The sun shone brightly on a beautiful summer day in Tokyo, Japan. Hikaru sat on her bed peacefully gazing out the window. The cherry trees that surrounded her home were in full bloom and gave the garden a pink glow. Hikaru looked over at her suitcases that were still empty. Within the next couple days Hikaru would have all her bags packed and heading off to college. She stood and walked over to her desk and noticed the gold pendant that Lantis had given her the last time she had visited Cephiro. It had been five years since Umi, Fuu, and herself had been whisked away to that magical land. Hikaru had always wanted to return to Cephiro where she held so many precious memories. She held the pendant close to her heart.

"Why does it still hurt so much when I think about him?" she whispered. "Lantis"

Meanwhile, outside Hikaru's door, two of her brothers stood watching their younger sister.

"I wonder where Hikaru got that pendant," Masaru wondered. "I don't think that either Umi or Fuu gave it to her."

"Who knows," mumbled Kakeru. "I just want to know who this Lantis person is that she has been talking about."

"Are you two spying on Hikaru again?" said a voice behind them.

The boys turned to see their oldest brother, Satoru, standing over them.

"You two should leave Hikaru to her own problems. It is her decision as to whether or not she tells us everything."

"You're probably right," Kakeru sighed. "It's just, I don't want her leaving for college thinking that no one cares about her."

"At least she is a little happier after her second visit to Tokyo Tower. I never want to see her as upset as she was after the first trip ever again."

The boys smiled gently to each other and then left. Hikaru, still clutching the pendant, looked out the window again at the cherry trees.

"I wish I could go to Cephiro again"

Hikaru put the pendant around her next and tucked it under her Kendo robe. She stood up and began to walk out of her room when she heard a name that made her heart skip a beat.

"L-A-N-T-I-S! Wait a second!"

Hikaru stopped in her tracks at the mention of his name. She turned around to look at the cherry tree but it wasn't there. In its place was a tall tree with silvery green leaves that glistened in the sunlight. Each of the branches was lined with white flowers that were trimmed in a pale pink. What was more surprising was that floating in the air was a tiny fairy wearing a pink dress and blue hair. Hikaru knew at once who the fairy was: Primera.

"What? How?" Hikaru stammered running to the window.

She looked out window and saw a dark figure sitting in the branches of the tree. She slowly opened the window so that she could look more closely at the figure. She could see the black and silver armor and the blue jewels that she knew so well. She rubbed her eyes several times unable to believe that he was actually there.

"LANTIS!" Hikaru cried with delight.

Lantis looked up and saw Hikaru standing in the window of her room, tears streaming down her face. He looked just as surprised as Hikaru.

"Hikaru?" he whispered. "How did you get to Cephiro?"

"I'm not in Cephiro," she laughed. "I'm still in my room."

"Why are you crying?" Lantis asked jumping down from the tree.

"I'm just can't believe that it is really you!" Hikaru cried reaching out for Lantis.

"WHOOOAAA! How did that get here?" shrieked Masaru.

Hikaru turned and saw her brother standing in her doorway. She turned back to Lantis, but he was beginning to fade away.

"Wait! Lantis, don't go!" she hollered.

"Don't worry Hikaru. I'll talk to Clef. Maybe he'll know what is going on," Lantis replied smiling at her as he began to fade away. "I will see you again."

The tree, Lantis, and Primera melted away leaving behind the same old cherry tree that had always been in the garden.

"Umwhat was that?" asked Kakeru.

"I wish I knew," replied Hikaru talking out the pendant.

*****

"This year's winner of the national fencing tournament isRyuuzaki Umi!"

In front of thousands of cheering fans, Umi stood with her helmet in one hand and her rapier in the other. She waved to the crowd as she received her trophy and medal. She ran over to her parents who stood on the sideline and received her victory hug from them.

"Umi, you have become quite the fencer!" said her mother beaming with pride.

"Where on earth did you learn to do all that fancy stuff with a sword?" laughed her father.

Umi looked down at the rapier and pictured the majestic blue sword that Presea had given her life to make for her. She was always thinking about Cephiro and all the people there. She knew that if she had never traveled to Cephiro, she would have never met Hikaru or Fuu. She looked back at her parents who were still expecting an answer from her.

"It's a secret," she said with a smile.

Suddenly there was a scream from the crowd as half of the auditorium melted away to reveal a tall young man petting a giant griffin. Umi's eyes widened and she dropped her rapier.

"It can't be"she whispered. "Ascot?!"

Ascot turned and looked around at the chaos that had taken over the room.

"Wait a secondthat isn't Cephiro"he stated noticing Umi. "UMI!"

Umi ran over to Ascot and grabbed his hands. Ascot's face turned bright red and he couldn't look Umi in the face. Every day since she had left Cephiro Ascot had dreamed about meeting Umi again. He had dreamed about taking her into his arms and never letting go of her ever again. He wanted to badly to kiss her but he was too nervous to try.

"Ascot, what are you doing here?" Umi laughed shaking Ascot from his trance.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," he blushed in response.

"UmiUMI! Get away from that monster!" shouted her father.

"But these guys aren't," Umi said turning to look at Ascot only to find that he had vanished. "Monsters"

Umi scratched her head and faced her parents.

"I wonder if Hikaru and Fuu are experiencing the same thing," she whispered. "Mom, I need to use your cell phone. I have to make a very important call. It's an emergency."

*****

Fuu sat on a park bench reading a book. The wind softly blew through her golden hair and gently turned the pages of the book. The wind reminded her of Windam, which reminded her of Cephiro which reminded her of Ferio. She closed her book and put it down. She sighed to herself before standing to start her walk home. Just as she did, her cell phone rang.

"Hello, this is Hououji Fuu speaking," she smiled.

"Hey Fuu, it's Umi. Listen, there is something super freaky going on."

"Oh, Miss Umi! I am so glad that you called! It seems ages since I talked to either Hikaru or yourself! How have you been?"

"Fuu! This is no time to chit chat!" hollered Umi on the other end. "This is serious!"

"Oh, I am terribly sorry Miss Umi," Fuu giggled. "Please do go on."

"Okay, this is going to sound really stupid but here I go. Have you seen anyone from Cephiro?"

"That is a rather funny question," Fuu giggled. "Seeing as Cephiro is in an alternate universe and that there is no possible way for there to be any relative connection between there world and ours since Hikaru stopped the pillar system–"

"Fuu! Can it already! I know all that but the thing is that I just saw Ascot here at the fencing arena."

"Really, well that is rather perplexing," sighed Fuu. "I am afraid that I have no rational explanation for this occurrence."

"Fuu! Stop sounding all brainy on me and just promise that you will keep your eyes open. I am not hanging up this phone until you say so."

Before Fuu could answer part of the park began to fade away and the throne room of the castle of Cephiro appeared before her. Sitting on the throne was Ferio. Fuu dropped the phone and covered her mouth, her cheeks turning red. Ferio looked over and saw her. His face lit up and he jumped to his feet and ran over to Fuu with his arms open. Fuu began to cry and ran into his arms.

"Ferio, oh Ferio I can't believe that it is you!" she cried. "How did you get here?"

"Well, to tell ya the truth, I just sorta appeared here. I was about to go see what al the fuss was about with Lantis and Ascot when WHAM, here I was. If ya ask me, I did pick a good spot to show up in though."

Fuu blushed and looked into Ferio's golden eyes as they began to fade away leaving nothing but air behind.

"FUU! Will you answer me?" demanded Umi still on the other end of the cell phone.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry Miss Umi," Fuu apologized picking up the phone. "Ferio was just here"

"Yeah I know," Umi sighed. "I heard the two love birds little conversation. You two should really get a room."

Fuu blushed some more.

"Fuu, meet me at Hikaru's in 15 minutes. I'd call her but you know that they don't have a phone."

"Okay Miss Umi, I'll meet you at Miss Hikaru's," she replied hanging up the phone.

Fuu rushed over to Hikaru's and arrived just as Umi was knocking on the front door. Satoru answered the door.

"Oh Umi, Fuu, it is wonderful to see you two again. Hikaru is out back in the garden. She is going to be very happy to see you two. There is something that she has to tell you that only you will be able to understand."

"What do you mean?" asked Umi.

"You see, she has been standing in front of our cherry tree all day. She said that she saw a man appear in the tree and hasn't moved since this morning. It is as if she is waiting for someone to meet her there"

"Please do not worry Mr. Satoru," smiled Fuu. "Miss Umi and myself shall see what is wrong with Miss Hikaru."

The two girls quickly walked to the garden where they saw Hikaru sitting by the cherry tree looking at the pendant. Hikaru looked up when she heard their footsteps. She jumped to her feet when she saw Umi and Fuu.

"Umi! Fuu! You won't believe what just happened to me! I saw"

"Lantis?" Umi finished.

Hikaru gave Umi a puzzled look.

"How did you know?" questioned Hikaru.

"Miss Umi and myself have been seeing people from Cephiro appear at random throughout Tokyo. Miss Umi saw Mr. Ascot at her fencing arena and I saw Ferio in the park. It was very likely that you saw Lantis."

"To top it off," Umi laughed pushing Fuu aside. "You are holding that pendant that Lantis gave you pretty tight."

Hikaru blushed and looked over at the cherry tree. Then she looked off into the distance at the Tokyo Tower, the place where their adventure had began.

"Umilet's go to the Tokyo Tower."

"But Hikaru, why do we want to go there?" questioned Umi.

"Because I want to go to Cephiro again. I want to see the personpeople that I love. But more important than that, I want to know what is going on in Cephiro. Why their world is colliding with ours. Umiwe have to go back to protect the ones we love."

"But Miss Hikaru, remember Mr. Clef told us that only the pillar can summon people to Cephiro. You were the last pillar and you destroyed that system. How can we return?"

"I don't know, but we have to try!"

With that, Hikaru ran out the back gate and towards the Tokyo Tower. Umi and Fuu looked at each other and shrugged.

"We'd better go after her." Umi sighed. "There is no telling what kind of trouble that hyper active red head is going to get herself into."

The three girls ran to the Tokyo Tower, the place that held so many of their memories. They walk over to the window where they had first seen Princess Emeraude and looked out the window. Everywhere in Tokyo, patches of Cephiro were appear and disappearing.

"What is going on?" wondering Umi.

"This certainly is a most unusual event!" Fuu stated.

"Way to state the obvious," Umi glarred.

"Cephiro" whispered Hikaru placing her hand on the glass.

"Pu pu pu..Puuuuu!"

The girls turned around to see the fluffy, marshmellowy, bunny like Mokona standing behind them.

"Mokona!" Hikaru laughed as he jumped into her arms.

"Um..Miss Hikaru, people are looking at you rather strangly"

Sure enough, the crowd at Tokyo Tower were all looking at Hikaru wondering what the bunny look alike was doing and where did had come from.

"Ohthis is just a stuffed animal!" Umi said poking Mokona. "Nothing to see here"

The people returned to what they were doing.

"Okay, we're here and so is Mokona. Now how are we going to get to Cephiro?"

"Puuuu" said Mokona as the jewel on his forehead turned from its usual red to gold.

Suddenly the ground beneath Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu became like quicksand and they began to be sucked in. Umi freaked out while Fuu tried to pull herself out. Hikaru held Mokona tight. Then the girls were falling through the skies of Cephiro.

"Ahhhh! Not again!" shrieked Umi. "I HATE THIS RIDE!"