Part 28: Update Twenty Seven: Lightning Bitch Slap
Update Twenty Seven: Lightning Bitch SlapWelcome back to Chrono Trigger; last time, we recovered the Gate Key from the Reptite leader Azala, defeating her body-builder dinoguard, Nizbel, in the process. Today, we're going to fix up the Masamune and deliver it to Frog, so let's bounce. But, this is going to be a wordy update, so be prepared. It's not much more image heavy than usual, but there's a lot of talking and backstory.
...Forgotten?
And you know of Melchior? You've got a story, Old Man, and I intend to find out what it is.
"Hmm...Do I want to progress the plot or fuck the dog in the Arena of the Ages?"
The choice is clear, even though I do need to head back to the Arena at some point.
Thank goodness this Gate drops us twenty feet from Melchior's house.
And this line is interesting. We appear to be something of an anomaly. His buddy doesn't have anything new to say, though.
Not that we weren't anomalous entities before, what with all the time traveling and world saving we plan to do, but we're definitely different from your average joe now.
C'mon, Melchy, did you doubt us?
Well--
I'm glad I didn't have to explain that. I doubt your old heart could take it.
Melchior heads downstairs to prepare to fix the blade, and Lucca steps up to offer him a hand. I could have taken Robo here and had him help fix the sword, but he's never met Frog. It seems more thematic for Lucca to be here.
Downstairs, we have the blade and Dreamstone. As for the hilt, I've no idea where the hell it is. I guess they're just making a new one.
Note: This song only plays for a little bit, but it's great, so listen to it.
Excellent question, Lucca; I don't see a forge, hammer, tongs, or any smithing gear around here.
To get the dialog here, you have to talk to Melchior and Lucca. You could sit here in silence as things roll on, if you're into that sort of thing.
Another reason I took Lucca along is that she's great.
Melchior gathers the blade.
Honestly, Lucca, it looks more like to me that you're looting Melchior's cupboards before he notices you're not helping.
...What in the wide wide world of sports does that even mean?
And Lucca grabbed a cup of (I'm assuming) liquor to start this process.
"I found some skull-smash in the cabinet!"
After a while, Melchior decides he's ready.
"I think, I don't know. I put part of the stone in a cup."
She gathers the cup and stone and takes them to Melchior.
And tosses the stone on Melchior's desk.
As Lucca and Melchior activate and combine their elements...
...White light begins to fill the room.
Overtaking everything except for the sword and those reforging it.
Eventually, we fade to black.
Considering that you made the entire sword the size of Lucca, I think it was okay to wait for it.
Yeah, I had nothing for these last few shots.
We can talk to Melchior after that, get this line, and then he offers to sell us stuff again, like nothing happened. I like his economic style.
Quickly, to 600 AD!
But first, Old Man, look at our new sword!
In case you'd forgotten where you need to take it, the Old Man here is kind enough to remind you.
Let me just say here that I kind of despise Truce Canyon.
Mostly for the piddly, unavoidable encounter at the beginning of it. Sure, I could run away, but what kind of pussy runs from a fight in Chrono Trigger?
If the enemies stayed relevant, I'd be cool with it, but it's just the flying imps again.
Do do do, taking a sword to Frog
Do do do, gonna give him a swoooord
I think Frog has just been standing here since we left, staring at that one wall. Possibly contemplating if he could afford some baseboard in this place, wanting to class up the joint a little.
Well, you see, buddy...
We brought you a present.
You don't need to look so depressed about it.
If this were the SNES translation, imagine a couple of superfluous "eth" words in that last bit of text, and you've got Frog's dialog down to a T.
We leave Frog's home to come to Guardia Castle.
Finally, the legendary Cyrus we've heard so much about.
...The Frog King? Oh, Lord, that thing really did come as a cereal box prize, didn't it?
"That" sword? I wonder what it is!
So, starting a betting pool on Cyrus' odds of living past the next couple of days. Who wants in?
"...mywife"
Cyrus walks out of the throne room, to a waiting horde of guards.
In the SNES version, these guys were the Knights of the Square Table, and that sounds like a group of people I can get behind.
"I'm sure I won't be horribly killed, so drinks are me when I get back!"
As Cyrus leaves, we find he has his own Boy Wonder waiting for him.
Glenn? Who the hell is that?
C'mon, game, we just met one new guy. You want me to remember a second one?
Cyrus and Glenn leave, and we come to a scene in the forest with them fighting Nagas.
It's kind of hard to see in this shot, but Cyrus is stabbing that one with his sword, which seems to be made of lava.
Seriously, look at that thing. It looks like superheated metal.
And then we come to another scene, with the Frog King, a damsel in distress, and the Hero's Badge.
They also haven't even left Guardia Forest yet. They're only about thirty feet from the castle.
I wonder how much TP Cyrus had to accumulate to learn that skill.
This is the creature that stole the Hero's Badge? A giant frog that goes down in one attack?
Looks like Cyrus is one hell of a hero.
The Frog King throws the badge away and flees.
We fade again...
...And come to a scene where things aren't going in Cyrus and Glenn's favor.
They're in the Denadoro Mountains, where we found the broken Masamune.
Ozzie!
That too cool for school guy in the back is the Fiendlord Magus.
This is the first time we're seeing him in the flesh; the other times we've seen him have been in statue form, with fiends worshiping him.
"Let me just yell the plan so they don't suspect!"
Cyrus is willing to sacrifice his life for his friend.
Ah, but Magus, isn't that part of what makes him a hero?
Not the badge or the sword, but his own integrity, honor, and selflessness?
Cyrus, even without his sword, rushes Magus to give Glenn a chance to escape.
But Magus swats him away as you or I would an annoying bug.
Even dying, Cyrus is pushing Glenn to escape.
And to protect Queen Leene. Cyrus is a man of his country until the very end.
Glenn, don't let your anger kill you! This isn't what Cyrus wanted!
...Did you say Frog?
Magus throws a surge of lightning at Glenn.
Glenn falls off the mountain.
With that last taunt, we fade to black again.
Frog?
A single tear falls from Frog's eye as we fade yet again.
"Good morning, Chrono!"
Hell yeah, buddy.
Hey, c'mon, it's only the guy who killed a legendary hero in one electrified backhand and summoned up the creature that wipes out the planet in the future; we'll be fine, I'm sure.
Here, have a link.
You can have one, too, Marle.
We can now change our party, so I bring in our robot, so we have our three Battle Bros together.
Frog, despite being several levels stronger than when we last saw him, still has the same shit as last time.
We can't equip the Masamune just yet, but you'll see why next update. It's the best way to equip a weapon ever.
But, before we do anything else, there's a little bit of business to attend to.
Which includes goddamned Truce Canyon again.
See, Frog just joined up again.
And you might recall Spekkio requesting that we bring any new friends we make back to him.
Frog hasn't met Spekkio yet, so he doesn't have any magic.
We need to take him here to not only unlock his magic, but the rest of his tech list.
Also, remember Spekkio was the chicken thing last time? As you grow stronger, Spekkio does as well. He'll gain new forms and new attacks, keeping challenges with him fresh and interesting.
And the frog has water magic. Nobody is surprised.
Frog also gets some healing spells, which is nice. He's a pretty versatile character with his Techs.
And the game seemed to conspire to give me the worst possible shot for Frog gaining magic. It looks like his water just broke behind the door and the blue-headed baby has burst out of his chest.
Still, he can cast the Water spell now, and in 160 TP, he'll learn Heal, which restores a good bit of HP to the entire party. Before long, we'll be able to heal the whole party at once without Marle around!
So, next time, we're going to the Fiendlord's Keep. Stay tuned.
And since I need a third party member, I'm going to let you all vote on who our third is. Frog and Chrono are mandatory, but BOLD A VOTE for who comes in the third slot, and stay tuned!
Voting ends Friday at 5:00, EST.