Memoirs of a RAFian

[Blazing Angel]

And Blaze fell onto the ground, curled into a ball, and began to suck his thumb while gently sobbing.

[Cloak]

Okay, Blaze, that was the LAST thing I expected you to say.  LOL'd so hard my eyes started to tear up . . . XD

Shortish chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
The Bloody Banned

Meanwhile, back at the forum, night had fallen.  The vampires were growing restless, feeding on the animals -- feeding, as in killing them, not turning them.  But soon they would run out of food.

Evil Gaz was not feeding, but looking off to the Bannedlands.  She was staring with such intensity, one would think the Bannedlands would suddenly burst into flame.

"Sigma Daughter," Madre had said, "you must go and turn the trolls.  Turn the -- (what do you call them?) -- the Banned.  Bend them to your will.  Bend them to MY will.  Go now.  Do not fail me."

And, with that, the vampire queen had left to return to her cemetary home.  It was only arriving at her home that Madre was realizing her control was beginning to slip.  She redoubled the control over Gaz, as well as Shanker and Nate -- who were already vampires before this* -- to makes sure that her slave master, the Realm Walker Malice, was appeased.  The Madre dreamt of slaying Malice, being free.

She was the queen, the mother of all vampires after all!  She should not be controlled.  She HATED being controlled.  SHE was the one that was supposed to do the controlling.  SHE was supposed to be the top dog, no one over her.  SHE was the one that was supposed to be calling the shots.  She couldn't believe the indignity that she was forced to suffer.

But she would get her revenge sooner than later.  She would soon have an armada of vampires.  An armada!  That stupid cloaked woman couldn't possibly fight off every vampire then.  She'd be destroyed!

Unfortunately, Madre de Vampyra was unaware that Malice knew of this plan, and was completely unconcerned.  It takes an awful lot to overpower a Realm Walker, much less one of her caliber.  And killing Realm Walkers at a Realm Dweller's hand is very much impossible.  Everyone knows that only a Realm Walker can kill a Realm Walker.

Meanwhile, Gaz, Shanker, Nate, Goom, Alic, and AniDragon took off, in bat form, to the Bannedlands to turn everyone there. . . .

-----
*Yes, I looked up the RAFSpecies registry.  And I'm well aware that this could change.

[Blazing Angel]

I don't know why but something about biting the banned feels...unclean.

[Cloak]

Actually, biting the trolls would be worse.  Shortish chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Stellar Visit

"Oh, Blaze, stop that*," Richard chided.  Blaze did immediately and stood up, removed his thumb and wiped off his cheeks.

"What if the signal didn't reach her?" Ash asked.  It had been three whole days since they sent the signal.  The general feeling around the refugee camp was that of foreboding.

"We can't know," Cloak said.  They were back in the clearing, all feeling very anxious and antsy.  "But we can only hope.  Hope that she did get it, and now she's on her way."

"But it's been three days! Seventy-two hours!  That's 4,320 minutes!  That's 259,200 seconds! --" Sakki began.

"Enough, Sakki, you made your point." Phoenix said.  "You bored or something?"

Sakki said nothing -- it was obvious that all of them were getting a little bored and apprehensive.  One of the reasons the came back to the clearing was because they all were getting cabin fever, and Estelore may not have been able to find them.

Cloak attempted to convince himself the signal, the message, the SOS was recieved by their resident sentient star.  He had sent the message at 40 light-years per second -- a feat, even by Realm Walker standards, and Cloak doubt very much that he would be able to such a thing again.  In any case, the array was a pile of scrap anyway.  They would have to find more parts to repair it, if at all possible.

And they could not really save RAF without Estelore.  They were severely outnumbered.  But they were well aware that they were not the only RAFians that were immune to the vampiric virus, they realized during the second day after the signal was sent.  Rocklobster, a ghost you know, Taco, Marvin, Aluminator, Morfowt, BaronConall, Emperor Goose, Oceanspray . . . they all lacked blood, or had inhospitable blood to the vampiric virus.  They were probably either incarcerated . . . or killed.

"Where is Esty?" Cloak muttered.

"Right behind you," a calm voice replied.

----
*

And Blaze fell onto the ground, curled into a ball, and began to suck his thumb while gently sobbing.

Yes, now it's in the story.

[Cloak]

'Nother chapter, methinks.  Gonna probably be a long one.  Or not, don't know.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
The Man with the Plan

"Esty!" the refugees exclaimed.  Esty was standing there in her yellow sundress-wearing avatar.  She wore a kindly smile with sparkling eyes -- although her eyes are alway sparkling.

"Why are you he--" she stopped midthought, and then added, "something's happened to RAF again, hasn't there?"

"Yes.  It is currently overrun with a slight vampire problem," Blaze said dully.

"Vampires?  You're not kidding?"

Then the refugees gave Estelore a full briefing on what had happened, with each one adding a little from what they saw.  And they added in the speculation at the capture of the non-turnable RAFians.

"Whoa . . . anyone got a plan how to stop it?"

"Yes," Cloak said, "now that you're here."

"And?"

"Well, it would seem to me that someone or something took control of Gaz, used her to turn all the RAFians." Cloak said.  "Some sort of vampire queen or vampire mother or something."

Blaze blinked a bit, and said, "Yeah, that makes sense.  Why didn't you say this before, Cloak?"

"I did," Cloak replied, then, with small smile, he added, "It's not my fault that you didn't hear it."

"Cloak, continue.  Please." Estelore said, business-like.

"Well, this mother or queen took control of Gaz's mind, being the mother or queen of vampires, she probably has that ability."

"Then why is this occuring just now?" Ash asked.

"Perhaps she's been in a deep sleep," Richard postulated, "a sleep so deep that she was oblvious to even time passing her by."

"I think that's the most plausible scenario," Sakki concurred.

"Yes," Demos added, "my kind has been known to periodically go into lulls.  Perhaps vampires work in a similar way."

"But then who woke her up?  That's a question here." Phoenix pointed out.

"That's a question we can answer later, though," Estelore countered.  "The plan, Cloak?"

"Well, Blaze, Demos, and I . . ."

And so on it went, until they had a rather coherent plan.

[Cloak]

Now, time to kick it into gear. . . . I probably should start finishing the chapter-planning for the next book as well . . . shortish chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
No Wrong Turn at Albuquerque

The refugees had decided that they'd be unable to truly get in by air or on the ground.  So, they decide the best way would be to Bugs Bunny their way into the forum.  Cloak, being the only terrakinectic, was instrumental in this endeavor.  Estelore was not with them.  She went off to find the mother vampire, the vampire queen.  They postulated that she'd be hanging out somewhere dark, dank, and . . . well, generally creepy.

The rest of the refugees knew what they had to do.  Cloak, Demos, and Blaze would create a distraction.  Phoenix, Richard, Sakki, and Ash would locate and free the unturnable RAFians to bolster their numbers.  Cloak had another idea to bolster their numbers that he didn't tell the others about.*  He didn't want to see their reaction, and, besides, he may not be able to put his, uh, side-plan to work.

They burst forth from their tunnel, right in the center of the forum.  But the sun was just setting, and as such the vampiric RAFians were not milling around yet.  The place was deserted.  It was a very ominious feeling.

"Go to the threads, guys," Blaze said, "we've got this."

Suddenly, they stumbled upon the two vampiric Time Lords.  Cloak was prepared, he prevented the other two from attacking.  Cloak stomped his foot, and four wooden stakes shot up from the ground.  They rose quickly to shoulder height, and Cloak made a sweeping movement with his right arm.  Then he performed the Hadouken movements, only leaving his fingers splayed at the end.  The stakes sped to the two vampiric Time Lords and impaled them both, one impaling each of their hearts -- Time Lords have two.  Aquilai and Aila fell.

"Cloak!" Blaze shouted.  "I thought we weren't gonna kill 'em!!"

"I didn't." Cloak said.

"But --"

Then that's when the lightshow began.  Then Aila, now a redhead with fair skin, resembling Jean Grey a bit stood.  Aquilai, now wearing a khaki trench coat, three-piece suit, fedora, with a blue scarf with the RAFian "R"s on both ends.  Both smiled and both were cured.

"What the hell?"

"They're Time Lords, Blaze." Cloak explained.  "They can regenerate twelve times.  This is the Second Aquilai and, I presume, the Second Aila."

---
*I am starting to wonder if I'm not taking a more Batman-ish role. . . .

[Aquilai]

Batman with almost omnipotent powers ^^

Woo! Back and in an imaginative outfit!

[Blazing Angel]

"I REALLY need to watch Dr. Who." Blaze said. "One of the only nerd hobbies I don't have is watching sci-fi."




Another great chapter. I'm going to spend my bring break watching stargate so that I can at least get the origins of "Kree"

[Cloak]

What I meant is how Batman seems to always know the weaknesses of his friends and such.  And the fact that he doesn't say it to them.  Like what I did in the Dark Phoenix book.

Sorry, the only Kree I'm familiar with are from the Marvel Comics universe.  Anyway, I'll post more chapters tomorrow.  I'm kinda tapped out now.

[Blazing Angel]

It seems to be a commonly used RAF slng. WHen I enquired about it, they said it was from Stargate. It can be used in sentences like "Oh kree." And "WHAT THE KREE!?"

[Noelle]

Aquilai is lookin' classy.   

[Cloak]

Okay, Blaze, I only watched a couple of episodes of that show.

Yes, Noelle, and Aquilai is gonna gain a new power with it -- but lose another one.

In the next chapter, in fact.  Oh, and aside from the next book, I'm gonna have to come up with some more ideas . . . okay, I do have one, but I need to figure out how to make it work . . .

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Aquilai's New Powers

But this reunion was sort-lived as more of the vampiric RAFians were waking up.  Apparently, Aquilai and Aila were early-risers this night.  But the regenerated Time Lords had inexplicably gain the ability to be immune to the vampirism.  It was a passive ability, true, but it was incrediably useful.  Cloak thought that must have been one facet that made them unique from other Time Lords, but he could have just as easily been mistaken.

"Remember not to hurt them," Cloak reminded, "they don't regenerate like Aquilai and Aila.  I think."

There was a brief sound of Blaze unsheathing his sword, Demos took on a fiery aura, Cloak shifted his shoulders slightly which was amplified through his cloak, Aila struck a Jean Grey pose, and Aquilai looked good-naturedly at the oncoming horde.

"We have to hope that Estelore has already found the vampire queen," Blaze muttered.

"Oh, c'mon," Demos chided, "this could be fun!"

"Demos -- you MUST NOT hurt them!!" Cloak scolded.

"Killjoy."

"Oh, go possess a cow."*

Cloak drove six RAFians into the ground like tent spikes, and saw upon closer inspection that they were Yarin, Goom, Faerie, Horse, Guy, and RYTX.  Cloak had a mad desire to apologize to them . . . but they weren't themselves at the moment.

Blaze took on the vampiric Parker, who had somehow a Generation 1 Megatron plasma cannon attached below his left arm and a Generation 1 Galvatron plasma cannon attached above his left arm.  Blaze was slashing his energy projectiles back at him, which he somehow managed to dodge everytime.

Demos saw several vampiric trolls . . . apparently they were sent here to strengthen the horde.  Demos smiled, as he knew these trolls were nothing more than cannon fodder. . . .

Alia somehow managed to defeat the RAFians through a mix of gymnastics and martial arts she inexplixably obtained mastery of.  Cloak saw this and, for some reason, was irresistibly reminded of Gwen Tennyson, only without the energy projectiles.

Aquilai, however, was calmly strolling through the horde, deftly dodging every attack without so much as a sweat.  Eventually, Aquilai engaged in battle and he did not waterbend.  He couldn't waterbend anymore.  Instead, he firebent at the vampiric RAFians and they backed away.  The flames were actually blue, and he lightningbent, but deliberately missing.  But it caused them to back off quite a ways.

This was just until Estelore killed the mother vampire.  If Estelore killed the mother vampire. . . .

----
*Reference to a chat schtick that Demos used to do . . . newer RAFians would probably be unfamiliar with it.

[Cloak]

Probably the last chapter today -- but don't hold me to that.  Geez . . . this chapter is writing itself . . .

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
The Star Meets the Mother

Estelore started to scour the globe for the vampire queen.  It was a daunting task, but if she could cross space in the time that she did, she most certainly can accomplish this.  Her determination and will at this task was as unbreakable as admantium.  But it did take her longer than she had anticipated.

But eventually she found her.  But it took her six and half hours to do so.  She could only hope that the others were faring well, she thought she would be able to feel it if any of them perished.  But she pushed those thoughts from her mind.  The vampire queen might want to use them against her.

She assumed her avatar, which wore the yellow sundress and had the sparkling eyes.  She walked into the cemetary, looking perfectly human, but only a fool or dolt would not feel her power, her strength, her resolve.

The queen was one of these such fools.  One would think being humbled repeatedly by Malice would have curbed that pesky arrogance streak of hers.  But a person's most fundamental nature is not so easily changed.

"Who dares to intrude upon my slumbering grounds?!?!" she roared with maximum outrage.

"I do," Esty said quietly.  Estelore's dress and wide-brimmed hat buffeted a bit in the chilly wind.  Estelore paid it no mind.  She was focused on what she saw as a very important duty.

"And who are you to come here?" the vampire queen never lost her haughtiness.

"Who are you to turn RAF into a brothel of vampires?  A crackhouse of hematophages?  How dare you defile the forum with such wickedness?" Esty countered, as she strode closer with a steady, confident gait.

"I can do what I like, human," the vampire queen snarled.  "You are nothing to me."

This is what happens when you only use visual cues to make your judgements.  You become a humonguous fool, a pitiful idiot, and a contemptable person.  Estelore, however, said nothing, but gave a pitying smile.

"Don't you smirk at me, human," the vampire queen spat.  "I should turn you, the horde could always be bolstered.  Now that wasteland next to your precious forum has been annexed to my land."

Estelore blinked, and her smile faded.  She knew immediately what this meant.  The vampiric plague had extended to the Bannedlands.  This could mean that Yorick, Aloth, and even Queen were turned as well.  Estelore was too slow to hide her shock.

"Now do realize who you're dealing with?" the vampire queen said smugly.  "Now do you understand that you are nothing?  Now do you understand I am invincible?"

"Pathetic." Estelore muttered.

"What was that?!"

"Pathetic," Estelore repeated.  "All this posturing of yours.  All this self-indulgent, ego-boosting garbage."

"You don't speak to me like that, human!!"

"That's another thing," Estelore said, and no one has ever heard Estelore this angry.  "I'm not a human.  I'm a sentient star."

[Blazing Angel]

Wpw, I'm fighting parker and not being brutally murdered.

[Cloak]

Yeah, well, Blaze just hope that sword of yours holds out.

[spoiler=SPOILERS!!! MAJOR HONKIN' SPOILERS concerning Blaze]You'll be getting a new sword anyway, between the end of this book and the beginning of the next, I think.  A very special sword . . .[/spoiler]

Chapters'll come tomorrow.  I'll probably finish up this book tomorrow.  But don't hold me to that.