Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Cloak Comes Closer

Cloak felt the loose grains of sand beneath his feet. He looked around the remote isolated environment. This was the island of New Ogygia. He was sure of it.

What he wasn't sure of was whether Blue and Demos had made it here. There was no evidence . . . the he spied the shrapnel of the submersible that the two clearly had clung to for all they were worth. . . . But it still didn't validate that they were even here. His Earthsight on the sand was an irritating series of blurs, due to the sands accursed shifty nature.

If the two RAFians were here, it must have been a while ago. Any scents he caught that were remotely like theirs were old and stale. It seemed like an insurmountable task to track them down, but he felt that he was more than capable for it, despite the overwhelming futility it seemed to possess. He came from stubborn stock, something his mother's side of the family was known for, he felt.

He quickly left the sandy beach, and immediately his Earthsight bloomed into clarity. All things have weaknesses and strengths, and Cloak's Earthsight was no different. But, unlike Toph Beifong, he could also see in the usually manner. And far better than a human, especially at night and in darkness.

He saw through his Earthsight the monolith where Demos got his map, and easily made his way there, unlike the other two RAFians some time before. It was most due to his feline nature and this was a habitat that was prime real estate for such an animal, though he didn't much care for the mugginess and heat.

One quick, cursory look at the monolith, at the picture inscribed upon it, was enough for Cloak to conclude that they must be here. He also saw unmistakable markings of their presence and the trail they took. And, though it may have just been wishful thinking, he thought he could catch faint traces of their scents.

In the trail that took Blue and Demos hours upon days to travel through, Cloak transversed it in a thrice, utilizing his feline physiology to its fullest, as well as some elements manipulation.

In practically no time at all, Cloak was standing in front of the waterfall that guarded the city of New Ogygia. Only Cloak knew, from Earthsight, at the start that there was a tunnel behind it.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
And . . . There Goes the Ballgame . . .

After the awkwardness in the beginning of the game, Blue and Demos discovered the trick to playing the game. Simply by using their skills honed in the Danger Room of the RAFian training facility, it made the ball game surprisingly simple.

And, when the novelty wore off, a lot less fun. It wasn't a real challenge, especially with Demos's pyrokinesis. There was no drama, no nail-biting close race to the most points or whatever. There was no enthralling challenge to it, no competitive excitement to it, no thrilling verve to it. In short, it was woefully boring.

To the fifteen trolls, the two RAFians, and the crowd amassed to watch alike, it was much like a soda that lost its carbonation, a pan of bacon without sizzle, a world with out color or sound. It was becoming the height of tedium.

Blue and Demos were considering, in tandem, using their nonexistent "mod powers" to call an end to the game, when the priestess decided that a split second before they decided to say something.

"The mods -- unsurprisingly -- won!!" she declared, sounding as pompous and oily as ever. Then she turned to address the two RAFians, "My mods, congratulations on your victory."

The fifteen mountains of trolls knelt, arms forward, heads down. As if waiting for something, as if counting seconds passing by.

"Now, you will, of course," she said, sounding rather sycophantic, "have the losing team -- sacrificed?"

Demos blinked in surprise, as Blue snorted, "What? Have them what?"

"Sacrificed, my mod, sacrificed!" she said, inappropriately excited. "To -- to your glory."

"Too bad, Priestess," Blue said, as Demos had to squelch a demon impulse to tell him to shut up. "Forget the sacrifices. We don't want any -- any -- sacrifices!"

"But the sacred writings -- all of the sacred writings say that you will devour the wicked!" she said, sounding rather like pedantic, religious, fundamentalist zealot. "And the unrighteous!"

"Well, I don't see anyone here who fits that description," Blue said. Demos writhed. Blue whispered, "Oh, stop it now, you don't count."

This seemed to take this quite poorly. "W-well, as Speaker of the Mods, it would be my privilege to . . . point . . . them . . . out."

"We can speak for ourselves quite fine without you, thank you very much," Demos sniffed. "Suffice it to say, I don't think New Ogygia or her.people has any requirement or need really, from you."

"There shall be no sacrifices," Blue cried out in ringing tones. "Not now, not ever."

"You've been given a pink slip," Demos said.

The Priestess stormed away in frustration and humiliation.

"You do realize that's probably gonna come back and bite us in the backside, right?" Blue said.

"Oh, indubitably," Demos said, unconcernedly.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Of Truth and of Trust

With that taken care of, the two retired to their accommodations for the evening. They were well aware of just how this could come back and bite their collective backsides, but that was a worry for another day. They would deal with it then.

They had just shut the door, and breathed a sigh of relief, when it happened.

"A stirring display of nobility," came a familiar voice from the dark shadows, untouched by the light. The two leaped out of their skins, jangling the jewelry that they were expected to wear. With that, Cloak stepped into the light, but his black cloak still blended him into the shadows. "But do you think that you can honestly lead them on like this for long?"

"Cloak! H-how'd you get here?" Demos said.

Cloak didn't reply. Silence stretched uncomfortably, though Cloak showed no sign of it. His face remained as inscrutable as ever. No one broke the tension until Cloak spoke again.

"That," he said, "is immaterial. The question is how long before this blows up in your face."

The two RAFians, despite knowing the validity of this point, didn't really care fore how Cloak framed it.

"How d'you know that it even will?" Blue said obstinately.

"Yeah, they love us," Demos added.

"But do they trust you?" Cloak said. "They think you gods --"

"They think us mods," Blue corrected.

"It is clear that, to this society, that one is identical to the other," Cloak replied easily, well aware of this argument. "The truth always comes out, whether you want to or not. True, it may take days. Months. Years. Decades. Or even millenia. But it always comes out. It never stays buried forever."

"Who says that we cannot be mods?" Demos said, in a rather gutsy, challenging way.

"In this society, that would be claiming that you are gods." Cloak said, cool and almost emotionless. "You both know that's patently not true. You are no more gods than I am."

"We could be," Demos said, stubbornly.

"You're allowing the adulation and adoration to warp your sense of reality," the Realm Walker said. His cool tone of realism was grating on the two. "If you continue to not only lie to them, but yourselves, it will only end in tears and -- if you're truly unfortunate -- bloodshed."

"It won't come to that," Blue argued.

"Really, Blue?" Cloak said, with a snap of impatience. "Just precisely how much longer do you think that you'll be able to keep up this farce? Just how much longer do you think you can keep pretending to be something you're not? Soon, everything will feel artificial and hollow. Everything that you enjoy now will lose its luster of novelty, everything will seem less fulfilling and empty."

Silence met his words.

"You don't want to believe me?" Cloak said, correctly interpreting their silence, "Fine. So be it. Let the others believe that you two are dead. Yarin is beside himself with grief, because he feels responsible for your supposed deaths. The others are similarly and summarily mourning you, and you two are here, alive. More concerned with luxury and materialistic pursuits than them."

Cloak waited for a response. None came.

"Fine," he growled. "Indulge in your selfishness. Do you think that leading these poor, naive people on like this is an admirable thing? You two disappoint me. Disappoint me greatly."

And with that Cloak was gone.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Ramblings of a Mad Priestess

"I should have known," the Priestess muttered, as her nameless lackey stirred a frothing potion in some sort of in-ground caldron in front of a stone jaguar thing of a Mesoamerican style. The potion was a toxic green color, but held no odor or overt maliciousness to it. The Priestess paced around, almost as if she was a pampered princess who was refused something for the first time in her spoilt life. "They aren't mods."

He lackey paid her no mind, and just kept stirring the concoction at her behest. It was almost as if he was lobotomized.

"I should've known," she repeated savagely, as she perused some forgotten sheaves of primitive parchment. "The sacred writings told that the mods would glow in the dark. And their skin have the faintest odor of lavender. And they thirst -- thirst -- for blood."

She gave an angry huff.

"Those two -- whatever they may be -- are not mods." she growled, as she groused. "And they had the nerve to dismiss me from New Ogygia. The gall!"

Her lackey just continued to stir the concoction nonchalantly, saying nothing, wearing an amicable look on his face. The Priestess looked up at the stone jaguar, impatiently.

"It isn't working, J'r'ym B'nr!" she snapped at her dull-witted lackey. He said nothing to her, not a word, and he did not look at her, not a glance. His face was blank, whether this was deliberate or if he was mentally deficient in some way was unclear. "Why isn't working?!"

She did not want him to answer (and he didn't, as he proceeded on, methodically with the task assigned him), but just wanted to rage and yell and tantrum. She didn't want to admit fault either, as it was her that proclaimed Blue and Demos mods prematurely, without consulting the sacred writings. She saw them fit the descriptions of the mods that would usher them into a new age, and sort of jumped the gun.

But she was the type of person who, somehow, was never at fault, and always deserved special treatment and special rights. It was just natural for her to progress into being the spiritual leader of her people -- even though she was a tyrannical leader, at that. Cruel, brutal, and unyielding. No one was sorry when she was dismissed from her duties.

But they weren't mods. As far as she was concerned that made their decision -- their ruling -- invalid and inconsequential. She was not dismissed by a mod, but by a pretender! A fake! A charlatan! They fooled everyone, but, in her mind, their most grievous mistake was tricking her.

"Why isn't this working?!" she demanded.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
An "Accidental" Sacrifice

"Why isn't this working?" she said, less hysterically frustrated. "All the ingredients are here."

From here, her muttering was unintelligible, but it sounded like she was listing of ingredients that couldn't possibly be ingredients in a magical brew. Silken fabric. Charcoal. Holy water. The seed of some remote jungle plant. A glowrock (which he didn't know was an electrically-charged, magnetic stone). Fine-grained sand. A poison dart frog. A dangerous bug with no name. Spectral ooze. The pelt of some nameless mammal. The scale and claw of some nameless reptile. A feather of a nameless bird. A glowing crystal. A nameless fish. Some gold ore. A knife. Some unknown powdery dust. All dissolved into the green goo with the viscosity of milk.

"What is missing?" she mumbled fretfully. "What?"

She resorted to examining every sheaf of parchment again, despite the low quality and ancientness of it. Then she came to the one thing that she overlooked. A parchment she had barely even glanced over beforehand, in her zeal to oust the false mods. She now looked at it with dawning realization of how stupid she was to overlook this.

She looked up to see J'r'ym B'nr still stirring the inset cauldron, oblivious to the danger that now presented itself to his safety. The Priestess strode confidently up to him, and casually and accidentally-on-purpose bumped him into the large cauldron. He did not surface, as the hungry concoction claimed him as its property and dissolved him. The liquid bubbled and frothed and turned a brighter hue of green.

Then the liquid ran through a track, unseen by the darkness of the area, to the stone jaguar statue. Soon, the statue absorbed all of the liquid, not a trace of it remained, nor a trace of J'r'ym remained. The inlaid cauldron was empty, as the Priestess doubled over as if in excruciating pain.

Green lines began to trace themselves over her body, almost as if she had absorbed the Jade Orb from HeartGold and SoulSilver. Her pained screams and grunts quite suddenly changed into maniac laughter. It was rather disturbing and unsettling to watch, as nothing about it seemed right nor natural.

She snapped her head up and her eyes were solidly white. You could not see her pupils or irises. It made her look possessed, but she was the one in control and she could manipulate the jaguar around like a magical marionette.

"Yessss . . ." she said, and her voice was distorted to that of a deep, monstrous timbre. "Now, I shall go show those idiots that those false mods are imposters!"

With that she took the building-sized animated jaguar statue back to the city of New Ogygia. . . .

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Party Pooper

"Blue, lighten up," Demos said bracingly. The celebration was going on for a second day, as the leftover needed to be eaten something like that. Demos didn't pay attention to the particulars. "Cloak thinks he knows everything. But he doesn't."

Blue said nothing, as the frivolity continued for their new people. They still bore their Marks, however. Those did not break in the slightest, as they didn't renounce their alliance to RAF, though they were basically turning their back on them.

It was this that was causing Blue to have misgivings. Several of Cloak's points hit home, though Blue didn't show it. The celebration seemed less jubilant to him, less vibrant, less festive. The had already begun to lose its frivolous luster of novelty, the cracks in the facade were getting wider, and apparently only Blue was noticing them. He could not stop seeing them, breaking apart the veneer that moments before he was unable to see through. He was disillusioned, and uncomfortable with this role now.

He was a ninja. Ninjas were out in the spotlight like this, they stuck to the shadows and obscurity. Whatever was he thinking, doing this? This was not him. He no longer wished to be worshipped like a god. He no longer wanted to pretend to be something that he knew, in his heart of hearts, he wasn't. Something he didn't even really want to be. He had allowed himself to get swept up in the accolades and acceptance. He had allowed the praise and cheer to move him from his core.

He was a RAFian, first and foremost. He recognized that, and he also recognized that Demos was lost in the sea of abject capitulation and mandatory obedience. He was quickly losing himself to his demonic instincts, which were thriving off the worship, and he didn't even realize it.

"Demos," Blue said, "this isn't us."

"What are you talking about?" Demos said,.with a note.of incredulity in his voice. "This is wonderful!"

"Demos, your judgement is clouded," Blue said. "Cloak was right. This . . . this isn't me."

"Well, it is me!" Demos declared. "I could kill any one of them and no one would bat a single friggin' eyelash!!"

Blue said nothing, but eyed Demos beadily, waiting for realization to don on him. It almost seemed as if it never would, as his demonic instincts were compelling him to revel in the adoration, but his rational side managed to overthrow those instincts and allowed him objectivity and clarity on the situation.

"What . . . the hell . . . did I just say?" Demos said. Then he looked a Blue, actually fearful. He had been working on suppressing these instincts at RAF, and in just these few days, he had undone weeks of effort and therapy to reconcile them. There was a tremor in his voice when he said, "We need to get out of here."

But this conversation was interrupted by a big party pooper. The stone jaguar had arrived, with the Priestess close behind, but no one noticed her, instead fleeing from the huge behemoth before them.

"Well," Demos said. "This was unexpected."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
It's Over, Frieza -- I Mean, Priestess!!

As it turned out, the two were powerless against this thing. Blue's ninjitsu was useless against the obsidian rock, and Demos's pyrokinesis did nothing. It was so bad that Demos had resorted to hellfire and Fiendfyre. Both ineffective.

"Destroy the false mods!" the two heard the Priestess shriek savagely. "Annihilate them!"

"Maybe we should have dismissed her so quickly," Blue said.

"'We?" Demos said, trying absolve himself of responsibility.

"Don't do that," Blue said, in acerbic tones. "You're just as responsib--"

"RUN!!" Demos shouted suddenly as the stone jaguar sprinted towards them, covering incredible ground due to its gargantuan size. The ground shuttered with each pouncing movement.

"Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" she yelled, crowing.

"I think she's turning into a Dalek," Blue said.

"A what?" Demos said. He hadn't heard Blue over the rushing air between them as they fled to an odd ravine, well outside the city.

"Never mind," Blue said, as they dashed along the bottom of this ravine. The ravine, however was wide enouh to accommodate the statue.

There was deep water on one side of the ravine, that the two swam through, and hoped was too deep for the statue. There hopes were not about come true as the statuary plunged into the water, but its heavy stone body was not buoyant at all. However, its obsidian feet were able to touch the bottom of the pool, so, at first glance, it appeared to be swimming until it proceed forward.

"Sheesh, what will it take to stop this thing?!" Blue said.

"DIE!" the Priestess suggested.

"Yeah, un, Blue? Let's not do that." Demos said.

But suddenly the water geysered up obscuring it from view of the two RAFians. Then it became an impromptu water vortex, tossing the obsidian jaguar around like clothes in a top-loading washing machine.

"What the --" Demos blurted.

"Isn't it obvious?" Blue answered, over the deafening roar the water vortex.

Just then an enormous fireball barrelled into the ravine with tremendous force, colliding with the vortex and the obsidian jaguar as the Priestess shrieked in pain, via her connection with the monstrocity. The water was evaporated as Cloak himself somersaulted from the fray.

"Cloak?" Demos said, nonplussed.

"You didn't honestly think that I was gonna leave you two alone here?" Cloak said, seriously.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
Shattered

"You didn't trust us," Demos accused.

"Cloak doesn't trust anyone," Blue said, dryly.

The obsidian jaguar wasn't down though, and it got up, like a cat whose taken a beating. But it was still quite dangerous.

"Quite the contrary," Cloak said, eyeing the stone jaguar warily. "I knew . . . I hoped that you two would come back to your senses. That you two would forget the materialistic and artificial pleasures for something more real. That you would remember who you were instead of what you were pretending to be."

"That's an excuse," Demos said, still with the accusatory tone.

"Believe what you want," Cloak said, with no sardonic bite or teasing sarcasm. He spoke it devoid of emotion. "Nothing I say will change what you chose to believe. It's a waste of both our time and energy arguing about it."

The obsidian cat was uneasily steadying itself on its four wobbly legs, but was still seemingly ignored by the trio. The Priestess, through her magical link with the abomination, was suffering in much the same way. But she was full of vigor and determination -- determination to kill the false mods. And this new interloper as well.

"But the fact of the matter is," Cloak continued, his back to both the stone beast and the Priestess. Apparently oblivious to them getting back up. "The fact of the matter is that everyone thinks you're dead. And allowing them to believe a lie isn't fair to them. I would not keep your secret -- I have plenty of my own to keep -- and they will know of your selfishness."

The Priestess shook her head to clear it. She looked rather disheveled and rather pathetic, had she not the green eyes and lines all over her body.

"I know that the luxury here is tempting, and that the praise is addictive, but you must never forget your integrity and --"

The obsidian-plated stone jaguar loomed over Cloak, who, without so much as turning around, sighed annoyed. Then he snapped his fingers and the stone jaguar froze in place as if someone cast Stop or Impermenta on it.

"I wasn't THROUGH," he said crossly, addressing the Priestess, but not deigning to turn around, until he shouted the last word.

"Die . . . you all must die . . . die now . . ." she said, looking quite demented now. Fanatically so.

"With what exactly, pray tell?" Cloak said, annoyed. He glanced at the stone cat. "With this thing?"

"Diiiiiiie . . ." she cackled.

"No," Cloak said, reaching out to flick the stone cat on the nose. It crumbled to dust, causing the Priestess to scream and be left in a catatonic state. The Realm Walker turned to the other two, "I will take care of her, and then we can return to the forum and allow you to take your lumps for having everybody worry!"

"But--" the two began to protest, but it was lost beyond that word.

"We'll discuss it later," Cloak said. Then his tone softened. "Look, guys, I'm sorry for speaking to you like that, but it's been a stressful week for us. We haven't lost a RAFian since --"

"Rotiart," Blue supplied.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
Love Lost

"I don't love her," Cloak said, at once. "I may pity her, what she's become, but I don't love her. I can't bring myself to love her. She's my mother, but she's made clear time and again that she has no maternal love for me. I was naught but a tool for her to manipulate my father. I held no worth to her."

"I believe you are misinterpreting what the violet vines are representing, Cloak." she said, kindly. "I think this one has the least to do with Ursa. But everything to do with you."

Cloak was nonplussed by this meaning, so much so that he didn't grasp it immediately. "What are you talking about, Aniyu?"

"You care about everyone, except yourself, Cloak," Aniyu explained.

"You act like that's a bad thing," Cloak said.

"It is when taken to the extreme you've taken it, dear," Aniyu said, earnestly yet gently. "You care, you love others more than yourself."

"I still fail to see how that's a bad thing," Cloak replied.

"You love everyone else," she tried again, "but you don't love yourself, Cloak. Not at all, it seems."

Cloak's face and expression darkened. He wanted to say, "I don't know what you're talking about." But what came out was, " I . . . I don't . . ."

"Cloak, the more you deny it, the stronger the vines get." Aniyu pointed out, pragmatically. "This is a clear reason, a motivation, for you to be so quick to sacrifice yourself to save others."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Cloak said, sounding like an obstinate child.

"When it's taken to the extreme you take it, Cloak, it is a bad thing," Aniyu said, insistingly. "Please do not fail to understand or recognize the lives you've touched, and how you have people who care about you."

Cloak said nothing, as tinny echoes of "First Light, you're so worthless!", "You are just like your father!!", "You're a LOSER!!", and "You are so useless!" were sounded within the room that the two were in. After hearing those for so long, Cloak had started to believe them. It was when he realized his mother didn't love him, that he had stopped loving himself. More than that he had come to loathe everything about himself, saw his mistakes magnified a thousand fold, and despised who he was.

Thought that everything, and everone would be better off without him. That his existence had been a mistake. That his mere being was unwanted by everyone. . . . These were thoughts he had before. Yes, there was a time where Cloak had seriously considered suicide. Believing it to not only grant him freedom from his mother, but freedom of others from him.

"Cloak, this important," Aniyu said, her voice very serious, "don't forget that you have people who love and care about you. This is very important."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

BOOK CXXXII:
WHO-ZILLA?
CHAPTER ONE:
Full Disclosure

It had been a couple of years since that whole Reach thing. Three, in fact. Andy was back, having broken up with his boyfriend over problems of a nature that Andy cared not to discuss in public. He and GH were getting closer, though he still knew GH as Lewis. And he knew nothing about his RAFian status.

GH was apprehensive about revealing everything to him, as they were really getting closer. Their friendship seemed apt to get more intimate in the future, and yet . . .

GH sang:

"Everybody told me RAFian stuff's dangerous.
I guess I didn't believe it until now.
What do I do?
I don't want that for you."

GH's phone starts ringing, and he knows that it's Andy. He continued after listening to it ring.

"Everybody tells me life is precious,
On the planet Earth, and that means you.
And I have to protect you.
What if somehow you get hurt?
What do I do?
I don't want that for you."

His phone starts ringing for a second time. GH ignores it as he sings:

"Woooh . . . woooh . . .
Woooh . . . wooh . . .
What am I going to tell you?
You're better off not knowing the trouble I'm in.
I don't want you to worry about what I've seen,
About where I've been.
You don't have to be a part of this.
I don't think I want you to be.
You don't need this.
You don't need me."

His phone starts ringing for the third time. But he still ignores it.

"Woooh . . . woooh . . .
Woooh . . . woooh . . .
Woooh . . . woooh . . .
Woooh . . . woooh . . ."

GH, with apprehension, swipes to the decline button on his phone. And summarily felt awful about doing it. This was for the best, he guessed.


Source song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vGnWzdDAXu0

[Cloak]

New chapter. Remember this book is noncanonical.

CHAPTER TWO:
Both of You

Leatherhead, now nine, saw this. Andy knew of him, though in his human guise which has via his ID mask. He had come to love him as much as his dad, GH, and he knew GH cared for Andy. He was a smart kid.

He had managed to get the two of them together, and then played his keytar. Then he sang:

"Why don’t you talk to each other?
Why don’t you talk to each other?
Just give it a try.
Why don't you try to talk about what happened?
I know you're trying to avoid it, but I don't know why.
You might not believe it.
You might not believe it but you got a lot in common -- you really do.
You both love me and I love both of you."

With some hesitation, GH began to spill. He spilled his guts to Andy. About his name. About his being a RAFian. About Dimitri . . .

Leatherhead continued, in the background:

"I know you both need it.
I know you both need it.
Someone who knows what you're going through.
You might not believe it.
You might not believe it but you got a lot in common -- you really do.
You both love me and I love both of you.
You both love me and I love both of you."

***

"It's over, Malice." Cloak said.

"Is it, itty bitty Cloaky-wokey?" Malice said. Cloak had swore that she got more hinged in the passing time that they fought.

"My chosen name is Cloak.
No longer tethered.
And I'm never going down at the hands of the likes of you because I'm so much better.
And every part of me is saying "Go get her."
This Elements Master ain't gonna follow your rules.
Come at me without any of your fancy schemes or tools.
Let's go, just me and you.
Let's go, just me and you.
Go ahead and try and hit me if you're able.
Can't you see that mercy is off the table?
I can see you hate the way RAF intermingles.
But I think you're just mad 'cause you're single.
And you're not gonna stop what we made together.
We are gonna stay like this forever.
If you break us apart, we'll just come back newer.
And we'll always be twice the Walker that you are.
I am fuelled
By-yi-yi-yi-yi
Uni-i-i-i-ity.
By-yi-yi-yi-yi
Uni-i-i-i-ity.
Uni-i-i-i-ity.
Uni-i-i-i-ity."

Cloak had foolish forgone the use of the elements -- something had happened in the past three Dweller years to cause him to lose them -- and the two Realm Walkers now.were clashing energy blades projected from their wrists, not unlike Apopplexian claws or that of Wolverine.

Both were getting wrecked. And yet, Cloak sang:

"This is who RAFians are.
This is who I am.
And if you think you can stop me,
Then you had better to think again.
'Cause I have a feeling,
That RAF will never end,
And I won't let you hurt my home,
And I won't let you hurt my friends.
Go ahead and try and hit me if you're able.
Can't you see that mercy is off the table?
I know you think I'm not something you're afraid of,
'Cause you think that you've seen what I'm made of.
But I am even more than what you think I am.
Everything they care about is what I am.
I have fury. I have patience.
I have determination . . .
I am made
By-yi-yi-yi-yi
Uni-i-i-i-ity.
By-yi-yi-yi-yi
And it's stronger than you.
Uni-i-i-i-ity
Uni-i-i-i-ity.
By-yi-yi-yi-yi
Uni-i-i-i-ity.
And it's stronger than you.
Uni-i-i-i-ity.
By-yi-yi-yi-yi
Uni-i-i-i-ity.
And it's stronger than you.
By-yi-yi-yi-yi
Uni-i-i-i-ity.
Uni-i-i-i-ity."

But, despite what the song would have you believe, a successful blade strike from each led to a double kill. Malice killed Cloak, while Cloak killed Malice. No deux ex machina remained. The two were utterly, and indisputably gone.


Source songs: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uZQmOLxE7xQ and https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6JARVfb-FBg

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER THREE:
A Changing Pulse

It was just a normal day at RAF. No active missions, no security requests. Richard himself was taking some ersonal time to himself as Estelore and Spectre were travelling. Estelore was heading off to the Andromeda Galaxy to see the Orishans and Geochelone Aerios and things, while Spectre was shifting through a magical sea he called the Duat.

Everything was hunky-dory at the forum. The lush grounds rippled most invitingly, with the resident lake being still and placid like a plane of glass, only the ripple of a fish nibbling something from the lake's surface every so often interrupted this seamless vision.

So, naturally, the RAFians were eager to escape indoor activities and obligations to get out and luxuriate in this most peaceful, beautiful day. The RAFians has so precious few days like this to enjoy anymore. It seemed that they were always busy, be a mission or with their lives outside the forum or something else.  This was a day that they could just slow way down and relax, even despite the morbid couple of days where they held a funeral service for Cloak. It was time to cheer up.

They should have known better. Things are very rarely ever so idyllic for a RAFian.

There was a terrifically brilliant blast of white light that permeated the forum like a meteor colliding with the earth at incredible speed. No one knew precisely what it was, but happened when the forum's guard was down. Code Avalon was up, of course, to prevent the escape of that rabid giant Pikachu (although that function seemed wholly unnecessary these days), but it was insufficent to block this blast.

When the RAFians gathered their eyesight again, they saw that the grounds and the boards were undamaged in the least.  Not a blade of grass nor a drop of water in the lake seemed disturbed. And that was disturbing, in and of itself.

The RAFians themselves appeared to unaffected -- many were unsure what the Marks would be able to do with Cloak's death -- and were quite perplexed by it all. The blast looked as if someone set off a nuke, but nothing came of it. They did not even feel off in the least bit.

Odd. Really odd.

But the RAFians thought nothing more about it, and continued about their day, with Leatherhead and GH eagerly waiting for Andy to visit later in the day, and the other RAFians still excited about their various outings.

They should have known better.

[Cloak]

New chapter. Sorry about the brevity.

CHAPTER FOUR:
Magic Dwindling, Monsters Rising

The effects were apparently on magic-users. After a full twenty-four Earth hours had passed, RAFians like Broken, Faerie, Yunyun, and Melissa began to show symptoms of a really bad flu.

They were phlegmy, weakened, and prone to vomiting. And it grew progressively and exponentially worse by the day. They were soon emaciated and severely weakened. Nothing Kelly did seemed to help. In fact, her healing powers seemed as if they were turned off. This scared her as much as this disease scared the magic-users. Whatever this was, there was no known cure. They didn't even know what caused this much less how to remedy it. The thing that was certain was that they were not long for this world, no matter what the RAFians tried to do to stop it.

But moments into the illness, Broken seemed to recognize something. Something about this. The blast yesterday -- he realized it's nature. It was magical, of that he was sure. He suspected the person behind it as well. It wasn't Malice, of course, as she was dead. Then, so was the person he was suspecting -- he always had a habit of dangerous experimentation. But part of him rejected the suspicions, citing that he was dead, despite having no concrete proof of that.

It's only what he noticed after the last few days of his life that pretty much confirmed his fears. The RAFians who imagined themselves unafflicted, from Ash to Yarin, were increasing in size. But for each centimeter in height they gained, they lost a quarter of an I/Q point. If they kept going like this, Broken surmised, they'd all reach the size of Godzilla, and be much less intelligent than it.

Already Broken could see the visages of the monster forming just beneath the surface of his friends and their intelligence, their sentience begin to ever so slowly deteriorate. And he had to wonder, as he was pulling his last breaths. WHY?!

He felt hopelessness, and his last word before he passed into the nether were, "All is lost."

The other RAFians hadn't understood what he meant, and Yarin, due to Broken's practice of Occlumency hadn't tried to read his mind, though Broken wished he had. It took the very last of Broken's remaining energy to utter those three syllables, and they were a mystery to the others.

And Broken was but the first. Soon, all the RAFian magic-users had passed, and the remaining RAFians had no one to help them with their eventual fate. None really realized that they were getting taller, heavier. That their muscles were getting thicker and more dense. That their fingernails were beginning to sharpen. That their teeth were becoming sharper and serrated. Even the mechanical RAFians were not safe from this slow transformation that increased power and size but diminished intelligence and sentience to nonexistence.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIVE:
Transformation Acceleration

Oh Logan, Logan, tell us
What's gotten in to you,
Lately?
We're beginning to think that there
Is nothin' in the world that you can't do!

GH was indeed becoming more savage -- to the point of accusing Andy's mother of wearing army boots. The weak insults aside, GH's teeth were becoming sharper and more pronounced, his fingernails blackening at the tips and yellowing at the quick.

"You're getting stronger,
And faster,
And bigger, too.
We keep on asking,
'Is there something wrong with you?'
You're acting weird!
And talking rude!
And wolfing down your food!
Everything lately brings the monster out in you!"

GH's flesh was taking on a thick hide, almost like that of a hippo or elephant. His skin continued to become more pachydermic as he began to grow in size.

How do you do?
What's up with you?
Daddy Logan, we're mystified.
How come you're snarling at the moon
Tonight?
We don't know what you're going through,
We just hope you're gonna be alright.
Now tell us, tell us,
What should we do?
Now that the monster's out in you.

GH had grown to a size that his clothes would no longer fit and he tore right though them (leaving him with a rather Hulk-ish fashion), and he could no longer fit in his own thread.

"And now we're not so sure
We like the fact that things are turning out this way.
We would rather have our Daddy Logan back
Than a Godzilla for a loved one any day."

Andy had to take Leatherhead to safety when GH, with little to no sentience, tried to each the both of them. They retreated to the far end of the forum, away from the other RAFians. From the other RAF-Zillas.

"You're getting stronger.
And faster.
And bigger, too.
We keep on asking
'Is there nothing we can do?'
You're acting weird.
And talking rude.
And wolfing down your food.
Everything lately brings the monster out in you."

They managed to find themselves in the RAFian fallback bunker, set low into the ground, unnoticeable, unless you're looking for particular things. The two just stubbled across it, as they see and hear the RAFian-Zillas roar ferociously.

"How do you do?
What's up with you?
Daddy Logan, we're mystified.
How come you're growling at the moon
Tonight?
We wish we knew what you're going through,
We just hope you're gonna be alright.
Now tell us, tell us,
What should we do?
Now that the monster's out in you."

Leatherhead tried to hide it, but he cried once inside. Yes, he was a crocodile and yes, he he was crying tears, but these were quite sincere. Leatherhead had just lost all that of which he knew. Everything.

Andy was the only person he had left.


SOURCE SONG: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=81XlCGjJOX8

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIX:
Massive Problem, Here

The RAFians, all the living Mark-Bearers, were now gigantic monsters of Godzilla proportions. Their sizes were still proportionate to each other, though. Except Dino for some reason. Dino-Zilla was actually the smallest of the RAFian-Zillas, for inexplicable reasons, though one could hazard a guess that it was a reaction to her size changing powers. Meanwhile, Horse was easily twenty-five-feet tall and GH was at least fifty.

The human, vampire, and SPARTAN RAFian-Zillas and Mr. Guy, Yunyun, Mithril, Cornson, Oceanspray and Sakki had bodies nearly identical to Godzilla, but retained their heads and faces to scale. They all had pointed teeth and wild, vicious eyes. They had lost all their intelligence and sentience. They were mere creatures of instinct and destruction now.

Seal was less of a gigantic seal now, more like a gigantic, saurian quadruped with splayed legs with a savage seal's head. She had no fur any longer, as they were replaced by feather-like quills, like that of a saurian raptor. The twinkle in her little pinniped eyes had vanished completely.

Dino had barely changed, it was true, but she did change. She lost her anklyosaurid armor and club tail, becoming far more streamlined. Her mouth seemed to be crammed full of more teeth then what was prudent to have. The intelligent light in her eyes were gone.

The Andalite RAFian-Zillas were larger than the human RAFian-Zillas, as Andalites are a larger speces, in terms of sheer body mass, than humans. They lost their hooves for reptilian claws as each of their equine legs bulked up as well. Their fur, while retaining its color, went from fur to the protofeather quills seen in prehistoric raptors. They kept their tails and tail-blades, which grew in size with them. They also kept their stalk eyes and main eyes, though the spark of intelligence in them was far removed. Their mouthless faces had zipped open to reveal a pair of massive rending teeth.

The Yeerk-Zillas did not, as one may expect, fuse to whatever host they happened to be riding in and transform from there, oh no. They burst from their host's skull, not unlike a chestburster alien, and grew into a long, serpentine creatures without eyes but a Jacobson's organ and forked tongue in a mouth lined to the brim eith sharp teeth. They saw akin to Earthsight, otherwise they were considerably blind. They were only barely bigger than Dino, in this mutated state.

The General Board Building was reduced to rubble now, due to these transformations. Due to the inexplicable ire, hostility and aggressiveness that had overtook and replace their once-thinking minds.

The dragon RAFian-Zillas are the ones that changed the least physiologically, just getting slightly larger and longer fangs and a larger size. They were as far gone as the others, though.

The Animorphs Fanfiction & Art Building was the next that went. Crumbled into nothing but dust and forgotten memories.

The Arn RAFians, Quaf mostly, was more Rodan-like that Godzilla-like. Her eyes lost the sparkly star property and became dull and black. All of her whimsical nature had been excised from her with her intelligence and sentience.

The gryphon RAFian -- onky Xeno since Kelran had fundamentally retired -- grew in size, his wings becoming leathery chiropteran wings with a scaly body with protofeathers of a prehistoric raptor. His beak became serrated, and his disposition . . . well, let's just say he was not a very happy camper, despite having lost all his intelligence and sentience.

And it was at this point that the forum that housed RAF was crumbled flat. All the board buildings, thr mess hall, the auditorium -- all gone. Gone . . . forever.