Disclaimer: I do not own Chrono Trigger or any other related names or titles. They are property of Square Enix.
Clouded by the Dark Force
By Chrono Eternal
Chapter 9:
An Encounter With Fate
"Marle!" Lucca exclaimed.
"Excuse me?" the so-called Ice Angel asked.
"I'm Lucca! And you're the princess I wrote about in my diary! Don't you see? It's you!" Lucca tried to explain.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Fire Goddess," Marle said.
"Just look at the picture! You have to remember!" Lucca said as she gave Marle the picture.
Immediately, Marle noticed the handsome boy with spiky red hair in the center of the picture. She looked into his eyes, and her memory jogged, just as Crono on planet Liuja had done before.
* * *
A girl with blond hair and blue clothing had been running through the fair, so had another boy with red spiky hair. The collided into each other and the girl's necklace fell off.
The girl then exclaimed, "Hey!! Ouch, that hurt!" Then she noticed the boy on the ground across from her. "I'm sorry, are you okay?" Then she realized her necklace was missing. "Uh-oh...my pendant!"
Though the boy was mute, he went up to the girl who was now frantically searching for her pendant, to see if she was okay.
The girl ignored the boy and yelled, "Don't tell me I lost it!"
Feeling he should help, the boy also searched for the blonde's pendant. Then he noticed the necklace, grabbed it, and handed it to the girl.
Relieved, the girl exclaimed, "Oh, thank goodness, my pendant! May I have it back?"
The boy nodded and she took it. Without saying thank you, the girl said, "I came to see the Festival! You...live in this town don't you? I feel a little out of place here. Would you mind if I walked with you for a little while?" But before the boy had a chance to nod or shake his head, the girl said, "You're a true gentleman! By the way...my name is...er...um...Marle!"
* * *
"Oh my gosh!" Marle exclaimed. "Lucca!"
"I figured seeing Crono's eyes would make you remember," Lucca said, with a lame attempt of humor.
"Lucca! This is no time to joke around! Aliens think we're all-powerful immortals and Crono is no where to be found!" Marle exclaimed.
"Listen, I want to find Crono as much as you do. Even if we can find him, what are the chances of us getting back to Earth? It was a stupid mistake to make Magus use Black Hole on us..." Lucca said.
"Now come on," said Marle. "That's not the Lucca I know! Listen, I've got a plan..."
* * *
"Luminaire!" yelled the King Zephatro's class.
Crono had been training them for several hours that day. Each had become craftier with a sword, learning Cyclone and Spincut, knew Lightning, most of them knew Lightning 2, and now over half of them had mastered Luminaire.
After Celiac, Bangor, and "King Zephatro" had put holes in the walls with their Luminaire attacks, they were forced to move out of Zephatro's home and into the countryside.
"Good work, class; that will be all," Crono said to them.
The time in this alternate galaxy was different than that of Earth. A week on Liuja equaled about an hour on Earth. Though Marle and Lucca had gone into the black hole right after Crono, they were brought into the galaxy two weeks after Crono did. Crono was not dressed in regular Liuja attire, which include a white shirt and black pants, each made of a light but strong metal.
As the class headed back towards the city, Celik and Baigor came up to Crono.
"King Zephatro," said Baigor, "we have received word that an Ice Angel and Fire Goddess have appeared on Palzaron."
"Do you think they will be of any threat?" asked Celik.
"Now that most of us know Luminaire, I don't think they stand a chance," Crono replied.
"Then I think we should attack ASAP," Baigor suggested.
"I suppose you're right, Baigor," said Crono. "There will be Palzaro blood shed tonight!"
* * *
On Palzaron, it was suppertime. Emperor Vacintar sat at one end of the table and Empress Vala at the other. Lucca sat at the middle of the table with Marle across from her. Sitting next to Marle was Princess Vila. The rest of the table was filled with captains, scouts, pilots, generals, and other military officials.
"I can't believe we found out about this just now!" Emperor Vacintar exclaimed in outrage.
"Now, Father, remember your blood pressure," Princess Vila said quietly.
One of the captains said, "King Zephatro has been among the Liujatrons for almost two weeks now. Rumor has it that he is teaching the citizens how to use an extraordinary ball of light. Surely they are planning an attack soon."
Marle heard about this earlier and had added it to her plan to escape the Palzaros. "The attack," she said, "is called Luminaire." By pictures and the information she'd gathered, she was almost certain that this was Crono.
"How do you know of this?" Emperor Vacintar asked.
Lucca said, "We've seen the attack used before. It is a fire-based attack. Filling your weapons with water will guarantee your victory." Lucca, of course, new that Luminaire was a lightning-based attack and using water could cause failure to anything run by electricity.
Then a general said, "Thank you very much, wise goddess." He then commanded a soldier to fill all the weapons with water.
Marle and Lucca were depending on fate and fate only that they were right and the Liujatrons would attack that night, with Crono as their leader. Hopefully, power would fail because of the water and lightning mixing and they could take Crono and show him the picture.
But an error in fate could eliminate them all.
* * *
Meanwhile, the Liujatrons were all ready in their battle cruisers within only a few miles away from Palzaron. Crono was leading them.
Thus, with Crono's mentality, they had absolutely no strategy besides attacking head on.
And that's exactly what they did.
"Sire!" A Palzaro scout headed into the room. "They're here! They're here! The Liujatrons are attacking!"
"What?!" The Emperor shouted in fury. "Quick! Man the weapons; they should be well filled with water by now."
Suddenly, Crono, Celik, Baigor, other Liujatron warriors, and Tijino the healer in back came bursting in.
"This is the day you all will die!" Crono exclaimed. "Luminaire!"
"LUMINAIRE!"
The entire army of Liujatrons used the ultimate magic attack, but the Palzaros were well ready. They stormed in with gigantic guns that they somehow carried easily. The gigantic spheres of water countered the large green balls of light.
Just as Marle and Lucca had predicted, since water conducts electricity, there was a large blast that sent everyone flying backwards. There was no power in the building.
The two came to the so-called King and said, "Crono!"
"Stand aside before you are vanquished as well," said Crono.
But Marle wasn't about to give up. She grabbed Crono's shoulder, turned him around towards her, and shoved the picture in his face.
A shadow, a cave girl, a frog, a robot, two girls and a boy.
Magus, Ayla, Frog, Robo, Lucca, Marle, and himself.
He remembered too.
"Oh my gosh! Marle, Lucca! We've got to get out of here!" Crono exclaimed.
"Thank God you remember! Come on!" Marle ordered.
She, Crono, and Lucca followed her as she ran for the launching pad.
"A traitor!" Baigor exclaimed.
"I knew it wasn't the king all along!" Celik shouted.
They ran after the group of three along with the rest of the group, except for Tijino, who had disappeared.
"They're gaining on us!" Marle exclaimed.
As she continued running an arm came out from on of the walls and grabbed her. The arm did the same to Crono and Lucca.
"What are you...!" Marle shouted, but then she saw the Liujatron but his finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet.
It was Tijino.
"Tijino!" Crono whispered harshly. "What are you doing here!"
"My apologies, sir, but I believe I just saved your lives," Tijino answered.
"Oh," Crono said. "Sorry Tijino. But why are you helping me? After what I did...tricking you all..."
"Do you mean to say you meant to make fools out of us?" Tijino asked.
"No...no...I didn't," Crono said.
"Well, even if you had, it wouldn't have worked on me," Tijino said. "I knew you weren't King Zephatro all along. Your power is not even close to his."
Crono planned to insult Tijino then, but the alien smiled and said, "You are much stronger."
"Yeah, yeah, Tijino, whatever," said Marle. "That's not important right now. We've got to get out of here!"
"Where are you going?" Tijino asked.
"We're going to try to find a black hole near here. It will take us back to Earth...our home planet," Lucca explained.
"I'll help you on one condition," Tijino said.
"What's that?" Marle asked.
The alien replied, "Take me with you."
"But Tijino," Crono said, "why would you want to come with us?"
"Because the Liujatrons are scared of my power, that they pretend to not recognize it," Tijino replied.
"Sorry, Tijino, but what power?" Crono asked.
"Crono, let me see your sword," Tijino said.
Crono did so and Tijino did something completely unexpected.
He shoved the sword through his own chest. Crono, shocked, pulled it right back out of Tijino's body.
Tijino was certainly in pain, but still he stayed calm. Within a minute, the open wound in Tijino's body was completely gone.
"What did you just..." Crono started to ask in awe.
"I told you I was a healer," said Tijino. "The greatest white mage in all of Liuja. Perhaps the greatest in the universe."
"Okay," Marle said. "You're coming with us."
"Okay," Tijino said, "follow me."
Tijino lead them around all the guards and scouts from both planets. They had been originally fighting against each other, but now they had joined forces to destroy Crono, Marle, Lucca, and perhaps Tijino.
As he was leading them, Crono whispered, "By the way, my real name's Crono. And these are my friends Marle and Lucca."
"Pleasure," Tijino whispered.
Again they were depending on fate and fate alone. If fate was on their side they could make it out safely. So far there had been no errors. But an error in fate, like said before, could, no, would end the lives of them all.
The four had reached the launch pad. They had found a fast cruiser and got into it.
"This is great! Everything's going so smoothly," Tijino said. "We should be able to go any second now...oh great! We have to open the gates to get out! You stay here; I'll go."
But as stubborn as the other three were, they followed him. "What are you doing?!" Tijino asked.
"Listen," Lucca said. "If you get killed, there's no hope for us. But if we get hurt, you can heal us and we can escape. Understand?"
Though Tijino obviously disagreed, he nodded his head in agreement.
Tijino had led them to a red lever. They had been ducking so the armies of both planets would not see them. But then, Tijino's head hit something.
It was the armor of Celik. He looked up and Celik and Baigor were standing by the switch.
"Going somewhere?" Celik asked, grinning.
"RUN!" Tijino shouted.
They tried running back towards the main part of the building, trying to find an alternate way out.
"LUMINAIRE!" shouted the Liujatrons.
There had been an error in fate.
Clouded by the Dark Force
By Chrono Eternal
Chapter 9:
An Encounter With Fate
"Marle!" Lucca exclaimed.
"Excuse me?" the so-called Ice Angel asked.
"I'm Lucca! And you're the princess I wrote about in my diary! Don't you see? It's you!" Lucca tried to explain.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Fire Goddess," Marle said.
"Just look at the picture! You have to remember!" Lucca said as she gave Marle the picture.
Immediately, Marle noticed the handsome boy with spiky red hair in the center of the picture. She looked into his eyes, and her memory jogged, just as Crono on planet Liuja had done before.
* * *
A girl with blond hair and blue clothing had been running through the fair, so had another boy with red spiky hair. The collided into each other and the girl's necklace fell off.
The girl then exclaimed, "Hey!! Ouch, that hurt!" Then she noticed the boy on the ground across from her. "I'm sorry, are you okay?" Then she realized her necklace was missing. "Uh-oh...my pendant!"
Though the boy was mute, he went up to the girl who was now frantically searching for her pendant, to see if she was okay.
The girl ignored the boy and yelled, "Don't tell me I lost it!"
Feeling he should help, the boy also searched for the blonde's pendant. Then he noticed the necklace, grabbed it, and handed it to the girl.
Relieved, the girl exclaimed, "Oh, thank goodness, my pendant! May I have it back?"
The boy nodded and she took it. Without saying thank you, the girl said, "I came to see the Festival! You...live in this town don't you? I feel a little out of place here. Would you mind if I walked with you for a little while?" But before the boy had a chance to nod or shake his head, the girl said, "You're a true gentleman! By the way...my name is...er...um...Marle!"
* * *
"Oh my gosh!" Marle exclaimed. "Lucca!"
"I figured seeing Crono's eyes would make you remember," Lucca said, with a lame attempt of humor.
"Lucca! This is no time to joke around! Aliens think we're all-powerful immortals and Crono is no where to be found!" Marle exclaimed.
"Listen, I want to find Crono as much as you do. Even if we can find him, what are the chances of us getting back to Earth? It was a stupid mistake to make Magus use Black Hole on us..." Lucca said.
"Now come on," said Marle. "That's not the Lucca I know! Listen, I've got a plan..."
* * *
"Luminaire!" yelled the King Zephatro's class.
Crono had been training them for several hours that day. Each had become craftier with a sword, learning Cyclone and Spincut, knew Lightning, most of them knew Lightning 2, and now over half of them had mastered Luminaire.
After Celiac, Bangor, and "King Zephatro" had put holes in the walls with their Luminaire attacks, they were forced to move out of Zephatro's home and into the countryside.
"Good work, class; that will be all," Crono said to them.
The time in this alternate galaxy was different than that of Earth. A week on Liuja equaled about an hour on Earth. Though Marle and Lucca had gone into the black hole right after Crono, they were brought into the galaxy two weeks after Crono did. Crono was not dressed in regular Liuja attire, which include a white shirt and black pants, each made of a light but strong metal.
As the class headed back towards the city, Celik and Baigor came up to Crono.
"King Zephatro," said Baigor, "we have received word that an Ice Angel and Fire Goddess have appeared on Palzaron."
"Do you think they will be of any threat?" asked Celik.
"Now that most of us know Luminaire, I don't think they stand a chance," Crono replied.
"Then I think we should attack ASAP," Baigor suggested.
"I suppose you're right, Baigor," said Crono. "There will be Palzaro blood shed tonight!"
* * *
On Palzaron, it was suppertime. Emperor Vacintar sat at one end of the table and Empress Vala at the other. Lucca sat at the middle of the table with Marle across from her. Sitting next to Marle was Princess Vila. The rest of the table was filled with captains, scouts, pilots, generals, and other military officials.
"I can't believe we found out about this just now!" Emperor Vacintar exclaimed in outrage.
"Now, Father, remember your blood pressure," Princess Vila said quietly.
One of the captains said, "King Zephatro has been among the Liujatrons for almost two weeks now. Rumor has it that he is teaching the citizens how to use an extraordinary ball of light. Surely they are planning an attack soon."
Marle heard about this earlier and had added it to her plan to escape the Palzaros. "The attack," she said, "is called Luminaire." By pictures and the information she'd gathered, she was almost certain that this was Crono.
"How do you know of this?" Emperor Vacintar asked.
Lucca said, "We've seen the attack used before. It is a fire-based attack. Filling your weapons with water will guarantee your victory." Lucca, of course, new that Luminaire was a lightning-based attack and using water could cause failure to anything run by electricity.
Then a general said, "Thank you very much, wise goddess." He then commanded a soldier to fill all the weapons with water.
Marle and Lucca were depending on fate and fate only that they were right and the Liujatrons would attack that night, with Crono as their leader. Hopefully, power would fail because of the water and lightning mixing and they could take Crono and show him the picture.
But an error in fate could eliminate them all.
* * *
Meanwhile, the Liujatrons were all ready in their battle cruisers within only a few miles away from Palzaron. Crono was leading them.
Thus, with Crono's mentality, they had absolutely no strategy besides attacking head on.
And that's exactly what they did.
"Sire!" A Palzaro scout headed into the room. "They're here! They're here! The Liujatrons are attacking!"
"What?!" The Emperor shouted in fury. "Quick! Man the weapons; they should be well filled with water by now."
Suddenly, Crono, Celik, Baigor, other Liujatron warriors, and Tijino the healer in back came bursting in.
"This is the day you all will die!" Crono exclaimed. "Luminaire!"
"LUMINAIRE!"
The entire army of Liujatrons used the ultimate magic attack, but the Palzaros were well ready. They stormed in with gigantic guns that they somehow carried easily. The gigantic spheres of water countered the large green balls of light.
Just as Marle and Lucca had predicted, since water conducts electricity, there was a large blast that sent everyone flying backwards. There was no power in the building.
The two came to the so-called King and said, "Crono!"
"Stand aside before you are vanquished as well," said Crono.
But Marle wasn't about to give up. She grabbed Crono's shoulder, turned him around towards her, and shoved the picture in his face.
A shadow, a cave girl, a frog, a robot, two girls and a boy.
Magus, Ayla, Frog, Robo, Lucca, Marle, and himself.
He remembered too.
"Oh my gosh! Marle, Lucca! We've got to get out of here!" Crono exclaimed.
"Thank God you remember! Come on!" Marle ordered.
She, Crono, and Lucca followed her as she ran for the launching pad.
"A traitor!" Baigor exclaimed.
"I knew it wasn't the king all along!" Celik shouted.
They ran after the group of three along with the rest of the group, except for Tijino, who had disappeared.
"They're gaining on us!" Marle exclaimed.
As she continued running an arm came out from on of the walls and grabbed her. The arm did the same to Crono and Lucca.
"What are you...!" Marle shouted, but then she saw the Liujatron but his finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet.
It was Tijino.
"Tijino!" Crono whispered harshly. "What are you doing here!"
"My apologies, sir, but I believe I just saved your lives," Tijino answered.
"Oh," Crono said. "Sorry Tijino. But why are you helping me? After what I did...tricking you all..."
"Do you mean to say you meant to make fools out of us?" Tijino asked.
"No...no...I didn't," Crono said.
"Well, even if you had, it wouldn't have worked on me," Tijino said. "I knew you weren't King Zephatro all along. Your power is not even close to his."
Crono planned to insult Tijino then, but the alien smiled and said, "You are much stronger."
"Yeah, yeah, Tijino, whatever," said Marle. "That's not important right now. We've got to get out of here!"
"Where are you going?" Tijino asked.
"We're going to try to find a black hole near here. It will take us back to Earth...our home planet," Lucca explained.
"I'll help you on one condition," Tijino said.
"What's that?" Marle asked.
The alien replied, "Take me with you."
"But Tijino," Crono said, "why would you want to come with us?"
"Because the Liujatrons are scared of my power, that they pretend to not recognize it," Tijino replied.
"Sorry, Tijino, but what power?" Crono asked.
"Crono, let me see your sword," Tijino said.
Crono did so and Tijino did something completely unexpected.
He shoved the sword through his own chest. Crono, shocked, pulled it right back out of Tijino's body.
Tijino was certainly in pain, but still he stayed calm. Within a minute, the open wound in Tijino's body was completely gone.
"What did you just..." Crono started to ask in awe.
"I told you I was a healer," said Tijino. "The greatest white mage in all of Liuja. Perhaps the greatest in the universe."
"Okay," Marle said. "You're coming with us."
"Okay," Tijino said, "follow me."
Tijino lead them around all the guards and scouts from both planets. They had been originally fighting against each other, but now they had joined forces to destroy Crono, Marle, Lucca, and perhaps Tijino.
As he was leading them, Crono whispered, "By the way, my real name's Crono. And these are my friends Marle and Lucca."
"Pleasure," Tijino whispered.
Again they were depending on fate and fate alone. If fate was on their side they could make it out safely. So far there had been no errors. But an error in fate, like said before, could, no, would end the lives of them all.
The four had reached the launch pad. They had found a fast cruiser and got into it.
"This is great! Everything's going so smoothly," Tijino said. "We should be able to go any second now...oh great! We have to open the gates to get out! You stay here; I'll go."
But as stubborn as the other three were, they followed him. "What are you doing?!" Tijino asked.
"Listen," Lucca said. "If you get killed, there's no hope for us. But if we get hurt, you can heal us and we can escape. Understand?"
Though Tijino obviously disagreed, he nodded his head in agreement.
Tijino had led them to a red lever. They had been ducking so the armies of both planets would not see them. But then, Tijino's head hit something.
It was the armor of Celik. He looked up and Celik and Baigor were standing by the switch.
"Going somewhere?" Celik asked, grinning.
"RUN!" Tijino shouted.
They tried running back towards the main part of the building, trying to find an alternate way out.
"LUMINAIRE!" shouted the Liujatrons.
There had been an error in fate.