I Thought You Learned...

Notes: 'blah blah' (Thought speak)

blah blah (Private thoughts)

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Chapter Two

Hiding

Marco and Jono

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Jono

God.

Not that I believe in the guy particularly, but it's that thing you say when you just don't know what to do next. And I don't know what to do next. I mean there was a week before anything really happened, other then when I gave the photo to my Astronomy professor, Mr. Hayes.

Hayes…I never would have expected him for the evil take over the world type, not that he was or is that type, but its hard to think of the guy who ratted me out to the slugs as anything less. He wasn't even a controller at the time. Hayes was what I like to call, a Mulder. He's adorably clueless, yet believes without a doubt that the Truth Is Out There and tries without luck to prove it. It was cute.

And the fact he was twenty-three with a nice butt helped.

Making faces already? If that has you disgusted you might want to leave now, I'm annoying blunt and open like that. Not really by choice, but ever since I got caught making out with my best friend, male, behind the school in seventh grade there hasn't been a whole lot of sense in pretending to be what I'm not.

So I gave him the photo and he was really happy. I got extra credit. He took the next four days off and life went on. I got shoved into a few lockers, stepfather came home drunk every night, and I hid out in the loft and argued with Marisa over stupid things.

It was the usual stuff. It was all so pathetically normal that I almost want to cry when I think about it because it just…I want it all back so badly. I'd kill for my worst problem to be if my step-father was going to be boozed up and angry or sober and apologetic or how I was going to manage to get my sister across town for ballet practice.

That whole saying about not knowing what you have until it's gone? Totally and completely true. If you think your life sucks it probably doesn't and you should be grateful for it.

Enough preachiness.

I thought I'd done my civic duty by uncovering an alien plot or some government plotting, I thought it was the latter. I never could have imagined I told the Bad Guys of the universe 'Hey, look, I'm an idiot, come and kill me!' Can you picture me dressed in all yellow, waving my arms around and screaming at the top of lungs? Because that's basically what I did.

And it all became apparent when I left the University, all prepared to go about my business and take my ass home, when some kid starts following me. I wouldn't have noticed, but I suffer from mild paranoia. No, I don't mean I think the government is out to get me, though they are, I mean I hear voices in my head plotting my demise, but every time I look they're gone.

And logically I know I'm crazy so I'm good for ignoring it. Besides, it only creeps up every now and then, hence the term mild.

So you know, I notice when someone is following me. So naturally I ran like the hounds of hell were snapping at me heels. Sharpest knife in the drawer I am not. I ran into the park and ended up face to face with a rifle.

So after shrieking like a little girl and just missing being shot I ran back the way I came, willing to take my chance with whoever was following me as opposed to the people wanting to shoot me. I'm sure you can see the logic in this.

I'm not ashamed of the way I reacted, it was a very stressful situation. The fact I didn't wet myself is a huge testament to my courage, I think.

Marco

I blame it on Erik. I blame a lot of stuff on Erik so this isn't new or anything, but I blame it on him all the same. He gave us information on a boy who'd actually photographed a bug fighter re-entering the atmosphere.

It seemed the Yeerks wanted to eliminate the kid to ensure no one else ever saw said photo and it was up to the friendly neighborhood Animorphs to take care of this. Because we have nothing better to do then go to some small town in Upstate New York and rescue some kid.

…Okay, so I didn't have anything better to do, but how did any of them know that? I could have had plans or…something. Then again, if it got me away from that crazed poodle what the hell? My dad and his new wife were still doing the honeymoon thing, so I got to baby-sit the official poster dog for the dangers of crack. But, once again, I hated leaving the Chee to impersonate me. They always, always, cleaned my room and made it damn impossible to find anything.

I hate having a clean room. I have everything exactly where it's supposed to be, and then I come back and my storage area, also known as the floor, is totally bare. It's just…so wrong to mess with a man's emotions like that.

But, on the upside, there was for once no complicated plan to reach our destination. We were taking the bus. Even Ax and the bird boy. They were to de-morph at every rest stop but other than that it was all together a very good plan. And it went smoothly for a chance.

It was actually pretty boring now that I think about it. I didn't even have a reason to be my annoyingly sarcastic self it went so well. That was no fun for me, but I think Rachel was silently rejoicing my lack of material.

So we crossed the border and then had to fly to this guy's town. I…honestly can't remember the name. Not that I would tell you anyway, you never know who you can trust these days after all, but I really can't remember where the hell he lived. It's been a while.

He being Star Child. Star Child…this kid probably had a lot of parental issues.

We had a little information on him. He was about a year older then I was, but had classes at a University. Main interest was Astronomy and Astrology (which explained why he was taking pictures of the sky) younger sister, Japanese-Native American mix, that sort of stuff.

When we got to his town it was about noon. We split up, despite me saying it was a bad idea, and went in search of the boy's school.

Once again, this part was fairly simple. This was shaping up to be a pretty boring mission. I mean, were the Yeerks even after this guy?

We floated around in bird morph until one-thirty when school let out. And, by the way, who gets out at one-thirty? I have to sit in class until three! Is he special or something? Why couldn't I get out at one? I wanted to file a complaint with the school board.

At which point Tobias told me to shut up. Ax stayed silent, but I could feel the contempt.

'Just because you don't care about school anymore-'

'Marco, would you just look out for this guy?'

'I am! I'm just saying-'

'I believe there is a man holding a gun on top of that building.' Ax said in that strangely calm way of his, as if that weren't a big deal. 'Perhaps he is after the man we are searching for.'

Ax said in that strangely calm way of his, as if that weren't a big deal.

'Maybe.' Tobias said as he made a sharp turn and headed towards a building. 'I think…he's after that kid in all black down there. Walking towards the bridge. Marco go after him in human form.'

Tobias said as he made a sharp turn and headed towards a building.

Who died and made the bird the boss? Does the fact he's dating Rachel give him special authority? I went down anyway.

'What are you and Ax gonna do?'

Tobias laughed and I have to confess it was even more than Rachel on a bad day. He's been very easily amused by violence lately. I was pretty sure that living out in the woods with only our resident space-boy for company is starting to take its toll on his brain.

'Make sure this guy doesn't get a shot off.'

'…there are times when you scare me.'

I was on the ground at this point, in an alley between a diner and a Chinese place. I started to change back, trying not to look at the horrific change I was going through. Because eww, seeing my arm grow, but having it devoid of bone and skin, so it hangs there and I can see all the red tissue stuff inside? It's just not cool.

'Heh. You love it.'

I didn't say anything. Not because I was harboring some kind of lusty type feelings for the bird, I'm wasn't and am not and anyone who says differently is getting knocked out by a very angry gorilla, or I thought that his special brand of insanity was cool, because I didn't. (Though I've come to realize he's crazy cool in a Dick Grayson kind of way, which is ironic when you really think about it.)

I just didn't say anything because my beak had shriveled into a mouth and I was too human to use thought speak.

But had I been able to say something I would have had a super witty and scathing comment for him. It would have been great and he would have had no course of action but to bow down before my dominant riff skills.

Err…I'll explain all of that another time. Lets just say I will never watch Mystery Science Theater with the bird ever again.

Well, okay, maybe next Saturday, but after that never again.

Back to the guy. He was walking along, perfectly oblivious, and I fell into step a little behind him, hoping no one would notice the strange boy in spandex. I still think we need to come up with some X-men type outfits. They were spandex, but they look in good in it. Why must we look like idiots? Or even better, the X-men leather. I would look good in leather.

Much to my surprise the kid looked back, right at me, squinted in confusion, then started walking faster. So I started going faster as well, it seemed like the best thing I do. Oh, and just a Public Service Announcement, don't litter. It makes it hard for the barefoot superhero to follow the boy in danger quickly. Stepping on broken glass makes it hard to focus on the task at hand.

We ended up going across a four-lane street, with me nearly getting run over, and across some bridge into a park.

I lost him, but I doubted he was going to get shoot out here.

Just to prove me wrong a series of gunshots rang out. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

I found myself morphing wolf. It was fast and would be able to pick up some kind of scent, hopefully.

Before I could finish the boy I'd been following ran back my way, looking frantic. A hawk, Tobias I'm forced to assume, screamed and came at him from the side and forced him into the small patch of bushes I was morphing in. He blinked, turned and looked at me and almost scrambled out again.

'Keep him in there!' Tobias shouted, moving higher.

'There are four men with guns and two with Dracon beams.' Ax announced. I couldn't see him, but it was kind of comforting to know he was watching out for me. Us. I didn't mean me…shut up.

I grabbed the kid with my paw/hand thing and held him still while steadily going back to my normal body. He was watching me with wide black eyes. Then he fainted. Seriously, he just clunked out into my arms. I'm still not too sure what to think of that.

It seemed a little wussy. Then again, I suppose if I was in his shoes I might have puked then wet myself while screaming like a little girl. He was still normal, didn't know about aliens and wasn't fighting some fucked up life or death war.

There was something appealing about that. He was innocent…almost.

I don't know a lot of what happened after that, only bits and pieces of conversation that I caught. Cliff Notes version, Jake, Rachel and Cassie showed up, hearing Ax call them in thought speak, they kicked a little Yeerk tail and all was well.

Except for the unconscious guy in my lap, but I've learned to not focus on the little details.

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Moonjava: Well, I'm certainly glad you decided to give the Fandom a shot and read this. I was worried, the only other story I've adopted I was actually a co-author on to begin with. This one I was given five chapters already written and…it was weird.

Mechante: Jono is different for two reasons: First, He's pretty much blatantly insane. While some OCs, like Damien and Jacob, will admit to being a little weird they stop short of total craziness. Second, he was based dimly on Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, which doesn't bode well… Anyway, my first first-person fic so I hope it goes well and just…think of it was an original sci-fi story, if that helps any.

Genesis: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I'm editing the original chapters and giving them my own 'flare' but I have some stuff pre-written so it shouldn't be too long of a wait.