The Let's Play Archive

Chrono Cross

by The Dark Id

Part 86: Episode LXXIX: Radical Dreamers


Welp! Don't ask me what the hell happened to Terra Tower just then. There's still some references in the game data about an area called Terra Tower Final Form. But...sorry. Cutting room floor. Shocker!


Instead, it is time to finish this bizarre, convoluted adventure. This will require one last visit to Opassa Beach...back where all of this began. If you don't count the first twenty minutes dicking around Arni Village, of course. Or that whole dream premonition.


"..."
"..."
"..."
"So, anyone got any other guesses where this shindig is taking place...?"


Just an aside, but they made this one little beach stretch on fooooooorever. You can practically drown Serge properly by going out so far.


Anyway, we'll need to take one last trip across dimensions for the final leg of this journey. Buckle your safety belts, people. We're about to get into a head-on collision with PLOT!


So, the Chrono Trigger kids have gained full corporeal forms and are just hanging out on Opassa Beach waiting for us. Apparently, their time spent with Belthasar has rubbed off because HOLY SHIT do they have a lot to say.

Oh well...let's start with Lucca.


"Where did this sorry tale all begin...? Was it 10 years ago, when you almost drowned here? Or was it 14 years ago, when you were wounded by that panther demon that attacked you...resulting in you being carried to Chronopolis where you came into contact with FATE and the Frozen Flame...? Or perhaps it was even 2,400 years in the future, when the Time Crash hurled Chronopolis back to prehistoric times? Or even it could have been 12,000 B.C., when an ancient magical kingdom met its end after trying to use Lavos...?"
"Urgh...is that a rhetorical question...?"
"Yes. Just be quiet and let me talk."
"Fine. Don't expect me to pretend to know what the hell you are talking about."
"Each is close to being correct... And yet, at the same time, so far from the right answer! The true beginning was during the destruction of the ancient Kingdom of Zeal!"
"Wasn't that the 12,000 B.C. possible answer...?"
"Yes, it was. Now shut up!"
"Gosh. Fine!"


"Schala and Lavos became unified into one even more powerful entity that would evolve into the Devourer of Time. Filled with the hatred and sadness of Lavos, half of Schala's mind became set on destroying all of existence. Yet at the same time, the other half of her mind desired to save the universe and to be rescued herself. As Schala fell through the time gate in this condition, she heard your crying echoing through time... That is when her story and yours began to intertwine..."
"I...uhh...am I supposed to have heard of this Schala chick before now...?"
"People heavily alluded to her earlier."
"Well, assume I know nothing about this person like...me or...or Glenn here. Hey Glenn, ever heard of a Schala?"
"I'm afraid not."
"What about you, Kid?"
"Ain't ringin' any bells."
"So yeah...for anyone to understand this nonsense they'd have to already be familiar with some princess from 12,000 years ago...and she somehow knows *me* and now she is super important...?"
"These interruptions are getting tiresome."


"Led by the pitiful crying the young Serge made as the panther demon's poison took hold of him... Princess Schala traveled ten thousand years in time to try and make contact with this dimension! This caused a raging magnetic storm that resulted in FATE's system malfunction, which led Serge to the Frozen Flame. Yes, Serge... The sound of your crying touched the heart of Princess Schala..."
"..."
"Seriously...? I... There are no words... That is it... That is the most reaching, shoehorned development in a story I have ever heard."
"You really ought to let me finish..."


"Schala left her baby daughter-clone with her ancient pendant, possessing magical powers. This was to safeguard her daughter-cone in life-and-death situations. The pendant would rewind time a little, sending her daughter-clone into a safer point in the immediate past."
"I...kinda remember that story from...somewhere else... Err... Wait. Don't tell me... No."
"That's right... Kid is Schala's daughter-clone!"
"..."
"..."
"I am so glad to be a peripheral character right now..."
"You're wrong! I'm me! I ain't no Schala's daughter or clone!"
"......"
"Yes, that's right Kid! If that's how you feel... I think Princess Schala would have wanted it to be that way too!"
"......"


"Do you...do you like...have a list in your hand of stuff you want to talk about...?"
"My friend with the spiky hair over there has one too..."
"Tremendous..."


"The founding of Chronopolis, the Time Crash, and the battle between FATE and the Dragon Gods... If was all coordinated so that you would get your hands on the Chrono Cross and come to this place! Of course, Kid was not to know anything about this whole plan until later, when all this will finish."
"That guy is *such* a dick. I told you we ought to have greased him before."
"If it's any consolation, my friends and I killed him in an alternate timeline where he went insane and transported his mind into a Nu."
"That makes me feel a...little better... But, my new goal is my boot shattering the dimensional barriers from connecting with his ass."
"You will probably need to get in line..."
"I can wait."
<sigh> "Anything else you'd like to add while we're here...?"
"Well..."


"WHAT?!?!"
"Excuse me...?"
"And then, Kid was also meant to call Serge into the other world as he spoke with Leena here on Opassa Beach!"
"What the hell?! That was you?!"
"I didn't bloody do any of that!"
"Not...yet, you haven't."
"I hate time travel..."


"Only you, who came into contact with Schala, and Kid, Schala's clone-daughter, can do it! In the darkness that exists on the other side of time, Schala has been integrated with the Devourer of Time!"
"Okay, okay, okay... Just wanna get this straight before you say anymore...we're talking about the space hedgehog Devourer of Time, right...? Not the dragon..."
"Correct."
"Please, Serge! Release Princess Schala from the binds of that monster and her own hatred! Show us, the life-forms that exist on this planet, what our new future will be..."
"As soon as my brain processes all of that crap, I'll get right on it..."


"But it is a relief to see that you have grown into such a fine looking lady! But of course you're beautiful! After all...you're the Great Lucca's 'little sister!'"
"..."
"...Sis."


Yes...that is a ridiculous amount of shit dumped in our laps... But wait, there is more!


Marle has the least of anyone to say. So, we might as well take a breather talking to her.


"At the darkness beyond time, the weakened Schala came under the influence of Lavos, and the two became on entity. It is now up to you, the one whom the Frozen Flame has chosen as its 'arbiter'... You alone can decide how the new Lavos, which has encaged Schala within it, will evolve from here! Your actions will determine whether in the future all time is devoured by Lavos, sending the world into everlasting death."
"Yeah, sure. No biggie. Just need to abort some inter-dimensional space parasite. Piece of cake."
"Belthasar foresaw this was going to happen, in his world in the year 2300. And he was determined to prevent it from happening, no matter what it took... The Chrono Cross... It alone can combine the sounds of the planet that the six types of Elements produce! The melody and harmony that brim within all life-forms.... Use the 'song of life' to heal her enmity and suffering... We entreat you, Serge! Please save Schala..."

Remember that pattern I've been telling you we damn well need to memorize? Guess where it is going to be used...


Welp, two down and one to go... Time to have Crono take a plot dump at our feet. He's a *wee* bit more chatty than Marle. A shame...I was hoping he and Serge would just stare intently at one another.


"The truth is, this world, in which you are still alive, is the irregularity... This is the false reality!"
"Gee...thanks, universe. You sure are swell."
"Ten years ago, it was Lynx who tried to kill you at this beach."
"Alright, I don't really remember when I nearly drowned but I am pretty, pretty...pretty sure I don't remember a big cat guy dressed in leather shoving my head under the water...."
"Look, pal. I'm just reading what is on the script. Anyway..."
"After Prometheus broke the link between FATE and the Flame, FATE tried to eliminate any obstacle that stood in its way! In the meantime, the six Dragons had sent Harle forth to try and gain possession of the Flame. Harle made contact with FATE's biological incarnation, Lynx, and tricked him into temporarily joining forces."
"Since there is nothing unusual about a teleporting French jester prancing about."
"The elimination of the Prometheus circuit's lock on the Frozen Flame was everyone's top priority! But the whole attempt only ended in failure. Then, they just waited for you to appear instead! You see, FATE calculated that you would one day cross the dimensions and try to make contact with the Flame. "
"So...Lynx failed at shoving my head under the water when I was seven years old...so he just sort of hung around for the following decade twiddling his thumbs... He might be dead and all now. But hell if that wasn't the least competent person I've encountered in all this aimless wandering."


"..."
""WWWWWHHHHHAAAAAAT?!?!?! Are you shi... That is...WHAT?! That furry was my dad...?! *I* was my dad for a while?! What?!"
"Drawing closer to the Flame caused him to become unstable, and the image of you dying in terror changed him completely! Finally, after having his psyche totally eroded, he lost his soul and was easily integrated by FATE... FATE turned Wazuki into a biological interface, modeling him after your worst fear at the time -- a panther. Although Wazuki managed to escape from Chronopolis with you, he later succumbed to FATE."
"Welp, I thought the princess from 12,000 years ago getting wet for my crying was the most random thing I was gonna hear today. But nope...my dad was a furry."


"Perhaps even FATE itself dreamed of using the Flame to someday reincarnate itself into a new species. It is quite sad, really... It's like when you gaze into the Flame, the Flame gazes back into you."
"Alright...now you're just plagiarizing Nietzsche. I am *so* done talking to the lot of you!"


Good grief... So, if you didn't catch all that before or your eyes just glazed over...



Welp...you may have noticed that big glowing purple splotch now on the beach. Guess what the Time Egg is used for...


"Looks like this is finally it... C'MON!"
"It is time to bring this chapter to an end and create a brighter future!"
"I'm just interested in the 'end' part of this, personally. If the future gets brighter, well that's just a dumb bonus. I don't really think this world deserves it at this point."
"C'mon Serge, me mate! You don't wanna keep the girl waiting any longer... She's been waitin' for you, and only you! And for over ten thousand years, I might add!"
"I still think they're all just making stuff up to mess with us. That was RIDICULOUS! Meh...so, anyone have anything else left to say before we go to the dimensional toilet to go fish out some girl none of us have ever met...?"
"If the world's gonna be destroyed, then let it be destroyed! If history is gonna be changed, then let it bloody well be changed! I'll show you what Radical Dreamers really dream about!"


"Meh...I think you stole that line from somewhere...but good enough. Let's roll!"




See ya in the finale...