Three bedrooms.
Tewlve people.
Chaos ensued.
(The master bedroom is ours!) Visser 3 declared, standing in the doorway and swishing his tail back and forth dangerously.
"It's ours, Visser." Jake growled, flanked by a gorrila and a grizzly bear. "I don't want this to get violent."
(I do.) Rachel said, showing a mouthful of sharp teeth. Taylor rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips.
(Yeah, well you haven't seen what that arm of Taylor's can do.) Marco said, shifting his weight from leg to leg.
(Everyone, chill.) Tobias said. (There's a bigger issue. There are three bedrooms, so that means four people in each room. Someone's going to be bunking with the enemy.)
"Hmm, yes, that is true." Visser one said calmly. "I suggest Visser here, and three of your toughest warriors."
The teenage girl on the yeerk side stiffled a giggle.
(How about you and the bear?) Visser three said icily. (That would certainly be entertaining.)
"Cassie," Jake asked. "Who do you think would be least likely to murder each other in their sleep?"
Cassie looked at everyone appraisingly. After a few minutes, she gave Jake a helpless look. "I just don't know. Sorry."
"I want a room to myself!" Taylor said. Tobias looked at her, and his eyes somehow managed seemed to grow more fierce.
(Dream on, sister.) Rachel growled, standing in the doorway.
"Let's negotiate an arrangement that will accomodate everyone." Cassie said placatingly.
"Move!" Taylor said, in a slightly whiny voice, like a spoiled teenager. She puched futilely against Rachel's bulk.
Rachel pushed her none-too-gently away, Tom and Iniss looking on with interest.
Taylor changed from her spoiled brat teenager act into her twised freak from hell act in an instant, like a switch had just been flipped. Or, more accurately, like a detonation trigger had been pressed.
"I said move!" She growled, stomping her foot and spraying Rachel in the face with a liquid from her arm. Rachel bellowed in pain, and batted a paw blindly at her.
"Rachel, no!" Cassie yelled, as Taylor went sprawling onto the floor. Visser three yelled and leapt at Rachel, tail flashing.
Ax, who had been quietly listening to the discussion with interest, swung his blade at Visser one. He held it an inch from her neck.
(Freeze, or Visser one's head shall be... removed... from...) Ax trailed off as he realized he had probably chosen the wrong yeerk. Visser three paid absolutely no attention to the threat of Visser one's beheading.
Fwaapp!
Rachel roared and slammed into the doorway, missing her front paw. Her vision was still pretty much non-existant, but grizzlies don't use sight that much anyway. She twisted her head towards the scent of Visser three, reared up on her hind legs, and delivered a blow to his back.
Visser three stumbled, and Marco took the opportunity to jump onto his back. Visser three spun around in circles, trying to get a good hit at him with his tail. With Marco hanging off of his shulders, his tail couldn't get enough speed to do any real damage.
(Iniss, Temrash, get him!) Visser three snapped. Tom and Iniss hesitantly drew dracon beams and started firing carefully.
"Battle morphs!" Jake yelled. He was about to run down the hall to find a place to morph, then remembered that there was no need. He turned to Ax and Tobias, while orange fur sprouted from his face. "Get in the fight!"
Visser one leaned against the wall, looking at the fight with interest.
"You want to look out for those grizzly claws." She said. A moment later, Iniss went flying past her and crashed though the bathroom door.
TSEEW! Tom fired his dracon beam at Marco.
(Augh!) Marco yelled, clutching a burn on his chest and tumbling off of Visser three.
"Ouch." Visser one said. "Might want to get that looked at."
Cassie shoved past Visser one and stepped between them all. "STOP IT!"
A sudden calmness and instant stillness failed to settled over the room.
(That's not how you do it.) Jake said privately to Cassie. (Allow me.)
A tiger landed next to Cassie, and let loose a ferocious roar that shook the house to it's foundation. Visser one clutched her ears, and Tom fell backwards onto his rear end. Eveybody else froze in place.
(They're all yours.) Jake said privately. Cassie nodded and stepped forward.
"You are going to stop it." She repeated in a quieter voice. "You are going to stop it, and you are going to stop it right now. Demorph."
Marco and Rachel shamefully melted into their human bodies, looking down at their feet.
"Sit down." She said. "We are going to work out the bedrooms, right here."
Cassie helped Iniss and Taylor sit up, and everyone else sank hesitantly to the floor.
"I said sit down." Cassie said to Visser three and Ax, who were still standing.
(Cassie, Adalite physiology is not designed-) Ax began, but Visser three interrupted.
(Sitting down in this host body is impossible, foolish human.) He snapped, arkwardly saying the 'foolish human'. He was still getting used to the fact that the 'andalite bandits' were human.
"Sit. Down." She said dangerously. "Now."
Ax and Visser Three, with pained expressions on their faces, bent their hind legs and rested their weight on the knee joint. This was as close to sitting as they were likely to get.
Cassie looked at them all carefully for a full five minutes. Nobody dared to utter a sound.
"You two," She said finally, pointing at the teenage girl and Tobias. They both glanced sharply at her.
"You two agree on the rooms for everybody." She said. "Does everyone trust their judgement?"
Visser three raised a stalk eye, but didn't say a word.
"Fine." Cassie nodded and pointed towards the stairs. "Go downstairs and don't come up until you've worked out room arangement."
Tobias fluttered wordless down the stairs. The teenage girl followed him.
Visser three leaned forward, his eyes unfocused. There was a small whimper from downstairs, and Ax narrowed his eyes at him.
(Visser three is privately speaking to the yeerk with the youthful female host!) Ax exclaimed aloud. (If I know Visser three, he is threatening her.)
"You had better stop it." Cassie warned.
Visser three smiled semi-pleasantly with his eyes. (Stop what? I am not doing anything at all. If you-)
Visser one smiled sweetly. "I suggest that you listen to her. Unless, of course, you find that the knowledge of you being intimidated by a human child spread throughout the empire completely unhumiliating. Then by all means continue."
(We are cutoff from the empire, dapsen. You couldn't do it even if you wanted to.) Visser three sneered.
Visser one raised an eybrow. "I have my ways."
(You're bluffing!) Visser three said.
"Would you care to take that chance?" Visser one asked.
Visser three glared, but stopped thought speaking.
It was a long and boring wait in the hallway. For about fifty minutes, the yeerks and the animorphs sat, only hearing occasional mutters drifting upstairs. One time, the voices escalated into yelling, though they only heard a few words.
(...I told you, There is no way in fiery...)
"...But they really need to..."
(...Are you trying to get me killed?)
"You? It would be me that they murdered..."
They both laughed, and returned to their normal whispering and private thought speak.
(Getting pretty friendly down there, aren't they?) Visser three said suspiciously.
"Yeah, they are." Rachel growled. Marco opened his mouth to respond, but was saved by Tobias fluttering up the stairs.
(Ok, we're decided.) he said. The teenage girl nodded.
"Whoopee." Marco said blandly. "Spill it, Birdboy."
(Esplin,) Tobias began. Visser three tensed despite himself. (Iniss, Jake, and me in that bedroom down the hall.)
Jake looked at Iniss and Visser three, and gritted his teeth. "Tobias-"
(Hey, it was either him or Temrash.) Tobias said.
"Temrash?" Jake looked puzzled.
(Oh yeah, sorry.) Tobias said. (She called them by their yeerk names so much I just got used to them. Iniss is Mr. Chapman, Temrash is Tom, Edriss is Visser one, and Esplin is Visser three.)
"Alright." Jake sighed. "Go on."
"Next is Edriss, Aximilli, Temrash, and Rachel in the master bedroom." The teenage girl said. Visser three slapped the ground angrily with his tail.
(She gets the master bedroom? And I sppose the bird just called him Aximilli so much you got used to it too?) Visser three sneered. The girl flushed red.
"Um-" The girl faltered.
Visser one shook her head. "This coming from the king of andalite lovers himself."
Cassie leapt in to interrupt any retort Visser three might have had. "So that's me, Taylor, Marco, and you in the geust room, right?" She questioned the girl.
The girl nodded. Marco dropped to his knees in front of Tobias.
(What are you doing, Marco?) Tobias asked amusedly, as Marco started groveling.
"Thank you, my feathered friend." Marco said, a note of deep reverence in his voice. "I owe you big. You have put me in the same room as the three babes."
(One who is currently taken.) Tobis pointed out. (And one who is a crazed psycho.)
"Hey, she's a hot crazed spycho." Marco said, looking at Taylor appreciatively. "I'll take what I can get."
Taylor giggled insanely again.
"Although," Marco said, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Next time, do me a favor and put Rachel in the room instead of her."
