The Generation
Chapter 16- Jake
And so we began our desperate preparations for a possible yeerk pool invasion. Tobias spent all his time either at the BBA, learning the new faces, or following some such person or another. Ezimili and Ax flew around town during the day, and spent their evenings practicing the new morphs and tail sparing. Ezimili picked a cheetah and polar bear morph for her pool morphs. The Blade Breakers practiced morphing and we practiced beyblading. The blade breakers acquired a dragon fly morph that Ezimili caught in one of the nearby marshes. Under Ax's watchful eye Max learned more and more about morphing, about andilites, and about yeerks.
We shadowed the Majestics, whom we'd decided to target next. Ezimili and Oliver kept trying to top each other's artwork, sketches, music etc. I decided that as long as Ezimili didn't risk being trapped the contacts wouldn't hurt. Oliver taught her how to cook, and Ezimili picked that up too. She turned out to be way better at it than Oliver was, because of the Andilite's sensitivity to taste.
The next evening the package came from the BBA. Tom was going through the mail and he said. "Hey, what's this?" He asked, holding the package above my head.
"That's mine!" I protested, jumping to reach it.
"Let's see... Dear Jake, Welcome to the BBA. Here is your rulebook and guide to the game. We will inform your captain, Cassie, of upcoming Tournaments. Enclosed also are instructions on how to find a bit beast, how to repair and customize your beyblade, as well as a list of common do's and don'ts." Tom read. "Please also find two tickets to the upcoming game and BBA charity ball sponsored by the Sharing. You will need your I.D. badge to get into the Ball, however, the tickets will admit up to two guests. Thank you for joining the BBA, congratulations member of Team Hawk, sincerely, Mr. Dickinson, President of the BBA!"
I glared at him. He still held the package out of reach. "Wow big Jake, you're moving up in the world squirt!" Tom, Tom the controller, the yeerk in his head was acting the part, taunting his host's little brother. It made me angry beyond belief. I jumped unexpectedly and grabbed both package and letter from him. "Wow Big Jake, too bad you can't jump like that on the basketball court! You'd have made the NBA draft by now if you could!"
"Leave my mail alone Tom!" I growled, running upstairs.
I was halfway through the rule book when Cassie called. "Hey Jake, you know that date we'd been planning." That was a ruse of course, there was no date. "Well I'm sorry that I have to cancel on you." Cassie began, "But I've got detention with Mr. Tidwell. I'm free for the day after though. Are you?"
"Yeah, I'm free." I heard a giggling on the phone. "TOM!! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!"
"HA HAHA! BIG JAKE AND HIS BIRD POOPED CASSIE!!"
"TOM SAY ONE WORD OF THIS TO MOM AND DAD AND YOU WILL WISH THAT YOU'VE NEVER BEEN BORN!"
"Okay big Jake!" Tom hung up.
"Wow, somebody's in a bad mood." Cassie commented.
"He's probably happy about Mr. Visser's new project. You that organization that he's into, the Sharing? He's going to start an international branch of it." I told Cassie.
"Sounds okay." Cassie commented.
"See you." I told her.
"Bye."
Oh my God. We'd thought that we'd had two weeks to prepare.
Now we had less than one.
~next day~
"We have to what?" Cassie demanded when we dropped by the Majestics' house.
"Well, you don't have to sing, but anybody who wants to is welcome to sing kareoke." Oliver said, with a wicked grin.
"Well why don't we?" Max asked.
"I'll help you put together the outfits. Black and red I think..." Oliver offered slyly. "Got a song in mind?"
"I do I do I do!" Rachel said cheerfully. "Why don't we sing 'Meant to Live' by Switchfoot?"
"Woah, Rachel, you have good taste." Marco grinned.
"I can sing some." I admitted shyly.
"I can sing, but I didn't ever think of it." Cassie said shyly. "And I've heard that song by Switchfoot. I have their CD. If you like I can work with you guys on it."
"And now that the REAL Tobias is back in town, he can be our guest, or YOURS Rachel." Marco said slyly.
"You know, that might be a good idea. And we can bring cousin Philip too."
"What about you guys?" I asked the Blade Breakers.
"I've got two in mind." Max said, blushing. "'Complicated' and maybe 'Drops of Jupiter.'"
"Complicated!!" Oliver squealed. "I loooove that song!"
"Any personal meaning to it Max?" I whispered.
"Yeah." He whispered back.
"So, since your symbol is the Red tailed hawk, I think I can get you some black and red clothes." Oliver left for his huge walk in closet.
"I think I'd better supervise." Rachel followed him.
They left. "You know." Johnny peeked up over his comic book. "There have been an aweful lot of Red Tailed Hawks around."
"Really?" I asked, nonchalantly.
"Yeah, one seems to have set up a territory outside of BBAHQ." Johnny arched an eyebrow at me. "I didn't know that they did that. I thought that the only Red Tail to settle in a major city was Pale Male in New York."
"Well, Peregrine Falcons settle in cities." I said cheerfully. "Why not Red Tails?"
"Yeah, seems that sometimes I'll see a Red Tail following us up in the sky for hours on end, and then it will disappear. Other times it will be up there for about an hour and forty-five minutes and then it will settle some where. About ten minutes later I'll see it again. I've been keeping track of its time and it's kind of odd."
"Really." I said, forcing a smile. "How strange."
"Oh yeah. I've noticed that Ezimili and Philip seem to disappear too, every one hour and fifty minutes. They'll come back about ten or fifteen minutes later, calm as can be."
My heart was hammering in my chest. Had something gone wrong with the placement? Was Johnny a controller, a... not so friendly one? Did he guess that he was being stalked by Andilites? Or did he think that our hawk was stalking him? But that was stupid! I mean, he must know that a hawk's falconer keeps his or her bird tethered at all times!
Oliver and Rachel came back a few minutes later with three garmet bags filled with outfits and shoes. "Oliver has a wardrobe to DIE for! It fills and entire ROOOM! He's got Gucci, Roca Wear, Timberlands! Ecko! Ralph Loren! He's got designers that I've never even heard of!"
"Calm down Rachel." Cassie said automatically.
"Come on Cassie! I want to search the internet for some of the stuff that he's got!"
"We'll get back to you about the habits of Red Tails Johnny." I said with fake cheer.
"He guesses." I hissed as we got into the barn. "He's suspicious!"
"That's alright." Cassie said as she dug through her CD collection. "It's not for much longer, and then all of his questions will be answered."
"Yeah. Man, that guy reminded me of me!" Marco shivered. "Only a lot quieter, he needs to learn to have a sense of humor!"
"There's one in every group." Rachel shrugged. "We'd better keep an eye on him though. Are you sure that we can't bring them in now?"
"We want to make our job easier, not harder." I told her. "No offense to the Majestics, I'm sure they're really nice, but there's no way that we could train them safely in the time remaining until the battle." I explained.
"I suppose that you're right." Rachel sighed.
//The Majestics have a fascinating background all.// Ezimili put in.
"So Robert never hesitates to tell us." Tyson sighed. "I know he's going to be upset. They don't like being left out of things."
"Just like me for example." I said smugly. "I don't like being left out of a battle because I keep having nightmares about what should be ancient intergalactic history and now seems to be coming back to haunt the current generation."
//Historians hold an honored place in andilite society, as they should.// Ezimili said curtly. //I am sorry, but on our world we have a saying, 'Doomed is he who does not learn from the perspective of history.'//
"Yeah, we have a saying something like that." Cassie said with a sigh.
"Can we stick to topic?" I asked.
Tobias jumped. //Jake, we have an intruder.//
"Who?" I demanded. "Ezimili, Ax, morph human."
//Too late, he's running. It's Johnny, he was listening to us.//
"Morph something fast! We need to track him! Hurry!" I had already started. Tiger patterns were drawing their lines on my skin. "Tobias!"
"I'm on it!" Tobias cried.
"Ezimili, Ax, stay here! Hide in a stall, or the hayloft if you have too, and wait for us!"
Max fell forward onto his lion paws. Cassie stood on all fours, a snarling wolf. Marco finished, a gorilla. Rachel finished next, a grizzly bear. I fell forward onto my tiger's paws. Hillary finished her hyena, Kai fell onto four leopard's feet. Tyson was a kodiak bear. Kenny had finished his Kangaroo, and for once I was glad of its jumping power and speed. Rei finished his Tiger morph. //come on, lets find the idiot!//
//I FOUND HIM! JAKE! JOHNNY'S MAKING FOR THE WOODS!// Tobias shouted. //HE'S HEADED FOR THE RIVER! IF HE MAKES IT WE'VE LOST HIM!//
I didn't need to be told twice. We were a bunch of escapee's from the zoo. Between us were about five thousand pounds of solid teeth and claws and muscle. We began to run. FENCE! I made it, so did Rei, Kai and Max. Hillary and Cassie slipped under the wires, but Kenny couldn't jump that high.
Kenny slammed into the fence, the barbs in the wire scraping his sides, cutting shallow gashes. //KENNY!// Tyson cried.
//Sorry, I'm fine. I just can't jump that high.//
//Allow me.// Rachel said cheerfully. She wrapped her arms around a fence post and pulled it clear out of the dirt. //Tyson, Kenny, go ahead under it.//
They did, and Rachel daintily put the post back in place.
BUT WE WERE LOSING TIME!
And if Johnny managed to babble out his story to the wrong person, we were dead!
//JOHNNY!// I roared in frustration. //TOBIAS WHERE IS HE?//
//I've got him, it's not easy to lose a hawk!// Tobias answered.
//Which way!// Rachel exclaimed, growling.
//Oh alright, follow me!//
A blur of red and brown swept in like a bullet. //Follow the birdie!//
I ran at top speed after Tobias. //He's got his leg caught in some kind of hole! That will slow him down!//
//I'm fastest!// Kenny ran ahead. //I'll find him!//
Suddenly, a flash of blue bandana and red cowboy hat! WE'D FOUND HIM!! //JOHNNY WAIT!!// I shouted. //THESE WOODS ARE DANGEROUS!!//
"You're dangerous!" He retorted, limping on his good leg.
//But you don't know the whole story!// Cassie protested, leaping in his way.
//Sorry Johnny, but you're going to have to stop and listen to our story before you run away screaming!// Max shouted, leaping on top of him.
There was a frightening crack. Johnny screamed, struggling as Marco, Rachel, and Tyson sat him down. "YOU BROKE MY FUCKING LEG GODAMNIT!"
//Don't know my own strength.// Max backed off. //Sit down. Jake? Does Erek have the ability to heal broken bones?//
//If he can reattach Ax's arm, then he can heal broken bones, but Johnny, you're staying here for now. If you had babbled to the wrong person all of us, you included, would have been dead, or worse.// I told him, sniffing at his face. //We weren't going to hurt you.//
//Too badly.// Rachel rolled her bear eyes, arms crossed. //Marco, do you have that stupid Cell phone that you insist on carrying?//
"Yup." Marco said cheerfully as his mouth emerged.
By then we had him surrounded.
"Erek hi! Yeah its me. Look, we have an emergency, can you make it out to..." Marco rattled off the coordinates. "Yeah its not too bad, kind of simple, but we may need your... ah... talents... Yeah come as you are, I don't want him to see your real face, not yet. Yeah he was on one of the targeted BBA teams, how did you... oh yeah, I forgot... good, see you in five."
"Tobias, if you can get Ax and Ezimili out without being seen..." I began.
//You got it.// Tobias said cheerfully before he swept away on the breeze.
"Now, where to begin, and how to give a reader's digest version of events." I said thoughtfully.
We didn't tell him everything. We told him about Elfangor, about the yeerks, the morphing power, and the Chee. When he asked a question, we answered it.
"But why are you joining the BBA?" He asked. "What does that have to do with the yeerks?"
"Because we think that the yeerks will target the BBA." I explained. "We received a tip off about that and we're checking it out. They were going to use you guys to set up a base in Paris. The Demolition Boys were targeted, so were the Tigers, the Psykicks, the Saint Shields, the All Starz. They're going to try and draw a veritable line around the planet to pass troops, supplies, and information. We can't let that happen." I said flatly.
//We're going to try and reverse their plan. Turn their advantage into our damage.// Rachel grinned. //Or as Kai put it, TOTAL DISRUPTION!//
//Look, we'd like to bring you guys into the group, you guys would have been the first that we'd ask, but there's not enough time until the battle to train you guys well enough so that you'd survive a trip to the yeerk pool. Things are getting ugly down there. We'll come to you, but you CAN'T tell anybody not even the other members of your team until we say that the danger is passed!// Kai said frantically.
"Oh right, like I'm gonna disobey a guy who can turn into a tiger." Johnny rolled his eyes. "Alright, have it your way. But if you want to recruit from the BBA you're going to have to bring the rest of the team in too. I want to be able to trust them, you know?"
//I know perfectly Johnny.// I answered, sitting down, tail still flicking from tension. //And its okay, we really didn't mean to hurt you, but it was for your own safety. What would have happened if you had told a controller huh?// I asked.
"You've got a point. Wow, it feels strange talking to a tiger." He shook his hair out.
"Great, now I've finished healing it." Erek was in his android form. "Try standing on it. It's an honor to meet you Johnny. Hope we'll meet again!" And Erek faded out.
Johnny stood up, testing the leg. "I'm not sure how he did it, but I'll have to remember to thank him." He shivered. It was late by then. "May I go now?"
//Absolutely, now that you know what's at stake.// I answered. We began, one by one, to fade back into the darkness.
First Kai went, then Max and Rei. Tyson and Rachel fell onto four legs and followed them, in the order that we'd practiced. Marco lumbered off. Kenny followed. Hillary and Cassie prowled off into the darkness. Ezimili and Ax left in the direction of the scoop. I faded into the darkness, a sleek, subtle predator. Finally, last of all, Tobias caught a dying thermal and sailed out of sight, leaving Johnny alone.
And then the fireflies came out, their glow filling the night with phantom light and shadow.
Chapter 16- Jake
And so we began our desperate preparations for a possible yeerk pool invasion. Tobias spent all his time either at the BBA, learning the new faces, or following some such person or another. Ezimili and Ax flew around town during the day, and spent their evenings practicing the new morphs and tail sparing. Ezimili picked a cheetah and polar bear morph for her pool morphs. The Blade Breakers practiced morphing and we practiced beyblading. The blade breakers acquired a dragon fly morph that Ezimili caught in one of the nearby marshes. Under Ax's watchful eye Max learned more and more about morphing, about andilites, and about yeerks.
We shadowed the Majestics, whom we'd decided to target next. Ezimili and Oliver kept trying to top each other's artwork, sketches, music etc. I decided that as long as Ezimili didn't risk being trapped the contacts wouldn't hurt. Oliver taught her how to cook, and Ezimili picked that up too. She turned out to be way better at it than Oliver was, because of the Andilite's sensitivity to taste.
The next evening the package came from the BBA. Tom was going through the mail and he said. "Hey, what's this?" He asked, holding the package above my head.
"That's mine!" I protested, jumping to reach it.
"Let's see... Dear Jake, Welcome to the BBA. Here is your rulebook and guide to the game. We will inform your captain, Cassie, of upcoming Tournaments. Enclosed also are instructions on how to find a bit beast, how to repair and customize your beyblade, as well as a list of common do's and don'ts." Tom read. "Please also find two tickets to the upcoming game and BBA charity ball sponsored by the Sharing. You will need your I.D. badge to get into the Ball, however, the tickets will admit up to two guests. Thank you for joining the BBA, congratulations member of Team Hawk, sincerely, Mr. Dickinson, President of the BBA!"
I glared at him. He still held the package out of reach. "Wow big Jake, you're moving up in the world squirt!" Tom, Tom the controller, the yeerk in his head was acting the part, taunting his host's little brother. It made me angry beyond belief. I jumped unexpectedly and grabbed both package and letter from him. "Wow Big Jake, too bad you can't jump like that on the basketball court! You'd have made the NBA draft by now if you could!"
"Leave my mail alone Tom!" I growled, running upstairs.
I was halfway through the rule book when Cassie called. "Hey Jake, you know that date we'd been planning." That was a ruse of course, there was no date. "Well I'm sorry that I have to cancel on you." Cassie began, "But I've got detention with Mr. Tidwell. I'm free for the day after though. Are you?"
"Yeah, I'm free." I heard a giggling on the phone. "TOM!! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!"
"HA HAHA! BIG JAKE AND HIS BIRD POOPED CASSIE!!"
"TOM SAY ONE WORD OF THIS TO MOM AND DAD AND YOU WILL WISH THAT YOU'VE NEVER BEEN BORN!"
"Okay big Jake!" Tom hung up.
"Wow, somebody's in a bad mood." Cassie commented.
"He's probably happy about Mr. Visser's new project. You that organization that he's into, the Sharing? He's going to start an international branch of it." I told Cassie.
"Sounds okay." Cassie commented.
"See you." I told her.
"Bye."
Oh my God. We'd thought that we'd had two weeks to prepare.
Now we had less than one.
~next day~
"We have to what?" Cassie demanded when we dropped by the Majestics' house.
"Well, you don't have to sing, but anybody who wants to is welcome to sing kareoke." Oliver said, with a wicked grin.
"Well why don't we?" Max asked.
"I'll help you put together the outfits. Black and red I think..." Oliver offered slyly. "Got a song in mind?"
"I do I do I do!" Rachel said cheerfully. "Why don't we sing 'Meant to Live' by Switchfoot?"
"Woah, Rachel, you have good taste." Marco grinned.
"I can sing some." I admitted shyly.
"I can sing, but I didn't ever think of it." Cassie said shyly. "And I've heard that song by Switchfoot. I have their CD. If you like I can work with you guys on it."
"And now that the REAL Tobias is back in town, he can be our guest, or YOURS Rachel." Marco said slyly.
"You know, that might be a good idea. And we can bring cousin Philip too."
"What about you guys?" I asked the Blade Breakers.
"I've got two in mind." Max said, blushing. "'Complicated' and maybe 'Drops of Jupiter.'"
"Complicated!!" Oliver squealed. "I loooove that song!"
"Any personal meaning to it Max?" I whispered.
"Yeah." He whispered back.
"So, since your symbol is the Red tailed hawk, I think I can get you some black and red clothes." Oliver left for his huge walk in closet.
"I think I'd better supervise." Rachel followed him.
They left. "You know." Johnny peeked up over his comic book. "There have been an aweful lot of Red Tailed Hawks around."
"Really?" I asked, nonchalantly.
"Yeah, one seems to have set up a territory outside of BBAHQ." Johnny arched an eyebrow at me. "I didn't know that they did that. I thought that the only Red Tail to settle in a major city was Pale Male in New York."
"Well, Peregrine Falcons settle in cities." I said cheerfully. "Why not Red Tails?"
"Yeah, seems that sometimes I'll see a Red Tail following us up in the sky for hours on end, and then it will disappear. Other times it will be up there for about an hour and forty-five minutes and then it will settle some where. About ten minutes later I'll see it again. I've been keeping track of its time and it's kind of odd."
"Really." I said, forcing a smile. "How strange."
"Oh yeah. I've noticed that Ezimili and Philip seem to disappear too, every one hour and fifty minutes. They'll come back about ten or fifteen minutes later, calm as can be."
My heart was hammering in my chest. Had something gone wrong with the placement? Was Johnny a controller, a... not so friendly one? Did he guess that he was being stalked by Andilites? Or did he think that our hawk was stalking him? But that was stupid! I mean, he must know that a hawk's falconer keeps his or her bird tethered at all times!
Oliver and Rachel came back a few minutes later with three garmet bags filled with outfits and shoes. "Oliver has a wardrobe to DIE for! It fills and entire ROOOM! He's got Gucci, Roca Wear, Timberlands! Ecko! Ralph Loren! He's got designers that I've never even heard of!"
"Calm down Rachel." Cassie said automatically.
"Come on Cassie! I want to search the internet for some of the stuff that he's got!"
"We'll get back to you about the habits of Red Tails Johnny." I said with fake cheer.
"He guesses." I hissed as we got into the barn. "He's suspicious!"
"That's alright." Cassie said as she dug through her CD collection. "It's not for much longer, and then all of his questions will be answered."
"Yeah. Man, that guy reminded me of me!" Marco shivered. "Only a lot quieter, he needs to learn to have a sense of humor!"
"There's one in every group." Rachel shrugged. "We'd better keep an eye on him though. Are you sure that we can't bring them in now?"
"We want to make our job easier, not harder." I told her. "No offense to the Majestics, I'm sure they're really nice, but there's no way that we could train them safely in the time remaining until the battle." I explained.
"I suppose that you're right." Rachel sighed.
//The Majestics have a fascinating background all.// Ezimili put in.
"So Robert never hesitates to tell us." Tyson sighed. "I know he's going to be upset. They don't like being left out of things."
"Just like me for example." I said smugly. "I don't like being left out of a battle because I keep having nightmares about what should be ancient intergalactic history and now seems to be coming back to haunt the current generation."
//Historians hold an honored place in andilite society, as they should.// Ezimili said curtly. //I am sorry, but on our world we have a saying, 'Doomed is he who does not learn from the perspective of history.'//
"Yeah, we have a saying something like that." Cassie said with a sigh.
"Can we stick to topic?" I asked.
Tobias jumped. //Jake, we have an intruder.//
"Who?" I demanded. "Ezimili, Ax, morph human."
//Too late, he's running. It's Johnny, he was listening to us.//
"Morph something fast! We need to track him! Hurry!" I had already started. Tiger patterns were drawing their lines on my skin. "Tobias!"
"I'm on it!" Tobias cried.
"Ezimili, Ax, stay here! Hide in a stall, or the hayloft if you have too, and wait for us!"
Max fell forward onto his lion paws. Cassie stood on all fours, a snarling wolf. Marco finished, a gorilla. Rachel finished next, a grizzly bear. I fell forward onto my tiger's paws. Hillary finished her hyena, Kai fell onto four leopard's feet. Tyson was a kodiak bear. Kenny had finished his Kangaroo, and for once I was glad of its jumping power and speed. Rei finished his Tiger morph. //come on, lets find the idiot!//
//I FOUND HIM! JAKE! JOHNNY'S MAKING FOR THE WOODS!// Tobias shouted. //HE'S HEADED FOR THE RIVER! IF HE MAKES IT WE'VE LOST HIM!//
I didn't need to be told twice. We were a bunch of escapee's from the zoo. Between us were about five thousand pounds of solid teeth and claws and muscle. We began to run. FENCE! I made it, so did Rei, Kai and Max. Hillary and Cassie slipped under the wires, but Kenny couldn't jump that high.
Kenny slammed into the fence, the barbs in the wire scraping his sides, cutting shallow gashes. //KENNY!// Tyson cried.
//Sorry, I'm fine. I just can't jump that high.//
//Allow me.// Rachel said cheerfully. She wrapped her arms around a fence post and pulled it clear out of the dirt. //Tyson, Kenny, go ahead under it.//
They did, and Rachel daintily put the post back in place.
BUT WE WERE LOSING TIME!
And if Johnny managed to babble out his story to the wrong person, we were dead!
//JOHNNY!// I roared in frustration. //TOBIAS WHERE IS HE?//
//I've got him, it's not easy to lose a hawk!// Tobias answered.
//Which way!// Rachel exclaimed, growling.
//Oh alright, follow me!//
A blur of red and brown swept in like a bullet. //Follow the birdie!//
I ran at top speed after Tobias. //He's got his leg caught in some kind of hole! That will slow him down!//
//I'm fastest!// Kenny ran ahead. //I'll find him!//
Suddenly, a flash of blue bandana and red cowboy hat! WE'D FOUND HIM!! //JOHNNY WAIT!!// I shouted. //THESE WOODS ARE DANGEROUS!!//
"You're dangerous!" He retorted, limping on his good leg.
//But you don't know the whole story!// Cassie protested, leaping in his way.
//Sorry Johnny, but you're going to have to stop and listen to our story before you run away screaming!// Max shouted, leaping on top of him.
There was a frightening crack. Johnny screamed, struggling as Marco, Rachel, and Tyson sat him down. "YOU BROKE MY FUCKING LEG GODAMNIT!"
//Don't know my own strength.// Max backed off. //Sit down. Jake? Does Erek have the ability to heal broken bones?//
//If he can reattach Ax's arm, then he can heal broken bones, but Johnny, you're staying here for now. If you had babbled to the wrong person all of us, you included, would have been dead, or worse.// I told him, sniffing at his face. //We weren't going to hurt you.//
//Too badly.// Rachel rolled her bear eyes, arms crossed. //Marco, do you have that stupid Cell phone that you insist on carrying?//
"Yup." Marco said cheerfully as his mouth emerged.
By then we had him surrounded.
"Erek hi! Yeah its me. Look, we have an emergency, can you make it out to..." Marco rattled off the coordinates. "Yeah its not too bad, kind of simple, but we may need your... ah... talents... Yeah come as you are, I don't want him to see your real face, not yet. Yeah he was on one of the targeted BBA teams, how did you... oh yeah, I forgot... good, see you in five."
"Tobias, if you can get Ax and Ezimili out without being seen..." I began.
//You got it.// Tobias said cheerfully before he swept away on the breeze.
"Now, where to begin, and how to give a reader's digest version of events." I said thoughtfully.
We didn't tell him everything. We told him about Elfangor, about the yeerks, the morphing power, and the Chee. When he asked a question, we answered it.
"But why are you joining the BBA?" He asked. "What does that have to do with the yeerks?"
"Because we think that the yeerks will target the BBA." I explained. "We received a tip off about that and we're checking it out. They were going to use you guys to set up a base in Paris. The Demolition Boys were targeted, so were the Tigers, the Psykicks, the Saint Shields, the All Starz. They're going to try and draw a veritable line around the planet to pass troops, supplies, and information. We can't let that happen." I said flatly.
//We're going to try and reverse their plan. Turn their advantage into our damage.// Rachel grinned. //Or as Kai put it, TOTAL DISRUPTION!//
//Look, we'd like to bring you guys into the group, you guys would have been the first that we'd ask, but there's not enough time until the battle to train you guys well enough so that you'd survive a trip to the yeerk pool. Things are getting ugly down there. We'll come to you, but you CAN'T tell anybody not even the other members of your team until we say that the danger is passed!// Kai said frantically.
"Oh right, like I'm gonna disobey a guy who can turn into a tiger." Johnny rolled his eyes. "Alright, have it your way. But if you want to recruit from the BBA you're going to have to bring the rest of the team in too. I want to be able to trust them, you know?"
//I know perfectly Johnny.// I answered, sitting down, tail still flicking from tension. //And its okay, we really didn't mean to hurt you, but it was for your own safety. What would have happened if you had told a controller huh?// I asked.
"You've got a point. Wow, it feels strange talking to a tiger." He shook his hair out.
"Great, now I've finished healing it." Erek was in his android form. "Try standing on it. It's an honor to meet you Johnny. Hope we'll meet again!" And Erek faded out.
Johnny stood up, testing the leg. "I'm not sure how he did it, but I'll have to remember to thank him." He shivered. It was late by then. "May I go now?"
//Absolutely, now that you know what's at stake.// I answered. We began, one by one, to fade back into the darkness.
First Kai went, then Max and Rei. Tyson and Rachel fell onto four legs and followed them, in the order that we'd practiced. Marco lumbered off. Kenny followed. Hillary and Cassie prowled off into the darkness. Ezimili and Ax left in the direction of the scoop. I faded into the darkness, a sleek, subtle predator. Finally, last of all, Tobias caught a dying thermal and sailed out of sight, leaving Johnny alone.
And then the fireflies came out, their glow filling the night with phantom light and shadow.