The Rise Of Evil Chapter 9
By Citadel
A blue portal suddenly flared up to the right of Gaspar, where the old epoch used to reside. Gaspar scratched his old whiskers wondering who would step out of the portal this time. Ever since Cameron had risen he was now losing his view on the time steams. He couldn't even see what was going to happen tomorrow. That raised some fears in him; he no longer knew what to expect. It also made him lose his trump card over almost everything, seeing the future allowed him to prepare for almost everything. It told him whom to trust, and whom to send back to their times. Now he couldn't see anything beyond his eyes. Out of the portal stepped a green man who he immediately recognized as Frog. The second was Lucca, followed by Robo. Janus followed Robo and strolled over to his normal spot away from the rest of the group. A few moments later Crono and another man stepped out of the gate.
"Well, welcome back. You've been gone a while, haven't you? Tell me, who is this new man?"
"I am Roland, and I am Crono's father."
"You don't say?" Gaspar asked. He was quite surprised. He should've known that too. His powers were really fading.
"You think your powers are failing, but they aren't. I can sense a strong magi when I'm around one." Roland said. Gaspar's mouth fell agape.
"You read my mind. I haven't seen anything like that since the days of Zeal."
"I was born with it."
"You must have strong Zealian roots then. Very strong. Most of it died out by the mid dark ages."
"Where are the others? I can sense two more, both are incredibly strong."
"They are in another room. You can see them when they come out. Right now they are working on a plan to stop Cameron Delecroix."
"Good idea, it's best they do that. Maybe I could help."
"No," Crono answered for Gaspar. "You have to help me. I need to be trained and receive our powers."
"All too true, but maybe you need some more experience. Go find that Ayla woman and bring her back." Crono gave a frustrated look and rolled his eyes.
"God! Don't I ever get a break?"
"Not in training Crono," Roland said. "You've been in training ever since the Lavos incident. You will do as I say when I say it. Now I think you need to train some more. You've saved the world once, but you'll need more power to do it again. Never underestimate your enemies. If you think you're more powerful than they and you rush into battles with the immediate and foolhardy thought that you will win you will certainly lose. This applies to all of you," he gave soft glances to everyone else. Crono's lip curled in anger, both at his father and at Cameron. He was pissed about Marle being taken. "Crono, you're angry, but have you even thought about what has happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"How did you, such a stupid bunch of heroes, ever save the world?" they all looked hurt on that remark, except Janus looked mad. "You haven't even thought to analyze why he took Marle only. I don't know that, but instead of trying to plunge head first into something we obviously cannot control or even touch, why don't we sit back and examine out options? Why don't we try to figure out the method to his madness? He has a plan, and every well laid plan has a hole. We need to find that hole and exploit it. Thinking to kill him will do no good, and trying to find a way to overthrow him won't help. It cannot be done. We need to find an error in whatever he is doing and see if we can use it to our advantage."
"Wow! I never thought of that!" Lucca exclaimed. "You're right. We've been going about it all wrong. But, do you know the answers to any of that?"
"Nope, I don't." Roland answered matter-of-factly. Crono rolled his eyes.
"Well, we hast be on our way to find Ayla, we are in dire need of some more help," Frog announced. He walked over to the blue gate. "Set it for sixty-five thousand BC." Roland nodded and smiled. Frog hopped through. Janus hovered in after him.
"I'm off to go train some more," Crono said sarcastically. He muttered to himself as he was leaving.
"Don't worry," Lucca said to Roland. "He's only mad because he lost Marle. He really loved her more than life itself. The first thing he did when we brought him back to life was kiss her. You did hear about that, right?"
"Yes, I did. I know at whom he is mad. It's easier to take it out on me because I am being firm with him. But I only do it for his own good. If I am soft..." he trailed off. "If I am soft on him and not make him always give more than he thinks he can he'll get lazy. In only three days he lost his fighting spirit."
"How do you know so much?" Lucca asked.
"I'm fifty. I've lived for a long time. And in my fifty years I have studied the words of the wise. I have endured all that Crono has gone through and much more," he said dramatically. "And I'm psychic, that helps too."
"And is Crono psychic?"
"No, not an ounce in him. The line of mind reading ended with me. Crono has another more deadly power. He has the ultimate power of a black mage. Even I'm not strong enough to be called a mage, not a true mage anyway. I am simply a wizard. The true mage only comes around once in a great time. Every two hundred years or so. And a true black mage, one who specializes in the art of battle magics and battel tactics with weapons is someone that is a force with which to be reckoned. Crono is very special. He hasn't tapped into those powers yet, but he soon will. He is darn close, so close that if he does it and is too weak for his body to handle it, such as near the end of a strong battle, it might rip him apart." Lucca gasped. "Trust me, it's very hard not to give him my powers, but I have to let him learn his powers on his own or there will be no hope for humanity." Lucca nodded and walked off to the portal. When she had left he turned to Gaspar. "Now, I want to help. Tell me where the other two are."
Gaspar smirked. "I figured any relative of Crono's would love to help. Heh heh. Well, go in the door behind me." Roland walked into the door.
Inside there was a square room with fencing around it. In it was a glowing man and a red nu. Roland smiled and introduced himself.
***
Lucca arrived in the past and saw the others standing at battle position. they looked on at a fight going on between cave man and a huge tirano. The dinosaur ran at a cave man and picked him up with its teeth. It pulled him high into the air and thrashed him around a bit. The tirano bit down hard and blood spewed from the mouth of the dinosaur. It thrashed some more and the upper half of the cave man fell to the ground. Just as its head went down for another bite Kino jumped onto the back of the dinosaur and held onto it like a bull riding a horse. Just as Kino had hopped on two wings suddenly shot out from the back of it and it began to beat them. Everyone looked on in amazement.
"Kino! Get down!" Ayla's voice boomed. Kino didn't listen and started beating on the dino's head with his bone spiked club. It sunk in only a few inches and did no good. Just as the dino was taking off it thrashed its head and threw Kino into Ayla's arms. "Next time listen to me!" Ayla scolded. She then hugged him and dropped him on the ground. Ayla got a running start and jumped up at the thing. She spun in the air with the grace of a ballerina and then slammed her foot into the face of the thing. She fell to the ground with a perfect landing on her feet and moved back to the crowd. The dino lost its balance and started to fall back to the ground.
Frog started running up there to help, he was soon joined by the rest of them. Janus took the lead easily by floating ahead to the battle. When he arrived he saw the cave men backing away. They were obviously losing. He set down in front of Ayla. The dinosaur threw its head back then snapped it forward, fire shooting out of the mouth. Janus threw a shield up quickly and the flames were easily deflected.
"Ayla," he snapped, "get them out of here! Now!" She turned and shooed all the village away. Kino was reluctant, but she gave him a glare and he went running as well.
"This no reptite!" Ayla screamed in Janus's ear. "This something stronger. It change shape and bring Dalton."
"Dalton? I thought he was dead."
"No, Dalton let thing do work, he leave."
The others arrived and warily looked at the dinosaur.
"Now what?" Lucca asked.
"We fight and kill this thing," Crono answered. He rose into the air and a lightning bolt came from the sky and hit the thing square on the head. It howled in pain and thrashed its head in frustration. It let out a scream that made everyone cover their ears for fear of deafening. "Lord, that thing is loud!" Crono exclaimed.
"No kidding," Lucca screamed. She had a ringing in her ears, as well as everyone else. Janus floated up and pointed at the head. Suddenly a black triangle appeared where the head of the dino was. it hovered in the air and contorted reality as it did so. When it faded they saw a hideous skull of some horned monster only for a second. As brief as it was they saw it was there.
"What the hell was that?" Lucca asked.
"Twas something of a beast," Frog remarked.
"Nevertheless, I fight it anyway," Janus said. He flew at the head of the thing. Its face had resumed its former state, and looked at Janus. It blew fire breath at him and Janus easily dodged to the left. He swooped low, under the belly of the monster and spun around so his face was looking at the underside. He charged two Dark Bombs in his hands and threw them at the belly of it. They blew up upon contact and ripped open its flesh. Black goo oozed out of the wounds. He continued down the underside of it until he came to the genitalia. He smirked at his luck it was a boy. His face went grim suddenly and threw two more Dark Bombs into the sack of the dinosaur. He then flew out from under the thing, just narrowly missing its thrashing tail. the magical bombs exploded and most of the rear end was blown off. The tail fell to the ground with a heavy thud and black ooze gushed out like a large dam whose floodgates had broken. It howled in pain and flapped it wings. It tried to lift off but Robo shot a laser blast into the wing and put a considerable hole in the center of it, ruining any chances of flying.
"You fools!" a voice called. Janus landed in front of the whole group and looked around to see who had spoken. In front of the dinosaur the air wavered and rippled and none other than Dalton appeared. "Don't hurt my precious tirano. Do you know how long it takes to make a demon look like this?" They gave him a weird look. "You don't know how many hours I spent making this perfect."
"I thought you were dead," Lucca said.
"No, I was drawn into the World of the Damned. Where the golem come from. It's a really nice place for evil people like myself." Janus curled a lip and sneered. Dalton looked at him and stood puzzled for a moment. His eyes then brightened. "You! It's the Prophet! I cannot believe it! Well, this'll be fun. You traitor! I was almost immortal! I could've had it all with Lavos. You ruined it! But now I've found a stronger ally, one who can also give me immortality. I think you all know him."
"Cameron Delecroix," Crono answered.
"Yes, that's him. Or just one of his many forms. You see, that's just the form he presents to you. And even myself. Nobody ever sees the real him. That's not even his real name. But why would you care? You should be concerned with living past tomorrow!" He threw both hands up and tossed a fire ball at both Robo and Crono. They both missed but came around for a second time. This time they hit, knocking them both into the air and flying to Dalton's feet. "I've picked up some new tricks!" he said with glee.
"So have I," Crono growled. He jumped to his feet and punched Dalton in the face. He staggered back and growled.
"How dare you punch me? I'm the Dalton!" He rushed at Crono with his fists ablaze. He swung at Crono's head with a right. Crono easily ducked it and jumped up for an uppercut that knocked Dalton off his feet. The knuckles hit Dalton's mouth shattering his front teeth. Dalton hit the ground and spat out blood and a tooth. He was up in a flash and smiled. He had loose and missing teeth, blood was spewing from all over his mouth. "You think that'll put me down?" He faded into thin air.
"Where'd he go?" Robo asked. The tirano screamed again and moved down to bite Crono. Before the jaws could snap down on Crono he put up an orb of lightning and protected himself. The thing was electrocuted in the mouth as it tried to bite Crono in half. It reared back in pain and howled again.
Lucca let loose a stream of flames that entered the thing's mouth. It thrashed its head back and forth. She then let the flames die out. "Hey Robo!" she called.
"Yes?"
"Hit it with a laser in a wound!" Robo pulled up his right arm and aimed for a hole in the belly. He blasted a white hot laser into the right wound in the belly. The tirano backed up and nearly did a backwards sprint trying to avoid the pain.
Janus flew in over the top and shot down a blast of black shadow from each of his hands. The beams of black pierced the skin of the monster and left trails of gushing black blood. He landed behind it and looked onto the mass of darkness that was its innards. He readied another Dark Bomb to throw but was knocked to the ground by a kick in the back.
Janus was to his feet instantly. He pulled his robotic hand into a fist in front of his face and glared at Dalton. "You're a fool to tangle with me you half brained lackey. Before I kill you I want you to know something. I am Janus of Zeal. Rightful king to the throne. And you are nothing but an annoying accomplice of my mother. You and Lavos hurt my sister in more ways than I care to think of. Oh how many days I would see her stagger to her room at night. Bruised. No doubt by your pitiful attempts to rape her. If not for her magic, and the occasional interference of my mother when she wasn't possessed, you would've raped her. And for that I will now kill you slow."
"Ah Janus. The young boy. You've really grown into one prick haven't you? I have a little secret, Janus." Janus lifted one eyebrow and prepared a Dark Bomb. "She wasn't that good a fuck!" He threw his head back and laughed hysterically.
"AHHHHH!" Janus cried as he flew at a phenomenal speed at Dalton. Just as he was about to tackle him down Dalton became transparent and Janus passed through him.
"You always were headstrong." Dalton raised his left hand and a lightning bolt hit Janus in the back knocking him to the ground. He skidded a good ten feet before his crash landing halted. He levitated off the ground and flew to his feet. His eyes glowed purple. He seemed to have an aura of shadow magic surrounding him. Dalton threw a line of flames at Janus, but they were absorbed in some green shield that Janus cast. Again, Janus flew in and tossed Dark Bombs all the way. They exploded all around Dalton, leaving holes in the ground everywhere. Dalton was still laughing at Janus and remaining either translucent of completely invisible. "You can't beat me now, my magics are far superior to yours!"
Janus stood before Dalton while he was barely visible. Behind Dalton he saw Ayla kick the dino in the head. Crono threw a ball of lightning and Lucca and Robo hit it in the head with one of the double attacks. He noticed they were beating the thing. He shook his head and flew up above Dalton. He couldn't allow himself to get his mind fuzzy. He couldn't be consumed by rage. There had to be a way to kill him. She wasn't that good a fuck! Janus's face twisted n odd shapes with rage as the words of Dalton echoed through his head again. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Janus threw both his arms out and screamed another scream of absolute hate and anger. She had been wronged by him. Him of all people. He couldn't control himself. Suddenly his body was consumed by shadow. A huge sphere of blackness with purple veins flowing through it erupted from Janus's body. It lit up the sky with its splendor. The others battling stopped for a moment to see what was going on. Even the monster-dinosaur looked at the orb. It shined brightly, fueled by a pent up rage that Janus had been holding almost his whole life. A rage that no matter how many people he killed, and how many times he avenged Schala, would not go away. It hovered in the air for moments. Dalton, below it, looked up at the ball of magic and gulped. His eyes went wide with fear. Suddenly the bottom of it shot down at an indescribable rate of speed. A column of shadow slammed into the ground causing minor tremors and quakes in the area. The whole ground trembled under the force of the magic. The air around the magic was charged with purple powers.
"Oh my," Lucca said, completely amazed at the magic show before her. She swallowed some spit in her mouth and looked on as Janus kept on hammering the ground. Slowly the beam of light destroying the ground slowed to a trickle. then it altogether stopped. The glowing ball lost some of its luster and shrank down into Janus. Soon the could see it outline his body and then seep into his skin.
Janus looked down at the crater and flew to the epicenter of his destruction; the point where Dalton stood. There was no trace of life. But suddenly a translucent figure appeared again. Dalton smiled at Janus. Dalton raised his hand and a lightningbolt slammed into Janus's chest. Janus felt as if his insides were fried by the force of that blow. His chest was numb for a second. Pain the rocketed out of his nerve endings like a pent of rotwiler loosed on a petty thief in the house. He grimaced in pain and tried to control his emotions, but this time he couldn't. "Oww!" he screeched. His head thrashed back and forth in agony. He was too weak to even move. Rasing his head off the ground would have been a challenge. He knew that Dalton would surely kill him. Never could he have been as weak as now. She wasn't that good a fuck! Janus heaved in another breath and raised his head and saw Dalton, fully formed, advance on him. He was breathing hard. It was hard to even focus on Dalton. Janus was seeing double. It was okay by him though. He had a Dark bomb for the both of them. Fueled only by more rage Janus stood up. He raised both arms over his head and tossed a Dark Bomb at each of the Daltons. They both exploded and he saw the Daltons go flying. He wasn't sure which one hit though.
"You!" Dalton cried. "I'll be back!" And a black portal appeared behind the both of them. They seemed to spin around and around in Janus's mind. Finally everything went black.
Crono watched as Dalton stepped into a portal and Janus lost consciousness. As soon as Dalton was gone the demon fell to the ground, dead. Apparently Dalton had been feeding it energy just to keep it alive.
"Well, we hath better get Janus somewhere warm," Frog said.
"My hut warm. Tonight no party. No food to give party." They all nodded. They went over and collected Janus. His robotic parts were in order. He was just physically exhausted.
"Ayla," Crono began, "what the hell was all this about?"
"Me no know. Just show up with Dalton. Want Ioka dead."
"Weird," Crono exclaimed. "Cameron has some weird objectives."
"Who Cameron?"
.