Lucca muttered profanity under her breath, letting out a shout as one of
the data chips from the large machine caught fire almost spontaneously.
She gingerly plucked the chip loose from the wires that held it, her
tolerance for fire due to her magical abilities guarding the bare skin of
her hands like flame-retardant gloves. She blew on the chip in an
undoubtedly futile attempt to slow the tiny fire.
After a moment of this, she decided to see how far her tolerance would stretch. She took the burning hunk of metal and wire and smothered it between her hands. And she smiled. There was no pain, and her skin did not harden and shrivel like anyone else's would on contact with a fire - there was only a slight, oddly pleasant tingle.
"Useless now." She murmured as she held up the scorched chip and examined it.
It was beyond repair. She sighed regretfully - it would be a pain, fashioning a new one. If there was even enough spare iron left in the workroom. If not, she would have to pay off the local miners union to get her more from deep inside the mountains of Guardia - a task in itself, as permission was needed from the King.
"So many semantics." She said aloud, jumping down from the huge machine she was working on, sitting beside it.
"Permission shouldn't be hard. Did save the world, after all," She muttered off-handedly, "Even if Chrono gets most of the credit for it. Even if I'm just only of Chrono's little companions. Bah. Stupid data chip. Stupid machine." She murmured, glaring at the giant, winged creation beside her.
She was building an air ship. She had based the hull design on that of the Epoch's - but the inside was inherently different. Inside of the Epoch, she had found thousands of jewels connected to the interweaving wires, all leading up to the central core - a cylindrical full of pure magical energy. It had had a rather violent reaction to her magic - upon touching it, a white-hot burst of pulsating energy had burst from her hands and thrown her back.
But there was nothing magical about her ship - no magic other then that of pure science, that is. So far, she had constructed little more then half of the ship's skeleton - quite possibly the most difficult task yet, as the machine was gigantic in proportion to her small frame. She had needed to employ the help of her father and Chrono to move the pieces and hold them in place while she welded them together.
The top end was opened in order to allow her to work inside, among the intricate wiring she had already placed. She had discovered that, in order to protect the wires, she could coat them with an odd substance she had first discovered that night in Fiona's forest. Upon further inspection, she found that it came from the trees, and that it could be extracted without harming the trees. The substance was strange - when hardened into a spherical shape, it bounced, but when straightened out, it did not. It also kept electrical currents under check. She could not coat the computerized chips, though, and they had a tendency to catch fire at bad times.
Now being one of those times.
"Stupid ship." She grumbled, back against the cold iron of the ship's frame, tossing the useless chip to the grass underfoot and removing her protective helmet.
She shook loose her neatly cropped violet hair - it was slick with sweat. She adjusted the thick goggles that were held on her head by a thin strap, peering out past the ocean that surrounded three sides of her home. She could see most of the rest of the town from where she sat; the front yard of her home. She was grateful for the space between the plot of land her house was on and Truce, because without it, many of her experiments would not have been successful, due to lack of space.
She wrapped her arms around her helmet - it was one of the ones she had acquired on their adventure, and she liked it much better then her old one; this one was made of a hard substance, but was padded on the inside for comfort, unlike the old one, which was made simply out of animal hides. It absorbed some physical damage, as well, no matter what part of her body was hit; it made her feel safe.
The sky was washed over in dreamy oranges as the sun began to set, the clouds the color of fire and ice.
"That's it for tonight," She said to herself, "Don't want to work by moonlight again."
She stretched wide as she stood, patting the side of her ship absently.
"G'night." She said to it. The ship did not respond, as she had expected.
She sighed as a twinge of loss crept through her skin. She missed the others. She wondered to herself whether Ayla and Kino had borne children yet; and if so, what were they like? Strong, no doubt. Particularly if they were little girls, taking after their mother. She smirked as she imagined little clones of Ayla running about Ioka Village, terrorizing the little boys and maybe even the older men.
Her mind drifted to Robo, and she worried. Who was taking care of him, now, making sure he didn't rust and his wires didn't short-circuit? Did he even exist now, after Lavos was destroyed and the future was irrevocably changed? She couldn't be sure; she could only hope that he was still there, and thriving in the future era.
She wasn't sure whether to be surprised or not when she realized that she missed Frog the most, out of all the others that she had to let go. The overly humble, sometimes sullen amphibian she once could only tolerate, and not actually admire as a friend. Or perhaps he had changed to his former self, the human she had never seen with her own eyes? She did not know. She knew only that she missed him. She missed striking up conversation with him at the most random times; she missed explaining technology and it's complexities to him, and catching that little glimmer of wonder in his large eyes as she did so. She missed the eloquency of his speech.
"Get over it," she told herself, "They're all fine in their own times; they're all happy."
Reassured, she gave her unfinished air ship one last affectionate pat, and began towards her home. She hadn't eaten all day; her work had kept her too busy to be bothered with food.
"Wait!!" A sudden voice came.
Startled, she spun around, and her Wonder Shot was in her hand before she could even think about it. Months upon months of random monster attacks had fine-tuned her senses as well as making her a bit paranoid. Her eyes darted about wildly as she searched for the source of the voice.
"Ho! Lower thine weaponry; I am no foe of yours."
Her eyes came to rest on a figure not too far off from her, outlined in the waning light of the sun.
Flowing green hair that reached past broad, caped shoulders, lumescent golden eyes that somehow managed to catch the fleeting rays of the sun in their pupils, wide smile on lips that were perfect in shape and form - and an unmistakable sword strapped to his back, with a blood-red hilt and a blade that glittered like diamond shine.
After a moment of this, she decided to see how far her tolerance would stretch. She took the burning hunk of metal and wire and smothered it between her hands. And she smiled. There was no pain, and her skin did not harden and shrivel like anyone else's would on contact with a fire - there was only a slight, oddly pleasant tingle.
"Useless now." She murmured as she held up the scorched chip and examined it.
It was beyond repair. She sighed regretfully - it would be a pain, fashioning a new one. If there was even enough spare iron left in the workroom. If not, she would have to pay off the local miners union to get her more from deep inside the mountains of Guardia - a task in itself, as permission was needed from the King.
"So many semantics." She said aloud, jumping down from the huge machine she was working on, sitting beside it.
"Permission shouldn't be hard. Did save the world, after all," She muttered off-handedly, "Even if Chrono gets most of the credit for it. Even if I'm just only of Chrono's little companions. Bah. Stupid data chip. Stupid machine." She murmured, glaring at the giant, winged creation beside her.
She was building an air ship. She had based the hull design on that of the Epoch's - but the inside was inherently different. Inside of the Epoch, she had found thousands of jewels connected to the interweaving wires, all leading up to the central core - a cylindrical full of pure magical energy. It had had a rather violent reaction to her magic - upon touching it, a white-hot burst of pulsating energy had burst from her hands and thrown her back.
But there was nothing magical about her ship - no magic other then that of pure science, that is. So far, she had constructed little more then half of the ship's skeleton - quite possibly the most difficult task yet, as the machine was gigantic in proportion to her small frame. She had needed to employ the help of her father and Chrono to move the pieces and hold them in place while she welded them together.
The top end was opened in order to allow her to work inside, among the intricate wiring she had already placed. She had discovered that, in order to protect the wires, she could coat them with an odd substance she had first discovered that night in Fiona's forest. Upon further inspection, she found that it came from the trees, and that it could be extracted without harming the trees. The substance was strange - when hardened into a spherical shape, it bounced, but when straightened out, it did not. It also kept electrical currents under check. She could not coat the computerized chips, though, and they had a tendency to catch fire at bad times.
Now being one of those times.
"Stupid ship." She grumbled, back against the cold iron of the ship's frame, tossing the useless chip to the grass underfoot and removing her protective helmet.
She shook loose her neatly cropped violet hair - it was slick with sweat. She adjusted the thick goggles that were held on her head by a thin strap, peering out past the ocean that surrounded three sides of her home. She could see most of the rest of the town from where she sat; the front yard of her home. She was grateful for the space between the plot of land her house was on and Truce, because without it, many of her experiments would not have been successful, due to lack of space.
She wrapped her arms around her helmet - it was one of the ones she had acquired on their adventure, and she liked it much better then her old one; this one was made of a hard substance, but was padded on the inside for comfort, unlike the old one, which was made simply out of animal hides. It absorbed some physical damage, as well, no matter what part of her body was hit; it made her feel safe.
The sky was washed over in dreamy oranges as the sun began to set, the clouds the color of fire and ice.
"That's it for tonight," She said to herself, "Don't want to work by moonlight again."
She stretched wide as she stood, patting the side of her ship absently.
"G'night." She said to it. The ship did not respond, as she had expected.
She sighed as a twinge of loss crept through her skin. She missed the others. She wondered to herself whether Ayla and Kino had borne children yet; and if so, what were they like? Strong, no doubt. Particularly if they were little girls, taking after their mother. She smirked as she imagined little clones of Ayla running about Ioka Village, terrorizing the little boys and maybe even the older men.
Her mind drifted to Robo, and she worried. Who was taking care of him, now, making sure he didn't rust and his wires didn't short-circuit? Did he even exist now, after Lavos was destroyed and the future was irrevocably changed? She couldn't be sure; she could only hope that he was still there, and thriving in the future era.
She wasn't sure whether to be surprised or not when she realized that she missed Frog the most, out of all the others that she had to let go. The overly humble, sometimes sullen amphibian she once could only tolerate, and not actually admire as a friend. Or perhaps he had changed to his former self, the human she had never seen with her own eyes? She did not know. She knew only that she missed him. She missed striking up conversation with him at the most random times; she missed explaining technology and it's complexities to him, and catching that little glimmer of wonder in his large eyes as she did so. She missed the eloquency of his speech.
"Get over it," she told herself, "They're all fine in their own times; they're all happy."
Reassured, she gave her unfinished air ship one last affectionate pat, and began towards her home. She hadn't eaten all day; her work had kept her too busy to be bothered with food.
"Wait!!" A sudden voice came.
Startled, she spun around, and her Wonder Shot was in her hand before she could even think about it. Months upon months of random monster attacks had fine-tuned her senses as well as making her a bit paranoid. Her eyes darted about wildly as she searched for the source of the voice.
"Ho! Lower thine weaponry; I am no foe of yours."
Her eyes came to rest on a figure not too far off from her, outlined in the waning light of the sun.
Flowing green hair that reached past broad, caped shoulders, lumescent golden eyes that somehow managed to catch the fleeting rays of the sun in their pupils, wide smile on lips that were perfect in shape and form - and an unmistakable sword strapped to his back, with a blood-red hilt and a blade that glittered like diamond shine.