Side Quest 1 -- 2300 AD, all time periods -- The Sun Stone
"...And there's a very special stone, that can shine its light on every generation, from the distant past to the far future..." Talk to Lucca at the End of Time to see the location of the Sun Palace. Now go to 2300 AD; the Sun Palace is SW of Keeper's Dome. Land and enter.
Now, equip the Red Mail, Red Vest, and either the Taban Suit (Lucca only) or Ruby Vest (or Ruby Armor, if you've already gone to 65 Million BC to get it). Head north until you see a shimmering dot. Search it, and the Son of Sun will appear.
The Son of Sun (Charm: Black Mail) has only 2400 HP or so, but is very difficult to damage. Attacking one of the five flames (Charm: Elixir) will damage the SoS for 214 HP or so, but attacking the wrong one results in a counter attack (fire damage to target). Attacking the correct flame is the only way to damage it. The SoS itself attacks with Flare (hopefully, you have fire protection) or a wide laser (high Shadow damage to all on line between attacker and target). Magic heals the SoS. Physical attacks are what must be used. Every now and then the SoS will rotate the flames around, forcing you to relocate the correct flame. Magus can destroy two of the flames with Black Hole, though he probably doesn't have it at this point. When you get the message "Son of Sun is losing its fire," stop fighting; you've won. The flames will go out. Follow the SoS north and search it to receive the Moon Stone.
Now head to 65 Million BC. There's some stuff for you here. Head to the Laruba Ruins and talk to the Nu there; he can change the lead character's name, and the first time you talk to him you'll receive the Silver Rock. Now head to the trading hut. There you can trade 10 Feathers, Horns, Petals, and Fangs for a suit of Ruby Armor. This is what Ayla was talking about at the End of Time. Now head east of the Dactyl Nest, and you'll see Sun Keep. Enter the Keep and place the Moon Stone in the sun beam.
Now go to 2300 AD. Enter Sun Keep, and you'll find that the Sun Stone is gone. Head to 600 AD, and enter the Keep. The Stone is there, and so is a Power Tab. Go to 1000 AD. You'll find the Stone is gone. Head to Porre Village, and you'll see sparkles rising off the Mayor's house. He'll deny having the Stone. Go to the Snail Stop and buy some Jerky. Go to the Elder's House in 600 AD. Give the Jerky to the woman. Now return to the Mayor's House in 1000 AD. The mayor will give you the Sun Stone. Note that you can do the giving away Jerky bit as early as part VII.
Now that you have recovered the Sun Stone, return to the Keep and put it in the sunlight. Now return to 2300 AD, and claim the fully charged Sun Stone (you need Lucca in your party to take it). You'll automatically head to Lucca's house. She'll use to the Sun Stone to make the Wonder Shot (her best weapon; damage range is from around 35 to around 750). Her dad will use it to make the Sun Shades (increases damage by one fourth). That completes this side quest.
Side Quest 2 -- 600 AD -- Reforesting a Desert
"In the Middle Ages, a woman's sheer determination brings a forest back to life..." You can do this sub-quest only if you told that woman to plant the seedling back in 12000 BC. Otherwise, the whirlpool in the sand won't ever appear. Head to Fiona's Villa. Talk to her and her husband Marco. Now go to the whirlpool, and enter. Be sure to bring Magus, Frog, and/or Marle; Water and Ice magic is absolutely vital in this area. Walk into the dark part of the swirling sands to enter the cavern proper.
The foes here are Mohavor (Charm: Shield; 400 HP; has a physical attack, a Blindness attack, and a Sand Cyclone attack (damages one character)) and Hexapod (Charm: Barrier; 1000 HP, physical attacks only). Water-based magic will drastically lower their defense.
You'll face several attacks in the cave. Water based magic will both damage and lower the defense of the sand creatures here. Use Ice 2, Water 2, Ice Water, Cube Toss, or something similar for best results. Use normal attacks to deal with magic attack survivors. Now, once you've got all the chests and healed up, go down the steps at the south end of the cave. You're now in another cave. When you go down into the sand, you'll see something weird come up out of it. The party will guess on what it is, and it'll submerge. It'll then pop up at another part of the cavern. Every time it pops up, your party loses HP. Now, you can get the chests, or you can deal with the thing. If you can catch up to it, the rest of it will arise from the sands.
The Retinite is in essence an updated Zombor. The top has about 5000 HP, the bottom has about 4000 HP. The new addition -- the little core in the middle (Charm: Speed Tab) -- has about 2000. Both halves can drain HP, though the bottom drains more. The bottom can do the earthquake thing, and Sand Cyclone. The top also attacks with fire bomb, Laser Spin, Sand Breath (Darkness), and with a weird group damaging Shadow attack. Take out the middle core first. Magic does no damage to the Retinite, but Water/Ice magic demolishes its physical defense. Attacking it raises the defense. I usually take out the bottom half first. Use just Water or Ice if you're concentrating on one half at a time. When you win, take whatever chests you haven't already claimed, and head out. Be sure to get the Power Tab.
Now put Robo in your party, and go talk to Fiona. Robo will volunteer to help her restore the forest. Let him. Now go to 1000 AD. The desert has been replaced by a forest, and there's a cathedral where Fiona's Villa was. Save your game and enter the cathedral. One of the nuns is selling Vigil Hats (protects status; best helmet you can buy). Head to the dais and search Robo. The lead character will drag him off of it, and Robo will re- activate. You'll now have a camp-out.
Once the discussion is done, everyone will fall asleep. Lucca will wake up. Go east, and you'll find a Gate. Go through. You're now in Lucca's house, 990 AD. Go down the steps, and enter the main room. You'll see Lucca's mom get her skirt stuck in a conveyor belt, which will then activate. Go to the shining dot and search it. You'll be asked to enter the password. It's L A R A. If you enter it right (remember to wait for the thing to acknowledge each letter), the belt will stop. If you're too slow or screw up a couple of times, Lucca's mom will get crippled -- history remains the same. If you succeeded, you'll find Lara walking around if you visit her in Lucca's house. If you saved the game, you can reset and re-try as often as you wish.
Either way, Lucca will wind up in her room. Go back through the Gate. Talk to Robo to receive the Green Dream. That ends this side quest. Note that whenever you go by the desert in 600 AD, you'll see Robo doing various tasks in it.
Side Quest 3 -- 600 AD -- Laying Cyrus to Rest
"There's the ghost of a lofty knight, slain by Magus in the Middle Ages, who haunts the present..." Talk to Frog at the End of Time to the see the location of the Northern Ruins. It's SE of Medina. If you go there in 1000 AD, you'll find the ghost of Cyrus, but you can't do anything about it (you'll simply stop fighting it once you hit it six times). Go to 600 AD, and go to the nearby village (Choras).
Head to the Cafe and talk to Toma and the carpenter. Now go to 1000 AD, same village. Go to Toma's grave (West Cape) and pour Toma's Pop on it; he'll appear, and you can now enter The Giant's Claw (sub-quest V). Be sure to search behind the grave for a Speed Tab.
Now go to the carpenter in the bar. He'll say you can borrow his tools. Now talk to the guy's wife, at their home. She'll give you the tools. Now return to 600 AD and give the tools to the carpenter. Now go to his house and talk to him. He'll go repair some holes in the North Ruins. Go there; he'll tell you that he can make further repairs after the monsters are defeated. The best way to deal with everything in this area is to blast the bejezus out of it with fire magic. Magus and/or Lucca should be in your party.
First, head west and go down the steps. Fight the pair of Sentries (Charm: Full Ether; 1280 HP, normal attack does one third of full HP of target). These things have a sort of death-strike counter attack -- they might hit you with Grudge (damage to target) or MP Buster. They take double damage from fire attacks, and are immune to physical attacks. When damaged, they start draining HP (around 200 points everytime). Go east and fight another pair. Ignore the chests. Now go back, and fight a quartet of Sentries. You've done with the west wing for now. You might want to head to the inn. Now, head for the east wing.
Head up, and go through the door. You're in a chamber with three undead battles. Reapers (Charm: Elixir; 1450 HP, and reduce HP to one on a successful attack) and Defuncts (Charm: Elixir; 1450 HP, and make physical attacks) are the enemy. Defuncts have strong physical defense when they're lying down. Use fire magic (Fire 2, Mega Bomb, Area Bomb, Double vBomb, Line Bomb, Flare, etc.) to clean house. You don't want prolonged battles with these things. When they're all beaten, return to the carpenter's house. Pay him 2000 coins to repair the Ruins.
Now head back to the Ruins; it looks like they ran into more monsters. Go to the west wing and enter that door that had a hole in front of it last time. Put Frog in your party, and search the tomb stone. The ghost of Cyrus will appear, talk to Frog, and then depart. Then, the Masamune will split into its component parts. Masa and Mune will have a philosophical discussion, and then merge again. The new Masamune is Frog's best weapon. Also, the epitaph on Cyrus's grave will change. Note: Both the new Masamune and the Brave Sword are guilty of false advertising -- they do NOT inflict double damage on magic enemies. But the magic enemy qualification isn't applicable to bosses, so be sure to equip the Masamune when you're going to fight one. Also, there very few enemies that qualify as magic; I'd guess that Mt. Woe, the Ocean Palace, Death Peak, and the Sewer Access may well be the only places where you encounter them.
Now return to the carpenter's house. He'll repair the rest of the problem holes for 2000 coins. Return to the Ruins, and head up the east wing. Go through the doors you couldn't reach before. Don't open any of the chests (search but say "no" to opening the black chests). There are some monsters remaining. The Base (about 80 HP) monsters are immune to physical attack and attack with Slash and with Grudge; just hit them with magic until they expire.
Now head to 1000 AD. Go through the Ruins, and take all the chests (the normal chests are a Hyper Ether and an Elixir). The black chests yield Moon Armor, the Shiva Edge (second strongest katana), and the Valkerye (Marle's best weapon). There's a Magic Tab by Cyrus's grave. Now go back to 600 AD, and search the chests. The black chests yield Nova Armor, the Kali Blade, and the Sonic.
As a final thing, put Frog in the lead and go to Denadoro Mountain (note that Ayla can charm Shields from Ogans and Barriers from Free Lancers). Go to where the Free Lancer is throwing rocks. Let Frog get hit. He'll catch a rock, and it'll turn out to be the Gold Rock. This concludes this side quest. The Northern Ruins are now the Hero's Grave.
Side Quest 4 -- 600 AD -- Ozzie's in a Jam!
"A fugitive in the Middle Ages, Ozzie, maintains an evil hideout..." Talk to Magus at the End of Time to see it; it's in the same area that Medina Village will be in 1000 AD. Go there, and head in. If you have Magus, go ahead and bring him. Ozzie isn't happy to see you, and he's positively freaked at seeing Magus. He'll run. Follow.
You'll need to fight Flea Plus. His attacks are using a fire attack against one character, and Prism Beam. After losing 2500 HP, he'll run. Follow. In the next room you get to see a weird little scene where Ozzie tries to bring up some monsters and accidentally dumps them down a pit. He'll run again. Follow.
You'll meet Super Slash. His attacks are hacking at one character, and using Slash. After losing 2500 HP, he'll run. Follow. You'll see Ozzie operating a crank and guillotine affair. Going after the chest now results in HP being reduced to 1 HP. Just head for the exit. Ozzie will run. Now you can take the chest. Also, there's a spot in the wall south of the exit you can walk into. You'll find a secret chamber containing a Magic Tab and Magus's best equipment. Now, head through the exit (you may wish to put Ayla in your party). You'll finally have a real battle.
Great Ozzie (Charm: Ozzie Shorts), Super Slash (Charm: Slasher 2), and Flea Plus (Charm: Flea Vest) will all take you on. Ozzie never attacks, while Flea and Slash have the same attacks as before. Their real power is that fact that you'll face a counter attack whenever you damage one of them. Hurting Flea or Slash results in the attacker getting hit with their version of Fire Sword; Flea's counter attack is a little stronger. Damaging Ozzie gets you slammed with Delta Force. A group-damaging attack results in facing all three counter attacks. If you defeat Slash, Flea will run. They all go down if Ozzie is beaten. The Flea Vest is the only one of the Charm items that's really good (12 point bonus to Magic Defense). The Slasher 2 is Crono's third strongest sword. The Ozzie Shorts item is technically the strongest helmet, but has several negative side effects on the wearer, including Chaos. You'll get a lot more Technique Points if you were able to bring down Flea. When you win, Ozzie will make his final retreat. Follow him.
Great Ozzie (Charm: Ozzie Shorts) will make a brief speech and set up his ice shield. Hit the switch, and the pit will open under your party. You'll be back in the previous chamber. Just head back up to Ozzie. He'll prepare to fight, and a cat will walk in, hit the third switch, and walk out. The pit will open under Ozzie, and he'll die. The third character will make some comment about Ozzie. Now leave Ozzie's Fort. This ends the side quest.
The imps are now in control of Medina Village. The statue at the square will be gone. The Inn is very cheap (1 coin), and the stuff at the shop is being sold at lowered prices - lower than the normal prices, actually. The only remaining dark spot is an imp singing praises to the Black Omen.
Side Quest 5 -- 600 AD, 1000 AD -- The Rainbow Shell and the Trial of the Century
"There's an object in the Middle Ages that sparkles like a rainbow..." At the End of Time, Marle's wondering what's going on with her dad. If you've done the pop-on-Toma's Grave thing in 1000 AD, you can now go to Giant's Claw. If you haven't already done so, do it now. Now go to Giant's Claw in 600 AD. Enter.
Foes at the Giant's Claw: Gigasaur (Charm: Ruby Armor; 2250 HP; counter-electrocution soon after you shock it), Leaper (Charm: Elixir; 800 HP, and is basically a stronger version of the Runner), Fossil Ape (Charm: Megalixir; 1800 HP, takes half-damage from magic, and counter attacks by throwing the attacker at or into something), and Lizardactyl (Charm: Hyper Ether; 950 HP; healed by Lightning, and counter attacks with Chaos). Use your techniques to kill your foes as rapidly as possible. You don't want a prolonged battle with any of these.
Once you're in, make your way through until you reach Toma's note. Read it, and head through the nearby exit. You'll be in Azala's throne room. Yes, this is where the Tyrano Lair wound up after Lavos landed on the damn thing. Now head south and out of the throne room. You should note that all area's in the lair that would be on the battlements are now in the cave system. Go west to reach a chest (Sight Cap), and an exit. This is where the (one-way) exit route comes out. Now, make your way east until you reach an exit. Go in. Step on the center switch for a Save Point. Step on the left switch to open the pits; you'll see a cat drop in. Stepping on the right switch brings down monsters. Jump into the pit, and you'll arrive in a similar chamber. If you dropped in the two Fossil Apes, you'll fight them now. Step on the left switch to open the skull gate and reach a Power Tab; step on the right switch to fight some Leapers. Go out the exit when you're through.
Head west and down the first ladder. Go east to reach a Power Tab. Go west to get a Full Ether. Climb back up the ladder, and head west along the path. Make your way around. Be sure to get the partially hidden chest (the Blue Rock) before going through the exit.
Head east until you reach the ladders. If you head up and north, you'll eventually reach the exit route. If you head down and south, you'll find a chest and the exit. Go through and you'll be at the old Tyrano Lair entrance. You can't go through the right skull, so enter the left skull and head up.
You're now in the hit-switch-dump-monster room. Just fight the things; other wise, you'll wind up facing them again. First go left, go through the exit, and take the Frenzy Band in this small chamber. Go back (the monsters regenerate, so you'll be attacked on entry), and go to the east exit. Go through, and make your way through the cavern to the next exit (be sure to kill the Rubbles). Now go and hit the egg switch; the pit will drop you into the cell for the Laruba villagers. You'll have to fight any dumped monsters. Head west and up to claim a Power Tab, and then go back to the cell and head east. Go down. You're at Kino's cell. Kill the monsters, use the Save Point, equip your best fire protection gear, and head through the exit that's now in the cell. You'll see a Tyrano. It'll ignore you right until you try to walk past it, at which point it'll attack.
The Rust Tyrano (Charm: Red Mail) has 20000 HP. It has the attacks of the Stone Tyrano, with a couple of differences -- as the fight progresses, the countdown to flaming gets shorter, and the fire damage increases. The countdown timing resets when the countdown message reaches "3, 2, 1," (it'll do this twice in a row), but if it gets that far without anyone being equipped with a Red Mail/Vest, you're probably toast. Defense remains constant throughout the battle. The HP drain attack is once again over half of the target's full HP. Throw the book at it when it's doing the countdown; you may wish to put up a Magic Wall or Barrier on character without Red stuff when the countdown is nearing zero. Use the non-countdown phase to heal and/or replenish MP -- and to attack, of course.
When that abominable creature finally dies, go forward to claim the Rainbow Shell. Problem is, it literally weighs a ton -- the party can't carry it. Start heading south, and you'll automatically arrive in the Guardia Castle throne room. The King will agree to have his soldiers collect the Shell.
If you visit Toma's village in 1000 AD now, you'll find a descendant of Toma where there was an old man talking about Toma. If you go 600 AD, same place, you'll find Toma saying that he's going to find the Sun Stone before you can. More important is the change at Guardia Castle, 1000 AD -- east of the courtroom/kitchen steps, is a new set of steps leading down to the new treasury.
Now, put Marle in you party and go to Guardia Castle, 1000 AD. You'll find that the king is being put on trial for selling the Rainbow Shell. Head up to the courtroom. Marle will force the guards to let her in. You'll see a bit of the trial, and you'll now need to get a piece of the Shell to prove the king's innocence. Head to the treasury steps, and go down. Kill Dumb and Dumber, and start going through the treasury. You can take the chests, but you'll be coming back this way anyway. The foes here are Gnashers (Charm: Revive) and Naga-ettes -- yes, the foes in the 600 AD Cathedral. Carve your way through to the Shell. Search the Shell; you'll find a note from Queen Leene and receive the Prism Shard. Go back up to the courtroom. Note: This entire time, you'll be getting cut-scenes of what's going on in the court.
When you reach the guards in front of the court, they'll refuse to let you in. Marle will think of another way into the courtroom. Now, inside the courtroom, the king has been found guilty and sentenced to death; the Chanceller will be talking about taking over the realm when Marle comes in through the stained-glass window. She'll display the Prism Shard, the other two party members will come in, the Chancellor will reveal his true form, and the king will get out of the courtroom.
Yakra XIII (Charm: White Mail) has 20000 HP. He attacks with Blizzard, and will start making a Needle attack (Needlespin Version 13 against a character, or "Drooooo..." against the party) when he's lost half of his HP. He'll also use Needlespin 13 on the party when brought down to 0 HP. Make full use of Haste, and use your most powerful attacks. When Yakra expires, you'll see a shimmering dot appear where he was standing. The king will walk back into the courtroom, and he and Marle will make up. You'll now be back in the throne room. Melchior will show up, and ask you to meet him in the treasury.
First, head back up to the courtroom, and search that shimmering dot to receive the Yakra Key. Now, head back down and use the Yakra Key to open that locked chest; the real Chancellor will pop out, and he'll promptly go to the Barracks to continue working on the Moonlight Parade. Now head to the treasury; take the chests that you didn't bother to take last time. Melchior's waiting at the Rainbow Shell.
Talk to him. He'll offer to make you one Prism Dress (best armor for one of the ladies; permanent Magic Wall effect) or three Prism Helms (basically the best helmet -- second best in defense points, adds nine points to Magic Defense, and protects from status ailments). I usually go with the Prism Dress. After this, talk to Melchior again. If you have the Sun Stone, he'll notice it, and make you the Prism Specs (raises damage by one half), and the Rainbow (Crono's best weapon, period). Having Crono combine the Rainbow with the Prism Specs seems to get the best results; give the Prism Specs to whichever party member you want inflicting huge damage. Melchior will leave after making those two items. If you don't have the Sun Stone, go get it. Melchior will wait for you. This ends the side-quest.
Side Quest 6 -- 2300 AD -- Robo Comes Home
"There's a task to be done in the Future, where machinery originated." Talk to Robo at the End of Time to see Geno Dome; it's on an island SE of Keeper's Dome. Put Robo in the lead, and head in. Put Lucca or Magus in your party, if practical; you can wipe out just about everything here with magic attacks.
Foes: Laser Guards (Charm: Full Tonic; 400 HP; fires a thin laser, is weak against magic, and blows up and damages party if damaged but not destroyed), Proto 4 (Charm: Elixir or Barrier; 1024 HP; attacks with fire balls, bullets, and the wide laser; can heal a target for 30 HP), and Debuggest (Charm: Elixir; 1024 HP; makes physical attacks, can shock a target, can fire a thin laser, and can perform Laser Spin).
Have Robo search the console, and then go through the door. You'll be on a conveyor belt. After the battles are through, you'll be in the factory proper. Take note of the strange thing before you; it's basically a trigger. Hit the switch by any trigger to raise or lower the thing keeping you from stepping in. Go west until you see some Debuggests; kill them. Now head north until you can go east; kill the Proto 4's in the room, and search the computer. It'll tell you what's up. Standing in the trigger booth will charge up Robo; stepping in another trigger booth opens the door by it.
Now, head west and north until you see three switches. Hit #1 and #3, and you'll be able to enter the trigger booth. Charge up and enter the booth; get the Poyozo Doll. Now charge up, and go enter the first booth you saw. Enter the now opened room for some treasure. Now head east, kill the Debuggests (note the dust chute -- if you want to leave, that's how; leave and re-enter Geno Dome repeatedly if you want a lot of experience points -- you'll need to fight along the entrance conveyor belt again, and it's over 8000 XP every trip), and go around until you reach the conveyor belt. Run north up it until you see a Proto go through the passage just north of it. Now go back, and check the two rooms you passed up. One contains treasure and a fight, the other contains the elevator up. Head up, and leave the arrival room.
Head south if you want to fight and destroy some Laser Guards; there is a Save Point just north of them. Head north and go through the door; get the Power Tab and head along this passage until you reach the end. Take the elevator down. First, head south and hit the switch to turn off that laser barrier. Now go through the passage that the Proto went through, and change the conveyor belt direction. Return to the charge booth, and run to the trigger booth beyond the conveyor belt. Go through the now-open door, and investigate the Proto to get it to follow you.
Now make your way back to the SW corner. If you didn't kill the Debuggests there like I told you to, you'll have to fight them now -- and go back for the robot and lead it here once again, since it will have gone back to its original spot. Now, keep edging forward until the two Protos short each other out. Take the Poyozo doll. Now head back to the elevator, and go up. If you haven't dealt with those Laser Guards, do so now, and use the Save Point. Equip Robo with your best stuff. Go west from the Laser Guards, and you'll face Atropos, Robo's re-programmed girlfriend. Robo will fight her solo. She won't appear until you have both Poyozo dolls.
Atropos has about 6000 HP. She can punch, do Rocket Punch, use Laser Spin, do Robo Tackle (400 HP!), use Area Bomb, and use Cure Beam. Use Uzzi Punch and Cure Beam. Be sure to restore MP if needed. When you get the message, "I...am..." you've won. She'll make one last attack, and then come to her senses. If Lucca's with you, she'll try to repair Atropos. However, Atropos was too badly damaged. She'll give you the Ribbon (Robo's Speed goes up 3 points and his Magic Defense goes up 10 point; this is automatic), and expire. Now, heal Robo.
Have Robo run at the switch just north of you; he'll jump and hit it. Go into the room, take the chests, and search SE wall of it to find Magic Tab. Now, head back, and go west. You can climb the ladder, or go north on the walkway. Climb down the ladder and head along this particular walkway until you reach a door. Head in. You'll witness part of the implementation of Mother Brain's plan for dominance -- extermination of all humans. Go through the east exit, and take the chests. Go back, head up the ladder, and take the walkway. Fight the Laser Guards, and head north until you meet more Laser Guards. Destroy them, and place a Poyozo Doll on each glowing floor-plate. The wall will open. Now go back to the Save Point, use it, and configure your party as according to whichever high-powered triple tech you think is best (Spin Strike, Twister, Omega Flare, etc.). Now head back to the opened wall, and head north to face Mother Brain.
Mother Brain (Charm: Blue Mail) has 5000 HP. That doesn't sound like much, but the three Displays (Charm: Elixir, 1 HP) around her will use 1000 HP Cure Beams whenever they act. Mother Brain uses Reprogramming (causes Chaos to target), Laser Spin, and the wide laser (high damage against target) as long as the Displays are up. If the Displays are destroyed, she'll start using an increasingly powerful group damaging attack. Trash two of the Displays. Now, just go all out with your triple tech. Ignore healing; you just want to finish this as soon as possible. If the triple tech damages all foes, don't bother trashing two of the Displays; just start using it.
When Mother Brain goes down, you'll receive the Terra Arm and Crisis Arm. Robo will shut down the plant. You'll leave, and you now can't proceed past the entrance room. This finishes the side-quest.
There's something odd with the Crisis Arm -- the bit about being under 10 HP is a mistake. To get the most out of it, Robo must be at 999 HP. When he is, he'll be able to do triple the Terra Arm damage. About 1200 with a normal attack; over 3600 with an Uzzi Punch. For real fun, try it with the Prism Specs...
When the party reaches level 40, Spekkio will assume a new form - a purple Masamune with 10000 HP. He uses the Omnicrone form's attacks, and also uses Chaos Barrier (damage and Chaos to party), Dark Bomb, and an instant death attack (final attack of the sequence; one character). If you can beat him, you receive one of each Tab, and 10 Elixirs.
Spekkio has a final form, which he'll assume if you reach level 99. It's a pink Nu with 20000 HP, and incredible resistance to pure magic attacks (he only takes about one third damage). Attacks are Halation (reduces party to 1 HP), Salt (restores target -- a party member -- to full HP), Luminaire (800 points!), Dark Matter, and Flare. Order is completely random; Salt is the rarest, and Halation seems to be the most frequent. Most strategies for beating him involve Frog Flare or Grand Dream, but, IMHO, that involves putting too much trust in luck. I recommend equipping one character with Red Mail, another with White Mail, and a third with Black Mail (or everyone with White stuff), and expect to fight one hell of a grudge match. If you can beat him, you'll receive ten of each Tab, and ten Megalixirs. You can also take pride in the fact that you're good.
The Watcher's statement about someone close to you needing help is probably referring to the sub-quests; there doesn't seem to be any evidence that this is referring to a sub-quest in of itself. Once you've completed the sub-quests, all that's left is to go after Lavos. The path of most resistance -- and the most rewarding -- is going through the Black Omen.