Author's Note: Well, here it is, finally! And trust me guys, it's after this chapter that the real story will begin. So just fasten your seatbelts and hold tight. =) Also, hopefully, this should start a period of more regular updating from me after I finish some of the other fics and stuff I have planned. Cross your fingers, guys!
Also, has anyone ever gotten emails for breast enlargement? I don't know if they really exist or not, since all the junk mail I get is asking me to enlarge my non-existent penis.
That aside, Tobias fans, don't kill me for what happens at the end.
Chronicle One
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910), Anna Karenina, Chapter 1, first line
-Chapter Tweleve-
Tobias
My name is Tobias Avan and my life is starting to become pretty confusing.
It all started on Monday, when I met Rachel. Or at least, the first time we talked to each other.
You see, the two of us have had lockers side-by-side this whole school year, but we'd never so much as said "Hi." to each other. Don't get me wrong, though, it's not like I hadn't noticed Rachel before that. She's pretty hard to ignore.
But it's not Rachel that's making my life confusing. Well, not too much.
It's more the things that happened to me because I met Rachel. Not to mention that I'm crazy.
At least, I hope I'm crazy. Because if I'm not then I'm not sure I want to understand what's going on. There's still the possibility that maybe I'm just some poor deluded boy locked up in a room with padded walls, some sick, sad teenager who's under the delusion he's having flashbacks. Under the delusion that's it all real. Not exactly a comforting thought, I know.
But I'm starting to wonder if it's a better alternative.
I was sitting on one of the benches outside the cafeteria, chewing on rubber the cafeteria called spaghetti, wondering if I should've gone with Marco. I grimaced as I swallowed down a mouthful of the spaghetti-made-of-tires, recalling the last time that Marco and I played good cop/bad cop.
The results were not pretty and, to be honest, Marco owes me one. If it weren't for me he'd at least have a black eye by now. Truth is, I'm not sure he wouldn't have deserved it.
Marco and I aren't friends, and I don't claim to know the guy well, but until our little interrogation I'd thought he was a pretty laid-back guy. Guess I was wrong.
I'll be honest, I feel guilty about what happened that day. Ax Isthil seemed like a pretty nice guy to me, even when Marco and I were freaking him out with our story, and there's not a part of me that doubts he's one of us. I knew the first time I saw him. We knew each other.
I'd gotten that feeling from all the others, too. Cassie said she had as well.
I swallowed down another lump of tireghetti and this time I forced it down with some skim milk.
I was worried about Cassie and Jake. Cassie'd been missing since before school even started, and my guess is that Jake's wherever she is. Or maybe that's just my hope.
I've been having weird dreams all week. Dreams of riding through the field on the back of a hawk, dressed in some kind of a light blue tunic. I would start getting attacked by the weird aliens I saw in my flashback, but then I would save them from some ominous beehive. Weird, huh?
I had a bad feeling about those dreams and Jake and Cassie going missing didn't help much.
I considered eating more of the rubber spaghetti, but my stomach could handle the torture so I ended up just throwing in the trash and went back to sitting on the bench. Waiting.
Rachel was inside looking for her friend Melissa. Marco was inside interrogating Ax again.
Both of them, taking the initiative. Doing things. Like I should've been, instead of playing lookout or whatever the heck it was that I was doing. What was that? Oh, right. Nothing.
I sighed at myself. Self-pity wasn't going to help anything, it wouldn't get Jake and Cassie back sooner, and it sure as heck wouldn't get us any answers as to where those two could be.
But there was one thing I could do. My homework.
So I cracked open my binder and began working on my Algebra.
I killed about ten or fifteen minutes writing down answers and erasing them every two or three seconds, finding that I'd made some screw-up when I looked back at my paper.
I didn't even hear the footsteps coming my way. I was busy looking over problem #9 when the footsteps reached me. When I heard Andy Grisham shout "Hey, Avan!"
I looked up and flinched on pure instinct. Andy and his little gang, in particular his lackey Tap-Tap, had made it their personal mission to be the snot out of me most of my Freshman year and a good chunk of Sophomore year, too, until the past few days. They'd been lightening up and not just on me. And, no, I have no idea why. Maybe the aliens we'd all been flashing back to gave Andy and Tap-Tap some personality changes. Not that I'm complaining. I like the new Andy and Tap-Tap, aside from the fact that they creep me out. I'm not used to them not hitting me.
"Hi." I said, not quite sure what I should do.
"Hey, Tobias." said Tap-Tap as he sat down hard on the bench, almost making me lose my balance.
"Hi." I repeated myself, looking up at Andy as I did so. "What are you guys doing here?" I asked.
"We wanted to talk to you about The Sharing." Andy said.
I blinked. "The Sharing?" I asked. Tap-Tap nodded. "You said you were thinking about it. Remember? The bus? You told Andy and I you'd think about going." Tap-Tap said.
"I did?" I asked. They both nodded, and then I remembered. It'd been earlier this week, after Andy and Tap-Tap chewed out the bus driver, before my life turned upside down. I'd forgotten!
"So, you gonna go, Avan?" asked Andy. I just stared at him. I hadn't even thought about it.
I closed my binder. I could finish my homework another time. "Andy, I--" I started to say.
Andy grabbed me by my shirt collar. He didn't lift me up, though it would've been easy for him. He just pulled me closer to him. "Let me guess, you didn't think about it." He whispered.
I couldn't even budge a word in. "Well, think about it, Avan." Andy said.
Then he pushed me back towards the bench and let go of my shirt collar. Tap-Tap laughed as I hit the brick wall behind the bench. I hit my back, hard.
Andy turned and started leaving, Tap-Tap got up and followed behind him. I clenched my teeth to keep from focusing on the sharp pain as I collected everything in my binder and zipped it shut. My eyes stung, too, though that wasn't because of my back.
It was just as I was getting up off the bench that I noticed Marco running to me.
Before I had a chance to ask him what was wrong, he grabbed me and dragged me away from all the other students. Out of sight and without a doubt out of hearing range.
Still, Marco made sure to double-check that no one could hear us. "Marco, wha--" He cut me off.
"Tobias, we need to find Rachel." Marco said. "Now."
"What happened?" I asked him, lowering my voice so that it was just beyond a whisper.
"Short version, guys with lazer beams and your buddy Ax is a traitor." He said.
I just stared at him for a moment. "You did not just say that." I said.
"Which part? Lazer beams or traitor?" Marco asked me. I groaned and ran a hand through my hair.
"Both." I said. "Damn it, where's Jake when you need him?" I muttered.
Marco laughed. "Funny, I was just saying thinking the same thing." He said.
I'm not what you would call a natural-born leader. I am not the kind of person that could lead other people to their potential deaths day in and day out. That's just not me.
I'm not Jake. He's a natural-born leader, even though he has no clue about it whatsoever.
And we were lacking in a natural-born leader. But we had the next best thing.
Someone who could think on their feet.
After a moment or two of quick planning, Marco and I headed to the office. Our plan was to find out where Melissa Chapman's next class was, if at all possible. There, we'd find Rachel.
We hoped.
I'm starting to think that, whenever architects start building a school, they start building a maze and things like classrooms and bathrooms are just kind of built around the maze.
So, in essence, schools are more or less huge mazes. Or at least George Washington High is.
When you're running through it as fast as your legs will take you.
"Rosenberg, room 169." I panted as Marco and I turned and sped down the hallway.
"Isn't she one of the Comm. Graphics teachers?" Marco asked. "The gay one?"
I fumbled. I thought a little, and somehow, I still couldn't believe he said that.
Ms. Rosenberg's single, young, and she's also got mad at a few guys were picking on this blonde guy because he's gay. So, of course, now there's rumors going around about her.
"Will you believe anything?" I asked Marco.
Marco slowed down a bit so I could catch up. "It's an innocent question." He said.
"So what? What does it have to do with finding Rachel?" I asked as we passed room 120.
Marco and I turned another corner. "I just wanted to make sure it was the right Rosenberg."
"Marco, how many Rosenbergs do you think work at this school?" I asked him.
"Hey, it's a pretty common name. I looked it up on Yahoo once." Marco told me.
"And people say I have no life." I commented. Marco glared at me.
The two of us started running down the Math Hall. We were about halfway there.
But that was not to last. We'd been spotted by Mr. Snape, the world's strictest teacher.
"Jones! Avan! No running in the halls!" He shouted. Beside me, Marco paled.
We turned around and started running in the opposite direction. As far from Mr. Snape as we could hope to get. We ran as fast as we could manage to get Mr. Snape off our heels.
Marco and I took a sharp turn right, towards the Library. A longer route to Comm. Graphics.
"How does he even know my name? I'm not even in his class!" Marco whispered, panicking.
"It's Mr. Snape. And believe me, if he was your teacher, you'd know that's all you need to know. The man knows things he just shouldn't have any knowledge of." I informed Marco.
"Too bad he can't tell us where Jake is." Marco muttered.
The thing I didn't tell Marco is that I wouldn't have put it past Mr. Snape to know.
I have no idea how we managed to reach the Comm. Graphics room. If these were normal circumstances, I would've passed out or something already. I'm not much of an athlete.
Neither was Marco. We were both leaning up against the wall across from Ms. Rosenberg's door, panting and gasping for air. It wasn't until a few minutes later that we saw the note.
Marco and I approached the door and we read the tiny type. The type which said:
Comm. Graphics:
Go to the Library for the Collage project.
I re-read the note to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Marco just gaped at it in disbelief.
"I have something I have to get off my chest." Marco said. I cocked an eyebrow.
"This day, for the record, has sucked. It has sucked more when my Pop-Tart popped out of the toaster and hit me in the eye. It has sucked more than when I erased my best Tetris game on accident. It has sucked more than that one time I saw my dad in the shower..." I cut him off.
"Marco? I'll be your loyal slave if you promise to stop talking." I said.
"Shutting up." Marco muttered.
"I was kidding about the slave thing." I told him.
"Good." Said a sneering voice. "Because I want you both in my room right now."
Marco and I turned, as slow as we could, to face him. Mr. Snape. Glaring at us.
"Can I just say, one more time, that this day has sucked?"
We got off pretty light, considering. Marco got detention from three-to-five next Monday. I bargained with Mr. Snape to let me have lunch detention, since my uncle would go ballistic on me if he found out. Of course, I didn't tell Mr. Snape that.
I don't tell people about my family. It's gotten to be a habit, sort of. Not that anyone would want to know about my family. About how my uncle was passed out on the couch 24/7.
About how the days that my uncle is passed out are the good days. Much, much better than the days he's a raving drunk. Don't get me wrong, though, he's never hit me. Just threatened to.
And lucky me, I've never pissed him off enough to encourage him to live up to his threats.
Not like that was any better than living as my aunt's slave. At least my uncle's I got fed.
Well, most of the time, anyway.
Rachel found me after lunch and we talked for a while. She told me that she'd met up with Marco, and both of them had seen a strange man in a gray suit. A strange man who killed someone with the lazer beams Marco had mentioned. I had a feeling that was the important part of the story, but I wasn't so sure that Rachel had told me everything. Maybe it was because of the shame in her eyes.
The rest of the day dragged on like usual. Well, except working on the Collages in Comm. Graphics. That was fun. Ms. Rosenberg's an awesome teacher as long as you don't piss her off.
When I got home, my uncle was asleep. Nothing new there.
You know, I hope my uncle doesn't die in his sleep. There'd be no way to know he was dead.
I trudged my way to the back of the house, to my room. I threw my backpack down on the bed and then turned on the computer. Yes, I said computer. I do have one. It's an old thing I found lying in the trash near the house. My uncle has no idea it even works. It has the Internet, though that's only because I was able to figure out my uncle's password, which wasn't that hard.
So I logged on and went to check my email. If it was anything like usual, I'd have about five new messages from different companies asking me if I would like to enlarge my penis. Or my breasts.
I also turned on AOL Instant Messenger. It's not like I have anyone to talk to, but I figure since almost everyone on the 'net has some kind of an instant messaging program, I should get one. Besides, it's free. That never hurts. I went to the Yahoo! login page and checked my email.
I was surprised. There was just two offers for breast enlargement. I deleted them.
I had no other email. But after all, it's not like I had anyone to email, anyway.
Or vice-versa. No one would be emailing me. Not Rachel, Jake, Cassie, or Marco.
I looked at my monitor and sighed. I would've loved to give my friends my email address. Or better yet, my phone number. But I couldn't do that. It'd add to my uncle's suspicion.
The man's the most paranoid person I have ever met. And I know Marco.
I was about to disconnect when a little window popped up. Someone had IM'd me.
A.I.: Hello, Tobias.
I blinked and rubbed my eyes just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Then I sent a reply.
NetNerd0323: Who are you?
It was a few seconds later before I got my answer.
A.I.: A = Ax I = Isthil.
I pinched myself then. Hard. It hurt, so I couldn't have been dreaming.
Ax had sent me an instant message. Why? What was going on here?
NetNerd0323: Hi, Ax. What's up? And how did you get my screen name?
In the blink of an eye, Ax responded.
A.I.: I wanted to apologize. And I looked you up in the AOL Directory.
I frowned. I recalled what Marco told me earlier today. "Your buddy Ax is a traitor."
I hadn't wanted to believe him. I'm not sure if I did until this exact moment.
Traitor. Not too long ago, I would've thought that was a word I'd never have to use. That was a word that just didn't fit in my world. I mean, that was a word you used in a war.
My life was not a war. Except, now I'm not sure. I don't know what you'd call a life where you flashback to being chased by aliens, by your enemies. Sounds pretty war-like, doesn't it?
A.I.: Tobias? Are you still there?
I typed my reply.
NetNerd0323: Yes, I'm still here. Tell me what's going on.
I'm not sure why I asked him to do that. It's just that this was all too much. There were "guys with lazer beams", to quote Marco, and they were killing people. I was having flashbacks I didn't understand, and now it seemed I face-to-face, well, screen-to-screen with a traitor.
Not to mention I liked a girl whom, in no possible way, could like me back.
A.I.: I'm sorry. I didn't tell him everything.
Before I had a chance to type a reply, Ax went on.
A.I.: Chapman wanted me to find out about you guys. About the flashbacks. I told him about you and Cassie, that you'd both had strange fainting episodes. I shouldn't have, but I didn't have a choice. Chapman threatened to ruin everything for me. And I was scared.
NetNerd0323: Scared?
A.I.: When you mentioned him, I knew you and Marco were telling the truth. I wasn't ready to face that.
I was surprised that Ax had mentioned him. The being Cassie had seen in her flashback.
The being that had brought us all together, the being I felt some strange bond with.
But Ax hadn't been in Cassie's flashback. He hadn't been there. So he could he know him?
NetNerd0323: How do you know him?
I wasn't prepared for what Ax was about to tell me.
A.I.: I'm not sure, I just do. I had a flashback...thousands of Andalites, dying...I didn't tell Chapman about the flashbacks.
I felt a shiver go down my spine. I inspected the word on the screen. Andalite.
I knew, deep inside. That's what he was. An Andalite.
I started to type a reply to Ax when I heard loud noises coming from the front of the house.
My uncle had woken up.
NetNerd0323: Ax, we're going to have to talk about this sometime later.
"Tobias Alan Avan! Get your lazy ass out here, you damn bastard!" My uncle roared.
I was about to disconnect, wondering what had my uncle so hacked off, when Ax replied.
A.I.: Why?
NetNerd0323: Because!
Then I disconnected and turned off the computer.
"Tobias, I told you to get out here." My uncle said. I felt my whole body stiffen with fear.
His voice had gotten closer.
The next moment the door flew open.
Dude, my black-and-gray tabby cat, ran under the bed.
"When I say I want your lazy ass, I except to see your lazy ass." My uncle said. Calm. Collected.
I noticed he had a belt in his hands. My stomach churned.
"I don't want you stay and sit in here, and I don't want you off 'baby-sitting'." My uncle sneered.
He knew! He knew I'd gone to Rachel's to help her baby-sit her sisters without his permission. I'd thought he'd been asleep the whole time, I'd thrown away the note when I got home! He knew!
"What's wrong with baby-sitting? I left you a note. You could've called." I said.
"I know you left me a note, you little faggot. What do you think, I was born yesterday? I know you, you know. You weren't baby-sitting, you were with your gang screwing some jailbait slut. Surprise, Tobias, I'm not a fool. Do you think I'm stupid, Tobias?" My uncle asked me.
"N-no I don't, sir." I said. "But I swear to you, we really were..."
"I'm not going to listen to your lies!" My uncle cried. He raised the belt.
I raised my arms, but I was too slow. The belt hit me across the face.
I bit my tongue to fight the sob of pain threatening to explode from my mouth.
"So, you're not going to talk now? I'll give you something to talk about!" My uncle shouted.
He hit me again and again across the face. My mouth tasted like blood, I bit my tongue so hard. But it kept the tears from flowing. I couldn't cry, that might make it worse. For me.
I could feel blood trickling down my face. I think most of it was from my left cheek.
"Tobias, I don't want to hit you again. Promise me you'll do as I say." My uncle said.
"I promise." I croaked.
"Say it louder." My uncle told me.
"I promise!" I shouted.
Then my uncle dropped the belt. It hit my floor without so much as a thud. "Good." He said.
Then he left without a word or even a trace of guilt and regret.
I sat there, still in the pullout chair I put beside my desk, until my uncle fell asleep.
Until his irritating, grating snores filled the entire apartment.
Then I picked up the belt and threw it across the room.
It hit my closet door with a satisfying BAM! that made Dude scamper under my desk.
After that was when the sobs started. I'm not sure how I long I cried, but god, did it hurt.
There's all this macho bullshit in our society about how boys don't cry. There's even a song about it for Christ's sake! But at that moment, I did not care.
I had to get it out or it'd eat me alive.
It was quite a while later that I realized I'd left my window open.
I grabbed my backpack and stuff what clothes I could fit inside. Junk food, too.
Then I found the cat carrier my aunt had given me for Dude, when she'd bought him so that I wouldn't tell anyone about the fact that all I did for the summer was clean her attic.
I filled up two bottles of water. One for me, one for Dude.
I also filled up a bottle of cat food. I put the empty saucer in the cat carrier.
I guess most runaways wouldn't bring their cat with them, but my uncle had never liked Dude.
He would've kicked the cat to death when he found out I was missing. I couldn't let him.
After that I scooped up Dude and fit him, squalling and screaming, into the cat carrier.
I put the cat carrier and the backpack outside, turned off my lights, and then climbed out.
I didn't even leave a note.
I'll admit something, I had no idea where I was going. I just ran, as far as I could get from that damn apartment. Away from my uncle. Away from all of this.
My face was still bleeding a bit, but nowhere near as bad as it had been. I was still going to have to get my shirt inside a washing machine sometime, though. I'd bled all over my shirt.
I was heading north. That's where the mall was. I guess I figured that I could hang out there until I figured out what the hell I was going to do.
North was also the direction of Rachel's house. Maybe I was going there? No.
I didn't want Rachel to see me like this. I didn't want to go north.
But I kept on going on that way.
Before I realized it, I wasn't very far from the mall. I was standing at the edge of the old, abandoned construction site. I'd used it as a shortcut to the mall more than once.
But I hadn't meant to go to the construction site.
So what am I doing here? I wondered. But then I saw something that stole my attention.
It was pretty much obscured from view. I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been standing right at the spot where I'd been, well, placed. There wasn't anything remarkable about it.
But I knew, I had to take it. Now. So I leaned down and picked up the small blue box.
Flash!
"We have to." I said to Jake.
He nodded. "Yes." Jake said. "We have no choice."
Then each of you, press your hand against one of the sides of the square. The Andalite said.
We did just that. Five hands, all of us, pressed one side of the box. Then a sixth. His.
Do not be afraid. He told us.
Something, sort of like a shock, ran through me. It almost made me laugh.
I put the blue box in my backpack, only just squeezing it in amongst all my stuff.
Then, all of the sudden, I found myself back on the street where I'd been wandering.
What was going on?
Ha ha, NONE of you guys saw that coming! Go me! =P (Reader Response)
Doctor Strangelove - YOU'RE ALIVE! **SUPER-UBER-MEGA-HUG!** ...**coughs** I'm okay now.
Anyway, glad you liked all the WAS. And there'll be plenty more of it, I can assure you. And you like this fic's Ax? Well, then I've fufilled my mission in life. =P And Ax is meant to be a little darker in this story than he is in the series. Though, he defintely won't be the darkest character. That's reserved for another one of my faves. **coughrachelcough** But, wait, Ax talks like someone you know? How weird. And I'll admit, I found very amusing that Ax and Tom were fighting over a ball. And that Erek gave them water bottles. But I a have a pervy, pervy mind.
But Tom IS straight. No latent biseuxality for him, unlike other characters who I won't mention. =) Mr. Bender is actually a two-in-one ref. It of course refers to Bender (bite my shiny metal ass!), but it also refers to John Bender from the Breakfast Club, which happens to be one of my favorite movies. I'm not a big fan of incest either, though I will confess I read a really good Tom/Jake once. But even if it's well-written, incest squicks me. Even Forlay-written incest squicks me. Oh yes, Dominatrix Rach will be fun. There's also probably going to be a hint of Dominatrix Ax somewhere, because he's evil. And it's fun. Oh god, I just went to a scary visual place. 0_o You lost the internet? My condolances. Hope you get it back soonish. Oh, don't worry about being in college and writing fic. I'll be in college still finishing this monster. And I know lots of fic authors in college! Okay...three...but, still! Oh yay, Tom slash! I like Tom slash! Write Tom slash! ...and I've gone incoherent again. Oh well.
goddess of darkness - Glad you like the fic! =)
Loony Lovegood (Puar Briefs) - Love the new nickname. =) 'Cept...'cept..it reminds me of THAT. **starts crying again, thinks of Gohan, and is happy again** I like it when people re-read my stuff. It makes me feel good. As for the Marco-Ax moment, good ideas with #21. But then again, #51 was one of my fave books (is it me or did Ax have a crush on the Governor?), so I might do that, too. I don't know yet. And it's funny you mentioned putting in an Ax-Tobias moment. I was planning to do the IM scene in Ax's chapter, but it just fit better in Tobi's, especially since it gave me a starting point for the ugliness.
As for Erek, well, I won't reveal what I have planned for him. And I can tell you like Erek. Oh, and yes, he does remember everything. He's an android, after all. Can't erase his memory.
I loved Richie, and Misty is the BOMB. That's all that needs to be said. Unfortunately, I didn't see the preview ep...but my inner AAML-er had a fit at Misty's leaving. Nero was a crazy boy.
Then again, most Roman emperors were crazy...glad you liked the 'haunted by alien ghosts' bit, and there is too an eight fifty-six! I just neglected to put in the A.M. part. I thought it was kind of obvious, since they were all at school and it was after first period.
Oh, eek. You caught onto the fact that I'm Marco/Ax fan. I don't think anyone could've guessed if they didn't look at my faves list, or my other fics...but then again, I think there's a fair amount of subtext in their scenes. But maybe that's just me, and I'm veering dangerously close to spoiler territory. I like Ax/Tobias, though. There were so sweet before the whole relation-thing. (Thanks for joining my fanlisting, btw.) And thanks for your compliment. I will draw out the series, promise. Oh! Something to chew on -- keep this in mind about the Ax-is-David thing: Marco is the only another Animorph, at this point, that has Ax be in any of their flashbacks. So the other don't have any memories to counter his with. And Ax also wasn't featured much in Marco's flashback, so HE doesn't really have anything to counter the David thing with. Will this clear up? Well, you'll see. =)
Patrick Blah - Glad you liked your Ax-flavored-Erek-spiced chapter. =) And yep, Erek remembers all. And I think you're the first person who likes Ax more in this fic than they do in the series. Most people like Jake better in this fic. As for the resolution between Ax-and-everybody, it is coming, but it'll be tangled up for a while more. And if I'm not mistaken, I think this chapter is longer than the last. I hope you like it.
Neri - Glad you liked the chapter, and you're right, Ax really doesn't act all that human. But I guess that's kind of the point. And it's spelled superior, since you wanted to know.
Good guess on the redheaded guy. I was actually thinking of Fred and George when I wrote him. But you didn't notice the black-haired bespectaled boy? Give you five guesses as to who HE is. =)
Oh, I know "the Leaky Cauldron"! As for HP5, I have a very cool uncle who needed to give me a very late birthday gift. And I cried. A lot. And I still don't like hearing about who died.
And Oklahoma is cool. It's very pretty, but also VERY VERY hot, and this is coming from a Texas girl. But it's a nice place. And heck if I know if plaid is in. I just remember it being some horrible crime to wear plaid when I was a kid. Also, I just thought Rachel dissing Ax's clothes was funny, especially since she used to pick out his clothes and all in the series. I should put in a scene with those two in, like, Sears or something. It'd be fun. Glad you liked the "alien ghosts" thing. The Loren gag was a little nod to the whole "Don't call me Prince" thing. 'Cept now it's "Don't call me Mrs. Smith."
Eight fifty-six is supposed to be 8:56 A.M. Tetris is this video game where you have to put together blocks of different colored blocks together and try to get rid of all your blocks while new blocks keep falling from the top of the screen. It's very addictive and it gets VERY hard. Inhumanly hard. Literally. Ax's computer name doesn't have any huge signifance, but it's a misspelling of the word "blue", the color of Ax's fur. His screen name in this chapter has more meaning to it. A.I. is also the abbreviation for "Artificial Intelligence", in other words, stuff like robots, what guides the computer when you play against the CPU in games, and those little Catz and Dogz cyber-pets. And it's also the title to an awesome Spielberg movie.
The reason I like Draco is that I think he's gonna turn out to be an okay guy in the end. Or at least, not evil. I think he's too selfish to serve Voldemort. And Tamora Pierce ROCKS. =)
Sundancer - Glad you like the story! Unfortunately, though, Elfangor won't be in it aside from a few flashbacks and stuff. He's still dead. But he will be mentioned, if that makes you feel better.
SurrealSerpent - Good to know you like the human-Ax thing. I always thought Ax was kind of more human than Andalite by the end of the series anyway. =) Oh, and trust me, there'll be conflict-a-plenty between Marco and Ax. And Erek will show up more, too.
shadowhunter - The next KAA? Wow, thanks. That'd be cool. Then I'd have money. =P And, hey, just keep writing. That's the only way your stories will get better. And here's a new chapter, so enjoy!
Hurdler - Glad you like the story, and trust me, I'll be keeping up with the Buffy refs. It's my fav. TV show, too. =) Ms. McClay will actually have a pretty important role in the story, as far as Cassie's tale goes. Ms. Rosenberg is teaching a computer arts class just to be specific, and I thought it was cool, too. And yes, Mr. Osbourne was supposed to be Oz. Huh. I just thought of teaching positions for Xander and Buffy, though Buffy probably won't be teaching at the school. And I hadn't thought of tossing Dawn in! Thanks for the idea! Hey, don't you think I should cram in a Mr. the Bloody teaching poetry? Anyway, I'll keep it up. Thanks for the review.
Phi - It's great you like the story and the Buffy refs. I seem to be attracting a lot of Buffy fans. Or maybe there's just a lot of Buffy fans, period. Hmm. Glad you like Ms. Mclay. She'll be a kinda-big part of this part of the story. And, actually, the birthdate was a flub on my part. But I know what you mean about having an older sibling in college. I was born in '87, too, and I'M almost the sibling in the college. Glad you like Cassie/Jake stuff, too.
Stink E. Burrito - Good to know there's a lack of hemmorage. And, hey, look, I actually continued soon! Amazing, huh?
Lisa-Ann - Well, if you ARE gonna kill me, I'd prefer the lynching. It's quicker and I'm a wimp about pain. And action IS coming soon, I swear it! (I guess what happened this chapter could be constituted as action, but it's unhappy action.) And I do fear the brats. =)
Glad you liked the chap, and I hope you like this one even more. Oh! And before I forget, do you want me to write the Animorphs Movie Jake/Rachel scene like a fanfic or like a script? I can do either.
Aelle - Yeah, I guess Ax was nicer in this last chapter. And South Park rules. =)
Queen of Shadows - I KNEW ff.n deleted some reviews! Stupid ff.n people...but oh well.
Glad you like the concept, and Ax will make things better. And Chapman's just a very good, and very suspicious, guesser.
Freak Apple - You take Latin? Cool! I'm a French geek like Cassie. =) But I'm going to take Sign Language when I'm Senior 'cuz they're ending the French program after next year, stupid school board people who can't find teachers...and I hate bullies too, so I think Rachel should rip more arms off bullies. Or maybe not. That'd be a little gross. Glad you really like the fic and, huh, maybe you're right about the Subway people being aliens. That makes a lot of sense. But I'm done with the job searching now, since everyone refuses to hire me. I'm waiting 'til November, when we get a Hastings. Then I'll probably get a job.