DISCLAIMER: I have been hearing that Gendermorphs is a bit insulting to more sensitive readers, namely about a bias against women. There is none, or at least none meant on purpose. If people can't see past that, they need to know that I, Jekkal, am female, and If I found it insulting, I wouldn't write it. That said, enjoy my story, and PLEASE don't flame my reviews with that kind of stuff without at least smiling at the good parts. It's supposed to be a comedy, after all.
P.S. A reference to ACIA (Animorphs Central Intelligence Agency) is made in this fanfic. The site is located at http://acia.hypermart.net .
Chapter 1
My name is Maxilimian Fangor.
I am an Eagle. The brother of Alan, who gave my friends in Annapoilis the power to morph.
I'm sort of the new kid. One of those M to M students. [Author's note: M to M means Majority to Minority. (Old way to mix up the blacks and whites)] I kinda wouldn't have counted for it, except I'm biracial, like Mariah Carey. Man, If I had known what I was getting myself into, I would've stayed. Really, I would've.
There's about three other people with me against the Preppie invasion. There's Jake, who's kinda the leader by default, Marco, who's sort of into this fight, and then there's Toby, the one who learned that when they say don't date in morph, they mean it.
I'm kinda the local kook to Annapolis. Which might explain this little adventure. Or maybe not. Who knows what lies far past what I consider my world...
It started about two days ago, when I was in the forest. Just a nature walk, really. I'm not too sure what compelled me to go out here, but it just did.
I saw a raptor. A red-tailed hawk, to be precise. It came unaturally close to me, considering how skittish animals normally are to humans.
Ax-man, is that you?
"Huh?" I said in alarm. I choked up on my walking stick slightly.
C'mon, Ax. It's me, Tobias. You'd better demorph. The others are looking for you. I'll go get them.
"WHAT?" I screamed. I kicked the walkind stick up and held it in a warning position to the hawk. I didn't know if I was going insane or not, but Either way I didn't like this bird.
An osprey landed on a rotting log. Ax, WHAT DID YOU DO?!? And then it did something I never expected. It started mutating! It looked like it was going into human, but it looked disgusting!
"I'm getting out of here!" I screamed. I whacked the hawk off its perch, then started running.
I ran the full three miles from the forest to The Center. I just kept running. I didn't know what was going on, but if anything I needed to find the others. And looking there was a good place to start.
I spotted Tobias looking at a copy of Paint Shop Pro when I found him. You see, a few weeks back he had regained his power to morph, albeit limited.
"Hey Max. Wazzup?" He said.
"There's something going on. We need to get the others. Now."
"Like I said: what?" He said in a whisper.
I whispered back. "There is something strange going on in the forest. We need to figure out what it is. Now."
Chapter 2
"Is he sane?" Marco asked. "Because, I hate to say it, but talking, mutating birds? That's impossible!"
"I'm telling you, I saw it!" I screamed.
"Did they say anything of value?" Jake asked. He seemed weirdly calm, but it sounded more like his I'm-onto-something voice.
"Not really." I replied. "They were calling me Ax instead of Max, But I don't know how-"
"THAT'S IT!"Jake jumped. I think I did, too. "Max, have you ever read a series called 'Animorphs'?"
"That sci-fi trash? You actually watch it?" Marco said, backing off.
"Hell no. I meant the book series. The TV show sucks." He says, tossing me a orange book, with a photo of what looked like me on the cover, morphing, into some blue centaur.
"That is too close for comfort." I said, Tossing the book on the floor and shunning it. That model on the cover... it was way, way, way too close to being me.
"That is Ax, Max. And he's not the only one who bears a resemblance to us. All of them do. Except for Rachel and Cassie... but they're in different roles here. "
"Damn." I muttered.
"Y'know, now that you mention it..." Toby reached for one of the books titled 'The Invasion' and flipped through it. "Can't be, man. We haven't heard about any Sharing, any kids who've played with fireworks by the mall, and definitely half the stuff that goes on here."
"There was that incident a little over seven months ago..."
"And D Girlz and Boyz clubs have been talking about joining their parent organization... dunno if it's the Sharing..."
"That 'freak tornado' that hit the Marriot by the beach?"
"What about the rash of insanities and dissappearences that happened during those three weeks about half a year ago..."
"Has anyone thought about that escaped tiger in the mall?" For about five minutes, we hit off every coincidence and happening around here with the books.
"That's a lot of matches. Count in the extra information from the ACIA that says they're in Annapolis, and..." Jake summed up.
We gave each other a he's-gotta-be-joking look. "DAMN!" We said in unison.
Chapter 3
We began to head out towards Cassie's barn. With Toby as herself, and the rest of us in neutral, we managed to get by the parents. According to her mom, Cassie was in the barn.
We waited until we saw birds flutter into the barn, and a few bikes were propped up against it. Then we began to make our move, coming in on the broadside. Knowing full well Tobias or Ax would've heard us by now, we decied to just crash the meeting. I swung open the barn door.
"Cassie! Where were you, girl? I was waiting at the mall for an hour before I decided to check here!" Jake said, trying to act like he was supposed to.
"What are you talking about?"
"Cassie? At the mall? Voluntarily? And she didn't tell me? You little sneak!" Rachel said, coming closer to Cassie.
"The girl's swallowed cow poop or something. I never said I would-"
"Hold it." Jake butted in. Their Jake. "You said you were waiting an hour. That would've cut into seventh period."
"Well,..." He was stumbling. "It felt like an hour!"
"Bull." Their Marco cut in. "We've lied enough to know when someone else is. Now tell us the truth: What are you doing here?"
"Marco." Jake muttered. "You don't want to know." And with that, he began reverting to male form.
Everybody stared. Intensely. Very intensely. The hawk broke the silence. So, you're one of us?
"That's one way to put it." I said, entering the barn. Tobias and Marco followed.
"Where's Cassie and Rach?" Jake asked.
"They're not with our side this version. Obviously we're both two groups who just happen to coexist. That said," I leaned up against the wall. "Need any recruits?"
Chapter 4
That got the ball rolling.
"You got any other morphs besides girl?" Jake asked his other self.
"Um... actually, that's pretty much it. There's the female morph, and then a neutral morph. That's it. We really can't get anything else."
"Well, you've already learned too much to just let you go. Guys?" Jake said, prompting.
"I'll go with this if I get the fox right next to him." Marco said, pointing to Toby. She snarled.
Marco, I think she got herself trapped in that. Tobias remarked. We watched as Marco slinked down into the hay. I'm in.
"I'm in." Cassie said. "We need all the help we can get."
I side with Prince Jake and the others.
"Ax, don't call me prince."
Yes, Prince Jake.
And then the only one who hadn't yet spoken up was, unbelievingly, Rachel. She just kinda squirmed.
"Rach? You okay?" Jake asked.
"Guys, I know these are supposedly our other selves but there are a few things to consider. One is that they're going to need our type of morphing power. Two is that these guys may be able to deal with a gang (which is kinda unbelieveable) but they have no experience against the Yeerks."
"We didn't have too much, either." Jake replied.
"The last and main reason I'm trying to decide is David."
"Rachel," I said, walking over to her, "We are you guys. I don't think we're going to act too diferently. Well, Ax and I might, but-"
"Alright already!" She barked.
"It's unanimous. Cassie, you still have the box hidden?"
"Sure. Lemme go get it." and with that she went over to a water pump and tilted it, exposing the blue box. She hustled it under her shirt, and then came into the barn.
"Um... Ax?" She said, tossing him the cube. It bounced of his hand, but his blade caught it.
Each of you put your hand on one side. he said, as he held it from the bottom. I placed my hand on the top, and the others got a few of the other sides. It was kinda the same tingling feeling I got when I received the gendermorphing power, but stronger. After a few seconds, Ax withdrew the cube.
"So." I said to their Jake.
"So? SO??!"
"Jake," Toby said to him. "You're forgetting, we've already recieved a similar power. this isn't exactly new to us."
"Thanks for saying that. I just got an idea." I said, snapping my fingers.
"What?" Our Marco asked me.
"Well, the two powers are similar. so we should be able to combine them together. If I acquired Ax (that is how you guys get the DNA, right?), then I could use my power to turn it into a female morph."
Can't hurt to try. Ax said. I touched along his arm for a few seconds, then borught it back. I started morphing.
My eyes were becoming keener by the second. And I could see in all directions. My blade was slightly smaller than Aximili's but it wasn't by much. And my fur was still kinda blue, but it had highlights of lavender.
Er... Tobias said, up in the rafters.
Sorry. I said. I'll get out of neutral. I started shifting into full female. MY blade grew smaller still, and my fur lost most of its blue tint.
I know this is a bit unprofessional, Ax said, coming closer. But... um... would you mind staying over at my scoop tommorow night?
"Oy." Rachel said, her head in her hand. "Morph back quick."
Aximili closed all his eyes and tried to kiss me. When he opened them, he saw a male Andalite in my place. Er... He said, taking about four paces back.
Relax, it didn't count. I said, as I returned to my normal self. The others were doubled over in laughter, while Ax went to hide under a horse blanket.
I decided that maybe it might come in handy later. But in the meantime, they had us get some bird morphs, and bug morphs. I didn't know what to expect, but it was at the very least, the basics.
"So," Our Marco said nonchalantly. "What's first?"
"Getting the three of you different names. Can you guys go by your girl names?" Cassie asked us.
"Toby over here does full ti–yow!" he said, getting a pinch from Toby. "Okay, so it's Jacque, Marcy,Toby, and Max. Now what?"
"Well, I guess what we were in the middle of planning for before you guys came." Jake shrugged. "Tobias has found some very appitizing news about Visser Three going off on his own to get the bandits personally, since his guys can't seem to do the job."
"Okay, so V3 is raiding the forest."
Not just the forest. Ax sighed. Apperantly this has been going on for a couple of months. We think he might be affiliated with one of the Northern school district groups.
"That's where we're from." Jacque said. Then a worried look came over her face. "What group?"
We're not sure. But it's kinda like the Sharing, except the boys and the girls are seperate. Basic ghetto style writing on their flyers and posters. They've overtaken two-thirds of the school.
"D Girlz Klub?"
"Uh, yeah. Something like that." Marco said
"Uh oh. Guys?" Jacque said, drawing everybody closer. "We think we know who you're talking about. There's a girl we've been fighting against that has the same temper as Visser Three. And just about as heartless."
"Who?" Toby, Marcy, and I whipped our heads around.
"Stella B. Miller. AKA Pom-pom."
For about ten seconds we looked at each other and exchanged glances. "DAMN!"
Chapter 5
"Okay, so we need to get the drop on V3. Simple. There's a Mixed Klub meeting later tonight at the old Opera house. Pom pom is the president, so she'll have to show." Toby spoke.
"How do we get in there?" Marco asked. "I mean, we can't even infiltrate a Sharing meeting without some sort of morph. And I think they'll notice a red-tail in the cafeteria."
"It's a large assembly. Gotta be at least 800 or so. We'll pass through. What, like they keep headcount or something?" I said.
"They'll notice a few things."
"Who is going to notice? Just keep a low profile and nobody talks about you. Simple as that." Marcy replied.
And with that, we were in.
We pulled on our best guises (For the Animorphs it was different style clothing–
For us it was neutrals in male dress) And strolled past the two football-team guards. Ax, Jake, Marco, and Tobias came in fly morph so they wouldn't get suspcious at there being doubles of ourselves.
We sat down together in a corner. Not so close to each other that people would think it was suspicious, but just enough that we could keep a minor conversation with ourselves.
Then the stage curtains rose. There was a small band of higher members in the Klub– and in dead center of the stage stood the chief muck-a-muck him/herself.
"I've come with an announcement to make." Pom-pom spoke. "Colonial Middle School has now 90% of all staff and students infested. Now we can make the final moves in the open to insure a complete takeover of this school as a base for later use in the invasion. Any questions?"
There wasn't an overwhelming response, to say the least. But one of them spoke up. "What about that small band of rebels we've heard about? It appeared to be a human group, but are we sure the Andalites aren't in on this?"
Pom-pom grew a glare in her eyes. She began to demorph into a female Andalite, and then revert to her true host's form. You know there are small groups of resistance in all our areas. As far as I can tell, there are very, very few of them, and they should pose no more of a threat than your own hosts do.
"What about if they found a way to the Andalite Bandits?" I spoke, having rehearsed the lines over and over in my head. "We do know they have the Blue box. If they met up with any of these resistances..."
What on this side of the homeworld makes you think that the Andalites have even infiltrated human culture?
Now? Aximili asked his prince. They had snuck off to the side and right over where Visser Three was. He gingerly held a rope in his multiple fingers. Prince Jake was no more than a fly on his shoulder.
Cut it!
WHAM!
A sandbag dropped from the balcony. Right where the humanoid torso ends on an Andalite. He fell to the stage floor, and I could've sworn I heard a leg or two break.
The Andalites! They're here! He roared. FIND THEM!
Chapter 6
The crowd rose up and became in a panic. We moved closer towards the stage, where the others had found places in the stage to hide and be a general nuisence. This wasn't going to be too different for us, we hoped– just them because they didn't use their battle morphs against the Yeerks.
Boy, were we ever wrong.
I saw four Hork-Bajir guards at the exits. Stay where you are! He roared to the guards. If they've come in as humans, they won't get the chance to escape!
I ducked behind the backdrop curtain, near the wall of the stage. I notice a small ladder that led up to the balcony. I climbed it up to reach the the others. Two seconds later, I saw stronger hands grip the ladder.
Oh, no! There were Hork-bajir coming up! And knowing them, they could catch up with me. I decided to scurry up there and warn them before the Horkies got there first.
I ran up there, with the Hork-Bajir in hot pursuit. I noticed a rope on the south balcony. Ax and Jake were on the north. And the bridge normally used to get over there was pulled up on the north balcony.
"Here goes nothin'." I muttered to myself. I grabbed the rope and swung over to them.
"Cut the rope, you idiot!" I heard one controller scream from the stage. Two seconds later, I saw a blade flash, and the stress on my rope slacken.
"WOAH!" I screamed. A sandbag dropped a bit in altitude, just enough that I could reach it. I clung to the sandbag for dear life.
Forget it, you clumsy little brat. You're not getting out of this one yet!
"Emphesis on yet, tailbrain!" I screamed as Ax pulled me back up with the pulley. I joined them on the north balcony.
It was a standoff. None of the Hork-Bajir there had Dracon beams, and we were stuck on a cruddy little suspended hunk of–
"Shit!" I muttered.
What? Ax asked me.
"If they find out what holds this balcony up we are in for it!" I whispered, and then like some bitter irony, I felt the balcony tilt. Ax began to slide to the left, but he planted his hooves tight and grasped the bar weakly.
Surrender now, Andalites. The visser said, now with the sandbag removed and limping. You can't last long on that balcony.
Try your worst! Ax crowed, trying to sound brave.
Beleive me, I will.
CREAK!
The entire left half (I say half because there was a hinge in the middle) of the Balcony was getting steeper, and Ax was struggling to stay on. At the same time, my half was becoming higher, bringing us closer to the ceiling. I ducked down to avoid having my head banged.
How well do you think you would fare a drop, Andalite? Nothing but the far, distant floor below you? Almost nothing keeping you in the air? And no way to protect yourself from a fatal fall?
Ax didn't reply. He was clutching onto the weak bars for dear life, his rear hooves swinging wildly into nothing, his front legs keeping him anchored to the balcony. Almost what had to be a twenty-five foot drop if he let go. But I didn't say that.
I noticed my side was lowering, too. I grabbed on tight to the bars, as the middle ropes rose as high as they could go, banging into the pulleys. Now I was in trouble, too.
And as much as I hate to admit it, the Visser was right.
Chapter 7
Ohhhhh.... Ax started moaning in defeat. I had to agree with him. There was no way we were getting off this balcony without breaking a backbone or three. And the only thing I saw below were hordes of human-Controllers, Watching anxiously as we hung in the air. I couldn't morph into anything, or my grip might loosen and then I'd be dead anyway.
I could still see the side ropes pull back and forth, making the balcony sway. This wan't helping at all. I heard laughter from the Yeerks below as they watched us.
Ohhhhh....
Toby, calm down. We'll get out of this. Hopefully still free, but we'll get out of this. Jake spoke for the first time. I guess he just realized that Ax wasn't the only one in trouble.
I looked around the other side of the balcony. Ax was definately scared. I was, too, but more as a fear of capture than a fear of heights. What do they call it? Oh, yeah. Acrophobia.
He was absolutely flush, and trying as hard as he could not to get any more scared than he already was. Which Visser Three was not going to let happen. The swaying stopped, and I began to brace myself again.
Well, if that didn't get him off...
I looked up. The middle ropes were growing looser. Too loose!
AHHHHHHHHHH! Ax cried.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" I replied. We had just dropped down fifteen feet! The ropes rose again, readying for a second drop.
Had enough yet? Visser Three crowed.
Ax couldn't reply. He was shaking. Trying not to give in to the Visser, or his torture. But I could begin to see some wear on him. Ax couldn't find a way to last on any longer. So he fainted.
And let go of the bars.
Chapter 8
A rush of Controllers came out with the net, catching him safely. But he was unconscious. I saw a few pieces of rope emerge from the crouwd, as they tied his hands and hooves together, and put some sort of sheath over his tailblade.
I heard a human voice up there. Come down, little human. We won't hurt you.
"Sure. You won't hurt me so you can shove a slug in my ear, bastard." I muttered to myself.
Come on. Your Andalite friend couldn't survive. What makes you think a weak, unprepered human like yourself can?
"I'm not afraid of heights," I said as I grabbed a nearby rope, tipping the balcony oddly. I had a feeling another drop was coming up, and I knew I wouldn't want to be on it.
Let it go. He said to the others.
BANG! BANG! CLATTER....
The balcony dropped completely, sending an ear-shattering wave of noise through the entire auditorium. Ax woke up from it. But the Hork-Bajir guards after me earlier had a tight grip on him, with a blade at his neck. He wouldn't move.
I would've been crushed if I hadn't gotten off. I swung one last time across the length of the stage, whipped out a pocketknife I hid in my pocket, and cut one last rope.
"Hey, Visser– since you guys brought up the curtain, it's my pleasure to bring down the house!"
WHUMP! The giant curtain landed on the stage and took the air out of everybody on it.
Chapter 9
A wave of applause rose from the crowd. I lept off the rope, executed a flip, and landed with a plop to give a bow. The other Animorphs and Gendermorphs came up to where I was and took a bow, too. Only Visser Three and Ax didn't come up, one for being tied up, the other for having a bad break.
The main curtain closed, as we cleaned up backstage. I untied Ax's ropes and he began to drag the curtain up. Good thing this was just a play. If it was real, I'd be in trouble.
"Are you saying doing the acrophobe stunt wasn't enough for you?"
When you put it like that...
"You did good, Max." Jake said, giving me a high five. "It could only happen in the crossverse..."
"Of course. So, our blokes are heading back to our Zone of Origin. I assume you mates are, too?"
"Of course. So, you Aussie Animorphs head back to the land Down Under, and we had back to the States. Good enough.
The American Ax, who was playing Visser Three, arose in his normal human morph. "I still don't understand why you call Austrailia 'Down Under'. Wouldn't it-"
"Ax?"
"Yes, Prince Jake?"
"Never mind I said that. And don't call me Prince."
"Yes, Prince Jake."
"C'mon! I'm not keeping this gateway to Sydney open much longer!" Marcy screamed from down the hall.
"Okay! C'mon, Mates! I got to get back to my father's station before 6!" I screamed as I grabbed my duffel bag.
"You said it!" Jacque ran past me with her suitcase and hat, and jumped into the portal. Then Toby barrelled in. Marcy jumped in after him, and the gate was only going to stay open for three more minutes.
"See you all later, mates! Even if we can't get away from the battle, we'll always have the crossverse!" I said, and then jumped into the gateway, and back into the place I knew.
The End
Note from the author:
It's been over ten months in writing, but the Gendermorphs series is topped off with a bang. It's proven itself to be one of the most controversial and commented series I've done, and given a much more comical and, in a way, realistic, look at our own world.Sadly, I am ending the series for one good reason: I can't get my inspiration. The flow is always too slow, and I can never get the books done ahead of schedule.
But the story's not done. Sure, so Gendermorphs was revealed at the very end to be nothing more than a play done by two different realities of Animorphs , but what's to say it has to stay that way? If I get enough of the good reviews, there will be encore performences, and quite possibly, we'll get to see into what the Aussie Animorphs really do in their own zone.
Who knows– maybe the Gendermorphs as they really are will have more inspiration then when they were just acting....