Elora gave a little wave of her hand in greeting to Serah as she approached her, Aurora, and Arrish. Though she had warmed up to her since their initial talk and had spent time with her since, the shy girl had kept a bit of a distance from her due to her nightmare. Fortunately, it seemed the bubbly girl wasn’t upset, and instead encouraged her upcoming opponents. Elora gave a mildly friendly smile back.
“I-I know I will, Serah. Good luck in the coming battle…” She added, and watched as the girl left to join her own team.

[i]Serah…I wonder if we will cross paths during the battle…[/i]

The moment Arrish took her hand, it was wrenched away by an overly affectionate Stella, who proceeded to trap Elora in her loving embrace. 

“Bwmhmmh?”

She struggled weakly in a vain attempt to escape, and then hung limply, her face pushed into the Lilim’s armored but curved chassis. 

“Mphff!”

Her muffled voice tried to exclaim that she was suffocating, but her words were unintelligible. Just as she was about to pass out, however, Ritsu suddenly exclaimed: she received a message, and quickly showed it to Lorenzo, who nodded, stroking his beard in contemplation. This disruption gave enough pause for Stella that Elora wiggled her face to the side and drew in a breath of life.

“Well now…Cain, you sly fox…” Lorenzo muttered, and then pointed his finger at the door, looking at Ritsu.

“Lieutenant, it seems Team Apple has now received mystery reinforcements,” he spoke, his voice intentionally loud enough that the pilots heard. 
“Why don’t you bring him in here, so he gets to see the faces of those he will murder…virtually, of course, ha ha!”

Soon enough, Jake was brought in, the Lieutenant having given him a crash course on the project details and training schedule, before hurrying to add Angel Zero to the Team Apple participants on the projector presentation. Lorenzo walked up to the gloomy young man, and lightly poked him in the chest with his walking stick.
“Hmm...seems Cain decided to pick one for me after all,” he spoke, and leaned his head, looking at him with his single eye.
“...Not a completely awful choice. Rejoice, laddie, for you are taking your first steps to humanity’s future. Now, go have a chat with your fellow apples. I look forward to seeing how you will fare in the simulation.”

As Lorenzo spoke to Jake, Elora listened as Ava made a convincing argument for why the intelligence specialist should be allowed to fight. The trapped pilot found herself nodding along.
“I don’t mind fighting you, Stella, but not because I dislike you. I…I want to prove myself capable of fighting, so that I can be there to fight Cruxi alongside you, and everyone. Please, Stella…” She pleaded, uncannily happening to resemble a lost puppy with her eyes.