Chapter 3: The Battle of Domanince: More Questions Than Answers
'Behold the domant battle of Elder and Youth of an ancient ruin. It takes place in a confined area infront of a key of salvation.
The Stigma Angel reaches forward with a poisoned grip, hoping to destroy even the tiniest glimmer of hope.
The saints scramble to save their source of victory, only then the truth can be revealed....'
Lorena's mother arrives home in time for a late lunch, suprised to see Karin there as well. "Karin...What are you doing here?" she asked, setting her purse on a table stand.
"Did you see the news?" asked Lorena. "Oh, yeah...I did somehow. Did you really taser that thing?" answered Lorena's mother.
"Yeah...I had to save the other guy from getting killed," answered Karin.
"Wow! Your a hero!" said Lorena's mom. "Mom..I don't want to be rude, but we're in a middle of a crisis right now," said Lorena. Her mother backed off, then said, "Maybe I can help...What's going on?"
Lorena filled her mother in on the situation. As soon as she finished, her mother understood. "I see...Strange things have been happening lately...Oh...Something's on the news.." said Lorena's mother, turning on the news. The news reporter spoke on the television set, "More deaths are beginning to rise slightly as more people are infected with the same disease that took the life of Infamous Flamingo's businessman, Gerald Ryuska. Rumors speculate that if anyone comes into contact with the one winged man with silver hair will be infected. The CDC are on high alert for more infectants. If anyone is expirencing these symptoms listed, please report to the CDC for evauluation..." The reporter said.
"Gezz...Looks like a plague," said Lorena's mother. Lorena turns to Karin, who had a shocked look on her face.
"Kar...You okay?" Lorena asked. "...I know what it is now...And I don't believe..." Karin said.
"I better fix lunch right now..You girls go figure this out," said Lorena's mother. Lorena then takes Karin to her room, which was almost a splitting image to Karin's, but with posters on the wall. The two sit on her bed, ready to think about the situation at hand.
"Karin..You said you know what it is..What is the disease?" asked Lorena.
"How they showed the rash picture of it...It looked like...The Geo-Stigma from the Final Fantasy VII movie," answered Karin. "You mean 'Advent Children'? Come to think of it...It does.." answered Lorena.
"This isn't right...I saw two characters from Final Fantasy V, then now at the mall, we saw characters from Final Fantasy IX, X, and X-2...Even weird, I petted Boko from V, and was talking to Bartz, who's also from V as well...Before coming here.." said Karin.
"What is going on? All of a sudden we're seeing Final Fantasy characters...Wait, the news said something about a silver haired man with one wing..Could this guy be another Final Fantasy character?" asked Lorena.
"The only one that fits that is....Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII...How is this right--" "Girls! Lunch is ready!" Lorena's mother called out, interupting the two's thoughts. "On second thought...Maybe we are exaggerating and are seeing things..Cosplays right?" said Lorena.
"That too...But Boko felt real...Oh what the heck...Lets go eat," said Karin, cheering up instantly. The two walk to the kitchen with Lorena's mother for a late lunch. Lorena's mom was at the stove, making three grilled cheese sandwiches; one for her, Lorena and her guest, Karin.
"Here ya go..." Lorena's mother said, handing two of the plates to the two girls.
"Thank you...I think we're seeing things all of a sudden..I don't know," said Karin, taking a bite of her sandwich. "Maybe that disease could be something else than....It could be something new other than," Lorena started.
"Yeah...But I have a bad feeling it really is..." answered Karin.
"Whatever it is...I hope they find a treatment or a cure for it...If I get infected, it'll be a death sentence at this point," said Lorena's mother, taking a bite of her sandwich, "So...What are you two up to now?"
"Well...When things settle down, we was gonna head to the park alittle later after things cooled down from the news and the mall incident we were in," answered Karin.
"Oh. A girl's day out, huh? How things are right now, its best to be careful everywhere you go. Eitherway..Its good to have some fun once in your life," said Lorena's mother.
While standing infront of an electronics store with multiple TVs behind the glass, the Warrior of Light saw the situation on the screen, relieved that Zidane had made it through, even at the price of Kuja following.
'Zidane has made it at last...But Kuja was relentless...' then his thought was driven off by a voice of a woman with the sweetest voice heard, a voice extremely familiar to him.
'Warrior of Light...' the voice said. He then looked around and headed to a secluded alleyway, making darn sure he didn't draw any attention around him.
At a good place, he then speaks, "Cosmos...I'm here,"
'The key...Has been revealed. Zidane has found her and done well along with Lulu, Rikku, Paine, Wakka, and Kimahri to guide her away from that sadistic mage, Kuja....Her friend is also in danger.. We must protect the both of them at all costs,' Cosmos said telepatihicly to the knight.
"Cosmos...Who is the key? We've been searching feverishly to find the key and still nothing...We need your guidence," said the Warrior of Light.
'I've already informed the others the identity of the key...Your the last for me to reveal it to. Remember the house you, Cecil, Bartz, and Boko were at...' said Cosmos. It then all clicked. The Warrior of Light was in shock that it was the whole time Karin. "I'm glad everyone is now on high alert...But the enemy might already know of this because Kuja knew as well, I must hurry!" he said, rushing to find her.
'Go, Warrior of Light...I implore you..Find the key to salvation. If Chaos wins..All is lost,' said Cosmos as the Warrior of Light rushes to find Karin.
At the abandoned hut-like shack, the Onion Knight puts samples of a type of liquid under a microscope, examining it carefully and more important to not get it on him.
"Hmmm....Its all true, then....Sephiroth is the carrier.." he said to himself. Cloud looked out the window, then turned to the Onion Knight in curiosity.
"Why are you determined to find the cure for Geo-Stigma? I said that only Sephiroth knows..." Cloud said in his usual way.
"Sephiroth is an enemy and he won't give it away like that...He's too smart," answered the Onion Knight, "If I can find a way myself, then these people won't suffer anymore. And help you from the disease's grip, because since you've been infected for such a long time, I bet you wanna get rid of it."
"True..But I'm used to it..The reason Geo-Stigma hasn't killed me is because I still have traces of Jenova Cells in me back in the day I was a SOLIDER," said Cloud.
"Now I get it...But I don't get the other thing..." groaned the Onion Knight.
"How was you able to get close to Sephiroth without him noticing you? And thank god your not infected.." asked Cloud, curious. "I managed to follow his so called 'Followers' til I saw him, then got as close as I could to get a blood sample from the One Winged Angel. I already knew he sensed me afterwards and I just ran away like a chicken with its head cut off," answered the Onion Knight.
"Good tactic...You already know your no match against him," said Cloud. Scratching the back of his blonde haired head without his helmet, the Onion Knight turns to Cloud, "I will with all my power protect the innocent, even from a disease they don't know about. No matter how long it takes...I will find the antidote," Cloud heard the young warrior's vow, and then nodded, "I hope so...Or all is lost. I better look for the key. Now I gotta think like Sephiroth..."
"Better yet...I got a better idea..Your after Sephiroth, too aren't you?" asked the Onion Knight. "Yes...What are you thinking?" asked Cloud.
"If I was Sephiroth...And you can sense him well...Maybe..If you found Sephiroth and his followers, then at the same time you'll find the key to our victory. The catch to that is to fend off the One Winged Angel so she can get away," said the Onion Knight.
"Of course...Cosmos already telepathicly told us her identity, but when I was with Cecil earlier coming back, he didn't look happy," said Cloud. "I know...I feel sorry for him...She is his daughter after all. We must do everything in our power to protect her from the enemy til the time comes, and for Cecil's sake.." said the Onion Knight.
"I'll be off, then..." said Cloud. The Onion Knight then returned to his task, but was interupted by the girl with bright clothing holding what appears to be herbs in her hands. "Here's the herbs you requested...They were hard to find, but I managed," she said, placing them next to him.
"Hard to find? Hmmm....Maybe next time I should look for them so it wouldn't be too much trouble for you, Terra," said the Onion Knight. Terra giggled, "That's alright...Found out anything yet?"
"Not yet...But lets see if we can," said the Onion Knight.
Driving to the park familiar to them, Karin and Lorena were off to settle down further from the mall scuffle earlier in the day.
"You know...I love this song...'The Messenger'...To be honest, I like the earlier version of it," said Lorena.
"I do, too...But it's called 'Cosmos', and its not the whole thing...Eitherway, its still the same song," answered Karin. They arrive to their destination in the parking lot.
"At last...Now we can relax and settle down from our troubles," said Karin, stretching her arms up into the air.
"I agree...Lets go!" said Lorena, following Karin into the park. After a few minutes of walking and admiring the view of the scenery, the two found a nearby bench and sat down to rest their feet.
"Boy...I'm starting to feel much better...All the cares away..At least its more peaceful now," said Lorena. In a strike of luck, Tidus and Yuna walked across near the benches at least a yard away.
"Man...Where could she be? I know Cosmos told us who it is...We've been searching for this 'Karin' for a few days now..." Tidus then began to turn aroumd to face the benches to rest, but as if time slowed down, he catches sight of Karin, now realiizing he has found who he was looking for.
"Tidus? What's wrong?" asked Yuna. Tidus then looked to Yuna, then said, "Yuna...Look ahead of us..." She does what Tidus said to do and catches sight of Karin and Lorena. 'The Key!' thought Yuna. Karin twirls the car keys in her hand, listening to the sound of birds chirping away.
"Man...At least its safe now--" "Hey!" Tidus called out to the two girls. Karin looks towards where the voice came from and began to panic.
"What the?! More Final Fantasy characters?! Let's get outta here!" said Lorena. Yuna was quick to grab them and said, "No! We're not gonna hurt you...You two need to stay with us." Tidus rushes to the scene, then said, "Everything's gonna be okay now...We finally found you."
"What do you mean?! What did I do!? Why are you guys searching for me!?" said Karin in confusion.
"Tidus...Yuna...We gotta get out of here...He's coming," said Auron.
"You mean my old man?" asked Tidus. "Yeah..He saw me..." answered Auron. Tidus could sense the fear in him for the people at the park and for both Karin and Lorena. "We gotta get you girls out of here! Lets go!" said Tidus.
"What is going on?" asked Lorena, but soon they heard a gruff voice call out to someone. who happends to be at Tidus, "Kid!!" Tidus immediately turned around to face a gruff man with no shirt and dark grayish blue shorts with straps on both sides. Somekind of spikes of fabric were connected to the orange red fabric to his shorts.
The man had long black, messy hair with a red headband across his forehead and tanned skin. What bore a resemblence to Tidus was a tatto on his torso of the same symbol as the centerpiece as Tidus's necklace. Armed with a big sword with yellow designs near the hilt and a chain connected to it, he made a call out to Tidus once more.
"Tidus!! Get back here, boy!" he yelled out. "Get out of here! Go!! I'll deal with him!" said Tidus. Yuna and Auron took Karin and Lorena away from the scene.
"What do you want now, dad?! Leave me alone! More people will get hurt if we fight, don't you even understand through your thick skull of yours!" Tidus yelled out.
"So the little kid begins to talk tough yet again...You know why I'm here, brat," the gruff man said to Tidus. Bystanders flee from the scene, knowing all too well a fight was about to break out.
"I won't let you near the key!" said Tidus, drawing out his sword, which the blade looked like it was made out of water.
"Key? Who cares about a key!...Revenge is what I want! Only I am the strongest, not you...I will not be defeated again by some kid!" the man said, flexing his gauntlet worn arm for battle.
"Oh, god...Isn't that..." said Lorena. "Yeah...The blonde haired guy is Tidus...And the other he's about to fight..Is his own father, Jecht," said Karin. Jecht raises his blade into the air and rushes to Tidus. A fire like energy engulfs the blade as he approaches his son with fury. Tidus leaps away from the attack and kicks him to the side of a bench, breaking it.
"Gah..Not bad..But I'm the greatest!" roared Jecht, getting up.
"Sorry, people! I'll find a way to pay for that!" cried Tidus. Karin then yells out, "Yeah, you better! Its private property, you know!"
"Gah! Heh he he he he...Get outta here quickly!" said Tidus, then he turns to his father, then said to him, "Now I'm gonna knock some sense into you..."
"About time! He finally starts to fight like a man...Here it comes!" said Jecht, running to his son in a charge attack. Auron and Yuna rush both Lorena and Karin away from the battle scene. "What's going on? Why are you guys looking for me? Am I really that important?" asked Karin. Auron then looked towards Yuna, then back to Karin, "We've been searching for you for days now...You are the key that will lead us to victory."
"Key? Victory to what?" asked Lorena, "What does Karin have to do with it?"
"The victory against the God of Discord..Chaos...The war has started again...You are our only hope," answered Auron. One of Karin's dreams was starting to make sense. The battle in her dream was a war of Cosmos versus Chaos, just like in her game, 'Dissidia: Final Fantasy'.
'That dream of that fight...Its really happening..' thought Karin. "I gotta get back home...I need to see if my mom is alright, and hightail it out of there," said Karin.
"I don't think its a good idea, hun. The bad guys will follow you...But if you want to gamble that..We won't hold you back," said Yuna.
"I gotta get home, too!" said Lorena. They then heard Tidus cry out in pain. Karin then rushed back to the battlefield with her taser, determined to save the hero from Final Fantasy X. Tidus crawls away from his father, but Jecht grabs hold of his hood and raises him into the air.
"Are you gonna cry? Crybaby..." Jecht said playfully. "Let...Go..Please, I beg you, dad..." groaned Tidus, begging for his life.
"That's not gonna save you...I guess I'm gonna send you back to the Farplane! Again!" Jecht leered. Tidus didn't want to die again.
Karin leaps onto Jecht's back and tasers him on the back of his neck, despite his hair in the way. "Let go of him you self-centered old bastard!!" Karin yelled out. "Hey...I say that...Dohh.." groaned Tidus with his head on the ground.
"Grahhh!! You little!! I'm the greatest! The Strongest! Get...Off!!" Jecht flings Karin off onto the ground on her back, now realizing she just made him angry.
"You dare challenge the great Jecht? I won't be able to hold back..." questioned Jecht. "You monster...No wonder you became part of Sin..." said Karin in a lone tone, "Your just a abusive brute that'll hurt anyone! Especially family! You don't even have a heart! You never did!"
Tidus lifted his head up to see what was going on, and saw that Karin was getting through to his father, but how was the question.
"I don't know how you all of a sudden know me, but this ends here! Like I said..I won't be able to hold back, I have no limits," said Jecht, "And another thing...I didn't come alone kid...Right, Guado?" A man from a far distance walks towards the scene, armed with a staff with the top like a bird-like design. the man had blue hair with two sides of his hair that sorta spiked up and dropped down. One of the bands of his blue hair spiked up, but draped down in front of his forehead.
A type of beaded necklace was around his neck, with the center danglind down his torso. A type of design was shown on his chest, but no one knew what the design meant. His robe-like outfit was open at the chest and torso in the color black with red designs on the sides of the sleeves. Tidus looked up in shock; then immediately knew who it was.
"Good to meet you again....Tidus," he said, smirking wickedly.
"No...That's not possible...Yuna sended you to the Farplane..What are you doing here, Seymour!?" screamed Tidus.
"To punish you with a familiar death...For taking Yuna away from me...Remember?" said Seymour.
"There's one more...Brat..He is very happy to finally see you again. Is he familiar to you?" said Jecht. Another man walks to the scene. Karin looks towards him and realizes something: He looks almost like Tidus. Unlike Tidus, he wore a type of outfit that had a bunch of similarities to Tidus's, but there was black and red on much of it. He looked angry and that was all that was shown.
"Remember me, Tidus?" he said to him. Tidus began to panic, then said, "No...No..How can this be??"
"Chaos revived me and Seymour from the Farplane...We want revenge, Tidus..For what you did to us," he said to Tidus. Karin immediately recognized the double. It was Shuyin.
Yuna saw the scene and panicked. Auron was shocked, "Not Seymour again..." Seymour then turns to where Yuna was standing. 'Oh, no...He sees me,' thought Yuna.
"Yuna! There you are!" Seymour said to her. Yuna hightails it out of there, but Seymour chases after her. "Yuna! Come back!" Seymour called out.
"Oh, brother.." groaned Shuyin. "Stay away from her, you...You evil weirdo with a funny blue hair!!" screamed Tidus. Shuyin stared at Tidus with a teardrop on the left side of his head, "Evil weirdo...With a funny blue hair?...What has the living become these days..."
Yuna runs from Seymour, but the chase was soon halted when she runs into a pole face first; knocking her to the ground. "Gah! Uggghhh..." she groaned, "That's gonna hurt...Wah!" Seymour arrives to the scene with his staff in hand.
"Yuna, its me..Seymour Guado...Remember?" he said, "I've come to this world to bring you back with me like it should of been long ago..."
"Your on the wrong side! I belong to Tidus, not you!" screamed Yuna, backing away from Yevon's Maester.
"Tidus might have been revived by the Fayth...But soon he'll return back to the Farplane and soon will Shuyin. They'll have all the fun they want, for an eternity," said Seymour.
Yuna draws out two handguns, aiming at the Maester. Seymour continues, "You don't need him...You wanted to make Spira happy many years ago, remember? It would be better to let that fool of the holy ruins go, and come with me. We don't want a brutal Blitzer like him to ruin your fairness." he holds out his hand to Yuna as an offering. Yuna continued to aim, but couldn't bring herself to fire. In a nick of time, Auron swings his sword at Seymour with only one arm and makes a threat of his own, "Go near Yuna...You'll go back to the Farplane where you belong."
"Auron! What are you doing here?!" Seymour panicked, not realizing that Auron was there at the park as well as Tidus and Yuna. "What? You thought I was dead?" said Auron. 'Actually...I was already dead..But Cosmos revived me to help for her cause against Chaos, silly me," he thought.
"You...I'll try my best to defeat you!" said Seynour, taking out a medium-sized dagger-based sword from his robe. 'I can't defeat Auron...He's legendary! He used to been one of High Summoner Braska's guardians, including Jecht...I won't last very long...' Seymour thought.
"Do you think you can stand out against me? I like to see you try, Guado.." said Auron. He then turns to Yuna, "Go help Tidus, he's out numbered and you got to get those two girls out of here." Yuna nods and runs back to Tidus back at the battlefield. Seymour gasps as Yuna runs away to the battlefield, "No! Yuna, come back!"
"Don't move! I thought you wanted to fight me? Just as I thought...You really are a coward," said Auron, hoping he has pressed the right buttons to anger Seymour into battle.
"Grrr...I'll show you!" roared Seymour and he charges at the legendary guardian with his blade in hand.
Karin watches as Jecht grabs Tidus by his hood and swings him into a pillar, damaging the Blitzer even more. "Guh...Why haven't you left? Go...Before..Gahhh!" Shuyin slams his right foot into Tidus's back, ceasing his sentence. "When we go back to the Farplane, I will enjoy torturing you for an eternity. You will soon feel how I felt when you defeated me!" fumed Shuyin.
"You was gonna hurt Yuna!...If you was gonna kill me...What would Lenne think about that?" said Tidus.
"You leave her out of this!!" Shuyin yelled, kicking him in the side.
"My turn yet?" asked Jecht. "It is...Make him suffer," said Shuyin, slapping his palm into Jecht's, like a tag team match. Karin had to do something, but what is the main question. Yuna arrives back to the battle scene, just in time as Tidus weakly got up.
"No..." she said to herself. "No more...I'm done, please....Let me go..." said Tidus, begging for the end of the battle. Jecht didn't listen, as always.
"Don't cry your way out of this, boy...This ends now..." said Jecht, arming himself with his sword. Karin then came up with an idea.
She grabs a heavy metal steel pipe and rushes towards the battle, and thwacks Jecht in the head, dinting the pipe in the process.
"Gahhh!! What the..?? You!" he roared in rage. 'Oh, no...I really ticked him off..' thought Karin. Shuyin rushes towards Karin, but Lorena sneaks behind Shuyin and puts him in a choke hold, refusing to let go of him. "Guh! Let...Go.." he gasped. Lorena manages to throw Shuyin to the ground, putting the first set of damage to the newly ressurected warrior. Karin swings like mad as Jecht closed in, hitting him with ease. Not armed with his sword, Jecht instead punches out at Karin, but misses as she backs up after every swing.
"Stop moving!" yelled Jecht. Karin ran out of room, she was in the middle with a pond on one side and Tidus's angry, brutal father on the other. "I got you now...Any last words before I finish you off?" he asked, ready to pounce.
"Yeah...Ready to get wet?" answered Karin. Jecht didn't care what that meant, but still he charged forward. Just as he was a few inches in front of Karin, she grabs on the strap that was around his neck that held to the gauntlet and literally karate flings him into the water, causing a big splash. "Waaahhh!!!!" screamed Jecht as he landed in the water. Karin looks towards the fallen ex-athlete and said, "So much for the great Jecht...Now he's 'sleeping with the fishes'.."
"Why you...Bwah! I'll get you!!" roared Jecht as he swam back to shore.
Just as Karin was about to turn around, Tidus grabs her and pulls her away from the area. "Hey, dad! Here's your sword!!" Tidus flings the sword at Jecht. Without noticing, the sword nails him in the head with its hilt and causes Jecht to cry out in pain and sink into the water.
"Bullseye!" said Karin. "We gotta get you out of here...Let us deal with them..Thank you for earlier..I had a feeling I needed saving back there," said Tidus. Karin nodded and went with Yuna to get out of the park. After leaving the entrance, Lorena and Karin left the rest to the trio.
"Come on! Let's get out of here!" cried Karin. "I saw what you did to Jecht...That was awesome! Your tough!" said Lorena.
"What? Whacking him with the pipe, or flinging him into the pond?" asked Karin. "Both!" said Lorena. Just as they make it to the parking lot, they are confronted by a familiar person: Vivian.
"What are you doing here? We aint got time for you right now!" cried Karin. "I knew you would be here...And now I'm gonna make you suffer with my new friends...I want you gone and they offered to help me achieve that, but in return I had to help them find you," said Vivian. The two were confused.
"What new friends? When did you get friends?" asked Lorena. As soon as Lorena finished, both her and Karin hear reeves of three motorcycles heading their way.
Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz arrive at the scene on their bikes, stopping to face the two girls. "Here she is, boys...Just like I promised," said Vivian. Karin could not believe this.
"Hold on...Aren't those three in that Final Fantasy VII movie?" asked Lorena. "Yeah..Its Sephiroth's reminents: Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz. What do they want?" answered Karin with a question of her own.
"There is the key! At last we found you...Our lord will decide your fate as soon as he arrives in a few moments...Til then, we'll have some fun," said Kadaj.
"Oh, no...They're the bad guys, let's get out of here!" Just as Karin grabbed Lorena's arm and turned to go to the SUV, they saw who their lord was and 'he' was coming their way with a really long sword.
Sephiroth walks to the scene, as if from a memory of a village he burned down so many years ago. The area seem to began dropping temperature, beginning to freeze. Karin knew they were no match for Sephiroth, and the only thing to do is to run.
"Oh, my god...That's the One Winged Angel!" cried Lorena. "Its Sephiroth..We gotta move!--" "What's the rush, girls?" said Loz, intercepting the two's course of evasion, "Don't you want to meet Lord Sephiroth? He's coming all this way to meet you."
"That's right, ladies...Both of you..." said Yazoo. Karin knew they were running out of time, but time was already up from the start.
Now close enough, Sephiroth grabs both of the girls' shoulders: Lorena's right and Karin's left, and spoke to them, "At long last..We have found you.." Karin and Lorena turns around to face the legendary ex-SOLDIER, looking into his aqua green eyes of ice. "I have brought a present for both of you...It is..Despair..Now you will live again as part of me," said Sephiroth, drawing out his long bladed kantana.
'We are so dead..We're no match for Sephiroth..' thought both Karin and Lorena. Before Sephiroth was about to strike, another biker runs into him and causes the swordsman to fly backwards on the pavement.
"Whoa! Where'd he come from?!" cried Lorena. Karin saw who it was, it was Cloud riding on Fenir, armed with his large-sized sword. "Stay away from her!!" Cloud roared, aiming the blade's tip at the four in front of him.
"Look...Big brother finally shows up," said Kadaj, "How long has it been?"
"Shut up!" cried Cloud. He then turns the two girls, then said, "Get outta here fast!" "You heard him! Lets go!" cried Lorena.
"Its nice to see you once again...Cloud.." said Sephiroth, rising from the ground as if nothing happend, "How is my puppet without a purpose to fight?"
"Shut up...I've had enough of you..." growled Cloud. On a stroke of luck, the Onion Knight, Bartz, and Boko arrive as back up. As the group on Boko got closer, Bartz got a close look at Sephiroth and his sword and the first thing out of his mouth was, "That is one long sword...."
"Cloud! You deal with your nemesis, while we deal with them," said Bartz. Lorena saw the scene from afar and knew Karin was not crazy from the beginning. The Onion Knight got off of the Chocobo and said, "I got Kadaj, Bartz will have Yazoo, and Boko's got Loz.."
"Alright...I guess the winds are blowing our way into battle," replied Bartz. "Hey, Kadaj...I'm gonna fight a Chocobo," said Loz.
"Oh, boy...And I got an adventurer.." said Yazoo. "Lets see what you can do, you little runt," cooed Kadaj. "Little? You know being small has its advantages, such as speed and agility," said the Onion Knight, flashing his blade.
Cloud dealt with his nemesis, Sephiroth, who stood before him without moving to his intended target. "Poor lost soul, always finding a reason to fight because you never had one...Like a puppet without a cause of its own..How sad," said Sephiroth, messing with Cloud's mind in the process.
"Its time to settle this..Once and for all, for what you did many years ago! I idolized you, Sephiroth..I wanted to be like you, but now I realize...Your nothing but a plague infecting other people like a cancer!" said Cloud.
"Your still infected...With Geo-Stigma...It seems being a SOLDIER has saved you from it, unlike those fools that stand in my way, they wither and die like a rose, poisoned from a foriegn foe," said Sephiroth.
Lorena watched helplessly, but then realized that the only way to leave is to get to Karin's car, it was the only way out of danger. Kadaj swung his blade at the Onion Knight, but he leaps in a backflip to dodge each swing with speed and quickly nails Kadaj with his own sword, using speed to cause a chain of damages onto Kadaj's body. "Gah! Why you little...Suffer with despair!" roared Kadaj.
"Here, birdy birdy....Wanna play?" said Loz, tempting Boko to strike first, but Boko wasn't that stupid. "Grrr...Come on you stupid chicken!" Loz yelled out. An anger mark appeared over Boko's head and he made a leap at Loz and scratches him with his talons.
"Gah! That's one mad bird! Wah!!" Loz screamed out as Boko pecked at him at his head, hoping to hurt him. Yazoo fires his gun at Bartz, but misses due to Bartz's speed. With his sword drawn, it magically changes to Yazoo's gun; as if mimicking him.
"What? How are you able to do that?" asked Yazoo in surprise. "Why? Because I'm known as the 'Mimic Warrior'..." answered Bartz. He then opens fire at Yazoo, but due to Yazoo's superhuman speed, he safely dodges all the attacks. Sephiroth slashes his long kantana at Cloud, who amazingly blocks it with his own weapon.
"Cease your struggle and fall into the shadows...All things must return to the planet," said Sephiroth, performing a sword technique called 'Octa-Slash', but all of the multi-quick slashes were dodged by Cloud's sword; except one that nicks his left cheek that was not protected from his blade's size.
"Your the one that won't let go! That...I pity you.." said Cloud. "Oh, please...Stop pretending to be sad," groaned Sephiroth as if envying human emotions.
Karin knew the enemy is distracted by the good guys, but there was one thing clear to her that is in plain sight: Vivian is on Chaos's side along with Sephiroth. 'That Vivian picked the wrong side...She's gonna pay in the very end...Everyone does that end up joining the bad guys,' thought Karin. She searches in her pocket for her keys as quick as possible, til she did, she then heard the car door open from her right. 'Huh? Did Lorena get in?' Karin checks the back, but to her suprise, no one was back there.
'That's odd...Maybe...Why am I all of a sudden feeling a temp change?...Oh, no...' Karin slowly looks to her right and sitting right next to her was the One Winged Angel himself: Sephiroth.
"Wha!? What do you want!!?" screamed Karin. Sephiroth turns to her, then said, "What I want...Is to take away all you cherish most and return it to the planet, including you..."
"Hold on!! Don't kill me, please!! I'll do anything if you don't kill me!! Anything!!" panicked Karin. What she said setted off alarm bells in her head. A smirk was then shown on Sephiroth's face.
"Anything?" cooed the One Winged Angel. 'Oh, god...Karin, you dummy! Now you done it! You said you'd do anything to live and he fully understood the 'Anything' part very well! Get out of there!!' she yelled to herself in her mind.
"Hold on...!! No...No!!" Karin screamed. She flees away from the legendary former hero in the back of her SUV, but then she knew that she made a critical mistake.
'You idiot! Why did you go to the back!? There's more room and he'll...Oh, god!' she cursed to herself. As soon as she landed onto the seat, Sephiroth follows with speed and pins her to it. Above her, Karin had a good view into the emotionless eyes of Sephiroth, scared of what he'll do next.
"You said you'll do anything to live...Anything..." Sephiroth cooed. Karin didn't like what he was thinking about. He loomed ever closer, staring into Karin's eyes with his own.
"No..Not this...Please...No.." whimpered Karin. She tried to move her head away from Sephiroth's as he got closer, trying to buy time for anyone to save her from this kind of torture.
"You said anything...Child..Anything...Don't resist..." said Sephiroth. 'I don't care who comes! Cloud, someone...Get this guy off me!!' Karin screamed in her mind. Just before Sephiroth made his move on Karin, Cloud quickly opens the door and yanks the former hero by his only wing and throws him out of the SUV. Karin gasped with relief, somehow an angel came to her rescue.
"Stay away from her!" Cloud yelled out. Lorena saw the whole thing from coming to the car and asked, "Are you okay?! Did he do anything bad to you!?"
"No...I thought for a minute that...Oooooohhh...." quivered Karin. "Get out of here! Now!!" cried the Onion Knight, "Your life depends on it!!" Karin took the Onion Knight's advice and started the car and hightailed it out of there.
"I'm alright...He didn't get a chance to...I tried to buy enough time for someone to save me," said Karin. "That's good...I'm sorry I didn't help...Sephiroth is deadly and I didn't want to end up dead," Lorena apologized.
"Its alright...At least you was being a wise one," said Karin.
"What caused him to advance like that? What'd you say to him?" asked Lorena. "Stupid me said that I'll do anything to live...And he fully understood the 'Anything' part to an extreme level. Oh, god...Why did I say that??--" Karin's phone rings, and immediately the two pulled over to answer it at a laundry mat. It wasn't wise to use your cellphone while driving. Karin immediately answers the phone and said, "Hello."
"Karin..Is everything alright?" a familiar voice asked. It was her mother. "I don't know anymore...Me and Lorena went to the park and another scuffle 'Final Fantasy' related like at the mall happended. I tasered, whacked with a metal pipe, and flung a tan skinned brute into a pond with my bare hands...I don't know how I did it, but it must've been the will to survive," answered Karin.
"Oh, boy...I'm glad your alright..." replied Karin's mother. "Mom...I had this feeling all day that your hiding something from me..What are you hiding?" Karin questioned her mother. A moment of silence then started, but then ended when Karin's mom said, "I knew you would ask that...I want you to come home right now..There's something I need to tell you and there's someone I want you to meet. If Lorena is with you...Make sure to drop her off first, then rush back home."
"Alright...I'll hurry as fast as this car can go...Bye," the conversation ended. "I think my mom is hiding something from me...And as soon as I drop you off at your house, I will finally find out," said Karin.
"As a matter of fact...I think my mom is hiding something too..." said Lorena. "I had a feeling about that, too at your house..." said Karin, "Let me drop you off, make sure to demand for an answer."
"I agree..You, too..We're in this together, remember that, okay?" said Lorena. Karin nodded and drove all the way back to Lorena's house.