The trio faced three enemies: small Mystics riding other entities. Though they seemed weak, these beings had magical powers that they used as soon as they came into contact with humans.
These beings generated and threw pebbles at the young people, but the boys reacted differently. Cronus used his sword to deflect a projectile heading in his direction. Though his sword was made of wood, it was hard enough to withstand the blow.
Then, he approached his enemy at high speed with his sword raised. When he was close enough, he made a downward cut, generating a sharp air current that split the small green creature and its mount in two.
Lucca simply stepped aside, then aimed her laser pistol at one of the enemies. When she pulled the trigger, a red flash shot through the air and hit the forehead of the mystic who had attacked her first. The animal he was riding met the same fate with another shot.
Marle reacted similarly, but her movement was broader. She jumped to the side, aimed her crossbow, and fired a bolt at the creature that had attacked her. The bolt hit the creature in the chest, knocking it off its mount.
Since her crossbow was special, a new bolt was ready to fire. She wasted no time, shooting the creature that had served as her former enemy's mount as it attempted to flee.
The remaining enemy attacked Bulma, who let herself be hit. She watched as the rock fell to the ground and dissolved into pure magical power. She did not respond to the aggression, simply focusing her gaze on the creature. Seeing that his magic was useless and his companions were dying, the creature tried to escape.
But Lucca did not let him get away. With a small bag of objects hanging from her, she took out a small sphere, shook it vigorously, and threw it at the mystic trying to escape.
The object arced through the air. Seeing this, Crono recoiled, knowing the power of that small thing. Marle, who was watching him, followed his lead. Lucca stood and watched the result of her throw.
The sphere fell in front of the fleeing mystic and exploded. A ball of fire engulfed the creature, burning its body. Its screams of pain were horrible, but luckily, they ended fairly quickly.
The fire went out quickly, as part of Lucca's design. Only a patch of completely black ground remained, with the surrounding plants consumed by the flames and left as charred remains of what was once an enemy.
"It's not okay to use fire in a forest, you know?" said Bulma, clicking her tongue as she saw the sad result of the creature's death.
"I know. That's why I used one of my grenades instead of the flamethrower I have stored away," said the young woman, patting the bulge on her person without any sense of caution. This caused Bulma to twitch her eye slightly.
'This girl is a menace,' the blue-haired girl concluded, thinking that maybe she should give Lucca some special equipment since she didn't want her to blow up because of a simple mistake.
"Aren't we supposed to be at peace with those guys? Why are they attacking us like this?" Crono felt little remorse for the creatures' deaths because, ultimately, they weren't human. They didn't even belong to Earth. However, history indicates that they are from another world.
They could be considered invaders, and there is still strong animosity between them and humans, even though 400 years have passed since the war. Currently, however, there was relative peace, so Crono didn't understand why they had decided to attack.
Bulma heard the redhead's question and smiled, knowing Crono was confused because they were in 600 AD, the 'Middle Ages' of this timeline, not 1,000 AD.
As she was about to respond, Bulma looked into the distance, specifically at a small path between the trees where a mysterious figure had just appeared.
Though short in stature, Bulma sensed that this being possessed considerable energy. The curious thing was that, although it was clad in armor, a cape, and had a shield on its arm and a sword slung across its back, it was crouching on the ground with its hands touching the earth in a frog-like posture.
"Please step away from Queen Leene," the newcomer said in a deep voice, attracting the others' attention.
They realized that this being was a large frog with physical features that made it resemble a person. Lucca's eyes sparkled with interest. She thought that this might be a mystic, but she had never heard of one like this before.
"Queen Leene? I think you're mistaken. There is no queen here," Crono replied. He didn't notice the strange expression on Marle's face when she heard that name. However, there were two people attentive enough to notice this:
Bulma was one of them. She felt that the drama was getting more and more interesting. Meanwhile, the humanoid frog narrowed his eyes when he saw the change in expression on the blonde woman's face. He had identified her as the person he was supposed to save.
"Young swordsman, do you think this is a game? Queen Leene is right beside you!" The frog pointed at Marle, causing Crono to turn around and look at the girl he had just met. He didn't know what to think.
"I..." Marle stammered, unable to answer properly. Lucca, who had a wealth of knowledge, spoke up.
"This... frog man? Is it offensive to call you that? Never mind. This young lady's name is Marle. Queen Leene was a former monarch of the Kingdom of Guardia from 400 years ago. Bulma!" Lucca turned around and looked at the mischievous smile on the blue-haired girl's face.
"Did we travel through time? Is this what you meant by an adventure?"
The purple-haired young woman asked, causing Bulma to nod and raise her index finger, attracting everyone's attention.
"We have traveled to the past, exactly 400 years ago. We are in 600 A.D., and... Queen Leene has recently been kidnapped. Coincidentally, Marle bears a striking resemblance to her, which has confused our amphibious friend," Bulma explained, deciding not to withhold this basic information. After all, she wanted to prevent Marle from spending time in the void of non-existence.
"I don't understand what you're talking about, but my task is to find Queen Leene. The girl next to you is her spitting image. If you don't explain in simple terms, what's going on here..." The humanoid frog drew his sword and held his shield in front of him.
At that moment, Crono felt a strange sensation as if he could finally understand the words in the manual left by his father. Those strange words about finding the light within!
The temperament of this amphibious man had completely changed as he held his sword high! Small drops of water floated around the frog and converged on his sword as he adopted a combat stance.
"I, Frog, will show you the power of a Guard Knight!" the creature shouted, causing Crono, Lucca, and Marle to take a step back due to the fierce aura emanating from his small body. Meanwhile, Bulma felt only a strong interest in the power enveloping him.
"It seems that Glenn has discovered some of his innate magical abilities. Even without the medallion and legendary sword, he deserves to be called the strongest knight," Bulma thought, using her magical knowledge to detect the complicated, intricate curse placed on Glenn's body. He now calls himself Frog.
Although Bulma had only learned one spell, she still knew magic. She studied Chi-Chi's grimoire, learning not specific spells but rather the applications of magical power.
After all, ki, psychic power, and magic were closely related. Bulma possessed all three and had studied them thoroughly. Although her development was in Ki, she was not inexperienced with magical or psychic phenomena.
Because of this, she partially understood the curse that had transformed Glenn into a frog. Although she could be said to know about this situation from her past life, Bulma never trusted that kind of information. She preferred to confirm things herself.
'Too bad I'm not a princess, but... we have one here.' Bulma looked at Frog and Marle with interest. She knew the blonde could solve the curse with a kiss. It didn't have to be on the lips; the head or cheek would suffice.
'But the conditions...' Her assessment of the curse allowed her to understand what was needed to break it. It wasn't just a princess's kiss. If that were the case, Leene could have solved it earlier. However, knowing the requirements, Leene could have resolved the situation.
No, Frog and the princess in question had to meet, become friends, and build a bridge of trust to break the spell that had turned him into a frog.
That would be difficult to achieve! Especially since Queen Leene was a queen, not a princess, having lost her identity. Curses tend to be quite literal about their requirements.
There was no princess, either, because the queen had recently ascended to her position. When she wasn't married? The frog resisted returning to his human form and took his current stance as a form of punishment. In essence, Glenn's current state was more his fault than anything else.
"We are not from your time, Mr. Frog. We are from the future. Marle, no, Princess Nadia, is a descendant of Queen Leene. Since she is still missing, you must keep searching. Perhaps in another castle?" Lucca said, causing Frog to look at her for a moment as he thought about her words.
Then, the knight turned his attention back to Marle and noticed certain physical differences that only someone who spent a lot of time with the queen would notice.
"My haste to find Queen Leene has led me to a misunderstanding. My apologies..." replied Frog reluctantly. The drops of water around his body evaporated. With a gesture, he threw the sword into the air.
The weapon spun several times as it rose. Then, the knight tilted slightly, exposing the sheath on his back as the sword began to descend. He sheathed the sword as it fell, storing it away.
"Don't worry. Your actions and words show that you care about the queen. Can we help you?" asked Crono, who was interested in interacting more with Frog and hoping to learn more about the art of swordplay from him.
"Since they revealed my identity, there's no point in hiding it. I want to help, too! Besides, meeting my ancestor should be interesting," Marle added. She felt better seeing that Crono wasn't upset that she had hidden her identity from him.
"Saving a queen from the past is something I would normally dismiss as fiction, but now I'm about to experience it. How could I pass it up?" Lucca put the goggles on her head and twirled her laser gun between her fingers.
"You are all very young, although that girl over there is particularly strong. Letting children go on a dangerous mission goes against my principles," Frog commented, pointing to Bulma. His experience and instincts told him that the blue-haired girl was dangerous.
"Oh, you noticed? But I'll mostly be an observer, only helping when you can't do it anymore or when you encounter a powerful enemy, so you can take them with you," said Bulma. She wanted to face certain people she had singled out.
At that moment, one of those people was in this era: the most powerful being of the Middle Ages, the leader of the Mystics, and the figure considered the Demon King by humans, Magus.
'You must be very strong, right? Wait a minute... Am I becoming a lot like Goku?' Bulma's thoughts were derailed. In the distance, in his gloomy castle, Magus felt a chill down his spine as he prepared arduously for an important ritual.
"If Bulma is with us, we can give it our all, don't you think? We can help you! We're not just young people anymore," said Lucca, glancing at Marle.
She expected a certain performance from Crono, whom she had seen training since childhood, even cutting large rocks with a wooden sword. Meanwhile, she had many useful devices and weapons.
She had thought Marle was a fragile girl until she pulled out her crossbow and eliminated two mystics. Then, she considered Marle a skilled person. She never expected Marle to be the blessed Princess Nadia! What kind of princess uses a false name and hangs out with people she barely knows? The princess of her kingdom.
"Okay, but you have to follow my instructions, okay? Let's go to the abandoned church. It's one of my investigation sites," said Frog before turning around and starting to hop away.
"He looks fun," Marle muttered. Frog, who had overheard her, stopped and stared at her with his big frog eyes.
At that moment, Marle learned a vital lesson: Don't mutter your thoughts.
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AN: TheAnPlayer2 gave me a tip: Promote my original stories every 5 chapters. So, read my original novels: Steam and Heart, and Witch's Adventure. You may or may not like them, but give them a chance. c:
100 chapters!!!! WOOO!!!!