Our goal is over on Water Dragon Isle, so we, with no detours, head over to get the blessing!
There’s nothing here. The faeries say the same thing about the drought, and the way into the cave is still frozen. Confused and lost, I travel around and go places I haven’t been to yet. Back in Marbule, I get harassed by the demi-humans and gaze upon the terrifying Black Dragon. He’s sleeping, so we calmly leave and find two merchants selling elements. Eventually, I decide to return to Goldove to see Kid.
She’s not there. Did she succumb to her poison? Serge can only think the worst. Suddenly, a woman in a white robe comes in and tells us to stop crying. It's a very Australian accent...Kid lives!
The doctors inform us that a mysterious young man from the mainland visited Goldove. Hearing of Kid’s condition, he offered his conveniently held Hydra Humor. He never gives his name or any identifiable features, so Kid is upset she owes someone a debt. Healthy and able, Kid joins the party. Doc also asks to come, and Kid gives her okay. Kid officially gives us her Astral Amulet. She also thinks it’s the key to returning to Serge’s home...we just need to find the right place. At some point, something called a Dragon's Tear was brought up. Kid reminds us that there was a blue crystal on Viper's desk and assumes that that blue crystal is the Dragon's Tear.
For reasons, I head back to Viper Manor. There’s no new dialogue between Riddle and Kid, so the only thing here is Luccia and her latest experiment, NeoFio, on the balcony. She mentions the Life Sparkle, which we use to make the plant boy come to life. We go down to Luccia’s room, where we ask her to join as well. With nowhere fruitful to go, I use the Astral Amulet on Opassa Beach, and we warp to Serge’s homeworld.
Fossil Valley is still under investigation by Porre, so we have the Leenas meet, the Poshuls meet, and find a ferryman. The old man at the docks offers to ferry us to Home World’s Water Dragon Isle, which is filled with beautiful, clear water. But the faeries are missing? We take the Lillypad Jump Puzzle to the tree and discover the fairies are under attack. Dwarves from the Hydra Marsh have been kicked out of their homes by humans and drifted here. They’re raiding the island looking for a new home at the cost of the current inhabitants. We fend off as many of the dwarves as we can and chase them into the Dragon’s unfrozen cave. There we fight off a group of five of them, which is the hardest fight in the game, so far.
They have a hard-hitting group attack, which is difficult to out heal. When they do fall, we chase them down a nearby waterfall where they bring out a literal tank!
The Hi-Ho Tank is the new hardest fight in the game. With an attack all, a random element shot, and an oft used one hit, all of which do at least half of my HP, I spend the whole fight on the ropes. Glenn died here, and my entire party nearly follows. I ran out of heal elements and had to resort to consumables, so ignore what I said in blog one about them. Through relentless perseverance and luck, I manage to blow up the tank and vanquish the evil dwarves for yet another extinction by Serge.
As we walk to the Water Dragon’s Lair, I take note he resembles a frog. No one says it, fortunately, so he grants us the ability to freeze lava. He knows what's going on with the world/s and also gives is the *FrogPrince summon. The party walks out and has a conversation with the surviving fairies. Razzly, the girl in charge, knows the dwarves were driven here by humans killing the past Hydra in the Marsh (a fourth extinction). It is here that the game makes a point to notice that humans might suck. They invaded El Nido, drove the inhabitants to slavery, and keep destroying the native flora and fauna. The fairies, upset and grief addled, kick the humans off their island.
As we get the boot, Kid collapses! We see a CGI cutscene where a house, filled with pictures of Chrono Trigger characters drawn by children, is burning. We hear a baby crying as the camera pans to a window revealing Lynx. We then cut to a campfire at night as Kid wakes up. She somehow awakens Serge as well, and she reveals her story. Kid was abandoned at a young age and never knew her parents. She was taken in by an orphanage and raised by someone she called Sister. One day, Lynx came to the house and burnt it down, presumably killing most of the inhabitants. It was this day she knew that only the strong survived. She pretty much says that morality doesn't mean anything if it gets in the way of continued existence. And that’s the impetus of her story and link to Lynx.
As a side note, I don't think she believes this. I'm not saying this is a poorly written character. Instead, it adds to her depth. She's a thief who didn't think twice about using Riddle as a hostage. There's a throwaway line, in both Arnis, that mentions the Radical Dreamers and calls them ruthless thieves. However, Kid whispered to Riddle that if she plays along, Riddle would be fine. Kid also helped Serge in the fight with Karsh because of some personal code of honor. Neither of those examples describes a ruthless, dog-eat-dog person who is uncaring for anything but herself. She may think the world is harsh and unforgiving but also sees that there's no reason not to help someone.
In the morning, we wake up, and we sail back to Arni. We then return to Another World and make haste for Mt. Pyre. In room one, we see a stream of lava, but it means nothing with the Blue Dragon’s Ice Breath. In the next scene, we meet up with the Shaking Peppor and Solt. In this battle, they introduce us to trap elements, which are used to steal spells from enemies. They miff it up and can’t use their special moves and are taken down once more. What’s interesting is Solt gets sick of Peppor messing up and attacks him first. In-battle character work, baby! Gotta love it.
We continue through the dungeon until we see, what appears to be, a/the Fire Dragon stuck in ash. We’re then attacked by a much smaller dragon with the name Red Dragon. He’s another damn tough boss tonight. Not as tough as the dwarves, but a solid third. He’s fast, hits hard, and loaded with HP. And I didn’t bring any blue innates with me. I had Kid spamming Capsules (medium heal) the last half of the fight, and I only barely won. All three characters were one good shot from death, but a last-minute Ice Blast won it. The Diminutive Dragon calls it a good fight and then goes off to wherever he goes. Who am I to guess where a dragon should go?
Foolishly not returning to save and heal, I take a step to leave the dungeon, only to be attacked by the Devas. This boss fight was strangely easy. Despite being weakened, I managed to take out all three of them without coming close to death. Noah almost got Glenn late, but only because he had less than 100 HP at the start. It turns out the best the Dragoons have is a bit disappointing. Karsh and Glenn had a conversation before the fight, being friends and allies, so stuff like this is why I feel Glenn is plot relevant.
We step out into the open air and see the dungeon from the opening flashback. It also re-spoils the twist. C’mom, Square!
But I wasn’t quite ready to head in. Instead, I returned to Termina and learned more about Glenn. His old house is near the blacksmiths and contains his hidden second place trophy. Second to his big brother, Dario. A flashback with Glenn, Dario, and Karsh takes place about everyone loving Riddle. This mirrors the new situation in the house with three generic kids. The boys love Marianna, but she loves the boy outside who’s already with another girl. Everyone has a broken heart, and we’re unsure we helped.
Lastly, I ventured into Home World Hydra Marshes to see the devastation. Nothing much happens, but we observe a man bragging about the money he’ll make selling the last hydra, and we gain a Bebba Flute. The flute can summon the Pokémon Yarma, which attacks us. At some point during the three bosses, I unlocked the level five special attack for Serge, so I can not use Chrono's best attack from Trigger. And Leena can reset all elemental grids, which may come in handy.
And here I called it. Fort Dragonia is a lengthy dungeon, so I may end up dedicating all tomorrow to it. The games about to open up and blow your mind, so stay hyped!
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