Fanfic / Neomorphs

Marco: It sounds to me like we’re talking about another Yeerk invasion here. Another war like the first one.

Jake: Sounds like it. Animorphs version two-point-oh. The rematch of the millennium. If you want out, say so now.

— Neomorphs #1: The Prologue (a.k.a. Animorphs #55)

Animorphs was a Sci-Fi book series that ran from 1996 to 2001, about five kids fighting off an alien race. Many fans were upset by the ending, and it has spawned massive amounts of fanfiction. Neomorphs, like many, was an attempt to continue the story from where the series ended. Unlike many, Neomorphs did not attempt to do so in a single story but, rather, continue the series with many new stories, similar in length, structure, and diction to the canon counterparts.

At the end of the canon Animorphs series, Jake, Marco, Tobias, Jeanne, Santorelli, and Menderash go into space to rescue Ax from the Yeerks, only to find out that he has been possessed by a being called The One. The Animorphs learn that The One was the being that banished the Crayak from its own galaxy and agree to fight The One with Crayak on the condition that the Crayak and the Ellimist leave Earth alone in their game for the fate of the galaxy. They learn that The One is using a small group of Yeerks to invade Earth again. After they fail to head him off, The One, the Crayak, and the Ellimist agree to a deal: provided that the war for Earth remained a secret, none of these beings would use their powers directly. However, if the war became public, they would fight each other directly, which would destroy the universe. So, like in the canon series, a small group of Animorphs (Jake, Marco, Tobias, Cassie, Jeanne, and Santorelli) have to fight a secret war for the freedom of mankind.

As time goes on, it is revealed that the stakes are larger than that. The One is a being with power over life and death, testing mankind via the Animorphs to see if unleashing the humans upon the galaxy would be a good thing or a bad thing. If the Animorphs fail his test, then regardless of whether they defeat the Yeerks or not, all humans everywhere will die.

Especially long for a fanfiction series, Neomorphs currently encompasses 20 regular-series stories, as well as 2 extra-length specials and 1 extra long backstory special, with many more expected to be released.

Can be found here.

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This series provides examples of:

• Achilles' Heel: The two-hour time limit on morphing (before Shapeshifter Mode Lock kicks in) from the original series still applies, as does the 3 day rule (for how long they can be in their hosts) for Yeerks.
• Action Girl: Still Rachel, who later becomes a Pregnant Badass. Melissa as well.
• Alien Among Us: Ax and Al are Andalites, but spend most time on Earth in human morph.
• Alien Arts Are Appreciated: Guraff seems to enjoy Hamlet as he quoted it in one book while strangling Al.
• Alien Blood: Several species have oddly colored blood.
• Alien Invasion: Yeerks and Kelbrid trying to invade Earth.
• Aliens Speaking English: As per canon, just about every species speaks English.
• The Alliance: Once the war with the Yeerks starts up again in ernest, the Andalites forge one of these with numerous other races. The nations of Earth also pledge their support, though with their current tech level it's mostly in name only at the moment.
• Almighty Janitor: Played with. Though he works as a security guard for a suspected mafia organization, Tobias — The Leader of the Animorphs — holds the rank of War-Prince in the Andalite military.
• Always Chaotic Evil: Played with. Kelbrid are inherently bloodthirsty and vicious...and they hate it, given how much of their history is marked by tragedy because they simply can't stop fighting.
• And I Must Scream:
  • If you're infested by a Yeerk, there's no end to your suffering in sight.
  • It can also refer to the Kelbrid, slaves to their bloodlust.
• Anti-Hero: Tobias does a lot of morally questionable things over the course of the series.
• Anti-Villain: Guraff is The Dragon, but is also a Noble Demon.
• Anyone Can Die: Oh yes. Some main characters have been killed, some with no warning at all. Santorelli, Jake (who gets better), and Cassie.
• Arch-Enemy: Guraff and Tobias, due to a personal rival that develops from their repeated encounters. Plus, Guraff has a past with Tobias' father Elfangor.
  • Ax and the Visser, due to the Visser subjugating Ax as his host for the early part of the series.
  • Jake and Mersa, due to Jake needing to kill Mersa to be restored fully to life.
• Arc Villain: Mersa's a major player for a few books, but is ultimately dealt with.
• Ascended Extra: A lot of throwaway characters from the original series received promotions in Neomorphs.
  • The best examples are Jeanne, Ronnie Chambers, and Melissa Chapman, who become main characters.
  • Esplin 9466 Lesser, who went from being thrown away at the end of book 16 to reappearing as the Emperor in Megamorphs 6 (which takes place after book 74).
• Ascended Fanboy: Tobias. He is fascinated by China's Three Kingdoms era and gets to visit in one book.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Defied. Though he can arguably kick the ass of anyone in the galaxy, Guraff has resisted most attempts to promote him to any especially high rank.
• Author Filibuster: Many stories end with one of these related at least loosely to some issue that arose during the novel. On other occasions, the author stated that he disagrees with his characters, even during these moments.
• Badass Crew: The Animorphs are still a highly effective fighting team.

• Badass Longcoat: Tobias gets one later on in the series.
• Badass Normal: Naomi. She can't morph, she can't shoot, she isn't an elite commando of any kind or brilliant military strategist, but if you get in her way GOD CAN'T HELP YOU NOW.
• Bad Boss:
  • The Visser's gotten a little better with this, but he's still the Visser and so he still solves most of his problems by decapitating offending subordinates or morphing into an enormous monster and eating his antagonists.
  • Arguably Sergio, the possible mobster Tobias ends up working for, though he at least seems to be effective.
• The Battlestar: The Blade ship and Dome ships, the respective capital ships of the Andalites and Yeerks, still qualify from canon.
• Balancing Death's Books: Rachel is only allowed to come Back from the Dead due to Jake's Heroic Sacrifice. And later, he's allowed to come back, but only in exchange for killing Mersa.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Rachel is still capable of looking great even after a bloody fight.
• The Berserker: Rachel still tends to be the most intense in combat.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Turns out Ronnie and James, two of the nicest characters in the series, are full of rage. Who knew?
• Big Bad: The Visser (though Guraff gets plenty of time as The Heavy too) with The One as the Greater-Scope Villain (technically)
• Big Eater: Al and David in human form. And Ax is still the king, though his is downplayed.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: For example, Tobias's Arch-Enemy is, by conventional standards, more upstanding than he is.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: The Hork-Bajir are all covered in natural blades.
• Blood Knight: Rachel is still the most comfortable in combat. Ronnie falls into this as well as part of his Death Seeker tendencies, and Tobias slips into this from time to time.

• Bored with Insanity: "Putin and James were flies on his back and I was the leader of Russia...Animorphs are the only people who ever have to say things like that." - Cassie
• Breakout Character: Guraff was originally just supposed to be a large Hork-bajir who would appear in book 60 and never be seen again.

• The Bridge: The Blade ship and The Reliquary both have these.
• Broken Masquerade: The Animorphs reveal the whole truth to Vladimir Putin after he starts to figure things out for himself.
• Bring Him to Me: The Animorphs have been invited into the Visser's Blade ship and into the headquarters of Mersa's rebel faction (though in both cases the invitations were cordial).
• Bullet Time: Often used in particularly important battles, sometimes going so far as to give a blow-by-blow account of a fight.
• Can't Stay Normal: Cassie and Ronnie try to get out of the whole mess but keep getting pulled back in.
• Character Catchphrase: Rachel still says "Let's do it" in order to kick off a fight.
• The Chessmaster: The Crayak, the Ellimist, and The One are all manipulating events on Earth and across the galaxy to the benefit of their respective plans.
• Character Death: Santorelli, Cassie, Loren all die at different points across the series.

• City with No Name: In addition to still refusing to name their hometown, the Animorphs also never name the second city in which the Yeerks are invading.
• Comes Great Responsibility: The Animorphs are the only ones in a position to not only fight the Yeerks but also pass The One's test. Failure to do either would result in the enslavement or extinction of humanity itself.
• Commander Contrarian: Marco and David. In fact, David's job is explicitly stated as being to point out holes in Tobias's plans.
• Continuity Nod: Numerous examples, mostly consisting of the Animorphs talking about previous missions or events.
• Cool Starship: There are a few of these. Dome ships, Pool ships, Blade ships, etc. The Reliquary and The Beast are particularly good examples.
• Co-Dragons: Guraff is the Visser's chief warrior, but Salheer and Kalroth are equally ranked and important, being the Visser's chief bureaucrat and in charge of training the Apostates, respectfully.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: The Pythagi are an entire species of this.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Anything that goes one-on-one with Guraff or otherwise involves Guraff.
  • At one point, Tobias and Guraff team up to fight off a bunch of Pythagi, who really don't stand a chance.
  • In the fight between Guraff and Ax, Ax gets pretty badly stomped by Guraff.
• Cult: The Sharing is still set up like one of these like in canon, though their public face is now a support group for former Controllers instead of a YMCA-like group.
• Dead Man Writing: Elfangor via memories experienced by Tobias
• Deadpan Snarker: Marco, Tobias, and Rachel are like this all the time. Sometimes David and James as well.

• Death Is Cheap: Jake and Rachel both return from the dead, and Santorelli does as well, temporarily. However, it's mostly subverted, as it's made clear that these are rare exceptions by the lord of the afterlife, and if they die again, they won't be brought back again.
• Death Seeker:
  • Melissa is strongly implied to have only joined the Animorphs so that she could die fighting the Yeerks.
  • Ronnie also shows signs of this after Cassie's death.
• Derelict Graveyard: Still the Nartec city, full of sunken ships from across the ages.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: On several occassions involving the Ellimist, Drode, and The One, the Animorphs treat them more as an annoyance and a distraction than anything else.

• Double Consciousness: Happens when you morph an Animal. Tobias lives in a perpetual state of this. He has all of his own memories, as well as some memories from Elfangor and the Howlers, as well as many of the instincts of a hawk.
• Dungeon Master: The Ellimist, the Crayak, and The One have staged their own private campaign that involves all of Earth. The Animorphs are the player characters.
• The Drag-Along: Cassie at first doesn't want to get involved in the renewed war, though she eventually got over it.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: According to a deal made by the superbeings who run the war, the invasion of Earth must remain a secret.
• Drives Like Crazy: Jake cannot drive a boat.
• Drop-In Character: Erek reprises this trope, as does Mark, another Chee. Other characters who just drop in throughout the series include Adrian Rook, Alloran-Semitur-Corrass, Dan Berenson, and Vladimir Putin.

• Eldritch Abomination: The Crayak, the Drode, and the Ellimist, as in canon, are beings from beyond normal three-dimensional reality. They are now joined by The One.
• Elite Mooks: The Apostates, whose Ssri'Kai hosts are among the most dangerous species in the series, and who are also trained to have fanatical Undying Loyalty to the Visser.
• Enemy Civil War:
  • For several books, Mersa leads a renegade faction of Yeerks against the Visser, but ultimately loses.
  • More recently, it's been shown that the current Yeerk Emperor (the Visser's twin) is building up forces to retake control from him.
• Enemy Mine:
  • The Animorphs work with Mersa to undermine the Visser, but when he becomes too much of a threat, they switch gears to help the Visser take him down.
  • The Animorphs and the Yeerks have worked together a few times to prevent the Secret War on Earth from being uncovered.

• Escalating War: The war has expanded far beyond the original scope. In addition to fighting in a second city on Earth, the Yeerks are waging war all across the galaxy, and many of the Neomorphs 'supplementary' books address the larger war directly.

• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": All of the extra-dimensional beings go by pseudonyms. The Crayak and the Drode were once the same creature named Imaeus, the Ellimist's real name is Toomin, and The One is also known as Azmaveth, though whether The One has a real name is difficult to determine.
• Everyone Meets Everyone: Downplayed. Most of the main characters already had a strong connection to the others, and many of the secondary characters are close friends or relatives of the main ones.
• Evil Gloating: The Visser does so love his evil gloating. David was prone to this during the time when he was a villain.
• Evil Overlord: Still the Visser. Only now, he's the ruler of the New Yeerk Order.
• Eviler than Thou: Originally, the Yeerk hierarchy is based off of this concept. The Yeerks later attempt to change this, with questionable results.
• Exposed Extraterrestrials: Most of the aliens in the series.

• Family-Unfriendly Violence / Family-Unfriendly Death: Keeping true to the original Animorphs, Neomorphs is packed full of gratuitous, lovingly detailed violence.
• Faster-Than-Light Travel: Zero-Space is a realm of existence outside of real space, allowing objects to exceed the speed of light.
• Fighting from the Inside:
  • Literal in the case of most Yeerk hosts.
  • Salheer. "[Salheer's Host] was a really nice guy before he got Yeerked. He just can't stand up to the stuff Salheer's putting his brain through. He's basically just an empty shell of a man now. A vegetable. Except he's not good for you."
• Fire-Forged Friends: Particularly prevalent in the case of Al and David, who became close friends due to morphing different parts of a symbiotic alien creature.

• Foreshadowing: Almost every Animorph mission goes horribly wrong somehow, and the narrating Animorph almost always comments on it beforehand.
• Forgot I Could Fly: Sometimes, the Animorphs forget some of their morphs, leading them to choose inefficient bodies.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: The One appears to be a human (and resembles an elf at times), and even uses a human name, albeit an archaric one: Azmaveth.
• Four-Star Badass:
  • Alloran. <I am no longer a Prince. I have retired. And I have not come to help you. I have come,> he said, <to kill Yeerks.>'
  • The Visser and Guraff also qualify, as one is the (questionable) leader of the Yeerk Order and the other is his second-in-command.
  • Arguably, Tobias counts. It depends on how highly one values the rank of War-Prince.

• The Fundamentalist: Kalroth and the Apostates view the Visser as a god.
• Genetic Memory: The Howlers possess one of these. Tobias frequently accesses it when he needs an edge in combat.
• Going Native: Al, an Andalite, has a crush on Kristina, a human he meets while in human morph and attending high school as part of his cover.
• Good All Along: In addition to the examples from the original series, the Ssri'Kai (originally seen only as Controllers) served as protectors of the galaxy in the past. Though they did exterminate three sentient races who refused to say that their home planet of Ssri was the most beautiful in the galaxy.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Morphing heals most injuries. In addition, Tobias's Howler morph heals him in combat, usually allowing him to survive situations that should have killed him.

• Healing Factor: Morphing restores any non-fatal injury. Additionally, Tobias's Howler morph regenerates all but the mots severe damage (unless exposed to Kelbrid poison, which negates that healing).
• He Knows Too Much:
  • Kicked around in many cases when someone discovers too much about the Animorphs.
  • In book 72, Ax murders Carl Yastrzemski specifically for this reason.
• Heel–Face Turn: David starts off still as villainous as in canon, working with the Yeerks on behalf of the One (who traded his services from Crayak). Eventually, however, having morphed part of a symbiotic alien alongside Cassie and Al causes him to have a Heel Realization, and he defects to the Animorphs.
• Heroic BSoD: Marco, who loses his memory in book 67 upon learning that Jake has been raised from the dead. This lasts for a rather long time.

• Heroic Vow: Tobias vows to end the war before the birth of his and Rachel's child. He ends up breaking this vow.

• Historical In-Joke:
  • Erek inspired both Dune and Star Wars.
  • Virtually all of book 70 is leading up to the joke that the strange animals in Australia are from another planet.

• Hulk Speak: The Hork-bajir normally speak this way but Guraff's does not, due to being a Seer.

• Humans Are Special: The whole premise of Neomorphs is that humans, who are just about to venture forth into the galaxy, will change the galaxy profoundly. The One is testing humans via the Animorphs to determine if that change will be good or bad.

• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Like in the canon series, all of the Neomorphs books are named "The <Noun>".

• The Internet Is for Porn: Al implies that Marco has a lot of pornography on his computer.

• It's Up to You: Since the invasion of Earth cannot become public knowledge, the Animorphs are basically on their own there.
• Just the First Citizen: Upon reorganizing the Yeerk Empire into the New Yeerk Order, the Visser refuses the title of Emperor and keeps his rank title.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Virtually every fight with Guraff ends with one side or the other walking away.
• La Résistance:
  • The Animorphs still qualify as this, though they're a bit better organized now than in canon.
  • Many Yeerks were dissatisfied when the Visser replaced the Empire with the New Yeerk Order. Many formerly powerful Yeerks work to undermine the Order and reestablish the Empire.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia:
  • Jeanne suffered from this for several years.
  • Marco, who was unable to remember anything that happened after he met Elfangor for a significant chunk of the series.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Imrahil sold out to the Yeerks in order to save himself from becoming a Controller. Ultimately, he's forced to become the Visser's new host.
• Last-Name Basis: Adrian Rook is almost always called by his last name.
• A Lighter Shade of Grey: Most prominently displayed in the different leadership styles of Jake and Tobias. While Jake holds his people to a certain moral standard, Tobias will do almost anything if it gets the job done.
• Literal Surveillance Bug: The Animorphs often sneak around in bug morphs.
• Long-Lost Relative: Al is Tobias' half-brother, the result of an affair that Elfangor had when he returned to his homeworld from Earth.

• Made of Iron: Since morphing heals all injuries, it is pretty hard to kill anyone important in the series.
• Magic from Technology: Most alien technology is carefully unexplained, though it does follow Magic A Is Magic A.

• The Magnificent
  • Big Jake, Fearless Leader, Jake the Yeerk-Killer, and of course, Prince Jake.
  • Tobias is first called Young Beast, and is also given the name Devil Prince.
  • Guraff is the God General.
  • Esplin 9466 is almost exclusively called The Visser.

• Meaningful Name
  • David's last name is Montresor, which is the name of the killer in "The Cask of Amontillado".
  • Guraff 427: the numbers are a combination of the numbers 42 (referencing the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and 007 (the code number of James Bond).
  • Prince Imrahil is the name of a minor character in The Lord of the Rings.
    • Prince Glorfindel as well.
• Meta Guy: Marco and David are employed by Jake and Tobias respectively to point out flaws in their plans.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Morphing gives one the instincts of whatever the morphed creature is.
  • David still acts like a rat (even obsessing over cheese early in the series)
  • Tobias has never lost his hawk tendencies.
  • When morphing a symbiotic alien, Cassie, Al, and David experience a profound emotional connection.

• My God, What Have I Done?: Tobias has made deals with the Crayak (the closest thing to Satan in this universe), made an alliance with a Yeerk leader who - while he did help them fight against the Visser - was infesting people in the Animorphs' home town, refused to warn several thousand Andalites that they are going to be ambushed by Yeerks (with the obvious result that they all died), made a string of poor command decisions that resulted in Cassie being killed, and worked for what may or may not be the Russian mafia. While he appears not to be bothered by any of this, he admits to Rachel that he regrets all of it.
• Puppet King: The Council of Thirteen, the canonical Greater-Scope Villain of the Yeerk Empire, is reduced by the Visser to planetary governors of the Yeerk homeworld, with the Emperor becoming an honorary title. They're not happy about this.
• The Quisling:
  • Guraff's host, Seer, is a Voluntary Controller.
  • Imrahil sells out to Mersa in order to protect himself from becoming a Controller. He ends up being forcibly made the Visser's host.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: The Visser, Guraff, the Apostates, Tobias, and Rook are all high-ranking characters, and certified badasses.
• Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Staying in a body for more than two hours means you stay forever.
• The Starscream: Mersa rebels against the Visser, trying to start his own empire. And later on, it's revealed that the current Yeerk Emperor (the Visser's twin) is building a power base against the Visser.
• Start of Darkness: The Drode Chronicles tell the story of how the Drode came into the service of the Crayak.
• Villainous Friendship: The Visser and Guraff are close friends and seem to feel genuine emotional turmoil when one is in actual danger.

• Villain with Good Publicity: The Visser tries very briefly to make the New Yeerk Order into this in the eyes of the galactic community, but is quickly exposed as the warmonger he is.

• You Already Changed the Past: The Animorphs travel to the past, only to learn that it was their own actions that caused things to turn out the way they did.