The decision to start training was just what that trio was needing. Once they had waited for the Cologne to wear off and started fighting off all the monsters that came at them in this place, it became painfully apparent that they could stumble their way through this place, but they weren't readyfor the mass amounts of monsters that were lying in wait in the latter part of this forest. They were still encountering the monsters they'd seen before, but they were now in greater numbers and there were a few new monsters making their appearaces.

They fought through lizards, but also found a new monster, which looked like some sort of gigantic, bipedal rabbit as well as something that could only be explained as a “flame”. Upon their first encounter with this flame-based creature, they saw a small bit of fire running around the three of them. It flew circles around them, making them look every which way, all while fighting off some of the other creatures, at the same time. Hitoshi had focused on this monster when it had begun to glow. His sword was ready for the strike, but it didn't come near. Instead, it just glowed and three small explosions came up from the ground, underneat the trio. They fell to the ground from the impact, hurt. Hitoshi got back up, his started to focus his energy. Clenching his fists, he could feel a wave of energy pulsing through his veins.

A memory came to mind, from the classes he'd taken. Within a warrior's body was the energy and ability to heighten one's own strength, much like a Brave Juice would do. Closing his eyes, he called out “Willpower!” as a catalyst appeared around him, much like the catalysts that appear when Tarou casts spells. His entire body began to glow and a new-found strength was flowing through his body. Jumping at the flame, he quickly diminished it with a quick Double-Cut.

At the same time, Tarou was having trouble with the other monsters. Sei had gotten knocked into one of the trees in the area and couldn't get himself down quick enough to fight. The weapon he'd been carrying had been knocked out of his hands. Gathering all of his energy, Tarou though back as well, thinking of a spell that would allow him to knock both of them out at once. Ff high into the air, he focused his mind on the ground. “Quake!” he yelled, causing the ground to shake from under them. Alls flew up from the ground, launched the other enemies away as the three of them recovered and headed back to the Crystal. They were still learning as they trained, and they would need that full our of training to be able to get through all of this, and what lied ahead.

After a few more fights, they started to get quite a bit easier. After a final rest at the Crystal, they figured they were ready to tackle whatever was at the end of the forest, which they thought they could see from where they were, through some trees in front of them. They didn't have much longer to go before they'd be getting to the end and finding all of these strange Crystal-like objects. Or, at least, that's what they were hoping was going to happen when they went a little bit further. Getting out a third Charm Cologne, they used it and went onwards.

The main path went around a few more twists and turns before it finally reached a dead end. They reached a small patch of grass with a hole in the middle of it. A vine was attached to it, leading down, underground. Taking a look down, it didn't look like it was that far, and there wasn't much to the area below. One after another, the three of them descended this vine, as if it were a ladder and found themselves in a small, dirt-filled room, a large Green and Gold-trimmed Chest at the back wall. That had to be the crystals they were looking for. They began to head forward, but heard a large mechanical noise as something huge came out of the shadows, right in their way.

They clenched their weapons as the giant object appeared. The mikos had spoken about an 'entity' guarding these crystals, but this looked like no sort of 'entity' at all. It looked more like some sort of military vehicle. On the front of it was a large cannon, and it was steel-plated, all the way down to what looked like treads. If anything, they were now fighting against a tank. The mikos had actually sent them in to fight against a tank! Not entirely sure how they'd be handling this, they prepared themselves for anything, each quickly downing a Brave Juice as the battle began.

Once the tank started to move, they took in all the energy they'd collected from the training they'd just done and unleashed an onslaught of their strongest abilities. Hitoshi went first, jumping and slashing at the treads with an Oni Rush. As soon as the tank had stopped, Sei jumped at the other treads, with a Silhouette Strike. Jumping out the way, they watched as Tarou launched his Catastrophe spell, making a large explosion all around it. Regrouping, they waited for the smoke to clear, only to see that the tank was covered in burn marks, but still coming.

The cannon on the tank then moved and launched a shell at the three of them. They all partially jumped and fell at an explosion that followed. Hitoshi and Sei were on the ground, trying to recover from what happened, while Tarou was looking at the treads, getting an idea. They had to get this thing on it's side or they never be able to do anything to it. Holding his staff forward, he called forth a Quake spell, bringing rocky pillars up beneat the treads of the tank. The tank immediately started to sink into the ground and another pillar came up, shoving against one tread, ripping it in two and shoving the tank against one of the dirt walls.

The entire place was shaking from the spell, but the Tank couldn't get itself back up. Finding this as the perfect opportunity, the three of them went at it's bottom side and launched attack after attack after attack until the tank stopped moving. They had used up nearly all of their energy, but the machine finally stopped, completely, and shut itself down. Worn out from the battle, the three of them grabbed an enormous cache of crystals from the chest and helped each other back to the Healing Crystal, where they could take a rest before heading back to the Shrine...