The Confrontation
Home Sweet Home



Quote: 'The lady stopped suddenly and stared at Cassie. "Who are you?"
"I'm Falling Girl's partner, Dropping Chick," Cassie said. (Cassie and clipboard lady-Book#12)

Cassie
********
Back on Earth........

My name is Cassie. It was one beautiful day. The sun was shining; there was a nice cool breeze, and not a single cloud in the sky. It was one perfect day to go flying.

I felt the change begin. First I started to grow feathers around my body. My mouth began to elongate and form into a wicked shaped beak. I started to shrink, my feet formed into talons. And my eyes began to form into eyes that could read a book from 3 blocks. Finally my weak human ears began to form into acute ears that could hear a pin drop in a crowded street. I had become an Osprey.

I took off flapping hard at first just to get some altitude, but as soon as I got some altitude I began to let the thermals glide me to wherever I wished to go.

I was flying above the forest catching glimpses of wild animals tending their young. It made me felt all warm inside. I was happy, happy to go flying. Flying helped me to get away from my problems. To get away from all that guilt and sadness stacked deep inside of me. Guilt of not going with Jake and the others, sadness of knowing that I'd never see them again. But flying made me feel free.

Suddenly, I spotted something in the forest. My heart stopped beating. It was a young man just standing there in the clearing, he stood about 6 feet 5 inches. He had brown hair cut short. His eyes were the eyes of an old man who has been through many things in life. There was no mistaking him. It was Jake! My Jake. But how? How is this possible?

He looked up at the sky, and he must have spotted me. He waved and smiled up at me. That smile! I'd thought I'd never see that slow cocky grin ever again.

Ever since Jake and the others disappeared, the media has been going nuts. There have been crazy rumors of what happened to them, but nothing close. They media have interviewed me over and over again. I revealed nothing though. Marco's TV show got canceled after they tried to recruit a new guy to replace Marco. When the news of Ax's disappearance got out, the Andalite home world assumed he was dead and gave him a proper Andalite funeral. After the news of their disappearance died down, I got back to my so-called normal life.


I swooped down into the clearing where he stood. It looked like the same old Jake to me. But I've learned in my days as an Animorph that nothing is what it seems. He waited patiently as I demorphed in front of him.

"Hi Cassie," Jake greeted "What's new?"

"Ish icth reaully you?" I asked while my beak was still forming into lips. I cleared my throat and asked again. "Is it really you?"

"The one and the same," replied Jake.

When I finally demorphed I ran up to him to give him a welcome home hug. "Where are the others?" I asked.

He didn't say anything; he just kept smiling at me. It felt weird. Something wasn't right here.

"Where are the others?" I asked again "Are they okay?"

Again, he just kept smiling at me. There was utter silence. Then he started to laugh, but then the laugh started to get more sinister, more evil. I started to back away from "Jake." He began to change. He was turning into a creature. Or a machine. Some combination of both. It had no arms. Its head was a single eye. A blood red eye. "Crayak," I whispered.

I started to back away. "What's the matter Cassie? What happened to my hug?" he asked in a twisted eerie version of Jake's voice. Then Crayak began to change. Change back into a human. But not Jake. Someone else.

"I will come and get you Cassie," he said in his own sinister voice. "Soon. Very Soon."

BE-BEEP! BE-BEEP! BE-BEEP! BE-BEEP! BE-BEEP!
I looked at my alarm clock, it was 6:00 a.m., and I was drenched in cold sweat. That dream…it was almost real. Shake out of it Cassie, I told my self. I got out of my bed, and went to the washroom to wash my face and take a quick shower.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

The telephone was ringing. Great, right when I was gonna take my shower. I picked up the phone. "Hello?" I asked a bit groggily.

"Hi Cass?" It was Ronnie. "You don't seem to sound good. Is something wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Just bad dreams I guess" I replied. "Don't worry about it though. So what's the plan today?"

He still sounded worried but he went on anyway "Have you forgotten, already? We are supposed to be at Good Bark Valley by 7:00."

"Oh yeah, I forgot" I said. "I'll be on my way. I'll see you there. Bye"

The day that Jake came to see me for the last time, Ronnie and I were scouting for a new Hork-Bajir Valley. The valley that we found was perfect. The Hork-Bajir loved it. We let the Hork-Bajir name the valley itself. Big mistake. The full name of the valley is "Tasty, Valley Fresh, Yes, Yes, Good Bark, Valley" So we just call it Good Bark Valley.

Today was the day that some of the Hork-Bajir would leave to that valley to live. Yellowstone was getting too crowded.

I didn't want to waste time hiking by myself, so I decided I would morph. I was going to fly there but after tat dream, I felt a little scared to go flying. So, I decide to go as a wolf.

The strong wolf jaw began to form. Fur began to cover my body; my teeth started to grow longer. My knees reversed direction. My legs grew smaller. Rough pads replaced my feet. I was on all fours now, and almost completely wolf.

The wolf instincts surfaced but I was able to contain them easily after doing this morph so many times. I left the house and started to run to Good Bark Valley. After about an hour of running through the forest did I reach a clearing in the mountainside. The area where I last saw Jake. I sniffed it out. I smelled a human. Ronnie. He was there alone. But what was he doing here? He was supposed to be at Good Bark Valley.
I caught a scent of two other humans. My parents. What were they all doing here? Ronnie was standing there with my parents at his side.

They waited patiently as I demorphed. When I was fully demorphed I asked "What's going on?"

"Nothing much Cass," Ronnie said.

"Then why are my parents here?" I asked.

"I have to talk to you about something" he said.

We walked away from my parents by a couple of feet. My parents were giving me a everything is alright smile.

Ronnie looked straight into my eyes. "Cassie, We've been together for a long time. About a year and a half. I know that you are young, but I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

I was stunned. I didn't know what to say.

"I've talked to your parents, and I asked their permission to marry you. So, do you want to marry me?" Ronnie asked.

Marry me? Jake had asked me that same question 2 ½ years ago. I told him to wait a year later to ask me again. I lost him after that. That was a the big mistake in my life. I loved Jake. I still do. At least the Jake that was willing to marry me. But I had lost him for good, when I told him to wait. Would I make the same mistake again?

"Yes," I answered, "I do."

Ronnie kissed me, and my parents came over and congratulated me and Ronnie. All this time I wondered, Jake would understand if he was alive. Wouldn't he?


A/N: EEEWWWW!!!! I'm sorry I couldn't help myself. It's me Marco the Magnificent here! Anyway, I'm sorry about that, it's just that I can't stand writing romance. I couldn't even write that last part there. I had to ask my sister to write it for me. Yuck, the only chapter I like doing is the Marco chapters. That's okay though, I'm pretty sure what the next chapter is though. Everyone's favorite resident Andalite! That's right folks, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil! Too bad Jake the Yeerk Killer is going to write that. But, I'll be back! Later!!!!!!!!!!