1Chapter twenty-one: Showdown

The team appeared in Dr. Light's house. Roll jumped up to meet them and shrieked in horror at Raziel. Otacon and Aya came running in and were shocked at the ghastly site of the new member of the team.

Cloud stood in front. "This is Raziel. He's agreed to help us find Eve, if we help him find his enemy named Kain."

"What happened at Wily's?" Dr. Light asked concerned.

The team was quiet for a moment.

"I took the old man's soul." Raziel said bluntly.

Dr. Light was shocked and horrified. "You what?"

"That is what I do." Raziel shrugged his shoulders.

Sonic smiled nervously. "He agreed not to while he helps us."

Dr. Light was horrified.

"We need to get going." Samus stepped forward. "Aya, if you would like to come with us."

Aya nodded.

Cloud glared at Raziel. "Let's just hope the data Wily gave us was right."

Raziel narrowed his eyes.

Samus walked outside and fired a teleport. The team walked through unsure of what was coming.

The team arrived outside of a large city, on a harbor. The team looked around to get a feel for their surroundings. It was night and the lights from the city shone brightly.

"Anyone know where this is?" Cloud asked.

Snake nodded. "Yeah, this is my planet."

"Mine too." Snake looked at Aya. "It's New York City."

"Then where's Eve?" Samus scanned the various buildings.

Aya thought for a moment. "Seven years ago when I destroyed Eve, we fought near here, and I faced the Ultimate Being on a battleship out on the water."

Sonic nodded. "I see."

Samus turned to Aya. "Where did you fight Eve?"

Aya looked to the water. "It was out there, on Liberty Island."

Sonic pointed to the water. "Is that statue supposed to be like that?"

The team turned and looked out to a small island. On the island stood an enormous green metal statue in the form of a robed woman holding a torch into the air. But that wasn't what the team was looking at, they were looking at the strange purple ooz that was surrounding the island and moving up the statue.

Aya ran to the edge of the dock. "It's happening again."

"Aya!" The team turned to see a Japanese man in glasses running up to them.

Aya ran down the dock to meet him. "Maeda! What are you doing here?"

"I came back from Japan when I heard about what was happening. Eve's back."

Aya nodded. "Yeah I know." Aya looked back to the statue. "And she's going to try and bring back the Ultimate Being."

Cloud moved up to Aya. "How do we stop her?"

"You don't. I do." Aya turned to Maeda. "Do you have any of those bullets with my cells in them, just in case?"

Maeda nodded. "Yeah, oh and take these." Maeda reached into his pocket and pulled out a clip of ammunition and various charms. "Just in case." Maeda smiled. "Oh, and Daniel wanted me to bring this to you." Maeda reached into a bag he was carrying and pulled out a powerful automatic rifle. "It's the gun you made seven years ago."

Aya took the gun and loaded it. "Thanks."

A helicopter came down and landed next to the team.

Maeda shouted to be heard over the helicopter. "He's going to take you to the island to fight Eve."

Aya nodded and climbed into the helicopter. She looked down at the team as it lifted into the air. It looked like she said something like thanks.

Cloud lifted into the air. "We have to help her."

Samus walked to Cloud. "We can't, she's the only one who can fight Eve. There's a story behind it but just trust us."

Maeda looked up at Cloud. "She's already defeated Eve and the Ultimate Being before." He looked around at the team. "And how do you know Aya anyway?"

"We rescued Aya from a villain base, they were using her cells so they could be near Eve." Sonic said. "Well, Raziel didn't."

Maeda looked up at Raziel with wonder. "Where did you people come from?" He asked with a tone of amazement.

Suddenly, Aya's helicopter blew up.

Before a word could be spoken, Cloud flew to the water and snatched Aya out of it. He floated into the air carrying her in his arms when Ridley met him in the air. The dragon screeched loudly. Cloud held his hand out at the beast and a powerful explosion of green energy surrounded it. The dragon fell to the water.

Aya slowly came to. "What?"

"That dragon destroyed your helicopter. Can you still fight?"

Aya nodded. "Though I may be a bit rusty."

Cloud looked to the island that held the large statue. He flew and landed on the ground which was covered in purple ooz. He placed Aya down as a figure floated down. The figure was a naked woman with red hair that stretched down well past her feet that ended in what appeared to be hands, her actual arms were normal until the elbow when they became plump and blue, she had several small blue appendages coming from her back that resembled crab legs, and large veins that covered her upper legs and waist.

Aya pointed her gun at the creature. The woman laughed. "Eve!" Aya shouted. "How did you come back?"

Eve looked confused. "Come back from where?"

"I killed you, right here seven years ago!"

Eve floated down closer to Aya. "I never left, I was brought here."

Cloud began to feel himself get warm. He looked down at his arms as the heat reached his skin his arms erupted in flames. Cloud looked shocked and worried at his arms as the flame spread around his body.

Aya turned to him. "Get out of here, now!"

Cloud quickly leapt into the water and flew through the water until he was a long

distance away from Eve and Aya. He lifted out of the water and looked back at the island.

"What do you mean you were brought here?" Aya looked again at Eve.

Eve looked up and thought. "It was maybe two days after I had my awakening. A man came to me, he told me I could attain power for the Ultimate Being far from what I could get from the people of this planet."

"You're not the one leading the villains?"

Eve laughed. "No, but he asked that it look that way."

"Then, who was in charge?"

Cloud floated back to the team.

"You caught on fire didn't you?" Sonic asked.

Cloud looked down at him and then to the island.

"What happened to the helicopter?" Snake asked.

Cloud looked at the water. "That dragon blew it up."

Samus moved forward. "Ridley?"

Cloud nodded. "I took care of it."

Ridley hovered over the team and screeched.

Maeda slowly backed up. "I should go and uh..." He then ran away.

Samus pointed his gun at Ridley. "You can't win this Ridley."

The dragon made a sound like laughter.

Another metal dragon that looked like Ridley hovered near the original, then another, and another, and more. There were maybe a dozen robot dragons that now surrounded the team.

The team looked around the dragons, looked at each other, and then attacked.

Samus shot into the air and fired his super missiles at the dragons, Cloud flew into the air and bashed the dragons with his Buster Sword, Snake fired at the robots with his buster, Sonic jumped into the air, curled into a ball, and pinballed between the dragons. No one knew exactly what Raziel would do. He jumped, grabbed one of the dragons by the neck, pulled it to the ground, and dug into it with his claws and gutted it's mechanical insides throwing pieces all over the place. The robot lay motionless on the dock and Raziel looked up to another. He moved his

hand to the water, a large wave in the shape of the column lifted and smashed into a robot destroying it.

Sonic was bouncing on top of a dragon robot when he saw Raziel destroy one of the machines. Sonic was distracted for a moment and he hit an awkward corner of the dragon and the dragon fired a blast of energy that sent him flying away.

Aya ran around in a circle firing at Eve who would swing down at various times and slash her hair hands at Aya. Aya dodged and fired her automatic rifle with bullets that seemed to explode on contact.

Aya turned to the water as the sound of Sonic screaming became louder. Sonic skipped along the water, tumbled onto the solid ground, rolled onto his feet, and began dusting his arms. He looked up at the two fighting women. "Aya, Eve." He said casually.

Aya was going to yell at Sonic to leave when she noticed something, he wasn't starting on fire. "Sonic..." She said slowly.

Sonic looked up at Aya when Eve slowly floated down to him. "He does not burn. He is like us."

Sonic slowly backed up. "Uh...I should probably..." Sonic gazed at Eve. "Huh..." He then turned to Aya. He then looked back at Eve. "I've never seen a human naked before." He looked Eve up and down. "It's pretty gross." He turned back to Aya. "I should probably get back." And Sonic was gone.

Samus smashed his gun arm into actual Ridley's face and held him to the ground. The various pieces of all the Mecha-Ridley's were scattered everywhere when Sonic came back.

"Did I miss anything?" Sonic said looking over the debris.

Snake kicked one of the robots. "For some reason these robots all had an actual living animal trapped inside."

Sonic sighed. "Eggman, when will you learn?"

Cloud kneeled down to Ridley. "Other than you and Eve, is there anyone else you were teamed with?"

Ridley growled.

Cloud pointed his Buster Sword at Ridley's stomach. "Was there anyone else?"

The dragon made a sound like laughter.

Cloud stabbed his sword into the dragon's stomach.

The dragon still laughed.

Samus sighed. "That won't work. Ridley won't tell us anything."

"Then may I take it?" Raziel appeared suddenly behind Cloud.

Cloud looked down at Samus. Samus shrugged. "I would just kill him."

Cloud sighed and nodded his head to Raziel. Raziel kneeled down to Ridley and opened his shroud. Ridley's eyes glowed brightly and his mouth opened, a bright light shone from the dragon's throat and fire shot out at Raziel. Raziel rolled away from the fire and dug his claw into Ridley's stomach.

The team looked over a bright light flashed from where Aya fought Eve.

Aya shielded her eyes from the bright light and Eve slashed her stomach with her hair hand. Aya aimed at Eve and fired rapidly. Eve wobbled in the air and crashed into the ground. Aya pointed her gun at Eve's head. "Where do I find the real leader?"

Eve looked up and had a worried smile, she then began to melt into the ooz on the ground.

Aya stared at the puddle then lifted her gun up. "Hope I never have to do that again."

Sonic came running to Aya. "What happened, did you beat Eve?"

Aya nodded. "Though she said she wasn't in charge."

Sonic looked at the bubbling goop. "Then, who was?" Sonic looked back to where the team was. "Let's get back there." Sonic carried Aya and ran to the dock.

Aya stood in front of the team and surrounded by various robot dragon pieces. "What happened?"

Raziel pulled his shroud back up and stood away from Ridley's body. Cloud looked back to the massive statue. "What happened to Eve?"

Aya breathed. "I beat her again, but she wasn't in charge."

The whole team looked shocked.

"Then who was?" Cloud held his sword by his side.

Aya thought. "Eve said she was recruited by a man with pale skin and long white hair."

Cloud's eyes snapped wide. "Sephiroth? He was in charge the whole time?"

Aya shook her head. "No, not Sephiroth. She said his name was Kain."

Raziel loomed in front of Aya. "Kain?"

Cloud grabbed Raziel's shoulder and pulled him back. "Did she say where we could find him?"

Aya shook her head. "She died before she could say anything."

Samus nodded his head and looked at the water. He walked to the end of the dock various menus went over his visor. "Aya, have you seen that before?"

Aya walked to the end of the dock and looked out to see a small bubble burst and a deformed, veined, winged baby lifted into the air and cried.

The whole team stared out at the creature. "What is that?" Snake narrowed his eyes and pulled back in disgust.

Aya lifted up her gun. "It's the Ultimate Being."

The team looked at Aya then at the creature.

Sonic pointed to it. "That thing is the Ultimate Being?" He scratched his head.

The winged baby slowly made it's way toward the team.

"Aya," Samus tried to scan the baby. "Can we fight this?"

Aya shook her head. "No, only I can."

"What about me?" Sonic pointed to himself. "I didn't burn up when near Eve, what was that about?"

"I don't know." Aya checked her gun. "But you have to get out of here now."

The team didn't move at first, but Cloud nodded and led the team away.

The baby grabbed the dock and pulled itself up as it cried. Aya pointed her gun at it and fired.

The team got to a far distance from Aya and the Ultimate Being and tried to watch the fight. Snake handed his binoculars around to the others and they all waited to see what would happen.

The baby cried as Aya shot at it. The being fired a colorful ring of energy at Aya that she almost dodged. The ring struck her side and she fell to the ground almost dead. Aya put her hand to her chest and green energy surrounded her. Aya stood back up and fired a the Ultimate Being.

The baby cried as it fell to the ground and exploded in light.

Sonic jumped into the air and cheered. Aya looked back at him and didn't share his happiness. Sonic looked through the binoculars as a creature arrived through the light of the explosion.

It was maybe as tall as Megaman had been, it stood straight up, had two clawed wings coming out of it's back, two spiked leg like things coming out of it's hips, and had a large tentacle that lifted off of its back.

"It has more than one form." Samus nodded.

Sonic thought. "It's just like all of Eggman's final machines."

Samus turned to him. "And like Mother Brian."

Cloud looked at them. "And most of my more powerful enemies."

"When I fought Metal Gear Rex I had to fight it several different times in the same fight, then I had to fight Liquid twice right afterward." Snake slowly lowered the binoculars.

The team looked at each other amazed, took a deep breath, and went back to watching the fight.

Aya fired at the Ultimate Being while dodging various beams it fired. After not to long, the wings separated from the creature and it fell to the ground and began to crawl. The wings flew by themselves and dropped balls of fire that exploded near Aya. Aya dodged the fire and rolled to avoid a large pink beam. Aya then fired her powerful gun at the wings destroying them quickly, she then fired at the Ultimate Being. The Being tossed out it's tentacle and grabbed Aya's leg. It pulled Aya in close to it, but Aya fired a the tentacle making it release her. Aya then stood and fired into the head of the Ultimate Being. Soon, the Ultimate Being exploded again.

Snake looked down at the explosion. "Is it dead this time?"

Out of the explosion stood a tall man like figure. This one floated into the air with it's claw like wing-arms and smashed it's heavy tail into the ground. Aya aimed her gun at the Ultimate Being when it lifted and smashed itself into the ground causing a small earthquake. Aya lost her balance and dropped her gun and the Ultimate Being smacked it away with his tail.

Snake grunted. "She lost her gun!"

Aya looked up at the team and smiled. Light surrounded Aya, she lifted into the air and held her arms out.

Sonic leapt into the air. "She's gonna go Super!"

When the light faded, Aya floated above the ground, she was naked and her skin was a light green color, wings separated from her arms just above the elbow, black line designs went around her body, her hair went not straight up but it did seem to float up by itself, and her eyes shone brightly.

She shot to the Ultimate Being and smashed her wings into it, the Ultimate Being fell to the ground and appeared back up and swiped his claw through Aya. Aya fell back for a moment and went to attack again. The Ultimate Being moved back and summoned dozens of spheres of light that spun around Aya and smashed into her. Aya moved up close to the Ultimate Being where the spheres couldn't hit her and unleashed a powerful array of attacks.

The team watched in awe.

"Did anyone know she could do that?" Sonic pointed at Aya.

The whole team shook their heads.

"Okay, just checking." Sonic looked down at the fight. "Man, humans look weird when Super."

Aya smashed her wing on the Ultimate Being and he fell to the ground and exploded. Aya floated to the ground and waited for what was coming. That's when she remembered. She looked around quickly, she turned to the team and look worried. "I need my gun!"

"It knocked it over there!" Cloud shouted pointed to some boxes stacked together.

Aya quickly moved to the boxes when a large blue green fin struck her and sent her flying against a wall and out of her super mode.

The Ultimate Being looked like nothing it had before. It now had no legs but resembled something like a large floating mermaid. It had large fins instead of hands, two similar wings out of it's back, and it's head was small and kept in a sphere of goo.

Aya slowly got back up and tried to run for her gun. The Ultimate Being tried to strike her and created laser shooting crystals but Aya managed to dodge rather well. Finally she was hit and fell to the ground.

Sonic got up. "I have to go help her."

Samus put his arm across his chest. "You can't fight that thing."

"I'm not gonna fight it, I'm just gonna get her gun for her." And Sonic was off.

Sonic picked up Aya's gun, gave it to her, and helped her stand up.

Aya smiled. "Thanks."

Sonic rubbed his nose. "No problem." He then looked at his finger which was smoking. He looked up as the Ultimate Being came closer. His hand caught fire. "Yeeeeeeow!" He screamed.

Aya pointed to the water. "Hurry!"

Sonic jumped up and down as his other hand caught fire. "I can't swim!"

Aya looked back as the Ultimate Being came closer. "Get back up there!"

Sonic dashed back up to the team and rolled around on the ground to put out he fire. He then stood up and blowed on his hands.

"You caught on fire didn't you?" Cloud asked with a smile.

Sonic looked up and laughed sarcastically.

Aya loaded the ammo Maeda gave her and fired into the belly of The Ultimate Being, the creature drew back and fell to the ground, blood poured out of the bullet wounds.

Aya then thought. "It took a battleship explosion to kill it last time, what do I do now?"

"Are you done with it?"

Aya looked up as Raziel walked out of the shadows. He didn't catch fire.

Raziel looked down at the Ultimate Being as it tried to get back up.

"Why aren't you burning?" Aya looked up and down the wraith.

"You said it activated organisms in bodies to burn people." Raziel ignited his sword. "Everything in me is dead. Are you done with this?"

Aya looked down at the Ultimate Being and slowly nodded.

"Good." Raziel stabbed his swirling energy blade into the Ultimate Being's chest and released a shock of energy that evaporated it into bright green energy. Raziel pulled down his shroud and absorbed the light. His eyes brightly glowed then went back to normal. "Now, how do I find Kain?"