A/N: Back in action! Here's the fourth chapter of Galactic Clash. Enjoy!

Squall let out a frustrated sigh as he sliced through another Grat. He made a mental note to himself to stock the training center with some new monsters- the Grats were really getting boring to fight. He'd look into it in the morning. Maybe he could even get a couple more T-Rexaurs inside, although some of the younger cadets probably wouldn't appreciate that.

"Having a good workout?" a voice called out behind him.

Squall turned around to face Quistis, who was walking up to him, lazily swinging her chain whip around in her hand.

"Hey Quistis. It's been okay. Kind of boring though. How possible would it be to get some new monsters in here?" Squall asked, slinging his gunblade over his shoulder.

"You know, I have no idea," Quistis said thoughtfully, "I'll check and let you know." She looked Squall over, and squinted. "Are you okay?"

Squall looked away. "I've got a lot on my mind."

Quistis laughed. "Oh no. That sounds too much like the old Squall for my liking."

Squall scoffed and smiled slightly. "Sorry. Have you heard back from Zell?"

After the meeting Squall and the others had with Cloud earlier, they had agreed to send Zell, Irvine, and Cloud on the Ragnarok to look for Cloud's comrades. They had left a bit later that afternoon.

Quistis shook her head. "Not a thing. Squall… what do you think is going on?"

Squall sat down on a boulder. "Hard to say. I plan to visit Edea and ask her if there are different kinds of compression, not just time."

"You mean… like space compression?" Quistis asked, stroking a strand of blond hair back behind her ear.

"Yeah. I mean first I want to know if there is such a thing. If there is, how could one go about using it?" Squall said, looking down at his black gloves. "There are so many questions. I don't know where to start looking for the answers."

Quistis walked up to Squall and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You're tired, Squall," she said, smiling at him. "It's been one of those days. You should go home and be with Rinoa. We'll tackle this problem again in the morning."

"Yeah you're probably right," Squall said, getting up and starting to head for the exit. "Will you be staying here?"

"Of course! Don't worry about me Squall, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Quistis replied.

"I have no doubts about that," Squall closed his eyes and smiled as he walked away. "Goodnight, Quistis."

At Squall's House

Squall quietly opened the door to his small house and walked inside. He and Rinoa had gotten a nice little house on the outskirts of Balamb, thanks to a tip from Ma Dincht. It was only a ten minute ride from there to Garden.

Since it was so late at night, Squall assumed Rinoa had already fallen asleep, so he did his best to sneak into the bedroom without waking her. But to his surprise, the bed was empty. He walked back out into the living room and turned on the lights. He ran into the other rooms, then outside, and then back to Garden.

But Rinoa was nowhere to be found.

Elsewhere

Aqua jumped out of the way of the long katana. She gripped her keyblade in her hand and tried to stay calm. The power she felt coming from the man in front of her was monstrous.

"I don't… I don't want to fight." Aqua said, jumping back. She had thought she had finally found a way out of the darkness when she arrived in this world. But no matter where she went, the darkness always showed up to fight her. This time, it was in the form of the white-haired man with the katana.

"That's too bad," the man answered, black wings sprouting out from his back, "I have specific instructions to eliminate anyone wielding a giant key."

"W-what?" Aqua parried another attack and rolled out of the way. "Who…?"

"Nothing you need concern yourself with," he answered back as he swung his mighty sword down again. Aqua blocked and reflected his attacks as best she could, but her opponent's sword was way too long for her to get in a shot back. She wouldn't be able to win like this. He was fast and powerful, and she was still rusty after being trapped in the darkness for so long.

What are you thinking? Aqua said to herself as she cart wheeled backwards. She held up her keyblade and scowled. You're a keyblade master. Now act like it.

"Your face has changed," the white-haired man observed, "Are you finally going to give me a challenge?"

"That's the plan," Aqua muttered, as she shot off three Fire spells. Her enemy dodged the balls of flame easily, as she predicted. She quickly hurled her keyblade at the man's torso. Her Master Keeper spun in a rapid spiral, its light grey guard glaring in the sunlight. The man deflected the blade effortlessly, and it went flying into the air.

"Throwing your weapon away? Big mistake-" the man exclaimed, as Aqua ran at him bare-handed.

Suddenly, the keyblade above his head disappeared, and reappeared in Aqua's hand, as she jumped over the man's outstretched katana and swung her keyblade down. The man quickly teleported away and Aqua hit the ground. As she rolled back up she saw him appear a few yards to the side of her. The front of his chest had a thin wound running across where Aqua's keyblade had grazed him.

"Not bad. But you're going to have to do much better," he said as he closed his left hand into a fist and pointed it at Aqua. Huge dark orbs surrounded her, and the man rushed at Aqua, swinging his katana at her.

She threw her keyblade up and blocked his katana, but his strike managed to push her a few feet back. Then the dark orbs swooped in and exploded around Aqua, leaving a huge cloud of dust. Aqua flew out of the cloud, hitting the canyon wall behind her with a groan. She slowly got up, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. She was bruised, but still able to fight.

"I see," the man remarked, as he saw the orb of light around Aqua shatter and dissipate, "you used Reflect at the last second to block most of the attack."

Aqua clenched her teeth as the man held his sword up in front of his face. She threw her keyblade at him again, but this time he anticipated it, and teleported away. He reappeared right in front of her.

"It's over," he said, staring her in the eyes as he thrust his sword towards her.

Suddenly, a giant harpoon smashed into his side and sent him flying. Aqua's eyes widened in surprise and she quickly summoned her keyblade back into her hand. A large man with a blue bandanna wrapped around his head and a scar on his face ran up to the harpoon on the ground and grabbed it.

"And just who are you?" Aqua's white-haired attacker asked, getting up and brushing some debris off his right shoulder, which had taken most of the hit. He flew at the man with the harpoon and swung his katana, but it was blocked by a dark-skinned man, who held a katal in each hand.

"His name's Ward. Mine's Kiros. Can I ask who we'll have the pleasure of defeating?" the man asked drily.

The white-haired man smirked and jumped back. Ward lifted his harpoon up over his shoulders and Kiros took a defensive stance.

"You shouldn't have gotten involved in something that doesn't concern you. But since you apparently want to die so badly, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you. I'm Sephiroth." The man explained, as he lifted his oversized katana and prepared to attack again.

Ward ran at Sephiroth, parrying the swordsman's attacks with his harpoon, while Kiros ran towards Aqua.

"Are you alright?" Kiros asked, offering a hand to Aqua. She nodded, and he helped her up. She hadn't even noticed it, but her legs had given way under her after she thought she was going to be killed by Sephiroth.

"We'll have to move quickly," Kiros said, grabbing Aqua's arm and pulling her behind him, "this area's about to become quite dangerous."

"What… what do you-" Aqua's voice faded as she saw Sephiroth send Ward flying.

"Pathetic. What do you hope to accomplish by facing me alone?" Sephiroth asked him. Ward glared at him and then starting running away from him, towards where Kiros and Aqua were.

"Can't you see it in his eyes?" Kiros shouted at Sephiroth. "He's saying he hoped to distract you. And he did."

A grenade suddenly exploded next to Sephiroth, followed by a few more around him.

"What-" Suddenly, the sound of machine gun fire filled the air, and bullets and grenades rained down around Sephiroth. Aqua saw the source: a man with long black hair and a blue jacket, swinging on a rope he had tethered to a nearby cliff edge.

The man snapped off the rope and jumped down in front of Sephiroth, who was panting a bit, but still looked generally uninjured.

"Sorry man!" Laguna exclaimed as he pointed his gun at Sephiroth, "But the lady doesn't seem to like you very much."

Sephiroth lifted his blade and pointed it at Laguna, ready to fight, when suddenly a dark portal appeared behind him. Sephiroth frowned as he looked back at it, and then faced Aqua. "It looks like destroying you will have to wait, keyblade bearer."

Aqua only glared at Sephiroth as he retreated into the portal, which quickly closed.

"Yeesh, you sure got lucky we were here, lady- that guy seemed pretty tough," Laguna said, turning to face Aqua for the first time, "No need for thanks th-" his eyes widened as he saw her, and suddenly he went down on one knee, clutching his left leg.

"Are- are you okay?" Aqua asked, concerned. She ran up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Did you get injured during your attack?"

"N-n-o…" Laguna groaned out, clenching his teeth, "It's j-just… my leg cramped up…"

"Oh boy, here we go," Kiros put a hand to his forehead, exasperated. Ward put a shoulder on his harpoon, shaking his head. Kiros walked up to Aqua and Laguna.

"Thank you, all of you, for helping me out," Aqua said, "I'm Aqua."

"It's nice to meet you," Kiros said, shaking her hand, "Do you have any idea why that guy was after you?"

"Not a clue," she said, looking down and suddenly clutching her stomach. "Ughh."

"You're injured. Why don't we help you get to the city? I'm sure we can get you healed up there." Kiros offered. Ward walked up behind him, and nodded.

"Alright, but… where is there a city around here?" Aqua asked, looking around. There was nothing around them but tall canyons.

"A-about a f-few miles north of h-here," Laguna stammered, obviously still cramping, "It's c-called Midgar."

Aqua nodded, and the four started walking north. Laguna hopped on one foot, with one arm slung around Ward's shoulder.