Hooray new chapter!
I'm glad everyone is liking this story so far. Sorry to those fans who wanted the TWEWY characters in this story like how it was in Dream Drop Distance, but I wanted to do something different. Hopefully this story will get you to play Chrono Trigger.
To the guest/anon reviewer who wrote about Young Xehanort being infatuated with Levina. What is wrong with you? That's just gross. There will be certain things revealed though, that's all I'm saying. Thanks for all the awesome reviews guys and keep them coming :D
Chapter 3: Rules of Sleep
"…Nn… hnnn…" Waking up, Sora found himself lying down in the last place he had broken off consciousness, third district. The stones that had served as his bed were cold against his cheek. Sora stood up, rubbing his eyes. The black coated man and Crono were both gone.
'That wasn't from some spell or attack,' Sora thought. 'It was just a sudden overwhelming drowsiness. What happened? Did it have something to do with how this world is one of the 'worlds bound by sleep' that Yen Sid talked about?'
Looking around Sora scanned the area. He didn't see the hooded man or Crono anywhere.
'What was up with Crono?' He thought. 'He told that black coated guy to 'do what he promised'. I wonder what he meant. They've definitely met before.'
"First thing's first, I'll search this place." Sora dragged himself out of thought and decided to get moving. Deciding to look for Crono first, Sora opened the door to first district.
As Sora stood lost in thought, Meow Wow that had been by his side the whole time now began to plod away.
"Hey, where are you going?!"Sora chased after the Meow Wow, and found himself at a door that he had never opened on any of his travels so far.
"I wonder if this door even opens…?"
Meow Wow went ahead and pushed the door open with its little body.
"Can we go in there?" Sora peered through the door from behind Meow Wow. On the other side was a road Sora had never been on before.
'It makes me kinda glad that there can still be places to explore in Traverse Town that are new to me.' He thought.
Sora and Meow Wow went on ahead. As they did, the winding road came out into a place like an underground waterway with a giant fountain.
'Come to think of it, there's a little fountain in second district in Traverse Town too.' He thought.
They went on defeating Dream Eaters until they arrived at another door, which they went through.
"Wow! I've never been here." Sora chimed looking around.
This district, called fourth district, was a gorgeous place with chains of twinkling lights strung all about. Further in stood a large building that dazzled with neon. There were also several moogles doing their usual business selling items.
He headed for the building. He slid down the handrail of a flight of stairs, and came upon a moogle and a woman.
The woman unkempt clothes, and she looked as though she was much older than Sora. Her curly light blonde hair swayed as she fought Dream Eaters. Her outfit was completely made of fur and she had a furry tail to go with her outfit.
The impression her fashion style gave was quite out of the ordinary.
Wondering whether this was Crono's friend, Sora approached her.
"Hey there, would you happen to ha a friend of Crono's?" He asked.
The cavewoman stared at Sora. "You know Crono?" She asked shoving the boy into the fountain. "What you do with Crono?!" She demanded furiously.
"Ah!" Sora yelped falling into the fountain. "I…I didn't do anything, honest!" He screamed.
Meow Wow tugged on Sora's hand to keep him from getting wet.
The cavewoman stared at Meow Wow. "That animal for Ayla to eat?" She asked curiously.
"Wha?!" Sora screamed causing Meow Wow to hide behind Sora's feet. "No! He's my friend!"
Meow Wow cowered looking at the cavewoman who ran her fingers through her hair.
"What's your name?" Sora asked. "How did you get here?" He smiled. "I'm Sora!"
"Me…," The cavewoman paused. "Me, Ayla." She said. "Me not know…," She told him. "Only thing I know is name and friends."
"You mean… you have no memories of anything else?" Sora asked.
Ayla nodded her head.
Sora had lost his memories before too, so he understood a little of how she must have been feeling.
However, Ayla smiled cheerily at Sora. "No worrying ok," She said to the boy. "Me one hundred percent fine. Memories will come back just as soon as they're jogged."
Ayla's smile made Sora smile too. "Yeah, you're right! Maybe if we find Crono, you'llyou're your memories back. Come with me! Let's go look for Crono!"
Ayla nodded following the boy's lead.
Levina groaned feeling Flowbermeow licking her to wake her up.
"H-Huh…" Levina rubbed her eyes patting Flowbermeow's head. "What happened?" She wondered looking around the abandoned Second District. She looked around wondering where Lucca went.
"Where did Lucca go?" She thought and then frowned remember what that man in the black coat – Young Xehanort had said. "What did he mean I was born from the darkness?" She thought out loud. She had no time to worry about that now, she had to find Lucca and make sure she was alright.
Wandering out of the Second District, Levina went through the doors that led to the First District.
Instinctively Flowbermeow ran towards a red mail box. She barked at the mail box catching Levina's attention.
"What? What is it?" Levina asked.
With all her strength, the tiny Dream Eater could muster. She moved aside the mail box revealing a sewer which led to the Fourth District.
"Down there?" She asked looking at her Dream Eater.
Flowbermeow gave a nod jumping into the sewer and Levina followed. The room was a giant post office. It was filled with numerous boxes of unsent letters with many gadgets and gizmos to help maneuver it. Levina looked around at the barren empty area. Something then caught her eye. She saw a rotund and bulky robot sitting on the floor like it hadn't been used in a long time. The robot was a beige and brown color which was slowly rusting. Its outer body equates to an exoskeleton of metal plates that splay or separate under duress or emotional excitement. Underneath, there is a soft layer of what appears to be black rubber or another sleek oily material. It's bipedal with two claw-like feet and two arms, one serving as a three-fingered mandible and the other as a laser cannon or spring-loaded fist. Robo also has bluish green eyes. Vents serve as the robot's mouth and nostrils.
'I wonder how long it's been down here?' She thought reaching out to the robot.
"Stop!" It was Lucca.
Levina turned around seeing her. "Lucca!" She smiled. "You're ok!"
Lucca ran passed her staring at the broken down robot. "Robo…" She whispered taking out her screw driver fixing his rusty bolts.
Flowbermeow jumped back as Robo's green sensors flickered.
"L-Lucca…?" The robot looked at the purple haired girl.
"So this is where you disappeared when the Gate appeared." Luca said helping her robotic friend to his feet. "What happened?"
Before Robo could respond a large green monkey jumped down on everyone.
On instinct Flowbermew barked and growled at the monster.
Levina made her Starlight keyblade appear. "Take cover!" She told them staring at the large Nightmare monkey. Its limbs were large and multi-colored baring sharp fangs for teeth and red blank eyes. She noticed that the giant Dream Eater had something in its paws. A star-shaped necklace. It wasn't a wayfinder. It was a papou fruit necklace.
"That necklace…" Levina gasped remember she found her mother's necklace in her diary during her first visit to Radiant Garden. "That's my mom's necklace!"
Levina raised her keyblade swinging it hard on the Dream Eater that attacked them, but she went flying back as the monkey's large paw slammed her into the wall. Concerned for her partner and friend, Flowbermeow ran to Levina's side.
The large monkey howled in pain as it felt fire burning its back.
"Leave her alone you big dirty ape!" Lucca twirled in the air casting fira on the monkey.
Robo launched his fist at the monkey Dream Eater rapidly punching it.
Flowbermeow barked at Levina wagging her tail.
Levina looked at the Dream Eater. "You want me to grab your tail?" She asked.
Flowbermeow gave a nod as Levina gently grabbed the Dream Eater's tail and it began to glow a bright pink color. The Dream Eater slowly shape shifted into a sword and her tail became the blade.
"Whoa…" Levina gasped in awe and then turned her attention to the large Dream Eater monkey. "Take this!" She charged at the monkey swinging Flowbermeow at the monster that threatened to hurt her friends.
The monkey screeched in pain and disappeared almost as if someone was calling it back.
"It disappeared!" Levina frowned seeing the necklace fall to the ground. She picked it up making sure it wasn't damaged.
"Someone must have called it back." Lucca assumed.
"We must keep moving." Robo insisted.
"Right," Lucca agreed with her robotic friend.
Levina stared at the necklace in her hand. 'Is my mom here too?' She wondered.
Riku groaned waking up. The boy got up holding his head. "What happened…?" He asked looking around. "That guy in the black coat..," He mumbled. "He was from the Organization."
Komory Bat screeched flapping its wings beside Riku.
"Riku!" Marle ran over to him. "You're alright." The Princess of Guardia lowered her head. "I'm sorry…" She apologized.
"For what?" Riku asked. "You didn't do anything."
Marle shook her head. "No but…," She confessed. "That man in the black coat. He promised to return me to my friends."
"You shouldn't trust them," Riku told her. "They always end up lying. Just to get their way."
Marle smiled at the boy. "So you aren't mad?"
Riku shook his head. "I know what it's like to make a deal with the darkness." He told her trying to suppress the memories he had that were still etched in his head of how he used the darkness to hurt his friends, especially Sora. That was a year ago, even still it still hurt his heart to think that he could have gone the wrong path.
Komory Bat suddenly screeched in distress getting their attention. A rift opened up in the middle of the sky. It was the same monkey Dream Eater monster that attacked Levina.
The giant monkey roared almost landing on top of them.
Riku instinctively summoned his Way to Dawn keyblade only to get knocked aside by the Dream Eater's massive paw.
"Riku!" Marle screamed aiming her bow and arrow at the Dream Eater. She fired a few arrows, but all it did was irritate the Dream Eater.
Marle folded her hands across the shimmering pendant she wore. A family heirloom, passed down from generations to the royal family. A soft blue aura surrounded her as she slowly began rising in the air. Giant blocks of ice fell on the ginormous Dream Eater.
Riku swiftly dodged another attack from the Dream Eater, swinging his keyblade at the creature, but the Dream Eater grabbed Riku by his arm.
"You put him down this instant!" Marle demanded stomping her foot almost like she were back home.
Riku struggled swinging his keyblade at the giant monkey.
The Dream Eater cried out in pain suddenly as it felt a massive blade strike its body. A frog leaped down from the sky pulling out his sword from the beast's arm.
"Foul creature be gone with you!" The anthropomorphic amphibian said as his green cape flowed in the wind. He was small in size, but was very fast. He had on what appeared to be armor belonging to a squire and gloves.
"Glenn!" Marle smiled with glee seeing her friend.
"Did….I just get saved by a talking frog?" Riku blinked in surprise.
"My looks may be deceiving young lad, but I am capable of holding my own in battle." The frog named Glenn replied.
Together he and Marle harnessing the magic powers of water and ice created a gigantic glacier hurling it at the monkey Dream Eater knocking it down.
Riku held onto Komory Bat causing the bat to screech giving his owner wings. "This power…" He gasped looking at his Dream Eater who affectionately screeched. He never felt anything like this before, not even the darkness upheld this warm feeling he felt. Now that he had wings of his own temporarily, Riku flew at the Dream Eater with his Way to Dawn keyblade. He flew at the Dream Eater skewering the rest of its body with his keyblade.
The Dream Eater disappeared in fragments of light. Once it disappeared, Riku, Marle, and Frog began to see transparent images of Sora, Crono, Ayla, Levina, Lucca, and Robo.
"What is this?" Riku asked.
"Those are our friends, but they look different." Glenn frowned. "What sorcery is this?" He wondered.
"Crono…" Marle tried reaching for him but her hand just passed through him. "Argh!" She screamed in frustration. "He's right there in front of me and I can't even reach him!"
Riku looked at Marle struggling to control her emotions. "If your hearts are connected," He told her. "You'll reach him."
Glancing about, Sora saw a large door beside an item-selling moogle. Sora and Ayla opened the door together. There seemed to be a fifth district. They walked onto a bridge, listening to the sound of water.
After they crossed the bridge together, they came upon another huge building with 'flower plant' written on it. Inside seemed to be a botanical garden. However, the door was closed and it could not be entered.
On top of the glass roof was Crono.
"Crono! It's good to see you're okay!" Sora beamed hurrying over to him.
However, something was wrong.
"Sora… you still trust me?" Crono asked, not turning to face Sora.
"Of course I do." Sora answered with a smile. He trusted his own intuition when it came to this sort of thing.
"Even though I tried to trick you?! I was told by that guy in the black coat to bring you to him… and if I did, he'd send me and my friends back to our original world together." Crono told him."…Sorry." He apologized.
"It's fine, sheesh. You tried to protect me, didn't you? Besides, we're friends. Right?" Sora beamed.
"Friends…" Crono turned to Sora, and finally gave a small smile.
"Oh yeah," Sora said, remembering the cavewoman beside him. "Crono, her name's is Ayla. Is she a friend of yours by any chance?"
"Yeah she is except…,." Crono was happy to be reunited with a friend, but it wasn't his right friends. The friends that were from his time. "Ayla's not from my time," Crono replied, and the next moment orange light enveloped Ayla and she disappeared.
"Huh?!" Crono gasped looking around. "Ayla!"
In front of their shocked eyes, someone appeared as though in place of Ayla-the black coated man – Young Xehanort. The keyblade flashed into Sora's hand. Crono took off from beside Sora, heading straight for the man. However, something like a black wind appeared around the cloaked man, sending Crono flying back.
"Crono!" Sora shouted.
In front of him, Young Xehanort raised his hands above his head. Black light gathered there, and then a figure appeared-a bizarre-looking creature that could only be described as a monkey with its arms and head sticking out of a huge box.
Sora had never seen a Dream Eater this huge before. It was the same Dream Eater that attacked Levina and Riku. The gigantic Dream Eater, Hockomonkey, roared and the air around them shivered.
Sora noticed Young Xehanort leave through a dark corridor. "Hey! Wait!" He moved to chase after him, but the Dream Eater blocked his path.
"Get out of my way!" Keyblade in hand, Sora faced the Hockomonkey with his Meow Wow by his side.
Hockomonkey's hands, which looked as though they wore boxing gloves, split off from its body to fly around freely, and they began to attack.
They were a pretty big nuisance.
Dodging their pursuit, Sora locked onto Hockomonkey's body and swung his Keyblade, but he was thrown off so hard he fell right off the building.
"What. This shouldn't be so hard." Sora said.
"You might want to focus." Crono instructed unsheathing his katana summoning thunder magic by raising his arms in the air to strike down Hockeymonkey.
Meow Wow had turned its back to Sora and was wiggling its round bottom at him. It looked like it was saying he should ride on its back.
"You sure that's okay?" Sora asked his companion.
Meow Wow gave a nod of approval.
Sora climbed on,and Meow Wow began to bounce rapidly, just like a ball. "Awesome!"
Meow Wow made a powerful jump, coming down hard on top of Hockomonkey. Its roly-poly body crushed Hockomonkey.
"Whoa, look at you go! Okay let's do this!" Sora jumped down from the Meow Wow's back and struck the unmoving Hockomonkey with a finishing blow.
Hockomonkey's body wreathed into blinding light and rose into the sky. Then it rained down as pieces of light.
As it did, in one of the places where the light fell, a projection of Riku , Marle, Glenn, Levina, Lucca, and Robo appeared.
The image was somewhat transparent, Sora knew that it wasn't real the instant he saw it.
"Riku!" Sora moved to run over to the vision of his treasured friend, but someone called out to stop him.
"Hold up, Sora!" Crono told him.
Behind him two red shaped globes showing the image of a town that looked a lot like Traverse Town was hovering idly.
'If this is Traverse Town, then what's that town in the globe?' Sora was confused.
Marle seemed to jump out of the projection as she tore past Sora, and Riku then chased after her. It looked like she and Riku couldn't see Sora. He noticed Levina running with Lucca. This was at the point before they all had defeated Hockmonkey.
'It looks like we're all in Traverse Town, only Riku, Levina and those girls aren't here.' Sora thought.
"Feels like it's been forever, since I've been with them." Crono said looking at his friends. Just then, the globe behind Crono began to sparkle, and Ayla appeared beside him in a burst of light.
"Ayla! You're okay!" Sora cried happily.
"What happened to you?" Crono asked.
The cavewoman shook her head. "Don't know," She replied. "Place very dark and cold." She balled her fists. "I will tear that man in black coat apart!"
"So what do you think happened?" Sora asked.
"Must be a bunch of different Gates opening up." Crono answered.
"Huh?" Sora asked in confusion.
"My friend Lucca can explain it better than me, but they are pretty much holes that appear out of nowhere and take you anywhere in time you want to go." He looked at the projections in front of him. The spiky red head turned to Sora and said, "Those are your friends right? Riku and Levina?"
"Is that Sora and Riku?" Levina asked as projections of her friends appeared.
Lucca nodded seeing her friends as well. "I was afraid of this." She sighed.
"Afraid of what?" Levina asked. "What's going on?" She wanted an answer.
"Time is being distorted." Lucca replied.
"Who could have caused this horrible imbalance between the flow of time?" Robo asked. "We defeated Lavos."
"I don't think Lavos is behind this…" Lucca muttered. She shuddered at the thought of fighting that creature that spawned into the planet eons ago.
"Lavos?" Levina asked.
"A celestial being that came to our planet sixty-five millions year ago," Lucca explained. "It wasn't easy task, but my friends and I were able to stop it from destroyed a desolate future that we would never see."
"They must be traveling through different Gates, alternate gates." Lucca said.
"Gates?" Levina repeated the word.
"Long story short, they work like a gate that connects through different timelines." Lucca said holding up her Gate Key. "But this world is made from dreams. So of course we would know about everything in it," She continued explaining. "We even know that those two are your best friends. That's why we wanted to help you."
"Sora…Riku…" Levina hadn't expected to hear those names. "Do you know them?"she pressed.
The state Levina was in made Lucca smile. "Didn't I just say? I know everything."
"Where are they?" Levina asked, taking a step forward automatically. Lucca turned to the images of Sora and Riku.
"They're in another version of this exact world, being projected." Lucca told her.
"Another version of this world? Can I go there using a gate thing?" Levina asked, wanting to go straight to where Sora and Riku were if she could.
"Unfortunately, you wouldn't be able to. I'm the only one who can, because I'm the one holding this." Lucca said holding her gate key looking at Sora and Riku again. "Things happening in the other world, shut away by the Dream Eaters, show up in those projections. As for why the world branched apart in the first place-it's safe to say he had something to do with it."
Levina watched the transparent figures squaring off against Young Xehanort before the Hockmonkey battle for each of them. She saw his face being uncovered in Riku's version of Traverse Town.
"He looks like…!" Levina gasped in fright seeing how uncanny the resemblance was of Master Xehanort. She shook her head. "No…it can't be him!" She screamed.
Lucca tightly held onto the Gate key. She knew her friends time were up. Ever since that last battle with Lavos, Lucca desperately wanted to back and forth through time to see her friends again.
"It was a pleasure seeing you again, Lucca." Robo said to her disappearing.
Almost disheartened seeing her friend from the future leave, Lucca's hand gripped the handle of the Gate Key. 'This was all a mistake...I've played with their lives long enough.'
At the same time while Lucca was explaining how time and dreams worked Sora saw Marle, Glenn, and Lucca for the first time standing beside his friends.
Then, he saw Young Xehanort slowly pushed his hood back. Under the coat was a silver haired young man.
"...Who is that?" Sora found himself saying under his breath.
'I've never seen him before-he's not a member of Organization XIII.' He thought. 'I feel like I know him, though.'
Inside the projection, the man turned into light and disappeared. Then, so did the rest of Crono's friends aiding Sora's friends.
"Lucca..." Glenn murmured.
"Marle..." Crono said under his breath.
Sora, Riku, and Levina faced each other in separate worlds. However, Levina and Riku did not disappear.
"Riku..." Sora said. "Levina…"
In exchange, it seemed, Crono and Ayla disappeared, wrapped in light. Lucca stood before Sora, Riku, Levina as they stood side by side in divided worlds, and began to speak softly.
"Their existences had come to an end, in their original world. So that their beings wouldn't be erased, I managed to scrape together the remaining fragments of their dreams and searched for a place that would shelter them."
Lucca turned her back on Sora, Riku, and Levina taking a few steps. She stopped, and put her hand in her pocket. Sora didn't really understand the part about the world Crono and the others had come from.
'What exactly does it mean for an 'existence to come to an end', though? It sounds like something pretty awful.' Sora thought.
"Thanks to the dreams of my friends dreams that I was holding, this town appeared in the realm of sleep. Seeing as they had become pieces of dreams, I thought that perhaps in a place like this my best friends could be brought back to how they were. I was surprised to find that in the realm of sleep, fragments of dreams were corporeal. And then, I thought that connecting the bonds between my dream-fragment friends might strengthen their respective beings, and help them be reborn."
Riku seemed to ask Lucca something from where he stood beside Sora nor would Levina's voice reach Sora and Riku. Sora's voice couldn't reach Riku, and Riku's couldn't reach Sora. It seemed to reach Lucca, though.
"You saw the results for yourself. People can't exist alone. You are first able to exist as a person the moment that someone else becomes aware of your being. The strength of their connected awareness of each other allowed them to be reborn. Your efforts with them were of course a great help, too." She told them.
'A connection... your feelings of thinking of each one of your friends makes each of their feelings, and hearts, stronger.' He thought. Sora too had come to understand this on his journeys. 'Connected hearts give power to everyone.'
"Lucca, what are you?" Sora asked.
This is the out-of-place feeling I got when first meeting him.
Lucca held onto her Gate Key. Her scientific mind wanted more answers to how time traveled worked. How alternate dimensions and time rifts worked. All at the cost of her friends. She was turning into some crazed scientist, she felt as though she was losing grip of her own reality. 'Maybe that last battle did more harm than good.' She thought with a heavy sigh. 'Once I return home things will be the same.'
Lucca smiled. "Just a friend," she said raising the Gate Key in the air creating a Gate that would take her home.
Right before Sora's shocked eyes, Lucca trudged towards the Gate smiling at her home. The Kingdom of Guardia. "I'll bet Kid's waiting for me." She said walking through the Gate.
Something appeared in front of them-a keyhole. Sora looked over into the world that was this one but two more keyholes appeared. One at Riku and the other at Levina. The three friends simultaneously looked each other. Riku was looking at Sora, too.
'They're right by my side and we can't touch or talk or anything, but Riku and Levina being here means that our worlds are connected.'
Sora, Riku, and Levina nodded to each other across worlds, and raised their keyblades to the keyholes.
Light beamed from both of their blades and unlocked it.
Sora looked beside him to Riku and to Levina once more. Levina was looking at her friends. Riku was looking right back at them. They nodded to each other once more, and Riku disappeared.
The three set off for the next world.
For those of you who don't know, in Chrono Cross the semi-sequel to Chrono Trigger, Lucca kind of goes crazy and becomes obsessive with time travel. There's even a flashback and a few select characters that claim this to be true. The game's sequel doesn't really dive into depth detail why she snaps though which kind of disappoints me.
Next world Hunchback of Notre Dame. Will there be a Frollo boss fight? Yes there will!
