Chapter 9
We stared each other down. There was a war going on around us. The Animorphs were all fighting the hork bajir and humans, desperately trying to get out. But the two of us were alone in the middle.
The yeerk pool was alive with yeerks that likely didn't know what the hell was going on. They just swam indifferently and contentedly in their gray sludge.
I stared across the pool and into glowing red eyes. He was looking at my glowing blue eyes. His black trench-coat and fully loaded arsenal were sticking out. "You won't win." I said as I stepped forward.
"Hmph." Sam huffed. "You would think so, but guess what? I have business to take care of, and I can't be here long, so I will have to make this fast."
I shook my head. "No, we don't need to do it here." I said. "Not here, not now."
"Why not?"
"Because, they need to get out. They don't need to be in the way." I pointed at the assorted animals battling the hork bajir on te sidelines.
"They aren't mine, I can't call them off." He shook his head. "Sorry." Without warning, he jumped up over the pool and flew at me, bringing out his sword on the way.
As soon as I saw this, I drew my blade too. No guns, they were useless.
When he got near, he slashed at me sideways and I parried it away. He used this to turn around and slash down at me. I raised my blade and blocked it. He withdrew and tried to stab me. I dodged to the side and kicked him in the stomach. He went flying, but readied himself in the air and dashed back at me.
In a flash of blue, I stopped him in midair, but he quickly negated this with his own power and continued on to me. We both clashed at the swords. We pushed away and he spun, doing a roundhouse which I ducked under. But in the time it took me to duck, his other half was coming around to slash at me with his sword.
The blade came up sideways and I had to dodge again. It barely missed me, but it was already coming back. Instead of dodging, I brought the blade up to stop it.
We stopped for a minute. Sam looked impressed. "Good move, but I hate to say it isn't enough." He bloated.
"It stopped you." I mentioned. This made him back up and slash at my legs. I slashed the same and stopped it, the blades clashed. Then I slashed at his head, it was open, but his sword was there to stop me. Up then down. Both at the same time.
Then he tried to kick mt in the head. I backed off and kicked up to stop it. A hand just wouldn't do it. Both feet hit at head height. Then we both kicked down, both stopping the other. Then we both kicked each other head on. Both of our bottoms of our feet hit and we both used it to flip away from the other. We stopped at the same time.
"I don't have time for this." Sam said. His eyes glowed.
"Sam, why must we continue to fight. We would do better as a team, like before. Why don't we do that again?" I pleaded.
Sam shook his head. "Gordon, let me tell you a little secret. It isn't about destruction. I have no problem with you. I don't want to destroy or conquer the world. But you want to destroy my future. There is an entire species that will be needing a leader soon." He grinned and flew out of there.
What? I wanted to destroy his future? How would that work?
I woke up, trying to continue with the dream. I like to do that, you know. If I am having a cool dream I like to keep in that middle consciousness where I could control me but not the world around me. It was like the ultimate video game.
But I failed. The feeling was gone and the satisfaction was fleeting.
So I got up and got myself a Coke. I couldn't help but Ax surely did a great job on our house. The electrical system powered by dracon crystals, and the entire system of computers, and TV and everything. Hell, I lived here better here than I did at home.
Oh well. Life was great, except when we needed to get groceries. That required some joint effort. I couldn't morph, so I walked the bags to the forest and he telekinetically carried them the rest of the way.
Our house was a good half hour to forty-five minutes walk from Cassie's, straight through the mountains and you had to go through some pretty good thickets before getting to the house. Actually, I wonder what would happen if someone was unfortunate enough to stumble upon the place one day. Sure, the place was surrounded in a quarter mile radius with thick brambles and getting here would require some effort, but it could happen.
I stared at the wall, considering the possibilities. Would we have to kill the person? No. Not like the guy I... killed....
Oh, right. I forgot I had a meeting to attend to any minute now. I looed at the clock ont he wall to see what time it was. I couldn't carry a watch, morphing and all. It was nine o'clock, so I decided to gulp the rest of my coke (which left an unpleasant buzz in the back of my throat.) and get on with it.
I stripped my clothes and put on my morphing outfit. I don't wear it to bed. That would be stupid.
So I got dressed and went outside. The green grass was tickling the bottoms of my feet. Ah, the simple pleasures. And yes, there was grass in front of the house. We kept it short by the door, that way Tobias could still hunt in the meadow which spread a hundred feet to one side and fifty to the other. The short end was filled with big rocks worth sunbathing on and the other side had my oak tree in the middle of it.
Anyway, I began to morph, I felt the feathers spread across my body as I shrunk. My bones hollowed out and switched direction. My beak hardened and my legs turned to drumsticks. I was morphed in a total of thirty seconds.
Cassie and I were both really fast. I was a hint faster, but I couldn't do it as well in the order she did it. I could if I Was really slow, but not like her. She could do it in whatever order she wanted at a fast speed. I was either one or the other.
So I took off and flew to the barn. I figured everybody else would be there by now. It was past nine and the meeting was for nine. I was late.
By the time I got there, five minutes later at most, they were all there waiting. Well, not Sam or Whitney. They apparently were having a vacation. We figured we would leave them out of this one.
So it was Me, Tobias, Rachel, Ax, Cassie, Jake, and Marco. Seven of us.
As soon as I walked into the room, Jake got up from his bale of hay and started the discussion quickly. "Alright. Now that we are all here, we have to have a little diplomacy. Let's have a vote. We will discuss the situation and make a group decision based on the facts."
I pretty much knew how it would go. Cassie, Tobias, and Marco would take the offer. Me and Rachel wouldn't. And Jake and Ax would leave it up to the five of us. Though Sam and Whitney would both be against it. But they weren't here.
"Well, what do we know?" Cassie started.
"We know this Ellimist claims to want to help." Marco said.
"And I think it is just a ploy to get us to quit." Rachel said stubbornly. I agreed. Sure, this Ellimist was powerful and could do anything, but who knew who's side he was really on.
"Well, he is trying to save us, don't you see that?" Cassie said. "I have been with so many animals in my life, and when I am trying to save one with their foot in a trap, they growl and snap at me, even though I am trying to help."
"Aaaaand..." Macro said imatiently.
"And to it, we are superior. Just like the Ellimist is superior to us. Maybe he can see into the future and see consequences that we can't. It is a possibility, and who are we to say otherwise?" Cassie said.
But I spoke up. "But Cassie, even though I also think highly of animals, but there is one thing that separates us. Our intelligence. A raccoon only sees an enemy when you come near, and yes, we may be resisting rescue, but we have pride. Pride for our planet. This is ours, think of it as a zoo. Taking wild animals from the jungle and putting them in a foreign environment. We are the tigers. The elephants. The difference between your argument and mine is that yours say we are in a trap. We aren't, we just aren't in a good position. There is still a chance. If we were about to be killed, I could understand accepting an offer like this, but as it stands, we don't need help. It is too early to understand." I hit home with that one. It made everyone sit back and think.
"But he can see the future." Marco said. "And if he can see the future, then maybe he is trying to make us make a decision that will save us before the fact. Before we made the bad decision."
Meanwhile, Jake was just sitting back, thinking about what was going on.
We stared each other down. There was a war going on around us. The Animorphs were all fighting the hork bajir and humans, desperately trying to get out. But the two of us were alone in the middle.
The yeerk pool was alive with yeerks that likely didn't know what the hell was going on. They just swam indifferently and contentedly in their gray sludge.
I stared across the pool and into glowing red eyes. He was looking at my glowing blue eyes. His black trench-coat and fully loaded arsenal were sticking out. "You won't win." I said as I stepped forward.
"Hmph." Sam huffed. "You would think so, but guess what? I have business to take care of, and I can't be here long, so I will have to make this fast."
I shook my head. "No, we don't need to do it here." I said. "Not here, not now."
"Why not?"
"Because, they need to get out. They don't need to be in the way." I pointed at the assorted animals battling the hork bajir on te sidelines.
"They aren't mine, I can't call them off." He shook his head. "Sorry." Without warning, he jumped up over the pool and flew at me, bringing out his sword on the way.
As soon as I saw this, I drew my blade too. No guns, they were useless.
When he got near, he slashed at me sideways and I parried it away. He used this to turn around and slash down at me. I raised my blade and blocked it. He withdrew and tried to stab me. I dodged to the side and kicked him in the stomach. He went flying, but readied himself in the air and dashed back at me.
In a flash of blue, I stopped him in midair, but he quickly negated this with his own power and continued on to me. We both clashed at the swords. We pushed away and he spun, doing a roundhouse which I ducked under. But in the time it took me to duck, his other half was coming around to slash at me with his sword.
The blade came up sideways and I had to dodge again. It barely missed me, but it was already coming back. Instead of dodging, I brought the blade up to stop it.
We stopped for a minute. Sam looked impressed. "Good move, but I hate to say it isn't enough." He bloated.
"It stopped you." I mentioned. This made him back up and slash at my legs. I slashed the same and stopped it, the blades clashed. Then I slashed at his head, it was open, but his sword was there to stop me. Up then down. Both at the same time.
Then he tried to kick mt in the head. I backed off and kicked up to stop it. A hand just wouldn't do it. Both feet hit at head height. Then we both kicked down, both stopping the other. Then we both kicked each other head on. Both of our bottoms of our feet hit and we both used it to flip away from the other. We stopped at the same time.
"I don't have time for this." Sam said. His eyes glowed.
"Sam, why must we continue to fight. We would do better as a team, like before. Why don't we do that again?" I pleaded.
Sam shook his head. "Gordon, let me tell you a little secret. It isn't about destruction. I have no problem with you. I don't want to destroy or conquer the world. But you want to destroy my future. There is an entire species that will be needing a leader soon." He grinned and flew out of there.
What? I wanted to destroy his future? How would that work?
I woke up, trying to continue with the dream. I like to do that, you know. If I am having a cool dream I like to keep in that middle consciousness where I could control me but not the world around me. It was like the ultimate video game.
But I failed. The feeling was gone and the satisfaction was fleeting.
So I got up and got myself a Coke. I couldn't help but Ax surely did a great job on our house. The electrical system powered by dracon crystals, and the entire system of computers, and TV and everything. Hell, I lived here better here than I did at home.
Oh well. Life was great, except when we needed to get groceries. That required some joint effort. I couldn't morph, so I walked the bags to the forest and he telekinetically carried them the rest of the way.
Our house was a good half hour to forty-five minutes walk from Cassie's, straight through the mountains and you had to go through some pretty good thickets before getting to the house. Actually, I wonder what would happen if someone was unfortunate enough to stumble upon the place one day. Sure, the place was surrounded in a quarter mile radius with thick brambles and getting here would require some effort, but it could happen.
I stared at the wall, considering the possibilities. Would we have to kill the person? No. Not like the guy I... killed....
Oh, right. I forgot I had a meeting to attend to any minute now. I looed at the clock ont he wall to see what time it was. I couldn't carry a watch, morphing and all. It was nine o'clock, so I decided to gulp the rest of my coke (which left an unpleasant buzz in the back of my throat.) and get on with it.
I stripped my clothes and put on my morphing outfit. I don't wear it to bed. That would be stupid.
So I got dressed and went outside. The green grass was tickling the bottoms of my feet. Ah, the simple pleasures. And yes, there was grass in front of the house. We kept it short by the door, that way Tobias could still hunt in the meadow which spread a hundred feet to one side and fifty to the other. The short end was filled with big rocks worth sunbathing on and the other side had my oak tree in the middle of it.
Anyway, I began to morph, I felt the feathers spread across my body as I shrunk. My bones hollowed out and switched direction. My beak hardened and my legs turned to drumsticks. I was morphed in a total of thirty seconds.
Cassie and I were both really fast. I was a hint faster, but I couldn't do it as well in the order she did it. I could if I Was really slow, but not like her. She could do it in whatever order she wanted at a fast speed. I was either one or the other.
So I took off and flew to the barn. I figured everybody else would be there by now. It was past nine and the meeting was for nine. I was late.
By the time I got there, five minutes later at most, they were all there waiting. Well, not Sam or Whitney. They apparently were having a vacation. We figured we would leave them out of this one.
So it was Me, Tobias, Rachel, Ax, Cassie, Jake, and Marco. Seven of us.
As soon as I walked into the room, Jake got up from his bale of hay and started the discussion quickly. "Alright. Now that we are all here, we have to have a little diplomacy. Let's have a vote. We will discuss the situation and make a group decision based on the facts."
I pretty much knew how it would go. Cassie, Tobias, and Marco would take the offer. Me and Rachel wouldn't. And Jake and Ax would leave it up to the five of us. Though Sam and Whitney would both be against it. But they weren't here.
"Well, what do we know?" Cassie started.
"We know this Ellimist claims to want to help." Marco said.
"And I think it is just a ploy to get us to quit." Rachel said stubbornly. I agreed. Sure, this Ellimist was powerful and could do anything, but who knew who's side he was really on.
"Well, he is trying to save us, don't you see that?" Cassie said. "I have been with so many animals in my life, and when I am trying to save one with their foot in a trap, they growl and snap at me, even though I am trying to help."
"Aaaaand..." Macro said imatiently.
"And to it, we are superior. Just like the Ellimist is superior to us. Maybe he can see into the future and see consequences that we can't. It is a possibility, and who are we to say otherwise?" Cassie said.
But I spoke up. "But Cassie, even though I also think highly of animals, but there is one thing that separates us. Our intelligence. A raccoon only sees an enemy when you come near, and yes, we may be resisting rescue, but we have pride. Pride for our planet. This is ours, think of it as a zoo. Taking wild animals from the jungle and putting them in a foreign environment. We are the tigers. The elephants. The difference between your argument and mine is that yours say we are in a trap. We aren't, we just aren't in a good position. There is still a chance. If we were about to be killed, I could understand accepting an offer like this, but as it stands, we don't need help. It is too early to understand." I hit home with that one. It made everyone sit back and think.
"But he can see the future." Marco said. "And if he can see the future, then maybe he is trying to make us make a decision that will save us before the fact. Before we made the bad decision."
Meanwhile, Jake was just sitting back, thinking about what was going on.