Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

This is a fic idea that I've been sitting on for some time.  It may become my primary project, if this SOPA thing turns out to be detrimental to the parodies.  If not, it will becomes my primary project when I'm outta parody ideas, or waiting for someone to post.

Book One: A RAFian Falls
Chapter One:
The Deal

The Howler fired that ray gun that appeared to be a dracon, but the two cloaked figures easily dodged it.  One was larger, bulkier and wearing a black cloak.  The other was smaller, leaner and wearing a pinkish cloak.

Suddenly, a large boulder was hurled at the Howler's head, but missed my mere inches!  The Howler pulled out a knife, which seemed unable to touch the figures in the cloaks.  Suddenly it was ensnared in the branches of a yew tree that wasn't there a second before.

A loud roar, from some distance away, and the Pootang ate the seal, again.  But the cloaked figures, known as Cloak and his elder neice Shadow, concentrated on the Howler.  The other RAFians were dealing with the Pootang.  But battling the Pootang was little more than a game for the RAFians, although Horse might disagree as she gets eaten in nearly every encounter.

Cloak fell on his back but rolled back to his feet with practiced ease.  Then Howler decided to use the one weapon that Cloak and Shadow had no defense against.  It howled.

***

Meanwhile, at the Banned HQ, Queen was in her usual rages.  Aloth, wide-eyed and with somewhat vacant expression, and Yorick, who wore a disinterested, aloof expression.  This was an usual experience.

But something happened to jolt Queen out of her rant.  A low, malicious chuckle.  All three stared in the direction of the sound.  Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then, with a swishing swagger, a figure in a coal black cloak stepped from the shadows.

He was much too wide to be Dagger, too hornless to be Brute, too big to be Shadow, and too bulky to be Cloak.  He was a new Realm Walker.

"You three are absolutely pathetic." he spoke in a low, silky voice.

"HOW DARE YOU!  HOW DARE YOU COME HERE --" Queen started.

"Silence, fool!" the Realm Walker snarled.  "You've tried to get that forum -- that RAF -- countless times, but never succeeded.  Have you?"

Queen gulped like a goldfish.  Aloth, however, said, innocently, "How do you know that?" which cause Queen to slap the backside of his head.

"I have my sources," the Realm Walker replied repressively.  "Now, I can give you RAF."

"How?" Yorick said, sincerely surprised.

"That's immaterial.  I can do it.  All I ask is one thing in return."

"What?" Queen said, filling the word with as much contempt and hatred as she could.

"Cloak." he stated with a broad smile.  "That is my price.  Cloak is mine to kill.  It must be me, and it must be public -- in front of his precious RAFians!"

[Blocky97]

Very cool, Cloak. Hope this clears up some of that realm-walking backstory!

[Cloak]

Well, it clears up more of my backstory than Realm Walkers.  But I'll bear that in mind. . . . I will probably post another chapter sometime this weekend.

(I confess, I forgotten about this thread, but saved my notes.)

Chapter Two:
The Stone

The Howler tensed.  All its weapons seemed useless against these strange beings it had never encountered before -- and, indeed, no Howler has battled before, as their genetic memory was devoid of knowledge of Realm Walkers.

It occured to Cloak that it might decide it had to resort to --

"KERRRRROWWW!"

Yeah, that.

Realm Walkers, like Olympians, have golden blood called ichor.  And after that howl, ichor streamed from Cloak's ears.  It was nothing truly serious, but it was enough to get Cloak severely ticked off.  Golden-scarlet energy started to build up in Cloak's, a small amount leaking out.  This cause the Howler to back off a distance away to assess this odd new development.

"Oh no . . ." Shadow's voice was small and faint.

Cloak blasted a giant beach ball-sized Hadouken at the Howler, but it escaped very narrowly.  The Howler apparently thought this new twist was exciting and fun, because it seemed to be smiling.  It began to howl again, but it never got to finish, because then Cloak, fuelled by anger, terrakinetically lifted some very large boulders up and smashed them down on the Howler with the force of a hydralic press.

After the dust settled, Cloak shut his eyes and took a couple of deep, slow breaths.  Then he took a few more.

"Uncle . . ."

"I'm fine, Shadow." Cloak said, although that wasn't entirely true.  And Shadow knew it.  But before she could call him on it, Cloak said, "You're mom's probably worried about you.  Why don't you go back?"

Shadow took the hint -- he didn't want to talk about it.  She swished her cloak and was gone.  Then Cloak opened his eyes, which returned to their normal state.  The truth of the matter is Cloak was scared -- scared of his own emotions, of his own rage and anger.  This is why he tried to keep it under lock and key.

Horse, having just came out of Pootang in a way she didn't care to discuss, meandered over, still covered in Pootang yuck.  Gaz, Guy, Blocky, and Parker were with her.  Parker was using some odd device to siphon off the Pootang yuck.  The Pootang had returned to the cage where it would inevitably escape again.  But then, that was supposed to be half the fun.

"Hey, Cloak." Gaz said.  "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Cloak said repressively.

Gaz took the hint that he didn't want to talk about that topic, and so turned to the boulders Cloak used to kill off the Howler.  Then she said, "Hey . . . this looks like writing."

"What?" Guy asked, bewildered.  "How can that be?  Cloak?"

"I cannot terrakinetically write. I don't know any Elements Master or terrakinetic that can."

Guy nodded at this, then studied the scratchings etched on the boulder, "But this is definitely a language -- but not one I know.  This doesn't look Terran."

"And I can't translate it, either," Parker put in.  "Cloak, can you?"

Cloak glanced at the stone, and his eyes narrowed with every line.

"You can read it, can you?" Horse said.  "What does it say?"

A brief moment where Cloak said nothing.

"It's nothing." Cloak said in an unscrutable tone. "It says nothing."

This was a lie.

[Gaz]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention! Can't wait to read more. ^_^

[Cloak]

Thanks, Gazzy.  I'll try to update as frequently as I do with the parodies.

CHAPTER THREE:
The Coup

The border between the Bannedlands and RAF was a visable line of lush vegetation and barren, desolate wasteland.  And it was usually devoid of life.

But not today.  There was a rather large, and motley, collection of trolls, always uglier than the next.  At the fore of the regiment was the three most known Banned -- dimwitted Aloth, snide Yorick and dictatorial Queen.  All hovering over the precipice, still in no-man's-land of the border.

"There it is," Queen stated with a hungry voice.  "Let's go."

But just then a large, beefy hand with sausage-like fingers wrapped around her neck.  Then it lifted her up a foot or two.  It was the new Realm Walker.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the Realm Walker snarled.

"Attacking that fool Richard!" Queen gasped.  It was remarkable that she lost none of her arrogance when the Realm Walker was quite capable of smashing her without a second thought.

"And why," the Realm Walker said, voice low and silky, "would you want to do that?  Especially since I said we would go when the time is right? When their defenses are low?  When their guard is low?  WHEN THE ELEMENTS MASTER COULDN'T SENSE US COMING?! He's a terrakinetic, you fool! He'd be able to feel the vibrations coming a mile off! Do you think of such things? No, of course not. You just shoot your mouth off without thinking, act when it would be unwise to do so -- it is little wonder why you have never succeeded in overthrowing this Richard guy and his mods!"

Queen's face turned red, but whether that's from the lack of blood or rage or embarrassment, it was hard to say.  But Queen said no more, and the Realm Walker dropped her roughly.

"Your impatience has no harmed the plan," the Realm Walker continued, looking into the lush paradise that is RAF.  "Fortunately for you.  As dawn approaches, so does the time for the attack.  We shall be there before the one known as Cloak has time to stop us.  And then . . . I'll have him."

***

Cloak was drafting another RAFparody -- "Dig A Little Deeper" -- when he felt something.  It was not a vibration through the ground, but rather one that went to his soul.  Feline Realm Walkers always could sense the presence of malicious beings, and Cloak never questioned this ability.

Cloak stood right away, holding his body quite stiff, looking around -- that was the problem with this sense, it never pinpointed anything.  Cloak was still on high alert when he walked out of his thread -- he stayed in RAF more often than he stayed in the Nexus, his species home world, which is where all universes (ALL universes) intersect, and holds the Gate of Oblivion.  Anyone goes through the Veil of Oblivion, located on the other side of the Gate, and they shan't ever return.  This is the fate of the most dangerous Realm Walker criminals, as it is the only thing, other than another Realm Walker, that can kill a Realm Walker.

Cloak was nearly shocked because he saw a troll horde coming towards RAF -- within mere minutes, seconds really, they would be here.  They would overrun -- there were like fifty trolls to a RAFian.  But they were clearly outmatched.  A newbie takes out that many trolls before lunch.

But there was something different about this that Cloak couldn't put his finger on.  He brushed that thought aside and raised the alarm.  The RAFians rushed out of the threads, clearly posting or working on some projects -- ND had paint on her fingers, Demos was unaware that he was still holding a test tube filled with some vile-smelling concoction, and Horse, Parker, Yunyun, Rad, and Blaze had just come from the training pavilion.

Then the trolls and RAFians stared at each other, glaring implied insults.  Then the two lines clashed.  Cloak attempted to fight them, but they seemed to have no interest in him.  Cloak, though he wouldn't openly admit it, felt a little aggrieved at this.  He was not a weakling! They surely weren't afraid of his power -- he never used his full power, because as stated, he himself was afraid of it.

But the cause of it was evident soon enough, because when Cloak turned around, he saw someone he had thought he would never see again. Someone he liked less than Laura Mallory and that Phelps church.

He said accusingly, "YOU!"

[Darth Revan]

This is really cool. Keep up the good work.

[Cloak]

Thanks, Parker, I shall!  Now, warning! This chapter contains a partial plot dump.  And not that this book takes place BEFORE the recent events in the Intro Randomness RP.

CHAPTER FOUR:
Realm Walker Battle Royal

"Yes, me." the Realm Walker said, sedately walking up to Cloak, stopping ten feet away. "You were expecting some line-dancing vampires?"

Cloak didn't speak.  He was revolted by the newcomer's appearance.  He was a mishmash of hippo, rat, ox, tiger, dragon, horse, ram, dog, boar, rooster, monkey, rabbit, and snake forms.

"You . . . you didn't. . . ." Cloak said, disgust and revulsion in his tone.  "You didn't absorb -- no, you stole the powers of the Twelve! No wonder they weren't as hard to defeat as they should have been."

"The Twelve?" Gaz had detached himself momentarily from battle.  It was then that Cloak noticed that the trolls were no longer fighting back but shrinking to the shadows fearfully, leaving the other RAFians to look around, wondering.

Cloak thought about how he should word his response.

"The Twelve were twelve Realm Walkers --"

"Yeah, I got that part."

"-- ancient Realm Walkers, far older than Malice.  They each had a unique ability -- Karma had yin-yang vision, Speedy had super speed, Imitator could shapeshift, Ghost could turn intangible, and so forth."

Cloak glared daggers at this new Realm Walker.

"And, as it turns out, some time before they went through the veil, this -- this -- this ABOMINATION absorbed their powers.  How I do not know."

"And you shan't know," Abomination replied, "as I have no interest in yours.  Call me Doomsday* or Armaggedon.  Ragnarok would be fine, too."

"How about 'Egotrip'?" Faerie muttered.

Abomination scowled and glowered at her, then suddenly Faerie's right wing bore burnt streak on it, and she fell to the ground.  Abomination may have moved to fast for mundane eyes to see, but Cloak saw -- just barely, though.

"Faerie!" Cloak heard Horse, Block, and Guy shriek.

Goom, however scuttled up, and, even though Cloak had locked his eyes on Abomination and hadn't moved his head a nanometer, he knew she'd be okay.

"No," Cloaky said, his voice colder than Pluto's surface, "you're an Abomination, so Abomination you will be!"

Abomination now scowled at Cloak, who wasn't so easily intimidated.

"You were a schoolyard bully," Cloak continued, "you were always a bully. But you didn't like it when somebody stood up to you, did you, you little punk?"

Cloak's eyes were starting to build up with golden-scarlet energy once again.  Then the energy started to leak off his eyes in fiery tendrils.  Cloak roard his feline roar, a definite warning sign.

"I am the ultimate being, you worthless piece of [Realm Walker cussing]!  I am the premier creation!  I am the strongest of the strong!"

"You are wrong. You always were." Cloak said with gritted teeth, trying to control his emotions.

But it was too late.  Abomination's mere presence brought up painful memories, and a rage that Cloak thought he had long suppressed. It was just too much.  Too much to handle.

"Oh shi--" Parker began.

"Run!" Blue shouted, realizing was was gonna happen.  "Get away! Cloak's goin' into berserker mode!"

Cloak lost control of himself, but he was dimly aware of the RAFians evacuation to the Animorphs board -- it was furthest away.  A ball of air engulfed Cloak like a shield.  The water in the nearby lake swished, sloshed and whirled violently.  The earth begun to shake with minor tremors. Trees sprouted up randomly only to burst into flame. Metal objects just shattered as if they were frozen in liquid nitrogen and then hit with a hammer.

And try as he might, Cloak could not regain control over himself!  Abomination didn't seem concerned, as he used his stolen powers of superspeed and levitation to evade Cloak.

"You're losing yourself! Get control! Now!!"

"G-grandfather . . . ?"

"NOW!!!"

SNAP!  Cloak found that he was mastering his emotions, calming himself down.  Regaining control of himself . . . he would have thought that he had mastered this by now.

"Pathetic display," Abomination sneered.

"I didn't ask for your critique," Cloak said shortly, trying not to flare up like that again.

"Well, I suppose it's my turn now."

Suddenly, Cloak felt punches and kicks but could not react from them.  There wasn't enough time to react. Cloak could not defend himself, he could barely form a single thought. It was no time before his ichor started flowing, burning the ground black.  His clothing was being stained dark gold.

He was unaware that the RAFians were trickling back.  He was unaware of many things at that point. At one point, he fell, but stubbornly returned to his feet.  This happened five more times.  On the seventh fall, Cloak did not rise again.  He remained on the ground, cloak nearly all stained gold.

Abomination, who was breathing heavily, gave a loud whoop and cackled madly.  "I finally did it! I finally did it!  CLOAK IS DEAD!!"

"No . . ." Parker muttered horrified.

----------
*[spoiler]Reference to what this storyline is loosely parodying.[/spoiler]

[Cloak]

Sorry for the double-post, but I want to add another chapter.  Forgive me.

CHAPTER FIVE:
The Evacuation

"RAFian fools," Abomination shouted, still clearly full of glee, "your mightest warrior has fallen."

It wasn't true, Cloak was no better a warrior than any other RAFian, but Abomination carried an old Realm Walker prejudice, where they think of Realm Dwellers as lesser beings.

"He's gone!  He won't come back.  Take his remains and go.  If you continue to fight . . . you will be annihilated."

Richard's face was a mask, his face was inscrutable, his thoughts a mystery.  But he was clearly thinking hard about this, weighing his options, and . . . finally coming to a decision.  A hard decision that he knew would not be popular.

"Ash.  Demos.  Take Cloak's . . . take Cloak, and let's go."

"We can't just give up RAF!" SuperNate declared.

Richard didn't say anything for a moment, then said, "What other option do we have?  Cloak died trying to defeat Abomination.  What chance to we have against him?"

Blue looked conflicted and . . . confused.  But he stayed quiet because, if he was right, he didn't want to alert Abomination.  Blue had remembered something Cloak had once told him about Realm Walkers.

Ash and Demos lifted Cloak up, their regenative abilities healing any damage that Cloak's ichor inflicted on them -- exactly why Richard had assigned them to the task.  There was a cheer from the Banned and the trolls as the RAFians pulled out of RAF.

They found refuge in a makeshift village, not that unlike Knothole Village from the comic Sonic universe, only entirely underground.  Cloak's remains were placed in an isolated spot -- a makeshift morgue-slash-infirmary.

While Cloak was the only one thought slain, a few more were injured.  Fairie was having Goom repair her wing.  Noelle's left stalk eye had a burn salve on it.  Horse was cut up, but she would live.  Gaz had several lacerations, and a minor concussion.  Block had his arm in a sling.

"This would be easier if I had arms!" Goom had lamented.

The other RAFians were milling around, looking miserable at losing the site . . . and friend, they cared for so much.  Parker took off his helmet -- he was unhurt, but his armor looked like hell.  Esplin struck the wall with his tail-blade in fury.  Guy was attempting to console Horse.

It seemed very bad, that they've become refugees.  But it could have been worse, they said, they could have been . . .

Blue still looked conflicted, but he was relatively unscathed.

"Blue, what's on your mind?" Terenia said, but he gaze was that of a teacher who caught a student passing notes in her class.

". . . Nothing," Blue said repressively.

"Don't be that way," she replied, "tell me."

"I . . . I don't think Cloak's dead."

Terenia took on a more gentle, consoling tone, "Blue, we'd all love that to be true, but the circumstances indicate --"

"I know what it looks like." Blue snapped.  "Cloak told me once that Realm Walkers were born of energy, and they die as energy."

"He also said that Realm Walkers can only be killed by another Realm Walker." Terenia said, resuming her teacher-tone.  "Abomination was another Realm Walker.  Maybe he knew of a way to kill him without Cloak turning into energy."

"Perhaps," Blue conceded.  "But my gut tells me otherwise."

"Your gut, or your hope?"

[Darth Revan]

Killing the hero in the first act? Bold. I can't wait for more.

[Cloak]

But am I really dead?

*Sly smile.*

Well, we'll find out more in upcoming chapters.  Which I'll post tomorrow.  Kinda feeling tapped creatively for now.

Er, never mind that, I lied.

CHAPTER SIX:
Epiphany Road

Cloak blinked and looked around.  Where was he?  There was nothing familiar about this place.  There was nothing but swirling gray mist all around.  Cloak felt a hard smooth surface beneath his feet.

It was sometime before he realized the hood of his cloak was down, but nothing was happening.  Cloak tried to remember what happened to land him in this strange place.  Then he recalled being beaten by Abomination. . . .

Did Abomination kill him?  Was he really . . . dead?  His stomach plummeted as he realized that . . . that he must be . . . .

"Cloak," a voice said.

Cloak's head snapped to up, in attention.  He recognized that voice.  A voice he had not heard for several years.  A voice he never thought he would hear again.

"Cloak," the voice said again.

Cloak daren't believe it.  He could not.  His hands begun to tremble incredibly with sheer anticipation and excitement.  He may see him again after all.

"G-grandfather . . . ?" Cloak called out tentatively.

Then, from the mist, another figure appeared.  He had a sharp, curled beak with a white feathered head, black feathered wings, powerful black feathered hands.  Round, golden eyes.  His feet had curled black talons.  But he was smiling benignly.

Cloak, unable to restrain himself any longer, launched himself to the figure and gave him a bone-crunching hug, which Sage, Cloak's grandfather, father of Ursa, returned.

"I . . . I . . ." Cloak spluttered.

"I know," Sage replied.

Then Cloak pulled away when he realized he failed to defeat Abomination.  And in doing so, he let his grandfather down.  That he would never be as worthy as his heroic, mighty grandfather.

"No, Cloak.  Don't think that way."

"How did you know --"

"You are feeling the things that we Elements Masters are usually cursed with feeling." Sage said succinctly.  "But you mustn't blame yourself."

Cloak heard his words but wasn't sure he could stop himself from that.  Sage seemed to recognize this, and sighed deeply.  He placed one of his feathered hands on Cloak's shoulders.

"I should have known that it wouldn't be that easy for you.  It wasn't for me.  We Elements Masters tend to run from our feelings, hide from them, even fear them.  But there is only one course for you now.  You must go onto the Epiphany Road."

"The . . . the epiphany road."

"Yes, only then you can make your very important decision."

"My -- what decision?"

"I believe you know."

"Tell me." Cloak said, who wasn't sure he knew.

"You know, Cloak.  The decision of whether to go back or go on."

[Gaz]

Wow. Totally can't wait to see what happens next!

[Cloak]

Whoa, I wasn't aware you were postin' Gazzy.  The next chapter is in my previous post.

[Gaz]

Lol! I'm sneaky that way?

[Darth Revan]

ooo... Self-reflecting, Life flash time!

[Cloak]

Let's just say I'm gonna "open the chakras".

[spoiler](Get the Avatar: The Last Airbender reference?)[/spoiler]

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Shadow Flight

Cloak's body had stopped bleeding ichor, but the ground beneath him still bore the burn marks of it.  His hands were folded over his chest, and he looked positively serene in death.

The injured RAFians were healing, and not exerting themselves, while the veteran RAFians, RAFians that had a RAFyear or more under ther belts, were having what could only be described as a council of war.

Richard was growing to dread the roundabout conversations that usually ensued.  They were in a very sour-tasting pickle.  And an easy solution would not fall out of the sky.  Victory at this point seemed to be futile.  Everything seemed hopeless, although no one seemed to want to accept that.

Estelore was on one of her intergalactic sojourns, and, as she's the only RAFian to really exceed Cloak in power, and they could not count on her timely appearance (as she was roughly 67 light-years away at the moment, and not even a star could span that distance in a few seconds).

"Whoa, why's everybody so down?" a bright, cheeky voice said from the ceiling.  It was Shadow hanging from her tail from a protruding tree root.  "And why's no one at the forum?  I go away for a few hours, and everything changes.  Anyway, where's Uncle?"

The council members looked anxious.  Shadow didn't know.  They had to tell her.  But how to break it gently to this eleven-year-old?  But Shadow was always more perceptive than people credited her for.

She dropped down and landed on her feet.  She looked at each member of the council in turn.  Richard.  Esplin.  Dameg.  Nate.  Phoenix.  Goom (who was on break for the moment).  Estrid.  Ash.  Broken.  Horse.  Block.  Guy.  Gaz.  Faerie with a bandaged wing.  Rad.  Parker, face obscured by his helmet.  AniDragon.  Kelly.  And Marie. . . .

"What's going on?  What aren't you telling me?"

More silence.  Then Kelly strode awkwardly and hesitately forward.  "Shadow . . . Cloak is . . . Cloak is . . ."

Kelly didn't need to finish.  Shadow got the gist.  And she wasn't too happy.

"HE'S NOT!!" she raged.  Her eyes were building her mauve and lavender energy, which leaked out as if they were tears.  "HE'S NOT!!!"

She ran and ran and ran.  She ran to the spot were he lay.  Where her dear uncle, and Elements teacher lay.  She sank to her knees, head bowed.  She seemed to be shaking with silent sobs.

"Shadow . . ." Horse said, voice as gentle and comforting as she could make it, "Shadow . . . I'm so sorry.  He's --"

Shadow interrupted with an unusually steely voice.  "He's not dead."

"Shadow, denial won't make it any easier --" Jess began, in a soft voice.

"He's not dead."

And with a swish of her lurid pink cloak, she was gone.