Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Yeah, about that . . .

New chapter.

CHAPTER TEN:
The Next Mutation

Anton was reveling in his new discovery of these forms. He got a kick of how everyone was forced to obey him, now that he was the Dino Lord. Granted, he had to eliminate the humans by turning them all into dinosaurs to get people to listen to him, to give the adulation he believed that he so richly deserved. He didn't care that they weren't doing it of their own free will.

What he didn't realize was that this was just from the injection that he gave himself prior to activating the dino-wave generator. The waves did activate his mind control of dinosaurids, pterosaurs and plesiosaurs -- hence his three forms. But it had a mostly delayed reaction in him.

It wasn't done. There was another mutation to come for dear Anton, as he felta small pain in his side as he returned to his island. To what was formerly Sawyer Island. But no longer. He turned into Dinosaur Island!

Ah! There was that pain again. As if something was gnawing at his side. As if something was chewing up his innards. It wasn't a pleasant sensation. But, never mind that, he thought, he had seen the entryway to the castle that housed his laboratory. It was an ancient castle of earth and stone that sat mouldering, long since forgotten by the pretentiously-innovative modern world.

Once Anton crossed the threshold into the castle proper, he had wrapped both his saurian arms around his chest as the pain graduated from nuisance to excruciating. His steps were rather stilted now, as he conttinued to strive forward, unbeknowst to him, the source of his pain.

It felt like someone replaced his innards with live, angry snakes leaving his bones and skin alone. Anton did not know what was happening, but soon the pain shifted from excruciating to euphoric, strangely enough.

Anton realized the three forms he had were just momentarily separated aspects of his true one. And it was he close proximity to the wave generator that allowed him to take his ultimate form for the first time. To become the Regisaurus form, the true Dino Lord!

He disappeared in a flare of sunlight, but when he came back into view he was a massive humanoid. He looked just like a life-sized Magmatron. His lower legs and tail was that of the purple generic theropod form, he had large grayish-teal arms with five clawed fingers, only opposable. His scarlet head was roughly human, with his human face in silvery white with green eyes with cat-like pupils, and he possessed gigantic pterosaur wings coming from the sides of his head, almost like Dumbo ears.

He examined this new form with enthusiastic euphoria, despite it being somewhat about what he thought of as weakness. But people such as Anton are notorious for being hypocrites at one time or another. This form afforded great strength, flight (strangely enough), superhuman swimming ability somehow, and he retained his control over all the dinosaur neophytes.

His cackle rent the air for the entire radius of the island and beyond.

And Cloak heard it.

[Cloak]

Finally got gmail to work for me. Sorry for the rage, but it would be nice if they, you know, explained these things.

New chapter.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Extreme Dino Islanders*

The RAFians easily deduced where the waves were coming from between Cloak's Realm Walker sensibilities and the RAFian's technological equipment. The hard part was deducing who was suitable to go to the island.

In the end, it was decided that both Cloak and Dino would go (they were both immune to the waves due today their unique physiologies), Parker (his armor proved sufficient enough to block it, and his arsenal could prove handy), Sam and Helen (on the sole proviso that they keep up their Lantern auras). More wanted to come and help, but Cloak felt a smaller team was necessary. He, despite himself, arrogantly thought that they were more than enough of a match.

Aquilai, Goom, and Yarin that they must not dally. If they don't shut off the wave generator, the transformations could be permanent, or even progress, like a boulder down a hill, until they're fully non-sapient, non-sentient dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and plesiosaurs. It was imperative they prevent "D-Day", or "Dinosaur Day".

"Cute," Parker said, with a droll roll of his eyes. Helen knew what he was doing despite Parker's head and face being concealed by his helmet.

They headed out, and Cloak easily ferried them across the water in an energy bubble. He could of done the Moses thing and parted the water, but this method was faster and far less noticeable.

They quickly made landfall on Dinosaur Island and looked around, but it was silent. Nothing but dark forest. But Cloak was leery. His seismic sense going bananas. It was becoming like a spider sense.

"You know," Parker said, scanning the area, scrutinizing the terrain, judging the path to take to the island's interior -- where they all anticipated the wave generator to be. "That was almost too easy."

At these words, Cloak sighed heavily, "You just had to say it, didn't you, Parker?"

"What?" Helen asked.

As if in answer to this question several anthropomorphized dinosaurs (and one pterosaur) came thromping from the woods. They were all heavily muscular, as if they were in an eighties cartoon. None stood higher than ten feet tall.

The leader was an anthropomorphized tyrannosaur the color of an Agumon. He wore torn pale red pants, spiked shoulder pads, and white boots which his claw had obviously grown and cut straight through. He was shirtless, and he was a punk gangleader.

The techboy was an anthropomorphized rust-colored stegosaur. He wore yellow pants and white boots. He was also shirtless. He seemed a reluctant member of this gang, but stil obstinate and bullying as his leader.

The wisecracking slacker was an anthropomorphized grayish-teal pterandon. He was as shirtless the others, wearing a silver chain necklace, purple pants with white boots. He was lazy with absolutely poor judgement or sense. He flew everywhere instead of walking, no matter how short the distance. He was still uncouth and arrogant -- not the most admirable of traits.

The penultimate one was the one in charge of finding and preparing the food, and he was an anthropomorphized sapphire blue triceratops. His left brow horn was cracked. He was shirtless too, as well as wearing gray shorts, gray leg bands, a purple belt, and is barefoot. He was, first and foremost, a brute. He loves to fight, but doesn't really care about the reason behind it.

The last one was a rather squirrelly anthropomorphized ankylosaur. He wore form-fitting suit, like a darker version of the Fantastic Four suits, only without the "4" design. He, ironically, showed more battle-damage than the others, though that was more from his.stupidity at when to walk away. He was this way even before becoming saurian.

"Back off!" the tyrannosaur snarled. "This is Extreme turf here."

"I think you underestimate our chances of survival." Parker said dryly.

"I think he means 'Extreme' as some sort of gang moniker, hon." Helen said.

"And an uncreative one, at that." Cloak said, flatly.

"You Rapterds**?" the pterosaur said.

"Do we really have time for this?" Cloak said, facepalming.

"Yo, are you Rapterds or not!"

"Oh, will you idiots shut up?!" Dino said, losing her temper. "Do I look like a bloody raptor?!"

There was a beat of silence.

"Are you a girl?" the pterosaur asked. It would seem that he was sincere in his query.

Dino noticed this rather quickly, and narrowed her eyes as she grew to her full form. This seemed to terrify them, as they immediately lost their tough guy act.

"Okay," Dino said. "Now you die."

Then she ran after them, as they fled in terror.

"Uh, Dino? Dino! Dino, priorities!" Cloak called.


* I know someone might think this title is racist (not my fellow RAFians, but perhaps one of the unregistered guests that I see visit this page from time to time). It is supposed to be a reference to the Dinosaur Island and that old, obscure show, "Extreme Dinosaurs".

** A derogatory epithet for the rival gang, the "Rapters".

[Cloak]

Might be a bit longer than the average Memoirs book. Kind of going "off-script" a bit.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Island Interior

Dino never left their eyeline, before returning. She was still very miffed about the insult as she resumed her compact form. She still fumed about it.

"Dino, we have a finite time before D-Day, and --" Cloak said.

"I KNOW!" she snarled. " I know."

"There's something more going on with you," Helen pointed out shrewdly as they proceded further on to the island's interior. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," she replied repressively.

But Sam picked up on the reason right away, "It's because we've been insensitive, isn't it? About destroying the wave generator, and preventing D-Day. When you're . . . you're a nothlit."

Dino said nothing, but kept trudging forward. It was true that she was a nothlit, though a unique one as she could speak without resorting to thought-speak. But that could have something to do with what she was before she got stuck. No one, other than Dino herself, knew what species she had been beforehand. And she never spoke about it. She never spoke about her past to begin with.

They had successfully reached the interior of the island, but it was a rather large expanse in and of itself. Cloak could see the waves emanating from a direction ever so slightly to the right. But there seemed to be a small army in their way.

These dinosaurs have forgone clothes as they were not anthropomorphized anymore, but dwarf dinosaurs, somewhere between the dinosaur's actual size and human size. None more than eleven, twelve feet tall. There was a tyrannosaur, a brachiosaur, a triceratops, a pteranodon, a stegosaur, a Centrosaurus, a Torosaurus, a Syracosaurus,  a Pachycelphalosaurus, a Kentrosaurus, and a Rhamphorhynchus. In the inlet lake was a trapped ichthyosaur.

They all possessed human intelligence, but it was clear that even that was beginning to slip away. It was getting harder and harder for them to think. The proximity to the wave machine must be accelerating their mutagenic devolution, the RAFians realized. It may already have been too late for them.

The RAFians easily walked through their midst, some were apparently beginning to lose the ability to speak coherently. His worried Cloak, though Dino seemed conflicted.

"We have to hurry," Parker said.

[Cloak]

Huh. Saffa must be busy.

New chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Solid Saur*

The group continued their trek to the location of the wave generator. Cloak really didn't appreciate the ticking clock that had been foisted upon them. It did notnmake things any easier. But something he had not expected, something he thought he misinterpreted from his seismic sense, loomed overhead.

"I Earthsighted it, but I didn't believe it." Cloak said, as the five scrutinized the mouldering castle. It was still in fairly good, habitable condition, though it clearly hadn't been lived in for a while. Each brick, each stone, was roughly hewn and eroded. It was remarkable the place even stood.

"Who puts a castle in an out of the way place like this?" Sam asked.

"Supervillians," Cloak said. It was unclear whether he was being sarcastic or not as his tone wws flat and dull. He touched the wall, and felt through his glove just how old the place was. It had felt older than what he had expected. Then he ducked through a hole, in the wall that the others followed through. It was even large enough for Dino in her true size, thiugh she remained in her compact size.

Cloak noticed that she was being awfully quiet for some reason. She looked conflicted, and viewed each new transformed dinosaur witha mixture of sadness and pity. Or so Cloak assumed. The truth was, that they reminded her of some very close friends that she could not . . . that she lost in the past. She never talked about it. It was just too painful.**

When they first tread the moist soil of the castle ground, they weren't too terribly surprised to discover dinosaurs milling around here. There was a Tyrannosaurus, Apatosaurus, and Triceratops fighting as the RAFians made their way forward. These were obviously people turned into these beasts, but they seemed to have lost most, if not all, of their sentience. They were not obsequiously holding to the castle master's orders, guarding the place. Being this close to device had rendered them wild and savage and unpredictable.

They bypassed a Pteranodon and a Stegosaurus as they proceeded further into the castle compound. Cloak was amazed that they were not noticed yet. He could feel each foot impact of the dinosaurs like a baseball bat to the back of the head. It hurt, and was disorienting.

But they soon realize that they had to be cautious, as the other dinosaurs had red glowing eyes and seemed to mindlessly following telepathic orders. Dino showed extreme discomfort with this, but her mind and will remained her own through sheer stubborn willpower.

They managed to elude a featherless velociraptor, so basically a "naked" one, who looked far smarter than the rest combined. It was not easy dodging him -- if Cloak hadn't the mastery over the elements it would have been flatout impossibls.

They eluded a pachycephalosaur, an archaeopteryx, a stegosaurus, a tyrannosaur, a Pteranodon, and a Triceratops to make it to the castle doors. They were obviously obscenely opulent at one point of time, but time has no mercy to such a place left unattended.


* "Solid Snake" reference. I'm afraid all I know of him, is from Brawl.

** [spoiler]Yes, this is fireshadowing a later book.[spoiler]Specifically, "I'm Back! A Dino Story".[/spoiler]

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Dinosaur King

The RAFians opened the door, which was unexpectedly light and easy. The appearance indicated it would be the opposite. The inside of the castle was expected to be far more grandoise than it actually was. There was a single roll of faded red, threadbare carpet with moldy yellow borders. The floor was highly dusty, except for human footprints and much fresher theropod footprints. The columns that were attempting to hold up the cracking ceiling were marble in the style of Agrabah's palace, which was totally out of place for the castle, design-wise.

"Mixing styles?" Helen asked. "It doesn't even work!"

"Helen, calm down." Parker advised. Apparently, Helen had really gotten into interior design of late, judging by Parker's weary tone on the subject.

"Let's hurry," Sam intoned seriously. "We have a ticking clock, guys, remember?"

"And we're getting close," Cloak said, his feline eyes penetrating the gloom of the room easily. Not that he necessarily needed eyes, being in a castle of stone. The Realm Walker pointed straight ahead when the hallway they were in split into three-pronged fork, and said, "That way."

They burst through the doors, which actually popped off with relatively minimal effort. It was really shoddy craftsmanship, or the material just did not age well when not properly maintained for a Walker decade or two.

"How dare you burst into my throne room like that, peasants?" came a haughty, drawling voice. Cloak saw a creature that heavily resembled Magmatron sitting on what could be called a throne, if a makeshift one at that. To his left sat a strange machine, and Cloak could easily identify it as the wave generator. "The Dino Lord demands you leave this most sacred of areas."

"Sacred? This mouldering pile of rocks that have sat ignored for decades?" Helen said, scornfully.

"'Dino Lord?" Parker snickered snidely. Yes, the name was both pretentious and uncreative. "What, 'Bossasaur', 'Saurian Sultan', 'Chiefasaurus', and 'Grand Duke of Dinosaurs' already taken?"

"You dare mock me?!" Anton roared, standing up. He was a little less than twice the size of Cloak, but the Realm Walker wasn't intimidated. "You weak mammal, uh, weaklings!"

"Niiiiice comeback," Parker said, "you use the brain in your head or your tail to come up with that one?"

"Hey!" Dino snarled. She found the remark offensive. "That was debunked years ago! . . . I -- I think."

It was probably not the best idea to call attention to herself, as the Dino Lord finally noticed her. He reveled in his new idea.

"Dinosaur, obey me!"

Dino's eyes started to glow red . . .

[Cloak]

I hope nothing has happened to Saffa and that she's just busy . . .

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Dinosaur's Decision

"Obey me, dinosaur!" Anton commanded, and Dino's eyes glowed red, a deeper scarlet. "Obey me, and do as I command! Turn on your friends! Become my queen! We can rule over the one true dinosaur nation together!!"

But Anton wasn't as good as he thought he was. Unlike Vampyra de Madre, he hadn't any finesse or charisma. He was a brute, caring only about sheer power and the subtleties of anything more were lost on him. Granted, he was centuries younger than her, but that's beside the point.

Dino's Mark flared to life with the comment about becoming his queen, an idea that Dino found so revolting, so vile, so bereft of sanity, that she easily broke his control over her.she even shuttered at the thought of becoming his queen, which was quite noticeable to the other RAFians given that Dino had gone to her full size (there was plenty of clearance).

"Not a chance, pal." Dino said, seeing Anton for the pathetic man that he truly was. "You sicken me. You repulse me."

"How dare you defy me?!"

But Dino wasn't through with him. Not by a long shot. "You changed people and animals of the world into dinosaurs and their contemporaries. Why?"

"I am ridding the world of weakness! Soon -- soon, it will be complete and permanent!" he roared. It would have been intimidating to the uninitiated, but the RAFians face this kind of thing fairly regularly.

"Oh, will it now?" Dino said, who had managed to walk up right next to it without Anton being any the wiser. "Look, pal, you're nothing more than a two-bit charlatan who things that since he lacks empathy and compassion that your way of thinking is superior. You didn't even give people a choice of whether they wanted this or not."

"It was a gift!" Anton said, completely falling into Dino's trap. "It was a gift! I gave them strength, I eliminated their weakness! It was that weakness that was holding us back as a species! Now things are as it should be!"

"According to you." Cloak said coldly. This guy was seriously reminding him of several Councilors that he had minced words with in the past. "But you are one of those irritating self-righteous people who always assume that they always know what's the best, even when 'the best' is, in actuality, only in their best interest."

"Don't speak about matters in which you know very little, mammal." Anton said, in a condescending tone. He was actually surprised when a ring of golden scarlet energy had wrapped around his neck and forced him to the ground.

"Fool." Cloak said, his tone frostier than before. "Fool who would be dinosaur king. Do not dismiss me like that. My power far eclipses your own, this is but a fraction of that power, my true power. For a man claiming to be eliminating weaknesses, perhaps you should have started on yourself first."

Dino took this distraction to "accidentally" step on the wave generator and smack it with her tail, full force. She said, rather unconvincingly, "Oopsie."

"It doesn't matter! Dinosaur Day has already come! It's over!" he declared, still looking trussed up. "You lost!"

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
No More Mr. Good Guy

"You lie." Cloak said. His body language clearly showed that he was readying himself for a fight. But Dino wasn't gonna have it.

"No, Cloak!" Dino said, "He's mine."

Cloak looked into Dino's eyes and saw the steely determination and unshakable resolve there. She felt that this was a personal battle. Cloak did not question it. Did not question it with the same certainty that he had that they had stopped D-Day successfully.

It was Dino's show n-- huh? Where'd that music come from?

"God, it is laughable to see 'em forsaking me.
I'm the dino king, you'll treat me with respect!
And I can't wait to see your poor hearts breaking, you see.
So much for politically correct.
Up 'til now I've pulled my punches.
I intend to eat their lunches.
No more Mr. Nice Guy! Not for me!
If you think that I'm light-hearted,
Well, let me by! I just got started!
No more Mr. Nice Guy, no siree!
Domination is what I believe in.
I don't get mad, I get even.
As for the world, well that's tragic.
I'm going to keep this old black magic.
Good behaviour is so much duller.
Time to show my one true color.
Baby, Mr. Nice Guy's history!
Up to no good, I love plottin'!
Yeah, I'm so good when I'm rotten.
No more Mr. Nice Guy, wait and see."

When Dino overcame her momentary shock at this, at Anton's gall, she yelled, "HEY!", but was ignored as Anton continued.

"I'll be that nasty, naughty, petty, spiteful,
Wicked, wayward, way delightful,
Bad guy I was born to be (you so bad, so bad)!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Dino said, tackling him through a wall. "You don't get a villain song! You're not that important!"

"You want to dance?" Anton snarled, recovering from Dino's tackle. He should have counted himself lucky, not many could survive that. Like, at all. "Well, you abominable mishmash of dinosaurs --"

Dino snorted derisively, "Look who's talking."

"If you wanna dance," Anton said, raised voice now, "then, by all means, LET'S DANCE!!"

[Cloak]

New chapter. May be a bit on the short side.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Meanwhile, At the Hall of RAF*

"Do you think that they did it?" Abby asked.

"I can't tell. We'd have to go to the city and whatnot to find out." Saffa said. She had her arms folded, and was looking rather thoughtful. "But we cannot because we might become afflicted if they had not."

"What if we morph Tyrannopedes?" Abby shrugged. "They're technically dinosaurs, like Vaxasaurians. Right?"

"But that would be irresponsible." Underseen said. "We don't need to give everyone another three victims to worry about."

"Three?" Saffa said. "Underseen, you're a shapeshifter. You're more than likely immune."

"Yes, 'more than likely'. Not 'certainly' or 'for sure'." Underseen pointed out. "I rather not make assumptions and be wrong."

"Party pooper," Abby teased. Underseen just shrugged it indifferently away.

"It'd just be nice to have, you know, some information of what's going on, you know?" Saffa said, with a sigh. "I feel like a bird in a cage right now."

Within the next twenty or thirty minutes of that statement from Saffa came the forum-wide announcement from Aquilai, up in communications, "I have recently recieved confirmation that D-Day has been successfully avoided. Dino has stomped the wave generator to shrapnel."

"Wonderful," Saffa said, breezily. "Now, to figure out to do with the rest of the afternoon."

"How about I pitch the lastest premise of a RAF TV show to you?" Abby said, smirking sardonically.

"The last six were essentially the same," Underseen said.

"This one's different, I promise!" Abby smiled rather unconvincingly. "You see, depending our budget, we can --"

***

It was true, everywhere that wave had touched was now reverting from its effect. Citywide, people were shrinking back to their rightful species. Even on Sawyer Island, the dinosaurs reverted back into people and animals. Although, clothing does not revert to its normal undamaged state, so there was some embarrassment that, naturally, occurred.

However, there was one person who did not revert. One person in which the changes were permanent. One person who would never be human in anything other than mind again. And it was the person who would be king of them all.

Anton would forever more be a dinosaur mishmash.


* Old "Superfriends" refernce.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

I probably should slow down a bit and let everyone catch up . . .

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Clash of the Dinosaurs

Anton returned the favor and charged Dino right back through the other wall. Then he punched her in the face after Dino turned around and bit him as hard as she could on the tail. She eventually let go, and Anton was irate.

"You bit my tail!"

"You punched me in the face!"

"You bit my tail!!"

"You punched me in the face!!"*

The other RAFians, and Shadow, were hesitant to interfere.

"Shouldn't we, I don't know, help her?!" Sam demanded.

But Cloak knew where Dino was coming from. It was from the same.place where he always wanted to face Malice by himself. "No, Sam. Dino would not thank us for it. This a matter of pride for her. A matter of principle."

"Yeah, but --"

"She would not welcome our interference. This battle is hers, and to interefere now would send the message to her that we did not think that she could handle herself in a battle against another dinosaurid." Cloak said, as his eyes darkened a bit before he spoke again. "It might very well undermind her confidence. And confidence is easy to lose, hard to regain."

Fortunately, no one seemed to realize that Cloak was speaking from experience. Cloak was actually thankful secretly for this. He wished that he would stop going back to that point in his life . . . he should be over the fear, the feeling of utter futility . . .

CRASH! BANG! WHAM!

The clash of these two saurian titans was getting more and more vicious. But only the two Realm Walkers seemed to realize something, as the others were too focused on the fight. Perhaps it was the Earthsight.

Cloak watched a tendril of sand fall, leaked from the ceiling, and immediately said, "That can't be good."


*DBZA reference.

[redtailedsaffa]

Yeah, I was out of town, so I was on hiatus for a bit. No worries, Cloak, I'm still alive, and glad of the chapters - although maybe next time I should warn you beforehand

[Cloak]

Alighty then, Saffa. You never know nowadays what could happen.

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Bringing Down the House

Dino.seemed solely focused on Anton, and he her. There wasn't anything more than their battle, than their clash. One would not rest while the other survived.

The other RAFians had other concerns, however. The castle was falling apart, ready to crumble at the smallest provocation. The two dueling dinos did not seem to understand this precarious situation, and was only concerned with emerging victorious. Dino seems to have allowed herself to give in to her baser saurian instincts.

Another tendril of sand fell from the roof. Small granules were now cascading down slowly. If they didn't stop everyone would be crushed under the crumbling ceiling. Only one thing that Cloak could fathom doing right now.

"Shadow, the ceiling!" he shouted, though he could barely make himself heard over the two dueling dinos. He stamped his feet and made a pose as if mocking Atlas, when it was more of a mimicry. Shadow, quick on the uptake, followed suit.

It wasn't easy. Imagine trying to balance a cookie sheet, weighing far more than a cookie sheet should, on both hands. While standing in the dead center of a stampede. Yeah. That easy.

But it was only a temproary measure, at that. There would be no saving of this derelict relic of a far gone age. Its story was forgotten long ago, even by the mouldering stones that even now were eroding into nothingness. There was nothing to be done for it, as pieces of the ceiling began to fall, like sand slipping through a child's hands while they play in their sandboxes.

"Un-- Uncle! I -- I can't --" Shadow groaned. If it wasn't for the battling dinos, it might have proved doable, but they were very distracting. Using the elements usually required a fair bit of concentration.

"I know, Shadow." Cloak said, the moment Dino pushed Anton throuh another wall so it was less a castle and more like Swiss cheese. "Energy shields, everyone!"

With that, the two Realm Walkers let go of the ceiling, and wrapped themselves up in energy bubbles. Parker, Helen, and Sam did the same, with Parker using his rarely-used SPARTAN energy shield and the latter two using their rings.

The ceiling collapsed in on them, burying Anton and the RAFians, except Dino, who only had her snout covered. The other five's shields worked effortlessly. There was no sign of Anton. It was over. He was dead.

"Let's go home," Dino said, tired.

[redtailedsaffa]

Reminded me of Atlas holding up the sky.

[Cloak]

Yeah, I was going for that. Anyway, here's the last chapter of the book.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
JPEGs and Mistakes

It was dusk by the time they returned. Cloak was sure there was a celebration, but he retired to his thread as soon as Shadow returned to her home in the Nexus, a place where Cloak believed that he would never fit in.

Sooon, the Forum winded down, with only the RAFians who did not sleep or.were more comfortable at night came out and about. Only they didn't knos that they were being watched . . .

The first figure in shadow spoke, "Now is the time for all good little RAFians to be safely tucked into their beds."

The second said, "I wouldn't mind being tucked in. I'm exhausted."

"Would you stop complaining?!"

"But Ozzie, I'm tired! And hungry! Couldn't I have an itty bitty green bedtime snapshot?"

"NO! Can't you see I'm trying to wean you off that stuff?!?! From now on, you've got to think, feel, and breathe only one format: JPEGs.

When I wake up firsting I do --
JPEGs --
Is to look around for someone to view.
Exactly!
Feeding myself is very, very tricky,
Because, you see, I'm ridiculously picky!
JPEGs!"

"'Scuse me?"

"This paparazzo won't settle for the dregs.
I'll borrow, I'll beg,
Why, I'll even kiss you -- "

"Kiss me??"

Ozzie's accomplice was thoroughly confused, but Ozzie continued:

"For my dear beloved dose . . .
Of JPEGs."

"I'm so hungry, I can't wait another minute.
Here's a little leaf with a beautiful stick in it.
Can't I have a taste? If I promise just to lick it?"

"Gut!!" Ozzie roared.

"What?!" It was evidently his partner's name.

"You imbecilic eater!
Great green globs couldn't possibly be sweeter
Than a pile of JPEGs!
For a great big scandal,
I am hoping!"

"Oh, look, I'm starving! I'm weak!
There is nothing in my tummy,
The moss on that tree is starting to look yummy."

"The colors and shapes and assorted sizes.
Gobble them all as Pulitzers!
Ecstasy!"

"Ozzie, what's the matter with a little vegetation?"

"I've had it UP TO HERE with this aggravation!"

"Can't I just have this piece of tree?"

"Why can't you be more like me?
You leaf-loving, bush-burping --"

"Now wait a minute!"

"-- Stem-smelling, garden-gorging, plant-popping, tree-tasting, dirt-devouring beast!
You've got to have JPEGs! Thrice a day, at least!"

Suddenly, the rocks they were hidden behind moved to obscure their view. Then stones erupted from the ground so thoroughly enclosing them that they seemed to be inside a Saiyan pod. Then they were tumbling roughly through the ground, still safely enclosed in their "pod". Then they reached their unwanted destination -- the base of the mountain, close by the city, with no idea how to get back up to the forum for their pictures.

Meanwhile, the orchestrator of this unintended trip was revealed when Cloak said, "Usually papparazzi try to be quieter and not call attention themselves.

***

Meanwhile, at the rubble of the castle, Anton's unmoving hand could be seen, with the rest of him still buried underneath the rubble. The hand twitched, first this way, then that. It withdrew into the rubble, and with a dull roar, Anton burst out of the rubble, battered and bruised. He was still his saurian self.

As incredible as his feat of essentially surviving a castle being dropped on him, he collapsed back upon the ground as his cuts bled out. He survived . . . only to die a slow, painful death. . . .

"Amazing," said a voice. "He's still alive."

Anton's eyes blurred, and he could not make out more than a rough silhouette of this newcomer. Whether it was the pain or the blood in his eyes, he couldn't tell. But what did she want with him? He was fairly sure that it was a "she", as her voice sounded effeminate.

"He may prove useful down the road, I must say," she was speaking in an appraising voice, as if Anton was a new coffee table or something. "I will take him."

"Wh-who are you?"

He never got an answer.

[Cloak]

New chapter, new book.

BOOK LXX:
CORRUPTION
CHAPTER ONE:
Dream Rhymes and the Meek Veleek

"Why should I believe you?" Cloak growled, starting down someone. "Everything you ever told me was a lie . . ."

"What are you going to do?" came the quivering voice. "You wouldn't kill your own mother?"

Cloak backed up, feeling thoroughly disgruntled. He stared down his ursine mother. Realm Walker genetics are far more unnecessarily complicated than that of Dwellers. "No, Mother. I'm not like you."

Cloak turned his back at his mother, and spoke without so much as turning his head around. "And I never will be."

Cloak thought it would make him feel better, but it just made him feel hollow. It was an empty victory. His mother and he were unable to ever reconcile, and it made Cloak sad, despite all the First Light-forsaken crap that she's put him through.

It took him a while to realize that his environment had suddenly become a paper-white void. That was odd, though it had happened only once before, when Shadow was with him. Suddenly, words in vibrant red and blue appeared before him:

The Son of Cataclysm revives,
None is safe whilst he survives.
His existence which was long denied.
Sired by whom he never complied.
By his touch, what isn't becomes that which is,
Love turns to hate, demons turned to bliss.
Strength comes from numbers, those who relied.
The only cure is when the healing heart applies.

"Oh Veil. Not another one." Cloak said, immediately realizing that this was little more than a dream. He immediately woke up, and laid in his bed, feeling thoroughly disgruntled. He spoke aloud, "You know, for someone who doesn't place stock in prophecies and things, I get an awful lot of them in my dreams."

Then he heard a scuffle outside and a monstrous roar. He recognized the species that roar belonged to. He rushed outside to see a moderately-sized Veleek swooping around Horse, who actually looked somewhat bored and unintimidated. Then again, she had been eaten by the Pootang numerous times, but she was always eaten whole.

It lunged! Horse easily dodged by diving into the lake. The Veleek was leery of the water, as it should be. Horse exploded from the lake, using her hydrokinesis to allow her to perform a Surf-like technique, though it looked like a tsunami. The tsunami grabbed the Veleek, and pulled into the water. It was defeated, as the fish within the water began to snap up the little bugs that made it up.

"Someone mind telling me how in the name of the First Light a VELEEK got in here?" Cloak said.

"Not really," Horse said, nonchalantly continuing to read her book.

Cloak facedpalmed. "Rotiart's turn for security detail?"

"On the nose," the seal said, without looking up from her book.

[Cloak]

If you're wondering, it was Malice who sent the Veleek. Yeah. She didn't think it through. And not only do I have new book ideas, but they're part of a new arc, that's currently unnamed.

• Book CCCLXXXVII: "Royal Flush Feud" -- The RAFians must deal with six groups of metahumans who all dress up as playing cards and feud with on another.
• Book CCCLXXXVIII: "Mechaniloids, Mavericks, Roboenza -- Oh, My!" -- The RAfians must deal with the Roboenza virus, then the Maverick virus.
• Book CCCLXXXIX: "The Bane of Faerie" -- The two RAFians must deal with two fairies -- a benevolent prankster and a malevolent sociopath. Much to Faerie's chagrin.
• Book CCCXC: "Azguard Zones Out" -- Delving more into Azgaurd's background.
• Book CCCXCI: "Such A Free Spirit" -- Three known foes merge, fuse, and intergrate permanently to go after a certain ten-year-old child.

New chapter. Bit short.

CHAPTER TWO:
The Son of Cataclysm

Deep within the Nexus, a dangerous Realm Walker was rising. He was waking for the first time in a very long time. His body felt so stiff and rigid, as if he was sleeping on a slab of stone for millenia. He blinked his sleepy, amber eyes as he sat up. He was not restrained, though when one considered just what he was capable of, this was a very poor decision made.

He stretched his short, stocky body with his fingers outstretched. His middle fingers were noticeably thinner and longer than the rest. When he yawned and smacked his lips it sounded almost as if he was saying, "Daubentonia."

He possessed copious amounts of thick hair with a tail almost as long as his body. On his head and back, the ends of the hair were tipped with white while the rest of his body was a brownish-black color. His large ears had a complex geometry of ridges on the inner surface of them, giving him heighten hearing.

He lift himself off the bed, if you could call it that, and he stood roughly four and a half feet tall or so. This size made him look rather less dangerous than he was. Because he was quite dangerous for he had a special power. A power no Realm Walker had ever possess before or after him.

And, yet, despite this fact, Cataclysm disowned him. He was embarrassed to have sired such a small child. Cataclysm equated his son's diminutive stature with his own insecurities about himself, as he was a Gigantopithecus and his son was an aye-aye. Such a powerful form to give rise to something that he saw as so insignificant. It was an embarrassment! A scandal! He slayed the boy's mother for daring to allow this humiliation to come to be, ignoring, of course, that she did have anything to do with it. Realm Walker forms aren't chosen, not by the parents nor the Realm Walker in question.

The boy didn't hold his father in any higher regard. His power did not work on him, but worked on everyone else. It never worked on his father, and he never found out why. He never would. But he hated his father as much as Cataclysm despised him. The boy -- well, he's a man now -- desired to prove that he was better than his father, could accomplish more than he could. All despite his size.

But the most shocking thing was how easily he escaped his crumbling, long-forgotten prison. How easily he procured a cloak. How easily he slipped into the Prime Universe.

Corruption was on the loose.