Chrono attempted to recall something that would prove to be of help out of the multitude of notes that he had taken and after a fair bit of mental sorting, he remembered something. "I remember there being some blueprints to what might've been a prototype in there, though I would need to see either a closer look at those mechs or their blueprints to confirm that." That memory might've been a few years old, but there was a chance for some part of it to be helpful. Chrono made one more attempt to try and remember something a bit more helpful but came up with nothing. "Sorry, that's about all I got."
In his attempt to quickly move to the next boat, Kel had lost his footing seconds after taking the first step and crashed into Ignis's back and apparently something else for there were a few seconds before falling into the more mechanical ship. He groaned for a moment as he attempted to get is bearing on what had just occurred. "I don't think so, but yeah. Kel's right, nice to meet you." He shot Karina a quick, just puzzled look. "Kar-Kiar-what?" By this point, he'd floated to a horizontal position and it had been when he started looking around that everything seemed to look weird to him. "This is new." He mused while continuing to float around in various directions. "So we still don't have a clear cut path on where to go, perfect. Still, I'll take convenient timing over being lost...wherever we are." Looking outside did nothing to help unless someone here knew how to navigate the stars. Unfortunately, Kel was oriented sideways when Castur restored gravity and he landed right on his sides. "Ow, definitely felt that one." He got back onto his feet once the pain had subsided. "Yeah, that aspect of this journey hasn't changed at all in the time you've been gone, but at least you didn't nearly drown before waking up on an island."
Kel only looked in the direction Karina had jerked her head toward one of the few new people that he didn't know. Least he apparently knows how to get to Olympus. As for the names that the three mice had mentioned, only a few them rang any bells and some of the ones that did seemed to have already been in a safe place. Considering how they were going on about this, it wasn't a bad track record, to be honest. Knowing the names of these princesses would make the task much easier for them down the road, but first, they needed to get out of this whale. "Great, I was afraid of this happening." The moment that the whale had started to rumble, one of two possibilities ran through Kel's head and neither of them was any good. Thus he quickly moved to the nearest boat in preparation of what's to come.
Kel took a moment to gather himself after that impromptu hug and followed behind Karina just in time to see the three mice return. Have they been with them this whole time? He wasn't sure whether to be surprised to see them or confused as to how they weren't affected by the times they nearly ended up drowning in water. He managed to get the gist of the topic from what the mice were saying and chimed in after Kaida had spoken. "Does anyone know how to get to Olympus Coliseum though? If we go to Central Haven we at least have Kaida who can lead us there."
Chrono had looked a bit more interested when Gladio had implied that he had information that they would need. It would be helpful to have that information, though alternatively they always had his notebook back home. Unfortunately, in lew of recent discoveries, that information might end up being outdated and not all that helpful in the long run. Not to mention the whole thing with his father that he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to face. Both of the magic mentioned were things that Chrono could in fact do and he would've volunteered to do so, but seeing just how excited and proud Take seemed to be had made him reconsider. After all, he didn't want to steal the spotlight from Take if this would've been his shining moment for him to show off some magic, also this would be the first time actually seeing Take use magic so there was a degree of curiosity affecting leading his decision as well. "If Take says he can do it then I say we let him, but how many do we need to get? I doubt we're going to find five of them roaming about in the same area."
Whether it was the lingering darkness still leaking off of her, the look she had given him or a combination of both said look had left Kel relatively shocked. He'd known her long enough to know that she had a fair amount of baggage and has seen some of her worse moments. This seemed different though and as she pushed herself up to her feet, and walked past him, leaving him there as he tried to ponder on what to do. Please don't kill me for this Having found some form of answer Kel moved to catch up to Karina and promptly gave her a hug. It was brief but long enough to which he hoped that had some sort of positive effect. He still felt awkward about it as the faint pink tint to his cheeks implied. "Sorry, kinda did the first thing that came to mind." With a nervous chuckle, awaiting however Karina would react.
Kel couldn't say that he was surprised by how Karina had reacted to his question, partly cause he knew that it wouldn't be the most helpful of things to say in this situation, but he still felt like he should say something. Even if he wasn't sure what exactly to do right now. He only looked at Aux as he walked over and berated Karina. Least that what he thought since it didn't seem like that at first, it was only what he had said at the end that made it seem more like a scolding. Either way, with folded arms he said: "Least you haven't tried to kill us with darkness as he did." He wasn't still holding it against him, but from where he stood she was doing better than he was in that regard. "Still at the risk of sounding like an idiot again, I'll say that you're strong enough to win with or without darkness. Instead of that sink or swim mentality that Aux had, face it head on and make it submit to you."
Kel watched as the defeated heartless spat out their respective hostages before dissipating. This elected a sigh of relief from him as his own keyblade faded away in a flash of light. "That help any?" With an outstretched hand Kel offered to help Karina, in anyway he could at least. The fight was over so that darkness should hopefully go away soon.
"Magitek Armor." The name reminded Chrono of the Magitek generators that they had to deal with back on the incredible world and how much trouble that it had caused them. Though his remark on Ardyn answered some questions that were forming in his head. "Trust us, if we could just completely avoid him we would." But he was keen on making it so that that wasn't the case, some 'observer' he was especially if he was the reason that gigas was now running around with these mechs. "We got some time before dark," Chrono said, glancing up towards the sky before turning back to Gladio. "Time to think of a plan and discuss you." Chrono had been willing to hear him out, see what he knows, and now that he had he wanted to hear more of an explanation before they headed off to act on any plan.
Medal Spendings Buying Fatal, a Stat reset and Stat +1 five times Medals left - 76
She still had her stubbornness which was good to see all things considering, but he agreed with her on ending this fight as quickly as possible and so, smirking he said, "Consider it done." With all the damaged the first parasite cage had taken he didn't think that he would have to attack it anymore, the other one was a different matter. They were pretty much the same so perhaps that applied to their weak point as well. "Paradigm Shift," He tighten his grip on his keyblade and set off towards the other Parasite Cage and with every ounce of his strength, Kel struck the heartless from every side. Each strike had left a lingering trail of light surrounding it that had started to shine once Kel had planted his keyblade into the ground. "Excalibur!" The trails merged together and became one massive pillar of light that consumed the heartless in its entirety. Kel used Paradigm Shift - Excalibur
Chrono didn't have much to say regarding Illiana going off on her own. He'd never really spoken with her much and she never seemed to be the type to actively seek out conversation with any of them. She remained an enigma as far as he was concerned, but he had some sort of faith in her. Faith that she wouldn't get herself killed in her quest to get her brother back. Wouldn't change any personal grudges that he still had and would likely keep though. As they walked towards this safe place his sister had mentioned, he was curious as to just what it had been. Nothing had come to mind when he first tried to think about it, so he assumed that it was just something that she must've found while he was gone training with Atmos. With that mentality, Chrono was quite surprised by where they had arrived. He was surprised to see that the place was still standing after all these years which in a sense helped with the nostalgia that washed over him. Even with the noticeable wear and tear that this place has gone through, everything was still here just like when he had first shown this place to his sister. He ventured in further a bit more and stopped once a large tree came into view. Despite all of the things going on through his head since getting here, this was the one thing that brought him a clear amount of joy. One of his more happier memories with his mother came from this tree, as well of his love for climbing things. Said nostalgia had started to get to him as tears started to form in his eyes. He wiped them away before turning to Gladio and addressing his question. "It wasn't always like this, but regarding the others working with Gigas, their master is the guy that we really need to stop from achieving these goals. Them being here and helping Gigas of all things isn't good for multiple reasons." Being unsure as to how much he should share, Chrono attempted to explain something without giving too much away. "Earlier you said that those mechs are based off tech you've seen before, want to elaborate further on that?"
The dark tendrils that continued to lash out from Karina's armor definitely furthered how 'not right' it was and while she seemed alright now, he couldn't shake the bad feeling he had about seeing all that darkness amassed around one person. "How long do you think you can keep a handle on it?" The cage wasn't in the best of shape and they should be able to finish it off relatively soon. The heartless had geared up for another attack which had given Kel the perfect opportunity to locate a weak point for him to exploit. "Gotcha." Kel used Magnify
And with the name Koa, another layer of stress was added onto what Chrono was currently feeling, this being in the case of there now being three, possibly four, here doing who knows what. If it was just to help back Gigas, then why were there more than two of them here. Heck two was pushing it to a small degree. As much as he wanted to put this all together right now, he tried not to overthink it right now and instead focus on where it was Tinarah was planning on leading them. "Sure, lead the way."
With the dark tendrils returning to Karina and forming a sort of armor, Kel got a general idea of what was going on with her as he recalled when a dark armor formed around himself through...less than average means. However, he specifically recalled there just being the armor around him and not a visible aura of darkness around him as there was around Karina. "Hey, you okay over there?" He figured he should ask before looking back to the cage itself. Despite feeling weakened by the poison, he still moved with enough speed to strike the heartless with his own keyblade cloaked in a purple hue. Kel used Poison Edge
That bud of anxiety had bloomed into a small flower at the thought of Gigas using those mechs to take over. The mental image of those mechs going around, mowing down anything that got in their way infuriated him and despite his efforts to not make that a visible fact, it didn't do much to keep him from tightly clenching his fist. He waited till he could relax his hands before throwing in his own answer to Gladio's question. "A lot, some more personal than the other, but what the company has is would be our current issue with them." Chrono had muttered that one part under his breath then looked glance to Illiana. "She has a point, is there anywhere else we can go to discuss this?"
Even if Steel hadn't said anything, he already had a feeling that would be the case. He just wanted to be optimistic in regards to that possibility that maybe they'll get through this quickly. That wouldn't stop him from attacking as he rushed on ahead and dealt a heavy blow with Zantesuken. It was odd seeing a bunch of cherry blossoms fall from the sky while they were in the stomach of a whale, but that wasn't on his list of things to question. Whether or not Karina was okay seeing as she was cloaked in darkness right now was on the list though. Steel brought up a good point though. "It looks resilient enough, so hopefully not." Kel used Zantesuken.
"The Light Chaser might not be interested in these weapons, but he might be helping them in some way." Giant walls of ice trapping the crowd, the massive heartless that briefly appeared above them. Chrono may have been gone for three years, but he wasn't expecting that much to change during that time (even though he wasn't attributing the heartless or wall of ice with Gigas). The mech alone was already pushing what he was expecting to see from Gigas. Not to mention that as much as he would like to be the "model big brother" and just ease his sister's fears, there was no way he would be able to do that. The mark of mastery was never really a priority for him, still isn't, and not to mention easing her fears would mean easing his own anxieties that was progressively getting worse based off the events that had just transpired. From the moment that the man had started speaking to them, Chrono had been looking at him with a raised brow. He knew a lot, more than one should know without him being somewhat worried, but unlike Ardyn he made no mentioning of his father which that alone was good enough for Chrono to not want immediately nothing to do with him. "No, but i'd rather follow someone who seems willing to help us than stay at that presentation any longer." The man let them to another alley, which he wasn't too thrilled about the idea of walking back into one, but he could deal with it for the time being. "I take it you have something against Gigas as well?" He didn't really know what else to say and just went with the first thing that came to mind.
Chrono had been keeping a close eye on the countdown all the way till it finally ticked down to zero. From there he wasn't sure what to expect in the silence that had followed. The shadow that had stopped above them had put him on edge, the ice wall pushed him further towards the edge of concern and when the giant heartless had appeared, it had been the icing to the cake and Chrono brought out his own keyblade. None of this made any sense. The heartless appearing out of nowhere, the ice forming to basically trap the crowd in place and the lack of reaction from any of the guards. Then came the voice from the sky and a mix of emotions swelled within him. On the one hand, much like with the Incredibles, Chrono had this childlike awe at seeing a fully functioning mech actually descend down from the sky before. In another situation, this might've actually made him extremely happy to see. However, his questioning nature remained his firm hold overall and reined him back to the severity of the situation. Demonstration or not, why was something like this all of a sudden needed and worse yet, how did they summon a heartless of that size in the first place? Chrono dismissed his keyblade since the situation seemed to be handled as it was now. As the crowd's panic calmed down and turned to awe, he found that his sister had moved closer to the front. Worming his way through the crowd towards her, the keyblade that she still held was briefly seen by him. "Put your keyblade away, for better or worse they seem to have the situation under control." Chrono cut a glance towards the CEO himself after catching up to his sister. To say he didn't trust him was an understatement and seeing that they might be working with one of the Light Chaser's students only made that feeling a lot worse.
Being surrounded by stomach acid was a stark reminder as to why Kel didn't want to end up here when the whale had swallowed them, despite the fact that this was seemingly avoided while they were running about through its chambers. He really didn't want to add being digested by a whale to the evergrowing list of misfortune that has befallen him. The easiest way to avoid that was to beat the Parasite cafe in front of them, the same way they have gotten through just about all of their problems. Kel called forth his keyblade and coated himself in a reflected shield before crashing right into the cage with all of his strength. "If you could hurry up and spit out Pinnochio, that would be much appreciated." If only it would be that easy though. Kel used Barrier Surge
