A/N: Great, another Marco chapter... *groan*. But thanks again for all the
reviews!! And thanks, Sue and Kat and everyone else who caught my mistake
(I have since learned not to write chapters at 2 AM, no matter how hyper
and awake I think I am.) By the way, yes, I was very hungry when I was
writing this...
It's amazing how in a short matter of time, you can go from being perfectly organized with a well-designed plan to completely disorganized with no idea what you're doing.
Or if you're us, from disorganized to completely messed-up.
For starters, we had been betrayed by the guy who had sent us out to defeat his enemy, a mission that was pretty much our only chance to get back home. And not only that, he had about twenty more Iskoort on his side who also were betraying us. Add on to that the fact that they had taken our lovely Iskoort friend, Guide, as hostage. And even more, they had us held in a cell we could have easily left from, but they were threatening to kill Guide if we even scratched our heads the wrong way. And lastly, we were stuck in a cell with an extremely claustrophobic Andalite.
But other than that, everything was peachy.
Peachy. Peaches were good. Actually, anything that was food was good. I hadn't eaten since at the mall. How long ago had that been?
I missed food. And while on that topic, I missed my room, too. And my dad. And my CD player. And the many girls who usually swarmed around me. And my TV. And the days when I wouldn't have even been worried about magically being transported to a world where the residents actually have a real, yellow, road.
But mostly I missed food. Greasy, tasty, pizza, and juicy hamburgers. Refreshing, ice-cold 7-Up's. Rich, chocolaty slices of cake, coated in sweet icing. Warm, delicious, chocolate-chip cookies straight from the oven. And nachos. Nachos dripping in cheese.
But no. Reality check. I was sitting on the cold, hard, floor, in a freezing cell wearing skintight spandex. Yes, I was a long way away from home.
"What's the plan, Jake?" Rachel asked tightly. She looked like she was barely constraining herself from morphing to grizzly and ripping down the door to the cell. Which, knowing Rachel, she probably was considering doing.
Jake lowered his voice and glanced around to make sure the Iskoort couldn't hear us. "Okay, everyone, here's the deal. We need to get out of here. But we all need to get out of here. In other words, we're not leaving Guide behind."
A thought had suddenly occurred to me. "How do we know Guide wasn't behind this the whole time? How do we know that he wasn't on Rafe's side and that he didn't set us up?"
Jake shrugged. "We don't know. But the deal is, he came in with us. So he's coming out with us. We're not leaving anyone behind."
Rachel clacked her fingernails impatiently against the floor. "I repeat: what's the plan?"
Jake nodded, and ran his hand through his hair. "Okay, first, we need to get out of this cell, but without them knowing. They'll figure it out if all of us morph, or if even a few of us do, so only one of us will."
{I will,} Tobias volunteered. {I'm the smallest.}
Jake nodded. He had known that it would be Tobias. "So Tobias will morph into some bug and slip out of the cage. Then he'll demorph, and remorph into something bigger and take out the two Iskoort guarding this cage."
I gave him a doubtful look. "And the Iskoort are just going to let a random red-tailed hawk morph into something else?"
Jake smiled. "That's where the diversion comes in."
"What's the diversion?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"Well, we're going to need to appeal to the Iskoort's senses." Cassie explained, taking over for Jake.
{Which senses?} Ax questioned.
Cassie smiled now. "Their entrepreneur's sense."
I stared at her. "So we're going to try and bribe them? Cassie, I never thought you would stoop so low. I mean, I would expect this from Jake, but from you? Never."
Jake rolled his eyes, and Cassie blushed a little. Then Jake turned to Tobias. "Okay, go ahead, Tobias."
Tobias hopped behind Rachel and started morphing to fly. I slid up to the nearest Iskoort.
"Hey, buddy," I whispered at the same time that Cassie was sidling up the other guy. "Wanna make some quick cash?"
The Iskoort gave me a confused look. Then he ignored me. I tried again.
"Come on, man! I'm talking about being rich. Like Mr. Guide."
This caught the guy's attention. He turned to face me, eager. {How can I become as rich as Mr. Guide?}
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie gesturing toward Rachel's golden, shining, hair. So I pointed to Ax's tail.
"See that? It looks nice, doesn't it?" The Iskoort nodded. I turned on the greasy, slick, salesman act. "Say, what's your name?"
{I am Guard.}
Figures. First Guide, now Guard. A pure example of the sort of imaginative names the Iskoort have.
"Okay, Guard. Look at that tail. I guarantee you that that is something Mr. Guide doesn't have." He nodded. I quickly looked over and saw a fly zipping through the air, making it's way over to a dark corner.
"Now listen to me, Guard, because I'm about to make a real good offer here." Another glance told me that now Tobias was demorphing rapidly.
Hurry up, Bird-Boy, I thought to myself.
"I promise you, that you can have that tail over there, as long as you do me one simple favor."
{Marco, there is no possible way that I will give up my tail.} Ax said snootily. I tried to give him a look that conveyed, "Don't worry, this is all just BS that I'm making up in an attempt to stall and waste time so that Tobias can hurry up and knock these guys out so that we can get out of this place, rescue Guide, and somehow magically be transported back home."
Ax apparently didn't get it, because he just muttered something about "humans and their confusing expressions."
{What is the favor?} Guard asked me eagerly. His eyes were practically gleaming in anticipation.
It was amazing. In the end, it was simple greed that was going to help us get out of here.
I saw an almost full grown Hork-Bajir emerging from the corner. Tobias trotted over, shoved the two Iskoort onto the ground, and easily sliced the lock off the cage.
Rachel was the first to rush out, exclaiming, "Thank god we're out of that stupid cage!"
I headed over to get out of the cell too, when Tobias surprised us all. In a split second, he slammed the door to the cell closed, whirled around, grabbed Rachel, held his blade up to her throat, and yelled, {Get up!} to the two Iskoort.
Rachel's eyes went wide as she struggled to get out of his grasp, but Tobias just held her tighter.
{No one move,} he sneered.
"Shit," Jake cursed under his breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
A/N again: sorry about that last little bit of cursing...but this is a PG-13 fic. If you didn't like it, than review and tell me! Also, don't try to anticipate what's coming next, because I have a few ideas (inspired by reviewers, of course!) that I think I'm going to add in. Ciao, thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing!
It's amazing how in a short matter of time, you can go from being perfectly organized with a well-designed plan to completely disorganized with no idea what you're doing.
Or if you're us, from disorganized to completely messed-up.
For starters, we had been betrayed by the guy who had sent us out to defeat his enemy, a mission that was pretty much our only chance to get back home. And not only that, he had about twenty more Iskoort on his side who also were betraying us. Add on to that the fact that they had taken our lovely Iskoort friend, Guide, as hostage. And even more, they had us held in a cell we could have easily left from, but they were threatening to kill Guide if we even scratched our heads the wrong way. And lastly, we were stuck in a cell with an extremely claustrophobic Andalite.
But other than that, everything was peachy.
Peachy. Peaches were good. Actually, anything that was food was good. I hadn't eaten since at the mall. How long ago had that been?
I missed food. And while on that topic, I missed my room, too. And my dad. And my CD player. And the many girls who usually swarmed around me. And my TV. And the days when I wouldn't have even been worried about magically being transported to a world where the residents actually have a real, yellow, road.
But mostly I missed food. Greasy, tasty, pizza, and juicy hamburgers. Refreshing, ice-cold 7-Up's. Rich, chocolaty slices of cake, coated in sweet icing. Warm, delicious, chocolate-chip cookies straight from the oven. And nachos. Nachos dripping in cheese.
But no. Reality check. I was sitting on the cold, hard, floor, in a freezing cell wearing skintight spandex. Yes, I was a long way away from home.
"What's the plan, Jake?" Rachel asked tightly. She looked like she was barely constraining herself from morphing to grizzly and ripping down the door to the cell. Which, knowing Rachel, she probably was considering doing.
Jake lowered his voice and glanced around to make sure the Iskoort couldn't hear us. "Okay, everyone, here's the deal. We need to get out of here. But we all need to get out of here. In other words, we're not leaving Guide behind."
A thought had suddenly occurred to me. "How do we know Guide wasn't behind this the whole time? How do we know that he wasn't on Rafe's side and that he didn't set us up?"
Jake shrugged. "We don't know. But the deal is, he came in with us. So he's coming out with us. We're not leaving anyone behind."
Rachel clacked her fingernails impatiently against the floor. "I repeat: what's the plan?"
Jake nodded, and ran his hand through his hair. "Okay, first, we need to get out of this cell, but without them knowing. They'll figure it out if all of us morph, or if even a few of us do, so only one of us will."
{I will,} Tobias volunteered. {I'm the smallest.}
Jake nodded. He had known that it would be Tobias. "So Tobias will morph into some bug and slip out of the cage. Then he'll demorph, and remorph into something bigger and take out the two Iskoort guarding this cage."
I gave him a doubtful look. "And the Iskoort are just going to let a random red-tailed hawk morph into something else?"
Jake smiled. "That's where the diversion comes in."
"What's the diversion?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"Well, we're going to need to appeal to the Iskoort's senses." Cassie explained, taking over for Jake.
{Which senses?} Ax questioned.
Cassie smiled now. "Their entrepreneur's sense."
I stared at her. "So we're going to try and bribe them? Cassie, I never thought you would stoop so low. I mean, I would expect this from Jake, but from you? Never."
Jake rolled his eyes, and Cassie blushed a little. Then Jake turned to Tobias. "Okay, go ahead, Tobias."
Tobias hopped behind Rachel and started morphing to fly. I slid up to the nearest Iskoort.
"Hey, buddy," I whispered at the same time that Cassie was sidling up the other guy. "Wanna make some quick cash?"
The Iskoort gave me a confused look. Then he ignored me. I tried again.
"Come on, man! I'm talking about being rich. Like Mr. Guide."
This caught the guy's attention. He turned to face me, eager. {How can I become as rich as Mr. Guide?}
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie gesturing toward Rachel's golden, shining, hair. So I pointed to Ax's tail.
"See that? It looks nice, doesn't it?" The Iskoort nodded. I turned on the greasy, slick, salesman act. "Say, what's your name?"
{I am Guard.}
Figures. First Guide, now Guard. A pure example of the sort of imaginative names the Iskoort have.
"Okay, Guard. Look at that tail. I guarantee you that that is something Mr. Guide doesn't have." He nodded. I quickly looked over and saw a fly zipping through the air, making it's way over to a dark corner.
"Now listen to me, Guard, because I'm about to make a real good offer here." Another glance told me that now Tobias was demorphing rapidly.
Hurry up, Bird-Boy, I thought to myself.
"I promise you, that you can have that tail over there, as long as you do me one simple favor."
{Marco, there is no possible way that I will give up my tail.} Ax said snootily. I tried to give him a look that conveyed, "Don't worry, this is all just BS that I'm making up in an attempt to stall and waste time so that Tobias can hurry up and knock these guys out so that we can get out of this place, rescue Guide, and somehow magically be transported back home."
Ax apparently didn't get it, because he just muttered something about "humans and their confusing expressions."
{What is the favor?} Guard asked me eagerly. His eyes were practically gleaming in anticipation.
It was amazing. In the end, it was simple greed that was going to help us get out of here.
I saw an almost full grown Hork-Bajir emerging from the corner. Tobias trotted over, shoved the two Iskoort onto the ground, and easily sliced the lock off the cage.
Rachel was the first to rush out, exclaiming, "Thank god we're out of that stupid cage!"
I headed over to get out of the cell too, when Tobias surprised us all. In a split second, he slammed the door to the cell closed, whirled around, grabbed Rachel, held his blade up to her throat, and yelled, {Get up!} to the two Iskoort.
Rachel's eyes went wide as she struggled to get out of his grasp, but Tobias just held her tighter.
{No one move,} he sneered.
"Shit," Jake cursed under his breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
A/N again: sorry about that last little bit of cursing...but this is a PG-13 fic. If you didn't like it, than review and tell me! Also, don't try to anticipate what's coming next, because I have a few ideas (inspired by reviewers, of course!) that I think I'm going to add in. Ciao, thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing!