"For Guardia!" Chapter 14

Overhaul

By Master Odin

2015 AD; EARTH B9-14PS2

Sleipnir landed in the front lot of a large mansion. After it landed, Jeremiah led King Crono, Queen Nadia, Princess Larissa, Princess Schala, and the Magus out of the craft, followed by the others.

"Wow!" Larissa yelled, her eyes wide with awe. "It's almost as big as the castle!"

"This is quite a palace," Crono said as he examined the mansion. "I didn't know you were royalty."

"Royalty?" Jeremiah asked as he watched his friends from the other world. "Hardly."

"Then how could you own such a place?" Schala asked.

"Things work differently in this world," Jeremiah explained. "Ones possessions and home are not determined by station, but by wealth. Here, money is the ultimate power, not a king's decree."

"Then this world must be in chaos if your king's decree can be over-ridden by a person with more money," Magus observed.

"We do not have a king in this land," Jeremiah continued to explain. "We have what's called a 'check and balance' system using three branches of government: Executive, legislative, and judicial. I can explain it in better detail tomorrow after we all get some rest"

An African-American man with balding gray hair came out the front door of mansion. "Master Jeremiah, Madam Amy," he said with a British accent. "Welcome home. I take it we will be having guest this evening?"

"Yes, Geoffrey," Jeremiah said as he led the others into the mansion.

"Very well, sir. I'll prepare the guest rooms."

"Thank you, Geoffrey."

They all stood in the foyer of the mansion. A boy, about ten years olds, and a girl, who was a little older than the boy, ran to meet them. "Mom! Dad!"

Jeremiah knelt down and wrapped his arms around the girl as Amy wrapped her arms around the boy. "Hi kids!"

"Who are these guys?" the boy asked after Amy let him go.

"Well," Jeremiah told him after he let the girl go, "these are our friends from the other world. Your Highnesses, these are our children, Samantha and Jeremy."

Amy saw Larissa sort of hiding behind Marle. Amy knelt and motioned for her to come forward. With a little prompting from her parents, Larissa made her way to the front of the crowd. "Kids," Amy said, "this is Princess Larissa. Why don't you guys take her to your room and play."

"Sure!" young Jeremiah and Samantha said in unison.

Young Jeremiah bowed. "Greetings, Princess. I am Jeremiah Michael Aran the Fourth. Would you like to come and play with my sister and myself?"

"Uh, okay," Larissa told him as her face turned slightly red. He took her hand and led her up the stairs.

Marle watched the children go. "Thank you so much. She hasn't had any interaction with kids her age."

"Amy, Cecil, could you help Geoffrey with his task?" Jeremiah requested.

"Sure," the siblings said in unity, then went off to their task.

"I think we'll go home," John said. He pulled a white cell phone out of his pants' pocket. "Tome, Keiko and I need a portal to our home." A portal opened behind John. He took Keiko gently by the arm, said their good-byes, and walked through the portal.

"Chris and I will do the same," Ben said as he pulled out a similar cell phone. "Tome, we need one to our place, too." A portal opened behind Ben. The twins said their good-byes and left though the portal.

"I believe I shall take my leave of you as well," Walter said as he took a cell phone out of his slacks' pocket. "Amenzut-Tome, I shall need a portal to the Stogner residence." A portal opened behind him as well. He said his good-byes with a bow and left through the portal. All three portals then closed.

"Well," Jeremiah said as he walked over to an intercom on the wall. "Geoffrey, we will be needing five less rooms."

"Very well, Master Jeremiah."

Jeremiah turned to his guests. "Are you hungry?"

Crono and the others looked at each other. "Now that you mention it" he said, rubbing the back of is head.

"Follow me then," Jeremiah said as he took off his shoes and socks and headed for the kitchen. The others followed him. "Forgive me for taking off my socks and shoes, but I'm getting weak. I've been running without rest for the past few days."

"How does taking your shoes off help with that?" Magus asked as they entered the kitchen.

"Oh. So I can draw power."

"You draw power from the floor?" Crono asked.

"Sorta. Unlike the other four Elemental Knights, my life span is directly connected to my power. As an Earth elemental, I draw power from the earth. Instead of using carpeting or a substance we call linoleum, the floors of the lower level of the mansion are marble. That way I can draw power from the stone that the floor is made of."

Jeremiah got into the refrigerator and pulled out a few plates that contained sliced turkey, ham, and cheese and set them on the center counter. He reached back into the refrigerator and took out some bread, butter, and mayonnaise and set those next to the plates. "It's not royal cuisine, but I've never been much of a cook."

"Thank you so much," Marle told Jeremiah. "You have done a great deal for us."

Jeremiah put his hand up and shook his head. "Fifteen years ago you helped us. This is the least I can do."

* * * * *

2015 AD; ZECROES B9-14PS2

After everyone had gone to bed, Jeremiah took Sleipnir to Zecroes. Once he arrived, he used his supernatural strength to take the remains of the Epoch from the cargo hold.

"Working late tonight?" a female voice spoke from the computer in the hanger.

"That I am, Tome," Jeremiah told it.

"You have not slept all week."

Jeremiah brought the schematics of the Epoch up on the monitor. "I've got too much work to do." He went over to the Epoch and tore off one of the side panels and examined it. "Titanium. They must have never had any alien contact other than that Lavoid. Tome, how much adamant-titanium do we have in storage?"

"Ten point seven tons."

"Good. The Epoch is going to get a complete overhaul."

* * * * *

The next morning a portal appeared in the hanger on Zecroes and Sean, Walter, and King Crono came out of it. They saw Jeremiah as he was lifting the final engine component from the Epoch's frame.

"I figured that you would not rest while there was work to be done," Walter told him.

"You know me, honor is everything."

Crono looked around the place, slightly remembering it's appearance from fifteen years ago. "This place still amazes me."

"It's not much," Jeremiah told him, "but this planet's become a second home to us Knights. If you would come over here, Your Highness, I'll show you some changes I would like to make to the Epoch." Crono walked over to where Jeremiah was standing in front of the monitor. "First, I have some good news. Due to the energy field that has to be placed around the engine to protect its users from the massive amounts of radiation it puts out, the engine doesn't have a scratch on it. That there just saved us about three days of work."

Crono scratched his head. "Although I don't really know what you're talking about, saving time is always good news."

"Right. Now, what I want to do is build the entire body out of a material we call adamant-titanium. It can take about ten times as many bumps as what the Epoch was originally made of. Also, I believe it's due to the fact that our earth has had contact with technologically advanced aliens that our technology is more advanced now than your earth will be in another three hundred years. Compared to this timeline of course. This said, I would like to put in more powerful weapons."

Crono gazed upon the changed schematics for the Epoch with a confused grin on his face. "Uh, this is your guys' field. Do what you think is best." He looked around. "Uh, do you guys have somewhere around here where I could brush up on my sword skill?"

"Yeah," Jeremiah told him. "You use Lightning magic, right?" Crono nodded. "Tome, send King Crono to the Ship."

A white portal appeared around Crono, then he and the portal vanished.

Walter turned to Jeremiah. "Are you certain that you want to send him there. The training simulation was designed for someone wearing armor like our own."

Jeremiah nodded. "He can handle it. If he gets in trouble, Tome can get him out."

.

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