(How did it come to this? How did they ever get in a jam like this, when they were so brilliant and capable before? The Hydra had been such a complex monstrosity, and yet they had whittled down its heads, from so many to so few, and fought it six-to-three, essentially. Well...four if you include Shadow. The demon dog had been an invaluable asset to Canti from day one. And even though he himself had gotten badly hurt - poisoned, near-dead, and with a broken leg - they did perfectly well...especially when he decided it was easier to die and be resurrected than to deal with a such a leg. And when they'd gotten it down to three heads and the serpent heads wound together with a charge-up phase, had he not struck it just right with a Chaos Spell because he said that
he'd seen that episode? Saved all their butts a helluva lot of trouble, deflecting that! They'd done so well together, beating that monster, and then...they had fallen right into a trap.)
“Xenobia.”
Canti: Well...this is the pits. I suppose you're all wondering why I called you here...
(The gang was all here, it seemed, or enough of them. His group, Sekai's group, and Nall's group. They were now in the presence of the Juk Elite, the hacker who was responsible for his coma, Talal's coma, Sekai's coma... If it weren't for the fact that he simply could not do anyrhing right now, Canti would gladly detonate the room for all the stuff that Xenobia had done, and that included the whole Suraisu issue. He wasn't exactly paying attention to what Nall was doing. He was seething, jaw set and black eyes filled with menace...had anyone taken a moment to look. However, the Elite and the
former Elite were dealing with issues on their own level, and Xenobia had - unfortunately - everyone else in a bind. Nall had decided, given the situation, to take upon one final test for the audience with the owner of this tower. It was kind of shrewd of her to force this, but then again...that was almost to be expected. Now, what it boiled down to, it seemed, was that they were stuck in a
Turn-Based-Combat battle with this Willowman. And apparently, Canti was actually first. So...he started to calm down and get to figuring out what he wanted to do...)
Shadow: Master, you're moving my paw.
Canti: What the- Why's my leg moving?
Shadow: I have an itch.
(The Twin Blade grumbled.)
Canti: Hey, you've got our circuits crossed! Fix that!
(Whoops. Yeah, Canti and Shadow were uncoordinated for their first turn, and were thus in defense until the next one. The situation appeared to be that they had to risrobe the Willowman - which sounded wrong - by finding and probably breaking the now-hidden crystals. He noticed that Talal was listening for them. Perhaps if something big disrupted the area, she would get an idea of where they were faster. Feeling that things were back under his control and properly functional, he prepared as soon as it appeared to be his 'turn' again.)
Canti: Well, I am a bit at a loss, so...when in doubt, nuke the board and see what happens.
(There were a number of ways that he could go about such an undertaking. Perhaps an item, perhaps a black flame attack, or even something else... Canti took a third option, thus calling up a double-action between him and Shadow. They both set upon their Overdrive, Catastrophe, centering it on the Willowman's area. Why? Well, yes, the crystals were the keys to his items and the ties that bind their heavy hitters. Well, this non-elemental power compresses the area, drawing in solid objects around the blast site like an implosion in progress, then makes an EXplosion. If the crystals were near enough to the Willowman, they would be drawn in and - if all went well - affected by the attack. At the very least, something would happen to allow Talal to pinpoint them. It was unexpected, and that was the point.)