Memoirs of a RAFian

[redtailedsaffa]

Finally! Tournament done, so I get to catch up on a new book. And here's the PDF.

[Cloak]

Thanks, Archiver Saffa. Hmmmm . . . Might be an idea in those two words. . . . Nah. Anyway, I don't think I used this song adaptation before.

CHAPTER THREE:
Let It And Him Go

Having decided that standing on the cliff and staring at the sky would not divine him any answers, Cloak retired to his usual meditation spot. He was relieved to find nothing unusual -- unless seeing a squirrel yell in its squirrel-squawk at a woodpecker for some reason classified as unusual*.

He sat upon his usual rock, and crossed his legs with his tail drapped over the back side of it, tip twitching every so often. Then his placed his hands upon his knees, and bowed his head. He shut his eyes and focused his mind. Then he began to meditate.

***

Slow, quiet music started up, as Cloak stood on a desolute mountaintop, laden with fresh snow. He looked around with his cloak billowing around him dramatically. It was just after his mother turned him out . . . Cloak thought he was over this. . . .

"The snow glows white on the mountain tonight.
Not a footprint to be seen.
A world of isolation,
And it looks like I'm the Dean.

The wind is howling like this swirling tempest inside.
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows, I tried.

Don't let them in, don't let them see,
Be the proper boy you always have to be.
Conceal, don't feel, don't let her know.
Well, now she knows!

Let it go, let it go!
Can't hold it back anymore!
Let it go, let it go!
Turn away and slam the door!
I don't care what she's going to say!
Let the elements rage on!
Loneliness never bothered me anyway."

The last line was a lie, but the worst kind of lie. The kind of lie that one tells themselves, but are afraid to acknowledge the truth of.

"It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small,
And the fears that once controlled me, can't get to me at all!
It's time to see what I can do,
To test the limits and break through.
No right, no wrong, no rules for me!
I'm free!

Let it go, let it go!
I am one with the elements and, oh, my!
Let it go, let it go!
You'll never see me cry!
Here I stand, and away I stay!
Let the elements rage on!

My power flurries through the air into the ground.
My soul is spiraling in elemental bursts all around.
And one thought crystallizes like an explosive blast.
I'm NEVER going back, the past is in the past!

Let it go, let it go!
And I'll rise like the break of dawn!
Let it go, let it go!
That house-elf slave is gone!
Here I stand in the light of day!
Let the elements rage on!
Isolation never bothered me anyway."

The song ended, and Cloak felt . . . felt . . . felt . . . free. Emotions less a tempest sea more like a bubbling creek.

"Interesting . . ." came a voice. A heartbreakingly familiar voice. "Didn't really happen that way, though. I was watching."

"G-grandpa?"

It was like he was just . . . there. There was no transformation, no sudden entrance. He wasn't there one minute, the next he was. Cloak took in his maternal grandfather's appearance -- his cruel curved yellow beak that belied his good humor, his white feathered head, how his talons clicked on the floor as he walked, his penetrating eagle stare.

"You've forgotten me?"

"No!" Cloak protested vehemently. "No, how could I?"

He smiled warmly, and Cloak felt his love palpably. He was afraid that he had offended Sage with the whole Pied Piper fiasco. But he had come back to him.

"Cloak, I cannot stay," his grandfather said sadly. "You do not need me anymore."

"But I do!"

"No, boy, you don't." he said, still as warm. "Your friends of yours, these RAFians, you can -- and should -- be turning to them in your times of need. Even little Shadow can be there for you, as well as her mother."

He clapped him on the shoulder, and Cloak found himself as a young cub again.

"While I cannot approve of Ursa's actions, you must allow yourself to dwell upon them. Or me." he said. "I was allowed to come back this one time to give you a warning?"

"Warning?"

He was suddenly an adult again.

"Yes, Malice heads for . . . ugh, I am not permitted to tell you straight out. She heads for the place to make her one with everything."

"Huh?"

But Sage had already begun to fade away.

"No! No, Grandfather! Don't go! Grandpa!" Cloak protested, becoming a child again. But this reversed as he spoke in a quieter tone, "Don't go. . . ."

---
* This really happened on campus. I still don't know why.

[redtailedsaffa]

There's such a thing as being too cryptic.

[Cloak]

I can't exactly give it away now, can I?

• BOOK CCLV: "RAF Kid" -- The younger generation of RAFians must save the world with the guidance of Cloak, Shadow, and Parker, the last of the old RAFians. Out-of-continuity.
• BOOK CCLVI: "The Galactic Games" -- The RAFians are sought out to provide security for the Galactic Games, a galactic version of the Olympics.
• BOOK CCLVII: "Lego My RAF!" -- RAF is reimagined as Lego mini-figures. Out-of-continuity.

Okay, don't think I rehashed anything. Correct me if I'm wrong.

CHAPTER FOUR:
The Alpha Perplexahedron

As it so happens, Malice managed to luck into a spacecraft used by an alien hokester and conman. When the four-armed alien rather like Roger Smith began to protest in a nasally drawl, Malice got in his face. She gave him an ultimatum -- his ship or his life. The hokester was easily intimidated by the rogue Realm Walker and gave in without any effort.

So she killed him anyway. She didn't care if that wasn't the spirit of the deal, but she really could not care less. She knew the coordinates of the Alpha Perplexahedron, where one part of the map to the Unimind planet was located. Sure, she could have gone to the Gamma Perplexahedron first, with the perceived easier puzzles and a somewhat lazier, labyrinthine maze.

But she came to another obstacle -- she did not know how to pilot this ship. Well, it couldn't be all that difficult, now could it?

***

Eight and a half hours later, she left Earth's atmosphere. She imputted the coordinates into the autopilot, and went to rest. When she awoke, she was pleased to find that the ship was able to located the cubic Perplexahedron. It had a metallic, dark green color to it.

Malice didn't think much of the structure, and looked for a way to marry the hatch to the Perplexahedron. It took some doing, but she managed it. She swiftly entered and had to battle the Perplexahedron Guardians that retained the green of the Perplexahedron, but with white highlights and black trim. Malice took exceedingly exuberant enjoyment in destroying these Guardians, making her way to the center, or what she believed to be the center.

She elated and reveled in the destruction of the mindless drones that were the Perplexahedron Guardians. She took savage pleasure at rending them to pieces. Eventually, there were no more rooms to move through. She was at what appeared to be a throne room. Upon the ruby-encrusted gold throne with red velvet was a red-skinned Churl in splendorous robes of reds, golds, and greens.

"Where is it?" Malice demanded.

"You are not worthy," the Chuurl sentinel said, single eye narrowing gravely. "Your heart is a blackhole."

"Thank you," Malice replied.

"It was not a compliment."

"It was to me." Malice said, snippily. "Now fork over what I came for."

"I cannot."

"Well, then," Malice said, in a venomous honeyed tones, "you will die."

"And that," the Chuurl said, "is precisely why you will never have it."

"Oh, we'll see about that," Malice said, mock blithely.

***

Eventually, Malice sped away from a collapsing Alpha Perplexahedron collapsed in on itself. Malice grinned as she held a red triangle piece in her palm. One down, two to go.

[redtailedsaffa]

Is it just me or has Malice become stronger than from the last time we saw her?

And I'm loving the new books.

[Cloak]

She didn't destroy the Perplexahedron, Saffa. Not directly, anyway. It collapsed due to the fact that the map piece was no longer inside it.

CHAPTER FIVE:
Vision Divining

When Cloak "awoke" from his meditation, he wore a wan expression upon his face. He looked very rumpled and ruffled, though his signature, eponymous cloak remained pristine and perfect. He uncrossed his legs and rose up. He wore an unconcealed look of confusion on his face.

"Where she could become one with everything?" he muttered. "What kind of zen crap is that?"

It didn't make sense. His grandfather was the furthest thing from a zen master, but yet he gave such a tantalizing clue. But what could it mean? Cloak hadn't a clue as he reentered the forum. Hat was Sage alluding to? Why did he have to be so cryptic?

He was so deep in his ponderings, so mired in his thoughts, he had not realized that he was in the middle of the forum's square, a pavilion with a rather nice view of the lake, where Horse was lazing about in. Cloak looked around with half bemusement, half amusement. But his thoughts swiftly turned back to the riddle his grandfather left him, his last riddle.

What could it possibly mean? Was Malice looking for a way to integrate her deux ex machina into all things? Was that even possible?

No, that was absurd. Even if that was her goal, she'd have to kill herself for it to happen. And there was no guarantee that it would even create a deux ex machina in such a suicidal act. Malice would never kill herself, or leave that much to chance.

But then . . . what? Cloak was at a lost for meaning.

He folded his arms mulishly, as he thought, as he pondered over the riddle. It could literally mean hundreds of things, although that might be a slight exaggeration. He gestured with his right hands as he went over his previous theories, shooting them all down again.

Then he glanced at his Mark and an idea came to him.

Far from being pleased, he feel the ichor flee from his face. The idea was so horrid, so vile, so disconcerting that Cloak fervently hoped that he was wrong. Malice wanted to make herself one with everything. Cloak had misheard his grandfather. Malice had no intention on making herself one with everything. She intended to.make herself one with everyone!

The Perplexahedrons! She must have discovered his grandfather's Perplexahedrons! If she assembled all three pieces . . .

No. She must not do so. She must not access the planet. She must not be allowed near the Unimind. He remembered his grandfather's tales of such a device, how it only appeared in two realms, and must be protected in this one (it was already protected in the other by its native Dwellers).

Cloak swiftly decided that he needed Yarin's help.

[Cloak]

Ah, that old "modified post chapter" syndrome I presume.

I have new book ideas, but I'll post them tomorrow. Yeah, I'm feeling a bit lazy. Anyway . . . short chapter!

CHAPTER SIX:
The Beta Perplexahedron

Malice had reached the second Perplexahedron, colored a metallic purple with black highlights and white trim. Like its predecessor, it was shaped like a gigantic cube. Malice eyed it longingly, greedily, and almost lovingly. She swiftly married the hatches of her ship and the Perplexahedron.

Like the first, the puzzles and guardians were not simple to get past. One couldn't just muscle their way through, nor simply outwit them. It required a delicate balance of brawn and brain. Malice, impatient, found that she had to find that balance. But she eventually made it through, via dogged determination and obsessive desire.

"You shan't have it," said the yellow-eyed Chuurl sitting in the throne of purples, yellows, and silver. He did not even bother to look at Malice, his Cyclopean eye shut fast.

"You deny me what I want?" Malice said. "Do you know dangerous that is to your health?"

"Your mind is corrupted," the Chuurl said, "it is warped and twisted."

"Thank you," Malice said, perfunctorily. "Now fork it over."

"No."

"You know the consequences for refusing me what I want?"

"You may not have it," the Chuurl said, stoically.

"Oh," Malice said, dangerously, "We'll see about that."

She violently ripped the map piece from the Chuurl's possession, and left him there to die. Once she was speeding away in her stolen ship, the Perplexahedron, having no more reason for being, like its predecessor, it collapsed into nothingness.

"Only one more purple-deck-a-whatevers to go," Malice crowed rapturously, unconcerned with causing the deaths of two Chuurls, as well as that human trucker and the alien hokester. She was true to her name. "Only one more piece to go, and the Unimind will be within my grasp."

She smiled evilly as she thought about it.

"So, this realm will not be riddled with errant behaviors and such," she said, with a relish, "I will bring this realm . . . peace."

[redtailedsaffa]

Not quite modified-post-syndrome, more like I fell asleep.

[Underseen]

I remember this on Ben 10

[Cloak]

Except there was only one in Ben 10. And a Chuurl wasn't the guardian.

So, Pokemon Bank! . . . Yeah, no new chapters today. Sorry.

• Book CCLVIII: "Total Chaos" -- The RAFians face Apophis.
• Book CCLIX: "Blob-jection!" -- The RAFians face a blob monster.
• Book CCLX: "A Pod Cast" -- The RAFians face pod people.
• Book CCLXI: "Breathless" -- The RAFians must help an old foe. Maybe considered a "filler" book.
• Book CCLXII: "Evil Energy" -- The Banned discover the antithesis of Unity Energy -- Evil Energy.
• Book CCLXIII: "That's Sick!" -- The Knights of Humanity experiment with germ warfare.

There are the most recent six books, and I'm close to moving on to my fourth notebook of chapters planned out in advance.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Malice strikes me as one of those people who would use cheat codes to 'beat' a video game rather than playing it how it's meant to be played.  Kinda surprised she has the patience to go through the mazes at all, rather than trying to find some brute-force quick way through.  I suppose it's set up so she can't, though.  No gameshark for the real world.

Wonder what's gonna happen when she finally puts all the pieces together . . .

[Cloak]

Nothing good, Dino, I assure you.

Here we go -- sorry about yesterday. But I've gotta split this chapter in two.
 

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Stowaways

"The coordinates have been inputted, Cloak," Yarin said, turning to the Realm Walker. "You sure about this?"
 
He told Yarin, and no one else, about what needed to be done. Yarin acknowledged the gravity of the situation, and acquiesced to pilot his ship to the location Cloak needed to go to. But Yarin was leery of the secretiveness of the mission, with good reason. Cloak didn't want it to be secret per se, but he knew that action had to be taken now and time couldn't be wasted with debate and discussion.
 
Was it reckless? Yes. Yes, it was. Cloak would have to be a fool to have deny it.
 
"Cloak, are you sure you want to do this?" Yarin repeated. "The mods ought to know."
 
"They will get their notices in due time," Cloak said.  He had sent them a "send all" report. "This has to be done, Yarin.  It has to be done now. There are three Perplexahedrons and chances are that Malice got to at least one of --"
 
Cloak stopped mid-sentence, as they left the Eath's atmosphere.
 
"Abby, Shadow. You don't have to hide anymore, I know you're there."
 
Shadow stepped out of the shadow in predominately black clothing with navy blue trim, and a cloak of a matching color scheme. She looked rather sheepish, like a child with a hand caught in a cookie jar. Cloak's expression did not soften from the mildly exasperated one he wore.

"You too, Abby." Cloak said, with an authoritative sort of tone.

Nothing happened.

"Abby, I know you're the roach."

The roach did not appear aware that it was being addressed. Cloak was not amused, while Shadow looked a little relieved to no longer to be in the spotlight.

"Abby!" Cloak said, beginning to get irritated.

<This is not the roach you're looking for,> she replied in her best Obi Wan voice.

"I wasn't looking for one, and Abby, you're not a Jedi." Cloak said sternly. "Morph back."

She hesitated for only a moment before deciding not to incur the Realm Walker's enmity. Once human again, she played innocent.

"Shall we depart, Cloak?" Yarin prompted.

"Just a minute," Cloak said. "Don't you two have homework? Shadow, you know your mother'd kill me if you shirked such responsibilities."

Cloak waited a beat.

"She does know you're here, right?" he said sternly.

"Cloak, I thought we hadn't time to waste?" Yarin said.

Cloak had momentarily forgotten.

"Very well, very well," Cloak said, against his better judgement. "Let's go, Yarin."

Then he looked at the two, and said, "And let it be on your heads, if you did not complete your work."

"Cloak, it's Friday!" Abby protested.

[redtailedsaffa]

Kids. *shakes head*

[Cloak]

Techniacally, Shadow's 112 Prime Earth years old, roughly.

And here's a couple more book ideas:

• Book CCLXIV: "A Hat Trick" -- Two forgotten foes team up in a malicious alliance.
• Book CCLXV: "Knick-Knack, Paddywack" -- The RAFians face off against a creature that can possess the shadows of others and objects.
• Book CCLXVI: "A Ventriloquist Terrorist" -- The RAFians face off against a ventriloquist terrorist, who claims that the dummy made him do it.

Don't think I rehashed anything. Saffa?

[redtailedsaffa]

Nope, you didn't.