Part 42: Chrono Trigger
Our only hope in bringing Crono back rests upon Death Peak...
Ambient Sound - Wind 
Previously, we couldn't even climb up here without being pushed back by the wind.
Trees have appeared, and we can stay behind them when the wind picks up to avoid being pushed off the mountain.
Silent Light 
We now get access to Death Peak proper.
There's only three enemies here. The first, Krakker, has a decent 516HP and can eat characters to drain their health, but is otherwise unremarkable.
One spell from Magus wipes them out completely. That said, I use this area to accumulate Double Techs and show off Techs I missed earlier while building up TP for Magus, so there ends up being a lot of heavy party rotation for this dungeon.
Area Bomb does a nifty (LVL+MAG)*12 Fire damage in an area around Robo, though it's hurt a bit by Robo's low Magic, high MP cost, and having a relatively inconvenient AoE.
Cure Wave combines Cure2 and Heal Beam to essentially cast Cure2 on everyone. Once I actually show Cure2 off in a moment, you'll see how nice this ends up being, even if Frog's Magic is kinda weak.
The second and only other regular enemy is the Macabre, which are remarkable in how utterly unremarkable they are.
This formula is a bit weird, as it does more damage the lower Ayla's HP is. It straight up takes the difference between Ayla's Max and Current HP, then multiplies it by her Stamina, then by 9 and then dividing by 280. It works better on higher levels, of course, and luckily her HP and Stamina gains are really good. Also, giant dinosaur tail, come on.
The last enemy type is in this cave.
Meet Lavos Spawn. Yes, this is a baby version of Lavos.
Which is why we must kill it.
Boss Battle 1 
Right off the bat, it starts off with its Lavos Spawn Needle attack, which really hurts. Two of them can wipe our party. The good news is it has a lengthy attack pattern before it rotates back to this attack.
Mega Bomb is slightly more powerful than Robo's Area Bomb, but it's Lucca's higher Magic and the fact that you choose a target to do AoE damage around rather being stuck with enemies near Robo that really make it superior.
The bad news is that the AoE bites us in the ass, as the shell will counter all damage with the needle attack, which just happens to wipe our party.
On the other hand, this cave means I can make GIFs without being stuck with the snow effect, so let's show off a few more.
Heals for MAG*24 HP. Pretty much a full-heal unless you have Frog really behind the level curve. Marle learns the same exact spell, though with her higher Magic she'll probably be healing 999 with it by the time you learn it with her.
Uzzi Punch deals over three times the damage of a regular physical attack from Robo, though at a costly 12MP.
Ice2 + Water2. Targets a single enemy, but boosts damage from both attacks by 50%. Solid combination.
Lavos Spawn does have other attacks, including Shadow and Fire attacks.
Lavos Spawn can also inflict status effects, like Sleep and Chaos.
...which can be unfortunate if the character under Chaos decides to attack the shell. Oops.
On to attempt three.
Here's Magus's physical and critical attacks.
The shell is incredibly difficult to kill, but the head only has a bit over 4000HP and is much easier. Stick to single-target attacks and you'll be fine.
As a bonus, this guy drops a bunch of TP as well.
Silent Light 
Another Robo weapon upgrade. Robo's weapons in general have no gimmicks or special abilities, and this one is no exception.
Why can't he wield two arms anyway? Or hell, eight arms, he's a freaking robot after all.
We have to loop around a bit to open the way forward.
The Brave Sword is another upgrade for Frog. The US version claims it deals double damage to magic enemies, but that was a screw up. It's just a plain sword.
We have to reach a sparkle here to unlock the path forward in the middle of this room, which means looping back around through here.
I take the opportunity to grab any Dual Techs I may have missed since the last tech-gaining extravaganza.
Leap Slash + Mega Bomb. It's literally Mega Bomb with a horizontal line AoE, which is more interesting for being one of like two whole attacks in the game to use that AoE than anything else.
Straight upgrade for Magus.
Another Lavos Spawn. Nothing new here, it goes down easily.
Leads to Marle learning Cure 2, at least.
For this screen, you're constantly being pushed downward by the slippery slopes, so you have to walk upwards constantly. Fall and you have to do some minor backtracking.
Both Cure 2's combine to simply fully heal each character to their max HP and cure status effects. A bit overkill perhaps, but pretty much what you would expect from a Dual Tech like this.
Magus also picks up his fourth tech, and his first Shadow one.
Once you pass the slippery area, the next area has Krakkers constantly falling down this slope.
(LVL+MAG)*10. Only hits an area, but it's stronger than Magus's souped-up L2 spells and is Shadow elemental. Plus it looks cool, and isn't that what matters most?
Oh boy. This one got screwed up a bit.
DoublevBomb only affects enemies near Robo, but it combines Area and Mega Bomb, then boosts the damage of both by 50%. That combination makes it the second-most damaging Dual Tech in the game, with number one being more unreliable to pull off, and also one of the Top 5 most damaging techs in the game. Of course, the area of effect leaves much to be desired.
Wearable by the men, it halves Shadow damage.
Lavos Spawn Number 3.
Fight goes as before, except this time the shell doesn't disappear upon defeat.
Another Dual Tech by Marle and Robo.
Push the shell...
...climb the shell!
Prevents Lock status.
Before I progress to the final screen, I backtrack to show off Cure Touch. Cure 2 + Heal Beam casts Cure 2 on everyone, making it the same as Robo + Frog's Cure Wave, except with Marle's better Magic stat.
Finally, we reach the end of Death Peak.
SILENCE 
The pendant's reacting!
The Chrono Trigger lifts up into the sky...
...and shatters...
Don't be sad. It was silly to think we could get him back...
To try so hard, to believe in something with all your heart, only for it not to come true... It would be the cruelest fate of all.
Zeal Palace 
But sometimes...
Sometimes the impossible can happen.
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The Chrono Trigger... ...the Guru's Time Egg...! And there we all are! We're back at that instant!
A time freeze... I never thought it possible.We get free reign to explore.
We weren't able to change a thing.Only Magus has anything to say here though if you check on Schala and, er, Magus.
We're pushing the laws of the universe to its limit here. We traveled to the instant a man died with the intent to replace him with a lifeless replica.
It's Crono...! Crono?! You're alive!!!! We've got to hurry!
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SILENCE https://mp4.mega64.net/ct/31/098.mp4
...and so we cheated death, and brought Crono back from the dead.
The future changed.
Far Off Promise 
Crono awakens, visibly confused by just what is going on. His last memory was likely facing certain death from the hands of Lavos.
You mustn't...
If Marle's not in the party, then Lucca embraces Crono. Otherwise, the scene just kinda ends here.
Nothing else matters to Marle in this moment.
We accomplished the impossible today. We brought back the dead, and if we can do that, we certainly have the power in our hands to defeat Lavos. Are we strong enough yet? Perhaps not, but we've got seven capable fighters and a machine that can easily navigate time and space. With all the powerful people we've met through the ages, we can utilize every advantage we have to finally take down Lavos and save the future.
That can wait until next time, though. Crono deserves a break after all he's been through.