Memoirs of a RAFian

[redtailedsaffa]

Oh no, that would be awful. I love that bird.

[Cloak]

Worry not about Laserbeak -- this isn't the book where he breaks . . . ah, er, I said too much.

• 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.

• Book CL: Utter Pandemonium

Cloak, Gaz, Saffa, Underseen, and Hunter investigate odd goings-on at a theme park island named "Haunted Island".

• Book CLI: A Reality Rewrite

Cloak, Faerie, Broken, and Broken's protege discover a magical, reality-altering typewriter.  Cloak, being a Realm Walker and the other three, being magical, are immune to its rewrites of reality.

• Book CLII: The Coming of Galacticron

The RAFians must save Earth from Galacticron.

• Book CLIII: Theft of Intellectual Property

The RAFians must contend with Brainiac.

• Book CLIV: The Contingency

The RAFians must battle the Talos Project and their living weapon -- Weapon XLIX.

• Book CLV: Muppet, Muppet Man

Parker and Gaz are turned into Muppets. ()

• Book CLVI: Larval Ambush

The RAFians must deal with insectoid creatures who are parasitoids with humans.

• Book CLVII: As the World Doesn't Turn

The RAFians must stop a group of feline aliens from stopping the world from rotating.

• Book CLVIII: Princess Pearls

A few girls of RAf discover the Princess Pearls.

• Book CLVIX: Attack of the Killer Produce

The RAfians must deal and cope with killer produce.

• Book CLX: Moonscarred Menace

The RAfians investigate mysterious disappearances on Moonscar Island.

• Book CLXI: League of Assassins

The League of Assassins set a number of Assassins after Blue.

• Book CLXII: Dark RAFians

The RAFians come up against an evil team modeled after them, attempting to usurp their postions.

• Book CLXIII: Danger Rising

The RAFians' training sim gains sentience.

• *Book CLXIV: Moody

Gaz and Saffa accidentally have Moodulators attached to them.

• *Book CLXV: Bound Together

Some RAFians get molecularly stuck together.

[Cloak]

I'll try to get another five chapters up today. We'll see if I succeed.

Anyway, shortish chapter.
 

CHAPTER SIX:
Cybertronian Strikes

The Cybertronians finished their transformation, and pulled out their projectile weapons. The RAFians, without a word needed, scattered dodging their attacks.

Cloak managed to dodge their attacks with the minimal amount of energy and movement necessary. The others were pretty much showing off their power, agility, speed, and strategy.

But it was a stalemate. The Cybertronians may have seemed bulky and slow-moving, but the eighteen were far more nimble and agile than they would appear.

Cloak wasn't fooled though -- he suspected that Malice would be watching this confrontation somehow. This was her entertainment.

The other RAFians were handling the Cybertronians fairly well. Cloak noticed that, despite carrying their Energon weapons, not one had discharged. This struck Cloak as odd, and pretty much confirmed to him that an outside force was controlling them, whether by suppressing their sentience or perhaps they were created with sentience.

But how would Malice be able to cre . . . ate . . .

"Allspark!" Cloak hissed in sudden realization.

"Cloak, a little help here!" Helen said, as her ring's shield constructs kept shattering, much to her annoyment.

Cloak quickly stepped up and easily dodged their brute attacks -- except for the Model T one.  It was really the only Cybertronian that wasn't being defended against. It wasn't too terribly fast, it's movements were rather clunky.

"Why did these things come here?" Gaz asked as Laserbeak fired indiscriminately at the Cybertronians.  Laserbeak would never turn evil, it was much too loyal to Gaz.  If Gaz turned evil, however . . .

"Who knows?" Parker said, taking a couple of pot shots at the Cybertronians.

"One thing's sure," Cloak said. "They've no mind of their own.  Someone else is controlling them."

"Who?" Underseen asked, easily dodging their brutish attacks.

"You have to ask?" Cloak answered with a question.

[Cloak]

Now another chapter.
 

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Mechbending

"Cloak, don't you think you've worked out enough?" Mithril yelled.
 
"What?" Cloak said, flummoxed at this remark.
 
"Mechbend, or whatever the heck you call it, already!!" Helen answered.
 
"Oh," Cloak said, who was slightly ashamed to admit that he was wrapped up in his own musings to realize this. But, truth be told, Cloak had no idea if he was strong enough to "mechbend" all these Cybertronians. It was worth a try though.
 
Cloake went through the motions and gestures, and the Cybertronians twitched in a most disconcerting way. He had managed to get all of them under his control.  Then Cloak realized the real reason he didn't remember this.
 
He didn't like it.  He was a master over the Metal element, thus the parts of the poor, mindless automatons were under his whim.  But that didn't mean he had to like it or even enjoy it.  He hated himself for not only being able to do it, but commiting to act of doing it.
 
He felt dirty, sullied and defiled by this dark ability. "Mechbending" really isn't any different from bloodbending. Cloak would never embrace it -- he didn't care that the Cybertronians had no minds of their own. It didn't change the nature of the ability.
 

***

Malice was watching this all through the very eyes of the fire truck Cybertronian.
 
"No, no, no! It's not fair! Cloak's too overpowered!!" she whined, and as she struggled to find an order that they could carry out. Then she remembered something about Cybertronians, as she looked at Laserbeak.
 
"Fire your weapons.  Discharge them all at once!"
 

***

They complied, and the entire warehouse was laid to waste. Since Energon was not metal, Cloak couldn't stop that from discharging their projectile weaponry.  Cloak immediately stopped "mechbending" -- though not true bending in the "Avatar: the Last Airbender" sense -- and he, along with Helen, projected an energy shield around him and his friends.

Only six Cybertronians managed to survive this -- the forestry jeep, the firetruck, the boat, the hybrid car, the van, and the gyrocopter.  The RAFians were buried int the rubble of the warehouse, which had collapsed.

***

Malice was thoroughly engrossed in this, she disregarded losing seven Cybertronian automatons, reasoning she could always make more.

"Good," she told the surviving drones, "now transform and return to base."

Little did Malice realize that Abomination was paying attention to everything, and he had the Allspark Ray in his hands.  He knew what he must do.  He knew what Malice's reaction would be.

He didn't care.

***

"They ran away," Underseen said, when the RAFians unearthed themselves (a minor task considering they had Cloak and Mithril with them -- two RAFian terrakinetics).

"Not all of them," Mithril pointed out, nudging some twisted metal object with his toe.

Cloak wasn't surprised.  "As long as she has the means to make more, all of these Cybertronian drones are expendible to her."

"Let's go and report back," Parker said.

[Cloak]

Now another chapter, I think.
 

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Fortress RAF-imus

" -- And then Cloak and I terrakinetically dug everyone out." Mithril said. All of RAF was assembled in the auditorium again, with the mods at the forefront.
 
"And these automatons?" Richard asked.
 
"Nearest that I can figure," Parker said, "at least eleven were destroyed in the blast. Eleven of the seventeen."
 
Richard blinked. "That's rather significant, I think."
 
<Why would Malice destroy that many?> Esplin said, blinking all four eyes. <It does not make sense.>
 
"It makes perfect sense," Cloak contradicted, "as she obviously has a way of making more Cybertronians. Hence the rather careless disregard and discarding of these eleven."
 
"That's a very serious assumption," Terenia said, from her seat.
 
"One that you cannot back up in any way!" Rotiart declared mutinously. Cloak did not even reward the brazen coward with even a sidelong glance. Maybe Rotiart was the traitor, he certainly unpleasant enough to be it.
 
"Shut it," Saffa snapped at the Rotiart.  Her animosity toward the egotistical upstart was a little more evident than Cloak's self-same animosity. Saffa continued, "He has sound logic backing up this theory!"
 
A braver man than Rotiart would have been quelled under the look Saffa hurled Rotiart's way.  Rotiart was intimidated enough to shut up for the rest of the meeting.  Well, Cloak hoped he was intimidated enough to shut up for the rest of the meeting.
 
"What measures do you think we should take, then?" Richard asked, with no hostility or animosity whatsoever.
 
"Red alert," Parker suggested, looking at the other five.
 
"Yes. But we're still having the power problem with Code Avalon, so we'll have to save that as a last-minute measure." Yarin pointed out. "We can't always ask Cloak to augment it."
 
"Cloak could 'mechbend' the Cybertronians if they get too close," Mithril said off-hand.

"No," Cloak said, with a pleading tone.

"What?" Abby asked.

"Please don't ask me to do that," Cloak said.  "I still feel dirty about using it. . . ."

"But . . ." Mithril said.
 
"Very well," Richard said, standing up. "Now, let's get to work on the defenses."

[Cloak]

Another chapter -- and maybe one more after this.
 

CHAPTER NINE:
Undermined and Undetermined

Malice was in a full-on rage, even when the Cybertronians returned.  She had dismissed the "deaths" (if a being had no mind or soul or whatnot, was it ever truly alive?) of the eleven Cybertronians.  Cloak's assumption was, indeed, correct. Malice wrote off those eleven because she thought she could always make more.

But that was no longer the case.

The Allspark fragment was missing and the ray was destroyed in some most peculiar and suspicious circumstances. The framework was completely crushed and twisted into a pretzel.  The glass orb in the undercarriage that housed the Allspark fragment was smashed to bits.  All in all, an unrepairable mess.

Malice was absolutely enraged about this, as she didn't write down the schematics of the device and was now missing the key piece. But, of course, in her mind, this wasn't her fault. It couldn't possibly be her fault, it had to be someone else. And the only person to blame was Abomination -- and he was aware of it.

He was aware of it when he destroyed the ray gun and discarded the Allspark fragment back into its home universe.  All while Malice was so thoroughly engrossed in the battle with the RAFians. Abomination finally decided, in a rather undetermined way, to work against Malice in small and subtle ways -- ways that it was thought that he was incapable of even thinking in.

Malice had her spy, and, in some ways, RAF had theirs.

"Fortunately, the six 'bots I needed survived." Malice snarled.  She had pummelled Abomination when she found out that the ray was destroyed.  Abomination played stupid rather convincingly enough that Malice didn't pummel Abomination as hard as she could have.

"How so?" Abomination asked tentatively. Malice never noticed that Abomination had dropped the niceties of the pet names.

"Let's just say, it was a six-for-one deal." she answered cryptically.

Abomination was perplexed, and he played it up, so Malice would not be too suspicious of his motives -- not that she really ever was all that interested in the first place.

[Cloak]

Last chapter of the day, guys.

. . .

Maybe.

Anyway, shortish chapter.
 

CHAPTER TEN:
Defense Work

The RAFians, except Rotiart, Gulliver and Itellsya, were working hard to improve the defenses of RAF from the Cybertronians that Malice would send and create -- having no knowledge that the Allspark ray was destroyed, by Abomination no less.  Every machine not bearing the Mark was suspect.

"There is NOTHING WRONG WITH LASERBEAK!" Gaz was heard shouting to Rotiart a few hours after the meeting. "He is FINE. Stop treating him like he's a glitchy --"

"How do you know he won't betray you at the last moment and go with his kind?" Rotiart said, rather snotily.

Then Gaz stopped using "nice" words as she shouted at him, and even after he retreated to the safety of his thread.  Rotiart was fast working on the other RAFians' nerves. If he didn't cool it, he would wind up imprisoned, suspended, or Banned. He was seeming to think along the same lines, as he decided to lie low for a couple of days.

Gaz was seen moments later attempting to calm down the Cybertronian parrot, eventually getting him to coo at her.  His loyalty was always to Gaz, and he would only turn evil if Gaz herself turned evil. Gaz knew this, and couldn't understand why people like Rotiart couldn't.  Even Saffa has had an affection for the robotic bird, and he knew it.  He was the most loved robotic bird in all RAF. . . . Okay, he was the only robotic bird in RAF at this time.

The perimeter wall was about ten feet tall, and the force field power situation was attempting to be addressed. But, sadly, not nearly as much progress was being made.

Cloak buried himself in the work.  Keeping his mind and thoughts away from "mechbending" and the thoughts of the identity of the spy.  But trying to keep yourself from thinking of something never works, not really.  He was basically rethinking his doubts of Rotiart as the spy.  Perhaps it was him . . . but then logic prevailed and Cloak could not deny that he was the obvious choice, and it usually is never the obvious choice.

But then who?  This was a question that had tormented Cloak, Aquilai, Kelly, Goom, and Phoenix ever since they discovered there might . . . what if he was wrong?  What if there never was a spy, a traitor? It just seemed likely when Richard had been kidnapped, but is it really?

These thoughts stirred around his head before he realized that night hald already fallen and the younger RAFians -- in both actual age and seniority -- were having a campfire.  Cloak chose not to indulge and retired back to his thread, with these thoughts still whirling around his head like the whirlpools in the Whirl Islands.

[redtailedsaffa]

Great chapters, as usual! I like my badass looks, you have successfully captured my dark side.

[Gaz]

How dare he suspect Beaky!

Love the chapters!

[theyoungphoenix]

You know... Roriart is starting to get on my nerves.... I would probably slap him.... Even though I wouldn't want to....

And great chapters, as always. (Like Saffa said)

[Cloak]

Well, Rotiart's supposed to be a jerk (in lieu of a more vulgar word). He demonstrates that not all RAFians are saintly and good-intentioned. Although, if you knew what he was going to go through as I do . . .

Er, ahem, here's a new chapter.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
They're Heeeeeere!

The RAFian defenses were certainly shored up, and Code Avalon had become more energy efficient. Cloak surveyed the defenses that were in place, and still he wondered, but not about the spy, but if these defenses were sufficient. . . .

The setting sun turned the sky an ominous reddish-orange. Cloak hoped this wasn't an omen.

Then he looked beyond the threshold of RAF, and facepalmed. The six Cybertronians were parked most obviously and most conspicuously. One would think that they would have presence of mind to turn off their headlights -- but, then again, they had no minds of their own to have presence of.

The bot was hooked up to the forestry jeep -- which didn't look weird at all. Cloak rolled his eyes.

"THEY'RE HERE!" Cloak roared loudly -- like any other Siberian tiger, Cloak's roar could carry for about two or so miles -- as he prepared himself for their change to robot mode.

But they didn't they were inert. But, as the RAFians were mustered, the Cybertronians finally turned off their headlights, as if Cloak hadn't already noticed them.

Cloak couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief at this.

***

Malice, still watching via the fire truck, had not heard more than a dull, faint rumble that was Cloak's call to arms. She was unaware that her automatons were already found out.

"Turn out your lights," Malice said to her automations. She was unare that it was too late. Unaware that clear logic would show that no one would just park their vehicles and abandon them for no reason. But Malice always had a rather limited knowledge if Realm Dwellers.

Abomination lurked quietly just outside the doorway, eavesdropping. Malice, despite all of the assertions of her genius, was still unaware of Abomination's duplicity, of his change of heart.

But Abomination couldn't see how he could stop or hamper this without completely announcing his epiphany to Malice. He wasn't ready to do that yet.

Then Malice's scythe-and-flail charm glowed blue -- she was getting a call.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Transform This Way*

"Mistress, they are aware of the duplicity." said the spy's silhouette.

"You've let yourself be found out?!" she demanded angrily.

"No, Mistress, you misunderstood -- it's the robots. They know that they aren't harmless vehicles." the spy said. "The alarm had been raised."

"By who?"

"Cloak."

"Interfering Elemental scum," Malice snarled quietly to herself, knowing full well that it was because of Cloak that she had such an interest in the Prime Universe in the first place. But ever since the destruction of the Forbidden Power -- disregarding that it was his RAFian friends that actually destroyed it -- she now lived to see Cloak writhe.

"Very well," Malice said. "Anything else?"

"No," the spy said.

"Very well, you are dismissed," she said.

The call ended, and Abominstion withdrew slightly from the doorway, enough for his bulk not to be seen.

Malice now addressed the automatons, "Transform. Transform already, you languid lackwits! Transform now, you lazy lunkheads!"

***

"I don't get it," Abby said. "Why are they just sitting there like oversized paperweights?"

Suddenly, all six moved and were transforming to robot mode with the iconic sound.

"You had to ask," Rotiart said from the very back of the group. There was a somewhat breathless way to what he spoke.
Abby gave a well-deserved smack, and Saffa followed suit.

"Stop hitting me!" he whined.

"Stop being a dick," Saffa retorted.

"So . . ." Parker asked, "what's the plan?"

---
*Get the reference?

[Cloak]

Yet new chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
I'm Givin' It All I Got Captain!

Soon, the Cybertronians' bodies were glistening in the ample light of the full, heavy moon. Cloak needn't need the moonlight to see them perfectly, due to his acute feline vision.

"The plan?" Parker prompted again.

The Cybertronians stood stock still not moving. Cloak could practically hear Malice screaming at them to attack.

"Hope the shield either holds or tires them out."

"But . . . they're machines," Abby said. "Tireless."

"That is a fallacy," Cloak said immediately. "They'll eventually run out of energy, fuel, whatever. They just seem to be tireless because they last longer than most organic organisms."

"That'll be enough to cause us trouble, though, right?" Saffa said.

Cloak said nothing, which she took for her answer.

"Still operating at full compacity," Yarin declared through the intercom as the Cybertronians began to bang on the shield. "Although that could be problematic."

"I suggest you amp and psych yourselves up for battle!" Sakki declared.

"Oh, yeah!" Faerie said cracking her knuckles in midair, taking out her Gale Blade, having her armor appear upon her body.

Goom, Phoenix, Underseen, Mithril, and Horse followed Faerie's example.

"Oh, now we're at ninety percent!" Yarin warned.

Cloak closed his eyes to calm his mind and at least quiet his thoughts.

"Eighty-one percent!"

Abby quickly morphed into a Crabdozer while Noelle went Terroranchula -- she had acquired one in a zoo that the RAFians had to recently shut down. Cloak, Goom, and Phoenix had allowed it, now Abby, Saffa, and Noelle had access to Crabdozer, Buglizard, Slamworm, Root Shark, Vicetopus, Tyrannopede, Psychopterran, Mucillator, Terroranchula, Rancor, Anubian Baskurr, Cortalopus, Dravek, and Dasypodidae morphs. A rather fruitful event for them. The zoo animals eitherbwent to sanctuaries or returned to the wild of their home planets.

"Uh, seventy-two percent!"

Parker was priming his weapons as Helen and Sam's respective rings unleashed a minute geyser of light.

"Sixty-three percent!"

The pounding did not relent, it seemed like a pure mechanical madness to it now.

"Fifty-six percent!" Yarin warned.

[redtailedsaffa]

That's some sweet morphs you've given us.

You know... Roriart is starting to get on my nerves.... I would probably slap him.... Even though I wouldn't want to....

Gimme a fistie, sister. We'll slap him together.

[Cloak]

I thought so, Saffa.

Now, how's about another chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Coping With A Dirty Ability

"Forty-five percent!" Yarin yelled.

Cloak's mind forced him to confront his "mechbending" ability, an ability he considered as dirty as bloodbending, although in his case it wasn't truly "bending". His unwillingness to commit to "mechbending" could be considered a serious liability. Would allow these creatures, these macines to destroy his adopted home and his surrogate family?

Which was more important? Piece if mind, or the lives of the people he cares about? That was a Hobson's choice if there ever was one -- a choice that was no choice.

He would have indulge in the ability again, he knew. He knew it, but hated it just the same.

"Thirty-six percent!" Yarin shouted.

"Hold the line," Richard said, preparing himself to fight. "Prepare yourselves."

Saffa eventually decided to morph a Tyrannopede, to add some flexibility between, Abby, Noelle and herself.

"Twenty-seven percent!"

"Nearly time," Cloak said, more to himself than anyone else. Cloak knew he would do what he must, and then he could find a way to live with it.

He will take necessary action, nothing excessive . . . Cloak shut his eyes, feeling shame. That's the way tyrants think.

He stood in an area of gray -- no matter what action he took it could be spun in either direction. He should have realized before now, that things aren't so easy, that things are not so black-and-white.

"Eighteen percent!"

"We're ready . . ." Wild growled softly.

What would happen would happen, what would come would come. Debating it and ceaselessly second-guessing his decisions after the fact. He could, he would learn to forgive himself.