Guardia's Finest Chapter 2
By Captain Gaul
When the world came back into focus, I was still in a place of metal, cold, and must. But it was different. It was larger, more open, and had another character I recognized in it. Another...er....thing I had arrested.
A hissing of hydraulics, followed by; "What is he doing here?"
"Couldn't help it, Robo. He followed us in the clearing and fell through the gate."
"The Captain has shown hostility towards me before."
"He was arresting you."
"He called me an 'unlicensed humanoid android' and a 'teenage vandal.'"
"He was a little confused."
"And it was necessary to bring him with you?"
"If we'd left him there, he might've started wandering. He could have died."
"No tears from this robot."
"Robo, do you know what part he played in the timeline?"
"No..."
"Right! He could have easily been an ancestor of the man who designed the R-Series!"
"The point is conceded, but doubtful."
I crawled to my feet. "So this is where you came from."
Robo looked at me. "Do not cross me, Captain."
I decided to ignore that. "Excuse me, where am I? And, I guess the question is appropriate, when am I?"
"You are in Proto Dome, 2300 AD."
A moment of silence while I considered this.
"2300 AD....I guess that means I'm off duty."
"I must say, Captain, you're handling this remarkably well."
"Accept the impossible."
"That's remarkably profound for a captain of the patrol."
"It's the only way to do the paperwork."
The chattering was interrupted by another hissing of hydraulics. This time, it was the door, not the robot. Taban's daughter, Lucca, came out. On seeing me, she aimed her pistol at my head and said "Don't even blink."
I may be a member of Guardia's Finest, but I'm not exactly popular with the youth.
"Lucca, chill, he's on our side."
A chorus of "He is?" was joined by a solo of "I am?"
"If you care at all about the world, you are."
The pistol hadn't eased. In fact, her finger was stretching towards the trigger.
"If I let the world get destroyed, I would fail in my duties as a captain of the Guardia Patrol."
"Right answer. Robo, fill him in on everything he needs to know while we discuss what's going on now."
I won't tell you all what Robo told me. You probably know most of it. Millennial Fair, TelePod, 600 AD, Trial, 2300 AD, Lavos, Masamune, Magus, Azala, Zeal, Epoch, Ocean Palace, Chrono Trigger, Black Omen, Lavos, Lavos Core, Victory. Or so it seemed. But the future did not change, like it was supposed to. Somehow, the world still ended in the year 1999 AD. Still by a rain of fire, destruction, and chaos. Now I'll skip to the part they were talking about.
"One thing's for sure, Lavos, at least the one we fought, is dead. We fried him, smashed his armor, diced his core. The Lavos we fought did not end the world."
"So why does the view screen still show an extremely similar video of the Day of Lavos? And why has the world ended?"
"Are you sure there's only one?"
The entire party turned to stare at me.
"Are you suggesting...that there are two of Lavos?"
"It makes sense to me."
"Negative. That is not a possibility. Lavos is a creature of incredible volume, and significantly greater mass than the normal materials of the earth. Two such creatures would effect the planet's orbit in a dangerous way."
"What about the Ocean Palace disaster?"
Again, they turned to stare at me.
"Do you really know what you're talking about, or are you just throwing out random ideas?"
"Totally random."
"When Queen Zeal seemed to 'summon' Lavos, she in fact teleported all persons involved TO Lavos. He was not in any way 'cloned' or 'immortalized' by that incident."
The argument continued a little longer. I threw out another idea.
"The Lavos Spawn? Were there only three?"
Lucca turned with a look of fury on her face. "First of all, the Spawn disappeared when we killed Lavos. Second of all, yes, there were only three."
"ALL RIGHT ALREADY!"
We turned to face the latest speaker. To my surprise, it was Crono. I was mistaken, the boy does speak. He's just normally pretty quiet, I suppose.
"Why don't we go see the expert on Lavos?"
I had no idea who this was. So I asked.
"Magus, you idiot."
Lucca was really starting to irritate me by this time. I was about to give her a piece of my mind when Crono intervened, again.
"Lucca, shut up. Captain-can I call you something other than captain?"
"You may call me..."
"Not 'sir', either."
"You may call me Nicholas."
"Fine. Nicholas, shut up. All of you, we're going to the End of Time. The captain needs magic, so he doesn't become a liability, and then we're going to find Magus."
"And then?"
"Bug off, I'm making this up as fast as I can come with up it."
.