Tales From The Kronos

The group was riding the wooden train their new friend talked about, ready to stop the invader they suspected to be Silv. Silva was yelling in excitation while riding the train, a big smile on her face.

"Can't we do that all day? This is way more fun than everything I ever did!"

"Humans have an enjoyment for high speed and low-security measures, how interesting."

"We're not all like that..." Sepide sighed upon hearing Remiel's words.

"Interesting, I have some questions about this train too. In my data, trains are metallic and provide a safe environment. But here, the train is made of wood and is highly unsafe, we could get hurt at any moment due to the lack of proper protections."

Hearing Remiel talk made Silva realize that there were indeed no windows. She passed her hand to make sure and once she was assured it was safe, she passed her upper body outside of the train. Seeing Remiel's confusion, Sepide tried her best to answer.

"Some places are really different. I know that there is a train that can go to the North Pole by flying."

"Interesting, I have many things to learn still."

The group arrived inside the kitchen. A girl with short red hair was waiting next to a robot and a cage full of other figurines. Sepide noticed quickly that this wasn't Silv, she looked similar in structure to Alanna, made of the same wood and apparent jointures. Even their black toy-like eyes were the same, but Silva seemed to not know that it wasn't Silv and approached her.

"Silv! When will you finally stop causing trouble?"

The girl with red hair turned towards Silva's loud voice with a visibly annoyed expression on her artificial face.

"Silv? Who's that?"

Silva noticed the wooden sound that she made while moving and suddenly realized her mistake. She turned her head away in embarrassment before apologizing.

"I'm sorry, you sounded similar to someone I know."

"Oh, it's alright then, it happens."

Alanna stared at the group, who seemed to give up on the idea of stopping her.

"So... Will you save my friends?"

"Wait, she's the one that did it?"

Alanna nodded her head, answering Silva's question.

"So Silv had nothing to do with it..."

Sepide looked away a bit embarrassed and took a step forward, facing the girl they came to stop.

"Who are you and why did you kidnap Alanna's friends?"

"I am the great and magnificent Silvu! I just thought we could use some hierarchy here, sadly, not everyone agreed to make me the leader. I am the most suited for it after all, so I deserve everything. Did you come here to join my army?"

"So you kidnapped everyone until they agreed with you?"

"Arrested, not kidnapped. I did it according to the law I made, I always follow the rules. I suppose you won't join me but it's fine, I prefer an army of strong men."

"Dang, a harem of guy sounds pretty sick..." Silva muttered to herself "We won't let you! Free everyone or we'll do it by strength!"

"Then so be it."

Silvu climbed in her robot, ready to face them in a fight. Alanna stayed behind as the three friends were ready to face the girl. Sepide turned toward Remiel with a concerned expression on her face.

"Remiel? I thought you couldn't fight?"

"I can fight in self-defense but I am quite limited."

Sepide was still worried for her new friend but she decided to focus on the enemy in front of them, who was laughing maniacally.

"Behold! The true power of perfection!"

"Why are all my other selves crazy..."

A group of toys arrived in the battle with guns in their hand. Before they could do anything Silva shot one in the chest, hoping to scare the others. Their enemy looked confused by the sound, unable to understand what happened.

"What-What was that sound?"

"That's just a gun, never heard one?"

The toys looked at each other in worry, barely daring to ask what they had in mind.

"Wait... Your guns can actually fire?"

"Not yours?"

The toy looked at their plastic weapons and then glanced at their fallen comrade before taking his body and leaving promptly. Silvu stared at the scene in shock and yelled at her running army while waving a sort of scepter toward them.

"Hey, where are you going!? You know what? It's fine, I don't need soldiers when I have bears!"

A bunch of teddy bears fell from the ceiling, ambushing the group. Remiel took a step forward, placing her arm in front of the others to make them step back.

"They are numerous, I will use one of my self-defense tools to deal with them."

"You'll pepper spray them?"

Silva chuckled at her words until the robot started to remove her right hand and aimed her arm shaped like a cannon at the plushes in front of her. I surge of flame erupted from her arm, burning the bears in an instant.

"That's your self-defense? You burned them to death!"

"They attacked us, I defended us. is it not self-defense?"

"I... Guess?" Silva was a bit surprised by Remiel's words, but even she couldn't argue about her effectiveness. Silvu hit the robot she was on with her scepter, clearly mad at the group.

"What the hell? Are you for real? It's fine, I still have the best weapon of all!"

"Is it an action figure? Because I'm just going to shoot it in the head again."

The girl stopped at Silva's words before reconsidering her plan.

"I have another best weapon! Introducing to you, Christine!"

The group wasn't expecting much until a giant lawnmower entered the kitchen, rushing toward them. They all had to split to dodge the dangerous weapon pursuing them. Silva was the one chased by the giant machine, and she knew she wouldn't be able to stop this one with a bullet.

"We need to stop Silvu! We can't stop this thing!"

"Ha! Do you finally want to give up? Too bad, I'll enjoy crushing the rebels you are!"

While the group was busy dealing with the menace, the frightened Alanna stared at the fight happen in front of her eyes.

"If I left, I wouldn't have to stress so much..."

Despite her feelings, Alanna hurried toward the cage where her friends were without thinking, trying to free them. Silvu noticed her and faced her with the robot she was piloting.

"Aww, you want to join your friends in jail, how cute."

"Silvu! You need to stop, we don't need to get that far!"

"You say that now! Where were you when I asked for help? You left me to rot just because it's 'better to not worry about anything', right?"

"I..."

Alanna stared at the cage with her unconscious friends inside. She wasn't even sure herself about the reason she was there, she just was brought around by the three people who came out of nowhere. But in the end, she wasn't sure if it was the right thing, her life would be easier if she just gave up on everything hard.

Sepide noticed Silvu getting scarily close to Alanna, once she made sure her friends were alright, she rushed toward them and pointed her firearm at the robot the girl used to protect herself.

"Leave her alone!"

"I'm not going to, she'll join my grand army, whether she wants to or not! If they don't accept me, then I'll force myself in their life!"

"But why don't you leave them alone? You can just make new friends."

"I don't do it for friendship, it's just a farce. I just do it because I deserve it! I deserve to be worshiped by everyone!"

"Just say it if you feel alone..." Alanna, Silvu, and Sepide all turned around toward the voice to see Silva coming toward them, accompanied by Remiel.

"How did you defeat it? How did you defeat Christine?"

"I just unplugged it."

"That makes sense." Silvu said with a disappointed voice.

"You want to be the center of attention, right? You just want them to love you but you don't know how to make them love you, so instead, you force them to."

"Don't act like you know me!"

"I think... It's a part of us we can't get rid of." Silva's voice was full of sorrow but she still tried to continue with confidence "We have to accept who we are, or else, we can't move on."

Silvu stepped out of her robot, acting more solemnly.

"Are you saying you're like that too?"

"I wish I wasn't. It caused a lot of harm to someone I love. I wonder if Silv thinks the same too..."

Alanna stepped softly toward Silvu, placing her hand on her shoulder.

"Silvu, I'm sorry I rejected you from our group. When you talked about how you felt..."

"Depressed."

"Yes... That... I didn't want you to make everyone feel bad. I was too focused on making everyone happy, even if it meant ignoring the problem. I wasn't thinking about what would be right in the long term, only trying to protect everyone. I'm sorry I didn't realize it earlier, you can come play with us next time, we'll listen to you also if you want to talk."

Despite the good intentions from Alanna, Silvu pouted and turned her head around.

"Don't want anymore. I'll get new friends that will love me like I deserve to be."

"I understand..." Alanna looked away with a saddened expression. The figurine with short red hair seemed to notice it and tried to be a bit nicer.

"But... If one day I get better, I wouldn't mind playing with you all again."

"We'll wait for you." Alanna said with a smile.