Chrono Trigger Chapter XVII: The End?

Chapter XVII: The End?

'What happened?!' shouted Lucca. The alarm blared like hurricane gale.
'We must leave now!' advised Robo 'By reactivating the power, I tripped teh security protocol. Odds are nothing will happen, but to be sure, we better leave.'
'I'm with you on that.' replied Lucca.
The charged forawrd running like they were being chased. Robo was at the point, and from 20 yards ahead saw the chamber gates begin to close shut. He kicked in his top gear, and sped foreward and held the gates open. 'Hurry!' he cried, his metal arms being pressed like olives under a stone. Robo felt his bolts begin to buckle and compress. Crono and Lucca dug deep within, steps long and fast. They leapt through the door like the Argo sailing between the Symplegades. Robo let go, and tumbled foreward.
He landed between Crono and Lucca, who were knealt over voraciously sucking in air. 'Robo,' panted Lucca, side hurting, 'are you alright?!'
'I cannot say. You must examine me when we return to the Dome.'
'I'll do that. Thanks for holding the door open.'
'It was my pleasure.'
'Alright you two, we need to get out of here now' Crono admonished.
The party headed down the elevator, and across the long hall. They turned a corner, and Lucca's eyes nearly leapt from their sockets when they saw there a squadron of Robos.

Six robots stood in the center of the corridor. Each was the same build, make and model of Robo.
'RX-64Y, RX-63Y, RX-62Y, RX-61Y,' Robo called off each designation, like he had just run into some old drinking buddies.
'RX-65Y,' addressed one. 'Why are these intruders with you?'
Another one inquired, 'Are you bringing them to us to be terminated?'
'No! These are Lucca and Crono. They repaired me and I am helping them.'
'THEY fixed you?'
'Yes!'
A robot reared back and launched its fist into Robo. Robo staggered back and another struck him, fist hard as a granite block.
'You have been tainted. We cannot allow one touched by human hands to remain functional.'
'What?!' If a robot could sound anguished, Robo did.
The others swarmed upon him like a pack of wolves. One threw him into the middle of the chamber. They struck with surgical precsion. One dashed in and took out his leg, as another fired in from behind. Robo fell to the ground like a puppet cut from its strings. Their blows sounded out like rapid cannon fire as their ironshod fists pounded upon Robo's steel frame.
'You are malfunctioning RX-65Y!' Metalshod fists slammed into Robo like a july hailstorm. He tried to brace himself, but was helpless. Sparks flew as metal crashed upon metal, severing joints, and bending steel. Lucca covered her ears and screamed in protest. 'Yes. It has become evident that you forgot our objective.'

'What?!'
'Eliminate all human intruders'
'That was my puropse?'
'Because you failed your objective, you must be eliminated.'
They rained hammering fists upon Robo. Lucca looked on, eyes beginning to moisten. 'STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!!!!!' She wildly fired into the pack desperately trying to deliver him. The robots paid her no heed as tore Robo asunder. Lucca fired untill her gun clicked and no longer recoiled. The robots tore him asunder like vultures on a parched carcass.
'CRONO WE HAVE TO STOP THEM!'
He realized the foolishness of trying to pry off each members of the cybernetic gang that were as big, and in better condition than Robo, but that did not stop him from drawing his sword and leaping into the fray.
The posse finished with Robo, and tossed him up a chute. ONe by one, they turned their attention to a reloading Lucca, and a charging Crono.
'End of the line humans!' declared one in a cold stoney tone.
'Oh no! It's over for you!' cried Lucca as she sprayed fire across the hall. Crono leapt up, and sparks sprang as he slammed his sword into what would be a Robot's neck. The resonance of the blow nearly shook his shoulders loose. It swung wildly, and he ducked and hit it low, cutting across a steel plated joint. As Crono arose, he could hear the heavy footfalls of an assailant converging behind him. He hit the floor and rolled, ears ringing from the sound of metal crashing upon metal.
Crono sprang back up and plunged his sword into the unit that tried to ambush him, grinding his sword into its face. He pulled like a wench to free his sword, but it was sealed in. Crono leapt back to regroup, as Lucca continued her barrage.
'Lucca hit that one!'
'Which one?'
'The one with my sword stuck in its face!'
'How'd you do that?'
'This isn't the time, just do it!'
Lucca scoped a lower joint, and blasted it out. It crashed upon the floor like a falling boulder.
'Keep them off of me!' ordered Crono as he ran to recover his sword. As he set his foot upon its face, and felt Lucca's shots singe by. Crono clenched the hilt, and closed his eyes as he gave an arthurian heave to free his sword from its steely prison. Waving his sword to keep his assailants at bay, Crono stepped back again to catch his breath.

The ground shook as two R-Series rumbled at Crono and Lucca like trains. Lucca's gun rattled as hopped back, landing against a wall. Crono stood firm, and dodged like a matador when they were a foot from him. HE unleashed a flurry of blows, as his assault combined with Lucca's blasts grounded the R-Series charge.
Crono's eyes went wide as a searing energy bolt was fired at him. He hit the floor just as it scorched the wall behind him. Crono arose and took a swing. The R-Serise hopped back and landed directly before Lucca, who ran up and at point blank pulled off four shots. Another robot fired, Lucca turned the Robot's frame towards the fire and Crono leapt behind it as well, finding shelter in the lee of it's frame. Lucca peered out from the side, and got off a few shots. The metal shell trembled as it absorbed the firestorm.
'What do we do?' inquired Lucca?
'You're the machine expert! Don't you have something up your sleeve?'
'You're worthless!'
He rolled his eyes. 'Like you're any better! Now See if you can take out the one up front.'
'Done'
Lucca held her gun upon her brow and took a deep breath; rolling out, she quickly established a base and fired three low shots. As beams streamed by, it singed the hair off of her arms. Lucca sprang back up and darted behind the Robot, then turned out and fired four more blasts. She leaned agasint the metallic frame taking in deep legato breaths.
'That did it, let's roll.'
Crono wheeled out, sweat stinging his eyes, and arms felt hard and sore the like mangeled steel that lay about them. They charged into the the remaining R-series robots like like rabbits into the fangs of wolves. The metallic men weathered Crono and Lucca's assault and drove them back. Crono's sword strokes inflicted little damage, as his target kept its iron clad arms raised, then cocked a fist back and sent Crono crashing against the wall. He fell to all fours and coughed up some blood.
Having spent all of her ammo, Luuca pistol whipped a droid, then sledged her mallett against it's head. Sparks flew as she struck an visual sensor. She ducked a wild haymaker punch that could have fractured granite, sprang back up and wedged the handle of her hammer into the visual sensor she opened up earlier. The unit began to shudder as Lucca dropped her empty magazine, jammed in a new one. Lucca then yanked her hammer out only to replace it with the barrel of her gun, and spent another clip.
Crono looked through the wet haze that clouded his eyes to see an R-Unit thundering towards him. It rumbled with such fury he saw the pool of blood he coughed up ripple tremultously. He arose, hanging agasint the wall and clutched to the hilt of his sword. When it was a step away, Crono bounded to the side, and it slammed into the wall, knocking a crater in it's surface.
Crono cocked back his sword, and surged foreward driving his blade right where the lower neck and head met. He jostled his sword about, rending the blade from the hilt.
Lucca fell to her knees, drawing short stocotto breathes. 'Hey Crono, I think that's it!' She wheezed out between panting breathes.
He leaned against the heap of metal lodged in the wall. 'I hope I never have to do that again! Those were worse than Yakra and that Gaurdian.'
'Yeah it was. Let's get Robo and go.'
'You'll have no shortage of spare parts. Look around.'
'Good idea. I didn't think of that.'
Crono arose and went to chute where Robo's broken frame crackled and sparked. It took them both a strained effort to pull him free.
'Geez he weighs a ton!' groaned Crono.
Lucca scoured the ground and picked up whatever she could to use as replacement parts. Crono wished he hadn't mentioned that, realizing his load was now heavier; still he would be glad to have Robo up and runing again. 'I certainly have my work cut out for me.'
'You always do.'

I don't know how long it took, but after Crono nearly throwing his back out, and Lucca almost pulling her shoulders out of socket, on top of the sores they recieved from the battle; Crono and Lucca returned Robo to the Dome. A bored and lonely Marle met them at the door.
'Oh Lord! What happened?'
'Robo's friends did this to him.'
'Some friends!'
'Here take these.' Lucca handed her an amfull of cannibalized metal. 'Let's get him back to where we found him, and I'll get to work as soon as we put him down.' Lucca sounded like a parent waiting on a child undergoing surgury.
'Well, on a better note, the Gate's open so we can finally leave this God-forsaken period!'
'Good. We'll go just as soon as I fix Robo.'
They returned Robo to his chamber, and Lucca began to work like an emergency room surgeon. Her sweat dripped onto his fractured shell, her arms felt chewed up as her hands began to quiver, and her legs didn't want to hold her up; still like any good freind, or parent, she labored. Lucca could not let all of her work go in vain. No malfunctiong, poorly assembled, second rate robots would take her opus away from her.
Crono collapsed upon a wall, nearly falling asleep before he hit the ground. Marle came over, and roused him.
'Are you alright?'
He met her gaze through heavy eyelids. 'Yeah, I'll be fine after I rest, go help Lucca.'
'I will. I just wanted to make sure you're alright first.'
'Thanks.'
'I thought you guys would never return. It was so aweful being left here.'
'I'm sorry.'
'That's okay, I don't know if I could have done as much good as Lucca did in a place like that.'
'Oh you'd've been fine, But we had to fight a whole gang of Robos. That wasn't much fun.'
'I'll bet. Well I'm going to go help Lucca, I'll check on you later.'
'Alright thanks.'
Lucca labored like a surgeon, her hands trying to be everywhere at once, her eyes never resting.
'Lucca can I help you?' inquired Marle.
'Yeah put your finger right there.'
'Here?'
'No, over there.'
Marle did what Lucca said to, or at least what she thought. Lucca's fingers became cramped like little needles stuck in them, but she worked through it. Her arches began to ache like her feet were wanting to collapse, but she remained standing. Lucca's eyes grew sore and strained, as though they wre being stretched across nail. Her throat felt lined with sores, as she did not remember the last time she took in liquid; her stomached quaked violently, making her wish for anything to consume.
'Hold these.' She requested, handing her glasses to Marle, all the while not turning her head or slowing.
'Alright' Answered Marle, who then took a rag across her brow to remove the beads of sweat.
Lucca thanked her and continued working. 'You're not gonna leave us yet Robo! The future needs you.'
'So what was he like in the Factory?'
'Amazing! He fought off the other Robots, and got the place running again in an amazing way. You should have seen him!'
Lucca pulled out something like a diode gasget or valve pump, she wasn't sure, that wasn't rent and handed it to Marle. 'See if you can find me something that looks like this over in that pile of parts.'
'Sure thing.'
Lucca removed the torn bolts and replaced them with new ones. She then went in and reestablished the severed conductors and collapsed synapses. After Marle got Lucca what she needed, the princess asked if she needed anything else. Lucca answered with an, 'I'll let you know when I do.' With that Marle sat down next to Crono. Hours passed, but Lucca did not waiver.
'Crono, I don't think Lucca can keep this up.'
'She'll be fine. She does this all the time.' He answered and went back to sleep.
In places that Lucca was unable to mend, she'd use a different part to compensate. When she found a hydraulic shaft in Robo's arm could not be fused back together, she took a beam from one of the other robots to use in its place. She prayed her patchwork repair job would be enough to get him running again. It was like assembling a jigsaw puzzle without being able to see the picture and without having all the pieces to begin with.
Lucca recalled something her father once told her, 'Whenever you're facing a seemingly impossible, huge obstacle, the best way to take it is head on, even though some may say you're acting rash. It's just a matter of striking the most dangerous elements first, then each of the more difficult tasks next in a deliberate manner. That's all there is to it.'
Lucca was very excited about showing Robo to her father, to show him just what there was that he could do; and to show him what she was capable of. She tweaked a screw and connected a wire, then stepped back, and exhaled a wearisome sigh.
'I've just reconnect Robo's audio functions' she informed.
'Oh Good!' exulted Marle.
A static filed voice crackled like an AM radio with it's frequentcy in a storm.
'Lucca, are you fixing me?'
'Yeah Robo. I'll fix you up right. Don't worry about it, you just rest.'
'Robo what are you going to do once Lucca's done fixing you?' Marle wanted to know.
'I, I do not believe I know what you mean.'
'Well are you going to stay here? I mean you can always come with us.'
'Me. Come with you all?'
'Yeah. We'd love to have you along.'
'I do not know. The thought of me leaving here has never occured.'
'That's because you're not programmed to want to leave.' answered Lucca. 'Don't worry though, I'll take care of all your programming errors.'
'Have you found my flaw?'
'What flaw?'
'The flaw the others spoke of.'
'Robo, they're full of shit. You're fine. You don't have any malfunction.'
'Truthfully?'
'Absolutely'
She labored like a composer trying to pick out the perfect arrangement of chordes and scales and tonics and seventhes and accidentals; even as her hands grew tight and cramped and her eyes still to throbbed. Lucca felt a line of nails running from her knees to the arches of her feet, and her elbows felt chewed up. Nonetheless, she couldn't fail Robo. He gave himself so they could succede; the least she could do was fix him.
I don't know how long it took; I don't know the number of bolts she fastened, synapses she bridged, diodes she repaired, the drops of sweat that fell upon the steel, but eventually Robo stood again.
Lucca leaned against the wall, hands upon her knees, torso heaving with deep breathes.
'Lucca You are unbelievable!!!!!' exclaimed Marle.
'Am I fixed?' Inquired Robo with a child like tone in his voice.
'I did what I could. When we get back to our home time, I'll have my father look at you.'
Crono had just awakened to see what just happened. He looked at Robo, standing erect and proud like a brazen god. He noticed Lucca, spent yet excited, and Marle was in high spirits, as he had come to expect and enjoy from her.
'I feel like I just rolled off the assembly line' Robo informed.
'I can't imagine a higher compliment than that!' boasted Lucca.
'So Robo have you decided what you will do now that you're better than ever?' asked Marle.
'I've never made a decision of my own volition. All that I have done is because I have been programmed to do it. So I have no database for what I am facing.'
'Well are you coming with us? We'd love to have you!'
'I have made up my mind. There is nothing for me here. I will come with you.'
Lucca smiled, knowing what he would decide and Marle was jumping in delight.
'You know what you just experienced?' Lucca asked.
Robo scanned through his vast data files. 'I can not say.'
'Freedom.'
'"Freedom" you say?'
'It's nice. You'll like it.'
Crono arose. 'Robo, I'm glad you're on our side. Come on, we've got a future to save.'
'Crono's right. The gate's over there, time's a wasting.' stated Lucca.
'Future?' asked Robo.
'Well, our future, your present. We want to change all this.' responded Crono as they walked toward the gate.
'Ah, you must mean the Lavos Crisis.'

'YEs that.' They stood before the pillar and Lucca held out the key. 'Wonder where this gate's gonna take us?'
'We'll know soon enough.' replied Lucca. She turned the bottom of the key and the gate expanded, large enough for all four to step in. Just before the gate closed about them, Lucca felt her key trembled violently like a tremor in the mountains. It grabbed her attention and her eyes went wide filled with terror as the key continued to convulse. 'THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT!!!!!!' She cried.
The others looked at Lucca who flushed pale in terror. Marle reached out to take Crono's arm, suddenly shocked by Lucca's countinance.
But before they could exit the gate, it closed about them and swallowed them into the great unknown.