Not your Mother's Time Gate...

[mugenginga]

A sparking portal opened up in the woods. It seemed to be be a mass of blue and the usual black swirling together. Some conflict of energies were creating quite the friction and a man with long blue hair was unceremoniously rocketed out of the portal. He seemed to have minimal control and managed to twist himself in a way that allowed him to kick off a tree and land with a surprising amount of grace as the portal fried itself out of existance.

Magus looked to where the Time Gate should be and saw that it was gone. Lucca had predicted the gates would close without Lavos to support them. That had to have been what cauesd the energy malfunction.

He glanced around. Looked like he was in some part of Guardia Forest, circa 600 AD. Fair enough, it was where he had been heading. He hadn't specifically told Crono and his friends this, but he intended on figuring out how to re-open the gates. If Lucca could make a key to open them with science, he most certainly could force them open with his magic.

He brushed himself off and got up. Still, the energy of the area seemed off for Guardia Forest. Perhaps as a result of Lavos being defeated? He chose not to dwell on it and began to walk forward, holding his scythe loosely. He needed to figure out where he was so he could avoid running into the castle. The guards would still see him as the infamous "fiendlord" and he didn't need that aggravation.

The pointy-eared human had no idea he wasn't even in his own world anymore.

[warryn]

Fluffy sprung from tree branch to branch, traveling quickly through the forest. He passed by a man carrying a scythe and saw opportunity. She stopped and went back quietly this time and hid behind the many leaves of an oak tree. He hid, only moving enough to keep the man in sight.

[mugenginga]

Magus turned his head slowly. He thought he had heard something in the trees. It wasn't a jerk of surprise, more of an observation that something was there. He couldn't see anything, but there was no reason to be stupid about it. He drove his scythe into the ground, allowing it to stick straight up. He could at least protect himself from magic.

He began a chant, moving his hands in front of him slowly. To those familiar with the arcane, it would be possible to guess he was casting a spell, providing they could hear his voice. It was quieter than a whisper. The language was also unlike what most had heard. In fact, only those from his world stood a chance of being sure. Magic was rare and extinct among humans (time travellers excluded), after all.

"Ma mere eiro-ku zor..." he began. Only one phrase remained.

[warryn]

Fluffy's fur tingled, he felt the energy that powered magic. He had only met one magic user in her time, and that was his creator. She moved further up the tree, unsure what would happen but thought it would be better to be careful than dead. He got ready to jump as he kept watch on the muttering mage.

She looked back on his memories of her creator. His first few moments in life were a fond memory, but after that it went down hill. Her creator saw him as a failed creation, not worth the time to keep around. not even enough to notice. She was just thrown to the side and forgotten, even after he proved he had surpassed his creators expectations. Till finaly that fateful day had come........ He shook himself out his daze, remembering were he was and returned his focuse on the man again.

[mugenginga]

Magus had finished his spell by the time Fuzzy came out of its daze. So the creature had no way of knowing how it had finished. There was an aura of energy around Magus now. Perhaps Fluffy knew that it was a magic shield. Magus was protected against the brunt of magical attacks. Or not. Still didn't change the presence of an aura.

Magus jerked his scythe out of the ground. Despite having the feeling of being watched, there was something wrong with this area. He spoke loudly, "If you're trying to get the drop on me, you've failed." As if his magic hadn't shown that.

He had scoped out much of Guardia's forest before. More as a "favor" to Ozzie than anything else. He had actually been looking for something, but he told Ozzie it was to help him with the plan to kidnap Queen Leene. He actually had no support of it, but letting Ozzie and his subordinates do what they wanted shifted focus from what he had been doing. The point was, this was not a place of the forest he was familiar with.

Did I get sent to a time other than what I targeted...? Magus began looking for a tree to climb. The castle was more than obvious from above the treetops. If it wasn't there, something was more than a little wrong.

[warryn]

Fluffy looked down the man, his fur all but fizzing at the power in and around the man. She disliked him already, having already grown to dislike magic users. He wasn't sure what the man had done, but she didn't like it and wanted to know what it was.

He moved in the oak tree, towards a cluster of acorns hanging just in sight. She grabbed them and quickly went back into hiding. He wanted to see what would happen if he did something to the man. She hurled one of the acorns at the man, none to light either. He could damage cars with his throw, though he didn't throw the acorn that hard, just hard enough to dent a car.

[mugenginga]

Magus probably would have been hit by the acorn had he not found a tree to climb and sidestepped. He heard the impact. Even on dirt the force had been enough to make a noise. He stopped and looked back at where the acorn had dug itself into the ground.

Whatever he had sensed was now trying to attack him. He whirled around, causing his cape to flutter up. He stared right at the area he guessed the acorn had come from, which happened to be the exact tree Fluffy was in.

After all, he was raised in a kingdom of not only magic, but science. He could estimate the trajectory of a projectile based on the angle of how it hit. He planted his scythe in the ground and pulled down on the bottoms of his gloves. It looked almost like fidgeting, although his intense gaze indicated otherwise.

[warryn]

Fluffy cursed quietly, he didn't like it when she missed. he took the remaining 4 of the acorns he picked had grabbed and stowed them away. He climbed down the tree a little bit to a sturdy looking branch. He reached behind him and took out a large rock about half the size of the man and hefted it, looking it over. He scratched Tony on top of his head before she dropped his pet rock.

Tony, Fluffy's pet rock that was just dropped out of the tree, stood up on 6 stubby legs and opened his 5 dull black eyes. Fluffy had found him some time ago and they became quick friends once they stopped trying to eat each other. Tony started to walk quickly towards the man, the note fluffy had stuck to him still on his back. The note read, 'Look behind you, I'm there', which wasn't true, but it would be funny if he looked.

[mugenginga]

Magus frowned when the rock dropped down in front of him, but he didn't twitch. Whatever was there had quite clearly shown it was hostile. And even with the speed the rock was running at him, he would have time for a quick spell. As for the note, Magus was far too experienced with battle to fall for that, especially considering where the rock had dropped from.

He began chanting again, but the spell was short enough for him to finish it.

"Mi zara na kuro... ICE2!"

He stuck his hand forward and a giant chunk of ice shot out from his hand towards "Tony". It would take near supernatural agility to dodge the giant ice rock hurtling towards him. It was entirely possible the size of the rock meant Fluffy would get tagged too unless he moved.

[warryn]

Tony didn't try to dodge the large chunk of ice, no, he jumped at it. The ice chunk hit tony on his underside, sending cracks all through him from the force of the hit and the sudden temperature change. he flew backwards into the oak tree and shattered into pieces.

Fluffy puffed up, How could you! She thought to herself. He was furious with the man for attacking Tony, who wouldn't even hurt a fly if he could. He jumped from the tree, a streak of orange heading towards the man. She had her claws out and his eyes glowed. But his attempt at a fierce appearance was ruined by her fur, which was puffed out making him look like a fuzz ball with claws.

Still, his eyes said she was ready to take on this man who had attacked his friend. She screamed one thing as he flew at the man. "Give me your socks! you Vile MAGE!!!!"

[mugenginga]

Even Magus was shocked by this. All the Mystics and monsters he had encountered over the course of time didn't look like this. His first thought was the far future.

But he was agile enough that he managed to spin out of the way. Not completely, his unprotected upper arm got a gash in it, and not a small one. He cursed as he held his right hand to the cut left arm. His scythe stayed there, planted in the ground.

Never thought I'd want the queen's descendant here... he thought. Marle was the best healer of Crono's friends, after all.

[warryn]

Fluffy took out the acorns from the oak tree and lit them fire with his breath and hurled them at the man, this time with enough force to go through a car. She jumped back into a tree after she threw the second and threw another as he got into the tree. The fourth he threw at Tony, leaving a small ctrater in the middle of what was left of him.

he called down to the man, "Why?!" She jumped to another branch and and then to another tree. He kept moving from tree to tree, branch to branch so he would have a hard time hitting her. He wasn't stupid, it wasn't like her creator didn't try and put up a fight when She killed him. "Why!?" He screched again.

[mugenginga]

Magus had to fall sideways to avoid the acorns. One hit a tree with enough force to go through it. Magus pushed himself up and grabbed his scythe. Without someone to run interference, the creature was too fast for him to use his magic.

"What the hell are you asking why about!?" he shouted.

If they made enough noise, maybe the soldiers of Guardia would appear. It would give him enough time to slip away. Of course, that was all providing he was in the time period he thought he was. He was beginning to doubt that very much. Even with the hurt arm, he seemed quite capable of using his scythe with intent to kill.

[warryn]

"Why did you attack Tony! He was innocent, he's never hurt anyone, he can't hurt anyone!." She shouted as she jumped to another branch, this time he cut it from the tree as he jumped from it. He did this with every branch she landed on and each landing with a crash to the ground.

SHe had a plan in mind, but didn't really want to go with it if he didn't have to. It would probably hurt the forest for years to come, and she didn't like the thought of that.

[mugenginga]

"Tony?" Magus paused, and then looked at the broken pieces of rock. Could the creature mean...? The blue-haired man scowled.

"I attacked it because something had thrown an acorn at me. I'm guessing that was you."

Not a glint of remorse shown in the man's eyes. But he was keeping an eye on the branches. It almost looked as if the creature was setting up a fire... and Magus was standing in the center. He didn't care. If that happened, he had magic of his own.