Halftime
By Aaron Ziegler
alziegle@norcia.cs.csbsju.edu
http://bingen.cs.csbsju.edu/~alziegle

Chapter 22: Killing Time

   There were subconscious portions of Ryoga's mind that realized
that Ryoga was, in general, a man of passion, rather than reason.
These portions were, perhaps, a little more intelligent than
Ryoga himself was most of the time. It was these portions that
worked hardest to get Ryoga out of the dangerous situations he
regularly found himself in, usually by flooding his conscious
mind with images that would trigger depression. Now, Ryoga's mind
realized that he was, quite possibly, in greater danger than he
had ever been in before. So, the logical portions of Ryoga's mind
feverishly dug around in the blackest parts of Ryoga's psyche
until they found the darkest possible image Ryoga could imagine.
   Ryoga suddenly realized that, because he had gotten lost,
Akane must have eventually been killed. Akane was dead, and it
was all his fault. For a brief moment, Ryoga believed this fancy
to the core of his soul.
   The cry of grief that tore itself from Ryoga's throat was far
more animal than human, and focused his depression with far
greater certainty than the words 'Shi-Shi-Hokudan' could ever
hope to match.
   On the surface above, Crono's mother was fingering a blank
rock wall with some confusion. "There's supposed to be a magic
gate here," she muttered. "It leads right down to Lavos."
   "Obviously it learned of the arrival of the Blue Thunder, and
has fled into hiding," Kunou announced.
   "Kunou's right," Lucca said, "Well, half right, at any rate.
According to Dalton, this thing knows that we can kill it. It
probably wants to keep us far away, and that means destroying any
paths down to it."
   Suddenly, a sort of hideous alien squeal could be heard. Even
muffled by tons of rock, Lavos's scream was a terrible sound.
"It's Lavos," Marle announced, unnecessarily.
   "But what's it doing?" wondered Lucca.
   Suddenly, the earth began to tremble. A fissure appeared in
the ground, and a beam of dark purple energy erupted from it. A
similar fissure appeared farther away, and another; a multitude
of cracks splitting the earth all around. After a moment, the
lights and shaking faded.
   Ranma looked pale. "That was a 'Full Shi-Shi-Hokudan'. A big
one. Ryoga must be fighting Lavos."
   "By himself?" demanded Marle. "That's crazy!"
   "We've gotta help him!" said Akane.
   "At least we've got a way down, now," noted Ranma, pointing at
a particularly large fissure.
   "That's insane! It has to be at least a six mile drop down to
Lavos itself!" Marle responded.
   "Eight, actually," remarked Crono's mother. "But if you're
lucky enough to be right above the shell, it's just one mile to
the shell itself."
   "I have a parachute," Mousse offered. Several people glanced
at him curiously. "Lucca gave it to me!" Mousse said defensively.
"It's big enough for two. Lucca?" Mousse offered.
   "No, I'm staying behind, this time. I'm too drained from
fighting Dalton. I wouldn't last a second against Lavos."
   "Well, I'm going!" announced Akane. "Ryoga needs our help."
   Ranma scowled. "What're ya always so concerned about Ryoga
for?"
   Akane smiled sweetly. "Why Ranma, are you jealous?"
   "Of course not! But Ryoga can take care of himself. And if
you're goin'," Ranma added, "I'm goin', too. Someone's gotta keep
you from klutzing out and killing yourself."
   As Akane began to swell up furiously, Mousse tossed the
parachute to Ranma. "Here, you two can share this. I'll fly down
myself. Just remember to bring my clothes along."
   "Ranma you JERK!" Pow. Ranma was once again flattened, this
time with images of he and Akane sharing a parachute during an
eight mile drop. Mousse must still hate me, Ranma concluded.
   "Janus, you can fly, can't you?" Ukyou asked. "How many can
you carry?"
   Magus seemed to flinch with irritation. Evidently, he had been
hoping that no one would think of him. Nevertheless, he gazed
into the darkness thoughtfully, and announced, "Two others."
   "Great. I'll come, too."
   Crono indicated that he wished to join.
   "Shampoo, too!"
   "I'm afraid that three is a bit beyond my capacity for a
flight like this," Magus said dryly.
   "No, it's not," Ukyou grinned, "If one of the passengers were
to lose a hundred pounds or so. Eh, Shampoo?" Shampoo grimaced
for a moment, but nodded.
   "Anyone else that wants to come has to climb," Ranma grinned.
   "Of course," Kunou responded. " Tis a mere trifle."
   "It was a joke, Kunou!" Ranma snapped. "Ain't no way you can
climb eight miles down!"
   Kunou smirked. "Do not judge the mighty Tatewaki Kunou by your
own shortcomings, Saotome."
   Ranma bristled, but before he could argue further, Akane
grabbed his arm. "Come ON, Ranma!" Akane was waiting impatiently
by the edge of the pit. Mousse splashed himself, allowing his
clothing to crash noisily to the ground. The white duck struggled
free of his former clothing, and waddled over to the edge of the
pit. Ranma gathered Mousses clothing with a grunt. "Man, this
stuff is heavy!" he exclaimed.
   Mousse quacked with amusement, and then launched himself into
the darkness. Ranma handed Mousse's clothing to Akane, and
reluctantly scooped her into his arms in preparation for the
drop. Akane, eager to go, endured Ranma's touch without
complaint. Ranma stepped off of the edge.
   Akane found herself unable to suppress a brief squeal of
exhilarated terror as they dropped, and she tightened her grip on
Ranma. Ranma himself didn't mind, but his mouth had other plans.
"Geez, Akane! If I'd known you'd be grabbin' me and stuff, I
woulda took Ucchan."
   Akane glared at Ranma for a moment. Then, she grabbed the
ripcord and pulled. "Hurk!" grunted Ranma painfully as the straps
of the parachute suddenly jerked tight.
   Just as Ranma was about to say something particularly
untactful to his passenger, Kunou dropped past, crying,
"Tally-ho!"
   Ranma gawked at the freefalling swordsman. "Is he NUTS?"
Akane, equally shocked, had no response.
   As the two of them watched, Kunou, with the skill only a kendo
champion of his callibre could muster, stabbed his wooden sword
into the rock wall he was falling past. The sword cut a long gash
in the solid rock, and the drag slowly halted Kunou's headlong
descent. Ranma blinked. "I must admit. I am impressed." Akane,
equally astonished, nodded her agreement.
   Kunou yanked his bokken free, and once again began to fall.
"HA! I'll see you at the bottom, Saotome! Oof!" Kunou slammed
into an inconvenient outcropping of rock.
   Ranma rolled his eyes. "I WAS impressed," he snorted. Akane,
equally disgusted, merely sighed.
   By now, Lavos had come into view. At least, a large expanse of
its shell had. The sheer size of Lavos boggled the mind; it was
hard to imagine that anything so large could be a living
creature.
   Near the end of their descent, Akane and Ranma were treated to
another awesome sight--a tremendous chunk of the front of Lavos's
shell was, quite simply, gone. The areas around where the missing
shell must once have been were blackened and scorched. The cavern
floor was littered with rubble, ash, bony chunks that must have
previously belonged to Lavos...and Ryoga.
   Ryoga was kneeling on the ground, staring in apparent shock at
his hands. He had apparently been at it for quite some time, and
he didn't even seem to notice when Ranma and Akane touched down.
Ranma approached, somewhat concerned. "Er, hey, Ryoga! Are you
alright?" There was no response. "Ryoga!" Ranma waved his hand
across Ryoga's eyes. Still no response. "HEY P-CHAN!!!"
   Immediately, Ryoga's hand shot out and grabbed Ranma by his
shirt. "Who're you callin' P-Chan?" he snarled. Then he blinked
twice and shook his head, apparently just regaining his senses.
Absently, he released Ranma and asked, "What happened? Where the
heck am I?" Then he looked at Lavos, just over Ranma's shoulder.
"Oh, yeah," he whispered hoarsely. He began to stare at his hands
again, "I did that." Then his eyes widened with fury, and
swiveled to focus on Ranma. "And it's ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU'RE HER
FIANCEE! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HER!!!"
   Ryoga lunged sloppily at Ranma, who, though surprised, was
easily able to dodge to the side. Ryoga stumbled and collapsed at
the feet of Akane, who had just returned from dropping Mousse's
clothes behind a few large boulders (Mousse had, of course,
reached the bottom first). "A-Akane! You're alive!" Ryoga gasped.
   "Well, of course I am," Akane said, a little puzzled. "We were
afraid that you weren't! What on Earth were you thinking, trying
to take on Lavos all by yourself?"
   "I, er-"
   "Don't ever try anything like that again! Don't you know how
much it would hurt me to lose you?"
   "Y-you really mean that, Akane?" Ryoga asked, heart filling
with joy.
   "Of course! You're one of my best friends, Ryoga!"
   Ryoga slumped inwardly. "Right. Friends. Of course. Heh, heh."
   Abruptly, there was a crash, followed by some irritated
quacking. Mousse rolled into view, still in duck form, wrestling
with a thermos, whose cap seemed to have become stuck. Akane
sighed, and walked over to help Mousse with his thermos.
   As soon as she was out of earshot, Ranma leaned down and
whispered. "Nice try, pig-boy."
   Calmly, Ryoga muttered, "If I wasn't so exhausted, I'd kick
your teeth in, Ranma."
   Ryoga's exhaustion reminded Ranma of why Ryoga was in that
state. "By the way, that 'Shi-Shi-Hokudan' was amazing!"
   Ryoga nodded. "I think I blew its head off."
   "Then it's dead?" asked Ranma, a little disappointed.
   "Hardly," snorted Magus, having finally touched down. He set
Ukyou and Crono down. Ranma, noting that Ukyou was carrying
Shampoo (as a cat) retreated to a safe distance of about a
hundred yards. "All this," Magus gestured at the tremendous mass
of Lavos's shell, "is merely a protective housing. Lavos itself
resides within.
   "Within?" Ranma repeated, eyes following Ukyou and Shampoo as
they moved behind another cluster of boulders (a 'Full Shi-Shi-
Hokudan' tended to leave many places to find privacy). Once they
were out of sight, he took a second look at Lavos's substantial
wound and saw that Ryoga's damage had revealed a path leading in.
Unfortunately, the tunnel-like passage soon curved, preventing
him from seeing how far it led. Once Ranma was fairly certain
that the area was cat-free, Ranma returned to the area before the
opening.
   "About a mile within, to be precise," Magus answered Ranma's
unspoken question. "Assuming, of course, that this Lavos is built
like the last."
   "Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Ranma asked self-
confidently.
   "That," Magus answered, pointing up.
   "Huh?" Ranma looked up, just in time to receive a faceful of
plummeting Kunou. Ranma kicked Kunou off of himself, sending the
kendo champion flying into the cavern wall. Kunou fell limply to
the ground, and then immediately stood up.
   Kunou's eyes narrowed, and he pointed his bokken at Ranma.
"Truly you are an honourless cur, Saotome, to attack an opponent
without warning."
   "Waitaminute, you attacked me!" Ranma protested angrily.
   Kunou, of course, ignored him. "Were my time my own, I would
take great pleasure in thrashing you for your insolence. But for
now, Lavos awaits, and outweighs more...pleasurable endeavors."
   "I'll give you a pleasurable endeavor," Ranma snarled,
stepping towards the arrogant upperclassman. He was surprised to
feel a hand grab his shoulder.
   It was Crono. He told Ranma that, much as he hated to admit
it, Kunou was right. Lavos took precedence, and Kunou could,
feasibly, be a valuable companion in the coming battle. Ranma
looked extremely skeptical. Crono merely shrugged. But, he had
succeeded in his intent, as Ranma decided to leave Kunou for
another day.
   By this time, Mousse and Shampoo were both changed and
dressed. Ukyou and Shampoo moved possessively close to Ranma,
while Akane pretended not to care. For once, Mousse, too, seemed
unconcerned by Shampoo's proximity to Ranma, and this fact did
not go unnoticed by Shampoo. A little guiltily, she stepped away
from Ranma, and studied Mousse for a moment, hoping to catch his
eye. Mousse did glance her way, but merely smiled sadly before
looking away again.
   "This silent drama is most amusing," Magus began dryly, not
sounding particularly amused, "but Lavos is waiting."
   "C'mon then, Ranma," snarled Akane, grabbing Ranma by the
shirt and stalking towards Lavos's opening. "As much as I'm sure
you'd like to spend some quality time with 'Ucchan', we've got
work to do!"
   Ryoga staggered to his feet, and then fell to his knees again,
"Ranma you fiend! You can't put Akane in danger like this!"
   "You want to try to stop her?" Ranma asked helplessly.
   "Don't worry about me, Ryoga. I can take care of myself. You
just wait here." Akane grinned, "You couldn't fight P-Chan now,
let alone Lavos."
   Ryoga paled for a moment, before realizing that Akane had no
idea of the significance of the statement she had just made. "Oh,
right," he answered nervously, "Heh, heh."
   "Fear not for Akane's safety," Kunou told him, "for no harm
shall befall her while the mighty Blue Thunder remains vigilant!"
Somehow, Kunou's announcement was accompanied by a bolt of
lightning and a crash of thunder, even eight miles underground.
   A moment later, he realized that he and Ryoga were the only
ones still outside. Almost sheepishly, the Blue Thunder slunk
after them, leaving Ryoga to contemplate the likely efficiency of
Kunou's vigilance. Weakly, he raised a clenched fist into the
air. "Ranma Saotome," he swore, "if anything happens to Akane, I
will make you pay!"
   Deep within its shell, Lavos was very, very afraid. As it had
feared, the creature just outside its shell-housing had, indeed,
been another Lavos-destroyer. The evidence lay with the fact that
Lavos's primary external sensory pod had been annihilated, along
with nearly two percent of its protective housing. All of the
sensors near the blast site had been fried inoperably, so Lavos
had no way of knowing whether the creature had even survived or
not. If it had survived, the damage it had caused had left it an
entrance--a way to reach Lavos itself.
   A quick check revealed that the digging members of Lavos's
shell-housing were still hours away from operability. Precious
hours that the Lavos-destroyers could use to close in for the
kill. Lavos just needed a little time!
   Suddenly, the internal sensors of Lavos's shell-housing
alerted it to the presence of eight alien presences, close and
growing closer. Two of the eight were confirmed Lavos-destroyers,
and Lavos had no reason to doubt that the other six were as well.
Lavos's fear rose to unparalleled levels. Outside of the shell-
housing, Lavos might possibly have dealt with them (for a time,
at least) by transporting them through time, away from itself.
Unfortunately, it was unable to do so without the aid of its
shell-housing's (now non-existent) primary external sensory pod.
There was nothing Lavos could do now, but wait for its
executioners to arrive--and try to destroy them personally,
before they had a chance to return the sentiment.
   The interior of Lavos's shell was a unique, if extremely
unnerving, environment. Tall, spongy-looking walls rose on either
side of the path which the would-be Lavos slayers followed,
broken by openings leading to either side at various intervals,
many far too small to pass through. The walls, despite their
appearance, were harder than stone, and produced an eerie, green
illumination, lighting their way. The air around them
reverberated with a rhythmic, hollow rush of wind, as Lavos's
shell circulated vital substances throughout itself. The effect
was very much like deep, heavy breathing--and the breathing
became louder and louder as they progressed. Even Magus seemed
nervous, and he had experienced all this before.
   Abruptly, the tunnel widened into a large, cylindrical
chamber. In the center of the chamber, with a number of tubes,
hoses, and cords leading into it from the chamber walls, was a
bio-mechanical monstrosity that could only be Lavos.
   Oddly, it wasn't Lavos. "That is Lavos's inner shell," Magus
informed them, "We must break it open before we will be able to
face Lavos itself."
   "Hmph. Shampoo know just what do with obstacles. AIYAAAHHH!!!"
Shampoo lunged toward the hideous conglomeration of flesh and
metal, a wickedly curved scimitar held in one hand, and a
bonbouri in the other. She was still angry and confused by
Mousse's 'betrayal', and was eager to take it out on the creature
that had helped to bring her new rival to her world.
   "Shampoo!" Mousse cried, rushing after her, a light-sword
flaring to life in each hand as he ran. Lucca or no Lucca, Mousse
wasn't about to let Shampoo remain in such danger alone. Kunou,
eager to strike a blow before his hated rival Ranma, attacked as
well, stabbing and slashing with his bokken faster than the eye
could follow.
   Magus smirked, and began to tug on his gloves. "Well, subtlety
never was of much use against Lavos anyway. Might as well join
the fun."
   Shampoo, Mousse, and Kunou were actually able to slash through
a few of the cables and tubes connecting Lavos's inner shell to
its outer before a twisted, arm-like appendage lifted and blasted
them away with a pulse of black energy. The monstrosity continued
its retaliation by opening several doors around its base,
unleashing a horde of tiny, crablike creatures with razor sharp
claws. Magus merely smiled savagely as they approached him.
   "Janus! Look out!" called Ukyou, who was approaching Lavos's
inner shell from the rear.
   Magus didn't respond. Then, just before the first of the
murderous little creatures could reach him, he chanted, "Black
Hole." A grey circle spread out from his feet, creeping along the
ground to a radius of a few meters before halting. Then, the grey
seemed to slip away, leaving a dead black opening behind. Magus
grinned viciously, and clenched his fist. Abruptly, the black
opening seemed to develop an intense pull, barely felt by Magus's
allies and the securely restrained inner shell, but obviously
quite strong for the crablike creatures. Tiny legs scrabbled to
find purchase on Lavos's chamber floor, and claws gripped
futilely for anchors, but each creature was drawn into the
painfully black void at Magus's feet. When the last had vanished,
the magical singularity was again suffused with grey before
shrinking again to nothingness.
   While Magus was dealing with its tiny minions, Lavos had
decided to deal with the Lavos-destroyer that was attempting to
attack it's inner shell from behind. Lavos extended a small laser
cannon from a more mechanical segment of its inner shell, and
trained it upon the creature. The Lavos-destroyer noticed, just
as Lavos had anticipated. Lavos fired off a blast, and the
creature deflected it with the mirror-like sheen of the flat
blade of the long weapon it wielded. Lavos fired off a few more
rounds, intending to keep the creature distracted, while it
attacked in another, more subtle way...
   Ukyou, eyes trained upon the weapon that was blazing away at
her, completely failed to notice the harpoon-like projectile
before it stabbed painfully, if not deeply, into her chest. Ukyou
had just enough time to gaze in shock at the cord now leading
into her chest before a lethal electrical charge began surging
into her body. She tried to scream as the current ripped through
her form, but found that her voice would not respond to her
commands. The world began to turn black around her. Before she
succumbed to the darkness, however, she remembered the technique
she had practiced with Crono, and weakly tossed a spread of her
special spatulas, each thunking into one of the many crevices on
Lavos's inner shell.
   Lavos reeled as sparks began to fly from the walls of its
inner sanctuary. This was not good. Lavos attempted to shut off
the flow of power, but found that the feedback had fused the
electrical conduits into a permanent loop. There was only one
thing it could do. Lavos triggered a number of emergency
explosives, and the inner shell collapsed to pieces around it.
Lavos slowly unfolded itself, for the first time looking upon its
hunters with its own eyes. Lavos screamed again, and its cry was
no less terrible up close than it had been from a distance.
   This was an unexpected development. Magus studied the creature
before them. This Lavos bore little resemblance to the one he had
helped to destroy on his own world. That Lavos had evidently
drawn heavily upon some avian genome, as it had possessed a
beak-like mouth and scaly clawed feet. This creature definitely
had a large share of reptilian DNA, as its skin was coated with
scales, and its muzzle-like mouth was filled with needle-sharp
teeth. But really, of major importance were the traits which this
Lavos and the other shared: Each had drawn most heavily upon the
genetic structure of homo-sapiens, possessing a bipedal shape,
two arms tipped with long, manipulative members, and an
especially large cranium. This Lavos, like the last, was clad in
some kind of biomechanical environment suit. But why had Lavos
shed its inner shell?
   Magus's pale face drained even further of color when he
finally saw the answer. Ukyou lay unmoving on the floor behind
Lavos, steam rising from her still form. Wires trailed from her
body, leading to and from the shattered remains of the inner
shell. "Ukyou," Magus whispered in horror. His eyes hardened.
"Crono. Help Ukyou. Now. I will deal with Lavos." Crono nodded
grimly, and prepared to dash past the planetary parasite.
   "Ucchan?" Ranma gasped, only just realizing what had happened.
"WE'LL deal with Lavos, Magus," he hissed.
   The two of them began to cautiously edge towards Lavos, who
merely seemed to stare at them with a gaze entirely devoid of
emotion. It wasn't until Magus withdrew his deadly scythe and
Ranma began to gather his self-confidence that Lavos took any
action. It lifted one hand, palm outwards, and then, in a clearly
understandable voice which was, nevertheless, incredibly alien,
spoke the words, "Lavos Ultimate Physical Attack: Lucifer's
Hammer." The dust in the air seemed to coalesce, compacting and
solidifying until a huge, stone mallet hovered in the air above
Magus and Ranma. It didn't hover long. As the tremendous weapon
hammered down Magus and Ranma dodged desperately to each side,
narrowly evading the attack. For the moment, that is. When the
hammer impacted with the floor of Lavos's chamber, the floor
rippled and trembled, knocking the two of them to the floor. On
the other side of the chamber, Crono was knocked atop his dying
patient. He quickly recovered, and began to cast the spell that
would preserve Ukyou's fading life. On a brighter note, the
shaking floor revived Kunou, Mousse, and Shampoo from the state
of half-consciousness that the blast from Lavos's inner-shell had
reduced them to. Indeed, the only one totally unaffected by the
attack was Akane, and that was because she was in midair.
   Akane's flying kick struck apparently caught the creature off
guard, as she plowed into Lavos's chest even before it had a
chance to lower its arm. Akane landed on her feet as Lavos
staggered backwards in a most satisfactory manner. The Lavos
recovered and blinked at her. It raised its arm once again, this
time pointing it at the girl. Akane rushed toward it with an
aggressive cry, fist poised and ready to strike.
   "Lavos Ultimate Magical Attack: Anti-Matter Wave." For an
instant, Akane could see a bright light. Then, some force
collided with her body, knocking her...sideways?
   Akane gasped for breath, and then glared angrily at Ranma.
"Idiot! I was about to knock its block off!"
   "No, you were about to lose a quarter of your body mass," came
Magus's dry voice.
   "What?" Akane glanced around, and then noticed the column of
white energy cascading from Lavos's open hand. That open hand was
pointing up at an angle, apparently because Kunou had struck the
arm with his wooden sword just before the attack was unleashed.
Judging by the width of the beam, it was apparent that even
Ranma's desperate maneuver would have not been enough without
Kunou's aid. Where the beam had struck the chamber wall,
absolutely nothing remained. Akane's eyes widened. "I'm sorry,
Ranma."
   Ranma had been just about ready to voice a caustic response.
But when Akane apologized, he somehow checked his automatic urge.
Unfortunately, Ranma's imagination failed to come up with a
replacement remark. "Um, well, OK," Ranma stuttered.
   "Would you pull yourself together and help me finish this
thing? Preferably BEFORE it thinks of something else to throw at
us?" Magus snarled impatiently.
   Lavos began to rebuild its strength after its attack. 'Anti-
Matter Wave' had been an attack it had hoped to avoid using. Its
connection with its outer shell (a connection vastly weakened by
the loss of its inner shell) informed Lavos that the stream of
magical anti-matter had annihilated approximately .08 percent of
its shell-housing (not to mention punching a respectable hole
through the host-planet's crust). Worse, the intended target had
escaped. Now that target, the two who had evaded 'Lucifer's
Hammer', and the three that it's inner shell had temporarily
incapacitated were readying an attack. Lavos again felt fear. But
this time, it could see a way to use that fear.
   One of the creatures was slashing at Lavos again and again
with a rod of some primitive organic substance. Though the rod
appeared to have no edge, each slash was leaving painful, if
superficial cuts in its flesh and protective armor. It was time
to retaliate. Lavos raised its arm again. "Lavos Ultimate Chi
Attack: Terrorize." Lavos gathered its fear, just as it had
witnessed one of the creatures concentrate its despair, and
another collect its self-confidence, and unleashed a blast of
energy in all directions. Each of the invaders was thrown against
the walls of the chamber and held there, buffeted by wave after
wave of terror-fueled chi energy. After a moment, the barrage
ceased, dropping eight battered forms to the chamber floor.
   "Quickly," Magus rasped hoarsely, struggling to push himself
up onto his elbows, "Strike now! Before it has a chance to
recover."
   "Shampoo need chance to recover," Shampoo whimpered, every
inch of her body aching. Nevertheless, she forced herself up, and
unleashed a spread of throwing stars. Each of the tiny metal
bladed weapons struck Lavos, causing it to stagger a moment in
pain. At that instant, Crono, Magus, Ranma, and Mousse struck as
one.
   Crono chanted the word 'Luminaire', and a dome of blinding,
charged light spread out from his body to engulf Lavos.
   "Dark Matter," Magus intoned, and black energy began to course
through the room, focused onto Lavos through a floating
triangular prism.
   "Mouku-Takabisha," Ranma contributed, his shaking self-
confidence bolstered by the anger he felt. Akane had struck the
wall head first, and was lying limply a few paces from him. There
was no telling how badly she was injured. Lavos had to pay.
   Mousse had no vocal contribution. Instead, he propped himself
up on one elbow, trained a medium-sized rocket launcher on Lavos,
and fired.
   Lavos screamed once again as its body was dismantled by magic
(both positive and negative), fighting spirit, and physical
power. Desperately, it tried to tap into its reservoir of life
energy, trying to call for help--perhaps one of its brothers
could aid it in its time of need. But this was futile, and Lavos
knew it. No Lavos would help another, even if it could. Genetic
evolution was everything. If Lavos had shown itself unfit to
survive, it would not. And so, Lavos died in a tremendous
explosion--not within the four dimensions we are each so familiar
with, but in the dimensions beyond, through which Lavos had once
erected its portals. As it died, its remaining life energy
flooded the ready channels it found there, and eight Gates flared
to life.
   To Shampoo, Mousse, and Ranma, the only ones still conscious,
Lavos's death was rather anticlimactic. When the conflicting
light and dark glares subsided, and the smoke cleared, all that
was left of Lavos were the echoes of its death cry. All was
silent. Too silent. After a moment, they realized that the
overwhelming breathing sound had ceased. It seemed that Lavos was
finally dead.
   "Akane..." Ranma whispered, crawling over to the prone figure.
"Are you all right?" He pulled the girl into his arms, gazing
intently into her still face.
   Shampoo merely stared bleakly as Ranma cradled his fiancee.
She was too exhausted to fight. And what could she fight? The
only battle here was one which Shampoo was slowly realizing she
could never win by force. "Mousse?" she asked weakly, turning a
moist gaze upon her childhood friend, the one who had told her
time and again that he loved her, that he would never leave her.
The one who had fought for her love and lost, perhaps to find
comfort in the arms of another. But Shampoo had no other.
   Mousse tried to meet Shampoo's desperate gaze with hard eyes,
but found that he could not. He turned away, unwilling to allow
Shampoo to witness the tears forming in his own eyes. He closed
his mind to the quiet sobbing he heard behind him. He had made
his decision.

Afterword:
   Hooray! Lavos is dead, and there's only one chapter to go! And
it's more of an epilogue, really, than a chapter. Have to tie up
all the loose ends, and all that.
   Mighty convenient, how Lavos's death opened up all those
portals, huh? Gonna make it so much easier to send our tired
heroes home. Before you complain that it's a little too
convenient, I'll have you know that it makes a bit more sense
than the solution given in Chrono Trigger. In the game, no
explanation is given at all as to why Crono and all his friends
end up back in 1000 A.D. after Lavos dies. Even worse, when
everyone goes home, they all walk through THE SAME GATE to return
them to their respective times! A gate that's supposed to lead to
600 A.D.! At least I made some effort to explain MY plot device.

Chrono Trigger Tip #22:
   How do I beat Lavos?
   Well, first off, you should choose a party. If you're
Mindlessly Obsessive, and have already played through the game
once or twice, pretty much any group of three characters will do
(I generally finish Lavos off with Lucca, Robo, and Magus, just
so I can use the 'Omega Flare'). If it's your first time through,
However you need to construct a party more sensibly. Definitely
take Marle. The first time you fight Lavos, her 'Life2' spell is
gonna come in mighty handy. Her 'Haste' spell is wonderful as
well: speed is really a factor while fighting Lavos. As a second
character, I would suggest Crono. He has fairly powerful physical
attacks, but, more importantly, can use 'Life' to revive Marle on
those few occasions that she falls. To round off the group, Lucca
is a good choice, particularly if you have the Gold Stud (an
artifact which reduces magic point consumption to a quarter). Her
'Flare' spell is probably the most damaging Single Tech in the
game, and her Wondershot (if you have it) is pretty powerful as
well. Plus, the Triple Tech the three of them do together, 'Delta
Force', packs a good punch for the cost in magic, and is cool-
looking to boot.
   If you're worried about Marle being, more or less, useless
when no one's dead or slow (she really is pathetic as an
offensive character), you might consider taking Frog instead. He
can keep everyone healthy at once using his 'Heal' spell, or
completely cure a critically injured character with 'Cure2', plus
he packs a healthy physical wallop with his Masamune+,
particularly if you have the Hero's Medal equipped. However, I
think you'll really come to miss the extra speed Marle provides.
   Okay, now that you have your party, let's go kick some Lavos
butt!
   You have three options at this point. You can take the bucket-
Gate at the End of Time to face Lavos, fight your way through the
Black Omen and defeat Queen Zeal, or you can fly the Epoch to
Lavos. If you use the Epoch, you will blast past Lavos's outer
defenses, through his shell, and skip the first phase of Lavos
altogether. The downside to this is that the Epoch is destroyed
and you get only the second-best ending, once you beat Lavos the
rest of the way.
   If you've taken the Gate or destroyed the Black Omen
(recommended), then you'll have to break past Lavos's 'primary
external sensory pod' (as I've named it in the story). This pod
will try to defeat you by imitating several 'boss' creatures that
you defeated earlier in the game. You should mop up with the
first couple without any trouble. Indeed, none of them should be
too difficult. Be somewhat wary of magic consumption. You'll have
a chance to fill up again, but you have to face a number of
bosses before Lavos gets tired of taking abuse and starts to
throw its own attacks at you. When it does finally stop imitating
lesser bosses, make sure that you keep your hit points high.
Every now and then it will attack you with a damaging 'Death from
Above' attack, and you'll need to heal your characters (which is
more problematic if some of them have died). On the bright side,
this means that you don't have far to go, and that you no longer
have to worry about conserving magic (save for healing purposes).
After some abuse, Lavos will scream, and its head (primary
external sensory pod) will disappear, leaving an entrance. Go in,
and you will come upon a Gate. If your characters are low on
magic and hit points, take it. It will take you to the End of
Time, where you can heal yourself with magic water. Now, if you
take the bucket-Gate, you'll appear before Lavos, and it's head
will still be gone. Hop right in, and you can pick up where you
left off.
   Now, eventually, you'll come to the inner-shell. This thing is
big and nasty and has two arms. You're first priority is to
destroy the left arm. The right arm and torso are practically
indestructible as long as the left arm is up. Once you destroy
the left arm, the right arm will become vulnerable. After that is
gone, the torso is at your mercy. Since you can really only hurt
one piece at a time, try to avoid using attacks that strike a
large area. Chances are that they will use a lot more magic than
is efficient (for instance, Lucca's 'Mega Bomb' does about as
much damage as a 'Flare', but in a smaller area, and is much
cheaper). You might want to consider equipping Marle (or Crono,
if you decided to take Frog) with Red Mail, as the inner-shell
will occasionally cast a massive fire attack. Perseverance will
carry the day.
   After the inner-shell is gone, Lavos itself appears before
you. Lavos is composed of three 'Lavos Bits'. The most dangerous
one is the center bit (which is Lavos itself). This bit knows all
of the Lavos Ultimate Attacks, a nasty lighting attack which is
all but guaranteed to kill any character it is used on, and an
insidious musical attack that inflicts status ailments like
Chaos, Poison, and Stop on your characters. Nevertheless, that
bit is not your primary target. The bit that you really need to
destroy is the small floating bit on the right. This bit, while
rarely attacking on its own, has the nasty capability of reviving
either of the other two bits, should you manage to destroy them.
Fortunately, if you kill this bit, the other two will die as
well. Unfortunately, this bit has a barrier that protects it very
thoroughly against both magical and physical attacks. The left
bit is more of a nuisance than anything else, but it is totally
immune to magical attacks (in fact, it gains life from any magic
cast at it).
   Lavos, like a few other enemies in the game, also has a few
double and triple techs. The most insidious is a triple tech that
casts Slow on all of your party members. If you don't have Marle,
make very sure that one or all of your characters have Haste
Helms on!
   So, how do you kill the right bit? You need to make it drop
its barrier. The right bit is forced to drop its barrier before
it can bring its companion bits back to life. So, kill one of the
other bits. Probably a good one to start with is the left bit,
which, in spite of its immunity to magic, only has a few hit
points, and will quickly die under a physical assault. After it
bites the dust, pound on the center bit while you wait for the
right bit to drop its barrier. Once it does, though, hit it with
everything you've got. The right bit has a whole lot of hit
points, and it will only lower its defenses long enough for it to
restore the left bit. It won't hurt to use area attacks at this
point--damage that you do to the center bit as well as the right
bit is a good thing. With good timing, you can kill the center
bit right after the right bit restores the left bit, in which
case the right bit will have to spend some more time with its
barrier down while it prepares to restore the center bit--plus,
you won't have the center bit breathing down your neck while
you're trying to pound on the right bit. Be careful, though, with
bad timing, you'll kill the center bit just BEFORE the right bit
restores the left bit, in which case the right bit will restore
both of the other bits at the same time. Basically, that's all
you have to do at this point. Keep that barrier down, and nail
that right bit with everything you've got.
   You might want to use a Megalixer at the beginning of your
battle with the Lavos bits. Chances are that the inner-shell
hasn't left you in top shape, and Lavos won't go easy on you. If
you have Marle, have her administer the Megalixer while Crono and
Lucca take down the left bit, and then have her start casting
'Haste' (first on herself, so she can cast it on the others
sooner). If you have Frog, have Lucca do the Megalixer, as Frog
will be more likely to do significant damage to the left bit.
   One final tidbit of advice. If you have the FrenzyBand, an
item which causes a character to counter-attack 80% of the time
that he or she is hit, be sure that Crono's wearing it. During
the course of your battle with the Lavos bits, the center bit
will frequently change the background scenery. Even though this
does no damage to any of your characters, it still counts as an
attack, and Crono will be likely to counter-attack. If Crono has
the Rainbow (the ultimate Katana, with an 70% chance of a
critical strike every time it's used), he'll rack up some major
damage. It's a cheap shot, but every little bit counts. (For the
Mindlessly Obsessive, by the third time through the game, you can
have picked up three of these babies. Put one on each character,
and you can sit back and watch all three lay into Lavos every
time it feels like a change of scenery. It's especially amusing
when all three of your characters are powerful physical
fighters--say, Crono, Robo, and Ayla.)
