A/N: Wow--chapter NINE!!! Never thought I'd get this far. Thanks so much to everyone who has been helping me along! We're coming up to the end here (I keep saying that and then coming up with new ideas for the plot -_-') But SOON the Dark and Scary plan will be revealed! So I know you all have the 5th Harry Potter to read, so I'd like to thank everyone in advance for reading this next chapter here AND reviewing! Love you guys! This chapter was meant to be a lot shorter than it ended up, but oh well. ENJOY!!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Crono Trigger, Zelda or Peter Pan. The ideas you see here are mine, mine, mine! hehe, except I do own a *BIG* thank you to Mo-Mo Chan for all her help with the Dark and Scary plan. Also, when I had Lucca ask Crono what he was smoking, she jokingly said it was the grass. THANK YOU MO!!! ^_^ Oh, and one more thing: To Sabriel, thank you. Your review suggested I could have someone fall into the moat. This idea spurred an entire scene! Thanx so much! (Sorry that I forgot to thank you two last chapter...I really do appreciate your input!)

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And a quick thanks to everyone!

Mo-Mo (thanks for all the help!), Sabriel (let me know when you get your story off the ground!), Imania (death by tom-toms? Luckily, I'm spared. Here's the next chapter for ya!), Shiro Amayagi (I'm not getting predictable, am I? ^_^'), Zaber the Pheonix (glad you're enjoying my fic! despite my strangeness...hehe), Dr. Lauryl (hope you're enjoying your vacation, girl! love ya!), Starlight-x1 (thanks SO much for reviewing!!) and Luna (Oh yes. Link and Zelda will be reappearing soon...)

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Chapter Nine: In Which We Explore the Dark and Scary Dungeons and Lucca Explains the Stereotypical Ending of Evil

It didn't take long before they had finally reached the dark and scary dungeons. It was completely pitch black and they could hear an eerie dripping noise.

Marle clutched on to Lucca's arm. "It's so dark!" She muttered, shivering a little. "This place is like a cave...So dark and...and..."

"And scary?" Crono suggested dryly.

Lucca tried to shake her overly emotional friend from her arm. "I'm going numb! Let go!"

"Oops! Sorry..." Marle giggled shrilly.

Crono winced. Luckily it was too dark for Marle to see him at all. "Glenn?" He finally called out softly.

"Glenn??" Lucca stage-whispered. They stood still a moment, straining into the darkness and jumping at the least little sounds. A couple times Crono whispered that he'd heard someone, but every time it was only his echo.

"I heard it again," he insisted.

"Shut up, Crono..." Lucca muttered. "Glenn? Are you down here?"

"Guess we're gonna have to go cell-to-cell and check. He could be sleeping or something," Crono said after a while.

Marle reached out in the darkness and touched the grimy, slimy metal bars of one of the cells. She shuddered and then realized that she was going to have to stumble around in this gross place looking for Glenn. "GLEEEEEEENNNNNN!!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE!!!"

Lucca groaned and put her hands over her ears. "What do you say we split up? Now that you've conveniently informed Magus of our whereabouts...and made me deaf!"

"Oh, come on...He had to know that we were headed this way," Marle muttered sullenly. "GLENN!!" She shouted again.

"Definitely let's split up."

In the silence that followed, Crono heard an ominous clicking noise.

"Oh! Did you guys hear that?! What was it?" Crono cried.

"Don't be such a baby, Crono. It's only my gun," Lucca told him.

"Oh. Only your gun..."

"What's this gum you speak of?" Ganondorf said groggily.

"Hey-he's awake again!" Marle squealed.

"Good. They don't know what guns are around here. Very good...Ganondorf, where's Glenn?" Lucca said.

"What's this Glenn of which you speak?" Ganondorf asked stupidly.

"Good. They don't know about anything around here," Crono said sarcastically.

"No matter!" Lucca went on cheerfully. "We'll just lock him up in one of these cells...we don't need him anymore anyway." In front of her, Ganondorf sniffed tragically.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Um..." Lucca paused. "Well, yes, actually."

"I have feelings too, you know!" He sobbed. "Every time someone tries to get rid of me, I end up dead! I ask you: now is that really necessary?!"

"You've died before? Me too!" Crono chirped. "Well, it sure is a small world after all!"

"Well, whoop-dee-do," Marle said. "I've died before too...it's not that uncommon, you know."

"Yeah, Marle...why don't you join the party?" Crono asked eagerly. "Oh, but...Lucca hasn't died before...I feel bad excluding you, Lucca, really I do."

Lucca held her gun to her head and made a face. Then she remembered they couldn't see her. "That could be arranged, Crono. But why don't I just leave you all to your party? We're running out of time and I intend to get Glenn back!"

"Oh, right...sorry. I'll help too." Crono said. Together, the three of them stumbled to the nearest cell and threw Ganondorf in.

"Take the key and lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up! Take the key and lock him upgh..." Crono sang cheerily, until Marle finally swung out in the dark and managed to slap her hand over his mouth.

"Must you, Crono?" Lucca said, exasperated.

"Vel, Ah jut can't elp ot--Ah'm a gute sangar..."

"What? Oh, never mind. I don't really want to know..." Lucca sighed.

With a little help from Crono's lightening magic, they welded the door shut and Ganondorf was successfully locked up. Then, they carefully made their way up and down past the cells, trying their best to check every one. Lucca had separated from the group slightly and as they turned back, she found she could keep walking. Soon she ran into something.

"Ouch! Oh, man..." Rubbing her head, Lucca realized that the walls were cement and this was most definitely some kind of wooden plank. She ran her hands across the surface and found a door knob. There was also some kind of little lettered sign at the top. "This is ridiculous," she muttered, attempting to trace the lettering with her fingers and then decipher it from there.

"Lucca? Where'd you go?" Marle called.

"There's some kind of door back here and it's got a sign on it, but I can't read it in the dark...ah, damn it! We're never going to find Glenn at this rate!"

"Well, do you not have your magic anymore?" Marle asked. "I mean, honestly...for someone so intelligent, I would've thought you would've remembered that you do have fire magic by now."

"...Oh, yeah..." Lucca said. "Ok, now I feel..."

"Dumb?" Crono suggested.

"No, more than that," Lucca said.

"Oh, you mean more like Crono," Marle said snidely.

"Yeah! That describes it exactly!" Lucca replied as Crono sulked in the corner. She made a small flame appear in her hand and held it up to the door. The sign read: HENCHMEN ONLY! DO NOT ENTER!

"Well, that was easy!" Lucca chuckled. "I'll bet there's some clues in here..."

"Wait!" Marle said. "If we all go in there, it could just be one little room and Magus could trap us!"

"I hadn't thought of that..." Lucca admitted. "Marle, how about you go back to that banquet hall we were in earlier and go through the door Magus left through? See if you can find him and keep an eye on him. Get Navi to report back to me if it gets out of control."

"Sure thing. Good luck! See you later!" Marle called and headed quickly back up the stairs. She was all too happy to get out of the dark and scary dungeons.

"What about me?" Crono asked.

"You can go back to that main room too. Look for other doors. Try to find Glenn and keep an eye out for Magus, okay?"

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine! I've got my gun, remember?" Lucca held it up to show him.

Crono hesitated. "I just don't feel good about this..."

"Stop being such a baby, Crono! Everything's going to be just fine. All you have to do is find Glenn...it's like a game, see? Whoever can find him first, wins!"

"I suppose almost getting killed by Magus is also part of the fun?"

"Well...yeah. It's all part of the thrill. The rush. The ride, if you will. Go with me on this one, Crono. It'll be okay."

Crono laughed happily. "I do so love games! I'm going to win! Just watch."

"I don't think so, old pal. You might be strong, but I've got enough intelligence for both of us!"

Crono just laughed at her as he scampered off cheerfully. Lucca heard him laughing and humming and then a loud smack. She winced--Crono had run into one of the walls. He laughed insanely, hummed some more and kept going.

"Strange boy. Hope he'll be okay," Lucca muttered once she had heard Crono's footsteps retreat up the steps. It was very quiet now and dark again. The dripping noise seemed louder now and oppressive. In spite of her brave face, Lucca almost wished Crono were still her with her. She'd probably feel better if there was a little light.

With that thought, Lucca made another small flame appear and balanced it in her right hand. In her left, she held her gun at ready. With her shoulder, Lucca shoved the door open and peered cautiously inside.

***

About this time, Navi had finally located Magus in one of the upper towers. He was standing with his back to the door, bent over something. When she flew nearer, Navi could see the something was wrapped in a deep, blue cloth, one silvery pointy end sticking out.

"Oooh...shiny!" Navi squealed, flying in closer.

Magus whirled around. "Who's there?!" He demanded. Suddenly, he saw Navi, or rather, saw her simply as a tiny light. "Ooooh, it is shiny!" He reached out his hands. "Come here, little light...come back here!" He chucked childishly and began chasing Navi around the room.

"Over here! Up here!" Navi called in-between giggles. This Magus guy wasn't so dark and scary after all, she thought. And then suddenly, there was a loud *whump!* noise and Navi was spiraling towards the ground.

Magus laughed. "Gotcha," he said, bringing his scythe down the rest of the way with a solid thud. Navi managed to roll out of the way just in time. Magus knelt down and scooped Navi up in his cape. "And just what are you doing here?"

"Ahhh!! Magus got me!" Navi screeched dramatically.

"Yes, I know that. Now then...what are you doing here?!"

"He's picking me up and I can't escape!" Navi went on.

Magus ran around. "I need a jar...a jar...damn! Of all days not to have a jar just lying around."

"I don't see any jars," Navi commented from where she was caught in his cloak.

"No, really?" Magus asked, reaching for his scythe again. "I'll ask you once more: what are you doing here?"

"You kidnapped my friends' friend!" Navi piped up indignantly.

"Oh...you were with those stupid children who think they're heroes. I remember now."

"They aren't happy that you stole him!"

"They aren't? How surprising," Magus commented dryly as he gently balled up the part of the cloak that she was in and put it down on the floor, pinning one corner so she couldn't escape.

"No, they aren't! They're here to get him back! Where is he?" Navi demanded, her small voice sounding muffled.

"What was that? Speak up!" Magus ordered seconds before he brought the flat side of his scythe down on the lump in his cloak. Then he laughed for a long time. "That should take of that," he announced to the empty room, dusting his hands.

The lump moved and an enraged fairy came rushing out. Magus felt something grab his nose. "That hurt, you big bully! I'm going to kill you!" Navi screamed. "WHERE'S GLENN?!?"

"Ha!" Magus yelled, throwing her at the ground again. "Little ones shouldn't take on people more than one hundred times their size."

"Take that! And that!" Navi called back, punching his feet.

"Take what? I don't feel anything."

"Gah! I'll kill you if you don't tell me where Glenn is!"

"Oh, no. I'm terrified," Magus said sarcastically. "I'd better show you then. Come along." He grabbed her out of the air, tightened his fist and began walking. He went down the stairs and back through the banquet hall, moments before Marle would arrive there. He went across the moat and to the root cellar, with Navi in his hand screaming the whole way.

"Here we are!" Magus said cheerfully. "Go annoy your stupid friend. I've already gotten all that I need from him anyway." And with that, he opened the door and flung Navi inside. "Got a present for you! Enjoy!"

Navi fell to the ground. It was pitch black here. "STUPID MAGUS! I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL GET LINK TO KILL YOU!" She screamed at the top of lungs, but Magus had already left and slammed the cellar door.

Suddenly, a hand reached out the darkness and grabbed Navi.

***

Meanwhile, Lucca had made it into the "henchmen only" room. Here it was also dark, but in the spluttering light of her fire magic, she saw a torch hanging on the wall. She lit it carefully and looked around. The room was sparsely furnished, with only a roughly hewn wooden desk, a small refrigerator and two plastic plants on either side of the desk. There were two chairs and on the wall hung several torches and a rack with a random assortment of weapons. Lucca quickly noted that most of them were falling apart or were in actuality big sticks. She decided to stick with her gun and walked over to the desk.

"Let's see if there's anything in here that might help," she muttered, sticking the torch in a holder on the desk and trying to open one of the drawers. It was locked shut, but it didn't take long to shoot the lock open with her gun. Lucca grinned happily as it fell open.

"What's this?" She wondered, pulling out a stack of papers. "Oh my..." Lucca said in amazement, leafing through them. "I know this is probably normal to some extent, but it's freaking me out to find dirty magazines in Ganondorf's desk..." She shuddered.

"'What Gets Your Freak On?' 'Advice: What To Do If Your Significant Other is One of the Undead' 'Forbidden Henchmen Loves' 'Tips: How To Kidnap A Princess'" Lucca read aloud in disbelief. "What is this stuff?!" she cried, quickly dropping the magazines.

"Ooookay. A little freaked out..." she muttered, hesitating. "Oh what the hell. It can't be much worse, right?" And with that, she reached down, discovered the second drawer was unlocked and pulled it open. This one was full of what appeared to be harmless files.

She read off the titles: "Dentist and Health Care Records, Car Insurance, The Idiot's Guide to Becoming A Successful Evil Villain, Taxes, The Dark and Scary Plan, Stocks, Various Evil Schemes, Castle Blueprints, Moat Construction Records, and Pension Plans."

"Hmm...very organized guy. Well, that looks all right...wait...The Dark and Scary Plan File?" Lucca mused. She pulled out the thick file and laid it on the desk in front of her. Excited, Lucca opened it and sat down on the chair behind the desk.

"'The Dark and Scary Plan: Phase One,'" she read. "'Operation: Frogg...' What's this all about?" Lucca wondered. So Magus must have known that they were all here in Hyrule, then he had used the teleporter to follow them, but..."Why?"

She turned the page to see a blueprint of the inside of the Hyrule castle. Someone had thoughtfully marked arrows to show the way they would invade the palace. It was clear to Lucca that this was a stealth mission, in search of someone or something. The next page was an extensive map of the forest, woods and surrounding area, including Ganondorf's castle drawn up in the right-hand corner. Quickly, Lucca flipped the page. She might not have much time. She needed to discover where Glenn was!

"'Capture Frogg and bring him back to the castle. Use him to lure the others,'" Lucca read quietly. This note had been scribbled on the back of the map. The next page looked like the drawing a football coach would show his players before a big game: it was covered with little circles and squares, then arrows depicting which way they would go. Lucca could make no sense of it so she quickly moved on.

She flipped through the pages. Reading all this isn't important, she reminded herself. Finding Glenn is.

She was getting frustrated. The pages were bound together in a notebook, so they should all be there, yet key pages seemed to be missing. She kept imagining she heard footsteps outside the door. Once again, she almost wished Crono were here to sing some stupid song and keep her from being afraid. Then again, Crono's singing gave her a headache and he would doubtless get them into more trouble if he were here.

Her musings were cut short by the sight of the jagged edge where one page had obviously been torn out. "Damn, damn, damn!" Lucca cursed, slamming her hand down on the file. "Man, I knew it! Shit...if only I had it, I'm sure it contains the information about where Glenn is!"

"Missing something?" Asked a sing-song voice in Lucca's ear. She gasped and caught a glimpse of a pale hand resting on her shoulder. Screaming, Lucca jumped up so fast she knocked the chair over. She backed away until she was scrunched up against the desk.

Magus leaned forward until his face was a mere inch from hers. "...Boo."

Lucca couldn't seem to stop herself: she shrieked in terror.

Magus laughed and moved back a little. "Such a baby. I'll be you wet yourself."

Regaining some of her composure, Lucca said, "No, but I'll bet most people do when they see your face!"

Of course it is hard to fling such insults when one is crouched in the fetal position, halfway under a desk. Magus simply shook his head and laughed some more.

"So original..." He said calmly. "Tsk, tsk! Such a temper, Lucca."

Lucca glared at him. "Where's Glenn?!"

"Who? Oh, you mean Frogg."

Lucca's eyes widened. "You didn't!"

"Didn't what?" Magus asked innocently.

"Turn him into a frog again," Lucca responded, still in shock.

"Perhaps."

"Where is my friend, you twisted sicko?!"

"Have I ever mentioned there's an excellent recipe for frog's legs in my family? The secret is to cook them very slowly, so the frog screams," Magus said with a huge grin.

About this time, Lucca remembered she had a gun. She reached for it and thought, well, past tense: I had a gun anyway. Magus just smiled wider.

"Missing something else?" He asked, her gun just barely out of reach, dangling from Magus's hands.

"Give me my gun!" Lucca cried, lunging forward.

"Ah, ah!" Magus scolded, backing away. "Do that again and you'll never find your friend!"

Lucca glared at him. "How did you manage to steal my gun?" She demanded.

"It was easy. You were too busy screaming to notice, I suppose."

"Give it back right now!" She said angrily.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that. We can't have any killing just yet. That would spoil the fun."

"Give it up, Magus. You're going to die sooner or later. Why not just let me put you out of your misery right now?"

"I'm not ready to die yet. I still have to complete the final steps of my dark and scary plan. Can't let you ruin it, see?"

Lucca thought for a moment. "Magus," she said rather gently, "you're the evil villain. Hasn't it occurred to you that you've made all these plans for no reason?"

"What do you mean?"

Lucca sighed. "Evil never wins. Watch any show, read any book and you'll see. Good always comes out on top in the end. Why don't you just give up now and save yourself the disgrace?"

Magus blinked. "Never!" He cried. "You're just trying to trick me! I'm going to win!"

"Well, heroes can't die! My gun is of no use to you! Evil villains can always be spotted by their terrible aim."

"Except when they manage to kill off one of the beloved main characters, which heightens the audience's fear that perhaps evil will triumph."

Lucca paled. "Crap. I forgot about that..."

"Ha! Why don't you have a seat, then?"

"You may kill me, but you'll never win! Think of how embarrassing it will be that you couldn't beat us! Just let me save you the disgrace!"

"You can't kill me yet," Magus insisted, pushing Lucca down into the chair.

Lucca pouted for a moment, her brain working fast to come up with some way of escape. "Could I at least mortally wound you?"

"NO!"

Lucca cursed. Things were going downhill fast. Magus pulled up a chair beside her and held up the missing pages from the file. She lunged at him again, knocking his scythe away. Magus held the pages up higher, but she grabbed for the gun. Then, she stood back and pointed it directly at him.

"Say goodbye, Magus!" Lucca cried and fired all the rounds. Finally, the gun fell from her hands, empty. Lucca sighed. "I'm sorry, Magus...But I can't let you complete your plan."

Then, she looked down cautiously at him. She hated the sight of blood, but to her surprise, there wasn't any. Magus was smiling peacefully. She felt sorry for him. Suddenly, Magus sat back up, laughing. Lucca fell backwards into her chair.

"I...I missed! Every shot missed! How is this possible?!"

"Allow me to let you in on a little secret, Lucca. There is one main reason why you won't be able to kill me right now: I haven't told you the plan yet."

Lucca gasped and then began cursing. "Damn it! How could I have forgotten the most important step?!"

"That's right," Magus purred. "The villain must always tell someone the evil plan."

"He or she tells it to someone they're about to kill," Lucca whispered.

Magus nodded. "Let's begin shall we?"

~~~

A/N: Mwhahahahahaha! Cliffhanger, cliffhanger! I've been wondering--the same as you guys, probably--since Chapter Three what exactly the Dark and Scary Plan was. That's why I never revealed it earlier. But now I've got it all figured out. So stay tuned!! hehe. Oh yeah. I put this a/n down here, because I thought some people might be wondering what Crono said back in the beginning there. He said: "Well, I just can't help it--I'm a good singer..."

Now...1, 2, 3, REVIEW!! YAAAAAY!! It's easy...just push that little button down there and insert a nice message.

(ex--"CronoCat, I adore your story! I wish I were just like you! Please, teach me, O Guru! I hero worship you. Let me shine your shoes/wash your car/clean your room/do your homework/bake you cookies/etc. to show my sincere appreciation! Looooooove, --your name here--)

Until next time! ~CronoCat =^_^=