or to the Dome area. During this time, Aximili ran into Nerefir, the Captain of the ship, with enough force to knock Nerefir down and bruise an eye stalk.

The GalaxyTree, which had been tasked with intercepting Yeerk Empire forces around Earth's orbit, traveled through Z-Space to arrive at their destination. Aximili was invited onto the Dome ship's bridge, much to his delight, and as they emerged into regular space, Aximili spotted Earth and remarked that the planet had more water than he thought. Aximili then used public thought-speech to ask Elfangor if he could get Nerefir, whom he referred to as "Old Hoof and Tail," to allow him to join them when they landed on the planet, which earned him admonishment from Elfangor as Nerefir had heard him. Nerefir referred to Aximili as a ruffian but joked that Aximili would be allowed to live since he liked the nickname. Before they could discuss further, the Dome ship's sensors spotted the Pool ship stationed around Earth's orbit deploying Bug fighters to attack them. Nerefir commanded the warriors to get into their fighters, and Aximili followed Elfangor as they made their way to the dropshafts.

Elfangor ordered Aximili to go to the Dome where he would be safe, which Aximili protested against as he wanted to fight alongside his brother. Elfangor told him not to argue and reminded him that arisths did not go into battle, and despite not wanting to agree, Aximili was forced to comply as Elfangor was his Prince. Before taking the dropshaft down to his fighter, Elfangor arched his tail blade toward Aximili, a gesture that Aximili reciprocated, and the brothers touched each other's tail blade. Elfangor assured Aximili that one day they would fight side-by-side but that it would not be in this battle, to which Aximili responded stiffly. As Elfangor prepared to take the dropshaft, Aximili realized he did not want to end their interaction on a negative note and told Elfangor to "go burn some slugs," to which Elfangor laughed and replied that it was his plan. Aximili then watched as Elfangor took the dropshaft down to the fighters before taking the dropshaft that brought him to the dome.^[3]

Crashing to Earth

Within the dome, Aximili noted that he was out of thought-speak range of the warriors and therefore he had no idea what was transpiring. Looking out of the dome, Aximili gazed upon Earth and its moon, and to his horror, spotted a Visser's Blade ship emerging. Aximili realized that a Dome ship would not be able to maneuver to fight against a Blade ship with the dome section attached, and true to his observation, the GalaxyTree detached the dome. Aximili observed as the remaining bridge of the GalaxyTree turned to intercept the Blade ship and could only watch in horror as the Blade ship fired several Dracon beams, which atomized the GalaxyTree and killed all of the Andalites who had been aboard. The explosion of the GalaxyTree propelled the Dome section into Earth's gravity well, which pulled it into the planet.^[3] While the Yeerk Empire believed that the Dome ship had burned up entirely in Earth's atmosphere,^[17] the burning Dome survived and crashed^[1] into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.^[5] Trapped on the bottom of an alien ocean, Aximili yearned to be rescued. One day, a tiger shark, a species native to Earth's oceans, entered the airlock. Aximili then stunned the shark and acquired it as a possible means to escape from the Dome ship. However, he was too fearful to venture out into the ocean and the subsequent surface world alone.^[1][16]

Rescued by the Animorphs

Following weeks of confinement, Aximili decided to reach out to his people using a mirrorwave call, which would enhance and broadcast the signal of his thought-speak.^[1][16] He hoped that other surviving Andalites would detect the call and come to rescue him. Instead, his distress call was detected by Visser Three, as he possessed an Andalite host body, as well as two humans. One of those humans, Cassie, swam to the Dome ship alongside three other humans named Jake, Rachel, and Marco using a bottlenose dolphin morph.

Aximili used a Shredder to knock them out for a while, and was surprised when the three humans revealed they knew of Andalites, Yeerks and Visser Three, since Aximili was told humanity was unaware of cosmic species. Aximili inquired as to how they had gained this knowledge and was stunned when he was told that Elfangor had informed them of the truth prior to being killed by Visser Three. Aximili struggled with the fact that his older brother was killed and asked if they fought or aided the Yeerk Empire. To his further surprise, the humans revealed that they were given the morphing ability by Elfangor prior to his death.^[1] Aximili realized that the situation would had to have been dire for Elfangor to violate the Law of Seerow's Kindness and bestow morphing powers to these humans, who called themselves the Animorphs.^[3] In addition, Aximili privately realized that he would have to kill Visser Three as per Andalite custom in order to avenge his brother if he did not wish to be dishonored.^[18][3] Aximili revealed to the Animorphs that he was an adolescent Andalite, not old enough to be on the front lines, and Cassie replied that they were also children. Cassie then introduced themselves properly to Aximili, who in turn introduced himself, although the humans had difficulty with his lengthy name, prompting Marco to shorten his name to "Ax." The young Andalite then asked the Animorphs who their Prince was, referring to their leader; when everyone else turned to look at Jake, Ax referred to him as Prince Jake from then on and pledged to fight alongside him until he could return to his own people.

While giving them a tour of the Dome ship, Ax stated that the Andalites often carried pieces of their homeworld with them and that it angered the Yeerk Empire. When Cassie asked for elaboration, Ax revealed that the Yeerk Empire often rendered any planet they colonized barren, similar to the Yeerk homeworld, and also killed all plant and animal species on the planet except for those vital for sustaining the local host population. Cassie became horrified at this revelation, which caused Ax to ponder if the Animorphs even knew whom they were fighting, adding that the Yeerks weren't just infesting bodies but also destroying life as they conquered the galaxy. Cassie asked Ax how long it would take for Andalite reinforcements to help them, and Ax responded that it would take a year or two. As Jake gaped at the thought of five kids being the only ones fighting the Yeerks on Earth, Ax smiled with his eyes and responded that there were now six kids. Rachel then inquired as to how the Yeerk Empire even got so powerful if the Andalite military was powerful, to which Ax responded that there were details he was not allowed to share with them, angering Rachel.

The Animorphs then decided it was time for them to leave the Dome ship, with Ax notifying them that had an aquatic morph. Just then, they noticed the silhouette of the Blade ship above them as sonar pings began to reverberate. They all ran to the airlock chamber and started to morph as water filled the chamber. They then exited the ship, Ax in tiger shark morph and the others as dolphins, just as depth charges shattered the reinforced glass of the Dome ship. As they made their escape, Ax asked the Animorphs what host bodies the Yeerks were using on Earth, and Cassie responded that they were using human and Hork-Bajir bodies. Ax stated that they should be fine as Hork-Bajir could not swim,^{[note 5][1]} but Jake then added that the Yeerks were also using Taxxons. Before Ax could disclose that Taxxons were capable of swimming, a group of them were dropped into the ocean from the Blade ship above. Ax remarked that his shark was a fighter and asked the others if this was true, and upon receiving confirmation, asked Jake if they should deal with the Taxxons. The five of them then attacked and killed the Taxxons with little difficulty.

The five of them continued to make their way towards the shore, and Ax asked them how they were keeping track of time; when the others responded that they had no choice but to guess, Ax divulged that he could accurately keep track of morphing time. However, they heard a noise coming behind them, and Cassie relayed the description of the unknown entity behind them. Ax recognized it as a mardrut, a creature that lived on one of the moons of the Andalite homeworld and expressed outrage at Visser Three acquiring and morphing into one of their animals. Ax was then shocked when he realized the Animorphs had already figured out that the mardrut was the Visser in morph and was surprised upon hearing that the Animorphs had fought him before and lived. The five children continued to swim for over thirty minutes although the Visser continued to pursue them relentlessly.

Visser Three then thought-spoke to them, stating that they could not outrun him and that he would either eat them or have them infested. Ax began to panic upon hearing the Visser speak to him for the first time, fearful that Visser Three was going to kill him just as he did Elfangor, although Cassie reminded him that the rest of them had heard the Visser's threats before and yet were still alive. With the five of them unable to keep swimming, Rachel declared that it was time to turn around and fight. Ax chimed in that they couldn't win, to which Jake responded that he would rather die in a direct fight than allow the Visser to kill them one by one in a chase. Ax remarked that Jake's response was something an Andalite would say and that they had a lot in common, adding that he wished things ended differently. Just then, a group of wild whales arrived and attacked the mardrut mercilessly, causing Visser Three to scream in rage and retreat.

With their morphing time almost depleted, the group all demorphed. The humpback whale which had saved them then offered to ferry them back to shore, and Ax joined the others in climbing on its back as it carried them towards land. The whale got as close as it could safely before the Animorphs and Ax were forced to disembark. Entering the water once more, Ax reassumed his tiger shark morph while the others turned back into dolphins and he followed them as they traveled from the ocean into a river estuary with brackish water, which his tiger shark could survive in. Upon reaching the riverbank, Ax joined the others in demorphing. Ax was curious when he noticed the humans putting on extra layers on their bodies, which he was informed was clothing. Just then, a bird landed above them, and Cassie introduced Ax to Tobias, a member of the Animorphs who was a nothlit, the Andalite term for someone who had been trapped in morph. Ax expressed his remorse and stated that they had paid a price for the gift his brother had given them, and Tobias stated that he had been with Elfangor in his final moments.

Jake then wondered what they were going to do with Ax, as they had nowhere to keep him and he could not travel in town with them. Cassie offered to hide him on her farm, as it contained forests, meadows and woods that extended into the national forest. Marco chimed in that they still couldn't bring Ax to the farm in his Andalite state. Ax then declared that he needed to morph and approached Cassie.^[1] Asking for permission,^{[note 6]} Ax acquired Cassie, Marco, Jake and Rachel in succession. Ax then blended the four acquired DNA strands into one unique strand; as the four DNA samples he acquired contained a balance of two male DNA and two female DNA patterns, Ax was able to choose the biological sex of his custom human morph and chose to make it male, as he himself was male. He was then asked by the Animorphs to get dressed with some of the extra clothes they had, but since he did not know how to, Jake and Marco helped him get dressed while Rachel and Cassie turned away. Although he had been taught to speak English verbally, this was Ax's first time having a mouth, and thus while speaking he began to repeat the words as he enjoyed the sensation of speaking. He also struggled to walk on two feet, but was supported by Jake. The Animorphs then escorted Ax to Cassie's farm.^[1]

Aiding the Animorphs

Building a Distress Beacon

Experiencing Taste

While living at the national forest at the edge of Cassie's farm,^[1] Ax made sure to still perform his daily rituals.^[3] Ax was visited often by Jake and Cassie, who spoke to him.^[10] Ax was given more information about Elfangor's demise, and learned that he had crash-landed his fighter at an abandoned construction site, where the Animorphs had encountered him, and that Tobias was the last one to leave Elfangor. Additionally, Ax was also notified that Visser Three murdered Elfangor while he was wounded and helpless by morphing into a giant creature and devouring him.^[3] Jake and Cassie asked him what he wanted to do next, and Ax told them that he wanted to return to the Andalite homeworld, which he informed the two was eighty-two light years away from Earth. As no human aircraft could make such a journey, Jake believed they would have to steal a Yeerk spacecraft. Shortly after, Jake brought the Animorphs to the far fields of the farm so they could all meet with Ax and discuss the plan. When Marco brought up that the plan was dangerous, Ax stated that "the higher the honor, the higher the danger" but was quickly told that they did not fight for honor. While this confounded Ax, who wondered what else they would fight for, he quickly realized that they were all that existed in terms of Earth's resistance to the Yeerk Empire and that they needed to be more prudent. Marco then inquired how they would be able to summon a Yeerk ship as they could not just call one to them, to which Ax responded that they could call a Bug fighter using a Yeerk Distress Beacon and that the ordeal would be a minor matter.

Marco reminded Ax that a Bug fighter contained one Taxxon and one Hork-Bajir-Controller, and that the matter of dealing with a Hork-Bajir meant it was not a minor matter; Ax then asked Marco if he was afraid. Angered, Marco asked Ax if he had ever fought any Controllers before, and Ax bowed his head as he admitted that he had not. After a few moments of silence, Tobias asked Ax if he would able to fly home with a Bug fighter and whether he could do anything to help them. Ax replied that he believed he could fly back home and that, as the younger brother of Prince Elfangor, he believed he could convince the Andalites to expedite their reinforcements to Earth, assuring the Animorphs that the Andalites were intending to come regardless. The Animorphs then decided to help Ax get back home.

As Ax needed parts in order to build the distress beacon, Jake decided to take him to Radio Shack. One Saturday, Ax went to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, which was the barn on Cassie's farm. He then morphed into his human morph, which he had integrated the morphing outfit into, which consisted of a skintight shirt and bike shorts. He was then given additional clothing to wear, but struggled to put on his shoes, which Cassie and Rachel did for him. Ax then joined Jake and Marco as the three took the bus to the local mall. Upon entering the mall, Ax was enticed by the smell of food and drink, as it was a smell unfamiliar to him. Unable to resist, Ax left Jake and Marco and followed the smells, which led him to taking an escalator to the second floor. He then followed a scent to Starbucks, a coffeehouse, and saw humans waiting in line. Ax then mimicked them and waited in line as well, where he overheard someone in front of him order a double latte. When it was his turn, Ax asked for a double latte as well, but did not understand when the human behind the counter told him that his total^[10] was $2.95.^{[note 7]} As Jake and Marco caught up with Ax, Jake paid for the drink. Noticing the other humans putting lids on their coffee cups, Ax marveled at the concept of lids, finding it simple yet effective. While walking towards Radio Shack, Ax took a sip of his latte and was inundated with the sense of taste, a sense he had not experienced before.

Upon entering Radio Shack, Ax went to the pegboards at the back of the store and picked up many components, and remarked that one would serve as a primitive gairtmof and that the other was a primitive fleer, but added that they would work. He also grabbed other items, such as coaxial cable and batteries. He then notified Jake and Marco that he needed a Z-Space transponder, only for the two to be confused. Ax told them that it was to translate signals into Zero space, but the two were still confused, and Ax explained that it was the anti-reality dimension that allowed for faster-than-light travel. Marco then informed Ax that humans were not capable of faster-than-light travel and that not only did they not have Z-Space transponders, but that he had never heard of Z-Space before. As Jake went to go pay for the items, Ax caught a whiff and more scents and told Marco that he believed what he was smelling was connected to the sense of taste. Having finished his coffee, he asked Marco if he needed to continue carrying the cup, to which Marco responded that he could just throw it away. As a result, Ax threw the cup at the head of a Radio Shack cashier, and as Marco rushed forward to apologize, Ax was enticed by a particular alluring smell; Ax then ran out of the store. Following the scent to the food court, he entered into a frenzy and rushed from table to table, grabbing and eating other people's foods. He took a bite out of a slice of pizza before throwing it aside, intent on finding the exact food that he was smelling. He then found a Cinnabun and exclaimed that this was the smell before shoving the bun into his mouth, where he relished over the taste.

Just then, Marco, who had caught up to Ax with Jake, yelled at Ax to run. Noticing men approaching him, Ax ran, but found the two human legs difficult to run with, as he was used to four legs; in addition, due to not possessing stalk eyes, he could not look at his pursuers while also running forward. As a result, Ax began demorphing in the public mall. He plowed into a lady while he was demorphing, and eventually caused many of the shoppers to scream and flee when they caught sight of him. While running towards the exit, he found his path blocked by a mall cop, who was a Controller and recognized him as an Andalite. When the Controller pulled out his gun, Ax used his tail blade to slash at the man's hand, drawing blood while the gun flew away. Ax then ran out of the mall's exit with Jake and Marco beside him. Ax followed the two into a nearby grocery store, where more shoppers screamed at his presence while he struggled to run on the linoleum, causing items on the aisles to crash onto the floor. As real police officers had surrounded the store, Marco yelled out a bomb threat to cause all of the shoppers to rush out, which bought them some time before the officers, some of whom were Controllers, from entering the store. Ax followed Marco and Jake to the back of store, where Marco tossed him an animal known as a lobster, as his plan was for them morph into it. The three quickly stripped down to their morphing outfits as their clothing, plus the Radio Shack bag, were placed in a trash can. Ax then began to morph into the lobster, and when he had shrunk sufficiently, Jake and Marco pulled him up into the lobster tank. Ax then completed the morph as his two allies began to morph. As lobsters, the three criticized the lobster's poor eyesight. As they could not see outside of the lobster tank, Jake told Ax to keep track of their morphing time while Marco recommended that they remain in the tank as close to the two-hour limit as they could get.

After an hour, Ax, Marco and Jake were picked up by a store employee, who placed rubber bands on their pincers and tossed them in a bag of ice with other lobsters. The bag was then given to a woman, who had purchased them, and the ice caused the three morphers to feel sluggish. When they arrived in her kitchen, Ax told the others that they only had seven minutes left in morph, and the three began demorphing. As they did, the woman who purchased them began screaming, and her screams were increased when she noticed Ax. Marco then asked Ax if he could instantly remorph to human, which Ax confirmed he could, and began to morph again. Marco and Jake convinced the woman that she was dreaming and the three then left her house.^[10]

Stealing a Z-Space Transponder

The next day, a Sunday, Ax met up with the Animorphs in the woods. With the Radio Shack bag retrieved from the grocery store trash can, along with the screwdrivers, solder gun, battery-powered drill, hammer, wrenches, pliers that Jake and Cassie brought, Ax successfully created a Yeerk Distress Beacon. Ax showed them the beacon when it was complete, but acknowledged that it was useless without a Z-Space transponder. Marco and Rachel both lamented over humanity not having such technology, but Tobias wondered whether the Yeerks would have a Z-Space transponder, specifically remarking that they had met a Controller with the human name Chapman who possessed a device that could communicate with Visser Three's Blade ship. Ecstatic, Ax confirmed that such a communication device would indeed have Z-Space transponders, adding that it would have multiple and therefore they could steal one of them without the theft being immediately noticed. Cassie asked Ax how small the transponder was, and Ax used his fingers to indicate that it was very tiny. Rachel was against the idea of re-infiltrating the Chapman Residence, as the Animorphs had done so once prior to Ax's rescue, and the mission had nearly resulted in Chapman's daughter Melissa being infested. As the group pondered in silence, Ax told them that he could not ask anyone to take risks for him; he expressed gratitude that they had rescued him from the bottom of the ocean and sheltered him, and remarked on how his own foolish behavior from the day prior nearly caused Jake and Marco to get killed. Cassie then came up with a suggestion that they morph into ants, an Earth insect morph that would allow them to enter Chapman's basement and steal the transponder without "Chapman" noticing them.^[10] Ax was given information regarding the Animorphs' previous infiltration of the Chapman Residence, and was notified that Jake had morphed into a miniscule insect known as a flea.^[18]

The next day, Ax went to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic where he and the others, minus Tobias, acquired black garden ants. They then went to the backyard of an empty house next to the Chapman Residence that was for sale and morphed into ants; however, they lost their sense of self and individuality. Upon regaining their consciousness shortly after, Ax, who was terrified, inquired what kind of foul creatures ants were, remarking that they had no self and were not whole, and likened them to being cells. The five of them made their way to Chapman's backyard, where Ax pondered that he knew enemies were nearby but did not know what enemies. Reaching the foundation of Chapman's house, they entered through a crack and found an enemy ant tunnel; when Ax reported that he could sense air coming from a side tunnel, Jake told him to follow it. They emerged into Chapman's secret office and demorphed, and Ax went to Chapman's desk, where he retrieved a Z-Space transponder out of the communication device. Noticing Marco looking for files, Ax smiled at him with his eyes and turned on a Yeerk computer that was on the desk. As Marco began to interact with it, Ax was shocked that Marco knew how to use a computer, to which Marco stated that while it was more advanced than what he was used to, he still knew how to use a computer. Ax then told Marco to go back to an earlier document that he had begun reading, and notified him that the report revealed that Visser One was coming to visit. Marco asked if Visser One was Visser Three's boss, and Ax confirmed it, adding that there were forty-seven Vissers in the Yeerk Empire and that Visser One had a human host body.

Not wanting them to stay too long, Jake told them to put the transponder near the crack and that it was time to morph back. Remorphing into ants, Jake and Marco went ahead through the crack while Ax, Rachel and Cassie pushed the transponder through it; as the three of them pushed the transponder, Jake and Marco cleared the way for them. In an instant, they were swarmed and ambushed by the native ant colony, to whom they were intruders; the five of them mentally screamed in pain as the ants stung them with poison and ripped out their limbs while using their mandibles to bite their waists in an attempt to bisect them. Realizing they were about to be swiftly killed, the Animorphs and Ax demorphed while still underground, and they burst out of the ground and into Chapman's backyard. Ax remained silent with the others talked and moved about before they escaped from Chapman's backyard and returned to their respective homes. With the transponder in possession, Ax was quickly able to finish assembling his distress beacon.^[10]

First Battle

A few days after the ant incident, Ax met up with the Animorphs on the far fields of Cassie's farm, where they discussed the perfect place to set off their trap since they could not use Cassie's family land, as it was the only place they had to keep Ax if the plan failed. Tobias informed them about a gravel quarry that was an hour's flight away that would work, to which Jake stated that if they were flying, Ax needed to acquire a bird morph. Cassie mentioned that there was a hawk about Tobias' size known as a northern harrier that was in her barn, and Jake asked Ax if he would be okay with acquiring it. Ax responded that he quite admired Tobias' form and thought it to be superior to the human body as it had talons and beaks as weapons. They then decided to initiate their mission on the upcoming Saturday, and Ax acquired the northern harrier not too long after.

On Saturday, Ax morphed into the northern harrier and flew with the Animorphs towards the quarry. As he flew, Ax enthused about the experience of flying and praised the bird's vision, claiming it was better than his Andalite vision. When they arrived at the quarry, they demorphed, and found shelter in an overhang. As he activated the distress beacon, Ax watched as the others, minus Tobias, assumed their various battle morphs, which he had not seen before, and admired the variety of animals that Earth had; as he had no suitable Earth battle morph, he had been told to remain in his Andalite form. Ax then told the Animorphs that he believed that when the war was over, Andalites would visit Earth for vacations and would acquire their animals. The distress beacon they relayed a returning signal, and they took positions as they watched a Bug fighter descend. When it landed, a lone Hork-Bajir-Controller stepped out, who was quickly taken down by the combined efforts of Tobias, Jake and Rachel. Ax then ran alongside Cassie and Marco toward the Bug fighter in order to eliminate the Taxxon inside; however, before they could do so, their path was blocked by Dracon beams, and the six of them found themselves surrounded by a hundred armed Hork-Bajir.

Visser Three then made his presence known, ridiculing them as he rhetorically asked if the Andalites thought that the Yeerks wouldn't have changed frequencies. Ax, meeting Visser Three in his Andalite form for the first time, began vibrating with anger and called out to the Visser, who was stunned to see a child and remarked on how the Andalites were using child soldiers. Before Ax could continue, Jake told Ax to remain silent. Visser Three then ordered them onto his Blade ship, which uncloaked itself, and told them that he would be transporting them to the mother ship in order to present them to Visser One. Ax followed the Animorphs as they were herded onto the Blade ship and confined in a dimly-lit room. The Blade ship returned to space, where a window opened up to show Earth. Ax remarked that Earth was a lovely planet, and that it was similar to the Andalite homeworld, but then apologized for their predicament, blaming himself for using the wrong frequency, although Cassie told him that it was not his fault.

The mother ship,^[10] also known as the Pool ship,^[19] then came into view, and Ax claimed that the Yeerks had generated the window to show them the Pool ship in order instill them with fear. When Rachel inquired how humanity did not sense the Pool ship through radar, Ax informed her that the ship was cloaked and therefore not visible to radar, and that the ship itself was usually invisible. Ax began explaining some of the functions of the Pool ship before disclosing that Yeerks had a weakness to Kandrona rays and that there was most likely a Yeerk pool in their city, although Marco chimed in that they were already aware of it. Jake then asked Ax how much time they had left in morph, and Ax responded that they had used up 40% of it. As the Blade ship prepared to dock with the Pool ship, Ax pondered on whether humans feared death; Marco responded that humans did, and then asked if Andalites feared death as well, which Ax confirmed. Entering the Pool ship, the Animorphs spotted the different uniforms of the Controllers, and Ax notified them that he remembered Elfangor mentioning that each Visser had their own private army, and that the army had their own uniform colors.

The Animorphs were then presented by Visser Three to Visser One, and Rachel remarked on how the two Vissers clearly did not like each other. When Visser One walked away, Visser Three deliberated on what to do with the "six Andalite bodies" and mused at the thought of giving them to six of his lieutenants. Infuriated at the thought of more Andalite-Controllers, Ax yelled Visser Three and called him filth and an abomination. Visser Three then asked them why Ax was the only one who had spoken to him and why the rest of the "bandits" still remained in their Earth morphs instead of demorphing; however, he then shrugged it off and ordered his guards to confine them to a holding cell. Inside the cell, the Animorphs discussed possible strategies of escape. Ax recalled that there was an Andalite saying "grace is the acceptance of the inevitable", indicating they should just gracefully accept their inevitable demise. Marco refused to accept surrender and instead suggested that they use the ant morph to escape; Tobias, who could not morph, told the group to do what was best for them and that he would take his chances, while Ax stated that it might work as the Yeerks might not expect an insect morph.

However, before they could enact their plan, the door to the cell opened, revealing three gold-uniformed Hork-Bajir-Controllers standing by a group of either knocked out or dead red-uniformed Hork-Bajir-Controllers. One of the gold-uniformed Hork-Bajir-Controllers notified them how to get to the dropshaft and that if they took it down fifteen floors, they would find an escape pod that was programmed to return them to the quarry. The Animorphs wondered why the Yeerks would want to help them escape, and Ax pointed out that the gold-uniformed Controllers were part of Visser One's guard, and that if they escaped, it would look bad for Visser Three. With a laugh, Cassie remarked that Visser One was helping them escape for political reasons.

As they ran out of the holding cell, Visser Three's Hork-Bajir-Controllers ran toward them. With no choice but to engage in conflict, Ax announced that it was a battle. For the first time in his life, Ax engaged in direct battle against the Yeerk Empire, as his only prior battle had been killing Taxxons while he was in shark morph. Using his tail blade, Ax severed the arm of a Hork-Bajir, which Marco praised. Gleeful, Ax praised Marco's fighting as well. While progressing through the Pool ship, Rachel informed them that she had found the dropshaft but that she did not know how to use it, and Ax notified the Animorphs that dropshafts understood both verbal speech and thought-speak commands and that they were to use thought-speak to get to their destination; he then added that it at least worked this way on Andalite ships. Ax then jumped into the dropshaft and joined the Animorphs as they exited onto the appropriate floor, where Ax led them to the direction of the escape pod. As they ran into the pod, Jake asked Ax how much time they had left in morph, and Ax replied that they had 5% left, which Jake translated to being six minutes left. The escape pod then deatched from the Pool ship and flew Ax and the Animorphs back to the quarry.^[10]

Impersonating Jake

Now back to living on Earth, Ax was approached by Jake, who asked him how exactly a Yeerk infestation worked.^[2] Despite the Law of Seerow's Kindness, Ax deemed this information as something he could share^[3] and therefore informed Jake of the process. He also was notified that Jake's brother Tom had been infested and was a host body for a Controller. Ax was also told about The Sharing, a front organization that the Yeerk Empire used to recruit more hosts. Sometime after, the Animorphs decided to infiltrate a meeting at The Sharing's Headquarters to learn more information, and decided to do so using a cockroach morph. However, as Jake had already morphed into a cockroach previously and knew from firsthand experience that it took practice for a cockroach to understand spoken speech, a decision was made for the team to master the ability prior to their surveillance mission.

Ax acquired a cockroach and joined the rest of the Animorphs one evening as they gathered inside Marco's apartment, where Ax noticed that the others seemed fearful of turning into cockroaches. Despite this, Rachel, Cassie and Marco morphed, and Ax joined them; the four then spent an hour listening to Jake speak until they mastered the ability to understand speech. As they demorphed, Ax remarked that Earth had a variety of wonderful animals, to which Rachel retorted that cockroaches were not one of them. Jake attempted to convince the others that they all did not need to go, and eventually revealed that he had a dream where he was hunting his brother. Ax remained in silence as the Animorphs discussed their next steps before they ultimately decided to continue through with their reconnaissance mission. On another night, Ax morphed into his human morph and walked alongside the human Animorphs as they entered an abandoned restaurant near The Sharing's headquarters. There, Ax demorphed before remorphing into a cockroach and joined the Animorphs as they infiltrated The Sharing building. Emerging inside of a meeting room, they listened as Visser Three entered in a human morph, which shocked the Animorphs, although Ax reminded them that humans had DNA to be acquired and that he himself had a human morph.

Ax listened to Visser Three's plan to use a hospital that they gained control over to infest over two hundred humans per Earth month, as well as their plan to infest the Governor of California. Ax inquired what a governor was and if it was similar to a Prince, which Jake confirmed. However, Rachel then informed them that the governor was aiming to be the future leader of the United States. Ax asked about the severity of a Controller being the nation's leader and if it meant all hope was lost, which the Animorphs affirmed. Jake then decided that they had heard enough and that it was time for them to leave; however, as they began to make their exit, they were spotted by a human-Controller. As Visser Three yelled that the cockroaches could be Andalites in morph, Ax and the Animorphs scattered as they were nearly killed by the Controllers. Ax screamed in thought-speak as he was attacked, but managed to escape into a crack in the wall along with Cassie. The pair then exited the building, where Ax demorphed before remorphing to human. He then walked back "home" with Cassie as Tobias confirmed that the other Animorphs had successfully escaped.

On Saturday, Ax joined the Animorphs as they gathered at the barn to acquire houseflies, the morph that they were going to use to infiltrate the hospital. Cassie was chosen to be the first to morph, although the sight of her bug eyes popping out of her human face caused Rachel to vomit, prompting Ax to wonder if the morphing process was disturbing to them. Cassie was exhilarated by the sheer thrill of the speed of the fly's flight and informed the others about it. Ax and the others Animorphs joined her in morphing into flies, and Ax found himself thrilled by the fly's ability to zip around. They then landed on Tobias' neck as he flew them to the Berman Clinic. When they arrived at the Berman Clinic, they jumped off of Tobias, who guided through an open window. Arriving inside a hospital room, Jake split them into two teams — Ax and Cassie with himself, and Rachel and Marco as the second team. Ax, Cassie and Jake flew into a hallway, where Ax was nearly swatted, although he avoided the blow. Cassie notified them that she recognized a somewhat familiar smell, and the three followed the trail, entering a room where the smell was originating from. Jake asked Ax to demorph first, which Ax did so. As he resumed his Andalite form, Ax noticed a human-Controller in the room. With his tail having emerged, Ax chose to merely knock the Controller out instead of killing him as he usually would a Controller, fearing that the Controller's host body might be Jake's brother. With the man unconscious, Ax informed Jake and Cassie that it was safe to demorph. As they did so, Ax explained why he had not killed the man; Jake clarified that the man was not Tom but that avoiding killing human hosts was a good thing as the man was somebody's son, brother, or even father, which Ax accepted.

Jake and Ax then noticed a portable Yeerk pool with several Yeerks inside, and Jake asked Ax what would happen to the Yeerks inside if the water was agitated and heated at 120°F, to which Ax responded that the Yeerks would die. Deciding to boil the Yeerks inside alive, Jake told Ax and Cassie to guard the door while he focused on boiling the Yeerks, with Cassie using her wolf morph. Moments later, two human-Controllers entered the room, and Cassie leaped onto the female Controller while Ax engaged with the male one; Ax tried to use his tail blade on the Controller, although the Controller stayed out of range. Two guards, also human-Controllers, then entered and pulled out guns. Jake shot a warning to Ax, who used his tail blade to slice off the arm of one of the armed guards, although the second guard succeeded in firing bullets into the room. While Cassie and Ax managed to avoid the bullets, one of the bullets ricocheted and hit Jake in the head, causing his head to fall into the Jacuzzi.

Ax and Rachel were among the last to keep the Yeerks at bay while the others escaped, and the two managed to make their way to the national forest, where Tobias guided them to the rest of the group. As Ax was aware that Jake had fallen into the portable Yeerk pool, he was suspicious that Jake had been infested; as a result, Ax did not accompany Rachel as she met up with the team but instead sneaked up silently behind Jake. Ax then tapped Jake on the shoulder, and as Jake turned around, Ax put his face very closely to Jake's and peered into his eyes. "Jake" then formed a facial expression filled with hatred and contempt, which confirmed Ax's suspicion; Ax then put his tail blade to Jake's throat and notified the Animorphs that Jake had been infested. Despite the Animorphs initially yelling at Ax for his actions, Marco and Cassie remarked how unresponsive Jake was after he had fallen into the Yeerk pool, which Ax confirmed was a symptom of infestation. In order to be certain, the Animorphs decided to detain Jake for three days. "Jake" protested, stating that he could not be gone for three days as his parents would notice and search for him, prompting Cassie to suggest that Ax morph into Jake and play the role for three days. Ax then stepped forward and placing his fingers on Jake's forehead, and as he acquired Jake, "Jake" referred to him as "Andalite filth," confirming Ax's suspicion that "Jake" was a Controller.

Ax and the Animorphs escorted Jake to the shack, with Cassie at Jake's side, Rachel in front of them, and Marco and Ax taking up the rear. Jake's Yeerk tried once more to claim that he was not a Controller and that he had only called Ax "Andalite filth" because they were having a bad day with the hospital attack, to which Ax remarked that it was not that bad a day since they had boiled several Yeerks to death, with Jake's Yeerk only having survived by infesting Jake. As they continued walking to the shack, Ax morphed into Jake, while incorporating the morphing outfit he normally used for his primary human morph, and monitored the way Jake walked and talked in order to convincingly play the part. As they approached the shack, "Jake" stated that Ax would not be able to successfully convince Jake's family; Rachel then replied that she, Marco, and Cassie would coach Ax, although Jake's Yeerk responded that their plan would not work. Using Jake's voice, Ax disagreed and told Jake's Yeerk that humans believe what they saw.

The group then reached the shack, where Jake was tied up. Ax was then instructed on how to portray Jake, and Ax informed Cassie about the Fugue, the final stages of a Yeerk's death from starvation. When Ax had been sufficiently taught, he went to the Berenson Residence to begin his impersonation mission. For the next two days, Ax morphed into Jake every two hours.^[2] In order to fit in, Ax was taught how to use a knife, spoon, and a fork, and during his time impersonating Jake, observed that Jake's family prayed before dinner and that Jake's father fell asleep watching television after dinner.^[3] On Monday night, Ax ate six pieces of chicken during family dinner, along with a pie that was meant for the whole family, all the while making mouth sounds of the word "potato" while eating potatoes and corn. On Tuesday morning, Jake's Yeerk died from starvation, and later that day Jake resumed his life, allowing Ax to return to his life in the forest. Due to their attack on the Berman Clinic, the hospital was shut down, which prevented the governor from visiting the facility and being infested.^[2] Although Ax believed that he had successfully fooled Jake's family, he later learned that due to his behavior while impersonating Jake, the family believed Jake had become mentally ill and took him to see a doctor.^[3]

Destroying the Kandrona

First Trip to the Yeerk Pool

On a Sunday shortly after Jake's freedom, Ax came across a cougar in the woods that tried to attack him. Using his tail blade, Ax sliced at the cougar, although he made sure not to attack it fatally. As the cougar fled, Ax found the experience to be exciting. The next day, on a Monday afternoon, Ax regrouped with the Animorphs in the woods as Marco had called a meeting. Marco revealed that he and Tobias revealed that they had discovered a new passageway into their city's Underground Yeerk Pool Complex, and Ax remarked that Yeerk pools were the center of the Yeerks' lives^[11] and that it was like a religion to them.^{[note 8]} Marco disclosed that the entrance was in a dressing room of The Gap at the mall, and that there was another passageway at the movie theater where human-Controllers often exited from. Jake wondered what they should do with this knowledge, and Ax exclaimed that they should attack; Rachel and Cassie then brought up that they had tried that before and that not only was the pool complex massive, it held dozens of Controllers and that Tobias had been trapped in morph during their last trip to the pool complex. Deflated, Ax muttered that a warrior was to be judged by the power of his enemies, but felt the fear the Animorphs were feeling.

Rachel asked Ax what he could tell them about the Kandrona, and Ax divulged that the Kandrona was a miniature sun that beamed Kandrona rays into the Yeerk pool that a Yeerk needed to absorb every three days. Ax then added that even if they went through with an attack on the pool complex, they should not expect to find the Kandrona there, as the Kandrona could be miles away and still be able to beam the Kandrona rays into the underground complex. Rachel inquired whether destroying the Kandrona would strike a severe blow to the Yeerk Empire, and Ax responded that if they had a spare Kandrona it would not hurt them much, and that either way it would not be a permanent strike since the Pool ship had a Kandrona; additionally, he claimed that it would be a hassle for the Yeerk Empire to constantly shuffle human-Controllers back and forth from the Pool ship. As the Animorphs mused how Visser Three would let a lot of Yeerks die,^[11] Ax realized that they believed that the human hosts would now be freed, whereas he knew the Yeerk Empire would just kill the hosts. However, he chose to keep this to himself, as he believed destroying the Kandrona was necessary and that the Animorphs would not proceed with this plan if they knew the human hosts would die.^[3] The Animorphs then decided that they would indeed return to the Yeerk pool complex in order to perform surveillance and obtain the location of the Kandrona. As they fretted about having to return, Ax remarked that their fear of returning to the Yeerk pool was beginning to scare him.

The following day, on Tuesday, the Animorphs decided that they would try and enter the Yeerk pool and formulated a plan: Rachel and Cassie would meet up at the food court while Jake and Ax, the latter in his human morph, would enter the mall as their own group, with Marco entering on his own; separately, the three groups would make their way to The Gap and enter the second last dressing room, where they would morph into cockroaches. That evening, Ax morphed into human and went to the mall with Jake, where they made their way to the arcade to play video games to avoid suspicion; as Jake played games, Ax took a cigarette butt out of an ashtray and put it in his mouth.^[11] Ax enjoyed the taste of the cigarette butt, but was told by Jake to not eat them again as they were bad for him.^[3] The two then headed to The Gap and waited for Rachel, Cassie, and Marco to enter the store and go into the dressing room. Following Marco's turn, Ax entered the dressing room, where he demorphed and then remorphed into roach. With Jake joining them shortly after, the Animorphs and Ax made their way to the next dressing room. A human-Controller soon arrived into the dressing room and opened the mirror, revealing the passageway into the underground Yeerk pool, and the five of them successfully made their way through the passageway.

As they descended, Jake asked Ax about their morphing time, to which Ax notified him that twenty-eight of their minutes had passed; Marco then told Ax that since they were on Earth, it was everyone's minutes. Making their way down the ramp, the Animorphs remained silent, and Ax remarked that he wished he could see what was happening inside the pool complex, only for Rachel to tell him that he did not truly want to see what was transpiring. Arriving onto the floor of the pool complex, Cassie guessed they had spent forty-five minutes in morph, and Ax corrected that they had spent forty-one of their minutes in morph. The Animorphs recognized the scent of fries and decided to follow it, emerging into the lunchroom, believing they could spy on the human-Controllers there and glean information pertaining the Kandrona. Inside the lunchroom, Ax stated that he could smell other humans. Rachel replied that humans did not smell, and Ax quickly claimed that humans did have a smell; not wanting to offend them, Ax added that it was not a bad smell, but that the smell reminded him of the flaar on his homeworld. The five of them were spotted by a Taxxon, who swiftly caught them all on his tongue as Ax yelled that they were about to be eaten.^[11]

Meeting the Ellimist

Before the Taxxon could eat them, time suddenly stopped and Ax and the Animorphs were automatically demorphed by a mysterious force. As they stepped outside the lunchroom, Rachel spotted Tobias, who had been reverted to his original human form and transported into the Underground Yeerk Pool Complex. Ax confirmed that time had indeed been paused, and Cassie wondered whether it was a trick performed by Visser Three; as Ax responded that the technology to do so was far superior to anything the Andalites or the Yeerks possessed, a strange voice telepathically remarked that it was shocked to hear humility from an Andalite. As the voice began to refer to the Animorphs by their names and was able to also read their minds, Ax realized with horror and fright that the voice belonged to none other than an Ellimist, a member of a supposed race of superpowerful beings that Andalites feared, and the Ellimist publicly confirmed that Ax's deduction was correct. Appearing in a blue, humanoid form, the Ellimist told Ax to not be afraid, adding that the Animorphs were not fearful of him; when Ax responded that his human friends did not know what he was, the Ellimist retorted that Ax didn't know what he really was either, and that all he knew about Ellimists were the fairy tales that the Andalites told their children.

Ax clarified to the Animorphs that the Ellimist could cross a million light years in a single second, could make entire worlds disappear, and stop time itself; when Marco mused that the Ellimist, who had appeared to them looking like an old man, did not look that powerful, Ax snapped at Marco to not be foolish and that the body they were looking at was not the Ellimist's true body, adding that he had no true body and that he existed everywhere, including inside the fabric of space and time. The Ellimist claimed that he did not interfere in the affairs of sentient species but that he loved life, and would therefore interfere only if sentient species were endangered. Suddenly, the Ellimist transported them into the ocean, although he used his powers so that they could still breathe and would be unharmed by any factors. As they looked at the sea life, the Ellimist remarked that it was lovely before transporting them to various places on Earth so that they could take in the beauty that was on Earth, as well as the humans who lived on it. The Ellimist declared that humans were crude and primitive yet capable of understanding as he showed them a painting that a human had made.

Returning them back to the temporally-paused Yeerk pool, the Ellimist claimed that they would lose their fight against the Yeerk Empire and that humanity would be rendered extinct; in order to prevent this extinction, the Ellimist offered to relocate the Animorphs, their close family members, and other humans of genetic diversity, to another planet to live normal lives. The Ellimist demanded that they make their choice immediately; if they agreed, he would transport them and their family members to the new planet instantly, and if they refused, he would revert time to the way it was, with Tobias once again stuck as a red-tailed hawk while the Animorphs and Ax would return to being stuck on the Taxxon's tongue in roach morph. Marco scoffed that the choice was unfair since he was making the offer just as they were about to die, to which Ax chimed in that the Ellimist was giving them a choice that was no choice at all so that he could pretend he was not interfering and that the choice that was being made was one decided by humans. Tobias and Rachel voted against accepting the Ellimist's deal while Cassie expressed support, and Ax announced that he would not be voting as this was a human matter, although he added that he did not trust the Ellimist. Despite Cassie imploring that they accept the deal, Marco and Jake also voted against, with Jake believing that the Ellimist could not truly see the future since he should have already known what the Animorphs' answer would be. In response, the Ellimist reverted Tobias to his hawk form and returned him to his original place, while also returning the Animorphs and Ax to being stuck on the Taxxon's tongue in cockroach morph. The Ellimist told them that if they survived the ordeal, he would make them the offer once more, and then restored the original flow of time.

The Taxxon put its tongue back in their mouth and began to digest them while Jake yelled at them to demorph. As they began to get bigger, their lungs returned, which caused them to suffocate due to lack of air. With his tail having emerged, Ax notified Jake of this and asked if he should use it, which Jake emphatically told him to do. Ax then sliced the Taxxon from the inside out, causing him and the Animorphs to emerge out of its remains, splattered with goo. However, as they were in the lunchroom, they were immediately spotted by the human-Controllers, one of which ordered the others to seize them. As Ax and the Animorphs ran to the exit, a Hork-Bajir-Controller attempted to block their path, and Ax engaged in a fight with the Hork-Bajir-Controller to allow the others to escape. Ax made his way into the general area of the pool, where he saw Rachel being strangled by a human male Controller, and quickly used his tail blade to cut off one of the man's arms. A surge of Hork-Bajir-Controllers rushed towards him and Rachel, and Ax tried to keep them at bay with his tail, although he was wounded. Just then, Rachel morphed into a grizzly bear, a new battle morph that she had acquired, and began to give herself over to the bear's rage. The Hork-Bajir-Controllers were quickly felled as Jake also joined the fight in his tiger morph. Ax, Jake, and an out-of-control Rachel managed to make their way over to a dropshaft that Cassie and Marco had used, and the team successfully escaped from the Yeerk pool. The dropshaft took them to the base of a water tower in the city and Ax struggled with exhaustion to morph to human, although he managed to do so. Ax then returned to the national forest where he lived and demorphed.^[11]

Visiting an Alternate Future Earth

On Wednesday afternoon, while Ax was in the forest, he suddenly found himself teleported to a field alongside the other Animorphs, including Tobias, who was once again back in his human body. Ax announced that he had felt a distortion in time, to which Cassie stated that they had been transported into the future. Under Jake's suggestion, they decided to head to the mall, and on the way there, they spotted a high-speed train system, with Ax noting that the trains moved around three hundred of their miles; this caused Marco to remark that since Ax on was Earth, it was everyone's miles, to which Ax quipped that some nations on Earth used kilometers and that he had been learning about Earth. The team then arrived at the mall, where they observed that the building had become a Taxxon hive, and noticed a nearby Taxxon using a dropshaft to ascend to a platform where the high-speed train would be making a stop. Marco pointed out that since the Yeerk Empire had won in the future, any human walking around would be considered a fellow human-Controller; as such, they could walk around freely without garnering suspicion. In response, Ax began to morph to human, remarking that while the Yeerks would find his Andalite form out of place, and refused to accept Marco's remark that perhaps the Andalites had also been infested by this point. As he finished the morph, Ax sadly stated that what had happened to the mall was a tragedy, as the mall had contained several tasty food items such as cinnamon buns.

Using the high-speed Yeerk train, Ax and the Animorphs arrived in the Downtown district, where most of the buildings had either been destroyed or repurposed into Taxxon hives, although the EGS Tower remained standing, with its top two floors replaced with a glass dome. As they spotted a massive surface-based Yeerk pool, a human woman-Controller bumped into Rachel, causing Rachel to call her out. The woman-Controller quickly turned around and asked for Rachel's name, accusing them of being spies when Tobias suddenly pointed to Ax and claimed that they were with Visser Three. As Ax demorphed, the Controller apologized and stated that Visser Three had since been promoted to Visser One; in addition, she remarked that she had not known that the Visser had returned to Earth. Embracing the role, Ax informed her that he was sparing her life as she had been vigilant but that he was dismissing her, which she graciously accepted before running away. Jake inquired as to how long the Ellimist would keep them in this timeline, and Cassie theorized that the Ellimist must want them to notice something. Moments later, a Bug fighter landed near them, and as Rachel walked towards it, Ax continued to play the role of the Visser as he swaggered in front of Rachel.

However, the real Visser then emerged out of the landed Bug fighter, alongside a human woman that was revealed to be Rachel's future self. Future Rachel, who was actually a human-Controller, gloated how the Yeerk Empire had defeated the Animorphs and had succeeded in subjugating Earth, although she kept glancing at Ax. Visser One then disclosed that he was aware that it was the Ellimist who had sent them forwards in time, but referring to the Animorphs as being six humans before quickly correcting himself and stating that it was five humans and an Andalite. When Cassie nearly tripped trying to walk away, Rachel moved to catch her and nearly fell herself. This caused Future Rachel's Yeerk to reach for Rachel, and Ax quickly put his tail blade against Future Rachel's throat to stop her. As Visser One looked at Ax with a confused expression, Rachel noticed this and shared her realization with everyone: the reason the Visser was confused at Ax's presence and had stated earlier that the Animorphs consisted of six humans was because that was what he had expected them to be, therefore indicating that the history of the timeline was different. Enraged, Visser One divulged how he had captured the Animorphs of this timeline and how he had given them as host bodies to his lieutenants; Tobias, who had been trapped as a hawk in this timeline as well, had instead been killed, roasted, and eaten with barbecue sauce. Jake and Rachel were both furious upon hearing this, and Ax notified that he did not think Visser One would kill them out of fear that their premature deaths could alter his history; Jake then replied that the inverse was not true for them and that they were free to hurt the Visser. However, before they could take out Visser One, they found themselves in the woods behind Cassie's farm, having been teleported back to their original timeline by the Ellimist.

Rachel raged that she felt sick of everything and that there was no point in fighting as they knew what the world would become like once they lost to the Yeerk Empire. Rachel sat down on the forest ground and rested her head in her hands, and Ax tried to cheer her up by telling her that perhaps the world they saw had been an Ellimist trick, which Rachel refused to accept, citing that the Ellimist had more than enough power to force them to do things without having to resort to such tactics. With Rachel flipping her vote, the team now had three people in support of the deal and two against; Marco asked Ax if he would be abstaining, to which Ax replied that he would stand with Jake, which caused Ax to be considered as a vote against the deal as well. With the vote tied, Jake decided to break it by accepting the deal as well and called out to the Ellimist to relocate them instantly, although the Ellimist did not do so. Realizing that the deal would not be honored, the Animorphs returned to their homes and Ax went back to the forest.^[11]

Battle at the EGS Tower

Around 3 A.M. on Saturday, Ax was notified that the Animorphs were having an emergency meeting at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. At the meeting, Rachel revealed that the Ellimist had intentionally shown them the dropshaft and had sent them to the alternate future to show them something else as well; she then notified them that what the Ellimist had wanted them to notice was that the EGS Tower housed the Kandrona on its top floors. Now aware of where the Kandrona was, Ax and the Animorphs decided to destroy it immediately. By 5:10 A.M., the group arrived outside of the EGS Tower, where the Animorphs assumed their battle morphs while Ax demorphed, as he had used his human morph to travel to the EGS Tower. Marco, as a gorilla, punched through the glass door and knocked out the security guard Controller, which allowed them to enter the building while Tobias remained outside. Due to their weight, Marco, Jake, and Rachel, as a gorilla, tiger, and grizzly bear respectively, took the freight elevator while Ax and Cassie, the latter in wolf morph, took the regular elevator. However, Ax pressed the wrong button, which delayed their ascent. Upon arriving at the top floor, the other Animorphs had already dispatched two Hork-Bajir-Controllers and one human-Controller.

Rachel then burst into a room with eight Hork-Bajir-Controllers and initiated combat, and Jake ordered the rest of them to join the fray. During the battle, Ax used his tail blade to lash, cut, and sever the limbs of the Hork-Bajir while the Animorphs inflicted wounds with their claws and teeth. While fighting a Hork-Bajir-Controller, Rachel shoved them out of a window, causing the Hork-Bajir to fall to their death; however, the destruction of the window allowed Tobias to swoop in and rake the eyeballs of one of the Hork-Bajir, and the three remaining Hork-Bajir-Controllers fled. Marco barricaded the door and the others demorphed before entering the adjoining room, where Ax confirmed that the contraption in front of them was indeed the Kandrona. Using her elephant morph, Rachel pushed the Kandrona out of a window, where it then fell sixty stories and shattered onto the concrete below. Marco wondered if destroying the Kandrona would change the future, and the Ellimist, speaking telepathically to them, stated that every action changed the future before disclosing that the Yeerk Empire had already scheduled a replacement Kandrona that would arrive in three weeks. Marco began to wonder if their efforts had been wasted, to which Ax assured him that it was not a waste since three weeks without a local Kandrona would force the Yeerk Empire to rely solely on the Kandrona on the Pool ship and would therefore result in the deaths of many Yeerks. Ax then joined the Animorphs as they morphed to birds and flew out of the EGS Tower, having earned their first massive victory agaisnt the Yeerk Empire.^[11]

Veleek Chase

Since they both lived in the woods, Ax formed a friendship with Tobias, who began to refer to him as "Ax-man." Ax wondered if Tobias would ever ask him if it were possible to reverse his nothlit status, but as Tobias never bothered to ask, Ax decided not to give him an answer.^[3] As a result of living in the woods, fleas began to live on Ax's body, whose bites caused irritating bumps on his body. On a Saturday, he was met in the woods by Marco, who wanted Ax to join him as they morphed mice in order to infiltrate a pool party held by a classmate named Darlene; in exchange, Marco claimed he would give Ax a "rare medicine" to treat his condition known as flea powder. Ax was skeptical on the plan, wondering why Marco wanted to go to a party that he was not invited to. Marco claimed that Darlene liked Marco and thus did not invite him, which confused Ax, who did not understand when Marco attempted to clarify that liking someone was not the same as liking someone. Ax wondered why Marco wanted him to come along, to which Marco remarked that he needed someone to look out for him at the party, although Ax responded that Jake was at the party. Ax told Marco that he did not wish to offend him but that he found Marco's plan to be dishonorable, which Tobias echoed as he arrived with a mouse for them to acquire. Despite Tobias attempting to convince Ax to not accompany Marco, Ax stated that he needed the flea powder; additionally, while Ax knew that Marco's plan was foolish, Ax also believed that it would be better for Marco if he had someone with him. Marco then acquired the mouse before passing it onto Ax, who acquired it as well before letting it go. As they prepared to morph, Ax told Tobias that Darlene liked Marco but did not "like like him," which Tobias laughed at.

Ax morphed into a mouse alongside Marco, a morph which Ax described as being insane and difficult to control. As they made their way to Darlene's house, Ax remarked that the mouse must have a good reason to be scared as it had predators. At Darlene's house, Ax joined Marco as they sat underneath her chair and eavesdropped on her conversation. When Darlene spoke negative about Marco, Ax was taken aback as Marco ran out of cover and began running over Darlene's foot, and yelled at Marco what they were doing before joining him. Darlene screamed and fled, and Ax joined Marco in chasing her, and avoided being crushed by another boy. During the chaos, they heard Jake and Cassie's voices, and Marco decided that they would head to the basement to demorph. Marco told Ax to remorph into his human morph right after, and Ax merely stated that Marco's plan to crash the pool party was not a good idea. Making their way to the basement, Marco and Ax demorphed. Just then, they looked up as the sky as a dust cloud monster ripped up the roof and the upper floor of the house. Ax was terrified at the appearance of the beast, but managed to successfully morph to human. The beast disappeared moments after, and Ax joined Marco as they left the dilapidated remains of Darlene's house and reconnected with Jake and Cassie. As the four left Darlene's house, Tobias notified them via thought-speak that the dust creature had gone toward the woods.

The four of them went to Cassie's house, where they watched a news segment on the attack on Darlene's house in the living room. During the broadcast, they learned that the "freak tornado" had also attacked a freeway, and Cassie noticed Rachel on the scene, barefoot and in her morphing outfit. Realizing that Rachel had been in morph just like they had been, Marco put together that the dust entity attacking them was not a coincidence. The Animorphs asked Ax what the creature was, to which Ax responded that he did not know, while mentally remarking that his human friends expected him to know every thing that lived in the vast galaxy. Cassie then telephoned Rachel's house and learned that Rachel's family believed that she was at gymnastics camp while the camp believed Rachel was at home. The Animorphs and Ax subsequently left Cassie's house in order to find Rachel, with Cassie tasked with looking around town while the boys would search the woods. While Jake and Marco took the bus in order enter the woods near where the freeway crash had occurred, Ax entered the woods from Cassie's farm and ran towards where Jake and Marco would end up while Tobias flew overhead. While en route to the meeting spot, Ax smelled smoke as he sensed a fire nearby. Using his stalk eyes, he quickly scanned to see if there were humans nearby, as he needed to ensure that he was not spotted, and instead saw that the dust beast was headed his way.

Ax then ran toward the smoke, hoping it would mask him from the beast's sight, only to find a grizzly bear at the scene of the blaze. Ax wondered if it was Rachel and thought-spoke to her, and Rachel's voice responded by wondering if Rachel was her name. The dust beast then descended upon Rachel, and Ax watched in horror as the beast's whirling blades severed Rachel's front legs off. Realizing his tail would suffer the same fate and that he did not have the power to save Rachel, Ax began to morph into his northern harrier morph so that he could follow the beast. However, the moment he began to morph, the beast, which had been wrapping Rachel with tendrils, suddenly dropped her and rushed toward the morphing Andalite. Ax immediately realized that it was the morphing energy that he had emitted that drew the beast to him and reversed the morph. The dust beast then wrapped its tendrils around Ax and lifted him into the air, and as they flew away, Ax realized that the beast who was attracted to morphing energy was bringing him to Visser Three. The dust beast carried Ax up into atmosphere and dropped him into the Blade ship that hovered, where Ax found himself surrounded by ten Hork-Bajir-Controllers armed with Dracon beams along with Visser Three. Despite being sworn to kill the Visser, Ax did not rush in for the kill, knowing that the Hork-Bajir-Controllers would eliminate him.

The Visser remarked that Ax was an Andalite child and mentioned that his advisors had told him that the Andalite bandits may be human, and Ax, realizing that the Animorphs' identities needed to be preserved, helped sell the idea by claiming that the other members were his uncles and that they would destroy the Visser. Visser Three stated that Ax and his "uncles" had made his life harder by destroying the Truck ship as well as destroying the ground-based Kandrona, but that his Veleek would capture the Andalite bandits. The Visser explained to Ax that the Veleek was an entity from Saturn that fed on energy but that they had mutated it to hunt morphing energy; however, as Visser Three wanted the "Andalite bandits" captured, he had the Veleek programmed to bring the morphers to the Blade ship in exchange for energy from the Blade ship, which the Veleek was programmed to eat. Visser Three then ordered his Hork-Bajir-Controllers to put Ax into a Ramonite box before sending the Veleek back out to hunt for more "Andalite bandits."

Ax stewed with his thoughts in the Ramonite box for hours, distraught with the fact that he had not killed Visser Three to avenge Elfangor's murder and that it was dishonorable for him to not follow through with his obligation. One of the sides of his box became transparent, which allowed him to see the bridge of the Blade ship, where Visser Three stood with his Controllers. The Visser announced that he had made one of the walls transparent so that Ax could see the holographic live video footage being streamed to the Blade ship, which showed the Veleek chasing a tiger, which Ax immediately realized was Jake. However, just as the Veleek prepared to captured a tired Jake, the Veleek hesitated and dispersed into dust before flying away. Ax watched as Visser Three demanded to know why the Veleek had spared the tiger, and one of the scientists revealed that while the Veleek was engineered to hunt down a target that emitted the energy exuded during morphing, the target became less interesting to the Veleek once the morph was completed, as the emitted energy was significantly lower; while the Veleek would still hunt down the target, if another person started to morph, the Veleek would abandon the first target to go after the new morpher since they would be emitting a fresh new energy signature. With this information, Ax mocked the Visser, who then retorted that the "Andalite bandits" would not be able to keep up their morphing to lure the Veleek away, and that while he wanted to capture them alive for his own purposes, he would settle for them being killed.

While in his box, Ax watched the live footage in horror as he saw the Veleek chase a pickup truck driven by an Animorph before the truck then crashed into Rachel in her elephant morph. As the Veleek picked up one of the Animorphs, the Visser had Ax's Ramonite box lose its transparency. Ax then noticed a painful itch on his arm and scratched it, remembering that Marco had referred to them as fleas. Immediately, Ax recalled having been notified that Jake had morphed into a flea once. With the knowledge that the flea was morph-capable and believing that the Visser would not expect such a tactic since insects as small as fleas did not exist on the Andalite homeworld, Ax grabbed the flea, acquired it, and then morphed into it. Ax remained on the floor of his box waiting for the Yeerks to make the next move. A short while later, the Veleek brought Marco, who was in his gorilla morph, onto the bridge of the Blade ship. Wanting Ax to despair at seeing his fellow comrade captured, Visser Three had the Ramonite box's transparency restored. The Visser yelled when he did not see an Andalite trapped inside, which prompted one of the Hork-Bajir-Controllers to open the box. As Visser Three screamed at the Hork-Bajir-Controller to shut the box, Ax used the opportunity to jump out of the box and onto the Hork-Bajir, and as Visser Three swiftly killed the Hork-Bajir, jumped from the Hork-Bajir onto Visser Three's back.

Using thought-speech, Ax asked Marco if there were any computer consoles nearby that were operated by a Taxxon, which Marco confirmed. Ax told Marco that he would create a distraction so that Marco could reach the console, and instructed him to direct his thought-speech to the console and to think "Open hatch." Marco inquired what Ax's plan, and Ax laughed in thought-speech as he crowed that he would give Visser Three the morphing energy he wanted. Ax began to slowly demorph on the Visser's back, which caused the Veleek to converge on Visser Three and wrap him in its tendrils. As Visser Three yelled for water, Ax wondered what purpose water served before he jumped off the Visser, although he ended up jumping into the Veleek. To his shock, he discovered that the Veleek was not one entity but rather a swarm of billions of tiny insects. The Controllers then sprayed the Veleek with water, and Ax observed as some of those insects fell down onto the ground. Jumping onto the ground himself, Ax asked Marco to stamp his feet, and when Marco did so, Ax headed toward the vibration and got onto Marco's foot. Marco, who had successfully gotten to the console and opened the hatch, then flung himself out of the Blade ship. Marco shared the good news that they had successfully escaped, but added that they were now freefalling toward Earth. Ax and Marco then demorphed and remorphed into their respective raptor morphs as they flew back to the city.

The next day, on Sunday, Ax met with the Animorphs at the edge of the woods for an afternoon meeting. There, the team exchanged the information that each other had obtained; Ax disclosed that water had been used by Visser Three to attack the Veleek and that the Veleek consisted of billions of tiny insects, while he himself learned that Rachel had suffered from amnesia for most of the day until Marco had hit with the pickup truck and that the Veleek had been unable to lift Rachel in elephant morph as she had been too heavy. The Animorphs wondered what to do, and Cassie came up with a plan using the information they had gleaned: they would head to the ocean so that she could acquire a humpback whale, after which the others would use their aquatic morphs to lure the Veleek into the sea; Cassie would then let herself be captured by the Veleek and would demorph and quickly morph into the whale while the Veleek was still over the ocean, which would cause the humpback whale's weight to serve as an anchor and drag the Veleek into the ocean, where the water would then kill it. Since they could not morph until they got to the ocean and Ax could not walk in public in his Andalite form, Ax was left behind in the woods while the Animorphs enacted their plan.^[18] Ax was notified by the Animorphs shortly after that Cassie's plan had succeeded and that the Veleek had been killed.^[3]

Rift with the Animorphs

Trip to the Theater

Shortly after their defeat of the Veleek, Ax informed the Animorphs that he wanted to learn more about humans, as he believed that even if he could not become a war hero like Elfangor was, he could at the very least become an expert on humans. Ax noted that it would be tricky, but that he would have to find a way to learn about humans without telling them anything about Andalites, as per Andalite custom. The Animorphs met up in the woods, where they decided to take Ax to a movie in order to further his understanding of humans. Since Ax would have to be in human morph, Jake and Marco decided that Ax would morph in the woods, and then watch the first hour of a Star Trek: The Next Generation movie before leaving so they could get him back to the woods in order to demorph. With their plan in motion, Ax morphed into his human morph, with Rachel reminding him to incorporate his morphing outfit. He was then given a bag of clothing and got dressed, after which he was ridiculed by Marco, who stated that the clothing made him want to attack Ax, although Jake assured Ax they would protect him as they made their way to the mall.

Arriving at the mall theater, Marco bought popcorn and the three boys made their way way to their seats. Ax watched a preview and told Jake that he was confused by the plot, and Jake explained to him that it was a showcase of an upcoming movie and was not the movie they had come to watch. Marco offered Ax some of his popcorn, and Ax wondered it if was food, and Jake warned Ax to be careful since he knew how Ax got around food. Ax mimicked Marco and scooped up some popcorn, and found himself enamored with the taste of salt and grease, while privately remarking that the taste of popcorn reminded him of cigarette butts. Marco gave Ax the box of popcorn, and Ax began to eat the box itself, causing Marco to admonish him. The movie then began, and Ax remarked that the USS Enterprise looked like a Hawjabran freighter. Jake "explained" that the Enterprise was not a real ship and was fictional, to which Ax retorted that he knew that already since he knew what an actual interstellar spacecraft looked like, much to Jake and Marco's amusement. Ax found himself quickly bored by the movie, and was dissatisfied with how the movie kept referring to Ongachic females as "Klingons." Ax then noticed another box of popcorn by his feet and took it, and then noticed that the floor of the movie theater had other food. Getting on his knees, Ax ate a brown globule, which he enjoyed, and made his way past the feet of upset moviegoers in the row as he found colored pellets to eat. He then came across a child eating a lot of brown globules and asked the child to give it to him, causing the child and the child's mother to scream. Jake and Marco then grabbed Ax and hauled him out of the theater while Ax screamed for more globules.

Emerging out of the theater and into the mall parking lot, Jake remarked that Ax and chocolate did not mix; Ax asked if the brown globules were called chocolate, and Jake clarified that they were called Raisinets and that the colored pellets were called M&M's, and Ax noted that he could not tell if Jake was amused or upset. Tobias, who had been flying above, asked them if the movie was that bad, and Ax,^[3] contemplated using thought-speech to answer Tobias,^{[note 9]} although Tobias then informed them that a man screaming about Yeerks was headed their way. Upon spotting the screaming man, Ax told Jake that the man was a host whose Yeerk was dying, which Jake affirmed. Jake told Rachel and Cassie, who had been posted outside of the mall theater as an emergency and who had followed them since their exit, to split up and stay away, and Ax noticed that the girls did not comply with "the order" and joined them anyway.

Jake gleefully remarked that he had been waiting weeks for hosts to start being freed and that the Yeerk Empire would not be able to contain the incidents, and Ax remained silent. Rachel wondered why they had spotted no signs of this before when it had been two weeks since they had destroyed the Kandrona, and Ax mentally noted that Rachel was a true warrior who was skeptical unlike the other Animorphs, who were prematurely celebrating. Ax mused that he knew the Yeerk Empire would not allow the hosts to go free and that they would be killed to prevent witnesses, and contemplated telling Jake, since he knew Jake's brother Tom was a host, but ultimately chose not to since informing Jake would cause the Animorphs to ask him questions that he could not answer without violating the law of Seerow's Kindness. Ax watched as the city police and parademics arrived and ushered the man to an ambulance, and observed one of the cop-Controllers placing a cylindrical device to the back of the man's neck, which instantly killed him. Knowing that the others did not notice this and believed the man and his Yeerk would serve as evidence, Ax continued to keep his silence and "agreed" with Jake when Jake stated that the situation had turned great. The Animorphs dispersed and Ax returned the woods.^[3]

Going to Human School

To continue with Ax's plan to learn about humans, it was decided that Ax would attend school the next day in his human morph, pretending to Jake's cousin "Phillip" from out of state. The next morning, Ax performed the morning ritual while internally wondering why he was even bothering since he was a billion miles away from other Andalites and therefore there was no one to reprimand him for not doing the rituals. While performing the morning ritual, Ax contemplated on the vow to kill him solemn enemies and thought about how he had yet to kill Visser Three and avenge Elfangor's murder as per Andalite custom. As he was finishing the ritual, Tobias flew toward him and landed on a nearby branch, and asked him about the morning ritual. Ax explained that the ritual was done so that a warrior could contemplate when Tobias suddenly warned him that there was a venomous rattlesnake by his feet. Using his stalk eyes, Ax spotted the rattlesnake who quickly moved to bite Ax, only to bite his hoof. Using his tail blade, Ax pinned the rattlesnake down and acquired its DNA, explaining to Tobias that he had fewer Earth morphs than the others and that the rattlesnake morph could come in useful someday. Ax then finished the acquisition and used his tail blade to flick the rattlesnake away into some nearby bushes.

Tobias brought up about Ax going to school, and Ax lamented that he had misbehaved at the movie theater, much to Tobias' laughter. Ax explained that he was not prepared to handle the overwhelming taste he experienced in human morph, to which Tobias asked him how Andalites ate; Ax, confused, responded that he had hooves, which caused Tobias to drop the conversation. As it was time for school, Ax began to run through the woods with Tobias flying above and told Tobias about how he had learned about humans at the Andalite Academy and that he had not paid much attention in school. As they reached the edge of the woods bordering the school field, and Tobias told Ax that Jake and Cassie were walking toward them. Ax asked Tobias if he would be okay spending a day alone by himself, and Tobias responded that he could spend a day without Ax hunting rodents and preening feathers but that Jake had asked him to fly over the school, which Ax found comforting. Ax wondered whether Tobias could be his shorm, an Andalite term for a best friend, as they both lived in the woods and were cut off from their people, only to remind himself that Tobias could not be a true friend since friends had no secrets and as per Andalite custom, Andalites could not be open with other species. They were then joined by Jake and Cassie, and Tobias flew above to ensure no one was watching as Ax morphed to human. Ax then got dressed with clothing that Jake had brought for him, and assured Jake that he would not call him "Prince" and would behave normally. Ax then joined Jake and Cassie as they walked across the field toward the school building, and Tobias told Ax to have fun; Ax then turned around to tell Tobias that he would have fun, and the motion caused Ax to fall down as he was still not used to walking on just two feet.

Getting back on his feet, Ax followed Jake and Cassie to the school entrance, where they met up with Rachel and Marco. Ax observed that he found Rachel to be beautiful while in human morph although he did not observe this in his Andalite form, and that he did not find Marco to be cute in either form, as he had been previously told that humans found Rachel to be beautiful and Marco to be cute. Ax "introduced" himself to Marco and Rachel as "Prince Jake's cousin, Phillip" from out of state, which caused Jake to hiss at Ax to not call him "Prince" at school. Ax then followed Jake and Cassie into the school building, and Ax observed students looking sad along with the doors on the side as well as several smaller doors, which Cassie explained were called lockers. Ax asked about the "pendant" on the locker and whether spinning it was a ritual, and Cassie explained that it was a combination lock to prevent people from stealing stuff. Ax spotted a photo of Jake inside Cassie's locker and asked her why she had a photo of Jake when Jake was right there, which caused Cassie to lower her head in embarrassment while Jake smiled at her. Just then, Ax was startled by a loud noise which flooded his human morph with adrenaline, and he wondered what kind of beast had made the noise. Jake quickly told Ax that it was just a bell signifying that it was time for class and that his scream had caused the other students to stare at them.

Ax followed Jake into a classroom, where Jake told his homeroom teacher Mr. Pardue that his cousin Phillip would be spending the day at school with them, and Ax noticed that Jake was taken aback when Pardue irritatingly told him to take his seat. Making their way to the back of the class, Jake told Ax to take an empty seat, and Ax asked where he needed to take it to before Jake clarified that he meant for Ax to sit in it. Ax grumbled that sitting in the seat was unpleasant when Pardue shouted at them. Pardue then started screaming and clawing at his head, yelling at the Yeerk to get out. Jake looked at Ax and whispered that they had now seen two cases of hosts being freed, and Ax whispered back asking if Jake had known that Pardue was a host, to which Jake replied that he had not and that Pardue had been a nice teacher. Pardue continued to claw at his head, drawing blood, before collapsing and screaming, and Jake told Ax that he could not stand by and watch. Before Ax could stop him, Jake rushed to Pardue's side, and Ax followed him. Noticing other human classmates coming closer, Ax told them to stay away as there could be danger while Jake whispered in Pardue's ear that he had once been infested and was now free, and that he knew what Pardue was going through. Ax found Jake's actions to be foolish and dangerous and quickly scanned the expressions of the other classmates to see if anyone had overheard Jake's comment.

At that moment, the Controller known as Chapman entered the room, having been alerted to the situation by a student who had run out of the classroom earlier, and ordered the students to all leave. Jake remained at Pardue's side, and "Chapman", referring to Jake by his name, told him and Ax to get out. Ax pulled Jake up, and as they headed to the exit, Jake asked "Chapman" if Pardue would be okay, to which "Chapman" responded that no one could say. The two walked out the door, when Jake and Ax turned around and saw "Chapman" inject a cylinder into the back of Pardue's neck, which caused the screaming Pardue to fall limp and stop screaming. Realizing that Pardue had just been killed, Jake pushed through the crowd of students in the hallway and ran outside the school building, with Ax following him. Outside, Jake struggled to breathe as he blamed himself and the Animorphs for causing Pardue's death by destroying the Kandrona, and Ax claimed that destroying the Kandrona was necessary as it was war. Jake asked Ax if the Yeerk Empire would kill every human host whose Yeerk died of starvation, which Ax confirmed. Jake asked Ax how he knew, and when Ax did not answer right away, Jake pushed Ax up against a wall and repeated his question. Ax, feeling the adrenaline in his human body, angrily responded that Earth was not the first planet the Yeerk Empire had invaded and that the Kandrona had been destroyed before, and that the Yeerk Empire did not allow witnesses and former hosts to live.

Aghast, Jake blamed himself once again for their actions, and Ax repeated that it was war and that Elfangor had once told him to "Love the warrior, hate the war." Irritated, Jake told Ax that he felt like the Andalites saw humans as some primitive species in the war between the Andalites and the Yeerks and that they were seen as too dumb to be informed of what was going on. Ax tried to claim otherwise, and Jake told Ax that the Animorphs saw him as their friend and and that to them, Ax was one of the Animorphs and therefore should have shared what he knew with the team. Jake added that Marco and Rachel had questioned Ax not being forthcoming and that he had told them they could trust Ax, but that he was unsure now since there was clearly no trust. Jake reminded Ax that Tom was a host and that he had a right to know that Tom's life was endangered, and this caused Ax to retort that if he had shared information with Jake earlier, perhaps Jake would not have destroyed the Kandrona, which Ax saw as a vital mission in the war. Angered, Jake put his face close to Ax's and told him that Ax was right to learn about humanity since his current belief of what they would do was incorrect. Jake then stormed off and left school to return home while Ax returned to the woods and demorphed.^[3]

Modifying Human Software

Ax was informed by Marco that he wanted to "hang out," which Ax found out as Marco and Rachel did not take to him or show the same level of friendliness that Jake, Cassie, or Tobias had shown. Ax morphed into his human morph, got dressed, and made his way to the edge of the woods that led to the subdivision where Jake lived, where he met up with Marco, who referred to Ax as Pinocchio. This confused Ax, and Marco explained that Pinocchio was a wooden puppet who wanted to become human, to which Ax replied that he did not wish to become human but merely to study them. Marco retorted that he wanted to study Andalites, which confused Ax for several minutes until he realized that Jake had asked Marco to obtain some information from him. As they walked, Marco told him that he and Rachel were angry upon learning from Jake that Ax had withheld information from them, and that Rachel believed that Ax was not sharing information since he was not allowed to interfere with humans. Ax was stunned at how close his human friends had come to the truth, and Marco, realizing that Ax's silence was confirmation, added that he himself had volunteered to trick Ax into revealing stuff, but that Jake disapproved of the tactic as he wanted the Animorphs to be open with Ax in order to show Ax that he could trust them, which caused Ax to feel guilt as he was aware how well his friends had treated him and that he would not be able to survive on Earth without them. Marco revealed that the Animorphs had assembled their money together to purchase Ax a book about humans from the bookstore so that Ax could learn about them, and as they reached the bus stop, Marco suddenly realized that he had forgotten the money at his house.

Ax followed Marco down the street as they reached a house, and Ax claimed that this was Jake's house, as he had spent time there while impersonating Jake. Marco clarified that it was the same model as Jake's house and that he had moved here from his old apartment. Ax spotted a pinwheel lawn ornament and complimented it, which caused Marco to sarcastically remark that it was advanced human technology that he could not disclose to primitive species. As they approached Marco's front door, Marco told Ax that his father was working from home due to a sprained ankle and that Ax was just to wait by the table, and that if his father approached him, he was just to respond with only "yes" or "no." The two entered the house, and Marco went upstairs to his room while Ax stood by the table. Ax spotted Marco's father's personal computer and was stunned to see a primitive computer with a physical keyboard, and approached it. Noticing some code on the computer, Ax assumed that it was a game to fix the errors and proceeded to do so, and remarked to himself that he won the game when he finished. Just then, Marco's father, Peter, approached Ax, having noticed him using the computer, and asked if he was Marco's friend. Due to Marco's instructions, Ax claimed that his name was "No" and kept responding to Peter's queries with "yes" and "no," much to Peter's frustration. Peter then called out to Marco, who ran down the stairs with the money, and Ax left the house along with Marco. The pair then took the bus to the bookstore, where Marco purchased a copy of The World Almanac for Ax. Returning to the woods, Ax spent his time reading the Almanac, and memorized many sections, such as how it had taken humans just 66 years to go from flying their first aircraft to reaching the moon, and how it had taken Andalites nearly three times as long.

The evening of the next day, Ax was by a stream drinking when Tobias swooped down and told him not to move as the other Animorphs were looking for him. The rest of the Animorphs then arrived in their various bird-of-prey morphs and Ax realized instantly that they had been looking for him. Marco angrily questioned what he had done, but as he demorphed, he lost his thought-speech capabilities. Returning to human form, Marco yelled at him asking what he had done with his father's computer, and Ax explained that he was merely playing the game. Marco lashed out that it was not a game and that it was his father's work, which caused Ax to wonder if Peter made games for children, much to Marco's anger. Marco explained that his father made high-tech software, and that the program Ax had tampered with was software for astronomers at an observatory to use a radio telescope, and that he had to convince his father that "No" was not a genius when the astronomers believed that Ax's changes had opened up new branches of computer science and astronomy. Rachel then clarified for Ax that a Controller would be able to tell that an Andalite had been responsible for the software changes, which caused Ax to realize that if the software code was not a game but rather genuine, then he had advanced human science by a century or more and had subsequently broken the law of Seerow's Kindness.

Ax asked what a radio telescope was, and when Cassie explained that it was a sensor that picked up radio waves and other radiation from space, Ax was taken aback when he realized that with his changes, the program could be used to send communications using Z-space, which would then allow him to contact the Andalite homeworld and speak to his family. Ax was struck with an overwhelming feeling as he had not realized how badly he had been wanting to see another Andalite while the Animorphs questioned why he was being silent and asked what he was hiding from them. Ax mused that he had to destroy the update he had made but wondered if it would be wrong for him to use it to call his homeworld before destroying it, and when pressed by Jake to answer their question, Ax lied and stated that he was not hiding anything at all, after which the Animorphs left the woods. With the sky turning dark, Ax ran through the woods and fed under the moonlight, while thinking about how often he missed home during these nightly feedings and how he could actually speak with his home. Ax ruminated how he would be breaking the law of Seerow's Kindness further if he transformed the humans' radio telescope into a Z-space communicator but that he would have to go to the observatory anyway to revert his changes in order to rectify his crime, and wondered if it would be wrong to call his homeworld as long as he undid his advancements when he was finished with the call.^[3]

Dinner with Cassie's Family

Distracted with his thoughts, Ax ran out of the woods and into the fields of Cassie's farm, and berated himself for being so careless. However, as he turned around to run back into the woods, he heard Cassie's voice telling him to stay. Looking into the darkness, Ax saw Cassie coming out of her horse morph, and she explained that she liked running as a horse. When Cassie told him to keep it a secret because Jake disapproved of them morphing for personal reasons, Ax responded that he did not think Jake would be upset since Jake had feelings for her. Cassie quickly denied it and stated that Jake felt for her the same way he did the other Animorphs, prompting Ax to ask her why they sometimes held hands and intertwined their fingers, much to Cassie's embarrassment, who told Ax that he was not supposed to have seen them doing that. Cassie then asked him how his reading of the The World Almanac was going, and Ax told her that he had finished reading the entire book. Cassie inquired what he thought of it, and Ax told her that he found humans interesting and that he had come to believe that another reason that the Yeerk Empire wished to enslave and subjugate humanity was because they were afraid of humans.

Cassie, believing that this fear was due to all the wars humans had caused, attempted to tell Ax not to focus on wars, and Ax replied that most species fought wars and that all species carried guilt, and clarified that what he meant was that humans advanced quickly. Ax explained how humans had discovered radioactivity in 1896 and yet, just forty-nine years later, exploded a nuclear weapon, and how humans had flown for the first time in 1903 and only sixty-six years later, landed on the moon for the first time; as such, Ax had come to the belief that the Yeerk Empire was aware that humans may be capable of faster-than-light travel within the next fifty years and that they did not know what humans would be capable of in a hundred years. Cassie then inquired how long it took Andalites to accomplish the same feats, and Ax lied to her that he did not remember; he then noting that Cassie seemed to be disappointed in his response and told her that Andalites were not to share technology or talk about themselves with other species. Cassie pointed out that Elfangor had broken that rule by giving the Animorphs the ability to morph, and Ax responded that he was not Elfangor and that Elfangor might be forgiven by the people for his crime in a way he would not be.

Cassie then suggested that Ax morph to human and join her family for dinner, as she believed it would do him good. Ax asked whether he looked ill, and Cassie clarified that she thought he looked very lonely, which deeply affected Ax since he believed the humans were unaware of how lonely he truly felt. Ax asked her how she would explain his identity to her family, and Cassie told him to morph into Jake. She then took him to the barn and gave him some overalls and boots to wear before escorting Ax into her house. Inside, Ax was greeted by Cassie's father, who asked "Jake" if Cassie had roped him into cleaning the barn, to which Ax plainly responded that Cassie had invited him to eat their food. Cassie's father told him that they were having his hot chili for dinner, and Cassie panicked and told her father that "Jake" had already eaten. Just then, Cassie's mother walked in and gave Ax a hug before asking if he was joining them for dinner, and her parents joked that "Jake" had no choice but to join them. At the dinner table, Ax was hesitant to try the chili given Cassie's look of fear but decided to try a spoonful as he did not want to offend Cassie's father. Despite the chili being extremely hot, the intense feeling it elicited on Ax's tongue caused him to proclaim that it was wonderful as he ravenously finished his bowl. Cassie's father refilled his bowl as Ax quickly finished it, and when Cassie tried to tell him that it was enough, Ax yelled that he would eat hers as well. Cassie then kicked Ax twice in the shin under the table, and Ax agreed that he had had enough.

Cassie's mother asked Ax how school was, and Ax, mentally remarking that Cassie's mother had initiated the act of "making conversation," responded that school was fine before asking her how her work was, as he told himself that this was how the rules worked for making conversation. Cassie's father then asked Ax if he thought the Bulls would make it to the playoffs this year, and Ax noted Cassie's panicked reaction as she believed he did not understand the question; however, as he had read the World Almanac, Ax had learned that the Bulls referred to the Chicago Bulls and thus agreed with Cassie's father that they would indeed make it. Believing that the rules of "making conversation" now meant that he had to offer a follow-up, Ax asked the table if they knew that the cream separator was invented in 1858, and noted that they all looked at him in surprise. After dinner, Ax joined Cassie's family as they retreated to the living room to watch television, and Ax watched the television while also observing Cassie's family, remarking that Cassie's family did not pray before dinner like Jake's family did and that, at Jake's house, Jake's father slept in front of the television while in Cassie's family it was her mother who fell asleep.

After some time, Ax whispered to Cassie that his morph time was almost up and she got up to escort him outside. Cassie gave Ax a book of quotes since he had finished with the Almanac and asked him what he thought of her parents. Ax told that he liked them and asked why her father was missing some hair, to which Cassie responded that it was normal but that her father was sensitive about it; Ax then responded that his father's hooves were getting dull and that he was also sensitive about it. Cassie asked Ax what his father and mother were like, and Ax struggled to answer her as he told her they were normal parents before asking why his throat felt right. Cassie answered that it was Ax missed his family and that it was normal, and Ax stiffly responded that it was normal for Andalite warriors to spend a lot of time away from their families. Cassie reminded Ax that he was also a kid, and as they walked to the edge of the farm, Ax looked up at the night sky. Cassie, having noticed Ax's gaze, asked Ax if he was allowed to tell her where his parents were, and Ax pointed to the star where the Andalite homeworld was. Ax looked at the star the entire time as he demorphed, and Cassie assured him that all of them, including Marco and Rachel, cared about him. Ax merely thanked her for the chili and ran into the woods, and feeling too disturbed to sleep, stayed up for a while reading the book of quotes.^[3]

Calling Home

While reading the book of quotes, Ax saw the quote "E.T. phone home," and wondered if his friends had put that quote there knowing what his true plans were. Ax found a place to sleep by a tree but kept his stalk eyes open to look for any danger while he slept. He then thought of how lonely he was, and how the Animorphs were all sleeping in their homes, with the sole exception of Tobias. Ax, needing help to get to the observatory he had heard of, wondered if he could trust Tobias and made his way to where Tobias slept. Ax woke up Tobias and asked him if they were friends, and was surprised with how swiftly Tobias answered that they were indeed friends. Ax asked Tobias if he would keep a secret from the other Animorphs, including Jake and Rachel, to which Tobias stated that he would keep the secret from them so long as it did not hurt them. Ax asked Tobias to swear on something, and Tobias swore on Elfangor that he would keep the secret. Ax then asked Tobias if he could bring him to the observatory the next morning and not tell the Animorphs about it, and Tobias agreed.

In the morning, Ax performed his morning ritual while Tobias went to hunt breakfast. Tobias returned as Ax finished the ritual and Ax morphed into his northern harrier. Taking to the skies, Ax followed Tobias as they flew by the shore for over an hour until they reached the observatory. Ax laughed when he noticed that the observatory was using dish arrays and an optical telescope, which he found primitive, and sought to find a computer workstation. Tobias inquired what it was they were doing, and Ax replied that they were flying, much to Tobias' annoyance. Finding an opening in the dome, Ax and Tobias descended into the empty-looking observatory. Spotting a computer in an empty room, Ax informed Tobias that he would have to continue on by himself and that he had to demorph, and Tobias flew back out of the dome to keep an eye. Landing in the empty office, Ax used his harrier's hearing to confirm that there were other humans in the observatory but that none were near him. As he demorphed, Tobias, who was nearly out of thought-speak range, warned him that he could see seven humans having a meeting. Ax planned to remorph into his human morph, but found himself tired from morphing and that he would have to demorph and remorph into harrier in the event he had to make a quick escape; additionally, Ax remarked to himself that he wanted his family to see him as he truly was. Reaching the computer workstation, Ax spent ten minutes altering the code and used his thought-speech in conjunction with the radio telescope to break into Z-Space and link with the Andalite homeworld; Ax's modifications allowed the camera on the computer to transmit live footage of himself while also allowing him to send his thought-speech through the telescope to the other side; in addition, the telescope would transmit any receiving thought-speech from the other side and transmit it through the computer's audio system. With these changes, Ax successfully connected with the Andalite Planetary Communications division and found himself looking at Assistant Ithileran-Halas-Corain.

Ithileran demanded to know who he was since he was an unauthorized caller using a high-security link, and Aximili introduced himself to Ithileran with his full name and that he was the brother of Elfangor, and that he was calling from Earth. Ithileran was stunned that Elfangor's brother was calling from Earth and asked if Elfangor was with him, and Aximili notified Ithileran that Elfangor had been killed along with all of the other Andalites who were on the GalaxyTree and that he was the only survivor. Aximili asked Ithileran to connect him with his family so that he could personally inform them of Elfangor's death, and Ithileran agreed to connect him but stated that Aximili was to give a report first. Aximili disclosed that the Yeerk Empire had infested thousands of humans and that the humans were unaware of the invasion, and that numerous Bug fighters along with Visser Three and his Blade ship were also on the planet. Ithileran remarked that Earth was lost, and Aximili quickly asserted that Earth was not lost and that he was fighting with human youths, with whom he had destroyed a Kandrona. Ithileran was astounded and inquired how they managed to do that, and Aximili briefly wondered if he should tell the truth before stating that the human youths had the ability to morph and that they were using various Earth animal morphs to attack the Yeerk Empire. When Ithileran questioned how humans had the morphing ability, Aximili revealed that Elfangor had given it to him, which elicited a look of shock on Ithileran's face. Ithileran then looked at someone next to him who then took over the communication, and Aximili was awed when he instantly recognized the face of Prince Lirem-Arrepoth-Terrouss, an old war hero who was currently Head of the Andalite Council.

Lirem asked Aximili if he knew who he was, and when Aximili confirmed that he did, Lirem demanded to know whether it was true that Elfangor had indeed broken the Law of Seerow's Kindness and had given humans the power to morph, which Aximili once again confirmed. Lirem then inquired how Aximili managed to call them using a Z-Space transmission, and Aximili admitted that he had modified a primitive human computer to do so. Lirem accused Aximili of also breaking the law like Elfangor, which angered Aximili as he claimed Elfangor did what he believed was right. Lirem brought up how Seerow was also an Andalite who gave technology to the Yeerks, which ledt to the Yeerk Empire. After a moment of silence, Lirem mentioned that Elfangor was a war hero and that a Prince who broke the law could not be pardoned, but that an aristh could be, and Aximili was shocked as he realized that Lirem wanted him to take the blame. Lirem "asked" if Aximili, as an aristh cut off from his prince and his people, who had not yet been fully trained to be a full warrior, had been the one to give the humans the morphing power, and Aximili bitterly "confessed" to the crime while privately asking himself why he had bothered to call home. Lirem then used his status as Head of the Council to pardon Aximili for his crime, although Aximili knew that with his newfound criminal record, he would never get to become a Prince and gain glory like Elfangor did.

Lirem disclosed that he understood the temptation to break the law to help another species fight against the Yeerks, as he had once been an advisor to the Hork-Bajir during their fight against the Yeerk Empire, which prompted Aximili to interject that the Andalites had failed on that front and that the Hork-Bajir lost to the Yeerks. Lirem then glared at Aximili and gave him an order to keep fighting the Yeerks alongside the morph-capable humans but to not share any information or technology with them, and asked if Aximili understood the order that he had been given, which Aximili affirmed. Before he could say anything further, Lirem told him that they had found his father and transferred the call over to Aximili's father, Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf. Aximili was warmly greeted by his father, who referred to him by the affectionate nickname of "Aximili-kala" before asking where Elfangor was. Aximili regretfully informed his father that Elfangor had died, and was affected by having to see his father's reaction to the news. As per the Andalite death ritual, Noorlin asked Aximili whether Elfangor's killer still lived and if he knew who it was, and as per the ritual, instructed Aximili to take revenge as he was now the eldest son. With the ritual complete, Aximili was free to talk to his father freely, but before he could do so, the call was ended by a human-Controller, who pointed a Dracon beam at him.

Just then, Tobias flew through the dome opening and dove at the Controller's face, although the Controller put out his forearm to shield himself, causing Tobias to rake through a piece of the man's clothing while leaving bloody marks on the man's arm. The human-Controller yelled that he did not want to kill them and that he just wanted to talk, and Ax pointed out that he was the one aiming a Dracon beam at them. To Ax's surprise, the human-Controller dropped the Dracon beam before kicking it aside, and remarked that Ax could kill him or listen to what he said to say. Ax told the Controller to speak, who then introduced himself as Gary Kozlar. Ax retorted that Gary Kozlar was a human name and that he knew he was speaking to a Yeerk, and the Controller then introduced himself as Eslin 359. Eslin revealed that he had overheard the last few moments of the Z-Space communication, enough to learn that his name was Aximili and that he was the brother of "Beast" Elfangor. Eslin asked Ax whether he knew what Elfangor and Derane 344, the only Yeerk whom Eslin had feelings for, had in common, and told Ax that the answer was that they both were killed by the same being. Eslin explained that he had grown up with Derane 344 and had developed feelings for her, but that he had been given an important post at the observatory while Derane was lower-ranking. Eslin disclosed that when the "Andalite bandits" destroyed the ground-based Kandrona at the EGS Tower, this forced Visser Three to establish a feeding schedule to shuttle Yeerks back and forth to the Pool ship in order to feed but that the Visser had prioritized feeding the Yeerks he favored at the expense of sacrificing lower-ranking Yeerks. Ax asked Eslin if Derane was one of these Yeerks, and Eslin confirmed that she was and that she had been referred to as "expendable" by Visser Three.

Eslin then divulged that he had gotten some revenge by sabotaging a shuttle containing some of Visser Three's favored Yeerks, which prevented them from going to the Pool ship to feed and caused them to starve, and Tobias privately thought-spoke to Ax and commented that this was why they had suddenly started seeing hosts break free in public all of a sudden. Ax asked Eslin what the point of his story was and why he wanted to share this with him, and Eslin, who had also admitted that he had seen the software changes and correctly realized it had been modified by an Andalite and allowed for Z-Space communication, desired to work with Ax to achieve their mutual goal. Eslin informed Aximili that he knew where Visser Three went to feed his host body and passed a piece of paper to Ax with the location and time, and that he had a day to prepare. Ax mused that the location could be a trap, to which Eslin pointed out that he could have killed Ax with the Dracon beam when Ax was unaware of his presence; Eslin then reminded Ax of his duty to avenge Elfangor by killing Visser Three and urged him to complete his duty.^[3]

Leaving the Animorphs

That evening, Ax was informed that they were having a meeting at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic and that he was to attend. As he made his way there, he thought of how he was not strong enough to kill Visser Three and live while also wondering whether the Hork-Bajir could have avoided being enslaved by the Yeerk Empire had the Andalites broken the law and given the Hork-Bajir technology and information. Approaching the farm, Ax morphed into his human morph and entered the barn, where the other Animorphs were waiting for him, and immediately realized the purpose of the meeting when he spotted that Tobias still had the strip of bloody shirt on his talons. Marco brought up that Tobias refused to answer why he had the remnant of the bloody shirt and that he had deduced Tobias had made a promise with someone to remain silent, and Ax admitted to the Animorphs that he was the one who made the promise. This earned him the ire and indignation of Marco and Rachel, who accused him of wanting to control them and seeing them as inferior, which Ax denied, although he could not explain the true reasoning due to the Law of Seerow's Kindness.

Ax then yelled at them that he could not answer their questions and that he had to follow the rules, prompting Cassie to ask whether Elfangor had followed the rules when he had given them the morphing power. Ax shouted that he was not a big hero like Elfangor and that he was just a nobody. Ax told them that he could not answer their questions due to a law that prevented Andalites from sharing technology with other species and explaining why they couldn't. Jake remarked that he could understand the Andalites not wanting to share weapons technology but wanted to know why Ax could not share information that was vital to them, and Cassie remarked that it was because the Andalites had done something that they felt guilty and shameful for, having remembered what Ax had said the night before about all species carrying guilt. Jake asked Ax what the Andalites had done, to which Ax merely replied that the Andalites were once kind when they should not have been kind. Jake inquired if that was all Ax would tell them, and when Ax nodded, Jake stated that he could not accept that. Jake ultimately told Ax that if was not going to be honest with them, he could not fight alongside them or be an Animorph and would therefore have to be on his own. Finding it difficult to speak, Ax told them that he was grateful for how wonderful they had been to him and thanked them for everything they had done; he then added that they would not have been together for long anyway before walking out of the barn and returning to the woods.^[3]

Speaking to War-Prince Alloran

The next morning, Ax performed the death ritual instead of the morning ritual while Tobias watched. Tobias urged Ax to tell him where the meadow was and to tell the other Animorphs about the assassination mission, claiming that they would help, and Ax remarked that he could not tell Jake since Jake could forbid him from going. Surprised, Tobias asked if Jake being Ax's Prince meant that Ax had to follow all of Jake's orders, and asked Ax what would happen if Jake ordered Ax to answer all of their questions, to which Ax clarified that a Prince could not order him to break Andalite law. Tobias remarked that Jake was his Prince too in a way and that Ax's duty was to tell his Prince where he was going, and Ax rebuffed that he was not a good warrior. Looking up at Tobias, Ax stated that he had to complete the mission and asked Tobias to promise him that he would not follow him or tell the others where he had gone, and Tobias begrudgingly agreed.

Ax ran through the woods and arrived at the meadow that Eslin had told him about about an hour earlier than the expected time. Ax looked around for the ideal spot to strike Visser Three, knowing that the Visser would have Hork-Bajir-Controllers as guards. As Visser Three would be coming here to feed his Andalite host body, Ax imagined where he would go if he were feeding here, and noticed a spot of grass by a stream of water. Approaching the stream, Ax spotted Andalite hoofprints, which confirmed that Visser Three had been here before. Ax decided to hide in the patch of grass using his rattlesnake morph, with his plan being to bite the Visser's Andalite body, thus weakening him with venom, after which he would demorph and finish the Visser off. Morphing into the rattlesnake, Ax hid in the grass for an hour and tried to rely on the rattlesnake's calm mind to stave off his fear. Visser Three and his Hork-Bajir guards soon arrived, and Ax waited by the grass as he sensed Visser Three coming closer. As Visser Three stuck his Andalite hoof into the stream, Ax slithered forward, only to realize that his tail was rattling. The Visser noticed the sound and became alarmed, but before he could move, Ax struck one of Visser Three's Andalite legs and bit hard, envenomating the Andalite body. Ax managed to get a second bite in to inject more venomous toxin before slithering away. As he slithered away, he heard Visser Three yell at his Hork-Bajir-Controller guards to find and kill the snake that was nearby.

Upon distancing himself from the stream, Ax began to demorph as he prepared to rush back toward the stream and finish Visser Three off. However, while he was demorphing, he noticed a Hork-Bajir-Controller standing a few feet away from him. Since he was in mid-demorph, Ax was unable to defend himself, and as the Hork-Bajir-Controller rushed toward him, Ax accepted that this was how he would die. Just then, a grizzly bear appeared and charged at the Hork-Bajir-Controller, sending it flying away. Ax was stunned to see that Rachel was here, who promptly told Ax to finish demorphing so that they could continue the fight. As he finished his demorph, Ax spotted Jake in tiger morph jumping out of a tree and taking down a Hork-Bajir-Controller while Tobias flew above, giving directions to the other Animorphs about where the other Hork-Bajir-Controllers were, which Marco and Cassie took down. Ax accused Tobias of breaking his promise by telling the others, to which Tobias responded that he had gotten the idea from Ax and that since he viewed Jake as a Prince, he simply had Jake order him to tell him everything. Ax asked Tobias how he knew where Visser Three would be since he had never shared Eslin's note with him, and Tobias reminded Ax of the superior hawk vision and that he had been there when Eslin had given Ax the note and had therefore been able to read the note. Ax grumbled that Tobias had upset him, and Tobias retorted that Ax also got on his nerves but that they had to finish the mission.

Ax, Rachel, and Tobias made their way toward Visser Three, who was being helped by two Hork-Bajir-Controllers while Jake, Marco, and Cassie also made their way toward him from the other side. Noticing the "Andalite bandits" approaching, the Hork-Bajir-Controllers became fearful and Ax notified them that they could either flee or die alongside the Visser, and the guards dropped Visser Three to the ground before running away. Ax approached Visser Three and mused how the Visser was helpless before him the way Elfangor had been helpless before the Visser in his last moments when Tobias suddenly yelled that Visser Three had escaped from his Andalite host's ear and had escaped into the stream. Ax was shocked that Visser Three had abandoned his host and looked at the Andalite before him as he realized that the Andalite was now free. The Andalite warrior asked Ax to kill him, stating that he had seen unimaginable horrors and that he did not want to be reinfested again. Regretful, Ax notified him that the snake venom would likely kill him, and the Andalite replied that the Yeerk Empire would heal him and find Visser Three, after which he would be infested again. The warrior continued to beg for death and tried to use his own tail blade to slit his throat, although the venom prevented him from moving his tail properly. Despite knowing that if they left the warrior he would be reinfested by Visser Three, Ax told him that he could not bring himself to kill an uninfested Andalite. The warrior, understanding that his "fellow Andalites" would not kill him, divulged that he was War-Prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass and asked Ax to send a message to his wife and two children that he still loved them and hoped to see them again. Holding Ax's hand, Alloran urged them to keep fighting the Yeerk Empire and disclosed that they had managed to infiltrate the Andalite homeworld before passing out from the venom. With Yeerk Empire reinforcements headed their way, Jake ordered a retreat, and the Animorphs and Ax left the meadow.^[3]

Officially Joining the Animorphs

Becoming an Animorph

Ax spent the next two days in the woods thinking about the recent events with the Animorphs and ultimately decided that he would tell them everything they wanted to know. He asked the Animorphs to meet him in the woods and told them the story of Seerow and about the law of Seerow's Kindness, and how Andalites were responsible for the Yeerk Empire and their conquest of other species since Seerow had given the Yeerks the technology to do it. To his surprise, the Animorphs did not blame Andalites and instead remarked that Seerow had messed up by trusting the Yeerks but that it did not mean the Andalites should cease all attempts to befriend and help out other species, and Jake expressed that he just wanted Ax to tell them the truth and to be a member of the team. Marco stated that Seerow's mistake had been helping out with the wrong species, and that if the Andalites wanted someone to travel the cosmos with, humans would be the ideal species and that the humans would also bring food. Ax mused that humans might someday be greater than the Andalites, which Jake denied, stating that humans and Andalites would work together and learn from one another. Ax believed this would not be possible due to them two different species from two different worlds, which caused Tobias to ask Ax what the Andalites fought for; when Ax responded that it was for freedom, Tobias and the others echoed that they too fought for freedom.

Ax laughed and remarked that the humans were indeed teaching Andalites something new, and that they were right since they fought the same battle for the same goal. Rachel pointed out that the Andalites on the Andalite homeworld might not like Ax's newfound decision to tell the team everything they wanted to know, and Ax agreed that they would be upset and that he would have to explain his actions if he ever returned home. Tobias told Ax that Elfangor at the very least would be proud of him, and Jake asked Ax if he would officially join their team, which Ax agreed to.^{[3][note 2]} With their friendship restored and Ax now an official member of the Animorphs, Marco told Ax that there was a question that all of the Animorphs had been wondering, and asked how Ax could eat without a mouth. Ax revealed that Andalites ate grass through their hooves, as their hooves could absorb grass and water. Tobias remarked that this explained why Ax stuck a hoof in the water during his morning ritual, prompting the other Animorphs to ask what the morning ritual was, and Ax explained it to them. As he explained, Ax looked at Tobias, whom he decided was indeed his shorm, and hoped that Tobias knew that he would be able to ask him about his status as a nothlit.^[3] Ax notified his fellow Animorphs that nothlit was the Andalite word for one who was trapped in morph,^[20] and that he had placed a call to his homeworld and had spoken with his superiors^[21] using the radio telescope at the observatory along with the software changes he had added to Marco's father's program.

A short while later, Ax returned to the observatory to seek out Eslin 359, who was incensed that Ax had failed to kill Visser Three. Ax told Eslin to fire up the program so that he send a Z-Space transmission to the Andalite homeworld, and told Eslin that if he did not, he would inform Visser Three that Eslin had been the one to sell him out; Ax also promised Eslin that if Eslin complied, he would never encounter Eslin again and that they would be out of each others' lives. Eslin agreed and booted up the program, and Ax connected with the Andalite homeworld once more, finding himself speaking with Prince Lirem-Arrepoth-Terrouss. Aximili told Lirem that he would likely never be able to call again but that he had a message from Alloran-Semitur-Corrass, and felt satisfaction as he watched Lirem's eyes go wide in recognition of the name. Aximili told Lirem that Alloran wanted to send a message to his wife telling her that he still loved her and that he hoped to be freed, and Lirem stiffly inquired if that was all Aximili had to say. Aximili told Lirem that the Andalites had failed the Hork-Bajir by obeying their laws and customs; Lirem quickly warned Aximili not to say anything further or to disobey their laws, but Aximili continued, stating that humans were his people as well and that he would not allow the humans to fall to the Yeerk Empire the way the Hork-Bajir had so long as he lived. Lirem glared at him and muttered that rule-breaking must run in the family and that Aximili was just like Elfangor, which Aximili took as a compliment and laughed before the communication was ended.^[3] Using a virus, Ax removed the software updates he had made, returning Marco's father's program to the way it originally was.^[22]

Logging Operations

Living in the national forest, Ax became aware of a logging company that had set up a command center in the forest, and discovered that a force field was erected around it, along with armed guards. Ax and Tobias observed the place, and Ax discerned that the darkened windows of the command building contained hidden Dracon beams. With the knowledge that the Yeerk Empire was involved, Ax remained in the forest while Tobias flew to the barn, where the human Animorphs were. Tobias, Jake, and Rachel arrived above the forest in their bird-of-prey forms, while Cassie and Marco arrived on the ground as wolves. As Cassie and Marco slowly made their way to the command building, they were caught by a spotlight, which prompted the human-Controllers to rush toward them with rifles while triggering nets hidden in the treetops to ensnare them. While Cassie avoided the net, Marco was caught, and Ax ran out of his hiding place and used his tail blade to slice through the net. The human-Controllers began shooting at them, although Ax, Cassie, and Marco successfully ran away from the outpost. Making their way back to the edge of the forest near Cassie's farm, Ax berated himself for not thinking of nets being in the trees and explained that he had not factored them as being potential security measures due to nets being primitive. The Animorphs realized that the Yeerk Empire was conducting logging operations to find the "Andalite bandits" that they believed lived in the forest, which posed an issue as Ax and Tobias both lived in the forest, although Cassie was adamant that their reason for stopping the deforestation should also include protecting the environment and the lives of animals. Cassie wondered how the Yeerk Empire received legal permission to cut down trees within a national forest, and as the Animorphs concluded that they needed to find a way to enter the command building.

The next day, Ax was contacted by Jake and was informed that Tobias had scouted the command center and had learned that the Controllers wore transponders that allowed them to bypass the force field; additionally, Tobias had also discovered that termites lived within the wooden command center building and had grabbed one of the termites from a piece of wood that the Controllers, during additional construction of the building, had moved outside of the force field. Acquiring the termite, Ax morphed into his human morph in order to go to the mall with Jake and Marco, where they planned to meet up with Rachel and Cassie. After going to the arcade, the boys made their way to the food court, where they purchased nachos for Ax. Taking a seat at the food court, Ax ate the nachos and finished them by the time the girls arrived. Jake shared the updates with them, and Rachel wondered whether they could steal one of the transponders. Ax quickly explained that the transponders would not work for them as they would be biometrically linked to the respective Controller, and began to talk about the Yeerks when Jake quickly hissed at him to not say "Yeerks" out loud, to which Ax apologized. Ax listened as the others discussed morphing termites, and Jake removed the vial containing the termite that Tobias had stolen and assured them that it would be fine as they would be morphing a termite from the same colony. As Rachel and Cassie acquired the termite, the Animorphs made a plan to meet up late that night to infiltrate the command center.

With Ax, Marco, and Jake having acquired great horned owls,^{[note 10]} the Animorphs met at the edge of the forest at 3 A.M. Jake's plan involved having the team fly toward the compound, land and demorph about two hundred away, and then crawl as close as they could get to the compound before morphing into termites. Morphing into the great horned owl, Ax complimented the owl's superior night vision, which made the night seem like day, as the Animorphs, minus Tobias, flew toward the compound. As they landed and demorphed, Jake realized that they would not be able to get close enough to the compound and that they could not morph into termites from where they were, as termites were not fast enough to move toward the force field. Ax then volunteered to serve as a distraction, stating that the sight of an Andalite would divert the Controllers' attention, thereby allowing the others to get as close to the compound as they could. However, Jake refused to let Ax be the distraction, citing that Ax would be needed inside the command center building in the event there were Yeerk computers that needed to be accessed. With the human Animorphs playing a game of short straw, Jake was stuck serving as the distraction. As a spotlight came on and the Controllers converged on Jake, who howled, Ax and the human Animorphs slowly made their way toward the compound, eventually resorting to crawling. Huddled together, Ax wondered what sort of craatures the termites were like, with Marco claiming they were like ants, although Cassie clarified that they were closer to cockroaches and that the soldier termites that they would be morphing into ate the excrement of the worker termites, much to the disgust of Ax and the others.

The four Animorphs then morphed into termites and made their way to the force field, where they failed to dig under, although Cassie noticed that pine needles that were on the force field's line did not penetrate the pine needle, thereby allowing them to crawl under the pine needle to go under the force field. Ax, much like the others, was compelled by a "voiceless voice" in his head that directed him to the termite holes in the command center building, where he found himself in the termite colony. The voice, which was that of the termite queen, controlled their termite bodies, forcing Cassie to kill the termite queen, thereby freeing them from the control. Ax, Rachel, and Marco managed to find an exit into the command center and demorphed, although Cassie decided to demorph from within the wood. With no space to emerge, Cassie was on the verge of dying when Ax used his tail blade to shatter the wood floor, giving Cassie room to demorph. Cassie began to scream from the horrors she had experienced, forcing Rachel and Marco to silence and restrain her while Ax made his way to the computer. Managing to gain access, Ax asked Marco or Rachel to help him understand the information he had accessed, and Marco joined him. Ax spotted that the Yeerks' logging company was called Dapsen Lumber Company, which he found funny as Dapsen was Yeerkish profanity. Marco then revealed that the document was for a three-person commission that required majority approval for the Yeerk Empire to begin logging and that the Yeerks did not have permission yet, as one person said no, another had said yes, and that the deciding vote was a man named Farrand who was scheduled to visit the compound before deciding. Ax remarked grimly that Farrand would vote "yes" as the Yeerk Empire would simply infest him, although Marco reminded them that they could stop. Needing to escape from the command center but refusing to exit through the termite colony, Ax changed the computer's settings to allow him to remotely access it through Marco's home computer while also temporarily deactivating the security measures, including the force field. With the human Animorphs morphing into wolves, the four of them rushed out from the command center and successfully exited the compound without any Controllers noticing. With the Animorphs dispering as dawn arrived, Ax spoke with Tobias and informed him about what had transpired.

The next evening, Ax joined the other Animorphs outside of a skunk den just three hundred yards away from the Dapsen Lumber compound, as Cassie wanted the Animorphs to help save four skunk babies. Ax questioned if skunks were sacred animals to humans, and Marco responded that all animals were sacred to Cassie. Ax then pointed out that all animals were not sacred as humans ate cows, pigs, sheep, and dogs, prompting Cassie to deny that they ate dogs. Ax rebutted that he had read in The World Almanac that some countries on Earth did eat dogs, and when Rachel replied that they did not eat dogs in the United States, Ax asked if they ate cats. The conversation then switched back to the topic of saving the skunks, and Cassie notified them that they needed to morph a mother skunk that was being treated at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic for two days so that the skunk babies could imprint on their "mother," with Ax taking the day shift while the human Animorphs were at school while the others took after school and nights. Ax, along with Jake, Rachel, and Marco, acquired the mother skunk from the barn, and for the next two days Ax morphed into the mother skunk in intervals during the day to protect the four skunk babies as Tobias watched over him.

Three days after they had met in the woods, Ax was at Marco's house and used Marco's computer to access the Dapsen computer, where he discovered that Farrand's scheduled visit had been pushed up and that he was to visit the Dapsen compound later that day. Ax and Marco relayed the news to Jake and Rachel, and the four Animorphs headed to the skunk den to inform Cassie and Tobias, who were continuing to watch the kits as the mother skunk had not been released back into the wild yet. Jake brought his dog Homer with him, who ran toward the skunks, causing Cassie to spray Homer in defense. Ax, who was in his Andalite form by the time they were in the woods, remarked calmly that the smell was the worst thing he had ever smelled and that he believed it was making him deranged. As Jake sent Homer running back home, he had the group move to a different spot due to the smell. Jake then informed Cassie and Tobias that Farrand would be arriving in an hour and that they had less than an hour to make a plan and move into position. Rachel stated that the Yeerk Empire would not be leaving anything to chance and that they must already have a Yeerk in a vat at the compound waiting to infest Farrand when he arrived, although Ax theorized that they would simply try and convince Farrand since the Yeerks preferred voluntary infestation and might not take the risk of trying to infest Farrand if they could avoid it. Tobias then interrupted them to notify them that of the sounds of engines, which Jake initially chalked up to the Controllers simply rearranging their vehicular equipment in neat rows for Farrand's visit before thinking it over and asking Tobias to go and check on the compound. Tobias returned in alarm as he notified them that the Controllers had already starting using the machinery to start cutting through the trees, and the Animorphs realized that this confirmed that the Yeerk Empire did not care what Farrand saw when he arrived as they had already planned to infest him.

Ax reminded the group that the skunk kits, whom he referred to as "the little ones," would be in the path of the machines, and the Animorphs agreed to protect the skunks. In order to save Farrand, Cassie suggested that they simply rush into the compound and grab him as he arrived, stating that the Controllers would have turned off the force field in order to allow Farrand to enter. Jake agreed with the plan but remarked that they also needed to find a way to stop the tree-cutting machines, and split them into two teams: he assigned Tobias and Cassie with getting to the compound by air while he, Rachel, Marco, and Ax traveled by ground. Jake morphed into his tiger and ran toward the compound to grab Farrand while Marco and Rachel morphed into wolves to stop the Controllers who were operating the tree-cutting vehicles, although they were overpowered by the Controllers. Ax then ran toward them and used his tail blade to slice off the hand of a human-Controller who was about to shoot Rachel and Marco and proceeded to subdue the remaining human-Controllers. Marco and Rachel then demorphed and remorphed into their usual battle morphs before more human-Controllers, along with Hork-Bajir-Controllers, arrived, and Ax fought alongside Jake, Marco, and Rachel as they defeated the Controllers, leaving some of them on the ground motionless while the remaining Controllers retreating to tend to their wounds. Seizing control of the machinery, the Animorphs redirected them toward the compound, intending to destroy the command center, although they were thwarted when the Controllers reactivated the force field. Arriving at the force field, Ax saw that Visser Three was present, once more in his Andalite host body, along with an unconscious Farrand and Cassie in skunk morph, and observed that the Controllers, including Visser Three, had distanced themselves from Cassie and were screaming. Jake notified Ax and the other Animorphs that Cassie had sprayed them and asked Ax to communicate to the Visser on his half to broker a deal where the Animorphs would tell Visser Three how to get rid of the skunk smell in exchange for Cassie and Farrand's safety.

Ax then called out to the Visser and told him that they were a standoff, to which Visser Three rebuffed him by stating that he had reinforcements on the way. Ax then brought up how the Visser's newly acquired stench would permeate through the Blade ship, and that while the smell would go away in seven Earth days while in the open air, the smell would never go away in a cramped space like the Blade ship. Ax then offered to divulge the secret behind Andalite chemical technology that could neutralize the stench in exchange for the Animorphs and Farrand walking away, and reminded Visser Three that they both knew how impossible it was to get a smell out of a spacecraft and that he would have to get a full refitting for the Blade Ship at a major space dock. Resigned, the Visser reluctantly agreed, and Ax told the Visser to transport Farrand to the nearest human hospital, and that they would only divulge the secret Andalite chemical technology once they were sure Farrand was safe. Ax told Visser Three that they would be watching and rolled his stalk eyes up at Tobias, causing the Visser to follow his gaze and notice the bird in the sky. The Visser bitterly stated that one day he would find and capture them, to which Ax responded that he did not think that would happen as they would simply smell him coming.

The next day, Ax joined the other Animorphs in the woods as they returned the mother skunk back to the den. As they were walking away, Tobias caught up with them, having been spying on the Dapsen compound, and revealed that Visser Three had spent most of the night and well into the day in a pit filled with truckloads of grape juice and that the smell had not gone away. Ax remarked that the Visser would soon suspect the truth that he had been deceived, and Cassie wondered if maybe they should have told Visser Three that it was actually tomato juice that would have helped him,^{[23][note 11]} causing the others to laugh as they decided otherwise.^[23]

Quest for the Pemalite Crystal

Investigating Erek King

To be added

Meeting the Chee

To be added

Matcom Infitration

To be added

Discussing Sario Rips

To be added

Rachel's Hereth illint

To be added

Hork-Bajir Liberation

To be added

Investigating Zone 91

To be added

Royan Island Mission

To be added

Captured by Esplin 9466 Lesser

To be added

Biochemical Drug Warfare

To be added

Ascalin Incident

Returning to the Andalite Military

During a mission where the six Animorphs morphed into mosquitoes, their original excess mass, which was in Z-space, had been caught in the wake of a passing ship, the Ascalin. This caused the six Animorphs to become instantly transported into Z-space, with Ax signaling the attention of the ship before he and the others could die in space. On the ship, Ax was reunited with his people, namely Andalite captain Samilin-Corrath-Gahar and his tactical officer, Hareli-Frodlin-Sirinial. Samilin and Harelin questioned Ax on his presence in Z-space, along with the "aliens" who had accompanied him. Ax informed them of the situation on Earth, and, under the suggestion of his Andalite superiors, chooses to leave the Animorphs and join the Andalite military unit on the Ascalin, who were heading towards Leera to support the Leerans in their fight against the Yeerks. Additionally, Ax informs the Animorphs that Jake is no longer his prince and that he will not be returning with them to Earth.

En route to Leera, Captain Samilin sliced off Harelin's tail and announced to Ax that he was working for Visser Four, and that the Visser, who was close friends with Visser Three, would be delighted to receive the humans who had been causing him trouble on Earth. Ax sends a thought-speak message to warn the Animorphs, whom he believes are detained on the far end on the ship, although the Animorphs reveal that they are on the bridge in bug morph. The disabled Harelin manages to grab his Shredder and vaporize Samilin, and informs Ax that, contrary to what he said before, perhaps different species can work together; he asks Ax to escape the ship along with his human allies and make contact with Captain-Prince Galuit-Enilon-Esgarrouth on Leera. Realizing that they are behind enemy lines and that, if caught, the Yeerk Empire would receive many Andalite hosts, the numerous Andalites on board decide to perform a suicide maneuver, destroying the ship and killing themselves in the process. Ax and the Animorphs use bug morphs and are blown out of the hatch moments prior to the explosion.^[14]

Rejoining the Animorphs

After reaching safety, Ax is confronted by Rachel and Marco for abandoning the Animorphs in favor of joining Samilin, whom Ax realizes was not a Controller but a voluntary ally of the Yeerks. Ax apologizes, adding that the Animorphs do not know how it feels to be stranded on a foreign planet cut off from their people. Ax informs Jake, whom he had disregarded as his prince when he left the group, that he is placing himself under Jake's command once more and that Jake will be his prince until Jake himself discharges Ax. With Jake's approval, Ax rejoins the Animorphs and they head to Leera, where Ax relays the entire situation to Captain-Prince Galuit-Enilon-Esgarrouth. Galuit explains that, while all members of the Andalite memory possess the ability to morph, few have useful morphs, let alone the sheer number of morphs the Animorphs possess. Galuit tasks the Animorphs with detonating a bomb that would destroy Leera's land mass, although at this point, many of the Animorphs have begun to blink out of existence. Before Ax can disappear, he manages to detonate the explosive, granting the Andalite military and the Leerans a victory. Ax pops back to Earth along with the other Animorphs, once again in mosquito morph and realizing that, despite their adventures in space, no time has passed on Earth.

In the Time of Dinosaurs

To be added

Cassie's Departure

To be added

David Dilemma

Escafil Device Recovery

To be added

A New Animorph

To be added

G6 Summit

To be added

David's Treachery

To be added

Defeating David

To be added

Family on Earth

To be added'

Helmacron Hurdles

To be added

Stranded in the North Pole

To be added

Contest of Champions

The Animorphs are soon summoned by the Ellimist, who wishes to pit them and Erek King in a contest of champions on the Iskoort homeworld against the Howlers.

Saving the Chee

After their victory in defeating the Howlers, Ax and the other Animorphs prevent Visser Three from acquiring the Pemalite ship at the bottom of the ocean, encountering the Drode in the process.

Scoop Life

Sometime before their next mission, to a meatpacking plant to prevent a supposed drug that would remove a human's free will, Ax constructs a scoop in the woods, along with cable television, and discovers a love for television, most notably commercials and soap operas. To be added

Animal Testing Investigation

To be added

Brain Surgery

To be added

Time Matrix Adventure

To be added

Visser vs. Visser

To be added

Attacking Tom

To be added

Anti-Morphing Ray

Tale of Two Rachels

To be added

Another Dance

To be added

Bonding with his Nephew

To be added

Community Center Gala

To be added

Trip to the Hork-Bajir Homeworld

To be added

Tennant Smear Campaign

To be added'

Discovering the Nartec

To be added

Rachel's Leadership

To be added

Unit 0

During a mission to rescue Mr. King from the Yeerks, four Andalites, known as Unit 0, arrived to the battle and told Ax that they know how to contact him. Setting up a meeting with them, Ax and the other Animorphs learned that the Andalite fleet to Earth has been delayed.

Since Unit 0 refused to work with them, the Animorphs staged their disbandment in order to have Ax join Unit 0 and serve as a spy. While serving with them, Ax began to develop romantic feelings and a physical attraction to Estrid-Corill-Darrath, even kissing her when they were both in human morph. As he learns, Unit 0 is actually on a suicide mission, using a virus that Estrid developed that can cripple the Yeerks but would possibly wipe out humans as well.

Ax, along with the other Animorphs and Estrid, headed into the Yeerk pool to stop the virus from being released, but Estrid, terrified and disgusted by the Yeerk pool, refused to demorph and fight to protect the humans, who are not part of their species. Ax then goes to protect his friends, telling her that she is beautiful and brilliant but he "doesn't think he likes her very much." Once the virus is destroyed, Estrid offers Ax to return home with her, but he refuses, citing that his fight is on Earth.^[21]

Aximili's Ableism

Meeting Andalites on Earth

To be added

Bonding with Gafinilan

To be added

Saving Mertil

To be added

Building Attacks

To be added

Return of the Helmacrons

To be added

Working with Sub-Visser Fifty-One

To be added

Airport Attack

To be added

Endgame

Working with Peter

To be added

Operation 9466

This section requires expansion

On a mission to stop "Operation 9466", a campaign to instigate World War III by having China and the United States engage in nuclear war, being lead by Visser Two Ax has an idea to threaten to destroy the Yeerk Pool unless Visser Two calls off the attacks against China. Jake rejects it, thinking that it’s too much of a gamble and it would put all of their families in danger. Saying that he’s sorry, Ax knocks Jake unconscious and takes a hostage Visser Two in a fighter-bomber with a nuclear weapon onboard. Ax’s plan works and Visser Two calls off the attack.

As Ax flies the plane back to the Animorphs, Ax remarks that he views the Animorphs as his family and that he also considers himself human in some ways, and wonders whether the Animorphs, especially Jake, will forgive him for his actions.

Flooding the Valley

To be added

Animorphs Exposed

To be added

Recruiting New Animorphs

To be added

Trip to the Capitol

To be added

Destruction of the Yeerk Pool

During the final days of the Yeerk War, Ax secretly communicated with the Andalite fleet using the Z-Space transponder, where he received orders to prevent the other Animorphs’ current plans and let the Yeerks take control of the Earth so that the Andalite military fleet would quarantine the planet, resulting in the Andalites destroying Earth from orbit.

Ax, after some reflection in which he remembered that Elfangor had broken Andalite military law and trusted the humans, decided to maintain his faith and loyalty in the Animorphs as opposed to the military fleet, disobeying their orders.

Seizing the Pool Ship

To be added

Yeerk Surrender

To be added

Promotion

To be added

Post-War

2000

This section requires expansion

After seizing the Pool Ship, freeing Alloran from Visser One, and negotiating with the Andalite fleet, the Andalite fleet promotes Ax to the rank of prince and is appointed the official liaison between the Andalite fleet and Earth.

2001

Returning to the Andalite homeworld, Ax was hailed as a hero and considered an expert on Earth and its human culture. Ax communicated frequently with Earth, working with some of its’ corporations to exchange technology between the two planets.

2003

Two years after Esplin 9466's sentencing, Ax is charged with finding the Blade Ship, working closely with the crew to train himself aboard the Intrepid. He notes that the military is being shrunk back, and that he easily has the most interesting assignment. The ship eventually finds a mysterious DNA sample belonging to a polar bear aboard an unknown vessel. Realizing that it belonged to one of the Controllers, Ax lead the investigation into the vessel.

As First Officer Menderash-Postill-Fastill later recalls, the ship came alive and attacked. Menderash broke off from the ship, but they were then attacked by pirates.

Assimilated by The One

Menderash arrives on Earth and tells Jake about the Intrepid’s attack. Jake then recruits Marco, Tobias, Santorelli, and Jeanne Gerard to go on a mission to find the Blade Ship and hopefully help Ax. After months of floating through space, they find the Blade Ship, only to discover that Ax has been assimilated into an entity only known as The One.

Appearance

Aximili is an Andalite, and as such he has the standard Andalite features: centaur-like form covered in blue-and-tan fur, a long muscular tail with a big, scythe-like blade on the end, and two stalk eyes on the top of his head, providing 360° vision. He also has seven fingers on each hand and no mouth, instead communicating via thought-speak and eating through his hooves. His human morph, created through a Frolis Maneuver that combines the DNA of different individuals to make a new morph, appears "strange" to the Animorphs, because it looks as though Jake, Cassie, Marco, and Rachel were "put through a blender." 

Personality

Aximili is extremely curious and interested in the various Earth cultures. He is somewhat arrogant, a common Andalite trait, but has tempered his arrogance over time, proclaiming more than once that the humans are his people as well as Andalites as he recognizes their commendable qualities. For instance, a group of human hosts in the Yeerk pool deliberately acted as shields to other Yeerk forces to give the Animorphs time to escape. Like all Andalites he places great value on honor and duty, to the extent that, on some occasions, he would side with humans over Andalites because he believed that the Andalites were resorting to particularly drastic measures while the Animorphs had not. He generally has a good knowledge of most of the advanced technology and alien races that the Animorphs encounter, but has admitted more than once that he didn't always pay attention in school and thus missed certain topics being discussed in detail.

At first he seems very serious. However, as he spends more time in the company of the Animorphs, he slowly develops a sense of humor, which they find slightly disturbing. Despite his usual seriousness, he tends to suffer from a loss of control when in human morph, demonstrating exceptional enthusiasm for exploring his sense of taste, which he does not have in his natural state, and treating human speech as a toy by repeating certain words, or even syllables, repeatedly out of the sheer joy he finds in using a human mouth. He considers the cinnamon bun one of humankind's greatest inventions, and also enjoys chocolate, cigarette butts, and just about anything with a strong taste. He has a good relationship with all of the Animorphs, but is especially close to Tobias because they both live in the woods, away from typical human habitation.

Relationships with the other Animorphs

Tobias

This section requires expansion

Of all the Animorphs, Ax is closest to Tobias, whom he considers to be his shorm, an Andalite term roughly translating to best friend. The word shorm literally means "tail blade," the expression being that a shorm is someone you would trust to hold their tail blade to your throat. They bond due to both being outsiders, and this is strengthened by the revelation that Tobias is Ax's nephew.

Jake

This section requires expansion

Ax deeply respects Jake, his "prince," and comes to consider him as a true friend. At times, Ax is torn between his loyalties to his human prince and his loyalties to his race.

Marco

This section requires expansion

At first Marco dislikes and distrusts Ax, but as time goes on the two develop a close relationship. After Marco's cover is blown and he has to leave his regular life, he goes to live with Ax at his scoop, and the two bond over electronics and soap operas.

Rachel

This section requires expansion

Ax and Rachel rarely interact outside of a group setting. Ax worries about her bloodthirstiness and violent nature and voices his concerns later in the series, although he still respects her as a warrior.

Cassie

This section requires expansion

Ax and Cassie rarely interact one-on-one, two notable exceptions being her inviting him to have dinner with her family (in his Jake morph) and consoling him after Estrid's departure. After Cassie allows Tom to take the Escafil Device, Ax compares her to Seerow and muses in his narrative that her compassion makes her possibly the most dangerous of them all. 

Morphs

Morph	Book Acquired
Animals from the Andalite homeworld[3] (possibly a djabala and a hoober)	Prior to The Invasion
Tiger Shark	The Message
Human (male, used the Frolis Maneuver to blend DNA from Cassie, Marco, Rachel, and Jake to form one strand)
American Lobster	The Predator
Black Garden Ant
Northern Harrier
American Cockroach	The Capture
Housefly
Human (Jake)
Mouse	The Andalite's Gift
Flea
Rattlesnake	The Alien
Termite	The Secret
Great Horned Owl[note 10]
Skunk
Wolf Spider	The Android
Brown Bat
Racehorse	The Unknown
Seagull	The Escape
Hammerhead Shark
Mole	The Underground
Mosquito	The Decision
Leeran
Bottlenose Dolphin	In the Time of Dinosaurs
Tyrannosaurus Rex (unusable; Sario Rip morph)
Human (adult male)	The Threat
African Elephant	The Solution
Baby Ringed Seal	The Extreme
Polar Bear (Nanook)
Giant Squid	The Exposed
Cow	The Experiment
Bull
Chimpanzee
Hork-Bajir (Jara Hamee)[note 12]	The Reunion
Mountain Goat (acquired but presumably never used)
Squirrel	The Proposal
Cockatiel
Orca (Swoosh)	The Mutation
Cheetah	The Weakness
Honeybee	The Other
Taxxon	The Test
Human (adult male; Air National Guard Captain Joseph Felitti)	The Deception
Human (adult male; United States Naval Officer)
Human (adult male; United States Navy Lieutenant)
Human (adult male; United States Navy Admiral Carrington)
Human (adult male; United States Naval Aviation Fuel Officer)
North American Beaver	The Resistance
Mallard Drake	The Absolute
Raccoon	The Sacrifice
Dragonfly	The Answer
Human (U.S. Army Soldier)

Books Narrated by Ax

The Andalite's Gift The Alien The Decision In the Time of Dinosaurs The Experiment

Elfangor's Secret The Arrival The Deception The Sacrifice The Beginning

Trivia

• Ax's middle name, Esgarrouth, is a reference to the town of Esgaroth in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, as Katherine Applegate is a fan. 
  • ANIBASE: One of K.A.'s favorite reads is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, a book that not only influenced her writing (namely, her teen series Everworld) but also some words and images to Animorphs; "yrch", the elvish word for orc, became Yeerk, the flamed red Eye of Sauron became the mysterious Big Red Eye in #6: The Capture, and the name of a town became Ax's middle name!
• Ax is one of the few known Andalites who actually knows and speaks English, along with Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, Estrid-Corill-Darrath, Arbat-Elivat-Estoni, Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad and Alloran-Semitur-Corrass, the latter presumably having learned it through Esplin 9466's control. While other Andalites rely on translator chips to instantly translate their thought-speak into English and for any spoken English to be translated by the chip into the Andalite's native language, Ax does not require it; he is shown to be able to read English as well as to speak it verbally while in human morph, both of these being features that the translator chip does not possess. This is most likely due to the fact that his generation on the Andalite homeworld had studied Earth and had access to its televised programming and therefore were taught the language.
• Promotional material from the Antioch ID cards lists Ax as 2½ years old in Andalite years while the manual for the GameBoy Color lists him as being 2 Andalite years old and that it is the equivalent of a teenager in Earth years. However, this info was created by the Scholastic marketing team and is not information conceived by the two authors. The Hork-Bajir Chronicles (which was written by both authors) indicates that 2 Earth years equals 2.1 Andalite years; as such, Ax is not actually 2 or 2½ and therefore the promotional entries are not considered canon.
  • It should also be noted that these promotional materials also listed different first names for the Animorphs' parents that were not the names the books used, further indicating that these promotional materials are not to be taken as canonically accurate.
• Ax and Tobias were the two main characters in the series who got the least amount of numerical books to narrate. The reason for this came from Scholastic, rather than K.A. They didn't think that kids would be able to relate as well to an alien character, or to a kid trapped as a hawk. As a result, they both got their books in rotations of every 10 books, rather than the 5 like everyone else. Tobias got all the 3's in the series (#3, 13, 23, etc), while Ax got all the 8's (#8, 18, 28, etc).  However, as it turned out, the books for Tobias and Ax were some of the fan's favorites, so both Ax and Tobias were brought into the equal rotation with the rest of the Animorphs near the end of the series (starting in The Familiar).   
• Ax was originally going to be introduced in The Visitor. This was changed when K.A realized that Animorphs was going to be a long running series.
• Ax's love of food while in human morph, particularly cinnamon buns, is an ongoing gag throughout the series. Ax often causes a scene in human morph either by voraciously and impolitely eating, or consuming things like cigarette butts and popcorn boxes that are not intended to be consumed.
• Although The Alien is Ax's first officially narrated book, it is not the first time that he has narrated. He narrates along with the other Animorphs in The Andalite's Gift.
• The Alien and The Experiment came attached with a pair of Ax bookmarks with it. The bookmarks come with humorous tear-off corners, as if Ax bit into them.

Gallery

"Someone took a picture of me? Not cool. Do you see what I'm wearing? I'm Spandex-boy. Totally not cool." The image gallery for Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill may be viewed here

Notes

References

Animorphs
Animorphs	Jake | Rachel | Tobias | Cassie | Marco | Ax | David
Auxiliary Animorphs	James | Collette | Timmy | Kelly | Craig | Erica | Julio | Liam | Tricia | Jessie | Judy | Ray