The Rise Of Evil Chapter 4
By Citadel
The three arrived in a barren waste land. The future was dead. Marle, Lucca, and Crono felt an immense surge of futility seeing what the world still ended up being. Crono sighed and looked around for any sign of Robo.
"Lucca, do you know where Robo would be?" Marle asked.
"I haven't the slightest. Odds are he's just as confused as we are. He's most likely wandering the waste lands."
"That helps," Crono muttered. He looked around one more time and started walking forward.
"Where are you going?" Marle asked.
"I don't know!" He snapped. Marle recoiled in surprise.
"It doesn't matter where I go now does it? If we go left we have just as much chance as finding him if we go straight!"
"Why are you so snappy?" Lucca asked.
"I don't care about this Cameron guy! Whether I find him or not is inconsequential to me! Ya'' wanna know why?" They shook their heads. "Cuz the truth is it won't affect me whether he controls the universe or not. If he succeeds in opening some weird gate, good for him! I just give up! All I want to do is find my father. Just think about it, do you realize that when Cameron opens the gate we'll be dead for more than thirteen hundred years! My God! Look, it's not that I don't care, I just have run out of steam. Going on these endless quests just to have all our work ruined by some being from the past isn't my idea of fun."
"But what about our kids?" Lucca asked. "Why don't we help to keep them alive too? Do you want your kids to be killed by some evil being? Do you want them to be overcome by the Daemon Trainer?" Crono had no response to this. "Do what you want Crono, but just remember this: Your being selfish may cost the lives of billions of people. BILLIONS! Can you fathom how many that is? And why? Why would you let them all die? For one man."
"But he is my Dad. All I wanted to do was find him. I didn't ask for this."
"Neither did I," Marle interjected. "But I did my duty to save the world just as you did. Now the world is in trouble again and I am willing to help my world if need be. You once had the fighting spirit Crono, where'd it go?"
"It died with Lavos. I have no need to risk my neck again."
"But you're here. Why?" Lucca asked.
"Old habits die hard." He kept walking forward into the mists, the other two followed. They were deeply concerned about his sudden outburst. Is it possible that Crono has started to not care? The man who gave his life up in Zeal just to save Schala? A woman who he knew for no more than mere minutes? What happened to him?
They walked on for hours. They passed where Lab 16 once stood. They crossed the continent looking for signs of the domes, but they were all gone. Not even one glass shard remained. that made Lucca wonder, "What on Earth destroyed everything?"
They continued over countless miles and finally came to Lab 32. From there they could see a huge, red glowing thing in the distance. It illuminated the sky as much as the sun would have. As they entered the remnants of Lab 32 they saw a hunk of metal lying on the side of the road.
"Robo?" Lucca called. It looked like it might be Robo, but from her distance it ocld've been a car. She broke off in a sprint to see what it was.
"Lucca, wait!" Marle called. She scrambled after Lucca. Crono sighed and began in a slow trot after the two of them.
"Robo?" Lucca called again. As she neared it she began to slow down. By the time she was ten feet away it stood up. It wasn't Robo. It resembled a mystic hench, but was covered in metal.
"Death to the Mystics' enemies!" it shouted and lunged at Lucca. She dodged narrowly and rolled on the ground. She jumped up and began charging a powerful fire blast. Just as she was about to release it she was knocked to the ground by a back hand.
Marle shot a small ice blast at the hench, but the thing easily jumped over it. It turned to face Marle. It raised its left arm, which had somehow been turned into a cannon and shot at her. Marle jumped out of the way of it.
"It's a cyborg!" a foreign voice called.
"Who is that?" Crono yelled back.
Suddenly Robo burst up from the ground and landed in front of Lucca. "I said it was a cyborg, Crono. A being infused with robotics in order to make it stronger. Watch out for its blasters, though, they'll tear right through you." Robo fired a shot at the hench but it was blocked by a green shield.
"Robo, you must die!" the hench yelled. It jumped into the air, and its feet morphed into rockets which allowed it to float. It flew down across the battle and tackled Robo down. They slid past Lucca scaring her. Robo punched the thing in the face and it rolled them over so it was on top. Lucca seized this opportunity and let loose a flurry of flames into its backside. It howled in pain and jumped off Robo flying into the air. It charged its blaster and fired to the ground. Everybody jumped left and right in order to avoid the endless stream of lasers coming from the thing's blaster.
Crono spun around once and threw a big ball of lightning at the hench like a baseball. It hit right on the blaster blowing it apart.
"RRRAAAAHHHHGGGH!" it roared. Its right arm was completely blown off. Wires hung off it flapping around aimlessly. Crono started to levitate in the air, his hair flying wildly. His eyes flashed green for a moment and a huge column of light burst form the ground. It was green, like the Luminare, but it was much stronger. The light faded and he fell back to the ground. Various robotic parts fell to the ground. Crono collapsed in an exhausted heap.
"I thought he didn't care," Marle observed. Crono lay on the ground, panting for air.
"Where did he learn such moves?" Robo asked.
"Good question," Lucca said. None of them had ever seen him use such strong magic's. "Those were nothing like anything he's ever used before," Lucca observed. "Well, let's pick him up and get out of this place." Robo picked up the extra robot parts and slung them over his shoulder. He was damaged in some places. "Robo," Lucca spoke, "why are you damaged? What is going on here?"
"I was walking back toward Death Peak when I thought maybe it would be better to check Lab 32. There were some remnants of it, I thought it might be a good chance to see if any humans lived. All I found were some renegade mystics. These were extremely bright mystics too, they had recreated some computers and used old technology, with a bit of mental genius, and created cybernetics. I was shocked to see it, so I infiltrated this place and downloaded it. Just morbid curiosity I guess. I was amazed with their know-how, but they didn't like me snooping. They began to attack me, just as they did anything that moves nowadays. You must remember they've been defending themselves from demons for the past few years, and most humans and robots are dead. So they didn't think to try to talk to me. They had all altered their bodies so they could beat the demons. Without cybernetics they'd be as dead as the humans. They attacked me, but I fled. I had no interest in battling them. As I was fleeing some of the rougher ones chased me. I ad no choice but to battle them. They were real strong. I soon had to flee to a sewer, that's when you came along. That was a sentry waiting for me, so unfortunate that it found you."
"It's okay," Lucca sympathized. "Do you know what has happened here?"
"No," Robo replied.
"Let me explain." She told him the story of Cameron Delecroix and Zeal. He took it well, but couldn't offer an explanation for the Hell Mouth.
They arrived at the time gate about an hour later. It was still open. They stepped through just as Crono was getting his energy back.
***
Janus floated in and out of consciousness. He was scared. Very scared. His mother and Lavos lived, they could still continue their plans for global domination, and immortality. He looked down his body. His right leg was gone and his left was wounded badly. The only bright side was he couldn't feel the pain. He glanced to his left and noticed his right arm was crushed, his hand was mangled and burnt. His left arm was fine, but his left shoulder was shattered from the foolhardy tackle into Lavos.
"Stupid," Janus muttered about himself. He should've known Lavos was too strong for that. Funny, he didn't feel that either. The pain only went down to his mid-back, then there was nothing. He shook his head and attempted to sit up, but he couldn't. He couldn't even move. Fear flashed through him. "Am I paralyzed?" Frantically he tried to move but his body wouldn't respond to his mind's commands. "No, please don't let it be!" He still wouldn't give in, he tried to move, but to no avail. He relaxed himself. His wounds were far too deep anyway, he'd die within the hour. The world was going very blurry, he was losing his grasp on reality. "But what of Schala?" he asked the wind. The boulder had disappeared, Schala was completely dead. Janus didn't know it, but she was dead. There were so many secrets she still had to share with him, such as how she'd gotten on the mountain. But now she couldn't tell him. Janus went into a shallow coma.
***
Frog exited the Cursed Woods. It was a sunny day and he didn't want to miss this one. He'd been home for three days, and he really wanted to see the beach. The beach to the south of the Cursed woods was one of the best in the world, nice waves, perfect water, he loved it more than any other. He walked down to the sand and stuck his webbed feet in the ground. It felt so god to stand on soft surface.
"Ah," Frog sighed. He was finally relaxed. Everyone was avenged, he was at peace with Magus, or Janus his mind told him, and he was happy. He sat down on the beach and took of his shirt to prepare for a nice swim when a big red portal opened to his right, about ten yards down the beach. An evil looking demon popped out of it. It had the body of a black scorpion and a long black scaled neck. The head had two horns that stuck into the air, and a huge gaping jaw. It had to stretch two feet. the eyes stretched back along it head, slightly less black than the rest of the thing. The body raised two of its eight legs like arms.
"Frog," it hissed, like a snake, "I have come to kill you."
.