Sorry, sorry, sorry for the long delay. School, it seems, has finally caught up with me. The next chapter is definitely going to be the last one. Thanks to all who reviewed, I may not have even finished this if you didn't make me feel so guilty ^_^ I hope you didn't all forget about me!!!!! Anyway, here it is, the long awaited chapter eleven.

There was little talk around the dinner table that night. Everyone was tired and sore, and everyone was also afraid to complain about having pizza again, fearing an assault by the now well-armed Ana, whose spear leaned against the refrigerator. I hurt in places I didn't know existed. Everyone had gone home save for me, Robbie, Ana, and the Final Fantasy crew. The responsibility of practicing for the competition now hung heavy on my shoulders. Maybe that's why they felt like falling off whenever I moved them. Groans issued forth from everyone but Auron and Kimahri every time we moved. This resulted in my kitchen sounding like the inside of a lawnmower.

Ana, Robbie and I had intended to practice after dinner. This was very obviously not happening. Even bending my fingers around an instrument seemed like painful medieval torture. Instead, we all flopped on the couch and watched "The Producers" on TV. This proved to be almost as painful, as "The Producers" is a funny movie. Every time I laughed, I felt like my rib cage would crack. We were at the part when they were having auditions for Hitler when the phone rang. "Somebody has to answer that," groaned Ana, "and it's not going to be me."

Cue chorus of "me either".

"I think Rebecca should get it," said Robbie. "This is her house."

"Screw you," I said, and laboriously rose from the couch. Not thinking, I picked up the phone and mumbled, "Hello?"

"Rebecca?" The voice in the receiver was my mom's. Shit.

"You know, we were just going to sleep. I think I'd better go. We're all alive. Bye." But my sore finger was too sluggish in hitting the "off" button.

"Not so fast. It's only 8:30!"

"Early to bed, early to rise," I replied.

"Funny, you've never thought that before," she said suspiciously.

"Yeah, well I've just adopted a new philosophy."

"Really!" she said. "So what have you guys been up to?"

"Setting fire to small children in the park. You know, the usual," I answered sarcastically.

"I'd like to speak to the sitter," she said flatly.

"She's sleeping."

"Wake her up."

"Okay," I squeaked. "Just a second." I set the phone down on the counter, and walked toward the living room. "Who can do a really, really good old lady impersonation?" I asked.

"She wants to talk to Ma'am?!" Ana cried.

"Now," I groaned.

"Give me the phone," said Lulu. "I'll do it."

"Um, alright," I said, and ran to get the phone. Only my legs felt like lifeless bags of sand, and I ended up on the floor. I eventually managed to stagger my way into the kitchen, retrieve the phone, and deposit it safely into Lulu's hands.

"Thank God they haven't invented video phones yet," whispered Ana. Lulu ignored her. We all leaned in, listening intently to Lulu's end of the conversation.

"Yes. Yes. Oh Yes. They've been darlings. Yes. Of course. Every night!" she said, doing a surprisingly good imitation of Ma'am. After what seemed like an eon, she wished my mother farewell and hung up.

"Well," said Robbie, "that was close."

"I think we've had enough excitement for today," Auron said gruffly. "Let's go to sleep." We all agreed to this notion. Somehow, we all managed to crawl up the stairs, into the shower and back out again, and into our beds and sleeping bags with no major incidents. This was quite a relief, as no one was ready to deal with anything. I seriously hated Ana for having my bed. Falling asleep was incredibly easy; it was staying asleep that was the problem. Every time I rolled over, I woke up in a great deal of pain. Somehow, I eventually managed to drift off into a deep, uninterrupted sleep around midnight. I was so tired not even Tidus's snoring could wake me.

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Rain pelted down against the windows like enemy fire, and thunder cracked and boomed like enemy bombs. I was in a large room, on some kind of raised platform. A stage, I realized. The stage was full of chairs, arranged like someone was about to play a concert. My first thought was, Oh my God, did I miss regionals? My second thought was, holy shit.

Because in each chair sat an identical Seymour.

With a soundless scream, I drew my sword, only to realize that it was Auron's. I was Auron. No, wait. I was only dressed like him. Looking around, I noticed my friends in similar garb, dressed like the person who had trained them. Turning back toward the Seymours, I saw only one. I looked around. We were no longer on a stage. We were in a room with a large furnace, and a tiny window. Through the window, I could see that it had started to hail. The glass threatened to shatter with every golf ball sized chunk.

Seymour spoke taunting words that I could not recall, and raised his arms as if to do a spell. Screams erupted all around me. Weapons were raised. I realized I was screaming too. Screaming, and running toward Seymour with everyone else. I felt a sudden rush. The attack was perfect. I was going to seriously hurt him. My blade was inches from his body and…

I woke up, screaming and sweating, writhing in my sleeping bag.

The first thing I remembered was my soreness. Though not as bad as it had been last night, the pain still shot threw my body like electricity. Then, I realized that I had not been the only one screaming. I could hear Ana's, Tidus's and Auron's voices dying on their lips, even as my own cry faded. I wanted to turn, to talk to one of them, but a sudden, extreme drowsiness overtook me, and I stopped tossing and turning and laid in a stillness and silence so heavy it was like I was drugged. I fell into a deep sleep, and did not wake up again until 9:30 the next morning.

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"So, everyone had the same dream last night?" inquired Lulu. We were sitting around the breakfast table eating cheerios. Some of Robbie's were still stuck to his face from when he fell asleep in the bowl. It had taken an entire liter of Mountain Dew to revive him.

"That's what it sounds like," said Yuna. She seemed nervous and fidgety that morning.

"Do you think it, you know, means anything?" Rikku wondered.

"Most likely," said Auron. "But, even more likely, we won't know the meaning until the events are actually unfolding."

"Isn't it obvious?" said Robbie. A cheerio fell off of his upper lip and landed in his bowl with a plop. "We're going to fight Seymour. All of us. The apprentices all saw each other, and the, you know, originals all saw each other. We should take one Seymour each."

"But, if Seymour's intention was to fight all along, why not get us when he came here, or at the mall, or any other time this week?" I pondered. "It just doesn't make sense."

"No," said Auron. "It doesn't."

"Well," said Ana. "We'll cross that icy bridge when we come to it. Meanwhile, Robbie and Rebecca and I really need to do some practicing for the competition."

"And we'll need to do a light review of fighting skills this afternoon," said Auron. This was met with many groans.

"I could barely even get down the stairs this morning," I complained. "And you want me to practice fencing?"

"You'll feel better in the afternoon," said Auron. "You'll see."

"The only thing I want to see," grumbled Ana "is an extra strength Tylenol." This suggestion was met with hearty agreement.

So, we all popped a few pills, and then Robbie, Ana and I hit the music. Everyone else insisting on listening. I had to admit, we were sounding pretty good. If we could just pull it all together by tomorrow night, we would win for sure. After the practicing, we called everyone up, and told them to meet at my house at six for a little practicing. There was little enthusiasm (with the exception of Hannah) when it came to this. Marcus hadn't even gotten out of bed when we called him. We had a good couple of hours for lunch, and some good old fashioned bumming around, including video games, TV, and reading funny stories on the internet. Finally, everyone came over, and we went out into the yard. I found that Auron had been right, and my soreness was almost gone when I picked up the sword. After a bit of practice, he let me use my own, lighter sword. He had been right again. With the new sword, my attacks were more or less perfect, and I even managed to learn armor break and mental break. Auron seemed pretty pleased with my progress. The training for everyone went well over all. There was little injury, and, thankfully, everyone kept their pants on at all times. The only incident involved Hannah accidentally hitting a squirrel with her blitzball, and Wakka having to give it CPR. Suffice it to say that this was hilariously funny. Since Wakka was so much larger than the squirrel, it looked like he was eating its head, therefore earning him the nickname of Ozzy.

After we were all done, and the sun was beginning to set, the Final Fantasy crew gathered us all under the old swing set. I was forcefully reminded of baseball pep talks. "You have all done well," said Auron, "and I think that you are all ready for the trials that await you."

"Even Robbie and Hannah?" joked Ana.

"Even Robbie and Hannah," replied Lulu.

"As long as she doesn't hit any more squirrels," added Wakka. We all laughed.

"We'll meet again at 5:00 tomorrow," said Auron.

"Everyone's going to the concert, right?" said Tidus. Nods of consent. "Oh, good. Then I'll just drive everyone over."

"How about we take the bus?" said Sam. I mentally slapped myself in the face for not having thought of that one.

"All right," said Yuna. "I have a feeling this competition is going to be the point where it all ends. The rows of chairs, the Seymours…"

"There's a severe storm watch on for tomorrow night," said Sam.

"So everyone meet here," said Wakka, "and we'll take the bus over to the competition after we practice. We'll bring the weapons, just in case. Maybe Seymour's just waiting to go out with a bang, ya?"

We all said our goodbyes, and those who needed to go home departed. The usual suspects remained. We had dinner, went to bed, and woke up the next morning. Saturday came, grey and gloomy, with the threat of rain. We were practicing for the competition when the skies finally opened up. It was only 3:30.

"We have to go out in this?" asked Robbie, a note of misery in his voice.

"Put on a raincoat," said Tidus, as Allen rang the doorbell.