Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, Tobias, and Aximili were the famous six "Animorphs." They were the ones that held off the Yeerk invasion for so long until the Andalites came to rescue them. After the Yeerks were defeated, the people of Earth learned how close they had come to disaster and how six youths had saved them so many times. The Animorphs were hailed as heroes. They went down on history as the saviors of humanity. Many, many years after, the Animorphs came together yet again. But not to face the Yeerks… no, nothing that dramatic. It was an Animorphs Reunion.
I pulled up in the driveway of Jake's mansion. I stepped out of my car and looked around.
"Nice house," I said. I walked to the door of the house. I thought for a second. And then I began to morph.
I grew very large. My arms and legs covered in black fur. My face became leathery. Muscles ripped out of my arms. Within a few seconds, I was a full grown male gorilla. Several hundred pounds of don't-mess-with-me muscle.
Then I walked up the stairs and to the door. I pressed the doorbell with my massive gorilla finger. I waited patiently.
The door opened. It was Jake. For a second he just stared at me. Then he smiled.
"Marco?" he asked.
No, of course not, I responded. I'm some other gorilla that decided to attend the Animorphs reunion.
Jake laughed. "I see you've finally learned to drive," he laughed with a nod at my car. "Come on in."
I nodded and followed him through the open door. I stepped inside and looked around in his house.
It was very luxurious. That's luxurious with a capitol L. I mean, it was huge. Jake had a great life. Nice house, I complimented.
"Thanks," he replied.
I demorphed to my usual, lovable self and gave Jake a hug. We hadn't seen each other in years. But so many years after the Yeerk War, the Animorphs were finally about to reunite.
Jake had married Cassie a while back. Jake had played in the NBA for a few years. He was pretty good, but retired after a few years. He decided that he wanted to relax. So he and Cassie moved and bought up a nice new house. Cassie had become the first alien veterinarian on Earth. She still took care of normal Earth animals, but also took care of various alien animals as well.
Cassie stepped out into the room. She looked great. She was actually wearing a dress. Either Cassie had finally developed some taste in fashion, or Jake had convinced her to wear a dress just for this special occasion. I opened my mouth to say something, but Cassie glared at me before I could get a word out. I decided to keep my mouth shut. For the time being.
The doorbell rang again. Jake answered the door again. It was Rachel & Tobias. Tobias had become a human nothlit so he could be with Rachel. But the Andalites had reworked the morphing technology quite a bit since the end of the war. Not only did they make the morphing process more or less predictable, but they found a way to cure nothlits. So now Tobias is a morph-capable human. Rachel had become a fashion designer. It wasn't too much of a surprise. But I couldn't help teasing her anyway.
"Rachel," I said when she walked into the room. "I'm surprised. A fashion designer, no less. And married! With kids! I can't believe it. I figured you'd be in the marines or something."
Rachel smiled. She & Tobias sat down on the couch next to Cassie & Jake. Within a few seconds, the doorbell rang once again. Jake got up to answer the doorbell again.
It was Ax in his human morph. He had acquired us all again so that his human morph could be the same age as the rest of us. He was male, and had a few pieces of Jake and Tobias and me in him. But he also had a bit of Rachel & Cassie stirred in. The end result was handsome yet disturbing—it looked like we'd all been run through a blender. The handsome part, of course, is from me.
"Hello," he said. "Hello. Ello. Lo." He walked, still kind of shakily, into the room. He sat down on one of the couches, and seemed to be relieved that he had some kind of support.
Ax had been promoted straight from Aristh to Prince after the war. Although he was a hero among the Andalites, he still had the goofy and innocent quality that he always had in the old days.
It had been years since the Animorphs had been together. We were all very different. And yet, we were still the same.
"Well, now that we're all here—" Jake started.
But Ax interrupted.
"Can we eat cinnamon buns now? Buns? Bun-zuh?" he asked.
We all laughed.