Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Well, I took a much-needed nap, and here's the eighth chapter today.

CHAPTER THREE:
Goin' Wild!

Wild watched impassively and impatiently as Malice completed her calculations, seemingly satisfied by them.

"Itellsya, if you would step into the alcove, please." Malice said with faux politeness covering the order.

Itellsya hesitated for a moment, then complied, saying, "Y-yes, M-Mistress. As y-you w-wish."

Malice made a note to get rid of that ridiculous stutter, and added to the equation. With a few keystrokes the machine glowed to life, humming in a most deceptively comforting way.

Itellsya was nervous, not knowing what would happen as the BWTM-2 drive began to revolve downward, while remaining static and stationary. Energy was building within the drive.

Wild was getting antsy seeing this. Something was happening, and something was happening now. Where on Earth was Parker?! This what he calked being close by?!

"I can't wait any longer," Wild muttered mutinously, "I gotta stop this. I have to intervene."

Wild launched himself from his hiding place -- ironically the same cell he was trapped in three days prior. He was in his wereferret form, and his call was a mixture of cute and frightening. He ran to the machine on all fours, snarling an spitting.

"The wereferret." Malice said, clearly unimpressed. "Really? They send the wereferret to stop me." She scoffed vulgarly. "What a joke."

And, with that, Malice ignored Wild, believeing him not to be much of a threat. Energy continued to build up in the drive, but then a fraction struck Itellsya, causing him to lose his stutter and affording him rudimentary telekinesis.

But then Wild charged the machine, absorbing the rest of energy.

Then Parker arrived on the scene, witnessing the light show. And Wild's charge.

Wild seemed to absorb too much -- he seemed to explode into nothingness, leaving a gaping hole into the exterior wall, revealing the inky black night.

The machine and drive were totaled. Malice was disappointed, because, as far as she was concerned, the drive was a miserable failure. She and Itellsya left.

Parker was in shock. In a few moments time, he left and headed to RAF.

[Cloak]

Let's try this again (lost the first draft of Chapter 4, so I have to rewrite it ), and hopefully my neighbor will take hint that his music is too loud (probably not, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed). *rubs temples*

EDIT: Please forgive my language but this DAMN "Error 500" bull is getting REALLY FRICKIN' ANNOYING!! One more time, and this'll be a short chapter. I may modify it into being longer.

CHAPTER FOUR:
Gone Wild

Parker plodded slowly back to RAF. He had to listen to Tyr and go down the wrong corridor, which led to a blocked off corridor. That's what took him so long to get to Wild. Sure, he could have simply blasted or hacked his way through, but that would have alerted Malice and Itellsya of their presence, as well as very well as taking too long. The more prudent action was to backtrack.

But he still arrived too late.

And this was the first active duty -- first in-field duty -- Wild had taken in a while. Then he . . . he gets . . . killed.

Richard and Parker suspected that Malice may not have evacuated the prison as a lair. Simply because that would be the layman's first thought. So, teams of two RAFians were to watch the prison in shifts.

Parker's guilt weighed on him more than his armor. Parker was very close to tears himself, fir he knew it was his fault, his decision, that costed Wild so dearly.

Blue greeted him at the threshold of the forum. "Parker! You're back. Demos and I are ready to relieve you. Wh-where's Wild?"

"There was an accident with Malice's machine," Parker said, producing a bloody claw and a scruff of bloody fur. "Wild . . . he didn't make it."

"We must report this to the mods immediately." Blue declared at once.

***

An assembly was called to inform and brief the RAFians. A memorial was to be set the next day.

Cloak, Gaz, and AniDragon weren't so sure of the legitimacy of his death. Oh, sure, Parker was sincere, but that didn't mean that he wasn't mistaken.

[theyoungphoenix]

Interesting. Shall wait for you to post more!

[Cloak]

Well, I tried to work on Chapter 5, but it decided to do the "start-a-topic-instead-of-preview" crap-olla again. And I'm too tired to fight it right now.

EDIT: Let's try this one more time.

CHAPTER FIVE:
The Backwoods Beast

Several days later, after Wild's memorial, there were rumors, myths, and legends in the backwoods around the prison. They called the mustelid cryptid the Backwoods Beast. It was said it was as high at the shoulder as a full-grown male grizzly and about as long as a bus. It was said to have course black fur, golden-amber eyes, and strong claws and teeth.

Fortunarely, the place was fairly remote, so the encounters were mercifully brief and far in-between. But it soon reached the status of bigfoot, yeti, and Nessie.

It garnered enough attention that "Destination Truth" did an investigation, and found some conclusive proof.

***

Malice and Itellsya fell back to a three-bedroom shack that had part of the floor separated from the wall on the south side with a broken window on the self-same wall. One of the smaller bedrooms' inner walls had what appeared to be black mold, with a hole opened to the sky and the conjoining room had a leaky ceiling, and the master bedroom was drafty and a rather large black rat snake was taking up residence in the bathtub in the master bathroom. Rats infested the walls and couch's armrests. The place where there used to be a sliding glass door was opened, glassless and exposed.

Malice was sitting on an old moth-eaten, moldy, queen-sized bed.

"Mistress, should we recreate the BWTM-2 drive?" Itellsya asked, standing in the absolute mess of this hovel.

"What would the point be?" Malice said empirically, "It didn't work."

"It boosted my psychometry and gave me telekinesis," Itellsya pointed out.

"It doesn't matter, anyway," Malice said. "That scheme is done. Time to move on to something a bit more substantial."

Suddenly, there was a roar. A roar of rage that shook the shack. The the shack trembled violently. Something was outside, wanting to get in. wanting blood.

"What the blood Veil is that?" Malice demanded.

"The Backwoods Beast!" Itellsya yelped.

"Don't be a fool," Malice snarled, "the Backwoods Beast is a myth!"

Golden-amber eyes peered in the permently fogged up glass. It ignored the neglected pool that had transformed into an artificial swamp.

[Cloak]

Okay, here's the updated list.

I finished planning out the chapters of Book 164 ("Moody"), and haven't yet started on the chapters of Book 165 ("Bound Together"). I also added a new book idea -- Book 169 ("You Wish!"), which is intended to be a loose parody of that DuckTales movie, with some "Aladdin" references thrown in.

• 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 3XXX.  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.

• Book CXLI: Buggy Afternoon

A Bug is after Parker's blood, to "avenge" their brother slain by the SPARTAN.

• Book CXLII: Cloak's Nightmare

Cloak has an exceedingly vivid nightmare of the Great RAFian Purge. . . .

• Book CXLIII: Cloak and the Olympians

Cloak confronts and defies the Olympians.

• Book CXLIV: Down to Earth

The RAFians have gravity-related problems.

• Book CXLV: Hittin' the Dino-Sauce

The RAFians learn the dangers of Dino-Sauce.

• Book CXLVI: Blood Feud

Shanker's past comes into light. . . .

• Book CXLVII: She's Back! A Dino Story

Pretty much a shameless parody of "We're Back! A Dinosaur Story".

• Book CXLVIII: A Journey into Her Past

Delving into Noelle's pre-RAFian life and her relationship with Ardnalil-Shicom-Maar.

• Book CXLIX: Mortality and Morality

The RAFians face some rather conceited Leviathons.

• Book CL: Utter Pandemonium

Cloak, Gaz, Saffa, Underseen, and Hunter investigate odd goings-on at a theme park island named "Haunted Island".

• Book CLI: A Reality Rewrite

Cloak, Faerie, Broken, and Broken's protege discover a magical, reality-altering typewriter.  Cloak, being a Realm Walker and the other three, being magical, are immune to its rewrites of reality.

• Book CLII: The Coming of Galacticron

The RAFians must save Earth from Galacticron.

• Book CLIII: Theft of Intellectual Property

The RAFians must contend with Brainiac.

• Book CLIV: The Contingency

The RAFians must battle the Talos Project and their living weapon -- Weapon XLIX.

• Book CLV: Muppet, Muppet Man

Parker and Gaz are turned into Muppets. ()

• Book CLVI: Larval Ambush

The RAFians must deal with insectoid creatures who are parasitoids with humans.

• Book CLVII: As the World Doesn't Turn

The RAFians must stop a group of feline aliens from stopping the world from rotating.

• Book CLVIII: Princess Pearls

A few girls of RAf discover the Princess Pearls.

• Book CLVIX: Attack of the Killer Produce

The RAfians must deal and cope with killer produce.

• Book CLX: Moonscarred Menace

The RAfians investigate mysterious disappearances on Moonscar Island.

• Book CLXI: League of Assassins

The League of Assassins set a number of Assassins after Blue.

• Book CLXII: Dark RAFians

The RAFians come up against an evil team modeled after them, attempting to usurp their postions.

• Book CLXIII: Danger Rising

The RAFians' training sim gains sentience.

• Book CLXIV: Moody

Gaz and Saffa accidentally have Moodulators attached to them.

• Book CLXV: Bound Together

Some RAFians get molecularly stuck together.

• Book CLXVI: The Legion of RAFians

The 31^st century RAFians are being picked off and controlled by a group calling themselves the Fantastic Fatalities. May be an out-of-continuity book.

• Book CLXVII: Monster Mash

A deranged Yeerk tries to merge its DNA with a Geonosian Brain Worm to rid itself of its Kadronna dependency.

• Book CLXVIII: Jumping to Conclusions

A xenophobic, reliously-zealous, former government man confuses Cloak with a "Jumper".

• *Book CLXIX: You Wish!

An ancient lamp is uncovered, and an ancient warlock seeks it out, while RAF gets caught in the middle.

[Cloak]

First chapter today. I'll try to post more, but don't bank on more than five today.  Might happen, might not.
 
Shortish chapter.
 

CHAPTER SIX:
The Broadcast and Suspicions

Gaz, AniDragon, and Cloak had sat down to watch "Destination Truth" -- a special episode were they went after the Backwoods Beast. They had some rather conclusive proof -- fresh footprints (all those could be put down by skeptics as enlarged ferret footprint plates used), fur, picture and video.
 
Cloak notice something in the video that his feline eyes picked up easier than the other two. They paused it, and Cloak scrolled it back slowly.
 
"Look there!" he said. It was barely in the footage save for a frame or two.
 
"What is it?" AniDragon asked.
 
"Look at its paw," Cloak said.
 
"Is that . . . ?" Gaz said.
 
"No way," AniDragon gasped.
 
"The Mark of a RAFian," Cloak said.
 
"Then," Gaz said, "then that means . . ."
 
"Wild is still alive." AniDragon finished, "but not quite himself. . . ."
 

***

Malice and Itellsya were still in the shack, which was still shaking violently.
 
"Mistress," Itellsya said, "I cannot keep this hovel from caving in!"
 
"Oh, fine," Malice said. "This travesty of dwelling is better kindling, anyway."
 
With that the house crashed into a mess of wood, metal, drywall, and roofing singles.
 
The two fled as the Backwood Beast -- as Wild searched the remains of the horrid place for the two.

[Cloak]

Another chapter.
 

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Discussions and Banned News

"Wild's alive," Gaz said, unable to take the awed tone from her voice.  "But how did he survive that blast Parker described?"
 
"Yeah, Parker said he exploded." AniDragon added.
 
"Maybe what Parker saw wasn't what he thought he saw," Cloak said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
 
"How do you mean?" AniDragon asked.
 
"Well, 'Beast Wars' here is one of those movie things here that your kind are so fond of, right?" Cloak said, again, reinforcing the idea that television and movies were a foreign concept to Realm Walkers. After all, if you could just, quite literally, go to the universe directly, and maybe even directly interact with the characters, what would the lure of just watching it on a moving-picture-box be?
 
"It was a television show, yeah," Gaz said.
 
"If I'm not mistaken," Cloak said, "there were two episodes, if my understanding is correct, called 'Feral Scream'?"
 
Dawning comprehension lit up the faces of the two girls.
 
"Is he in some sort of stasis-lock?" AniDragon asked. "Stuck in wereferret form?"
 
"Probably," Gaz concurred, as Cloak silently nodded his agreement.
 

***

But, alas, Cloak, Gaz, and AniDragon were not the only ones to notice Wild's television debut. It was seen by some undercover Knights, who didn't think anything of it, and dismissed it as another hoax. But the Banned -- Queen, Yorick, and Aloth -- had far more experience with RAFians than the Knights did.

They saw straight off that it was Wild, wild and feral. Queen soon, somehow, became convinced that they could coerce him to join them and enable them to take over the forum. It was a delusional plan, but she wasn't corrected. Yorick was indifferent and Aloth was scared of her.

Both knew the plan was pointless and would fare about as well as any of Team Rocket's pre-Unova plots. . . .

[redtailedsaffa]

This Queen never gives up, eh? You gotta give her credit for perseverance.

[Cloak]

Another chapter, I think. I've realized I've painted the Banned as a rather extreme form of Team Rocket, in a way. . . .

Saffa, you have no idea.  And she's not even a fictional character. . . .
 

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Grandiose Plans and a Knight to Remember

Queen, with the reluctant (and forced) help of Aloth and Yorick, Queen contrived and conceived a grand plan -- that had no basis in reality. When the two coerced Banned attempted to point this out, she boxed them around the ears violently. The two realized that directness with Queen was not always the best route to go.
 
With the two indirectly stabilizing her plan, by bringing it back down to Earth, and made it more realistic, all the while stroking her ego. It was rather more exhausting that it would initially have appeared.
 

***

The trio of RAFians -- Cloak, AniDragon, and Gaz -- struck out to go back to the prison.  The mods let them go, pitying them, but not really believing their limited proof.  Cloak had to concede that it was dubious, and easily-explained away. But the trio felt absolute conviction in this belief, but parted peacefully from the mods, who gave their blissing, even though they felt it was a foolhardy mission.
 
Of course, though, it wouldn't be so easy.
 
They met up with a contingent of Knights, who were lead by a slight figure. A human female. All fifteen were clad in white clothing with blood-red highlights and silver metal armor, whose helmets hid their faces. Cloak noticed this note of cowardice from a majority of bigots. They were willing to commit these unspeakable acts, but they weren't willing when their faces. Afraid of being unmasked as a racist, a speciesist, or the like.
 
Shameful. Utterly, utterly shameful.
 
At least Cloak had a reason to wear his cloak -- to keep the Realm intact -- unlike these Knights, who don't have a justifiable reason to wear their armor. Xenophobia and speciesism are not viable or justified reasons for such actions. Cloak despised such things -- and Realm Walkers were no more immune to bigotry than Andalites or humans were. No sentient, sapient species is immune. Not one.
 
"Stop right there, aliens," came the voice of the leader. Cloak was right, she was female. "You haven't any right to be here. You must vacate this planet at once."
 
"Okay, first off," Gaz said, heatedly, "I'm not an alien. I was born right here, on good ol' Earth."
 
"Silence, undead filth," the woman said.

"You don't order me around," Gaz said, immediately riled. "You and your cronies are the ones outside your rights here."

"Earth is human territory," she said, as if she was reading off a list that she devotedly memorized, "all beings and creatures whose species were not created upon this planet are unwelcome and should leave immediately if they don't want force to be used."

"It's not up to you or any secret militia to determine that!" AniDragon bursted, utterly outraged. Odd, for a Pemalite. Cloak was furious, too, but he was too used to tempering his emotions, due to the nature of his powers.

"Leave now, or force will be taken," the woman said -- and it was then that Cloak recognized her voice. She was Roseanne Thorne of the ??PD. It was disheartening, knowing there were Knights on the police force, but bigoted hatred was filters into every possibly carreer, apparently.

"This is your final warning," Roseanne Thorne said.

"Oh, shut it, Thorne," Cloak said, and it was clear from her body language that she didn't expect Cloak to be able to identify her. "But this explains why there was so much shoddy police work at scenes of alien deaths. Why charges weren't brought up against several Knights. You and some of your 'friends from the country club' went into law enforcement and law firms, I suppose?"

Roseanne remained silent -- in shock, Cloak presumed. But gathered herself soon enough, and said, "You have five minutes --"

"Oh, enough of this," Cloak said, as he snapped his fingers and all fifteen and Thorne were forced to the ground ferrokinetically. Cloak spoke over his shoulder in a falsely bright way, "Oh, and, Rosie, did you honestly think coming here and confronting a Master of Metal in full Knight regalia, in full metal Knight armor, was a good idea?"

With that the trio left, and only when they were a fair distance away, did Cloak relax his hold over their armor. They retreated, having suffered a great humilation this day.

[redtailedsaffa]

Oh, yeah, just remembered how much I hate these guys.

[Cloak]

Yeah, they're pretty detestable -- but then again, so is the KKK, the Westboro Baptist Church, etc.

Anyway, that may very well be the last chapter today. I'm feeling tapped out right now.

[Underseen]

I still don't why a human being would join a cult like that.

[Cloak]

Why would anyone join the KKK?

Why would anyone join the Westboro Baptist Church?

People of such hatred congregate together and this what you get -- organized hatred.

Anyway, come Monday, the speed I come out with these chapters will slower. Just a warning -- I have a great deal to do next week.

[theyoungphoenix]

So, I just looked at you're list of stories you have planned... And I kinda want to see how you do book CII. You are the second person that I know of that actually has any idea what that is. Do you read a lot?

[Cloak]

Yes, I usually do, Abby. Heck, I've reread books 5+ times before.

Although I have only read three books of the series, I'd easily read more if I could get my hands on them. I actually first came upon them from an excerpt in an English book in grade school -- and I've searched for the books that it came from ever since, only discovering them relatively recently.

And we'll probably go back to the minimum-one-chapter-a-day deal, unless something comes up.

CHAPTER NINE:
The Beast From The East

"Is it done yet?!" Queen demanded.

"Just a little more patience --"

"Don't you scold me, Yorick!"

Yorick sighed, and said, rather tonelessly, "Right you are."

They were in the middle of building a rather simple metal-barred cage.

Queen had basically left the two to do all the work for her while she "supervised". If it succeeded, she'd take the credit without a single thought. Though if it failed -- and that was a very real and distinct possibility -- she would shove the blame upon the other two, acknowledging no fault of her own.

Really, if they didn't hate each other so much, Queen and Malice would be kindred spirits.

***

"Ooh, the audacity those Knights have," Gaz stewed and vented.

"No sentient, sapient species is immune from bigotry," Cloak said, as they walked, the outskirts of the old abandoned prison to their left and the woods to their right.

"Even Realm Walkers?" AniDragon asked.

Cloak stopped suddenly, and tirned his gaze slowly toward her. "Have you ever met Malice?"

"She took in Itellsya," AniDragon said.

"That doesn't mean she sees him as an equal," Cloak said as the trio began to walk again. "She still carries the old Walker prejudice. Walkers very well may be oldest species in existance, but that does not make us any better than any of the younger species."

Cloak frowned a bit at how conceited that sounded. But, before he could try to rectify this, he "saw" something with Earthsight, hearing a distant rumbling, and smell that they were downwind of something vaguely ursine and vaguely mustelid.

"Get down!" Cloak cried.

AniDragon managed to comply, but both Cloak and Gaz misinterpreted how fast the beast's traveling speed was. It launched itself from the woods directly at Gaz, who screamed and instinctly went mist mode. She dissipated and reconstituted on Cloak's other side.

It was not so much a wereferret but a bearferret. Cloak easily spied the mark on its right front paw.

"Wild," he said.