The Promotion

Prologue

Setting: Council chamber

"Esplin 9466, I anticipated you would've liked this advance." "Yes my Emperor, but-" "Enough chitchat, go to your station on Leera." "Yes-" "GO!" Esplin scrambled out of the room, almost knocking into another host. The emperor turned his attention to her. "Now, my little traitor, how would you like to take his position?" She gasped. "Of course my Emperor. You indeed have many virtues." He chuckled, pleased. "You choose to flatter me. But you understand you will have guards. Visser Two himself shall supervise you. No treachery." The mysterious shroud nodded and disappeared.

Chapter One

Marco

Setting: A barn at the edge of a wood.

My name is Marco. I can't tell you-oh what the heck! And all that other stuff. Anyway, we were in Cassie's barn. As usual. There was news. Erek the Chee was there with grim news (for me, at least). "So you're sure Visser Three is Visser One now?" Jake was asking. "Yes. Apparently not by his choice, though. The Council ordered it." acknowledged Erek. "And do you know who the new Visser Three is?" asked Bird-Boy. (no offense to Tobias fans) "Well," he shot a side glance at me, "it's Marco's mom." My heart stopped. "No way, you must be kidding. Your ancient memory has to be backfiring. It has to be!" I was literally shrieking. Jake patted my back. "Calm down, Marco." Rachel smirked. Cassie got up slowly. "Well, I guess we have to alert Ax now." "Yeah, and he'll be so disappointed he can't take revenge anymore on Elfangor anymore. And then, he'll-" "Marco, Marco, cool it, you're babbling." "Like always." Another smirk. "I have more news." "I don't want to hear it." Erek ignored me. "She's trying out a new Encon beam that paralyzes morphed beings. And somehow, it works." "No way, what's with the -con roots? Dracon and Encon. You know, I recall in a dream my English teacher once said-" "Marco, some of us are actually serious here. Do you realize this means that we could lose?" "No."

Chapter Two

Rachel

Marco was acting like a total jerk, like always. How could he possibly joke about a thing like this? I mean, this could spell the end of the human civilization! But there he was, still making little jokes, even in the worst situations. Cassie was back with Ax. "What's new?" "Well . . ." Erek proceeded to tell them. "But, we're doomed!" "We're not?" All eyes turned to him. Ax looked around unhappily. he stopped, trailing off. He shook himself again. TSEWWW! TSEWWW! "You need say no more." concluded Marco.

Chapter Three

Jake

I was worried. "Everyone, morph! Cassie, morph into an osprey! Everyone else besides Tobias, flies! Get into our feathers fast!" As soon as everyone was done, we flew out quickly. The Dracon beams were nearer and nearer. Suddenly a new sound. Like a Dracon beam, but different. TAWWWWWWW! TAWWWWWWW! I asked. asked Rachel. Tobias answered. TSEWWWWWW! TAWWWWWWW! I cried out. Part of my tail feathers were paralyzed. I swerved now and then. After a bit more terrifying struggle, we were in the city and landed. The beams stopped. asked Ax. Ax jumped out. But all of a sudden . . . TAWWWWW! He was falling! Tobias swerved and caught him. TAWWWWW! And Tobias was hit, falling . . .

Chapter Four

Cassie

Tobias was paralyzed. He lay in a heap on the ground. I looked at Jake. I grabbed a wing. So did Jake. Rachel was anxious. Rachel glowered. said Marco. We reached the restroom and demorphed. Then we picked up Tobias. Marco said, "Is it possible that Ax might get stuck . . . in morph?" "Well, at least that's better than what I expected." Said Jake. Marco was deep in thought. "Hey, guys, I've figured out something." "Hey, cool, let's throw a party in your honor." Shot back Rachel. Marco ignored her. "As far as we know, ex-Visser Three is the only morph-capable being, right? Since they obviously tested it on him and it obviously worked, they must have some sort of antidote, right?" I gaped at him as it began to dawn on me. "So we could get Erek to get some for us!" "Marco, you're brilliant!" Jake exclaimed. Marco smiled sheepishly. "It was nothing," he said.

"I'm afraid that still won't work." Said Erek the next afternoon. "I mean, yes, I can get some, but only one container." "Yeah, so?" replied Rachel. "One container should be enough for both of them." Erek shifted uncomfortably. "But there's like, a special thing about them. Only one container per person, no matter what size. Even though Ax is a fly, he still needs one, at least." "What do you mean, at least." Erek shifted again. "It also depends on the degree of the burn." "Ah. But how are we supposed to get more than one, let alone two?" "Well, I'm allowed one once a month, but I need to use them all at once to cure Ax and Tobias." We all sat around, glum and depressed. Things had gone from bad to worse.

Chapter Five

Tobias

I was lying in a cage in Cassie's barn. It was weird. If I wanted to thought-speak, I had to in gasps. But for anything else, well, I have to tell you. First of all, my body was out cold. But it seemed like I was nothing but a pair of eyes, which allowed me to wander around and see stuff beyond my body. Weird, huh. The others were talking about antidotes. Suddenly I had a faint impression of falling. And time froze. HELLO TOBIAS. "Oh, not this again." But to my surprise, everyone else was frozen, too. I was human. And I also saw a wavery, ghost-like Ax. he called out. "Hey, Ax-man. Guess we're stuck here together, huh," I CAN HEAL YOU, BUT ON ONE CONDITION. YOU CAN NOT MORPH FOR TWO HOURS. AND I WARN YOU, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN TWO HOURS' TIME. I figured that was a pretty darn obvious warning from the Ellimist, but I said, "Any other choices?" Ax nodded in my direction. YES. YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH INTERVALS DURING TWO DAYS WHERE YOU ARE IMMOBILE AND HEALED. I WARN YOU, THE LATTER IS WISE. It seemed to me that the first one was better. Despite his warning, it seemed pretty handy compared to the second one. "We'll take the two hours." Ax looked uncertain, but didn't say anything. AS YOU WISH. And that proved to the biggest mistake in my whole life.

To be continued . . .

Next . . . Unexpected Suprises-The Decision #2

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