Scene #8943: Voyage To The Abyss

Owner	Pose
Hibiki Tachibana	NOON THE PACIFIC OCEAN EN ROUTE TO ??? By now, at least some Elites will be very familiar with S.O.N.G.'s penchant for convenient aerial deployment. Sparing them the need to source their own way to the uncharted isle that their informant bid them towards, a small flight of long-range military helicopters will be spiriting them across the sun-shined calm ocean waves stretching onto the endless horizon. "Presuming that man both spoke the truth and was speaking with full knowledge, success here will likely put an end to my creator Yliaster's machinations." Within one of the aircraft, a girl with azure hair tied up into a ponytail and loose, practical robes speaks up almost mechanically level - that along with her lack of even the tiniest blemish, features /too/ immaculate so as to border on uncanny, marks her as artificial rather than human. Viviane, the turncoat homunculus. "Denied his last desperate grasp to undo his mistakes, he will be left with no more methods of realizing his plans for genocide. His ambitions were responsible for exposing the existence of the Bavarian Illuminati... as well as drawing the attention of an aggressive offworld force that wrought nothing but destruction and loss of a one-of-a-kind artifact." The Titanomachia, surely. "With naught to show for it all, it is likely the other major factions and figures within the Illuminati will collectively cast him out. If not worse." Despite her dispassionate tone, Viviane goes silent with what can be recognized by the scrunching of her face as melancholy. In the gap, someone else speaks up; Hibiki herself, seated with folded arms. "...What we actually gotta do isn't really that complicated. Dive into these ruins, find this path to a long-lost castle that apparently exists, and get this treasure box that messes with time." She shuffles in her chair, frowning. "Dunno if we're getting there first, or if the Illuminati is trying to get in right now. No clue what we'll be running into either. Good Speed said the place is mostly underwater, so..." "So even beyond my personal stake in this, I would like to render my assistance." Viviane withdraws two gold-embellished pearls from within her cloak, fashioned into earrings. "...I once used these Relics of ebb and flow, these tide jewels, to fight on my creator's behalf. Now I plan to them to help open the path forward." There's a pause, before she lilts her head to the side and flatly adds on, "Literally. As much as metaphorically." Perhaps in her manner of a joke, she gestures to a window and the ocean beyond.
Hibiki Tachibana	Speaking of-- in the distance about then, verdant land finally breaks up the infinite blue expanse. Yet even from afar, it's... off. Off at a fifteen degree angle or so, to be exact. As if some higher power thought it'd be funny to take a perfectly normal island and tilt it a bit, the vaguely circular plot of forested earth has one half rising high out up from the ocean, rocky cliffs and layers of bared clay trailing down from its edge and terminating steeply before they ever touch the waves. And on the other side, saying the place was half-submerged was no exaggeration. Greenery simply inclines down below sea level, becoming wetlands that eventually grow too deep to maintain treelife. The rare elevated patches of land that once might've been large hills still stand tall enough to have their sides push out from below as new summits, but they're not all - this end of the isle is where the sole structure on it lies. In a sense, given it's 'only' a portion of it that still rises up into open visibility. Ancient and worn away stonework of deep cyan, eroded by ocean air and time both, adorned with worn statues of long-faded details, makes up a massive rectangular rooftop that towers over even the highest of tides. Several more stories are able to glimpsed shimmering beneath the currents before vanishing too far into the depths to see; the construction must go down deep, and it must also be suitably gigantic. "...Weird island. And this doesn't exactly look like a palace to me," Hibiki says loudly over the sound of spinning rotors, given she shamelessly swings open one of helicopter bay doors to lean out and overlook the area once they close in. "So I guess it might be the ruins we were told would have the key to get there. We could try finding some way in from up top here?" "Or from the intended... /formerly/ intended front entrance, now certainly well beneath the waves." The homunculus leans out as well, robes whipping in the wind and her inexpressive gaze on the water's surface. "Should we wish to descend and proceed that way, I should be able to maintain a pocket of air to allow for safe passage. That is not to say it will be a simple journey. Just perhaps a more straightforward one." Of course, the first big decision will have to be what actual way in the gang wants to go for. Breaking in from the rooftop, large and old enough it probably has /some/ form of ingress? Going undersea and trusting in Viviane to take the front door? Splitting up to do both? Or some alternative option...
Roxas	A swirling, ominously dark portal opens up abruptly in the middle of the aircraft. This would normally be incredibly bad news, and probably precipitate the appearance of an unwinnable boss that you've never heard of and who forces you to go find new seasonal power-ups to interact with. It's a little early for that, though. A much less ominous Roxas pokes his head through, postured so that it's very obvious he's leaning in from the other side and holding onto something there. "Uhhh, hi! Why does your airplane connect to the Corridors of Darkness?" He wonders, very obviously confused that he would be spat out here. This isn't really a teleporter accident, though. The corridors associate with all sorts of things, and while most of them grimy, sometimes they're only metaphorically so. Which is to say, for instance, when you're nearing an especially dangerous place with particularly grim stakes being involved in what you're doing. He was apparently just in time to hear the back end of the planning, because he comments, "Water dungeons are usually pretty bad... though if it's just a 'water corridor' and nobody reasonable expects you to actually take it, it can be a pretty okay time!" It's only at this time that he actually notices Hibiki, who he's familiar enough with-- though it's certainly been a while. That immediately prompts him to stop hanging half-out of the portal, stepping out of it and letting it shut behind him while he scratches his head. "Oh, hey, Hibiki. I guess if you're here it's probably pretty serious stuff, huh? Do you need a hand, or should I head on back to Shibuya?" It's probably not necessary to re-brief just for this guy, but he sure didn't have convenient timing for showing up unannounced on a moving vehicle.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"Quite the presumptions to make, aren't they?" "You're worrying too much, Jeanne. He'd have more to lose being wrong than being right, anyway." "I'm not worrying one bit! If he turns out to be wrong, we'll just have a flashier escape." "I'm sure it'll be fine, Master. Miss Jeanne. And if it works out, our work here'll be finished!" Like most times since the start of this impromptu campaign to stop the machinations of Viviane's creator, the trio of Ritsuka, Mash, and Jeanne are all gathered into the aircraft alongside everyone. The first is dressed in a whole lot of black between a light jacket, shorts, and hose with the only splashes of non-black color coming from an orange top with yet more black trim, some detailing on her boots, and a thin red neck ribbon. The second and third are both clad in actual armor, both in black with purple accents, but neither of them appear to have any actual weaponry on them. The three listen closely as Viviane and Hibiki lay out the plan and the goal, and they too scrunch their faces up when Hibiki mentions that the place is underwater. None of them are particularly terrible swimmers, but deep divers they are not. Roxas' sudden arrival has Mash moving into a defensive position between him and Ritsuka on reflex, but neither Ritsuka nor Jeanne seem worried one bit. "Hi! Did you accidentally catch a connecting flight? Welcome aboard Air Song, and enjoy your stay!" Ritsuka claps her hands together, getting her head back on the topic of getting into the ruins. "If the Illuminati is after the box, too, then it's a race! You think Good Speed would want in on this?" "Do you think his car could survive in the ocean...?" "He's mad enough to make it work." "That poor car..." After that bit of idle speculation, however, Viviane reveals a different path that might not require diving suits. They take about five seconds to exchange glances, then turn to Viviane and Hibiki and... "..." "..." "The roof." The relative silence prompts Mash to look over in confusion as Ritsuka nods encouragingly at her and Jeanne just stares off into space, trying not to smirk at the Shielder's apparent confusion. Mash takes a moment to recollect herself, then speaks up again with more of Ritsuka's encouragement. "It might not be the most surprising route like Mister..." Mash doesn't know Roxas name, but so she gestures at him with both hands to try and be as polite about that as she can. "... Um. He said, but it's a safe route, and we might need Miss Viviane's power to leave quickly if the whole place starts collapsing once we get the box. And if we catch the Illuminati inside already, we'll have higher and somewhat dryer ground to approach and exit from."
UFO Gang	After a mysterious portal appears... "Hi!" chirps one of the PART TIME WELFARE SPECIAL DETAIL! The Part Time Welfare Special Detail-- are people in the part-timers crew for the Lobotomy Company Welfare Division! And they are SPECIAL! And DETAILED! Just look at those pixels! The one who just greeted Roxas is MINAMITSU, a young woman in a sporty sailor uniform. She has an employee badge pinned to one blouse pocket, and has a big anchor and a small ladle with her. The ladle's bottom is broken. "What's a Corridor of Darkness?" Sitting next to Minamitsu is NAZRIN, a girl with mouse-ears. She looks shifty and up to something. She had been fiddling with a pair of dowsing rods, which for some reason point abruptly and directly towards Roxas and his portal. She puts them down afterwards. Nazrin is also notable for wearing an enigmatic white helmet with a red searchlight bar on top, a visor that's pulled down slow low it's completely enclosing her head, and the cryptic glyph in black block letters, 'SPOCK,' on the helmet's front. After this question to Roxas, Minamitsu squirms to face Hibiki. "Since we're part-timers, we probably shouldn't make the call, but land or sea is fine by us! I can control water, but I don't think it's going to work great if there's sections open to the sea... pushing stuff out of a flooded area is easier than trying to make a space under water. Though if you CAN MAKE air -" "I'm here under protest," says Nazrin, "but since it sounds like the sooner you find this treasure, the better for everyone... just show me a picture, or tell me its 'proper name.'" "They would have had to take a boat here, right?" Minamitsu asks Mash. "Or one of those underwater boat things I hear they've invented."
Petra Soroka	Petra sits across from Hibiki in the helicopter, hands in her lap awkwardly. Absent hostility, and in a (for a limited definition) public space, it's hard to strike up any kind of conversation with Hibiki to fill the hours of travel time necessary to cross the Pacific Ocean in a helicopter. She's not particularly close with the agents coming along either, or with any of the other assorted Elites, so she doesn't have any strong relationship that she can use to pass the time. The time, however, must still be passed. Petra taps on her phone for a short while after the helicopter has left the coast beyond over the horizon, presumably having music, or books, or games, already downloaded onto it, but it isn't that often that Elite work demands uneventful travel over the completely uninhabited Earth. When she eventually gives up on that, there's faltering attempts at conversation, mostly successful with Angela herself, but even though the Eggpack is present, Angela's still at work in the facility-- regardless of what she wants, it's not feasible for her to pay attention during the entire long stretch of travel time. At one point, Petra twists around in her uncomfortable little seat to look out the porthole window behind her. She dully watches the endless grey water go by, and thinks without saying out loud, I spy... with my little eye... something grey. Wow. I fucking hate the open ocean. Desperation and its newfound status in her mind as an idle fidgeting tool that also advances a goal-- practicing-- leads Petra to even pull a guitar out of her compact mirror; one that's noticeably too worn to have been acquired firsthand, with a taco sticker slapped on it that says 'El Grullense'. Of course, riding in a military helicopter is one of the least smooth and quiet transit experiences possible-- there's no way for her to actually play it, even casually, which she's immediately grateful for after realizing she would've set herself up for having a captive audience that includes a music student. "Oh, thank god." Petra pulls herself back inside the open door, where she'd been leaning her entire body out and only holding on to a support rail inside by one hand so that she could smoke in the rushing wind without hotboxing everyone. The island's appearance provides a task, so Petra's brain starts working normally again as Hibiki and Viviane go through the situation. "You know, I just thought of something," Petra pouts thoughtfully, then gives the Eggpack a rhythmic tap where she left it on her seat to alert Angela that stuff is happening now. "What's the plan after? We stop Yliaster's new genocide idea, save the world, he gets... voted out of the Illuminati... and then what do we do with him? Like, if he happens to be swimming around down there, are we just... arresting him? That doesn't seem super likely."
Petra Soroka	A guy appears! Petra, not recognizing his voice or knowing his face, just stares wide-eyed at him while he chatters, her cigarette slipping from her slack lips and immediately being ripped away by the wind. Then, belatedly, she processes something Roxas says, and lights up in recognition. "Oh! The Corridors of Darkness! Like Xion does! You're Roxas, right?" Petra gives him a little wave, all of her reservations about the portal-boy instantly resolved. "It's Petra, from earlier." "Water dungeons..." Taking Roxas's phrasing automatically, Petra moves on to actually considering the question they were posed. While thinking, she presses her forearm against the base of her t-shirt, to keep it from flying upwards from the updraft as the helicopter begins to descend to the island. "We've got that opening from the top, sure... but we're going to be underwater soon enough anyways, right? And if we're going to a main chamber in the ruins, to find a... key... oh, man, I hope it's in an obvious location and not in some, like, Atlantean coral desk drawer...." A key is such a small object to find, when it comes to the ocean. "Then we'll want to be going into it from the main doors, right? People design buildings in a way that makes them easy to navigate when you're approaching them from the perspectives they expect you to come from. They don't expect you to come through the roof."
Angela	Central Team seems to be the team that typically gets involved in SONG operations (though this particular case there's like representatives from three teams as it turns out). But it makes sense Central specifically is here. They have a strong attachment to Hibiki, Hibiki's school, Hibiki's government... This is a pretty big operation but Lobotomy Corp is still recovering from the Gebura meltdown. It is actually A BIT OF EFFORT to fix two eradicated elevator shafts that serve as the main focal point between the various floors of the facility. Binah, who has been saying 'Hey I'm ready for my turn' pretty much the day after Gebura's Meltdown has essentially been told she's not allowed to yet. Binah, who doesn't want anybody to think she kicked L Corp while it was down, agreed to wait until the best time for everyone. Hopefully there is time enough to wait because The City seems to be getting a closer and closer view of L Corp. Enemies could show up at any moment--it's not like they'd get warning. Angela herself is in the Eggpack today with Petra--and so the Central Team is on the helicopter as well. She has been friendly with Petra and chatting but she does, as mentioned, have to actually do her real job periodically. With the damage to the facility--she has to work a bit harder at preventing further facility collapse. She returns when Petra taps the pack. "...I suppose that is up to SONG, isn't it?" Angela asks. "I at least have no desire to take on the responsibility of deciding how to protect this world." She feels she's got plenty to do already! "Hibiki, have you 'arrested' anyone before?" Rose and Nikki are murmuring to one another, worrying about current events in the City and also--in Rose's part--a recital that she has coming up! A BOY APPEARS! "woah!" Rose says. "--Are you uh. Oh. That voice is ... Roxas right? Heey. I'm Rose, this is Nikki and that's--Angela and Petra." She nods in their direction. "One of Bikki's friends? Nice to meet--Is that island TILTED?" She presses her face on a window to gawk at it. "I didn't...even know that was possible, wow... That sure is somethin'!" Rose admits in her western drawl. Nikki throws a wave but is more accustomed with spooky powers. "I think if we're trying to stop him and find out more, we probably should... take the quiet approach? I don't know--what do you think Bikki?" Angela looks towards NAZRIN and MINAMITSU. "My agents cannot breathe underwater..." She supplies, barely aware of what's going on. ''But we're goin to be underwater soon enough anyways, right?'' "Mm, it would be stealthier, certainly." Angela admits. "If we are already going underwater. Faster by the sound of it too?"
Hibiki Tachibana	Uhhh, hi! Why does your airplane connect to the Corridors of Darkness? "I... dun... no?" Hibiki says, going from 'mission ready' to 'completely flat-footed' after Roxas casually pokes in. She sounds entirely right about that, though. She has no idea why a Corridor of Darkness would lead here of all places, specifically right now. Maybe all of Petra's talk about narrative has more to it than she thought. It's a few seconds before she gets over her surprise enough to actually recognize him. "--Wait, Roxas!?" It sure has been a while - there's something of a guilty twinge when she realizes, knowing he's close to Xion and... well, everything that went on there. But she shakes it off (for now) and straightens up, scratching her cheek at the implication she's around for serious things. She'd like to hope that's true. "No, I'd... appreciate the help, if you got the time. I'm not the best with 'water dungeons' myself." "Hopefully, I might ease that burden somewhat. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Roxas." Viviane intones flatly yet genuinely, adding on after Petra, "If you are a comrade of Xion, your assistance is very welcome indeed." She done a healthy amount of Elite research to be confident of this. "I'm here under protest," says Nazrin, "but since it sounds like the sooner you find this treasure, the better for everyone... just show me a picture, or tell me its 'proper name.'" "Ah. Are you a sort of treasure hunter, Miss Nazrin? That will be immensely helpful." Viviane nods, the ghost of a grateful smile on her face before returning to neutral. "What we are searching for is a jeweled, ornate box holding the ability to lock away time. Though our informant did not furnish us with a name, given it was connected to a story of an undersea kingdom dubbed Urashima..." "...Then despite differences from the traditional tale, I believe we are searching for our world's version of the 'tatamebako', that shows in stories of Urashima Taro. Is that sufficient information?" If the Illuminati is after the box, too, then it's a race! You think Good Speed would want in on this? "If you say his name, he might actually appear..." Hibiki says this in the vein of not wanting something as ridiculous as driving off one of the world's largest waterfalls to happen again, before glancing to the Lobcorp crew and Petra. "I mean, I don't think I've /arrested/ anyone...?" She starts unsurely, then thinks for a moment, glancing to Viviane while the homunculus speaks to Nazrin. "She's wanted to try showing him that he's in the wrong. See if there's anything left that can be pulled back." "...I don't really know until we get to talk with him. I guess the question is if it'll be after this, or if we'll run into him here..."
Roxas	"Wasn't really accidental," Roxas replies to Jeanne, resting a hand on his hip and shifting his weight towards that side. "It's normal not to know what the connection points are in the corridors unless you poke a head in. So I did!" When he's asked what a Corridor of Darkness is, he makes a thoughtful noise and explains, "It's sort of like the cracks between everything? A little bit like space except it applies even where there isn't any space, and it's sort of parallel to material existence... but uh, it's also not really noncorporeal either? It's a weird, self-contradicting place." The explanation just sort of trails off there, and Petra calls attention to him-- mentioning Xion seems to perk him up a little, though his overall demeanor is relentlessly energetic. He shifts from one foot to the other and nods, "Yeah! I remember you. Great to meet you in person. Uh, if you wanna shake hands we can, but I've been in some strange places in the last twenty minutes, so I'd give it another seven minutes or so to let the ectoplasm stop existing." He lifts a hand illustratively-- it's a subtle sort of sheen against his skin, like somebody made completely clear jell-o -- there but easily missed. "What kinda key are you looking for? I mean, is it a key shaped key, or a card shaped key, or a rock that acts like a key..." He gestures loosely with one hand as he talks. There are many kinds of keys! He would know. "Hi, Rose!" Roxas waves animatedly, pauses, and dials it back a notch so he isn't at risk of slinging ectoplasm around. "And hello, Nikki, Angela! Uh, same thing as her, if you want a touchy greeting it's best to wait." Folding his arms over his chest, he paces down the length of the vehicle, "Sounds like everybody's voting for the water entrance... but if one cluster of people can't handle underwater adventuring, maybe we should do a pincer kinda deal? Splitting up in spooky sealed places is usually a bad idea, though..." His attention swings towards Hibiki. "Oh, I'm fine with them, they just kinda suck. Like, even when you finish them it's just not very satisfying, you know?" Another reeled-in enthusiastic wave is aimed at Viviane. "She's got a big reputation, huh? Well, that's no surprise! She is pretty great." Letting his arms fall back to his sides, he rocks back and forth in place, and says, "Hoping for a less sad outcome, huh... I don't mind helping with that, but sometimes the pendulum just won't swing back, you know? If it's an outcome you need instead of an outcome you want... that's an important distinction, okay?"
Hibiki Tachibana	After various debating back and forth, the group consensus seems to be leaning on going for the immediate undersea adventure, likely to Mash's dismay. But both her and Minamitsu in particular get a reassuring nod from the azure-haired alchemist among them. "If you wish to split our forces, I have no complaints. But with Miss Minamitsu as a backup, I think we should manage. Still. Do not expect the 'safe area', such as it will be, to be terribly large. Consider it akin to..." She pauses to think, recalling Roxas' water dungeon metaphor. "...a spot to stop and refill on air." But with everyone (mostly) in agreement, the only thing left to do is get a move on. Viviane leans forward... and then jumps out, plummeting down toward the sea. Right before she breaks the waves however, those pearlescent earrings in her possession shine - and the currents part all on their own. Unnaturally so, a several meter-wide cyndrilical gap in the ocean splitting beneath her feet as if invisible walls had pushed them aside. She falls and falls, and falls further still... ...until maybe a hundred feet straight down, on the now-silty and sandy ground of the submerged half of the island, she touches down - a hexagonal alchemical circle, bright blue, breaks her fall and remains in place. Presumably to catch anyone else who can't make a plunge like that safely. Hibiki, watching that, glances towards Mash and her retinue. "Well... if you wanna go the rooftop after all, I'll tag along. If not... uh, after you?" Once everyone has made it down (or otherwise), and Viviane has reined in the break in the sea into a sphere just big enough to be comfortable around them... being down here reveals towering sight of the ruined structure in front of them, details obscured by the darkness of the depths. But errant illumination from within provide enough luminesence to take in the truly massive silhouette of the building-- as well as the looming gateway, far bigger than necessary for any human, ahead of them. Proceeding ahead as the area of safety moves with Viviane at its center, Petra is proven right that this seems be a quicker path towards a presumable main chamber; moving past a foyer-like open area takes them into truly gigantic hallways carved out of the same bluish stone seen before, with cyan lights seemingly sourced from an unnaturally bright form of moss, spaced out among soaring arches. Despite the scale, it's not all that long before they come across...
Hibiki Tachibana	"...I would guess some brand of mechanism must move it. What sort, I do not know, if they would even still function after so long down here." Viviane shifts her eyes up, observing one of the chiseled, deteriorated constructions in the room. "Perhaps these were once 'Atlantean desk drawers', and it'd be as simple as sifting through the rubble...?" She genuinely sounds like she's entertaining the idea (or maybe that's just her flat tone) before she shakes her head. "...No. I doubt this 'key' we are searching for is a literal one, such as it is. Still, we will need to find a path ahead some way or another. Whether that be scouring in here, or another way of unbarring the path ahead..." "So much for a straight path... not sure even I can punch a hole through that, either. Maybe...?" Hibiki begins bummed out, then seems to get a second wind as she dashes ahead at the water Viviane is holding at bay - and dives into the water proper, swimming ahead to start shoving stray debris aside. Maybe she also bought the 'we'll just conveniently find what we're looking for in here if we look hard enough' idea. Either way, the first true obstacle; in this gargantuan ruined chamber, there needs to be a way past the solid rock pillar barring the way forward. Whether that'll be done through searching the area for some intended method, somehow brute forcing it, or entirely otherwise, is up in the air. If it's an outcome you need instead of an outcome you want... that's an important distinction, okay? With a moment to consider this, on belated delay, Viviane lowers her head somewhat. "...I am still yet unsure which it might be. And I am unsure of how I might reconcile it one way or the other."
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"They would have had to take a boat here, right?" "Or one of those underwater boat things I hear they've invented." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Like, we're not not going underwater." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Going in through the roof is just delaying it for a... minute or two." "Mm, it would be stealthier, certainly." "If we are already going underwater. Faster by the sound of it too?" <J-IC-Scene> Mash Kyrielight says, "That's true... But if the Illuminati is already coming in from underwater with those submarines Miss Minamitsu mentioned... Oh, wait, but if they came in through the top already..." Even with Ritsuka's encouragement and Jeanne's general indifference, Mash finds herself unable to really come up with further reasons to take the entry from the top of the the structure. "That sounds like the case, yes... Hmm. I didn't even think of it from those angles before.." She comments with an understanding nod, convinced easily enough that going through the main ocean-based entrance would be the better plan. She even shakes her head at Viviane suggesting a split. "That's alright. I think it'll be better to focus our efforts on one spot, anyway. If the goal is to remove any support Yliaster's plans, showing up as a... A wrecking ball to overwhelm his plans outright should be even more convincing to any of the Illuminati thatmight be watching us somehow." "If you say his name, he might actually appear..." While Mash listens closely to tactical considerations, Ritsuka's focus is more on potential spanners in the works that could come out of nowhere. "Really? That could be... Hmm." She pauses, tapping her chin lightly after a few moments. "That could really go either way, yeah. It'd sure make things exciting, but that kind of excitement surrounded by the ocean might be a little too much." "It's normal not to know what the connection points are in the corridors unless you poke a head in. So I did!" "Won't know unless you try! Wonder if I could pull that off with teleportation spells some day..." Ritsuka agrees with a firm nod, letting her mind wander a bit. Jeanne, meanwhile, raises an eyebrow when Roxas perks up at Xion's name being mentioned. "Casually dropping into places, are you? Are you a friend of hers?" The trio doesn't linger to chat things up for long, of course, as it's soon time to get to work! Hibiki gets a quick nod from Mash and company, who seem to have a little trouble coordinating their pre-descent checks since Ritsuka's trying to get Mash princess-carry her, Mash is trying to get Ritsuka onto her back, and Jeanne keeps threatening to kick them both off if they don't hurry up. Eventually, though, Ritsuka relents and gets on Mash's back, and they descend alongside everyone! They move along with the crew, too, with the Shielder taking point while Jeanne follows from the side to form a protective V-shape with Ritsuka in the middle. Ritsuka watches Hibiki rush into the water for a brute force approach, and she looks over at Jeanne who seems to get what she's already about to ask. "We can't do that. We don't know if this place will crumble around us if Miss Jeanne starts blowing things up." "I didn't even get to say it..." "Are you really surprised?" Instead, Mash and Jeanne start scouring the chamber for clues! They've got magically enhanced eyesight to help them along the way, and if they do find some kind of weird magical object, they'll call Ritsuka over to start poking at it with her own assortment of magical tools to try and puzzle out what they're even for!
UFO Gang	"Well I don't know if you can call it tilted if it was that way to begin with," Minamitsu says to Rose, scratching her head in the process. ("Hi Roxas!!" she says once Hibiki reveals the Name.) "Mmm... you could say that," Nazrin answers Viviane, smugly. Her lips purse at the mention of locking-away-time. "So... the jeweled box of Urashima... that seals time within. I'll get started once we're in." SOON: A hole in the ocean! Minamitsu and Nazrin hop out without concern, although given how neatly they are falling, it will rapidly become clear to others it is magical. During the descent, Minamitsu comments to Roxas, "Is that what that slime is called? I stopped making it after I met Lady Hijiri and got on the - uh, what's the word - bandwagon." Neither of the two youkai say much as they go inside. Nazrin gets her dowsing rods out; they seem to be pointing generally forwards, and towards the door. A little to one side, but - "The rods don't lie," Nazrin says, "but they don't care about obstacles. At least this isn't a dead end." Minamitsu looks at the fallen pillar and puts her hands on her hips. "Yup... that's a really big rock pillar." "If everything does start coming down, though," Minamitsu tells Mash, "I'll try to buffer you guys as much as I can! Once you get to about eighty yards, you can make it to the surface and you'll just be out of breath and sore!" "Are any of you secretly gorillas?" Nazrin asks, phlegmatically.
Petra Soroka	"..I suppose that is up to SONG, isn't it?" "...I don't really know until we get to talk with him." Petra holds up a finger to delay her response to Angela for just enough time for Hibiki to say her piece, and then drops it with a sigh of 'see?'. "So we're winging it, yeah. I'm not super optimistic on our chances of... talking with him, or showing him that he's in the wrong, if we're scurrying around on the bottom of the ocean in a magic air bubble when we bump into him." "Actually, that's important, probably," Petra turns to Viviane, "What's that going to look like if we get into a fight? The air bubble. Is it at risk of popping, or, is it going to limit our range and keep Hibiki stuck outside of punching distance, will we be able to talk fine... stuff like that." "It's a weird, self-contradicting place." "Oh! I've been through them a few times. I mean, not, like, regularly, or an expert, but..." Petra really is only guessing at this, but Xion's explanation of how the Corridors worked way back when made intuitive sense to her, connected-- truthfully or otherwise-- to concepts she already knew. "It's sort of like how, if there's a door at the end of the hall that never gets opened, you start thinking about how it could lead anywhere, right? Even if it's obviously just a closet." " Uh, if you wanna shake hands we can, but I've been in some strange places in the last twenty minutes, so I'd give it another seven minutes or so to let the ectoplasm stop existing." Petra squints down at Roxas's hand and then shrugs, leaning back against the open doorframe to the rushing air with a relaxed expression. "Eh, handshakes are for 'impressions', and you already have a good one to me. And I make it a rule to touch goop as little as possible off the clock."
Petra Soroka	"If you wish to split our forces, I have no complaints." Petra's planning abilities are not so concretely assured that Viviane's suggestion doesn't immediately lodge in her brain and force reconsideration. Really, declaring a plan of action in general is something that doesn't come easily to her, especially when it's tactical rather than personal, so her decisiveness comes mostly from wanting to avoid equivocation rather than certainty. "Hmm... it could be useful to split up as a pincer thing if they're already in there... so they don't have another route to escape...." This thought adds an entire new dimension besides 'undersea throne room confrontation' to Petra's imagination of how the plan will go. "... But I guess, if they try to escape, the pilot guy could radio us?" Oh, yeah, there's a real guy piloting this helicopter. When the helicopter hovers over the spot in the ocean that Viviane parts the water, Petra shrugs the Eggpack back onto her shoulders, rocks her feet back and forth on the lip of the floor to outside, and then hops down after her. She has exactly enough time, in freefall, to wonder if she's going to hit the ocean floor and embed herself a dozen feet into the sand until she suffocates with half of her bones broken, process that thought fully, and then decide to do something about it by hastily unclipping her morphmetal bottle from her hip. Petra's legs punch through the semifluid metal that billows out below her, and it clings to her calves, quickly forming the robotic thrusters that Sting Silver uses. Just before landing on the entirely safe magical sigil that Viviane provides, Petra slows to a stop in the air, and drops lightly onto the seafloor. She coughs, a little embarrassed, but it's somewhat telling of Petra's mindset now that she chose to be 'extra safe'. "Oh, wait, hold on just a sec." Once the group is gathered in front of the enormous undersea doors, Petra motions for them all to stop, because she needs to shuffle through her menus and can't leave the bubble. She slips the Eggpack off and onto the ground, turning it around so that Angela's screen faces her, and then digs around in her mirror until she pulls out-- A poncho. Covered in cute ducks with umbrellas. She equips this onto the Eggpack, asking Angela to slide 'her' arms through, and then hoists it back up onto her back. "That way, it's not gonna get splashed, or anything. Saltwater's such a hazard to tech, you know. And it's a bitch to clean." Petra quietly recontextualizes the fairy tale that Good Speed told them before, seeing how massive the halls of these ruins are. Should she have been envisioning a big princess that whole time? Was the prince just normal size? Did he hang out as a tiny little toy-sized guy for hundreds of years, and somehow not appreciate it? And then, obstacle. Petra is consistently terrible at puzzles, so when it's brought up that there might be a Clue to activating the Mechanism around, she automatically groans. "Why can't it be simple like just knocking the pillar down and moving past! There's no way that it's both a narrative and structural load-bearing pillar. Didn't the Alchemists get past this already? They probably had to have-- oh, wait, if they did, there's definitely some sign of that." There's no need to just dig around randomly! If they're tagging behind the Illuminati, then the pillar's got to have some nearby and recently used mechanism for Petra to interact with that'll open it cleanly. If not... well, then, there's not too much of a rush. Petra deploys ratbots from her mirror, though she only has Twopence and a few spares, to help lift rubble and serve as extra camera-eyes to scan around.
Roxas	"If you're not too sturdy in weird environments, you can stay close to me and you ssssshould be okay-ish. Wouldn't get too far though," Roxas says, taking a moment to murmur a minor spell that bathes him momentarily in a pale green-blue light. It, among other things, gives him some gills to work with. This actually exists in a small, patterned bubble around him; there's not an enormous amount of flex space for somebody to explore 'apart' from him if they need to share in his area-effect survival spell, but it's not a critically short leash either. About big enough to cover what somebody would call a boss room if they came across a relatively empty space of matching size to his area-of-effect. //Wonder if I could pull that off with teleportation spells some day...// Shrugging a little theatrically, he comments, "I dunno, probably? It's kind of a Nobody perk to just be able to do it, but people do learn that trick sometimes. Wizards use a different sublayer of the world to get around, for instance." //Casually dropping into places, are you? Are you a friend of hers?// Jabbing himself in the chest with his thumb, he says, "That's me! On both counts. Best friends. Also we live together? I guess there's a lot of people I can say that about, The Castle That Never Was is us-central..." Although dropping and moving through the water isn't hard for him, it isn't easy either; he doesn't move as well in it, even though breathing and pressure don't seem to be an issue. Once they're in the large chamber with the rock pillar, he gestures at Viviane. "Sorry, but... 'I'm not sure' means 'I need it to be this way' when it comes to stuff like this. And that's okay, even if it's harder to deal with." Roxas looks at the column in the way, and thinks hard. He remembers something like this happening a long time ago... A LONG TIME AGO... Xion uses her hammerspace to intercept a goddamned asteroid. NOW "Hey, can I take this?" Roxas asks, pointing at the pillar. He's asking because pillars usually have a function beyond just looking kinda cool. This one might be load-bearing, even though it's in the way. //It's sort of like how, if there's a door at the end of the hall that never gets opened, you start thinking about how it could lead anywhere, right? Even if it's obviously just a closet.// "That's basically right. What it decides is 'dark and murky' so that it gets a connection can be kinda weird, though. Really metaphorical, you know. That's why I was surprised," he explains, his confusion not REALLY remedied by anything that has happened so far. The best he can do is just... accept it. //Eh, handshakes are for 'impressions', and you already have a good one to me. And I make it a rule to touch goop as little as possible off the clock.// Roxas nods enthusiastically. "Yeah! I don't really get it, honestly. Some people get real weird about it. And yeah, same. Just can't avoid it coming out of some parts of the Corridors. The stuff in there discorporates when we hit fully solid reality again, sometimes. If you ever end up in a ghost's spookville magical dimension it's the same thing-- everything there's real enough unless you take it out. Then it's goop, and then it stops existing in seven minutes."
Angela	Rose says, "Wow, cool, you're pretty friendly, aint'cha?" with a grin to Roxas.--and it DOES sound like everyone is heading for the water entrance. Angela can't power share being a robot and thus not needing to breathe so Rose mentions, "Ah--we can't handle crushing pressure but if there's an air pocket it...ought to be okay? ..." "I might be a vampire now?" Nikki says. "So I'm probably okay--" "When'd that happen...? Wait, how long--" Rose begins before sputtering out. She looks to Nazrin. "Well uh--counting on Welfare to keep us... faring well." Angela looks towards Viviane for a moment but she can't really chat with her too much because she gets a priority alert and is wholly distracted for a spell and then, after, wholly concerned with not having an utter panic attack. She' gone for a minute just entirely non-present outside of her head sometimes entering the shot. The team moves towards the undersea doors with Petra, figuring that as usual she's probably the safest person to be around and--well--staying bunched up together is probably for th best when it comes to not drowning and not being crushed. When Angela is pulled to face Petra she says, "Petra--Oh you're busy. It can wait." "Gotta admit though--" Rose says as they roll out. "We definitely wouldn't be able to do anything as crazy like this in our world. It's so wild and beautiful down here--" "Hopefully we don't get eaten by a whale." Nikki adds. "Oh come on, this world doesn't have any whales." So far they are largely holding their weapons up at the ready annd close at hand. If Hibiki can't punch through something, they definitely can't. They CAN help move debris with Nikki having an easier time of it than Rose. "How did they even build a place like this...?" Rose wonders aloud. If she can she does collect some of that glowing moss. It gets dark in Lob Corp sometimes. Since the situation seems a little more stable now that they're on te move, Angela moves her screen a little closer to Petra and murmurs to her. "City knows my name. I thought they had found out what I was for a moment. Fortunately I think Lilian was able to come up with a good story. ... They're learning too much." She sighs. "Sorry, I may be a little more distracted than I thought today."
Hibiki Tachibana	What's that going to look like if we get into a fight? The air bubble. Is it at risk of popping, or, is it going to limit our range and keep Hibiki stuck outside of punching distance, will we be able to talk fine... stuff like that. Viviane considers all of these points carefully, then meets eyes with Petra. "The Illuminati will suffer the same difficulties as us. And that's while they lack the ability to manipulate water as freely as our group might." She idly taps a finger against one of the two pearls she's carrying. "In other words, we should be at an advantage in any undersea battle. If they used a similar technique to exist down here... ...I believe that girl would simply swim over to their air pocket to punch them." She's probably not wrong. After a moment she adds, "Let us hope it does not come to that. It would be a rather difficult and messy endeavor for all involved." Oh, yeah, there's a real guy piloting this helicopter. Petra gets a thumbs up from the pilot seat before they disembark. He might be a poorly drawn background character, but he remembers her from the whole thing with the S2! He was a faceless background character there, too! Of course he won't die so easily. Oh come on, this world doesn't have any whales. "Huh?" Hibiki, who has been very careful not to accidentally swim out too far and inhale water before returning to the air pocket, tilts her head. "Of course we got whales. I mean, none here probably, but they're everywhere in the ocean." She might not know the City's concept of whales very well. Sorry, but... 'I'm not sure' means 'I need it to be this way' when it comes to stuff like this. And that's okay, even if it's harder to deal with. "I see." That's all the homunculus says back to Roxas, for a long moment. "Please, do not apologize. ...It simply means I will have to do all in my power to reach the outcome I require, when the time comes."
Hibiki Tachibana	As far as the barred path goes - that's a lot of people scouring the area as best as they can, and between the unique senses being put to use and and the sheer amount of manpower they have between machines, sheer numbers, and more, it doesn't actually take all that long to walk slash swim about and start finding what they need.There are no keys in the Atlantean desk drawers; Nazrin can tell their goal is further ahead. Most of the useful things they do find are actually centered around the various half-ruined statues (which upon close inspection, were probably once human-esque figures) evenly scattered around the room - or rather, where they're missing. Where some have crumbled away into less than nothing, the flooring beneath them is free to show that they were all resting on what looks to be a form of of ornate plate carved into the floor. Ostensibly, the sculptures that still stand are also sitting on top of plates themselves. Mash and Jeanne along with Petra on her clue-hunting journey can pick out that, higher in the chamber and positioned near what was perhaps once some form of ancient desk or other flat surface on which to Do Things, there's a comparable plate built into the wall. With the scale of the whole area, getting up there and having the manpower to push it in will be a multi-man effort, but a very possible one. Coming together to press it in and see what happens... ...creates a worrying rumbling in the ancient stonework around them. Not quite the abjectly terrible kind that comes with millenia-old things finally put into motion. Petra is pretty sure it could've been tampered with recently. More immediately relevant, it causes every statue to grind backwards out of place, displacing the still water around them as they un-set the plates they rested upon. Water pressure alone doesn't seem to be enough to shove them down, but that's where Ritsuka's special eyes and people sifting through the wreckage come in. Enough digging around and Nikki and Rose pluck out some shining blue gemstones among debris around the edges of the room. Ritsuka's sorcerous senses ping off upon looking at them, and focusing on the still-standing ones shows they give off a similar signature, as does the slab blocking the way. In other words, they must be responsible for some sort of magical reaction that'll force it to move. Which means they'll need to take the time to find every jewel amid the rubble and use them to trigger the plates, if they want to move the blockage the intended way. With Ritsuka's eyes, it shouldn't be hard, but it'd still be time consuming - and Petra has reason to believe the alchemists might've at least attempted the correct way, whether or not they actually used it to proceed. On the other hand, after some examination of the pillar itself when it comes to Roxas' question... looks like a 40/60 on if removing it entirely will cause the chamber to become unstable. If it does, they'll probably need another way out once they go deeper.
Roxas	//you're pretty friendly, aint'cha?// "Uh, yeah! I guess so," Roxas agrees, not really seeming to know what to make of the assessment. Viviane's reply elicits a slightly surprised look from him. He makes a thoughtful nose and shifts from foot to foot again, wondering aloud, "It sounds like you don't really understand 'feelings' so much... am I understanding things correctly? If so, I get it, sorta." His bunch of PUZZLE SOLVING is going on, but Roxas has put out a SOLUTION and the primary authority figures -- Hibiki and Viviane, being the locals -- that he assumes would object if it was a problem, don't say anything. He nods to himself and surveys the surroundings, taking into account the particular mechanisms at play. He is JUST ABOUT to steal the pillar when... Everyone talks about it just being a really needlessly complex locking mechanism. "Oh," he says, disappointed that he won't be stealing a pillar. Roxas raises his left hand, a distinctive metallic ringing echoing through the surroundings as a white keyblade materializes in his left hand. The weapon has a feathered hilt-guard, a heart-shaped flourish and star-shaped teeth, with a chain displaying some kind of star sigil. He slaps the pillar with the keyblade, a shimmering silhouette of a keyhole materializing briefly before fading out of existence. Every connected locking mechanism immediately adopts its 'open' configuration with an appropriate series of noises, complete with floorplates depressing as if something was properly on them.
UFO Gang	"You can't just take a pillar," Nazrin answers Roxas. "If he's really strong, he can," Minamitsu tells Nazrin. "I mean physically. Look at its size. If he tries to move it around he'll just break it up because it's so huge," Nazrin says. "Tell me why," Minamitsu asks. Nazrin considers. "Nah." Minamitsu's shoulders slump. But she perks back up at what Viviane says. "If she swims here, I can just make a big water noodle for her to swim through!" Oh no, she's stupid!! The topic of whales makes her tilt her head for a moment. But here, she observes noble silence. She also watches Roxas... And he makes a hole and puts the key in. There's a loud click. "Yeah!!" Minamitsu says, raising her arms up in the air. Nazrin comments to Rose, "I'm taking it seriously, but it sounds like they're ahead of us. Fortunately, if there's some kind of lethal trap or other lock, they might burn through it and we can take 'em while they're tired." She looks back ahead. "... But that means our paths would have to overlap... and we're not there yet."
Roxas	"Oh, I'm not that strong," Roxas says to Nazrin, truthfully. He swings Oathkeeper up against his shoulder. "But I can just... put it in my inventory, with my other stuff? Probably? Doesn't matter, it's solved the boring way now."
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"If everything does start coming down, though," "I'll try to buffer you guys as much as I can!" "Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Mash replies to Minamitsu with a slightly awkward chuckle, mostly from her genuine (and obvious) concern for Rtisuka in such a situation. "We'll be counting on you!" Ritsuka sounds chipper as ever, of course, although the smile on her face looks just a little more shaken than before. "As if we'd die in such an ignoble way." Jeanne, meanwhile, scoffs at the thought of such a fate. "There would at least need to be some kind of explosive battle to cap it all off.", and then she doesn't seem to be thinking about it at all as she continues poking through debris and stuff alongside her companions who are definitely paying 100% attention to their work. "A poncho. Covered in cute ducks with umbrellas." Ritsuka and Mash are easily distracted. It's probably little surprise to anyone that Ritsuka does, but even Mash can't resist staring at Petra's ducky poncho for Angela. They make all sorts of awed noises at the sight, and it takes Jeanne snapping at them a little to get their heads back on and focused. Jeanne also stares, but just for a little bit. Back to work! When it comes to the high plate, Mash provides some extra height by holding her shield overhead for some much needed height (since both her and Jeanne are just barely breaking 5'2"). If that's not enough for them nor Petra to get up there, Jeanne will resort to jumping! The vibes Ritsuka gets from the gemstones and the slab, meanwhile, have her poring over those stones more carefully once she notices that there is, in fact, a connection there. At first, she just slides those stones around. Soon enough, however... There's discussion. Do they solve the door, or do they break through? It's not a very long discussion, though, as Roxas reveals his powers as a true Master of Unlocking, prompting Ritsuka (after whistling in appreciation) to point out the location of those magical rocks for potential use later. She makes special note of the easiest ones to grab (mostly the closest ones), and Mash and Jeanne provide yet more hands for swift work! "Still kind of a shame we couldn't get that door open the right way." "I know, but we're on a time limit. Please understand, Master." "Oh, for the... We'll find you a rock puzzle at home. It can't be that hard to come up with, can it?"
Petra Soroka	There's statues, and gems, and slabs, and giant ancient mechanisms! And with the gems, they go in the statues, but they have to find them first, and the slabs turn, so that they can get past the pillar, as long as they have the right gems to arrange the statues in the correct orientation. And the Illuminati have already been here! And they might have successfully gotten through, and broken the statues behind them to slow their progress, so they have the added difficulty of picking through rubble to even find the right gems! <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says determinedly, "I don't get it at all!" <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "We'll bust our way through and if it seals the way out then it seals it for both of us." <J-IC-Scene> Hibiki Tachibana in solidarity, "Then we'll just bust our way out after we're done in there!" <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Exactly!" Fuck puzzles! This is a mission, technically, being led by Hibiki Tachibana, so that means ramming headlong into every obstacle until solving it through sheer brute determination. Petra can't help grinning a bit at Hibiki's echoing sentiment before dutifully collecting some of the nearest magical gems in case they're useful later, like Roxas suggested. "Oh! That's like Xion's too," Petra remarks on seeing Roxas's keyblade, not just because of the distinctive shape of keyblades as a category, but even the particular star shape and chain. She's expecting the pillar to vanish completely, but then... it doesn't need to. Petra feels the weight of her nearly unused lockpicking set burning a hole in her pocket. "Huh. You know, is all that similarity because it's 'like Xion's', or is it because of something you both are?" It could be some shared kind of training, under that Organization XIII, or it could be because they're Nobodies, but in Petra's mind, 'like Xion' contains a very important question even beyond that; one that can be asked beneath words to anyone attuned to it. And not only does that particular similarity also overlap with being 'like Petra', but it answers another burning question she never realized she had until now: Are boys, also, capable of doing 'it'? Is it possible that a boy exists who has the emotional makeup necessary for doing 'it'? Petra's eyes slide down towards Roxas's keychains as if peeking glimpses below his belt, unbearably curious. Door unlocked, dungeon-specific greebles collected, and the party gathered, Petra makes an announcement before heading beyond the door. "Okay, well-- we know they're ahead of us, now. So that means we don't have any time to waste. Not doing dumb puzzles, or wandering off, or whatever; if we get stuck behind something that those treasure rods want us to go through, then we'll just punch it until we can. If we take our time making everything perfect and show up twenty minutes late, then all we've done is given them a perfectly clear path to get away from us through."
Angela	''Of course we got whales.'' A look of intense fear crosses Rose's face. "H...hey Bikki, you shouldn't joke about that. If we run into a whale we're going to be really in trouble..." "Wait--maybe they are like the space whales?" Nikki offers, focusing on the rubble searching. "No she specified ocean whales." Rose says. "Like the Leviathans, or--the ''whales''." Nikki plucks out a blue gemstone and takes a long look at it, squinting, and then shows it to Hibiki. "Lots of these around. Are they like... symphogears?" Rose is aghast. "A symphogear has to be much more than just a gem you find on the sea floor." She glances over to Nazrin and gives her a nod. It seems like Roxas has a plan for the pillar besides 'hit it with EGO Weapons' which was their plans. Nikki is slightly craftier than Rose but they're largely scrappers. Angela herself goes quiet. She's got stuff on her mind right now. ''Not doing dumb puzzles, or wandering off...'' Rose gives Nikki a long look. Nikki ignores it, sticking her tongue out at Rose in a mostly playful manner. They bring up their weapons. "We'll figure out the whale thing later." Rose decides. "Right now we've already got a varmint in our sights."
Roxas	Roxas smiles sunnily at Petra, lowering Oathkeeper to his side and twirling it idly as he replies, "When we were younger, we had the same Keyblade. I'm sure she can summon a lot of mine, still. Personally, I think Starlight is nicer than that old one--" A metallic noise rings in the air as the simple yellow-hilted Kingdom Key is swapped in for Oathkeeper. "-- but there's a lot of cool variants. I don't have Starlight though, that's very much a Xion thing." Another twirl and the more toyetic Kingdom Key is replaced with Oathkeeper again. The next question turns his gaze towards the ceiling, smile lingering unflinchingly. "Hmm... well, we're both Nobodies, if that's what you mean, but that usually means you can't have one of these. I was born with it, and Xion copied mine, but she also made a Heart for herself so that her Keyblade could become real. So... I got lucky and whoever I was 'before' passed it on to me, and she earned hers by blazing ahead of me." "I'm really proud of her," Roxas continues, and each twirl carries his Keyblade along into different shapes with distinct keychains. A black-and-white spiraling keyblade flits by alongside a black-and-gold one and another with a very similar motif in black-and-pink. The answer to Petra's question is probably. But... Roxas doesn't seem to recognize that he's answering a question at all, exactly. "I get kinda worried sometimes..." The spinning stops abruptly there, and he lowers the black-and-pink keyblade to the ground to lean against it. "... Well, you know how it is. But she's strong enough to get by without my worrying." He knows not to yammer about whatever about Xion makes him worried. "... You know, I could re-lock it behind us. It won't open even with the right keys, that way," he offers. The idea bothers him-- his enthusiasm trails off a little, there. Whether it's a tactical concern or just an idealistic streak is unclear.
Hibiki Tachibana	"Then we'll just bust our way out after we're done in there!" The opposite of disagreeing with Roxas' idea, Hibiki has a dramatic agreement with Petra in the vein of busting in there and dealing with the consequences as they come, all the way up to punching her fist into her palm. She's all fired up and ready to forge ahead when-- "Oh," he says, disappointed that he won't be stealing a pillar. "Oh..." All of her built up steam begins disintegrating away, with the revelation it's as easy as just unlocking the thing. Being local does not actually count for anything. It's definitely the best way to do it, but she's about as gut-punched by it as Roxas is. But she sucks it up and helps make sure to help collect a few of those gems while they're at it, reaffirming her resolve now that know they'll probably have the aforementioned explosive battles ahead of them. And maybe obstacles to punch through. She can't get sloppy now. While she does (giving an odd look to Rose and Nikki about whales), she shakes her head at the pair of agents. "Ah... nah. I guess they'd be closer to... mini-relics or something? Definitely not Symphogears. Rose is right." Nod, nod. "Findin' a bunch of /those/ everywhere would be really bad..." Numerous magical jewels have been added to the party inventory! These absolutely won't allow for extra dungeon-specific mechanics to be done in the upcoming fights. If she swims here, I can just make a big water noodle for her to swim through! "...Hm." Minamitsu may be stupid. And with Viviane's lack of much outwards expression, it's hard to tell if she's seriously considering this idea nonetheless. "I appreciate your creative mind, Miss Minamitsu. I could stand to learn some things, I think." She sounds earnest about that. Oh dear. In less worrying news, she glances back to the now-opened doorway when Roxas makes his offer. "...I can tell you would rather not. Truthfully, I agree. I will have faith it will not be required. Thank you, sincerely, for all of your help - perhaps I should also thank the Corridor, for bringing you here."
Hibiki Tachibana	Regardless, the boring way or not, Roxas has successfully removed the stony block in their path - leading further ahead, into another marginally lit and imposingly massive hall. Given the general slant of the island it's built upon, it leads 'down' just as much as it leads 'forward' - a distinction that'd be easy to slip by were they all swimming ahead, but is easier to keep track of when the pull of gravity functions as it should in the breathable bubble. Before long, the hall opens up into another looming chamber; but blessedly, this one is empty of masses of debris, and doesn't have any gimmicky puzzles barring their path. Rather, the wholly opposite issue is that there's /a lot/ of exits. This room, with a good half-dozen doorways all leading in various directions out from it, all likely lead to different parts of the towering building. Without knowing which route to take, precious time would be wasted if a wrong turn was taken. But Nazrin's sense for the treasure they're here for turns out to make the perfect compass. Coincidentally with what straightforward idiots like Petra and Hibiki might default to - straight ahead. Further ahead, and further down. The farther they go, the dimmer it gets... until it very abruptly gets /brighter/. Glaringly bright, from whatever lies ahead. Without any other way of proceeding but directly as they have, there's no choice but to press on until crossing the threshold... ...into a room unlike any of the previous. Rather than stone, the immaculate walls and even the floor and ceiling are made of some form of transparent and crystalline material. What should be the poorly-lit sea depths visible outside is instead a brilliantly lit stretch of colorful and luminous ocean, inexplicably illuminated all around - like suddenly walking into some sort of storybook world, where even the abyss shines bright. After the relative darkness on the way here, eyes need a moment to adjust to light coming from all around. When they do, they'll be able to take in the fact that they're not actually alone. At the center of this vibrant and strange chamber, on a platform elevated several feet higher than the surrounding flooring, there's a sort of central plinth made of denser, more opaque crystal than the rest... surrounded by about a dozen individuals tampering with it in some fashion. Dressed in black robes embroidered with gold, hood pulled up to conserve their identities... even if it's actually very odd that they seem unbothered by the water and the ambient pressure without any obvious signs of mitigating it, it's not hard at all to guess who they are. "Alchemists from the Bavarian Illuminati... working for my creator." "Yes. You have very unfortunate timing." That makes Viviane freeze up on the spot-- --because they spoke with her same voice, and beneath the hood that turned towards them, her same blue eyes. And more in their group follow suit, all the same.