Escaping Fate Prologue
By Taran
Gaspar stood at his lamp post at the End of Time. There was the main platform that housed a lamp post in the center that gave light to the rest of the place. In one corner there was a fruit basket and a glowing save point. In the opposite corner was the Lavos bucket that held a time gate to 1999 AD. There was a bridge spanning from that platform where the Epoch normally docked. Up the stairs from the platform was another platform in the same fashion. It had no lamp post but nine shimmering pillars of light, all were gates to different places and eras. Through the door from the center platform was Spekkio's place where he observed every war and battle that went on. All of the platforms were made of a brown stone brick that had been laid in an "old English" street like fashion. Surrounding all of this was a black sort of fog or haze that was never ending.
Normally, the End of Time was a quiet and peaceful place, but now, Gaspar stood and watched the raging battle in front of him. There were two sides to this battle. They each were a team of seven. There was Crono, Glenn, Marle, Robo, Azule, Siris, and Vular. The other group was composed of Crono, Glenn, Marle, Robo, Azule, Siris, and Gile. Yes, it was a battle between the people of the same name, of the same appearance, of the same background, of the same skill. It was a battle between the same people.
Gaspar had hoped that this time, the battle would be avoided, but as always the two groups could not reach a peacefull conclution. The disagreement took the expected turns until it turned into a raging battle. Things had gotten so mixed up during the fight that Gaspar now had a hard time determining who was on which side. He wished he could help, but he couldn't, not yet anyway.
To avoid confusion, the two parties had decided to attack their own look-alikes. Since there were only one of both Vular and Gile, and since they were both the strongest of their relative team, they fought against each other. One of the Crono's slashed at the other, but he jumped out of the way and countered with lightning but the first was able to defend it with his own magic. Marle shot her automatic crossbow and a volley of steel arrows flew at her, but she formed an ice wall to block it and then shot the ice at the first who cured herself after being hit. One Robo fired a missile but the second one shot it down with a laser and then Uzzie Punched the first who countered with a Mega Tackle.
Both groups could see that this wasn't leaning towards any side, but the stalemate continued. The first Glenn wielded his sword and charged at the second who shot a wave in the direction of the first who then formed a bubble around the second. One of the Azule’s slashed at the other who jumped out of the way and cast a fire spell that was countered by another attack. Both Siris’ guns were fully charged and ready to fire but not being fighters, these two continued to try to reach a compromise.
Vular and Gile stared at each other. The bitter hatred between the two had grown immensely since their first encounter. Gile almost respected Vular, since he was the only creature since Lavos to ever harm him. Vular casted Dark Bomb which only slightly damaged Gile. Gile responded by blasting an array of elements fire, lightning, and water at his opponent.
"I will destroy you here and end this!" shouted Vular.
"Don’t bet on it.” Gile retorted. Vular ran forward and cast one of his most powerful spells, Dark Matter. The two triangles sent waves of shadow magic at Gile who took his turn to cast Delta Storm. This spell normally required the combined force of three mages, but Gile was very powerful. The combined forces of all three elements sent Vular to his knees, but he was able to cast a defensive spell, Magic Wall.
"I remember this all too well." One Siris said to the other.
"What do you mean you ‘remember it?’" The other asked.
"We've had this battle before." she responded. "but last time, I was in your place."
"What are you talking about?!" Siris demanded. "Oh, never mind. I’ll figure it out later." she fired her gun, but the other knew it was coming and had already jumped out of the way. From her position on the floor, Siris powered up her gun and shot a few blasts. The other Siris pulled out her expandable shield and blocked it. The first Siris got up and used a fire spell to send multiple flames in the other's direction, but these were deflected by the same fire coming back in the opposite direction.
"Why are you trying to destroy us!?” one Azule demanded.
“We’re not. We’re just trying to save the future from Azule used his Fire spell to burn the other but he jumped out of the way. The other Azule retaliated with a razor sharp blow to the air, but some kind of energy extended the blow to Azule's body. This wasn't a surprise however, since the other Azule could do the same.
"Lavos tis a vile creature. Can thee not see it?" asked Glenn.
"Lavos is not thine enemy. Tis the Overlord that thee must be concerned with." the other Glenn responded.
"But aren't you sent by the Overlord?"
"Nay."
"But Gile said... It seems that we have a disagreement." The two Glenns danced around each other, again locked in combat. Their swords were pressed against each other, trying to decide which was the stronger of the two. One of the Glenns whirled around and swung his sword at the back of the other who fell to the ground. That Glenn used his Heal spell to cure the wound and then took a slash of his own but the other Glenn was able to defend it.
"This is an interesting development." stated one of the Robo's.
"Yes." responded the other. "I have encountered several Hunter Droids before, but never another R6-6Y."
"Never the less, we must destroy each other."
"I know, since we both believe the other is wrong, we must be enemies."
"Agreed. Shall we continue?"
"Let's." The first Robo resumed his attack by oppening his armor and sending massive electric energy at the other. The other used this time to fire a laser at the first's bare interior. The blasts hit and they both were hurled backwards. They got up and then charged at each other, trying to tackle the other, but they both hit dead on and again were both thrown to the ground.
"Don't you understand?" questioned the first Marle. "You're following the wrong people."
"We're going to destroy Lavos and save our future, haven't you seen it? Anything is better than that." She cast Ice 2 and a huge ice block slammed down on the other Marle. The other Marle got up and shot multiple ice blocks at the second one who fell back. After falling, the second Marle reloaded her crossbow and fired a single arrow that hit the first Marle in the shoulder and she began to bleed, but used Cure 2 to heal the wound.
The two Crono's took turns slashing at each other, but all efforts were blocked or avoided. One of the Cronos used a skill, Cyclone, to whirl around his opponent and slash at him many times. After this attack, the other Crono did one of his skills, Confuse, and continued to thrust his sword at the other while running around him.
"This is not working!" shouted the first Marle to her companions. "We need to join together. We're stronger that way."
"Good idea." Siris agreed. The others came closer and two lines were formed. Crono stared at Crono, Marle at Marle, Robo at Robo, Glenn at Glenn, Azule at Azule, and Siris at Siris.
"Where's Vular?" asked Glenn.
"And where is Gile?" asked Glenn.
"Don't waste your time on me." Vular grunted. "I can handle Gile myself."
"Don't worry." replied Gile. "As soon as I defeat him, I'll come help."
"So, I guess it's just us." Marle said to her group as she stared at her twin.
"Come on, let's go!" shouted one of the Azule's. They all resumed the battle, this time, working together. Crono, Marle, and Robo on one side combined their efforts to do Life Line on all their companions. On the other side, Marle and Glenn did Double Cure while Siris and Azule did Blaze Scar. Glenn and Azule on the first side did Sword Claw against the Robo on the other side. The second side took the combined forces of Crono, Siris, and Glenn to do Delta Storm while the first side's Crono, Marle, and Siris did Delta Force.
The two spells took heavy tolls on both sides. Having been fully cured, the second side all survived, but being wounded from the battle, the first side were all killed. The second side jumped in the air and rejoiced and went over to aid Gile, but Life Line went right to work in riving the first side. The battle continued, both sides with heavy casualties.
Vular and Gile were both in a mighty rage. Vular would never admit it, but Gile was winning. Vular again cast Dark Matter. On his knees from the spell, Gile also cast a powerful one, Delta Beam. The blast fired at Vular. He used his last efforts to continually cast barrier on himself, but the blast was a delta, and no matter which barrier he put up, the beam would tear it down and send Vular flying against the wall, dead.
The first group used one of the rocks they had found to cast a very powerful spell, in hopes of defeating the second team, the spell was Antipode Knight. This summoned a huge knight in full armor, flashing with the clash of fire and ice as it sliced it's sword in the direction of the other group. The second group had no defense, and not possessing that particular rock, had no way of knowing what they were up against. They all fell to the floor, not dead though, for that wasn't the first group's intentions.
"Finally." Siris said.
"You're not done yet!" Gile said as he stepped up to them. His body had taken on a ton of damage and he look beaten, but he was still flowing with power. He transformed into his true form before attacking his new opponents. With the transformation, all scars and wounds were healed. Before the second group could put up a fight, he blasted them all with his Delta Beam 2, which was the same he used on Vular, but this time, multiple beams shot down from the sky, or what would be the sky if the End of Time wasn't surrounded by such a blackness.
Before reviving his team ( the second group of Crono and the others), Gile reverted to his first form and stepped up to Gaspar. "Your heroes have lost again. They have no hope of defeating themselves when teamed up with myself."
"I know that." Gaspar responded.
"So why do you continue to pitch their power against my own. Why don't you attack me yourself!?"
"For the same reason you don't obliterate me right here on the spot. I can not kill you here until you don't exist elsewhere. I do not exist elsewhere, but Spekkio does, and he would just revive me with a spell of his as you will soon revive them." He gestured to the people fallen on the floor as he said this.
"So what do you intend to do!?"
"As I always do." Gaspar turned and used his cane to slowly head over to the door. He stepped inside to meet Spekkio.
"Again?" Spekkio asked, even though he knew the answer. "Do I have to go this time? Why can't you go? I get tired of doing the same thing over and over and..."
"You know I can't leave here, not while the present reality exists outside."
"I know, all right, all right. I'm going."
"Now," Gaspar said, mainly to himself, "We start the cycle over again."
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