You've Come A Long Way, Baby Chapter 7

By Imrahil

“Hey team! How’s it feel to be back in the adventuring business?”

“How have you been, Gaspar?” Crono said with a smile as he walked down the dark marble path to the friendly old man. Marle, Lucca, and finally Magus followed closely behind him.

The old man was leaning against the only light post in the room, and spoke in the usual mysterious way that was expected of him.

“Oh, can’t complain, son. It’s been a few months, hasn’t it?” Gaspar sighed and looked up at the four travelers. “Ah well, we might as well get down to business. I believe you have a few questions?”

“Namely one; who attacked me in my own home ten days ago?” Magus stepped forward and addressed the Guru.

“Janus! I barely recognized you without your cape!” Gaspar smiled strangely. “I hear you’re doing better.”

“Excuse me?” Magus was confused by the old man’s words. “You mean I’m better since the attack?”

“That too. Anyway, I must tell you that your assailant’s nature is going to be very difficult to comprehend. In fact, I shouldn’t even tell you.” The old man was as cryptic as ever.

“Gaspar, you know everything we’ve had to go through in the past. I think we can handle just about anything you say,” Marle said with a confident smile.

“True, true. Well, here goes,” the old man paused. “Remember how Lavos fell from the sky? Well, he had to come from somewhere, right? Maybe from another world just like this one, hmm?” He waited for his audience to respond, but they all remained expressionless, except for Marle, who shrugged. “Well, there are millions of worlds like this one out there, in the sky, they are all just very far away.”

“Teaching us astronomy, now, Gaspar?” Lucca said with a smirk.

The Guru ignored her. “Unfortunately, there are some worlds out there that aren’t like yours. They have much darker futures; similar to the one you visited a few months ago on your own planet. Of course, in most cases, dark futures aren’t due to something like Lavos. They are produced by years and years of greed, and the lust for power. Over time, these two traits devour the people who exhibit them, and those people devour what is not rightfully their own. They are insatiable. Until they destroy themselves, of course.

“It looks like someone who is like this, from another world, has taken an interest in power elsewhere, besides their own planet. This someone found…you, Janus. And he wants you. Badly.”

“If what you say is true –” Magus began.

“I assure you, it is,” Gaspar interrupted with a wide grin.

“—then I have become a target of an extraterrestrial despot?” Magus finished.

“Yes. They are an extremely advanced species, and they have the capability to monitor your world at all times from very far away.”

“Did you say, ‘at all times’? Like, from millions of years in the past, to millions of years in the future?” Lucca asked with disbelief.

“It’s a much smaller timeframe than that, but yes, that’s the general idea. Currently, they are waiting for your friend to use some of his power. Once he does, they track down the exact time and place he was when he used it. Then, they teleport themselves to that time and place. Remarkable, eh?”

“So we were right? These aliens aren’t wizards?” Crono asked.

Gaspar laughed out loud. “I guess I didn’t make this clear. The worlds that are corrupt, unlike yours, are the ones lacking magic. Magic is the cohesive bond that keeps people…sensible. The creatures that I speak of have never seen magic in their lives. Except for the one you attacked, Janus.” The Guru’s joyful expression turned grim as he looked into Magus’ eyes. “But that man didn’t see a magic spell; he saw a man throwing volatile energy in his direction, and unfortunately for you, Janus, they do know how to disperse energy.”

“This is extremely disturbing. How do we fight an enemy that we cannot attack?” Magus was looking down thoughtfully as he said this.

“Easy. You recruit someone on the enemy’s side,” Gaspar said, smiling widely once again. “I see by your expressions that you are confused again. Well, the creatures are only monitoring your world, and not their own, so it would be prudent to go to their world. Unfortunately, they are monitoring their world during their own time which is about 2300 AD. So the next intelligent course of action to take is to travel to their world at another time.

“You will need the help of several natives of the planet, but you have to gain their trust first. Here’s a tip: keep a low profile. It’s going to be difficult, at first, but you will eventually discover the tools to defeat your enemy.” The Guru shook his head and said under his breath, “They’re gonna be mad at me after this one.”

“So you’re going to send us to the planet before 2300 AD, I guess? When, then?” Crono asked.

“How about 1999? Don’t you think that’s appropriate?” Gaspar nudged Crono in the arm, winking.

“No.”

“Not really.”

“Nope.”

“Kinda dumb, actually.”

“Do you want my help, or not, team?” Gaspar said in an annoyed voice. “Hmm, I suppose I’ll send you there around 2290. I don’t have any idea what it’s like there, or what you have to do, but I would get your gear out of the Epoch and come and talk to me when you’re ready.”

The four companions turned around and headed back toward their time machine. Lucca spoke first.

“You know what this means: we’re not going to be able to take Epoch with us.”

“I have a feeling doing this is not such a good idea,” Marle said. “I don’t want to travel to a different planet! I like my own!”

“I never imagined such evil could exist so far away…” Crono said as he popped Epoch’s trunk and started to unload their equipment.

“Indeed. And I feel the obligation to vanquish it.” Magus picked up his cloak and helm and equipped them both.

“Watch out, Magus! You’re starting to sound like Frog!” Marle said a little too loudly. After seeing Magus’ cold expression, she immediately regretted what she had yelled. She put on her prism dress and helm and picked up her Valkerye crossbow sheepishly.

After an awkward moment of silence, Lucca spoke. “It just feels like we were just here, you know? Romping around in battle gear, beating the bad guys, saving the good guys...” She equipped her prism dress and helm and picked up the Wondershot.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. But I kinda missed it, y’know?” Crono slipped on his moon armor and prism helm and slammed Epoch’s trunk shut. Crono had already had his katana equipped before he had arrived.

The four walked back to where Gaspar was standing.

“One thing I forgot to mention: you probably won’t be able to understand what the natives say. You see, they’re speaking a different language.”

“Different than Common? Weird,” Marle said.

“Well, they come from a different world, after all. Let me teach all of you this simple communication spell. It will help the natives understand you.” Gaspar gave them a simple phrase, which would enable them to speak with the aliens easily. “You may feel a little strange after casting it, but it works!”

“Is it time?” Magus said.

The old man nodded silently and pointed to a door near Spekkio’s doorway. None of the friends had seen that door before. The group walked over to it, and Crono reached for the handle, sweat trickling down his forehead, when Marle suddenly spoke.

“Can we see Spekkio?”

“There will be plenty of time for that later. Now leave. I know you basically have no way back home, but I’m sure one will present itself to you. Have fun!” Gaspar waved to the shocked group.

“We have no way home?” Lucca asked, almost hysterically. “We’re not going in there!”

“There you go again, not trusting me. I said the opportunity to go home will present itself. Now get going!” Gaspar made a shooing motion with his hands.

“We’ve gone into much worse situations. I’m sure we’ll get ourselves out of this one.” Crono swung the door open, revealing a huge gate. But this gate was far different than the ones that the companions were used to. For one, it was gigantic. Also, it was an extremely brilliant white color, and the four had to look away.

“Amazing! And this’ll get us to the bad planet?” Marle said as she turned back to Gaspar.

“Hurry! It won’t stay open much longer! Of course, once you get there, you’ll have all the time you need, but for now, get moving!” Gaspar pointed at the gaping maw of the huge gate.

Crono shrugged. “See you on the other side!” He jumped in.

“Wait!” Marle ran in after him.

“Oh, you guys, hold on!” Lucca tripped over her prism dress as she flew headfirst into the gate.

Magus turned around to face Gaspar. “Once I’m through, I can use my powers, correct?”

“Of course.”

“Are you sure affiliating ourselves with the doomed natives of this planet is the most intelligent way to defeat my enemy?” Magus looked at Gaspar with an irritated expression.

“Sometimes the key to defeating thine enemy lies where thy least expect.”

“You quote the frog; why?”

“I like him. Now, get going!”

Magus was about to say something when he felt a pair of strong arms push him into the blinding light of the gate. For a split second, Magus saw a kilwala laughing behind him, and then everything went black.

.

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