Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Termination Pause

"Permission to pursue?"

"Permission to engage?"

Silence met these words, as Cloak and Esty knew precisely what the Seekers were after. They both knew that the Seekers were seeming to become more intelligent. They had already intellectually surpassed . . . well, that joke can't be made with how litigious he* is.

"Acknowledged." they said in six-part harmony.

Three Seekers peeled off, tracking the RAFians back to the forum. The other three remained, and began to blast the star and the Realm Walker with emerald green energy blasts from on hand, and their other hands turned into bladed weaponry.

"Oh, this isn't good." Cloak said.

"Can't you just mechbend them?" Esty asked.

"They've to have metal in them for that," Cloak said. "It's kind of like metalbending in that aspect."

The battle started and the two held their own. They continued their conversation amiss the grunts and growls of battle.

"If they're not metal, then what are they?" Esty asked, blasting a Seeker with a concussive blast of stellar energy.

"Best guess? I'd say duraplastic. It is heat-resistant as well, so we cannot melt it."

"Then how'd she shape it into robot form?"

"Veil if I know." Cloak said. "But we have to get to those other three. You know where they're headed."

***

"Quick! Quick!" Cerulean insisted. "Everyone in!"

They hurried along, about ninety-five percent of the RAFians were back in the forum. Returning to the forum could be seen by many as a stupid idea, doubling back like this. But the rationale behind it was that the Seekers were robots, and they wouldn't expect something so illogical.

However, there was another reason for returning to the forum. . . .

Code 73.


***** ********.

[Cloak]

*wonders if he's posting too fast*

New chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Code Avalon

"That's everyone," Parker announced, "now what?"

"Activate Code Avalon," Richard commanded. "Quickly!"

The air seemed to ripple as the forcefield was generated. This stopped the Seekers in their tracks. Not because they were stymied by the forcefield, but because they had to await orders transmitted from Malice before proceeding.

"What if it doesn't hold?" Saffa asked.

"We need a contingency plan," Gaz said.

"There is one," Richard said. "But it will probably lose us all public support, if the public finds out."

"That serious?" Abby asked.

"There is a reason why Code 73 is never talked about." Richard said. Saffa and Abby had blank looks on their faces. They did not know what Code 73 was.

***

"Permission to pursue?" a Seeker asked Malice wirelessly.

Malice hesitated, wondering which option would be the most enjoyable for her. She weighed them very seriously, considering the entertainment value -- and vengeance value -- of each. Considered them very seriously.

"Not yet, Seeker 1," Malice said. "Let them squirm for a bit."

"Acknowledged." all six spoke in unison, as Malice sat back to watch events through the Seekers' eyes. The satisfied silence only lasted for a few minutes.

"Query." another Seeker said.

"What?" Malice said, in a threatening, yet toneless way. She wasn't expecting the Seekers to question anything. They were not suppose to question anything. They were to only have any sort of intellectual capability inside combat and battle, but nowhere else.

"Query withdrawn." the Seeker said. It was almost as if it were afraid of Malice. Afraid like a boy with an overbearing, abusive parent.

Malice did not acknowledge this response. She was considering what was happening. Her sentience-suppressing chip and software had evidently failed, and the Seekers were becoming more aware. They were developing feelings. Emotions.

This was very dangerous for her herself, she knew. Fortunately for her, Malice wasn't fool enough to fully depend on the software and chip. She had another, more painful, method for nipping this growing intellect in the bud.

She pulled out what appeared to be a black garage door opener with a broken yellow stripe, only with an antenna and a big, red button on it. She pressed it, causing all six Master Seekers to writhe in powerful electric shocks which had somehow killed their burgeoning minds -- it was a sentience killswitch, which only worked on these six Seekers.

[theyoungphoenix]

I'm here. I have to catch up with some reading, but I had a question when I was kinda browsing through the books, I saw that the book CCCLIII—The Phaetovor—had something to do with a ghost-eater. What kind of ghosts? Just like, in general? Because I know there's obviusly several different types of ghosts, especially in these books. Just a question I was wondering, and whether it would affect me, since this is after my trip to the GZ.

[Cloak]

Oh, my. You think you're going to the Ghost Zone. . . .

As for the phaetovore --

[spoiler]Saffa, don't hurt me. [spoiler]Of course, it'll affect you, Abby. [/spoiler][/spoiler]

[theyoungphoenix]

Cloakkkkkk. . .

That's going to be a VERY interesting book.

[Cloak]

And here are a few more.

• Book CDLXXV: "The Origin of the Plague" -- The RAFians come into conflicted with a race rumored to have had a hand in creating the Xenomorphic Brood.
• Book CDLXXVI: "Harnessing Powers" -- The Espheni  ("Overlords" ) implant devices to six special young people's spines, and it is up to the RAFians to rescue them.
• Book CDLXXVII: "Thousand Droch" -- An old enemy kicks off the Deep Seed sickness, though not precisely what you'd think.

Don't think that I rehashed any plots, but yeah. That's 477 book ideas, with only 72 actually written. Never thought that I was an ambitious person before Memoirs -- how I laugh that there was a time when I actually thought that I would run out of ideas. Kinda killed that notion. XD

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Joined Up

"Acknowledged."

The three Seekers broke off from the battle with Esty and Cloak. No reason given. Cloak saw the electricity lance around the three bodies. It looked painful . . . could the Seekers even feel pain? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of robotic soldiers, of mindless automatons? There was obviously more going on here than Cloak himself was privy to.

"Are they going where I think they're going?" Esty said.

"The forum. I don't doubt it." Cloak said.

"Wonderful." Estelore sighed. "These things are getting more and more annoying, I swear."

"Let's get going," Cloak said, proceeding after them. "The others would have Code Avalon up by now, but it isn't exactly the most reliable defense in the world."

"Still?" Esty said.

"Yes."

Cloak did not mention what was truly on his mind. To his knowledge, there was two ways of eliminating these Seekers and both of them were exceedingly dangerous. He could always subject them to the decloaking . . . encasing them in an energy barrier and taking off his cloak. While possible, he imagined Malice may have already concieved of a countermeasure to this.

The other possible way he could conceive was the taboo Code 73.

***

The two eventually stood before the forum, and saw that the six Seekers were just hovering in front of the dome that Code Avalon created. Just hovering there. Doing nothing.

"Why aren't . . . this is another one of Malice's idiosyncrasies, isn't it?" Esty said, with a sweeping low-powered stellar flare. She always liked to make an entrance.

"It wouldn't surprise me," Cloak said. "She would want to see us squirm, to see us writhe."

"Let's deny her that, then," Estelore said, just before they went to engage the six again.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Code 73

"Absolutely not," SuperNate said firmly. "That's out of the question."

"What other option is left to us?" Goom snapped. "Cloak and Esty cannot fight them forever. Neither are immune to fatigue! They will tire, they will wear down."

"What you ask is infinitely more dangerous!" Phoenix countered, on SuperNate's behalf. "It was meant as a last resort, Goom, and you know it."

<I'd say this certainly counts as a time for utilization of a last resort.> Russell argued back.

They were in the auditorium with the other RAFians, and Goom just proposed utilizing Code 73. It was a contingency code, for an enemy that they could not defeat. Only a few RAFians knew of it, since only veterans, RAFians who have been a member for a minimum of six months at the point of the rampages of Proteus and Syphoon. The rest of the RAFians were briefed on them -- the codes that were, more often than not, ignored and forgotten.

"Those codes were made without any real expectation of activating them, you know that!" Gaz protested. "Code 73 could just make everything worse!"

"Assuming that it even works," Guy said. "It was never tested thoroughly. It may not be temporary, and present another long-running problem, if permanent."

"There is no other option!" Parker said. "Estelore and Cloak are the only ones who have been proven to stand a chance against them. And when they fall to exhaustion, what then? Code Avalon isn't a defense that is impregnable, either. It will fall eventually, as well."

"What we have here is a rock and a hard place," Aquilai spoke thoughtfully, as he often did. "Each decision will have unforeseen consequences."

"You know what will happen, don't you?" Helen accused.

"No," Aquilai said, earnestly. It was with questionable honesty though.

"The longer we do not act," Dino said, "the longer our defenses diminish. Code 73 may lead to  further consequences, but so will inaction."

Richard looked old and weary in the momentary low light of the auditorium. Yarin had to reroute auxiliary power into Code Avalon. A decision needed to be made, and, either way, it was going to be an unpopular decision.

"We must," Richard said heavily, understanding all too well the potential backlash for it, "we must activate Code 73."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Cannonball!

"Richard, you cannot be --" Phoenix began.

"Phoenix, the ends justify the means," Richard said. "We need to be proactive. We must act. Inaction would not benefit anyone."

"You know what it entails." SuperNate said.

"I'm well aware of the consequences and potential fallout," the founder of RAF said heavily. He was shouldering a burden equal to Atlas himself. "If any negative consequence comes about from this, I will accept the responsibility."

It was clear the decision was not made lightly, and that it aged Richard, when he never seemed to age actually. The opposition let it drop, the air was heavy enough with this decision.

"Ash. Underseen. Rocklobster." Richard said, the weariness in his voice was heartwrenching. "We need you to collect the . . . er, the 'cannonball'."

"Why not just call it b--" Saffa said, but Richard interrupted her by saying, "Goom, Aquilai, and Yarin. You need to build the cannon."

"We don't have the necessary materials," Yarin pointed out.

"Don't be so sure!" Aquilai said, with a faltering air of optimism. "All we need is a little duct tape and fuse wire."

Aquilai waited a beat as he thought it over, before amending, "Okay, a lot duct tape."

***

"Okay," Esty said, as they battled the inert Seekers. "This ain't working."

"We cannot risk going full out. We might 'Goku vs. Superman' the Earth." Cloak said. Estelore did not seem to get Cloak's Death Battle reference. "If they're this durable while in this passive state . . . and with us pulling our punches . . . this might be an impossible endeavor."

"There is . . . always . . . Code 73." Estelore said, as the Seekers decided to be more proactive, and attack back.

"That . . . is . . . much too . . . dangerous!" Cloak said. The Elements Master got to the point where he considered another possibility as safer than Code 73 . . . no. No, decloaking was equally dangerous, if not more, than Code 73.

[Cloak]

Okay, I finished planning out the chapters to "Behind the Goomba", which is obviously Goom's backstory book, and I think it'll turn out okay. Chances are Goom will be the only RAFian in it, and I'm not tagging that a spoiler, because it's a bit self-evident.

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
One Shot!

"What is this?!" Malice demanded. Mauler did not flinch or react, but kept projecting the images coming from the Seekers. Malice was livid that the Seekers acted without her say-so, yet she had gave them the potential for independent thought. It was another anachronism with Malice. "I did not give authorization to engage!!"

Malice flipped out the garage-door-opener remote and pressed the big red button again and again viciously. Eventually, her wrath ebbed, and she pocketed the remote. She programmed the possibility of independent, complex thought, and yet she didn't want them to make decisions of their own. It was a contradiction that Malice was incapable of recognizing this. It wasn't exactly subtle.

Just one of Malice's many personality flaws.

***

Aquilai, Yarin, and Goom wheeled their creation out -- an impressive build given how much notice that they were given. It was nearly identical to the Mythbusters' build of a duct tape cannon with fuse wire, for firing purposes. It was only about fourtimes bigger.

But there were two transparent cylinders on the side that were obviously not brand new as they were growing opaque with age. They were filled a purplish-blue gas, which was one of Yarin's pet project.

Ash, Rocklobster, and Underseen were struggling with the "cannonball" -- the Pootang. They struggled to load it into the cannon. They didn't sedate it. That was, apparently, important. Unfortunately, Rocklobster's hardwired pacifism was working against them, as he was forbidden to hold Pootang against its will.

Somehow, they managed it, and the Pootang was in the cannon.

"This had better work." Ash muttered.

***

"What the --"

"Whoa!"

Both Esty and Cloak backed off and backed away when they saw the electricity lancing the Seekers' bodies. They immediately stopped acting in self-defense, and stood, hovering immobile.

"Malice?" Esty guessed, assuming the answer.

"Who else?" Cloak said. "She does have control issues, remember. The Seekers must have acted of their own accord."

"She didn't do that with the other versions." Esty pointed.

"She must not have cared as much about them," Cloak postulated.

"I wonder why," Esty said, examining the scene.

"Cannon fodder, possibly." Cloak said. "As a way to divine our weaknesses, I suppose."

"She's been scheming against us for these many months, and she still doesn't know?"

"She's not as smart or clever as she thinks herself to be."

[redtailedsaffa]

Wow, that was a whole week of way too much work. So glad to come back to some chapters at the end of it. This book is exciting!

[Cloak]

Glad to be of service. Sorry that I didn't post earlier, there was a little hiccup in my Internet.

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Fire!!

"I still have reservations whether this will work," Ash said.

"It has to work," Goom said.

"We're wasting time," Yarin said. "Pootang's thrashing could tear up the cannon. Rocky's deception won't fool it very much longer."

Rocklobster had created a hologram of Horse inexplicably climbing into cannon, and the Pootang went hurtling in. Now, it was beginning to suspect the deception.

"Fire!" Aquilai said. "But drop Code Avalon first!"

***

"Let's get back into the bat--" Cloak began.

"What's that?" Esty said, noticing that the Code Avalon fell briefly. "Oh, don't tell me that they --"

"Do they have no faith in us?" Cloak wondered. "Code 73 is much too dangerous! The potential destructiveness has never been thoroughly assessed!!"

The two watched as a purplish-blue streak headed straight for the Seekers. The Pootang didn't look the same -- it was changing. It was . . . no. Cloak didn't want to believe it. He didn't was possible.

But it was. It was all too possible. The Pootang, within this purplish-blue light, formed from what Yarin called his Ultima Gas. That's "ultima", not "ultimate" -- like it matters. Within the Gas, the Pootang's form changed. It retained its natural rabid attribute and very sharp fangs, but its fur coat darkened to a dark orange color, its cheeks changed into yellow. Its tail elongated into kangaroo rat proportions as its paws took on a more rounded form. The Pootang just went from a rabid Pikachu into a rabid Raichu. It was Ultimate Pootang now.

"Don't they realize how this could possibly be permanent?" Cloak said aghast. "Don't they realize the risks they're taking?!"

[Cloak]

New, shortish chapter. One more to go before the next book.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
A Surprising Conclusion

Ultimate Pootang was a terror.

It ripped through the Seekers as if they were tissue paper. After all, it did not possess any qualms about using its abilities to their fullest, like Esty and Cloak. It had unprecedented viciousness and unrelenting savagery, which the Seekers found out first hand.

Cloak could almost hear Malice's sfreams of mixed fury and indignation. She had not expected such a contingency plan, he knew. She frequently underestimated what her opponents are capable of, and, as such, her schemes frequently failed.

Estelore and Cloak were frozen in awe at the sheer brutality of the beast. It was unrestrained by tact, unfettered by morality, and was just a sheer force of nature. The Seekers were reduced to useless shrapnel, even unable to regenerate to save themselves.

But this left another problem . . .

"Uh, now what?" Estelore said, rhetorically.

"Why even ask? You know what we have to do now." Cloak said, as he enveloped the beast in an energy bubble, underestimating the powerful savagery of the beast. It busted through the energy barrier, much to Cloak's chagrin and humiliation.

"God, I hope this isn't permanent." Estelore said, very seriously. Normally, she would tease him endlessly about it, but she well understood the gravity of the situation. "Maybe there is a time limit?"

"When have you known a Raichu to devolve back to a Pikachu?" Cloak said. "That's Digimon. Or Mega Evolution."

The purplish-blue mist-aurora around Ultimate Pootang was dissipating bit-by-bit. But when it fully dissipated, the Pootang reverted back to its Pikachu's state. Cloak blinked in surprise, thinking this was too easy.

"What a remarkable cowinky-dink." Estelore smirked.

The Pootang passed out from exhaustion, and the star and the Elements Master took it back to the forum. Cloak still not trusting the ease of this solution. But there are times where things can happen in your favor, that things that happen will be ideal.

It just doesn't happen very often.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
Big-Lipped Alligator Dream*

After all that happened, Cloak and Estelore were not only enjoying some downtime, Kelly and Goom insisted upon it. They inisted that the two rest up, as they did use up a lot of energy themselves.

So, Cloak slept. And when he slept, he dreamed . . .

***

"Singing is the lowest form of communication." Parker said.

"Parker, you sing all the time." Helen said, working on some needlepoint.

"No, I don't," Parker protested. "I hate to rhyme!"

As the music started in earnest, Sharky sang:

"You like musicals, don't you, lad?"

Parker protested:

"No, I don't! I think they're bad!
They're fake and phony and totally wrong!"

Blue pointed out:

"Wake up, Parker, you're singing a song."

Parker continued to protest:

"I wouldn't!
I couldn't!
I hate that stuff!"

Helen put her needlepoint aside, and sang:

"Now, Parker, listen, I've had enough.
In Cloaky's parodies, I've plainly seen
You're a singing, dancing, entertainment machine."

She plays a montage of Parker RAF parodies, proving her point.

Rotiart sang:

"Helen was right.
Your singing's a sin.
You're as lame at singing
As that Martian, Marvin!"

Parker aimed his fusion cannon at Rotiart and Rotiart shrunk away from the SPARTAN. Helen shrugged as she sang:

"Sure, anyone's singing can make your hair curl,
But, you too, Rotiart, have sung and danced like a girl."

"Eep." Rotiart said.

A Rotiart medley played, though he wasn't really in all that many.**

Shadow sang:

"That was pretty bad, Rotiart.
But it could have been worse.
You could have been carrying
A sequined purse!"

Rotiart sang:

"I hate to dance, and prance and sing!
That is really more of a YouTube thing!"

Saffa sang sourly:

"I think you move like you have a leg lopped off."

A Master Seeker sang robotically:

"Nobody move or I'll blow your heads off!"

All the RAFians present vocalize, as the Seeker looks unemotional.

Horse sang:

"It's a desperate Seeker,
On the run from Malice."

Gaz sang:

"Please spare the children."

Wild sang:

"And let me smack you with my paw!"

The Seeker reacted with surprise.

"A singing forum?
It's worse then I feared.
For hostage-purposes,
You're just too weird!

Bye."

And it leaped from a window, and flew off.

Ellimist sang:

"See? All this singing scared it away.
If we just talked like normal, it'd probably stay."

Abby sang:

"Many people in this forum sing just we do.
There's Mr. Guy, there's Cloaky, and even E2. . . ."

The RAF parodies --"Who Needs the RAFy-Mart", "Send in the RAFians", and "See My Vest" --play. When they ended, the RAFians contjnued their song.

Gaz sang:

"Because she was singing,
We overheard her plan,
And could save those RAFians
From that mean woman."

Blue sang:

"It still wasn't worth her song and dance!"

The Seeker inexplicably reappeared:

"I'm back!  So resume wetting your pants!
Because of you all I've got a tune in my head,
And the only way to stop it is to make you all dead!"

Cloak muttered, "Ugh, I knew I should've shut that window."

The Seeker continued:

"Say your prayers, then it's kablamo!"

Its arm cannon clicked five times. It sung again:

"Uh oh!  I'll be back when I get some more ammo!

Bye!"

Faerie sang, fed up:

"Even the Seekers are begining to croon!"

Blocky was a bit more upbeat.

"Faerie, this whole forum runs on a tune!"

Yarin sang thoughtfully:

"The threads, the posts, and the mods too."

Underseen sang:

"RAF swings like a pendulum do!"

Richard sang:

"We can't even get any new rules passed
Without everyone singing like a big Broadway cast!"

The RAF parodies -- "Monorail" and "We Do" -- play.

Parker sang:

"Alright, guys,
You've convinced me.
There are more terrible things
Then extraneous things where
Everybody sings!"

Shadow sang:

"There is something worse
Than big singin' lugs!"

All sang:

"When a long-running dream sequence
Does shameless, cheesy plugs!"

The Seeker returned and aimed his arm cannon at the RAFians. He sang:

"I'm back to commit
Felonious assault.
Because your infernal singing
Just would not hault!"

"Actually, we're done." Cloak said. "This was a lucid dream, and I'm ready to wake up now."


*Nostalgia Critic reference!!

**None that I can think of offhand, though.

[redtailedsaffa]

Okay, a singing Seeker would be stretching it.

[Cloak]

I suppose. Although it was in Snake's part -- that was a song adaptation from the wrapsround on the Simpsons episode "All Singing, All Dancing".

New book, new chapter.

BOOK LXXIV:
A PLANTED IDEA
CHAPTER ONE:
Boys and Girls of RAF

Abby, Ash, Broken, Dameg, Esplin, Gaz, Helen, Jess, Parker, Phoenix, Saffa, Shock, Slushie Man, SuperNate, and Underseen were standing on opposites of the forum, and they sang.

"Sun goes down,
I'm just getting up.
I'm heading for RAF's lights!
Ready your blast,
We're goin' on to the board club.
Goin' rock this forum tonight!"

The girls sang:

"You're living in a man's world, they tell us,
But we aint buying it,
The things they are trying to sell us,
Now.
'Coz we're the girls of R-A-F!
Oooh-ooh!
Yeah, we'r the girls of R-A-F!
R-A-F!"

The boys sang:

"Oooh yeah!
We're back and I'm ready to go.
My guitar is in my hand!"

The girls yawned, unimpressed. But the boys continued:

"There's nothing more than I rather do
Than play in a RAFian band!
The acclaim we had before is what we will be given.
Headin' for the top!
Dontcha know?!
We'll never stop believin',
Now!
'Coz we're the boys of R-A-F!
Ya better believe it!
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
We're the boys of R-A-F!
R-A-F!"

The girls sang:

"We are the girls --
We are the girls --
We are the girls of R-A-F!"

The boys sang:

"We are the boys --
We are the boys --
We are the boys of R-A-F!"

Suddenly, random dancing ensues before the boys continue:

"'Coz we're the boys of R-A-F!"

The girls sang:

"Yeah, we're the girls of  R-A-F!
Better be believin' that we are --"

"Yeah, we're the boys of R-A-F!"

"We're the girls of R-A-F!"

"Yeah, we're the boys of R-A-F!"

"We're the girls of R-A-F!"

A few yards away, Cloak stood with Blue a little off to the side. Cloak sipped his drink, reading a newspaper, when Blue asked, "What's going on over there?"

"Oh, just another one of those 'battle of the sexes' you Dwellers are so fond of," Cloak said, not even lookingnup from thr newspaper.