Squaresoft/Back to the Future Chapter 3
Midnight Massacre
By Fred Delles
The night was crisp and cold, and dead quiet. Crono was skateboarding all the way from his house to Bugenhagen’s observatory to Cosmo Valley. According to the clock outside the mall, it was about 1:35 AM, one minute early.
Crono looked around. There was nothing there except Lucca, Cid, and a Shinra tractor-trailer.
“Hey, Lucca, Cid, what’s up? Where’s Bugenhagen and Nanaki?” Crono didn’t even know what the hell everything was about.
“Shhh. Watch,” said Lucca.
The trailer’s sides slowly collapsed, slowly moving down. It was almost a minute before all four sides of the trailer were on the ground, and white smoke flowed from what was the inside of the trailer. When the smoke cleared, it revealed a shiny new Tiny Bronco… with a few modifications. The cockpit opened, revealing Bugenhagen and Nanaki.
“Great. They’re late!” Cid said. “Let’s get this show on the road!”
Bugenhagen and Nanaki exited the cockpit and walked toward the three.
“Ho Ho Hooo! Let’s get this show on the road!” Bugenhagen said. Lucca took her position next to him as Crono turned on the video camera.
“Hello, I’m Bugenhagen of Cosmo Canyon, and this here is Lucca of Truce, and this is Temporal Displacement Experiment 1.” Bugenhagen took Nanaki to the cockpit as everyone else followed. Bugenhagen then showed two stopwatches to the group.
“As you can see, the times on the watches are exactly identical and synchronized,” Bugenhagen said as he pointed to the times on the two watches. They both showed 1:38 and ticked to 1:39 at the same time.
He then continued his lecture.
“Now get in, Nanaki. Don’t forget to fasten your seat belt.” Bugenhagen fastened Nanaki’s seat belt.
“Me, Grandfather?” Nanaki replied. Bugenhagen then closed the hatch.
He then took out a remote control and started up the Tiny Bronco’s engine. It rolled off the platform and rolled along the parking lot. After a couple of hundred yards, Bugenhagen turned the plane around and started up the propellers.
“When this plane gets off the ground at 212 miles per hour, you’re gonna see some serious fireworks!” Lucca said, in an ecstatic tone.
The plane started to move toward the group. Crono turned the camera toward Bugenhagen.
“No! The plane!” Crono turned the camera at the Tiny Bronco. The plane was rolling toward them. Just as the plane was about to hit, it got off the ground and flew, missing them by a mere six inches. The plane kept on going and exploded in mid air, leaving a pair of burning trails that were about a hundred yards long.
Crono was surprised at the discovery. “What the hell happened? You disintegrated Nanaki!”
“Ho Ho Hooo! Nanaki’s molecules are still intact! I didn’t disintegrate anyone! It’s just that he was sent into the stasis of time!”
“The stasis of time? You mean… you built a time machine? Out of the Tiny Bronco?” Crono was surprised at the discovery.
“Of course!” Bugenhagen replied. “After three years of creation, Nanaki became the Planet’s first time traveler!”
“Three f#*$ing years!” Cid said. “And all it took was-“
“Get back!” Lucca shouted. The three moved away from their positions, and the plane materialized from where they stood.
Of course, we all know the story of Crono and how he went back in time. He fell back in time 400 years in Truce’s Leene Square from a Time Gate. However, Lucca eventually defined it as a wormhole, and Crono’s claims of “officially” going back in time was revoked. Frustrated, Lucca came around and worked on an all new time machine with Bugenhagen.
But that was three years ago. Lucca finally found her dream coming true, a machine able to go back into any era in time, not just certain periods like Time Gates. This is definitely a night to remember.
The Tiny Bronco was still intact, all right. However, the plane was totally frozen over for almost no tangible reason. The three stood in dead silence. Bugenhagen went to the door and touched the handle. He pulled his hand away in shock.
“What’s wrong? Is it hot?” Crono replied.
“No! It’s cold!” Bugenhagen yelled. Lucca came over and opened the cockpit with her foot. As soon as the cockpit was open all the way, Nanaki came out and ran back in the tractor-trailer cab. Crono turned the camera toward the two as they prepared another lecture.
Lucca began. “Anyway, this is a time machine. It was created in three years with the Tiny Bronco and spare parts.”
Crono focused the camera at the inside of the time machine.
Lucca continued. “In here, there are three control panels. One tells the time you’re in. The second tells the time you want to go to. The third tells the time last departed.”
Lucca then pressed a couple of buttons. “Let’s say you want to see the signing of the Midgar Unification contract.” She pressed a button and it read “November 12, 1719.”
She continued with a “Or witness the Jenova War.” She then typed in “September 15, 0000.”
Bugenhagen then continued. “And here’s a date for you history buffs: June 22, 1967.” Lucca punched in the date on the keypad.
Cid interrupted. “What’s so damn important about the date?”
Bugenhagen became excited. “June 22, 1967! Ho Ho Hooo! June 22, 1967! That’s the day that I designed time travel… I remember it just like it was yesterday. I was trying to increase Nanaki’s morale to fight Meteor, and was thinking of certain ideas…”
“Faking your death wasn’t funny, Grandfather,” Nanaki interrupted. “You scared to death the people of Cosmo Canyon.”
“Sorry,” Bugenhagen said. “Well, anyway, I was thinking of Materia, and came across a Silver Materia after it fell into a Lifestream experiment. After the elders continued some more experiments, we found that if it matured over time, it could make something travel through time. However, the process would take 25 years. After the Materia matured, Lucca and Cid though that they could create something that could go back in time, and we used the Materia. It’s been about three years and a lot of time to create!”
“From my calculation of the earth’s rotation, if you flew this thing thirty years in the past, you’d probably land in Corel Valley or something,” Lucca said. Crono was too busy taping Bugenhagen to listen.
Bugenhagen showed the back of the cockpit and showed the Silver Materia to Crono. Crono said nothing and stood there, taping it with awe.
“That’s heavy,” Crono replied. “So, what does this time machine run on? Ordinary gasoline?”
There was silence.
“Unfortunately, no,” Bugenhagen said. “I need a Lifestream chain reaction to generate the 1.21 giga-ability points to accelerate the Materia.”
“Lifestream!?” Crono was shocked at Bugenhagen’s last sentence. “You mean that this sucker kills the Planet!?”
“No!” Lucca said. “The propulsion is created with matured Spirit Energy. Anything used with this energy will return to the Planet.”
Crono breathed a sigh of relief as Cid brought out five Shinra uniforms. Bugenhagen brought a box of Mako reactor rods.
“Wait a minute? Where did you get those reactor rods!?” Crono yelled.
“What?” Lucca said.
“I mean, you can’t walk into a drugstore and buy them! Did you rip them off?” Crono was surprised that the group could do such a thing.
“No!” Lucca said. “Of course not! A group of people named the Turks wanted me to build a bomb with them! So I stole their Mako rods and built one out of a shoddy bomb casing and used Atari Pac-Man cartridges!”
Crono and Lucca chuckled at the situation.
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A couple of minutes later, they got the uniforms on. Lucca told Crono that the purpose of these uniforms is to protect someone from Mako poisoning.
Bugenhagen opened the box of matured Mako reactor rods, took one out, and placed it in the reactor core in the Tiny Bronco, while Crono continued videotaping. Bugenhagen then shut the box.
“It’s safe now,” Bugenhagen replied. The five took off their helmets. Lucca stood in front of the camera.
“Now, Bugenhagen and I will be ready to go to the future. The distant future, to be exact.” Lucca was about to enter the cockpit when Cid shouted something.
“Hey, guys, you forgot your luggage!” Cid was pulling two suitcases toward them.
“Ho Ho Hooo! Of course! I don’t think the future has pants that have no pant legs in them!” Bugenhagen said with ecstasy.
“Well, anyway, let’s get going!” Lucca said. She then remembered something and laughed.
“Oh, wait a minute! We need the reactor rods! How do you expect to go back without them?” Lucca came back and picked up the box of rods.
Nanaki suddenly howled at something.
Crono looked surprised. Nanaki would never howl unless something is really wrong. “Say, I wonder what’s wrong?” he said plainly.
“What’s wrong, grandson?” Bugenhagen said as he walked to Nanaki. Bugenhagen then saw a flash of light from some vehicle about three hundred yards from him. He looked closely, and started to panic when he realized that the vehicle was a Volkswagen Bus.
“Them. I can’t believe it’s really them.” He whispered to himself. Lucca was searching her pockets for something.
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“NOW what the hell is going on?” Crono yelled.
“Don’t you see!?” Bugenhagen yelled toward Cloud. “It’s the Turks!”
“I thought they were killed by my dad,” Crono replied.
By the time Crono finished his last response, the Volkswagen Bus rolled up about fifty feet toward the group. Crono quickly ducked for cover behind the plane’s right wing.
Lucca circled the Tiny Bronco, searching for cover. She ran around the wings in a clockwise manuver. However, unbeknownst to her, the Volkswagen went counter-clockwise and the two met about thirty feet from each other. Lucca became shocked at the situation as the Turk in the sunroof gave a vengeful look.
Lucca drew her Wonder Shot and tried to fire at the Turk in the cockpit. Click. She tried again. Another click.
Her last thoughts were “I forgot to load this; I just didn’t amaze myself today…” as the Turk blasted her mercilessly with his M-16 machine gun. She fell straight to the ground. It was yet another blow for Crono.
“You bastards!!!” Crono yelled as he ran to the Turks. In the three seconds that he needed to confront the Turks, he was thinking of nothing except the tragedy of his best friend. When he looked straight at the Turk’s machine gun barrel, he realized that his decision would make him history.
At the irony of the situation, the Turks both hesitated as Crono used that time to run behind the cab of the tractor-trailer. The Turk in the sunroof fired, but missed by a mere six inches. Crono was startled at this near-death experience, which wasn’t as startling as the fact that the Turks are trying to kill him.
He hid in fear as the bus turned away and went toward Bugenhagen and Cid. In a dishonorable stance, the Turk blasted them down while they were running away. The only bright light was the fact that Nanaki ran away. The lamplights didn’t even contribute; most of the nearby ones were blasted by machine gun fire.
Crono had only one chance to get away. He took a deep breath and tried to run to the Tiny Bronco about twenty-five meters away. However, as he rounded the cab, the Turks’ Volkswagen lights were flashing at him! Crono stood frozen, like a dead duck.
This is it, I’m going to die… Crono thought, …unless the guardian spirits favor me… The Turk lifted his machine gun and got ready to fire.
CLICK! The Turk was surprised. Crono was still frozen in fear. There was another loud CLICK as Crono found that he was favored… for now. He scampered off as the Turk tried to reload his machine gun. The driver followed Crono, trying to run him over.
Crono realized the Tiny Bronco, and with gut instinct, leaped in the cockpit. He tossed his sword, CD player, and video camera in the other seat. The Volkswagen bus was getting closer.
He fumbled around for the throttle. He quickly found it, and the plane started to move. The Turk was firing away at the plane, but to no avail.
Crono thought that the only way to get away was to fly. However, there wasn’t enough room, and he had to turn into a nearby street, useful for a makeshift runaway if some crazed maniac is trying to kill you!
Ten seconds later, Crono turned into the road. He took a quick peek at his rearview mirror and found that the Turk drew out another weapon – an M-79 grenade launcher. He smiled insanely as he took aim.
“Crap!” Crono yelled as he spotted the weapon. He pulled the throttle all the way back. By doing so, his elbow struck the time circuit switch, and it turned on the time control panels. In his tight situation, Crono did not notice.
He stared at the odometer. It reached about 160 miles per hour. The Volkswagen bus was going faster, but couldn’t catch up, doing only sixty. The Turk in the sunroof fired a grenade, but it veered left and exploded in a field. Crono knew that one would hit him soon.
“Okay, let’s see if you bastards can fly!” he yelled as he pulled back on the stick. The plane was still going faster. The Turks cursed, staring at the plane, and slammed on the gas. Suddenly, they saw some kind of kiosk and in one second, slammed straight into it. Crono hoped the crash killed them.
Crono didn’t notice. He missed the kiosk by a hair. The Turks weren’t so lucky, and Crono knew that justice has been done. For now, he just wanted to get away. The plane just reached 200 miles per hour.
Suddenly, he noticed a Boeing 747 coming straight toward him.
“Oh nuts…” he said as he was about to hit it dead on. Crono started to scream “Aaaaaarrrrrgh!!!” However, the plane hit 212 miles per hour, and in a flash of light, the plane vanished. An Avian Chaos took its place and slammed into the front window.
Crono was still screaming. The plane started to lose altitude, and by the time it landed on the ground, it was rolling toward some barn. Crono couldn’t stop it, and it slammed through the barn doors. The Shinra helmet landed on his head from the impact.
Crono tried to get up, but he was still too shaken from the crash . There were no broken bones or bruises, but he was fatigued from the last hour, in which he saw a plane go back in time, a Volkswagen that killed his friends, and also saw a 747 that isn’t there. Crono heard some noises near the front door, and struggled to get up.
Mr. Peabody was in the house when he heard something crash into his dilapidated barn. His two kids were there already, trying to survey what the heck happened. He got his sandals on, and ran to the wrecked barn door.
“What is it, Daddy?” one of his kids said.
Mr. Peabody was shocked, but he still answered. “It looks like an airplane… an alien airplane!” They then heard the cockpit open and reveal… a Shinra soldier. The family screamed and scattered off
The Shinra soldier removed his helmet, showing his red hair. It was none other than plain old Crono.
“Hey! Wait-“ Crono needed to find out where the heck he is. No one was there, and the only sound he heard was the mooing of cows. He slowly tried to leave, but by the time he got to the busted doors, he heard a shotgun blast!
BLAM! The shot wasn’t aimed for him, but Crono still realized that the people around didn’t like him. He ran back into the Tiny Bronco and slammed the throttle.
“You damn Shinra don’t care a damn about anything except gil! Peabody yelled as he fired another shotgun blast.
The barn collapsed from the second gaping hole the Tiny Bronco inflicted. The plane started to fly away.
“Why, you… You damaged my ONLY barn, you Shinra son-of-a-bitch!” Peabody cursed as he fired another shot. It struck the weathervane and blew it into pieces.
Crono continued flying the plane as he saw the first rays of daylight. He tried to calm down about the situation. “All right, this is only a dream,” he said to himself. “There’s no logical explanation for this. It’s just a dream…”
The plane started to stall. Whether it was from damage back in Corel, or from lack of gas, the plane lost altitude again. Crono was able to land it on the road.
“Wait a sec, I remember this road… it leads from Corel Valley straight to Neo-Nibelheim!” Crono stopped the plane and followed the road. He looked around, and found absolutely nothing. It was just a desolate wasteland. Crono walked over a small hill and was shocked at what he saw. It was just too unnatural, as if he were in the Twilight Zone. There was a stone sculpture saying “Neo-Nibelheim Estates” and a billboard saying “Neo-Nibelheim: Visit the house of the future today!” However, there were no houses! Just a bulldozer and some piles of dirt.
Crono was shocked at what happened. “Where the hell am I?? What the hell happened to the Planet!?”
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End of Chapter 3
Watch for Chapter 4 – “Pink Aeris: Light Side of the Meteor” coming soon!
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Nitpickings:
How the heck did Crono get from Cosmo Canyon to Corel Valley? Well, it has to do with the earth’s rotation and everything, but it’s too darn scientific to explain.
Neo-Nibelheim is located between Corel Valley and Cosmo Canyon.
I couldn’t find a character to portray Peabody (the pine tree farmer from Back To The Future). He’s not important, so I just used him as is.
Yes, the Turks really used a Volkswagen bus to chase down the group and shoot them down.
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