Outside of Garden the humming that had filled the air while the shield was up ceased abruptly. The phantoms in the area ceased their endless circling and hovered for a moment, not sure of what to make of this change of events. After a few moments of contemplation they dove at the helpless Garden, intent upon lunch and the suffering of the occupants.

     “What’s going on?!” Squall demanded as he stepped onto the command bridge. Sirens and klaxons of all types were ringing on all levels, and students were dashing about in an attempt to figure out what was going on.
     “The shield’s down,” Tenal replied from beneath his console. He backed out, holding a pair of inline skates. “Just what I needed.”
     “How did it happen?” Squall demanded.
     Tenal looked uneasily at the floor as he slipped his boots off. He was ready to confess that it was all his fault. That he had been careless in his duties. That he was ready to take responsibility for his actions and accept the consequences and punishments handed out. The emergency activation AI cut him off, though, with an important message.
     "This is a level five security alert. Intruders have entered Garden's lower levels and are on their way to critical security areas. Repeat, this is a level five security alert. All students report to action stations."
     Squall looked for Tenal, who had been strapping on a pair of roller blades just seconds earlier. "Now where is that kid?" he asked himself. A blast of frigid air that swept past him gave him some indication of how fast said student was moving. He looked at the others in the command center, who just shrugged. "Go figure."

     'And he's off, moving faster than the speed of light,' Tenal's internal commentary said as he blasted through the halls of Garden at breakneck speed. When a large horde of students came in his direction he leapt to the side and skated along the wall for a short distance, stopping to check out the skid marks he'd left on the wall. "Woah... that's gonna be harsh when Cid finds out," he said to himself.
     There was a sudden increase in pressure inside the hallway, and he spun around to find nothing there. "Now just hold on a minute," he said, squinting, "I know this feeling. Heck, Anassa and I should be familiar with it by now. That's one of those.... phantoms..."
     He stopped speaking and began to skate backwards. He stopped a short distance later since he felt a pressure behind him. Summoning what energy he could into his hands he began to spin around. He held his hands above his head, a globe of golden energy forming. "Thunderous Blast!" he shouted as powerful bolts of lightning leapt from his hands, coursing along the walls to expose his would be attackers. Several were stuck in mid transition, where as others were fully formed. His exit ways were blocked... or mostly blocked, since the one heading for the quad was stuck in the floor. He grinned evilly as a globe of blue energy formed in his hands. "Icicle Barrage!"
     A wave of ice shards formed in front of him, and these fired off at the phantom unlucky enough to be in his way. They struck and froze the target solid... or solid enough so that he could skate towards it and flip over it without worrying about losing his spirit again.
     Once on the other side he activated his communicator. "This is Tenal. I'm heading for the quad. Man, this place is swimming in these things!"

     In the quad Tenal was racing about, his wheels barely touching the ground as he picked up his speed to race along the walls and up towards the ceiling as phantoms phased in and lashed out at him. Even though he'd almost been a snack once before, he wasn't about ready to have Anessa's wrath brought down upon him. He flipped through the air, narrowly avoiding three humanoid type phantoms as he went from high wall to the floor, narrowly avoiding his habit of planting his face on the floor and skidding.
     "This just isn't going to be my day, is it?" he asked as he leapt into the air, flipped forward, and slid down the metal railing, sparks flying from his blades. When he hit ground again he skidded to a halt and glanced around, feeling the energy in the area spike. He shielded his eyes as bolts of lightning split the sky and struck the ground around him, making the invisible phantoms visible and solidifying those who were already there.
     "Hey Tenal, need some assistance?" Zell asked as he and Selphie leapt off of his jet board, which came to a stop near them.
     "You guys showed up at the right moment," Tenal said, wiping a mist of perspiration from his forehead, "I was starting to run out of steam."
     "Don't pat yourself on the backs just yet," Selphie said as she lashed out with her nunchucks and cracked a solidified phantom in the head, the claws hidden in the end spreading to dig into protoplasmic flesh. She yanked backwards and the phantom fell on its face. "We have many enemies to defeat, and I don't know what spells will work on them."
     "When in doubt, try everything," Zell said as he formed a globe of energy between his palms and dove into the fray. "Meteor Smash!"

     Elsewhere in Garden Squall, Rinoa, Kirinis, and Laguna were fighting their way to the motor pool, where Meltdown was awaiting them with one of his ATV specials. As it was their options for battle were greatly limited, since they couldn't use any big spells within the confines of the building without worrying about a high damage bill.
     "This is getting to be quite irritating," Kirinis said as she initiated a Gattling Gun attack. Energy pulses tore through the hallway in front of them, and something screamed before becoming visible. Rinoa clung to Squall when she saw a phantom that had been split in half by the attack.
     "Is it... is it dead?" she asked, blinking at it.
     "I'm pretty sure it's been quite dead for some time now," Laguna replied, "but this form has been destroyed as well... so it's very dead."
     "How much further to the motor pool?" Squall asked, drawing his gunblade as something hissed through the corridor in front of them.
     "Another twenty or thirty feet until the entrance," Kirinis replied, cracking her whip, three streams of fire coursing down the hall in front of them. Each stream struck something, and that something became visible for a moment. "As I figured... they posted stationary guards here. If we continue on we'll touch them and wind up doing ourselves in."
     "There's something larger at the end of the hall," Rinoa said as she stepped to the front, "And I feel a great hunger from all of them. Hunger... and loneliness."
     Laguna clicked the safety off of his gun and spun around to cover their back. "Something's coming from behind... and it's moving rather fast."
     "Get down!" somebody called from the motor pool end of the hall. They hit the deck as a beam of fire seared through the air above them. Several unearthly screams filled the air. A beam of ice followed the fire, then lightning, and finally a tornado of energy. They looked up to see Meltdown standing in the doorway, his goggles glistening atop his head from the flames that continued to burn on some of the phantoms. "Didn't think I had it in me, did ya?"
     "Is our car ready?" Laguna asked, saluting the mechanic, who nodded.
     "Yup. All the gear you requested has been outfitted on it, and I took the liberty of upgrading the shield generator. Retro boosters have been added, since we're still airborne and a crash landing is something I don't want for you or for my baby."
     "Thank you, Mister Meltdown," Rinoa said, bowing as the others filed in.
     "You're quite welcome, Miss Heartilly. I'd do anything for you all."
     He watched as Rinoa bounded over to the armored truck, and waved as everyone slid in and buckled up. He continued to wave as they opened the lowest exit hatch and drove out. As the hatch closed he said to the empty room, "Good luck. I don't know if you'll need it or not, but good luck."

     "Aura Blade!"
     A glowing white energy blade slashed its way down a hall. Following close behind were Karna and Anessa, both of whom were trying to find Zell, Selphie, and Tenal. They had wound up outside the training grounds, which was at the complete opposite end of the school then where they wanted to be.
     "How much further until we reach the quad?" Karna asked as he stopped to take a breather. Anessa stopped to glare at him. "What?"
     "We don't have time to rest," she said impatiently, "if we stop, we're dead. Done for. Those things could come and get us like nothing. I saw it happen to Tenal, and I don't want to lose you or die by those things."
     "Geeze.... chill out 'Nessa. I need a second to recharge a little. In case you'd forgotten, I've been using my magic most of the time."
     "Yes, I know. I appreciate that. But we need to keep moving."
     She felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle as something entered the hallway on either side of them. She unlatched the safety on her plasma cannon, turned to the right, and released a burst of highly charged energy at the floor. Something screamed, and a moment later a bug type phantom materialized. To be more exact, the midsection of the phantom materialized, since the head and tail were now stuck inside the walls. She whipped around and fired off a pulse down the opposite side of the hall, and two things screamed. A split second later the top of a humanoid phantom and the rear end of what looked like a spider materialized.
     "Oh shards," Karna sighed as he went on alert. A bubble of energy formed around them as something smashed against it, knocking them to the floor.
     "Your timing is impeccable," Anessa said, pressing her palm to the floor. "And now it's my turn. THUNDER WAVE!"
     She channeled the electricity into the floor, and since the floor and walls were constructed of adjoining metal, essentially sent her spell into the surrounding area. All the phantoms screamed moments before exploding in a disgusting shower of protoplasm.
     "Ops center, this is Karna. We're currently lost on our way to the quad. Can you give us a heads up of our location?"
     "Xu here Karna. We read your signal loud and clear. You're a short distance from the secondary entrance. Just keep going straight and you'll find it."
     Anessa smacked Karna, who rubbed his shoulder with a pained look on his face. She rolled her eyes before motioning for him to follow close behind. Together they reached the doorway, and they kicked it open in time to witness a blinding flash of light. A shockwave shoved them backwards, and Anessa landed in Karna's lap.
     "Hurry up guys," they heard Selphie yell, and a moment later Selphie, Zell, and Tenal dove through the door and slammed it shut. A loud explosion threatened to implode the door, and the two looked at the other three, who shrugged.
     "Umm.... compact detonation device," Tenal chuckled.
     "Attached to my jet board," Zell added.
     "With a nice little Ultima spell for good measure," Selphie finished. Karna and Anessa sighed.
     "Overkill much?" Anessa said after a moment. The other three nodded. She bowed her head, a sweat drop forming. "I figured as much."
     "The shields are back online," Xu said over their communicators. "prepare for electrostatic pulse in five seconds."
     "Electrostatic pulse? What's that?" Zell asked. He received his answer a moment later as static electricity gave each of them the worst case of frizz they'd ever had.
     Throughout Garden any phantom caught in the pulse screamed as its body solidified within the walls and where ever they were. Students were quickly dispatched to deal with the phantoms, and a short time later Garden was phantom free. The five SeeDs stepped into the command center and collapsed into a heap, all exhausted from the day's exertions.
     "I could sleep for a week," Tenal said, yawning.
     "Hate to tell you kids this," Cid said as he and Edea approached, "but we're going to need you to provide some backup for Squall and his group. When they reach the rift they're going to go in, and they'll need you there as well."
     "Bliss, joy, and rapture," Anessa sighed, "who's going to be our backup?"
     "Somebody call for backup?" a familiar female voice said. Tenal's ears perked up seconds before Jessica St. Josephine entered, followed by Fujin and Rajin. She winked at Tenal. "So, what's up with you guys?"
     "Need for a break," Zell sighed, "I'm so tired I can barely move."
     "You guys get something to eat," Rajin said, "then we'll meet in the motor pool and take the second specially outfitted vehicle to the largest rift in the area. Sound good?" Five heads nodded. "Good."

     Back on Earth a pair of cars filled with passengers tore along the highway, computers set up in both tracking possible rifts. Leaning part way out of the front passenger window of the cherry red Mustang was Celia, her red gold hair billowing in the breeze.
     “Do we have any possible locks yet?” she asked into a headset mounted mic.
     “None yet, but we’re working on it,” Quistis replied, “I’ve hacked into Garden’s system, and patched into Deka, so that we have all of the latest data. Yet we have nothing.”
     Something blipped onto the screens a second later, and everyone got an earful of her exclaiming, “Pay dirt!”
     “We have a rift?” Tina asked, glancing over at Quistis.
     “Even better. We have a weakness that Celia can punch through. Looks like a back door they boarded up and forgot about, which means it should be unguarded.”
     “Where is it?” Alex asked, since he and Celia were in the lead car.
     “In our lane, half a mile from here,” Quistis replied. In both cars nine people exclaimed, “WHAT?!”
     “Well, it’ll have to do,” Celia said, “I can set it to implode once we’re through so nobody behind us follows us into trouble.”
     “In four... three... two... one...” Mina counted down.
     In Celia’s mind she saw the weakness, which glowed a pale green against the darkness of the sky. She reached out with her mind and formed a fist, which punched at the weakness. Two hands formed from the first when a small hole formed, and these wrenched the weakness open, forming a rift. The Mustang slipped through first, followed by Tina’s Saab. The hands vanished, and the rift slammed shut behind them, a split second before a snazzy blue convertible drove through the air where the rift had been.
     “We’re in,” she heard Seifer say, and she opened her eyes, pulling her head back into the car and rolling the windows up as blackness and bright colors swirled around them.
     “Where the hell are we going to end up?” Adderson asked as gravity bubbles surrounded both cars to keep them together against the stresses of dimensional travel.
     “I’m really not sure,” Celia replied, “I simply opened the weakness into a rift and sealed it behind us. I didn’t take the time to explore the opening.”
     A light was visible ahead of them, and both drivers pressed harder on the accelerator, anxious to see what they were heading into as well as what they were up against.
     “Brace for burst out in five seconds,” Quistis said over the intercom. The passengers in both cars fastened seat belts, checked luggage, and prayed to whatever deities they could before space and time ruptured and belched them out into a barren wasteland.
     Miles upon miles of desert and mountains stretched out in front of them. Both cars came to a sudden stop as drivers and passengers stared in awe at the nothingness.
     “Atmosphere is breathable,” Quistis reported, checking her instruments, “ambient temperature is a little chilly compared to what we enjoyed in Maine, but we should be fine without cold weather gear.”
     “Where’s the sun?” Seifer asked, staring at the thick cloud cover above them.
     “No idea. The data doesn’t relate to that.”
     “And our current status?” Alex asked, his hands still tightly gripped to the steering wheel.
     “Totally unnoticed by the local wildlife,” Zel reported. “I think this back door idea was a real winner.”
     “Hey guys,” Amelia’s voice bubbled over the communicators in each car, “Nice to see you made it.”
     “Where are you guys?” Guile asked, scanning the horizon for any signs of their friends.
     Something crashed against the gravity bubbles, and they were horrified to see that it was Amelia and Lina. The sorceress was the first to gain her feet, and she fired off a Solar Flare that blinded all of them momentarily. “Now I’m really pissed off!” they heard her say as a large flaming sword formed in her hand. She leapt skyward and swung the sword, a stream of fire screaming at the ground. The fire took on the form of a large snake, which curled around something and fried it to a cinder.
     “Whoa, what was that?” Celia asked when Lina landed.
     “Salamandro Fire,” Lina replied, “a nifty armor upgrade thing.”
     A silver and blue Cobra pulled up next to the other two cars, Ihrie and Fam leaping down from the roof as the windows rolled down to reveal Nick, Gourry, Del, and Mackenzie.
     “Looks like the gang’s all here for the epic battle,” Nick said, pointing at the large dust cloud that was rising in the distance. “That, my friends, is a massive stampede of phantoms, and they’re not too happy about something. What that is I’m not too sure about, but they’re coming our way.”
     “Any word from Garden?” Alex asked, shielding his eyes in hopes of getting a better view of the stampede.
     “Why would Miss Rinoa or Mister Squall be calling us?” Amelia asked.
     “Yeah Alex, why would they be calling us?” Seifer asked.
     Alex turned around in his seat and glared at the Hyperion Knight, a sweat drop forming on his head. The sweat drop turned to a large anger mark as he growled, “We checked in while they were having a crisis, remember? They are most likely sending someone in to take care of this mess, understood. Or, in other words, DUH!”
     “I’ll check in with Garden again,” Quistis said, activating her communicator, “Quistis calling Balamb. Hey, do you guys copy?”
     The image of a young man with flame orange hair appeared on the screen. “Reyark here.” He blinked ice blue eyes. “Oh, Professor Trepe, it’s you. Squall, Rinoa, and a couple of others have taken one of Meltdown’s upgraded vehicles out to a rift. Seems like they’re going in.”
     “Have them contact us when they go through,” Irvine said, snagging the communicator.
     “Will do. Anything else you need?”
     “No, that will be all,” Quistis said, retrieving her communicator. “Quistis out.”
     “At least we know that backup is on the way,” Adderson said as he slid out of the car. “The next order of business will be preparing for the upcoming battle.”
     “Which means it’s show time,” Del said as he slid out of the Cobra. He slid his sleeve up and pressed the center of the wristband that he had received the previous night. “Charging UP!”
     A green glow came from the band as he brought his wrist to eye level before holding his hand to the sky. A circle of green light formed around his feet and quickly spanned upward, vanishing in a flash of light at the tips of his fingers. Leaves blow up around him, forming the white ninja outfit with leaf shape shoulder pads, wooden gauntlets, green and white headband, and twin katanas on his back.
     “Oooooo-kay,” Alex said, watching Del’s transformation in awe, “somebody’s going to explain this to me at some point about why you have mega armor.”
     “Later,” Lina said as she paced back and forth, “much later.”
     “And now for our armor,” Adderson said, putting a hand on Alex’s shoulder.
     “Most of the cast is assembled for one hell of a spectacular show,” Alex mused as he drew his Saturn pen from his pocket. “Saturn Star Power Transform!”
     His cry echoed across the land. He looked at his pen, shook it a few times, and cried, “Saturn Star Power Transform!” while holding it aloft again. “Saturn Star Power.... TRANSFORM!”
     “He didn’t have any trouble when we fought the Kraken,” Tina said in awe as Alex tried again and again to activate his transformation. “Why is he having trouble now?”
     “Screw it,” Alex grumbled, tossing the pen back into his pocket. From the same pocket he drew out the shining silvery crystal that extended and grew into his glaive. “I have my magic and my training, both as a Warrior and as a SeeD. Just because I can’t transform doesn’t mean I’m completely helpless and defenseless.”
     “Estimated two minutes until those things have us surrounded,” Quistis said, looking up from her readouts, “Are we ready?”
     “About as ready as we’ll ever be,” Fam said, hovering a short distance from the rest of the group.
 “Then all we do now is wait.”