The Search for Aeris

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Chrono Trigger or

the characters, just the plot in this story.

Cyrus

Part II

BY

D A R T H V A D E R


3:26 pm, April 25th, 590 AD: Peak of the Denadoro Mountains

"Glenn, take a look at this. This is what we'll use to defeat Magus," said Cyrus as he brandished the Masamune.
"Think you're so sure of yourself, eh?" said Magus's voice from behind them.
"Magus, you're late. I figured you'd try to make it here before we did," said Cyrus, not even turning around to look at him.
"Yes, well, that's because this dolt 'accidentally' forgot to put on his lucky pants, and like an idiot I let him go back and get them while I waited outside the castle," said Magus, referring to the green thing standing behind him
"Hey, don't blame me. It's not my fault Flea put 'em in the wrong drawer after she took my clothes out of the dryer," said Ozzie. The two villains were standing in the entrance to the cave where Masa and Mune lived, and Cyrus and Glenn were inside. Cyrus had just completed the standard challenge presented to all humans seeking to wield the Masamune's power, the first person to do that in the eleven thousand, three hundred and sixty five year existence of the Denadoro Mountains.
"Well, you can blame your friend there for my killing you. Stand back, Glenn, this won't take long," said Cyrus.
"Of course, Sir," said Glenn.
Cyrus started off performing his strongest attack. "Nirvana Strike!!" he yelled, and he dashed forward at almost triple the speed that any average human can run. Magus dodged it by teleportation, and Ozzie wound up getting stabbed in the gut with the Masamune.
"Yeeooww!" was the last thing the pickle yelped before he died. Cyrus pulled the Masamune out. It had no blood on it at all; it was clean as ever.
"Well played," Magus said from behind him. Cyrus whirled around, fully ready to strike again. "I'm glad you got rid of that idiot for me. If I'd killed him myself, it might've made my army turn against me." He raised his arms and a black glow flashed from him. A rift appeared in the fabric of space, in the shape of a black triangle. This rift moved at Cyrus and tore up his clothing, also making a few cuts in his skin and things like that. Cyrus countered with a flying leap, and in one fell swoop Magus's arm got lopped off.
The Mystic prince gaped at the noble knight, unable to believe what had just happened. Before he had any more time to contemplate, Cyrus lopped off his head, too.








5:00 pm, June 3rd, 604 AD: Former Site of Truce Canyon

"In commemoration of Cyrus's brave victory over the evil wizard, Magus, and thus ending the war thirteen years ago, I christen this beautiful new park 'Cyrus Square'," King Guardia XXII announced , standing just in front of Leene's Bell, before a large mass of Guardia's population. He shattered a wine bottle on one of the pillars that the bell was suspended upon. The people cheered.
"And now," said the king, "Here is Cyrus, to say a few words." The King stepped down, and Cyrus stepped up on the small podium. The entire crowd silenced itself instantly.
"Well, I'd just like to say that I'm honored. After all the adventures I've had and battles I've won over the past three or four years, ever since Crono and his friends showed up, I can't say I've received more recognition for any of them than I've received for defeating Magus. So, I'd like to dedicate this park to Crono, Marle, Lucca, Robo, Ayla, and a special thanks to my good friend Glenn for being such heroes to the world. I just wish they could've been here today," said Cyrus, and he started applauding. The whole crowd caught on a second later, and soon a group of ragtag time travellers were receiving world-wide recognition before most of them were even born.

12:47 pm, August 9th, 600 AD: Truce Canyon

"Eeeek!!" Marle yelped. She'd had a pretty rough time over the past few minutes. One second, she was standing on one of Crono's weird friend's (the one with the huge glasses) crazy telepod inventions, and the next she was being catapulted through a weird place with a whole bunch of different flashing colors everywhere, and now she had just landed abruptly on her posterior in the grass somewhere.
She stood up and dusted herself off, and after a quick survey she realized she was on some kinda mountain or hill or something. She wandered off.

After a short trip down the hill, she found her way to level ground. Now this looked familiar. There was a town close by and the greenery looked very much the same.
"Hey!! I'm back in Truce Village!" she said. "But that means I should be right outside Cyrus Square...." She turned around just to make sure. The hill was still there. "Ooooook," she replied, and decided to go into town.

At the inn, a man walked up to her, staring at her a little funny.
"May I help you?" she asked.
"Oh, a thousand apologies, Your Highness...I just did not think you would venture off into town alone," said the man.
"'Your Highness'?! How'd you know who I was? Who told you??" she asked nervously.
"W..well, thou art the Queen of Guardia, after all...everyone knows you," said the man. His hair had a mysteriously green tint to it.
"Huh?? Queen? My mom died when I was a baby! What are you talking about? I'm Princess Nadia, of Guardia Kingdom. And what's with the 'thou art' stuff?"
The man stared at her in bewilderment. "I think thou hath better come with me, Miss," he said.
"Sure, at least I'm getting somewhere," she replied, and followed him out of the building.

"So you say you're Princess Nadia of Guardia Kingdom," said Queen Leene.
"Yes!! Geez, how many times do I hafta tell you?!"
A man stepped up. He had been standing beside King Guardia's throne. "If I may, Your Highness?" The King nodded. The man stepped up a little further. "Pardon our rudeness, M'Lady," he began, "But you must understand how odd this is for us. You look exactly like Queen Leene and claim to be the princess of this kingdom, and yet the Guardia Dynasty has never had a daughter before. The only female royalty that has entered the family are those who have married the princes, and you are considerably too young to already be married."
The man spoke with such a soft, gentle voice that Marle couldn't help bt be entranced by it. It took her a moment to snap out of it. "Well yeah, but this's even weirder for me! I already told you how I got here, and now I'm here and--"
"Marle!!" someone called from behind. Marle turned around. She saw Crono standing there, being held back by the guards at the front gate.
"Can you please let him in? That's my friend," said Marle. The Queen nodded and called, "Let him pass. He's a friend."
"Oh Crono!!" said Marle. She ran to him and straight into his arms. "I'm SO glad to see you!! What happened?! What am I doing here?"
Crono was a little unprepared for her reaction, so it took him a second to get it together. "Um...we don't know. Lucca stayed behind and she's trying to figure out what went wrong." He looked up and saw Leene. "Whoa! What's going on?"

"Something isn't right here..." said Crono, after the situation was explained again.
"Well duh!! I figured that out the minute that telepod-thing malafunctioned!"
"Crono!!" someone else yelled from behind. The guards were holding this person back too.
"Lucca!" Crono called back. "Did you find out what went wrong?"
"Yeah, and if I could get past these guys I could tell you!"
"Let her pass," said the King.

Lucca had a sidebar with Crono and Marle, and she explained her theory on this being a different era, and since we already know all that, no need in going over it again. They decided that it would be best to just keep this a secret from the people in the castle.
"Sorry, we're not from around here. We're from a far-off island somewhere and we were just vacationing. Don't mind our friend, she's a little weird," Lucca explained. This was the plan they'd devised.
"Well, terribly sorry for the misunderstanding then," said the man with the gentle voice. "I don't believe I've introduced myself. My name is Cyrus. Over there is my pal, Glenn."
"Name's Crono. Nice to meet you," said Crono, and they shook hands.
"And I'm Lucca," said Lucca. Then her forehead crinkled, and her eyes widened. She gasped. "You..you're the one who killed Magus and ended the war!!! In our own time period--I mean...um....where we come from there's a statue of you fighting him! Wow, this is so cool!"
"Yeah, well, there's a statue of me around here too. It's over where Ozzie's fort used to be. I don't mean to brag or anything, though," said Cyrus.
"Thanks for bringing me over here, Glenn!" Marle called. Glenn was standing beside Queen Leene's throne; he was her personal guardian, while Cyrus was the King's.
"Twas mine own pleasure, Miss," Glenn said politely, smiling.
"Well, I guess it's time we go back home," said Lucca. "Thanks a bunch!"

3:59 PM, June 7th, 1000 AD: Mystic War Monument, formerly part of Magus's Territory

"Oof!" said Lucca. She'd just landed on the ground, alongside Marle and Crono. They'd left Robo back in the End of Time.
She lifted her head and looked around. "Woo-hooo! Finally, back to our own time!!"
"Yeah, the future's a bummer!" said Marle.
"All I know is that I'm sure glad to have gotten outta the future in one piece!" said Lucca. She got up and dusted herself off. "Now where do we go from here? How do we get back to Truce?"
Marle looked around to figure out where they were, and she spotted the monument. It showed a dramatic depiction of the duel between Magus and Cyrus. "Oh, it's this statue! My Geography teacher told me about a whirlpool around here somewhere that leads to Truce if you go into it, but we'll hafta go through a cave first. I think I remember where it is. We gotta go...." and she slowly spun around, sticking her finger straight out, her arm perpendicular to her body. "That way!!" and she stopped. Lucca took out her compass.
"That way leads south. Is that right?"
"Yeah, south, that's it," said Marle, so they went on toward the cave.
The cave was relatively easy to pass through now that they had their new magical powers, the ones Spekkio had given them in the End of Time just a few minutes ago.
Well, a few minutes ago from their perspective, anyway.
Around the end of the cave, a big blue monster hopped out from its hiding place in a crevasse on the wall. It had considerably large, sharp claws and knife-like teeth.
"Uh-oh. This guy looks tough," said Lucca.
"Don't worry!" said Marle, "We can take 'em!"
After quite a bit of fighting and healing and the like, the monster, on its dying breath, said, "Damn you bloody humans!! If it weren't for Cyrus, this world would be ruled by Magus and Lavos right now!" and it promptly died.
"Huh?! What do Magus and Cyrus have to do with Lavos?" asked Marle.
"Good question," said Lucca. "I think we should go back to the Middle Ages and ask Cyrus some questions."

1:57 PM, August 12th, 600 AD: Throne Room of Guardia Castle

"Hi. Sorry, the king's busy doing some paperwork and things of the like. You might want to come back in an hour or two," Cyrus said in his usual charming voice, more to Lucca than to Crono.
"Actually, Cyrus ol' buddy, we're here to talk to you, if ya have a few minutes," said Lucca.
"Yes, it is most urgent that we speak with you about matters of great importance," said Robo. During the trip to the Middle Ages, Marle had agreed to switch up with Robo at the End of Time for a while.
"What a strange creature," Cyrus said in reply to Robo. He was staring at him with great fascination.
"I am an android, or a robot, if that term is more familiar to you." Robo noticed the bewildered expression on Cyrus's face and figured he'd better continue explaining. "I come from the future, 1700 years in the future to be exact. The three of us are time travelers, you see."
"What? Time travelers? Now that's a good one," said Cyrus, laughing a little.
"No, we're serious," said Lucca. "We're all from the future, except me and Crono live 400 years in the future while Robo lives 1700 years ahead, like he said."
"Suuure," said Cyrus. "Well, I'd love to chat with you guys, but I have..um...things to do."
Crono, Lucca, and Robo looked at eachother nervously, trying to think of something as Cyrus turned around and started walking away.
"Perhaps," said Glenn, from beside the Queen's empty throne, "Twould be prudent to at least hear them out for the moment. For if they be telling the truth, we may have an adventure of sorts on our hands."
Cyrus stopped and looked at his friend, to make sure he was serious. He shrugged and turned back around to Crono and pals. "Alright, if Glenn believes you, I guess there's no reason I shouldn't. Come with me into the Diner and we can discuss things over a nice lunch. Glenn, you come along too. Shall we?"

"...Here's your Power Kabob, and your Refresh Salad, and your stew. Are you sure you won't be having anything this afternoon, Sir?" asked the waitress.
"No, thank you. I do not require nourishment at this time," said Robo. The waitress nodded cheerfully and ran back to the kitchen. Today, the Cook wasn't in a snit, so things were fairly pleasant.
The three of them explained all their experiences and told about how Lavos was going to come up and destroy everything.
"Wow...that's quite a story," said Cyrus. "What do you think, Glenn?"
"I think that the story is so completely outlandish that it may very well be true."
"My sentiments exactly. Alright, you've got our attention. So what do you want with me and what do I have to do with this?"
"Well, we heard from an inside source in our own time," said Lucca, "that if you hadn't killed Magus, that he and Lavos would be ruling the world in our own time."
"And since I killed Magus, you were hoping I would have some answers for you?" Cyrus surmised.
"Exactly," said Robo.
"Well, I'll tell you one thing. I don't have any answers for you, but I'll be more than willing to tag along with you to see what's up, if the King gives me permission."
"Cool! Having the most powerful warrior of all time on our side should help us out alot," said Lucca.
"Why, thank you, My Lady," said Cyrus. Lucca blushed.
"Cyrus," said Glenn, "Should the King and Queen permit it, I would like to come along with thee on this journey."
"That's up to these guys," said Cyrus.
"No problem," said Crono.
"I thank thee, Crono, for thine generosity," said Glenn, and they shook hands.
They went back to Truce Canyon and all five of them went through the time gate. Due to the Law of Conservation of Time, they all ended up back at the End of Time, and that was just as well because that's where they intended on going anyway.




"Welcome back. I see you've brought with you two new visitors," Gaspar observed as the five of them materialized on the appropriate light pillar.
Crono made a gesture to say that the old man was an ally, and Cyrus walked toward him bearing a smile. "Hello. I'm-"
"You're Cyrus. And I'm Gaspar, Guru of Time. I must say...it is quite a surprise seeing you here..." said the old man, not offering his hand as Cyrus was doing. Everyone could see the gears grinding in the old man's head. Something obviously wasn't quite right here.
"How did you know my name?" asked Cyrus.
"Who are you?" said the old man who called himself Gaspar, redirecting his attention to the other newcomer and ignoring Cyrus.
"Mine name is Glenn," he said, and trailed off because as he'd said 'Glenn', the old man had lip synched it.
"Woo-hooo! Sure is good to see you guys again!!" Marle yelped. "It sucks in here. Way too boring and stuff."
"What is our next course of action, Cyrus?" asked Robo, who had already assumed that Cyrus was their new leader, due to the fact that he had so much more acclaim than Crono did.
"Don't look at me. This is the first time I've ever traveled outside of my own time. You guys come up with something," said Cyrus. He was still very suspicious of the old man.
"First off, we should probably bring you two to Spekkio and get you some magic," said Lucca.
"Magic?" said Glenn.
"I recall reading about this... 'magic' in an old book in the castle library, but it didn't have much on the subject. Who is this Spekkio guy?" said Cyrus.
"Come on! We'll show you," said Marle.
Everyone crowded into Spekkio's chamber.
"Well, well! Plenty of visitors today! Don't remember the last time so many people were in here at once!" Spekkio said, overly cheerfully in Glenn's opinion.
"Hi Spekkio!" said Marle. "Can you give these two guys magic? We just picked 'em up from the Middle Ages and they could use your help."
Spekkio put on an old western accent. "I reckon I can do that for yuh," he said as he pretended to chew tobacco. "Y'all two step up right in fronta me and you'll get somethin' good."
Cyrus and Glenn warily stepped up and faced Spekkio. The strange creature, which bore a strong resemblance to the exotic Kilwala found on the Denadoro Mountains, looked Glenn over very carefully.
Just like that, Spekkio turned off the accent and started talking normal again. "Okay, um...what's your name?"
"Mine name is Glenn."
"And I'm Cyrus."
"Okay, Glenn, I think I'll give you water magic, since that's just what I feel like giving you. Is that alright?"
"I would be honored to receive any gift beseeched by thee."
Spekkio gave him a weird look and then shook it off. "Ok, Ipso Facto Meenie Mo..Give Glenn the power of water.... Magico!" Glenn glowed sea-blue for a brief moment, and felt a surge of power run throughout his body.
Spekkio switched his attention to Cyrus. "Hmmm....something weird about you. Dunno what it is.....Oh well. Anyway, lemme look you over and figure out what kinda magic would be good for you."
He did just that, and a few seconds later he almost jumped to the ceiling in shock. "You....you're......!"
"What?" Cyrus asked, alarmed.
"This can't be true....the last person to..."
"Just spit it out!" said Marle.
"Cyrus, I beseech you with the power..." and he gulped, "of...Lunar Magic*."
"Lunar magic?" asked Lucca, "What's that?"
"It's one of the two most potent types of magic. There's Lunar, which Cyrus has, and then there's Shadow. The last person to ever possess Shadow magic went by the name Magus, I believe."
"What?! Magus???? I killed him ten years ago! In 590 AD!" Cyrus said excitedly. Spekkio stared at him gravely for a moment. Something was troubling him, but he apparently wanted to keep quiet about it.
"And the last person ever to possess Lunar magic was Schala, the long-lost sister of Magus."
"What ever happened to her?" asked Crono.
"Nobody knows. She just disappeared without a trace in 12000 BC. That's why I was so startled to find out that you have Lunar magic...Please, whatever you do, remember to use it well, because if you abuse it, your gift may very well turn to Shadow magic, which consequently is evil, and it will corrupt your soul as it did Magus's."

* Thanks to Tomm Hulett (Kupan@aol.com) for giving me the idea about Lunar Magic, along with various other tidbits I use throughout this selection. You can see his stories about Chrono Trigger and more at http://www

6:43 pm, February 3rd, 65,000,000 BC: Chief's Hut in Ioka Village

"What you do here?" demanded the sexy blonde. From what they'd gathered, she was the leader around here.
"We are searching for information regarding a being by the name 'Lavos'," Robo replied. Him, Crono, and Cyrus were found at the base of Mystic Mountain by a man who called himself Kino. He had been hunting for food there.
"La...vos?" said the blond. "That mean 'Fire, big'. What big fire have do with this?"
"Look, Miss, we're sorry for the misunderstanding. Let us introduce ourselves. My name is Cyrus."
"My...name is Robo."
"Hi. I'm Crono."
"Me Ayla. Now answer question. What you do here?"
"Didn't Robo just answer that?" said Crono.
Ayla thought about that. "Yeah, but...."
The conference was interrupted by Kino. "Ayla!! North wood burning!!" he cried. Ayla ran out of the hut without saying another word. "You stay here," Kino warned the visitors, and he ran after her.
"Well this is wonderful," said Cyrus. "What did that old man think we'd accomplish by coming here?"
"I propose that we follow them to see what is happening," said Robo.
"Good idea," said Crono. "Let's go!"
They ran out after Kino and Ayla, and found themselves in a ruined village with a bunch of half burnt buildings and plenty of charcoal tree stumps.
"Elder!! Need take Dactyl. Only way to get to Reptite lair!" Ayla pleaded to an old man who seemed to be in charge of the village. Kino was accompanying her.
"Ayla...I do this. This your last chance! Mess up now and no get another chance," said the elder after a moment of thought.
"Ayla thank elder!!" said Ayla, and she sped out of the village, not even noticing Crono, Cyrus, and Robo. Kino started to follow her, but out of nowhere a pterodactyl came down and plucked him right off the ground. A half man, half lizard creature was riding on the pterodactyl.
"Kino!!!" called the elder.
"Elder! I be okay! No tell Ayla, she get upset and not concentrate!"
"Then what elder tell Ayla when you no show up?" asked the elder, but the pterodactyl was already too far away for Kino to respond. The elder had no choice but to start after Ayla.
"Wait! Perhaps we can be of assistance," Cyrus stopped the old man.
"What you do?"
"We'll catch up to Ayla and help her out with whatever it is she's trying to do and tell her what's up," said Cyrus.
"Good plan. You go, can use Dactyls too. Hurry! Dactyl nest north of village." said the elder. The three of them ran out of the forest.
Eventually, they caught up with Ayla and told her about Kino, and after alot of convincing she let them go with her to the Reptite Lair. On the way she explained what it was they were fighting, and after they'd fought through the lair and defeated Azala, Lavos crashed into the palace right before Ayla, Crono, Robo, Cyrus, and the escaped Kino made a last-minute retreat.

12:00 pm, January 1st, 12,000 BC: The Lowest Depths of the Ocean Palace

"Schala, more power!!" Queen Zeal demanded. The Mammon Machine was resonating violently.
"But...I..." Schala winced.
"You heard your mother!" said Dalton.
Suddenly, one of Zeal's top scholars, who was one of the few chosen ones to be present at this event, stepped up and said, "Your Highness, I think we're making a terrible mistake!!"
"You dare oppose the power of Lavos?!" Queen Zeal snapped, and she blasted him off the edge of the walkway into an abyss.
"Mother..!" said Schala. The pendant she wore on her neck resonated in synch with the Mammon Machine.
"More power, Schala!" the Queen said.
"I...."
"Stop right there!!!!" called a heroic voice from behind. The Queen whirled around to see who could be so impudent to interrupt this sacred ceremony.
"How dare you!!" she bellowed. Her eyes flared. "Who are you?"
"I'm Cyrus," said the Captain of the Knights of the Square Table, Masamune in one hand, red knife in the other. "And I'm here to stop you from summoning the evil that is Lavos!!" Lucca and Glenn stood behind him.
Schala turned around to face them. "I...I sense...a strange aura about you....something very similar to..."
"Schala! Didn't you hear me?! I said more power!" said Queen Zeal. "Don't worry about them. Dalton will take care of them. Concentrate on the Mammon Machine!"
"Schala?" Cyrus said. The name rang in his head for a moment. He heard the name a few times in the same era before, but now he finally remembered where he'd heard it first . "You... you're the one who has Lunar magic! And that means...you're the brother of--"
"Dalton!! Did you not hear me?! I said take care of them!!" said the Queen.
"Uh...oh, yes My Queen! As you wish!" said Dalton, and he teleported himself and the three intruders to the room outside the Mammon Machine's chamber.
"You idiots. How'd you think you were gonna just come right on in there and try to stop the Queen? Now you're gonna hafta die 'cause of it," he scolded.
Cyrus laughed. "Oh yeah? Well taste cold steel!" said Cyrus. He gave Lucca the red knife for safe keeping. "Nirvana Strike!!!"
Cyrus dashed across the floor, but Dalton countered with a mid-air somersault kick. Cyrus was knocked back to where he was. "You're smart than Magus was, that's for sure."
"Who's Magus?" asked Dalton.
"The guy I killed! Y'know, Schala's..."
"Sir Cyrus, I am afraid that you have your time periods mixed up," said Glenn.
"Oh, right," said Cyrus. He stood up again. "Well, in that case, have a taste of Lunar magic! Moon Flare!" he said, signaling Lucca.
"Right," said Lucca, and she summoned up her fire magic while Cyrus glowed bright yellow. A yellow dome of moon energy surrounded Dalton and hot red flames filled it. The moon energy acted as both a barrier and an amplifier, so Dalton was severely scalded by the time the attack was over. He fell limply to the floor. Lucca gave the red knife back to Cyrus and the three of them ran back into the Mammon Machine's chamber.
"Your crony failed miserably," said Cyrus. "Now I'm here to dismantle the Mammon Machine and that's exactly what I'm gonna do."
"Fool," said the Queen, "You cannot do that. The Mammon Machine is made of the purest and sturdiest stubstance ever: Dreamstone. The only thing that can break Dreamstone is--"
"Dreamstone," said Cyrus. "And that's exactly what this little red dagger is made of. And to amplify the strength of the knife, I'm going to infuse it with some of my Lunar Magic so that it becomes strong enough to completely obliterate the machine."
"Wh...what...?" said Queen Zeal.
"Lunar Magic? You can use Lunar Magic?" said Schala. "Who are you, anyway?"
"I'll tell you once I'm done with this," said Cyrus. He'd already begun transferring some lunar power into the knife.
A few seconds later, as Queen Zeal made a desparate dash toward him, Cyrus hurled the empowered knife into the core of the Mammon Machine. Schala's pendant reacted violently and released an enormous amount of energy, which got transferred into the Mammon Machine for defensive purposes.
The pendant energy was just enough to hold the Mammon Machine together long enough for it to open up a special gate, one which led to Lavos. From all this circulating energy back and forth, the red knife within the machine grew longer and became identical to the blade Cyrus held in his left hand.
"T...'Tis the Masamune!" said Glenn.
"What?!" said Lucca. "How can that be?"

The End of Time

And the rest, as they say, is history. Since Crono wasn't there and Cyrus was smart enough not to take on Lavos head-on, none of the good guys died in the Ocean Palace. Prince Janus, Melchior, Gaspar, and Belthasar all got thrown into time gates, and Schala had enough power to transport herself out of the palace along with Cyrus, Glenn, and Lucca since Magus wasn't there for her to have to transport.
The Black Omen and Lavos were promptly dealt with once everyone had trained appropriately, and the future re-appeared bright and beautiful. Schala decided to take residence in the Last Village, the remnants of Algetty Village, but was given a trans-temporal communicator (designed by Lucca) in case she should ever want to visit anyone.
As for the Epoch, wings were never installed on it since Dalton was killed in the Ocean Palace and the Blackbird get destroyed along with the Magic Kingdom Zeal. Instead, Lucca put on wheels and made it kind of like a car. Not quite as effective but useful nonetheless.
But this wasn't the end of it all. Not by a longshot. Something terribly amiss was going on behind the scenes of all of this, and even now I am unsure of what's happening....For now, this is Gaspar, Guru of Time, signing off...

End of Part II