Disclaimer: the usual, Animorphs not mine, they are K.'s and Scholastic's property.
Author's Note: -( )- denotes thought-speak.
Chapter 4: Flight or Fight?
As the Dracon beams were about to hit home, I jumped up and started flapping. There was a small explosion behind me as the beams hit the Pool Ship. As the Bug Fighters turned for another shot, I heard a whooshing noise as missiles streaked towards the fighters and hit them from behind, destroying them. I saw three F-22s streak past and I quickly read the nicknames for each of the pilots: Raven, Knight and King. I should find a way to thank them, seeing as they just saved my life.
I heard another noise, and turned to look. It was a Black Hawk helicopter flying towards me. As it stopped, the guy manning the minigun motioned to me to come over to the helicopter, so I flew over and started to morph. The soldiers in the helicopter stared at me with expressions of shock, whilst I changed to human. But then, I guess that seeing a bird change to human, the twisting ligaments and skin appearing from feathers can be really disgusting, especially if you've never scene it happen before.
My beak softened and became a nose and mouth and my eyesight dimmed. My hearing cut drastically and I grew taller, very quickly. The bones in my wings cracked as they repositioned and the hollow wings solidified. My internal organs sloshed and expanded as old ones disappeared, new ones grew and others increased in size. The scales down my legs puffed out and turned the pinky colour of human flesh. My talons changed last, so I was an almost six-foot tall human teetering on twelve-inch talons. I steadied as the three talons at the front split into five toes and the talon at the back retracted and softened into a heel.
I looked up at the faces of the people staring at me. The black sergeant was the first to recover.
"Sorry about that, but I felt I easier to do this as a human, 'cause a lot of people freak when a hawk starts talking to them," I said.
"Yes, of course sir," the black sergeant said slowly, "sorry, where are my manners -"
"Buried in the yard along with your bone," said one of the privates.
"Shut up Stacker," replied the sergeant, holding out his hand, "I'm Staff Sergeant Griggs"
"I'm Tobias, the eyes and ears of the Animorphs," I replied whilst shaking his hand. "So what was the reason of flagging me over here?"
"The General wants to speak to you," said the other sergeant.
"Thank you, sergeant,"
"That's First Sergeant Mark Williams," he replied.
"The radio," I said expectantly.
"Oh, sorry, here you go. Just press that button, the General is on channel three," said Williams, handing over a radio.
The radio crackled a bit as I pressed the button. "Hello?" I said nervously, "Tobias here."
"Tobias, son, what the hell is going on, its hell down here!" the Doubleday shouted over the radio. I heard the noises of a battle raging in the background.
"The Pool Ship started to take off as I was being escorted off as a Taxxon, and the rest of the Animorphs are on board, sir."
"You don't have to call me sir, you know. If anything, I'm the one who should be calling you sir. And as for the situation, well this is just dandy isn't it?" he said sarcastically.
"Tell me, sir, how many of the Auxiliary Animorphs are still alive?" I asked, fearing the worst.
"About six, I think,"
"What about James?"
"He's still alive, luckily,"
"And what's the situation with your men?"
"We're down to 35% of full force, with two M1A2s, six Blackhawks and five F-22's. Most of the men are scattered across the town, and taking shelter in buildings."
"Where are you located, sir?"
"I'm about three clicks south-west of the Pool Ship, and we're holed up in what's left of the school, I think,"
"Okay, we're on our way,"
"We need your ass over now, son! Get here ASAP!"
"Yes, sir,"
"Doubleday out,"
"Pilot, get us to the General's position now!" I shouted
"Aye, sir"
I sat down on one of the seats and looked, once again, at the soldiers in the helicopter. As I counted, there were two sergeants, Griggs and Williams, two corporals, and six privates, including Stacker, the one who spoke out earlier. In all, what looked like the remnants of a platoon.
"What happened to you lot?" I asked Griggs.
"Our platoon was tasked with protecting one of you Animorphs, when we were attack by those fighters and they killed the Animorphs and most of the platoon. Those F-22s who bailed you out, bailed us out as well, and we got on this Black Hawk." He replied.
The helicopter jerked suddenly as if to avoid something.
"Sorry to interrupt, but we're under attack!" shouted the pilot, "brace yourselves,"
TSSEEEEWWWW! KAA-BOOOOOM!
"We've been hit!" shouted the pilot, "This is Black Hawk 12, we're going down one and a half clicks north of the General's position!"
The Black Hawk started to spin out of control and the ground came rushing up.
A/N: As always, tell me what you think.
Loveforwriting: Thanks for the reviews, I have every intention of continuing the story, one of my pet hates on this site is people who write decent stories and don't finish them. Don't worry, I won't kill off all of the Auxiliary Animorphs, personally I though it was cruel of K.A. to kill them all off in the first place. And Tobias will have reasons for not attempting to save them.