(Disclaimer: See previous chapter's disclaimer. Or whichever other one you think is the wittiest.)
-CHAPTER SEVEN-
Robin sat back in his chair, staring at his computer screen. On the screen, the locations of every demonic possession that had occurred so far were marked by a red dot on a map of Jump City. Even with the large numbers of possessions, there was still no apparent pattern. There were three apparently random areas where the possessions seemed to cluster, but investigating those areas had led to three separate dead ends. Even if it was a completely random distribution of locations for the possessions, the geometric centre should have, statistically speaking, yielded some clues, but Robin had found nothing, even after going over the site with a fine-toothed comb. The site had turned out to be a ladies' public washroom in one of Jump City's many malls, so that had gotten Robin some odd looks. Robin sighed.
It looks like I'm going to have to open this up to the others again to see if they have something to add, he thought. As much as I realize that my tendency to obsess over cases creates tensions in the team, it's still embarrassing that I can't figure this out myself.
Robin hit a few keys, transferring the information on his computer to the one in the living room, and stood up to head there himself. He stopped in his doorway and looked back at the small screen sitting on his desk, which still displayed the locations of all the possessions.
Raven, at least, might know something, Robin thought. Although whether or not she'll pass on that knowledge is another thing.
He sighed again, and closed his door.
OOO
Raven was sitting cross-legged on her bed, an enormous book opened in her lap. It was the Book of Jirel, as the large gold lettering on its dark green cover would have attested, had it been visible, and its size was such that, with a little effort, Raven probably could have hidden her entire body behind it. After taking nearly an hour to decipher the incredibly unhelpful index, Raven had finally found the entry that she was looking for—the prophecy that Drakon had told her about was there, just as he had said. Also just as he had said, the seer who wrote it certainly was an exceptionally bad poet. The metre and phonetics of the translation were awful, and from what Raven knew about Kirralnian, the language that the prophecy had originally been written in, the original probably would be even worse.
It's all here, just like Drakon said, Raven thought. The dragon, love's madness, and this plague and army thing. If Drakon's right and the dragon was Malchior, and love's madness was my love duplicate going nuts, then what could this plague and army be?
She scanned the prophecy once more, just in case something jumped out at her, but nothing did. Lost in thought, she began reading the next entry by reflex, not really paying attention to what was on the page. Soon, something began nagging at her conscious mind. Something she had read in that next entry was trying desperately to get her attention. She focused, and reread the first part—it was a discussion of a particularly brutal series of possessions that took place over six hundred years ago in a small town in what is now Belarus.
Hmmm…this could actually be helpful. Way to go, subconscious, Raven thought, and continued to read. "The sequence of fourteen possessions, all within the space of a fortnight, claimed the lives of fully two dozen townspeople, despite the presence of a battle-mage of the Order of the Twilight Mist. The reason for the possessions was never discovered. The aforementioned mage, one Piotr Alexei Gregari, commented that the possessions were 'inscrutable and mysterious in their source, like as to some dark plague sent by the devil himself.'"
Raven froze.
A plague? she thought. Could that mean…?
Raven's thoughts were interrupted by Robin's voice coming over the intercom.
"Titans, could you gather in the living room as soon as possible, please?" he said. "I'd like to have another little brainstorming session."
Raven sighed. She closed the Book of Jirel, being careful to mark her place with the thin black ribbon attached to the book's spine, and stood up. As she made her way to her door, she glanced back over her shoulder at the massive book, lying apparently harmlessly on her bed.
The demonic possessions as a plague…but then if that is the case, what could the army be?
OOO
"Dude, you're asking for our help again?" Beast Boy said as Raven entered the living room. "This isn't like you."
"Well, I know that my usual…uhhh…intense investigation style has been putting the team under some stress lately, so I'm trying to change," Robin said. "Also, I, uh, haven't been able to make any progress by myself."
"Oh, I think it is a wonderful idea to allow us to partake in your investigation as well," Starfire gushed, with what Raven thought was perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm. "That way the entirety of the burden of the deductive process does not fall upon you alone."
"Uhhh…yeah," Robin said, and brought the diagram of the possessions' locations up on the main screen. "So, anyway, here's the pattern of possessions so far, or the lack thereof, as far as I can tell. As you can see, there are three clusters of high possession activity, but I've checked those sites and found nothing. I've also checked the centre of the entire distribution, and again there was nothing."
Raven stared at the diagram.
That pattern, she thought. Possessions require a weakening of the borders of reality, so it might be…no, surely it couldn't…
Robin was watching Raven intently.
"Do you see something, Raven?" he asked.
"Maybe," she said. "I'm just going to go get something from my room."
Raven turned on her heel and left the living room at a brisk walk, returning a few minutes later carrying a book. Other than the fact that it was bound in black leather, it looked not unlike a math textbook. Raven was running her finger along one of the pages, searching for something.
"What is that, Raven?" asked Cyborg. "Have you got something?" Raven nodded.
"It looks like a distribution of spatiotemporal weaknesses caused by a magic spell," she said. "I'm not sure that that's what it is, and I have no idea what kind of spell it would be yet, but…"
"Whoa, whoa!" said Beast Boy. "What's with the temporary spatulas?"
"It's 'spatiotemporal', Beast Boy," Raven said. "Spatiotemporal weaknesses are like spots where the space-time continuum is thinner than normal." Robin and Cyborg nodded thoughtfully. Even Starfire seemed to understand.
"Great, once again I'm the only one who doesn't get it," Beast Boy complained. Raven sighed.
"Magic isn't like any other force in nature, in that it doesn't result in some law that all matter and energy obeys, like gravity does," Raven explained. "Instead, magic is a force that allows the other laws of reality to be bent or broken, so that things that normally could never happen are made possible. To do that, it has to weaken reality, that is, create a spatiotemporal weakness. Of course, normal magic does this in extremely limited, highly controlled ways, and the weaknesses created are only temporary."
Raven began pacing as she continued, still holding her book.
"But it isn't that simple. Spatiotemporal weaknesses aren't so cut-and-dried, and you can never have just one localized point of weakness. Once you get quantum mechanics in there, you actually end with something like a field where reality is weakened, rather than a single point, with the area of intended weakness created by the spell being only an area of intense concentration of that field. The background weakness of the field is usually barely even worth mentioning, and while there are other minor focal points aside from the main concentration, they are also so weak as to be virtually undetectable under normal circumstances. However, in this case, it looks like the field of unreality, if that is really what this is, is strong enough to allow demons to break through into our world, at least enough for them to possess people and things. The three clusters of high activity would be the minor focal points of the field."
The other Titans stared at Raven. Beast Boy's mouth hung open, and his ears drooped a bit.
"Whoa," Cyborg said, finally. "I had no idea that magic was so…scientific."
"Yeah, me neither," Robin added. "But wait, if these weaknesses are normally too small to matter, what does it mean that these ones are strong enough to create some sort of effect?"
"Well, if it is a field of unreality caused by a magic spell, that spell would have to be absolutely massive, based both on the strength of the unreality field and the sheer area that it covers," Raven said. "Comparing the diagrams in this book to the distribution of possessions, I'd say that it looks like it would be a summoning spell of some kind. With this kind of power, though, they'd have to be summoning an…" Her voice trailed off.
Oh, no. By Azar, no…
"What is it?" Cyborg asked. "What would they have to be summoning?"
"An army," Raven said, half to herself.
"Raven? Are you okay?" Beast Boy asked. Raven shook herself to clear her head, and continued.
"Anyway, if that's what this is, then the actual centre of the field isn't the geometric centre," she said. "It's always a bit off, due to the Gallian drift—I won't go into that too much, but it's kind of like a magical current flowing around the world. Anyway, the true centre should be…uh, Robin, do you have all the coordinates for the possessions' locations entered into the computer somewhere?"
Robin showed Raven the list of coordinates, where they were entered into the program that superimposed them onto the map of Jump City. Raven looked in her book, and then entered a complex equation into the program. Another red dot appeared on the map, slightly off-centre.
"There. That should be the true centre," Raven said.
"Hmmm…It's a school," said Robin. "Marsdale College. It's a private boarding school, both junior and regular high school." He called up the school's website, and gave a low whistle.
"Whoa! That looks pretty swanky!" said Cyborg.
"Oh, a school's a school," Beast Boy said with a shrug.
"Well, this school is considered one of the best high schools in the state," said Robin. "It's got some serious financial backing, too, by the looks of it."
"Um…this place of learning…it is not as horrible as Mad Mod's?" asked Starfire.
"Oh, no. Most schools on Earth are okay," Robin said.
"Says you," Beast Boy muttered.
"Oh. I just have not seen any other Earth schools, and if this one is the centre of some kind of disturbance in reality…" Starfire began, but Robin interrupted her.
"Heh. That's just two bad schools, Star. There are plenty of other ones that aren't so bad," he said. "And while this Marsdale College might be located at the centre of the disturbance, we don't know for sure that it's the source of that disturbance."
"We'll have to check it out, then?" said Cyborg. Robin nodded.
"Oh, yes, I would love to see this Earth school!" Starfire said.
"Count me out, man," said Beast Boy. "I don't want to go anywhere near any stupid school."
"Hey, that's fine," said Cyborg. "Then I won't have to deal with you making a mess in my car on the way there."
"No, we can't just go in there and poke around, even with permission from the school itself," said Robin. "If they're hiding anything, then knowing we're there will make them heighten their security, and we might never find what we're looking for. If we want to be sure, we'll have to infiltrate the school."
"Infiltrate? As in sneak in?" asked Raven.
"No, infiltrate as in create a cover story and live there for a while in order to do some reconnaissance," said Robin.
"Live there for a while?" said Cyborg. "Who's gonna watch the city while we're doing that?" Robin thought for a second.
"We'll split up the team. Raven and I will infiltrate the school, since we can pass as normal humans more easily than the rest of you," he said. "I know you have those holographic projector rings, Cyborg, but while they'll make you look fine, you still won't feel like flesh—we'll have to live in close proximity with the students, so we need something that's completely convincing." Cyborg nodded.
"No problem," he said. "I'll make sure nobody runs off with the city while you're away."
"What about me?" asked Starfire.
"Well, Star, you don't look exactly human either, but while Cyborg's holo-rings could change your appearance, too, you still don't exactly have the…uhhh…experience with Earth culture necessary to blend in," Robin said. "I'm sorry, I know you want to see this school, but you'll have to stay here with Cyborg." Starfire pouted.
"Well, I guess I'm out, since green people kind of stick out and all," said Beast Boy. "Thank God, because I don't think I'd be able to stand going to school, even if it is just to snoop around."
"Actually, Beast Boy, you will be coming with us," said Robin. "Cyborg's holo-rings can change your appearance just as well as they could Cyborg's or Starfire's, and your shapeshifting could be very handy for 'snooping around'."
"What? No!" Beast Boy cried. "I mean, you and Raven can easily…"
"To really look around, both Raven and I need to be visible—I don't have any special powers, and even Raven's astral form can be kind of noticeable. If we're going to do any serious reconnaissance, we'll need to find where all the security cameras are first, so we can avoid them," said Robin. "You, on the other hand, can just morph into a fly or something and buzz around without having to worry about being seen. You'll have to be our eyes and ears before we get the school's security systems mapped out."
"Awww, man!" Beast Boy complained. "I hate school! I don't have to attend classes, do I?"
"Yes, you do," said Robin. "All three of us will have to attend classes in order to blend in."
"But why can't I just look around as a fly all day while you guys are in class, and then spend the night in your room or something?" Beast Boy said.
"Can you hold your fly form that long?" asked Robin. Beast Boy sagged.
"I didn't think so," Robin said. "It's settled. Beast Boy, you'll be coming with Raven and I to stay at this Marsdale College while we investigate it."
"Hey, I don't like having to go to classes any more than you do, Beast Boy," Raven said. "Just deal with it." Beast Boy sagged even further.
"Right. Cyborg, get Beast Boy set up with your holo-rings, then see what you can do to create a cover story for us," said Robin. "Raven, purple hair and eyes will probably stand out, as will your pale skin and that gem on your forehead. Do you have some way of concealing that?"
"A simple appearance spell should do the trick," Raven said with a shrug.
"Good. I have something else I want you to use that should help to keep people from connecting you to who you really are," Robin said.
"What? Why?" Raven asked.
"Well, part of my training under Batman was to take acting lessons, so I can disguise even my body language," Robin said. "As a shapeshifter, Beast Boy is kind of a natural actor, and besides, he'll have his appearance virtually completely altered by the holo-rings. You're the odd one out." Raven sighed.
"Okay, fine," she said. "It had better not be anything weird. I'm already going to be wearing stuff I normally wouldn't, and changing the way I look." Robin grinned.
"Don't worry, it's nothing major," he said. "Okay, let's get moving, Titans!"
OOO
Beast Boy stood in his room, in front of his mirror, staring at himself. Cyborg had set up the holo-rings for Beast Boy's appearance, and the effect was quite dramatic—aside from his startlingly green eyes, Beast Boy now had medium brown hair and the slightly pinkish skin that was the human norm. His ears were also unpointed, and his usual jutting lower fang had disappeared.
I look…normal, Beast Boy thought. It's been so long, I had almost forgotten what normal me looked like.
There was a knock at his door, and he heard Robin's muffled voice from the other side.
"Beast Boy! Are you ready yet?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Beast Boy said, picking his way over the piles of dirty laundry that littered his room. He cast one last glance over his shoulder at the image in his mirror before opening his door. Turning to face Robin, he gave a small involuntary scream.
"What?" Robin said.
"R-r-robin? Is th-that you?" Beast Boy stammered.
"Who did you think it was?" Robin asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Beast Boy looked him over—Robin had changed from his usual red and green tights into a pair of dark blue jeans and a plain white T-shirt, over which he wore a dark red short-sleeved button-up top, unbuttoned so the white shirt underneath showed. He had un-gelled his black hair, which had probably been a very time-consuming process, and it fell down around his ears, as well as a few errant strands falling down across his forehead. Perhaps most startling of all, though, was the fact that his mask was off, showing his clear blue eyes.
"Uhhh…well, I sure didn't think it was you," Beast Boy eventually said, lamely.
"Whatever. Let's go see how Raven's doing, and then hopefully Cyborg will have our cover stories ready," Robin said, turning to head down the hall to Raven's room. Beast Boy trailed after him.
The two boys stopped in front of Raven's door. Robin knocked, but before he could say anything, they heard Raven's voice from the other side of the door.
"Just a minute. I'm almost done."
She sounded irritated, or at least more than normal.
"This should be interesting," Robin said. "I wonder if she'll actually wear what I gave her."
"You gave her something?" asked Beast Boy. "What did you give her?"
"Oh, just a fake pair of glasses to help conceal her identity," Robin replied. Beast Boy choked.
"Glasses? You gave her glasses? Like, to wear?" he spluttered. Robin nodded.
"Do you have any idea what that means?" Beast Boy continued. "Have you never heard of the Daniel Wilcox Theory of Girls with Glasses?"
"The what?" said Robin, a quizzical expression on his face.
"Dude! The Daniel Wilcox Theory of Girls with Glasses!" cried Beast Boy, pulling at his hair with frustration. "It says that any girl is, like, ten times hotter than normal while wearing glasses!"
"Ooookaay," said Robin, just as Raven's door opened. The two boys turned to look at her. Beast Boy's jaw dropped.
Raven's 'simple appearance spell' had obviously worked—her normally purple hair and eyes had both become a deep brown, her skin was noticeably less pale, and the gem on her forehead had disappeared. Other than that, she was wearing a baggy pair of cargo khakis, a chrome-studded black leather belt, and a tight black T-shirt that had on the front, in white, an upside-down Nike swoosh and the slogan 'Just Don't', none of which looked like it had ever been worn before. And she was wearing a pair of wire-rimmed glasses.
"What's wrong with Beast Boy?" she said. Robin shrugged.
"Some theory about girls looking better with glasses on, I think," he said.
"Glasses...tight T-shirt…effects multiplying…exponential increase…in hotness…" Beast Boy mumbled, staring at Raven.
"Oh, snap out of it! You've seen me with glasses on before!" Raven said, using her powers to shake Beast Boy. "Remember my intelligence duplicate?"
"Well, yeah, but I didn't know about the theory then," Beast Boy said. "And where did you get those clothes? You never wear anything other than your cloak and leotard!"
"Don't call it a leotard! It sounds like I'm taking ballet classes or something," Raven said, dropping Beast Boy to the ground. "And as for where I got these, well, do you remember all those times Starfire dragged me to the mall? Do you really think she ever would have let me hear the end of it if I hadn't bought at least something?"
"Hmmm…good point," Beast Boy said. "Where is Starfire, anyway?"
Cyborg chose that moment to poke his head out of his room and call to them from down the hall.
"I told her to stay in her room until I was done setting up your cover stories," he said—he had obviously been listening. "I'll need a picture of each of you for your fake IDs and passports, and I don't want one of her thermonuclear hugging fits to mess up your looks before I take your pictures."
"Awwwww…" Starfire said from inside her room. "But I wish to see my friends now!"
"Wait, did you say passports?" Raven said, ignoring Starfire's muffled complaints.
"Yeah, your cover story is that you're a group of Canadian exchange students," Cyborg said.
"What? Does that mean I'll have to wear a parka or something?" asked Beast Boy. Cyborg sighed.
"No, Beast Boy, no parka," he said. "Canada is really only that cold in the winter, same as in, say, Michigan, or one of the other more northerly states. Besides, you're supposed to be from Vancouver, and they have an even milder climate than that."
"So no igloos?" Beast Boy said.
"No, no igloos. Or polar bears, or seal hunts, or dog sleds, or pretty much any other thing you're probably thinking about," said Cyborg. "Think spring in Jump City, but with a bit more rain."
As Beast Boy grappled with this new information, Cyborg took all their pictures and entered them into their cover story profiles on his computer, which would automatically create fake IDs and passports virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. While all this was probably illegal, Cyborg rationalized it by saying that they would only use it for this one mission, and then he would junk the system. It wouldn't be that big a loss, since the system hadn't even existed an hour ago—being a partially robotic genius had certain advantages when it came to making custom equipment in a hurry.
"Okay, now all I need are some names, and then we're set," Cyborg said.
"I'd suggest keeping your real first names, to avoid having to get used to being called by a totally different name, but other than that, try not to use anything that sounds like your real name," said Robin. "For instance, I'm going with Richard Black, as opposed to my real name, Richard Grayson."
"Hmmmm…Raven is my real first name, but that might be a bit obvious," Raven said. "I'll go with Grace Roth. Roth was my mother's last name, and, uh, I've always kind of liked the name Grace."
"Alright," said Cyborg, as he entered the two names into his computer. "What about you, BB?"
"Uhhhh…I'll go with Mark Davis, I guess," Beast Boy said. "I don't know why Davis, it just popped into my head."
"Your first name is Mark?" Raven asked.
"Uhhhh…no, actually Mark is my middle name," Beast Boy said, avoiding eye contact.
Hmmmm…well, that's one less thing Drakon can hold over me now, Raven thought.
"Why, what's your first name?" she said out loud. Beast Boy gulped, and stared down at his own feet.
"It's um…Garfield," he said sheepishly.
After a moment of silence while that sank in, Cyborg nearly fell out of his chair laughing. Even Robin had to suppress a chuckle. Raven, on the other hand, did nothing.
"Oh, man! Like the cat!" Cyborg said. "Hey, can I stick you up in the window in the T-Car?"
"Actually, Garfield is a fairly traditional name," Raven said impassively. "I believe a past president of the United States was called Garfield."
Cyborg stopped laughing and stared at Raven. Beast Boy also stared at her in shock.
"Um, gee, Raven, thanks for the, uh, support," he said. Raven just shrugged, but inwardly she was confused.
Why the Hell did I just do that? she wondered. Ugh. I need to meditate.
"Okay, then, Mark Davis it is…Garfield," Cyborg said, still snickering a little. "Now I just hit the 'OK' button, and there we go! IDs and passports all around!"
Cyborg's printer, which had undergone some serious modifications in the last hour, emitted a sickening grinding noise, but sure enough, it spat out three sets of fake identification. Cyborg handed them out to their respective owners.
"Okay, so you'll be starting there in two days," he said. "Sorry about the time lag, but that was the earliest I could make it without being really obvious about things."
"That's fine, thanks," Robin said. "It'll give us some time to pack. We will be staying at a boarding school, after all, so we can't very well come back here for extra clothes."
"If it's all the same to you guys, I'm going to go change back into something more comfortable," Raven said, and started out back down the hall. Cyborg grinned evilly.
"Oh, Staaarrfiiiiiiirrrre!" he called. "You can come ooooouuuuutt noooooowww!"
"Oh, joyous!"
The three boys, still standing in Cyborg's room, heard Raven swear, and then the distinctive thump of one of Starfire's flying tackle hugs. They started to chuckle, but Beast Boy stopped, having realized a flaw in the joke.
"Wait, we're going to have to go out there now, aren't we?" he said. Robin paused, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Hmmm. That's true," he said. "I forgot about that."
"I didn't!" Cyborg said, and booted the other two out into the hall and slammed his door, giggling like a maniac.
"Oh, crap," said Beast Boy.
Starfire squealed in delight, and the two boys turned and ran. It was, in the end, a futile effort.
-END CHAPTER SEVEN-
Author's Note: Whew! That was a long chapter. But hey, a lot happened. Revelations abounded! Plans were set! Tackle hugs were…uhhh…perpetrated! I'd say I wanted one of Cyborg's fake ID machines, but a) I've been old enough to drink locally for almost two years now (in less than a month I'll be old enough to drink in most of the States, too), and b) I don't actually drink alcohol anyway. I don't smoke, either, so basically, unless those Warner Brothers lawyers do eventually find out where I live, I won't need any fake IDs any time soon.
You'll probably notice my long-winded attempt at explaining magic (at least in terms of the story), as told by Raven. I don't really believe in magic per se, although I do think that there are certain things that science can't fully account for, even with the right theories at work. That's really more of an objection to reductionism than a belief in magic, though (if that didn't make any sense, don't worry about it—it's reasonably thoroughgoing philosophy crap, and you probably have better things to worry about). Anyway, that is how I'd explain the magic that appears in the show, if I had to: magic is a force (or set of forces?) that allow the other fundamental forces of nature to be bent or broken in certain ways. Of course, the actual application of that will still be heavily dominated by mysticism, and concepts like natural elements, law and chaos, and so on (so maybe eye of newt contributes a certain mix of these elements to the spells it is used in or something). And while I'm talking about my cockamamie theories, I'd just like to clear something up about my conception of Azarath: as far as I've seen in my admittedly limited research into what actually happens in the Teen Titans comic books, Azarath is a place in another dimension, not on another planet, which is populated by pacifistic sorcerers who fled from some conflict on Earth (or perhaps from conflict in general), led by a sorcerer (sorceress? My sources don't say for sure) called Azar. Raven left Azarath to help found the Teen Titans in order to combat her father, Trigon, after a disagreement with her teachers in Azarath over the best way to deal with him (i.e. Raven said action, and their pacifistic ideals got in the way). This is effectively all I know about Azarath as it appeared in the comics. I'll be making a few slight alterations to that backstory, particularly regarding Raven's reasons for leaving Azarath, since they don't exactly fit with what has appeared in the TV show. I'll also be making a few adjustments to the history and hierarchy of Azarath—effectively, I'll be making its history a little longer. It seems in my sources that Azarath was founded quite recently, and that this Azar is still around, but I'll be pushing that founding back a little in history, and 'Azar' will become the title of the head sorcerer in Azarath as well as the name of its founder, kind of like 'Caesar' became the title of the ruler of Rome. I'd also like to point out that just because the population of Azarath is virtually exclusively made up of sorcerers, that doesn't mean that they are the only sorcerers around. In particular, Drakon and the other members of the Circle are from Earth (at least most of them—an idea has struck me, but I'll have to see if it fits in later on).
Anyways, next chapter, the Titans (or at least Robin, Raven, and Beast Boy) will be going to a boarding school! This is mostly just a plot thing, and Marsdale College won't be meant to be anything like my high school (which was a public school that I didn't live in). I might take the opportunity to express some of my dislike for high school, though. All I can say is that cynics are made, not born, and high school was the defining period in the development of my cynicism.
About the fact that the Titans don't seem to know each other's names: the way I see it, it had just never really come up. It also allows me to make a little joke about Beast Boy's name. Oh, and incidentally, I only found out that his middle name was Mark between finishing last chapter and starting this one, so I actually didn't know it when Drakon asked Raven if she wanted to hear it. And as for Raven's mother's last name, I saw that somewhere. I forget where. I don't know if that's part of the comic book canon or not.
While I remember, apologies to David Willis, the creator of the webcomics "Roomies!" and "It's Walky!" I kind of stole the idea of the Daniel Wilcox Theory of Girls with Glasses from him, as well as appropriating the name of one of his characters for it.
Right, I think that's it for now. I'll try to update again as soon as I get Chapter 8 written. Oh, and keep sending ideas for possible new names for this story. This isn't to say that none of the ones sent to me were good (some have some real potential), but I'd like to get a few more into the running before I decide.
To My Reviewers:
CloudsHalo: I haven't actually seen "The Beast Within", but I have seen a (very) basic episode summary, as well as some related stuff in other fan fictions, so I have a reasonably good idea about what happened in the episode, at least in terms of where things ended up. I don't consider that enough, of course, and I still want to see the episode rather than just a summary, even if it is a much more in-depth summary than the one I saw (I'd much rather see the episode, in fact). I realize that those episode summaries are kind of like spoilers, so it doesn't make any sense to say that I don't want any spoilers when I've already had quite a few, but there's something different about getting unsolicited spoilers from somebody, rather than voluntarily going on a website and finding them. Good job putting stuff together with the "demonic possessions plague" thing, as you can see from this chapter that's pretty much it. The army part has also been kind of cleared up, although of course the exact details and the consequences are still to come. About the prophecy itself, I have a very clear idea about where that will lead, although it might only come to fruition in the sequelly things I have planned. As I've said, I now have Da Plan, which is basically a general direction the main story will take over a series of shorter, relatively stand-alone stories. I don't know why I'm doing that as opposed to just one really, really long story, but that's just the way things have panned out.
Wild Spirit of Darkness2: I don't know whether to want for your confusion to be cleared up, or for you to stay confused. I'm trying to be at least a bit suspenseful. I'm glad you like it so far, though.
staticsponge123: Uhhh…no comment. If you know anything about Adam Sandler, well…no, you know what, I'm going to leave your innocent mind be for now. Trust me, while it might seem cruel, you'll thank me for it later.
GS Dragono: Thank you! I'll see what I can do, although I might have trouble with the whole "Titans in school" scenario.
Blackbird: Hmmm…zombies, eh? And perhaps the law firm's name could be Coyotesheep and Stag? Thanks for filling in Lorne's name. That had been bugging me. Hopefully the sequelly things I mentioned to CloudsHalo will satiate your desire for continuity!
DarkSin: Thanks, and I hope this chapter hasn't disappointed you. I'm more worried about next chapter, though…
nevermoretheraven: Yes, the ending of last chapter is a bit of an indicator of things to come, although it is a cryptic one. There will be other cryptic stuff regarding Drakon and the Circle to come! Hoo-ha!
Cheezus Crust! Fourteen pages! This is double some of my earlier chapters!