Whatever Sinks Your Sub

[Rox]

Rox flew high over the water as a white dove. She was above Allie and Nadia, who were both in the water, snorkeling. Normally she wouldn't be caught dead with those two, but this was a special circumstance. They had overheard a different snorkeler say they had seen a sunken sub off the coast and were going to go try and find it. Rox agreed to go with as the eyes in the sky on the off chance that they actually found something.

She acanned the water below but didn't see anything yet. They were pretty far out by now, but Rox wasn't too nervous. She could still see the land from her height, and this bird morph seemed to have a natural instinct that told it which way the land was.

<<See anything yet? I think I see a dark shape underwater about a hundred away forward and slightly to your left.>> Rox was getting bored and regretting her choice to 'help.' This was about the twentieth dark shape she had spotted. None of them had been very rewarding so far. <<You guys about ready to go back yet?>> Rox asked, none to kindly.

[serena]

Nadia swam forward, her eyes cast downward in search for any sign of a sunken sub. Allie was snorkeling with her and Rox was keeping an eye on them in case they found something or something found them. She heard Rox in her head.

Nadia aimed her body to the left towards the direction Rox had suggested. She lifted her head above the water and looked at Allie. "I'm not quite satisfied with the results I found. How about you, Allie?"

[Allie]

Allie swam along with Nadia nearby, to one side of her. She almost wouldn't have remembered Rox was above her playing lookout except for when she spoke. That girl really gets on my nerves. Whatever happened to her prior to becoming an Animorph may have been bad, but it shouldn't allow her to be such a witch.

Allie followed Nadia's direction, but the blob again was not what they were looking for. It was supposed to be out here, and the sunken sub sounded just too suspicious to Allie. Still, with their eye in the sky getting impatient they might not find what they were looking for.

Allie popped her head up and sighed. "Either we're chasing a wild goose or we're missing it. I'm not satisfied with these results, but we can't stay out here too long. If only because our eye in the sky is liable to abandon us. I don't trust that Rox wouldn't if she got tired enough of watching us and we really should have someone watching just in case."

[Rox]

Rox flew a few more circles around the girls, then prepared to head back. They could stay out here if they wanted, but Rox wasn't about to waste away her whole afternoon on some wild goose chase. It was just as she was turning to leave that she spotted something. It was a glint from under the water. It only shined for a split second, but she had seen it.

<<I think I just saw something. For real this time. Not just a shape.>> Rox flew over to it and circled around. There was definitely something down there.

<<About a half mile to your right. Think you can make it?>> Rox knew that a half mile was quite a ways to swim, and she wasn't sure how much longer she had in morph. Forty minutes, tops, and she was quite a distance from the shore. <<Just don't dwaddle. I can't flap over this spot all day, you know.>>

[serena]

Nadia really wanted to be able to find something out here, but it didn't seem like it was happening today. So as they hovered in the water, she glanced down from time to time. She agreed with Allie, and said, "I know. One minute she could be there, the next she could be telling us au revoir and leave us here."

Then Rox's voice rang in their heads. "I think it might help to know what you, see, Rox." She sighed. A wild goose chase was about to lead them to some other location, she knew it. She listened to the direction and nearly let herself sink. "A half mile?"

Nadia inwardly winced. "That is quite a ways, but I think I can manage." She ignored Rox's remark. If she had decided to say something, she might have said something along the lines of 'Gee, you think? Nah, Allie and I are having too much fun with our tea party over here.' But she focused on the task at hand. "What about you, Allie?"

[Rox]

Rox was quickly getting impatient. And tired. <<While you two slowpokes figure out how to get over here, I'm going to find a spot to rest my wings. I see a barge not too far away. At least I think it's a barge. Hopefully you'll be in the right spot by the time I get back.>>

Rox headed west without another word. If Nadia and Allie were disagreeing with her decision, she couldn't hear them from her spot up in the air anyway. Besides, she would be right back. At least that was the plan.

However, by the time she neared the barge, (it really was a barge) she was surrounded by the seagulls that were scavenging the barge's contents. She planned on just ignoring them, but the seagulls had other plans. A few of them tried to nip at her wings. Then they were outright pecking at her in the air. This was not good. Rox decided to head back towards the other two, but by this time it was too late. The seabirds seemed determined to drive her off, and they were succeeding.

<<Allie! Nadia!>> Rox wasn't sure if they were even still within thought speech range. One of the seagulls got in a lucky shot and pegged her in the head. Rox went into a slight daze and by the time she came out of it, she was landing in the water. The cold waves snapped her out of it, but doves were not meant to swim. <<Help!>> she screamed, but she knew they were too far away to help. Rox tried to flap towards the surface as her feathers became more and more clogged with saltwater.

[Allie]

Allie turned her head toward Rox as she spoke. Rox had seen a lot of somethings from her spot in the air that had so far turned out to be nothing. She started swim toward where Rox was while Nadia was talking and was ahead of Nadia by a bit when the other girl questioned if she could make it.

"It think I can make it, but that is going to have to be the last place we check today. I wish was had aquatic morphs, that would make this so much easier." Sadly Allie's only morphs were her cat, lion, and horse and none of them were really built for the kind of swimming Allie was thinking they'd need.

She was nearly to the spot Rox had been, or where she'd thought it was, when she heard Rox's call for help. "Oh crap! Nadia, Animorph down! Rox's dove is not built for water." But neither of them had morphs that could help her. "Rox! Can you hear me!" It would be just their luck if Rox was out of earshot. Think Allie. What can you do to help her? Sadly, she wasn't coming up with anything.

[serena]

Nadia agreed. "Water morphs would be very useful right about now, wouldn't it?" She started swimming to the spot that Rox was when she heard Allie's words. Rox fell in? That bird not built for water? Uh-oh! "Rox!"

Nadia swam as fast as she could, but then she had to stop. "What can we do from over here? Think our cat morphs could swim?" Her mind was freezing; it wouldn't let her come up with any smart ideas of how to help Rox. Hang on, Rox...we're coming...somehow.

[Rox]

Rox slowly stopped sinking and started floating towards the surface. She was still trying to flap her way up, but that seemed to have little to do with it. She figured it had more to do with birds having hollow bones.

Or at least she would have figured that had she been in her right frame of mind at the moment. Sure, she was going up, but at the moment she was still underwater. And even when she reached the surface she still would be unable to swim. Rox concentrated on her human form as best she could in her frantic state and slowly the changes began.

Tiny fingers appeared at the ends of her wings, wiggling like mini oars. Medium-length black hair sprouted from her head, trailing behind her and floating in front of her eyes. Eyes which were now moving to the front of her face, rather than the side. Her legs began to lengthen and thicken as her overall mass increased as well.

Rox finally broke the surface of the water and gasped for a breath of air through her beak. She got mostly water. Her wings were now nearly-armless hands and wiggling to try and keep her upright. Rox could feel her bones thickening. That combined with her water-logged feathers was enough to pull her back down.

Her tiny bird skull stretched and thickened. Her beak dissolved into lips and ears raised out from the sides of her head.

Come on arms, I need you, Rox thought to herself. Her tiny clawed feet filled in and became more like paddles. That helped, but wasn't good enough. Her feathers finally began to reabsorb into her skin, revealing her morphing suit. And then, finally, her arms lengthened, allowing her better control in her aquatic environment.

As the last changes occurred, Rox broke the surface once again, this time breathing in mostly air. However, she knew she wouldn't be able to hold out for long. Rox was an extremely poor swimmer. She had maybe a couple minutes before she became completely worn out from trying to keep her head above the ocean waves. Even now she was too exhausted and swallowed too much water to be able to call out to Nadia and Allie.

Another morph then, Rox realized bitterly. But her only other morph was a goldfish. Probably. She never morphed it before so she only assumed she had acquired it. And would it be able to survive in ocean water anyway? Now would be the time to find out.

Rox concentrated on the little orange fish she had thrown into the garbage can so many days previous. She took its life, but hopefully it would save hers. To Rox's great relief, her eyelids melted away and the saltwater rushed in to sting the exposed eyes underneath.

She was morphing.

[Allie]

Nadia suggested the cat morphs, and Allie wasn't sure how well those would work but they had to try something. "I really don't know if the cats will swim well enough, but that's about the only thing we have to try and we need to do something," she said. "The only other option is acquiring something, and every fish in here seems to swim away from us."

With that she focused on the DNA of the lion she had acquired with Nadia's help. Her hair lightened from a dark brown to a golden one as fur started to spread across her skin and her nails turned into claws. Hopefully I can do something like this.... hopefully.

[serena]

Nadia always loved morphing her panther morph--it was by far her favorite one to do. "It was the only thing I could come up with." Then she focused on the panther. The fur came first, and the claws, and then everything else came in. The cat's instincts was to try and get out of the water, but Nadia pushed that aside.

<Okay, this cat can swim, but she does not like it.> Nadia remarked. Then she tried to find Rox. <Rox, are you all right? We're coming, just hang on!> We can make it, we can make it, we can make it.

[Rox]

By the time Rox was nearly completely morphed into a goldfish, she was unbelievably disoriented. And having the fish's instincts kick in didn't help one bit either.

Rox darted off in a flash of orange scales before she even knew what hit her. Too exposed! Deeper! Burning gills! Too exposed! Deeper! Burning gills! Too exposed! Deeper! Burning gills! Her simple fish brain had trouble determining which problem to remedy first, so instead she just darted back and forth, up and down, towards what seemed to be a patch of seaweed. It was hard to tell with goldfish vision.

It was seaweed, floating at the ocean's surface. The shade it provided calmed her mind just a hair, but she still wasn't in control. Her mind was still racing, trying to figure out how to get away from this salty water that was slowly killing her. And the threat of predators was constantly nagging her at the back of her mind.

In the end, it was the goldfish's confusion that allowed Rox to regain control. She knew why her gills were burning and how to get away from predators. All she had to do was reach shore and demorph. Of course he fish brain couldn't comprehend it, but it was connected to Rox's so the knowledge of where safety awaited was passed on between the two minds.

<<Wh- where are you guys?>> Rox finally managed to ask, still thoroughly shaken up. She wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to survive with her gills on fire like this. She tried to look around but her vision was horrible. She thought she saw a dark blob not far away and she swam towards it. She had to fight the goldfish's urge to swim away, but her willpower ultimately prevailed over the overwhelming fear.

But Rox soon wished she hadn't prevailed. It wasn't until it was too late that she realized she had messed up big time. Allie and Nadia weren't the only big things out in the ocean. Before she could even turn around, she was sucked into a large cave entrance with razor sharp stalactites and stalagmites lining the entrance. At least it seemed to be a cave at Rox's current scale. But the entrance closed behind her just as she knew it would. Rox had just been eaten by a shark.

<<Nooooo!>>

[Allie]

Allies lion morph was responding to water the same way Nadia's panther was. It could swim, but it didn't really want to. Still, it was all she had to work with. The horse morph would probably sink like a rock and the bi-color cat morph would be more against water than this one was.

<<I don't know,>> Allie called to Rox. <<I can't really see you now. What morph are you in?>>

Allie paddled around trying to spot Rox. What morphs did she have? She remembered the dove and thought there might have been a small fish of some sort, but not something that would do well in salt water. There was a sudden moment where Allie felt like panicking, then Rox screamed and she really did panic.

<<Rox! Where are you? What happened?>> This wasn't good. This had gone very wrong now, and Allie had forgotten all about finding the sub in favor of finding her teammate before something happened.