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
