Hello.
I decided that I'm way too lazy and tired to replace content in ch.28 with the final installment of mission earth, and THEN write another chapter so you all get e-mails telling you I updated. Instead, I decided to just go ahead and put this up as ch.29... ch.28 can just sit there and be confusing, I'm too tired to fix anything like that. Again, here it is... hope you like it, because it took me EIGHT different drafts to get it right... woo.
…
Enough said, let the battle for New York City begin!
--
"Surge, eh?" Dieh asked smartly.
"Yeah, that's me. And you are?"
"Dieh Bengal, ace gadgeteer." He replied confidently.
His platform of glory was toppled, however, with a "you only just started the gadgeteer class!" from Trent. Dieh gave Trent a quick, angry look and turned back to Surge. The view was blocked, however, as Jiece now stood directly in front of him.
"Jiece Urashima, pleasure to meet you." He said, holding out his hand to shake Surge's.
About a minute later, after everyone had been introduced, Trent spoke up once more. "So are you an Orunitia too?"
"That's right," said Surge, "I'm actually Rinn's great-great-great-great grandfather."
"And you're still alive!"
"Well, sort of… you see, the "trance" factor that is naturally inherited by all members of the Orunitia kicks in when they are in life-threatening danger, right? Well, the "trance" is actually a sudden transaction of spirits between the living user of the trance, and an experienced, though dead, member of the family.
"When an element of magic is added into the equation, the spirit of an Orunitia family member who specialized in that element will be sent down from the farplane to possess the family member in danger. Thus, when Rinn hit trance as he was caught in the electric crossfire of that beam, I came down to take control of his body for him, thus saving him from certain death."
Trent scratched his head, as is Trent's way. "So then… how old are you?"
"456… my birthday is in three weeks." Surge said with a comical smile.
"Then-…"
BREEP! BREEP!
The piercing alarm sounded throughout the building as red strobe lights flashed continuously in alarm.
"What's going on?"
Dieh ran back to the computer terminal he was previously at and rapidly began to code a search for the cause of the alarm. Suddenly he stopped and his jaw dropped open. "Oh crap."
Jackson looked timidly over Dieh's shoulder. "Was that a good 'oh crap' or a bad 'oh crap'?"
"Apparently the system has a second failsafe… if the energy is blocked from powering the bomb; it's forcibly pushed back into the lifestream."
"That's a good thing, right? Didn't we want the energy back in the lifestream?"
"Yeah, but we can't have it pushed back in so quickly. If the harvested energy is forced in the lifestream too quickly, the process of living will be drastically sped up in this area. Years will pass by in minutes; people will age to death within the hour."
"Oh… that's not good."
"No, it's not."
Surge pushed Jackson out of the way and joined Dieh at the monitor. "Well then how do we stop it?"
"One second…" Dieh again began his frantic typing, eyes glued to the screen. "Apparently the only way to stop it is with the manual controller… which only the original has."
Everyone looked around the room for a sign of the original, each one's eyes fixed on the gaping hole in the ceiling within seconds. Surge strode over to the center of the square room and looked up into it. One of the long, metal tendrils on his back straightened out and pointed up towards the hole. After a second or two, the tendril's end bent to point to the west. Surged smirked. "I got his signal, he's heading west… where does the western road lead?"
Dieh worked at the terminal once more and turn to Surge. "Fastest way out of the city."
"I'm on it."
--
"Do we let him go?" Auron asked Vincent as they watched Yazoo ride away into the distance cloud of dust.
Vincent merely nodded in agreement and turned around to head back toward the academy, closely followed by Auron. "You realize that we can't continue to ask for help from the Great Heroes whenever we feel the need."
Auron shifted his lame arm in its sling. "The only way to defeat them with minimal injury was to ask the Great Heroes for help, which I'm sure you understand. I'd say we made the right decision."
"I suppose you're right…"
--
Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Surge had finally gone far enough to see the original making its escape. Down on the road, weaving through traffic, it was speeding along in a busted police car, evidence that the beast had first killed the officers inside. Fiend! Surge thought to himself.
The original seemed to have spotted Surge and disregarded the speed limit completely, ripping through the opposing vehicles at top speed. I'll never catch up to that! Surge thought. Time to pull out all the stops…
Surge stopped and turned to the right, towards the nearest electricity pylon, attached to a telephone pole. He jumped onto the pylon and briefly charged himself on it, then jumping to the telephone lines. The six long conductors on his back bent to act as the legs of an insect, three legs grabbing each phone line on either side of him. Nimbly, with perfect balance, the legs ran along the phone lines, three times faster than Surge could ever run. I'm comin' you, multiplier.
Rapidly advancing towards the original, Surge noticed it was not holding onto the steering wheel. Instead, its hands were busy scribbling an incantation on a slip of paper. Hurriedly, the original set the paper aflame with the car's cigarette lighter and threw it out the window. The original punched through the empty air, towards the flailing paper, and the small flame immediately became a great, burning sphere.
The sudden, forceful explosion of fire shattered the windows of the nearby buildings and sent cars on all sides flying back into themselves and others. Surge immediately jumped into the air to avoid the blast, only to be confronted by a much larger threat. Out of the fiery prison, a gargantuan, skeletal version of Ifrit leapt out, straight towards Surge.
Just as Surge was about to be tackled into his inferno of doom, the mighty Ifrit was suddenly pulled down by something. Back on the street, Trent had pulled the beast down by the tail while Aran was holding it down with a "weight" spell. Aran looked up to Surge. "We have this covered, get the original!"
"Thanks!"
The original, assured that his skeletal minion had taken care of his electric pest, slowed down to his normal pace, leisurely escaping from the immanent doom of the area. Without warning a large dent formed in the roof of the car; shortly after, a lightning bolt shot from above and annihilated the car's engine. Surge jumped off of his perch and onto the ground, the distant wailing of Ifrit could be heard in the back round. Surge walked to the driver's side of the car. "All right, original, time's up. You have exactly ten seconds to give me that remote or I'll take it from you."
The door opened and the original came out, hands in the air, a look of defeat and shame clearly expressed on his face. Clearly expressed, of course, because only his head was displayed, the rest of his body hidden by the dark cloak that the original always seemed to wear. "Alright, hero…" he said as he took another step forward, "I'll give in."
An exact copy of the original stepped out of the car as well, hands up. "I know when I'm beaten." And he smirked. The process continued until Surge was surrounded by at least three rows of multipliers. "But do you know when you're beaten, hero?"
Surge shrugged and rolled up his sleeves, casually turning slowly to take in the sight of the original's futile display of power. "Just so you know…" Surge inwardly summoned up a great amount of energy, preparing for his strike. He raised his hands triumphantly to the sky. "The name's Surge!"
ZA-CRACKA-BTHOOM!
As the smoke from the mighty thunderbolt cleared, Surge immediately saw that no multipliers were left. One of his six steel tendrils stood on end again, pointing up towards the nearest skyscraper. Sure enough, the original could be seen scaling the building like an insect. As Surge neared the edge of the building, the original heckled him from above. "Try to get me now, hero!"
In a flash, Surge was right beside the original, having climbed the building using the steel-plated tendrils as legs once more. The original's expression went from shocked to cocky in a flash and he pulled a thin, silver object from inside his cloak. The cloak now unfastened, Surge could see that nearly every visible section of the original's arms and legs was covered in row after row of heavy, metallic bands. The original held the object away from him; "You want the remote, hero?" he said, "go get it." And with that he dropped the remote to its doom.
Surge frantically ran down the side of the building, just barely faster than the falling speed of the remote. Once he had caught up to it, Surge jumped off of the building and grabbed hold of the prize, letting gravity do the rest of the work. With a massive crash of asphalt and metal, Surge had once again made it safely to the ground. He gave the linkpearl a tap. "Dieh, I've got the remote, now what?"
"Well, it has a miniature keyboard attached to it, right?"
"Yeah, it does."
"Type in 'Overhaul33/double.safe.cancel4/Shinra…', that should do it."
There was a slight pause in conversation. "Alright, done, now what?"
"Now what? Enjoy the satisfaction of victory, Surge! Aran, Trent, and Mina are finishing the freaky Ifrit thing off as we speak, then we can rest easy."
"Alright, sounds good-!"
SH-CRASH!
SH-CRASH!
SH-CRASH!
SH-CRASH!
All around Surge, the heavy metal bands that the multiplier was wearing had fallen, creating large dents in the now empty streets. Upon closer inspection, Surge found that each band had the words "two tons" engraved in it. Surge grabbed hold of one and tried to lift it, and it indeed felt as though it were two tons.
The original, now silent and graceful, landed deftly on the ground in front of Surge. He stretched his arms and legs and began to walk to the side of the road. Once he had reached his destination, the original leaned on a large tour bus. "The winds, they are a-changing… how do you like the idea of being defeated, hero?"
"I don't like the idea, and that's why I won't let you win."
"Well we will see about that!" The original turned around swiftly and picked up the tour bus as though it were a mere pencil. Quickly and powerfully, he hurled the large vehicle at Surge, who merely smiled. As the bus headed head-first for him, he jumped upwards and through the windshield. As the vehicle continued to lurch forward, Surge sprinted down the bus's walkway, immanently reaching the back window. Surge jumped through and positioned himself for a torpedo kick, one that connected the original's face.
Quickly recovering, the original grabbed Surge's extended legs and threw him against the wall of the nearest building. Unfortunately for Surge, that building's base most mainly a few large windows for display purposes. With Surge's head smashed through the thick glass, the original grappled his face and ran his head through the rest of the window, into the cement sidewalk. "You won't let me win, huh?"
Surge disappeared from the original's grasp and reappeared behind him. He grabbed the original's right ankle and swiftly brought it outward. His stance lost, the original fell into a perfect split, his legs flawlessly straight in a 180 degree angle. "Eep!"
Surge pulled a chunk of glass out of his shoulder. "We'll see about that, huh?"
--
Jackson held on to his staff, which was jammed into the undead fire beast's eye socket, for dear life as Ifrit scurried from one building top to the other. The monster let out a piercing shriek as it bucked Jackson and his staff off of him, skidding across the cement roof. Seeing its chance, Ifrit rushed at Jackson, brandishing a fiery claw to swat his tiny opponent. Jiece, Trent, and Dieh, however, had a different plan.
Just barely arriving on time by way of the building's fire escape, Trent leapt upwards into the moonlit night. "Secret Zodiac Style: Jump of the Crane!" And came down upon Ifrit with a lighting fast downward cut, yelling "Secret Zodiac Style: Fangs of the Snake!"
Ifrit slid back a couple of feet, now determined to destroy Trent instead of Jackson. Jiece and Dieh settled themselves on the rooftop, carrying a large black box. Jiece triumphantly pulled an electric guitar from the guitar case he now carried on his back. "We had time to go shopping, hope you don't mind!" he yelled to Trent with a smart grin.
"No, I really don't," said Trent, panting, "but could you hurry it up over there?"
"Yeah, yeah… crank it to maximum, Dieh!"
"You got it."
Dieh flipped the "on" switch of the guitar amplifier he and Jiece were carrying and turned the volume dial all the way up. He gave Jiece a "thumbs up" and covered his ears. Jiece nodded. "Trent, get ready!"
Trent charged at Ifrit, sword brace for a tremendous horizontal cut. Ifrit rushed at his attacked, confident in his ability to swat Trent down like a fly. Trent dove forward with his slash at the ready; Jiece smirked and set the plan into action.
BRRREEEEEEOOOOOOOWW!
The massive blast of sound from Jiece's guitar gave Trent the speed of a bullet, smashing into Ifrit's sternum and knocking both of them clear off of the twenty story building they had previously been on. Trent kicked off of Ifrit, soaring into the late night air while the fallen beast sped to its demise. Trent sheathed his sword and smiled broadly. This is gonna be so cool! "Fighter Technique's Triumphant Return: Epic Earth-Shaker Stomp!"
--
The effects of the transformation began to wear off as Vincent suddenly grew the ears of a Mithra. "Hmm… it's about time." His voice had changed back to its original state. Auron looked at Vincent and cocked an eyebrow.
"If your ears came back, then shouldn't something happen to me?" As if on cue, Auron's hair changed color from black to its regular fading blond. "That's more like it."
In a matter of minutes, Gana and Verikk were back to their old selves. Verikk stumbled, dazed. Gana eyed him curiously. "You alright?"
"Yes, Gana, I'm just tired… let's not do that again any time soon."
"Noted."
--
Trent's stomp had hit Ifrit directly, killing it instantly, but the stomp did not end there. The massive ground-based shockwave shot forward from there, heading directly into the office that Surge and the original were fighting in. Surge heard the approaching danger first and leapt out of the building, turning to face the original for one last item of business before he went. "Static Cling!" shouted Surge, firing a short wave of yellow light from his fists to the original. As it hit the monster, he flew back with it, slamming into the wall on the opposite side of the room. The original attempted to regain himself, only to find that he could not move; Surge had trapped him inside of a collapsing building. That ingenious bastard!
Surge landed safely on the darkened road, near the others, as the office building crumbled into nothingness. Surge dashed over to the group victoriously, his happiness dimming when he saw Dieh's gloomy face. "Surge," he said, "we have a problem… the Shinra reactor has a third failsafe… complete self destruct. While not as bad as the bomb that was originally going to go off, it'll still wipe out a good amount of this area, far beyond this city."
"What!" Surge roared in annoyance, "How did that get activated?"
"By killing the original."
"Well how do we stop it, then?" Surge asked, frantically.
"I don't know! That's the thing about this, since we can't destroy the Shinra building, there's no way!"
"What if we cut off the power to the building, would that work?"
Dieh opened his mouth to snap back, but then began to think. "Well, actually… that would work… but the building probably has several backup generators, so you'd have to shut those down as well."
"We can try, can't we? Let's get over there, now!" Surge shouted as he sprinted back to the building, a few blocks away; the others followed. About half way there, the group heard the intercom system of the Shinra network blaring out a warning message.
"Self Destruct imminent, 40 seconds."
Surge skidded to a halt in front of the towering mass of concrete and steel, pacing rapidly. Suddenly it came to him; "Trent, toss me your sword!"
Trent unsheathed his blade and threw it at Surge, who caught it and jammed it into the wall of the building. Dieh eyed Trent awkwardly. "I thought you broke your sword a few hours back, how do you-?"
"A good fighter always has a backup sword, Dieh."
"Self Destruct imminent, 25 seconds."
Surge wiggled the blade up and down, left and right, but could not get it to dig any deeper into the wall. He let go and stepped back shakily. "It's no use, the blade is too short to reach the inner wiring inside of the walls… we aren't going to make it!"
Paris bravely took the stage and stabbed clean through the wall with her spear, which dug in far past Trent's sword. "Use this!"
"Self Destruct imminent, 10 seconds."
Surge grabbed hold of the spear and shut his eyes. "Get ready for this, and be sure to cover your eyes!"
"Self Destruct imminent, 6 seconds."
Dieh ran up to Surge. "What's the holdup? Go, go, go!"
"Self Destruct imminent, 5 seconds."
"It's taking a while to cast this with so much concrete and buffering in the way, give it a second!"
"Self Destruct imminent, 3 seconds."
Astos came up to the other side of Surge. "We really only have a second!"
"Don't you think I'm trying!" snapped Surge, "Hold on for a moment!"
"Self Destruct imminent, 2 seconds."
"A moment is all we have; we have to do this now!"
"Self Destruct imminent, 1 second."
"Almost there…!" said Surge through clenched teeth.
"Oh god!"
"We're screwed!"
"Surge, now!"
"Jesus no!"
"I'm too young to die!"
"I'm too sexy to die!"
"She's too sexy to die!"
"Goodbye."
"Got it!"
BZZZRRTT!
Everything went black for the group of heroes, literally. Once their eyes adjusted, they found that not only was the explosion stopped, all power to the entire city had been completely shut off. Trent blinked a few times, confused. "Wait, wasn't there supposed to be a giant, mind-blowing explosion or something?"
"Oh, there was, you just couldn't see it; it was all underground, where all of the main wiring and computing is done."
"Well that was a rip-off."
"Hey, if you'd like to be blown apart into thirty pieces, I'd be more than willing to do it for you."
--
The master was brooding in his throne when five men appeared before him, all hooded in tattered, brown robes. At first he did not see them; he was too busy thinking about what to do next with Kadaj and Loz gone.
One man stepped forward and bowed. "We volunteer, master."
The master abruptly looked up and saw the five. "What are you talking about, Deaf?"
"I heard what you were thinking, master; you need someone to finish what Kadaj started… we volunteer."
The master considered this offer and smiled slightly. "The Sense Five working on what my previous lackeys could not accomplish? It's a bit of an overkill to send you five, but I suppose it does not hurt to be too careful, yes? You leave at dawn."
Deaf bowed again and the five walked out of the presence of the master. The Deaf smirked in success as he was closely followed by his four companions: The Blind, The Numb, The Mute, and The Paralyzed.
--
I apologize SO much for how horribly late this is, seriously. School started back up a few weeks back, my computer crashed, AND my after-school schedule is getting more and more cramped as I continue through the year, please forgive me.
Now that I'm somewhat on top of things, I hope to keep up a steady stream of updates from here on out, perhaps about a week apart each; sound good?
Anyway, I am ridiculously tired right now, so I'm going to take a nap or something… rant in next chapter.
