Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

'Nother chapter, methinks.  It might be short again.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Tunnelrats

Shadow took a fighting stance, and in a flowing movement, blasted stones out of the way.  Blocky poked his head inside, and declared, "Another cave."

They entered the cave apprehensively, cautiously, and wearily.  They weren't willing to deal with any more surprises like that goo.  But then they heard a commotion up ahead, so they took defensive stances.

"I'm tellin' you, Bear, we're going around in circles!!" a female voice chided.

"And I'm tellin' you, Marie, that I know where we're going!" a male voice answered.

"Will you two stop arguing?  It won't make us get to RAF any sooner." another female voice replied wearily.

Then they appeared in the faint mauve-lavender glow that Shadow was giving off.  There were seven of them.  It took Blocky a moment to recognize them, but he gave them a warm smile.  They were Bear, Marie, Dameg, Demos, Asmo, Damien, and Ash.

"Guys!  I wondered where you were.  You weren't at the festival."

"We all had business at home," Dameg said.

"Why aren't you at RAF?" Bear asked, quizzically.

Blocky looked at Shadow, who resolutely turned her back to them, and crossed her arms.  Then Blocky spoke the others in a lower, more conspiratorial tone, "Shadow and Cloak had a little tiff."

"Oh," Ash said, "maybe I can talk to her."

"Good luck, I've been trying to for the past few hours."

"Perhaps a situation such as this takes a woman's touch."

And Ash went over to talk to Shadow, while Block told the other six of the strange goo, and how it blocked off this way.  He also told them that they only got this far due to Shadow's terrakinesis.

Shadow unfolded her arms as she listened to Ash, and she felt better.  Then the nine of them proceeded onward, to a destination unknown.

[Cloak]

Might be the last chapter today.  Or I might post another.  Looks like it might be another short one.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Oozy Flowers

"And now there's a field of sunflowers." Horse muttered.  "If I see a green ogre talking to a donkey, I'm so outta here."

"Really?" Jack asked.

"No, not really." Horse said tersely.

But there was a wide field of wild giant sunflowers.  It was another type of forest really.  They made their was through it, and Aquilai was holding a normal-sized, felled sunflower.  He was idly picking of one yellow petal after another.

But that was the only visable sign of the tension that everyone was feeling.  Gaz climbed a particularly tall sunflower, and looked around.  She stifled a scream, and yelled, "The ooze is coming!  The ooze is coming!"

"How close?" AniDragon yelled back.

"Too close!!"

Then they ran, with Gaz going bat to give them an aerial view, and thereby, directing them from there.  They ran and ran.  Horse going so far to produce an ice wall, which appeared to be five-foot thick, to slow the ooze down.

It didn't stop it by much.  It just split into three "river" like extensions that went to the  left, the right, and right up over the wall, to meet on the otherside.  "Well, that was useless," Horse muttered bitterly.

Eventually, they came to a sizeable chasm, which Gaz could easily fly over, but the others could not fly, nor could Gaz carry them.  So, Horse, drawing upon a sudden inspiration, made an ice bridge across, a la Iceman.  When everybody was across, she shattered the bridge.

"Well, that's bought us some breathing room." Alic said.

"But it won't stay there forever." Jack observed.

"Then let's haul butt," Aquilai suggested.

"You heard him, let's go!" Gaz agreed.

[Cloak]

Now, the final chapter of the night.  Maybe.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Groggi

Gaz's group approached what seemed to be a bowl depression, a natural coliseum-like formation.  The rocky, craggy sides arced up high were a meter or two from touching.  On the other side of this massive arena area was an opening, presumably the exit in which they needed to proceed further.

One problem though.  It was was blocked by a spider's web.  A very large spider's web.  The strands of the webbing were about the size of extra-large cables -- cables the size of a grown man's thigh.

"Ooookay," Aquilai said, "I don't like the looks of that."

"Big, big, big, big, big spider." Jack said, with a quiver in his voice.

"Yes, obviously," Gaz blustered.  "A spider weaving that would have to be bigger than Dino."

"Big, big, big, big, big spider." Jack repeated.

"Yes, you've made that point, Jack." Alic said, weariness in her tone.

"No, there!" he pointed.

It was indeed a big, big, big, big, big spider.  But it wasn't exactly a spider, as a spider at that scale and size would be impossible -- normally, there wouldn't be enough oxygen in the atmosphere to support an arthropod that size.  The larger an arthropod is, their "breathing tubes", so to speak, would have to be expotentially larger.  This was a monoptis gigantarachnis named Groggi, pronunciated as "groggy".

It had eight legs, two of which were held up as arms, including two fleshy fingers.  It had fur, but this was rough and shaggy, like that of a gorilla.  It had a mammalian mouth, with fangs longer than any of the RAFian's bodies put together.  It also possessed a large, bulbous, fleshy nose.  But most notable was its polychromatic, cyclopean eye.

"One eye," AniDragon said, "must have lousy depth perception."

"I don't know, you wanna ask?" Aquilai snipped.

"We don't have to worry about it," Gaz said, "we just have to get by it.  Those holes in the web are large enough for us to walk through."

"That seems like a design flaw," Alic mused.

"But we'll need . . ." Aquilai stated, "bait."

They all looked at Horse.

"Oh, no!" Horse countered immediately.  "I'm ALWAYS the bait!  One of you be the bait!!  Aquilai can do it, he's the new guy here!!"

"Would you do it for a RAFian snack?" AniDragon asked, sweetly.

Horse glared at her.  "I will not dignify that with an answer."

Gaz, who was barely paying attention to this and was watching Groggi.  It apparently hadn't seen them.  Kinda odd considering that it had an eyeball the size of Epcot Center.

"AniDragon, pick up Horse and go.  I'll go bat and keep it busy."

The others dashed for the exit, and Gaz flitted here and there, infuriating the monstrous insect wanna-be.  Its roar sounded like a tyrannosaur, bear, and tiger all at the same time.

When the others were through, Gaz dashed through.  She was unwillingly assisted by Groggi, who intended to strike her.

"Ouch." Gaz said, having returned to her human form.  "Remind me to keep my insane plans to myself next time.

[Gaz]

Sweet! I can fly. ^_^

Still very much enjoying these. I owe you some more Beast Wars recaps tonight.

[Cloak]

Believe me, Gaz, I enjoy writing them.  But, more chapters will hafta come tomorrow, kinda drained right now.

Shortish chapter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Bunker Bummer

Back at the RAF Bunker, the RAFians were piling up sand bags, digging ditches, and other strategies to deter the ooze from engulfing the bunker.  Parker and Jess were de facto leaders here.  Parker oversaw the external defenses and armaments, while Jess saw to the internal defenses and an contingency escape plan.

DinoNothlit, however, had what was possibly the most important job.  She was reared up to her full and considerable height, serving as a land-based lookout.  Blaze and Yunyun were flying aerial support and lookouts in their own rights, as well.

"No, no, no!" Parker shouted to the RAFians building a tower of sandbags that had a miniaturized Dracon cannon atop it.  "That Dracon cannon needs to be angled bit to the right.  How are those trenches coming?"

"Thirty feet!" a voice shouted up.

"How is a Dracon cannon supposed to stop it?" Azguard asked Parker, while he checked the supply of dracon array angles.

"Dracons are supposed to vaporize things, it should vaporize the ooze.  If not . . . well, then there may not be anything that we can do about it."

"Wonder what's taking Gaz and the others so long."

"Oh, didn't Jess brief you guys?  They're off to the Sealie Court . . . or whatever that faerie home place is called."

"Why get Faerie's kind? . . . They're the only ones that can stop the ooze?"

"It's nothing but conjecture," Parker said, folded arms, "but it would seem that the entire fate of us, RAF, and everything, rests on Faerie's shoulders."

"But no pressure, right?"

"Oh, perish the thought."

[Cloak]

Don't know how many chapters I can post today, but here's another.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
The Well

Shadow's group had emerged into sunlight, elated at the sight of it, and they savored it.  Bear even rolled around in the grass.  They all laughed heartily at finally being above ground.  Although, Asmo and Demos were more reserved.

But Shadow did not share their levity, she was still feeling some self-pity.  She was, in many ways, behaving like her uncle.  Cloak was prone to bouts of self-pity himself, although he usually tried to hide it.

Then there was the slightest rumble.  The others seemed unaware of it.  But Shadow, being a master of the Earth element, was more observant of such things.  She glanced to the right, and saw nothing.  But she was clearly unnerved.

"Shadow, relax a little!" Marie chided.

Shadow did not.  She was not a foolish child, as she thought her uncle thought.  She knew that slight vibration was not nothing.  She watched the righthand horizon carefully, intentively.  Not knowing what to expect.  She even held her tail rigidly still.

Then she saw what she sensed through the earth, what appeared to be a small trickle of purple stuff.  But that was because it was far away.  And it was growing.

"WE HAVE COMPANY!!!!"

The others saw what Shadow meant, and they all ran for it.  Eventually falling into a overlarge, conviently-placed raft on a wild, raging river.

"Lucky that this was here, really." Bear said.

"Isn't it a bit too convient?" Ash asked.

Just then the raft crumbled into nothing.

"You had to say something!!" Marie yelled.

But Ash shapeshifted into a makeshift boat, large enough to carry the others.  "There.  Is that any better?"

"I'll tell you when my stomach catches up with me," Bear muttered, sopping wet.

Then the river's rapids started to become much more dangerous.

"AHHHHH!" Ash screamed.

"Just go with the flow," Asmo said.

"That's what worries me!"

Eventually they were flung from the rapids onto a charming, lovely meadow with dappled light.  Prominently featured a red-bricked well -- an ideallic wishing well.  Shadow strolled up to it, blaming herself for running away, believing that was the cause of everything wrong.

"Why don't you make a wish," Blocky said, in comforting tones.

"That's not a wishing well," Shadow countered, "it won't work."

"Couldn't hurt."

Then Shadow started to sing "The Wishing Well Song", and Blocky realized that there was someone down there.  So, he pulled the crank on the well's bucket, and pulled up one ticked-off faerie.

"It's about TIME, guys! It's been a week already!  I fell down there and got my wings too wet to fly -- what has happened?"

[Cloak]

'Nother chapter, per chance?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Closed Court

Gaz's group made it to what looked like golden, sparkling buildings surrounded in an overlarge soap bubble.  They took this to be the home of the faeries, even though it appeared abandoned.

"Is that it?" Jack said, from his tone, it was clear he thought it looked girly.

"I would think so, Jack." his mother answered

"Finally," Horse said, looking quite perplexed.  "But . . ."

"What are we waiting for?" AniDragon said.  "Let's get going.  We don't know how long it would take to convince them."

She walked towards the barrier, seemingly unaware of it.

"It may take age---"

ZZZZZZZZZAP!!

AniDragon was zapped by the barrier!  She flew in an arc to a spot about ten feet away, her body still smoking at the shoulders.

"Ouch."

***

". . . and that's when we landed here."

"Yes, but what were you running from."

"Some filthy purple stuff," Shadow said.

Faerie's eyes widened.  "Surely not viral ooze . . ."

"I suppose that's what it is.  And don't call--" Horse started.

"Don't do that joke.  It's an antique."

"What do we do about this ooze thing?" Dameg asked.

"I could get rid of some of it myself, faeries have that power."

"Great! So lets --" Shadow began.

"But, I can only do so much." Faerie interupted.  "From what you described, it must be a massive amount.  More then I could do alone."

"Do . . . do you think . . . you could ask other faeries to help?"

"It won't be that easy, I'm afraid." Faerie conceded.  "C'mon, lets go.  I show you the way to the Sealie Court.  But you will not be able to get past the barrier -- only true faeries can penetrate it.

[Cloak]

Now, another chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Regrouping

Faerie tried to fly, but her wings were still too wet, she walked on, flapping them quickly, to dry them.  Shadow and the others followed her.  They were actually remarkably close to the Court.  Just about eight, ten miles.

There they saw Gaz, Horse, Alic, Aquilai, and Jack.  Jack was standing off to the side a bit, while the others were fussing over AniDragon, who was still smoking.  Faerie sighed.

"Tried to get through the barrier, didn't you, AniDragon?  Only faeries can penetrate that barrier."

"So I gathered." AniDragon said, flatly.

"So, why are you here?"

Gaz's group looked suddenly stricken.  They looked at each other, with wide eyes.

"They don't know . . ." Alic said.

"Know what?" Dameg asked.

"RAF is . . ." AniDragon began, but then her voice trailed off, as if she couldn't find the words.

"Gone." Aquilai supplied.

"What do you mean RAF is gone?!" Bear said, angrily.

"Bunch of ooze stuff came and . . ." Gaz started.

"It didn't cover the site, did it?" Faerie asked, with an almost professional tone.

"Yes." Jack put it.

"But that's not the worst of it.  The mods . . . Estelore . . ." Horse shot an apologetic look at Shadow, ". . . Cloak . . . they're gone too."

"They're dead?" Ash said, in a strained voice.

"Were they engulfed by the ooze?" Faerie said, retaining the tone with a little waver in it.

"Yes." Alic nodded slightly.

"Then they're not dead.  They're more like a suspended animation I suppose." Faerie said, stroking her chin pensively.  "They can be saved."

"How come you know so much about this?" Gaz asked.

"Faeries have dealt with this before.  It's in the archives."

"What do you mean --" AniDragon said.

"Faeries are sort of the antiviral.  They can get rid of it." said Marie.

"Great!  Faerie, come with us back --"

"I am only one faerie!" Faerie nearly shrieked.  "I can only do so much.  I must . . . I must convince the others.  I'm not looking forward to it.  It won't be easy."

[Cloak]

Now, possibly the final chapter of the night, a shortish one.  Altough it's two or three chapters away from completion . . .

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
The Waiting

"You guys might as well go back to the other RAFians," Faerie instructed, "chances are you'll reach the fallback bunker -- that's where they are, right?  Okay, thought so -- anyway, you'll probably reach their faster than the other faeries make a decision."

"So, slow adminstrative procedures are an universal norm, I see." Marie quipped.

"You know it." Faerie said with the slightest hint of a smile.

***

A full three days later, the group arrives back at the bunker.  Once there, Parker and Jess call up a council of war, which the whole group sat in on.  Newbies remained on duty.

"So, what's the deal?" Parker said.  He had removed his helmet in a gesture of anxiety and nerves.  He was also constantly switching which hand held it.

"Faerie's gonna try to convince the other faeries to come and get rid of the ooze." Alic said -- Jack had gone to his dad's shortly after they arrived.

"That's great!  We're saved."

"Alic said she was gonna try to convince the other faeries.  Try.  She hasn't succeeded yet." Gaz pointed out.

"We should come up with a contingency plan," Aquilai offered, "in case Faerie's powers of persuation fall, uh, short."

"Well," Jess said.  "if the ooze comes here, we'll fall back to the south.  Then we would double back on higher ground.  Back toward Brad's Pad -- and I really cannot believe he named that place that."

Aquilai nodded.  "Well, that's something.  But if we don't get the fairies --"

"'Faeries'." Horse corrected.

"What's the difference?"

"The 'e'." Gaz quipped wearily.

"Let me rephrase, why does it matter whether I use the 'e' or the 'i'?"

"You say 'fairies', and there's a good chance that Faerie will show you your kidneys."

"Ooookay.  You make your point quite vividly."

"Back to the task at hand," Marie urged, "what do we do now?"

"Nothing we can do." Dameg said with a sigh.  "Faeries are the only ones that remove the blasted thing."

"Well, they'd better hurry," Dino said, having heard everything, but remaining on lookout.

"Why?" Shadow asked, speaking for the first time in three days.

"Here it comes!!!"

[Cloak]

Now, to finish this book.  This'll probably be the last chapter . . . let's see how it plays out.  Okay, one more chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
The Purge

The purple goop proceeded forward, like an angry cheetah.  The RAFians rushed to their positions for what they knew was to be a losing battle.  Shadow terrakinetically widened the ditches into chasms.  But it was no good.

"ARTILLERY!  FIRE!  FIRE!!  FIRE ALREADY!!!" Parker roared.

The artillery was a mix of projectile and beam weaponry.  But neither was effective against this gooey onslaught.  Fire didn't deter it.  Wind just made ripples on it.  It just overran plants.

There was nothing they could do.  Their defenses were pityingly useless!  They were helpless.

"No!" Shadow snarled uncharacteristicall y.  "NOT THIS TIME!!!"

With a roar of effort, she pulled the entire ground upon which the bunker stood into the air.  It wasn't nearly as high as her uncle could do when he was in a fit state, but it was sufficient just the same.

But, the RAFians were not fools -- they knew Shadow couldn't keep this up forever.  Just after two hours, she was starting to slip.  She struggled to maintain, but, at the end of the day, she's still eleven.  She was not full grown, so her power was not as strong.

"FAERIE, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!?!" Parker roared.

"Right here, chill out."

So she was.  She was not alone.  She was with what appear to be like 650 thousand other faeries.  They started to release what appeared to be sparkling wind from their wings.  The ooze didn't seem to like this, as it began to roll back as if a layer of leaves with a leafblower.

They were beginning to drive it back.  Shadow set down the bunker roughly, then passed out from the effort.  Dino kindly lifted her onto her back, and the RAFians followed, at a suitable distance, the faerie battle line.  It seemed quite easy for them to remove the ooze.

"So much for 'nothing can stop the ooze'." Gaz smirked.

Then they came upon where the ooze congealed over RAF.  Would they be able to . . . the answer was yes.  The ooze quickly uncongealed, and receded from the beautiful sight of the forum.  But as a bonus . . .

The ticked-off mods, Estelore, and Cloak were finally freed.

"If he says 'with you powers combined, I am Cloaked Figure, I'll kill him," Shadow said groggily.

It went quite quickly after that.  The ooze was scoured and purged from the site, and deposited back at the mountain, entombing the virus and Azul and Rojo.  Then it was atomized into nothingness by the magic of the faeries.

It was over.

[Cloak]

Last chapter of Book Two . . . or epilogue.  Take your choice.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
Back to the Forum

With the ooze gone, purged from the forum, the RAFians rejoiced at having their forum back.  Inside Pootang's cage, where one might assume it'd be terribly rageful, it was just perplexed about what happened.  It did not try to escape, which was fine.  The game would persist at another time.

The threads and boards were live with the electricity of posts.  Posts counts climbing all the time.  Discussions were being handled civilly . . . er, mostly.  But Shadow and her uncle, Cloaky, were standing on a hill overlooking the site.  Cloak had progressed in strength enough not to need the walking stick, which was hung over his back, deciding to use it to focus his abilities until he's finally back up to scratch.

"How come I get the feeling that we'll have to evacuate RAF in the next book, uncle?" Shadow said in an aside to her uncle.

"Don't break the fourth wall, Shadow.  Most people don't like it."

Yes.  Realm Walkers have the power to break the fourth wall.

Estelore bid her goodbyes, then set off on another interstellar journey.  Something about checking out some nebula shaped like a horse's head or simply shaped like the RAFian Horse's head, she wasn't very clear on that point.

Az, Faerie, and Cloak revisited some old threads, reminicing.  Gaz was critiquing some more "Beast Wars" episodes, and Parker was in the training room, the RAFian version of the Danger Room.

Late one night, Goom, Gaz, Shadow and Cloak headed to the archives.  They had written the history of everything that happened with the ooze, its properties, and how to defeat it.  They entered it into the archives, for future use.

Then Goom said softly, "I do pray that we never have to use this information again."

[Cloak]

New book!

BOOK THREE:
Dark Phoenix
CHAPTER ONE:
Ooze Psychology

Cloak continued to get stronger this past year since the ooze incident.  He had since done away with his walking stick.  Cloak was feeling near 90%-95%.  In a few more days, he should be back to full strength.

In the intervening year, the Pootang escaped six or seven times.  Eating Horse each time -- but I wouldn't talk to her about it, as that's still a very sore point with her*.  One occasion, the RAFians got the Pootang drunk to spit up Horse, and on another a simple gut punch was sufficient.

Cloak, Goom and Parker were maintaining the Species Database, eventually issuing watch-like devices that contained the Database, referred to as Encartas, to every RAFians.  Lurkers however were not permitted the device.

Yarin, Aquilai and Goom updated the communicators into a handheld, holographic device, much like the communicators in the Star Wars movies, only full-color.  These, too, were issued among the RAFians.

Yarin had snuck a bit of the ooze, and spent much of his time analyzing it, but coming up with nothing.  Other RAFians thought it was moot research, but he was undeterred, and continued his experimentation.

"There seems to be a technological boom goin' on," Nate observed.

"Yes," Phoenix agreed.

Then he said nothing more, deep in thought.  He, like Cloak, was encased in the ooze.  Cloak tried not to think about it, about the utter powerlessness, the abject helplessness that the mods, Esty, and he had endured.  While entombed in the ooze, there was only nothingness.  No sounds, no smells, just mind-numbing blackness.  The sheer boredom, the unrelenting monotony, the horrid sensory depreviation.  But even those words cannot truly describe it.

One does not forget that easily, though they might want to.  None of the mods, nor Esty or Cloak, told anyone about it.  All of them wanted to forget.

Little did they realize something would happen that would make them all forget.

----
*

[Cloak]

Now . . . last chapter for a while.  Gotta let ya catch up.  It's gonna be a shortish one.

CHAPTER TWO:
Malevolence

Cloak's eyes snapped open, and he sat upright in his bed.  He was in his thread.  He just had a nightmare.  It wasn't about the ooze this time, it was Abomination nearly killing him again.  He thought he was OVER this!

Then, suddenly, a chill went down his spine to the tip of his tail.  He knew what that meant.  Something evil was nearby . . . all felines (feline Realm Walkers included) can sense evil.

Cloak leaped from his bed, ears attentively scouring sounds.  Eyes peering through the night's gloom.  He stalked to his thread's door looked outside.  He didn't know why he was trying to find this -- this malevolence.

Soon enough he was joined by Bladeh and FuBar.  They looked at each other, and knew that each one of them sensed the same thing.  But none of them knew of what this malevolent entity was.

They stalked carefully towards the Bored Board, where Cloak realized this malevolence had a slightly familiar feel . . . but from where?  From what?  Who?  Too many questions.

They went round the lake, sniffed the air, smelled nothing out of the ordinary and saw nothing out of the ordinary.  Then they cautious prowled up to the Animorphs Board, then the General FanFiction Board.  Still nothing.

'Round the Introductions and Departures thread, Cloak briefly caught sight of a bit of moving shadow, but nothing clearer then that.  Then they followed it back to the Member Profile Threads -- RAFian quarters.  Then it was gone.  Just . . . gone.  It was perplexing to say the least.

"What . . . what WAS that thing?" Bladeh asked, thoroughly confused.

"I have no idea." FuBar replied.

Cloak said nothing, but still looked skyward.

"Cloak?" Bladeh pressed.

"I do not know," Cloak replied quietly.  "But I think I've met that thing before, but I do not know or recall how."

[Gaz]

I've been keeping up with these, enjoying every bit!

[Cloak]

Intend to Gazzy!  One more chapter before I retire for the night. . . .

CHAPTER THREE:
Brutality

The next day, RAF began buzzing with posts and new threads, and such.  But Cloak was at the lake, staring at the water pensively.  He wore a very serious, brooding expression upon his face.  His thoughts were still on the mysterious malevolence, the strange shadow thing.

What could it be?  Why was it so familiar?  The information was hiding tantalizingly in his memories, but he couldn't seem to access it for some reason.  He absently and idly scratched his claws on his left hand into the bark of the nearest tree.

Suddenly, an alarm blared.  Cloak knew what this alarm was alerting to.  It wasn't anything real special, only the Pootang had escaped again.  The other RAFians could capture it again -- although Cloak noticed that Horse was nowhere in sight.  Well, maybe she wouldn't -- oh, never mind.  There she was, being dropped into its maw.

"NO!  Not again!  NOT AGAIN!!!!" she wailed.

But the Pootang dropped Horse, who scooted away as fast as her little flippers could carry her.  It was Phoenix.  He had gave the Pootang a gutbusting punch.  Cloak noticed that Phoenix was carrying a fiery aura, which he usually did in battle, but the coloring was off somehow.  Cloak could not put his finger on it.

Then Phoenix jumped up and delivered a fiery elbow to Pootang's skull, then he went for a crotch kick, then a shoulder hit, and then a strike to Pootang's back.  It was then that Cloak started to suspect.  Phoenix never fought this brutally, this viciously, this callously, this ruthlessly.

"Phoenix, STOP!!!" Nate cried out.

Phoenix seemed to come out of a revrie, or a trance.  "Huh?  Wha?"

Pootang slinked away, crawled back into its cage, and shut the door.  All the while it was wimpering.  Cloak could feel it shivering and shaking, terrakinetically-speaking.

"Phoenix, what's the matter with you?"

"I --" Phoenix begun to stutter and babble, "I don't -- don't know . . ."

Cloak hid his suspicions, but he resolved to keep a close eye on things.  Something was going on, and Cloak was going to get to the bottom of it.