Revenge For Our Fathers Part 6
By Dave Church
"Let's hope I was a little discreet," said Crono upon finding the hatch. "That magic of Magus' worked. I held on to the ship. Now let's see if I can find..."
When he came in to the ship, there was no light. It appeared grayish in color and circular in shape. He could see a screen above his head, and a pillar of light near the middle, with someone in it.. He could make out two figures in the light coming in to the ship.
"Can't see, little man? All right. Here's some help." Crono turned quickly, hoping to locate whoever said that.
Where was that voice coming from? thought Crono. As the lights came on, he saw.. two Marles.
"What the heck?" Crono said as he saw the two of them.
"That's right, you do see two of them. You have ten seconds to decide which one is real. The other one dies."
Crono saw a gun on the floor. It was Lucca's. "You have to shoot the one that is not real." the voice said.
Marle spoke, "Kill her! She's the one!"
The other Marle retorted, "Don't listen! It's her!"
"Nine..."
Crono looked around. He saw cells with Lucca, Glenn and Kino, Robo and Ayla, and Gaspar and Atropos. Everyone he knew and trusted. And his mother, suspended in a pillar of light in the middle.
"Eight.."
Crono glimpsed from one Marle to the other. How do I tell them apart?
"Seven.."
Crono thought up a question. "Marle, at the fair, what was the first thing I did after I ran into you?"
"Six..."
"You helped me up." The one on the right said.
"There were witnesses at the fair. Ian could have found that out easily!" The other Marle retorted.
"Five..."
She's right, Crono thought, But who's Ian? This guy's counting awful slowly....
"Four.."
Almost as if he wants to accentuate the pain caused if I shoot the wrong one.
Magus came in discreetly through a top entrance. He ran his fingers over all the controls.
"Three.."
Suddenly, everyone turned into stone statues. A blinding light appeared in front of him.
"Hello, Crono. Time is frozen for now."
"Huh?" was Crono's reply.
"I am the Entity. You know, the one who you thought made all the Gates."
"You are the one who kidnapped all my friends and family? Why I oughtta.."
"No."
"Well who did, then?" Crono closed his eyes as the light was too great.
"I'm not going to tell you now. I am here to help you determine which Marle is real."
"Great!" Crono said. "So who is it?"
"I'm not just going to tell you who it is."
"Thanks," said Crono sarcastically.
"What I am going to do is tell you the one irreplacable emotion that you will not find in a clone or fake: loyalty."
Crono listened intently. "So I will know who it is?"
"The one that is real will demonstrate her loyalty to you."
"Hmm.. ok. Now are you gonna start time again.?"
Time starts... now."
The blinding light left. The stone statues turned back to people.
"Two..."
The Marle on the left yelled, "I love you!"
Crono raised Lucca's gun at the the other one, but a nagging thought held him back.
"She will demonstrate her loyalty....."
Wasn't love loyalty?
"One.."
The Marle on the right shouted, "Crono! Shoot both of us! It is the only way to ensure everyone's safety!"
"Zero.."
Crono raised the gun to the one on the left and shot. It went right through her.
"Huh?" he said.
"Very good," said the voice. "Now, the real thing!"
Ian came down from where he was hiding, sword drawn, ready to decapitate Marle.
Crono anticipated such a move and shoved Marle out of the way, throwing her the gun.
All the others except Crono's mom suddenly regained conciousness. Magus was still trying to figure out the controls.
Crono was sitting on the floor, back bent, sword in a defensive position, trying to hold Ian back, who was standing over him with his sword pressed against the Rainbow, Crono's sword. Marle was slowly getting up, and noticed Magus over by the control panel.
Lucca looked over where Crono was and noticed a hand signal with his left hand.
"Magus, kill the forcefield," she whispered. Ian had backed Crono near an airlock.
As Magus shut down the forcefield, Ian turned. Crono used a Lightning attack on him while he was distracted.
Ian wasn't even scratched, and countered with a Lightning 2. Everyone except Magus, who had ducked behind the control panel, was hurt. Atropos kept Kino and Gaspar protected as this battle took place.
Taking advantage of his spell, Ian walked over to the control panel and hit a button. The airlock below Crono's feet had opened, and he fell into the air. Ian didn't notice Magus.
"Cronooooo!" Marle screamed. She used an Ice 2 attack on Ian. That didn't hurt him either, and he used an Ice 2 attack in return. Marle was knocked down. Ian came over to where she was, and drew his sword. Robo came up behind him and picked him up. He threw him to Ayla who threw him back. Robo threw him straight up in the air and he landed on the floor, hurt badly. Ian used Dark Matter, wounding everybody except Magus, who had a certain resistance to shadow magic. Magus used his scythe on Ian, and gave him a belly wound. Glenn and Marle healed everyone. Lucca shot him with so much force that he fell out the airlock. Robo closed the airlock behind him and headed to the controls. "Lucca, Atropos, help me here." Lucca and Atropos went over to try and figure out how they would find and/or save Crono.
"Look!" said Glenn, pointing toward the screen.
.
After falling out of the ship, Crono hit a button on a control in his pocket. Lucca had made it soon after they had defeated Lavos. Epoch came soaring toward him and right under him. He landed in it, and grabbed for the flying controls. He saw Ian's ship coming toward him. He also saw Ian falling toward the ground. He headed for the ship to pick up the others.
.
As Crono piloted Epoch towards the ground, Atropos and Robo steered Ian's ship down. Everyone got out of Ian's ship and headed over to Crono.
"Crono! You're OK!" Marle shouted as she hugged him. Crono kissed her on the cheek. They had set down on a deserted island, on a sandy part near the ocean. There was an edge of a forest nearby. It was a sunny day, and there was a little bit of a breeze.
Robo took Atropos, Kino, Gaspar, and Crono's mom a safe distance away from Ian's ship. Then the attack commenced. They were going to destroy Ian's ship.
Crono, Glenn and Robo did Triple Raid. Marle, Magus, and Lucca did Dark Eternal. The ship was damaged a bit. Crono's mother was shouting something and Atropos, Kino and Gaspar just looked on.
Ayla did Triple Kick. Crono cast Luminaire. Lucca used Flare. Magus did Dark Matter. Robo did Shock. Glenn and Marle did Glacier. The ship was noticeably damaged.
"Well, the outside isn't magic proof," Crono said dryly. He, Glenn and Marle casted Arc Impulse on the ship. Robo used Uzzi Punch. Lucca used Flare again. A bright spectacle of colors accompanied the magic. Magus finally used Black Hole to suck the ship into oblivion.
Only a charred bit of sand remained.
"Ok," Crono said. "It's over. Lucca, take everyone home. Start with Gaspar and my mother. Marle and I will stay here the night if we have to," he told her, winking in the process. He knew that his and Marle's parents would not let them out of their sight after hearing about this.
"All right," said Lucca, obviously catching on to Crono's drift."I'll drop off some camping gear if it turns out that way."
She took Gaspar and Crono's mother into Epoch and blasted off....
.
End of Part 6