Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Right. Okay, nearly done planning out Book CCXXX. There's gonna be an overall story arc between Book CCXXII to Book CCXXX.

I'll post another chapter soon, but first . . .

[spoiler=Click at your risk]Oh, you clicked. Are you sure about this? Turn back now, if you don't wanna be spoiled. [spoiler]Still? Really? Maybe I shouldn't say anything. [spoiler]My, you're persistent.[spoiler]Okay, okay, okay. Malice won't always be the primary antagonist. In fact, she -- er, never mind.[/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler]

[redtailedsaffa]

Cloaky, you troll, you.

[Cloak]

Heh heh heh.

Now a new, possibly short, chapter.

CHAPTER TEN:
Caught and Echoes

Aquilai struck out in the fringes of the city, but doggedly refused to give up. But, as he continued his relentless search for the Veils, Cloak's words buzzed around his head. He sook it, as if they were a nuisance. He would do what needed to be done, to give them what they had coming to them . . .

He was so driven, but saw that his scanner wasn't picking up anything. The smokescreen was working. They were staying put, whether it was in stolen bodied or their own scaly, cowardly hides was immaterial and irrelevant. He would find them . . . he wasn't sure just how he would accomplish that unless they dispossessed or possessed a body.

No matter, he would be able to set the scanner to scan for residual energy and scan each person he came across. He didn't care what they thought of it, but it was a slower way of tracking them, but it was a way.

After a few more minutes, Aquilai decided that it may be the only way to to those transcorporeal monsters. He was to about to set the scanner to narrow the subject scanning perimeters, when the device gave two screeching beeps. Aquilai consulted the screen to see it it was a duel dispossession.

"I've got you filth now," Aquilai muttered savagely. The device beeped again, signalling that they possessed again.

***

"An-- I mean, Gary, there's the Czarnian."

"Don't draw attention to us, Mary." Androvex said, stressfully. "Maybe we can sneak by --"

"You know I can hear you two, right?" Bolo said, with his Brad Garett timbre voice. "And I'll make a deal with you. You get out of those wimps and I'll go easy on you. Don't, and I'll just take them with us."

He reached out and grabbed Gary's arm, but Androvex leaped out of him, leaving the street boy to his fate. Gynecovyx followed suit. Bolo, having no interest in the kid, thew him aside roughly. The two Veils ran, not taking an bodies, but flat-out running, until they were out of his line of sight.

"Oh, I love it when they run," Bolo said, in his deep voice. "They actually think that they can get away."

The Veils hid inside a pair of newlyweds, and rode them a goood distance away, before abandoning.the lovey-dovey couple, and making their home him a pair of blonde, fraternal twins. They were safe.

For the moment.

[redtailedsaffa]

Caught between a rock and a hard place.

[Cloak]

Too right. Now, chances are I'll post after work. This book's halfway over, if I recollect correctly.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Bounties and Comeuppance

Aquilai stalked a nearby forest, close by the incident with the Czarnian. He knew he was close. His heart was rotting with murderous desire. His Mark flickered as if trying to remind him not to forget himself in his fervent desire for vengeance.

TWANG!

Aquilai tripped a crude tripwire, and obvious trap sprung, but Aquilai easily evaded it. He didn't have time for this! He could lose the trail! They might escape his vigilante justice! What moronic lackwit set up this stupid trap?!

"Gotcha!" a voice drawled.

Brad Garett?

"What's this? How'd you escape my trap, Veil?" Bolo said.

The Czarnian. Of course.

"Answer me!" he demanded, so unlike the more laidback nature of Lobo from the DC miultiverse realm. "Answer me, you pathetic little man! No one ignores the Main Man, Veil!"

Aquilai felt his rage lick at his innards with its acidic saliva. "You have the unmitigated gall to call me a Veil?!"

This show of rage seemed to take the Czarnian by surprise. Aquilai had never been one to show such overt fury and anger, usually opting to be calm and reasonable. Aquilai was allow his emotions to overrule thought and reason, for this wound was that deep.

"I'm a Time Lord, Czarnian." Aquilai said, struggling to resume his normal composure. "Do not confuse the two."

The two gazed at each other, sizing them up. Aquilai narrowed his eyes dangerously. "You're hunting the Veils."

"They're my bounty."

"Well, this is one bounty you won't be collecting, Czarnian." Aquilai said, deadly serious. "They're mine!"

"You're not hornin' in on the Main Man's bounty!"

"I don't want your accursed bounty," Aquilai said. "The Veils are due for some . . . comeuppance."

"Hey, pally, they're mine."

"Don't challenge me, Czarnian."

"Or you'll do what?"

There was a hardness to the gleam that appeared in Aquilai's eye. It was worrisome.

[Cloak]

*hums*

This is the fanfic that never ends.
Yes, it just goes on, and on, my friends.
Some people, started reading it,
Never knowing what it was,
And they'll continue reading it forever,

'Coz it's the fanfic that never ends.
Yes, it just goes on, and on, my friends.
Some people, started reading it,
Never knowing what it was,
And they'll continue reading it forever,

Just because this is the fanfic that never ends. . . .

Sorry, just had to get that out of my system. 'Nother chapter soon.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Dark Techniques, Fearful Abandon

"That should do," Androvex said. He rolled his new body's shoulders, still trying to adjust to this new, heavier build. "We should be safe now."

"That was scary, Don." Gynecovyx said, keeping the pretense rather poorly. Just using their hosts' names was not a sufficient enough facade to dupe everyone, they had to mimic behavior as well. Androvex was guilty of this logical discrepancy as well.

"True, Yvonne." Androvex said, brushing Don's sweat-matted hair out his face. "But it's over now."

He looked around as Gynecovyx said, "This heart won't stop pounding."

Another fallacy, saying "this heart" instead of "my heart".

"Don't fret, sister," Androvex said, finally adopting some of Don's mannerisms and turns of phrase. But the way he drummed his chest made it obvious that he was a possessing creature who had taken the teen's body for his own. "We'll be safe in here."

There was no buildings around, just trees and a dirt road. He was obviously referring to the twins and their bodies. It was a very disconcerting thing to see, had there been any witnesses. And there was just the one. . . .

"What do we do about the Czarnian?" Gynecovyx whispered, finally realizing that they could be overheard. Nonetheless, her -- that is to say, Yvonne's voice -- could be heard clearly on the wind. "He knows we're on Earth. We're marooned here, and he's here too. He'll eventually catch up to us, no matter where or who we are."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about the Czarnian for some time," called a voice. From the shadows, Aquilai appeared. "I dealt with him already, so he wouldn't get in my way."

***

Back where the two were about to clash, Aquilai used what could be considered the airbending equivalent to bloodbending in the dark nature of the techniques. Cloak would have never conceived it.

Aquilai, allowing himself to be consumed with vengeance, airbent the air from the Czarnian's lungs. It was a technique that could have killed a normal human, but Czarians apparently have a very unique respiratory system as they can apparently survive, unaided, in space like Ectonurites and Transyls. Aquilai did not kill Bolo, but managed to render him unconscious.

***

"Now, it's time . . . to pay. . . . To pay for what you've done!" Aquilai snarled, walking menacingly.

"What we have . . .  what are you talking about?" Androvex said, in a valiant attempt to feign ignorance. "You've got the wrong people."

"Yeah, you're making no sense." Gynecovyx added, hoping to solidify and validate the ruse.

Aquilai narrowed his eyes. "Drop the charade, Veils. Yes, I know what you are. The Czarnian isn't the only one with a scanner. My name is Aquilai."

It was with disturbing quickness that the Veil dropped the pretext, the pretense, and ditched the twins' bodies. There was flurry of movement and Aquilai managed to capture Gynecovyx while Androvex escaped.

[redtailedsaffa]

That little tune. I love it.

This book is picking up the pace alright. Can't wait to see what happens next!

[Cloak]

Gonna post another chapter, but I'm gonna hang out with a friend for a few hours. So I post it afterward.

[redtailedsaffa]

Nailbiting stuff!

[Cloak]

Oh, it'll get more intense. Uh, I think.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Walkers of Time and Reality

"Time for you to reap what you sowed," Aquilai snarled savagely. He had lost himself to his rage, to his vengeance. Aquilai started to airbend until --

"Aquilai, stop!" came a piercing roar.

Aquilai found himself forcibly lifted away from Gyneconyx, and he was bestial in being removed, fearing her escape. He did not know that she was restricted from some old tylee chains Cloak had hoarded away. He was prepared to use them on Malice, when the time came. His plan was tto then tote her to the Council in the Nexus -- which has probably changed Councilors by now -- to prove to them that Malice is indeed still alive. This was only a recent acquisition of the Elements Master.

This was more essential. Far more essential than that. He had to be sure that Aquilai wouldn't lose himself to his fury. Cloak knew -- he had been in Aquilai's place before, but he alway had his aunt, his sister Faith, his grandfather Sage, his fellow RAFians, and even innocent little Shadow . . . if not mostly Shadow, but by sheer virtue of simply being herself . . . if not for they, Cloak could have been . . . he didn't want to think about it.

"LEMME GO!! LEMME GO!!! SHE'S GETTING AWAY!! SHE CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO ESCAPE!!" Aquilai screamed, not even sounding like himself. He was becoming hysterical with his murderous desire.

"GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF, AQUILAI" Cloak roared, drowning out the deranged rant. A feat in and of itself. "Get control over your emotions, don't let them conquer you, don't let them take you over. You've lost control, Time Lord."

"You don't know that!"

He wasn't yelling so loud anymore. They were making progress.

"Don't I?" Cloak said, tone dangerously quiet. "Aquilai, think about this rationally. You know the nature of my powers, how inexorably linked they are to my emotional state. Don't you think that I've ever been envious of the average Walker, able to let loose without fear of causing extensive property damage?"

Cloak took a deep breath, then continued to monologue.

"But this isn't about me, it's about you. Whatever these Veils did to you, whoever they took from you, killing them would be a temporary fill of the void left. Vengeance is like a perverse intermingling of acid and fire, it does nothing -- NOTHING -- but hurt."

After a few moments, Aquilai righted himself, and he had regained his normal aloof composure. "I . . . I'm sorry, Cloak."

It was genuine.

"I don't know why I just lost it like that I . . ."

Cloak held up his hand, "I know. You know my past. I felt it too."

"How . . . how can we make them face justice?"

"Ever wonder who set that bounty?" Cloak said. "The intergalactic community is seeking reparations from them as well."

"But outside those chains," Aquilai said, "she'd escape."

"We'll get AniDragon to bind that ability," Cloak said, as the two proceeded to the RAF.

"But all Veils have that ability," Aquilai said, "will she be able to?"

"We'll find out." Cloak shrugged.

"And there's still one more. Andovex."

[Cloak]

New chapter. Seven more chapters until the end of this book, including this one, of course.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Infiltration Backfires

Androvex seemed to notice Gynecovyx's conspicuous absence about three-quarters of an hour after he had left her behind. He was at a loss of what to do, as he looked at his hands. Whatever he planned, he wouldn't be able to do it looking like a Veil. He spied an elderly gentlement preparing to sit down and feed the birds.

Within seconds, Androvex was wearing the old man. He regretted it nearly immediately when he discovered how itchy and prone to temperature discomfort the old man happened to be. He would not be dallying inside this human. But he remained.long enough, feeding the birds, so he could come up with a plan to rescue Gynecovyx. A more ruthless part of him considered cutting his losses, and leaving her to the mercy of the RAFians. He still had the Czarnian to deal with as well.

No. No, that wouldn't do. Gynecovyx was his friend, his mate. He couldn't abandon her. He had to save her from the RAFians and their human pets. Then a notion came to him. And it could work.

He spied a teenager skateboarding in this park. This teen had brown hair and eyes, a slight figure, and an unusually blank face. He wore worn and ripped jeans, a black helmet with colbalt blue trim, knee and elbow.pads od the same coloring, black fingerless leather gloves, and a black shirt with "Skatin' Satan" in white, chalk-like print. Androvex eyed with obvious and inappropriate looks. When the boy was close enough, he leaped from the elderly gentlemen and into the boy, resisting whipping his tongue from the boy mouth. He didn't need to give himself away so soon.

Now, to see if his plan could follow through.

***

Time for a plan B, then. He was going to see if he could trick the RAFians into letting him join up, then ditch the skateboarder and find Gynecovyx. Or else search, whilst pretending to be the boy. But it was no good.

Aquilai had taken to scanning all possible recruits with that blasted, infernal scanner of his. So, he wasn't going to get inside that way. And he was sure that he would have to get inside, but not by force. No, subterfuge and secrecy was the only way. It wasn't going to be easy, as the RAFians had proven that they are not easily decieved.

He was back in the park, indulging the boy's need to board. He happened to pass a playground were a lone child in a navy blue winter jacket with a hood a royal purple color. He stopped the board, and couldn't help but smile. What he needed, really, was a Trojan horse. . . .

He watched and saw the boy's mother, sister, aunt, nanny, whatever was reading a fashion magazine and not really paying attention to the boy as he played on the jungle gym. An opportunity too perfect to pass up.

***

"What's wrong, little man?" Saffa was saying gently to the crying boy, whose guardian seemed to be nowhere around. She was attempting to console him, though their was something like restraint in her movements and gestures.

"N-nothin'." he sniffled, as an exceedingly sinister smile warped his face, though his body still shook as if upset. "Nuttin'. NOW."

Androvex leaped from the boy and attempted to get into Saffa -- only to have her Mark blast him away. The RAFian expressed no surprise at this, as if she expected it.

"Wha . . ." Andovex said woozily.

"Yeah, the Mark of a RAFian makes us possession-proof," Saffa said, bored and unimpressed.

Androvex stumbled back to his.feet, to find another host disguise. He turned only to find himself nose-to-nose with a Psychlopterran. Abby. Androvex could only choke out, "Clever girl," before falling under the hypnotic sway of Abby's Psychlopterran morph.

[redtailedsaffa]

*flexes fingers* Working on those reflexes helped.

[Cloak]

Yeah.

Uh, no new chapters today. My Kindle Fire has decided not to turn on. I haven't had the damn thing for a month, and there were 4 unread books on it.

It's my own fault. Shouldn't've gone to those damn wikia sites.

Strike that! And you have Asmo to thank!

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Claims and Jumpers

The Veils were trussed up and hanging from a from a beached-white yew tree. They struggled to escape their bindings, of course. But the chains could bind Olympians, Realm Walkers, Azguardians, Incorporeals*, and most, if not all, Celestial beings. What hope could a mere Veil hope to stand up against such a rare and powerful metal. Only Hephaestus himself could possibly smelt such chains.

"Let us go!" Gynecovyx whined. "We've done nothing wrong!"

"You have a very distorted definition of 'wrong' then, Veil." Aquilai said, plainly unable to keep the cold contempt from his voice. "I still wouldn't argue against your destruction."

Androvex, however, was not pleading and whining for his freedom. He was foolishly and pointless attempting to cleverly coercing newbies over, ones that had not yet bore the Mark, to attempt to possess them. Each attempt was met with abject failure of course, but he kept trying.

"I would have thought it obvious by now," Gaz said, filing her nails, preparing to paint them as only Gaz does. She had he back to the Veils, who a prudent distance away but well within earshot. Laserbeak perched on the back of her beach chair, eyeing the two Veils wearily. Gaz continued, "Those chains can hold gods. Yet you honestly think you're powerful enough to free yourself from them? That is being optimistic beyond reason."

"Then what do you intend to do with us, RAFian?" Androvex snarled.

"Oh," Gaz replied blithely, fangs gleaming as if she was in a vampire commercial for suntan lotion, beginning to paint her fingernails as she sat in the dappled light of the partial sun, "it's not up to me what happens to you."

She examined the paint on her index fingernail before continuing, "Besides, it is not you're faultless. You killed no less than three people on Earth alone."

"We are Veils!" Gynecovyx said with speciesist vainglory in her voice. "All other species are merely living costumes, to tried on and worn, then tossed aside when we're done with them."

"Humans are not lesser species," Gaz said, examining a ring fingernail.

"Hypocrite." Androvex spat. "I know of the feeding habits of Earth vampires. You feed on human blood."

Gaz shrugged. "That is a gross generalization. There are many different kinds of vampires, Veils. Some are exceedingly photosensitive, I'm not."

The Veils looked like they were about to argue the point, when a spluttering sound like a car with need of a new muffler sounded throughout RAF. It appeared as if Bolo's bike needed work, and Bolo himself looked rather roughed up. Clearly Aquilai usually battles with restraint, but not with the Czarnian.

"I've come for . . ." he coughed roughly. But he seemed to be getting better, the wheeziness in his voice was lessening with each word. "I came for . . . for my bounty."

---
*Referring to the Egyptian pantheon as written by Rick Riordan.

[Cloak]

Okay. Just one more tonight.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Unreasonable Contention

"Hand them over," Bolo said, calling the RAFians a word that Cloak didn't hear clearly enough to decipher. Bolo was getting hostile at the unintimidated hesitation they showed. "NOW!"

"Look, bub," Cloak said, taking offense at the insolence of the Czarnian, "what the Veil makes you think you can waltz in here and make demands? We don't serve you. We don't fear you."

He pointed a rather unnecessarily large gun in Cloak's face. A metal gun. Cloak's heavy-lidded look didn't change at all at this. Bolo's look of preliminary triumph diminished somewhat, but reappeared as he ****ed his gun.

"Oh, that's right," Blaze murmured quite audibly as he snapped his fingers. "This is they guy barred from Heaven."

Demos looked mildly surprised, as he realized something too. "He's also barred and forbidden in Hell."

"Geez," Underseen said, having heard both. "Why?"

"Too violent," both said, in unison.

"You're kidding," Helen said, in disbelief. Silence met these words. "Oooookay. Not kidding."

Cloak ignored this exchange, as he sighed heavily. "Really, Czarnian? You eliminate your own species in some sort of genocidal act, and yet you're stupid enough to point a metal gun at me?"

"What's your point?" he said gravelly.

"You have no idea what I'm capable of?" Cloak said, with comical disbelief. "Do you know what any RAFian can do?"

"Get to the point. Fast."

Cloak actually chuckled at this. Then Bolo's gun warped and shattered into twisted metal pieces tha littered the ground, the flew up and merged together in a hunk of misshapen metal. Bolo's look was priceless.

"Huh," Cloak said, in an almost disinterested way. "I was going for a brick of metal. Eh, I've never tried to artistically use the Metal element, anyway. Earth has always been the easiest."

Then he addressed the Czarnian, "Anyway, Bolo, don't waste time -- ours and yours -- with threats that, ultimately, you can't follow through on. If you haven't already guessed, I'm master of the Metal element. And that's just one of the elements I've mastered."

Then he gestured the other RAFians.

"And I'm naught but one RAFian." Cloak said, driving his point home. "So, now that we've opened hostilities this early, do you still think you can make demands from us using nothing but brute force and violence."

[Gaz]

That reminds me...it's about time for a new nail theme.

Good chapters!