I'm going to reply to reviews first again, mostly because I'm struck with the beautiful irony of this situation. Before, the story for which I received the most reviews was "The Lord of the Rings: The Sequel: The Musical!" (which I had to remove from this site), and I only got 20 or so reviews for that when it was done (13 chapters, I believe). Now this, which I thought no one would find in a million years, obscurely located as it is, has almost that many and it's not even done yet! So thank you all! I wrote very verbose replies, as usual…
Sangfroid: Right now, the sequel is actually 3 stories called the "Phase Three Trilogy"…the REMSG suffers a schism yet also goes on a missionary-esque quest to save their homelands by reforming the people threatening them…Maglor acts as their Home Base Operator, which basically means the gods talk to him and he talks to the REMSG. Of course, before he can do this, they have to find him…Thank you for your compliments about Lucemon, by the way. I'm afraid I had to fudge a bit this chapter regarding him and the Royal Knights…but they're too powerful for the others to handle. Thus Lucemon conveniently forgets he knows how to shoot laser beams from his eyes, and Dynasmon doesn't resort to his usual course of action ("Breath. Of. WYYYYVEEERRRRN!")
Coolmarauders: Truer words were never spoken/written. But I'm not nearly doing the beauty, the splendor, the wonder that is Ken justice…he'll get a lot more active in the sequel. Of course, he is a reactive person by nature…which explains why Arukenimon could always provoke him so easily…I actually think, wonderful cutie that he is, that sometimes he has a shorter temper than Tai if you say the right things to him! (I'm assuming you've actually seen the show and were not just basing your comment on my interpretation. If you have never seen Digimon, sorry about all that and thanks for the compliment; Ken is supposed to be verrrry hot.)
Dalamar Nightson: I love Tamora Pierce! I actually met her last year…your suggestion intrigues and inspires me. Roger would be a perfect foil for Raist after the schism in the group in the sequel (I already have the rest of this one planned out so he'll have to wait two chapters). Charming, yet evil, and used to getting his own way so he'd tick off everybody else…and sneakier than all of them (except maybe Raist, though he can be very straightforward about his plans if it suits his needs)…this is really gonna work well. Thanks!
Mirowood: I don't think that would help…it's a Jump drive problem. Pertaining to your Lucemon/Ken dilemma…do you mean you don't understand their relations to each other as members of the same show but different seasons, or their individual backgrounds? Pardon my obtuseness. And you're 100 right about poor Maedhros…I love the way you phrased "All he wanted…". And you sell yourself short on the 12 Angry Jurors thing ("sort of in"). I had NO lines in A Midsummer Night's Dream! You're a great actor and have come a long way; I'm still telling people how much I loved Damn Yankees.
Yael3000: Thanks! You too… you survived your first Finals Week! Fetch the closet elf says: "I wanted to go see Star Wars with the Fantasy Club, or to another party!" Fetchie the rabid fanfictioness says: "Sorry, closet elf, but what have I told you about going out in public? Every girl in your general vicinity either suffers a sighing fit or faints or both. It's annoying and rather embarrassing."
Wow, I just filled a whole page on Word with review replies! I didn't think that was possible…and just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done…ah, I've made you wait long enough already, here's the next chapter. Oh, yeah: I own none of this.
The Recovering Evil Madmen Support Group, Chapter Four: The Brawl in the Hall
All eyes were fixed on Maedhros's father. The room was, for once, utterly silent, Raistlin's affliction temporarily assuaged by the Halls' cough drop. The dark-haired elf cleared his throat and began, irritated.
"My name is Curufinwe, but everyone calls me Feanor…"
"Hullo, Feanor," everybody said, bored with the procedure but following it anyway. Lucemon scratched his head behind his left ear-wing. This meeting had been much more fun while his Royal Knights had been doing their thing. As Feanor began telling his tale, the angel let his small mind wander, trying to think of ways to spice the dullness up once again and make everybody pay attention to him, not the elf.
Unaware that one-seventh of his audience was lost in its own little world, Feanor stated his case. "I cannot say how long it's been since my last great work of evil because, to my knowledge, I have never done a great work of evil." His eyes flicked meaningfully over to Maedhros, who grappled for the right words to say.
"Never?.,.Refusing the demands of the Valar? Swearing the Oath? Slaying our kin when they would not obey our requests? Ignoring the divine Curse you brought on us all? Abandoning our friends to the cruel trek across the Ice, burning the very ships for which we spilled the blameless blood of our brethren? And you claim you have done no great works of evil!"
"I did not let anything stand in the way of my goals," replied Feanor coldly. "When last I checked, that was not evil."
Father and son had been slowly moving closer together until they were finally almost touching noses. Filled with the electricity of extreme tension, the air around them seemed to crackle. Lucemon yawned, stifling it with his small hand. Bo-ring. Why is everybody so interested in a stupid little family feud? It's mildly funny, but that's it. The crazy blue-haired boy looks really uncomfortable again—that's funny. Serves him right, the angry creep. And the weirdo with the strange skin and demented pupils…he looks like he can't decide whether he wanted to say no or yes to what the black-haired guy is saying.
Lucemon stood up, interrupting something Maedhros was ranting about how murder was evil and how it was Feanor's fault all of Maedhros's friends and brothers were dead because Feanor had convinced them some silly little Oath was a good idea. "Um, excuse me, but…why would we care about your problems?" the angel asked in unassuming honesty.
Mardhros looked at him, a little crazed. "Why?...because that's what we're here for!" he cried desperately. "This is a group therapy session! People come to share their problems to other people who've made the same mistakes and thus should be sympathetic! If you're unwilling to share…"--here he looked at Raistlin, who eyed him sardonically—"or if you're in denial…" –he met his father's angry gaze, then turned back to Lucemon—"or if you apparently aren't a Recovering Evil Madman at all, we should be able to help you with that! But you have to be willing to cooperate."
Lucemon pondered this, clicking his tongue against the backs of his teeth. "I could, but…I don't want to," he replied matter-of-factly. "I don't cooperate. Everyone is either with me or against me."
"THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE!" screamed Maedhros at the top of his frustrated lungs, upset at the way everything was turning out. No one likes to see their dreams deflate.
"Oh, my," remarked Raistlin almost to himself, "now we're getting existential." His sarcasm was not appreciated by the distraught elf, who glared at him. Raistlin returned the look, melting the redhead's defenses with his glittering golden gaze. Lucemon was suddenly jealous of the man's ability to stare down anybody, anywhere, any time. If only I had hourglass eyes like that, he thought grudgingly, I'd look like a fool half the time but people wouldn't dare talk back to me. Sure, I shrink my pupils now before I attack, but where's the fun in that? All that does is make me look like I've stared into the sun too long. When I create utopia, I'll make him tell me how to get eyes like that. Sighing and turning his attention elsewhere, he decided to answer Maedhros's question, rude as the elf had been by shouting.
"I'm…here…" he stated as slowly as possible to buy himself time, "be…cause…I…want…" He broke off, embarrassed but also irritated. "Okay, I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason but I don't know what it is exactly, I woke up after being reborn and found a flyer and thought 'Hey! That's me! And I'm bored anyway!' so I came!" He crossed his arms and pouted again, vexed at not being able to think of a good lie in time.
Raistlin nodded sagely in an infuriatingly knowledgeable way. "Sound logic. Indeed, I understand you much better now."
Jealous and offended, Lucemon retaliated. "Oh really? Last I heard, you were calling me an idiot. What's your new opinion?"
The black-robed man shrugged as if disinterested, but a cold light gleamed in his eyes. "You're still an idiot."
That did it. Pupils shrinking till they were mere specks in his robin's-egg blue irises, Lucemon propelled himself into the air. Beating the atmosphere furiously with his multiple pairs of wings, he hurled himself at Raistlin while forming a cross of sizzling energy between his hands. "Grand CROSS!" he yelled, releasing his attack. "Take that!" His shot missed his mark, however, as Ken tackled Raistlin to the ground, dragging him down to safety as the cross exploded into the wall, leaving a black smoking mark in the surface. As the angel gaped at his missed shot, metal-tipped fingers wrapped around him: Ken's partner, large once more, was taking matters quite literally into his own hands.
"Hey!" cried the prisoner in fright and annoyance. "Put me down!"
"Unhand the Lord Lucemon immediately, insubordinate insect!" commanded the white Royal Knight. "I, Dynasmon, order you to."
"And I, Crusadermon the beautiful, shall take my vengeance on you, sniveling wretch," loftily spouted the rose Knight as she used a large yellow ribbon-whip to wrap Raistlin up, pulling the captive man into the air and above her. "Not so high-and-mighty now that you stare into the face of true majesty, are you, yellow-eyed—uggh!" Raistlin dropped free to the ground as Crusadermon screamed in pain, a fireball blazing into her helmeted head. The black-cloaked man stared at his golden hands in amazement. "My magic is back…" he muttered in astonishment. "For how long?...No matter." Whirling, he faced his assailant, a fey light dancing around his hourglass pupils. A faint smile crept onto his face as the magenta monster crashed unconscious to the ground, armor scarred and pitted by flames. "Fizban may act like a babbling old fool sometimes," he said as if to himself, "but he is right about one thing. With the proper modifications, Fireball is a marvelous spell."
"Eh? Huh?" An old man poked his wizened head through the still-unfixed doorway. "There you go, mentioning that Fizban fellow again. How'd your meeting go?"
"Excellent," hissed the dark mage triumphantly yet harshly, staring at his defeated opponent. "I can't wait for next week." Then he doubled over, weak and coughing: even Halls' Fruit Breezers were powerless against the backlash of spell casting. Ken went over to see if he could help, but the man refused assistance. "Your concerns are misplaced," he told the boy. "Worry about your pet, not me."
Ken turned around. "Leafmon!" His partner lay on the ground, small again and in danger of being crushed by the gigantic Dynasmon. Ken started to run over, but Maedhros grabbed him by the arm. "Don't! You can't beat that thing," the elf cried.
"Let go of me," Ken told Maedhros forcefully.
"I won't. I won't have you getting hurt. You're the only one who even comes close to understanding what we're trying to accomplish here."
The boy sighed. "Don't say I didn't warn you. I'm sorry, but…" Twisting his body expertly, he wrenched his arm free from Maedhros and sent the elf sprawling to the ground in one fluid motion. "…I know judo," he finished, calling over his shoulder as he ran to pick up his fallen green friend. Feanor snickered and sidled to the door, which he began rather nonchalantly to repair as the old man shot fireballs at Dynasmon, who had trod on the old man's hat, and as Ken and Lucemon wrestled, the boy scattering the angel's feathers while grappling for a handhold. Replacing a bolt, the dark-haired elf happened to glance at the clock on the wall.
"It's time to go," he announced.
Everybody froze, the old man in mid-fireball and Ken clutching a handful of down. Maedhros blinked stupidly through a black eye at his father.
"Oh," gasped Lucemon, short of breath. "Okay." Ken let the angel go and they both stood, the latter brushing off his now-dirty white toga. "Come on, Royal Knights. Let's go find something else to do. See you all later. I had fun!" he added as he and his disgruntled, slightly singed bodyguards walked calmly out the door like nothing had happened. The others watched them go, Raistlin wheezing faintly in the silence. "Must…rest…" he whispered.
The old man supported him, and for once the man in black accepted the help. "Well, we're off," the elder announced cheerfully. "It's his naptime, now. Funny, isn't it, you getting your powers back temporarily like that? They'll be gone again now, I expect."
"Temporarily," Raistlin lamented through clenched teeth. "Just my luck." Leaning heavily on his elderly chaperone, he began to make his way out of the room, stopping briefly to clap Maedhros on the shoulder. "That went well," he told the elf, then collapsed, exhausted. The old man dragged him out of the room, Ken following to see if Raistlin was going to be all right. "Good-bye, Maedhros," the boy called, bowing in mid-stride. "I apologize for the judo throw and all the other trouble I caused."
Then the blue-haired boy and his "partner" were gone. Maedhros and Feanor were alone.
a/n: They got in a fight again, those nasty folkses. Again, apologies to Digimon fans, especially fans of the original Japanese version (in which the pink Royal Knight is, ah, male) but I've only ever seen the dub (sigh) so I have to stick to what I know; goodness knows I make enough mistakes as it is.
Raistlin regaining his magic (btw, this takes place between Summer Flame and the War of Souls) is a bit of a non-sequitur but I felt the guy should get one moment in the spotlight in which he isn't looking at people strangely or hacking up a lung.
One chapter left…and then the nightmare is over…so see you all for the Grand (?) Finale!