After some much needed rest they had gotten on a ship and left for Halloween Town. There was some comfort in the ship piloting itself to their destination. More comforting than the idea of one of them pressing the wrong button and killing the oxygen again. Thankfully that wouldn't happen with the auto pilot right? Well it was a possibility it was one that didn't happen as they landed in a creepy forest. "Is that a...Christmas tree?" Kel mused. He recognized the turkey and the egg, albeit a weird color, was still an egg. Of course he couldn't explain why they were all carved into trees, but the he got closer to that tree in particular and yeah. That was definitely a Christmas tree.
Between both Karina holding on and his own efforts to keep himself calm, Kel was able to focus less on the water he definitely didn't want to fall into and more so on keeping his balance. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep him stable until Shiro had finally called this test to an end. A noticeable breath of relief left him, allowing him to feel much more comfortable. It was good to be on land and know the multitude of doubts he held were his main problem. At this point, he'd practically figured that one out himself. Speaking of he was certain to make sure that the glasses he'd gotten from DJ were affixed properly on his face during the meeting. If nothing else hopefully the chances of running into the Red Society would be less while they were in Halloweentown. "I can only imagine." He'd said pretty nonchalantly in response to Karina. He would gladly welcome it having spent the whole day training. "Oh and thanks for the help back on the raft, it did help."
Whatever level of calmness that Kel generally displayed was teetering on the same edge he was on this raft. Sometimes he had it easy and was able to stay relatively balanced on the raft. Other, much like what had just occurred, they hit a particularly nasty wave that really knocked him off balance. Kel ended up tipping forward enough to almost fall into the water, but the raft rocked the other way which allowed him to regain his balance. Okay, maybe this was going to be harder than he thought. Prior to all this, he's never had any problem with water. Sure he's never been on a boat or really went swimming all too much. Now, it might be something to take into consideration the way this test was currently going. Another crash of thunder, another wave hit, and once more Kel was fighting to keep his balance when Karina had grabbed onto him. After her encouragement, he took in a deep breath mainly to calm the internal struggle before worrying about the external one. "You're right, I can do this." He said and repeated to himself to firmly plant that in his head.
"Oh no." Due to the events the past two times Kel had been on either a raft or a shift, the fact that their final test was balancing on one bothered him a lot more than it normally would've and the storm only made it worse. He could do this, he just had to stand on the edge and not fall off despite how very clear it was how on edge this was putting him on which had a small effect on his balance. He could hear his dad's parting words on how a Siegend never loses their cool and realize that this wasn't at all where he'd thought that this would be put to the test.
Kel felt thankful for Ven's arrival as it actually gave them time to rest that Shiro surely would've cut short otherwise. So he gave Ven a weak wave to show both his appreciation and to acknowledge that he was here and not too long after his hand plopped back onto the ground and he was back to resting. For a brief moment, he thought he'd seen more than one AJ, but wasn't in the right state of being to try and make heads or tails of it.
Unfortunately Kel didn't really have any magic that would help him climb up the wall and the auras he did have wouldn't be of much assistance here either, thus meaning he would have to do things the old fashion way to make it across the finish line. He took in a breath and tried to stretch as best he could underneath all the additional weight and sprinted towards the wall. The climb started immediately after and Kel focused on a singular thought. Make it to the top. Don't think about the extra weight, how tired he was, or anything else. Everything was focused on that one task and eventually paid off as he reached the top and literally fell across the finish line. Well despite how wore out he felt, he made it and that was good enough found him while gave his body a much-needed break for as long as he could.
Karina was trying to eat her snowball when the heat was turned up and turned the snow to water, which was harder to contain in her hand but she tried to get as much in her mouth as possible. "I certainly don't miss my coat now." She mumbled as she looked at Kel and his layers of clothing. Listening to Shiro's explanation a sense of dread filled Karina at the task ahead. It was difficult just to stand up, and now they had to make sure that Faust kept up with them. Shiro shouted go, but there was no instant running, instead Karina got to her feet and turned to Faust. "Alright, you need to speed things up despite the heat, come on, lets get started, Kel can go first up the climbing wall and help you at the top, I can give you a boost from the bottom the best I can. All of us have to try and keep up a jog despite the heat and weight. Now lets get going." She said waiting till the other two started so she could pick up the rear. Kel's attempts at using the snowball for a source of water had been short-lived when the frozen tundra had suddenly become a scorching desert. He would've attempted to take off at least one layer of his clothing, but the intense pressure made standing up take most of his strength and he didn't want to wear himself out before even getting to the course. With a nod Kel attempted to jog forward towards the wall. His body felt like he was trying to run a full sprint even with him just managing to break the pace for a jog. The same amount of effort was needed to actually make it up the wall. Nevertheless with the same effort he managed to reach the top and hold his hand out back down for Faust to grab onto when he got close enough. Faust huffed as he got up off the floor after Shiro seemed to turn the snowy environment to its polar opposite as well as seeming to make it twice as hard to move. Giving his aching body a slight stretch and quickly taking a swig form his flask under his hip cape before taking off after Kel. He could really cover his body in lightning after running that long stretch before though he did have an idea. Giving a few test hops as he jogged over to the first wall. Seeing as Kel was all ready at the top of the wall holding a hand for him would really help him in this. when Faust took one small step to jump higher off the wall before he cast a Blizzaga at the floor. A single pillar of ice rising swiftly launching him the rest of the way to grab Kel’s hand. As he struggled with his other to grab the top ledge. Well that was an inventive use of magic but it still didn't get him all the way. Kel grabbed him but it wasn't enough, they still had to get Faust up. Karina forced herself to jog, even though her body did not want to cooperate with her as she did. She told Kel and Faust they had to, so she had to as well. When she got to climbing wall, Karina grabbed the rope and fought through the sweat and pain to get up the wall enough to use her shoulder to boost Faust a bit while still keeping all limbs hanging on the wall. She didn't dare let go when the gravity threatened to pull her down almost immediately. There had already been once weight on his arm alone from just holding his arm down to catch Faust, but once he had grabbed hold the weight increased significantly until Karina assisted on her climb upward. Both of these factors together allowed for Kel to be able to pull Faust up onto the ledge before reaching down to do the same for Karina despite the immense pressure Karina looked up at Kel' hand but didn't reach for it. "Save your strength, this is just the first obstacle, keep going and I will catch up." Let them figure out how to get across the next obstacle. She was already too tired, too sweaty, none of them could afford to waste extra strength they didn't have. She would get over this herself. With little choice that he had, Kel nodded before pulling his hand arm up and proceeding to the next obstacle. The monkey bars. What was easy as pie for the last trial was not exponentially harder with the added weight they had on them. Though an idea did spark in Kel's head who turned to looked at Faust. "Do you think you can use your magic to make a bridge across this? I should be able to use my aura to maintain its form and you use your magic to keep it up." Looking across the distance that the monkey bars took up wasn't too long, so a pillar of ice wouldn’t be too out of the question. Faust wasn't too sure on how long it would hold in this heat though but if it did it wouldn’t be quite the bad idea. Looking over to Kel as he began to channel his magic he called out “I’ll try but not to sure how long it’ll last” casting out a blizzaga forming a pillar of ice that stretched out across the gap underneath the monkey bars. The ice of the pillar bridge crunched slightly under his feet as he slid across the surface of ice before looking back at Kel waving him over calling out “seems to be fine, pretty slick thinking friend!” Karina took a moment to catch up but she did as Kel and Faust seemed to be coming up with a plan. "You guys use the bridge, I will do these properly and utilize the melting ice." It would cool the bars down. She could go faster if she wasn't waiting for them, though the bridge made it hard to actually use the monkey bars properly, she could shimmy her way down the side though. It was hard to keep her grip but Karina started to make her way across, shimmying and gritting her teeth. Something that was once easy now was nearly impossible. Faust may have had less added gravity than they did, but Kel was glad to see that the bridge was able to hold up his weight. He gave Faust a quick thumbs up before stepping onto the ice platform himself, the ice immediately started to strain itself underneath his weight. Utilizing his aura here helped to replace where the ice was starting to crack as he stepped further on it. The next step gave him more room to work with as he slid across the ice to the other side. Now to figure out how to conquer the next obstacle while Karina was working her way to join them. Karina's arms were shaking as she was half way through. She couldn't do it.... No she had to. She had to keep going or else they would all lose. Pushing forward Karina managed to get her feet on the ground on the other side. She looked at the next obstacle, it shouldn't be that hard for any of them. They just needed to learn to lift their legs high. It was just the tires that they had to run through. Though even that seemed like a challenge. "Think you can do this one yourself Faust." Karina asked. If not she would just carry him. Seeing as Kel and Karina had made it past the monkey bars with Karina asking if he thought he could make it. Faust panted slightly as he nodded before taking off through the tires. His body felt weird under the extra stress of the gravity, his legs protesting with the extra effort to lift high as he passed across the tires. when he made it through he gave a tired thumbs up to the other two. Faust made it across but taking the time to think through everything they did and question it was getting long. Karina glanced around for indication of how much time they had left, and feared it wasn't enough. She however refused to lose. She needed this extra boost. She wouldn't get defeated again. "Faust, get on my back I am going to push as fast as I can towards the finish." Karina instructed trying to build up the extra strength needed.
The next run of the course had been like clockwork as he went through the same motions as before by utilizing his own aura while keeping pace with Karina. She was far enough that he could still see her as he chased behind her, but never close enough for him to be able to pass and take the lead from her. Her speed was definitely showing here as while he could start sprinting to pass her, that would wear him out faster and give her an easy opening to pass him. His aura started to wane on him on his third time through the course, allowing some of the cold to start affecting him. It still wasn't enough to have any hindering effects on him even if it meant he would need to change up his game plan slightly moving forward especially as fatigue started to catch up him with towards the end. The fourth run was when his body started showing signs of fatigue. His breathing became more labored and it was more of a struggled to keep up a steady pace. The distance between Karina and himself had widened over time. What truly decided that was when he lacked the momentum to breeze through monkey bars and nearly slipped off of them. His grip however remained firm and he was able to power through the last run before finally reaching the end. Once again his legs just wanted to cave in and rest and again Kel, for better or worse, remained standing in spite of that. "That settles it." Kel started in between taking in some deep breaths. "You're definitely faster than me now."
Kel watched as Karina lit her own aura ablaze to combat the cold before running on ahead and soon Faust had done the same. Following suite he let the coldness of his own aura envelope him, practically nullifying the coldness brought on by the weather, and took off on the obstacle course. While his aura prevented the cold from bothering him, it didn't make him immune to any of the build-up of snow and weather on the course. So he still needed to tread carefully up the rope climb to make sure that he wouldn't slip up and fall, the trip down on the other hand was made easier with the ice at his feet allowing him to slide down and to the monkey bars, where the slipperiness of the bars allowed him to gain momentum to get processing forward. The last climbing wall was handled similarly to the rope climb, with patience and focus that would help him traverse it. His aura held strong at the end of the first lap, but it would not last the whole five laps. Meaning that he would have to make the most of it while he had it.
Watching the simulated track forge itself reminded him greatly of the light cycle competition that he'd participated in on Space Paranoids. Even though the obstacles gave it its own clear distinction from having to crash light rays into other light cycles. Kel watched as at the press of a button things got colder as the weather changed. "Maybe you should've kept your jacket on," He remarked to Karina. With or without his aura on right now, the cold didn't really faze him and not just because he was wearing a jacket with sleeves underneath it. His own aura had been much colder than this right now whenever it was used.
Beyond the desire to have Shiro stop referring to him as Kelford the idea of an obstacle course to strengthen their auras was unexpected, not that he knew what to expect in the first place. He couldn't picture how one obstacle course was gonna help strengthen them to use thier respective auras, but this was the tried and true method it seemed. Whatever it was that awaited them, it was sure to be instense if the intent was to still 'break thier bodies' as Shiro so fondly put it before. Hopefully the glasses hat DJ had just given him could withstand it as while it made more sense to take them off now, he didn't think it was wise to do so and give Nequa a spying eye again on thier training session.
Kel wasn't surprised to hear that his aura was ice after watching the orb turn a light blue. He'd figured as much from the times he'd used it and not to mention back on Olympus how ridiculously cold he felt after it had gotten stronger. "Well, it certainly won't be the worst thing I've had to endure." He replied with a quick shrug. Being put in the same class as Karina was expected once strength was mention, but Faust actually was a surprise.
As Kel headed off to find a room for the night, fiddling with the gummiphone had eaten up most of Kel's night so some varying degrees of success. On the one hand he'd figured out the basic uses like turning on and off and actually how to add contacts to it besides the ones already pre added. And on the other hand through messing around with the other functions, he briefly blinded himself in a flash of light. A perfect cue to get some sleep. ~~ It wasn't much sleep that he had gotten, but it was sleep nonetheless. He still had the energy to get up and actually go to the training grounds as agreed yesterday. To see Master Eraqus up and well was nice and to see Master Yen Sid was unexpected, but welcomed all the same. The sunglasses on the other hand were another surprise that he couldn't help but to have some skepticism about, but since DJ was the one handing them to him he would trust his decision. "Well temporary is better than nothing at all." Now he would be able to keep up with the information without risking giving it out to Nequa as well. "Is these going to be an order in which we take these classes?"
Kel stared at the phone he was handed and fiddled with it for a bit. The most he was able to achieve was to turn the screen on and off, one point even getting past that to a vast array of other functions that left him very confused. This was supposed to help them keep in contact? "Maybe that will make more sense once I figure out how this thing works." A daunting task that he would save for later, for now he just pocketed the device and looked to AJ. "The problem with looking now is that DJ left to go take a nap and he's one the people who knows this place and its security system better than anyone else. I'd much prefer him be around if we actually go looking for something like that." If he hadn't come alone, then Orion very well could've just used force to try and get them to agree when it was just Karina and himself alone with him. Instead he just made a plea using their common enemy. "We were just in the training room if you want to punch something."
It wasn't long after 'Terra' had burst through the door that Kel gave chase behind Karina back to the meeting room. Spotting the downed 'Terra' on the floor wasn't expected, but an amusing relief at the very least. "I told you so." He mused. Before turning his attention back to every one to hear what was going to be done about current circumstances just as Karina addressed Aux about his grandfather. "Your grandfather's the one possessing him?" He didn't comment further on that as he didn't know just how much of that Aux would even be willing to share. "He also said something about a secret exit, don't know how true that might be but it does sound like something that should be looked into should it be so."
He could only shake his head as 'Terra' walked past the two of them. "It's equally as amazing as how foolish you are if you think that any of our friends would just agree to help you." Kel retorted as he remained firm before turning to maintain eye contact. Should these 'negotiations' turn to combat, then he wanted to be as ready as possible to react. "Our goals may be the same right now, but beyond that, I don't trust that you don't have some form of ulterior motive."
Even though Kel could see the logic behind his words, there were two main factors that were truly hindering it. The first had been the overall tone he'd spoken in. It wasn't a deal he was giving out of the kindness of his heart, but one to further his own plans. PLans that could come back to bite them later. The next was the general lack of trust Kel had for him. So when Orion looked away from Karina to him, he took in a breath before giving his answer. "Information like that is very given and take. You said you wanted to be part of the seven lights again, that Terra needs to be trained to 'your standards', and what about after that? Who's to say that you won't demand more of us in exchange for the knowledge you're offering. Information like that may be of great use to that, but I won't make a deal with the devil to achieve that. Even if it means forsaking an easy means of getting rid of this damn mark Nequa put on me!" He'd rather deal with that than condemn everyone else to dance in yet another person's hand just to advantage one of the many issues that daunted over them.
Unlike Karina who had her suspicions about Terra laid bare, Kel's own suspicious had been slowly growing throughout the conversation. Certain points did make sense, such as being unable to leave this world as it was the same reason they were unable to use their own gliders to traverse the worlds. Then there were the inconsistencies such as his earlier claims of escaping now turning to him having just woken up here. Not mention the so-called secret exit that sounded way too convenient given what they had to do the leave this world a year ago. "Say we did take you to where Master Eraqus was, what then? You still won't be able to leave this world."
He just escaped? Ven had been turned evil/stuffed into a suit of darkness, Aqua was still MIA and yet Terra was able to escape. It sounded odd to him, but for the sake of not starting any pointless arguments right now, he would keep those doubts to himself. The same sentiment was not shared regarding what Terra had said next. "Warn them about what exactly?" Kel asked, dismissing his keyblade as its purpose had been served. It couldn't have been good and with Ven now tagging along with them, it would affect the rest of them now as well.
As much as it sucked to admit it, Karina did have a point. Their defeat had been sound and it had been proven time and time again that their enemy was more than capable of beating them in combat. Nothing about this really made sense, but he could only hope that it wasn't part of yet another scheme that they were walking right into unknowingly. Just as he was about to speak they were greeted by someone else, them being completely unfamiliar to him and also having a keyblade as well. He couldn't up to raise a brow in surprise when the man introduced himself as Terra. "To answer your first question I'm Kel, that's Karina and as you can see we don't plan on harming you otherwise we would've done so already." He summoned forth his own keyblade to further show that they all were keyblade wielders. "As for your second question, both Ventus and Eraqus are here. I can at least tell you that."
