Author's note: Today marks exactly four years since I posted this story. While this won't be the last chapter, we are almost the ending. So hopefully the next chapter will be where the final battle takes place and I am hoping to finish this story this week.
Well, get ready for the last battles of the last two Warriors of Chaos.
I only own the Diminias.
Chapter Thirtyfive: Shade Impulse-The Final Twists.
Even though it was an illusion from Rick's world, Hamunaptra was always the darkest and most creepiest place the Warriors of Cosmos had ever ventured to ever since arriving in this world. The evil priest of the same world was just as terrifying, yet they had to face him, because he held the power of Bahamut in his hands, whether in his Mummified form or not.
With Rick, Sailor Moon and Sora taking the lead, and all of them within where they last seen Imhotep earlier, there stood the Undead man himself, yet not in his Bahamut form as of late, but most certainly in his Mummified form. Maybe he was saving his newest power to finish them off, the heroes were not certain.
"Slaves...Do you come to your master, finally tired of the struggles?" Imhotep spoke evilly with an expression that matched his voice, and while he spoke in non-ancient egyptain, he still sounded monsterous.
"Nobody's your slaves. You just brainwash them and the only way to free them is to kill you. Just so you know, I hate Mummies!" Rick yelled angrily as he and his companions glared heatedly at the villian who had been the cause of Cosmos' death.
The Warrior of Chaos just laughed. "Fools swarm like scrabs, but fools none the less."
Sora grunted, "We're not as weak as you might think! We've overcome a lot of hardships to get this far."
"'Overcome,' have you? Then I ask you this: Do you only credit yourselves for obtaining the crystals?" Imhotep inquired, enjoying making all of his mortal enemies fall into despair to learn the truth.
"What do you mean?" Sailor Moon demanded.
"That everything went as planned. True, giving you her strength was the will of Cosmos herself. But think carefully about who led you to your battles. Is it not obvious- that you have me to thank?"
"Thank YOU?" Rick asked in disgust and confusion. Why did bad guys always have to make riddles out of everything they say?
Imhotep nodded, "Cosmos may have been weak, but she was a goddess all the same. To eliminate her completely, it was best to force her- to let go of her powers. We provided you with your trials. And indeed, you have obtained the crystals." and grinned wider when Sora growled angrily. "Granted, there were some amongst us who were overzealous. But you took care of them for us. Indeed, YOU are the forces of darkness that vanquished the goddess."
Sailor Moon and the other Warriors stood still in shock. Was it really their fault for Cosmos's death? Had they been tricked from the very beginning and defeating their enemies once were actually their weakness?
'So everything was as planned?' Sailor Moon thought. But then she remembered; there were seven faces that were still a blur, but the more she mentally focused on their faces, the more she saw the clearer picture of them; their deceased spirits floating in front of her, smiling at her in sadness and hope. Cosmos had that same expression before she died.
No. They made it this far, and they were not going to fall for this walking, talking corpse.
"I don't want to hear anymore of your words, creep!" Sailor Moon shouted, glaring at Imhotep who frowned at the Sailor Scout's words, and as Sailor Moon and Sora stepped up, the teenage girl continued with renewed determination, "In the name of Cosmos, we'll punish you!"
"She's right!" Sora added as he summoned his Keyblade while Sailor Moon brought out her scepter and Rick brought out his rifle. "Don't you dare say things like that about Cosmos! She sacrificed herself because she believed in us!"
"You can't just control a giant lizard and get away with it! Once we're done with you, he's next!" Rick added, glaring at his most hated enemy.
[Battle 2-FFIV(Dissidia Final Fantasy version)]
Imhotep only laughed mockingly, bellowing at them, "Silence! Death, life, even the divine shall come under my rule... For the only one suited to rule-is I!"
He gave out a loud, huge mouth jaw-wide shrieking roar, which made the trio and their friends who had lingered behind jump slightly in fright, having forgotten how horrifying Imhotep was in this form. Then, feeling slightly embarrassed by his own fear, Rick roared back and fired a shot at Imhotep's side which knocked him to the ground.
"Have to turn him to his mortal form or we're in deep crap!" Rick informed his friends, after he pushed Sora and Sailor Moon to the side while the rest quickly jumped out of the was, while on the floor, Imhotep somehow tossed several darts of dragon nails right at them which they realised was him using part of Bahamut's power due to both of them having merged.
"That's easier said than done, Rick!" Ash pointed out, before he and Pikachu cried out in alarm as Imhotep then swiped his arm which unleashed an unusual blast in dark and purple energy right at them.
Fortunately Sakura reacted to save them quickly as she used the Shield Card to block the attack before Mickey reverted into his Sorcerer's Apprentince form and decided to take things to the next level. While Sora blasted firaga at Imhotep who shrieked as fire began to seep into his skeletion form, the mouse rubbed his hands together to create a fireball and tossed it at Imhotep who attempted to block it, but Rick fired another shot at the head which gave the Mummy no chance to escape the magical ball of fire and he yelled in pain despite being in his immortal form.
Pikachu unleashed a Thunderbolt attack under Ash's command, but Imhotep created a wall of sand to block it before sending it towards them and everyone else who were caught by and and were thrown back a good ten feet before they all crashed onto the ground, hard. While Sora quickly used a healing magic, they all noticed that Imhotep was now standing with a large vase that none of them noticed until now.
"Collect your bones! Gather your limbs! Shake the earth from your flesh! Your Master is here!" Imhotep was speaking in ancient egyptain and when he was finished, he opened up the vase and out from the sands from within appeared nine more Mummies that were, as Rick began to remember, the ancient Medjai under the Priest's command.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me! That's just unfair!" Manny groaned in dismay.
"...Not good." Jack muttered, scaredly.
"DESTROY THEM!" Imhotep ordered, and all nine of his slaves opened their mouths and gave a roar that matched their master's.
Rick, now utterly and completely furious, stood up and for a good measure as the Medjai began to approach, the gunman just opened fire right into their heads and managed to take out three before the Mummies and Imhotep realised that he was getting very serious. So they all approached the Warriors of Cosmos who stood their ground before they each had to take on the Mummies themselves while trying to get to Imhotep.
Sailor Moon was running away from one Mummy as it followed her all over the place. She screamed in panic while clumsily dodged which was comical if the situation was different before she quickly used her Scepter to take it out by randomly spinning. Fortunately her opponent didn't stand a chance against her power and was turned into a pile of sand and moon dust five seconds later.
Sora clashed against one with that carved Sword with his Keyblade before dodge-rolling out of the way and then the teenage boy tossed his Keyblade at the Medjai Mummy who was immediately sliced into pieces and utlimately defeated before he used a Barrier Spell to block another one of Imhotep's attacks which this time was a blast of a Meteor Spell that also belonged to Bahamut.
Jack was in a similiar position as Sora, only he had a Cutlass and a Pistol which he thankfully bought more shots from the very nice Moogle earlier though the little fellow looked rather sick, possibily due to the world slowly being engulfed by Chaos. Though like Sailor Moon, he ended up running away in panic before finding himself heading to one corner and thought he lost his opponent. But when he looked ahead of him, the Mummy he was fighting was in front of him and gave our a terrifying roar.
"AAAH!" Jack squealed in fright before running quickly blocking it's sword to avoid in getting sliced into pieces himself and when he finally found an opening, the Pirate sliced it's head off before kicking it sideways where it tumbled and fell into the dark, murky pool of water they'd both been next to.
Puss was stuck until he found an exit. Grabbing a piece of rope, the feline cut it with his steel which brought him upward while the heavy cage that was over his opponent came falling down and by the time the Mummy looked up to see what was going on, it was too late and it was squashed flat by the cage.
He looked down just in time to see Manny toss a piece of heavy stone at his own opponent who was hit hard and crushed, while Sakura, in desperation, used the Power Card which made her incredibly strong before she yelled and smacked her Staff into the Mummy she was fighting, smooshing it flat. Mickey set his own opponent in fire before freezing it in Ice with Ice magic and then he pushed it over the ledge they'd been on, where the Medjai shattered into pieces.
Cloud easily leaped out of the way to avoid his own opponent and sliced it into pieces with the Buster Sword, while Ash and Pikachu both ran to avoid the Mummy chasin them.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash quickly commanded in panic.
"Pika!" Pikachu nodded and turned back, before unleashing his said power, which engulfed the Mummy in electricity and turned it into a roasted corpse.
That left Rick to handle Imhotep himself as he found a Golden Sword nearby and attempted to slice off the latter's arms. But this only made Imhotep furious as he grabbed hold of Rick's shirt before tossing him across the room where he hit the wall, and fell onto the ground, winching and mentally grumbling for dropping his sword.
"We gotta do something, or we'll lose Rick!" Mickey cried out in horror as he and the rest of the Warriors of Cosmos rejoined.
"There's gotta be a way to turn that guy mortal!" Ash grunted.
"To do that, we need some kind of power that's not normal." Cloud pointed out, while desperately trying to think of an idea himself, seconds away in going to help Rick to save him.
"Well, what should we do? Use our Crystals or something!?" Manny panickly asked in half-sarcasm.
However, this gave Sailor Moon an idea as, memories of her own world returning to her, she instantly knew what to do. "Hold that thought, Manny. I got a better idea!"
"Look out!" Sakura shouted suddenly.
Everyone else looked and saw that Imhotep was slowly turning into his Bahamut-Form, before he unleashed a powerful Meteor Spell which rained down all over the place, forcing the Warriors of Cosmos to run to avoid in getting hit or using Shield Card and Barrier Magic to protect themselves and their friends.
"If you have an idea, now would be good time to use it!" Jack suggested, panting.
"Yeah, duly noted." Sailor Moon nodded in agreement.
Despite this, Imhotep returned to his mummified form and marched towards Rick who rolled out of the way before he grabbed his sword while the Mummy grabbed a nearby axe before the two clashed against each other in a struggling push-bash contest, before both of them lost their weapons, but Rick didn't give in, because he landed the first punch onto the mummy's face, sending him tumbling backwards.
This was what Sailor Moon needed, as she brought out her Cresent Moon Wand and, hoping it will work, she chanted, "Moon, Healing, Activation!" and Imhotep immediately looked at Sailor Moon in horror.
While everyone else didn't know what was going on, the light coming from the Silver Crystal began to cover Imhotep who attempted to block it with Bahamut's Power, but his shock and horror, as something holding Bahumat became loose. He could feel his chains breaking and not only that, he'd been so focused on that he soon found himself being reverted to his mortal human form and as soon as the light of Sailor Moon's power faded, Imhotep was left standing there in shock.
This allowed Rick to retrieve his sword and by the time Imhotep turned back to him to continue the fight, it was too late as the gunman thrusted his sword right into his stomach and the Mummy grunted and forced most of the Warriors of Cosmos to look away while Jack just stood there, memories of Barbossa's death just a short time ago returning to him.
Despite having the power of Bahamut, Imhotep was ultimately defeated. [End Battle 2]
Groaning, Imhotep fell onto one knee as the other Warriors of Cosmos, with Sailor Moon panting slightly for having used some of the Silver Crystal's power to make Imhotep mortal, rejoined Rick's side.
"Impossible! How could I be defeated by you not once but twice!" Imhotep grunted, in normal language this time. He glared up at his enemies, demanding, "Who ARE you!?"
"Just guys who aren't as crazy as you." Rick shrugged.
"You messed with the wrong warriors." Puss informed.
Imhotep hissed, before stating, "But this is not the end. As long as Bahamut exists, so shall we. You just freed him from MY control, but eventually, we will return."
This shocked the Warriors of Cosmos. Even after fighting them and defeating them, all of the Warriors of Chaos will just keep coming back, as long as Bahamut lives?
"So you gonna come back again!?" Rick exclaimed, shocked and disgusted.
"Indeed, back from the underworld to this world once more!" Imhotep chuckled, even as his body began to discorporate into black mist and smoke, and despite Rick telling him to wait, the evil priest continued, "Death is only the beginning! I will return to control Bahamut once more!"
The last words left him sounding monsterous as his body began to decay back into his mummified form, except this time he is left as bones before turning into dust. Despite this, the Warriors of Cosmos couldn't help but realise that unless Bahamut is destroyed now that he was free from Imhotep's control, all of the Warriors of Chaos they just defeated except for Beryl would all return, because they were tied to Bahamut and Chaos, just as the heroes were tied to Cosmos.
"Time is definitely not on our side." Mickey muttered.
"But at least we took care of Imhotep. Now it's just Beryl and Bahamut...if we don't, then those guys will come back, and they knew from the damn beginning." Rick nodded.
Sailor Moon nodded in agreement. As Beryl was the only Warrior of Chaos left, it was the Moon Princess's turn to take our her arch enemy and she knew, the evil Queen was up ahead. The final obstacle towards the final battle.
"Let's go." Sailor Moon told her friends.
Beryl was not impressed. As she made her way towards the now freed Bahamut who once again was in front of the throne that once belonged to Chaos. The mighty Dragon was exhausted after being under control of that traitor Imhotep for so long, she had come to realise that she was the last remaining Warrior of Chaos and unless she destroyed the enemies soon, she will soon fall before they destroy the Dragon of Discord and there would be no return.
But she wasn't going to make it easy for Sailor Moon and her companions. That nuisence and her friends will soon fall to their ulitmate doom. Beryl was going to make sure of it.
"I was having a long dream- in the midst of disorder..." Bahamut breathed shallowly at Beryl who curtiesed before him.
"So you are awake. What kind of dream was it?" The Queen inquired.
Bahamut scoffed. "Hmph... It was ridiculous. Cosmos and Chaos were governing the world together."
That caught Beryl by surprise as she looked at Bahamut in shock, gasping. "That's-"
"Laughable, is it not?" Bahamut finished for her. "In that world, I was a servant for a god that suppressed disorder. But strangely, the images are still vivid in my eyes... All the people smiling...the warmth of the days I spent with Cosmos... For one who has lost all memory, why did the dream have to be so cruel?"
So Bahamut was seeing things that once was, or perhaps it was just a cruel, sickening dream. Beryl was uncertain. However, she was certain of one thing; it was time to reveal what she knew.
"Bahamut...if this is to be our final battle, there is something I must share with you. That this conflict, which has endlessly repeated itself, is according to the Great Will." The Queen informed, and at Bahamut's questioning gaze, Beryl continued, "You were the one who has made this world the battleground for harmony and disorder. You've longed to take over Chaos, so I helped in accordance to the Great Will's wish."
"It was just as I thought. Chaos was the beginning." Bahamut acknowlaged.
"Indeed." Beryl agreed, standing up fully. "But, Chaos is connected to you and you are connected to him."
Seeing what Beryl was talking about, Bahamut knew what needs to be done. Unfortunately, neither of them knew that the final fight against the Warriors of Cosmos was not for Bahamut to have.
The more they got closer, the more the heroes noticed that the Diminias were increasing, but it was nothing they couldn't handle, having gone through several other levels of their destination. Even so, their thoughts were still on what Imhotep had told them before his demise.
"We keep fightin' the bad guys, but in the end, we have to defeat Bahamut so that most of them don't come back." Mickey muttered as they found themselves again in the illusion of the Land Bridge despite knowing that they were getting closer.
"Well, I think you can say that we pretty much have him cornered." Cloud informed, calmly telling the others, "...Let's go."
Sora rolled his eyes and told him, half-scoldingly at Cloud's emo-attitude. "Cloud, wanna get a little more fired up? Hey guys! This is gonna be a piece of cake!"
Even so, the others couldn't help but notice that Sailor Moon was standing on the edge of the bridge, gazing out at the horizon, deep in thought. So much as happened and so much memories have come back to her. Mostly from her own world, and yet...something felt empty. She desperately wanted to know more about the seven other Warriors who didn't make it. Another thing, if she and her allies failed to defeat Bahamut, everyone in every world will be gone. Still, she couldn't help but worry that once this is over...she wouldn't be able to remember any of this.
That ached her heart, along with the fact that once this was over, Sailor Moon would most likely never see her companions and friends she made here again.
"Something wrong?" Ash asked as he and Pikachu approached Sailor Moon who turned to face them. "You're not...feeling sick, are you?"
Realising that the ten year old boy and his Pokemon must've noticed her slightly depressed look, Sailor Moon shook her head and answered, "No. I know that we have to defeat Bahamut, and I'm still determined to do that."
She then sighed and admitted, "But you know, when I first got my memories of my previous life back, I was scared. Since I first started to fight, all I ever wanted was to be a normal teenager...but now, I want to be with my friends and family-people that I love."
"Nothing is certain-not for any of us." Manny spoke up, as he and Rick approached which got the two younger Warriors' attention. "Anything in the future can easily change, like clouds in the wind, ice melting...or freezing."
Rick nodded, adding to Sailor Moon, "Relax, kid. It'll come to you someday. And even if your old normal life doesn't...You can still believe in the future. Right?"
The other Warriors nodded to agree with Rick, which in retrospect, cheered Sailor Moon up a little as she smiled at the group who had become her close friends as well.
"...Right. Thanks, you guys." Sailor Moon nodded.
Moving along and fighting their way through the Diminias, Sailor Moon and her companions found themselves in the illusion of the Moon Kingdom Ruins, which meant only one thing; Beryl was close by.
Before Sailor Moon could think about her last battle against the evil Queen, Ash ran up to her and began, as something had come up in his mind, "You know..."
"Huh?" Sailor Moon asked as she and Ash came to a stop.
"There's more to memories than what happened before we got here. If we do end up going back to our separate worlds... it'd be nice if you remember fighting alongside us, and all the fun times we had together...just once in a while." Ash told her, as this was something he too wanted to believe.
"Pika, Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed, perched onto Ash's shoulder.
Sailor Moon blinked as she watched two of her friends run ahead, she thought about what Ash had said. She then nodded to herself; she didn't want to forget about everyone here, either. And she never will this time. She promised herself that.
It wasn't long before all of the Warriors of Cosmos neared the end of the Moon Kingdom Ruins, and there standing waiting for them, was Sailor Moon's enemy Queen Beryl who was smirking evilly at all ten of them, eleven if you included Pikachu.
"Welcome, Warriors of Cosmos." Beryl greeted, sarcastically. "If Bahamut is who you seek, he is up ahead, watching the mayhem unfold."
Sailor Moon's brows narrowed, and even though Pyreflies began rising from her body as well as everyone elses in her team, she muttered to the evil Queen, "Beryl...I knew that you were alive again."
Seeing the Pyreflies made Beryl smirk wider, "It appears the end draws near for you."
"Hmph. We're not going quietly." Cloud told her firmly, and the instant he said this, the Pyreflies settled down to a slow but complete stop on him and his friends who stood firmly, ready to face Beryl.
"We'll stop Bahamut and stop this cycle of conflict." Sailor Moon told her enemy, as she summoned her Scepter while the others also stood in a fighting stance.
[Crimson Impact-Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII]
"That is our final mission!" Puss concluded.
Despite having this large number of Warriors against her, Beryl just laughed as she stood in a battle stance herself, confident to destroy these fools, something that her weakling fellow Warriors of Chaos have failed to do. "Then let us begin! We shall entrust our lives into fate's cold embrace... and revel in a joyous festival of chaos!"
With that, she swung her staff as a pulse of darkness hits the already destroyed pillars into pieces, causing debris to rain down on towards the heroes who leaped out of the way while Sakura used the Shield Card to block some of it. Sailor Moon quickly used Moon Scepter Activation to destroy the fragments of stone before leaping up in the air and using the attack again on Beryl who this time creates a sword made from a crystal of darkness, smashing it on the ground causing a large fissure in the middle of the shrine that moves in Sailor Moon's direction.
Fortunately, Cloud used a similiar by thrusting the Buster Sword which created a large blue Wave Limit which clashed against Beryl's and creating a large explosion of dust and light and darkness, covering the area in thick layer of dust. This allowed Sailor Moon to her Moon Tiara at Beryl who was blindly hit, but she counter-attacked quickly by blasting a bolt of energy towards the two Warriors of Cosmos. But they jumped to avoit it while Sora chanted his Ultimia Limit and thrusted out at Beryl who yelled in agony before catching the teenage boy off-guard by blasting him with her power of darkness, and he would've hit the ground had Manny not catch him with his trunk.
Both Jack and Rick fired shots at Beryl even though their ammo supply were needed for the final battle up ahead, which didn't matter at this point because the evil Queen blocked them with her own dark barrier before she summoned several dark crystals and sent them towards all of the Warriors of Cosmos who either avoided them or smashed them into pieces while blocking them as much as they could. Sakura then combined the Thunder Card with Pikachu's Thunder Attack, Mickey's Magic and Sora's Thunder Spell which created a massive bolt of electricity which Beryl attempted to block, but Manny grabbed hold a large boulder and tossed at it, forcing her to block that.
She then hissed in pain when Puss leaped up and began clawing at her with his claws, scratching her skin before she hissed and grabbed the feline before tossing him aside where he cat-shrieked in alarm. "You dare to touch me like that, you worthless feline!?" Beryl shouted.
However, she saw too late as the combined Thunder power engulfed her and she yelled in pain, which allowed Sailor Moon to use her Moon, Scepter, Activation attack to add to the power, blasting Beryl and sending her flying backwards. Beryl recovered after attack, before growling angrily at the combined power of the Moon Brat and her annoying friends.
To get back at them, she raised her staff before unleashing dark powers which began to cause more damage to the entire area, knocking back the Warriors of Cosmos who all screamed before they heaed the ground, and hissed in pain before they struggled to stand up to avoid more attacks, knowing that they had to figure out how to stop Beryl once and for all before they can fight and defeat Bahamut. Sora tossed his Keyblade at Beryl who blocked it this time, but Sakura use the Fly Card to hover over Beryl before she used the Fiery Card to surround her with Fire which was combined by Mickey using magic restrains on her and Sailor Moon using her Moon Tiara Magic to try and knock Beryl's staff out of her grasp.
Yet Beryl managed to break free from the restrains and cackled manically as she raised her arms over her head and more dark electricity formed, preparing to finish off her enemies. But when she fired, Sailor Moon, remembering the last time despite the cost of much of her energy, used the Cresent Moon Wand and Silver Crystal to use the Cosmic, Moon, Power to block it. She hadn't needed to use much of it, because Mickey, Sakura and Sora all summoned Shields and Barriers while Cloud used a Barrier Materia he found earlier to block Beryl's darkness, much to the evil Queen's shock and horror.
It allowed Rick to bodyslam into her before he was thrown back to the side as he hit the piller. Jack tried his luck and while he did knock her back, he was met with the same result as his friend. While Beryl was glaring at the two human men, Ash surprisingly ran up to her and punched the evil Queen in the face, before the boy was thrown back himself and accidently crashing into Sora and Mickey, while Puss and Manny grabbed both Sakura and Sailor Moon to save them from Beryl summoning and tossing more dark crystal shards. It was then that the Warriors of Cosmos knew that they had to end this right now and once and for all.
While Beryl began powering up a finishing move, Sailor Moon leaped up in the air at the last second and over the stunned evil Queen.
Once she landed, Sailor Moon quickly spun around and dismissed her Scepter, before pulling out the Cresent Moon Wand and Silver Moon Crystal and held it out in front of her, aimed at the stunned and now horrified Beryl who realised that this was a repeat of the last time. She made the attempt to stop Sailor Moon from doing so, but the combined attacks from Sailor Moon's friends made her lose concentration, allowing Sailor Moon to deliever the finishing move.
"Cosmic, Moon, Power!" Sailor Moon chanted, concentrating hard on her power, and at her words, the Silver Crystal glowed in bright pink light and the Moon Wand itself glowed as well. A blast of white light shot out from it and as Beryl attempted to block it with her power, to the evil Queen's dismay, the Moon Princess's power overwhelmed it, and continued it's course at her.
"This can't be! Nooooooo!" Beryl screamed in horror, unable to even think about teleporting to safety. She was soon engulfed and overwhelmed by the power of the Cresent Moon Wand and the Imperium Silver Crystal, screaming as Sailor Moon's power severely weakened her until the attack finally stopped due to Sailor Moon not wanting to use it completely or else she'd lose her own strength and perish.
Beryl was ultimately defeated.
[End Crimson Impact]
"Yeah! We did!" Ash cheered.
"Pi pikachu!" Pikachu cheered.
Sailor Moon panted for having used so much of the Crystal's power, she at least was still standing, exhausted, but still alive. The others, seeing this quickly raced over towards her.
"You okay?" Cloud asked, concerned.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Sailor Moon replied, a bit weakly but not enough to render her completely powerless. For some reason, she could feel most of her energy returning, even though she and all of her friends were still at risk of disappearing completely.
The group helped Sailor Moon stand up while they gazed at Beryl who collasped onto her knees and one hand, using the other hand to clutch at her chest. To their confusion, the evil Queen began to laugh hysterically.
"What's so funny?" Sailor Moon demanded.
"You fools." Beryl laughed, weakly standing up as she grinned very sinisterly, almost as though she wa the one who won this fight. "The chains of time have been severed. We shall never be reborn again. The cycle comes to an end as catastrophe draws near."
"Catastrophe?" Puss asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Yes. The ultimate discord has awakened. Bahamut means to use his powers to destroy the world-and himself." Beryl explained, which earned shocked gasps from the Warriors of Cosmos.
"The entire world and himself!?" Sailor Moon exclaimed, horrified. Bahamut wants to destroy everything, including himself? Was that a suicide wish the Dragon wants?
What she and her friends heard next not only shocked them, but also confirmed their earlier thoughts.
"Chaos was without form, but since Bahamut absorbed him, it's more likely that Chaos shall return and take over Bahamut's body before you even get to either of them. If Chaos is a state without form, where all things collide and blend... then ultimate chaos would be the denial of all existence, would it not? At battle's end, there will be no joy, no glory, no salvation, no future. To the god Chaos, a world without Cosmos is naught but an empty husk." Beryl explained cruely.
So the Summons were right all along? Chaos had faked his death and was waiting for the right moment? So it was still Chaos that Cosmos had to face and Bahamut only made things worse, thinking that he took over but was oblivous to everything that's happened?
"Chaos's been alive all along...inside Bahamut? They'll destroy all because of the emptiness in their hearts?" Sailor Moon asked, unable to believe what she was hearing.
"It is what the god has decided..." Beryl answered.
"And you like that idea!?" Sailor Moon exclaimed, half disgusted, half shocked. The other Warriors of Cosmos all held similiar expressions of disgust and horror.
The evil Queen chuckled once more. "If this world loses its form, I only need to find another to destroy the universe." She said while her body began to discorporate into black mist and smoke. Beryl then declared for the final time, "You haven't seen the last of me yet, Warriors of Cosmos. Someday, I shall return!"
With that, the evil Queen was gone. Yet Sailor Moon and her friends felt more shocked than ever.
"...The Bahamut we were fight all this time...was Chaos? That means...it was controlling Imhotep too, and nobody except Beryl knew about it..." Sailor Moon realised.
"I guess that means the Summons were right." Mickey muttered, remembering what the Summons told them earlier.
"That means it's Chaos we have to fight, not Bahamut." Sora said, shocked beyond belief. "If we don't...we're done for."
Back at the throne of Chaos, even though Beryl was almost gone, she had enough strength left to return to see Bahamut for one more time, as she muttered to herself, "What awaits ahead is Chaos's throne..."
She then gazed up at the sky, and continued, as though she was now talking to someone else as her memories had finally returned, "What you see, Shinryu, you cannot find..."
"This ending was planned...as a result of
the Great Will breaking the pact..."
Beryl paused, hearing a mysterious voice while looking around to try and failed to find the source of it, while it continued.
"Only punishment awaits a traitor...
With all taken, the pathetic god
shall be given the chance for retribution..."
"What? What are you-"
She didn't get the chance to finish, as a great golden light shined down onto her, and as Beryl looked, she realised too late on what it was. A golden beam rained down onto her as she lets out a scream before being engulfed. Jerking like mad, she then ultimately bursted into darkness and faded into nothing.
As soon as Beryl was gone, a massive roar was heard and echoed through out the entire world.
The roar reached to were the Warriors of Cosmos stood not long after Beryl disappeared. They quickly turned to see a bright light shining in the distance through a Gateway nearby.
"What's that light?" Mickey asked, suddenly getting a horrible feeling about this.
"What's going on?" Ash asked, nervously.
It was then they saw the glimpse of the golden Dragon, the same one they saw earlier as the light shined so brightly that everyone cried out while trying to shield their eyes. But as they did, they all felt jerked in their minds, as though they were hit by bricks, but what happened next gave them images...familiar forboding images. It wasn't long before they all realised, one by one, that what they were seeing were what they had been told by the Summons earlier to understand the situation.
Memories.
Memories in random order, but the Warriors of Cosmos didn't need the memories to be order to understand. So many images came by that it began with Cosmos and Chaos summoning them along with others on both sides to begin the battle, and each thirteen times it started over and over, memories stripped, the same confusion, the same goal, the same end.
Except the twelveth cycle where things had began differently and had ended differently.
Jack and Sakura, both on the side of Chaos yet the latter chosen was under a spell by Eli whom Jack had a convensation with and realises what he had to do. He knocked Sakura on the back of the head and reverted her back to her original self before running to avoid in being seen. He then further betrays Chaos by first saving a confusion young man whom appears to be a Blacksmith, younger than Jack, before saving Cloud and aiding him to fight off Sephiroth. Jack then faced Chaos himself but failed, and made a silent plea to Cosmos, to save...
Jack's eyes widened as he knew who the young Black Smith was, and muttered in horrified realization, "...William Turner."
Sakura, at first hypnotized, fought against a teenage boy who looked a bit like Sora but held a Keyblade backwards, and then later after returning to normal, she was saved from Eli by the boy who promised her to meet Cosmos before he left. Sora met up with the same boy who gave each other a high-five, yet that was the last time either Sakura and Sora had seen...
Both Sakura and Sora's eyes widened in horror, realising they knew who that boy was. "Ven!"
Puss and a female black and white cat who was also wearing boots were fighting side by side against Diminias before the latter kissed him a goodbye before racing off to meet with other Warriors of Cosmos...
"...Kitty Softpaws." Puss whispered, his heart aching at the shudden loss.
A golden-furred Sabor-Toothed Tiger met with Manny and many others, being sarcastic but with a heart full of gold and bravery matching his pride and pack. He clawed at Diminias before apologetically waving at Manny before walking away, for the final time.
Manny gasped as he realised and remembered who that was. "Diego!"
Cloud and another Swordsman, about two years older than him with spiky black hair, holding the Buster Sword, fought side by side while in other times shared talks and jokes. In another memory, a saddened black-haired man, who was smiling emotionally in a goodbye, held out the said sword to Cloud who couldn't hold back tears, actually crying upon realising that this was the final time they would see each other.
Cloud gasped softly, the familiar loss filling up his heart. "...Z-Zack."
Ash, Pikachu, a boy in red and a Charizard had a similiar friendshp as did the others, until they were facing Giovanni at the Pokemon Stadium when a sudden attack from a Xemnas-Diminia knocked Ash and Pikachu back, rendering half unconscious. Before the Diminia could attack again, the other boy and Charizard leaped in front of the two, taking the full hit and were thrown off the opened trench during a battle and both of them unconscious, fell and vanished into the darkness, much to Ash and Pikachu's horror.
"Red!" Ash exclaimed, horrified as he remembered now.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu exclaimed.
Sailor Moon was with Cosmos, greeting Will and a woman aroud his age, or a bit older, a modern explorer and gun expert, looking serious. She then leads Will, Zack, and Ven towards a new destination, while nodding to Sailor Moon...
"Everyone is your responsibility now, Sailor Moon." The woman told her, with some emotion.
"...Lara...Lara Croft." Sailor Moon whispered, before the same memory she saw earlier returned to her, this time fully as did to everyone else around her.
The Diminias had increased so much in numbers that the remaining Warriors of Cosmos, with Lara, Zack, Red, Ven, Diego, Kitty and Will missing, fell one by one in the heavy blows of their enemies who also vanished. Sailor Moon was left facing the Diminias by herself until she couldn't fight anymore. She falls to her knees as more and more Diminias keep on approaching, and she realises it was a losing battle.
Suddenly, Cosmos levitates past Sailor Moon on her right and puts herself in front of her. Her hands clasped in front of her, as if in prayer, green energy is pooling off her into the sky as she stares intensely at the charging Diminias. They leaped into the air, intending to come down on her now, much to Sailor Moon's horror.
"Cosmos!" Sailor Moon screamed out.
Just as the Diminias in front are about to reach her, she threw her arms wide apart and her head back. The green energy around her takes a spherical shape and emanates outward from her, pulverizing every Diminia in the area to crystal dust. Behind her, Sailor Moon collapses onto her side with a grunt, and Cosmos herself then poofs away as though she were the flame of a candle that were just blown out.
Sometime later, Sailor Moon awoke, feeling slightly disorientated and extremely weak. When she opened her eyes and struggled to push herself up, she gasped in horror as not only she was on top of a tall,slender butte, but all around here, with her chest aching, were the bodies of every other fallen and very much now dead Warriors of Cosmos, including the girl, Sakura, a Warrior of Chaos whom Cosmos converted into her own, and that Pirate, Jack Sparrow who, at some point was also made a Cosmos Warrior, or why else would his body be here?
No...it couldn't be...
Just then, slowly and one by one, most of the bodies of her fallen Allies and the two former Warriors of Chaos begin rising into the sky, shining with a gold luminance. Sailor Moon looked on in wonder and bewilderment, grunting as she struggles to herfeet. All but seven of the bodies around her rise into the sky: only Ven, Zack, Kitty, Red, Will, Diego and Lara's remain. Rather than glowing with a gold luminance as the others are, these bodies are wispy and fading like smoke.
Gazing up while weakened, Sailor Moon's heart ached with pure agony and sorrow and fear. as a huge golden glow that belonged to a long, thin but massive dragon who roared, as ten lights shot up right at it. She had no idea what it was, but Sailor Moon could only turn to, much to her horror, Mickey Mouse who's body layed on his front, eyes closed and not breathing.
"Guys..." Sailor Moon began to sob, weakly crawling to Mickey's body, and cradled him in her arms, while she looked up and those who glowed, including Cosmos's body, all being absorbed by the strange golden Dragon. "NO! Don't go!"
She reached up to those being absorbed by the terrifying beast as Sailor Moon began to believe they were all being devoured, but she was powerless to do anything. All she could do was begin to cry hard, her tears falling free as she watched helplessly.
"...Please don't leave me...I thought...I thought we were going to win this battle together..." Sailor Moon sobbed. Then, to her dismay, Mickey's body began glowed in the same luminance and before she could stop the dragon, it absorbed his body, leaving Sailor Moon screaming while hugging herself, as the feeling of holding her friend was fading away. She ended up crying harder. Everyone...everyone was gone.
"Don't cry...it's alright." Lara's voice echoed.
Hearing the voice of another one of her dead friends, Sailor Moon slowly looked up, and gasped in devasation as those who didn't glow began to fade away into nothing, like smoke. Only Lara was left as she looked into Sailor Moon's eye with a smile and nodded, before she too vanished.
"No...No, it's not alright...!" Sailor Moon shook her head, before hearing the growl of the dragon above her, and Sailor Moon looked up to see it hovering closer towards her. Before she could do anything, the great Dragon roared which sent a large beam of golden light towards Sailor Moon who screamed as she was hit, feeling the agony before she felt her life finally fade, and her world faded into darkness...
The next time she awoke, she found herself back where she original started, yet...she did not remember. Nor did those who were all brought back to life; Captain Jack Sparrow, Mickey Mouse, Rick O'Connell, Manny, Sakura Avalon, Cloud Strife, Puss in Boots, Sora, and Ash and Pikachu...and soon they re-met, refaced their enemies, and lost consciousness before being seperated and thus, Sailor Moon soon realised that Cosmos was weakened...
By the time the memory ended, Sailor Moon fell to her knees in shock, tears beginning to form in her eyes, her heart aching at the realization as the truth had come not only to her, but to her friends...those who she thought she had lost but that dragon...
"Shinryu brought us all back to life, but took away our memories..." Sailor Moon muttered, her voice full of tears.
"He-he sure did." Mickey stuttered, also choked up with emotion. To think that he and all of his friends had died and then been revived with no memory of what happened...and it happened each time over and over again until now.
"Cosmos used her power to save us, and that's why...that's why she was weak to begin with..." Sora muttered, trying to stop himself from crying.
"That's why we never figured out how this all started to begin with." Manny muttered, in realization and sorrow. Both at the sudden memories and the loss of those they all finally remembered.
Even Cloud was choked up and for the first time in a long while, a tear was shed and the normally stotic swordsman didn't bother stopping it or other tears that followed. "...I lost Zack back in the world we both came from...to get him back only to lose him again here..." He muttered, unable to finish.
"But...why weren't there brought back to life like the rest of us?" Sakura asked, shocked and saddened.
"It's because of the Diminias." Sailor Moon sorrowfully answered, making the young Cardcaptor gaze at the Moon Princess who continued, "There were too many of them coming from a portal outside of the battle. The only way to seal it up and keep the numbers as low as possible was for someone to go and seal it up...and then never to be seen again. That's what Lara, Ven, Zack, Kitty, Will and Diego did. But then, if the Diminias killed us, we wouldn't have returned even with Cosmos still alive."
"Yeah...Red and Charizard sacrificed themselves to save me and Pikachu from one Diminia." Ash admitted. "If only I moved sooner...they wouldn't have disappeared and be forgotten...!"
"This...this is all Chaos's fault." Rick muttered, sorrowed himself.
There was a moment of sorrowed silence, no one willing to speak as they were too absorbed into this. Until...
"We must push on." Puss finally said, and when the rest of the remaining Warriors of Cosmos gazed at him, he said, sorrowed but with renewed determination, "Standing here over the loss of our friends won't bring them back! We have to face Chaos, for their sake and for Cosmos's sake as well. We have come too far to give up now."
Everyone shared a glance and despite the tears, they realised that Puss was right.
"Right...we can't let them down now." Cloud agreed.
"Yeah...you're right." Sailor Moon muttered, taking deep breaths and as she, Mickey, Ash, Sora, and Sakura wiped away their tears, Sailor Moon stood up, steeling herself and with renewed determination. "Let's go, guys."
Not willing to drown in their sorrows but also not willing to let their lost friends down, the rest of the group nodded with equal determination. So they pushed towards their goal, where the reborn Chaos, soon to take over Bahamut's body, was waiting for them.
A/N: The memory scenes where the Warriors of Cosmos finally remember their fallen friends(who replace Lightning, Tifa, Yuna, Vaan, Laguna and Kain, and that I added an extra number) will be the same as the prequel that is yet begin.
So Shade Impulse has come to an end, and the next chapter will possibly be the final one before the Epilogue and Secret Endings, or maybe the second last. Hard to say. So yes, it is Chaos who will be the final boss as I re-twisted things.
Hopefully I'll see you very soon in the next chapter.