Chrono Trigger Dimensions Chapter 18

By Jerm

The Marshall looked the newcomer in surprise. Where had he come from.

His gun was lying out of his reach, but he wasn't one to go down so easily. He reached into his cloak and drew his sword. "I don't think this is your business, sir."

Magus drew his scythe, "You crashed through MY castle and are currently threatening old acquaintances. I think it is."

With a small jerk on his weapon, Magus stepped forward in to the light. Activated, the scythe expanded into its full size, the blade flashing in the dim blue light.

Then the gate shut. The room was thrown into darkness.

With his free hand, Magus gestured toward the four braziers near where the gate had been. They burst into bright flame suddenly, throwing light everywhere in the room.

This was going downhill rapidly Marle kept telling herself. But she was entranced by the steady pacing of the two legends circling each other. The others were likewise still, watching.

Cid gave a quick glance toward the tank. Then he looked back at the fight. A second later, his head snapped back toward the tank.

A liquid was pouring from the bottom of it. A puddle was already forming there, and a tiny river was flowing away using the small imprintion that the treads had left. Gasoline. And it was flowing toward where the gate WAS and where the buring braziers WERE. Cid looked fearfully at the burning braziers, then at the flowing liquid pouring toward one of them.

The Marshall held the sword in his right hand, while his left hand reached yet again into the cloak. It produced a small dagger, about half a foot long. He smiled at Magus.

Magus smiled back. An dark unfriendly smile. Then he nodded at the ground the Marshall stood on.

The Marshall found himself propelled through the air suddenly as the earth shifted violently beneath his feet. He kept ahold of his sword, but the dagger clattered along the ground, finally resting several meters from the downed man. One of the braziers shook from the shock, teetering on the edge about to fall. A small puddle of gasoline had formed around it. However, it rolled back into place, its danger of falling gone.

Cid was having no luck at stopping the gas. There was no dirt or anything else except his feet he could place in its path. "Lucca!" he finally yelled.

Lucca turned grudgingly from the fight to see what he wanted. She saw the leak, and she saw where it was heading. "Oh great!" she yelled as she ran over to help Cid.

The Marshall was quickly to his feet. He was smiling once again. Magus was no longer smiling. The short fight with Nikades had prepared The Marshall to battle magic. Expect anything.

Cid had climbed under the wrecked tank trying to plug the leak. Lucca continued to try and subvert the flow, but she couldn't do anything to shift the imprintions in the stone. The liquid had now surrounded the three nearest braziers.

Magus swung the scythe in a deadly arc downward toward the Marshall's head suddenly. But the Marshall easily sidestepped the blow and swung the sword at the undefended sorceror.

Much to the Marshall's surprise, however, Magus suddenly faded like a wisp of smoke. The Marshall looked around frantically. "Where are you?"

He was responded with a laugh, then, "If you stop this stupidity now, you MAY live long enough to make a use of that pitiful life."

"Show yourself and I'll make a use of it on you!"

A bolt of lightning suddenly came from thin air to strike the unprepared man. The Marshall was thrown back, hitting a brazier. It tipped over spilling the burning coals over the ground. Cid looked up startled, but was relieved to see it was the only brazier still free of gasoline. For the moment.

He got up quickly, forgetting the leak and ran over to try and stop the flowing gasoline. Lucca remained trying to patch up the rupture.

Crono and Marle finally saw what was amiss and immediately ran over to help with the problem.

The Marshall slowly got up and looked around. "Had enough?" came a question from the air.

The Marshall focused and looked into the dark. He knew this ability. Suddenly, Magus was clear to him as if he hadn't been hiding by the art of shadows. An art that the Marshall knew all about.

He quickly drew out his bola from the concealment of his cloak. Then in one quick throw the weapon was airborn. The three balls connected by the strings spun around and around momentum carrying them toward the unprepared Magus. Then they struck, wrapping themselves around Magus's arms and waist so quickly the sorceror couldn't evade them in time. He fell to the ground in a cloud of dust.

Crono, Marle, and Lucca were all trying to help Cid stop the flow but to no avail. It neared the flame as the unknowing combatants continued the fight. Then suddenly, as the gas was mere inches from the fallen brazier, the flames died. Gone, not even a wisp of smoke to remind them of the near calamity.

The looked up slowly to see that Magus was down. And the Marshall was victorious.

.

The Marshall walked carefully over to where Magus lay. The sorceror lay on his back with the bola wrapped around his arms and stomach. His scythe lay several feet away, it had contracted back to its small sickle form. The Marshall prodded the still form with the tip of his sword, trying to get a response.

"Don't move," came a voice from behind him.

The Marshall froze, not daring to look around at the kid, Nadia, behind him. However his hand went slowly to the inside of his cloak, reaching for the concealed darts he kept there. Tipped with a sleeping concoction, they wouldn't kill the Princess. That wasn't what he wanted.

"J-Just put your hands up into the air and I won't shoot," Marle said aiming the crossbow at the figure.

The Marshall smiled. 'Try me,' he thought.

He grabbed the darts with one hand while raising the other slowly. He gently pulled out the small weapons and hid them in his sleeve. Then he raised that hand too.

He started to turn around, but the kid yelled, "Just don't move! Don't face me or anything! Just stand there with y-your hands up!"

The other three had gathered around Marle. They didn't know what they could do with him now.

Then suddenly the Marshall whirled around, a small object coming into his hand. Before any of them could react, the Marshall reared back his arm, prepared to throw the star-shaped dart.

Before he could finish the throw, however, he was suddenly thrown from the ground. He flew up into the air, his arms flailing wildly. He continued to soar up until he finally slammed into the domed ceiling two stories above with a thud. There he lay suspended, trying to get himself down. The throwing star fell from his hand to land next to the now awake Magus. The star became animated and flew around the sorceror, cutting the bola's cords. Then it fell to the ground, useless.

Magus stood and looked up at the helpless figure. The Marshall was trying to crawl along the ceiling to a wall, but he couldn't move.

Magus looked at the other four who were each engrossed in the activities above.

Magus reached out and the sickle jumped back into his hand. He sheathed the weapon and then turned back to the four, "What do I do with him?"

Crono looked up at the Marshall and began to think. Lucca was ahead of him though.

"Drop him. We need some answers and I don't feel like yelling questions at him."

"Better unarm him first, though," Cid replied.

"Yeah, that would be best. But I think that that would flood this whole room with weaponry, considering what we've seen that guy pack so far," Crono said nodding toward the Marshall.

Magus nodded. Then he looked up at the Marshall and concentrated. The Marshall's cloak snapped off of him and fell to the ground. Then the sword belt followed, which in turn was followed by the quiver holding the crossbow bolts.

"That looks fine," Lucca said picking up the cloak and examining it.

The Marshall fell gracelessly to the ground, impacting with a loud smack. He began to groan, showing he was still conscious.

"He can sure take a lot, can't he?" Cid said staring at the seven foot man.

"That's good," Marle said, speaking for the first time in a while, "because I'm going to give him much more."

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