It didn't take that long for the three of them to realize that the training they thought they needed wasn't needed all that much, after all. They stayed around the shining light and waited for the insects that had been repelled before to come after them, and so they did. Every few minutes, they encountered beetles, spiders, and even the occasional plant vine that deemed them an unwanted guest of the tree's winding insides. After fighting or awhile, though, they began to realize that they hadn't gotten weaker, after all. They were just out of practice.

After giving themselves about half an hour to fight off all of these huge insects, they realized that it wasn't that hard, after all. By the time they stopped their little break of training, they felt that these insects were just as easy for them to take down as the ones in the dead log from before they met Izoku. Granted, they probably couldn't take down an entire swarm of them, but they were able to hold their own, as of right now. Knowing that Izoku might still be out there, they turned to the hole in the wall and pressed onward, not needing to stop and train any longer.

They came outside, once again, and found themselves on another long, flat level with a vine that connected to a higher point of the tree. They all moved, together, working their way up the vine, always with one standing on one of the levels, in case something was crawling around and tried to stop them from climbing further. As they got up to the next level, they realized they had another vine to climb. After that, they found another. Four levels up, they found another crack in the wood, leading back inside the tree. They went back inside, looking down, seeing Shiori's head, far below them. It almost looked like she wasn't gargantuan to them, but they knew she was.

Back inside the tree, they found themselves inside a relatively small room. There were three paths from the main one, each with endings well within sight. Two of the paths led to small boxes, and the other led to another hole in the wall, which presumably led back outside. As they walked through, collecting supplies from the boxes, they could hear the noises from outside. There was no wind, but the distant sounds of walking and talking students were well within their level of hearing. After getting done up here, they'd have to try to figure away around all of those students and get back to Ant Town.

Once back outside, the trio found themselves on top of a large, thick branch of the tree. They could see the mountainous terrain dozens of miles into the distance, the horizon holding a much new view for them. The branch was shaped in a jagged form. It had no leaves on it, but held something at the end of it. They looked into the distance, trying to see it, but they couldn't quite see. It was gold, for sure, but the only way they'd find out is if they went to the end of the branch and found out for themselves.

They moved along the branch, slowly. It was large and didn't move at all, but that didn't change the fact that it would start moving if the wind picked up anytime soon. They wanted to make sure they were careful. If the wind did pick up, and they were sent off it, they would die. Even if Shiori's hair, far below, cushioned their fall, the impact would likely still kill or injure them. They wanted to make sure that didn't happen. It took a few minutes of walking, but the eventually came to the end of the branch, where they found a large, gold-plated chest.

The chest was stuck inside the very end of the branch, and the three of them came to it, looking at one another. They grinned, a strange feeling coming across their bodies. They felt like this was exactly what they were looking for. They hadn't even opened it yet, but somehow, they knew it was going to contain what they were seeking. Or, rather, what Izoku had been seeking. Not wanting to wait too long, Hitoshi and Tarou both lifted up the chest, it being a little larger than a normal chest. It was heavy, and took both of them to get it open.

Once it had been opened up, the three of them approached the opened chest and took a peek inside it. They were hoping that it didn't have any food, or supplies, or weapons in it, and they were pleasantly surprised. Within the chest was something rather sizable, but definitely not food, supplies, or weapons. It looked like a large, thick piece of glass that belonged on some sort of armored vehicle. They reached inside, pulling out the surprisingly-light object, and managed to put it away. This had to have been the crystal shard that they were looking for.

Sei was the first to speak up about this crystal shard they'd found. They knew that they were after it, but they had no idea what they were supposed to do with it. Izoku had proposed making some sort of weapons out of them, but how would they be able to do that? “So...what the hell are we supposed to do with this?” He was curious, as were the three others. They knew Izoku wanted them, and they were part of his master plan, but they hadn't been told the means by which they would be using them or how to get to that point.”

“As it is now, I'm not sure how we could ever use it as a weapon.” Tarou had a good point in his analysis of the situation. They were still in the dark about a lot of this. They didn't know how they'd craft it into a weapon, who would be able to make it, or how they would get back to the shrine in order to fight the Red Queen. Everything about this was so confusing to them. It would be so much easier if Izoku was still around to tell them these things. That is, assuming he even had a complete master plan.

As they conversed, Hitoshi stopped them both. He heard something from above them. Grabbing onto them, he turned his two comrades around as a host of buzzing sounds came from above. They all grabbed onto their weapons as they saw something coming. They were big, and they had wings. They were coming, straight for them. They wouldn't be getting out of this tree without a fight...