Animorphs: The Confrontation Chapter 10: Field Weekend, an animorphs fanfic

Chapter 10

We flapped wildly for a while, half descending, half trying to get as far away from the Controllers as possible.

--Ok, everybody, -- said Sam, as we flew back down through the atmosphere, --lets try and aim for those woods there.--

--Which woods?-- I asked.

--The one with that random tall tree in the middle, near the stream,-- said Sam.

We were long since out of the city, now. Before we'd been spotted by the Controllers, we'd better flying for almost our full two hours and Sam had probably planned us to demorph and remorph to goose at sometime to continue on out way to Cardiff, where we'd at last try to get some sleep. But as I looked down at the landscape below, I saw that we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Woods and forests stretched out in all directions, covering pretty much the majority of the land. They were bordered by vast hills – possibly mountain ranges – to the west, looking like huge green whales growing out of the horizon. To the east, behind us, were meandering lakes and streams, snaking their way through the countryside. Between these, huge stretches of meadow. Some were host to bridle ways. I would love to go riding here once this thing was all over. Then, of course, I could just, literally be the horse and forget about riding. It must be incredible to gallop over these hills. In the low light, I could just about make out herds of sheep and goats grazing in the fields and on the mountains. And, of course, as we came into land, my goose eyes saw every animal no human would ever see, from tiny bugs crawling on the ground, mice and other small mammals venturing out of their holes, and – rather terrifying to my goose brain – plenty of large owls swooping about. To my human mind, an incredible sight.

The four of us glided downwards into the trees, landing within a hundred meters or so of each other. We stayed in morph for a moment, so that we could find each other using thought speak, rather than having to yell as humans.

--Well, I'm pretty sure we lost them,-- I said optimistically, once we had all met up again.

--You shouldn't ever say that,-- laughed Maggie. --We're bound to tempt fate if you say that.--

We started the demorph - three Canadian geese and a mute swan. It was pretty dark, especially with very little moonlight getting through the trees, but I could still make out some of the major changes that were happening to me, and the others.

My long goose neck suddenly sucked inwards. It felt as if I was suddenly shrugging my shoulders really severely. My large, plump, goose body began to elongate into my human body. It didn't hurt, but it did feel like I was being sucked through a tight rubbery tunnel - pressure on me from all sides. The enormous rump of the goose became my toned little behind. My waddling legs and feet grew muscular and fleshy as they reformed into my familiar legs, sill clad in my riding breeches and very tight leather riding boots that I'd managed to incorporate into my morphing outfit. I'd told Sam it had taken about three goes to be able to morph those boots. Actually, it had taken around twenty - but she didn't need to know that. I was very glad I had those boots. Even though they were far too small for me, and were difficult to walk in, it was better than being barefoot, like the girls. The changes were happening quickly now - partly from practice, partly because my fear made me concentrate more on the morphing. And it wasn't a fear of the Controllers, either. Embarrassed as I am to admit it, it was the dark I was scared of. Yup. Plain old childish phobia of the dark.

It seemed to be getting a little darker, too, now that my goose eyes were being replaced by my weaker human eyes. My hearing too, dulled, and I was suddenly no longer able to hear all the sounds of the wildlife around me. My head was growing, spouting my wild red hair. My beak - so unlike the beak of the falcon - was melting into my own mouth and nose. I was a human boy - with arms still like the wings of the goose. Philip - fully human - seemed to notice.

"You planning to fly with those wings, Flawless?" he laughed.

"I think it looks pretty cool!" said Maggie, just crossing the line from thought- to normal speech. She had managed to make her demorph look pretty cool - she was almost entirely human, but still fully coated in the soft white feathers of the swan. Finally, the feathers faded away and were replaced by her red morphing outfit.

I finished demorphing my arms and walked over to Sam, who was now her lovely human self, and put my head on her shoulder. I hope she wasn't offended - it's the kind of thing I do without really thinking about it. Sam rolled her eyes at Maggie, who sniggered.

"Come on, Flawless," she said. "I think we need to get you to bed."

"Is that an offer?" I asked, excitedly?

"You wish," she laughed, ruffling my hair affectionately and pushing me away. "I think we should all try and sleep." She looked around on the ground. "This terrain's pretty uncomfortable looking," she said.

Philip scoffed. He'd been on army training weekends and had probably had to sleep in worse conditions than these. "Looking for the nearest en-suite?" he said.

"I just think we should try and find somewhere with a bit more cover, incase it rains, and not as many tree roots sticking up out of the ground. Maybe we should go owl morph quickly and find somewhere."

Philip rolled his eyes, but I embraced this offer. "Oh, yes!" I exclaimed. "God, I've been dying to try out my owl morph all day!"

"You've been dying to try out every morph you've acquired," laughed Sam. "But, yeah, I think we should all go owl. Maggie, you have an owl morph, don't you?"

"Yeah, I've got a tawny owl."

"Great stuff. Philip, you ok with that?"

"Well, I still don't see with what's wrong with where we are now, but, yeah, fine, I'll go."

We began to morph to owl. By now, the repeated morphing and remorphing was making me pretty tired now. I could see that Maggie was feeling the same. She stifled a yawn - right before her mouth hardened into a black beak.

I concentrated on the image of the barn owl in my mind. I felt similar changes take place as when I morphed my hobbie. Creamy white feathers draw themselves on my skin, like an all over tattoo. Then, the feathers suddenly popped up out of my skin as they began 3D. I began to shrink, but my eyes were growing huge. My face flattened out, my ears shrinking away. My face became the distinctive heart shape of the barn owl - reminiscent of a satellite dish, which assists the owl in giving it excellent hearing. My hands and arms stretched out, my bones remoulding and hollowing into the owl's wing bones. Legs and feet shrank, but grew huge, sharp talons - perfect for grasping and hanging onto prey. My vision and hearing suddenly switched to owl - and I could see and hear everything! It was far better than my vision had been as a goose, and about a million times better than when I was human. It was like someone had switched on the sun inside the wood. Everything was as bright and as easy to see as if it were midday. The only unusual thing was the sky, which was still dark. I was no longer scared on the dark, in this body. I hooted.

--Wow,-- I said to the others. --Talk about night vision. I bet you would have liked this in the army, rather than those infer red things you had, right, Philip?--