A New Generation

I do not own Final Fantasy, it **sigh** belongs to Squaresoft. However, I do own the new characters.

A Power Within

Chapter 2

A New Evil

Later that night, as Kylee left Tess's room, she wondered what her grandfather's news had been. Her father had refused to tell her, and simply said, "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

That worried her. When parents said not to worry, that's usually because they're worried about something.

She thought about this as she took the elevator up to their apartment. She was glad her mother would be back from Deling City in a few days. She slowly walked into her room, saying good night to her dad as she closed the door behind her. She was so tired, that she collapsed on her bed and was fast asleep.

However, she didn't have the nice, restful sleep she was hoping to have. As she lay there asleep, she had a dream, a terrifying one.

As she looked up into the sky, she could see a dark shadow. It seemed to slowly grow, engulfing the world in darkness. An icy cold wind started to blow and she could hear a hideous laugh that seemed to erupt from inside her head. Suddenly, a beam of light shot from the ground and seemed to disappear within the darkness.

Kylee woke with a start and looked around her room. A stream of sunlight shined in, indicating that it was morning. She took a deep breath and sighed, but realized she couldn't seem to shake the effects of her dream. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so frightened by a dream.

Later that morning, she walked in the cafeteria and walked over to the table were Tess was sitting.

"Morning, Kylee! Thanks for helping me study last night! I sure wouldn't want Instructor Trepe to get mad at me again…hey…what's wrong with you?" Tess asked.

Kylee didn't answer. Instead, she just seemed to stare into space, in her own little world.

"Hello…Earth to Kylee! What's wrong with you, anyway?"

"Sorry, Tess. I've got a lot on my mind. Good luck on your test, though." Kylee meekly smiled. Tess just looked at her in concern. It wasn't like her best friend to be so quiet. Normally, getting her to stop talking was a problem.

Tess suddenly looked at her watched and jumped up, almost knocking her chair over.

"Oh my gosh!! I've got to get going or I'll be late again. Don't worry Ky. Every thing will be okay. Gotta go! See ya!" Tess exclaimed as she jogged out of the cafeteria. Kylee sighed and sat back in her chair. She knew she was being stupid but she couldn't help but worry. What did it mean? Was it a warning or just a meaningless nightmare?

Suddenly, she got the strange feeling she was being watched. She looked up and saw a boy with blonde hair staring right at her. Glaring was more like it. He looked vaguely familiar and she wondered where she had seen him before. Then, she remembered. He had been one of the incoming students at the assembly the day before. She couldn't seem to remember his name and then it came to her…Andrew Almasy. She narrowed her eyes and got up to leave. For some reason, his stare made her uneasy and she had enough to worry about.

She decided to visit Squall in his office. Maybe he'd have something for her to do to keep her mind off her dream. As she opened the door to the office, she was surprised to see her grandfather standing there talking to her dad. 'When did he get here?' she wondered. Not wanting them to worry about her mood, she pasted a smile on her face and walked in.

They both looked up when the door opened. Laguna smiled a welcome, but Squall's thoughts seemed elsewhere.

"What have you been up to lately, Kylee? Haven't gotten into too much trouble I hope," Laguna said. "I can remember the time you swapped Instructor Trepe's reading glasses with a different pair and all day she looked like she was playing the trombone when she read something, or how about the time you filled the drawers of your dad's desk with peanut butter."

Squall rolled his eyes, but Kylee smiled, "Some of my most memorable moments. It was fun, especially the desk thing. Too bad the cafeteria was out of jelly."

At that, even Squall cracked a grin. Laguna chuckled and turned back to Squall, "If you find out anything else, just let me know."

"I will," Squall said as Laguna started to leave. Kylee waved a good-bye and sat down in a chair in front of Squall's desk.

"So, Dad. What's on the agenda for today? Hopefully, nothing too boring," she asked. "What was Grandpa doing here, anything wrong?"

He looked at her and sighed, "I guess you'll find out anyway. Remember, though, this is just between you and me. Laguna says the observatory in Esthar has indicated some strange readings near the Sorceress Memorial. It seems to be some supernatural force but they don't know what. For the past week, there have been several strange incidents. People have disappeared and others' personalities have completely changed. Normally, calm, considerate people have turned selfish and crude. Some people have been found alive but left extremely weak. The force, whatever it is, seems to be on the move. Thing is, no one knows where it will strike next or even, what it is. One thing is for sure: it is extremely evil. The reason I don't want word getting around is I'm afraid people will panic."

"That's really freaky, Dad. Is that why Grandpa came to talk to you?" Kylee wondered. Squall nodded and handed her a piece of paper.

"Look up these names. I need those records and your better with the computer than I am."

"That's because you always call it names. Yeah, I'll look these up and get them to you. No problem." Kylee said as she sat down in front of the computer screen.

Later that afternoon she was sitting on a bench in front of the Library when someone sat down beside her. She looked up and saw Chad Dincht flipping through pages of a book.

"Hey Chad. First day of classes?" Kylee asked.

"Oh, sorry I didn't see you sitting there, Kylee. Yeah, first day. I guess I didn't get through the day too bad, all things considered."

"Well, good luck. I'm waiting for Tess. We were going to go practice in the training center. I think I see her now, see ya later!"

Chad nodded and continued to flip through the book. Kylee waved Tess over and she and Tess made their way over to the Training Center. The first thing they had to face was a band of three Grats. Tess favored a nunchaku while Kylee had become an expert archer despite her father wanting her to use a gunblade. He finally gave up realizing his daughter was as hardheaded as Rinoa. Tess made contact with the first Grat with her nunchaku. Kylee quickly shot two arrows into the other two Grats and the battle was quickly over.

Kylee turned and smiled at Tess, "Piece of cake!"

Tess didn't smile back. Instead, she took a menacing step toward Kylee.

"Say goodbye, Kylee Leonhart. You're in over your head, so now you'll lose it." Tess threatened, only it wasn't Tess's soft voice. The voice coming out of her mouth was raspy and hoarse.

"What?!" Kylee gasped as she dodged Tess's nunchaku. "Tess, what's wrong with you? What are you doing?! This isn't funny."

"While I'll have the last laugh this time!" the voice said. Fear overwhelmed Kylee, as she was worried about Tess. Something wasn't right.

Tess threw a fireball at Kylee, and she barely was able to dodge it and it grazed her shoulder. As she knelt down on one knee, holding her shoulder, her fear was replaced by anger. She stood up and launched at Tess grabbing her by her wrists and pinning her against the wall. Tess dropped the nunchaku in surprise and gasped.

"Get angry, Kylee. That's very good." The voice cackled.

Kylee felt a power grow from within her. A power and strength that she had never felt before. A white light seemed to engulf them and Tess started to scream. A black smoke poured from her mouth and seemed to evaporate into the air. Tess fell limply to the ground. Kylee dropped to the ground beside her friend as Tess's eyes fluttered open.

"What happened, Kylee? How did I get here?" Tess, in her normal voice, asked in confusion.

"I have no idea what's going on. But I think we need to get you to the infirmary." Kylee answered trying to stay calm. Panic rose within her. Something was wrong. She had never felt such evil before and what had happened to her? It was all so strange.

After she made sure Tess was safe at the infirmary. She ran past a puzzled nurse and out of the infirmary to her father's office. Out of breath, she flung open the door and stumbled in. Squall stood up in alarm as Kylee collapsed in a chair and on the brink of tears she told him the whole story.

When she finished, his eyes widened and he said, "We need to talk to your mother."

So what do ya think? Please R&R^_^ I hope you're enjoying the story. Chapter 3 will have more of the other characters and I plan to have it done soon.

-Celestial Lady