Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Gonna be 36 chapters, at least.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Yellow and Black

Demos was still a little huffy when he took stock of the damage of his silk suit. It didn't really look like so much as a suit as it did commoner's rags. He was very sensitive about this fact.

But Cloak decided that it was best in this case to be blunt. "Demos, it was your own fault for wearing a silk suit to a battle that you were very aware that you'd participate in."

"Shut up," he grumbled moodily.

"Don't forget who you're talking to, Demos," Cloak said, seriously but gently so. Demos said nothing, apparently capitulating.

"Oh, don't be that way!" Malice said, enthusiastically. "He was delightfully vicious and menacingly merciless!!"

Each cackle made Demos feel worse about losing control. He now had some idea what Cloak had to go through, to make sure he keeps himself under control. He hated himself for doing it, no matter how much he tried to rationalize it. He had gave into his demon side, and he had allowed it voluntarily.

"Now," Malice said, clapping her hands, apparently re-energized by the horrible carnage. "Choose your next --"

"Catch up already," Wild said. He had slithered and slinked into the arena in his wereferret form, before reverting back to his human form. "It's me."

"Impudent lycanthrope," Malice said, as a mere passing jibe. "Fine. Here comes my champion. And he is a fierce one."

The Drang-Zorn, by the name of Neville MacMillan. He was a herbologist with a short temper, thus he was easily enraged and prone to violence. He had black fur all over his body, badger-like features, razor-sharp, needle-like teeth, and large claws, which happened to be quite suitable for digging. The spiked collar that controled him made him look even more dangerous.

"Of course," Wild sighed openly. "I get the really fierce-looking one."

"B--" Malice began.

"Oh, shut up," Wild muttered. Malice heard him, and growled. Cloak laughed.

Wild moved into his wereferret form, which he knew was probably was insufficient to the Drang-Zorn's brute strength. But his agility and speed should be a match of it, Wild thought quickly.

Neville charged forward, his powerful maw open to sever Wild's flesh and bone with a tremendous bite. But Wild easily dodged it, actually surprised with just how slow, relatively, he was compared to Wild's wereferret form. Wild was finding dodging Neville easy -- too easy. He was doing something that was not unlike a weasel war dance, a series of frenzied sideways and backwards hops with an arched back and his tail frizzy.

But all this served to just make Neville apoplectic with rage, itching to tear and rip into Wild, who kept calm and collected. While Wild kept his mind about him, Neville completely lost it with his rage. Not even Malice could control him, control collar or not.

Malice realized this a bit late on the uptake. All she said in response was "Well, that wasn't in the plan."

Neville turned towards her and attacked her, as well as he can, disregarding the control collar on his neck which tried to force him to back off. But Malice was unconcerned, and before Neville got anywhere close she sliced him bodily with her energy blade, completely bisecting him symmetrically.

Neville was dead. The match was over.

"Disappointing," Malice said, not even out of breath.

[redtailedsaffa]

Cloak laughed.

My word, 36 chapters, that's like the book series equivalent of a season finale.

[Cloak]

Well, more and more of the later books tend to have more than the requisite twenty chapters. For instance, the one I'm currently outlining (#477) is already nearly thirty chapters long.

New chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Dam It!

"That was wholly unnecessary," Wild said, looking at the bisected sides with almost appalled bewilderment, as he climbing back up.

"Oh, please," Malice said, "if it was necessary, where would the fun be?"

"You masochistic --"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Malice said, indifferently, looking at her claws idly. "Send out your next challenger and be done with it."

Rad climbed down with careful agility, claiming to be the RAFians' next combatant, complete with her Zat holstered. She was expecting some big, scary bruiser as her opponenet.

Malice sent out an Eisbiber by the name of Jason Biber, an architect who hates it when people mistake his name for that of Justin Bieber especially considering that he's twice the pretty boy pop star's age -- assuming the Onion wasn't accidentally true about Bieber . . .

Anyway, Jason had a coat of dull golden fur all over his body. Although it became part of his fur, his scalp and facial hair still stands out. His noses is black and he has beaver-like whiskers. He was a bit of a coward at heart, but he possessed a love of building that could not be suppressed.

Rad, a rather proud RAFian, was actually a little miffed at this choice. She was capable of taking down more dangerous foes than a simple man-beaver! Both Tok'ra symbiote and human host were in abject agreement on this one, at the utter slap in the face that this implicated.

"You do realize how much of an insult this, Malice?" Rad spoke, tone of voice easily conveying her offense.

"Like it matters," Malice said. "I'm basically just throwing these wesen at you alphabetically."

"Why?" Cloak blurted. Malice's methodology was just so nonsensical that it'd leave the credulous dumbfounded.

"Kicks?" Malice replied in a bored kind of way.

Rad frowned deeply, unholstered her Zat, and fired it once, all in one swift, practiced movement. Malice lost a bit of her ambivalence, as she did not tell them to begin. But she recovered from this easily enough, as the control collar flopped to the ground like a desiccated three-day-old fish. Jason did not stck around, and fled promptly like the smart Eisbiber that he was.

"There. Done." Rad said, dryly. "What a nail-biting battle."

"Whatever," Malice said, now laying upon his throne like chair in a most flippant way that clear said that she wasn't really all that entertained.

[redtailedsaffa]

Whup, nearly missed this chapter. Good thing I showed up to post the PDF of the previous book:

[Cloak]

Thanks once again, Saffa!

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Grin and Polar Bear It

Malice yawned as Rad climbed back up to the others, grumbling at her match being too easy. Wild was a bit miffed that Rad was taking it this way, he would have loved his match to be as easy.

"Next challenger?" Malice said, as if bored. Cloak found himself wondering why she went about this whole if she was starting to lose interest. Cloak suspected her of an ulterior motive that he was simply not privy to.

Horse, obviously tryjng to show off, created an Iceman-like slide so she could slide down towards the arena. Afterword, she raised her flippers as if to say a grand "Ta-da!!" But she was greatly miffed when no one seemed very impressed by it.

Malice chose to send out the polar bear-like Gefrierengeber, Paul R. Barrington, who isolationist lifestyle in the frigid areas had led to very little knowledge about him. Just hoe Malice managed to find him, much less collar him, was a mystery to all but her.

"Be--"

There was a sound like "FFFFOOM!!" and, suddenly, the Gefrierengeber was encased in ice. Encased and immovable.

"Easy-peasy," Horse said, proudly.

But the ice cracked, and the Gefrierengeber broke out with an ursine roar. All Horse did was made him mad. Horse wasn't stupid, she knew that she would have a hard going against this beast, as polar bears tend to eat seals. And she had no reason not to believe that Gefrierengebers were not the same.

So Horse had to become merciless. But it was mostly stemming from fear of being consumed -- although one might wonder why she still had this fear, considering the number of times the Pootang had eaten her whole and she had always come out of that without a scratch. Not physically anyway.

She launched volley sfter volley after volley of icicle spears. She didn't really care if she hurt him, she just didn't want to be eaten. She didn't want to be killed. So, naturally, she was relentless in her attack.

The Gefrierengeber did not even get a chance to counterattack, not really, as the icicle spears would tear through him ever so often. One was caught fast to the collar's latching mechanism. The second volley forced the icicle deeper into the latch assembly, as well as beginning to bite into his neck. The third volley froze the latch solid. The fourth volley caused the latch to shatter. The control collar snaked off his throat.

But the volleys began to take their toll, as his white-appearing fur was beginning to be stained red. Horse felt somewhat aggrieved, but not too much so, because she was sure that, with or without the collar, he'd want to eat her. Perhaps she was a bit hysterical, but she had enough of being eaten.

Paul, the Gefrierengeber, had eventually succumbed to the injury on his neck, as well as the cuts and injuries elsewhere due to the icicle spear volleys. He died.

"Well, that was surprisingly savage," Malice said cheerily.

[guitarhero01234]

"Paul R. Barrington"

. . . I'm sorry, I try to feel sympathy for this person, but that name prevents me from doing so. Either he changed his name to be a pun, or he was named that at birth and refused to change it. In either case, this person is absolute dirt for having such a punny name.

[Cloak]

He's an isolationist, GH. He lived alone and kept to himself. So he never really had to use his name all that much. But, yes, it is punny, I'd admit.

[guitarhero01234]

Eh, I guess it's somewhat forgivable, then.

Actually, the only reason that I took so much offense to that is because my stepmom (who I'm not really fond of, TBH) has a stuffed polar bear in her car who's named, you guessed it, Paul R. Bear.

[Cloak]

Ah.

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Circlin' Buzzard

Horse ice-bridged herself up to the others. Now that it was over, Horse was starting to second guess her choices. She was wondering if she overdid it.

Malice added Barrington's corpse to the pile, and asked, "Next?"

Cloak found himself wondering again just what Malice was getting out of this. She seemed wholly unconcerned with her champions failing. Did she have some sort of ulterior motive? If she did, what could it possibly be? Cloak could not imagine what it was, but he was absolutely sure that it could not be anything good.

"Anytime now," Malice prompted, languidly.

Block flapped down, bringing to mind a icy white and blue Charizard landing in the arena, only Block, while being a dragon, only vaguely -- very vaguely -- resembled a Charizard. "It's me. Let's get this over with."

Malice's champion was a vulture-like Geier, Mandy Wright, a mortician. She had elongated hands with sharo talons. Her feet have additional talon on their heel, making attacks from the air more effective. She has a hook-like nose, resembling a vulture's beak, and have dark black eyes. She has an innate ability to move through trees and are very adept at ambushing her prey in forest terrain.

She appeared to be no stronger than ordinary humans but she was certainly much more agile and far faster. While other Geier might have had avian wings, Mandy, however, did not. And ambush wasn't really an option in this arena with craggy walls and no cover, forest or otherwise.

Block just stood there, looking far more at home than the Geier. He was wondering if this was at all a fair --

With a sudden shriek, Mandy launched herself at Block, who was surprised by it, not having expected the swiftness of it -- and because Malice didn't try to say "Begin" this time. Block jerked his head out of the way in time. He realized that he shouldn't have underestimated his opponent -- but cut him a break, he had never met a Geier before.

Mandy may have struggled on the terrain, especially the craggy walls, but that did not make her any less dangerous. However, she apparentally liked circling around Block's head, using the craggy sides of the battle arena to her limited advantage. She'd circle around, and shriek as she tried to attack Block from behind.

After this failed the fifth time, you'd think she'd try a new tactic, a new strategy. Nope. She liked being oredictable it seemed, and Block could easily defend against that. It was a decent tactic had she not overused and over-relied on it.

In the end, Blocky just backhanded her, without even looking. Sure, it could have been consiered a "badass" move, but at this point, Blocky was far too annoyed to care. He had knocked her into unconciousness, but could easily remove the collar.

"Awww," Malice said, trying to affect a sugary sweet demeanor, "you didn't finish the job."

Block rounded on her, in her direction as she continued.

"If you haven't the fortitude, dragon," Malice crowed, "then I will complete your task for you!"

Malice quickly used her energy to decapitate the Geier and added her to the corpse pile, which was now starting to attract flies.

[Cloak]

Hard to believe that we're nearing the end of Year 1 in the narrative. The last book of Year 1 will be the next one. Still hard to believe at this moment.

Since I am posting this now, the next chapter will most likely be much later tomorrow -- after work.

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Aw, Shell

Block flapped back up to the others. He still had mixed feelings about the Geier. About whether or not she deserved death. He wasn't sure either way, and it troubled him.

"My, my, my," Malice said, tsking, "not many of you Dwellers have guts to really commit to these battles to the death. And, you too, Cloak."

"Shut the Veil up, Malice," Cloak said, distractedly. He was still trying to divine her ulterior motive. He was sure there was one now. Sure that she wouldn't go through all this pomp and circumstance for nothing.

"Ooh, not very friendly," Malice teased coyly. Cloak frowned deeply, still trying to riddle out her true motive. There had to be an ulterior motive to this. There had to be.

Nina showed off by running and somersaulted into the arena, landing daintily with more pose, grace and athleticism than one would expect for a turtle. Granted, she was a mutant turtle with some ninjitsu (which was a very clear and distinct style different from Blue's, as her's tended to be more upfront). "I'm ready for whatever you have, Malice."

"Oh, I think I have just the one, Shellback," Malice said, with a sinister smile.

"Don't call me that."

"Alright, Shellback, whatever you want," Malice said, deliberately aggravating.

"Ugh," Nina said in reply.

Nina's opponent was a Geno Innocuo, Logan Clarke, a simple bookkeeper. His skin was scaly, his face was tortoise-like, and he had blunt claws, which are used, not as offensive weapons, but for digging. He had no actual shell, but a shell-like scale pattern on his back. Logan was intelligent, compassionate, shy, and pacifistic. But his control collar forced him to abandon all these qualities.

Nina could somehow sense that this was not a violent soul, and she knew that she had to hold back a little. But the battle began, and it was clear that he was not a warrior as he was far too slow, bulky, and telegraphed his attacks a little too obviously. Nina was focused upon the collar, knowing that she must take that out of the equation.

Logan lumbered forward, basically shouting how unpracticed, unprepared, and untrained for combat. It was rather sad and pathetic, like the bullied kid who refuses to stand up for himself finally snaps and finds himself inadequate. It wasn't something Nina took pride in.

But she took the opportunity that presented itself. She struck only once. And the control collar later flopped to the ground. Logan was freed, and unharmed.

"Run. Now," Nina breathed.

"Tonight, I dine on turtle soup," Malice said, sending a flat, arrow-shaped blade of energy into the arena, to kill Logan, who immediately took Nina's suggestion and fled. The arrow blade missed -- due to Cloak's interference, who managed to react in time.

"Enough, Malice. It is done. The match is over. Nina, come back up."

[guitarhero01234]

Logan was intelligent, compassionate, shy, and pacifistic. But his control collar forced him to abandon all these qualities.

Wow . . . uh, there are a couple Logans that I can think of who most of those adjectives wouldn't apply to.

[Cloak]

Was one once played by Hugh Jackman?

New chapter. Sorry about the brevity.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
A Cross to Bear

Nina climbed back up rather more nimbly than expected.

"Cloak, Cloak, Cloak," Malice said, "I thought you were not to interfere."

"Shut the Veil up," Cloak repeated his constant refrain.

Malice laughed. She was the only one taking any enjoyment out of this. "Next challenger?"

Bear tumbled down into the arena rather clumsily, so that it almost looked like an accident. But he glared at Malice in such a way that it was clewr that it was deliberate on his part. Bear did not speak, at least, not much.

Malice sent out her next challenger, a Jägerbar named Dan Adams, who was a divorce lawyer by profession. He had brown fur over his face, head, arms, and shoulders, but not over their chest. He has ursine ears, snout, and fangs. He also had impressive ursine claws. Physically, Dan was superhumanly strong and very fast. However, he is weaker than a Grimm. Additionally, his sharp, ursine claws are able to leave big imprints in wood. He was a fairly good tracker and hunter. Also he possessed an enhanced sense of smell. He was also brutal and savage, by nature. He was also responsible for the deaths of three humans during his coming-of-age ritual male Jägerbar have, thought rare in modern times. His family were traditionalists, though.

The battle was savage, Bear was bigger, but they were more or less on the same scale of strength. Claw and tooth clashed, roars filled the entire room. Neither seemed to get the advantage over the other for more than a few seconds.

Eventually, Bear got lucky with a fortunate slash, which removed the control collar. It flopped to the ground, uselessly inert. But Dan just suffered from a more severe woge thst made him into a real bear, so that it was difficult to distinguish the two. The battle became ever more vicious, and the only way to tell the difference between the two was Bear's Mark un the underside of his right front paw.

But, eventually, Bear struck the Jägerbar so hard that his lower jaw was ripped from Dan's body and Bear took this advantage to kill him. He didn't want to, but he was left with very few options.

"How wonderfully savage!" Malice said, clapping gleefully.

[guitarhero01234]

One of them may have been played by Hugh Jackman. The other may or may not be this dumbass right here.

[redtailedsaffa]

Yeah, that one was the first one I guessed.

[Cloak]

Ah.

Anyway, I discovered that there were two Chapter Fours, so I went ahead an corrected that. I'll start working on the next chapter shortly. It will be a very important one, too, perhaps.