Rachel
We lumbered, loped, glided, galloped and barrelled away from the scene of the battle. There really is no single word to describe a wolf, a tiger, a grizzly bear, a gorilla, a red-tailed hawk and an andalite fleeing a scene after sabotaging a shipment of portable Kandrona destined for the homes of high-ranking Controllers.
Well, that went well. Didn't you guys think that went well? Marco's thought-speak echoed through our heads.
Sure, Marco, I replied, still slightly high off the battle adrenaline. One shipment not going to help the Yeerk cause, a few less Hork-Bajir and Taxxons to deal with, and no-one badly hurt from our side.
Stow it, guys. We're not in the clear yet. Tobias, you mind going topside and checking the scene's still clear? Jake's authoritative tones broke the levity, always concentrating on the task at hand.
Sure thing boss. Give me a minute to catch a thermal over the road. Tobias, still in his red-tailed hawk body was the least conspicuous of us.
Whilst Tobias is doing that, what say we all take a breather and demorph? It's been a while, right Ax?
One hour and 38 of your earth minutes, yes, Cassie Ax, our resident centaur/scorpion tailed alien buddy replied.
All right. Jake allowed, and we slowed to a halt.
The demorphing process is not fun, and shedding a lot of pounds from the form of a grizzly bear to a tall, athletic teenage girl does not look good in the middle of the process. Whilst Marco, in his gorilla morph had the least change to go through, Cassie still managed to do it gracefully, rising from her wolf morph so smoothly that she looked almost completely human before the fur flowed back under the skin and lycra of her morphing outfit.
"Ugh, these outfits really do not get better the more we wear them… someday, uniforms, I swear." Marco always had something to say, but on this topic, I agreed with him. I was wearing my gymnastics leotard, Jake, Marco and Cassie had bike shorts and t-shirts in varying shades of garish. Did cyclists really need to be seen that badly? I wished they didn't.
"All right guys. Well done on getting out safely. Ax, is it me, or was there more security on that shipment than we've been seeing before?"
Yes, Prince Jake. It appears the Yeerks are catching on to our present run of tactics. I would recommend we try something else, or the next time they'll be prepared for us. I doubt Visser Three himself will wait with the convoy, but certainly more Hork-Bajir than we could easily take care of.
Jake sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that. Ah well, everyone, any ideas you come up with in the next couple of days, let me know. In the mean time, let's get home for a break.
"Sure thing, boss." I told him, chipper. Marco may call me "Xena: Warrior Princess" but that doesn't mean I don't need breaks to go to the mall, watch trashy TV and be with my family every once in a while. "Hey, Cassie, mind if I stop by with you, Get some of my clothes I left in the barn?" That wasn't the only reason I wanted to get Cassie alone, though. It was high time we had some serious girl talk.
"Sure thing, Rachel." Cassie replied, easily. I wasn't sure if she just accepted the obvious reason, or got the undertone. Either was good. "Do you want to run back, or fly?"
"Let's run. A couple of wolves will be far less conspicuous than a bald eagle and an osprey, so long as we skirt the edge of that genuine pack's territory." I replied. Cassie smiled, and began morphing, her extraordinary control of the process darkening her skin, patterns developing which raised to become fur.
"All right. See you later, ladies. Come on, Marco." Jake and Marco turned, heading towards town, whilst Ax did a commendable disappearing act for a blue-furred alien, turning towards the meadow where he stayed, below where Tobias lived in the trees surrounding it. Yeah, I said Tobias lived in a tree. See, early on in the war against the Yeerks, Tobias had been trapped in his red-tailed hawk morph. He'd regained the power to morph, thanks to the intervention of an insanely powerful alien called the Ellimist, but he'd chosen to stay as a hawk rather than changing permanently back to human because it would require him to give up morphing, and helping us, the animorphs, again.
Once I'd finished changing into the wolf to leave with Cassie, I cast a tight burst of thought-speak to Tobias. Hey, you mind if I stop by your tree this evening for a chat?
His reply was quick. Sure thing, Rach. Before dusk is best, unless you don't mind hunting with me?
If I'd been human, I would have smiled. Tobias was always sensitive when it came to his diet. He lived as a red-tailed hawk, and usually ate like one. To most normal girls, that would probably be disgusting. But I'd hunted before, as a wolf, as a bald eagle, and as a Great Horned owl. And I'd happily left normal behind when the Andalite spaceship crashed on the construction site in front of the five of us.
That's fine, Tobias. I'll be there later this afternoon. Have fun until then.
You too, Rachel. See you in the clearing.
With that, his shadow above us wheeled away, and Cassie and I made the rest of the journey back to the Barn and her house in quiet.
Back in human form, and sitting comfortably in Cassie's room, I finally asked the question I'd been wanting to ask for a while. "So, Cassie, spill. What's happening between you and Jake?"
With her dark complexion, you have to know Cassie well to tell when she blushes. I do, and she was.
"He's… he's nice. A gentleman. We've been going out most weekends for the last month…" I waved her to quiet.
"Boring. I know what he's like as a person, he's my cousin, remember? I want the gory details, tangled tongues and hands roaming in forbidden garments. Have you two managed to get past second base yet?" Her blush deepened. I raised an eyebrow. "You HAVE? Wow, I'm impressed! Who started the fun?"
Cassie looked away, clearly mortified.
"Well… it was after that mission at the casino, remember?" I did. A simple in and out, to fry a miniature Yeerk pool that was being used to infect all the bigwigs that came through.
"Well, I kind of let Tobias get everyone together for the debriefing meeting a couple of hours after I said it would be to Jake. And my parents were away releasing an osprey. So, when he arrived, I brought him up to my room and kinda… well, demorphed my clothes.
I was less shocked by this new aspect of our powers than what Cassie was neglecting to mention.
"Wait a sec, are you telling me you and Jake had SEX? Damn, girl, well played!" Cassie's blush deepened even further in confirmation, but I was too busy being happy to really care.
"And you had to basically throw yourself at him to get him to notice? That does not surprise me, but wow. Good on you, Cassie. How was it?"
She almost seemed to glow with happy memory. "Oh, it was great, and he was so kind and careful… But that was the only time so far, and I have no idea how to bring it up again."
"I can help with that, But for right now… c'mere." I drew her into a hearty hug, which had the side effect of letting me see her clock. The afternoon was rushing on, it was already half 3. Dammit!
"Hey, can we postpone the conversation about seducing my cousin until tomorrow? I promised I'd go see Tobias this afternoon, too. "
Cassie raised her eyebrows at me. "I don't have any qualms about him eating as a hawk, it's what he's learnt now, but you're planning to join him tonight, huh?"
"Yeah, it's not like I haven't eaten in morph before" I replied, unsure where this was going.
"So, you're basically going out to dinner. With Tobias. Rachel… is this a date?"
I blushed. Goddammit. I never blush. That apparently gave the game away, because Cassie giggled and clapped.
"It IS! You're finally going out with Tobias!"
"Finally? What do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"Come on Rachel, you've liked him since he came to terms with being stuck as a hawk. And I've seen you looking at him every time he morphs human. It's not surprising, really. You don't need someone who tries to compete with you in everything, you're too independent for that."
I thought about it for a second. Damn her, Cassie was right. I wouldn't have looked at him twice before we became Animorphs, not because he wasn't cute enough, but because he didn't really want to be noticed. Now, though, the focus of the hawk stayed with him, even in human morph, and it really worked for him.
"Well. This is going to complicate things later." I said, rueful.
"Yeah." Cassie nodded in reply, her face serious. "You need to decide what to do, but after you've seen him. Come by tomorrow morning, and we'll talk about it."
I nodded. "Sounds good. All right, I'll get going." I took a moment, before morphing to my favourite flying morph, the bald eagle.
See you tomorrow, Cassie. I thought-spoke to her, before hopping my ungainly way to the windowsill, and launching myself out. It took a few moments of flapping before I was able to catch a late afternoon thermal and get some real air under my wings, on the way to Tobias' glade.