Present

The Present is the year 1000 AD in Chrono Trigger. It is the time period where the game begins and is visited only a few times and for very short sequences during the main storyline.

Geography

The geography of 1000 AD is very similar to the Middle Ages, since the two time periods are so close together. The main difference is that the area on the East Continent where Magus' lair once stood is now the site of Medina Village, an all-Mystic village. There are several ruins that were once in better repair 400 years prior.

Notable Locations

• Truce - Crono's home village
• Leene Square - Site of the Millennial Fair
• Guardia Castle
• Poore
• Melchior's Cabin
• Heckran Cave
• Medina Village

Native Characters

Crono, Marle, and Lucca are native to 1000 AD.

Other notable characters from this time period are:

• Crono's Mother
• Taban - Lucca's father
• Lara - Lucca's mother
• Melchior - the swordsmith

Gates

Being a "hub" for the first half of the game (that role falling to the End of Time later), there are several Gates:

1. Leene Square - Opened by the Telepod, this connects to Truce Canyon in the Middle Ages.
2. Guardia Forest - This connects to Bangor Dome in the Future.
3. Medina Village - This connects to one of the three initial pillars of light in the End of Time.

Major Visits

Since 1000 AD is the starting point of the game, it is considered the first "visit."

1st Visit

Crono is awakened by his mother and reminded of the Millennial Fair taking place in Leene Square. Upon arriving, he bumps into Marle, who accompanies him around the Fair. Eventually, they make their way to the top tier of the square, where Lucca and her father are displaying their new invention, the Telepods. Crono is the first volunteer teleportee. When the devices activate, Crono vanishes from one platform and reappears on the other. Excited by this, Marle steps up to try it herself. The teleportation field reacts to her pendant, ripping open a hole in time and pulling her through. Crono grabs the necklace and follows her through to the Middle Ages.

2nd Visit

Crono, Lucca, and Marle emerge from the Gate at the fairgrounds. Lucca tells Crono to take Marle home to the castle. Upon arrival, Crono is arrested for kidnapping the royal heir. Despite Marle's pleas, her father declares that Crono shall stand trial. Regardless of the outcome of the trial (which is influenced by the player's decisions up to that point), the Chancellor takes Crono to the prison tower - which Crono caused the creation of by changing the timeline - where he will be executed in three days. With Lucca's help, Crono breaks out of prison. After the duo battle the Chancellor's Dragon Tank, they meet up with Marle and flee the castle. Being chased through the forest, they come across another Gate. With nowhere else to go, the trio jumps through the Gate and land in the far future.

3rd Visit

The trio's return home lands them in an awkward place, in the cupboard of a house in Medina Village. There, they learn how the Mystics have built up an anti-human civilization, awaiting the day that their lord and master - Magus - would return to lead them in another war against the humans. Traveling over the East Continent, they come across the home of Melchior, the swordsmith Crono met at the Fair. He tells them that there is a short cut to the West Continent through the cave to the north, which is populated by evil, magical creatures. Making their way through the cave, the team battle the evil Heckran and learn that Magus has something to do with the appearance of Lavos. They return to the Middle Ages to find out how to stop him.

4th Visit

This brief visit is a quick jaunt back to the East Continent to ask Melchior why his name is on a 400-year-old sword and how the shards of the sword can be reforged. He tells them of a rare red rock from which the sword was forged, but it no longer exists. The only place it can be found is in the distant past.

5th Visit

Another short visit, Crono and team return to the present with the Dreamstone and ask Melchior to reforge the sword. After he has done so, it is finally time to return to the Middle Ages to arm Frog with the Masamune and defeat Magus once and for all.

6th Visit

After the death of Crono at the hands of Lavos, the remaining heroes hatch a plan to use the Chrono Trigger to return him to life. To do this, they need the duplicate doll of him from the Millennial Fair. Retrieving the doll, they proceed to the future to enact their plan.

Final Visit

After beating the game, the crew returns to the present. After a few tearful goodbyes, the four other heroes to their native times. The force holding the Gates open lets go, and all of the Gates close forever. Crono, Lucca, Marle, and their families enjoy the final evening of the Millennial Fair together.

Side Quests

There are not many side quests in the present, except for those that are off-shoots of things occurring in the past or future.

Fiona's Shrine / On That Day, 10 Years Ago...

After leaving Robo in the Middle Ages to help Fiona plant the forest, you return to the future to find the forest a teeming greenery covering most of the South Continent. In the center sits Fiona's Shrine, an eternal testament to her work. A broken-down Robo sits on a pedestal on the altar. They reactivate him and he re-joins the party.

That evening, the entire team is camping out while Lucca is repairing Robo. He regales them with thoughts he has mused over for the past four centuries, like what created the Gates, and why they have all been drawn through time.

That night, Lucca awakens from a dream to find a small Gate in the middle of the forest. Opening it, she is transported 10 years into the past, on the day her mother lost the use of her legs. Lucca acts quickly to stop the machine that injures her mother. She returns to the present to find Robo waiting for her.

The Sun Stone

Tracing the missing Sun Stone through time, Crono and company find evidence of it in a house in Poore. However, the man living there refuses to give it up. The team must travel into the past to teach his ancestor the joy of giving. Returning to the present, the man happily gives them the Sun Stone, and they return it to the shrine to finish recharging.

The Hero's Grave

In the present, the ghost of Cyrus will not let the team enter his grave. After travelling back to 600 AD to find his shrine in disrepair, they return to retreive the Carpenter's Tools so that the grave can be repaired in the past.

The Rainbow Shell

The group locates the grave of Toma. Speaking with his spirit, they learn the location of the Rainbow Shell. Retrieving it in the past, they take it to the King of Guardia so that he may hang on to it for them for the next 400 years.

Returning, they find the shell missing and the king imprisoned for selling royal treasures. As the Chancellor puts the king on trial, Crono and team must locate the Rainbow Shell to prove the king's innocence. When they locate it, the Chancellor transforms into Yakra XIII, a descendant of the same beast who masqueraded as the Chancellor in the Middle Ages.

Dimensional Vortex

One of the three Gates connecting to the Dimensional Vortex is in the present.

Dark Cloud series

In [| Dark Cloud], the present is where Colonel [| Flag] unleashes the [| Dark Genie] near the beginning of the game.

In [| Dark Cloud 2], the present is [| Max]'s time period.

Prologue

The Present begins where a group of militants, led by [| Colonel Flag] performing a ceremony of to release the "Dark Genie". Colonel Flag plans to use the Dark Genie strictly for military conquest. While the common folk of [| Norune Village] are celebrating a festival for the bountiful harvest, the Dark Genie starts a rampage to destroy the village. The Fairy King casts a protective spell around the village, as well as other locations of the world. This spell causes the buildings, objects, and people to be scattered by the Dark Genie's attack. Toan, a resident of Norune village, is bestowed a stone of Atlamillia from the Fairy King and learns that he must travel through dungeons searching for the scattered people and objects in the form of floating orbs called Atla. Toan then goes to the Divine Beast Cave and journeys through it and collects the Norune Village Atla. When Toan approaches a certain floor, a mysterious white-haired man called Seda, challenges him to a duel. Toan loses and notices a little cat on the ground, which he attempts to protect. The white-haired man throws him a changing potion and tells him to allow the cat to drink from it.

Matataki Village

Toan gives the potion to the cat, which causes the cat to change into a half-human/half-cat form. He eventually reaches the bottom of the Divine Beast Cave where he meets Dran, the God of all beasts. Dran is under control of the Dark Genie and attacks Toan. Defeating Dran released him from the genie's control. Dran tells Toan to find the Moon People, and directs him to a giant tree called the Great Treant in Brownboo Village, found deep in the Matataki forests. While entering the village Toan is challenged by a robust, hotheaded boy called Goro. After defeating Goro, he runs back up to his tree house and drops magical earrings which allows Toan to understand the creatures of the forest, including the Great Treant. Goro eventually joins Toan's. After speaking with Treant, Toan fights his way to the final area of the forest. There he faces the giant primate called Master Utan, who was also once the guardian of the forest.

Queens

After defeating Master Utan and freeing him from the same control as Dran, Toan makes his way to Brownboo Village. The village residents are the magical Moon People tribe that he is looking for but ends up being captured by them. After learning of the Dark Genie, they release Toan and devise a plan on how to defeat the Dark Genie’s magic permanently. The Moon People plan to call the Moon Ship using the Moon Orb. To find the orb Toan must travel to the seaside village of Queens. Upon arriving at Queens, Toan learns of a Shipwreck where the Moon Orb may be located. While searching the Ship wreck, he finds and restores the town similarly to the other villages. In the process, Toan finds a lamp which kept a genie, Ruby, who joins the group. He later faces La Saia, the boss holding the Moon Orb.

The Desert of Muska

Toan returns to Brownboo Village but the Moon People are unable to summon the Moon Ship. The send Toan to desert village of Muska Racka to investigate. There he finds the Sun and Moon Temple and begins to to collect Atla to restore the village and locate the ship. During this mission, Toan befriends a desert warrior called Ungaga, who later becomes a party member. After reaching the final floor of the temple, they face The King’s Curse. Once they defeat the King’s Curse a passage opens up that leads to the Moon Ship. With the help of the Moon People the ship is finally able to be activated and they set their destination for the moon city of Yellow Drops. Upon reaching Yellow Drops, Toan meets Osmond, a Moon person, who asks to Toan to help collect pieces of a giant battle robot, called the Sun Giant. The Moon People believe they can destroy the Dark Genie for good by using the robot. After meeting Osmond, he too joins the group. Toan collects the scattered pieces of the robot, by searching the Moon Sea. He collects the final piece by fighting a giant Minotaur in a coliseum-like battle. Once the Sun Giant is completed, Toan and his group, along with a crew of Moon people, pilot the Sun Giant towards the Dark Heaven Castle, where the Dark Genie now resides.

Going back through Time

The group arrives at the castle and confront the Dark Genie. After defeating the genie they learn that it was actually a rat that had adsorbed some of the true Dark Genie's powers while sealed away with the real genie. The true Dark Genie had possessed Colonel Flag and destroys the Sun Giant. Toan continues to pursue the Dark Genie and enters the castle where he meets Seda again. Seda explains the Dark Genie's origin and his role in its creation. He asks Toan to collect Atla which hold fragments of his memory to discover what lead to the creation of the Dark Genie. Seda opens up a portal to the Gallery of Time to allow Toan to find the Atla. When the Genie reappears, wishing to reunite with Seda's body, Seda commits suicide to bar the Genie from his power. Toan goes through the years of the Gallery of Time and collects and views the fragmented memories contained in the Atla. Despite Toan's intervention, he is unable to prevent the Dark Genie's creation. Toan then faces and defeats the true form of the Dark Genie.