Animorphs

A New Generation

My name is…oh, who am I kidding? This is the most cliché beginning of a story I've ever heard. I mean, how many of these fanfics start with "my name is" so-and-so? I haven't read any of them, that's for sure, so I definitely wouldn't know! Of course, I don't care, either, and the only reason I'm even writing this stupid paper is for English. My teacher, Mrs. Paulsen, told the whole class that we had to write what our purpose in life was. Not like I'm really thinking about that in seventh grade, but I guess I'll tell you what my "manifest destiny" is anyway, because I'm going to be forced to save the world some day.

Yes, it's true. The fate of the human population rests on my shoulders. You may think I'm making up a science fiction story, but, come on, do you think I really want to bear all the responsibility? If I could get out of it I sure as heck would, but since I can't, then I'll tell you about it.

My mom is Rachel and my dad is Marco. Yeah, all you people wanted that to happen, and it did. Or maybe you wanted the Tobias and Rachel thing to happen. Well, that didn't, but too bad for you, I guess. Even though my mom died in a great battle, the night before she came so close to saving the world apparently Marco had harvested a couple of her eggs in her sleep, and shortly after my embryo was formed and implanted into the body of a camel. I don't know or really care about all the gory details, but I've been living with my uncle Broderick (funny how Marco always hated being shipped back and forth between his relatives but that's the exact same thing that happened to me). When my mom died and my dad was later taken to a mental asylum they left me this series of books that had been published under "fiction," called Animorphs. I picked up a copy and discovered in the first line of the book that my mom's cousin Jake was narrating it. I skimmed through the whole series and got the gist: My mom, my dad, Jake, Jake's wife Cassie (who wasn't his wife at the time), and some hawk-boy or falcon or something named Tobias, along with an alien named Aximili, or "Ax" for short, had to save the planet from evil squids called Yeerks. The whole thing ended in a bloody unsatisfying battle.

I haven't seen any of the Animorphs since, but my parents did leave me with the genetic powers of being able to turn into any animal that I wanted to. Fun, I know. When I got ticked off I used to turn into a butterfly and fly away, and Uncle Broderick called the police a couple of times. They never found me. Fortunately I read the books before I started morphing, because I discovered that you can only stay in a morph for two hours at a time.

My dad also wrote me a note before he left me, telling me that I had to take over the responsibility of saving the world, this time from an angry mob of apes, much like the ones in Planet of the Apes, who wanted to commit genocide on humans. I have no idea how he discovered this problem, or if he was just mental, or if this scenario has anything at all to do with the Yeerks, who still exist, by the way. But, anyway, I guess I have to do something about these apes, because they're showing up all over wearing really out-of-style clothing and I kind of need to rescue the fashion world. Oops. I guess I inherited that trait from my mom.

Okay, okay, back to the cheesy introduction. My name is Luca, and I am a twelve-year-old girl. I have straight light brown hair to the middle of my back and hazel eyes, and I'm pretty agile. I do yoga a lot and I enjoy talking to friends, roller blading, shopping, eating, studying Spanish, and writing dark chick angst poetry. I have to save the world from a pack of monkeys, and I can morph into any animal that I want to. My parents left me with the DNA of about 200 species and breeds of animals from their combined genetics, but I can acquire new animals if I touch an animal and go through this funky process of soaking up their DNA through my fingertips. I rarely have to do that, though.

I flopped down on my bed on a Friday evening. My digital clock read 3:14. I had trekked the mile and a half home from James Herriot Junior High (is that name prophetic or what?) after a six-and-a-half hour day at school, and now I was dead tired. I plunked an Alanis Morissette CD into my CD player and lay on my bed with my hands on my stomach as the music droned into my ears.

"Luca."

I sat up from my shallow sleep as I heard the whisper of my name. My eyelids fluttered open and I saw a caterpillar sitting on my window sill.

"Ew, gross!" I shrieked as I flicked it onto my bed. The caterpillar crawled onto my pillow and perched as close to my ear as possible.

Luca, it spoke, and I knew that this was thought-speak, the language of the Animorphs while in the middle of a morph.

"Oh, my gosh. You're one of them," I sighed. "Who are you? Tobias? Dad, escaped from the asylum? That alien dude?"

My name is Evan, he spoke. I am your long-lost brother.

"Yeah, right. I don't have a brother," I said. "Get lost. I'm trying to nap here."

You're right, sweet Luca, Evan told me, causing my nose to wrinkle up. "Sweet Luca"? Puke on my shoes.

You must save the world, now, Evan elaborated. Do it for your mother.

"I never met my mother and I don't care to," I told him. "Now would you please get out of my room? I don't know how to save the stupid world, and besides, there's just one of me anyway. The Animorphs don't exist anymore."

The apes are taking over the world, Evan pleaded, his beady eyes glistening with caterpillar goop. You must resist them.

"So what if the apes take over the world?" I asked.

They are controlled by the Kreeys, Evan informed me. The Kreeys are an evil species derived from the Yeerks, and they control the apes' brains. Soon everyone will be taken over my a Kreey.

"Gee, this sounds familiar." I rolled my eyes and attempted to squash Evan with my hand, but he crawled out from underneath my fingers.

Please, Evan begged. There is a new generation of Animorphs, he explained. We live in our own protected haven. You must prove yourself worthy to join us.

"What if I don't want to join you?" I inquired.

It will be your own loss, he said. You see, once the Kreeys take over, all remaining Animorphs will no longer be able to morph and will stay stuck as one certain kind of animal forever. Then every human being with acquire the body of an ape, and human intelligence will cease to exist.

"So how do we stop these apes anyway?" I asked. "Why should I care about them? I don't think human life really matters in the end, if you think about it. The sun's just going to burn out someday anyway."

I will lead the way. Follow me, Evan told me.

I resisted, but suddenly I felt my fingers tingling, and I slowly melted down into the body of a grasshopper. I'll spare you the gory details.

Hey, no fair! I told him. Maybe I don't want to save the world!

We've put up with your resistance enough, Evan replied. Now it's time to meet the new generation of Animorphs. Follow me.