Be Careful What You Wish For
Chapter 2: Getting Things Straight
Mario's group and Dixie's group landed in the same place at the same time: in Crono's basement on a pile of boxes. It was so far below, though, that the people upstairs barely heard it.
"Did thee hear something?" asked Frog.
"Probably something fell over at my house," shrugged Lucca.
* * *
Bowser, groaning, stood up and shook himself off. He looked around and blinked.
"Where are we?" He shook Mario.
"Just five more minutes, Mommy," Mario said. He was still a little dizzy from the crash.
"I ain't your mommy, get up!" Bowser picked up Mario and lifted him above his head.
"Okay, put me down, Bowser -- Yikes! Where are we?"
"That's what I'd like to know!" came another voice from the boxes.
"Huh?" A monkey stood up and shook himself off. "I said, that's what I'd like to know!"
"Who are you?"
"I'm Diddy Kong."
"Ow! Oh, I have a horrible headache!" groaned someone else.
"This is Dixie, and this is my buddy, Donkey Kong." Mario and Bowser helped Toadstool and Mallow up from the pile of boxes.
"I think my arm's broken!" Mallow wailed. He began to cry. Rain clouds appeared and poured rain into the basement.
"Is it just me, or are we having some unusual weather lately?" asked Donkey Kong.
"This is Mallow, who can control the weather. Over here is Toadstool, a princess. This is Bowser, and I'm Mario." Mario and his friends explained all about the Star Road and its ability to grant wishes. Then they told how Mario made the wish, and about the tornado-like thing that swept them into the pile of boxes. Dixie explained how she had made the very same wish, and how they had had the same experience.
"So. . .we must be in a different world altogether!" Mallow exclaimed. It stopped raining.
"Yes, but the question is, what world--"
"Shh, do you hear something?" asked Toadstool. They listened for a minute, and could barely make out voices speaking from upstairs. They sneaked up to listen.
* * *
"Oh, just get over it, Marle! We have a world to save!" yelled Magus. Suddenly there was a knock on the door downstairs.
"I'll get it! It's probably Robo." Marle dashed down. She didn't notice the party of strangers that passed right by her.
"There has to be a way to bring him back," mused Lucca.
"Bring who back?" The four drew their weapons at the sight of three gorillas and five other strangers at the top of the stairs.
"Hold it! We're not going to attack you," said one with a mustache and a red hat, apparently the leader of the group. "We're lost and would like to know where in the universe we are!" They lowered their weapons. Lucca stepped forward.
"Lucca better be careful, could be trap!" whispered Ayla to her.
"I know what I'm doing," Lucca whispered back. Then she turned back to the strangers. "You're in Truce village, in 1001 AD. How did you get here?" They explained their story and about the Star Road, and afterwards the apes also explained theirs. When they were finished, Lucca asked Mario, "Well, before you go back, could you help us with something?"
"I guess so. What do you need help with?"
"Well, first thee needs to go get Marle," interrupted Frog. Marle had been downstairs for quite a while.
"Good thinking, tadpole brain," Magus snickered.
"I'll show thee what a 'tadpole brain' can do!" Frog lunged at Magus.
"Hey hey hey, you guys! Break it up!" Bowser stepped in between the two.
"Out of my way, giant turtle!" Frog leaped onto Bowser and tried to pull him out of the way. The effort was in vain.
"So, where's all the action?" asked Bowser, yawning loudly. Frog lashed out with his sword, but Bowser's shell was too tough.
"My blade! Thee hath scratched it!" Frog yelled in exasperation. Just then Marle came up the stairs with Robo. She noticed Bowser.
"A monster! Take this!" She swung her crossbow at him. It broke in two. "You broke my bow, you jerk!" It looked as if she was going to jump on Bowser too, but Lucca interrupted.
"Ahem. Let's calm down, everyone. Now, I say we should talk to Gaspar about the matter."
"Good idea, uh, Lucky, but who's Gaspar?" asked Mario.
"That's Lucca. Gaspar is a man at the End of Time."
"End of Time?" Mario looked a little confused. Lucca nodded.
"That's right. See, we travel through time by means of time Gates and a time machine we call the Epoch. The End of Time is just one of the many places we can visit."
"But why do you travel through time like that?"
"Because we're trying to save the world." They told all about Lavos and how they saved the planet from it. Then they added in the story of the first loss of Crono, and the second one, too. "And that is who we're trying to bring back. See, Lavos came back to life in 2300 AD. When we went to confront it, it killed Crono a second time by crushing him. I won't go into detail right now because we really ought to get going. Come on, let's go!"