The game begins as Crono, Marle, and Lucca attend a political meeting between the Kingdom of Guardia and Porre. An assassin attacks; the party pursues him to the Denadoro Mts., where Lucca's prototype Time Egg backfires and sends them to the future. They find Belthasar there, who has established a research facility called Chronopolis. He warns of a new threat to the timeline, and sends the party to the Ocean Palace ruins of 11,995 B.C. to investigate. They find Magus, still searching for Schala and feuding with Dalton. They confront a mysterious villain who resurrects Schala and robs the early Masamune, still embedded in the husk of the Mammon Machine. Its theft changes history, causing the Mystics' war in the Middle Ages to drag on another 50 years, led by the illusionist Kasmir. The party retrieve Frog (named Glenn in Crimson Echoes) from 605 A.D. and meet with Belthasar.[2]