More Than Anyone Can Take

More Than Anyone Can Take was the first chapter in the famous (And infamous) Kain Saga of 1997/1998, the longest-running series of Daria fanfics at the time (until Kara Wild's Driven Wild Universe series in early-1999.

Background

Chris Smith was reading Daria fanfics (He later learned that some were called "Mary Sues") in September/October 1997 on alt.lawndale.com and Planet Daria when he came across the Carpe Diem fic (written by Katherine Goodman) and the Michael Andrews series (written by Michael Pfeffer. Because at the time, known Mystik Spiral members were limited to Trent and Jesse, Chris decided to use Katherine's Reuben Garnet character to reprise his role as Mystik Spiral drummer. "More than Anyone Can Take" is a sequel to Maine Escape by Michael Pfeffer, reviving the roles of Michael Andrews and Mara Jade.

Summary

Kain, a mysterious person, attends Lawndale High School to acquire his diploma. Through mysterious circumstances, Kain becomes student principal by Lunch period. Michael Andrews, blinded with rage (over the belief that Kain killed his father) unsuccessfully attempts to raid Kain's estate on the edge of Lawndale. The next day, a set of five Quinn clones walk past Daria and Jane, and into the school, leaving Sandi a babbling mess. The clones (Plus the real Quinn) are brought to Kain's estate by Stacy and Tiffany, but they're all scared of "A monster" that is prowling the front yard (Later it would be revealed that the monster is actually an unmanned sentry robot). Daria, Jane, Michael Andrews, Mara Jade, Trent, Jesse, and Reuben all pile into the Tank and head to Kain's Estate to sort out the whole mess. Daria's crew and the Fashion Club crew both enter the Estate and are guided to the basement laboratory to sort out the Quinn problem. One of the Quinn clones runs away, thinking she was going to be killed. It is assumed she was killed by "The monster" in the front yard. Kain then explains that there is a clone of himself running around the world, committing acts of terrorism, and asks Michael to help track him down and hopefully bring him to his senses.

Notes

• This chapter takes place on November 2nd (Night), 3rd (Day and night), 4th (Day and night), and 5th (Morning only) of 1997. The series was carefully scripted around the entire month of November 1997 to make it a real-time series.

• The story arc regarding Kain and Michael's fathers was dropped after this chapter, after Chris realized there would be no way to explain so early in the series how Kain never had a father to begin with.

• The Automatic Duster's constant meltdowns would become a running gag in the series.

• The computer would later be revealed to be an A.I. resembling that of Kain's deceased wife.