The Shadows Chapter 6
Fire's Dancing
By Keith Adams
Crono was a bit irritated. He had spent the better part of the day working on picking up the Telepod pf Lucca's. It was heavy hot work, and he and Taban were doing all of it. Taban was a large, middle-aged man, Lucca his precious geek daughter-inventor, who seemed to be fiddling with a gizmo of some kind.
It had been only 2 weeks since the others had departed, but somehow it felt longer. Crono had been partying everywhere, drinking too much Soma, getting in bar fights, and generally having a blast. He had taken the ferry to Choras, where they were building the new Airship of Guardia the Blackbird class Guru; to Porre, with it's extensive array of diversions, from taverns to expensive restraunts to sports of every kind; to Fionas, the deserts Oasis, and primary manufacturer of clothing; to Mendina, where they were almost finsished with the new docks; and to Guardia to visit Marle; now he was being forced to do actual work. It seemed unfair somehow. It was the New Millienium, and the parties were still going on all over the world, yet he was stuck heaving heavy objects.
He heard a crackle where the other Telepod, an odd tube like teleporter, was. Electricty flowed through it and sparks from it. Lucca was scratching her head thoughtfully, musing over the Telepod.
"What is going on Lucca," asked Crono with a trace of suspicion.
"The telepod had just reactivated. It shouldn't have," Lucca replied.
"Oh really? I thought it would reactivate any time, completely spontaneaously, and that it would begin to overflow," replied Crono with a heavy dose of sarcasm.
"I don't know what ...," Lucca was cut offas the Telepod exploded in a flash of blue. When the flash was over, the Telepod was gone.
"What's going on here Lucca?" Crono said.
"I don't know. There's no need to be snide red-haired-one," commented Lucca.
A rumble with through the ground. A few pebbles and such were moved out of place, rolling near the Telepod. Another shook, this time stronger, as the telepod began to shake.
"What's going on?" asked Lucca.
"Another of Lavos's earthquakes. Remeber, he isn't killed until 1999," Crono replied.
Suddenly the ground split open. A great crack opened, enveloping the Telepod, plunging it into it's depths. The chasm opened, and began to expand, enveloping the entire stage; Crono and Lucca both moved to opposite sides. The chasm continued to expand, and blue fire erupted from it.
Suddenly a great shock wave went off, knocking both Crono and Lucca off their feet. Taban was knocked into the chasm, barely managing to hold onto a side. Lucca immediately rushed over to help him, but the chasm quit expanding, and Taban reached the top of the chasm.
"That wasn't Lavos," noted Crono with a touch of understatement.
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