Disclaimer: K. A. Applegate is queen. I am not. Everyone except Erilase-
Petori-Winya and the Bloyd family belong to her.
A/N: My prelims are coming up. It's the big exams that come just before the even bigger O Levels. They decide which school I'm going to spend three months of next year in. So if I start lagging in my posting or become unfocused, please forgive me.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
I joined Erin in the other room. The room where we'd heard Mr. Bloyd make the phonecall to Visser Three. Sure enough, there was a safe in the wall. It wasn't one of those safes with digital numbers which Ax could hack into in a matter of minutes. It was more old fashion, with those twirly numbered handles. The kind which people broke into by listening to the safe door with a stethoscope.
I got a sudden vision of Ax, standing in front of the safe, peering intently at a stethoscope, wondering what it did. I laughed. Erin turned to look at me, puzzled. I shook my head.
"I don't see how we can open it without specialised equipment." I said.
"There is one more, unorthodox method." Erin said, biting her bottom lip. "That is to cut open the door of the safe."
"With what? Common knives aren't working for this metal baby, Erin."
"I was thinking more of my tail blade."
"Oh." I thought for a moment. Those Andalite tail blades were definitely to be reckoned with. If the Shopping Network ever got hold of blades this sharp they'd be a sell out in minutes. "But won't the Yeerk know an Andalite was here when he comes back and sees his safe door in two?"
"I don't intend to let him come back." Erin said stiffly.
"Oh. Right." As Erin began to demorph, I hoped she didn't mean that she'd kill him before letting him come back. Cassie would have issues. "Here we go. Slice and dice." Erin steadied herself, swung her tail blade with all her might and slit the strong hinges of the safe door. There was barely a sound even as metal hit metal.
Move, Tobias! Erin yelled, shoving me back. I jumped, and the safe door missed crashing onto my toes by mere inches. That would have hurt. Bad. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah. That was close though." I smiled at her. It was almost natural. I barely had to put any effort into it! I smiled some more. "Thanks."
A dracon beam! Erin marvelled, picking it up.
"I guess that proves his Yeerkness." I said.
We can use this against them. It will be justice that the enemy is shot down by the very weapon they stole from the Andalites. Erin turned it in her hand and fitted it into her palm. I am ready for battle.
"Never say die." I smiled again. I enjoyed smiling now. "Let's go tell Jake." I began to morph back into my hawk form. My mouth, still in a smile, hardened to form my beak. my fingers melded together, and a pattern raced across my skin, then feathers burst out and covered my body. I began to shrink rapidly. My feet hardened into claws and talons. I had been staring at a patch of carpet. Now I saw individual threads.
"Tobias, I may be wrong, but birds are not normally seen carrying dracon beams." Erin had morphed into human again. I flapped my wings. I hadn't thought of that.
So what do I morph to?
"Do you have any smaller morphs?" She asked. She was rummaging through a drawer frantically.
I have a cockroach morph.
"What is a cockroach?" Erin asked, confused.
You've never heard of the cockroach, the scum of the earth, the longest lasting creature, who survived where the mighty T-rex fell? I asked incredulously, even as I began my morph.
"What is a T-rex? Is the cockroach scum like a Yeerk? Then why do you morph it if it is scum?"
This, my dear Erin, is a cockroach. I said, presenting myself. I was less than two inches long and about half an inch high. I was small. I was puny. I was disgusting.
"You do not look like scum." She said. She picked me up and placed me in a small box, then stuffed the box into a huge bag. I felt the vibrations hammer through my exoskeleton as Erin put the dracon beam into the bag and swung it over her shoulder.
I'll take that as a compliment. I said. Say Erin, could you stop jumping for a second? I'm getting dizzy.
"I am not jumping. Merely putting on my shoes."
Are you bouncing up and down on one foot while pulling on a shoe on the other? I asked.
"Why yes!"
You're jumping.
A/N: My prelims are coming up. It's the big exams that come just before the even bigger O Levels. They decide which school I'm going to spend three months of next year in. So if I start lagging in my posting or become unfocused, please forgive me.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
I joined Erin in the other room. The room where we'd heard Mr. Bloyd make the phonecall to Visser Three. Sure enough, there was a safe in the wall. It wasn't one of those safes with digital numbers which Ax could hack into in a matter of minutes. It was more old fashion, with those twirly numbered handles. The kind which people broke into by listening to the safe door with a stethoscope.
I got a sudden vision of Ax, standing in front of the safe, peering intently at a stethoscope, wondering what it did. I laughed. Erin turned to look at me, puzzled. I shook my head.
"I don't see how we can open it without specialised equipment." I said.
"There is one more, unorthodox method." Erin said, biting her bottom lip. "That is to cut open the door of the safe."
"With what? Common knives aren't working for this metal baby, Erin."
"I was thinking more of my tail blade."
"Oh." I thought for a moment. Those Andalite tail blades were definitely to be reckoned with. If the Shopping Network ever got hold of blades this sharp they'd be a sell out in minutes. "But won't the Yeerk know an Andalite was here when he comes back and sees his safe door in two?"
"I don't intend to let him come back." Erin said stiffly.
"Oh. Right." As Erin began to demorph, I hoped she didn't mean that she'd kill him before letting him come back. Cassie would have issues. "Here we go. Slice and dice." Erin steadied herself, swung her tail blade with all her might and slit the strong hinges of the safe door. There was barely a sound even as metal hit metal.
Move, Tobias! Erin yelled, shoving me back. I jumped, and the safe door missed crashing onto my toes by mere inches. That would have hurt. Bad. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah. That was close though." I smiled at her. It was almost natural. I barely had to put any effort into it! I smiled some more. "Thanks."
A dracon beam! Erin marvelled, picking it up.
"I guess that proves his Yeerkness." I said.
We can use this against them. It will be justice that the enemy is shot down by the very weapon they stole from the Andalites. Erin turned it in her hand and fitted it into her palm. I am ready for battle.
"Never say die." I smiled again. I enjoyed smiling now. "Let's go tell Jake." I began to morph back into my hawk form. My mouth, still in a smile, hardened to form my beak. my fingers melded together, and a pattern raced across my skin, then feathers burst out and covered my body. I began to shrink rapidly. My feet hardened into claws and talons. I had been staring at a patch of carpet. Now I saw individual threads.
"Tobias, I may be wrong, but birds are not normally seen carrying dracon beams." Erin had morphed into human again. I flapped my wings. I hadn't thought of that.
So what do I morph to?
"Do you have any smaller morphs?" She asked. She was rummaging through a drawer frantically.
I have a cockroach morph.
"What is a cockroach?" Erin asked, confused.
You've never heard of the cockroach, the scum of the earth, the longest lasting creature, who survived where the mighty T-rex fell? I asked incredulously, even as I began my morph.
"What is a T-rex? Is the cockroach scum like a Yeerk? Then why do you morph it if it is scum?"
This, my dear Erin, is a cockroach. I said, presenting myself. I was less than two inches long and about half an inch high. I was small. I was puny. I was disgusting.
"You do not look like scum." She said. She picked me up and placed me in a small box, then stuffed the box into a huge bag. I felt the vibrations hammer through my exoskeleton as Erin put the dracon beam into the bag and swung it over her shoulder.
I'll take that as a compliment. I said. Say Erin, could you stop jumping for a second? I'm getting dizzy.
"I am not jumping. Merely putting on my shoes."
Are you bouncing up and down on one foot while pulling on a shoe on the other? I asked.
"Why yes!"
You're jumping.