Title: The Twins
Author: Alexis Steele
Fandom: Animorphs
Characters: all the majors
Genre: Alternate Universe, after #23 The Pretender
Series: First story in the "Descendents of the Ellimist" Chronicles
Summary: Rewrite of #23 The Pretender. Tobias is about to find more family than he can deal with. Who is telling the truth, and who is spinning a web of lies?
Author's Notes: This fic was my first attempt at fanfiction back in 1999. It has been lying dormant in notebooks and my computer until I pulled it from the Net in 2004. Looking back on the fic about a year ago, I realized that I had a lot of interesting ideas that I wanted to portray in this fic – eventually to become a series – and that I wanted to pick them up again, but I had some major changes that needed to be done to my OC, Shayla. She was a blatant Mary Sue, and now she's become an attempt to see if I can write a competent OC without her becoming a Mary Sue.
And, while I will be following more closely to the events that occurred in the book series, I will always see the characters as their TV counterparts. Let's face it, ladies, the TV series might've deviated a lot away from the books, but it definitely gave us some nice eye candy to glance at. I will also be extending the timeline of the story to five years, instead of three. Therefore, the Animorphs have been fighting the Yeerks for over two years.
Normal speech denoted with "…". Thought-speak denoted in ((italics)). From this chapter onwards, there will also be periods of telepathy written. Telepathy will be shown by ((bold-italics)).
Each chapter heading will tell you who is narrating this part of the story. If you don't see a character's name in the chapter heading, assume that the character from the previous chapter is still narrating.
Disclaimer: With the exception of Shayla and any other minor OCs, all the other characters are the property of K.A. Applegate and Scholastic Books. All feedback is greatly appreciated
Chapter 12:
Shortly thereafter, Shayla came over to the table. "Listen, Jake, I know you don't completely trust me yet. In fact, if I was in your shoes, and went through what you guys just went through, I wouldn't trust me yet either, but as a friend, will you help me out with something after school?"
"That depends on what you want us to do," he said.
"Well," Shayla continued, "I'm planning a trip to the mall after school. For Tobias. After seeing the clothes he had left at his uncle's house, he's going to need some new stuff. Also, I'm going to need yours and Marco's help with something."
"What?" Marco asked.
"Toiletries for Tobias. I don't exactly know the kinds of things to get him. You two do. Also, I think it might really boost his morale if we did this together. He seems so depressed lately."
"How do you know what he's been feeling if you've only been in town for three days?" Rachel asked.
"Thanks to the Ellimist, I have access to all his memories up until this morning. His latest memories have been a little disturbing. Plus, he always gets depressed around this time of year."
"Why?" I asked.
"Well, lately it seems he'd been having trouble while hunting. Whenever he tried to catch a mouse or something, he'd see himself as the prey and, because he hesitates, he doesn't get the kill."
"Why didn't he say anything to us about this?" I asked.
Shayla shrugged uncertain. "He doesn't want you guys to know that he's having troubles. He doesn't want you to think that he's being a burden. He wants to solve his own problems. Actually, I think he's just being stubborn and stupid about it."
"That still doesn't explain why is he always depressed during this time of year though?" Rachel asked.
"Because his birthday is coming up and…"
Shayla never even had a chance to finish because Rachel interrupted her.
"His birthday is coming up? Why wouldn't he have said something to us?" Rachel asked.
"I got the impression that he's actually forgotten when his birthday is. Either that, or he's so worried about you guys that he forgets about himself."
"How do you figure?" Marco asked.
"Because, the last time anyone threw him a birthday party or even acknowledged his birthday was when he was five."
"Five?" Rachel exclaimed.
"Poor Tobias," I added.
"Yes, unfortunately. He doesn't blame you guys though. You've been fairly busy with saving the world that he just put his feelings aside on the whole matter. But I think I have the perfect solution for that. Our birthday is in three days, we'll throw him a surprise party. That'll cheer him up," Shayla suggested. "So, who's going with me to the mall this afternoon?"
"I'm in," Rachel volunteered.
"Surprise, surprise," Marco quipped, "the end of the world wouldn't keep Rachel away from the mall."
"I'll go too," I said quickly. Marco and Jake looked at me suspiciously. Then I added, "To keep Rachel from getting out of control."
"I do not get out of control."
"Yes you do," all of us, including Shayla, joked.
"I'm not sure yet, Shayla, I'll let you know later," Jake said.
"I'm in. I'll help you out," Marco finally said
"Thanks. Meet me in front of school after last period. Here he comes. Listen, he's going to be wondering what's going on, but keep it a secret. I'll be right back. Is there anything edible to eat?"
"Not really," Marco joked.
"I'll find something," she said as she walked.
"What was that all about?" Tobias asked as he sat down.
We managed to distract Tobias until Shayla returned to the table, at which point, Jake asked Tobias, once again, to go over everything that happened to him during his early morning encounter with the Ellimist and Shayla. I listened just as intently as the others, but what I was hearing might not have been what the others were focusing on. For the first time since the night when I met the shy, elusive boy tagging along behind Jake, Tobias was happy, almost jubilant. I wanted Tobias to enjoy these moments for as long as he could. Although Jake didn't truly believe Tobias' story yet, I knew differently. Shayla was telling the truth, as was Tobias. He probably was human again, still with his morphing power, and now he has family who cares about him. During parts of the conversation, usually when someone or a group of people walked by, Tobias would flinch suddenly.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"Yeah, I will be," he answered. Then Shayla would lean over, whisper something into his ear, and he would calm down again.
Jake finally brought us back on track. "Well, Shayla, if you supposedly have the ability to morph, what morphs do you possess?"
"Let's see," she began, "there's so many. Umm, I have a calico cat, a chocolate Labrador retriever, a parrot, a hamster, a wolf spider, a wolf, an owl, a merlin, a seagull, a raccoon, a skunk, a rabbit, a polar bear, a panda bear, a cheetah, a jaguar, a white Bengal tiger, an orca whale, and a dolphin."
"That's an impressive list," Jake said, unamused, "Can you describe some of the experiences you've had as these animals?"
Shayla continued, "Um...for my first morph, the cat, I chased my cat for almost an hour around my hospital room trying to claw him because he was in my territory. As a dog, I played Frisbee with Natalie for two hours. As a wolf, I helped rescue a lost child in the woods near my house. I was almost eaten by a snake while in my hamster morph. I was almost eaten by a harpy eagle while in my skunk, rabbit, and raccoon morphs. I flew for three weeks straight one time, switching from my hawk form to owl when it got dark and lived in the woods for three weeks when I ran away from the children's home shortly after one of my foster fathers died. I haven't had a chance to use my orca morph yet. I was the star attraction at Sea World once, when the trainer mistook me for the real dolphin. I've felt the raw power of being a tiger, jaguar, cheetah, and polar bear, and the cuddliness of a panda bear."
"That's quite impressive," Marco quipped.
"How did you acquire so many animals?" Rachel asked.
"Morphing was my favorite ability. It came in real handy when shipped to foster homes I didn't particularly like. So whenever I was moved to another area of the country I would acquire any animals I could get my hands on."
"Sort of like Cassie," Rachel concluded.
"Yeah, I guess so, except for I think I'm immune to the allergy thing."
"You know about Cassie's allergy?" Jake asked.
"Yes, Jake, I told you. I have all of Tobias' memories in my head. I know everything you know, as of this date. I know everything about him, and he knows everything about me. Anyway, for almost three years, I lived with Uncle Reggie, the only foster parent I would ever consider being my father. I believed he was the only decent human being on the planet, besides my best friend Natalie. Uncle Reggie was a veterinarian. Mainly, he worked out of his farmhouse, and that's how I got most of the domestic animals, but sometimes he would help out at the local zoo. One day, while he was helping out with an injured zebra, Nat and I snuck off and I acquired the animals I wanted. Man, Nat was always so jealous of me for this ability. She's more of a nature nut than I am."
"Are you sure you and Cassie aren't the twins here?" Marco quipped.
This time, both Rachel and Tobias slapped him upside the head.
"Hey, stop that," he demanded. "What's up with the abuse?"
"For being you," Rachel shouted.
"What was that for?" Shayla asked, confused. "He didn't say anything to offend me."
"Because we live such similar lives. My parents are both veterinarians. My father works out of our farmhouse and my mother works at the Gardens," I explained
"Oh, well, like attracts like, I guess," Shayla laughed as she spoke.
"Oh, great, another tree-hugger." Marco, of course.
"Nah, Nat's the tree-hugger, to the point that she became a vegetarian at age 12. I usually stick to causes that advocate for animal rights."
"Whatever you say, Peta."
"Is that my nickname for you Marco?" Shayla asked
"For now, until I find something else."
"I like it," Shayla said approvingly.
"What's Peta?" Rachel asked.
"People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals," Shayla explained. "They're an advocacy group created to promote animal rights, in areas such as research where animals are often treated cruelly by scientists and researchers." After she finished speaking, Shayla was quiet for a few moments, and then suddenly started sobbing.