Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Yep. Now time for the conclusion, and I don't want to end on such a dour note. Hopefully, I haven't already use this song adaptation.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER TWENTY:
United We Stand

Jervis was easily went to trial after everything came to light.

He never actually touched this kids, his defense argued, he never really committed the actions in a hostile manner. They couldn't work around the evidence that clearly showed he did it . . . Ricky and Yarin's brief, albeit unintentional, probe of the guy's mind to see if he was in his right mind. He was.

The defense decide to change tack then, and go after Ricky's credibility. The boy handled far better than some would have expected from a boy his age. The prosecutor called the defense out on some character assassination questions. Eventually, Ricky was asked to leave the witness box.

Then it was Cloak, Parker (who was required not to wear his armor, even though he felt rather naked without it), Faerie, and Yarin's turn to bear questioned. The defense tried to intimidate them, but, in all honesty, after all they faced, it seemed to be the most pathetic ploy ever conceived.

But, why not try? They knew they would never win this case.

And they didn't. McDowall was headed off to Blackgate. And the other inmates were known not really tolerate people of Jervis's conviction. . . .

***

A week or so later, RAFian were re-fortifying their unity. Through song.

"United we stand.
Now and forever
In truth.
Divided we fall.
Hand upon hand,
To Sister to Brother,
To Brother to Sister.
No one shall be greater than all.
United we stand.
Now and forever
In truth.
Divided we fall.
Hand upon hand.
Sister to sister.
Brother to brother.
No one shall be greater than all.
It's been many years, we celebrate
All that made our forum great.
Liberty and justice
For all.
United we stand.
Now and forever
In truth.
Divided we fall.
Hand upon hand.
To Sister to Brother,
To Brother to Sister.
No one shall be greater than all."

Guitarhero shouted, thrusting his Mark skyward, "Liberty!"

Blue shouted, thrusting his Mark skyward, "Justice!"

Phoenix shouted, thrusting his Mark skyward, "Trust!"

Estelore shouted, thrusting her Mark skyward, "Freedom!"

Genies shouted, thrusting her Mark skyward, "Peace!"

Cloak shouted, thrusting his Mark skyward, "Honor!"

Saffa shouted, thrusting her Mark skyward, "Goodness!"

Goom shouted, thrusting his Mark skyward, "Strength!"

SuperNate shouted, thrusting his Mark skyward, "Valor!"

Rotiart roared, thrusting his Mark skyward, "Me!"

There was a beat of silence at Rotiart's utterance. It was Saffa that broke it.

"What is wrong with you?"

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

BOOK LXXXVII:
SIGHT UNSEEN
CHAPTER ONE:
The Billionaire's Brain

"Of all the things we have to put up with, all the elaborate schemes we have foiled," Sakki groused. "This has got to be be, bar none, the most stupid scheme we have ever been involve with in foiling."

"Oh, stop your grousing, Sakki," Gaz said. "It could have been worse."

"Worse? We're fighting friggin' Mother Brain!!" Sakki snarled back.

It was only partially true. They were battling an overlarge brain in a jar filled with some strange, thick, water-colored liquid with two human eyeballs with attached optic nerves to the present brainstem. The brain could speak telepathically, and Cloak had no idea if Mother Brain was capable of such a feat.

"They" being Cloak, Shadow, Sakki, Gaz, Horse, Blaze, and Aquilai. It seemed like such a simple straightforward case to begin with.

From the information that they had, this brain used to belong to one Rex Rueggar, nicknamed "Rex Ruthless" by the media. He was a billionaire who died about a year or two ago. Before Ab decided to murder Cloak that one time.

But he had an odd post-mortum wish. He was very explicit and specific in his last wishes, and set in place perimeters to make sure that they were followed. He wished for his brain to be preserved in a special ****tail of chemicals of his own design. It allowed himself to survive the death of his body.

However, a bodiless existance was not one that he found particularly enjoyable, especially for a man of his station (which he had fought and backstabbed for), unearned status and undeserved riches. He decided that he did not like it, and what he did not like had to change. This he was accustomed to. He always got his way. Always. If anyone was inconvenienced, or harmed by his whims, well, that, in his view, was just too damn bad.

He preyed on a middle aged inventor, Anthony "Tony" Wayne, at his company (that he kept an iron fist on the office of when he was alive with the body he was born with, but was forcefully loosened with his demise). His was the body he would take for his own.

He already manipulated the minds of his wife (Adelene "Addie" Wayne) into a 1950s housewife, his ten-year-old son (Nicholas "Nicky" Wayne) a Brooklyn-accented troublemaker from"Oliver Twist", his teenaged daughter (Amy Wayne) a Swedish maiden a la "Heidi", and his immediate supervisor (Herbert Bing) in the stereotypical golf-playing goofball boss from any sitcom.

It was at this point the RAFians came in.

"You know," Horse said, having to freeze the brain's mind slaves in an icy enclosure, "perhaps we should have brought Yarin along."

The ground is what concerned Cloak. He did not like they way it was cracking. It was not earth, but hardwood flooring. Cloak found that repairing it with his mastery over the Wood Element was rather pointless because then it get cracked again just moments later. This was not good.

It wasn't good, because Cloak was fairly sure that there was some sort of chasm beneath this room.

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER TWO:
An Energon Stash

The floor was swiftly becoming a major concern for Cloak. He and Shadow would not be able to stablize it any longer. Their attention was too divided as it was. The brain in the jar was stationary, and, apparently, perfectly oblivious to the possible danger that they were under.

Well, Gaz and Blaze were in less peril, as they could fly. Granted, Gaz had to be in bat or mist form for her to achieve anything remotely resembling flight.

The Wayne family were perfectly safe in their icy incarceration, securely held to the wall.

CREEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAA AK . . .

Yeah, that wasn't obviously ominous at all.

But the others finally seem to realize the frayed nature of the formerly hardwood floor. It was going to start to buckle under their combined weight with the Mother Brain monster. Rex's brain was so bloated and large that it was the same size as Cloak himself, if not slightly bigger. The eyes on their nerve-stalks were the moderate size of beach balls, which he could fire concussive psionic blasts from. The jar seemed to be nothing more than plain glass, with no special reinforcement apparent. But it was quite obvious that that it was heavy. Really heavy.

CREEEEEE . . . EEEEEE . . . EEAA . . . AAAAAA . . . AAAAAAK!!!

"We're gonna go down, aren't we?" Shadow said, at once.

CREEEEEE . . . EEEEEE . . . EEAA . . . AAAAAA . . . AAAAAAK!!!

"I'd say that would be a fair assessment." Cloak said, resigned to it.

Then the floor gave out, collapsing beneath their feet. The jar and the RAFians tumbled down into a dark chasm. The jar shatters open, and the brain of Rex Rueggar began to slowly die, without being immersed in his detailed ****tail of chemicals, he could not sustain life. Within moments, he was dead.

For good, this time.

"I'd feel sorry about his death. If he wasn't such a abhorrent jacka--" Sakki spat.

"Sakki." Gaz said, ans Sakki just surly haunched her shoulders and glowered at the broken glass.

He could Earthsight that Tony had come to collect his family, and his boss, and take them to safety. Well, that's one loose end they wouldn't have to worry or fret about.

They moved onward in the circular expanse. The ceiling seemed a long distance overhead, but probably only a few feet. Then Cloak saw something that caused him to freeze in his tracks.

Energon.

Crystals and cubes. Red, orange, yellow, gold, green, blue, indigo, violet, black, silver, gray, and white. All volatile. Everywhere in this chasm. Dotted here and there but in a massive underground deposit.

Cloak was knowledgeable enough about energon to know that this was not a good thing. What was worst was that every single one of them was starting to glow, gathering energy. Cloak knew what was imminent. He only had time to quickly gather the others, say "Gateburst!" and try to throw up a shield.

Ba . . . BOOM.

[redtailedsaffa]

Anthony Wayne.

Really?

[Gaz]

No more homework means more time to stay caught up!

[Cloak]

Yep, Saffa. We'll never hear from him again. At the time of writing, anyway.

Excellent, Gazzy.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER THREE:
Darkness

Cloak came to quickly enough. All around him was blackness, but he already knew his surroundings. He found out about his surroundings via Earthsight, not regular sight. Regular sight was nothing but the inky blackness that came with absolute, abject darkness. In the back of his mind, he already knew.

His Earthsight seemed to be more sensitive, more accurate, its range drastically increased. He knew where the others were without having to see them with his eyes. All were still splayed on the ground, though Shadow was righting herself.

"Uncle . . ." Cloak could hear a note of fear in her voice.

"Settle, Shadow." Cloak said. "All will be well."

Cloak did not know why he spoke the Blue Lantern's slogan there, but instead of feeling a twinge of fear, like his neice, all he felt was a strange, odd sort of calmness and clarity. He was dimly aware of what happened, but it didn't stymie him.

"Uncle, I can't see."

"Nor can I," Cloak said, with the same serenity. "Not with my eyes, anyway. Hasn't your Earthsight increased in sensitivity?"

Shadow said nothing for a moment, and when she spoke, the tinge of fear was gone, "Yeah."

The others were stirring now. They did not feel the calmness, the clarity, the serenity that the Element Masters felt. Blaze seemed to be taking it the worst of everyone. He had his sword out and was swinging it willy-nilly. He had ignited it.

"Put that thing away, Blaze." Cloak said, calmly. "Before you hurt someone."

"What is this stuff, my sword hasn't illuminated anything!"

"I can't see anything, either," Aquilai said.

"Me neither," Gaz said, an edge of panic in his voice.

"Me either," Horse said. The panic was catching.

"I can't see!" Sakki said. The panic was infectious now, to everyone but the Realm Walkers.

"Calm yourselves," Cloak said, serenely.

"CALM DOWN?!" Sakki and Blaze shrieked. "We can't see!!!"

"And how is hysterical panicking going to accomplish anything?" Shadow asked, sincerely.

Silence, broken only by Aquilai.

"How did this happen? That explosion? How did it not kill us? It was.point-blank."

"Our bodies have a build-up of Energon energy, I surmise," Cloak speculated.

"But we're organic!" Blaze said. "Except Sakki, that is."

"Doesn't mean we are unaffected by it," Cloak said. "And (forgive me my immodesty) if it affects Shadow and me, what chance would you all have to be unaffected? I am just relieved that my energy shield managed to eliminate the lethality of it."

"Is it permanent?" Gaz said.

"I don't think so, no." Cloak said. "It should dissipate after a while. Faster if we get to Kelly and Yarin."

[redtailedsaffa]

So what does it do?

[Cloak]

Energon?

It's the fuel source of Cybertronians (read: Transformers), a well as the source of their ammunition. The crystals are a lot more unstable than the cubes, leading to explosions such as you've seen. The explosion could have killed us, had the energy shield I threw up hadn't blocked most of the blast.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FOUR:
Difficult Journey Ahead

"Kelly and Yarin? Are they going to pick us up?" Sakki asked, at once.

"I doubt it, Sakki," Aquilai said. "I can't speak for everyone, but that blast seems to have fried my communicator."

The others, except Shadow (who was an unofficial RAFian), confirmed this. All comunication was down.

Aquilai sighed, "Goom and Yarin will be livid when they hear. They're gonna say we were being careless."

"Well," Gaz said, "to be fair, we kinda were."

"I wish I realized just how dependant on sight I was," Horse said, more to herself than anyone else. When she spoke again, she addressed every one. "Just how are we supposed to get back to the forum, like this?"

"Yeah, there was like a meadow, a chemical plant, ruins,  a mine, a cove, and who knows what else between us and the forum." Sakki said.

"I would think the path forward was clear," Cloak said.

"How so?" Blaze said.

"We proceed forward."

"Cloak, perhaps you've forgotten already," Blaze said. "WE CAN'T SEE!!"

Cloak and Shadow made tethers of energy that linked them together. Gaz wanted to go all batty, but somehow the infusion of Energon energy prevented her transformation without undue excruciating pain*. So she decided against it.

"The journey will be long. It will be arduous. But we can do it. we have been through worse things." Cloak said to the others.


*Reference to the Beast Wars episode this book is loosely based off of.

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FIVE:
Mellow Meadow Melodies

"I don't like this," Blaze said agin, after they ventured from the slow-collapsing cave. He had his hands out in front of him, desperately probing for something to lean against, something to see.

"So you've said," Horse said, dryly.

"We've reached the meadow." Shadow announced. "It seems to be really pretty, from what Earthsight can tell me of it."

"Well, that's just wonderful," Blaze said, with caustic sarcasm.

The going was easy, relatively speaking. There were really no obstacles that were barring them from their destination. Still, they progressed slowly and cautiously. Blaze was becoming just beyond Rotiart in terms of unpleasantness. But the others knew he was just putting on a front for the fear of something he never thought he'd lose. His sight.

It was something that the sighted always took for granted. Never conceiving of a time when they would be without their vision. Never considering a time where they would have something so vitally integral, so vastly important, stripped away and denied to them.

It was a scary position to be in, no matter what species . . . what visually-dependant species you may be.

Cloak and Shadow were in a much different position. Unlike the others, they could see. In a way. Sakki and Gaz could possibly do something similar, by way of echolocation. Gaz, in her bat form (though her transformations were unbelievably painful), and Sakki's abilities granted her mastery over all sonics that she was capable of uttering, and hearing any sound uttered (though she, and the others, including Cloak, seemed unaware of this ability).

Cloak used his ears and nose to scrutinize their surroundings, in addition to his Earthsight. There were no trees, and the area was completely open. This made the others feel rather anxious and antsy. They were sitting ducks out here, but Cloak could not sense any danger.

He recognized that it was not impossible. The possible dangers could be airborne, unseen by his Earthsight. But it wouldn't elude his hearing, as the air was still and calm. There was no upwind and downwind for the moment, so Cloak's nose should have been able to pick up anything dangerous. Unless that danger . . . that danger had no scent, like a robot or something.

Cloak gave his head a quick shake. They had enough problems without him inventing more. They needed to press onward, toward the forum.

"Let's keep going," he said, urging them all forward.

[redtailedsaffa]

Whoa, this is a really eye-opening look at things.

worst pun very sorry

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER SIX:
Toxic Memories

They came upon an old chemical plant, and they made their way through it. Sure, they could go around it, but it was a consensus decision to go through it, as it would be far quicker. And they were all for expediency.

All was going well, until Cloak stopped stock still. He blinked as a forgotten memory surfaced suddenly, as if it had been trying to claw its way to the surface after all these Dweller months.

"Cloak, what is it?" Sakki said, after a moment. She was trying her hand at echolocation, and discovered Cloak's prone body language.

"That smell," the tiger Realm Walker said, vaguely, ". . . that smell. . . ."

"What smell?" Blaze said, rather more snottily than he intended. "I don't smell anything."

"Wait a minute . . ." Horse said, in subtle recognition, ". . . I think I can smell it, too."

"Me, too." Shadow said. "Barely."

"But what is that smell?" Horse said. "I can't place my flipper on it."

Cloak felt a shiver, and, despite the pointlessness of it, tried to suppress it. "The viral ooze."

"Oh, yeah!" Horse said, in benign realization. "But, wait -- it smells somewhat different from that."

"Somehow I feel like we're being left out of the conversation," Aquilai said, rather coyly.

"They're talking about smells. I'm not too terribly fussed," Gaz replied.

"Wait -- it also smells like Underseen. I think." Shadow said, perplexed.

"What?" Cloak and Horse said at once. Then they quickly agreed, though thoroughly confused themselves.

"Smells like . . . like Underseen? Seriously?" Sakki said. "What could this possibly mean?"

"I don't know," Cloak said, slowly and considering. Then he shook his head, as if shaking himself from a reverie. "But we need to prioritize. We need to fix our optical problem first, and deal with the implications of this afterward."

"You were the one who stopped us," Blaze pointed out, rather petulantly. Then he recognized this, and apologized for his crankiness.

"Let's get going and get out this place," Sakki suggested.

[redtailedsaffa]

What?!

[Cloak]

I'd elaborate, Saffa, but then you'd hurt me. For spoilers. Or am I just playing with your expectations?

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Ruined

They walked in silence after leaving the plant. Cloak had some misgivings about not ending that whole thing . . . but they did not know the extent of the operation or the potential ramifications of stopping it. It could have been a government-sponsored thing (and just because it may have been government-sponsored did not mean that it was on the up-and-up).

And, yet, Cloak's gut was telling him that they needed to go back . . . but he deliberately ignored it, pushed it to the back of his mind. He believed he may come to regret this decision, but he regretted many of his decisions in life (being a RAFian was most certainly was not one he regretted, not by a long shot).

"Are we where I think we are?" Aquilai asked.

Cloak paid more attention to the Earthsight "picture", taking in more "details" he wouldn't normally perceive in Earthsight. He relaxed ever so slightly. There was no danger, but they were not at the forum yet.

Well, not the modern forum, anyway.

They were standing on the site where the original forum once stood. It was nothing but ruins now, forgotten and abandoned. The site was still awash in forgotten memories and abandoned dreams. It was the birthplace of RAF.

"The original site," Gaz said, in hushed tones, such as one would take when entering someplace rather sacred. "The place where RAF was born."

This really shouldn't have been a surprise to them, as they passed through it on the way to the super-sized shack. But each took to the place with such surprising undue reverence, for what the spot represented to each of them for the creation and founding of RAF.

"Why'd we move?" Blaze asked.

"Yes, why abandon the original site?" Aquilai said, in a rather academic way. "I know why Cloak moved the current forum to our present location, but why abandon this spot?"

He tapped a mouldering structure that came up to his waist. It used to be a brick wall to a thread, reduced to being barely recognizable as such.

"The building remains are still here. Why weren't they moved like our current one?" the Time Lord continued.

"Because the change-over to the current forum and the last site was before my time with RAF," Cloak said. "And when I first came to RAF, my elemental mastery was really only academic and rather unpracticed. I didn't have the precision and control I have now."

Cloak said nothing for a moment, before saying, "But we should be moving on. We want to get to the forum before long."

"Why? You said it would dissipate naturally, and Kelly and Yarin would only expedite the process." Sakki said.

"That's not the problem," Cloak said. "Sooner or later, the Banned or Malice or the Knights or someone might catch wind of our predicament."

[redtailedsaffa]

Pretty sure it's haunted.

[Cloak]

More like it had something to do with the Pootang . . .

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Mountain Mayhem

"That shack was really out of the way," Sakki complained, when they were about four miles away from the original site.

"It was really out in the sticks," Horse agreed.

"Well, I suppose that was the point of founding RAF nearby," Aquilai said. "Security by remoteness."

"That's not fool-proof, though," Cloak noted, as they continued to make their way away from the old forum.

Cloak suspected that the reason that it was in ruins was not because it was haunted or anything like that. He supposed the reason was a bit more mundane. He postulated that with the birth of the Pootang (which was begotten from three parents -- Anna, Ken, and Tocade -- and Cloak really wasn't interested in the specifics) and it's irredeemable power and it's unrestrained ferocity and it's savage bestial nature . . . that probably lead to the original site's destruction and ruination.

Cloak realized that they were walking in silence for several minutes. Cloak came to the conclusion that they were thinking about the old ruins as well. The presence of the old site, the original site, certainly had an effect on them.

Now, they were in some nameless mountain ridge, trying ever so hard to get back to the forum, to get home. But even now, the energy energy was starting to dissipate, but not any really noticeable rate. The very Earth rotated faster than this Energon energy dissipated.

"Which way -- what was that?" Blaze said, calling attention to several grunts and groans coming from the forest they had exited. They couldn't see these creatures, but they were nine-feet tall humanoids with a single, Cyclopean eye, a bald head with a small, forward-raked horn large hands and feet with clawed fingers and toes.

"Trolls," Cloak said.

"The Banned?" Gaz said, concerned.

"No," Shadow said, at once. "These are larger, dumber, uglier (I assume), and smellier than Queen's minions."

"Oh, wonderful," Sakki said. "And this Energon energy stuff hasn't gone away yet."

"Don't panic. They haven't spotted us yet," Cloak said.

"UH! UH UH UH!!"

"Can we panic now?" Blaze said.