by Jackel
This is a story about the Animorphs, in 2019
Ax: The Andalite went back to his own home world, to get more help for Earth, he will be back about the year 2023.
Cassie: After Jake and her wedding, she started a vet business, she makes house calls. Which is good, because they still fight the war.
Jake: Jake is now a science teacher. I guess all of that Ax babble finally sunk through.
Marco: Marco is now married to Rachel, he works as a morning and afternoon DJ, they have two kids, but one is Tobias's.
Rachel: She is now the mother of two, Loran; 13 and TJ; 5. She's a night anchor woman.
Tobias: Tobias is now dead. He died soon after Loran, his daughter was born. He died killing Visser Three, but the war is still at full force.
Loran:
"Mom!" I yelled, running in the house, hoping she was actually home.
No response. "Great." I mumbled. But I wasn't surprised, I knew she would be gone. She always was. I turned on the radio, it was in the middle of a song.
"Fiy! Fiy! Fiy! Why?!?" A girl was singing. "Why does it hurt?! Fiy!"
"That's original." I said, to myself, almost laughing out loud. "Fiy? Is that even a word?"
"That's Vern Voc, with Fiy." My dad said. "Now, the next song is by a new person to the music world, 'Ziff', with 'Going Hurts'."
A new beat came up, and I went upstairs to see TJ. "TJ, do you now where mom is?" I asked, poking my head into his room, he was lying on his bed, reading. He was a very smart five year old. Of course, I had taught him everything he knows . . . TJ was just ready to learn it.
"No, is she gone again?" He asked, biting his lip.
"Arrgh!" I said. "Why don't you listen to the world around you?"
"I'm sorry." He said, hanging his head down, like he was ashamed. TJ can be very charming, but also very bratty.
"It's okay." I said, closing the door, and walking downstairs. I looked at the picture of us all, hanging on the wall. Our family looked nothing alike, I looked like my mom, long blond hair, and blue eyes, except I cut my hair last summer. TJ looks almost exactly what my dad looks like, tanned skin, dark hair and eyes. But I was different then them all. I looked different, and acted different . . . no one can really explain it, I'm guessing that's how Tobias, my natural dad, looked and acted like. My mom didn't have an affair or anything, see, Tobias married my mom, then he died in a car crash.
I was too young to remember anything about him . . . Although sometimes I think he's there. It's really creepy. Then I came home one day and my mom introduced me to Marco, my dad. A few days later they started arranging the marriage.
"So, if you know who pulled the first tooth out, call us at 555-6397. That's 555-6397." Dad was saying. That was the kind of thing dad would ask. It was weird and funny. And it made no sense.
I walked back upstairs, but to my own room. My room had pictures of my and my family, some with Marco, some with my real dad. I laid down on my bed, with my face in my pillow.
"AHHHHHHH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "No!"
"Loran! Wake up!" TJ was saying. "It's just a dream."
I woke up and said "Thanks for waking my up. But tell me something I don't know."
"Okay, I flushed your tooth brush down the toilet." He said, then ran out. I walked over to the bathroom that's connected my room. I splashed water on my face, and looked at my reflection. The dream was horrible. I was flying over something, it was fuzzy now it was . . . some woods. I looked down at the ground, and there was someone pointing something that looked like a gun at me! It shot! But it didn't really fell like a gun . . . more like a burning sensation. But, of course, I had never be shot before, so . . .
<AHHHHHHH!> I had yelled. <No!> Then TJ had woke me up.
I went out to the backyard, and climbed the tree back there. I don't why, my mom told me it was because of my real dad, he was like a pilot or something, but I like being more towards the sky then anything else. My mom never told me what me dad did for a living.
"Loran!" TJ called into the backyard.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"There's someone at the door! He says he wants to see you!" TJ yelled, I climbed down the tree, and walked into the house.
"Who is it?" I asked TJ.
"It's this guy, I don't know him." I walked over to the door, it was a man, he was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, you could bearly see his dark brown hair, sticking out from underneath it.
"Uncle Jake!" I said, hugging him.
"Hi Loran." He said. Jake isn't really my uncle, he's my cousin, but since he's a lot older, I just call him 'uncle' It had been a long time since I had seen him.
"And who's this?" He asked, looking behind me at TJ, his head was just bearly poking out of the kitchen.
"I'm TJ." He mumbled, coming all the way out.
"Hey, TJ." Uncle Jake said, smiling. "Is your mom home?"
"No, she's gone." I said.
"Well I have some news to tell her. Could you tell her I came over? It's about Aunt Cassie."
"Oh, is she hurt?" I asked, I had always liked their family, well not really a family, they didn't have any kids.
"No, but if I tell you will you promise to let me tell your mom?" He asked, bending down. Uncle Jake has this thing about him that always makes me feel like I'm about five.
"Yeah." I said, nodding my head.
"Well, Aunt Cassie is going to have a baby." He said, smiling.
"Really?" I asked, with a big smile on my face.
"Really." Uncle Jake said, standing up, and starting to leave. "Tell her to call me."
"I will!" I said.
"Was that really Uncle Jake?" TJ asked when he left.
"Yeah." I said, turning towards the backyard.
"He's tall." TJ said, walking back upstairs to his room. "Even taller then mommy and daddy."
"Yeah." I said, then the doorbell rang again, thinking it was Uncle Jake, I ran towards it, but so did TJ, yelling "I'll get it! I'll get it! I'll get it!"
"No! I've got it!" We both reached the door at the same time, I grabbed the door knob just before TJ, and jerked it open.
"Hello." A strange man said to us with a big smile.
"Um, hi." I said.
"Who are you?" TJ demanded.
"That's rude TJ." I whispered to him, although I was dying to know who he was too. That's the good thing about being little, you don't have to worry about being polite.
"That's okay." The man said. "I'm an old friend of your dad's." He said, looking straight at me.
"Oh, well, um, my dad's at work, but you can go--" I started.
"No, not that one, your real dad, Tobias."
"Um, he's well, he's dead." I said.
"Oh, I'm fully aware of that, I just have to ask you two something." I looked at TJ he looked at me. What would he want to ask us?
"Um, okay." TJ said.
"If you could get to know your real father, Loran, would you?" And then he looked at TJ. "And if you could see your parents when they were Loran's age, would you?" We didn't get a chance to answer, because then he turned and walked down the street.
"Oookay, that was weird." I said, closing the door.
"I know, did you notice that guys ears? They were all pointy." TJ said.
"No, I was looking at his eyes, they looked they were drilling through you!" I said, then started to tickle TJ with my two pointers.
"No! Stop!" He cried gleefully. "Stop!"
"Oh! TJ! I don't know what happened! My fingers are alive! I'm not making them tickle you!" I said, laughing.
"They are not!" He cried. TJ managed to slip away, into the family room, where all the announcements we had ever given were, you know like 'Rachel, daughter of Naomi and Dan is marring Tobias, the son of Loran and Robert' That one was in blue. Right beside it was my birth announcement, 'We are proud to announce that Rachel has given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Loran Katherine'. then an invitation to Tobias's funeral, where my mom met Marco, well, that's what she told me. Then 'Marco son of blah blah blah and Rachel daughter of Blah and Blah are getting married,' Then TJ's birth announcement 'Tobias Jr. was born on Sept. 29, 2015.'
TJ had hidden behind the couch.
"Oh, where could TJ be? If I don't find him, I'll never get my breakfast!" I said, in a deep voice that sends really little kids screaming. "He couldn't be behind the couch, could he?" Then I walked over to one of the sides, and poked my head down and yelled "Boo!"
"Ahh!" He yelled, then we ran into the backyard. "Okay! Okay, you win!" He yelled, not longer happy. "I don't want to play anymore."
"Okay, fine." I said, smiling, then started to climb the tree. I wanted to go high this time. Really high. I don't know why, I just wanted to go high! I was on one of the top branches now. I put my foot on one of the branches, and I heard a sound that made me want to scream. The sound of breaking wood!
"Ahh!" I screamed as I fell.
"Loran?" TJ yelled running out of the house. "Loran!"
I was falling! The branches whipped by me, stinging me as I fell! "No!" I was about an inch from the ground, I closed my eyes, and waited for the impact. Then . . . I woke up. I jumped up and looked around, I was in something like a barn . . . "Hey Rachel!" Some girl said, coming up from behind me. "Whoa! What'd you do to your hair?"
"What?" I asked. "I'm not Rachel."
"Come on Rachel, the others will be here soon, I need some help shoveling this poop. Good thing you came early."
"I'm not Rachel." I said.
"Oh, come on, cleaning manure isn't that bad." The girl said, handing me a shovel. I looked at it, and starting helping her. "Jake said that this meeting was important."
"What meeting?" I asked.
"Rachel, stop it, I don't want to play this game." She said, looking at me.
"I am not Rachel, my name is Loran. Loran Katharine." I looked at her, and she looked at me. Then some boys came into the barn.
"No," One of them said. "Marco, you're dreaming. The only way--" He stopped to look at me. "Rachel, what'd you do with your hair?" I recognized him. It was Uncle Jake, but he was a lot younger. I looked at that girl. It was Aunt Cassie!
"I'm not Rachel." I said, getting tired of being called Rachel.
"Come on, Xena." A boy said . . . Wait a second! That was my dad! I almost screamed. "I know you get tired of being yourself, but--"
<Who does Rachel think she is?> A voice said. It knew that voice . . . it was the voice in my dream! <Loran?>
"Yeah, Loran Katherine." Cassie said. "Rach, you okay?"
"I'm fine and my name is not--"
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late, but I had to--" A tall girl said, walking in. A tall girl that looked very familiar. "Who are you?" She demanded.
"I am Loran! I have been saying that!" I said. "Jeez."
The rest of them looked at me, then Rachel, then me. "Um, what are you doing here Loran?" Jake asked.
"I don't know, I was climbing a tree, then I fell and here I am." I said, sounding very frustrated.
"Well, what happened before that?" Cassie asked, trying to figure this out.
"I was at my house, when the doorbell rang and my uncle Ja--" I started, but I realized anything I said here could affect the entire future. "John was there, and he said that he wanted to talk to my mom, but she wasn't home, and I turned to leave. It rang again, and this weird guy was there, and asked my brother if he wanted to know my mom when she was little, and asked me if I wanted to know my dad before he had died, and before I could say anything, he left."
<Then . . .> Someone asked.
"Okay, who is saying that?" I asked, looking around.
<Oops,> The voice said.
"What happened next, then I'll tell you who's talking." Jake said.
"Okay, I played a game with TJ, my brother, and then I went out back and climbed the tree, I slipped and fell, then I woke up here, and then Cassie came in." I said.
"Okay, Tobias, fly down here." He said. I froze. I mean I froze. Tobias? Fly down here? "This is Tobias." Jake said, pointing to a red-tailed hawk.
"No, it's not." I said instantly.
"Yes it is." Jake said.
"Tobias is human." I said. "Not a red-tail hawk."
They all looked at me like I was crazy.
"Tobias, morph human." Cassie said.
<Um, okay . . .>The bird said. Then the hawk that Jake had been pointing at started to change. I was staring at him until he had finished.
"Tobias." I said, then I started to feel dizzy, the room started to spin.
"Hey, I don't think she's okay." Jake said. I guess I fainted then.
Marco:
Okay, this girl was defiantly odd. Jake had caught her right before she had hit the ground.
"Do you think she's real?" I asked Jake.
"Well, I don't know, she seemed pretty surprised to see Tobias morph human, so I don't think she's a controller. But it might be a trick." Jake said, looking at her. "You know, she doesn't totally look like Rachel."
"I know, it looks like there's another person mixed in with her." Cassie said, looking at her. "Someone I know . . . But I can't put my finger on them."
"I know." Rachel said. "Why did she cut her hair? It would look so good long."
We all looked at Rachel like she was crazy. There was a girl who might try to kill us as soon as she woke up, and she was worried about her hair.
"What's this?" Jake asked, looking in her pocket. "A wallet?"
"Jake, don't." Cassie said, but it was too late.
"Hmm, it says here that she was born in the year 2006. But that can't be right."
"Hey?" Loran said, sitting up. "Hey! You took my wallet!"
"Sorry." Jake said. "But it says here you were born in the 2006."
"Yeah, so?"
<Sorry I am late Prince Jake, but I had to morph human to make Cas--> Ax started, but he was interrupted by Loran's scream.
"What the heck is that?!?" She yelled.
Ax said, a little surprised at Loran's scream. <Who are you?>
"This is Loran." Jake said. "She says she's from the future."
<That could be possible, but how far in the future?> Ax said.
"I'm not saying anything until you tell me why there's an alien in your barn." Loran said.
"Well, he's helping us fight a war." I said.
"In Cassie's barn?" Loran asked skeptically.
"No," Jake said. Then we told her the whole story.
"Okay." Loran said. "I was born in the year 2006, and right now it's the year 2019. Well, in my time line, what year is it here?"
"1983." I said. "Or 1985. Maybe 1996. Oh, I know, 1997."
"It's 1999. You're only 20 years in the future." Jake sighed.
<Humans wouldn't . . . they wouldn't have achieved time travel in 20 years unless they worked exceptionally hard.> Ax said.
"We haven't 'achieved time travel' . . . we haven't even tried to. That's why this is so weird." Loran said, playing with her hair.
"How do we know you're really from the future?" I asked.
"You don't." She said. "The same as me. I don't know if you're just a group of wacko's that found me on the ground and kidnapped me."
<An understanding. I have read about these things. Andalite's used to have something like them, until we started living in family units and --> Ax said.
"Ax, we're all interested in your story, but we have a bigger problem." I said.
"Loran! Loran! Loran!" A small boy said, running into the barn. "I saw you fall and-Ahhhhhhh!" That's when he noticed Ax. "What are you?" He asked, his eyes wide.
Ax said.
"Oh. I'm TJ." TJ said.
<Hello TJ,> Ax said.
"That's just great." Rachel said. "But we kind of have an emergence here."
"No we don't." I said. "I'm betting . . . an Ellimist, and she's supposed to help us. If that's really what happened."
"It is." Loran insisted.
"What's what happened?" TJ asked.
"I told them how I got here. How did you get here?" She asked.
"Well . . . I was running inside to call 1-2-2. Because mommy always says in an emergency, call 1-2-2. Anyways, I started to run up the stairs, and I tripped and hits my head. Then I was here." TJ said.
"There's no 's' in 'anyway' and 'hit,'" Loran said. Girls are so weird. They see one thing wrong that a boy's done, and they correct it, even at a time like that.
"Who cares?" TJ asked.
"Boys." Rachel said, shaking her head.
"Oh no! She knows our gender!" I said to Jake in mock horror. "Nobody can leave this barn alive!"
"That's so not funny, Marco." Loran said.
"How did you know my name?" I asked her. "Nobody told you it . . . in fact you knew Cassie's name right when we walked in. How?"
"I know all of your names. Cassie, Jake, Marco, Rachel and Tobias, but I
didn't know Ax."
"I could've guessed that." I said.
"We need to get back on track." Jake said. "Now, we have to find a place for Loran to stay . . ."
"I could just stay at the barn, maybe the hayloft." Loran said, indicating the roof. We all looked at her. "You mean you'll volunteer to sleep in a hayloft." I asked her.
"Yeah, sure. Why not?" She started to climb up the ladder. "Eww! What's up here?"
"Just hay . . . hence the name." Cassie said. "What'd you expect?"
"I don't know . . . I thought that . . . see there are no barns where I live, so . . . I thought it would be a room, that's all that's in a hayloft where I live." Loran said, sounding confused.
"You mean, there are no barns in the future, except for houses?" Cassie asked.
"Well, yeah." Loran said, climbing down to the barn. "But I'll sleep up there anyway."
"You sure?" Jake asked.
"I'm not sleeping in a barn!" TJ said.
"You can sleep . . . at my house tonight." Jake said. "But not tomorrow."
"Loran can sleep in my room tonight." Rachel said.
"Okay . . . but we can sleep here." Loran said, now done with playing with her hair, she was playing with a ring.
"Hey, where'd you get that ring?" Tobias asked, looking intently at the ring.
"My dad gave it to me before he died . . . why?" Loran said, putting it behind her back.
"Um, no reason." Tobias mumbled. I noticed Rachel looking at him curiously. I knew that they were going to have a chat as soon as we left.
"Oh man!" I said, looking at my watch. "I have to go!" I hoped that maybe we'd leave one by one, the Rachel and Tobias would talk. I wanted to find out why Tobias was so . . . weird about that ring. I've always wanted to here one of their conversations anyway. It worked, everyone left. Loran and TJ went with Cassie, she was going to get them something to eat, and Jake left to go see a movie or something. Ax just left. I hid under one of the stall's windows, right beside a trought.
"Tobias, how do you know that ring?" Rachel asked him.
"Well, my mom, she had a ring that looked almost excatly like that, and it was like, the only thing I got from her." Tobias said, like he was trying to forget the entire thing.
MORE LATER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~BY: Jackel
