Chrono Trigger: Timeless Angels Part 7

Poyozo on Parade

By Mefathiel

Natan looked around, seeing tropical surroundings. "So, this is the planet we needed to come to?" he asked. "It looks a lot like some parts of Earth."

Tata stood up and dusted off his cape. "So, do we just resurrect Cyrus right here and leave?" he asked.

Schala looked at the Staff and shrugged. "I’ve got no idea. Rempha wasn’t very specific in his instructions," she muttered. "So I don’t know if we have to go to a specific spot on this planet to do it or not."

Zephon made his observations of the area, a cold expression on his face. He raised his Lance and cut through a bunch of vines. "This way," he said, walking through the path he was cutting.

Tata started following him. "How do you know that?" he asked.

Natan looked at the destroyed vines in dismay. "Did you really need to do that?" he asked, placing his hands on them. "Photosynthesis," he whispered, regenerating the plants, before he started following after Tata and Zephon.

"Whatever," Schala said, trailing after Natan and the others.

Annoyed that he’d been ignored, Tata asked again, "How do you know that?"

Zephon continued cutting through the foliage, much to Natan’s dismay. "I know it the same way you ought to know," he replied to Tata. "You can’t tell me that you don’t feel the power within you."

"Of course I do, I think we all do," Tata said.

"I know I do," Natan said. "And would you please stop destroying these plants? They’re living things!"

"At least I’m not burning them down, which I could easily do," Zephon said, a smile cracking on his face. "I’m sure you’d really appreciate that. Anyway, there’s a reason that we all feel that power, especially me and Schala."

Schala looked up at the mention of her name. "Really? Why would that be?" she asked.

"You already know. But Tata and Natan also have that power for the same reason, and none of the others on the team do."

"Okay, okay," Tata said, "stop with the mystery and just tell us why!"

Zephon stopped in his tracks. "I do believe we’re here."

The four warriors stood in the clearing, with Zephon at the center. "Zephon, what is it that makes us different from the others?" Natan asked. "What is this power?"

"Yes, what is it?" Schala asked. "What could the four of us share?"

"Not just four, but five," Zephon said, brushing his hair back. "Cyrus is also like us, or at least he soon will be." There was along pause as Zephon thought for a moment. "What we share is—"

"Intruders!" screamed a voice.

Everyone snapped their necks and looked in the direction of the voice. "Rempha?" Tata asked.

The little Poyozo looked at Tata quizzically. "Who? Who is this Rempha you speak of? My name is not Rempha, little boy. I am Zuphlas, protector of these sacred grounds. I care not who you are, because you’ve intruded, and the price is death."

Natan put up his hands. "Now hold on a minute…"

Zuphlas cut him off with a blast of Shadow Magic. Natan jumped aside and stuck out his hand. "Sachluph, deliver your Ivy Whip to my hand!" he shouted. There was a flash of energy, and the whip appeared.

The whip cracked, and Zuphlas put a minuscule hand to his cheek. "I am bleeding," he said.

"Well, that wasn’t what I meant to do," Natan apologized. "You were supposed to die! Light Burst!"

Streams of light shot through the air, grazing Zuphlas. The Poyozo dropped to the ground. Tata rushed forward and grabbed his sword’s hilt. "Gabriel, instill my blade with thine power! Light Sword!"

He pulled the blazing sword from its hilt and charged at Zuphlas. The blade arced through the air. It missed on the first pass, so Tata reversed the momentum and twisted his wrist. Zuphlas was caught by the flat of the sword and flung into a nearby tree. The Poyozo had the air knocked from his lungs, and he collapsed into a small heap of white fur.

"By the power of Divine Light, grant me the strength the destroy my enemies!" Zephon chanted. "Eternal Flame!"

Divine fire spread from his hand and scorched Zuphlas. Before it could react, the Poyozo found itself up against the tree with Zephon’s Flame Lance pressed against its snout. Zuphlas started squealing. "No! Don’t kill me, please!"

Schala stepped forward. "This from the creature that tried to kill us off," she said. "You deserve no mercy for your actions towards us."

"Here, let me," Natan said, stepping in for Zephon. "Vine Wrap."

Vines strapped Zuphlas to the tree as Zephon pulled back his Lance and sent it back to Nathanael. "Okay, Zuphlas, if we aren’t to kill you, then what should we do? After all, you attacked us first, without warning," he reminded the Poyozo.

"I-I’m sorry," Zuphlas stuttered. "But this is sacred ground, it’s my duty to protect it from all intruders. I apologize for giving you no warning, but everyone knows that no one is to come here."

Tata sheathed his sword. "Well, we’re sorta from out of town," he said.

"Way out of town," Natan added, whip disappearing in a flash of green energy.

"We need to use this place," Schala said, "to revive a friend of ours. We were sent by Rempha, the Master of Time."

"Then if you were sent by a Master, it is alright for you to use this ground. I am sorry for my misconduct towards you, but as I said, it’s my duty."

"We understand," Zephon said.

"Then I shall be off." With that, Zuphlas disappeared.

The group returned to where they’d been standing before the attack. "I believe you were about to tell us what ties the five of us together," Tata said.

"Ah, that’s right," Zephon said. "Tell me, has there ever been a time in your life when you were injured badly, or even killed, but when you awoke, you were perfectly fine? Thinking it was just a dream?"

"Yes," Schala said suddenly. "It was when the Ocean Palace fell, back in 12,000 BC. I remember a large beam falling on top of me and crushing me. And when I woke up, I was in 400 BC. I thought that I’d been pulled into a Timegate, like the Gurus and Janus, and that having the beam fall on me was just some dream."

"Me too," Tata admitted. "When I was trying to get the Masamune on Mt. Denadoro, a Lancer ran me through with his spear. I remember falling for a long time, and then blacking out. When I woke up next to a pool of water, I thought that I’d just passed out and tumbled down the mountain, and the Lancer was just a dream…"

Zephon smiled. "And you, Natan?"

Natan looked up, his brown eyes shining. "Yes, something similar has happened to me. While I was on a journey to visit my fiancee, Princess Linsa of Peloris, when I came across a group of bandits. They saw I was an elf and attacked with extreme prejudice. I had no chance to even try and protect myself, and I felt the cold steel of a sword run through my back. When I looked down, I saw the blade sticking out of my chest and passed out due to shock and loss of blood. I awoke in Peloris, no wound on my body. The healers said I was found passed out in a field, surrounded by blood, but with no wound. I passed it all off as simply a dream, a hallucination."

Schala looked at Zephon. "And what about you, brother to Lucca? What happened to you?" she asked.

"I was sucked into a Gate at the age of three," Zephon said, "and dragged to the year 1987. I had no one to care for me or guide me except myself. One day, I fell into a sewer and was attacked by the mutants there. And, of course, I was wounded. Mortally wounded, in fact. Then, there was a flash of light, and I saw a man standing before me. He waved his hand once, and the mutants burst into flames. But once this was done, the man knew that I would still die. That’s when I realized it wasn’t a man, but an angel. The angel Nathanael. He fused himself with me, and that is why I was able to live. So, for the past twelve years, I have lived as a boy with the power of an angel inside of me. And so have the three of you."

"What?!" Tata exclaimed.

Zephon nodded. "Yes, that is correct. All of us have been fused with angels, our guardian angels. The same angels that have given their names and powers to our weapons. That is how we survived, and that is why we possess such incredible power within ourselves."

"But what about Cyrus?" Natan asked.

"When we revive him, the archangel Michael will fuse with Cyrus’ soul."

"How can you be sure of that?" Schala asked.

"I have lived with the knowledge of my power and the angel within me," Zephon replied. "Before we left on this journey, Michael informed me that he would be watching over Cyrus for us."

There was silence in the clearing as what Zephon had said sunk in. They took their places at the corners of the clearing, and summoning their weapons, prepared for Cyrus’ resurrection. Schala raised her Staff of the Magi, and energy gathered around it. Zephon poured energy into his Flame Lance, and a red beam of light shot into the Staff. Tata’s Light Sword started glowing intensely, and a beam of white light shot into the Staff. Natan’s Ivy Whip started glowing. He snapped it, and it stayed in place, releasing its energy into the Staff with a green beam of light.

"Now is the time," Schala said.

"We summon the spirit," Tata said.

"Archangel Michael, hark to our calling," Zephon said.

"And return to us a fallen warrior!" Natan said.

The Staff of the Magi started glowing brightly, and a light appeared at the center of the clearing. From the light appeared a Gate, and Cyrus appeared from the Gate. He looked around and saw the four others looking at him.

"Timeless Angels, I hath returned," he said.

.

"I admired you, I envied you; you’re different from us." —Kensuke Aida, Neon Genesis Evangelion

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