Lightning : "Time was lost; time flowed onwards. Sleep in peace, goddess Etro. I will guard your Will. The world, drowning in an endless sorrow, falling into chaos as the boundaries between life and death become unclear. 'Valhalla' - a world cut off from time."
Noel does his Sora-impression as he floats through the Historia thingy Tardis, as Lightning continues her voiceover.
Lightning : "In the temple of that lost time, I have received a second life."
Now we're referencing FFVII, as on the shores of Valhalla Caius wanders into the waves with the priestess girl from the trailers in his arms. She certainly looks like she's gone and pulled an Aeris, and as he places her in the water she seems to dissolve and scatter into the air and water.
Caius : "You never wished for such a thing as eternity. Isn't that right, Yuuru?"
Black-and-white flashbacks of Fang and Vanille's salvation of Cocoon from the end of the first game, and Caius growls and summons hundreds of monsters from beneath the water's surface. They head towards the palace where another host of monsters, plus the Shiva Eidolon and Lightning are all waiting for him. He trash-talks Etro a little, then begins his attack - we've all seen this footage in the trailers, by and large, so I won't give a blow-by-blow account.
Caius : "Feel the delight of battle!"
Only two minutes into the game, but Caius is really not helping with the massive Genesis-vibe he gives off so far. Turn down the pretentiousness a notch or two, mate? Lightning rides towards him on Odin, and Caius begins to summon something he calls "the corpse of the wandering star" ...which looks a lot like Meteor. It rains down fireballs which do more damage to Caius' own monsters than to Lightning, who dodges them all and makes her way up to the plateau where he's standing. She screams out his name as she launches herself through the air towards him, managing to pierce his magic circle and interrupt the summoning somehow as she lands behind him.
Caius : "Impressive."
Lightning : "Keep your mouth shut."
Oh SE... actually the word she uses, 「戯れるな」 means literally 'don't flirt with me'. We're starting the hero/villain shipping early this time around, huh game? XD
After their swords clash and the game's logo comes up, we're treated to a continuation of the scene as they chase one another down the crumbling rockface. Caius catches Lightning's sword-blade in his hand as she swings it:
Lightning : "Bastard..."
Caius : "Nonsense. Let's finish this."
He pulls the point of her sword until it's directly over his chest, which starts to glow red from beneath his armour. Lightning is obviously freaked out and pulls back... and Caius says something with incredibly rare kanji which the blur of the pause screen doesn't allow me to look up.
Damnit, game! Erm, basically Caius summons what looks to be Dark Bahamut, which engages in a brief fight with Lightning and then slaps her all the way across Valhalla.
As she falls she calls for Odin, who positions himself under her in horse-form so that she lands on his back and immediately starts riding. The Bahamut (which the upcoming battle screen tells us is 'Bahamut Chaos' flies alongside her, and we get our first tutorial battle of the game! Nothing much has changed so far, it seems - everything feels really familiar right now. After a few blows traded back and forth the Bahamut Chaos roars and moves away a little.
Lightning : "Seems like you're serious..."
It's one of those battles that you can't really lose since Odin heals Lightning automatically every few rounds. Bahamut Chaos' HP is soon depleted and now Lightning evidently has a plan: she begins riding up the side of one of the buildings:
Lightning : "Come play tag with me."
We get our first Cinematic Action sequence where Lightning leaps off Odin's back and strikes Bahamut with her sword (I always find these things kind of awkward to pull off, more because I immediately start stressing about failing even before the button-pushes show up on screen. In the event it's not that difficult, though) but Bahamut blasts her right back before it explodes and part of the city blows up around them. Odin in transformer-mode catches Lightning safely in his arms and they float to the ground with Odin's shield protecting them: once down, he kneels to her and then disappears. Seems she's on her own from here on in. Caius jumps down to join her and begins glowing red and purple again as he sticks his own sword into the ground.
Caius : "I have no intention of flirting with you."
Cinematic Action No.2, as Caius blasts a ball of dark energy at Lightning and she knocks it right back into his smug face, knocking him through a wall in the process (hurrah!) and Valhalla begins to crumble around them.
Caius : "Just what I'd expect from the Goddess' successor. Chaos, lend me strength!!"
They chase one another through the debris, eventually coming to a halt close to one another but with completely different angles of gravity (remember that Escher-eqsue scene with Sarah and the baby from Labyrinth? Yeah, like that)
Caius : "So, you've made it this far."
Lightning : "Do you really want to end everything?"
Caius : "It is the fate of all things to perish."
Wow, the Cinematic Action sequences are pretty intense. The next scene involves multiple button presses to dodge or to power up attacks, and even choices to press various buttons to select various attacks for Lightning to do. I manage not to fail, though I think my face is permanently set in panicked D: mode for now. Caius is ready for some more trash-talking by the time we're done.
Caius : "I should thank you: to face down such a marvellous opponent here at the very end."
Lightning : "I'll end you!"
More Cinematic Action button-pounding that ends with Caius slamming into the ground and seemingly being crushed by falling debris as Lightning looks on. If only things were so easy. She watches for a moment longer, then the sky brightens and she gasps as she looks across.
Lightning : "....Etro's gate?"
We see said bright light high up in the sky, and from it Noel appears and begins to fall. He seems to be either asleep or only half-conscious right now.
Lightning : "...Yes, I saw it all. His name is... Noel Kreiss!"
Noel suddenly gasps and opens his eyes as he falls, and Lightning pulls out her rose crystal and dives off the side of the building, throwing it in the air and striking it to make it shatter. Odin... hold on, make that
winged horsey Odin appears, and together they fly off as Bahamut Chaos reappears and begins to chase after her... while all the while poor Noel is plummeting towards the city and looking scared out of his mind.
Lightning : "Let's go!"
Noel : "...What's that...?"
They stretch out their hands to one another and Lightning plucks him out of the sky and holds on tight as Odin flies past.
Noel : "Where are we...?"
Lightning : "This's Valhalla. You asked for a miracle, and you arrived here. Am I wrong?"
Noel : "How did you know that?!"
Lightning : "From Valhalla, you can see everything."
Noel : "Who... are you?"
Lightning : "Lightning."
They fly off with Bahamut Chaos still in pursuit... and we're into the next battle. Actually now I can see that it's not winged!horsey Odin, but it looks like a white version of Bahamut instead. Does Lightning have access to everyone's Eidolons in some sort of holy Valhalla-form? This is actually a really visually cool battle, with Noel riding white!Bahamut while Lightning stands upright and readies her sword to take card of Bahamut Chaos as it closes in on her. White Bahamut spins and spirals to avoid the other Bahamut's attacks, though it's rather entertaining to see Noel crap his pants when Bahamut Chaos gets too close and fires off a few rounds. He hasn't yet learned that Lightning is pretty much unstoppable when she sets her mind to something.
Noel : "Are we gonna counterattack?"
Lightning : "That's next on the list!"
...It's really sad when a battle is visually impressive enough to make you forget to press the buttons to, you know,
fight back, but somehow I manage to 5-star it anyway and we get a rare item drop/item drop 200% up, so I guess I did something right!
With Bahamut Chaos defeated, Lightning and Noel take a dive off white Bahamut's back (it's wonderful to see Lightning land like a pro, whereas Noel misjudges his and ends up bouncing across the rooftop until he hits a wall. Noel, you tool ♥ )
Noel : "How are we going to attack?"
Lightning : "You aren't going to. Instead... I have a request for you."
Noel : "Huh?"
Lightning : "Guide Serah. She's my little sister. Pass through the 'door' -- look down there. It must be something that She Who Sees Time has brought here."
Below them we see one of the Tardis doorways forming, and Noel doesn't seem surprised to see it.
Noel : "A gate, huh? But why do you want me to--"
Lightning : "You're the only one who can do it. You were the one to reach Valhalla: you can guide Serah, bring about a miracle to change the future."
Noel : "Change the future...?"
Lightning seems to shoot a tiny firework from the palm of her hand, which explodes into a shower of light and coalesces into a moogle.
It spins around a few times, then transforms into a crossbow.
Lightning : "It'll keep her safe. Please, give it to Serah for me."
Noel : "Gotcha. I'll win her over, just wait. ...What's that?"
Caius : "Have you finished your little chat?"
Caius appears in a very masculine cloud of purple smoke, and Noel evidently knows him from the way he spits out his name. Caius begins another summoning and Noel steps forward... but then Lightning places herself between him and Caius and tells him to head for the gateway.
Lightning : "Cross through time!"
Noel : "All right!"
Lightning : "Go!"
Caius seems to transform into a big dragony thing and swoops down on the pair, though Lightning has her rose crystal in her hand.
Lightning : "Like I'm gonna let you have it your way."
She summons Odin, who flings her towards Caius. Noel reaches the gateway, pausing to look up at the sky as the other two begin battle again and the rest of Valhalla shatters around them.
Lightning : "Serah...!"
Noel : "...Lightning... crap!"
With debris - and another summoned Meteor - about to crush him, he throws himself off the side of the building and falls down into the open gateway.
Lightning : "I'm counting on you, Noel Kreiss. Become an arrow that passes through time: fly to where Serah is. I can't... protect her any longer..."
Episode 1:
The camera zooms over a nighttime shoreline as Lightning continues to provide a voiceover.
Lightning : "Time has flowed onwards. The world has changed to one where I no longer exist."
We pan past a warmly-lit building, then up to a light in the sky that steadily gets brighter. A change in camera angle shows us that it's another meteor of some sort, though this one is noticeably smaller than the ones Caius seems to enjoy throwing around.
Lightning : "...Serah! The memories of what really happened only remain inside you now."
Inside the building Serah is lying on a bed, seemingly asleep and possibly dreaming of the flashes of the Lightning/Caius fight that appear and disappear on the screen. Whatever she's dreaming of, she's certainly not enjoying it anyway.
Serah : "...Sis....? Lightning was fighting... was it a dream?"
Strange symbols start to appear and move around her as her whole body begins to glow white. Serah's reaction?
Serah : "...Huh? How strange..."
*facepalm* Can we take you back to the store, Serah, and exchange you for Fang or your sister instead?
The meteor hits the ground (and we see a
beautiful shot of crystallised Cocoon in the background! Guess we're on Gran Pulse) and Serah gasps and sits up properly.
Serah : "What? What's going on?! What... what are these clothes? What's happening?"
Ohh, this is interesting. Serah finally wanders into the next room and we get a Live Trigger, which apparently means making a choice as to what to do next. Our first options are as follows:
A dream of a strange world, and clothing I've never seen before. What on earth is happening?
+ Was it a dream of the future?
+ Am I still dreaming?
+ Was it a message from Lightning?
+ Did someone just appear?
My care ration is hugely tipped towards Lightning rather than Serah and her problems, so let's go with option 3:
Serah : "My sister... is dead. So what was that dream I just had? A message from the world of the dead? No, that's too horrible. Lightning... Are these clothes from the world of the dead as well?"
The destruction in the house caused by the meteor-crash gives us chance to practice jumping using the X command, and then Serah's outside and ready to find out what's going on. As soon as she steps out of the house there's another flash of light and those strange symbols before, and as she asks what's going on
again she's brought to a dark and barren wasteland as we get another LT (Live Trigger) :
The village I was living in has changed to a completely different place all around. Wherever could this be?
+ Perhaps all my memories up until now were false?
+ Am I still dreaming?
+ Is this the future world?
+ Is this the world of the dead?
I don't know why Serah's first thought would be 'the future world', but since we've got her on a morbid streak thinking about Lightning let's continue on in that vein.
Serah : "Where is this place? There's not a single living thing... Is it the world of the dead? Did I die? If I'm here... perhaps I can see Lightning again."
The air is obscured by a natty distortion effect, and every few moments the controller vibrates like a heartbeat. It's actually rather cool. She falls to her knees and begins to cry, but a moment later there's another flash of light and she's back in the little seaside town as Snow's NORA buddies whose names I never bothered to remember rally against the invading Caius-monsters. Everything is frozen, and only Serah moves as she looks around and makes pufferfish faces at the scene. There seems to be a flash of what might be a L'Cie brand in Serah's eye, then the colour and movement come back into the world and things start happening again.
Serah : "Everyone!"
Gado : "Serah! Get out of here!"
Yuuju : "Everyone, quickly, this way!"
Maakii : "What's that??
Just ahead of where Yuuju was leading the civillians a portal has opened up and a huge ogre of some kind is slowly forcing its way through into the world. NORA begin to fire at it and Serah runs to join them, though another Caius-monster materialises in front of her and she stumbles back, tripping over a body and beginning to cry yet
again as she falls to the floor. Fang would have taken all these bad boys out with one hand tied behind her back and the other tied in front of her by now.
Serah : "Sister! Save me!"
Lebreau - I
do remember her - shoots the monster full of lead, leaping over to grab Serah and drag her to her feet.
Lebreau : "Get a hold of yourself! Lightning's dead! If you don't stand on your own two feet then you're going to die too! Cut this out and face facts!"
...If we can't have Fang or Lightning as our main female character this time around, what about swapping Serah out for Lebreau instead? How about it, SE? Noel and Lebreau, teaming up and having adventures and occasionally dropping by to scream abuse at Snow & Serah? Sounds like my kind of game.
Another monster takes the opportunity while she's distracted by yelling at Serah to pounce on her, but Noel's here to save the day and kills the creature in one fell swoop (with Serah's bow, no less!)
Noel : "Stay out of this! That kid's my prey!"
He leaps down from the pillar he was shooting from, landing in between the monster and Serah, then turns and smiles at her.
Noel : "Stand up, Serah."
Serah : "You were in my dream...?"
Noel : "We'll talk afterwards. You can fight, can't you?"
He holds out the bow to her with a smile.
Serah : "Huh?"
Noel : "If you can do it, do it! Promise me... you're never going to give up on living!"
He pulls out his own swords, and then we get our first Noel-Serah battle! Unfortunately I'm stuck controlling Serah for now (give me control of Man!Fang, game!!) but Noel takes care of the nasties largely by himself and things don't get too hairy. Noel runs off after the battle so we choose to follow him, and in the next fight we get a Paradigm Shift tutorial. Nothing much has changed aside from the interface, and while I prefer the old one I'm sure this will grow on me. Serah and Noel run around the beach killing all of the monsters that are attacking civilians, and once they're all gone it's cutscene time again. Noel gently picks up an unconscious Lebreau and carries her off, as Serah stands on the beach and cries some more.
Maakii : "Serah-san, you're all right aren't you?"
Serah : "Y-yeah..."
Yuuju : "Maakii!"
Maaki grins at Serah and runs off after his buddy, and it seems that NORA is taking charge of the area.
Gado : "Right! Seems like everyone's here. Looks like that Meteor dropped down somewhere over there: let's go check it out!"
Yuuju : "Yuuju squad: roger!"
Maakii : "There are monsters everywhere; be careful!"
Gado : "All right, everyone else with me!"
Yuuju : "Well then, let's go!"
Maakii : "We're off!"
Meanwhile Noel and Serah have laid Lebreau down on some grass out of the way.
Noel : "Doesn't look like she's hit her head. If she rests a little she'll wake up just fine."
Serah : "Thank goodness! ...Thank you. Um, what's your...?"
Noel : "Noel..... Noel Kreiss."
Serah : "...That's it?"
Noel : "Yeah, that's it. Anyway, how about him?"
He points at the bow, which promptly turns back into the macrocephalic moogle.
Serah : "Oh... a moogle doll?"
Noel : "It'll keep you safe. It's from your sister."
Serah : "You know my sister?"
Noel : "Yeah. I came here 'cause Lightning asked me to."
Serah : "Where?! Where did you meet my sister? It wasn't... Valhalla, was it?"
Noel : "Huh? You know about that?"
Serah : "I saw it in a dream. My sister gave you the moogle, and then you..."
Noel : "I got sucked through to this place."
Serah : "Did that meteor thing bring you here?"
Noel : "Seems so, though I don't remember too much. Let's find out what happened together."
Noel wanders off with a grin, and Serah gasps and follows after him as we get a voicover by Farron the Younger, this time.
Serah : "The place I saw in my dreams: Valhalla. My sister is living there now. I'd only just met Noel, but I unthinkingly trusted what he told me. Even though those things were impossible... I remember it so clearly even now: my sister's smile as she gave her blessings for Snow's and my wedding. But that's just an illusion. An illusion that only I saw, as I slept within the crystal. My sister isn't here any more. She sacrificed herself to protect Cocoon as it crumbled three years ago. My sister became a crystal pillar, and even now she supports Cocoon. But even though that's what really happened..."
Now we get a chance to free-roam again, and Serah nags Noel about only knowing his name and nothing else about him. He says that he's a hunter, then wanders off. From talking to various NORA members on the beach it seems that Gado and the others have gone off to investigate the glowing stone and it's dangerous over that way, so no prizes for guessing where the game is going to have us go next. When we find Noel again, he has a question for Serah:
Noel : "Do you... think I'm weird?"
LT time!
The strange young man, Noel, who says that he met Lightning in Valhalla. Let's try getting to know him a little better.
+ Did you really meet my sister?
+ What's Valhalla?
+ A hunter... is that your job?
+ Where are you from, Noel?
Let's ask about this hunter thing.
Serah : "A hunter... is that your job?"
Noel : "Not so much a job, but... I do it to stay alive. In the time I'm from, everyone lives by hunting prey for food."
Serah : "'In the time you're from'?"
Bothering him again gets him to tell her that he isn't hiding anything and to ask if she's satisfied with his answers, and then this one:
Noel : "...Sorry I'm rubbish at introducing myself."
Aww, Noel. We get more
aww Noel when the pair move onto the next area.
Noel : "Ahhhhh..."
Serah : "Is something the matter?"
Noel : "No, I'm just a bit emotional. Cocoon's so pretty... it's just like in the legends. I guess I'm really here..."
As they look up at crystalised Cocoon in the night sky, it's time for another LT:
Noel's in a daze as though this is his first time seeing Cocoon. What should I say to him?
+ My sister's over there.
+ Haven't you seen Cocoon often before?
+ What do you mean by 'just like in the legends'?
+ You seem a little uneasy..."
Let's go with option 4, since we care about Noel.
Serah : "You seem a little uneasy..."
Noel : "Hah, you noticed that. I thought I was prepared for it, but seeing a completely unknown world like that... It's scarier than I imagined it'd be."
Serah : "World? What do you mean?"
Noel : "I mean just what I said."
The not-so-dynamic duo wander around a little more, then Gado jumps down from a ledge to say hi.
Gado : "Serah, you're all right! Seems like monsters are coming from the area that the meteor landed in. Hey, who's that guy?"
Serah : "This is Noel. He saved Lebreau and I when we were in a pinch earlier."
Gado wanders over and gets up in Noel's face as Noel stands there with his hands on his hips, and it looks like this could go either way until...
Gado : "I'm Gado!"
Noel : "Hmm? You think I'm some suspicious guy, huh? I'm not going to steal your food away from you."
Gado : o__0 ".......Be careful, Serah. If something happens to you then the boss's going to kill me."
LT time!
Gado doesn't seem to trust Noel and he's worrying about Serah's safety. How should Noel respond?
+ The boss sounds like a real asshole!
+ I'll protect Serah.
+ Who's the boss?
+ You're pretty impressive, huh?
Option 2 has unpleasant shades of Machina attached so we'll avoid that one, and since my aim in this game is primarily to make Noel throw as much abuse in Snow's direction as possible of course I need to go for Option 1
Now it's Noel's turn to stroll over and get up in Gado's face
Noel : "The boss sounds like an asshole. I'll handle him."
Gado : D: "Huuuuuuuuh?? Just who do you think you are?!"
Noel : Awesomeness incarnate, thank you.
Gado runs off (probably to go and cry in a corner) and Serah and Noel continue onwards. Soon afterwards the controller vibrates again and visions of that barren land that Serah found herself in before come through. Serah wonders if she's dreaming again, but Noel says that he can see it too so it can't be a dream. It passes quickly, and then they're meeting up with the fabulous Yuuju again.
Serah : "Yuuju!"
Yuuju : "Ohh, is that that Noel guy I've been hearing about?"
Noel : "Am I famous?"
Yuuju : "You saved Lebreau, right? Thanks for that - I'm Yuuju."
Noel : "Hi there."
Yuuju : "But Serah, what are you doing dressed like that? You don't normally go out nearly so well-dressed."
LT time:
Yuuju wants to know why Serah is wearing such nice clothes. How should she respond?
+ Do you want to wear them too, Yuuju?!
+ These clothes fell out of the sky.
+ I just noticed I was wearing them all of a sudden.
+ What about your own clothes, Yuuju?
Not going to pass up a chance to make Yuuju even more fabulous, of course:
Serah : "Hee, do you want to try them on, Yuuju? I think they'd suit you!"
Oh please, please let this happen... XD
Yuuju : "Oh no no no, it's no good just throwing things on and having them suit you! ...Oh, I have to go. Catch you later."
...He protests now, but you know he's off to secretly root through Lebreau's wardrobe now and see if he can't find something similar. We're onto you, Yuuju.
The final male member of NORA is up ahead, pacing and mumbling to himself.
Maakii : "Yeah... there are only young trees around here. Perhaps the space here isn't too stable? This is really bad!!"
Noel : "It might be because of the meteor?"
Maakii : "That's right! This is terrible! Since that meteor fell here all the villages are having difficulties!"
Maakii speaks really quickly, which makes the subtitles
also move at super-speed and is really annoying. Half of the above translation is pure guesswork :/
Serah : "Maakii, do you have any idea what's going on?"
Maakii : "Tch... not in the least. It almost looks like hundreds of years have passed in some places, while in others nothing's changed at all."
Noel : "This things from a place where time moves differently than in this world. This world and that one are all mixed up. Two timestreams are layered on top of one another... that's how it feels to me, anyway."
Maakii : "That's it! That's exactly it!"
Serah puts on a thinking face for the next LT. Nobody is fooled.
It seems that due to the influence of the meteor, time here has gotten mixed up with time from another world. Let's ask Maakii what he thinks.
+ Where do moogles come from?
+ Where does magic come from?
+ Where did the meteor come from?
+ You haven't got a clue, have you Maaki?!
Option 4, oh baby... ♥
Serah : "Well if Maakii doesn't have a clue then no-one will, right?"
Maakii : "Haha, now don't you flatter me!"
Noel : "Hmm? She's counting on you, you know."
Hmph, that ended up being less offensive towards Maakii than I was hoping for. Disappointing! Once they're done with him they head over the next ridge, when Cocoon suddenly disappears in a flash. Noel states the obvious, and the pair run towards the portal where the giant is still struggling to emerge into the world. Boss-battle time? It goes down pretty quickly, and we receive our first fragment to use in the Tardis! For now, however, Serah runs up to the meteor and we get our next cutscene.
Serah : "Hmm? What's with this scenery? Do you recognise it, Noel?"
Noel : "...Yeah, I know it."
Serah : "I can't see Cocoon... why is that?"
Noel : "This place is all mixed up with another world. Over there... that's the world I lived in. In the world I'm from... Cocoon doesn't exist anymore. Ever since I was born, it's been that way. How long... how long has it been since the day Cocoon trembled under the force of Ragnarok?"
Serah : "Right now it's AF3... so it's been three years."
Noel : "I was always told that that happened seven hundred years ago. The time I grew up in is seven hundred years into the future."
Serah : "So... you're from the future, Noel?"
She's a sharp one, that Serah. Can't get anything past her. Noel turns his back on her and reaches out to touch the meteor.
Noel : "I'm the... last human."
Gado : "Oi!"
Noel : "Serah, I'll guide you. Let's go look for Lightning! I'm sure she wants to see you!"
Gadot : "Don't talk crap!"
Maakii : "That's not possible!"
Yuuju : "Lightning's..."
Serah : "Gado... Noel, where is my sister?"
Noel takes her hand and presses it against the meteor, and the whole thing begins to glow.
Serah : "Wha... what's this?"
The meteor melts away and shows the same kind of doorway that Noel leaped through when Lightning sent him to find Serah, and NORA all make various noises of surprise.
Noel : "It's a door to time -- a 'gate'."
Gado : "What's a gate?"
Noel : "Lightning's in 'Valhalla'. She's waiting on the other side of that gate."
We get another beautiful pufferfish face from Serah as she voiceovers:
Serah : "I couldn't avert my eyes. I felt that here was an answer to that sense of discomfort that never went away, and it was waiting within that gate. Big sister, standing on the ground and looking up at Cocoon, smiling as she blessed my marriage with Snow. I still remember that smile even now... but then I realise that my sister wasn't there then. It's almost like... she was never there, right from the beginning. Is my sister living somewhere else now? And that smile... was it just an illusion that I saw? Does Noel know the answers, full of contradictions as they may be? Noel comes from a world with no Cocoon. He's come here to this time to try and avert a future where there's no hope. That's what he told us..."
Noel : "When one timestream is overlaid with another, things appear that could never exist in that place normally. If we're going to pass through the doors of time and change things, we should first search for O-parts, which shouldn't exist here yet."
Serah : "O-parts?"
Noel : "They're keys that can open up the doors to the
future."