More fighting in this part as we see things from the different perspectives of those in the space beyond reality and those in Chronopolis. Lynx and FATE are found, but the ensuing battles will not prove easy at all. When it is so easy to falter and lose hope, others must make sure they persevere, or else...
Ending Part 4
Fully prepped for the upcoming battle, the eight companions drew their weapons and flew towards the light.
At the intersection of the stars the light shone down like a spotlight. Below was an extensive floating metal cube. It was a supercomputer. This cube had lights flashing on all sides and pulses of electricity zipped across the surface in every direction, but mostly toward one point in the center. And right smack in the middle of the top face sat FATE itself. A black monstrosity of machine and flesh, FATE was fearsome to behold. Its base was attached to the top face of the cubic machine. From that base rose a torso that sprouted eight arms. The bulbous head was the busiest part of the body. The light pulses traveled up from the cube to the head like blood vessels to the brain.
The champions descended toward the edge of the top face of the cube.
"There's FATE!" Miki pointed at the ominous figure several hundred yards in front of them.
"It looks like it's asleep-hee." Razzly peered at FATE's face to see that its eyes were closed.
"Let's get closer. But be wary; it might be a trap," Leena advised.
The party glided toward FATE. As they closed the gap between them, they could hear the sound of motors spinning and circuits buzzing. Even it its sleep, there was much activity going on within the mechanical beast. Schala found herself gazing at FATE's face, her eyes attached to the closed eyelids of the computer as if she was attempting to see through them.
'Serge...' Schala whispered. For an eternity she had been waiting for Serge and now she stood in front of him. However, this wasn't the same Serge that had released her from the Time Devourer. Her heart ached to see him like this. Now it was Serge who was trapped within a beast and Schala who had the Chrono Cross. She would use it to free her friend, just as he did for her.
"Let's take this bastard out right now!" shouted Norris, as he rushed off into the general direction of FATE's center. Before he got too far a hand shot out and pulled him back in.
"Easy there, soldier," said Orlha. "I don't think jumping into the fray willy-nilly would be the wisest thing to do right now."
"Why not?" Doc asked.
"Well, for starters, FATE is huge," pointed out Miki. "In a physical fight it would be no contest. One swipe of those arms and it would crush us like ants."
"Miki's got a point," Leena conceded. "FATE appears to be sleeping now. We should take advantage of that. Schala, how close would we have to be in order for the Chrono Cross melody to have an effect?"
"Hmmm...that's a good question," said Schala. "I'm not sure. I've never heard of it working farther than ten or twenty yards away. Although that doesn't mean it couldn't work from a bigger distance. Judging from the properties of sound, fifty yards would be its max under normal conditions. However, the space beyond reality is anything but normal."
"Yeah, sound carries-hee here," Razzly pointed out.
"Exactly," said Schala. "So I would say about double the original distance. One hundred yards away would be the absolute maximum. FATE needs to hear all the notes in order for the melody to do its work and some of them aren't nearly as resonant as others."
"Then that's the distance we'll stay," decided Leena. "No sense in getting too close for comfort. Plus, we can get this over with real quick if FATE remains inactive."
"We need to 'urry, t'ough," Harle said. "Zat portal iz getting bigger by ze zecond." The harlequin pointed at a white hole off to the side of FATE. For the time being it could only contain about a quarter of the massive computer's girth. It was steadily increasing in size however. In another hour it appeared as if it would be large enough for FATE to squeeze through.
"We have to act fast," Leena realized. "Alright gang, let's spread out and get this over with. Serge should be back to normal in no time! Does everyone remember the order of the melody?"
"Yes," her companions answered in unison.
"Good, then let's show FATE who's boss!" Leena called out. The eight then silently floated down in front of FATE's enormous head. Unbeknownst to them, however, a small glint of metal also took its leave of the area upon their departure.
The adventurers settled down in front of the mechanized monstrosity and steeled themselves for what they were about to do. There were no words spoken between them but everyone could feel the desire to help Serge as if it was a tangible entity. Tension was beginning to build as Leena was waiting for the correct time to begin. Just when everyone felt as if they would crack if they had to wait any longer, a nod from the village girl allowed the chain to begin.
The elements each had picked were chosen specifically not to draw attention to themselves. With each spell loosed the caster felt more at home within their own innate realm. The order went without a hitch, starting off with Norris, following up with Miki, and then Razzly, Orlha, and Harle. When it came time for Doc's turn, however, the perfect melody grinded to a halt as an aberrant tune grated on the ears. Instead of a white element, its polar opposite, a black element, had been used.
"Doc!" Leena cried out at the physician. "How could you mess up that bad?"
Doc opened his eyes and looked a little confused. He moved his head around as if searching for an explanation. "But Leena, that wasn't me! I mean, dude, I haven't even casted an element yet!"
"Well, if it that wasn't you, then who was it?" asked Schala, a trifle annoyed.
"Foolish mortals," a voice boomed from behind them, "it was I." Eight heads then swiftly turned toward the source of the interrupter. Upon doing that they wished they hadn't, though. Their worst fears had been realized. FATE was awake.
"How naïve of you to think the ultimate machine isn't aware of its surroundings while hibernating," FATE chastised. "Both my internal and external senses are far superior to yours. They let me monitor the whole realm. I have known of your presence here since you arrived and have been waiting patiently for you to reach me. Have you forgotten the purpose of FATE already?"
"Your purpose is to enslave humans and demi-humans for your own greedy ambitions!" Schala accused.
"Of course a mere mortal human could not comprehend the necessity of my actions," FATE scoffed. "Since my absence, chaos has run rampant and variability is out of control. Humans are irrational and selfish creatures that should not be allowed that much freedom. I will guide you down the correct paths and show you the way."
"There is nothing honorable about your motives," Leena countered. "I don't see you as a savior; I see you as a coward. We all are intimidated by the uncertainty of the world at times, but you let that fear consume you. You cannot bear the thought of not knowing what is going on, not being in control, so you take the coward's way out to quell those feelings by controlling the world until it fits your desired mold."
"Are you through, simpleton?" the machine growled impatiently. "You will put me back to sleep so soon after waking up."
"We will not be through until the universe is free from your presence!" the champion retorted.
"I am not interested in your speeches and I am not frightened by your empty threats, girl," FATE asserted. "You have tried and ultimately failed to bring me down once before, and this time, your leader is on my side. He is within me, a part of me. In fact, you are speaking with Serge now, since he is now merged with me. How does that make you feel, knowing that your beloved friend has abandoned you and become your enemy?"
Leena's fists shook at her side as she was about to boil over. A hand grabbed onto her arm and cooled her down. The champion looked to her side at Orlha.
"Don't listen to it, Leena," the barmaid advised. "It wants you to lose control of your emotions and your focus."
Leena's eyes lost their anger and she nodded her head to Orlha. "You're right. I'll only focus on releasing Serge from that tyrant."
"I know Serge is within you somewhere," Schala began, "and I understand that I'll be fighting him, but I don't care. If that is what it takes to free my best friend, I'll do it without hesitation. He wants us to fight for him; he's waiting for us to reach him. The only thing in our way is you!"
The ground shook beneath them. "The only thing Serge and I want right now is to bring your meaningless lives to an end!" FATE bellowed. "Now you will witness firsthand real power!"
As if on cue drones came at the eight from all sides. The group split up in an effort to get out of the way but the machines were smarter than that. Each adventurer soon had a cluster of mechanized pursuers start to chase after them.
"This is what I was afraid of," Miki whined, as she flew around some dangerous laser beams.
"Yeah, I don't think these guys are willing to play nice," Orlha added.
"Only one thing to do then," pointed out Leena. The champion raised her hand and called up a mighty storm cloud. Sputtering with electricity, the thunderhead spit out lightning bolts at some drones. Upon contact with the current the machines exploded into a myriad of tiny pieces. "We have to fight back."
"Take that y-you mean-hee machines!" yelled Razzly. She conjured up a gigantic tornado that buffeted another cluster of drones on all sides, tearing them into scrap metal.
Doc flew over to Razzly to help add his power to the mix. "That's it, little dude. Let's send these machines over the rainbow!"
"Fight all you want, pathetic humans," the booming voice of FATE sounded all around them. "It matters little to me. Your efforts will only be for naught in the grand scheme of things."
"FATE's right," Schala agreed. "These drones are not its main concern."
"What do you mean?" asked Norris in between shots with his gun.
"The monstrosity is just stalling us," Schala replied. "Every second we waste is another second for that portal to grow bigger."
"Vous are right," Harle said. "We 'ave to weaken FATE directly."
"But how are we going to get through all these drones?" wondered Doc.
"We'll have to split up," Norris explained. "Four teams of two each. With each of us closing in on FATE we can possibly weaken it down enough."
"Giving us a chance to cast our power seal and begin the melody," Schala said, catching on.
"Norris and Orlha, you go toward FATE's north side," Leena ordered. "Miki and Harle will approach from the east while Doc and Razzly can come in from the west. Schala and I will attack the south side."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"This isn't some game any more, as I'm sure you're well aware," Norris pointed out. "So be careful. All of us need to be alive in order to finish the melody."
"Thanks for your concern, dude, but we'll be fine," Doc smiled. The teams eyed one another and without another word took off.
Harle and Miki had FATE's east side in their sights and nothing seemed to be able to deter them. The jester merely teleported out of the way of any oncoming threats while Miki fired molten magma bursts at any robots who got too close. FATE saw their approach but did nothing.
"Let's hit this thing hard!" Miki shouted.
"I am right behind vous," Harle said. Calling upon the powers of the moon, the harlequined girl blasted off a sizeable piece of FATE's mechanized form. Miki added her power to the offensive as well, air blades slicing through machinery as if it were butter.
"Lets hit this thing hard, Raz," Doc laughed. There was danger all around the physician but he seemed to love every second of it.
"I am right-hee behind you!" giggled the fairy, as a flurry of stars erupted out of her wand.
Finally the two reached FATE's west side. Calling upon a handfull of knives, Doc embedded the blades into the mechanized monstrosity's side. Razzly conjured up gigantic carnivorous plants that slowly began chewing their way up the giant's side. FATE knew it was taking damage but still chose to do nothing.
Schala's more boisterous side shone through as she was gleefully tearing into the drones with her two daggers. Both shone with magic and packed immense power, causing any machines in their way to disintegrate. Leena smiled at the display while making sure to pick off any escaping robots with a few well-timed spells. Schala truly was a combination of both her former self and Kid.
"We've got them on the run, Leena!" the princess called out. "Soon we'll be seeing Serge again!"
"Make sure not to get too excited, though," Leena warned. "That portal into reality is growing bigger even as we speak. We need to put a stop to this. Now."
The two women slowed down their flight as FATE's south side came into view. Schala sheathed her blades at her side. Calling upon her ancient power, the Princess of Zeal let loose a shadowy hole interspersed with flecks of bright light toward FATE. Leena complemented this assault with an onslaught of ice that would chill any mortal to the bone before ripping the icy cover away with intense heat. FATE still did not act, almost as if the machine was waiting for something.
The last pair to reach its destination was Norris and Orlha. Drone interference on their route had proven particularly heavy and it was only through the speed and accuracy of Norris' gun and Orlha's fists and magic that the two were able to approach FATE's north side. Slowing down their progress, the duo immediately began throwing all their energy into attacking the giant computer.
"Let Serge go!" shouted Norris. Every few seconds his gun blasted into FATE and left a charred hole in its wake.
"Humanity should have the power to determine its own course!" added Orlha. The barmaid pelted FATE with intense water blasts, catching it in a veritable deluge in an attempt to short-circuit the machine.
FATE was aware of the damage it was sustaining but had kept its major actions in check until the time was right. The logic circuits in the computer's brain were working on overdrive as it tried to calculate the exact moment to execute its plan. As soon as Norris and Orlha began their assault FATE knew the time had come.
Sparks began flying from the supercomputer's head as an antenna slowly rose into the sky. Flashing orange and conveying some sort of instructions, the rod seemed to draw the attention of all the drones that had been circling the mechanized leader. Each drone raised its own antenna in response and began to pulse with the same frequency FATE was emitting. There was a slight pause and then all the robots dove straight toward their master like ravens attacking a carcass.
"What iz zis?" asked Harle, shocked at the sudden coordination of the machines.
"I don't know," answered Miki. "But whatever it is, it doesn't look good."
At that moment, Steena's group had found the room where Lynx was hiding.
"I will go in alone. Use your magic to attack Lynx from afar," commanded Steena, walking into the room.
Lynx was sitting on a throne looking very pleased with himself. He saw Steena enter the room and got up off of the throne. "So you want a rematch?" he asked.
"I have protection, Lynx," informed Steena as she pointed to a charm she wore around her neck. "I guess this time SealAll will not work." As Steena spoke to Lynx, swords manifested out of thin air. Steena knew she had to distract Lynx from seeing Guile's and Sneff's tech.
"So this time we use magic," said Lynx, swords forming around him. "What? Swords? You did not come alone." Lynx got out of the way of the swords and grabbed one of them.
"You almost fell for it," observed Steena, grabbing another one of the swords.
"Fine, I will call in my reinforcements," said Lynx. "Where are the robots?"
"The others defeated them already. Lynx, you cannot win," Steena said. "Everyone, use your strongest elements!"
First a black hole appeared in the room, cast by Guile. Lynx avoided it. "Why are you using black against black?"
Then the room crackled with electricity with the ThundaStorm that Sneff used. Lynx's fur stood up on end as he looked around for Steena's allies. A giant iceberg filled the room, making Lynx's fur look like needles. Nikki had cast this spell.
A gust of wind blew Lynx off of his feet, which then turned into a full tornado. Sprigg had actually not transformed and used it off of her own small element grid. Next, the room became as hot as a volcano, this time cast by Macha. Lynx's fur began to smoke.
"You will not cast the white spell, Steena," said Lynx. "You are not even casting the spells in the order for the Chrono Cross." Lynx grabbed Steena by the neck and held the sword up to her throat. Just then the room went beyond super nova, for Riddel had cast UltraNova.
"You had another white innate besides yourself," noted Lynx, who had let go of Steena as his sword slumped down. "You may have won the fight, but you will lose the war!" Lynx fled through a door. Steena walked up to the door and noticed that it was locked and that Lynx had the key.
Steena gathered her teammates in the room where Lynx was. "We cannot follow Lynx any more," she said. "We must wait for Marcy to disable Chronopolis."
Marcy and her group had finally reached the core of Chronopolis.
"Like, now where is the 'off' button?" wondered Marcy.
"It's right over dere," replied Luccia. "But it is behind that!"
Luccia pointed to what appeared to be FATE. But its eyes looked empty, as if it was only a mere shell. "I vill do some calculations about dis," she said as FATE's shell started flailing its arms.
"Oh no! It's moving," observed Marcy. "Everyone, attack it!"
"Starky attaack yoou!" Starky declared as he got out his plasma pistol and started shooting at FATE's shell.
"Wuccia, NeoFio...Wet's destwoy dat ding!" Pip exclaimed, as he started glowing. Pip's wings grew. He had transformed into his ultimate form: the archangel.
"Let's do a triple tech!" suggested NeoFio. She spit seeds at FATE's shell while Luccia threw an ameba on its head and Pip pounced at it. FATE reeled from the blow. An arm thrashed and hit Starky all the way across the room.
"Irenes, heal Starky!" yelled Marcy.
"Ya." Irenes played a healing melody on her harp, trying to heal Starky.
FATE's other arm attempted to hit Mojoy but the straw doll dodged. FATE's shell then cast Gravitonne, making the gravity in the room heavy.
"Must...keep fighting," said Marcy. "We can't let FATE's shell beat us. Irenes, how is Starky?"
"He ist out cold," responded Irenes.
Marcy slowly pulled herself up. She pulled out some string, waved it around, and attacked FATE's shell with it. "Take that!" she cried out. FATE's shell reeled again, still flailing blindly.
A green gas filled the room. Marcy recognized it as knock-out gas. She covered her mouth with her hand and held her breath. So that is why the monster knocked out Starky. The gas couldn't penetrate his helmet. One by one, Marcy's team passed out. Soon, Marcy was the only one left. She had to take a breath soon. At least the gas was dispersing. Marcy gave up and inhaled what little gas there was left. As she started to faint, she noticed a humanoid cat run into the room. "I have failed..." whispered Marcy as she passed out.
By: Daredevil3181, Alanna82, and TenkoStar17