Fan Fiction ❯ Never Ever in a Million Years ❯ Engine Trouble ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own any elements of the game Chrono Trigger: the characters, the story, the items---you name it, I don't have it.

A few days had passed since Crono had been revived, and things were slowly going back to normal. "Or as normal as it can get, considering that my heart's been broken due to some whiny, spoiled princess that can't tell a hydrometer from a speedometer," Lucca thought haughtily, not even caring how incredibly dorky that last thought had sounded. She was a geek, and that's all there was to it. If people didn't accept that, then that was THEIR problem.

The band of time-travelers were now constantly hopping from era to era, tying up loose ends and attempting to acquire legendary items that would make their final battle with Lavos easier. And their list of tasks was ever growing. "And I was grumbling about how incredibly busy I was when I helped Dad at the Millennial Fair," Lucca thought incredulously, remembering the fateful day when it had all started. Personally, though, she didn't mind the stress. Her constant state of either hurriedness or fatigue worked like a charm to keep her mind off…that. Even so, it got tough sometimes. Now that they had the Epoch, the Space-Time Continuum Theory didn't apply to them anymore, and everyone, as long as they fit in the Epoch, could travel together. This mean that Lucca had to endure (or pretend not to see) Crono and Marle's blatant displays of affection, which occurred all day, any time of day. Now that their so-called "newly found love" had "blossomed", they made any excuse to touch one another. Lucca inwardly groaned at the memory, glad that their current seating arrangement kept them apart for the time being.

Right now all seven members of the group were uncomfortably crammed into the Epoch, flying somewhere over 600 A.D. They were attempting to find the Rainbow Shell, which was believed to be a prime ingredient for a type of armor that could block even the most powerful of magic. At the current moment they were trying to locate Choras Village, which was said to be Toma the Adventurer's hometown. He was trying to find the shell too, and even though he had had no leads on it the last time they had seen him, perhaps there was a chance he did now. He had given up looking on the Zenan Continent, at any rate, since every bar they had looked in over there had been totally devoid of him (though Lucca suspected that he had been to most of them, as she hadn't been able to drink a good can of soda in weeks).

The journey towards Choras was long, tedious, and dull. Lucca was beginning to feel a serious lack of personal space. Being trapped in the seat between bulky Crono and space-consuming Robo, who wouldn't be? Although being trapped against Crono had its merits, she had to admit…From her she could smell his cologne, feel his warm breath tickle her body…

Her thoughts suddenly snapped to the present when one of the Epoch's rear rockets unceremoniously exploded, causing everyone to jump in alarm. As the time machine quickly began to plummet towards a large forest below, Crono summed up the situation in just two words, "Oh shit!"

By that time half the group was screaming in terror, fully expecting to die on impact once they hit the ground. Lucca racked her brains to think of something, ANYTHING that might keep that from happening. When it was almost too late…

"CRONO! The throttle! THE THROTTLE!"

Crono, who was currently slamming the brakes in an attempt to slow the Epoch down, immediately understood. When they were literally under forty feet from the ground, he quickly pulled it out, causing the vehicle's front end to nose upwards. Thus, only the fan-like tail end would hit the ground, and everyone's lives would be saved. But even so, there might be repercussions…

CRRRRRRRAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!!! The Epochs' rear end made contact with a huge tree with a sickening crunch. That was enough, combined with Crono's brake-tapping, to slow it down completely, but then again, the fact that they were still in the air was to be dealt with. They hung in the air for just a split second, and then...BOOM. The Epoch finally hit the ground, near-missing two nearby rowans in the process.

For a minute, Lucca thought she was dead. But no…Marle's display of ear-splitting shrieks and the sounds of everyone coughing from the unsettled dust were enough to disprove THAT theory. She opened her eyes and looked around in wonder. Yes, everyone was there, alive and well…but how??

"We're all alive," she said out loud, "but my question is, HOW?! I'm amazed! If none of us died from the actual impact, then SURELY some of us would have been thrown outside!"

"Well, it was for times like these that Belthasar added seatbelts," said Crono with a grin (albeit a very shaky one), unbuckling his, "But really though, are you guys sure that nobody's hurt? 'Cause even I find it hard to believe that I'm still in one piece!"

"Who cares?" called a cramped-sounded Magus from the back seat. "Let's just get OUT of here!"

"Have you no manners?" Frog pitched at him with only the utmost loathing. "Dost thou care about ANYONE'S well-being?"

"Hell no!" was the reply. "I just need allies in the battle against Lavos!"

Oh crap. It sounded like about the hundredth fight between Frog and Magus was about to begin. These usually resulted in Lucca learning some colorful new medieval words, and, at the most inopportune times, near-violence. Marle, who was sitting in between the hot-tempered duo, cowered down, suddenly looking very uncomfortable.

"Frog! Magus!" screeched Ayla at an unearthly volume. "Shut up! NOW! This no time! Now we get out of Epoch, see what happen!"

Crono shrugged. "She has a point." Pressing a green button on the control panel, he caused the Epoch's outer dome, a clear yet resilient material, to pop back. Everyone climbed out, looking at their surroundings, still shaken by the previous events.

Lucca had never seen nor heard of this forest before. It was mostly filled with evergreens and beeches, and had kind of a dark, unfriendly aura to it. She was guessing that their current position was somewhere close to Choras Village, but this was no time to ponder. if the Epoch turned out to be unfixable, then they wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Leaning on Crono's shoulder unsteadily, Marle still seemed decidedly queasy. "I thought we were goners," she moaned. "Oh Crono, it was such a good thing that we revived you when we did."

Crono smiled. "It really wasn't me at all. Save you thanks for Lucca. She was the one who told me to pull the throttle."

"'Tis a good thing that she has such knowledge of mechanics," agreed Frog. "But the Epoch is only half our problem. Wherefore ART we?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," replied Crono. "But I'd say probably the middle of nowhere."

Robo suddenly beeped. "Our current coordinates are 45 East, 20 South. My guess is that we are currently on the Choras Continent."

Marle sighed. "Well, I'm glad that we at least did SOMETHING right."

At this moment, Lucca came back. She had done a round trip around the Epoch to try and get an estimate on the damage. "Things aren't too good," she explained. "Two of the back rockets and the left wing are damaged. My guess is that they overheated and couldn't withstand the pressure anymore. They weren't built that strongly enough to fly for extended periods of time."

Crono rolled his eyes. "Well, how can you NOT take a trip in this thing without taking five years?! It's slow to begin with! Geez…leave it to Dalton to screw things up."

"But what about the time machine?" Marle piped up. "Is that okay?"

"As far as I know, that's fine. But what good is it if we're restricted to only the Choras Continent with it?" Lucca rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I guess that means I'll have to get the wings up and running so we can fly again. Belthasar put a servicing kit in back, so I guess repairing won't be TOO much trouble. If I can get it fixed, then we'll head back to my house at Truce and make something more permanent so it doesn't happen again. I believe that if I work at a fast enough pace, I should have it done by tomorrow morning." She was tired, but the others, who knew nothing about machines, were counting on her. She turned on her heel and started to head towards the Epoch, but…

Crono's hand firmly placed itself on her shoulder. "Lucca, look. I know you're exhausted. Having a near-death experience DOES do that to you. Let's just set up camp and wait till tomorrow morning. Then we'll all give you a hand and get the job done faster."

Lucca nodded gratefully. An evening of unbroken sleep and relaxation WAS hard to come by these days, even if that sleep was on the cold, hard ground and the relaxation might be marred a little by pesky insects. During their journey, they had camped quite a few times and at this point, she was well used to it and knew the advantage of the few pit stops that they might have.

As Lucca followed the group to find a good place to camp, she realized that even if she couldn't have him, she had fallen for a great guy. And that made it all the worse.