Chapter 1: The Princess Problem

JANUARY 10, 1000 AD

"Crono..." The voice came through the darkness. "Crono!" More insistent. "Wake up, Crono!" The red-haired teen sighed and opened his eyes. His mother was there, gently shaking him. She apparently had not noticed he was awake, and was growing a little irritated. "Crono, if you don't wake up right now I'll..."

"It's okay, mom. I'm awake." Crono grunted. "Mind getting out so I can get dressed?"

Crono's mother sighed, then agreed. "Fine." Before she left, though, she went over to the blinds and opened them wide. "Leene's Bell sounds so nice in the morning, doesn't it?"

"AICH! Bright light! Bright light!"

"Oh, please." Without another word, she walked downstairs.

Crono was about to get dressed, when he saw the cat sitting on the rug, watching him. "Go on, get outta here. You're a girl too. Scoot!" The cat's only response was a sleepy purr. He sighed. "Fine, then. Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way..."

"ROOOOOOWWWWR!!!!" Crono's mom turned to see the flying cat collide with the bottom of the stairs. "CRONO! How many times have I told you not to throw the cat?" No response. "Like that's new..." she muttered to herself as she went back to cooking breakfast. "Teenagers..."

A few minutes later, the youth came running downstairs. "Hey, mom! What's for breakfast?"

"Hardtack and swill. How many times have I told you to comb your hair?"

Crono grinned cheekily. "It IS combed. Your hardtack and swill looks suspiciously like pancakes and sausage to me."

His mom smiled. "I never could put anything past you."

***

"Hey, that was great! Thanks!" Crono jumped to his feet. "But now, I have to go see the fair!"

"AGAIN?" His mom groaned. "Honestly... well, here's your allowance at any rate." She tossed him a pouch. He caught it and opened it.

"200 GP?! Mooooom!"

"Hey, you know as well as I do that we agreed your allowance would be docked until it payed for the dishwasher incident."

Crono grumbled. "I keep telling you, that was Lucca's fault! Why would I want to set a dishwasher on fire?"

Crono's mom rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder... besides, I'm sure her parents are punishing her too. That reminds me, I promised Lara I'd help her take a visit to the park today." Crono remembered. About Lucca's mom, and her legs...

"Well, you'd better not forget, or Lucca might blow up your washing machine too!"

"She already did. Now scoot!"

***

The fair was a little fun, as usual, but all the things were starting to get dull. Crono made his usual rounds. First to the strength tester, where he managed to accumulate 5 points before hitting his own foot with the hammer, then to the drinking contest. He lost that one by one can. He also noted a nearby little girl, crying about her lost cat.

As he was crossing to the battle robot, a girl zoomed out of nowhere and he was unable to stop himself from smashing into her. "OW!!!!" Both of them went flying. The girl was the first to recover. "Hey! Where'd my pendant go?"

Crono got up and walked over to her, where she was frantically searching the ground. "Hey, are you alright?"

She muttered absently, "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't tell me I lost it!"

Crono saw something glittering on the other side of the large bell. It was her pendant! He quickly picked it up and walked back over. "Is this yours?"

The girl did an ecstatic jump. "YES! Thank you! It's a family antique, and has a lot of sentimental value!" She hastily placed it back around her neck. "Oh, sorry I was so rude. My name's Marle. And you are...?"

Crono grinned. "The name's Crono."

"Crono, eh? Nice to meet you!" She suddenly seemed nervous. "Er... I'm kind of a stranger around here. Would you mind... showing me around?"

Crono thought for a moment, then grinned again. Why not? "Sure, no problem!"

Marle smiled, relieved. "Great! Where to first?"

The next stop was the robot battle trainer, built by Crono's friend Lucca. Crono managed to defeat it, although his head was ringing from the spring-loaded boxing glove for a little while afterwards. Just outside, they spotted an old man looking around frantically. "Where'd my lunch go? It was here just a second ago!" Crono saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned. He laughed. Marle and the old man followed his gaze and also began laughing at the site of a tiny kitten attempting to drag a large pink package down an alley.

Crono picked up the kitten, which gave a squeaky growl and sank its teeth into his knuckles. The teen winced. "Ow. I'm betting this little terror belongs to that little girl I met earlier. Come on, Marle." She followed as the old man waved goodbye before picking up his lunch again.

The girl was very grateful. Crono and Marle went back to the first plaza, where a race was about to start. The four contestants were all in costumes. The first was in a Guardia jailer's armor, and labeled himself the Steel Runner. Second was a guy in a green reptilian costume, and called himself the Green Ambler. The third, G.I. Jogger, was dressed in medieval castle guard's gear from around 600 AD. And the last... Crono blinked. It was a cat. The roster said "Catalack".

Marle giggled. "How much does it cost to bet?" She asked the man at the booth.

"Nothing, ma'am! It's a special event!"

Crono grinned. "My favorite kind. Put me down for the Green Ambler."

The man wrote for a moment, then turned to Marle. "And you, miss?"

"Catalack!"

As it turned out, the winner was Catalack. Marle accepted 20 silver points as the prize. "So, what do we do with these things anyways? We've got 20 each now."

"Well, we could exchange them for GP..."

"Boring!"

Crono smiled evilly. "Or... there's always that!" He pointed at a black tent in a small corner. The entance was a giant skull. "The Tent of Horrors!"

Marle smiled. "Now, that's more fun! You sure it's safe?"

"Yeah, I go there all the time. The proprietor, Norstein Bekkler, is a little creepy, but he's a good guy. You'll love it."

***

The tent was like the inside of the dungeon. In the back, a large barred door housed a pair of glowing eyes. Marle stifled a scream as she saw the proprietor. Norstein Bekkler was a floating face, with two floating hands.

"Welcome to Norstein Bekkler's Lab! The spine-tingling show is about to start!"

Crono waved. "Hey, Bekkler! How ya been?"

The head smiled. "Crono! Come to win another Poyozo Doll?"

"Nah. The latest one has survived the cat so far. I think I'll try the 40-point game."

Marle stared at him. "40?! But you only have 20!"

Bekkler grinned at her. "Repeat customers get a discount, girl. Crono here has been coming here nearly every day since the carnival started."

Crono handed over the points. "So, Bekkler, what's the game?"

The weirdo flipped a switch, and the door in the back slammed open. "For 40 points! The game is... COPY CLONE!" Marle gasped as a perfect clone of Crono walked out of the back. Norstein laughed. "The game is simple! Mimic what the clone does!" Crono followed along perfectly until near the end, where he tripped and smashed head first into the clone. With a poof of smoke, it disappeared. "Too bad! Game over!" Bekkler turned to Marle. "Care to play a game?"

Marle thought for a moment, then asked, "What are there?"

He smiled. "There's the 10-point game, the 40-point game and the 80-point game. The names of the games and the prizes are surprises! Hey, I made a rhyme!" He seemed quite pleased with himself.

Marle quickly figured out she had only one option. "10-point game, please!"

Bekkler flipped another switch. "For 10 points! The game is... GUESS WHO!" Three identical soldiers walked out and named themselves as Vicks, Wedge & Piette. They then ran around in a mess until Marle wasn't sure who was who anymore. Bekkler called out "Find Vicks!" Marle looked around, then selected one.

The soldier looked grumpy. "Is it THAT obvious?"

Bekkler laughed. "You lost fair and square, boys! Here's the prize!" A fluffy object suddenly fell from the ceiling and landed on Marle's head. She picked it up and looked at it. It apppeared to be a stuffed representation of a Kilwala, an intelligent monster that got along well with humans. "It's a Poyozo Doll! It'll spruce up your room!"

Marle smiled. "Great. I think I'll hang onto my other 10 points. Never know when I might need 'em."

As Crono and Marle turned to leave, Bekkler yelled, "Hey, Crono! Didja hear? Lucca's setting up a new invention up north!"

"Who's Lucca?" Marle asked Crono, who responded, "An inventor friend of mine. She's the one who built the battle robot. Shall we go see?"

***

They quickly ran up north, stopping only so Marle could buy some candy. At the machine, they saw a small crowd, but none of the them seemed willing to test it. Crono couldn't really blame them, after what some of Lucca's other inventions had done. The scientest herself was yelling at people to come up. Nobody was listening. Then she saw Crono. "Crono! Get yer lazy butt up here and show them it's safe!"

Crono reluctantly came forward. "I dunno, Lucca. Remember the moon rocket incident?"

Lucca blushed. "Ah, that was a fluke. Get up there!"

Crono thought desperately. "I heard these things cause brain damage!"

"Nah, I tested it myself. No drain bamage whatsoever. Er... just move!"

Crono limply shuffled onto the left pod. "Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna regret this?" The next thing he knew, he was on the right pod, and everybody was cheering. His eyes automatically found Marle, who was yelling at the top of her lungs. "GO CRONO! WOOHOO!"

Lucca looked amazed. "It WORKED?!"

Crono registered this. "Whaddaya mean, it worked?! I thought you said you tested this on yourself!" Lucca blushed. "Well... kinda. I ended up in the tree out front." Crono facepalmed and got down.

Marle ran up. "Wow, what a kick! Can I try it too?"

Lucca blinked. "Hey, Crono, where'd you find her?" Without waiting for approval, Marle dashed onto the right pod. Crono watched as the machine hummed, starting up... but nothing happened until her Pendant started to glow.

Marle looked at it, confused. "Huh? What the-?" She broke off with a scream as she began to dissolve into floating blue sparkles. Desperately, she wrenched the pendant off, but it was too late. A blue portal appeared above the machine, and Marle disappeared into it, screaming.

The crowds ran away from the machine like bats out of hell. Only Crono, Lucca and Taban, Lucca's Dad, were left. "Lucca... what the HELL just happened?!" Taban asked.

"I don't know! Some wierd reaction to the pendant..." While they argued, Crono walked over to the Telepod. He knew what he had to do. And so, he picked up the Pendant and put it around his own neck. As he began to break up, he heard Lucca & Taban screaming at him... and then, darkness.

JANUARY 10, 600 AD

When Crono came to, he was lying on the floor of a meadow. What concerned him more, however, were the three Blue Imps who were going through his pockets. "HEY! Get away from me!" One of the imps ran for cover, but the other two prepared to fight. Crono frowned. "The hard way, eh? Fine by me." Ten seconds later, the Imps were minus their heads and Crono walked on. Once he crossed the bridge, a pair of Blue Eaglets dropped off two more battle-hungry Imps. They took no more effort than the other two. Crono stopped and wiped off his sword. "Messy buggers." From then on, it was smooth sailing to the exit.

"... The HELL?!" Crono yelled. He saw his hometown, Truce Village, up ahead, but everything was different... more primitive. It was like he had gone back in time. "Maybe I did... no telling what that portal was," the teen mused. "Where to go for information?" he asked himself. He then smacked himself in the forehead. "Duh! The tavern!"

At the tavern, Crono managed to pick up that he was in 600 AD, during the Mystic War. Crono struck up a friendship with a ragged-looking man with one eye. After a while, the man muttered to Crono, "Listen, bud. If I were you, I'd try to blend in a little more. People looking like you can get dragged off to the castle for being under suspicion of Mysticism. None of them ever come out again."

Crono blinked. "Hey, thanks!"

The man grunted. "Didn't cost me anything to say it." He got up and paid his tab, then turned to Crono again. "And whatever you do, stay away from the Cathedral. There's something wierd going on there."

Without another word, the man walked out. Crono stared after him. "Strange guy..."

The bartender chuckled. "Yeah. You'd never guess by looking at him that he was Toma Levine, eh?" Crono froze. That guy was Toma Levine? The famous explorer who had discovered practically the entire northeast world?

Crono was jolted out of his thoughts by a pair of heavy metal-clad hands crashing down on his shoulders. Turning, he saw a couple soldiers frowning. The first one said, "Yeah, I think this is the one." The second agreed. "Yep. Let's take 'im to Queen Leene." Before Crono could protest, he was dragged off.

***

The forest was more dangerous than Crono remembered. In his time, all you had to worry about were shroom-like Hetakes and giant Beetles, and rarely a mischevious Avian Chaos. In this time, though, both wild and tame Rolys lurked around every corner (the tame ones being ridden by Green Imps), and Blue Eaglets waited to dive. The soldiers however, made their way through with an efficiency that suggested they had done this many times. Crono looked at his wooden sword and reminded himself to get a better one sometime soon.

At the castle, they were greeted by a young lady in a flowing white dress. "Queen Leene!" Both soldiers bowed. The Queen looked at Crono, who saw something... oddly familiar...

The Queen turned to the guards. "The King would like to talk with him first. I shall be waiting in my room." She left through the large double doors behind her, and after a few minutes, the guards led Crono through as well.

Crono barely stopped himself from gaping as he bowed before King Guardia XV, the greatest king in history. The monarch looked down at him. "So, you would be the one who rescued my wife from the canyon. I thank you." WHAT? Crono almost yelled. The king went on. "I believe she would like to talk with you. Afterwards, you may rest in the knight's quarters, to the left of the front door." Crono bowed again, but he noticed to the left, the elderly Chancellor was glaring at both him and the guards with incredible hatred. What's with him, I wonder?

In the Queen's room, Crono found her attended by two maids. As soon as the Queen saw him, she asked the maids to leave. Once they were gone, she almost whispered "Crono... come here..."

Crono straightened his back. "All right, ma'am. If you don't mind, I'd like to know how you know my name, and why you said I rescued you."

The queen smiled. "You doof! Don't you recognize me? It's Marle!"

Crono almost fell over. "Marle?!"

She nodded. "When I came to, I was in the canyon. I fought my way out,"

"Wait wait wait. You fought your way out?"

Marle smiled again, a little grimly this time. "Don't underestimate me, Crono. I'm a dead shot with a crossbow. Anyways, I fought my way out, then in the village, I was found by these guards who thought I was the Queen. They took me here, and it seems everybody else thinks so too. I thought you would follow me, so I told everybody that you got me out of the canyon and asked them to find you."

She stopped for a moment before going on. "Crono... somehow, I knew you would come find me..." She stopped again, and Crono noticed the room was taking on an eerie green hue. Marle doubled over as if in severe pain. "AAH! Feels like... I'm being torn apart! Crono! HELP ME!" And with that, she exploded into nothingness.

***

Crono was in shock as he walked down the stairs. Fortunately, it seemed nobody had heard. What had happened to Marle?! His musing was interrupted by a collision. It was Lucca! She got up and dusted herself off. "Watch where you're going, you doof! Where's the princess?"

Crono mumbled "What princess?"

Lucca snorted. "You dummy! Marle! She's princess Nadia!" And for the second time in five minutes, Crono was in shock.

"Oh, this is SO not good..." he muttered.

Lucca shook him by the shoulders. "Snap out of it! Where is she?" "She kinda... exploded..."

Now it was Lucca's turn to be in shock. "She... exploded..."

"Yeah..."

"Crono?"

"Yeah?"

Lucca screamed, "WADDAYA MEAN SHE EXPLODED?!?!"

Crono jumped and covered her mouth. "Shh! I was the only one there, and I do NOT wanna catch the blame for this."

Lucca nodded, and Crono removed his hand. "Okay. So, any idea WHY she exploded?"

Lucca frowned. "Easy. Queen Leene gets kidnapped. They look for her. They find Marle and call off search. Queen Leene dies, cutting off the royal line. Marle is blown out of existence, and within a few hours, paradox destroys the universe."

Crono was gaping at the end of this. "Damn... that is NOT good..."

Lucca jumped up. "Wait! If we find the real Queen and save her before she dies, we can change things back!"

Crono nodded. "Let's look around. You check the kitchens, I'll check the knight's quarters."

***

In the knight's quarters, several different topics of converation were going on. Crono picked a group and listened intently. "So, how long has Sir Cyrus been gone?" "Ten years now." "Yeesh. I mean, the Captain's great, but..." "I know. What about that friend of his, Glenn? Any sign of him?" "None."

This didn't seem to be important. Crono moved on to another group. "Hey, whatever happened to that Mystic leader, Yakra?" "What, the guy who used to head the ones on this side of the bridge? Big, ugly yellow bug?" "Yeah, that's him. Nobody's seen him for a while, have they?" "No. He disappeared around the time the cathedral was refurbished and they started carting off people with Mystic sympathies to there."

Now he was getting somewhere. Combined with the hint about the Cathedral from Toma... Crono decided it was time to go meet with Lucca.

Lucca wasn't having much success at first, and she was quickly getting bored with the gossip about the rivalry between the head Chef and his brother, the Knight Captain. The most interesting thing she had heard so far was how the "Queen" has asked for something called "Eyes Cream".

"Hey, did you hear? They carted off two guards just a few minutes ago!" Lucca's ears perked up and she silently moved closer to the pair of maids. "Really? Two guards?" "Yeah! Not only that, but they were the same two who brought in that guy!" "The one who wanted to see Queen Leene?" "Mm-hmm!" Lucca straightened up. That was just too much of a coincidence. Time to talk with Crono.

After sharing their information, Crono & Lucca came to the same conclusion: Something fishy was definately going on at the Cathedral. Crono saw movement, and turned to see the Chancellor leaving the castle. "Hey, there goes the Chancellor. Come to think of it, he was giving me a funny look earlier, too..."

Lucca resisted the urge to wallop him. "Then let's go! Cathedral, ho!"

***

The duo quickly lost the Chancellor in Guardia Forest. Once they were through, though, the cathedral was easy to find. Inside, there wasno sign of anything wrong. Three nuns were cleaning the pews, and a fourth was dusting the piano. "Er... excuse me... has the Chancellor been here lately?"

The nun being addressed looked up. "I'm afraid not." Crono sighed, then looked around. Nothing seemes unusual. Maybe they were wrong...

Lucca, on the other hand was more suspicious. Her eyes soon caught a sparkle in the carpet, and she bent to pick it up. "Hey, Crono, come here." It was a coral hairpin. There was a design on it... was it? It was! "That's Guardia's royal crest!"

"How observant of you!" came from a nun. Crono and Lucca looked up to see the nuns had surrounded them. Laughing evilly, the sisters were enveloped in blue fire, and morphed into Naga-Ettes, a half woman, half snake breed of Mystic!

Lucca snarled. "A trap! Crono, use your Cyclone technique!" He nodded and jumped into the fray, then began whirling his sword around him at high speed. The effect was augmented greatly when Lucca pulled out a device that shot a small fireball onto the tip of the sword, creating a flaming wheel oof death. When Crono stopped, three Naga-Ettes were dead. So was his WOODEN sword, unfortunately. He glared at Lucca, who shrugged. "Don't blame me. Hey, weren't there FOUR of them?"

The answer became evident when the fourth pounced on Lucca, hissing. Lucca fell back and screamed... which was when the man jumped out of the rafters and swung his sword upward, sending the split Naga-Ette through a window. "Lower thy guard, and thou art allowing the enemy in." Lucca's rescuer said.

Lucca got up. "Thanks..." That was when she saw his face and screamed again.

He was a frog. Actually, a more accurate description would be a half-frog, half-man. He blinked at her reaction. "My guise doth not incur thy trust, it seems..." He shrugged sadly, as if dismissing the thought. "Very well, do as thy please. But I shalt save the Queen."

Crono walked up. "Hey, buddy, we never said anything. As it happens, we're trying to save her too. Maybe we could do it together?"

The frogman blinked again. "I wouldst gladly accept thine offer, but I believe the lass may be having... problems..."

Lucca made an obvious effort to control herself, and looked him in the face. "I can handle it. What's your name?"

"'Frog' will do for now. Perhaps a hidden door lurks nigh? Let us search the environs."

They all looked around, but none of them found anything. Crono grumpily cursed. "Damn it ALL!" On the last word, he pounded his fist onto the piano the nun had been dusting. The moment he did, a grinding sound was heard, and a section of wall disappeared, revealing a door.

"Good job, Sir Crono!" Frog congratulated him, and they all ran in.

***

Crono glanced to the left and dodged backwards. "Shh! Diablos!" Frog looked. Sure enough, to the left of the door were three of the grey gargoyle-looking mystics.

Lucca pulled him back. "I'll handle this." With that, she pointed a strange apparatus at the three mystics. There was a green flash, and all three were asleep. "Hypno Wave. Let's go." The next door led to a choice: They could go left to the main hall, or straight up to the mezzanine.

Crono turned to his allies. "Well? Any choices?"

Frog murmured, "The mezzanine wouldst be mine choice."

Lucca agreed, and Crono nodded. "Mezzanine it is, then."

The first door they found was open a crack. Frog peeked in, then blanched. "Tis some sort of break room. Nay, lad and lass. Tis not a pretty sight. A Diablos leaves!" At this, the three ducked behind the door as it opened. The Diablos paused, but went around the mezzanine. The three followed at a safe distance to another door.

Inside, the Diablos was praising a statue, along with two more and two Naga-Ettes. "Nothing for us in there." Crono muttered. "Now what?" They looked over the rail. Below, the main hall was patrolled by two Naga-Ettes and two purple snake Gnashers. There was another mezzanine across from the three. "We'd probably wanna check that other mezzanine out... but how, without alerting the guards?"

Frog grinned. "Simple." He pointed at the large curtain hanging from the huge stained-glass window above the main hall.

Five minutes and one nervous climb later, the three made it across and looked in the first door. It appeared to be some sort of treasure room. "Yowza!" Crono yelled. In the first chest, he found a steel samurai sword to replace the wooden one. The second chest held a healing potion, and the third some armor that fit only Lucca.

"Must've been designed for Naga-Ettes," she mused as she looked around. The mirror next to the chests was crooked. On a hunch, she checked behind it. A small white bottle. As she put it in her pocket, three Henches charged in.

"They're after the Bromide! Get 'em!" The first one charged Crono, ready to bash his head in-then gasped and slid off the blade, lifeless. The second ran at Frog and was split in two. The last one charged Lucca. For a moment, it thought it had her, helpless. Then it found itself looking into the barrel of a gun. "Surprise."

***

The other door on the mezzanine was locked. After a moment's searching, Crono found a skull-shaped switch on the wall, and sure enough, it unlocked the door. Crono gasped as they walked in. It was the two soldiers that had brought him to Marle! They looked up as they heard him, and smiled. "Somebody's here to save us! Hey, wait, you're that kid we brought to see Queen Leene, right?"

Frog's face was quizzical, but Lucca whispered "We'll explain later."

Crono grinned at them. "No problem. Listen, go out of here and down to the main floor. Go through the door right in front of you. Turn left and kill the three Diablos, then right at the end to get out of here." The soldiers nodded and ran out.

"Now, we need to get through that big door down below." Lucca whispered. "But those stinking snakes are guarding it. Any ideas?"

Crono grinned. "Of course. Be ready to jump." Before either she or Frog could respond, he dug his sword into the carpet and brought it forward, shooting a Ki wave forward that sliced through the huge curtain that they had climbed on before. Crono leaned over and called out in a perfect impression of a Hench's voice, "HEADS UP!" The curtain covered all the guards, and Crono jumped down, followed by Frog and Lucca. The three quickly ran through the door before any of the guards got loose.

Up the next staircase, they could go left or right. Both had staircases going down, but the left one had a Hench sleeping at the bottom, so they chose the right. The moment they trod on the first step, the staircase turned into a slide, and down they went. The noise alerted a Hench, who tried to make a dramatic entrance sliding down the rail-and hit his head on the floor, knocking himself out.

The next room had a couple giant bats on the ceiling, but nothing more except another skull-switch. Crono shrugged and hit it... which was a bad move, as the alarm went off and the bats dove for his neck. Crono easily diced them, but the damage was done. The next room was a long hall, with three Henches blocking the way. Easily dealt with. Midway, a note was pinned to the right wall: No Entry. Lucca paused. "Yeah, right. How much ya wanna bet Yakra's back there?"

At the end of the hall was a door on the left wall. The next room was empty, except another skull switch. "Better not," Crono cautioned. "Until we know what it does."

Now, they were at the bottom of the stairs to the right of the entrance, and that one Hench was still sleeping! Frog put his blade to its throat and looked at Crono, who shook his head. "Nah. Let's question him instead." Frog nodded and shook the Hench.

It grunted, and its eyes went wide open. "I'll say this for you. You know what you're doing!"

Frog glared. "What be thy name, slime?"

The Hench gulped. "Murray. Murray the Midgit. Please don't kill me." Midgit? Crono looked closer, and saw that the too-big armor made it look bigger than it actually was.

Frog was not impressed. "What be the way to Yakra?"

Murray looked at the blade, gulped again, and answered. "B-behind me, a switch. Opens a room at the top of the entry stairs. Inside... a piano. Opens door next to note in back hall. Heavily guarded."

Crono looked at him, surprised. "Hey, why'd you tell us it was guarded? You could have kept that quiet and has us wiped out by surprise."

Murray shook. "L-look, I'm not a f-fanatic like the others here. I was d-drafted, and these b-bums never did anything for m-me. Quite the opposite, actually. P-please don't kill me."

Frog scowled. "Does the Queen still live?"

Murray looked at him hopefully. "Yeah, she should, if you hurry. The boss came in just a few minutes ago, and he always takes an hour at least to prepare... sacrifices..."

Frog almost screamed with horror, but Crono interrupted him. "Murray. When Frog removes his sword, you will leave this place and never come back. Do you hear me?" Murray nodded.

Frog disgustedly removed his sword, and Murray ran up the stairs like a bat out of hell. "Cowardly vermin."

Crono glared at him. "It's better then being an evil fanatic like the rest."

While the two bickered, Lucca went back and pressed the skull switch, then herded them into the piano room. Three Henches and two Diablos were waiting there. "There they are! Kill 'em!" Their leader said this from behind an altar in the center. Crono and Lucca wiped out a Hench and a Diablo with Fire Whirl, but another Hench snuck up behind Lucca. It was about to bash her, when something yanked it back. Lucca turned to see Frog pull it towards him with his tongue, then chop the enemy in half with his sword. Lucca restrained herself from gagging and blew the other Diabloses head in. Crono took care of the leader, then calmly banged on the piano.

Sure enough, when they returned to that note, there was a door. The note now read "Try hard enough, and you will find a way in." Inside, there was a long hall blocked by two Henches and two Naga-Ettes. Frog snarled. "Queen Leene must be behind yon door, along with the vermin champion!"

Crono grinned. "Then we'll have to go in there, won't we?"

***

"Prepare yourself, Queen Leene. It is time!" The false Chancellor looked at the queen, bound to the altar, and smirked. "You shall be sacrificed to the great-" He was cut off by the doors barging open. "WHAT?! Who DARES?" Frog, Crono and Lucca charged. With one swing each, Crono and Frog severed Queen Leene's bonds.

She sat up. "Frog! But who are-"

Frog stopped her. "Your majesty, stand back and allow us the honor of slaying this miscreant!"

Leene nodded and ran near the door. "Be careful!"

The Chancellor was fuming. "That's what you think, fools! None of you will leave here alive!" He walked to the front of the altar, facing them. "Stupid toad, always interfering! I think it's time you shuffled off this mortal coil, yes! TRUE... FORM... CHANGE!" With that, he began spinning wildy in place, and there was a huge flash of light. When it dimmed, Yakra, the mystic leader, stood there.

With a scream, Yakra charged at Frog, knocking him on his butt. He ricocheted around the room, flattening all of them, before stopping. Instantly, Frog and Crono leapt to their feets. "Sir Crono! Dost thou know the X-Strike technique!"

Crono grinned. "Let's go!" With simultaneous battle cries, Crono and Frog charged at perpendicular angles, ripping a cross open on the monster's back. Yakra screamed again and spat an iron ball at Frog, who stumbled. Not stopping, Crono performed the Cyclone, which Lucca turned into a Fire Whirl. Yakra keeled over, and for a moment, Crono thought they had won.

Then Lucca saw his back bulging in two places, and screamed. "Watch out, Crono! It's his specialty-the Needle Attack!" Too late. The bulges fired, and a grey mass of spines descended on Crono. Lucca pulled out the tonic they had found in the treasure chamber and spilled it over her friend, but Yakra was already charging...

That was when Frog's tongue grabbed him by the waist and pulled him in. Frog swung, and Crono looked up to see Yakra's head fly past him and smack into the wall. With several explosions, Yakra's body began glowing an unearthly rainbow, and his corpse vanished in a blast of light.

Queen Leene smiled. "You saved me. Thank you... all of you." Crono bowed, and Lucca attempted to curtsy but ended up falling on her rear. Everybody laughed at that. Crono saw a treasure chest moving around behind the altar, and opened it. Everybody jumped as an old man, bound and gagged, jumped out. Queen Leene was the first to recover. "The real chancellor! I wondered where he was!" The others quickly untied him.

"Phew, thank you! That monster's had me crammed in there for days!" Frog smiled grimly and pointed at Yakra's head, still lying in the corner. The chancellor blanched. "Um... very good... er, shall we return to the castle?"

King Guardia was overjoyed to have his Queen back, but confused, as was the Queen herself when she heard of Marle. Crono and Lucca told them an edited version of their story, making it sound like they came from this time and Marle was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Frog listened as well. When they finished, he came forward and bowed in front of the throne.

"My duty to protect thee has failed, my queen. Yakra's foul deed would not have occured if I had been on my guard. I hath disgraced thee." Simultaneously, the King and Queen stood up.

"Frog! No!" But Frog took no heed, bowed once more, and left.

In Queen Leene's room, Marle was waiting in a chair. "Uh... hi, guys..." Lucca smiled.

"Welcome back, Princess Nadia." Marle blushed. "Oops... figured it out, huh?" Cronoo smiled and nodded. Marle looked down. "I'm princess Nadia. My father is King Guardia XXXIII. Listen... the reason I called myself by my middle name was because... I didn't think you would help me around if you knew..."

Crono grinned and lightly bonked her on the head. "Yeah, right. That kind of thing doesn't matter. Now, let's go home."

***

On the way down, Crono and Lucca told Marle the story of Frog, Queen Leene and Yakra. As they passed by the throne, the King & Queen commented on the resemblance. When they walked outside, Frog was waiting. The first thing he did was look closely at Marle, who responded with an "EEEEEK!" Frog was unperturbed.

"Indeed, your resemblance to the Queen is uncanny, lass." He then turned to Crono. "Sir Crono, thou hast the makings of a master swordsman! Fare thee well, all!" And he left. Lucca looked after him as he disappeared into the forest.

"Froggy... you weren't such a bad guy either..." That was when Marle whacked her with her crossbow hilt.

By mutual consent, they spent the night at the inn. When they came down, Crono spotted a familiar face at the bar. "Hey, man!" He ran up. Marle and Lucca stayed back.

"Who's the tramp?"

"No idea." Toma looked up.

"Hey, kid. Heard something went down with you guys at the Cathedral. Good work." Crono grinned.

"Yeah. Yakra's dead meat." Toma looked over at Lucca.

"Hm, you and the girl with glasses. That other girl must be the one who looked like the Queen." Crono blinked.

"Damn... news travels fast around here." Toma grinned.

"Yeh. They're burning the Cathedral today." He got up, ready to go. "In case you were wondering, your froggy friend swam to the south continent. Bridges out don't mean nothing to him." Toma walked by Marle and Lucca, then turned back to Crono. "Oh, by the way... rumors say Yakra had a kid. Be on your guard." He left.

Marle looked at Crono."Who was that wierdo?"

"Oh, just a friend by the name of Toma Levine."

***

They made it through the Canyon easily, with their only problem being a mischievious Poly. At the spot where they came in, Marle suddenly stopped. "Hey, wait a second. How do we get back?"

Lucca responded, "One step ahead of ya, Marle. Observe!" With that, she pulled a white rod from her pocket, about a foot long. There was a yellow star at one end and a blue orb at the other. She jammed the star-end into the spot where they had come out, and the portal reopened!

Lucca smirked at Crono & Marle's stares. "My analysis of this phenomenon allowed me to create this 'Gate Key'. Now we can use these whenever we please."

Marle stopped staring. "Lucca, you're amazing!"

The other girl cackled. "Ain't it the truth!" She stopped. "I mean... uh..."

Marle frowned, mock-grumpily. "Cut the false modesty! You have a real gift! I'd trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!"

Crono stepped up. "This conversation is fascinating, girls, but we need to get home." And with that, they jumped in.