The Tournament of Aeons--part 1

by: David Stryder

*********************

As the dawn broke over the horizon, a young woman stood before

a vast open field, which contained only herself, some rocks, and

her opponent. The Calm Lands were the perfect setting for what was

about to happen. The young summoner, Yuna, held her staff in front

of her and prepared to summon forth the beings entrusted to her

by the statues known as the fayth. The Aeons. Her friends and

guardians stood or sat off to the side, watching intently.

Her opponent, another summoner herself, did the same. Belgemine

was surrounded by electricity and it flowed around her, until it

created a kind of vortex. The Aeon known as Ixion burst forth from

it, galloping around the side and standing ready to fight.

Not to be outdone, Yuna summoned fire from her weapon, which

dropped to the ground and caused it to burst forth, calling Ifrit,

the fire demon. Now, while you'd normally expect the fight to start

right then, something different happened this morning. The

summonings continued...

--Belgemine called forth the winged beast, Valefor.

--Yuna summoned the queen of ice, Shiva.

--Belgemine called upon the king of dragons, Bahamut.

--Yuna then summoned the ancient guardian, who fights for a price,

Yojimbo (and his little dog).

--Belgemine finally called her last Aeon, which happened to be a set

of Aeons, the Magus Sisters.

--Yuna finished her team by calling forth a great chain and hook which

plunged into the earth and dragged out the Dark Aeon, Anima.

The daughter of Braska asked, "Ready?"

To which the more experienced summoner replied, "Anytime."

You see, the two summoners had discussed this mornings events and had

reached an agreement. They had decided that all of the Aeons would be

summoned to take part in a kind of tournament. Curiousity is what

drove this, really. They wanted to see which Aeon would prove itself

to be the best among them with one major difference--during the battles,

the creatures would use their own judgement and fight for themselves, as

opposed to taking orders from the summoners. There would be a total of

seven fights, in a process of elimination, to determine the champion.

--The first fight--

Bahamut stood there, arms crossed as usual, glaring at his opponent.

Valefor was hovering above the ground, also staring. Tension mounted.

Rikku acted as referee, throwing a grenade into the middle of the 'ring'

which served as a signal to start the match.

Bahamut charged first, appearing through the smoke of the explosion and

rushing right at the smaller flyer. Valefor flew strait up, dodging the

initial attack by mere inches and following it with Sonic Wings. The

shock wave was blocked by a quick turn and closing wings. The dragon landed

then, and began charging up his magic. Four balls of black energy formed

around him and flew out towards the other Aeon, 2 missing and 2 making

contact with each wing. Valefor landed as well, and was clearly injured.

At this point, the bird-like creature also charged up his own energy into

his beak. The great dragon just stood there, curious to see the strength

of this small creature. Valefor, eager to comply, released the energy in a

thin beam, aimed at Bahamuts feet. The ground exploded under him and the

Energy Beam attack did it's damage. However, it wasn't enough, and the

dragon king charged once again, this time quicker. Valefor had used up the

last of his energy in that attack and couldn't fly anyway, so the clawed

hand took the last bits of HP and ended the first match of the Aeon

Tournament.

Winner: BAHAMUT

--The second fight--

The ice goddess Shiva stepped forward next, and Yojimbo right next to her.

"So your my opponent, eh?" She looked him over. "Not bad. A little heavy

on the robes, though." The warrior made no reply, and didn't even look her

way as they proceeded towards the designated area.

Once again, a grenade signaled the start of the match.

At once, Shiva charged up her ice powers and prepared for her Overdrive.

"Sorry, handsome. I've got a title to win, so if you'll kindly stand still..."

The massive energy gathered into her hand and she could barely make out a

form through the smoke of the grenade. Her target. Lowering her hand, she

released everything she had been collecting all at once, almost freezing

the very air around her. The wave spread and engulfed the entire area in

front of her. The icy maiden laughed to herself when she saw that same dark

form deep inside the wall of ice. "Oh, yeah...almost forgot." She snapped

her fingers and all of the ice exploded at once, causing some of the

onlookers to be blown backwards.

It was only when she noticed the log where Yojimbo was supposed to be did

she get worried. Her blue locks of hair swung wildly as she looked around

for him.

"Impressive power. But useless when wasted," an icy voice behind her stated.

Shiva barely heard the sound of the sword being drawn from it's sheath when

the attack came. Several slashes to her back, none deep, but enough to damage

her greatly. When she looked back up at the samurai standing over her, he said,

"The battle is over. There is no need to finish you off." Then the Aeon extended

his hand to help the ice queen to her feet.

Winner: YOJIMBO...

As they walked back to the sidelines, something happened. Stormclouds rolled in

out of nowhere and lightning started crashing all around them. Shiva disappeared,

but Yojimbo stayed where he was. Even as an Aeon, there was no mistaking a

warriors spirit. A warrior had come to challenge him.

The horse trotted in on six legs. The rider had two massive horns on his head.

Both clad in foriegn-looking armor, the rider also carried an enormous sword.

Known in the land of his origin as a GF, Odin came forward and dismounted. The

Aeon stood his ground, only drawing his own sword as the rain began to fall.

Yuna and the others were near panic. They had never seen anything like this warrior

before. Even Auron was impressed. None knew how he had gotten here, but the

summoners knew to just let the two fight it out among themselves.

In a flash of lightning, the two vanished. All that could be known of the battle was

the rapid clangs of the blades meeting each other at such speed that no human eyes

could follow. At some points, the rain was forced away from the blows because there

was so much power being displayed.

Almost as fast as it started, the battle came to a pause. The two beings were stopped

on opposite sides of the now muddy plains, facing away from each other. Slowly, they

turned to look at each other. Odin nodded slowly and mounted his steed. Yojimbo

responded in a similar manner, but only turned to walk away. Odin, the GF,

returned to his world in the same way he left--in a flash of lightning.

-Bonus Round-

Winner by default: YOJIMBO

To Be Continued...