They had to come to a sudden halt at the edge of a steep drop. The walls of the hall behind them met with noisy results that could just as easily have been messy as well if they had not run. They found themselves in a room they felt was roughly the size of Disney Castle.

They didn't know what was below for they could not see the bottom of the room, but they could see their exit was near the top of the room fully a hundred and fifty feet above them, the only path between their point of entry and their exit were the ungodly number of gears and mechanical abominations running the space of the room.

Just beneath the ledge upon which they stood they could see a half exposed gear slowly spinning over the chasm and extending the size of their small landing. Every three teeth of the gear held a small, almost unnoticeable emblem was engraved into the rusted iron of the metal. It looked like the head of a bear within a circle with a G imprinted in the center.

Hovering above the drop directly opposite the door was a faint shimmer of microscopic star like pinpricks of light but what it could be they couldn't tell. It seemed to become more substantial and visible as the odd emblems passed by it.

There was a gruff voice from behind them and they turned to see its source. Standing next to the door was a small blue furred bear wearing a tool belt and mechanical repair kit. A pair of blue shorts and a knitted blue shirt with darker blue hearts rounded out his outfit.

"Well, what are you waiting for? The safest way to get from here to the exit is to use the Gummi Gate. Unless you'd prefer to climb the Tower mechanism? What? Is there something stuck in my fur? Come on, I do suggest we hurry. These traps are becoming more determined, and dangerous as time passes. I say we have about another twenty minutes before the Security Guidance Computer starts setting off multiple traps at any given time. My name's Tinker, Gummi inventor and mechanic. I know Dyme already. The rest of you I only know from a distance, but that doesn't mean that we can't be friends."

Tinker stepped onto one of the marked teeth of the gear and rode it around to the sparkling shimmer of air and stepped into it. Rather than falling he vanished, and appeared less than a second later on a matching gear a short jump from the exit door.

Dyme sat upon the next marked tooth and leaned back and through the gate when he reached it, a pleasantly annoying smile pasted on his face the entire time. Kira went next and when she stepped through the gate she found his grin planted squarely in a place she would gladly have broken a few of his bones for if the situation had been anywhere near normal.

"Dyme, if I were a man I'd already be speaking soprano from the fit of the clothes you so kindly loaned me. If not for the fact that I like you, and occasionally think of you as a kid brother," he dramatically held a hand up to his heart and put a pained expression on his face, "I'd already have broken your nose for this. Now I really strongly suggest you back off before I find someone willing to help me cut off something very dear to you."

Dante appeared on the opposite end of the gear and raising an eyebrow in semi-mock irritation, he spoke. "And she won't have to look very hard either. So move before Damien sees this. You know how he'll react." Dyme moved and Tinker snorted in wry amusement as he jumped across the small gap. "Humans. And people think we Gummi are strange."

Damien appeared and seeing the looks upon his friends faces and Dyme almost cowering upon the ground spoke up in confusion. "Did I miss something? Guys, now isn't the time to playfully pick on the kid, we have to get out of here if we wish to live through the night, the Gummi is right, we don't want to stick around when the big traps start going off. And the Endgame traps only trip after six hours have passed and there are still intruders detected within the towers. Personally I have sworn never to see them again after helping to reset a few of them during that security exercise last year. And that was on the other end of them."

Dante and Kira looked at each other solemnly and swallowed hard. With the barest nod both turned sharply and grabbing Dyme under an arm each they lifted him and tossed him across the gap. "Gentlemen, it has been decided that for the safety, and sanity of the group, we needs must make haste and escape this Tower as quickly as humanly, or Gummi(ly) possible." Damien couldn't help his burst of sarcasm. "So glad we didn't have to wait months for that to be discussed in committee." Dante slapped him up side the head as Kira jumped over to the door.

Finding that the door was locked she grabbed the door as best she could and using the strength imparted by the gauntlets pulled the door off its hinges and tossed it into the pit. "Door's open, we waiting for an invitation or are we going?" Tinker tapped his foot impatiently. "Invitations are in short supply, lets just crash the party."

Dante looked pointedly at Dyme. "Kira, seeing as how you went first last time, I think the kid should go first this time, it should prove ample opportunity for him to keep out of trouble." Lea, who had been silent for most of the last hour spoke up then. "I wholeheartedly agree, he has caused enough trouble for one hour and now he must work to make up for it." Kira feigned fainting. "Dear Light, he has a whole heart? What are the worlds coming to?" He stuck his tongue out at her and shoved Dyme through the doorway beyond which they thought they could see the darkness of late night outside. The group followed him more or less quickly hoping to avoid any unexpectedly deadly surprises.