A rumbling sound came from the thicket of trees next to the Steps of Patience. The red leaf trees shook and the paser flew off in fear, screeching and clicking.

"Hey Tiffany, it's time to wake up," Max shouted. "The forest is angry now!"

"The forest isn't angry," Eric said. "The rano is."

A giant stone rano, the size of a small house pushed it's way out of the trees. Everyone screamed and all their training from yesterday was forgotten. With every slow step underneath, the icy ground cracked and trembled, and the sound of screeching stone rubbing against each other hurt their ears.

Max put Tiffany on his back and ran away from the Steps of Patience with the others. They were easily able to get away, but they stopped once someone pointed out that something was wrong.

Tiffany's entire body was turning translucent. The farther they had left her spirit, the more she was fading away. Phoenix had heard stories of people being stuck in the aether but had never seen it happen in real time. Their only solution was to head back and fight the rano head-on.

"Listen up everyone," Phoenix shouted. "We need to go back to save Tiffany. Some of you may not-"

Crunching footsteps and a happy smile appeared when Zynx was excited to have found everyone. His smile faltered when he saw Tiffany's ghost-like body and the grim faces.

"I got left behind and uh...what's going on?"

"We're going back to save Tiffany's spirit. Now I know some of you may-"

"LET'S GO," someone roared in the back. "NO MAN LEFT BEHIND!"

A chorus of screams and shouts went up, their fear from earlier was gone, and the recruits saluted in pride.

Phoenix was tired of being interrupted but was happy about the enthusiasm while also terrified that their training was so well ingrained in their brains.

The loudest of the group, a freshman whose name was Kylan, who was also the shortest, led the charge back up the hill to fight the giant stone rano. A formation of six people was made surrounding Max, who carried Tiffany's body, to protect her from any attacks at any angle.

When they were running back up the hill, the rano caught sight of them, rolled up into a ball, and rolled down the hill. The jumped out of the way, and luckily no one was hurt, but none of them could think of how to stop it.

"You guys need to get Tiffany back to the steps," Phoenix shouted. "Stay in the group and we'll distract it down here."

Phoenix looked around the forest and didn't want to use fire, or else he'd have more problems. Wind wasn't useful against a heavy, living, golem, and it was hard to use Earth or Wood if he wasn't touching the source, but he didn't want to take his boots off.

Phoenix decided to take the fight the rano hand-to-hand.

"Get lost you ugly amphibian," he shouted.

His eyes turned a dark orange, and he threw off his jacket. Using the two Paths of Aether and Force, Phoenix was going to use the spirits in the forest against it. His body's muscles grew, and the others were shocked when he charged the rano head on.

"What are those things," Akvo asked. "They're latching on to that monster."

"I don't see anything," Eric replied.

The spirits of the forest held down the rano while Phoenix slammed into it with his left shoulder. He grunted in pain and stumbled back. Everyone held their breath when a small crack formed it's right eye. Instead of flinching, the monster opened its mouth and screeched. They all fell to the ground, clutching their ears and writhing in agony.

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The rano's stone tongue shot out at lightning speed and landed onto Eric. He tried to escape but he wasn't strong enough to get away. Slowly, it tried to drag Eric back inside his mouth, but the others wouldn't let him. One by one they all grabbed onto Eric but it wasn't enough to pull him out. It kept dragging him against the icy path, and Eric saw his death before his very eyes.

"Wait, we're focused on the wrong thing," Phoenix shouted. "The mouth! It's open!"

Phoenix took out his water bottle and ran right into the belly of the beast. Everyone tried stopping him, but he was too fast. He was not going to come home without his cousin, and he sure wasn't going to explain to his parents that they weren't really on a vacation to a lodge.

He threw the bottle inside of its mouth and climbed inside, and only muffled sounds could be heard. Its tongue stopped moving, and Eric sighed in relief. Slowly, ice spread from the inside of the rano and covered its entire body, freezing it solid. It shook, and shook, and Phoenix's muffled shouts echoed from the inside of it.

A giant crack from the middle spread from the top of its skull, and went down, through its eye, then its mouth, and finally, breaking off a chunk of its head. The rano finally stopped struggling and Phoenix climbed out of it victorious.

"These things are so gross," he mumbled.

Now with it dead, all eighteen of them could crack off the frozen tongue, and Eric rolled out from its grip. Phoenix gave him a giant hug, but Eric screamed in pain.

"You're hurting me," he cried.

"I'm never letting you out of my sight," Phoenix promised.

"You're ....still using.... your powers," Eric gasped.

"Oops."

Phoenix let go but Eric was still surrounded. More hugs and too much attention were given when everyone came to check on him. He was ready to go home.