Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Yeah . . . 'bout that, guys . . . it would never work.

All the Evils require a host with a navel, a bellybutton, to adhere to. Realm Walkers do not have bellybuttons. They do not because they never have had umbilical cords, outside the metaphoric sense, because they are hatched from Life Light Eggs, and not born in the traditional placental mammalian way, as humans are. There would be nothing for the Evil to adhere to, as that's the only spot they can, the only place they are able.

In any case, Realm Walkers are immune to possession of Dwellers, and the Evils still count as Dwellers.

Sorry, I didn't mean for this to sound like a lecture, but I got a little "lecture-y" there.

[guitarhero01234]

Yeah, I knew that. That's why I said "If Pride had somehow managed to consume . . ."

[Cloak]

Then it's my turn to be chagrined.

Since I'm posting this now, the next chapter might have to come after work tomorrow. My third day in a row, and I'm not even halfway through yet. It's now eight days in a row. Ugh.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
Pride Priority

"Well," Cloak said, oddly composed considering how abashed he felt, "that could have gone better."

"Oh, you think?!" falc0 snapped.

"Watch yourself, chicken nuggets," Cloak warned, allowing a tiger growl to intermingle with the words. He was feeling a bit testy, apparently.

"I should have known it wouldn't have been so easy," Pandora said, cursing her own naivety.

"How do you beat Pride?" Dino asked. She was still in her compact form.

"How indeed!" Superbia crowed, through Bette.

"No one asked you," Dino sniffed.

"Well, Pride can be hurt," Cloak noted, slowly.

"No, I can't." Superbia said, coyly.

"You stay out of this," Gaz snapped, which just caused it laugh a belly laugh through Bette. Then she addressed the other, "Once injured, Pride tends to become very brittle."

"Hey!" Superbia protested. But it was ignored.

"But how are we going to injure it?" Saffa asked pointedly. "Without harming the woman, its host?"

This stymied them.

"Remember, our priority should be the separation of the two," Saffa continued, "then the Box can do the rest."

"I'm standing right here, y'know," Superbia pointed out.

"Seriously?" Demos asked, looking at the others with mild surprise. "I thought it was obvious."

"Well, don't keep up the suspense, then," GH said, snippily, still miffed over the kid thinking about touching his guitar, his baby, "tell us your grand idea."

Demos didn't react at the subtle hostility in GH's tone, and said, "Pride gains power from being the sole victor."

"A little less cryptic, if you please," falc0 said.

"Pride hardly ever comes from a group," Demos said.

"Spit it out, or I'm eating you here and now," Dino threatened.

"He's saying to use our Unity Energy," Cloak said, dryly. "Pride comes before the fall or whatever. Let's just Unity Blast this thing already."

"You really think that will work?" GH asked.

"Go a better idea?"

"Nope," he said, earnestly.

"Then let's get to it." Cloak said.

The RAFians moved as one. The Unity Energy stemmed from Dino's forehead, falc0's breastbone (so it was pretty much like a kestral Unibeam), and the palms from the others. The Unity Energy caused Pride pain, but Bette was unaware and unharmed.

However, Superbia was still adhered to Bette!

"EXPELLOCORPUS!" Cloak shouted at once, a tiger roar intermingling with the word.

Superbia was flung away from Bette, taking all her vanity and hubris with it. Superbia looked as if this was impossible. Pandora was just as quick on the uptake as Cloak was, as she used the Box to suck it back inside with Pride's silent scream.

[redtailedsaffa]

Well, that was dramatic.

[Cloak]

Last chapter of the book.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:
Added Precaution

"And that's all of them, sealed away," Pandora said, latching the Box with determined finality. "Nevermore to leave."

"Yeah, about that," Cloak said, "I think there is still something more that needs doing."

"What do you mean?" Pandora asked, perplexed.

"Just that I have a problem with the precautions of this box," the Realm Walker elaborated. "It was open twice now."

"What are you getting at?" Pandora asked, defensiveness edging into her voice.

Cloak had produced a sphere of molten-looking metal, with a rippling surface.

"Where did you get that?" Saffa asked, rather blunt.

"That is immaterial," Cloak said.

"I disagree." GH said. And Cloak was irresistibly reminded of the Abridged Jayden Yuki.

Cloak did answer, but placed the metal upon the Box, forcing it to cover every inch of the Box. Every curve, every seam.

"Pure molten adamantium," Cloak said, forcing the metal to harden into its unbreakable state. "Hardened into invulnerability. Now the Box, quite literally, cannot be opened."

Pandora's reaction was not one of anger and outrage that Cloak had expectex, that he anticipated, that he braced himself for. Her reaction was, in fact, quite the opposite. Her shoulders sagged as if a tremendous weight had been lifted from them, and she laughed a rather giddy-sounding laugh -- the laugh of someone who had never felt true freedom.

"I never have . . . never have . . ." she stammered. She was actually close to tears, tears of pure, unadulterated joy. "I never have to worry about it . . ."

Her voice choked up with emotion.

"Um," falc0 said, "not to be a doubting Thomas or anything, but no precaution, no matter how thorough and elaborate, is infallible."

Crickets.

"Way to kill the mood, falc0," Demos commented, actually indifferent to the whole matter.

***

"You know, Cloak, I've been wondering," GH said.

Cloak eyed GH wearily, suspicious of where this was headed. "About?"

"Realm Walkers don't have bellybuttons, right?"

"Yes, I've established that already," Cloak said. This follow-up question was confirming his suspicions.

"So," GH continued slowly, "I was wondering . . ."

Cloak said nothing. GH was walking into dangerous territory.

"Are Realm Walkers like Namekians?"

Cloak knew precisely what GH was getting at, but he said, anyway, "In what capacity?"

"Well . . . you know," GH said, appearing to squirm a bit. "You know what, forget I asked."

"Gladly."

[guitarhero01234]

I wish I could say I understood the last part of this chapter, but that's unfortunately not the case. BRB, gonna watch through DBZA just to get that joke.

Also, it's gonna be weird without Saffa posting the new PDFs.

Also also, 500 get

*Edit* Oh. OH. In the middle of episode 7. I get it now

Eunuchs!

[Cloak]

Perhaps this would be helpful, GH?

[guitarhero01234]

Link doesn't work. Doesn't really matter though; I edited my previous post while you were typing this one.

[redtailedsaffa]

Before I disappear for however long I do, thought I'd drop in and leave the PDF of the last book.

[Cloak]

Thanks, Saffa. I promise that we won't be on Book D (500) when you get back!

New chapter.

BOOK XCVIII:
FROM THE SHADOWS
CHAPTER ONE:
Black and Blue

"There was a man from the Nexus,
On an energy disc, he rode,
Defending the defenseless,
It's to him I sing this ode.
With the elements of justice,
He struck down every foe.
Safety for our families,
It's this to him we owe.
Black and blue, black and blue,
The man from the Nexus
Wore the black and blue.
He fought the vilest villains,
Too numerous to list.
Rendering his verdict,
With glove-covered fists.
Descending from the night sky,
His scalloped cloak would flow.
Those who broke the law deserve
The punches he would throw.
Black and blue, black and blue,
The man from Gotham
Wore the black and blue.
But beneath the hood
Was just a man,
Same as you and me,
His true face he could never share,
A secret identity.
But why endure this lone crusade,
Fight a fight you just can't win?
If asked, the cat would tell you -- "

"Enough, GH," Cloak said, unmoved. He couldn't take the song's inaccuracies -- he wore gray and his cloak was black. Though it was only his main body color of his clothing beneath his cloak.

"Wh-whatever do you m-mean?"

"You're not getting them back," the Realm Walker said, firmly.

"I wasn't --"

"You gave them to me because you wanted to quit." Cloak said.

"Uh, yeah, about that . . ."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No," Cloak said. "You made me promise. No matter how much you beg and plead, to not give you back your, uh, cigarettes, I think they're called. And I intend to keep it."

"C'mon, Cloak!"

"Rotiart's touching your guitar," Cloak replied.

"What?!" GH shouted, whipping around to find -- no one there. When he turned to confront Cloak about it, the Realm Walker was gone.

[guitarhero01234]

Oh my god. I actually laughed out loud at that

[Cloak]

Well, that was the reaction that was hoping for, GH! The +1 was a pleasant surprise though.

Anyway, considering how exhausting this week has been, I may not be posting chapters as frequently as I usually do. At least not until my schedule gets more normal.

And I think I figured out why the link didn't work. I'm on a Kindle Fire. Mobile. You must be using an actual computer.

[guitarhero01234]

Yeah, the link worked on my phone. It must be mobile-only or something.
And dont worry about the new chapters being slower. We'll live . . . I hope.

[Cloak]

After this coming week, my schedule should normalize. Working eight days straight -- it wears you out, especially when you have to clean thirty rooms in six and a half hours. Very difficult, very trying, very exhausting.

New book idea.

• Book DCCXCVIII: "The Huntsclan" -- Blocky and Shock must deal with the Huntsclan.
• Book DCCXCIX: "A Headache" -- The RAFians must deal with an intelligence-consuming creature.
• Book DCCC: "Metal Muncher Swarm" -- The RAFians must deal with Scraplets.
• Book DCCCI: "Outcast" -- A surviving eidolon from the Eidolon Consciousness is eventually flees the RAFians, one in particular.
• Book DCCCII: "Star Meet World" -- Esty gets a potential love interest.

Don't think I repeated anything.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWO:
Shadow Stalkers

The moonlight streamed into RAF. It was an ordinary night, an unusually still wintry night. Much welcomed after the whole Pandora's Box fiasco. A night of restful sleep, undisturbed and uninterrupted.

But it wasn't as uneventful as it would seem.

Several creatures, vaguely humanoid in appearance, stole into the forum, somehow able to bypass Code Avalon. They were completely two-dimensional, amorphous beings. Their eyes was simply absent of substance. They were living shadows, but not technically shadows. Not anymore. They were Umbraraptors, more commonly referred to as Shadow Stalkers. It was these beings who invented shadow travel.

So what did these creatures want?

The shadows, the sheut, of living beings.

Why?

The reason was the simplest of reasons. This was how these Umbraraptors, these Shadow Stalkers propagate and proliferate. They had to steal shadows to essentially make more Shadow Stalkers.

Now, not every shadow they take can become a Shadow Stalker. There apparently are some sort of perimeters required that are unknown to even the Shadow Stalkers themselves. But, then again, the Shadow Stalkers can only be considered sentient by the loosest definitions. They live only to proliferate, to propagate.

One could argue all life has that as their most basic motivation, but the way these creatures do it was rather dark and sinister. As for the people that they steal these shadows from . . . they grow progressively weaker and weaker without their shadows. If the shadow is not returned in a timely manner, they grow progressively more catatonic or simply lethargic. If not returned within a seven-two hour period . . . death follows.

All in all, despite being rarely known about, they are potentially very, very dangerous Dark creatures.

And they were now in RAF.

Unnoticed.

Hence why they managed to steal the shadows of Gaz, Guy, Underseen, Sakki, Faerie, and Azguard while they slumbered, unaware of the precarious situation that their lives were now in.

And it probably have gone unnoticed, had they not tried to take Cloak's shadow. In the attempt, they had inadvertently roused the Realm Walker, whose natural bioluminescence (which comes from his technical status at an energy being) frightened them. Naturally, his cloak blocks this bioluminescence when he wears it, and it is this light that causes the realm to simultaneously disintegrate, incinerate, and melt away when uncloaked. Because of this, Realm Walkers, when they are without a cloak, are technically shadowless.

As Cloak doesn't commonly sleep in his cloak, as his thread is lined with the very same fabric that make up his cloak, they made a mistake just trying to get into his thread, before recoiling noisily at the Realm Walker's natural bioluminous corona.

It was enough to rouse Cloak, which made him rather cranky, as they fled with their stolen shadows.

[guitarhero01234]

Cloak . . . what have you done to me. For the past THREE DAYS, I have been doing nothing but watching through DBZA. And now that I'm caught up, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MY LIFE. I HOPE YOU'RE GODDAMN PLEASED.