(Adel's Chamber, Shane's POV)

Once we made it to Adel's chamber, the first thing we noticed was the large tomb across from us. Within it, a giant woman, at least 8 feet tall, was bound. She had pale blue skin, red, glowing eyes that leered at us, long red hair up in a messy bun, and a fangy grin that spread even wider as we entered the room.

Stopping cold about ten feet from her, I withdrew my gunblade and watched her carefully, fully aware that she was awake and biding her time.

Her form began to move a little, wriggling back and forth like a worm as she struggled to break free of the bonds. Cords snapped away, flinging across the room to land on the floor, and her one arm was freed.

Suddenly, it shot out with a lightning speed, aiming directly for Kapri, but I managed to jump in front of her and swung my blade in an arc, stopping her attack.

Hissing in pain, Adel struggled even more and managed to free her other arm as well. She glared at me and swung out with her arm, cackling evilly as it stretched to inhuman lengths and shot towards me. Parrying with my blade, I countered with quickly casting Triple on myself and then casting Protect on Kapri, Marah and myself.

Marah quickly closed her eyes and concentrated before lifting her arms to the sky and calling out a spell. "Hasteaga!"

A red light glowed around us all, speeding us up and making it easier to keep up with Adel's lightning quick attacks.

Closing her eyes, Kapri used her Angel Wing attack, floating in the air and staring at Adel indifferently as she quickly cast spell after spell. Seeing as the battle field was too unstable to fight the sorceress hand-to-hand, I stuck to powerful Meltdown and Ultima spells.

Hunter used his rifle, saving up on his magic, and Dustin cast Holy and defensive spells.

Marah used her special attack to call upon Wall, to protect us further, and Tori used her Blue Magic to cast White Wind, casting regenerative magics on us.

Struggling again, three more bonds broke. Still, dozens surrounded her torso, keeping her immobile, but she continued to struggle and was successfully snapping them one at a time.

Kapri's gaze faltered as she stared at Adel and she dropped an inch, her hand falling to her side briefly, but just as quickly, it was back up and her spells were resumed.

I kept up casting Meltdown, as it did the most damage, and took an Ether to replenish my strength before tossing one to Dustin, who looked ready to collapse.

Adel swung out with her clawed hand and aimed for Marah, but she jumped over the swinging hand and ducked under the other one as it came back. Rolling back a little ways, she landed on her knees and cast Blind and Silence on Adel, to slow her down a little.

Shaking her head, Kapri's gazed turned a little unfocused as she struggled to remain afloat. Raising her arm, she cast three quick Holys before her arm dropped and her wings disappeared, sending her to her knees.

Frowning, I switched my gaze to Kapri and took a single step towards her before shaking my head. This... It may be Ultimecia... I thought uncertainly, wanting to go over and protect her. But... If that's the case, this is what we want...right?

Letting out an inhuman screech, Adel fell back from the on-slaught of powerful spells. She writhed violently as her eyes dimmed and she raised a hand, shooting it once again at me.

Dodging the attack, I watched as her struggling grew weaker as a pale red light formed around her body. Her gaze travelled to Kapri and her eyes narrowed as the light floated away from her, going over and enveloping Kapri in it's light.

Finally, Adel's eyes lost any light of life and she collapsed, hanging limply from the remaining bonds.

Kapri, who was on her knees, slowly stood up and began to sway as she stood in place.

I felt a shiver run up my spine as I slowly sheathed my gunblade. It was just like back on the lunar Base. Multiple images of Kapri, in varying states, swayed behind her like a wave.

Hearing footsteps run in, I briefly cast a glance over my shoulder and watched as Tommy ran in with Kelly, Zack and Jason a few feet behind him.

He took one look at the situation and nodded grimly before turning to Kelly. "Kelly! Now's your chance!"

Nodding quickly in response, she closed her eyes and glowed white for a moment as she activated her special ability.

Kapri's eyes fluttered close and she fainted dead away. She would've hit the ground, but I rushed forward and managed to catch her, holding her tightly.

Placing his hand on her shoulder, Tommy nodded again. "Ok. Now just bring Kapri back." he instructed softly.

With a slight groan, Kapri stirred and her eyes fluttered open, back to their normal blue and focused again. As Tommy rubbed Kelly's head affectionately, I helped Kapri up and held her lightly as she regained her balance.

"I...was inside Adel... The young Adel." Kapri said weakly as her eyes narrowed in confusion.

Tommy nodded grimly. "Ultimecia's inside Adel. Exactly as she wanted. Ok, this is the final showdown, folks!" he ordered sternly. "Time compression is about to begin! 'Love, friendship and courage'. Show 'em what you got!"

Kelly cast a meaningful glance at Hunter, who blushed, before being dragged out of the room by Tommy, leaving us to whatever effects this time compression was going to have.

"So, like... What exactly are we waiting for...?" Hunter asked curiously, glaring and blushing when Dustin and Marah shot him sly grins.

As he asked, the entire room began to...melt away. Everything drooped, and the floor eroded away beneath us, plunging us into a dark nothingness. As we fell, I noticed that everything began to lighten. Soon, I realized, we were in a sky, and the sun was rising in the distance, revealing a fairly clear sky as birds flew by.

"I just had to ask." Hunter muttered with a face.

The only thing really wrong with this picture, was that we were no longer falling, but floating in the air. That, and large bubbles of images began to float by.

Looking closely, I noticed that the images were my memories. No, not just mine. There was a memory of a little blonde girl I recognized as Tori, talking to a little dark skinned and haired boy I recognized as Blake, with a smile. I looked at Tori and noticed how her eyes watered as she stared at that image.

Another one floated by of a little brunette girl, I recognized as Marah, talking to two children as a dirty blonde boy I recognized as Hunter, came up to her with a stuffed bear. The children jumped for joy at seeing it and rushed over and hugged him, taking the bear and rushing off with Marah in tow. That was followed by a slightly older girl with red hair I recognized as Kelly coming over and saying something to him, followed by a quick hug and smile before she turned and went in a different direction, leaving him blushing.

Hunter had a small smile on his face as he watched that memory float by.

Then, there was one of a little brunette boy being tortured by the younger Blake. I recognized Dustin easily. He was crying and yelling at Blake to stop being mean, when Marah came over and pushed Blake, glaring at him and saying something quietly that made Blake sneer and walk off, before she turned to Dustin and hugged him.

Dustin blushed and rubbed the back of his head nervously and Marah giggled at seeing it.

And then, there were memories that made me frown in confusion, but a look at Kapri's face explained them.

People in colored suit with laser weapons, fighting unusual monsters. Some turned out to be Tori and Blake, or Dustin and Cam. Then, there was even me and Hunter. One memory had them all in leather outfits and using strange powers to control the elements. Sometimes, Hunter and Blake rode around on strange motorcycles, on dirt paths. Others, Tori was out in the ocean on a surf board. And still others, I was rolling across the ground on a skateboard.

Me...on a skateboard?!

There was a girl with strange hair up in two large 'balls'. After a moment, I recognized Marah, and blinked a moment as I watched her pout at someone whom I couldn't see.

Was this what she used to be a part of? Was this her world the other other versions of us that she knew?

A woman with pink hair entered, carrying a sword with an evil smirk. It took a second look for me to recognize Kapri and I blinked in shock, turning to the Kapri I knew and watching as she winced at that memory. Looking back and forth between them and the other images, I shook my head and deemed it too much to think of at the moment. It was all in the past, anyway.

Besides, I liked this Kapri better.

"W-Where do we go?!" Hunter called nervously as the bubble memories grew overwhelming in number.

I quickly took Kapri's hand and held it tightly, to make sure she didn't fall into one of these memories. Diving into a memory of myself on the back porch of the orphanage, I turned to the others as I swam through it like water. "To Miko's House!"

The images faded as I turned and swam and it turned out to be deep in the middle of a large ocean, but I could still breathe, as though I was in the air. Fish with wings floated by and I dove down deeper, heading for the bottom of the ocean.

"I'll...probably disappear." Kapri stated softly.

I shook my head and pulled her to me, looking into her eyes sternly. "Just stay close to me! I won't let you disappear!" I vowed sincerely.

We continued to swim down through the breathable ocean, heading for the bottom, when we ended up coming out the surface and flying through the sky, instead. It was a light blue now, and had more clouds, and as we flew, no, swam through the air, large flocks of birds passed all around us.

The image slowly began to melt and spin, swirling faster and faster like a vortex, and we all cried out as we were sucked into it. I felt like being pulled apart from all ends. Tension that built up within me as though I were being electrocuted.

As the sensation faded, we were left in a large, dark room that slowly lit to reveal the Presidential Palace in Deling City. Long, gauzy curtains hung from places in the celing, and the big double doors remained, leading into the next room. Down the hallway behind us, I could clearly see the spinning vortex, slowly making it's way in our direction.

It was a choice.

Go back to the vortex and risk being torn apart by the time compression, or go through the door and face god-knows-what. For all I knew, another vortex awaited on the other side.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, and still holding Kapri's hand, I led her through the doorway, walking into the center of the next room before I stopped cold and stared in shock at what was in front of me.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A much shorter chapter, but I basically wanted this one to be about time compression alone, and it's effects.

Sighs I still don't own it. If I did, I'd be the happiest girl alive.

Hope you like it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...Future SeeDs... We're fighting across generations..."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

R+R please.

Thank you.

Tenshi