Crono: This part is pretty short, and I haven't gotten a chance to kiss Magus yet
Magus: O.o;;; Who said there would be kissing??? *glares at yaoiboy*
Yaoiboy: Eheheh...^_^;;;
Disclaimer: I DO OWN CHRONO TRIGGER!!!! The game at least...I play it at home sometimes...*sniffs* The actual franchise? No...I still don't own that. ;_;
This...is Lucca??
Crono was having a hard time believing the woman standing before him was the same girl he had known since childhood, but he knew it was her. It just didn't LOOK at all like he would have pictured her.
She stood there with her hands on her hips, wearing a fitted green tank top that was stuffed into a pair of somewhat baggy brown pants, which were themselves crammed into the tops of dirty black boots. On either hip were holstered guns the like of which Crono had never seen before, and all this was worn on a body that was much more grown up and fit than Crono remembered. Then there was the hair, which was no longer dark brown, but very red, and down to her shoulders. The goggles perched on her forehead didn't look like glasses at all, and even her eyes were a darker color.
Can someone change THAT much over time? Crono wondered, as Lucca peered at him and Magus and shook her head.
"You know,"she began, her voice much huskier than he remembered it,"for the longest time we all thought you two were here, or at least we hoped so. Even I, knowing the statistical improbability of it, let myself hope you two were around here somewhere, just lost or something. I expected you to come tearing into town one day looking completely different...but here you are now. Not a second older than when I last saw you...it's eerie."
She was constantly looking back and forth between the two while she spoke, like they were the oddest things she'd ever seen.
"It's not exactly settling seeing you either," Magus responded, looking Lucca over with some skepticism."You hardly look like the Lucca I remember at all."
Hmm, I guess he would be suspiscious, Crono thought, but I know it's her.
Magus knew it was the same Lucca. All the same, that didn't mean she was automatically trustworthy. He couldn't help but notice the two weapons at her side. If she wanted to, he thought, she could probably hit both of us with those things before we had a chance to do anything about it. If we were caught of guard anyway. That was something he was determined not to allow.
"That's understandable," she replied. "And to be honest, not all the changes in me are completely natural...but this isn't the best place to sit and chat." The last part of her statement sounded uncharacteristically bitter, but understandably so. All it took was one look around at the overly apparent devestation to create a less jovial mood.
Magus saw Crono's head droop, and sighed.
"Come on you two. Hop onto the Epoch and I'll get us back to Truce. Most of the rest of the group is there."
With that, she started the vehicle back up and began to fiddle with the controls. Magus waited for Crono to climb on board before he followed. There wasn't really much to see, but Magus got the distinct feeling that there was alot to this new Epoch. There was no roof, but then, there looked to be a retractable dome peeking up from the back. Of the four passenger chairs, two were located in small alcoves on either side of the interior, with control panels that looked suspisciously like weapon controls.
Hmm...
"Buckle up, boys. It's a ride that takes some getting used to," Lucca yelled over the increasingly loud engine noises.
Can't be any worse than riding in the original Epoch, Crono thought as he fastened the harness like seatbelt. He looked over to Magus, and found the dark magician staring back at him, with what looked to be concern. It was only for a moment though. Then Magus simply looked the other way.
...strange.
When the Epoch took off, Crono almost immediately felt sick. It lifted up from the ground unevenly, and lurched forward. The speed was incredible, and kept him plastered to his seat, but the ride was like being on the ocean during a storm. The thing kept wobbling and pitching about, even though it appeared to be heading in a straight line. Lucca was STANDING unrestrained at the helm, steering the thing as if she were riding a bicycle or something.
How is she doing that?!? Crono thought with disbelief, and opened his mouth to ask, but immediately found his mouth flung wide open from the force of the air and his lips flapping in the wind. He couldn't tell if Magus was watching but he just kept on thinking: Pleasedon'tlookpleasedon'tlook!
Finally, he managed to clamp his mouth shut, just as the ruins of Truce rose up around them. Lucca slowed down here as she navigated the abandoned streets. Crono wished that she would say something, to tell him what had happened, but he figured there would be time for that. Looking past the husk of a home that looked alot like his own, and out across the sea, he couldn't help but think of his mother again, and everyone else in the little village that he remembered. The tears threatened to rise again, but he just held it all back. Enough of that, he thought, and looked over to Magus, who was looking at him again.
This time it was Crono who looked away. He knew that Magus would see his feelings easily, but he didn't want anyone to see them now. Instead, he forced himself to take in all the destruction around him, and after a while he wasn't so much sad as he was angry.
He knew where they were headed after watching for some time. He could see the ruins of the square up ahead. As they hovered in, and the debris was blown away, he could just make out a rusted half of Leene's Bell, where it must have fallen a long time ago. The stones that had once paved the square was being overtaken by the encroaching forest that had always surrounded the area. Great tree roots pushed up through the thick rocks, and smaller weeds grew from all the cracks.
What's that? Crono thought, somewhat disinterested, peering at a strange looking arragement of plants, before he recognized the deteriorating remains of a wooden stand for what it was. As the craft turned to the left, manuvering it's way through a narrow break in the trees, Crono remembered that this was the way to reach Lucca's robot trainer, Gato. No challenge at all, he thought as they rounded the bend, and saw a blackened Gato laying motionless in the center of the area. Lucca came to a stop in front of the relic, and set the Epoch down.
"This is where we get off," she said as she hopped down onto a layer of brittle dry leaves.
"Here, Crono asked. It was a small space that looked to be about one second away from being swallowed by the greenery.
"Here," Lucca replied with a knowing smirk that was entirely too familiar.
Magus disembarked silently, and found himself stareing absently at Crono AGAIN!
Gah, I've got to get control of this! he reprimanded himself, and forced his eyes to look at the curious husk of the robot in the center of the area. Just then he saw it's eyes light up.
Hm?
His hand was on his scythe even as the thing first began to move, lifting itself up and playing a grainy, unforgettable tune, and while the music played and Gato stood to his full height, it slowly became apparent that this was not the same Gato that they remembered either.
In place of his hands were the slowly turning barrels of gatling guns, and a sudden mirage-like distortion around him could be nothing but an energy field.
What the...???
It was obvious from the way the head was swiveling about that they were all being targeted, but the mechanical eyes stopped on Lucca, and a voice came through the speakers that was obviously not Gato's.
"Master Crono! Master Magus! That was you two that caused the temporal distortion. Why, you haven't changed at all." It was unmistakable. Robo, Magus thought, and released his scythe as the weapons were lowered before him.
"No hello for me hm?" Lucca spat at the robot, that was moving away from a vault door that had been hidden beneath him.
"Welcome back, love," came the reply.
Both Crono AND Magus thought exactly the same thing.
Love?!?!?
Magus: O.o;;; Who said there would be kissing??? *glares at yaoiboy*
Yaoiboy: Eheheh...^_^;;;
Disclaimer: I DO OWN CHRONO TRIGGER!!!! The game at least...I play it at home sometimes...*sniffs* The actual franchise? No...I still don't own that. ;_;
This...is Lucca??
Crono was having a hard time believing the woman standing before him was the same girl he had known since childhood, but he knew it was her. It just didn't LOOK at all like he would have pictured her.
She stood there with her hands on her hips, wearing a fitted green tank top that was stuffed into a pair of somewhat baggy brown pants, which were themselves crammed into the tops of dirty black boots. On either hip were holstered guns the like of which Crono had never seen before, and all this was worn on a body that was much more grown up and fit than Crono remembered. Then there was the hair, which was no longer dark brown, but very red, and down to her shoulders. The goggles perched on her forehead didn't look like glasses at all, and even her eyes were a darker color.
Can someone change THAT much over time? Crono wondered, as Lucca peered at him and Magus and shook her head.
"You know,"she began, her voice much huskier than he remembered it,"for the longest time we all thought you two were here, or at least we hoped so. Even I, knowing the statistical improbability of it, let myself hope you two were around here somewhere, just lost or something. I expected you to come tearing into town one day looking completely different...but here you are now. Not a second older than when I last saw you...it's eerie."
She was constantly looking back and forth between the two while she spoke, like they were the oddest things she'd ever seen.
"It's not exactly settling seeing you either," Magus responded, looking Lucca over with some skepticism."You hardly look like the Lucca I remember at all."
Hmm, I guess he would be suspiscious, Crono thought, but I know it's her.
Magus knew it was the same Lucca. All the same, that didn't mean she was automatically trustworthy. He couldn't help but notice the two weapons at her side. If she wanted to, he thought, she could probably hit both of us with those things before we had a chance to do anything about it. If we were caught of guard anyway. That was something he was determined not to allow.
"That's understandable," she replied. "And to be honest, not all the changes in me are completely natural...but this isn't the best place to sit and chat." The last part of her statement sounded uncharacteristically bitter, but understandably so. All it took was one look around at the overly apparent devestation to create a less jovial mood.
Magus saw Crono's head droop, and sighed.
"Come on you two. Hop onto the Epoch and I'll get us back to Truce. Most of the rest of the group is there."
With that, she started the vehicle back up and began to fiddle with the controls. Magus waited for Crono to climb on board before he followed. There wasn't really much to see, but Magus got the distinct feeling that there was alot to this new Epoch. There was no roof, but then, there looked to be a retractable dome peeking up from the back. Of the four passenger chairs, two were located in small alcoves on either side of the interior, with control panels that looked suspisciously like weapon controls.
Hmm...
"Buckle up, boys. It's a ride that takes some getting used to," Lucca yelled over the increasingly loud engine noises.
Can't be any worse than riding in the original Epoch, Crono thought as he fastened the harness like seatbelt. He looked over to Magus, and found the dark magician staring back at him, with what looked to be concern. It was only for a moment though. Then Magus simply looked the other way.
...strange.
When the Epoch took off, Crono almost immediately felt sick. It lifted up from the ground unevenly, and lurched forward. The speed was incredible, and kept him plastered to his seat, but the ride was like being on the ocean during a storm. The thing kept wobbling and pitching about, even though it appeared to be heading in a straight line. Lucca was STANDING unrestrained at the helm, steering the thing as if she were riding a bicycle or something.
How is she doing that?!? Crono thought with disbelief, and opened his mouth to ask, but immediately found his mouth flung wide open from the force of the air and his lips flapping in the wind. He couldn't tell if Magus was watching but he just kept on thinking: Pleasedon'tlookpleasedon'tlook!
Finally, he managed to clamp his mouth shut, just as the ruins of Truce rose up around them. Lucca slowed down here as she navigated the abandoned streets. Crono wished that she would say something, to tell him what had happened, but he figured there would be time for that. Looking past the husk of a home that looked alot like his own, and out across the sea, he couldn't help but think of his mother again, and everyone else in the little village that he remembered. The tears threatened to rise again, but he just held it all back. Enough of that, he thought, and looked over to Magus, who was looking at him again.
This time it was Crono who looked away. He knew that Magus would see his feelings easily, but he didn't want anyone to see them now. Instead, he forced himself to take in all the destruction around him, and after a while he wasn't so much sad as he was angry.
He knew where they were headed after watching for some time. He could see the ruins of the square up ahead. As they hovered in, and the debris was blown away, he could just make out a rusted half of Leene's Bell, where it must have fallen a long time ago. The stones that had once paved the square was being overtaken by the encroaching forest that had always surrounded the area. Great tree roots pushed up through the thick rocks, and smaller weeds grew from all the cracks.
What's that? Crono thought, somewhat disinterested, peering at a strange looking arragement of plants, before he recognized the deteriorating remains of a wooden stand for what it was. As the craft turned to the left, manuvering it's way through a narrow break in the trees, Crono remembered that this was the way to reach Lucca's robot trainer, Gato. No challenge at all, he thought as they rounded the bend, and saw a blackened Gato laying motionless in the center of the area. Lucca came to a stop in front of the relic, and set the Epoch down.
"This is where we get off," she said as she hopped down onto a layer of brittle dry leaves.
"Here, Crono asked. It was a small space that looked to be about one second away from being swallowed by the greenery.
"Here," Lucca replied with a knowing smirk that was entirely too familiar.
Magus disembarked silently, and found himself stareing absently at Crono AGAIN!
Gah, I've got to get control of this! he reprimanded himself, and forced his eyes to look at the curious husk of the robot in the center of the area. Just then he saw it's eyes light up.
Hm?
His hand was on his scythe even as the thing first began to move, lifting itself up and playing a grainy, unforgettable tune, and while the music played and Gato stood to his full height, it slowly became apparent that this was not the same Gato that they remembered either.
In place of his hands were the slowly turning barrels of gatling guns, and a sudden mirage-like distortion around him could be nothing but an energy field.
What the...???
It was obvious from the way the head was swiveling about that they were all being targeted, but the mechanical eyes stopped on Lucca, and a voice came through the speakers that was obviously not Gato's.
"Master Crono! Master Magus! That was you two that caused the temporal distortion. Why, you haven't changed at all." It was unmistakable. Robo, Magus thought, and released his scythe as the weapons were lowered before him.
"No hello for me hm?" Lucca spat at the robot, that was moving away from a vault door that had been hidden beneath him.
"Welcome back, love," came the reply.
Both Crono AND Magus thought exactly the same thing.
Love?!?!?
