Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINE:
Spectre Speeches

"I can't believe they're swallowing this," Sam, the Spectre, said, pacing in an agitated way. "Politician these days are just far too stupid, too naive, too gullible for their own good!"

"What's the big deal, Sam?" YeerkSalad said. "The Reach really do seem peaceful."

"Don't be duped, Salad!" Sam said, his Spectre cape flaring out due to his sudden emotion. "The Reach is just using their pretty rhetoric to pull the wool over everyone's collective eyes."

"They just want to protect us from the Exodia Armada," Dylan interjected.

"Which doesn't exist!!" Sam spat.

"How do you know that?" the obnoxious RAFian said. "Do you know every damn species in this galaxy? In this whole universe?"

He didn't need to be such a raging douche, but he couldn't help himself. He didn't seem to be aware of the potential ramifications of his attitude, that Spectre had it in his power to seriously shiv him with paper airplanes and other such unimaginable feats that make mundane objects fatally dangerous weapons.

Fortunately, Sam decided to let it slide. This obnoxious RAFian was more mouth than brain, and Sam was well aware of his habit to talk first, think later.

"The Reach are conquers," Sam said again, keeping his voice as calm as he could, but it still carried a lot of anger, but something more, a deep pain only scabbed over by time. "Years ago, they warred with the Green Lanterns. I was one of the Lanterns there. I lost several good friends during that conflict."

A silencing hush fell upon those who gathered and heard this. Sam continued with his story.

"Eventually, it was settled with a treaty," he said, sounding almost bitter, "but they only abide by it on the surface. They can only come to a planet if they were invited to, as you just saw happen on the news. But they circumvent this treaty by sending cybernetic beetles to the planet they intend to conquer, and they bond to a local host, taking them over, turning them into sleeper agents, infiltration agents. Men on the inside."

"But they didn't do anything like that." Dylan pointed out.

"Dylan, they're not gonna parade around what they were planning on what they were planning on doing." Sam said. "They're a lot more subtle than that. They still have plausible deniability when it comes to these scarabs, and they designed it that way."

He took a deep breath, ending with his summation, "They are not to be trusted."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TEN:
The Path We Blaze

"Look out, new path, here we come!
Brave intrepid, and then some!
Pioneers of maximum audacity,
Whose resumes show that we're just the team
To live where others merely dream,
Building up our head of steam
On the path we blaze!
Changing legend into fact,
We shall ride into RAFhistory,
Turning myth into truth!
We shall surely gaze,
On the sweet unfolding
Of an antique mystery.
All will be revealed
On the thread we blaze!
RAFparadise is close at hand,
Shangri-RAF, the promised land."

Demos and Blue were in a small submersible prototype that Yarin had been working on. It had two concave windows on either side and looked rather like a goldfish. When Blue tried to inquire about why a goldfish, Yarin took a wretch to his ear, or tried to. They were looking for hidden Reach armadas.

After the musical pause, the duo sang again:

"Quite unusual nowadays.
In the adult, behold an inner child,
On the path we blaze!
The path we blaze,
Is a road we charted.
Through sea incognita,
To a golden time.
No place for the weary traveler,
To be fainthearted.
We're part of a scrumptious grand design.
Change legend into fact,
We shall ride into history.
Turning myth into truth.
We shall surely gaze
On the sweet unfolding
Of an antique mystery.
All will be revealed
On the path we blaze!"

"STOP SINGING AND REMEMBER YOUR MISSION!!" Yarin shouted angrily, voice crackling on the communications on the imperfected dashboard. "Do you see any Reach ships?!"

"No, not yet. I dunno why you wanted us here for this mission," Blue said.

"Irrelevant," Yarin said, dismissively.

"D'you think he's getting off on ordering us around?" Demo asked in a loud stage whisper.

"I heard that," Yarin commented testily.

"Yeah, I know," Demos said, brightly.

"Still nothing, Yarin," Blue said, ending the call, "we'll report in when we have any news of note."


Source Song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gzq8212yMpY

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Um . . . Hi?

"Still nothing, Yarin," Blue said, warily.

"Yeah, dude," Demos said, flippantly, "go eat a cookie or something. We'll let you know if we find something."

Yarin didn't particularly care for the fact that Demos did not seem to be taking this seriously at all. He said nothing, but glowered as if they would be able to see it over the communications.

"Demos, this could be important," Blue said, with a bite of impatience. "There could be a Reach armada here."

"There also could be no armada," Demos said, carelessly.

Blue looked at him, "You've been hanging around GH too much, haven't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Demos said, with a bark of gregarious laughter. "But they say that music soothes the savage Beast!"

"Ugh," Blue said.

"Oh, lighten up, Blue," Demos said, a bit more seriously. "This is a wild goose chase, and you know it."

"You don't know that," Blue said.

"Oh, loosen up, Blue," Demos said. "Remember that con we pulled on those trolls years ago?"

Blue recalled . . .

***

Blue was disguised as an old sage. He was just competent at this particular ninja art of disguise at this point in time, when he was still a relatively fresh RAFian.

Demos was singing in an huckster-style of voice:

"He'll solve your problems,
Predict the future,
He'll work things out,
So that they're bound to suit ya.
He'll read your stars,
And he'll read your mind.
And he'll find a way to
Make everthing alright.
Here's the chance of a lifetime!
Now don't you say no!
An educational, informational
Magic mystery show!"

Blue sang:

"A conjuration,
A celebration!
So, let's start the party!"

Demos sang:

"Here's the chance of a lifetime!
Now don't you say no!
A revelation, a super station!
A magical mystery show!"

Blue sang:

"Lights are dim."

A voice, lurking in the shadows, quietly spoke with a small growl, "What's goin' on here? . . ."

Blue sang:

"Things are drastic.
Just see me,
And it's all fantastic!"

The voice, quietly and dryly, asked rhetorically, "Really?"

Demos sang:

"As for payment --"

The voice spoke again, still quietly, "Payment?"

Demos continued:

"-- He's elastic.
He takes cash,
Coupons, and plastic."

The trolls gathered sang with Demos:

"Now, here's the chance of a life time,
That by now you should know.
An educational, informational,
Magical mystery show."

Demos sang to Blue, in an aside:

"What could be more perfect,
For a couple of old pals?
We provide the mumbo-jumbo,
They provide the clams!"

Then he sung with crowd of trolls:

"This the chance of a lifetime,
Now don't let it go!
A recreational, controversial
Magic mystery show!"

Blue sang:

"A functionary,
Imaginary,
Apothecary . . ."

And it was then that a branch, seemingly of its own accord, came down and ruined Blue's disguise as he was walking by.

The troll crowd sang:

"The chance of a lifetime,
Find out what you should know!
A confrontational, conformational
Magic mystery show!"

Then they realized the jig was up. But trolls are amongst some of the dumber species in existence. But Blue and Demos had seen who was responsible for the farce going south. Cloak himself.

Demos said, quickly, "Blue, let's get the heck outta here!"

"Perhaps next time, you won't con the gullible!" Cloak declared.*

***

"The one that Cloak came in a put the kibosh on? Yes, Demos, I remember." Blue said, sounding rather bitter. "I still don't know how you talked me into that."

"Oh, you had fun and you know it," Demos said, dismissively.

"I regretted it ever since," Blue said.

"Fine. If you want to tell yourself that, fine" Demos said, with a shrug.

"Demos, turn to your right." Blue said, deathly serious.

"What?" Demos said, complacent. Then he became more serious as he saw. "They haven't seen us yet, have they?"

He was referring to the armada of Reach ships hiding in the darkness. One turned to face them.

"Yeah-huh," Blue said. "This is gonna hurt, isn't it?"

"Probably," Demos said.


Song source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b9-cELrmsLs

* Based off of this. Albeit more, uh, tame.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Fallout and Battle

Silence fell.

"Blue! Demos!" Yarin demanded. "Come in."

The hush that fell amongst the other RAFians present -- Saffa, Abby, Melissa, Broken, Ash, Parker and Helen -- was absolute.

"Come in, Blue and Demos!" Yarin ordered. His voice had a tinge of desperation to it.

Silence. Not even crackly communication static.

"Are . . ." Melissa said, looking to her mentor and Sorcerer Supreme, voice unsure, "are they . . . dead?"

"Blue! Demos! Come in!!" Yarin insisted. There was an edge of panic to his voice now.

They did not answer.

As Yarin made to yell again, Parker interceded. "Yarin, that won't do any good. If they could, they would have called back. The Reach Armada must have --"

"Please don't say it," Helen said, already tearing up. "Please, Parker."

"They may have survived," Parker said, serious and sincere. "They may have survived, but are left with no way to communicate with us."

"With that armada?" Yarin said, going over the images last sent to them. "There is really no likelihood of . . ."

"You never know," Parker said. "Over a year ago, we all thought Cloak had died, when Abomination attacked here for the first time. But he came back."

"That was different," Ash said, not daring to hope.

"Was it?" Parker asked rhetorically.

***

A stream of Tyrannopede silk shot toward a distracted Cloak only to be frozen by Horse and shattered by GH's guitar in its battleaxe form. Then he charged the Nemetrix Beetle with his battleaxe guitar held aloft, only for the Nemetrix Beetle to change deftly into a Mucillator, and GH was heading for one of the gooey sacs. His momentum would allow him to stop in time.

But Cloak used his mastery over the Air element to suck GH out of that situation and cause him to land rudely and roughly on his bottom, his guitar-battleaxe clattering a few feet away, reverting to its base guitar shape. GH quickly and deftly got it back into his possession, witnessing the Nemetrix Beetle go Psycholeopterran and try to mesmerize Aquilai only to be smacked out of the air by Dino's clubbed tail. Dino roar only signified her success, and served to tell everyone where they were.

Then she went into her Terroranchula form, and tried to web Underseen, who skillfully shapeshifted into a gnat and escaped before resuming his base form. The Nemetrix Beetle was then stomped on by Dino with her massive tyrannosaur feet. The Nemetrix Beetle escaped by becoming a Psycholeopterran again and going intangible (a handy ability considering that Necrofriggins can and Psycholeopterrans prey on them).

Then she deftly becomes a Buglizard. She spread a noxious gas around herself that enabled Buglizards to dissolve Lepidopterran goo. Underseen knew this, and had apprehension about approaching the Nemetrix Beetle, considering his physiology. But this wasn't really a worry with a Master of the Air Element on your side, as Cloak easily blew away the gas and dissipated it. Then Dino came in and snatched the Buglizard into her jaws. As she was about to bite down, the Nemetrix Beetle pulled the Psycholeopterran trick again.

Only this time, she phased into the ground and emerged as a Slamworm. This was actually a very stupid move as Earth was Cloak's preferred element. Cloak slammed a fist down on the ground and the Slamworm was vomited up from the ground, resuming its Anubian Baskurr form.

Then it ran away.

[redtailedsaffa]

Finally caught up! Yikes, cliffhanger.

Loved the Purple Man book - I loved the Jessica Jones Netflix series, which the Purple Man is the villain of, so I ended up reading all his lines in David Tennant's voice. Always knew this day would come, am I still expelled or nah?

I'll get the PDFs up once I'm done with class.

[Cloak]

Oh, you were re-enrolled, and the dean did everything he could to sweep it under the rug. As he found it embarrassing.

New chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Ceremonious Interruption

"Welcome, my fellow --" a politician said in front of a podium, whose voice was drowned out by a strange roar that seemed to come out of nowhere, but nothing seemed to come of it, so she thought nothing of and plowed onward. "We are here to welcome the Reach's Ambassador to Earth."

There was a smattering of disinterested applause. Clearly, no one was really passionate about this capitulation and accepting of the Reach's proclaimed help. None of the people were really for it, but the politicians had sighted a political opportunity and they jumped at it. Politicians, especially the corrupt kind, are woefully predictable sometimes.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the Reach Ambassador said, with an oily, gregarious charm that perceptive people would have picked up on the artificialness of. "Thank you all for such a warm welcome to your lovely planet! May this be a humble beginning to a great Reach-human peaceful, diplomatic relationship. All the better to 'Reach' for a better tomorrow! Now, we have much to discuss before the Exodia Armada gets here, my friends."

"Like your hidden armada beneath the ocean?" a skeptical and critical voice called out.

"Please, sir, save all questions for the end," the Ambassador said, recovering from the surprise that there was knowledge of the Armada with practiced ease, which was not lost on the most observant of viewers. "Let's press on, then shall we?"

Then, at the prompting of her mother, a little girl walked up to the stage, and the Ambassador walked down to her, and knelt to her eye level.

"Greetings, young one," the Ambassador said, still remarkable that people didn't notice how oily this whole thing was. "Do you have a question?"

She was hesitant, clutching her stuffed bear fretfully, "I thought the RAFians protected the Earth. Won't they stop the Exodia Army?"

The Reach Ambassador gave a sigh (which sounded like a pompous, theatrical sigh), "I know of these RAFians. But I also know they are no match for the Exodia Armada, dear young one. Even the strongest of their number would be in grave jeopardy, and they would still serve to jeopardize your entire populace."

If the girl understood any of this, she didn't show it.

"But it makes me wonder why they seem to attract so many outer space bullies to your planet," the Ambassador continued. "But the Armada is a bully too big for them to handle."

Funny. You didn't specify which armada. came a voice only the Ambassador heard. He ignored it.

"But your new friends, the Reach, are here to protect you!" he said, to mild applause and whoop here and there.

"From an imaginary threat that you just made up," came a cantankerous voice.

"Now, the thing to know about the Exodia Armada --"

But he was interrupted when an oddly-colored Anubian Baskurr came running towards him.

"Reach? The father people of one of my constituent parts." the Nemetrix Beetle said, finally growing sufficient enough to stop the computer-speak. "And intelligent. And sentient. All sentient beings must die!!"

[redtailedsaffa]

Tcha. So much for vigilante. Although that would actually probably make me a vigilante vigilante.

I just read the original Blue and Demos chat, and I've been laughing for five minutes.

Also, here.

[Cloak]

I just read the original Blue and Demos chat, and I've been laughing for five minutes.

Ah, yes, the "Golden Age", so to speak, of RAF.

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Interruption Intermission

The Nemetrix noticed the people gathered, watching this press conference ceremony, and declared, "ALL sentient lifeforms must be exterminated."

The people were looking at the Ambassador with a new, unfavorable light. Some people were just easy to sway that way, and some were a little more stubbornly mired in their preconceptions and their own personal narratives, regardless of whether they were morally right or wrong, it was their truth. Some were actually siding with the Ambassador, of course, as happens with these things.

"Th-that's not Reach technology," the Ambassador said, attempting to recover, lying fervently to keep the Reach being seen in a positive light. He was trying ever so desperately. "It's obviously Cerebrocrustacean in design and execution! They obviously wish to sabotage Reach-human relations!! This incursion is clear and undeniable proof!"

"That you're an incurable liar?" came a cool, yet contemptuous voice, as the Nemetrix Beetle took on her Tyrannopede form and clearly intended to cocoon all the populace present, including the Ambassador.

"What? Who calls me a liar?!" the Ambassador said. "Who has the audacity to impugn my autho-- er, my reputation?!"

He almost slipped up and said "authority", which might not have gone over well the human populace. The Ambassador did not know if humans were touchy about such things, which one possible reason that the Reach were so dependent on the Beetles. They weren't just their inside men, but their moles, their reconnaissance, of a planet deemed suitable for conquest.

The Nemetrix Beetle fired a rapid fire of the Tyrannopede webbing that functioned much like impact webbing. But Cloak came in, surfing on earth, creating a wall of earth, blocking the webbing from cocooning anyone. Then he hopped down from the barrier, protecting the populace, ever the finicky bunch, and executed a right hook which sent a "Guile Sonicboom" projectile of golden-scarlet energy at the Nemetrix Beetle, which disturbed its form somewhat, causing it to ripple some.

Addressing the Ambassador, as Dino was playing taxi once more to the others, Cloak said, "That would be me, Reach. I have that audacity."

"And who are you?" the Ambassador demanded. "What gives you the right to interrupt this ceremony?!"

"Ceremony?" Cloak asked, as Dino ordered everyone to get off her back. "Oh, so there was."

The Nemetrix Beetle seemed to have success in stabilizing her form, and Cloak did not know what brought on this sudden change.

"Who are you?!" the Ambassador demanded. "Why did you dare impugn my --"

"Your authority?" Cloak said, dryly and unimpressed.

"I wasn't going to say that," the Ambassador contested hotly.

"You keep tellin' yourself that," Cloak said, flippantly, eyes on the Nemetrix Beetle, as GH moved his favorite guitar pick through his fingers in a surprisingly intimidating and deceptively threatening manner. "I don't even need Earthsight to see through your oily rhetoric to witness the boldfaced lies beneath you oh-so-carefully crafted veneer of altruism and protectionism."

"You have no proof that I don't speak the proof!" the Ambassador said, before realizing he had worded that wrong. "You know what I mean! You haven't any proof of duplicity!!"

"Really? Mr. Ambassador?" came a familiar voice. "I'm inclined to disagree."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Starlight, Star Might, First Star I See Tonight

"Who -- what the devil?!" the Ambassador demanded, as Estelore dropped each and every warship of the Reach Armada onto the ground. She had tethered and lashed them together with stellar energy tendrils. "Impossible!"

"Not really," Yarin said, stepping forward and removing his ID mask. "Since all your Armada -- yes, your Armada Reach Ambassador, don't try to deny it! - all decided to go after a mouse without considering that it just might be baiting a trap."

It was true. Yarin piloted his ship to act as bait (while also trying to look for wreckage of the submersible without diving into the water) for the Armada. And, like an interested fish, they all rose to the bait. They all rose out of the water, cloaked. Yarin kept them interested, kept them believing him to be a threat to their secrecy.

Once they were all out, Estelore took care of the rest. When she gathered them up, it naturally terrified them, even.if she maintained her human avatar throughout. And when she lashed them together ever so tightly, she cracked the hulls on each of them enough to damage the internal circuitry without snapping them in two, with an earnest-sounding "oopsie", though she was not sorry in the least bit.

Then she had come to this ceremony to dump the useless scrap on the ground. Each ship even appeared to be unmanned. At least, now in retrospect, she hoped that they were unmanned, because no Reach wormed their way from the wreckage. These ships would never fly again.

"Your subterfuge has failed, oh Mr. Ambassador," Cloak said, with a mocking tone on the last word. "You have failed."

"Yeah, what was part two of your grand design?" GH asked, sardonically. "A carbonated drink laced with mind control additives? I'm afraid that --"

"No product placement, GH," Cloak said, severely.

"Awwwww . . ." was his reply.

"So, Mr. Ambassador," Cloak said, ignoring GH's disappointment, "it's your move. What will you do now? Fight? You have no chance. Flee? You'll look like the coward that you are, but you'll live with humiliation suffered here. The choice is yours."

The Ambassador looked furious.

"You've lost here. You've lost before you could even begin. Remember that," Cloak said seriously. "Go. Do not prolong this, do not drag it out. Be pragmatic."

The Ambassador said, "Fine. This isn't over."

He boarded the ship that he arrived in, a benign-looking ship, that he had claimed had no weapons. Cloak didn't believe that for a minute.

"But it is," Cloak said. "Esty?"

"I'll make sure they're well outside the system," she said, with an acknowledging nod.

When they had left, Cloak heard a strangled, sputtering noise. He looked at the Nemetrix Beetle and said, "Oh, right. That's a thing."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Corrupted Beetle

"Um, what's wrong with it?" Underseen asked. "I don't think that's normal."

The Nemetrix Beetle's form seemed to destabilize again. She seemed to desperately try to stabilize it again, but was failing. She strived to try any of the forms in her database, but not even the strongest was sufficient to stabilize her form. And she tried so ever hard.

"What's going on?" Horse asked.

Cloak didn't have an answer, as the Nemetrix seemed wracked with pain. She was trying to hard to stabilize her form. But she was failing each and every time.

"This . . ." GH said, "this is kinda horrible to watch."

Then Cloak saw it. The beetle on front was cracked, and cracked quite noticeably. And it was behaving like a corrupted Gem, a species that Cloak had only a superficial knowledge of. The corporeal construct began to shift and mutate, as it seemed to become an amalgam of the non-Terran animals in her database.

"This ain't good, is it?" Horse said.

The Nemetrix Beetle had the a thick body of a Slamworm, the sticky sacs of Mucillator, the tail and legs of a Buglizard, the head nozzle and lower legs (between the Buglizard) of Tyrannopede, the head and forelegs of a Terroranchula, the tentacles of a Vicetopus, and the beak of a Omnivoracious.

"Nope. Definitely not good," Horse said.

"Everyone," Cloak said, calling for the others' attention. Though he didn't take his eyes off The Nemetrix Beetle. "Evacuate the populace behind this earthen barrier I made. Get them to safety. I'll handle this."

"Cloak," Aquilai said, "what if it proves too much --"

Cloak quelled the question with a look. Then he locked his eyes on the Nemetrix Beetle, who seemed to lose the ability to talk. Who seemed to lose intelligence and sentience by the moment. Cloak spoke softly, in a voice that nonetheless carried, "Go to it."

And they did, leaving Cloak to stare down the corrupted mess that was the Nemetrix Beetle. The evacuation began immediately.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Beast Abhors

"Are you sure you want this?" Cloak said, as a brave gust of wind buffeted his cloak so that it blew and billowed around him, adding much to the tense atmosphere. "If you challenge me, Reach Beetle, it will not end pretty. For you, anyway."

The Nemetrix Beetle's response was not with words, but a guttural, inhuman hiss as a green substance drooled and dripped from her dangerous Omnivoracious beak. Clearly her intelligence and sentience were deteriorating at an alarming rate. And, at this rate, there will none in a matter of minutes. But this only seemed to increase her savage demeanor and aggressive hostility exponentially.

It would not be an easy battle, as the Nemetrix Beetle was easily three, four times larger than the feline Realm Walker, but Cloak remained unafraid. In his time with RAF, he faced far more fearsome foes. Garrotik, for example.

The Nemetrix Beetle hissed another threat, and, despite what it claimed to endeavor to achieve, Cloak felt bad for her. She never asked to be born from the fusion of two dissimilar techs. Techs of an interstellar conquering species and a species with an inferiority complex to Galvans. She didn't ask to be garnered her temporary sentience and self-awareness. And now here she was, little more than a fearsome, vicious beast. No longer did she possess a mind or will of her own. She was a slave to bestial instinct.

Cloak realized soon enough that, due to this feral state, she wouldn't be reasoned with. She couldn't be reasoned with. She was too far gone.

"First Light," Cloak said, actually feeling a bit guilty about what he was going to commence doing. He believed the Gems called it "poofing", only in this case, it was going to be permanent. "First Light, may I be forgiven for what I'm about to do."

Cloak would take no pleasure in this. Who possibly could? Who, with a conscience, could enjoy the pain this creature? Enjoy snuffing out their life? Who could be that ruthless and callous? Cloak just wasn't that type of person. The Nemetrix Beetle, especially now, was not only a danger to everyone around her, but to herself as well.

Cloak would make as quick and painless as he could. He could be that merciful. It was then that the Nemetrix Beetle lunged at him.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Shatter Poof

The mismatched amalgam of alien parts that was the Nemetrix Beetle shambled forth into a charge that Cloak easily dodged. He dodged the several that followed. He was fighting his own reluctance. He never relished killing. Sure, he's always done things that had to be done, so maybe he was ruthless in that regard. But I didn't mean that he ever enjoyed it. The eidolon consciousness, that siren, Cataclysm . . . just but a few lives he ended. . . . There probably more at this point that he chose to not remember.

But he was procrastinating about inevitable final moment. It would do him no good if he persisted. He must nip his hesitation, his reluctance, in bud and do.what had to be done, what must be done. He must stop resorting to airbender tactics of avoid and evade. He must be proactive about this. But it was hard because he knew that he would hate himself for it later.

He kept.dodging the shambling lunges of the ramshackled creature of alien.parts before him. His last hit, before the Ambassador left, must have been what destabilized its form. It had cracked the bug charm thing at its throat, the thing that looked like a Bug Badge. Cloak knew that was a weakness, not unlike Lord Zedd's putty cannon fodder.

Better now then never, he thought as he formed energy blades on his hands his right one gold and his left one scarlet. He turned his head with disgust at himself when he remembered just how Collector died, how the-Walker-formerly-known-as-Abomination died, how Cataclysm died, how Gamesmaster died . . .

Focus, he scolded himself. This had to be done, as he heard another strangled-sounding hiss, and it had to be done to free the Nemetrix Beetle from her torture. Though her intelligence had so reduced he wasn't sure that she'd even recognize it.

It was a clean slice from both of Cloak's energy blades, which extended from his hands in a rather Wolverine-like fashion. But after he poofed the Nemetrix Beetle, they evaporated away. Cloak was no proud of this, as the beetle clattered to the earthen ground. But this wasn't over yet. It could reform as long as that was still around.

Cloak raised his hands, and two small slabs of earth followed suit. Then he clapped his hands once, and the slabs of earth shattered and crushed the beetle into bits. There was no shriek, no cry, no sound whatsoever, though it felt as if there should be.

The Nemetrix Beetle was dead. Cloak gathered the remains into a golden-scarlet energy bubble. Just in case. Then he returned to the forum.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Mr. Cloaky!

When Cloak returned to RAF, GH greeted him with something that the Realm Walker thought was wholly unnecessary and inappropriate.

"Make way for Mr. Cloaky!
Say hey! It's Mr. Cloaky!
Hey! Clear the way in the old bizarre!
Hey, you!
Let us through! It's a bright RAFian star!
Oh, come! Be the first on your block to meet his eye!
Make way!
Here he comes!
Ring bells! Bang the drums!
Are you gonna love this guy!"

Cloak was really not in the mood for this.

"Mr. Cloaky!
Fabulous he!
Cloaky the undefeated!
Genuflect,
Show some respect!
Down on one knee!
Now, try your best to stay calm.
Brush up your Sunday aplomb,
Then come and meet his spectacular coterie!"

"GH . . ."

"Mr. Cloaky!
Mighty is he!
Mr. Undefeated.
Strong as ten
Regular men,
Definitely!
He faced the galloping hordes
A hundred bad guys with swords
Who sent those goons to their lords?
Why, Mr. Cloak!"

Cloak wasn't really that comfortable being the center of attention like this. He did not like being a spectacle. In this manner, anyway.

"He's got seventy-five shiny Pokemon.
Don't they look lovely?
Purple pea****s, he's got fifty-three
Fabulous. I love the feathers.
When it comes to shiny Pokemon,
Has he got a zoo?
I'm telling you,
It's a world-class menagerie!"

Cloak was starting to suspect that GH was just looking for an excuse to have a lavish song number. It would make sense, as this would be simply too much just to get his cigarettes back.

"Mr. Cloak!
Handsome is he,
Cloakh of RAF!
Adjust your veil and prepare,
To gawk and grovel and stare at Mr. Cloaky!"

Cloak glanced around to see that, really, no one was paying attention, and GH was just being his zany self. If he had an ulterior motive, Cloak couldn't surmise what it was.

"He's got seventy-five rare Pokemon shinies.
He's got the shinies!
Let's see the shinies!
And to view them he charges no fee!
He's generous, so generous!
Mr. Cloaky!"

"Are you drunk again, GH?" Cloak realized.

"Mr. Cloaky!
Abjectly he!
Unbeatable!"

Cloak thought he did detect alcohol on his friend's breath.

"With sixty Donphan,
Gogoat galore
With his Beartics and Terrakion,
A brass band and more!
With his forty fakers,
His books and bakers
His Altaria that warbles on key
Make way --
For Mr. Cloaky!!"

Yep, GH was definitely drunk again. As to why he was, Cloak couldn't begin to hazard a guess, but he slapped GH, pulling it so he wasn't using his full strength nor had his claws unsheathed. He could have done irreparable harm otherwise.

"Snap out of it, Logan!" Cloak said, quietly. "Sober up."


Source Song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aEryAoLfnAA

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
I'm Still Here

"I am a question to the world
Not an answer to be heard
Or a person that's held in your arms."

A younger Cloak was sitting at the edge of his bed, as his mother flitted about, as if he wasn't there. Probably just as well, he reminded her too much of his father anyway. The son of a woman who had two failed marriages under belt, and refused to admit that she had any fault in them failing.

"And what do you think you'd ever say --
I won't listen anyway.
You don't know me!
And I'll never be what you want me to be . . . "

Cloak still felt so much resentment at this point. His mother thought she knew everything about him, when in reality she knew very little. Dagger wasn't much better.

"And what do you think you understand?
I'm a boy -- no, I'm a man!
You can't take me and throw me away.
And how can you learn what I never shown?
Yeah, you stand here on your own.
You don't know me!
'Cause I'm not here . . . "

Images of Ursa's carless and wanton negligence of her only son. His was father wasn't completely innocent of this, either. Faith was Ursa's favorite, and Dagger was Brute's favorite. Cloak was, and was always, the odd man out . . .

"And I want a moment to be real.
Want to touch things but don't wanna feel.
Wanna hold on and feel like I belong.
And how can she want me to change?
She's the one that stays the same.
She doesn't know me,
'Cause I'm not there . . . "

It could have been worse, though, Cloak supposed. He got presents on his birthday and holidays, but those seemed just perfunctory -- societal obligations, and nothing more. There was no love given, no compassion tendered. It was empty and materialistic.

"And you can't see the things they always see . . .
All you wanted I couldn't be . . .
You don't know me,
But I'm not afraid,
And I want to tell you who I am.
You can't break me . . .
As long as I know who I am."

Cloak, the real Cloak, was crying. The effects of neglect of one's parents is often more pervasive than the common layman gives it credit for. It's is not something easily overcome. The pain can go very deep.

"And I want a moment to be real.
Numb the pain, I don't wanna feel.
Wanna hold on, and feel I belong.
And how can she want me to change
She's the one that stays the same.
She can't see me,
But I'm still here."

It was harsh feeling neglected and unloved. Especially by a more who cared more about herself than anyone else. Her feelings were only ones that mattered. Her wants were only ones that mattered. Her needs were the only ones that mattered.

Really, was it any wonder why Cloak always thought so little of his safety, of his own wants and needs? Is it really all that surprising that he wasn't happy living with his mother and her stupid conditional love?

"She can't tell me who to be,
'Cause I'm not what she sees.
Yeah, the world is still sleepin'
while I keep on dreaming for me,
And her words are just vitriol and lies . . .
That I'll never believe . . . again . . ."

Is it really all that surprising that he wasn't happy living with his mother and her stupid conditional love? He always believed that parents were supposed to love their children unconditionally -- as in, without conditions. His mother was never like that. She only saw him as a tool for interest, until he wasn't needed anymore, then she just stopped caring about him.

And it still hurt.

"And I want a moment to be real
Want to touch things I don't feel
Wanna hold on, and feel I belong
And how can you say I'll never change
They're the ones that stay the same
I'm the one now . . .
'Cause I'm still here . . .
I'm the one . . .
'Cause I'm still here . . .
I'm still here . . .
I'm still here . . .
I'm still here . . . "

It was still very, very, very painful.

"Cloak?" Aniyu spoke gently.

Cloak said nothing. He was overwhelmed with the pain of this, as tears streamed down his face. He really wasn't anything to her, to Ursa. He wasn't a person to her. And that acknowledgement was painful in its own right. . . .


Source Song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AMGXq9_IQBQ

[guitarhero01234]

Yeah, like I could ever play guitar drunk. Or sing coherently, for that matter.