Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOUR:
Taken By Mistake

Yarin had gone and retrieved his favorite Nyac dish from the commissary.

"Thank you, Andrew," he said, with a smile, at the house-elf who delivered it. One of the house-elves that Shadow took it upon herself to name so long ago. "It looks delicious."

As he went to the condiment table, Leatherhead sidled up next to him. He asked, "Whatcha doin', Mr. Yarin?"

"Just getting some lunch," Yarin said, setting the packets down absentmindedly, next to some of the salad dressing.

"Why?"

"Because I'm hungry, dear boy."

"Why?"

"Because people get hungry from time to time," Yarin said, a bit puzzled at this line of inquiry from the anthropomorphic crocodile.

"Why?"

Yarin was still puzzled. "You know why we eat, Leatherhead."

"Why?"

"Why are you -- wait a minute," Yarin said, having come up with just why Leatherhead was doing this. "Did GH show you those Buttons and Mindy cartoons? From Animaniacs?"

"LH!" GH called sharply, as he and Hunter approached the condiments table. "Stop harassing Yarin with your questions."

"Okay," Leatherhead said, before addressing Yarin once again. "I love you, bye-bye!"

With that, Leatherhead went off with GH and Hunter to sit outside to eat. Such a lovely day ought not be squandered. Hunter actually had a salad, which was at odds with his lupine form.

FuBar was also outside, having a salad in a kitty bowl. This was also at odds with the fact that he was a cat, and cats tended to be obligate carnivores. He also had a weird salad dressing upon it. From one angle it looked like ketchup, another mustard, and another simple ranch dressing.

Yarin noted the oddity of these two getting salads, but gave it no further thought beyond that. He had completely forgotten the fact that he came in with two packets. And everything seemed to be perfectly fine and calm.

Then FuBar and Hunter began to tuck into their salads. . . .

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIVE:
A . . . Larger . . . Problem

Soon after digging into their respective salads, both FuBar and Hunter's fur coats began to glow. Literally glow. When this happened, they stopped eating and sat there motionless.

"Hunter?" GH said, concerned. Greatly concerned, but he felt he had to keep his composure in front of Leatherhead.

First thing that happened was that their sizes rapidly grew, tearing through any clothing that they were wearing. Hunter lost his fingers and opposable thumbs as he became an obligate quadruped. They both knocked over the tables with parasols that they were eating at, spraying the ground with uneaten food.

"H-Hunter?" GH managed to choke out.

They continued to grow to saurian proportions. Then their necks and tails grew to sauropod proportions so they both were about eighty or so feet long. Their tails being more saurian than feline or lupine, but still sporting a fur coat They both grew stegosaur-like plates along their back.

This attracted Cloak's attention as he could see this happening through his Earthsight. He rushed over to see what could possibly be wrong. He already had his suspicions, though.

Hunter's head still looked the same, though, as did FuBar's. Their noses glowed before they grew a single small horn, like the nose horn of a triceratops, but sharper. This signified that the transformation was complete. And their intelligence was reduce to that of an ordinary cat and dog.

"FuBar turned into a catasaurus!" Leatherhead declared.

"And Hunter turned into a wolfasaurus!" GH said.

As Hunter gave a thunderous bark, and FuBar gave a mighty meow, Cloak arrived on the scene. He gave it a quick once-over, and thought he could have guessed what happened. After all, he had seen something like this before.

"An ailurosaurus? A luposaurus?" Cloak said, quickly assessing the situation. Then he turned to GH, Leatherhead, and the other assorted RAFians. "Who fed them dino-sauce?"

"Dino-sauce? What's that?" Leatherhead asked.

"A sauromorphogenic substance," Cloak said, apparently forgetting that he was addressing a six-year-old.

"A what?"

"Can be reversed, though, if I recall correctly." Cloak said, clearly talking to himself more than Leatherhead and the others. "What was that device Allo used, now?"

"Cloak, what are you talking about?" GH demanded. "What happened to Hunter?!"

"Did he consume a granulated, gray substance?" Cloak asked, not directly answering his question. GH wasn't exactly thrilled to be given this perceived brushoff. "Or perhaps it was suspended in some sort of colloidal substance?"

"Oh, speak English!!" GH snapped, impatiently. He watched as the creatures that FuBar and Hunter became began to move away from the commissary. No one stopped them -- mostly because Cloak's thoughts were going a mile a minute, Esty wasn't here, and Richard was still on that personal business.

"They must have consumed the sauromorphogenic material," Cloak said. "This is Dinosaur Island all over again."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIX:
Examination of the Evidence

"Just do something about it!!" GH said.

Cloaky did not answer, but inspected some of the detris of the knocked over table. He noticed what appeared to be a lettuce leaves covered in what could be some sort of dressing. To his eyes, they looked a rather unappealing ashy gray color.

"Cloak?" GH inquired, as FuBar and Hunter continued to move off.

"Did Hunter consume this salad?" Cloak asked.

"What?"

"Did Hunter eat this salad? The one on the floor here?" Cloak clarified.

"Yes. But what the hell does it matter?!" GH said, anxiety filling him.

"It matters a great deal," Cloak said, evenly. "This colloidal liquid, though similar to salad dressing, isn't. It's the sauromorphogenic substance, the dino-sauce, for a layman nomenclature."

"So?"

"So, it's the chemical that turned Hunter and FuBar into dinosaurs -- or well, mammal/dinosaur hybrids." Cloak said. "While it isn't the same thing as the Dinosaur Island incident, this is undeniably similar."

"But how?" GH said.

"That's a very good question," Cloak said. "But one we can answer later. Right now, we have . . . larger problems."

"Code Avalon will keep them in, right?" GH asked. "Like with the --"

"They're significantly larger than it, especially Hunter," Cloak said at once. "Code Avalon is at it's lowest setting. There hasn't been any reason to bump it up, and there's no time to get the message to communications. They'll be out and in the countryside before we hail communications, or even arrive there."

GH said nothing in reply, so Cloak continued.

"We need a device," Cloak said, opening his palm. There he produced a golden-scarlet construct of what appeared to be a rifle with a humongous, dinosaur-sized wishbone embedded in it with the two sides of the wishbone arching forward, like a pincer of some kind. "I believe they called it a 'wishbone'. It can undo the effects of dino-sauce."

"Who's they?"

"Hmm? Oh. The Dinosaucers," Cloak said, as if this was a satisfactory answer.

"The who?" GH inquired, still quite moody.

"It doesn't matter," Cloak said, swiftly changing the subject to the problem at hand. "The fact is we have to get the boys working on this as soon as possible."

"Goom, Yarin, and Aquilai?" GH said, obviously not liking that Cloak wasn't answering his question.

"And Xeno, too." Cloak said. "The sooner they can complete it, the soon we can revert FuBar and Hunter back to their normal, lovable selves."

"You know that it's not going to be that easy," GH said, almost accusatory.

"Nothing truly worth doing is," Cloak said.

"You got that from a fortune cookie, didn't you?" GH sighed.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Steps To Be Taken

"What's the plan?" GH said, shifting his guitar on his back.

"First, we get Dino."

"Dino? Why?"

"I would have thought it obvious," Cloak said, with a snappy air, as the two began to move. "Dino can go and prevent them from do harm to any innocents. Or try anyway."

"But they have a huge honkin' lead on her!" GH pointed out.

"They were walking," Cloak said, as they quickly found Dino -- she was reading a book very awkwardly. It's the trouble with tiny arms. "At a sedate pace. Dino's running speed is sufficient to catch up with them."

"Catch up with who?" Dink asked. Then she accidentally dropped her book. "Aw, dammit."

"FuBar and Hunter," Cloak said, almost clinically. "They have been transformed into an ailurosaurus and a luposaurus by consumption of a sauromorphogenic compound."

"What?"

"They ate some goo and now they're dinosaurs," GH translated tonelessly.

"Dinosaurs?" Dino said, her book quite forgotten. "Turned into dinosaurs? Like --"

"The Dinosaur Island debacle?" Cloak finished her sentence, "It's admittedly similar but different in some key aspects."

"I should get going then, shouldn't I?" Dino said, with a heavy sigh. Then she lumbered off, saying over her shoulder, "Could you put that book back into my thread for me, though?"

"Wait! I'm coming with you!" GH said. "C'mon, LH."

The two began to climb on Dino, who said, "I'm not a friggin' -- oh, all right, then. But don't make a habit out of it."

Then she continued to lumber off with GH and Leatherhead on her back. Cloak scooped up her book, and obliged her by returning it to her thread. Naturally, being the largest RAFian, she had the largest thread. Cloak wasn't too surprised to see it was rather like a paddock from Jurassic Park, as he's seen it before. He's been a RAFian for about half a year (that's five years to Dwellers) at this point.

After returning her book to her thread as requested, Cloak looked for Xeno. Turns out that he was in the communications tower on monitoring duty, and he had witnessed Hunter and FuBar's transformation. He spiralled down to Cloak to inquire about what happened.

"I'll tell you once we get Yarin, Aquilai, Goom, and you assembled together," Cloak said. "It is of great importance that you build something."

"Build something? What?" Xeno inquired.

"It is called a 'wishbone'," Cloak said, very quickly as he rushed to gather the rest of the boys. "It's supposedly a very powerful weapon of Reptilon design with many uses. One of which is supposedly reverting artificially changed beings back to their normal forms."

Cloak fell silent for a beat, then added, "Keep Leatherhead and Nina away from it when you finish building it."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Realization

After successfully gathering the four, Cloak showed them his produced energy construct of the wishbone, at least the best that he could recollect of it. It had been so long since he had seen it. According the evolved Allosaurus named Allo, in that realm, it was very powerful. He didn't go into lengthy explanations how powerful it was or every single application of it, due to the urgency of their situation then.

Yarin felt some discomfort. Because he realized right away what must have happened. And he knew that he was directly responsible for this. This was his fault, his responsibility. His shame. He debated inwardly kn whether he should come clean with the others with what he did.

In the end, he decided no. He decided to make this right on his own. They never let him forget the incident with Horse and his Food Yield Increaser, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that they would never let him forget this error.

Granted, he still was trying to rebuild and perfect the Food Yield Increaser in secret -- that's where this dino-sauce came from. He was using the flux carburetor to try and eliminate the giganticism problem. He must have accidentally radiated the effluent discharge with a radiation similar to the one in the Dinosaur Island event. He wouldn't have thought it possible, but evidently it was.

He was careless. Too careless. With absentmindedly leaving the packets at the commissary, to creating the damn dino-sauce in the first place. He was too cavalier, too reckless. He didn't take enough precautions to prevent something like this from happening again.

Perhaps risking the creation of another Food Yield Increaser was not worth it. First the giant glowing seal and now this. Did they really need a third occurrence of this kind? If the others knew about his unwitting involvement with this . . . well, that might very well be grounds for Banning. And he really did not want to be Banned. He loved it here. This was his home. Not only Earth, but RAF. He didn't want to lose it. Was trying to recreate the Food Yield Increaser really worth losing his home and RAFian status? Was it really worth marring his "R"-shaped Mark of a RAFian for the scar-like "B" of a Banned?

The FYI could very well end world hunger . . . but it was more likely to create monsters. From Cloak's descriptions, Hunter and Fubar were now far less intelligent than they were before the dino-sauce. It's getting worse. Horse was able to keep her intelligence when she grew to colossal size. No, he would have to stop. It may have possibilities . . . but sometimes a risk isn't worth beneficial results. Especially when the risk is of epic proportions, like this.

"I'm gonna take my ship," he announced to the others abruptly, who was grilling Cloak on the wishbone specifics (and he was trying his best to give them all the answers that he could), "I'm gonna take my ship and, uh, help Dino and GH."

Then he left without another word, and, within minutes, his ship was zooming soundlessly over them in the direction the dinosaur-ified Hunter and FuBar went.

"What was that about?" Xeno wondered aloud.

"He knows something that he's not telling," Cloak said, knowingly.

"And what is that?" Goom asked.

"That I cannot say, because I do not know," Cloak said, "but it doesn't matter right now. We have larger problems which must be dealt with as soon as we can. Dino and GH have gone to try and corral them back here, whilst the wishbone is being manufactured."

"Couldn't Kelly heal them?" Aquilai asked.

"She's off-duty. Doing some personal business -- I didn't pry." Cloak said.

"Couldn't you use that elemental double helix thingy?" Xeno inquired.

"No guarantee of effectiveness," Cloak said, "whereas the wishbone has been guaranteed to work. I've seen it work, in that other realm. Now, we must really get to work."

"We?"

"Yes, I hold the schematic in my hand." Cloak said.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINE:
On Approach

Yarin's mind was still full of his failures.

So full than he never bothered to probe the other boy's minds (except Cloak, of course, as his mind was more secure than Fort Knox, due to his Realm Walker physiology) to see if he came off as suspicious in any way. He found himself not really caring one way or the other. He just had one, singular goal now.

Fix his mistake. Rectify his indiscretion. Righting his imprudence.

His utter shame at his his lack of circumspection was all-encompassing. He felt that he was about as sagacious as a footstool, at the moment. He should have not allowed those packets to leave his thread. Then this would have never happened.

No, he thought bitterly, making that accursed microwave* in the first place, this would have never happened and the incident before would have never happened. This happened be cause I allowed myself to be blinded toward criticism, and obstinately believed that I was right, by definition.

He piloted his ship while he himself was running on automatic for a few minutes.

I am a fool, he thought allowing himself to feel despair. My intentions may have been good, but how many horrors in history have come about from good intentions? How much pain and suffering has come about by good intentions? How many people have died because of 'good intentions'?

He was beginning to lapse into self-pity when he caught up with Dino. GH and Leatherhead were riding on her back, and only Leatherhead seemed to be handling it easily, while GH struggled for a handhold. Dino never did like being a "taxi", as she put it. She was quickly closing in on the wolfasaurus and the catasaurus. But he would be able to easily outstrip her and reach them first.

This was his responsibility, not theirs. His responsibility, and his alone. So, he powered the engines and began to streak towards Hunter. But this did not go unnoticed.

"Yarin? What's Yarin doing here?!" GH demanded. "He's supposed to be working on that wishbone thingy!!"

"I don't know what to tell ya, GH," Dino said, with each earthshaking step alerting the credulous to her position. Dino . . . Dino wasn't exactly made for stealth in a human world. "We have our objective, and we must complete it. Hopefully, he doesn't decide to get in the way."

"Yeah, this'll go so smoothly," GH said, moodily.

If GH knew how Yarin played a part, albeit an unintentional part, in Hunter's transformation -- well, then, Yarin would know firsthand how a victim of El Kabong felt. Several times over, and once in the gut.

"We have to catch up to them soon, right?" Leatherhead asked.

"Yes, LH," GH said, wanly. He didn't feel like getting into a game of twenty thousand questions.

"Before we get to that school, right?"

"School? What school?" GH said, honestly taken off guard.

"The one dead ahead," Dino said.

"Did you have to use the 'd' word?" GH sighed.


*Yes, it's the end of that running joke. Unless I change my mind, of course.

[guitarhero01234]

Aw, no more FYI jokes?

[Cloak]

Unless I change my mind, yeah. And sometimes some running joke have to die for potential others to take its place.

And there are some noncanon books in the woodwork.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TEN:
Oh No! Not Fetch! Anything But Fetch!

Yarin continued to approach them from above whilst Dino approached them from the rear. But the two newly-minted saurians seemed to have no idea that this was occurring. They were just going about at their own whims. But they were drawing closer and closer to the school, an elementary school.

Yarin was done being mealy-mouthed with himself, and was determined to set things right. He wasn't particularly sure just how he'd do it, but he would. Butdoing this was reckless on his part, as his ship didn't have any real weaponry (he was still working on that). There was actually very little that he could do. Only Dino had a real chance of accomplishing anything really constructive, and that was a slim chance to be honest.

Then he felt himself be slammed against the bulkhead. Something had seized his ship! But what? What could it --

"What's Hunter doing, Daddy?" Leatherhead asked.

"He's got Yarin's ship!" GH announced. "He thinks it's a toy!"

Yarin didn't much appreciate this fact. It was like being in dryer on tumble dry. Not very enjoyable in the least. "Let go of my ship, you . . . ugh, never mind. My ship isn't a toy!!"

Yarin managed to free his ship, but it held the attention of both FuBar and Hunter. Both were thinking that it was a toy, and both seemed to be enamored with it. Upon seeing this, Dino stopped in her tracks and blinked in surprise.

"What is it, Dino?" GH asked.

"Don't you see? Yarin just may have delivered us a means to get the two back to the forum." the saurian nothlit explained. "Only if he he recognizes the solution and follows through . . ."

***

"Debbie! Samantha!" a stern teacher said, sharply, addressing two of her students, who were looking out of a window on their left. She looked like a hybridization of Mrs. Gorf and Minerva McGonagall. Tall, thin, and a woman not to cross. "What could be more interesting outside than the arithmetic we're doing in here?"

"We just saw a giant catasaurus and giant wolfasaurus running around on the playground, Ms. Overton." Debbie said.

"And they were being chased by an alien in a flying saucer!" Samantha added, despite Yarin's ship not being remotely saucer-shaped. Clearly, she thought "flying saucer" was a catchall term for alien spacecraft.

"That's nice," Ms. Overton said, condescendingly, not bothering to look out the window to her right. She was just obviously humoring them. "But pay attention now, and you can go outside and play with them at recess."

The two girls exchanged befuddled looks with each other.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
I'm Number One

Over in the oft forgotten Bannedlands, Queen was stewing and fuming. She was looking over the wasteland where the Banned were sent to when they were Banned, exiled from the forum. There was was very little to actually enjoy about the place.

While the trolls were content to sleep in the overabundance of caves that existed through the Bannedlands, Queen was not. So she had the trolls construct a makeshift abode for her that she only found acceptable for her needs. She, Yorick, and Aloth were all Banned before the creation of the Mark, so they did not have a "B" scar where their Marks would be.

And to make matters worse, Aloth was getting . . . uppity. He wasn't being all that content playing second banana to Queen. Queen was of the opinion that this dissent needed to be squashed out of him right then and there. Though she would never tell him, without him there, she would be the only Banned, considering Yorick's abandonment of them for Mojoverse television.

When Aloth approached the subject again, she sang:

"I'm number one,
You're number two.
We're Banned at large,
But I'm at larger than you.
I'm number one,
You're number two.
I believe in equality
As long as you get less than me!
I'm one --"

Aloth sang, rather unenthusiastically:

"You're one."

"You're number two."

"I'm number two."

Queen sang:

"You may think that you're smarter,
But I'm smarter-er than you!
I'm number one!
You're number two!
You're lucky to be number two,
Not number three!
I can see by the look in your eye,
You want to get the bigger piece of the pie!
One day, you'll get your chance --
But, in the meantime, you've got to dance, monkey, dance!"

Aloth sighed, "Really? I hate dancing."

Queen demanded, "Do it! Dance monkey dance! Ha ha!"

Then Aloth sang, sounding rather disgruntled:

"I'm number two.
She's number one.
I can't believe I'm working for a charlatan.
I'm number two.
She's number one."

Queen declared happily, "I'm number one!"

Aloth continued:

"You know life's gone to the dogs when your boss is an ideologue!
I can see it's just a matter of time before she's gone,
And I'm at the front of the line!
It won't be long 'til I get my chance,
But, in the meantime, I've got to dance, monkey, dance."

"Dance, monkey, dance!" Queen declared. Now, watch me!

I'm number one!"

"She's number one!"

"You're number two!"

"I'm number two!"

Then Queen sang:

"That's it, kid, there you go!
Now, step aside, this ain't your show!
I'm one -- "

"I'm one."

"I'm number one!"

"Yes, we know!"

"I'm number one!"

"She's number one!"

Queen finished:

" And that's how it's done!"

Queen then said, "Now . . . let's attack the RAFians."

"That was abrupt," Aloth said.

"Shut up, Number Two."


SOURCE SONG: https://youtube.com/watch?v=8bOlBAdPcrI

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Moving on the Forum

"Where there's a whip,
There's a way! Where there's a whip,
There's a way! Where there's a whip,
We don't want to go to war today,
But Almighty Queen says, 'Nay, nay, nay'!
So, we're gonna march all day, all day, all day!
For where there's a whip, there's a way!
Where there's a whip, there's a way!
For where there's a whip,
There is a whip, there's a way,
Left, right, left, right, left!
Where there's a whip there's a way!
Left, right!
The crack on the back, says we're gonna fight!
We're gonna march all day and night!
And more, for we are the slaves of the Banned's war!
Left, right, left, right!
Where there's a way.
Where there's a whip,
There's a way. Where there's a whip,
We don't want to go to war today,
But the Almighty Queen says, nay nay, nay!
We're gonna march all day, all day, all day!
For where there's a whip there's a way!
Left, right, left, right, left, right
Left, right, left, right, left, right
Left, right, left, right, left, right
Left, right, left, right, left, right
Left, right, left, right, left, right . . ."

And they continued like that on the march from the Bannedlands to the remote location of the forum.

"Oh, their incessant barking!" Queen said, as she lashed some trolls that were straying from the main force. "What are they even saying?"

Queen said this, despite being able to understand everyword they said. They continued their trek to RAF.

***

"This is splendid progress, guys," Cloak said. "It should be finished in no time."

"Don't applaud us just yet -- we don't know if works." Xeno said, cautiously.

"True, but --" Cloak said, but stopped midsentence.

"What is it Cloak?" Aquilai asked.

"Well, this is just perfect," the Realm Walker groaned.

"What?" Goom prompted.

"Queen's moving her trolls in," Cloak said, having Earthsighted their thunderous herd. "Presumably its another attempted coup."

"Another one? After her last dismal failure?" Aquilai asked.

"She is persistant," Cloak said. "I'll give her that much."


SOURCE SONG: https://youtube.com/watch?v=YdXQJS3Yv0Y

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Come, Play With Me!

"Still," Goom acknowledged, "this couldn't have come at a less opportune time. The wishbone is not yet complete and Hunter and FuBar haven't been collected yet."

"What will we do about this?" Xeno asked.

"You have the necessary parts of the wishbone completed," Cloak said, making the call. "I shall take care of this would be coup. Hopefully, before they intersect."

"Before who intersects?" Aquilai asked sharply.

"The Banned army and the -- well, I guess you can call them the 'away team'." Cloak said, preparing to head off. "It would probably be in our better interests if the Banned did not know what happened to Hunter and FuBar."

"May I ask why?" Xeno asked civilly.

Cloak felt hesitant, feeling like he was wasting time when he should have been on his way. "I'd rather not have them know -- who knows? They might decide to tip off Bridges and our PR standing can't really afford to be hit hard right now."

"Pfft, no one listens to that armchair politician," Goom said, dismissively.

"I wouldn't be so quick to believe that," Cloak said, "the stupid and the gullible watch television and listen to the radio, remember."

And with that, Cloak left to confront Queen and her troll army before Yarin, GH, Dino, Leatherhead, Hunter, and FuBar caught up. It wasn't going to be an easy task, but seldom few worth doing are.

***

"Glad that Yarin was good on the uptake," Dino said, butchering the phrase. "He's leading them right back to the forum."

"Well, he is a telepath," GH reasoned, still clutching onto Dino's back. In all honesty, he much rather be riding a Lapras -- it would be far more comfortable. "He probably read your thoughts."

"Or he just did it of his own volition," Dino countered, with another plausible possibility, "who knows? The important thing is that it's working."

"But what if they get bored chasing Yarin's ship?" Leatherhead asked.

Neither Dino or GH answered him, which made him think that he had said something wrong, and he hastened to rectify his perceived error. GH quickly assured him that it was a perfectly legitimate question, but neither he and Dino wanted to really consider that. For fear of jinxing their unexpected fortune.

"But the kid has a point," Dino said, "we need a plan B, in case this doesn't pan out the way we would like."

"I'm open to suggestions." GH said.

"Our options are limited, true," Dino spitballed. "And I'm really out of ideas on how we can get them back to RAF other than simply herding them there. Which means I might have snap at their heels to get them going in the right direction."

"Let's hope that it doesn't come down to that." GH said.

"And hope that they have prey instincts when it comes to being chased by a predator," Dino said. "If they decide to fight instead of flee, we'll have a particularly difficult problem."

"How so?"

"Isn't it obvious? They're two, I'm one." Dino said. "There will be no contest. They would overpower me. They might even k-- well, let's just cross that bridge when we get to it, shall we?"

[Cloak]

Yes, this chapter will contain a little of RAF's history. And not the sunshine and rainbows part.

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Waiting For To-Go

And so Cloak waited. Cloak had triangulated the path the Banned, and their troll army, would be at this particular time. He knew they were approaching and he was hoping to cut them off at the past. They wouldn't get to the forum.

He made sure to stand off to the side, as a deliberate attempt to nonverbally mislead the trolls and Banned into thinking that the location of the forum was actually behind him, when it was in the other direction. Trolls weren't very smart, so he knew they would be fooled. Queen and Aloth, however, would prove to be trickier. Well, maybe just slightly more difficult.

Cloak didn't really know Aloth when he was a RAFian. All he knew was that he was just as much of a jerk as Odie, only more . . . obnoxious about it. Cloak never really interacted with him, from what he remembered, but he was rubbed the wrong way just the same. From what he heard from Phoenix himself, Aloth was Banned for consistent rude behaviour, even after several warnings*. Not to mention, he had a habit of lying about aspects about himself, which Phoenix picked up on, but Cloak didn't. Humans could be a strange species sometimes.

Now, Queen. Oh, Cloak had interactions with Queen. None of which before her Banning were pleasant. She often butted heads with him, and liked to speak towards him in a very condescending manner. She thought he was juvenile, immature, and stupid. He thought she was conceited, arrogant, and narcissistic -- all qualities his mother possessed, and all qualities that he hated about the both of them. She also had a nasty inclination to name call, insult, and threaten anyone who disagreed with her, and a majority of the forum did, at the time. The result was a lot of hurt feelings and discord -- one of the darkest moments in RAF's history. Never before was there this kind of inner conflict and turmoil. Cloak had tried to reason with her -- they were two reasonable sentient beings, but she just lashed out in venomous ways. That's the thing, though, when someone is absolutely assured that they're absolutely right in any given issue, they react with hostility when someone manages to poke logical holes in it. And, to think, it all began due to a stupid debate of semantics. . . .

It always stuck out in Cloak's mind whenever Queen decided on a coup, as it was possibly (current event happening since, not withstanding) the worse experience in RAF to have.

It was a good thing that GH, Saffa, and the other relatively new RAFians did not have to experience it. Fortunately, they also helped, whether they were aware of it or not, the forum heal from this . . . wound.

But this is also one reason why Cloak tended to avoid political threads in the General Discussion floor of the General Building. He heard a rumor that Shenmue near was hit by a thrown chair in there, as well. It was just too easy to get offended when venturing into political territory, especially when emotions run high like that. And when even a question of semantics gets out of hand . . .

They approach. He could feel it. Literally. He could feel their thundering footsteps through his Earthsight. The thing with Earthsight is that it doesn't really identify facial features. But he knew that they were there.

Within moments, he could see them with his eyes. The troll army behind her amounted to about seventy-four trolls. Perhaps the term "army" was wrong, as that would indicate a sense of military organization, and these were trolls. They didn't organize, really, and were only here at Queen's behest, their "Dear Leader".

Cloak's first impression, he was embarrassed to admit, was one of disappointment. He had expected more, having clearly misread the vibrations in the earth. He quickly squashed that feeling with his need to prioritize. He stood in their way, and refused to allow them to pass.

To his surprise, some of the trolls seemed to recognize him and began to cower. Much to his displeasure. He wasn't a despot. Cowering gave him no joy. In any case, that was the super minority of the trolls. The rest just looked at him with slack faces, almost devoid of any intelligence.


* Yes, Imma source Phoenix here.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
The Ol' Path Stall

"Move aside, Cloak!" Queen demanded. "Or die."

"So long you've been Banned, and yet . . . you've learned nothing," Cloak said in reply. There was genuine sadness in his voice. His anger and resentment at Queen had quite dissipated in the intervening years. He had changed -- he had forgiven his mother for what she is (though he still does not condone her past actions).

"You heard me, you insufferable nitwit." Queen demanded. "Stand aside, and let me conquer RAF!"

"Do you even hear yourself talk?" Cloak said.

"That's what I said," Aloth grumbled.

"Shut up, Number Two!"

""Dissention in your ranks already, Queen?" Cloak said.

"There is jot -- er, not!" Queen snapped. "My army is mine to command."

"Queen, why are you doing this?" Cloak said, with a heavy sigh. "You know you have no likelihood of ever achieving this ambition."

"You know perfectly well that Ive gotten close a number of times," she spat.

"Never on your own," Cloak said, coolly. "Always with the help of an outside force, or when we were distracted with another event or problem that incapacitated us in some way."

"That's not true and you --"

"The point is," Cloak said, with a bite of impatience now, "that all these coups, whether planned or just off-the-cuff, are entirely and categorically futile. And you know it."

"I'll decide what's futile!" she spat.

"It's almost as if you didn't want to succeed," Cloak said. Yes, he was aware that he was playing mind games. But maybe if he stalled her, even just a bit, the away team can wrangle Hunter and FuBar back into the forum and the boys can revert them back. He also wanted to believe there was good in the Banned, at least a little. They were never as bad as the likes of Malice or even Proteus. "As if your heart wasn't into it."

"Don't psychoanalyze me, alien," Queen snarled. She was apparently unaware of Cloak's stalling tactic. The priority was reverting Hunter and FuBar. They could deal with a ridiculous coup later.

"'Alien'?" Cloak said, with mock surprise. Just keep her talking, Cloak, just keep her talking. He had long sense done away with the bite of impatience in his voice. "About to spout the Knight rhetoric and talking points now?"

"Don't you dare equate me to that band of uncouth, slovenly Neanderthals, Cloak!" she protested angrily. This was actually news to Cloak -- he didn't know that she disliked or even knew about the Knights of Humanity. Apparently, they weren't nearly as secretive in their motives and.operations as he had originally thought, if news had reached the ears of the Banned in the wretched wasteland that was the Bannedlands. "The very idea! The very idea of rubbing shoulders with those vile reprobates."

Well, at least she had standards. They were horribly skewed, but standards nonetheless.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
A New Complication

"This is still working," GH said, still grasping onto Dino's back for dear life, his guitar strung to his own back, swaying with each step of Dino. "I can't believe this is still working."

"Don't jinx it," Dino warned. Her entire frame of view was basically a saurian cat's butt, as the forest was tightly ensconced around them. It severely limited her movement and she didn't like it one bit. So, naturally she was a bit cranky. "Let's just hope that Yarin can keep this up."

"What if Yarin's spaceship runs out of gas?" Leatherhead asked.

"His ship never runs out of gas," GH said. "Come to think of it, I don't have any idea what he uses to fuel it."

"Assuming it even needs fuel," Dino said.

"How can it not?" GH asked, genuinely perplexed.

"I dunno, okay?" Dino said, irritably. "I just want this to be over with."

"What if more of that dino-sauce is around?" Leatherhead asked.

Dino shuttered, as GH said, "God, I hope not."

"I'd rather not have another repeat of this, to be honest," Dino added.

"What's happening over there?" Leatherhead asked.

"Over where? I can't really see anything with a catasaurus butt in my face!" Dino complained.

"It's a troll army," GH said. "Wait, it looks like there's less than a hundred trolls there -- does that qualify as an army?"

"Troll army, you say?" Dino said, tone contemplative. "That must mean Queen is trying to stage another coup. And at a really bad time, too."

"What's a coup?" Leatherhead asked.

"A coup d'état," Dino clarified. "A sudden overthrow of a government or leadership, from a revolution. It is usually carried out by a small group of people, who replace only the leading figures. Queen's tried -- and failed -- this frequently enough that, far from becoming a real menace, she and her trolls and the rest of the Banned are little more than annoyances and nuisances."

"Oh, god," GH groaned. "How are we supposed to get Hunter and FuBar past them without them noticing?"

"I don't know, if I'm honest, GH." Dino said, wearing a very serious look. "But we can't let them see FuBar and Hunter in this . . . condition. Queen and the Banned would want to use dino-sauce to their own ends. I don't think I have to say it, but we do not need another Dinosaur Island event."

"What is Mr. Cloak doing there, Daddy?" Leatherhead said, spotting Cloak through the trees.

Now that he looked, GH could make out Cloak, standing with his back to there path, confronting the Banned and their troll lackeys. "He must be trying to keep them from reaching the forum. I don't understand why he's trying to be diplomatic, he has the power. He has the advantage. He could chase them all away."

"He doesn't know what path we're using to the forum," Dino said.

"If he didn't, he should have realized by now," GH said. "Dinosaur footsteps aren't exactly the quietest things in the world, not to mention they must send tremendous vibrations through the ground that he already picked up."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
A Hasty Decision

"My patience wears thin, Cloak," Queen growled imperiously. In all honesty, Cloak didn't really care if she was growing impatient. He held no fear of her. "Stand aside, and you'll live."

Not to mention she constantly and consistently showed absolute ignorance of the impossibility of killing him. She wasn't a Realm Walker. She didn't have any Walker deux es machina in her (otherwise, he would have been able to sense it). There was absolutely no way she could kill him, and she seemed to revel in her ignorance of this fact.

"And if I refuse?" Cloak said, affecting a mild demeanor.

"Then you shall die," she said, almost savagely.

"You don't know much about Realm Walkers, do you, Queen?" Cloak said. Clearly, she didn't remember what happened when Ab nearly killed Cloak over a Dweller year ago. Then again, neither Walker really expounded on the limitations of slaying a Walker.

"I know all I need to know," she sniffed, haughtily.

"And that's clearly not enough," Cloak countered, easily. "But fine, continue this charade of knowing everything there is to know. There isn't anything I --"

He Earthsighted it. He saw them. They were coming this way. Why were they coming this way? This was very bad timing!! He was trying to distract and the delay the Banned and trolls, preventing them from knowing this, from knowing about dino-sauce. True, they would only see the after affects, but Cloak didn't put it pass Queen from wanting to know how and how she could weaponize it. He couldn't let that happen.

Queen was talking and didn't seem to notice Cloak's sudden divided attention. He hadn't been paying attention to what she been saying, but he thought he could safely assume that it was the same vitriolic bile that she usually spews. So there really no drawback for his inattention.

"If you won't move, then we'll just go THROUGH you then!!" Queen roared, furious at Cloak's defiance. She turned to address the others, "Forward!!"

Cloak deftly stomped his foot and raised his right fist as a wall of earth rose to his right and he surfed on the Earth until a perfect earthen wall blocked the way of the trolls either way. And the wall was high enough to hide both saurian FuBar and Hunter.

"How DARE you defy me?!" Queen roared.

"Are you serious right now?" Cloak said, his patience wearing thin now.

But Cloak hadn't considered raising it high enough to disguise Yarin's ship. And it bobbed and darted in such a way that it made look like it was a low-budget puppet show. A really low-budget one.

"Gateburst," Cloak grumbled.

"What the --" Queen said, then she immediately rounded on Cloak, "what are you hiding?! Tell me, RAFian scum!!"

"RAFian scum, are we now?" Cloak said, swiftly regaining his composure. "You mostly weren't thinking that when you were one of us."

"Don't try to turn this ar--"

"Why do you hate RAFians so much, anyway?" Cloak said, clearly playing for time.

"Are you SERIOUS?!" she raged.

Good, this was what Cloak was hoping for. In her rage and indignation, she had completely forgotten what she saw. Now, if she would only launch into a long, monologuing rant . . .

"You had the audacity to not listen to reason, the unmitigated gall to not understand --" she stammered, clearly not able to form a coherent thought in her outrage. Then she continued on as if she made sense, "then you condemn me to the Bannedlands, where there's little food. Less water."

Cloak knew that this was categorically untrue, otherwise the trolls would look emaciated and sick, and Queen would have assuredly stolen their food and water if it was as scarce as she was making it out to be. But his Earthsight was telling him that the others would be well out of range within moments.

Queen was continuing her tirade, but Cloak was waiting until the others were at a significant distance away. When they were, Cloak ended her incoherent monologue, "Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blahity blah. Maybe when you stop feeling self-pity, Queen, and stop with the self-aggrandizement, then maybe -- just maybe -- you can grow as a person."

"Don't you disrespect me, Cloak! Don't you derogate or deride --"

"As scintillating as this conversation has been," Cloak said, dropping the earthen wall now, "I have other, far more productive, uses of my time. Ciao."

But Cloak had used his mastery over the Wood element and the Earth Element to completely reorganize the forest just enough that the Banned and their trolls would find themselves back at the Bannedlands before long.

Then he returned to the forum.