“This....is.....insane!” I said, completely out of breath
I watched my other three companions on the ground, all burnt in several places and gasping for air. There was a faint blue glow from under Goom's shirt. I sighed in relief, he managed to keep the cube safe.
“Is everyone ok?” I asked
Mackenzie rolled on her back, still trying to catch her breath. She looked at me and nodded “I'll be fine....just never...ran that much before...”
Dino, who was now casually leaning on the chain link fence separating us from the power plant, gave me a thumbs up “I'm good.” she said
I looked at Goom, he laid on his side, completely motionless, if you couldn't hear his quiet breaths you might have thought he was dead. I nudged him with my foot
“Goom....come on, buddy, we gotta keep moving”
No answer.
“Is he ok?” Mackenzie asked
“He's still breathing” I answered “He probably just fainted. Guess I gotta carry him all the way back to....”
“LOOK OUT” Dino screamed
TSEEEWWW!
Those same noises, that I had become too familiar with, filled the air as a beam of white light narrowly missed the side of my face.
Mackenzie and Dino immediately got back on their feet and sprinted out of sight. I wanted to follow after them but Goom was still unconscious AND he had the morphing cube. I started to get up and drag him but tripped before I could had the chance to stand up completely. I looked behind me and into the eyes of the Hork Bajir, whose clawed hand had torn through the fence and latched itself onto my ankle.
“Crap.” I said, my voice shaking with fear
The Hork Bajir turned its snake like head and started making a bunch of high pitched incoherent sounds, probably in its native language, and I could have sworn, between its shrieks of triumph, I heard it shout “I HAVE TWO OF THEM”
March 11, 2011
San Diego, California
11:45 am
Team #31 Sealie's POV
I sat upright in bed, sweat running down my face as my eyes adjusted to the sunlight. That dream...was it even a dream? I remembered every detail like it had really happened and I remembered everyone in it: Goom...Mackenzie(Faerie)...Dino....and...my brother......
“Oh my God...” I whispered to myself
I remember waking up right as he and Goom were about to be captured by the Yeerks. There's no way it was just a dream...but how was I able to see it?
“Jess!” I called
I looked over at her bed. Empty. Then I looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It's almost noon, no wonder she's not in bed. I started to hop out of bed but the sharp pain in my ankle came back and I found myself on the floor, flat on my back.
“Ow ow ow ow ow ow!”
After putting my contacts in and getting dressed, I limped over to the boys' room. I knocked and waited for a response but to no avail, so I opened the door and, just like Jess' bed, the room was completely empty.
“Great. Am I the only one who slept the whole morning away?” I asked myself
Just then, a familiar smell swept through the hallway. My eyes watered at the sheer buttery goodness that passed through my nose. After everything to happen to me in the past few hours, I still couldn't help but delightfully squeal:
“WAFFLES!”
Limping as fast as I could, I followed the smell to its source, which lead me downstairs (that was a pain in the neck) and into the kitchen, where Demos sat with plate of steaming hot waffles and Erek wrapping another plate up and putting it on the counter before he noticed me standing at the door.
“Oh, good morning Beth” he said
“Hey.” Demos said before practically shoving his food down his throat
“This plate's yours, if you're hungry”
“Yeah. Thanks” I said, grabbing the plate from the counter and sitting next to Demos “Where are Blue, Jess, and Cody?”
“Blue and Jess went out with Sarah” Erek answered “She's showing them around the town. And Cody's around here somewhere. I'm sure he'll turn up eventually.”
“Oh..ok...so, what's on the agenda for today?” I asked Demos while enjoying the BEST WAFFLES EVER
“No idea” he said after finishing his plate “I guess you guys need to find some morphs. Sarah said she was gonna show Blue and Jess where the zoo was.”
“And what about you?”
“I already have my morph”
“You're gonna need more than a Bear.”
“Yeah but as long as I have my battle morph I'm in no rush to get anything else.”
“You know, we do have a dog” Erek said “That's always a useful morph”
“A chee with a dog. Big surprise” I joked
After I finished my breakfast, I volunteered to do the dishes while Demos and Erek went to look for Cody. I don't know why I didn't notice last night but this house actually is REALLY big. Not big enough to be a mansion or anything but you can tell Erek and Sarah must have pretty decent jobs. After finishing the dishes, I remembered the whole reason I was looking for Jess or Blue or any of my fellow RAFians. I still needed to tell them about my dream.
“Curse those waffles and their power to make me forget my worries!” I said to myself
Just then, a large dog, it looked like a Siberian Husky but with a lot more fur, came trotting into the kitchen, probably looking for some leftovers.
“Hey there, fella!” I said, petting the top of its head “I'm sorry but you missed the waffles”
<Oh darn, and I reeeally wanted more>
I jumped. That voice...it definitely came from inside my head. I stared at the dog and it looked at me back with that goofy permanent grin that dogs always wear.
“C...Cody?” I asked
<Bingo!>
“But how...when did...you're a husky!”
<I'm actually an Alaskan Malamute.> He corrected <A little bigger than a husky and the fur is a lot fluffier>
“Whatever, you're still adorable!” I said, petting him behind his ear
<Quit it! These dog instincts are hard enough to control without you petting me in Bingo's favorite spot>
“Whose?”
<Bingo. That's the dog's name.>
“Oh. So Erek and Sarah only have one dog?”
<That's what I was wondering. You'd think there'd be a kennel full of them inside a Chee's house. Especially one as big as this.>
“I see you've met Bingo” Erek said, scaring the crap out of me
“Jeez! Do you like...not make any noise when you walk into a room?”
“Sorry. I suppose this is the second time I've snuck up on you. Thank God Jess isn't here with a flashlight this time.”
“Hey Erek” Demos said, walking into the kitchen with a dog, who I'm guessing is the real Bingo, by his side “I can't find Co......I thought you only had one dog”
<He does>
Demos jumped at the sound of Cody's voice in his head. He then looked at the two dogs like he'd be able to tell which was which just by looking at them.
<I'm the one next to Sealie>
“Oh! ok. For a second I thought I spent the past 10 minutes rubbing your stomach”
“I can only imagine how awkward that would have been” I laughed[
“We're hoooooome” I heard Sarah call
<MASTER'S HOME!> Cody shouted as he and Bingo raced out of the kitchen
“Aaaaw! Hi cuties” That was Jess
“Erek” Sarah called “We went shopping! Come help with the bags.”
“Sure, honey!”
“Come on Demos, we're gonna go help to” I said, noticing him trying to sneak out of through the back entrance.
“Damn!” he said, before following me out the door
We walked into the anteroom, where Jess was snuggling with two extremely happy dogs, and Blue and Sarah were carrying piling up plastic bags next to the stairs.
“Wow” I said, noticing the large pile of bags “You guys REALLY went shoppping”
“We had to now that we have people here who actually need to eat” Sarah said
I started to go outside to help carrying the rest of the bags but Sarah stopped me and said I shouldn't be doing any work with ankle still messed up
“No, really! I'm fine” I assured her
But she insisted I sit in the living room and wait for the others to finish
“Just let me morph and my ankle will be all better”
“You'll have plenty of time to morph once Blue and Jess show you what they've bought”
After waiting for what felt like an eternity, Blue and Jess, carrying “Sports Authority” bags, enter with Demos and Cody, now human, trailing behind them.
“I didn't know they had another dog” Jess said
“They don't. That second one was Cody” I told her
Jess dropped her bag and gave Cody a death glare.
“So...you just sat there and let me snuggle you....”
“I...uh..sorry” he said “You gotta admit it was kinda funny. And you
did call me 'cutie' “
Jess picked the bag back up and started whacking Cody with it until he ran out the room.
“Jerk” She hissed
“Anyway....” Blue cut in “While we were out, we picked up a little something for everyone. Something to help fix the 'clothes problem' when we morph”
“Oh great. Brightly colored bike shorts and leotards” I said, sarcastically
“Oh hell no! We're not gonna represent earth, looking like a bunch of circus clowns like the first Animorphs did” Blue snapped “If we have to run around in skintight clothing, we can at least look somewhat normal with these.”
Blue emptied the bag on to the coffee table, revealing
5 black shirts all with the same logo on them. Jess emptied her bag and showed us the
matching pants, that kinda looked like long underwear.
“Uh...what are those?” I asked
“Compression gear. Athletes use them.” Blue answered “They feel like you're wearing spandex but they don't look nearly as ridiculous. You could wear these in public and nobody would look twice at you because they'd think you're about to go jogging or something.”
“Awesome” I said “So we have something to morph...now we just need something to morph into”
“Well that's our second surprise.” Jess said
“While we were out, Sarah showed us the closest zoo” Blue explained “It's only about an hour walk away from here...”
“And...” Jess chimed “Tonight, it closes at 10.”
“You're suggesting we break into the zoo to go touch a bunch of potentially dangerous animals?” Cody said, walking back into the room
“You have a better idea? Or are we gonna fight the Yeerks as dogs?” Jess asked
“You have a point but do we actually have a plan? Or are we just jumping into their cages and hoping they don't tear us apart?”
“Oh don't worry. Jess and I thought this out and I think we've come up with something that should make everybody feel safe about what we're about to do...well...everybo
dy but Demos....”
