Crono Crossover: The Funhouse

Episode One

Day One:

"Crono...

"Crono!"

Crono woke up to see Marle at the side of his bed, looking down at him. "Come on, Crono, get up! If you don't get up soon, we'll be late!"

Crono rolled over and snuggled in the blankets.

Marle put her hands on her hips. "If you don't get up now, I'll go get Ayla to wake you up!"

Crono got up.

o-o-o-o

The bubba dingo charged at Leena. Calmly, she took her frying pan and bopped the dingo on the head, knocking it out.

As she continued through the pass, she fumed. "That Serge! Can't he ever get up on time? Well, if he misses starting time, that's his problem!"

o-o-o-o

"Why didn't you wake me?" Serge asked his mom as he hurriedly finished packing.

"I tried to, dear, but you kept saying, `five more minutes'."

"Well, you could have reminded me what day it was!"

Even as she helped him pack, she commented, "...I still think this Funhouse thing is a silly idea."

"Tell Leena that! Still, there's no way I'm going to go for a month without seeing her." He slammed the suitcase shut. "Wish me luck!" He picked up the suitcase and ran out the door.

o-o-o-o

Leena was astonished by the strange cast of characters who had assembled for the Funhouse. The three people who caught her eye the most were a frog demi-human, what appeared to be a fat man completely encased in armor, and a woman scantily clad in furs. Also waiting in Norstein Bekkler's lobby were three teenagers, approximately the same age as Leena and Serge: a boy with spiked red hair, a orange-blonde haired girl, and a girl with glasses and a helmet. Compared to the first three, these three seemed normal, but when she looked closely, Leena realized that not only was their clothing in the mainland style, but it seemed a bit old fashioned.

Leena set her luggage down, and continued studying this eccentric group. The two girls were deep in conversation, and the boy stood nearby, listening but not commenting. For a moment his silence reminded her of Serge, but she soon realized the two boys were quite different. Serge usually had a sad, yet somehow still innocent look to him, which intrigued her. In contrast, this boy was calm and confident, as if he felt nothing in the world could possibly harm him.

Leena turned her attention to the others. The fat armored guy stood perfectly still, gazing straight ahead. Leena wondered if there was really even anyone in the suit of armor, or if it was just something Bekkler had picked up.

The frog's expression was hard to read, but she thought he looked a bit uncomfortable. As for the woman in fur, she was pacing around the room restlessly.

Well, thought Leena, I'm going to need to get to know these people sooner or later, seeing as we'll be spending the month together... She gulped. What have I gotten myself into?

Not wanting to interrupt the girls' conversation, she walked over to the pacing woman. The woman stopped pacing and looked at her.

Leena introduced herself. "Hello, I'm Leena. I'm here to stay in the Funhouse. What about you?"

The woman smiled. "I stay in Funhouse too! I Ayla." She beat her chest with one fist as she said her name.

Her grammar is atrocious! Leena thought. "Hello, Ayla," she said.

Then Ayla stepped uncomfortably close to Leena, and sniffed. "You smell good. Like flower."

"Er... thank you." Leena tried to hide her surprise at Ayla's actions. Leena hadn't really liked the look of this woman to start with (good girls just didn't dress that way) and now Leena was even more uncomfortable. Excusing herself, she went to talk with the others.

She next introduced herself to the frog. She wasn't one to condemn someone for their appearance, but she had still heard tales of how wild and primitive demi-humans could be, so she was pleasantly surprised when the frog politely responded, "A pleasure to make thine acquaintance, fair maiden. Though 'tis not my true name, I am oft referred to as `Frog.' Thee may also address me thusly, if it pleases thee."

Leena was so caught off guard by this response she was speechless. Finally, she stammered, "W-well, I suppose I could call you that... if you want me to..."

Frog shrugged. "Thee might as well. 'Tis a fitting appellation."

"Well, nice to meet you, Frog."

Frog turned to look at his companions. "Perhaps I shouldst introduce thee to the others. Ayla thee hast already met..."

"That's right. Is she a friend of yours?"

"Truly, though 'tis an odd friendship..."

"I can imagine. No offense, but she really is a bit strange."

Frog nodded. "Aye, she doth often act in a most inappropriate manner. However, 'tis not her fault. She doth come from a far-off land, where customs vary greatly from our own. In that land they have little concept of manners or modesty. Thee must thus look beyond such things to see her truly."

"I'll keep that in mind." Leena couldn't imagine where Ayla could have possibly come from. Maybe some distant island that civilization had yet to reach?

Frog interrupted her musings. "Come, I shall introduce thee to Robo." He led Leena over to the fat suit of armor. "Robo, this fair maid is Leena, of Arni Village."

Robo bowed. "Greetings Mistress Leena. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Once again Leena was shocked by the stranger's politeness. This time she recovered quickly, and responded, "The pleasure's all mine."

She looked him up and down, and commented, "Pardon me, Mister Robo, but I've never seen armor quite like yours before."

"There is no need to call me `Mister'. Robo will do. As for my armor, it is understandable you have not seen it before: my armor was custom made."

"I see. Do you plan on wearing it in the Funhouse?"

"Affirmative."

"But... isn't it a bit uncomfortable?"

"Negative. I am a robot- I am incapable of feeling discomfort. Furthermore, the armor is very well made- if I were capable of such sensations, I am certain I would find it most comfortable."

Leena was taken aback. "What did you say you were?"

"I am an R Series robot."

"A robot? What's that?"

"The term robot can refer to any machine capable of independent movement, but in this case I use it in its' more specific form, to mean a machine built in humanoid form and given artificial intelligence."

Frog explained, "He is a machine brought to life. I at first assumed there was some sorcery involved, but he has since informed me that he is merely a product of advanced science, if thee canst believe such a thing."

"Amazing."

Frog then took Leena over to Crono and the girls. "Pardon me. I would like to introduce to you this young lady, who shall be joining us in the Funhouse. Her name is Leena."

"Hello, Leena."

"Nice to meet you."

Crono nodded in acknowledgment.

Frog continued, "Leena, this is Lucca, Marle, and Sir Crono."

Lucca said, "Frog, I thought I told you not to call him that here!"

"Err... yes, I forgot."

Marle sighed. "At least he remembered to call me Marle."

Leena gave them a strange look. "What else would he call her?"

Lucca scowled at Marle. Marle said, "Uh... That's a long story. I'll tell you some other time."

A little while later, Norstein Bekkler entered the Lobby. "Welcome, welcome. I assume you're all here for the Funhouse? Please come sign in. I see not all the players have arrived yet; we shall wait a little while to give them a chance to arrive before we begin the game."

As they were signing in, a man walked in. "I hope I am not late."

"No, you're right on time, Pierre" Bekkler assured him. "Come over here and sign in."

Leena studied him. Leena couldn't help but admire his handsome face... but his clothes were another matter. He was dressed outlandishly, like a noble with bad taste. He wore a wide-brimmed blue hat with a long feather, a blue jacket, a tunic that was long enough to pass as a skirt, bright green hose, boots, and gloves. He carried himself with such a self-important air that Leena took an immediate disliking to him.

After he had signed in he said in a loud enough voice for all to hear, "Bonjour. I am sure you all have heard of me, but in case you haven't, I am zee famous hero Pierre." He looked around at the others. "Quite an odd assortment here, oui? Well I suppose I should not be surprised... the promise of money always seems to attract riff-raff."

Lucca whispered to Marle, "He must be referring to himself." Marle giggled at this.

Pierre continued, "I warn zose of you with dishonorable motives, I shall be watching you, so don't try anything funny. Ladies, don't worry, I'll keep you safe."

Marle whispered to Lucca, "Oh, my hero!" They both giggled.

Meanwhile, Robo spoke to Frog. "Frog, have you observed Mister Pier's clothing?"

"Aye, most outlandish."

"Did you notice the medal he wears?"

Frog looked more carefully, then gasped. "The Hero's medal!"

"Affirmative."

Frog croaked unhappily. "If the Hero's Medal has fallen to such a one as he, I greatly fear for the fate of the Masamune..."

Next to arrive were a teenage boy and girl. The girl wore a short skirt and a vest, both red; gloves, boots, and a tight shirt that exposed her midriff. In a strange contrast, though, she also had her blonde hair in a ponytail tied with many pink ribbons.

The boy wore even less than the girl- a loincloth, a vest, gloves, and some sort of white tape wrapped around his feet.

Bekkler welcomed them, and they signed in.

As the girl signed in, the boy looked around. "Strange bunch here, don't 'cha think?"

The girl finished signing, and looked at the other player. "I suppose so, Korcha. Hey is that-? I can't believe they're here, now!"

The girl ran over to where Leena, Lucca, and Marle were talking. "Marle! Lucca! Crono! What're you blokes doin' here?"

The three stared at her. Marle asked, "Do we know you?"

The girl paused. "Good question. Have you been to the Kingdom of Zeal yet?"

The three glanced at each other.

Lucca adjusted her glasses. "And what do you know about the Kingdom of Zeal?"

"Quite a bit, actually. I did use to live there, after all."

Marle burst out, "But Zeal was destroyed, thousands of years ago!"

The girl shrugged. "So? The three gurus survived, didn't they? So did my brother, for that matter."

Lucca's eyes widened. "I thought there was something familiar about you... Your brother... His name wouldn't happen to be Janus, would it?"

The girl nodded. "You got it."

Marle gasped, "But that would mean, you're..."

The girl nodded again and smiled. "That's right. Princess Schala, Heir to the long forgotten throne of Zeal."

"Schala! I can't believe you managed to escape the Ocean Palace. Thank goodness!" Marle ran to her and gave her a hug.

Schala smiled at this. "By the way, please call me Kid. That's what I go by these days."

Trying to follow the conversation, Leena asked, "You know her?"

Lucca nodded. "She's an old friend."

Releasing Kid, and regaining her composure, Marle asked, "But, how did you escape the Ocean Palace? And what's with the new look?"

"Well, that's a long story... and I'm not sure here and now is the right place and time to tell it. For now, let's just say, I managed to escape, but I had to change myself a bit to do it..."

Then she caught everyone by surprise by rushing to Lucca and giving her a hug. "I've missed you so much, Sis!"

"Sis?" Lucca and Marle wondered.

"I'll explain later," Kid said, still holding on to Lucca. Lucca reluctantly hugged her back.

After a few minutes, Kid finally released Lucca. Cocking her head, she asked, "Say, doesn't my brother normally hang out with you guys?"

Marle blinked. "How did you know that? For that matter, how did you know he survived?"

"I'll explain that later too," Kid promised.

Marle said, "Yeah, Ma- I mean, Janus has came with us on some of our adventures." She frowned. "He's in this time period right now, off looking for you. We don't really have any way of getting in contact with him though..."

Kid frowned as well. "Damn. I'm really anxious to see him... But I also was hoping to be a part of this game." She put her hand to her chin in thought.

o-o-o-o

A little while later, Serge finally arrived. "About time!" Leena commented.

After he had signed in, Leena began introducing him to everybody. But when he saw Kid, his eyes widened. "Kid? What're you doing here?"

She laughed. "What, can't a girl have some fun every now and then? I figured, we just saved the world, we deserve a vacation."

Leena stared at them. "You know her, too?"

"Yeah, this is the girl I told you about, the one who helped me out when I ended up in the other world."

"But, that was only a dream!"

Kid smiled. "More like a nightmare. Luckily for the world, Serge and I put an end to it!"

Leena was now very confused.

Noticing Korcha, Serge asked, "Hey, you're in this too, Korcha?"

"Yeah, Kid convinced me. But how do you know me?"

"Oh, yeah, it was the other Korcha that helped me out."

Kid shook her head. "There is no other world any more. Both versions of the world were combined. But you and I are the only ones that remember either of the old versions- or our adventures."

"Oh."

Serge turned back to Leena. "What did you mean by `too'?"

Leena explained, "Kid already knew some of the other players."

"Oh, yeah, that's right!" Kid exclaimed. "Serge, I'd like to introduce you to some old friends of mine. This is Crono, Marle, and Lucca."

Serge gave a start at that last name. He looked at her, then at Kid. "Lucca? But wasn't that the name of...?"

"Yeah. Long story. I'll explain later. For now, let me introduce you to the others."

But, just then, a woman's voice rang out. "Oh, zee rest of you are already here? Zen I arrived just in time."

Leena couldn't help but stare at the girl- she was the strangest of all the contestants yet. She was dressed like a court jester or a clown, even down to white face-paint with a tear below her right eye. But unlike most jesters and clowns, she wore transparent blue harem pants.

"Bonjour, mon adversaries. I am Harle, but you may call me `ze winner.`"

As she walked over to the desk to sign in, she swung her hips in a seductive fashion. Leena turned to Serge, and noticed him watching her intently.

"What are you looking at?" Leena asked with her hands on her hips.

"Huh? Oh, she's another one of the people I met on my adventure... but I thought she was dead!"

Kid reminded him, "That was a different course of history, remember?"

"But if she's still alive, then..."

"That's right, Lynx is also alive."

Serge looked frightened. "You mean, we're going to have to go through all that again?"

"You mean fighting over the Frozen Flame? That'd be pointless- it was destroyed with the Time Devourer. Of course, I'd still like to kick his arse to the moon for what he did to Sis, but that's personal. Ya don't need to come along if ya don't want ta."

"Hey, you're my friend. We should stick together." Serge added hesitantly, "...Although, he was my father before FATE took control of him. If there was some way to change him back..."

Kid frowned. She hadn't considered that complication before. She wondered if it would be possible to restore Serege's father to his old self? If it was, she might have to put aside her vengeance for Serge's sake...

When Harle was done signing in, she walked over to Serge. "Oo la la. You must be zis 'Serge' Monsieur Lynx 'as told me so much about. You are even more 'andsome zen I imagined."

Leena and Kid scowled at her.

Leena told her, "Don't get any ideas. He's my boyfriend."

Kid folded her arms and demanded, "Where is he, Harle?"

"Whom would you be talking about?"

"Lynx, of course."

Harle raised an eyebrow and said, "I am afraid I have not seen him lately."

"Ya expect us to believe that? You're like his shadow. Where he goes, you go."

Harle shook her head. "I am sad to say Monsieur Lynx and I 'ave 'ad -'ow you say- a 'falling out'. It all 'appened a few months ago. We were preparing to set ze trap for Serge 'ere, when all of a sudden, Monsieur Lynx went, -'ow you say— 'crazy'! He said zat ze Frozen Flame 'ad been destroyed, and he lost all 'is ambition. I 'ave been forced to continue my search for ze Flame alone since zen."

"I see. So he sensed it. That makes things easier. Just so you know, Harle, he was right. The bloody Flame has been destroyed."

"Impossible! Such a t'ing cannot be true. I 'ave worked all my life to find ze flame, and I will not give up, whatever you say!"

Kid's eyes softened. "I know what you are, Harle. You should be able to sense the Flame's destruction too. Listen to your heart."

Harle scowled at her. "And what would you know about such tings?"

"Trust me."

Just then, Norstein Bekkler interrupted them. "Well, now that you're all here, we can start the game."

As Bekkler flew over to his desk and picked up a sheet of paper, Marle asked Kid, "So, have you decided what you're going to do?"

Kid nodded. "I'm going to play this game for now, and I'll look for my brother when the game is over or I'm out. We've both waited so long, a few more weeks isn't going to hurt anything." She looked a little uncertain, like she wasn't sure she was making the right decision.

Bekkler returned to the group, and said, "I have sorted your registrations, and randomly placed each of you in one of the two teams. The only criteria I used to determine your placement was that there should be an equal number of men and women in each group. Um, incidentally, I counted Robo as male, even though robots have no gender.

"I'm going to tell you who is on which team now. Team one, please stand to my left, team two to my right. Alright then... Crono, you're in team one."

Crono walked over to Bekkler's left.

"Frog, you are in team two."

Frog went over to Bekkler's right.

"Lucca, team one."

Lucca joined Crono. "Nice to see we'll be staying together."

Crono nodded.

Bekkler continued, "Marle, team two."

"Aww, man! I wanted to be in the same team as Crono and Lucca!"

Bekkler spread his hands apologetically. "Sorry, as I said, the choices were random."

Marle sighed. As she walked over to Frog, Frog tried to comfort her. "Fear not. Whilst it is unfortunate that we shall be separated from our comrades, I shall be honored to serve on the same team as you, my lady."

Bekkler cleared his throat. "Continuing, Robo, you're in team one. Korcha? Team two. Ayla, team one. Kid, two."

Korcha breathed a sigh of relief when Kid joined his team. "Glad we ended up together."

Bekkler continued, "Serge, one. Pierre, two. Leena, one." Serge also breathed a sigh of relief- the only reason he'd entered the game was to spend time with Leena. "And finally, of course, Harle, you go to team two."

Kid rolled her eyes. "That figures."

After a slight pause, Bekkler told them, "When I say "go", you will pass through that door," he said, gesturing to the gate at the back of the room, "and enter my maze. At the end of the maze lies your living quarters. The first group to get all its' members to the goal will win the right to choose which of the two sets of living quarters they wish to stay in for the rest of the game. In addition, tomorrow that team will have the opportunity to win six points- that's six hundred GP- for their team.

"Now, before you begin, I wish to set down some house rules. Once you have settled down in your apartments, you may leave them whenever you wish. However, not much of the Funhouse will be open to you at the beginning of the game.

"If you wish, you may let members of the other team into your rooms, however, only six people can sleep in one set of apartments at a time, and prior to every night spent in the other team's apartments, you must spend two consecutive nights in your own.

"In the center of the living area is the Dare Room- this is where you shall gather each day before performing your challenges and dares. It shall be constantly monitored at all times, so if any point you wish to forfeit the game, head to the dare room and call out that you give up. My staff will come to escort you out. If for some reason, you can not get to the dare room, tell one of the other players, or any of my staff. If someone tells you they wish to forfeit, report it in the dare room: failing to do so will be punished.

"Furthermore, the dare room is where you should go if you need a rule clarified- myself or my staff should be on hand to answer any questions you might have, just call out.

"Each week, each team will be provided with an allotment of food for their cupboards, which must last you the week, unless you win the right to use the cafeteria. If you run out of food, we shall provide you with enough to keep you from starving, but only just, so it might be wise to ration your food.

"You shall undoubtedly wish your clothes washed- place your soiled clothes in the team hamper, and my staff will take care of it. However, keep in mind, the staff shall only be handling the laundry once a day- if you run out of clean clothes after the laundry has been delivered, you shall have to wait until the next day to get any clean clothes back.

"We would ask that you all abide by the law, and play fairly. If you wish, you may spar with each other, but please refrain from actual fighting. Anyone we feel is a threat to the other players' life or health shall be removed from the house, and any illegal acts conducted in here shall be reported to the Dragoons.

"Finally, I wish to assure you that we are working in full cooperation with the Acacia Dragoons to ensure the complete safety of these game. All of our contests meet General Viper's most stringent safety rules, and all contests and any dangerous dares shall be closely monitored. Inside these walls, you have nothing to fear but fear itself...

"Any questions?"

Harle raised her hand. "Yes, moi has a question."

"Yes, Harle?"

"Why is it you have no body?"

Bekkler blinked. "I meant, a question about the game."

"Oh. Never mind."

Bekkler looked around. "Anyone else have any questions? No? All right, then. In that case, I would like to introduce to you the creator of this game, the immortal God of Time himself, Chronos!"

There was a flash of blue light, and standing before them was a feline demi-human. His fur was tan, with black tiger stripes, but he also had a lion's mane, made of long, glowing blue hair. Perhaps the most startling thing about him, though, was that he wore only a denim jacket, left open. Marle and Lucca blushed, and Leena, Korcha, and Pierre made faces of disgust.

Harle burst out, "Oo la la! He iz even more 'andsome and manly zen Monsieur Lynx!"

Pierre, in contrast, said, "Zis is an outrage! Monsieur Chronos, you really should put on some clothes before appearing in public!"

Chronos rolled his eyes. "This is why I prefer spending time on Mobius... Anyways, thank you all for coming. I know some of you had to come a bit out of your way to get here, but I think you will find it was worth it." He looked at Crono and his companions. "Crono, Marle, Lucca, I'm glad you decided to come. It was a lot of work to arrange for you to be here. I hope this glimpse of what's to come, and the upgrades to the Epoch, will help you on your quest. In the meantime, I also hope you'll enjoy the Funhouse."

Lucca adjusted her glasses. "You're the one who gave Gaspar the letter telling us how to get here, aren't you?"

Chronos nodded. "I'm the one."

Marle said, "But that would mean…"

Chronos smiled. "They don't call me the God of Time for nothing! Well, actually, not all that many people call me the god of time, which is understandable since I'm not really a god, but... Anyways, I didn't mean to hold you up. I just came to wish you all luck," he said, his eyes scanning over all the players, "and that you all have fun, no matter how strange things get.

"Well then, let the games begin! And, until we meet again..." He held up his right hand, gave them a two-fingered salute, and said, "Stay frosty!"

And with that, there was another blue flash of light, and he vanished.

The entire group stared. Then Norstein Bekkler clapped his hands. "Well, you heard him. Let's start the game. As I said before, first team to the finish line chooses their apartment. On my mark, get ready, go!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The Funhouse: Preliminary Round
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The players all rushed down the dimly lit stone hall. At the end were two ways to go. Crono jerked his thumb to the left. Used to his silent instructions, Lucca, Ayla, and Robo started to follow.

Leena said, "Hey, who made him the leader? I think we should follow Serge!"

Lucca adjusted her glasses. "We don't have time for this. We have to keep moving if we want to win. Crono made a perfectly good suggestion, let's follow it!"

Meanwhile, the other group had also stopped. Frog looked to Marle. "Where to, thy high- er, my lady?"

"Um...?"

Pierre said grandiosely, "Fear not, I shall make ze decision!"

Kid suggested, "Let's go right."

Marle shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

Harle interjected, "I think we should go to ze left."

Kid shot back, "Nobody asked you. Let's go." Frog, Marle, Kid, and Korcha headed down the corridor, leaving Pierre to scramble after them. Harle ignored them, and stood there waiting to see what the other team would do.

Serge watched as they went around a corner, and out of sight. Realizing that Lucca was right, he put his hand on Leena's shoulder, and jerked his thumb at the left corridor, in a gesture remarkably like what Crono had done.

"You think we should go left, too? Oh, fine." They headed left, and Harle followed.

Meanwhile, Marle, Kid, Frog, and Korcha found themselves facing a pool of green slime. The surface of the slime was about three feet below floor level. Along the left side, the wall of the pool was continuous with the wall of the hall, but on the right side there was a lip of floor about six inches wide.

Marle looked at the pool of slime. "Gross!"

Korcha said, "I guess we're supposed ta walk along the edge there."

Marle nodded, and started across, her back to the wall, inching along. Korcha followed closely after her.

Just then, panting, Pierre caught up with them.

Meanwhile, Frog was examining the slime. He carefully put one foot in, and found that it only sunk a few inches.

"What are you doing there?" Kid asked.

"Methinks the ledge is just a decoy, to delay us." He put his other foot down in the slime, then took a few cautious steps out into the pool. "It would appear the muck is barely ankle deep."

"Well, well, isn't that clever." Kid hopped down into the pool, and began leisurely walking across the pool, letting Frog hop ahead. She turned back to Pierre. "Come on, the slime isn't deep."

"You must be joking. And dirty my boots? No, I think not." He took the side route, inching carefully along, as Marle and Korcha were doing.

Korcha looked at Pierre and Marle, then down at Kid, who had already passed them, and Frog, who was now climbing up the other side of the pool. He shrugged, and jumped down into the pool.

Marle had a disgusted look on her face. "Korcha, how can you do that?"

"What?"

"Walk in slime with bare feet. That's so disgusting!"

"Ah, it's not that bad. I've walked through worse."

"Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to stay up here. I may not be barefoot, but these sandals aren't going to do much to keep my feet clean."

"Suit cha self." He headed across.

Soon, Frog, Kid, and Korcha were assembled on the other side of the pool. Korcha put his hands to his hips. "Come on, ya two! Hurry it up! This is a race, ya know?"

Marle bit her lip. "Hold on a moment, I'm almost there." She glanced over at Pierre, who was barely halfway across, and was moving so slowly it hardly seemed he was moving at all. "What's your problem?" she asked. "You're wearing boots! I'm only still up here because I don't want to get my feet dirty."

"You don't understand. Do you have any idea how much these clothes of mine cost? Besides, I cannot change my clothes until we are reunited with our luggage."

Marle sighed, and rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, Crono, Lucca, Serge, Leena, Robo, Ayla and Harle also found themselves faced with a pit. Rising from the pit was a series of platforms, the same level as the floor. About five feet below this lay a red, bubbling liquid.

"Is that lava?" Leena asked. "I thought this game was supposed to be safe!"

Robo answered, "Negative. Infrared scans indicate temperature of liquid insufficient for lava."

Lucca nodded. "I was thinking the air felt a bit cool for that to be lava."

Without hesitating, Crono hopped on one of the platforms, and began jumping across. Ayla quickly followed. As she could jump farther and faster than Crono, she took a different route, and made it to the end first.

Meanwhile, Leena asked Harle suspiciously, "What are you doing here? This isn't your team."

"So? I do not recall a rule saying we must stay with our own team."

Lucca noted, "She has a point."

Serge hopped onto one of the platforms, and was quickly followed by Leena and Harle.

Lucca shrugged. "Well, Robo, let's go!" They followed the path Crono had taken, but hesitated between jumps, measuring them in their heads before making them.

Meanwhile, Leena and Harle both jumped onto one platform at the same time, one that was too small to properly hold both of them. As they tried to keep their balance, Leena said, "What are you doing?"

"Following monsieur Serge, obviously."

Leena grabbed two long tassels hanging from Harle's neck, partly in anger and partly to keep her balance. "I told you to stay away from Serge! He's mine!"

Harle pushed at Leena, trying to get her free. "Zen I shall steal him from you, if I must. I never allow anyt'ing to stand in my way."

Finally, Leena lost her grip, and they both tumbled over the edge. Leena landed with a splat on her rear, in the bubbling red liquid, which turned out to be about two and a half feet deep. Harle, on the other hand, recovered before she hit the stuff, and began floating. She landed back on the platform and looked down at Leena.

Leena sat there in the red slime, her face beginning to flush with embarrassment. "You're going to pay for that, Harle!" She grabbed a handful of the red slime, and tossed it at Harle.

Harle raised an eyebrow in a superior expression. "Now, now, don't be so childish." She deftly grabbed the ball of slime out of the air, and tossed it back in Leena's face.

Serge looked down at Leena with concern. He hopped down into the bubbling slime, and walked over to her. "Are you alright?" he asked, helping her to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just embarrassed."

Serge helped her wipe off her face, then they began walking to the other side. Harle floated down to the surface of the slime, and began walking on top of it after them.

Meanwhile, Lucca miscalculated on a jump, but Robo grabbed her. "You're jumping ability is not sufficient for this task. Allow me to assist." He put her up on his shoulder, and continued carefully jumping across.

Back at the other slime pool, Marle had made it across, but Pierre had, if anything, slowed down even more. Korcha tapped his foot impatiently, and Marle suppressed a shudder looking at the sticky green slime covering that foot.

Loosing his patience, Korcha jumped back down into the pool, and walked over to Pierre. He grabbed Pierre and slung him over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Pierre demanded.

"What does it look like? We don't have time to wait for ya t' make it across, and ya don't want to get cha precious boots dirty, so I'm carrying ya."

"I am ze greatest 'ero of zis age, ze noblest of ze noble, ze bravest of ze brave. I refuse to be carried like a sack of potatoes. I demand zat you put me down zis instant!"

Korcha looked at the others and gave a sly smile. He let go of Pierre, who tumbled into the slime.

As Pierre got up onto his knees, he looked down at himself in disgust. "My clothes, zey are ruined!"

Kid and Marle couldn't help but giggle at this scene.

Pierre slowly rose to his feet, and said coldly, his voice almost cracking, "Zat was not what I meant, and you know it."

Korcha said impatiently, "Come on, we're loosing time."

Without saying a word, Pierre strode to the others.

o-o-o-o

Unfortunately for Serge and Leena, the floor of the red slime pit was so low that they couldn't climb out at the far end.

Lucca, from her vantage point on top of Robo, looked around. "There's a ladder up the side of the pit on the side we started on," she reported.

Ayla shook her head. "We no have time for that- this race! I help." She knelt down above Serge and Leena and held out her hand. Serge helped Leena get a good grip on Ayla's arm, and Ayla lifted her out.

Lucca called down to Harle, "You know, with your ability to float, you could help, too."

"But I am on ze other team. It would not be right for me to assist ze enemy."

Ayla now reached down to grab Serge's arm.

Harle said, "On second thought, who says ze teams cannot assist each other?" She grabbed Serge under the arms, and, embracing him, floated up to the hallway floor.

"Get your hands off him!" Leena said angrily.

Just then, Robo made his final jump, and landed among them with a thud. He put Lucca down.

Crono waved for them to follow him, then headed on down the hall. As the others began to file out, Serge helped Leena wipe the slime off her dress. "Well, at least the stuff doesn't stain," she said with relief.

The two of them, followed by Harle, hurried on after the others.

o-o-o-o

When Korcha and Pierre had climbed out of the green slime pit, Kid led the team on, down the hall and around a corner to the left. Soon they found themselves at a spinning tube they must pass through. On the other side, the walls were colored bright colors, and cheerful music played.

"Well, I guess that's why they call it a fun house," Kid commented. She stepped into the tube, and made her way thorough.

Continuing down the hall, Crono found a side passage heading to the right, then turning to run parallel to the main hall. Ahead in the main hall was another obstacle- another pit, and this time the way across seemed to be rings hanging from the ceiling. Crono motioned for the others to follow him to the pit.

This time, the pit was an opening to the floor below, where a cushion awaited any who would fall from the rings.

Meanwhile, Serge and Leena arrived at the side passage. Serge hesitated.

Leena asked, "You want to go this way?"

Harle grabbed his arm and pulled at him. "Very well zen, let us go!"

Serge shook his head. "We should stick together." He led the girls on to catch up with the others.

o-o-o-o

Kid and her companions now found themselves making their way through a maze of distorted mirrors.

Kid warned them all, "Everyone, stay close together. We don't want to loose anyone."

Crono made it across the rings, with some difficulty, and Ayla made it look easy. Lucca, however, didn't have enough speed or upper body strength, and fell to the cushion below. Leena was able to achieve enough momentum, but was unable to test her upper body strength, as her still somewhat slimy hands slipped. Harle went next, and made it look just as easy as Ayla had.

"Come, Serge, mon ami, you can do it, I am certain!"

Serge shook his head. He jumped down to Leena and Lucca, then called up to Crono, "You go on ahead!"

Harle couldn't believe this, but quickly regained her composure, and floated down to Serge. "I t'ink I shall take ze low road."

Robo examined the rope holding up the first ring. "Analysis indicates this rope has insufficient tensile strength to support my weight."

Crono nodded, and waved Robo down to the others.

"Affirmative." Robo jumped down. Crono looked at Ayla and shrugged. Then he too jumped off the edge. Ayla followed.

Lucca demanded, "What are you doing?"

Crono answered, "We have to stick together."

Harle said in surprise, "He can talk! I was beginning to wonder."

o-o-o-o

Kid's group had made it out of the mirror maze, and now had to run down a hall with the floor of a giant treadmill, pushing them back. Pierre was in the rear, and was panting with the effort.

o-o-o-o

In the lower level, Serge, Crono, and the others had to scramble over and around boulders that filled the corridor.

o-o-o-o

"Another dead end?" Marle complained.

After catching her breath, Kid said, "Come on, back the way we came."

o-o-o-o

Ayla scampered up the stairway, which was moving down like an escalator. The others had a tougher time of it.

o-o-o-o

Korcha tossed another ball into the basket, and it sunk down even more. There was a click, and the door opened.

o-o-o-o

Ayla set the boulder down on the switch.

Lucca adjusted her glasses. "There, now we can all pass through the door, without having to worry about it closing when it stops being pressed.

o-o-o-o

"You think this might be it?" Kid asked, pointing to a door marked "GOAL". She opened it. Through it was a hall, with aqua walls. Nearby were two red doors, one on each side. A ways down the hall was a room, with a large platform in the center of it.

"Come on." They followed her through the door, and down the hall to the room with the platform. The platform was about three feet high, and on it was a colorful wheel, like a roulette wheel. The wheel was divided into several sections. Some had roman numerals on them, while others had pictures of characters from a deck of cards, like Kings, Queens, and Jokers.

The room was a square, with halls leading from each corner, forming an intersection. Painted on the floor were the signs of the compass, and the halls lined up along these points.

Each of the four halls (including the one they came down) was the same length, but the walls of each hall were different. To the left, or west, was a hall with one aqua wall (the southern wall), and one wall of windows looking outside. The corridor to the north also had a glass wall, on the left, while to the right was a bare stone wall. Both walls of the hall to the east were stone.

On the Northwestern wall of the room was a chart with all of the players' names on it. Below each person's name was a line completely blank except for a zero. Above this chart was a series of ten black squares.

On the northeastern wall of the room was a chalkboard. The only thing written on the chalkboard was the word "Dares".

The southwestern wall had a large painting of a mountain on it, while the southeastern wall had several smaller paintings on it.

…With his trademark cackle, Norstein Bekkler floated down from the ceiling. "Welcome to the dare room, the goal of the maze. I'd congratulate you on your victory, except you need all of your team-mates here to win, and two of your team appear to be missing."

Marle was surprised. "Two?" She looked around. "Hey, Pierre's gone!"

Kid was upset. "What? When did we loose him?"

Marle shrugged. "I wasn't keeping an eye on him."

Kid looked to Frog and Korcha. "What about you two? Either of you see him?"

Frog shook his head. "Nay, the last time I recall seeing him was in the glass maze."

Marle responded, "He was with us after that- I remember he had a hard time with the conveyor belt."

Kid looked to Korcha. "What about you?"

He shrugged. "Don't look at me."

Marle said, "We have to go back and find him- and Harle, too."

Kid shook her head. "No. It won't do us any good to get ourselves lost in that blasted maze again. For all we know, Pierre might be right behind us. And as for Harle, I'm willin' ta bet she's followin' Serge. If we're lucky, she's slowing them down. If not, she'll still get here when he does."

o-o-o-o

Crono jerked his thumb at the door marked "GOAL" and raised an eyebrow. Serge shrugged and nodded, and Crono opened it and headed through.

"Excuse moi," Harle said, cutting in front of Lucca.

"Hey!" Lucca protested, trying to stop her.

Harle ran to the rest of her team. "I hope I have not kept you waiting too long?"

Kid folded her arms. "That depends on if that's the entire blinkin' other team coming through that door."

"Unfortunately, yes. Zey insisted on sticking together. But zat does not matter, does it? We have won, no?"

"No."

"What?"

"We lost that bloomin' idiot Pierre somewhere."

"Oh, how unfortunate. You should have been paying more attention. Ah, well, next time I will keep an eye on you, so you don't ruin my chances of winning ze game."

Kid scowled at her.

When the last of Crono and Serge's team had passed through the door, Bekkler announced, "And the winning team of the preliminary maze challenge is, Team One!"

Kid shook her head in disappointment.

Crono went into a crouch as he pumped his right fist. Lucca shook her left fist and thrust her right arm into the air. Ayla thrust her left arm into the air with her hand in a fist and let out a cheer. Deciding that if everyone else was doing their victory poses he might as well too, Robo widened his stance and held his own fist just above and in front of his head for a moment.

Serge, Leena, Harle, Kid, and Korcha all stared at them.


The Fun has only begun! Stay tuned for the next episode of "Chrono Crossover: The Funhouse"!