Apparently I Could Spell 'Embarrassed' But Not 'Watch'.
reipan gave me some Animorphs books for Christmas, and so I recently reread The Invasion, the first book in the series.
I had forgotten that the Animorphs books are the most depressing children's books ever written. In my memory, the Animorphs at least managed to blow up the Yeerk pool in the first book, even if Tobias was a casualty. Upon rereading, I found that they went in severely underprepared. They did not manage to blow up the Yeerk pool. They managed to rescue one person. One person. They released others from the cages, but all of them were recaptured or killed. The Animorphs' first major mission, and more people ended up dead than rescued. And, on top of all that, Jake ate a live spider. SO DEPRESSING.
(Nothing on the end of the series, though, which I never actually reached but read up on when I was researching for my Glee/Animorphs crossover. Oh, Jake.)
These books were a really big part of my childhood. I used to go to the library and check out as many as I possibly could at once. My first real involvement in fandom was on the messageboard for a fanfiction series called Pokémorphs, in which a Mew gave a bunch of teenagers the power to morph into Pokémon using the 'Ditto Device'. They had to fight the Weederpies: Weedle-Caterpie hybrids genetically engineered by Team Rocket. It was amazing. The world definitely needs more Animorphs crossovers.
Whilst I'm being nostalgic: I've rediscovered my first real effort at fanfiction (EDIT: Just realised that this is at least the third thing to which I have referred as 'my first attempt at fanfiction' in this journal. Look, it was at least ten years ago and I have a terrible memory for the order in which things happen), which was never finished (barely started, in fact). It was called Mew's Pokémon Journey, and it was about a Mew who wanted to be a Pokémon master. I think I'd have been eleven or twelve. Here are some scans of the (now rather yellowed) pages: one, two, three. It looks like there was more writing afterwards, but sadly I think that's been lost.
I've also written it up under the cut, just in case those scans go down in the future and I lose the original (I am a hoarder and like to keep things backed up all over the place). Spelling and punctuational errors are preserved. (I was quite a competent speller, I see, but I clearly had no idea how to punctuate dialogue.)
Mew's Pokemon Journey
I AM MEW! I WILL BE THE FIRST NON-HUMAN POKÉMON MASTER!
My name is Mew.* I knew about the Pokémon trainers, of course. We tended to avoid them, for we did not want anyone to know about the Mew species, much less capture one of us.
But I was inquisitive. I wanted to find out as much as possible about the world.
Part Two
I was playing catch in some bushes with my friends, when all of a sudden I saw just what I wanted: a Pokémon trainer. I heasitated for a second, then slipped away from my friends and crept closer to him.
{Hey! Hey, you!} I whispered.
He hadn't heard. I took a step closer.
{Hello! Can you hear me?} I said, a little louder.
The boy froze. He turned round, saw me and started.
"Wow!" he said. "Is that a Pokémon?"
{I'm not a 'that'} I said indignantly.
He pulled something red out of his pocket and flipped it open.
'UNKNOWN POKÉMON. NO DATA FOUND.'
"Yeah, I'll catch it! Wonder what kind it is?"
{I'm a Mew} I said, backing away from him.
I was ready to make a dash for it.
"A Mew, huh? Right, GO - "
I stood poised, ready to run. The hand holding the Pokéball dropped and the ball fell to the ground.
"D-did you speak? How - I mean, Pok people can't understand Pokémon talk, how can I understand you?"
{I don't know} I said, remembering that I had been told that exact piece of information by my mother. {I'm a psychic Pokémon, maybe I can somehow talk through my mind.}
"Yeah, maybe" said the trainer slowly.
{What's your name?} I asked, anxious to change the subject (what if he remembered that he wanted to capture me?!).
"Ash Ketchum" he said. "I am going to be the world's greatest Pokémon Master!"
{What's a Pokémon Master?} I asked, interested.
So Ash explained it all, from getting a starter Pokémon to beating the champions at Pokémon League. By the end I was terribly excited.
{Could I be a Pokémon Master?} I asked.
"Of course not! You're not a human!" said Ash.
{Of course a Pokémon can be a Pokémon Master!!} I said, outraged.
"I suppose they might" said Ash slowly.
I leapt up onto a rock and shouted to the world {I AM MEW! I WILL BE THE FIRST NON-HUMAN POKÉMON MASTER!}
Part 3
{Where do I get my starting Pokémon?} I asked, jumping up and down in exitement.
Ash stared at me. I looked down and took in the slim pink body, the long smooth tail, the big Mew feet. {Oh, yes} I said, embarrassed. {Well, where do I get the red thing?}
"Excuse me?" said Ash.
{The red thing you have that talks. And the Pokéballs.}
"You can buy Pokeballs from shops, but what do you mean by the 'red thing'?"
{You have it! It talks!} I said desperately. I leapt up and inspected his pocket. I pulled it ou out the red thing I saw earlier.
{This!} I said, flicking it open.
RATTATA. A VERY SMALL AND SPEEDY RAT POKÉMON. IT HAS SHARP FANGS AND IS A COMMEN SIGHT IN WOODS AND FIELDS.
The Rattata ran off into the ferns.
{See? It talks!} I said, whirling it around. It flew out of my paws. {Ooops.}
I ran up and checked it. It seemed to be OK.
I gave it back to Ash.
"Be more careful next time! This 'red thing' is called a Pokédex. It has information on the Pokémon you see."
{Where can I get one?} I asked.
"Proffessor Oak invented them. He lives in Pallet Town" said Ash
{Right} I said. {Watche out world, HERE I COME!!!}
Alas, we shall never know exactly how Mew was to fare on his Pokémon journey.
To return to the original subject of Animorphs, here is a quote from the construction-site scene in The Invasion:
But then the Andalite's voice was in my head again. {Courage, my friends.}**
And then he psychically transmits courage to the Animorphs.
BLAINE ANDERSON IS AN ANDALITE. My goodness, I clearly missed an opportunity in my Glee/Animorphs crossover.
* this is equivalent to a dog saying 'My name is Dog.'
** here, as in the Mew's Pokémon Journey writeup, I am using squiggly brackets (that's almost certainly the technical term) instead of the pointy brackets of the book because I don't want LJ to interpret it as an HTML tag and make my text too courageous.
I had forgotten that the Animorphs books are the most depressing children's books ever written. In my memory, the Animorphs at least managed to blow up the Yeerk pool in the first book, even if Tobias was a casualty. Upon rereading, I found that they went in severely underprepared. They did not manage to blow up the Yeerk pool. They managed to rescue one person. One person. They released others from the cages, but all of them were recaptured or killed. The Animorphs' first major mission, and more people ended up dead than rescued. And, on top of all that, Jake ate a live spider. SO DEPRESSING.
(Nothing on the end of the series, though, which I never actually reached but read up on when I was researching for my Glee/Animorphs crossover. Oh, Jake.)
These books were a really big part of my childhood. I used to go to the library and check out as many as I possibly could at once. My first real involvement in fandom was on the messageboard for a fanfiction series called Pokémorphs, in which a Mew gave a bunch of teenagers the power to morph into Pokémon using the 'Ditto Device'. They had to fight the Weederpies: Weedle-Caterpie hybrids genetically engineered by Team Rocket. It was amazing. The world definitely needs more Animorphs crossovers.
Whilst I'm being nostalgic: I've rediscovered my first real effort at fanfiction (EDIT: Just realised that this is at least the third thing to which I have referred as 'my first attempt at fanfiction' in this journal. Look, it was at least ten years ago and I have a terrible memory for the order in which things happen), which was never finished (barely started, in fact). It was called Mew's Pokémon Journey, and it was about a Mew who wanted to be a Pokémon master. I think I'd have been eleven or twelve. Here are some scans of the (now rather yellowed) pages: one, two, three. It looks like there was more writing afterwards, but sadly I think that's been lost.
I've also written it up under the cut, just in case those scans go down in the future and I lose the original (I am a hoarder and like to keep things backed up all over the place). Spelling and punctuational errors are preserved. (I was quite a competent speller, I see, but I clearly had no idea how to punctuate dialogue.)
Mew's Pokemon Journey
I AM MEW! I WILL BE THE FIRST NON-HUMAN POKÉMON MASTER!
My name is Mew.* I knew about the Pokémon trainers, of course. We tended to avoid them, for we did not want anyone to know about the Mew species, much less capture one of us.
But I was inquisitive. I wanted to find out as much as possible about the world.
Part Two
I was playing catch in some bushes with my friends, when all of a sudden I saw just what I wanted: a Pokémon trainer. I heasitated for a second, then slipped away from my friends and crept closer to him.
{Hey! Hey, you!} I whispered.
He hadn't heard. I took a step closer.
{Hello! Can you hear me?} I said, a little louder.
The boy froze. He turned round, saw me and started.
"Wow!" he said. "Is that a Pokémon?"
{I'm not a 'that'} I said indignantly.
He pulled something red out of his pocket and flipped it open.
'UNKNOWN POKÉMON. NO DATA FOUND.'
"Yeah, I'll catch it! Wonder what kind it is?"
{I'm a Mew} I said, backing away from him.
I was ready to make a dash for it.
"A Mew, huh? Right, GO - "
I stood poised, ready to run. The hand holding the Pokéball dropped and the ball fell to the ground.
"D-did you speak? How - I mean, Pok people can't understand Pokémon talk, how can I understand you?"
{I don't know} I said, remembering that I had been told that exact piece of information by my mother. {I'm a psychic Pokémon, maybe I can somehow talk through my mind.}
"Yeah, maybe" said the trainer slowly.
{What's your name?} I asked, anxious to change the subject (what if he remembered that he wanted to capture me?!).
"Ash Ketchum" he said. "I am going to be the world's greatest Pokémon Master!"
{What's a Pokémon Master?} I asked, interested.
So Ash explained it all, from getting a starter Pokémon to beating the champions at Pokémon League. By the end I was terribly excited.
{Could I be a Pokémon Master?} I asked.
"Of course not! You're not a human!" said Ash.
{Of course a Pokémon can be a Pokémon Master!!} I said, outraged.
"I suppose they might" said Ash slowly.
I leapt up onto a rock and shouted to the world {I AM MEW! I WILL BE THE FIRST NON-HUMAN POKÉMON MASTER!}
Part 3
{Where do I get my starting Pokémon?} I asked, jumping up and down in exitement.
Ash stared at me. I looked down and took in the slim pink body, the long smooth tail, the big Mew feet. {Oh, yes} I said, embarrassed. {Well, where do I get the red thing?}
"Excuse me?" said Ash.
{The red thing you have that talks. And the Pokéballs.}
"You can buy Pokeballs from shops, but what do you mean by the 'red thing'?"
{You have it! It talks!} I said desperately. I leapt up and inspected his pocket. I pulled it ou out the red thing I saw earlier.
{This!} I said, flicking it open.
RATTATA. A VERY SMALL AND SPEEDY RAT POKÉMON. IT HAS SHARP FANGS AND IS A COMMEN SIGHT IN WOODS AND FIELDS.
The Rattata ran off into the ferns.
{See? It talks!} I said, whirling it around. It flew out of my paws. {Ooops.}
I ran up and checked it. It seemed to be OK.
I gave it back to Ash.
"Be more careful next time! This 'red thing' is called a Pokédex. It has information on the Pokémon you see."
{Where can I get one?} I asked.
"Proffessor Oak invented them. He lives in Pallet Town" said Ash
{Right} I said. {Watche out world, HERE I COME!!!}
Alas, we shall never know exactly how Mew was to fare on his Pokémon journey.
To return to the original subject of Animorphs, here is a quote from the construction-site scene in The Invasion:
But then the Andalite's voice was in my head again. {Courage, my friends.}**
And then he psychically transmits courage to the Animorphs.
BLAINE ANDERSON IS AN ANDALITE. My goodness, I clearly missed an opportunity in my Glee/Animorphs crossover.
* this is equivalent to a dog saying 'My name is Dog.'
** here, as in the Mew's Pokémon Journey writeup, I am using squiggly brackets (that's almost certainly the technical term) instead of the pointy brackets of the book because I don't want LJ to interpret it as an HTML tag and make my text too courageous.