"Presea? What happened?" asked the familiar voice of a young half elf boy.
Presea turned around and saw Genis, Colette, and Zelos come in through the door that she found to be locked earlier. She stared at them with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Genis, why are you all here?" Presea questioned.
"What do you mean why? We were worried about you!" Genis replied in a concerned tone.
"When Zelos came back, he told us that you were by the monument. Genis went to check and saw a doorway leading into the ground. He came and told us about it and we decided to follow you." Colette answered with a bright smile. The smile made Presea feel more relaxed in their presence.
"I came along because I was also worried about you, my little rosebud." Zelos chimed, "The great Zelos is here to aid you. There is no more reason for you to be afraid."
"We practically had to drag you here. You wanted to stay with you 'hunnies.'" Genis sneered.
"Uh… umm… well…" Zelos stuttered.
"I was… afraid. I was alone and afraid. Thank you for coming for me. All of you." Presea said with a shy smile. Genis smiled back at her. He began to say something, but Zelos interrupted him.
"That's all well and good, but the door locked behind us. How are we supposed to get out of here?" Zelos pondered as he tried to open the door they had come through. It had locked itself again.
"Uh… guys…" Colette said. She looked at something that was behind Presea.
"What is it, Colette?" Genis asked. He followed Colette's line of vision and turned to look. Seeing the shocked look on their faces, Presea turned around. She now remembered that someone had been inside the golem and was curious to see who it was.
"George? What is going on?" Presea asked. George was brushing dust off of his outfit and climbing out from the remains of the golem. He jumped down from the rubble and stood before our four confused heroes.
"Forgive me." George began, "Please believe me, Presea. I did not realize that it was you who the golem was fighting."
"You fought a golem?" Genis wondered. Presea nodded in response.
"You see… this cavern is a secret testing facility for some of the Lezereno company's more… destructive products. I have yet to show the golem to master Regal because it is still having a few bugs taken care of." George explained.
"So the golem was one of the company's new tools?" Colette asked George.
"That's exactly what I am saying. I am glad that Presea wasn't killed, but now we have to start over from scratch on the project." George said sadly.
"It could have KILLED her!" Genis yelled.
"It could have, but it didn't." George replied, "Presea showed a great display of skill, thoughtfulness, and determination when she defeated it. The golem was supposed to be an indestructible mining tool."
"Indestructible?" Colette inquired.
"Yes. We wanted it to be able to withstand cave-ins and rockslides."
"Yeah, but don't you think the golem was a little too dangerous? " Zelos asked, "I mean… what if this 'indestructible' golem fell into the wrong hands?"
"We were working on that issue. No one even knows about it right now except a few key executives and you four." George proclaimed.
"I think it's a bad idea." Genis announced, "An indestructible mining machine that could kill people shouldn't even exist."
"I agree with Genis." Colette proclaimed, "Tools like that shouldn't exist."
"You do not want to know about the company's other projects in development then." George sighed, "There are some projects that would make the golem look like a child's plaything. The secret of the monument is only one of many private projects we have."