Chrono Trigger Dimensions Chapter 11
By Jerm
Nikades activated The Gatekeeper once more. A gate appeared after a few seconds, a small flowing circle that expanded. This one had an orangish-red hue however, not the blue it had been during the test run. It seemed to pulse with energy as an aura of red surrounded it. A slight breezing noise erupted from its abyssal depths.
Nikades drew a coin from his pocket and held it out. He studied it for a second. Both sides were the same. There was a strange face on them. Nikades threw the coin into the gate. It disappeared into the folds of the dimension without so much as a sound.
It was a ready sign. And Nikades was ready. So was Pret. And soon his 'army' would be too. Those he sent for.
The king wasn't ready. Too bad for Guardia.
Pret had his small army ready at the edge of the town of Porre. He was waiting for the signal. He was becoming impatient however. Nikades was late and the soldiers shifted with the massive strength and concentration it took for them to do absolutely nothing.
They were unaware of their orders at the moment, Pret would keep it that way until he recieved clarification. He would hate to order the march only to find Nikades had to wait until a few days later.
A voice finally entered his head, "Are you ready?"
Pret looked around shocked for a second. He hadn't expected the signal in this way. No one else could hear the dark one's voice however, as the soldiers remained at attention, unwavering. Pret turned away from the army, smiling at the crafty advisor. "Yes," he whispered.
"Good."
"What is the full plan?" Pret asked impatiently.
"Kill the king," said the voice mockingly.
"I know that," Pret said, "but if he dies, then Nadia will succeed him. Or one of the other nobles."
There was a silence then the voice spoke again, "It will be a war. Kill the nobles and no one will be able to see you do it. Except the nobles, but I don't really think that they will go and tattle to the king."
"And Nadia?"
"Leave her to me."
Then, before Pret could make a snappy reply, the voice was gone.
Pret turned to his men. Let's move out. We're here to save the king, who is in danger. My spies have informed me earlier that a strong movement from Medina is heading west. The mystics are invading Guardia."
No one asked questions. They were good soldiers.
Instead, they marched north.
Cid and the three went to the room that The Marshal was in. They stopped in front of it, Cid's hand on the doorknob. He turned to the others, "Are you sure about this?"
"Positive," Crono said, though he was fingering his sword nervously.
"Almos positive," Lucca corrected.
"Neutral," Marle remarked.
Cid shrugged and opened the door, twisting the knob slowly. He didn't know anything about the man in there, but from what the others were doing and saying, it wasn't just the average stalker.
The door swung open to reveal an empty room. Empty except for a small pile of rubble that used to be part of the far wall. Only a large man could do such a considerable amount of damage.
"He's loose," Marle said, stating what was obvious.
"I think you might be correct," Crono said, his jaw held open at the display of destruction that he now surveyed.
Marle glared at him as Lucca said, "Let's go to Plan B."
"What's that?" Cid asked, looking around nervously.
"Plan B is we think of a Plan C." Lucca said looking around warily, "quickly."
"Where would he go? He could be anywhere," Crono said uneasily.
"You didn't have to say that, Crono," Lucca said, slowly backing up to the door.
"We're not going to get much sleep tonight," Marle said sadly, slumping to the ground.
"So do we have a Plan B, yet?" Crono asked Lucca impatiently.
"You know what Crono? I almost had it ready, but that sudden interruption made me forget it completely. Now shut up and let me think!" Lucca snapped back irritably.
Marle's remark had been made true. They didn't get much sleep that night. They were all tense and irritable. Waiting for the sudden attack from a man that only Marle truly knew something about. It was now morning and they were trying to think of what to do next. Hunt for The Marshal or try and get back to the past.
"Besides," Lucca continued, "It's plan C, not B."
"Whatever," Crono rolled his eyes.
Lucca began pacing again and Crono sighed in defeat. Marle was still asleep and Cid was trying to explain to the insurance company that a car had hit the wall and caused the hole in his room. He wasn't having any luck.
Suddenly, Lucca stopped pacing and looked up, "I think I have it," she said.
"Yep, I'm sure you do; now what is it?" Crono asked, trying to keep the sarcasm down.
"We need to find another time gate to take us back. We can't bother searching for The Marshal. He left us, so we leave him."
Crono looked at Lucca for a second, dumbfounded, and then said quietly and slowly, "So it took you a whole six hours to think of that?"
"I spent most of that time contemplating on whether to find The Marshal or not."
"Are we e--" Crono began.
Crono went silent as Cid entered the room looking none too happy. He was muttering something under his breath. He went into the kitchen and began rummaging through a cabinet.
"Okay fine. That's a great idea, Lucca," Crono said, "But where could we find a gate, much less how could we activate it? You can't build The Gatekeeper. You don't even remember."
"Is your brain muddled, Crono," Lucca replied, "I can build a gatekey. I know how to build one of those. Remember the gatekey from when we were fighting Lavos?"
Cid dropped something and looked in their direction. However, he regained his composure and quickly bent over and picked it up to resume what he was doing.
"Of course I remember...Wait!" Crono nearly jumped from where he was sitting, "If you can build one of those, we could use it to open up the gate The Gatekeeper created!" Crono was suddenly excited.
"No, we can't," Lucca said calmly, "If we do we'll be stuck in limbo."
Crono gave her a blank look. Behind him, Marle began to groan, awakened by Crono sudden outburst and jostle.
"To use a gate, both sides must be open. The gatekeeper only opens its side when it needs it," Lucca explained, "That way it can create gates to other times. I mean, you can't have more than one gate opened at the same spot, can you?"
Crono started to understand, so he kept quiet. Cid walked into the room looking a little relieved. He was holding a bottle of something. He gave it a quick shake and something rattled within.
"What's that?" Crono inquired.
"Aspirin," Cid replied, upending the bottle, which rattled again as tiny pellets danced around in it and into Cid's mouth.
Crono turned back to Lucca, "Then where can we find a gate?"
"Lavos." she said.
"But Lavos died. We killed him two years ago. He doesn't exist."
Cid was looking a little panicky. He tried to cover up his expression by returning to the kitchen and throwing away the now empty bottle.
"But he was still there for half an hour. If we go to where we killed him, there might be a gate," Lucca explained, "Remember, his very presence could create a rip in time, Crono. I just build a gatekey, and we search the area."
"But the gates all closed. There isn't one." Crono was angry that he couldn't see her point.
"The old ones are shut down. But what about the new ones. As in the one in the Reptites remains or the one in the cave in the Zeal era. Or more importantly, the one in this time. The one that quite possibly exists where Lavos arose from the earth." Lucca stood up and began pacing as she spoke.
Crono looked stunned. He finally said, "I think you're right. Maybe...just maybe that gate does exist."
"Of course I'm right, I'm...Are you all right Cid?" Lucca cocked her head at Cid.
Cid was slightly pale in color. He didn't look all too well. He was still in the kitchen, looking across to the group. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, "but that Lavos thing you were talking about, I've heard that name."
"You have?" Lucca asked. She sat back down slowly, waiting for Cid to continue.
Crono and Marle also crowded nearer to hear what Cid had to say.
Cid coughed, "Yeah...I've heard it a lot. And I think it'll be a little harder to just waltz in there like you said."
Crono stared at Cid, "What do you mean?"
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