Foreward
Hi, I'm Mad Cow. The author of this story. I don't know how many of your are writers, but those of you who are probably know about how annoying a story can be when it grabs hold of you, but this is a perfect example.
You see, I haven't written a story for Animorphs since January 2002 (And that was the first one I'd written since November 2000). I kind of gave it up, if you will. Moved on, I suppose. I wrote fan fiction for a Disney show called In a Heartbeat for awhile, then moved on to original stuff. I'll be going off to college soon, etc, and I'm going to major in creative writing. I suppose you could say Animorphs is where I got my love for writing.
I've had this particular story in mind since I was in 6th grade. I'm in 12th now, so it's been awhile. And when I left Animorphs, it didn't leave me. It's still here, stealing enthusiasm away from all of my serious projects. So, I decided, as kind of a tribute to both Animorphs and my years writing for Animorphs, I would finally commit this to paper.
All four of my original characters have evolved seriously though the years. I hope they sound maturely written and well-supported. They've changed enough times and been through enough dumb ideas (for example, for a very short time, I tried writing Raven as having no legs…) that I hope I've worked out all of the dumb things.
Please, if you are extremely confused, I want to know. I tried to give the readers some credit for figuring out things on their own, but I realize that no one knows these characters as well as me, and that things that have been developing in my mind for six years sound perfectly sensible to me, while I may have left out important details that would help you understand
Although, I will have you know that you're supposed to be confused by Nathaniel. Trust me, if you have figured it out by the end of this installment, kudos to you, but really, you're not supposed to know until Nathaniel wants you to know. Sometimes I think that he's really running the show, and not me.
Anyway, now you know why I'm doing this, after being gone for so long. I appreciate all comments, and I hope to use your advice to write the next part. Without further ado, enjoy!
-Mad Cow
P.S.: This is a non-cannon story. Something happened around book 40 that made this universe turn out very differently from our storyline (and hopefully, if I ever finish, you will find out what happened differently. But that information comes later.)
___________________________________________________________
1- Katie
My name is Katie. Katherine, really, but I think it's far too formal. Evan calls me Kat because he likes the play on words, and I let him, because he's my best friend, but I think it makes me sound too much like a cheesy superhero, so I don't usually introduce myself that way.
I can't tell you my last name. For the sake of the story, it's Eisenhower, but there are no guarantees Eisenhower is the real thing.
If I had been born a few years earlier, like my brother, my last name would have been Berensen, but those were different times. Different, and yet still the same.
We, the Animorphs, are still hunted. It's worse, now that the Yeerks know we're human. Worse that one of our own is in Yeerk hands. Rachel was infested by the foul creature known as Council Member 12 in 2010, and we've never really recovered.
The night of her infestation, the Yeerks attacked my parents and their friends at their homes. The Chee came to the rescue, taking them to a secured place, and helping them create new identities. Tobias, and his infant daughter, Loren, never arrived.
Dad told me once he thinks that the Chee did for Tobias what they did for us, but just at a different location. He thinks Tobias doesn't want us to find him, so we don't really search. All we know is that Tobias wasn't taken. If he had been, the Yeerks would have gloated about it, at least.
There has been one more casualty in our little band. My brother, Thomas, older than me by about three years, but younger than Raven by exactly two months, died when he was five, hit by a passing car. I'd like to say I remember him, but I really don't.
So, including the four we have lost, we should be 10 Animorphs strong. But we're not. The Animorphs, now myself, my parents, my best friend Evan and his dad Marco, and the Andalite known as Ax who has spent more time among us than his own people, are no stronger than they were when my parents were young.
The sad news is that the Yeerks have gotten stronger. They've spread, beyond just California, and now have Yeerk Pools in 23 major cities, spread out over 14 states. And even worse, there are now three morph-capable controllers: Council Member 12, Visser One (formerly known as Visser Three), and Sub-Visser 16. Quite honestly, we have no idea who Sub-Visser 16's host body is. He's a boy, a little older looking than myself, but younger than Thomas would have been. We don't know how he got the ability to morph, or who he is, but he's terribly good at it. Faster even than my mom, who is without a doubt the best of all of us.
So we have to be careful. Which is why, despite my protests, I found myself in my dad's car on the way to school.
"Why can't I just fly, Dad?" I asked at a stoplight. It was a daily conversation we had as he took me to school on his way to work at the high school. Anything to keep him from putting in one of his CDs from the 90s.
"Because Cooper's Hawk carrying a backpack is slightly suspicious," he said, turning to me. "And besides, when you get to school, you won't have shoes."
He's pretty cool, as far as dads go, but I still hate it when he's right. I didn't answer. He smiled as the light turned green, and we headed on.
"Could you at least drop me off a few blocks away?" I asked.
"No, that goes against the Dad Code," he replied. "I don't see why you're so embarrassed to be seen with me. Every other eight grader is driven to school y their parents, too."
"No, they don't live out in the country, so they get to ride the bus."
"You'd rather get to ride the bus than live on the farm?"
"I'm just saying," I replied.
We pulled up at the school. As I started to walk away from the car, he stuck his head out the window. "Bye Katie!" he called, in front of what felt like the entire student body. "I love you!"
Remember what I said about him being cool? Forget it. My Dad is so lame.
2- Raven
I sat at the kitchen table, eating some bargain bag Wheaties knock-off when I heard my father's alarm go off. A few minutes later, it was still going. Cursing under my breath, I walked into the living room.
"Tobias!" I said sharply. He sat up on the cot he sleeps on. "Work!" I threw his clothes at him. "I washed them for you." I looked at my watch. "You have 42 minutes left before your shift starts at the gas station. You need to leave the house in 27 minutes. And you need to shower and eat before you go, so get up!"
A school shrink once said that Tobias and I have "reversed parent-child relationship", and suggested that I be removed from his care so that I could "grow up in a more healthy environment." This was shortly before I suggested that her head be removed from the care of her neck. She suggested to CPS that there might be some drugs involved. They came to the apartment and looked for drugs, but didn't find anything. I know Tobias doesn't take anything but Prozac (prescribed, thank you), because I balance the checkbook. I told them that, but they didn't believe me until they had searched the place. Anyway, they found nothing, and I got to stay. I've stayed away from shrinks ever since.
I heard the shower running, and assumed he was taking one. He could be just running the water and just sitting there on the floor, but honestly, he is a grown man, and there are just some things I can't do for him.
I finished my Wheat-os and put the bowl in the dishwasher. It was full, so I went ahead and ran it. I left the Wheat-os box on the counter, and knocked on the bathroom door. "Tobias, I'm going to school now. Remember to go to work!"
With that, I left the apartment, and jogged through the streets quickly. We live on what you might call the wrong side of the tracks, and so I usually tried not to linger too long. I always carry a knife (that you can be sure the school doesn't know about) and wouldn't mind fighting anyone who crosses my path. Most of the guys around know than I will beat the crap out of them if they mess with me, but there was always the chance I might stumble into some really serious shit going down. I just can't fight a bunch of guys with guns, especially if there's drugs involved.
I arrived at the school, and slid into my seat just as the tardy bell rang. My first block teacher, Eisenhower, raised an eyebrow. He hates me, I know it. Wrote "has a problem with authority" once on my report card. Fuck that. I am my own authority, and he's the one that has a problem with it.
Just then, a guy walked into the room. There was something…familiar about him. Yet, watching him walk his way to Eisenhower's podium, I couldn't remember meeting him anywhere. I would think I'd remember meeting someone so badass. He was tall, over six feet, with muscles that rippled under his mahogany skin.
At first I thought maybe he was someone that lived in my neighborhood, that I'd seen beating up old ladies or something, but no, it went deeper than that. I knew him. I don't believe in love or any of that New Age crap, but there was just something about him that touched part of my soul. His name was almost there on the tip of my tongue…
"Class, this is Nathaniel. He just moved here from-" Eisenhower looked at Nathaniel for a cue.
"El Paso," he said, and locked eyes with me. Ooh, shivers.
"Nathaniel, take an empty seat anywhere, and welcome to our U. S. History class."
He took a seat right behind me. "Hi," I head him whisper to my neck.
I turned around. "Hi."
"I'm Nathaniel."
"I already got that. I'm Raven."
"Raven, Nathaniel, please," said Eisenhower. "You may not be interested in the New Deal, but I am sure the rest of the class doesn't want you to spoil their knowledge." Dickwad.
I rolled my eyes and turned back around. I endured an agonizing period of listening to information on the Great Depression, before the bell rang. I stood up and began to walk out, and Nathaniel quickly followed.
"Hey," he said. "What lunch do you have?"
"B," I replied.
"I have…" he squinted at his schedule. "I don't know, really."
I took it from him. "B, too," I said, interpreting.
"So will I see you at lunch?" he asked.
"Sure," I replied, shrugging. "But if you're looking for a fast track to the in-crowd, I'm not it."
"I don't mind."
3- Nathaniel
I finally found Raven in the lunch crowd. She was sitting alone, and I went to join her. I wasn't falling in love with her, I knew that for sure. But there was just something about her that drew me in. I planned on sticking around until I figured it out.
I sat down and opened up my salad. I groaned, and she looked up at me. "What," she asked. "Does it still have a pulse like my hamburger?"
"No," I said. "An egg. They put an egg on my salad."
"You allergic?"
"Vegan." She gawked at me like most people when they find out I'm vegan.
"I'm sorry, did you just say vegan, as in, no meat?"
"Or any kind of animal byproducts." I sighed. "Look, I work out and I eat a lot of soy. It's the wonder food, really."
"You look like you could bench press my apartment complex and you don't eat meat?"
"I take protein supplements, too." I looked back down on my salad. "But I am not eating an egg, but if I don't, then a poor chicken will have had it's wings and beak cut off and been factory farmed for nothin-"
"For goodness sake," she said, taking the egg off my plate. "I'll eat the fucking egg. Geez." She popped it in her mouth. I looked down at my salad.
"So, you're from El Paso?" I asked.
"Sort of. Originally, California. But my parents died shortly after moving to the state, and I don't have any relatives," I said, "so I'm in foster care. Shuffled from city to city and stuff."
"I'm sorry," she said.
I shrugged. "I'll be 18 soon." I left it at that. "And what about you?" I asked.
"My mom died when I was real little, so I just live with my dad," she said. "He's crazy."
"Oh?"
"Not like eccentric. Tobias is seriously crazy. All depressed and shit. He couldn't take care of himself if I wasn't there to do everything. And," she said lowering her voice, "he sometimes thinks he's a red-tailed hawk. And he's totally into alien conspiracies. Not Star Trek or anything, but sometimes he talks about these weird slug-like aliens. He only tells me, because he's afraid if he tells anyone else, they'll find him. "
I choked on my salad. Her father's name was Tobias and he thought he was a red-tailed hawk?
"What?" asked Raven.
"Went down the wrong pipe," I said, lying as usual.
"Anyway, you can't tell anyone that. CPS already has me in their files, and if anyone caught wind of how he really is, he'd get locked up and I'd be taken away for sure. If that happens, I'd probably be locked up too, because I would kill the fuckwads who did it."
I wasn't sure it that was a threat or a confession.
"So…" I said, trying to be conversational. "Raven is an interesting name. Is it your real one? I mean, is it your middle name or anything?"
"My real first name is Raven. My middle name's Lauren, though."
Lauren. Sounded enough like Loren. Could she really be the long-lost daughter of Rachel? The attitude fit. I'd have to ask the Chee. In the meantime, I continued to work on the salad.
After school was over, I walked back to Mr. Eisenhower's room. "Sir?" I asked from the doorway.
He stared at me for a moment. Trying to remember my name, I guess. Finally, he said, "Nathaniel, what can I do for you?"
"I talked to your wife on the phone," I said. "I'm the one that's going to come help out at her wildlife rehabilitation clinic after school."
He thought for a moment. "Oh, right. Cassie did tell me she needed me to drive someone home for her."
"That's me."
"Let me gather up my things, and then we'll go."
All was going according to plan.
Please Review!!!
KleenexCow@hotmail.com