Chrono Trigger: Redreamt

- VI -

Grande Inedia

Marle hauled Lucca aptly, until she spotted a hard, paved surface where the ash was less prevalent. She set Lucca down quickly and assisted in fishing out the inhaler and giving it to the poor girl. After Lucca took a dose, Marle asked with a tone of concern, "This better?"

"Yes." Lucca sighed with relief. "Thank you."

"Great!" Marle gave her a quick feel-good hug.

"Good. Alright," Crono nodded, "We'll keep the dust fighting to a minimum from here on out."

"We'll see about THAT." Marle giggled naughtily.

"Odd…" Lucca looked down, as Crono grinned over at Marle, before paying attention to Lucca's statement.

"What's odd?"

"This surface… with equal distances on both sides… Wonder what this was used for."

Crono shrugged, "Uh… maybe wagons? Or something?"

"This material though, hmm…" She walked around it a bit. "And the yellow lines change up ahead. Do you see?"

"Must be some religious symbol." Marle investigated it as well.

"God likes the color yellow?" Crono asked skeptically.

"And black and white?"

"Maybe," Marle shrugged, "From above it made a pattern?"

"It is a road." Alphonz interrupted. "They drove monstrous machines called 'vehicles' to and fro upon this surface. The yellow lines designate a seperation of the lanes. Think of it as a chessboard on a grand scale, almost."

"Like visual rules. Okay." Lucca nodded.

Crono followed up, "In other words, super wagons. 'Kay, I can get that."

"Somewhat." Alphonz bristled, "Ones that like to make cats into road kill."

"…It's bad when they invent a word just for the purpose of what type of dead object you are."

"Leeet's…. move on." Lucca started off, the others following. The road was littered with debris, turning it into a harsh-looking maze of metal and other such junk. An eerie, forboding sense of being watched, however, haunted the crew as they started forward. "Do you get the feeling that, uh, someone is watching?"

"Be quite wary," Alphonz padded along, avoiding shards of glass and metal that would very much hurt kitten paws, "There are foul creatures that lurk about this place. Disgusting things…"

Just as he spoke, a very large creature leapt out from a pile of debris, intending to ambush the group. Before it could attack Lucca, however, Crono brandished his sword across the monster, knocking it away. Recovering from being so startled, the others got a good look at it… At first sight it was a bit comical: it sort of screamed 'KILLER TOMATO', as it had bruised-looking maroon skin, green vestiges around the neck… it stood on conjoined legs on a single foot with an exposed, yellow and brown-splotched skull. The face had sunk-in eyes and pursed lips, letting off a most unworldly wail. It towered easily above the girls, who both drew weapons.

"W-what the hell is this thing?" Lucca shrieked- she took aim and naturally shot at the skull. A chip of bone flew off, causing it to screech violently. It shot out a straw-like tentacle at Lucca, who swung her arm up. As soon as it touched, the open end drew out teeth and bit in hard. She let out a scream, as it began to draw blood at a very rapid rate.

"Get off my best friend!" Crono slashed the tentacle clear off the creature, before swinging it through the narrow conjuction between body and head. The blow was enough to tear open flesh, causing the monster to screech, before tipping over with a monstrous crash. Before it could get up again, Marle shot off an arrow from her crossbow directly into the top of the skull. It stopped moving instantly and bled out sickly-looking, purple blood.

"God… you okay, Lucca?" Crono instantly tended to her, wincing at the sight of the wound.

"Y-yeah…" She was shaken, but with some first aid she got it under control. She took a minute to gaze over the fallen beast, absolutely disgusted. "Alphonz, what IS this?"

"A mutant of sorts." He flicked an ear, "Maneating creatures that draw blood for nourishment. They can drain a healthy man within a minute and a half… if Crono hadn't reacted so quickly there's little doubt you'd be in serious trouble. Mutants rather like to leap upon people from behind piles of debris…"

"That's AWFUL!" Marle shuddered, "But, mutants of WHAT?"

"I could not say. People? Animals? Whatever they were, there is little to identify them. No communicating with such things either, so the best course of action is to stay alert and stay as far away as possible. But… you handled exceedingly well."

"Greeeat. Any other tips you'd like to let us know about? Or should we just shoot first and ask questions never?"

"Let us exercise the second option."

"No complaints here!" Crono kept his sword handy, "Maybe I ought to lead now, Lucca."

She nodded, and they started off again behind him, trying to keep their eyes open.

Several close-calls later, the group reached the end of the paved ground, overlooking another massive field of ash that seemed endless and easy to get lost in. Without a guide it was seemingly hopeless, but Lucca was preoccupied with a much worse thought: "Oh God. I'll have to refill my prescription when I get home!"

"Somebody needs to take a vaccuum cleaner to this neighborhood." Marle huffed.

"Aren't enough bags in the free or communist world." Crono sighed…

"Well, let's get it over with. Goodbye, lungs, we loved thee…"

Alphonz quietly took the lead, leaving, at least, a visible trail to follow and seemed to know the way. The team quietly trusted his directions, even though the walk was long and hard. In some places the ash was heaped in dunes taller than a house, and it was tiring to walk in, but the cat kept determined. Finally, a looming structure came into view, in the shape of a great but severely damaged dome.

"Hey! What an odd building!" Marle smiled a little, trying to ease her own nerves.

"Astounding! The architecture here is… is amazing!"

"Amazing," Crono interrupted Lucca, "Until you take into account the fact it's WRECKED."

"But the wonders it had to hold before this…!"

"Let us enter and rid ourselves of wonder." Alphonz skirted in through the door.

"Good idea!" Lucca followed happily, before pausing to gawk at the walls.

"And, oh look, more metal…"

"Metal…" Lucca drooled.

Marle blinked, pointing at a girl, "Children!"

The raggedly dressed, dirty girl took off with a start, diving into the arms of a woman and man… All around sat people, staring in silence, dressed the same as the child. Crono sputtered, "People!"

"…dear god…" Lucca barely whispered.

"Well, at least in the future we haven't all died. We're just on the hairy edge."

"SSH!"

"…who are you?" A woman finally spoke.

"Err!" Lucca spoke nervously, "We're travelers!"

The people all gasped and began to mutter to each other. Crono leaned over and whispered, "D'ya know what you're doing, Lucca?"

"No, I don't." She smiled nervously.

"Juuust checking."

"Mama," The girl pointed at Alphonz, "They've gotsa kitty!"

"Oh, indeed they do! I haven't seen a cat in… for… for such a great time."

"Nor have I…" A man commented. They all broke out into clamoring about Alphonz, who mewed innocently.

"Something about this is very sad…"

"Just about everything about this is sad, Marle…"

"This is Alphonz." Lucca was sweating, "I'm Lucca, this is Crono, and Marle."

Alphonz leapt onto Crono's shoulder as an old man came up to the group, using a cane. Crono whispered to Lucca, "You want me to take over public relations?"

She sunk quietly behind him. "I'll take that as a yes…"

"Make way, make way… Where are you from? We never get travelers here."

"Eh? Oh. Ahm… somewhere to the west, I think. Over that patch of road over there."

All of the people gasped sharply. The old man was stunned, "You crossed the ruins?"

"Please don't tell me we violated sacred grounds."

"Hardly! Nothing is sacred about those vicious mutants!"

"True enough. Resilient, though, I'll give them that."

"You mean to say…" the man's eyes grew wide, "You killed them?"

"Eh heh. Kinda."

All the people began to gasp excitedly!

"It was really easy!" Marle shouted.

"Yeah!" Crono grinned, "All you have to do is hit them above the midpoint and BAM! Sushi for dinner!"

"DINNER?" Suddenly everyone crowded in on the group!

"Eeek!" Marle backed away.

"Woah!" Crono did much the same.

"Hm… you speak of great feats. My name is Doan."

"HEYA, DOAN!" Marle saluted, "I'm Marle!"

"Lucca…" She whimpered.

"Crono."

Doan chuckled at the sight of Marle, "Such a spirited youth."

"Oh yeah. You should see her on sugar."

"Sugar?" She exclaimed, "I LOVE sugar!"

"What's sugar?" The little girl crept up close. She suddenly had a lollypop put into her mouth.

"That's sugar!"

Doan exclaimed, trembling with excitement, "That's… that's… FOOD!"

"Uh… I have some more!" Marle produced a whole handful.

"… I think they'd like something more filling." Lucca dug around in her bag, All of the people looked on anxiously, as she produced a few sandwiches, some apples and two bottles of water. She laid them down before everyone and backed away nervously. "Enjoy… dig in."

They all leapt upon the food with vigor. The teens were startled, as the survivors quickly divvied up the food and ate ravenously. Crono muttered, "Talk about a lunch rush."

The little girl, however, stood by Marle, smiling, both with lollypops in their mouths.

"You people don't eat much, do you?" Crono laughed nervously.

"We haven't had food in AGES!"

"Good thing I brought lunch, huh?"

"There's… suppose to be food below, but nobody's ever returned…"

"Oooh!" Marle nodded, "We're good Samaritans! Let's go!"

"Down, Marle!" Crono caught her by the shoulder, "Remember the 'Nobody's ever returned' part? Yeah, very important."

"SO? We'll return, I swear. C'mon, Alphonz!"

The kitten leapt to the floor again and followed her. The little girl began equally dividing the lollypops she was given, so everyone had one. They happily unwrapped them and popped them in their mouths. Doan sucked on his, commenting, "Goow wuck!"

Crono sighed bitterly. "Welcome to my life of constant danger…"

Inside, Marle looked around. There were two doors made of heavy metal, though one was ajar. There were computer panels on either side, barely working with a soft glow. The only touch of comfort was a super-worn poster slapped on the wall in one corner, mentioning something about courage. Marle glanced around. "Door. One open, one shut."

"Lucca. Think we can get this one unlocked?" Crono gazed over the consoles.

She walked over and took a minute to read over the keys before pushing buttons carefully. It required a password - she put in a few of the usual suspects, but it refused. "Hmm… needs a password."

"Figures. Door number one it is, then." Crono walked through, and suddenly found himself at dizzying heights on a far-too-narrow for comfort pathway that very much allowed a person to see the depths below. Alphonz simply skirted around him and walked on the very edge of the path with perfect balance.

Lucca peered in and looked down, before shrieking. "OMIGOD~"

"Lucca!" Marle whined, "You can't be a social phobe, asthmatic, AND be afraid of heights at the same time! It's impossible!"

Lucca simply turned slightly green. Crono gasped, "Don't look down. Look straight ahead. Happy thoughts, damn me, HAPPY THOUGHTS."

"Aaaah!" Marle broke into singing, squeezing around Crono and following Alphonz happily, "Domo domo domo, SMILE o misete… Odorou, Utaou…!"

"You're a piece of work, Marle." Crono barely followed behind her.

"Ya gotta go faster than that, silly!" She took his arm and urged him on, "Nothing to be afraid of, see? It ain't the falling you should worry about anyway!"

Crono nearly screamed. Alphonz smirked, "Indeed, 'tis the landing one needs to worry about."

"SHUT UP! PLEASE! I don't like heights! I'm not a phobic, but mother of…!"

"SSH!" Marle suddenly stopped him and took him into a tight hug, "Stop shaking and panicking! I won't let you go until you calm down, mister!"

He blinked, sweating and blushing.

"We'll stand here all day if we have to! Now get over it."

Alphonz watched in utmost silence. Crono grew increasingly more red. "J-just don't complain if… um…"

"I'm only gonna complain if you start shakin' all scared like again! Now you gonna walk like a man or am I gonna have to go by myself?"

"L-let's try that man option…" Crono shivered.

"I'm not gonna le you go until you release all that scared energy!"

"Okay. Give me about ten minutes…"

She rolled her eyes. "You honest?"

"Actually, it'll probably only be one, but I overestimate a lot."

"Then we'll wait exactly ten minutes."

"K-kay." Crono was now beet-red, hoping to god he could maintain control!

Finally, after ten minutes, she spoke calmly. "I'm gonna let go now, 'kay?"

He nodded. "Okay."

She slowly let go, keeping ahold of his hand for just in case. "Not too bad now, huh? Don't worry, I won't letcha get hurt or anything."

"Okay." He sighed dreamily and walked with her, perfectly content to the other side. He paid no mind to his surroundings, thinking such fantastically happy thoughts…

"Good. C'mon, Alphonz!"

"Miao!"

She came out at the top of another room. However, mechanical creatures noticed her, and began hulking over noisily. They certainly didn't seem friendly, so Marle exclaimed, "Metal… walking thingers! Like… this is something Lucca'd enjoy. But I don't think they like us very much!"

Crono drew his sword, "Of course not. That would mean we'd be lucky for once. Hey, tin men, over here!"

The robots split, half heading for the princess. Marle inexplicably reached into her poofy pants and actually drew her crossbow from it, defying all sense of logic and laws of science. She took aim, laughing darkly, "Bring it!"

"Crossbow in your…? Talk about wearing the pants in the family!"

"Prepare to die!" She shot one dead center in it's 'eye'. It ground to a halt and shot out sparks everywhere, before collapsing with a very loud clamor. Crono shrugged, and dived his sword deep into one of the robots, getting a horrible shock before pulling it back out. The robot collapsed like the first.

"Oh! Be careful!"

"Yeah, now you tell me."

"Try lopping parts off, instead!" Marle pegged another, as Crono wisely took her advice. Soon there was little left but a pile of scrap metal and parts, hissing and sparking. Outside, however, came a squeaky whimper, causing Marle to look up. "I hear a sound of distress. Oh dear!"

She somehow stuffed her weapon away in her pants again before hurrying out to Lucca, who was clinging to the edges of the path and inching along on her stomach. She sobbed, "I'm gonna die!"

"No you're not."

Where DOES she have room for that? Crono couldn't think of anything else, putting his sword away.

"Y-yes I am!"

Marle peeled her off and stood her upright, pulling her into a tight hug. "Now, we're going to sit here until you are comfortable…"

Fifteen minutes later, Lucca looked much improved. Marle smiled, letting her go but holding her hand. "Better?"

"I think so."

"Okay." Marle lead her to the door, smiling, "Don't be embarrassed! I had to do the same for mister whiny over here!"

"Hey! I only took ten minutes!"

"But you said you weren't afraid of heights. She did." Marle giggled. Crono suffered silent anguish. Marle continued, laughing, "C'mon everyone!"

They carefully navigated the rooms beyond, having to beat down some errant robots now and then, which Alphonz oddly refused to help with. Finally came doors clearly labeled storage, which they opened and wandered into. An overpowering odor swept upon them, causing all of them to plug their noses. Marle complained, "Yeeeeck! It stinks in here!"

"Oh, horseradish…" Lucca ran to the refrigeration chambers to find them broken. "…it's all rotten."

"Very much so. Eugh.." Crono turned green.

"So what're we gonna do?" Marle whined.

Alphonz took to running through the room, popping into tight corners and through cracks in locked cabinets. He eventually brought to Lucca a box of Twinkies. Lucca blinked at the package, "What the? Twinkies? What the heck is a Twinkie?"

Alphonz left and came back with a bag of sunflower seeds in his teeth, "Rumor tellth me dey are good foreber."

"Hurrah for Twinkies!" Marle cheered!

"I fear for what they put in there though." Crono shuddered.

"Hey!" Lucca took the bag next, "And sunflower seeds! Not bad."

"A moment, I believe there is yet another…" He leapt into a cabinet before pulling out several wrapped packages of instant ramen in various flavors, which Lucca collected happily. Crono and Marle looked on, stomachs growling.

"Noodles! Yay!"

"Hey, I could go for some of that right about now!"

"This stuff is for the folks upstairs!" Lucca tucked it all away in her bag, "We can eat when we get home!"

"Which will be HOURS from now, I bet!"

"I'm sure Marle has something to tide you over."

Marle shoved a lolly into Crono's mouth. He blinked, then smiled. "Thak 'oo."

Alphonz shook his head at the scene, before his eye caught something. "We are not done delving this metallic cavern. Come, I feel as if we've overlooked something… namely, a rat."

A rat's eyes sparkled with surprise, near the door.

"AAAAAAAAAAH! A RAAAAAAT!" Marle hid behind Crono.

"Wot? Oo a'aid o a wat?"

Marle screamed as Alphonz shot after it like a rocket, the two passing underneath her. She leapt up and clung to Crono, before the pair shot out onto the walkway. Lucca sighed, scratching her face, "Guess some things about cats, even enchanted, never changes… hm?"

"'SAVE MEEE!" Marle sobbed.

"'kay."

"IS IT GONE?"

"I think so." Lucca adjusted her glasses. "You can let go of my friend now."

"Phew!" Marle let go, shivering. Lucca passed a faint glare through her dirty glasses before following Alphonz. The cat closed the gap between he and the rodent, leaping upon him viciously. Though he was small, he dug his claws in so hard the rat shrieked.

"Spare me, O great lord!"

"In return for some choice information, I may spare your throat, vermin."

"EEK! Anything for you!"

"The password to the console at the entrance of this labyrinth of metal: what is it?"

"Sube, sube!" The rat screamed.

"Sube. You speak honestly? For I can hunt you out of the walls and smite you if you lie."

"EEEK! I SWEAR, MY LORD!"

"I shall hold you true to your word. Let it not be a mistake."

"It's not!" The rat fled, terrified."

"…talking rats." Lucca blinked.

"RAAAAAT!" Marle screamed.

"Is our time period the only normal one? Wait… I take that back, we have the people Guardia castle hires."

"Alas, for I have claim to it all later! I hope my husband isn't assertive, cuz SOMEBODY has to fix it!"

"Well, er…" Crono scratched his head, "Solution to every mess and all that…"

"I'd HOPE so." Marle put her hands on her hips with an angry huff. "Wonder if anybody bought my hand in marriage yet. Yeeech!"

They started back, Crono asking, "I thought we stopped doing that?"

"My dad thinks I'm suppose to be some object to look at or something. I wouldn't be surprised!" She let out a stifled scream, "Oooh, he makes me SOOOO ANGRY!"

"Well… you did kind of run away. Mom would be pissed… well, probably is pissed at me about that kind of thing."

"But I did it for Great Justice!"

"They're parents, they don't accept Great Justice."

"Well! Marle threw her arms around Crono and Lucca's shoulders, "Couldn't let my buddies get into trouble without me!"

"Trouble?" Lucca groaned, "I got tarred and feathered…"

"And I got put up for execution, shortly thereafter being burnt to a crisp by -tank-. PLEASE tell me there isn't MORE trouble to get into."

"Always!"

"That trouble better be worth it!" He lamented.

"Always!"

Finally they reached the entrance area with the consoles and locked door. Lucca walked over and muttered 'Sube' to herself, entering it in. The computer accepted the code, and with a sharp hiss, the door opened. She jumped for joy, crying, "Woohoo!"

Lucca rushed in like a kid in a candy store. Marle giggled, "She really gets into this stuff, don't she?"

"Oh yeah." Crono expected more storage, "This is her heaven, minus mass destruction."

Instead, they found a huge computer with a screen and too many buttons for comfort. It hummed with active power, and Lucca squealed. She quickly powered it up, drooling at a welcome screen.

"Oooh!" Marle smiled. "…what is it?"

"A COMPUTER!" Lucca bellowed with a disturbing laugh.

Marle kept smiling. "I'm scared."

"That's a very good emotion to have right now. Hang onto it for a bit, I think we'll be here awhile." Crono trembled.

"Enter in the search data… Time gate." Lucca hit enter, causing the computer to pull up a graphical map of the area. It narrowed in onto a second dome, giving the title 'PROTO DOME.' Lucca cackled, with Marle cheering loudly.

"Yeah! You go, girl!"

"To the dome!" Lucca shouted energetically.

"Wow! I'd give up all my princess-y title for one ounce of your smarts, Lucca!"

"Aww, I'm sure you have your own brilliance tucked away here and there."

"Heh. Heh. Heh." Marle laughed flatly. "I'll take that. As a compliment."

"Heh. Heh. Heh." Lucca mockingly replied, "Good."

Crono looked between the two, Alphonz leaping onto his shoulder. Marle shook her head, peering at the computer. The shiny buttons… she uttered famous last words:

"Oooh, what does this button do?"