Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter. Shortish chapter.

CHAPTER THREE:
Inexplicable Disappearances

"Your local bank is missing? Is this another attempt for a bailout?"

"Your pit bull is gone? Oh, sorry, your bulldog Pit is gone?"

"City hall has disappeared? You're the who? The mayor? Seriously?"

"There goes the neighborhood. What? The neighborhood is missing? That was supposed to be a joke!!"

The communications were a buzz with calls and reports of things vanishing without a trace or reason. Yarin, Aquilai, Aila, and Parker frantically attempted to answer all the calls coming in, but it was like a hydra. For each call they answered, two more came in.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

The four ignored the newcomer by sheer necessity, necessity to attempt to clear the lines. It wasn't easy, and no progress appeared to be made as the four's frantic flailing about to answer call after call. But the tide wasn't stemmed.

"Oh, why did we give out that toll-free number?" Aquilai said, ruefully, before answering another report -- a little girl's mother had vanished. They weren't in a position to act on it.

"Guys," Saffa said, tentatively, not sure what to make of the flurry of furious movement.

"Not now, Saffa --" Parker said, taking another call.

"I was just wondered why . . ." she glanced at the four's furious flurry of frenzied movement. She decided that was the answer she was seeking, as to why she was having difficulty placing a call from the phone at the mess hall. Her phone was out of juice at the moment.

She decided to pursue her line of questioning would be in ill taste. Why would she be griping about not being able to make a phone call when people are missing? She could never be that utterly selfish, her conscience would not leave her alone.

"Guys, here," she said. "Let me help."

[redtailedsaffa]

This is actually a job that I already know. For a big event we held last month, I had to call a whole lot of people who were coming from other colleges, and maintain communications between them.

What a painful job.

[Cloak]

Ah.

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOUR:
Alien Sightings

Cloak was back in his usual meditation spot, chosen for its peacefulness. Though he was given pause to wonder if the trees and flora still harbored murderous, mutinous desires. Then he told himself that such thoughts weren't helpful. They were being manipulated by Regifloras, these trees had no true mind of their own. Or did they?

His thoughts, though he had tried his very hardest to dissuade them, dwelled upon these issues. These excessive qualms and paranoid questions buzzed around his mind like angry Africanized bees. He continued trying to calm and soothe his mind, but it was just jot going to happen and Cloak was too stubborn to admit it.

He had defiantly closed his eyes, crossed his legs as he sat upon the earth, and the tip of his tail twitching in an involuntary, inconsolate, agitated manner. He would force his mind to calm, to relax. He stubbornly refused to acknowledge that it was a futile exercise.

Then a sound was carried on the wind, unable to be heard by human ears. Cloak did not possess human ears, and even to his acute hearing it was faint.

POWPOW! Zuuuuzuuup.

A delay of seconds.

POWPOW! Zuuuzuuup.

Cloak's eyes snapped open. He had recognized that sound, but hoped that they did not exist in this realm. He knew how much of a nuisance they could be.

"Polarisoids!" he muttered under his breath.

But he did not hear the sound again. Granted, it did not mean it didn't exist, but it allowed Cloak to convince himself that it was just his imagination. A Polarisoid tourist. That's the last thing that they would need right now.

***

There were reports of the alien, of the Polarisoid's presence. Of course, it wasn't hard to notice, as he did not bother to hide or conceal his obvious alien-ness. He just hefted his camera and read from his guide book.

Naturally, the authorities did not take the reports seriously. Despite the fact that the existence of aliens were not a foreign concept anymore, that it was verifiable fact, they chose to ignore it. Despite the fact that the reports describe this alien as the source of the disappearances, it was ignored.

But what can you expect from a government with a disturbing habit of supporting the rich, only being concerned with the 99% when election time rolls around.*


*Yes, this a slam at my own government, here in America. The thinly-veiled corruption really sickens me.

[redtailedsaffa]

Ah, good old government bashing. Perfectly justified.

PDF!

[Cloak]

Yep. I have already made crystal clear, in the narrative, how I see politicians. It is just a matter of time before they become corrupt.

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIVE:
First Contact

"Die, alien scum!" a Knight said, trying to bring his sword down upon Nina's head.

She deftly dodged it, with the surprising speed and agility that came from being a mutant turtle, but was still indignant. She replied, "I'm as alien as you are, bigot. I'm Earth-born, same as you."

"Lies!" said the Knight, whose face was hidden behind his helmet and mask. "You are subhuman!"

"I am not human at all," she replied, demurely tossing an ordinary-looking orb the size of a softball.

This perplexed the Knight, who clearly hadn't made it into their organization due to his immense brainpower. The fact was enforced when he was mesmerized when the ball emitted colors like that of a lava lamp. Nina just watched him passively, with an idle coyness, like kore of a cat than a turtle.

The Knight reached for the orb, and his hand closed over the device. But the moment that his hand did such, the orb exploded into a mass of microfilaments that wrapped around the Knight, forming a rather tight cocoon.

"An infusion of magic and technology," Nina said, with a breathy sigh. "Tough to mesh together, but doable."

Broken, Blue, Blaze, and Phoenix were dealing with their own Knights, one each. But the boys tended to be more straightforward with their Knight foes, even Blue. Broken saw Nina's trick ball, and frowned deeply. He didn't much care for technology and magic to mix, believing it to be unnecessarily volatile and temperamental. Blaze was fascinated, however. He was fascinated with the mechanics of such a device. Blue only cared if it got results, and Phoenix was indifferent.

But their battles were not private, and soon had a single bystander. And it was the last one that anyone would want to be one.

"Oh-hoo-hoo! A battle reenactment!"

The Polarisoid had stumbled upon the fight, which started when the Knights decided to attack the RAFians with really no provocation. The Knights saw them as aliens, and saw fit to see them slain.

At the Polarisoids words, all ten combatants stopped mid-fight, and looked at the Polarisoid. They gaped and gawked for more than a minute, unable to restrain their incredulity. Only Blue managed to overcome this surprise to say, "What is that th--"

But too late. The Polarisoid had already raised his camera to his enormous, protuberant left eye. It seemed to be going in slow-motion. The RAFians couldn't react in time. The Polarisoid's finger touched the button. He clicked it.

POWPOW! Zuuuuzuuup.

The RAFians and Knights were transmogrified into littlemore than an overlarge image wisp as all ten were sucked into the camera. There was no way to rationally explain it.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIX:
Shutter-Mugged

All was darkness.

All was stillness.

All was silent.

After a few moments which seemed like eons, the first grunts of life were heard as the ten were regaining consciousness. They began to stir as their eyes opened collectively, opening to a world of blurred colors. They soon solidified as their minds cleared.

"Wha . . . what happened?" Blue asked. Then he realized the Knights were still present, and immediately got to his eyeing the five Knights warily, while taking stock of their surroundings, as Nina followed suit shortly after. They appeared to be on the same street they were on before -- before that creature interrupted their battle.

As the others got to their feet, Blue and Nina continued to scan the environment. It was very subtle, but there was something different. It was incredibly subtle, but the RAFians couldn't put their fingers on it.

"Communications are out," Phoenix said, checking his quickly before holstering it.

"Something's . . . something's wrong here," Broken said, scrutinizing their environment.

"Yeah! You . . . you monsters still live!!" one of the Knights snarled.

"Oh, yeah, we have time for this," Blaze sighed, as Broken realized what was off.

"It's like a backdrop," he said.

"What?" Phoenix asked at once.

"Don't ignore us!!" another Knight shouted.

"The background there. It's nothing more than an uber-realistic backdrop. The differences are INCREDIBLY subtle, but they are there." Broken said, not paying the Knights any mind. "We're not where we were."

"You mean we're inside his camera?" Blaze said, with a scoff of disbelief in his voice. "That is ludicrous."

"You're ignoring us!" the first Knight whined while trying to sound like he wasn't whining.

"So says the angel/djinn hybrid," Blue pointed out, completely disregarding the Knight.

"I'll make you PAY ATTENTION to us!!!" one of the Knights screamed. It was the one built like a linebacker, but the maturity level of a preschooler. He gave a roaring scream (which would make one think he was attempting to go Super Saiyan) as made a football player's shoulder tackle toward Blue.

Blue deftly stood aside, right at the last minute, completely unintimidated. Instead of cracking his head on the nearby building, the Knight seemingly ripped through reality, leaving a gaping hole of blackness. It was as if the Knight ripped into the canvas or scrim of a backdrop, so Broken's analogy was apt.

[Cloak]

New book ideas . . .

• Book CDXCII: "The Hunters of Orion and Artemis" -- The RAFians get caught in the middle of a battle of the sexes between the Hunters of Orion and the Hunters of Artemis.
• Book CDXCIII: "Attack of the Kraangoids" -- The Kraang invade with their perfected mutagenic ooze.
• Book CDXCIV: "Manifestation Transference" -- The RAFians must deal with odd manifestations of themselves which consists of all the qualities and aspects that they despise about themselves.
• Book CDXCV: "Ragtag" -- The RAFians must fight a man called Ragtag, who can deactivate, reactivate, and bestow powers. This doesn't affect the abilities inherent to one's species.

Don't think I rehashed anything. All titles are subject to change.

New, shortish chapter.

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Tearing Through the Album

"Marik!" one of the Knights cried as he with his other four stooges followed their cretinous comrade into the hole. "Hold on, we're coming!"

There was a beat of silence amongst the RAFians.

"Do we go after them?" Nina asked.

"I don't really see what damage they could do," Phoenix said pensively. "With the tearaway backdrops, and such."

"Have you forgotten the reports of missing people and animals?" Blue said, standing with arms folded. "Like how we presumably have disappeared?"

"Ooooh boy," Broken said, facepalming, having already deduced what Blue was suggesting.

"Are you saying what I thinking?" Blaze said.

"C'mon then, you pansies," Nina teased. She leaped into the gap, into the hole without hesitation. The others followed her, albeit more reluctantly.

From there, it was like a game of "Portal", only without the gun or the puzzles. Okay -- it was like a crappy game of "Portal". They flitted through the photo album, chasing the Knights.

"It really doesn't make sense, any of this," Blaze said.

"Since when has anything, really?" Broken asked.

[redtailedsaffa]

Another Blood of Olympus inspired title! How much have you read, really?

[Cloak]

All of it.

Dunno if I'm gonna post another chapter today. I'm feeling pretty angry. Apparently, now it's "backtalk" to be unhappy with your administrator speaking to you as if you're a child.  Now it's only a question of whether I'll quit or I'll be fired, I bet. I may just let them fire me so I can get unemployment while I search for another job.

All in all, a less than stellar day. . . . *rubs temples*

I swear of I see that some 1%er dies, I won't be shedding a tear. I'm seriously tired of working my a$s off just some high muckety-muck can get a bonus or something. Executives make far too much already.

Yessss . . . just a few more views and we overtake the "Post Pictures of Yourself" thread for most views. . . .

Anyway . . . new chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Polarisoid Profiling

"Can't you guys clear the lines?" Genies asked wanely, addressing the five in communications. "We haven't heard back from Blue, Broken, and 'em."

"Why not try the communicators?" Cloak asked, stopping.

"They're not responding. We can't even get a lock on them. They must have been destroyed." Genies summed up. Cloak's heart dropped slightly, but he still held out hope that he was mistaken. Genies continued, "Well?"

Saffa cupped her hand over the receiver, and said, "We're trying, Steph. People, their things, and landmarks are still disappearing."

"Disappearing?" Cloak said, at once, before Genies could answer.

"Yes," Saffa said, before returning to her call.

This shattered Cloak's hope he was wrong. "Finish as many calls as you five can. We need to call a meeting."

"Why?" Genies said, as if she thought this was a bit of an overreaction.

"I have a hypothesis," Cloak said. "I have an idea of the creature we're up again."

"Huh? What creature?"

"I'll tell you with the others." Cloak said, sweeping from the room in a way Severus Snape would have been proud.

***

"Polarisoids," Cloak said, standing on the stage. He had to ignore his dislike of the spotlight in order to do this. "That's what's causing these disappearances."

A holographic image of the goofy-looking alien appeared behind him. He heard the snickers of disbelief, the raised eyebrows. The heckling.

"Have you read the entry in the database?" Cloak asked.

Suddenly, the jeering had ended. Granted, the veteran RAFians had refrained from such childish heckling, but it did not make the sudden silence any less jarring.

"I thought not." Cloak said, voice carrying. "The Polarisoids are not inherently malevolent. They are inherently obnoxious, though in a naive way. They just want to vacation on different planets."

"So," Parker said, "they're tourists."

"What will they do, take pictures of us?" Rotiart said scornfully.

"Yes." Cloak said simply. The silence was somehow deeper than before. Cloak waited a few seconds to let the point sink in. "But a Polarisoid camera doesn't work in the way you believe. They just don't take pictures. They suck the objects that they take the picture of. They don't see anything wrong in this, for some reason."

". . . You're kidding." Abby said.

"No," Cloak said, "I'm not."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINE:
Shutterbug Stupidity

There was one other attribute to Polarisoids that Cloak had forgotten, and thus neglected to mention. But it will soon become quite evident what this rather significant flaw is.

The Polarisoid tourist just happened to come across Malice*, with Mauler at her shoulder. As always, Mauler's face was slack and inscrutable, eyes rather vacant and robotic. Malice, however, was like a cloaked version of Hama, were she an anthropomorphized Tasmanian devil. Yet she affected a meeker stance, and more wizened behavior to her newly stooped stride, when in truth she was not nearly as weak and frail. It wasn't a really necessary ploy, though she sold it well.

"Excuse me, dearie," she said, affecting a more elderly, frail tone. "Might you tell me what it is you have there?"

"Oh," the Polarisoid chuckled, clearly easily flattered, "its just my new, state-of-the-art camera!"

"Oh, wow!" Malice said, affecting a impressed tone, though to anyone who knew her it would have been clear that she was faking it. She was well aware of this type of camera, snd what it could do. "Say, you're not from around here, are you?"

It was a bit sloppy on Malice's part to bring that up so quickly. But the Polarisoid wasn't suspicious. Wasn't suspicious of the fact that Malice and Mauler did not flee from him in a panic (mostly because they saw what his camera could do, not the fact that he was alien -- most people got along none-Terrans nowadays, and some non-Terrans actually chose to continue to disguise themselves, but it is more like for cosplay or furries).

Malice played her role as an old spinster rather credibly though, and completely fooled this poor sap. Not that it was very hard to fool a Polarisoid.

"No, no! I'm just visiting. Vacationing a tad." he said.

"Taking a lot of pictures?"

"Oh-hoo-hoo yes! That's what a tourist does!"

"Are you in any?"

"Oh, no," the Polarisoid said, jovially. "I never thought of taking my own picture of my vacations!"

"Well, I will take your picture for you," Malice said, with a shrug. She sounded as if she just wanted to be helpful, and the Polarisoid never guessed that there could be ulterior motive behind it. Poor, poor fool. "If you want."

"Oh! I never get pictures of me on vacation!" the Polarisoid said exuberantly. He handed Malice the camera as he said, "Here."

Then he smiled as he posed in front of it. Malice, hiding her excitement expertly, aimed the camera at the Polarisoid and smiled broadly as she clicked the button.

POWPOW! Zuuuuzuuup.


*Oh, c'mon. You knew she'd show up sooner or later.

[redtailedsaffa]

Wow. Real smart.

[Cloak]

I did said that they were naive. Obnoxious, but naive.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TEN:
Coming to the Rescue

"So," Richard said, "what do we do about it?"

"I have an idea," Cloak said, "but the risks are my burden to shoulder alone."

Richard gazed at Cloak, his face heavily lined, but other than that, it was inscrutable. He sighed heavily, "I trust you, Cloak. Do what you have to do."

"There is just one more thing, though," Cloak said. "Hate to put you guys on the spot here, but did you install that new update for Code Avalon?"

<Yes,> Russell said, <but why is it so necessary?>

"I'm hoping that it would protect the forum from the Polarisoid camera," Cloak said.

"But you don't know for a fact," Rotiart accused.

"No. I don't." Cloak said. "But enough delay. Let's get our people back."

"But you don't know if they're even in the camera!" Rotiart shot.

Cloak said nothing, having already swept from the auditorium before Rotiart even spoke.

***

"Does your mother know you're here?" Cloak asked.

"Yes, of course." Shadow said.

"Don't you have homework?" Cloak said.

"It's the weekend." Shadow answered easily. "Don't worry so much, Uncle."

Cloak said nothing more.

"So what are we doing?" Shadow said brightly.

Cloak was about to answer, when they came across Mauler and Malice, rather serendipitously. Malice took notice of them, and elated at such an easy way to both eliminate the thorn in her side (disregarding the boredom she'd feel if she succeeded), and another use for her new toy.

Cloak hadn't expected it to be this easy.

"Don't fear, Shadow. Let happen." Cloak said, subtly.

"Giving up already? I have changed the camera to the disintegrator setting," Malice, unaware what she really did was reset it, forcing the RAFians and Knights back into their original picture, undoing the damage to it. "Now, prepare to die inside the camera."

The two Realm Walkers didn't move, they just allowed what came next to come.

POWPOW! Zuuuuzuuup.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Forgotten Detail

"Any reason you wanted us to get suck into a camera?" Shadow asked, shaking herself off. It may have felt instantaneous to the Dwellers, but the Realm Walkers felt the exceedingly uncomfortable constricting feeling. Of course, it could have stemmed from the fact Realm Walkers, as a species, despise being confined, being constricted.

"Five." Cloak said. "Blue. Blaze. Broken. Phoenix. Nina."

"How are we supposed to get them out?"

"We're just gonna Walk them out."

"What?" Shadow said, surprised. "Uncle, there are five of them."

"I'm aware, Shadow. Remember I just told you that."

"Uncle, I think that you overlooked some--" Shadow began.

"Cloak!" Nina shouted, addressing the Realm Walker. "He got you too?"

The other four came over to join the trio.

"By our own volition," Cloak said.

"What?" Blue said, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"We can Walk you guys out." Cloak said.

"No, we can't." Shadow said, asserting herself. "Uncle, you're overlooking something very important. We can only Walk out two of them. Each."

Cloak was flabbergasted and appalled of how he could forget such a crucial criteria. He felt ashamed with himself, which was a bit extreme of him at this point. He felt bad that he clearly hadn't thought this out as well as he thought.

"Besides, Uncle, it wouldn't be so much as Walking as Stepping," Shadow said, thoughtfully.

"Semantics," Cloak shrugged.

"What about the Knights?" Nina asked.

"What about them?" Blaze said, crassly.

"We can't just leave them behind," Nina said. "They didn't ask to be here anymore than we did."

A ponderous silence greeted these words.

[redtailedsaffa]

Ooh. Interesting moral and technical dilemma. I like.

[Cloak]

Yep. I think by now it's safe to say that this book is somewhat loosely based on an episode of the 80s TMNT. I would say the episode in question, but it might give away the ending. Probably not, but eh.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
A Small Sacrifice

"You must take four of us out, then." Phoenix said. "Collect the camera. Then come back for the rest of us."

"But what about --"

"The Knight and us are not the only ones in here, Nina. Don't forget that all those disapearance that happened before the ten of us came in here." Phoenix said, then turned to address the Realm Walkers once more. "Take Blaze, Broken, Blue and Nina. I will stay here, with the rest."

"Phoenix, are you sure about this?" Broken asked.

"I am." he replied. "Go on, before I have a chance to change mind about it."

Cloak locked elbows with Blue and Nina, while Shadow locked elbows (as well as she could due to the size differential) with Broken and Blaze.  They Walked away.

***

Normally, when a Realm Walker Walks into a realm, it appears as if a person diving in a pool, it could be smooth and unnoticed (usually by experience) or a spectacle with reality bubbling around them, as if someone fell into a pool. There is only a sound, like a crack or a pop, for someone inexperienced with Walking, or just sloppy.

This wasn't like that. Not exactly. It felt as if it took longer getting into the camera than back out. The six -- yes, Shadow too -- quickly appraised and scrutinized their surroundings. Malice hadn't gotten far, she still held the camera.

Cloak, Blue, and Nina were further away from the camera than Shadow, Broken and Blaze. Cloak had overshot his Walking distance a bit. He was never good at absolutely pinpointing his Walking destination, which was actually more difficult than you may think.

Malice wore a look of surprise while her servant, Mauler, kept his face expressionless and his eyes were empty and blank. Malice, as she usually does, forgot to factor in the possibility of Walking out of what could only be described as a "pocket realm" or "pocket dimension".

Malice's eyes narrowed to slits, "How did you --"

"Hand over the Polarisoid camera, Malice."

"No."

"Give me the thing."

"No!"

"Give me the camera."

"Pffft!" Malice, nlowing a raspberry.*

"Wow," Nina said. "That was mature."


*Homage to "Team Four Star's Dragonball Z Kai Abridged 2".