Condensed Plot Summary of Chrono Cross

[ZeaLitY]

I have produced this condensed plot summary as a quick brush-up on the plot of Chrono Cross due to the intitial confusion that is delivered upon the first couple playthroughs of Chrono Cross. With this, I hope that discussors who are rusty on the basics of the game can review this knowledge, and that recent players will gain a better understanding of Cross's complicated but consistent storyline.

~

As a byproduct of Crono's quest, Schala was thrown into a dimensional vortex at the Ocean Palace disaster along with the Mammon Machine, where either Lavos or temporal disruptions began a fusing of the two beings. This went unnoticed; in 2300 AD, as happened before Crono saved the world, Belthasar came in from the disaster to find the new future (that is, the future after Crono saved the world). He set about building a research institute on time called Chronopolis in the Sea of Eden that is powered by a splinter of Lavos that fell when he landed (the Frozen Flame, responsible for human evolution as we know it in 3,000,000 BC and capable of immense power through communication with Lavos) and ran a computer called FATE; in the process, he found that Schala was being integrated with Lavos and that the resulting being, the Time Devourer, would have the capacity to destroy all space-time if allowed to complete the fusion. Belthasar here planned an elaborate, if not needlessly complex, plan to save Schala and eliminate the Time Devourer. Everything after this point is planned by Belthasar, who calls himself the Prophet of Time.

Schala, moments before fusing with Lavos

Belthasar supposedly draws up plans for the Counter-Time Experiment, which, if successful, would allow Chronopolis control over time. He then departs to the modern era, around 1010-1020 A.D.; in the future, the Counter-Time Experiment failed, causing the Time Crash. Lavos, according to plan, thought it might mess up history by sucking Chronopolis back through time, which had been exposed by the Time Crash -- and did so -- pulling it to 7600 B.C. The planet felt it needed to counterbalance the introduction of this temporally foreign facility by pulling in Dinopolis from an alternate dimension in which the Reptites lived due to Lavos's not falling in that dimension. The two institutions began warring. Chronopolis fought and won against Dinopolis, and split up its deity power source, the Dragon God, into six separate entities. FATE decided that in order not to mess up history, it should avoid contact with the mainland of Zenan if possible. It terraformed El Nido so that it could set up its own paradise, and dispatched workers to the new islands, washing their memories. The people would be guided by several terminals called Records of Fate that could neurologically control its users. Lastly, it spreads the remnants of the Dragon God around a few special islands, names for their resident piece -- Water Dragon isle, etc.

Chronopolis's attack on Dinopolis

History proceeded here normally; the survivors of Dinopolis joined the humans of El Nido and are the Dragonians referred to several times throughout the game. Dragonian technology, called Elements, was adopted by the residents of El Nido, and used as a form of magic. However, it should be noted that this is not innate, but mechanical magic; Element users are using manufactured devices to control the environment, while innate magic users such as Magus and Crono are able to directly produce the effect themselves. All people have a sort of Element "innate color," representing the type of Element (Water, Wind, Earth) they are most in harmony with. The Dragonians also created an emblem known as the Dragon Tear. In 920 A.D., settlers from Zenan (remember, the continent on which Porre and Guardia from Chrono Trigger reside) found El Nido, and began colonizing it. The Dragonians slowly died out, perhaps leaving Demi-humans behind as half children between humans and Dragonians (they may also be Mystic remnants). A placek known Viper Mansion was built at this time, and the Acacia Dragoons were created, self-declared defenders of El Nido.

Viper Manor

In 1005 A.D., the kingdom of Guardia met a violent end in a war with Porre, who, in this timeline, had become a military power (see the Compendium's Rise of Porre article for theories on its military origins). Porre began creating plans for domination of El Nido. In 1003 A.D., Serge was born, and in 1004 A.D., Kid was created by Schala as a clone of herself and sent into the world according to Belthasar's plan. She is found by Lucca, and raised in her house, which was then a converted orphanage. In 1006 A.D., at the age of 3, Serge is wounded by a panther demon while playping and taken out to sea by his father and his friend in an attempt to save him. Schala recognizes his crying, feeling empathy, and causes a huge magnetic storm to blow him off course to Chronopolis, since the Frozen Flame alone can save him. The storm causes Chronopolis's defenses to go down, leaving the facility entirely open; Serge is treated by the Frozen Flame, but it corrupts his father. The defenses come back online; Serge and his father escape but his father's friend is detained. By contacting the Frozen Flame, Serge has become the Arbiter, meaning that only he can access it, thanks to a circuit called the 'Prometheus Circuit,' and quite literally embodying Robo. This is a huge setback for FATE and Chronopolis, as the Flame is its power source. FATE takes advantage of Serge's father's corruption, and begins to shape him to FATE's will. Lastly, while the storm was down, the split Dragon Gods briefly came together to create a seventh piece, called Harle.

Chronopolis, in the Sea of Eden

In 1010 A.D., FATE succeeds in having Serge's father kill him; the act of doing so permanently warps his father into a being known as Lynx. Harle, after this, befriends Lynx. Time continues normally; in 1015 A.D., FATE attempts to track down Lucca so that she may deactivate the Prometheus Circuit, which is preventing Chronopolis from accessing its source of power, the Flame. Lucca's orphanage is burned, and a few children are presumably killed. Kid escapes the fire, and Lucca probably is killed for refusing to deactivate the lock on the Flame. According to Belthasar's plan, in 1020 A.D., Kid goes back in time to 1010 A.D. to save Serge. She succeeds, and a new dimension is fissioned off the main one; the main is now called Another, and the new one, in which Serge lives, is called Home. Inherent properties of the Home World cause the future to end in ruin brought about by Lavos; this is reflected in the formation of the Dead Sea, which is Home World's Sea of Eden (Chronopolis has temporal links with the future, and reflects its state). In 1020 A.D., Another, Kid calls Serge across the dimensions from Home, as Serge is able to travel between them since he is absent from either one or the other at any given time. Serge, seeking the knowledge of why the dimensions exist and how he plays into the scheme of things, embarks on a quest, partly for the Frozen Flame.

Opassa Beach, with Kid

The quest leads him to Fort Dragonia, where Lynx switches bodies with him by using the Dragon Tear (it shatters in the process, and the party picks up a shard later). This effectively allows Lynx and FATE to access the Frozen Flame again, since the Prometheus Lock allows biological matches of the Arbiter access to the Flame. Serge, believing FATE is the enemy, journeys to the Dead Sea and is empowered by the Dragon Gods later. He uses the Dragon Tear of the Home Dimension to regain his body; it is shattered and he picks up a shard from it also. He eventually makes it to Chronopolis, and battles FATE. After the computer's defeat, it is revealed that the Dragon Gods were merely using him as a tool to regain the Frozen Flame. The Dragon Gods, no longer subjugated by FATE, link together to form THE Dragon God, and steal the Frozen Flame from Chronopolis. Dinopolis is raised as Terra Tower. Serge treks there and defeats the Dragon God; it is then revealed that the Dragon God had long since been consumed by the Time Devourer.

The Dragon Tear

Belthasar explains that all of the transpired events were enacted simply so that Serge would be empowered and able enough to fight the Time Devourer and free Schala. Serge takes the shards of the Dragon Tears to a Dragonian shrine, and they form the Chrono Cross, which is capable of wondrous, healing things -- including the unification of the dimensions back into one strain, and the freedom of Schala from the Time Devourer. Using a Time Egg, the same device by which Crono was ressurrected in Chrono Trigger, and possibly the Frozen Flame, Serge ventures to the Darkness Beyond Time, where the Time Devourer resides, and frees Schala. The dimensions are unified into one; at this point, little is known of the resolution of Cross. Serge apparently forgets the adventure and possibly marries Kid; Schala is hinted to have been sent into another dimension entirely. It is also unknown precisely how the dimensions came together, and whether they adopted one dimension's history predominantly or collated to form a sort of ideal dimension. Now that the Time Devourer has been eliminated, however, Belthasar's plan is complete, and the future can presumably continue on in prosperity.

For specific events that occurred during Serge's quest, check my Chronology - Page - Text.

A forthcoming article shall illuminate the effects of Chrono Cross's ending.

Lastly, these charts, explained further in the article On the Axioms, Corollaries of Temporal Transforms, better depict the progression of timelines and dimensions:

Dimensions: http://www.chronocompendium.com/images/Articles/dimensions2.png

Timelines: http://www.chronocompendium.com/images/timelines2-warmgun.png

~

Thanks be to the Compendium and its readers.

[ggy128]

First I want to apologize because English is not my native language but i want to explain the flow of time with physical theories sorry for my grammatic

I have another explanation about time travel, dimensions, singularity , well in physic time travel can be done but only in future no one can travel to the past  because travel to the past means break the relativy law but einstein theory prove time travel to the future , so the gang (chrono, marle , ayla serge ...) can travel to the future (you must put 1000 Ad like the current present) so if 1000 is the present that means every change that chrono or the other made in the future is possible because they created a virtual future (a virtual future is like a prediction because is only make truth is no one change the future again , an example is chrono killed lavos and everyone is hapyy but what if lavos reborn inmediatly after his death which is highly improbably but that means that future donīt change at all even if chrono killed lavos so like i said is a prediction no one is sure if the future is seal) so every change make after 1000 ( guardia fall, lavosīs death, chronopolis) they are only a virtual future so Chrono trigger time line is the beginning of every possible future (if 1000 is the current present ) so if chrono croos began after 1000 that means that chrono croos is like a continuation of chrono trigger (i repeat is a continuation  because is the virtual future ) now why did chrono travel to the past if the past can not be change) well that easy when the travel to the past that past was not a time line that means that every travel is only a different dimension that explain why marle donīt die after travel with ayla to the future and also explain why in this game has so many endings so in conclusion chrono only travel for different dimension and the change that produce in his current time is not his truly world, in the end chrono live in another dimension and the chrono of the first dimension (the first dimansion is the one in the beginning of the game , when chrono disappear from the first dimansion means that chrono real mother is sad because he lost his son.. poor chrono he dumped heīs real mother) so that explain why when marle died lucca or chrono domnīt die with her after all if the queen of guardia die then  magus win the war then lucca and chrono  never exist  so every travel to the past is not a time travel is truly a dimension travel now for explain dimension is easy because exist a law,  we sopuse to  live in a 4 dimension universe that is not  a complete truth (see quantum theory) when the bigbang create a universe it also create several universe like 1 dimension universe or 2 ,3 ,4 ,5 ,6 but we can't see them because they are hipercurved (if you want to know more see hawkings book or penrose books ) so a aislated universe is possible and then jump from one universe to another is possible ( like movies  when they travel to hiper space the must travel for one universe to another if they do that  they can foul time line and travel long distances without breaking any physical law (we canīt because our  multiples  universes are so small and curve ) another thing if we want to explain aslated dimension like lavos dimension (because he can make created time warps ) he must be in a place where the timeīs flow is almost Zero but how can be done?  , that easy gravity curve space and time (if we live in the sun we can live more becouse the time flow is slower than the Earth time flow) so if gravity curve space and time a high concentration of mass in a small space of the universe  can make that happen but if that happen gravity will destroy lavos becouse is to much gravity for any living thing but we can make gravity weak ( this is why i love chrono because when i Fought lavos the only thing you saw is lavos and a blue space so so the only thing you can see is three dimension objects is easy to sopouse that in lavos dimension is equal or higher than 3 , like a point or a line exist in a 2 dimension universe but a cube can not exist in that  universe but a cube can exist in a three dimension universe ) so if lavos  live is in a singularity and we can make gravity weak then we explain lavos dimension but for make gravity weak  we must create a universe with more  dimensions , in conclusion if lavos lives in a 4 spacial dimension the gravitry is only 1/6* in compare with a 3 dimension gravity  with the same amount of mass (* iīm not sure if is 1/6 ) so in a X dimension world with X higher than 3 is possible explain why the gravity didnīt kill lavos or  the others and the last physical explication of chrono is why in the same game porre defeat guardia but guardia is the ruler of the 2300 Ad well the physical explication is .. ( the game is wrong that is impossible LOL)

that my explication of the chrono games i apologize again for my grammatic

[BROJ]

Posted again as the same info previous is in two topics:

*sigh* Where should I start?..
Three things--One: time travel is obviously possible in the Chronoverse, so Relativity is already out the window; any further application is moot; Two: Quantum Theory is just that, a 'theory', not dogmatic truth:

n. coherent group of general assumptions, body of principles belonging to a certain subject; speculation, hypothesis

; and Three: The existence of 'extra' dimensions has only been proved mathematically in a theoretical physical construct.

[V_Translanka]

While no real bearing on the post (and geezus, could you clean up your messy paragraph, plz?), I'd like to comment on 'theory'...I think that scientific Theory differs somewhat from simply the word 'theory' itself...I mean, a lot more goes into the scientific classification than just someone thinking something up and saying, "that sounds good, i hereby make this a THEORY~!!"...I know it's not really what you're saying, BROJ, but the off-handed way you seem to be talking about the science seems wrong...I don't think you can so casually & easily disregard it just because it has the word "theory" in it.

[BROJ]

While no real bearing on the post (and geezus, could you clean up your messy paragraph, plz?), I'd like to comment on 'theory'...I think that scientific Theory differs somewhat from simply the word 'theory' itself...I mean, a lot more goes into the scientific classification than just someone thinking something up and saying, "that sounds good, i hereby make this a THEORY~!!"...I know it's not really what you're saying, BROJ, but the off-handed way you seem to be talking about the science seems wrong...I don't think you can so casually & easily disregard it just because it has the word "theory" in it.

I think you're engaging me a little in guerilla style; to retort: if it is wrong to attack(or what I'm trying to do─criticize) a scientific theory, for instance Quantum Theory(which I quite like, but it is, in fact, still a theory), was it then 'wrong' to question whether it was valid to assume that by mixing the 'right' amount of sulfur, mercury, and other ingredients, one could make gold or that the world was flat and that the end of the world was just off Spain? My point is theories are nice and all, provided one has the scientific evidence in order to apply to a given situation.

[Thought]

Also to note, people around the forums really aren't using the word "theory" in the scientific sense, anywho.

In science, Theory basically refers to a hypothesis that has been tested, retested, and tested some more, but never proven wrong. However, in common use, a theory is just an idea that possibly explains something ("testing" is absent).

Most uses of the word on the compendium are the latter use, I believe.

Isn't it nice to know that words like "Theory" require doublethink?

[BROJ]

I think V's confusing my intention of pursuing validity over credentials for a shallow skeptic's editorial vis á vis a given theory. Though, make no confusion, I'm following the definition of 'theory' as applied to science.