A couple of hours later everyone else in the house was some semblance of awake. Zel and Seifer were staring at each other over steaming cups of mochachino. Mina was talking animatedly while making chocolate chip pancakes with Tina and Celia.
     “Ya know, this place is a lot quieter than Newport right now,” she said, popping a chocolate chip into her mouth.
     “Mina, if you keep that up there won’t be any chips left for the pancakes,” Alex said, snagging a chip for himself.
     “I’ve had a rough night,” Mina sighed, popping yet another chip into her mouth.
     “Which brings us to the original question,” Adderson said from where he sat with Seifer and Zel, looking over his coffee cup at the rest of the room. “Why are you here at this hour?”
     “Well, Sailor V travels best by night...”
     She tossed another chip into her mouth.
     “Mina...” Alex sighed.
     “O.K.. O.K.. You really want to know?” another chip disappeared into her mouth.
     “Mina!”
     Mina sighed and took a seat on a stool. “Well, there are dimensional rifts that have begun to open and release invisible enemies. We’re... Ami and Susana and Michelle and the other techno geeks... are trying to pinpoint exact locations for the breaches. Deka’s helped us, as has Selma, but we’re no closer to knowing anything now than we were earlier.”
     Several more chips had since vanished into her mouth, and Celia and Tina made a command decision to toss the remaining chips into the pancake batter so they could still have chocolate chip pancakes instead of pancakes with a chance of chocolate chips.
     “And you traveled all this way to tell us?” Quistis asked. Mina nodded. “Why?”
     “We tried calling you... only to get answering systems. So they sent li’l ol’ me to track you down and tell you.”
     “Now that you’re here,” Tina sighed, “I guess you’ll be spending time with us for the rest of our vacation.”
     “I guess so,” Mina sighed before picking up a cup of mochachino. “I’m so tired right now I could sleep.”
     “Ditto,” Seifer yawned. Several more yawns followed before Celia finished cooking the first batch of pancakes.
     “What are our big plans for the day?” Guile asked as he slipped into the kitchen from the porch.
     “Ice cream and then... whatever else we want,” Tina yawned, setting off another chain reaction of yawns.
     “I’m so totally there!” Mina bubbled, gaining an instant energy boost from the mochachino. The others moaned collectively as Celia tossed more pancakes onto the table. It was going to be one of those days.

     Later that day Tina’s car pulled into the parking lot of the local ice cream shop, which she boasted had some of the world’s best ice cream. Alex’s convertible pulled up a moment later, Zel, Seifer, Mina, and Celia piling out in order to reach the order window first.
     “Looks like we’re going to need a larger car when we head home,” Tina sighed as Guile, Irvine, Quistis, and Adderson slid out of her car, “I’m surprised the cottage is large enough to accommodate everyone.”
     “What’s everyone having?” Alex asked as he and Tina joined the others at the window.
     “Triple fudge brownie,” Mina said, “triple scoop, with chocolate shell and jimmies!”
     “I thought you had enough chocolate with breakfast,” Celia said, a sweat drop on her head.
     “First, there’s no such thing as too much chocolate, just too much at one time. Second, you can’t put a door on someone’s mouth, and third, breakfast was a couple of hours ago. I’m hungry again.”
     “She’s got quite the appetite,” Quistis observed.
     “She also mixes her metaphors,” Alex sighed.
     “O.K., what are we going to have?” Seifer asked from the front.
     “Black raspberry, single scoop, with chocolate sprinkles,” Irvine said.
     “One scoop of Phish Phood and a scoop of triple fudge chocolate,’” Alex and Tina replied in unison. They glared at each other, and those around them sighed collectively, since it promised to be a long day if those two began arguing.
     Once everyone had their treats they moved to a side section of the porch, where Alex took to sitting on the railing while everyone else either remained standing or took seats at a nearby table.
     “Aside from the two leviathan attacks this has been a pretty good vacation,” Celia said, leaning against the railing while licking her ice cream.
     “Plenty of fun, sun, and yummy food,” Seifer added, leaning backwards over the railing. Alex tapped him on the chest, and a moment later the Hyperion Knight was sprawled on his back, his feet flailing in the air. “Damn you elf!” he growled as he flipped to his feet and turned to glare at Alex. “That wasn’t funny!”
     “Look up,” Alex said. Seifer followed Alex’s pointed finger towards the ceiling, and a bubble of water above his head broke, dousing him for the second or third time that weekend with glacial cold water.
     “I can’t believe he fell for it again,” Tina giggled.
     “Well, he never was one to learn fast,” Quistis joked.
     A young mother with a toddler and a baby took a seat at a nearby table and nodded to them in greeting before she set to feeding her baby.
     “Mommy, I want a cookie,” the toddler, a little boy of about three, said, tugging at his mom’s sleeve.
     “Here you go Ethen,” the mother said, handing her son a cookie and patting him on the head. “Make sure you stick close while I feed Maribo.”
     “O.K. mommy,” Ethen said, munching happily on his cookie.
     The group sat and chatted about whatever, enjoying their ice cream and other munchies. All of them were involved in relaxing that they didn’t notice the tendril of glowing red energy that snaked out of thin air, or the fact that Ethen was slowly making his way toward it, until the mother looked around for her son and screamed when she saw him near the slowly forming phantom.
     “Ethen!” she screamed before breaking down in tears.
     “Cookie?” Ethen asked, holding his half munched snack up to the monster that eyed him suspiciously. The phantom’s tendril snaked out toward the offered confectionery, as if it wanted only the cookie and not the youngster filled with innocence and energy at the other end.
     “Hey you lousy monster!” Mina called from the roof of the ice cream shop. She had taken a moment to transform into Sailor Venus, and the breeze blew her hair about dramatically. “How dare you prey upon the young and the innocent! I shall punish you in the name of Venus!”
     The phantom paid no attention to her, and Ethen looked up and giggled for a moment before looking at the phantom again.
     “Alex, do something!” Mina shouted as she lobbed a crescent boomerang at the phantom. The weapon simply phased through the phantom’s body before returning to her hand.
     “Make sure you guys cover me,” Alex said as he lunged forward, an after image appearing in his wake. During his dash to grab Ethen his armor formed, and he summoned his aura barrier into being. He lunged, snagging Ethen and pulling him close to his body before rolling forward into a bush. His legs stuck out of the bush, and crying could be heard, but an arm came from the shrubbery and gave a thumbs up.
     “That’s our cue to attack!” Seifer said as he fired up a trusty fire spell. “Plasma Rain!”
     Bolts of energy flew from around his feet and sailed into the sky before arcing downward and striking the phantom and the area around it. More screaming filled the air, sending chills down their spines. A second later several more phantoms melted out of thin air.
     “Well, this is bloody wonderful,” Venus said as she leapt down to join the others, “any ideas of what to do?”
     “Running’s not an option,” Tina said as she fired up an attack spell, “this place is filled with vacationers and other innocent civilians.”
     “I take it we stand and fight then,” Guile said as he produced his wand, which floated a short distance from his body.
     “Yup.”
     From the bushes came a cry of, “Giga Crisis!”, a beam of raw astral power tearing through the group of phantoms, reducing them to nothing in the blink of an eye. Alex stood up following the attack, a very frightened Ethen hugging his knee.
     “About time you got up,” Irvine grinned, firing off a Burst Rondo to provide cover fire for the mage and his charge.
     “Up you go kiddo,” Alex said, lifting Ethen onto his shoulders before diving between. A split second later he reappeared beside Irvine and set the toddler down. “You’re safe now,” he said, crouching down and looking Ethen in the eyes, “go see your mommy.”
     Ethen looked into space for a moment before sniffling, bursting into tears, and running for his mother, who scooped him up and held him close. “What’s going on?” the woman asked, her voice shaking with shock, “Who are you people?”
     “We’re the good guys,” Tina said, dropping back to offer some cover fire for the others, “You know, defenders of love and justice and all that jazz. As to what’s going on, we’re trying to save the world.”
     “Data upload enabled?” Alex said, looking at his digivice, which had begun to chime. “What the hell?”
     “We’ve pinpointed a dimensional rift in your area,” Deka said as her face appeared on the display next to an upload bar. “You *are* having phantom problems, are you not?”
     “If they’re invisible or glowing that’s what we’re dealing with,” Seifer said as he set up for a defensive barrier.
     “We regret to say that those are what did Miss Williams in,” Deka added sorrowfully, “Our condolences to Mister Zelgadis.”
     “It’s noted Deka, and appreciated,” Zel said, “Cammy was a wonderful woman and an excellent artist. Her death must be avenged.”
     The chimera bowed his head for a moment and clenched his fists. When he looked up he screamed and lunged into battle, twin energy swords appearing in his hands. In what could only be described as a blenderific massacre he sliced into the hordes of phantoms. When he attacked a meta class one, however, he found himself flying from his feet and out of bounds. A moment later he crashed into the ground in front of his friends, the swords vanishing and the phantoms moving in for a snack.
     “Cammy, I... I won’t fail you,” he said through a haze of pain, reaching to the sky and clasping at the air.
     “Zel, snap out of it!” Celia shouted as she fired off a hail of flare arrows, effectively knocking a couple of phantoms away from their intended target
     “Data upload complete,” Alex said as he absentmindedly lobbed a fireball at a bunch of phantoms.
     “Alex, we need that data quickly,” Irvine said, setting up a blaze wall around them to buy a bit of time. “Big blue’s out of it, and we’re going to bite it soon if we don’t do anything.”
     “Point bearing... geeze, I hate maps,” Alex sighed, unable to make heads or tails of the data that Deka and Selma had sent his way.
     “Let me see,” Quistis said, snagging the digivice from Alex. She looked at the map for a second before saying, “concentrate your attacks in those bushes over there.”
     “We’re on it,” Seifer smiled, shaking his head to get a couple of stray hairs out of his eyes. He pulled his elbows back, then swung his arms forward, energy glowing in the wake of the swing. “Thunder Wedge!”
     A wedge shaped blast of electricity sizzled through the air, blasting through the phantoms and destroying the brush around the rift, which glowed a light purple following the electrical attack.
     “How many more of those things are there?” Venus asked, lashing her love chain about like a whip. “Venus Love Chain Knockout!”
     The chain whistled through the air, cracking a couple of phantoms in half. She wheeled around on her heel, sending the chain on a deadly arc. Those in the path hit the ground and dove for cover as the goddess of beauty and love effectively took care of most of the remaining phantoms on her own. The chain ended its arc by embedding itself in the wooden structure of the ice cream shop.
     “And now for the coup de grace,” Guile said, swinging his wand in a great arc, “Magic Seal!”
     A magic circle formed beneath the rift and slowly moved towards the sky, sealing the weakness in the dimensional fabric and locking the phantoms back in their own dimension. Several inhuman screams filled the air as phantoms trying to enter normal space were caught in mid transition and destroyed. When the circle reached the end of the rift it vanished and Guile dropped to his knees.
     “I think I need to work out a little bit more,” he said as Seifer and Tina helped him to his feet.
     “Poor thing,” Tina purred, “do you need some mouth to mouth?”
     “That’s four,” Celia sighed, marking Guile off of the list she’d been keeping of guys Tina hadn’t hit on yet.
     “Are all of us OK?” Adderson asked as he helped Zel into a chair.
     “I think so,” Irvine replied as he took his hat off to scratch his head, “nobody died, which is a good thing.”
     “No, but that poor kid will be having nightmares until he’s 30,” Quistis sighed. “Excuse me, Miss...”
     “Jennings. Vanessa Jennings,” the young mother said, “thank you for saving Ethen. I don’t know what I’d have done if you people hadn’t been here.”
     “We were glad to help,” Mina said, crouching down so that she was level with Ethen. “Hey little guy, it’s O.K.. Sailor Venus and her friends sent those nasty monsters far away so that they won’t hurt you.”
     Ethen looked up at Mina, tears welling up in his eyes. Mina giggled and smiled at him. “Look, Sailor V left this for you.”
     She reached behind her back and produced a Sailor V plushie, which she gave to Ethen. The toddler looked a little puzzled at first, but accepted the doll and hugged it. He smiled and looked at Mina, then up at his mom and giggled.
     “Thank you pretty lady,” Ethen said as his mom picked him up.
     “You’re great with kids,” Vanessa said as she hugged her son. “You have real talent.”
     “Oh, it’s nothing,” Mina giggled, scratching the back of her head, “we aim to please.”
     “It was nice to meet you, and thanks again,” Vanessa called as she picked up Maribo’s carrier and headed for her car.
     “Likewise,” Alex and Mina replied, waving.
     “We should check in with central soon,” Quistis said, her voice oozing seriousness. “If we’re needed we’ll have to cut our vacation short.”
     “No problem,” Seifer smiled, “as soon as this is over we can relax.”
     “Then let’s head back to the cottage and prepare,” Tina said, striking a dramatic pose. The others sighed before heading for the cars.

     “This is command control. A rift has been located in Claremont. Exact coordinates to follow.”
     A door crashed open, followed by a couple more before the door to the street was practically unhinged by Lina and company. She dashed down the street, her fire red hair trailing behind her. Struggling to keep pace were Fam and Ihrie, then Naga and Kelly, Amelia and Sylphiel, and bringing up the rear was Gourry, who couldn’t understand what the big deal was.
     “I’ll explain again, yogurt brain,” Lina huffed as she slowed down to allow the swordsman to catch up, “a rift is a hole in the universe, i.e.. a danger to our home and friends. Through that rift a lot of nasty monsters are coming. We, as defenders of justice and being the only people who can do the job, have to close the rift, kill the monsters, and save the day.”
     “I understand that part fine,” Gourry said.
     “Then what’s the problem?!”
     “Why don’t we drive there, since running will take all day?”
     Lina grumbled and gave him a good elbow smacking before regaining her spot in the lead. “OK people, we need to get there fast, which means one thing.”
     The other women nodded agreement before activating their wristbands. “Charging UP!”
     Each woman lunged forward as a wave of colored light started at their head and washed down their bodies, forming their power armor. Each of them took to the sky, leaving Sylphiel and Gourry on the ground. The shrine maiden cast a Ray Wing around them, and a short time later they were catching up to the other six, who were going at top speed towards the rift location.
     “Command says to be careful,” Kelly said, “the data we have is the latest, and not too promising if we let our guard down.”
     “Which is why we hit hard, fast, and precise,” Lina said, “opening attack will be mine. Naga and Amelia are up next. Then Kelly and Fam. Ihrie will be our closing attacker, since her Mana Missiles should do the job of sealing the rift.”
     Their D3’s beeped a moment later, and when they saw their new data they cried as one. “What the hell are they thinking?!”
     “Enter the rift and fight on the phantom’s home turf?!” Lina grumbled, “What the hell?!”
     “According to the data we won’t be alone,” Fam said, “the Andrews brothers, Delwynndwn, and a group from Balamb will also be helping.”
     “As if that makes it any better,” Naga sighed, “We’re going into an uncharted dimension to fight something we might not live to speak about.”
     “We save the world,” Amelia said, “Danger is part of the job description. Right now all of our friends and their homes are being threatened, and we’re the only ones who can do anything about it.”
     “Princess pain in the butt is right,” Ihrie said. Amelia grumbled and glowered.. “Let’s go get them!”
     “Right!” the other five cheered as they activated the afterburners, taking off at supersonic speeds. Sylphiel and Gourry blinked as they were left in the dust. “We’ll catch up soon,” Sylphiel called after the retreating forms. Inwardly she added, ‘I hope.’

     “Good morning gentlemen,” Deka chirped. Three loud snores greeted her greeting. “Well, it looks like I’ll have to take drastic action, since all of you are still cranking Z’s.”
     The radio came on and was cranked to ear split levels, filling the car with country western music. Mackenzie woke up and lunged to shut the radio off. He cracked heads with Nick, who made to do the same thing. Del lunged over the seats to turn the radio off himself, but slipped forward and wound up with a face full of steering wheel, his forehead pressed firmly against the horn.
     “Well,” Deka sighed, “that could have gone better.”
     “You can say that again,” Nick moaned as he pushed Del into the back seat and rubbed his head. “What’s up Deka?”
     “There’s a rift located near your current parking place. Team Inverse is on their way at this moment. All of you are to enter the rift and combat the phantoms in their home dimension.”
     “Sounds like a blast,” Del sighed, rubbing his face where the word Cobra was imprinted backwards in the skin.
     “Are you sure that this is the best course of action?” Mackenzie asked, “I mean, we’re entering a dimension we know nothing about, to combat something we know very little about, and our chances for survival are slim.”
     “The fate of two worlds rests in your hands,” Deka growled.
     “OK, we’re up for it,” Nick and Del said in unison, both covering Mackenzie’s mouth to drown out his protests. “You can count on us.”
     “Good. Here’s the point location. Good luck.”
     The mapping computer came online and whirred a moment before a map of their location and the rift location came up. Nick studied it for a moment before starting the car, revving the engine, and slamming it into gear, dust and gravel kicking in the wake as they sped off.
     A couple of minutes later they skidded to a stop in front of a large cornfield not too far from where Del lived. In the middle of the field the air shimmered oddly, and seemed to have an off colored glow to it. Nick and Mackenzie slid their glasses on to gather info.
     “Meta class and lower phantoms detected in a defensive perimeter around the rift,” Nick reported, “bodies of animals and a couple of people are in the field as well.”
     “Team Inverse has arrived,” Del said as the now armor clad Slayers touched down around the car.
     “That we have, and that we are,” Lina said as she pulled the door open and poked her head inside, “What’s the latest data you have?”
     “Only the latest body count, as well as tactical on what type of phantoms we can expect to do battle with,” Mack replied.
     “Sylphiel reports she’ll be joining us shortly,” Fam interrupted. “Apparently we, well, sorta left her and Gourry eating our dust when we kicked it up a notch.”
     “Then we should hold position for the moment,” Amelia and Naga said in unison.
     “Easier said than done,” Nick said, “we’ve been spotted and their opening attack wave is on their way.”
     “Then it’s into the fray we go,” Ihrie said as she leapt on top of the car. She crossed her arms in front of her body and bowed her head, the armor around her arms glowing. She shouted, “Mana Missiles!” as she hurled her arms wide, a barrage of glowing missiles taking flight and zeroing in on the advancing phantoms. Several were vaporized instantly, while others were made visible by the shockwave.
     “There are too many of them,” Fam wailed as she went airborne, “We’ll never be able to defeat that many on our own!”
     “Which is why we were given these powers,” Ihrie shouted as she went airborne as well. She fired off a second wave of Mana Missiles, this wave having less effect than the first. “Oh hell, they can adapt!”
     “Fire Ocean!” Lina called as she dove at the ground, her sword glowing with flames. She dragged her sword through the ground before pulling up, a great wave of flames springing up in her wake.
     “Meteor Splash!” Naga shouted, her wings spreading and glowing a golden color before several waves of meteors were launched at the phantoms, tearing a wide swath through them.
     “They’re getting closer,” Amelia said, swinging her sword and firing off bursts of angelic flame, “Miss Lina, do something!”
     “We’re almost out of options,” Lina sighed, ‘I’m beginning to feel the drain of this mega armor, but we need to maintain it, no matter what the cost.’
     A cry of, “Dragon Slave!” came from above as a ray of darkness tore into the ground and detonated, decimating the field and the phantom army. Those on the ground looked up to see Sylphiel and Gourry approaching.
     “Miss Lina, Miss Amelia, Miss Naga!” Sylphiel cried as she waved to them, “Were we just in time to help?”
     “I hate to admit it, but her timing was right on,” Del sighed, brushing the dust from his hair.
     As soon as Sylphiel landed she flashed a victory sign, which caused everyone else to fall over in a twitching mass.
     “Sylphiel, you maintain a barrier around the rift while we’re inside,” Lina instructed as the others prepared for the dangerous part of their mission.
     “But Miss Lina, what if you get hurt?” Sylphiel protested.
     “We’ll be fine. You need to make sure that no more of these things get loose and hurt anyone else.”
     Sylphiel sighed and bowed her head. Lina thought for a moment that the shrine maiden was about to cry, but was surprised when Sylphiel looked up with a look of determination in her eyes. “I’ll do it, Miss Lina. I’ll keep the area safe.”
     “Good girl,” Naga said, “OK everyone, we’re about to enter unknown territory. Make sure you look out for your friends and they’ll look out for you.”
     “Onward we go!” Nick said as he hopped into the Cobra and put it into drive. Del, Mackenzie, and Gourry were strapped in, and riding on the roof were Lina and Kelly, both of whom didn’t exactly have wings and decided it was safer to stay with the Cobra.
     “Five seconds to entry point,” Deka said to all of them, “all looks nominal. Good luck.”
     Without further words the car and the four flying people slipped into the rift, which was quickly surrounded by a high level protection spell. They were in, and on their way to new dangers.