Chapter 9

Marco

I felt bad that Christopher was gone. He had, after all, been a part of his group a long time. The absence of a member was always a difficult feat to overcome. Our group knew that all too well.

((Oh… hey, guys? Oh wow… wow…))

I looked up at Tobias. "What is it? Find another impossible feat we can use to tempt fate?" I said in a dramatic tone.

Jalil gave me a sideways look. Okay, it was cheezy, but you can't blame me. I had no time to come up with new material.

((You've gotta see this,)) Tobias said, awe in his voice.

"What is it?" David asked.

((I think… it's people. Yeah. People. Big people.))

I had already started morphing osprey. We wouldn't get a straight answer from Tobias the fortune cookie. A short while later, I had taken to the sky. In the distance, I saw what Tobias had been talking about.

((Oooookay,)) I said, ((This is the part where I wake up. Right. About. Now.))

"Marco, what is it?" Jake asked. He hadn't chosen to morph. Probably a good idea. We didn't want our buddies thinking that we'd abandon them.

((It's Zeus. The Zeus. Like off of the Hercules movie, except he doesn't have happy, rosy little cheeks. Tobias, how did you not notice this earlier?))

Jake pretended not to be surprised. Nobody else was, why should our magnificent leader be?

I was freaking surprised. I mean, not only was there a dude one hundred times bigger than me about a four-minute flight away, but he was duking it out with a giant water-dude. There was wind. There was storm. There was a lightning bolt snapping and popping IN THE HAND OF A GOD.

((There's more,)) Tobias said. ((There's a man made of water dueling it out with him.))

"Poseidon," Jalil and David said in unison.

Merlin shook his head. "Foolish to assume," he said. "Does the man of water have a beard?"

I examined the face of the second gigantic person. ((Yes. I think so.))

Merlin nodded. "Then you are correct, it is Zeus and Poseidon. Had you been incorrect and they were truly Jupiter and Neptune, there would be a far greater risk in approaching them. Zeus has more respect for me than he has for other mortals. As he may have more respect for you for saving Dionysis. Jupiter, however, disrespects all mortals the same. We may have a chance at resolving their issue."

I laughed. ((Yeah, sure. We're just going to go over there and solve a problem with two guys that could squish us between their toes? Do I hear the word in-sane?))

David nodded and stepped into the brush in the opposite direction of the water's current. Jalil stayed exactly where he was, and Jake and Merlin followed suit. I wondered why they wouldn't go. David came back seconds later, wondering the same thing.

"Are you coming?" he asked.

((You see, David,)) Tobias said in his firmest, I'm-a-leader voice. ((We do things differently than you.))

David shot him a questioning look. "How's that?"

((Our group likes to vote on a plan, so that we can't pin it on one person when it screws up.))

"Really?" David asked, surprised.

((Yeah. It's a really good system, actually. It seems as if you've already cast your vote, how about we check with everyone else?)) he said with a hint of sarcasm.

Jalil grinned. Tobias must've spoken to him privately earlier. I understood. They had to be leaders. They had to work together.

((Well, my vote is that we take our chances with the river,)) I said. ((I know nature. I don't know those two fellas.))

((Jalil?))

"I vote that we talk to the gods. Zeus will probably kill us, but it's better than tempting that river."

((Jake?))

"I don't know them. I won't vote," he said with a shrug.

((Nuh-uh,)) I said. ((I voted. You vote. That's how the rules go, you're not the leader anymore.))

Jake shook his head, grinning. "Jalil's putting his confidence in talking to them. I say we do what he thinks."

((Merlin, what do you think?)) I asked musingly. Really, Merlin.

"I have expressed my opinion of late," he said.

((In English please?)) I said privately to Tobias.

He chuckled. ((He already said that we stand a chance at fixing their problem.))

I was a bit disheartened that I was the only one thinking about taking the river. Tobias must have noticed. ((Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I was leaning to your side.))

((Funny,)) I said. ((We're the ones afraid of water.))

((We're the only ones that can see those gods.))

I agreed wholeheartedly. Not only were the gods huge, but I didn't doubt that Zeus could throw a mean lightning bolt. In fact, I was pretty confident that we would be more of an annoyance than anything.

Nonetheless, we headed in the direction of the gods. I stayed in morph, eager to be the first to know if a lightning bolt was coming our way.

Jake looked up at us worriedly. "Are you guys coming down?" he asked.

((I'd rather be up here where I can see what's going on,)) I said.

Jake looked forward. Zeus just must have been coming into view for him above the treeline. "Okay."

Tobias thought-spoke privately. ((He's right. We need to get down there. Up here we're completely useless against the storm they're making.))

I looked ahead at the flashing lightning, the pounding rain and the howling wind. I decided not to argue. ((Good idea,)) I said in the manliest high-pitched voice I could muster.

We dove to the ground just ahead of the group and demorphed (Tobias actually had to morph) as they caught up with us. Jake nodded subtly at Tobias. Even though he wasn't supposed to be a leader, he was still leading us. I wondered how long Tobias and Jalil would remain in charge.

As we neared the dueling Gods, we began to notice the havoc they were wreaking. Sections of trees were crushed on the ground, leaving massive footprints behind. As we emerged from the trees, we noticed buildings had also been destroyed during this battle. A fierce and booming voice vibrated from the water man.

"I told you brother, the ocean winds are MINE to control!" he said.

The other man responded in a thunderous voice. "Let me remind you that I control the sky! Father chose me, and therefore I will take control of your winds when I see fit!"

Honestly, it sounded like they were toddlers with a big vocabulary. That was about where the babyishness ended. Now that we were closer, I decided that both men were at least twenty times my size, and despite Rachel's teasing, I'm not that short. Poseidon literally stood on the water and Zeus on the shore. Their fighting caused millions of gallons of water to flood the nearby river and raise the tide. Innocent people were running from a nearby village, carrying all that they could take.

By the time we were in that range, we were all officially soaked. My bare feet were torn up even worse now, and I was having greater difficulty avoiding mud.

"THE WINDS ARE MINE!"

"NOT ANYMORE!"

I shook involuntarily with the cold. "Who wants to do the talking?" I asked nervously.

Merlin took the opportunity. "MIGHTY ZEUS!" he roared over the rain, "GREAT POSIEDON!"

The men didn't even pause. Both continued to wrestle and punch without any change.

((GREAT GODS OF THE GREEKS!))

Both gods stopped what they were doing and turned their heads in the direction of the 'sound.' They couldn't seem to find it though.

Tobias had spoken. His meek human frame was also shuddering from the wet and cold and he was just as tired and scared as I was, yet the look on his face showed stubborn determination.

"Who dares speak to the gods?!" Zeus roared.

"I DO!" Tobias yelled back. Everyone looked slightly shocked with him.

Zeus focused his glare on us. "A MORTAL? MORTAL, YOU'D BEST STAY OUT OF AFFAIRES THAT DO NOT CONCERN YOU!"

Tobias was about to open his mouth when I saved him from himself by slapping a hand over it. This only brought Zeus' attention to me, however. I had nothing clever to say.

Merlin saved me. "MIGHTY ZEUS! We wish to reach the great Olympus, where we and our companion, General Davideus, will seek Athena."

Zeus cocked his head to one side as if he were confused. "General Davideus, General Davideus. Ah, yes. You saved my son, Dionysis. Very well, pass."

The water did a very good Moses impression and parted. We all exchanged glances and walked through the pass in silence.

"Go now to Athena," Zeus said. "You will be welcomed as guests in Olympus.

Tobias shot Jake a look. I knew what he meant. The people on the ground were going to lose their homes. They might die because of this pointless argument. I agreed in wishing that I could help, but what could we do? They were gods. GODS.

After all the weird things I've been through, this was the strangest by far.

"HEY YOU!" I shouted as the water closed behind us. Zeus turned his attention back to me. Why had I done that? I cursed myself for being such an idiot. Oh well, there was no getting out of it now. "I mean, ALMIGHTY ZEUS!" Oh god, what was I doing? I was going to get us killed. "Surely… Surely you and your brother have a good cause for being angry!" Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, "Um… but… Your people are getting hurt!" I pointed to the village of fleeing citizens meekly.

"A MORTAL HAS NO PLACE IN GODLY AFFAIRS." Poseidon said calmly.

The way he said it, it just plain pissed me off. I had participated in hundreds of battles and almost died about eighty percent of the time. I had been a T-freaking-Rex. There was no way this childish jerk was going to push me around. "SO MOVE YOUR GODLY ASSES DOWN THE ROAD SO YOU DON'T START INVOLVING MORTALS!" I screamed.

Poseidon looked shocked. Had we been fortunate, Zeus would have been shocked also and we could have pranced away in that time. But, as everyone knows, the Animorphs are not a fortunate people.

"Marco, you're an idiot," Jake said, absent-mindedly filling in for his cousin.

Let's just say that Zeus did not like my little speech.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, MORTAL?" Zeus asked.

I couldn't help it. Seriously. A god had just shoved his own gigantic face in mine and demanded that I repeat myself. I was an inch from getting squished by his gigantic nose. I whimpered.

Tobias took several steps back from me, as well as Jalil. Well, it was good to know that my friends supported me. I suppose Jake opened his mouth to say something, but that never happened. A giant hand had picked me up and brought me to the level of Zeus, which must have been at least thirty meters higher than I enjoyed being in a human body.

"YOU DON'T SEEM SO TALKATIVE ANYMORE," Zeus laughed heartily. "WHAT IS IT HUMAN? HAS YOUR TONGUE BEEN CUT OFF?" Man, that guy really, really sucked at sarcasm.

I felt very, very awkward being in a battle situation as a human. Usually, I was a gorilla or a wolf. I didn't enjoy the idea of being little Marco in the hands of gigantic Zeus. Before I even thought, I had begun morphing. While I was screaming, of course.

((Marco! Marco shut up!))

"NO-I-WILL-NOT-SHUT-UP-TOBIAS!" I yelled as Zeus shook me back and forth and basically treated me as if I was a toy airplane that had just gone into the mayday phase of play. Diving as an osprey is fun. Diving as a human is not. "AAAHHHHHHHHH!"

((If you would shut up, you would hear Jalil yelling at you. He thinks you can acquire Zeus.))

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?"

((Your choice, if you'd rather be shaken to death, by all means have fun.))

I resolved to tell Tobias how much I hated his ability to not panic when my life was at stake. At least, if I lived. For the moment, I concentrated on Zeus. It was not hard, after all, his hand was right there around me. I was getting really dizzy and was about to barf when the shaking slowed. Zeus seemed very confused.

"Easy, big guy," I said as he put me down sleepily.

"What. What is… Poseidon thinks he owns the winds," he said in a quiet sort-of booming voice.

"Could you just, maybe, move down a couple hundred yards so that the people don't suffer?" I asked, hoping for a better result than the last.

"Yes, of course." Absent-mindedly, Zeus headed off down the shore, followed by a very surprised and confused brother.

Jake, Tobias, Jalil and David all burst out laughing. They didn't stop laughing for a very long time. Even Merlin chuckled a little bit. "A very astonishing display," he said.

I waited until they were done, then put my arm around Tobias. "So, buddy. What's the deal with being so calm while my hot little life is on the line?"

This time, Tobias filled in for her. "Marco, you're an idiot."

A/N: Little bit of a fun chapter. I wonder what Marco will do with that Zeus morph. If you liked the chapter, hated the chapter or just feel like saying hi, please review!