The Obstacle
A/N: I wasn't sure if this was romance or drama…so I went with drama. Animorphs belong to K.A.Applegate and Scolastic.
YOU WILL BE GIVEN A TEST. Came the all-powerful voice belonging to none other than our very good friend, the Ellimist.
By the way, Marco here. Stop groaning, you know you love me. I mean, how could you not? Anywho.
I was actually grateful for the Ellimist showing up right then. It was the middle of fourth period History and I was in the process of failing a test.
Now, instead, everyone else was frozen and the Animorphs, minus Ax and Bird-boy, had joined me.
"What kind of test?" Cassie asked the Ellimist, careful not to seem rude lest he/it/she/they/whatever remove all evidence of her existence on Earth. All-powerful beings can do that.
A TEST OF SKILL AND OF SURVIVAL. YOU WILL BE STRIPPED OF YOUR MORPHING POWERS, GIVEN LIMITED SUPPIES, A PARTNER, AND YOU WILL EACH HAVE A PERSONAL OBSTACLE. THE TEST IS TO SURVIVE FOR SIX MONTHS. YOU WILL ALL BE IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD AND ISOLATED FROM CIVILIZATION.
"What do we get to bring with us?" Jake asked. Funny how we'd all excepted this so quickly. Well, it's not so strange if you take a good look at our lives.
YOU WILL EACH BE ALLOWED TO PACK ONE BACKPACK. I WILL SUPPLY THE REST.
"How long do we have?" I asked.
I WILL SEND YOU TO YOUR HOMES AND YOU WILL BE GIVEN FIFTEEN MINUTES TO PACK. NO TIME SHALL PASS WHILE YOU ARE GONE.
"What happens if we don't survive?" Cassie asked fearfully.
He didn't answer and the next thing I know, I'm at my house with a backpack in my hands. I sighed and started looking through my junk.
I packed a flashlight, a kerosene lamp, a package of matches, eight candles, batteries, a picture of my parents, a bar of soap, my toothbrush and toothpaste, a pocket knife, a brush, some conditioner, some deodorant (hey, I'm not about to look anything but my best, even if no one's going to see me) a bag of Doritos, a jar of peanut butter, a bunch of canned foods ranging from soup to Ravioli to tuna, and a can opener.
I put on a hooded sweatshirt over my tee shirt and jeans, and stuffed a couple pairs of socks, a hat, some shorts and boxers into the amazingly large backpack. Lastly, I managed to squeeze in a book. I looked at the clock. As a last minute thing, I grabbed my watch. I was still fastening the strap when I realized I wasn't in my room anymore.
Rachel-
I was zipping up my backpack when I was transported to the forest. A couple of yards away from me was my partner.I took one look at him and groaned. I had to spend the next six months of my life alone with…Marco.
"Yo, Xena!" He called as he looked up from his watch. Thunder cracked and it started to drizzle. Perfect. I thought. Just perfect.
"Come on! Let's go to that cave!" I yelled over the rain, pointing to the cave the Ellimist had obviously put there. We ran inside.
Just as we got in, it started to pour. I wrung out my hair and took a look around. Up against the wall were the things the Ellimist had sent. There were two sleeping bags, some canned foods, a first-aid kit, a change of clothes for each of us, a pair of pajamas each, some bread, a couple of bottles of water, two tin mugs, some instant meal mixes, some string, a pack of cards, a game of checkers, and a few fishing hooks.
In my own pack, there were was some underclothes and socks, shorts and a tee-shirt, some oatmeal, some hot chocolate and tea mixes, a picture of my family, a few apples, a bunch of grapes, some oranges, a tin of peanuts, a large packet of matches, firestarter, beef jerky, canned foods, my own travel first-aid kit, my toothbrush and toothpaste, a hat, a watch, and a novel. I was wearing a sweater and jeans. I sighed.
"I can't believe I'm stuck with you of all people. This is going to be a long six months. When the Ellimist says 'challenge' he means it!" I commented. Marco nodded, but a change had come over him. He looked paler and he was breathing hard.
"Are you okay?" I asked. Almost before I could finish my sentence, he collapsed.
"Marco!" I ran over and knelt beside him. His skin was clammy and hen wasn't breathing properly. What the heck had happened?!
Oh Lord! The stupid obstacles! Is Marco going to be sick the entire six months? No time to think about that, I have to wake him up!
"Okay, Rachel. Don't panic. I just need to wake up Marco…how do I do that? Uh…smelling salts! That's it!" I rambled to myself. I rushed over to the first-aid kit and grabbed a bottle of smelling salts. I also took a thermometer, a bottle of Tylenol, a water bottle and one of the sleeping bags. I brought them to where Marco was lying.
I waved the smelling salts under his nose.
"Come on, Marco. I need you to wake up. Come on." I brushed back a piece of his hair, surprised at my own gentleness.
Suddenly, he started to stir and moan. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Jake-
"It's. Cold." I commented to my partner, Cassie.She nodded. She couldn't do anything else. Her obstacle was being mute. Joy. Mine was being paralyzed from the waist down. I was going to have to get really comfortable with Cassie, seeing as how she was going to have to help me dress.
If you're wondering why it's cold it's because we're in an abandoned shack in Alaska. And neither of us had really packed for the cold. (A/N: I don't think you really want to read those boring lists again. Cassie and Jake packed pretty much the same stuff as Marco and Rachel, 'kay?)
We'd put on all the clothes we'd packed, plus the ones the Ellimist had sent and we built a fire. Actually, Cassie built it, I just instructed. We climbed into our seeping bags and put the blanket around us to protect against the wind from the cracks in the walls.
"It'll be nice to get away from the yeerks for awhile." I commented. Cassie nodded her agreement. I wish she could talk…that's it!
"Cassie, do you know any sign language? The alphabet I mean." Her eyes lit up.
"Y.E.S." She spelt out in sign language. (A/N: Cassie's sign language will be in Italics.)
"This trip is going to get boring fast." I sighed.
"Yeah, I wonder if this goes against all that 'non-interfering' junk?"
"Probably."
"Yep. Well, I'm tired. I'm going to sleep.
""Me too. 'Night Cass."
"Good night, Jake."
(A/N: Yep, another Author's Note. Anywho, this is the only Jake and Cassie chapter.)
Warning: Next part of this story WILL contain M/R. Anyone who doesn't like that kinda' stuff, leave now. You have been warned, and are now not able to flame me for that reason.
Marco: "What's going on?" I mumbled, waking up.
"Oh, thank God you're awake. You just kind of collapsed. I was scared. Here, open your mouth." Rachel explained as she stuck a thermometer in my mouth. She was scared? Xena? Just because I passed out?
The thermometer beeped, interrupting my thoughts. She took it out and frowned.
"What?" I asked, but my voice had suddenly gotten hoarse. I cleared my throat and tried again. It wasn't much better, but she could at least tell what I was saying.
"105.3" She answered. No way! No possible way could my temperature be that high!
"Here, take these. It might bring you're fever down a little." Rachel advised, handing me two Tylenol and some water. I took them, swallowing it all in one gulp.
"God, Marco. What does the Ellimist think he's doing?"
" 'Not interfering' again?" I offered, but soon regretted the words; my throat was beginning to ache now.
Rachel said something, but just then I blacked out for a moment. When I woke up, Rachel was holding me in a sitting position, trying to wake me.
"God, Marco! Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry." I meant to make a sarcastic remark, but my throat had closed off. Geez, I was getting worse literally by the minute. The Ellimist sure doesn't waste time!
I felt kind of bad. Rachel was going to have her hands full taking care of me because right now I don't think I could sit up by myself, much less make supper or look for firewood or something.
Geez it's cold. But why am I sweating so much then?
Whoa! Look, a tiger! A purple tiger. Look, Rachel, it's Jake! No, maybe it's Mom. That's it…Mom…
The world went black.
Rachel: "Great, just great! He's passed out again!" I muttered to myself. "Not only that, but he's delirious." I added as he mumbled on about purple tigers and giant, pink monkeys and so forth.
A thought struck me as I put him in his sleeping bag with a cold cloth on his forehead. (Don't ask where I got the cloth, let's just say midriff is in again.) What's going to happen when my personal obstacle shows itself? What'll we do then? If it's something that's going to make me unable to do something physically or mentally, like walk, Marco might die!
Okay, Rachel. Just caaaalm down. Face that problem when it comes, okay?
"Mom. Mom? Mommy?!" Marco started thrashing around in his sleeping bag. I rushed over to him from my post at the cave entrance.
"Shhh. It's okay, Marco. Don't worry, I'm here, okay?" I soothed, dipping the cloth in new water. It almost burned my hand! The cloth was hot enough to cook on, I swear I am not exaggerating.
I put the cloth back on his forehead. He was still whimpering and crying out, "Mommy! Mommy!"
At last, he opened his eyes and looked at me.
"Mom?" He asked. Great, still delusional. I thought for a moment, then decided.
"Yes, now go to sleep, okay?" I said, hugging him and kissing his forehead. He did as he was told, clutching my hand.
The scary thing was, I was clutching his right back.
Marco: A few days later, I wasn't so delusional anymore…at least I'd stopped calling Rachel "Mommy". She was nice about it though. She'd hold my hand and smooth my hair, give me hugs and kiss my cheek…stuff like that.
Even now, when I could identify her as "Rachel" she'd do that.
What's really weird is that every time she shows some type of affection, like a hug or a kiss or something, my temperature would go down a degree. We even tested this. She took my temperature, then kissed my forehead, and then took my temperature again. First it was 99.8, then it was 98.5. Weird, huh?
Another weird thing is that she yelled at me once, and my temperature went up four points.
Anywho, my temperature is now and Rachel is finally letting me walk around. Geez, sometimes she can be such a…a…mother.
I walked over to where she was standing near the cave entrance.
"Hey." I greeted, standing next to her.
"Hey yourself." She smiled back, putting her arm around my waist to pull me closer. We just kinda' stared at the sky together. After a minute we got tired and sat down.
I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I know I'm covered with a blanket. Rachel was under another blanket beside me. I smiled down at her and kissed her cheek, careful not to wake her up.
Then I settled back down facing her back, and fell asleep.
(Six Months Later)
It had been six months to the day when the Ellimist came for us, sending us to Inside Out Land so he could talk with us before sending us home.
WELL, YOU ALL PASSED THE TEST. GOOD JOB.
"Would you mind telling us what that was all about?" Cassie asked.
WE KNOW HOW YOU DO AS WARRIORS IN BATTLE, BUT, UNTIL NOW, WE DIDN'T KNOW HOW YOU WOULD DO AS WARRIORS OF NATURE. A HERO MUST BE ONE TO BE ADMIRED. IT WOULD BE PATHETIC IF YOU WERE KILLED BY PLANET EARTH AFTER SURVIVING THE WAR. RACHEL, MARCO. I MUST SPEAK WITH YOU PRIVATLY.
Suddenly, Jake and Cassie disappeared. Rachel and I, who were holding hands, (Which got some strange looks from Cassie and Jake.) were left in front of the Ellimist who'd taken on the form of an old, wise man.
"I suppose you're wondering what Rachel's test was." He hypothesized. We nodded.
"It was tied in with Marco's. Rachel had to admit that she loved Marco. Every time she came closer to that goal, Marco got a little better. When she got farther, he got worse. The reason behind all this is, you to were supposed to be together."
"What about Tobias?" Rachel asked, loosening her grip on my hand.
"Tobias was never even supposed to be born. He was supposed to be Lisa, daughter of Loren and Gregory Ellensburg. Instead he was Tobias, son of Loren and Elfangor. Elfangor experimented with the fabric of Time and disturbed the delicate balance. Lisa would have lived happily with both parents and never have moved here. You two would have started dating the night Elfangor crashed. You are meant to be together, the test made you realize that."
"Why couldn't you have just gone, snap! Rachel loves Marco, Marco loves Rachel?" Rachel inquired.
"We do not interfere with the lives of others.
Uh huh. Sure.
GOOD LUCK IN THE FUTURE. EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE. TOBIAS IS STILL HERE, NOT REPLACED BY LISA, BUT EVERYONE THINKS YOU TWO HAVE BEEN DATING SINCE THE CONSTRUCTION SIGHT.
GOOD-BYE FOR NOW, MY LITTLE ANIMORPHS.