A/N: I'm tired. And I would like to thank Nicole for emailing an idea, which I think I will be able to use, but differently than she expects, in the next book. Oh, and did all of you know that third quarter absolutely, positively sucks? So does writer's block… But yay, I *finally* had an idea, which will work very well. Yay! You know, it's kind of funny, I just keep adding onto this author's note, each time I work on the chapter… hmm… Oh, well. I know how much you guys love hearing from me anyway… *Cough* Okay, so maybe you don't care and just want to get onto the fic…….. I feel so unloved…. Lol. Anyway, here it is! The long-awaited chapter 14!
Chapter 14
We had been walking for over an hour now, instead of swinging through the trees as Hork-Bajir because Captain Miaker, Leenear, and Raikon could not morph. I was walking with Marco, Cassie, Ax, and Rachel, and Tobias flew above us. Santorelli and Yahal were talking, as were Toby and Indi. The three Murkra walked together in their own little group.
Standing a bit further away was Jeanne and Tom, holding hands. Again. I grinned. Tom hadn't even been alive again for a year, and he already had himself a girl.
I reached down and took Cassie's hand, squeezing it. She squeezed back, and I felt the pewter ring I gave her for our engagement around her finger.
I smiled as I ran through our plan over and over again. The more I thought about it, the more my smile faded. We had no idea what we were going to do. I wondered how we were going to come out of this alive. Now, I knew, did not just think, that I would never forgive myself if I got any of my friends killed. Each time I ran through the scene, I changed it slightly, trying to find out how we could beat the One.
Even in my imagination, the One won every time.
I sighed heavily, and Cassie looked at me, concern etched in her eyes.
"I'm okay," I said, smiling reassuringly. She frowned, but eventually turned back to the conversation she, Rachel, Tobias, Ax, and Marco were in.
"…All I'm saying is that this majorly bites. Why is it always us who get stuck saving the universe? I mean, come on! We were only thirteen when we were dragged into the Yeerk war, except for Ax, but he was just a kid too. And now we're only nineteen and a half, with the exception of Rachel, who is still sixteen because she died in the last war, and Ax, who is six and a half years older than he was when he started the Yeerk war. Jeez, can't the Fates give us a break?" Marco stopped complaining and rolled his eyes.
"It's not that bad," Rachel said, grinning. She was anticipating meeting up with the One.
"Says you, Xena," Marco shot back.
She grinned cockily at him, and he rolled his eyes again.
It really isn't, though, Tobias added. You were bored, back on Earth, Marco. And having Rachel back and fighting is a heck of a lot better than moping around in the forest without her. I mean, yes, we are going to get our butts kicked, but at least we had some good times leading up to it.
"Such confidence!" Marco exclaimed sarcastically. "You really know how to motivate the crowd."
Haha, Tobias laughed in response. Well, it is true.
"Ugh. You people are insane!" Marco commented. "We're all going to die, and you're happy about it. Tell me again: Why do I hang out with you people?"
Because if you didn't, you would be trapped on an alien planet without any other humans? Ax offered. I peered at him, wondering for the hundredth time if Ax had possibly developed a sense of humor. A very bad, twisted sense of humor.
Marco sighed, exaggeratingly shaking his head.
Suddenly, Tobias shouted down to us, Careful, you guys! There's a group of Garatron right over there on the other side of the tree! Oh, shoot, they're looking your way. Freeze. Freeze! Okay, I don't think they're looking anymore. Just a second, I'm coming down so they don't see me. I don't think Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar is very happy with me. His stalk eyes are still all bandaged up from when I got them before…
Still frozen, I slowly looked up at Tobias, who was swooping silently down on us. Rachel held out her arm, and Tobias landed on it in a flurry of feathers. She grimaced as his talons dug into her skin, but hid her pain quickly.
"Alright," I said quietly, "go Hork-Bajir or chadoo, whichever one you have. Captain Miaker, Leenear, and Raikon, stay low and out of the way. We don't want them to see you, yet. We want to have a peaceful negotiation, if possible."
"Negotiate this," I heard Rachel mutter as Tobias fluttered off her arm and she began to morph Hork-Bajir. Grinning, I began my own morph, thinking, Rachel is back, for good.
This time, the first thing that happened was that my skin became runny, but then turned hard, like leather. It's color change slowly from a pale tan to dark green. I blinked, and when my eyes opened, my eyesight was subtly different: I could see some frequencies of light I could not see as a human. My lips hardened and pushed outwards, taking my melting and rapidly reshaping nose with them. They soon formed the tough Hork-Bajir beak. My chin collapsed, and I felt a slight itching sensation as my hair withered into my head and three hard horns shot out of my head.
SPROOT! SPROOT! SPROOT! SPROOT!
I looked down and saw razor-sharp blades shoot out of my elbows and wrists.
Glancing at Marco, I saw him grinning at me with a still mostly-human face. However, just then, his neck elongated, sending his face up into the sky. Then his face bulged out as his beak formed.
Cassie was already almost completely Hork-Bajir. She was always a faster morpher than the rest of us, so as soon as spikes grew out of her tail, she was completely finished.
CRACK!
My knees reversed direction.
SLOOP!
New organs formed and old organs dissolved into nothingness.
I looked at Rachel just as her eyes turned red. She smiled with the Hork-Bajir mouth. She was enjoying every second of it.
Ax looked strange. As I watched, a long horizontal wound spread across his chin: His mouth. I shuddered, thinking of the first time we had seen the One, and he had taken on Ax's form.
Tobias actually did not change as much as the rest of us. When our mouths and feet were reforming into beaks and talons, he was simply growing and losing his feathers.
I felt powerful as my shoulders broadened and muscle layered over muscle. I could move anything. The morph completed as a tail sprouted out of the base of my spine.
We stood together, a motley collection of six identical Hork-Bajir, that Hork-Bajir's genetic daughter, one other Hork-Bajir, four identical chadoo, and three Murkra who were trying to stay out of the way.
We need to look like a normal group of Hork-Bajir, I said, trying to look like I knew what I was doing.
I didn't.
Tom, Jeanne, Santorelli, and Yahal, go one at a time. It's going to look strange if a big pack of identical chadoo pass at once. Rachel, Cassie, Tobias, Marco, Ax, Indi, and Toby, we're just going to have to look as normal and innocent as possible. Miaker, Leenear, and Raikon? Just stay low, and try to get past them without them seeing you, I ordered.
Tom slunk forward first. As he neared, he sprang into a tree, and crept over the Garatron's heads. Jeanne, Santorelli, and Yahal soon followed him.
When it was time for the people in Hork-Bajir morph to go forward, Indi led the way, with Toby close behind. The rest of us followed quietly, trying hard to stay hidden by the trees to hide the fact that we were all identical copies of Toby's father, Jara Hamee. As we went right overhead, I saw Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar's ugly face directly below us. One of his stalk eyes was swollen, bruised, and wrapped tightly with some sort of bandage. Blue blood stained it in some places. Tobias had gotten him good.
However, I did not see the Garatron the One had absorbed. It must have been somewhere else, away from the Garatron.
And then Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar's remaining, unhurt stalk eye looked up. Directly at us.
I froze.
Marco, who had been behind me, warned me, Jake, buddy, you need to keep moving. He's going to wonder why you stopped. Move!
His words shook me out of my trance, and I continued swinging through the trees. Only another fifty feet until I made it to where Tom, Jeanne, Santorelli, and Yahal were already waiting for me. Okay, I said to Marco, but make sure you don't go right through their main line of vision. We don't want them to think that they are having double-vision.
Whatever you say, O Fearless Leader, he teased as he ran another thirty feet up the tree he was on. Tobias, Rachel, Cassie, and Ax were spread out around us.
Thirty feet.
Fifteen.
Ten.
And then I was safely across.
I grinned at Tom with the Hork-Bajir beak, and looked back to watch Tobias, Rachel, Cassie, Marco, and Ax make it safely to our side.
We can demorph now, I told them, and immediately started to shrink as I went back to human morph. Through my changing eyes, I saw Miaker, Leenear, and Raikon trying to get past the Garatron unseen.
One of the Garatron separated from the rest of its group and started running toward the Murkra. It was so fast that I could not see anything but a blue blur.
R- I started to say, but just then my thought speak cut out.
"Run, Captain Miaker!" I tried to say, but it came out as "Rur, Keptihg Makrer!" because of my changing mouthparts. It was then that I saw my fatal mistake. While we were in midmorph, we were helpless. For the most part, Tobias, Cassie, Rachel, Marco, Tom, Santorelli, Jeanne, and I would be helpless in our natural forms as well. Only Toby, the three Murkra, Yahal, and Ax had any sort of natural weapon.
Captain Miaker, with his many constantly opening and closing eyes, soon saw the Garatron, which still had not seen him. He started scuttling as fast as he could away, but he was only a big crab. Crabs don't move that fast.
I clenched my teeth as I completed my morph, and watched as the Garatron's gaze fell on Miaker.
Murkra! Whatareyoudoinghere? Captain! Captain!
The Garatron poured into the area where they were, and surrounded Captain Miaker, Leenear, and Raikon. Without any other choice, I made my decision.
"Attack."
I could only hope that we would not be decimated.
A/N: Yay! The part you've all been waiting for! The big battle with the Garatron! Sorry it's taken so long to get out, I've been suffering from a minor case of writer's block. However, I have it figured out now, so chapters should come out faster, if my teachers are willing…. Well, PLEASE review, because reviews make me happy, and I become more motivated to write! I'm not saying that I'm requiring reviews if you want the next chapter, I'm just saying that I'll probably be quicker at writing it if I get reviews. Anyway, I need a vote as to whether or not I should wear a grass skirt to the luau dance at school on Saturday. Please tell me if I should in your review! LoL. Review! Please! Reviews make me happy! Reviews!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hehehe…. Yeah….. Please review…. :-D