Chapter 38

Hope continued to walk down the hallway, her tail whooshing around behind her. She had never been in a place like this before, and it exited her to be in places unknown to her. The light padding of her feet echoed through the hall, making the world look like it was about to swallow her. She let it as she continued on. Her color-shifting eyes took in all of her surroundings, and she stored it all in her head.

A sudden sound made her ears perk slightly. It was like a drum, only a strange jiggling accompanied it. Curious, Hope continued down the hallway, listening to the silent music. After awhile, she reached a ladder heading up, but a few steps seemed to have melted by an extreme heat or something. Hope rolled her eyes, and pushed her energy below her, causing her to rise off of the floor. She rose up and finally planted her feet on the ground and allowed her energy to flutter away, for a moment.

This hallway was wider, and strange robotic machines littered the place. Blood was splattered against the wall at some places, but it was quite some decades old. Hope didn't pay it much attention and headed down the hallway. The padding of her feet was barely audible on the floor as she tried to locate the sound. Even though the sound echoed through the hall, Hope managed to finally find the source.

It was an auburn haired spirit with light brown eyes, padding her fingers on a tambourine, gazing at the wall ahead of her. Her hair was curled, and framed her young teenage face lovely. She wore a black trenchcoat and some loose clothes underneath. Remarkably, the rhythm she played made Hope sway a little. It was absolutely enchanting.

Hope shook it off, and loudly banged on the door on her side, causing large indents to be formed. The spirit looked up in shock.

"Sorry," Hope apologized. "Don't know me own strength."

The spirit relaxed and smiled.

Hope smirked and asked: "Wha's yer name?"

The spirit shrugged and said: "Don't remember. We've been here for quite some time."

The shaman didn't bother with that, but said: "Say, can I ask ye a favor?"

The spirit nodded.

"Sure, shoot!"

"A friend o' mine's dyin', and she needs a song o' some kind ta revive her. I was wonderin' if ye'd be able ta help."

The spirit thought it over, then smiled and said: "Sure. Got nothing to do here anyway."

She got up, and wiped some dust from her clothes. Hope told her where to go, and the spirit left.

Hope didn't however. She continued on, looking around curiously. Almost everything in the room was wrecked, except for one computer. The young shaman walked over to the computer, and started to type several commands, walking to and fro before the machine finally whirled to life. Hope stared at the screen, and instantly, her pupils became utterly small, her eyes widened, and her mouth hung open in shock.

"N-n-n-n-no! No!" she whimpered, moving back, as if afraid that the computer could suddenly kill.

Her hands flew to her mouth as she threatened to utter the one word that scared the 'Bloody Hell' out of her.

The sky darkened. A minute crack appeared in the surface, shining a fiery golden light. The crack grew bigger, bigger, then finally, broke open into a pit going straight into the planet's core. Slowly, out of the molten goo, rose a creature not of this earth. Gigantic and bulky, the THING was covered completely with millions of metallic spines. The head was a three-part, beak-like thing, with but one eye, located inside of the beak-like thing. Instantly, he somehow knew that this was the most evil life form that he would ever encounter. With an evil roar, the spines glowed the same golden light as the core, and then shot beams of energy into the air. All over the planet, destruction rained from the heavens, killing anything it touched. Forests burned, domes disintegrated, lakes evaporated.

The thing made no other moves.

It just destroyed.

LAVOS

She shivered, and didn't read what was written on the screen.

["Lavos" is a prehistoric word for "big fire". Lavos came from the sky and crashed into our planet in the year 65.000.000 BC. He burrowed his way underground, where he would sleep while devouring our world. When the time was right, he would rush out of the earth and destroy everything. Eat all humans he could feed himself on, before sending his spawns to different planets to repeat the cycle. It thought it controlled evolution, thought it created men.

But it was wrong.

Before Lavos came, humans already existed. Even without Lavos, humans would've continued to be as they are now. It thought the planet was its playground, but instead, it founds its doom right here on the face of the planet. It was destroyed.]

"Oh fuck!!" Hope cursed as the screen flicked off. "I can't have anyone see tha!!"

And so, she grabbed both blades, and turned toward the large screen.

"Sayonara!" she screamed, before the blades glowed pure black, and began to destroy the computer in front of her.

"Hope found the computer," the female mumbled as the next spirit wandered into the entry-hall.

The statue of the Vampire had shifted this time. The man looked at her.

"What?" he questioned.

The woman had one leg pulled up and one arm resting on it, her eyes closed.

"She knows about Lavos," the female said, not opening her eyes.

The man blanched at the sound of that name, and he noticed the woman lightly shudder too.

Both of them had had their shares of experiences with Lavos, and none of them had been pretty. Lavos had ruined both of their lives for the worst. Lavos had brought them where they were now, without their true powers until She was defeated. Then there was another problem. They had no way of returning home, because their only way of transportation had been wrecked. She had come to an end right in front of Chronopolis, and had exploded. So, they were stuck.

"Yeah, but… does she know?"

The woman shook her head.

"No, the computer held no infermation 'bou' tha'. The Arbiter's safe, fer now."

The man nodded.

"Let's just hope She doesn't find out."

The woman finally opened her eyes.

"When She finds out, it'll be too late fer her."

"I sure hope so," the man said. "I sure hope so."

Ancha had placed Elvor on a bed after he had fainted, wondering what had happened. She checked what Elvor had knocked over, and noticed it had been a strange vase of a color-changing rock. Ancha was a little confused what could've caused Elvor to faint, just like that. It was highly unusual.

She went back to check on Elvor, and felt his forehead. He was burning up. That guy had one Hell of a fever! Strangely enough, Elvor's breathing and pulse was normal.

"Mon dieu," Ancha mumbled, lightly scratching her chin. "What iz going on around 'ere?"

Sadly enough, she had no answers for that. She sat down in a chair, one arm around her waist and one finger just below her bottom lip, thinking of what to do.

There was no way she would be able to carry him all the way back. It had cost her enough energy to get him on the bed. She couldn't make him float like Ciria could.

"Ah zut!!" Ancha cursed, slamming one hand down on the table beside her, shattering the top without realizing it. "Juzt when we need her, she'z not 'ere!! I juzt feel like kicking zomebody's derriere zo ze moon!!"

Suddenly, Ancha blinked, twice, before grasping her head and giving a screech!

"Mon dieu!! Je suis 'ang around with Laze zoo much!!"

Meanwhile, Elvor was battling a war inside his head, quite literally. He was fighting, fighting things he knew nothing about, but he knew he had to fight them to stay alive. He wasn't alone though. Laze was there, along with Ancle, Zachana, Kaichi, Ancha, Norak and Haelles.

All of them were there.

So much flashed through his eyes while his eyes were closed from the world. The vision he had had after the battle with Same returned to him, only this time, it got worse.

There was a strange blue void, but the redheaded warrior wouldn't give up. They'd gone through too much to lose now! He held the purple katana he'd bought in the village tightly in his grasp, and scowled at the alien monster standing before him. The monster was 20 times higher than him, and 35 times as wide, but the thing that frightened him the most, was the single eye within the three-part beak that kept blinking at him. The woman standing on its shoulder was laughing maniacally, her blue hair waving about in the violent winds. It wasn't just any wind though.

It was the Black Wind.

The monster suddenly opened his mouth, and he seemed to suck up the air, even though he didn't have a mouth. The boy nearly toppled over, but he managed to straighten up, his emerald green eyes burning with rage.

Behind him, lay the blue haired warlord he had faced in battle before, defeated by the monster before him. His long blue hair waved about, and he felt his earrings hit his face slightly painfully. His red eyes were squinted down in that famous scowl of his, and his teeth were bared, exposing his razor-sharp fangs. He knew what was to come.

"NO DON'T!!!" the young blonde princess the boy had fallen in love with screamed out in agony, but he wouldn't listen to her.

"DESIST!!!" the half-human frog shouted with his Old English accent.

He wouldn't listen. He pulled back his blade, and screamed, preparing to lunge forward, when a light from the monster's 'mouth' shot at him. The boy looked confused, until he heard the words of a young prince echoing through his mind.

He still remembered seeing the boy. With his blue hair, frowning green eyes, and his small cat behind him as he spoke to him.

"One among you…" he said. "Will shortly perish…"

That's when he knew it was the end of the road for him. The katana clattered from his hands, as the light engulfed him. Black and purple sparks surrounded him, paralyzing him, making him look up. From around his neck, the blood red pendant began glowing an odd glow, and lifted from his chest, easily leaving his neck. He watched it in some kind of odd fascination, not noticing the look of shock written on the blue haired princess's face. The blue haired warlord growled in absolute anger, but there was nothing that could be done.

The boy watched the pendant with that odd fascination, before his body vaporized within less than a second.

Elvor's brows furrowed, and pain shot through his mind and body, but he couldn't move, couldn't utter a sound.

Whoa! What's up with this guy?! Is he asleep?

Are you THAT dumb, Same?! He fainted!!

I AM NOT DUMB, MURA!! But why did he faint?

How the Hell am I supposed to know?!

Well seeing as you ALWAYS have an answer to my questions!!

Same,you're asking for it!

THEN BRING IT ON!!!

HEY!! STOP IT YOU TWO!!

You'll only draw attention to us!!

Grrrrrrrr!

Humph.

Look, we have to find a way to wake him up or he'll end up in a coma or something!

And that means you two won't be wielded again!

What?!!?

No way in Hell!!

We have to help!

But… what are we supposed to do?!

Let's worry about that later!!

All right.

Okay, let's go help him!

Yeah!

Right!

Let's hit it!

With Masa's bravery…

Mune's knowledge…

Mura's fury…

And Same's power…

LET OUR STRENGTH COMBINE INTO ONE TO HELP THOSE IN NEED!!

It's been awhile since I made a confusing ending, but I finally did it again.

Reviews:

veggie-chan: Yeah, I think so too, but I don't think the actors will like it [Elvor & Ancha: 'WE SURE AS HELL DON'T!!!!' Zeal: 'GET THE HELL BACK IN YOUR CAGE!!!']

pan0gwen: Nope.

Ciria: Z-Vor already said it, but it's to heal Laze. Next one's Bulma and Vegeta, as well as the last part of the search.

samicat: You're the first to ask the question I had been waiting for! It'll be explained later on in the story, once they reach the center of Chronopolis.

Bulma BriefsYue Lover: Yeah, well I should know. I've beaten the game more times than I could keep count. But I still need to beat with Lavos with just Crono. That's tough!!

Dragon battle schedule:

1. Earth Dragon Isle - Terra, the Earth Dragon

2. Water Dragon Isle - Douse, the Water Dragon

3. Mt. Pyre - Pyro, the Fire Dragon

4. Gaea's Navel - Flora, the Green Dragon

5. Marbule - Mura, Eldest Black Dragon

6. Marbule - Same, Youngest Black Dragon

7. Sky Dragon Isle - Sky, the Sky Dragon

8. Sea Of Eden - Chronopolis - Z-Vor, the Eighth Dragon

I already told this, but if people desire for me to write a side-story about all couples [lemon style] please tell and I'll see what I can do. I'm not that good at lemons, but that's my own opinion. Also, if you know another couple you'd like to read a lemon about from this story, do tell. [Dragons are allowed as well.]