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
Changing Kel's skill commands to Barrier Surge, Fox Taser, Zantesuken, Poison Edge, Fist Bump, Magnify and I suppose I'll use auto aura to start off in Power Aura Also equipping my Fusion Limit with Karina. Don't know if i need to state this, but i have
As they had walked through town, Chrono glanced around to see if there were any missing person posters of himself posted. A few times he did think he saw some, but it wouldn't be good if he attracted attention to himself by standing next to it. The event at the plaza had done a good job of holding most people's attention and the ones who didn't simply didn't pay much attention to them. Which served to make Chrono feel a little bit better as a whole. Chrono's eyes had settled on the stage after looking up to see how much time was left until the event started and soon spotted the man he's wanted to see rot in a jail cell for so long. He moved his hood as far up as he possibly could to further obscure himself. Being towards the back of the crowd helped too. Being spotted by this guy of all people would end horribly. I'll make sure you get what's coming to you. With that thought of vengeance, Chrono eyes fell to the blue haired man just as Chrys exclaimed what he assumed to be his name. At least it wasn't Koa, that would've been another layer of stress that he didn't need right now. "Its Chrono." He could only assume that 'Stopwatch' was referring to him. "Typically they make all the high-end stuff. Computers, televisions, a few hoverboards, each thing one-upping the last product they released." That being said, just what were they planning on showing off that would need this big of a presentation?
Fost's suggestion had reminded him of what Torrin had told him and once again he didn't feel like testing that theory, even if the numbers advantage was still on their side. Perhaps Ardyn was just here to observe them. It didn't make him feel completely better about his presence in general, but if he didn't do anything while here then it would be much appreciated. Hopefully the same could be said about whichever of the Light Chaser's student happened to be here as well. The sound of an engine above hand drawn Chrono's attention up towards the airship as his sister called attention to it, the name of the company was proudly displayed in the ad. Unpleasant memories were stirred and his fist tightened as a result. "'Don't miss out on the future', must be something big." Chrono took in a breath, tearing his eyes away from the airship and venturing towards central plaza.
Kel felt bad for Sora as he presumed friend had just told him that he would just get in the way. He somewhat understood what that felt like, but in the same vein, he barely knew how to help himself in those moments. Which made it a lot better when Beuce, Luna and...the other guy had gone to talk to him. Speaking of the other guy, he'd just finished giving Sora his keyblade (that he apparently had) when Karina had gone over to smack him. By the time Kel had gotten over there, he was given his reasoning why. "I'm all for giving a kid a means to defend himself, but I'd much prefer the piece of wood than a weapon he doesn't know how to use. They did also get eaten by this whale too ya know." He said upon arriving, then turn to Karina with a wave. "Sup. Good to see you're back."
They hadn't gotten far when the communicator went off and on the other end was Fost with really just a warning for Chrys. The last of trust for her was still clear and not something that would be easily fixed. "He also claimed that the Light Chaser's students already have both armor and whatever weapons you could make from Orichalcum, is there anything else it can be used for?" It was still bugging Chrono that they were here in the first place. Even if what Ardyn said was a lie, there was no way they just happened to be here at the same time they were. He followed behind Tinarah as he tried not to overthink things before anything was made clear.
Chrono only narrowed his eyes at Ardyn's response, very much aggravated by it. Not only did they have him keeping a very much unwanted eye on them, but it seemed that there was a chance of someone else being been here as well. Least that was what Chrono assumed based off Ardyn singling out Chrys. He didn't really say much as he followed his sister out of the alley as he really just wanted a distraction from what had just occurred. That small bud of anxiety within him had only started to grow as a result.
