Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Flipping through some of the old books, forgotten some of the old jokes. Still give me a laugh. I want to read all of them to my writing class now. But that would take a while -- and it's only an hour and half class.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER NINE:
ENOUGH!!!

"You are weak!!!" Rusty insisted, making him sound like he had the maturity of a toddler that was unable to get their way. "You are pathetic!"

"First Light, it's like talking to a brick wall with you. Only the brick wall would see reason sooner," Cloak sighed. "Oliver -- I do not know how you could hold such juvenile, black-and-white beliefs at your age. There is more to life than strength and weakness, between being powerful and powerless. You're suppose to learn this as you grow, but you've allowed yourself to stagnate in the mire of your bitterne--"

"THERE HE IS!!! GET HIM!! DO YOU HEAR ME?! KILL -- er -- GET HIM!!" shouted a snobbish, drawling voice. Cloak did not know the owner, but just by the way he spoke, he knew he wasn't gonna like him. "AVENGE MY BIRTHDAY PORSCHE!!"

Cloak turned and glanced out of his left eye at the rather stubby teenager who clearly has never known a day's hard labor, much less an hour. Cloak really didn't like those 1% moochers, like this boy or, presumably, his parents. He most certainly has an ego problem.

"Do as I say, peasant!"

Cloak narrowed his eyes at the rich boy, and flicked his wrist in a go away gesture, which sent out a gust of wind (which he sent out deliberately) which was forcefull enough to cause the pathetic rich boy to fall on his keister in a rather humiliating way. After this distraction, Cloak turned his attention back to Oliver to duscover that he was trying to use the distraction to escape and continue his rampage.

"Get back over here!" Cloak exclaimed, now his sense trained on catching Rusy Oliver. He was a deer being pursued by a tiger. Cloak inevitably caught up with him, and overtook him.

"You won't kill me," he said.

"No one said anything about killing you. You're jumping to conclusions -- and it's a little early in the battle to come down to that." Cloak said.

"Then you'll let me go?" Rusty asked naively.

"Who said anything about that?" Cloak said, coldly. "You endangered lives with that scaffolding. You very well may have caused a dual murder. You must be held accountable for your actions, Oliver! You cannot get off scot-free for such things, Rusty."

"I -- I didn't do anything wrong," he said.

Cloak eyed Rusty curiously. He was acting meek again, not laughing like a megalomaniacal psychopath. Something was not on the up and up here. . . . Cloak was suspecting that Rusty may have a touch of bipolar, but hhe didn't know enough about it to be completely su--

"Die!" Rusty cried all of a sudden, making the meekness he appeared to suffer seem like nothing but a cruel ruse. Rusty fired the corroder, not at Cloak, but at the fire escape above him. But it was stable enough not to immediate collapse, giving Cloak enough time to devise a way to prevent any bystander casualties.

Cloak had managed to deal with that problem, but he really got fed up with this guy. Even Rusty's lame disguise had deteriorated, and his face -- looking like an older Rupert Grint merged with David Tennent -- was exposed. The Realm Walker was really getting P.o.'d about this.

Cloak reached out and and felt the metal within the corroder itself, and he crumbled it like tinfoil. The corroder was gone and useless now. But yet, it gave Cloak an uneasy, unsettled feeling -- it was too easy, Rusty's reaction too calm and dismissive.

[redtailedsaffa]

The microwave has stuck through though.

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER TEN:
Oh, Wonderful!

Cloak was immediate suspicious. It could have been simply his paranoia or his jaded disposition, but something about Rusty Oliver taking it this well . . . too well.

"Oh no," Rusty said, unconvincingly, "my corroder."

Cloak narrowed his eyes, his body still as a hunting tiger. His tail tip twitched and flicked, as his gaze remained on Rusty Oliver. Cloak didn't buy it. He knew Rusty had something else up his sleeve, possibly another corroder. But there information told them that there was only one corroder.

And yet . . . Rusy's cavalier attitude seemed to suggest something else. Like he had something else planned, like --

"First Light." Cloak said. "You have another corroder, don't you, Oliver?"

Rusty smiled maliciously, as he pulled out a narrow-barrelled pistol rather like a handgun-sized "Noisy Cricket" from "Men in Black". "Oh, no, pally. Sadly, that is gone. But I'm not so stupid to have a single weapon. Meet the atomic disorganizer, or a.d., for short."

"Atomic disorganizer, eh?" Cloak said. Cloak had an idea what it did, but he didn't know if it was relegated to just metal, or not. He knew that it was a dangerous item, much too dangerous, especially in Oliver's undtable hands.

He leveled it at Cloak, who wasn't sure he could redirect the blast, because he could already feel the energy that it generated was different. Oliver fired the blast, and it wasn't as massive as you would think. A pinprick light blue spark of energy flew from the gun, with such remarkable speed that even Cloak didn't have the reaction time to dodge.

But, then again, Cloak wasn't even the target.

The spark of energy went within a nearby parked Prius a very ugly shade of lime green, and the metal within it, instead of rusting, melted into a molten, gelatinous goo. Fortunately, the car was unoccupied. Cloak looked round at Oliver, who wore a look of insane ecstasy. Cloak was not so much as disgusted as he was unable to fathom this human's thought processes.

How can such destruction, such mayhem, such chaos be so desirable to anyone? Even Malice would have some reservations about this . . . or have more finesse about it. But she didn't do anything that she didn't find entertaining, as screwed up as her sense of entertainment was. How could anyone find what Rusty was doing entertaining.

A second shot, a second car.

Rusty was close to laughing in a crazily giddy manner, like a little kid pulling what they consider a masterful prank that no one else considers funny.

"What," Cloak said, unable to keep the disgust from his voice, "is wrong with you?"

[redtailedsaffa]

I don't think Malice had anything to do with this guy?

[Cloak]

Nope. Malice won't be showing up for a while yet.

Sorry for not posting any new chapters, other than the one, yesterday. My friend let me borrow his Gameboy Color to play Pokemon TCG for GB, and it's proven rather addictive.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Reinforcements

Another blast. Bye-bye, parked SUV.

"Oh, this'll be great PR, right here, " Cloak grumbled.

He couldn't even ferrokinetically crush the blasted thing. As far as he could tell, it was solely made of durable plastic, not the cheap stuff. Cloak wasn't sure how he could get the weapon without harming the psychotic man. But there was looking like there was little option.

"Whoa, what'd we miss?" Gaz said, seeing the congealed slag that were cars moments before. Shadow, Gaz, Laserbeak, Dino, Blaze, Blue, and Underseen had come as reinforcements. Cloak, despite himself, rankled at the perceived implication that he could not handle someone like Oliver by himself.

Then again, Oliver did turn three cars into molten jello before they arrived. . . .

"Oliver has a thing against cars," Cloak said. He was unable to keep his hurt pride from his voice, but no one called him out on it. After all, they weren't as obnoxious as Rotiart. "Don't ask me why."

Suddenly, a spark shot from the gun -- the "gooifier", as Oliver had called it -- barely cleared Cloak's right shoulder and neck. It hit the brick of the building several feet behind him. Since it wasn't metal, it wasn't affected.

"Oh, yeah, it only affects metal, apparently." Cloak said.

"Metal? Laserbeak, go back to the forum." Gaz said, at once. But Laserbeak squawked in protest. "NOW, Beaky!"

The Cybertronian bird didn't like this one bit, and squawked obstinately.

"This isn't up for debate!" Gaz said, firmly. "Now, GO!!"

Laserbeak didn't go without a fight, and he did not go willingly. Of course, this made him a target . . .

[redtailedsaffa]

Noooooooo!!

[Cloak]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Saffa. Nothing's happened to Laserbeak. Yet.

Anyway, new book ideas!!

• Book DV: "Echidna's Children" -- The RAFians must face Echidna's most recent brood.
• Book DVI: "Typhoeus's Tantrum" -- Typhoeus goes on a rampage, and guess who has to stop the mega-giant?
• Book DVII: "Land Grab" -- An oligarchy tries to seize RAFian land. This leaves them with only one peaceful option.

There. Don't think I rehashed anything. Remember, titles are, as always, subject to change.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Loss

Oliver watched the robotic bird began to fly away, and a devilish smile of pure maliciousness flited across his face. He took the gun and took aim, then fired it, in one fluid movement. His aim was dead on. If it connected, Laserbeak would be a gelatinous slag -- at least all the metal components.

And it would have connected, were it not for Blaze.

He had took flight, unsheathed the very sword (the blade of which glowed green with a hint of red) that Cloak had given him (and of which Blaze was so partial). Blaze had gotten faster than he was during the whole Richard's Horn episode, which was satisfying, actually. He managed to intercept the blast with the sword, which he deflect to the tip of the blade.

"Too bad," Blaze said, a gloating smile beginning to blossom upon his face. Then his sword felt inexplicably light. Too light. He looked down and was heart broken to see that the blade of his sword was . . . was dripping! The blade didn't exist anymore, and held just and empty hilt. There was smoke of an indescribable, unnatural color curling away from the spot were the sword's blade and its hilt met. Blaze cherished the sword because it fit him to a tee, it was part of his identity, and now it was gone -- mostly. "M-m-my sword . . . it w-was Walker tech, though. How --?"

"The tech wasn't the sword itself," Cloak said. "The tech was imbued in the metal, which is now swiftly evaporating away from it."

"B-but my . . ." Blaze said, his voice sounded like a glass smashed from the top of a forty-story building.

"Gone," Cloak said, as understanding as he could, given the circumstances.

"I-It can't be."

Great. Blaze was in denial. They really didn't have time for this, as Rusty had recovered and was eyeing Laserbeak, who did not listen to Gaz fully and was circling about a mile above. That Cybertronian bird was just too overprotective of Gaz. He freely ignored that he himself was in far more danger than Gaz was.

"BEAKY!!! LASERBEAK! You must go back! You must!!" Gaz impored. "You are in DANGER here, Beaky!!"

Suddenly it was like a vacuum had simultaneously sucked out all the sound, and everything was slowed down to the point that every microsecond was a minute long. It seemed like someone decided to go through this whole thing frame-by-frame.

Rusty took aim again and shot before anyone, even Cloak, could react, having been distracted by Blaze's denial of his wrecked sword. The pulse of light, the the small burst of light blue energy, was already in flight, accelerating towards its intended target.

"BEAKY, LOOK OUT!!!" Gaz shrieked with a heartwrenching scream.

[redtailedsaffa]

*eats fingernails*

[Cloak]

Yeah, there's gonna be more of that.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Beaky Comes Out Ahead

The shot hit its mark.

"BEAKY!!!!" Gaz shrieked like a wounded animal.

Blaze had tried to fly to intercept, but he had reacted to slowly. He had managed to catch the avian Cybertronian's head, which did not suffer the fate of his body, having detatched somehow. But Laserbeak's body was molten, gelatinous slag now. He was in serious condition.

But he was not dead.

He still lived throuh his head alone. Mechanical beings tend to be resilient like that. But Gaz didn't realize this. She thought Laserbeak was dead, as she collapsed to her knees and cried openly. Her body wracked with each convulsive sob.

But it didn't take long for that grief and espair she felt to putrify into open hostility and burning hatred for Rusty Oliver. Cloak easily recognized this, and even he could barely hold her back, from tearing at the human with her bare hands. Somehow her face narrowed, her fangs became more prominent and there was something of a red glow in her eyes. Cloak swore silently that this was like the Buffyverse -- which he actually briefly visited once or twice.

"Gaz --"

"Get out of my way, Cloak!!" Gaz snarled. It sounded rather inhuman to Cloak's feline sensibilities, but he was not frightened or intimidated. "That . . . that . . . that MONSTER killed my beloved Beaky! I'll kill him!!"

Rusty had enough sense to get out of dodge, which infuriated Gaz all the more.

"LEMME GO, CLOAK!!! LEMME GO!!!" Gaz shrieked hysterically. "HE'S GETTING AWAY!!! HE KILLED BEAKY, AND HE'S GETTING AWAY!!!"

"He didn't kill Laserbeak," Blaze said. He resisted making an "ahead" joke, as it would be tactless to Gaz's obvious emotional distress. "His head survives."

"Shadow, Blaze. Take Gaz and -- and Laserbeak back to the forum. The rest of us will find Rusty." Cloak said, decisively. He bent over and whispered to neice, "Watch over her."

[Gaz]

My baby!

[redtailedsaffa]

:'( :'(

[Cloak]

Hey, overprotectiveness isn't always a good thing.

I may have to revise an earlier statement, as I overlooked something in the upcoming chapters that I denied before.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
We Can Rebuild Him

As the three left, with Gaz gently cradling Laserbeaks's head in her hands, Cloak and the others started to the furious search for Rusty in earnest. This had to end. It had to end, and end now.

He could not escape Dino's notice, and Dino coukd be intimidating without even trying, being a dinosaur. And he could easily be noticed by Cloak, Underseen, and Blue without him being the wiser. Blue's ninja training was basically based around the very idea of seeing without being seen. Underseen's shapeshifting and his sheer prowess at the ability made every sparrow, rat, and ****roach a possible betrayer. Cloak's Earthsight is unescapable in a city -- at least, before rush hour.

There was no escape for Rusty, and one would think that he'd have enough sense to NOT call attention to himself. But, for some reason, this didn't seem to occur to him, as he decided that as soon as he was out of immediate danger, to go back to carving out another swarth of destruction. Liquefying metal left, right, and center.

"What is wrong with him?" Dino wondered aloud, as the RAFians closed in, as Rusty continued his demented lust for destruction.

Cloak suddenly wondered . . .

***

"Don't worry, Gaz." Yarin said. "We successfully made a de-corroder, and we most xertainly can rebuild Laserbeak. Stronger, faster, with a brand new array of armaments."

Gaz was unresponsive. She was emotionally drained. She still felt numb, though not really depressed. Shadow stayed by her side, offering her the support that only Shadow could. But the young Elements Master's jokes and consoling only had a marginal effect, if anything.

"Gaz . . . ?" Aquilai inquired gently, greatly concerned.

"She'll be fine," Shadow said, with a confidence that her uncle would envy. "All she needs is time. Get Laserbeak up and in picture-perfect health, and she should come around. She's still convinced that he's dead."

"But his spark of life is still intact," Goom said, wearing horn-rimmed glassess for some reason. "Which, given what you told us, is remarkable in and of itself. Laserbeak has an amazing will to survive, despite such grievous injuries."

"I'm of the school of thought it is because of his bond to Gaz," Aquilai said, thoughtfully. "Theirs is one of the strongests bonds imaginable."

[Gaz]

Me acting like that cuz of a pet or something isn't outside the realm of possibility. I could totally see myself acting that way. The addition of vampire powers could be dangerous. lol

[Cloak]

That's true of anyone who's ever owned a pet, I think, Gaz. The last two cats I had were ripped away from me brutally by death. But I digress.

Anyway, I've planned out thirteen chapters of Book CCCLIV ("Shoggoth and Papa").

New chapter. Shortish.
 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Swift Takedown

There he was, laughing like a maniac. There was assuredly something wrong with him. He was completely out of his mind one minute (like now), and lucid the next. He was blasting everything metal all willy-nilly, and all the time, wearing this big lunatic grin on his face, almost as if he was infected by the Joker's Joker Gas. It was little wonder why Cannon refused Oliver's designs, and did not trust the puny little man that much.

It was also strange how he never seemed to run out of ammo or fuel or whatever for the pistol took. It seemed to have a tireless, inexhaustible resource of ammo, but that really didn't make sense, if you considered the laws of physics and everything. But, then again, this was a universe that had vampires, wereferrets, and talking seals. And a rabid, giant Pikachu of questionable origin, as well.

Rusty turned to find another target to fire the gun at, only to have a "Destructo Disc"-like disc slice the barrel from its handle. The disc was a golden-scarlet. This took the psychopath by surprise, and put him at a distinct disadvantage. He looked around for the barrel, and found it a few feet away, and reached for it.

But immediately recoiled from it when a water moccasin slithered between the two, and hissed at him threateningly. Of course, Rusty didn't notice the blue "R" marking this snake had towards the end of his tail. The snake continued to hiss at him in a thoroughly uncharacteristic way.

But the barrell had disappeared in the darkness, by a figure who's form was distorted by the shadows. Rusty loses track of what happened to it, before discovering it in the threshold of an alleyway. He quickly crossed to it, only to watch as a three-digited reptilian foot slammed down, crushing the device beyond repair. The threat it posed was over.

The RAFians came into view, with Underseen only losing the serpentine aspects of the form he had assumed, and resuming his base form, though it may not have been his true form. Cloak had never remembered to ask.

The Realm Walker eyed the psychopath warily. He knew that Rusty had something else up his sleeve, as he was not acting.as a defeated man should. He was acting like a man who still had not played his ace yet.

"He should be searched," Underseen said, "we don't need any -- uh, what's he doing?"

"Oh, Gateburst," Cloak moaned.

[redtailedsaffa]

Is he bipolar or something?