Part 18: Episode XV: Cats Are Evil
Music: Viper Manor
Seriously, where did that second moon come from? You'd think someone would have noticed that earlier.
Upon re-entering the central hall, the party is stopped in their tracks by a French clown... Sure...why not?
"You are even more sexzy zan I t'ought! Ooh la lah!"
"Seriously...alternate dimension: best thing that has ever happened to me. I can't believe I pissed away all that time with just Leena."
"And zis vulgaire one must be Kid... You disgust moi!" 
"Whadja say!? If you're gonna insult someone, you should at least speak propa English!" <face palm>The Harlequin bows...
"I am ze right-hand harlequin to Monsieur Lynx. Serge, mon puce... If you lie down wit' a dog like zis femme, you will surely catch fleaz, non? I t'ink you can do much better if you gave her up! Actually, I suggest you all turn back. You should not defy him." "Oi!!! What's yer problem...!?" "Pleaze, mon Serge. I would hate to see anyt'ing sad happen to you." "Well, I died a decade ago. I figure the only way I can go is up from here."
"Taisez-vous! You shut up! I am having a serious converzation wit' Serge! Why don't you mind your own buziness!" "THAT'S IT! Put up yer dukes! I'm gonna kick yer arse so hard, you'll kiss the moons!" "Oooh... Cat fight! It was totally worth it to bust into this place. Right, Zig?"
"Where does the jester get that lip stick from? I must know. It'd rock with the shoulder pads on my outfit for my next concert." "..."
"But alas... I cannot be caught fighting you here... Imagine ze trouble would get into...! Au revoir, mon Serge! See you again!"
And so Harle blows a kiss to Serge before departing to go see Mr. J back at the Ha-Hacienda. Kid bitches a bit about no longer being the chick with the most ridiculous accent and that is that for now.
Right then, the Prophet told us to check out the second pillar from the top on the left hand side. There is no indication this button is hidden or anything. It merely does not exist until we first speak with the old geezer.
Heading upstairs...
The top floor consists of a hallway two doors, the southern one being locked and a the central one barred by another Portalghast fight. I'm guessing that would be the good General Viper's office.
Well, it's certainly nicer looking than my office. Though, I think there is a company policy against bring halberds into work...
"Naah... It ain't the Frozen Flame. Don't see any other booty here, either." "Booty...?" "Yea, booty." "What is your accent? Piratese now?" "Oi! Booty is a perfectly fine term for loot. Why? Whatdoya wanna call it?" "I don't recall us being here to steal anything..." "Oh..yea...of course..." "I guess I betta ask the general directly, then..."The bookcase behind the desk swings open and out struts General Viper...
"My compliments on getting past my security. Most impressive." "We climbed up through a well with a ladder in it and the guy in the dragon stables handed us a key for feeding a couple dragons." "Then we found the pass code to the upper levels written on a soldiers' wall." "And the old dude in the library just told us how to get up here as long as we listened to him ramble for a few minutes." "Seriously...fire whoever's in charge of yer security."
"So you're General Viper? Don't feign ignorance on me now! Why did ya send yer dragoons to get me mate Serge here!?" "Serge...? My dragoons...? I'm afraid, my dear, I haven't the foggiest idea what you are talking about."
"Really... I know you are getting up there in years. But is it too much to ask you read the script? Honestly."
Suddenly a furry marches out from the back room of Viper's office. I am suddenly getting flashbacks to a certain scene from The Shining...
"LYNX!? "Hmm...? Young girl... Are you...?" "What's the matter!? Cat got yer tongue!?" "Oh har har. Are you going to inform me you got me 'by the tail' next?"
<sigh> "I've come for two things... The Frozen Flame and yer life, ya murderer!!!" "Errrr...I sense I am missing something here." "This flea bitt'n mongrel is the main villain. I've gotta dark past with him that'll be revealed dramatically later on. Sheesh. Brush up on yer ability of inferring details..."
"A member of the fearsome band of thieves known as Radical Dreamers, correct?" "Radical Dreamers...? This young lady....?" "Precisely! " "That is a really dopey name." "I'd like to see yer ass come up with better." "Crimson Ninja Explosion Doom Thieves of the Twilight!" "Serge?" "Yeah?" "Shut the hell up." "Don't let her innocence fool you, General. She is quite ferocious..."
"My arse! After what you've done!" "I hate to disappoint you, but the Frozen Flame is not here. That fire lies hidden in the Sea of Eden, the place where past and future collide..." "Florida?" "I said 'collide' not 'violently train wrecks'." "Alright then... It looks like I'll have to put that part off 'til later. In the meantime, I'll settle my score with you, Lynx! Prepare to meet yer maker!"Music: Between Life and Death
Music: Final Confrontation (Radical Dreamers)
Note: Lynx was the final "boss" of Radical Dreamers and thus got his own boss theme. Sadly, he lacks any sort of memorable theme music in Chrono Cross. So, here's the next best thing.
Time for the final battle of Viper Manor and our first with the main villain of Chrono Cross: Lynx.
For a furry, he makes that look work. I think it is the ridiculous hat. That hat brings the whole outfit together.
Lynx is sporting the highest HP of any enemy yet at a whopping 850. Despite that, I found Marcy to be way more of a pain in the ass than Lynx.
The most important thing to do is to use Serge's special tech as soon as it is available. Lynx has pretty decent magical resistance, but he's an absolute pussy when it comes to physical damage and that attack will knock off a nice chunk of his energy. Especially since Lynx is a black innate enemy.
Speaking of characters' innates, this battle has one really annoying aspect to it: AntiWhite. Anti<element color> are spells that will lock all the targeted color abilities for the duration of a battle. This is why it was a good idea to use Dash&Slash ASAP. This sucks the first time when playing the game, as you're likely to have a good chunk of your healing white elements (like Revive) on Serge. Though, this time something happened that I'd never encountered before...
...the spell missed.
So, long story short: Lynx got the shit kicked out of him in short order for sucking at magic casting.
Well, if nothing the trek to Viper Manor has doubled our party's strength in just a hour or so. Not bad...not bad at all.
That was entirely unimpressive a showing for the newly introduced...
...villain? Eh? He turned into a ghost cat?
Nope. It seems Lynx is operating on the Doombot school of villainy when you can beat the shit out of him and it will just turn out to be his shadow/clone/robot/illusion. He'll then proceed to gloat about the good guys falling for such a simple trick afterwords...
The real Lynx teleports into the room...
"Why, just a shadow of mine is enough to deal with the likes of you!" "But we...completely kicked its ass... That doesn't count as 'dealing with' anyone!" "If you are going to split hairs then I am going to simply change the subject."
"Urgh...? What?" "Do you want to erase your demise from the pages of history?" "Uhh... I...dunno...? I hadn't really considered it... This is getting...weird..." "What's wrong, Serge!?"Time for another trippy FMV sequence...
Shiny...
Very shiny...
I am becoming Serge...
"YIFF!! YIFF!! YIFF!!"
Furrcon '21
Plot...device...End of crazy vision...
"When this time comes, Serge, there shall be a deep enmity between you and the world! This is not speculation or prediction... This is history!"
Several more
Luckily, a convenient high value hostage opportunity presents itself.
"I may just kill myself if you keep making these ill conceived cat jokes."
"Goodness gracious! Who are you!?" "Flower delivery service. Yer pops is a bit behind on his bill." "That was just awful." "Get twinkle toes to write a soddin' ballad about it when we get outta here then."
"Shuddup, old-timer! Our lives are at stake here! There ain't nothin' dirty about savin' yer own life...!" "Just stay calm and I won't hurt ya, OK...? I just need ya to come with us 'til we reach a safer place." <nods> "You alright, Serge!? C'mon, let's bust outta here!"
"We're blocked in!" "Much appreciated on yer update, Cap'n Obvious."
"You fiend...! Take your dirty hands off Lady Riddel!"
"Serge, this way!" "Umm...you do know that leads to a bal- "I said bloody c'mon! Move yer arses!"
Since Kid is a complete idiot, she manages to lead the party to a balcony overlooking a several story drop into icy waters below.
"Bloody hell!" "Let's work out a deal. Release my daughter and you can walk away." "Yeah, right! As if we can trust you!?" "Are you willing to jump to your death?"
Since Kid is, as previously stated, an idiot, she decides to weigh in on the suicide jump option.
This gives Lynx an opening to test out his knife tossin' skills. They were getting a bit rusty, after all.
"....!"
"Buhwa...?"
Kid pushes Riddel out of the way and takes a knife to the shoulder for her trouble.
And since that apparently was insufficiently dramatic, she decides to take a nosedive off the balcony into the ocean as well. Oh well, nice knowing ya.
"What are you willing to die for...? I've been waiting for you, Serge..."
"Come to me, Serge." "No offense but the whole anthropomorphic animal thing...? Not my kinda scene."
"SERGE AWWWAAAAAA-"
"-AAAAA!! OOOHHH CCCCCCCCRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPP!!"
Well...that is about as well as you could expect thing to go from a few teenagers breaking into a heavily armed military compound with vague goals at best...
Harle Official Art - Lady Gaga circa 2001.
General Viper Official Art - One of the less known members of the von Karma family.
Lynx Official Art - The cat in the hat indeed.
Kid and Lynx - Aww...Lynx just wanted a hug.
Serge's Vision
Final Confrontation (Radical Dreamers)
- Harle's Japanese name is Tsukuyomi. She is named after the the Shinto Moon God of the same name.
- General Viper's Japanese name is Colonel Snakebone. I'm not sure why his Japanese equivalent is a lower rank. Maybe because General Snakebone sounds like a bad porn name.
- Viper was originally a character in Radical Dreamers, though he was murdered by Lynx prior to the events of the game.
- Lynx's Japanese name is "Yamaneko" or Wildcat. It was presumably changed to resemble less resembling an Ace Combat pilot's call sign.
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Lynx also hailed from Radical Dreamers and was the main antagonist. Though, he only showed up at the end of the main scenario. Kid still had beef with had the same beef with him she has in Chrono Cross.
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In Radical Dreamers, the Frozen Flame actually was within Viper Manor. The mansion was built on top of ruins from the Kingdom of Zeal and the final confrontation of the game took place in an underground ruin.
- The Porre military raids Viper Manor at the conclusion of Radical Dreamers and secures the Frozen Flame. Though, Lynx escapes by a hair.