“.... and incidents like these have been reported throughout New Hampshire and into Maine, Vermont, and Mass. Doctors are baffled, since all of the victims of these attacks are deceased, but scientists have a theory that...”
     “Seifer, change the channel to MTV. That Alexis chick’s supposed to be on, and she’s damn fine.”
     “Will you guys knock it off?! I’m trying to watch this news report.”
     “Who died and made you boss, Alex?”
     “I’m the one who owns the television, I’m the one who’s planning our vacation, and I’m the one who needs to know all of this Seifer, so if you don’t like it then back the hell off or else I’ll make you eat fireball!”
     “Somebody definitely got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. What’s bugging you Alex?”
     Alexander West sat in the all engulfing leather chair, which floated before a large computer display in his laboratory. Around him were Seifer Almasy, Irvine Kinneas, the mysterious wizard known only as Guile, and Zelgadis Graywords, each absorbed in some activity or another. Guile walked up behind Alex and began to give him a shoulder massage, which invoked a little bit of squirming on the part of the mage.
     “You need to vent, or so says the tenseness in your shoulder muscles,” Guile said as he hit a particularly stiff muscle, “what’s on your mind?”
     “Oh, a lot of things,” Alex sighed as he rubbed his temples, “I get the feeling that something bad will happen when we go on vacation to Tina’s cottage in Maine.”
     “What could go wrong?” Irvine asked as he hopped down from the computer terminal he had been sitting on, “We’re going to be up there for four days of wonderful fun, relaxation, and enjoyment.”
     “Karma has a weird way of coming back around and biting you in the butt,” Zelgadis said as he meditated, a levitation spell holding him a short distance from the floor.
     “In plain English please.”
     “I’m just saying that whatever happens will happen, regardless of your outlook on life.”
     “And what does the news report have to do with it?” Seifer asked as he brushed his fingers through his hair, “I mean, it’s dealing with something dark and creepy.”
     “And unexplained,” Alex said, “But you’re probably right. I do need to relax a little bit more. Even mom and dad tell me that.”
     “So you’re ready for the trip I take it?” Zel asked as he settled on the floor and uncurled  from the yoga position he was in. Alex nodded profusely. “Good. I’m set as well. When’s Tina supposed to arrive?”
     “Alex honey,” Mrs. West said over the intercom, “Your friend Tina’s here to pick you and your friends up.”
     “About now,” Alex said as he punched the reply button, “We’ll be right up mom.”
     “All right. I’ll tell her to be expecting you.”
     Alex was about to click the TV off when a story about local deaths came on, some over in Claremont, some in Sunapee, and a few in Newport. All motion in the lab stopped as he turned the volume up and watched.
     “.... And local celebrity Cammy Williams, known for her series of paintings, was found dead this morning in her station wagon at the intersection near Route 12A in Claremont. This makes far too many unexplained deaths within the past few days.”
     “Cammy Williams is dead?” Zelgadis asked.
     “That’s what the news person said,” Seifer replied as he headed for the teleporter, “Why, did you know her?”
     “.... Misses Williams was known for her portraits of a young man who simply went by the name of Zelgadis,” the news person said. The others in the lab turned and looked at Zel, then back at the screen where they displayed a very risqué portrait of a young man with a little bit of cloth draped over something personal. Zelgadis blushed.
     “We’ll discuss this later,” Alex sighed as he clicked the tv off, “right now Tina’s waiting for us, and she won’t remain patient for long. She is the queen of death after all.”
     “As you’ve reminded us countless times,” Guile sighed as they stepped onto the teleporter pad. The machine hummed, sending them through subspace to the house level, where the group stepped out of Alex’s bedroom closet.
     “Nice to see you’re coming out of the closet,” Tina said as they filed out. Alex glared at her. “What? It’s a funny joke and an interesting observation.”
     “Did you hear about all of the strange deaths that have happened within the past few days?” Alex asked. Tina nodded.
     “You shouldn’t let something like that ruin your vacation,” Mrs. West said as she poked her head in, “Now go and enjoy yourself. You deserve some time off.”
     “Who is she, and what happened to your mom?” Zel asked as Mrs. West bounced off to take care of something. Alex sighed and rubbed his temples.
     “So, is this everyone?” Tina asked, breaking the awkward silence.
     “Well.... to a degree, yes. We’re still waiting for Celia and Quistis to arrive via subspace.”
     “We have incoming,” a computerized female voice said moments before the house shook from an impact. The group rushed to the front door to see a blast crater in the driveway, a woman dressed in a pink dress pulling herself out of the hole. A moment later another young lady with long curly golden red hair pulled herself out of the hole.
     “We’re here,” Celia called as she waved. Quistis sighed and rubbed her temples.
     “How was your trip?” Alex asked as he bounded off of the porch to embrace them.
     “I think I’ll be flying via Sylphiel airlines from now on,” Quistis said, “I swear that was the bumpiest trip through subspace I’ve ever taken.”
     “Girl, that was the only trip through subspace you’ve ever taken like that,” Celia said as she brushed some knots from her hair. After a moment she said, “So, are we ready?”
     “Ready,” Irvine and Seifer said.
     “Ready as well,” Guile and Zelgadis said.
     “Don’t forget me,” Adderson said as he popped out of subspace, “You invited me, remember.”
     “So this is everyone now,” Tina said. Alex nodded. “Good. Let’s get going.”

     Across the bounds of time and space a lone motorcycle tore across the plains. Its driver knew exactly where she was going and what she was doing, and also how to do it in style. The passenger was clinging to the driver for dear life, his helmet fortunately muffling his screams of protest. A short distance from Balamb Garden they pulled to a stop, the woman pulling her helmet off and shaking out her long sea green hair.
     “Geeze Tenal, you are such a scardy cat. I can’t believe you don’t like my driving,” Anassa Cambridge said as she ran her fingers through her hair.
     “I asked for a joyride, not the ride of my life,” Tenal Griffen grumbled as he took his helmet off and brushed his fingers through his spiky black hair.
     “Well, you knew that I liked to drive fast and furious.”
     “True.... but only since that battle with that Myotismon guy. But can we go home now, at a more reasonable pace?”
     A sudden charge in the air alerted them to trouble. There was a presence in their immediate area, yet neither could see it. Anassa put her helmet back on and squinted through the tinted visor at the air behind them, making a mental note about how the light was refracting through the air oddly. She muttered something under her breath before she turned the motorcycle towards Balamb town and revved the engine.
     “Anassa, what the hell are you doing? I thought you were going to take me home.”
     “Tenal, we have bigger trouble than that, and I need to get some supplies in order to verify my suspicions.”
     “It’s about that presence behind us, isn’t it?”
     Anassa nodded. “Yeah. You have any idea how large it is?”
     Tenal closed his eyes for a moment, going into a sort of trance. “I.... I can see its energy pattern. It’s rather large.... meta class, if not larger. It’s seen us. It’s coming at us. Anassa, get us out of here!”
     “Hold on tight,” she cried as his arms encircled her waist and his face pressed into her back. She popped her motorcycle into gear, leaving a cloud of dust as they rocketed forward.
     “Anassa, it’s flinging tentacles at us,” Tenal shouted over the rushing wind.
     “Which way?”
     “Veer right..... no... left.... oh hell, we’re screw....”
     Tenal screamed as something pierced his back and shoulder. A moment later he found himself looking at his body and Anassa rushing away from him. Then there was darkness.
     Anassa heard the scream and glanced back in time to see something blue being taken by the creature. Her eyes widened in horror when she realized that the blue thing was human in shape, and that Tenal’s grasp around her had gone slack.
     “Damn,” she grumbled into the mouthpiece in her helmet as she pulled the motorcycle to a skidding stop. “Tenal, you’re going to be O.K.. Tenal.... damn it kid, don’t leave me now.”
     She looked from Tenal’s blank stare to the creature that was about ready to scarf down on something blue and glowing. “Don’t even think about it ugly,” she said as she pressed the switch on her handlebar that would transform her cycle into a force to be reckoned with. The front headlight slid down to reveal a plasma cannon, the side wheel mounts opening and targetable missile launchers drawing out, smoke pouring from the cannon ports. She slid her hand down the front of her helmet, the face mask forming and glowing with readouts and tactical data. “According to this your weak spot is going to be a bitch to hit. Oh well.... if you even THINK about taking a bite of my boyfriend I swear you’ll pay several thousand times over!”
     With that she locked her missile launchers onto the beast and pressed the firing button. There were six puffs of smoke as six warheads were launched, and each warhead struck the targeted part of the monster, exploding on impact. The monster tossed the glowing blue object away and turned on Anassa, whose eyes widened even more. “Shit! Hell! Damn!” she cursed as she popped her motorcycle into reverse, then whipped it around and popped it into gear. ‘How in the nine hells do I get myself into these situations?!’ she screamed mentally as she drove towards Balamb. “This is Anassa calling Garden. I have a meta class bogy on my tail, and it’s a fighter. Transmitting all known tactical data NOW!” she said as she pressed a button on the side of her helmet, an upload bar showing in the lower left hand corner of her face mask.
     “This is Karna. We have all the data and are ready to assist you in any way possible.”
     “Karna, tell Cid to activate the Guardian drive and the defensive shield. Also tell him to go airborne with Garden and make sure that the shield forms a bubble.”
     “What? Anassa, what are you saying?”
     Anassa glanced back at the creature, a tear running down her cheek. “Just do it Karna. It snatched Tenal’s spirit or something out of him and tried to eat it. I blasted it with six cascade missiles and they didn’t even dent it. I’m sure if there’s one there will be more.”
     “Anassa... Anassa, don’t do anything...”
     She stopped the transmission and whipped her bike around, tears running down her cheeks as she aimed all of her weapons at the monster. “DIE YOU BASTARD!!” she shouted at the top of her lungs as she pressed the button, her missile launchers belching missile after missile, her cannon firing until it threatened to overheat. By some miracle or another she managed to zero in on all of the monster’s vital points simultaneously, the explosions of the missiles reducing it to ooze in a matter of seconds. She blinked and retracted her face plate so that she could wipe her eyes. ‘I’m stupid for crying at a time like this,’ she berated herself mentally, ‘I have a mission to accomplish, and I have to save Tenal and make it back to Garden before any more of these things appear. I need to...’
     She stopped the self abuse when she felt a presence behind her, and she knew that when she turned her head she wouldn’t like what she saw. She clicked down her face plate and set the missile launchers to aim towards her rear. She then pressed the switch, sending her remaining missiles at her unseen target while rocketing forward at the same time. Something behind her screamed as it exploded, and that sent a chill down her spine. ‘Tenal.... where are you? I need your help to find you. Please, give me some sort of sign,’ she sent out as she retraced her path. A glimmer of light shone in the distance, and this she took as a good sign.
     When she stopped the bike near the point of light she saw what looked like a man, only it was composed of glowing blue energy. It looked up at her with vacant eyes, almost as if it was asking her to take pity. “Tenal?” she asked. The figure nodded. “Damn it Tenal... you had me worried. Do you know what happened?” The figure shook its head and shrugged. “You’re the spirit form, aren’t you?” The figure shrugged again. “Well, you must be, since the physical body is right behind me,” she said, grasping the hand that was still around her waist. “Can you get back into the physical body?” The figure nodded and stood before stepping over to the bike. Anassa felt a charge of energy run up her spine as it sat down behind her and Tenal’s body and merged with the dark haired youth. A moment later the hands around her stomach began to fidget and move.
     “A.... Anessa.... what happened?” Tenal asked groggily as he looked up.
     “I’ll explain to you later,” she said, fighting to keep her voice calm. “Right now we need to get back to Garden. But first I need to know if that sixth sense of yours is going off right now or not?”
     “Not exactly... it’s there, and it’s aware, but nothing is around us,” he said.
     “Good. I hope to keep it that way for a while. Now hang on because I’m going to crank this thing as high as it’ll go!”
     With that she popped out the clutch and revved the motor, the roar of a super tuned engine filling the air and shattering the silence as she dropped her bike into drive. Dirt and rocks sprayed up behind them as they tore across the plains towards Balamb, Tenal holding on for dear life, Anassa driving faster than the wind in a hope of escaping what destiny had in store for them.

     “C’mon Zel. Come on down by the water. The sun feels good.”
     “Uh-uh. No way. You guys will do to me exactly what Lina and Amelia did to me once at the beach.”
     Alex and Tina batted their eyes innocently at Zelgadis, who was standing as far from the water as he possibly could. Irvine and Seifer were laying on their towels, the cowboy covering his face with his hat as they soaked up the rays of the sun. Guile was meditating a few inches above the water, and sighed every time he was sprayed by Celia and Quistis as they played in the water. Adderson was fast asleep under a tree, the sun slowly moving up his body as time passed.
     “Please Zel. We promise we won’t do anything to you,” Alex said innocently. The sheer sugar sweet tone of voice caused a shudder to run down Zel’s spine.
     “You can trust him,” Seifer said as he looked up from his book, “he won’t do anything to us...”
     A blob of water burst above Seifer, covering him in glacier cold water. He yelped in surprise and whipped around to see Alex and Tina acting sweet and innocent. “All right, I don’t know which one of you is the prankster, but that just isn’t funny!!”
     “Who, us?” Tina said, batting her eyes at Seifer. Alex saw this and immediately burst into flames.
     “Tina, Seifer is MINE!!!”
     “Well, what about the cowboy?”
     “Irvine is mine as well. I slept with both of them!!”
     Seifer immediately turned crimson red. Irvine didn’t move his hat, but it was apparent that he was blushing as well. Quistis and Celia stopped in mid motion, which was difficult for them to do in the water, and both fell over and went under. Guile simply sighed.
     “Well..... thank you for that update. What about blue boy over there? I bet he looks really cute without his shirt on.”
     “I’ve seen him in even less, and he’s mine as well.”
     “Don’t tell my that you’ve slept with him?”
     “Not yet. We’ve just kissed.... but we were going to do that this weekend.”
     Zelgadis turned crimson and sighed before plopping down on his towel and laying back.
     “You know the no boinking rule! You are NOT going to have sex with him in the cabin....”
     “Unless you can join in, right? Is that the deal?”
     The sound of the slap resounded for miles around, as did the eventual splashdown of a certain crimson banged king of death. When Alex emerged from under water he sighed and rubbed the hand print that was blazing on his cheek.
     “I don’t know which was worse.... you when you were dealing with Erin, you during that time of the month, or you when you were feeling frisky.”
     After he climbed out of the water and had sufficient time to dry off he turned to Zelgadis and said, “Hey Zel, why don’t you come down here by the water? We won’t do anything, we promise.”
     Zelgadis arched an eyebrow. “Yeah.... I trust you about as much as I trust Lina not to eat everything on the table INCLUDING the silverware.”
     “Well... at least take your shirt off so that you tan evenly.”
     Zel arched the other eyebrow. How does a rock tan? Did he tan in this form? Oh well... might as well make the king of death happy, and give the queen of death a little show. He sat up and unbuttoned his shirt, the material falling open to display his well toned chest and abs. Tina watched, her cheeks flushing with anticipation. Alex sighed, a sweat drop forming on his head as Zel took the shirt off and laid it aside before leaning back to return to tanning.
     ‘I’m sure glad I chose a pair of loose fitting trunks instead of a tight clingy bathing suit like that purple haired fruitcake would wear,’ he thought as he closed his eyes and put his sunglasses on. ‘Knowing Xellos he’d wear a speedo bikini thing and scare the crap out of all the beach goers.’
     Zel arched an eyebrow when he felt himself floating, and opened his eyes to see the world pass him by as he floated out towards the deep water of the lake. He turned around to see Alex and Tina uniting their powers for this task, and he began to shout something when Guile appeared beside him.
     “Why don’t you relax a little and enjoy the water?” Guile asked as he brushed a few strands of his silver hair from his face.
     “In case you’ve forgotten the laws of physics, or in case they’ve been repealed, let me remind you that ROCKS DON’T FLOAT!!”
     “And in case you’ve forgotten I was able to change you back to your human form... which means that some of the pieces of that complex spell have been nullified.”
     Zel’s eyes brightened when he heard this. “You mean....”
     “There is a good chance that you’ll float now, since I doubt you weight as much as a rock, even though your skin still has a rocky texture.”
     Zel began to say something when he suddenly found himself falling into the lake. He went down, down, down. Then, when he didn’t think he’d stop, he began to rise to the surface. His head broke the surface, and he took a deep breath of air. He wasn’t sinking like a rock any more, but was actually floating in a body of water and enjoying it.
     “Hey Zel, how’s the water?” Alex called from the shore, waving to his friend.
     “It feel great,” Zel replied as he swam towards shore.
     “Is Zelgadis actually swimming?” Celia asked as she sat down on her towel to enjoy a diet soda.
     “That he is,” Guile said as he appeared next to her, “that little spell reversal thing musta burst something in the net because he should be sinking right now.”
     Tina sighed and rubbed her hands on her towel to dry the sweat from them, and they glanced out to see Zel sink underwater. Tina was still drying her hands when Zel emerged a distance from where he had been, and they breathed a sigh of relief. Tina looked at them and asked, “What? You thought I was holding him up? Boy, you guys have active imaginations.”
     “Let’s just try to enjoy this quiet interlude at this wonderful beach,” Seifer said as he rolled onto his back and covered his face with his book, “I’m tired and need a rest.”
     “I think we all do,” Guile said as he sat down on his towel, “Miss Tina, did I thank you already for inviting us on this wonderful getaway?”
     “Only about a million times Guile, but a million and one never hurt. And you’re quite welcome.”
     ‘Peace, quiet, tranquillity,' Alex thought as he absorbed some rays, ‘what could possibly go wrong?’
     He would soon find out.