Memoirs of a RAFian

[redtailedsaffa]

NOOOOOOOO!!

[Cloak]

Yeah . . .

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Blind Rage, Unquashable Fury

"Beaky . . . n-no . . . Beaky . . . Beaky, p-please . . . n-no . . ."

For the first time, Gaz's voice sounded no only fragile, but as if it was shattering as she spoke. Laserbeak gave a weak, crackling chirp. He was definitely dying. Shadow approached Gaz cautiously, but Gaz didn't want comfort. She just wanted Beaky to be okay . . . and there was little way he could survive.

"Shhh . . . shhh . . . save your energy, Beaky," Gaz cooed, choking back sobs. "We'll get you put right . . .you'll b-be right as rain in no time."

A sob escaped the vampire, and once it did, a floodgate broke open and she could not stop. The rest of the RAFians bowed their heads in mourning silence, for one of their own. But Broken was nursing an idea . . .

"Oh, wah-wah," came a snooty, unimpressed voice. Salem, of course.

Gaz's eyes hardened with frightening rapidity. Her tears was replaced by a snarl of hatred that made her fangs look more pronounced than they really were. Cloak could sense Gaz's unadulterated anger and ire even from this distance away. He would not be surprised if a Red Lantern Corps power ring came down to try and claim Gaz as one of their own.

"YOU!!" Gaz roared, contorting her face in her wrath.

"Oh, my." Salem said, actually intimidated now. "Saberhagen! Electric Beast! Protect me!"

"There IS no protection from my wrath, little boy!!" Gaz roared as she jumped atop Saberhagen's head, and dodged a Pootang charge easily. "YOU did this, YOU shall reap the ultimate consequence of YOUR decision!!"

"Protect me!!" Salem said, in full-out whine, throwing his hands up in front of his face in fear.

Meanwhile, Broken wasn't convinced that Laserbeak's demise was set in stone yet. He used all his magical skill to not only remake Laserbeak, but make him better while retaining all those little things that made Laserbeak Beaky.

It was only a task a Sorcerer Supreme could undertake -- and, fortunately, Broken happened to be the Sorcerer Supreme. But it woulde be risky. Broken didn't even know it would work. If it didn't it would just cause Gaz more heartache than she felt now.

Meanwhile, Gaz was having difficulties just gettjng to Salem as he put up a energy bubble made of mana to protect himself from Gaz, who was fighting like a woman possessed.

[redtailedsaffa]

Yeah, this is an unfortunate coincindence.

[guitarhero01234]

Wow, way to give me feels after work.

[Gaz]

So that's what you meant. Poor Beaky. He shall be avenged!

[Cloak]

And it was scripted (via book outline) to happen months ago. I did warn that the series would get darker -- and this book is canon.

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Actions That Maybe Regrettable

Gaz was driven mad by her grief-fuelled rage and wrath. She began to pound away at the magical shield, with a tenacity one would expect from a Fury. But she was grieving, and, as such, she was also incredibly vulnerable.

Cloak watched and was a bit startled to see a bit of himself in the reaction Gaz gave. He knew all too well what dangers could come out of giving yourself over completely to your emotions. He feared that state where all control is lost, due to losing all control over his emotions.

He knew where it would end for her. Gaz would feel hollow and empty, feel a sort of learned hopelessness. Once in this sets in, despair usually isn't too far behind. Even if Gaz could get to Salem . . . if she succeeded in killing him, well . . . it would hang over her head. Knowing that she crossed that line . . . the Gaz they knew would be gone, and Evil Gaz would be reborn anew. Even without the presence of Madre de Vampyra.

Cloak knew that he must act -- but he had to admit, the little brat had it coming. He backhanded an approaching Saberhagen, as Gaz inadvertently elbowed the Pootang in the face which had sufficient force to render the rabid Pokemon unconscious, breaking the brand upon its forehead. Gaz kept hyperfocused on getting to Salem, who cowered within his magical shield.

Meanwhile, Broken was working with a myriad of spells in an effort to restore Laserbeak back to his former glory. It took immense concentration and tapping into most of his magic reservoir. It was going too slow for his liking, but it seemed to be working. And Laserbeak was still alive. Just barely.

Cloak had to stop Gaz before she did something that she would regret later. Sakki, Demos, Horse, and Mr. Guy were charged with taking the Pootang back to the forum, back to its cage.

But Saberhagen stood in the Realm Walker's way. And he wouldn't let Cloak to get pass. It would have been much wiser to get between Gaz and the magical barrier. Each blow seemed to take their toll on the boy's magic, draining it from his magic reservoir in increasing increments.

"Gaz, you have to stop!" Cloak shouted. Saberhagen still barred his path. Cloak really didn't have time for this. Cloak had enough of this beast. It was not a normal cat, the Elements Master reminded himself, but a supernatural familiar of a witch boy. He would use this as justification for slaying the beast, as he just did. He felt regret for what he did, sure, but his hand was forced.

"No, Cloak! He dies! He dies!! For killing Beaky!!" Gaz raged. "HE DIES!!"

"And, assuming you succeed," Cloak said. "Then what?"

Gaz stopped her assault, as she looked at Cloak. "What? What is that you said?"

"If you kill him, then what? Then what are you going to do?" Cloak said, strolling over to her. "Then what?"

Gaz said nothing.

"You continue down this road and you know what will happen," Cloak said, bluntly. "You will become Evil Gaz again. Is this miserably insufferable witch-boy really worth it?"

[redtailedsaffa]

On the edge here.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Amazon Armor

"D-Don't hurt me!" Salem whimpered. "Saberhagen, help me!!"

Salem had to recall his magic from his familiar, so now he just resembled a regular, black Appoplexian. This was why his magical shield had not shattered already. Salem clasped tightly to the brand, as if it were a teddy bear. He trying hard to not cry, to be a tough guy. But he was failing. He still held back tears.

"Back off, kitty cat." Gaz warned.

Cloak glanced back, and summoned stone slabs from the ground, pinioning Saberhagen's arms to his side. Saberhagen's Appoplexian-like strength was insufficient to break these slabs. Cloak could have slain this creature, but he found that he didn't really wish to. Especially after how he had slain Cataclysm. He knew he wasn't perfect, but he never tried to be.

Gaz was calming down, but she was still quite despondent and inconsolable. Laserbeak was more than a robotic parrot to her. He was very much akin to being her familiar, and yet she did not feel any need to slay Saberhagen. That hatred was reserved for Salem himself.

"There, that should do -- ah!" Broken was saying to himself. He was delighted in tone. But Cloak and Gaz did not turn around, not knowing what the Sorcerer Supreme was up to. "It worked!"

Gaz heard Broken and was just about to turn around, to see what he was on about. Only to suddenly be adorn in armor -- golden armor with cobalt blue highlights. The armor looked like a combination of Spartan and Amazon armor -- helmet like a parrot, with a Spartan plume, a gold breastplate, gauntlets, shin guards, arm guards, and an armored skirt.

Naturally, Gaz was caught off-guard. Where did this armor come from? Then she felt a familiarity reverberate within the armor. Her very body felt a joy to be in contact with the armor, and vice versa.

No . . . no, she daren't believe it. It couldn't be.

"B-Beaky?" she said, voice trembling.

The armor seemed to confirm this fact, as well as increasing Gaz's strength and defenses, while lowering her speed and agility a bit. Broken had, in fact, healed Laserbeak, though he had inadvertently changed Laserbeak alternate form. Laserbeak now had a phoenix-like robot parrot form and the armor form for Gaz.

But he was alive. Completely and totally alive.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Misstep

"Mother," Salem whimpered in a small voice. He had allow terror to take him, as he was exhausting his magical reservoir. Soon, very soon, he wouldn't be able to so much as send out green and silver sparks.

Gaz was still rather stunned. She had believed with every fiber of her being that Laserbeak had died, had been murdered, had sacrificed himself for her. And yet, Broken had succeeded in snatching him from the very jaws of death, and brought him back to her. Gaz was, naturally, overcome with emotion at this.

Which was the precise moment when Salem's magical barrier collapsed in on itself and he was on his feet, though huddled against the ground. He didn't look like some tough guy, like he fancied himself to be. He looked like a child who bit off more than he could chew, even Saberhagen was unable to maintain its Appoplexian-like form, being reduce to an ordinary housecat form.

Salem seemed to have realized that Gaz wasn't going to leap at him and tear him to shreds or rend his flesh from his bones. So he managed to regain some of his former bravado, as he reminded himself that he still held the branding iron, and its magic was his to control.

He came upon an idea, as he saw the most powerful RAFian on the scene (in brute power, that is) and decided that if he could just get over there fast enough. . . .

He would just have to chance it. He grasped the brand firmly, and charged toward Cloak, feet pounding the pavement with each rapid step. He raised the brand, preparing to strike . . .

"Huh?"

Salem was taken unawares when Cloak easily sidestepped the boy's charge, grasped the branding iron and plucked it out of his surprised hands, as Salem stumbled forward, in one swift movement.

"What part of 'Realm Walkers are magic-proof' did you not understand, boy?" Cloak asked, in a rather unintentional Batman imitation. Cloak was fully aware what Salem's charge and his intent was about, and it annoyed the Elements Master.

Salem looked nettled for a moment, then discovered that he was no longer holding the branding iron. He whined, "Hey! That's mine!"

As Salem made to grab it, Cloak held it aloft, above his own head. There was no way that Salem would be able to jump roughly ten feet to reach it.

"Give it back! It's mine!" Salem said.

"Just because you took it from someone else, doesn't make it yours," Faerie remarked.

"Like you have any right to say that, thief!" Salem spat.

"Hypocrite," Faerie said, almost placidly bored.

[redtailedsaffa]

I am the vengeance. I am the night. I am... CLOAKED FIGURE!

Nah, not quite the same ring to it.

[Gaz]

Beaky!

[Cloak]

Yep.

I was going to work on more chapters, but I'm still bloody exhausted from work today.

Got a little energy back.

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Magic-Housed Artifacts

Salem eventually tired of trying to jump up and reach the branding iron. So he decided on a different tact.

"You can't even use that artifact!" he claimed with a sneer. "Give it to someone who can!"

"I am not stupid, little boy," Cloak growled. "I know you will abuse this branding iron. You have already proven this. You think me a fool?"

"You can't even use it!" Salem shrieked.

"I haven't any intention to use it," Cloak said, wearily.

"Then give it --"

"And I've no intention on returning it to your greedy, abusive hands, boy!" Cloak roared. Salem quelled a bit under the Realm Walker's wrath. "I'm going to destroy it."

"You can't!"

"Watch me."

"You can't! It's indestructible!"

"Then why are you so afraid of me trying? Hmm?" Cloak said, his feline senses easily picking up the scent of fear and witnessing his nervous behavior. "If it really was indestructible . . ."

Salem seemed to hang on to every word, eyeing nothing but the branding iron.

". . . Then . . . could I . . . DO THIS?!" Cloak said, as he ferrokinetically reduced the branding iron to metallic dust and shrapnel.

"Cloak! Do you have any idea what you've done?!" Broken shouted.

"The magic was not broken with the branding iron," Faerie explained, in a rush, "the magic still exists! It has to go somewhere!!"

"And so it shall!" Cloak said.

"Ha!" Salem said, acting as if he knew about this beforehand. He raced towards the magical, red orb that had tongues if red magical energy whip out from it akin to that of solar flares in relation to the sun. Salem was intending on absorbing the magic into himself, then he wouldn't need the branding iron anymore.

But Cloak realized that Salem would try this, and moved to terrakinetically sink him into the ground. Only his neice managed that first.

"You've been a really naughty boy tonight, young man," Shadow said, affecting an authoritative tone of voice.

Cloak cleared his throat and said, "As I was saying, and so it shall. It shall go to Oblivion."

Clook glared at the miniature magical sun, and said, " Well, off with you, then!"

The magical orb appeared to collapse in on itself, and dissipate into nonbeing, into nothingness.

"No!!" Salem shrieked.

"And, now about you . . ." Cloak said, almost business-like, rounding on Salem.

"Uh-oh," Salem said, quite nervously.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
The Baddest

Salem was sent back -- effectively "deported", in a way -- to Ledgerdomain, where his actions and antics would be known. And he would be appropriately punished.

Aside from that, things pretty much returned to normal.

Cloak, not knowing why found himself thinking about the the various layers that make up realms -- the realm core, the material world, Everlost, the ghost zone, Ledgerdomain, the timeline cuticle, void space, and the realm cuticle. There were probably more layers to a realm, but Cloak was either unaware of them or simply forgot about their existance, as not all were easily perceptible.

Cloak shook his head. Why was he thinking of such things now? It was really out of nowhere.

***

Malice was well aware of Salem's essential deportation. She decided that it was enough to celebrate herself, as she never liked the brat. Though it was mere child's play to manipulate him for her own entertainment.

She manipulated him, like so many other people, through song.

"Listen, kid, I think you should know
Bad like me is the way to go.
Being nice is just for saps!
Being good is a handicap!
I'm bad, see?
You gotta be bad, like me.
Will do, you got that?
It takes total commitment to be entirely bad,
Imma tell ya about the fun I've had.
I got this far with just one rule,
Get to them, before they get to you.
Yeah, I'm a dirty devil*.
I run in the fast lane, see?"**

She cackled so hard that it suddenly devolved into a hacking cough. She stopped, and smiled broadly at the thought.

"Think a little game is in order for those RAFian imbeciles," she said, with a cruel smile lighting her face. "And I know just the person to facilitate this game."

A wild, malicious cackle rent the air.


*Tasmanian devil, remember?

** Source song

[redtailedsaffa]

I have a feeling we're going to be exploring those realm layers as the books go on. Can't wait.

[Cloak]

Eventually.

New, shortish chapter.

BOOK XCIV:
VOID SPACE
CHAPTER ONE:
Rather Weighty

The RAFians were in the training room, training on different gravities. They were currently at twice Earth's gravity, and Cloak was the only one that seemed to be able to cope easily with it.  Cloak didn't like this type of training, though.

It was too likely to kill someone, if they're not careful. And not every species were like the Saiyans. They wouldn't get a sudden boost of power when they near death, they'd just be near death.

"Amping up to four times Earth's gravity," Goom said. That effectively quadrupled their weight.

Cloak experienced a momentary discomfort, as Gaz, Saffa, Blue, GH, and Dino especially were struggling with it. But there was a reason why Cloak wasn't really affected by the fluctuation in gravity.

"This . . . is hard." Dino said.

"I fail to see the point of this training." Cloak said, without any strain to his voice.

"How . . . are you . . . still standing?" Saffa asked.

"Do you think that, considering the thousands of millions of realms out there, that all the Earths in those realms have the standard gravity?" Cloak said, rather irreverently.

"Doesn't . . . answer . . . question." Dino said.

"Well," Cloak said, "it probably stems from the fact that Realm Walkers are essentially corporealized energy. I don't know for sure."

"Realm Walkers are really overpowered," Blue said, rather testily.

"Amping up to eight times Earth's grav--"

"NO, Goom." Cloak said. "I think we should end this simulation."

The others were silent, before each gave their ascent. The gravity was lifted, and Cloak only felt a momentary discomfort.