Surf and Turf [Open]

[Rox]

When Rox left Arbella, she had to leave her job at the lab behind. She figured SPECTER would provide her with another job, but so far they hadn't. She was starting to run low on cash so she figured it was time to take matters into her own hands.

So far Rox had applied at three different places. A grocery store, a valet parking service, and some beach patrol place that hired lifeguards and beach security. So far the only place she had gotten an interview with was the beach patrol. However, the interview did not go so well. They got all mad when Rox told them she couldn't swim very well. They said something about 'wasting their time' and 'why did she even bother' and other stuff like that. Pretty much they were extremely rude.

And that is the reason Rox was now standing in some waist-deep water behind some rocks a short way down the coast from where the beach patrol place was. They had a nice beach out in front of the place where a lot of people were swimming, making sandcastles, surfing, and doing other beach-type activities. Rox concentrated on her shark morph. They would regret ever being so rude to Roxanne Cranston. She didn't plan on hurting anyone, but boy would today be memorable for the beach patrol.

"Hehehehe," Rox said to herself with a gleeful grin on her face as the first of the changes took place.

[Johnny]

Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oooohhhhh! Yeeeeeeaaaaahh! Yeah, yeah, YEAH! Johnny sat on the sand with his mouth wide open and his tongue hanging out. He was lost in bliss. In a way, he had a good reason. Johnny was Dalmatian and was receiving the best belly-rub ever! It was in no way demeaning to him because the person doing it was a very attractive blonde. Besides, the dog loved it way to much.

Johnny loved coming down to the beach, as human, eagle, dog, or whatever. Human's could swim, talk to people, get dates, hang out, and other things. Eagles could soar way up high and terrorize little kids (not that Johnny would ever do a thing like that), snatch food, and just watch everything going on. Dogs could swim, play, eat things, snatch things, and...get belly-rubbed! And if a girl rubbed or petted him, he could snoop around inconspicuously to decide if he would like her.

So because of the belly-rub, Johnny was totally unaware of anything going on around him.

[Rox]

<<Hmm, what should I do first?>> Rox asked herself. She was gliding silently under the waves about a hundred feet from the shore. She had looped around and stayed near the ocean floor so as not to attract attention to herself prematurely. She scanned the surface, pushing her shark senses to their limits. Her shark instincts didn't really like being so close to shore, or around so many people, but it was easy for Rox to control herself.

<<Ah ha! Bingo.>> There was a large floating rectangle on the surface, bobbing up and down on the waves. It was one of those floating lounge chair things. The kind that stuck-up girls always used for tanning. Or at least that's what Rox told herself in order to justify making it her first target.

Rox pumped her tail, gaining speed as she neared the surface. She could sense the person's electrical aura as she neared them, so she knew someone was on top of it. Her nose struck! She kept going, up, into the air. The person on the floating lounge chair was tipped over as Rox flew into the air, teeth flashing, then crashed down into the water once more. She heard screams as she swam along the shoreline, keeping her dorsal fin above the water like sharks always did in the movies.

[Johnny]

Now Johnny was aware of something. His canine ears were picking of over a hundred screams in the air. Most were just pure noise, but some actually said something. "SHAAAARK!" or "Shark in the water!" but that was about it. He wasn't too worried about it though. Sharks couldn't survive on land and he was forty feet from the shore. He did worry about it when the blonde scratching behind his ears ran off. Darn, and I was starting to like her too.

Johnny decided to investigate this shark. He got to his feet and trotted down close to the shoreline, rubbing past dozens of people going the opposite way. He was aboutt wo feet away when he had a brilliant idea. He began barking at the fin in the water. Loud, bellowing barks. His morph had a pretty good set of lungs on it. And annoying too. If he hadn't been the one doing it, he would've told himself to shut up.

That was when he got antoher idea, since the shark didn't appear to be turning away. Leroy and Jamilan and the others had constantly busted him about thought-speaking to everyone in his area because they had to protect their identity, but who could a shark tell? Nobody would get close enough to listen.

So he yelled at it. <<Hey Mr. Sharkie! Go away, Mr. Sharkie. Go away! We're all red meat here, and do you know what that can do to your cholestoral? Not to mention the layers and layers of sunblock and suncreen that can ruin any appetite. So it'd be in your best interest to GO AWAY, maybe catch a school of flounder or make a few clams. I dunno. But go away! You're scaring everyone away would could possibly give me a belly-rub!>>

[Rox]

Rox was having all kinds of fun scaring the beach-goers. She swam past the kids in the shallows, nudged a few adults swimming further out, and even took a bite out of some guy's surfboard. That last one would have been cooler if she hadn't swallowed the piece she bit out of it. But nonetheless, Rox was having a blast!

That is, until she heard the voice. It was that voice. The voice that seemed to follow her wherever she went and made every situation almost unbearable. It was Johnny's voice.

What in the world is he doing here, Rox wondered. Why couldn't SPECTER have left him in Mariposa? However, despite her annoyance, Rox didn't respond. She didn't want to let Johnny know that it was her who was doing this. She could care less about Johnny finding out, but if the other animorphs knew, she was pretty sure they wouldn't be too happy with her.

But this opportunity was just too good to be true. If Johnny would just come a little further out into the water, Rox had a surprise for him. One that he wouldn't soon forget. Although for now she just had to act like a normal, vicious shark. Rox practically mauled the nearest empty inner tube.

[Johnny]

Johnny stood there barking at the fin slicing through the water and yelling at it in thought-speak. It didn't seem to effect it. Maybe the shark was brainless? But then it couldn't move. It could've been a robot. Robots didn'ts have brains. Johnny didn't think the shark had a brain because all of the countless other animals he had though-spoken too had gone crazy looking for where the voice came from. But this shark different. It was very weird.

Staring out across the bluish water, Johnny kept track of the fin. He watched and barked as it passed several people, causing them to scream and yell. Then it demolished a ducky inner tube. A woman started shrieking. Very loud, way louder than anyone else, which was really tough since dozens of people were screeching louder than fingernails on a chalkboard. And way more annoying. But the words caught Johnny's attention.

"MY BABY! MY BABY!" Johnny picked the words out of the air easily with his morph. He switched over to Serious Johnny, someone he barely knew. He scanned the water, looking for where the woman was at. Then he saw her. And he saw the baby. It was in its only little float with a rope attached to it. He also saw the shark attacking the duck inner tube right between them. THe woman was several yards away, wanting to get closer but being afraid of the shark. The baby was screaming and crying. Johnny did the only thing he could do.

He bolted through the shallow edge of the ocean. He kicked up water and sand behind him until he could no longer reach the ground. Then he began swimming. He couldn't do the backstroke, but the dog swam its own way. The baby was actually closer to him than the shark was so that's where he headed. When he was halfway there, he began yelling and berrating the shark again.

<<Eh, scram! Skee-daddle! Go away! Nobody wants you here. Leave! Begone! Get away from here! You're a menace! Go away or I'll call my friendly neighborhood dolphins to attack you! Scat!>> He kept paddling closer.

[Rox]

Now was her chance! Rox saw that Johnny had made his way out to deeper water where she could now reach him. She didn't know why he would do such a thing with a shark in the water, but hey, she wasn't about to complain. Rox slid under the surface of the ocean so that her dorsal fin wouldn't give her away, then changed direction and headed towards Johnny.

As she swam, Johnny was yelling all sorts of useless warnings at him. Pff, as if a shark would be afraid of a wimpy dolphin, Rox thought to herself. She had no idea that dolphins actually did attack sharks sometimes. Besides, she was too focused on her prey at the moment to worry about stuff like that.

<<Duh duh. Duh duh. Duhudhduhduhduhduhduhduh.>> She sang the Jaws theme to herself as she sprung forward toward the dog. She opened her jaws wide, then clamped down hard, aiming for the tail. She was going to try and tug him around a bit, just to scare him. But it wasn't until her mouth was shut that she realized what Johnny had been swimming towards. Rox's stomach sank with self shame.

[Johnny]

Johnny had almost reached the child. He could almost stetch out his neck and grab the rope attached to the float so it could be pulled easily. He paddled a few more strokes and actually bite down on the rope, strangely quieting the kid down a bit. Then something bit down on him.

Razor sharp teeth sliced right through his tail, effectively shearing it down to an inch, and his foot was connected by only a few strands of sinew and muscle. Sandpaper-like scales also tore the fur off of the bottom of his leg. <<AAAAAIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHH!>> he mentally screamed as the dog screamed as well. His open broadcast temporarily shut everyone in the water and on the beach up as the cry filed their minds. He could already smell the blood starting to billowing up around him. He knew enough about sharks to know that wasn't good.

Johnny began demorphing. His fur began withering away and his eyes grew sharper and the colors of the ocean began reappearing. His forepaws were slowly shifting into hands. His knees reversed direction. His tail quickly sucked itself up into his spine with a barely audible SHLOOP! Salty tears began running down his partially human face. The foot had not healed yet.

After another agonizing minute, one that ranked just below being half-eaten by a piranha, the muscles and flesh slowly began covering his foot. His hands and arms were human now, as most of his torso was. He grabbed the rope of the float with one hand as he began trying to swim back to the beach. Blood had turned the water around them for several feet dark red. He knew he was covered in it. He had no time to lose on getting the screaming baby away from there.

Johnny's legs swiftly reformed and he kicked the water, trying to swim away. He stopped for a moment to tie the rope around his arm before trying to swim away. His morph was complete but the shark was still around. Now, it just had a bigger target.

((His foot got caught because he was kicking back.))

[Rox]

It was bad enough that Rox bit off and swallowed a piece of Johnny's tail. Bad enough the she had a strong desire to go back for more. But worst of all was the feeling. The feeling of being completely ashamed of herself. She attacked a dog in front of a baby, for crying out loud! A dog that was actually trying to save that baby. From her!

By the time Rox trusted her own control over the shark's instincts, Johnny had demorphed. It was no easy task controlling the one-track mind of the shark, but Rox had been prepared for it. The first time she had used this morph, she lost control for a while, and she didn't want to have that happen again.

Rox had half a mind to just swim away and pretend that none of this had ever happened. But she couldn't do that. Not with Johnny swimming to shore. It was bad enough that he had already revealed himself as an animorph because of what she had done. She couldn't let him give the crowd a clear view of his face too.

<<Johnny.>> With that one word she admitted her guilt. Confessed to her crime. Sealed her own fate. It stung.

<<Johnny, you can't let them see your face. Cover it up or something. Just... don't let them see you.>> Rox was about to apologize as well, but she held back. It was just too much for her to handle at the moment.

[Johnny]

The tone of Rox's voice told him everything. SHE did it? She caused the panic at the beach which made Johnny rescue a baby that wasn't even in danger? Only to have a foot and tail bitten off? BY A SHARK?! No, by your teammate. Johnny ignored Rox. He kicked out, in the hopes of hitting her but he had no such luck. Johnny did follow her advice, though.

He pulled the baby in front of him, between him and the beach and a hundred people. He calmed the baby down a bit before turning her around. Then he began morphing the dalmatian again. The process was faster, now that he could concentrate solely on it. The toddler wasn't crying as much, but then again, she wasn't watching him. she was watching the beach.

Johnny put the rope in his shifting mouth before swimming again, heading back to shore. His features were vaguely distorted by the morph, but he was becoming more dog-like every second. His morph would be complete by the time he reached the shore. If I reached the shore, he thought darkly.

[Rox]

Rox felt as if something was eating her from the inside out. Not literally, but it was still horrible to feel. Rox was so put off by this unfamiliar emotion that she actually considered letting the shark mind take over. But she couldn't. Not with so much blood in the water. Even now the shark brain was fighting to go investigate.

Since there was little she could do to help without drawing attention to herself as well, Rox decided she had better go demorph. As she began to resume her human shape back at her hiding spot, she realized she would have to explain herself to Johnny. She could not, absolutely COULD NOT, let him go explain the situation to everyone without making sure he heard her side of the story.

<<Johnny, let me expl->> Her thought speech cut out. She would have to morph her dove. She would need it to make sure she could keep up with him if he tried to run away. Even if he didn't, the privacy of thought speech would still be handy.

"This is not good," Rox said to herself as her rows of sharp triangular teeth became human again inside her mouth.

[Johnny]

Johnny dashed down the beach, sand flying everywhere as he just ran. He had arrived at the beach on the wings of an eagle so he had no worries about leaving anything there. The baby had been happily recieved by the mother, who could barely talk through the tears of joy she had cried. And Johnny had just run from the crowd that quickly gathered, talking about a "hero dog". Normally, Johnny would've loved something like that and soak it up like a sponge, but normally Johnny wasn't attacked by his own teammate.

Johnny took a turn and he hid behind a dumpster. There, he began demorphing, getting ready to morph eagle. He could not believe that she had done it! She actually bit him! While saving a child! He heard a brief bit of thoguht-speak in his head, but he ignored it. It was Rox, of course. Johnny didn't want to deal with Rox. His best bet was morph again and escape thought-speak range. Surely the white dove wouldn't be able to keep up with an eagle. Definitely not the gold fish.

Johnny snapped at a mouse that was getting too close with his canine teeth. The rodent scurried away. Spots faded on his skin. He was human. Feathers began forming.

[Rox]

It took Rox a few minutes to finish her transformation, but she was pretty sure Johnny would still be within searching distance. All she needed was some height. Being careful to stay away from the large beech crowd, Rox flew out over the parking lot. It was as good of place to start as any.

She quickly realized that searching with the eyes of a pigeon was not as easy as one might think. Especially with all the places an animorph could hide. Rox decided to try thought speech instead.

<<Johnny? I know you can hear me. I can see you.>> A lie, but hopefully Johnny wouldn't realize it. <<Just let me explain what happened. It isn't as bad as it looked.>> Hopefully that was true. Rox wasn't 100% sure just how bad it looked.

[Johnny]

Johnny stood straight up with his wings out a little. He looked pretty silly, a golden eagle beside a dumpster. He scanned the skies above him with his powerful vision, trying to see if any white doves were flying around. He could hear Rox talking again so she must be in morph. And she claimed that she could see him. He didn't see her, though, so he jumped into the air and began to furiously beat his long wings.

As he began to rise over the dumpster and alley on a thermal, he headed towards the high rise they lived at, passing far over a parking lot. By now, the silence had lasted more than a minute. <<Talk,>> he said, telling Rox with only one word, everything he was feeling. The joys of soaring in the air were just barely soothing him. He just wanted away from Rox.

[Rox]

Just when Rox was about to give up on waiting for a response, she heard Johnny say, <<Talk.>> Now that she knew he was listening, she suddenly didn't know what to say.

<<Um...>> Where to start? Rox spotted a large bird of prey and immediately took off after it. <<Well, first of all, I didn't go to the beach to attack you. Or anyone, for that matter. I was... just trying to scare people away...>> It sounded so pathetic when she said it to someone else.

<<And then you were there so I decided to scare you extra bad because, you know, we don't exactly get along. I wasn't trying to bite off your tail and I did NOT see the baby ahead of time. So quit acting like a little girl running back to mommy.>>