al709382@campus.ccm.itesm.mx
A Guide to The Caller's Plight, by Jorge Pratt
Hello, and welcome to the saga I fondly call "Cry of the
Phoenix." This was actually my first published fanfiction, that's
why I hold it dear, and began with my fanfic _The Four Birds of
Fire_.
CotP is basically a Ranma 1/2 story, with heavy crossovers
with such Squaresoft games as the Final Fantasy series and
Chrono Trigger. However, since this is primordially Ranma, I try
to introduce those games' elements as if they were new to the
reader, so you can just take it and read.
I thought up this small guide for those who either don't
know about FF and CT, or those who forgot about/haven't read
TFBOF, just as a small intro for what happens in The Caller's
Plight. If you already know all about FF and CT, you can skip all
the way to the second part of this guide. If you don't, however,
and you also want to know for sure what elements I took from
those games and what I made up myself, read on.
Mainly, this guide's purpose is to prepare you before
reading _The Caller's Plight_. If you read TFBOF, then you will
need little of it. But remember: TCP relies heavily on a
crossover. If you read TFBOF, and you played/know of the games
I used, then you don't need this guide. E-mail me if you have
any doubts.
INDEX
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1. What you need to know about FF and CT before reading TCP.
1.1 The Final Fantasy series
1.2 Chrono Trigger
1.3 Espers I used in TFBOF and TCP
2. The story so far.
3. Influence of TFBOF upon the characters.
3.1 Changes to the regular cast
3.2 New characters
3.3 Minor evolution of regular characters
4. What's what and where's where
4.1 Some of the techniques
4.2 Magicite
4.3 Esper World
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1. What you need to know about FF and CT
Although I attempt to introduce these games' universe to
Ranmaverse, there is some background information you should
have in order to enjoy this story further.
1.1 Final Fantasy
A majestic sci-fi/fantasy RPG series. It combines
a mystical world with space-age technology. Common
traits to all FF games are: the dragon King Bahamut;
airships that look more like flying boats; Elemental
magic; deep drama and character development.
All in all: Play these games, or at least FF3.
Final Fantasy I (1990, NES)
The first FF deals about a world ruled by Four
Elemental Crystals (Air, Water, Fire, Earth) which
are drained of their power by the knight Garland, who
would eventually become the devil Chaos. He is
ultimately defeated by the four Light Warriors of
legend.
Final Fantasy II (1992 SNES)
The world is threatened by a great evil from the
Moon, the Lunarian named Zeromus. The Warriors
eventually use the spaceship called Big Whale to
reach the Moon, meet the wise man FuSoYa and the
knight Golbez, and defeat Zeromus.
Final Fantasy III (1994 SNES)
In ancient times, three great Goddesses of magic were
banished to this world. Their power was so astonishing
they eventually engaged in a War of the Magi. The
unlucky humans caught in the crossfire became
mystic creatures known as Espers, virtual war
machines of pure magic. After the War, the
Goddesses realized their folly and gave the Espers
their free will, but most Espers remained trapped
inside magic stones called Magicite, for over one
thousand years (reminescent of what Jusenkyo does
to the soul of whoever drowned there.)
In the present, the Empire has discovered the Espers
and a way to drain their power in order to create
"super-soldiers" called Magitek Knights. The first
Knight was a man named Kefka, but the process of
infusing him with an Esper's force snapped his mind
and he went insane. He quickly rearranged the face of
the world and developed a god-like, nigh infinite
power. He was defeated by a band of warriors called
the Returners.
Final Fantasy V (Japanese release only)
You only need to know that the villain of this story
is a demonic creature known as Exdeath, whose sole
desire, like Kefka's, is to make everything vanish into
oblivion.
1.2 Chrono Trigger
CT is about time-travel. The main enemy is a Devourer
of Worlds, the creature named "Lavos" (in the game,
one of the characters names it in her own language,
which supposedly gives it the meaning "Big Fire.")
The Lavos _has_ infinite power, period. It was only
defeated by the four characters in the player's party
(of course ^_^.) The means of time-travel is the ship
Epoch, while the creature which grants magic power is
Spekkio, Master of War.
The End of Time is a primordial location for this
game.
1.3 Espers I used in TFBOF and TCP
What follows is a brief description of Espers from
FF3 that are seen throughout TFBOF, and mainly TCP.
Those Espers marked with double asterisk (**) are MY
creations completely. Those marked with one
asterisk (*) are FF3 Espers whose physical shape,
name and powers were created by Squaresoft, but I
gave them a personality and a semi-human name (i.e., I
used the Phoenix Esper but created a completely
original character for him, giving him the name
"Phaeron.")
Espers:
Phoenix--*
Name I gave him: Lael Phaeron
Special skill: Rebirth (recovers target from death)
Appearance: A large Phoenix bird. A young man with
dark hair, a ponytail and whose clothes often have
red, or warm colors.
Seraphim--*
Names I gave her: Laris Brillan/Fiducia Angelum Femina
Special skill: She's an angel. Pick one.
Appearance: Female angel with four wings.
Kirin--*
Name I gave him: Nadir Kishal
Special skill: Lifeguard (gradually restores target)
Appearance: A silver-scaled Kirin. A green-haired
youth with small antlers over the ears.
Unicorn--*
Name I gave him: Terion Anes
Special skill: Heal Horn (recovers from illness)
Appearance: A gold-maned Unicorn. A blond man with
gray/white clothes.
Maduin
Name: Maduin
Special skill: Chaos Wing (attacks with purple
lightning)
Appearance: 7 ft. tall Satyr with wild purple mane.
Phantom
Name: Phantom
Special skill: Not used.
Appearance: Faint blue ghost.
Fenrir--*
Name: Fenrir (I used the same name, just gave him
character)
Special skill: Moon Song (makes multiple illusions of
target)
Appearance: LARGE gray wolf.
Terrato--*
Name: Terrato (same as Fenrir)
Special skill: Earth Aura (Earth-Elemental attack)
Appearance Gigantic bronze cobra
Bahamut--*
Name I eventually gave him: Cinnamon of the Musk
Special skill: Sun Flare (dragon breath)
Appearance: Dark, chromatic dragon.
Palidor--*
Name I gave him: Syrtis Palidor
Special skill: Sonic Dive (carries party on back)
Appearance: Giant, multicolored stork, Young knight
with white wings.
Tritoch
Name: Tritoch
Special skill: TriDazer (Lightning-Fire-Ice attack)
Appearance: Like a scaly archaeopterix, big as a
dragon.
Shiva
Name: Shiva
Special skill: Gem Dust (Ice-elemental attack)
Appearance: Blue-skinned woman
Golem
Name: Golem
Special skill: Earth Wall (defends party)
Appearance: Steam-powered robot
Alexander
Name: Alexandr (not easy to pronounce...)
Special skill: Justice (incinerates enemy)
Appearance: Mix between a mecha and a castle
Nightmare--** (MY creation)
Name: Apeiron Mireillia Nix
Special skill: Unknown
Appearance: Flame-haired black mare. Flame-haired
young woman dressed in ninja garb.
Pegasus--** (Ditto)
Name: Andellia
Special skill: Healing spells of any sort.
Appearance: Pegasus. Brown-haired young woman, with
wings like Palidor's (they're cousins.)
White Phoenix--** (Same here)
Name: Crystallus
Special skill: White Phoenix (restores life)
Appearance: White Phoenix. Crystalline suit of armor a
la Saint Seiya.
Phoenix of Gray--** (This one too)
Name: Coldfire (at first. He gets a new name later.)
Special skill: Unknown
Appearance: Dark phoenix. In human shape, identical to
Phaeron except for the eyes: Phaeron-red, Coldfire-
navy blue.
2. The story so far.
It begins with The Four Birds of Fire. SPOILERS follow, be
warned.
The Four Birds of Fire...
It begins when Akane starts having nightmares about Ranma-
chan dying. After several of them, she begins to realize how
much Ranma has to endure thanks to the curse, and subtly tries
to control her temper while he's female (but she still gets
pretty ticked off, as usual.)
Meanwhile, a mysterious figure arrives at Jusenkyo,
accompanied by a large, white Phoenix. This young man rescues
the monkey-girl that Herb brought back from Nyannichuan, uses a
special technique to awaken the drowned-girl's soul, and
eventually the girl is revealed to be _one_ of the twin sisters
that drowned in Jusenkyo 1500 years ago. Her name was Pandi,
but she now prefers to be called Yuannyan. She's also completely
in mutual love with Herb.
Back in Nerima, just before Ranma and Akane decide to come
to a truce, Nodoka arrives. (The story was set approximately
after vol. 33, so Nodoka still doesn't know.) So, Ranma once more
has to disguise as "Ranko." After a series of incidents that
draw Nodoka closer to Ranko, Mrs. Saotome finally admits that
she considers "her" as her own daughter. Just as Ranko was
crumbling under the pressure of such confession, a hidden Herb
uses the same technique from the mysterious figure to knock
Ranko out, then offers help to Nodoka.
After a few days, Akane and several others decide to give
money to Ranma so he can go back to China for a cure.
(Especially Akane, since she could see how much he suffered for
not being able to tell the truth.) But then the aura of Herb's
technique comes alive. Once Ranma's in the airport, he "talks"
with the spirit of the drowned girl, awakened thanks to the
technique. He decides that if he uses Nannichuan on himself, he
would destroy her spirit, so he doesn't go to China. When he
returns, he has a fight with Ryouga. Not only is Ranma-chan
protected by strange aura-shields that come from nowhere, but
even when he's male the girl's spirit awakens again and he
defeats Ryouga with a special move called "White Touch."
Intrigued by all the happenings, Ranma and Akane ask
Cologne for advice, but she doesn't know about anything except
the White Touch: a master move developed about 1500 years ago,
by a member of the early Joketsuzoku tribe. Eventually, though,
they make an important discovery: the aura shields always
protect Ranma-chan, while they don't even form when he's male.
Back in the Nekohanten, Herb shows up and is drawn into a fight
with Ranma-chan. He ends it by using the strange technique
again, the Mind Blast, and he uses its max power to knock her
unconscious again. Later, he has to explain to Akane, Ukyou and
Shampoo that the one who is creating the shields is the being
known as the Fire Phoenix (to whom Cologne refers as "Third
Phoenix.") When Ranma-chan wakes, up, she is fully convinced she's
really a girl. After a couple of weeks, she shows that she and
Ranma are different people, and that his mind is asleep inside
her (as she used to be in him,) and because of that hot water
won't change her.
Thanks to Herb's actions, Nodoka returns to the dojo and
finds out about the curse, officially accepting Ranma-chan as a
sort of "adoptive daughter." Afterwards, all of the regulars
except the Kunos travel to China to remove the curses. However,
Ranma-chan meets her twin sister, Yuannyan, and they both leap
into Shuanshontsuniichuan (Spring of Drowned Twins) so that
Ranma-chan's body is doubled. Then this double, unconscious, is
splashed with Nannichuan water and Ranma-kun is restored,
completely cured of the curse.
Later, Ranma-chan and Yuannyan explain that they _are_ the
drowned twin sisters, and that their spring was actually split up
in FOUR: Nyannichuan, Shuanshontsuniichuan, and two others. Now,
all four springs have been dried up, so that the twins are
completely free of Jusenkyo.
They also explain about the Phoenix. He was a young man, a
ki-master with virtually no martial arts prowess (Gosunkugi would
beat him,) and he trained alongside the twins until the accident.
But even now, Ranma doesn't want to have anything to do with
Ranma-chan: while she insists on calling him "oniisan" (big
brother) he tries to get her as far away as possible, almost
despising her for all the troubles she caused him.
Back in Japan, while the crew stays at a beachside hotel,
Ranma-chan finally meets up with the Phoenix: a young man, with
dark brown hair, red eyes and a short ponytail, whose favorite
weapon is his staff. His story is as follows:
He was just a shepherder and farmer from a town near
Jerusalem, until he was possessed by a demon called Coldfire. He
eventually traveled to China, where the twins fought and
defeated him. They discovered the truth, so they split him apart
from Coldfire and released him --unwillingwly releasing Coldfire
into a body of his own. The young man quickly became a very
close friend of the twins, training with them and helping them
develop diverse techniques (Hiryuu shoten-ha was created by the
sisters, who in turn taught it to him.) But they had to
constantly fight Coldfire. One day, while the youth was away,
Coldfire ambushed the girls and tossed them into an uncursed
spring at Jusenkyo. They drowned. When their friend came back,
he was so _ENRAGED_ he fought and defeated Coldfire, tossing
him into the pool as well, then dove in himself as he tried to
save the twins. But then the spring was confused at having so
many people inside it, so it captured the girls' souls and tossed
him and Coldfire into a place called the World of Balance (FF3's
world.) There they both became Espers: Phoenix and Phoenix of
Gray, although neither knew the other was on the same planet.
After Kefka was defeated, and magic disappeared from World of
Ruin (the apocalyptic world created by Kefka's destruction,) the
Espers vanished to their own planet, Esper World. There, Phoenix
was given the name "Phaeron," and he also met the angel
Seraphim, his best friend Crystallus and his adoptive brother
Palidor. However, Phaeron had been trapped in Magicite stone for
over a thousand years, enduring the same pain as the twins.
When he was released, and arrived on Esper World, he was given
the chance to check up on the girls thanks to Seraphim's
influence. When he finally managed to find Earth, five hundred
years later, he travelled here and restored Yuannyan, then
directly caused Ranma-chan's awakening as well.
All of the regulars meet Phaeron, who attends Furinkan
because he still wants to "check up" on Ranma-chan and "look
over" her. He helps Ranma accept her as his sister, and both
Ranmas instantly become the closest of siblings.
However, soon there is another threat. Coldfire has also
returned, and he subtly attacks the group in order to lure out
Ranma-chan and Phaeron. First he sends a shape-shifting
creature, a Doppleganger, to impersonate Akane and attack
Ryouga. Ranma-chan saves him when the Doppleganger takes her
own shape to fight Ryouga. Then they realize Coldfire is back,
and Ranma-chan gets _MAD_ at Phaeron for not telling her. They
become distant, which gives Coldfire the chance to finally attack
directly. Leading a group of powerful creatures, Coldfire finds
and captures Ranma-chan and Akane, taking them to the World of
Ruin. All other regulars follow. There they meet three of the
Returners who defeated Kefka: Locke, Celes and Setzer (a thief,
a female warrior and a gambler.) Phaeron also presents the cast
to his friend Crystallus, who has the ability to become a living
suit of crystal armor.
While the two Espers and the Nerima cast develop a
strategy to attack, Ranma-chan wakes up in Coldfire's citadel.
She is lead to believe that Akane has been killed, and Ranma-
chan is deeply hurt to such point she is dead-set on
_murdering_ Coldfire. Fortunately, Akane was safe, and when
Ranma-chan finds her she is happily relieved. Together, the two
girls look for a way out of the citadel's labyrinthine corridors.
All the fighters, aboard Setzer's airship "Falcon," leave
towards the citadel on top of the Star-Peak Mountain (which _is_
shaped as a five-armed star.) They fight their way inside, but a
trapdoor splits up the party. Kuno and Kodachi fight a massive
ninja who rivals Kuno's stupidity and ego; Shampoo and Mousse
fight an enemy who uses the light and mirrors inside his chamber
as his means to attack, which leads to Shampoo realizing she
cares a bit about Mousse; Ryouga and Ukyou fight a gruesome,
shapeless beast known as Desperor, who feeds off despair and
depression (and is made stronger by Ryouga's Shishi hokodan.)
Meanwhile, Ranma and Phaeron find Akane and Ranma-chan, and the
four of them break out of the citadel. There they fight Coldfire,
but then he uses a trap to split them up again: Phaeron has to
fight the Doppleganger, who has taken Ranma-chan's shape; Akane
and Ranma face Overlord, a highly-intelligent, highly-skilled ki-
master whose eventual rage earns his utter defeat. Ranma-chan
is nearly killed by Coldfire, but Crystallus saves her and covers
her body in his guise as Crystal Armor, since they both believe
Phaeron has been killed by the Doppleganger. Eventually, the
entire cast comes out of the citadel, so Coldfire uses his
Magicite rocks to summon the gigantic Tritoch. This beast
swallows Ranma-chan, but then Seraphim shows up, thanks to
Crystallus, and revives her after healing the other characters.
But when Ranma-chan stands inside Tritoch's beak, forcing it open
so it doesn't swallow her again, Coldfire takes advantage of her
plight and flies up for the kill. Phaeron finally comes back and
saves her life. Eventually, Ranma-chan and Phaeron team up
against Coldfire (the others, except Ranma and Akane, were
knocked out by one of Coldfire's attacks.) The battle is pretty
even, until Coldfire knocks out Phaeron and catches Ranma-chan
in a fatally-vulnerable position. Coldfire then thrusts the ki-
charged claws on his gauntlets to skewer her front to back.
Ranma-chan is on the verge of death, she ends up in a
place called the Gates: a great forest that links this dimension
to Heaven. She nearly accepts to die and go inside the Light,
butSeraphim stops her and Ranma-chan reconsiders.
Meanwhile, Ranma, Akane and Ukyou try to keep her from
dying while the others make pur馥 out of Coldfire. Phaeron wakes
up, then uses an Esper sword, Ragnarok, to turn himself to
Magicite. The trio use the Magicite's Rebirth power to bring
Ranma-chan back to life, though unconscious, then Crystallus
knocks himself out when he tries to release Phaeron from the
Magicite. Then, as most fighters (including Ranma) surround
Coldfire for a final attack, Phaeron wakes up and remembers that
whenever Coldfire is surrounded, with no hope of winning, he
destroys himself so he can kill anyone else in the region. So,
Phaeron stops him and sacrifices himself to save the others,
destroying Coldfire and himself with the destructive spell of
Ultima. When the others are safe aboard the airship, Phaeron's
Magicite shatters in Ranma-chan's hands, and he dies.
Two weeks later, as a way to release herself from the
grief, Ranma-chan leaves the Tendo dojo to spend a few weeks in
China, with her twin sister (who lives at the palace of the Musk
Dynasty.) When she's leaving, Ranma accepts from his heart that
she's really his sister. Thanks to a run-in with Kuno, they
discover that Phaeron's spirit still protects Ranma-chan through
hemispherical ki-shields: the Crystal Domes. Ranma-chan is happy
that he still looks over her. Later, Seraphim picks her up, but
Ranma only finds a white feather lying on the street...
Now, three years later, Akane and Ranma have accepted
their feelings. Everyone else is also finding a couple. But
Ranma-chan is alone. She develops a technique she christens "The
Caller," with which she tries to bring Phaeron back to life. What
she doesn't know, though, is that the Caller kills anyone who
uses it...
And thus, the second installment of "Cry of the Phoenix"
begins... with _The Caller's Plight_. It picks up exactly where
TFBOF leaves off: when Ranma-chan's Caller reaches its last
stage and Phoenix' aura engulfs the Nerima ward. Does she die?
Does she bring Phaeron back? Read TCP and find out...
3. Influence of TFBOF upon the characters.
Although most characters remain exactly as they were
before TFBOF, there are a few small evolutions you should be
aware of before reading TCP.
3.1 Changes to the regular cast
These are not many:
-Ranma and Ranma-chan are different people, and they
think of each other as siblings.
-Herb is engaged to Yuannyan.
-Nodoka is now a regular character, and she also
lives at the Tendos'.
3.2 New characters introduced in TFBOF
Phaeron/Phoenix Esper--
Confident, always smirking, has hidden feelings
for one of the regulars. Always helps those who need
him, and is very deeply protective about the twins:
since he blamed himself for the accident, he always
defends them, and gets pretty pissed whenever
someone hurts the twins either physically or
emotionally --he nearly lost control when Ranma
insulted Ranma-chan. Plus, he is very, VERY shy about
seeing the twins in the nude, especially Ranma-chan.
Overall: Friendly, sometimes introverted, always
tries to look at the positive side.
Yuannyan--
Ranma-chan's twin sister, a few minutes younger.
Unlike her sibling, Yuannyan is pretty peaceful and
has the innocence of a child, sometimes acting
childlike. Although she's good at martial arts, she's
only about Akane's level and prefers to use the
healing spells Phaeron taught her. She's almost always
soothing out conflicts, giving her a Kasumi-like
charisma and inner glow. Like Ranma-chan, she is VERY
strong-willed. She's deeply in love with Herb, since
he's the one who used the monkey that released her
from Jusenkyo.
Her original name was Pandi, but prefers the
name Herb gave her, "Yuannyan" or "monkey girl."
Overall: Mix Ranma-chan with Kozue from Maison
Ikkoku and you get Yuannyan's character.
Crystallus--
Sober, serious and sometimes laconic. Phaeron's
best Esper friend. Despite his usual stern demeanor,
he never passes up the chance to mock Phaeron. Being
born as a bird, he is intrigued about the humans' lack
of innocence regarding nudity, and given Phaeron's
timidness towards the twins' he always makes fun of
this situation.
Overall: Crystallus is wise, but with limits.
Always helps Phaeron or his friends, and he knows
about Phaeron's feelings...
Laris Brillan/ Fiducia Angelum Femina/Seraphim--
She's an angel, period, even if she does have
four wings. She considers Phaeron as her little
brother, even while her angelic character makes her
call everyone "brother" or "sister." Since she knows
about Phaeron's deepest feelings, she is very
protective of him and Ranma-chan. She also finds it
funny that humans act strangely around nudity. Given
her Latin name, her motto might very well be: Have
faith.
Overall: She's perfect, although she can still
become sad or even angry. Her inner strength is
surpassed by only another angel...
Coldfire--
Phaeron's polar opposite. Everything Phaeron
likes, he hates. Whomever Phaeron loves, Coldfire vows
to destroy. Vicious, angry and without the slightest
bit of remorse, Coldfire is made of Evil. He especially
has a deep-rooted hatred towards Ranma-chan, a
hatred that was born when she split him apart from
Phaeron.
Overall: A human possessed by a demon. Don't get
in his way.
Dopplegangers--
Creatures that can shape-shift, even if they
haven't met the people they impersonate. This is
because they first establish a mental connection with
their prey, in order to know its weaknesses. For
example, they might impersonate a loved one, or your
worst enemy.
Overall: Magical beasts of evil alignment. Not
demons, but pretty nasty nonetheless.
I also introduced four of FF3's characters, the
Returners and Kefka:
Locke Cole--
Master thief, although he prefers the term "treasure
hunter." Good-spirited, adventurous, the typical hero.
In the game, he's the one who uncovered the Phoenix
Magicite from its imprisonment below the earth. He's
slowly falling in love with the next Returner.
Celes Cher��� -
Like Kefka, she was a Magitek Knight. She's strong of
heart, mind and body, always seeking rightneousness
and justice. She's very powerful, and in love with
Locke.
Setzer Gabianni--
A silver-haired, elegant man. Gambling is his life, and
he is the possessor of the only airship in the world.
Brash, sometimes overconfident and too dashing for
his own good, he once loved the woman Darryl, but she
died in an airship accident.
Kefka--
Insane. Power-mad. Power-hungry. Sadistic.
Egocentrical. Typical villain, but this villain has
godlike powers and has no restrain to use them.
3.3 Minor evolution of regular characters
Something to point out is that, at the beginning of
TCP, nobody has a Jusenkyo curse.
Ranma: Same as always, but loves his sister very much
and is protective of her. Once, he almost
admitted he loves Akane, but forgot about it.
Ranma-chan: She is almost the same as Ranma, but has
matured more rapidly. She is now aware of the
value of loved ones and death, and has learned
to be patient (not much, though.) After all, the
Ranma-chan from TCP already has the mind of a
nineteen year-old. Thus, she _has_ grown. Also,
thanks to the incident when she thought Akane
was dead, she calls her "oneechan" and readily
admits that Akane _is_ like her sister, and
loves her as such.
Akane: Has also grown slightly closer to Ranma-chan,
and accepts, amused, to be called "oneechan" by
her. Aside from that, she's pretty much the
same.
Ryouga: The only change is that, since Ranma-chan
saved his life, he has begun to consider her a
friend, although he's reluctant to stop
considering her as an opponent.
Shampoo: She almost began to love Mousse, but an
incident that had Mousse blindly glomping onto
Kodachi made her forget the idea.
Mousse: Didn't really change.
Genma: You actually expect him to change?
Nodoka: Accepts Ranma-chan as a daughter and is very
close to her. She even fought Coldfire when he
kidnapped Akane and Ranma-chan.
Herb: Is in love with Yuannyan, and is also less shy
towards women thanks to her.
Any other new characters will be introduced during TCP. So far,
those mentioned above were the ones already seen in TFBOF.
4. What's what and where's where
4.1 Some of the techniques you should know about, since
they are first mentioned in TFBOF
White Touch--
It has three steps:
1) Concentrate your innermost ch'i (ki) on your palm (s)
(in more advanced versions, you can cover your
body with it)
2) Touch something with it.
3) Whatever or whoever you touched will be instantly
forced away as the ch'i bursts out.
The main function of this technique, as opposed to ki
shots, is not to harm somebody with the blast, but
simply push away with a tremendous force (of course,
if there's a wall in your way when you're blasted...
Gray Touch--
1) Concentrate cool ch'i on your palm(s) or body.
2) Touch something with it.
3) Pull your ch'i back.
4) Whatever or whoever you touched will be drained,
as your ch'i pulls their own and sucks it out.
It's another self-defense technique which causes
no physical harm.
The Four Birds of Fire--
They're all based on emotions.
BlueBird: Based on friendship.
RedBird: Based on ????. (That's four letters.)
WhiteBird: Based on hope.
GoldBird: Based on confidence & determination.
There's also a fifth, mysterious bird...
LightBird: Based on ?????????.
They can be summoned as:
a) Bird-shaped ki-blasts the size of boulders.
b) Color-coded aura fields around your body, in order
to bolster your ch'i.
Aura shields & Crystal domes--
Project your ch'i outwards, shaping a solid wall,
sphere or hemisphere, as a barrier against almost any
attack. If the shield is damaged, though, it would hurt
your mind directly.
Blazing Bullet, Comet Flare, Phoenix Flare--
Surround your body in ch'i and use it to propel forward
at
lightning speed. The BB is the first stage, then the
Comet
Flare. The Phoenix Flare makes its first appearance in
TCP.
Demolish--
An exploding aura shield. Think Akira, low-power
version that only reaches a radius of a few feet.
Ultima--
Tidal wave of destructive energy. Very few things can
withstand it, and sometimes it kills the user.
Random Fist and White Tornado--
Phaeron's techniques, the Random Fist is flung blindly
and is about one tenth (or less) of the Amaguriken's
speed. White Tornado is a full-body version of the
Hiryuu shoten-ha (spreading your limbs in all
directions,) but not as powerful.
Bird of Prey--
Coldfire's counter to the Four Birds.
Stellar Crash--
Coldfire's self-destruction technique, it kills anyone
and anything within a seventy five-meter radius.
4.2 Magicite
Magicite is the rock which imprisons Esper
souls.
It looks like an hexagonal emerald with a ruby
embedded in its center. When an Esper dies
unnaturally, its essence is trapped inside a Magicite.
Whoever has control of the Magicite can command the
Esper by shouting the creature's special skill out
loud (i.e., "Palidor Magicite, Sonic Dive!")
Magicite is very cruel. It contains the
_conscious_ spirit, keeping its mind alive, healthy and
sane. You can imagine what it's like to have your mind
trapped inside a rock for a millenium, without ever
being able to go insane. In a way, it's like Jusenkyo
(the springs also capture and nourish the mind and
spirit of whoever drowned in them.)
If an Esper escapes its Magicite, it is still
linked to it and can be summoned. However, if a
Magicite _shatters_ while the Esper is inside, it dies.
That's what happened to Phaeron/Phoenix at the end of
TFBOF.
4.3 Esper World.
Although I invented all of Esper World, these are the
locales that I borrowed from FF and CT:
Phantom Forest: Home of ghosts and the Phantom
Train, which takes the departed to "the Other Side."
Black Omen: Final fortress in Chrono Trigger, it
trascends time and space (read: It can be found
anywhere, and anyplace in time.) It's filled with the
most advanced of technology in intruder dispatchment.
Serpent Trench: Long, underground and underwater
tunnel.
The End of Time: In Chrono Trigger, you could find the
Guru of Time here. In TCP, you find Somebody Else (a
Special Somebody that _NO ONE_ created. Get my drift
;) ?)
So, by now you should be completely ready to begin reading
TCP. Tomorrow I'll post the first sections of this 2.4 MB
monster.
Have fun!
The TerBril
(who invites you to read TFBOF, then this guide, and then TCP so
you can get the most out of it.)