Chapter 8
So we must press on
They landed in the world of
12,000 bc. "The kingdom of Zeal, before its destruction." Crono said
looking around. They walked around the familiar landscape. Floating islands set
in the skies above a barren world. Crono looked around and wondered what could
be in store for them in the trial of determination. They walked up to Zeal Palace
and walked inside.
"We must be very careful not to block any
actions we took here four weeks ago your time." Robo said reminding Crono
of Baltesar's warning. He walked through the door and saw Schala being chased
by some palace guards.
"If I can stop this now, I can stop it
forever!" Crono said jumping the guardrail.
"Crono, wait!" Kain screamed as he joined
him.
"Huh? Who are these two?" One of the
pursuers asked.
"Princess Schala, stay behind me." Crono
said as his lance blades flared.
"Ok, but who are you warriors?" Schala
asked cowering behind him.
"We were sent by Melchior to save you my
lady." Crono said as he charged towards the guards.
A blast of energy shot at him and threw him back to
where he started. He looked up to see the extended hand of Queen Zeal.
"I don't know who you are but I will not let
another meddle in my affairs." She screamed as she started lobbing blasts
of energy at Crono. He raised his lance and redirected them towards the guards.
One by one the guards fell to their queen's blasts.
Zeal was getting angered that her guards could be so
incompetent.
"Fool! Stand still!" She screamed as Crono
shifted to block the energy bolts.
"Fine, if that's what you want." Crono
said as he spun the lance. An energy bolt hit and it was reflected back to
Zeal. The bolt struck her with a thud and she fell back. Her anger now took
control of her and all sense of reason was lost.
"Infidel, you do not know the powers you deal
with." She screamed as a dark aura formed around her.
"Now witness the power of the mammoth machine,
witness the power of Lavos!" She said as thunder filled the room. Bolts of
darkness flared in every direction around her, destroying her once beautiful
palace.
Crono and Kain jumped to the ready.
"Now you all shall parish, even you my
beautiful little Schala. It is too bad you had to be such a brat; oh well, now
all that power will be mine." She smirked as she said this.
"Not if I have anything to do with it!"
Crono said jumping to strike. Zeal waved her hand and he was struck down by
lightning. Kain lunged for an attack only to meet the same fate.
"Fools, you have no hope of ever touching...
ahh!" Her gloat was cut short by the strikes of Robo's chain gun.
"In the words of a fallen friend, wanna
bet!" He said as he unloaded his blast clip. Each strike exploded as it
hit its target. Zeal turned and started collecting her dark energy.
"You don't have anything I want metal man; but
here, you can have this to remember me by." She said as a cloud of energy
around her hand solidified and ripped away. The bolt cleaved through him as he
fell back from its impact. He lie there broken and dying.
"ROBO!" Kain screamed as he felt a power
fill him that he had never felt before. Energy surrounded him as he felt the
power surging through him and around him.
"Your going to pay for that bitch!" Kain
said as he leaped into the air. He drew his lance and from it a targeted beam
shot towards and through Zeal. She shuddered as she felt the energy tear
through her. She looked up just in time to twinge as the lance flew through her
as well. She dropped to the ground, staggered and fell to her knees. Crono took
the opportunity and launched an attack of his own. His lance made the shape of
an asterisk across her body. Energy tore through her throwing her back against
the wall of the landing. She staggered to her feet as both warriors prepared to
finish her off. Kain lunged his energy lance again but this time the lance was
redirected back at him. As he moved to dodge, he was struck by an energy bolt
and thrown back into the wall. Crono charged and was greeted by a point blank
ranged blast that threw him to the lower level of the stairs. They both
struggled to get to their feet.
"Now, you both parish, ah hahahaha... huh... ahh!"
Her maniacal laughter was cut to the quick by another blast of energy hitting
her from behind.
"I thought I destroyed you... what?!" Zeal
screamed as the sight she looked upon turning around waylaid her. There before
all three of them was Schala in her true form. She stood there, surrounded by
an aura of light. Her cloak had become a cape, revealing the armor underneath.
Her eyes flashed silver, as was the color of her armor. She wore silver boots
followed by bare, and rather shapely legs. The armor was shimmering silver and
blue that was connected to arms with gloves of the same color. The tiara she
wore was the same color and held her silver and blue hair in a ponytail.
"Two can play at this game mother. I didn't
have the power to stop you before; but thanks to your over use of the power of
the mammoth machine, my pendant's power has been released. Now witness the
power I possess. I cannot allow you to hurt these warriors anymore nor can I
allow you to release Lavos. For crimes against Zeal and its citizens and for
crimes against the past, present and future I hereby relieve you of your throne
and sentence you to death for treason against the people of every time and
everywhere." Schala said as a column of energy surrounded her.
"You will find that it is not so easy to take
my throne from me child." Zeal stated as a dark energy column shrouded
her. As the energy built Crono was able to stagger over to where Kain was and
heal them both. They could only watch as history changed before their very
eyes. All the while Crono could only wonder what was happening to the timeline.
Would it be damaged beyond repair? Would their battle with Lavos even be
necessary? All questions that he couldn't get out of his mind when the crucial
moment occurred. Both women collected the energy they had been building and
launched it at each other. Both blasts struck each other dead center. An energy
well filled the strike point and it grew as more power was applied to it. Both
women began to shift in their positions and Crono knew something was about to
give. At that moment the energy well collapsed in on itself. The result was an
unstable temporal gate. It began to pull all four of them into it. The gravity
well was too strong to escape and they were soon being whisked through time.
They landed in the null zone, the place where they had always met Lavos and
this time was no exception.
"This seems familiar!" Crono yelled to
Kain as they both got to their feet.
"How so?" Kain ask ignorantly.
"This is exactly what happened the last time I
was in Zeal." He said as he saw Zeal, riding Lavos. He knew what happened
next and did not want to relive his own death.
"This ends now! No Zeal, No Lavos, No Tempest!
Everything back to normal!" He screamed as Lavos launched his meteor rain
attack. The attack leveled Schala and Kain as it had Marle and Lucca before.
This time however, it had no effect on him. He stood ready for the deathblow,
he had no ruby knife to use this time but his lance was more then adequate. The
optical blast that destroyed him before could not penetrate the shielding power
of his lance. He spun it as the energy wave struck and pushed him back. His
thoughts were strangely sharp at this point.
"For Marle, Lucca, Frog, Schala, and everyone
else that fell to both of these creatures and their spawn, I will end it
here!" He screamed to himself as he gained a footing and started pushing
back on the energy well. He then threw it back towards Lavos and it tore
through the outer shell. All Zeal could do was stand there helplessly as the
energy split through the outer shell and shot off into all directions. The
frequency increased as the destruction of Lavos was once again assured, and
then.... the explosion threw Crono and Kain back through another open gate.
When Crono came too, he looked around and saw a room filled with fog along the
floor and a blue lighting. He saw Kain and a repaired Robo staggering to get
up.
"What hit me?" Kain asked as he looked
around and saw Crono and Robo.
"Hey you bucket of bolts, its good to see you
up and around!" Kain said ecstatically.
"Likewise, good to be back." He said in
now more humanized voice.
"You were never gone." A female voice rang
through the chamber. Schala transformed form appeared before them.
"Tempest! Prepare to die witch!" Kain said
drawing his lance.
"Kain stand down. This is Schala, if it were
Tempest we would most likely be dead already." Crono ordered.
"Very good Crono." Schala retorted.
"So did we do it? Did we change time?"
Crono asked.
"Sadly no. The timeline you just witnessed was
created to test your determination. When the moment came, you thought of
protecting your friends not defeating your enemy. You stood your ground on that
belief and would not budge. It is that belief that will lead you to victory.
Godspeed to you Crono." Schala finished as she shimmered away. A gate
formed and they all knew it was time to go.
"One more piece left, let's punch it."
Crono said jumping through the portal. Kain and Robo looked at each other and
wondered what was next as they disappeared into the portal after him.