This time it wasn't quite as disorienting. There was a familiar whooshing sound overlaid with an almost ethereal voice-like tone, and waving blue lines danced across my vision for a few seconds. Yet somehow I managed to land face-first in the mixture of leaves, pine needles and dirt that made up the forest floor. Getting onto my hands and knees, I looked around. It was the middle of the night, or early morning, and I was in a forest. This was NOT home. Boy, Schala wasn't kidding when she said her mind was slipping, I thought to myself. I must be miles from my house. Luckily the moon was full and it shed enough light for me to get my bearings. As I looked around the clearing, something long, shiny and metallic caught my eye.

I gingerly picked it up. It was about two and a half feet long, cylindrical, and had holes down one side of it. Something about this was very familiar…I lifted it horizontally and sure enough, my fingers found the proper holes and a mouthpiece, winking golden in the moonlight, pressed against my bottom lip. The Heartsong! This flute had been my weapon of choice on my last adventure…if memory served me correctly. But I had been seventeen then, and six years had passed. Besides, the Heartsong didn't have a golden mouthpiece and a dagger-sharp split end. There was only one way to find out.

Six years ago, on a world called Gaia, the last survivor of the Summoner Tribe had told me that her ancestors had made this flute and passed it down from one keeper to the next. It was very precious because if played by someone with a pure heart, that person would be granted their hearts desire. It also, like most Summoners artifacts, was a tool for channeling magic. I had wanted Eiko to keep it, but she said the flute had obviously "chosen" me for it's own reasons, and thus I was its' bearer. So for better or for worse I was stuck with the thing. It had followed me across times and worlds before, so why not here and now?…Wherever here and now were. Well, assuming the flute still found my heart worthy, however flawed my mind was, I would soon find out.

I raised the flute to my lips again, and began to play a scale to warm up. I was incredibly nervous and my fingers trembled, as did my diaphragm and lips, resulting in a soft, breathy vibrato that echoed throughout the clearing. But gaining courage, I slowly built up fluidity, tone, and speed until I was able to run up and down the entire B flat scale without stopping for breath- which is quite an accomplishment if you haven't touched a flute in six years!

Stopping to take a break, I set the flute down on my knees…to see that instead of the black slacks I had been wearing, they were covered in a light grey-blue material that was a stretchy and skintight as spandex, but as tough and durable as denim. I was wearing pants of this material, as well as a long sleeved shirt. On top of this was a wine-colored jacket of sorts that came down to just below my breasts and laced up in the front, with sleeves that came to my elbows. At my waist was a belt with a round golden buckle. Hanging from the belt was a belt-purse on my left hip, and a wine-colored skirt of sorts that came down to just above my knees and was split up the front. To cap it all off were a pair of brown boots and wine-colored leggings, with matching fingerless leather gloves.

My game clothes! I had designed them for an eventuality such as this, but I never thought that they would get off the paper and onto my person. Out of curiosity, I unfastened my belt and shimmied my pants down a bit…and there was mysticalpha's contribution to the ensemble; a pair of fireproof underwear; useful when fighting dragons and other fire-elemental creatures.

Chuckling to myself, I slid my pants back up and refastened my belt. Already things were looking up. At least I was equipped to deal with any monster that came my way…then glancing around at the woods, I decided that it had better be a low-level monster. Heaven knew how out of practice I was. Speaking of practice…

I reluctantly sat down with my back to a tree and picked up the Heartsong again. It was time to get serious. What scared me about this was that sometimes the flute knew me better than I did, and I didn't always get what I expected in terms of "my hearts desire." Sometimes I felt more like the flute played me than I played it! In this case, though, I would have to trust the good intentions and white magic of the Summoners, and lay my heart bare.

I raised to mouthpiece to my lips, blew, and my fingers began to move almost of their own accord. I recognized this song- it was "Wind Scene!" As it filled the grove with its' haunting melody, I realized I had a piece to the puzzle. I must be in Guardia, approximately 606 A.D. But this wasn't where I needed to be! As thrilling as the thought was that I was actually in the Chrono Trigger universe, I knew where my responsibilities lay: home. I needed to get home. I poured my yearning into the song; the melody rose and fell like the wind it was named for. I had my eyes closed to accentuate my hearing and it was for this reason that I jumped about a mile when a twig cracked.

Before I knew what was happening, the clearing was flooded with torchlight, gleaming on swords, shields and amour. I was frightened at first, clutching at the Heartsong and waving the pointed end around in a futile effort to defend myself. Then, a short, stubby form made its' way to the head of the group. The form was topped with a head that had bulging yellow eyes, a broad mouth, and small whiskers coming off to the side. A head that could only belong to a-

"Frog!!" I cried.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

For those of you wondering "Where the heck is the yuri?" I present something to pacify you. For those who really couldn't care less, just skip to the next chapter.

If you're curious as to where in the heck the fire-proof underwear thing came about, I present to you this link. The comic itself isn't finished yet (and may never be, for all I know) but for now you can enjoy the script. Many thanks to Vincent Ho (mysticalpha) for indulging my fetish. .

If you like his twisted brand of humor, you may also enjoy his webcomic at .com , and/or you may want to check out my upcoming dubbed videos of his comics on YouTube (Username ChocoChick87)