The Erin Chronicles 1: She Comes...
By: Erin
Hello, my name is Erin. You know the drill. I can't tell you my last name, where I live or any other identifying details. I'll even have to change some things. Because seriously, I am so noticeable. Not to be conceited or anything but I'm really popular so I'm sure so many Controllers know me. And I kind want to live long enough to drive. But you know that. And you know that we're all in big trouble. And soon you'll know how I came to know about and fight the Yeerks…
I was crying. I don't know why. No, wait, yes I do. I had just read a sad story. A sad Animorphs fan fiction. So there I was, laying in my bed, in the dark, at midnight, sobbing my head off at a story that wasn't even that sad. It was pathetic. What's even more pathetic is that I spent my last normal time ever crying over nothing.
I have huge, huge windows in my room and I never have the shades down. (I'm an idiot.) I was looking out them because, well, they were there and I was trying to stop crying. Anyway, I was looking out them and I thought I saw a big bird thing fly by. (Of course.) So, obviously, I was scared out of my mind. Since I had just read a whole bunch of Animorphs stuff (I was probably brain-washed) I immediately thought "Ohmigod, if a hawk flew up to my window right now, I swear, I'd be scared for life." And (I'm sure you all saw this coming) right then a hawk flew up to the window and tapped it's beak against it.
I opened my mouth to scream. Then the hawk "said" {No! Shut up! Don't scream please. Do you want to get caught?} And of course I still screamed although it was very quiet. Wouldn't you if a hawk flew up to your window at midnight and started talking? And the hawk just looked at me like I was a complete idiot. (I didn't know hawks could do that but this one could.)
I still don't know why I said what I said next. I guess I was still brainwashed by the Animorphs. But after the hawk talked to me it just kind of clicked. I whispered "Tobias?"
I guess hawks do have really great hearing because the hawk (Tobias) muttered {So it was right. She does know about us…} I don't think I was supposed to hear that but I did anyway. Then Tobias said something that was definitely directed to me, {Well, Jake will interested in this turn of events. Look, their all waiting outside. Just come.}
I glared at Tobias. "Do you really expect me to come outside in this?" I gestured down to my pajamas. They weren't exactly something I wanted 6 strangers to see me in.
Tobias sighed. He was silent for awhile so I figured he was doing that private thought-speak thing. Then he said {Okay, Jake says you have time to change. But hurry. The time is passing. Tick Tock. Tick Tock.}
I shut the blinds on Tobias while he was still going 'Tick Tock. Tick Tock.' (I mean, seriously, he may be trapped as a hawk but he's still a guy.) I pulled on jeans and a shirt and ran outside, remembering to actually put on shoes for once. I don't know why I trusted that bird, but I did. Just as I made it to the park next door and saw the 6 people waiting for me, I realized just how weird this all was. I let out a little giggle just before I fainted. I think someone caught me. I'm not sure. But I had no injuries so someone must have.
"Great,. So, Tobias finds a hottie who knows about us and she faints before we can talk to her."
"It was probably your face that made her faint, Marco."
"Was that human humor? Hu-hu-mooor. Hah, hah, hah, hah. Hah."
"What was that Ax?
"I laughed."
"Ax, I told you not to do that. It's frightening."
"Yes, Prince Jake."
"Don't call me Prince."
"Yes, Prince Jake."
"Augh!"
"You guys, shh. You'll wake her up."
"Sorry, Cassie."
"Yeah, sorry."
"My apologies, Cassie."
"Just say sorry, Ax."
"Sorry."
"Hey Tobias?"
"Yeah, Cassie?"
"What was she like when you found her. Was she like waiting for us or something like that?"
"No. She was laying in her bed and I scared her."
"You saw her in her pajamas?"
"Yes, Rachel. No big deal. It's night. People wear pajamas at night."
"Oh, right. Sorry."
"Are you sure she knew about us?"
"Yeah. She knew my name."
"Oh. Well…"
That's it. I was tired of them talking about me like I wasn't even there. Sure, they thought I was unconscious but that's not the point…
"Maybe it was just a lucky guess?"
I decided it was time to open my eyes. Maybe they'd actually include me in the conversation. My eyes snapped open and I said "No, Cassie, it wasn't just a lucky guess." I sat up and looking around the room. "I know all of you. Your Jake, the leader. And Rachel, the brave one. And Marco, the funny one. And Cassie, the moralistic one. And Tobias, the dreamy one, a hawk nothlit who can morph by a twist of fate. And Ax, the marooned Andalite. And there you have the Animorphs." I crossed my arms and waiting for a reaction.
"That's just scary." Marco said. "She knows everything and can categorize us like we were species of frogs or something."
I glared at all of them in general. "First of all, you're not frogs so don't call yourselves that. And besides, everyone knows who you are and can categorize you! You're a popular book series and your not supposed to be alive and your not suppose to be coming to my house in the middle of the night and scaring the hell out of me with a hawk nothlit!" I burst into tears and buried my head in my hands.
"Good job Marco. You made her cry." Rachel scolded. "So, what's this whole book series thing?"
I looked up. "Let's see. 1996, Katherine Alice Applegate comes up with brilliant idea. Brilliant idea turns into book series. Book series get immediately popular. Erin likes book series after evil Jaryn forces her to read one of the books. Book series gets huge cult following. Especially on Internet. Erin gets brainwashed by reading too much Animorphs stuff. Animorphs appear at Erin's house for no reason in the middle of the night and drag her off to a barn once she faints."
"That doesn't help us much." Jake said. "Obviously, you've dimension-hopped or something and have now ended up in our dimension where it's all real. And you know too much."
"Well, duh, I know too much." I snapped. I realize that I was being a little rude, but I was annoyed and scared and in an all-around bad mood. "And how did you know to find me where I was?"
"The Ellimist told us." Cassie said simply.
"Oh, the Ellimist." I rolled my eyes. "Well, of course. The Ellimist can interfere with my life as much as it wants, as long as it stays happy."
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, ERIN? WE DON'T INTERFERE.
"I think you made the Ellimist mad." Marco said.
"Oh, thank you. I didn't notice that." I wasn't happy. And stupidly, I didn't care that I was making an all-powerful being angry with me. Not smart.
ERIN, THERE IS A REASON WHY I BROUGHT YOU HERE.
I glared at the air, since I figured that the Ellimist would know that I was glaring at it. "What are you, a We or I. I've noticed that you always say that in the book and it's very confusing. And why could there possibly be a reason that you sent me here?"
THAT IS NOT FOR US TO DISCUSE AT THIS MOMENT. YOU WILL KNOW WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT.
"Stupid Ellimist." I muttered. "No offense, Mr. All-Powerful Being. I'm just annoyed at being pulled out of my dimension and being stuck in the middle of a messed-up war that I thought was fiction and being scared out of my mind."
WELL, ERIN, AS I SAID, THERE IS A REASON WHY WE BROUGHT YOU HERE. YOU HAVE KNOWLEDGE THAT COULD HELP THEM WIN THE WAR. AND BESIDES, IT'S TIME THAT YOU GOT SENT INTO ONE OF YOUR OBSSESSIONS. NEWSIES, TITANIC, GREASE AND ETC WHERE IMPOSSIBLE SINCE THEY WERE IN YOUR DIMENSION IN THE PAST. THIS ONE WAS POSSIBLE SO KNOW YOU ARE HERE. YOU ARE THE DECIDING FACTOR IN THIS WAR.
"So, I'm here because I'm too obsessive and you think that my reading the books will win the war for them?" I asked. I was getting less annoyed and was being to realize that maybe this was real.
NO, YOU WILL WIN THE WAR FOR THEM. YOU SHOULD KNOW, FROM THE BOOKS, I CAN SEE ALL POSSIBLE TIMELINES AND YOURS IS THE ONLY ONE THAT WILL END FOR THE BEST, WITH NO ONE DYING.
"Oh, thank you. That's the last thing I need to think about, me leaving this will cause the Animorphs to die." I was beginning to see the Ellimist's point of view, but I still wasn't that happy. "Do I have a choice?"
NO. TECHNICALLY YOU DO, BUT I WOULD ADVISE AGAINST IT. I CAN'T INTERFERE BUT I WOULD ADVISE AGAINST IT.
"Fine, I'll do it." I told the Ellimist, who still hadn't appeared. I had a feeling that I was going crazy and just talking to myself except that I knew the other Animorphs were listening. "But, I can't morph and I won't have anywhere to live. I refuse to do this if I have to live in the forest behind Cassie's barn."
BUT YOU DO HAVE THE POWER TO MORPH, ERIN. YOU JUST DON'T KNOW IT, SINCE MORPHING IS IMPOSSIBLE IN YOUR DIMENSION. AND, YES, YOU DO HAVE SOMEWHERE TO LIVE. THERE IS AN ALTERNATE YOU IN THIS DIMENSION. SHE HAS GONE TO YOUR DIMENSION AND WILL NEVER KNOW ANYTHING HAS CHANGED. BUT YOU, YOU WILL BE LIVING WITH HER FAMILY WHICH IS ACTUALLY YOUR FAMILY. SO, TRUTHFULLY, IT WILL BE AS IF NOTHING HAS CHANGED EXCEPT THAT YOU WILL BE FIGHTING AGAINST THE YEERKS.
I would have found the Ellimist's speech rather confusing, except that I knew what it was talking about. "Oh, no, fighting against the Yeerks is nothing."
Then, a figure of an old man materialized before me. It took me awhile to realize that it was the Ellimist. "We wish you the best of luck, Erin," he said simply before disappearing for good.
All 7 of us stared at the spot where the Ellimist had been. "That must have been the strangest encounter we've ever had with him." Tobias said.
"Yeah, he sounded almost human." Marco agreed.
"I think he was just doing that for my benefit." I said. "I don't think I would have understood him otherwise." Everyone nodded in agreement. "You didn't have to be so quick to agree." I muttered.
"Were you serious about joining us there?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, sure." I shrugged. "Get sucked into an alternate dimension, what else do I have to do but save the world from brain-washing alien-slugs by turning into animals and going on suicide missions. Sure, why not? It's not like I have anything else to do with my life."
The Animorphs all stared at me again. "Oh no, we have another Marco." Rachel shuddered.
"No." I shook my head. "I'm nothing like Marco. I'm just annoyed."
"Okay, there." Tobias said. "I'm sure that you're telling us the truth, but really, are you going to join?"
"YES!" I shrieked. "Do you really think that I'm stupid enough to lie to an all-powerful being? I told the Ellimist that I'd join so I'll join."
"Don't we have any say in whether she joins or not?" Rachel asked, looking rather annoyed.
"No." Jake told everyone. "I think we should actually listen to the Ellimist and take his advice. Besides, she knows everything and she can morph. Either she sides with us or she goes off and helps the Yeerks. Who wants that?"
The Animorphs all looked at Jake and around at each other, shrugging. "No one, I guess." Rachel said. "But, really, how can we be sure that she'll side with us? That's what we thought about David at first, but they he decided to kill us instead."
"I know that." I retorted. "Do you really think that I'm like David. You forget, I know David and I'm not a weak human being like him. And I know everything that could and will happen in the past, present and future."
"Erin, wrong story. The turn into 'Christmas Carol' was that way." Marco pointed.
I glared at him. "Funny. Hah, hah, hah."
"Anyway, I think this meeting is about finished." Jake told everyone. "Erin, we'll take you for at least awhile. Everyone go home and rest. We'll get Erin her first morph tomorrow."
I don't know what wrong with me, but I still didn't quite believe all that was happening. I guess I just thought it was some big elaborate joke. (I'm not too bright, am I? Or maybe I was just in denial. You decide.) Anyway, when I got home I decided that I'd figure out once and for all if it was real or not.
I went to my computer and logged onto the Internet. Once I was in 'Search' (you really don't want me to explain how I got on there, do you?), I typed in the word 'Animorphs'. Nothing. 'Yeerks'. Nothing. 'Katherine Alice Applegate'. Nothing!
"Well, this certainly shouldn't be happening," I sulked while still typing frantically, anything, anything that I could think of that could possible have to do with Animorphs. And each time I came up with nothing.
Then I remembered all the Animorphs sites I had bookmarked. I scrolled up to the bookmark section and clicked on the section that I saved Animorphs links under. Not surprisingly, they were all gone. But they were replaced with something called 'Forever Girl'. Hmm, that was weird. That was what my friends and I called our singing group back in my dimension. I shrugged and didn't realize the connection. I was tired, I had an excuse.
I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep just then though. I was still too worked up from what had just happened to be able to sleep. So, I walked over to my bookshelf to find something to read before I fell asleep.
It was off though. In the place where my Animorphs books normally would be, there was this… other series of books. It was called 'Forever Girl'. And there was a lot of the books. I pulled on out called 'The Singer'. On the cover was a girl. That normally wouldn't be any big deal. The thing was… this girl on the cover… she looked exactly like me. I flipped the book over and read the back of the book. The summary said something about a girl named 'Erin', who was starting a singing group with her friends, but will she really be able to deal with all the pressures of being in a group?
I mean, it wouldn't be that big of a deal, except that, as I said, my friends and I had a singing group back home…
I pulled out all of the books and all of them had the same girl on the cover and all the plots were something that had happened to me during the past year. It was the one weirdest things that had ever happened to me.
In utter disbelief, I wandered off to bed, making a mental note to ask everyone about that the next time I saw them.
The next day at about noon, Cassie called me. "Hey, remember meeting everyone last night?" She asked. "Oh, yeah." I replied. 'Great, just great.' I thought. 'Off I go to get my first morph to save the universe. Always fun, running into death.'
"Anyway, they all really loved you and want to see you again today, maybe in about half an hour." Cassie told me.
"Okay, great." I said with fake enthusiasm. "I'll get going now since it'll take me that long just to get to your house."
I took one of the 'Forever Girl' books, put on my shoes and started walking to Cassie's house on the outskirts of town. (Wow, wearing shoes twice on a weekend…)
After half an hour I finally made it to Cassie's barn. I walked in and to no surprise everyone was already there. After all, they could morph and I couldn't. "Hey everyone." I said.
"Erin, for your first morph I think-" Jake started. "Wait, wait, wait." I interrupted. "Before we get on the serious 'saving the world' thing, I have a question." I sat down on the ground. As a side note here, I have to tell you something. I've been dancing for years. And I'm really good, I mean I'm in the high Intermediate/Advanced levels of dancing. Anyway, I'm one of those dancers who always sits in weird positions so that I can stretch. So, when I sat down there I sat with my legs in sitting second (when you put your legs straight out to the sides) and doubled over so that I was leaning on my elbows.
All the Animorphs stared at me. "Doesn't that hurt?" Tobias asked.
"Are humans supposed to be able to do that?" Ax wondered. (They were both in their human forms.) "No, it doesn't hurt and yes, dancers are supposed to be able to do this." I sighed. "But that's not my point." I pulled the book out of my bag. "See this book series?"
"Oh yeah, I like those books." Rachel said. She looked around at everyone. "I do."
"Well, they're based on my life! Why?" I practically yelled.
"So? We have a book series based on our lives." Marco shrugged.
"Yeah, but your not living in a dimension with the book series." I glared at him.
"Well, that's not important right now. You can spaz about the book series once we drive the Yeerks off our planet." Marco told me.
"Fine." I sulked.
"Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted, I think your first morph should be a bird of prey." Jake said, before anything else could happen with the book series thing. (It really was a stupid worry of mine though. It's not like it was going to affect my current life.) "Do you have any birds here right now?" He asked Cassie.
"Yeah, we have a merlin and a eagle." Cassie told him.
"I'll take the merlin. Eagles are too big." I said looking up from my position on the ground.
"She's right, she's not a David. If she was, she would have chosen the eagle." Cassie observed.
"Anyway, Erin, all you have to do is put your hand in the cage, pet the animal and concentrate on becoming it."
I nodded. "I know. Books." I stood up and walked over to the cage with the smaller bird in it. I put my hand in to the cage and touched the bird. I could feel it go into what the Animorphs call a 'acquiration trance'. I removed my hand and looked around the room. "I did it! I acquired the bird! I do have the morphing power!"
"Maybe you should try to morph the bird before you get all excited." Jake suggested.
"Oh yeah." I grinned. "I probably should do that." I closed my eyes and focused on the bird of prey DNA that I knew was buried in my bloodstream somewhere. Then, I could feel the changes happening to my body, my bone structure and my interior. I was shrinking… shrinking… and then I stopped. The thing was nothing else of my body had changed yet. And then my bird beak surged forward and my feet turned to talons. I'm sure it was disgusting. But then the rest of my body following the suit.
And then… the bird senses kicked in. The sight was fantastic! Seriously, humans are blind compared to hawks. I looked around the room with my newly acquired eyes. Wait a minute… what was that? Another bird! Another bird in my territory!
I let out a shriek and flared my wings. I took off and flew at the bird. Right before I was to him I heard someone yelling. "Erin! Get in control of the morph! Your name is Erin Ashley *****! You are a human! You live in a house! You don't want to kill Tobias."
I also heard a thought-speak voice say {Erin, reassert yourself in control of the morph.} Then a hand reach up and calmly pulling me out of the air. (How humans manage to do that and not injury themselves is beyond me, but it happened so ha.)
Just then I remember who I was. The person set me down and I demorphed. As soon as I had human eyes I burst into tears. "Well, that was just pathetic. I can't even control a bird morph. Imagine what its going to be like when I need a battle morph."
"Now come on." Rachel protested. "It wasn't that bad."
"Not that bad!" I shrieked. "I tried to kill Tobias! Out of everyone you should be mad! He's you're-" Realizing what I had just said I clapped my hand over my mouth. "Okay, nevermind. I know nothing of relationships between you guys, I won't interfere since I can't control morphs, and you can just go back to your normal lives now." I sat down on the box behind me. (As a side note, I wasn't fishing for pity. I seriously thought all of that.)
"Aw, come on." Marco said walking over. He sat down beside me and put his arm around me. "We all had trouble with our first morphs. Right guys?"
"Well, actually, I-" Rachel started. Marco glared at her and she closed her mouth. "No, no. We all had problems with our first morphs yep, yep." Everyone else agreed.
"I don't think I believe you." I said. "But, hey, I'll get some practice and I'm sure I'll learn to control morphs. Side note, have the Yeerks been doing anything lately?"
"No, they've been pretty quiet lately." Jake shook his head. "Something big's going to happen soon."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"Well, if it's quiet something's obviously happening soon." Tobias explained. He had morphed to human soon after I had demorphed. "It's just something we learned during the war."
"Oh." I nodded. "Now I understand. So brilliant."
"Anyway, we'll meet here at the same time tomorrow, try to find out anything you can from known controllers." Jake said.
I left the barn and walked home. I didn't quite feel ready to try morphing again so soon. But I would have to get used to it. As I said, I'm an Animorph now. And really, there's no time for pity over my morphing skills. Not amazingly, my reading the books have helped us a lot. But this isn't the end of my story. Not by far. You still have a lot more to learn. I'll be back, sometime, to tell you the rest. My first mission and everything…
The End!!!