Animorphs: Hunting Game
5: Rites of Passage
Cassie's barn: 2 hours later
"The waiting's always the worst part, isn't it?" Dutch said to Cassie as they waited for the others to return.
"Yeah, you're right," Cassie replied.
She was not looking forward to the day ahead. Keeping her parents from returning from work early so they could look out for her had been like pulling teeth. She couldn't blame them given the news from the school. With four kids dead and police all over the place, school would not be restarting anytime soon. Still, she hated lying to them. Here I am promising I'll stay home and away from the action whilst I'm really charging right into it.
"You ok?" Dutch asked, looking concerned at her expression.
"I'm ok. I wish I could tell my parents about all this sometimes," she sighed.
"Tell them what? That you and your friends have been fighting a war with a bunch of slugs for a year? That an alien hunter has just targeted you for a thrill? Believe me, kid, you're better off not telling them."
Cassie nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I just keep wishing I could share it with someone."
"Besides me?" Dutch grinned. "You will someday, trust me."
"You really think we can beat him?"
"If I didn't do you think I'd still be sitting here? After what I've seen and what you've told me, I think you could pull off anything. There are generals who'd kill for a team like yours."
"Uh, thanks, I guess," Cassie didn't quite know what to say to that.
"I killed one of these things alone once. I'm certain that together we can do it again, even if I am a little slower than I used to be."
"Do we really have to kill it?"
"There's no other way, Cassie. I know you hate killing, but that's the way it has to be. At the end of this either he'll be dead or we'll all be. I don't know about you but I know which way I'd prefer it."
Cassie nodded grimly. She didn't like it, but she knew she would have to do it.
As they were brooding over it, three birds of prey fluttered in through the doors and morphed into Jake, Rachel and Marco.
"Everything ok?" Dutch asked.
"Just about. Man, did we have some explaining to do," Marco groaned.
"We're ok for the moment, though."
"Good. We don't need any more complications now," Dutch said.
"Ax and Tobias should be just behind us," Rachel added.
"Who's Tobias? Another one of you?"
"Yeah, but he's slightly different. You'll see why in a minute." Jake replied.
Ax came in the door in Andalite form. I have it, Prince Jake. He held the blue box in his left hand.
"Man, are we really going to do this? I still have nightmares from last time," Marco sighed.
"We can't do much else, Marco. Have you got a better idea?"
Marco shook his head no. "I guess not. I just hope we're doing the right thing." He looked up and saw Ryan headed toward them. "He's here."
"Hi guys," Ryan said weakly.
"You ok?" Jake asked.
Ryan nodded. " I'm ok, just shaken, I guess."
"Ok. Here's the deal. We can give you the ability to morph like we have. If you take it though, your old normal life is over. You'll be fighting for the human race and risking your life every single day. You can't tell anyone, not even your parents, because if anyone finds out who and what we are then it's all over. If you don't want to do this; you can just walk away; no one would blame you."
Even as Jake said that last sentence, he knew it wasn't entirely true. From the look on Ryan's face, it was plain he didn't believe it either.
"Don't bullshit me, Jake! How the hell can I walk away with what I've seen and what I know?"
"This isn't a game, Ryan," Cassie put in gently.
"Yeah, the Yeerks were bad enough but now we have that thing hunting us too," Marco said. "Are you absolutely sure you're up to this?"
"I don't know," Ryan finally said, "but if you want me, I'm in."
Ax moved forward holding the blue box in his hand.
This is an Escafil Device. It is what makes a creature capable of morphing. You just need to touch the side of it. Once you do this, there is no turning back.
Ryan reached out and touched the side of the cube without hesitation. He shuddered as a tingle went through him.
It is done, Ax said.
"Welcome to the Suicide Squad," Marco quipped. Everyone else flashed him a nasty look.
"We've got to get him some morphs," Cassie said. "That thing will be coming after us again soon. We'll need to be ready."
"At least he doesn't need a morphing suit," Rachel added. "He looks just as fashionably challenged as the rest of us. He'll have to lose the shoes though." All of them were dressed in T-shirts and shorts, the heat was just too stifling for anything else.
Just then Tobias flew in and landed on the hay nearby.
Sorry I'm late, I got held up looking for our hunter friend out there. I've not found his base yet. These must be Dutch and Ryan, I take it?
"Don't worry, Tobias. You're right on time." Jake said.
"Your last team member?" Dutch asked. "Why isn't he demorphing?"
Because this is the body I have to live in. Tobias replied.
"That's the golden rule of morphing, Ryan," Jake said. "You can't stay in morph for more than two hours, or you get stuck in morph forever."
I can still morph, thanks to another friend of ours. But when I demorph I always return to this hawk body.
"I'll take him down to the Rehab Center, he can acquire one or two morphs down there," Cassie said.
"I'll go with you," Jake said.
"Meet us at the river once you're done," Dutch said, "Jake knows where I mean." Jake looked slightly sheepish as he said this.
"You've got a plan?" Marco asked.
"No, not a firm plan," Dutch admitted. "But we'd do better if we started looking for him instead of waiting for him to come for us again. We have to pick our battles. It's not much, but it's all we've got."
"All we've got? Oh man!" Marco whined.
"See you in an hour." Dutch said as he went out the door.
With that they left for the Rehab Center and the river, trying to prepare themselves for their worst battle yet.
The riverbank: 1 hour later
Marco, Tobias and Ax flew down the river in their bird morphs, trying to find the spot where Dutch had rescued Jake. They didn't have to look for long. Dutch was already there waiting for them with his shotgun ready. Marco and Ax landed and demorphed whilst Tobias stayed overhead.
"Hi Dutch, everything ok?" Marco asked as he finished morphing out.
"No sign of him so far," Dutch replied. "Where are the others?"
"Rachel went to the Rehab Center too. They should be here soon," Marco replied.
Nothing up here, Tobias reported from overhead. Wait, there's another bird of prey coming in.
They looked around and eventually saw it. It was a northern harrier.
Marco sighed. "False alarm, guys. Only Ax has that morph."
Tobias disagreed. Something's wrong. His flying is all over the place.
They looked again and saw that Tobias was right. The harrier's flight was, to say the least, erratic and it was coming in to land far too fast. Then they all heard a loud thought-speak message.
OH SHIIIITTTTTTT!!!
The harrier came in too fast, skidded, lost it and went head over heels three times before landing flat on its face. Then it gradually demorphed into a very dazed Ryan.
Marco was laughing out loud. "Ryan, you have got to get your brakes adjusted!"
Even the others were having difficulty keeping straight faces.
Ryan was not amused. "Aw, shut up! I bet Superman never got it right first time! I bet you didn't either!"
You just need more practice, that's all, Tobias said.
"Where are the others?" Dutch asked.
Ryan looked around in confusion. "They were behind me just a minute ago."
Let me guess, you let the bird's instincts get the better of you and you lost them, right? Tobias snorted.
"Um, yeah I guess I did get a little carried away," Ryan said sheepishly. "But I've never felt anything like that before! It's the best thing ever!"
"Yeah, we know," Marco could still recall his first flight. "This isn't the time for fun though. You've got to get control when you're morphed."
"Ok ok, I'll do better next time. The others should be along soon though; I'm sure I didn't leave them that far behind."
As they settled down to wait, Dutch looked around again, just to make sure. He didn't see any sign of trouble until he looked at Ryan again. His chest had a red glow on it. In a triangular pattern. Red? OH SHIT!
Dutch dived at Ryan, knocking him down as a blue bolt flew at him from nowhere. He knocked Ryan out of the way in time but could not avoid catching some of the blast himself. He collapsed on top of Ryan in agony, his thigh smoking. Marco gulped in horror as the Predator de-cloaked only ten feet away in front of him. His wounds were healed and this time he carried a spear in his hand. There was no time to morph and both of them knew it.
"H-hi Mr Predator," Marco managed to blurt out. "C-can't w-we talk a-about this?"
The Predator merely roared with laughter at that, raised his spear, and ran full speed at Marco.
"AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHH" Marco could only scream, shut his eyes, and wait for the inevitable. He was bracing himself for certain death when he heard a loud CLANG! He opened his eyes and saw Ax blocking the Predator's spear with his tail-blade. The Predator leapt away quickly as Ax took another swipe at him, giving Marco time to retreat.
Ax was seething. Let's see how you fight one who can fight back, filth! He leapt at the Predator and swung his tail forward, expecting to take off his head. The Predator raised his spear and blocked it as though he had just swatted a fly. Ax staggered back in surprise. He blocked it! No non-Andalite has EVER done that before!
Ax's shock cost him dearly. It allowed the Predator time to run in and cut his front hooves out from under him. He collapsed onto the ground and the Predator kicked him savagely in the head before he could get up. Ax went out like a light. Before the Predator could finish it however, Tobias flew in and snatched the spear clean out of the Predator's hands. The Predator roared in rage, armed his shoulder gun and snapped off a shot. It wasn't perfect but it was good enough. The shot sheared off Tobias's left wing and he crashed to the ground in a welter of blood. The Predator had no time to celebrate though as Marco, in gorilla form now, came in and punched him backward. The Predator drew his wrist-blades and flung himself at Marco.
Ryan had finally managed to crawl out from under Dutch and look around. The situation was not good. Tobias and Ax were down. Dutch was still conscious and had his shotgun but he couldn't get a clean shot as Marco and the Predator slugged it out. Ryan knew he had to do something, but what? He only had the harrier morph and he was not good at controlling that. He desperately needed some other morph he could fight with and control, but there seemed to be none available except…
Ryan picked himself up and ran toward Ax's still unmoving body. "I hope you'll forgive me for this, Ax…"
Marco was not faring well. He had been slashed twice and was bleeding badly, although he was still able to stand. The Predator was smiling callously under his mask. Finally, I get a kill. He raised his wrist-blades and was about to strike again when something sharp sliced into him from behind. Roaring in pain he turned to see another Andalite, its tail-blade dripping green blood, poised to strike again. He turned to deal with this new threat but was sent flying by a punch from Marco, who had had time to recover.
Thanks, Ax... and then his voice trailed off as he saw Ax still lying flat on the ground. What the hell? Who's this? Marco was in shock until the Predator's scream of anger jerked him back to reality. He was back on his feet although now bleeding from his back. Marco braced himself to meet another charge.
"Hey King Kong!" They all turned to see Dutch, shotgun in hand. "Drop dead!" He fired three shots at the Predator. The first missed, the second punched into his chest but the third was the best. It went straight into his wrist terminal, causing it to blow in a shower of sparks. Whilst this was happening three other birds of prey landed on the ground and demorphed into Jake, Rachel and Cassie.
The Predator, seeing them arrive, soon realised his advantage was gone. He turned and ran, recovering his spear as he went and ignoring Tobias and Ax, who were groggily getting to their feet again.
"Everyone ok?" Jake asked, running over to Ax.
I am all right, Prince Jake Ax replied. Wha… Who is that? he had just noticed the other Andalite standing next to Marco who was demorphing.
"Two Axes?" Rachel said in amazement. "What the hell's going on?"
"Uh-oh! Visser 3?" Marco asked in dread.
Allow me. The new Andalite then started to morph. The two front legs and the tail shrank and folded up into its body. The stalk eyes shrank away into its head. About two minutes later, Ryan stood there in its place. "Sorry Ax, you were the only thing on hand that I could morph. Man, I'm glad he didn't stick around. I don't think I could have fought with four eyes and legs."
"Nice one, Ryan," Marco grinned. "You saved our butts!"
"I hate to break up this Kodak moment," Dutch broke in, "but he's getting away! We've got to finish him off!"
"Are you sure you're up to it?" Jake asked, looking at his thigh and the others.
"I'll survive. We've got to finish this while he's hurt. We won't get an opportunity like this again! Are you up for it?"
Marco was full of fire. "I'm in. I don't know about you but I've had enough of this freak! Let's go kick his sorry butt!" The others added their assent.
Dutch grinned. "I left my jeep nearby. We'll go after him in that as far as we can. I think I broke his camouflage unit with that last shot so he can't hide now."
I'll track him from the air. Tobias went back into hawk morph and flew into the air.
"Let's go!"
With that Dutch led them to his jeep. The hunter was now the hunted…
At the foot of the mountains
The Predator was running toward his base. He wasn't too badly injured. Ryan hadn't been used to Andalite vision and tail fighting but he had still lost blood and his wrist terminal was beyond repair. He couldn't activate his cloaking device or his nuclear triggering system. His shoulder gun still worked though and he still had all his other weapons. He looked behind him. His prey would be trying to hunt him now. After all, that's what he would do if he were in their position. He'd go back to the pod and wait for them there. They would find him eventually and when they did…
The Predator headed for his pod. He had a trap to set…
TO BE CONCLUDED SOON!