CHAPTER 8

I leaped up to my feet.

I watched my arm as a wave of orange swept over me. I was orange!

I started shrinking. My legs grew shorter. My fingers sort of melted together. My nose and mouth shifted and changed, then bulged out together.

I was a Charmander.

No, wait! Something was missing...

SPROOT!

A tail spurted out behind me. A small plume of flame grew at the end.

Now I was a Charmander.

Wow! The energy!

What was that smell? It's... a Rattata! I might have to fight.

I started running. Ah, I loved to run!

I stopped. Wait a minute. I'm Rachel! I'm not a Charmander!

As I stood there in confusion, I suddenly realized something was behind me...

Rattata!

I whirled around to face it.

It snarled at me and we glared at each other for a moment, before the Rattata lunged!

It leaped at me. I barely had time to react before I was hit.

I staggered backward, then lashed out with my claws.

The Rattata squealed, but then leaped again.

I was hit again, and I growled at it.

Suddenly...

FWAAAP!

WHAM!

The Rattata was suddenly knocked aside.

What...? What was that?

I turned to see.

Bounce! His tail was poised high in the air, ready to strike again.

˂Bounce! I am so glad to see you!˃ I said.

Wait a minute. I just thought-spoke!

˂Rachel?˃ Bounce said in shock. ˂Is that you?˃

˂Yeah, can you hear me?˃

˂Sure. You're thought-speaking. You... you morphed!˃

I nodded. ˂It... it was weird! I think I'm the only one to do it, so far. Have you morphed?˃

Bounce shook his head. ˂No. I've...˃ He lowered his thought-speak voice. He was embarrassed. ˂I've kind of been too afraid to.˃

˂This is weird,˃ I said. ˂It's like I'm a Charmander and I'm Rachel.˃ I started shivering. ˂I feel... cold.˃

I tried to remember what my teacher, Ms. Mill, had said about Charmanders... What was it?

˂Where's Blitz?˃ I asked.

˂Oh, he's here somewhere,˃ Bounce said, looking around.

That's right! I suddenly remembered: Charmanders like hot or warm places. If they don't live in a warm place, they usually become very energetic.

˂Hi!˃ Blitz cried, leaping out of some nearby bushes.

˂Oh, there you are!˃ Bounce said, sounding annoyed. ˂Rachel's here. She morphed.˃

˂I know,˃ Blitz said. ˂I heard you talking.˃ He suddenly started jumping up and down. ˂I wanna try! I wanna try!˃

I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. ˂I'm going to un-morph, or morph out, or demorph, however you want to say it. Skipper said there was a time limit, didn't he?˃

Bounce nodded. ˂Two hours.˃

I focused on my human self, hoping it would work. It did. Suddenly, my tail disappeared. My legs lengthened, and my arms grew less chubby. My snout was sucked back into my face. And finally, I grew back to my normal size.

Blitz and Bounce just stared.

Suddenly, Blitz burst out laughing. ˂Cool!˃ he yelled. ˂I wanna try! I wanna try!˃

Author's Annotation: The way I wrote this, Rachel seems to be in more grief than Bounce or Blitz. Oops.

You'll also notice how often Mews attack with their tails in this story. Mews are my counterpart to the Andalites of the Animorphs books (the good guys fighting a war against the bad guys), and Andalites have a powerful natural weapon: their tails. Mews don't look all that dangerous, but their tails are quite long, so I reasoned they could use those to attack until their Psychic powers develop. Except they don't have tail blades like Andalites, so it'd be more like clubbing or pounding an enemy, and Mews just happen to start with the move Pound in the games. I thought it fit nicely, because what else are they going to hit you with? Their cute little noses?