[Area] Grand Desert region, Korous - Late modern era

The group has not moved from their earlier location, making them easy to locate once again.

Fannie decides not to answer the first question. She doesn't exactly want to be brought back to that previous mindset. She has to focus on what she can do, not what she can't.
"Well, I told you I'm looking for answers. Do you remember when I mentioned that weirdo that smashed all of my provider's recent findings? I have a hunch these guys might have something to do with it."
She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes for a moment.

Meanwhile, the distant chanting down the hall continues as if there was no sudden outburst earlier.

"She did? That's quite... admirable?"
Fannie remembers back to right after the breakdown, when her guardian promised her that he'd duel the jerks that caused it in the first place. Truth be told, it wouldn't fix anything, even if it did happen. It was merely a gesture to help her guardian take out his anger after seeing her cry like that. He cares a lot, but isn't always the most rational.

"Maybe it's connected. I'm not sure though." She looks down the hall, towards the source of the chanting.
"Well, time isn't going to wait forever. We should get going before their meeting is over. They usually do the big stuff right before the end of their meetings from what I've heard." She begins to stand up the rest of the way.
Why is she even entertaining the thought of teaming up with them? Not wanting to be outnumbered by cult members if and when they attack might be a good reason.
While she has done her research, there is still this unshakable feeling of dread hanging in the air. It's practically written on the wall. In fact, in a lot of places it literally is. The walls are loaded with ancient prophesies and instructions handed down directly from the Voice of Time himself. Many of them seem to warn and put down the Fallen Heir and his cohorts.
Now that she thinks about it, one of the message board crew, specifically the one that had previously ran off screaming, matches quite a few key descriptions of the Fallen Heir.
Fannie looks over at Seth, who had returned to the group with Kat.
Medium-length black hair, perfect horns at the height of temporic beauty, a perchance for black and red, and... There it is. The strange alien black and white eyes. How can he even see properly with eyes like that?
They're a dead giveaway.
Knowing how much this cult is against him, she's not so sure if she should accompany their group anymore.

She just sorta stares at him for a couple minutes.

"T-then we have to hurry! They might hurt Elsey...!"

The sense of urgency throws Kat in a panic. She can't waste any more time. Unfortunately, she has no idea on how to go about this, and looks around before bolting on the path she took last time again.

"Keep our friend safe, guys! I'll be going on ahead!!"

She can't let anything happen. Not again. Who cares if it was a trap? She can probably take care of it easy.

As long as she finds her friend before they do whatever they might do...

Fannie blinks and refrains from staring. She should know better than to make others uncomfortable with stuff like that.
Before she can say anything though, the heir is off running after the girl in the cute dress.
She can still hardly believe that he even is the heir in the first place. But those eyes... that soft yet piercing glare does not lie. Fannie really wants it to all be fake. She wants so desperately to believe these are all just regular people, just so happening to be infiltrating the cult's hideout on the same exact day as her. Or maybe they're from the college and this isn't even the real hideout. This could all be a big setup. Yeah, the would be nice. At very least though, she could at least humor them and continue on to the end. Maybe she'll get reimbursed by the group that punk'd her. Then again, she's not even sure if they even actually do that. Fannie holds out for that possibility.

So after a moment of thought, she picks up her robe and dashes after the two of them further along.

---

Eventually, the three of them reach a snake pattern tapestry covering a relatively bright doorway. The chanting is louder than ever. They're probably right beyond that door. That uneasy feeling wells up again.
Fannie is breathing shallowly, legs jittering.

Niki stops zoning out and dashes behind the other three, beckoning Nak and Kimura to join her.
She makes it to the door and takes a moment to catch her breath. She's getting out of shape.
The patterned blanket door stands before her. She tries to remember the plan from earlier. Rush in, grab Elsey, and get out of there? Easiest way would be to use time powers to move really fast or slow everyone else down. There is a difference between the two despite the fact that they may be used for the same reasons. When slowing down a target, everything else continues at its usual pace, which happens to usually be relatively faster. When speeding up a target, everything else appears to be going slower to the target, but they are actually going forwards in time at a faster rate than their surroundings. When it comes to choosing which one to go with, it's usually best to choose the one with the smaller target. In this case, speeding up the party would be the best option. The only x factor in the mix is what to do with Fannie. What is she going to do? What answers is she trying to get? Will she be able to get them while speed boosted?
Niki checks her digital camera modus sylladex for anything useful. Mostly useless junk and legs far too lethal to use against the average person.
Seriously, one of them is literally just a fake leg with an oversized x-acto knife on the toe cap. Another with static electricity output that could potentially fry if used in a prolonged manner. And the one made of legos... Niki wouldn't wish that upon anyone with the ability to feel pain.
What was she even thinking back during the session all those years ago when she alchemized those things?
She sticks to just wearing her Jinglorian enchanted prosthetic leg, which blends in much better than the average fake leg while keeping the same defensive properties of what she's used to.

Niki adjusts her horns and attempts to mentally prepare herself to blindly kick at anything that tries to knock her down.
"...I'm ready when you guys are... I guess. ->"
There's no backing down now, not after getting this far.

"........" Seth's scream serves as an alarm clock, finally waking Kim up from zoneout mode for like the fifth time since they got here. Man, does this guy sleep through the whole show or something?

"okay, so we should probably stop him before he maims everyone in sight, right? including elsey?" Eventually he settles on a Nonlethal Training Axe (it menaces with spikes of foam!) and peeks forward into the doorway, clearly not wanting to take point with Hulkmode Seth in there.