”I...” Crono said. ”Would like to say a few words.”
Everyone at End of Time looked up.
Crono walked to the stair to the gate room to get a better position.
”I’m not very much for speeches, but I’ll try...
More then a week ago, something happened to me. Something I will never forget.
I walked into Marle by an accident.
It was the first day of the Millennial Fair. I had looked forward to it.
I was planing to have so much fun. But thing turned out in an other way.
Instead of competing with my friends, I saved the princess of Guardia together
with Lucca and Frog. And after running away from our world, we got the knowledge
of a new word. Lavos. I saw with my own eyes, how Lavos destroyed our world.
I don’t know what it was who made Marle, Lucca or even... myself...
To think we could do something about it. Do something to change the world.
We met Robo later on. He asked Lucca once if we were trying to save the world.
She answered:
I don't know how far we'll get, but that's the plan.
We have gotten far now.
And we have gathered a team the world have never seen before.
A spiky-haired boy, a crazy inventor, a wild princess, a noble frog, a brave
cavewoman,
a wise robot and a dark mage. What a crew, isn’t it?
We have mastered the time. And changed it. Many times. Right now, I have
knowledge of a numerous of powerful spells and techniques. Some of you can
handle even more powerful ones.
From the beginning, I never though we could do something about Lavos.
I mean, we barely lost against a robot in the factory. How could we ever
beat Lavos?
But we have gained both wisdom and power.
We have gained experience of fighting. By fighting against what I thought
was destiny.
But it wasn’t the destiny. TIME is destiny. And we are time. So, now...
My dear friends... Ayla, Magus, Frog, Robo... and especially you, Marle and
Lucca.
Let’s go and create destiny. Let’s go save the world.”
Crono stepped down as the others cheered.
Marle and Lucca hugged him.
The speech wasn’t such bad after all...
”Which?” Magus said.
Crono looked down, didn’t know how to put it.
”I...”
”I understand. Go. Take the girls with you... BUT, promise me one thing.
Give Lavos one from me!”
Crono smiled.
”I will.”
Ayla gave Crono a hit in his back.
”Crono fight Lavos! Crono fight for the world! Ayla here when needed!”
Crono nodded.
”Okay.”
Frog croaked.
”What a fine swordsman you’ve become! If Cyrus were here, he would
thought the same!”
Crono nodded.
”Thanks Fro... eh... Thanks Glenn!”
Frog croaked again.
Robo stepped forward.
”I am counting on you. Lucca? Take care of them.”
Lucca nodded.
”No problem!”
Gaspar scratched his hat.
”I don’t know what to say...”
”By the way...” Marle interrupted him. ”Melchior have a message
for you.”
Gaspar looked on her.
”Really?”
”Yes... He said: The fate is turning into our direction.”
Gaspar nodded.
”I know.”
Crono took proud stepped towards the Epoch.
Lucca and Marle followed.
”Hey!” Gaspar called.
Crono turned around.
”You fight not just for yourselves, but for all living things... This
is a battle between Lavos and the entire world!”
Marle, Crono and Lucca nodded.
”We’ll give him one from the entire world.”
And so, they jumped down into the Epoch, and Crono sat the time meter on
1999 - apocalypse
When they appeared in 1999, Lavos came immediately up from the inner earth.
”How do we fight him?” Crono asked.
”Let’s just burst through him with the Epoch!” Marle suggested.
”We might wreck the Epoch! But...” Lucca said. ”We really
don’t have a choice...”
”Let’s put our trust in the Epoch!” Crono said and started
to switch on some buttons.
The Epoch started to move faster.
”Everyone, hold on!” Marle exclaimed.
”We believe in you, Epoch!” Lucca whispered.
Epoch turned into warp speed, and the environment changed into lava looking.
Epoch was shaking like never before, and kept increasing speed.
With a white flash, everything turned black. They had rammed Lavos.
Heartbeat? What was this? Were they... dead? What happened?
Crono was the first to open his eyes.
He slowly rose.
He realized that they were INSIDE the huge shell.
Marle rose up.
”Hmmm.......”
”Everyone okay?....” Lucca asked.
Marle nodded.
”Looks so... Thanks to Epoch...”
Lucca nodded.
”Yeah... I’m sorry... Epoch...”
Crono looked around.
”This don’t look organic... What if... The beak isn’t the
real... eh, thing?”
Lucca nodded.
Then Crono pointed on a way leading deeper into the shell.
”Let’s go say hello to the inhabitants.”
Lucca almost jumped backwards.
”What!?! In there!”
The corridor looked very unpleasant and dark.
Crono took a step forward.
”Don’t fear the reaper.”
Lucca looked at Marle.
”Great man, huh? Foolish I would say.”
Marle nodded.
”We all are.”
She followed Crono into the darkness.
”Right.” Lucca said and followed them.
They walked deeper in and came into a huge space.
Inside was a creature with two arms and with pipes and tubes inserted into
it’s body.
”This... Is... Lavos!” Marle said.
”This’s the REAL thing!?”
”Let’s hope so...” Crono said and draw his sword.
Lavos started with removing parts of his armor and show his hidden weapon.
Two beams came out from his body, and explosions came where ever the beam
hit.
Marle fired a ice shockwave to stop the attack.
Lavos fired new beams from his head, hitting Marle.
”You okay?” Crono asked.
”Yeah... The prism dress took most of the damage... But he’s
strong!”
Lucca aimed for one of the cables and shot it off.
Some green slime came out of it.
Crono slashed Lavos left hand with the Rainbow.
It fell off.
”Piece of cake!”
Lavos roared and fired even more beams.
Crono jumped up to evade one, while Marle ran almost around him.
Loaded with an explosive arrow, Marle shot off another cable.
Even more green slime came out.
Drained of his powersuply, Lavos let a shockwave come out of him, and toss
Lucca, Crono and Marle backward.
Crono got fast up again. His adrenaline was at top, and he forgot all about
damages.
Crono leaped forward and cut off the other arm.
A disabled Lavos roared.
”Too easy...” Lucca said.
”Perhaps he’s not so powerful on the inside...” Marle suggest.
”Perhap... Watch out!”
Marle got just enough time to crunch for a new beam.
She counterattacked by placing an arrow right between Lavos eyes.
Then she realized it was an explosive.
BOOOM!!!!
The room was filled with a white light, and they had to protect their eyes
from it.
When all was gone, a humanoid-looking creature was standing in front of them.
”Lavos?!” Crono said. ”How many shapes do you have?”
Lucca looked at it.
”Now I understand...
It lives on a planet, stealing away the most vital resources...
It combined the DNA it found here with its own, and gave birth to those creatures
up on Death Peak. Eventually the young must migrate to other planets... to
repeat the cycle...”
Marle placed her hand on her crossbow.
”Are you saying IT'S the reason we're all here?”
Crono draw his sword.
”We were created only to be harvested...?”
Lucca aimed with her gun.
”Grown like farm animals, waiting to be slaughtered...
All of our history... our art and science... All to meet the needs of that...
beast...”
Marle pulled up her crossbow.
”This is Crono’s and ours.... Leene’s and Doan’s....
everyone’s...!”
She walked to Lavos right.
”...and I mean, EVERYONE’s world!!”
Lucca breath deeply.
”Impossible... You CAN’t expect to toy with an entire world and
get away with it!”
”Sorry Lavos...” Crono said. ”You’re time is up!”
Lavos roared and raised his arms.
The entire environment changed.
They felt like they were traveling through a time gate, but somehow not...
Lavos stood in front of them, and he didn’t look very happy.
”Confuse!” Crono shouted and jumped forward.
He spun around Lavos and cut his meanwhile.
After four hits, Crono jumped back.
Lavos raised his right arm and casted a kind of cure spell to heal some of
the wounds.
Meanwhile, they could see a weak image in the background.
It was Leene square.
Crono didn’t understood what it meant.
Lucca gathered her power.
”From the world! Antipode!”
Marle and Lucca gathered their magic.
With Lucca new knowledge of the flare, this attack became more powerful than
ever.
Ice crystals circled around Marle, while Lucca was surrounded by fire.
They gathered their elements, and a white light blinded their eyes.
In the next moment, everything turned red, and was filled with Yellow explosions.
Lavos stepped backward, but came back again.
The weak background image changed.
This time, they could see a room in Magus castle, in which they had defeated
him.
Crono leaped forward and slashed Lavos in his, what Crono thought was, chest.
Lavos raised his hand.
Many gray lines appeared, and they formed a moon.
The moon turned red and was twisted and bended.
Crono felt the same.
Twisted and bend.
His muscles didn’t seem to carry him anymore.
He simply fell down to the ground.
Lucca had too, but Marle’s prism dress had protect her from the spell.
”Powerful is the power of Lavos...” Crono said.
Marle looked on him.
”Crono stop it! You’re becoming like Zeal.”
Crono smiled.
”But the people of earth are stronger...”
Crono put down all his power and rose up. He lifted his sword, but fell down
again.
Marle put a cure spell, but it didn’t seem to have any effect.
So, she turned to Lavos and fired her most powerful ice spell.
But Lavos eyes could tell her that he was just laughing against their pathetic
attacks.
Lavos jumped forward and simply hit Marle with his hand.
The hit was powerful enough to knock her out.
Lavos roared over his victory.
In that moment, Lucca got up.
”Not yet... I’m left...”
Lavos raised his hand, and a colorful sphere surrounded her.
In the next second, the sphere was gone and Lucca was out.
Crono used all his power to pick up his bottle with tonic from his bag.
He drank it and gained the power to stand up.
Crono jumped up and dived down with his sword, and drilled it deep into Lavos
body.
Lavos screamed and threw him of.
Marle got up on her knees.
She could see how a mad Lavos raised his arms and made a new terrible spell.
A stone took form, and Lavos dropped it on Crono.
He really squeezed him, like Crono was a bug.
Once the rock was gone, a dead Crono lied there.
Lucca managed to pull the trigger on her gun.
The shot missed with a centimeter.
Lavos fired a huge lightning on Lucca. She couldn’t have survived it.
Marle decided to fight to the end.
Like Crono and Lucca.
This was the fight of fate.
Marle jumped forward and smashed her crossbow into Lavos.
The creature smashed her away.
”It is... pointless... No one can hope to kill it...”
The background changed to a fallen city. Lab 16.
Marle saw it and thought of all people...
”NO!!!”
She dropped her crossbow and put her hands together
”All who fear the night and stand against the darkness... Please give
us strength! Give us the might to defeat Lavos...”
An enormous magic power circled around Marle.
Light flew everywhere. Crono -and Lucca’s dead bodies hovered up from
the ground, in front of the eyes of a confused Lavos.
Energy flowed from Marle into Crono and Lucca.
Crono’s medallion started to shine and particles flied out from it,
to surround Crono and Lucca.
They were received.
Crono opened his eye and regained all strength.
And so did Lucca.
In a matter of seconds, Crono attack Lavos once with his sword.
Then he turned his sword around and cut him again.
Just when Crono leaped backwards, a flare blew off.
Lavos gathered his power and created a new red star.
Crono protected himself with his hand.
”We... won’t... be defeated...”
Lucca put her head under her fathers armor.
”We... will... end... this...”
Marle had just her prism dress to trust.
”Give... up... Lavos...”
Lavos was exhausted after the powerful spell, and Crono ran around him.
They stood now in a triangle around him.
”Let’s gather our three elements...” Crono said.
”...and create a spell with a power as few...” Marle continued.
”...to defeat the darkness!” Lucca finished.
”DELTA FORCE!” They all screamed.
Enormous power gathered around them.
Magic energy created walls between all of them, forming a triangle.
Crono, Marle and Lucca hovered up in the air.
With a flash, the walls turned red like fire.
With a second flash, they became white like ice.
With a third flash, they became white like lightnings.
The spell ended with a final flash.
Crono, Marle and Lucca had to protect their eyes from the strong light.
When they opened them again, Lavos scattered into small, small pieced, who
slowly disappeared.
The background image changed into a green meadow.
Suddenly, the gate waves increased in speed,
and Crono, Marle and Lucca started to spinn around.
They tried to steer against each other, and somehow succeeded to grab each
others hand.
If they died now, it wouldn’t matter. They had beaten Lavos. They had
succeeded.
They had walked a long way, cross many eras and fought many battles.
But now, it was over...
All of it.
They had changed fate like they changed time.
It was over.
They had saved the future.
It was finally over...