Chrono Trigger: Difference between revisions

Chrono Trigger begins with the 1000 A.D. [[Millennial Fair]], where Crono and Marle sample Lucca's new teleportation device. Marle volunteers, but disappears through a strange portal when the machine reacts with her pendant. Crono asks to be sent through the machine to find her, and discovers he's traveled back 400 years. He meets Marle at Guardia Castle, and learns that a search party looking for the missing queen of that era found her instead. Marle then vanishes; Lucca arrives and claims that she's actually the princess of [[Guardia]] in 1000 A.D., and that since her ancestor was not rescued, Marle ceased to exist. With the help of a talking amphibian called Frog, Crono and Lucca rescue the real Queen, kidnapped by Mystics who worship the wizard Magus. Marle reappears and the group returns to 1000 A.D., where Crono is placed on trial for allegedly kidnapping Marle. He's sentenced to death, but breaks free from the prison. With Marle and Lucca, he flees the king, to nearby Guardia Forest, where they stumble into a time gate.

They're shocked to find a devastated world filled with futuristic ruins, and uncover a video of the "Day of Lavos". The video shows a creature called Lavos erupting from the planet's surface in 1999 A.D and decimating the planet. The group resolves to prevent this catastrophe and recruit a robot named Robo before entering a new gate to arrive at the ethereal [[End of Time]] where an enigmatic old man offers advice, magical powers, and the use of several time gates. Crono and his friends hear that Magus created Lavos during the Middle Ages of 600 A.D., and that only a sword wielded by the "Hero" called the Masamune can defeat him. They find the sword's broken blade, deducing that the Hero is Frog and that the sword was somehow made by [[Melchior]], who lives in 1000 A.D. Melchior notes that he needs [[Dreamstone]], a rock found only in antiquity, to repair the Masamune. The group travel to 65,000,000 B.C. and meet the cavewoman Ayla, who gives Crono her Dreamstone after a friendly drinking contest. Ayla's boyfriend gets jealous of Crono, thinking that Ayla likes him better and steals the [[Time Key]], but other than that they're able to get back without a problem.

Melchior repairs the sword, and Frog accompanies Crono as they set out to Magus's lair. They battle his three generals and confront the warlock in the process of casting a spell. Magus claims he did not create Lavos, who dwells within the planet to siphon its energy—but merely intended to summon it. The spell's interruption causes a massive time gate that swallows Magus's castle and everyone within. Crono and his friends awaken in 65,000,000 B.C.; after helping Ayla defeat the Reptites, they witness Lavos crash deep into the earth from above. Agreeing that Lavos is an extraterrestrial lifeform, the group travels to the ancient, enlightened Kingdom of Zeal in 12,000 B.C. Zeal recently discovered Lavos and seeks to drain its power to achieve immortality through the [[Mammon Machine]]. A mysterious prophet warns the kingdom's queen about Crono, forcing their return to prehistory with no way back, by sealing the time gate they used to get there. In 2,300 A.D. they find a ship-like time machine called the Wings of Time, or Epoch, which can access any time period without using a time gate.

They travel back to Zeal, where the [[Ocean Palace]] will soon be activated. Lavos awakens, disturbed by the Mammon Machine, and the prophet reveals himself to be Magus before attempting to kill the creature. Crono stands up to Lavos but is vaporized by a powerful blast. Schala, Zeal's princess, selflessly saves Magus and Crono's friends by transporting them to safety, though she is left behind. Lavos destroys the kingdom of Zeal, causing tidal waves that reshape the planet. Soon after, [[Dalton]] from Zeal declares himself ruler of the world via the [[Blackbird]] airplane. He detains the group and impounds the Epoch, which his henchmen modify to fly. Crono's friends defeat Dalton atop the redesigned Epoch and meet on the surface with Magus, who admits that he's the young prince Janus, and plotted to summon and kill Lavos in 600 A.D. Magus offers to join the group and claims that a sage named [[Gaspar]] can revive Crono; he joins the party unless battled. Crono's friends find the old man at the End of Time to be Gaspar; he gives them an egg-shaped device called the "Chrono Trigger", and following his instructions, Crono's friends visit the frozen moment of Crono's death and extract him from danger.

Gaspar relates various issues affecting the world across the eras to Crono and his friends, encouraging them to participate in sidequests to prepare for Lavos. Their journeys involve defeating the remnants of the Mystics, stopping Robo's [[Mother Brain|maniacal AI creator]], addressing Frog's feelings towards Cyrus and reconciling with his spirit, and locating and charging up the mythical [[Sun Stone]]. Robo volunteers to cultivate land damaged by a desert monster in 600 A.D. The group holds a campfire reunion for him in 1000 A.D., where he speculates that the time gates were created by an entity other than Lavos. A mysterious red time gate appears later that night, which Lucca uses to save her mother from a mechanical accident in 990 A.D. Crono and his friends lastly track down the mythical [[Rainbow Shell]] in 600 A.D., only to find Marle's father being prosecuted by the chancellor for allegedly selling the shell in 1000 A.D. Crono and his companions expose the chancellor to be a Mystic impostor, and Marle makes peace with her father.

Crono and his friends then attack Queen Zeal in her risen Ocean Palace fortress, now called the Black Omen, and destroy the Mammon Machine at its heart. The Queen calls forth Lavos, and the team penetrate the creature's shell either through fierce fighting or by crashing the Epoch into it. They learn that Lavos has been harvesting DNA to control its own evolution. Lavos uses the amassed genetics to assume a final combative form, which the group vanquishes. At the final night of the fair, Crono and his friends say their goodbyes and adjourn to their own eras in time through the diminishing gates. If Magus joined the party, he departs to search for his missing sister, Schala. Crono's mother accidentally enters the time gate at the fair before it closes, prompting Crono, Marle and Lucca to set out in the Epoch to find her while fireworks light up the night sky. Alternatively, if the party used the Epoch to break Lavos's outer shell, Marle will help her father hang Nadia's bell at the festival and accidentally get carried away by several balloons. Crono jumps on to help her, but cannot bring them down to earth. Hanging on in each others arms, the pair travel through the cloudy, moonlit sky.