Jake jiggled the doorknob of the apartment. "Locked. Let's go to the next one."
"Not a problem." Marco said. He pulled out his library card.
"Marco!" Jake snapped. Marco jiggled the card in the crack hard.
"I got this!" Marco said. He yanked the card upwards, and there was a satisfying click. "Who's the man?"
"Where'd you learn to do that?" Jake hissed as they crept into the apartment.
"You live, you learn." Marco said. Suddenly, a loud alarm rang through the building. "At least some people do."
Marco tossed the present under the tree. "Tobias!"
"Oops." Tobias winced, tapping hard at the ATT keypad.
Marco rolled his eyes and typed in a number. The alarm went off. "We told you to go with Rachel. At least she knows how to pick a lock."
"Yeah." Jake sighed. "I don't know where you two learn these things."
"Don't you read?" Rachel said from down the hall, skillfully wiggling her hair pin in the lock of an apartment. The door swung open. "Or watch TV?"
"Yeah, well, while you two were reading Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, We were reading our English assignments." Jake huffed. "I bet that's why you got that D last year, Marco."
"Oh, stop being all jealous." Marco smirked. "Maybe one day I'll teach you the tricks of the trade."
They climbed on the elevator and went to the last, highest floor.
"Okay." Jake sighed. "We're almost done. Let's just-"
Suddenly, a bolt of red lightning flashed outside of the window. The sky turned black, and dark gray clouds rolled across the sky. A deep rumble of thunder shook the floor.
"What the &?" Jake said.
(AHHH!) Ax yelled, and came flying up the stairs. Two Hork-Bajir were chasing him.
"Ahhh!" Cassie screamed, right behind him.
"&$$!" Jake swore. "What happened?"
I HAPPENED.
"Oh, (&!" Jake swore again. "What the &$ is Cryak doing here?"
ELLIMIST TRIED TO FRAME ME FOR HITTING HIM OVER THE HEAD WITH A BAT, BUT MR KING BUSTED HIM. SO NOW I RULE THE GALAXY! BUT DON'T WORRY. I'M JUST HERE TO HELP. Cryak grinned. THE YEERKS, THAT IS!
Suddenly, an army of blue band Hork-Bajir were charging at them up the stairs.
"&!" Jake swore yet again. "RUN!"
They all charged down the hallway, a mob of slashing blades inches from their heels.
OH NO! Cryak gasped in mock surprise. TIME IS UNFROZEN!
Doorways began opening, and people stuck their heads out. They immediately lost them. Jake raced to the elevator and jabbed the down button. Nothing happened.
AWW! Cryak poked his lip out. THE ELEVATOR IS OUT OF ORDER!
"The stairs!" Jake said. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the staircase dissolved into a solid wall.
"We have to stop and fight!" Rachel panted. "We can't run much longer!"
They all collapsed against the wall at the end of the hallway. The Army of Hork-Bajir froze, inches away from them.
GIVE UP, JAKE. Cryak snarled.
Jake stuck his middle finger up at Cryak and jumped out the window.
Cryak blinked in surprise. He was so surprised, that Tobias managed to drag Cassie out of the window before he turned it into a steel wall.
Ax and Rachel looked at each other, and raced away in opposite directions. Marco ran after Rachel, Hork-Bajir on his tail.
"Where are we going?" Marco panted, pushing himself forward.
"There!" Rachel gasped, pointing to an ajar door. Rachel slammed through it, racing for the window.
She dove for it, and slammed into a steel wall.
"GRR!" Rachel growled in pain. She spun around, facing the billion Hork-Bajir in the doorway. It was the ultimate War Time.
Marco stood next to her, shaking slightly. "We're going to die."
"No we're not." Rachel said, as the Hork-Bajir advanced towards them. The floor started creaking.
Marco's eyes got an inch bigger. "When I say so, grab that chandler." He muttered.
"Why?" Rachel whispered. More Hork-Bajir advanced into the room.
"NOW!" Marco yelled. They both leapt for the diamond Chandelier.
CRACK! Just as Marco anticipated, the apartment floor cracked under the weight of the Hork-Bajir.
"GRAAARR!" Their cries echoed as they tumbled sixty-stories down.
"Hah!" Rachel yelled, grabbing onto the chandelier.
"NOO!" Marco yelled, scrabbling at the edge of it. He missed, and grabbed Rachel's foot. Rachel winced as his fingernails dug into her bare foot.
"Cut your fingernails some time." Rachel growled, swinging slowly back and forth over a sixty-story drop.
"Yeah, well your toenails aren't so hot either." Marco retorted. "And man, the smell-"
"What do we do now?" Rachel interrupted.
"Just hang tight, and hope an Animorph gets to us before Cryak." Marco said.
------
"That was too close!" Jake said, who had morphed a reindeer just before hitting the ground.
(Yeah!) Tobias agreed, flapping his hawk wings hard to gain some altitude.
(Ahh!) A thought speak cry came into their heads.
(What?) Tobias said. (Cassie, what's wrong?)
(I'm falling!) Cassie screamed.
"You're in morph!" Jake yelled. "Why are you falling?"
(Well, I morphed squirrel! It was all I could think of!) Cassie screamed.
(What? Why?) Tobias looked down and saw a tumbling gray speck. (I'm coming Cassie!)
Tseer! Tobias dove at top speed towards the ground. Faster, Faster!
He grabbed Cassie's tail in his beak and spread his wings, straining to slow down. The air tore at his muscles.
(Ah!) They slid to a painful stop in the parking lot. (You couldn't think of anything else?)
Tobias let go of Cassie and flapped back into the sky, disgusted.
CRACK! A loud noise came from the apartment, followed by loud screams.
(What was that?) Cassie, now an osprey, demanded.
(Hmm. It sounded like one billion Hork-Bajir crashing through sixty stories of apartments.) Tobias said. (Of course, it's only a guess.)
"Stand back." Jake said, and flew at top speed at the wall. He slammed into it with his antlers, and a crack appeared in the wall.
He rammed again, and a hole opened up. Tobias peered through.
(Yup. One billion Hork-Bajir falling sixty-stories to their death.)
Tobias nodded. (Just as I suspected.)
"We've got to save the others!" Jake said. He flew backwards, and then slammed with all of his might into the hole. It crumbled open, and like a trained squadron of fighters, they swooped through.
(You go left, Tobias.) Jake commanded. (I'll go right. Cassie, go somewhere.)
They split up. Tobias flapped desperately down the hallway above bladed heads, looking for Rachel, Marco, or Ax.
(Ahh!) Tobias heard.
(Ax-man!) Tobias yelled. He cranked a sharp left and shot down a smaller hallway.
(I am running up a narrow human staircase!) Ax yelled.
(Aw, man!) Tobias yelled, rocketing through a doorway to the stairwell he knew Ax was on. (That's the staircase to the roof!)
The good thing was that only a few Hork-Bajir could fit through at a time. only about a dozen were coming through the stairs at once.
THAT CAN BE FIXED. Cryak grinned, transforming the narrow stairwell into a grand staircase. The Hork-Bajir poured out onto the roof.
Tobias swooped out just above them. He saw a half-brown, half blue Andalite running around the roof.
(What happened?) Tobias exclaimed.
(I began morphing reindeer.) Ax said sarcastically. (It is the only morph with the same leg structure as mine. You see, it is necessary that I keep running, as there are several Hork-Bajir trying to kill me.)
Ax usually didn't get very sarcastic. He was seriously afraid.
(I do not know why I even bothered.) Ax said. (I can't even get off the roof!)
"Yes you can!" Jake yelled, swooping out of the sky. Marco and Rachel were on his back, Marco hand and Rachel foot both red. "Just do it!"
Ax scrambled around two Hork-Bajir, slammed through another with still forming antlers, and chopped one with a disappearing tail.
(Ahh!) Ax jumped over a Hork-Bajir's head and landed on the edge of the roof.
(Ax!) Cassie cried.
Ax kicked his legs forward and rolled onto the center of the roof, now fully reindeer.
NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU, AXIMILLI? Cryak sneered. Suddenly, Visser three appeared in a monstrous alien morph. A fleet of bug fighters swooped down from the black sky, along with the blade ship. Cryak sat on the air behind them, legs crossed, a smirk on his face.
Ax stumbled away from the Hork-Bajir, dodging dracon beams and blades. But then a tentacle caught him on his side, and he went spinning through the air. He landed on the edge of the roof.
Ax tottered on the edge, and the hellish army closed in on him. A thousand thoughts whizzed through his head in the one second he had to react.
Just do it!
Just let the magic happen!
It's not illogical if it works!
Ax gritted his teeth and hurled himself over the edge of the roof.