Hello again, people. This section is used to answer any and all questions that may come up about all the confusing crap included in this story. (Except for those that would spoil the plot.) This section will probably be updated fairly regularly, (sorry to put you out, Icy) so check back whenever a new, confusing development comes up. I'm starting out with an explanation of one of the first confusing abilities, Soultech.
So just what it this innate "Soultech" power that Tempo wields? Well Soultech, and its middle age counterpart, the Soul Knights, is based on a fairly simple principle. In Final Fantasy VII, Mako reactors use the spirit energy of the planet to power cities, and to artificially produce magic casting materia. Now, it is quite clear that Weapons don't like people using the spirit energy actually flowing throughout the planet. But using the spirit energy contained within themselves is another story. Soul Knights and Soultech soldiers basically use their own inner spirit energy to utilize some seriously powerful spells and techs. As a result of this, how long someone serves in Soultech is not determined beforehand. It is simply determined by how much power they use. Obviously, if someone uses up too much of their own spirit energy, they're not going to live very long. There is also a set limit on how many people can be in Soultech at a time. Even if they're not taking spirit energy directly from the planet, they're using it up nonetheless. Too many people in Soultech could result in a Weapon being sent to slaughter them, sending their spirit energy back to the lifestream before they could use it. You can all see how that would not be a good thing.
Now Chapter 2 brings up another confusing thing at the end. Who are Gren and Arthur? It should be fairly obvious to just about anyone who's ever set foot outside their house that the "Arthur" Vigo and Gren are referring to is the legendary King Arthur of England. Fans of anime will probably have guessed that Gren is Iria's older brother from "Iria: Zeiram, the Animation." Since it appears Zeiram has the ability to possess the bodies of other beings after it's supposedly dead, and turn them into an exact duplicate of the original Zeiram, it would make sense to assume that Zeiram would pop up again from time to time. And of course, who would have a better reason to kill Zeiram time and time again than the hero who was forced to become Zeiram? As far as the business about Draconus and the Sraphites go, you'll have to wait a while for the specifics on the Sraphites. Mention of Draconus is just my way of trying to link my fanfics with my original stories (actually, the Sraphites are too). The gist of it is that the Sraphites tried to invade Draconus, the dragon home planet, over 30 billion years before humans evolved. That's why the heroes don't have a clear record of the conflict. The dragons didn't exactly surrender peacefully, and the war ended with Draconus being destroyed. The remaining Sraphite forces were scattered across the galaxy. And you better believe that a lot of dragons survived as well. However, don't look for that event to play a very large part in Tempo Trigger. This story is about Schala and the Lavoid, pure and simple. Well okay, maybe not simple, but pure anyway.
Chapter 21: I can hear you all now, "Why haven't you updated this long since? There have been a ton of confusing things since Chapter 2!" The answer is simply that almost all of those confusing things would spoil the plot, were they to be explained. There is one item in this chapter that won't though. The question before us is, why can more than three people travel through time without ending up back at the end of time? That little item was very well defined in Chrono Trigger. However, that seeming plot device was simply a way for Square to explain the three person per party limit. There was no other reason for the three person limit on time travel to exist. Hence, I have chosen to ignore it. Even if you don't buy that, I'll just say: Different planet + different time stream = different rules concerning time travel.
Chapter 39: "What the-? Kodos System? Planet Heptlavica? Earth Queen? Tejran? 70 million year interim? Elder Lavoids? Naindal Fiora? The Invid Regent, Dark Lords of the Sith, and Nameks? Evolution stasis? Parallel evolution? Something beyond human comprehension? Aiiiiieeeeee!!! Why are you doing this to me?!" Heh, heh. In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, "Ain't I a stinker?" I think I've set a new record for confusion inducers per capita. Well, intentional ones, anyway. I can never compete with The Spy in the accidental category. Much as I would love to explain some of this now, I'm going to have to ask that you wait until the story is finished. Believe it or not, it will all make sense. Also, in this chapter and the next, the minor details are unimportant, and only the main points are necessary to the story. As such, I've sort of used these two chapters to get the crossover urge out of my system. Hopefully, most of the story will be fairly sane if something like this happens once in a while.
Chapter 40: "Okay... That was hideously long and disturbing, and it confused the crap out of me. What's going on?" I think it's time I explain the "Nanaki Universe Concept." This theory, invented by the noted German physicist, Nanaki Shtakenblachen, claims that every piece of fiction, set in past, present, or future, actually exists, except those that contradict each other. Star Wars? Yep, it happened. A long, long time ago. The Matrix? It will happen. Gundam? Depends on which one. Dragon Ball Z? That's pretty complicated. But since the DBZ movies are set in alternate dimensions, maybe they can be applied to the theory. Shtakenblachen will have to view more to be sure.
Chapter 40A: "What are you doing with the Queens? I must say, introducing the main villains of your entire story arc by having someone pound them into the ground is rather odd." You'd think so, but I'll ask you to consider Cell for a moment. At every stage, someone was around who was more powerful than he. Piccolo knocked the crap out of Imperfect Cell. Android 16 pounded a powered up Cell into the ground. Cell Stage Two was powerless before Vegeta. Finally, Trunks managed to increase his power even above Perfect Cell. Every time, it was Cell's superior tactics that allowed him to come out on top, not his power. It wasn't until Gohan became overwhelmingly stronger and faster that the balance changed. Boomerang played a similar role to the Queens. Unfortunately, the Queens also had some highly superior tactics. Also, none of the rest of my characters are anywhere near a Queen's skill and power, never mind Boomerang's. This chapter served to illustrate just how strong someone has to become to have any sort of chance against them.
Chapter 50: DO NOT read this one unless you really have read up to Chapter 50 already, I'm warning you. And for those of you with wandering eyes, here's a page of blank space.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Okay, now for the question. "Is Levasos really Greven?" It depends on what you mean by "really" (Props to President Clinton for that one). Is Transmetal 2 Dinobot really Dinobot? And was Levasos just lying, even if he does have Greven's memories? If he isn't lying, what does that make Tempo? Is he who Schala thinks after all? I hate to answer a question with a bunch more questions, but that's what you're getting, for now...
Now for a non Chapter-specific question: "What the hell is taking you so long? I actually thought you'd abandoned the story until the new Chapters went up last May."
A: I can't give you a specific answer, aside from: life. I was able to write Mount Woe in nine months because I was a Junior in high school with naught but free time on my hands. Likewise, the first 21 Chapters of Tempo Trigger were written when I was a Senior in high school, and had time to burn up the yin yang, since homework was apparently unfashionable with Senior teachers. But then, I went off to college, and things got weird. I went from an Animal House dorm where nightly binge drinking was the rule, to staying with my grandmother, to staying with two friends and the stupidest human being ever to exist (Probably the stupidest hominid to ever exist. I would bet money on a Homo Erectus beating her in a battle of wits.) in a cramped apartment, to Yellowstone National Park. In every instance, more pressing matters than writing came to the fore. Drug addict neighbors, joblessness, losing twenty pounds because I preferred starving over eating yet another damned package of ramen noodles, dealing with the stupidest human being to ever exist, and woman troubles, among other things, all took their toll on the writing output. Since MSTs and web page rants don't take a lot of creative thought (Sorry to break it to some of you who've had MSTs rejected by the committee, but they really don't. Just remember that this is at least partially the same committee that let The Spy get onto the page.), I was able to keep churning those out through the dry spell, but that's about it.
But through all that, I discovered something wonderful. Writing fanfic is not my way of escaping from reality. Neither are RPGs, judging by how Chrono Cross is the only one I've beaten since Xenogears. When I'm feeling crappy, I prefer blowing things up in Mega Man X4 and a Seinfeld rerun to anything that would involve actually expressing feelings. So this means that whenever I finally get my life heading in the right direction, you'll be seeing a lot of fanfic coming from my direction. Until then, please try to bear with me, for the best is yet to come. Oh, and thanks for reading.
-Nanaki
.
"You've got it on your hands. You don't have enough of it. You've got it on your side. You're pressed for it. You spend it. You waste it. It's in. It's out. It's now. It's past. It's running out. It's drawing near. Tempo Trigger. It's about time."
Now, "Prepare to eliminate distractions. Like sleep, for example." Enjoy.
.