This is just something i thought of writing one day. Sorry if it's not the best... flames and opinions appreciated... :)
Alex
I grasped the bat more tightly in my hands, watching as my friend, and pitcher, winded up the ball, preparing to throw it at me. But I was ready.
He threw. I brought the bat back a little, putting all the force I could into the swing, and...
THWOK!
Hit! The ball sailed out of the park, and I whooped for joy.
"Ha! Beat that!" I yelled happily, tossing the bat aside and starting to run. The pitcher, Seth, watched as one of his team-mates went to retrieve the ball.
"It better not be squashed flat like last time Alex!" He complained, tossing his hat to the ground. I hit the home plate seconds later, still smiling.
"And if it is, I'll be paying for a new one. I know, I know" I replied as Seth's twin, Sean, returned with the ball. Thankfully, it was still nice and round.
My name's Alex by the way. Alexander, Alex, whatever you like to call me. Anything but Alejandro. That's the name on my birth certificate. I hate that name.
I'd turned sixteen a few days before this particular baseball game, by the way.
It's been twenty two years since the Yeerks on earth were defeated by a small group of kids about our age. Since then, Earth has had a lot of contact with alien races; Andalites, Chanaibens, Skrit Naa (I think that's how you spell it,) Runchak, Hork Bajir...
And the list goes on and on and on...
Me and my friends? Well, we're the kids of those kids. Funny as it sounds, but it's true. Sean and Seth's dad is actually an alien. Then again, we all knew it would probably happen some day.
He's a Chanaiben, believe it or not. Translated; Changeling. A shape-shifter. And lucky for Sean and Seth, they got their dad's cool talent.
"See, it's not flat. What are you so worried about?" A girl named Nicole asked as I handed the bat to her. She gave me a wink before turning to Seth.
Nicole is the daughter of two Animorphs. Jake, who's my dad's best friend, and Cassie. She's got tanned skin, and her dad's serious brown eyes, but her mums curly brown hair. And to me, she's beautiful.
"Well, usually Alex hits it so hard it ends up on the freeway" Cody said as he stood in the right field. He was another 'Animorph' kid. His mother was Rachel, and his father was Tobias. The result was a weird mix between the two; he has his fathers' distant eyes, and his mothers fighting spirit.
Me? I got the joker Animorph for a dad. Marco.
He's not a bad father, it's just a lot of the time he doesn't know when to be serious.
The funny thing is, I look just like him. Dark hair, dark brown eyes, maybe a few shades lighter in the skin colour, and a little taller, but other than that... I'm a carbon copy of him. It's not so bad. Nicole thinks I look cute, and I seriously don't mind being called cute by her. So she's about two inches taller than me? So what?
"Nothing I can't go chasing after" A Chanaiben boy called Elfangor-Esgarrouth- Simtal. Well, he looks like a Chanaiben. He's actually half Andalite, half Chanaiben. A weird mix I know, and I have NO idea how his parents managed that. I don't intend to ask them either. He's actually got a sister. She looks like an Andalite. Her name is Aerionna-Sirinal-Istren. Weird names, I know. But so is telling you I play baseball with a bunch of aliens. Could be worse.
(Mother would dislike you chasing after baseballs on the freeway. It is too dangerous) Aerionna said to him, watching us from the sidelines. She usually doesn't like to play baseball, but on occasions she becomes human and joins us.
"Are you threatening to tell?" He asked mockingly, smiling and opening the leathery wings on his back. He flew about four feet off the ground, then dropped back down.
(Yes. And you know what would happen if mother finds out. She will tell father)
I swear, he lost about three shades of blue in about two seconds. He was a little more than intimidated by his father. His name was War Prince Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. That's a pretty high rank for an Andalite. His mother was Rtaia. Yeah, you know, the Rtaia. And she just happened to get together with the Aximili.
"So what? Who cares if he finds out?" A girl called Toni asked a little coldly as she covered second base. Seth made the windup, threw, and...
THWOK!
Nicole hit! It sent the ball flying in almost exactly the same direction I did.
"Do you guys think alike or something?!" Seth cried, throwing his hat down again and stomping it into the ground.
"I'll get it" Elfangor said, rolling his eyes before flying off to get it.
(Be careful) His sister called.
Nicole ran, and she hit third base just before my sister Michelle caught the ball Elfangor threw. She's about three years younger, but she's the biggest tom-boy you could ever come across. Her hair comes down just over her years, and she always raids my old clothes. She's got mums creepy green eyes, and her skin colour is a few shades lighter than mine. But other than that, you can tell she's my sister.
"Cutting it close Nikki" Megan said, shaking her head. Did I tell you Michelle was a twin? Well, she is, and they're identical. Besides the fact that Megan actually dresses like a girl. And her hair went down to her shoulder blades as well.
She was guarding first base.
"Hey, she made it that far" I said picking up the bat again, looking at my watch. Almost four in the afternoon. Not bad. I still had an hour to go.
We played for another hour, before me and my sisters headed home. The others split off too, going in other directions. Little did I know that might be the last time I played baseball. Ever.
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"Did you find it?" My mom asked.
"Yeah, here it is" I handed her the old toiletries bag I'd found in my mess of a room (I don't even remember when I got it). She shoved a few things in (like a new toothbrush and that), then shoved it in my overstuffed camping bag.
"And while we're at it, why don't we take the kitchen sink too?" My dad asked from somewhere out in the hallway.
"If I could I would" She cooed back, standing up and smirking a little. My mom was another short kind of person, maybe the tiniest bit taller than my dad, but she always seemed to be like... right up there, you know? Like mothers should be. But there's more to her that meets the eye. My mum's a shape-shifter.
Seth and Seans dad, the Chanaiben? Well, the story goes that in a battle for earth they met, and they were both bloodied from the adults fighting around them (I think they were about ten or so). His blood mixed with hers, as well as Sean and Seth's mother and a guy who's now Toni's dad, and guess what? They all became shape-shifters.
So guess what I am? Besides the son of the joker Animorph? Yep, you got it. I'm a shape-shifter as well. It's passed from parent to child apparently.
Although I haven't actually tried it out myself. Haven't felt the need to.
"Maybe Ax could help you with that" My dad said, and my mum rolled her eyes and turned to me. I was glad I got my mom. She knows how to handle dad when he gets a little uncooperative. And she treats me like an equal.
"Do me a favour"
"Yeah mom?"
"Don't ever, ever turn out like your dad, ok?" I laughed and nodded. She left the room, and seconds later I saw Megan fly past my bedroom door.
"Mooooomm!!"
"Whaaaaat??" She replied sarcastically. Another good thing about her is she can handle Megan's whining.
"Do we have to go?"
"Yes, we have to go, all of us"
"But, but..."
"Oh stop acting like you're two. It'll be fun to get away for a while" There was a short silence from Megan, then....
"Daaaaaaaddd!!"
"Sorry kiddo, but I gotta agree with your mom. Plus, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again"
I laughed "Sounds like you're outnumbered Meggs"
We were actually going to a reunion. But it wasn't on earth. We were taking a trip on a Chanaiben ship called the Mikpalla to the Chanaiben home world. Apparently mom had been there before when a different war was going on. Dad hadn't.
And us kids... well, let's just say the furthest we'd been from earth was on a plane from America to Australia, then back again.
The reason why we were all meeting there? Aerionna and Elfangor's parents lived there. Her and her brother just stayed with Cody and his parents on Earth from time to time. And their parents were actually hosting it. Funny for those two. They're both so serious and stuff.
Two hours later, with our bags finally packed, and Megan still complaining, we boarded the large ship. There were hundreds of others, both human and alien, on the same flight we were on. Along with the original members of the Animorphs and the four shape-shifters.
The inside was actually a lot like the inside of a 747, only a lot bigger and longer. I think the Chanaibens have actually gotten used to travelling with humans.
The parents sat in one part of the ship, while the ten of us sat in another part. Aerionna became human and sat with us, looking like any normal teenager.
I sat next to Nicole, believe it or not. Seth sat on the other side of me. My sisters and Elfangor sat in front, Sean, Cody and Aerionna sat behind us. Toni sat by herself, off to the side. How unusual.
"This seat is soft. Sof-tuh. It is quite nice" Aerionna said, playing with mouth sounds. Andalites don't really have mouths, so it was funny listening to her play with sounds. And food? Run when you see an Andalite in human form around food. It's dangerous being anywhere near them when they're eating.
"Nice to know it's so sof-tuh" Megan mimicked, still a little grumpily.
Over the loudspeaker, we heard the 'captain' announcing we were about to take off, and to 'buckle our seatbelts'. I swear, Chanaibens must have picked up a sense of humour from humans.
We did, and very soon I felt a sharp jolt upwards, then nothing for about a full five minutes.
"Hey, look at this!" Nicole cried, pointing out a window. I looked past her, straining my neck to see what she was looking at. And I saw...
"Hey! We're in space!" I cried, not really believing my own eyes. It was dark, and the stars twinkled brightly. It was a breathtaking sight.
"Closing all portal hatches. Preparing for Z-space flight" they announced. Very soon there was nothing but the dull overheads to look at.
"Is there a movie on this flight?" Michelle wondered.
"Why don't you go ask?" Toni sneered. Seth rolled his eyes.
"My dad says it only takes about two hours to get there through Z-space. Before they knew it existed, it took them about six months"
"I could not stay on this ship for six months with you guys" Megan muttered.
"Or our parents. My folks drive me nuts as it is" Nicole muttered "At least on earth I can get away from them"
I snickered, nodding in agreement. The two hours were really quite boring, and after endless jokes and word games like eye-spy (which was so boring Nicole fell asleep) we all just kind of gave up and fell silent. Especially since an old adult Chanaiben a few seats over from Toni in the next row kept giving us funny looks.
"It's funny, isn't it?" Nicole said suddenly, waking me up since I'd started to doze.
"What is?"
"We're here, in space. Were taking a trip in an alien spaceship and getting nasty looks from an alien who just sees us as a small bunch of annoying kids"
"What's so funny about it?"
"Well, my parents say that when they were our age, humans could barely tolerate the idea of aliens being 'real'. It was like 'alien? Ahhh!' And now..."
"Yeah, my parents say the same thing. And in the famous words of Marco the Animorph, this is insane!" I cried, imitating my dad's facial expression, and Nicole laughed.
Again, we caught the Chanaiben giving us dirty looks, then turned away from us when we were silent again. But Nicole and I smirked at each other, trying not to burst out laughing.
Very soon, there was an announcement that said we'd come out of Z-space, and the view portholes were opened. We looked out, and down to see an amazing sight.
A beautiful gold and green planet rose up to meet us. The trees were a bluish grey, and from what I could see there were clumps spaced here and there, but for the most part it looked like a desert. Not as hot as one, I hoped.
Finally, we began our decent towards the planet that would become our home for the next few months of our lives.