An Error Has Occurred! A sequel to Revenge of the Banned

[Horsefan1023 (Seal)]

Yeah--I was wearing a Cubs t-shirt the other day, and the number on the back was 38, and now (well, not now, the play is over) they all insist that that's how old I am, and they won't shut up.  Wouldn't shut up.  Whatever.

[Blocky97]

lol, safe at last

[Cloak]

. . .

Aren't we getting off-topic?

[Blocky97]

yes, yes we are

[Gumby]

That's a big part of RAFlife though isn't it?

[Blocky97]

but delays are still delays, even on raf

[Darth Revan]

Awesome new chapter Beth! Glad to see you found your notebook.

[Horsefan1023 (Seal)]

Chapter Four--Three Guesses

        "Taiyoh?"
        Taiyoh and CANADA turned around.  Someone was hurrying towards them, sqeezing through the small hole across from the "chairs" in the wall.
        "Taiyoh!  It is you."  Said the someone, who was a girl.  She had blond hair, but unaturally bright green eyes, with a line of blood running across her face.  Then, as an afterthought, she added "Tai.  Tuh."
        CANADA raised an eyebrow.  "Former Andalite?"  He said.
        The girl turned toward him.  "Yes.  Who are you?  My name is Aliciana, or just Alic.  C.  Allllllllllll."
        Taiyoh smiled.  "Alic, hey!  Yeah, meet my new friend, his name is OH CANADA."
        Gumby rolled his eyes.  "Thanks for the introduction."
        Alic looked surprised.  "So I'm not the only one who became human.  Hew."
        CANADA shook his head.  "Nope, I think it's all of us RAFians.  Tai here was already human, so it didn't affect him.  But...hey, just noticed that.  Oh, geez, how did I not feel that before?"  He raised one hand.  
        Tai recoiled slightly.  There was a hole in Gumby's hand, completely circular.  Literally, a hole.  He could see the wall of the cave through it.  He examined himself.  There was a long shallow scratch down his leg, from the top of his knee to his ankle.  "Ow," he said, then sat down, then looked thoughtfully up at Alic.  "Hey Alic.  You're a former Andalite.  Got any theories about this?"
        Alic narrowed her eyes.  "We need to get back to RAF.  I have a theory, but it's not good.  Or at least if we can see RAF from here..."
        The trio went outside and peered across the horizon.  The same thing that Taiyoh had seen earlier just after his talk with Gumby--wet hills, scrubbly trees, crumbling city, little huts, and...
        "RAF should be there."  said CANADA, pointing at a dark lump on the ground far away, just what Tai had been thinking of..  "But where did it go?  All I see is a pile of...rubble..."  he trailed off, realization dawning.
        "What happened to RAF?"  Cried out Taiyoh.  "What sort of sick thing would do this?  I bet we're not the only RAFians humanized and scattered."
        Alic closed her eyes.  "I think I know.  A virus."
        "A virus?"  Said Gumby and Tai together.
        "Yes.  This was very cleverly programmed.  Individual parts of the virus must have targeted each RAFian, then support structures, or just the walls in general.  RAF can be repaired.  But what if another virus comes?"
        "Who do you think launched it?"  Asked CANADA.
        "I can think of one description, and one person who fits that description.  Who do you think is smart, yet cruel, persuasive--as in able to hire someone to do this for them--probably more than slightly insane, and holds a grudge?"
        Taiyoh's mind ticked through a list of possibilities, eventually coming down to one.
        "Queen."  Said CANADA grimly, confirming Taiyoh's guess.
        Alic nodded.  "Queen.  My guess is our resident psycho banned is back."

        "...and then he said 'Shadow, quit getting under your mother's feet, come here and help me with these dishes,' and I said 'Sure Uncle Cloaky--after she gets this--'"
        "Shadow!"  Interrupted Faith.  "She doesn't need to hear the story of your life."
        Jess winced as Faith wrapped a bandage around her arm.  "Thanks," she said, indicating the quieting of Shadow as well as the bandage.
   Faith nodded.  "Now, I think I'd like to know how you got here."
   Jess shook her head.  "I don't know, quite honestly.  I was just getting up in RAF, suddenly, bam!  I feel like I'm being chucked around, there's white light, all these jumbled pictures, and then more light, these big black letters, saying "An Error Has Occurred!" then nothing.  Then I feel like my head has been split in two, my arm is half gone, and I'm here."
   Cloaky's sister waited for Jess to be done with her small tirade, and then closed her eyes in thought.  "I've never heard of anything like that...if you can stay here alone and look after Shadow, then I can look into it if you want."
   Jess smiled and nodded gratefully.  "That would be appreciated.  Thank you very much, Faith.  If there's anything I can do for you..."
   Faith smiled.  "I'll give you a shout."
   With a small swirl of a cloak, Faith poofed.
   "Oh, this'll be fun, Jess!  Mom can be so strict sometimes.  I hope you're funner!  So, Mom NEVER lets me eat too many scoops of ice cream.  Can I pleeeeeeeeease have more than two scoops, Jess?"
   Jess turned around and raised an eyebrow.  "You eat ice cream here?"
   Shadow nodded enthusiastically.  "We Realm Walkers get food from all over the universe.  We're--that is, Mom and I--very fond of ice cream.  So....can I have more than two scoops?"
   Jess put her head to one side and considered.  "Hmmm...you can have three...you're hyper enough already."
   Shadow perked up.  "It's better than two!  Thanks Jess!"  And she bolted out of the room.
   Jess rolled here eyes.  "I hope I haven't created a weapon of mass destruction."

   Richard surveyed the remians of RAF, and sighed.
   Ever since the mysterious collapse, the other mods and himself had been all over, pulling RAFians out of the rubble, and trying to find out what happened.  A few hours ago, Goom had had some flash of insight, and ran off.  Richard could see him now, examining a brick in his hand.  Something seemed to make him satisfied, and he started walking over to Richard.
   The founder of RAF walked up to Goom and tipped his head to one side inquiringly.  Goom held out the brick.  "Look," he said.
   Richard looked at the brick.  "Oh my God!  It's...a brick."  He said.
   Goom shook his head.  "Not just ANY brick.  This brick is evidence."
   "Of what?"
   "Of what killed RAF.  Look, here."  Goom pointed to a tiny green streak along the side of the brick.  It might have been paint, until Richard noticed that it pulsed and flickered.  There was a slight hum of power coming from it.
   "That's what killed RAF?"  Said Richard.  "Do you know what it is?"
   "I have a hunch."  Said Goom, peering at the brick once more.  "But I can't confirm it without my lab, which is part of RAF, which is...well, turned into bricks."
   Richard narrowed his eyes.  "Your lab is underground.  There's a chance that it might have survived."
   "My God," said Goom.  "You're right.  Come on!  It's by the Bored...or, by where the Bored Board used to be, at least."
   The mods picked their way across the field of rubble, and Richard found the spot.  "Here it is."  He said, flicking his hand, and clearing the rubble off from a concealed metal hatch in the ground, a ring of small lights around it glowing green.  Settling the rubble into a neat pile nearby, Richard snapped loudly, and the hatch opened.  Another metal disk lay beneath it, big enough for someone to stand on.
   Goom made a mock bow.  "After you, sir."  He said.  Richard smiled.
   "Thank you, Sir Goom."  Richard said, giving him a mock bow as well, then, stepping onto the disc, he snapped again, and the disc below his feet descended rapidly, like an elevator.  The sides of the shaft whizzed by, illuminated by the occasional light, as the hatch above had closed.
   Above ground, the lights turned red as the hatch closed over Richard's head.  After a minute, they turned green again.  He snapped, stepped on the disc, snapped again, and went downwards, after Richard.
   As he stepped off the elevator, he noticed Richard booting up the machinery.  Then it hit him.
   "Everything is still intact!"  He said happily.  Richard nodded.
   "The...whatever it was...must not have been able to get to this place.  It is a big secret, after all."
   Goom hurried over to a tube, pressed a few buttons nearby, and stuck the brick inside it.  Richard watched as blue light enveloped the brick, apparently scanning it.  Goom pressed another button, and a computer screen and keyboard popped out of the side.  Goom's fingers flew over the keyboard, and a bunch of numbers and symbols popped up.  An image of the brick appeared.  Goom pressed a few more buttons, and the blue light focused on the streak of flickering green inside the rust-colored brick.  More numbers and symbols popped up.
   "Come on," said Goom, pressing some more keys.  Eventually, some words flashed on the screen.  
   SCAN OF UNKNOWN ENTITY COMPLETE
   Goom hit enter, and two more words popped up below the message.
   PLYENCENTANIUM NANOS
   (PRONOUNCED PLY-EN-SEN-TAN-EE-UM)
   "Plyencenwhat?"  Said Richard.
   "Plyencentanium nanos."  Said Goom.  "That isn't good."
   "What are Plyencenwhatever nanos?"  Richard said.
   "Plyencentanium."  Corrected Goom.  "And basically, it's a long fancy name for a certain type of virus."
   Richard looked outraged.  "So some stupid Internet virus killed my forum?"
   Goom shook his head.  "A virus did kill your forum.  But not some 'stupid Internet virus.'  Plyencentanium nanos are special."
   "How so?"
   "Well...Plyencentani um nanos...it's a smart virus."
   "A smart virus?!"
   "Yeah."
   "Good God, you better not mean like the one in TAS."
   "Oh, Lord no.  Plyencentanium nanos aren't that smart.  But, they can get targets."
   "Targets?"
   "Yeah.  Someone programmed these nanos to target RAF.  Do you know what that brick is?"
   Richard examined the brick closely.  Then his eyes widened.  "That's one of the bricks that holds up the support structures!  Take this out, and the whole support structure will collapse."
   Goom nodded.  "I found some other support bricks.  They all have traces of the nanos on them too.  And I'm guessing...aha."
   Goom reached out and tore a strip of Richards sleeve off.  "Hey, what was that for?"  Said Richard.  Goom didn't respond, but put the strip of fabric in the scanner.  He repeated his button pushing, and eventually the screen put up a picture of the strip of cloth, but there was a blue streak, outlined in white.  Richard's shirt was blue, but if you looked closely, you could tell that the outlined streak was a tiny bit darker.  It seemed to flicker and pulse.  "Hey...that's..."
   The screen supplied his answer, saying ERIALYAMIC SHARDS  (PRONOUNCED AREA-LIE-A-MICK)
   Goom sighed.  "I should have known.  Erialyamic shards teleport targets.  Someone shot Erialyamic shards and Plyencentanium nanos into RAF, where they hit their targets--"
   "The support structures and the RAFians."  Interrupted Richard.  "And now the quite obvius question is who.  I'll give you three guesses, Goom."
   Goom snorted.  "I'll need four.  There are four people who I KNOW did this."
   "Queen."
   "Yorick."
   "Aloth."
   "Dagger."

So now you know who.  And how.  And probably why.

There's really not much to say on this chapter.

So...the narrator will leave now.

[HiImshort]

great chapter but no shorty....still.

[Gaz]

That was a good chapter! Loved it!

[Darth Revan]

Great job! The story's coming together!

[Blocky97]

awesome, I thik you may be nominated for another rafaward

[Cloak]

Excellent, Horse.

[Terenia]

Yay, new chapter! Great job, horsie!

One error I caught: light 'illuminates', not 'aluminates'. I think you got confused thanks to our very own Aluminator.

[Blocky97]

yes indeed very nice