Saint Joseph School

(this is an actual story line. I'd been playing and working on this idea for a bit. I hope you all enjoy! Minor edit on 25th)

The day was wonderful sunny day in Paragon City. Not much of a surprise since it was generally sunny which was great for flying. Life is still the same day in night out. Many people where walking safely and carefree to work, the mall, or to school to carry on their daily lives. High above them and the towers a small white dot flew at an alarming speed among the clouds which were still and happy.

Oh gosh, I hope I’m not late!! I’m skipping class right now…

Her purple strands of hair whipped about behind her and her hands where outstretched in front of her helping her to control where she wanted to turn. The troublesome mechanical wings attached to her back had once earned her one way ticket to Canada where now seemly working in proper order. The wings where now being helpful right now in hasting her to the lunch date which she was now 15 minutes late for. Eshva smiled gently as she paused for a moment to enjoy the breeze on her face. She loved flying especially fast. She knew Crono wouldn’t mind the fact she was late, time was endless to him, it was just a silly thing she had about being on time for him.

She smiled again as her eyes looked upon her left hand. There on her ring finger was the ring he had given her on the Snowball. In front of the whole school he got down on one knee asked her to be his future wife. She still randomly thought of the moment. It was the happiest and most embarrassing moment of her life. The taunting Crono got really angered her. She was very happy now that things where back to normal. She sighed and closed her eyes for a brief moment

When she reopened her eyes it seemed that brief moment was more then enough to suddenly change her world. Her red eyes widened at the sight as the sky blackened from the carefree blue they once where a moment ago. She blinked again to ensure she wasn’t just seeing things. Sure enough the skies where black as night. A familiar feeling came over her and it tingled her at finger tips. She was getting uneasy about this sudden change in the weather. A shimmer from below caught her eyes. Eshva’s orbs studied it a moment longer before she recognized the shimmer was in fact portal’s suddenly appearing below her in the city. Her eyes darted back up as the sounds of sirens broke lose among the city as fear griped her as the most horrific sight came in to her sight. The war walls dropped and a ship, an alien Rikti space drop ship was flying in to the section of city. As far as Eshva was concerned she’d actually never really seen one and it puzzled her how she identified it so fast. Her thoughts were interrupted by a massive explosion by a near by building. Her wings stopped working as she became scared and her thought patterns where filled with panic. She froze. Not the first time she had frozen when a massive amount of fear had filled her being. Another bomb went off and purple strands of her hair lifted into her sight as she began to fall with the rubble that had just been blown off the building beside her.

Her engagement ring on her left hand dimmed in color as if it was panicking. Time seemed to be frozen as the rubble in front of her seemed to move in a unreal speed. A small amount of a building struck Eshva in the head alerting her to the fact she was falling a lot faster then her mind had fooled her into thinking. Still slightly awe struck by the surreal rubble falling in front of her she gathered her thoughts and the mechanical wings came back to life as they started to flap once more, slightly shielding her from the small rubble.

Screams from civilians filled her ears as explosion echoed explosion. The constant siren alerting people to head for shelter rang on and on. Eshva’s red eyes darted to the streets of all the people running for safety. Sadness came over her. She didn’t understand why this city had to go threw this a second time. She closed her eyes as a tear suddenly fell from her eyes. Another thought began to over power her mind.

Crono!

She had to make sure he was okay, with in seconds she was on the ground. The mechanical wings closed up. She shouted his name hoping he was near.

Have to make sure… Have to make sure..

She spun around fearfully. She just had to see him, just to make sure. She was unsure how she would deal with another loved one lost to the other side. She jumped and landed in front of the PPD station in which he was suppose to be meeting her. She knew he would be busy, all she wanted was to see him, to be sure. She watched a moment at the entrance as PPD officers were rushing in and out of it, most likely trying to respond to the overwhelming calls and get to where they were needed. She cried out his name again when she didn’t see him. She stopped a calmish PPD Detective and asked him if he’d seen him. The officer shook his head no and suggested that the girl get to safety. She assured the officer that she would soon as she knew Crono was okay. She called again, and again. The third time fear caused a tremble the in desperate call for her lover. She looked around at the rushing people as a great fear took root with in her heart.

A rifle blasted sending a laser beam by her face causing her to instinctively shield her face and duck. It barely missed her. She took in a deep breath, slowly stood and faced her foe. A Rikti Solider stood there welding one an unusually large rifle which looked about the same size of the demon girl. She tightened her jaw, made a fist, and let out a low demonic growl.

There’s something different…

She studied the Solider. She'd seen many Rikti but not like this one. The Armor looked newer, more robotic. The Solider didn’t move, however more of the Rikti lesser in rank filed out from behind him holding various weapons. A little too many Rikti for her liking, but she had no choice she knew they would destroy this building if she fled. She also noted something new. They had uniforms on. She was use to the naked ones that where left over from the first invasion. This was going to be different. She bowed her head slightly so to not lose sight of the many foes and started a prayer in her head asking for assistance. She charged and let out a loud roar. She raised her fists and her claws unleashed from with in her hands. Three bio metallic claws tore in to a infantry member of the alien race. Rifle blasts sounded off as the rest opened fired upon the whirling white and black blur of terror they had angered. She worked quickly picking off their numbers, ducking from some of the blasts and taking some laser burns. They didn’t slow her. She hardly felt the lasers tear through her skin. Her body healed almost as instantly as the shot passed over her skin. An infantry swiped at her with a really new looking weapon that was massive, it had a rather large blade that was attached to a plasma rifle with another deadly blade on top of it which glowed with eerie green along the blades. It swiped at her a second time catching her in the arm and cutting surprisingly deep with it.

That’s new.

Eshva jumped back using her tail to help keep balance as she slid a bit on the rubble that covered the ground. She studied the weapon a bit trying to figure out how to handle this new threat. She launched her self at the infantry letting out another fierce growl. In response the Rikti took aim and blasted the heroine. She felt a massive amount of pain to her midsection as the blast tore threw it and sent her flying backwards directly into a light pole causing it to bend. Her hands flew to cover the wound as it started to heal its self. It always took longer to heal closer to her vitals. She glared with her eyes, which where now shifting in color to a bright yellow, directly at the remaining Rikti Soldiers, one approached the girl. She started to stand as the Solider merciless shot another round into her side. She cried out in agony as she fell to her knees again. She gritted her teeth as she got up and charged once again as they fired more rounds at her. She ducked down as she readied to come back up at the Infantry member with an upper cut with three claws waiting to say hello. They where blocked by the blade on the rifle. She blinked in surprise but quickly recovered by spinning and digging her other set of claws in threw the Rikti’s uniform and twisted in her gut. She knew she had to get out of there. She was just a little too wounded to keep the fight up. Another blast hit her back as she turned to run.

Gotta go!! Come on!

The mechanical wings started to flap slowly lifting her off the ground. The remaining survivors of her encounter started firing rapidly at her. Once off the ground she speedily took off. Lasers shot off around her and a final one caught her in the chest. Pain erupted through out her body causing her flight to detour right in to the side of an office building.

((To avoid confustion, Yes I do have the requierd permissions to post my bit in this thread from the auther. This is Crons camio for the story. I10 inital invasion, things happend, people die, yadda yadda, enjoy!))

The PPD utility truck rolled down a busy street in Founders. The sun peaked through a darker set of floating balls of puff that seemed to dot the sky. The passenger seat of the truck sat Detective Cron, with his head wondering just as blissfully as the clouds that float above him. The truck slowed to a stop, the hum of the diesel engine ground to a slow and the beast came to a rest as traffic stopped.

“Tell me again why you don’t carry a gun.” Said the darker colored SWAT Sergeant as he looked over at the Detective in obvious bewilderment to events that happened only shortly to the moment they currently occupied.

“I told you man, I don’t roll that way.”

“You should at least carry something.”

“What would be the point?”

“What do you mean what’s the point?” he said, “For protection!”

“Look man…” Cron looked over, “What I’m saying is, if my hands and feet are weapons why would I need a gun if I could not use my hands or feet.”

The Sergeant looked at him and Cron looked back. A moment passed between the two and Cron pointed to straight out the front windshield.

“Lights green.” He said as he waited.

The SWAT member looked forward and then back at Cron “Right…” as the truck rolled forward again.

For all the mysterious reasons in the universe Cron’s attention seemed quite incapacitated. The event that ran through his mind was always the first moment he would get to see Eshva. It raced through his mind again and again like a stamped of horses around a race track, leaning on the edge of a handrail screaming and cheering for the most favorite animal. Coincidently this was very much unlike Cronology, he was normally a very observant and aware person at all times. He never happened to notice the sky as it started to skink into darkness blotching out into a darker color leaving the cityscape in a cloak of wrath.

Even more coincidently the SWAT Sergeant never saw it either assuming a cloud was overhead, or they passed into the shadow of another one of Founder's skyscrapers.

“Where am I dropping you off at again?”

“It’s a little Bistro just up the street; I’ll point it out when we get there.”

The Sergeant leaned over the weal for a moment looking up at the sky’s darkened demeanor, leaning back into the seat he said “Sure got dark all of a sudden.”

Like a hand snapping Cron came to out of his dreamlike state “Hua?”

“Look outside man, last time I checked it was only 12:34.”

Poking his head out the window he realized the unnatural state of the sky shroud of evil foreshadowing disaster. It wasn’t until they approached an intersection that they realized the shear number of people beginning to enter a panicked state, restless and alert people began to exit there cars as a distant thunder struck dulled by distance. Cron slid out the open window and sat himself on the window of the truck pulling his hat off looking up into the sky. Eyes trailed down to the ground at an increasing flood of people starting to head in one direction down the street.

The two PPD members looked at each other in confusion over the roof of the vehicle. As the panic started to ensue, and on que the police bands started to light up with chatter and noise that witch sounded like a complete city wide emergency. Before the two could slide back into the cab of the truck a very alien vessel wisped, humming though the buildings of the street

“Holy shit!” the two said almost in tandem.

They both scrambled back into the cab of the truck, adding to radio chatter confirming extra terrestrial vessels cruising the skyline of Founders, Steel, Atlas, everywhere. Citizens crawled in panic to the PPD truck screaming to “do something”, “Save us”, and more typical “What the hell is going on?” The typical response given was “It’s going to be ok, please remain calm and find shelter.” Witch was not such a bad idea after a loud thud and another alien ship swooped through the intersection and dropped a rather egg shaped device that seemed to latch itself into the ground. Four red lights flickered and there language was all to clear to Cron and everyone around him, it screamed “Hello I am a bomb” and it was about to go off.

A wall of hot air hit the intersection spreading through the entire intersection taking out glass, cars, and people it was very indiscriminate to what it destroyed. A fraction of a second later followed the dragon’s fire and shrapnel that injured and impaled everything around it.

The very size of the PPD Utility truck already made it a virtual tank, but the explosion was enough to take out the front windshield pelting the two PPD inside with glass and heat sending the truck back a few feet as another car slammed into the nose crunching it like a soda can. People where sent flying and Cron sat dazed in his seat after a few moments, the Sergeant was slumped over on the weal.

“Hey man you alright?” Cron said weakly shaking off the initial blast.

“Hey Ford!” Again with a bit more life, reaching over with a hand and shaking him Sergeant a few times checking his condition.

“FORD!” He yelled. Getting a grumble from his teammate as he slowly gained back health.

“I swear I didn’t drink that much…” He groaned sitting back up in his seat.

“No but you wish you would have. Come on lets go, trucks trashed man.”

The explosion caused the death of nearly 16 civilians surrounding the intersection, at least that the two could see. The ones who could still walk and move where sent in the direction of the medical center not far from there location. Being unable to move from there position, due to the inadequate condition of there vehicle, witch held the pristine title of…

“Jacked up…” said Sergeant Ford “…Not only that the sedan collided with the other side leaving the Shell Suit bays trashed along with the suits inside. The two Guardians as you know are trashed from the call we just had, however the Enforcer unit is still damaged but operational.”

He leaned up against one of the steps on the back of the truck nursing his own head injury; Sergeant Ford looked back up to Cron. The war did not stop for the two, the city was in chaos and the radio was out so there was no chance of hearing what was going on.

“Ibuki you better be ok…” Cron mumbled to himself as he stared at the ground trying to think of something to do before anything else happened on the deserted intersection of destruction.

“What was that?” Ford looked up.

“Nothing,” He shook his head “We need to get going…What about that damaged Hard Suit that was placed in the supply hold?”

“What about it?”

“Can you ware it?”

“Of course I can, but the right arm cannon is…”

“Don’t worry about it. Trust me your going to want to be wearing something…” As he looked past the truck at several distinct portals opening up under another drop ship that swooped down further down the street. Rikti where the ones responsible Cron new there portals, but had never seen any of there ships.

“Oh shit…”
“Oh shit indeed.” As Cron moved next to the Sergeant he looked forward brushing his fingers through his short brown hair.

“Ok Sergeant…I don’t think I need to remind you about the Rikti…these guys defiantly look like Rikti.”

Ford peered around the side of the tuck as he saw the Rikti advancing in a direction that caused him some alarm, the Founders medical center was only patrolled by a couple of Police Drones. This would cause and issue with the amount of people that where most likely flooding out the door wanting treatment.

“I didn't know Rikti wore armor.”

“I didn’t know Rikti few ships around and dropped bombs on people.”

They both looked at each other and words did not need to be said as they both got up and moved from the back of the battered utility truck.

“Can you get that thing on your own?”

“Not a problem.”

With some preparation involved the two gathered what little force they could muster from the damaged vehicle. Prepping the Enforcer for activation as the Sergeant fitted his armor. The large drone unit hobbled from the back of the truck from its supports and onto the street with a loud thud shaking the ground around it.

“I’m going to take this big guy to the Hospital and station myself there, with any luck there will be more units there.”

“What about me? I’m going with you.”

“No way dude you need to get yourself back to the station.”

“And let you take all the glory?”

“Look we don’t have a radio and the comm. Units busted on that unit right?” He said, “Someone needs to take the heavy artillery to help out. You my friend have nice hit to the head and need to be my radio man. Get me some back up I know there headed towards some population. I need to stop them.”

“Steeling the glory.” He shook his head looking at the ground “Alright but you owe me one.”

“Unit, Voice command Follow and defend.” Cron ordered to the PPD Enforcer.
The Enforcer unit turned to Cron as he started to walk off. “Confirm command: Follow and Defend.”

Through the ashes of the siege city, unparallel destruction rained. Hero’s scatted all over and isolated fights broke out between invaders and defenders. Chaos driven war machine drove its spikes into the business district of Founders Falls as Cron made his way though brimstone and flame. The Bistro was right down the street from the hospital with any luck she would be there waiting for him. He prayed with everything inside him that she was safe and away from this hellish situation.

Again in his own little world of fear for his love, the unwanted feeling of not knowing drove him to pump his legs faster as he bolted down a street and over obstacles. At the end of the street, on the corner he could see the fenced seating area were a bunch of knocked over tables occupied.

“Eshva!” He cried out.

The place looked baron of life as war hit home around him. He stopped in his tracks and ran the other way as a drop ship approached not more than ten feet off the deck. A constant barrage from various heroes swooped around it pouring there everything into assaulting this invader. There efforts seemed futile as the hull showed no signs of damage from what Cron could see. The drop ship from close up seemed less harmless than he previously thought. With every shot from its weapons a Hero would drop from the sky in painful injury or a crispy cinder.

One such Hero dropped from the sky taking a knick from the burst of plasma on his raptor pack. Tech heroes where always trying to make up for some inadequacy for not having natural abilities, or they where just rich kids with expensive toys, either didn’t matter right now as said Hero nearly dropped into Cron landing with a bone shattering thud and enough to carve out a section of assfault from the street.

Picking himself up off the ground he looked towards the Bistro and then to the downed hero, wondering why the Med badge did not trigger. He started to move to the Bistro on the corner then back to the downed hero after hearing the gargle of a blood soaked plea from what was left of the body. He slid to his knees holding his hands back inspecting the body. He was starting to convulse, his green armor military grade by the looks held a tight fastened raptor pack barley holding on by burnt out straps. The hit was his lower back leaving his body armor singed into the flesh itself.

“Hold on man! You’re going to be ok.” Cron tried to reassure the man.

He lifted his head and pulled of a red helmet undoing some sort of flight mask so the guy could breath.

“Jesus Christ!” Cron yelled “You’re just a fucking kid!” An overwhelming since of grief passed over him as the kid passed in his arms in what Cron could feel, the most painful of deaths, he knew there was nothing that he could do. Even if the Med Badge went of he was still situation FUBAR.

He knelt for a moment as he let the kid go. Searching he found the small Med Badge under a scarred section of the armor on a front pocket. Trashed from the impact, completely useless, he tossed it angrily onto the ground as he stood up hearing the crumble of metal, the Enforcer slowly made its way like a tank over a wall of destroyed vehicles. There was nothing left he could do as he stood up brushing his knees off. Turning to the Bistro a thunderous crashing sound came from behind him as he turned a drop ship swooped overhead making a turn around the intersection he just came from causing his hat to fly from his head and carry itself away from his grasp and disappear to the wind. A bomb impaled itself into the side of the building and ticked it’s way to it’s purpose.

It went off even before he had enough time to think. He caught a glimpse of the Bistro that held his goal, running towards it a section of building fell in front of him. He dropped to his ass like a runner making first base sliding on the assfault causing a tare in his pants. He turned and scratched his way to is feet nearly missing another bolder sized section of concrete and rebar. He collided head long into the Enforcer drone, catching him and toppling over to protect. Huddling himself into the fetal position the building collapsed on top of them nothing remained but the debris of paper and a twisted amalgamation of steel and concrete.

A low glow came through the darkness as he looked up seeing the Enforcer unit hovering over head beaten and battered holding up a section of what looked like the side of a sky scrapper. He coughed as a thick dust unsettled in the small space the two PPD occupied.

“D-D-D-Detective Cronology, are you ok-k-k-k-k-buzz-?” Said the unit in a damaged artificial voice.

He continued to cough and look himself over. Cuts burses nothing serious as he sat up dazed. Holding his head, the image of the Bistro just moments before the building came down on him burnt into his mind. He looked around into the darkness only seeing small bits of the Enforcer acting as a support beam holding up a roof over there heads. All around him the sound of crumble and the constant wine of metal being compacted from destroyed rubble.

“Nuts.”

A strong light shone into her eyes as she found her self surrounded by a pile of dust, rock and papers that fell as she stood. A stiff groan escaped her lips as she felt her head. She shook her head to try and focus the result was pebbles falling from her hair. She traced over one majestic horn to the next and to her amazement the left one was actually broken at the curve. She stood herself upon her knees; she slowly began to check the rest of her body to ensure she was okay. She checked the mechanical wings attached to her back to find that they had been knocked clean off her back and partly embedded in the wall to her right. She checked for her medi badge. Her hands gently felt around on the ground. She uncovered it and it was completely destroyed by that last blast that was fired at her. With out its safety of teleporting her to a hospital when her vitals dropped she would have been doomed if she was anyone else. She was lucky to still be alive and she knew it.

Her eyes glanced upwards to the inside of a dusty office. She blinked her eyes in surprise. The colors of everything seemed slightly odd. Must have hit my head pretty hard.. Standing as she took in the extent of the damage in the office she had crashed into. A wooden desk was knocked out of its original placement, book shelves where knocked over and papers where everywhere. A breeze blew her dirty hair causing it to tickle the side of her lip. She was scared to turn around but she knew she would have to sooner or later. She slowly turned to the hole that she clearly had crashed through to get to her present location. Her eyes were wide and her lip quivered with fear as she approached the gap in the building. She placed her right hand on some rebar as she took in the horrible sight. It might as well been in a nightmare.

The skyline was totally different and everything was a shade of red. Some of the buildings were rubble a few of them still stood. Some of the ones left standing where still burning as deep red smoke clouds rose from them. Other buildings where fallen upon its neighbor to keep them from falling over completely. The war walls looked like they were working again with eerie bright red. What really caught her off guard was the few dead bodies of crushed civilians being discovered by rescue crews. It even appeared that some reconstruction had even begun.

This can’t be..

Eshva stepped back a bit before she sat down to compose her thoughts. She placed her hands over her eyes as she began to cry. She sat there for a while, just weeping and muttering a prayer. Time didn’t seem to pass as she comforted herself, reassuring that everything was going to be fine. She hugged her self as she had done so many times when she was a child. She had no memory of the first invasion. She knew she was alive during it. In fact she was on the streets at that time. It didn’t stop her from knowing that she most likely saw some horrible things which her mind had locked up deep inside. It was worse then what the Hellions ever did to her.

She continued to pray, her voice soft and child like.

"Dearest Heavenly Father,
I know your awfully busy right now,
But all I ask is for one small thing now,
Please Heavenly Father,
Please take care of my friends at this time.
Please make sure they are safe
Take care of them.
Guide them to safety
Please, please heavenly Father
Please take care of my friends at this time.
Please make sure they are safe
Take care of them.
Guide them to safety
Please Father
Please Father..
Take care of Crono..
Crono.. Crono.."

She fell silent repeating his name. Tears began to fall as quickly as the horrible things that she could possibly imagine that might have happened to him. She tightened her fingers around her knee’s. She bit her lower lip as she fought those horrible thoughts out of her head. She looked up at the odd red sky and then at her ring. It seemed a little more blue then usual. She smiled and wiped away her tears. She didn’t know if she was crazy or not but she decided a while ago that the ring had its own little personality. It always seemed to know the color that would comfort her or brighten her day.

I need to make sure…

She stood up with a bit more confidence and dusted her self off a bit. She tugged on the blue mechanical wings that Professor Dumke had made for her a few months ago. With a few hard pulls she managed to get them free. She smiled as she examined them. They were still in perfect condition however she remembered them white in color. Indestructible, she smirked as she remembered how excited that man got when he convinced her to try them in the first place. She placed the main unit between her shoulder pads and pressed the top button. The needles inside the unit pierced through her skin and attached them selves to the spinal cord of her body. She never much cared for the feeling of attaching the wings but she’d found them really useful for traveling. The wings fluttered into life and with in seconds and a few lost feathers she was flying over the chaotic landscape in search of a starting point. She racked her mind and settled on heading back to the PPD station she’d probably failed at saving. She flew for a good hours looking for the station. She couldn’t recognize the landscape till she found the sign when she flew lower. She wanted to fall to her knees when she saw the station.

It’s ruined..

A pile of pitch black bricks, broken glass and dust was what remained of what she hoped to be the beginning of her search for Crono. She pressed her two index fingers together, fidgeting them as she always did when she got a little nervous or anxious. Studying the damaged she felt that she still might find something there. With careful steps she approached the rubble, kicking some of the stones away to ensure that she could in fact step on the bricks safely. After climbing a few steps on the pile she knelt down and started moving bits of the rubble. All she needed was something with his name on it. A paper or anything with information on his last known location would be more then what she was expecting. Her eyes scan many crumpled bits of black paper. She found nothing of help. The black dust among the strange red world around suddenly seemed to be invoked at her frustration at her lack of luck she was having and swirled about her started to choke her. Coughs escaped her lungs as she retreated from her location and watched the dust swirl and seem to take form. She blinked again to ensure she was seeing right however the form began to solidify with in the dust.

Bright yellow eyes stared back at her red orbs like some sort of nightmare come to life within the wildly moving black dust. The all black leather outfit with black and purple underside the very recognizable cape style of the Arachnos started to absorb the dust and seeing it again brought back so many bad memories. Memories she buried with the outfit that was once hers. The dust soon settled in position of the form and Eshva couldn’t believe her eyes. She was staring at her self. The form that was once dust attacked Eshva swiftly silently and with deadly force that she once exercised. Claws extended her other self launched at Eshva. Eshva watched as her own claws passed right threw her neck. Much to her own surprise she hadn’t felt anything. However something had fallen into her own hands and Eshva looked down only to discover the head of a Longbow agent looking lifelessly back at her. The girl let out a scream and everything faded to black.

Eshva in fact hadn’t gotten up, or done any of things that she just thought she had done. The building she was in had actually been blown apart and she was buried deep among the ground rubble, safe and hidden while the war continued above her. Her body, as it had once done before, slipped into a comatose state while she healed from the almost deadly strike she took from the blast and the crash into the building. An orange glow from the engagement ring on her finger displays its stress and attempts breech the rubble to signal her location for someone who would be looking so he could find her. Until she awakens she’ll see nothing but the creations of her sub consciousness.