Author's Note: I can't apologize enough, I know that. I'm so sorry. But like I said in my Author's Note (before it got deleted, anyway) I needed some time to get my life straight -- and plus, I had Writer's Block from Hell. (I'm serious, it hasn't been this bad since I was fourteen!) Which is why this is a Marco chapter instead of a Jake one, for those of you who were wondering and read my profile.
As for the chapter itself -- I don't think it's that great, but it's okay, and it has more foreshadowing than you can shake a stick at.
Chronicle Two
"Keep your broken arm inside your sleeve." - Chinese Proverb
Chapter Two
-Marco-
Your left, your left! Rachel shouted.
I grabbed the skateboard lying by my feet and slammed it into the Skater-Controller's head.
Rachel laughed. Good one. I gave her my now-patented Gorilla smirk.
That all of them? I asked. I think so. Tobias said, leaping down in the Hork-Bajir suit he'd picked up about a month ago.
I dropped the skateboard. It cracked on the street. Good. I said.
Jake's just gonna love this. I added. I mean, tell me, what part of that was not low-key?
Maybe the skateboard smash. Tobias commented.
And the part where we made fun of his hair. Rachel added.
Oh, plus the whole interrupting infestations thing. Tobias again.
That too. Rachel admitted.
I glared at them. One, I was pissed they made fun of my joke. Two, the way they were finishing each other's sentences ticked me the hell off. Why not rub it in my face, huh?
Not that I'm bitter. Oh no, no bitterness here, none whatsoever. Me? Bitter? Nah.
'Cause, hey, the girl I still have the hots for and thought just might like me is dating the Dork of the Year is a reason to celebrate, dammit.
Hey, we were just kidding, man. Tobias told me when he saw my look.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I muttered, my big rubbery muscles deflating into weaker human ones.
Did we hurt your fragile widdle ego? Rachel asked.
Yes. I admitted. My ego is broken, much like your sanity, Xena. We all laughed.
Then I nabbed our clothes from out behind the Dumpster and Rachel paid for the bus rides home.
Needless to say, my life's become weird, but nobody knows the worst part of it.
I was a normal kid until I was about ten. Then my mom died.
My dad just lost it. And I guess that over the years, in a way, I became the parent. But dad's starting to pull it back together. He's dating now. I hate that.
Things kept on the broken-Dad stage until this year. This year, I met Jake and I had a flashback to myself as a King-Kong lookalike talking to a tiger about my mom. I figured I was going nuts. I probably am. But the not so comforting thought is I'm not the only one.
I met five other kids who'd had the flashbacks, too. Jake was one of them and his hot, crazy cousin Rachel was another. Then there were Cassie, Tobias, and Ax.
We started comparing notes and figured out our flashbacks had to do with an invasion. A war. Involving slugs from outer space.
Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Been there myself.
Not so long later one of our crew finds an alien tech gizmo, another becomes an alien, and there's this guy I didn't quite know explaining that there was an invasion and the whole planet just kind of happened to be at stake. Did I mention the guy was an android? A dog android?
Yes, I know.
And like an idiot, I figure I might as well help the world. Except now I'm not so sure. 'Cause I have enemies now and one of my biggest, if not the worst, enemy I have happens to be someone I know. Someone I care about. Love.
My mom.
And I'm the only one who knows it.
He leaned over and snatched my pencil out of my hands.
"You had it, you just forgot the negative." Ax muttered as he erased all my work.
"Oh." I said, looking at him. "Now how much is my old man paying you again?"
"Three bucks an hour." Ax chirped and handed me back my pencil. "If I'd known I'd be teaching you, I would have asked for more."
"Funny." I went back to my problems.
"I wasn't trying to be." My pencil just happened to hit him in the head.
He snatched it and placed it on my desk. I scowled. "Tell me why I have to do this."
Ax sighed and rubbed his temples, reminding me of Jake. "For the third time--"
"If I don't learn my 'rithmetic, I flunk high school, get grounded for life, and can no longer be an Animorph." I said. "There's a downside to that?"
Ax glared. "You'll pass if it kills me. And I think it will."
I laughed. I had to admit that one wasn't half-bad.
Trust me, I'm as surprised as anyone that our resident hacker-boy has something resembling a sense of humor. But sometimes you have to laugh to survive.
And to be fair, he is a good tutor. Minus the devouring-my-stash-of-snacks-in-ten-minutes part.
Plus he's saved my ass more than once in the past three months.
"Did you get Jake's email?" I asked, pleased to discover I was three-fourths done.
"The one last night, yeah." Ax said. Then he yawned. "At, like, three in the morning."
"Sounds to me like someone's not getting his rest."
"I'm not." He said flat-out. "Have you?"
I shrugged. "Kind of. I think happy thoughts before I go beddy-bye."
"What?"
"Well, in my case, I find supermodels in bikinis help."
I could almost hear Ax rolling his eyes. "Is that all you think about?"
"Sometimes I think about Rachel in a bikini."
Ax looked at me for a long time, almost 'til I got nervous. Then the words came out of his mouth slow and careful.
"Do you like her?"
I laughed. In fact, I busted out laughing. Which, looking back, may have been overdoing it.
"No way, man." I assured him. "She's Tobias's girl."
I met the curiosity in his eyes and looked away. "She is hot."
"Sorry." Ax said. "I just wondered. Because I've seen, y'know, the way you look at her sometimes. I didn't mean to-to um, uhm..."
"Uh-huh-huh-mm-hm!" Ax coughed and knocked his chest. Then he bit his lip and looked down. We'd all figured out he stuttered when he was nervous.
And not in his Andalite costume.
"Hey, no offense taken." I told my intelligent buddy. "Like I said, she's hot, but she's with Tobias. I'm not gonna--well, I would have." I admitted.
Then I took a deep breath and turned the other way. "I still like her. She's not like anyone else I've ever met. But I guess she doesn't like me."
Ax didn't have a response to that. Instead, he just leaned over to check my (finished) work. He was satisfied with it and admitted that I was showing signs of improvement. Whether or not I'd pass our next test was up for grabs, though.
Then we sat, ate Cheetos, played video games and were merry until Dad came home.
And neither of us mentioned Rachel again.
As it turned out, I did pass my next Algebra test that next day.
But that was the only good thing that happened to me.
First, when I came to school, Jake told us all that he'd found his brother and Melissa, Rachel's buddy, had gotten promoted. Cassie figured we should spy on them, two of us taking the job for the next three days.
Guess who got stuck with the shift? That's right, me. And Xena.
Then there was bad thing number two.
It came plummeting into me right before lunch on a skateboard going about fifty miles per hour. Some stupid jerk on a freaking skateboard, in the middle of the hallway wearing black pants and an oversized Grateful Dead shirt with spiked blonde hair and brown eyes. Sort of taller than me.
Then it hit.
FLASH!
He leaned forward. "Last night, someone tried to steal it. You wanna know how? With trained birds!"
I tried to look surprised. "Say what?"
"Two birds flew in my window and tried to take it. Good thing Megadeth, my cat, got 'em."
"You named you cat Megadeth?"
"But, man, I wish my snake was out of his cage. He's had his venom taken out, but I bet he would've scared those birds."
"Snake?"
"Cobra." David grinned. "They're really cool. You're not even supposed to have them, but my dad got him for me. He goes overseas a lot. He's a spy, but don't tell anyone."
I wanted to laugh and I felt sick. A kid with a cat named Megadeth, a cobra, and a dad who might be a spy? What were we dealing with?
My head ricochet into the side of my locker and the Skater Kid, David, I guess, came running. "Are you okay?" He asked me. "Are you okay?"
I looked at him and grinned. "Megadeth, huh?" Then I passed out.
Surprise, my trip to the nurse's office wasn't bad thing three.
But then again, I think the nurse is kind of hot. But don't tell anyone I said that.
No, Jake was bad thing three.
"What? You did what? What happened?" Jake asked.
I waved him off my back. "I just met the guy and went to Flashback Land."
"What did you see?" Cassie asked, poking at her salad. "Nothing much. We just talked."
"What's so big about that?" Rachel wondered. I shrugged. "Betas me."
"Did you say anything?" Jake asked, then lowered his voice to a whisper. "Did you morph?"
I shook my head. "No morphing. I think I might've said something about his cat, but that's it."
Jake de-tensified about an inch. "Okay, forget about it."
Then he licked his lips, ran his hand through his hair, and shot me a nervous glance.
I jerked away from it and watched in fascination as it melted away.
"We need to talk." Jake whispered. "Meet me outside."
My stomach churned. Maybe my flashback had done more than dented my skull. Or maybe I knew in my guts what was about to happen. Regardless, my appetite was gone. So I stood up, too.
"Screw waiting." I said, plastering the trademark Bigass Grin. "Lead the way."
I followed Jake all the way out of the cafeteria, past the commons and through the parking lot to the back of the school where even the druggies wouldn't be caught dead.
I tried to keep up some small talk on the way there. See if I could make Jake spill whatever shoved the stick up his ass, but I didn't have that kind of luck.
When we got there, Jake and I both did a habitual look, just to make sure there weren't any could-be Controllers around. We had to be careful.
Which made me wonder why Jake didn't ask Erek to make a hologram for us.
I'd find out soon enough.
"What the hell is going on?" I asked him. "It's the middle of December and I'm freezing my ass off out here and you're talking less than a mute man. Tell me what's up."
"The sky." Jake smiled. But my bad mood wiped the smirk off his face. "It's the mission."
"What about it?" I asked, shoving my hands in my pockets.
Jake stared at his shoes. He mumbled something. "What?" I asked.
Jake took a deep breath and without warning put a hand on my shoulder. "Marco, I have to tell you something."
Oh, no. I thought as it started to dawn on me. Not this. Not this, damn it, not this!
A nervous laugh ripped itself out of my mouth. "You want to boff Cassie?" I joked.
I didn't see Jake shake his head, but I knew that he had.
I heard him swallow and choke the words out the best he could. "Marco, Erek told me--"
"He wants to boff Cassie?" I tried again.
Jake clenched his fist. "Damn it, Marco, this is important! Your mom--"
"Is alive." I finished his sentence for him, some part of me overjoyed to see the shock in his eyes. "I know." It was my turn to take a deep breath as things hit me full-force.
"How long did you know, Jake? Did Erek tell you that day? The day we got our morphing powers? Did he pull you aside and say "Hey Jake, old buddy, old pal, I think you'd better know this. And, oh yeah, could you tell Marco for me, he might take it better coming from you? Is that what happened Jake? Is it?"
I was screaming. I was sucking in gulps of air, trying like hell to calm down.
Jake had backed away from me. But he still had the guts to open his mouth.
"I didn't know you knew. I thought I should tell you that day I dropped by your place, but you were so stoked your dad got his promotion I thought I'd tell you later. I didn't know."
"You think I wouldn't recognize her?"
"I didn't know she'd show up! Erek told us she wouldn't, don't you remember?"
"It was her voice!" I screamed, not sure who I was talking to, Jake or me.
'Cause I don't think it had sunk in until then.
"Marco?" Jake was beside me now. He was reaching down, maybe to hug me or something. I shoved his arm back. Hard.
"Don't touch me." I said. I was shaking. "Get the hell away from me."
Jake obeyed my wishes and ran back inside. Good.
Because I didn't want him to see me cry.
I'm in a bad mood.
Oh, poor baby, did you get another restraining order?
I laughed. I was glad to have Rachel with me. Sure, okay, she was kind of with someone else, but she was fun to hang around with. Somebody who could appreciate my sense of humor (most of the time), throw it right back at me and most important of all, not ask any tough questions.
No, but you wish you could slap a restraining order on me, don't you?
Ha! As if! Not that I put it past you to morph a bug and sneak into my room.
It's a thought.
You sick freak!
You think I'm serious? What kind of man do you take me for?
A sick freak.
Who'll one day make all your fantasies come true, pun intended?
Shut up before I peck your eyeballs out.
I did as I was told and went back to doing what I was supposed to do. Watch Tom.
So far, it'd been a horrific bore. Tom hadn't done anything Yeerkish even though Jake and his parents were out of the house. No phone calls, no emailing, no nothing. It was freaky.
All he'd done for the past hour was pace around, eat a brownie, and shoot hoops in his room. It was strange.
Figures. We come on Tom's day off. Rachel snarked. Oh my god, is he going to the fridge again?
Well, he's going downstairs. I said, flapping my osprey wings to get a little closer. But what's so big about the fridge?
You can't...I don't mean this in a sick way, but a guy with a body like Tom's should not be filling it with crap! I mean, jeez, you'd think that slug would know better. Rachel fumed.
Aw, you do care, don't you, princess? I teased. Rachel gave me the birdie equivalent of the finger.
Yeah. She whispered. I do care.
Wait, wait! Marco, look! I followed Rachel as she plummeted further down into the trees, giving us a clear view of the Berenson's parking lot.
And the girl standing inside it.
I'd never seen her before in my life. Which was a shame, 'cause she was cute in an-I'll-break-your-arm-in-seven-places-if-you-mess-with-me-way. Like Rachel.
Her long jet-black hair was plaited into a tight braid. She was wearing an old faded t-shirt and covering it with an just as faded denim jacket.
Completing her ensemble was a pair of gray sweatpants and some beaten up sneakers.
She had a weird, suitcase-like thing tucked under one arm and a dracon beam in the other.
Tom stepped out the front door to meet her.
She threw the suitcase-y thing at him and he caught it. "Your Kandrona Particle Generator." She said.
Tom broke out into a smile. "Thank you."
"Now are you going to tell me what I need to know or did I save your ass for nothing?" The girl asked.
Tom put his arm around her and led her to the door. "I'll tell you all I know."
The girl pulled out the dracon and pointed it at Tom's neck. "You'd better."
"Inside?" He pleaded, his eyes shifting to the weapon on his jugular.
"Inside." The girl agreed. She lowered her weapon and Tom laughed.
"It's always a pleasure doing business with you, Madra."
I suck! I'm sorry! Don't kill me! Oooh, kitty! (Reader's Response)
Devidramon - **faints down dead** I haven't heard from you in, what, two years?! **hugs** And I'm really glad you like this story -- and yes, Iniss is that nasty.D.H. L'Orange - Hey, I don't mind you reviewing late. Actually, I'm really glad you did -- your review gave me the kick in the butt I needed. Thanks. I'm glad you liked the Tom/Temrash thing...you'll just have to keep reading, though, to see how they get past V1 and V3. If they do. And this story is still going to be narrated by the Animorphs for the most part, but there will be some other characters, like Tom and Temrash, narrating too. And I hadn't really thought about TemRASH (I just nabbed the name from some Yeerk in the books), but now that I think about it, that's pretty ironic. How weird! And I hope you like this chap.
Lavenderangel - Yep, I'm still alive. And for the record, I don't have this fic that well-planned. The story always seems to change a little each chapter I write. All I know is the very basic parts of the plot (this has to happen so this can happen and so on). And I'm sorry there's no Jake angst...I just couldn't seem to get it down this time. But don't worry, I'll take another shot at it soon. And thank you for sticking with the story.
Phnx - Thanks for your encouragement and I hope this was worth the wait.
Patrick Blah - I'd been wondering why there weren't more Yeerks who sympathized with their hosts, too. I guess that's why I've written the Tom/Temrash thing. And I'm sorry I almost had you waiting three months! But I finally wrote something I'm happy with, so I'm gonna post it, just like you suggested. Thanks!
RasberryGirl - You infected with Senioritis! No fair! (Just kidding. =P) But I'm glad to I'm not the only one with a writing bug. And I think this chapter is a bronze for sure. Not a gold, but definitely bronzey. Now the question is if I can bug you enough so you'll update Trust. Hmmm...**evil grin**
Korean Pearl - It's good to know that someone thinks I did the Tom/Temrash thing realistically. And now that you mention it, I was planning to do a thing with Tobias and his uncle like you suggested and I'll definitely do it now. Thanks for the idea!
freak show - You had writer's block for almost two years? Wow, okay, I'm never complaining about it again. And thank you for not leaving the fic.
kaz456 - Hey, as long as people read the story, I'm happy. Not that the reviews aren't nice, but I'm glad my fics are being read, period. I hope you liked this chapter!
Zero - Thank you for reminding me I had a story to finish.
Tinnuelenath - I admit the whole Tom/Temrash thing is my big homage to The Perspective. But, wow, you really think my writing's that good? ^^ Thank you. Oh, and I'm glad I made you feel for Temrash.
Loony Lovegood - Well, I hope my "resurrection" can bring you back to the Anifandom. I'd love to see that Tom fic. And, yes, you do detect Tom/Mel vibes but sssshhh, that's supposed to be a secret. ^_- I'm glad you like my take on Tom and his yeerk...I haven't decided whether they'll be replacing Aftran, though. And I'm JKR twisted? YES!
Celestial Hikari - To be honest, I can't remember if you've said I'm a good writer, but thanks nonetheless. And I didn't know about the three numbers = triplets thing. But the reason I picked the number is because 666 is supposed to be (according to some, anyway) a symbol of the devil, and Iniss 666 is pretty satanic. Don't worry about the siblings, though. If she has 'em, I won't mention them anyway.
A.S. Amalon - Well, I updated anything but soon, but I did update. Does that count? Anyway, glad you liked the Tom/Temrash story. Pixie13 - Yay, new reviewer! Glad you liked the story and I hope you like this chapter.
Aftran - Thanks for the compliment (about the other chap reading like one of the books), I'm happy you liked the Tom/Temrash storyline, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.
Not Doctor Strangelove - For the record, the first line in your new profile is just as bad as one of your old cliffhangers. I was scared something really had happened to you. (Which would make me cry.) Anyway, I think I've lost all my right to ever complain about your fics being late ever again. (Not that I ever had it, since you write faster than me, but...) And I think our otherworldly beings will definitely be different. Which reminds me, are you still planning on finishing "I Am Jake"? Glad you liked Tom and the Yeerk's POV. As for rewriting Adventures in Clubbing -- well, I don't know if you still plan to. But if you want to, go for it. Though I have to say it's the best Marco/Ax fic and my favorite romance fic without the rewrite.