Mario had been traveling for quite some time. He was only as far as Rose Way. Exhausted, he sat down. Just when he was starting to doze off, he heard a rustling in the bushes. He raised his shell and called into the foliage.
"Who's there?"
"Mario?"
"Magus, Ayla! What are you doing here?"
"We were also caught in that stupid tornado," said Magus.
"Do you have any idea where Marle is?"
"No. Why?"
"I've been looking for her. Well, let's head back to Mushroom Kingdom for now. Who knows, she might already be there."
It was dark out when they got to the end of a long trek through the Kero Sewers. Mario brought out a tent and they spent the night.
Under the same starry sky, Crono and Marle sat together on a hill. Crono was thinking about Tiger. He recalled its name, which he had used to call someone when he was younger. Now who was it?. . .He put it out of his mind for now.
"Well, Marle, when Mario arrives with Magus and Ayla tomorrow, we're finally going home." Marle smiled.
"That's a relief. Well, what do you say we spend the night out here?"
"Sure, why not?" They lay down and went to sleep.
A barely distinguishable shadow ascended the hill silently. It reached the top and walked over to the sleeping pair.
"Good, he's asleep," Tiger murmured. Then it sighed. "It's been so long. I wonder if he would even recognize me. . ."
Crono was having a strange dream. Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but darkness; not the closed-in type of darkness he could see when he closed his eyes, but a more open kind, as if he were floating in space. He felt as if there were no boundaries here. Out of this darkness he suddenly heard a soft but clear voice, and he knew it was Tiger.
"Crono, it's me. . .remember?" Its voice was much different now. Suddenly, out of the dark it appeared in front of him, only it was not covered up by a shadow. It was a girl a little older and taller than him. She wore a plain white shirt, dark leggings rolled up to her knees, and brownish shoes. She had long, braided dark brown hair, and her eyes were green. Crono stared at her in surprise. It took a minute for him to figure out who she was, but when he did, his eyes opened wider in disbelief.
"Kat. . .? Is that you?"
"Yes, I've finally come back." They stood for a moment looking at each other, and then they embraced.
"Oh, I can't believe it. . .I thought I'd never see you again. . ." The memories came flooding back to Crono. She was his half sister; they had the same mother, but different fathers. She was a year older than him. They had been very close since before he could remember, and her nickname had been Tiger because she liked wrestling and fighting with him a whole lot. He remembered the day, less than a month before the Millennial Fair, that they had gone to see another one of Lucca's crazy inventions. . .
"Crono! Wakey wakey!!" Crono groaned and turned over in his bed, not bothering to open his eyes.
"Oh, go away. I'm trying to sleep. . ." he muttered to the person he knew was standing over him.
"You always sleep late, don't you?" Tiger giggled. "Well, today's the day, so you'd better get up." Crono groaned again.
"Is it already? Oh, but do we have to? Every time we go over to see Lucca she either half kills me with a new invention or talks us to death about science and other stuff like that." He could hear her tapping her foot impatiently.
"Give me a break! Come on, it's won't be that bad. Sheesh, it's not my fault you're always the guinea pig."
"Why doesn't she just use you instead?"
"Because, you're the boy, and boys are supposed to be tough." He finally opened his eyes and saw her grinning down at him.
"That's not funny. Why do I always have to be tough? I'm sick of it. After Dad--" He stopped short, unable to go on. Her face softened a little.
"Well. . .just this one more time, okay?" He pulled the covers over his head and said defiantly, "No way!" Then, "Ouch! Stop punching me!"
"No way!" she replied, imitating him. He turned over and tried to ignore the harsh blows. Finally they stopped. "Well, fine, if you won't go, then I'll go by myself." He heard her footsteps as she descended the stairs, and promptly threw off the covers. Certainly he didn't want her going alone. She could take care of herself, but he was a little overprotective and didn't want her by herself with Lucca and a new invention. He quickly threw some clothes on and dashed down the stairs, yelling, "Hey, wait for me!!!"
The two headed for Lucca's right after breakfast. As they walked along, Crono asked, "So, what crazy new gadget does she have this time?"
"I'm not sure," Tiger replied. "Something about communicating over an impossibly long distance, maybe even to other worlds."
"Wow! Now that sounds interesting, for a change." She nodded in agreement.
When they arrived, Lucca was waiting for them outside, looking excited.
"Hi! You guys are just in time! I've just put the finishing touches on my new machine. Come on, I'll show you." They followed her inside to a strange-looking contraption. It was a large, square box thing with wires running all around it. Tiger looked at it for a minute.
"Okay. . .so what is it?"
"This is the 'screen'," Lucca replied, patting the box thing. "The wires are just used to help operate it. See, what it does is show you a place a long ways away from here, like halfway around the world, only a bigger distance. I'll show you." She pushed a few buttons on the side of the box, and the 'screen' showed the outside of Crono and Tiger's house.
"Wow, neat!" exclaimed Crono. "Can you show us another world?"
"Sure! Hang on." She pushed more buttons, and the screen blackened. Then, a small dot appeared in the center. It gradually got larger until it nearly filled the whole screen, and they could see it was another planet.
"Whoa. . .awesome!" said Tiger. "So there are actually other civilizations out there?"
"Uh-huh." The screen zoomed in and they could see a large hill and some houses around it. There were a few people walking around wearing strange clothes, but since it was apparently nighttime there, there were hardly any to be seen. Tiger and Crono were awe-struck.
"Cool. . ." murmured Crono. Tiger stepped closer to get a better look. Crono saw a sparking wire that she was about to step on. "Kat, watch out for th--" Too late. Tiger stepped on it, and suddenly the whole screen began to spark too.
"What the -- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" she cried as the sparks from the screen and the wires joined and the whole thing illuminated with electricity, including her.
"Crono, watch out!" yelled Lucca as the two dived to the floor to avoid getting zapped. Tiger screamed again and suddenly disappeared as the whole thing blacked out. Crono and Lucca got up.
"K-Kat? Where are you?" There was no trace of her. Crono frantically searched around. "Kat? You can come out now. . .Kat, this isn't funny. . ." Lucca swallowed hard.
"Um, Crono, I think she's, uh. . .gone." Crono stared at her in disbelief.
"What do you mean, gone? How can she be gone?"
"I think the machine must have teleported her into space or something. There's no way to get her back. . ."
"W-what? N-no. . .way?" Realization dawned on him, and he sank to his knees. "Oh, no. . .Kat. . .no. . ." He felt dizzy, and the room began to blur. He could dimly hear Lucca exclaiming, "Crono? Crono, are you all right?!" before he passed out.
Crono physically recovered all right after that experience, but he had lost his will to speak. He was in a deep depression and wanted very much to die, because Tiger had almost been like a replacement for his lost father. He would have, too, if the Millennial Fair hadn't come along. The morning it started he told himself he would forget all that had happened and have a good time. He still didn't speak to anyone, but he had forgotten it completely by the time he met Marle. That is, until now. . .
Crono blinked and realized he was still in the dream. He asked Tiger, "Should I tell the others who you are?"
"I think we should keep it to ourselves for now."
"What happened?"
"It's a long story, but I don't need to tell you right away. For now, I'll just let you sleep. See you tomorrow." She smiled before fading away into the darkness.
"Crono! Wake up!" Marle shook him. The black scene suddenly disappeared.
"Huh?. . .Oh! Okay, I'm awake."
"Let's go! Tiger's ready."
"All right, I'll be there in a minute." As he watched her descend the hill, he thought about last night. What a nice dream. Then again, it was a sad one, too. Too bad she isn't really back. He climbed down after her to where Tiger, Magus, Mario, and Ayla had gathered, and stopped short when he saw Tiger. The shadow wasn't covering it any more.
Gee. . .I guess she really is back for real. But I thought she didn't want anyone to know, he thought. Her silent answer startled him.
They don't know, they still see me in a shadow.
What the -- she's talking to me without. . .talking!
It's called telepathy. Crono had no time to answer back because Marle interrupted.
"So, let's go everybody!" A purple Gate appeared, and Tiger motioned towards it.
"Everybody in!"
"Good-bye, guys!" Mario said. He waved to them as they disappeared.
"We're back!"
"Hi Crono! Glad you could make it," greeted Lucca.
"I'm sure glad to be back!" laughed Marle. She turned to Tiger. "How can we ever thank you?"
"You can thank me with your gratitude, Marle. And now I must be off. Good-bye, everybody!" She stepped into the purple Gate. "Ring me up if you ever need help."
Candy paced around the room.
"Well, if this keeps up, we're going to live in poverty!"
"Come on, just because the bananas are disappearing doesn't mean we're going to starve."
"We need help, all the same. I've got an idea!"
Crono was asleep. The rest of the day had passed.
BRRRIIIING! He jumped, instantly awakened, and answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Crono? It's me, Diddy. We've got a little problem here."
"What kind of problem?"
"Well, all the bananas we've been eating have been disappearing, and we've got nothing else to eat."
"It's night time over here, you know."
"Oh, I'm sorry!"
"That's okay. I'll sleep on it, and call you tomorrow." Click! Crono went back to sleep. He suddenly found himself in the blackness he'd been in before, and Tiger appeared.
"So. . .they're running out of food, right? I think I have the answer. There's an evil guy over there called K. Rool, and he's stolen most of their banana hoard. He also chopped down all of the banana trees, so they can't grow any more."
"We've got to tell them!" exclaimed Crono. She nodded.
"You'd better call them right away in the morning."