Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Meanwhile . . .

"What makes someone special?
I suppose it all depends,
It's what's unique in each of us,
That we all share as friends!
The difference is our differences.
Maybe small or great.
Variety add spice to life,
So we should celebrate!
In unity.
Unity.
You're you, I'm me!
Together we
Can live In unity!"

The song seemed to only have a marginal effect, if anything. The others didn't seem to make much headway, either.

"If there was only one note,
How boring life would be?
I'm glad there are so many notes
In many different keys!
I hear each voice singing,
With a special quality,
And when we sing together we
Bring music everywhere, you see!
In unity.
Unity
You're you, I'm me
Together we
Can live in unity."

Still having a debatably marginal effect for their effort in this endeavor. But as GH sang, his Mark glowed. Glowed brighter and brighter. . . .

"In unity.
Unity.
You're you, I'm me.
Together we
Can live in unity.
In unity.
Unity.
You're you, I'm me.
Together we
Can live in unity.
You're you, I'm me
Together we
Can live in unity!"

All of the RAFians' Marks began to glow brightly, but only Kelly seemed to take notice of this.

***

"Sixty-three-point-nine-seven-six-one-one-one-eight percent," Goom said.

"I think he's being a little too specific," Horse said, in a casual aside.

"Thanks for the report, Goom," Aquilai said, before addressing his team, feeling a spark of hope. "We're starting to make a dent in this influence expansion field. We cannot dally to pat ourselves on our collective backs now. We must continue. We might even reduce it back down to zero percent."

"Working on three at a time really worked," Salad noted.

"Enough congratulations," Aquilai said, with a bright, yet subdued, smile. "Let's get to work."

[Cloak]

New chapter. Sorry about the brevity.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Grotesque Opulence

The entrance was unguarded. Whoever was behind this was proving to be too overconfident in their safety, arrogantly so. They were so complacent in their own security they did not even seem to have any security devices active or security personnel on duty. So much so that it felt like a trap, an overly elaborate trap.

They opened the large, expensively-lacquered mahogany kissing doors. They parted with an ominous CREEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAA AAAK. It opened to startling silence, to a large entrance hall with a grand staircase to their left with intricately-designed and diligently-shined banisters. There was a hallway straight ahead of them, and an empty room to their right -- the dining hall.

The darkness caused by the purple light made everything seem very ominous as the lights within were turned off. It wasn't a problem for Cloak's eyes or Parker's helmet. But that wasn't the ominous thing, which Cloak quickly discovered through Earthsight.

There was barebones housekeeping staff in the estate. It was the same deal with the kitchens and the dietary staff. The mansion was essentially a ghost house, nearly empty, devoid of activity.

AniDragon looked apprehensive, her Pemalite eyes not very strong in the dark. Saffa was feeling much the same way, but she was confident that she had a morph if any danger made itself known. Underseen and Ash were feeling much the same way. Parker was trying to relocate the gaseous emissions that had led them to this place to begin with.

Cloak's left ear twitched. He heard a sound that none of the others, aside from AniDragon, did not seem to hear. He was accustomed to this, as his hearing was more acute than normal humans. But Cloak didn't understand the sounds, the giggling and the puffs of breath.

But AniDragon, by the look on her face, seemed to understand what was going on. And she was either embarrassed or disgusted, Cloak couldn't tell which. He also didn't know why the sounds would elicit such a reaction. Then he had a notion, which seemed the only plausible thing.

Dwellers are just so messy sometimes, he found himself thinking, with somewhat astounded tones.

The team went for the confrontation with the people or singular person behind this. . . .

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Back to Halfway

"Goom?" Aquilai queried.

"Fifty-four-point-one-seven-four-seven-one-four percent," the Goomba answered.

"Good. We're making some headway," Mr. Guy noted, taking care of another box.

"Doesn't seem so impossible now, does it?" Horse asked, with an impish little smile.

"Fifty-two-point-seven-six-eight-five-eight percent," Goom remarked.

"Yes, it does look promising," Aquilai agreed, "but we mustn't let up, we mustn't slack off. Here's the next cell towers to go."

***

"Higitus Figitus zumbablazon
I want your attention everyone!
We need to leave. Come on, let's go.
No no, not you! Marked are always first, you know.
Hockety pockety wockety wack!
Abracabra dabra nack!
Shrink in size very small!
We've got to save enough room for all!
Higitus figitus migitus mum!
Pres-ti-dig-i-ton-i-um!
Cicero, you belong to the Cs!
Alphabetical order please!
Ali-i-ca-fez bal-a-ca-zez!
Malacamez meripides!
Diminish diminish dictionary!
Those words in my vocabulary!
Hockety pockety wockety wrun!
That's the way we have to run.
Higitus figitus migitus mum!
Pres-ti-dig-i-ton-i-um!
Higitus Figitus zoomacazam
Now see here, Kelly, you're getting rough
The poor old Yarin is cracked enough!
Hockety pockety wockety wack!
Odds and ends and bric a brac!
Higitus figitus migitus mum,
Pres-ti-dig-i-ton-i-um.
Higitus figitus migitus mum,
Pres-ti-dig-i-ton-i-um!"

SLAP!

"Hey!" GH complained. "Geez! What was that for?!"

"For mocking my master and me," Melissa said, quite seriously.

"Hey, you try to come up with a song on the spot like this. Ain't as easy as you think it is!"


*Source Song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7bd5YUEOwlE

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Purple Man Pleads

Cloak was the first of their small cavalcade of RAFians to stalk up the unnecessarily extravagant staircase on the second floor. The hallway that it lead to was also needlessly exorbitant and excessive. All the chairs were velvet, and cushy. Just kindling from the chair would be enough to feed a moderately-sized orphanage. This disgusted Cloak.

A door to their left swung open with an unnerving audacity with an insolent abruptness. Light flooded the corridor that was black with darkness. Out of it strode a man with an undue ****y swagger. He wore purple pants, sans the belt, and he was shirtless. Oh, his skin, hair, and eyes were purple. As purple as the surrounding mists that made up the influence area.

He didn't see them in the darkness, and he seemed full of the overconfident machismo of a braggadocio, a smug braggart. He seemed to not even entertain the idea that he could be touched here. It was such a stupid concept one had to wonder how he got so comfortable in arrogance.

And, honestly, he wasn't much to look at.

"Dah!!" he screamed. Then he demanded, "Who are you?!"

He finally noticed them. Really, it took him long enough to do so. The RAFians said nothing, but glared down at him imperiously. Their faces obscured and obfuscated by the darkness. Parker gave an inhuman impression, with his helmet not showing his face. AniDragon and Cloak's eyes glowing ominously, reflecting the light.

"You defy me?" Wisteria said. "Impossible. Tell me who you are!! Zebadiah Wisteria, the Purple Man, commands it!"

Ominous silence. Wisteria was getting creeped out by it. There was a definite "Five Nights At Freddy's 4" vibe in the whole thing. Sweat began to bead anew upon his purple flesh, as Wisteria felt fear. He had to be able to control these intruders. He could influence everyone in this sphere of influence, much less at this close proximity to him. He didn't know that his spheres of influence were now deteriorating rapidly.

"You still defy me? How can you . . ." he said, then he caught sight of Saffa's Mark. His eyes widened, revealing that his sclera was still white, only his irises remained purple. "Nooooo . . . you can't be . . . you're blocked off with a blockade. There's no way out or in there. . . ."

"You behind this, then?" Parker said, using a colder tone than he has ever used.

"You should be obeying me!! Everyone obeys me!!" Wisteria raged. "You CANNOT be defying like this."

"That answers that then," Cloak said, speaking lowly and slowly. "This makes things simple."

"We take him out, we take out the purpleness," Parker said, rather stiffly.

"Underseen, Ash," Cloak said, and the shapeshifters became a couple of boa constrictors and wrapped around his body, holding him in place. Wisteria felt fear again. He did not like being afraid.

"Pl--" he did not like pleading either, much less pleading for his life. "Pl-please d-don't k-k-kill me."

"Why, Mr. Wisteria," Saffa said, actually disguising her voice to an Umbridge-like tenor, "whoever said that we were going to kill you?"

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Bleached

"Three-six-point-three percent," Goom said, as Aquilai's team worked without comment. "Twenty-seven-point-five percent."

They continued to make their progress, freeing up Wisteria's little soldiers from adhering and activating more boxes. They were travelling place to place on ice bridges formed by Horse and Az, very Iceman-like.

They were were heartened with their success, as the percentage kept lowering at a rapid pace. It was just a matter of time now.

"Eighteen-point-seven percent," Goom reported. "Nine-point-nine percent."

"All going well," Aquilai said, with a smile, as they zoomed off to the last few boxes that remained.

***

"What?" Wisteria said.

"Killing you will be completely unnecessary," Cloak said.

"Then let me go!!" he demanded. He was clearly accustomed to having his orders, his demands, followed with complete and utter compliance. So it was a novel experience for him to have been defied so brazenly.

"Eventually," Cloak said, then he turned as silvery moonlight began to stream through the window at the end of the hall, the purple gone, "AniDragon? If you will?"

AniDragon walked up and placed her left hand onto his chest and he right on his forehead.

"You DARE to lay a hand on me, monster?!" Wisteria raged. "Remove your grubby paws from me!!"

AniDragon did not comply, which outraged Wisteria.

"Do as I command, beast!!" Wisteria ordered angrily.

But AniDragin'eyes glowed a bluish-white in response as Wisteria's eyes seemed to bulge out of his head. His eyes even seemed to glow purple. Eventually it got to the point where it appeared that AniDragon was draining the purple from Wisteria. That she was bleaching it from his skin and hair. He was regaining his normal pasty complexion with brownish-black hair. He was losing his powers of persuasion that bordered on the line to direct mind control, although could be considered an indirect form of it.

She was essentially energybending him. She was binding his powers. She was neutralizing the threat without killing him. She was making him powerless. And he didn't even realize what was happening, only that he felt weakened by this.

Eventually, she broke contact, and it was done. Ash and Underseen released him, and he looked at his hands, surprised to see that they were no longer purple. He demanded, "Wha--what did you do to me?"

"Took away your powers." AniDragon said. "You can't use it to hurt anyone ever again."

Then she, and the other RAFians, pulled a Batman and vanished into the darkness the moment Wisteria looked away. Then the bedroom door snapped shut, as the woman within had gained her sensibilities. She had quickly surmised what Wisteria did to her, and she called the cops.

Wisteria had barely escaped the estate with his life and freedom intact.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
After Today

"Logan! Logan, wait up!" GH's dad came running up, holding a sack lunch. "You forgot your lunch."

He gave GH a peck on the cheek and said, "have a good day."

The kids who saw immediately began to laugh at him.

"They've been laughin' since I can't remember,
But they're not gonna laugh anymore.
No more "Logan the Geek",
No more "Doof of the Week",
Like before . . . !"

Brynna sang:

"No more stupid tests 'til September!"

Dimitri sang:

"No more lookin' at losers like him!"

TJ sang:

"No more havin' to cheat!"

Calvin sang:

"No more mystery meat!"

YeerkSalad sang:

"No more gym!"

Dylan sang:

"No more gym!"

Quaf sang:

"No more gym!"

Abby sang:

"NO MORE GYM!"

Gaz sang:

"Gonna move to the mall!"

Horse sang:

"Gonna live in the pool!"

GH sang:

"Gonna talk to Andy,
And not feel like a fool!"

The chorus sang:

"'Cause . . .
After today, I'm gonna be cruisin'!"

GH sang:

"After today, he'll be mine!"

The chorus sang:

"After today, my brains'll be snoozing!"

GH sang:

"If I don't faint, I'll be fine!"

Helen sang:

"I've got forty more minutes,
Of Home Economics . . ."

Parker sang:

"Then down with the textbooks . . ."

Dino sang:

"And up with the comics!"

GH sang:

"Just think of all the time I've been losin',
Finding the right thing to say!"

GH and the chorus sang:

"But things'll be goin' my way . . ."

The chorus sang:

"After today!"

Andy walked right by GH, without seeming to notice him. GH sang:

"He looked right through me,
And who could blame him?
I need a new me,
Plus some positive proof
That I'm not just a doof!
And . . . "

GH sang with the chorus:

"After today, I'm gonna be cruisin'."

Saffa sang:

"No more pep rallies to cut, blech!"

GH and the chorus sang:

"After today, my brains'll be snoozin'!"

A talking Snorlax sang:

"I'm gonna sit on my butt."

GH sang:

"I've got less than an hour,
And when this is ended,
I'll either be famous . . ."

Bern Bridges sang:

"Or you'll be suspended!"

GH and the chorus sang:

"Just think of all the time I've been losin'
Waiting until I could could say . . .
Gonna be on my own,
Kiss the parents good-bye!
Gonna party from now
'til the end of July!
Things'll be goin' my way,
After today!!!"

GH sang:

"I wish that this was the day,
After today."

"Daddy?" said a voice. "Daddy, are you okay?"

"LH? What's wrong? GH said, groggily.

"You were singing in your sleep," he said. "Something like 'Napper Hooray'. What does that mean?"

"It's just gibberish, don't worry about it." GH said, checking the time. "I've got to get ready for work now, LH, so you be a good boy for Mr. Cloak, you hear?"

"Yes, Daddy."

***

Meanwhile, Wisteria was miserable. The cunning and manipulation that he had before his accident, before he got his powers, had diminished and atrophied since his acquisition of them. He had become oh so reliant on those powers. After he lost them, he couldn't step up his game to control and.manipulate others, and he hated it, though he always believed himself to be in the right.

So he tried to recreate the accident. Tried to recreate the acquisition of his powers.

He really shouldn't have, as it was a one-in-a-million shot. He wasn't as lucky this time, and it killed him. And sadly enough, he would not be missed.


Source Song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FoIFa94fD3c

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
Sad Reflections

A much younger cub sat looking at a basin of water, at his reflection. He was alone, and huddled up in a corner of the room. He had never felt more miserable, while Dino was battling a Vaxasaurian DNAlien.

"Look at me,
I will never pass for a perfect son,
Or a perfect Realm Walker.
Can it be . . .
I'm not meant to play this part?
Now I see,
That if I were truly to be myself,
I would break my mother's heart.
Who is that tiger I see,
Staring straight back at me?
Why is my reflection someone I don't know?"

His reflection in the basin shifted to a more modern one, reflecting the Cloak of fourteen, fifteen years afterward. He slashed his furred hand through it with claws extended upon the last lyric. He didn't see the difference in the reflection, it was just a metaphorical thing that an older Cloak saw.

"Somehow I cannot hide,
Who i am, though I've tried.
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?"

Then the younger Cloak faded away, as the elder one came into more prominence, into more clarity. He had tears streaking his feline face, so much that it almost looked like he had cheetah markings.

"Cloak?" Aniyu said, gently.

But Cloak was still feeling the sadness he felt then. It was overwhelming. He felt as if the ground was opening up into an abyss. The abyss of fetid despair. He didn't move. He didn't . . .

"Cloak!" Aniyu said, genuinely alarmed now. The abyss threatened to consume him once more. Cloak was having a hard time caring. He found that he would embrace death if it came. He . . .

He fell.

He would succumb. He would succumb to the despair. He would feel the loneliness. He would feel the hopelessness of it all. Then he would soon feel nothing at all. Nothing but the icy touch of despair.

But golden threads had appeared, and grasped his right hand and wrist tightly and supportive. The threads looked so delicate and fine that they might have snapped at the slightest torsion. Cloak could make out names, names that made up the threads.

Shadow . . .

Faith . . .

Wheeza . . .

Gaz . . .

Underseen . . .

More and more he couldn't read, but he was keenly aware of their presence. It was them that were preventing him from falling into despair -- uh, literally. It was them that were giving him hope. It was their support that was enabling him to get back upon his feet as the gaping maw of despair closed, disappointed, beneath him.

Aniyu looked visibly relieved. Though technically dead, and long since so, she still cared for her descendant.

"I understand now," Cloak said, with a clarity he hadn't had moments before. "I cannot wallow in the miseries of the past. I must move on and not allow it to weigh me down. I have people who love me, who respect me, who care about me, even when my mother didn't."

The blue thorny vine wall withered and died, revealing the iridescent indigo one right behind it. Cloak knew what it represented.

"Neglect." he replied.


*Source Song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=16Vylr6XjEM

[Cloak]

New chapter.

BOOK CXXX:
THE NEMETRIX BEETLE
CHAPTER ONE:
Neglect

Cloak, as a young cub, had his mother's attention, even when his serpentine-form sister was formed and hatched. His mother was willing to pay attention to him when he was still young and cute, like why human seek out kittens and puppies. But, soon enough, as Ursa did with all things, the novelty wore off.

She began to utilize a hands-off approach to parenting, leaving Cloak to himself. Cloak had enjoyed this for a bit before realizing he couldn't have a real conversation with her. He couldn't get her approval, no matter how hard he tried. Even when she chased away his father, Brute, the wolfhound-form Walker, descendant of the Truth Dreamer, Aniyu, though his father -- who Ursa had made Cloak hate (a  guilt that he still harbored in his heart of hearts). It just got slightly more blatant.

He worked cleaning their shack of home, which was falling apart in a dilapidated mess and he was charged with preventing that from happening while she did nothing to help. While she was never satisfied with his work, with his endeavor. So, naturally, Cloak wouldn't be as motivated to work his best, knowing that she would always find fault.

She never knew how much he wished for death. She never knew how much he wanted to escape from her. She never knew how damaging her neglect of his needs was. She never understood how every time she opened her mouth she undermined and undercut his self-confidence. Either that, or she just didn't care.

"Cloak?" Aniyu asked, gently.

She refused to allow him to attend any other kid's birthday parties when he was a cub, when he was a Hatchling, (something he wouldn't discover until he had cut her from his life, until he had excluded and exhiled her from it) for "fear" of him being ostracized like she supposedly was as her age. She wasn't, of this Cloak was sure. She had a habit playing the victim, or playing the hero -- though the some could say her son was the same way, much to his consternation.

Cloak had long since came to the conclusion that the neglect she gave him was clear and patent proof that she didn't love him. Proof that she saw him as nothing but a tool. A tool to control his father, and later on, free labor. She apparently never thought she was obligated to treat him like a thinking, feeling person. She always seemed to disregard his feelings in favor of her own. Her feelings were always paramount to everyone else's. Hers were the only ones to matter . . .

"Cloak?" Aniyu prompted.

His child-parent relationship was entirely one-sided. His mother demanded respect and appreciation while giving none in return. She only thought of herself, and clearly only saw Cloak as an extension of herself, a tool to be used at her earliest convenience, a helpless servant to cook, to clean, to slave over her without any resentment or anger for it. There was no love in the relationship, as there never was in an abusive, neglectful one such as theirs.

Cloak was sure that he would have been better off with his father rather than his mother. He was not only his father's only son, he was his firstborn. Faith was actually only his sister through his mother -- the only thing, Cloak believed, that was good about his biological relationship to Ursa -- and Faith was her oldest child, and favorite. Granted, he was not his father's favorite, per se. That was Dagger. He was only ever Shadow's favorite. . . .

"Cloak . . ." Aniyu prompted again, but Cloak didn't answer.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWO:
A Union of Two Techs

Two objects were hurtling from space down to the planet. They were of similar size and each had a forty-five degree trajectory from the other with Earth as the vertex. They were approaching a blistering speed, origins unknown.

One appeared to be a collar with a watch-like piece to it. This tech appeared to be Cerebrocrustacean in design, but clearly modeled on superior Galvan tech. It seemed to have a sort of DNA directory, only containing genetic samples of an Anurian Baskurr, a Crabdozer, a Mucillator, a Slamworm, a Terroranchula, a Buglizard, a Panunsian, a Tyrannopede, a Vicetopus, an Omnivoracious, and a Psycholeopterran. It did not appear to have any A.I. in it, nor was it able to do anything on its own. It was a Nemetrix.

The other object was a curious light blue one in the shape of a overlarge beetle. It was a Scarab, a living weapon engineered by the Reach with undeniable loyalty to them . It's singular goal was, if a planet's natives had reached a sufficient technological level, to bond with a native and overwrite their personality with the Reach's programming. Making a ready-made infiltrator for the Reach's purposes. It could, supposedly, absorb energy, manipulate vibrational frequencies, independent locomotion, fly under its own power, and had pincers that could cut through metal. It supposedly afforded whomever it bonded with superhuman strength, flight, energy projection, costume creation, and other abilities.

But, as it turns out, the vertex of the angle they were approaching the Earth was actually several million miles above the surface and they were headed right for each other. The collision was inevitable.

They smashed each other with incredible force, but some strange and mysterious happened. The two objects were not destroyed, as the expected outcome would be in such a violent collision.

Instead of breaking apart, the two items fused together into one single object. It appeared to become a Bug Badge from Kalos with the symbol of the Nemetrix beneath. It had, in this short time, achieved something that resembled sentience, an artificial sentience so to speak, but purely by accident instead of design.

It began to show independent thought as well as it continued to plummet towards the planet. . . .

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER THREE:
Landfall

It wasn't long before this sentient object, this Nemetrix Beetle, broke into the Earth's atmosphere. It's sentience became fully-fledged, although it seemed rather somnolent than self-aware, more confused then thoughtful.

When it made impact with the ground, even at such speed that it was going, there was only the smallest and unnoticeable of impact craters. It was so small it was wonder that it didn't burn up in the atmosphere, but the Nemetrix Beetle was a hearty thing, apparently. Any link to the Reach was cleanly severed, though. And its loyalty to them now was questionable, at best.

Moments after it landed, after apparently resting, it levitated up as light blue and deep red light generated from it into the form of a female light blue Anubian Baskurr with deep red highlights. It was rather like the human constructs of a Gem, as the Nemetrix Beetle basically made the Anubian Baskurr its base form, with the beetle part of it sitting at its -- at her throat, like a choker or a skintight collar.

She got up wobbly on her four feet. She had never had legs before, much less feet. She never had a body before, although technically this body of hers was nothing more than a hard light construct, not unlike the energy constructs of the various Lantern Corps. She soon realized how to walk, and then run soon after.

Then she detected strong deoxyribonucleic acid signatures that were not in her directory to her left. She had landed outside a zoo, and fortunately it wasn't busy at all at the moment. Not that she would have cared, as she trotted in.

She first came to a gorilla habitat, and yellow light lanced from her eyes as she scanned the first specimen she saw. The light did not harm the animal, but confused it. But he eventually shrugged it off and forgot about it.

Then she came to the grizzly enclosure, and spied the lazy looking beasts and scanned a specimen she found suitable. The grizzly was annoyed by it, but was feeling too lazy to do anything about it.

When she came by the wolf enclosure, she scanned a gray wolf . . . that actually had black fur. The wolf didn't see her scan her, so the female wolf didn't react.

As she scanned a jaguar, a crocodile, a black rhinoceros, a polar bear, a Siberian tiger, a cheetah, a water buffalo, an African elephant, and an anaconda, she found herself inexplicably despising the so-called intelligent life on this planet. Maybe it was glitch in her systems, maybe an organic component went bad, who know precisely the reason? But was clear was that she was coming to hate the sapient, intelligent species.

She clearly felt a kinship and admiration for the nonsapient, nonsentient lifeforms. She clearly favored them, and held an animosity for sentient life, despite the hypocrisy of being a sentient lifeform herself. She felt that they didn't have a right to cage up these beasts and parade them around for humiliating entertainment. She was perfectly fine if they wanted to do that themselves, but not when they forced what the Nemetrix Beetle perceived as Superior Creatures, because she was of the opinion that intelligence, sentience, and technology were perversions. Again, unaware of the hypocrisy of it all considering its origins and that I contained all three.

She decided what her lifelong endeavor would be. . . .

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOUR:
It's Over, Isn't It?

GH was staring out of the window of his thread whilst Leatherhead slept. He was feeling down as he just realized, via social media that Andy was no longer single. He was dating a guy who was "friends" with that Disney Jr. pirate kid, Fake or Jake or whatever. It didn't matter to GH.

Apparently, being essentially what amounts to a superhero -- a guitar and musically-themed one, at that -- wasn't enough to garner Andy's attention. Though he didn't know about GH's affiliation with RAF, as he kept it secret. He also kept his very name secret from him . . .

He sang quietly:

"I was good with the men
Who would come into his life now and again.
I was fine 'cause I knew
That they didn't really matter until him.
I was good until he came
And I fought it like it was all some silly game
Over him, hoping he'd choose.
After all those months, I never thought I'd lose.
It's over, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it over?
It's over, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it over?
He won, and he chose you, and he loved you, and he's gone.
It's over, isn't it? Why can't I move on?
War and glory, reinvention.
Fusion, freedom, his attention,
Out in daylight, my potential,
Bold, precise, just plain mental,
Who am I now in this world without him?
Petty and dull with the nerve to doubt him?
What does it matter, it's already done.
Now I've got to be there for my son.
It's over, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it over?
It's over, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it over?
He won, and he chose him, and he loved him, and he's gone.
It's over, isn't it? Why can't I move on?
It's over, isn't it? Why can't I move on?"

He deftly moved back over to his laptop and logged out of his social media site. He had to wipe away some heartbroken tears, as he didn't want to explain them to Leatherhead if he awoke. He may have only known Andy for a few months, but he had nursed a strong crush on him.

"Who am I kidding?" he said, bitterly, and quietly, as to not wake the six-year-old anthropomorphic crocodilian sleeping so peaceably. "Something can't be over if it was never started to begin with."

Then the announcement of something occurring nearby a zoo woke Leatherhead up.


*Source song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8hzS2FA8dIE

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIVE:
Report!

"Approximately eighty-five Earth minutes ago," Yarin began.

"For god's sake, Yarin, just omit the 'Earth' modifier," GH said, grumpily. He had left Leatherhead to practice his keytar in their thread. Helen was supervising him -- scaring Parker a bit. Not because Leatherhead was particularly dangerous or that she couldn't handle herself, but it could mean that she . . . that she could want one of her own. . . . But he kept this to himself. "It makes you sound pedantic."

Yarin took offense at this, but chose to ignore it. He had more.pressing concerns. He continued with the briefing.

"Something wrong, GH?" Saffa asked.

"I'm fine," he said. He couldn't keep the bitter tone from his voice and Cloak, who he was standing to the right of, could easily tell that he was lying. But Cloak did not vocally acknowledge it.

"GH, I think --"

"Leave him alone, Saffa," Cloak said, calmly. "Whatever it is, he'll sort it out when he is ready to."

Then Cloak saw the image that Yarin managed to snag of the creature that arrived from the impact so minute that it barely registered in the forum's sensors. It showed a creature that looked like a cross between dog and a dinosaur with some feline features. They have a light blue-colored body with deep red stripes. It had a saurian skull with a jagged upper jaw, yellow eyes and pointed ears. It had a small pointed chain of teal plates protruding from its spine, which extended out to form a short, somewhat stiff tail. It had three pointed toes on each leg and its hind legs are longer than its forelegs.

"That's an odd color for a Anubian Baskurr," Cloak noted, recognizing the species at once.

"What's an Anubian Baskurr?" YeerkSalad queried quickly.

"A nonsentient species from a planet that I don't know the name or environment of," Cloak elaborated. "Although they're supposed to be a darker blue with black stripes."

GH raised an eyebrow, "So it's a shiny Anubian Baskurr?"

"It's not a Pokemon," Cloak said, dully.

"So, is it a threat?" Dylan asked.

Cloak eyed the beetle choker on its neck, wary due to the last time they had to deal with something like a scarce few days ago.

"The answer of that question, Dylan, is entirely subjective," Cloak said, not really answering his question. Dylan was about to point this out until it was decided right then and there that Cloak, Dino, Horse, Underseen, Aquilai, and GH would be dispatched to deal with this.

"Isn't this overkill?" Abby asked, almost rhetorically. "It's just lost space dog, isn't it?

[Cloak]

Sorry for the lateness of this, but here's the new chapter.

CHAPTER SIX:
First Contact

Given the current climate of the PR of the RAFians, Cloak thought it would be prudent to disguise themselves as humans, but that would be incredibly difficult for Horse and Dino, who were decidedly not human, as they were not anthropomorphic like Cloak, like all Realm Walkers tended to be. With his cloak on, it.was.difficult to discern him as anything but human, though he wore his ID mask that projected his usual human hologram form.

"Nice, Cloak," Dino said, subtly acerbic, "what about Seal and me, then? We can't exactly pretend to be humans."

"Leashes?" GH said, with a noncommital shrug. "Claim you're our pet dinosaur and seal?"

"Don't make me eat you, guitar and all, GH," Dino growled.

"Priorities, people," Aquilai prompted. "Hopefully, it will just be an in-and-out, five-minutes-tops sort of mission."

"Doubtful," Cloak said, seriously.

"Don't be so pessimistic," Aquilai declared.

"I'm not," the Realm Walker replied simply. "I'm being realistic."

"That's debatable," Aquilai said, with a heavy sigh.

Ignoring this, Cloak observed, "The Anubian Baskurr approaches."

And, indeed, the Nemetrix Beetle was padding ever so sedately towards them.

"Query: Are you intelligent?" she said, with a cool, indifferent female voice.

"Anubian Baskurrs can talk?" Horse asked, seemingly unaware of the irony in such an inquiry.

"No," Cloak said, "no, they can't."

"Invalid response." the Nemetrix Beetle said, apparently not reaching full enough autonomy yet to not use the computer talk.

"Why is it talking like that?" Dino asked.

"It must be computerized, somehow," Aquilai suggested.

"Oh, no," Horse said, fretfully, "not another Roboticizer?"

"No," Cloak said. He didn't know how or why he was so certain, though. "No, this is different."

"Invalid response. Reissuing query." she said. "Query: Are you intelligent?"

"Clearly this thing isn't," GH said crassly.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Brutal Clash

"That's harsh, GH," Underseen said.

"I calls them like I sees them," GH said, with a shrug.

"Invalid response. Initializing assessment." she said. "Assessment concluded. Assessment: You are intelligent."

"Well, duh," Horse said.

"This presents an error." she said. "Errors must be corrected."

"Anyone else see where this is going, too?" Dino asked.

"Solution: extermination."

"And now she's a Dalek," Aquilai sighed.

"Initializing combat protocols," she said.

"How difficult could this be?" Dino said.

But her Anubian Baskurr form faded into energy, leaving only the beetle on her throat visible. She became a light blue polar bear with deep red claws, and attacked Horse. Only to be headbutted out of the way by Dino, in her considerable height.

The Nemetrix Beetle, with a blinding flash of yellow, suddenly became a Tyrannopede of light blue and deep red. She fired out the webbing out of the nozzle on her forehead and wrapped up Dino so thoroughly that she felt with cacophonous thud upon the ground. The web was strong than a Vaxasaurian, Tyrannopede's primary prey, could break. It was giving the Ankylotyrannus nasty flashbacks to some lost friends of hers -- ones she hadn't thought about in years . . .

The Nemetrix Beetle deftly changed into a light blue African elephant with deep red toenails and tusks. She charged Cloak, who punched the ground in a Rakuhouha technique of which Zero would have been proud. Only he didn't send out a wave of energy, he caused a fissure to open beneath the Nemetrix Beetle, causing her to fall into a chasm of which she could easily jump out.

"Cloak! She can jump out of that!" GH admonished.

"Not until she changes form," Cloak said. "Elephants can't jump."

"How so?" Aquilai asked.

"It's the way their feet are built. They're pillars meant to support their massive weight. It doesn't allow for jumping." Cloak explained.

"Is this the time?" GH said, snarkily.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHT:
The Invitation

The battle when through several iterations of this, with very little collateral damage and no one was hurt. This was fortunate because it had the potential to escalate to something more dramatic very easily and very quickly.

"Assessment initializing," the Nemetrix Beetle said, back in her Anubian Baskurr form, apparently her base form. "Assessment completed. This one is wholly unprepared for this conflict. Success at three-point-eight-four-zero-six-three-eight-two percent likelihood of occurring."

"That's a high estimate," Cloak said, harshly. He cracked his knuckles threateningly.

"Searching for solutions . . . searching . . . searching . . ." she said.

"Now's our chance," Horse said. "Attack with everything!"

"Solution found. Probable outcome of success: ninety-four-point-two-eight-six-seven-zero-one-two percent." she said, as Horse uttered a Dweller expletive. "Solution enacted."

Then she ran away.

"Hey!! Come back here you lily-livered . . . uh, whatever you are!" Dino said, beginning to give chase.

"Anubian Baskurr," Underseen corrected.

"Whatever!" Dino snarled, as she kept thundering after the Nemetrix Beetle.

***

"Sir, we're receiving a transmission," said a government worker of some indeterminate rank.

"From whom?" said a man in charge.

"Unknown," the former replied, "but they request an audience with the planet's leaders."

"Very well," the latter said, "put them through."

"Hello, the people of Earth!" said a humanoid creature without any nose or hair. He wore what appeared to be a dark blue helmet He also appeared to be a cybernetic insectoid humanoid. "We are the Reach. We hear that you have a problem that we might be able to rectify."

"Which problem is that?" another person in charge snapped.

"Well, it isn't a problem yet," the Reach Negotiator said, "but it will be if they target Earth, as we believe they will."

"Stop talking in circles," piped another man in charge. "Spit it out and be done with it!"

"We, the Reach," the Negotiator said, unnecessarily dramatic, "have reason to believe that your planet has been targeted by the Exodia Armada."

"You made that up," a woman in charge accused.

"Oh, no, my dear. The Exodia Warlords aren't anything to trifle with lightly, and their Armada is just as dangerous. They've destroyed whole planets on a whim, or over a disagreement where the local populace didn't directly capitulate to their demands." the Negotiator said. "We can help you. We can help you prevent your own extinction, but we cannot without your agreement. Too much life in the universe has been lost due to those savages, who imagine themselves as gods. But we cannot help you if you do not invite us to aid you in this."

And some how this moved a majority of those in power to offer an invitation to the Reach. Something that outraged Sam when he found out.