Han was watching the others who were carefully looking around the camp, trying to discover any clues as to what happened to Amanda and Jae-Hwa.

"Why haven't we already taken off to find them! It's been an hour since those two have gone missing!" Lulu was yelling at Jade. Ever since an hour had passed by with no clues coming up, she had been pacing back and forth.

Lacy and Jackie had joined Jade's group by searching the surrounding area. It had stumped everyone, the lack of disturbance in the immediate area. Their monitors didn't pick up any footprints, though they only stayed within eyesight in fear that whatever had grabbed the two was close by.

"Lulu, calm down. You getting emotional isn't helping anything and only causing a distraction for us." Jackie said to Lulu without diverting her gaze at the ground.

Lacy was looking up at the branches, saying, "If they weren't dragged away or walked off and weren't grabbed from above... I'm a little at a loss for what happened." Lacy stomped on the ground, likely listening for empty space beneath them.

"The ground is pretty solid, which makes me think that they weren't pulled under," Jade murmured, seeing Lacy confirm what she had already deduced.

Seeing Jackie look at the ground so intently, Lacy asked, "Jackie, what's up? Do you have some kind of idea?"

Jackie didn't respond to Lacy's question as if lost in thought. After standing still and staring at the ground, she slowly pulled out her weapon. The embedded gem began to glow, and Jackie stomped her foot.

Both Jade and Lacy yelled in surprise, trying to regain their balance after Jackie stomped on the ground in front of her. "What are you doing?!" Jade yelled. "Do you want to attract more of those things to us with your ruckus?"

Lacy waved her hand in front of her, trying to clear away the dust. "You should warn us before you do something like that in the future and Jade is right. We don't want to have to fight more of those things when we should be looking for Jae-Hwa and Amanda." Her voice sounded annoyed.

Feeling the tremors, Han and his group went over to where Jackie was standing with the others.

Seeing the dust still in the air, Jennifer tried to cheer Jackie up. "We're going to find your teammates."

His mother nodded her head, saying, "We have to stay calm and focus. I'm sure we'll find some kind of sign that'll let us know what happened."

Looking around, Han asked, "Did Ruby come back, yet?"

"She should be here any moment from her scouting. Both her and Lexi are checking the areas around us, considering their skillsets work for such tasks." Ivy stated, her voice had a slight worry to it, likely her concern that Ruby would end up in a similar situation as Jae-Hwa and Amanda.

Steve chuckled, "I wouldn't worry about her. With Lexi out there with her, I would feel sorry for anything that crosses my sister's path."

Sounds of feet running through the forest startled everyone and caused them to prepare for whatever was coming towards them.

"I guess those things noticed the noise we were making," Jade said, getting into a crouching position and pulling out her weapon.

"Sorry, guys," Jackie said feeling guilty about causing more problems.

From between the trees emerged Ruby and Lexi, both of whom had their weapons at the ready as if planning on charging into a battle. Upon seeing them standing and not holding off a flood of monsters, both of them haltingly stopped. They were confused by what they were seeing.

"What?" Lexi managed to say, an edge was in her words as she expected to hear a valid reason for why everyone wasn't in danger.

There was an awkward cough by Jackie, who answered, "I used the gem in my weapon to augment my strength and stomped on the ground."

Both Lexi and Ruby didn't say anything, hearing the reason for the sound. They looked shocked that someone had done such a reckless deed, especially with them surrounded by danger from unknown elements.

Lexi stepped forward, her steps giving the impression of an angry goddess about to pass judgment on foolish mortals. But the second step never arrived, just leaving her standing still as if frozen. "What is that?" She pointed at the impression left on the ground by Jackie.

Everyone looked at where Lexi was pointing, not noticing what she was talking about. The dust had settled and only revealed a small crater with dozens of roots crushed and broken.

"What are you talking about, sis?" Steve turned to Lexi, confusion mimicking what everyone was feeling.

They stared at the ground as if looking at an Illusion Eye picture, the kind where if a person stared at the image in a certain way an image would magically appear. It was something that was popular with kids before the world ended.

Lexi sighed in annoyance as if to say, 'Why do I have to put up with these people?' With her arm, she tapped on Ruby's arm. "Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"I don't know...," Ruby began to say before she said, "Wait... Something looks weird about that."

Once again, they looked at the impression in the ground, attempting to see what the two were seeing.

Han looked at the impression, seeing what the two had noticed. The roots inside of the impression had a different appearance compared to the ones on the edges. As if they were quickly grown, though this was only revealed after the soil over the roots were tossed into the air. It was like paint that hadn't thoroughly dried and still had that wet appearance.

Quickly looking at Lexi, Jade asked, "Lexi, are you able to use your abilities and see between the roots?"

Without answering, Lexi pulled out her weapons, and her gem began to glow. At her feet, the shadow started to morph and stretch out towards the impression. As if it was a liquid, the shadow drained away into the ground, leaving only a sliver still connected to Lexi.

Hoping for positive news, they were quiet as to not distract Lexi from her task. Time felt like it was crawling forward, as the shadow would twitch ever so slightly. It was the only thing to let them know that it was still attempting to accomplish the task at hand.

"It's opening up," Lexi softly said in a nearly emotionless voice.

Jackie could be heard trying to hold back a cheer, not wanting to spoil anything at the last moment. Lacy standing next to Jackie rubbed Jackie's back, comfortingly feeling a similar sense of excitement mixed with dread.

"Do you see anything?" Steve carefully asked, not wanting to rush his sister.

It was a few moments before Lexi answered, "It seems to be a tunnel. I can't reach out any further with the current gem I have." The shadow retracted immediately, snapping back to its original position. Lexi breathed heavily as the gem's light faded away, no longer providing a black glow.

Steve rushed forward and caught his sister, as she was about to stumble from the energy expended. "You okay, sis?" He asked.

"Worry about yourself. I just need a couple of seconds to recover. Stop making it sound like you're mature and don't need someone to look after your sorry ass." Lexi grumbled.

Steve laughed at Lexi's words, reassuring him that his sister was okay and not overworked. He didn't remove his arm from around Lexi's shoulders even after Lexi's scathing words. Though she was acting like usual, it appeared that she was grateful for the support as her breathing was slowly returning to normal.

"It looks like we finally have a solid clue as to what had happened, though how those monsters came up with such a plan is beyond me," Jade stated in relief.

"Let's quickly go into the tunnel, I can use my ability to help clear the way," Hina spoke up. An eagerness to quickly find the missing group members was evident.

Jackie looked at Hina and said, "Let's proceed with caution." Letting the woman know not to become reckless in the crucial hour.

Hina nodded her head and positioned herself near impression. Grabbing the gauntlets that were hanging off of her waist, she inserted her hands into them. A white light began glowing, signifying that her moonstone was activating its ability. From the gauntlets she was wearing, a cone of air similar to a twister grew. Compared to Han's moonstone, the effect was smaller.

Pushing the drill into the damaged area, the twister tore apart the roots slowly. Hina spent a minute drilling into the ground before Jade tapped on her shoulder.

"Switch out with Han and recover your strength. Is the gem okay?" Jade said to Hina.

Twisting her wrist to look at the gem, it still looked okay with no cracks or damage on the surface. "I'll be good in a second," Hina said.

"Don't worry, Hina. I'll make sure to leave you something." Han assured Hina as he watched her move away from the site and sit down.

Pulling his weapon from his back. Han activated the moonstone and directed it to move along the edges of the dual blades. He was careful to not have it rotate too quickly, as to create a whistling sound and attract the monsters.

Pressing the sword into the ground, chips of wood began to be flung out.

"Oh, Han. Did you have to choose such an obnoxious method?" Jennifer groaned, her hands in front of her trying to block as much of the material being sprayed all around as she could.