Memoirs of a RAFian

[Gaz]

Good stuff! Ooh...dark, sounds fun. Can't wait.

[Blazing Angel]

And I must warn you, the next book will be dark -- RAFians will die . . .

I believe that in case of my death, I am incapable of being resurrected, because my life essence would fuse with the essence of good itself, which flows through all strong and pure being.

That actually sounds pretty awesome. Don't even try bringing me back to life.

[Darth Revan]

*Blaze strikes a dark deal and becomes Blazing Fallen Angel*


Good stuff so far Cloak.

[Blazing Angel]

That's an awesome name, changing.

[Darth Revan]

Haha, nice.

[Cloak]

I was actually a more negetative reaction.  I am pleased it is not so.  Oh, and no one will be resurrected -- a couple, due to their natural regenerative abilities, will survive due to that.

If you want a hint of what it would be like, take a peek at the Transformers Movie -- no, not the Michael Bay ones, the original, I mean.  The one with Orson Welles, Leornard Nimoy, Eric Idle, and Weird Al's "Dare to be Stupid".  I know it's on YouTube, 90 minutes or so.

But that's still eleven chapters away.  And I won't be coming on at all during next month.

Shortish chapter.

CHAPTER NINE:
Bad News Everyone*

Suddenly, the communicator crackled to life.

"Cloak?  It's Blaze and Yarin." Blaze spoke through the device.

"Yeah," Cloak said, "what's going on?  How's that antidote coming?"

"It isn't," Blaze replied grimly.

Cloak tried not to let his temper and impatience show, "Well, then, what are you doing over there?  Havin' a tea party?"

Clearly he wasn't very successful.

"We need another sample of the exo-boron --"

"Exoporon," Cloak corrected absentmindedly.

"Whatever," Blaze said, "anyway, we'll need another sample of it."

"And just where are we gonna get another sample of that thing?" Parker asked, tersely.

"The government warehousing?" Blaze suggested.

"Of course," Gaz said wearily.

"Send in Ash." Cloak suggested.  "She's available to my knowledge, and she could get by in there far easier than the rest of us.  Shapeshifting and all."

"Oh, by the way," Blaze said, with a slight hitch in his voice, "uh . . ."

"Spit it out!"

"Pootang has escaped.  And we don't know where it is."

---
*Who gets this reference?

[Cloak]

'Nother quick chapter, methinks.

CHAPTER TEN:
General Luis Cannon

"Uh, guys," Guy said, looking to the horizon, "we have a new little wrinkle. . . ."

They looked in general direction he was indictating and saw what appeared to be a caravan of vehicles.  Military vehicles.  Parker seemed to recognize this particular unit.

"Oh god," he moaned, "not him.  Not General Loose Cannon."

"How do you --" Gaz began.

"Later!  HORSE, YOU MUST DIVE!!" Cloak shouted.  Horse did so, leaving Guy, Parker, Gaz and Cloak on the shore.  "Huddle around, we're gonna go down too.  Then Parker can have the obligatory explanation monologue."

"You make it sound so dirty," Parker teased as he and the others crowded around Cloak who hydrokinetically made a bubble of air around the four.  They dived down to the bottom of the harbor, and slowly walked into deeper water.

Parker explained, "His name is Luis Cannon.  A complete xenophobe.  Follows the philosophy of shoot first, ask questions never.  I still wonder how he rose to the rank of general.  He's a complete loose cannon, which is why I call him as such.  He hates the nickname, though."

"But how'd you meet?"

"A girl." Parker said.  He didn't elaborate more than that.

***

Meanwhile, Ash was looking for the warehouse, easily penetrating the defenses.  After all, who expects a red-tail hawk to be dangerous? ()  Shapeshifters, by nature, tend to be slippery and hard to hold on to, as well.  Yet another reason why Ash was the perfect canidate for this mission.

And she wasn't taking it lightly.

However, she didn't count on a trollish horde finding out about the exoporon.  But they thought it "pretty".  No one accused trolls of being mineralogy scholars -- and exceedingly rare to find one with two IQ points to rub together.

Ash cursed quietly, as this could complicate things.  And Ash wasn't someone who curses easily.  But this could just as easily work in her advantage.

[Darth Revan]

CHAPTER NINE:
Bad News Everyone*

---
*Who gets this reference?

Futurama FTW!!! Farnsworth style.

"But how'd you meet?"

"A girl." Parker said.  He didn't elaborate more than that.

His little girl to be precise; though she wasn't so little.
Bow Chicka Bow Wow

[Cloak]

'Nother shortish chapter shortly. . . .

And I must warn you, the next book will be dark -- RAFians will die . . .

That actually sounds pretty awesome. Don't even try bringing me back to life.

Oh, thought I might give out a spoiler on this --

[spoiler]No one gets resurrected in the next book.  It's not even set in present day.[/spoiler]

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Role Reversal, Anyone?

They eventually surfaced at a quiet, tranquil, bay shoreline.  It was relaxing, songbirds of various species and coloration were chirping out relaxing songs of threats to their rivals.  Cloak was thankful he didn't speak Songbird.

"Okay, what do we do now?" Guy asked.

"What do you mean what do we do now?  We have to wait for the antidote to be synthesized and administered."

"Great plan.  Meanwhile, Horse is a big sitting duck."

"Could be worse," Parker said, airily.

"How?"

Suddenly, the Pootang burst from the trees with a ravaging roar -- and Pikachus can't learn Roar -- and saw the massive white shape that was Horse.  She was still getting bigger.  She was roughly the size of a Goodyear blimp.  It was just fortunate that that this was a fairly concealed, deep bay.  The shore didn't slope off into the water, except at one point, it was a drop off.

Pootang got a greedy look in its eye as it leapt upon Horse.  Or, rather, that was it's intention.

Horse just opened her maw up, and swallowed the Pootang whole.  The others watched her with jaws open in shock.

"WHAT?  IT'S WAS ABOUT TIME FOR SOME ROLE REVERSAL!!"

"You're disgusting." Guy said, voice monotone.*

----
*Reference to Beast Wars, "Double Dinobot".

[Gaz]

Yay for Beast Wars reference. Speaking of...I'm finally going to work on the final season 1 two parter today.

[Cloak]

Excellent, Gazzy.  'Nother shortish chapter methinks -- let's see what Ash is doing in that government warehouse, shall we?

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Mission: Ash-Possible

Ash swept cautiously and silently through the complex.  There were really too many guards to be necessary.  Some with very unnecessarily loud voices, and some with rather vulgar vocabulary.  Ash expertly shapeshifted her way past them.  A mouse here, a ****roach there.

The trolls hadn't made it very far in, because their brutish instincts only allowed for a frontal assault.  They hadn't the finesse or piece of mind to consider stealth as a viable option.  It was a pity, really.

But Ash was not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth, she was using the chaos that the trolls were generating to her advantage.  No one would suspect her infiltration as she was not associated to any of those rampaging monsters with unusually high-pitched and nasally voices.

That last little bit shocked Ash a bit, but the distraction was not enough to deter her from her goal.  She was selected for this mission specially, and she bound and determined that she was NOT gonna let Horse down.

She shifted from mouse to fly, allowing a brief moment of adjustment.  Then she buzzed several warehouse windows.  Realized that she needed more astute vision, she shifted into the form of a modest pigeon.  Then she flitted from warehouse to warehouse, looking for the cigar-shaped stone that Yarin had described.

She found the correct warehouse after an hour or two.  But it was sealed up tight.  Not even a flea could inch its way in.  She pressed herself against the wall, disguised as some homely weeds, thinking of a way in, and hoping that no one comes along with a weedwhacker.

She was so close, only to be foiled by this!

[Cloak]

'Nother shortish chapter, chaps. . . . That was a lame joke. . . .

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Slumber and Finesse

Meanwhile, back at the sheltered bay, Guy, Gaz, Parker, and Cloak were watching over a slumbering Horse.  She was now the size of Central Park.  She actually used a huge tree to pick her teeth.

"What if a cure can't be found?  What if this is permanent?" Guy fretted.

Parker postulated, "Well, then she'd continue to grow without check until she became so large that she couldn't respirate and probably asphixiate -- OW!"

Gaz had slapped him upside his head.

"Hey!  What was that for!"

"Lack of tact," Cloak explained.  Cloak was mostly silent, leaning against a tree with his arms folded.  But it was true Horse was growing at a rate that was geniunely unnerving.  And when she snored . . . well, you'd best run for cover.  Their only hope was that Ash obtain the exoporon sample.  Then Yarin, Aquilai, and Goom can synthesize the cure.

Cloak had called, via the communicators, to makes sure that the three were actually devising a cure.  As much as they could without the sample.  But Cloak got a little careless.  He wasn't far enough away from their little camp, and he assumed all RAFian channels were free from being tracked.

But he forgot that this was the same country who tried to foist SOPA upon their citizens.

The group settled down for what they thought and intended to be a long stay.

***

Back at the warehouse, Ash was starting to become impatient.  The doors never seemed to open.  But when they opened JUST enough, Ash shapeshifted into a little garter snake, and slipped in, unnoticed.  Once inside, she shapeshifted into a little green anole-like gecko.

From there, she walked along the walls, and along the ceiling to see her prize: the exoporon sample.  But there were three research scientist still inside.  She couldn't risk harming them -- it wasn't their fault that they were in this situation.  But a solution wouldn't fall from the sky to help her dilemma.

This would take some thought and finesse.

[Blazing Angel]

She's not going to run up on of the scientists legs is she? :p

[Gaz]

Lol! That seems like something I would do.

[Darth Revan]

Point of order: if Gaz smacked the back of my head, she'd say "ow" from hitting her hand on my helmet; and there'd be no reason to take off my helmet in the situation we're in.


Other than that, good stuff so far.