"The Clone Wars" is a title that can mean anything
And that's exactly why I chose it. As well as being a reference to something else -- a certain CGI show on Cartoon Network. . . .
But you'll find out more in the next few days. I'm still gonna to the chapter-a-day thing until everyone else catches up.
BOOK XIX:
The Clone Wars
Chapter One:
A Hot, Buggy Day
"Ow!" Gaz yelped. "What is it with all these mosquitoes?"
"It's not so bad," Guy said consolingly, "it was just the one. Ow! Er, just the two."
"But it doesn't make sense," Gaz said, worryingly, "there are no pools of stagnant water here for them to breed."
"What about the Yeerk Pool?" Guy pointed out.
"Oh, you know that the Kadronna is lethal to them*," Gaz said, waving her hand absently.
It was a warm, muggy day. But the RAFians had abandoned the threads for the grounds. Gaz and Guy were picnicking beneath a worn oak tree, while Horse splashed in the water with Underseen and Ash. All three had suffered a single mosquito bite, but thought nothing sinister of it, and continued playing in the water with nary a care in the world.
Cloak was sitting on a raised earth platform -- a makeshift chair really -- with his legs crossed, reading a copy of Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonriders of Pern" beneath a young, vibrant juniper tree. He was fairly off to the side of everyone else, in the shadows. He still would not go into detail about what had happened in Collector's ship -- just saying that the ship was gone, and they needn't worry about it.
Parker and Helen were having a picnicked lunch date beneath a veritable, old rowan tree. Parker had just removed his helmet when, "OW! Never fails. The
minute I take this helmet off. . . ."
"Ow!" Helen exclaimed as a mosquito made a snack out of her. "Never mind it, Parker, dear. Here, have a sandwich."
He accepted, and just enjoyed being in Helen's company. There weren't very many moments where they could do this -- normal things like a normal couple. So, they were bound and determined to enjoy this day. Neither of them realized that no other mosquitoes made any attempt to bite them again.
Aquilai, however, wasn't really enjoying the day, but fiddling around with his TARDIS, his pride and joy. "Ah!" he said as he swatted the back of his neck, cursing, "Infernal insects. Never mind that, Aquilai, back to work."
Curiously, though, no mosquito made an effort to bother Cloak, and he never noticed this. He just read on, only over a quarter of the way through his book, while various other RAFians complained about mosquito bites. Cloak didn't have blood anyway, and his ichor would have just vaporized any bug that tried to feed off him.
Demos's demonic blood proved poisonous to the bugs, so he didn't mind. He just laughed as he saw the bug that tried. "Demon blood is addictive, you know," he would taunt at the bug. "You'll surely be back for more."
Sakki and Oceanspray, being a VOCALOID and android respectively, had no blood to interest the mosquitoes, so they were left alone and unbitten.
The Yeerks, in their natural forms, were unmolested by the parasitic female insects, but their hosts weren't as lucky.
<Why do these blasted insects have a taste for Andalite blood?> Noelle moaned, scratching a spot on her left hand where a bug got her.
Dino was condemned with an itchy mosquito bite on her neck that she could not reach, which drove her up the wall. It was a flaw having tyrannosaurid arms. She grunted trying to scratch it -- it seemed to increase in itchiness expotentially with each passing minute. Eventually, Cloak noticed and had pity for her, so he conjured up an earth spire, that she could scratch the area easily.
"Oh, that is a
lifesaver," Dino sighed with relief. "Thanks, Cloaky."
"Anytime," came his reply as he returned to his book.
---
* Does the Yeerk Pool count as a stagnant pool of water?
