Here, you are, Kate. Just like I promised. This chapter is pretty long. Maybe I'm just making up for lost time.
Damien followed Mike to Lucca's house. Mike knocked on the door. Lucca opened the door and gasped at the sight before her.
"Joel!" She leaned back into the house. "You guys!" she yelled to the `bots. "Get over here right now!" She looked at Joel quizzically. "Didn't you say he was alive?"
"He is," Damien replied. "The resurrection and time travel must have sapped his energy."
"Lucca, what do you want?!" Servo snapped indignantly as he came to the door. "I was just about to sink Crow's destroyer!" The other `bots followed closely behind him.
Gypsy was the first to notice Damien and Joel. "JOEL!!"
Mike grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, he's back. Somehow."
"Well, come on in," Lucca said. "We can talk inside."
"Joel needs to rest," Damien stated. "Is there anywhere I can take him?
"There's a guest room upstairs. I'll show you where." Damien and Lucca headed up the stairs, with the unconscious Joel in tow.
Mike was accosted by a barrage of questions from the `bots. Where did he go? How did he get there? What did he do there? How did he get Joel back? Mike ceaselessly answered their questions for almost an hour before standing up.
"Hey!" Crow pouted. "Where do you think you're going?"
"I'm going to check on Joel. You can talk to Damien if you want." Mike headed up the stairs, but stopped when he heard Servo say something.
"Damien? You mean the Vampire Lestat?"
Mike sighed. "Let's just say he's been through a lot, okay?" He continued up the stairs, displeased with the other snide comments Crow and Servo began making.
***
Mike pushed the bedroom door open. Damien was sitting on a wicker chair next to the bed. Joel was awake, but did nothing except stare at the ceiling.
Mike leaned over the bed. "How are you feeling?"
Joel turned his head to face Mike. "Tired."
"Naturally," Damien stated. "Throwing you into the time-space continuum right after your resurrection probably wasn't the best way to go. However, it was necessary. Despite my efforts, it seems that even Mike didn't escape unscathed."
"What?" Mike asked. Damien pointed to Mike's hands, which had a bluish tint.
"Relax, it's only frostbite," Damien said.
"Only frostbite?!" Mike cried in disbelief. "People lose their fingers because of it!"
"It doesn't look that bad. You should have seen how the Earthbound Ones looked." Damien stood up and walked to the door. "I'll get you something for that." He closed the door behind him.
There was an uncomfortable silence for a little while. Finally, Mike said the only thing that came to mind.
"You're back."
Joel smiled. "That's it? That's all you're going to say?"
Mike looked down at the floor. "Well, no, but..."
"Don't worry. I'm not good at this either." Joel changed the subject. "What happened after the Ocean Palace?"
"The Kingdom of Zeal fell. Literally. Damien is the only Enlightened One who survived."
"The only one?" Joel repeated. "Then, Schala..."
"She, Pearl, and Chekov died when the Palace blew up."
Damien opened the door. He had a bottle of lotion in one hand. "Actually, Pearl never died. Or, if she did, Lavos pulled through for her."
"What?!" Mike wondered if this was the terrible thing Damien had referred to earlier.
"Sometime before the explosion, she junctioned herself with Lavos somehow. Now they exist as one lifeform."
Joel frowned. "So, it isn't over after all."
"No. She built herself some type of aerial fortress. It rose from the sea where the Ocean Palace once stood. Currently, she's terrorizing the Earthbound Ones, but I doubt she'll be content to limit herself to that."
"How could she even merge with Lavos?" Joel inquired.
"Because Pearl summoned Lavos, it must consider her to be its master. It would do anything for her, even sacrifice its own body to keep her alive. She and Lavos are now a new, codependent existence."
Mike pondered that for a moment. "So, if we kill one, the other dies?"
Damien shook his head. "It's impossible. Getting into the fortress would be our first step, but even if we had a plane, there's the security system to deal with. Also, you can't take Lavos on directly. Remember what happened to Joel?"
Joel got an idea. "If we can't get him from the outside, we'll take him down from the inside."
Damien gasped in disbelief. "With what?! A grenade launcher? A hydrogen bomb? A vial of the Ebola virus? None of us can get our hands on something that powerful."
Joel shrugged. "If we can't obtain weapons, I'll build them. It's easy to get ahold of seemingly harmless materials."
"Uh..." Mike reached for the lotion in Damien's hand. "Can I have that, please?"
Damien ignored him. "What do you think you can do? You can't pick up a pack of U-235 at the 7-11. If you could prove your ability to me, I'd be more than happy to go along with you. But, there's nothing you can do. There's nothing more I can do, either."
Joel turned his head to face Damien. "That's it? You're going to lose before you even fight? Against the very woman who made you suffer?"
"If you're trying to convince me to join you, you'll fail. Get back to me when you come up with something logical." Damien glared at Joel, then threw the bottle of lotion at Mike before stomping out the door.
Joel shook his head. "Who pissed in his cornflakes this morning?"
Mike opened the bottle and squeezed some of the lotion onto his hands. "Take it easy. His fianc�e was just killed."
"It doesn't matter. We can beat Pearl without him. It'll be easy to disable her security system if I can get ahold of some magnesium."
A disconcerted look crossed Mike's face. "The stuff my grandma used to drink?!"
Joel laughed. "I mean the material in road flares. Lucca's dad has some fireworks in his shop. If I combine the explosive powder with the magnesium, the powder will act as an igniter and the resulting explosion will..." Joel noticed the bewildered look reappear on Mike's face. "You have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, do you?"
"Not at all." Mike shook his head. "I'll leave the science up to you."
"Leave everything up to me. I have an idea of how we might get in."
Suddenly, there was a loud crash and the sound of glass breaking.
Mike sighed. "I knew I couldn't leave them alone." He left the room and headed down the stairs. The remains of a lamp were scattered on the floor around Damien, who had his staff drawn. Crow's lacrosse headpiece was stuck on one of the spikes on the end of the staff.
Mike placed his hands on his hips. "Thanks a lot. Now I'm going to have to reattach that."
"I wouldn't have hurt him if he weren't so damn annoying." Damien pulled the piece of metal off his staff. "It's incredible. How can someone like you hang out with the likes of them?" He glared at Servo, who had just hovered into the room.
"They're my friends." Mike knew he had to go easy on Damien, but found it hard to resist the urge to punch his lights out.
"So, you hang out with a wannabe scientist and a group of mechanical kindergartners? Interesting." Damien turned and began to head for the front door. Mike grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
Mike spoke through gritted teeth. "What did you just say?"
"What are you, deaf?"
Upon hearing this, Mike shoved Damien towards the door with both hands. "If you ever insult my friends again, I'll tear you a new one."
"Is this what I get for saving your life?" Damien opened the front door. "If I had known this was going to happen, I would have left you to die in the Earthbound Village." He stepped outside and slammed the door behind him. Mike stared at the door for a few seconds.
"What a dickweed," Servo muttered.
"I'm not mad at him," Mike said. "He's only putting on a show for the rest of us so he doesn't seem weak. What he really wants to do is break down and cry." Mike knelt down and picked up Servo. "So, don't be too hard on him. I know how he feels. I act the same way. Give him time to get over what's happened over the last few days, and he'll be a little more friendly."
"Hey..." Servo's voice trailed off.
"What?"
"You're beginning to sound like Joel."
Mike smiled. "It's strange. I've only known him for a week or so, but it feels like I've known him for years."
"What are you going to do once the Millennial Fair is over?" Servo inquired.
"Huh?" Mike had forgotten all about the fair. Once it was over, he'd have to leave and find a new place to live. He didn't mind finding a new place after getting kicked out of his apartment. What really bothered him was that he'd have to leave Joel, and probably wouldn't ever see him again. "I...prefer not to think about that."
"But tomorrow is the last night! Where are we gonna live?"
"Uh..." Mike looked down at the floor. "Hey, where did Crow's headpiece go?" He put Servo down on the ground. "Damien must have it. I'll go get it!" He opened the front door and ran outside. "Damien! Wait for me!"
Servo stared blankly at the open door. Gypsy and Cambot were right. Mike had changed, and he wasn't sure he liked it.
***
The process was long and excruciating, but Joel didn't care. He was happy that he finally had something to apply himself to.
Lucca owned a set of road flares, and happily donated them to Joel for his cause. She had originally planned to use them on the final night of the Millennial Fair, but the castle scrapped the event she and her father had been in charge of. Taban had given him permission to experiment with the fireworks in his shop. He sliced open a few with a small knife and dumped out the powder inside. After that, he would combine the two and roll them up in the fireworks casing. He didn't have to use anything fancy to hold together the homemade explosives. All he needed was rubber cement and a roll of masking tape.
Nobody was awake, but Damien and Mike hadn't come back for the longest time. Joel was beginning to get a little worried.
***
Mike had discovered how incredibly easy it was to get lost in Guardia Kingdom. The city surrounding the castle was much bigger than it looked. He had been down every street, through every back alley, and there was still no sign of Damien--or Lucca's house, for that matter.
The neon lights of a nearby bar illuminated the dark alley Mike was in. The wind blew a newspaper page over the grimy cobblestone street. A lone figure stood on the banks of a polluted river.
"Hey." The person turned to face Mike. "What is this?"
"What is what?" Mike asked.
"This wet stuff. I've never seen anything like it."
Mike gawked in disbelief. "You've never seen water?!"
"This is water?" Damien glanced down at the river. "I've never seen it in its natural form. You couldn't see the land below the Kingdom of Zeal. Besides, the Enlightened Ones only drank wine. It was supposed to be a sign of our superiority to the Earthbound Ones."
"You've never been around water?" Mike asked. "My dad always used to take me swimming. We'd drive out to a creek in the country. He'd go fishing, and I would spend hours in the water."
"There's one thing I've noticed here," Damien stated. "All those who live on land seem to be happier with simple pleasures. Everyone here is happy just having a drink with friends, or playing organized sports. Everything involves being equal to your peers. We Enlightened Ones were constantly competing among ourselves to form a social hierarchy."
"You never had any fun?" Mike asked.
"I certainly don't consider my life there fun. I hoped things would change once Schala became Queen. However..."
"I know." Mike approached Damien and looked him in the eyes. "Joel and I also suffered because of what Pearl did. I don't know about him, but that's why I want to fight her. I think it's the only way I can get on with my life."
Damien smiled. "You two are fearless. I wish I were more like you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out Crow's headpiece. "Here. This is yours."
"Thanks." Mike took the piece from Damien's hand. He gazed at his surroundings. "I think I had better head back now. I have no idea where I am."
"Wait. Let me go with you."
"Are you done looking at the water?"
Damien shook his head. "That's not what I meant. Let me fight with you."
Mike tilted his head. "Are you serious?"
"I think there's something I can learn from the two of you." He stepped over to Mike. "Come on, let's go back. We'd better get an early start tomorrow."
***
"JOEL!" Crow and Servo ran into Lucca's workshop. Crow was holding a pair of cymbals, and Servo had a kazoo in his beak. "Wake up!"
Joel was lying face down at the table where he had been working. He jumped when Servo blew the kazoo in his ear. "Huh?"
"Hey!" Crow began banging the cymbals. He liked the sound they made, so he banged them a few more times. "Sleepyhead! Get up!"
"What the hell's this racket?!" Lucca stepped into the workshop. She wore a sleeveless purple nightgown and matching slippers. It was obvious she had just climbed out of bed. She then noticed the kazoo in Servo's beak. "What's with the kazoo?"
Servo opened his beak to speak, and the kazoo fell out. "The bugle wouldn't fit."
Lucca grinned. "You've got it all wrong. When you really want to wake someone up, you do something like this." She headed over to a nearby table and picked up a chainsaw. Once she fired it up, she placed the blade on top of a nearby plank of steel. The resulting noise was enough to make Joel jump into an upright position.
"Cool!" Crow said in amazement. "Can I try that thing?"
"NO!" The three turned towards the source of the voice. Damien and Mike stood in the doorway.
"Lucca, what the hell's gotten into you?" Mike asked. "You're actually going to let them use power tools?!"
"Why not? If they break, I'll fix them." She noticed that Joel was sitting up. "Morning, Joel."
"Huh?" Joel put a hand to his face. He realized there was a page of an instruction manual stuck to it.
Damien grinned. "Well, there's something I've never seen before."
Joel pulled the paper off his face. "What?"
Damien gestured towards Joel's messy hair. "A scientist with bed head."
"Hey, you're right!" Lucca said. "I think my mom's got some products upstairs to take care of that." With that, she ran out of the shop.
Joel narrowed his eyes in a mock pout. "Are you guys making fun of me?"
Mike smiled. "Once Joel fixes his hair, we're heading to the Earthbound Village."
"Mike! Even you?!" Joel picked up some of his homemade explosives and put them in his pocket. "Did everyone decide to pick on me today?"
"Oh, no," Damien said. "I just think that if you're going to save the future, you shouldn't be having a bad hair day. You need to look more noble." Everyone except Joel started laughing.
"Damien!" Joel tried to sound offended, but he also succumbed to a fit of laughter.
***
Joel, Mike, and Damien headed out of Lucca's house, followed by the Vallants.
"All set?" Lucca asked.
"Yeah," Joel replied. "I made everything we'll need to break into the fortress. Please take care of the `bots while we're gone."
Lucca grinned. "Sure thing."
"Come back soon," Lara said. "Before those damn `bots tear up my house again!" She brandished her cane. Joel shivered.
Taban broke his silence. "Back inside, girls. We don't want to get caught in the time portal." Lucca and Lara nodded, and Lucca headed back inside. Taban helped his wife inside the house.
Damien brandished his pendant. "Mike, can I borrow yours for a second?"
"Sure." Mike pulled his pendant out of his pocket and gave it to Damien. Damien pressed the jewels of the pendants together, and they were whisked away to the Earthbound Village.