Almost an entire state away from the beach goers a certain blonde haired elf was in his basement room playing computer games while trying to avoid strangling his little brother. When Travis invaded his space for the fifth time in fifteen minutes he completely lost his cool.
     “Travis. Out. Now!” he commanded, each word a sentence of its own.
     “But Donat, you need to...”
     “I said get... OUT!”
     “But, but, but.... this is important.”
     “I don’t care. GET OUT!!” he shouted, energy beginning to spark around him.
     “But Donat, there’s a huge glowing insect outside and it’s coming closer.”
     Delwynndwn arched an eyebrow. Though he hated to admit it, Travis did sound serious, and he also sounded frightened. “You had better not be kidding around about something like this,” he said as he saved his progress, “because if you are...”
     “Would I kid about something that cars are passing through before crashing?”
     ‘Passing through?’ something sounded very bad about that. Plus with the number of accidents over the past few days something was definitely wrong. At that moment a large tentacle composed of red energy phased through his bedroom wall. A second after that half of a body followed. “Oh shit!” he cursed, “Travis, get Mom, dad, Thumper, and Justin and head for the cornfield!”
     “What about you?”
     “I’ll be fine. Now GO!!”
     Travis took off up the stairs as Del initiated his transformation. Lightning bolts arced around his body as his clothes melted away into a blinding glow. The lightning bolts formed bolts of cloth, which melted in to form a white karate gi with silver and gold trim, white karate pants, a flowing headband of white and gold, and white cloth around his fists with gold lightning bolts emblazoned upon them.
     “You invaded my home and interrupted my peace and quiet,” he grumbled as a globe of electricity formed between his palms, “now be gone. Lightning Blast!”
     The globe exploded into a fan shaped wave of electricity that struck the creature and actually seemed to harm it. The creature tried to draw back, only to find that the attack had made that part of its body corporeal.
     “So lightning and electricity hurt you,” he said, smiling impishly. The creature shrieked as it left part of its body in the basement and retreated. Del sighed, a sweat drop forming on his head. “What a baby. I wasn’t going to hurt it.... much.”
     He heard screaming and barking from upstairs, and tore up the stairs to see his family blocked by several of the phantom creatures.
     “Get away from them!” he growled, energy collecting in his fists as he waved his arms in arcane motions. he spun around and punched forward while shouting, “Crush Wave!”, a wave of raw energy tearing across the floor, through the screen door, out onto the patio, and through two of the monsters.
     “Donat, I don’t know what’s going on...” his mom began to say.
     “I’ll explain later, provided we survive this,” he said as his fists began to glow again.
     From outside came the shout of, “Eruption!” as two of the creatures were reduced to smoking plasma thanks to a geyser of pure energy. A moment later Nick and Mackenzie stepped up to the back door, using their mutant powers to provide cover for them.
     “Head for your car,” Nick said, the blasts from his ice related powers reflecting off of his glasses. “We equipped it with a shield generator, so you’ll be safe from attacks in there.”
     “You’re...” Travis began to say, only to be bodily lifted by his father and carried to their car. Once they were in a hum filled the air as the shield came online.
     “Nice to see you guys again,” Del said as he unleashed the brunt of an electric barrage on their enemy, “though I wish we could meet under circumstances that didn’t involve the possible loss of life.”
     “Well, you’re not going to like what’s in store for us this time around,” Mackenzie said. “Deka detected an astral rift around here, which is why these things are here.”
     “But what the hell are they?”
     “Phantoms, and they like to feed on the spirits of the living,” Nick added as he unleashed a Dust Chip barrage on several of the phantoms, “hence the string of strange deaths in the area.”
     Del sighed. “Wonderful. So what else is new?”
     He turned around as screaming filled the air, and saw several of the phantoms feeding off of the energy of the shield generator. His eyes flashed red as his body began to accumulate raw energy. He leapt heavenward, where lightning struck him and charged him with more power. As his body began to smoke from the overload he dove at the phantoms, rearing his right hand back to punch. As he punched forward he shouted, “Heaven’s Fury!”, an explosion equal in power to a Dragon Slave rocking the area.
     When the dust cleared the phantoms were gone, there was an impact crater around the car, and Del was sprawled out on the roof of the car, his body aching in places it didn’t know could feel pain. Nick and Mackenzie blinked in unison, since they’d never seen an attack like that used before.
     “That was intense,” Mackenzie said, breaking the silence. A sweat drop formed on Nick’s head.
     “I am damn unsatisfied to die in this manner,” Del said from where he lay, pointing at the sky.
     “It lives,” Nick said, sliding his shades up on his head, “I guess any crash you can walk away from is a good one, and that applies to this as well.”
     Del sat up and rubbed his head, his brain still trying to recover upper level functions and motor skills. When he finally realized the extent of what had happened he moaned. “Man... that was one hell of an attack. I think that was twice the power of Heaven’s Strike.”
     “Will someone please explain what just happened in the simplest terms possible?” Del’s mom asked. “What was that glowing thing, what caused the explosion, and who are you people?”
     “In the simplest possible terms,” Mackenzie said, “those glowing things are called phantoms, and they’re from a pocket dimension. Second, that explosion was an attack that your son learned in a past life that has enough power to rival a high level magic spell. Third, I’m Mackenzie Andrews, nickname Heatwave, and that’s my older brother Nick, nickname Coldsnap. We’re friends of your son...”
     “And part time defenders of justice,” Nick added.
     Del’s mom sighed, and Del said, “I’ll explain all of this to you later. Right now you should go someplace safe. That shield will protect you.”
     “Where are you going?”
     “Hopefully to stop this spread of evil before too many more lives are lost. Don’t wait up for me.”
     As he turned and began walking towards the silver and blue cobra that was parked in the driveway his mom called, “I love you. Good luck.”
     He wiped away a tear before turning his head and waving. “Be safe,” he called before running for Nick’s car.
     As Nick and Mackenzie hopped in Mackenzie asked, “So, do you think we can save the world from something we can’t see?”
     “I sure hope so,” Del said, “I think my powers will affect them and make them corporeal so that your attacks will work more effectively.”
     “I sure hope you’re right,” Nick said as he popped the car into gear.

     Two towns away it was a busy day at the supermarket. Lina, Gourry, and Sylphiel were working twice as hard as normal, and with Naga, Fam, and Ihrie there as well things were bound to get weird.
     < “We’re HOW many pages into this fic and this is the first that is shown of us?! What an outrage!”>
     < “Calm down Miss Lina. We can’t afford to have you blow up the grocery store right now.”>
     < “Frag off Sylphiel! I’m good and pissed off right now!!”>
     < “Will you two please cool it. I think the plot is trying to advance.”>
     “Another lovely day,” Sylphiel said as she gazed out the large window near the registers, “it’s sunny, it’s warm, the breeze is gentle, and the only clouds in the sky are the light fluffy ones.”
     “And the bleedin’ store is packed!” Lina grumbled as she dragged herself in from gathering carriages. “For every six that I bring in, seven go out. I can’t take it any more!”
     “Sounds like an exercise in futility,” Ihrie said as she finished bagging an order.
     “Exercise is good for you,” Gourry said as he bounced in, a light sweat on his brow. Everyone else sighed.
     “And you’re still a yogurt brain!” Lina grumbled as she cracked her knuckles to give Gourry a whomping.
     “No time for fighting you two,” Naga said as she stepped up to them, “Lina, go and bag for Fam on six. Gourry, bag for Kelly on four. Ihrie, help Pauline on two.”
     “Yes Ma’am,” the three said, saluting before going to their positions.
     As they worked Lina grumbled about how much her feet hurt, how tired she was, how hungry she was, and how sooner or later somebody was going to eat fireball if it didn’t calm the hell down. Customers blinked as the small girl with flaming red hair cursed up and down the alphabet. As she reached combustion point a column of water surrounded her for a moment before dissipating.
     “Thank you Kelly,” Lina said sarcastically, wringing water out of her hair, “I needed that.”
     “You’re welcome,” Kelly replied, brushing a couple strands of hair from her face, “you can pay me back later.”
     As Kelly turned back to her register a large tendril of red energy phased through the floor. Customers on both sides of the tendril backed away silently as it moved around as if searching for something. Smaller tendrils of the same glow phased through the floor as well, and a moment later the upper part of several bodies followed all over the store.
     “Umm.... Kelly, you might want to jump,” Sylphiel said as she crawled onto her register. Kelly looked down, saw several tentacles forming a circle around her feet, and jumped, grabbing the lighting baffle above her register with one hand. With her free hand she summoned a sword of crimson energy.
     “Thanks for the heads up Sylph,” Kelly said as she swung up onto the top of the baffle. “But what the hell are those things?”
     “Damned if I know,” Lina said as she leapt onto the ice cooler, “they’re phasing through the floor, which means they’re not of this plane of existence.”
     A scream from down the frozen aisle brought their attention to a young woman who was wrapped up in the tendrils of one of the larger creatures. A moment later her body slumped to the floor and the creature was left holding something blue and humanoid in shape.
     “Is that her... her... her essence?” Fam asked as she pulled herself onto one of the lights.
     “More like her spirit,” Ihrie said as she jumped onto a register, then swung up onto the top of the light, “which means if one of those things touches us we’re as good as gone.”
     “Now I’m pissed,” Lina grumbled, a globe of flames forming between her palms.
     “No... not in the store. Lina....” Naga began to protest from the courtesy booth. When she saw the look on the sorceress’ face she sighed. “Oh no.”
     “Fireball!”
     The resulting explosion blasted a hole in the floor and created a thick smoke screen that gave people a chance to escape. As the dust cleared Lina could be seen clipping on her cape, and several flashes of light formed people’s battle costumes.
     “Thank L-sama for flash suit technology,” Naga said as she bounced in her skimpy leather top, “now to face down those horrible creatures, for I am Naga the white serpent.” She then laughed, which caused people to cringe.
     Several old men looking in from the parking lot suddenly got nosebleeds from looking at Naga. When Naga looked at them they turned crimson and ran. She then turned back to the problem at hand, which was a phantom standing right in front of her.
     “Oh hell,” she sighed when she realized her butt was flat against the courtesy desk and the phantom was less than an inch from her voluptuous chest.
     “Elmekia Lance!!”
     A lance of raw astral power seemed to materialize in the phantom’s head, lobotomizing it, and the body slumped to the floor before disintegrating. Naga looked up to see Sylphiel giving her a thumbs up, and fell back against the courtesy desk as she slumped to the floor in shock. “I was... it was... oh my...”
     “Miss Naga, you need to get a grip,” Fam said as she and Ihrie lifted Naga up and dragged her towards the door. “We’ll stand a better chance in the parking lot.”
     “Provided we can get there,” Ihrie said as a large insect like phantom materialized in front of them.
     “Bram Blazer!” came from the side entrance as a wave of blue fire struck the phantom and charred it to a crisp. They looked to see that Amelia was the source of the spell.
     “It figures that I come to get groceries and wind up helping to save the day,” the princess said, “So, what spell did Miss Lina botch and backfire on this time?”
     “No backfire, no botch, miss love and justice,” Lina said as she leapt into the breezeway and lobbed a fireball towards Amelia.  Amelia squeaked, ducked, and heard an inhuman scream as something was roasted to a cinder. She turned in time to see a phantom disintegrate into dust, one eyebrow twitching as she watched.
     “Miss Lina, you could have given me a little more warning,” the princess fumed, “I could have been seriously injured!!”
     “We’ll argue later,” Lina said as she dashed past Amelia, followed by the others, with Gourry bringing up the rear. The swordsman picked Amelia up and tossed her over his shoulder before he exited running.
     Once they were in the parking lot Gourry leapt up and grabbed hold of a street light, allowing Amelia to climb onto it before he flipped up onto it. The others used Levitation spells to get to higher ground, all looking to make sure the enemy wasn’t there.
     “Now what do we do?” Kelly asked as she glanced at the now empty parking lot as flyers blew by on the wind.
     “We hope to hell that they don’t know how to fly,” Ihrie said as she sat down atop the streetlight and wrapped her legs around it to keep from falling.
     “Do we even know what we’re up against?” Amelia asked. The others shook their heads. “That helps a LOT.”
     “Deka says they’re called phantoms, and that they’re from a pocket dimension slightly askew of our own,” Nick’s voice said over their communicators. “I’m transferring all relevant data to your D3’s now.”
     Several digital devices beeped as data was uploaded to them. These beeps, though, was drowned out by the sounds of a multi car pile up by the entrance / exit to the parking lot. They glanced over to see the air around the cars disturbed by something that vaguely resembled rising heat on a hot day. Unfortunately it wasn’t all that hot out, and the waves were several feet above the pavement.
     “They know how to fly, don’t they?” Kelly asked as the others glanced at their D3’s. They nodded. “Greeeeeat. Now what?”
     “Duck!” Ihrie shouted as Fam launched an Elmekia Lance barrage at Kelly. Kelly ducked and winced as something screamed behind her. She turned and looked to see what resembled a flying insect disintegrate into dust.
     “Sylphiel, wide dispersal barrier spells,” Lina commanded as she, Ihrie, Naga, Fam, and Amelia performed mirror like motions.
     “Barrier spells are in place,” Sylphiel said as energy bubbles formed around the lights they were on.
     “Then we’re go for augmentation,” Naga said as a bracelet that looked a lot like a watch opened, a pale pink glow coming from a gem inlaid in it.
     In unison the five shouted, “Digi Armor Augment!”, brilliant glows of colored light surrounding each of them. Pink for Naga, golden for Amelia, orange for Lina, violet for Ihrie, and red for Fam. Kelly squinted to see body tight suits form around each individual, armor and accessories forming on their bodies. For Naga the transformation was a combination of angel feathers and pink light; for Amelia the transformation entailed angel feathers and flashes of golden light; for Ihrie a dusty wind blew up around where the armor was forming, and there were flashes of violet light; for Fam a whirlwind formed around her body and shrank inward as she held her hands out to her sides with her palms parallel to the ground, her armor forming in pulses of red light. As for Lina flames circled around and shrank inward, dissipating with flashes of orange light. When the glows died away Fam, Naga, and Amelia had wings on the backs of their armor, and all five were ready for some serious combat.
     “That’s some incredible transformation,” Kelly said, blinking at them.
     “Well, it’s a little something we got a little while ago,” Lina said, “though not perfected, these transformations enhance our natural abilities by twenty fold.”
     “Plus give us the chance to finish our enemies,” Fam said, “if Mister Alex were here he could explain everything...”
     “Or we could ask Nick and Mackenzie when they get back, since they helped to design these systems,” Ihrie said, “Sylphiel, prepare to drop the barriers around us five.”
     “Barriers retracting,” Sylphiel said, the barriers around the five armor clad people glowing brilliantly for a moment before vanishing.
     “And now for some serious butt kicking,” Lina said as she took to the sky thanks to a rocket pack under a shield on her back. She drew a large broadsword, the blade glowing before being engulfed in flames. “Fire Ocean!” she shouted as she dove at the ground, her entire body glowing as a wave of fire was released. The wave flash melted the pavement in the parking lot and caused several phantoms around them to scream out in pain and become visible.
     “Gem Storm!” Naga shouted as she curled up, her wings surrounding her as gems formed out of thin air. She stretched out of the curl, arched her back, and then threw her arms forward, the gems following her motion and striking out at a particularly large phantom. The gems stuck, and a moment later the phantom disintegrated.
     “Angel Fire!” Amelia cried as her fists glowed and became charged with glowing white flames. She punched forward, releasing a wave of heavenly flames that charred a couple of flying phantoms to a cinder.
     ‘Those attacks.... they’re stronger than the last time I fought with them,’ Kelly thought as she watched.
     “Mana Missiles!” Ihrie shouted as she crossed her arms above her head before throwing them forward, a pair of missiles on each forearm firing and splitting into multiple missiles that struck a ground based phantom and wasted it instantly.
     “Tempest’s Harmony!” Fam cried as she joined her daggers together at the hilts and spun them around. A haunting melody filled the air moments before a weather spirit appeared and attacked the area with a fierce maelstrom that decimated some of the landscaping and brought an end to the remaining phantoms in that area. There were several screams as wounded phantoms retreated, and the five clad in armor descended to the ground before their transformations reversed and they collapsed.
     “I guess... we need to... get stronger,” Fam huffed, running her fingers through her hair. “I’m exhausted.”
     “That wasn’t the end of them,” Kelly said as she leapt down from the lamp post, “they retreated to the west.”
     “I know, I know,” Lina said, “but we need a recharge before we can use that augmentation again.”
     “Then let’s get something to eat,” Gourry said, pointing towards a nearby fast food restaurant. “My treat.”
     “Gourry, you sure know how to treat a girl,” Lina said as she bounded off, followed by the others, who sighed collectively since Lina was sure to eat everything in sight and leave very little for them.

     Across the ocean of time and space Anassa and Tenal had Balamb on high alert. The usually stationary structure underwent an amazing transformation during emergencies such as this and was now hovering twenty meters off of the ground, the hum of high powered engines and an energy shield generator drowning out all sound in the area.
     The two were on the battle bridge, comparing their data from the battle with everything in the database and coming up with a complete blank.
     “Where the hell did those things come from?” Anassa asked, slamming her fists against a computer console.
     “Unknown life form, unknown life type, unknown place of origin,” the AI program said in a husky female voice.
     “Oh, shut up!” A sweat drop formed on the terminal.
     “Anassa, you shouldn’t take your anger out on the poor computer,” Zell said as he, Karna, and Selphie joined them.
     “Stay out of this Dincht, unless you want to experience a new type of pain,” Anassa growled as she wheeled around and gave Zell a death glare. “That thing almost snacked on Tenal’s soul, and if any more of those are in the area then they’d have a field day with all of Balamb.”
     “Which is why we followed your instructions,” Karna said, “the Guardian Drive is powering the shield so we’re protected on all sides.”
     “That still doesn’t explain what we fought.”
     Alarms began to wail and scream as the lights in the command bridge dimmed and took on a red glow. The computer then stated the obvious. “This is a red alert. Meta class enemies have been detected within Balamb defensive perimeters. Please report to your action stations. I repeat...”
     “There’s nothing on visual,” Tenal said as he began to punch through the camera feeds from Balamb’s exterior.
     “Then could they be Anessa’s phantoms?” Selphie asked, leaning against Tenal’s chair and looking over his shoulder.
     “What do you have for me?” Squall asked as he, Rinoa, and Cid entered the command bridge.
     “A possible invisible enemy,” Anassa said, rubbing her temples.
     The garden shook a moment later, and large creatures began to manifest around the perimeter of the shield. Squall and the others stared in awe, since they had never seen anything like these. Balamb shook violently as several crashed into the bottom of the shield.
     “Shield strength in G sector down to sixty percent,” the computer said, “shield strength in sectors A through F holding steady at seventy five percent. Minimal damage to structure reported.”
     “They’re going to crash the shield at this rate,” Selphie cried, “can’t we do anything?”
     “We have one option,” Squall said, “Cid, prepare to activate the Guardian defense system. Tell Xu to prepare to engage on my mark.”
     “What will that do?” Zell asked as Cid went to pass word on to Xu.
     “It’ll drop the bomb on their party.”

<music: ‘Drop the Bomb’-Scotty D >
     “Attention all occupants of Balamb. Prepare for the activation of Garden’s Guardians. I repeat, please prepare for Guardian activation.”
     In the lowest section of Garden was a throne of sorts. Technically it was a double throne that was hooked into the Guardian system. Sitting in these thrones were Edea and Rinoa, each one tapping into their sorceress powers to enhance the shield and also to bring out the hidden powers of the Guardian drive.
     “Are you guys ready for this?” Xu asked as her image blinked up on small screens in front of their seats.
     “I’m ready,” Rinoa said, “I don’t know about Edea, though. She’s been awfully quiet.”
     “I’ve been preparing to give it my all,” Edea said, “so I’m ready when you are Xu.”
     “We’re reading your power output at eighty four percent and rising,” Tenal said over the communication system, “all things are nominal. We are go for activation.”
     “Then let’s do this,” Rinoa said as she grasped the knob between her knees that would amplify her power and send it into the energy driven void of the Guardian drive. Electricity sparked around her hands as she poured her well honed power into the collection system. She moaned and screamed as her raven hair billowed out around her head, forming tangled webs from the charge in the air.
     “Rinoa, don’t let too much go at once,” Edea coached from her seat, “if you do that then you’ll be hurt by the backlash, or worse.”
     “I can’t control the output,” Rinoa said through clenched teeth, “it’s drawing the energy out of me without my wanting to release it.”
     “Rinoa’s output is in the red zone,” Tenal said, “we need to release now or else we could risk damage to both of them.”
     “We’re ready and charged,” Edea said, “now hurry up and release.”
     “Output at maximum levels..... climbing into red zone.... let’s DO THIS!” Xu shouted as she brought her full weight down on the lever to activate the Guardian protocol.
     Outside of Balamb several walls slid open, and energy collection dishes emerged and unfolded, targeting the creatures outside of the shield. Energy poured from the dishes into the shield, bringing out ghostly shapes of their own. Something roared as it parted from the drive shield and took on the shape of  an esper known as Ifrit. Several more ghostly images broke off, one forming Leviathan, one forming Bahamut, another taking on the shape of Shiva, and one becoming Quezcotyl. These energy beings attacked the phantoms with everything in their arsenal of attacks and whatnot.
     The phantoms fought back, desperate to stay alive. Energy surged through the air outside of Garden, setting trees ablaze and tearing the ground asunder. Most of the phantoms met their demise, leaving a couple of Giga class monsters for the occupants of Balamb to deal with. These two sent the guardians running and dropped the strength of the shield to near critical levels.
     “We’re all going to die!!” Selphie wailed at the top of her lungs as she clung to Zell.
     “Shields are down to eighteen percent,” Tenal reported, “any more hits like that last one and they’ll off-line.”
     Edea’s image popped up in the bottom left corner of all the screens on the battle bridge. “Rinoa and I can institute the Eden protocol,” she said, “the Eternal Breath attack should be enough to off a couple of Gigas.”
     “You guys sure you have enough strength to activate that?” Squall asked, his thoughts turning to Rinoa’s safety.
     “We can do this,” Rinoa said, her image appearing next to Edea’s. “I think the overload was a system glitch. I should have full control over the feed this time.”
     Garden rocked, and an audible shattering sound filled the air. Tenal sighed and grumbled, “There went the shields.”
     “Guess it’s up to you two,” Squall said, “be careful.”
     “Thanks,” Rinoa said as hers and Edea’s images vanished.
<music: Take Your Courage - LoN Slayers TRY>
     ‘Concentrate your energy into a single point..... then wait for it.... wait for it.... wait for it....’ Rinoa told herself as she summoned all of her energy for this last ditch attack. “Edea, are you ready for this?!”
     “Ready,” the elder sorceress said.
     The two released their energy simultaneously, channeling it through the structural supports of Balamb Garden and into the collection dishes. The dishes hummed as they were realigned to aim for the sky. The hum of energy collection filled garden, and students clung to one another for comfort and strength.
     “FIRE!!” three voices shouted as Xu brought her weight down on the cannon release.
     The entirety of Garden seemed to glow as the accumulated energy was released into the sky, blinding all who saw the light. The two giga class monsters stopped in their tracks as they were teleported away by some unseen force. A mighty cyber goddess appeared above Balamb and prepared to attack the two gigas that were now floating someplace in space.
     “This is it, this is it,” Zell said as he watched the displays that televised the Eternal Breath phenominum, “This is what I’ve been waiting all my life to see.”
     The view switched to a satellite picture of their planet as glowing rings of symbols formed around it. A moment later a beam of pure light was belched forth, capturing the giga class monsters in its wake and taking them for a ride into a black hole, where the energy exploded and destroyed the enemies.
     “The battle is over, the battle is over,” a computerized female voice said as the sky returned to normal. “The winners are the Balamb team.”
     Cheers went up throughout garden as Edea and Rinoa sat back in their thrones, both exhausted and drained of most of their energy. “Well, we did it,” Rinoa said.
     “We certainly did,” Edea replied, “now let’s hope that we can figure out what’s going on lest we have to go through this again.”

go to next?
return to the insanity?