Chapter 23: The New King
Act One
August 28, 12000 B.C.
Marle awoke. Slowly sitting up, she felt achy all over. She had no idea how long she had been out, but it felt as if she had been sleeping forever. There was some difficulty swallowing; she had realized that her throat hurt from crying.
And then, she noticed that someone else had woken up.
Marle immediately threw her arms around Lucca.
Lucca squeezed her back.
"I'm so sorry about yesterday," Marle apologized. "I know I'm not the only one here with a broken heart."
"That's alright," Lucca replied softly. "It was probably wrong of me to blow up at Frog like that. As much as I can't stand him, I probably owe him an apology."
"Are you going to be okay?" Marle asked.
"No," Lucca replied as she shook her head. "Not really. But I can't change it. Will you be okay?"
"Not for a very long time," Marle sadly replied. "I miss him terribly. Not to mention, we failed."
"It wasn't our fault there," Robo assured her as he awoke from regeneration, surprising the two women. "Lavos is practically immortal. It erupted in the twenty-first century, and we used our most advanced weapons in it. I won't lie about something. Remember all the damage you saw in 2300? Well, we did some of it."
"So we're capable of being just as destructive as Lavos," Marle observed softly.
There was a long silence.
It was not something that was easy to take in, especially after all that happened.
Finally, Lucca spoke.
"Maybe Lavos was right to destroy us," she suggested. "If we're that capable of such destruction, maybe it was time for a change. Robo, would the world heal from Lavos on its own?"
"Eventually, yes," he replied. "I would imagine."
"So what now?" Marle asked.
"All we can do is limp home," Lucca said. "Go back to the present, set things as right as we can there. The big mission was a failure, but we can still solve the small problems."
"I suppose I should make up with my father," Marle said. "Something's up with Chancellor Vanim. He may be after the throne."
"What makes you say that?" asked Lucca.
"Schala told me before she died," Marle replied. "I know I was the heir to the throne. If the king dies without an heir, the chancellor becomes king."
"I never considered that," Lucca admitted. "We'll get rid of Vanim and fix things with your father. I'm sure he misses you."
"You can come over to the castle any time," Marle assured her."
"And..." Lucca began, before stopping herself.
It was time to address the elephant in the room. It hurt her terribly, but she knew that keeping silent wouldn't change it.
"And...we'll have a funeral for Crono."
Marle closed her eyes and lowered her head; it was difficult for her not to cry.
"I'll tell his mom," Lucca volunteered. "She's my aunt."
"I was going to tell him the three words," Marle lamented. "But, now...it's too late."
The silence was broken when someone entered the hut.
"All rested up?" asked the elder.
Marle looked around the hut to see that Frog and Ayla had awakened as well.
"It looks like it," she softly replied.
"I think this Ice Age is starting to end," the elder said. "It's the warmest it's been."
"You know," Marle began, turning to Robo, "maybe you're right. The world can recover after Lavos. They recovered from this, didn't they?"
"I think I can speak for all of us when I say it's time to go back," Lucca said.
"We'll need to find a place for Ayla," Lucca pointed out.
"We can also build two memorials here," Robo suggested. "One for Schala. One for Crono."
Lucca's heart was full. Sorrow at her cousin-no, half-brother's passing was mixed with hope for the future.
Robo's right, she realized. We recovered from this Ice Age. The earth will recover from Lavos in the future as well. Where would it go from there?
As for me, who knows? Maybe Marle will become my new best friend. Or maybe Ayla will.
Honestly, I've never felt more hopeful.
And then, a Zealian thrasher suddenly appeared at the entrance.
"You!" exclaimed Marle.
All five were quickly surrounded by more thrashers as they entered the hut before they could gather their weapons.
"Bow," the thrasher at the doorway commanded, "and pay homage to our new liege, King Dalton!"
A moment later, Dalton approached them from the entrance.
"You there!" he greeted. "What's wrong? You're lucky to be alive!"
"Most of us," Marle replied sadly.
"The old crone and the pesky gurus are gone," Dalton announced. "I now rename Zeal the Kingdom of Dalton!"
"What kingdom?" Lucca demanded. "Everything was destroyed."
"Not everything. That vehicle outside must be yours!" Dalton continued. "It's just like the one Belthasar was building."
"For us alone!" Frog announced.
Dalton shook his head.
"I've decided you don't deserve such a splendid toy!" he said. "Henceforth it shall be my personal chariot!"
"Hey, you can't do that!" Marle shouted. "Even if you are the new king!"
"You'll have to come with me!" Dalton announced. "You might start a rebellion or something!"
"We just want to leave," Lucca pleaded. "We decided to let history take its course."
Dalton simply smiled and shook his head.
"And now," continued Dalton, as he and the other thrashers concealed their noses, "as a token of my esteem for you...take this!"
He tossed a small sphere, which released a pink gas into the hut.
And then, everything went dark.
LATER...
Marle regained consciousness.
Or at least it seemed; she felt herself floating, and all she could see was black in every direction.
She was baffled at first; she was wondering if it was a dream. She was wondering if she had passed out from pure exhaustion.
She even toyed with the possibility that she had died of grief.
And then, the blackness broke: a figure had appeared out of the darkness.
It was Magus.
He seemed to glare at Marle, but she did not feel any malevolence. Instead, she felt a sense of grief, similar to what she was dealing with.
It certainly wasn't for Crono; they had been enemies.
He did seem to show affection for Schala; that had to be the reason. She wondered if he had feelings for her or if they had even been a couple.
But their body language said otherwise.
Marle called his name.
In response, Magus disappeared into the darkness. He was soon replaced by another figure.
It was Queen Zeal.
"You!" cried Marle. "You killed him!"
"Did I?" taunted Queen Zeal.
"Who was it who provoked your little failed rescued mission? Who stood up and foolishly challenged me? If only you had left things well enough alone..."
Marle, at this point, had had enough, and fired her crossbow at the queen.
Queen Zeal disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Marle then turned around, and gasped.
Schala was standing there.
"Marle," she began, "I am no more."
Marle immediately began to cry again.
"I want him back!" she sobbed. "And I want you back!"
Schala floated toward Marle and gently embraced her.
"I know," she said gently. "I wish I could change the past."
Marle suddenly had an idea.
"That's it!" she exclaimed hopefully, her head still buried in Schala's shoulder. "I'll go back and save you both!"
"There's no Gate in the Ocean Palace," Schala lamented.
"I know!" Marle exclaimed. "We'll take the Epoch!"
"Dearest Marle," Schala gently replied, "the Palace was at the bottom of the ocean. The pressure would crush the Epoch and anyone therein."
Marle sadly released herself from the embrace and floated back.
"Crono lives through you," Schala continued. "And so do I."
"Are you real?" Marle asked. "Are you from beyond the grave?"
Schala shook her head.
"Consider me a memory," she explained. "Marle, we both live through you. But you can't stop living simply because we're gone."
"I suppose you're right," Marle admitted.
Schala suddenly vanished. A moment later, the blackness was gone, and Marle found herself in an even stranger world.
Act Two
August 29, 12000 B.C.
This world was a world made of dark green metal. It was much warmer than the hut, but it seemed to be because the heat was artificial.
This time, Marle noticed Frog, Lucca, Robo, and Ayla rousing with her.
"Where are we?" Frog inquired, though he knew the futility of asking such a question.
Lucca noticed the room blurry, and realized she wasn't wearing her glasses. She felt around, but they were nowhere to be found.
"Our equipment's gone!" she exclaimed.
"All stuff, gone!" Ayla added.
"Confound it!" exclaimed Frog. "The money, too!"
"We must think of a way to escape," Robo said.
"Ayla fight!" Ayla declared. "Get all weapons back! Destroy bad man!"
Just then, all five survivors felt a powerful jolt.
"What?!" exclaimed Lucca as she suddenly felt her ears pop.
"I know that feeling," Robo informed them. "I'm detecting increasing altitude. We're airborne!"
"We're what?" Marle inquired.
"The sky!" Frog replied as he felt Marle grab his arm. "We're in the belly of the Blackbird?!"
"It would seem seem so," Robo confirmed. "The speed isn't fast. We can still safely escape."
At one wall was a door.
Lucca ran to it immediately upon discovery, but was unable to open it.
"It's locked," she muttered. "And they took all our weapons!"
"Not all of them," Robo announced. "Stand back."
Lucca did as she was told.
Robo fired his laser at the door, but it had no effect.
"Well," he sighed, "at least it didn't bounce around the room like in Star Wars."
"What's that?" Lucca asked.
"It's a lot better than Oedipus Rex, that's for sure," Robo answered.
"If thee be finished," Frog said, "we must escape."
"What shall we do?" asked Marle. "There's no way out!"
"We pretend to be ill!" Frog decided.
"Who died and made you boss?" Lucca demanded.
Frog simply gave her a sad look.
Lucca wanted to kick herself for making such a comment.
"We shall get the guard in here," Frog continued.
"I see," Lucca realized. "We're gonna trick the guard."
"Keep the guard off guard," Robo added.
"Ayla healthy!" Ayla protested. "But want sick, then sick."
The five survivors lay on the ground.
"Owww!" moaned Lucca. "The pain...the pain!"
"Total system overload!" Robo cried. "Irreparable! Please help!"
"Ayla hurt bad!" Ayla groaned.
"Owww!" added Frog. "Belly button...pain...ohh!"
And then, the door opened.
"What's wrong?" one of the thrashers asked as he ran into the room.
Ayla immediately jumped up and punched the guard in the head, knocking him out cold.
"Mission accomplished!" Lucca announced.
"You fool," Frog laughed. "Frogs haven't belly buttons!"
"That's not the only thing I heard they don't have," Lucca muttered.
"Ayla don't like lie," the feral woman said, seemingly with some regret.
"Hey you!" exclaimed an unpleasant voice.
Marle turned around to see three thrashers closing in on them.
"How did you guys get out?" another one demanded. "Freeze!"
TWO MINUTES LATER...
"Some plan," Lucca said sarcastically as the cell door closed again.
"I needed to try," Frog lamely defended.
Meanwhile, Ayla was gazing at the ceiling.
"What's up there?" Marle asked.
"Breeze come in here," Ayla replied.
Robo then spotted what Ayla was looking at.
"It seems like an airduct," he observed.
"A what?" Marle asked.
"There are tunnels in the ceiling," Robo explained, as best as he could. "We might be able to find other rooms from there."
"Including where our weapons might be," Lucca realized.
"But how would we ascend there?" Frog asked.
"Climb on my back," Robo commanded.
"I beg your pardon?" Frog asked skeptically.
"Climb on my back," Robo repeated.
Frog reluctantly did as he was told.
Suddenly, Robo's legs extended, ascending Frog to the airduct.
"Push it up," Robo commanded.
Frog did so, and beheld a tunnel so big he could stand up in.
Robo then helped the rest of his friends in similar fashion before extending his arms to help himself in.
"What now?" Ayla asked.
"Our weapons have to be in one of these rooms," Robo said.
The five survivors began their search. The tunnels were not lit well, but the air ducts below provided apple illumination.
They peeked through each and every one they could find, but did not find their weapons, nor anything that might conceal them.
"So far, no good," Ayla muttered.
"At least there's no Xenomorph up here," Robo quipped.
"Do I even want to know what a Xenomorph's supposed to be?" Lucca inquired.
"Not really," Robo dismissed. "No."
As they approached the next air duct, they began to hear muffled voices.
Marle quickly signaled for everyone to remain silent, and peered into the room below.
The room appeared to be what someone from this era would refer to as a garage.
Several thrashers were there, along with Dalton.
"Pay close attention to what you're doing!" the new king demanded. "This will be my royal air-throne."
As Marle continued to peer, she realized that it was none other than the Epoch that the thrashers were working on.
"What are they doing?" Marle whispered.
Robo peered over as week.
"It seems he's modifying the Epoch," he replied.
"The world now belongs to me!" they heard Dalton continue below.
"We can't let him mess with the Epoch!" Lucca whispered. "That's our only way home!"
"We stop him," Ayla whispered. "If we find weapons."
"Let us keep going," Frog suggested.
As they approached another air duct, they suddenly hear the sound of snoring.
Peering in, Lucca almost gasped; she saw a sleeping thrasher next to a treasure chest.
"This is too good to be true!" she whispered.
"Are our weapons in that chest?" Marle whispered back.
"One way to find out," Lucca replied as she slowly pulled the grate away.
Suddenly, Lucca felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Watch me," Ayla commanded.
Before anyone could say anything, she jumped through the air duct, landing on the thrasher's chest.
Everyone's ears were filled with a loud crack.
"Capital punishment for sleeping on the job," Robo observed.
Ayla proceeded to open the chest.
"Everyone!" Ayla commanded as she presented the crossbow and Masamune. "Come quickly!"
Everyone leaped out of the air duct, taking care to dodge the obviously dead thrasher.
Ayla handed everyone their weapons one by one.
"Let's go!" she then commanded. "Still missing money and equipment!"
Everyone nodded as they exited the room.
As they searched the corridors for the other rooms, they encountered two more thrashers.
"You again!" exclaimed one of them.
"Okay, fun's over," announced the other one. "Back to your cell."
Marle and Lucca drew their weapons.
"Uh-oh," said one thrasher.
"Stinky!" said the other.
Marle and Lucca fired in unison.
They soon came to another room, where the equipment, including Lucca's glasses, was all found. They easily found the third room where the money was kept.
"But now," Marle began, "how to get out of this thing?"
The day dragged slowly long as the five of them searched for a way out of the Blackbird. For an hour, it seemed as if they were going around in circles. But, eventually they came to a door with the sound of a loud draft behind it.
"This must be the way out!" Marle declared as she began to open the door.
"No, wait!" pleaded Robo.
But she had already begun to open the door, and she finished.
And nothing happened.
Robo, of course, had been expecting to be blown out, but the Blackbird was moving quite slowly.
Marle quickly led the way outside. Once there, they all realized that they were standing on one of the Blackbird's wings.
The ground was only visible in the distance.
"Be this the only escape?" Frog inquired.
"It's too high to jump," Robo warned.
"What if we land in the water?" Marle asked.
"You break every bone in your body and die," he answered bluntly.
Suddenly, a distortion appeared on the wing.
"What's going on?!" Marle exclaimed.
"It's a massive magic energy reaction!" Robo announced as a black portal opened.
"Something cometh!" Frog said.
A moment later, a creature appeared, and the portal closed. It look just like one of the Golem Twins, but it was much larger.
"This must be the Golem Boss," Lucca said.
"Take this!" the Golem Boss taunted before he suddenly spotted the ground far blow.
"Take what?" Ayla inquired.
"Umm..." the Golem Boss stumbled as his eyes widened.
He almost seemed to tremble.
"We're waiting!" Ayla continued as she put her fists on her hips.
And then, suddenly, the Golem Boss began to cry.
"I don't like heights!" he exclaimed as tears welled up in his eyes.
He opened the black portal, and disappeared into it.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"What a wimp," Ayla muttered.
MEANWHILE...
"At last!" Dalton exclaimed as he gazed upon the now-winged Epoch in triumph. "We did it! It's done! See these beautiful wings! Now this is a king's throne. I now name it the Aero-Dalton Imperial!"
The door slid open, freeing the way for the Epoch to fly.
Dalton then thought of Marle and her friends who, as far as he knew, were still imprisoned.
"And they're gonna be my first victims!"
Act Three
Marle was the first to spot the flying Epoch from the wing.
"What did he do?!" she exclaimed.
The Epoch continued to fly around the wing for a few moments. Then, it hovered in front of them.
"Now is the hour of your demise, fools!" Dalton taunted.
"Give us Epoch!" Ayla demanded.
"It's not Epoch!" Dalton announced. "It's the Aero-Dalton Imperial! Make like the wind and blow outta here! You are like insects to me!"
"Filth!" exclaimed Frog. "A lesson he shall learn this day!"
He then licked his lips.
Lucca immediately cringed.
"Wait a minute," she groaned. "You're not planning on doing what I think you planning on doing?!"
"Cheerio!" Frog called.
With that, he shot out his sticky tongue, which struck the Epoch. A moment later, his body was pulled toward the time machine.
Wasting no time, Frog helped himself to the cockpit, drew the Masamune, and stabbed Dalton in the shoulder.
"For Crono!" he shouted.
He then stabbed him in the leg.
"For Schala!" he declared.
As a last resort, the wounded Dalton pointed his finger at Frog.
A black portal opened behind him.
Frog cautiously stepped back, preparing for the worst.
"Go! Golemboss!" commanded Dalton.
But the acrophobic creature didn't show. And then, suddenly, Dalton was sucked into the portal, which closed moments later.
"That was unexpected!" Marle observed.
Frog, meanwhile, sat himself in the cockpit. He pushed the joystick in front of him forward, placing it above the Blackbird's wing.
Everyone climbed on, and Frog pulled the Epoch back until it was a hundred yards away from the Blackbird.
"Is Epoch okay?" Lucca asked. "More importantly, did he change the controls?"
"Let us see," Frog replied as he pressed a button.
A laser immediately fired out of the Epoch, striking the wing they had been on. A moment later, the wing burst into flames.
"Dear me!" Frog exclaimed.
Marle looked over at the ground, which was still far below.
"So how do we get down from here?" she naturally asked.
"Let me try," Robo replied as he pressed another button.
A missile fired out of the front of the Epoch, striking the nose of the Blackbird.
The Blackbird immediately disappeared in an explosion.
"I should have linked my CPU," Robo admitted.
And, for the first time in a while, everyone burst out laughing.
LATER...
They had landed the Epoch, and prepared to say goodbye to the Alghetty elder before departing for home.
Marle stayed behind as they headed for the settlement.
"I'll catch up with you," she promised.
Once she was alone, she silently bowed her head, and folded her hands. Despite her victory, she still felt the terrible ache in her heart.
"Mom," Marle began sadly, "please look out for Crono."
She then dried the tears from her eyes and joined her friends in the settlement. After their fond farewells, they began to make their way back to the Epoch.
When they were a few yards away, Frog suddenly stopped, and looked to his right.
Everyone followed suit, and quickly realized what he was looking at.
There was a small cape in that direction. And, at the of the cape, there stood a man facing the sea. He was wearing a cloak.
A purple cloak.
Frog immediately began to pursue him.
The other four, realizing that it would be senseless to try and stop him now, quietly followed him until he was within yards of his adversary.
Everyone expected Frog to draw the Masamune and attack him. But, instead, he simply stood there, waiting for the first move.
"So, it's you," Magus greeted solemnly.
"Magus," Marle greeted back in the same manner.
She realized that the confrontation was necessary; they could not leave Magus in antiquity. He would likely change history in ways they wouldn't be able to imagine.
"Behold," Magus continued as he turned back to the ocean. "Everything's at the bottom of the sea. Gone is the magical kingdom of Zeal, and all the dreams and ambitions of its people."
"How could you pose as a prophet," Lucca inquired. "How could you predict the future? This goes against science."
"I once lived there," Magus replied. "But I was another person then."
"Yeah, the prophet," Marle pointed out. "We already knew that. We saw you remove the cloak when you tried to save Schala."
Magus suddenly became very still. Although he made his best effort to hide it, others could see his head softly jerking.
"Is he crying?" Marle whispered.
Lucca nodded.
"Over Schala?" Marle asked.
"I think so," Lucca replied.
And then, it hit her like a smack in the face.
He didn't mean his life as the prophet, Marle realized. There was a reason he hated Lavos. There was a reason he was so protective of Schala. It all makes sense now!
"Wait a minute," began Marle. "You're...you're..."
FLASHBACK...
With nothing further ado, Schala turned to face the creature that had once been her mother. There was nothing to say; the queen was well beyond redemption. She could not waste the last minutes of her life pleading for a change.
Just then, the Mammon Machine roared again. Its functionality seemed to have been restored.
"A dimensional warp!" Gaspar observed.
"This power is beyond human control!" Belthasar added.
"No!" exclaimed Melchior. "We'll be dragged into the warp!"
Schala knew her end was near. She had never felt more certain about it. She had no questions on what death would be like; she knew there had been a time before she was born, and to her that was nothingness. She did not speculate about an afterlife, either; as all major religions we know today were still thousands of years off, she felt there could be none.
And then, she heard the sound she had been dreading.
"Schala!" cried a familiar voice.
Schala turned to see her brother running to her; he had entered the Ocean Palace and somehow made his way to the hall of the Mammon Machine.
"No Janus!" she cried. "Stay away!"
"But-" Janus began.
And then, there was a flash of light.
Suddenly, the ground was distorted and blue throughout the entire room. Lavos was bearing down on everyone once more.
Everyone stared at Lavos in fear.
It had already killed Crono.
There was no way of telling what it would do next.
Suddenly, a dark vortex appeared below Melchior.
"It, it's a-" he began.
Melchior disappeared into the vortex, and the vortex closed.
A moment later, the same kind of vortex appeared under Gaspar.
"A Timegate?!" he exclaimed.
Gaspar disappeared into the vortex, and the vortex closed.
And then, the same vortex opened under the Guru of Reason.
He knew his fate immediately.
"No!" cried Belthasar.
Belthasar disappeared into the vortex, and the vortex closed.
The vortex then opened again, but, this time, under the Earthbound Ones. They all cried out in terror before the vortex closed.
Finally, the vortex opened under poor Janus.
Schala's mouth went dry. She knew what was about to happen to her brother, and she knew she was powerless to stop it.
With Queen Zeal having gone insane, she was the closest thing he had to a mother, and she had failed him. It was the worst feeling she had ever felt.
"Schala!" cried Janus as he disappeared into the vortex, reaching in vain for his sister as he did so.
"Janus!" cried Schala as she tearfully ran to him, though the vortex had long closed by the time she had arrived.
All she could do was sob where she stood.
MEANWHILE...
Melchior arrived in Medina Village, during the reign of King Guardia XXXIII, exiting the closet of two unsuspecting imps.
He felt a warm breeze from the window.
This is amazing, he thought. The ice has finally melted. The Earthbound Ones have built a civilization!
MEANWHILE...
Belthasar arrived in Bangor Dome, during the reign of Lavos. The walls seemed cold and sterile. He could see outside.
This is terrible, he thought. The world is in ruin. Lavos has destroyed all civilization!
MEANWHILE...
Gaspar arrived in an empty void, during the reign of nothing and nobody. There was void in all directions.
This is...hey. Nothing here. This must be...the End of Time.
MEANWHILE...
Janus arrived in Truce Canyon during the Middle Ages.
Several mystics immediately stopped what they were doing, and began to close in on him.
"H-help me!" Janus pleaded.
And, he saw a large mystic towering over the others.
His name was Ozzie.
...END FLASHBACK
Marle looked at Magus, who was still gazing into the sea. She was surprised she had never considered the resemblance.
"You're...Janus, aren't you?" she said.
Magus turned to face her, and gave a soft nod.
"So!" Frog declared firmly. "Thou art that filthy urchin!"
Marle wanted to reprimand Frog for his ill-timed confrontational attitude, but was too drained to do so.
"Ever since Lavos's time portal stranded me in the Middle Ages," Magus continued, "I have waited to even the score. You interrupted me just when I had summoned Lavos to my castle. How ironic that, having been drawn into yet another portal, I would end up in this age. Being from the future, my knowledge of the past enabled me to convince the queen that I was a mighty oracle. But no history book could have prepared me for what happened here. Unimaginable is the power of Lavos. Anyone who dares to oppose...it...meets certain doom. At this rate, you too, will meet a hideous fate. Just like that poor fool, Crono!"
Marle immediately leaped to her late love's defense.
"How dare you!" she exclaimed. "It's because of you that Crono's gone!"
"One less failure in the world," Magus taunted.
"You dare to insult him?!" Frog retorted.
"He's history!" Magus cackled. "Play with fire and you get burned."
"Magus!" exclaimed Frog as he drew the Masamune. "Hold thy tongue!"
"You wish to fight me?"
Frog drew the Masamune, and turned towards his friends.
"Stand back," he ordered.
Without a word, the other four obeyed.
Frog then turned to his rival.
"I never imagined that we would settle our score in this dusty old era," Magus taunted. "Come, let us finish this charade!"
Frog immediately charged at Magus.
Magus quickly dodged him, and cast a lightning spell.
Frog rolled over, stopping near the ledge.
Magus quickly snapped his fingers.
"And now," he cackled, to send you to the rocks below. What a perfect final resting place for a failure such as you!"
With that, Magus summoned a water spell, sending a wave of water in front of him.
Frog disappeared over the ledge.
"Play with fire and you get burned," Magus repeated.
And then, suddenly, Frog reappeared from the ledge. Unknown to Magus, he had held on with his sticky tongue.
"Turning me into a Frog hath turned out to be your undoing!" he declared triumphantly.
Before Magus could change his barrier, Frog summoned a water spell, drenching the sorcerer. He then summoned an ice spell, leaving him doubled.
Knowing Magus could not recover quickly, Frog marched toward his enemy with the Masamune handy, preparing to drive it into him.
"Cyrus," declared Frog, "I hath avenged thee!"
"Stop!" Ayla shouted.
Frog turned to see his friends approaching.
"You kill him, Crono won't come back!" Ayla continued. "Neither your friend Cyrus!"
"Let him live the rest of his life in guilt," Lucca pleaded. "Every day, he will walk about in the remains of a kingdom that he was supposed to inherit."
"And that is a fate worse than death," Marle added.
"Thou art right," Frog surprisingly admitted as he put the Masamune away before turning to Magus. "Vanquishing thee will neither return Crono nor Cyrus."
He turned to his friends and nodded before turning to his enemy one last time.
"Farewell forever, Magus," Frog said.
With that, he began to walk away.
"Wait," Magus commanded.
Frog turned to see his enemy rising to his feet.
"I'll come with you," Magus suddenly offered as he began to cautiously approach them.
"Say what?" Marle exclaimed.
"Treachery!" Frog dismissed.
"You know," Magus continued, "there just might be a way to bring him back."
"Nonsense!" Frog dismissed.
"Gaspar, the Guru of Time, knows how to restore lost or misplaced time streams," Magus informed them.
"You're joking?!" Marle exclaimed.
She badly wanted to believe it was true. But...it was Magus.
"What guarantee do we have that you're not going to turn against us?" Lucca demanded skeptically.
Magus closed his eyes, and snapped his fingers. A spark gently floated from them, landing softly on Frog.
Frog suddenly disappeared into a flash of white light. When the white light was go, a young man stood where Frog had been. He was about six foot four, and had long, blond hair.
Frog...or, perhaps, Glenn, as we should now say, scanned his hands in joyous surprise.
"You...you undid his spell!" Marle exclaimed.
"We'll, not exactly," Magus corrected.
"He's still a frog?!" Robo exclaimed.
"He's a were-frog," Magus explained. "He appears human. But when the moon is clear, he goes back to normal. It's the most I can do for now. Perhaps when you fully trust me, I can fully make him human again."
Marle wanted to say something, but stopped herself. If there was a remote chance to bring her beloved back, she wanted to take full advantage of it.
"Let's find Gaspar," Lucca announced. "We'll see what we can do.
Moments later, Marle found herself walking toward the parked Epoch in hope.
Suddenly, she felt Lucca pull her aside.
"Who'd have thought Frog was such a dish?" the genius whispered.
Marle giggle as she climbed into the Epoch.
"Where to?" asked Glenn from the pilot's seat.
"Good question," Ayla replied.
"Those Earthbound Ones were sent to prehistory," Lucca mentioned. "Magus was sent to the Middle Ages. Melchior was sent to the present, and Belthasar was sent to the future. So Gaspar had to have been sent to somewhere else."
"Hey, I know!" Marle said. "Let's ask the old man at the End of Time. Maybe he might have a clue."
"It's possible," Lucca admitted.
"Then it's decided," Glenn announced. "To the End of Time!"
Glenn pushed the button, and the Epoch disappeared from antiquity for good.
