Reptite Thieves!
Shadic the Hedgehog
I woke up feeling horrible. I couldn't really understand why, but for some reason after the dancing, everything was a blur. I stumbled to my feet and looked around. The rest of the team was in the same general area I was, but not uncomfortably close. Then I noticed the Reptite tracks and shouted, "Guys! Wake up! Wake up!" I had to grab my head after that, because I suddenly developed a spltting headache.
"Nrgrh," snorted Lucca. "What is it Joe?" She yawned widely, then groaned and grabbed her head.
"Yeah," mumbled Marle. "I was having such a wonderful dream..."
"Wake up Robo. We've been robbed," I replied.
Marle stood up quickly, then sat right back down, her head probably spinning. Lucca got up slower and stumbled over to Robo. She smacked his dome and his eyes began glowing.
"Yes?" Robo said. "My, you all look terrible."
"Well, besides the fact that we just spent the night on the ground, it looks like we've been robbed by Reptites," I replied. "'Scuse me for a sec." I dashed off to the side of the grounds and threw up. Wiping my face off with a discarded leaf, I added in a raspy voice, "What's wrong with us, Robo?"
"I have suspicions, but I'll have to run an analysis on the Dizzy Juice. Is there any left?" he answered.
"Yeah, there should be some over there," Lucca mumbled. After testing the chemical make-up of the Dizzy Juice, he concluded, "Apparently, this beverage is made of fermented bananas. In other words, you are all suffering from hangovers.
I stared at him for a while before I said, "Ah, crap. I vowed never to drink an alcoholic beverage for my entire life, and now look what I've done! Guess I'll keep trying not to drink the stuff, but my broken vow shall haunt me forever."
Lucca walked over and patted me on the shoulder. "Hey, 's not that bad. Least, nothing else happened."
"...True. Now, the first step in getting our stuff back is to talk to Ayla."
We traveled to Ayla's hut and entered, to find Ayla herself sleeping on the nearest cot of the three on the floor. Marle walked over to her and shook her shoulder.
"Ayla, wake up," she said in a soothing voice. "Come on, wake up." 'Gee,' I thought. 'Crono's kids are going to be well cared for.'
Ayla's eyes snapped open and she jumped out of the bed. What she was weaing was a frightening sight. Actually, it was the lack of what she was wearing that scared me. I spun around and Lucca laughed, "Ayla, get your furs on. You're embarrassing the man."
"Ayla no understand. Joe not like Ayla?" Ayla was amazingly awake, almost if she drank Dizzy Juice every day.
"It's not that I don't like you, just that I don't like such displays," I replied, staring out the door. After a little more of Lucca and Marle talking to her, Ayla finally put her furs on and wetold her the situation. She ranted about the Reptites for a while, but then she calmed down and we started south for the Maze Forest. Suddenly, I thought of a better idea, and thankfully before we had gotten to far.
"Hey guys, I think it might be a good idea if we trained a little before continuing to the Reptite Lair."
"What do you mean?" asked Marle.
"There's some hunting grounds up north filled with mosters. If we beat them up for a while, we might get a little stronger for any upcoming fights. We'll probably need it since Crono's not here."
"I am afraid that I require more information," said Robo, "Before I can decide if we do that. How would it be any easier if Crono were here?"
"Simple: dinosaurs are weak against lightning, and Crono has that kind of magic. If we train enough, we might be able to defeat the Reptites without him." That seemed reason enough for Robo, but Ayla was curious as to who this "Crono" was. Marle gave a small (but detailed wink!) description. Finally, we turned around and headed north instead. By the time we got there, it was getting dark, so we camped out in a conveniently located hut.
The next morning, we started hunting, mostly going after Ions and Anions, and waiting for the rain to start, so that we could fight the Nu. We found him, er, it (they don't actually have a gender), and began the battle.
I started off with a Laser Sword combo with Robo, and nearly sliced it's arm off. Ayla and Lucca charged in with a newly learned Fire Cat Dual Tech, and Marle healed our headaches with her Cure spell. Yeah, I said headaches. Turns out the Nu couldn't kill us, only wound us in head-to-head combat. It was funney to blurrily see that after hitting my head, the Nu stumbled around in mutual pain.
After a few more rounds like that we finished off the Nu and he gave us some prehistoric money (fangs, horns, feathers, and petals) and a third eye. We all started back south with new moves, from the over-all hunt Lucca learned her first Bomb attack, Marle learned Ice 2, Robo learned how to use his Heal Beam mechanism, and Ayla learned Cat Attack. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of any new techinques. (A/N: If I'm doing the Techs out of order, sorry but it's been a while since I played)
We made it into the Maze Forest about two days later (making it approximately a week after we left Frog's house), to find Kino surrounded by monsters. There were several dead monsters around him, so he must have been putting up a good fight. We charged in and ripped, or sliced, or shot the monsters. It was an extremely easy fight compared to the Nu, and right after I actually thought up a new move! Even though my flames hurt everyone else, they can't damage me physically, so I could use it to clear out my bloodstream of poison and disease, and cauterize my wounds! Because it allowed me to clear out my blood, I decided to call the move Purification.
Ayla asked Kino, "Why Kino here instead of Ioka? Kino needed there while Ayla help friends!"
"K-Kino here to get back friends' things from Reptites," he replied.
"How would you know about that? We only spoke to Ayla," said Lucca.
Kino flinched. "Kino sorry, but Kino took friends' things. Then Reptites steal something from Kino and leave Kino here." Ayla bopped Kino on the head realy hard.
"Ayla, there is no need for violence," counseled Robo.
"Actually, it's sometimes the most effective cure for stupidy," I replied.
Kino gave us back what stuff he had of ours and we noticed the Gate Key was the only thing missing. I explained that Azala (A/N: Is that how it's spelled? Could someone help me out?) had taken the key because it represented a form of technology that he or she knew humans of the age couldn't make. Kino returned to the village after the oversimplified explanation as to how I knew this ("He's not from around here"). That said, we traveled through the forest, and our only real problem was getting lost, since the monsters were too afraid to face us. We made it out around sunset and camped for the night. Upon opening our eyes, we were surrounded by Reptites.
"Surrender, Apes," said one wearing blue, "and maybe Azala will spare your pitiful lives. After all, he needs something to explain that device we stole." The Reptite grinned toothily and gestured for us to be picked up.
"Don't fight them!" I yelled. "This'll get us closer to the Gate Key faster than having to go through the caves!" Ayla still struggled a bit, and it took six Reptites to carry Robo, as opposed to the two for each of us. Our "escorts" took a few shortcuts that were never in the game, plus we didn't have to fight anything, since we were prisoners, which meant that we would be fully rested for our battle against Nibel. We'd be needing all the power we could get.
We were tossed unceremoniously into the chamber where Azala stood, contemplating the Gate Key. He turned around and said, "Excellent, these odd apes should be able to answer my question. What does this interesting device do?"
Marle edged over to me and whispered as discreetly as she could, "What should we say? I need your help here!"
"It doesn't matter what we say," I whispered back. "He'll sick his triceratops buddy on us either way. Although, we probably shouldn't tell him, in case he should think to try it out himself."
"Right," she stepped forward and said, loud and clear, "None of your beeswax!" I could have done a face-fault (A/N: AKA Pratfall)! I was expecting something a bit more regal than that!
"Fine!" Azala screamed. "This should loosen your tongues!" As he ran off to the side he called "Nibel, attack!" And in charged a triceratops that could walk on its back legs.
We drew our weapons (Or for Robo and Ayla, got in a fighting pose), and attacked Nibel. Robo and Ayla were attacking from the sides, while Lucca was shooting him in the back of the head. I kept his attention up front with slices of my sword. Most of his attacks, including tail attacks, were nullified by Marle's Cure spells, and when she didn't have to heal, she was freezing him with her normal Ice spell. As he began to wear down, Marle, Lucca, and I used the Antipode Bomb, but Robo decided to add something extra: jumpnig into the air, he used Rocket Punch on the Triple Tech, accelerating it. Nibel chose that exact moment to roar at us, and, unfortunately for him, the Bomber Fist went straight down his throat. It blew up in the vicinity of his stomach(s?), resulting in the complete cooking of his innards and a huge "fart" of fire. Azala ran off, after dropping the Gate Key, and we returned to Ioka Village where Ayla presented me with the Dreamstone.
"But we didn't do the canyon race," I protested.
"Joe has shown Ayla great strength and friendship, so Ayla give Joe Chief's Rock," she explained.
We thanked her and they threw another party (I tried steering away from the Dizzy Juice until Lucca mentioned that "it didn't really matter, we all got drunk earlier, and that was irreversible"). The next day, we passed quickly through the End of Time, switching Crono and Robo around again, and traveled to Melchior's house. Lucca and Melchior fixed the Masamune, and we headed back to the year 600, after taking a "two day" rest stop at the End of Time.
"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work."
-Mark Twain