Kronos (Book One)

Formations

Colorado 5pm

Hikari and her team are analyzing the energy readings closely and discover something. According to the charts, they see that there's a segment of lines with one being longer than the others.

Dr. Hanson does a replay of those particular segments from recorded footage. A segment from Oct 13th which is the biggest out of them all. The energy level starts and then quickly jumps to the other side without wavering.

"Is there anything earlier than that?" Hikari thinks out loud.

They find a segment which is shorter (Taki's skip to Aeolia) and they replay it. It did the same thing by suddenly jumping to the other side.

Dr. Hanson pulls up the entirety....which breeds more confusion. Three barely visible branches had retreated back to that main line that continued afterwards.

"This is incredible. Why didn't we notice that before?"

"We probably focused on the main line and forgot about the branches in the process."

"It somehow reminds me of an old science fiction movie," Hikari mentions.

"Like those time travel movies?"

"We could be onto something. What if the energy we're seeking is actually temporal?"

"That's not possible. There are only 6 kinds of energy: chemical, electrical, radiant, mechanical, thermal and nuclear. This doesn't fit into those categories," a colleague mentions.

"Unless this is a new category," Hikari hypothesizes.

Dr. Hanson snaps his fingers. "Exactly what I'm thinking. We need to keep studying this just to make sure. What else do we notice besides the skipping?"

Hikari's gut tells her to zoom in on the specific point. The data point was actually a cluster of three separate days that the branches returned back, but it was all the same repeated time; 12pm PST. Oct 10, 11th, and 12th.

Oct 13th then continues on like normal before the jump. She also noticed that the energy dropped to zero before looping back to the main branch. She thinks about the possibility that Takashi could have some kind of power in whatever world he's in. 

So, time powers?  Her body shudders. Could that world be so dangerous that he had to "jump" back?

Dr. Hanson sees Hikari is in deep thought. "What are you thinking?"

"What if the energy levels we have been reading are sentient? Like it belongs to something in that world?"

"Possibly, due to the erratic behavior. If we are able to retrieve that being, maybe we can find out more of that world. We would make an amazing discovery", a colleague deposits.

"And more funding for what we can do with that energy", another adds.

"Money is important, but it comes second to how we can benefit humanity. In that case, we shouldn't aim to shoot, but to capture once we get the coordinates", Dr. Hanson gets out a walkie.

He requests that the laser setting be changed akin to a net to capture the being once coordinates are confirmed. They understand and will prepare for that.

Little brother, we are almost there. I wish there was a way to communicate with you.

----

Gaia,

Medea is leading the group of Theseus, Bellerophon, and Ariadne over to their final teammate for the demigod tournament. Their respective bracelets light up and link up to a single chain on the ground.