Chrono Trigger: The Mistake Chapter 2
The Vortex
By Jerm
"Crono! Wake up, c'mon hurry! Crono wake up, now!" Crono opened his eyes slowly as he heard a voice shouting his name outside.
"Crono, if you don't wake up right now, I'm going to burn down your house!" the voice obviously belonged to Lucca.
Crono groggily got out of bed and walked toward his north window. A dim red glow was flowing in through his window and illuminating his room, making him think for a moment that Lucca had already made good on her word and set fire to his house. He reached the window and peered out.
Before he saw Lucca, he saw the source of the red light. It was cascading out of Leene Square. The trees blocked the view of what it was, but he could clearly see that it was the same spot where the gate used to be.
"Dangit, Crono! I'm down here! You know as well as I that I'm not loud enough to call you from the square!" Lucca yelled again from below.
Crono looked down at her, trying to focus his eyes, which were still tired.
"What time is it?" he asked finally, before yawning.
"Midnight at least," Lucca said quickly, "But this is very, very important!"
Crono looked at the origin of the light once again, "What'd you do this time?"
"Nothing! Crono get down here now, I mean every word I'm saying and I'm saying this is a matter of life and death for a lot of people!"
Since she put it that way, Crono dressed quickly and ran down the stairs. He bolted out the door, where Lucca was now waiting. Crono was still tired, but the running had woken him up a little, "What is it?"
"I want you to get Marle, too," Lucca said, not answering his question.
"Why? And how would I--" Cron began.
"I trust you can find a reason. I've got to get the epoch and get the others quickly, something really wrong is going on."
"Like what? You still haven't answered my question, Lucca," Crono began.
"Not enough time," Lucca answered quickly, starting to run for her house.
She shot one last statement over her shoulder, though, "Just don't go near Leene Square!"
Crono sighed and ran for the castle.
* * * * *
"Look, why don't you just go up and ask her," Crono said, annoyed at the two guards at the gate of the castle, "I'm sure she knows more than you do whether or not she wants to talk to me."
"Can't, son," the left guard replied, "She's asleep. I'm not going to lose my job. Go back home and go to sleep. You might get a better answer in the morning."
"My friend is very worried right now. I have no idea why, I just know I have to get Nadia and meet my friend tonight. Just tell the princess my name. I'll wait here. If she gets mad, she can take it out on me instead of you."
"Go home," the guard repeated.
"I'm staying right here until you allow me to talk to her," Crono crossed his arms over his chest in a sign of finality.
"We can have you arrested, you know," the second guard said, adding his piece.
"I broke out once, I'll do it again," Crono said unwaveringly.
"Is that a threat?" the first guard glared at Crono.
"No," Crono sighed and collected his thoughts, "Please, just wake her up and bring her down here!"
"Go home," the first guard answered, reverting to his original ploy.
However, the second guard turned and walked into the castle. Crono, thinking he had won, smiled. The smile faded, however, when the second guard returned, not just without a princess, but with another guard.
"I warned you," the second guard said, "Now let's see how you enjoy a night in jail."
The third guard advanced on Crono, but suddenly stopped. He looked at Crono for a second, then shook his head and turned to the other two, "Are you two stupid?! This is the boy that the king honored earlier today. You want me to arrest him? He's a friend of Princess Nadia, let him in or we'll all definitely face the king's wrath."
The other guards looked at Crono for a second, then back to the third gaurd. Finally, they collectively sighed and stepped aside. Crono walked in, followed by the third guard.
"I'll escort you to her room so you won't face anymore trouble," the guard said taking the lead.
"Thanks," Crono replied, nodding.
* * * * *
Crono returned with a sleepy Marle to find that Lucca had returned with Frog, Robo, and Ayla. Magus was missing, but that was to be expected. Lucca turned to him as they approached, "It's about time, Crono. I had to get three times as many people and I still beat you by fifteen minutes."
"I had trouble getting in Crono said, glaring at Lucca, "Please don't get sarcastic with me, I'm tired and cranky."
"What's this about, anyway?" Marle asked, "Crono woke me up and started telling me how you went berzerk and that we needed to meet here as soon as possible."
Lucca glared back at Crono, "Berzerk?"
"Yeah, that's what happened in my opinion," Crono nodded, "Now tell me what's going on and what's that red light in the square."
"Trouble, big trouble, is what it is," Lucca said, then realizing that she wasn't answering their questions, she went all out, "When the gate shut, remember how it discharged a little afterward?"
Crono and Marle nodded.
"Good, well while I was sitting there trying to figure out what happened, it happened again. This time it was much bigger. After several discharges like that, I ran for my house to get some devices to read the activity. But when I returned, a giant red gate was there. It didn't shut. Instead, it's growing and getting bigger as we speak."
"What is it?" Crono asked, no longer angry with Lucca.
"I have no idea yet, but it's also happening in 1999, when we defeated Lavos," Lucca shrugged, "I saw it when I was getting Robo. Speaking of whom, he's going to help me in determining what's actually going on. The rest of you can help, if you have any ideas."
"Okay," Marle agreed, still appearing tired, "But to be honest, I don't know a thing about this."
"Me either," Crono agreed.
Glenn nodded his agreement and it was obvious where Ayla stood on the subject.
"Let's get going then, I need to be at my house. That's where all of my stuff is," Lucca said, turning and running toward her house.
The others followed.
* * * * *
In the square, the red gate had grown emmense. It covered almost all of the square now, and was clearly visible for at least a couple of miles away. The lightning continued to pour out of it, coming from some unknown place. Most of the forest around it had burned down, plus most of the square was torn to pieces or eaten up by the gate.
The gate was no longer a simple circle, either. It was a sphere, expanding in all directions. It was eating up everything, and not showing a single sign of stopping.
Nadia's Bell started to ring as the gate pulled on it, the inside knob striking the bell's shell. Then, the bell, stand and all, faded away as it was sucked into the gate. As the spehere spread out, everything in Leene Square began to disappear as well, following the bell.
In its place, a deep, large crater was forming.
* * * * *
Ronald looked back when he heard the roaring again, "Not again. . ."
Chris looked at him in puzzlement, then realized what he meant. He turned back as a red hole started to appear, then spread out. Bolts of energy escaped the mouth, striking the ground once again.
"Let's get out of here," Chris said quietly, staring in awe at the impossible happening once again.
The red sphere of light started to expand at a rapid pace, forcing the two to run faster, though it was far behind them. As it spread, the ground under it began to rise into the air, pushing the gate up with it. Whereever the red light touched the ground, it was pulled up. Soon a small plateau had formed in the middle of the crater. Standing by the gate on the rise were Lucca's two teleporters, which were slowly manifesting.
The plateau began to expand, the ground behind the two running men was pushing itself up quickly to match the height of the sphere of light, which had stopped rising at the height of the land around the crater. Blackened trees appeared surrounding the telepods, and more appeared around those later, some still burning.
The two reached the edge of the crater and began to hurriedly climb. Taking a quick glance back, Chris saw that the red sphere was only fifty feet away. Lightning erupted from it still, striking anything near it.
As the sphere continued to spread, there came the distant sound of a ringing bell.
The two gave a quick glance back to see that a bell had materialized in the red haze, standing on the edge of the still expanding plateau.
Then, before they had realized it, the red light enveloped them. The lightning blasted at them as they felt themselves fade away from this world.
Moments later, the crater was no more. In its place, wavering in the red sphere, stood Leene Square.
And in 1000, there was a crater.
The sphere continued to expand.
.