Chrono Cross Part #80 - Episode LXXIII: Serge and the Orphan of the Flames

Part 80: Episode LXXIII: Serge and the Orphan of the Flames

Welp that is it for the whole Tech quest for Chrono Cross. There are still a couple of more wayward ones about the region. But, they'll have to wait. For now...perhaps we should look into that whole "Kid is in a coma" thing from before...

"She hasn't come out of her coma yet..."

"Have you like...had a doctor check her out...? I mean...I've got a doctor in my party and he co..."
"..."
"Actually, ya know what...? Forget I said anything..."

At least Radius is classy enough to have her facing the wall so she's not flashing everyone who enters with her undergarments, unlike certain cat computers. There is a side quest to be done here to revive Kid. It requires we've done the whole Karsh and Dario clusterfuck to have obtained the Masamune.

Mune: "Lemme see... Whoa! I think you're right."
Masa: "I wonder what happened? Do you think we should help her?"
Mune: "Nah, it's not our job."
Masa: "Yeah, I guess so. It's probably out of our league, anyway."
Mune: "Yup."

"Serge, who on earth is speaking right now...?"
"Oh...I think it's my sword."
"Your sword...?"
"Well, my swallow. Ya know the Masamune dealie...?"
"I may have heard of it, yes..."
"Well, I beat up your brother after he got possessed by it and some ghosts or some shit inside of it decided to fuse with my weapon. Pretty spiffy, huh?"
"You are...wielding the Masamune...which you got from my dead brother...?"
"Oh, he's okay in the other world. Running an orphanage or something like that now."
"..."
"But yeah, I think it is some ghosts or spirit of the sword or some stupid crap. I dunno. I never played Chrono Trigger. I dunno how this is supposed to make sense to anyone new..."
"I...see..."

Masa: "AHHH! Sis..."
Mune: "B-But, the princess is bound by the past, and even we can't b ring her back here."
Doreen: "Look closely... See that?"
Masa: "Hey!? It's the..."
Mune: "...the Time Egg?"
Doreen: "Yes. Although it's not in its complete form."
Masa: "Did that girl with the glasses make it?"
Doreen: "Probably. Even though it's in its incomplete form, if we can focus our powers into it..."
Mune: "Then maybe it'll work."
Masa: "Yeah... OK, new master."

"Uhh...you talkin' to me?"
Masa: "Yup, it's you."
Doreen: "We're going to lend you our powers for a little bit."
Mune: "We're sending you back to the past where the princess is bound."
Masa: "We only have one chance."
Doreen: "Take care of the princess!"
All Three: "Mastermune!!!"

"The hell are you all talking about?! Kid is a princess...? What?! Oh crrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

"-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaapppppppppp!!!!"

Music: Burning Orphanage
Note: This is the only time in the entire game this track plays. You should probably listen to it. It's pretty damned great.

"What the shit?! Where are we?! Fire?! What did you jerks DO!?!?"
"Calm down. Let's see if that...thing with the metal joints knows anything."

"Ah, hell. Kid's in here too?! Terrific... I am SO getting a new weapon after we get out of here!"

Gato fizzles out and dies in a plume of crackling smoke. Welp, I think Chrono Cross has officially killed off every single robotic character from Chrono Trigger now. If you cannot guess, we have...somehow...been transported back in time to when Lynx torched Lucca's orphanage.

The place is filled with Lava Boy monsters for whatever reason. They're all lucky to do double-digit damage to any of the party members at this late point in the game, so I do not know why they bothered including them.

This, being an orphanage and all, is also filled with terrified hiding children hidden about most rooms. They're all holding unto some swanky items so they're worth saving. Also, having little kids burn to death out of sheer laziness is kind of a dick move anyhow...

"Yes, leave it to me!"

"Really...? I thought you'd complain about it being too much trouble."
"Well, it's a pain in my ass, sure. But, I'm not gonna let a buncha kids friggin' burn to death in a fire. I'm not that much of a jerk. And can we not discuss my ethics right now? Fire!"

"Reeeeally? Wow! But I don't even know you!"

"Yeah, I get a lot of that. Now, beat it outta here, kid."

"To put out the flames, you oughta try using Lucca's 'Ice Gun' invention! Sis said she keeps it on the wall in her room, up on the second floor!"

"Cool...I'll check it out... Err...no pun intended."

There's another boy hidden behind the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. He's got a Rainbow Shell if you're not a jerk to him.

"Th-There's still m-more of us h-hiding in them r-rooms! Ya gotta h-help 'em, g-guys!"

"Yes, it's going to be okay."

"Gee! Thanks, guys! We're counting on you!"

"Yeah yeah... There's the door! Run, run, run or you'll be well done!"
"Yikes!"

There's another Lava Boy being a dick corning some youngen behind a plant in the next hallway.

A quickly extinguished fire monster battle later...

"Anyway...here, huff huff take this as my way of saying huff huff thanks..."
<Serge receives a Nostrum>

"Awesome, thanks. Less awesome: fire! Now, get the hell outta here. Err...wait, first...where the heck is this Lucca person's room? I need an Icicle Gum or some crap to help with the fire."

"The kitchen is straight through that door. On the right's Granny Lara's old bedroom. Up on the left is Lucca's room! But Sis'll get angry if you go in there!"

"She'll get over it. She'll probably get more pissed if you die in a fire. So try not to do that..."

The kitchen just has an unremarkable accessory pick-up and no kids to rescue. So, let's head up to Lucca's room to the northwest.

There's a shit load of notes from Lucca and things to examine in this room. A quick run down...

Lucca posted:

I have created a new code for a new generation. It now replaces the old one my father once used...

Circle stands of "O"
Square stands for "D"
Triangle stands for "A"
Cross stands for "X"

Using this, for example, the children will never guess "ROAD" is spelt...
R-Circle-Triangle-Square

My father, Taban, would be proud. Not to mention my mother, of course...
- LUCCA

Yeah...I'll explain this one in a minute. It's alluding to the old L+A+R+A code from Chrono Trigger for saving Lucca's mom. We'll need to use it in a minute. But...

Receipt for Goods Received posted:

1 - KJ830 - Porre Navy

Well, nice to see Lucca put aside her differences with Porre for sacking the country she lived in and probably killing her friends...in the name of science, of course.

Lucca posted:

One month... One day... I failed! I was so close to stabilizing the time axis too...

Don't you children ever touch my "Space Capsule!"

Those are actually two separate memos. The first is likely referencing the Time Egg prototype Lucca apparently created. The latter is referring to that galaxy hologram in the middle of the room. In any case, the Ice Gun we want is in the top right corner of the room.

Turns out Lucca was running the world's least safe orphanage. That...isn't exactly unexpected, really. The machine that crushed her mom's legs is still set up in the living room, after all. Not to mention a robot that would bash people skulls in if they didn't have the strength to earn Silver Points.

"Eh...what's that supposed to mean...?"
"Serge, I think there is a problem. I appear to be vanis-"

Glenn vanishes from the party. Seems this trip back in time is a limited affair. Perhaps, we ought to hurry up a bit...

Returning to the opening room...

Right... So, that code before needs to be used in front of this machine. The code is, like it was in Chrono Trigger, L-A-R-A. If you didn't play Chrono Trigger or didn't remember that part well...I hope you had a guide. This thing is very fickle. First of all, if you've switch the default controls from Circle = walk to Circle = run then you need to switch them back or this won't work. Don't ask me why. That's just the way it is.

The code for the machine is "L1 + Triangle + R1 + Triangle". I also had to occasionally press X before or after entering the code. It...doesn't seem to be programmed particularly well...

For the effort wrestling with bad password entry controls, Kid's Level 7 Tech is found hidden inside the machine. Sure...sounds fair...

Getting back on point... Unfortunately, the path into the eastern wing of the house is blocked by a collapsed ceiling. So, they'll need to find an alternate path if they want to save Kid.

Heading to the northeastern upstairs room...

There's another orphan hiding under the bed up here. She's got another Rainbow Shell.

"Where are you kids getting this junk?!"
"Don't complain."

"Ummm... Th-Th-That floor panel th-th-there can be re-re-removed. L-L-Lucca and my f-f-friend Kid went i-i-in th-th-there but d-d-didn't c-c-come out!"

"Terrific... Happen to see a big cat dude going after them? Dressed in black? Probably rambling using a bunch of big words that don't make sense? Might have had a clown that talks funny too with him?"
"N-N-No..."
"Ah well...that's probably good. You wouldn't like him. Now get outta here!"

There's one more Lava Boy being a big bully to a kiddie out on the balcony.

Better lend him a hand. I'm sure decapitating vicious lava demons isn't that traumatic in the face of your home burning to the ground and half your friends dying.

"No you don't, kiddo. I lead a very weird and very dumb life... Grow up to be a fisherman or a farmer. Just stay out of science...that's just some bad news. Oh yeah, and don't join the dragoons either... I'm not sure what dimension this is right now but...not a good career move either eay. Oh yeah, and if you've gotta save...use the world map... Stay away from those damned save points. They're nothing but trouble! Supercomputers from the future will friggin' *brainwash* you if ya do!"
"..."
"Ummm...but you should probably just worry about not dying from smoke inhalation right now... Get moving!"

So, we need to remove that panel like the little girl said and it'll lead us through a crawlspace past that pesky collapsed roof.

"Serge, I think I'm lea-"
"Oh man?! Again? You're the worst time machine sword spirits ever! You'd damn well better keep me here until I save Kid or I'm having you melted down and the materials converted into replacing my mom's toilet. And trust me, you'll wish I just tossed you in the ocean after a week of that!"

There's a bunch of crayon doodles lining this hallway. Have a gander and tell me if you recognize anything:

And then was unceremoniously killed off within ten seconds of having a cameo in the sequel...

Here we see why the Ice Gun became a necessary component of the orphanage after the Kid's Head Burning fiasco of 1011.

Ayla: Glad not to have a goddamn thing to do with this game...probably... Okay, one REALLY weird thing...

Apparently, Lucca didn't have a "no katana swords around the children" rule for visitors.

BIG SIS IS WATCHING YOU!

Even in crayon doodle form, Marle's perpetually stoned expression comes through. Impressive.

It sort of looks like there's a Frog doodle beneath the Kid and Lucca one, but it's impossible to click on and there's no assets for it anywhere. I guess they left it out for the whole ambiguity of Frog getting his human form back. Likewise, there's no Magus since I doubt a vampire looking moody warlord is the best with children.

Anyhow, Lucca's invention needs to be used to pass the fire in the following room. By order of elimination, they ought to have fled back there.

Rushing into the back room...

"Ah crap! Don't be dead! Don't be dead! Totally gonna mess up history! That's a bad thing! Don't be dead!"

Luckily, Kid has just fainted for the fifteenth time now. But she is otherwise alright. There are some other guests in the room, though. No, not Lucca. We never see her. Don't ask.

Yeah, we've seen this FMV before...

Though, now suddenly Harle is in it too for no real reason... Though, they couldn't be bothered to add her alongside Lynx staring out the window. At least, now we know what he was turning to look at dramatically before.

"Oh great...this dickhead! Ya know I'm okay with messing up history a bit to add my foot to your ass one more time..."

"What...no speech this time?! Pussy cat!"

Young Kid regains consciousness and tries to chase after them...

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?! C'mon! They're gone! That body snatching cat computer is bad news anyway! You and me gotta get the hell outta here before the whole place comes down!"

Serge grabs Kid's hand and rushes her out of the ruined orphanage as the flames engulf it...

Music: The Girl Who Stole the Stars
Note: You should really listen to this too. Seriously.

"It's burning...! Our 'home' is burning! Lucca... All my friends... They're, they're...!! Why...? Why did this happen!?"

"..."

"You... Are you going to go away? Are you going to leave me? I'm going to be left all on my own again, aren't I? Everybody I have ever loved has gone far, far away..."

"I'm sorry...! I...can't err..."

"No! Don't leave me! What'll happen to me?"

"..."
_{"Ah... Damn it..."}

"I won't leave you."

"Really!? Do you mean that?"

"You cheek... It's wet...?"

"Ah... I...err...musta just gotten some water in my eyes...umm...trying...? Trying to put out some of the fire! Y-Yeah... Ye...a..."

"Thank you... Thank you for saving me... Will I... Will I ever see you again?"

"Sure, Kid... I'll see you again. We'll go on wacky adventures and break into spooky mansions and fight jerkface cats... It'll be great. You'll love it."