Memoirs of a RAFian

[Aquilai]

Last line made me think of a classic black and white PI show with fitting jazz music

[Darth Revan]

Oh ****, Mike's been corrupted by the ooze!!!

Awesome ending to book two by the way. Though it did seem rather rushed.

[Cloak]

Call it poor planing, Parker . . . oops, accidental alliteration.  And it was an assumption that they were destroyed . . . perhaps it was just a comic-book death, if you catch my meaning.

Was it the ooze that corrupted Mike, or . . . something else? *smirks slyly.*

Probably the only chapter today.

CHAPTER FOUR:
Tensions

Cloak kept to the background, but kept tabs on Phoenix's actions.  No brutality seemed to have occured, although he seemed more preoccupied than normal.  But the others just had assumed that was due to being submerged in the ooze.  The other mods have been feeling the same.  But Cloak, having gone down the Epiphany Road, seemed less affected.

It was a lie, of course, but one which Cloak fostered and encouraged.  The truth was Cloak threw himself into projects to forget about it, trying to dwell on it as little as possible.  And this thing with Phoenix was just another excuse to forget it.

Then the Banned staged another coup, and Phoenix . . . well, he lost it again, causing the Banned to flee in terror, and many trollish casualities.  The RAFians were shocked at this behavior, as it was SO unlike the Phoenix that they knew and cared for.

"Phoenix -- MIKE!" Nate shouted, attempting to get his attention.  "MIKE!! CONTROL YOURSELF!!"

"YOU'LL DIE!!  YOU'LL ALL DIE!!!"

"MIKE!!!!"

Nate was shaking him roughly, and suddenly he shook his head.  "Wha . . . what happened?"

"You went off your nut, that's what happened!!" Nate replied angrily.

"I -- what?"

"Mike, there is something exceedingly wrong with you." Richard said.  "I'm ordering you to medical custody to find out what."

"YOU DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!! . . . I'm sorry, Richard, I don't know where that came from."

Cloak saw this from afar, with narrowed eyes.  He was in disbelief.  His suspicions could NOT be right.  He did not want them to be proven correct . . . because it was supposed to be . . .

He needed time to think.

[Cloak]

Now, I'll see if I can sneak in this chapter before I have get offline.

CHAPTER FIVE:
Results and Rage

Phoenix complied with Richard's orders.  At first.  Goom took blood, tissue and hair samples and tested them.  But found nothing wrong.  Then he took a power level reading . . .

That's when he saw something off.  Phoenix's power level was growing expotentially.  Goom theorized that was simply an effect of the ooze, but Yarin's findings don't mesh with that hypothesis.  Goom speculates it could be something like having an allergy, and Phoenix's power level is growing too fast for him to cope, and his levels of aggression are hightening to compensate . . .

Cloak heard all this, and thought it all highly unlikely.  But they wouldn't know.  Well, Faerie and Az might, but Cloak still said nothing.  This could possibly of been his biggest mistake, but Cloak didn't realize that until much later.

Back at the medical facility, Phoenix's body was starting to be engulfed in flame.  But it was clear from his body language that he was trying to stop it.  And that pained look on his face made it clear that he wasn't succeeding.  Suddenly, this flame aura turned into a firebird form, before dying down to nothing as Phoenix gained control over himself.

"No, it cannot be," Cloak said.  He had felt that presence before.  This was about to get very bad.  Yet, Cloak had to go.  Go to the Nexus and check somethings out.

[Cloak]

Sorry about the short chapter, hopefully I can make this one a bit longer.

CHAPTER SIX:
Corruption Complete

Cloak swished his cloak and entered the Nexus.  He immediately went over to the Nexus Library.  He walked up to an ancient-looking (even by Realm Walker standards) turtle-form Realm Walker.

"Hello, Tomekeeper."

"Oh no.  Not you again."

"Yes, me.  Now, I need some information . . ."

***

Back in the Prime Universe, at RAF, Phoenix's brow had broken out into a sweat.  He was scared.  He was terrified at what was happening to him.  He was sure that he hadn't brutalized the Pootang.  He was sure that wasn't him who terrified the Banned and killed all those trolls.

But if it wasn't him . . . why was he there?  Why did he have limited memory of everything?

Oh no!  It's starting again!  Phoenix attempted to squash this nauseating feeling, which sloshed around his navel, and push this horrid . . . THING down.  But he was losing.  He could not stop it from surfacing.  He tried, though, he gave it his all.

But Phoenix was rising into the air in a fiery yellow aura.  The form of a firebird flickered in and out of existance.  But it was starting to flicker less and less.  And the attention of other RAFians were being drawn to the spectacle.

Phoenix felt a horrid desire to reach out and attack them.  He resisted for several minutes, but then he fired a fireball at Genies, who crumpled, only slightly burned, but in severe pain.

No!  No!!  NO!!!  Stop!!!!  STOP!!!!! Phoenix mentally pleaded his body.  But it seemed to have a mind of it's own.

Block attempted to knock Phoenix out of the sky by throughing a tree, but Phoenix turned the tree to gold and slammed it back down on Block, who was knock out.  Phoenix felt truly frightened then as he knew he hadn't the power to transmute matter.

But struggle as he might, he could not longer control himself.  He could no longer reach his own body.  It was like it had a mind of its own.

"Phoenix!  Stop!"

I'm trying!  I'm trying!! Phoenix tried to shout.

The RAFians were preparing to attack, to take down their old friend.

[Cloak]

Now, Phoenix will do something against his will in this shortish chapter.

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Struggles

Phoenix continued to struggle against whatever this thing, whether it was his own powers achieving sentience or something else, and reclaim his body.

Aquilai and Horse waterbended the lake's water which Phoenix easily evaporated, and then burned both severely, but not fatally.

Faerie attempted to use the same sparkling wind that freed RAF of the ooze, but it was completely ineffective.  She recieved the same treatment of Aquilai and Horse.

NOOOOO!!! Phoenix wailed.

Nate yelled, "Phoenix, no!  Phoenix stop! Please!!"

Phoenix's body ignored him, but his mind responded tearfully, I can't stop!  I really CAN'T!!

Yunyun and Blaze charged from the air, and Yunyun would have been incinerated if Blaze hadn't absorbed the attack, which only did marginal damage to him.  But the he was turned into solid gold and plummeted to the ground.

"Blaze!"

Then yunyun was turned into solid silver.  Then Shock was turned into solid crystal, Yarin into solid platinium, Jess into a mass of rubies, Gotcheye into a mass of sapphires, Gaz into a mass of emeralds, Stalker into a mass of diamonds, and Parker's armor into pearls.

"Now that was just uncalled for," an armorless Parker snarled.

"Phoenix!" Nate pleaded, but it fell on what appeared to be deaf ears.

Suddenly, Phoenix turned ND into a toy Andalite, Rad into a mass of string, and Gym into an empty latex suit.  How much more was Phoenix going to do?  Could Phoenix ever regain control over himself?

[Cloak]

Now, the last chapter today (unless I change my mind).

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Gone

Phoenix's mind folded in on itself, and was silent.

"Phoenix, stop this right now!" Richard ordered.

Suddenly, Dino was nothing but fossilized bones, a lurker was a mere puddle of nothing and Broken really was broken.

"Phoenix, please!  Listen to us!" Nate pleaded.

Suddenly, another lurker was turned to solid ice, Sakki was turned to solid rock, and Aila was turned to solid steel.

"Phoenix!"

"SILENCE!" Phoenix's mouth said.  There was a mild fiery explosion around him.  "Phoenix004 is dead!  Behold power incarnate!  Behold fire made flesh!  Behold Dark Phoenix004!!"

"Oh, **** --" Parker begain.

Phoenix's firebird aura grew ten times its original size, he cackling all the while.  It was large enough to be seen all the way to Serebii.  Suddenly, SkyMorpher was a fly, Estrid was a human, and DP was now a guppy.

Nate, however, was not deterred.

"Phoenix -- Mike!  Fight it, Mike!  Use the power of your mind!"

"Phoenix is gone, little man." the creature that used to be Phoenix said, then it idly turned the Pootang from a giant rabid Pikachu to a giant rabid Pichu.  Then a giant rabid Magikarp.  Then a giant rabid Caterpie.

"Mike, no!  Fight it!  You can do it!"

"He's gone, you dim-witted dolt!" he snarled as Marie, Dameg, and Tyler suddenly became incontient puppies.  "You RAFians provide me no entertainment anymore.  You're just an irritation."

[Gaz]

Oh no! Mike has joined the dark side.

[Darth Revan]

Haha, Cloak, that's exactly what I would've said!

Who ever will save us?!?

[Cloak]

There's an 80s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reference in here, but it won't become obvious until Chapter 19.  And I'll start the next chapter shortly.

CHAPTER NINE:
Interstellar

"I am out of here," the being who used to be Phoenix said.  Then his firebird aura grew to gigantic mass, and he shot out of the atmosphere.  He bypassed Mars, blew threw the astroids would never quite made it to planetary status, then he circled Jupiter gaily.

Then he skimmed Saturns rings, flew through Uranus, corkscrewed around Neptune, blasted through Pluto and headed out into the universe.  He was heading to a star in the Perseus constellation, Omega Persi*.

***

Estelore had taken on her usual avatar of a lovely woman in a sundress, and she was exploring a planet that she suspected to harbor life.  She had done this for nothing but her enjoyment before, but she was asked by Cloak to catalogue entries into the database, due to her usual interstellar sojourns.  She took up the task, and did not disappoint.

She had catalogued 649 new species, although none sentient, since she left Earth after the ooze incident.  Just think about it caused her usual light to dim a bit, and her avatar's eyes to darken just a bit.

But this task allowed her to keep busy, to forget about that ordeal.  So, she took it with a zeal that only Estelore could have.  Only . . . she found this planet to be a bit of a disappointment.  It was a dead world.  It didn't have the seeds of creation upon it.

This would be a good thing, as what she would witness next would be painfully etched into her memory for all time, completely throwing the ooze ordeal out of her mind.

***

Back at RAF, the RAFians gathered up what . . . what was left of their friends.  They were taken to the infirmary.  Goom was distraught, for obvious reasons.

"I don't know what you want me to do about it," he complained, "I cannot do anything to them in this state."

<No one's blaming you, little goomba,> Noelle said, with comforting tones.  Odd for an Andalite.

"They don't have to.  I've done it already."

<And what could you have done?  We could not stand up to that kind of power.  I doubt that Cloak or Estelore -->

"I should be stomped," Goom sulked.

***

In the Nexus, at the library, Cloak was furious.

"YOU WHAT?!"

"She . . . she was so kind . . . so pretty . . . she needed . . ." the old Realm Walker babbled.

"'She', was it?" Cloak said, rage suddenly forgotten.  "Who?"

"She . . ." the old coot blubbered.

"Who is it then?  Who took the Eye of Sarnoth Odin?  And the . . . the other item?"

"Malice . . ."

"Do you take me for a fool?!  Everyone knows Malice is dead!"

-----
*I'm aware that there is a great chance this star does not exist.  You'll soon learn why.

[Cloak]

'Nother chapter, methinks.

CHAPTER TEN:
Star Crossed

Estelore completed her findings on the planet, having scouring it a second and third time to be sure that it was actually lifeless (and it was, not two bacteria to rub together).  So, she ascended from the planet, still maintain her avatar form.

She is cut off by a soundless streak of flame, which, admittingly, she thought was rather odd.  Defenseless against her curious nature, Estelore followed it to the nearest star.  She was perplexed at what this creature was, as she hasn't ever seen anything like it in the vastness of space, even with all her long journeys.

The creature stopped in front of the star, and it took a firebird form with something at the center.  It seemed to eye the star, longingly and lovingly.  It was then that Estelore recognized the speck.  It was Dark Phoenix, although Estelore was unaware of this.

Estelore was still perplexed as to how and why he had come out here.  She was so consumed with curiosity that she didn't even notice the Dome ship Aximili observing from a distance away.

Then Dark Phoenix plunged into the star, much to the shock of Estelore and the Aximili's crew.  They all thought that Dark Phoenix had destroyed himself, without any clear reason to.  But they were all wrong.

Dark Phoenix was absorbing the star's energy into himself.  He was . . . feeding.

"Phoenix, what are you doing?!  Stop this!!" Estelore screamed, completely forgetting that her voice would not be heard in the vacuum of space.

Then the star was completely gone.  Estelore wore a look of shock.  It's planets doomed to wander aimlessly in the vast cold expanse of space.  Fortunately, they all were lifeless, but it did not lessen the magnitude of such an act.

The speck in the spot where the star once stood grew his firebird aura again, as if giving a mighty screech.  The head of the aura seemed to scanned the cosmos, possibly looking for another meal.  And looked it's "eyes" on Estelore.

And Estelore happened to be a star.

"Oh, bother," Estelore muttered to herself, although no sound carried it.  She fled, feeling something she had possibly never felt before.  Abject terror.  And Dark Phoenix followed her like a cheetah following an antelope.

[Cloak]

Now, another chapter, for my 4000^th post.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Sanctuary

Estelore quickly assumed her human avatar within light-years of approaching Earth, and she controlled her trajectory enough to make sure she landed near RAF.  She landed daintly, then ran for dear life.

"Estelore, wha --" Richard began.

"HE'S GONNA EAT ME!!!" Esty practically screamed, shaking Richard by his collar.

"What?"

Then Dark Phoenix appeared behind them.  All humanity that Phoenix had once possessed was gone from his face, making it look somehow more sinister, even though the expression was perpetually blank.

"He's ba-a-a-a-a-a-a-ack!" RYTX yelled to the other RAFians.

The RAFians didn't look very enthused at this prospect.  But they filed out just the same.  Dark Phoenix landed, extinguished his fiery aura -- a deliberate insult -- and strode sedately forward.

"Phoenix, please.  Fight it.  You can!  You can't let this darkness win!" Nate pleaded to deaf ears again.  Suddenly, a blue blur streaked by and planted a technologically-crammed metal headband onto Dark Phoenix's head, catching him unawares.

<Yarin, turn it on!> Esplin yelled.

"Patience is a virtue." Yarin said, tensed.

"Not now, it's not!" Parker countered.

But, too late, as the Dark Phoenix's fiery aura emerged explosively again, melting the device into nothingness.  Dark Phoenix laughed harshly and evilly, although his face remained expressionless.

"My, my, my, Yarin.  I seemed to have broke your little toy."

Yarin scowled, then his jaw dropped.  He had telepathically probed Dark Phoenix's mind, and saw that he wasn't kidding when he said he wasn't Phoenix.  He literally wasn't Phoenix, Phoenix's true mind was deeply unconscious.  There was another mind, the mind in charge, was the dominent one, and one that was NOT originally there.  But Dark Phoenix became aware of the probe and forced Yarin out easily.

"Phoenix . . . Mike, please, listen to me.  You can fight this.  It does not own you.  It cannot own you.  You are stronger than this darkness. . . ."

Yarin took this opportunity to strike.  He telepathically managed to stun Dark Phoenix's mind into unconsciousness.

"Sorry, Nate, I had to take the opportunity to strike."

"He's . . . back?"

"No, I only stunned him.  We need to take care of him before he --"

"Recovers?" Dark Phoenix said, standing up again, and with the same creepy expressionless face.  "Too late, Nyac."

[Cloak]

Now another chapter . . . hmmm, 1000 more posts to go.  Oh, never mind that, uh, this'll probably be a short chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Mind Games

Yarin knew what he had to do.  He had to bind the powers and the mind of the intruding essense in Phoenix, or at least "wake" Phoenix's mind up.  But the question of how was the hardest --

Sudden fireball!  Yarin dodged to the right.  His six eyes reflecting the glow,  but his lower left hand was burned.  Yarin winced but it did not soften his resolve.  He kept trying to probe Dark Phoenix's mind.  Of course, this had the rather nasty side effect of royally ticking him off.

"YOU DARE TO PROBE MY MIND, INSECT?!" it roared.  "I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET THIS, VERMIN!!"

***

Meanwhile, in the bowls of an Egyptian underworld, Demos was standing, looking uncomfortable.  He was on a quest assigned to him by Cloak, shortly before the latter's departure for the Nexus, and he was addressing a jackal-headed man.

"Anubis, you know what I require."

"Demon, you overstep your boundaries."

"Anubis, it is the only way to advert all-out disaster."

"I thought your kind reveled in disaster."

"Don't be prejudged."

"You may not have the feather.  Your kind could never be entirely truthful."

"And what do I have to do to convince you otherwise?"

***

The fight at RAF was not very pretty.  A lot of newbies were severely burned.  Some lurkers were incinerated into a pile of ashes without a second look.  But Yarin, still managed to evade, still trying to probe Dark Phoenix's mind to get to the REAL Phoenix.

After six or seven tries, Yarin managed to connect with the real Phoenix's mind.  Yarin urged him to awaken.  Begged, pleaded, threatened, anything to awaken him.  One or more of these things must have succeeded, because Phoenix awakened.  Dark Phoenix's aura flickered, like static on an old television.

Yarin was tired, but he knew it wasn't over.

[Gaz]

After a hectic morning of herding around 4 year olds, coming back home to read a few new chapters of this is just what I needed. ^_^

[Estelore]

We find it thoroughly engrossing.