Author's Note: I'm back! I had legitimate reasons for not updating—another week out of town. Dedicated to Kitten for pointing out the plot hole that got this chapter started.
Disclaimer: I own no character you recognize from anywhere else on FF.N or the Animorphs books.
Chapter Twenty: Aximili's POV
I was finally about to fall asleep when Tobias awoke with a sharp yelp. Next to me, my brother's eyes snapped open.[What's wrong, Tobias?]
"Nothing. I just—"There was a series of crunching and slurping sounds and his voice was cut off. [I just remembered that I need to demorph,] he finished sheepishly in thought-speak.
Others had been awoken by Tobias' cry as well. A sneezing fit at the door announced that Tom/Esp had come to investigate. "What happened?" he asked groggily.
[Tobias almost forgot to demorph,] Elfangor explained. [Everything's fine, you should go back to sleep.] Tom/Esp nodded and left, grumbling about something.
The human called Ricky was discussing something with Tobias in a hushed voice. After a moment, Ricky took Tobias' place in the 'sleeping bag', and Tobias perched on the arm of the chair that Ricky had been sleeping on.
[You should go back to sleep, too,] Elfangor said privately to me a few minutes later, his main eyes drifting shut.
[BACK to sleep?] I echoed scornfully. [I never GOT to sleep.] My brother gazed at me with mild concern, but he was half-asleep already and didn't seem overly willing to wake himself up.
I felt restless. Everyone else was asleep. I wanted to sleep, too, (my body was exhausted) but my mind was to alert. After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling, I decided to explore the house. If we were going to be staying there for week, I might as well learn my way around.
What little I had seen so far was less than impressive. The area, which I had overheard Marco calling 'the slums', was in a general state of disrepair. I was not an expert, but I believed that this particular house was sub-quality, even in this area. Ricky clearly took descent care of it, which was probably why it was still standing, but there is only so much that one human can do.
I wondered why Ricky and Amy did not live with their parents, as the human Animorphs did. I estimated Ricky to be slightly older than Prince Jake. Tobias had been raised by his mother's relatives because his parents were presumed dead. Perhaps Ricky's parents were dead.
I came to a closed door. Assuming that it was Ricky's bedroom, where Tom was sleeping, I didn't open it. Next to it was another closed door. After some careful consideration, I presumed that one was Ricky's bedroom and the other was Amy's. I left both alone.
Amy was a sweet child, I thought. She didn't seemed disturbed in the slightest at the presence of strangers in her home, although if Ricky had protested she probably would have, too. She clearly idolized her big brother, and he seemed to care for her a great deal as well.
I came back into the room everyone else was sleeping in. There was nothing in the building that I found particularly interesting, and I was starting to wonder how we could stay here for a week without being driven certifiably insane from sheer boredom. I was also wondering how Elfangor and I were going to graze when we couldn't go to the forest and couldn't graze here either.
Suddenly, a metallic object caught my eye. I went over and picked it up. It faintly resembled a handheld Dracon beam or Shredder, except it was smaller. I inspected the hole at the end of it, wondering if it was a beam weapon.
[AXIMILI-ESGARROUTH-ISTHILL, PUT THAT DOWN THIS INSTANT!]
I jumped in surprise, dropping the weapon. My brother was awake and seemingly terrified. Everyone else was waking up again as well. The weapon landed on the floor with a CLUNK!
[WHAT WERE YOU DOING?] my brother roared, now furious. [WERE YOU TRYING TO GET KILLED?]
[What so dangerous about that thing?] I asked.
"It's a gun," Ricky mumbled, picking it up and putting it in a drawer.
[A gun?] I repeated. I had heard that word somewhere...
[A crude, projectile weapon that humans use to kill each other, animals, and sometimes themselves,] Elfangor explained, still rather hysterically. Now I remembered hearing the word on human television.
There was another sneezing fit from the general direction of the door, followed by a childish voice saying "Bless you."
"Thanks," Tom muttered. "What happened now?"
[Ax found a gun and Elfangor freaked out,] Tobias explained.
"So why'd he wake everyone else up?" There was a pause, and then Esp added, "you'll have to forgive Tom, he gets grumpy when he's woken up before sunrise."
[Well, I get grumpy when I do not get any sleep AT ALL. For instance, when someone yells just when I'm about to fall asleep,] I shot back, glaring at Tobias with one stalk-eye.
[Sorry,] he mumbled.
"Why do you even have a gun?" Tom asked Ricky.
"Oh, it's not mine. Friend asked me to keep it for him."
[Why?] Elfangor inquired suspiciously.
"Didn't ask," said Ricky simply.
"Do you ever?" Tom/Esp (probably Tom) asked in exasperation.
"Sometimes. Just when I've got to."
"It was a rhetorical question."
"I know." Ricky turned to Amy. "Amy, back to bed."
"Can't I stay up?"
"No, Amy. It's late."
"PLEASE?" Amy proceeded to make a very cute expression that humans call 'puppy-dog eyes'.
"No," said Ricky firmly.
"But Ricky..."
"No, Amy. Bed. Now." Recognizing defeat, Amy gave her brother a hug and went back to her room.
"Cute," Tom/Esp muttered. "I think I'll go to bed, too. Try and get a bit more sleep before dawn."
[Good luck,] Tobias muttered. [The sun rises in half an hour.]
Tom/Esp moaned. "Wake me up three hours AFTER dawn."
Author's Note: Voila! And here are the review responses.
Anicrazy: I believe that I have reviewed your stories at some point. I said I would review, and I did—just not every chapter. If you don't like Pete, you might not like my next chapter. It's his POV, and it shows him as a good guy.
Anonymous-cat: How come, for chapter 19, you gave me the same review twice? Was it an accident, or a bug in the system, or what? No, no real rap-up planned. I wasn't planning on Ax getting sick, or the Taxxon home world thing, or Ricky turning up. This is going to be a beginning to all the other Animorphs stories I'm planning to write, so I don't have to keep thinking up new ways for Elfangor to survive or come back to life...
Dragon: YOU READ THAT, RIGHT? YOU CAN'T KILL ME! EVER! THE STORY DOESN'T END! IF YOU DO KILL ME, YOU'LL NEVER KNOW IF I WOULD HAVE WRITTEN SOMETHING ELSE! (Besides, I was out of town. You killed and resurrected my sister. Mom and Dad were not amused.)
Y.G. : For chapter 14, did you give two of the same review on purpose or was it by accident?
Aldrea/yrkh8tr: Maybe your computer won't show it on the main list because it's rated PG? Thank you for all the reviews, you are very nice.
tayk: I don't know where the Mob went. Maybe they fell down a Plot Hole.