A New Threat Part 11
The Five Stones (4)
By Dark Magus
***1000 AD
Lucca ran for her house. She just wanted to get the sunstone, then she could sleep in her own bed. She got to her house after about 20 minutes of jogging. Lucca opened the door and stepped inside. She saw a BIG mess on the floor and figured that it was just her father. He always left stuff out and about when he was busy on an invention. He was probably taking one of his three hour naps in his study.
Lucca shook her head as she walked through the door to her father’s room. Sometimes he could get TOO into his work and forget about eating or sleeping at that. She opened the door and found MORE of a mess. What she was surprised to see was that her father was NOT slumped over his desk, but cradling her mom in his arms.
"Lucca," her father said relieved, "you’re here. Lucca," there was a pause, "We’ve been robbed…"
*****
Marle walked back to the castle, not really wanting to face her father and having to explain why she’d been gone too long. He probably wouldn’t understand that there was another "Lavos." Marle knocked on the gate to the castle, not wanting to waste the effort of opening the door herself.
A guard answered the door, "Welcome Princess Nadia."
"Call me Marle." She replied, annoyed.
"Er… OK, Marle."
Marle walked through the door leading to the throne room, where her father was probably sitting making arrangements about something that was to come.
When she entered, she found out she was correct. "Well hello Nadia."
"Call me Marle!" she told her father for the thousandth time.
"OK Nadia," it was hopeless, "Where have you been? Have you been saving the world again?" her father asked jokingly.
"As a matter of fact… I have." Her father stared at her, dumbfounded. "And that’s why I’m here. You see…"
"Um, Nadia," her father interrupted, "I’m not sure I want you to do that. I can’t have you risking your life everyday with that stupid kid Crono. You have a responsibility to THIS era. You are my only heir."
"Daddy, for one, that stupid kid is my boyfriend. And for two, I am one of the only people in all time that can make a difference. Daddy, if you don’t let me go, there will eventually BE no kingdom."
"Nadia! You are out of line! Nobody disobeys my word, not even my daughter!"
"Well… FATHER," she said mockingly, "Maybe you’ll just have to lock me up and crucify me!"
"So be it. Guards, take her away."
Marle stared in shock as her own father sentenced her to death…
*****
Lucca heard the story as her father told it. "Lucca, around this morning, we woke up to a crash. I rushed downstairs and looked around. Before my eyes could adjust, somebody knocked me cold. I woke up to your mother screaming that we had been robbed. We have spent all day trying to figure out what they took and who they were. Lucca, they took that rock that you treasured so dearly. The sunstone, right. Lucca, we’re sorry. It’s gone. It also seems to be all that they took."
Lucca had a horrified look on her face. The sunstone, who would realize it’s power and potential. Most of all, who would take it. Lucca had to go talk to Marle about this.
Lucca arrived at the castle about a half hour later. How was she going to explain this to Marle? She pushed open the doors and stepped inside, where she was checked for a weapon by one of the guards. The guard found her gun, but didn’t know what it was, so he let her through. She stepped into the throne room. All conversation between the King and the Chancellor stopped.
The king then directed a question to her.
"You’re Nadia’s friend, right?"
"Yes." Lucca replied.
"Then I am afraid I must carry out the death sentence on you too. You taught Nadia to disobey, and that caused her to be sentenced to death. You must now carry the sentence also. Guards, take her away."
Lucca thought fast and quickly pulled out her hypno wave device. A guard reached and grabbed her hand as she pressed the button. The guard loosened his grip and fell to the floor unconscious. Lucca looked around as more people in the room fell into a lull.
So Marle’s own father had sentenced her to death. There was something not right about that. Maybe he had been replaced by something or someone. Highly unlikely though.
Lucca ran up the familiar staircase leading to the execution towers. She crossed a bridge and found herself facing a guard. She took out the hypno wave device and pressed the button. The guard immediately fell asleep. Lucca remembered last time and took off the guard’s armor. She placed it on herself. She picked up the sword. She examined it. It wasn’t as precise and deadly as her gun, but she could see why Frog and Crono preferred it.
Lucca walked down the corridors and passed many guards. Lucca tried to nod to them, but all she did was clank her head against the helmet. She finally reached the prison cells. She looked in each one and saw many thieves and scoundrels, but no Marle. She finally got to the cell that Crono had been in and found her, sitting on her cot crying.
"I have special orders to take this one to the execution room." Lucca said in a gruff voice.
The guard could tell the difference. "Hey, we don’t allow girls on the royal guard. That voice is definitely a girl’s voice." The guard and his buddy took a step towards her with their swords drawn. Lucca realized that the hypno wave device was inside of the armor and realized that she had to fight.
Lucca took the sword and magically ignited it. She took a swipe at the guards and partly melted through their armor. She took another swipe and penetrated the armor completely. She then took the dull end of the sword and jabbed it through the first guards hole. It hit him in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him. She did the same to the second guard. As the guards were trying to regain their breath, Lucca flipped a switch and opened the cell door. Marle cowered in fear.
"Marle, it’s me, Lucca."
Marle was reassured and joined her companion. They stormed out of the room. When they were out of sight, Lucca took Marle by the arm and pretended to take her to the execution room. They made it to the front desk without trouble, then they saw a sight that struck fear in them.
"Hey, put her back!" The King shouted. "How dare you disobey my orders!" Lucca continued to run past him.
"AAAARG!" The king shouted out. Lucca turned around and saw another horrible sight. Ozzie! The so called king had gotten so mad that he had not been able to hold his disguise anymore.
"YOU TWO!" He pointed at Marle and Lucca. "You two were the ones that destroyed my great ancestor in the Middle ages. Don’t deny it! Pictures of you and your other partner drawn on early hide match up to how you look right now. Revenge has been waiting until now in my blood. YOU MUST DIE!" The new Ozzie shot a bolt of lightning at Lucca, who easily dodged it. "Remember this?" Ozzie pulled out a stone that glowed brightly. The sunstone! "This gives me unlimited power. All of your attempts will be in vain."
Lucca tried to shed her armor, but it wouldn’t budge. She would just have to try her luck with the sword. Marle instinctively reached for her crossbow, but found that it wasn’t there. The guards had taken it away. She would have to use magic.
Lucca took a shot first. She clumsily leapt up and landed near Ozzie. She imitated Crono and did a cyclone. Ozzie was hurt only a little. Then Marle tried. She shot an ice trail from her hands until it hit Ozzie. It engulfed him and froze him. The ice melted away and she found Ozzie laughing. Magic attacks didn’t hurt him.
Ozzie struck next. He shouted out and incantation and Marle and Lucca soon saw the eternal shadows. Lucca was partly protected by the armor, but Marle took the full blow. She fell to the floor, obviously nearly dead.
Lucca then struck again. She spun around to gain momentum and hit Ozzie directly in the side. He cringed and raised his arm. Lucca’s armor disintegrated. She immediately reached for her gun. She shot at Ozzie, but the shot reflected off of him. It was useless. With every attack, Ozzie was becoming stronger. The only thing that would hurt him was a sword, and he had disintegrated her’s. Lucca stared up in the face of Ozzie, his laughing face the last she would ever see. She watched as the monster raised his hands and engulfed her in a shadow…
*****
Lucca awoke to slimy hands that felt warm. Strange, she thought she had died. She opened her eyes and saw Frog standing over her. She looked past him and saw the dead carcass of Ozzie the whatever.
"Apparently the masamune has some special effect against him. It was a hard fight, but I succeeded." Frog explained. Frog got up and rushed over to Marle, who was… dead. Frog raised his arms and Lucca saw the power of life seep through his fingers as he brought them down upon Marle’s head. Lucca got up and retrieved the sunstone from Ozzie’s arms. She saw Marle get up and heard Frog explain the story to her.
The three walked out to get the rainbow shell.
They arrived in the room where the rainbow shell was and walked up to it. They all tried lifting it, but it was no use. It was too heavy.
"Marle," Frog suggested, "What if thee were to make an ice road to slide it on?"
Marle considered the idea and without answering shot out a beam. It hit the floor and made a pathway to the door. Frog slid the shell out and Lucca used a flame to melt away the used portion of the path. This went on for a while as they took the shell to the gate at Leene Square. They passed the old telepod. Lucca took out the gate key and the sparkle expanded to surround them.
Lucca found herself in the end of time. Marle used her ice path to help Frog get the shell to Gaspar. Lucca melted the path. Frog deposited the shell near the other three stones. Lucca did the same with the sunstone.
Frog looked around and was surprised to find Calsa missing and Schala taking her place. He was also surprised to see that Magus had turned back to human.
"Now," Said Gaspar, "We must send two people to get Melchior from 1000 AD and bring him here to make the weapons. Magus and Schala, why don’t you do the honors."
Magus and Schala stepped into the Epoch and Gaspar and the other’s watched as it passed through the fabrics of time…
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TO BE CONTINUED
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