My name, if you must know, is Robert.
Family history? Who cares.
What I look like? Do you really have to ask?
Got a problem with my attitude? Go see a shrink.
All you need to know is that I am a shape-shifter. Whoopee for me.
I was listening carefully as Ithiell told us the 'bad' news. I was going to have to shape-shift again. Well, it's not all that bad. If someone gets in my way... well, I'll let your imagination do the rest.
Then I watched as my idiot blond 'team-mate' pulled an unbelievably overstuffed camping bag out of the room I had been in, and then began shuffling through it, pulling out this and that. Clothes, a climbing rope, a savannah-type hat...
"Here" Blondie said to me, handing me what looked like grey swimming trunks.
"We're not here to go swimming" I said flatly.
"It's either that or you get your best pair of black jeans wet" The green-eyed monster sneered. Well, she wasn't really a monster, but she did get on my nerves often enough.
"Fine!" I snatched the trunks and going into one of the Runchak versions of a bedroom. I pushed the button to shut the door, and hurriedly changed.
Stupid little blondie was right. These were my best jeans, and I wasn't about to ruin them. And unlike those stupid Animorphs, we didn't have clothes we could change into underneath our regular clothes.
Stupid little...
I came out in the trunks and my black shirt, feeling absolutely ridiculous. I saw Amanda and Jade had changed too.
"Scuba diving outfits? Where'd you get those?" I snapped, as I looked at the two in the form fitting swimsuits.
"My cousins. Twins, and I guessed Jade and I were about the same height as they were, I thought..."
"And where did you get this stupid thing?" I indicated to what I was wearing.
"Oh that's my brother Matts. I guessed you were about the same height as he was, so..."
"Uh, can we talk about outfits later? I'd really like to get a move on" The little pipsqueak named Marco said, and I saw he was holding back a smirk.
"It won't matter anyway. We'll be going shark and I don't think..."
"Yeah yeah, whatever" I cut Cassie off, dismissing her. Jade shot me a look, but ignored it.
"What about the fighter and that?" Amanda asked, trying to change the subject.
"Rtaia and Anny can take care of that. The rest of us..." Ithiell trailed off.
"Yeah, we get it"
"Surfacing" Rtaia announced, and we felt the ship kind of bob a little, and I saw the fighter had too, before they both began to slightly hover above the water. Then the hatches... to both our ship and the fighter... opened.
Rtaia took off immediately, swimming towards the other ship and I saw her enter though the hatch.
"Okay, is everyone ready" The snot called Jake asked us all. I'd show him he couldn't...
"Ready as well ever be" Cassie said.
"Okay, into the water!"
I saw Jake and the other blondie dive into the water, and resurface. Then, the thing called Ax.
"Come on, let's go" Amanda took Jades arm, and I watched as the two of them splashed into the waves, with Tobias's hawk form following them. Then Cassie.
I saw the runt look at me one more time, smirk, then run off after the girls. I followed reluctantly, knowing he would have to be taught some manners when we got back...
I hit the water, feet first, trying my best not to let the icy water get to me. Immediately I focused my mind on the great white shark. Big, beautiful and deadly...
"Robert, that's going to be too big to fit through that cave. Try hammerhead" I heard Ithiell say, and then there was another splash beside me.
"Hammer wha- akk!" I spat out the disgusting sea salt, treading the water and watching as the others became more shark than human/ Andalite/ Chanaiben.
I watched as Rachel's face bulged out, and the fin appear on Cassie's back. I watched as Tobias's small bird body seemed to bloat, spreading out along the surface of the water, and how Ithiell's arms shrivelled up and became fins.
"Hurry up Robert, or you'lkkk..." Amanda's voice was cut off as her face became that of the hammerhead.
Immediately, I focused. Head, face, arms... shrinking, bulging, changing... I felt my legs fuse together and become a tail, and my skin turn to sandpaper. Finally, came the well-known dorsal fin that I always loved, and my mouth filled with ripping teeth.
Ahh, lovely.
I dove underwater, finding the others almost immediately.
(What took you so long?) I heard someone mock, one of the girls, but I ignored them.
(Rachel? Are you gonna say it, or am I?) Came the runt's voice.
(Oh yeah. Let's do it!) Rachel laughed giddily. Stupid childish...
No, forget that. What mattered now was that damn sword. Stupid Runchak...
We swam, with Ithiell and Jake leading the way, and I we soon reached the cave entrance.
(So how do we find this thing once we're in there?) I asked the most obvious question. For all we knew, it could have been imbedded in the rock.
(Uhh, one thing at a time, ok) Jake said, and I had to resist the urge to bite his tail off.
(He's right, you know) came the runt's voice (How do we find it without the scanners)
(Don't worry, I've got that covered. Rtaia is going to become human, and direct us there) Ithiell assured us all. Didn't assure me...
We went in, single file, with me near the back. Tobias, I think it was, was behind me.
We swam along for a few minutes, with my fins occasionally scraping the sides of the cave sides. Ithiell was right. My great white wouldn't have been able to fit in here.
Then, the sides seemed to open out and into what I could only imagine as a small pool or something. We all fit easily in, sidling up next to one another.
(There's the surface, I think) Cassie said. She was right. I lifted my strangely shaped head, and suddenly, there was no water.
(All right, but let's be careful. I'm going to demorph first and...)
(I'll go first) I cut Jake off, already beginning my change.
(Wait!)
(No, let him go first. If he gets his head chopped off then we'll know for sure) the runt mocked. That's it, which one was he...
But it was too late by then. My teeth had reshaped themselves, and my head was back to its original shape. My fins became longer, and shaped themselves into arms. I then fought to keep my head above the water, choking on the water every now and then.
(Are you all right? Do you need some help?) Cassie asked as I saw one of them swim up close to me.
"I'm fine!" I spat, returning my focus to changing my back and legs. The dorsal fin evaporated, and soon I was treading water with human feet. It was only then that I took a look around.
It was a cavern all right. Large, but not too large. I could make out that it arched high above our heads from the reflections of the water that bounced off it. Probably as big as Ithiell's fighter. There was a small patch of 'dry' land, and about three or four tunnels that led out away from it. I couldn't be sure, my eyes hadn't fully adjusted to the dim light yet. The land itself arched up towards the 'dry' land, and up into the tunnels.
(Well, how does it look?) Jake asked, and I saw all of their heads bobbing above the surface. A strange thing for a shark.
"It's safe"
(Oh man, I hate this part) Tobias muttered as they all began to change back. Very soon, we were all just wet teens or aliens, with the exception of the water bird.
Rachel scooped him up, and he perched gingerly on her shoulder as we trudged up onto the dry part of the cave. And now, the ceiling was a lot closer to me. My head scraped the top when I stood up straight.
"Well, what now? I can see some tunnel openings, but I can't see where they lead to" Jade said, squinting as she looked around. What was she, near sighted?
"Split up?" Amanda suggested.
"Maybe. Or we could search them, one by one" Ithiell suggested, then shook his head.
"Bats?" Cassie suggested.
(This is Rtaia. Are you all right?) came her faint voice.
(Yes, we are all right) Ax replied for us.
(That is good to hear. I have scanned the area inside, and I have found four tunnels. One of them leads to the Gbar sword)
(Well, which one?) Tobias asked.
(I believe... it is the one to the far right. Oh... no...) Rtaia's voice changed so suddenly I began to get worried. Not something I do very often, I can assure you.
(What, what is it?) Ax asked.
(I believe... I believe there are other beings in your vicinity)
"Can you tell where they are?" Jake asked, looking at Ax to relay the message.
"Or what?" I muttered, and Jake shot me a look.
But Ax relayed the message, adding my question in as well.
(They are in the tunnel at the other end. They do not seem to be moving. And yes Robert, I can tell you what they are. But... you are not going to like what I have to tell you)
"Yeerks?" Marco wondered.
"No, I've got a feeling it's much worse than that" Ithiell said, looking at the entrance the 'other beings' were in.
(These beings, I'm sad to say, are Terinans)