Chapter One:
PROLOGUE

"Uh, guys...?" Lore said as she nervously gazed up at the sky, "You may not want to celebrate just yet." They all turned and followed her gaze to see the massive air-ship slowly appoarching. It's behemouth-sized shadow slowly engulfed them and the valley in which they stood, as if trying to snuff out the last shred of hope any of them carried.

"What the hell is that thing?" Ichigo growled, as he tightened his grip on his zanbakto.

"It's - it's huge!" Gray Fullbuster stammered, staring up at the machine with both awe and fear.

"Hmph, I've seen bigger," Vegeta scowled coolly.

"How are we supposed to bring that thing down?" Naruto muttered through gritted teeth. His fists tightened nervously, his thoughts immeditaley drawn to the children not far from them.

"By working together," Nate replied seriously, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the air-craft, "It's going to take all of us and all of what we have just. Just like Cass said it would."

"Sounds like fun," Goku stated calmly, a small, excited smile spreading across his face, "I can't wait to see what you kids can do now."

"Careful what you wish for," Lore murmured worriedly. She raised her finger and lightly touched the Yin-Yang pendent around her neck. "You may not like what you see."

Amy heard this and glanced over at her friend, instantly sensing the girl's apprehension.

"Don't worry," the blue-nette Sailor Senshi quietly said, "You'll do fine - everything's going to be alright." Lore smiled weakly at her friend and nodded in agreement. She let her hand drop back to her side and slowly wrapped her fingers around the handle of her axe.

I hope you're right, she thought, feeling the cool leather of the handle as her grasp tightened.

Suddenly a piercing high-pitched whistle shriek through the air around them, causing almost everyone to clasp their ears in pain. Only Daniel, from his place at the city's border - protected by Noelle's largest shield - remained steady and collected.

Okay, he thought suddenly becoming aware of his medical bag in hand, Here we go...

I know what you're probably thinking: 'Oh God! Another ensemble-style fan-fic?! Way to be unoriginal and totally rip-off "The Avengers" dork!' But it's not like Marvel is the sole owner of that concept anyway... just the first to be able to pull it off.

Anyway, I know this is a weird place to come in during the story, but at that moment - when the world was about to come crashing down in the form of an "Independence Day" motif (the good one from the 90's, not the ill-advised sequel) - the only thing on my mind was 'How did I get to this place?'... and more importantly, how was I going to get out of it?

But before I can tell you the end of the story, I first have to tell you about it's beginning...

But that could take forever so I'll just start in at my begining...