DISCLAIMER: **secretly steals Marco and locks him in my closet** One down, five to go. . .
NOTE: Hi buddies! Didja miss me? **hears crickets in the background** Oookay, well I'm slightly modified now. My gallbladder is gone (they said they probably wouldn't even have to do surgery, the lying boogers) and I will soon have an impressive looking scar on my abdomen, as well as some little ones from laproscopy (or however you spell that). I think I pissed off a few nurses when I asked for some medical books so I could read up on gallbladders. Turns out gallbladders are used to store bile, which emulsify (break down) fats. Don't ask me where all my bile is going now. The docs didn't want to tell me, so I'm clueless as usual. I mean, just because I drove the entire staff nuts with my somewhat improved versions of Barry Manilow's greatest hits, they think I'm some sort of nutcase. I even heard the doc actually refer to me as "the little nut". Pooh. And there was not a single hot doctor on my floor! There was one on the elevator, but he worked in oncology. And I heard to get to the oncology floor you have to have cancer. . .But while sitting there in the grimy white bed with a tube in my nose sucking out excess bile, I had a sudden epiphany, where I discovered that this story is indeed finishable! Huzzah for epiphanies! This chapter is relatively long. "Looks like we maaaade iiiiitt!!!"
F-RECAP-LE: We rejoin Rachel and Cassie at the rebel base. They meet the Kermu, leader of the rebels and realize that they are not very nice. They want to destroy the people on Earth to take it over. Meanwhile Cassie is becoming more of a dinosaur and will eventually "lose control", whatever that means. Hehe. How are they going to destroy the human race when all they got is one mass of Nisk and 6 combins? Why, with the spawn of Rachel and a Marcosaur, that's how! Read on, my friends! In this chapter we go back to Jake and the dudes.
Marco-
I was feeling officially grossed out right now. They were going to make the girls. . .I wriggled at the thought. You'd have thought all the stuff we've been through, plus all the Sci-fi flicks I've seen would have left me even a teeny bit less grossed out by these alien things. It didn't.
We have to save them! Tobias declared.
"If they let us." I muttered, glancing at the Nisk.
"Maybe we can help you overthrow Motroveld. If you help us save our friends." Jake said to the Nisk.
THEY ARE LOST. WE DO NOT HAVE THE POWER TO RESCUE THEM, AND EVEN IF WE CAN, MOTROVELD WILL USE THEM FOR HIS PURPOSES.
"Motroveld doesn't have to know. He doesn't know everything on this planet, otherwise he would've taken care of the rebels ages ago." Kevin said. I looked at him bewildered.
Why would YOU care? Ax asked hotly.
"Andalite fool. We are in danger here, if this Motroveld is as powerful as they say." Kevin hissed.
HOW WOULD YOU HELP? Ern asked curiously. OUR WEAPONS DO NOT HARM HIM AND OUR STINGS DO NOT AFFECT HIM BECAUSE OF HIS LAYER OF MUCUS.
"How come you don't use combins?" I asked.
THEY CAN BE CONTROLLED BY MOTROVELD HIMSELF.
"He has to have a weakness. . ." Tobias muttered, deep in thought.
YES. IF WE ARE ABLE TO PENETRATE HIS SKIN WE CAN UNLEASH THE ENERGY WITHIN AND HE WILL SELF DESTRUCT. Ern said this hunched over, like a kid who was just caught by his mom smoking in his room.
"Well duh." I said. "Why don't we just do that?"
AS I SAID, WE ARE NOT ABLE TO. OUR WEAPONS DO NOT TEAR THE SKIN. Ern told me. MOTROVELD DOES NOT ALLOW US TO HANDLE ANY OTHER WEAPON.
After he said this a door shot open and a new Nisk stumbled in.
ERN, THE DOCKING BAYS HAVE BEEN RESTORED. MOTROVELD WISHES FOR US TO FIND THE REBEL BASE AND RETRIEVE THE FEMALES. LORD MOTROVELD ALSO INSISTS THAT WE BEGIN AN ATTACK ON THE REBELS. it informed us.
"I guaruntee we will help you out if you help us free our friends." Jake said to Ern.
HOW CAN WE BE SURE? Ern asked suspiciously.
"Dude, we've got nothing to lose. What else could we possibly do?" I said. Ern stared at me with the big black bug-eyes. After thinking it over for a good three minutes, he said:
PREPARE THE FLEET, WE WILL SEARCH FOR THE REBEL BASE.
- - -
"You know, if Cassie were here she'd make us all feel guilty for picking sides in this little civil war." I said. Cassie wasn't here, so I figured I'd make up for her absence. Rachel wasn't here either, so I added:
"And if Rachel were here she'd say something along the lines of 'Let's do it! Blow up a big honkin demon-monster with a billion tentacles? No problem. Hand me a fork and let's get a-popping! '"
Jake and Tobias laughed.
We were crossing a really thin bridge to enter the freakishly small ship. It was like walking across a balance beam, except we were about fifty feet up. It was impossible for Ax to cross as an Andalite, and he wasn't stable enoughto cross as a human, so he had morphed a cockroach and was skittering along in front of us. The ship was hovering in the air and was about as big as a Bug Fighter. Meaning it was big enough to hold a Hork-Bajir and a few Taxxons. Not much more. Hopefully it could also hold three guys, a hawk, and an Andalite. I'm not especially scared of heights, but teetering on the edge of a 4 inch wide bridge 50 feet up can get to a person.
"This is nice. I love our little adventures, don't you? How bout next we beat ourselves with sticks? Or better yet, crawl into Motroveld's mouth and yell 'I DARE you to bite!'" I ranted to no one in particular.
"Stop being a baby." Jake said.
Suddenly behind me I felt a slight breeze. I glanced around and saw that Kevin was windmilling, trying to regain balance before he fell off the bridge.
CAREFUL! Ern called from the ship uselessly.
Kevin toppled off the bridge. Just then some damned human instinct slapped me right in the face. I lunged forward and caught Kevin by the dirty sneaker. It pulled me down also, but I had each of my legs on either side of the bridge so I straddled it. Jake held on to me and Ern had rushed out of the ship to help us. But that didn't help the fact that I was pretty much just slammed in the baby-makers by a metal beam.
"AAAOOOOOWWWW!" I howled. I considered letting go of Kevin, but my mind wouldn't let me.
"Let go, or you'll be singing soprano for the rest of your life!" I told it.
"No!" It yelled back. I couldn't come up with a reason why. But Jake, Ern, and several other Nisk were able to help Kevin up. They helped us across the rest of the bridge, with me curled up in a ball in agony.
Marco, are you okay? That must've really hurt. Tobias said. (Note: By golly gosh, I certainly am getting sadistic, aren't I? This time I'll blame it on the sedatives they had me on back at the hospital, hehe.)
"No duh, Sherlock." I managed to gasp. Ax had demorphed in the ship and looked at me curiously.
That did not look particularly painful, Marco. Did you have a previous injury in that area? Ax asked.
"Obviously you've never had your fifty cents kicked." Jake said.
Human currency? Did he lose his money?
Never mind Ax-man. It's a human guy thing. Tobias said to him. Ax still looked lost. I was in so much pain right then I considered forcing him to morph human and giving him a good kick right square in the –
"Thank you." I looked at Kevin. He was standing near the airlock with his arms crossed. He wasn't looking at me. He stared stonily at the ceiling of the small ship.
"Whatever." I answered. The pain was being replaced by a numb feeling. That probably wasn't good. I decided to ignore Kevin for a while.
How are you searching? Ax asked Ern, how seemed to be manning the controls.
A COMBIN PUT A TRACER ON ONE OF THE REBEL COMBINS. WE WILL FOLLOW THE SIGNAL TO THEIR BASE.
Jake nodded. "And do we have a way of doing this secretly? As in, a way that they won't end up shooting us down a mile from the base?"
YOUR STANDARD CLOAKING SYSTEM.
"Standard?" Ax scoffed, probably eager to look at the primitive little system. He walked over to the control panel. "Do you at least have rotating plasma shields?"
TRIPLE ROTATING PLASMA SHIELDS.
Ax looked shocked. Score one for the Nisk. Fusion screens?
Ern looked amused. FUSION IS A THING OF THE PAST. WE NOW USE PROTON SHIFT COUPLED WITH NEUTRON BOMBARDMENT. Ax goggled. (Note: Hehe. I feel smart when I say that out loud. Try it!)
The rest of us stood silently, while Ax tried to desperately understand the Nisk's complicated cloaking stuff. I got a brain hemorrage just listening to them. Then we started to hear a faint beeping. The Nisk seemed unfazed, so I tuned it out, along with the technological cloaking babble. I also tuned out Jake and Tobias's repeated "I think they're okay." and "I know they're okay". I decided to strike up conversation with Kevin.
"So what's it like being a yeerk?" I asked him. "Figure out yet that you guys are all insignificant in the eyes of Visser Three? You realize that your as much a slave as the human whose body your stealing?" I know it was harsh, but it was true. I know I saved his life, but that didn't change the fact that I hated yeerks. Plus I was still aching a little and mad.
"Shut up." Was his simple answer. I didn't say anything after that. Instead I let my mind wander for a while.
BEEEP! BEEEEEP! BEEEEEP!
The beeping got louder, interrupting my plots to kick Ax in the crotch.
"What's going on?" Jake asked, looked at the screen on the control panel. Might as well have been Japanese.
WE ARE NEARING THE COMBIN WITH THE TRACER, BUT WE DO NOT SEE ANY POSSIBLE BASE ENTRANCE.
I looked out the window. We were hovering directly over a small clearing in forest. There were 5 combins sitting in the middle. They seemed to be just hanging out, if aliens do that.
"It's a trap." I said instinctively. These things were always traps.
WE DO NOT DETECT ANY NISK WITHIN TWO MILES.
"Maybe these guys are on a break or something then." I suggested.
WE WILL LAND. Ern placed a hand on a blue pad. The hand came apart into the little Nesk pieces and they scurried around in a weird pattern. The ship stalled and we started to descend practically right on top of them.
They don't see us? Tobias asked.
"Course not. We've got the gangsta cloaking shizznicks." I stated, giving a deliberate look at Ax. He just looked at me confused.
Gangsta shizznicks?
There was some disturbance in the white sand as we tried to land. As in, it flew everywhere like a army of leaf-blowers were attacking it. The combins definitely noticed that. They hopped up and flexed their claws, blades, arms, or whatever they had.
WE COME IN PEACE. Ern said loudly.
"Are you serious?" I asked, amazed that aliens actually used that phrase. A door shooped open at the side of the ship. I noticed Jake was morphing his tiger. I decided to follow with my gorilla morph. The Nisk that accompanied us formed their big bodies and armed themselves with their weapons. Yeah, we were coming in peace, all right.
A half-Andalite, half dinnosaur walked up to us cautiously. It stared for a while. Then it pointed at us.
You are the collaborators? It askedcoherently. I remembered that these guys had free will.
NO, WE ARE SLAVES ON THE BRINK OF REBELLION. Ern answered. The combin seemed to accept this. He pointed at himself.
"I am Bobby."
I almost fell over in shock.
"Bobby? BOBBY!? Not Zleek-knock? Not Fleemir? Not Pavement?? BOBBY!?"
Bobby looked at me strangely. Yes. This is Frankie, Joey, Steve, and Nicole. He indicated the other combins.
Um, is he serious? Tobias asked.
I AM ERN. WE ARE ON A MISSION TO RETRIEVE SOMETHING YOUR MASTERS TOOK FROM US. Ern said, sticking to the story that we were only trying to get Rachel and Cassie back. He left out the part were we were supposed to be blasting them and their masters into oblivion.
The combins looked stared at each other. I heard someone mutter the words "They are masters. . ." and "They are not equals. . ." I wondered what they were going on about. Then Bobby turned to us.
We are also on a mission. We will help you.
What mission? Jake asked suspiciously.
To get freedom from our former masters.
I sighed a big gorilla sigh. Is this planet completely screwed up or what?
END. Hehe, looks like Rachel and Cassie's talk with Bobby and friends had it's effect. This story isn't going to be as confusing anymore. I think I got the hang of it now. And I learned a valuable lesson: If you wanna add more plot twists to make the story more exciting, just shut the heck up and don't over do it cuz your too stupid to crawl your way out of the massive plot-web you just wrote. Hehehe. . .Reader's Response is gonna be in the next chapter, okay? Because the last chapter wasn't really part of the story, it was a note. . . **suddenly gets smacked in the face by a runaway plot bunny** Whoa-hoa!! Okay, go read the next chapter, I gotta new weird short story to write. . .