A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Seven
Pieces of the Masamune
Shadic the Hedgehog
Disclaimer: I really friggin' wish I owned CT. I got some CRAZY ideas.
"Okay, Joe. Where are we off to?" asked Crono.
"We head for Zenan Bridge; talk to the commander, he should be in golden armour; then go to the castle and get some jerky from the Chef," I replied. "After that we join the fight at the bridge."
"Right."
We traveled for three days to the southern tip of the Northern Continent, which is also the location of Zenan Bridge. We spoke to the commander and he asked us to get some rations for the troops, because they were late. So we made a trek up to the castle, that took about the same amount of time. It went the same as in the game: we spoke to the chef; he said he was busy; we walked away, fairly ticked; he caught up to us; gave us the jerky, which was actually stuffed into three "bags of holding;" and dashed back to the kitchens.
When we finally got back to the bridge, we saw people with missing limbs and others laying on the ground from hunger and lack of energy. We spoke again to the commander.
"Everyone! We have food! The cook has saved us!" he yelled. Soldiers came running, or limping very fast, and got as much to eat as could be spared. Then things got worse: three soldiers came running up to usand announced that the army would have to fall back, because the Mystics were too powerful. The commander turned to us and said, "I recognize you as the ones who defeated Yakra and saved the Queen. My name is Commander Migjar, will you help us in battle?"
We nodded and he handed me a golden helmet. I passed it to Crono who stuffed it into our personal "Bag of Holding." We ran onto the bridge and found our first battle: three skeletons, Regenators, I think they were called, and Ozzie, the floating gut. I executed the Chaos Flare and discovered that the shockwave from Ozzie, it couldn't penetrate his fat for some reason, shattered all the skeletons. Ozzie retreated and we followed.
Next was four skeletons and Ozzie. Crono waited for them all to gather and then used his Cyclone attack. I could tell it wouldn't be enough so I charged in with Sonic Blade, caught Crono's sword and accelerated him, still holding out my sword. Our combined swords and speeds shattered all the skeletons. I let go of Crono's sword and continued on until I hit Ozzie, my sword bouncing out of his enormous stomach. Crono stumbled dizzily out of the remains of the skeletons a short while later. He recovered quickly and we called our attack the Sonic Cyclone. Ozzie retreated again, but we actually caught up to him faster than we should have.
"So, you think you're so tough!" taunted Ozzie. "Just wait 'til you meet Zombor!" Once he said the name, six skeletons floated in from the bridge and grouped together. Three of them turned into a torso with puny wings, and the other three bacme a pair of legs that attached themselves to the body. We got ready to fight and instantly used two of our newest Double Techs. Fire Blade One, where Lucca enchanted my sword and I used Sonic Blade (at Zombor's upper body) and Ice Sword One, Marle enchanted Crono's sword just before he slammed into it (at his lower body). The part where I sliced turned bright red and it shattered like overheated glass, and where Crono stabbed turned to pure ice then was shattered exactly like my piece. We repeated this several times, making sure not to accidentally strike the wrong half, or risk healing it. We helped with a major victory that day, and became even greater heroes than we were before. We were so physically and magically drained that we had to drag each other to Domino Inn.
The next day we headed south to Frog's place in the Cursed Woods. Marle asked why it was called the Cursed Wood, and I admitted that I didn't know. I located the bush at the entrance of Frog's house and we climbed down the ladder.
"There's no one home," said Marle, as she looked around. I started for the treasure chest at the far end of Frog's bed. Just as I reached the foot of the bed, Frog jumped down from the ceiling, sword at the ready. He took a quick glance around at us before realizing who we were.
"'Tis thee, Hugh. And the rest of thine party appears to be present as well," said Frog. He sheathed his sword and walked to the chest I had been heading for. "Why hast thou come to visit me? And while we speak of this, how didst thou know where I dwell?"
"I can answer both of those questions with one answer," I answered. "My name is Joe, not Hugh. I picked a false name for some stupid reason or other, and because I thought I would be able to reach my home Universe, unfortunately my gateway closed up before I could return permanently. In my home world, this world is a game for children, and finding your house is part of the quest to defeat Magus.
"Thou art from another world? 'Tis shocking news, but I am sorry. I do not think that I am strong enough to defeat him, even with thy help..." Frog turned away and seemed to slouch (it was hard to tell because he was really short to begin with).
I walked over to him and asked, "Would the Masamune help?" As if in reply he spun around and stare at me. "I thought that might get your attention. Unfortunately, without the sword's hilt, we will be unable to repair it. We'll also need the blade, but I'm sure we can get that later."
"Aye, I have the hilt, and the blade is atop Mt. Denadoro, but who is left that can reforge it?"
"We'll take care of that later. If you need proof that we can help, we'll return later with the blade and the Hero's Medal. Fare thee well, good knight." I turned around and started to climb the ladder.
"Wait! Thou hath told me enough to trust thee so I thusly entrust the hilt of the Masamune, in hopes that it shall be made whole once again. Upon thy return, we shall see about fighting Magus together." He got out the hilt of the sword from the chest, and passed it to Crono, who was just across the bed. Crono pulled out our "Bag of Holding" and slid it in.
"You shall not be disappointed, my friend. Expect us by the end of next week at the latest. See ya!" I waved and we all climbed up the ladder. We then headed north to Mount Denadoro, which took us about a day. Luckily, just as it was getting dark, we reached Fiona's house and she let us stay. As we left I handed her some gold pieces as thanks, though she said she didn't need it.
We reached Denadoro just in time for Tata to go shrieking past us. We stared after him for a couple of seconds before moving on up the mountain. As we met some monsters and dodged around others, I guided us to the cave of the Masamune. Our biggest trouble was the Outlaw flinging rocks at us from across a small canyon. We camped just in front of the cave entrance and the next morning I outlined a battle plan.
"Alright, when we enter there'll be some kid running around talking about being the wind, ignore him and head for the blade. The kid'll stop us and ask us if we're after the Masamune, and once I affirm that he'll cal his brother out of the sword. When the first stage of the fight starts, concentrate on one of them: they'll both stop if either becomes too wounded. Afterwards, they'll fuse into a huge beast named MasaMune. When he begins to store energy, you're gonna want to use Slash to disrupt the energy, Crono, 'cause if he hits one of us with it, its gonna hurt. Now let's get 'em."
We entered the cave and things went mostly to plan. As we walked past Mune, he stopped and watched. Once we reached the stairs, he said, "Are you here fo the Masamune, too?"
"Yes, but i was unaware others had tried," I replied.
"Another wanna-be hero, then. Oh, big brother!"
"What is it Mune?" Masa walked out from "behind" the blade, which was sticking in the ground, disguised as a whole sword.. He looked out and saw us. "Oh, not again. We should put up a 'no entrance allowed' sign."
"It wouldn't have stopped us anyway," I replied. "We're here to get the blade to its hilt, and the true owner. Now, do we have to fight you, or can we just take the blade with us?"
"You'll still have to fight us. After all-" started Masa.
"- it isn't the sword that makes you a hero," I interrupted. "I know, how about this: I won't use my sword for the first test."
"Whatever," said Mune. "Let's just start this." Crono, Marle, Lucca, and I headed back to the entrance while Masa and Mune stood in a guardian position in front of the sword. They hovered in the air, spinning around, and assumed their true forms. They looked like Olive-skinned, short, bald elves in robes. They also had noses that looked like beaks.
I started the battle by pulling Crono's sword out of its sheath and charging Mune, who's white robe had a purple collar. His eyes widened and he winced as I knocked the air out of him with the sword's hilt. He fell to the ground and when he jumped back up, he yelled, "Hey! You said you wouldn't use a sword!"
"Wrong," I replied, handing Crono's sword back "I said I wouldn't use MY sword, this is Crono's. Now let's get serious." I assumed a martial arts stance, actually it was more like a boxing stance, and started attacking Mune, randomly kicking and punching. He tried to block and dodge, but, due to my lack of fighting style, he found it difficult. He tried fighting back, but evey move was instantly turned to an attempted block thanks to my relentlessness. After he actually hit me at one point, knocking me back a couple feet, I glanced at Crono, Lucca, and Marle fighting Masa, three-to-one, and losing. Which meant that I would have to finish this before my friends could be finished off. That meant magic. I charged up a Point Flare and threw it at Mune's feet. Thinking that I was trying to hit him in the chest, he pulled a Matrix dodge that failed to accomplish anything. He flipped end over end and slammed his head against the wall. Once he spotted Mune's predicament, Masa called fpr a stop and we all returned to our starting postions.
"Well Masa, they beat us," said Mune, then he muttered darkly. "More like I was blown up by him."
"Heh, only Cyrus got this far before," replied Masa. They moved a little further away from each other and performed the Finori Fusion Technique, something only they could do. A dark hole in the cave opened up where they made contact and out stepped the hulking MasaMune. He roared and prepared to attack.
I yelled "Except for Crono, use your strongest spells!" I dodged a punch that caused a small crater and charged a Chaos Flare. I spun around for centrifugal force and threw it. As it made its way to MasaMune, a stream of Fire and Ice fused with it and turned it into a move I called Antipode Bomb. MasaMune flew back and began sucking in air, as if charging up for something... Crono noticed this and threw a Slash at him, the waves of energy causing Masamune to stumble back and lose the stored air.
MasaMune quickly recovered and charged Crono. I reacted and attacked with Sonic Blade, Marle turning it into Ice Blade1. When my sword passed through his left arm, turning it to ice. Crono leapt into the air to used Spincut, except that Lucca turned it into Fire Sword 1. He stabbed into MasaMune's right shoulder, causing the arm to burn off at the joint. Masamune sank to his puny knees and glowed bright colours before breaking apart into nothingness, the gold stream of his particles turning back into Masa and Mune at the head of the room. They turned into their human child forms.
"We have beaten you, so may we have the blade? Or is there another test?" I asked.
"You have earned it," replied Masa and Mune in a single voice. They walked back to the blade and merged with it. I walked up the stairs and pulled the blade out, being careful not to cut my hands. We placed it in a sheath before sliding it into the bag along with the hilt.
Masa's voice came from the hole in the cave roof, "You wanna ride the wind down to the base of the mountain?"
We all agreed ad were picked up by a small-scale tornado which traveled to the foot of the mountain at exhiarating speeds. We then trekked south to Tata's house to pick up the Hero's Medal. After that side trip, we hurried back north to the Time Gate so that Melchior could reforge the sword.
"The Glories of the past are an illusion, so are the glories of the present,"
-Edward Johnston, Timeline.