Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

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• Book XXIV: The First Master

Cloak meditates alone in a forest, and has a vision about the first Master . . . the first Elements Master.

• Book XXV: RAF -- The Musical

The RAFians find themselves trapped in a musical where everyone must burst into song occasionally.

• Book XXVI: Outage Outrage

The RAFians find themselves losing their powers.

• Book XXVII: Infinity and Eternity

The Infinity Gems and the Eternity Stones make themselves known.

• Book XXVIII: The Virus Rings

The RAFians are attacked by foes they never thought they'd see again.

• Book XXIX: Soul-Suckers

The RAFians are attacked by Dementors, which have a rather large effect on Cloak.

• Book XXX: Mayhem of the Music Miser

Cloak recalls the RAFians' previous confrontation with the Music Miser three years ago.

• Book XXXI: The Metal-Maker

The RAFians must save their own from a Roboticizer.

• Book XXXII: Richard is Missing

The RAFians must cope without Richard.

• Book XXXIII: Emotional Food

The RAFians must confront a different kind of vampire.

• Book XXXIV: Transformation Confrontation

The RAFians must confront some strange machines.

• Book XXXV: Richard's Horn

The RAFians must get Richard's Horn, a mystical musical instrument, back from Malice, who received it from a RAFian traitor.

• Book XXXVI: Feral Scream

A Wildwethel-centric book, he must deal with his feral side.

• Book XXXVII: Predators and Prey

The RAFians are being preyed upon by some sentient predators.

• Book XXXVIII: A Protean Problem

The RAFians must deal with a powerful snot-nosed kid who, quite literally, can do whatever he wants.

• Book XXXIX: The Horsemen

Four RAFians are captured and converted into four Horsemen of the ancient, rogue Realm Walker Cataclysm.

• Book XL: Sizeable Pain in the Necks

The RAFians must deal with Heinlein aliens.

• Book XLI: RAF's Nightmare

The RAFians must survive their own nightmares.

• Book XLII: Unlucky Charms

The RAFians must contend with a rather bloodthirsty leprechaun.

• Book XLIII: The Piper

The RAFians must contend with a pied piper.

• Book XLIV: Starlight Desire

The RAFians race Malice, Abomination, and the Banned to a wishing star (no, not Estelore).

• Book XLV: A War of Armor

Parker is outraged to see knockoffs of his rather unique armor and what they're being used for.

• Book XLVI: The Worst Plague

The RAFians must weather the worst plague to ever existed -- the Hate Plague.

• Book XLVII: Little Alien Napoleons

The RAFians are caught in the middle of a war between Helmacrons and Fmeks.

• Book XLVIII: Go Away!

The RAFians must deal with the paparazzi who are all of a sudden interested in them.

• Book XLIX: RAFian Tales

RAFians tell various RAFian-themed stories across a lunch table.

• Book L: Maul

The RAFians must deal with the result of one of Demos's experiments.

• Book LI: Erised Orbs

The RAFians must face their greatest desires.

• Book LII: RAFians Alive!

Read the "Mummies Alive" parody in the RAFize songs thread.

• Book LIII: The Pain Reliever

The RAFians must deal with an elderly Vulcan styling himself the "Pain Reliever".

• Book LIV: Beyond the Veils

Aquilai and Aila must confront old foes while the other RAFians must put up with a Czarinian bounty hunter.

• Book LV: Dangerous Deals

Demos meets up with his half-brother, Shenecron, who has a perchant for making deals.

• Book LVI: Of One Mind

Malice seeks out the Unimind.

• Book LVII: The End of Time

The RAFians must contend with two Kryptonians (who think they're Time Lords) and prevent them from ending time altogether.

• Book LVIII: Hematomimic

The RAFians must capture a Plasmavore and put up with it's rather stupid Judoon jailer.

• Book LIX: Sins of Youth

Estelore, Richard, Parker, and Cloak must survive when the entire city and forum have been reduced to two-year-olds.

• Book LX: The Replacements

The RAFians must contend with the fame-feeding Eidolon Consciousness.

• Book LXI: Arachnoids

The RAFians must contend with the Arachnoids and finding a cure for one of their own that was poisoned before it's too late.

• Book LXII: Personal Tissues

The RAFians must contend with some one misusing Bibliophaetos's discarded book shell.

• Book LXIII: Memory Today, Gone Tomorrow

The RAFians lose their memory and must find a way to regain it.

• Book LXIV: Appliance Armageddon

A superintelligent computer controls all electronics, and the RAFians must stop it.

• Book LXV: Prodigy and Composite

Some RAFians are merged into two separate entities.

• Book LXVI: The Merging

The Universes begin colliding and merging.

• Book LXVII: Be A Doll

The RAFians are confronted by a Super Chucky.

• Book LXVIII: They're Such Cards

The RAFians are sealed into cards, which end up trapped in an ancient leather-bound book, and it's up to three kids to free them.  An out-of-continuity book.

• Book LXIX: Dinosaur Island

Everyone, except those that bear a Mark, begin turning saurian.

• Book LXX: Corrupted

The RAFians must deal with the son of Cataclysm, Corruptor.

• Book LXXI: Artificial Skins

The RAFians must deal with symbiotes.

• Book LXXII: Separation Anxiety

The RAFians must contend with an ethereal virus.

• Book LXXIII: A Thing About RAFians

The RAFians must contend with Seekers, which home in onto their Marks.

• Book LXXIV: A Planted Idea

The RAFians must contend with a floramaniac.

• Book LXXV: Vacation Photos

The RAFians are sucked into a Polarisoid camera.

• Book LXXVI: A Personal Gremlin

The RAFians must contend with gremlins.

• Book LXXVII: The Rust is Silence

The Rafians must deal with an oxidation ray wielded by a criminal.

• Book LXXVIII: The Toyman Cometh

The RAFians deal with a Toyman-esque character.

• Book LXXIX: RAFian Idol

Yes, just another excuse to put in more of the (as of writing) nearly 800 parodies.

• Book LXXX: Savage Heart

Cloak battles an ancient being called Garrotik.

• Book LXXXI: Slave Islands and Juggernauts

Three RAFians are taken prisoners by the Knights and sold into the slavery of New Genoshia, while the others deal with a juggernaut.

• Book LXXXII: Shredding a King

The RAFians deal with a demonic Shredder-like ghost called Regiphaetos.

• Book LXXXIII: RAF -- The TV Show

The RAFians are forcibly recruited to Mojo's programs.

• Book LXXXIV: The Drinker

The RAFians must contend with a Spirit-Drinker.

• Book LXXXV: The Last Laugh

The RAFians must face Joker Gas.

• Book LXXXVI: It's A Mad, Mad, Mad Villain

The RAFians must contend with mind control cards which are ineffective on them.

• Book LXXXVII: Sight Unseen

Six RAFians are rendered functionally blind, optically-speaking.

• Book LXXXVIII: Don't Let It Snow

The RAFians must face a second Ice Age caused by a Diznee Ice Ifrit.

• Book LXXXIX: The Rachel Toxin

The RAFians must find a cure to a toxin that increases the fearlessness, hostility and aggressiveness induced in people which the Mark cannot protect the RAFians from.

• Book XC: Virus Alert!

The RAFians face a dangerous virus seeking a host.

• Book XCI: A Youthful Thief

The RAFians face a creature that siphons off the youth in its victims, provided they're younger than him.

• Book XCII: Calendar Creep

The RAFians face the Calendar Creep, a criminal whose crimes are holiday themed.

• Book XCIII: The Branding

Faerie fights a witch-boy named Salem (and his magical black cat, Saberhagen) for a magical branding iron in Faerie's possession.

• Book XCIV: The Void Zone

Nothing like a "Subspace Emissary" parody.  Sorry.

• Book XCV: An Epic Yarn

The RAFians' world is turned into yarn and fabric.

• Book XCVI: RAFian Gladiators

RAFians are kidnapped by Gamesmaster, another rogue Realm Walker, and force to participate in gladiatorial games.

• Book XCVII: The Box

The RAFians must cage thirteen Revenants released from Pandora's Box -- each representing and amplifying a particular feeling (i.e. hatred), while looking for the perfect host.

• Book XCVIII: From the Shadows

The RAFians must save their shadows and the shadows of everyone else from being absorbed (eaten) by the Umbraraptors, but not everything is what it seems.

• Book XCIX: Grimm Prospects

The RAFians discover Malice controlling several "wesen" with control collars akin to April's in "Catwoman from Channel Six" and get stuck in one-on-one battles to the death with them.  One will die.

• Book C: Loop-De-Loop

Everyone's trapped in a temporal loop, but the only ones that realize it are Cloak, Aila, and Aquilai.

• Book CI: Get 'Em, Shaw

The RAFians face a creature native to the planet Gossamer, who's under the control of Malice.

• Book CII: Threadfall

The RAFians must exterminate an epidemic of Thread.

• Book CIII: Siren's Song

The RAFians must deal with a siren and her alluring song.

• Book CIV: Resistance is Futile

The RAFians must deal with a hybridization of the Borg and the Hive chips (Ben 10: Alien Swarm) -- which the Mark cannot protect them from, nor the Unity energy can destroy.

• Book CV: The Titan

The RAFians must contend with the Titan serum and its effects.

• Book CVI: A Stony Glare

The RAFians must deal with a hungry Stone-Biter and a petrifying venom of a Diznee Stone Ifrit.

• Book CVII: Spritely Pests

The RAFians must deal with irritating sprites, which Faerie has had some rather tenuous experiences with.

• Book CVIII: Destroy All . . . What?

The RAFians must contend with a Furon incursion, and it turns out the Nyacs have knowledge of Furons. . . .

• Book CIX: Going Backwards

A grievious malfunction in Aquilai's TARDIS causes time to reverse its flow and flow backwards.

• Book CX: Death Takes A Holiday

The RAFians must convince Death to take up his role again.  A RAFian will die in this book, and it is within the continuity.

• Book CXI: High Price Stakes

Shanker and Gaz must flee and elude Daphne, the vampire hunter.

• Book CXII: A Killer Housing Market

The RAFians must survive and either destroy or escape a killer house.

• Book CXIII: A Silenced World

The RAFians must cope with a world that has become muted and a young sorceress, Melissa Spellman.

• Book CXIV: The Bureau

The RAFians must save their own from the insideous Bureau of Lost.

• Book CXV: To Tell the Truth

Broken's apprentice, Melissa, accidentally casts a spell forcing everyone to tell the truth.

• Book CXVI: Skin Crawlers

The RAFians, repulsed and revolted, must contend with Hundred (who eventually becomes Thousand, then becomes Million, then Billion, and then, finally, Trillion).

• Book CXVII: School of Stepford Lies

The RAFians must save the children from a school that turns them into Stepford students at Terenia's school.

• Book CXVIII: Ol' Salty

The RAFians must deal with the Salt Man.

• Book CXIX: The Great Race

The RAFians hold a race that Aloth cons himself into.  Who will win?

• Book CXX: Ape Escape

The RAFians must help super intelligent apes -- Caesar the chimp, Brutus the gorilla, and Maestro the orangutan -- reconcil their misanthropy.

• Book CXXI: A Different Kind of Unity

The RAFians must contend with a parasitic "unity".

• Book CXXII: The Great Brain Robery

Someone is stealing brains for an unknown purpose.

• Book CXXIII: The Bounty Hunter

The Knights, in their hypocricy, hire a Tsul'Kalu bounty hunter to collect select RAFians (to taxidermy).

• Book CXXIV: New Controllers

The RAFians confront Zirconians.

• Book CXXV: Creeping Crystal

A wave of crystallizing energy is sweeping the land. . . .

• Book CXXVI: The Element Feeder

The RAFians deal with a creature who feeds on a specific element and matures to a different element each time as it matures. . . .

• Book CXXVII: The Rider and the Walker

The RAFians come up against the Ghost Rider.

• Book CXXVIII: Headhunters

What will happen when RAFians lose their heads?  Seriously.

• Book CXXIX: The Color Purple, Man!

The RAFians confront the Purple Man, who manages to turn the entire government against them . . .

• Book CXXX: The Nemetrix Beetle

The RAFians confront the Black Beetle with Nemetrix properties.

• Book CXXXI: It's Tought to Be A Mod

The members of a primitive forum declare Demos and Blue to be mods. . . .

• Book CXXXII:Who-Zilla?

An energy reaction begins turning RAFians into monstrous creatures in 3013.  Out-of-continuity book.

• Book CXXXIII:Well, Techadon-ally . . .

The RAFians confront Techadons who assign them qualitive quatilities, and refuse to acknowledge any defeats.

• Book CXXXIV:The Mind's Eye

The RAFians face Spellbinder and his realistic illusions.

• Book CXXXV:Bas-ic Instincts

Bas awakens and attempts to take control of Cloak and other felines.

• Book CXXXVI:Midas Duck

The RAFians must contend with a very strange golden idol and a greedy sneak-thief.

• Book CXXXVII:War with the Warworlds

The RAFians must defeat two heavily-armed Warworlds.

• Book CXXXVIII:Solar Sucks

The RAFians must save Estelore from a device able to suck out her stellar substance and lifeforce.

• Book CXXXIX:*Hounded

The RAFians are attacked by hellhounds that only Demos can see, although Cloak can "see" them via Earthsight.

• Book CXL:*Politics

The RAFians, much to Cloak's chagrin and irritation, get caught up in the middle of Realm Walker politics.

Now, the final comic story thing . . . I know it'll probably be a bit corny.  But as I haven't written it yet . . .

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Go Go RAFian Rangers

When Cloak's vision cleared, but he wasn't quite sure if what he was seeing was real.  The others were wearing suits like some one merged Sentai, Bisharps, and PokeBalls together.  Damien wore red, Horse wore white, Gaz wore yellow, Yarin wore blue, and Underseen wore green.  Cloak looked down at himself -- he still had his cloak, but also wore a uniform similar to that of the Unova Defense League -- er, from PokeStar Studios in the Pokemon universe.
 
"What the bloody hell?" Horse said.
 
"'Power Rangers', Damien?  Really?" Gaz said, exasperatedly.
 
"What?"
 
"Didn't Slushie Man already have a fic about this?" Cloak asked.
 
Underseen shrugged.  "Dunno."  After a beat, he said, "Who's Slushie Man?"
 
"Never mind," Yarin said, waspishly.
 
"Hey, at least you're not human again," Damien said, almost defensively.
 
"I look like some butchered make-up from an early contestant on Face-Off," Yarin complained mulishly.
 
"Look, this is the final story anyway," Damien pointed out.
 
"You said, 'maybe four', though," Horse said shrewdly.  "Does that mean that this story is unfinished?"
 
"Um . . ."
 
"Oh, God, it is unfinished, isn't it!" Gaz said rather accusingly.
 
"Hey, hey, hey!  Hands off!" Damien said, as Gaz made to grab him by the throat.  "I did finish the basic premise of it!  I just didn't edit it thoroughly yet."
 
"Next time you make a comic, I'm staying fifty yards away from it at all times," Yarin grumbled.
 
"What about Queen and Malice, Damien?  What are they in this universe?  And do we have all of our powers here?"
 

***

"Why did I ever listen to you?!  I have such a headache!!" Queen raged.  She looked very much like Rita Repulsa with more gold in her wardrobe, and a star at the end of her staff instead of a crescent moon.  But it certainly looked quite uncomfortable and a hassle to wear such a dress and collar.
 
Malice, however, had a more drastic change to her.  She looked like a mixture of Lord Zedd and Ivan Ooze . . . only much, much, much uglier.  Her temperment and demeanor was unchanged however, and she had lost her patience with the pathetic little Dweller.  "You listened to me because you are like all Dwellers!  Stupidly lusting for vengence, ignorant of the ways of your superiors as you should be!  You will continue your service to me, whether or not you like it is immaterial, you petty, moronic fool!"
 
"I serve no one!" Queen yelled.
 
"Oh?"
 
Malice unleashed energy from her hands rather like Force Lightning.  She did this repeatedly, ignoring Queen's screams, and waiting just long enough for her wounds to heal (much faster than usual, by the way, due to the comic's effect on her) before inflicting them again.  When Malice stopped, Queen's garments were still smoking, her staff reduced to curled metal, which was still smoking.
 
"Do we have an understanding, Dweller filth?"
 
No answer.  Malice frowned and narrowed her eyes.  She held her hand at Queen, and did it again.  Queen let out an almighty scream, and Malice stopped, leaving Queen gasping painfully.
 
"I said," Malice said with clenched teeth, "do we have an understanding?"
 
No answer again.  But as Malice aimmed to do it again, Queen said, breathlessly, "Y-yes!  Yes, we have an understanding.  P-please . . . n-not again. . . ."
 
"Good."
 
Then Malice gave Queen another spritz of Force Lightning anyway.

[Underseen]

Corny and fun are the same in my book

[Cloak]

Right -- a reaction I was hoping for, Underseen.

But, sorry, guys, no new chapters today.  I didn't get much sleep last night as my neighbor decided to "jam out" rather loudly . . . at 2 am.  So, sorry, I may try a little later, but I wouldn't count on it.

[Underseen]

I wouldn't blame your neighbor... I too was blasting music early in the morning

[Cloak]

Eh, if he does two more times . . . but then I share a wall with him.  And I do not like his dog much.

Chances are good that tomorrow may be a multiple chapter day.

[Underseen]

Good... Because I'm  always busy on Wendsday and I like coming home to something nice.

I've been reading tropes recently and I think this book has A Band of Five plus the sixth ranger.. I will see who's which types when I get the time.

[Cloak]

Well, I'm not too sure how many, Underseen.  It may very well be just one.  Just don't hold me to that.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Battles and Ideals

"Powers?" Damien asked in a very evasive way.
 
"We don't, huh?" Horse said, shrewdly.
 
"Well," Damien started, "yes and no."
 
"You're flip-flopping more than Mayor Quimby," Cloak said, plainly.
 
"Am not!" Damien protested.  "You have a semblance to your powers, but they can only be accessed via your weapons."
 
As if to demonstrate, Damien pulled out a sleek sword resembling a katana or ninjabo with a red hilt.  Gaz pulled out a pair of nunchukkus, colored yellow, that could link together into a three-sectioned staff.  Yarin pulled out a pair of sais, colored blue, that could link together into a staff weapon.  Underseen pulled out a bo staff that could turn into a green naginata, a spear-like weapon, and back again.  Horse pulled out a white-handled battleax of which Faerie would be envious, which could be turned into a rifle weapon.
 
"You too, Cloak," Damien said.
 
Cloak pulled out a rather massive-looking sword, somewhere between a claymore and a broadsword.  The hilt was colored gold.  Cloak frowned and said, somewhat accusatory, "I think you think that I'm overcompensating for something."
 
"No!  I don't!  Not at all!"
 
"I think that's a very apt assumption." said a voice.
 
"And of course, this is the time that Malice would show-- what happened your face?" Horse said, reacting to Malice's newfound ugliness.
 
"What do you mean, Dweller?" Malice said with a threateningly imperious tone.
 
"Well, just how many trucks ran you over, Malice?" Cloak said, with a rather sardonic little smirk on his face.
 
"I'm still more beautiful than any of you!" Malice snarled.  Queen whimpered a little, which Malice told her swiftly to stifle.  Queen uncharacteristicall y obeyed.  This warranted a change in atmosphere for the RAFians, as they could still see that Queen's clothing still smoldered a little and the way that she cringed and cowered, which, again, was out of character.
 
"What did you do to her, Malice?" Cloak said, all humor gone from his tone.
 
"Hm?" Malice said, as if she just noticed him.  "Oh, her?  I just put her in her place.  In the place all Dwellers belong.  Beneath our feet like the filth they are.  We are the first of all sentient species, first of all species altogether!  As such, we are innately better than all others."
 
Cloak's narrowed such a great deal and his frown deepened so much that it was clear that Cloak held a very, very low opinion of such ideals.  It is one of the few reasons that he couldn't bear to live in the Nexus.  He hated the arrogance of his kind towards Dwellers.  Despised with reckless passion.

"No one species is better than another," Cloak said.  "And those that subscribe to such antiquated and elitist ideal are so sadly mistaken they refuse to see other species for how unique and remarkable as they truly are."

"You are as much of a fool as your grandfather was," Malice spat.

Cloak scowled, and said, "Then fight me, you monster."

Malice shrugged, and answered, "Nah, I don't think so.  Not yet, anyway."

Then she snapped her fingers and many strange creatures appeared.  They appeared to be humans of high school or college age in what Cloak believed to be called morphsuits, wearing plain white, generic human facemasks.  Their hands however hid Lady Deathstrike-like claws of an unbreakable metal immune to tarnishing.

"Fight these Dimwits," Malice said, waving her hand dismissively.  "Entertain me."

Then the horde attacked, and the RAFian prepared themselves to battle . . .

[Cloak]

Now another chapter . . .

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Zordless

"There," Cloak snarled at Malice.  "Your mindless minions have been killed.."
 
"Um, Cloak, 'destroyed'." Damien said.
 
"What?"
 
"This whole story is essentially a parody of Power Rangers."
 
"So?"
 
"So, you can't say 'killed'."
 
"The Veil I can't." Cloak said testily.  "I don't give an orb what those censors think.  Frankly, they all need to get a real job."
 
"Can we not talk about semantics, and get this over and done with?" Yarin complained.
 
"Fine with me." Cloak said.
 
"Oh, you think it would be so easily done?" Malice taunted, then postured,  "A fine accomplishment it would be, nonetheless.  Defeating the most powerful being in the universe."
 
"Huh.  'The most powerful being in the universe'." Horse repeated skeptically.  "Ego, much?"
 
"Aren't we supposed to have a villian monologue a bit, send out a monster, we destroy that monster, she makes them grow, and we call on some kind of Zords to defeat them?" Underseen asked.
 
Damien shifted uncomfortably.
 
"That's the general flow of every Power Rangers episode, if I remember right." Gaz said.

Damien looked very uncomfortable.  But this time Cloak noticed.

"What is it, Damien?"

"Uh . . . I . . . I . . . uh . . "

Yarin's bottom set eyes narrowed, while the others looked as if molded into a prothetic, and he said, with a rather accusatory tone, "you didn't design any 'Zoids' --"

"'Zords'." Underseen corrected.

"Whatever." Yarin said, before turning back to Damien.  "You didn't design any of these whatevers, did you?"

"No."

"Great.  Then we're stuck here." Horse said.

"No, this story was finished.  This particular one."

"What?" Gaz said, not daring to believe.

"You were gonna make this particular story into a series, weren't you?"  Cloak said aloud.  "The previous stories were standalone stories.  This is not, right."

Damien nodded.

"Then will we have to finish out the series or just this episode, so to speak?" Underseen wondered aloud.

"We'll find out, all we have to do is join the weapons together and take potshots at Queen and Malice." Damien said.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Yarin exclaimed.

They joined together the weapons as Malice scoffed, "You think that mishmashed weapon can really harm --"

The ground at her feet exploded.

"Ha!  You missed!"

"That was a warning shot," Damien explained.

"You couldn't hit the broad side of a fat To'kustar!"

A hole right between her feet exploded into existance.  She briefly exclaimed a "Ha!" before she was sucked into the hole, dragging a very reluctant Queen with her.

"Done." Damien said proudly.

FLASH!

[Cloak]

Now yet another chapter . . .  probably be short.  Maybe finish off this book today.  Maybe.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Reality Check

A feeling of rushing air, several thumps upon the ground.  Eight groggy forms rose up from the ground, six of which had their Marks of a RAFian glowing brightly for a few seconds, before the glow faded.  The RAFians and Malice remembered the events from the book.  Queen, however, didn't seem to, as she was verbally abusive and arrogant again.  Such a pity.
 
"We're back in reality again." Cloak said, rejoicing at feeling connected with the elements once again.
 
"Are you sure?" Gaz asked earnestly.
 
"How dare you sully the colors of this dress!  It is a *blah-blah* original! --" Queen's tirade continued, but everyone gathered began to tune it out.
 
Damiens comic book was still pulsing with the energy from the Biblio-Immersion Ray.  But soon, the energy disappated and the book was nothing more than paper and ink once more.
 
"Maybe we should destroy the book." Horse suggested.
 
"No!" Damien cried, and ran over to it.  Then he cradled it like a baby.  Cloak thought he could understand, that book was Damien's brainchild, it was his baby.
 
"Perhaps that's a bit extreme," Cloak said.
 
"Perhaps that's not extreme enough," Yarin countered.

"How dare you ignore me!!" screeched Queen, who was promptly ignored.

"The effects of the ray have clearly elapsed and faded from the book." Cloak reasoned.  "Damien's holding it, and he wasn't sucked in."

"He has a point, you know." Gaz pointed out.

"It's the ray machine that should be destroyed." Underseen said, earnestly.

"No!!" Yarin cried.

"Yarin, we know what it does now, and it doesn't really serve any real use." Cloak said.

"The . . . the prisons are overcrowded.  We could implant them in books." Yarin said, with the air of a man grasping at straws.

"That would fall under the lines of 'cruel and unusual punishment'," Horse said.

"We could use if for . . . for . . . um . . ."

"Stop ignoring me!" Queen shrieked.  "I will not stand for --"

She was ignored again, no one really realized that she had stopped her tirade and was no longer standing where she was.

"Give it up, Yarin.  It needs to be destroyed.  It's too . . . gone!" Cloak said as he noticed it's absence.

[Gaz]

I'm down cuz of back pain again. Can't do much, so I was glad to see new chapters. Made me feel a bit better.

[Cloak]

Well, get ready to see a few more then, Gazzy.

Although, this book might only have nineteen chapters.  Might not.  Short chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Debate and Decision

"We have to find it!" Yarin declared.
 
"I agree," Cloak said, "for the simple reason that it needs to be destroyed."
 
"Cloak, no!  I beg you, don't!"
 
"Yarin, I know what must be done.  You're letting your technophilic nature cloud your better judgement." Cloak said sternly.
 
"But . . ."
 
"Yarin, consider the consequences!" Cloak snapped, causing the earth, air, and nearby water source to tremble slightly before Cloak reclaimed control over himself.  "The risks are too great to allow the thing to still be functional.  It could cost the uncautious drastic consequences."
 
"I'll be careful!"
 
"You say that now." Cloak said.  "You may mean it right now.  But, eventually, you or another will get careless -- perhaps get sucked into the 'Red Badge of Courage' or something, and die.  Could you live with yourself, knowing that person's blood would be on your hands?  I know I couldn't.  The guilt would be fierce and . . . and unavoidable."
 
Yarin didn't raise any more objections after that, and Cloak hoped he understood what his message.  Understood and was not planning to undermine him.  In either case, the device needed to be found and wrested from Malice's hands.  It had to be Malice, because Queen didn't have the sheer physical strength, nor the telekinetic might to move such a monstrous machine.  Malice could have easily encapsulated it in a bubble of her energy, and travel with it.
 
But she wouldn't have taken it to the Nexus.  It would be far too noticeable, and she liked the fact that the rest of the Realm Walkers were refusing to admit that she was still among the living.  That, and she would look to find a way to either destroy Cloak or hurt him deeply in some way.  Of this he was sure.
 
Then he realized her target.  He turned to the others, and said, "Follow me."

[Cloak]

Oh, what the hell, I might as well finish off this book . . . maybe.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Busting the B.I.R.

"What makes you so sure?" Underseen said, having heard where Cloak suspected Malice's target was.
 
"Where else?" Horse replied rhetorically, with a heavy sigh.
 
They were all in a energy bubble of Cloak's making and speeding off toward the target site.  It would take them a minutes to reach the destination, and Cloak said, "Trust me."
 
"But why?" Underseen asked.  "What would she have to gain?"
 
"To gain?  My pain.  RAF has become more of a home to me than that shack back in the -- er, never mind." Cloak said, as they arrived and Cloak landed the bubble, "popping" it.
 
Yarin was uncharacteristicall y moody.  Cloak was still unsure about whether he would allow the machine to be destroyed or try to save it.  It was not a good idea to have questionable motives in situations as these.  No matter, what would come would come, and what didn't wouldn't.  No point in obsessing over it now.
 
There was a loud thump, and Cloak's Earthsight immediately detected it.  Cloak called to the others, "Follow me."
 
He was tempted to tell Yarin to stay behind and evacuate the forum, but Horse and Damien had already volunteered to do that.  Cloak really didn't like the uncertainty of Yarin's motives.  Cloak could not read his mind, and Yarin, the telepath, could not read his either.  The tension between the two, however, was palpable. . . .
 
Malice had just set down the Biblio-Immersion Ray on a hill overlooking RAF.  It was a slap in the face to Cloak.  The hill was his hill.  The hill he would stand on the crest of to ponder things.  To think.  It was like some grand desecration.  Cloak tried to fight to keep his fury down, his fury at such an intrusion of something so personal to him.
 
"Whoa, Cloak, simmer down," Underseen said, a little apprehensive.
 
"That is my thinking hill," Cloak said, and the fury was evident in his voice, "and Malice is besmirching it with that weapon of destruction."
 
"It is not a weapon of destruction," Yarin argued.  "Machines don't kill people, people kill people."
 
"Really?  You're gonna start that now?" Gaz asked.
 
"'Machines don't kill peopel, people kill people'?" Underseen asked.  "That doesn't make any sense."
 
"So sue me." Yarin said, surly.
 
"Oh, shut up, the lot of you, and let's get rid of that thing!"
 
"Try it," Malice said, having clearly heard them with her Tasmanian devilish hearing, "and I will burn the comic that your precious little forum is sucked into."
 
"And just how," Cloak said, holding out his hand, and slowly crumpling it, "are you," suddenly, the B.I.R. started to crumble too, as if it was made entirely out of metal, "going to do that," suddenly Cloak punched his fist upwards and the machine exploded into shrapnel, which floated uncharacteristicall y down like leaves, "without that blasted machine?!"

"NO!" Yarin bawled, like a small child who had his toy taken away and destroyed.

"You fool!  You destroyed the instrument of your destruction!" Malice snarled as she Walked away.

"H . . . h . . . how could you?" Yarin said, with shuttering breaths.

"I did only what had to be done," Cloak said, with folded arms.  After a second's hesitation, he turned and walked away, while Yarin mourned the irreparable machine.

"Why'd he need us here?" Underseen asked.

"Some things, you'd have to accept never having an answer for, I guess." Gaz shrugged.

[Underseen]

The premise of the next book intrigues me.

[Cloak]

And you'll find out more about Elements Masters, I think, if I write it well, Underseen.  But this book needs to be finished first, and the last chapter needs to be posted.  I'm sorry that it came in a bit short . . . unless I misnumbered the chapters . . . it has happened before, but I usually caught the mistake before it happened.
 
Oh, and happy Valentine's Day.  Pity that this chapter won't have too much love in it.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Introspection and Hiatuses

"I can't believe he did it . . ." Yarin said, still in shock.
 
"Oh, stop your grousing.  It's been a hard day for all of us." Gaz scolded.
 
"And besides, it's not like you haven't already learned enough from the shrapnel that you hauled back here," Sakki, who was briefed along with the other RAFians, pointed out.  "You do know it's suffering from 'Humpty Dumpy' syndrome, right?"
 
"What?" Underseen asked.
 
"Humpty Dumpy syndrome -- you know the song, right?" Sakki said.  "'All the king's men and all the king's horses couldn't put Humpty Dumpy back together again'."
 
"Gotcha." Underseen nodded.
 
"It's not true!  I will rebuild it.  I will!"
 
"No," said a voice.  "You won't."
 
It was Phoenix, who looked a little weary.  Clearly, the mod meeting had ended.
 
"What?"
 
"The mods have agreed.  That device must never be rebuilt." Phoenix said, and the bags under his eyes were pronounced.  It was a lengthy one.  "It is too dangerous.  We were very fortunate and lucky that Cloak did what needed to be done."
 
"I disagree." Yarin said mulishly.
 
"Be that as it may," Phoenix said, who could could sense defiance in the Nyac, "that machine is not to be rebuilt.  Yarin, I implore you -- don't disregard this."

Yarin looked strongly defiant, but eventually relented, backed down.  He sighed, and said, "Okay, Phoenix."

"Where's Cloak, anyway?" Gaz asked.

"He turned in a request for a leave of absence." Phoenix said, holding a sheet of notebook paper, which Cloak penned his request.  "Which is odd, because it wasn't something that he had to do."

"Why did he request such a thing?"

"I wouldn't know where to guess, to be honest, Gaz."

Aquilai, who remained quiet and noncommital in the conversation, spoke up, "He probably just wants to clear his head.  And his heart."
 

***

Cloak withdrew from his other RAFians for a bit.  He needed some time alone to think.  He couldn't go to the hill he reserved for think or pondering.  The Elements Master felt that the area had been defiled by the presence of the B.I.R there.  He couldn't use it again for as his thinking spot.
 
He hoped the RAFians would understand his need to sort this out by himself for a while.  He went into the nearby forest, looking for a new spot in which he could mediate, could think.

[Cloak]

New book!  You should see the faces of people in Meridian when I mention I wrote twenty-plus books here . . .  Anyway, this might be a short introductory chapter. . . .

BOOK XXIV:
The First Master
CHAPTER ONE:
A Cozy Little Spot

Cloak sojourned deep into the forest.  The path could be confusing, but Cloak seemed to know where he was going, though that was far from the truth.  He just ambled along, sometimes shuffling along some heavily vegetation.  Cloak did not know what he was searching for, but feeling that he would know when came across it.
 
Eventually he came into a hidden glade, concealing a rather comfy looking grotto.  The grotto was unusually clean, although it held no scent.  As if it was lived in at one time, but then abandoned for whatever reason.  Cloak's ears perked up as he heard a a slight sound that startled him.  But he relaxed when he realized it was just a young white-tailed buck taking a drink in a nearby stream before prancing off.
 
This glade was perfect for his needs, but was it what he was searching for?  Cloak believed so.  He could meditate here in absolute safety.  He could look inward and find out more about himself, and not just what his mother told him to believe. . . .
 
He shook his head.  He had to get the emotional hooks that she left in him and wounded behind him.  He couldn't change the past, he must remember that little fact more often.
 
Cloak went into the grotto, sat, crossed his legs, and layed his tail next to his right leg with the tip twitching up and down in a most content way.  The he shut his eyes, and steadied his breaths.  In . . . out. . . .  In . . . out. . . . In . . . out. . .
 
He started to feel himself going back . . . back . . . back . . . as if he were in a timewarp. . . .
 

***

Cloak opened his eyes and became aware that he was no longer in the Prime Universe.  There was no Prime Universe.  He was back in the bioluminescent lands of the Nexus.  He walked about realizing that it wasn't like anything to which he was familiar.  The Oblivion Gate wasn't built yet, and the Oblivion Veil was floating in full view.  This made him nervous.
 
The Realm Walkers weren't wearing cloaks, but bioluminescent togas, though the clothing wasn't as brightly lit as the creatures wearing them.  And none of them could see him nor hear him nor sense him.  Cloak didn't recognize any of them either.

There could only be one reason for such glaring inconsistencies -- he was in the past.  But how?  Probably some sort of vision quest.  But why?

Hopefully that will be answered soon enough.