Well, here we are; big FF battle number 1! My imagination went into overdrive writing the first part of this chapter and I had to edit most of it out coz otherwise you'd all have been exhausted. I thank everyone who's read the story so far, especially if they've read VWR, and do ask everyone to review and let me know what you think.
Read On and Enjoy
Genesis and Vincent were leaping from rooftop to rooftop, Vincent keeping up a near constant stream of bullets to prevent the ex-SOLDIER from getting close. Genesis wasn't even breaking a sweat; how much would it take to awaken Chaos? How much further would he have to push this man until he could end this threat?
"Come now, Mr Valentine," he said as the two took a breather, though Vincent needed it more than he did, "This is hardly what I expected from the man who defeated Weiss in combat. Show me your true face, and then we can end this."
"True face," Vincent questioned, "What the hell are you talking about?"
Genesis grinned, putting a hand to his head. It was not often he got to recite anything anymore. "Soul wrought of terra corrupt, quelling impurity, purging the stream to beckon forth an ultimate fate." He pointed his sword at Vincent, "Behold mighty Chaos; Omega's squire to the lofty heavens."
"That's Lucrecia's Chaos Thesis," Vincent said, "How did you find out about that?"
"Mr Valentine," Genesis said, "I am G, the one the Tsviets got their awesome powers from. How could I not know about your true nature? Of course, my own goals are for the Planet's interests, unlike my dear 'siblings'. I will end the threat to the Planet, no matter the cost."
Vincent couldn't help it; he started laughing. He threw his head back and laughed. "If this is about fighting Chaos," Vincent said, "then I'm happy to disappoint you, G; Chaos returned with Omega to the Planet months ago. There is no 'threat'."
"YOU LIE!" Genesis roared, launching himself across the rooftops and slashing at Vincent, who dodged and began shooting again, jumping into the air. But Genesis came on the offensive, and summoned multiple fireballs and aimed them all at Vincent, who couldn't dodge. The fire engulfed him, but before Genesis could close in for the kill, a burst of light extinguished the fire and Vincent had changed again. His body had grown in muscle, Cerberus had shape-shifted into a chainsaw and his face was now covered with a mask. Hell Masker; another of Hojo's experiments. With a roar, Hell Masker dropped and went into full melee with Genesis, his heightened strength letting him equal the SOLDIER.
"This isn't Chaos," Genesis grunted as he dodged a strike from the chainsaw wielding monster, "SHOW ME CHAOS!" Genesis raised his hand and formed a much larger ball of fire, launching it at Hell Masker. The blast from the fireball knocked it off the roof and into the ground, causing it to revert back to Vincent.
As Genesis stood above Vincent, who was struggling to get up; the old wound from Soto was sending shards of pain through his abdomen so he couldn't get up, he came to a conclusion. "It has just occurred to me, Vincent Valentine that I don't need to make Chaos appear to beat it. I can just kill you instead!" He leapt from the roof, sword pointed down, but at that same moment, a whirring piece of metal came out of nowhere and cut into Genesis's shoulder, causing him to miss and Vincent to move out of the way. The metal shot back into the sky, where a small form caught it and landed next to Vincent. It was Yuffie and her Wutaian shuriken; she was armed with her old arm guard, which had a glowing piece of materia in it. A look of determination dominated her features as Vincent struggled to his feet.
"No one messes with my Vincent," Yuffie said as she stood straight, shuriken at the ready. Genesis groaned as his shoulder poured blood. Why was it always the shoulder?
"Is everyone okay?" Vincent asked her, grabbing Cerberus and loading it.
"Tifa got the kids to Shelke's; she's taking care of Cloud," Yuffie said, "And don't you dare try and send me away to help. I'm not leaving you to fight on your own this time."
Vincent looked at her, and then extended his clawed hand towards her. When she looked at him in confusion, he said simply "I need my other hand to shoot." Yuffie and Vincent looked at each other and nodded, Yuffie taking his clawed hand. Before Genesis could do anything other than grab at his shoulder in pain, Vincent and Yuffie advanced hand in hand, Vincent shooting at him. As Genesis backed up, Vincent threw Yuffie at the ex-SOLDIER. She threw her shuriken, which Genesis deflected, but that was the unspoken plan. Yuffie landed on Genesis's head and jumped up, catching her shuriken and throwing it to Vincent, who caught it in his clawed hand and began fighting in hand to hand with Genesis, the gunslinger showing more aptitude for using it as a hand held weapon. Yuffie activated the materia in her guard, launching Blizzard magic at Genesis, which he dodged and blocked with fire. Vincent unleashed another volley of bullets as the SOLDIER jumped up to the rooftops, passing the shuriken back to Yuffie, who immediately threw it at Genesis again. It scraped his knee as it flew back to her, Genesis jumping into the air.
It was here Genesis revealed his hidden power; a single black wing emerged on his left side and he took flight. Vincent and Yuffie jumped up after him, Vincent still barraging Genesis with bullets. Genesis blocked and dodged all these bullets and took to greater heights as Yuffie and Vincent landed on a rooftop. He slid his hand along his red blade, coating it in fire. From there, he launched multiple fire darts at the couple, who worked in total sync. They leapt and dodged in harmony, Yuffie using Blizzard magic to block the fire darts. Genesis began summoning a larger fireball above his head with one hand. Before he could complete it, the couple leapt into the air, Vincent catching Yuffie's hand in his clawed one. As they connected, they became sheathed in blue energy, the materia in Yuffie's ring glowing brightly. The couple span in the air once, twice, three times, Yuffie's shuriken glowing pure white. On the fourth spin, Yuffie launched the shuriken at Genesis, who unleashed his giant fireball at the same time. In the air, the glowing shuriken's blades growing in length to match the fireball's diameter; when the two connected, the shuriken absorbed the fire into its white energy, turning it into white flame. The shuriken kept spinning towards Genesis, who moved to the side, the blade of the shuriken catching him in the face and shoulder as he moved.
"We will meet again, Vincent Valentine," Genesis said, bleeding as he flew off into the west, the fire on his sword dying.
The shuriken returned to normal as it flew back to Yuffie, who caught it as they floated back down to the rooftops. The couple landed back on the roof, both breathing heavily. They looked at each other, smiled and after a moment said in unison, "I love you," before laughing in relief, holding each other.
"So G is Genesis Rhapsodos," Vincent said as Yuffie was treating his bruises, "and he was First Class?" They were all back in the Seventh Heaven, discussing the battle. Reeve had since joined them as well, hearing Vincent and Yuffie's description of the battle.
"That's right," Cloud said, "He defected from Shinra a few years ago, before Sephiroth turned evil. My friend Zack was sent to defeat him; we ended up eating apples on a hilltop in Banora. I didn't think he was still alive."
"I want to know what he wants with Vincent," Tifa said. The kids were playing upstairs with Shelke watching them. Reeve was listening solemnly to the talk.
"He said he wanted to fight Chaos," Vincent said, "something about it being a threat to the planet."
"That doesn't make any sense though," Yuffie said, "Chaos isn't a threat anymore anyway...is it?"
"Chaos is the key to the Omega safeguard," Reeve said, "It's supposed to wipe the Planet of all life, take the Lifestream to Omega, then they leave to create life on a new world, leaving this one to die."
"I know all that!" Yuffie snapped, "I mean that Vincent doesn't have Chaos anymore, right?" She looked at her fiancé, "Didn't you say it returned to the Planet?"
"I honestly don't know," Vincent said, "If I can still turn into Chaos, I can't do it consciously anymore. Maybe I just used up the Protomateria."
"So Genesis is after Chaos...to protect the Planet from it?" Tifa said. "Is anyone else getting a headache?" Cloud hissed as Tifa checked his bruises. "More importantly, why do guys always flinch after they've taken a beating they don't so much as worry about?"
"Because treating it hurts more," Cloud said as she looked at him. "Now I have a question; why the hell did he fly off?"
"We kicked his ass, that's why!" Yuffie said, throwing a fist into the air as she sat on Vincent's lap. They hadn't told the group about the attack that drove Genesis away. They still didn't understand what had happened. It was clear that it was a Limit Break of some kind, but whatever it was it was infinitely more powerful than any other Limit that they had individually.
"Be that as it may," Reeve said, "I fear we haven't seen the last of Genesis."
"Well," Tifa said, finally stopping her fussing over Cloud, "thanks to him, we've missed out on a whole day of planning. Vince has to go and get Godo down here tomorrow, so we'll have to work our asses off then, Yuffie. God, I still have to book a minister as well!" Reeve stood up indignantly.
"But Tifa," he said imploringly, "Surely finding Genesis is more important than a wed-". He was cut off by Vincent pointing Cerberus at him again.
"Do not finish that sentence," Vincent said. Everyone looked at him in surprise. Reeve sat back down, and Vincent lowered his gun. Yuffie looked at him questioningly, but he just shook his head. Tifa and Yuffie left the bar to check on the kids, and Reeve left shortly after to try and track Genesis. On their own, Cloud started.
"What the HELL Vincent?" Cloud yelled at him.
"Don't start Cloud, I am not in the mood," Vincent said.
"What are you going to do, point Cerberus at me?" Cloud asked. Vincent answered by pointing Cerberus at him. "I bet the things not even loaded," Cloud said, folding his arms. Vincent aimed above his head and fired; the gunshot enough to make Cloud fall off his chair in surprise.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND?" Cloud yelled as he jumped up off the floor. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU JUST TRY AND SHOOT ME!"
"Stop yelling at me," Vincent said calmly.
"I'LL STOP YELLING WHEN YOU START TALKING!"
"You've been hanging around Tifa too much," Vincent said, standing up. "In answer to your question, the next person that makes so much as a little baby step that affects mine and Yuffie's wedding day is going to be shot. No one is going to ruin that day, not even an ex-SOLDIER Sephiroth wannabe. Understand?" By this point, he was in Cloud's face, crimson eyes meeting mako green. Before Cloud could respond, Vincent turned, grabbed his cloak and swept out of the bar.
"Guy's gone nuts," Cloud said to himself, going upstairs.
Outside, Vincent yelled in frustration, hitting a solid wall with his un-clawed arm, bruising his hand. Every time! Every time something good happened to him, something else decided to screw with it.
"WHAT ELSE," Vincent yelled at the sky, "WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GOING TO THROW AT ME?" His temper got the best of him; he dropped to his knees and began punching the stone ground with both hands, fracturing the knuckles in his right hand and destroying the ground with his left. When his rage was spent, he started shaking, his breath coming short. He held his right hand in his claw, the pain starting to set in. He entered his and Yuffie's room from the window, looking for a Heal materia to mend his broken hand. He didn't hear Yuffie enter the room.
"And what the hell did you do to your hand?" she asked loudly, startling the gunslinger.
"Yuffie..."
"Don't 'Yuffie' me," she said, advancing and snatching his hand, ignoring the wince of pain. "What did you do? Your hand wasn't like this before."
"I beat the crap out of the ground just now," Vincent said. Yuffie just looked at him.
"And what did the ground do to you?" she asked.
"Nothing," Vincent said, "I needed to vent my frustration on something other than Cloud and Reeve."
"Vince, we're getting married in..." Yuffie did the math quickly, "four days. It's going to be one of the best days of our lives, and you go and break your hand by punching the ground? Excuse me for sounding bitchy, but that seems just a little selfish."
"I wasn't thinking," Vincent snapped, snatching his hand back, "alright? Where did you hide all the materia?"
"I sold most of it to help pay for the wedding," Yuffie said, "Saving the world isn't exactly a paying job, remember?"
"You didn't have to sell it," Vincent said.
"What, do you have some hidden stash of money somewhere?" Yuffie asked jokingly.
"Actually, yes," Vincent said, the pain in his hand not letting him think to straight. "Sleeping in a coffin for thirty years tends to build your savings quite a bit." Yuffie just stared at him.
"And you kept this a secret because...why exactly?" she asked.
"To be perfectly honest," he answered, "I didn't think about it." Yuffie reached into her pocket and pulled out a glowing materia, advancing on Vincent. She activated it and held it over his hand, which instantly felt better. He flexed it just to be sure. "Plus, knowing you, I'd probably have already spent all of it already."
Yuffie shook her head, smiling, and then kissed Vincent on the mouth. Pulling back, she said "So, tomorrow you go and talk to my father, then we have three quiet days before we're Mr and Mrs Valentine. If someone had told me this was going to happen when we first met you, I'd have laughed at them." Vincent smiled, pulling Yuffie into a hug. "Hopefully we kicked Genesis's ass enough so he won't turn up for a while."
"Why did you say that?" Vincent groaned, "we don't have enough bad luck already?"
Yuffie: OH YEAH! WE KICK ASS! (Dances around the room)
Fiori: Don't break (crash) that...
Yuffie: Sorry. Hey, what was the Limit Break called anyway?
Fiori: It's supposed to have a name?
Yuffie: Well, DUH!
Fiori: Didn't come up with one
Yuffie: Well, let the readers come up with one then
Fiori: Alright then, if it gets you out of my house: all readers of Yuffie's Red Flame are invited to name the Vincent/Yuffie tag Limit Break. I do not own FFVII or the characters, but they still won't leave me alone anyway
Yuffie: Hey, what's this thing?
Fiori: DON'T TOUCH THAT!