After a brief climb up Lianne's chosen path, the squad emerged once again out into the Dollet streets.

"Back to square one…" Skye sighed, eyes flashing with impatience.

"Nuh-uh!" Leali exclaimed. "Look there!" she pointed to their right, where a large cliff rose above them. And on top of it, was the Communication Tower. A large set of stone steps curled around the cliff, ascending straight up towards their destination.

"See?" Lianne beamed. "I did say we'd get there."

"Whatever, Leonhart. Don't start again." Skye scowled, starting a slow trudge up the stairway. "Let's go. We've got lost time to make up for."

The group began to follow Skye up the steps obediently. All of them were tired and weary. This exam had been enough of a disaster already – they just wanted it to be over; but they knew it had hardly begun. They had merely walked for a while. They had yet to reach their goal.

And, after even more forced walking up the steps, the Communication Tower rose into view. They were finally there. Skye broke into a run, eager to cover the distance between his squad and the tower. The others followed, still silent.

After just a few seconds, they were stopped dead in their tracks by a Geezard that threw itself in their path.

"Yikes!" Leali screamed, and jumped back in alarm.

Skye, without stopping, took a wild sweep at the monster, hitting it squarely in its scaly back. "Keep moving!" he shouted to them, and continued his run. The others, startled by the creature's sudden appearance, took a moment to recover before they started on their way again.

Yet again, they didn't get very far – just a few seconds later and another Geezard appeared seemingly out of nowhere and obscured their path. Skye took it down again, only to be met with another, and another, and another…

Slowly, Geezard after Geezard, they reached the door of the Communication Tower. Skye, being the first to reach the door, pushed down on the handle and slammed his body weight against it – with no success. The door didn't even budge.

"Shuray, a little help here?" Skye said, casting his red eyes Alix's way. Alix obediently joined Skye in his struggle. Together, they pushed and pulled at the door as best as they could, while Leali covered their backs, taking down the monsters that were now appearing behind them, trying to stop their advancement. After a few seconds struggling with the door, Skye gave Lianne an annoyed glance. "Leonhart! Isn't there something you could do instead of just standing there?"

"What do you want me to do?" she exclaimed, looking accused.

"I don't know! Isn't there any magic you can use to help us?" he said, shouting to make his voice heard over Leali's bullet-shots.

"Like what?" Lianne yelled back, being awkward as usual.

"What do I look like, a sorceress expert?" Skye growled, still pushing at the door. "Just use your head!"

Lianne, about to argue back, was stopped in her tracks as she spotted an electrical-looking device to the right of the door. That meant that the locks on the door were being held into place by an electrical current… so all she had to do was short-circuit the system!

"Thundara!" she cried, letting a bolt of lightning fly towards the mechanism with a buzzing sound. The device sparked and hissed for a few brief moments, before making a dying sound, and letting the big iron bolts on the door slide loose, causing Alix and Skye, who were still leaning with all they could against the door, to fall through the doorway, into the Communication Tower itself.

Leali scooped up her rifle, giving Lianne a grin as they quickly scurried inside of the tower, monsters unnervingly close.

Once inside, they all pushed the huge metal door shut behind them, and breathed a sigh of relief – they were free from the swarm of monsters, even if it was only for a while.

"So where do we start looking for this monster brain-washing thingy?" Leali asked, back squarely on the door.

Skye took a quick glance around the room before his eyes rested on a lift. "Up there." And with that, he started off again, towards the lift. The others followed wearily, feeling they needed a lot more than the brief rest they had been given.

A few seconds later, they found themselves on top of the Communication Tower. Its height created rushing winds that were as exhilarating as they were terrifying.

Alix half-closed his eyes to see around the tower-top – the strong gusts stung his eyes. "Any idea what this thing looks like?" he shouted, against the roar of the wind.

"Not a clue. Just start looking for anything that appears suspicious!" Skye ordered.

"Heeey… this doesn't look normal!" Leali said, pointing to a bunch of wires and mechanics structured into a perfect box shape. There was no metal cover protecting the machinery – the only parts visible for use on the outside were an electronic panel, and a lilac-coloured dome set in the top. The whole contraption was letting off a strange whirring sound, and a single, thin beam of light shone from the lilac dome up into the Communication Tower's satellite dish.

Lianne eyed this with awe. The jewel in the centre of the machine was almost beautiful. She simply stood and looked at it for a few moments, wanting just to touch its glassy surface.

"Okay, let's disarm this thing." Skye said, tightening his leather gloves again.

"Hey, are you sure that's the thing we're looking for?" Alix said, with worry.

"What else could it be?" Skye shrugged.

Unable to reply, Alix sighed.

"Now…how do we do this?" Skye pondered.

"Oh, I know!" Leali exclaimed. "I could shoot it! It'd stop working then!"

"What the hell, just try it, Kinneas." Skye said.

Leali nodded and took a position quite a distance from the machine. Carefully, she put her rifle into place, and took her best aim. Her finger pressed on the trigger and…

…She slipped at the last moment. She fell to the side, seemingly falling over nothing with her characteristic clumsiness. The bullet left the barrel of the gun, and sliced through the air, straight towards Skye. Travelling at such high speed, it would have been hard for Skye to dodge the bullet – but luckily, Leali's aim wasn't accurate enough to even hit an accidental target, and the gold shell span past him.

Leali clambered up from the floor in a panic. "Skye! I'm – I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to – It was my fault, I just – I'm so sorry!" she bowed her head.

Skye looked furious. "That is it! I have had enough!" he said, going over to the machine in an angry march and tearing out some wires from the contraption without even thinking twice. With a hiss, and a spark, the light beam coming from the jewel flickered, then died.

"Job done." Skye snarled, angry tone not residing. "Now let's get out of here."

Alix, Leali and Lianne, still in shock from Skye's unexpected reactions, took a moment to respond to his orders. Lianne, however, didn't comply at all.

"Hold on a second." She said, stooping down next to the machine, and reaching out an inquisitive hand to touch the jewel set in the top. She ran her fingers timidly over its beautiful crystalline surface. "Shouldn't we take this with us?"

"Why?" Skye frowned at her.

"For evidence?" she suggested.

Skye sighed. "Look, just leave it, Leonhart. Our ship'll be departing soon."

And with that, he, Alix and a very embarrassed-looking Leali got on to the lift. Lianne, with one quick glance to make sure no one was watching, hastily snatched the jewel from the top of the machine and shoved it into her pocket.

"Hey, wait up! Don't go without me!" she called after them as she followed them on to the lift.

And just a few seconds later, they found themselves running from the Comm. Tower towards the door.

As they ran, treading carefully over the bodies of defeated monsters, a figure stood at the top of the tower and watched. Shrouded in darkness, dressed in black, the figure let out an evil chuckle. "It's so very close now."