A/N: I left an hour ago, now I'm back to at least begin a new chapter. Do you know the last chapter took me 4 ½ hours to write! (Collapses from exhaustion) It's strange, cause usually it only takes me an hour to knock up a decent-lengthed chapter. Oh well, you know I love it! No reviews yet though, but I'll respond to any I get at the end, okay? And now (Finally) Rachel shall have a chapter!
Five: It's Rachel! (Rachel)
Cassie was late.
Hence, I was in a bad mood. I'm not the most patient of people.
I had waited at the bus stop for her, and when it had come Cassie wasn't on it. I went back to my house, figuring she had missed the bus. There wasn't another one for an hour, so I thought she would walk. Or fly.
So I was sitting in my bedroom, waiting. And I was freezing, due to the fact that my window was open. To top it all off, it was just starting to snow.
Now, I've nothing against snow. I think it's pretty. Beautiful, even. But you try sitting in your room with snow and cold wind blowing about in there. You try not being grumpy.
Suddenly, my door blew open, and Sara tumbled into my room. She jumped on top of me, and started chanting.
"It's snowing, it's snowing, it's snowing!" She yelled happily. (A/N: Who's got younger siblings? We've all been there... )
"Yeah, I know." I said. "It's just wonderful. Now get off me." Sara scrambled off.
"Rachel! Me and Jordan are going to go and build a Snowman!"
"Really? Good for you." Sara giggled.
"You're coming to, stupid..." She said.
"Sorry. I can't." Cue the puppy-dogs eyes.
"Please?" She whined.
"Uh-uh. Not going to work." I said. "I'm going out with Cassie."
"You like Cassie better then me." She scowled.
"No, but I will in a minute." Glancing out the window, I spotted a familiar silhouette on the horizon. I smiled, knowing that even from that far away he'd see. "Get out my room."
"You're so mean, you meanie!!" Sara screamed. Then she started to look really hurt...
Now, everyone thinks I'm tough. Marco calls me Xena: Warrior Princess. And maybe it's true to some extent. But no-one, and I mean no-one, can leave Sara looking like that.
"Hey." I said. "I can't come, but I'll lend you some clothes for your Snowman. Make that Snowwoman." I corrected. Sara immediately perked up.
"Really?" She grinned. "You will?"
"Yep. You'll have the best dressed Snow-person in the park."
"Yay!" I went to my dresser. I pulled out an old top and a skirt that were about six sizes to small, and several years out of date. But Sara didn't know that... I gave Sara the clothes that I had kept especially for Snowmen. She left.
Tobias came closer, but I mouthed at him to stop. Wait. I said. Sure enough, a moment later my door was pushed open. Jordan burst into the room extremely annoyed.
"I don't know how you got out of it, Rachel," She said "But next time you're taking Sara."
"Yeah right."
"You can't get away with distracting her with clothes forever!"
"Don't bet on it." Jordan howled in frustration, and stormed out the room. I couldn't resist a final jibe.
"Oh, and Jordan..." I shouted.
"What?!" She yelled, looking around my door.
"Make sure you bring my clothes back." I slammed the door, and locked it. Laughing, I turned to the window and watched Tobias breeze through.
(Finally.) He moaned. (I thought they'd never leave!)
"Ohh..." I said. "What's up with you? Where's your Christmas spirit?"
(I'm afraid I seem to have lost since I began to sleep in a tree.) He said sarcastically.
"Scrooge."
(Hey, you try flying through snow.) He flapped his wings trying to get the snow out of his feathers.
"I think I'll pass." My grumpiness had vanished. Perhaps it was getting one over on my sisters.
Or maybe it was because Tobias was here.
"Have
you seen Cassie?" I asked "We were meant to go
shopping..."
(Rachel, we haven't got time!) Tobias yelled. I
blinked. Tobias doesn't shout all that often.
(Sorry.) He said. (Listen, I was watching Jake, Marco and Ax, then these kids came along talking about the Taxxons in Star Wars, then they were in a hologram and Cassie showed up, so we tried to break the hologram and there these kids and I had to pretend to be an Andalite and-)
"Woah! Slow down!" I yelled. "Slow down, and tell me what happened."
(Sorry.) Tobias said again. (Rachel...Jake said to tell you that...we found NewKid.)
I stared.
"You did?"
(That's what he said.) He said helplessly (I know no more then you do, not really. They wanted you to come before they explained.)
"So I've missed everything..." I moaned "Great." I began to morph my own bird morph, the Bald Eagle.
(Rachel...I think you better walk.) I reversed the morph.
"What?"
(It's not far, and I can hardly fly in these conditions. No offence, but I fly a whole lot better then you.) I didn't deny it. Tobias can just about out-class everything else in the air. (Besides that,) He continued (We've already got Cassie walking round in a leotard. We can't really get any weirder.) Sighing, I bent down and pulled out a large cardboard box. In it were clothes. Lots of clothes.
(You mind telling me what you're doing?) Tobias asked. I indicated the box.
"Cassie needs clothes, right? Well, I have clothes. Clothes and flip-flops, to be precise."
(Rachel...Are you telling me you have clothes for all of us in that box?) I nodded.
"There's ones just like this at Cassie's barn, that Alleyway opposite the Supermarket, behind the dustbins, and round at Ax's place."
(Rachel, you never cease to amaze me.) He said, laughing. (C'mon, we gotta go.) I grabbed a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and some cheapo flip-flops out of the box for Cassie, shoving them in a carrier bag. There were similar things for all the others. We'd really have to deal with this no-morphing-outer-clothing thing. I pulled on a coat and some boots, and I was ready to go.
"Need a ride?" I asked Tobias. He hopped on my shoulder.
(Thanks.) He said. (I'd never fly through this...) He was referring to the blizzard that was really starting to get going outside.
We got downstairs, and I opened the front door. My face was instantly treated to a natural ice-pack.
"Oh, this is so not going to be fun..." I groaned, grabbing my keys and diving out into the barrage of swirling white.
Tobias told me that the hologram- and the others were just on the next block. (A/N: Or maybe the one after the next block, I don't know, How big is a block? Anyhoo, it doesn't matter.) It wasn't too far then. Though in this weather, who knew how long it would take?
Suddenly, I stopped. I looked up at the sky, and at the white flakes. Each one was unique, and yet so fragile. Like the human race, I thought. What would happen if the Yeerks got hold of Earth? Well, they'd be no more Christmas, that's for sure.
(Rachel, what are you DOING?!) Tobias asked. Asked loudly, shaking me from my stupor. (Can we move please? I'm freezing my tail feathers off here!) Poor Tobias. He only had feathers. I trudged on again, wishing I had a hat.
We got to the Hologram. At least, Tobias said it was a hologram.
"Well?" I asked.
(Well what?) He asked, grumpily.
"Well, how do we get in?" I clarified.
(Oh, well...I guess we knock.)
"Knock?"
(Well, whatever you're going to do, do it fast- before I resemble a frozen turkey and Marco decides to defrost me and eat me for Christmas dinner.) My teeth were chattering without the added warmth of movement. At that point, I was willing to try anything. I knocked on one 'Person's' head. Marco's. To my surprise, the hologram opened up, and Tobias and I stepped in. Into the hologram. Into the unknown. Still, at least it wasn't snowing.
"Oh, you're here." Marco greeted us lazily. "We were beginning to wonder if you had got lost. Who would have thought, Xena, last to the action? Oh, and Bird-boy's here to. I thought we could defrost him and have him for Christmas dinner. Oh well."
(Told ya.)
"Finished?" I asked Marco.
"Nearly. But first, I have something to ask..."
"What?" I said wearily, bunging the carrier to Cassie. "Clothes." I grunted.
"How, how, have you managed to walk through a blizzard, and still come out looking like that?!"
I laughed, taking it as a compliment. "Now that would be telling," I said.
"I just remembered something!" Marco yelled "Ax-man! You owe me ten dollars!! I told you she'd still look perfect."
(Well,) Ax grumbled, sounding annoyed (How was I to know? It's not at all logical that she could-)
"Could we focus here, people?" Jake asked, like he always does. "Rachel, this is Chris, Meg and Maya- otherwise known as NewKid."
"Hi." I said, not looking at them. "Would someone mind telling me what's going on?"
"We need to get somewhere safe first." One of the girls said- either Maya or Meg. "This hologram isn't going to last much longer..." The guy- Chris, presumably- turned to the other girl, the one in the wheelchair.
"Maya?" He said "Can't you do something with it?" He sounded tired, kinda like Jake always does. Maya shook her head.
"Now, I can do just about anything with anything," She said "But I know nothing about holograms."
"Okay..." Chris said. He thought, then continued. "We'll give you guys Cissie's address. She'll explain everything."
"Uh-uh. No." Jake said "You explain. We're not going to be passed around like some parcel." The guy looked like he was going to argue, but then nodded.
"Okay." He agreed, smiling wickedly "But we've got a long way to go..." He pulled out a mobile, and dialled a number. We watched.
"Hello?" He said. "Lizzie, is that you? Look, go and get one of the twins. I don't care. Yes, of course. Look, just go and find them, okay? Good girl." He rolled his eyes at Maya and Meg. Presumably this was a usual conversation. Then someone must have come to the other end, because he started talking again. "Hello? Which is that? Oh, it's you Simone...I can never tell...Listen, we need a ride home. Yep. It's quite a big job today. Errm..." Here he did a quick count. "Six of them, plus the two of us...Yeah, I said it was a lot. Look, do you need to do it in two goes? No? You sure? Good. See you in a minute then. Yeah. Oh, and don't leave us in the hall again...of course I trust you. Man! Yeah. Bye."
"Now what?" I asked. As I said before, I'm not the most patient of people.
"Now we wait." Maya grinned "Don't worry, it won't be long."
"I'm putting the hologram down now." Meg announced. "I guess I'll see you guys around."
"Okay." Maya said. "Keep looking into Visser 12, will you? We haven't got him yet."
"I will." She promised. "See ya." She left.
"Wait,
she's not coming?" Marco asked. "Sad. She was pretty. And she
so liked me."
"Liked you?" I asked "I doubt she
could even see you, shrimp-boy." He clutched his chest.
"Oh, Xena, your words are like arrows in my h-"He didn't finish his sentence, because at that point the world began to swirl around me.
A/N: Oh, feel the power of the Cliffe!! MWHAHAHAHA!! Anyway, two of these things in one day! Wohoo! Well, you can't say I'm not dedicated...I spew them out like a machine gun! I've just thought...I'm writing a fic set at Christmas-time in the middle of summer. Ah well.
East Coast Rider: Ya know, you're the first reviewer to call me 'Waffles'. At school and church it's been shortened before, but never on ... There is a story behind my name, and surprisingly it has nothing to do with my tendency to ramble on. But that's a long and boring story, so I won't bother telling you. Well, maybe not that boring...perhaps I'll tell you someday...Anyway, I'm sorry about the split POV's. But, see, I had to tell you what was going on with Tobias and Cassie, and who else could tell you about that funky little manovere? Anyway, I'm glad you liked it, because I thought 'Twas lame! (Does Happy Dance)
KP: (Faints with relief over not having offended anyone) Phew!
East Coast Rider, KP, thank you for reviewing so often. It's nice to know people come back to read the updates! It makes all the effort worthwhile! I'll try and get another chapter up tomorrow, okay?
