ZnT belongs to Noboru Yamaguchi and J.C. Staff. I own Cronoz.
Chapter 6: The Bigger They Are…
Even though he didn't have any lungs, Cronoz felt like something was on fire as he ran through the halls of the school, trying only to find the huge stone golem that he had seen second ago. He thought to himself as he tried to find the immense creature. Impossible. How is finding this… thing so taxing? It's as big as-
The mech turned his head toward the forest in the distance, watching birds scattering and some trees practically topping over. "Oh. There it is."
Before he started to move, he felt a hand on his left leg. Cronoz looked down, finding Louise, hunched over and panting, with her other hand on her bent knees. Her pink hair was sprawled all over the place, as if she had just gotten out of bed. Cronoz sniggered, causing his master to look up, still panting, and bark at him.
"W-what are y-you doing l-laughing at me like that?" Louise tiredly asked, brushing herself off.
"Nothing," Cronoz replied. "Just surprised you were able to run down those stairs fast enough to catch up with me."
"Whatever…" Louise looked up at the direction the golem was. "We need to catch Fouquet and her golem and retrieve whatever she took from the vault!"
Cronoz nodded. The large boosters on his back began to shift themselves outward, ready for usage. While doing so, he shifted his own arms into their combat forms. When all the gears finished clicking and clanking, the rusty mech bent its knees. He nodded his head towards his master. "All aboard."
Having ridden on her familiar before, Louise was still only half prepared to climb back on to his metal armored frame. However, she had grown to trust him - albeit a little bit - more since that time. She carefully grasped onto his shoulder piece, then attempted to swing herself over his back. Unfortunately, this didn't go as she had planned, ending up falling off. Fortunately, Louise was caught before hitting the ground.
"Why don't you just sit up here?" Cronoz asked in monotone, letting Louise sit atop his left arm.
She stared at him, but only for a second. "Let's just stop that golem, alright?" She said to him as she gripped his arm, preparing for her trip.
"That was the plan all along, wasn't it?" Cronoz replied.
Before Louise could respond, the mech ignited his boosters on his back and propelled himself into the sky. He wanted to fly as fast as he could, so he could confront this 'golem.' However, Cronoz remembered he had a passenger, one that didn't exactly feel spectacular while flying at such velocities. And besides, the mech didn't need anything other than rust covering his armor. If he could shiver, Cronoz would have at that thought.
Within minutes, the duo were hovering above the forest near the school. Even though they were trailing the largest creature the mech had ever seen, Cronoz couldn't for the life of him find it. It was as if it had just disappeared back into the earth from which it had come from. But that's impossible… Thought Cronoz. Then he remembered where he was. Alright then… improbable.
Louise pointed toward an open field in the middle of the woods. Land there. We can search for Fouquet once we land."
Cronoz complied with a nod. Slowly but surely he hovered over to the open track of land. Once he was a foot off the ground, Cronoz disengaged his booster rockets on his back, setting himself back on solid ground. Louise stepped off her mobile companion, before looking around.
"She couldn't have gotten far…" She said aloud, still peering around the open area as Cronoz did the same with his scanners. "Do you see anything, Cr - familiar?"
"No, my scans are coming back negative." The rusty mech replied. Strange. Did I just get a case of déjà vu? He shrugged it off, thinking it was nothing.
"Well, keep searching. Fouquet must be-" Louise began, but stopped once she felt something. Cronoz felt it to. The ground underneath their feet began to shake, just like it had in the building a few moments ago.
"Louise. Is this what I think it is?" Cronoz hastily, yet still in monotone, asked.
"Uh huh! It is!" Louise shouted as the rumbling grew more intense. Cronoz quickly made his way over to his master and grabbed her, then barrel rolled out from under the rumbling earth before something erupted from it. Cronoz looked behind his back for a second, then attended to his master, who was still clutched between his arms.
"Are you alright, Ms. Valliere?" He asked as nicely as he could.
"Oh yeah, just perfect. You almost crushed me!" Louise shouted into his audio receptors.
Cronoz sighed. "You're welcome…" He released his grip from her before turning around to face the towering goliath that was now there. It was literally made up of thousands of stones, with clumps of green shrubs and trees covering it here and there. Its large black face and two stone colored eyes were directed right at the mage and mech duo. That did not fill either one of them with confidence.
"Alright, I've calculated our strategy of how we can defeat this thing." Cronoz said to Louise, who was whipping out her wand from her cloak.
"OK then. What is it?" Louise replied.
"I'm going to stand back and watch you make the whole thing fall apart with your magic. Sound good to you?"
"…Are you serious?"
"No… well maybe just a little."
"Now is not the time to-"
"Foot!"
The two dodged from the incoming stone foot that would have easily crushed them both in one go. Cronoz decided to try first a blunt approach to taking down the behemoth. Since the golem was so massive, the rusty machine calculated that it would be too slow to react to a physical attack, and too top heavy to keep its balance once an attack was administered. Cronoz jumped into the air toward the golem, and punched it as hard as he could with his claw-hand. However, it only seemed to take out a little bit of the rock that made up the monster's body. What? That can't be right! It's only stone!
Before he could fall back and think of a new plan, the golem swept its long arm and backhanded the mechanized familiar back onto the ground. Cronoz got back onto his feet almost immediately, but could tell without doing a systems check that he was indeed damaged. "Alright then," He mumbled to himself. "Not going to try that again…"
He looked up, finding the golem had advanced himself with clobbering range, with its hand in a fist ready to plow the mech into the ground. Cronoz readied himself to move, but watched as something else happened. An explosion seemingly appeared out of nowhere, destroying the golem's arm that was ready to pound Cronoz into a mecha-pancake. As the arm came crashing down, Cronoz looked around, finding Louise behind the golem with her wand out, and an accomplished smile on her face.
Heh. Guess she's not a zero after all. Cronoz chuckled to himself. He lifted his minigun up toward the golem's face. "Fire." The gun slowly started up, then began to tear up the golem. Each shot hit, breaking off thousands of stones off the giant's body. It staggered backwards, unable to comprehend this amount of force that was destroying it, bit by bit. Eventually, it toppled over, reducing itself to nothing but mere gravel and pebbles.
"Huh," Cronoz stretched his arms out as Louise hopped over the remains of the golem to get to him. "I thought that would be harder."
"Yeah…" Louise tapped her foot. "That seemed almost too easy. Nonetheless, we should continue our search for Fouquet." She began walking towards the forest behind them, but then another tremor rippled through the ground underneath their feet.
"I presume he's ready for round two!" Cronoz stated while checking his ammunition for his minigun. As he snapped it into place, a huge hand made of stone tore through the ground right underneath him, catching the mech off guard. He tried to jump off the hand could grab him, but was unprepared for the whole thing. The golem, who started to rise from the earth as if it hadn't left at all, grabbed a hold of Cronoz, almost crushing him. Louise tried to prepare another spell, but was knocked to the ground by the golem's rising from the ground. The mech tried to free himself, but to no avail. He could feel the pressure from the monster's grip one his armor, and, contrary to what others might think, it was indeed hurting him.
"Louise!" Cronoz strained himself. "Get out of here! Now!"
The pink haired mage picked herself up from off the ground. "You're not exactly in a position to give me orders, familiar!"
"Tch." Cronoz fought against the pain. You're going to get yourself killed, idiot!
Then, the two heard a noise, a whistle to be precise. The mech felt the pressure on his body cease to continue, and he started to look around to find where the noise came from. Louise was doing the same. As if on cue, a figure emerged from the forest and walked out in between Louise and the golem, with Cronoz still clenched in the golem's grip. She wore a black shroud over her head, with long green hair coming down over her shoulders. Her clothes were normal, and in here hand she held some sort of weapon that Cronoz seemed to recognize.
Actually… The mech thought to himself. She looks familiar… have I seen her before?
The figure chuckled. "I see you two have had some fun with my golem here, haven't you?"
Louise scowled. "Fouquet. Return what you've stolen from the academy!"
"Now who's the one in no position to be giving orders?" Fouquet laughed.
"Y-you were here when I said that?"
"She's been watching us since we walked into the principal's office," Cronoz cut in, making the green haired thief shift her gaze onto him. "Or am I wrong, Ms. Longueville?"
"What?" Louise almost fell over. The cloaked figure smirked, then slowly removed the shroud that covered her head, answering Cronoz's inquiry. Indeed, Fouquet had, in seconds, changed to the trusted secretary of the school's principal. "How did you know, familiar?" Longueville asked.
"Simple. I came up with the logical conclusion of your identity easily," Cronoz answered bluntly. "I had seen your wanted posters beforehand, and you exit from the Osmond's office is still in my memory banks. Also, your hair is a dead giveaway."
"Well, that is very perceptive of you, familiar," Longueville chuckled and clapped her hands together, resulting in more pain for the rusty mech. "Unfortunately, I can't have my secret being spilt by a mere… whatever you are. So, you and Ms. Valliere are going to have to disappear."
She held up the weapon that she stole from the vault and aimed it at Louise. The pink haired mage tried to move, but she felt all stiff, her legs unable to move. Not that she was scared, but because some of the rocks had been magically chained around her legs, unwilling to let her go. She closed her eyes, expecting the end to come soon. However…
"Oh come on! How does this thing work?" Longueville yelled, fiddling with the metal contraption, trying to make it do… anything at all.
Cronoz was able to scan the weapon before the golem started squeezing him again. It turned out to be a modern day weapon, a rocket launcher. How it got here was something he'd have to figure out another day. All he know was that Fouquet was going to end up trying to get rid of them with or without the launcher. An act that the mech wasn't looking forward to. He shut his optics and concentrated, focusing as much as he could on his right arm, the arm with the runes on his hand. He felt the power surging throughout his body, like he had was powered by a lighting bolt or something of equal power. The light from the runes shined through the cracks in the golem's fist, getting the attention of his master and enemy.
"Wh-what is that light!"
"Fam - Cronoz!"
The mech took this chance. He lifted his arms as much as he could, and somehow smashed right through the golem's hand. It exploded into bits, scattering everywhere. But Cronoz wasn't finished yet. He quickly dashed towards Fouquet and grabbed the rocket launcher from her. In one fluent motion, he turned around to face the golem, aimed the launcher at it - with Longueville still gripped to it, dumbfounded - and, without even thinking it, whispered "Fire." He pulled the trigger, sending a rocket straight at the titanic rock golem. It collided with its target in seconds, followed by a bellow of smoke that covered the entire field. Louise coughed and gagged, trying to disperse the smoke by waving her arm around. When it finally cleared, she gasped in surprise, with a hint of victory. A clear hole was present in the middle of the golem's chest, which after a few moments caved in on itself, sending it back to the ground it came from. Again. Louise was so happy she hadn't noticed Cronoz next to her, freeing her from the rocks that were wrapped around her ankles.
"C-Cronoz! That was amazing!" Louise exclaimed happily, but immediately calmed down when she noticed the four-eyed mech staring at her. "G-good job," She folded her arms together and stuck turned around, not wanting to show her red face. "As to be expected of a familiar."
Cronoz chuckled. "Of course."
"Wait! Where's Fouquet?" Louise turned around frantically.
"Don't worry. I got her." Cronoz turned his head to show Louise the green haired thief, who was wrapped up by some kind of thread. "She's not going anywhere."
Louise sighed. "Well then. I guess we should make our way back to the academy."
"Logical. I'll prepare my boosters in a second."
"Mm. Alright…" Louise trailed off and stared at the setting sun.
It was a quick flight back to the academy, and Cronoz was surprised that Fouquet didn't try anything. Maybe she was so flabbergasted by his use of the rocket launcher. That made the mech feel pretty good. But something bothered him. Even when Osmond congratulated the two of them - Cronoz and Louise - for capturing the wanted thief, the young mage was quiet the whole time, speaking only when spoken to, and in a very hushed tone, barely a whisper. They were currently in her room, as she was readying herself for bed.
"Query."
"…What is it?"
"You seem troubled. Is there something wrong, Louise?"
No response.
"Louise?"
Again, no response. Cronoz decided not to push the matter any further. He remembered, deep down in his memory banks, that when a woman wanted to be by herself, it was best to leave it at that. He began to stand up and slowly make his way out of the room. However…
"Stop."
He turned his frame around, finding Louise still staring out of her window at the moon. Cronoz wasn't sure what to do now. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in some time. It felt like an eternity passed before Louise spoke again.
"It's because I'm a zero…"
"Huh?"
Louise quietly walked up to Cronoz, then laid her head on top of his chest plate. He could feel the warmth from her body. He could also feel her trembling as well.
"I barely did anything in that fight today… I'm such a failure…"
What? Where is this coming from all of a sudden? "Negat- I mean, that's not true. You made that explosion that-"
"That was a stroke of luck. I was aiming for its legs…"
For a while, there was dead silence. Only the whimpers and sniffs coming from Louise every few seconds. The mech wanted to process what to do next, but he knew it was no use. This was one of 'those' kind of moments his master was having. He had to do something. He was her familiar after all.
"Louise. Look at me." Cronoz asked politely.
At first, she did nothing. Just kept sniffling. Cronoz thought for a moment that she wasn't going to listen to him after all. Then she slowly lifted her head up, still having some water in her large pink eyes. Cronoz stared back with his own four bright white eyes.
"I was created to gather knowledge. Seek out what others could not confirm. Some say I was to be a perfect machine. A creation with no flaws whatsoever. However," Cronoz paused to point to his horned head. "I was created to increase this, not this." He laid a finger on his chest plate. He didn't have a heart of course, but that wasn't the point.
"Back in my world, I knew very few people aside from my creator," Cronoz continued. "The one I was closest to was just like you, in a way. She was small and smart, but she was also quiet and shy. She never opened up to anyone, barely ever speaking. Neither of us were perfect, yes, we were both flawed. But… that is what makes all life precious." He calmly laid a hand on Louise's shoulder. "Our flaws make us who we are, and they help us prosper and grow from it."
Louise said nothing, and just kept staring. Because of this, Cronoz decided on doing something on his own. He leaned forward and wrapped his long arms around her body, as he had earlier that day. "You, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere, are one of the closest things I have had to be called a friend. And even in this world, if I am to only be called a servant, I never ever want you to here you call yourself a zero…" He paused and shut his optics. "Affirmative?"
Dead silence again. Cronoz was absolutely sure he was going to get it now. Talking back to his master this way. Maybe his approach was too direct or something. But then, something as equally different happened. The mech could feel two shorter arms being wrapped around his body. They didn't reach, but it was still unsuspected… and a little bit pleasant for the rusty machine. He backed up a smidge, so he could look at his pink haired, pink eyed master.
"Alright, alright," Louise smiled at him. "Just no more dopey speeches, got it?"
If only Cronoz had a mouth, he would have smiled.
A/N: Didn't I say I'd get this done before the middle of this week? I did right? Right? …Guys?
Don't know what dat's about… BUT anyway!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm 87% sure this is my longest chapter yet. The fight was fun to write about, although I felt I was a little repetitive. There's only so many synonyms for golem, ya know?
Also, I tried to delve into Cronoz's 'emotions' and his relationship with Louise. I hope that came out as good as I hope it is. And some junk. Also, this may be the part in the fic when the plot sorta-kinda-maybe-might change in the plot. Might do it in a different way than the anime does it. Just so you guys know
Thanks for reading, reviews are appreciated, and I'll see you next update!
Happy Independence Day!