Master and Apprentice

Apprentices, no matter what Netherworld they're from, always seem to get the short end of the stick. Sure, their Master can learn their moves, but the apprentice doesn't get anything in return. He or she simply gives their power to their Master and prays to survive the battles ahead.

However, there are some times when the Master will be generous enough to protect and guide their apprentices. Granted, it's usually in the interest of keeping them alive to learn from, but at least it's something. But in this case, the master had a deeper reason to protect her three apprentices. Her nature was more nurturing than most Demons, and these girls just happened to be her relatives.

S...S

"Lu! Be careful!" Teefa screamed, "Mega Star on my signal!" The young Star Mage nodded at her master's command. She watched the Priest cast her own Mega Star before joining in. Soon, the group of enemies were destroyed. She then breathed a sigh of relief as they went to Innocent Town.

They had been training in the Item World for two reasons. One, Lufia still needed to fine tune her magic before they went to the battle arena with Adell, and two they really needed to subdue some Marksmen for Teefa's boyfriend; he wielded an ax and his last Reincarnation saw to it that he couldn't even hit a level one enemy for some time. Adell had asked his best magicians to get the job done so that his strongest fighter could help them to complete the tournament with ease and they could meet Zenon.

Lufia and Teefa were cousins, their mothers were twins, Teefa being the elder by a single year. Along with Lufia's two cousins on her father's side, by his two sisters, she had become an apprentice to the older and wiser Demoness. It was a simple deal that Lufia's father had made with his somewhat easily perturbed sister-in-law; she was a mighty Magician and not one to be crossed. The trio of Magicians would help teach Teefa their magical abilities in return for Teefa's guidance and protection.

Since helping the Healer to learn Regular and Mega spells, Phoebe had become an Archer and Rutee a Ninja. But Lufia advanced from Red Mage to Star Mage and began teaching that brand of magic. The plan had been to get the ability to use Star Magic up to Omega at least and hopefully Tera; Lufia was wishing there was an easier way to level up so this whole thing was over soon. After learning everything in the Star segment, she could move on to Prism and Galaxy. But, the girl also had to return to the three regular tiers once they found a quick place to train so she could teach Teefa Tera spells.

The reason Lufia was stuck more in the deal was that her father made it. Sure, her aunts Chris and Pamela weren't mad about it being done behind their backs to appease their sister-in-laws twin, but they wanted their girls out of it as soon as possible. So the edits had been made to teach the young woman up to Mega, but to be on call to return to magic if something happened to Lufia. Oh what a true Demon her father was; her life was of second importance to calming her aunt's angry tirades.

Then, to make matters even more complicated, Teefa had to sign up with her boyfriend and his cousin to join a mad quest to defeat Overlord Zenon and to return Princess Rozalin home. So the chance of something happening to Lufia was getting even stronger. Luckily, Teefa also possessed a great sense of honor for a Demoness. She always protected her three apprentices, even going so far as to tossing them out of danger; or threatening to use her magic to knock out anyone who refused to throw them if the toss required more distance than a magic user could generate. And, she encouraged them to improve.

"Are we going on Te? Or returning to town to see the others?" Lufia inquired of her cousin.

Teefa told her, "We got the Marksman so we can return home. Gotta put it in the ax first and foremost, then buy some new weapons now that we have the cash! That tournament is in another day and Master Adell wants everyone else in tip top shape so he can fight Zenon. Man is he obsessive!"

"I'd be too in his situation though," Lufia admitted, "But we are strangers to Veldime, just a group of twelve Warrior School graduates who couldn't find a job anywhere else in any other Netherworld." She then went over to the gatekeeper with her master so they could return to the village.

S...S

"And this is where my degree got me. Going after the God of All Overlords with eleven of my old roommates. Though a mixed gender boarding school dormitory was a good idea then, the perks after graduation didn't really make up for it," Rooks the Destroyer muttered as he hung out by the shops. Suddenly, he saw a light and the two girls were standing there before him. Instantly, the young man took off his ax and handed it to his surprisingly strong girlfriend. She then asked Vene to put the Marksman they'd found in the Ramen into Rooks' ax. She did so and Teefa gave him his weapon back.

The girls left and returned to the house. Lufia got on her cell and began to call home. But the service began to fizzle before she made the call. Disgusted, she slammed the phone on the ground.

Teefa said, "Calm down! Veldime never did have much in the way of service. If you break your phone, it'll cost a lot lf HL to fix and we'll get in trouble. It's not like any of our parents are actually wanting to see us. My mom still won't let me come home until I become stronger and master every freakin' attack magic spell in the world. I mean, unless we find that Holy Grail of leveling up, that'll take forever. And your father won't let you home until you appease my mother. Why did she have to make that deal anyway? Dad wanted my sister and I to be Healers and Mom wanted us to be Magicians. They should have just got one of us to do each. There were two of us in the family after all."

Lufia giggled; Teefa was as indignant about the whole deal as she. "Then Aunt Wanda strong armed my father into making the deal, and he nearly got killed by his own sisters for doing so. Man, getting whipped by that many females…Dad never was much of a man. Then again, our parents are Demons. They're trying to live their own lives through us. If it were anyone else, then I'd be going crazy. But you've always been helpful to me and actually care whether I live or die during this training."

"You're my younger cousin," Teefa admitted, "I have to look out for you. If we'd had a choice, I'd have signed up for another job. But even though we had a good education, we were called too young and too inexperienced to work for most Overlords. The best I could find was this gig forming a rebellion. Though I'm still miffed at that man for giving me a stupid bow when I wanted to use my staff."

"I feel closer to you than my own siblings after all the schooling we went through together. My endless sibling rivalry with my brothers and sisters led Mom to enroll us in different schools. We've been roommates since we were kids and I've always been able to rely on you," Lufia stated.

Teefa added, "And after all we've been through, I feel even closer to you than to my own twin."

Lufia nodded. "Well, we probably should rest a little. After all, we have only a day before we have to head to the arena for this tournament. And I don't want to miss it! It'll be our first chance to prove ourselves before a multitude of spectators on TV. Then, we'll probably get lots of offers after this gig."

S...S

"Teefa!" called Kemru, "I've got a Subpoena for you for Using Excessive Force! Looks like your violent tirades through the Item World haven't gone unnoticed by the courts. You're a lucky kid." That brought the girl out of her reverie from where she had been sitting near the Dimensional Gate. She went over to the postmaster and picked up her Subpoena. Then, she went to ask Vene to move the Bailiff into an ABC Gum. Teefa wanted to get her conviction as soon as possible but had a limited time until the tournament. Just to be on the safe side, she went back to the house to strong-arm Rooks and Lufia into going with her. After all, it never hurt to be prepared and to have a little bit of backup.

"Excessive Force, eh? Well, you have blown up quite a bit of property lately," Rooks joked.

Teefa yelled, "Cut the cracks about my hard work! I need to head to the lower levels ASAP cuz the moron is on Floor 22. Get a Mr. Gency's Exit because I want out the second I leave the court. Else Master Adell is going to be quite perturbed at the fact that his star vassals left before the tournament."

So the group returned to Vene and asked her to transport them into the ABC Gum. The Item Worlder smiled; Teefa always was her favorite customer because she was really good at powering up items quickly. Then, she began to concentrate and transported the team into the item.

S...S

Finally, the group of three had arrived at the 22nd Floor. They did, however, have to stop Lufia from renaming the item "Flavorless Gum" for kicks; she then vowed to do it to another ABC Gum when they had more time. A large group of Demons were at their backs and began trying to attack the trio. Rooks brandished his ax and turned to the women. "Run! Head for the portal and get into the court! I'll hold 'em off till the bitter end. And don't worry, there's a Gatekeeper and I won't kill him."

The two girls began running in the opposite direction, Teefa firing spells at every which way. Suddenly, they found themselves at the edge of a cliff. They could see the gate to the Prinny Court over on the other island, out of their walking reach. Teefa sighed, nothing was ever easy with her.

"I'll toss you," Lufia suggested, "Then you can get the conviction and come back out." So she picked her cousin up and began getting ready to throw her. However, just in the nick of time, she realized that she didn't have the reach to get her there. But Lufia still didn't put Teefa down because she was nervous about dropping her off the ledge anyway. She gulped and prepared to take a step back.

"Can't reach, eh? Lucky I finished the last of our attackers off. Alley oop ladies!" Rooks said as he walked up to them. Then, he picked up Lufia and tossed them both…right into the gateway. The two hit the ground in a collapsed pile and were suddenly transported to the dimension of the court. Rooks then sweatdropped; he had acted on impulse. What did happen if two people were in the court?

S...S

Teefa came to at the rear of the court. She was soon aware that her cousin was below her. The Priest got up and brushed herself off, then picked up her Star Mage cousin. After making sure the other was ok, both women looked forward at the judge and his jury, who were looking back curiously.

One Prinny exclaimed, "Dood! You just crashed through the gate to the court! Hey judge! Wasn't there supposed to be only one girl coming here for a trial? Why do we suddenly have two people in the courtroom? Did some idiot put us on an inaccessible stretch of land once again?" He was immediately bopped in the head for his outburst by the Prinny seated on his left hand side.

The judge shrugged. "Oh well. We'll just have to make the Magician an accessory to the crime. The Healer girl is definitely the one we called for. I take it the girl with you would be your Pupil. It always happens, when the Healer is destructive it's because she had a Mage or Skull accompanying her."

"Yes, this is my Pupil," Teefa replied, "It was she who taught me the magic I've been using."

"Then she really is an accessory. Good! Well, we highly praise your use of Excessive Force. You are hereby both given 4 Convictions. Keep up the good work in the battles ahead. Now, who should I subpoena next? Maybe those two ninjas for their insane Speed. Court adjourned!" the judge yelled. Then, Teefa and Lufia were transported back to the Item World. Rooks grabbed their Mr. Gency's Exit and held it up. Suddenly, a door opened and the trio of friends returned to Veldime.

S...S

Adell muttered, "Where did those three get to? If they don't get some rest, they won't have enough energy to compete tomorrow." He was pacing up and down in front of the house, looking quite upset. Taro and Hanako were playing off to the side and Rozalin was leaning against the house looking quite bored. Sure she was impatient, but she was conducting herself like a civilized person.

Before she got angry enough to comment about Adell's behavior, the trio returned from the Item World. As the princess and her self-appointed bodyguard looked around the corner, they saw Teefa and Lufia with huge smiles plastered on their faces, courtesy of their new criminal records, and Rooks hanging back with his arms in back of his head. They looked tired, but somewhat rejuvenated.

Teefa gave Adell a hearty slap on the back. "Well, we've bulked up as best we can and are ready for a little RnR. Then, tomorrow we're gonna kick tail in the tournament! Finally, we can meet Zenon and end this little game once and for all." Then, the three went back inside the house, leaving the stunned Adell standing there in shock. He didn't know a Healer of all people could hit that hard.

- - - -

Teefa's Last Words...

Well, the first Disgaea 2 chapter is written. Er, the use of the Muse's names was a last minute decision because we realized it would be confusing if Adell and Laharl had the same names for their vassals. That was before even planning a story chapter. And we couldn't think of anybody else to use that would give us that many characters because we hadn't had such a large group of fanfic characters for any other RPG cept La Pucelle, and we don't want to use other N1 games to further confuse people. And someone tell Sky I am not lazy and if she wants to annoy me she's gonna get written up as a Beastmaster who has a lot of problems.