Memoirs of a RAFian

[Shenmue654]

The whole Unimind arc reminded me bizarrely of Darkseid, but that's just because I'm media-inundated. :p

Also, I caught the Vilgaxx (Possibly the correct spelling) reference from Ben 10. XD He was like Slade, man--- Every time he showed up everything got 100 percent more interesting. But you can't be too careful with such characters, or you'll get Villain Decay...:}

[Cloak]

Only one "x", Shenmue. I was going to add another chapter, but my Kindle is being difficult. I want a cursor, dammit.

. . .

FINALLY!

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Diplomacy Futility

"Oh poo, pookie," Wala pouted as the two watched the RAFians valiantly trying to defuse the situation and mediate the two warring races. "Those horrible creatures are ruining our carefully-laid plans!"

"Fret not, my pet." Jak-Yr said, rather soppily and sappily. "They shan't be able to accomplish anything."

"But, sugar," Wala protested. Really? They were that oblivious to how tacky and over-utilized pet names were? "They seem to have it all thought out."

"Oh, my darling, they do know as much as they believe themselves to know." Jak-Yr said. Then he gave her a one-armed hug, and . . . geez, could it get any sappier? The funny thing was they were always this sappy, even before the Iskoort memory incident. Hey, Kryptonians aren't only divided into altruistic farmboy boy scouts and criminal, militant usurpers.

"How can you be so certain, love?"

"Because, my dear, once two sides decide to war with each other, nothing can stop them. It can never be remedied so easily, a resolution discovered so effortlessly."

"Oh, you're so smart, Jak-Yr." she said, wriggling into his embrace.

"Oh, don't sell yourself short, dear," he said genuinely. "Oh, look."

They watched as Yarin when to pick up both teams from each planet's surface.

"Dear, I suppose we should do something." Wala said. "They may come up with a resolution."

"Reveal ourselves?"

"Well, we dress first, obviously."

"No, I didn't mean it like --" But his voice was muffled with a kiss from Wala.

"I know, love, it was a joke."

***

"Nothing we said made any difference." Saffa said. "These Chronians have a serious God complex."

"The Chronosapiens weren't much better," Abby said.

"Wouldn't give us the time of day," Underseen added.

"Aquilai, couldn't you use your TARDIS?" Helen asked.

"The temporal fabric is far too thin now." Aquilai said. "Were I to use it now, it would rip the temporal fabric like tissue paper. It would both exacerbate and accelerate the very outcome we're trying so hard to prevent."

"Oh, so more good new then?" Cloak said, gruffly.

[Cloak]

NO CHAPTER TODAY, I GUESS!

MY INTERNET F*CKING DECIDED TO CUT OUT ON ME WHEN I WAS NEARLY DONE WITH CHAPTER EIGHT!

Yes, modifying this post because of this thing I have against double-posting. Short chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Options and Abductions

"Options?" Parker asked.

"What options?" Cloak said, moodily. He had become accustomed with having most, if not all, the answers. Perhaps it had made him complacent. Arrogant. Overconfident. "Diplomacy failed. If we took them on face-on? Narrow chance of success, but that would be optimism bordering on lunancy."

"The continuum is already like tissue paper, so the TARDIS is out of the question." Aquilai added. "I can't say just how much more give and take it can suffer before tears begin to appear."

"Tears?" Underseen inquired.

"Yes, Underseen, tears. Did you think it would be a simple flash and the end of time would have occurred?" Aquilai said, with a ponderous look upon his face. "The repairable tears, the ones that the Andalites call Sario Rips, are of little consequence usually. But if these two chronokinetic races carry on like this, there may be more irreparable damage done. If my estimate is right, no such damage permanency has happened --"

"That's god, right?" Abby interjected.

"-- Has happened yet." Aquilai finished.

This cast a pall over all over in the ship. Futility settled in, and Aquilai fidgeted a bit, passing it off as a momentary discomfort, but Cloak suspected that by the way he fidgeted and his tone of voice, that he was hiding something. But the Realm Walker was subdued, and did not call it to attention.

"Uh, guys?" Abby said, point through the windows. "We have company."

A huge warship, generally shaped like a "+" with the upper fin and center being more bloated and thick  then the other three fin-wings. Its hull was gunmetal gray with reddish lights with yellow lights interspersed. It made Yarin's ship look like a Fischer-Price car compared to a minivan.

"It's tractor beaming us," Yarin said, working the controls, frantically.

"More bad news." Saffa said. She mimed checking a nonexistent watch. "Right on time."

[redtailedsaffa]

*gives Cloaky cookies* There there. It'll come back.

[Gaz]

That sucks. It's worth the wait though.

[Cloak]

Thanks, guys. The new chapter is in the previous post.

• Book CCLXXIX: "Coulrotoxin" -- The RAFians must deal with a toxin that turns people into zombified clowns.
• Book CCLXXX: "Jeepers!" -- The RAFians must contend with a creature that only appears once evry 23 years.
• Book CCLXXXI: "Phantogorgon Sisters" -- The RAFians must prevent several dangerous entities from escaping their mystic idols.
• Book CCLXXXII: "Clay Family Guy" -- The RAFians must deal with a Clayface family.

The titles are libel to change. Do not think I rehashed anything.

[redtailedsaffa]

Things are getting screwed up fast.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Is it bad that I kinda want to see what permanent tears in time would look like?

Sorry about your internet, Cloak.  But the chapter was worth the wait.

[Cloak]

Thanks, guys.

I think I should clarify something though. When I said the Kryptonians were always so lovey-dovey and sappy, in-story. As far as developing them when I planned out the chapter, they were very much in the mold of Malice. But I changed my mind, thinking they were far more interesting this way.

CHAPTER NINE:
The Tower

The ship was surrounded by darkness. Only the dim interior lights of Yarin's ship illuminated anything. They were most definitely in a hangar of some sort. Yet Cloak looked over his shoulder as if he expected to see someone looming over him. There was no one there. Strange. Although . . . it could mean . . .

Well, that was a solution out of this mess. Too bad it was nigh on impossible.

Just then, the hangar's lights came on, bright and yellow. All the RAFians flinched involuntarily at the sudden brightness of the hangar lights streaming into the ship. They saw through the window that the hangar was metallic steel, and filled with robots, milling about. The robots resembled Slix Sigma, with red, blue, yellow, black, or silver coloring and trim of those five colors.

"This does not bode well," Yarin said.

"No duh," Abby muttered.

Then two people emerged from amongst the robots, which only came up to their waists. They looked human, but the way that they walked recalled something in Aquilai.

"They walk like . . ." Aquilai began.

"Kryptonians." Cloak supplied. It was not what Aquilai was going to say.

"How can you be sure?" Saffa asked.

"Why else flood the ship with yellow sunlight?" Cloak answered with a question. "Light from a yellow sun grants Kryptonians superhuman strength, superhuman durability, heat vision, telescopic vision, tactile telekinesis, freeze breath, flight --"

"We get the point, Cloak." Parker said, interrupting this litany.

"Occupants of captured ship," the male boomed, as the woman grasped his arm, as if they were holidaymakers at Disneyland or Disney World. "Welcome to the Tower!"

"What is this? Are they activity coordinators on a cruise or something?" Underseen said, perplexed.

"Occupants of captured ship!" the woman said, cheerily. "If you would kindly disembark, we can get started."

"It's gotta be a trap." Cloak said.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Saffa quipped.

[redtailedsaffa]

This reminds me of some particular scene in Animorphs, but I can't quite place which one...

[Cloak]

Can't rightly say, Saffa.
 

CHAPTER TEN:
Confrontation With Confused Kryptonians

"Step on out, we know you're there." the male said.

The RAFians did not comply.

"Oh, poo, Jak-Yr, dearest. Looks like they need to be dragged out." the woman said.

"Don't fret poppet," he said, nuzzling her nose. Cloak thought he might be sick, though that could be because Realm Walkers weren't really all touchy-feely, it wasn't in their nature really.

The sickening sappiness never left the two's tones. Cloak wondered if these two where sent to the Pantom Zone so that the other Kryptonians just didn't have to deal with this soppy lovey-dovey schtick.

"Come on out, fellas," Jak-Yr said, brightly. But the command intonation of his voice left the RAFians in no uncertqin terms that this was a command, a demand, and a threat all rolled up into four words.
 
From the exterior of Yarin's ship, the door opened into a dark, black hole. None of the occupants were visible.

"That's better," Jak-Yr said, gladly, "you see, Wala? You just have to put your foot down with captives?"

"Put your foot down?" she said coyly. "On their necks?"

"Oh, my dearest Wala," Jak-Yr chortled, "that doesn't come until later!"

"Aw," she said with mock disappointment.

Distinct but faint retching could be heard from the interior of Yarin's ship, and Jak-Yr was starting to get impatient, though his voice betrayed none.

"Come now, come now. Disembark." he said, still with the asinine brightness in his voice. "There's no time to dawdle. You're quite outnumbered, you know."

Suddenly, the first two rows of robots on either side of them were rolled up into small lumps of twisted metal looking more like balled up notebook paper than robots now. Suddenly all the flippancy left the Kryptonians, all overconfidence and arrogance deflated somewhat.

"I think," Cloak said, stepping boldly from the ship, "that that is completely untrue."

Cloak's became like golden-scarlet suns again, and the rest of the robots assembled were not crumpled piles of metal upon the floor.

"No matter, boy," Jak-Yr said, quite more seriously now. He was going to speak more, before Cloak cut him off, as the other RAFians emerged from the ship.

"'Boy'? You call me 'boy' in the arrogant assumption that you're older?" Cloak said, deliberately making both Kryptonians focus on him and over look Yarin, Aquilai, and Parker scanning the ship, subtly. "While I am somewhat young by my species standards, I still have two and a fifth centuries your elder, at least, Kryptonian."

"But I am not a Kryptonian, arrogant ferrokinetic," Jak-Yr said. "I am a Time Lord, as is my wife, Wala."

Aquilai nearly dropped his sonic screwdriver.

[redtailedsaffa]

Damn, Cloak! What a badass entrance.

[Cloak]

Yeah, thanks. . . . I will see if I can get another chapter up, still quite tired.

Well, let's see if I'm up to this.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Denial

Cloak was about to say something before the ship rocked violently, and Aquilai really did drop his Sonic Screwdriver, for a second or two. The two Kryptonians hovered a few feet above the floor and wasn't really affected. Cloak quickly seized upon this.

"Time Lords, eh?" he said. "Then why don't your feet touch the ground, then?"

"All Time Lords can fly upon exposure to yelow sunlight," Wala said, as if she was an adult dismissing a child's stories. Aquilai, who had quickly seized up his Sonic Screwdriver and hoping no one noticed, raised an eyebrow at this statement.

"No, that's Kryptonians, fool." Cloak said derisively. "Time Lords cannot fly unassisted. Not in this or any other Realm."

This was a rather bold claim by Cloak. He had never visited all the Realms. No Realm Walker has -- the Realms were that numerous.

"Don't you dare speak to my wife in that manner!" Jak-Yr roared, charging Cloak.

Unafraid, Cloak shot a short pulse of energy into the manic Kryptonians face and Jak-Yr charged into a way, disformingit, as if it was made of wet clay. Further proof they were not what they claimed to be, yet they seemed to be fervently believing that they were indeed Time Lords. Why?

"I will speak to whomever in whichever manner I chose, Kryptonian." Cloak said.

"We are not Kryptonians!" Wala screamed. They were both quickly losing composure, proving some mental instability on their part. "We are Time Lords."

"You're in denial," Saffa pointed out.

"We are not!" both proclaimed rather dementedly.

"Deny it all you want, I don't really care," the Realm Walker said. "Just tell us the reason you forced us here."

Cloak had an idea, but he wanted to hear confirmation.

"We will not allow you stop us!" Wala snarled.

"You thought the Unimind would be safe, didn't you?" Jak-Yr cackled. "You thought you'd just hide it at the End of Time, didn't you? Thought that it'd be unreachable to everyone then, didn't you?"

Cloak stood, staring at the two Kryptonians in utter disbelief. This was the confirmation on his hunch.

"You cannot be serious." Aquilai interjected.

[Cloak]

Another chapter methinks.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Delusions of Grandeur

"We were smarter than you!" Wala said, slightly hysterical tinge to her voice.

Parker and Underseen looked nonplussed at this whole Unimind business, while Saffa and Abby looked somewhat peerplexed.

"No," Cloak said. "You aren't."

"The Unimind was never at the End of Time," Aquilai said, pocketing his sonic screwdriver. "Such an endeavor . . . it would be utter suicide!"

"Cowardly filth," Jak-Yr sneered.

"You so fervently endeavored to bring about the End of Time to obtain something that was never there." Claok said, aghast at the audacity and sheer stupidity of such a grievous action. "But why? Why? Surely you know that you would be torn apart, as would the others you've doomed."

"We will survive," Wala said. "Time Lords can survive chronal armageddon."

"Time Lords can be destroyed -- annihilated! -- by chronal armageddon!" Aquilai said, in an uncharacteristic burst of emotion. "And you two are not Time Lords. No Time Lord in their right mind would believe ending all of time was a good thing!"

The ship lurched to the left slightly.

"See the devastation you wrought?" Parker demanded. He was angry, too. "You put everyone's lives at stake -- everyone! And for what? A Yuni Mine, or whatever the hell it's called that's apparently not even there?!"

"It is there!" Jak-Yr said stubbornly. "It is! We don't believe lies so easily, fools!"

"You can't even use the Gateburst thing!" Cloak roared, a tiger's roar intermingling with his words. "Shadow's pure heart has sealed its use against all except the innately-benign micronhominiverde!"

"Lies!" Wala proclaimed. "Lies all!"

"You're stubborn arrogance will kill us all," Saffa said, heatedly.

[redtailedsaffa]

This is a bit like dealing with clueless people in the computer lab who don't get logic.