Inbetween: The Works of Crayak 1

About the Inbetween Series:

I have some ideas for stories that I don't usually write because my four main series take up so much time (that and other blog work). So I decided that between writing sections of my main series, to write short little fanfics.

These fanfics will be HIGHLY self-indulgent. Because I work so hard on my other series that I deserve a little break.

Sometimes some of these "Inbetween Fics" might be samples of later works (that might turn out to be either a fanfic series OR original series).

About "The Works of Crayak":

Even though the Nickelodeon Animorphs tv series was horrible, Shawn Ashmore went on to do other things. Ashmore played Jake Berenson in the tv show and now he plays Mike Weston in the show The Following. Because I can’t stop thinking of Ashmore as Jake I decided a crossover fic was in order.

I have never done a crossover fic of this kind (aka exchanging characters from one series to another) and so I am a little nervous. This is also a test run as I may do another longer The Following/Animorphs crossover fic in the future.

Where It Takes Place in the Animorphs/The Following Timeline:

This takes place Post-War in the Animorphs timeline while taking place at the general start of The Following Season 1.

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It had been a year since the war had ended. A year since I had last heard from Cassie, except for official meetings and a rare phone call or two. I had found myself bored and the name Jake Berenson becoming used for cheap items and causes that I sometimes didn’t support. It was odd being a war hero and hearing your name being praised or degraded on a galactic scale.

Of course it was mostly humans that were the most forward about their feelings about me. The Andalites didn’t care about me, for the most part. The Andalite and human militaries had offered to let me teach humans about the ability to morph. I, and the other former Animorphs, were the ones most experienced with morphing. Even though the Andalites had invented the morphing technology, it had been five humans and one Andalite Aristh that knew the most about it.

As I sat down on my couch, and barely paid attention to the news, I thought that it must be a big blow to the Andalites’ egos to have a primitive species have more experience with their technology. A technology they had only recently decided to release for the different human militaries here on Earth.

If I had taken the offer I might not be so bored right now. No good shows were on so I had kept the news running so there would be something to ignore.

As I was about to get up to go to the bathroom, something interesting came up on the news. Now I cared about things on Earth but it was hard to get too concerned about things. Another person attempted to kill a Hork-Bajir saying they were demons and Andalite tourists made chaos in food courts around the world. I cared about those things but, at the same time, it was hard for me to get worked up over them.

But what was being reported now was like a slap in the face that brought me back to reality. The news report detailed a vicious new cult that had just been uncovered. But it wasn’t the cult part that got to me. There had always been cults and they had always done terrible things so that didn’t disturb me.

It should disturb me, right? I shouldn’t just be glancing over the thought of most cults. Maybe Cassie was smart not to be with me anymore.

There were two things that stuck out to me about this particular cult. One was that the leader was Esplin 9466 who was Visser One and before that Visser Three. How could he have gotten back to Earth? It wasn’t like the Andalites weren’t cautious. He had been the abomination, so I doubted he had had anything less than the highest security.

That fact alone would make me want to join in capturing him, but there was something else in the report. Something else that, if true, would mean anything but the fact this cult was anything us humans were ready for.

There was a clip of Esplin, now possessing the body of a middle aged man, ranting and raving about how he had seen visions of a being known as Crayak and that people needed to join his cult for redemption. It was bad enough to know that my old enemy was back, but to think that he could be joining forces with Crayak was beyond frightening.

If you compared the Ellimist to God, then Crayak would be the devil and then some. Crayak was a being who had made the simple-minded Howlers who just wanted to play into deadly killers that destroyed whole species without realizing what they were doing. If Crayak had sided with Esplin, then the Yeerk invasion of Earth would seem like a party in comparison of what could happen in the near future.

I quickly turned the tv off as I realized how tense I was getting. I didn’t want to shut down in case the FBI called to ask for my help. They didn’t usually ask for me and gave me lots of time off. I doubted it was because I was a war hero, or a war criminal depending on your point of view, and I was certain it was because I was publicity that wasn’t needed.

Any time the name Jake Berenson was mentioned, bad publicity was sure to follow quickly. To be fair: Cassie, Tobias, and Marco had the same problem. Cassie more than the other two as she was more involved with politics.

I walked over to the kitchen sink and splashed cold water on my face. I shouldn’t get involved with something on this scale as the last war I was in didn’t exactly treat me kindly. Cassie had done what she could to keep all of us sane. But I don’t think any amount of help could’ve saved me.

As I dried off my face I heard the phone ring. It hadn’t rung in a few days and so I started to instinctively morph tiger. I reversed the morph before picking up the phone. I shouldn’t have gotten scared like that.

“Hello, this is Jake Berenson.” I said.

“Berenson, have you watched the news?” The person on the other end asked.

“The news that Esplin is back on Earth?”

“Yeah, we figure that you’ve dealt with him before and can catch him again.”

“So am I working alone or are you pairing me up with someone?”

“You’ll be working with a nothlit. He used to be an Andalite and now goes by the name Ryan Hardy. We’ll expect you in three hours.”

“I’ll be there.” I said and sighed as I hung up.

I didn’t need to work with another Andalite who probably had the same arrogance the majority of his species had. But if he was trapped in the form of a human, which was the only way he’d be allowed into the FBI without a lot of hassle, then maybe the arrogance had gone.

I then went to get ready.

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All of Inbetween: The Works of Crayak