Rachel's head fell at Tobias's words. She whipped her head up. She had to stay strong. She was "Xena", she couldn't break down in front of everyone. She was the warrior. His words tore at her heart, but she couldn't let the others see. Not after her last slip-up in Erek's house. She said to Tobias via Ax, "Tobias, you can't talk like that. You have to have hope. When the Andalites get here, they can figure something out to fix you." She shot a dangerous look to Ax letting him know to keep his thoughts about nothlits to himself.
Ax relayed the message. He didn't mention the futility of hope when it came to nothlits, but he couldn't help but have a skeptical tone in his thoughts when relaying the last part of her message. Luckily only Tobias would here the tone, Rachel was in the cab and Ax was in the truck bed.
Jake added, "Yeah Tobias, and what do you mean you can't help? Who watches our backs when we're in battle? Who surveys potential controllers while we're at school, maintaining our cover? Who was it that's found more Yeerk Pool entrances than any member here? Hell, you shot down a freight ship all on your own while we were trapped as trout in a tank. If it weren't for you, we'd be dead more times than I can count.
"You're an amazingly valuable asset to this team. What's more, is that you're a great friend. You've never let us down before. Even when you left for those 2 months, we never lost hope you would return. We never stopped looking for you, and we never forgot about you."
Ax couldn't help but inject some pride in his relaying of Jake's message. Hearing the testament of Tobias's actions made him respect Tobias all the more.
