"You know Eni, when you said that we were going to be spending some more quality time together, travelling over the desert at high speeds is not what I had in mind!" Donva shouted, trying to overcome the roar of the wind as he clutched onto Enidri's back. Both travelled on her personal carrier, soaring a few feet over the expansive desert. A wave of sand shot out from either side of the vehicle’s path, creating a long trail in its wake.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, Donva. This wasn't my first choice for a family reunion, either! But I think we at least owe it to those guys to check up on 'em after all they've done for us."

"I understand!" Donva held onto Enidri's waist tight with one hand while his other arm raised upward to wipe back the sweat that had pooled on his forehead with his still-unnaturally dark arm. "But still..."

"The sooner we find 'em, the sooner we can leave!" Enidri shouted back. "Besides, I don't have enough Concentrate in this thing's tank to turn us back around for the full trip.”

"So we'll be stranded here if we don't reach some kind of civilization soon?"

Enidri paused. "You sure do like to put a damper on things, don't you?"

"You didn't think that far?"

"Of course I did! You don't become Labrisson's top Exterminator by not planning ahead!" Enidri angled her head towards the mountainous hill coming up in the distance. "See? What did I say?"

"Looks like a coincidence to me!"

Enidri raised the altitude of her carrier, parking it on the side of the mountain just below the landing platform. Donva stepped off first, panting as he clamored to be underneath the shade of provided by the cement platform. He sat hunched over a large rock and brushed his soaked strands of hair back.

"That was quite the trip, Eni," he said while gathering his breath. "Forgot how wild your plans can be sometimes."

"Thanks," Enidri replied. She turned to face the Grani estate that stood at the top of the hill. "Hate to break it to you Donva, but this is one of those 'good news, bad news' situations."

"Wonderful. Does either bit of news involve us getting out of this heat?"

"Yeah, I'd say so." She turned back to Donva who still had his head angled low. "Don't know why you're complaining. Not like you're wearing a shirt."

"That's because you told me that we were heading towards Sano Mosado. Didn't think we'd be travelling for hours directly under the sun like that!"

"Just be grateful that I decided to get the Climate Augmenter fixed on my ride a week ago."

"We'd be dead if you didn't."

"Exactly. Now, do you wanna hear the good news or the bad news first?"

"Give me the bad."

"I've got a feeling that the owners of this place don't take too kindly to visitors."

Donva wiped off his forehead with the back of his hand. "Sounds like we won't be going up there to ask them for some water and bathroom break."

Enidri shook her head. "If you want some water and a bathroom break, it'll have to be by force."

Donva let out a groan. "Ezaku sure is nice around this time of year. There's nothing over there you want to do?"

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The swordswoman remained stoic. "You wanna hear the good news?"

"Fine."

"That same feeling also tells me that the other three are up there."

Donva stood up from his resting spot and looked towards the estate. Enidri pointed to the large, see-through dome placed right behind it. "Are you talking about the area with all the trees?"

"Yeah. I've heard rumors about this place. You ever use the Dark Network?"

A startled Donva bobbed back in shock. "Me? I'm a scholar! Or at least I was. The thought never even crossed my mind. If you're not careful, you could get incarcerated just for using it! Besides, why would I? Its sole purpose is for illegal products and services."

"Exactly." Enidri lifted up the handle to her Ion Blade and showed it to him. "Where do you think I got this thing? Most other Ion-based weapons are only good for Rumble Circuit fights. But there are people that can augment and modify it so it can be used as a real weapon. The one I have is great for chopping up Essencima and cutting through materials if I set the dial properly."

"Wow. My sister is a criminal. I know you're from Labrisson, but I never would have guessed that you would resort to something like that."

"Don't act all high and mighty. You're still on probation for all those kidnappings, remember? As far as the rest of the world knows, you're more of a criminal than I am."

"Let's... get back to the point," Donva said embarrassed. "What does the Dark Network have to do with this place?"

"I've heard stories about a special Broadcast that stems from an Eco-Dome in the middle of the desert. Apparently they do Live Hunts."

"Live Hunts?" Donva repeated.

"Oh yeah. They toss a poor sucker in there and hunt them down."

"To the death?" Donva replied, his eyes matching the shock in his tone.

"No. They hunt them down and give them a well-balanced breakfast."

"Sorry if I'm not used to all the crazy stuff that goes on outside of Scholburn!"

"I get it. Not your fault you've been pampered most of your life. Anyway, I never questioned whether it was real or not. You come across all sorts of wild stuff when you browse the Dark Network. Only about twenty percent of it is actually true though."

Donva stepped forward, placing his hand over his head to shield his eyes from the sun's intense rays that rained down. "So, how sure are you that those three are being held up there?"

"Pretty sure. Knowing those three, if there's trouble around then they're probably waist deep in it."

"All right." Donva waved his hand and brought up his projection. "I'm going to go ahead and alert the Sano Mosado Enforcement." Before Donva could contact the agency, Enidri put one hand through the projection.

"Stop it! Technically, we're the ones breaking the law. Anyone that can afford a home that big and can manage an Eco-Dome right next to it must be absolutely loaded! Probably a trillionaire. Not to mention that we can't say for certain that Gurk, Itzel and Janus are all in there! If anything, we'll be the ones hauled off for trespassing!"

"Did you try calling them?"

Enidri crossed her arms in front of her chest, cutting her lone eye towards him. "What do you think?"

"This is bad. Really bad." Donva paced back and forth, his hands scratching through his hair as he stared towards the ground. "What do you think we should do? We can't get the Justice Department to help us. Are you suggesting we go in there and try to get to the bottom things ourselves?"

"That's why I parked the carrier underneath that landing platform. So they won't see us coming."

Donva stopped his pacing and stood upright. He sighed and looked up towards the Grani estate one more time. "You're going to make me regret not staying inside Confinement, aren't you?"

Enidri began scaling the side of the hill, keeping close to the terrain and underneath the bridge. "If you follow me closely, we probably won't get caught!"

Donva hurried to catch up to Enidri, keeping an eye on the structure above to look for anything that could be a camera. "I really hope everything you said is true, Eni. I've researched what happens to people that are put in serious Confinement. Do I look like the person that would be able to handle myself against prisoners?"

Enidri paused her march along the side of the hill to face her brother. She stared at his dark and veiny forearms. "You've still got those tendril… shadow… Essencima powers, right? I'm sure you could defend yourself pretty well."

Donva looked down at his hands. "I'm still learning how to use them, though."

"Well, you better learn fast. Because that same feeling I had is back again. And it’s telling me something else."

"More good news I assume?"

"Yeah. Finding where those three went isn't going to be easy. We'll probably have to put up a bit of fight to get them. And even more to get them out."

Enidri continued on with the trek, keeping her balance as she moved along the uneven terrain of the hill. Donva kept pace as best as he could with his relatively clumsy movement. "Next time, I want to pick out the bonding activity."