Tiamatt POV

We were sitting near the front of the transport with the squad we had been sent to observe. The two boys and the one girl all looked pretty young, probably no older then 17. The girl, I believe she said her name was Maria, was sitting quietly, arms streched along the back of her seat, staring at the ceiling, a gunblade in her lap. The boys sat across from her, seeming to want to avoid her. The boy, Leon, was leaning with his head in his hands, trying to concentrate on the upcoming task while his partner, Kory, looked over at him.

"Yo Leon. Show me your gunblade, will ya?" Kory asked, looking a little excited.

"..." Leon continued to look down, trying to ignore Kory.

"C'mon man!"

"..." Leon still didn't answer and the feeling of familiarity continued.

"Just a peek!" Kory begged.

"..."

"Tch, fine..." Kory huffed, leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest.

Kratos watched in amusement as I finally realized why this scene seemed familiar. The same thing happened when Squall, Zell, and Seifer took their exam before the second war began.

"Yeah, yeah...Why you being so selfish?! Scroooooge!" Kory taunted, turning once more to Leon.

"..." Leon didn't respond.

Kory got annoyed and slammed his fist into the back of his seat. "Say somethin' will ya!? W-what's on your mind?"

"...Nothing." Leon said finally.

Kory looked at him, looking greatly annoyed and stood up, beginning to trow practice punches into the air. He practiced for a moment before the girl turned to him, looking annoyed.

"Stop that...it's annoying." Kory stopped and glared at her. Maria grinned and sat up to look at him. "...Chicken wuss."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?" Kory shouted. Maria leaned back in her seat and laughed.

"Knock it off!" Kratos warned, finally feed up with their childesh behavior. Kory looked at us before sitting back down and crossing his arms as Maria continued to snicker. I couldn't repress my own laugh at the situation, causing everyone to look at me. "Tia?"

"This is probably the worst case of deja vu ever! I swear you three just reenacted something that happened over a million years ago!" The others just continued to give me strange looks as an instructor, Xu, walked from the cockpit and sat down. "What next? A giant mechanical spider?"

"..." Leon and the rest continued to look at me like I was crazy and even Kratos was giving me an odd look.

"Do you feel ok?" Kory asked when I finally stopped laughed.

"I'm fine. Sorry about that." I apologized, turning to look out the window to see the small town of Timber nearby.

I was amazed by how little it had changed but from what I understood, the town's people tried to change it as little as possible to preserve its history. I could still see the Timber Maniacs building as well as the main train station. A small platform was just down the street and to my surprise, a small two car train waited there as well as two people who were talking calmly. They looked almost familiar but it could've just been my imagination.

"Ma'am," I turned to look at Xu who was holding a sheet of paper out to me. "This is from the Headmaster."

"Thank you." I took the sheet from her and looked at it, Kratos reading it over my shoulder. What I read shocked me and I had to reread it. "What does he mean? I can understand heading for Galbadia and confronting the president but ...what does he mean by 'old companions'?"

"I'm not sure. Do you know anyone from here or Galbadia?" Kratos asked as I handed him the orders so he could read them again as well.

I sigh. "I did but that was over a million years ago." I felt the slight bumb of the the transport landing and stood up as the hatch opened. "Good luck on your exam."

"Save that for someone who needs it." Maria scoffed, resting her gunblade on her shoulder as her squad members stood beside her.

I couldn' repress a laugh as another memory resurfaced. "Well then, in that case, good luck Maria." The girl glared at me before turning away.

"Remember, the only rule is to stay out of my way! Now move out!" Maria ordered. Leon and Kory glared at her but followed her none the less as Xu sighed.

"My apologies. I wish you luck on your mission." Xu said quickly with a slight bow of her head before running after her squad.

Once she was gone, I turned to Kratos. "Come on, we're supposed to meet whoever it is by the old station."

My husband nodded and we made our way through the squads to the back of town, eliminating any Galbadian soldier that tried to get in our way. It didn't take long before the old station and the platform were in view, along with the train and the people I saw earlier. One of them had blue bandana and wore a yellow vest over a white t-shirt. The other had short spiky black hair, black shorts and a blue shirt. They seemed so familiar but I couldn't remember where I had seen them before. Pushing the thought out of my mind, we continued towards the main station, the two men apparently ignoring us.

"Boy, the forests of Timber sure have changed..." One of them sighed. I froze, the words sounding familiar and a reply instantly popped into my mind.

"But the Owls are still around." The men looked up and smiled and I felt my face drop as I finally recognized them even though I had only met them briefly in the past. "Watts! Zone! B-but how? You two are supposed to be dead?!"

Zone rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, well...we'll explain it to you later. We gotta get to Deiling City first."

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Eria POV

It seemed like we had been running from the monsters for hours and to tell the truth, I was tired of running. I wanted to turn around and fight but everytime I stopped, Nick or someone else would yell at me to keep going. I was sure the others were tired of running too.

"AHH!" Seth tripped beside me and fell to the sand, the scorpions and snakes just behind us. "Eria! Help me!"

I stopped immediately and turned around knocking a snake back and giving Seth a chance to get back to his feet and he pulled out several kunai. "Are you alright?" The red head nodded and threw one of his knives at a scorpion, the blade burying itself in the insect's head. Several snakes hissed angerily as more scorpions scuttled over to us and clicked their pinchers. "Seth, go get the others! I'll hold them off!"

"Are you sure?" Seth asked in shock, throwing another kunai with deadly accuracy. I nodded and slammed my fist down on one of the snakes. "A-alright but be careful!" I nodded again, kicking another snake away and hitting the tail of a scorpion away as Seth ran after the others for help.

I instantly began regretting letting him go as more monsters began to circle me till I was trapped. "Damn it!" I tried to swing at a snake but it ducked and coiled it's head back before sinking its fangs into my arm. "AHH!" I stumbled backwards in shock, allowing more monsters the oppertunity to strike at me, the sharp sting of the scoprions and snakes begining to fade as their vemon did its work. I fell foward, holding myself up on my hands and knees, my vision becoming fuzzy and a strange feeling surfacing in the back of my mind. I couldn't believe, second day of training and I was going to die here...

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Third Peron POV

"Eria!" Terrance yelled, looking around fractically for his sister. The others were curious too as they realized that Seth was also missing. "Where is she?"

"Hey!" The entire group looked up to see Seth, panic etched on his face as he waved his arms and pointed back behind him. "We have to help Eria!"

Terrance's eyes widened and he sprinted past Seth, the others close behind only to gasp as they saw the scorpions and snakes swarm over something, attacking the fallen Eria. Terrance growled angerily, pulling out Hyperion and charging forward, screaming angerily.

"Eria!"

Nick's eyes widened as he saw the second Aurion twin charge at the monster in an attempt to save his sister. "Wait! Terri, no!"

Terrance ignored him and continued towards the mob of monsters, some of the others following him but he stopped as a strange growling was heard from underneath the monsters. The pile of snakes and scorpions seemed to explode as the creature pushed itself off the ground, spreading light blue wings and roaring angerily. It looked like a feathered velcodragon, the same light blue feathers that covered its wings, also covering its body.

"W-what it that?!" Terrance stammered, staring at the dragon as it snarled and snapped at the monsters with animalistic rage.

The dragon roared as one of the snakes bit its leg before releasing a stream of flame at the small serpent. Several of the scorpions tried to encircle of the dragon but they died in a flash of fire and fangs as the dragon continued to attack. Finally, the monsters were destroyed and dragon examined the chared carcasses of the monsters, paying no attention to the people nearby.

Alcana looked shocked by the merciless attack of the dragon on the monsters and looked for Eria's body but didn't see it. That's when it hit him ."Eria?" The dragon turned it's head towards him, growling as it's auburn slitted eyes were revealed. "Eria, its us. Your friends."

Eria didn't seem to care and snarled as she tucked her head down and charged at him, wings flared out behind her. Alcana's eyes widened and he raised his arms for protection but the hit from the dragon never came. Instead, when he looked up, Terrance stood in front of him, arms spread out protectively as he glared at his sister who growled back, glancing over her brother at Alcana.

"Eria, stop this!" Terrance shouted. Eria snarled and bared her fangs but didn't move. "What's wrong with you? Attacking Alcana? I thought he was your best friend?"

The dragon stopped growling, her eyes flickering back to round pupils as she fell foward, the dragon shape seeming to dissolve around her as she fell to the sand, unconscious. Terrance, as well as everyone else, breathed a sigh of relief before he knelled beside his sister and checked to make sure she was ok.

"Terri, she'll be fine. Eria is just tired." Nick assured him as he picked Eria up. Terrance nodded though he still looked worried.

"What happened? Why did she transform into that thing?" Arx asked, curious as to why his friend had turned into a dragon and had slaughtered the monsters.

"I don't know." Terrance said quietly, still shocked by it himself. "Hey, Alc. You ok?" The half dragon nodded, causing Terrance to sigh. "Good."

"Let's keep moving so that we can get to Triet before it gets too late." Nick said, Eria still unconscious in his arms. "Try to avoid the monsters if you can. If you can't you all have to do the fighting." The kids all nodded.

00000000000

"What is going on?" Why is there a sudden increase of aggression in monsters?" A woman asked.

"How should I know Flona?" A man retorted sharply.

"You watch over the animal spirits don't you Kilon?" Flona snapped.

Kilon growled and glared at his fellow guide. "I can't control those that are living Flo!"

"Both of you quiet down!" A second man snapped. The two other spirits quickly shut thier mouths and looked down. "Something is aggatating the monsters. As to what, not even Mana knows yet. The Keepers are currently investigating our issue along with issues that other universes and worlds are suffering with."

"I see." Flona said quietly.

"What are we to do then Riso?" Kilon asked.

Riso sighed. "Wait till the Keepers can supply us with the cause of the problem and possibly a solution. Until then, we can't do anything to interfer with the living world."


Ha! Take that! Are you confused? Well don't worry cause if your aren't, you will be and then I'll sort it all out! Yes! Thats exactly what I'll do! Hehe!