Ranius rocked a bit as a shot barely hit it, but hot damn that was some shot! In one blow, the EM field shut down and completely fried one of Devors' systems, the thing going up in smoke.

[color=Gold]"Hot damn! We should get one of those bad boys, I almost can't see my hand in front of my eyes with all this smoke!"[/color]

Of course that was a blatant lie, as the Framewerk efficiently cycled it out of his cockpit. Still, the man was more impressed than scared. He could learn a thing or two from these alien dudebros. Speaking of alien dudebros, some of them got closer. This was gonna get good. He quickly activated the boosters on his framewerk, thinking about where to launch the damn thing only after he started to fly.

[color=Gold]"Lessee, space would make it so my bombs go way off course right? If this works, chalk me up a genius!"[/color]

While Devors had full confidence in his ability, his logic was baffling. He sped ahead to a squad of three lining up to take out some of his newfound squadmates, and while he didn't really care for them, he still wanted to see the fireworks. Since he didn't want to drop the bottle, he rose up his feet to press his button of choice: Good 'ol napalm! It wouldn't create a satisfying red mess, but the pure force generated from an explosive that size would be sure to cause some caranage. Ranius' belly opened up and had a makeshift gust of wind, or in this case the smoking remains of the poor EM field, launch it straight ahead. Then, in order to not get his own face melted, Devors yanked his controls, and by extension booze, to the side to fly straight to Elise's position.

[color=Gold]"Wait, damnit! Now I don't have front row tickets anymore! D'oh!"[/color][hr]Worry crept over Serah for both Weisritter and Elora as the pilots moved through the Cruxi halls. Everything in here down to the tiniest detail was unlike anything she'd seen before. The Cruxi were just downright weird and, as they are, alien. Still, it was best to push on now- Every second wasted here was a second that Elora could be in further danger. There was only a single thought in her mind now.

[color=00aeef]"Don't worry... we'll save you!"[/color]

Though, fate was not kind to the pilots. The room they entered was suspiciously spacious. Serah took in the scene around her and braced herself, but she was the last to arrive. Neo Angel and Caretaker were already looking up to something near the roof, prompting AA-XOTRY to perform the same action. While the sight she saw was kind of freaky, Serah hadn't encountered this kind of Cruxi machine before. She rose up Atty's sword, bracing herself when a voice resounded in her head.

"...No...Don't......Run...It's...A...Tra-"

[color=00aeef]"[i]Like hell![/i]"[/color] is what Serah wanted to shout in a knee-jerk reaction, but she didn't get the chance. Audio amplifiers in the room suddenly flickered on as another, freaky voice spoke. The fact it was in their language, though botched, sent a chill down Serah's spine and an ominous feeling overtook her. Chosen ones? Submit? She didn't get a word of what they were saying, but it took her off-guard for long enough. Nothing could prepare her for what she heard in the next instant.

The screams.

Elora's screams.

Serah grasped her head almost automatically upon the first shriek, burying her nails into it. This situation was awful. The screaming itself would've been bad enough to feel like nails on a chalkboard that wouldn't stop, but they had more sinister effects on the poor girl. Her nose bled, but that didn't even register in her mind. She's heard screams before, screams like these. Screams of people long dead. Screams of the times she first made contact with the Cruxi. Her mind went back to that day and her body started to shiver, the screams only becoming a dull background noise to the grizzly scene.

...

[hider=Flashback][color=00aeef]"M-Mooooom! Sayer is eating my icecream!"[/color]

A very young Serah was tugging on the sleeve of an older woman, who's turquoise hair was tied up into a single drill resting right underneath her armpit. Even in the seat of this space cruiser she was practically a giant. Her normally stern face and amber eyes softened into an expression of amusement as she reached out her hand to pat the little girl on her head, who pouted in the seat next to her.

"Now, now Serah. Your little brother still has a ways to grow... and you've eaten a lot of sweets already."

The young girl continued to pout and started twirling a few strands of her long, flattened teal hair in her finger. From the seat next to her, a young boy started to giggle. He was a year's younger than her with spiky hair, coloured after his mother's. On the other hand, the seat next to the woman's held a short, well-dressed man. His eyes were a deep sapphire and his hair a slightly darker shade of blue than his daughter's.

"Now, now. Don't look so upset. Look, there's Solistus five. A planet of-"

Just as the man pointed to the window, a horrible sight struck his eyes. From behind the luscious green planet came bright flashes of white and red, a sign of not many good things. He quickly undid his seatbelt as well as the seatbelt's of his family, earning looks of confusion from all of them. Not only them, but also from a stewardess that quickly approached.

"Sir, it's best if you keep your seatbelt-"
"No, that's an awful idea!"

The man bit back with fury as he tried to grab the hands of his two kids, but their mother reached out to stop him.

"Dear, what are you doing?" she questioned.
"Damnit, Eloydie! There's no time!"

As soon as those words left the man's mouth, the cruiser suddenly shook and people started to scream as a gut reaction. Serah and Sayer frantically looked all around the cruiser as tears formed in their eyes.

"M-mom? What's g-going on?"
[color=00aeef]"*hic* I-I'm scared, dad..."[/color]

Both children looked up to their parents with concern, who'm only gave a quick nod to each other before grabbing their hands and trying to mingle into the now-panicking crowd. From outside, spaceships of both humans and Cruxi had appeared to blast eachother to pieces. Unfortunately this cruiser just happened to get caught in the crossfire. Serah had looked out the window as her dad instructed, so she had gotten a few brief scenes of the carnage unfolding.

[color=00aeef]"D-Dad? What about granny?"[/color] Serah chimed in, and the man couldn't bring himself to look back at her.
"Don't worry, Serah... Granny will be fine. We'll all be."

He was lying through his teeth. Already, after only a minute's time, he'd lost track of his wife and son. He wanted to go back and drag them along too, but there's no time! He had to save his daughter... and as soon as he did, he would go back for his wife, son, mother, brother, anyone he could find!

The ship rocketed again as the pair reached the end of the hallway, where some escape pods were lined up. People frantically tried to cram themselves inside of one, but none of them dared to enter the one where all the children were being sent into. Serah could briefly see the faces of each of them, and she quickly got shoved into a boy who had red marks underneath his eyes. The girl turned back around and wanted to grab her dad's arm, but the door shut close in front of her. The last thing she could see was the pained face of her dad and brother, as the latter was just an inch too late and started bashing on the door. She heard crying and screams from both inside the pod and outside, and the last thing she saw before it launched was the terrified face of her brother getting, and the cruiser, getting splatted into a mess right in front of her eyes..[/hider]

[color=00aeef]"S-Sayer! No, Sayer! D-Don't go! Mom! DAD!"[/color]

The screaming continued, and the girl furiously shook her body side to side. Tears flowed from her eyes like a raging waterfall. She reached out her hand to a nonexistent door in front of her, trying to pry it open. She was still stuck in her memory, desperately wanting her family to come with her. But she was too late. She abandoned them all in that cruiser, which was nothing but a red-and-orange cloud in front of her eyes. If she wasn't sitting, she'd have dropped to her knees. It happened all over again. The screams of her beloved family were echoing in her head. Elora was like family to her- no, the entire squad was. And then something else flashed in front of her eyes. 

This was wrong. It happened all over again.

All over. Allover. allover. alloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloveralloverallover...

All. over. Again.

[color=00aeef]"[u][i][b]IYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH![/b][/i][/u]"[/color]

Her own screams were now mixed in with Elora's, doubling down on the noise her squad was able to hear. Her Synchro didn't just drop to 1%, it went further beyond. 0%. -5%. -40%. [i][b]-100%[/b][/i].

Atty suddenly jerked into action, the barrier wing floating to its side and attaching itself to its arm. It's blade was raised into a defensive stance. To everyone else, it could look knightly. Everywhere on Serah's displays a single word appeared, flashing bright red: CULLING. She didn't register it, but the machine sure did. The blade in it's hand flashed up with plasma power, slashing at both Caretaker and the elite cruxi in the air to send a wave flying at both. It rushed to the side of the room, taking a defensive position. Everything was a target, but the most important target was on the other end of the room. Elora. That girl caused distress for Serah. That girl caused her mental state to spiral down.

[color=9e0b0f][b]TARGET: CONFIRMED.[/b][/color]