"What? This's ending already?" Marle complained. She and Lucca were seated on sleeping bags in front of a big projector screen, a bowl of hot, buttered popcorn between them. They were having a sleepover at Guardia Castle, and Crono was somewhere around the castle, doing who knows what.

"That's what the word usually means!" Lucca cracked, taking a handful of popcorn.

"But things were just starting to get interesting!" Marle sighed as she finished applying her "beauty" mask. Lucca thought the stuff looked rather silly, but knew better than to say anything.

"Well, come on folks, let's do the 'ending' thing!" Lucca replied.

"ROLL THE CREDITS!" Marle agreed. "But first, let's remember all the fun things we did!"

"Okay!" Lucca exclaimed. "Let the ultimate slideshow begin!"

"First, let's see a close-up of Leene Square," Marle suggested. A clip of Leene Square appeared on the screen.

"There's the Steel Runner," Lucca pointed out.

"I've never understood why anyone would want to run for three hours a stretch," Marle said, wrinkling her nose.

"Forget that!" Lucca exclaimed. "Can you imagine what the inside of that armor must smell like?"

"What a lovely thought, Lucca," Marle replied dryly. "Let's get on with the show, OKAY?!"

Lucca hid a smirk. "Next, let's visit Guardia Castle, your home." A shot of Guardia Castle appeared on the screen.

"Goodness! VERY nice scenery!" Marle commented as a soldier walked across the screen.

"But of course, my dear!" Lucca agreed.

"I guess you never took a shot at him, right? Say, didn't he wink at you?" Marle teased. "RELAX, Marle!" Lucca retorted.

"Hey, it's Pierre!" Marle exclaimed, as Crono's trial lawyer appeared onscreen.

"Wouldn't want anything to do with someone like HIM," Lucca replied, shaking her head. "Too shifty. He should be put on trial!"

"Come on, Lucca," Marle said encouragingly. "Live it up a little! Let your hair down! Get crazy!!!

"Yeah, thanks, PRINCESS, I'll take that under advisement!!" Lucca retorted sharply, rolling her eyes.

The next set of slides started, showing scenes from 2300.

"There's the seed. Hope it grows...." Marle murmured as a random person from the domes strolled across the screen.

"Theeeeere's Johnny.... Mr. Speed himself!" Lucca announced with a snicker as the biker raced his way onto the screen.

"Someone ought to tell him to make a permanent pit stop," Marle commented. "Look at that hair!"

"Hey, check it out! He's really a tricycle! Pass him!" Lucca snickered.

"Try again when you learn to RIDE," Marle replied.

Onto the year 600 went the show.

"There's that stuffed-shirt, Cyrus!" Lucca pointed at the image of the knight.

"He IS pretty handsome, though....." Marle pointed out.

"But WHERE did he buy his clothes?" Lucca wondered.

"Hey, did you hear?" Marle asked with a giggle. "He plucks his eyebrows!"

Lucca gaped at her. "You've GOT to be joking! But.... he's still a hunk!"

"Hi, Toma!" Marle called out as the "legendary explorer" appeared. "Now HE'S definitely my type!"

"Aw, he's just a flake," Lucca dismissed him.

"Probably has a dozen girlfriends," Marle concurred.

"Actually, I see him as more of an intellectual!" Both girls giggled at that.

"What about him?" Marle inquired as the show moved on to prehistoric times. "That Kino guy?"

"Total Neanderthal!" Lucca scoffed. "Throw him a bone!"

"But he's honest," Marle pointed out. "That's kind of attractive."

"He walks like a DUCK!!" Lucca exclaimed with a snicker.

"Well, he'll never hurt anyone," Marle defended him.

"He's really very gentle, isn't he?" Lucca grudgingly admitted.

Just then, the door slammed open. "What ARE you two doing?!" Crono exclaimed. "I thought you said something about a nice little slideshow?"

"Crono!!!" Lucca cried out, startled by the intrusion.

"So, we got a little carried away!" Marle replied with a little giggle.

"Where do you want to go next?!" Lucca asked.

"Some place fun!" Marle responded.

"How about the 'now'?!" Crono suggested.

"Now, as in the present?" Lucca asked.

"Okay! Back to the present!" Marle agreed.

"So I guess we don't need a Gate Key anymore, right? Hey! Wait a sec!!!" Lucca protested as Crono switched the projector off and "The End" came up on the screen.

"What was that all about?!" Lucca snapped. "I thought you meant the present as in going to the present in the slides?!"

"Present as in it's over," Crono grunted as he left the room. "G'night, girls."

Lucca and and Marle glared at the shut door for a few minutes. Then a sly smirk lit up Lucca's face, and she switched the projector back on.

"Now that Mr. Spiky Head Party Pooper is gone," Lucca announced, rubbing her hands together in glee, "the REAL fun can begin!"

Marle giggled. "He doesn't know what he's missing."

"And what he doesn't know can't hurt him," Lucca snickered. "ROLL EM!"

A shot of modern-day Truce appeared, then switched to a picture of Crono.

"Moving right along with our show," Lucca said in an announcer-like voice, "we come to a fine specimen of a man. That is, if you like the strong and silent type."

"Oh, do I....." Marle sighed dreamily, gazing at the shot of Crono. Lucca rolled her eyes.

"Princesses...... Anyway......." She tapped the button on the projector to move on to the next slide. This one was of the 600 A.D. era. A slide of Ozzie appeared onscreen next.

"Ah..... this next presentation is for girls who, uh....." Lucca was struggling with the words. "Like their..... men with..... a little more, uh, meat on their, er..... bones." She gulped, her face beginning to turn as green as Ozzie himself.

"Oh yuck....." Marle shuddered. "How'd THAT one get in there?"

"Believe me, it's better not to ask," Lucca replied, shivering with distaste. "Moving right along...... with considerable relief....."

Or not. A slide of Flea appeared onscreen. Marle let out a small shriek.

"Lucca, what is THAT?!" she exclaimed. "It's certainly not a guy!"

"Ah, but it claims to be," Lucca replied. "You see, this is the 'mystery meat' of tonight's show. What it is, nobody knows."

Marle raised an eyebrow. "'Mystery meat'? I don't even want to know how you came up with THAT analogy, Lucca."

"Again, it's better not to ask," Lucca responded with a snicker. "Rolling right along...... we come to....."

"Slash?" Marle inquired incredulously as a snapshot of the swordsman came up on the screen. "Why is this in there too?"

"Who knows? At least he's easier on the eyes than the last two.....somewhat."

"He looks like a blue Q-Tip!" Marle scoffed.

Lucca snickered. "Or a grape Popsicle."

"Either way, NOT somebody you'd want to do anything with."

"Definitely not."

"Let's move on, shall we?"

"Indeed." Lucca switched the picture, and groaned. "Figures. The other three were on here, of course the leader of the merry Mystic band would show up, too."

"Aw, come on, Lucca, he's not THAT bad," Marle attempted. "The blue hair is kinda nice, at least."

"I always dreamt of a guy that looked like a vampire," Lucca said dryly.

"He's not REALLY a vampire, Lucca," Marle interjected. "It wouldn't kill him to crack a smile once in a while, though. I'm sure he'd look a lot cuter if he smiled."

"True," Lucca admitted. "You have a point there. But anyway....." She switched the slide to the next one. A picture of Frog as a human before being enchanted appeared. Lucca's eyes widened.

"And here we have, er....a fine and.....stately knight. Er....he's, uh.....quite....."

"Yummy?" Marle suggested with a smirk on her face.

Lucca blushed. "Well, he IS what you'd call a dish......I wonder why Frog didn't mention it....."

Marle rolled her eyes. "Right, like he'd come out and say 'oh, by the way, Lucca, I was really good-looking before I became a frog, would you like to go on a date anyway?' Get REAL!!"

Lucca glared at her friend. "FINE, then. Let's just move on to the next slide, hmm?" Marle restrained a snicker.

A shot of Zeal Kingdom appeared. Then came a picture of Dalton. Both girls groaned at the sight of him.

"Finally, here's something we can agree on," Marle said with obvious distaste in her voice. "I mean, can this guy BE any more like a failed pirate wannabe? That eyepatch has GOT to go."

"It's not just the patch, it's the whole outfit," Lucca countered. "On its own, a patch can be cool-looking. But the overall look here just screams cheesy wannabe pirate. It doesn't work from ANY angle."

"Definitely not," Marle agreed with shudder. "Let's move on again."

To their surprise and dismay, the next screen was THE END once again.

"What?!" Lucca exclaimed. "That can't be IT! We couldn't have gone through all the slides!"

"There's nobody left to critique, though," Marle replied, obvious disappointment in her voice. "So that must be it."

"Darnit.....oh well." Lucca shrugged. "That's a wrap, then! Goodnight!"