Chapter Seven - The Journeys of Heros and Villains
"Hmm... So, three teenagers have the pendant..."
The imp being questioned nodded as he quivered in fear.
The still shrouded young woman took a step forward and continued the
interrogation, "Are you sure that they're all from the Kingdom of
Guardia?"
The imp continued to nod, too paralyzed with terror to speak.
"Well, then our course of action is clear," said the shrouded speaker,
"We shall pay Guardia a visit until those three show up. And when they
do, we'll suggest that they give us the pendant and give a few...
demonstrations of our abilities until they hand it over."
The shrouded young man that was only slightly older than the speaker
said, "Yes. This should be fairly simple. But we should probably
leave somebody behind to keep the Mystics in line."
Jesh raised his hand. "They've only witnessed my power so far. I'll
have an easy time of keeping order by myself."
The speaker nodded. "True, true." He then turned towards the feminine
person who had spoken a moment ago. "Mezuna, go prepare some
transportation to get us to Guardia."
The young woman nodded and walked until she stood on the beach that
faced Guardia and turned her back to it. She lowered her hood,
revealing her low cut, wavy blue hair. She closed her eyes and moved
her hands in front of her to form a triangle and began to quietly
chant, in an ethereal voice:
"Great winged lord of the skies...
Whose wings can create massive twisters...
With a single great flap...
I call upon thee...
To grant us needed aid...
and open the power of the wind to us!"
As she chanted, a strange presence could be felt growing in strength
in the air above them.
Her eyes opened wide.
"PALIDOR!"
As she shouted the final word, the strange presence collected itself
into a single point. One moment later, this point erupted into a
portal, from which flew an enormous bird, with beautiful purple and
white plumage, that settled before the young woman. All the nearby
Mystics gasped and began running around in confusion.
Mezuna breathed deeply and said, "There... I've summoned Palidor. We
should be able to reach Guardia in no time."
She turned to the great bird, Palidor, and said to it, "Palidor, lower
your head so that we may climb upon your back." Palidor's head lowered
an instant later and all of the shrouded figures, save Jesh, climbed
aboard.
The young woman then commanded Palidor, "Now, Palidor, carry us to the
Kingdom of Guardia, across the sea." The bird flapped its large wings
and then began to fly towards Guardia.
"Good luck. See you in a few hours, at the most," Jesh shouted at them
as they left.
****
"Hmm... I think we're supposed to go this way..."
"... Crono..." Marle began, "No we're not..."
"Oh?" Crono retorted, "And how can you be so sure?"
"Because..." responded Lucca with a sigh, "We've gone around this loop
about 7 times now..."
"Oh. Well, then why didn't you stop me before?" Crono asked,
surprised.
"Because we made the mistake of thinking that you were just joking
around..." Marle said in response.
Crono began, "Well, maybe we could just go my way agai-"
"No," Lucca cut him off. "Let's try the way of a decent navigator for
once."
"And who would that be?" Crono asked.
"Me, you imbecile!" Lucca shouted back. She then walked a bit away
from her two comrades and seemed to talk to herself a bit in a very low
voice that not even the author knows exactly what she said. It is
known that the words, 'Crono', 'idiot', 'genius', and the term 'where
did my life go so wrong' were mentioned rather a lot.
"Crono," Marle whispered, "Did you REALLY not know who she was
referring to?"
He whispered back, "Of course I did. But I've known Lucca long enough
to know that it was the answer she wanted to hear. To be honest, I'm
just surprised that she never did anything like that while we were
trying to stop Lavos."
Crono and Marle just waited for a little while until Lucca's tirade was
over. She then began leading them in the correct direction.
****
Unbeknownest to them, a single eye, larger than a human's, was watching
them intently. Had they been paying close attention, they might have
seen the eye blink and the silvery bat-winged creature that possessed
the eye fly off to another part of the caves.
As it flapped off, its fairly limited mind didn't have much on it other
than, 'Intruders! I must tell Sir Krawlie!'
****
Palidor's wings continued to flap as the five figures riding upon the
bird observed Truce village before too long. Suddenly, the young man
who appeared to be the same age as Mezuna looked a little surprised.
The speaker noticed this and turned towards him. "What's the matter,
Serus?"
"One of the Scouts that I left in the caves near Medina village has
seen some intruders. They're nothing that the monsters that I left
there can't handle, but I was just a little surprised that there would
be intruders. There's no real problem." He then stretched a moment
before lying down on the bird.
The speaker nodded. "Very well. If anything else comes up, just let
us know."
****
Crono and the girls continued their trip through the caves. Suddenly,
Crono saw something and ducked behind a natural pillar. Marle and
Lucca followed suit, though they didn't yet know why. All three peeped
out from behind it and saw a large green centipede-like creature with
what looked like a very hideous and deformed human face, two very big
hammer-like forearms, and a strange pincer-like tail. After a moment,
they also saw a small silver bat-like creature with a large eye.
"So, those humans are going through these caves like they own them, are
they?" the Krawlie asked.
"Yes, Sir Krawlie," the Scout responded. "They're on their way here
right now."
"Oh god..." Lucca sighed quietly as she rolled her eyes. "I REFUSE to
put up with this again..." she added as she began going through her
things.
"Well, let 'em come! They won't stand a chance!" the Krawlie
continued, having not heard the purple haired genius' comments. It is
a shame for him that he didn't, because it would have been of
inestimable value to him very, very shortly.
"Oh yes! You can handle them easily!" responded the Scout, who also
had not heard Lucca's words, but whose fate was not going to be as
impacted by them as the Krawlie's.
Lucca seemed to find what she was looking for and a wicked grin crept
across her face. Crono and Marle wondered if they were going to enjoy
what happened next or not.
The Krawlie, blissfully unaware of all this, began to smash his two
arms together and had the air of one who was about to have a lot of
fun. "They'll be chopped liver!"
"Uwee hee hee hee hee hee hee!" laughed the Scout.
"Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!" joined in the Krawlie.
"Heh heh heh hee hee hee hee!" continued the Scout.
"FUWA HA HA-- Huh?" added the Krawlie as it noticed the incendiary
device that had almost made contact with the piece of ground at its
feet. Or, rather, would have been if Krawlies possessed feet.
Nevertheless...
"EEP!" cried the Scout.
There was a loud boom and light flooded the chamber in question.
Fortunately for the three humans, they had ducked behind their pillar
and avoided the green ooze that was blasted in all directions at the
same time as the explosion. The Scout, though it had managed to evade
the blast, was not so lucky as far as the gunk was concerned.
It screeched in pain as it was blinded and began to bump into walls
as it heard applause from Crono and Marle and failed to see a
triumphant Lucca bowing to the two of them.
It thought only one thing: 'I'm screwed...'
****
Serus' eyes widened as he sat up with a start.
"What now?" the tall man asked.
"... The intruders managed to slay a Krawlie and blind a Scout," Serus
responded.
There was silence for a moment as everybody took this in.
The speaker chuckled. "Perhaps Jesh won't be quite as bored as he
thought he'd be..."
"Hmm... So, three teenagers have the pendant..."
The imp being questioned nodded as he quivered in fear.
The still shrouded young woman took a step forward and continued the
interrogation, "Are you sure that they're all from the Kingdom of
Guardia?"
The imp continued to nod, too paralyzed with terror to speak.
"Well, then our course of action is clear," said the shrouded speaker,
"We shall pay Guardia a visit until those three show up. And when they
do, we'll suggest that they give us the pendant and give a few...
demonstrations of our abilities until they hand it over."
The shrouded young man that was only slightly older than the speaker
said, "Yes. This should be fairly simple. But we should probably
leave somebody behind to keep the Mystics in line."
Jesh raised his hand. "They've only witnessed my power so far. I'll
have an easy time of keeping order by myself."
The speaker nodded. "True, true." He then turned towards the feminine
person who had spoken a moment ago. "Mezuna, go prepare some
transportation to get us to Guardia."
The young woman nodded and walked until she stood on the beach that
faced Guardia and turned her back to it. She lowered her hood,
revealing her low cut, wavy blue hair. She closed her eyes and moved
her hands in front of her to form a triangle and began to quietly
chant, in an ethereal voice:
"Great winged lord of the skies...
Whose wings can create massive twisters...
With a single great flap...
I call upon thee...
To grant us needed aid...
and open the power of the wind to us!"
As she chanted, a strange presence could be felt growing in strength
in the air above them.
Her eyes opened wide.
"PALIDOR!"
As she shouted the final word, the strange presence collected itself
into a single point. One moment later, this point erupted into a
portal, from which flew an enormous bird, with beautiful purple and
white plumage, that settled before the young woman. All the nearby
Mystics gasped and began running around in confusion.
Mezuna breathed deeply and said, "There... I've summoned Palidor. We
should be able to reach Guardia in no time."
She turned to the great bird, Palidor, and said to it, "Palidor, lower
your head so that we may climb upon your back." Palidor's head lowered
an instant later and all of the shrouded figures, save Jesh, climbed
aboard.
The young woman then commanded Palidor, "Now, Palidor, carry us to the
Kingdom of Guardia, across the sea." The bird flapped its large wings
and then began to fly towards Guardia.
"Good luck. See you in a few hours, at the most," Jesh shouted at them
as they left.
****
"Hmm... I think we're supposed to go this way..."
"... Crono..." Marle began, "No we're not..."
"Oh?" Crono retorted, "And how can you be so sure?"
"Because..." responded Lucca with a sigh, "We've gone around this loop
about 7 times now..."
"Oh. Well, then why didn't you stop me before?" Crono asked,
surprised.
"Because we made the mistake of thinking that you were just joking
around..." Marle said in response.
Crono began, "Well, maybe we could just go my way agai-"
"No," Lucca cut him off. "Let's try the way of a decent navigator for
once."
"And who would that be?" Crono asked.
"Me, you imbecile!" Lucca shouted back. She then walked a bit away
from her two comrades and seemed to talk to herself a bit in a very low
voice that not even the author knows exactly what she said. It is
known that the words, 'Crono', 'idiot', 'genius', and the term 'where
did my life go so wrong' were mentioned rather a lot.
"Crono," Marle whispered, "Did you REALLY not know who she was
referring to?"
He whispered back, "Of course I did. But I've known Lucca long enough
to know that it was the answer she wanted to hear. To be honest, I'm
just surprised that she never did anything like that while we were
trying to stop Lavos."
Crono and Marle just waited for a little while until Lucca's tirade was
over. She then began leading them in the correct direction.
****
Unbeknownest to them, a single eye, larger than a human's, was watching
them intently. Had they been paying close attention, they might have
seen the eye blink and the silvery bat-winged creature that possessed
the eye fly off to another part of the caves.
As it flapped off, its fairly limited mind didn't have much on it other
than, 'Intruders! I must tell Sir Krawlie!'
****
Palidor's wings continued to flap as the five figures riding upon the
bird observed Truce village before too long. Suddenly, the young man
who appeared to be the same age as Mezuna looked a little surprised.
The speaker noticed this and turned towards him. "What's the matter,
Serus?"
"One of the Scouts that I left in the caves near Medina village has
seen some intruders. They're nothing that the monsters that I left
there can't handle, but I was just a little surprised that there would
be intruders. There's no real problem." He then stretched a moment
before lying down on the bird.
The speaker nodded. "Very well. If anything else comes up, just let
us know."
****
Crono and the girls continued their trip through the caves. Suddenly,
Crono saw something and ducked behind a natural pillar. Marle and
Lucca followed suit, though they didn't yet know why. All three peeped
out from behind it and saw a large green centipede-like creature with
what looked like a very hideous and deformed human face, two very big
hammer-like forearms, and a strange pincer-like tail. After a moment,
they also saw a small silver bat-like creature with a large eye.
"So, those humans are going through these caves like they own them, are
they?" the Krawlie asked.
"Yes, Sir Krawlie," the Scout responded. "They're on their way here
right now."
"Oh god..." Lucca sighed quietly as she rolled her eyes. "I REFUSE to
put up with this again..." she added as she began going through her
things.
"Well, let 'em come! They won't stand a chance!" the Krawlie
continued, having not heard the purple haired genius' comments. It is
a shame for him that he didn't, because it would have been of
inestimable value to him very, very shortly.
"Oh yes! You can handle them easily!" responded the Scout, who also
had not heard Lucca's words, but whose fate was not going to be as
impacted by them as the Krawlie's.
Lucca seemed to find what she was looking for and a wicked grin crept
across her face. Crono and Marle wondered if they were going to enjoy
what happened next or not.
The Krawlie, blissfully unaware of all this, began to smash his two
arms together and had the air of one who was about to have a lot of
fun. "They'll be chopped liver!"
"Uwee hee hee hee hee hee hee!" laughed the Scout.
"Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!" joined in the Krawlie.
"Heh heh heh hee hee hee hee!" continued the Scout.
"FUWA HA HA-- Huh?" added the Krawlie as it noticed the incendiary
device that had almost made contact with the piece of ground at its
feet. Or, rather, would have been if Krawlies possessed feet.
Nevertheless...
"EEP!" cried the Scout.
There was a loud boom and light flooded the chamber in question.
Fortunately for the three humans, they had ducked behind their pillar
and avoided the green ooze that was blasted in all directions at the
same time as the explosion. The Scout, though it had managed to evade
the blast, was not so lucky as far as the gunk was concerned.
It screeched in pain as it was blinded and began to bump into walls
as it heard applause from Crono and Marle and failed to see a
triumphant Lucca bowing to the two of them.
It thought only one thing: 'I'm screwed...'
****
Serus' eyes widened as he sat up with a start.
"What now?" the tall man asked.
"... The intruders managed to slay a Krawlie and blind a Scout," Serus
responded.
There was silence for a moment as everybody took this in.
The speaker chuckled. "Perhaps Jesh won't be quite as bored as he
thought he'd be..."