No, not those three!

Da Pro: In our previous collaboration blog, Lozchic wrote a very good summary of the game Chrono Trigger until the party arrives at the period of time known as Antiquity. I see no use in repeating what she wrote (besides, rewriting the whole thing would mean work, onoes!), and there’s not much of interest to add to it, except what happens when the party eventually shows up in 600AD, 400 years before the Millennial Fair where Chrono started his journey. In the course of the game, this happens much before they reach Antiquity and meet Dalton.

When they arrive in 600AD, the party realizes there’s a war going on between monsters and humans. The monsters are being led by a mysterious mage called Magus – and this blog will focus on three of his generals, who are far from your average strategist.

Lozchic: Just as Da Pro said, there are three very interesting generals in Magus' army. And each one has their own unique charm or form of incompetence. (Save for maybe one, but it's debatable.) Today we're here to talk about Ozzie, Flea, and Slash.

Ozzie is the very first general that appears as well as the leader of the three. Chrono and his friends first meet Ozzie at the battle of Zenon Bridge, a crucial battle between the humans and monsters during 600 AD. Chrono decided to aid the humans in the war and fight along side them when it was getting bad. It was at this time that Ozzie appeared and lead a hoard of skeletons to fight Chrono. But one by one, they were taken care of. By the time Chrono gets to the other side of the bridge, Ozzie combines all the skeletons into one giant boss to fight them. But once again, the heroes fell the monster. It was with this that Ozzie escapes, saying his infamous catchphrase "Ozzie is in a pickle."

But this isn't the very last time the heroes meet Ozzie. Oh no. They meet him again in Magus' castle to help end the war. It is during that time we're introduced to Ozzie's henchmen, Slash and Flea.

Da Pro: First, there is Slash.

Slash the swordsman is arguably the normal member of the trio - which isn't saying much. He is fiercely loyal to Magus, and while he still talks in a somewhat informal way (especially after being called 'Sir Slush' by a member of the party), to say the least, he does appear to have a strong sense of honor, or something of the kind, and is by far much less of a wacko than his two companions.

Slash wields a sword called the Slasher. Talk about redundant. Slash uses the Slasher for all his slashing needs.

Lozchic: Slash is the only sophisticated and honorable member of this bizarre group. Which is funny when you compare him to his fellow team mates, like Flea.

Flea is probably the most bizarre member of the three. Yes, you heard it right folks. Between the green troll whose catch phrase is "Ozzie is in a pickle" and the honorable swordsman, Flea stands out like a sore thumb. And the reason is within Flea's introduction into the game.

When Chrono and his companions are in Magus' castle, they are constantly followed by a bat. When they approach the room where they believe the enemy in front of them is Flea, they fight and quickly dispatch of them. It isn't until after the battle, they discover the tiny black bat that had been following them throughout the castle was Flea in disguise watching over the group. And Flea reveals themself as a very, cute female magician.

But, (and this is a big but) Chrono's companion, Frog says that Flea's appearance is also an illusion. To which Flea replies and I quote "Male, female whats the difference?"

Yeah, that's right ladies and gentlemen. Flea is a transvestite villain. I'll let that sit in your minds for a bit.

......
Everyone good to go? Okay.

The interesting thing about Flea is that he's the toughest of the trio. Flea uses a spell called "Charm" in battle that randomly confuses one of your party members and forces them to strike at you. Add that to the several status ailment spells that Flea knows, and it's a very difficult battle to get through. Oh and did I mention that Flea casts these spells by wonton winking, blowing kisses, and chuckling? Because she does.

Da Pro: So after beating a swordsman and a transvestite, the party gets to Ozzie himself. So how do they beat him? Well, after a few rooms filled with pretty obvious traps, you get to his throne room. And what does Ozzie do?

Freeze himself.

...yeah. I'm not even making a joke about that. Not even an Austin Powers reference. Even though it's tempting. Or a "I WAS FROZEN TODAY!" joke... oh dammit.

So he freezes himself.

Defeat me *now*!

...

And how do you defeat this nigh-invincible Ozzie? Hit a few mechanisms, making him fall into a trapdoor. Is it the last time we hear of Ozzie? No. Of course not.

Lozchic: Oh no, it's definitely not the last time you see him. Later in the game, you meet up with Ozzie and his crew again via a side quest. Where you explore Ozzie's castle....which is a complete rip-off of Magus' castle. Yeah, congratulations for being oh so original Ozzie. [/sarcasm]

But regardless, Chrono and his crew must traverse through the rip-off, I mean Ozzie's castle to face off against him and his minions again. You fight a more revamped version of Slash and Flea in the beginning. However, when you face off against Ozzie you fight all three at once. And their pretty tough. *gasp* I know, right?

What makes this battle hard is that if you attack any of the members of this rag-tag group of stupid, they automatically counter-attack a member of your party. And the counter-attack takes off a nice chunk of health. Add that to some of the revamped moves that Slash and Flea now know and this can be a very time consuming battle. But after you defeat them one final time, that's the end of them.

Da Pro: To be noted that after defeating the team, Ozzie flees. He then freezes himself YET AGAIN, and after you employ your button-pressing strategy, you are the one to fall in a trapdoor.

'Cause it worked so well the first time...

Make your way back to him... and he's still frozen. A cat shows up out of nowhere. A cute, little kitten. He strolls over to Ozzie (while both the party and the villain look at the animal in silence, I assume dumbfounded... and then the cat presses a button, defeating Ozzie.

Defeated by a kitty cat. Shame on you, Ozzie. Also, as a reward for defeating this evil team, you are awarded Slash's sword, Ozzie's pants, and Flea's bra (renamed 'vest' upon translation).

Lozchic: An interesting thing to note, is that Ozzie has a descendant in Chrono's time that is a leader of a village filled with monsters. However, throughout the game his status and fates changes from leader to servant after you dethrone Ozzie in the sidequest.

Da Pro: And here we go, folks! Ozzie, Slash, and Flea: the three charming yet completely bizarre generals of the game Chrono Trigger. I hope you enjoyed reading it, because, at least for me, it was a ton of fun to write!

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