Chapter III
Lucca sighed as she set down the communicating device. "Well, it looks as though we have a job again, doesn't it?"
Diane smirked at her mom. "I told you that it was important, but you wouldn't let me say anything."
"Hush."
I have a question.
"Shoot."
How did Gaspar get a communicator?
"Oh, during that time before we went back home, I thought that if Gaspar had one, we'd be informed if something screwy happened. Not that I expected anything, but…"
One more question. Why doesn't the button labeled Magus work?
"Oh, uh, hehe… He… didn't get one."
Marle looked at her. "Why not? He was in the group, too. Now we're going to have to look for him."
"Oh, I tried to give him one," explained Lucca, "but he wouldn't take it. He said something about 'the needless, uninformative chatter that would result from those communicators would hinder searches that took a higher priority than most other events.'"
Ouch.
"That's the way Magus is. Almost nothing is more important to him than finding Schala." Lucca shrugged. "Maybe this will get his attention, though."
"Yeah. By the way, when do we leave?"
Marle looked at Diane. "You are not leaving, young lady. You are staying here. It's much too dangerous."
"Awww, mom! You're treating me like I'm some little kid!"
"You are twelve, and you are staying."
So, Lucca. When should we leave?
"Huh?" She looked at Crono, startled. "Oh, I'm sorry, guys. I can't go with you."
"What? Of course you can, Lucca! You're from the group! You were with us from the beginning!"
"Oh, I know, Marle." Lucca wrangled a dry grin. "I wouldn't be any help to you guys, though. I can't use the magic anymore."
"Oh, sure you can! I know the magic starts to wear off, but we could teach you how again."
"Sorry, Marle. I've been too dependent on machines for too long. I'd never be able to get along without them." She chuckled. "After being holed up in a house alone with all these machines for 10 years, getting some visits from dad, you start to become dependent. However," she said, raising her hand to stop Marle, "I can't sit around doing nothing. I'll help from here with some inventions. It's my decision. Now come on guys. I've got some new armor I want you to try on."
Marle and Crono resignedly filed out of the workshop, following Lucca to the main house.
Diane looked around the workshop furtively, making sure that they were all gone. She immediately ran over to the table the communicator was on, grabbed a backpack off it, and ran out the door.
"Here we are. For you Marle, the Princess Gown will be your armor. It has an extremely high physical defense. For your helmet, the Diamond Tiara is yours. Your accessory is the Diamond Stud, giving you Haste and fifty percent off magic. You'll have to use your Valkerye as your weapon, though." Lucca handed her the items.
"Oh, Lucca these are beautiful! Thank you." Marle gave Lucca a close hug.
"Now for Crono. You'll have to use the Rainbow sword still. For your armor, the Colorless Vest. It absorbs fifty percent of all magic attacks. Your helmet will be the Dread Bandanna, preventing status ailments. Your accessory will be the Frenzy Band, because I couldn't think of anything else, and I still had one of those. Here you go."
Thank you. This is more than enough.
Lucca smiled. "What else could I do for a friend? Now, you two run along. I'd suggest going to the Future first. Robo said something about a disturbance before Gaspar called. And don't worry about Diane! I'll take care of her!" she shouted as they walked out of the room. "Now, where did Diane go?"
Marle looked up the ladder, exhaling loudly. "I guess this is it , huh, Crono?"
He nodded.
"Well, then. Let's do this." Marle started climbing the ladder.
Crono looked back at Lucca's house, shook his head, and followed after Marle.
Now in the air on the Epoch Air Yacht, Marle tried to recall all of what Lucca had told them about the new Epoch.
"She said that the controls are exactly like the original Epoch's. It can go at higher speeds than the Epoch, though. It has a storage room for our items. Umm, let's see… oh, yeah! It has beds for six people, one of which is for a couple, 2 bathrooms, and has a full-fledged kitchen stocked with food."
Crono got up.
"What is it?"
I'm going to take that kitchen for a test drive.
Marle put her head in her hands and muttered, "Just... please try to leave some food?"
The silence that responded didn't assure Marle in the slightest.
Crono made his way to the back of the Air Yacht and walked into the kitchen. It was a fair sized kitchen, with a nice oak table, six oak chairs, and a person sitting in one of the chairs. The person was eating what appeared to be a ham and cheese sandwich. As Crono stared, the person swallowed what they had in their mouth, waved, and said, "Hi, dad."
Oh. Hi. Crono turned to the refrigerator to see if there was anything good. He suddenly snapped his head up, narrowly missing the freezer on top.
Dad?
He turned back around to look at the person at the table. She waved.
Crap.
Marle watched as Crono walked back to his seat. She was surprised. "Back so soon?" she teased. "That was an extremely short 'test drive'. Was there anything good?"
Crono bent his head. Someone beat me to it.
Marle was confused. "Beat you to what?"
The test drive.
Marle stood up, shouting "WHAT?!" She ran to the back of the ship.
Crono sat at the wheel, staring at his watch, waiting.
…
…
…
"DIIIIAAAAAANNNNE!!"
Crono winced. It was times like this that he wished he were born deaf instead of mute.
A/N - Wow. It's been quite some time since I've last updated. And, no, that's totally not an understatement...
When I started this thing, I originally had planned to make a game, just for fun. My sister, known as Beta-chan on this website, was going to help. The problem came when I ran into a creative wall. I had this basic plot and stuff worked out, but I couldn't get the details fleshed out. So, my sister suggested I write a story. And so, here it is. I started back in the summer after my 9th grade year, and Beta-chan posted the story on her account until I got an account of my own. I didn't get around to that until after my 11th grade year, but I did keep writing a few chapters. And then, I just sort of... stopped. It happens with a lot of my pet projects, sad to say. I'd like to one day finish them all, but life gets in the way.
Well, almost 3 years later, here I am, updating again. We can thank Nintendo for that. Their announcement of a new Chrono Trigger for the DS reminded me of this, and I decided to start it back up. I have a couple chapters I've already written, but it's been years since I've looked at them and proofread... my writing style might be more mature now, and the chapters will probably end up slightly longer, though that's not a positive. At least, I hope I'll be able to keep this up, if anyone even reads these fics anymore. Hehe.
At any rate! Comments on the chapter! Last chapter, the plot was introduced! This chapter... the (totally expected) twist! Lucca may be out as a playable character, becoming this story's Taban (only for the entire group, not just one person), but Diane is definitely in! It's almost like a family outing! I wonder which other characters we'll find are out... (Okay, I don't wonder, I actually know. But be warned: There will be some characters from the original party that won't be in this party, for varying reasons. Please don't kill me.)
Also, for some strange reason, the editor won't allow my Chapter III to be underlined. Piffle. Anyways, enjoy, those who read this!
