A/N: My computer is really messed up and it's not letting me see my
reviews, so I can't respond to any of them or answer any questions or
anything. Sorry, guys!
Rachel's take on all this!
So some old, ugly-looking Iskoort refused to help us unless we helped him first? Fine. We'd go and rescue his stupid little town, then we'd go home in time to catch the sale at Express.
At least I hoped so.
The truth was, I was already sick of all this. I was glad that we were about to go and do something instead of sitting around, listening to stupid stories. But there was no point complaining. After all, it wouldn't help anything. And only babies complained ...like Marco.
We walked out of Rafe's house, and straight into a mob of Iskoorts.
{Have you agreed to help us?} Guide asked eagerly.
"Wait a minute...you knew about this?" I asked him, anger slowly growing inside of me. People say that I get mad very quickly over very small things. They're right.
"Yes," Jake ignored me. "We have agreed to do this under the condition that we will be provided a way home."
{Yes, yes. Are we ready to leave yet?}
"What?!" Six voices and thought-speaks mixed together in astonishment.
Guide continued as if we hadn't spoken. {Of course, I will be going with you. And we shall be leaving right away.}
"What? We don't get a break?" Marco began his usual whining.
{Wait, Marco. It might be a good idea for us to leave now. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can go home.} Tobias interjected.
I frowned at him. Why was he so eager to do this? All we were doing was going out to fight whatever evil thing was attacking the Iskoort.
Wait a minute. Why was I so eager to do this?
Tobias noticed me looking at him and turned back to stare at me with fierce, amber hawk eyes. He didn't say anything. There was something unsettling about his gaze. Well, something more unsettling than his usual cold stare.
Maybe I was just imagining it. Either that or the combination of Marco and the Iskoort was getting to me.
I tuned back into the conversation, where Jake was droning on about being careful or something irrelevant like that. "Well, we're not getting anything by standing around here! Come on, let's go! Let's do it!" I said impatiently.
Everyone groaned. Marco shook his head sadly. "It just wouldn't be a normal suicidal mission unless Rachel gave us her blessing."
I rolled my eyes. "Marco, do you ever say anything sensible?" Honestly, there should be places to keep idiots like him so they don't annoy the normal people.
"Anyway," Jake stated, glancing over at me, "it might be a good idea to find out what exactly we're battling against before we plunge headfirst into certain death."
"Geez, Jake, when did you get to be so pessimistic?" I grumbled.
He shrugged. "I hang around Marco too much."
"What is this, pick on Marco time?" Marco grumbled.
{There is a specific time devoted to harassing certain people?} Ax wondered.
Before Marco could make a smart remark, Cassie interrupted. "Guys, we have a job to do," she reminded.
Jake cleared his throat and shot her a grateful look. Then he glanced around a little nervously to be sure that no one had caught him sending hr looks. "Cassie's right, we need to get back on track. Guide, do you think you can take us to the place where all the Iskoort get attacked?"
That sobered us up quickly. Guide nodded. {Yes.}
"Okay, then let's go!" I said enthusiastically.
{Yes, there is a... a problem.} Guide said. He sounded uncomfortable. {The Iskoort seem only to be assailed when they are most unsuspecting. Therefore, I do not think that the attackers...whoever they are...would assault a person if he was expecting the attack.}
We all absorbed this for a minute.
"Okay," Jake said slowly. "That means that we're going to have to fake looking oblivious. In other words," he looked over in my direction again, "we're NOT looking for trouble. Understood?"
"Rachel!" Marco coughed conspicuously. I glared at him.
Jake continued talking. "Guide, we need you to be the "oblivious Iskoort," obviously. The rest of us will go as fleas on you." Cassie nodded approvingly. "Fleas are good. Nearly indestructible."
"Wait a minute. Where's the firepower? How are we supposed to get the guy if we can't even see him properly?" I protested.
Jake looked at me sternly. "Rachel. We. Are. Not. Looking. For. Trouble. We are trying to look unsuspicious. So we are going to go as fleas, and once we get to...to wherever we need to be, we'll morph out, see the situation, and then, and ONLY then, will we see whether or not battle morphs are needed."
I scowled. What could we do as fleas? We were practically mindless machines. We couldn't fight or anything. There was no way that we could beat whoever we were fighting just by sucking his blood.
"So, where do we go?" Marco said cheerily.
{We should be able to reach the area reasonably quickly if we follow this yellow road,} Guide gestured to a very noticeable yellow road to the right of where we were that led out of the tunnel in the opposite way that we had come in.
We stared at him. "You have got to be kidding," I muttered. I could practically see the look of glee spreading across Marco's face as we began walking towards the yellow road. This was too easy of an opportunity for him.
"Follow the yellow brick road! Follow the yellow brick road! Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road!" He sang out brightly.
I groaned. This was going to be a long trip.
As we left, we heard a shout of {Good-bye, Mr. Guide!}
This momentarily stopped Marco from his singing (and made me say hallelujah). "Mr. Guide?"
Guide seemed embarrassed. Not that I would know how to tell if Iskoort are embarrassed. I mean, he pretty much looked the same to me.
{After I became rich, many became taken to calling me "Mr. Guide."} He explained.
Marco snickered. "Well you go ahead and lead the way, Mr. Guide. And we'll just follow you down this yellow brick road." He turned to grin evilly at me and opened his mouth to sing.
Cassie, surprisingly, threw her hand over his mouth. "Don't even start, Marco."
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
Rachel's take on all this!
So some old, ugly-looking Iskoort refused to help us unless we helped him first? Fine. We'd go and rescue his stupid little town, then we'd go home in time to catch the sale at Express.
At least I hoped so.
The truth was, I was already sick of all this. I was glad that we were about to go and do something instead of sitting around, listening to stupid stories. But there was no point complaining. After all, it wouldn't help anything. And only babies complained ...like Marco.
We walked out of Rafe's house, and straight into a mob of Iskoorts.
{Have you agreed to help us?} Guide asked eagerly.
"Wait a minute...you knew about this?" I asked him, anger slowly growing inside of me. People say that I get mad very quickly over very small things. They're right.
"Yes," Jake ignored me. "We have agreed to do this under the condition that we will be provided a way home."
{Yes, yes. Are we ready to leave yet?}
"What?!" Six voices and thought-speaks mixed together in astonishment.
Guide continued as if we hadn't spoken. {Of course, I will be going with you. And we shall be leaving right away.}
"What? We don't get a break?" Marco began his usual whining.
{Wait, Marco. It might be a good idea for us to leave now. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can go home.} Tobias interjected.
I frowned at him. Why was he so eager to do this? All we were doing was going out to fight whatever evil thing was attacking the Iskoort.
Wait a minute. Why was I so eager to do this?
Tobias noticed me looking at him and turned back to stare at me with fierce, amber hawk eyes. He didn't say anything. There was something unsettling about his gaze. Well, something more unsettling than his usual cold stare.
Maybe I was just imagining it. Either that or the combination of Marco and the Iskoort was getting to me.
I tuned back into the conversation, where Jake was droning on about being careful or something irrelevant like that. "Well, we're not getting anything by standing around here! Come on, let's go! Let's do it!" I said impatiently.
Everyone groaned. Marco shook his head sadly. "It just wouldn't be a normal suicidal mission unless Rachel gave us her blessing."
I rolled my eyes. "Marco, do you ever say anything sensible?" Honestly, there should be places to keep idiots like him so they don't annoy the normal people.
"Anyway," Jake stated, glancing over at me, "it might be a good idea to find out what exactly we're battling against before we plunge headfirst into certain death."
"Geez, Jake, when did you get to be so pessimistic?" I grumbled.
He shrugged. "I hang around Marco too much."
"What is this, pick on Marco time?" Marco grumbled.
{There is a specific time devoted to harassing certain people?} Ax wondered.
Before Marco could make a smart remark, Cassie interrupted. "Guys, we have a job to do," she reminded.
Jake cleared his throat and shot her a grateful look. Then he glanced around a little nervously to be sure that no one had caught him sending hr looks. "Cassie's right, we need to get back on track. Guide, do you think you can take us to the place where all the Iskoort get attacked?"
That sobered us up quickly. Guide nodded. {Yes.}
"Okay, then let's go!" I said enthusiastically.
{Yes, there is a... a problem.} Guide said. He sounded uncomfortable. {The Iskoort seem only to be assailed when they are most unsuspecting. Therefore, I do not think that the attackers...whoever they are...would assault a person if he was expecting the attack.}
We all absorbed this for a minute.
"Okay," Jake said slowly. "That means that we're going to have to fake looking oblivious. In other words," he looked over in my direction again, "we're NOT looking for trouble. Understood?"
"Rachel!" Marco coughed conspicuously. I glared at him.
Jake continued talking. "Guide, we need you to be the "oblivious Iskoort," obviously. The rest of us will go as fleas on you." Cassie nodded approvingly. "Fleas are good. Nearly indestructible."
"Wait a minute. Where's the firepower? How are we supposed to get the guy if we can't even see him properly?" I protested.
Jake looked at me sternly. "Rachel. We. Are. Not. Looking. For. Trouble. We are trying to look unsuspicious. So we are going to go as fleas, and once we get to...to wherever we need to be, we'll morph out, see the situation, and then, and ONLY then, will we see whether or not battle morphs are needed."
I scowled. What could we do as fleas? We were practically mindless machines. We couldn't fight or anything. There was no way that we could beat whoever we were fighting just by sucking his blood.
"So, where do we go?" Marco said cheerily.
{We should be able to reach the area reasonably quickly if we follow this yellow road,} Guide gestured to a very noticeable yellow road to the right of where we were that led out of the tunnel in the opposite way that we had come in.
We stared at him. "You have got to be kidding," I muttered. I could practically see the look of glee spreading across Marco's face as we began walking towards the yellow road. This was too easy of an opportunity for him.
"Follow the yellow brick road! Follow the yellow brick road! Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road!" He sang out brightly.
I groaned. This was going to be a long trip.
As we left, we heard a shout of {Good-bye, Mr. Guide!}
This momentarily stopped Marco from his singing (and made me say hallelujah). "Mr. Guide?"
Guide seemed embarrassed. Not that I would know how to tell if Iskoort are embarrassed. I mean, he pretty much looked the same to me.
{After I became rich, many became taken to calling me "Mr. Guide."} He explained.
Marco snickered. "Well you go ahead and lead the way, Mr. Guide. And we'll just follow you down this yellow brick road." He turned to grin evilly at me and opened his mouth to sing.
Cassie, surprisingly, threw her hand over his mouth. "Don't even start, Marco."
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.