Night was falling back on earth, and the group staying in Maine decided to go out and watch the stars. Tina pointed out that the lakeside dock would provide the best viewing point, since everywhere else there were trees, trees, and more trees.
     Celia was wrapped up in Irvine’s coat with him, her arms wrapped around the cowboy in a flirtatious manner. Quistis and Guile shared a blanket, and Tina got her wish and curled up with Seifer, sharing his coat. Alex and Zel were stretched out next to each other on the dock, staring directly into the star filled sky, a gentle breeze playing with Alex’s bangs. Adderson joined them on the deck to look at the quiet night around them.
     “What was that?” Alex asked when he heard a strange noise.
     “That would be the call of the loon,” Tina replied, “isn’t it beautiful.”
     There was silence as the sound was repeated a few more times. In the distance a coyote howled, and the loon’s call was repeated. Across the lake some loud techno music drifted their way on the breeze, but they remained more or less quiet, enjoying the peacefulness of the night.

    Beneath the surface of the lake something lurked, waiting for something to lure it out so that it could catch a nice snack. It didn’t have to wait very long, since a couple of bare feet plunged into the water. It had one thought in mind when it saw them - dinner.

     “This night couldn’t get any better,” Celia yawned as she clutched tighter to Irvine.
     “I can think of one thing that’d make it better,” Irvine said as the air was practically squeezed out of him.
     “And what would that be darling?” the vampyress asked, batting her eyes.
     “Being able to breathe... you’re squeezing too hard.”
     Celia released a little bit, and Irvine inhaled a full breath. “Ahhh, that’s much better,” he said, the color returning.
     “I can’t believe how quiet it is out here,” Adderson said as he lazily dangled his feet in the water, “I’m so used to activity and bright lights that I guess I wasn’t aware of how many stars there were out there.”
     “It’s nice to get away from the troubles of the world now and then,” Tina sighed as she snuggled closer to Seifer, who blushed because he’d get the chewing out of his life from Alex and Irvine.
     Zelgadis sat up suddenly, glancing around in an attempt to figure out what had set his danger sense off. Alex sat up and wrapped his arms around Zel’s shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
     “There’s something out there,” Zel replied, “and it’s close. I can feel it.”
     “What’s wrong?” Adderson asked, withdrawing his feet from the water seconds before a large tendril burst from the surface.
     “I’d say that’s our problem,” Guile said, “looks like our vacation’s going to be on hold for a little while.”
     Alex, Adderson, and Zelgadis rose to their feet, all three none too pleased with what mother nature had just thrown at them. “Time for action,” Alex said, a metallic bracelet around his right wrist glowing and expanding into a bracer. He held his hand to the sky as a wave of light washed over his body and formed his armor, weapons, and cape. “Now I’m officially pissed off!”
     “Time to make boiled sea monster!” Adderson said as he crossed his arms in front of his face, a set of bracers forming around his wrists. A glow flowed over his body as well, forming his armor and swords.
     “We’ll get the others to safety,” Seifer said, “then we’ll be back to help.”
     “Thanks for the offer,” Zelgadis said as an energy swords formed in his hand, “however I don’t think we’ll need the assistance.”
     From the porch the three women and other three men watched as Zel, Alex, and Adderson took to the sky and prepared to attack. Flames engulfed Alex’s sword as he held it above his head. Adderson’s blade glowed yellow green as he charged it with gravity energy. Zelgadis charged his energy sword and held the blade over his right shoulder in a swordsman’s beginning position.
     “We need to get it away from the shore,” Adderson said when the monster began to lash out with multiple tentacles. “We can’t hit it when we can’t see it, and if we miss then there’s gonna be property damage!”
     “We have that part covered,” Celia and Guile said as they floated to the edge of the dock and placed their hands in the water. Their palms glowed as they began to cast their spells. In unison they shouted, “Sea Blast!”, creating a powerful current that pushed their fishy foe towards the center of the lake.
     “Backup’s on its way,” Seifer said as he leapt past Guile and Celia, a Ray Wing taking effect. A moment later Irvine sailed over their heads, dropping Guile’s wand beside them.
     “Thanks for the thought mates, but flying isn’t my strong point,” Guile said, waving at the two as they went to catch up with the three who were engaged in combat, “good luck anyway.”
     “They’re not gonna have all the fun,” Tina said, a metallic silver and black bracelet around her left wrist glowing. A column of light formed around her body as her clothes melted away. Ribbons of energy wrapped around her body, forming a very skimpy French maid’s outfit complete with lace gloves, garters, stockings, and a big lacy black bow in her hair. She unclipped her whip from her hip and took to the sky.
     “I guess we provide backup for the backup,” Celia sighed as Quistis strutted down to the dock with her whip and Celia’s sais in hand.
     “Yeah, I guess we just gotta wait for them,” Quistis said as she relinquished the sais and took a seat with the other two.
     Out in the middle of the lake the battle was going fast and furious. The attackers had to remain well out of range for conventional strikes, and most spell attacks just struck the water and fizzled. Seifer charged up for a Fire Cross attack, but had to drop the charge when a tentacle threatened to knock his sword from his hands. Nobody could fire off anything that required a constant amount of charge time due to the fact that they had to dodge every five seconds.
     “This is bloody unbelievable!” Alex grumbled as he resorted to using a Flame Slash attack instead of something more powerful. The attack struck the water and fizzled out. “Grrr.... damnit all!”
     “Gravity Cutter!” Adderson shouted, swinging his glowing sword at the target below. Twin blades of gravity energy sailed from his sword, cutting through a couple of the tentacles. Those which he sliced off regenerated and came back stronger. He dodged several attempts on his life before floating higher out of range. “This is going to take all night!”
     “Think you can fire off a Gravity Crush from that distance?” Alex asked, retreating for a moment.
     “Yeah.... I think I can. Can you get it to surface?”
     “Leave that to me,” Tina said, “one super charged sea blast coming up.”
     “Seifer, are you charged enough for a firecross?”
     “Limit’s unlocked,” Seifer replied, giving a thumbs up and spinning the hyperion blade around.
     “I’ll run interference,” Zelgadis volunteered, switching from a Levitation spell to a Ray Wing. “Let’s move it!”
     Zelgadis dove at the kraken, ducking, dodging, and weaving his way through the miasma of tentacles that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. While he was busy with that Tina dove into the water, summoning spell energy into her hands before she splashed down. Alex clipped his sword to his belt before charging energy into his bracers for his limit break while Seifer held his sword above his head, the blade bursting into flame. Adderson floated a short distance below the two who were going to execute their limit breaks, his hands glowing in anticipation for his target.
     ‘Gotta time this just right or else the blue cutie gets whacked,’ Tina thought while she floated about in the lake. ‘Wait for it... wait for it....’ “SEA BLAST!”
     A powerful blast of water formed beneath the Kraken, sending it towards the surface. As soon as it broke the surface Zelgadis broke off his role and prepared to offer backup. Adderson formed a globe of gravity energy in his hands and hurled it at the kraken. “Gravity Crush!”
     The globe struck their enemy, entrapping it in a bubble of collapsing gravity while keeping it out of the water. With the power in effect he glanced up at Alex and Seifer and nodded so that they could unleash the powers of their limit skills.
     “Giga..... CRISIS!”
     “Firecross!”
     The two attacks combined into a column of fire and light that drilled into the kraken and eventually through it. As soon as the attacks ceased the kraken exploded, creating a waterspout that caught all who were in the air. There was an additional side effect to the explosion, and that was the creation of a tidal wave that washed over the three on the shore, drenching them to the skin.
     “Some vacation this is turning out to be,” Celia sighed as she wrung water from her hair, “I’m gonna need some heavy duty conditioner after this.”
     “We’re going to need a hot shower too,” Seifer said as the six combatants returned to shore a dripping mess. He took his coat off and began to wring water out of it. “I really need to get warmed up.”
     “We can do that between the sheets,” Tina giggled as she floated down and clung to Seifer’s arm.
     “Not this discussion again,” Alex sighed as he and Zelgadis touched down. “I swear she’s gonna hit on everyone of my male friends.”
     “Well, so far you’re three for five,” Irvine said as he touched down and took his hat off in order to wring water from his ponytail. “She’s hit on me, Seifer, and Zelgadis. I don’t know why she’s leaving Adderson and Guile alone.”
     “Because I’ll hit on them tomorrow,” Tina replied as she dragged Seifer towards the house, “now let’s get out of these wet clothes before we catch cold.”
     “Help me,” Seifer pleaded as Tina dragged him off, “please... help me.” The others sighed.

     “Bogy detected twenty degrees to the left.”
     “I don’t see anything.”
     “This is bloody impossible. How will we know what we’re fighting unless we can see them?!”
     “Flow Break!”
     A wave of light washed through the area, the epicenter being Amelia. In the brush not too far from where they stood a large creature suddenly appeared, glowing from the charge that the flow break gave to whatever it touched. The princess backed away from the insect like creature, dropping behind Gourry for protection. “Go get ‘em guys.”
     “Oh, you’re impossible Amelia,” Kelly sighed, “but I’ll agree with you. Lina, you go get those nasty things.”
     “In case Miss Love and Justice forgot, she’s got one of those transformation bands as well,” Naga said as she looked around, taking note of several smaller glowing forms near the larger one. “Looks like we have a small patrol of those phantoms here.”
     “Then it’s time to charge up,” Lina said, activating her wristband, “Charging UP!”

<music: Dancin’ Doll - Iczelion>
     An orange glow came from Lina’s wristband, surrounding her in a column of light. The sorceress spread her arms slightly wider than shoulder length and arched her back, bending her right leg and bringing the foot back as the column expanded. Her clothes melted away, leaving her naked in space for a moment. Ribbons unfurled from her wristband, wrapping around her body like bolts of cloth. She brought her arms up above her head and crossed them as her armor formed. Beneath the armor formed the skin tight body suit, and in her hands formed her sword, the shield on her back snapping open with a wave of glitter.
     “Think we’ll be able to maintain the transformation long enough to finish the job?” Fam asked as she and Ihrie activated their wristbands.
     “Hopefully,” Ihrie replied as their wristbands began to glow. In unison the two cried, “CHARGING!”
     Ihrie crossed her arms above her head as her transformation took effect, her clothes glowing and melting away, leaving her naked in space. She threw her head back and brought her hands down to hip level, a column of violet light forming around her. Several points on her body glowed, releasing bolts of cloth that wrapped around her. A ring of light formed above her head and spanned down her body, finishing the body suit part of the transformation as well as forming golden armor with what looked like drills on the wrists and insect wings on the back.
     Fam, on the other hand, crossed her arms across her chest as her transformation took effect, her clothes glowing before melting away and leaving her naked. She tilted her head back as she brought her arms down and held her hands with the palms facing outward. Several rings of light formed around her arms, chest, and legs as well as her head, and these rings shrank inward before exploding to form silver bracers, chest and pelvic armor, a choker and crown, and assorted leg bracers and armor. A ring of red light formed above her head and spanned downward, forming a violet body suit, metallic wings, and her sword. She spread her wings, which shimmered in the moonlight.
     “Wow.... your transformations were more impressive than the first time I saw them,” Kelly said, blinking as the three finished their armor augmentation, “But what’s with the whole ‘Charging Up’ bit? I thought your key words were ‘Digi Armor Augment’.”
     “We’ll explain later,” Naga said as she leapt skyward, her bracelet glowing a brilliant shade of pink. “Charging UP!”
     With her arm already extended Naga was in the perfect pose for transforming. Her clothes, what little of them she wore, glowed before melting away, leaving her naked and easily spotted by the common observer. Several cars the next street over were suddenly involved in a pile up when the male drivers saw a very nude Naga floating in space. Rings of pink light formed around her wrists, legs, chest, hips, and neck, these shrinking inward and exploding in a shower of angel feathers to form golden bracers with gems embedded in them, golden leglets and boots, golden chest and pelvic armor, and a golden choker and circlet. A ring of pink light formed above her head and spanned down her body, forming a silver body suit with accents of pink, silvery angel wings, and her saber. She spread her wings, reflecting the moonlight as she remained in the air.
     The phantoms in the area failed to be impressed by these flashy transformations, and attacked immediately upon completion. Gourry, Sylphiel, Amelia, and Kelly remained inside a protective dome while the other four took up positions outside to ensure their protection. The phantoms lashed out with glowing tendrils of energy that sizzled through the air on their ways to their destinations. As the tendrils struck pavement the ground cracked, flakes of blacktop sailing out in all directions. The four super charged slayers took to the air, preparing for some sort of onslaught. What they got was more than they expected, for an entire battalion of flying phantoms converged on their positions, lashing out at them with more tendrils than one could shake a stick at.
     “Gem Storm!” Naga shouted as she crossed her bracers above her head. The jewels set into them glowed as a hum filled the air. She spread her arms wide, the glow from her bracers transferring to her wings. A cloud of gems formed in front of her body, and these fired off in timed pulses, striking out at her enemies, some of which managed to avoid her attack while others fell to its awesome power.
     “Fire Ocean!” Lina called as she held her sword above her head. The blade glowed and burst into flames before she dove at the ground based phantoms. She dragged her sword on the ground as she sailed along the ground, and at the last minute she pulled up. In the wake of where she slashed a great wave of flame burst up and toasted many of the phantoms to a cinder.
     “There are just too many of them,” Sylphiel said as her barrier began to take a pounding, “I’m growing weaker with every strike they land.”
     “We can’t do much against that many of them,” Lina said as she retreated to a higher altitude.
     “Mana Missiles!” Ihrie called as she arched her back and brought her hands back behind her head. She then flung her arms forward, the drills on her wrists glowing as energy missiles poured forth to blast a swath through the advancing army. When her attack finished she too retreated to a higher altitude. “You’re right Lina... we can’t do a heck of a lot, and I think I’m running out of energy.”
     “I think I have one last trick left up my sleeve,” Naga said, her wings flexing outward as she gained altitude. Said wings glowed as she arched them above her head. She brought her hands up, a globe of pink light forming, and this was framed by her wings. She called, “Meteor Splash!”, a wave of energy meteors firing out of the globe and striking the ground based enemies, cutting a wider swath into their ranks. She sighed when she finished her attack. “I guess we’re just not strong enough.”
     Kelly formed an energy sword and charged through the barrier, her clothes glowing and changing into an outfit similar to Ihrie’s, except without the chest armor, but with the shoulder guards and a long cape. She leapt into the air, the sword glowing brighter as she began to slash downward. She screamed as she drove her blade through the phantom she was going against, and grinned wickedly as said phantom disintegrated into dust from her slash. She turned to the other three inside the dome and said, “Well, are you coming or what? We can’t just sit around all night and wait to be killed, can we?”
     “Spoken like a true warrior of love and justice,” a mysterious voice said from all around them. A glowing bracelet formed around Kelly’s wrist a moment later, and she blinked at this new turn of events.
     “Time to send them packing,” She said, holding her wrist aloft, “CHARGING UP!!”
     Her clothes melted away as bubbles began to form around her. Rings of aqua formed around several points of her body, and these shrank inward and exploded in a shower of bubbles to form bracers and armlets, shoulder and chest armor, leglets and pelvic armor as well as shin guards, a choker, and a circlet, all of aqua blue. A ring of blue light formed above her head, and this spanned downward to form a body suit of silver with violet accents and a large spear. She struck a pose as the ring ended at her feet and dissipated into a cloud of mist and bubbles.
     “Well, it looks like our group’s complete,” Amelia said while she watched Kelly transform. “Go get ‘em Miss Kelly!”
     “Cascade Fury!” Kelly shouted, floating above the ground with her spear braced parallel to the ground. She turned her spear so that the point was to the sky as a wall of water formed behind her. The watery wall split and crashed down around her, washing her enemies away before freezing into spires of ice.
     “And now for the coup de gras,” Lina said, a globe of flames forming in front of her body. “SUPER NOVA!!”
     The globe exploded into a column of fire that swept the battleground, destroying any and all phantoms in its path. Those that remained high tailed it out of there, heading to the west, where their dimensional rift existed. Lina and the others landed, their transformations glowing as they touched down. A moment later they were left in their normal clothes, and each of them collapsed to their knees, all breathing heavily.
     “We have them on the run,” Sylphiel said as she ran to congratulate her friends, “You guys were awesome!”
     “We’re getting stronger,” Fam said, smiling up at her.
     “Yeah, but the transformation still takes a lot out of us,” Lina sighed, “and until those things are permanently defeated we can’t rest for long.”
     “Let’s head home for the night and catch some shuteye,” Naga said as she stood up. “Then we can start fresh when we have our strength back.”
     “Agreed,” Lina said as she too rose, “home it is. Let’s go!!” The others sighed.

     Back in Maine something still remained unsettled below the surface of the lake. A single tentacle belonging to the kraken remained, and this began to twitch. Bubbles and froth formed around the tentacle as it grew and expanded. Time passed and brought forth a larger and more powerful kraken than the original could ever dream of being. It surfaced, scanning around for potential targets. It spotted the dock near the cottage, and decided that the place where those who instituted the original’s demise were staying would be the perfect place to begin its reign of chaos.

     Meanwhile, in the cottage everyone was curled up in bed, fast asleep. Tina was cuddled up with Seifer, who decided that it wasn’t wise to go against the wishes of the queen of death. Irvine and Celia were sharing another bed in the house, huddled together for warmth on a rather chilly night. Adderson and Quistis were asleep in the living room, Adderson on the floor and Quistis on the fold out bed. Guile had a bed to himself in the room where Irvine and Celia were staying, which left Zelgadis and Alex alone in a bedroom that connected to the kitchen and bathroom.
     The mage was spooned up with the chimera, Zel being behind him with his arm draped over Alex’s chest. With the way the two were dressed, one would imagine that one was sick and the other was insanely hot, since Zel wore only a pair of silk pajama pants while Alex wore a sweatshirt and wind pants with the covers pulled up under his chin and was still freezing. Every now and then Alex would sigh and shift his position, getting closer to Zelgadis than either had ever imagined. The chimera’s temperature sky rocketed from these adjustments, since the mage’s posterior was pressing against a rather personal area. Finally he released a gasp, a sigh, and a moan that woke both of them.
     “Zel, did you just....” Alex asked, unable to finish his sentence, since he was too embarrassed to say the next set of words.
     “I think I might have,” Zel said, blushing hotly.
     “Damn. I had wanted to help you out with that problem.”
     That caused the chimera to blush even hotter. He cleared his throat before saying, “I... umm... don’t think we should mention this to anybody else. It’s kinda embarrassing.”
     Alex giggled a slightly evil little giggle before rolling over so that they were facing. He moved so that their noses were touching, then turned his face a little bit so that their lips touched. Both blushed, and Zel moaned a little bit as Alex nibbled on his lower lip a little bit. In the middle of this passionate kiss something shocked both of them.
     “Mmmmpffff,” Alex said as Zelgadis broke their kiss. He looked quizzically at his friend, tilting his head to the right. “What’s wrong?”
     “Didn’t you feel that?” Zel asked as he pulled the sheets back and moved so that he was sitting up with his legs over the edge of the bed.
     “Feel what?” Alex asked as he sat up and looked at the chimera.
     “That.... jolt... like something’s wrong...”
     Alex closed his eyes and concentrated on their immediate area, a crystal pendulum appearing in his mind. The pendulum swung in a circular motion before suddenly swinging towards the lake. The mage’s eyes snapped open and he nodded a bit. “Yeah... feels... incredibly powerful, and at the same time a tad bit familiar.”
     Zel turned his head to look at Alex, who was looking back at him. “We should wake the others,” he said as he reached for a shirt and his shoes.
     “I don’t think Tina will appreciate it very much if we wake her while she’s curled up with Seifer,” Alex said as he hopped out of bed and grabbed his sneakers.

     About five minutes later the other people in the cottage were awake, whether they liked it or not. Guile hovered near them, clad in flowing black silk pajamas, his silver hair unbraided and flowing out behind him in the breeze.  Irvine and Seifer huddled close together, their trench coats buttoned up against the cold night air. Tina paced back and forth, grumbling about how her king was about to be dethroned for waking her up at such and insane hour. Zelgadis and Alex also paced about, waiting for Celia, Adderson, and Quistis to join them.
     “So, just why did you wake us?” Celia asked when she finally decided to join the others. “I was in the middle of one of my favorite dreams.”
     “The kraken has returned,” Zelgadis said. As if on cue several large tentacles lashed out, splashing freezing cold water about. Those on the shore stared blankly at the monster whose size had increased dramatically since their last encounter.
     “Oh, bloody wonderful,” Seifer sighed, rubbing his temples when the creature flailed about in the lake water. “We defeated it, and it’s still up and kicking.”
     “Then we fight it again until we finally get rid of it,” Alex said, “I mean, this thing interrupted me in the middle of something personal...” Zelgadis blushed, as did Seifer and Irvine.
     “I just don’t want to have my sleep interrupted any more,” Tina growled as she glared at the kraken, “I say we have us a fish fry.”
     Tentacles snapped out of the water, and faster than any of them could react, had Celia, Guile, Adderson, and Alex in its clutches. Celia managed to poof herself free, but even the vampyress’ teleportation ability couldn’t stand up to a burst of hard water that knocked her out. The three in the monster’s clutches were held high in the air, and below they could barely make out a large yellow eye and a snapping beak that could break a log in half without much trouble.
     “I think we’re in a spot of trouble, wouldn’t you gents say?” Guile asked, taking on a bit of an English accent near the end.
     “No time to kid around,” Alex said as the tentacle around him began to squeeze and constrict. “This isn’t my idea of a fun time.”
     “If this keeps up we’re gonna be snapped in half,” Adderson gasped as breathing began to become difficult.
     Down on the ground the others dashed inside to grab weapons before dashing back outside. Tina charged up her bracelet, her night gown melting away as her outfit changed to her battle gear. She stretched her whip in front of her body and glared at the monster that threatened one of her friends and two potential boyfriends.
     “Release them and we might spare you some pain!” she shouted at the kraken. The monster paid her no need and simply sent a stream of hard water at her, which she barely managed to block before it drilled into a tree behind her. She looked at the damage and gasped. “Geeze, this guy’s playing for keeps.”
     “We can’t do anything for risk of hitting our friends,” Seifer said, taking to the air to assess the situation. “Spells need to be concentrated and pinpoint. Weapon strikes the same. Only problem is that our targets are lashing about so much that it’s gonna be damned near impossible.”
     “Save... yourselves,” Alex choked out as he was squeezed. “Get... get away... before you’re caught as well...”
     “We can’t leave you,” Zelgadis said as he dashed at the kraken, his sword glowing. Several streams of hard water converged, all striking the same place in his chest and throwing him back. He crashed into a tree and slumped to the ground, blood issuing from the wound in his stomach.
     “ZEL!!”
     “Mister Zelgadis?!”
     “What in the nine hells?!”
     Alex stared in shock as his friend was brought closer to death by a single combined strike. He’d seen trauma such as this in the battlefield in the past, but this... was inexcusable. He bowed his head so that his eyes were hidden by shadow, and clenched his fists. “You hurt my friend,” he said in a fairly monotone voice. “You ruined my vacation on top of that, and now... I’m... ANGRY!”
     As he shouted the last part the band around his left wrist glowed. He shouted, “CHARGING UP!” as a column of blue energy formed around his body.

<music: Dancin’ Doll - Iczelion>
     The kraken, unsure of what to make of the now glowing person in its clutches, plus the pain it began to feel from the glow, released Alex. He began his transformation by spreading his arms wide, then crossed them above his head. As the glow grew in intensity he brought his arms down to hip level and then arched his back. His clothes melted away moments before a whirlwind blew up around his body. The whirlwind shrank inward, melting over his body and forming black armor with dark blue and gold archaic symbols engraved into each piece. This armor formed over his shins, knees, hips, chest, shoulders, and forearms, and underneath that formed baggy black pants, black boots, and a black tunic with blue and gold trim. Spikes formed off of the elbow armor and shoulder armor, and a headpiece with some funky looking antenna formed around the back of his head. He held his hands with the palms facing the sky and a mighty bolt of lightning split the heavens to land in his hands. The lightning bolt stretched and formed a mighty glaive with a silver and gold blade, archaic symbols engraved into the edges.
     “You shall feel the pain of the heavens when I get done with you,” Alex said, spinning his glaive about above his head. He dove at the kraken, the blade on his weapon glowing. He slashed twice, severing the tentacles which held Guile and Adderson. The tentacles disintegrated upon being severed from the body, giving the pair freedom and movement once again.
     The three descended to ground level, where Tina was tending to Zelgadis’ injury. She looked up at Alex and nodded that the chimera was going to be fine before returning to her healing spell. Alex turned to the kraken, smiling evilly as he plotted everything he could do to make the monster pay for hurting his friend. He finally contented himself with the thought of something quite painful for a creature of the sea.
     “Creature of the depths, prepare to feel the ultimate in pain,” he said, thunder rumbling in the distance. He swung his glaive about the way Sailor Pluto swings her staff for her Dead Scream attack, lightning crackling around the weapon. He swung the blade towards the monster while shouting, “Tempest Strike!” The mother of all lightning bolts screamed through the air, striking the kraken with well over a gigawatt of power. The smell of burning flesh and frying fish filled the air as Alex poured all of his anger into the attack, giving vent to his fury. When he finally broke off the attack the remains of the kraken disintegrated into a cloud of ash, and he collapsed to his knees.
     “Dude, that was incredible,” Seifer said, kneeling down next to him. He would have hugged the mage, except he was afraid of impaling himself on the spikes attached to the armor.
     “Thanks,” Alex said as his armor glowed and vanished. He yawned before saying, “The only problem is that it takes a lot out of me to maintain something like that for an extensive amount of time.”
     “Well, your roommate’s feeling better,” Tina said as she finished casting her healing spell. “I added a bit of a sleep spell to keep him out for the rest of the night. He’s got a healing factor, but he’s gonna need rest after getting whacked like that.”
     “Shouldn’t be much of a bother,” Alex said as he stood up and made his way towards the house, “I’m gonna need quite the rest after this.”
     “I guess I’ll help with Zelgadis,” Adderson said, creating a gravity bubble around the chimera to levitate him from the ground.
     “And I have Celia,” Irvine said, lifting the unconscious vampyress and carrying her towards the house. “Man.... we nearly lost three of us out there.”
     “Some vacation,” Seifer sighed as he escorted a very tired Tina into the house. “I hope things get better in the morning.”
     “Oh, trust me sweetie,” Tina purred as she nuzzled closer to the Hyperion Knight, “things are bound to get better.” Seifer’s eyebrow began to twitch. Just how much of Tina’s loving could he stand to take?

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return to the insanity?