Ayla: Should be someone in
village saw. First ask story!
Cro, we go... *urrp*!

Ayla's hit points and stamina are nearly as high as Robo's, but her magic defense is nearly as low, and her magic power is the worst of any character. Up until level 30, her power is higher than Robo's and her magic points are lower, but at higher levels she ends up with a few more magic points and a bit less power. She also has a substantially higher hit rate than any other character so far, and the highest evasion of any, period, by a large margin. Between her high strength and a special formula for attack power that effectively lets her level substitute for weapon power, she often hits harder than Crono despite fighting bare-handed. She starts with no skills, but learns some basic ones quickly, and, like Robo, doesn't stop after two. Though she has no elemental symbol on her status screen, she does have an innate 20% resistance to Fire damage.

In any case, one of the villagers has a lead.

Before going there, though, exploring the village reveals a trading post with new equipment, but they only accept special trading items: Flower Petals, Fangs, Horns, and Feathers. Most monsters in this era drop trading items, but there's no better place to hunt than the forest to the north...

Oddly, the trading hut has weapons that shouldn't exist yet, including crossbows, robot arms, and even guns! You could argue that Lucca just adapts raw materials, but still...

"Rhythm of Wind, Sky, and Earth" keeps playing here. There are some weak frogs and piles of goop wandering around that drop more trading items than normal monsters. To make things more interesting, it rains every so often. While it's raining, the frogs and goops hide in the underbrush, but a strange blue creature often comes out in one of several places. It looks like a large ball with short legs, long arms, an oversized face, and a green mohawk. The party can fight it, and the battle screen calls it a ヌゥ (Nu). It can knock a character down to exactly one hit point in a single attack, but isn't really that hard to beat. It not only gives a whopping 30 tech points, but also hands over...

As an added bonus, the first time the party beats one...

The goops are called Rainy (Anion, Ion), and the frogs are called Primeval Frog (Amphibite, Croaker, Rain Frog). Each subtype drops different items, but they're otherwise identical, and all have normal defenses. The Nu is the same creature that appears in the Frog Monster's Woods in A.D. 600.

After trading for supplies and building up skills, Crono and the others resume the search for the missing Gate Holder.

This is a fairly popular name for forest areas in fiction, and while the phrase is sometimes translated as "Lost Woods", I've never liked that since it makes it sound like the forest itself is lost. A more literal translation would be "woods where you get lost", or possibly "woods of the lost".

"Rhythm of Wind, Sky, and Earth" keeps playing here. The forest is deep, shadowy, and perhaps somewhat confusing. Kino, the man who seemed despressed at the party, is standing near the entrance, looking deeper into the woods. Ayla confronts him.

Upon confronting Kino, the internal storyline progression tracking variable becomes 0x7B.

He turns around, but just stares at the ground. Ayla starts getting mad.

He finally looks at her, hesitantly.

Kino: S-sorry, Ayla...
Kino stole Cros' thing...

Kino: Kino like Ayla best!
Ayla say she like Cro.
Kino not like that...

Ayla hits him. Hard.

Marle: Marle: H-hold on, Ayla,
don't go so far...

Sparta was a Greek city-state known for its militarism, mostly as opposed to Athens, known for things like art and philosphy.

Robo: Ayla, brutality is NOT
to be permitted.

Ayla: That wrong!
Ayla like Kino best.
That why not allow bad things!
That wrong!!

Kino: Ayla...
Sorry, Ayla!
Sorry, Cro!

Ayla: Now, give back important
thing to Cros!

Kino: ...not have.
Taken by Dinomen...

Ayla: Dinomen!!
Which way went!?

Ayla: Aylas go.
Kino go back village.
Kino protect village when
Ayla not there!

Kino leaves. Ayla gazes after him.

Ayla: Kino man...
If Ayla die, have baby,
whatever, Kino chief.

Robo: Miss Ayla, for saying such a
thing as brutality... I am SORRY.

Ayla: Now, we chase Dinomen!
Take back Cros' important thing!

The forest branches in places, but there are footprints to follow, and the monsters are nothing special, so they soon reach the other side.

Monsters include the Marmo and Tatta seens earlier, plus the Hwoot-Hwoot (Gold Eaglet) and Baobao (Winged Ape). Like most mammals in this era, the Baobao has high magic defense. As an extra oddity, a Hwoot-Hwoot may transform into a Bwoot-Bwoot (Red Eaglet) when attacked. While the Hwoot-Hwoot has normal defenses, the Bwoot-Bwoot has elevated physical defense and takes -0% damage from Fire, meaning Fire has no effect but shows as 0 healing.

"Primeval Mountain" plays in here. It's a stange network of underground caves.

Monsters include the Dinoman and Baobao already seen, plus the Ancient Beetle (Evilweevil), Rafflesia (Fly Trap), Dodecadadda (Megasaur), and Monkey Colab (Shitake). The Ancient Beetle and Dodecadadda have the high physical defense and low magic defense typical of cold-blooded animals in this era, and the Dodecadadda can additionally be stunned by most Aether attacks. Rafflesia have low physical defense, and damaged Ancient Beetles may drain life from them. The Monkey Colab has no magic defense and cannot attack on its own, but a Baobao may throw one as a weapon when both appear in the same battle.

If not engaged in combat, Ancient Beetles may drill holes in the floor that lead to other sections of the cave system. After jumping down several holes and exploring around, Crono and the others hear a voice... 3-2 ティラン城 (Tyran Castle) starts playing.

The screen scrolls up to show a large Dinoman, who wears a pink cape and large blue shoulder-thingies, and is holding the Gate Holder.

Azarla: They've come, the monkeys...
Oh? You seem to be of a marginally
different quality than Ayla's ilk...
Hu hu, perfect timing.
What do you use this device for...?

Azarla: You lie.
Even I didn't expect that I could
get you to tell me so easily...
But how about this?

Azarla: You leave me little choice...
I'll make you want to talk!

出でよ (ideyo), the imperative form of the archaic verb 出づ (idzu), means "come here" or "come out", and shows up often enough in summoning spells.

A large, bipedal, and very muscular triceratops stomps out and attacks...

In addition to unusually high defense even for a dinosaur, Nizbel also has extremely high magic defense. However, lightning (Aether) attacks will stun him and also drop his defenses to normal levels. While stunned, Nizbel does nothing, but will eventually release an electric burst, recovering his high defense and damaging the entire party. Ayla can steal a Third Eye if she already has the necessary technique.

Azarla: I... I can't believe Nizbel
lost to the monkeys...

Azarla: ...but remember.
This earth belongs to
we Dinomen...

Azarla drops the Gate Holder and backs away.

Azarla: We will not hand it over
to the likes of you monkeys!

Azarla leaves.

Marle: Is th-the Gate Holder safe?
Thank goodness.
It looks like it's okay.

Lucca: Th-the Gate Holder
had better not be broken!
Phew, it's okay.
Now we can return!

Robo: It IS all right.
NO notable faults ARE found.

Ayla: Come any time, Azarla!
Ayla no los...
*u*... *ugeh*...

Ayla suddenly drops to the ground. Looks like all that alcohol's finally caught up to her.

The rest of the party looks shocked and/or grossed out.

The internal storyline progression tracking variable is now 0x7C.

Ayla, Kino, Crono, the third party member from earlier, and one of the others (unsure how the member to replace Ayla is chosen) stand in Ayla's hut.

Ayla: Cro go...?
Ayla get bored.

Lucca: Thanks, Ayla.
We've learned a lot from you.

Marle: We owe you one for all
you've done... It's been fun.

Kino: Sorry, Cro.
Kino get stronger, more than Cro!

Ayla: Come again, Cro!
Have party. Drink. Eat.
Dance. Fight. Fun!

As they reach the doorway:

Ayla: Come again, Cro!
{char2}! {char3}!

Ayla: Come again, Crono!
{char2} and {char3} too!

The internal storyline progression tracking variable is now 0x7D.

They head back to the mountain where they arrived and jump into the Gate.

Clearing the game at this point leads to the alternate ending "Peoples who Live within Time".

Upon receiving the option to use the Gate, the internal storyline progression tracking variable becomes 0x7E, starting the next chapter.

The tension between Kino and Ayla has already been dealt with, so that doesn't affect anything. Azarla might grow more wary after this encounter, but has no idea what the Gate Holder is supposed to be, and with the Dinomen already at war with and trying to stamp out the primitive humans, that isn't likely to have much of a historical impact either.