| GCB Fanfics: The Fanfiction Project |
July 20th, 2003Preshow With Mr. Resetti and Yuna at his side, Tom Nook locked the doors of his shop. The sign that had read "Open" for so long now signalled that the store had been closed. When it reopened, Tom Nook would not be its owner. Tom Nook sighed. In all his time, he had never had to close a store. He had always lived in that same peaceful village, with Resetti, Tortimer, Pelly, Pete, and everyone. He'd never closed his store for more than a day. This would be the first store that he'd ever have to leave. The raccoon sighed. It had been a wonderful two months, with all his friends from this new dimension that had been so wonderful to live in. Certainly, the robberies had been unpleasant... But Nook, a man who's whole life was shopkeeping, had been so happy. This had been the closest thing to a vacation that Tom Nook had ever had. But the free trip ended today. He was scheduled for a bout against the swordsmaster Crono... And he didn't think he could win. Even with the tank. Tom turned to Mr. Resetti, the short, fat, mole, and Nook's best friend in the village. Before Nook could say anything, the mole chuckled. "Don't make this a big ceremony, Tom. I'm only gonna be the shopkeep for a week and a half." "...I know. Just... Take care of it for as long as you can, hmm?" "Don't worry." The trio started walking forward to the stadium. Nook needed time to work on his little surprise. But why bother, the raccoon thought. All this contest is about is fighters. I wonder why I was even invited. The shop would carry on, long after its creator had been defeated. But it would never have that same heart... Just like the contest wouldn't. The advancing bunch was much hardier, much less fun-loving... The innocence was gone. ---- Crono stood in the middle of a forest, gripping his blade with both hands. The monsters circled around him like vultures. They weren't quite vultures though, they were quirky blue birds with fangs and teeth. He was outnumbered by a factor of dozens. This wasn't even remotely fair. He should probably wait for some more monsters to show up, he didn't want this to be too easy. One of the birds tried to dive bomb him from above. Crono slashed it purely on instinct, and it landed in one of the many crevices of his hair. Great, that'll be fun to get out. Hopefully it impaled itself too. Crono decided not to waste any more time and leaped up into the air and executed a cyclone. His blade whirled around in circles. From above, it would have looked like a circular rainbow was cutting through the birds. The sky was filled with blue feathers. Crono fell back down to the ground. And watched the bodies of the birds land after him. Well, That was kind of fun. "Crono, you saved me from those terrible monsters! How can I ever thank you!" Marle ran up to him with a smile and wrapped her arms around him. "Just doing my job ma'am. You're welcome. Hi Lucca. You're welcome too. Oh hey Ayla, how's it..." ---- "Crono... Crono... Wake up Crono!" The scene with his friends began to fade. He began to feel his bed and become aware that he was back in his hotel room. Crono groaned. "Just get up. No, I'm not your mother. You're supposed to be fighting soon." Crono rolled to one side and buried his face in his pillow. He mumbled out the words, "five more minutes..." "You don't always have the luxury of time travel to avoid missing things. I only came here because I knew you wouldn't make it on your own. Now, if you won't get out of bed by yourself..." Crono heard light footsteps walk around the room. "No curtains in this whole room? Interesting idea, but a bad one in this case." Crono peeked through his eyes only to see a giant spiral of lightning appear out of nowhere. He squinted, and closed his eyes, but the light was still there. Crono tried diffusing the spell, but apparently he hadn't cast it. That could only mean... Crono rolled out of his bed and snapped upright. "Alright, you could have said something earlier." Magus shook his head and turned his back to Crono. "You've got a crowd out there hoping to see a good fight. And I won't be embarressed by you again." Crono rolled his eyes. "I'm fighting a racoon, not a monster or a dragon this time. I'll be fine on my own." Magus said nothing, but the look in his eyes made it clear he hadn't intended to volunteer any help. Magus was distant by nature... Crono knew he had lost a lot being torn from his time. The fact that he came to make sure Crono was ready for the fight showed a hint of an attachment neither one of them would be willing to admit. "Still as idiotic as ever. You won't always be able to rely on your skills alone. It takes more will than weaponry to win. See that you are ready." Magus sighed and walked out of the room. Crono opened up his closet and picked out his favorite sword. The dream had given him some good ideas. "Thanks." he muttered. He knew Magus wouldn't hesitate to fight him in the ring, however well they seemed to know each other. Thankfully they were both a long ways away from any such outcome. Crono gripped the rainbow sword and smiled in spite of himself. This match should be fun, he didn't have much to worry about. The Battle The Stadium With a barely audible whistle, a glittering crystalline blade cut through the air. Crono swung his Rainbow katana in a series of attacks against an imaginary opponent, warming up for his first battle of the tournament. All around him, people were slowly filing into the stadium, nearly filling the structure to its limit. The red-haired swordsman let the roar of the crowd wash over him, taking several deep, calming breaths. His opponent, the shopkeeper known as Tom Nook, hadn't shown up yet, but Crono was positive that the raccoon hadn't bailed. Nook would be here, one way or another. The teen tried to relax, unclench his muscles. In all likelihood, this would be an easy match. Whatever skills the raccoon might have possessed in the realm of business, he wasn't a fighter. If all went as was expected, Crono would take this round easily. His blue eyes found the pale, angular face of Magus Zeal amongst the crowd in the section reserved for participants in the tournament. Crono laughed softly to himself. Magus was a perfect reminder to the young warrior to never assume everything would go as planned. When what was intended to be a harmless visit to Guardia's Millennial Fair turned into a desperate mission through time to save the world from a horrible space-faring monster...well, one learned to expect the unexpected. There was plenty to be unexpected in this tournament, of course. There were some new faces who hadn't entered last year, and some of the returning competitors had garnered all-new powers and looks. In fact, next round, the spiky-haired warrior would be taking on one of these wild cards...and that match worried the swordsman. In his travels through time and space, Crono had encountered many types of evildoers. Lavos had been running on instinct--evil, yes, but predictable after a fashion. Then there were those such as Queen Zeal, or even some of the tournament competitors, like Ganondorf or Sephiroth. They were the powerful, the suave, the megalomaniacal. And then you had villains like Bowser, and Wario, who were more greedy and selfish than completely evil...much like Zeal's henchman, Dalton. And in the end, he and his companions had managed to defeat them whenever they had met on the battlefield, no matter how powerful, or how evil, they were. However, from what Crono had seen of Kefka...the jester was not only powerful and evil, but he was completely, totally, and unquestionably insane. The boy from Guardia shivered. Next round would be... ...no. He hadn't made it that far yet. He still had to defeat Tom Nook first...Crono forced Kefka from his mind and tightened his hand around the familiar hilt of the Rainbow katana. Kefka would come later. Right now, he had a match to win. There was a rumbling from the competitor's tunnel on the opposite side of the arena...the ground began to shake, and some of the less hardy spectators and competitors began to shout and scream. And then, a large, metallic shape rumbled out of the tunnel and into the light. Crono's eyes went wide. There had been a million different things he could have predicted Nook would do to make the match more even. This hadn't been one of them. A steel leviathan was lumbering its way out of the competitors' tunnel, steam belching from a single funnel on its back. It was shaped like a fearsome dragon, albeit with wheels, and a vicious-looking grinding device, where its legs should have been. And from what the spectators could see, it was bristling with weaponry. "Mamma mia! Is-a that fair-a?" asked Luigi, of his red-clad brother. "A machine-a against a sword-a fighter?" "Don't-a you worry! Crono can-a handle him-a-self!" responded the elder plumber. Although Mario didn't doubt Crono's skill in the slightest, having narrowly snatched the victory from the time-traveling hero the year before, the sight of the battle tank was rather intimidating. Several rows down, Bowser began to shout at the young swordsman. "GAHAHAHA! Scared, huh? Looks like you're just a little runt, after all! Losing to a little raccoon, that's pathetic! BWAHAHAHA--huh?" After the Koopa King's booming guffaw echoed away, there was only one sound that rang off the stone walls of the coliseum, cutting through the stillness like a knife. Faced with this behemoth of an opponent, Crono was doing something that few, if any, people expected him to be doing. He was laughing. It wasn't a taunting, triumphant, sarcastic laugh like that of Bowser or Wario, nor the insane laughter of Kefka. It was a confident laugh of realization. Crono let his laughter die down after a few moments more, and simply stood, holding the Rainbow, with a grin on his face. In all likelihood, he thought, the crowd was probably assuming that the boy had gone insane. Crono shook his head again. The irony was too great. Here he had been, assuming the worst, and Nook had indeed produced something wholly unexpected. Ironically, this something unexpected was something that Crono knew perfectly well how to defeat. Memories flashed through his red-topped head of his frantic escape from Guardia Castle and his execution orders, accompanied by his best friend Lucca. They had fought this thing then, and had won. Granted, Crono was by himself now. However, in the time between his original encounter with the Dragon Tank and this rematch, the hero's strength had multiplied a hundredfold. And now, Crono knew for certain that this was a foe that he could defeat. The redheaded competitor tightened his grip around the hilt of the Rainbow and sunk down into a battle stance. In the stadium above, the spectators leaned over the edge of their seats, trying to catch a better view of the fight--especially in the competitors' section. Some, like Auron and Ramza, were merely interested in seeing Crono's fabled skill with the sword in action. Others such as Mario and Snake, who had both met the swordsman in battle in the previous year, were trying to gauge how much Crono's talents had increased or atrophied between tournaments. And then, of course, there were Bowser, Ganondorf, and Kefka, who were just hoping to see a massacre. It didn't matter on whose part, as long as there would be bloodshed. Inside the Dragon Tank, Tom Nook was sweating. It didn't help that the monstrous weapon's ventilation wasn't worth ten bells, but it wasn't from the heat. Rather than being intimidated or unnerved by the sight of the battle tank, his opponent had seemed to gain confidence...something that rattled the shopkeeper to no end. What was worse, though, was that Nook had absolutely no idea how to operate the thing. Sure, he had figured out how to make it go forward, although at a horrendously slow pace. However, there were just so many different levers, buttons and knobs inside the cramped steel cockpit that the raccoon was feeling more than slightly overwhelmed. And so, Tom Nook was frantically searching for the Owner's Manual that had come with the thing, hoping fervently that he hadn't left it in his shop... At last, the 'tanuki' found the booklet with a cartoonish drawing of the tank on the front, entitled: "The Dragon Tank And You." Nook sighed, glancing quickly up at the viewscreen to make sure Crono hadn't started to attack yet. He propped the booklet open against the dashboard, and turned to page one, which read: "Dragon Tank Owner's Manual." "The Tank Head repairs body damage. It contains a shield that prevents damage from Lightning and Fire. Unless the Head can be defeated, the Tank is unbeatable - Guardia R&D." Nook scratched his head. Not only did he have no idea what this 'Guardia' place was...but that little tidbit of information was utterly useless to him. If he were in Crono's place, sure, then it might have been helpful...annoyed, Tom Nook flipped to the next page. It was blank. Puzzled, the raccoon turned to the next pages, which were also blank. Frantically, Nook began to flip through the entire booklet, but aside from that little blurb on the first page, all the pages were completely blank. "What sort of...moron...would write this thing!?!" shouted Nook, throwing the booklet against the ground in a mixture of anger and fear. "It's...completely useless!" Beginning to tremble in fear, the shopkeeper from Animal Crossing shook his head. "I guess...trial and error's the way to go...hope this thing comes with a money-back guarantee..." he muttered under his breath. With that, Nook grabbed one of the many levers on the dashboard. "Here goes nothing." The results were rather striking. Crono, preparing to launch an attack, was caught off guard as the serpentine vehicle suddenly accelerated to a rather impressive speed, screeching across the battlefield with a speed which no one would have deemed possible--least of all Tom Nook. The raccoon was screaming his lungs out as, having found the accelerator, he attempted to find the brake. Taken by surprise, Crono managed to barely leap out of the way of the oncoming hulk, the tips of his boots grazing the metal shell of the tank as it passed. The swordsman hit the ground rolling, and came to his feet, although a bit stunned. Crono watched as Nook failed to find the brake, and barreled into the wall of the stadium with a thunderous crash, sending dust flying into the air...Crono winced at the collision, as did half of the stadium. In the competitors' section, Bowser was applauding. Yet the Dragon Tank hadn't been built to be destroyed by a simple collision. As Crono watched, Nook found reverse, and zoomed backwards, hurtling across the arena. Apparently, the shopkeep still hadn't located the brake. Crono dodged to the side once more as the tank careened by, once again smashing into the wall of the stadium. 'That's suicide...' thought the hero, his previous grin vanishing entirely from his face, replaced with a rather concerned frown. It had only just hit him that there was an actual person inside the tank. When he and Lucca had fought it in Guardia, it had been unmanned...this time, there was someone inside. Although Crono was no stranger to killing--countless beasts and monsters had perished by his sword--he didn't like it at all, and tried to avoid it wherever possible...he didn't want to kill anybody, really. Least of all the likeable shop owner... Crono frowned again. This would be difficult...yet he had no time to further mull his problem over, as Nook raced back into action yet again. This time, the raccoon had apparently become more used to the controls of the Dragon Tank, as his approach, although rapid, was much more controlled. 'I guess I'll have to short that thing out...' The redhead stood his ground as the tank barreled onward, closing his eyes and raising his left hand high in the air. The air around him began to crackle with energy, and the spectators who were in the first few rows felt their hair stand on end. In a flash of silver light, a bolt of lightning appeared from the suddenly-clouded sky, slamming into the oncoming tank with a horrendously loud thunderclap. In the stadium, Magus slowly nodded, grudgingly impressed. Even Crono's lesser spells were, admittedly, rather remarkable...yet the elder magician was rather puzzled as to why Crono had used one of his weakest spells on the tank as opposed to his magnum opus, Luminaire. There certainly didn't seem to be any wisdom in holding back now...although, again, the spell had been very impressive nonetheless. Yet as striking as the attack might have been, its effect was noticeably less so. The thunderbolt struck the tip of the Dragon Tank's head, and harmlessly dissipated into the ground. Crono's eyes went wide as the tank continued its unstoppable approach...he had forgotten about the tank's resistance to lightning and fire. But there was no time to reflect on his mistakes, as the massive steel serpent slammed into his body, sending the crimson-haired warrior flying. A roar of surprise went up from the crowd as the heavily favored combatant skidded to a stop, motionless. Could this end up being one of the most unlikely upsets in the tournament? Tom Nook was no less surprised at this outcome. The raccoon was sitting in the driver's seat, trembling, eyes wide. "Did...did I do that...?" he asked no one in particular. Yet the Hero of Time wasn't finished yet. Groaning, Crono climbed to his feet to the cheers of the crowd. Then he turned to face Nook and the Dragon Tank, and narrowed his eyes in concentration. And then, something about him changed. He was the goofy and loveable teenage hero no more, but a skilled and serious warrior. "All right...here comes some BLOODSHED! HAHA!" Chuckled Bowser, rubbing his massive paws together. A few rows over, Tommy Vercetti turned to KOS-MOS. "Hey, babe, if it takes Captain Hair over two minutes to beat the raccoon, you'll go on a date with me?" KOS-MOS blinked down at the gangster. "My current analysis of Crono's battle power indicates that he is capable of defeating Thomas Nook in approximately 17.067 seconds. Your terms are valid." However, Magus was silent. Crono wasn't a killer, he knew that much...why else would he have used his weakest spell on the tank? Obviously, he didn't want to hurt the raccoon, so he was going easy. "Fool..." muttered the warlock. "Your compassion will be your weakness in this tournament..." The boy from Guardia brushed a lock of flaming-red hair from his face, sinking down into a battle stance. Sure, Luminaire would reduce the Dragon Tank to a pile of scorched rubble...but he couldn't do that. Not after seeing the raccoon every single day when he bought supplies... And yet, Crono wasn't going to just let him win. It would take some skill...but it was doable. With that, the swordsman began to run, sprinting at Nook in the tank, the Rainbow held out to the side. With every step, the roar of the crowd begin to increase, from a hushed murmur, growing, growing, now a deafening cacophony... Nook wasn't going to go down without a fight, however. As his opponent ran, the merchant pressed every single button on the dashboard, twice if it were colored red. The outside of the tank was practically bristling with weaponry, ONE of the buttons had to at least do something... And do something they did. Ports opened up all along the sides of the tank, and with a deafening 'whoosh,' launched a volley of missiles into the air, all headed at the Savior of Time. At the same moment, two nozzles mounted directly beneath the head of the Dragon Tank swiveled to aim directly at the redheaded warrior, and opened fire--literally, spewing twin jets of flame at the oncoming Crono. Yet this blistering assault didn't faze the crowd favorite one bit. Crono kept coming, rushing on, as the missiles exploded into fiery blossoms of death around him and the tongues of flame lapped at his clothes. Finally, with one mighty leap, Crono seemed to fly into the air, right past the Dragon Tank. Yet all the spectators hoping for a massive attack were sadly disappointed. Instead of a mighty cut or an impressive Tech, there was merely the slightest flicker of movement from Crono's arms, something that could easily be mistaken for a mere trick of the light. However, while Crono's actual attack had been rather unimpressive, the results were anything but. Fragments of steel went flying accompanied by a horrible piercing screeching noise as the crystal katana slashed through the Dragon Tank's neck, sending the head flying up into the air, completely severed. As soon as Crono had landed, he leapt into the air once more, landing exactly on top of the tank. 'Now that the shield's down...too bad Frog's not here. But I can do this on my own.' Without further ado, the redheaded hero plunged his katana into the back of the tank, sticking straight up in the air, acting like a lightning rod. Throwing his arms wide open, Crono began to levitate into the air as mystical energy began to gather all around him. Sparks flew from his body, flying up into the rapidly darkening sky where they vanished. In the stadium, Magus nodded to himself. "Spire. One of your more useful techniques, I'll grant you that..." A massive blast echoed through the stadium as an enormous thunderbolt sizzled through the sky, hitting the hilt of the Rainbow katana. Without the Dragon Tank's head to act as a shield, the battle tank was completely exposed to the merciless power of nature...and it began to spark, miniature bolts of blue lightning playing over the steel hull. Inside the cockpit, Tom Nook was coughing, trying not to inhale the smoke that had billowed out of all the instrument panels when the lightning bolt had hit. The raccoon was trembling, terrified...everything was sparking with electricity, shorted out...he wasn't stupid. The controls to open the single hatch had shorted out, there was no exit possible. Nook knew that within seconds, the Dragon Tank would explode, and he would die. 'Wish I could at least see Tommy and Timmy before...' the raccoon thought sadly to himself, oddly at peace. His peace was shattered in the next moment as Crono's Rainbow stabbed deep into the cockpit, narrowly missing Nook's shoulder. The sparks of electricity were refracted through the crystalline blade as it cut across, slicing a makeshift hatch in the top of the tank. A strong hand reached down, grabbed the animal by his shirt, and none-too-gently pulled him out of the ruined cockpit. And then, still holding Nook by the shirt, Crono leapt away from the tank as it burst into fire, exploding with an earsplitting thunderclap. The pair hit the hard stone floor of the arena roughly...yet they were both alive. Trembling, Nook raised his black-eyed gaze to meet Crono's sapphire one. "T-thank...y-y-you..." Crono, his warrior persona gone, scratched his head. "...welcome," was all Nook heard before he fainted. Aftermath "A surprising match." The voice made Crono turn around swiftly. He had been sitting silently in his locker room, thinking over the match he had just finished a few minutes ago. The chilling voice belonged to the mysterious man with the long white hair,light blue eyes, and cool-looking black cape, known as Sephiroth. "Interesting strategy for the shopkeeper to use a weapon of such...devastation. I didn't think it was in his nature." Crono just nodded in agreement, still in a bit of shock that he was actually talking to this man. Crono had seen his display of power at last year's tournament and it took a heroic effort from Link to defeat him. Not only that, but the coldness and cruelty he displayed in his other fights was unrivaled. And now that Sephiroth was in Crono's division...it's easy to say that Crono wasn't jumping to the bit, hoping to fight this guy. "What really intrigued me though, was the fact that you pulled the animal from the belly of this machine after it was clear he was going to die. I ask myself, 'Why would this boy do such a thing?' In using the machine, the raccoon clearly showed that his intentions were to kill or be killed. Yet, you let him live. Not only that, but you saved him, in an act that risked your own victory. Why?" Crono had never thought about it this way. He couldn't believe that Tom Nook had wanted to kill him though. In all the times he'd been to the shop, Nook seemed like a good-natured fellow, even allowing Crono to purchase weapons and items there. If he were really out for victory, he could have banned Crono from buying anything from his store. Sephiroth didn't give time for Crono to answer though, and just continued to speak. "I can see you are at a loss for words going through all this in your mind. Let me give you a piece of advice. Heroism has its place, boy, but not in a competition such as this. Battle, fighting, death...heroics will get you no farther than the next man or woman here. And, if you plan to have mercy on me when we face each other...I'll make you pay for it." This time, Crono was at a loss for words. He didn't know Sephiroth all that well, but he didn't seem like the one who would just give advice for no reason. Did he want something? "Heed my warning, especially for the next round. Show no mercy, Crono." And after that cryptic message, Sephiroth left Crono's locker room as silently as he came. Crono didn't know what to make of that whole thing, except that it had made him angry. He didn't come here to kill. He came here to fight honorably, to prove he was better than everyone else this time. There was no way Crono was going to just kill anyone for the sake of intimidation or self-satisfaction. That wasn't what really bothered Crono, however. Why would Sephiroth come and bestow this advice to Crono...and if he wanted something in return, what was it? None of this was clear to Crono now and to him; he figured it would be better just to avoid any contact with Sephiroth. Not that he was scared of him though...no no, he would welcome the challenge Sephiroth brought to the arena. He would just rather avoid being a pawn in someone's mind games. Crono didn't let all this bother him for very long though. He left the locker room with a smile on his face. Why? Because now, it was time to go celebrate his victory. Next Entry Back |