Early the following morning an alarm sounded through Trabia garden, waking all from a peaceful slumber. Selphie popped her head into Lina’s room, and was immediately met with a flare arrow.
     “Go.... away,” Lina muttered as she pulled the covers back over her head.
     “But the sorceress is attacking,” Selphie said, opening the door and flicking on the lights. Lina’s cries of anguish filled the air as her eyes were subjected to blinding light. “We need all the help we can get to defend Garden.”
     “Wha... what in the nine hells are you talking about?”
     Trabia shook a moment later, and a metallic hum filled the air, signaling the activation of a Guardian Drive. Lina leapt from her bed, light enveloping her body as her costume formed out of subspace. She landed next to Selphie and said, “Why didn’t you say we were getting our butt kicked?!”
     “We’re not getting our butts kicked yet,” Laguna said as he stopped outside of Lina’s door, “we have the Guardian drive, which will provide some protection for a few minutes, but she’s throwing everything she has against us, including something she calls a Giga Slave.”
     Lina’s eyes widened when she heard the name of one of her most powerful spells spoken. “She’s going to use the Giga Slave?! She told me repeatedly never to use it!”
     “That was before she was taken over by Ultimecia,” Zelgadis said as he joined the others, “right now the future sorceress has access to the entirety of Sylphiel’s spell knowledge, plus whatever else she knew, like the chaos words and some of the calculations to the Giga Slave.”
     “This could be really bad,” Selphie said, “she tried to use that same spell against Balamb, but Alex stopped that with a Goddess Strike or a Goddess Slash or something like that.”
     “The one spell that counters L-sama’s power is the one that calls upon Rashkala, the shining silver goddess of the stars,” Lina said as Trabia shook again, “Sylphiel knows that spell, but Ultimecia wouldn’t have any need for a white magic spell of that magnitude.”
     “Which makes that our ace in the hole,” Celia said as she poofed in among them, “she unlocks the Giga Slave, we unlock the Goddess Slash.”
     Trabia shook violently one more time, and the lights flickered off. A moment later emergency power came online, dimmer lights turning on and illuminating the halls. Lina and Zel quickly cast light spells, illuminating the hallway further.
     “We’re almost at the bridge,” Selphie said as they came to a set of double doors, which quickly slid open to reveal the elevator to the other levels. They quickly filed in, leaving the door open as Squall and Rinoa joined them, and once everyone was secure they road to the top level and Trabia’s battle bridge. Once the door opened they filed out, Lina’s jaw dropping to the floor when she saw the group of young people who were manning the attack and defensive terminals.
     “Jessica, what’s the status,” Selphie asked as she strode up to a girl with waist length almond hair who was standing at the command com.
     “The Guardian Drive is down to seventy percent, but holding at a steady rate and recharging one percent every five minutes,” the girl Jessica said, turning to face Selphie, “there have been no breeches in security, and the army is being held by the defensive screens.”
     “That sounds about optimum,” Squall said, “what were they throwing at us I wonder.”
     “According to the sensor logs there were five golden things, four calling squads, three French horns, two turtlepies, and a Thundrage with a pair of trees,” a young man with spikey orange hair replied, “and those were just the warning shots.”
     “Those were pretty harsh warning shots,” Zelgadis said. A moment later the bridge filled with blinding light, and outside of Trabia floated Angemon, angel feathers sailing about in the wind. But something about this summoning of the angel seemed different.
     “Black feathers?” Celia asked, staring in awe as the angel flapped its wings a few times.
     “It’s a black Angemon,” Lina said as the wings began to glow. She blinked, her muscles tensing in anticipation of the angel’s attack. “We need a massive protection spell on top of that Guardian shield. It won’t hold!”
     “There’s nothing we can do,” Amelia said, “we can only wait and see what happens.”
     “Waiting nothing,” Celia said, her hair beginning to rise into the air, “that dark Angemon has at least ten times the power of the regular Angemon. The shield won’t hold!”
     “Brace for impact!” Rinoa said as she grabbed hold of a console.
     Dark Angemon flexed its glowing wings, channeling the accumulated energy into a globe above its head. The angel then grasped hold of the globe and hurled it at the Guardian shield, a malicious smile crossing its face as the shield crackled and ultimately crumbled, leaving Trabia garden completely defenseless.
     “It’s charging up for a second shot,” the red headed person said, “Commander Jessica, what do we do?”
     “I tell you what we do,” Lina said as she ran for the window, her talismans glowing, “Lord of these dreams that terrify, sword of cold and darkness, free yourself from the heaven’s bonds. Unite with my power, unite with my body, and let us walk the path to destruction together. Power to smash even the souls of the gods! RAGNA.... BLADE!!!”
     The black blade of darkness erupted from between her hands as the sorceress crashed through the window, shards of glass spraying out around her, her hair trailing out behind her as she took to the air, the blade above her head. She swung downward, her spell meeting resistance from Dark Angemon’s power shield.
     “Just...... die you.... pain in the ass,” she muttered as she fought to bring the blade down.
     “Lina, look out,” Gourry shouted as he swung the sword of light at the angel, his own effort meeting the same results as Lina’s. From behind them came the shout of a pair of incantations for summoning.
     “Supreme king with the watery soul, grant me the power of your tidal rage!”
     “Holy beast of protection, you who protects all life, come before us and deliver us!”
     “LEVIATHAN!”
     “MADEEN!”
     A large sea dragon appeared, its roar summoning forth a tidal wave that washed over Dark Angemon and pinned him to the ground. A large cat like creature with wings appeared and formed a globe of holy energy around Dark Angemon, which shrunk inward before exploding outward, driving Dark Angemon deeper into the ground. Lina and Gourry flipped backwards, Lina’s black blade fizzling out, Gourry’s sword of light also fizzling.
     “This is unbelievable,” Lina coughed, “their summonses didn’t do a thing.”
     ‘Use my power,’ spoke in Lina’s mind, ‘I can bring that pain in the butt down before it destroys the garden.’
     “If I use you then you might nuke us in the process,” Lina said as she was lifted up by Gourry and thrown over his shoulder before he retreated out of the way.
     “I don’t know what that gem’s saying to you Lina, but you should take it’s advice,” Gourry said as he retreated.
     “But Gourry, we might get fried to a crisp if I use this.”
     Dark Angemon fired off another black beam, which struck Trabia Garden, destroying part of the wall above them. As debris began to rain down a protection dome formed above them, and Selphie and Zell landed near them.
     “Hurry up and do something, Miss sorceress,” Zell said as he used a protection spell to reinforce Selphie’s.
     “But.... but what if I summon it wrong,” Lina said.
     “We trust in you Lina,” Gourry said, patting her head, “you’ll summon it right. We believe in you.”
     Lina looked into Gourry’s eyes, seeing that he was afraid, but that he truly trusted in her abilities. She looked up to see Zelgadis and Amelia setting up a protection spell to shield those in the command bridge of Trabia. She then looked at the gem in the palm of her hand, which pulsed with life and energy. ‘Gourry’s right,’ she thought, ‘I CAN summon this thing right.’ “King of the dragon race, come forth and grant us your power. Please protect those we love. BAHAMUT!!”
     A tunnel of wind and clouds formed above them, and from that came a large dragon. The dragon buzzed Dark Angemon before pulling up, the shockwave tearing through the area. When the dragon reached the peak of its upward swing it turned around, back flapping to keep airborne. Four more wings unfolded from the dragon’s back, all six wings aligning and glowing as the power of its attack initiated.
     “What in the world?” Zelgadis asked as he watched the preparations for attack, “I thought Lina had Crusader as an esper.”
     “Well, that’s Miss Lina for ya,” Amelia said, “she’ll summon something new and powerful at the drop of a hat.”
     “But Bahamut?” Jessica said, “Your friend just summoned the king of the dragons, and that looks like a Terra Flare attack when that version should only be able to use Mega Flare.”
     “Well, that’s one powerful sorceress you’re talking about,” Nick said, “so everything sort of gets rewritten when she does something.”
     “Cover your eyes,” Celia cried as the battle bridge was once again awash in blinding light, “I think it’s going to attack!”
     A large globe of energy formed between Bahamut’s powerful jaws, the wings glowing at a steady rate, the glow pulsing with the beating of its heart. The dragon belched the globe forth, sending it at Dark Angemon. The globe exploded into a beam that struck the angel and weakened it to the point it disintegrated into a shower of black angel feathers. The beam continued into the ground, where it exploded and dug out a large crater that included part of a mountain side. With the target gone Bahamut vanished in a flash of flames, leaving a very stunned Lina and Gourry with an equally stunned Zell and Selphie.
     After several moments of awkward silence Selphie said, “Was... was that Bahamut?”
     “That was my summons,” Lina gasped as she regained her feet, “he’s something, isn’t he?”
     “Say Lina, I thought you had something that nearly nuked your butt for a summons,” Gourry said as he dug himself out of some debris, “what’s with the dragon?”
     “I don’t know how to explain it,” Lina said as she stumbled, “can this be the power of my summons?”
     ‘That it is,’ a voice said in her head, ‘in your heart you brought forth the true power... I was never really Crusader. I was the king of the dragon race, Bahamut, all along. You can still summon Crusader if you want, but I bet you’ll want to keep in touch with me.’
     “You bet,” Lina said, grinning as she looked at the glowing jewel. She attached the jewel to the collar of her tunic and said, “feel free to talk to me any time.”
     “So you wear your summons as a piece of jewelry,” Selphie said as she watched what Lina did, “interesting.”
     “So now what do we do?” Zell asked as they entered Trabia through the back door.
     “Probably get some rest,” Lina said, “the sorceress’ going to be hurting without her summons for a few days. I could use something to eat as well.”
     “What about Alex and Seifer and Irvine?” Selphie asked with concern.
     “They can handle themselves. Right now I feel really drained from that battle.”

     Deep within the confines of the Sorceress’ castle three SeeDs weren’t faring all that well. Alex, Irvine, and Seifer stood back to back, a failing protection dome around them, shielding them from the seemingly endless assault set up by Ultimecia’s forces. With every strike the dome creaked, spider web cracks forming around the sides.
     “We’re going to get our butts kicked in a minute or two,” Alex said, casting a quick healing spell on the gash on his right forearm.
     “We’ll handle that when it comes to that,” Seifer said, always the optimist, “until then we could try firing off a Dragon Slave.”
     “If you think you have enough magic power to do that, you go for it,” Irvine said as he set to work with a healing spell for the nasty wound on his lower thigh, “I think we need to be in peak shape for when the dome breaks.”
     “Which will be after the next strike,” Alex said as a couple of small shards of the dome fell to the ground at his feet, “look ready.”
     They struck battle stances, and none too soon, since the dome did indeed shatter following the next strike. The three leapt into the air, weapons drawn. Alex used his glaive to launch himself higher into the air, where he activated the power of one of his super arts, a tornado forming in the midst of the army and decimating their forces. A drake snuck up behind him, though, and executed a tail whip attack, smashing the mage to the ground. Seifer unlocked his limit skill and slashed at the drake, toasting it in a searing wave of fire. He whipped around and used the same skill on some of the other monsters, only to have them absorb the power of the fire. Irvine loaded pulse ammo into his shotgun and let fly, taking down some of the creatures that Seifer’s attack healed, but he quickly ran out of ammunition. The three were quickly captured, disarmed, and taken to the sorceress’ main halls, where she sat above them in her throne and laughed maniacally.
     “So this is what you’re reduced to,” she cackled, “out of power, out of ammo, out of luck.”
     “Oh, piss off,” Seifer growled, “your army outnumbers us several thousand to one. I think we actually did pretty good considering the odds.”
     “Silence, you fool! How dare you speak to me in such a manner! I don’t know why I’m troubling myself with your well being.”
     “Maybe because we could be valuable additions to your dark army,” Alex suggested, winking at Seifer and Irvine.
     “Possibly. However, I doubt it, since I have enough right now to keep me occupied.”
     She dropped to her knees a moment later, clutching at her heart. She muttered a string of obscenities which caused one of the monsters to burst into flames, which startled the three SeeDs who had no idea what was happening. Finally, after a moment, the sorceress said, “Angemon... he’s been defeated. I will need to add you to my army after all to replace what I have lost.”
     “Who’s Angemon?” Seifer whispered to Alex.
     “Her summons,” Alex whispered back, “she must have sent him to Trabia to attack them and keep the others from reaching us.”
     “Silence!” the sorceress commanded. She then turned toward the members of her evil army that were in the room.
     “You may do with them as you wish, my lovely minions,” the evil sorceress said, “at least, until I’m ready for them.”
     “You snotty little bitch,” Seifer growled as he struggled to break free from the hold of his captors.
     “Have fun with him first, then the cowboy and the wizard. After that lock them up.” she added before leaving the room.
     The demi humans holding Seifer dragged him into the middle of the room, holding him in the most uncomfortable of positions as they disrobed him. The largest of the demi humans then bent him over and spread his legs, preparing him for the most painful type of probing.
     “That’s disgusting,” Irvine said, turning very pale as the demi human removed his armor.
     “And the whole idea just disgusts me,” Alex said as energy flowed into his wrists, shocking his captors with a well aimed Digger Volt. He charged forward, reaching behind his back to unsheathe his sword from subspace. He held his blade to his right, mowing down several demi human onlookers as he passed. In one fluid motion he switched to his left hand, mowing down several more demi humans. In one elegant motion he was airborne, his sword positioned above his head, the blade glowing. As he came down he cleaved downward, slashing the demi human who was about to explore Seifer’s body in a rather disgusting manner clean down the middle. The demi human disintegrated a moment later, leaving a panting and quite angry Alex to glare at those who were restraining a very naked Seifer.
     “Release.... him... NOW,” he said through gritted teeth, his eyes hidden in shadows. They didn’t need to be told twice, since they released Seifer before scampering off. Alex slid his trench coat off and draped it over Seifer’s shoulders before helping him to his feet.
     “It would be best if you got dressed quickly,” Alex said, blushing quite heavily as he averted his gaze, “they’ll be sending reinforcements soon enough, and more than likely they’ll be stronger than these guys.”
     “What about weaponry?” Irvine asked as he cast a rather powerful fire spell to send searing flames at some of their enemies, “our magic won’t last long enough to get us out of here.”
     “Well, the only way I can use my weapons is if I’m really angry,” Alex said, “they managed to lock everything else up pretty tight.”
     “So what are our options?” Seifer asked as he pulled his coat on, “do we risk running out of magic and luck to get out of here? Or do we stay here to be the personal playthings of Ultimecia?”
     “Then there’s option number three,” Alex said, grinning wickedly, “we kick her butt without any help from the others.”
     Seifer and Irvine both looked at him. “You have got to be kidding?! There is no way we can vanquish her on our own. It’s a suicide mission!!” they exclaimed in unison.
     “It’s either that or wind up being the love slaves to her army of demi humans,” Alex replied, turning and putting his left hand into the air as if to shrug. “I sure don’t want to find out what some of them are like under their armor.”
     Seifer shuddered when he recalled what had almost happened to him minutes earlier.
     “Okay, okay, you win,” Seifer said, sighing. (cue PaRappa guitar riff).
     Footsteps that were heavier than human ones echoed through the hallways around them, alerting them to incoming peril.
     “I’m estimating that we have fifty to seventy five incoming at high speeds,” Irvine said as he backed away from the doors.
     “Then let’s give them a warm welcome,” Seifer said, grinning evilly as a globe of flames formed in his palm.
     “A fireball?! You’re going to use a fireball on them!?” Alex exclaimed, “How the hell can one fireball help us against a small army?!” he shouted, grabbing Seifer by the edges of his coat and shaking him.
     “It’s not a fireball but a Firaga spell,” Seifer explained, “in power it compares to a Burst Flare or a Heatwave.”
     Alex released his death grip on Seifer’s coat and smoothed the wrinkles out of it. “You have proven my theory about you wrong,” he said, scratching Seifer’s chin in a playful manner, “you really do know what you’re talking about.”
     “You doubted me?” Seifer replied, mock pouting.
     “Save it for later,” Irvine said as demi humans began to pour into the room, “we have company!”
     “Blaze Wall!”
     A wall of flames six feet high formed between them and the incoming adversaries as Alex activated one of his nearly forgotten spells.
     “Damn. This is going to take more out of me than I had thought,” he muttered as he struggled to keep the wall erected.
     “Firaga!” Seifer shouted, flinging the sphere of flames over the blaze wall and into the ranks of the demi humans. The globe exploded into an expanding wave of flames that quickly burned ten of their adversaries to ashes.
     “I doubt that spell will work that effectively again,” Alex said, whistling in awe as he ran some calculations in his mind. “If I can add a heat wave tech to this blaze wall then I’ll have an efficient weapon.”
     “Well, don’t just talk about it,” Irvine said, striking a few demi humans with a flare spell as they circled around one of the less protected areas, “hurry up and cast it.”
     “I almost have them... done.”
     Alex waved his right hand before his body a couple of times before bringing his palm to face the blaze wall. His palm glowed as he said, “Blaze Wave!”
     The flames suddenly increased in intensity before they went out of control and tore through the area, incinerating many of the demi humans instantly. The flames died a moment later due to the incredible strain on the spell caster.
     “Well, that’s just ducky” Alex coughed as smoke poured from his palms.
     “You burned yourself out, didn’t you?” Irvine said as he created a wall of high pressure water before them.
     “Bingo,” Alex replied as he slapped his hands against his thighs to stop the burning sensation.
     Several demi humans threw themselves at the watery wall, colliding with it or ultimately being caught in the pressure spray and crushed to the ceiling. After several such assaults they slowly began to break through the pressure of the water. Those who managed to get through were struck with a string of spells that knocked them out of the running, courtesy of Seifer.
     “Can you cast any big spells right now?” Seifer asked after a couple of minutes.
     “If you mean something like the Dragon Slave, then I think I can fire one off,” Alex replied, “however, once I use it I’m going to be too low on power for a while.”
     “We’ll come to that hurdle when we get there,” Irvine said as he broke off the water wall spell. Seifer summoned a wall of icicles a moment later, impaling some of the demi humans.
     “Here goes nothing,” Alex said, assuming a spell casting stance. He touched the heels of his hands together and set his hands so that they were parallel to the ground. A magical wind encircled him, blowing his coat around like it was a cape, his hair streaming out behind as he chanted the spell.
     “Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows. Buried in the stream of time. In thy great name let those who oppose me be destroyed by the powers you and I possess.”
     As he chanted the spell dark energy crackled around him, and this he gathered into his hands, a small globe forming, several more forming around that.
     “We need that spell within the next few moments,” Seifer said as the ice wall increased in thickness, a red glowing coming from the other side as the army tried to break through with a Fiara spell.
     ‘I almost have it,’ Alex said mentally as he brought his hands up before his body, the energy globes pulsing as they grew in size. “Dragon.... Slave!”
     The globes spiraled inward towards a central point as he spoke the command words, a wave of electricity pulsing off before a wave of darkness erupted from his palms. Irvine and Seifer dove out of the way as the wave tore past them, breaking through the ice wall before exploding to vaporize the remaining demi humans. The backwash from the explosion also melted the ice wall along with the other walls in the area. With the spell completed Alex said something random before keeling over backwards.
     “Well, he really overdid it this time,” Seifer said, whistling when he saw the destruction to the area, “we may need to read that page of the spell book later so we can summon some big overkill spell.”
     The sound of rushing air filled their ears as something flapped down the hallways. A draco mage emerged and hovered before them, making crude gestures with its four hands.
     “Why that little brat,” Irvine muttered, “how dare he insult Matron like that.”
     “I think he’s out of your class guy,” Seifer said as he cast a SCAN spell on the draco mage.
 “I don’t care, I’m taking him down. Giga Flare!!”
     A globe of dark flames formed in Irvine’s hands as he began to summon the energies required for the spell. The draco mage smiled evilly before unleashing a sonic wave attack that knocked the three unconscious instantly. Six demi humans exited from one of the side halls, two picking up each body to drag them off to the holding area.

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