Lloyd and Kratos froze at the sound of hearing Kayne's evil-sounding laugh. Nervously, they turned around and saw their "comrade" as he laughed in their faces and looked like he was about ready to kill both of them without caring.
"Kayne!" Lloyd yelled. "What…but…"
"Hah!" Kayne yelled. "I should thank you for going through all that trouble. Now I'm sure to get a promotion to a commander!"
"Wait a minute!" Lloyd yelled as he balled both of his fists up. "You only had us kill Stromm so you could get a promotion!"
"Yes and no," Kayne coldly replied. He crossed his arms and gave Kratos and Lloyd a nasty sneer. "By killing Stromm, you have eliminated the one person who could destroy our world."
"Yeah, isn't that a good thing!" Lloyd said as he pushed his arm to the side and raised his left fist close to his face.
"For me, yes. For you, no!" Kayne yelled.
"What!" Lloyd yelled.
"What are you talking about?" Kratos said, starting to sound very angry himself.
"My world has been saved because of you destroying Stromm. I'll be sure to remember that when Tiberia obliterates your world," Kayne coldly said.
"Obliterate!" Lloyd screamed, now having enough rage in him to destroy everything in the room. He never remembered getting this angry since Remiel betrayed them in the Tower of Salvation.
"Yes, that's right," Kayne said, almost like he was doing nothing wrong at all. "Since you were gracious enough to stop Stromm from destroying our world, nothing will stand in our way of us destroying yours."
"You bastard!" Lloyd said, taking a step closer to Kayne and looking like he was about ready to throttle him. "You're not getting away with this!"
"Oh, I think I am," Kayne said in casual, but contrasting voice. "We Tiberians have a great weapon that we can use to destroy your world."
"Why would you want to!" Kratos sharply asked.
"I have no need to explain," Kayne said.
"Well guess what! It's not going to work!" Lloyd threatened. "You probably need something really powerful to fire that weapon."
"Yes," Kratos agreed. "And we have Skelter guarding the crystal in here and keeping a sharp eye out for it. It's safe to say you're not going to have enough power to launch a devastating blast to destroy this world."
Saying that, Skelter walked into the doorway and walked right by Lloyd and Kratos's side. Somehow he heard the whole conversation.
Kayne looked almost sorrowful at Skelter.
"Skelter, is this true?" Kayne asked in a sad way.
"I'm only trying to save worlds, not destroy them," Skelter said as he stared at Stromm right in the eye.
"All right!" Lloyd said. He pulled out his material blades and started glaring at Kayne.
"So be it," Kayne said as if nothing was wrong. "But Skelter, I have one request. May I have that rock in your pocket you stole from the giant laser?"
Lloyd and Kratos's eyes widened and they turned their attention to the pirate at their side. Skelter started sneering at Lloyd and Kratos as well.
"Of course!" Skelter said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the shining crystal that Lloyd and Stromm quickly fought for when they were on the island.
Saying this, Skelter casually made his way over to Kayne and put his hands on his hips and stared at the father-son duo staring at them, unable to believe what was happening.
"…that is, unless there's a reward in it for me!" Skelter said, finishing his sentence before Kayne summoned him to his side.
Kratos and Lloyd were silent. Both of them wanted to attack, but there was something holding them back. They needed to know as much about what was going on before they could make any snap judgments and do anything that they would end up regretting.
"Well, it's been great talking to ya!" Kayne said. "But Skelter and I had better be on our way. In just a few hours, this mission will have made me a commander, and in just a short while, this world will be nothing except a pile of rubble!"
"Wait!" Kratos commanded.
But it was too late. Kayne and Skelter ran out of the room and started quickly running down the hall and back towards the entrance to the mountain hideout.
When the two got out of the room, they saw that Skelter and Kayne were already much further ahead than they thought they would be.
Lloyd and Kratos continued chasing Kayne and Skelter as hard as they could, but they didn't get much closer throughout the entire chase.
Kayne and Skelter finally got to the exit, but then they both remembered they were on top of a mountain and escaping would be really hard, especially since Lloyd and Kratos were the one with the teleporters.
"Ah ha!" Lloyd said when he saw that there was no possible way Skelter and Kayne could escape. "You're trapped now!"
Kayne and Skelter looked at each other nervously, and then went with their only possible hope for survival. Taking a deep breath, they both started running down the long, slippery mountain path.
"Kratos! We gotta run after them!" Lloyd insisted when he saw that Skelter and Kayne were taking their only chance and hope for escaping.
As Kayne and Skelter started slowly making their way down the mountain, the biting snow blew right in their faces as the cold wind guided it. Both of them were terrified and could barely see what was in front of them, and one wrong slip would end it all for them.
But Lloyd and Kratos also had to work their hardest and make sure that Kayne and Skelter didn't get away. But Lloyd and Kratos actually had an advantage, because they weren't running for their lives like Skelter and Kayne were.
About a third of the way down the mountain, Skelter slipped and he fell down. He started sliding down the side of the mountain at a very fast pace, and just as he was about to slide off the side, Kayne grabbed him by the ankle, then grabbed onto a slab of rock to keep himself from falling with Skelter.
It didn't take Lloyd and Kratos long at all to catch up with them, and when they saw that Skelter and Kayne were barely clinging on to the rock to keep themselves alive, they saw this as the perfect opportunity to end this.
But as the two of them saw Kratos and Lloyd coming, Skelter and Kayne quickly came up with a plan. While he was still clutching on to Kayne's hand, Skelter reached up into his other hand and reached into Kayne's pocket. He pulled out Kayne's boomerang and threw it as hard as he could at Lloyd and Kratos.
As a result, Lloyd ducked out of the boomerang just in time and it ended up slicing a large chunk of rock off the side of the mountain and it came crashing down between Lloyd and Kratos, separating them.
"Kratos!" Lloyd yelled as he saw the giant rock come between him and his father.
"It's all right, Lloyd!" Kratos yelled from the other side.
A loud clashing sound was heard, and suddenly large fragments of the rock started to chip from it. In a matter of seconds, the entire rock crumpled as if it were made of sand and the mountain path was once again open. Kratos had apparently struck the rock so hard (and probably used a little bit of magic as well) to stop the rock from blocking their path any longer.
Lloyd and Kratos both turned their attention back to Kayne and Skelter as they dangled from the side of the freezing mountain, only to see that they both managed to get back on the trail and were once again running down the side.
The close pursuit continued, but with no problems or close calls the rest of the way down.
Kayne and Skelter got to the bottom of the mountain a while before Lloyd and Kratos did. Even though they were both out of breath, they still continued to move very quickly, because if Lloyd and Kratos caught up to them, they'd be finished.
Kayne and Skelter quickly hopped onto the boat that had somehow appeared at the bottom of an iceberg that the mountain was on top of.
"What the?..." Lloyd said when he saw Kayne and Skelter hop into the boat. "Where'd that ship come from?"
Kayne and Skelter immediately started sailing away and Lloyd and Kratos reached the bottom of the mountain too late. By the time they had reached the bottom, Kayne and Skelter were already weaving their way out of the mess of rocks and to escaping.
"Dammit!" Lloyd yelled when he saw they had gotten away.
"Lloyd-our wings," Kratos said. "We can use them to fly after those two."
"Oh, right," Lloyd said rather bluntly. "All right, let's try it!"
Lloyd and Kratos tried sprouting their angelic wings and attempted to fly off with it, but once again, their wings refused to come out.
"Not again…" Lloyd whined. "Why aren't our wings working!"
Kratos looked like he was deep in thought. "Hmmmmm…it appears as if Yuan and I were correct."
Lloyd made a small "hmm?" sound as he quickly cast his attention towards Kratos. "Did you say something?"
"It's nothing," Kratos said, shrugging the situation off his shoulders. He then walked closer to the water and stood less than a footstep short of walking into it.
"So, how are we going to get back to the mainland?" Lloyd asked. "Wouldn't our teleporters just take us back to Derris-Kharlan?"
"Right now, indeed they would," Kratos said. "But all we have to do is wait for our wings to start working again."
"But that could take forever!" Lloyd complained, stomping his booted foot onto the hard, cold ground beneath them.
"No, it won't," Kratos assured, turning his head to the side and looking at Lloyd out of the corner of his eyes. "Just be patient."
Unsure of what Kratos was talking about, Lloyd cooperated and sat down on the ground, waiting for a while for his wings to come back. He looked around and stared at everything around him. Everything except for Kratos standing right in front of him.
After several minutes had passed, Kratos turned around and looked at Lloyd again. "Shall we try sprouting our wings again?"
Lloyd made a scoffing sound by forcing air out of his mouth, despite it being closed. "Yeah, sure. Like they'll actually come out this time!"
Kratos didn't seem to react at all to Lloyd's sarcastic remark. He just turned around and tried sprouting his wings, and sure enough his wings came out. Kratos pushed himself into the air and started flying away from the spot where the base of Stromm's mountain hideout was.
"Hey!" Lloyd shouted, running to the edge of the icy piece of land and looking up at Kratos as he flew away. "Wait for me!"
Lloyd sprouted his wings immediately after and started flying after Kratos.
"How did you know that our wings would work this time?" Lloyd asked as he and Kratos flew side-by-side.
"I have my ways. That's all," the Seraphim plainly answered. Lloyd was about to say something in response, but Kratos spoke again before Lloyd could. "Shall we find a boat to bring Genis and Raine back to the mainland?"
After Skelter and Kayne had betrayed them and now threatened to destroy Aselia now that they had the crystal for themselves, Lloyd had completely forgotten about his two friends in his fit of rage and anger.
"Yeah, let's do that," Lloyd agreed.
The two of them flew back and found a boat that had an owner willing to lend to them. Lloyd and Kratos set sail on it and started sailing back towards the snowy region in Flanoir and back to the bottom of the mountain.
When the two of them got there, they saw that Genis and Raine were sitting on rocks just a few feet away from the freezing water, looking very annoyed. The annoyance turned to confusion when they saw Lloyd and Kratos pull up on a boat.
"Where were you guys?" Genis yelled as he hopped off the rock and took a step or two towards them.
"We need not explain," Kratos answered almost coldly as he got off the wooden boat and docked it. "There are more urgent matters at hand."
"What do you mean?" Genis asked.
"It seems we have a new enemy and were deceived," Kratos answered. "Both of you-on the boat," Kratos commanded as he looked at Raine and Genis. "Lloyd and I will explain everything to you as we sail back to the mainland."
Raine looked sick and uneasy. "As we…sail back?...on a boat?..."
The quartet was on the boat in a short amount of time and were sailing back to where Kratos and Lloyd borrowed the boat from. They proceeded to tell Raine and Genis about what just happened.
"So Kayne was deceiving us from the very beginning," Raine said in an angry, yet gentle tone. "And that scumbag of a pirate has sided with him?"
"Yeah," Lloyd said, nodding his head. "The worst part is that both of them have the crystal now and want to blow up our world. And the only person who probably could have stopped them is Stromm, and he's dead now."
"Maybe we should have let Stromm blow up Tiberia," Genis grumbled angrily. "That way, we wouldn't have these problems."
"Genis…" Lloyd said in a sad tone. "That would mean all those innocent people on Tiberia would have been killed. Do you really want that?"
Genis just grumbled and slumped back on the wooden bench he was sitting on.
"Right now all we need to do is come up with a plan," Kratos said. "Once we do that, we should be able to stop Kayne from destroying our world by not hurting anyone from Tiberia as well."
Raine looked like she was about to throw up as the boat rocked up and down on the bigger waves as they continued sailing out. "Do you have one in mind?" she said, looking like she was doing everything in her power not to hurl.
"Yes, as a matter a fact, I do," Kratos casually replied.