And fourth one up!
Jake—10:30 p.m.
The store was completely dark; not even maintenance lights were on. Big block letters read "The Chasm." As I'm sure you know by now, it's one of Rachel's favorite stores. Something about the color red. Anyway, Cassie and I were sitting on the rooftop in our owl morphs. We were far enough from the beach that we figured owls wouldn't be too conspicuous.
Technically, it was night, but to my owl's eyes it might as well have been noon. Everything that I looked at looked like it was under a microscope and a spotlight. I could see individual cracks in the pavement. I could see the fine print of all the bargain signs that Rachel would be lusting over the next day. Owls are truly amazing.
It didn't hurt that Cassie was there. I wasn't about to deny that. I had chosen the groups on mostly logical reasoning, but I wasn't going to complain about ending up with Cassie.
To tell the truth, I was actually a little worried about Marco's threat. It was just some silly, stupid thing he'd said about asking Cassie out for me, but I sensed he might actually do it if he thought I was pathetic enough. And he was right—I didn't want him doing that. I would die of embarrassment.
So, it made sense that I should ask her, right? I mean, I wasn't just going to use concern about Marco's threat as an excuse to do it... Right?
Okay, so maybe I was.
(So, Cassie,) I said, trying not to let my thought-speech waver. Good grief. I've been through more bloody battles than I can count, and I was nervous about asking a girl out. But Cassie's not just any girl.
(Yeah?) she said.
(Well... you know that new movie coming out in the theaters?)
Pause. (What movie?) Was that anticipation in her voice?
I panicked for a second. I had no idea what movie I was talking about. I didn't even know what was in the theaters right now. I'd just said it. If Marco had been there, he'd be laughing his head off. What movie was out that she would like?
(Um...) I said helplessly.
(Finding Nemo?) Cassie suggested quickly.
(Yes!) I practically shouted in relief. (Finding Nemo. That's it. I, um, hear it's pretty good.)
Cassie responded shyly, (Yeah.)
(Uh, are you thinking about seeing it?) I asked. Oh man, I was bad at this.
(Yes... are you?) That was anticipation in her voice, right?
(Uh, yep. Definitely. You know,) I said, trying to sound conversational, (since we're both seeing it...)
(Maybe we could see it together?) Cassie finished. I practically fell off my perch in relief.
(Yeah.) I was trying not to sound eager, and failing miserably. (So, do... you want to?)
I waited a moment. Then: (That would be okay,) she said.
(Then—great.)
(Yeah.)
I really was truly pathetic, but I'd done it. I'd asked her out. And I think she said yes. She did say yes, didn't she? I quickly went back through the conversation in my head, and confirmed that she did say yes. Yes. That word had a whole new meaning for me.
We sat in silence, but a comfortable silence. The night was quiet and cool, but not chilly. One of the advantages of living where we did—the weather was generally pretty mild.
Not much was said for a while. We demorphed behind a dumpster to refresh our time constraints and settled back on the rooftop.
Then, with my sharp eyes, I picked up slight movement. A couple of people, dressed in black, were sneaking up to the store.
(You see them?) I asked Cassie.
She focused her gaze. (Yep. Are they Controllers?)
(Dunno...) They didn't move like Controllers. Their movements were slow and deliberate. There were three of them, and I could see that all of them were women. As I watched, they pulled black ski masks over their faces. I laughed, suddenly realizing what I was seeing.
(They've watched too much TV,) I said. I'm sure Cassie would have rolled her eyes if she could have.
(They're going to steal from a clothing store?) I could hear the disdain in her voice. (Of all the things they could steal, they're going to take clothes?)
(Guess so.) I grinned as much as I could with a beak. Which wasn't much.
Cassie ruffled her feathers. (So... what do we do?)
Good question. Should we let them raid the store, knowing we shouldn't get involved? Or should we stop them? One of the women pulled out some sort of pick and began working at a lock. I waited for the piercing shrill of alarms, but... nothing. (Huh. Well, they probably shouldn't be around if Endozer comes here,) I said.
(Plus, you're bored.)
(That too.)
Without another word, we lifted off and fluttered back behind the dumpster, and demorphed. A minute later, two kids in tight clothes crouched behind the garbage.
"Ugh. That's rank." We both knew it'd just get worse when we morphed to animals with better senses of smell.
I concentrated and felt the changes starting. Orange and black striped over my arm. My muscles thickened and I dropped down to all fours as my bones shifted. The tiger's mind bubbled beneath my own, but it was easy enough to subdue. The vision and hearing capabilities were excellent—unfortunately for me, so was my sense of smell. I backed away quickly and Cassie did the same. We weren't going to hurt anybody, just give them a bit of a fright.
We trotted through the door that the women had picked, looking totally nonchalant. Like it was no big deal that a tiger and a wolf were hanging out in the socks section of The Chasm. I saw that the thieves had thrown towels over the security cameras in the store, which was relieving. Those women didn't know how much that helped us out. We didn't want Controllers knowing that the Andalite bandits knew the location of the store—but if Endozer came and Cassie and I attacked, I guess they'd know anyway. Either way, boredom can do a lot to you.
I spotted them against the right side wall. Cassie and I padded right up to them. They took no notice—they were feverishly grabbing a bunch of tops, giggling over their cleverness.
(Amateurs,) I muttered. (Ready?)
(Yep.)
I let out the monstrous, bellowing roar that only a tiger could produce. Merchandise rattled on shelves and the crooks jumped about three feet straight into the air. They whirled around to face us—and screamed.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
(Ow!Owowowow!) I shouted, shying back. My eardrums were going to burst! And the girls kept screaming, pressing and clawing against the wall.
(Um, what do they think they're trying to do?) Cassie asked me. (Climb up the wall?) She growled and snapped her jaws. I would have laughed at the effect that this had on the girls if my EARDRUMS WEREN'T ON FIRE! Their faces paled and their eyes widened in panic.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
(Owwwww!)
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
(Owwwww!)
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
(Owwwww!)
(Maybe you should have chosen a different morph,) said Cassie primly. The noise was grating on her ears too, I knew it, but my tiger's ears were more sensitive.
(Is it just me, or are they more afraid of you than they are me?) I demanded. (Balto scares them more than Sher Kahn does?)
(Balto? Excuse me?)
It was then that the women finally started to run. They dropped all the clothes they were carrying and bolted for the door. Tried to, anyway. One idiot girl had her eyes squeezed shut in terror as she ran, and she plowed right into a display of clothes. Her friends didn't even look back to help her. The display teetered dangerously. As I watched, it toppled over and against another display. In less than a second, I was looking at some very rickety stands of clothes.
(Oh, crap.)
CRASH!
Clothes flew everywhere, burying me under a pile. (Hey!) I shouted in indignation. I tried to scrabble my way out, but I was completely covered with a three foot layer of cotton. I struggled to get my head up above the pile. The girl who'd run into the first display was only on the edge of the fray, and had scrambled to her feet and run out the door, still screaming wildly.
Cassie finished chasing her out and rounded back. (Next time they'll think twice—) She broke off, staring at me. Then she started laughing so hard she would have been crying if she was human. (Jake!) she gasped. (You have—) She couldn't finish.
(Yeah, I know, I know,) I said glumly. At least Marco wasn't there to see it. I finished heaving myself from the pile and looked around at the mess. (You can stop laughing now,) I informed Cassie, who was still cackling away. (Do we leave it like this?)
Cassie eased slightly. (Sure. They'll just figure it was a failed robbery attempt. Which it was.) She took another look at me and burst out in more furious giggles. I sighed.
We trotted out and back behind the dumpster. I was a little bit down that I'd gotten embarrassed in front of her. I demorphed, feeling the familiar but still creepy sensation of bones twisting and insides shifting.
As I got more and more human, something began to obscure my vision. Once I was fully human I reached up and plucked it off. Cassie watched in great amusement as I stared at the object in horror.
One pieces of clothing had stuck to my head from the pile. Something orange and black. A...
"Thong?" I said in shock. Cassie doubled over, holding her stomach and jamming a fist in her mouth to keep her laughter from being heard all over the block. I flicked away the... garment... in disgust, like it was some insect crawling over my skin. I noticed with some chagrin that the material—what little of it there was—was tiger print.
I didn't wait for Cassie to stop before I morphed back to owl. She morphed too, quicker than I, and I heard her laughter in my head as soon as she got thought-speech.
(Gee, thanks, Cassie,) I said dryly. (Just don't tell Marco. Or Rachel, for that matter.)
I guess God decided that was plenty action for us that night, because nothing else happened. Everything was silent, save for sporadic fits of giggling from Cassie. The offending stitch of clothing lay forlornly next to the dumpster.
When it became evident that Endozer would not be arriving here, Cassie and I flew off, getting clear before someone could come to open the store and find it a mess. It was definitely showing signs of being another great day. The first early birds were getting up when we reached Erek's house. His next door neighbor, a robust, bald man, stumbled out in a bath robe to pick up the paper.
We waited until he had gone inside before we flew through an open window and into Erek's kitchen. He was sitting there waiting for us, in the hologram that we were familiar with. He sprang up when we entered. "Anything?" he demanded.
I tried to answer, but my beak was melting into a mouth and my thought-speech disappeared. I waited a second and then said: "No."
Erek seemed disappointed, but showed us into the basement anyway. "You're the first ones here."
Rachel and Tobias were the first ones after us to arrive. Rachel entered, holding Tobias away from they hyper dogs and laughing. She came up to us and I saw the mischievous glint in her eyes, and I knew, just knew, that she was going to say something about Cassie and I being on stakeout together. Before leaving, Marco had already filled in several jokes that would suffice. And I'm sure he spent the entire night thinking up more.
Unfortunately (or was it fortunately?), nothing had happened with them. After Rachel slid a "romantic midnight dumpster diving" comment into the conversation, heating my face bright red, and laughed hysterically with Tobias at the word "squat" (I decided I didn't want to know), we settled down to wait for Marco and Ax. I was still worried, and I wouldn't stop being worried until they arrived.
We waited for maybe an hour. The two of them appeared in the basement and I got a whole lot more worried. Marco was serious like I'd rarely seen him. I know Marco. I've known him forever. We could be going through hell, and he'd still be grinning like an idiot. He wasn't grinning now.
Ax, too, looked tense. He quickly informed us that Endozer had indeed arrived, but they'd been unable to defeat him. I was okay with that. I was not okay with what he said next.
(Prince Jake, I believe that we have discovered what the Yeerks are hiding.)
Silence.
"What is it?" Rachel demanded.
Oh, man.
ooo
A/N: Ha! Thought you'd find out, did you? Well, you may just have to wait... again!
Elwing: interesting conditions they have—I'd like to see it. To 'publish' on you have to register. Go to Log In, and they'll have a registration option. You do have to have an email to register. Once you register, they'll explain everything to you. Registration is free and you can keep info private. It's pretty easy to get through—If I can do it, you can do it. I know diddly about computers. Anyway, thanks for your comments! Glad to see you're enjoying the story.
LittleMidgett: you're just gonna have to wait! Thanks for the compliments.
Sancho: I don't think you do know... at least, I'm sure I haven't alluded to it. Although, I'm really curious as to what you thought. Think you could tell me? And hey, a good time's a good time. Maybe kinda gross, but whatever. :P
uncutetomboy: you and I are the same: no mushiness, but relative cuteness is o.k. I don't really have plans for that particular battle scene, but a lot of what I'm writing just pops up as I'm writing it, so you never know.
Chaos Pirate: and I'm such a hypocrite, you know that? I am. I hate it when others leave me on a cliffhanger, but I do the same to them! But I expect everyone to be a better person than I am :P Considering the fact that I still haven't let you off the cliffhanger. Anyway, thanks for the comments! Yeah, dialogue is a big thing with me. I consider it to make or break a story. Oh, and before I forget: I read your author's bio, and I demand that you put up a story! I think what you're doing (staying a couple chapters ahead) is a very good idea. I attempt to do the same, but usually I give in and end up only being, like¾ of a chapter ahead.
Samuraigurl: yep, I've always kinda wanted to see Tobias get some payback, you know? Just figured that using the bully's head as a bullseye was the most appropriate way of doing it.
Auroran Wings: thank you!
Thanks for all your comments! I'm having such a fun time writing this story.
