Despite the multitude of attack that struck the crab, it seemed that he was determined to make a meal outta Kaida and most likely Moana as well. Tamota even tanked a blow from Excalibur, barely being fazed by it. Kel quickly looked to AJ who had asked him of any plans of attacks. "Just keep hitting it until it drops one of them, its shell can't possibly be that strong." A very basic plan, but cracking the shell was the closest as anything of a weakness that the crab might have. Unfortunately, this weakness wasn't as obvious as the headless horseman. Kel nodded to affirm this course of action with himself and stepped up to attack again and found that Kaida was not only free from the literal, jaws of death, but also he held on to Beuce's keyblade. While slightly confused, he was more relieved to see that she hadn't been turned into a crab's meal, though it hot on her heels. Its assault was ended by the burst of sound provided by Stratos, causing it to have seemingly lost its balance. At least, that was what it looked like to Kel and he took full advantage of that by charging forth towards the stumbling crab. First a quick change outta his Paladin job and into his soldier job. If his was to just hit it until its shell broke, then he would need power to do so. Power that wouldn't slowly drain him of his strength as he did so. The moment Kel found himself to be in range, he jumped up and landed right on the back of Tamatoa. Keep his footing was not the easiest thing to do given the sheer amount of gold that was just plastered onto his back. Thankfully Kel did manage to keep his footing and not fall off long enough to deal a hefty 'cross' shaped swing down onto the crab's shell in order to make some sort of a dent. The first strike landed and knocked away some of the gold littering its back. The second strike didn't have as much force to it for the simple fact of the matter that Tamatoahad moved right as Kel had taken a slight step to adjust himself and ended up stepping on some gold that shifted to being right underneath his foot. The keyblade wielder soon found himself slipping off of the back of Tamatoa and onto the ground underneath. Thankfully a fall like that wouldn't be enough to really hurt him, he's been through much much worse, but now he was underneath Tamatoa who was still stumbling about above him. The realization of the danger he was he came when Tamatoa's leg almost came crashing down right onto him. Kel rolled out the way like any sane person would have done, but his initial way of escape was cut off by another leg stepping down right in front of him. He tried to go right and the same thing happened too, essentially keeping him stuck while trying to avoid being stepped on by a crab cat. Words: 515 Exp: 100 Total Exp: 110 Blessed Thief: 30 Munny Total Munny: 60 Munny Tamatoa: 798 BP
FOC +6 SPD +4 DEF +1 AP +1
Seeing the Flammie appear behind them was a welcomed surprise and Torrin's reaction to seeing it was an amusing surprise to which he couldn't help but snicker at. His snickering was brief as Enzo had spoken to him. Well, fired off a bunch of questions was the more accurate way of describing the interaction. "Okay, I'm Chrono, yes I can use a keyblade and neither of us are princesses." Technically he didn't know that for certain about Illiana, but given how she was in general, Chrono figured it was safe to assume so.
What had intended to be another means of causing a distraction quickly turned into a rescue attempt. Kel had been surprised by the sheer size of the crab and wasn't sure how to go about distracting it. "Hey Crabs!" Stepping out from his hiding place, he launched his keyblade towards the crabs eye. Words: 53 Exp: 10 Blessed Thief Total: 30 Munny
Chrono was actually a bit surprised when Torrin had explained everything regarding Take being a prince of light, but glad that he did as it had confirmed his own speculations. Now that didn't mean he was any less surprised by said speculations becoming true or less confused as to what dictated it. Though neither of those was truly important right now. Take's reacting to the news was what had the higher priority. "This has to be a lot for you to take in all at once, but you don't have to go through it alone." Chrono chimed in. He didn't have much else that he could think to add besides those, hopefully helpful, words of comfort.
Chrono didn't know whether or not to feel unnerved or concerned at the fact that the Light Chaser had already known his name. However, what he said when addressing him had made him feel anger more than anything. "Seeing as you damn near got her killed with your so-called guidance, I wouldn't hold my breath on me ever being thankful for what you did." He fell back to silence when the Light Chaser continued to go around with his 'lessons'. Once the spiels had ended, the Light Chaser had finally cut to the chase and it had been one he was dreading. His intent was to still take Aria and Chrono's mind still was drawing a blank on a viable way to get out of this situation. Everything he had thought up wouldn't work for a variety of reasons, but the only exception to that would've been using his drive form and even then it would've been the first time using it. By no means the ideal situation for that. His brain never stopped thinking. All he needed was something that could by time as the Light Chaser started moving towards...Take? Everything had gone white before them before going dark. He couldn't have been dead, he could still feel the odd sensation of darkness around them. Not as bad as when they were in the incredible world, but still noticeable. When the darkness had faded and their surroundings registered in his head, Chrono let out an audible sigh of relief. His nerves started to calm slowly, but only slightly as the new guys, words reached his ears. He knew for a fact that he didn't know about the second pure light in their group as the only person that Chrono told was Boreas. Thinking back to the list he had thought up, he removed Glyde from it which left himself, Tinarah and Take. Tinarah being one was doubtful due to the risk of her dying which left himself and Take. Taking into account the Light Chaser's last actions before they ended up here, Chrono merely looked to Torrin to see if he had an answer to Aria's question.
The reappearance of Ardyn was not a welcomed one and in fact, he groaned moments after he had appeared. That annoyance and the groan it had spawned from was only short-lived as the news of Glyde's death reached them. He was surprised, shock and any anger he felt towards Ardyn was starting to be mixed in as well. His grip on his keyblade was still firm as the crimson blades summoned by Ardyn was aimed at them. If he was lucky, whatever had happened earlier might occur once more. It did not happen, nor did Chrono become reduced to a pin cushion of crimson blades. A light had exploded before them, blinded both parties while staving off Ardyn's attack. The light faded and Ardyn was no longer standing before them and instead in his place was the Light Chaser. Chrono's heart sank for two reasons, the first being that they were currently faced with the Light Chaser, the man that the council had been taking precautions to avoid facing off with. If the entirety of the council were trying to avoid conflict, then what was it that they, a bunch of students, two masters and a knight could hope to do at this moment. The second was how out of the corner of his eye was Tinarah trying to attack the Light Chaser. He was relieved to see that Illiana had stopped her, but the twinge of annoyance at her actions remained. Chrono knew full well that his sister had plenty to hold the Light Chaser accountable for and he did as well. It had been his student that had kidnapped her and he himself who threw her into the other realm. That had not been forgotten nor would be forgiven til he got his own form of payback. Still despite Chrono didn't act on these desires as it would've been easy it for him to just blow them away and take Aria and leave. Him not doing so must've meant that he was here for a different reason and it was for that reason he too wanted him to just cut to the chase. Whatever it was couldn't have been good and hopefully, it wouldn't keep him from figuring a way out of this situation.
Kel felt some concern upon seeing a bunch of keyblades just lying among the other piles of collected treasures, but decided it was better to not ask about it. The answer to said question felt like it was something he'd rather not know about. Kaida, being the brightly dressed out of all of them, took it upon herself to be the bait to lure out the crab and unlike their wolf friend, he couldn't just throw out some crystals to aid in the shiny. What he could do was to move around and call out his keyblade, ready to toss it as a further distraction if needed.
Chrono had effectively toned out what the horned king next set of arrogant boasting threats due to the simple fact that there had been three of himself going to attack the king himself. He didn't recall ever dodging the attack, in fact, he was pretty certain that he had remained still for most of this. Yet he was completely unscathed from the attack and somehow was attacking him again. He made the smart decision to stop trying to wrap his head around this and attack the king once more. The fight had to have been drawing near its conclusion after everything that they've thrown at him. Chrono used Ars Arcanum and attacked HP: 137/145 MP: 30/35 FOC: 15/50 FLUX: 2/3
Vice was relatively unfazed by the punch, he stumbled back a bit, but overall stayed standing. The punch wasn't going to be something that he was just going to let happen, but what Arian had said rubbed him the wrong way. So instead of simply punching him back, Vice was sure to grab hold of his collar and swiftly headbutt him. "If he was as great as you claim him to be, then why did he get caught? If you care so dearly about him, then why didn't you stop them?" Each emphasis was aimed at Arian with a sharpness that could rival a knife. "Listen here, you don't know a damn thing about me and I don't care to share a single detail about me to you. Comrades, friends, bonding, all that can easily hold you back." Vice had never been one to back down, didn't matter who they were thus while the sight of his K-9s might've intimidated someone else, it was practically moot against him. "If you have a problem with that, then put that nose of yours to use and get back your precious leader, or better yet show me how much worse than a punch you can do and I'll be sure to return the favor."
Gale was pretty thrown off by the sudden mood change Evie had taken given that she was just hiding behind him only moments ago. He may not have thought it was all that needed, but he still made a note of what word had set her off to avoid saying it by mistake. Readying his next attack, Gale heard Raelyn's remark and thought about it. This was going way to easy for someone who was doing all that bragging and it didn't feel right with him. He then fired a Great Fire Blast towards Hector while staying back in case he tried anything. Gale used Great Fire Blast and prepared to dodge
No one else had any ideas on how to get across that wasn't walking and Lazuli wasn't all that surprised by that. Even in own semblance had limited uses in this particular situation. In theory, he could use it on Auburn given her smaller statue, but that would be a horrible idea on multiple accounts. "If we're all in agreement, then let's get a move on," Lazuli said, venturing off towards the temple. "It was his own fault." Vice said bluntly. With the rest of the White Fang either already beaten, having fled, Vice hefted his weapon over his shoulder as he turned to look at his group. "He let his guard down and this is the price he paid for doing so, going after him would just be a waste." Not a single shred of remorse could be found in his voice. Only the usual coldness that seemed to linger as he turned to go off ahead on his own.
Kel listened to Kaida as she explained the reason behind her wooden charms, understanding why it was that she made them, but was also curious as to what animal she would consider him. It wasn't even a question that he could answer himself. So the whittled frog that Kaida was holding out to him was a surprise on two accounts. The first being that he wasn't expecting to be given a frog and the second was that frogs were actually one of his favorite animals in general. The charm was accepted with a smile on his face as he said, "Thanks, frogs are actually one of my favorite animals." He took care in pocketing it and walking up to the abyss. Taking in a deep breath, Kel jumped into the darkness and whatever was awaiting them below.
Luck had been on Chrono's side more so than usual as he managed to get off of that last attack unscathed. Now, this is where things felt off with some of the others. At a glance, they appeared to be fine, but something was telling him that something was wrong. It wasn't gut feeling like usual in these situations, his gut feeling never caused the keychain on his keyblade to start shaking as much as it was now. Chrono decided to try to figure out what was going on and just go with it. Focusing his thoughts on his keyblade, a surge of magic coursed through him as his sister's D-link was activated. Chrono turned towards the others and used said magic to cast Esunaga on Tinarah, Take and Illiana. "Hang in there you guys!" His keychain stopped its shaking following it which meant that was a strange way for his keyblade to alert him on the condition of his teammates. Chrono activated Tinarah's D Link and cast Esunaga on Tinarah, Take and Illiana HP: 117/145 MP: 25/35 FOC: 23/50 FLUX: 2/3
Chrono instinctively went to protect himself when the flames headed towards him. Despite feeling the warmth of the flames on his arms, there was no actual impact. He gave Take a quick thumbs up before turning back to the battle at hand. Once again thanks to Tinarah the lingering pain had gone away and following Torrin's fancy display, he himself went in for the attack. It was pretty simple compared to what had occurred just before, but Chrono wasn't that athletic. The best he could manage was a leap in the air that caused a shockwave to occur right when he landed. Chrono used Meteor Crash and Attacked HP: 127/145 MP: 35/35 FOC: 26/50 FLUX: 3/3
Kel's opinion of Maui wasn't exactly improving at any point. He was even starting to doubt that Maui was as great as he continued to claim he was, but the answer to that would come in due time. Long as that hook was as important as he claimed it to be. Arriving at their destination, Kel stared upward at the large mountain that they were expected to climb. Honestly using their gliders seemed like it would be an easier way to go about it seeing as they could fly all the way up on them, but after seeing Maui, Moana and the wolf climb up, he decided to do so as well. The wolf climbing up the mountain was more of the tipping point to that decision. First, however, he made his way over to Kaida. "What were those wooden charms you took out of your bag?" He had noticed them out of the corner of his eye when they caught up to Maui but was more preoccupied with getting some answers to ask about them at that particular instance.
Whatever it was that had been causing Chrono to feel weaker despite not fully taking a hit thanks to Take, had gone away with his sister's magic. Admittedly it felt like a weight was taken off his shoulders, despite there not being any actual effect beyond that on him. Light had begun to take form around keyblade, forming a blade that allowed for a shockwave to be fired off towards the horned king. Chrono used Blade Beam and Attacked HP: 145/145 MP: 35/35 FOC: 30/50 FLUX: 3/3
The sudden appearance of another Thea, rather Nagata, was surprising for a bit until the reveal itself had been made. He had forgotten that Nagata could actually do that with her magic. Zephyr didn't have much to add beyond a simple shrug to Shawn's question. "If she wants to, she can." And she did state that she wanted to come along with them. Keeping that in mind, Zephyr noted who actually would be tagging along. Nagata, Shawn, Gavin and myself, that makes four. That was an interesting composition for a group. He nodded in affirmation and said, "That leaves letting Midarah know about this." Maira had taken the job and almost instantly the laidback smile on her face faded. Between the key points on the mission and what Lakoda had told her, it was easy to see what she was referring to. In fact, it wasn't surprising to hear that both Conrad and Everette were going along with her. The two of them had been with her for just as long as she had, possibly even longer. Maira then proceeded to smile, then placed a hand on her shoulder. "Count me in, let's get your voice back."
The army around them had backed off for the main villain to step up to bat. The way the mist from the cauldron had swirled around the Horned King reminded him of Kefka and how unpleasant that fight had been. It actually made him sigh in relief that there were a lot more of them here now then there was on that fight. Following behind Boreas, Chrono had attacked with his keyblade using a simple strike of his keyblade and quickly followed up with a fury of blows that ended with Chrono putting distance between himself and the Horned King. Chrono used Ars Solum and Attacked HP: 145/145 MP: 35/35 FOC: 39/50 FLUX: 3/3
Catching up to Maui had been easy enough with their gliders, though the actual convincing of Maui had taken a bit more judging from the spectacle that he had witnessed. he pulled his glider up to the side of the boat and boarded it, dismissing his glider as he did. As soon as he was stable, he turned to look to Maui. It may have been good that they had an objective of sorts now, none of the names that were mentioned rang any bells, which was to be expected, but still. However, the wolf that had started tagging along with them actually growled when this 'Te Ka' person was mentioned. Shame none of them can speak wolf, especially when the wolf in question can actually understand them. "So who or what exactly is this 'Te Ka'?" Kel asked, wanting to know exactly what it was they would be dealing with. It sounded like something that should be pretty intimidating if a demi god was wary of it. Not the most encouraging of things to know, then again Kel wasn't certain what to think of Maui still. Said demi god didn't want to face it without his hook, which could be presumed to be his weapon in instance. Explains why those tally marks were shaped like hooks. "While I'm asking, do you even know how to get to this Lair of Tamatoa?"
