Elita Part 2:
Chapter 1: Ax
We've been waiting for your arrival My older self told me. I realized I had tensed my tail. I relaxed it.
Are you… I began, not quite sure on how to finish it.
You are correct he corrected me, a hint of smile in his eyes. It must be an odd experience. Standing there. Looking at what you are to become.
It is, I replied, unsure of what to say.
The future version of myself got up and walked leisurely over to a window that overlooked one of our many moons. I suppose you'll want to know how your life turned out, he said slowly, gazing out the window for a minute, then focusing his gaze back on me. I nodded, and instantly regretted it. Nodding was something humans do…not Andalites.
He didn't seem to notice.
After the war with the yeerks was over, you returned to the andalite homeworld, where you were reunited with Jadzia-Anika-Zene, and soon started a scoop of your own. You had three sons, but the eldest, Berix-Adli-Terioxia is the one that gives you the most trouble. He is taken over Prince Jake's daughter, Ayanna.
This did not come as a shock to me, for some reason. I do not know why.
Chapter 2: Future Rachel
I paced recklessly back and forth across the room. I had morph locks on me, so I couldn't morph.
"Rachel," Tobias called from a corner of the room. "It isn't gonna do a lot of good wasting all your energy when nothings happening. Sit down,"
I walked over by him, and sat down. "Hope Faith's ok," I said quietly. He started to respond.
Suddenly, a door burst open. In was tossed Cassie, Marco, Jake, and Callia, holding the baby, Pandora. Tobias and I jumped up, and helped support them. They had been beaten badly.
"Here," Callia hissed. "Take the baby," I picked it up gently, and cradled it. It was crying.
"What's going on?" demanded Tobias.
"Well," Jake gasped out, sitting down and leaning against the wall with the help of Cassie who soon joined him. "We were leaving the bridge, when our ship was held up…" he trailed off. "But that never happened"
He was right. The way I remembered it, being in the other spot, none of this had ever happened. Tobias and I were supposed to have died that day. Together. The way we wanted it. Jake and Cassie…Marco and Callia…none of them were ever caught.
"So…either we screwed with the timeline again…or the Ellimist doesn't want us to know something," Marco spoke up.
"You got me," I said, starting to get angry. The Ellimist KNEW how much I hated being toyed with.
Chapter 3: Zo
We made our way carefully through the two hill like creations. There was a great big pit there. Perfect….just what we needed. It was unguarded too. It was a short drop, and then we could continue our way to the center of the base.
At this point I guess I should probably explain to you what we're doing.
This particular planet is very large. It consists of many layers, but all of them are suitable for humans. In the dead center, is a rounded room type thing, where first rate prisoners are kept. In between…well…each layer holds a new beast. Most of them are avoidable…but…there are some….
"So…" Faith said, staring at it. "Are we ready?"
If my calculations are correct a voice said. A familiar voice. This is the 34th time you guys have tried to get yourself killed."
"Berix!" yelped Ayanna, spinning around, and jumping into his arms. "How on earth did you get here?"
I felt you here, he replied. She just smiled.
I felt my stomach turn. This was not a good start.
"Are we gonna go?" I snapped roughly. Berix makes me mad. Don't ask why.
Berix turned to look at me with his big eyes. As you wish he said calmly. I glared at him, then stepped towards the whole. I jumped.
It was only about a 10 feet drop. It didn't phase us one bit. Our parents were a different story.
"OW!" Yelped Marco as he dropped.
"Oh get up you big baby," Muttered a cross Rachel. Jake just rolled his eyes.
"So, where do we go from here?" Conner spoke up. Everyone turned expectantly towards me.
"How about towards the middle?" I said. They all nodded in agreement.
We started to walk.
Chapter 4: Faith
I have to give those arachnids some credit.
They know how to build an adequate torture system.
This thing was huge. I mean, I could have been lost for years in the first level of this place.
We made it to the third in 8 hours.
There are ten levels.
This would take awhile.
Ayanna must have been thinking along my terms. She started to sing. She has a great voice….so does Zo. You should hear them when they used to do duets. It was so beautiful. Everyone in the church was crying.
Zo joined in. They were singing this church hymn. I didn't know the words. We never were a big church family.
The level we were in was one of the many back paths…emergency exits if you will. They were the most direct routes, not to mention the quickest to get out of here. We were just hoping that there wouldn't be any alarm pulled on us. That's why Ayanna and Zo sang as softly as they did. Nobody was really interested in being caught. I mean, we had weapons for busting in on the guards that surrounded my parents, but the whole idea what to silence them. Technology had evolved so wear there was silent weaponry. At that point in time…I'm very glad.
The path we were walking on was extremely wide, about the width of a football field. But these path's were actually narrower compared to the main paths that took you down to the many torture rooms this gigantic orb had to offer.
That's another reason I didn't want to be caught. Like I said before, the arachnids are genius's when it comes to different method's of torture. I've withstood 6 of the lower pain methods. I died at all of them, but was shortly resuscitated. You don't know any pain, or fear for that matter, until you've had your limbs and joints stretched and pulled into unnatural positions. It's not a fun thing to go through.
It took us another 16 hours to get to the eighth level from the fourth level, which took us a few hours to get from the third level. By the time we got to the eight, we hit trouble.
It's very hard walking for 24+ hours. My younger parents were about dead. We took about an hour worth of time stopping and letting them rest. We were used to it.
By the eighth level, my parents were about to pass out due to lack of sleep and tiredness.
And naturally, the arachnids had chosen that particular level to stop the emergency exit tunnel.
From here, we had to exit back into the main part of the planet unseen, then go across lord knows what to get to my parents.
See…there were no more rooms to the 10th level…only obstacles.
Fire Anacondas were probably our greatest danger. They lived in pits of steaming water, where sudden burst of fire spring up. This snake, which is by the way about as thick as a house and long as a football field, strikes by impaling you with it's 8 feet long fangs, giving you an anguish like no other. Then, it drags you into the steaming water, where it burns off your flesh when dragged to the bottom where the acid is. If your lucky? It would only impale the back of your shirt or pants or something, then you free yourself before you get to the bottom of the huge lake thing it lives in. Then, u would probably pass out due to lack of oxygen. I hear drowning is a peaceful way to die. I personally, don't really want to find out.
Chapter 5: Ayanna
Four more hours until the first one came into view. Huge, the water red looking, filled with blood, and possible spouts of acid. Fire bursts rose up in spickets, illuminating the walls with the ghostly shadow of those who had died. Some half disintegrated skeletons floated at the surface. I felt the breathe catch in the back of my throat. I was in hell. There was no other way to describe it. Zo must have caught my look, reached for my hand, but Berix took it before he could. I felt another uneasy feeling, but Faith spoke before Zo could do anything.
"We have to go over that pier looking thing if we want to get across. No telling where the snake might be. Knowing the Ellimist, he'll probably make it so that he won't take mini-parents, but the rest of us….just be careful" And with that, she boldly stepped up to the pier.
The pier was pretty wide, but that wouldn't stop the fire 'conda. We had to keep our cool. The thing could smell fear a mile away.
We slowly made our way across. Suddenly, I felt a tinge in my stomach. "Watch out" muttered, transfixed at something looking at me. Two bright yellow eyes looked up at me through the surface of the water. The pupils itself of the eye were the size of bowling balls.
The entire eye? About the size of a normal looking dinner table rounded.
It's head rose out of the water. I screamed. It was an instinct. Everyone else did. Except maybe Faith. She probably was expecting it.
The massive head raised it's self up revealing the top part of the body. I felt my legs grow weak, but forced myself to keep standing. I did not want to attract attention to myself.
It moved it's massive green head in a sweeping like pattern, scanning us, looking at which one to eat first. I was crying uncontrollably, but softly.
I saw it's gaze set on someone. Conner. Faith noticed to.
The snake struck. Faith sprung into action.
Luckily, Faith was faster.
She pushed Conner quickly out of the way.
No…the snake was expecting it. Snapped it's head quickly.
It had Conner.
Luckily, it only had his clothes. Conner was still breathing. Scared out of his mind, but breathing, and conscience.
"Conner!" Screamed Faith as the snake sank back into the water. "NO!" She started to run to the edge of the dock.
"FAITH!" screamed Zo, grabbing her by the arm.
"Let go of me!" she said, struggling to free herself.
"Faith! He's gone" Zo said, tears streaming down his face. He had lost his best friend.
"No, he's not!" she said, still struggling. But I could see the tears threatening to well up in her eyes.
"Just listen to me," he said, raising his voice. He didn't want to lose her too.
"no you listen to me!" snapped Faith. For about five seconds it was just then talking in loud voices trying to talk over one another then suddenly Faith screamed real loud, "ZO!"
"WHAT?" he yelled in an equally loud voice. With that, Faith brought back her fist and punched him across the face. He crumpled.
"Get him across the bridge", was all she said.
This time Rachel grabbed her arm. "Don't do this," Rachel said in a low voice.
"Why not?" snapped Faith. "You did"
With that, she dove into the water.
We got across…barely. I was sobbing uncontrollably, and Berix was carrying Zo across his back.
I looked back over the water one more time once we got across. She was gone.
"Good bye Faith" I whispered to myself. Then turned to walk away, shaking.
Then, a piercing male voice cut through my sobs.
"LOOK!" Marco cried.
Chapter 5: Cassie
My mouth opened in shock. Faith and Conner's head emerged from the water, both of them mildly scalded, and gasping for air. They swam to the nearest shore, crawled out, and collapsed in a heaving mess on the ground. Faith's arm had been severely cut. The skin on Conner's arms and shoulders was basically off.
They were alive!
Then, with a growing realization, I realized something else.
The yellow eyes were peering out of the water still….at Faith and Conner.
"FAITH LOOK OUT!" I screamed instinctively.
She turned around in slow motion. The snake rose it's massive head out of the water, and hunched back for an attack. Faith looked desperately around her, and noticed a bone about fifteen yards away from her.
The snake struck.
She looked at the bone, and jerked her head one way. The bone went flying to her hands.
She brought it back, and went hard at the snake.
Blood filled the water. The snake's head went off, the body slipped back into the water.
The snake was killed pretty much instantly. Unfortunately…the head also landed on Faith, pinning her down. It had to be gruesome. The huge eye was right in her face.
Yet, she remained calm.
"Conner, honey? You awake?" she said, discreetly turning towards him.
He didn't budge.
She didn't look scared. "BOY! I'm talking to you! If your trying to fake unconscious so the others have to pull this rancid head off the top of me, I'm going to tell your daddy about that weekend when you went up to Atlantic City and-"
She really didn't have to finish the rest of her sentence, he popped up and pulled the head off her, then helped her up. She was covered in blood and carnage.
She pushed some long sweeps of hair that had fallen out of her bun behind her ears. "thanks" she muttered.
Zo, who had regained consciousness right before Faith had decapitated the anaconda, looked impress.
"Faith…you are the only girl I know of that can come out looking fine in a battle with a fire anaconda.
She laughed and looked up at him. "Zo…you're the only guy I've ever hit that didn't lose his sense of dignity when he regained consciousness," He laughed too.
"I figure we might be close to nine now, and the smell of another anaconda's blood is going to scare them off, so It's pretty much safe to say it's easy going from here on out," Conner said, suprisingly calm. I guess these guys had seen to much to let something like this bother them.
Shall we continue? Berix asked. We all nodded, and Faith and Conner climbed up the bank to join us.
Chapter 6: Faith
You know what's funny?
You jump into a pond which practically scalds your entire body, get bitten by a huge snake which probably injected a painful venom into you (which I know I'm going to feel later), nearly kills you and your boyfriend, then once you decapitate it, it's massive head falls on you, looking you right into the eye with an eye that would make a normal teenage girl scream and go into convulsions, and yet…I still feel like I could run a marathon.
I guess that's what being the daughter of Rachel does to you.
It took us another two hours to get to Level 9. From there…it took six hours to get to the main gate. That's where mom and dad were.
And that's where I was going to be in a minute.
"OK," whispered Conner, motioning us to come together. "This is what's going to happen. When I give word, I want everyone to fire at the guards on the west gate. There are about seventeen from what I figure. If we start in the back row, and shoot our way to the front, It would be easier. Berix? I want you to come in on the left where no one will be shooting, and take out about six of them. It's easier that way"
I don't take orders from humans Berix said coolly. I didn't like this guy. He was a jerk. He put on this sweet act with Ayanna…but I could tell…he wasn't for real.
Zo carefully hid his rage. "Then leave, or I'll kill you," he said matter of factly. I saw Berix's tell twitch. It flew. I moved.
I caught it and flipped him, then pulled out my knife and held it to his tail.
"Unless you want to keep your tail, I suggest you listen," I said, thwacking him on the side of the head.
"Faith!" snapped Ayanna, grabbing my shoulder and spinning me around. I ignored her.
"if you ever try to hurt my cousin and leader again…I will kill you, got it?" I said to him in a whisper. He regarded me coolly, but I could tell he was shaken up.
I will follow the plan he said finally. I smiled and patted him on the shoulder, putting my knife back.
"good boy" I said.
* * *
The fight was over really quickly.
I'm not going to go into details. I've seen enough blood in my day for it to affect me. I can't really stand thinking about it again. The important thing is that no one made a sound…we pretty much silenced them. Ayanna put on one of their headsets so we knew when major alerts were out.
Then, Conner pulled out his TRX056 and blew down the door. Thankfully, he had remembered to put on his silencer.
Inside, waiting almost half expectantly, were all of our parents.
Chapter 8: Rachel (not future)
I really didn't expect what they would do. I'm not sure if I had envisioned them running to their parents with open arms and saying "Mommy! Daddy!". It was more like "Wassup? What are you hanging around here for?"
"Um, guys?" spoke up Ayanna suddenly. "They have people coming to feed you. We need to leave, like…now?"
They all looked at each other, then at us. "Run" they said unanimously.
And so we took off. We had been walking for over 30 hours, yet now, we were told to run. It wasn't easy….but I did it.
We made it to the third level suprisingly quickly. Like…..12 hours? Of course, it involved different people morphing horses other people riding them, but we made it very quickly. Too quickly. Because, someone had been alarmed of our escape. By the time we reached the first level…they were waiting for us. Suddenly, I felt a warm feeling go through me.
YOUR MORPHING POWERS HAVE BEEN RETURNED a voice said.
I smiled. Show time, I thought.
Faith and Conner looked at each other and grinned. Then, I saw Faith start to morphs.
She got very long quickly. Her tanned skin grayed and then turned green. Then it hit me. She was morphing the fire anaconda. So was Conner.
Her mouth protruded outwards, then turned scaly. Long fangs shot out from her mouth. Her bun melted into her head. Her eyes became big, and turned an unearthly shade of yellow. Soon, she stood perfectly upwards, fully morphed. Then, she went down hard.
There were about a million arachnids fighting us when the fight started. Faith and Conner could take out thousands with a flick of there deadly tale , and a strike of there head. And the arachnids were terrified. They went every which direction, trying to get out of the path of the deadly snakes. Then, Berix was taking his tale to a lot of them, which kept them occupied. We were doing the best we could in our battle morph. Not doing good, not doing bad.
Actually, the fight didn't really pick up until a special space ship arrived.
Out came thousands of Andalites.
And Ax.
Chapter 9: Ayanna
"Ouch," Faith said, pulling her arm away from the doctor's grasp. We were all sitting in Uncle Tobias's office.
"Explain to me how you got this snake bite?" Tobias said, rubbing his temples.
"I…umm…jumped in to save Conner, and it bit me and it didn't go away when I morphed," Faith said lamely. To my surprise, he chuckled.
"Teenage girls." He said. "I'm never going to understand them"
Aunt Rachel rolled her eyes. "Don't' worry," she winked at Faith. "He never understood me either," she suppressed a giggle.
The Doctor finished wrapping her arm up. "There you go," she said. "No more fighting until The venom effects are over, ok?" Faith nodded.
"Well," Uncle Marco said. "You survived. That's something at least," He sent a knowing look to the door, then checked his watch, and looked at the door.
Conner burst in, looking late. He walked over to an empty chair, but halfway across the room tossed a small box in Faith's direction. "here," he said, plopping down. "Try this on for size,"
She looked quizzically at him, then opened the box. A small diamond ring shown out. She looked at him disbelivingly, then smiled. She just nodded. Then, they both stared directly at Uncle Tobias. He was growing slightly green. "No," he said shaking his head. "ain't going to happen," Aunt Rachel giggled.
"Yup," she interjected. "It sure is,"
With that, Faith jumped up and sat in his lap.
Uncle Tobias started to object, but Rachel kissed him before he could say anything. I laughed.
Everything was normal again.
