Chapter two

Jeff

"Okay, tell me again why I'm agreeing to this?" I asked Allison, who was piloting the bug fighter.

"Yeah, Alli," Shelly said, backed against the back wall.

"Don't call me Alli. Al hasn't responded to any of our calls, and we can't bring everyone in one fixed bug fighter unless we plan on morphing. And leaving the rest of the bugs unguarded is a bad idea," Allison replied, hands dancing along the controls.

"I'm just saying, from what John told me, you've crashed one of these before."

"Yes, in that battle almost five months ago. Do you want to know how I survived? It's called an evac shaft on the bottom of the bug. That's why I'm flying in atmosphere. So we don't suffocate on the way down."

"You saying we're actually going to go out the bottom?" I yelled.

"Yep. See, I can't land one of these things. I'm activating the auto-destruct, then we fall. And morph on the way down."

"You're as crazy as Shelly!"

"Hey!" Shelly snapped.

"I'm actually quite flattered," Allison said. "Ready?"

"No!" I yelled.

"I'm taking that as a yes." She pressed several more buttons. "I recommend you start morphing, even though we've got a long drop."

"Self-destruct activated," the computer said coolly as if it wasn't some dire thing.

I felt the bottom of the bug flip open. Allison dived down, feathers already forming. Shelly followed suit.

"Uh-uh, no way," I backed away from the hole.

"Destruct in ten seconds."

"On second thought…"

I jumped from the bug as it exploded above me. I screamed.

"AH! AH! NO! ALLISON! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

>Start morphing, you baka (1),> Shelly said, already an eagle.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" I started to transform into a Cooper's hawk.

Allison laughed. >Ah, put a lid on it.>

"YOU'RE BOTH NUTS! NUTS, I TELL YOU—" I passed from normal speech into thought-speech. >YOU ARE BOTH NUTS!>

(1) Means 'idiot' in Japanese. (Would now be a good time to say that her and April are anime freaks?)

REVIEW RESPONCES

Traycon3: That's good. Thanks for the review!

Janika: A beta is someone who, basically, reads over your story, and checks spelling, grammar... makes sure you don't have any plot holes. Stuff like that. And I'm working on the crossover... it is very writer's-block-like.