I stared with interest, my anger now forgotten, at the new ones that had entered my cave. Don't they have any self preservation? Don't they know to not intrude in my territory when they're weaker? And they look almost just like my two-leg form. 

I shifted into a two-leg, and looked at them. I walked back and forth, trying to see all the different angles.

"W-what?" One of them...said? They are communicating? Is it a greeting, like how quick furred ones like to sniff the butts of others as a greeting?

"W-what?" I repeated, immensely proud that I had mimicked it almost perfectly. It's just that my voice was a bit off.

"Alex, quiet," A male muttered at the female that had said the greeting. He looked older than the rest, judging from his greyish fur. Or maybe it was a sign of adulthood?

"Hello, I am Gerald Ross, the teacher of class 1 of the Heroic Preparatory Academy. May I know who you are?" He said. His voice was stable, but I could smell the fear that radiated off of him, off of everyone. There were too many words. I couldn't remember them all. So I did my best.

"Hello, I am Gerald Ross, the teakcher of...class 1 of the Eroic Preporatotory Aca...demy. May I know whoo yoo are?" I tried my best. Is this a ritual? Or this is just a more complicated greeting after saying 'w-what?'?

"Is she some new mute?" I heard a male say quietly to another male. I think he didn't think I would hear it, but with this weak form, I had made sure that my senses weren't too dull.

"Is she some new mute?" I copied. The two males looked at me in shock, before cowering behind a female.

"How long have you been here?" the first male said to me.

"How long hhave you been hhere?" I said back. Perhaps I'm doing this wrong? Should I be doing something else? I stopped pacing back and forth, and put all my attention to the first male.

"Yooo, been here? Have you?" I tried mixing the sounds. The first male, and the rest, was quiet. Usually, I wouldn't bother, but they have made me very, very interested and curious. 

"I have not been here before," The first male said. New sound! There is now the sound 'not'.

"Not...been here?" I muttered to myself. 'Been here'... does he mean my den? 'Not'... he has not been to my den before, or I would remember him. So that means... he hasn't been to my den before!

"Yes, I haven't been here before," the first male said, saying another new sound. He just repeated what he had said before, except for the 'yes' sound. Does that mean he's repeating it from before, but has to put a new sound to show that he's repeating? Or does that mean he is affirming that he has not been here before? Or is that a sound to express fear? Time to mix some sounds and see what I get. This is fun! 

I sat down, and said, "Been here have not you. Iiii been here. You I academy? 1? Teakcher class academy heroic."

He stayed silent, his eyes roving around my body and the cave.

"Have you been here your whole life?" He whispered. Hmm. 'Whole' and 'life'. Or is 'whole' and 'life' one sound? 'Been here' is my den... 'whole life'... is he asking if this is my den? Or is he asking if...hm.

"Yes, have you been hhere your whole life?" I said to him. 

"Do you wish to harm us?" he said. More new sounds! But there were too many. I can't figure them out.

"Do you not know our language?" He said. 'Not' means 'no'? 'You' means me... He says 'Do' when his speech ends with an up-tilt sound. Language is ritual? 'Do you not know our ritual?' is that what he means?

"Yes, not know our language," I tried. Hmm. Maybe I should mix the new words? But before I could, the first female who spoke said even more quietly than the two males, "It's like she's just repeating what we say and guessing the meaning."

So many new words!

Either the first male didn't hear or ignored the female, he said, "Can we stay the night?" That was met with gasps of shock, with quick glances between him and me.

"Stay night? Do language harm not?" I said. Were we actually playing a game?

"Yes, yes, night stay language harm not do you!" I added more words.

The first male nodded slowly, and sat down. Then, he glanced at the other ones behind him. It must've meant something, because they all sat down. The first female was on the fringes of the group that sat down, and she was on my side, like she had been flanking me. Flanking me... I looked to the other side, and saw ones there. And in the front were also ones. Are they going to attack me?

I stood up and growled at them.

"You I safe academy language hurt!" I said randomly. The first male's forearm disappeared, and within his hand was a shiny thing. His hand moved on the shiny thing and another things flew out. I dodged to the side, and shifted into the big furred form. They were actually trying to steal my den and territory! The male yelled something, and he continued to squeeze the shiny thing, making sharp things hit me. It was like he was shooting the buzzing ones out his paw! 

But gradually, I felt more and more tired. My eyelids suddenly shut, and I collapsed onto the ground.

-==-

"Harlan, Kate, and Jorge, restrain her," Mr. Ross commanded the boys, putting his tranquilizer gun back into its holster on his waist. "Use anything you can."

"Did we just see an intelligent mute? Or was she some sort of powered child that was abandoned, like in that movie, The Ghost? And the way her hair just hangs in front of her face is like that spirit from The Ring!" Terry whispered excitedly to Hannah, already forgetting that he had hidden behind her after being noticed by the mute.

As expected, Hannah ignored him with a 'hm', and walked away.

With no other conversation partner with Harlan restraining the mute, and with the others studiously ignoring him, he turned to Alex, and started talking to her, forgetting that she was the class reject. 

"And she was so hot! I mean, look at her tits, even if they're small. Too bad she was so muscular, and her eyes. And her mouth and tongue! Her ears, though... I wanna touch them. They're like elf ears! I wanna see if they really are...sensitive points, if ya know what I mean," Terry blabbered, raising his eyebrow at her.

"Her nails were so long, and her hair was so tangled and greasy, but I bet you that she'll be a real looker if she cleaned up and wore a dress," Terry continued. 

Why is he saying this to me? Did he think I didn't know about his little crush on me? Is he trying to make me jealous? No, no. Don't be so egotistical. I frowned, annoyed at him.

The mute stirred every once in a while, but Mr. Ross would hit her with a dose of his tranquilizer every time.

Once the snowstorm had abated, Mr. Ross gathered the class and announced, "We'll be cutting this trip short. I will contact the school once we are in range to arrange transportation. We will also be bringing along her." He said, looking at the sleeping mute.

"We can't be sure if she's a new mute or if she's a human of the animorph category," He explained. "We will be heading out now."

Everyone filed behind him, and we slowly made our way back to civilization.