Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

More like increasing, advancing mental instability.

New chapter. Shortish, sorry.
 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Gauntlet Games

In their momentary distraction, believing all this nonsense was done, Rusty had donned some sort of weird gauntlet that superficially resembled Thanos's Infinity Gauntlet, only obsidian black, smaller, and worn on his right hand. There white studs where Thanos would have fitted the Infinity Gems, back when they existed.

"Oh, great. What does this one do?" Dino said, warily exasperated.

"Die!" Rusty shouted, looking quite insane. He held out his gauntlet-bearing hand, fingers splayed out, and a panel in the center of his palm opened to reveal an electronic "eye" of sorts. It fireda pink beam with another spiraling around the straight beam. It made a sound like the firing of the Medi-laser from the old "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon. Something like a rapid "zu-zu-zu-zu-zu-zu". Cloak smacked the beam away, as if it was a pesky mosquito. The asphalt was hit, but wasn't affected at all by the beam.

"Another device that affects metal, and only metal right?" the wary Realm Walker said. "Well, you're out of luck then. We aren't made of metal."

"You will die!" he claimed, with a psychotic laugh. It appeared that he wasn't really all that aware of reality truths anymore. Cloak was actually saddened by this obvious deterioration of Rusty Oliver's mental state. "You will DIIIIIIIIIE!"

"He . . . he did hear you, right?" Blue said, thoroughly perplexed.

"His sense of reality has been shattered somehow," Cloak guessed, as Dino easily blocked his aim of all metallic objects. She only missed once, and that trashcan was reduced to metal shavings.

Something Cloak found that he could undo with only moderate difficulty, due to his ferrokinesis. It wasn't identical to what it was before, but it was back to being a serviceable trashcan again, if not actually cleaner than before.

Rusty seemed to not notice that Dino was usuaing her considerable size to block his every shot. The beam didn't even warm her scaly hide. Yes, upon her rather intimidating face was a look of genuine concern. Rusty was obviously not in control of himself at the moment, and it seemed like he was deteriorating at indeterminate intervals. Surely there was some kind of medication for this.

But there was no time to worry about that now. Rusty still posed a significant danger to everyone else. They could not permit him to continue with his path of destruction. They were just remarably lucky that no one had been killed, though three of their number had come awfully close. Too close.

But Rusty would not come willingly, or stop of his own violation. There may be little recourse, little option, of what must be done.

[Cloak]

Okay, there is a slim chance that this book might be nineteen chapters long.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
The Ethical Choice?

"We need to end this," Cloak said seriously. "We . . . I may have to take . . . permanent measures. . . ."

"Cloak, it may not come down to that," Underseen said.

"First thing's first," Blue said, practically and pragmatically. "We need to disarm him of that gauntlet."

"We need to immobilize him, first." Cloak said.

"And soon!" Dino complained, still blocking the shots, though not really needing to move all that much. Dino wore a look of annoyance. "This has crossed the border into being real annoying!!"

Cloak trained his eyes on Rusty, and then the Elements Master terrakinetically forced up three slabs of earth around Rusty, pinioning his upper arms to his sides, allowing Blue to deftly and silently pluck the gauntlet off Rusty's hand. But Rusty was so far gone that he didn't even seem to notice. He seemed to lose all lucidity, consumed with delusions and hallucinations. It was as if he was post-Hundred Year War Azula, minus the firebending and cunning.

Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration.

"What do we do with this?" Blue asked. "I don't know what it's made of, but it doesn't appear to have any metal on it."

Cloak examined it, a bit surprised at the complexity of it. It was fabric, but woven from duraplastic strands. It almost looked hand-woven, too. Cloak looked around at Rusty, wondering if he was truly insane, or a truly gifted actor. Or something else at play that Cloak had not thought of.

He wondered again if he should make a, ah, permanent solution to this problem. The more he thought about, the more he realized he wouldn't be able to do it. It wasn't Rusty's fault that his mind was shattered like this, as Cloak realized if he was being less than genuine, he'd know. People cannot control there bodies to that degree, unless they are uniquely gifted actors, or beings of amorphous composition, like Limax, Polymorphs, Sludgepuppies and the like.

Cloak looked over at Rusty, still yelling and making generally incoherent noises, and he wondered if he was truly human. But . . . there'd be telltale signs if he was not who he said he was. If he was a Polymorph, he would have a floating saucer over his flhead, and Cloak was sure they couldn't mimic the shapes of others like Sludgepuppies and Limax. And if he was any of those species Cloak wouldn't have been able to restrain him in the way that he had.

So he was human. And he was crazy.

[redtailedsaffa]

Great. Now what?

[Cloak]

. . . Sorry, still feeling a little down. I need to write a little.

New chapter. Still two more to go. I think I can make twenty out of this.
 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Committed

Rusty was swiftly searched and found to not have any other invention, or anything that could conceivably be one. He was clean in that regard. But it was clear that his mind deteriorated beyond repair -- although Cloak hoped this appraising assumption was wrong.

The RAFians had arranged for Rusty to be picked up and put in a mental health facility -- oh, let's just call it what it is, an insane asylum. The RAFians had assured that the place was top-notch and exquisitely cleaned. He would get help there by mental health professionals and experts.

Cloak watched as Rusty was "helped" into a straitjacket and "escorted" into the back of "posh" van. The Realm Walker wondered . . . wondered if the guy could truly be rehabilitated. He hoped so. He hoped that Rusty could become a functioning member of society again.

He hoped.

***

"Well," came a voice, who was watching all this go down. "That resolved itself quicker than I had anticipated."

From the darkness of her new hideout, Malice stepped into the dappled light of the setting sun. Her hand was closed over something. Something that rattled when she moved her hand, but the semidarkness obscured what object this possibly was.

"I had expected this to stymie them for at least a few days. Maybe a couple of weeks, even." she said, speaking to an unresponsive Mauler. "This is . . . this is rather troubling, actually. I need another distraction. I need another venue to detract attention from my true plans."

Malice paced this way and that, pondering a diversionary, discretionary detractor. Something to occupy Cloak and his pet RAFians so they could not even think to interfere with her plan, her current goal. She would not let them spoil her fun this time.

Her fun. Fun.

It gave Malice an insideous idea. She smiled a smile to match her name, as she unwittingly dropped the rattling object in her hand. It was a single bottle of prescription pills, completely full. Antipsychotics. The name on the label was Rusty's.

Fun. Malice though again. It is about time that he got some . . . playmates.

Malice's cackles echoed ominously.

[Cloak]

Still one more chapter go after this one.

My aunt is taking me out to celebrate my birthday tomorrow, after I get off at three (after going in at seven). I dunno if I can post a chapter then.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
New Life

A couple of days had passed since Rusy was committed and Cloak still questioned himself on the decision that he made. Was it the most humane decision? And who was he to make such a decision? Did he have any right? He was an outsider to this realm, though he had adopted it as his home. Did that give him any right?

As Cloak mulled this over his mind, he looked up. There he saw something that wiped those dark thoughts from his mind, as he couldn't help but smile at the sight of two creatures in joyous flight.

A bat and a bird, commiting to estatic barrel rolls and perilous dives. This flight eventually ended as Gaz landed, resuming her vampiric human form. Laserbeak, looking far better than fit as fiddle. Aquilai, Goom, and Yarin were true to their word, as they did rebuild Beaky. But, while his personality remained the same (albeit with better sense than before), his body was capable of much more. He had several more uses as he could transform into more things, thanks to a little Galvanic Mechmorph tech. He keep his primary form as a parrot -- a scarlet macaw, to be precise -- and his blaster transformation. He gained additional transformations into a simple camera, a claymore-type sword, and a shield like one wielded by a Spartan -- that is, an actual Spartan (as in someone from Sparta) and not a SPARTAN, like Parker.

Gaz wasn't all that fussed about the new features, to be honest. She was just glad her precious Beaky was okay. And it was remarkable how resilient the Cybertronian parrot was. That was a tough ordeal for anyone, mechanical or not, to go through. But to survive and bounce back like Laserbeak did, it was truly awe-inspiring.

Cloak could not help but smile, and it was a smile that he could not stow away and hide. Gaz's bond with Laserbeak had, if anything, gotten stronger. And yet, why did it fill the Realm Walker with a sort of wistful contemplation? Why did Cloak have this sense of foreboding? It did not make sense.

***

It turns out that what Cloak was sensing had nothing to do with Gaz and Laserbeak.

He sensed a duo of items that can be easily overlooked. It was a pair of dice, but, despite what may have been assumed, they were on seperate sides of the forum, and they were both on the one side up. The small, black indentation denoting the numerical value of one was in actuality a camera lens.

The RAFians were being watched. But for reasons unknown.

[redtailedsaffa]

Is this the last chapter or...?

[Cloak]

No. There is still one more.

My aunt is taking me out to celebrate my birthday tonight, after I get off at three (after going in at seven). I dunno if I can post a chapter then.

New chapter. Last chapter. Shortish.
 

CHAPTER TWENTY:
Pestilential Persistence

"Hyperactive Insane RAFians!
Hyperactive Insane RAFians!
Hyperactive Insane RAFians!
RAFian power!
They're the world's most fearsome fighting team.(We're really hip!)
They're heroes, however, they're insane. (Hey - get a grip!)
When the evil Malice attacks,
These Forum nuts don't cut her no slack!
Hyperactive Insane RAFians!
Hyperactive Insane RAFians!
Faerie and Horse took all their sanity -- (Hey, give that back!)
Richard leads, Yarin makes machines, (That's a fact, Jack!)
Faerie is cool but rude, (Gimme a break!)
SuperNate is a RAF party dude! (Party!)
Hyperactive Insane RAFians!
Hyperactive Insane RAFians!
Hyperactive Insane RAFians!
RAFian power!"

"Abby, seriously. Give it up." Cloak said.

"Never!" Abby said, in a deliberately overdramatically.

"It's never gonna happen," Cloak said. "Any studio would royally screw up it worse than 'Dragonball Evolution'."

***

In a dark room, a man was watching this, hidden in silhouette. He was humming the song to himself, too. It was strange, too. His head looked too big for his slim and slender build, and he wore a jester's hat, whose three points ended in bells. Even his curly shoes in ended in bells. He wore a ruff collar around his neck, a poofy blue shirt with lighter blue polka dots, bright yellow poofy shorts, and blue lycra tights. The only part of him that was uncovered were his hands.

"Excuse me," came a voice.

"How'd you get in here?" the man said. His mouth didn't move, and when he turned around his head was in silhouette. But it was clear that his head wasn't his his true head. For some odd reason he was wearing a mascot head whose face looked similar to that Cherifer boy's mascot head.

"Toyman," Malice's voice came like poisoned honey, "I presume?"

[redtailedsaffa]

A great book, as always. And the PDF:

[Cloak]

Thanks, but a complication has arose. My neighbor is moving away, and my internet will be shut off soon. So I won't be able post as frequently.

But I'll post as often as I can.

New chapter. Sorry for the brevity.
 

BOOK LXXVIII:
THE TOYMAN COMETH
CHAPTER ONE:
Young Dolls

It was a day or two since the whole Rusty deal, and everyone learned that you simply do not discuss him -- or so much as mention his name -- in Gaz's presence, lest whatever she's holding get balled up or broken or otherwise trashed as Gaz's anger was terrible. She didn't care that he was innocent by reason of insanity. He almost killed Beaky. That's all that mattered to her. It was black-and-white thinking, but she didn't care. Someone had to be held accountable for his actions. It was unfair, but Gaz was set against it.
 
Anyway, someone delivered several packages large enough that they could hold a man of average build, height and weight. Cloak counted eight packages, and the sender was addressed as "Jack 'Crackerjack' Napier". This alone was sufficient to cause Cloak suspicion, as it sounded too much like a pseudonym.
 
The wrappings were eventually torn away, and the boxes opened. Within were life-sized RAFian dolls. There were ones of Gaz, Phoenix, Rotiart, Parker, Terenia, Cloaky, Azzy, and Saffa. There didn't appear to be any more.
 
Cloak was leery of the things, these doll effigies. He knew there was more to them, as his mastery over metal allowed him to detect the metal endoskeletons beneath the doll veneer. Although the dolls appeared to be very realistic to the naked eye, careful and close observation would have said otherwise.
 
But the thing that puzzled him the most was that in their . . . their posteriors . . . contained what apparently four-slice toasters*. Was that a joke? If it was, it wasn't a very good or tactful one. Cloak . . . well, he decided not to point this out to anyone else.

"Oh, they're animatronic?" Parker said, as the dolls seemed to right themselves and introduce themselves as the RAFians themselves, though in a very odd way, twisting their heads and blinking rapidly with stupid smiles on their faces. Cloak found this most displeasing on the Cloak "doll", who's manufacturer seemed to think he was some sort of vulpine lizard thing. Cloak couldn't help but wonder if it was supposed to be a deliberate insult.

But the Realm Walker didn't trust these dolls, these automatons. It was far too suspicious, and there was no reason for the RAFians to receive gifts. In all the time that they've done what they've done, they've never received a gift that didn't turn around and bite them in the butt.

<I feel that we've been here before,> Shorty said, <have we been here?>


*Reference where the origin of this opening chapter came from -- "Mr. Roboto 2.0" episode of "Mr. Young".

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER TWO:
Replacement Fail

"Hello, everyone!" they spoke in unison.

<Oh my God, this is happening again,> Shorty said.

"We're hear to send a message from the Handsome Genius known as the Toy--"

"Cloak, what are you waiting for?" Parker said.

"The message," Cloak said. "Could be important. They're not going anywhere. They have metal endoskeletons."

"Too late." Saffa noted. Then her brow creased in perplexity as she watched the dolls turn and present their backsides to them. "Uh, what are they doing?"

"Uh, don't ask," Cloak said, swiftly mechbending them (he would hate himself later for it).

"Tell me," Saffa insisted.

"You don't want to know," Cloak said. Cloak was ferrokinetically twisting and warping the metal endoskeleton. The dolls plastic exteriors warped and twisted as well. It was rather disturbing to see.

"Will you stop that?" Dino said. "It's repugnant."

"The metal is more durable than I thought," Cloak said. "I underestimated them."

Within moments afterward, they were obliterated. Cloak took no satisfaction in it.

***

Toyman had used the dolls' eyes as cameras, which allowed him to view everything that happened. He still wore the same outfit that he wore when Malice came to him. Even the mascot head, for some reason known only to him himself. He tapped his chin -- or rather the mascot head's chin -- and his body language indicticated a pensive mood.

"Rather quick on the draw, these RAFians," Toyman said. His face was inscrutable -- as it was a mascot head (one of the old-school ones, not the one that has shutting eyes and moving mouths that you see nowadays in a few places). "Oh, what fun! I just have think of more toys to give them!"

[redtailedsaffa]

Whoa, modify-post syndrome meant I missed the beginning of the book. Well, got there!

[Cloak]

Ah.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER THREE:
Trickets? Oh, Killer!

Parker was cleaning and doing daily maintenance on his armor. It wasn't really necessary, but it was something that he did when he was bored. He cherished his armor and associated weaponry, and constant maintenance and upkeep was paramount to Parker, whether it was truly necessary or not.

"Ssssssssssew!"

A pinprick of red light seared the area to Parker's left. Parker deftly donned his armor and rolled out of the way of a second shot. He scanned the area looking for his attacker, his would-be assassin.

There were three toy spacemen floatting around his room. Parker wondered idly how they got in here. The three fired their lasers, and they didn't even make a dent in his arm. He didn't even flinch. Parker supposed there was a limit the the amount of the power that could be put into these things, with their stupid toy veneers.

"Get out," Parker growled, pulling out his energy sword.

***

"What the hell is this?" Underseen said, groggily.

Underseen was battling what appeared to be killer silly putty. Underseen wasn't sure if it was a statement of the nature of his abilities. The silly putty did not deign an answer. But it was giving Underseen a run for his money as Underseen was feeling sluggish and sleepy, as the putty attacked him as he was taking a little cat nap (as a cat, no less).

"You can't talk, can you?" Underseen said, waking up a bit.

The silly putty slithered back over to Underseen, who assumed the form of a Vaxasaurian and punched it. It didn't work, but then Underseen shapeshifted his right hand into a Petrosapien crystal one, then further into a blade made of Petrosapien crystal. Then he tried to slash at the silly putty.

"This isn't working," Underseen said, reassuming his base form. Underseen's mind fully wakened now, as he put it to work. "I need to dissolve it."

He looked at the lake, and smiled. "I have an idea."

***

Bear yawned. The doll incident was pretty much a non-issue to him, and ever since it was a lazy day. He had hold himself into a little grove, a little covered area that had a very nice view of the lake and the auditorium in the distance.

"I wuv you!" came a statickly, cutesy, robotic voice. A teddy bear toddled into view on its stubby legs.

Bear had time to think, What?, before the saccharinely-toddling teddy bear toppled over. Normally, it would not be any big deal. But when the teddy bears are explosive . . .

Bear survived, but was even more confused.

"I wuv you!" came another voice.

Oh no, Bear thought.

"I wuv you!"

"I wuv you!" came another voice.

Who would think explosive teddy bears are fun? Bear thought.

BOOM! BOOM!

And now my fur's a mess, Bear said, unaware of just how he survived. How did these things get through Code Avalon?

***

More and more RAfians have had similar experiences, and they were dealt with swiftly. But no one -- with a possible exception of Demos, due to his masochistic demonic inclinations -- found the toys very enjoyable.

[redtailedsaffa]

One of the more annoying missions.

[Cloak]

Oh, you have no idea, Saffa.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FOUR:
Demand For a Product Recall

Naturally, after such things happened -- inside the forum itself, no less -- a meeting was in order. The RAFians assembled, and the RAFians compared notes.

In addition to Bear, Underseen, and Parker's ordeals, the other had their own encounters. Horse had to deal with a peculiar Pikachu doll with a hankering for seal flesh (which she insisted wasn't funny). Bladeh had to deal with a bouncing ball that just so happened to be, you know, explosive. Gaz had to deal with a toy robot with real lasers and blasters. Helen had to deal with some constricting Play-Doh. Saffa had to deal with a jumprope with some serpentine tendencies. Cloak was pestered by seemingly sentiet building blocks, which he, at first, assumed was a Segmentsapien.

Only Rotiart seemed to get off Scot free. Something that earned him the ire of a lot of other RAFians.

"Okay," Richard said. "Alright, settle down. Let's get the bases covered."

One by one, each RAFians spoke their piece about the gimmicky, toy-themed attack they encountered and suffered. All this came from no where.

"Okay," Richard said, pensively, after everyone said their piece. "This question now is what do we do about it."

"And," Cloak added, "how they bypassed Code Avalon."

"If I had to hazard a guess," Aquilai said, thoughtfully, "I would guess that due to their normally-perceived harmless toy forms hookwinked Code Avalon into believing that they were harmless. The Code Avalon system that is up and running endlessly is Code Avalon in its barebones package."

"Too right," Goom nodded. "The higher functions are activated when a prudent danger presents itself."

"Don't you have activate it manually?" Saffa asked.

"In most cases, yes." Yarin said. "But it has to be this way, becuase of the sheer power it demands in its most efficacious state."

"That sounds like a serious liability," Helen said.

"If you have a better way," Yarin said, unable to hide the defensiveness in his infliction, "I would love to hear it, Star Sapphire."

Before Helen could reply, a commotion was made as some strange somethings toddled upon the stage. They looked like the unholy offspring from the Teletubbies and Furbies. From what Cloak could see there were several, each a different color -- one was green and red, another was blue and red, another was solid yellow, one was golden yellow and silvery gray, one was a strange glittering crystal color, another was ruby red and sapphire blue, one was emerald green, another was fiery red and forest green, another was white (though its was actually translucent fur), one was pearly white, one was platinum blonde, and two were black and white.

"Oh, what now?" Gaz sighed.

[redtailedsaffa]

Unholy offspring is right.