A/N: Another day, another chapter. I'm surprised at the good responses I'm getting from this fic, to be honest...so I'll continue, because it's just getting good. And the base will be in England, where I understand the rating systems, and malls are called shopping centres and the Subway is the underground, and trash is rubbish, and where there's NO SUCH THING AS CINNABON!!! Sorry. I get carried away... NOOOOOO!!! Last week of the hols starts today!! I only have...(Counts on Fingers) 8 days left! (We have a training day). NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! (Begins running round in Panic) Where'd the other 5 weeks go?!!
Mr Diggles: Over there! (Points) (You don't know who Mr Diggles is? Check out my Bio!)
A/N: Errm...Anyways, I've been updating like every other day, but they'll be a lot more spread out after this week, cause first of all I'll be at school all day, then I'll have homework. And It'll be more homework than usual 'cause I'm in Year 9, And that's...(Gasp) SATS Year!!! NOOOOO!!! Worse still, My School just had a huge grant, so they're bringing in an Express band for the Genius kids, and everyone's telling me I'm gonna be in it, I'm the only that doesn't think so, because the Express will get more homework, so I'll only have the weekends to write and (Passes out)
East Coast Rider- Thanks for being so consistent in your reviews. As for the 'kids', well, let's not quibble about minor details. They're not important to the plot anyway. In fact, they probably won't even show up.
(Don't ya just love the word 'quibble'? I know I do! Yes, I'm a freak...so...?)
BrianaLFBH: Yay! New reviewer! And a very over-excited one at that. I read your review and I was like 'Dude! It's the return of the hyperactive Mole People!' (See, I wrote a fic once upon a time and Voldemort was holding the world ransom for 10, 000,000 strawberry Starburst, and they were going to tunnel into his lair, but they couldn't unless they had several sticks of dynamite and a team of 10, 000 hyperactive mole people...You don't want to know.)
KP: Ahh! I just realised that I was just assuming that you were one of those...tries to remember fancy word one of those Jews that believed in Jesus, because in the A/N, you said you went to the Synagogue you used in the fic, and then they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, so...Anyway, I'm sorry if I was wrong and have offended you in anyway. Besides that, thanks for being so consistent in reviewing, and I liked having such a long review! I'll save it forever! (Notices that Inbox is full. Deletes all messages). Nah, only joking. I still have about 10MG of space, so everyone can review! (Hint hint!)
Anonymous Cat- All will be revealed...
BM ...(Sweatdrop) Let's just pretend that I meant to do that...Ok? Wait, better idea! You didn't see that! (Uses Flashy thing from MIB) This never happened...Oh, by the way, what does BM stand for? Black Mage? As in Final Fantasy? As in 8-bit theatre?! Man, I love that site...Anyone else? Any fans of the theatre here? Anyone know what I'm talking about? Well, well done for being so obsevervant, BM. I reward you with... A WAFFLE!! (Well, what else would it be?) (Hands over waffle)
Disclaimer: Is this really necessary? I DON'T OWN ANIMORPHS!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?!!
A/N: Well, that was the longest A/N I've ever written...let's hope the chapter's as good...Though this one's mainly to explain things, because someone (Cough) Anonymous-cat! (Cough) Doesn't have a clue what's going on!
Four: Taxxons aren't in Star Wars...(Marco)
"So. Are you going to explain just what is going on here?" Jake asked them. The boy continued to glare at the girl sitting in the chair.
"What?" She asked "Everyone makes mistakes, you know..." She turned her back to him, and saw me looking at her. She gave a slight wink.
I didn't return it.
"We demand some sort of explanation." Jake said. He is so fearless leader. He'd give Captain America (A/N: That is his name, right?) a run for his money.
"How much do you know already?" The guy sighed. "I presume you all read that chat. You know about the Yeerks. You know about the resistance. What else do you want to know?"
"We want to know who you are, how you made the hologram, what you did to us just then, what the headsets were for, what you plan to do next, and most importantly..." He paused. "What you know about us." Maya opened her mouth, but the other girl held up a hand to stop her.
"Hold it guys," She said. "There's a girl and some Physco bird that have been slamming into the force field for the last few minutes. I'm not sure how much longer it can stand up...Maya?"
"Where?" Maya asked. The girl pointed to a particular spot on the force-field. Maya wheeled over to it, and started checking it over.
"Has anyone seen them?" The guy asked. The girl shook her head.
"It's the strangest thing, Chris..." She muttered "If anyone comes within two miles of us, the bird flies off, and the girl begins to pretend to talk with the hologram people..."
(Prince Jake...) Ax said hesitantly, now fully demorphed. (Earlier...When the divide was up...I thought I heard Tobias. He said that he and Cassie were outside...) Jake nodded. So. They had heard it to. I had come to the same conclusion as soon as I had heard the words 'Physco Bird'.
"Open a portal." Jake said. The three strangers blinked, and looked at Jake, instead of stealing glances at Ax. "Let us see out...We may know them." He explained.
The girl obliged, 'scratching' her ear again. Suddenly, a 'window' appeared in the swirling white around us. We could see Cassie, way back up the street, preparing for another run at the weak point they had created. It was obvious that the Holo was still up from the look of determination on her face.
"Idiot." Jake whispered "Why hasn't she morphed?"
"Duh..." I whispered back "Where'd you hide a wolf if someone came walking down the street? Besides, sometimes, human is best." Jake nodded.
"So." 'Chris said "Do you know that kid?" He hadn't heard our conversation. Jake nodded.
"Does she know about the Yeerks?"
Another nod.
"Okay." He turned to the girl. "Let her in." The weak point fizzled out and disappeared. Cassie's eyes widened in surprise, and she powered her feet, but her momentum was too great...
(Cassie)
(Tobias?) I asked. (Is that you?) I was in Osprey morph, riding up on a thermal. In actual fact, I was drifting towards Rachel's house. I was meant to meet her to go shopping for Christmas, where we would 'accidentally' bump into the others. Tobias had said he might show up, but I doubted it. Christmas and Birthdays just didn't seem all that important to Tobias anymore. His life was all about staying alive now, I guess. I knew he was having trouble finding food, but I didn't offer to help. I knew he would hate that...
But back to the point. I had missed my bus, so I had decided to fly over to Rachel's instead. She usually kept her window open, even in winter, in case Tobias came round. I was about half way there when I heard Tobias shouting about something.
(Errm...Who is that? Cassie?) He sounded flustered.
(Cassie,) I told him. (What's the matter? I heard you shouting...)
(Hey, Cassie...) He muttered (Great. Now she thinks you're mad...)
(Errm...Tobias?) I said uncomfortably (I really didn't hear what you said...)
(Oh! Errm, never mind.) He said hurriedly, sounding relived (But I think Marco, Jake and Ax have trouble...) I looked down. Jake, Marco and the human Ax were chatting to some kids.
(So?) I asked (What's the problem?) Tobias filled me in on the preceding events. (I better demorph...) I said. (We need something to break that force-field...)
(Force-field?) He asked. (Of course! I mean, the Chee always have one round their holograms...why didn't I think of that?)
(Because I'm smarter then you?) I asked, innocently. It's not very often that I say stuff like that. I usually leave it to Rachel and Marco. But Tobias defiantly needed cheering up, and I was the only one to hand.
(Heh, heh, heh...) Tobias replied. (Yeah right. I'm the one who figured out it was a hologram, remember?) I began to descend into an Alleyway so I could demorph.
(Yeah? Well, I'm not the one who flew into a seagull, am I, Mr Lord-Of-The-Air?) There was a pause.
(Oh...I guess you saw that, huh?) I nodded a human head. Unfortunately, the head was still attached to a completely Osprey body. (Oh, that's going to bring on some nightmares...) Tobias groaned. He waited until I was fully human, then spoke again. (And Cassie? Not a word about this to anyone, get it? Not one word.) I just smiled.
(What're you going to morph?) Tobias asked. I considered.
"Actually," I said "I don't think I will. I'll do more damage as a human. Besides, how often do you see a wolf go walking down the street?"
(Alright.) Tobias agreed. (I'll keep a look out up here. Be careful, Cassie.) I nodded, and began to trot round the corner to where the hologram was.
The hologram, that looked to much like real people for my liking, was just down the street. Not quite sure just what I was intending to do, I took a deep breath and began to run down the road, gaining speed as I went along. As I got closer, I had the almost over whelming urge to slow down, stop, and avoid crashing into these people. But I didn't I smacked straight into it, face first. I must have looked like some cartoon character, spread eagled on the wall. The people- Jake, Marco and Ax among them- just carried on talking. Defiantly a hologram, then. I felt my face gingerly. Defiantly a force-field to, and I'd have a black eye in the morning to prove it with.
(Errm...Cassie?) Tobias said, trying not to laugh (It might work better if you used the point of your shoulder. You know, where it starts going into your arm.) I nodded and, humiliated, heading back up the street to try again.
This time I hit the force-field with, as Tobias called it, the point of my shoulder. A slight ripple went though the kids chatting on the road. Not much, just enough for you to wonder if you were seeing things.
"Tobias?" I asked. "Did you see that?"
(Uh-huh.) He said. (Listen, I'm going to try and contact the others. I know they won't answer but...) He let it hang.
"Okay." I said, going back up the street for another run. A few minutes later, Tobias called down to me.
(Cassie, there's some guy coming over...) I was nearly at the hologram. I ran into again, leaning all my weight into my shoulder, and then I stopped. Pretending to be joining in the conversation, I tried my best not to look like a girl out in a leotard and no shoes in the middle of winter.
The man walked by, and I had to suffer the humiliation of a strange glance. The man sped up after that.
And so it went on. Whenever I got tired or out of breath, Tobias took a few quick dives at it. But never for long. We needed an eye in the sky. For a long time, nothing happened. Then, a section suddenly disappeared. Just disappeared. And I could see Ax standing right in front of it, his Andalite self again. With his tail.
"Ahhhh!!!" I yelled, trying to slow down...
(Ax)
I had the unfortunate luck of standing in front of the porthole when Cassie came careering towards it. Her momentum was too great to allow her to slow down. Then I realised, with sudden certainness that, unless I reacted quickly, she would be impaled upon my tail.
"Ahhhh!!!" She screamed. I guess she realised as well. At this point, training took over.
Letting my front legs take my weight, and putting my arms out to help my balance, I lifted my back legs off the floor and used my tail to help me swing wildly around.
Cassie tumbled through, falling over but unhurt.
Unfortunately, I had forgotten about Maya.
The girl was behind me. Frantically, I tried to bring my tail higher, but the swing was to far gone. There was nothing I could do.
"Woah!" She cried, as she saw my tail coming for her. She ducked, but her reaction was too slow. I had already gone over her head.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness she had been sitting down.
And all that happened in about two seconds. The relief faded, and Pride began to force it's way in. Though I had tried many times, I had never been able to complete that manovere, designed for quick turns in battle, successfully.
Marco would later describe it as 'cool'. I had to agree.
(Cassie)
Thank goodness Andalites have such fast reactions. For a moment, I just lay on the floor, amazed at the speed Ax could move at. Amazed I was still alive. Jake came over and gave me a hand up.
"Thanks..." I said, looking around. Ax was looking slightly stunned. So were the boy and the girl who I didn't recognise. The girl in the wheelchair was looking a little shaken. And no wonder. If you'd never seen an Andalite in action before, and then was nearly decapitated by one, you would be a little freaked to. But something bothered me. There wasn't a Chee or any projectors in sight. How was the hologram put up in the first place? I decided to deal with that in a minute.
"Are you alright?" Jake asked me. I nodded, turning instead to Ax.
"Nice reactions, Ax..." I said gratefully. "I'd have a tail-blade through me right now!"
"'Nice'?!" Marco echoed. "That was brilliant!"
(Thank you...) Ax answered, sounding distracted. He turned to the girl in the chair. (Are you okay...Maya?) Before she could answer, Tobias decided to make his entrance.
He flew in fast, Talons racked forward, ready for a fight if needs be. When he saw we were okay, he banked just before he hit the opposite wall and turned easily to land on Ax's shoulder.
"Tobias!" I exclaimed. The Force-field went back up. No way out... I thought.
(See?) He said in private thought-speech (I AM Lord-Of-The-Air!) I gave a mocking bow. He laughed, then spoke so that Ax, Jake and Marco could all hear. (Sooo...What's going on?)
"A bird?" The strange guy exclaimed "This just gets weirder and weirder..."
(Weird?) Tobias said, insulted. The guy jumped. (So says the guy who was talking about Taxxons being in Star Wars...)
"Oh, yeah..." Marco said. "About that. I have a newsflash for you. Guess what. There were no Taxxons in A New Hope."
"No duh," The girl said, rolling her eyes. "We were just seeing if you guys were the real deal. We didn't want to get the wrong guys..." She turned to Tobias. "Are you an Andalite as well? In morph, I mean?" Tobias glanced at Jake. I saw Jake nod. Apparently, whoever these kids were, we weren't telling them anything just yet.
(Yes.) Tobias answered, simply.
"But then...why did she call you Tobias...?" Then one Ax had called Maya asked. Tobias laughed.
(You want my real name? Do you think the humans could pronounce it in their physical speech?)
"It would be nice to know...if you don't mind, that is..." To his credit, Tobias didn't bat an eye. But I knew he was panicking.
(My name...) He tried to think of one. (...is Toghinanarul-Sirinial-Shamtul.) Then he added, for our ears only, (Sorry, Ax-man. Hope you don't mind.)
(No,) Ax replied. (He was your father. I think...I think he would've been proud.)
Oblivious to their conversation, the guy sighed.
"I guess now we know why you call him Tobias..."
"Now." Jake said. "Why don't we get back to the point? What's going on here?"
"Yeah, why is she only wearing a swimming costume...?" The girl muttered. Blushing, I pretended not to hear.
"Alright!" The guy said. "I think we owe you that."
(Yes, you do.) Ax said icily.
"But first..." The guy began.
"Uh-uh." Marco shook his head. "No more 'but firsts'. We've waited long enough. You're going to explain to us, NOW." I had heard him angry before, but never this...forceful. I glanced at him. "I'm having a bad day..." He shrugged.
"I just wanted to know if there were any more of you that know about the Yeerks around here." The guy said defensively. "We don't want to have to explain it all twice..." We all looked at Jake.
"Okay." He said, reluctantly. "But we'll fetch her, not you guys." It was obvious that none of us trusted this strange threesome one bit...
A/N: Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I'll explain everything in the next chapter, I SWEAR!! And Rachel will be in it to, I promise! And some intresting stuff will happen to!!! Honest!! This one was just becoming too drawn out and tedious...Listen, 'cause I'm going to go and upload this now, Check out 8-bit Theatre, see if there's any new comics up, then I've gotta go and exercise, but after I'll come straight back and type the next chapter okay? This was a bad chapter I know, so you really don't have to review...(Hangs head in shame over pathetic chapter)
