Editing Chrono Trigger (section)

== Story ==
=== Setting ===
''Chrono Trigger'' takes place in an Earth-like world, with eras such as the prehistoric age, in which primitive humans and dinosaurs share the earth; the [[Middle Ages]], replete with knights, monsters, and magic; and the [[apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction|post-apocalyptic]] future, where destitute humans and sentient robots struggle to survive. The characters frequently travel through time to obtain allies, gather equipment, and learn information to help them in their quest. The party also gains access to the End of Time (represented as year [[Infinity|∞]]), which serves as a hub to travel back to other time periods. The party eventually acquires a time-machine vehicle known as the ''Wings of Time,'' nicknamed the ''Epoch'' (this default name can be changed by the player when the vehicle is acquired). The vehicle is capable of time travel between any time period without first having to travel to the End of Time.

=== Characters ===
{{Main|Characters of Chrono Trigger}}
''Chrono Trigger''{{'s}} six playable characters (plus one optional character) come from different eras of history. ''Chrono Trigger'' begins in 1000 AD with [[Crono]], [[Marle (Chrono Trigger)|Marle]], and [[Lucca Ashtear|Lucca]]. Crono is the silent protagonist, characterized as a fearless young man who wields a [[katana]] in battle. Marle, revealed to be Princess Nadia, lives in Guardia Castle; though sheltered, she is at heart a princess who seeks independence from her royal identity. Lucca is a childhood friend of Crono's and a mechanical genius; her home is filled with laboratory equipment and machinery. From the era of 2300 AD comes [[Robo (Chrono Trigger)|Robo]], or Prometheus (designation R-66Y), a robot with a near-human personality created to assist humans. Lying dormant in the future, Robo is found and repaired by Lucca, and joins the group out of gratitude.<ref name="characters">{{cite book |year=2001 |title=Final Fantasy Chronicles instruction manual |pages=32–33 |publisher=Square Enix |id=SLUS-01363}}</ref> The fiercely confident [[Ayla (Chrono Trigger)|Ayla]] dwells in 65,000,000 BC. Unmatched in raw strength, Ayla is the chief of Ioka Village and leads her people in war against a species of humanoid [[reptile]]s known as Reptites.

The last two playable characters are [[Frog (Chrono Trigger)|Frog]] and [[Magus (Chrono Trigger)|Magus]]. Frog originated in 600 AD. He is a former [[squire]] once known as Glenn, who was turned into an [[Kemono|anthropomorphic]] frog by Magus, who also killed his friend Cyrus. Chivalrous but mired in regret, Frog dedicates his life to protecting Leene, the queen of Guardia, and avenging Cyrus. Meanwhile, Guardia in 600 AD is in a state of conflict against the Mystics (known as Fiends in the US/DS port), a race of demons and intelligent animals who wage war against humanity under the leadership of Magus, a powerful [[Magician (fantasy)|sorcerer]]. Magus's seclusion conceals a long-lost past; he was formerly known as Janus, the young prince of the Kingdom of Zeal, which was destroyed by [[Lavos]] in 12,000 BC. The incident sent him forward through time, and as he ages, he plots revenge against Lavos and broods over the fate of his sister, [[Schala]].<ref name="characters" /> Lavos, the game's main antagonist who awakens and ravages the world in 1999 AD, is an extraterrestrial, parasitic creature that harvests DNA and the Earth's energy for its own growth.

=== Plot ===
In 1000 AD, Crono and Marle watch Lucca and her father demonstrate her new [[Teleportation|teleporter]] at the Millennial Fair in the Kingdom of Guardia. When Marle volunteers to be teleported, her pendant interferes with the device and creates a time portal into which she is drawn.<ref name="portal">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger |developer=Square Co |publisher=Square Soft |date=August 22, 1995 |platform=Super NES |level=Leene Square |quote='''Taban:''' What's going on Lucca? WHERE IS SHE? / '''Lucca:''' The way she disappeared... It couldn't have been the Telepod! The warp field seemed to be affected by her pendant...}}</ref>  After Crono and Lucca separately recreate the portal and find themselves in 600 AD, they locate Marle, only to see her vanish before their eyes. Lucca realizes that this time period's kingdom has mistaken Marle (who is actually Princess Nadia of Guardia) for Queen Leene, an ancestor of hers who had been kidnapped, thus putting off the recovery effort for her ancestor and creating a [[grandfather paradox]]. Crono and Lucca, with the help of Frog, restore history to normal by rescuing Leene. After the three part ways with Frog and return to the present, Crono is framed for kidnapping Marle and sentenced to death by the current chancellor of Guardia. Lucca and Marle help Crono escape prison, haphazardly using another time portal to evade their pursuers. This portal lands them in 2300 AD, where they learn that an advanced civilization has been wiped out by a giant creature known as Lavos that appeared in 1999 AD, and find the last remnants of humanity living in underground domes subsisting off of machine energy in place of food.<ref name="dayoflavos">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger |developer=Square Co |publisher=Square Soft |date=August 22, 1995 |platform=Super NES |level=Arris Dome |quote='''Marle:''' Say, what does this button do? / '''Lucca:''' 1999 A.D.? Visual record of The Day of Lavos... / ''''Marle:''' Wh, what...IS that? / '''Lucca:''' Lavos?... Is that what's destroying our world?! / '''Marle:''' We must truly be in the future...}}</ref> The three vow to find a way to prevent the future destruction of their world. After meeting and repairing Robo, Crono and his friends find Gaspar, an old sage residing in an atemporal space known as the End of Time, who offers them the ability to travel through time by way of several pillars of light. (The party is able to challenge Lavos at any point after this scene, with completion of the game prior to its final chapter unlocking one of twelve different endings.)

The party discover that a powerful mage named Magus summoned Lavos into the world in 600 AD. To stop Magus, Frog requires the legendary sword, Masamune, to open the way to the mage's castle. In search of ore to re-forge the sword, the party travel to prehistoric times and meet Ayla, the chief of an ancient [[hunter-gatherer]] tribe. The subsequent battle with Magus disrupts his spell to summon Lavos, opening a temporal distortion that throws Crono and his friends to prehistory.<ref name="lavos-created">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger |developer=Square Co |publisher=Square Soft |date=August 22, 1995 |platform=Super NES |level=Heckran Cave |quote='''Heckran:''' If only the great Magus who brought forth Lavos 400 years ago, had destroyed the human race!}}</ref> The party assist Ayla in battling the Reptites, enemies of prehistoric humans. The battle is cut short as the party witness the true origin of Lavos, who descends from deep space and crashes into the planet before burrowing to its core. Entering a time gate created by Lavos's impact, the party arrive in the ice age of 12,000 BC. There, the utopic Kingdom of Zeal resides on islands raised above the icy surface using energy harnessed from Lavos's body beneath the earth's crust via a machine housed on the ocean floor. The party are imprisoned by the Queen of Zeal on the orders of its mysterious Prophet, and are ultimately banished, with the time gate leading to 12,000 BC sealed by the Prophet. Seeking a way to return, the party discover a time machine in 2300 AD called the Wings of Time (or ''Epoch''), which can access any time period at will. The party return to 12,000 BC, where Zeal inadvertently awakens Lavos, leading the Prophet to reveal himself as Magus, who tries and fails to kill the creature.<ref name="magusrevealed">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger |developer=Square Co |publisher=Square Soft |date=August 22, 1995 |platform=Super NES |level=Heckran Cave |quote='''Magus:''' I've waited for this... I've been waiting for you, Lavos. I swore long ago... that I'd destroy you! No matter what the price! It is time to fulfill that vow. Feel my wrath, Lavos!! [...] / '''Magus:''' Aaah!! My powers are being drained!}}</ref> Lavos defeats Magus and kills Crono, before the remaining party are transported to the safety of the surface by Schala, Zeal's princess. Lavos annihilates the Kingdom of Zeal, whose fallen continent causes devastating floods that submerge most of the world's landmass.

Magus confesses to the party that he used to be Prince Janus of Zeal, Schala's brother, and that in the original timeline, he and the Gurus of Zeal were scattered across time by Lavos's awakening in 12,000 BC.<ref name="janus">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger |developer=Square Co |publisher=Square Soft |date=August 22, 1995 |platform=Super NES |level=North Cape |quote='''Magus:''' Behold. Everything's at the bottom of the sea. Gone is the magical kingdom of Zeal, and all the dreams and ambitions of its people. I once lived there... But I was another person then. [...] / '''Marle:''' You're... ...Janus, aren't you? [...] / '''Magus:''' Ever since Lavos's time portal stranded me in the Middle Ages... I have waited to even the score.}}</ref> Stranded as a child in 600 AD, Janus took the title of Magus and gained a cult of followers while plotting to summon and kill Lavos in revenge for the death of his sister. Magus tried once more after the party's battle in his castle returned him to Zeal, where he disguised himself as the Prophet. At this point, Magus is either killed by the party, killed in a duel with Frog, or spared and convinced to join the party. The ruined Ocean Palace then rises into the air as the Black Omen, Queen Zeal's floating fortress. The group turns to Gaspar for help, and he gives them a "Chrono Trigger", a device that allows the group to replace Crono just before the moment of death with an identical [[doppelgänger]] (doing so is optional, and the game's ending will change depending on the player's decision). The party then gather power by helping people across time with Gaspar's instructions.<ref name="itll-help">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger |developer=Square Co |publisher=Square Soft |date=August 22, 1995 |platform=Super NES |level=The End of Time |quote='''Gaspar:''' Just as you touch the lives of every life form you meet, so, too, will their energy strengthen you.}}</ref> Their journeys involve defeating the remnants of the Mystics,<ref name="generals">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger |developer=Square Co |publisher=Square Soft |date=August 22, 1995 |platform=Super NES |level=Ozzie's Fort |quote='''Ozzie:''' Magus! You lied when you said you wanted to create a world of evil! You used me! / '''Magus:''' Oh, how dreadful. Say, can you hear that? It's the sound of the Reaper...}}</ref> stopping Robo's maniacal [[artificial intelligence|AI]] creator,<ref name="extermination">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger |developer=Square Co |publisher=Square Soft |date=August 22, 1995 |platform=Super NES |level=Geno Dome |quote='''Mother Brain:''' Listen well humans. [...] / '''Mother Brain:''' We robots will create a new order... A nation of steel, and pure logic. A true paradise! Our «Species» will replace you... So stop your foolish struggle, and succumb to the sleep of eternity... [...] / '''Marle:''' What IS this?! We have to do something! / '''Magus:''' Hmm... A human processing plant? / '''Frog:''' What be this?! We must rescue them!}}</ref> giving Frog closure for Cyrus's death,<ref name="cyrus">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger |developer=Square Co |publisher=Square Soft |date=August 22, 1995 |platform=Super NES |level=Northern Ruins |quote='''Frog:''' Dear Cyrus... Thou must...think ill of me. / '''Cyrus:''' On the contrary! You have come far, my friend. When Magus defeated me, I thought of all those whom I had left behind. King Guardia, Queen Leene, and of course, you... Your skill and dedication is superior! I can rest now, knowing that everyone is in good hands. Good bye, my friend!}}</ref> locating and charging up the mythical Sun Stone, retrieving the legendary Rainbow Shell, unmasking Guardia's Chancellor as a saboteur, restoring a forest destroyed by a desert monster,<ref name="entity">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger |developer=Square Co |publisher=Square Soft |date=August 22, 1995 |platform=Super NES |level=Fiona's Forest |quote='''Robo:''' After 400 years of experience, I have come to think that Lavos may not be responsible for the Gates. / '''Marle:''' What do you mean? / '''Robo:''' I have come to think that someone, or something wanted us to see all this.}}</ref> and preventing an accident that disabled Lucca's mother. The party then enter the Black Omen and defeat Queen Zeal, after which they battle Lavos. They discover that Lavos is self-directing his evolution via absorbing [[DNA]] and energy from every living creature before razing the planet's surface in 1999 AD, so that it could spawn a new generation to destroy other worlds and continue the evolutionary cycle. The party slay Lavos, and celebrate at the final night of the Millennial Fair before returning to their own times.

If Magus joined the party, he departs to search for Schala. If Crono was resurrected before defeating Lavos, his sentence for kidnapping Marle is revoked by her father, King Guardia XXXIII, thanks to testimonies from Marle's ancestors and descendants, whom Crono had helped during his journey. Crono's mother accidentally enters the time gate at the Millennial Fair before it closes, prompting Crono, Marle, and Lucca to set out in the Epoch to find her while fireworks light up the night sky.<ref name="crono'smom">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger |developer=Square Co |publisher=Square Soft |date=August 22, 1995 |platform=Super NES |level=Leene Square |quote='''Mom:''' Look, Crono! Your cat's running away because you haven't been feeding it! Hey, come back here! / '''Marle:''' Oh, great! Crono, that Gate will never open again! / '''Lucca:''' Well it looks like we have no choice but to go after them! / '''Marle:''' Go after them?! But the Gate's... Lucca, don't turn off your brain, yet! / '''Lucca:''' I forgot! We have a Time Machine!}}</ref> If Crono was not resurrected, Frog, Robo, and Ayla (along with Magus if he was recruited) chase Gaspar to the Millennial Fair and back again, revealing that Gaspar knows how to resurrect Crono; Marle and Lucca then use the Epoch to travel through time to accomplish this. Alternatively, if the party used the Epoch to break Lavos's outer shell, Marle will help her father hang Nadia's bell at the festival and accidentally get carried away by several balloons. If resurrected, Crono jumps on to help her, but cannot bring them down to earth. Hanging on in each other's arms, the pair travel through the cloudy, moonlit sky.

''Chrono Trigger DS'' added two new scenarios to the game.<ref name="dsultimania" /> In the first, Crono and his friends can help a "lost sanctum" of Reptites, who reward powerful items and armor. The second scenario adds ties to ''Trigger''{{'s}} sequel, ''Chrono Cross''.<ref name="dsultimania" /> In a [[New Game Plus]], the group can explore several temporal distortions to combat shadow versions of Crono, Marle, and Lucca, and to fight Dalton, who promises in defeat to raise an army in the town of Porre to destroy the Kingdom of Guardia.<ref name="daltonpromise">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger DS |developer=Square Enix |publisher=Square Enix |date=November 25, 2008 |platform=Nintendo DS |level=Twilight Grotto |quote='''Dalton''': If it weren't for you, I'd have been the ruler of an age all my own! You robbed me of everything I'd worked so hard for! My wealth, my home, my loyal underlings... You took it all away! It's unforgivable! So come on! Have a taste of the suffering I've endured because of you! / '''Dalton''': Hmph. I think that's enough for today. But don't you dare think this is settled! Just you wait! I'll raise the greatest army the world has ever seen in Porre, and use it to wipe your pitiful little kingdom off the map!}}</ref> The group can then fight the Dream Devourer, a prototypical form of the ''Time Devourer''—a fusion of Schala and Lavos seen in ''Chrono Cross''. A version of Magus pleads with Schala to resist; though she recognizes him as her brother, she refuses to be helped and sends him away. Schala subsequently erases his memories and Magus awakens in a forest, determined to find what he had lost.<ref name="magusdsending">{{cite video game |title=Chrono Trigger DS |developer=Square Enix |publisher=Square Enix |date=November 25, 2008 |platform=Nintendo DS |level=Twilight Grotto |quote='''Magus''': Hmph. If this is to be the way of things, then let me abandon all that was and fade away as well. Should a part of me somehow even then remain, then perhaps that will be the birth of something new—something with greater meaning than all this. / '''Magus''': Who...who am I? What's happened? I...I don't remember anything. There was something...something I needed to do. Something I needed to...to find. / '''Magus''': I must find a way to remember. I will.}}</ref>