Inspired by an over-the-top, yet awesome quote from The Chrono Writers forum.

"Are you aware of who I am? I will tell you something important now, so clean up your ears and listen. When people talk about the man of indomitable spirit and masculinity, they are talking about me. I am Guile the Masked Magician. My magic is the magic that smites the heavens!"

Credit goes to Guile Mustang (who gets the inspiration from Gurren Lagann), impmontamer03 (who tweaks the quote so that it sounds more Guile-like), and Legendary Biologist (who does the final fix).

Inspiration music: A soundtrack that is famous for its "Row, row, fight the power!"

Cover and title are inspired by Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann itself.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chrono Cross.


"What? A meteor will hit the Earth in thirty days?" a white-haired man asked, blinking at an old lady in a green robe. "Ma'am, I know that you're a senior fortuneteller, but this is just absurd!"

"Sir, if I'm lying, I won't need to close my fortuneteller stand at Termina for a few days," the fortuneteller replied, looking at the crystal ball in her hands. "I come here to warn you, so that you can find some pro magicians to destroy it."

"Okay, okay, I trust you. But that's impossible!" The man shrugged. "There's no oxygen in space. Besides, when a magician leaves the atmosphere, he or she will get fried up by the friction."

"Then destroy the meteor from here!" the fortuneteller said aloud, pointing at the ground with an index finger of a hand. "Use long-ranged spells!"

"You don't know where to aim!" the man snapped. "Nobody can see the meteor here!"

"Then wait until the meteor is closer!" the fortuneteller argued.

"Hmm…" The grey-haired man looked down, stroking his chin. "That sounds fine. I'll start planning then. I'll soon gather mages and train them."


Magic Guild Tavern was always a noisy place. Some inebriated guests shouted very loudly just to order something. At times, they also thumped their glass mugs onto the tabletop and yelled only to talk with their friends, making them look like they were bickering instead of chatting.

Sitting on the counter's tall stool with his eyes closed, Guile sipped on his wine, fairly oblivious to the surroundings. He didn't like all the fuss in the bar, but he just had to visit this place anyway. He wasn't just fond of alcohol, but also liked listening to the conversations between those who weren't too drunk. If he were lucky, he would find a fun, thrilling work. Often, what he found was just a one-shot job like beating up some thugs and turning them in for money, but he always preferred such thing to boring stuff like working in magic shows. It was clearly more dangerous, but he just loved adrenaline.

Unfortunately, after waiting for ten minutes, he didn't hear anything interesting. He would probably blame the commotion for messing up with his ears, but…well, it was his fault too. If he had stayed closer to the crowd instead of sitting alone at the counter, perhaps his eavesdropping would fare better.

Hmph, it might not worth it. Right now, staying too close to them would only hurt his ears and head, as they kept screaming and slamming their beer mugs and fists onto the table whenever they spoke. They appeared to be too drunk to think straight.

He would rather wander outside and test his luck.

He raised his hand as a gesture to call the bartender. When the barkeep had come, he reached into the pocket on his trousers for money and paid for his wine.

After that, he stood up and walked towards the bar's exit door.


The fortuneteller was walking down the concrete streets with a frown, not caring about the passersby around. She had a hunch that the leader's plan wouldn't work. Sure, in logical sense, having hundreds of well-trained senior mages to blast a meteor was a great plan; however, she wasn't sure of it. She had no reason other than blaming her clairvoyance to back up her feeling.

All of a sudden, she bumped into somebody's stomach. Huh, she was either so short or the person she hit was very tall.

"Ma'am?"

That baritone voice was familiar.

Taking a step backwards while rubbing her head, she looked up. Oh, no wonder. It was Guile. He was over six feet tall and very well-built; he had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and defined muscles, which were visible thanks to his unbuttoned white jacket and being shirtless beneath that piece of clothing.

"Sorry, Sir Guile! I wasn't really paying attention to the street."

"Never mind," Guile replied, smiling. "You don't look as cheery as usual though, ma'am."

"Well, I find that a meteor will hit the Earth in a month. The leader here was skeptical, but he trusted me anyway," the fortuneteller said. "Now, he's planning to gather senior mages, so that he can train them to blast the meteor before it hits us."

Guile looked at the sky, grinning. "Interesting."

"Huh?" The fortuneteller didn't know how to explain how she felt, but something wasn't right with Guile!

"The leader will probably hire me, but I just hate waiting."

"What? Don't tell me that you're going to destroy it by yourself!" the fortuneteller yelled, her eyes widening.

"I will."

"Sir Guile, you are the Rising Star of Magic Guild because your magic power rivals your teachers, but it's always a terrible idea to go alone! The outer space is dangerous, and you don't seem to have prepared for the journey!"

Guile smiled at the fortuneteller. "I never need a plan. I always make it up as I go."

"But it's dangerous out there!"

Guile chuckled. "That's why I like it."

The fortuneteller placed a palm on her face and sighed. "You're pretty stubborn. Are you sure that you can destroy it? With just your magic and your trusty staff?"

Guile nodded.

The fortuneteller gave Guile a stern glare. "Warning you, it's impossible. First, when you leave the atmosphere, you'll get fried up. Second, there's no oxygen up there. Lastly, the meteor is huge! Its size is over a mile in diameter!"

"Impossible? Ma'am, are you aware of who I am?"

"Yes, I do! I've known you for years, so why don't I?" the fortuneteller said in a high-pitched voice. "You're a stubborn but nice, fun-loving magician who happens to be the Rising Star of Magic Guild."

"I am more than a Rising Star, ma'am." Guile's voice grew lower in tone. "Let me tell you something important now. I am Guile the Masked Magician. I am a man of indomitable spirit and masculinity. I do the impossible, break the unbreakable, and beat the unbeatable." He paused. "With my magic," Guile clenched his right fist and raised it to the point his knuckles were facing the sky, before shouting, "I shall smite the heavens!"

The fortuneteller raised an eyebrow. Guile seemed to have gone mad, or was he secretly that nuts all the time? After all, she never managed to truly 'read' him as he knew how to mess up with her clairvoyance.

"I'm setting off," Guile said, leaping into the air before propelling himself higher by flicking his feet. "Later, ma'am."

The fortuneteller shrugged and sighed. She thought it should have been better if she hadn't said anything about the meteor.


Atmosphere and getting fried up?

Flying upwards, Guile sighed at that thought. What inflicted ignition upon something when passing the atmosphere was probably the friction between it and the object.

But why could the incineration occur?

A moment of thinking reminded Guile about the first time he tried to shoot a bolt of blaze by snapping his fingers. If he snapped them quickly, the resulted flame was small; on the other hand, if he were slower, the fire was bigger.

This meant that to go through the atmosphere safely, he had to be extremely fast!

But how? His flying speed was just slightly faster than a hunting bird!

Oh, he could. He was just flying upwards, right? Then he could just blast off by causing a massive explosion below with magic… Hmm, he'd better do that if what beneath him was no longer Magic Guild. Destroying a place for no good reason with magic was against the basic etiquette he had learnt during his days as an apprentice.

Guile swerved and swooped down. Only until his eyes caught verdant view he would stop his dive. Lush ground indicated that he was already away from Magic Guild.

Hovering a few meters above the ground, he cupped his hands behind his back. He frowned and focused on his palms.

Soon, an orb of pure black energy formed on the space between his cupped hands. It grew bigger for each passing second.

When he could feel the heat of the sphere scalding his palms, he thrust his hands downwards and ushered forth a beam of black energy.

Boom!

The explosion left wisps of black smoke and a huge crater below. But most importantly, its force was strong enough to thrust Guile, who was now nothing but a blurry white line in the cerulean sky, upwards.

The color of the sky shifted quickly. It was azure at first, but now, it was dark blue. It was more like nightfall than daytime now.

Soon, the color was black.

At the same time, Guile's vision was blurring slowly as he couldn't breathe.

No oxygen.

But it didn't matter. From this, Guile learnt that he had to be fast if he wished to succeed.

Unfortunately, the thrust's power was fading. He was flying more slowly now.

Oh, crap. Things were hard in space. There was no way he could cause a massive explosion to give a speed boost here, while he had to find and destroy the meteor before the oxygen supply in his body depleted.

Guile flicked his feet, propelling himself ahead. He didn't care about his surroundings. There was nothing interesting with the stars and the Moon. What held his interest was just one: the meteor.

Wait, the Moon? Good stuff! He could blast the surface to give him a strong thrust!

Guile looked left and right, hoping to come across the orbiting moon. Luckily for him, the celestial body was coming to him rather quickly.

He had to calculate properly so that he could land on its surface.

The moon was approaching.

In this close distance, Guile found out that he had actually almost flown past the moon earlier. The surface of the celestial body was just a few feet above his head. This should be easy.

In one perfect, graceful flick of his feet, Guile avoided the moon and then landed on it.

But as his feet touched the cratered surface, he jumped back in shock. Standing on it was like standing on fire.

Hmph, he didn't have to stand there anyway. He only needed the solid surface for a speed boost.

He cupped his hands behind his back. Furrowing his brows, he focused on his palms.

Soon, an orb of pure black energy formed on the space between his cupped hands. It grew bigger for each passing second.

When he could feel the heat of the sphere burning his palms, he thrust his hands downwards and ushered forth a beam of black energy.

His spell left wisps of smoke and etched a new crater on the moon, but there was no sound due to the airless environment.

Who cared about the science of outer space anyway? He had blasted off again.

His eyes were focused ahead. When the strength of the thrust had grown weaker, he had a feeling that he was probably close to the meteor…

Right. He spotted a wide, blurry red object heading towards him slowly. Blur? It appeared that his vision was getting worse. His body was probably running out of oxygen.

He didn't need a perfect sight for it though; instead, he only needed his analytical skill. If something were wide, it meant that the object was close. It wasn't hard to confirm whether it was a meteor or not either. As far as he knew, nothing other than the meteor had such a simple movement: heading straight to him, the Moon, and the Earth.

Guile inserted his right hand into his left sleeve, pulling out his staff afterwards. He needed a stronger spell to destroy the meteor.

Closing his eyes, he held his staff two-handed and assumed the position of a rifle-wielding hunter. Thanks to the silence in space, he could concentrate well despite having to hold his breath.

Soon, what he felt was nothing but a tremendous force pushing him back. He opened his eyes to see if he had successful or not.

Perhaps he had. He didn't see the big red object anymore; instead, there were just some crimson freckles scattered across the space. The distance between him and them were growing larger and larger…

He was successful, and he was going home.


One month later, when Guile entered Magic Guild Tavern for the first time after destroying the meteor, the usually noisy atmosphere became abruptly silent. The regulars were all looking at him, their faces showing signs of awe. Some of them had even begun whispering to their neighbors.

Guile didn't hear what they said, but he had a feeling that they were probably talking about him. Thirty days had passed, and there was no sign of meteors. Also, before he set off, many passersby overheard his 'heaven-smiting' speech and saw his departure. After that, some people, including his fortuneteller friend, found him sleeping soundly on the crater he created. All of these strengthened the fact that he was indeed, the one who destroyed the meteor.

He sauntered up to the bar's counter, sat on the tall stool, and raised his hand as a gesture to call the bartender.

"Y-yes, w-what can I get for you, Sir Guile?"

"Wine, as usual."

"O-okay, w-wait a minute."

When the bartender had gone out of his sight, Guile smirked with his eyes closed.

I am Guile the Masked Magician. I am a man of indomitable spirit and masculinity. I do the impossible, break the unbreakable, and beat the unbeatable. My magic…is the magic that smites the heavens!