Okay, the voters have spoken. Out of three, two of you chose Chrono Chaos over The Ballad of GunImpmon, so this is what I'm posting this week. Since Sparrow's Flight and Fallout Warrior aren't doing so well, I'm only going to post one chapter this week. Sorry, but since I've been getting fewer reader than I'd like, I'm going to try to work on them before posting again. And Ace's Journey isn't done yet, but I'm not posting the chapter this week. Next week though, along with the second chapter of this one.
Now for the news. I've not received any requests, and I'm still taking them. One shots only though, I can't push that point enough. If you've got a one shot idea, pitch it to me and I'll see if I can make it a reality. Check my profile for the information I want, because I have a specific system to make things a little easier.
Disclaimer: I, Lord Genesis Shadow, do not own the rights to Chrono Trigger. That right belongs to Square Enix, one of the best RPG makers I've ever known.
…
My name is Gene Alastor. I've had a good life so far. Well, most of my life has been good. I'm sixteen, and I live in a small house a few miles away from the village with my mother. I'm five feet eight inches in height, a bit tall for my age. I weigh, about one hundred and forty pounds or so. I haven't checked my weight in a few weeks. I have long white hair, reaching the middle of my back, but it works for me. My skin has a light tan to it, though I spend so much time in the sun one could expect me to be practically bronze all over. My eyes are bright green, and I like looking them over in a mirror from time to time.
I rarely change out of my usual outfit. I wear a black training Gi, along with my tailored black training pants, secured by a simple rope. I wear a pair of black martial arts slippers, with black tabi socks, because they're comfortable and they fit well. Last, I never go anywhere without my favorite black headband. My father gave it to me, and it was frayed at the ends. It made me feel strong when I wore it, so I rarely removed it, only to bathe, though I even wear it to sleep.
I've been called handsome by many girls from the village, and I've got a martial artist's physique to go with it. I'm self trained in the art of swordsmanship, as well as basic martial arts. I know some advanced techniques, but it takes a lot of energy out of me to use them.
…
I drew my blade, ready to strike the training dummy again, when the bells chimed at the square. I looked up from my stance and saw birds rising into the sky, and I smiled. It was the festival again, the annual festival I looked forward to every year. I returned the pitted and rusted blade to the scabbard. I had finally saved up enough money to buy a new sword, and a sharp one I would buy. A silver sword, forged by Melchior the swordsmith, who came every year from across the sea to sell his wares at the festival.
"Today." I said calmly. "Is going to be one for me to remember." I looked at the clothes I had set aside. They were my fathers, before he had passed away some fifteen years ago. They looked exactly like mine, only with a brighter sheen and a higher thread count. I was only a year old at the time, but I had shed many a tear for the man my mother told me so much of. 'For you father, I will teach myself to wield a proper sword, so I can finally be able to wield yours. I will learn the values you wanted so badly to be instilled within me, and I will protect that which is important to me, at the cost of my very being if I must. But I vow that I will do what is right, and I will do that which my heart tells me is true.' I smiled and walked over to the clothes. My mother was already at the festival, but I wanted to get in some more training time. I had done a lot of work for a lot of people to get my money, and my mother had helped by giving me a ten gold allowance each week. Fifty two weeks was an eighth of what I needed, but fifty two weeks of working for the various villagers in this and the southern village had given me the rest, and a bit more. I would buy my sword, but I would get my mother a gift as well. And if any was left over, providing it was enough, I'd buy something for the girl I had long since developed a crush for. 'For her, I'll buy that necklace she had looked at last year. Melchior promised he wouldn't sell it to anyone but me. I hope he keeps his promise.'
…
I walked into the square and heard the cheerful music, the excited shouting of the children, and sounds of joy all around. It brought a great smile to my face. I saw a boy in a blue suit with red hair and a white headband walking around, looking about happily. I knew him from passing, and he was a fellow self training swordsman. His name was Crono, and he lived alone with his mother as well. He was always looking out for others, but he seemed to have plenty of time to train. I spotted Melchior's booth and smiled wider. I saw the necklace as well. It had a fine alchemically treated silver chain, and a brooch of the same silver. It would open so that one could place a pair of pictures within. I had a small photo of Lucca, something taken by her parents that was given to my mother, which she gave to me. I figured it would look better in the small brooch. I had five thousand gold coins, meaning the sword would set me back to one thousand. It too was alchemic silver, and it was a beautiful blade. He had set one aside, a masterwork as he put it. It was the sharpest blade he had ever forged, worth at least double, but he gave me a discount since I was working so hard to earn the gold for it.
'Okay, today is the day I finally get my sword.' I thought. 'I finally have enough to earn a real blade, capable of cutting down those monsters in the forest for real training, instead of all this training with a blunt, rusted, and pitted blade.' I patted my left hip, devoid of the old sword. I had put it in my room, on a shelf where I would see it as I fell asleep at night. It served me well over the eight years I trained with it. I am fifteen, and it took me until I was seven to finally become strong enough to lift the sword, which at the time was as tall as me. 'I can finally prepare to protect my mom.' I felt a slight blush appear on my face. 'And Lucca, if she will let me.' I walked over to Melchior and he smiled at the sight of me.
"Hello there Gene." He said. "So, did you finally earn that four thousand gold to buy my masterpiece?" I nodded.
"Yes I have Melchior." I said proudly. I pulled out the four bags of gold, each holding a thousand. He laughed heartily. "I worked every day for the whole year to get all of this." He smiled widely and turned his back to me. I heard the soft sounds of scabbards knocking against each other, and the unsheathing of blades every so often. Finally, he made a triumphant sound, an 'Aha', and he turned to face me. The scabbard was beautiful, a true sight to behold. It was blue, with white cloud patterns. It was painted to mimic a midsummer sky. "Wow, it's beautiful. But, didn't it used to be in a black scabbard?" He nodded.
"I figured that since the festival is in the summer." He said proudly. "I'd make a new scabbard for it, out of sturdy oak, and I figured that I'd paint it the colors of the sky, clouds included. I've also honed the blade to a far keener state, making it even sharper, and I've also made it more flexible, to account for the lost density." I set down the four bags and he set it the blade in my hands. "It's treated so that it will never lose the edge I put on it, but be careful, because it can still break." I nodded and looked at him. He held out a silver sash to me. "This goes with it, free of charge. No swordsman using a Katana should ever be without a sword sash." I smiled as I slowly took it. I held the blade under my arm and moved the sash around my waist, tying it carefully. I put the sword into it and pulled it tighter, making it cling to my body. "So, what do you think?"
"I like it." I said calmly. I put my left hand on the hilt and smiled. "I feel, complete."
"Well, since you feel so good, do you still want that trinket?" He asked. I nodded. "Okay, that's one hundred and fifty gold for it." I smiled and pulled the last gold bag. I pulled out one coin after another at a rapid pace that must have seemed a blur to anyone that passed. I set down the last coin and Melchior smiled. "Well, you're getting quite fast Gene. You'll be quite the great swordsman in a few years." I smiled as he handed me the necklace.
"Thanks Melchior." I said. "I don't know what I'd do without you." I looked at the locket and he held out another. "I only paid for one." He shook his head.
"These come in sets of two." He said calmly. "I always make them in pairs, because these are lockets of love and friendship." I nodded and slowly took the second. They each had a pattern on them, but they were different. One had a flame emblazoned on the front, and the other had what looked like a person and a long shadow. "The Flames of Friendship and Kindness is what I call the first one I gave you. It symbolizes how much one appreciates and cherishes their friends and the kindness in their hearts." I nodded with a smile. That suited Lucca perfectly. She was a good person, a great friend, and she was as kind a person as I had ever known. "The second, is the Shadows of Love and Honor. Normally, one would not assume shadows, a form of darkness, a quality of either, but I believe that love has a darkness to it, since two people that love each other want that person only for themselves." I nodded slowly. "And honor, a feeling that one is doing the right thing, regardless of what they are doing. A person feeling such honor can be considered stubborn, not noticing the world around them, defending what they love, but never seeing what they are hurting to protect it." I thought of his words. Did he know how I felt about Lucca? Did he know why I was training? He sounded as if he were warning me. I simply nodded, trying to understand his words.
…
I drew the sword as Lucca activated her newest machine, Gato, the singing robot that trained people by letting them fight him.
"Okay, he's ready." She said warily. "And, I did as you asked. He's on the highest setting. He's not going to hold back even a little bit." She bit her lip. "Are you completely sure about this? I mean, he's got some pretty mean attacks when I turn off the limiter, and he won't stop until you set the meter down to the E." I spun the sword over my wrist. I wore the Shadows of Love and Honor around my neck, and I felt more confident than ever about my skill. I had mastered a skill that transferred a powerful gust of wind down the edge of the rusted sword, and it had cut my training dummy in half. I had only gotten better at it, making the wind faster, and sharper. It actually cut some of the rust off of the old blade one time, and it sent the particles into the dummy, making small holes. "Okay, if you're sure about this." I smiled as the eyes lit up. He didn't speak, but he walked forward slowly, with an air of determination. Lucca hid in one of the tents, likely afraid that I would be hurt.
"They call me Gato." The robot finally said in a deep tenor. "I have metal joints." He was singing. "If, you can beat me up, I'll give you fifteen points!" He swung his large right fist and I smiled. I was fast; there wasn't one person that didn't think so in either village. I had jumped onto his arm a split second before he could hit me. I ran up his arm and swung the sword at his head before jumping away. There was a long gray line where my sword had hit him, a mark through the paint. I had jumped over ten feet away, landing with my feet against the trunk of a tree. "I shall make you pay for that, you little white haired punk!" He held up both arms as he sang. A compartment in his stomach opened and a large gloved fist shot out. "Now I'll make you taste my fist, you little human skunk!" I jumped over the fist as it smashed into the tree. I ran along it as the scissor crossed arm retracted, making me approach him even faster.
"My name, is Gene Alastor!" I sang. I jumped over his head, slashing again. "I have a silver blade!" I ran around him as he turned. He couldn't keep up with me. "From the sword smith Melchior, 'twas by him it was made!" I sliced along his back, making him turn faster. The meter was almost empty. I jumped up and kicked the meter, making it land on the E side. He stopped moving and looked down at me. I stepped back as he pulled out a microphone and held it to his 'mouth'. He began singing, but I tuned him out. I was smiling too widely to care about his voice, despite how remarkably similar it sounded to Lucca's father. 'Alright then, I'm getting good. Lucca makes the best sparring machines, and I beat her newest model, and he wasn't holding back.' I sheathed the blade as the fist came out, holding fifteen silver cards in it.
"Wow, I never thought anyone could handle Gato at his full power." Lucca said. The fist retracted and Gato's orange eyes dimmed. "Color me impressed." She held her hands up with her right eye closed, meaning she was sincerely amazed at my skills. I simply put the cards in a small pouch made for them and put it away. "I always said machines are great, but you just proved that there's no substitute for human skill." I rubbed the back of my head with a toothy grin.
"Well, I do train every single day." I said. "Even after a long day of delivering milk and newspapers, helping out with carpenters, and even unloading crates at the docks." She smiled and pointed her right index finger at me, making me smile wider.
"And let's not forget all the help you gave me and my dad." She said. "Unloading all that heavy machinery, those gears, and even that time you helped my dad move that entire steel I beam into place." I laughed slightly, closing my mouth, but still smiling.
"Heh, I guess I am pretty helpful." I said. "But hey, what are friends for?"
…
I stood at the ice cream stall. I wanted to wait until after Lucca demonstrated her new invention. She told me it was something amazing, but she wouldn't say what. I smiled as the man gave me a vanilla scoop in the waffle cone. I had set down the gold beforehand and licked the side of the treat.
"So, are you going to give that pretty girl a present this year?" A female voice asked. I turned and saw my mom standing behind me. I smiled and nodded.
"Yes." I replied. "I managed to get her this beautiful silver locket." She smiled and walked up to the counter. The man had already prepared her a strawberry cone and handed it to her. She reached for her change purse but I had already set down the gold for it. "I've got it mom. I haven't worked hard all year, saving all this gold, just so my mother can pay for her own ice cream." She smiled as the vender closed his eyes with a grin of his own. I licked the vanilla and enjoyed it. I loved vanilla a lot more than chocolate or strawberry. I actually couldn't eat the strawberry flavor because it hurt my stomach. It made me sick just to have even a small taste. I had discovered that unfortunate fact at Lucca's house one day. Her father had brought home some snacks for her mother, as well as Lucca. He had gotten some extra so he gave me one. They were hollow chocolates filled with strawberry syrup. I had instantly gotten sick after the first one, and I had a coughing fit. I had run out of the house quickly and regurgitated the chocolate and my breakfast into their garbage can. "So, how do you like the fair this year mom?" She smiled as she licked her frozen treat.
"I'm having a grand time." She said. "It's the best one yet I think." I saw a girl with blonde hair in a white tunic and pants run by, looking everywhere with more excitement than I had ever seen. "It's so peaceful; I just can't imagine a better place to be today." She sighed contently. "I just wish your father were still here Milliardo." I blushed at the name. I was named for my father, Milliardo Alastor. He was the greatest swordsman in the kingdom, wielding a powerful blade that struck down monsters with a single swing. One day, we had received a letter that he had been killed by a powerful monster, but the monster had not escaped, and had died shortly after. "He would be so proud of you." I smiled.
"I know mom." I said. "He'd be right here next to you, eating an ice cream with us. He loved the fair. And he'd love this one." She nodded. "The first Millennial Fair. It's been a thousand years since this kingdom began."
…
"Step right up, and be the first to try out our latest invention!" Lucca called happily. Her father pulled down the sheet and rapidly rolled it up, revealing the strangest contraption I've seen yet. "The Teleportation Pod, able to move you from one place to another in the blink of an eye!" She winked as she said that, making me smile. Her father walked over to one 'pod' and gestured to it with a smile. "Step onto this platform, which we call pod 'A'." Her father walked over to the other and gestured, still smiling. "And you will instantly arrive in pod 'B'. It's fast, painless, and amazingly smooth. I guarantee you'll love it, and I think you'll agree, it's the best way to travel." I smiled wider as Crono looked it over with amusement. The girl I saw before was next to him, wearing a beautiful pendant around her neck. "So, who wants to go first?"
"Oooh, that looks so amazing." The blonde girl said. I saw her turn to Crono. "What do you think? Should we try it?" I stepped forward and the crowd stared at my bravery. Some of Lucca's inventions didn't turn out, properly, at the best of times.
"Oh, here we go folks!" Lucca called as I stepped up beside her, turning to the crowd. "Look at this specimen of manliness, clad in black and wielding one of Melchior's signature blades!" I crossed my arms and gave a smug look to the crowd. "Here we have Gene Alastor, one of the most helpful men in the whole village, ready to put his name to our teleportation pods!" I flexed slightly, deciding to give the crowd a show. "Isn't he the fearless one folks? He knows firsthand what some of our more, technical, inventions can do when there's a mistake. But he's willing to tempt fate, to show you that what we have here is perfectly safe." I smiled wider.
'Anything for you Lucca.' I thought. I flexed again, and the crowd stared intently. I flashed them another cocky smile. "Don't worry about me ladies and gentlemen." Lucca turned to me. "I'll still be here next year to help with your gardens, your groceries, and I'll still be delivering your milk. That's a promise." I gave a quick thumbs up before Lucca smiled. She walked me over to the pod and I stepped up and onto the platform. After a few seconds I felt a strange feeling of being pulled apart, but not painfully so. 'This isn't so bad. I could get used to this.' Suddenly, my vision flashed blue and I saw the crowd from another angle. I felt perfectly fine, as if I had been standing there the whole time. They all stared at me and I smiled again. I raised my arms triumphantly. "Now that's the way to get around!" The crowd cheered as I stepped down. Lucca walked over and looked me over, making me smile inwardly. 'Not the way I had intended, but I'm not about to complain.' I mentally smiled wider as she patted me over slightly, smiling as she did so. She turned and raised her arms while I smiled widely.
"See folks?" She asked the crowd. "Nothing to fear, he's in one piece!" The crowd went wild as Crono looked at the pods, stepping up slowly. He was just as brave as me. "Oh, another brave volunteer." He walked up to the pod and stepped in. "Here we have Crono, the other great lad of the village. Clad in blue, wearing his signature white headband, he's the chromatic opposite of Gene, but don't be fooled, he's just as tough, just as nice, though not quite as skilled with a sword yet." Crono laughed while I stepped back into the crowd. She continued talking, but the girl interrupted my listening.
"What was it like?" She asked. I turned my head to her. She seemed very excited about it, almost literally having stars in her eyes. "It looks like fun." I smiled and nodded.
"It is." I replied. "It's a bit of a short ride, but it's really fun. One second I'm standing over there." I pointed to pod 'A'. "And I see the crowd watching. The next second." I pointed to pod 'B' exactly as Crono appeared in it. "Well, there he is, and there I was seeing the crowd from another angle." She nodded as Crono walked over.
"Wow, I want to try." She said quickly. She ran up and Lucca smiled and introduced her as a 'lovely young lady.'
"She's really energetic." Crono said quietly. He didn't talk much, but his voice was calm and deep. I simply nodded. "So how's the sword Melchior gave you?"
"Shining silver, cut's through what it needs to." I replied. "How'd you meet her?"
"Ran into her in front of the bell as it rang." He replied.
"You know, they say when two people hear that, they're destined to fall in love." I said. He nodded. "That is, if you're superstitious." He laughed as Lucca began turning on the machine.
…
I stared at the machine, trying to see if there was something they had missed. Not that I doubted them, but I had picked up a few things watching them during my short stays. Her father had taught me a few things, and Lucca had given me some tips on making small machines. The best I could do was make a metal gauntlet with a bunch of gears to make it grip things ten times that of my natural strength. It had taken me a few weeks, but Lucca said it was amazing in its simplicity. I smiled at her words and built another, figuring maybe they could be useful for something, like climbing mountains. She had said that if I had added a locking mechanism, it could have held something in place. It was worthless for handling delicate tools, but for holding a hammer it would be perfect. With some leather covering, and adding it to some armor, it could really help a knight.
"I can't figure it out." Lucca said. "I don't know what happened, I, I just can't figure it out."
"Maybe it was because she was a girl?" Her father offered. Lucca shook her head.
"No, we tried it on me and this didn't happen." She said. I looked at the 'wires'. That was something that continued to elude me. Covering a long thread of copper, steel, or whatever metal, with red, blue, yellow, or whatever color of rubber or plastic, somehow made electricity and other stuff go into the machine, making it work the way it was supposed to. "I just can't figure this out."
"I'm the same way with these wires." I mumbled. I was rewarded with a soft thump on the top of my head. I looked up to see Lucca staring down at me. "What? I can't figure these things out. How do they really work?" She opened her mouth. "Well, maybe if I knew, I'd be able to help a little more. As it stands now, I can't figure out how a thin wire of metal that's covered with colored plastic or rubber makes a machine work." I looked at the wires. "They all look like they go to the right places, the color of the wires matches the little places you plug them into, so I guess that isn't it." She sighed and I stood up. "The only thing I can think of is that she had something on her or in her that me and Crono didn't." I looked at her. "And something you didn't have in or on you." She stared at me and then looked over to pod 'A'.
"That's it." She said. I looked and saw the pendant.
"The trinket?" I asked. She nodded quickly as Crono picked it up and looked it over. "Well, why didn't anything happen to me? I've got a pendant on and I wasn't affected." She looked at me as I pulled the Shadows of Love and Honor out from my black shirt. She looked at it and then at the one in Crono's hand.
"No, this is different." She said. "The girl's has a stone set in it, and this, this is just alchemic silver." I snapped the fingers on my right hand, pretending to remember the other one.
"I just remembered." I said.
"You have to leave?" She asked. I noticed she sounded kind of sad, so I shook my head.
"No, I mean, my pendant." I said. I pulled out the Flames of Friendship and Kindness. "I bought these from Melchior. I paid for one and he gave me this one with it." She stared at it. "I, well, he said that he makes them in pairs." I held the Flames pendant in my right hand and I moved my left to the Shadows pendant and looked at it. "He called this one the Shadows of Love and Honor. I figured, since I always wear black, it seemed fitting." She nodded as Crono put the girl's pendant on carefully. I looked at the Flames pendant. "He called this one the Flames of Friendship and Kindness. I, well, I figured that since he wouldn't take it back, I'd give it to you." She stared at me for a moment. "I mean, you know, since you have that cool 'flamethrower', and you're always so nice to me." She blushed. "I figured I'd give it to you. You're my friend, and your kind, and you love fire, so, well, yeah." She smiled as I held it out to her. She took it and looked at me.
"Um, sorry to interrupt, but, I've got an idea." Crono said. We looked at him and Lucca quickly put her necklace on, making me smile inwardly. "If this thing sent Marle, wherever it sent her, then it can send me there too right?" Lucca nodded slowly before nodding quickly.
"You're right." She said. "If we send you through, whatever that was, you can find her. If it drops the pendant again, Gene can go through, and then I'll go after he does." She turned to me. "If that's okay with you." I nodded.
"Sure." I said. "If she's in trouble, I'm obligated to help her. After all, she asked me if it was fun, and I told her it was. I encouraged her, so this is partly my fault." Crono and Lucca nodded quickly and I blushed. "Well, you didn't have to agree so quickly. I mean, I feel bad about this here. You, you could have at least waited a few seconds, like you were thinking of saying no." They laughed at my humor.