Start Date: January 20, 2022
Windwillow
Chrono Trigger
Chapter Thirty-Two
They'd fought the best they could be an triumphed. They'd even bitch-slapped Zeal with a coordinated attack that destroyed the Mammon Machine. But now, they've found themselves... INSIDE the Machine?
Scene One
"Ugh... The hell did that woman do...?"
Crono opened his eyes. Slowly he turned his head up and startled as he saw the Mammon Machine - the COMPLETE Mammon Machine, not a wreck. He skittered to his feet.
"Yeah, what the hell did she do?!"
Robo shook his head.
"She said we would be placed 'inside' the machine. Beyond that, I do not have a valid hypothesis."
Lucca frowned.
"Here's my hypothesis: fry the bugger."
She launched a massive fireball, but the attack dissipated before it hit. Lucca's mouth stood agape.
"Okay, next idea?"
Magus crossed his arms.
"If we're inside the machine, I'd guess we're looking at its complete, original, and UNDAMAGED form."
Frog cocked his head.
"If we're inside... are we dreaming...?"
Ayla shook her head.
"Machine asleep, but awake."
Marle nodded.
"I think what she means is, it's a dream. ITS dream."
Lucca turned to her.
"So we need something to wake it up?"
Magus frowned.
"The planet has a dream. In it, its problem - Lavos - is gone. The machine's dream is its eternal perfection... The damn thing is ALIVE."
Lucca's face dropped.
"How the hell is a machine alive?!"
Marle shook her head.
"It's part of Lavos..."
Magus nodded.
"Precisely. This is, for all intents and purposes, Lavos. Meaning, let's destroy it."
Crono cocked his head.
"How?!"
Frog drew the Masamune.
"All that is unholy fears that which is holy. And guess what the Masamune is?"
He drove the sword into the Machine, gripped strongly, and dragged the blade up through the demonic device. In a flash, it sparked, alighted, and in a burst of light they blacked out.
Scene Two
"Where... are we...?"
Marle staggered to her feet. She looked around and saw a sea of stars.
"Wait, are we in space?!"
Indeed, surrounding them was the night sky, although closer than normal. The stars seemed to be at their height, and the sun and moon lingered higher above. They were on a black platform with pulsing, bleeding veins. Robo nodded.
"I believe we are at the peak of the Black Omen."
A voice echoed.
"Correct, construct. You are at the apex of my fortress."
With a bright light, the visage of Queen Zeal shattered the sky and she stepped out, unharmed and fully intact. Crono drew his sword, as did Frog.
"Hey, didn't we just kill you?!"
Zeal smiled.
"The body dies, but the spirit lives on. You're looking at my very soul."
Lucca shuddered.
"No wonder you look creepier than usual!"
Zeal frowned.
"Quiet, child."
Frog inched closer, though he trembled slightly.
"Whatever you may be, your time is nigh. We shall end your wretched existence... and that of your master."
Magus stepped forward.
"Like you said, words are worthless."
He drew his scythe.
"Actions mean more. Die, witch."
Zeal laughed.
"Words may mean little, but allow me to say one thing..."
Her body cracked.
"Your time on this mortal coil has now reached its end."
With a sickening crack, Zeal's body snapped to pieces and reassembled as the giant visage of her face and hands. Though, the face was scarcely human...
"Your existence is now denied. All life shall return to zero."
From her hand, a black wave emitted a force that floored the party, sans Magus. The other hand charged an even larger blast.
"All of you, to zero!"
Magus stepped forward and held up his hand.
"No. You will return to zero, mother. FOREVER zero. The planet's power has given me that chance."
He clenched his fist and the hand became encased in pitch-black darkness.
"Go to hell."
Magus slammed his fist into the Omen, and a curtain of black energy enveloped the whole area. He drew up his hand, clenched his fist, and as he flexed it the darkness dissipated, along with Zeal's hands. Her face, cracked and bloody, burst open to reveal her true form. She staggered to her feet.
"Insolent dog!"
She coughed up blood.
"You have no chance, fools! You musn't even try!"
Crono pointed his sword at her.
"We'll decide that, not you."
Zeal shook her head.
"You stand no chance. If you try, you'll perish. Ha! That cannot be allowed!"
Magus's eye twitched.
The way she's speaking... is she... trying to warn us?
A tear ran down Zeal's cheek.
"The almighty shall smite you! If you value your lives, begone!"
Frog narrowed his eyes.
"She's... trying to..."
Zeal coughed up blood.
"You mustn't, Janus! Foolish prophet! You'll die, you fool!"
Magus lowered his head.
Has her sanity broken through...?
As blood dripped from her mouth, Zeal smiled. But, her eyes had become a clear, beautiful blue.
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
She vanished, laughing madly. Marle cocked her head.
"I don't get it. What was that all about?"
Magus frowned.
"We reached her."
He closed his eyes.
"Only too late..."
The Omen began to tremble, and started to crumble into a blue void. Lucca gasped.
"It's a Gate! She's turning the whole Omen into a Gate!"
Crono shook his head.
"One guess where it leads, guys!"
Magus's eyes snapped open.
"Lavos."
Scene Three
From a dark nightmare, their vision blurred and was broken open with the sight of Lavos, in all his terrible glory. They were in a blue void, the same as when Crono was killed. Crono gritted his teeth.
"Deja vu sucks."
A rumble echoed. Lucca put her hand to her mouth.
"Wait. It can blow up the planet, what about US?!"
Marle swallowed hard.
"I... never thought of that."
Lavos shrieked, as a torrent of spears rocketed from its spires, descending in a rain of destruction from the heavens. The party screamed, closed their eyes, and hit the ground.
To their astonishment, despite the violent explosion, there still WAS ground. They opened their eyes and saw, beyond their imagination, a huge blue barrier defending them from the attack. Lavos shrieked in surprise. Lucca's jaw dropped.
"How the hell... how did we... what-the-WHAT?!"
Frog smiled.
"The planet! Linking ourselves to it has more advantages than improved fighting prowess..."
Robo nodded.
"It is protecting us. We are its hope, and thus its power will defend from Lavos's fury."
Lavos loosed a sickening squeal, and in a flash of light a small army of mutants appeared. Some were humanoid, others simply floating abominations. All of them cried with fury. Crono drew Dreamseeker.
"Yeah, from LAVOS. What about his kids?!"
Magus sneered.
"We can take THEM."
The mutants charged, dozens of them rampaging closer. Our heroes readied themselves and hurled themselves into battle. Crono and Frog sliced and diced with their swords, Robo and Ayla battered their foes, and Marle and Lucca decimated the enemies with magic. Magus simply obliterated anything that approached him in dark energy.
As they neared, the enemies fought fiercer, and when closer fiercer still, but by the time they reached Lavos's face his army was decimated. Crono charged up to attack, but was shoved back on his face from Magus.
"My kill."
Magus lunged and, gathering all the dark power he held, slammed his fist into Lavos's eye. The beast shrieked, squealed, and its eye exploded. As everyone fell to their knees, Lucca groaned.
"Mission accomplished!"
Crono narrowed his eyes.
"No..."
Lucca startled.
"The hell d'y'mean NO, we just killed it!"
Magus shook his head.
"Fool. Don't tell me you can't feel the bastard down in there."
Marle swallowed hard.
"Yeah, Lavos is somewhere in there..."
Crono nodded grimly.
"Find it, and kill it."
Scene Four
Dropping down the beast's corpse, the team landed in a murky abyss. They could see what looked like muscles and tendons that reverberated with the sound of a heartbeat. Frog growled.
"Its innards are revolting..."
Ayla nodded.
"Lavos up ahead."
They continued on into a new chamber, where they found a new monster. This, the true Lavos, was a giant torso of monstrous proportions, the size of a small building with muscles and veins that pulsed with black energy. Its skin was smooth, but with muscular scales on its elbows, neck, and ribs. Lucca's eyes widened.
"Okay, that's worse than the last one!"
Frog drew the Masamune.
"We're almost there!"
Lavos squealed, and swung its titanic arm, narrowly missing the party. Crono jumped on top, charged, and after igniting himself cut a large gash in Lavos's face. The beast roared, and its mouth opened to reveal a set of gnashing teeth.
The teeth seperated and loosed a wave of black fire. Frog and Marle leapt up and united their magic, freezing and steaming the blast. Lucca chanted and hurled a flare attack at the chest. But, the chest opened to reveal a rib cage of nightmarish maws.
Lavos closed the teeth on Lucca, but Robo and Ayla blocked them, and held the fangs back. Magus slammed his hands to the ground and tendrils of shadow erupted, piercing the ribs and prying them open. Crono charged.
"Here goes nothing!"
With all his might, Crono bisected the creature from neck to belly. A brilliant light flashed, and all involved were thrown back into the walls. Lucca slowly staggered to her feet.
"Did that do it?"
The light went out. Crono shook his head.
"I don't think I'm gonna like what comes next!"
A flash of light cracked, and as the shining rays abated a new form appeared. This was also humanoid, large and twisted with an exceptionally large collar and long, scaly arms. It was dressed in an odd fabric across its torso.
This Lavos was something new, almost human. They could hear him breathe, could see his chest rise and fall, and worst of all his stench filled their nostrils. Robo stared in silence.
"This is... This is impossible! I can detect DNA from every living being inside of it!"
Lucca nodded grimly.
"Yeah... It LOOKS human. Did Lavos steal all our DNA to make this form?!"
Magus shook his head.
"As he slumbered, he accrued the DNA of everything and made it his own, to perfect himself... This is his final incarnation: The result of the BLOOD and TEARS he robbed us of!"
Crono drew his katana.
"Then let's take it back."
Marle nodded.
"This is our world. Mine, Crono's... everyone's but YOURS, Lavos!"
Frog tightened his grip.
"Cyrus, watch over me..."
Robo paused.
"We are fighting the world itself? Or at least, the culmination of all life?"
Lucca crossed her arms.
"As a scientist, I'm appalled."
Magus nodded, and drew his scythe.
"All that remains is to kill it! Go!"
Lavos shrieked, and from each hand a small mutated Bit appeared. The surroundings vanished into a void, and all light ceased...
Scene Five
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are we in... EVERYWHERE?!"
Visions pulsed around the voided space, images of all eras from the Millennial Fair to the Ocean Palace's inner sanctum. Jungles, forests, lakes, towns, EVERYTHING seemed to faze in and out of existence around them. Lavos extended its arms and formed a small ball of white light between them.
"Watch out!"
A streak of light pierced the darkness, and as it passed by the dodging party it warped the space around them. It didn't explode, but rather seemed to implode upon itself. As they turned, a huge meteor dropped towards them.
"Goddammit!"
Crono activated his lightning mode and, with all his strength, bisected the meteorite. Another series of lasers shot out and narrowly missed the party. The ground around them heated, and exploded upwards. Had they not consciously protected themselves with planetary power they'd have been vaporized.
The party fell to one knee. Crono coughed up blood.
"T-this is on a whole different world than before!"
Magus nodded, as blood dripped from his forehead.
"He means to kill us... As brutally as possible!"
One of the two Bits zapped a line of lightning at Frog. Though he cleaved it in half the other Bit spewed fire at him and blew him back, his cape scorched. Ayla angrily lunged and slammed her knee into Lavos. It simply grasped her leg, tightened his grip, and slammed her down.
Marle slammed her hands to the ground and released a glacier of ice that Lavos broke with a flex of his wrist. Lucca's flare was batted away and exploded far to the distance. Magus rushed to strike, but his scythe was broken and he was thrown back.
Angrily, Crono poured every ounce of energy he had into his sword and slashed open a huge wound on Lavos's body. It fell, as did he, and everyone stood in stunned silence.
"Did we do it?" breathed Magus.
The left Bit zapped a line of lightning again, blowing the party away. As it did, the right Bit placed itself over Lavos and began to pump energy into his body. Crono grimaced and launched a flying slash that severed part of the Bit, causing it to squeal.
As Lavos reformed, Marle fell to her knees.
"Is he invincible?!"
Lucca shook her head.
"No! That Bit must be the real one, the others are decoys! We have to kill that one!"
Magus frowned and hurled a wave of dark lightning, but the Bit deflected it. The other Bit charged and slammed into him, knocking him away, though he caught himself.
"I get it!" yelled Robo. "Restoring the decoy leaves it vulnerable! We must kill both decoys at once!"
Lucca blasted the left bit with flame, but to no effect.
"It didn't work?!"
Ayla's foot slammed into the Bit and blew it into the wall.
"Ayla attacks do!"
Frog nodded.
"That one is impervious to magic, but weak to strikes! We have to deal with the center Bit before it attacks again!"
Lucca growled.
"Take them out, and Crono, do your thing!"
Crono cocked his head. Lucca sighed.
"When it starts reviving the Bits, use all your speed and cut the sucker up!"
The center Bit began to charge another attack, but Marle, Lucca, and Magus poured every ounce of their strength to counter, and Frog and Robo attacked with their own weapons and destroyed it.
"NOW! Crono!"
As the true core glowed, Crono charged every atom in his body into one attack. He lunged.
"DIE! LAVOS!"
Crono moved like greased lightning, rushed, and cut through Lavos with a violent gust of wind. At once the air deadened, and the warping scenes flashed faster than ever. When it reached the Ocean Palace, Lavos's shriek sounded, the Mammon Machine exploded, and everyone was engulfed in a blinding light...