Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Yet another new chapter.  Maybe a bit on the short side.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
A Giant, Monstrous Pain

Meanwhile, Syphoon did not waste any time.  He absorbed an elementary school building into his body, indifferent to any injuries or deaths he might have caused.  He simply did not care about anything but this gnawing hunger of his.  Powers and lifeforce did not compare to how the material satiated his appetite.  But, alas, the appetite is not satiated for long, as he went to look for more things to absorb.
 
He settled upon a fire station, and he absorbed it in a thrice, leaving the city vulnerable to fires without their fire house . . . or fire engines, which was next on Syphoon's menu. . . .
 
Naturally, the police were called, but did not find Syphoon at the fire house location, for he decided to nosh on a indoor pool, ignoring the screams of terror.  Ignoring the spark of lifeforce that each had.  A thousand would not satiate his hunger like material would right now.
 
When the police finally could react to the pool place, Syphoon had already walked to an arboretum, and began to suck the building, objects and even the plants into nothingness, as his size grew even bigger.  By the time the police responded to this, Syphoon was long gone, and due to his shapeshifting power he could go unnoticed . . . had he had the sentience and complexity of thought to use it.
 
He feasted upon a power generator and the building that housed it.  Then he went and fed on tunneling equipment, a water purification plant, a butterfly sactuary, a fighter jet, an old church, a ice cream parlor, a library, an old passenger airplane, several quarry machinery, a performing arts school, a school for the blind, and a smelting plant.  And still his hunger had not abated.

When the police finally caught up to him, he looked more like the final design of the Peacekeeper robot in that movie, "Astro Boy", and less like Ultimate Kevin.  Though trying most valiantly, there was virtually nothing that the police could do about Syphoon.  His looks differed so drastically from the "hero" that they recognized that no one realized that the "heroic" Syphoon and this monster was one and the same.

The monster was now at a monstrous size, a size rather rivaling Godzilla or any Megazord.  Although he had various bits and peaces of all the buildings he absorbed all over his body, he was generally broad-shouldered, with arms and hands far thicker than his trunk -- a Conkeldurr build, in another words.  His head was relatively smaller and plainer than the rest of his body.  He also now had three digit hands (including an opposible thumb).

He roared, and the police attempted to hold there ground.  But not the hardest training could supercede the human instinct to flee from such a monstrous beast.  Though the police turned their work at evacuating the city.

The time for action had come.  The time to stop Syphoon was close at hand. . . .

[Cloak]

Well, it would seem that I'm going through pages rather quickly. . . . Here's the most up-to-date list:

• Book XXVII: Infinity and Eternity

The Infinity Gems and the Eternity Stones make themselves known.

• Book XXVIII: The Virus Rings

The RAFians are attacked by foes they never thought they'd see again.

• Book XXIX: Soul-Suckers

The RAFians are attacked by Dementors, which have a rather large effect on Cloak.

• Book XXX: Mayhem of the Music Miser

Cloak recalls the RAFians' previous confrontation with the Music Miser three years ago.

• Book XXXI: The Metal-Maker

The RAFians must save their own from a Roboticizer.

• Book XXXII: Richard is Missing

The RAFians must cope without Richard.

• Book XXXIII: Emotional Food

The RAFians must confront a different kind of vampire.

• Book XXXIV: Transformation Confrontation

The RAFians must confront some strange machines.

• Book XXXV: Richard's Horn

The RAFians must get Richard's Horn, a mystical musical instrument, back from Malice, who received it from a RAFian traitor.

• Book XXXVI: Feral Scream

A Wildwethel-centric book, he must deal with his feral side.

• Book XXXVII: Predators and Prey

The RAFians are being preyed upon by some sentient predators.

• Book XXXVIII: A Protean Problem

The RAFians must deal with a powerful snot-nosed kid who, quite literally, can do whatever he wants.

• Book XXXIX: The Horsemen

Four RAFians are captured and converted into four Horsemen of the ancient, rogue Realm Walker Cataclysm.

• Book XL: Sizeable Pain in the Necks

The RAFians must deal with Heinlein aliens.

• Book XLI: RAF's Nightmare

The RAFians must survive their own nightmares.

• Book XLII: Unlucky Charms

The RAFians must contend with a rather bloodthirsty leprechaun.

• Book XLIII: The Piper

The RAFians must contend with a pied piper.

• Book XLIV: Starlight Desire

The RAFians race Malice, Abomination, and the Banned to a wishing star (no, not Estelore).

• Book XLV: A War of Armor

Parker is outraged to see knockoffs of his rather unique armor and what they're being used for.

• Book XLVI: The Worst Plague

The RAFians must weather the worst plague to ever existed -- the Hate Plague.

• Book XLVII: Little Alien Napoleons

The RAFians are caught in the middle of a war between Helmacrons and Fmeks.

• Book XLVIII: Go Away!

The RAFians must deal with the paparazzi who are all of a sudden interested in them.

• Book XLIX: RAFian Tales

RAFians tell various RAFian-themed stories across a lunch table.

• Book L: Maul

The RAFians must deal with the result of one of Demos's experiments.

• Book LI: Erised Orbs

The RAFians must face their greatest desires.

• Book LII: RAFians Alive!

Read the "Mummies Alive" parody in the RAFize songs thread.

• Book LIII: The Pain Reliever

The RAFians must deal with an elderly Vulcan styling himself the "Pain Reliever".

• Book LIV: Beyond the Veils

Aquilai and Aila must confront old foes while the other RAFians must put up with a Czarinian bounty hunter.

• Book LV: Dangerous Deals

Demos meets up with his half-brother, Shenecron, who has a perchant for making deals.

• Book LVI: Of One Mind

Malice seeks out the Unimind.

• Book LVII: The End of Time

The RAFians must contend with two Kryptonians (who think they're Time Lords) and prevent them from ending time altogether.

• Book LVIII: Hematomimic

The RAFians must capture a Plasmavore and put up with it's rather stupid Judoon jailer.

• Book LIX: Sins of Youth

Estelore, Richard, Parker, and Cloak must survive when the entire city and forum have been reduced to two-year-olds.

• Book LX: The Replacements

The RAFians must contend with the fame-feeding Eidolon Consciousness.

• Book LXI: Arachnoids

The RAFians must contend with the Arachnoids and finding a cure for one of their own that was poisoned before it's too late.

• Book LXII: Personal Tissues

The RAFians must contend with some one misusing Bibliophaetos's discarded book shell.

• Book LXIII: Memory Today, Gone Tomorrow

The RAFians lose their memory and must find a way to regain it.

• Book LXIV: Appliance Armageddon

A superintelligent computer controls all electronics, and the RAFians must stop it.

• Book LXV: Prodigy and Composite

Some RAFians are merged into two separate entities.

• Book LXVI: The Merging

The Universes begin colliding and merging.

• Book LXVII: Be A Doll

The RAFians are confronted by a Super Chucky.

• Book LXVIII: They're Such Cards

The RAFians are sealed into cards, which end up trapped in an ancient leather-bound book, and it's up to three kids to free them.  An out-of-continuity book.

• Book LXIX: Dinosaur Island

Everyone, except those that bear a Mark, begin turning saurian.

• Book LXX: Corrupted

The RAFians must deal with the son of Cataclysm, Corruptor.

• Book LXXI: Artificial Skins

The RAFians must deal with symbiotes.

• Book LXXII: Separation Anxiety

The RAFians must contend with an ethereal virus.

• Book LXXIII: A Thing About RAFians

The RAFians must contend with Seekers, which home in onto their Marks.

• Book LXXIV: A Planted Idea

The RAFians must contend with a floramaniac.

• Book LXXV: Vacation Photos

The RAFians are sucked into a Polarisoid camera.

• Book LXXVI: A Personal Gremlin

The RAFians must contend with gremlins.

• Book LXXVII: The Rust is Silence

The Rafians must deal with an oxidation ray wielded by a criminal.

• Book LXXVIII: The Toyman Cometh

The RAFians deal with a Toyman-esque character.

• Book LXXIX: RAFian Idol

Yes, just another excuse to put in more of the (as of writing) nearly 800 parodies.

• Book LXXX: Savage Heart

Cloak battles an ancient being called Garrotik.

• Book LXXXI: Slave Islands and Juggernauts

Three RAFians are taken prisoners by the Knights and sold into the slavery of New Genoshia, while the others deal with a juggernaut.

• Book LXXXII: Shredding a King

The RAFians deal with a demonic Shredder-like ghost called Regiphaetos.

• Book LXXXIII: RAF -- The TV Show

The RAFians are forcibly recruited to Mojo's programs.

• Book LXXXIV: The Drinker

The RAFians must contend with a Spirit-Drinker.

• Book LXXXV: The Last Laugh

The RAFians must face Joker Gas.

• Book LXXXVI: It's A Mad, Mad, Mad Villain

The RAFians must contend with mind control cards which are ineffective on them.

• Book LXXXVII: Sight Unseen

Six RAFians are rendered functionally blind, optically-speaking.

• Book LXXXVIII: Don't Let It Snow

The RAFians must face a second Ice Age caused by a Diznee Ice Ifrit.

• Book LXXXIX: The Rachel Toxin

The RAFians must find a cure to a toxin that increases the fearlessness, hostility and aggressiveness induced in people which the Mark cannot protect the RAFians from.

• Book XC: Virus Alert!

The RAFians face a dangerous virus seeking a host.

• Book XCI: A Youthful Thief

The RAFians face a creature that siphons off the youth in its victims, provided they're younger than him.

• Book XCII: Calendar Creep

The RAFians face the Calendar Creep, a criminal whose crimes are holiday themed.

• Book XCIII: The Branding

Faerie fights a witch-boy named Salem (and his magical black cat, Saberhagen) for a magical branding iron in Faerie's possession.

• Book XCIV: The Void Zone

Nothing like a "Subspace Emissary" parody.  Sorry.

• Book XCV: An Epic Yarn

The RAFians' world is turned into yarn and fabric.

• Book XCVI: RAFian Gladiators

RAFians are kidnapped by Gamesmaster, another rogue Realm Walker, and force to participate in gladiatorial games.

• Book XCVII: The Box

The RAFians must cage thirteen Revenants released from Pandora's Box -- each representing and amplifying a particular feeling (i.e. hatred), while looking for the perfect host.

• Book XCVIII: From the Shadows

The RAFians must save their shadows and the shadows of everyone else from being absorbed (eaten) by the Umbraraptors, but not everything is what it seems.

• Book XCIX: Grimm Prospects

The RAFians discover Malice controlling several "wesen" with control collars akin to April's in "Catwoman from Channel Six" and get stuck in one-on-one battles to the death with them.  One will die.

• Book C: Loop-De-Loop

Everyone's trapped in a temporal loop, but the only ones that realize it are Cloak, Aila, and Aquilai.

• Book CI: Get 'Em, Shaw

The RAFians face a creature native to the planet Gossamer, who's under the control of Malice.

• Book CII: Threadfall

The RAFians must exterminate an epidemic of Thread.

• Book CIII: Siren's Song

The RAFians must deal with a siren and her alluring song.

• Book CIV: Resistance is Futile

The RAFians must deal with a hybridization of the Borg and the Hive chips (Ben 10: Alien Swarm) -- which the Mark cannot protect them from, nor the Unity energy can destroy.

• Book CV: The Titan

The RAFians must contend with the Titan serum and its effects.

• Book CVI: A Stony Glare

The RAFians must deal with a hungry Stone-Biter and a petrifying venom of a Diznee Stone Ifrit.

• Book CVII: Spritely Pests

The RAFians must deal with irritating sprites, which Faerie has had some rather tenuous experiences with.

• Book CVIII: Destroy All . . . What?

The RAFians must contend with a Furon incursion, and it turns out the Nyacs have knowledge of Furons. . . .

• Book CIX: Going Backwards

A grievious malfunction in Aquilai's TARDIS causes time to reverse its flow and flow backwards.

• Book CX: Death Takes A Holiday

The RAFians must convince Death to take up his role again.  A RAFian will die in this book, and it is within the continuity.

• Book CXI: High Price Stakes

Shanker and Gaz must flee and elude Daphne, the vampire hunter.

• Book CXII: A Killer Housing Market

The RAFians must survive and either destroy or escape a killer house.

• Book CXIII: A Silenced World

The RAFians must cope with a world that has become muted and a young sorceress, Melissa Spellman.

• Book CXIV: The Bureau

The RAFians must save their own from the insideous Bureau of Lost.

• Book CXV: To Tell the Truth

Broken's apprentice, Melissa, accidentally casts a spell forcing everyone to tell the truth.

• Book CXVI: Skin Crawlers

The RAFians, repulsed and revolted, must contend with Hundred (who eventually becomes Thousand, then becomes Million, then Billion, and then, finally, Trillion).

• Book CXVII: School of Stepford Lies

The RAFians must save the children from a school that turns them into Stepford students at Terenia's school.

• Book CXVIII: Ol' Salty

The RAFians must deal with the Salt Man.

• Book CXIX: The Great Race

The RAFians hold a race that Aloth cons himself into.  Who will win?

• Book CXX: Ape Escape

The RAFians must help super intelligent apes -- Caesar the chimp, Brutus the gorilla, and Maestro the orangutan -- reconcil their misanthropy.

• Book CXXI: A Different Kind of Unity

The RAFians must contend with a parasitic "unity".

• Book CXXII: The Great Brain Robery

Someone is stealing brains for an unknown purpose.

• Book CXXIII: The Bounty Hunter

The Knights, in their hypocricy, hire a Tsul'Kalu bounty hunter to collect select RAFians (to taxidermy).

• Book CXXIV: New Controllers

The RAFians confront Zirconians.

• Book CXXV: Creeping Crystal

A wave of crystallizing energy is sweeping the land. . . .

• Book CXXVI: The Element Feeder

The RAFians deal with a creature who feeds on a specific element and matures to a different element each time as it matures. . . .

• Book CXXVII: The Rider and the Walker

The RAFians come up against the Ghost Rider.

• Book CXXVIII: Headhunters

What will happen when RAFians lose their heads?  Seriously.

• Book CXXIX: The Color Purple, Man!

The RAFians confront the Purple Man, who manages to turn the entire government against them . . .

• Book CXXX: The Nemetrix Beetle

The RAFians confront the Black Beetle with Nemetrix properties.

• Book CXXXI: It's Tought to Be A Mod

The members of a primitive forum declare Demos and Blue to be mods. . . .

• Book CXXXII: Who-Zilla?

An energy reaction begins turning RAFians into monstrous creatures in 3XXX.  Out-of-continuity book.

• Book CXXXIII: Well, Techadon-ally . . .

The RAFians confront Techadons who assign them qualitive quatilities, and refuse to acknowledge any defeats.

• Book CXXXIV: The Mind's Eye

The RAFians face Spellbinder and his realistic illusions.

• Book CXXXV: Bas-ic Instincts

Bas awakens and attempts to take control of Cloak and other felines.

• Book CXXXVI: Midas Duck

The RAFians must contend with a very strange golden idol and a greedy sneak-thief.

• Book CXXXVII: War with the Warworlds

The RAFians must defeat two heavily-armed Warworlds.

• Book CXXXVIII: Solar Sucks

The RAFians must save Estelore from a device able to suck out her stellar substance and lifeforce.

• Book CXXXIX: Hounded

The RAFians are attacked by hellhounds that only Demos can see, although Cloak can "see" them via Earthsight.

• Book CXL: Politics

The RAFians, much to Cloak's chagrin and irritation, get caught up in the middle of Realm Walker politics.

• Book CXLI: Buggy Afternoon

A Bug is after Parker's blood, to "avenge" their brother slain by the SPARTAN.

• Book CXLII: Cloak's Nightmare

Cloak has an exceedingly vivid nightmare of the Great RAFian Purge. . . .

• Book CXLIII: Cloak and the Olympians

Cloak confronts and defies the Olympians.

• Book CXLIV: Down to Earth

The RAFians have gravity-related problems.

• Book CXLV: Hittin' the Dino-Sauce

The RAFians learn the dangers of Dino-Sauce.

• Book CXLVI: Blood Feud

Shanker's past comes into light. . . .

• Book CXLVII: She's Back! A Dino Story

Pretty much a shameless parody of "We're Back! A Dinosaur Story".

• Book CXLVIII: A Journey into Her Past

Delving into Noelle's pre-RAFian life and her relationship with Ardnalil-Shicom-Maar.

• *Book CXLIX: Mortality and Morality

The RAFians face some rather conceited Leviathons.
[/quote]

[Cloak]

Three more chapters to go before the end of the book.  And all three might be on the short side.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
United, We Fall

Richard stood atop a tall building, looking down at the monster, who looked miffed that some of the more foolhardy police officers attempted to keep it back.  Their bullets did nothing to the monster, they might as well been throwing ball pit balls at the goliath.  Syphoon didn't even feel them, but he was getting annoyed just the same.

Eventually, all the residents of the city were evacuated and the police ran for their lives as well.  The city was empty, except for the RAFians. Richard looked around and saw the RAFians who were fit enough for this on surrounding buildings while Goom, Esplin, SuperNate, and Phoenix accompanied him.  They knew what they must do, and they must do it quickly.
 
"You still think that this might actually get him to, uh, 'vomit' up the powers, lifeforces and material?" SuperNate asked, both skeptical and a little disgusted at the thought.
 
"Yes," Goom said, holding nothing this time.  "If I've tabulated the --"

"Okay, we don't need to know the mathematical specifics," SuperNate interrupted.

<He is in position, Richard.> Esplin said.

"Okay, everyone," Richard said, "together now.  FIRE!"

A few beams of Unity Energy lanced toward the behemoth.  It roared in anger and fury -- it could not absorb the energy, so it had it's desired effect of damaging it.  But it did not induce it to "vomit" up whatever it had absorbed.

"More!!" Richard cried, trying to get the heavily-biased, anti-RAF reports of Gordon Gallows out of his head.  "Pour it on, RAFians!!"

They did.  But all they managed to do, aside from marginal damage, is annoy the beast.  Any more and it would begin thrashing around.  Quite dangerous considering the proximity to the buildings the RAFians were standing on -- and not every RAFian could fly. . . .

"Richard, it's not working!" Phoenix intoned.

"Keep it up!" Richard insisted desperately.  "We cannot fail this time!!"

<Richard -->

"I don't want to hear it, Esplin, we must do this!"

"It's not enough!!" Gaz cried from the next building over.

"It will be, just hold on!"

"Looks like you guys need a little assistance," said a wily voice.

"Yes," another voice said, with a gentle ribbing tone, "good thing we came over."

[Cloak]

Two more chapters, and hopefully they're at a more appropriate length.   Okay, so they're not.  Sorry, if this book seemed rushed.  It kind of was.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Back into the Fold

Cloak and Estelore were on the scene.  Cloak stood upon a golden-scarlet disc and Estelore hovered there in her "warrior mode", the kevlar bodysuit and her hair drawn up into a tight bun.
 
"Wha . . . WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!?!" Richard roared.
 
"Disobeying your dismissal," Cloak said, " and adding our Unity Energy to the mix."

"Which reminds me -- Cloak, if you will?"
 
And the two fired their two Unity Beams down into the Super Osmosian, turning the beams into an Unity Blast.  The RAFians were unable to continue this unslaught after this, and many fell, unconscious, to the floor.  Cloak and Esty prepared for another blast, though that first one took a rather lot out of them.  Both were just too stubborn to lose consciousness.

At first, it appeared nothing happened, then there were loud belching sounds as Syphoon belched out the buildings from his skin and body.  But this happened too fast for him to cope with and there was a large, squishy explosion.  Suddenly, the sky were peppered with colored orbs.  These were the ill-begotten powers that Syphoon stole.  They were being returned to their rightful owners.  If those owners happened to be dead . . . the orb turned black and dissipated into nothingness.  The stolen lifeforce could not be returned to those that he had taken it from, so they vanished in streamers of vibrant and vivacious color.

Now there was the mess to clean-up, and they had to find someplace to keep Syphoon's bones -- because, yes, Syphoon was dead.  It was his fate.  He just absorbed too much, and the blast found the right spot to cause him to vomit his absorbed mass and it destroyed him.  His addiction destroyed him, as many addictions destroy so many people.  It was a heavy-handed message, but it was well-received.

"Do you mind telling me," Richard said, although his anger had left him already, "why you two returned when I dismissed you to stay away?"

"I couldn't stay in that place any longer," Cloak said, honestly.  "I hadn't anywhere to go there.  I wasn't about to go back -- er, never mind."

Cloak's eyes took on a dark, haunted look, as if remembering very unpleasant memories before he mentally shook himself from such a state.  But he did not explain it, and he was not pressed.

"And I had to get away from an obnoxious brat of a sentient star," Estelore said.  Then she smiled a bright smile, "Besides, everyone knows that RAF is still home to me."

"And we're proud to be RAFians." Cloak said.

Suddenly, music cropped up, but Cloak made a slashing movement with his arm.

"No, we're not doing that parody," he said, as everything else went grayscale behind him.  Then it bloomed back into color as the RAFians used there newly reacquired powers to fix up the city, and their forum.  Everything was as good as new, and they'd deal with Syphoon's body tomorrow.

[Cloak]

Last chapter before the new book tomorrow.  Probably very short.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
Yellow Journalism

"The city of [indistinct] is recovering after an attack by a gargantuan monster created by those monsters in that forum outside of town," Gordon Gallows reported, from his soundstage.  "How many more times do we have to put up the danger and travesty and devastation these p-people -- and I use the term loosely --* caused?  Or will cause in the future?  I ask you, the people of [static interference], when will we put our foot down and demand change?  When will these talking beasts and aliens -- most of which are illegally here, mind you -- leave our way of life alone.  Is it too much to ask for them to enter our lands legally --"
 
Cloak irritatedly turned off the television.  Someone left it on that channel and this moron came on, Cloak never had a high opinion of such people -- and naturally, the Nexus was filled to the brim with them.  Gallows refused to acknowledge that the RAFians cleaned up.  He was rather like G. Gordon of "Young Justice", Will Harangue of the Ben 10 universe, and an subpar Rita Skeeter.  He was a foul reporter who managed to successfully garner his own show, with the rather uninspired name of "The Deathly Gallows".
 
Cloak once entertained the notion that Gallows was an undercover Knight, but then realized that he was far too vocal, far too opinionated and spoke his mind far too often to be one.  Though unintelligent on the whole, the Knights weren't that profoundly stupid to allow such a loudmouth loose cannon into their inner circle.
 
It was fortunate that Gallows never found out what happened to Syphoon's bones, or else they would have to endure another litany of lectures from the prejudiced man on his metaphorical pulpit.  Cloak shook his head as he thought about this, that apparently this "shock show" thing had endured for so long.  It's a pity, really.

Then Cloak thought about the boy who became the monster Syphoon.  Cloak believed the boy must have gotten in the way of the Darwin Gun, and, as such, got addicted to power and energy.  The addiction eventually overwhelmed him and he could not cope with it.  He imagined that he and the RAFians didn't really help matters in this, but they were at their wits end.  Even Richard, which was a concept inconceivable before this.  They did what they had to . . .

Cloak shook his head again, sighing to himself, "What's done is done, what's past is past."  This was the mantra that helped him soothe a guilty conscience.  But it didn't always work, and it didn't assage his guilt on this, so he left the room for the grounds.  Maybe a little Elements practice would take his mind off such heavy concepts.

Little did Cloak or any of the RAFians know or realize at the time, there were six very dangerous objects heading for the Earth at that very moment. . . .
 
---
*Anyone get the Ben 10: Omniverse reference?

[Underseen]

That was a great ending and the book didn't seem rushed to me. The next chapter I one of the ones I'd been looking forward for and now the wait is over.

[Cloak]

Well then, I supposr it was more of a case of me expecting the worst (which I'm working on fixing).

 And I'm afraid I didn't understand that last bit, Underseen.  The Chapter 1 of Book XXVII hadn't been posted yet, it hasn't even been written yet.

[Underseen]

Yet again another case of "Underseens' evil phone changing words" I meant the next chapter is one I've been looking forward too because it will be the introduction to a good book... Now I'm back in the habit of proofreading every thing I send with this device.

[Gaz]

I'm still keeping up with and enjoying this!

[Cloak]

Um, thanks, Gazzy.  I think.

Yet again another case of "Underseens' evil phone changing words" I meant the next chapter is one I've been looking forward too because it will be the introduction to a good book... Now I'm back in the habit of proofreading every thing I send with this device.

The evils of autocorrect, Underseen?

Anyway, I think I must thank loyal readers of this thread for this achievement of a hundred pages.  Had no one replied, Chapter Two of the first book would have never been posted.  And those that came after would very likely never been conceived.

So, thank you.  Thank you all.

[Gaz]

That was a good thing. lol. I just meant that because I hadn't replied in a while.

[Cloak]

And it's be good for me, too, Gazzy.  It's actually helped me through the recovery I have to go through due my rather verbally abusive mother.  (Although it frightens me that Shadow may be her next scapegoat.  My father and aunt was before me.)
 
Anyway, a new chapter.  I'll see how many I can get up today.

BOOK XXVII:
Infinity and Eternity
CHAPTER ONE:
The Sixth Gem

The RAFians were still had mix emotions about Syphoon, what he became, and how he died.  There was talk about it for a while after he died, but then it became somewhat of a shameful secret that everyone and their brother knew.  Gordon Gallows wasn't helping things, stirring strife and discord into the already tenuous relationship RAF had with the city.  The Knights were subtly endorsing his program (but Cloak, Yarin, and Richard suspected that Gallows was unaware of this, as he seemed to be unaware of most things), and Gallows had some of the more easily swayed and gullible people convinced of RAF's "sinister motives".
 
Cloak spent some time alone in his thread this day, and he noticed a glow coming from a box beneath his rather nondescript, plain bed.  He took it out, and noticed that it was the five gems.  They glowed strangely, as if they sense a mortal enemy coming closer.  The Kwame Diamond was glowing a bright yellow, the Wheeler Ruby was glowing a brillant purple, the Linka Pearl was glowing an incadescent orange, the Gi Sapphire was glowing a beautiful blue, and the Heart of Mati Suchi was glowing a glittering green.  But something felt strange, something was off.  Cloak couldn't think of it, but somehow he felt that their should have been a red light here. . . .
 
Was it possible that there was a sixth gem?  How was that possible when five were sufficient to destroy the Phalanx?  The possibility was strangely disconcerting and yet, at the same time, exciting.  He must procure the sixth before the . . . the others arrive.

Should he tell the others, or undertake this journey alone, though?  He decided on what may have proved to be an unpopular decision.

***

"Where did Cloak go?" Underseen asked Horse.

"Dunno," Horse said, rather languidly.  She had reacquired her powers of speech from the Syphoon debacle.  It was a subject that she was still rather touchy about.  "Didn't leave a note or anything."

"Why would he just up and leave?"

"Could be anything, really." Horse said, waving a flipper airily.  "Problems in the Nexus, universes in flux, or some other convoluted thing that we don't have knowledge of yet."

"Why does it sound like you've been sedated?" Underseen said.

"Oh, how dare you." Horse said, with mock rage.

The two and the other RAFians had no knowledge of the dangerous gems that were, even now, speeding towards the planet.  Gems of incredible power, and which would attract another, equally dangerous threat . . .

[Cloak]

And another chapter, if you please.  Forgive me if it is short.

CHAPTER TWO:
The Infinity Gems Cometh

Steaking to earth were rather minute, elliptical-shaped gems.  One red, one blue, one green, one yellow, one purple, and one orange, each leaving a trail of energy of the same coloring.  These were the gems of dangerous power -- the Infinity Gems.  The Soul Gem, the Time Gem, the Space Gem, the Mind Gem, the Reality Gem, and the Power Gem.  They all had different, but powerful abilities of their own, and to the one who would possess all six . . . he would have absolute power in this Realm.  Power to rival that of the strength of the stars and Realm Walkers.  What's worse was that the Gems had no morality, they could be used or misused any way the possessor sees fit.
 
What had attracted this powerful artifacts to home in on Earth?  Well, some could say that it was Estelore's fault.   She did not hide her trail in her rush to make it back to Earth in time, left a "vapor trail" of sorts that the gems followed as a result.  But the gems traveling on it, destroyed it behind them, as they approached the Earth.
 
Or perhaps it was because they sense their mortal enemies on the planet they were streaking to.
 
They just passed Jupiter, and were rapidly approaching the planet . . .
 

***

Meanwhile, back in RAF, the RAFians were lounging about, luxuriating in the frivolity.  Completely aware that their lives would soon be turned upside down.  The RAFian sensors in the O.W.N. satellites (put there to prevent any more body-changing radiation waves) were sophisticated, but one had to wonder if they would be sophisticated enough to pick up the power output of these monstrous things.  They would make landfall within the week.
 
The feline RAFians could not sense anything, as the Gems would not have been truly evil unless the person or being that possessed them was evil.  Even including the rudimentarily sentient Soul Gem.
 
But time for action was quickly approaching, and the RAFians still remained pitifully unaware of the impending threat.  Which could be construed as Cloak's fault for not telling them.  Cloak's rationale was to protect them from this, but it is a tall order, despite his strength and his powers.  While Cloak may be powerful, he is not omnipotent or all-powerful.

Had he really thought this through, he wouldn't have left the others in such a precarious situation.  But he wasn't thinking.

[Cloak]

A bit more.

CHAPTER THREE:
Massive Readings

Rotiart was in the control room, snoozing.  He was supposed to be monitoring any abnormal readings from the O.W.N satellites, which never really registered anything of notice, and most of the newbies took such duties as excuses to lounge around and sleep, despite several scoldings about this and comparisons with air traffic controllers sleeping on the job.  Most of these lectures are passed off as the older, experienced RAFian veterans being too overdramatic and worrying over nothing.
 
<Overdramatic?!> Esplin raged once at one newbie, a small, mousy boy who never really learned to hold his tongue.  <Nothing?!  Have you not noticed what happened to us last week?  Why did you think we put those satellites up there?>
 
Yarin would take a shift or two at this, and he never took the duty too lightly, as he would most diligently, even though there wasn't anything.  He was also the one the first veteran RAFians to rebuke any goof-offs.  This was a most important, and there shouldn't be any lackwits at the helm.

Even as the readings started to spike, Rotiart slept on and did not stir.  Sure, it was a routinely boring duty, but there are times where it would pay to keep an alert eye on things.  Even the incessant beeping of the readings would not rouse the lazy lump.  Eventually, loud screeching allowed him to stir -- but then, he wished he was dead when Sakki got ahold of him after discovering him shirking his duties.

"You lazy sack of --" Sakki roared.  "You should have warned us of this immediately!!  C'mon, you stupid, moronic, idiotic sack of worthless --"

And Sakki's tirade continued as they brought their information to the mods, and Sakki turned Rotiart in for his hubris.  The mods scolded him severely -- to the point that he was nearly in tears (though he didn't show it, as he did not want to cry in front of a girl -- Sakki).

"Gather the RAFians," Richard said, "in the auditorium.  Get Yarin to go over the readouts.  Clearly, Rotiart cannot be trusted for such an assignment."

The others left, and Richard mused a bit on what Cloak had told him before he had left, before he requested a momentary leave from RAF.

***

"There are six impact areas," Yarin reported with a projector and everything.  "One in Kenya, one in New York, one in Siberia, one in China, one somewhere in the Brazilian rainforest, and, finally, one in Britain."

"What caused these impacts?" Gaz asked.

"Unknown at this current time," Yarin answered swiftly.  "But it doesn't appear to be quite big, although the power readings . . ."

"Go on, Yarin," Richard prompted.

"The power readings seem very similar to Cloak."

Silence met these words.

"You're saying there are six little Cloaks running around?" Parker blinked.

"No, they don't seem to be Realm Walker, in origin." Yarin said.  "But, it would appear to someone or something of slightly less power, it would seem."

"And six of them." Underseen added, quietly.

"Where is Cloak anyway?" Dino asked.

"He had some business to take care of," Richard answered, "he gave me a notice of momentary absence."

"Considerate," Saffa, a relatively new RAFian said.

"However," Richard said, loudly, "we can handle this without him."

"Really?  How?" Rotiart asked haughtily.

"I would think," Goom said, passively, "that the fact that you ignored your duties and slept on this, thus giving us far less time to prepare, that you would know to keep your opinions to yourself."

Rotiart shrank back down in his seat, hoping to remain unseen.

"Right," Richard nodded, "now, I think we should send teams over to these areas to investigate whatever or whoever made these impacts and gave off these readings are and report it back here."

[Cloak]

At most, you'll probably get only to Chapter Five today, at the very least, this'll be the last chapter, you'll get today.

CHAPTER FOUR:
Searching For the Sixth Stone

Cloak continued his search for the sixth stone, the CP Garnet.  He stopped and looked upward and saw what looked to be one meteor split into six.  However, Cloak knew that it wasn't a meteor, but the objects that he feared would come.  He knew he must find the CP Garnet before the red one discovers the location before he does.  He carried the other gems in his cloak, and felt their urge to destroy those that came and sought to destroy them.

Cloak barreled his way through the forest fraught with poison ivy and poison sumac.  He surfed a lava flow, forded a shallow creek, ignoring the thunderclouds overhead.  He bypassed some genetics and forensic lab, as he burrowed down deeper.  He rested a bit before plowing on.

No wonder he was unaware of this stone, the rather complex way required to find it. . . .

Cloak charged forward, coming to some cave open hidden by geraniums, then he scooted over a lake of lava, then he dove beneath an underwater lake, and his fur stood on edge in a statically-charged tunnel.  He plowed forward toward in a mind-numbingly twisted, dark, apparently hand-dug tunnel.

He stopped momentarily, considering all this may just be a horribly-realistic illusion to prove the worthiness of those who sought the CP Garnet. . . .

Cloak proceeded forward with gusto as he ignored some ferns who got in his way, deftly crossed a stone bridge over a river of lava, swam a dark river, pushed some electrostatic stones from his path, as he continued to another headache-inducing labyrinth of tunnels, and came to a slick, flat metal bridge over a bridge, which he crossed in a twinkling.  Whatever a "twinkling" was.

He stopped for a moment to gather his bearings.  Then he plowed onward, with fierce determination.

He used wooden bridges to span some uneven and unstable earth, ran from some Fiendfyre, barrelled through the bones of a water dragon, hitched a right on some rising balloon-like stones, charged forward in an area that made him feel as though he was being x-rayed.  Then he dodged an area of the tunnel which felt rather like the Egyptian Underworld -- not that he's ever been.

He, again, stopped to catch his breath, then pushed himself into what he believed to be the final leg of this mission.

He pushed aside some nonpoisonous vines, glanced at a strange chandelier for some reason, ignored the croakings of a rather upset toad, incinerated some fleas or mites or ticks -- he couldn't tell -- who tried to make him a meal, ignored the bats fluttering around his head, and reassembled a statue of a Sentai-like figure, which opened a door to let him through.

Then he saw more to do . . . well, he never expected this to be easy.