Hey, it's Mel. You might have read this before; it was posted as The Hidden
Device under my old name, Hawk6002. That account got all screwed up so now
I'm known as Mel. I only had a small portion of this posted, and I finally
decided to continue it so, here it is! Lol that sounded dumb. I'm open to
REVIEWS COUGH REVIEWS and constructive criticism! Oh, and one more thing,
the spacing is kind of weird but if you post stuff you know that sometimes
it gets screwed up but I hope that doesn't create much of a problem so have
fun reading. Okay, now I have to say something else too. The thing wont let
me use the sideways triangles for thought speak so I had to go through the
WHOLE thing changing them to [ and ]. So yeah that's what they stand for.
Happy reading.
Disclaimer: Insert annoying toast-eating disclaimer here.
[Tobias! This is exhilarating!]
[Yea, Ax. It is.]
Ax and I were flying high over the city. We were sure to keep our distance- as everyone knows; red-tails and harriers do NOT fly together. The other Animorphs were at school, so Ax and I decided to go to the mall and get him some Cinnamon buns. I still had a little money from the job that I worked at for a few days. I got fired because of unexpected bathroom breaks every two hours.
We were almost halfway to the mall when, [Hey Ax, wanna try a dive?] I asked, not bothering to see where we were diving to.
[Of course!] he responded, and we plummeted towards the ground. I closed my eyes and tried to capture the feeling of being relaxed with no Yeerk- related stress. Bad idea.
WHAM!
I crashed unexpectedly into the dirt beak-first. My beak sank in but stopped at something hard.
[AX! I could use a little help here!]
[Tobias, I never expected anything like this from you.] He was laughing.
[Ax, will you please just get me out?]
[If only I had a picture-taking device.]
[AX!]
[All right, coming.] He floated down and landed next to me. [What should I do?]
[Just grab my talon and pull or something.] I felt his beak close around my talon and he started to tug. It took very little effort before I popped out and crashed into him.
[Ax, don't speak of this so anyone, please. If they found out I crashed I'd be ruined for life! Or at least a few days-]
[Tobias! Forget that, look at this!] he said. He was staring at the spot that my beak had plowed into. There was a faint glow of light coming out of the hole.
[Whoa.] I couldn't take my eyes off it. When I finally did, I managed to look around and see where we were. Strangely, we were at the construction site. A sudden memory came of that stupid giant monster clamping his jaws around Elfangor's waist, teeth sinking through the skin and blood gushing out.
I shook it off. [C'mon, let's go see what it is.] I walked the best I could on talons over to the hole and peered into it. The light was too bright for me to see what was down there.
[Ax, I'm gonna morph human. Go up and make sure no one sees, okay?] He flew up and I started morphing. My feathers disappeared fist and I suppose I looked like a plucked chicken. My bones felt strange as they stretched and mutated. I felt like I was about to go blind as my human vision sank in. Within a couple of minutes, I was fully human wearing my way-too-tight morphing outfit.
I knelt down and started digging out whatever was under the ground. The more I dug, the fainter the light grew.
The hole was big enough so I could put both my hands down there and pull it out. The only real hard part was getting a good grip on it.
It took a while before I finally pulled it out, and gazed in amazement.
It was a small cube. But there was a strange but cool mix of colors that swirled on the sides.
[Oh for the love of Cinnamon Buns, I didn't think-I thought they-]
"What, Ax, you know what this is?"
[Well, I always thought it was a myth!] he responded. [But, if you must know, in school we saw pictures of a device that some people thought scientists almost perfected, but the scientists wouldn't tell anybody about it until it was proven that it worked, and, well, I thought everyone was just being silly and there was no such device!]
"Just tell me what it is!!" I demanded. I was getting impatient.
[Well, everyone called it the Hidden Device because no one knew if it was real or not. But, as far as I know, the use of it is that it gives nothlits back their original form, along with their morphing powers. The only drawback really is that it can only be used once.]
"So that means..."
[Tobias, you could be human again.]
I didn't believe him. I wanted to, but I didn't want to get my hopes up or anything.
"I don't know, Ax..."
[What do you mean Tobias?]
"Well, I mean, what if it doesn't work or something?"
[How dare you speak that way of a piece of Andalite technology?! Any andalite's product is sure to be 100% efficient even if the process occurs where...]
He droned on a while about that sort of thing. Meanwhile I was still wondering: What would it be like being human again? What if it doesn't even work? And...did I even want to be human again?
[...but if you include the Pythol-Seerie-Karaluft Theorem (or as you humans refer to it, the Pythagorean Theorem) of a²+b²=c², there is no doubt that-]
"You know Ax, maybe it would be wise to get out of here and discuss this later."
[Ah, yes, that would be wise.]
I had Ax fly up and make sure no one was coming near here any time soon.
"Everything clear, Ax?"
[I see a pair of humans over by that gray building, but they wouldn't arrive here for a few minutes even if they were actually heading this direction.]
"Okay." I morphed to hawk and set off toward my meadow. Ax was going the other way.
[Ax! Where are ya going?]
[In case you have forgotten, my friend, the Cinnabun is this way.]
[Oh, yea. Well, I suppose we can still go.] Of course, Ax of all people would remember that we originally came for a Cinnamon bun after something that could change your life happened.
So, we went to the mall.
On the roof of the mall there is a stairway leading down into a room that goes into the store "Victoria's Secret". There is also a bag of 6 outfits lying in a corner. That is where we normally land when we're going to the mall.
Ax and I landed on the roof and demorphed. We grabbed our clothes from the bag and put them on.(Ax still had difficulties putting everything on in the right place.) Otherwise, we'd get some pretty weird looks walking around in our morphing outfits. Actually, we get pretty weird looks anyway when we're seen walking through Victoria's Secret.
Well, after making our way through the maze of women's undergarments, we headed to the food court. We had only just entered when I heard: "PRINCE JAKE!!!" It was quiet for a few seconds after that but then everyone continued their jabbering.
Oh this is so not the time... I thought.
There, sure enough, was Prince J- I mean, Jake, standing in the McDonalds line.
"Hey, Tobias. Ax."
"Greetings Prince Jake! Prinssssssssssssssssss. Jake-kuh. Kuh, kuh, kuhkuhkuhKUHKUHKUHKUH-"
"Ax. Stop."
"K- oh. Yes, of course Tobias."
"So, what are you two doin here?"
"We just came to get Ax a couple Cinnamon buns. What about you?"
"Well, school just ended so me and the others just headed over here to get burgers."
"Burgerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Fun word. Ger ger ger ger ger...."
"Um....right. Well do you two wanna come sit with us?"
"Well, actually-" I started.
"Most definitely, Prince Jake!"
"Don't call me `Prince'".
"Of course, Prince Jake."
"Um, okay. Well we'll meet you guys in a minute, we better go get in the Cinnabun line."
"Time for Cinnamon buns?! JOY!!!" Ax took off to the other side of the court.
"Well, see-ya" I said and chased after Ax. I caught up to him just in time to stop him from jumping over the counter into the tray of Cinnamon buns.
"Ax, we have to get in line first."
"Ah, yes. I always forget. Get-tuh."
I sighed.
"Won't it be exciting to tell the others about our discovery?!"
"Speaking of `our discovery'...you know, Ax, we still have to go back to the construction site and pick it up."
"Oh, yes of course."
"I don't know if we should tell them just yet."
"Why is that, Tobias?"
"Well-" I got cut off as we reached the front of the line.
"Can I take your order?"
"Uh, yeah, one large cinnamon bun."
"And do you happen to have any engine oil?! Or cigarette buttssss? Ssss?"
The lady had a very confused look on her face.
"Just the cinnamon bun, thanks."
She still looked pretty confused but she got the bun and I paid her. Ax grabbed it and I snatched it from him.
"Hey that's mmmyyyy cinnamon bun!"
"No offense, Ax, but if I let you carry it, it would be gone before we reached the table."
Ax and I headed over to Jake and the others. It was such a normal scene: a bunch of kids pigging out at the mall. Haven't had much of those lately.
"So, any new idiotic missions focused on getting us killed coming up?" Marco, of course. It amazed me how he could joke about those things.
"No, actually there's nothing going on right now," Jake responded. "So how about we enjoy our burgers and be a little normal for once?" He smiled.
"Hey, Tobias." Rachel greeted me and gave me a smile. I should have smiled back, but I forgot you smile when you're happy.
Everyone was engaged in conversation. I don't really know what they were talking about. I couldn't take my mind off our discovery earlier.what was going to happen?
Wrapped up in my thoughts, I didn't realize that everyone had become silent and were staring at me like I had something in my teeth.
"What?"
Ax spoke up. "Tobias, I have informed them of our discovery."
Uh-oh. What was I supposed to say? I was silent. I looked around. I saw Jake, who looked concerned. Marco, skeptical. Cassie, like she was about to cry. Rachel.Rachel looked happier than I'd ever seen her.
Why didn't they say anything? Were they hoping that I would say, "Yeah, its awesome, I can't wait"? I wasn't excited, happy, annoyed, or angry. I was just confused.
I couldn't take it. Not the stares, the pity, the concern. I had to get out. I stood up and started running. Running away from them, the looks, to the sky.
"Tobias!" I heard Rachel yell. No. I couldn't deal with that right now. I needed to think.
I left the mall and ran until I found a safe place to demorph, and flew away. I needed to think. Why wasn't I happy? I would be human again.
Tobias, remember your life as a human? Shifted from home to home, either ignored or beaten? Humans are hell. That's why.
This was too much. If I became human again.then what? Where would I go? I have no home. Can't go to my uncle's. No way. Definitely not happening.
So much to think about. Too much. But.
Rachel. I knew that would be Rachel's dream: to have me human again. I cared about Rachel. Yes.I could do this for her. I owed her something. Okay, if I can't think of one good reason to become human again, I'll do it for Rachel.
I flew around for about an hour then headed to her house. She's probably waiting for me, anyway. I flew through her window and landed on her desk.
"Tobias!" she exclaimed. "I was so worried, we all were. Why did you run off like that?"
[I just.couldn't handle it, I guess. You know. Needed to think.]
"Tobias.Gosh, this is great though, isn't it? I mean, you could be human. And, we could be together." Her eyes looked at me, so hopeful. I wouldn't let her down, never.
[Yeah. Great.]
I left Rachel's room. Talking to her made me feel a little better. As I flew back to my meadow, I started to feel excited. I mean, if I was human, just think of all the things I could do! I could go to a movie, without missing the end. I could.take a shower, eat pizza, talk out loud. Maybe even ask Rachel on a date.and maybe, just maybe hold her hand? I laughed. Why was I so depressed? Being a human would be awesome! But.I would leave the sky. No, not forever. I could still fly whenever I wanted. Yes. That would be okay.
I reached the meadow and found Ax looking for me.
[Hey, Ax-man!]
[Tobias! I was worried about you.]
[Oh, sorry about that, Ax. I just needed to be by myself for a while.]
[No, it wasn't that. It's just you were running, in the mall, and I was afraid you would fall and hurt yourself. I mean, you only had two legs; it was bound to happen. But I am glad to see you made it out.]
Was he making a joke? It's hard to tell. I laughed anyway. [Well, I'm glad you're so concerned about me, Ax.]
[I have spoken to Prince Jake. He recommends we meet tomorrow afternoon at the barn. He assured me to let you know that he doesn't expect you to use it right away if you don't want to, but he feels we should get together to discuss the whole situation, at least.]
Talk about it? Wow, that will be interesting, a meeting to discuss my personal life. Ehh, what the heck. [Okay, Ax. Umm, I think it would be a good idea to go get the thing though, wouldn't it?]
[Ah, yes of course. Let us go now.] Ax morphed to harrier and we headed back to the construction site.
[Okay, Ax, I think you should keep a lookout while I morph to human. I'll have to walk back to the meadow, but it's not a long walk.]
[That sounds good, however I suggest we keep it at Cassie's barn, so we don't have to carry it there tomorrow.]
[Yeah, that makes more sense.] I flew down and morphed to human. Glad to see the cube still there, I picked it up and walked to Cassie's house.
It took about a half hour to walk there. As her barn came into view I said to Ax, [Ax, are we clear?]
[No, Tobias, Cassie is inside the barn and her parents are just outside.]
[Damn. Pardon my French. So what do we do? Her parents don't know me and it would look pretty odd.]
[I think I have the perfect morph, Tobias.]
Ax landed and began to demorph while I, er, also demorphed. I flew up to make sure the coast was still clear, while Ax morphed.Jake. I can't tell you how odd that looked.
Once Ax was fully morphed, he headed to Cassie's parents holding the cube.
"Jake!" Cassie's mom called. "Hey! How are you?" and gave him a brief hug. Cassie's dad shook Ax's hand.
Ax spoke. "Yes! I am Jake. Jake-kuh! It is most wonderful to see you two again. EHHHHN." They looked confused.
"So, Jake, what have you been up to?" Cassie's Dad asked.
"I am afraid that I have no idea. You see I have temporarily lost my memory and cannot tell you what I have been up to, for I do not know. No-uh!"
"Um..Err.." They responded.
"Yes well I have a gift for Cassie. Is she available? If not I will leave a message after the beep. BEEP!"
"Um.Yes, Jake, right inside the barn there."Cassie's dad shooed him towards the barn. I flew in after him.
Cassie's eyes lit up as she saw Ax. "Hey, Jake!" she called.
[Don't get too excited, Cass, its just Ax.] Cassie laughed.
"I have brought this to store here until tomorrow afternoon," Ax said. "I hope you can keep it safe."
Cassie looked at the cube. "Ohh."Her eyes glanced up at me and I preened a wing. "Oh, yeah, of course." She opened a large box, a freezer, and stored it at the bottom under some grape Popsicles and blood samples. "Yeah, it will be fine here."
[Thanks, Cassie] I said.
"You know, Tobias, if you need to talk-" [No. I mean, thanks, Cass, a lot. I appreciate the offer but I'm pretty sure I have everything figured out.]
She smiled. "Okay. Take care of yourself, both of you."
[We will.]
That whole night was pretty restless. Hard to sleep, thinking about that meeting the next day. It was hard to think this could be the last night in my tree. Oh well, we'll see what happens tomorrow.
As the sun rose that morning I was getting more antsy. I started to fly around right away, had a baby rabbit for breakfast and just flew around some more. I found myself around places where lots of people gathered. I saw people hanging around at the beach, taking walks in the park. Whenever I noticed this before, I was a bit jealous that that could never be me. Now that it is possible, I'm not sure if that is what I want. But I can't help feeling excited, also. Argh, so confusing.
I spent the morning doing just that, flying around, lost in my thoughts. Around 1:00 I mentally took a deep breath and headed to the barn.
I entered casually and landed in the rafters, my usual spot. Everyone was there except Ax, who arrived about a minute later. Jake was pacing, Cassie was tending to a raccoon, and Rachel and Marco were both lolling on bales of hay. Everything was silent until Jake spoke up.
"Hey everybody. I, er, called this meeting to, er, discuss our, er, Tobias's situation here." He seemed as though he felt very awkward. So did I.
"Well, you all know what the deal is, and I figured we should all be here to discuss it. Or something." Everyone seemed confused. So, Marco spoke up.
"Okay, Jake, since we all know you're nothing but a big galumphing oaf and cant explain anything that doesn't have to do with getting us killed, I'll take over." He seemed pleased with his self and turned to me with a smirk. Jake snickered. "Okay, look Tobias, so you have the chance to become human again. And, if you choose to accept it, you're gonna have to work out a few things, which we want to help you out with, which is why we're all here. The biggest issue, where the heck will you live?"
That summed it up pretty well. As much as I hate everyone worrying about my personal life, I had to admit I needed help figuring this one out.
[Yeah, um.well that's my main problem and I was hoping you guys could help me out with that one, cuz, I have no idea.] So embarrassing.
Jake spoke. "What about your uncle's house? I mean he thinks you're with your aunt right now."
I shuddered at the thought. All they knew about my relationship with my uncle was how he ignored me most of the time. They didn't know about.well either way-
[Um no. No, I.can't go back there. Anywhere but there.]
"What about the Hork-Bajir valley?" Marco suggested.
"No," Rachel said quickly. Everyone looked at her. "Well, we need him in town, don't we? If he's all the way over there, it will be hard to contact him for missions and everything."
Jake nodded. "Rachel's right. We really need him in town, close by." Rachel relaxed. I laughed.
Ax spoke now. [Tobias, you could live with me in my scoop. I would be happy to extend it a portion to fit your human needs.]
[Thanks, Ax, I'll consider that.]
"Ax, I think Tobias could use a real home, with guardians of some sort." Cassie, of course. It felt kind of nice, having someone worry about you and actually care.
Everyone kind of thought for a minute, then suddenly Marco spoke up.
"Erek," he said.
[No, Marco, that is Tobias,] Ax responded.
"Thank you, all-knowing Andalite genius, for correcting me. Anyway, what if Tobias lived with the Kings? They could say they adopted him or something."
Jake's eyes lit up. "Hey, I think that could work! Er, what do you think, Tobias? I mean, it's your life and everything."
Hmm. Not bad. [I think it's the best idea we've got.]
"Okay, great. Well, I'll give Erek a call and what do you say you head over there around 4:00 and talk about it with them?"
[Sure.]
"I'll go too," Rachel said. Marco chuckled.
"Okay," Jake said. "Well, tell me later how everything works out. Rachel, I'll call you later to verify that Erek can have you guys over."
I could tell things were just going to get more interesting.
Haha, I hate to leave you with a cliffhanger but hey I'll post some more soon I promise! Ugh I just got done changing all the 's to ['s and visa versa. Well I hope you liked it so far, and for all you R/T fans out there, I'm planning to let them go on at least one date and definetaly a school dance *smiles!* well yeah there may be some J/C too but just slightly. Umm yeah that's all. Happy reviewing!
Disclaimer: Insert annoying toast-eating disclaimer here.
[Tobias! This is exhilarating!]
[Yea, Ax. It is.]
Ax and I were flying high over the city. We were sure to keep our distance- as everyone knows; red-tails and harriers do NOT fly together. The other Animorphs were at school, so Ax and I decided to go to the mall and get him some Cinnamon buns. I still had a little money from the job that I worked at for a few days. I got fired because of unexpected bathroom breaks every two hours.
We were almost halfway to the mall when, [Hey Ax, wanna try a dive?] I asked, not bothering to see where we were diving to.
[Of course!] he responded, and we plummeted towards the ground. I closed my eyes and tried to capture the feeling of being relaxed with no Yeerk- related stress. Bad idea.
WHAM!
I crashed unexpectedly into the dirt beak-first. My beak sank in but stopped at something hard.
[AX! I could use a little help here!]
[Tobias, I never expected anything like this from you.] He was laughing.
[Ax, will you please just get me out?]
[If only I had a picture-taking device.]
[AX!]
[All right, coming.] He floated down and landed next to me. [What should I do?]
[Just grab my talon and pull or something.] I felt his beak close around my talon and he started to tug. It took very little effort before I popped out and crashed into him.
[Ax, don't speak of this so anyone, please. If they found out I crashed I'd be ruined for life! Or at least a few days-]
[Tobias! Forget that, look at this!] he said. He was staring at the spot that my beak had plowed into. There was a faint glow of light coming out of the hole.
[Whoa.] I couldn't take my eyes off it. When I finally did, I managed to look around and see where we were. Strangely, we were at the construction site. A sudden memory came of that stupid giant monster clamping his jaws around Elfangor's waist, teeth sinking through the skin and blood gushing out.
I shook it off. [C'mon, let's go see what it is.] I walked the best I could on talons over to the hole and peered into it. The light was too bright for me to see what was down there.
[Ax, I'm gonna morph human. Go up and make sure no one sees, okay?] He flew up and I started morphing. My feathers disappeared fist and I suppose I looked like a plucked chicken. My bones felt strange as they stretched and mutated. I felt like I was about to go blind as my human vision sank in. Within a couple of minutes, I was fully human wearing my way-too-tight morphing outfit.
I knelt down and started digging out whatever was under the ground. The more I dug, the fainter the light grew.
The hole was big enough so I could put both my hands down there and pull it out. The only real hard part was getting a good grip on it.
It took a while before I finally pulled it out, and gazed in amazement.
It was a small cube. But there was a strange but cool mix of colors that swirled on the sides.
[Oh for the love of Cinnamon Buns, I didn't think-I thought they-]
"What, Ax, you know what this is?"
[Well, I always thought it was a myth!] he responded. [But, if you must know, in school we saw pictures of a device that some people thought scientists almost perfected, but the scientists wouldn't tell anybody about it until it was proven that it worked, and, well, I thought everyone was just being silly and there was no such device!]
"Just tell me what it is!!" I demanded. I was getting impatient.
[Well, everyone called it the Hidden Device because no one knew if it was real or not. But, as far as I know, the use of it is that it gives nothlits back their original form, along with their morphing powers. The only drawback really is that it can only be used once.]
"So that means..."
[Tobias, you could be human again.]
I didn't believe him. I wanted to, but I didn't want to get my hopes up or anything.
"I don't know, Ax..."
[What do you mean Tobias?]
"Well, I mean, what if it doesn't work or something?"
[How dare you speak that way of a piece of Andalite technology?! Any andalite's product is sure to be 100% efficient even if the process occurs where...]
He droned on a while about that sort of thing. Meanwhile I was still wondering: What would it be like being human again? What if it doesn't even work? And...did I even want to be human again?
[...but if you include the Pythol-Seerie-Karaluft Theorem (or as you humans refer to it, the Pythagorean Theorem) of a²+b²=c², there is no doubt that-]
"You know Ax, maybe it would be wise to get out of here and discuss this later."
[Ah, yes, that would be wise.]
I had Ax fly up and make sure no one was coming near here any time soon.
"Everything clear, Ax?"
[I see a pair of humans over by that gray building, but they wouldn't arrive here for a few minutes even if they were actually heading this direction.]
"Okay." I morphed to hawk and set off toward my meadow. Ax was going the other way.
[Ax! Where are ya going?]
[In case you have forgotten, my friend, the Cinnabun is this way.]
[Oh, yea. Well, I suppose we can still go.] Of course, Ax of all people would remember that we originally came for a Cinnamon bun after something that could change your life happened.
So, we went to the mall.
On the roof of the mall there is a stairway leading down into a room that goes into the store "Victoria's Secret". There is also a bag of 6 outfits lying in a corner. That is where we normally land when we're going to the mall.
Ax and I landed on the roof and demorphed. We grabbed our clothes from the bag and put them on.(Ax still had difficulties putting everything on in the right place.) Otherwise, we'd get some pretty weird looks walking around in our morphing outfits. Actually, we get pretty weird looks anyway when we're seen walking through Victoria's Secret.
Well, after making our way through the maze of women's undergarments, we headed to the food court. We had only just entered when I heard: "PRINCE JAKE!!!" It was quiet for a few seconds after that but then everyone continued their jabbering.
Oh this is so not the time... I thought.
There, sure enough, was Prince J- I mean, Jake, standing in the McDonalds line.
"Hey, Tobias. Ax."
"Greetings Prince Jake! Prinssssssssssssssssss. Jake-kuh. Kuh, kuh, kuhkuhkuhKUHKUHKUHKUH-"
"Ax. Stop."
"K- oh. Yes, of course Tobias."
"So, what are you two doin here?"
"We just came to get Ax a couple Cinnamon buns. What about you?"
"Well, school just ended so me and the others just headed over here to get burgers."
"Burgerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Fun word. Ger ger ger ger ger...."
"Um....right. Well do you two wanna come sit with us?"
"Well, actually-" I started.
"Most definitely, Prince Jake!"
"Don't call me `Prince'".
"Of course, Prince Jake."
"Um, okay. Well we'll meet you guys in a minute, we better go get in the Cinnabun line."
"Time for Cinnamon buns?! JOY!!!" Ax took off to the other side of the court.
"Well, see-ya" I said and chased after Ax. I caught up to him just in time to stop him from jumping over the counter into the tray of Cinnamon buns.
"Ax, we have to get in line first."
"Ah, yes. I always forget. Get-tuh."
I sighed.
"Won't it be exciting to tell the others about our discovery?!"
"Speaking of `our discovery'...you know, Ax, we still have to go back to the construction site and pick it up."
"Oh, yes of course."
"I don't know if we should tell them just yet."
"Why is that, Tobias?"
"Well-" I got cut off as we reached the front of the line.
"Can I take your order?"
"Uh, yeah, one large cinnamon bun."
"And do you happen to have any engine oil?! Or cigarette buttssss? Ssss?"
The lady had a very confused look on her face.
"Just the cinnamon bun, thanks."
She still looked pretty confused but she got the bun and I paid her. Ax grabbed it and I snatched it from him.
"Hey that's mmmyyyy cinnamon bun!"
"No offense, Ax, but if I let you carry it, it would be gone before we reached the table."
Ax and I headed over to Jake and the others. It was such a normal scene: a bunch of kids pigging out at the mall. Haven't had much of those lately.
"So, any new idiotic missions focused on getting us killed coming up?" Marco, of course. It amazed me how he could joke about those things.
"No, actually there's nothing going on right now," Jake responded. "So how about we enjoy our burgers and be a little normal for once?" He smiled.
"Hey, Tobias." Rachel greeted me and gave me a smile. I should have smiled back, but I forgot you smile when you're happy.
Everyone was engaged in conversation. I don't really know what they were talking about. I couldn't take my mind off our discovery earlier.what was going to happen?
Wrapped up in my thoughts, I didn't realize that everyone had become silent and were staring at me like I had something in my teeth.
"What?"
Ax spoke up. "Tobias, I have informed them of our discovery."
Uh-oh. What was I supposed to say? I was silent. I looked around. I saw Jake, who looked concerned. Marco, skeptical. Cassie, like she was about to cry. Rachel.Rachel looked happier than I'd ever seen her.
Why didn't they say anything? Were they hoping that I would say, "Yeah, its awesome, I can't wait"? I wasn't excited, happy, annoyed, or angry. I was just confused.
I couldn't take it. Not the stares, the pity, the concern. I had to get out. I stood up and started running. Running away from them, the looks, to the sky.
"Tobias!" I heard Rachel yell. No. I couldn't deal with that right now. I needed to think.
I left the mall and ran until I found a safe place to demorph, and flew away. I needed to think. Why wasn't I happy? I would be human again.
Tobias, remember your life as a human? Shifted from home to home, either ignored or beaten? Humans are hell. That's why.
This was too much. If I became human again.then what? Where would I go? I have no home. Can't go to my uncle's. No way. Definitely not happening.
So much to think about. Too much. But.
Rachel. I knew that would be Rachel's dream: to have me human again. I cared about Rachel. Yes.I could do this for her. I owed her something. Okay, if I can't think of one good reason to become human again, I'll do it for Rachel.
I flew around for about an hour then headed to her house. She's probably waiting for me, anyway. I flew through her window and landed on her desk.
"Tobias!" she exclaimed. "I was so worried, we all were. Why did you run off like that?"
[I just.couldn't handle it, I guess. You know. Needed to think.]
"Tobias.Gosh, this is great though, isn't it? I mean, you could be human. And, we could be together." Her eyes looked at me, so hopeful. I wouldn't let her down, never.
[Yeah. Great.]
I left Rachel's room. Talking to her made me feel a little better. As I flew back to my meadow, I started to feel excited. I mean, if I was human, just think of all the things I could do! I could go to a movie, without missing the end. I could.take a shower, eat pizza, talk out loud. Maybe even ask Rachel on a date.and maybe, just maybe hold her hand? I laughed. Why was I so depressed? Being a human would be awesome! But.I would leave the sky. No, not forever. I could still fly whenever I wanted. Yes. That would be okay.
I reached the meadow and found Ax looking for me.
[Hey, Ax-man!]
[Tobias! I was worried about you.]
[Oh, sorry about that, Ax. I just needed to be by myself for a while.]
[No, it wasn't that. It's just you were running, in the mall, and I was afraid you would fall and hurt yourself. I mean, you only had two legs; it was bound to happen. But I am glad to see you made it out.]
Was he making a joke? It's hard to tell. I laughed anyway. [Well, I'm glad you're so concerned about me, Ax.]
[I have spoken to Prince Jake. He recommends we meet tomorrow afternoon at the barn. He assured me to let you know that he doesn't expect you to use it right away if you don't want to, but he feels we should get together to discuss the whole situation, at least.]
Talk about it? Wow, that will be interesting, a meeting to discuss my personal life. Ehh, what the heck. [Okay, Ax. Umm, I think it would be a good idea to go get the thing though, wouldn't it?]
[Ah, yes of course. Let us go now.] Ax morphed to harrier and we headed back to the construction site.
[Okay, Ax, I think you should keep a lookout while I morph to human. I'll have to walk back to the meadow, but it's not a long walk.]
[That sounds good, however I suggest we keep it at Cassie's barn, so we don't have to carry it there tomorrow.]
[Yeah, that makes more sense.] I flew down and morphed to human. Glad to see the cube still there, I picked it up and walked to Cassie's house.
It took about a half hour to walk there. As her barn came into view I said to Ax, [Ax, are we clear?]
[No, Tobias, Cassie is inside the barn and her parents are just outside.]
[Damn. Pardon my French. So what do we do? Her parents don't know me and it would look pretty odd.]
[I think I have the perfect morph, Tobias.]
Ax landed and began to demorph while I, er, also demorphed. I flew up to make sure the coast was still clear, while Ax morphed.Jake. I can't tell you how odd that looked.
Once Ax was fully morphed, he headed to Cassie's parents holding the cube.
"Jake!" Cassie's mom called. "Hey! How are you?" and gave him a brief hug. Cassie's dad shook Ax's hand.
Ax spoke. "Yes! I am Jake. Jake-kuh! It is most wonderful to see you two again. EHHHHN." They looked confused.
"So, Jake, what have you been up to?" Cassie's Dad asked.
"I am afraid that I have no idea. You see I have temporarily lost my memory and cannot tell you what I have been up to, for I do not know. No-uh!"
"Um..Err.." They responded.
"Yes well I have a gift for Cassie. Is she available? If not I will leave a message after the beep. BEEP!"
"Um.Yes, Jake, right inside the barn there."Cassie's dad shooed him towards the barn. I flew in after him.
Cassie's eyes lit up as she saw Ax. "Hey, Jake!" she called.
[Don't get too excited, Cass, its just Ax.] Cassie laughed.
"I have brought this to store here until tomorrow afternoon," Ax said. "I hope you can keep it safe."
Cassie looked at the cube. "Ohh."Her eyes glanced up at me and I preened a wing. "Oh, yeah, of course." She opened a large box, a freezer, and stored it at the bottom under some grape Popsicles and blood samples. "Yeah, it will be fine here."
[Thanks, Cassie] I said.
"You know, Tobias, if you need to talk-" [No. I mean, thanks, Cass, a lot. I appreciate the offer but I'm pretty sure I have everything figured out.]
She smiled. "Okay. Take care of yourself, both of you."
[We will.]
That whole night was pretty restless. Hard to sleep, thinking about that meeting the next day. It was hard to think this could be the last night in my tree. Oh well, we'll see what happens tomorrow.
As the sun rose that morning I was getting more antsy. I started to fly around right away, had a baby rabbit for breakfast and just flew around some more. I found myself around places where lots of people gathered. I saw people hanging around at the beach, taking walks in the park. Whenever I noticed this before, I was a bit jealous that that could never be me. Now that it is possible, I'm not sure if that is what I want. But I can't help feeling excited, also. Argh, so confusing.
I spent the morning doing just that, flying around, lost in my thoughts. Around 1:00 I mentally took a deep breath and headed to the barn.
I entered casually and landed in the rafters, my usual spot. Everyone was there except Ax, who arrived about a minute later. Jake was pacing, Cassie was tending to a raccoon, and Rachel and Marco were both lolling on bales of hay. Everything was silent until Jake spoke up.
"Hey everybody. I, er, called this meeting to, er, discuss our, er, Tobias's situation here." He seemed as though he felt very awkward. So did I.
"Well, you all know what the deal is, and I figured we should all be here to discuss it. Or something." Everyone seemed confused. So, Marco spoke up.
"Okay, Jake, since we all know you're nothing but a big galumphing oaf and cant explain anything that doesn't have to do with getting us killed, I'll take over." He seemed pleased with his self and turned to me with a smirk. Jake snickered. "Okay, look Tobias, so you have the chance to become human again. And, if you choose to accept it, you're gonna have to work out a few things, which we want to help you out with, which is why we're all here. The biggest issue, where the heck will you live?"
That summed it up pretty well. As much as I hate everyone worrying about my personal life, I had to admit I needed help figuring this one out.
[Yeah, um.well that's my main problem and I was hoping you guys could help me out with that one, cuz, I have no idea.] So embarrassing.
Jake spoke. "What about your uncle's house? I mean he thinks you're with your aunt right now."
I shuddered at the thought. All they knew about my relationship with my uncle was how he ignored me most of the time. They didn't know about.well either way-
[Um no. No, I.can't go back there. Anywhere but there.]
"What about the Hork-Bajir valley?" Marco suggested.
"No," Rachel said quickly. Everyone looked at her. "Well, we need him in town, don't we? If he's all the way over there, it will be hard to contact him for missions and everything."
Jake nodded. "Rachel's right. We really need him in town, close by." Rachel relaxed. I laughed.
Ax spoke now. [Tobias, you could live with me in my scoop. I would be happy to extend it a portion to fit your human needs.]
[Thanks, Ax, I'll consider that.]
"Ax, I think Tobias could use a real home, with guardians of some sort." Cassie, of course. It felt kind of nice, having someone worry about you and actually care.
Everyone kind of thought for a minute, then suddenly Marco spoke up.
"Erek," he said.
[No, Marco, that is Tobias,] Ax responded.
"Thank you, all-knowing Andalite genius, for correcting me. Anyway, what if Tobias lived with the Kings? They could say they adopted him or something."
Jake's eyes lit up. "Hey, I think that could work! Er, what do you think, Tobias? I mean, it's your life and everything."
Hmm. Not bad. [I think it's the best idea we've got.]
"Okay, great. Well, I'll give Erek a call and what do you say you head over there around 4:00 and talk about it with them?"
[Sure.]
"I'll go too," Rachel said. Marco chuckled.
"Okay," Jake said. "Well, tell me later how everything works out. Rachel, I'll call you later to verify that Erek can have you guys over."
I could tell things were just going to get more interesting.
Haha, I hate to leave you with a cliffhanger but hey I'll post some more soon I promise! Ugh I just got done changing all the 's to ['s and visa versa. Well I hope you liked it so far, and for all you R/T fans out there, I'm planning to let them go on at least one date and definetaly a school dance *smiles!* well yeah there may be some J/C too but just slightly. Umm yeah that's all. Happy reviewing!