Hi, sorry it's been so long, but here's another chapter, so read and review please! :)

***



AX: HOW TO FIND A POTENTIAL SWAP



My name is Ax.

I was quite surprised when my human friends suddenly appeared in the forest, telling Tobias and myself that we had something important to discuss, right away.

I knew a discussion would eventually come, because we had a serious issue on our hands: Rachel and Marco had changed minds, through Crayak's powers and his little associate the Drode.

But it seemed as though my friends had found a solution to the problem. Or at least, a potential solution.

"So what's going on then?" Tobias asked, in human morph, like myself.

We were all gathered in the forest, Tobias, Cassie and Rachel sitting on big rocks while Marco, Prince Jake and myself were standing. I must admit although I enjoy spending time in my human body to some extend, it takes a while to adjust sitting down. I prefer standing.

Besides, then I could focus all my attention on the bun Rachel had given to me as they'd arrived. She'd said she didn't want to break the policy and make the body any richer, only to have Marco punch her in the stomach.

"You're saying we can just choose whoever we will on Earth as a replacement and have the Drode swap their minds in stead?" Tobias said. "I don't believe it for a second. It can't be that easy."

"It's not," Prince Jake said. "It can't be just anybody. It's got to be a good swap, like a swap that will really make the two of them annoyed with it. Or insane, rather, if I know this Drode correctly," he added quietly.

"So we're practically near a solution," Rachel's voice said. "We just have to find it before tomorrow evening. Then we'll be all set and I can become handsome again."

"You're more handsome now than you were before," Marco's voice commented. "And that speaks for itself, because my body is not handsome. Fair, maybe," he grinned, "but not handsome."

"You know, handsome is actually a term which can be used on females as well," Rachel commented. "I read this book once..."

"Yeah, right."

"... and it was set in the 16th century, and there they called one girl who was pretty for handsome. So haha, I win."

Jake looked at her. "Marco?" he said. "Please focus, or I will have you castrated."

Marco's face grinned. "Yeah, I've got the power," he said with a wink. "So behave."

"Back to the case," Cassie said friendly. "I still don't think this is the right way to go. And it's not just me now, Tobias said he didn't believe it either. I really think we should come up with something else."

"Why?" I asked, speaking for the first time. "This is a good solution. We will find two individuals who cannot stand each other, and we will hand them over to the Drode so he can change them into each other. That will solve all our problems."

"Exactly," Rachel commented.

"But don't you see it's just cruel!" Cassie argued. "Maybe this is exactly what Crayak wants us to do! Hand someone else over to profit from it. I mean, we're in this war, and we face the consequences. But innocent people who have nothing to do with it all, why should they be involved in all of this?"

"They already are involved, they just don't know it yet," Rachel argued. "Face it, we're trying to save their lives here! They practically owe everything to us, if you think about it. So why shouldn't they have to make some sacrifices? My mother is persumed dead because of these creatures, that's my sacrifice!" She looked around, facing both Tobias and me for a second. "Tobias is a hawk," she continued, "for their sake, and Ax is about eighty light-years away from his own family and people for their sake. Why can't they sacrifice?"

"I agree with the lunatic," Marco said. "Why shouldn't they sacrifice something?"

"We know what's going on," Tobias said. "That's the difference. We have a choice, they don't."

Prince Jake sighed. "This is a real, serious mortal dilemma. We disagree, as usual. Should we put it to a vote then?"

I glanced at him. What was he thinking? He knew how the vote would turn out, he'd already seen four of us agreed on the issue. All of us knew it, but surely Prince Jake would usually hear all of us out, and then consider some better solution if we did not agree?

Apparently, Cassie thought what I had thought. "Don't you care about those people we'll ruin the lives of? I still think the Drode's just messing around! And even if he's not, this is not the way to go."

"It's the ONLY way to go," Marco said. "We haven't got any other solutions, this is all we have."

"And the Drode IS serious," Prince Jake added with a dark gaze. "He came to see me. I spoke to him, I should know."

Cassie got up and approached him. "I know he did, and I know this is tough for you because he and Crayak are always after you. And okay, so maybe he was telling the truth, maybe he will let us give the burden up to somebody else if we find the right people. But... But how can you wish to hurt someone like that? Like Tobias said, we have a choice, they don't." She put her arm in his, as if trying to comfort him. He gently backed away from her.

Then he said: "We'll put it to a vote."

I saw Rachel sighing. She - her now at the time being Marco, obviously - knew Prince Jake better than most of us. Inside her body there sat a guy who knew Prince Jake didn't follow his own normal procedure. But he chose, as I saw, not to comment it. Clearly Prince Jake wasn't handling the situation, and commenting it would only make things worse.

Prince Jake raised his hand. "I vote we search for a replacement that we can give to the Drode tomorrow evening."

Rachel raised her hand. "I do, too," she said.

"Me too," Marco mumbled.

Cassie looked around. "I vote we found another solution," she said.

Tobias nodded. "Me, too."

Prince Jake looked at me. "Go on, Ax. And please, don't tell me again you don't vote. Just state your opinion."

I hesitated. Then finally, I spoke: "I vote for finding a replacement."

Cassie and Tobias both looked down. I felt kind of guilty, although I had only announced my opinion on the matter. It wasn't intentionally going against my shorm. Every individual has his own right to speak his mind, and that is the way it works on Earth as well. Even though Cassie and Tobias weren't happy with the way things had turned out, and even though this meant we would have to ruin the lives of two humans.

I told myself it was just the way it had to be.

"Now all of you think about who we can replace Marco and Rachel with," Prince Jake said. "I'm sure there's billions of matches in the world the Drode will be happy with, we just need to find one of them in time, that's good enough."

"What exactly are the demands?" Rachel asked. "How is these two guys' relationship supposed to be for it to be accepted?"

Prince Jake looked around. "They don't have to hate each other, if I've understood it correctly. Just imagine a swap which will drive both of the parts insane. That's the demands, I think. Something which will annoy the two parts."

"But that means practically everybody, doesn't it?" Marco's body, with Rachel's mind, asked. "Nobody wishes to be in another person's body."

"You never know," Cassie whispered.

"That's right," Rachel said, "some might do. Imagine an old stinking hobo entering the body of a wealthy male Calvin Kline-model. There's a swap at least one of them'd be pleased with."

"All right, so not EVERYBODY then," Marco sighed.

"Just make it perfect," Prince Jake interrupted. "I think we'll know when we have the perfect one. Just focus on that. Don't think of anything else. We'll keep in touch, and if not anything changes, we'll meet here tomorrow after school. It's Friday, so we haven't got too many classes. Right here, after school. All right?"

We all nodded, and separated.

As Tobias and I morphed back to our own forms, I saw my human friends leaving the forest, the four of them together. I thought I heard Rachel and Marco arguing over whether or not bikini was an acceptable outfit for Rachel to wear the next day, and I started wondering about what sort of people could use a swap on this planet, although basically I knew nobody.



***

There we are...reviews? ;)