So.., chapter three. Let me put it this way; this is where things (hopefully!) start getting a bit interesting. There aren't any flashbacks in this chapter, but there's plenty more to make up for that.
And yes, I was wrong. _ Magus didn't know about Ayla at the time he was a prophet in Zeal. Damn me for not noticing! (Starts hitting himself with random objects lying around).
Anyway……
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 3: Forest in danger"Hey! Wake up sleepy head!"
I open my eyes, only to see Lucca's face in front of me. I blink a few times, then stand up straight. I fell asleep. I had leaned against the wall, sitting on the hard and cold stone floor, and still managed to fall asleep. This is very boring indeed.
"You coming along? You seem bored out of your mind here." she says, while tilting her head to one side.
"Now we've got a winning team!" I say, almost cheerfully. Showing my emotions was a bad thing. That would mean I would be turning weak.
I then wondered what I could possibly do. As long as it would involve blowing stuff up, I'd be there though.
"What do you need me for anyway?" I ask the scientist.
"We need you to solve something."
"So?"
Lucca sighs. She seems to be annoyed by my behavior.
"You're the only one who can help us now. Frog, Robo and Ayla are off searching for the Prism Shell, and Crono's sleeping."
"Well, wake him up then. I've got better things to do."
I know very well I don't have anything to do at all. That's why I must've fallen asleep earlier.
"Waking up Crono isn't a good idea, I can tell you that. Just come along to the desert in 600 AD, solve some problems and you can go back to doing nothing."
"The desert? You mean Retinite? I put him there." I try to show off.
I tried to sound proud, but somehow I didn't at all. It seems that showing off my evil deeds to them wasn't a good thing.
"You what?"
Marle joins the conversation.
"Why on earth did you do that? No wait, I can guess. Something like 'strategical advantage'?"
"Exactly." I reply.
"Then you can help clean up your own mess."
"Fine. Let's get going."
For once, the airhead is actually right. After I had conquered Porre, back in 598 AD, I needed to make sure that no-one could go through the forest and inform Guardia kingdom of my victory. So I put one of Ozzie's mutants in the forest. In no-time flat it was almost completely gone.
Most people living in it were either forced to move because of the lack of food and water, or were afraid of Retinite. Except for that woman, I believe her name was Fiona. She tried to do anything she could to maintain the forest, but of course Retinite had already become too strong.
I, Lucca and Marle arrive in 600 AD and land next to Fiona's villa. The building looks severely deteriorated. Plants and vines are growing everywhere, even though Retinite is still active. Guess Fiona really is desperate.
Marle knocks on the door. After a minute, we hear a female voice reply.
"Who's there?"
"Were, um,…"
Marle tries to come up with something to get them in. But I don't allow her tough, I just slam on the door.
"Just let us in woman!" I shout.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" I hear coming back from behind the door.
"I'm Magus, and if your life is precious to you, you open up now!"
"Magus, you blathering idiot!" hisses Lucca.
Afraid that it might be actually true what I said, the woman slowly opens the door.
"Don't worry. Were here to help you revive the forest." says Marle, trying to make the woman feel better.
"Yeah, and don't mind Sir Hates-a-Lot here, he's a pussycat now." adds Lucca.
"Why you little brat! You wont live through this day!"
That was the final straw. The insult at the End of Time earlier, I could take, but calling me, the most powerful and well known wizard of all time a.. a pussycat is too much for me.
I start to create a void, but get smacked in my face by Lucca herself.
"You can't take being picked on can you? Think about all those people you murdered, tortured, I don't know what! Think that'll look good on your recommendation letter?"
Somehow I can't think of anything to say to that. It was true. I did used to torture people. Not many though, and I usually let Ozzie have the pleasure. I wasn't really interested in conquering Guardia, that was just a cover to get to Lavos.
I try to calm myself down. Blowing up stuff doesn't seem to be the right way to go right now. Do I really enjoy it anyway, or is it just out of habit that I enjoy it? I know I never cared about it when I was still Janus, the Prince of Zeal. Guess I've changed.
"Allright. Take it easy." I finally say, while still trying to keep my cool.
The woman is still standing in the door opening, boggled by what's going on in front of her.
"Oh, I'm sorry. We haven't introduced yet. I'm Marle, this here is Lucca and ... well he introduced himself already."
"I see." says the woman, examining us. "I'm Fiona, pleased to meet you. Come in, if you want to help somehow."
We follow Fiona into the house, and into the kitchen.
"I'm sorry I can't give you anything. But why would you want to help anyway?"
I'm standing in a corner, listening to what they are saying. I hear them talking about how Fiona gets from day to day, and her version of the story about the desert. It doesn't make much sense, because I know the real story behind all of it.
"Well, don't worry Fiona, were going to clean up the mess he made!" says Marle, while looking at me. I only snort and look away.
We leave Fiona, but not without giving her a Power Meal which Crono and Ayla had managed to charm from Gato earlier. Marle thinks they'll need it more then we do.
"So Magus, how do we take care of this?" Lucca asks me.
"Simple. In the middle of the desert is a place with some quicksand. If I remember Ozzie's ramblings correctly, the cave where Retinite lives should be right below it."
We went looking for the cave, with me flying up front. We soon found it, and Retinite also. After defeating the beast, we returned to the surface.
"Now what do we do? The forest won't grow back on its own." says Marle.
"Don't look at me. I don't study the living." I smirk, while using some Tonics to heal myself from the battle.
"I know! We get Robo, so he can replant the forest! He's a robot, so he'll still be there in 1000 AD!" says Lucca.
I never understood how Robo could be a part of our team. He never had anything useful to say besides the completely obvious.
"I say we leave Fiona to do the job. If she's so attached to the forest, she'll do the job by herself." I then say.
"No way! The forest is already gone in our time. Were taking Robo." Marle says.
After another travel to the End of Time, we picked up Robo and brought him to Fiona, saying that this 'machine' would help her revive the forest. Fiona gladly accepted the help.
"Now let's look how things are going to be in the future!" said Lucca. She seemed too happy about it.
I had been left behind in the End of Time, to make room for Robo in the Epoch. Only Marle was with her now. They got into the Epoch, and returned to 1000 AD. Their attempt was successful, the forest was looking better than ever. They found the remains of Robo in a shrine, located in the center of the forest.
While Lucca was trying to fix up Robo, Marle gathered everybody at a spot in the forest. She called it a 'celebration party'.
After several hours of talking about something called 'The Entity', we all went to sleep. Everyone except myself.
I can't sleep, I'm a night person. I usually get my sleep during the day, like I did at the End of Time. I take a look around the place, examining everyone who's here.
Ayla, the cave-woman. How can a female human be so strong? And Marle. She seems to be a bit of an airhead, but she's still a bit smart at times. Crono, the silent guy. He never says much, but when he does, he usually doesn't have anything important to say.
Frog, my mortal enemy. I wonder what would happen after this is all over. Would he try to defeat me? That would be of no use to him. Maybe I should lift the curse? Would that make both me and Glenn feel better? Who knows. And Lucca, always inventing, always talking, always reading. She was always busy. Too busy.
Then I see Lucca wake up. I quickly pretend as if I'm sleeping. I hear her walk past me. Curious, I follow her to another open spot in the forest. What was that? A red gate? I can see Lucca enter it from a distance. What's going on?
I wait a while, when suddenly Robo comes walking past me. He does see me, but makes no point about it. He looks at me (at least that's what I think he does), makes a few strange noises, then walks up to the red gate. He also enters it.
What is this strange gate? What is happening here? Was I dreaming? I'd had only seen normal, blue gates before. Robo and Lucca both seemed to be drawn to it, without any resistance from their side. Now I'm curious to find out what's on the other end of the gate for myself.