A/N: Written with Ember Nickel, ( and ) thoughtspeak.
Cassie flew over town, heading for Rachel's house. The osprey was happy, content with riding on the thermals. When she reached the building, the osprey easily noticed that Rachel's window was open, but it didn't want to go in. Cassie directed it through it anyways, and demorphed on Rachel's floor.
Listening, she could hear the sounds of Rachel's mom clanging in the kitchen. Cassie was glad to know that she was home; she didn't know where she worked, and didn't know where else to find her. Cassie opened Rachel's closed door and left the room. She clanked down the stairs and turned into the kitchen.
There she found Jordan and Rachel's mom, baking a batch of cookies.
"Cassie!" Rachel's mom looked up in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"I need a lawyer and legal advice. Now- before the game starts and a sentient species' rights are violated. Drive me to our barn."
"Huh?" Rachel's mom asked, confused. She was about to be confused a lot in the next few minutes.
"Just... come on before you're too late," Cassie said impatiently, tugging on her arm.
"Okay..." Rachel's mom trailed, looking around. "Uh, Jordan, can you put that dough in the fridge when you're done stirring it? Mommy needs to go now."
"You don't have to act like I'm two," Jordan complained. "And you said you'd bake cookies!"
"Not now sweetie," she apologized, and followed an impatient Cassie out the door. The two got into the car, Rachel's mom looking at Cassie uncertainly.
"You can get to my house?" Cassie asked without waiting for an answer. "Good. Go there and I'll explain on the way. Don't make me buckle and don't get too distracted. In fact, don't let other drivers see me either..."
Now even more confused than before, Rachel's mom began to drive, only because she knew Cassie was Rachel's friend and thought that Rachel might be in some sort of trouble. Before she could ask any of the questions circling in her mind, though, Cassie was talking.
"If you are one of them, I will probably have to kill you, though I don't like it... Jake would make me..." she trailed, trying to find the words. "I don't think you are..." she tried to reassure Rachel's mom, unsuccessfully, while Rachel's mom wondered how Cassie could possibly hurt her.
"Yeerk," Cassie muttered.
Rachel's mom looked at her, now considering that Cassie might be crazy.
She still seems to be confused, Cassie thought, but tried yet another test, just to be sure.
"Andalite," she said, just a little bit louder.
Rachel's mom didn't give any response that Cassie expected a Yeerk to give. Instead she just said, "Stop talking nonsense." "It's not nonsense,"
Cassie decided to explain. "The Yeerks are a parasitic species invading the planet and the Andalites are trying to help stop it, or at least they say they are. And the Andalites have this morphing power, and Prince Elfangor gave it to us before he died, so we could stop them because it'll take a while for Andelite backup to get here and by then the Yeerks will have won and Visser Three will be at least Visser One... but we can stop all that if we win a flag football game because the Ellimist made this deal with Crayak and we need to win... but none of that concerns you yet..." she trailed.
Rachel's mom blinked and Cassie continued, "I can prove it. Watch."
Rachel's mom looked over at Cassie and found out why she didn't want to be buckled up. She was changing. Before Rachel's mom knew what was really happening, there was a full-grown wolf sitting in her front seat.
"Aaaahhhhh-" she screamed.
(It's just me,) Cassie began, cautiously. (I won't hurt you...)
Rachel's mom shut up and began to concentrate on driving. Looking at the wolf was making her sick. Soon they reached Cassie's barn.
(Get out of the car and open my door. I can't do it myself.) Rachel's mom did as she was told. Cassie hopped out of the car and ran over to the water pump in front of the barn for the horses' water. She began to dig until she reached a small blue box. (Take the box and hold it,) she commanded. Rachel's mom did what she was told, now believing that she was in some strange dream. Cassie demorphed and opened the side of the box and began to punch the numbers she had gotten from Ax before leaving the game. He understood... she thought. Rachel's mom still looked confused to Cassie, so she took the box from her and buried it back in the ground. "Now follow me," she said, leading the way into the barn. She stopped in front of a Cooper's Hawk with a broken wing and opened its cage, cooing it as she did. "Go ahead and touch it and concentrate on it." Hesitantly, Rachel's mom reached into the cage and touched the bird. Cassie watched her eyes widen in surprise as the bird went into a trance and then a questioning look filled her eyes. As Rachel's mom removed her hand, Cassie closed the door to the cage. "Now remember the hawk. Concentrate on the DNA that is now part of you."
Rachel's mom closed her eyes, feeling that if she did this one last thing, maybe the purpose of this would become clear. It didn't. Instead, when she opened her eyes, she saw her reflection in the side of the cage with feather patterns all over her skin. "Wha-flmp?" she said, her mouth turning into a beak as she tried to talk.
Confident that Rachel's mom would complete the morph Cassie said, "It's okay, just keep going," and began to morph herself. The osprey again. (Come on,) she said, as she finished the morph. (We have a two hour time limit. We don't want to be trapped like Tobias.) She took off, expecting Rachel's mom to follow her. She didn't. (Hurry up! Tick tock...)
(I don't know about any of this, but I think I at least deserve an explanation that is less muddled than the one that you gave me before.)
(I don't have time for a less muddled explanation. Follow me and I'll try and explain it again on the way.)
(Can you at least tell me what I did?)
(You morphed a Cooper's Hawk and are now going to follow me to the free Hork-Bajir, where we'll meet Erek if Ax passed on my message and we can get some witnesses for the trial. Now come on. Erek and the game won't wait forever. Erek is needed for his kick.)
(Are we going to fly everywhere?) Rachel's mom asked.
(Yes, just not always by bird. And sometimes we won't use flying morphs. But for now we need to fly. We need to be there in time to meet that helicopter.)
Reluctantly, Rachel's mom followed Cassie, still confused over what was happening to her.
