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

[Horsefan1023 (Seal)]

You walk in the room to see Seal lying on the ground, dead.  There is a tape recorder in her hand.  
You:....?  *presses play*
Hello.  If you are listening to this message this means that Seal has died of an overwhelming conflict of emotions.  She has felt intense shame because this is the first update in over three months.  She also felt much joy because she finally did get the chapter out.  She hopes you will forgive her, and enjoy the new chapter.  Oh, by the way, she will reincarnate naturally later.  Don't worry.  She would also like to say Happy Holidays to all of you!

And please do not poke her dead body.  She might reincarnate as a zombie and eat your brain.

Chapter Twelve--Don't You Remember?

   "Blue?"  Lellina called.
   "Yeah?"  Blue said, pausing his game and looking up.  He was playing video games against Blocky when Lellina addressed him.
   "I need you to do me a favor," she said, sliding across to him.  She had thoughtfully put on a shirt, which would seem weird not to for a human, but it covered up her transparent chest.
   "Of course," he said, standing up and putting his controller to one side.
   "Guess I'll just have to kill you when you're gone," Blocky said with a grin, reaching over and unpausing.  He started to move through the level, huting Blue's character.
   "Whatever," Blue said with a laugh as he followed Lellina.  She smiled at him as they left the room and headed towards the doorway.  Feletaros was waiting for them.  He smiled.
   "Blue, I have a favor to ask of you," he said in his usual formal tones.  
   "Yeah, what's up?"  Blue said casually.
   "As you know, we Peletarans are trapped in The Cliff."  Feletaros said.
   "Yeah, you told me that," Blue said with a slight frown.  "If you guys get out, then there's no way to stop the New Peletarans from getting out.  When you changed them in order to help them, they...malfunctione d, for lack of a better word, and are psycho killers, right?"
   "Correct," Lellina said.  "But we might have found a way out."
   Blue grinned.  "That's awesome!  How?  And why do you need me?"
   "As you know, you and your siblings come and go as you please," Feletaros said.  He began pacing.  "The New Peletarans have let you come and go because they do not fear humans.  Or maybe they were planning to kill you later.  At any rate, the Original Peletarans are planning something.  We shall begin to go outside.  The New Peletarans will no dobut come after us, wanting to get outside.  And wanting our blood.  We shall take you with us.  You shall be well protected, don't worry,   but it shall make the New Peletarans hesitate to attack.  You, Lellina and I shall get outside and program the door so that it's a laser door that will only let the Original Peletarans through.  We shall escape and the New Peletarans shall be trapped."
   "That's a great plan!"  Blue said enthusiastically.  "Let's go!"
   Lellina smiled her icy smile.  "Very well.  Follow me."

   "Go!  Go!"
   Blue stared at Lecctia's wild eyes as she pushed him towards the door.  He stumbled outside, where Feletaros and Lellina already were, crowded around the doorway terminal.  
   As soon as they had gotten near the door, all hell had broken loose.  There was a wild battle, which Blue stumbled through, trying not to die.  He hadn't, luckily, just a few minor scratches here and there.  But now a splitting migraine suddenly ripped through his head as he stared at the people in front of him.
   FLASH!
   Blocky was gone first...
   Richard had alost died...
   Claire...
   Seal was standing over him with a piece of wood, grinning...
   FLASH!
   A violent burst of light brought him back to his senses.  He was leaning against the side of a building, breathing heavily, pain building behind his eyes.  "Queen," He rasped out.
   Queen smiled at him.  "You don't look so well, Blue."
   Lellina left Feletaros at the terminal and raced over to Queen, whispering something in her ear.  Queen's face changed from a smile to confusion and then back to a smile again.
   "How do I know you?"  He asked her, rubbing his forehead.  "I...I don't..."
   "Remember?"  Queen said sweetly.  "Maybe you'll remember your Wondertwin?"
   "My..." Blue muttered, then froze as something was wheeled out by another peron.  With another flash of pain, Blue recognized Seal in the wheelchair and Aloth pushing her.  Seal was tied to the chair and gagged.  When she saw him, her eyes widened, and she began to struggle.
   "Looks like you do," Queen said sweetly.  "Aloth, let Seal say hi."
   As soon as Aloth had taken Seal's gag off, she started shouting.  "Blue!  Are you alright?  What happened?  What are you doing here?"
   There was another flash of pain.  "Wh...who...are you?"  He said, clutching his head in his hands.  He could practically feel Horsie staring at him.
   "Um, Blue, it's me!  Horsie!  You know, your Wondertwin?  Don't you remember?"
   "No...I..."  Blue muttered.
   FLASH!
   "I loved TAS, Blue!"
   "Bluesie-kun!  What's up!"
   "Hahaha, what are you talking about?"
   Piece of wood...
   "Glad to see you too..."
   FLASH!
   "Blue?"
   He was kneeling in the ground now, Seal staring at him concernedly.  "Blue, are you okay?"
   "No, I'm not," he said, as the pain subsided somewhat.  "Wh...what is RAF?  And TAS?  What's that?"
   Seal stared at him like he had gone absolutely mad.  "Blue, RAF is Richard's Animorphs Forum!"  She said.  They were both completely ignoring Queen's giggles and the battle raging inside the building.  "TAS is the project you made!  The Animated Series!  You know?  With the virus?"
   Another buildup of pain.
   FLASH!
   "This battle scene is taking forever..."
   "'The only thing that could get ahold of that would be some kind of...v...v...VIRUS?!'"
   "'Look out Pootang...' 'Cause we're coming for you!'"
   A computer, an animation program up on it...
   FLASH!
   "These flashbacks suck," Blue muttered, hauling himself to his feet.  There was a muffled sound, and Blue turned to see Aloth wrestling the gag back into Horsie's mouth.  "Hey, stop it!"  He said, raising a hand, ready to conjure ice, but a knife seemed to suddenly appear at Horsie's throat.  Both RAFians were very still, until Blue slowly lowered his hand again.  Aloth grinned.
   "Got it!"  Feletaros said with menacing satisfaction.  He hit a few final keys, and suddenly a web of lasers sprang into place where the door used to be.  They were a dark blue.  With bestial howls of triumph, the Original Peletarans bounded through.  The New Peletarans stopped, stunned.  
   "No!"  One whispered.  "Those killers can't be let through!"  
   "Go do your experiments," Lellina growled in satisfaction.  "We Original Peletarans will finally be free of this stupid place!"
   "Feletaros..?"  Blue said, walking up to him.  He was trying to ignore the flashbacks, and the migraines.  "What are they..."
   "You fool!"  Feletaros snarled, whirling around.  One of his arms lashed out, and suddenly Blue was sprawling on the ground, blood dripping down his face.  
   "Blue!"  Screamed two voices.  Heads turned to see Marie and Blocky standing at the laser door, staring at him.  Blocky scanned the scene, his eyes widening as he saw Seal, struggling in her wheelchair.  He groaned, clutching his head.
   "Blocky?"  Marie said in concern, supporting her brother as his knees buckled.
   "No," Blue moaned, another flash of pain nearly bringing him to his own knees.  "You're...not siblings...wh...wha t?"
   "Queen!"  Marie suddenly half-screamed, staring wildly at the grinning Banned.  "You...you're...how do I...argh!"  She gave a small cry of pain as her own migraine started.  
   Suddenly, one of the New Peletarans stiffened.  "You two, come on!"  He said, clutching Blocky and Marie's arms and sprinting away, dragging them along.
   After that, everything seemed to wash over Blue.  He didn't see Horsie being wheeled away.  He didn't see a steel door close in front of the lasers.  He didn't see the Original Peletarans cheering and laughing, dropping their dignified facade.  He didn't feel his arms being pulled behind him.  He didn't feel himself getting handcuffed.  Next thing he knew, he was marching across a field, the blood roaring in his ears as he tried to remember.

   "We must hurry," the New Peletaran said, pushing them into the room with the large glass tube in it.  "Quick, onto that teleporter pannel, Marie."  
   Marie stared at him, but numbly obeyed.  The New Peletaran quickly hurried over to a console and started typing.  "Give me the website of this RAF place of yours.  Hurry!"
   Another searing pain ripped through Marie's skull, and based on Blocky's groan, same for him.  But Blocky muttered, "animorphsforum.com."
   With some more typing, the New Peletaran assumedly entered that in.  Suddenly, the disc beneath Marie's feet began to glow.
   "I cannot explain," the New Peletaran apologized.  "But the RAFians will help you.  Good luck!  Good bye!"
   "Wait!"  Yelled Marie, but there was a flash of light.  Everything was white around her, there seemed to be a distant ringing.  Suddenly, the landscape seemed to be flashing by, faster than she could process it.  Suddenly everything was still.  Absolutely still.
   She stared around her.  There were organized piles everywhere, of various bricks and boards and other supplies.  There was the foundation of a building  being build, with people working on it.  Several of the people working seemed to be wearing cloaks.
   At that moment, a Jamaican man walked by.  He had dark circles under his bloodshot eyes, his hair was dirty and rumpled, probably from running his hand through it--which he did now.  It wasn't a "grooming" rumple, it was an "I'm stressed and need something to do" rumple.  One of his sleeves was ripped, and he had numerous tiny tears in the dirty fabric.  It didn't look like he had been in a battle, just not slept for days.  With some more pain flaring up in her head, Marie knew his name.
   "Richard?"  She said quietly.
   His red-rimmed eyes met hers, and his mouth dropped open.  "Marie?"  He askekd, coming over to her.  "Thank God you're alive and well!  Where did you spring from?"
   "I..." she muttered dazedly, but their attention was drawn to Blocky suddenly fizzling into existence.  
   He stared around him.  Some people had gathered, were calling out greetings.  "Aaaargh!"  He practically screamed as he fell to his knees, clawing at his head.
   "Blocky!" Marie gasped, kneeling next to him.  His cry of pain went on for a second longer, then slowly faded out until he fell unconscious.

   Shadow was sitting, absolutely still for once.  When Marie and Blocky entered the tent that had been set up as a hospital wing, she didn't even move.  But Cloaky glanced up.
   "Blocky!  Marie!"  He exclaimed quietly, standing up and moving over to them.  "You're safe!  What happened to Blocky?"
   "Cloaky," Marie gasped, sitting on a bed.  She put her elbows on her knees and held her head in her hand.  "Where am I?  Is this RAF?  It's not what I remember."
   Cloaky blinked.  "Marie, are you okay?"  She seemed very...off.  And Blocky was unconscious.  "Marie?"  He added gently.
   "Someone messed my brain up," she said in a slightly slurred voice.  "Oh God.  Is this up or down?"  She suddenly started moaning, and fell unconscious as well.
   "Richard, what happened?"  Cloaky said to the founder of RAF, who ran his hand through his hair again.  
   "I don't know," he said in a hoarse voice.  "They literally came out of nowhere.  Literally as in Blocky just seemed to pop out of the sky.  Then he started screaming and fell unconscious.  What's Shadow doing?"
   "She's sensing the other RAFians," Cloaky explained.  "She can do that.  We just gave her examples of their posts to give her a 'taste'" he made quotes in the air with his fingers, "of their mind.  She's trying to--"
   "Found one, Uncle Cloaky!"  Shadow said, springing up.
   "Great!  Who?"  Cloaky said, smiling down at his niece.
   "Someone named...Parker, I think.  The SPARTAN guy."
   "Where is he?"
   "Having the time of his life, I assume."

   Parker was having the time of his life.  He had ended up inside HALO, right where he always wanted to be.  Since SPARTANs were just modified humans, basically, he had remained the same as before.  He was quickly accepted into the squad he landed in the midst of.  Now they were roving across the HALO universe, taking down the Covenant as it came up.
   "So, Papa," Echo said.  This squad--they called themselves the NATO squad--used the old NATO alphabet for their names.  They quickly dubbed Parker "Papa," the NATO word for P.  "Where did you come from?  We didn't really get time for introductions the first time we met."  Echo was one of the girls in the squad.
   There were laughs at that.  "I totally took down that Brute, Zulu, not you!" Tango said.  Zulu and Tango were twins, Zulu a boy, Tango a girl.  Zulu punched Tango in the shoulder.
   "Settle down, guys," Romeo drawled.  Funnily enough, Romeo was the ladies man of the team.  He was going after Echo, though she coolly ignored him.  
   Foxtrot, their reconassainse guy came jumping down into their camp.  "Nothing out there, not so much as a peep," he reported.
   "Nice work, Foxtrot."  Delta said.  He was the sergeant in the NATO squad.
   "Yes, bravo," Yankee said with a grin, shooting a glance at Bravo, who was snoozing.
   Bravo woke up with a snort.  "Eh, what?"
   Everyone laughed.
   India glanced up at Delta.  "Where're we going next, oh fearless leader?"
   Every time the NATO squad called Delta their "fearless leader," Parker had to repress a snort.  
   Victor looked up.  She was a total tomboy, and had insisted on being called Victor when the squad was formed.  "I wouldn't mind kicking some more Covenant ass," she said.
   "That's why we exist," Kilo pointed out.  
   There were twenty-six SPARTANs in the squad, now that Parker was there, each one named after the NATO alphabet;  Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, (who was totally trying to woo Romeo) Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Parker, (Papa) Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, and Zulu.
   "Well, Papa?"  Said Kilo.  "Where'd you spring from?"
   "Well, it's a long story that I don't really understand," Parker said, remembering vaugely his time on RAF.  "The important thing is that I ended up here, right?"
   A murmur of approval went through the squad, and Victor clapped him on the back.
   Suddenly, a light flashed on Parker's visor, indicating that someone was near that was not part of the NATO squad..  "Form up!"  Delta barked, rising up instantly and grabbing his weapon.  The squad quickly got into their formation, ready to fire.
   Three figures appeared, melting out of the darkness.  Two--one was short--wore cloaks, and the third appeared to be just a human.
   Parker jerked in surprise.  "Guys!  Weapons down!"  He said, breaking formation.  
   "Papa, what are you doing?"  Sierra hissed.  "Get down!"
   "No, guys wait!"  He said, running in front of the squad, right in their line of fire.  "These are people I know!  They're friendlies!"
   Delta remained tense for a moment longer, then slowly relaxed and lowered his gun.  "Weapons down," he ordered, and the NATO squad relaxed as well.
   Quebec stepped forward.  "Papa, who are these guys?"
   "Papa?"  Taiyoh echoed, stepping forward and more into the light of the fire.  His hands were raised defensively.  "Are you talking to Parker?"
   "Yeah, Tai, they are," Parker said.  "It's good to see you!"
   "Yeah, you too," Tai said, but was clearly distracted.  "Parker, who are these guys?  Why did they call you Papa?"
   Cloaky and the other cloaked figure--presumably his neice--also stepped forward, and several SPARTANs raised their weapons again.  "Hey!"  Cloaky said.  "Relax!"
   "Papa, explanation, now," Delta said in his clipped, authorative voice.
   "Okay," Parker said.  "Cloaky, Tai, wait, I'll explain in a second."  He turned back to the NATO squad.  "These are Taiyoh, and Cloaky," he said, gesturing at each one in turn.  "And...?"  He turned questioningly to Cloaky.
   "My niece, Shadow," Cloaky supplied.
   "Yes, thanks."  He faced the NATO squad again.  "They come from where I came from before.  It was an online forum, called RAF.  Something happened...some sort of weird bomb that dropped me here.  That's why I literally popped out of nowhere."
   "Hmmm," Delta said thoughtfully.  "But you were a SPARTAN before?"
   "Yes," Parker said.  "You kind of get to be whatever on RAF.  So...I was a SPARTAN, and still am one."
   "Hmmm," Delta repeated, then lapsed into silence.  Parker waited a moment, then turned to face the RAFians.
   "Guys, this is the NATO squad," he said.  "They're a SPARTAN team, obviously.  Each one of them is named for one letter in the NATO alphabet.  Hence why they named me Papa.  It's the NATO word for P.  This is Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo..." he went down the list, introducing each SPARTAN.
   "It's nice to meet all of you," Cloaky said politely into the tense silence.  A few SPARTANs nodded a greeting.
   "I'm gonna cut to the chase," Taiyoh said.  "Parker...Papa...wha tever...Queen launched a virus.  That's what sent you here.  RAF's kind of destroyed.  Cloaky's gathered some Realm Walkers to help fix it, but we need help.  Come on, we'll take you back."
   "Woah, hey," X-ray said, stepping forward.  "You can't just waltz in here and take Papa back.  He's a good member of our squad.  Piss off."
   "X-ray!"  Delta warned, and X-ray stepped back.  Delta took his place.  "In all fairness though, he's partially right.  You can't just come, take Papa, and leave."
   "What if he wants to come back?"  Cloaky challenged.  He held out a hand.  "Come on, Parker, we're wasting time."
   "I..." Parker stammered, looking back and forth.  RAF?  Or HALO?
   "You've been having fun, Papa, I can tell," Lima said, also coming foward.  Soon, the whole NATO squad was standing around and behind him.  "Don't just leave."
   "Parker, you belong at RAF," Shadow piped in her clear young voice.  "That's why I could find you!  Don't you remember RAF?"  She added teasingly.
   "Can you find some other people first?"  Parker blurted suddenly.  Dead silence fell.  "I mean, while I...think, you know.  Nothing against you guys, but..."
   The RAFians stared frostily at him.  "Fine."  Taiyoh said.  He put a hand on Cloaky's shoulder.  "Let's go, Cloaky."
   Cloaky paused, but sighed and all three of them vanished.
   As soon as they were gone, laughter and chatter burst out again.  "Well done, Papa!"  Whiskey said, and a couple of others--Golf, India, and Yankee--clapped him on the shoulder.
   He remained there, even as the others headed back to the fire.  Soon, he became aware of someone else at his side.
   "Don't worry, Papa," Delta said quietly.  "You've made the right choice.  Why else would you be standing here?"
   Then Delta was gone.  "If I made the right choice," Parker whispered, "then why do I feel so wrong?"
   But he turned and headed back to the fire.

[Gaz]

Nice! Was very excited to see a new chapter!

[Mythgirl]

Yay! New chapter! 
I love it, it's great!

[DinosaurNothlit]

*pokes thread, leaving several finger-print smudges in the thick layer of dust*

It's been, what, six months?  You are still intending to finish this someday, aren't you?  I just finished reading RotB and then this and I want to know how it ends! 

[Horsefan1023 (Seal)]

Urgh...

Truth to be told, I kind of...don't like this story.  >.<  I had a general plot mapped out, but I feel like it's too spread out and sporadic.  Plus, I didn't know for a while if the computer it's been on has been operational or not. 

Tell ya what?  One last big push.  Wrap up some loose ends.  As I said, the plot was general, so I really had no idea how long it would take.  I'll try, I promise.  Thanks for reminding me of this...it would be a shame to see it all go to waste.

[DinosaurNothlit]

You don't like it?  It's such a great story, though!  And, yeah, I do kinda know how that feels when you're writing a story and it doesn't quite go according to plan, and it does tend to be pretty discouraging.

Anyway, I'm not trying to rush you to get it done right this minute or anything, I just wanted to know that it would be finished eventually.  Just knowing that is good enough for me.  ^^

[Mewmorpher]

Yeah, keep writing!

[A ghost you know]

*gentle bump*

I know you're busy, so there's no hurry. I'm just making sure this doesn't die. It's far too awesome for that. ^_^

[Darth Revan]

Wow, I was in the story! Woot! Too bad the story's over now.

Seal, where are yooouuuuu?

[Horsefan1023 (Seal)]

Heh heh....um...yeah... well...Merry Christmas?  Have a chapter?

....

*runs away from awkward*

Chapter Thirteen—You Ever Wonder Why We’re Here?

   “I mean, seriously,” Donut said.  “You ever wonder why we’re here?
   “What?”  Rad asked.
   “I mean, we always seem to get into trouble,” Donut continued.  “We’re always here—in trouble.”
   “We’re pretty kreed up,” Rad agreed, finding a pebble beside her on the ledge and tossing it outwards, watching it vanish as it fell.
   Donut glanced up.  “You ready to get back up?”
   “Yeah, might as well.”
   The two hauled themselves to their feet, staring upwards.
   “Yeah,” Donut sighed.  “This is kreed up.”
   They had fizzled into existence with Rad on the very edge of a cliff, which, the two of them being the luckiest people ever, meant she had slipped over the edge.
   “I mean, come on,” Rad said.  “We just happen to come back so that one of my feet is over the edge of a cliff?  Does the universe hate me or something?”
   Donut, being the natural hero he was, had lunged forward and grabbed Rad’s hand.  Their fall had been halted for a moment, and just as Rad was about to climb back up, the lip of the cliff had crumbled slightly, sending Donut sliding forward.  Nothing was there to grab onto, so they both had tumbled over the edge.  The only bit of good luck was that they had landed on a ledge not too far down, and were both a little bruised, nothing broken.
   “Definitely not fair,” Donut agreed.  “But remember how easily the top crumbled, be carful for any loose rocks.”
   “Stay above the ledge,” Rad agreed as they began to climb.  “And we have to try and move fast, otherwise we might get too tired.”
   “I’ll try and get up first so I can help you,” Donut said, searching for another handhold.
   “Hey,” Rad snapped.  “What says you’ll get to the top first?”   
   “Because you can fit under my arm,” Donut responded.  “Height helps.”
   “Kree you,” Rad mumbled under her breath.
   “Aw, love you too,” Donut said with a laugh.
   Donut moved to another foothold cautiously, which promptly broke beneath his foot.  His hands nearly slipped, but he clung desperately, hanging there.  Rad’s breath caught, and she froze, watching as Donut scrabbled for another foothold.
   Once he found one, he hung there for a little bit, as Rad exhaled a sigh of relief.
   “What was that about being careful?”  Rad said, though it was slightly shaky.
   They continued upwards, each giving each other little taunts from time to time, like they always did.  There were a few more close calls, but they managed to scramble over the top unharmed.
   Once they had backed hastily away from the edge, onto more solid ground, they sat, breathing heavily, letting themselves recover.
   Rad found herself staring at Donut, and when he looked up, their eyes met for a long moment, before looking away.
   Rad caught a grin out of the corner of her eye, and smiled herself.

   “Do you ever wonder why we’re here?”
   Parker glanced up.  Alpha was lounging, staring up at the sky.
   Bravo glanced over.  “It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it. Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of... some cosmic coincidence or, is there really a God... watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know man, but it keeps me up at night.”
   There was silence everywhere.
   “Did anyone else just get some serious Déjà vu?”  Charlie asked, sitting up.
   “Yeah,” Quebec said.  “Like…that was really weird.”
   Parker sighed, chucking a rock into the darkness.  Suddenly, Delta was beside him.
   “You alright?”  He said quietly.
   “Yeah,” Parker said, tossing another rock.  “All good.”
   Delta clapped him on the shoulder.  “Come on, now,” he said.  “It’s a reasonable choice.  You give yourself time to think, they get time to find some others.  You did good.”
   “Sure,” Parker said dully.  “Did good.  Thanks.”
   Delta sighed.  “I’m not gonna convince you, am I?”
   Parker shook his head.
   “Just take the time that you asked for,” Delta said.  “Think about it.  Everything will be okay.  We’ll kick some more butt tomorrow.  When the RAFians come back, you’ll be ready.”
   “I sure hope so,” Parker said quietly as Delta walked away.  “I sure hope so.”

   “You ever wonder why we’re here?”
   Blue glanced up.  They had just been dumped in a cell somewhere—he hadn’t really been paying attention, he was distracted by THE WORST MIGRANE EVER.
   “Huh?”  He asked.
   Seal looked steadily at him from the next cell over.  “Just recently.  Haven’t you wondered, “Why am I here?”  Like, not on Earth, is-there-really-a-god anything.  Just, why am I right here, right now, in this place?”
   “There’s been a lot of that recently,” he muttered.  “Speaking of which, where are we?”
   “Lands Beyond, I’m guessing,” Seal said.  “I was unconscious, but I woke up right in the middle of devirtualization.  I think.”
   “Yeah, you’re in the Lands Beyond,” a voice said.  “Seal?  Blue?  Is that you?”
   With difficulty, Seal turned her wheelchair around so that she was facing the window on the other side of her cell.  “Who’s there?”
   “It’s me, Teach!  And Claire’s with me!”
   Another shot of pain went through Blue’s head at these names.  “Stop it!”  He shouted.  “You’re making it worse!”
   “Blue?  What’s wrong?”
   “I dunno,” Seal said, glancing worriedly back at him.  “He got…brainwashed, or something.”
   “Sealie-kun, I did not get brainwashed,” he muttered. 
   Sealie-kun?
   “Do I always call you that?  Sealie-kun?”
   “Yes!”  Seal sounded excited.  “Yes, you do!  All the time!  Remember!  Sealie?  Sealykins?  We’re WonderTwins!”
   “Ow!”
   “That sounds bad,” another voice—maddeningly familiar—said.  “What’d who do to him?”
   “Claire!”  Seal sounded happy beyond belief.  “Gods above, Claire, I didn’t know if you were alive!  Queen said you were, but I thought she was playing with my head!  It’s good to see you!  Like, you have no idea how good it is to see you.”
   “Didn’t you die…like…a year ago?”  Blue muttered, feeling the pain shoot through his head again.  “A year and three months?  Ow!”
   Seal turned her wheelchair again, rolling herself right up to the window.  “Alright, Blue,” she said, looking steadily at him.  “Crash course time.”
   “My name is Horsefan1023, but I usually go by Seal.  I’m your WonderTwin.  We met on RAF, or Richard’s Animorphs Forum.  It’s a great website.  There are several boards there, the General Board, the Media Board, the Bored Board, the Animorphs Board, the RAFprojects Board—you had a RAFproject called TAS, or The Animated Series.  It was about a smart virus.  Starting to remember?”
   Well, his headache had certainly gotten worse.  But things were starting to click into place.  “Tell me about some of the other RAFians,” he said, gritting his teeth.
   “Well, I’m one of the TJs, or Thread Jumpers.  But we always go by TJs.  The others are Rad, Donut, Bear, and J, and previously Tony.  J lives in Ghana, and he had to leave.  He was dating my IRL friend, Mythgirl.  And Tony, he has a crush on Goose, or TobiasMasonPark.  Goose is related to Nick, or DarkCyclone or Anime, and you talk with him a lot too.”
   “What about…RPs?”  Blue said, another memory sliding into place.  “What are those?”
   “Role Playing.  I’m a big RPer.  The biggest is GESB, by far.  It’s renowned for having over a thousand pages and being posted in a LOT.  The second biggest is probably Introduction Randomness, my RP.  It’s over three hundred pages.  We get up to wacky hijinks there.  Demos was in it, and Cloaky, and Faerie, and—”
   “Stop!”  Blue yelled.  The pain was just too much in his head.  He clutched his skull as images suddenly flashed before his eyes, jumbled with voices and words.
   ”Blue, I swear, if you kill my son, I will [beep]ing kill you!”
   …Tony?
   ”What the kree?!”
   “Rad,” Blue muttered.
   “Huh?”  Seal said.
   ”Blue, have you seen the newest Soul Eater chapter?”
   …Goose.  That was Goose.
   ”Howdy, y’all!”
   Bear.  Definitely Bear.
   ”I found this new program…”
   Goom.  He was a mod.  Yes.  He had talked with these people…Skype?
   And it all clicked into place.

   Three hours later, Blue awoke feeling very odd.  He finally realized this was because of his lack of a headache.  And it was even stranger that that should feel strange!
   “Dammit,” Blue muttered, rubbing his head.  “What happened?”
   “You’re awake?”
   Blue looked up.  Someone was looking through the bars of the cell, looking disdainfully down on him.
   “Aloth,” he said softly, in somewhat of a growl.
   Aloth raised an eyebrow.  “You remember.  Congratulations.”
   “Yeah,” Blue said, pulling himself to his feet.  “I remember how much I want to pound your freaking face in!  Where am I?!”
   Aloth chuckled.  “Lands Beyond, my friend.  After that…well, ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.”
   Blue glared, though he had to lean on the wall for support.  The breaking of the mental dams the Peletarans had put up had affected him much worse than he would have liked to say.  Aloth s****ed at the weakness and walked away.
   Blue glanced into the cell next to them, smiling slightly as he saw Seal asleep in her wheelchair.  She looked awful—bruises still heavy on her face, deep bags under her eyes, hair completely disheveled.  She must have been exhausted, as even Blue’s confrontation with Aloth hadn’t woken her up.  He couldn’t see Claire or Teach either, so they must have been sleeping too.
   Blue put his back to the wall and slowly slid down, underneath the window between their cells.  It was like a prison cell—brick walls on every side, but bars on the front.  And it was thoroughly depressing too.
   Resting his arms on his knees and his chin on his arms, Blue gave a heavy sigh, and took off his jacket.  Luckily, it was warm, so he didn’t really need it.  Balling it into a makeshift pillow, he put his head down and closed his eyes, though sleep would probably be very distant tonight.

   Myitt wondered for a second why the heck she was there before Mal started talking.
“You’re going to be very still, and tell me what the hell you’re doing on my boat.”
   Even though she was lying on the ground in front of a man with a gun—which was pointed right at her face, all that Tara could think was, this is so cool.
   Then her mind returned to the whole GUN IN FACE thing, and she remembered.  Right.  Problem.
   “Trying to find home,” River said quietly.  Of course, none of them had seen her come in the room, she was so silent.  She was sitting on the railing of the walkway that lead upwards to the hall and dining area.  She smiled eerily.  “Lost between the stars.”
   “That’s lovely,” Mal said, his gun not wavering from Myitt’s face.  “What the hell are you doing on my boat?”
   Tara licked her lips nervously, trying to find her voice.  “I,” she began, coughed a bit, and continued more strongly.  “What…what she said.  Trying to find home.”
   “Well, that sounds like a load of go se.”  Jayne said bluntly, switching to Chinese on the last words, which translated to crap.
   “’cause I’m the merciful sort,” Mal said, slowly lowering the gun.  “Long as you’re unarmed, and you ain’t stealing anything, I won’t kill you.  I’ll just stick you right back down on that planet we came from and we’ll be on our way.” 
   Tara started to protest as Mal turned and started walking towards the intercom, but Jayne’s steely-eyed gaze stopped her.  She propped herself into a sitting position, glancing around.  Apart from Mal, Jayne, and River, still silently sitting, the cargo bay was empty, though Myitt thought she might have heard voices somewhere else on the ship.
   Mal punched the intercom.  “Wash, we have an unexpected passenger.”
   There was a sigh from the pilot.  “Another?” Wash asked, his voice slightly tinny from the intercom system.
   “Yep.  Says she’s trying to get home.”
   “If we could, I’d vote to go straight to the getting rid of her this time.  YoSafBridge didn’t turn out so well.”
   Mal frowned.  “If we could.  That sounds like more of a no statement, Wash, and that’s not what I want to hear right now.”
   “I just got a wave from a certain someone you offended back on that moon we just left.  She doesn’t sound very happy with you, Mal, as in, you-come-back-I’ll-be-waiting-with-even-bigger-guns-than-Jayne’s.
   “And that is a terrifying thought,” Mal mused to himself.  Turning thoughtfully back to Tara, he paused a moment.
   “What’s River talking about?”  A cheerful voice interrupted.  Everyone turned to see Kaylee up on the catwalk, River a silent shadow behind her.  “Oh!  Who’s this?”
   Skipping down the stairs, Kaylee walked over to Tara.  “Oh, poor thing,” Kaylee said sympathetically, viewing her dirty clothes and many little scratches and nicks from wandering in the woods.  She also had a cut in her arm, which she had bound with a piece of her sleeve.
   Tara breathed an inward sigh of relief.  Kaylee was very compassionate, and Mal adored her.  If she begged Mal to let Myitt live, there was a distinct chance that would happen.
   “Kaylee, we don’t know anything about her!”  Mal said angrily.  “She was holed up in there,” he gestured at the smuggler’s hold, “and gave some excuse about trying to get home!”
   “Far away in time,” River muttered, but Kaylee ignored her, helping Tara to her feet.  “C’mon, Cap’n,” she said imploringly, giving him her brilliant shining smile.  “Does she look like she’s gonna do any harm?”
   “Dobson didn’t,” Tara heard Jayne mutter, and understood Kaylee’s slight flinch.  The incident in Dobson had involved Kaylee getting shot and the lawman nearly getting away with River.
   Mal was looking her over with a critical eye.  “Dump me wherever you’re going,” she said quickly.  “I don’t care.  I don’t have anything with me, I promise, just…don’t kill me.”  As awesome as this whole experience was, she did not fancy getting killed, even by Captain Malcolm Reynolds.
   “Well…” Mal said slowly.  “S’long as that’s all true, and you’re not armed, and you follow my rules, and you don’t complain, we might let you stay.”
   Tara smiled.  “Thank you,” she said earnestly.
   River tilted her head to one side.  “She’s broken,” the girl said softly.  “Doesn’t make sense.”

   “You ever wonder why we’re here?”
   Bear raised his head.  “Why do I get the feeling that that phrase is being seriously overused?”
   Tony shrugged.  “All I know, is—”
   “Please,” Goose interrupted.  “If it’s about another hot guy, we don’t want to hear it.  Bear’s busy.”
   “Get your mind out of the gutter,” Tony said with a grin, giving Goose a light shove.  “I mean, I love you, Goose, but shut up.”
   TMP grinned, and continued tuning his guitar.
   He, Tony, and Bear had been checking out Skype, when the error had hit.  They had found themselves in the middle of nowhere, near an abandoned house, an old, run-down car, and a shack full of old scraps.  Bear had been doing his best to try and fix the car, but he hadn’t had too much experience with that before.  The house had some food, but they were running out, and needed the car if they were going to get anywhere.
   “I was gonna say that I just found some more food,” Tony continued.  “But obviously that’s not important.”
   “Dude,” Goose said, putting his guitar down.  Somehow, it had been brought with him, but refused to stay in tune.  “I’m hungry.  Food.  Now.”
   Bear pulled his head back out from under the hood of the car, rubbing some grease off of his cheek.  “How come I have to fix the car?”  He complained. 
   “Because we believe in you, buddy,” Tony said, clapping his hand on Bear’s shoulder.  "And you're the Eagle Scout.  You're supposed to know this sort of stuff.  The Texan rolled his eyes, grumbling about not needing cars in the wilderness, but poked his head back into the workings, trying to determine what was what.
   The world promptly exploded.
   After thwacking his head on the hood of the car as he jerked upwards, Bear staggered back, disoriented.  Light was flashing everywhere, and there was suddenly a burning pain in his shoulder, which was really truly unfortunate.
   As he hit the ground—when did that get so close?—Bear noticed that it was actually a battle he was witnessing.  Tony and Goose were sprawled on the ground nearby as well, though they seemed less dizzy and more just trying to stay alive than Bear. 
   Three hooded figures were standing there—they were the ones battling.  Well, no, two hooded figures and one person.  The person had some sort of laser gun.
   Dracon, Bear identified hazily.
   One hooded figure was shooting beams of energy, while the other was mostly deflecting them as the person took shots with the Dracon.
   Eventually, one of the hooded figures—the one who the Dracon wielder was shooting at—vanished in a swirl of cloak after a cry of pain as one of the lasers seared through their arm.
   “Bear!  Are you okay?”
   Bear blinked up at the person, trying to clear away the blurriness.  Getting hit with a shockwave from an explosion, slamming his head into a car, and subsequently getting shot with some energy bolt from some hooded thing—the one that had run—had made him a little out of it.  But, eventually, it clicked.
   “Dino?”  He asked uncertainly.  It was her, definitely, but she was human.  He recognized her from a RAFcon he had had in the Lands Beyond, which they had when they could meet in person, which, given the distance between a lot of RAFians, was difficult.
   “Yeah,” Dino said, helping him up.  “Are you okay?”
   “I…think so,” Bear said dazedly.  “I…my shoulder hurts…”
   “That must have been Dagger,” Dino said grimly.  “You got caught in the crossfire…I’m sorry.”
   “Oh, that’s okay,” Tony interrupted, picking himself up from the ground.  “‘How are you Tony?  Are you okay?  I know you just got blown up, just making sure you’re not further scarred.’  Love you too, Dino.”
   Fortunately, Dino knew Tony well enough to realize he was joking.  “Sorry,” she said.  “Shadow, could you take a look and make sure they’re okay?”
   “Sure,” the remaining cloaked figure said cheerfully.  It was definitely a young voice—very young.  What was a little girl doing in battle?
   “What happened?”  Bear asked as Dino slammed down the hood of the old car and helped him sit on it.  He was starting to regain his senses, but unfortunately the pain intensified when that happened.  “Where are we?”
   “Not sure,” Dino said.  “Rumors are that it was some sort of virus that hit RAF.  Half of the RAFians are missing.  Thanks to Shadow there, we’re starting to track everyone down and repair.”
   “Repair?”  Goose asked.  He looked a little shaken, as did Tony, but they looked mostly unharmed.  “What happened?”
   “RAF got…destroyed,” Dino said grimly.  “The whole thing.  Just blasted to bits.  We’re trying to fix it the best we can.”
   “RAF 2.0,” Tony muttered.  “Great.  Can we go back and get some good food?”
   “Yeah,” Dino agreed.  “Shadow?  Take us home.”

[radgeek]

“Because you can fit under my arm,” Donut responded.  “Height helps.”
   “Kree you,” Rad mumbled under her breath.
   “Aw, love you too,” Donut said with a laugh.

We say this everyday!   Still amazed that we are the last to know about us.

[donut]

except I don't asy "awww"

...and she actually does fit under my arm

[warren_bearclaw]

I love how this explains RAF 2.0 coming into existence. Are you somehow gonna incorporate the RAFture as well?

[Horsefan1023 (Seal)]

Gotta have a RAF to have a RAFture first. 

[radgeek]

You do say "awww" I've heard it.