A/N: Sorry this took so long, I recently got a job, and had writer's block to boot.
A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 19
To Fix My Sword
By: Shadic the Hedgehog
Once we all gathered around Gaspar, he began his speech. "By now, you realize that you are the only ones who can defeat Lavos. However, you are still not yet strong enough to defeat him. There are people and places that you can help out that will make you stronger. First, in the year 600, is a woman trying to bring a forest to life through sheer determination, there is also a shell of every hue. In the year 1000, the ghost of a knight seeks respite. In 2300, is a stone whose light shines for generations, and there is turmoil in the place where robots like Robo are created. Finally, by taking out the Black Omen you will weaken Lavos himself."
I turned to everyone and said, "I say we first train to fight the Demon Elementals, now that they've reared their ugly heads. Then we'll need to work on the Epoch's lasers to take out the Black Omen's lasers before they cause any more problems. I'd also like to get the Murasame fixed."
"How are we supposed to train to fight them?" asked Crono. "If each one is just as strong as Barog..."
"Actually, I'm not sure that they are," Glenn commented. "Just before Dark Flame warped away, he commented about not being at full power."
"He couldn't even kill the Blood Dragon that Robo incinerated three minutes later," Magus said off-hand. Robo flinched, while Glenn glared at Magus.
"Anyways..." Lucca practically hissed. "How are we going to fight them?"
"Well, it doesn't matter how strong their attacks are if they can't touch us. So, we're going to train on re-directing their attacks, or, like if Dark Flame were to attack Marle, who doesn't have control over fire, creating walls to keep the attack away."
The next several pseudo-days were spent entirely in training for most of us. Robo, Lucca, and I were also doing our best to re-wire the Epoch's lasers, so that the front passenger could aim and fire on their own, with great precision. Finally, everyone managed to block Spekkio's spells except for the strongest, like Luminaire, Dark Matter, Flare, and Halation. And damn, Halation sucked. It caused all of us to have absolutely no strength left to move. As it turns out, one aspect of the Lightning element was Light, allowing Crono do bend Robo's lasers, even though they did Shadow damage. That was one surprise for all of us.
A couple hours later, Robo and I finally got the lasers movable, and Lucca sent off a couple of practice shots, to make sure that it worked and was more-or-less moveable. In case you're wondering how I was able to help out so much, all I really did was turn into Barog and use my wings to work underneath the Epoch. I even managed to learn more about technology.
We rested one more day, then I gathered Marle, Ayla, and Glenn to go with me back to AD 1000, because our elements matched the four basic elements, and we were the best at turning attacks (except for Magus, of course, but he already had practice).
Marle manned the lasers, since she was the greatest marksman in the group. As soon as we made it out of the time tunnel I veered left, narrowly dodging the first laser burst from the Black Omen. I swung low to the ground, allowing Ayla to grab some boulders with her magic. Marle took out three of the lasers with a single shot, and when the next volley was fired from the Omen, Ayla stopped them with the boulders she grabbed.
Eventually, we got all of the lasers, great columns of smoke rising from the fortress' sides. I slowed down and dropped in front of Melchior's house. The instant we got out, we drew our weapons and kept an eye out for any monsters from the Omen or the Demon Elementals. We made it to the door of Melchior's house. There was a piece of paper nailed to the door. I ripped it off, and growled as I read it.
"The occupant of this house has been placed under arrest on the following charges: one: Being a weapons smith without a permit; two: selling said weapons without a merchant's licence; and three: Repeated offences of... being human?! And it's signed 'Ozzie the XIII, Lord of Medina.'" I ripped up the letter and burned the scraps. "That's as far as I need to read. We're going to destroy Ozzie the First! Let's go back to the Epoch. We're headed for AD 600."
We quickly shot through the time barrier, and Marle once again got ready to fire the lasers. When we emerged on the other side, though, what we saw shocked us all. The damage we were about to do to the Omen was already there. Smoke pouring out of wounds we weren't going make for another four-hundred years!
"What the-?" said Marle. "How is this possible?"
"Maybe Black Omen so scared of us, it hurt self before we do!" Ayla offered.
"No, I don't think so," I replied.
"That still doesn't explain why the damage we did in the future is present here," Glenn pointed at the door. "That scar was caused by our laser. None of its own could turn back that far."
"The Black Omen is like a stone in the stream of time. It isn't affected by time forward or backward. If, later, I were to stop by the Omen in 2300 and write 'Lavos is a pile of space shite,' it would show up all the way back in 12,000 BC."
"So, why can't we see the Omen at the End of Time?" asked Marle.
"Or at the Beginning of Time," added Glenn.
"It's not at the End because time will never catch up with its End, and the Omen is still limited by time, just not affected by it," I answered. "It's not at the Beginning because it didn't exist then. It has a finite beginning of its own."
I finally got to Ozzie's Fort after wandering about for a while from Magus' Castle. Landing, we got out and stared down the building. "Hey, Marle, or Glenn, I want one of you guys to go get Magus, and maybe Crono. Ozzie uses Lightning magic, so it might be good practice for him."
Marle opted to go, and I was glad to see that someone other than myself was able to fly the time machine, as I was beginning to wonder. Barely two minutes later, the Epoch had landed again. Marle had brought both Crono and Magus, and for some reason, Lucca was there, too!
"Lucca? Why'd you come along?"
"Oh, come on, Joe. I've been dead for a while, and wanted to get out of the End of Time, continue the adventure. Besides, I'll be needing some practice, too!" Lucca chirped.
"Fine, fine. Let's go."
"Not yet," Magus commanded. "Why'd you drag me along?"
"This is Ozzie's Fort. After we took him down in your castle, he ran away to here. I was thinking you might like to see him. Also, your best equipment is in there."
"Hmph. Fine, let's go." Magus strode forward with an arrogant stride. I sighed and walked in after him.
As soon as we entered, Ozzie said, "Come on in! This is the Great Ozzie's Place! ...What in the-?!" He jumped back a little and looked mortified. "M-Magus?!"
"Hn. You seem to be doing well, Ozzie," Magus had the biggest smirk you could get without it being a smile.
"T-the nerve. Deserting your fellow Mystics to work with these humans. You are a traitor! You're no king..."
He floated off the ground then drifted away. We glanced around at each other and followed him in. The first wide-open room, in which I thought we fought Flea, but I wasn't sure. Ozzie stood by the exit, between two candelabras.
"You're following me, huh? Well, then. Allow me to show you a gift from the Black Omen! Tubster, rise!"
A bright yellow light appeared from the floor, coalescing into a yellow version of the Heckran. Ozzie once again floated off.
"Alright, Joe. Any special strategies against this guy?" asked Lucca.
"Not really. He counter-attacks at everything, and since he's a Black Omen monster, he's going to be strong. Use your strongest attacks!"
Magus grinned and muttered, "Gladly..."
He made some mystical gestures and pointed at the Tubster. A black dome erupted from the monster's feet and then faded away, leaving some black stuff on it. Tubster retaliated, simply swinging its claw and cuffing Magus from across the room. That got the rest of us going. I threw a simple Point Flare, Glenn threw his sword so that it was spinning through the air, using the wind to guide it back after it chopped through Tubster (he calls the attack "Boomer Blade"), Ayla charged forward, jumping on its head and gnawing it with Cat Attack, Lucca and Marle threw an Antipode 2 at it, and Crono used Supreme Cannon.
After all the attacks finished up, there were some minor scratches, and some holes that were already scabbing over. I ran forward for a Sonic Blade, while at the same time, Crono and Glenn used a X-Strike, causing us to hit him in formation. Magus followed up with a Dark Bomb and the energy filled in the holes and new scratches, sealing them up. Lucca threw a fireball, not noticing the healing, and burned its shoulder, causing it to counter-attack.
I noticed both of these and yelled to Magus not to use anymore of his Shadow-type spells, since they apparently heal it. However, his other element spells could be used with us. Glenn built up a whirlwind that Crono and Magus tossed Lightning 2 spells into. After that, Lucca, Magus, and I used streams of fire from three sides that almost managed to destroy it. To finish it off, Marle formed a giant icicle with Ice 2 that Ayla grabbed and spiked into its chest. The thing roared, and disintegrated like a normal enemy.
As soon as it was gone, Magus headed through the door, forcing the rest of us to play catch-up. In the next room, Ozzie stood on a balcony, while beside us, two conveyor belts were moving along.
"Howdy," Ozzie greeted us. "You are quite strong, I'll admit. But anyone trying to take MY treasure shall be harshly dealt with!" He turned and started cranking, two Blue Ogres emerging from the holes next to the conveyor belts. Everyone went for their weapons until I held up my hand.
"Don't bother. Ozzie's not very good at making traps on his own."
"Got that right," scoffed Magus.
Sure enough, once the Blue Ogres hit that conveyor belt they were carried on over to the hole on the other side and dropped through. "Oz-Ozzie's in a pickle!" He shouted, before turning around and running.
We entered the next big room, and approached Ozzie, who was once again standing between the candelabra. This time he was really grinning.
"The Tubster wasn't our only gift from the Black Omen. I'd like you all to meet Slea!"
Everyone looked at me and I shrugged. This was new. There was a spinning thing forming in between us and Ozzie. When it finally appeared, We gasped (except for Ayla, 'cause she didn't know who it was to begin with, and Magus, because he was just too cool). Slea was Flea and Slash joined at the shoulder!
"When you brats sliced off Flea's arm and broke Slash's, the Black Omen combined them into one being, with both of their powers!" Ozzie announced. "Let's see how you deal with this!"
Ozzie floated away again, and we were left with the bizarre Slea. Slea created a pair of swords out of Fire and Ice, the two magic types Slash and Flea used. Slea sliced towards me with the Ice Brand, while the Flame Tongue sliced at Crono.
Slea said, with both heads at once, "Double Demon Fang!" as a two different elemental waves of energy flew at us. I jumped over the wave and sliced down with my blade as Crono rolled around and sliced horizontally. Slea slid backwards, leaving some sort of minor after-image effect, and our swords hit. Slea flew up and backwards before diving in our direction with Ice Brand pointed at us, accompanied with a shout of "Rising Falcon!"
The frozen air around the attack struck us both and I took major damage from the ice. Next to attack were Ayla and Glenn, with a new dual-tech that they had learned when training at the End of Time. It was called Desert Storm, and they whipped up a small whirlwind of sand that had Slea trapped in the center. Coming out of the whirlwind, with a cry of "Omega Tempest!" was Slea, with a vertical spinning attack. S/he struck Glenn with the move, then turned and knocked Ayla back with an attack called Raging Beast.
Magus, Lucca, and Marle teamed up for a new triple-tech, which they called Acid Mist. Magus had regained enough magic to use his Dark Mist, and when combined with the energy from an Antipode attack, it became a dangerous mist that could take off skin. Thankfully, it was Spekkio they had tested it on, and he has the regenerative abilities of the Tarrasque from Dungeons and Dragons. Slea screamed in pain, then retaliated by chanting a spell of some sort, a bright greenish-blue circle appearing under hir.
"May the merciless embrace of frost take thee. ABSOLUTE!" A spinning sphere of cold energy appeared and whipped out with tendrils of ice, freezing everything it touched. Suddenly, Marle was glowing with a light blue aura. The sphere started slowing down, but it wasn't stopped that easily. Then, Glenn started glowing yellow and the spell finally stopped and condensed into a little ball of cold. Glenn and Marle pulled their arms back and the sphere flew between them. It started growing bigger and they threw it back at Slea with a cry of "Frozen Tundra!"
Just before the attack would have hit, Slea sliced it in two with the Flame Tongue. The two halves hit the candelabra and pillars of ice appeared over them, the candles still glowing inside. Slea charged forward and performed the same movements as Rising Falcon, but instead had the Flame Tongue pointing down and calling out "Rising Phoenix!" The searing heat was felt by Magus as well as Marle, Lucca, and Glenn.
Crono, Magus, Glenn, and I moved into position for one of our stronger combo attacks: Twilight Cross. Crono coated Glenn's sword with lightning, though it was more made of light than electricity, and Magus surrounded my sword in darkness. We flew past Slea with an X-Strike type maneuver, and were stopped by hish own swords. The powers of Ice and Darkness, and Fire and Light clashed with each other. In struggling to get through and finish the blow I roared in rage, fire spiralling across my body until I stood as Barog. I applied pressure and the Ice Brand shattered, darkness sliced through the Slash side of Slea. Glenn, at the same time, used his wind magic to suck the oxygen out of the air around the Flame Tongue, completely erasing it without its fuel, and the light struck Flea. Marle and Lucca used the opportunity to combo a Delta Force with Crono, aiming it into a beam of tri-elemental energy that pierced through the bond holding Slea together.
Slea flew back, not entirely broken, and landed with a shudder. The two heads looked at me and Magus, before proclaiming us a blight upon our fellow Mystics.
We scoffed at the monstrosity, both telling it that we were never Mystics to begin with. Magus explained that he was using them to exact revenge against Lavos, whereas I mentioned that I was far greater than any Mystic hoped to be, since I was Barog Firestorm. I began laughing, full of one emotion: Pride.
"You were always fools apart. I guess it didn't make a difference when Zeal turned you into Slea. Contrary to what everyone says, two heads are not always better than one," Magus told hir.
At the name "Slea," they visibly bristled. "It's Flash, dammit! We've- I've told Ozzie that hundreds of times, and he still hasn't gotten it!" They then were surrounded by a wave of fire and ice, then disappeared.
We all took a minute to recuperate and drink some Elixirs that Spekkio gave us. I mentioned the secret room in the next room, along with Ozzie's poor trap for a treasure. We walked in and completely ignored Ozzie's taunts about his treasure, and just as we walked by, a Mystic appeared and went for the chest himself. When the guillotine sliced up the green imp, Ozzie stopped and gaped for a moment before saying "Oz... Ozzie's stumped! Outta here!" and vanishing. We went into the secret room and grabbed Magus' Doom Sickle, Gloom Helm, and Gloom Cape. He donned them and Crono grabbed the Full Ether from the chest, muttering about a mystic's life was lost just for an Ether.
We walked into the final large chamber, to see Slea/Flash and Ozzie going at it verbally until they noticed us. They agreed to stop arguing until we were dealt with, and turned towards us. Ozzie started out throwing up a large blue shield, though not as good as the one he usually hides under, Magus noted. As we beat down on it, I over heard three voices speaking in unison: "Infinite powers, grant me thy strength," it was being repeated several times. We broke through, and saw a large, mostly colourless circle around the three, er... two casters. They finished the spell and pointed at us speaking two last words. "Meteor Storm!" The whole fort began to rumble as the air filled with meteors striking all around us.
While I was certain that this would have normally been a non-elemental spell, I detected a definite fire attribute to it, and Ayla started throwing them around, showing that they included earth as well, and Glenn managed to push aside some others with his wind spells. I leaped forward and smashed the ground, casting a circle of flames that I turned into a net and caught several meteors in it. The heat was so intense, the meteors started melting, allowing me to fuse it into one big meteor that I smashed in front of Ozzie.
I would have hit Ozzie if he hadn't floated backwards at the last second, but then in my current state of mind, I wasn't thinking about "would haves" or "what ifs," I was only focused on one thing: I missed. That fact alone ticked me off to no end, and I charged in, sword aflame. Slea/Flash blocked my sword with a re-made Flame Tongue. I greedily absorbed the "sword" and grinned before slicing off Flea's head from the combined body. Magus came in behind the now one-headed chimera and sliced off Slash's head, looking very much like a Grim Reaper.
Next, we all turned towards Ozzie who was sweating up a river. He flew out of the room faster than a bullet, not even saying something like "Ozzie's in a jam." We chased after him and saw him in a room with three switches on the wall behind him.
"M-Magus! How could you! You said you wanted to create a world of evil!"
"I used you," Magus stated frankly. "My only goal was the destruction of Lavos. Say, do you hear that? It's the sound of the Reaper." Magus flashed his scythe with an evil grin.
"I-I can't lose. If I die, what will become of the Mystics?"
I snorted, "They'll be taken better care of than your descendants could have done."
Ozzie shivered and covered himself in his impervious shield. I lazily took aim at the far left switch on the wall and shot it. A hole appeared in the ground beneath us and everyone who couldn't fly or at least hover dove off to the side. Ozzie laughed from beneath the shield before taking a peak out from underneath. I smiled as he ducked under again.
I then heard a meow from behind us and simply waited for the orange cat to walk up to the switch on the right and push it. Why the cat was there, I didn't know and didn't exactly care. I was simply letting my prophecy from back in Magus' Castle come to pass. Ozzie screamed as he fell, somehow dying when he landed in his basement.
"There. The future has been changed. Let's go get my sword fixed." I turned back into myself as I turned, then suddenly realized I wasn't standing on the ground. I was hovering over the hole in the ground. "Oh, shite."
I started to fall, but then Glenn cast Wind and held me up. I thanked him and we walked out of the fort together. We sent Magus, Marle, Ayla, and Glenn back first then Glenn returned to pick us up and go to the End of Time. I cleared my throat and reminded Glenn that we were headed for Melchior's first, to get the Murasame fixed up.
We stopped by and Melchior was home this time. The Murasame was easy enough to fix, using the left-over Dreamstone to make it even stronger. Then we headed back to the End of Time to prepare for our next adventure.
"Blame your fate,"
-Kratos Aurion, Tales of Symphonia.
The Tarrasque is a monster that has the ability to regenerate even if you burn the body and scatter the ashes to the farthest reaches in the world. It's also one of the few Colossal size monsters, and has the ability to swallow anything smaller than itself whole. Good thing there's (usually) only one, huh?