Iafa Tree
A man wearing a dark blue suit and sporting long spiky brown hair that was graying in places walked through his illustrious manor. This man was Cirrus Strife and he was currently contemplating the meeting he'd just returned from. The attack on Alexandria had been moderately successful, but the overall damage was merely superficial. None of the key people were dead and the losses to their military had been about the only high point.
Then there was the matter of the group that kept getting in Strife's way. They'd come from out of nowhere. After he'd ordered the destruction of Chaos Flame's hideout, he'd thought that anyone besides Baron and SeeD would stay out of his way, but no, this group of upstarts just couldn't mind their own business. They'd even gone as far as to stowaway on one of his ships and highjack one of his aircrafts.
If there was one thing that irritated him, it was people who got in his way. His family wasn't known for their passiveness, and he was going to show these interlopers what happened when you got in the way of Strife. The six warriors were only part of his contemplation though. The other was a silver haired man by the name of Kuja.
They had just finished discussing an agreement that would ensure his place as supreme monarch of the planet. Most would say that this was an unattainable goal that only fools strived for, he felt differently. To him control of the world was the only way to preserve peace and insure prosperity. If things remained the way they were, it would only serve to start more wars and end up costing everyone more time, blood and money down the line.
If Kuja's plan came through, he would have control of a sorceress whose power dwarfed that of even Baron's pet sorceress. It was no secret that Sorceress Anastasia was assembling an army just a few miles south of the very city his manor overlooked. She wanted control of the planet just as much as he did, what Kuja proposed was a truce agreement, that would allow both himself and Anastasia to use the others resources in order to topple Baron and SeeD.
Thinking of Baron brought up more morbid thoughts. Strife and the Black Wings had worked together to get SeeD out of the way, but it was only a temporary arrangement. As soon as the Gardens were out of sight, Baron had turned on Strife and began to fight them. If that wasn't enough, there had recently been a battle in a deserted potion of Myst. That battle had cost both sides greatly, but Strife had taken the majority of the losses.
"All because of those damn Dark Knights." though Strife angrily.
Baron had recently revived a type of warrior that hadn't been seen since the last merger. The Dark Knights wielded the power of shadow, as well as a good deal of elemental control. Combine this with their impressive sword skill, and you have a warrior that was nigh unbeatable. This wasn't to say that they were invincible though. As he'd seen for himself from footage of the battle, the Dark Knights fell just as easily to an airship bombardment as well as a regular soldier, granted that they didn't block it with a magical shield.
Then there was one Dark Knight in particular. Cirrus had done some research on this Knight, with a little help from his new business partner, and found out that he was an Ex-SeeD and a Leonheart to boot. Everyone knew that the Leonheart family had always been SeeD and that they were among the best of the best. It seemed that the last remaining Leonheart had somehow gotten himself bound to a sorceress as her knight. It was because of this that a great deal of casualties had occurred on Strife's side.
The young knight had wielded two very powerful gunblades and used power that was rarely seen in these days and times. He single handedly brought down three airships and about eight score fiends. That was an impressive feat. The only reason why Strife's forces hadn't been totally annihilated after he joined the battle was because he let them go.
Kuja had assured him that he would take care of the young Leonheart, but Cirrus wasn't so sure. He had a nasty suspicion that Kuja was playing both sides of the fence, and it was for that reason that he didn't completely trust the silver haired mage. He needed a way to neutralize both Antym Leonheart and the six warriors led by the mysterious warrior.
Cirrus sat down at his large oak desk and turned on his communications terminal. He typed in a series of commands and a screen came up showing the strife logo. There was a ringing sound and then someone's face appeared on the screen. The build was obviously male, but that was all that could be discerned from the man's image because it was shrouded in shadow.
"Niz." said Strife in a businesslike tone. "I have a job for you and your team."
"Our team doesn't take missions as a group." said Niz, as if this should have been obvious.
"I'm not doubting your capabilities." said the president "But I think once you know the targets, you'll reconsider your position."
"Who are the targets." said Niz impatiently
"I'm transmitting their specs to you as we speak." said Strife
There was a pause as Niz looked over the newly received information. Then he responded, albeit without the same confidence he showed before.
"It will take some time." he said "We can go after Leonheart first, because we happen to know where he is, the others, especially the on with the scar on his head, will take some time."
"Why is that?" asked Strife irritably
"We like to know our targets inside and out before we engage them." explained Niz "We know a bit about six of these seven people, but the last one, all we know is that he was seen during the Blitzball finals two years ago, and hasn't been seen since. What we do know is that he has some incredible power and like Leonheart, he will be very difficult to eliminate by traditional means."
"Well I want him gone using any means necessary." said Strife "So far he and his friends have been minor nuisances, but if I let them keep going the way they are, I think they may prove to be a lot more bothersome."
"Understood." said Niz "Just be sure to have the payment transferred to our account."
"It will be done." said Strife
"Then consider your problems already solved." said the assassin sinisterly
The president ended the call and poured himself a glass of wine. He was just about to take a sip when his phone rang again.
"Speak." he said irritably.
A man in a white lab coat and greasy blonde hair appeared on the screen. "Mr. President." he said in a silky voice "Project Astral Authority is almost ready for launch."
"Excellent Dr. Gyne." said the president, his mood rising at the news. "I trust the data from Eshar was satisfactory?"
"Most interesting…that data." said Gyne "I myself have learned a great deal from it. How I would love to work on some of those cyborgs or even make my own."
"Keep up the good work doctor." said Cirrus "I'll be in touch."
…
Merlin looked at the monitor in front of him. It displayed the temporal distortions caused by the merger of the worlds. Currently it was fluctuating at such a bizarre rate that it was impossible to determine the exact amount of time that passed on Earth compared to Temprus. Sometimes it looked as if it were even, other times the ratios varied greatly. At first it had been a constant of one year to twenty, then it had gone to one year to ten, then it was even and then it went to one year to three, and now it was four years to one, an odd occurrence indeed. Merlin didn't know how to explain it, only that it was most likely a byproduct of all the interference on both his and Zidane's parts.
He used one of the many mirrors in the citadel to check on his young wild card. He and his companions were just approaching the base of the tree, and once they entered it, things wouldn't be the same. He knew what was waiting for them in the caverns beneath the giant tree, and he sincerely hoped that they'd survive it.
He hit a few buttons on the control panel and displayed a screen witch showed a chamber. In the chamber was housed an artifact that held untold power, no one, not even Zidane could touch it, but its power was what was being used to fuel the mergers. This object was a round crystal that seemed to be every color at once, yet no colors at all. It sparkled brightly and it exuded an aura that screamed power. This gem was simply known as The Crystal, and it was for this artifact that the citadel was named.
Looking at the crystal, he saw that its aura was different from the last time he'd seen it. It was darker than before, and if he wasn't seeing things, he could have sworn he saw a slight crack in the crystals surface. He focused on it again, but this time he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. The only oddity was the slightly darker aura. As much as studying the source of all power was, he had other things to do and so he went back to carefully monitoring the temporal distortions and recalibrating machines when necessary. All the while hoping against hope that Harry would persevere yet another trying challenge.
…
Ginny collapsed onto her hard steel bed after a day of training, she'd been in this place for four months now, and she still didn't like it, but she reminded herself that if she wanted to survive without magic, then she was going to need this training. It still didn't take away the sore muscles or the aching bones. Unlike the other cadets that were training, she couldn't use magical potions because her anti-core just absorbed the energy, making the potions no more than awful tasting soup.
She still remembered what had happened when she'd arrived. The portkey had taken her and Atrum to some kind of room. The room was all grey, with nothing to see but four walls, a ceiling and a floor. At first she'd been alarmed and thought that Nicholas' portkey had been a fake or been tampered with somehow. Then a panel of the wall had slid away and in walked Flamel, flanked by three people in all black robes with hoods drawn.
"I see you decided to take my offer Ginny." Nicholas had said. "I'm sure you have many questions, but they will be answered in due course. For now I will tell you that this is a place where Wizards and Muggles from all over the world are trained to combat the evils of the world."
"Wizards and Muggles?" asked Ginny confused
"Yes," said Flamel "Muggles have come a long way in the last century, in many ways they've surpassed wizards, while in others they are still sorely lacking. But by combining both magic and Muggle engineering, something much greater than both is created. You'll be here for a while, so I'd suggest getting comfortable. Once you leave this room there will be no turning back. You will be trained as a muggle cadet, but we'll be experimenting with your anti-core to see what abilities it bestowed on you. Your phoenix is welcome to accompany you, but he cannot flame in and out of this compound, so if you wish to leave, now is your last chance."
Ginny had briefly considered leaving, but that would have been counterproductive. She needed to learn to use whatever she could in order to help fight Tom and his Death Eaters, and somehow save her brother along the way. That had been all the incentive she needed to walk through the opening in the wall and change her life forever.
What followed for the last four months had been arduous training in muggle weaponry, hand to hand combat and physical conditioning. In addition she was taking private lessons with Flamel on controlling the aspects of her anti-core. These lessons hadn't yielded much progress. She knew that she could absorb almost any kind of magical spell, almost being that she could still be hurt by something conjured or something being acted on by magic. Nicholas had tested two of the three Unforgivable Curses and found that she could absorb both the Imperious and Cruciatus with only a slight pain from the Cruciatus. He didn't want to test the killing curse for obvious reasons.
Currently they were working on absorbing a spell, holding it and then releasing it. Nicholas hoped that once she was able to do this, she could stockpile a certain number of curses and be able to do them wandlessly. This wasn't going well though. She was barely managing to hold a disarming jinx in without absorbing it, and the few times she did manage to release it, the spell had been either weak or it had come out in a place other than her hand.
Nicholas kept telling her not to give up and that she was making progress, but it was still a trying experience. The whole thing wasn't all bad though; she had become very proficient with double short swords and was adequate with a firearm. Her hand to hand skills were increasing too, she was by no means top of her class, but she was getting there. The scarring had also gone down, although it could still be clearly seen, it just wasn't as prominent as it had been.
She settled in to try and get some sleep, she had an early day tomorrow and the training was only going to get harder.
…
Draco Malfoy was not a happy wizard. He had been subjected to the most menial tasks over the last five months of his stay 'here' wherever 'here' was. They didn't tell him much. They just dragged him to magic lesson after magic lesson, sometimes with other wizards and sometimes just him and another of the black robed figures. He had deduced that these were Unspeakables and that they were training him for something, what he didn't know, but they'd told him that he wouldn't be returning to the Dark Lord's service and that as long as he remained within the confines of the complex the Dark Mark wouldn't be able to respond to Voldemort's summons.
This last was a great benefit. Draco had no desire to return to the Dark Lord's service. He'd seen first hand how crazy the monster was. He had been willing to sacrifice his own followers simply for an increase in his own power. Draco admired the Slytherin nature, but when that nature directly harmed him, he couldn't help but have a few misgivings.
So it was that he accepted the training and did his best to improve. In addition to the magical training, they had forced him to learn Muggle dueling techniques. At first he'd scoffed at this, but when they refused to give him a wand and put him in a room with people who seemed to enjoy beating him to a bloody pulp, he hadn't really had a choice but to learn. They had also trained him in non-magical weaponry. He admitted that there was some value in this; if he ever lost his wand he could feasibly still defend himself if he had other disciplines.
In addition to practical magic, he also was required to learn potions, unlike at Hogwarts, there was no Professor Snape to give him an easy O, nor were there Gryffindors to torment. It was simply a group of people mixing highly volatile ingredients in boiling cauldrons. There were also no partners and very few instructions, Draco had ruined more than one potion, and had paid for it with extra physical conditioning. As a result of this, Draco had lost much of his thin and pompous looking appearance, he was by no means bulky, but he looked a lot less like a ferret now.
This is how his days continued for some time, until the day when he began phase two of his training that was when things took a turn, both for the better and for the worse.
…
Harry looked up at the towering bough of the Iafa Tree. From far away it had been impressive, but from close up, it was simply awesome. The tree stretched at least fifty stories high and its foliage extended in a canopy that had a fifty foot radius. Roots were piled on top of roots, sucking all nutrients from the ground, leaving a dry circle of earth around the tree. Small balls of energy that flew around like insects floated all around. Sophia explained to Harry that these were Pyreflies, they congregated wherever there was an intense amount of magic or extensive lifestream pockets, and the Iafa Tree was rumored to have both.
As the group got closer to the tree, Harry saw a root that was thicker than the others, and seemed to serve as a walkway to the trunk itself. Taking the initiative he walked onto the root and began heading toward the trunk. The others quickly followed, keeping their weapons drawn. They hadn't seen any fiends yet, but areas like this were usually crawling with them, so letting one's guard down wasn't an option.
They walked in silence until they reached the trunk of the tree. Harry examined the trunk, but it seemed as though it was a normal tree trunk. He looked up and saw that the branches seemed to be just as sturdy as the roots were.
"I'm going up." said Harry. He then found some foot holes and began to climb up the tree.
It didn't take him long to reach the lower branches, after puling himself up he had to quickly duck an incoming fireball from a flying fiend. The branches were crawling with them, and as the others came up onto the branches they too had to dodge the incoming magic attacks. Harry covered them as best he could by casting explosion hexes and mixing in an ice spike here and there. He didn't want to cast anything too powerful, as he wasn't sure how that would affect the stability of the branch he was standing on.
Ethan was the first up, and he used thunder spells to help Harry cover the others. Soon they were all up and they began to make their way across the branch and toward the center of the canopy. The fiends weren't going to let them go though. They began to swarm around the branch, some doing aerial tackles and others casting magical fireballs in an attempt to prevent the warriors from going any further.
Sheyna unfastened her machine gun from her back and began to quickly dispatch the fiends. Sophia did the same with her crossbow, both deciding that too much magic could do more harm than good. They took turns moving forward, one person would move while the others covered them. After continuing in this fashion they made it to the center of the canopy.
Once there the fiends still didn't leave them alone. The flying monsters only renewed their assault with vigor. If that wasn't enough, Grats started to come from the higher branches and down to the ones where the warriors were. Harry quickly assessed his options, if he really wanted to, he was sure that he and the others could destroy all the fiends, the trouble was that using the amount of power required for massive destruction could end up hampering their progress if they destroyed too much of the tree. After considering it a little more, Harry decided that he would rather be alive and without access to the tree, then dead or injured.
"Time to show them what we've got." said Harry
"I was hoping you'd say that." said Bastian gathering a massive ball of blue ice energy into both of his hands.
"Just try not to destroy too much of the tree." said Harry "We still need to get to the inside."
"The tree won't be damaged." said Sheyna
"How do you know?" asked Harry
She didn't answer him, instead she allowed her magical aura to flare and refastened her machine gun. In seconds the air was awash with blue flames and lightning bolts from the raven haired Lunarian. The others quickly followed, unleashing magical fury upon the assembled monsters. Harry cast his many flare spells, and through in a Freeze spell or two here and there.
Once they had put a sizable dent into the incoming fiends, they began to ascend up the tree once more. At about the halfway up the tree, Harry noticed a large hole in the trunk. Thinking that this was most likely the way in, Harry called the group to a halt and turned to address them.
"I've got a feeling that once we go through here there'll be no turning back." He said seriously "You all came with me because you wanted to, and I appreciate it, but if you want to leave now, I won't hold it against you."
"Just keep going." said Andrea "We didn't come this far just to leave."
"I know that." said Harry. "But I'd have felt bad if I didn't give you an easy out."
"We're with you man." said Ethan "Why can't you just accept that?"
"We've all got our reasons." said Sheyna "I'll stay with you, just like I told you I would."
"SeeDs live for this kind of thing." said Sophia
"You still have to help me liberate Spira." said Bastian "And I'm not letting you die until you do it."
"Alright then." said Harry "Let's go."
With that said the young wizard squared his shoulders and walked through into the dark hole, followed closely by his five companions.
…
Zidane was in a very melancholy mood. He was satisfied that Kuja was causing massive amounts of destruction to the planet, the more deaths he caused, the more people Zidane could recruit for his ultimate battle. On the other hand, Kuja was dabbling in things he should not. Zidane had been furious when he found out that his brother had tried to procure Alexander. The last thing Zidane needed was for the Aeons to become directly involved in his affairs, and if Kuja tried a stunt like that again, that was exactly what would happen.
Another sour note was the fact that Harry Potter was now inside the Iafa Tree. This could be both good and bad. If Potter survived, he and his friends would come out a lot more powerful than they were before going in. But if he didn't survive, he would be out of his way once and for all, and he and his friends would all have to go through his judgment. In order for the latter to happen, he had to make sure that he and his ally at the tree were both on the same page.
"You will be having guests soon little one." said Zidane mentally
"Guests?" came the confused and somewhat sleepy reply
"I know it's been a while since you've actually seen someone, let alone fought them, but do you think you have the power to succeed?" He asked his contact.
"How many are there, and how strong are they?" Came the reply
"Six of them, one is almost as strong as Kuja was before he went into trance, the others are a little weaker than that." said Zidane
"In that case, I'll make quick work of them." said his contact confidently
"See that you do." said Zidane "Because if you fail, you won't like the consequences."
"I won't fail Zidane." said his contact "I won't fail again."
…
The inside of the tree was very different compared to the outside. Where branches and leaves had meshed together to create a walkway, here there was a spiraling pathway heading toward the bottom of the tree. Spider webs hung thickly along the path in places, and more than once a spider fiend attacked the traveling party. By the time they reached the bottom of the pathway, they all sported several new injuries as a result. After casting a quick Cure spell on everyone and making sure that none of the spider bites were poisoned they looked around for another path. They were disheartened to find that there wasn't one. They were near the base of the tree, so the hollow they were in was very massive, but all they could see was the path leading up and the walls of the hollow.
"Anyone have any ideas?" asked Harry hopefully.
"There has to be something." said Sophia "Mikoto said that there was an extensive cavern under the tree."
"We could try blasting a hole through." suggested Bastian
"Might work." said Ethan "But we might hit something important and send the whole tree collapsing around us."
"Maybe there's a magical entrance, or a hidden switch." said Andrea
"Hmm." Said Harry, scratching the back of his head. "Maybe this will work."
He started casting revealing charms all over the area and he even threw in a few to make the floor transparent. When he was done, he found that there was a hidden room behind one of the walls, the floor revealed that there was indeed an extensive framework of caves beneath them. They went into the hidden room and once they had all entered, the room sealed itself shut and the walls, once the color of tree bark, started to glow a bright green.
"What's going on?" asked Bastian in alarm.
"That's Lifestream!" said Andrea. "And we're moving down into it."
"This can't be good." said Harry
"Something feels…odd." said Seth suddenly
"What do you mean?" asked Harry
"It feels like something's calling me." said the guardian
"What would call you?" asked Harry curiously
"It feels similar to when you summon me, but different, and it's not just me it's…" But Seth never finished the sentence because Harry and the others suddenly dropped to their knees and grabbed their heads in pain. The junction stones within them were suddenly forcibly removed by an unseen force. Sheyna was the only one unaffected, but her Leviathan Materia was pulsating with a crimson light, before it to was taken out of its slot on her bangle and floated above the group with the junction stones. There was a flash of bright light and then the stones and the materia disappeared.
"Oh…my head…my poor, poor head." moaned Ethan in pain.
"This feels worse then a scar headache." said Harry sorrowfully and still clutching both his temples.
"Where'd my materia go?" asked Sheyna to no one in particular.
"The same place our junction stones went." said Andrea
"Guys?" said Bastian suddenly "Don't look now but…INCOMING!"
Sure enough a very large something was flying towards the still descending platform at an incredible speed. The group quickly through themselves to the floor. An enormous skeletal dragon swooped over them, its bones completely black and lacking any flesh except for around its wings and a few rotting bits here and there. The monster turned around and prepared to attack once again, this time the group was ready. Having there junctions removed, the SeeDs had to rely on their materia, this severely limited their spell casting choices. Harry and Sheyna didn't have this problem as both of them were used to working without junctions anyway.
A barrage of fireballs hit the monster as it came closer, and one extremely powerful explosion spell crashed against its skull. The combination of spells filled the area with smoke, and when it cleared the dragon was completely unharmed and still heading right for the descending platform.
Harry wasted no time in gathering his magical energy and casting the strongest Holy spell he could muster. White light cascaded around the whole area and six balls of blue-white energy surrounded the dragon. The energy balls began to revolve around the transfixed fiend steadily growing faster and faster all the while producing a pillar of light around the creature. Then with a shrill roar the magic exploded all around the beast.
When the smoke cleared this time the monster was damaged heavily. It's wings were little more than two bones sticking out of its back and the rest of its body was severely burned, so much so that smoke was still rising from the charred bone. The dragon let out a roar of pain and fury and then it did something completely unexpected.
It opened its jaws and began to suck in the swirling Lifestream. Green energy surged into it and began to restore it to its former state. It didn't stop with just that though, soon a fully alive monstrous silver dragon loomed over the platform.
"Not good." muttered Harry
"No, not good." said Andrea "That's a holy dragon, we're in for a tough fight."
"Sectumsimpra!" Yelled Harry as he thrust his palm toward the newly resurrected beast. The spell sped toward the dragon, which was simply following the platform as it descended. When it hit, the spell caused several gashes to appear on the dragon's flesh, but it didn't appear to have hurt the creature at all. In response to the attack the dragon began to gather white energy in its jaws, preparing some sort of breath attack to obliterate the six warriors.
The platform was too small for them to have any hope of dodging the blast, so Harry put all his remaining magic into casting the same shield he did against Ultima Weapon. A golden dome surrounded the whole platform, effectively protecting the group from attack. The dragon released the attack and it exploded against the barrier, causing Harry to tremble on his feet slightly.
Seeing that its attack had failed, the beast charged the barrier directly. It clawed butted and bit at the shield, but nothing it did managed to break it. Harry however was struggling to maintain the powerful shield.
"Anyone see the bottom yet?" He asked hopefully
"It can't be that much further." said Andrea "Just keep the shield up, if we can make it to a place with more room we'll have a better chance of killing it."
The dragon suddenly backed off and began to gather Lifestream energy once again. This time it gathered an obscene amount of energy and also gathered the holy energy in its mouth. It gathered so much energy that it was concealed from the view of the warriors. Then with a roar it blasted the combined energy at the dome. Maintaining the shield took everything that Harry had. It felt like every muscle was being ripped open slowly and his skin felt like it was being caressed with a hot poker. His eyes stung painfully and every breath sent pain through his entire body. In spite of this he still managed to hold the shield just long enough to survive the attack, however, after that he was spent and collapsed to the floor of the platform.
The dragon too looked as though it had seen better days. Apparently gathering all that energy hadn't been a good idea. Its skin was burned in a few places and it was flying much slower than it had before.
"Bring it down!" yelled Andrea. She then began to blast the beast with lightning bolt after lightning bolt. Sheyna, Sophia and Bastian all joined her in casting spells in an attempt to bring the dragon down.
"Sophia cast a Float on me." said Ethan, suddenly getting an idea.
"Why?" asked the confused ex-SeeD
"Because you're the only one who can cast it without junctions." said Ethan "Hurry up and do it!"
"Fine!" said Sophia before casting the spell on him.
Ethan gripped his staff firmly as he began to float a few inches off the ground. He then focused on casting one of the few spells he could use without junctions or materia. "Aero!" he commanded his magic. A small whirlwind surrounded him and flung him into the air right toward the dragon.
Harry watched all this from his position on the ground and found a new respect for Ethan. He knew that he was a good fighter, but to do a bold move like that, was both very foolish and very brave. The SeeD was like a human propeller as the wind spiraled around him. He caught the dragon off guard with a barrage of staff strikes to the head. The wind began to die down and he used his staff to vault onto the dragon's back. At this point the others stopped their spell casting, too afraid that they'd hit their comrade by mistake. The beast's attention was firmly on Ethan now, and it bucked and clawed at the SeeD in an attempt to throw him off its back.
Ethan managed to keep a grip on the dragon's back and slowly made his way up to its head. Using his Fire Materia, Ethan turned his metal staff into a red hot poker. When the dragon turned its head toward the SeeD, Ethan ruthlessly drove his staff through the beast's eye, puncturing its brain and killing it instantly. Unfortunately for Ethan the dragon had been preparing to blast him with another breath attack. The energy was now trapped within the monster's diaphragm and began to surge out of control.
The beast's belly exploded outward with white energy and its lower back and hind section followed shortly thereafter. Harry watched in horror as the head and neck portion did the same and Ethan was sent hurtling into the flowing lifestream.
"Ethan!" cried the others in alarm.
Harry attempted to send out a wave of magic and levitate the SeeD back to the platform, but it was useless, the shield had sapped him of all his energy, and it took all he had just to stay awake. He wondered why no one thought to give him an Ether or Elixir to replenish his strength, but no wasn't the time for those thoughts, Ethan was falling fast and they had to do something to help him.
Before they could do anything else the platform gave a violent lurch and began to descend more rapidly. The Lifestream began to fade away and soon the group found themselves standing, or lying in Harry's case, on a rocky section of a cavern floor. They all heard a distant splashing sound and looked around for the source, but found nothing.
"A little help?" said Harry weakly.
"Oh…Harry I almost forgot." said Sophia "Here." She poured an Elixir down his throat and its affects made him immediately better.
"Thanks Sophia." said Harry, getting to his feet. "We need to find Ethan."
No one disagreed with him, all hoping that they would find their friend, and not his corpse. They walked on, heading in the general direction that the splashing sound had come from, eventually they came to a large underground spring at sitting at its shore was Ethan, he looked completely unharmed and he was holding a large silver spear.
"Bout time you guys got here." said the SeeD smugly
"We thought you were dead man!" said Bastian, relief clear in his voice.
"Me too." said Ethan "I'm just glad I landed in this spring. The water has some kind of healing property to it."
"What about that spear?" asked Andrea
"Not sure." said Ethan "The dragon exploded and this was what was left."
"That's odd." said Sophia "I've heard of fiends turning into weapons after they die, but I never thought I'd see it."
"Well now that we're all accounted for, let's keep going." said Harry
No one objected to this and the newly reunited party continued their trek through the cavern. They walked for some time, until Sophia suddenly stopped.
"What is it?" asked Bastian concernedly
"I hear…music." said Sophia confusion clear in her voice "Like a flute."
"Now that you mention it, so do I." said Harry listening more carefully "And its coming from this direction." he took off down the pathway, indicating it to the others.
It wasn't long before they could all hear the music. It was an odd melody, possessing an otherworldly quality, yet sounding strangely beautiful and mesmerizing. After following the path for some time, they came to another immense opening, at the center of the large chamber sat a young woman with long purple hair, playing a golden flute. This was no ordinary woman however, for in the center of her forehead was a four inch spiral horn. Magic seemed to radiate around the woman and in particular around the strange horn on her head. The golden flute she played was also clearly magical. Her eyes were closed, but when the group came closer she suddenly stopped playing and looked right at them.
Two cold amethyst orbs bored into the approaching group, and when she felt they'd come close enough, she spoke.
"So you're the ones who brought me such nice Eidelons." she smiled humorlessly at them before continuing "I must say that you've gotten them quite strong."
"Give us back our GF." said Andrea
"Always down to business aren't you Andrea." said the woman
"How?" came the simple question from the SeeD
"I know all about all of you." said the strange woman "Your 'GF' as you so tastelessly refer to them are a wealth of information."
"She's bluffing." said Harry "She's probably been watching us since we got in here. That's how she knew your name."
"Seth did say you were a smart one, when you weren't jumping head first into things anyway." said the woman "Of course he didn't give the information out willingly, but after a bit of persuasion he didn't mind so much."
"What did you do?" asked Harry heatedly
"All I did was summon them." said the woman "Its what I do."
"So you're a summoner?" asked Bastian sarcastically "I don't know what you did, but I know that summoners are a dead race, there aren't anymore anywhere."
"You're right, summoners are a dead race." said the woman before her voice took on a deadly edge. "But I didn't need you to tell me that. I'm the last one, but no one will ever know that, because you won't be getting out of here to tell them."
"Wanna bet?" asked Sheyna forgoing the machine gun and letting her magical aura flare. "I'll make sure I get out of here, even if it means destroying you."
"A firebug." said the woman in a bored tone. "You can't even use the other elements of your power, pitiful and you call yourself a Lunarian."
"Die!" yelled Sheyna gathering a large blue fireball in both hands and throwing it at the purple haired woman. The fireball impacted a force field a few feet away from the woman where it dissipated harmlessly.
"My turn." said the woman "Leviathan, Shiva, Quetzacoatl, Carbuncle, Pandamona, Seth COME FORTH."
Magic shimmered all around the woman and a large red rune appeared beneath where she was sitting. Energy crackled through the air, and soon six dark portals opened up. Through the portals the six GF emerged. Each looked normal, except for the empty look in their eyes.
The entire group took a step back in surprise and alarm. This was an awesome feat of power, and the GF looked like they would have no problem killing their former masters.
"I'll take Seth." said Harry "I know his fighting style the best."
"The snake is mine." said Sheyna
"I'll take Quetzacoatl ." said Sophia "It'll be easier for me to hit him with him flying around."
"I'll get Pandamona then." said Andrea "We should leave Carbuncle alone since he's mainly a defense GF."
"I've got Shiva then." said Bastian
"I'll help where I'm needed, and keep the little rat from bothering you too much."
The impromptu strategy meeting only took a few seconds, and in that time the GF had fully emerged from their portals and sat awaiting orders from their new mistress.
"Attack!" was the simple command. She then began to blow her flute once more, but this time in a melody that had a dangerous edge. The GF strode forward in a mechanical fashion each ready to kill.
…
Sheyna leapt backwards to avoid the lunge from Leviathan's jaws. The sea serpent twisted around to strike with its tail, but Sheyna leapt over this as well. The foreign voice that had long since taken over made her gather a ball of lightning in her hands and thrust it back at the guardian. The lightning bolt hit its mark, but the beast retaliated by launching a torrent of ice cold water from its jaws. The attack slammed into the unprepared Lunarian and sent her crashing against the stone floor.
"Get up!" commanded Kuja in her mind
"Yes master." she responded mentally before returning to her feet and ignoring the pain in her ribs. She had long ago stopped fighting and accepted things for the way they were. She leveled her machine gun at the monster and began to let her magic flow through the weapon. She fired and the plasma shots were much more powerful than normal thanks to the burst of magic she'd given them. The shots struck against the sea guardian's flesh, leaving black marks where they'd struck.
The attack only seemed to make the monster angry. He roared in fury and the whole caver began to shake as he prepared to unleash his full power. A wall of water formed behind him and stretched to either end of the cavern, Sophia and Harry were both in the water's line of impact, but Sheyna didn't notice or care about this. She simply surrounded herself in blue flame and let the water hit her white hot barrier where it evaporated with a loud hissing sound leaving her completely unharmed. She saw that Leviathan was momentarily winded, so she let loose with another barrage from her machine gun before powering up another Thundaga spell. This time the spell got the job done. The GF was brought to the ground by the powerful lightning spells.
Sheyna put away her machine gun and unsheathed her katana. She let lightning and fire course through the blade and walked over to the sea beast that was wobbly trying to sit up. Just before she could finish it though, she was hit with a blast of wind and thrown against a stone column. The last thing she saw before blacking out was Leviathan sit up again and gather water into its mouth.
…
As soon as the battle started Andrea went for Pandamona. The wind GF was extremely fast and avoided her gunblade strikes with ease. It decided to use its large bag of air like a bludgeoning weapon and used its speed to its advantage by continually breaking Andrea's guard and smacking her with the large bag. At first the blows were just glancing, but soon the wind GF was sending Andrea flying across the cavern before quickly appearing in her path and hitting her with the bag again.
After the second time this happened, the SeeD was sure that she had broken a good deal of the bones in her chest as well as her right shoulder and all but one of her ribs. If she let this continue too much longer she was sure that she would die. As Pandamona prepared to strike again, Andrea prepared herself for another bone shattering strike. The strike never came, instead she saw Ethan jump up and take the strike for her, breaking his right arm in the process. He didn't let it phase him, he quickly cast a Curaga on Andrea and followed it up by tossing her a vial.
"Chocobo Potion." was all he said before healing himself and rushing off to wherever else he was needed. Andrea quickly downed the bottle and felt the effects immediately. Her speed increased ten fold and she was sure that she'd be able to keep up with Pandamona now.
When the wind guardian attacked again she was ready. She blocked the windbag with her gunblade and countered with a flurry of slashes at the unprepared GF. Her assault was interrupted by the ground suddenly shaking. She backed off of the GF and saw that a wall of water had formed across the center of the room. It looked as though it was heading away from her, so she didn't let it bother her. The distraction provided by the water was enough to allow Pandamona to regain its composure. The GF blasted the unguarded SeeD with powerful gust of wind and sent her tumbling through the air. She flipped around just in time to block a strike from the enlarged windbag with her gunblade.
The force of the block sent her backwards where she landed on the ground and waited for her opponent to do the same. She was disappointed to see that instead Pandamona began to gather more air into its already enormous windbag. The force of the air current started to pull her in toward it, and she knew what would happen if she let her feet leave the ground, it was then that she got an idea. Instead of fighting the pull of the wind, she let it take her. She played off the wind's momentum and when she was almost close enough to Pandamona she brought her gunblade around so that the wind pushed it as well. The GF was just about to release its condensed air when Andrea drove her blade through its torso. The GF dropped the bag, sending a gust of wind into the distance. It then fell to the ground where it turned back into a purple stone with a whirlwind depicted on it.
Andrea looked around to see who needed help and saw that Sophia was having trouble with the lightning guardian. She was going to help her out, but was suddenly surrounded in a red crystal. Carbuncle floated in front of her, its eyes glowing with the color of the crystal prison. Andrea pounded and slashed at the barrier, but it wouldn't break. She was going to try magic, but then she thought better of it when she realized that she was surrounded in reflection rubies. Casting a spell while inside here would be suicide. So she simply waited, and kept herself occupied by watching the battle.
…
Bastian rolled out of the way of another ice spike. Since the battle had begun, Shiva had been relentless. Bastian had started things off with a Firaga spell, but unfortunately for him it had missed the Ice GF by mere inches, but had gotten her attention solely on him. She had retaliated with a barrage of ice spikes, and that assault was continuing even now. Bastian focused on one of the few spells he'd learned to cast without magic. However it was a very useful spell.
"Haste!" he cast on himself, amplifying his speed. Shiva prepared another barrage of ice spikes and this time Bastian dodged them effortlessly. He now had enough speed to mount an effective offensive, so charged at the Ice Queen with his sword drawn. An ice shield met his strikes, but he wasn't daunted. Using his free hand he blew the ice shield away with a Fira spell and continued his assault, this time making clean cuts along the beautiful GF's pale blue skin. He finished up his combo with a Firaga at point blank range.
Shiva, being weak against fire, was burned severely by the blast, but was far from beaten. She started to gather ice energy in her hands, and Bastian prepared to counter with another barrage of fire spells. A shaking in the ground momentarily knocked him off his feet and gave Shiva enough time to complete the preparation for her next assault. She threw the ice energy at the downed mercenary. The attack hit its mark and Bastian was soon totally incased in a bock of ice. Shiva walked towards the ice, but before she could reach it a spear was jammed through her back. purple blood flowed from the wound and the ice GF collapsed to her knees in pain.
Bastian was freed from his icy prison by a fireball cast by Ethan. The SeeD then tossed him a Hi-Potion and left him to finish his fight. Shiva slowly regained her footing and cast an ice spell on herself in order to heal her wounds. Bastian wasted no time in renewing his Firaga and sword strike combo. After a few more minutes of parrying blows with the Ice GF Bastian decided to end the fight. He'd felt himself approaching his limit break some time ago and now he had reached the breaking point. He let his energy come to the surface and used it to fuel his next attack.
"Fire Ace!" He yelled as he charged forward once again, his blade bathed in flames. He slashed at Shiva over and over in quick succession before jumping into the air and throwing his burning blade right at the Ice Queen's chest. The blade struck with a tremendous force and caused a small explosion, when it was over all that remained was a pale blue disc with a snowflake engraved on it.
…
Sophia winced as lightning struck her once again. Quetzacoatl was proving to be more of a challenge than she'd originally thought. So far she'd only managed to score a few glancing blows with her crossbow, but they did little more than irritate the thunderbird. The GF however had managed to hit her more than once with its lightning bolts, and she wasn't sure how long she could last against such an assault, if it decided to use its full power she was sure that it would mean her end.
She channeled ice energy from her materia into her crossbow and took careful aim at her avian opponent. The lightning GF halted its flight in order to gather energy for another attack. It was then that Sophia fired her frozen bolt at the bird, hitting it square in the chest. The area where the bolt impacted turned to ice and the energy that Quetzacoatl had gathered was released harmlessly around it. Sophia prepared another crossbow bolt, but was startled by the sound of the ground shaking and the unmistakable sound of rushing water.
She looked around and saw that Leviathan was preparing to unleash its fury upon Sheyna and anyone else that happened to be in the path of the deadly tsunami, which happened to be herself and Harry. She focused on her magic and cast a Float spell on herself and before it could take full effect she jumped into the air, letting the spell give her more height. By this time Quetzacoatl had regained its composure and swooped toward her, all the while surrounding itself in electrical energy. Sophia fired her crossbow at the incoming creature, each time putting ice energy into the bolts. The attacks hit their marks and soon Quetzacoatl was nothing more than a hovering icicle.
It suddenly plummeted to the ground and hit just in time to be pounded by Leviathan's deluge. Because the lightning GF was extremely weak against water, it took no time at all for it to succumb to the attack. When the water cleared only its junction stone remained. Sophia landed back on the ground, happy to take a momentary breather.
…
Ethan looked around for anyone who needed a hand. He first saw Andrea getting clobbered by Pandamona. He realized that she needed something to make her faster in order to keep up with the wind GF. He knew the only people that could cast Haste spells were otherwise occupied at the moment. Harry had his hands full with Seth and Bastian was likewise busy with Shiva. He then remembered a potion he'd found some time ago while on the Strife ship. He checked his pockets for it and sure enough it was there.
He looked up from his searching just in time to see Pandamona preparing to deliver a blow that would prove fetal for Andrea. He wasted no time in jumping between her and the wind GF, effectively breaking his right arm, but saving Andrea nonetheless. He tossed her the potion.
"Chocobo potion." he said simply, knowing that she'd know what to do with it. He then cast a Curaga on her and himself before moving away so she could finish her own fight. His attention was taken by a tremor in the ground and he saw a wall of water form across the center of the room, luckily for hi he was on the other side of it so there was nothing for him to worry about. He saw Bastian get frozen in a block of ice and knew that if he allowed Shiva to touch it his friend would be shattered along with the ice block. The Ice Queen's attention was off of him, so he started to make his way behind her.
He drove his spear through her back and twisted it to make sure it had optimal impact. He would have been unable to do this with his rod, so he was glad that he now had a slightly better weapon for this type of situation. He removed the spear and didn't even flinch at the purple blood coming from the wound in the GF's back. He cast a quick Fira on the ice block containing Bastian and tossed the mercenary a Hi-Potion to heal himself without using too much magic. He saw that Shiva was recovering so he moved away from the fight before he got in the way.
He saw Sheyna get blasted into a wall by a stray wind gust from the now defeated Pandamona. He also saw Andrea get imprisoned within the reflect rubies. Weighing his options, he realized that Sheyna was in a much more dire situation than his fellow SeeD. As Leviathan prepared to finish its former mistress, Ethan raced toward it and leapt into the air with his spear aiming downward. He drove his weapon into the middle of the sea serpent's back. The monster let out a cry of pain and fury and it lost control of its water blast as a result. The torrent of water hit the ceiling of the cavern with enough force to knock loose a few stalactites. The large spikes came down, and one struck Leviathan right through its skull, while several others hit the force field surrounding the strange summoner. Leviathan slowly faded away, leaving only a red orb in its place.
The materia however looked odd. It had several cracks in it and it was pulsating with a red light. Ethan watched in fascination as the orb suddenly burst into tiny fragments, which soon turned into little more than dust that was scattered by the drafts in the cavern.
"Leviathan." said Sheyna, now conscious once more "What happened to it?"
"Not sure." said Ethan "All the others turned back into junction stones, I guess materia wasn't meant to be summoned the way she's doing it."
"I guess not." said Sheyna, still a little dazed.
Ethan quickly cast a Curaga on her and turned to see what was left. Shiva, Quetzacoatl and Pandamona had all been taken care of. Leviathan could now be added to this list as well. Andrea was still trapped in the ruby prison, but other than that everyone seemed fine. He looked over to Harry who was still trading blows with Seth. The wizard was holding his own, but the guardian didn't look to be giving up without a fight. Seeing no way to help the battling wizard, Ethan settled for aiding his fellow SeeD.
He ran over to the ruby prison and struck it with his spear. He saw Andrea trying to tell him something, but he couldn't hear her because of the gem prison. She then pointed and he turned just in time to be hit with a ruby light. Then he too was surrounded in a ruby cage much like Andrea's.
…
As soon as the summoner gave the order to attack, Harry had rushed at Seth, effectively preventing him from attacking any of the others. His gunblade was met with the blade of Seth's scythe and he quickly backed away to avoid being hit by the gunblade in Seth's other hand. He sent a barrage of cutting hexes at the serpent guardian, but they did little more than irritate the GF. Knowing that if Seth died he would be resurrected if Harry junctioned him again, he cast the one spell he knew would likely win the battle.
"Avada Kadavra!" he yelled, thrusting his palm forward. The sickly green light hit the GF right in the chest, but it didn't have any effect at all. Seeing this, Harry tried another unforgivable "Crucio!" This time a crimson bolt shot from his palm and hit Seth. The GF faltered slightly, but again he continued walking towards Harry. Deciding to forgo Wizarding magic for the time being, Harry rushed at the GF once again. This time he cast Haste on himself as well as augmenting his speed with magic. The results made him seem like a blur as he hacked at Seth with everything he had.
It took a moment, but soon Seth was matching him blow for blow. They parried each others attacks and each managed to break the others guard from time to time gaining a momentary advantage. It was clear however that Seth had the upper hand. He was wielding two weapons giving him a definitive edge over his former junctioner. Harry decided to do something about this and cast a disarming spell at the guardian. This time his spell did exactly what he wanted it to do, and both weapons were ripped from Seth's hands. The guardian only had time to grab one of them before they flew out of his reach, and he chose the gunblade.
Now having the playing field even, Harry prepared to rush Seth once again. He was stopped by the sound of the ground shaking and the roar of rushing water. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see Leviathan's huge tsunami heading right for him. There was no way he could dodge, and apparation was out of the question in an area so full of magic. Therefore he braced himself and cast a magical barrier on himself. The tsunami hit the barrier and sent him tumbling over the ground and right to the feet of his former guardian.
Had Seth been in his own mind he would have smirked at the moment. Instead he simply drove his gunblade down toward Harry's unguarded torso. Harry quickly reinforced the barrier to withstand physical blows. The guardian's gunblade was deflected by the shield, allowing Harry to regain his footing and counter with an assault of his own. Seth suddenly leapt backwards and slashed his gunblade through the air, leaving a trail of fire in the shape of a holy cross. He then hit the cross with his gunblade, sending it at the unprepared wizard. The attack crashed into Harry, sending him flying through the cavern and burning his chest and stomach.
Harry staggered to his feet and dove to the side just in time to avoid another Fire Cross attack. Harry countered with a Flare spell that caught Seth unguarded. The guardian hissed in pain and fury as the powerful spell burned his skin. Harry followed it up with a Freeze spell that caused even more damage to the guardian. He used the distraction provided by his spells to run towards the recovering serpent. He unleashed a fury of slashes that the guardian only managed to block halfheartedly. He was just about to finish the battle when he felt a sharp pain from his back.
He glanced over his shoulder to see the forgotten scythe sticking out of his back. He had forgotten Seth could control the weapon without actually touching it. The guardian used the time that Harry was in shock to recover. It jerked its free hand and the scythe was ruthlessly wrenched from its position in Harry's back, the pain of the process caused Harry to drop his gunblade and collapse to his hands and knees. He felt something hot rise in his throat and gagged as he spluttered a good deal of blood. He was no healer, but he knew that that wasn't a good sign.
He saw Seth bringing his gunblade up for one final strike. Harry gritted his teeth in determination and his right hand found his gunblade. With a roar of defiance, and pouring a good deal of his magic into himself, Harry rose to his feet and drove his gunblade right through Seth's stomach. He then forced the blade upward, pulling the trigger and effectively dispatching the guardian. Seth began to fade away and soon all that remained was a black stone with a green serpent engraved on it.
Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the few remaining Elixirs he still had. He downed it and immediately felt his energy return. He looked around and saw Ethan and Andrea encased in a ruby prison. Sheyna was once again trying to break through the barrier surrounding the strange young summoner while Bastian and Sophia tried to free their comrades. Harry knew that Carbuncle had cast the spell and that it was based on a Reflect spell, therefore a simple Dispel should reverse the process. Realizing this he quickly cast the spell on the rubies, causing them to disintegrate.
"So you do have some skills." said the summoner suddenly "I see you can beat your own Eidelons, but can you handle mine?"
Carbuncle floated in front of her, and for the first time, Harry realized that it didn't hold the same vacant look that the rest of the GF had, it looked completely normal and seemed content to do whatever the strange woman told it to do. "You did well Carbuncle, dismissed."
With that the small GF disappeared leaving only a ruby in its place.
"Now I'll show you a real Eidelon." said the summoner. The ground began to shake violently and all present now realized that the true battle was about to begin.
…
A/N: Sorry to stop it there, but I figured that this chapter was long enough. I man 10k words is a lot of reading. I had wanted to get everything at the Iafa Tree into one chapter, but hey, things don't always go the way you plan. Someone told me last chapter that I was 'demanding' reviews. I never demanded reviews, I only asked for them or reminded people to review, I see nothing wrong with asking for reviews as I took the time to write this fic for people to enjoy so getting reviews is simply a means of telling the author weather or not his work is worth the effort. I must say that I think it is based on the majority of the responses and the few criticisms keep my ego down and make me work harder to write a better story. I hope to read many more reviews from all of you and I'll do my part to make this story as good as I possibly can.
To those of you who are confused about certain aspects of the fic that pertain to Final Fantasy: I'm doing my best to explain things, the magic system is all you really need to understand and that was different in every single game, but the basics are as follows. There are a series of elements in the world of Final Fantasy, generally they work like this.
Fire Ice
Lightning Water
Holy Dark
Poison Earth Wind Gravity
What this means is that Fire and Ice are weak against each other, same for Lightning and Water as well as Holy and Dark. Usually Poison is weak to Earth and Earth is weak to Wind. Wind elementals are usually weak against Gravity. It isn't always this way, but in this story that's the way it works. As for the spells themselves, the base spells are usually something simple like Cure or Fire. Adding an 'A' to the end or an 'aga' or sometimes 'ija' means that the spell is much stronger. For instance a Fire spell is simply a fireball while a Firija spell would be an enormous amount of fire. I know that some of you were confused about the new form of magic, so I hope this helps.
Next chapter MIGHT be up before next Saturday, but I promise nothing except it will be done by then. Don't forget to review.
