Let's talk about the Season Gap

[Mokonalord]

What are your theories on what transpired in Cephiro while the Magic Knights were offscreen? We get told some things, like Cephiro kept eroding, at some point the strongest wills banded together to create the castle and everybody relocated there, Ascot grew up and stood up for his friends so they could be there too (not necessarily in that order), Caldina decided not to leave even though the world was crumbling, Lantis returned, Ascot learned some non-summoning magic from Clef, Ferio assumed the throne, they found out three other worlds were invading... What else? Who's got theories to play with? Also, how long do you think the gap was?

[Somariel]

My overarching headcanon timeline for events in Cephiro and the surrounding countries can be found at this link. The season/story arc (since the timeline follows the manga) gap events start on the third page of the document.

The gap period timeline is sort of incomplete, though, since pretty much every event listed in that period was thrashed out in order to assist with various fics.

[Mokonalord]

That's awesome, Somariel! Yeah, six months sounds like a reasonable time span. I would probably put it at three to six months myself, so that works.

Just to add to that, I would put Ascot's growth spurt about a month or two before the second arrival. You know, far enough back that everyone at the castle would be used to him being like that by the time the Knights got there.

You having Clef pretty much following behind the knights is an interesting take. I mean, we don't get an explanation for why he didn't try to catch up with them in the manga, so it could very well be that he was just keeping track from a distance. Personally, though, I really love the idea of Ascot meeting up with Caldina and them wandering together for a little while (probably heading for the spaceship I'm sure Caldina must have somewhere because how else did she get to Cephiro from Chizeta?), so I don't think Clef was involved so much for that.

[Somariel]

That's awesome, Somariel! Yeah, six months sounds like a reasonable time span. I would probably put it at three to six months myself, so that works.

A year seemed too long to me and three months seemed like not really enough time for Cephiro to have become such an absolute wasteland, so I simply split the difference and set the gap as six months.

Just to add to that, I would put Ascot's growth spurt about a month or two before the second arrival. You know, far enough back that everyone at the castle would be used to him being like that by the time the Knights got there.

I'm not really sure where I'd put his growth spurt, although I actually somewhat favor earlier rather than later.

You having Clef pretty much following behind the knights is an interesting take. I mean, we don't get an explanation for why he didn't try to catch up with them in the manga, so it could very well be that he was just keeping track from a distance. Personally, though, I really love the idea of Ascot meeting up with Caldina and them wandering together for a little while (probably heading for the spaceship I'm sure Caldina must have somewhere because how else did she get to Cephiro from Chizeta?), so I don't think Clef was involved so much for that.

Actually, I really only see Clef as keeping an eye on the Magic Knights through scrying - because he promised Emeraude that he'd help them, but there's this huge part of his heart that would really much rather see them fail, no matter what he promised, so he settles for simply watching them via scrying while staying in the Forest of Eleru. And then when he realizes that Presea has followed the Knights to Eterna, he knows that she's going to need help after forging the Escudo, so he goes to help her, then settles down just outside the Forest of Silence to continue his watching. My story "Learning the Truth" actually covers some of this from various POVs.

As for Clef helping Ascot and Caldina, literally the only thing I have him doing for them is getting them from the shrines back onto solid ground, and that's only because I couldn't figure out any other way for them to get back, but with Clef scrying on the Magic Knights, he'd have at least known that Ascot and Caldina were stuck in the shrines.

Also, just as an FYI, I finally replied to your post in my MKR/AtLA fusion thread.

[Mokonalord]

I wouldn't say that Ascot and Caldina were stuck in the shrines. I mean, they managed to get there in the first place, so they probably have some means of getting out. Unless Zagato teleported them there, I guess, which is possible.

In the anime at one point, Caldina says that it wasn't that long ago that Ascot grew. Of course, that was only in the anime, which should always be taken with large grains of salt, but I normally headcanon his growth spurt as happening closer to the second arrival than not. Of course, he still wouldn't have had any idea the Magic Knights were ever coming back, as I'm pretty sure nobody did until they were falling into Cephiro a second time, and I really doubt he just suddenly changed in those few hours he might have had between hearing about their arrival and seeing them again.
But why do I think it happened later? Well, my take on Ascot is that he is actually older than he appears in the first season, you know, like Clef and Emeraude (though probably not anywhere near as old as them), and had pretty much decided he wanted to stay that way for whatever reason (Peter Pan syndrome was one possibility). But then, he has his character-building encounter with Umi and the Magic Knights, he became friends with Caldina and then Lafarga, he started standing up for his friends, living in the castle, etc. Then, one day, he wakes up and notices that the arms of his robes don't quite reach all the way to his wrists like they used to, and his shoes feel tighter, and he realizes that he's growing at a normal rate again. At first Ascot wonders why, because he's been that way and wanted to stay that way for so long, but then it occurs to him that no, he really doesn't want to stay that way. Not anymore. So he does some more soul searching and eventually decides to skip the in-between stages and just be treated like an adult already.

And I already saw your reply on the other thread.